#twelve episodes for 36 hours

[respectthepetty]

And to think that all the events in Dead Friend Forever's current timeline happened in less than 36 hours.

They got dropped off in the afternoon

Partied

Tried to reshoot the film that night

Went their separate ways to play around

Por was stabbed

Stayed awake trying to figure out what was happening

Top was attacked in the morning in the bathroom

They fought about the tape

Uncle Dang came around noon

Tee and Top ran off but came back

Top and Tan took the bike

Tan came back without Top

Tee, Tan, Phee, and Jin went to look for Top while Fluke and White stayed at the house

The boys were attacked and separated

Phee and Jin were stuck in the building

Fluke took the gun from White

Top made his way back to the house and finished Por

Tee and Tan finally made it back to the house

Fluke cancelled the uber before its 10-ish pm arrival time

Jin and Phee showed back up at the house

Everyone died

They held those secrets for three years, but were destroyed by them in less than two days.

[beyondmistland]

I read through all your posts about Alysanne Targaryen as Maegor's daughter and am now in a rabbit hole. Thank you. I've been thinking about Maegor's wives and which one of Henry VIII's wives they represent. Ceryse is Cathrine of Aragon and Alys is Anne Boleyn. The others are hard to pin for me since there isn't a lot. What do you think? Would Maegor's reign have been more interesting if his marriages had more similarities to those of Henry VIII?

I think this is where we run into a number of problems regarding the way GRRM wrote Fire & Blood specifically and the way he setup Westeros more generally.

For one, the fairly homogenized nature of southron culture as well as the oversimplification of religious institutions and history means you can't quite get the same dynamism as from real life European history, with its dizzying array of languages, cultures, cuisines, fashions, etc., to mention nothing of the then-ongoing Protestant Reformation. I suppose GRRM could have had Maegor convert to the Old Gods a la Julian (II) the Apostate or the Drowned God (you just know the Ironborn are the one race on the surface of Planetos that would say King Maegor the Good with a completely straight face) or even R'hllor, which would be the best choice in terms of worldbuilding opportunities in my opinion.

Moving on, we run into a handful of problems with Maegor specifically, one of them being the length of his reign. Look, while I can't deny Maegor ruling for 6 years and 66 days is incredibly cheeky, it also isn't anywhere close to Henry VIII's 36 years as king. With so little room timeline-wise, there isn't a lot of flexibility when it comes to telling new stories and fleshing out preexisting ones and all that is before you factor in Maegor himself.

I won't hold back. For all GRRM's talk of moral ambiguity, the human heart in conflict with itself, good men who were bad kings and bad men who were good kings, etc., his Targaryen monarchs are, for the most part, numbingly one-note. Aegon I is a literal enigma, Aenys is weak, Maegor cruel, Viserys I a party animal, Aegon II and Rhaenyra mirror-images of each other in their disqualifying vices, etc. As I've written before with my post reimagining Maegor as more of a Ivan (IV) the Terrible figure there was room to make him a genuinely controversial figure of historiography but instead GRRM doubled down on sensationalism and apathy-inducing slasher porn for lack of a better word. The fact Maegor is also the first and last of Visenya's line just adds more salt to the wound but that's part of GRRM's more general (and for me personally, vexing) habit of keeping family trees incredibly small.

(I do recall another alternative someone once brought up to the late Steven Attewell. Namely, turning Maegor into the Westerosi version of Macbeth by way of Der Untergang.)

This brings me to my semifinal point. GRRM didn't have to write Fire & Blood as Procopius' Secret History on steroids with a dash of Suetonius' Lives of Twelve Caesars and I, Claudius (the entire Saera episode is practically lifted wholesale from the scandal that envelops Augustus' daughter, Julia) but he did, which is doubly disappointing because not only does the final product suck quality-wise as a result but also because there were so many other avenues available to him.

He could have written Fire & Blood as a proper history (with less focus on the sex lives of teenage girls for one) or as a mirror for princes or as a dialogue between two characters or even as a character study. You can even see GRRM struggling with the constraints imposed by his use of Gyldayn in certain sections like the death of Maelor and the entire Hour of the Wolf episode, where you get reams of dialogue and characterization as well as more traditional narrative trappings like build-up, mood setting, etc.

Now, to answer your actual question (lol), I don't think any of Henry VIII's other wives map well onto Maegor's. Tyanna is, more or less, his female counterpart in terms of cruelty and zero redeeming features and entirely a fantasy construct. Elinor and Jeyne are both married to Maegor for only a year (with poor Jeyne dying in childbirth because Jeyne Westerlings, like the Brackens, Peakes, and Florents, cannot catch a break in Westeros) and before said marriage takes place neither appears on the page. As for Rhaena, well, credit where its due, she was a rare (and unexpected) highlight of Fire & Blood.

Thanks for the question, anon

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT ELIJAH THE PROPHET The Patron and the Father of the Carmelite Order Feast Day: July 20

"Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again!" -1 Kings 18:36 NIV

The prophet Elijah is considered to be the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, as well as the Father of the Carmelite Order. Not much is known of his background.

All that is known from scripture is that he was a Tishbite (or Thesbite), although scholars disagree on what the term refers to. He lived sometime around the year 90 BC. Some Jewish traditions maintain that he was of priestly descent. Otherwise, Elijah's life before he is called by God in the First Book of Kings is a mystery.

Elijah was described as a wild and hairy man; 'as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch.'

He lived a very ascetic life, living in a cave and wearing clothes made of camel hair. His entire known life was a protest against the immorality of his time. Pagan worship had corrupted the land, and King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had erected a shrine to the false god Baal. Elijah informed Ahab that if they did not repent of the evils they had committed, God would scourge the land with a drought to punish them for their apostasy. After delivering God's message, Elijah quickly disappeared, led by Yahweh to the land east of the Jordan, where he was fed by ravens.

Ahab ignored Elijah's warning, and for three years, not a drop of rain fell upon the land. Furious, Ahab devastated the land in search of Elijah, but his efforts were futile. After three years, Elijah returned and confronted the King.

Ahab fiercely accused Elijah of bringing the curse upon the land, but Elijah flung the accusation back at Ahab, pointing out that the drought was caused by his own stubbornness and sinfulness.

Next came the episode for which Elijah is most famous. He challenged the priests of Baal to a contest. Atop Mount Carmel, Elijah and the priests would each set up an altar and provide a sacrifice upon their altar. They would then pray to their respective deities, the priests to Baal and Elijah to Yahweh, and whichever deity sent fire down from the sky to consume the sacrifice would be the true God. The priests of Baal went first, and for hours and hours they chanted and danced and cut themselves, to no avail. Finally, laughing at their failure, Elijah approached his altar.

He set twelve stones around the altar, for the twelve tribes of Israel, and poured water all over the sacrifice. Then Elijah prayed to God, and suddenly a fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. Elijah then killed all the priests of Baal, and the people once again believed in the true God. That very evening, torrential rains fell upon the land, thereby ending the three year drought.

Elijah went on to prophesy and perform many more wonders which can be found in the First Book of Kings. He is considered to be the Father of Carmelites, as the Carmelite way of life embodies the Elijahan tradition.

Father Elijah's spirit of prayer, penance, contemplation, and zeal for the Lord is to this day the very spirit of the Carmelites. During his ministry, Elijah went up to Mount Carmel in Palestine to live and to pray. It was there that he taught and trained his followers, who are considered by some to be the first monks. From that time onward, Mount Carmel has always been inhabited by men seeking union with God.

It is also believed that Elijah and the monks living on Mt. Carmel had a devotion to the woman who would be the mother of the Messiah, the Blessed Virgin Mary, long before she was born.

Elijah's end was as quick and mysterious as his beginning. One day as he was speaking with his successor Elisha, 'a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven' (2 Kings 11).

Elijah appeared along with Moses at the Transfiguration of the Jesus on Mount Tabor.

Source: Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus (carmelitedcj.org)

[pers-books]

The War Doctor Rises 

27 March 2024

Jonathon Carley stars in a new era of full-cast audio dramas for the War Doctor, announced today from Big Finish Productions. 

The Doctor’s disavowed Time War incarnation first appeared, played by Sir John Hurt, in the 2013 Doctor Who TV episodes The Name of the Doctor, The Night of the Doctor and The Day of the Doctor. Hurt later reprised this role for twelve audio stories at Big Finish, before his tragic passing in 2017. 

In June 2021, Jonathon Carley took over the mantle, playing a younger version of the character in The War Doctor Begins, an origin story for the incarnation which ran for six volumes. 

Now, beginning in August 2024, Carley will reprise the role in Doctor Who – The War Doctor Rises. The War Doctor’s story will continue as he faces the ever-increasing horrors of the Time War. 

Producer David Richardson said: “The younger War Doctor has now established himself, and so we’re heading into different territory for his era. For The War Doctor Rises, I wanted us to hand over to the writer – each box set will be one writer’s vision, as they give their own take on the War Doctor and the Time War. 

“So, each volume will feel like a vast sweeping movie for audio, with richly developed characters and deeply imaginative worlds. There are no boundaries on creativity, no pressure to tie up a story within an hour. We’ve recorded two of them so far and I promise you, it’s working beautifully.” 

Jonathon Carley added: “It’s the next chapter! The War Doctor Begins was about the character finding himself and coming to terms with the choice he’s made, which has been a fascinating story to explore – the identity crisis the character has had. Now he’s going to have a harder edge, because he’s learned to let go of that past identity, and now he’s on a mission to deliver what he set out to do. 

“The longer stories add a whole different dimension in terms of the scale of the storytelling, because we can really dig deep, not just in terms of the plot and what’s going on in this complex landscape of the Time War, but also the characters who have been such a rich part of all the stories we’ve done so far – we can really explore their experiences in this chaotic space and this enormous conflict.” 

Volumes 1 and 2 of Doctor Who – The War Doctor Rises are now available for pre-order exclusively here, either as a collector’s edition triple CD box set, starting at £22.99 per volume, or as a digital download, starting at £18.99 per volume.

Big Finish listeners can save money by pre-ordering The War Doctor Rises Volumes 1 and 2 in a bundle for just £44 (collector's edition CD and download) or £36 (download only).

Further details about Doctor Who – The War Doctor Rises, including cast, writers and story details, will be announced nearer the release date. 

All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release. 

Please note that Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mailout of collector’s edition CDs will be delayed, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.

[dynyamight]

meet cute number 47 is interesting!

send me a writting ask

47. Texting the incorrect number but continuing the conversation.

“You got all that, right?” Shinsou asks, readjusting his stance, so others can leave their classroom door easily.

Midoriya hums absentmindedly. He’s still quickly jotting down the last few digits onto his planner. “And, you said tomorrow morning, around 7? At the library?”

“Yeah,” Shinsou shrugs, “Or anytime really. The deadline isn’t until next month, you know.”

“I kinda just want to get it done, as soon as possible.”

Shinsou breathes out a snort. “Figured you’d say that much. Just make sure you got my number. Repeat it, if you need to.”

“No time.” Midoriya drops his bag to the side, shoving his now closed notebook inside. “Thank you! I’ll text you later tonight!” He offers hurriedly, before taking off down the campus halls.

Shinsou’s warning falls deaf to his rushed mind.

He has to run the entire way, in order to graciously catch the last bus for the hour. Sweaty and flushed, Midoriya slumps into his seat in relief. Fortunately, he was able to cop a seat for himself, settling by the window and his backpack right next to him.

Staring out, Midoriya tries to remind himself of the rest of his priorities he needed to do.

He still needed to start on Doctor Chiyo’s online Physiology exam, and gather his notes for the open book portion. It was a bit bothersome to handle tests online, but if the rest of class prefers it, there’s nothing Midoriya can do about it.

Speaking of which, Ochako had requested for copies of those exact same notes, since apparently she barely writes anything during lectures. He wants to suggest to her to just simply take better notes, but alas, he will gladly help her out.

And, finally, Midoriya has to collect reliable, approved research articles for his and Shinsou’s debate, in their argumentative project in Communications. Being assigned “PRO SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE”, while being the most uninvolved people on the internet, Midoriya and Shinsou had a lot of work to do.

Not to mention it was already 18:00 by the time he reached the school’s dormitories. And yet, he needed to shower, make dinner, water his plants, and watch the newest episode of his favorite drama, airing tonight.

University was eating him alive.

Thankfully, he’s able to complete half of his list.

He finishes the exam with a 98%, and quickly snaps the pages of his notes over to Ochako and Iida, making sure to highlight the main topics questioned in the exam. Ochako sends a ‘thank you’ gif, and Iida texts a long, yet endearing message of gratitude.

Midoriya doesn’t have time to shower, instead blasting the TV volume loud, as he waters his indoor plants at the same time. He overwaters them a little bit, busy glancing back at the screen for too long. But, at least he’s able to watch the episode. He pouts when it ends on a cliffhanger, almost drowning his bonsai tree in frustration.

He’s only able to warm up a plate of leftovers, and read through only one research article, by the time it’s already blinking 21:30 on his phone. Sighing, Midoriya closes his laptop and grabs his cell phone instead.

An all nighter wasn’t preferable. But, if Shinsou is working overtime at his late night job, Midoriya supposes he can stay up and keep looking through more articles, until he has at least the required ten.

Flipping open his planner, Midoriya inputs Shinsou’s number into his phone. He adds his name, a contact photo of him sleeping, and finally taps a quick message.

(21:38) < You working?

When Shinsou doesn’t respond right away, Midoriya simply sets aside his phone on his desk. Stretching his arms, he sighs in defeat, now expecting Shinsou to be stuck at work.

He’s never worked at a restaurant, but he bets Friday nights can get pretty busy. And, Shinsou always complains that group outings and dates tend to stay over, even after the place is supposed to close. And, Midoriya trusts his word.

So, by the time his phone dings, Midoriya has been clicking through more articles on social media, bookmarking a few to go over later, as he went.

He lifts his phone, and with a bright screen, a message stares back at him.

shinsou hitoshi (21:58) > Who’s this

Oh, he did forget to specify. But, Midoriya smiles, having a small prank in mind. There was no harm in teasing his friends, let alone Shinsou, who definitely needed a good laugh, now and then.

(21:58) < It's the cutie from your communications class ;)

shinsou hitoshi (21:58) > So, no one

(21:59) < Haha! I guess you’re right about that

(21:59) < Anyways, it’s Izuku! You still working late, Hitoshi?

shinsou hitoshi (21:59) > This ain’t Hitoshi

Midoriya's face drops, blinking. Oh god, did he mistype the number?

(21:38) < Wait, you’re not???

Another text pops up, shortly after.

shinsou hitoshi (22:02) > You got the wrong number

Embarrassment burning his entire face red, Midoriya wishes he could delete himself from the world.

(22:03) < I’m so so so so sorry!

(22:03) < God, I thought I wrote down my friend’s number right

(22:03) < But, I was in this stupid rush to get on the bus that I didn’t make sure

(22:04) < And, listen, if I had missed that bus, I would’ve had to wait

(22:04) < Not like a few minutes wait

(22:04) < Like, a whole two hours wait!

shinsou hitoshi (22:05) > I didn’t ask

Deleting the conversation, Midoriya erases the new contact completely. And instead, he looks back to his planner, and retypes the numbers in his phone onto a new conversation.

Hopefully, he has typed the correct series of digits.

(22:07) < Hey, Hitoshi! It’s Izuku

unknown (22:08) > ...

unknown (22:08) > What the actual fuck

unknown (22:08) > You've still got the wrong number, you goddamn idiot

Slamming his phone onto his desk, Midoriya grabs a pillow off his bed and shoves it in his face. The temptation to scream sounds awfully pleasant, but it’s too late at night to do so. His dorm neighbors would definitely wonder what the hell is wrong with him.

What’s wrong? Oh, he has completely done one of the most dreaded imaginary scenarios in his head; text a complete stranger. Twice.

What was he supposed to do now? Never text back? Delete it? Block it?

How is he supposed to contact Shinsou now?

His phone dings again.

Lifting the pillow off his face slightly, Midoriya eyes his phone warily from his swivel chair.

That definitely wasn’t supposed to happen. Another text from the same stranger sounds a bit unheard of.

After a seconds-long hesitation, Midoriya lifts his phone and opens it once more.

unknown (22:13) > Double check next time

unknown (22:13) > You can fucking wait the two hours, dumbass

Midoriya grows a little irked. He has a bad feeling that his stranger isn’t too friendly, to say that least.

There was literally no reason to text back something so rude.

(22:14) < Well, that wasn’t nice

unknown (22:15) > Wasn’t trying to be

(22:15) < ..Are you always like this?

unknown (22:16) > Pretty much

(22:16) < That’s sad

unknown (22:17) > What’s fucking sad is that I was woken up from my sleep

unknown (22:17) > Because a damn moron didn’t write down the right number

Midoriya winces. He hadn’t even thought about the other person’s predicament, let alone if he had interrupted anything.

(22:20) > I really didn’t mean to do that, I’m sorry :(

unknown (22:22) > Yeah whatever

(22:24) > You should try to go back to sleep, then

unknown (22:25) > I was

unknown (22:25) > But the same moron from before keeps texting me

(22:27) > Who?

(22:33) > Oh.

(22:33) > It’s me, huh?

unknown (22:34) > No shit

(22:35) > Right, of course. My bad!

(22:35) > I’m going to just stop now

unknown (22:36) > Thanks

(22:36) > For the umpteenth time, sorry! ><

(22:37) > Okay, Okay! I’m stopping now, for real

Midoriya desperately needs to call it a night.

After going through his nightly routine, he slips under his bedsheets, exhausted. He sets an alarm for 5:00 on his phone, hoping Shinsou will show up at the library, regardless of the missing confirmation text on Midoriya’s end.

He keeps his phone on awhile longer, swiping through his professors’ emails, before a surprising text notification pops in front of him.

unknown (23:01) > FUCK YOU FUCK YOU

(23:02) > …

(23:02) > What was that for??

unknown (23:04) > I CAN’T SLEEP

unknown (23:04) > GOD, I CAN’T GO BACK TO FUCKING SLEEP

unknown (23:05) > AND IT’S YOUR FAULT

(23:06) > What do you expect me to do????

unknown (23:07) > HAHAHAHA OH DON’T WORRY

unknown (23:07) > IF I CAN’T SLEEP, NEITHER CAN YOU

unknown (23:08) > AND IF YOU TURN YOUR PHONE OFF I WILL SEND HELLFIRE

(23:09) > Wait

(23:09) > No, please

(23:09) > My alarm is on my phone, I need it on

(23:10) > I need to go to an important meeting for a group project at 7:00!

unknown (23:10) > Aw, really? :0?!

(23:11) > Yeah! I really do!

unknown (23:11) > Sike. I don’t fucking care

unknown (23:12) > Hope you eat shit tomorrow

(23:13) > ..Why are you like this?

(23:13) > I could literally be a twelve year old, for all you know

unknown (23:14) > I doubt fucking twelve years do group projects

unknown (23:15) > But whether you’re a damn infant, or grown adult, I hate you

(23:16) > I wouldn’t say I hate you. That’s too harsh

(23:16) > But, wow, you are very unlikable :/

unknown (23:17) > That’s the fucking nicest thing anyone has said about me

(23:18) > It wasn’t supposed

(23:19) > Nevermind.

(23:19) > Do you have any friends? Just might as well ask

unknown (23:21) > Surprisingly yeah

(23:22) > Oh, so you also agree. That it’s a surprise

(23:22) > At least you’re self aware :0

unknown (23:23) > Yeah, they are annoying as hell

unknown (23:24) > But, also pretty good people, I guess

(23:25) > Pretty good or pretty dumb?

unknown (23:26) > SHUT IT

unknown (23:27) > Only I can make fun of them

unknown (23:27) > You. Don’t.

(23:28) > You’re right, I shouldn’t have said that

(23:29) > I’m sorry :(

unknown (23:30) > You like apologizing, huh

(23:29) > There’s a lot to apologize for tonight

unknown (23:30) > Still, you don’t have to say it every damn minute

(23:32) > You probably don’t ever apologize

unknown (23:33) > Fuck no

(23:35) > Right, of course

(23:36) > Well, you know what I need to do tomorrow

unknown (23:37) > Unfortunately

(23:38) > What about you?

unknown (23:39) > I’m covering a shift at my shit job at the ass crack of dawn

(23:40) > Unnecessary visual, but I digress

(23:40) > Uh, where do you work?

unknown (23:42) > No. I don’t even know your damn name

(23:43) > I told you?? It was in my first text

unknown (23:44) > Yeah, I ain’t scrolling

(23:48) > Well, it’s Izuku. Midoriya Izuku :)

unknown (23:49) > Great. I still ain’t giving you mine

(23:50) > ?? Is there anything I can know about you??

(23:50) > You know more about me, than I do about you

unknown (23:51) > You know I hate you

unknown (23:51) > That’s plenty

(23:52) > But, I have been staying up for you :(

unknown (23:53) > Because it’s your fault I can’t sleep

(23:54) > You aren’t feeling sleepy yet?

unknown (23:56) > ..Are you

(23:57) > I asked you first

unknown (23:58) > I asked you second

(23:59) > That

(23:59) > Look, it’s almost midnight

(24:00) > Oh, now, it’s actually midnight

unknown (00:01) > I have fucking eyes. I can see the time

(00:02) > And we BOTH have places to be tomorrow

(00:02) > So, let’s just sleep. Call a truce, please

unknown (00:03) > What about my petty retribution

(00:04) > PLEASE LET ME SLEEP

unknown (00:10) > FUCK

unknown (00:10) > FINE

unknown (00:11) > I STILL CAN’T SLEEP BUT WHATEVER

unknown (00:12) > HOPE YOU FUCKING OVERSLEEP TOMORROW

The rest of the night, Midoriya hears his phone go off, but he doesn’t bother to open the messages. Fortunately for him, the time staying awake quickly catches up to his body, the moment he shuts his eyes. And, in an instant, he falls asleep, heavy.

However, he’s jolted awake by the ringing of his phone, the tone alerting him of an incoming phone call. Banging his head on the headboard, Midoriya blindly grabs and answers his phone. “Uh, H-Hello?” He blurts quickly.

“Tch.” A low voice emits, “You owe me, Deku.”

Click. The phone call ends.

Confused, Midoriya hurriedly rubs his eyes open. Running his messy curls through his fingers, he lifts his bangs up, in order to correctly look at the time.

The time was 5:10. And, his 5:00 alarm had been off the entire time.

And, instead, that same unknown number from last night was his saving grace.

[drprettyboyspence]

You’re a Hero, Spencer Reid

Dr. Spencer Reid/reader 

Summary: Late one night Spencer comes home from an especially difficult case. His girlfriend Y/n persuades him to talk about it. Inspired by the JJ/Will episode “Sick Day” (Season 12 Episode 2) This takes place during Season 15. 

words: 4.9k

warnings: mentions of violence, mental illness (basically the amount of violence in a regular cm episode), angst, very very light swearing,  nothing else to my knowledge! 

a/n: I honestly love that JJ and Will scene so I decided to right one about Spencer. This made up case took we way too long to come up with and honestly I know way too much about lobotomies now lol, but I hope you enjoy!! :) 

It’s 12:30 am, Spencer Reid trudges up the stairs to his second floor apartment which he shares with his girlfriend of 5 years, Y/n Y/l/n. His body on the verge of collapsing but his mind hyped up on adrenaline, Spencer pulls his key out of his pocket before unlocking the door, excited to finally be home after an energy-draining case. He knows he should sleep, the team very rarely gets much sleep during a case and the last one had been short but intense, so it’s been about 48 hours since Spencer has slept if he’s being truly honest. Spencer feels as if he’s in a trance, he’s exhausted but he just knows he won’t be able to sleep if he tries. His exhaustion leads him to crash into a chair near the table, causing it to scrape against the floor loudly. Damn it Spencer thinks, hoping he didn’t wake up his girlfriend but knowing he probably isn’t that lucky. 

“Baby, you’re finally home! I missed you so much!” Y/n says, appearing out of the shadowy hallway, obviously having just woken up. She gives Spencer a hug and notices the way he holds on to her extra tightly, like he does when he’s feeling stressed or overwhelmed. 

“I missed you too Y/n, so much.” Spencer whispers, still enveloping her in a tight hug. The last case had been harder on him than he’s willing to admit, but holding Y/n close to him makes him feel safe, he can’t lose her if he just never lets go, right? 

“Are you okay Spence?” Y/n asks after Spencer finally lets her go. She knows the tells, she may not be an FBI profiler but she can tell when Spencer isn’t okay, and right now is unfortunately one of those times. She can see the way he holds her just the smallest bit too tight, she can see his eyes, droopy from exhaustion but darting around the room at the same time, still hyped up on the adrenaline from the case, and the eye circles that have become a signature look for her boyfriend are even darker than usual, showing he’s been without sleep for likely more than a day. 

“I’m fine Y/n, really, you know how the job is, it's never easy.” Spencer replies, in a manner that shows Y/n he wants to talk about it, but he doesn’t know how to ask and doesn’t want to be a bother. 

“Are you sure Spence? We can talk about it if you want to-“

“I said I’m fine Y/n! Please drop it!” Spencer snaps back at Y/n, regret immediately flushing over his face. He doesn’t yell at her often, and they hardly ever fight, he says he’s seen too many couples separated by tragedy to waste time on silly arguments and quarrels. “I’m sorry sweetheart, I didn’t mean to snap at you, I think I’m just high-strung and exhausted.” 

“You can’t keep it in Spencer, it will all build up inside and stay with you, you know that. We need to talk about it if it's weighing down on you this heavily, I’ll put the coffee on, it looks like we won’t be sleeping for a while.” Y/n says warmly, walking across the kitchen to switch on the coffee machine. “Okay Spence, start at the beginning…” 

40 hours earlier 

“All I’m saying JJ is that you aren’t even giving science-fiction a chance, its not all-”

“Spence I honestly don’t care, I refused to go to comic-con with you back in the day and I still refuse now, but you can take the boys, they’d love to go.” JJ and Spencer abruptly finish their conversation as they walk into the round table room and see the rest of the team staring back at them with solemn looks on their faces. 

“Let’s get started please.” Emily says promptly as JJ and Spencer take their respective seats at the table, everyone focusing their attention on Garcia.  

“Alright my crime-solving friends today’s devilishness comes to us from the one, the only, sin city itself, Las Vegas, Nevada.” Long-time members of the team glance sympathetically at Reid, knowing how difficult it can be for him to go home, especially now that his mother has been moved closer to Virginia. “Those pictures on your tablet now, they are of Dolores Smith, the fifth victim in a series of what appears to be lobotomies gone wrong.” The team winces, remembering the last time lobotomies had come up in a BAU case. 

“The fifth victim? Why weren’t we called in earlier, lobotomies aren’t exactly a common occurrence, even in Las Vegas.” Rossi asks. 

“This unsub has been driving his victims out into the desert, even crossing state lines, victim number two, Susan Atkins, she was found in Utah, almost 400 miles away. They simply didn’t put it together until the last two victims were found in Las Vegas.”

“Garcia, anything connecting the victims, they seem to be of different sexes and ages.” JJ asks. 

“Yes, this is where it gets tricky, all five victims were schizophrenic patients at Bennington Sanitarium.” It was like a chill went through the room.

“So they were all patients at a mental hospital?” Luke says, clearly confused about the strange energy currently in the room. 

“Tell them Spence” Emily urges. 

“Bennington Sanitarium isn’t just any mental hospital, it's the mental hospital my mom was in.” 

The coffee machine beeps, interrupting Spencer’s telling of the story, he moves to pour the cups. Y/n places her hand on his knee before he can move out of the chair.

“Sweetheart, let me do it, you just sit here and try to relax, you’ve been through enough, the least I can do is a pour a damn cup of coffee for you.” Y/n picks out Spencer’s favorite mug, a Doctor Who one she had bought him for the first Christmas they spent together. They both inhale deeply over the cups of steaming liquid, as good as gold on a late night like this, the 1:20 am flashing over the stove only showing as a reminder that this night won’t be ending any time soon. “Alright, continue.” 

36 hours earlier

“So here’s what we know. All five victims had recently been released from Bennington Sanitarium, they were schizophrenic, having been residents of the hospital for ten to twelve years.” Luke starts the discussion as the jet begins its descent into Las Vegas. 

“Why were they released?” Spencer responds. 

“Garcia, any information you can give us?” Tara asks the computer screen where Garcia’s face pops up. 

“My friends, unluckily because of the discreet nature of mental health records, the mistress of all things technological is having a little bit of trouble narrowing in on the information you search for, but from what I can see, all five victims were taken out of the hospital after responding well to medication, I haven’t gotten to those records yet but I will hit you back as soon as I hear anything, peace out.” 

“You okay Reid?” Emily asks Spencer as quietly as she can, knowing that this case is surely striking a nerve with him, all these victims sharing a very big part of their life with his mother, she probably knew some of them personally. 

“I just have a bad feeling about this, and I tend to listen to those feelings very carefully. Let’s finish this one quick and get back to Quantico.”

“You heard the kid, let’s make quick work of this case and put this bastard away before he can even think about taking another victim.” Rossi states, earning nods from the rest of the time. 

“I hate to burst your bubbles my friends, but a sixth victim has just been found in Las Vegas once again, 63 year old Barbara Sullivan.” Garcia popped in. 

“Alright change of plans everyone, Matt go to the 5th dump site, Tara and JJ, you girls will go to the most recent dump site, Luke and Rossi will go the morgue, try to get any information you can about the lobotomies, Reid and I, we’ll go to Bennington and get insight into why each of these victims were released and what medicines they were on at the time. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but why was Garcia having such a hard time finding the medical records, isn’t that type of thing usually a breeze for her?”  Y/n asks. She’d become quite close to Garcia in the years she and Spencer had been together and there was nothing that girl couldn’t do. 

“We were having trouble with that too to be honest, mental health records are usually rather secretive, but nothing a hacker like Garcia wouldn’t be able to crack in an instant. Can I have another cup of coffee baby?” 

“Of course Spence, anything you need.” Y/n say before filling up another coffee, glad he’s finally relaxed enough to talk freely about whatever happened on this case that was so clearly affecting him. 

34 hours earlier 

“Dr. Reid, good to see you again, I wish we didn’t have to meet under these circumstances though.” The main doctor at Bennington says, having known Spencer over the years Diana had spent at the hospital. 

“Dr., hello. This is BAU Unit Chief Emily Prentiss, we want to ask you some questions about the victims if that would be possible. I know it’s-”

“Excuse me Dr.! Oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt! Wait, are you Dr. Spencer Reid of the Behavioral Analysis Unit? I’m a huge fan of your work. Work, oh god you must be here about the recent murders, tragic aren’t they?” A rather hyper man interrupts Spencer. Spencer awkwardly and reluctantly shakes the hand of the stranger, both him and Emily puzzled about this strange interruption. 

“Mr. Robbins, if you would, please leave us alone as the federal agents and I have some important details to discuss. Actually, you may go home for the day, your services are no longer needed, see you tomorrow.” The high-strung man nods eagerly before waving once more and leaving. “I’m so sorry about that Dr. Reid, that would be the new data collector and organizer, Mr. Robbins, a bit hyper for my taste, but that man is a wizard with anything technological.” Just as Emily is about to resume questions about the victims, Garcia calls. 

“What’s up Garcia? Anything you can tell us?” 

“Emily, my sweet, sadly I come once again bearing bad news. A woman has just been reported missing, 54 year old Dana Reeley, schizophrenic, reported missing by her son 20 minutes ago, says he left the house for no longer than 20 minutes, came back to an empty house no signs of struggle.” 

“Is it possible his mother is confused, left the house on her own?” Spencer asks, remembering times his mother had been so confused that she went off on her own. 

“Definitely not, the doors had protective covers, the mother couldn’t get out by herself, it had happened before. By the way, I’m still having an extreme amount of trouble trying to figure out why the victims were taken out of the hospital.” 

“Oh I can help you with that, each of the victims were taken out of this establishment due to the opinions of each of their respective children that they would be better taken care of under their own roofs.” 

“Well, uh- thank you unknown male voice that I’m assuming is the Dr. running Bennington Sanitarium, that’s helpful information.” 

“Dr. thank you for your time, but it seems we should we getting to the police station.” Emily says, realizing that this probably isn’t a good place for Spencer to be, and seeing his face becoming increasingly distressed due to the implications of the information the Dr. had just given them, if they’re going to need him to use his brain to solve this case they need to get out of here. 

“Woah wait one second Spencer, all of the victims were patients at the same hospital that your mom spent years at, they were all schizophrenic, and they were all taken out of the hospital by their children shortly before their murder, that’s a-“

“Hell of a coincidence, I know, and you know me, there’s no such thing as coincidences. This was weird though, like a very small chance that this could be about me, but it was seeming more and more like I was to be more involved with this case than I had thought.” 

24 hours earlier

The rest of the team had gone to bed hours ago, but Spencer is still awake, lying in the hotel bed staring at the ceiling. He debates calling Y/n, he tries not to bring his work home, he tries his hardest to keep the purest thing in his life away from the horrors and despair he sees everyday. He doesn’t want to put two and two together on this case, he doesn’t want to believe that this could all be because of him, all these victims, their lives ended early, simply because he decided to join the FBI those many years ago. It had happened before, Professor Rothschild back in 2009 and he doesn’t like to think about it, but Maeve was in the center of a case inspired by him as well. Spencer knows he’s overreacting, he knows he can’t blame himself, he didn’t kill those victims, and he didn’t force the hand of the unsubs, all he can do now is get some sleep so he can use his IQ of 187 to stop this son of a bitch, stop him from killing anyone else, ever. 

The sound of a stomach rumbling interrupts Spencer this time. 

“Spencer, when was the last time you ate? God knows how long its been since you slept and its probably been even longer since you ate. Tell me how long Spence, please.” Spencer looks down guiltily, knowing that Y/n is going to be mad when he utters his next words. 

“I don’t know um I’m having trouble remembering-“ Y/n’s face tells it all, the man with the eidetic memory can’t remember when the last time he ate was. “It was yesterday afternoon, there were bagels at the Las Vegas police station, terrible ones but I ate one of those, figured I shouldn’t be drinking five cups of coffee a day on an empty stomach.” 

“Yesterday afternoon? Spencer it’s 2:30 am!” 

“Okay so the day before yesterday afternoon I guess, sue me Y/n!” 

“Spencer Reid I know you aren’t trying to tell me you haven’t eaten in over 36 hours! You wouldn’t do that to me right? Sweetheart, you need food! What would you like?” Y/n notices that it’s strange, right now in this moment Spencer looks like a small child, shy and embarrassed. 

“Um, could you…make pancakes?” Spencer quietly asks. Y/n could laugh, Dr. Spencer Reid, renowned FBI agent who will walk into an interrogation room no problem, is scared to ask his significant other to make pancakes. 

“Pancakes is it? Sure thing sweetheart I’ll make pancakes.” 

“With chocolate chips?” Spencer adds.

“Now you’re pushing it.” Y/n retorts back with a giggle, beginning to make the batter, if Spencer hasn’t eaten in 36 hours he deserves better than some nasty boxed pancakes, that’s for sure. “So what happened next Spence?” 

17 hours earlier 

“Good morning Garcia, any information for us?” Luke asks in the morning. 

“Oh newbie how I wish it was a good morning, another victim has been taken, 43 year old Richard Saxons, his daughter reported him missing when she woke up to an empty house, hasn’t seen him since last night.” The team looks at each other with confused glances. 

“Another victim? But he hasn’t dumped the last victim yet, this is a major change in M.O., do we think the last victim is still alive, we need to rethink this.” Emily explains. 

“Okay why a lobotomy? That can’t be the easiest way of killing the victims.” Matt asks.  

“Here’s the thing, this unsub isn’t necessarily meaning to kill the victims. Lobotomies began in the 1880s when Swiss physician Gottlieb Burkhardt removed parts of the cortex of the brains of patients with auditory hallucinations and other symptoms of schizophrenia. Later in 1935 Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz is credited with inventing the lobotomy. There are numerous negative effects and since the procedure literally involves drilling into the brain to slice up pieces of the frontal lobes, if it isn’t performed by a doctor there’s a very high mortality rate.” Spencer of course rattles off. 

“That makes sense with what the medical examiner told us, the lobotomies were crudely done but there was no reason to believe the unsub is a sadist, no signs of torture, the bodies were often dumped with what could be taken as remorse.” Rossi adds. 

“Okay so we’re looking at an unsub who’s trying to cure these victims of their schizophrenia.” Tara states. 

“We need to deliver the profile.” 

“We believe our unsub is a white male of medium build, we believe this because all victims have been caucasian and although there have been cases of serial killers crossing racial lines, overwhelming statistics show he’s most likely white.” Luke begins, 

“He has come into contact with all eight victims including the two currently missing, he knew all of them suffered from schizophrenia and were recently released, he waited until they were no longer patients at the hospital , meaning he most likely has a close connection to Bennington Sanitarium and could be tied back to the crimes, if he works at the hospital it puts him between the ages of 25 and 50, he could be the janitor, a cook, any job like that.” 

“We don’t believe he has official medical training because the manner by which the lobotomies were performed lacks the professionalism a doctor could use, but he also demonstrates knowledge of schizophrenia and lobotomies in general, which shows he isn’t dumb, most likely can hold down a job.” 

“Important as well, we don’t believe this unsub necessarily means to kill the victims, he is attempting to help cure these victims of their schizophrenic symptoms, he may have experienced a loss caused by mental health issues or believes the treatment each of the victims received was inadequate.” Tara finishes the profile, all of the team stepping back into the other room. 

“Hey Garcia you’re on speaker with the whole team here” Rossi answers his phone, 

“Hey guys, this is just getting more and more strange, I finally got into the hospital records, it really seemed as though someone was hacking me from the inside, but I finally got in and here’s the kicker, all of the records of the victims have been deleted, who would even have access for that.” Garcia says. 

“Okay we’ll looks into that Garcia, can you start looking at anyone who fits our profile, has access to the records at Bennington, and has purchased items needed to perform an at-home lobotomy in bulk over the last few months, if the missing woman has somehow survived, this unsub needs at least elementary medical equipment in order to keep her alive, hopefully we’ll see it in his credit history.” Spencer instructs to Garcia before Rossi hangs up the phone. 

“You know who might have some knowledge about all of this, that guy from the hospital, I know the Dr. osaid he’s only worked there a few months but maybe he’s seen something, or maybe he’s noticed someone snooping around the online files, we need to go back to the hospital, Spence lets go.” Emily says. 

“So Dr., you’re saying Mr. Robbins hasn’t been to work since you sent him home when we were here last? That’s odd. What did you say his name was again?” 

“Anthony Robbins, like I said before, he’s an odd guy but does good work, no one around here knows him that well though.” Spencer and Emily nod their heads to each other before Emily calls Garcia, 

“Garcia I need a background check on an Anthony Robbins, stat, and send Rossi and Luke to his house, we need to talk to this guy fast, he knows something.” 

“Agents, are you thinking he could have anything to do with this? I can’t imagine Mr. Robbins doing any harm to any one, especially not the patients at this hospital, he is always the kindest to them, the schizophrenia patients in particular.” Another call from Garcia interrupts Emily and Spencer before they can answer. 

“Things are starting to look a little weird, Anthony Robbins, 37 years old, native of Las Vegas, was born to Linda and Christian Robbins, he had a happy childhood, no signs of trauma or abuse that I can see. He doesn’t have a record, juvie or adult, but his life did change when he was 10.” 

“What happened then Garcia.” 

“Reid stop interrupting me, you know how I like to tell my dramatic story. When Robbins was 10 his 7 year old brother Charlie was diagnosed with schizophrenia, when he was 18 he was put into care at a mental hospital, not Bennington but a close by hospital.” 

“Any interest in alternative schizophrenia treatments?” 

“As a matter of fact my dear genius yes, Robbins has been publishing articles for years, and I’m looking at his recent purchases right now, Robbins has been purchasing health care equipment as well as tools needed for an at-home lobotomy, Anthony Robbins is your unsub.”

“Hey Rossi, change of plans, the guy’s our unsub. You sure? Alright you guys stay there in case he comes back, the guy must have a secondary location.” Emily says before hanging up her phone. “Alright Reid that was Rossi and Luke, Robbins isn’t at home and it looks like he left in a hurry, there’s gotta be somewhere else he’s working, Rossi also said he wouldn’t be able to hold anybody in that tiny apartment, there’s no room and neighbors would hear.” 

“Okay let’s think, we profiled he may have suffered some sort of loss. Garcia do you see any type of loss in this guy’s recent history.” 

“Charlie Robbins, his schizophrenic brother, died two months ago.” 

“That’s right before the murders started, that’s gotta be the stressor.” 

“Garcia what hospital was the brother treated at?” 

“Uh, it looks like a place called Smith Sanitarium, he was there was there for almost 20 years.” 

“Smith! I know where that is, it’s scheduled for demolition actually, closed down about a month ago and has been abandoned since, it’s only about a 15 minute drive.” 

“That’s the secondary location, let’s go Reid.” Emily says, the two agents rushing out of the room. 

“Spence, the pancakes are ready.” Y/n says, pouring syrup over the stack, just the way Spencer always likes them. 

“Thank you so much Y/n, I don’t deserve you. I know talking about the case is supposed to make me feel better but I just feel like an idiot. I mean, he was right there the first day we were at the hospital, it was so obvious, why didn’t I see it?” 

“Spencer stop that right now, you can’t blame yourself for any of it, you met that man for less than a minute when your mind was focused on researching the victims, there was nothing about him that should have screamed 'mad scientist performing lobotomies to mourn the loss of his recently deceased schizophrenic brother’, you can’t blame yourself.” Y/n reassures her boyfriend while reaching up to rub his shoulder. He begins eating the pancakes in front of him, groaning slightly at the taste of food after going so long without eating. 

“I love you Y/n, not just because you’re amazing at making pancakes, seriously these are so good, but because you somehow always know how to make me feel better.” 

“That’s my job babe, personal pancake chef and make-Spencer-Reid-feel-better specialist, now tell me what happened next, it seems like you’re almost at the end.” 

10 hours earlier 

“Alright Reid, the rest of the team and Las Vegas police are on their way and will meet us as soon as they can, but you and I are going to be on the scene first, they’re significantly further away than we are, we’ll have to wait for them of course, this man may not be meaning to kill his victims, but he’s killed at least 6 people nevertheless.” Emily says, driving as fast as she can through Las Vegas towards the abandoned mental hospital, Reid quietly looking out the window. Emily is strapping her vest on when she sees Reid walking towards the hospital alone. 

“Reid, no! I told you, we need to wait for backup, it’s too dangerous!” 

“Emily you know how much I respect you, but there’s two victims in there and if they’re on the brink of death, an extra 10 minutes is not something we have, I’m going in.” 

“Damnit Reid” Emily whispers before running after him.

“Anthony Robbins, FBI put your hands up”, Reid loudly speaks as he walks into the hospital with his gun in the air, immediately seeing two victims in chains. 

“Dr. Reid, I’m so happy you’re here! Let’s put the gun down so I can show you the medical masterpiece I have accomplished.” Mr. Robbins says while holding what looks like a grenade in his hand. 

“Mr. Robbins I know you think you’re doing what’s right, but this isn’t what your brother would have wanted, these people did not ask for this, they were doing well with the medication, now I need you to put down the grenade and let these people go.” Sirens can be heard from outside and Emily appears behind Reid as well, noticing the grenade in the unsub’s hand, but Reid’s eyes are completely focused on the female victim, a woman with extreme similarity to his own mother. 

“It’s such a shame Dr. Reid, I thought you of all people would understand, seeing as you went to Mexico to research alternative medication for your own schizophrenic mother.” 

“That was different Mr. Robbins, I was attempting to research homeopathic remedies for dementia, not performing life-threatening surgeries on mentally ill adults.” Emily can tell that Spencer is getting angry, this case being too close to his personal life, they should be stroking this guy’s ego, not angering him. 

“Mr. Robbins, Emily Prentiss here, I think what you have done is magnificent! I actually want you to come with us, the rest of the world needs to see this!” 

“No, too late, Dr. Reid doesn’t appreciate my genius, so no one will be allowed to. Sorry, agents.” The man says before dropping the grenade. Emily grabs Reid, pulling him out of the hospital while he’s screaming, still not taking his eyes off the female victim. They make it out of the hospital just as it explodes, Reid staring back into the burning building in disbelief while Emily looks at the rest of the team, shaking her head. 

At this point in the story Spencer’s voice cracks, tears start welling in his eyes. “I should’ve saved them, it was completely my fault. He was a classic unsub with a god complex and I did exactly what they teach you NOT to do. I let my emotions get in the way and three people died because of it.” Spencer gets out before he starts crying completely. Y/n enveloping him in a hug and allowing him to cry into her shoulder. 

“Oh Spence, shh, it’s okay, that was not your fault. That man was holding a grenade, did you force his hand? Tell him to kill those victims, no.” 

“But we should’ve been able to save them, we profiled him exactly right, and I ruined it all by raising my voice at him, plus I didn’t wait for the backup we needed, I was too focused on saving a woman who reminded me of my mom.” 

“Spencer Reid, I need you to listen to me right now, look at me, okay, you can do that right? Look at me sweetheart.” Spencer lifts his head to look at Y/n, his teary eyes matching her sympathetic ones filled with love. “You, Spencer Reid, are a hero. You’re my hero, you’re a hero for your team, and you’re the hero of all the people you save every single day. Today was not a good day, but how many victims would that man have killed if your team hadn’t intervened. Today you didn’t save everyone, but if you stop now, you’ll never save anyone ever again.” Spencer and Y/n sit at the table holding hands in silence for longer than either of them care to count, before Y/n hears soft snores, realizing Spencer has fallen asleep in her arms, exhausted from the past days and the emotional release of reliving it all in their kitchen. “Come on Spence, let’s go to bed” Y/n gently shakes him awake and helps him to their bed, knowing that what Spencer needs is a good night’s sleep and a lot of love, which she is more than happy to give him, for the rest of her life even. 

[hillbillyoracle]

Teach Yourself Astrology with The Astrology Podcast

Have you ever wished you could take an in depth astrology class but you just don't have the funds right now? Or you're worried you won't be into it after a few lessons? Prefer videos to books?

Well lucky for you, The Astrology Podcast has a wealth of awesome episodes they've done to get you off to a running start. I've collected them all here and arranged them in the order I think makes the most sense.

There are two things they've not done a video (that I can find) that I think someone really needs to know - transits and how to read an ephemeris. But both are pretty easy to intuit if you have a certain basis of knowledge which this list certainly provides. When you find yourself wondering "okay but how to I find out when this is going to happen?" print off an ephemeris from astro.com and start flipping through it.

I know some of the times on these videos are intimidating, but deep astrological knowledge doesn't come quickly. Just sit down, take notes on a video (or a few) for an hour or two a day and before you'll seem like an expert to your friends. 

"What is Astrology?" [5:01] 

"The Four Major Branches of Western Astrology" [12:15] 

"The Major Traditions of Western Astrology" [16:29] 

"How to Calculate Your Birth Chart" [11:22] 

"How to Read a Birth Chart" [29:25] 

"Benefic and Malefic Planets" [13:30]

"Sect: The Difference Between Day and Night Charts" [8:01] 

"The Significations of the Seven Traditional Planets" [1:59:33] 

"The Whole Sign House System" [11:29] 

"Zodiac Sign Meanings Part 1: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo" [3:08:17] 

"Zodiac Sign Meanings Part 2: Libra, Scorpio Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces" [3:27:35] 

"Significations of the Twelve Houses - Part 1: Houses 1 - 6" [3:46:58] 

"Significations of the Twelve Houses - Part 2: Houses 7-12)" [3:24:34] 

"The Master of the Nativity: Finding the Ruler of the Chart" [3:22:05] 

"Nightlight Speaker Series: Kelly Surtees On Special Signatures in the Birth Chart" [2:14:59] 

"Relationship Placements in the Birth Chart" [1:58:36] 

"The Astrological Significance of Eclipses" [16:43] 

"Interpreting Solar and Lunar Eclipses in Your Birth Chart" [2:13:29] 

"Zodiac Sign Cusps: What Does It Mean to Born on a Cusp" [2:12:28] 

"How to Rectify Your Birth Chart and Find Your Correct Birth Time" [2:54:03] 

"Annual Profections: Finding the Ruler of the Year" [9:45] 

"Annual Profections: A Basic Time Lord Technique" [2:13:05] 

"Secondary Progressions with Kelly Surtees" [2:02:51] 

"Zodiacal Releasing: A Hellenistic Time-Lord Technique" [14:33] 

"Zodiacal Releasing: An Ancient Timing Technique" [4:33:49] 

"Essential Dignities and Debilities in Traditional Astrology" [2:26:13] 

"Electional Astrology: How to Find Auspicious Dates and Times" [3:10:25] 

[mintypineapple]

dw ask game 1-36 and 38-100 DON'T ANSWER NUMBER 37 I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT CRYING

DaThanks, anon who is probably @truestoriesaboutme!

CHILDHOOD

1. Did you like DW as a child?

Depends. What do you consider a child? I saw Doctor Who for the first time when I was 16 or 17. Does that count? Let’s say that it does. I did enjoy it.

2. Your age at the time of the revival?

16.

3. First DW episode you ever saw?

An Unearthly Child. I wanted to watch it all in order! Still do! My first New Who episode was “Blink,” as forced upon me by @raisegrate. I did enjoy it.

4. Did you have any of the toys?

I didn’t at the time, but I do now. I have a couple of screwdrivers, a Fourth Doctor, an Ice Warrior, and not-quite-Legos of Doctors 1-11. (-WD)

5. Which DW character did you play on the playground?

N/A.

6. Monster(s) that scared you most as a child?

N/A. Nothing scares me.

7. Joke/story you didn’t get as a kid?

N/A. I get all jokes/stories.

8. DW opinion that has changed since you were a kid?

That the only way to watch it was from the very beginning. I eventually gave in and watched New Who before finishing Classic Who.

9. Who introduced you to DW?

Pretty sure I heard about it initially on a forum I went to called The Douglas Adams Continuum. That’s when I started watching the First Doctor. Again, @raisegrate showed me my first New Who. Eventually, I started watching New Who in its entirety with @catastrofries and they started watching Classic Who with me for @rassilonwatchathon.

10. Did you like Sarah Jane Adventures as a child?

Didn’t even know it existed as a child. But I liked it as an adult.

Read more under the cut. There’s a lot!

DOCTOR

11. Who is your Doctor?

One. He’s the first I saw and I’ve went through some of his more than once, due to the podcast, so he has a special place in my heart.

12. Your favourite Doctor?

It varies depending on the day. I quite like Two, Eleven, and Twelve, though.

13. Least favourite Doctor?

Possibly 5 or 13? More because they don’t get a whole lot to do, than them being bad.

14. Best regeneration?

Technically speaking, there’s something about that first one that is still so good. Emotionally speaking, Two’s regeneration is terrifying and I quite like Twelve’s speech before regenerating.

15. Do you like “Doctor-Lite” episodes?

Yeah! They’re all pretty good! Even “Love and Monsters!” Yeah, I said it! (The end is bad, but the rest is good.)

16. Who is the most human Doctor?

One calls himself human a handful of times. Does that count? If not, definitely Five. He seems the most like a regular guy in a weird situation out of all of them.

17. Best multi-Doctor story?

The Day of the Doctor, for sure.

18. Best Doctor monologue?

Eleven’s speech to young Amy in “The Big Bang.” That episode is just solid all around.

19. What do you think TenToo/MetaCrisis Doctor is doing now?

He’s definitely fucked off somewhere and abandoned Rose. He runs a cat cafe that is definitely a front for something, but no one can quite figure out what.

20. Best Doctor/companion pairing?

One/Barbara, Two/Jamie, Three/Jo, Four/Leela, Five/Tegan, (haven’t seen enough of Six, any of Seven, and I honestly don’t remember the companion for Eight), Nine/Rose (that’s the only option!), Ten/Donna, Eleven/Amy-Rory, Twelve/Clara, Ruth/Thirteen.

COMPANIONS

21. Favourite companion?

Classic Who: This is hard. Jamie? Sarah Jane? Leela? New Who: Donna Noble.

22. Favourite secondary companion?

Not sure what this means exactly... My second favorite? If so, I gave three for favorite Classic Who, so one of them. New Who: Rory.

23. Least favourite companion?

Classic: Ben Jackson or Peri. New: Ryan.

24. Best TARDIS Team?

Classic: Two, Jamie, and Zoe. New: Eleven, Amy, and Rory.

25. Most underrated companion?

I love Steven Taylor. I feel like he doesn’t get mentioned enough.

26. Most overrated companion?

Probably gonna get some hate for this, but Romana II. She’s good and I like her, but I was expecting a lot more. I honestly prefer Romana I.

27. Favourite companion’s family?

I love Rory’s dad.

28. Who should have been a companion but wasn’t?

Kamelion. AM I RIGHT? But seriously, Amelia Rumford from “The Stones of Blood.”

29. Favourite (canon or non-canon) DW universe relationship?

Amy/Rory.

30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now?

I hated Tegan when she first came on, but now I love her.

EPISODES

31. Favourite episode ever?

“Heaven Sent.”

32. Least favourite episode?

“Time-Flight” gave me a literal headache.

33. Which episodes do you skip?

NONE. Of course, I’ve not done any rewatches. YET.

34. Best two-parter?

“The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” are the first New Who episodes that fully sold me on the show.

35. Historical, present day or futuristic episodes?

Give me the future and make it weird!

36. Episode that will always make you smile?

“The Myth Makers.”

37 HAS BEEN REDACTED.

38. Best run of episodes?

“Vincent and the Doctor” through “Day of the Moon” is pretty solid.

39. Best cliffhanger?

“Vengeance on Varos.” Hands fucking down.

40. Favourite Christmas special?

The answer to question 37. “A Christmas Carol.”

SERIES

41. Classic Who or New Who?

Yes please! (Though New Who will take this a little just because the pace is generally a lot better.)

42. Favourite series?

I’m not sure about Classic (I have a harder time thinking of them as different series), but New is definitely 5.

43. Least favourite series?

11.

44. Which series do you skip?

See 33.

45. Favourite series opening?

“The Eleventh Hour.” It’s just a lot of fun.

46. Favourite series finale?

“The Big Bang.” IT’S A GOOD SERIES.

47. Best series arc?

So I don’t sound repetitive and say Series 5 again, Clara’s arc in her last season is great.

48. Thoughts on series 11/12?

I find it largely boring and not well-written. Though there are some things I like! I love Ruth a bunch.

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen?

I’ve seen from “An Unearthly Child” to “The Two Doctors.” And the movie.

50. Who should have had another series?

Doctor: Nine. Or Eight. Or Ruth. Companion: Kamelion, but done better.

MONSTERS

51. Favourite monster/villain?

I love them Fuzzy Chicken Nuggets. (The Yeti.)

52. Most creative monster?

The Silence are an interesting concept.

53. Monster(s) that scares you most?

OAK AND QUILL from “Fury From the Deep.” Fuck those guys.

54. Monster you think is too easy to defeat?

I hate power level questions. Next.

55. Least favourite monster/villain?

I get really tired of the Daleks sometimes, y’all.

56. Monster you want to return?

Chumblies or quarks.

57. In your opinion, what makes a monster good?

The writing. You can do great things with most of them. Even the ones you dislike. Like, I hate the farting aliens, but they are occasionally used well.

58. Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels?

If I had to pick, I’d say... Cybermen. Daleks are very samey and loud. Weeping Angels get less interesting every time they are used. But there’s a human element to the Cybermen that, when utilized, can be very effective and unsettling.

59. Best Dalek story?

The one where Two rides around on ones he made nice.

60. Best one time villain/monster?

I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is in “Midnight.”

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

61. Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures?

SJA is more consistent, but the highs of Torchwood are higher.

62. Favourite Torchwood Team member?

Owen. But like... not season one Owen.

63. Which Torchwood death made you saddest?

See 62.

64. Do you rewatch COE or MD?

I haven’t rewatched anything yet. But I would rewatch COE before MD.

65. Favourite SJA Team member?

Clyde.

66. Mr Smith or K-9?

Mr. Smith is way more interesting. He had a villain arc!

67. Maria or Rani?

Rani.

68. Do you read the comics/novels or listen to Big Finish?

Some. I’m doing them as Patreon bonus episodes for @rassilonwatchathon​. I haven’t done much though.

69. If you do, your favourite additional stories?

“The Chimes of Midnight.” I’ve listened to it twice.

70. Do you like DW analysis (video essays, fan theories, etc)?

I do DW analysis for @rassilonwatchathon AND The Dipp. So yes. My fave is TARDIS Eruditorum, though.

I’LL ANSWER THE REST AT A LATER TIME. I MUST BE WITH MY PEOPLE NOW.

[fanfics4all]

The Piano Man

Request: Yes / No 

Requests are closed <3 Have a nice day/night

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader 

Word count: 3999

Warnings: TALK OF RAPE I will not be tagging anyone but do not read if you are triggered by rape! (This is based on season seven episode 12)

Y/N: Your Name 

Y/L/N: Your Last Name

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK! 

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you! 

Masterlist 

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

A long time ago I used to live in Houston. That was a part of my life that I never wanted to return to. But now, it looks like I had no choice. I had joined the BAU team in the FBI and our case was back in my hometown. 

“So Houston PD needs our boots on the ground for the Piano Man case.” Garcia said and I silently gulped. 

“The serial rapist?” Morgan asked. 

“A case we consulted on about eight months ago. Twelve victims over five years.” Hotch said and he glanced at me. He knew that I was one of those women that he had hurt, he was the only one that knew. Not even my boyfriend of one year knew, I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone else. Hotch needed to know because it came up on my psych eval, but that was the only reason. The local PD didn’t even know, I never reported it because I was scared… 

“He crosses racial and social lines, ages too.” He added and kept glancing at me, I knew the others noticed as well. 

“Power assertive?” Prentiss asked. 

“Knocks them out with a date rape drug, and binds them with piano wire…” Rossi said. 

“They wake up with no memory of the assault or how they got the permanent scar the wire leaves.” I said, managing to keep my voice leveled. 

“So he’s branding his victims. How does he dose them?” Prentiss asked. 

“Houston PD still isn’t sure ‘cause, you know, date rape drugs metabolize quickly, and he’s keeping them for twelve hours.” Penelope answered before I could say anything. To be fair, I have no memory of how he drugged me, so even I didn’t know. 

“So why are they calling us in now?” Morgan asked. 

“Because of these most recent attacks. This piece of work has elevated sick and twisted to a whole new dimension. Cases in point- Brittany Anderson filed a report after she woke up outside the restaurant she was abducted from, and Vanessa Campbell was just reported missing.” Penelope answered and my eyes widened. 

“Wait, those were victims two and five, weren’t they?” Spencer asked. 

“Yes. He’s going back and attacking survivors a second time.” Penelope confirmed. 

“Vanessa was grabbed from her house? He’s changing his M.O. from what we studied. He’s upping his game.” JJ said. 

“Well, we know he stalks them. But public venue abduction, he has the power. Home invasion, he’s on their turf.” Morgan said. 

“So he’s betting he can gain control before they get to a phone or a gun.” Spencer said. 

“The question is why? What is he getting from revisiting old victims?” Rossi asked. 

“It seems careless for someone who’s been so controlled up to now.” Hotch said. 

“What is this? On the floor?” Prentiss asked.

“Uh, that- oh, God, that is the contents of Vanessa Campbell’s stomach, which she ralphed up.” Penelope answered. 

“And in the glass?” Prentiss asked. 

“According to the police report, it is salt and water.” Penelope answered. 

“Homemade emetic.” Prentiss said. 

“E-what what?” Penelope asked. 

“Quick and dirty cocktail meant to induce vomiting.” Rossi answered. 

“Vanessa Campbell and her husband moved to a new address. They’ve put locks on the doors. They took precautions. She even knew what to do if she was dosed again, and it still wasn’t enough. That’s what he gets out of it.” Prentiss explained. 

“Their fear. He wants them to know that no matter what, he can still get to them.” Hotch said and I felt a chill run up my spine. 

Everyone was getting ready to get on the jet. I gathered my stuff up and headed to the jet early. I walked on and saw Hotch sitting there alone. 

“Hey.” I said. 

“Y/N, I’m glad you’re here. Sit.” He said motioning to the seat in front of him. 

“I don’t want you to go on the case.” He said and my eyes widened.

“Hotch, I’m fine.” I said and he shook his head.

“No, you’re not. You are too involved with this case.” He said and I shook my head. 

“This man is the reason I studied so hard for this job, I want to catch people like him and now I have the chance to catch this son of a bitch. Please don’t take that away from me.” I said and he started at me for a few minutes. 

“He’ll try and come after you.” He said and I nodded. 

“I know the risks, but Hotch I can promise you I’m okay. I’m not gonna let him scare me.” I said and he sighed. 

“Fine, but you listen to what I tell you and don’t try and find him on your own.” He said and I nodded. 

“I promise.” I said, although I knew I might not be able to keep it all that well. Hotch and Rossi were talking with the chief and JJ and Prentiss were interviewing the victims. Reid Morgan and I were sent to the latest crime scene. 

“Does Vanessa smoke?” Spencer asked her husband. 

“Yes, Vanessa smokes. What does it matter?” He asked. 

“It might explain how the unsub is drugging these women.” Spencer said and my eyes widened slightly. Thank God I quit. 

“The media has done a very good job of warning people to watch their drinks so that bars are no longer a fertile hunting ground, but cigarette smokers aren’t as careful. They might ask to have a cigarette from a stranger, or have their pack swapped out of their purse when they put it down and then unknowingly inhale PCP or scopolamine, both of which mimic the effects of date rape drugs.” Spencer rambled, it honestly was always so cute to me, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking that.

“She hid them in her purse. She didn’t think I knew. She cracked the windows so I wouldn’t smell it when I got home.” Mr. Campbell said. 

“You know, if the unsub stalked her from the backyard, he’d have a good view when she lit up.” Spencer said. 

“He also took out the window with something like a center punch.” Morgan said. 

“What’s that?” Mr. Campbell asked. 

“It’s a spring-loaded device used to punch divots into metal. It also breaks glass.” I explained as Spencer walked off towards the kitchen. 

“No cigarettes. He must have taken them with him to hide the evidence.” Spencer said while looking through her purse. 

“You know, it might not be all he’s trying to hide.” Morgan said. 

“What do you mean?” I asked him. 

“Mr. Campbell, was this on when you came home?” He asked. 

“The police told me not to touch anything.” Mr. Campbell answered. 

“Well, you sure got a lot of MP3s on here.” Morgan said scrolling through them. 

“Was it playing one of them?” He asked. 

“No. Why?” Mr. Campbell asked.

“The media center keeps a history of the last twenty songs that were played, but either you don’t listen to any of them or someone erased it.” I said catching on to what Morgan was thinking. 

“It wasn’t me.” Mr. Campbell said. 

“I’ll call Garcia.” Morgan said, pulling out his phone. 

“Whatcha need?” She answered. 

“Hey, there’s an MP3 player in the Campbell house, can you tell me anything about the erased history?” Morgan asked. 

“Okay, I can’t tell you who deleted that playback list, but I can tell you exactly when the log was cleared. 7:43 P.M..” She said. 

“Why erase a history of someone else’s music?” Spencer asked. 

“Because he didn’t erase someone else’s music. At 7:36, he loaned an MPS via USB drive, played it, and promptly deleted it.” She said, showing us on the Campbell’s T.V..

“Cleared the history so he could cover up his tracks.” She added. 

“The unsub brought his own music to an abduction?” I asked confused. 

“Yes, he did, and that is creepy. Fortunately, whatever is imported onto this computer downloaded the home network, so, ladies and gentlemen, the mystery song of Mr. Gruesome is…” She said and the music started playing. “That’s specific.” Spencer said. 

“That’s another reason to call this guy the piano man.” Morgan said. 

“Turn it off. Please.” Mr. Campbell said. Morgan turned it off.

“Does this song mean something to you or your wife?” Spencer asked.

“Vanessa hates it.” Mr. Campbell said and I gulped. 

“How come?” Morgan asked. 

“I don’t know. She doesn’t know. But every time it came on the radio, she’d burst into tears.” Mr. Campbell explained.

“So the unsub just happened to play it the night he came after her.” Morgan said. 

We got back and JJ and Prentiss brought the woman back in to see if they had songs that triggered them too. All of us were in the room the local PD had set up for us and looked at all the songs these women now hated. 

“Lady in Red, Up Where We Belong, Glory of Love. Each victim has her own piano ballad.” JJ said. 

“You know, considering the survivors lose consciousness during the rape, we think this functions as the unsub’s signature. He most likely plays the songs repeatedly during the assault, resulting in pavlovian response when they heard it later, sort of a subconscious rape trigger.” Spencer said. 

“The night of Vanessa Campbell’s abduction, that signature became part of his torture.” Rossi said. Hotch looked at me and I shook my head. 

“We need to know.” He said and everyone looked at me. 

“No.” I said. 

“Know what?” Spencer asked confused. 

“Y/N is one of the victims from the first time.” Hotch said. 

“Hotch!” I said and I felt everyone looking at me in shock. 

“So, what song is it?” He asked and I looked away from everyone. 

“Endless Love…” I said.

“So, why these songs? What do they say about him?” Hotch asked, but before anyone could say anything more his phone rang. 

“Go ahead, Morgan.” Hotch said. 

“We just found Vanessa Campbell’s body. He didn’t even bother hiding it.” He said and my eyes widened. 

“How long has she been dead?” Hotch asked. 

“Maybe five hours.” He answered. 

“He’s never killed before…” I said. 

“Are we sure it’s our unsub?” Spencer asked, he was clearly worried. 

“He used a piano wire as a garrote.” Morgan answered. 

“Alright, Morgan, you come back here, I’ll go to the coroner's office once they’ve looked her over.” Hotch said and hung up. 

“Keep working.” Hotch said and pulled me out of the room. 

“You need to go back home now.” He said and I shook my head. 

“I’m not going anywhere until he’s behind bars.” I said, standing my ground. 

“Y/N this is serious, he’s getting more confident, you need to leave.” He said. 

“Hotch is right Y/N.” Spencer said coming out of the room. 

“I’ll give you two some time to talk.” Hotch said and went back into the room. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked. 

“Because I wanted to forget about it. Hotch is the only one that knew because of my psych eval.” I said not meeting his eyes. 

“I can help you.” He said, gently touching my arms. 

“Spence, there’s nothing to help. The only thing I need to do is to catch him.” I said. He gently guided my eyes to look at his.

“I understand, but this is dangerous for you, he could try and come after you now and what if he kills you? I can’t lose you…” He said with tears in his eyes. 

“I promised Hotch I wouldn’t go looking for him alone and as hard as it is to keep that promise, I need to. Because if I ever see him again, I will kill him.” I said and Spencer’s eyes widened, but he saw the tears in my eyes. 

“I can’t let him get away with this again.” I said and a tear slid down my cheek. Spencer pulled me to him and held me close. 

“Just stay with me okay? I can tell Hotch that we need to stay together, I can protect you.” He said and I smiled. 

“You know, I think that’ll be better for the both of us.” I said and he smiled back. 

“I love you.” He whispered. 

“I love you too, now let’s get back to doing our job.” I said, but he stopped me. 

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you to go home?” He asked and I smiled slightly. 

“You know there’s not.” I said and he sighed, but nodded. 

We walked back in the room and Hotch said the three of us were going to the morgue. So we hopped in a car and headed there. They didn’t have too much to look over apparently. 

“Tissue inflammation is consistent with inhalation of some sort of drug. I can’t tell what yet.” The doctor told us. 

“And the ligature marks?” Hotch asked. 

“Same as before. New wounds on top of old scars.” The doctor said holding up the hand and I felt myself reach for my own wrists. 

“No sexual assault, though. Possibly because she regained consciousness at some point and fought back.” He added. 

“She doesn’t show any signs of defensive wounds.” Spencer commented. 

“No, but I did fish this out of her trachea.” The doctor said handing Spencer a bag. 

“Neoprene?” I asked. 

“From a glove. My best guess is she bit him.” The doctor said. 

“Not enough to break the skin, unfortunately.” He added. 

“An exam glove?” Hotch asked. 

“Most likely.” The doctor answered. 

“Actually, it’s a surgical glove. A little bit thicker than an exam glove. If he was wearing neoprene, it means he has an allergy to latex.” Spencer said. 

“I’ll have Garcia check hospital records.” Hotch said and left the room. 

“Thank you doctor.” I said and Spencer and I followed Hotch out. 

When we got back to the PD Hotch told Spencer and I to take a little break. I objected at first, but he said it was an order so we took a walk around the block. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” I said grabbing Spencer’s hand. 

“I understand why you didn’t.” He said. 

“I can hear him still you know…” I said and he looked at me confused. 

“What?” He asked. 

“He sang the song, I remember his voice. I was new to smoking so I wasn’t used to it yet. I was out with some friends and I went to smoke alone, when I tasted it, it tasted off so I got rid of it, but I blacked out after. I couldn’t open my eyes, but I could hear that song and him singing it…” I admitted. 

“We need to go back.” Spencer said and grabbed my hand. We ran back as fast as we could and we saw everyone sitting at a table. 

“Hey you guys are back, we got a suspect.” JJ said and we looked at her confused. 

“Y/N remembers his voice.” Spencer said and everyone’s eyes widened. 

“Let’s go, Prentiss you try and get him to talk. Hotch said and the four of us walked towards the investigation room. Emily went inside and started playing to his fantasies. 

“It’s not him.” I said. 

“He’s definitely assaulted Dianna though.” Prentiss said. 

“Arrest him for that, but he’s not the man that raped me.” I said and walked out of the room. 

“How can Herman Scodie not be the piano man? We’ve got the medical gloves, the medical record he pulled.” Rossi asked. We were all gathered in the room, after Hotch had sent JJ, Spencer, and Morgan to go check his house anyway. 

“The taunt he said to Diana Mitchell, he repeated to us.” Prentiss said. 

“Well, Scobie definitely assaulted Diana the second time. He’s probably re-victimizing all of the survivors.” JJ said. 

“But apply the profile to Herman Scobie, and look at what’s different. There’s no piano wire, and there’s no song played.” Morgan said. 

“You think there are two unsubs, the piano man and a copycat?” Hotch asked. 

“A copycat studies the original unsub in order to learn. Herman Scobie’s a doppelganger.” Spencer said. 

“He’s trying to pass himself off as the piano man.” I said. 

“Why?” Rossi asked. 

“Convenience, maybe. If he assaults the piano man’s survivors, they’re less likely to reach out to the police.” Morgan said. 

“And if they do, the women claim it was the piano man. No one thinks to look at hospital orderlies.” JJ added.

“So who killed Vanessa Campbell, the piano man or Scobie?” Hotch asked. 

“It’s a lay-up. Same neoprene glove in her throat as we found in Scobie’s van.” Rossi answered. 

“There’s something odd about that too, though. If Vanessa swallowed this it would be scarred by digestive acids. I mean, even if it got caught in her trachea as he choked her out, gastric reflux would be evident, but there isn’t any.” Spencer said. 

“So the unsub placed that in her throat postmortem.” I said. 

“Which unsub?” Prentiss asked. 

“He used the piano wire, he played the song, it must be the piano man.” Morgan said. 

“So he plants a piece of evidence to frame Scobie.” Rossi said. 

“Okay, let me get this straight. The piano man is trying to convince us that Scobie is responsible for all of these crimes.” Prentiss said. 

“And if these two have studied each other this closely, then Scobie is the key to finding the piano man.” Hotch said. 

“His lawyer’s here. Scobie’s not gonna talk to us.” JJ said. 

“He will when he finds out he’s been set up.” Hotch said. 

“Let me talk to him.” I said and everyone looked at me. 

“No way.” Hotch said. 

“If he’s studied the piano man he’ll know who I am. He’ll want to talk to me.” I said and Spencer shook his head. 

“No, we can’t let you do that.” He said. 

“Fine. I’ll go in with you. That’s the only way.” Hotch said and I nodded. 

“Hotch, you’re serious about this?” Spencer asked shocked. 

“She’s right, if he knows who she is then it might put him on edge.” He answered. 

“Let’s go.” He added and we walked inside. Herman and his lawyer looked up at us and I noticed Herman’s eyes flash with realization. 

“My client has nothing to say.” His lawyer said. 

“Good. We’d rather he listen anyway.” Hotch said. 

“You’re going away fro rape. The question is whether you’ll let your competition hang Vanessa Campbell’s murder on you as well.” I said. 

“I didn’t kill her.” Herman said. 

“I didn’t even touch her.” He added. 

“Herman.” His lawyer warned. 

“From what you’ve told us, we know exactly what you think of these women.” Hotch said. 

“You don’t need to kill them.” I said speaking as if I wasn’t one of them. 

“They’re not worth that much effort to you.” I said and he never took his eyes off me. 

“But the piano man can’t take that risk. When he’d heard what you’d done, he killed Vanessa Campbell.” Hotch said. 

“He went back to an old victim, just like you, but then he places a piece of neoprene down her throat. Does that sound like an accident?” I asked and he glared at me. 

“He’s setting you up.” I added. 

“I need to discuss this with my client.” The lawyer said. 

“No, he talks to us now, or he takes his chances with a jury.” Hotch said. 

“What do you want to know?” Herman asked, eyes still never leaving mine. 

“Who is he?” I asked and he smirked. 

“You should know, I know who you are.” He said leaning forward towards me. 

“His unknown victim. The one that didn’t report him.” He said.

“Who is he?” Hotch asked again. 

“I never met him. I just read about what he did in the hospital records.” He said looking up at me. 

“You were the only one that didn’t report him, but you came in with the same marks as those other women.” He said, looked at me again. 

“The weird thing though, I had three chicks picked out to do next. I was gonna start with Vanessa, but… He got to her first.” Herman said. 

“Who was the other ones?” Hotch asked. 

“Regina Lampert and Y/N Y/L/N.” He answered. 

“You’re going away for a long time.” I said and walked out of the room. Spencer grabbed me and pulled me to him. 

“It’s okay.” He whispered and kissed my head. We all met in the room and tried calling Regina. 

“Okay, guys, regina Lampert is not answering her phone, and I found something hinky on her, which I’m sending to your tablets.” Garcia said. 

“Alright, Garcia, what are we looking at?” Hotch asked. 

“It’s a surveillance video from the bar that Regina Lampert works at. Do you see the guy she’s talking to?” She asked.

“PLaying the piano. He’s taunting her.” Rossi said. 

“She knows it too. Look at her body language.” Hotch said. 

“Watch what happens when I fast-forward to closing time.” Garcia said and sped up the video. 

“She seems to warm up to him.” I said. 

“And then, watch this.” She said and the video changed to a different angle. 

“Garcia, freeze it right there.” Hotch said. 

“Look at her face. No, she doesn’t. She set herself up as bait.” Hotch said. 

“Credit card says that the guy at the piano is Hamilton Bartholomew. This is what I know, his wife just filed a missing persons report on him this morning. She directed me to some job he just applied for, so I got a background check from that where they did his fingerprints.” She said. 

“Alright, Garcia, pull Regina Lampert’s rape kit and cross-reference the prints found with Bartholomew’s, and see if you get a match. We need to get to her house.” Hotch said. 

“Sending her address to your GPS.” She said and then we hung up. We all left to get to her house. 

“Garcia, did she pick up?” Hotch asked, answering the phone. 

“No, but we did just get a 911 call from her house, and it is freaking weird.” Garcia said and then started playing the call. 

“911 operator. What’s your emergency?” A lady asked. 

“Hello?” She asked when no one said anything. 

“My name is Hamilton Bartholomew. I’m being held captive by a lunatic!” He said then a gunshot went off. 

“She took the piano man captive?” Prentiss asked. 

“Unless he’s not the piano man. I mean think about it. Would the piano man call us to rescue him?” Morgan asked. 

“She could be shooting at the wrong guy.” Rossi said. 

“No, it’s him.” I said. 

“What?” Spencer asked. 

“That’s his voice… I know it.” I said. 

“The lab just confirmed, it’s him.” Prentiss said. We pulled up to the house and everyone got out. 

“Y/N you stay out here, that’s an order.” Hotch said and I knew there was no fighting this on. 

“As long as I’m the one that puts the cuffs on him.” I said and Hotch nodded. They went in and Spencer stayed out here with me. Hotch and Prentiss came out with both of them and Hotch handed him to me. 

“Hamilton bartholomew, you’re under arrest for the rapes of thirteen women and the murder of Vanessa Campbell.” Hotch said and I put the cuffs on him. 

“It’s you…” He said to me. 

“I’m gonna make sure you stay in jail for the rest of your damn life.” I growled at him. Hotch took him from me and Spencer came up and held me tightly. 

“Should have let her pull the trigger.” I said. 

“Come on baby, let’s just go.” Spencer said and took me to the car. 

“He’s never gonna see light again, you know that.” He said. 

“But he’s still alive…” I said. 

“And I’ll be here for you, whatever you need.” He said and held me close. 

[thelittlesttimelord]

I had so, so many questions for DW Universe question game. Sorry if I trouble you. Number 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 17, 18, 21, 24, 28, 30, 31, 34, 36, 37, 40, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 56, 61, 64, 68, 70, 72, 75, 77, 78, 79, 81, 84, 88, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 100.

Well, here we go!

3. First DW episode you ever saw? 

I can’t actually remember. I know I kept seeing pictures of “Let’s Kill Hitler” on Pinterest and memes from series 6, so I just started watching. I started with Nine, so I’m pretty sure the first one was “Rose”.

6. Monster(s) that scared you most as a child? 

THE FUCKING SCARECROWS from “Family of Blood/Human Nature”. I fucking hate those things. The mannequins from “Rose” and the Snowmen are a close second though.

7. Joke/story you didn’t get as a kid? 

I didn’t really understand River’s story the first time around. I still don’t really, but it makes a bit more sense thanks to YouTube videos.

9. Who introduced you to DW? 

Like I said, I kept seeing things on Pinterest and started watching because of that.

11. Who is your Doctor? 

ELEVEN. But is anyone really surprised?

17. Best multi-Doctor story? 

50th Anniversary, but only because it’s the only one I’ve seen.

18. Best Doctor monologue? 

Shit. That’s a hard one. It’s a tie between Eleven’s final speech and Twelve’s angry one during the Zygone two-parter.

21. Favourite companion? 

Unlike most people, I really like Clara. I also love Bill. I wish she’d had more than one series.

24. Best TARDIS Team? 

Eleven, River, Amy, and Rory. I love their little space family.

28. Who should have been a companion but wasn’t? 

Oooo. I don’t know. So I’ll answer it this way, I would’ve liked to see some companions from RTD era meet Eleven.

30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now? 

Twelve. I stopped watching Doctor Who when Eleven regenerated, because I didn’t like what I saw in “Deep Breath” clips. When I went back and rewatched, I slowly fell in love with him.

31. Favourite episode ever? 

The Doctor’s Wife. I love seeing Eleven and his TARDIS interact. So many good one liners!

34. Best two-parter? 

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. Mostly because of River and the Doctor’s interactions. It also hits a lot differently now that we know River’s whole story.

36. Episode that will always make you smile? 

Vincent and the Doctor. I struggle with depression and anxiety, so I connect a lot with the story. I also live by the quote about life being a pile of good things and bad things.

37. Episode that will always make you cry? 

It’s a toss up between Doomsday and The Time of the Doctor. Doomsday because of that final scene between Ten and Rose and Time of the Doctor because of Eleven’s regeneration.

40. Favourite Christmas special? 

A Christmas Carol. It’s so bittersweet and I love the song at the end. Although I also kinda like Last Christmas because Twelve is such a mood.

42. Favourite series? 

I really love series 4, because of the shit Donna and Ten get up to. They have the best dynamic out of the Doctor/Companion relationships.

45. Favourite series opening? 

Eleventh Hour. It’s a perfect opener for Eleven. It shows off his personality and how much he will come to care for Amy.

46. Favourite series finale? 

I really like The Pandorica Opens/Big Bang.

47. Best series arc? 

I have to say “Bad Wolf” because none of us saw that coming. It was subtle and it was really clever.

48. Thoughts on series 11/12? 

Looks okay. I haven’t really watched it. I’ve seen clips and Thirteen seems like a sweetheart and Graham is a straight up MOOD.

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen? 

Absolutely none. I’ve seen clips here and there in YouTube videos and I know some storylines, but other than that I know nothing.

51. Favourite monster/villain? 

Probably the Daleks. But only because they’re so stupid sometimes. Like in Victory of the Daleks...HOW THE FUCK IS A DALEK GONNA MAKE TEA?!?!?!

53. Monster(s) that scares you most?

Weeping Angels.

56. Monster you want to return? 

I’d love to see the Doctor face off with the Midnight entity. Maybe she’d handle it a bit differently...

61. Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures? 

Torchwood. I’ve never seen it, but I feel like I’m too grown up for the Sarah Jane Adventures.

64. Do you rewatch COE or MD?

I think given the choice, I’d probably rewatch Miracle Day because I know what happens in Children of Earth and it breaks my heart(s).

68. Do you read the comics/novels or listen to Big Finish? 

I want to read some of the comics, but they’re hard to find in physical form. I have read some of the novels and I listen to Big Finish. I will take my Doctor Who in whatever form I can get it.

70. Do you like DW analysis (video essays, fan theories, etc)? 

Oh yes. Those are my favorite kinds of videos.

72. Favourite piece of Murray Gold music? 

Either Eleven or Clara’s theme music. Eleven’s theme is so epic, while Clara’s is flighty and whimsical.

75. Favourite Doctor outfit? 

I’m a sucker for Eleven’s classic tweed and red bow-tie, but i also like Twelve’s look in series 9 (the old rocker look).

77. Best show runner? 

I feel like if I answer this, I’ll be shot so I’ll say each show runner has brought something different to the show (whether that be good or bad). They’ve left their mark in a unique way.

78. Best writer? 

Neil Gaiman, hands down. Or maybe Mark Gatiss. I love every one of their episodes.

79. Best opening titles?

Series 5. I hate the voiceover Amy has in series 6.

81. Time period you’d want to go with the Doctor? 

Chicago in the 20′s. I’d wanna meet mobsters like Al Capone.

84. Companion you’d most like to travel with? 

Donna or Martha. I feel like we’d get along pretty well.

88. Historical figure you’d like to meet? 

Anne Boleyn. I admire her so much.

91. Historical event would you like to see in DW? 

Maybe the French Revolution. Don’t know why. I just think it’d be cool.

92. Issue you’d like to see addressed in DW? 

Maybe more about sexuality. We have Jack, who is Pansexual and Bill, who is a lesbian. But they kinda just go “this is this character’s sexuality and that’s that.” I’d like to see them go into it a bit more and maybe have companions with different sexualities. Like maybe an Ace companion. Or have a Transgender companion. I guess just more diversity really.

94. One unanswered DW question you’d love to know the answer to? 

HOW DOES JACK BECOME THE FACE OF BOE. I need to know this before I die.

95.  Actor/actress you’d like to see play the Doctor? 

Tom Hiddleston. Because if he kept his natural hair color, the Doctor would finally be ginger.

96. Actor/actress you’d like to see play a companion?

I’d like to see another American companion (besides Jack), but I’d never really thought about it.

100. If you could write an episode of DW, any ideas for what you’d do? 

Well Gallifrey “stands” now right (disregarding what the Master did in series 12)? I’d like to see the Doctor go back to Gallifrey and maybe find his family. I’d like to see his Timelord wife and maybe his children because they’re not dead now. I really just want the Doctor to be happy. Is that too much to ask for?

[alicedoessurveys]

Doctor Who Tag

yes im a nerd...

CHILDHOOD

1. Did you like DW as a child?

I was 10 when it came back on telly with Eccleston and the first episode with the autons scared me so much my mom wouldn't let me watch it again until a couple years later, but yeah my teens I was obsessed with DW... still am at age 25

2. Your age at the time of the revival?

10

3. First DW episode you ever saw?

‘Rose’

4. Did you have any of the toys?

I still have the eleventh doctor’s screwdriver... I used to have some of the figures but there in storage now somewhere

5. Which DW character did you play on the playground?

didn't play it on the playground

6. Monster(s) that scared you most as a child?

all of them! the ones that still scare me now are the Cybermen and the Autons... genuinely cant walk past a shop mannequin without being suspicious 

7. Joke/story you didn’t get as a kid?

as a kid, any of the innuendo type jokes

8. DW opinion that has changed since you were a kid?

idk I think I still have the same opinions

9. Who introduced you to DW?

parents

10. Did you like Sarah Jane Adventures as a child?

I LOVED SJA!! I miss that show, and Elizabeth Slade :(

DOCTOR

11. Who is your Doctor?

Ten was the doctor that made me fall in love with Doctor Who 

12. Your favourite Doctor?

omg why not just ask me who my favourite child is... (I don't have kids but you know what I mean) if I had to chose my top three are ten, eleven and thirteen

13. Least favourite Doctor?

purely just because he doesn't have enough episodes... nine...

14. Best regeneration?

none of them I hate regenerations :( they make me sad, im too emotionally invested in every single one

15. Do you like “Doctor-Lite” episodes?

they're not my faves

16. Who is the most human Doctor?

I think nine maybe? or twelve?

17. Best multi-Doctor story?

the 50th anniversary special 

18. Best Doctor monologue?

“Hello Stonehenge! who takes the pandorica, takes the universe. but bad news everyone, cause guess who? HA! You lot you're all whizzing about- its really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute because I AM TALKING. Question of the hour is, who's got the pandorica? Answer, I do. Next question, who's coming to take it from me? Come on, look at me! No plan. No backup. No weapons worth a damn. oh and something else, I don't have anything to lose. So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship with all your silly little guns and you've got any plans on taking the pandorica tonight... just remember who's standing in your way. remember ever black day I ever stopped you and then- AND THEN- do the smart thing... let somebody else try first.”

not copied and pasted, remember that from the top of my head... its always there waiting in my mind incase I ever need an epic monologue :’)

19, What do you think TenToo/MetaCrisis Doctor is doing now?

hopefully living his best life with Rose

20. Best Doctor/companion pairing?

ten and donna 

COMPANIONS

21. Favourite companion?

Donna, Clara, Amy

22. Favourite secondary companion?

is Mickey classed as secondary? idk

23. Least favourite companion?

Ryan

24. Best TARDIS Team?

Doctor, Amy and Rory

25. Most underrated companion?

Graham, but that may just be cause I love Bradders

26. Most overrated companion?

Rose... I like her but idk, I think she gets more hype than she deserves.. don't @ me

27. Favourite companion’s family?

Rose’s mom

28. Who should have been a companion but wasn’t?

idk I cant think of anyone

29. Favourite (canon or non-canon) DW universe relationship?

Amy and Rory

30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now?

wasn't keen on Bill at first but by the end I really liked her, same with Rory

EPISODES

31. Favourite episode ever?

girl in the fireplace

32. Least favourite episode?

most of Chibnall’s episodes tbh sorry not sorry 

33. Which episodes do you skip?

the regeneration episodes

34. Best two-parter?

Human Nature - Family of Blood

35. Historical, present day or futuristic episodes?

I like them all in there own way but I think present is fave, then historical, then future

36. Episode that will always make you smile?

all of them

37. Episode that will always make you cry?

Rory and Amy’s last episode :’(

38. Best run of episodes?

ugh I cant answer this theres too many 

39. Best cliffhanger?

the end of Spyfall part one when the Master reveals who he is... I was SHOOK

40. Favourite Christmas special?

Voyage of the Damned

SERIES

41. Classic Who or New Who?

new who

42. Favourite series?

four or five

43. Least favourite series?

eleven, I just cant with the writing

44. Which series do you skip?

none

45. Favourite series opening?

eleventh hour

46. Favourite series finale?

Doomsday

47. Best series arc?

Bad Wolf

48. Thoughts on series 11/12?

I adore Jodie Whittaker and her doctor, and although I think 3 companions is too many I do love Yaz and Graham (Ryan is hit & miss). I just think theyve been massively let down by the stories/writing... they’ve tried to hard to tick certain boxes and completely missed what Doctor Who is about for a lot of people.. an escape from the real world into these outrageous unbelievable but lovable fun alien adventures 

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen?

not a lot

50. Who should have had another series?

NINE NINE NINE NINE NINE 

MONSTERS

51. Favourite monster/villain?

the master 

52. Most creative monster?

Weeping Angels, whoever came up with monsters that look like statues and only move when you're not looking at them is genius 

53. Monster(s) that scares you most?

Autons, Cybermen, the creepy dolls from Night Terrors, the ones from Waters of Mars, Weeping Angels

54. Monster you think is too easy to defeat?

idk

55. Least favourite monster/villain?

absorbaloff

56. Monster you want to return?

The Master, I really hope that isn't the last we see of Dhawan

57. In your opinion, what makes a monster good?

being genuinely scary, 

58. Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels?

Weeping Angels

59. Best Dalek story?

Daleks in Manhatten

60. Best one time villain/monster?

my brain has gone blank I cant think of an answer right now 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

61. Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures?

SJA

62. Favourite Torchwood Team member?

I haven't watched it all so I couldn't say 

63. Which Torchwood death made you saddest?

again, not watched it all 

64. Do you rewatch COE or MD?

huh

65. Favourite SJA Team member?

Sarah Jane

66. Mr Smith or K-9?

K-9

67. Maria or Rani?

Rani

68. Do you read the comics/novels or listen to Big Finish?

Nope

69. If you do, your favourite additional stories?

n/a

70. Do you like DW analysis (video essays, fan theories, etc)?

yes

DESIGN/PRODUCTION

71. Favourite piece of alien tech?

the sonic, I love how it is so multipurpose except for when it comes to wood 

72. Favourite piece of Murray Gold music?

I am the Doctor - gets me pumped every time 

73. Favourite TARDIS design?

Ten’s Tardis 

74. Has the 2005 era CGI aged well?

actually yeah, I was rewatching the ‘are you my mummy’ episodes the other day and my God when the gas masks emerged from the faces... ooooooof I was like omg how 

75. Favourite Doctor outfit?

eleven or thirteen

76. Monster with the best design?

not really a design more of a costume.. I live Dhawan master’s costume. that shade of purple, oof he so stylish 

77. Best show runner?

idk

78. Best writer?

Gatiss

79. Best opening titles?

eleven’s titles where the Tardis is flying and being zapped is cool but thirteens music hits different 

80. Will DW age well/stay popular in the future?

I hope so, I feel like its lasted this long surely it can last forever.. if the writers don't fuck it up... 

IF YOU WERE IN THE SHOW

81. Time period you’d want to go with the Doctor?

whatever time means Id get to wear the most beautiful costumes

82. Planet/place you’d want to go with the Doctor?

Galifrey, pre-desctruction

83. Doctor you’d most like to travel with?

any of them, please and thank you

84. Companion you’d most like to travel with?

donna, sceso a good laugh but also I feel like she’d look after me 

85. Monster you’d like to defeat/fight?

The Master 

86. If you could go back on your own history (like Father’s Day), where would you go?

back to when I was a toddler, I wanna see what I was like 

87. If you could ask the Doctor anything, what would you ask?

theres too many to ask 

88. Historical figure you’d like to meet?

Shakespeare

89. How do you think you’d meet the Doctor?

id probably be rescued from doing something stupid and then the doc would be like you know what the bitch clearly needs supervision she's coming with me 

90. Would you travel forwards or backwards in time first?

backwards

IF YOU MADE THE SHOW

91. Historical event would you like to see in DW?

Hamilton

92. Issue you’d like to see addressed in DW?

idk 

93. Who would you completely erase from the DW universe?

Ruth

94. One unanswered DW question you’d love to know the answer to?

where is Clara now?

95. Actor/actress you’d like to see play the Doctor?

Phoebe Waller Bridge (or Lin Manuel Miranda)

96. Actor/actress you’d like to see play a companion?

Andrew Scott (yes I did just basically recast fleabag and hot priest)

97. Is DW “too political”?

series 11 got a bit like that 

98. Which characters fate would you changed?

Danny Pink

99. What about DW could be improved?

I think ive made my options about Chibnall pretty clear... 

100. If you could write an episode of DW, any ideas for what you’d do

bring back Jenny, the Doctor / Daughter adventures they would have. I’m actually writing a fic about it if you wanna read.... here

[twelvedimensional]

For DW ask - 17, 21, 30, 36, 51, 56, 75, 81, 83 and 84 please!

17. Best multi-Doctor story? oh this is hard to pick. the five doctors was the first classic who story i watched (yeah i know great place to jump in lol) so it holds a special place in my heart, but i have so many fond memories of watching day of the doctor w a good friend of mine on the day it aired so that one wins out! (fond memories include SCREAMING AT THE TV haha) 21. Favourite companion? in terms of story arc, clara! i loved her to begin with but i think it’s fascinating how her character evolved and became more doctor-y -- including the more negative traits that entailed. in terms of sheer “I Love Them” vibes it has to be amy and rory (they come as a unit, do not argue) 30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now? i (tragically) HATED jo when i started going through the three era -- i thought she was just the prime example of the screaming female companion archetype but joke’s on me because she absolutely is not! she’s such a sweetheart; how can i hate on her?? 36. Episode that will always make you smile? the eleventh hour is my go-to comfort episode! i literally always watch it when i’m down 51. Favourite monster/villain? ok yeah yeah the daleks the cybermen the master are all well and good but you know who i go wild over? omega from the three doctors. i ate that up, no clue why, but angry petulant disembodied alien in an antimatter universe? in THAT ridiculous hat? amazing incredible iconic 56. Monster you want to return? 

i want whatever the hell the solitract was in “it takes you away” to come back. powerful lonely consciousness trapped in another universe that chooses to manifest itself as a frog? it’s peak doctor who no one can change my mind

75. Favourite Doctor outfit? twelve’s velvet coat is something i would long to wear if i could pull it off,,, also 3 and 6 get honorable mentions for simply being iconic 81. Time period you’d want to go with the Doctor? not to be like rose or yaz but i would want to see my parents and grandparents when they were younger!! 83. Doctor you’d most like to travel with? twelve, hands-down (eleven is “my doctor” yeah but i don’t trust him at all lmao)!!  84. Companion you’d most like to travel with? BILL!! she’s wonderful i love her and can you imagine travelling w the dream team of her and twelve??

[amicuscordis]

At Least You Don’t Want To Kill Me

Read it on ao3!

Fighting the elusive Green is a pain in the ass, but at least Lance gets to crash with his awesome roommate Pidge afterwards. After a nasty battle with the Blue Paladin, Pidge faces the idea that maybe there is no one who cares if she makes it home at the end of the night.

Rated T for some violence and swearing

Tags: Alternate Universe, that one au where one's a hero and one's a 'villain' but as civilians they're oblivious roommates, Injury, Blood, but not much

Check out the amazing art for this fic by the talented Shii here!

Thanks to Oxto for betaing for me, and @planceminibang​ for letting me participate! This first part focuses on Lance’s side of the story. Pidge’s will be coming soon.

At Least You Don’t Want To Kill Me, Chapter 1

Before the car had completely stopped, Lance was stumbling out of it, teetering on cigarette butts and plastic bottles that lined the drains. Shiro reached from the backseat and out the passenger door, catching Lance’s arm before he could completely fall. “You good, Lance?”

Lance yanked his arm away from Shiro, nearly falling over again in the process, and slammed the door shut. Hunk, watching from behind the wheel, was already rolling down the window. “I’m offended, honestly,” Lance announced, gesticulating with his longs arms as he paced in a small circle. “He’s never tased me hard enough to knock me out before. Whatever happened to that good ol’ nemesis bond?”

“It means he felt threatened,” Shiro said, pulling his arm back into the car. He was not supposed to even be in the car, much less the city, but when Hunk had set out to take Lance home, Shiro had reasoned that in a vehicle in the dark, who could identify the missing Kerberos pilot? “You and Keith will get him next time.”

Or the kid would just find a new way to outthink them again. Lance shoved his hands into his pockets, shrugged. Shiro and Hunk shared a look. For a terrifying three seconds, Lance thought Hunk might be about to try to argue to come inside with him, as if Lance’s getting pissed off at an alien-aided villain was reason to mark him an invalid. That spoiled the spirit of hanging out, though, and made the usually social Lance just want to be alone.

Well, not entirely alone, but she was a special case.

Whatever concerns Hunk had, he decided to let it go. Stuck to the car, Shiro had no choice but to follow. Hunk hunched over so he could give Lance a solid look out the window. “Call me before executing any stupid ideas, okay?”

“Sure, whatever.”

Hunk kept his stare on Lance, as if to reaffirm that he meant it, then rolled up the window and pulled away from the curb. Lance waited until they turned out of the parking lot onto the main road, taking the time to kick one of the plastic bottles at his feet. It ricocheted off the curb into his shin. He flipped it off.

No lights came through the window of the second-floor apartment. He fumbled with the keys, brain not entirely computing which way to put it into the lock. Damn headache. He rubbed at his forehead as at last the lock turned, the door opened, and he could limp inside. “Pidge, I’m home!”

Not that he expected a response, considering the off lights, but it still squeezed at his chest. He had to come home licking his wounds and his roommate was not even there to make fun of him and then bandage him up.

He trudged into the bathroom, wincing at the fluorescent lights when he flipped the switch. “Stupid Green, stupid Keith. . .”

Keeping jacket and shirt intact, he shirked his shoes and jeans and beheld himself in the mirror. Right below his boxers was the bandage, a white square to cover the cut and surrounding burn left behind by Green. Shiro had not been wrong about Green feeling threatened. For weeks, Lance had been the only one sent to capture him, but with that obvious failure, and Green progressively gathering more and more information on the Kerberos mission and who knew what else with each venture into the Garrison, Allura had finally sent Keith to join him. The tag teaming had almost worked: Lance had got a nice shot in the shoulder of Green’s armor, and then Keith had got him with the hilt of his sword, right at the rib cage on his left side. So damn close, if Green hadn’t managed to tase Keith, and then tase Lance while he freaked out over Keith going down. “Stupid, stupid. . .”

He wanted to take the bandage off. Mostly to see the burn and shallow cut for himself, since Coran had patched him up still unconscious. There was also maybe a small part that wanted Pidge to help him bandage it up again when she got home. But who could guess when that would be? He was too tired to do it again himself. Tired and headachey and maybe a little sulky. He kicked his jeans into the corner of the bathroom, slapped the light switch down, and trudged out into the kitchen.

In the fridge, he dug around for some leftovers that were semi-edible. He couldn’t remember whose turn it was to buy groceries and whose it was to clean old food out of the fridge but they both had been slacking. Maybe he would ask Pidge if they should just do it all together tomorrow, because gods that sounded better than going back to the hidden Castle of Lions to hear Allura go on about how Green must be gathering intel for the Galra, because the technology Green used was far too advanced for Earth, what was the point of any of their defensive prep if the Galra already knew how to wipe out the Garrison when they would first invade, you must do better to stop him, Lance! At least now Keith would get to look as sour as Lance always felt.

Leftover alfredo it was. Except he was too damn tired to warm it—the microwave clock warned it was past two in the morning, and being knocked out didn’t count as sleep—so he took a fork and fell onto the couch to eat it cold.

“Oh, fuck, fuck, mistake—” Lance wiped his tongue on his sleeve as he tossed the alfredo onto the coffee table and took the remote instead. Who really needed food, anyway? When he turned on the TV, it was set for the next episode of Legendary Defender from where he and Pidge had left off the night before. He clicked around for something light—Garfle Warfle Snick, why not—and as it started to play, blindly reached around the couch until he found a throw blanket and pulled it up around his shoulders, the tip of it brushing his nose. It smelled just a little more like Pidge than the rest of the apartment did. He looked to the door.

By the end of the episode, she still had not come in. Another episode, still no Pidge. Which was fine. Her whereabouts at late hours were far from the only secret about her. He had quite a few questions—Where do you actually work? Who’s the Matt you looked startled you mentioned that one time? Do we have to go to our rooms tonight or can we camp on the couch together?—but they operated under a no questions policy. He didn’t ask about her private life, he didn’t have to tell about how he’s actually working with two aliens from some planet called Altea to prepare Earth’s defenses for an invasion that’s due in some eight months.

The blanket still around his shoulders, he stumbled to his room, patting at his pockets for his phone. It had been at twelve percent when he armored up to take on Green. He had not touched it once since then but he would not be surprised if it were already dead.

When he plugged it into the charger next to his bed, he found staring at him a clock reading 3:24—and several notifications from Pidge.

[1:36] Missed Call

[1:41] Can you come get me?

[1:53] Lance please respond

“Shit!” He pressed the call, set the phone to his ear, and pulled the charger’s cord to its limit as he stretched for pants and another pair of shoes. She answered on the third ring. “Shit, Pidge, are you injured?” She had always had her own scrapes when she came home at night, but again, don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t mention that you kind of adore getting to help her bandage up, but god if she was really hurt this time—

“I’m at the parking garage on Olkarion Avenue.”

Lance held the phone between his ear and shoulder to tie his sneakers. Two blocks from the apartment. She didn’t have a vehicle, always using public transportation, that Lance knew of. What the hell was she doing there? Was she mugged? Don’t ask, don’t tell. “I’m coming. My phone’s at—” He freed a hand to look at it. “—two percent. It died and I just got it to a charger, I’m so sorry. I have to leave it, be watching for me, okay?”

“Okay.”

He couldn’t hang up. Fortunately, she did, and then with only his keys he ran out the door and down the stairs. His thigh began to burn all over again, irritated at the movement, but still he sprinted all the way to Olkarion Avenue. When he slowed to look for her, the world was spinning, and he had to hold onto the ticket dispenser for the garage to keep from toppling. He would have missed her, tucked away in the shadows between the cement wall and a trashcan just beyond the exit, if she had not called his name.

When her hand dipped into the light to grab at the rim of the trashcan, he saw the muscles in her arm strain as she failed to pull herself up. In another moment, he was at her side, dipping his shoulder under hers to pull her up. But as their sides pressed into each other, she yelped and lurched away from him, slamming her right shoulder into the wall of the garage. Her shout echoed in the vast parking lot as she grabbed at the shoulder, curling back into herself on the ground.

Helpless, Lance spared a glance around the garage, to assure no one was around, then knelt in front of her. “How can I help? What’s wrong with your shoulder?”

She was back in the shadows, but he could still see, could still feel, her grimace. “I may have had to pop it back into place.”

“What—” Don’t ask, don’t tell. “—the hell. Do you need a doctor?”

“No,” she stated, too firmly. “Let’s just go home.”

Pidge still could not stand on her own, but holding her up without some pressure on one of the pained areas was near impossible. It was concentrated in two places: her right shoulder, and her left side around her ribcage. Her legs were sore but fine, so after he pulled her to her feet she could walk with just holding on to him for support, seething at any disturbance to the wounds. As they stepped into the light, Lance saw her green shirt sticking to the hurt on her side by spots of blood.

The stairs were the hardest; she was rasping curses by the time they made it to their door. Pidge was the one who shut and locked it behind them, an action Lance had forgotten in lieu of trying to get her to the bathroom. He felt his mouth going dry. Sure, it was only two blocks to walk, but she could have called an Uber or something, but she had stayed hidden from public transportation, and now she was locking the door, as if someone was following her, and—

With him spaced, she tried to walk to the bathroom alone, though winced and nearly fell. Lance caught her arm, let her hold onto him as they crossed the apartment. He seated her on the covered toilet, then pulled out the first-aid kit. His face burned as he remembered wanting her to come home and patch him up earlier, like blood and bandages were just a mode of his one-sided flirtation.

By the time he set the kit on the corner of the counter, she had pulled her shirt up to show the wound on her side. The bruise covered a large circle, from the bottom of her ribcage up to her sports bra. The cut itself was small, and not nearly so bad as the blood on her shirt had made it seem. Not deep, just a shallow scrape that ripped off some of the skin.

Lance was no expert in injuries. A few months ago, he had been even worse. But three months of being a paladin, he had learned what an impact against armor looked like. He swallowed thickly. “Okay. Okay. Does it hurt to breathe?”

“Kind of.”

Her shaky breaths that she did not let get too deep meant that it was probably more than kind of. She was gripping the toilet paper roll, distorting it in her hand like a stress ball.

Lance looked across her ribs, where he was becoming more and more confident something had smashed against a chest plate. And he hated that he might know what it was and loved that he was not allowed to ask. “Doesn’t look broken or warped. May I?”

When she nodded, he ghosted his fingers across ridged skin. She held her breath the entire time, grimacing only when his fingers trailed over the sticky cut. “Doesn’t feel broken either. Not that I’m an expert, it just, seems like a normal ribcage. Probably just bruised. I can’t wrap it, but we’ll get it cleaned up, okay?”

She squeezed the toilet paper tighter, but nodded. “Yeah, sure, fine.”

Though Pidge grimaced as the antiseptic dotted over the cut, she didn’t make a sound. Sure, she had much worse pains to focus on, but in her silent pain Lance only saw Green’s body stopped mid-motion by Lance’s shot, jerking and collapsing silently as if already blacked out from shock or pain, and Keith hadn’t even smashed their rib cage with his sword yet. As he pressed the bandage over the cut, lightly pressing the sticky part down on her bruises, his eyes went to her shoulder, to the edge of purple skin sticking out under her collar.

It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me.

Of course it wasn’t. The injury to her side could easily be explained by running into a lamppost or something, same with her shoulder. Pidge maybe had issues with authority, and dabbled in conspiracy theories, but same for everyone else their age. She was a genius, but he had absolutely no reason to believe she would want to work with the Galra or break into the Garrison.

He had no reason to believe she wouldn’t want to do those things either. It struck him with nausea that he didn’t really know his roommate at all.

He put the bandage and antiseptic back in the kit, put his hand on the top, about to close it, but waited. “O-Okay.” He winced at his own stutter. “Can I look at your shoulder too?”

She was already pulling her shirt back down. “Skin didn’t break.”

“You dislocated it, Pidge.”

“I didn’t do anything.” A near confirmation that she earned this in a fight. God he wished she hadn’t said that. “I’ll lift my arms, you pull it off.”

He said he wanted to see her shoulder, but he didn’t actually want to, and hesitated to grab the hem of the tee when she lifted her arms. Her right arm could not get as high as the left. In her pain, she gave him a tense look to hurry the fuck up. He did, taking the hem, lifting her shirt but hesitating when the first of the bruise came into sight on her collar. His stomach flipped. He pulled it the rest of the way before Pidge could complain.

No puncture, just a round splotch of purple and blue and yellow on her shoulder and collar, all emanating from the precise spot he had been aiming.

“Christ, Pidge,” he breathed. “I’ll... I’ll get you one, a shirt, get you a shirt, without blood on it.”

He had not even examined it, a fact that made Pidge squint at him. “Okay… Can you get one that buttons in the front? I don’t want to try lifting my arms again, that hurt like hell.”

“Sure.” His voice sounded distant even to him. He swallowed down bile as he drifted from the bathroom, across the hall into his own room. He dropped the shirt on the floor. Folded himself at the foot of his bed. The world was wrong, like reality had shifted over three feet and nothing he touched was right anymore and his roommate wasn’t his roommate.

Not an hour ago he had been on the verge of passing out from exhaustion, but now the adrenaline had him shaking in a nervous high that he wasn’t sure he could ever come down from. Still twisted on the floor, he stretched his gangly arm to the bedside table. He managed to curl one finger around the cord and pulled the charging phone into his hand. Open the contacts. Find Keith. His finger hovered above the symbol of the little green phone.

Time was as unreal as the apartment they shared. He could never tell how much had passed when he heard her voice. “Lance? You okay?”

He locked the phone on Keith’s contact, yanked it off the charger, and shoved it into his pocket as he stood. “Yeah, one sec.” He stopped in the door of his room, remembered his mission, and returned to his closet. He grabbed the first buttoned shirt he could find, a blue and black plaid thing that was pretending to be flannel. By the time he made it back to the bathroom, the world had stabilized, and yet all had an almost fuzzy, numb aspect to it, and Pidge seemed too far away for him to actually give her the shirt as he passed it into her hand.

Wary of her shoulder, she put her arms in the sleeve, and then with only one hand buttoned the shirt. The process would be slow just from buttons’ known stubbornness versus one unaccustomed human hand, but crawled as she kept looking up to where he occupied the doorway, her expression growing in suspicion with each glance. “You’re acting weird.”

“I’m no medic,” he said, the diversion smooth across unfeeling lips. “You’re probably going to lose an arm or something.”

“It hurt so bad at first I thought it got blown off.” She grinned, mischievous, as if her sincere statement were something hilarious. Lance didn’t laugh. “If it falls off, I can just make a prosthetic.” When even that failed to get a reaction, her lips twisted, sour at the defeat, and she kept her eyes down to finish buttoning the shirt. “Anyway, want to watch Legendary Defender?”

He offered her a hand and she took it. Once she was situated on the couch he fixed ice packs for her ribs and shoulders. Legendary Defender played. He missed all of it. Pidge took over an hour to nod off, kept awake by sharp pain whenever she began to breathe too deeply. The sky was already colored by the time he was sure she was asleep, her head tilted back into the couch cushions and mouth hung open. He whispered her name. With no response, he stood, walked into the kitchen, and propped himself on the counter. Keith’s contact was still up when he pulled out his phone.

“Hello?” The great Red Paladin’s voice was groggy and more than a little irritated. Normally, Lance expected, Keith would be up with the sun, but he was probably trying to sleep off the attack from the night before. Lance wasn’t sure if he should feel guilty or not about waking him.

“Hey, it’s… it’s about Green.”

Something crackled on the other side, sheets shifting as Keith sat up and the sleep left his voice. “You have a lead?”

“I just wanted to say… I’m sorry for letting them get away.”

A pause, then Keith sighed, dispelling any heightened emotion he had in that breath to address Lance with a still voice. “It’s not your fault. The guy’s good at what he does. I’m honestly impressed you’ve been able to face him alone this far. We’ll get him next time.”

“Yeah.”

Keith hung up. Lance set the phone on the counter and watched the felon on the couch breathe as the first blue light fell across her face.

[celtfather]

St Patrick's Day Playlist 2019, 3 Hours #400

St Patrick's Day starts early with three hours of Celtic music from the award-winning Irish & Celtic Music Podcast.   http://bestcelticmusic.net/

The Gothard Sisters, Banna De Dha, Beyond the Pale, The Duplets, Lochlainn, Clan Celtica, Irish Whispa, Keith Hinchliffe, Kyle Carey, Ceol Gan Achar, Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer, Bedlam Bards, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Rose Rock, Ella Roberts, Bangers and Mash, Screaming Orphans, Ceann, Ed Miller, Kennedy's Kitchen, Dark Patrick, Paddy's Pig, We Banjo 3, Talisk, Lothlorien, Madd Paddy, Marc Gunn, Kinfolk, Gaelic Storm, Fergus, Albannach, Calasaig, Derek Byrne and Paddygrass, The Hallions, The Fighting Jamesons, Hexperos, Dervish, SeaStar, The McCabes, Old Blind Dogs, The Kreelers, Conor Caldwell, Runa, Seamus Kennedy, Brobdingnagian Bards, Johnson's Motorcar, The Canny Brothers Band, The Poxy Boggards, Celtic Soul, Ockham's Razor

I hope you enjoyed this week's show. If you did, please share the show with ONE friend.

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is dedicated to growing our community and helping the incredible artists who so generously share their music. If you find music you love, buy their albums, shirts, and songbooks, follow them on Spotify, see their shows, and drop them an email to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.

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VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20

With the new year comes a new votes in the Celtic Top 20. This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. Just list the show number, and the name of as many bands in the episode as you like. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2019 episode.

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:05 "The Three Coins" by The Gothard Sisters from Story Girl

3:34 "Comb Your Hair & Curl It / The White Petticoat / The Black Rogue" by Banna De Dha from Band of Two

8:29 "Catalpa Rescue" by Beyond the Pale from Wantin' Something More

12:02 "Garry Porch's" by The Duplets from Leverage

15:07 "Green Window" by Lochlainn from Fisher Street

19:07 "Triantan" by Clan Celtica from Tribal Thunder

22:34 CELTIC FEEDBACK

23:08 "Rising of the Moon" by Irish Whispa from Irish Whispa

25:54 "A Wee Dram or Henry the Horse's Hornpipe" from Keith Hinchliffe from A Wee Dram

27:48 "Cairistiona" by Kyle Carey from North Star

30:40 "Hedigans Fancy Hawson" by Ceol Gan Achar from Ceol Gan Achar

34:59 "Grandpa Joe" by Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer from Twelve Months & A Day

39:48 PATRONS OF THE PODCAST

41:11 "Whiskey in the Jar" by Bedlam Bards from Furious Fancies

44:22 "Jenny's Story" by The Merry Wives of Windsor from Tales from Windsor's Tavern

46:35 "Down by the Sally Garden" by Rose Rock from Aire Loom

49:22 "North Wind" by Ella Roberts from North Wind

53:18 "Paddy's Day NYC" by Bangers and Mash from Whisper Valley and Other Stories

56:49 "Dr. Gilberts Sel" by Screaming Orphans from Taproom

59:49 CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

1:00:26 "Almost Irish" by Ceann from Almost Irish

1:05:38 "London Town" by Ed Miller from Follow the Music

1:09:48 "Christy Barry's Jig/The Rolling Waves/The Old Favorite/The West Clare Reel" by Kennedy's Kitchen from The Birds Upon the Tree

1:14:27 "Eamonn An Chnoic" by Dark Patrick from Fainne Gael an Lae

1:17:21 "Henry My Son" by Paddy's Pig from Maple & Wire

1:20:47 "Two Sisters" by We Banjo 3 from String Theory

1:25:29 "Rations" by Talisk from Beyond

1:32:33 CELTIC FEEDBACK

1:33:00 "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore" by Lothlorien from Single

1:37:27 "The Leprechaun" by Madd Paddy from Arrived

1:39:52 "Henry Martin" by Marc Gunn from Not Every Day Is St Patrick's Day

1:42:19 "Paddy's Stout" by Kinfolk from This Land

1:44:53 "Kiss Me I'm Irish" by Gaelic Storm from Bring Yer Wellies

1:49:37 "P Stands for Paddy" by Fergus from Green St.

1:52:49 CELTIC PODCAST NEWS

1:53:51 "Auld Nick's A Piper" by Albannach from Eye of the Storm

1:56:21 "Lazy Bairn / Instrumental: Doug McPhee's Welcome" by Calasaig from Merchant's City

2:00:03 "My Only" by Derek Byrne and Paddygrass from Half and Half

2:02:52 "Devil's Kiss" by The Hallions from EP

2:06:53 "A Song for Letting Go" by The Fightling Jamesons from Every Day Above Ground

2:11:26 "Giant's Causeway" by Hexperos from Lost in The Great Sea

2:15:45 "Red Haired Mary" by Dervish from Midsummer's Night

2:18:47 CELTIC FEEDBACK

2:19:21 "Galway Bay" by SeaStar from Never Go Back

2:23:21 "An American in Paris" by The McCabes from Songs for Breakfast

2:27:34 "Died and Gone" by Old Blind Dogs from Room With A View

2:33:28 "Johnny Don't Go" by The Kreelers from Saints & Sinners

2:36:42 "An Art Revealed" by Conor Caldwell from To Belfast...

2:39:10 "Big Fellah" by Black 47 from Rise Up

2:44:49 "The Ruthless Wife" by Runa from Current Affairs

2:50:39 CELTIC FEEDBACK

2:51:25 "Wild Rover" by Seamus Kennedy from By Popular Demand

2:56:34 "Old Dun Cow" by Brobdingnagian Bards from Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales

3:00:26 "Redcrow/Tamlins/Gravelwalk" by Johnsons Motorcar from Funky Disco Hardcore

3:05:05 "Spancil Hill" by The Canny Brothers Band from One Drop of Whiskey

3:08:12 "The Drinker's Praise" by The Poxy Boggards from Bawdy Parts

3:10:10 "Tempest in a Teacup" by Celtic Soul from Way

3:20:00 "Lanigan's Ball" by Ockham's Razor from Ten Thousand Miles to Bedlam

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather. To subscribe, go to Apple Podcasts or to our website where you can become a Patron of the Podcast for as little as $1 per episode. Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

CELTIC PODCAST NEWS

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. My name is Marc Gunn. I am a Celtic musician and podcaster. This show is dedicated to the indie Celtic musicians. I want to ask you to support these artists. Share the show with your friends. And find more episodes at celticmusicpodcast.com. You can also support this podcast on Patreon.

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You can join my band Kilted Kings at The Hangout in Gulf Shores, Alabama on Sunday, March 17th for St. Patrick's Day. Go to KiltedKings.com for details.

Subscribe to my Pub Songs Podcast. I'm sharing 11 St Patrick's Day facts in a couple weeks. But you can listen right now and hear some great Celtic Heroes & Musical Legends from the past show.

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TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through it's culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos.

2019 is the Celtic Invasion of Dingle. 2020 is the Origins of Celtic Invasions. You can find out more about these two exciting trips. Join the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

THANK YOU PATRONS OF THE PODCAST!

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Your generosity funds the creation, promotion and production of the show. Best of all, you get episodes before regular listeners, discounts on merch, and when we hit a milestone, you get extra special episodes.

I want to thank our Celtic Legends: Shawn Cali, Bryan Brake, Annie Lorkowski, Kevin Long, Hank Woodward, Rian P Kegerreis, robert michael kane, Theresa Sullivan, Hunter Melville, Scott Benson, Carol Baril, Lynda MacNeil, Nancie Barnett, Tiffany Knight, Marianne Ludwig. These amazing people pledge at least $25 per month to support the podcast.

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  I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? You can send a written comment along with a picture of what you're doing while listening. Email a voicemail message to celticpodcast@gmail.com

Bill Hayes emailed: "Hi Mark, I just became a patron and I just wanted to drop you a line and say thank you for alll the great music you play. I wanted you to know how much this podcast means to me, I’ve always wanted to explore my Celtic heritage and I always loved the music of my ancestors. Thanks for sharing all the independent artists that make this music!"

Brian McReynolds emailed: "I have been listening to your podcast since late 2005. I love the variety of music and love listening to the podcasts. For Christmas I got some Bluetooth headphones and have been listening to the podcast while watching college football bowl games. It has been rather fun watching the action on the field with such great music on instead of listening to the commentary."

John Helminski emailed: "Hi Marc, Thanks for your great podcast. Is there one specific show dedicated to Celtic harp music?"

Catherine Koehler emailed a reply to my reply: "How providential that you responded tonight...the very night that i was writing YOU, lol. I was at the best pub in Louisiana this weekend, Enoch's Irish Pub and Grill of Monroe, LA, and made sure the podcast was well represented.  I'm sending along a few pics of the podcast sticker that was ceremoniosly placed by Enoch's wonderful daughter Molly .  In her words " we're placing it down low so everyone can see it!"  Fyi...it is in front of everyone who stands in line for the rest room!! No billboard ever had a better placement!"

  Check out this episode!

[extreme-investor-network]

Living the American Dream… In Mexico

One of the hallmarks of the ‘American Dream’ has long been owning your own home— and it’s a dream people around the globe share. But now that housing affordability has hit its lowest levels since the early 2000s in many parts of the world, this ‘dream’ is looking more and more like a fantasy. When the pandemic started, governments and central banks in dozens of countries reacted by printing absurd quantities of money and hurling it all into their economies. In the US, the Federal Reserve more than doubled the size of its balance sheet, from roughly $4 trillion to $9 trillion. And in Europe, the European Central Bank increased from 5 trillion euros to 9. Central banks also slashed interest rates and made it cheaper and easier to borrow. One of the very predictable consequences of this tidal wave of cheap money was that real estate prices soared. In the twelve months from the start of the pandemic in March 2020, German home prices rose nearly 15%. In Australia (which suffered some of the worst lockdowns in the world), home prices jumped 30% during the pandemic. Canadian home prices rose similarly according to the National Bank of Canada’s Home Price Index. And in the United States, the median home price rose from $322,600 at the start of the pandemic, to $440,300 by the end of June 2022, a 36% increase. In addition to these rising prices, however, mortgage rates have also recently started to climb. The average 30-year mortgage rate in the United States reached a low of 2.65% during the pandemic, in January 2021. Today it’s hovering around 5%, and was recently as high as 5.8%. This combination of higher mortgage rates and higher home prices means that housing affordability is plummeting. It also means that a lot of housing markets around the world are due for a steep correction. And in some places, it’s already happening. Just last month, for example, home prices in Sydney, Australia suffered their worst decline in four decades. But prices have a LONG way to fall before they become affordable again. And my guess is that central banks probably won’t let that happen. Home prices last crashed in 2008, and that sparked a worldwide banking crisis and meltdown of the financial system. Central banks don’t want a repeat of that episode, so they’ll probably pull out all the stops to prevent a collapse in home prices. No wonder so many people are starting to look internationally to find their American Dream… because there are still plenty of places in the world where homes are extremely affordable. Mexico is one such place. I’m in Cancun right now; my wife and I are having our second child here, since the experience of having our first child here last year was so spectacular. I always tend to look at real estate prices whenever I travel. And the market here in Cancun is ridiculously inexpensive. For example, for about $480,000, you could buy a nearly 4,000 sq.ft. house with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, and a pool inside a gated community with close proximity to the city center and beaches. That’s about $120 per square foot… and that’s very hard to find in North America. Even in Detroit, the average price per square foot according to Realtor.com is $131 per square foot. In Frisco, Texas it’s $198. Tampa, Florida it’s $269. In Phoenix, it’s $298. And in San Diego, the average home price is $666 per square foot. So $120 per square foot in Cancun is a great deal. I’ve also seen large, stately homes here in Cancun— 10,000+ square feet for just over a million dollars. There’s all sorts of inventory available. Another city near the northern coast, Mérida, is located three and half hours west of Cancún by car. Mexicans consistently rate it the most livable, and safest major city in Mexico. Some restored historic homes in a central location with about 2,700-3000 sq. ft. of living space, are listed for around $250,000-$300,000 USD. You can find something more modern, such as a 4,500 sq.ft. house with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a pool for around $300,000 USD. That’s less than $100 per square foot. Our CEO and Sovereign Woman, Viktorija, has made her home in Mexico City— one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the world. This isn’t Muskogee, Oklahoma, or St. John’s Newfoundland. As an ultra-urban area home to 20+ million people, real estate in Mexico City should be compared to London, Tokyo, Chicago, or Beijing. And by that metric, Ciudad de Mexico is an incredible bargain. You can buy a nice 3 bedroom 2 bathroom spacious condo in one of the best neighborhoods for less than $500,000. This is super-affordable compared to somewhere like New York City or Paris. As Viktorija and I discussed in a recent podcast, Mexico City is not what most people think. It’s clean, green, and picturesque. The food is some of the best I’ve ever had. The culture and vibrant. And as for safety, there’s obviously crime in any huge city. But the violent crime rate in Mexico City is actually lower than in most major American cities. (Or in the Mexican state of Yucatan, where Merida is located, the homicide rate (at 3 per 100,000) is lower than in Nebraska (3.7) and Wyoming (3.1) – which are not exactly known for their hard-core criminality.) The cost of living is also much less expensive in Mexico. Labor is inexpensive and abundant. Food is cheap. Gasoline prices are a bit cheaper than in the US and MUCH cheaper than in Europe or Canada. On average, Mexico is very attractive based on Sovereign Man’s cost of living index, which estimates typical monthly expenses in cities and countries around the world. Personally, I live in Puerto Rico. We love the island, and the tax incentives are undeniably attractive. But my wife and I do enjoy visiting Mexico. The government here was quite reasonable during the pandemic and generally remained open. And the medical care has been so great that I’ve opted to have two children here. Plus, anyone born in Mexico automatically receives Mexican citizenship at birth. Mexico is also an easy place to obtain residency, and this can lead to citizenship and a second passport. All this makes Mexico at least worth considering for your Plan B. Of course, we aren’t trying to convince anyone to move to Mexico. The idea here is to demonstrate that there are plenty of options in the world. You don’t need to be constrained by geography. And if you’re looking for a better life, you might just find the right place outside of your home country. Original Article Original Article Here: Read the full article

[rockkcityboy]

Ep 158

If I counted right, there are 120 episodes left. The only date I could find for the release date for the new season is October 2nd, but I'm not sure if that's right or not, so please tell me if it's not. That means I need to watch 17 episodes each day, which I can't do because that's almost seven hours a day.

I'm pretty sure Fairy Tail Zero is included in those 120, so if I remove those twelve then we're left with 108. That ends up giving us about 15 episodes a day. That's still 6 hours a day.

So let's say I manage to watch nine a day on school days. That means I'll watch 45 episodes throughout the school days (including today!! This would require me to get another 9 in today!! Let's say I do the extra ones from today on Friday night instead) and have to watch the other 63 on Saturday and Sunday. That's 25.2 hours. I would need to spend 12.6 hours each day watching Fairy Tail to manage it.

Tldr; if the release I have for the new season is correct then I probably won't be able to finish this before it comes out. It's not a major deal, but it'll bum me out to fall behind.

.

Ugh, edit bc I found another release date that says the 6th. In that case, going by the same math in the same paragraphs as before (not counting this one):

120 eps left, 11 days to watch them. 11 eps a day, or 4.4 hours per day.

108 eps left, 11 days to watch them. 10 eps a day, or 4 hours per day.

I somehow manage nine eps/3.6 hours per school night. This release date grants us three weekend days instead of two. I would manage 27 by this Saturday, and another 45 over next week; a total of 72. This leaves only 36 that need be watched on each weekend day, which results in 12 a day, or 4.8 hours a day.

Tldr; if this date is the correct one, I might be able to do it after all.

.

That took 11 minutes to type. Luckily nothing worth commenting on happened, other than Juvia being a total idiot. A complete dumbass. An absolute fool.

.

Quick bit of advice for Gray; talking to yourself is a surefire way to let everyone know you're not a copy!! So shut the fuck up, dumbass

.

This is so funny tbh. They're all just out-dumbassing each other.

.

Laxus and Mira are mlm/wlw solidarity, let's be real. Both of them immediately started fantasizing about ordering Natsu and Erza about, respectively. They have such big gay crushes.

.

Look, if Juvia hugging a copy was counted as an attack, then Eve using snow magic on everyone in the area definitely counts and he should've just lost so many points.

.

Hey, quick question, who let Rufus be that iconic? He's a fancy little boi. Also, I forgot how badass this attack was. Sneaky little fucker. It was insanely unfair though.

.

The match ups are always so interesting to me. Time for Flare vs Lucy next ep; sweet.