#wonder who will return next after gary

[theswiftieapple]

Hey I saw you do request and I was wondering if you could do a Phoebe x fem!reader and reader is a new member of the ghostbusters and Phoebe is the one training her

You have a pretty smile

Phoebe Spengler x she/her reader

Phoebe and reader's age; 17

Word count; 6447

Warning; some swearing, I haven't written any fanfiction since 2019 so my writing is rusty and english isn't my mother language.

I hope you like it. :)

Narrator’s POV;

The car ride to the Paranormal Research Center was one filled with excited chatter. Lucky was the one driving y/n, a new member of the Ghostbusters, to meet her new partners in crime. Lucky was the one to introduce y/n to Winston, they met when y/n moved with her family to the USA. Lucky was the one to help Y/n with a heavy box when she was moving in and they started talking. They decided to keep hanging out and Lucky thought y/n's personality would fit them great and she showed great interest in the paranormal. Winston at the time was already on the lookout for a new member, four may be the original number of the Ghostbusters but it's better to have too many than too few. 

Lucky introduced them and Winston got to know y/n, he could tell she had the potential and agreed. That’s how y/n got into this situation, walking to the  Paranormal Research Center, fiddling with her fingers, incredibly nervous. From what she heard the other members were nice people but that wouldn't stop the anxiety.

Lucky glanced at her friend sensing her fear, she put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking, the door only a few steps away. “Hey, don’t worry about this too much. You’ll do great and they’ll love you! If something does happen you can always come to me and Winston.”

Y/n turned to look at Lucky as she talked, some of her fear disappearing for a short moment. “We’ll stay friends right?” Lucky smiled reassuringly “Of course, would a hug help?” Y/N nodded to the question receiving a tight hug in return. They pulled apart and y/n sighed deeply turning to the door “Let's get the first meeting over with then” Playing confident she walked to the door, Lucky cheered and clapped her back, then she put her card near the scanner to open the large doors. 

—

“What do you mean by a new member?” Callie asked, confused. “Wait, does that mean one of us is getting fired?” Trevor asked worriedly.

“If so it’s probably you,” Phoebe said seriously, she was of course joking but her brother didn't know that. The little joke didn't calm Trevor who opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Winston. 

“We have been looking for a new member for the Ghostbusters for months now, there are a few reasons why we wanted to expand the team. There are still many ghosts we need to re-catch even two years after they were all released again thanks to Garraka, another member would be able to help with that. I also think a new member would inject fresh energy and ideas. Someone with a different and new background would give us a new perspective on problems and help us solve things quicker. I genuinely do believe this could help the team.” he explained calmly, he seemed quite happy with his decision.

“Why didn’t you maybe warn us beforehand?” Gary asked, baffled at the information they had been kept in the dark from for months. “Well I didn't want to create any false hope, I wanted us to be sure that we found someone new that none of you know.”

“When are we meeting them?” Phoebe asked curious, there was a small part of her that was worried that the new member could betray them. She shuffled at the thought of Melody, she still has some trouble trusting new people. 

Footsteps were heard approaching the main doors including a small beep indicating someone was about to come in.

“Right now” Winston smiled as he turned to the door.

“Wait what” Trevor asked bewildered as he and his family turned to the door.

Lucky walked into the lab with a pretty girl next to her. Phoebe's eyes widened at the realization of what she just thought. 

“This is y/n! Y/n this is your new team” Phoebe's eyes stayed focused on her new team member as Winstron introduced them. “y/n this is Callie'' Callie smiled at Y/n shaking her hand gently. “This is Gary” Gary shot her a smile as well shaking her hand. “This is Trevor, Callies son,” 

“I’m the cool one of the group,” Trevor explained, shaking her hand while smiling proudly. 

Phoebe’s POV

“And this is Phoebe, Callies daughter”  My eyes met hers as we shook hands. I forgot for a second that we weren’t alone, so I let go and sent her an awkward smile, my hand still tingling from the feeling. Why am I feeling like this? Did I just call her pretty in my head? Why is my hand tingling like this?

I was so busy with these thoughts and observing the newcomer that I didn’t notice the glances my brother shared with Lucky, scheming glances.

“She’s new to this, so she is going to need someone to train her and I was hoping one of you could do it” Winston explained, “Phoebe could do it.” My head snapped to look at my brother, giving him a ‘what the fuck’ look. “Phoebe is the smartest one in our team” I could hear Dad whisper a small ouch, “she's the one who's been using our equipment the longest and they’re close in age! How old are you?” He asked y/n, “I’m seventeen-” She was cut off by Trevor clapping his hands, “perfect! What do you think sis?” Trevor teased, ignoring my glare as he put his arm on my shoulder. 

“I-uhm sure” I answered nervously, “Well that’s great then! She is going to be living with you, my men are already cleaning the empty room and assembling the furniture as we speak”

“What empty room?” Mom asked surprised, “There’s no empty room in the firehouse”, I could see y/n being confused like the rest of us except for Lucky and Winston. “The room behind the bookshelf next to Tevor and Phoebe's room of course”

“There’s been an empty room behind one of our bookshelves and you didn't tell us?” 

Winston shrugged at my dad, “I thought you all knew but didn’t use it” He said simply.

“What’s next, a second bathroom?” Trevor jokes, and the glance shared between Lucky and Winston speaks volumes. “ You’re kidding”

“Well then, that’s that, as I said my men are working right now and they should be done very soon. Y/n’s uniform and an extra proton pack and all the other things are being sorted as we speak. I’m just going to have a small talk with Callie and Gary about some things, you guys could get acquainted with each other during that time.” Winston signals my parents to follow him to another room.

Y/n POV;

“It’s an honour to finally meet you guys, I’ve heard a lot of fantastic things about you,” I tell them, the nerves still haven’t disappeared and neither has the excitement. I’m worried they won’t like me, I could feel Phoebe? I think her name was glancing at me. I have to admit she is quite attractive and cute. 

I feel warmth on my cheeks as I keep thinking about her. I can’t think like that about her right now, I just met her. Plus she’s going to be my teammate and that could complicate things. I’ll have to ignore this small..crush, if I can call it that, for now. 

“Thank you, I’m sure we’re going to have lots of fun together,” Trevor said with a small smirk on his face as he put his arm around me. I didn’t notice the teasing smirk he sent his sister or the glare she sent back. “So there is something I have to warn you about,” He said as he and Lucky led me to the famous Ectomobile with Phoebe following behind. “About what?” I ask, worried.

“It’s about a ghost called Slimer, he lives with us”

“What.” I state giving him a serious and worried look as we enter the car.

—

“I think I’ll stay clear of the attic then,” I say as we exit the car. The conversation did drift a lot in the car, I didn’t mind too much since it was nice observing and learning more about them. They all talked except for Phoebe who kept quiet for most of the ride. I could feel her glance at me a few times, she was clearly in thought the whole ride.

“Yeah that’s probably the smarter decision, you should have seen Trevor when he met Slimmer for the first time” Callie teased ruffling her son's hair.

“Mom!” 

“Well then as nice as it is talking with all of you, I am going to have to steal y/n here, I’m going to be the one helping her decorate and sort out her room. If you’ll excuse us” Lucky said, sending them a smile before dragging me away to my new room.

Narrator’s POV;

“What’s up with you?” 

Phoebe turned to look at her mom, acting oblivious. “What do you mean?” Callie came closer wearing a teasing look. “I mean that you’ve been very quiet since we met our new member, lost in thought.”

“And lost in her eyes” Trevor teased as he walked away snickering, Phoebe grabbed a random towel and threw it at him, hitting him in the back, and he scurried off after that. 

“Well your brother isn't completely wrong, everything okay?” Callie asked, her worry present in her eyes. Phoebe stared at her shoes, for a moment, “I’m alright, don’t worry about it Mom” She left with that, lost in her thoughts.

—

“So, you and Phoebe” Lucky started as she opened a box full of different books. “Don’t start” y/n warns, Lucky turns to her friend with a knowing look. 

“I have a very strong feeling you have a small crush on her.” 

“I don’t”

Lucky made a sound of disagreement while making a face, “Maybe not yet, but you feel something, I can tell” she sang the last part, dodging a small pencil case, her smirk not faltering.

“I know your type, remember you told me” 

“Yeah because we made a deal that you would tell me who you like in return, and that someone is in this building as we speak.” y/n teased back. Lucky opened her mouth to try and form words, her cheeks having a red hue to them. “This isn’t about me and that someone-”

“Trevor you mean”

Y/n snorted at the look she received. “As I was saying, this is about you and Phoebe and the small crush that's going to grow stronger with time, she is quite literally what you described your type to me, short hair, fluffy or curly, glasses, a nerd-”

“Yeah, I get it” Y/n grumbles as she puts her bed lining on, “can you help me with this?” She raises the comforter pleadingly. Lucky stands up and helps her even it out. “I just don't want to label these feelings since we just met, besides the chances of her liking me isn’t zero but it’s also unlikely right now”

Lucky put a hand on her friend's shoulder comfortingly, “As your friend it's my job to remind you that there is a good chance she may like you back” Y/n played with one of her pillows thoughtfully. “I don’t want to rush anything, maybe she will and maybe she won’t but thank you”Lucky smiled back at her friend, “Now where do you want me to put these CDs” 

Y/n smiled and showed her friend. 

—

Y/n’s POV;

Dinner went nicely, I mostly listened as the family shared a few recent stories about the ghosts they’ve captured lately. Phoebe was quiet through most of it. I could tell the way she was behaving wasn't normal, I noticed thanks to the small looks her family were giving her. 

I got comfortable in bed and stared outside the window, it was pouring. I hope I didn’t upset her with being here, if I did I could see why. I am a total stranger that just appeared today, she was then told I would live with her and her family at the same time. It’s a lot of new information and a lot of new changes. 

I turned on a show on my phone to fall asleep too. I lost consciousness In a matter of a few minutes, hoping tomorrow would go well.

—

I woke up to soft knocking, I turned around to look at the door, squinting to see who it was. “Good morning, breakfast is going to be ready in half an hour, I wanted to make sure you were awake.” I sent Gary a smile and muttered a small thank you and with that, he disappeared.

I sat up and stared at my lap thoughtfully. Today was my first official day as a Ghostbuster or at least a Ghostbuster in training. 

Phoebe was going to be the one training me, I’m already dreading the weight of the proton pack. With those thoughts I stand up and get ready for the day, dressing in something comfortable and doing my hair.

I walk out of my room and glance at the firefighter pole, it’s too early in the morning for that and I’m not in the mood to land in the hospital on my first day so I walk down the stairs. I was met with the sight of Gary cooking and Trevor stealing some of the fruit when he wasn't looking. 

“Good morning,” I say and sit down on one of the chairs at the kitchen island. “Good morning!” Gary smiled as he flipped a pancake, “Morning!” Trevor said with a mouth full of strawberries. “So how are you feeling about your first day?” Gary asked, trying to start a conversation.

“I’m a bit nervous, I’ve never done anything like this before but I am excited,” I explained fiddling with my fingers. “You’ll do great I’m sure! With Phoebe as your teacher, it’ll all go great.” 

I smiled and whispered a small thank you. “Do you need any help?” I ask, ready to stand up. “Nah, I’ve got this but thank you” Gary told me as he put the pan away, I could see him playfully swap Trevor's hand away from the cut fruit. 

“Where’s Phoebe?” Trevor asked, sitting next to me, he put his fist underneath his chin. “She woke up early, she’s visiting Podcast and Dr Ray, she had something to discuss with them. I don’t know what it is though” Gary explained as he put plates in front of me and Trevor, I took a sip out of the glass in front of me.

“So what do you guys usually do when there isn’t a ghost to bust?” I asked as I put some toppings on my pancake. 

—

Phoebe’s POV;

I opened the door to Dr Ray’s shop, “Morning Dr Ray” I said as I entered, he looked up at me surprised. “Morning Phoebe, you’re here earlier than usual”

“I wanted to talk with Podcast about something, is he here or?”

“I’m right here!” He said, his head poking out from the door behind Dr Ray, “ I'll see you later then” Dr Ray smiles and continues to read a book. I go in and walk after Podcast, “So what’s up?”

“There’s a new ghostbuster on the team” I blurted out. He stops in his tracks and turns to look at me. “There’s a new ghostbuster?” He asked excitedly, “Is that bad or?” He raised an eyebrow noticing my attitude.

I leaned against his desk before I continued speaking “It’s not bad, she seems...nice” I started, he did a hand signal telling me to continue “I’m the one who's going to be training her and well” I stopped talking not knowing how to continue. Podcast gave me a look.

“What?”

“You’re acting weird, does the idea of training her bother you or?” 

I shake my head “No, it doesn’t, I just feel..nervous” 

Podcast flings one of the Pufts that was bothering him as I speak before he responds “Why are you nervous? Are you worried she might betray us and release a great evil that we’re going to have to defeat?” He asks, I give him a deadpan look. “Listen if you are worried about that, that would be okay. I’m just trying to understand what the problem is here.” He reasons, sending me a concerned look.

I put a hand in my hair, messing with it. “That’s the problem, I don’t even know what's bothering me about this situation exactly. I met her yesterday and she’s staying with us now as well. She does seem nice, Winston and Lucky recruited her, I know they have good instincts but” I sigh deeply grimacing. “I don’t know, there’s some weird feeling in me and I’m worried about what it could be and what it could turn into.”

“You’re scared that you like her?” Podcasts asks bluntly, “I just met her, there’s no way I have feelings already.'' I protest, “But, the way I’m feeling right now, is similar to how I felt when meeting Melody, but it's also different. I don’t understand it and I hate not understanding things.”

There was silence for a moment until Podcast spoke, “Well I don’t think you’ll understand what that feeling is for a good while. You two just met, there could be special feelings involved but you won’t know for sure for a while. I suggest just letting those feelings take their course.”

“Why didn’t I think of that,” I say out loud, Podcast patted my shoulder “That’s what I’m here for, being the voice of reason”

—

I walked into the firehouse after having a long talk with Podcast. I still don’t like the idea of unknown feelings and I am worried about feeling something for someone again but there isn’t anything I can do about it. 

“Uno!” A collecting group of groaning was heard alongside a laugh. 

I walk into the room to see My family playing Uno with y/n and Lucky. “How do you win so much, this is the fifth time” Trevor whined, putting his head on the table. “Magic” y/n says jokingly doing jazz hands, “I have two other card games that I think you’d like” 

“Do you have ‘Frantic’ with you?” Lucky asked, but before she could answer the alarm went off, signalling there was a ghost loose causing havoc. “Hey Phoebs! Let’s go!”Mom said as she rushed off, Gary and Trevor following, “Hey y/n, we can start with the training when I get back” I called out to her, “Lucky and you could meet me at the Research Center after we bust this ghost” I say awkwardly shooting her some finger guns before turning around and walking away quickly, hoping the heat that I feel on my cheeks wasn’t what I thought it was and if it is then that they didn't notice.

Narrator’s POV;

Lucky and y/n cleaned up after themselves soon after and drove to the Paranormal Research Center. Y/n went to a changing room to put on her uniform. She walked out nervous, “Does it look okay?” She asked, Lucky turned around and gasped, “You look amazing!! Do a spin!” She asked excitedly while clapping. Y/n did as asked. 

“It suits you perfectly!” She said hugging her friend. “Thank you, you’re too nice”  Lucky pulled away, “I bet when Phoebe sees you in it, her jaw will drop” Y/n rolled her eyes playfully “We’ll see about that. So while we wait why don't you update me on that new ghost you’ve been studying on” 

Lucky’s smile widened, excited to share her new discoveries, she grabbed y/n’s wrist and dragged her to her working station.

Phoebe walked into the lab an hour later, fixing her hair from all the wind. She could see Lucky explaining something while y/n listened patiently, wearing her Ghostbusters uniform. Phoebe had to force herself to not stare for too long, so she walked up to the two of them. “And that’s why we had to make sure those two weren’t next to each other, I swear I couldn't focus properly the whole time” 

“Hey there, sorry to interrupt your conversation, but are you ready for your first training session?” Phoebe asks, standing in front of them.“Yeah, I am! We’ll continue with our talk later” Y/n told Lucky before turning to Phoebe again who led her to the small training room. “The uniform suits you, not many can pull it off”

Y/n turned to look at Phoebe surprised, a small blush on her cheeks, “thank you, you look great in it too” she says, hoping that wasn’t too straightforward. “So, Winston said you have no prior experience”

Y/n nodded, “I have never used any of this equipment, correct.”

Phoebe crossed her arms nodding, “alright then, first thing first is to put the proton pack on, you can put it on normally like a backpack.” Y/n did as told, she let out a little grunt at the weight.” I knew they would be heavy but wow, now what next?” she asked excitedly.

“You hold this part, the particle thrower, you can also call it a particle gun” The new member did as told before looking at Phoebe again nodding. “Wait, can I show you something?” Phoebe asked, she got a nod as a response. 

She stepped closer, only centimetres apart as she helped y/n hold it properly, putting her hands where they are supposed to be. “ See that ghost up there,” Phoebe asked, focusing on the task at hand, trying to ignore her own bubbling feelings. She was so busy that missed y/n staring at her face, a blush forming. “Yeah i-uh do” y/n responds, trying to focus as well.

She’s holding a dangerous weapon, she’s seen what they could do online, she needs to focus, she tells herself.  “Okay, I’m going to help you with this one and show you how to turn it on. Are you ready?” Phoebe asked, glancing at her, “Yes I am.”

“Okay you switch it on like this” Phoebe explained as she turned it on with y/n, “when you’re ready to shoot you press this button right here, on the count of three, ready?

Y/n took a deep breath in before answering “Ready”

“1” Phoebe starts, glancing at y/n.

“2,” She says tightening her grip, y/n tries to steady her breathing.

“3”

With that they shot at the ghost made out of wood, It falling apart in two. Y/n’s jaw dropped, “That’s how you’re going to practise, the actual thing takes longer and needs more strength but our priority is to perfect your aim for now, the charged particle accelerator is a weapon of science that can cause a lot of damage if used incorrectly and without proper practice.”

“First of all that was awesome” Y/n stated with a wide smile on her face, “two, I’ve heard of all of that, Lucky told me about some of your bigger damages. It’s impressive how something so dangerous can be something that helps so many people'' Y/n rambles, observing the damage with interest. While she was distracted Phoebe looked at all her features close up. She could feel her cheeks turning red from all the close proximity. She slowly pulled away crossing her arms, not knowing how to act.

“Well whenever you’re ready, you can start practising, I’ll be here the whole time, so if you need any help just tell me” Phoebe said while rubbing the back of her neck. Y/n nodded as another ghost came down, Phoebe didn't stray far, staying a few steps away just in case. 

Y/n took a deep breath before shooting, hitting the wooden ghost on the side, she stumbled backwards, and Phoebe caught her in time, holding the particle thrower with her. “Okay that was your first time on your own and it went better than expected.”

“Better than expected?” Y/n asked embarrassed, “Yeah, you’re doing okay, try again, I’ll stay closer to catch you if that happens again okay?” 

Outside of the training room, Lucky was observing their interactions with a small scheming smirk. “What are you smirking at?” Lars asked as he opened the spirit extractor, taking a spirit-free plushie out of it.

“No reason,” Lucky answered, ignoring the eyebrow raise of Lars, he shook his head and walked away to continue working. 

The training went on until 5 pm, y/n was exhausted after all the trying, her arms sore, but it was all worth it, the thought of capturing ghosts excited her. Phoebe opened the door of the training room letting her out first, y/n nodded and muttered a small thank you as she walked out. “Keep this up and I think you’ll be ready to go out with me- “ she cut herself off quickly, trying to correct herself “I mean go out with us on missions soon.” 

She tried not to look at y/n's face, she didn’t want to make it any more awkward.

As they were walking to the main doors, saying their goodbyes to the other workers, Lars called out “Y/n!”

The said person turned around to look at the scientist, “Lucky asked me to tell you that she’s going to come to visit and help out more with your room around 6 pm”

“Thank you, have a nice night!” 

Phoebe bit her lip for a second before continuing with their walk, Gary was picking them up today. She looked at Y/n who was walking beside her. Did..she and Lucky maybe have something going on? She turned around quickly when she met eyes with y/n.

“I hope not,” Phoebe whispers to herself, “What did you say?” Y/n asked curious, Phoebe straightened her back, she opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. Luckily for her, Gary appeared with the Ectomobile, saving her for now.

“Hey there you two! Are you ready to go home?” He asked with a wide smile.

They both got in the car and put their seatbelts on, the car ride back was quiet, the only background noise being the music playing on the radio.

The evening wasn't much different than last night, Phoebe disappeared to her room and didn’t come out until morning, leaving y/n slightly confused and worried.

—

Phoebe sat on one of the chairs at the kitchen island, drinking some coffee while tapping her pencil on the island, thinking, trying to calm down. The idea of having to be so close to y/n made her giddy and scared her at the same time. 

She was worried she would make it awkward like last night if Gary didn’t appear when he did…

She sighed, putting her pencil and coffee down, putting her head in her hands, staring at the open notebook, full of scribbles, she couldn’t focus on her work. Her head was filled with images of last night, her heartbeat picking up remembering how close she was to y/n. She couldn’t lie, she missed the warmth of her hands underneath hers, they were soft. She let her mind wander, imagining how they would feel properly holding her hands.

“Phoebe, are you doing okay?”

Her hands slammed on the table making the coffee spill by accident, she turned to look at the newcomer. “Oh, hi,” Phoebe said brushing imaginary dust off of her shirt” Hi” she leaned on the island crossing her arms, sending y/n an awkward smile. “Hi”

In her head, Phoebe was cursing herself out, ‘three hi’s??’

Y/n glanced at the spilt coffee and then back to Phoebe, with a questioning look, before she could repeat the question, she got an answer.  “I’m doing okay, alright, doing great.” Phoebe cringed at her repetitive awner, Y/n walked closer, her face not changing. Phoebe put a hand underneath her chin, trying to act normal. “Are you sure about that? I called your name three times and you didn’t notice” 

“I was thinking,” she answered quickly. 

“May I ask what you were thinking about?”

“Science.”

Y/n blinked, staring at Phoebe, waiting for her to continue while Phoebe avoided her eyes at all costs. Deciding to change the subject, she pointed at the spilt coffee, “Do you maybe need help cleaning that or?”

Phoebe glanced at the spilt coffee before standing up and getting some paper towels to clean it up. “Right, right, you’re right”

“Alright then, I’ll go and..do a thing” Y/n said walking backwards before turning around to get ready for the day. “Oh good morning Trevor” and with that she disappeared up the stairs.

Phoebe cursed under her breath, “How much of that did you hear?”

“Oh you mean how much did I hear of your nervous rambling? Pretty much all of it” Trevor says casually, walking closer. “So, you and” he points his fingers behind him. “Ya know”

“There’s nothing going on” Phoebe defends throwing the paper towels away. “Nothing at all?”

“Nothing at all”

“Not even a smalllll thing” He pries, making his pointer finger and thumb almost touch. “Not even a small thing” Phoebe shrugs nonchalantly. Trevor nods, letting the silence settle before asking another question. “So, what science thing were you thinking about?”

Phoebe leans on the now clean island again trying to find the words, she sighed “I wasn’t actually thinking about science,”

“Then what?” Trevor interrupted. Phoebe sent him a glare before continuing “I was just thinking about all the things I could teach her today.”

“Y/n you mean?”

Phoebe nodded in response.

“Were you thinking about how close you’re going to be again today?” Trevor questions while picking out an apple from the bowl. Phoebe stood up straight but before she could retort, Trevor interrupted her “Lucky told me all about how close you were yesterday.” He informed Phoebe with a smirk on his face.

Steps were heard coming down the stairs, “We’ll continue this after your little date today” Trevor whispered. “Training” Phoebe corrected.

“Good Morning” Callie greeted, walking over to the coffee machine. “I need to get ready for the day,” Phoebe says, grabbing her pencil and notebook and heading off to her room. 

“Did I miss something?” Callie asked her son, pouring herself a coffee in her favourite mug. “Not much” Trevor shrugged, taking a bite out of his apple. 

—

The following days were filled with not only bettering y/n’s aim but awkward moments as well, or that’s what Phoebe thought, y/n thought her awkwardness was adorable. Phoebe also learned that Lucky, the traitor, was feeding her brother information daily about her and y/n’s interactions. Specifically the more ‘embarrassing’ ones. 

Phoebe crossed her arms thinking, watching y/n put away the proton pack, “I think you’re ready to train with real ghosts”

Y/n turned around “real ghosts?”

“Real ghosts,” Phoebe repeated.

A wide smile appeared on y/n’s face, excitement prominent on her face. 

The next day they were driven out to an open area. Trevor and Lucky stayed back in the car while they walked out. “The reason I want you to train with real ghosts before going on missions is so that you’ve trained with more than just a painted ghost made out of wood, some real experience. If anything happens I’ll be right here”

“I brought a few of the traps, they have different ghosts, you'll do one at a time of course. You’ll be the one busting it and I’ll be the one trapping it.” She explained as she put a trap on the ground, putting the foot pedal where they’ll be standing. “Are you ready?”

Y/n nodded confidently, raising the particle thrower, and turning it on.

In the blink of an eye, the ghost trap opened, and a big orange ghost appeared. Y/n cringed slightly at the look of it. When it noticed her she shot right at it, hitting it. She grimaced at the strength that was needed, it’s not as hard as she imagined but it’s not easy either. “Keep going, I'll wait a moment before trapping it, it usually takes a while for us to trap it after we caught it”

No response came back, y/n tried to focus on the ghost, and after a few seconds, the ghost was sucked into the trap.

“Good Job!” Phoebe sent a smile as she picked up the trap, “Oh my arms are going to be so sore tomorrow” y/n groaned.

“That’s the point of training, to improve your skills.” Phoebe reminds, “Oh really? I thought the point of all of this was to torture me” Y/n jokes, panting from what she just had to do. “I'll call it torture and you can call it training. Deal?

Y/n reached out to shake hands, Phoebe glanced at her hand before shaking it. “Alright then, deal.”

“Now this ghost is bigger, you ready?” Phoebe asked, putting a second trap down. 

“Ready.” The sound of the proton pack turning on again was heard. A giant ghost appeared. Y/n immediately shot at it, gritting her teeth as she held it back.

“So, a photon is checking into a hotel” Phoebe starts speaking, y/n turns her head to look at her confused. She let out a small yelp as the ghost pulled harder, luckily for her it didn't break free.

“What-”

“Keep going,” Phoebe tells her, “I’ll start again, a photon is checking into a hotel”

Y/n looked back at the ghost, it was a feisty one. “So the bellhop asks, ‘Do you need help with your luggage?’”

Y/n sighed deeply, focusing on the ghost, she shot Phoebe a few glances, ‘Is..she telling a joke right now??’ “Towards that, the photon responds ‘No thanks, I’m travelling light’” She winks at Y/n.

It was silent for a moment until a snort was heard, “alright that one was good” She says snickering, “Please catch it now my arms are hurting” Phoebe did as told, it being sucked into the trap. The sound of the proton pack turning off was heard, and she sighed in relief. “It’s one of my favourite jokes,”  she explains picking up the trap. “I can see why, it's good, but why were you telling me jokes right now? Not that I mind.”

“When we’re on missions, there’s always chatter happening between us, maybe some bystanders, and I wanted to test if you could focus while being told a great joke.”

“So does this mean you’ll keep telling jokes during training?” Y/n asks, stretching her head. “Would you consider that a bad thing?” 

Y/n looks at Phoebe, who is picking out a new trap, “I don’t think it's a bad thing, I like jokes and puns” she explains, she could feel a warmth creeping up her neck as she admired Phoebe underneath the sunlight. A small smile formed.

‘she’s so pretty’

“Well it’s good you don’t mind since I have many more” Phoebe says preparing for another ghost. Y/n looked away when Phoebe walked over. “Good to hear” 

—

“How long do you think it’ll take until they start dating?” Trevor thought for a second before answering Lucky, ”eight maybe nine months max”

“I give it..three weeks, ”

“That’s quick”

“Look at them” Lucky points at the two outside of the car, training. Y/n was laughing after a joke Phoebe made, Phoebe stared at her with a smile, saying something they couldn’t hear from inside the car, but it had to be something funny considering the laughing wasn't stopping. “I bet you five bucks Phoebes using her jokes and unknowingly winning y/n over.”

“Five bucks?” Trevor asked, raising an eyebrow, “What? Five bucks is a lot in this economy” Lucky shrugged before putting a chip in her mouth.

—

“I think you’re ready to go on your first mission” Phoebe says, breaking the silence while they put away their gear. 

“Really?” Y/n asks excitedly, “Yeah, you did very well.” Phoebe smiles softly, “Plus you think my jokes are funny, if you’re with us then it won't be just Gary laughing at them”

“Ah so my sucking up worked” Y/n jokes, “I don’t think that’s what happened, you seemed genuinely happy and were laughing quite a lot,” Phoebe tells her, leaning on the locker. “I am an amazing actor” Y/n explains, Phoebe leans closer so they're face to face, inches away from each other. “Oh no person is that good of an actor, you even turned red from laughing, come on admit it, my jokes are hilarious”

Y/n tried to act casual, a small part of her was happy that Phoebe didn't realise she was blushing because of her back there as well. Y/n hums, pretending to think, before answering “They were alright”

Phoebe raised an eyebrow making y/n put a hand on her mouth to not let a giggle out, “They were alright?”, Phoebe got a nod in return, “you’re lying” Phoebe reasons, “I’m not”

“You are”

“No”

“If you aren’t lying, then there shouldn’t be a smile behind that hand” 

Y/N shakes her head, “Come on, remove it” Phoebe teases, she gets another shake of the head as a response, she could see y/n shaking slightly from holding in laughs. “Come on, let me see” Phoebe asks, grabbing Y/ns wrist softly, removing her hand to reveal a wide smile. “So you agree I’m funny.”

“Okay maybe you are” Y/n shrugs, just then realising how close their faces were to each other, her breath hitched, her eyes drifting to Phoebe’s lips for a second before returning to look into her eyes. Her wrist, where Phoebe was holding her felt warm, she resisted the urge to properly hold her hand. “You have a pretty smile” Phoebe whispered, lost in thought. ”It’s all thanks to you, being around you makes me happy” Y/n whispered back. 

The only thing they could hear was the sounds of each other's breathing and their own heartbeats. They leaned it close, eyes trained on each other, lips almost touching but before anything could happen they heard the Ectomobile from outside. They pulled away quickly, realising what they almost did blushing.

Callie walked in backwards helping Gary park the Ectomobil. “Oh hey there, how was training?” Callie asked, curious. “It went great,” Phoebe answers, clearing her throat. Callie glanced between them both, noticing the tension, both of them were blushing, Phoebe rubbing the back of her neck and Y/n had her arms crossed, refusing to look at each other. Callie made an ‘oh’ face, realising what might have been happening before they came home.

“I have to go” Y/n says quickly, “so do I” Phoebe responds, they both try to go in the same direction, but they both stop before Y/n ushered Phoebe to go first, walking after her. “Lucky just might win that bet,” Trevor states, him and Gary entering as well. “What bet?” Callie questioned.

“Uhhh nothing” Trevor shrugs walking up to the apartment as well.

Part 2

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Gary Willig

The third round of hostage releases of the ceasefire deal is set for tomorrow. And once again, the youngest hostages, 2-year-old Kfir Bibas and 5-year-old Ariel Bibas, will not be among the freed hostages.

There are two possible explanations for the continued imprisonment of babies and toddlers. One is that Hamas is still playing games with the lives of innocent children, that after depriving them of light, love, food, and medicine for more than a year it still delights in prolonging their suffering. The other, and perhaps more likely explanation, is the terrible possibility that Kfir and Ariel no longer have lives with which to play games because they died in the captivity in which Hamas has held them for so long.

Either explanation is further proof that the evil of Hamas cannot be lived with or tolerated and must be destroyed once the hostages are returned. In either case, their lives mean nothing to their captors.

To kidnap a 9-month-old baby, the age Kfir was during the October 7 massacre, and a 4-year-old boy is an act of pure evil. The butchers of Hamas showed no mercy even to the most innocent of their victims, with the youngest murder victim of the October 7 massacre being just three months old.

The Bibas children should have been released immediately. Then they should have been released during the weeklong November 2023 ceasefire. They should have been released every single day, every single minute, since they were brought into Gaza by the bloodthirsty barbarians of Hamas. Instead, they remain captive 15 months after their abduction.

Why has Hamas done this? It has done this because it knows how precious their children are to Israel and the Jewish people. It knows that victimizing, kidnapping, and murdering children is the ultimate torture it can inflict on Israeli society. It has done this because its ultimate goal is exactly the same as the Nazis', the annihilation of every Jew down to the last baby.

To Hamas and its supporters, Kfir Bibas is evil personified because he is a Jew, the innocence of his childhood merely a smokescreen for his nefarious inborn Judaism. His birth is itself a capital crime. It is no wonder Hamas terrorists love to read Mein Kampf and stores named for Hitler are popular in Gaza.

There can be no peace with an entity that thinks like this. Hamas has not moderated an iota after its losses in the war. Thanks to its propaganda successes and the useful idiots who value the lives of baby killers over those of Jewish babies, Hamas believes it can continue to rule Gaza and prepare for the next war, where it will use the same strategy of both lying to gullible Westerners and deliberately causing the deaths of its own people to escape the consequences of murdering Jewish children. Its leaders still vow to carry out more massacres on the level of October 7.

This ceasefire has three phases. Whatever phases two and three look like, if Hamas is still in power in Gaza at the end, the war must resume. If a “permanent” ceasefire sees Hamas remain in power after what it has done to the Bibas family, after it has vowed to start this same war all over again with more massacres, then Israel will have failed, the US will have failed, and even Donald Trump will have failed. Evil will have been allowed to endure, and more hate and death with follow.

Only the full defeat of Hamas can put an end to the Hamas violence. Only the full defeat of evil can prevent its resurgence. Monsters who deny babies the right to live have forfeited the right to live themselves. Any person who joins Hamas is an enemy of humanity. Any person who joins the ranks of the baby butchers should be treated as part of the Nazi death squads, because that is the level of evil they have chosen to champion.

[zilabee]

Living The Beatles Legend:

After a lifetime of self-doubt over body issues and inveterate shyness, he simply couldn’t control himself. “Big Mal was a demon for sex,” Tony wrote. “[...] Like sacrificial virgins, a lot of the girls willingly accepted that they would have to do it with Mal to get to John, Paul, George, or Ringo, and Mal knew it.”

“A couple of newspaper friends put on a private show involving several prostitutes for our entertainment, one of them being very pregnant.” As Mal recalled, “It was a little unnerving to have these ladies performing before our eyes with each other in one room, with Brian, George Martin and Judy, and the rather more staid members of the press in the adjoining living room.”

“I was being entertained by a young lady late one evening,” Mal wrote, “when George rushes into the darkened room, stoned out of his mind, tearing the bedclothes off, shouting, ‘My turn next—come on, give us a bit!’” Mal gave way to the Beatle, concluding that “apart from that, I was the one that got screwed.”

By this point, [Lily] wasn’t just finding “silly groupie letters” in his suitcase, but also the occasional stray pair of knickers and other telltale signs of infidelity. She recognized that Mal was being seduced—and had been for some time—by overwhelming forces, impulses with which she could hardly begin to compete.

After her brother returned from the States, June recalled that “Malcolm came home knackered, absolutely shattered from that tour.” [...] Her brother and the Beatles were living in a “totally unreal world—an extraordinary, horrendous, wonderful, terrible place that they were all existing in during that period. And they were all damaged by it. They suddenly could have anything they wanted.”

After sharing a convivial dinner with Victoria’s father, who retired early, Mal (31yo) and Victoria (16yo) returned to the hotel and went up to the twenty-seventh floor. [..] “Mal was very sweet,” she recalled, “and we talked and we talked, and we sort of made out.” And while she was unable to meet the Beatles the next morning to do an interview, she exchanged contact information with Mal. And later that year, the letters from her new pen pal began arriving, elegantly adorned with “this beautiful British handwriting.” *

Eventually, Mal would develop a vital relationship of his own with the Scruffs, although he had his detractors—namely, Carol Bedford, a peripheral member of their scrum and a George aficionado who later claimed that Mal tried to put the moves on her. Apparently, Mal had continued to approach women in the Beatles’ universe in the same transactional manner in which he and Neil had “auditioned” willing fans during the band’s touring years. Another Apple Scruff recalled a similar instance when Mal’s attempts to cozy up to the Scruffs went terribly wrong. Apparently, he had crawled under one of the girls’ blankets and “touched something he shouldn’t have.” With that, the offended Scruff came flying out from under the blanket yelling, “Who do you think you are, Paul McCartney?” **

Since leaving the hospital, [Arwen (21yo)] had reared Little Malcolm in her cramped lodgings in West Hampstead. At some point, around the age of six months, he was put up for adoption, leaving her care lock, stock, and barrel, with Mal’s teddy bear as the baby’s only consolation. Mal’s diary would enumerate lunches and telephone calls with the young woman at various points across 1969, but eventually, Arwen chose to move on, putting the whole painful episode behind her. ***

[For his son's birthday] Mal made a cassette recording in which he offered his sincere wishes for the coming year. [...] But any goodwill Mal hoped to deliver was quickly undone that morning as Gary listened to the recording over breakfast with his mother and sister. To his incredible pain and embarrassment, the tape didn’t end with his father’s birthday greeting. Apparently, Mal had recycled the cassette, and as Gary and his sister prepared to go to school, they heard the unmistakable sounds of Fran fellating their dad. The boy’s only solace was the knowledge that his eight-year-old sister didn’t understand the sounds emanating from the tape player.

[..]for the first time, Fran found herself afraid of her boyfriend, whose darkness had never been more acute. It all came to a head one night when Mal, drunk to the gills, began threatening her with his Colt Woodsman pistol, at one point placing the gun against her head before discharging it into the washing machine. When he sobered up, Mal couldn’t have been more apologetic, swearing to mend his ways and be the boyfriend she deserved.

____________________________________

Another quote under the cut, with trigger warning for rape and attempted suicide - and a few notes about some of it.

____________________________________

June 1964 - New Zealand

At the time, the official story involved a twenty-year-old female fan who, having secreted her way into the hotel, chose to slash her wrists in Mal’s room after being unable to talk her way into the Beatles’ suite. Fortunately, police caught sight of the young woman through a window and broke down the locked door with a battering ram. She was subsequently taken to a local hospital and discharged that same day.

[There are then some bits about how Derek tried to ensure it didn't link back to the Beatles in anyway, and the way the press reported it as "Girl Tries To Die For Beatles", and someone else claiming she'd actually had sex with someone and then got 'hysterical' because she realised he wasn't going to get her in to see the Beatles... but eventually it cuts to the quote from Mal's diary below.]

“On arriving back at the hotel at two in the morning,” he wrote, “I was greeted by a crowd of police and detectives as the elevator doors opened at my floor. On verifying that I occupied a particular room number, they very solemnly escorted me there, where to my horror on opening the door, I found the bathroom and bedroom covered in blood. Apparently, what had happened [was] several people had gang-banged her in my bedroom. She was so distraught, she took a razor blade from my razor and slashed her wrists, but was discovered in time and recovered in hospital. Obviously I was a prime suspect, but I had the best alibi in the world—I was drinking tea with her mother.” ****

____________________________________

* Victoria was 16, and Mal was 31. He wrote with her for a few years and met up with her again several times, and there's a quote where she says she "thought she was in love with him", and another where she was surprised to find out he was married. He's a grown man with a family and it's creepy as fuck that he was leading on/grooming a 16 year old girl - although I think according to the book they never had sex.

** I've bolded a lot of the wording which fucks me the fuck off in that passage about apple scruffs, what a fucking weird piece of writing. Apparently apparently apparently - I don't even think he's using it to suggest it might not be true, I think he's just using it to make it sound a bit casual, oh turns out he was just treating them like shit like he used to! Oh he was just 'cozying up' ??????? The last bit also feels like the girl being able to fight her corner and tell him off is being used to suggest it therefore didn't matter - not to suggest that there were probably lots of other girls who didn't want his hands on them but didn't know how to say no. It's also quickly followed by a quote of another apple scruff saying he took care of them like a big brother and they all loved him. Which is fine. But teenage girls feeling as though the creepy guy who is being nice to them in order to take advantage is just being nice to them, doesn't mean much. It's creepy that he was trying to befriend the young vulnerable girls that idolised anyone who worked with Beatles, you've literally just said he was doing it in a 'transactional manner'.

*** The author used a pseudonym for Arwen - a young woman that Mal had an affair and a child with. He wrote in his diary when the child was born, and visited them, "gifting the boy with an oversize teddy bear from Harrods". Personally I think 'chose to move on' covers an awful lot of pain very glibly. Imagine having to give your baby away after six months, imagine what she went through. It is not a small thing that he carelessly got a young woman pregnant and then offered her nothing.

**** I think we all live in Beatles fandom knowing that the people we enjoy did awful terrible things, but sometimes it's good to confront how bad it was, even if we'll never know who was involved in this particular incident. Or how often it happened to other women. Whether Beatles were involved here or not, they were around this, they were inside it. They were influenced by and friends with horrible people. Imagine writing that in your diary like it's a good joke that you were having tea with her mum while she was going through that, and not how awful that would actually feel if you had a heart. The author adds that this incident affected Mal, saying, "His “demon” persona was still alive and well, to be sure, but there would be perceptible shifts in his outlook as the group’s touring days moved forward." I didn't really pick up on these, so I'm not sure how so.

[dreamy625]

Overture and beginners - chapter 1

In early 1979, a junior typist at GEC Traction meets a curly-haired apprentice from the machine shop

Words: 1260

Content: Mentions of casual drinking in this chapter

-----------------------------

Katie supposed she’d known Steve Clark for most of her life, though to be honest she hadn’t paid much attention to him at school. He’d been in the year above, and she’d only noticed him in the morass of spots and football boots that was fifth form boys because he was always hanging round the music rooms when she was there for choir practice. He’d had hair grown just past his collar, which was against the school rules, and she’d wondered how he got away with it. Linda, one of the more boy-crazy members of her class, had tried to cajole him into joining the choir, but he’d just shaken his head shyly and melted away into one of the practice rooms. 

A few months after she’d started as the most junior of junior typists at GEC Traction, she’d recognised him in the canteen. His hair was longer and curly now, but definitely the same boy. He was sitting with the other apprentices from the machine room, a rowdy bunch that she made careful efforts to avoid because they were known to leer and whistle at any female employee who had to venture onto the factory floor. This lad, she couldn’t remember his name just then, seemed to be on the edge of the group, smiling along but not really joining in with the banter. She watched him for a minute or so as the queue inched its way towards the serving hatch, before getting distracted by the choice of soup or cottage pie.

It was months later when she encountered him again, at The Wentworth just round the corner. She usually steered clear of the pubs near work on Friday evenings - they tended to get rowdy and it was mostly just an opportunity for the boys from the machine shop to try and cop off with the girls from the electrical workshop - but it was Maureen’s last day before she left to get married, so all the women from the office who didn’t need to rush back home to cook someone’s tea had come out to celebrate. Katie had planned on staying for just one drink before her date with Gary, but everyone was in a party mood, and some of the older ladies started telling salacious stories about the managers, and suddenly it was gone seven o’clock. She used the payphone in the corridor to call Gary’s house - he hadn’t come home yet, but she left an apologetic message with his mam, maybe slightly exaggerating how much of a friend Maureen was, and returned to the gathering guilt-free. 

By the time it was her turn to buy the next round, the pub had filled up and the throng around the bar was two-deep. She exchanged an eyeroll of fellow-feeling with the customer queuing next to her and then had a moment of recognition.

“You work at GEC, right?”

“Yeah, machine shop. You’re there too?”

“Yup, in the office. I type. Actually, I do more tea-making than typing.”

“Well that’s a useful skill for a Yorkshire lass,” said the young man, and cringed inwardly at such a dad-like comment.

“Actually, I think we might have gone to school together? Wisewood? You did music or something?”

Steve studied her face. “Oh yeah,” he said, nodding, “you do look familiar. You were in the choir?”

“Yup, mezzo-soprano, fourth from the left.”

“Do you still sing?”

“Only in the bath! Do you still play…” She realised she never noticed what he was actually doing in the music room.

“Guitar. A bit. ‘M in a band.” He almost mumbled the last part.

“Oh, cool. I’m sorry, I can’t remember your name?”

“Steve, Steve Clark. And you’re...?”

“Katherine. Well, Katie to everyone who’s not my parents.”

“Nice to meet you, or meet you again, Katie.” He held out his hand in a cramped elbow-up handshake, as they were still trapped in the press of people around the bar. “Are you here with…?” The question tailed off.

Katie gestured to her table, where it seemed another of the apprentices was trying to chat up Janet (120wpm shorthand and E-cup boobs, one or other of those impressive attributes making her an object of great fascination to the men in the factory). “With the girls from work. And it looks like they’ve made a new friend.”

“Oh that’s Charlie, loud but harmless.”

When they reached the front of the queue, Steve, ever the gentleman, let Katie go first. And when the drinks arrived, he offered to help carry them.

“What about your drinks?”

He flapped a hand dismissively. “They can wait. They’re all drunk enough anyway.” He turned towards the table but then looked back. “Do you play pool?”

“Yeah, badly. Why…”

“Badly’ll do.” A mischievous smile formed on his face as he headed to where the women were sitting.

Depositing the drinks, he leant in and whispered in Charlie’s ear. 

Charlie grinned at the suggestion. “We challenge you ladies to a game of pool - if you win, you get to go on a date with me!”

“That was not what I…” 

“And what happens if we lose?”

“You have to go on two dates with him!”

“Hey!” Charlie elbowed his mate in the stomach, but it didn't stop Steve from laughing.

Katie and Janet agreed to the challenge, if not the 'prize' and, with Caroline from Accounts chaperoning in case the boys got handsy (with four grown kids of her own, she had moved on to mothering all the unmarried girls in the office), they moved to the pool table in the corner.

Katie was, as she'd admitted, pretty terrible at pool. Steve was good, and the boys won the first game easily. As they were racking up for the rematch, Charlie suggested they mix it up, him with Janet, and Steve and Katie together. This was a transparent excuse for Charlie to try his best moves on his teammate, putting his arms around her to ‘help’ her line up her shot and somehow always needing to get to the side of the table that meant squeezing past her. Janet put up only token resistance, despite Caroline's disapproving stare. Katie found herself noticing how Steve’s awkwardness vanished when he was concentrating; there was something graceful in the way he moved around the table, and he smiled just as easily when he mis-hit and potted the white as when he made a tricky shot. His skill and Charlie's distraction meant they won the second game, with Steve claiming he was the overall champion, having been on both winning teams. He declined the 'prize' but, from the looks they were giving one another, it seemed like Janet would happily take his place.

"So, um…"

The question he was building up to was interrupted by a passing slap on the back from one of the other apprentices. "We're going for chips, you coming?"

With a glance at Katie he hesitated for a second before shyness got the better of him. "Err, okay, be there in a sec," he called. Turning back to Katie he asked, "I guess I'm off then. You alright getting home?"

"Yup, Caroline and I get the same bus so we'll go together."

"That's good… um… do you think you'll be here next Friday?"

"Oh, yeah, probably. I come in here a lot." (Massive lie.)

"Cool. So… maybe I'll see you then?"

"Sure." 

She smiled and his carefully nonchalant demeanour was torpedoed by a broad grin. He raised his hand in a half-wave as he turned and took quick steps to catch up with his mates. 

Chapter 2 >

[synonymouswithanonymous]

☺☺ you were right!

you were right! That's so exciting, he's completely integral to the plot!!! A catalyst for later drama, at least in part. I'm excited to see him play this character! A broken Vietnam vet. He's going to be great in this part!

So the article from last month that named him, was a bit off, but that's ok bc now we know more! 😊😊 and EM is Swintons characters daughter! He plays Swintons character's lover/father to her child! This confirms he's definitely got scenes with the leads!

"or her recounting the death of her child’s father, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, in a house fire on the side of a highway."

----------

This will be a great character, the catalyst for so much drama within one family later, it makes you wonder what would be the lifelong impact of such a tragedy. A character sent off to proverbial slaughter, who most likely had to commit and witness acts he'd never wished to have even witnessed. And then returning to a country that doesn't understand PTSD or what soldiers went through, but are instead spat at in the streets and their mental health largely ignored/misunderstood. And then to have such a tragic end. That's so sad. This is a movie aiming to make me cry in a variety of ways. Lol I'm excited!

Sidenote: please skip if uninterested. I don't think his interview says he's given up on his career, so to speak, but maybe taking a more realistic view on his career prospects is healthy and warranted. Not everyone is going to be Brad Pitt, someone has to be Gary Oldman  (for differences in career paths, as an example).

Perhaps he's just not getting his hopes up bc in another interview he said his hopes were dashed, repeatedly by covid/strikes/not getting hired for gigs immediately after Vikings etc. AND the fact that Vikings isn't as popular a show as the fandom bubble created around all these actors in it made it seem like they were (I'm still calling them all, even Winnick an underdog bc she's "B list" or lower by "hollywood" standards. She's not up there in the hierarchy like say Reese Witherspoon. AHA realistically would be B list too.

That's not an insult but realistic. How many actors are in SAGAFTRA? Currently? And how many more newbies each year? Hollywood is always about the next big thing. But Hollywood is losing its grip on its dominance due to streaming and other factors.

Plus how many movies/shows are actually shot in Los Angeles nowadays? it's always a location elsewhere it seems.

His more humble approach is good, didn't he say he was aiming for a mads mikklesen (sp?) or NCW career? If so then he's well on track to having great character roles. He's going for longevity, not a quick buck. Maybe he has been picky, but it's working for him. He doesn't need to be in every lame remake hollywood comes up with that's destined to lose money. Tinseltown has lost its shine in the wake of technology from jets, to streaming services letting us see originals in original languages, instead of watered down remakes that pale next to the original. Or just original innovative stories, the foreign films/shows on netflix alone are great! I'm looking at you Nightwatch american remake that was just bad. 😳😳 He's even been able to write and star in his own idea for a tv show. There might be a second season. He can fly to locations, it's a modern world, he doesn't have to be isolated in "hollyweird made of vices" away from his home, family/gf and language/culture. And while Hollywood might take offense to him "complaining" about really long days, in the cold, and that Denmark has better labor laws....where's the lie? If there's something that isn't right, why should he be silent? Why should people be worked to the point that they can't even recover from being in hospital, no sick days or back up plan in case of illness on set. To the point that they've been broken down physically and mentally. Isn't that the reason labor laws exist, to protect people from suits who only care about schedules and money instead of the actors health? That goes for any job not just actors. Or their mental health, most people don't have to fly to a different country for jobs either, that's got to be rough no matter how much you love your job. But anyway, it doesn't seem to have affected his hiring status that much. 😊

But I think he's playing the long game quite smartly. He's going for a real career, not to be a teenage idol. Why be a small fish in an overlarge pond (hollywood) when he can be a bigger fish in a much smaller pond and build a career like Mads M? The same reason Ole Bornedal and Pedro Almodóvar stay in their respective countries (mostly). Bornedals's movie was remade, and changed, instead of just releasing It with subtitles. It could be that there they can create the art they want to without time/money/script restrictions? Bc in Hollywood they've even put time/plot limits on THE Ridley Scott! To the detriment of many of his films post gladiator ( kingdom of heaven should have just been the directors cut imo bc they cut important story parts). I say let him create art the way he wants to, he's on his timetable, not fans. It's his career that We are hoping to watch for the next 30-40 years. Or longer, Almodóvar is 74! Clint Eastwood is how old? We will just have to be patient for new projects. 😊😊 I know its fun to get all my Gary Oldman movies immediately bc he's been around for over 40 years ! I don't have to wait between Leon, Sid & Nancy or even The Scarlett Letter! To much newer works. Im working my way through from the beginning. 😳😳 imagine how his OG fans felt getting one or two projects every so often or a year. Having to wait to see the next film, if it was even released for very long in theaters (that's imo wild to think about). And then waiting months for it to come out on a dvd to see it if wasn't released for long. Or if you missed a show you would have to wait for it to repeat?!?! Things not being readily available would be so brutal, and here I was complaining that bridgerton season 3 was cut up in 2 parts!!! I couldn't binge it all in one day!! Patience is a virtue. And even Alan Rickman didn't get his "american debut breakthrough" until he was in his 40swith die hard. And he is a legend (just bc he passed away doesn't change the tense of his legendary status)! AHA has plenty of time, and is doing great. Imo.

Sorry for the side ramble, but I take issue with the idea that he can somehow do more than what he's done. He's right there are some things beyond our control. Or that his work ethic is somehow lacking, bc between owning a stake in a watch company( it being sold wouldn't change his stake/shares too much, maybe it made him more money?), doing multiple voice works, making movies, creating his own show and filming other shows/short films, and working for charities (plural) he's been a really really busy person. And side projects with photography. He's working fairly steadily and a lot. Choosing great projects from Shadows to RND. How much do they want him to work? Lol he doesn't exactly have a 9-5.

I'm still hoping that this movie will be the one that makes people see his skills, and set him up for the longevity he so desires. 😊😊😊 Best wishes to him and his lovely JM.

Edited to add, even though it's just his character that gets a mention, the reviews are positive. If he wasn't right or good in a stellar movie, it would have been mentioned. So he at the very least performed well enough to not get a bad review. So he's given another great performance!!!! But really with those two ladies as leads, with the story mostly focused on them, I'm impressed that his small role has been mentioned several times. Even if not by name right now, his part was noticed enough to make the articles, moreso than Nivola, in a P Almodóvar film that has Moore and Swinton in it. 😊😊 huzzah to anyone that's made it this far, still always surprised lol.

[silvstory]

The Stupendous Silver Striker: Issue One, Part One

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As the final bell's impending ring echoed through the bustling hallways of Robert Goddard High School, Gary Hammerschmidt deftly maneuvered through the swarm of students. He weaved through the crowded corridors, skillfully dodging classmates, lockers, and even a particularly aggressive dodgeball that whizzed past his ear.

“Sorry!” Gary cried out, narrowly avoiding a collision with a pair of students who materialized from his blind spot. He bobbed and weaved with a mix of agility and grace.

Ordinarily, Gary wouldn't be in such a hurry. He didn't usually have any pressing extracurriculars to rush to, but today was an exception.

Having received a slew of new additions for his ever-expanding model city as a reward for acing his latest test, Gary couldn't contain his excitement. The thought of returning home and immersing himself in his miniature world sent a surge of joy through his veins.

As he approached the double doors that led to his freedom, Bristol Lucian, his best friend, caught up with him.

“Hey, Gary!” Bristol grinned, sidling up beside him and nudging the doors open, gesturing for Gary to pass through first. “Got any plans for this afternoon? I'm building a new PC and could really use your help.”

Gary reciprocated Bristol's smile, adjusting his backpack onto one shoulder as he slowed his pace. He could momentarily suppress his excitement to converse with his friend.

"Sorry, Dude," Gary said apologetically. "I've got my own project to dive into."

"Oh! Right, more additions for your little city!" Bristol realized, a spark of understanding brightening his eyes. "How about tomorrow, then?"

Gary pondered for a moment. He had already committed to his model for the rest of the day, and the same applied to tomorrow. But it had been a week since he had spent quality time with Bristol, and a pang of guilt tugged at his heart. After all, as his mom often said, people come first.

"Sure! I'd love to. I'll swing by tomorrow after dropping off my stuff."

"Sounds like a plan. See you tomorrow!"

With that, Bristol turned and headed for the sidewalk. Gary wished he could walk with him, but they lived on opposite sides of the city, so their paths diverged.

His walk home was blissfully uneventful, and Gary was able to slip into his imagination and begin to pre-plan what he’d do next.

I should probably add a couple more townhouses in the residential district, He thought, kicking a rock along in front of him as he made his way down the sidewalk, There just aren’t enough of them.

Gary‘s “fatal flaw“, as his dad called it, was that he just didn’t know when to quit. Currently, he had a perfectly good city, it was large, imposing, and it was filled with all sorts of wonderful miniature architecture, but there were no minute details. Gary was often so busy adding more and more buildings, that he neglected to add any figures at all.  So, the city got bigger and bigger, but there were no residents or streetlights to fill it. Gary had asked for figures, but the thing was, they might never be used.

A short time later, Gary turned a corner and found himself on his street. He jogged the last few paces and then up the stairs to the front stoop where he paused to search for his keys before jamming them in the lock and letting himself into the house.

”Afternoon, kiddo!” Derek Hammershmidt called from the kitchen as soon as Gary entered the parlor. Gary could  almost swear that his dad had a sort of sixth sense that was only useful for knowing when people were entering the house.

”Hey, Dad,” Gary returned the greeting, swinging his backpack off of his shoulder and letting it drop to the floor next to the pile of shoes that waited patiently beside the front door. Kicking off his own shoes, he wandered into the kitchen, “Lunch break?”

Gary’s dad nodded and held up a half-empty plate of pork chop leftovers,

”Yup. I take ‘em when I can, my last meeting was two hours long,” He grunted. Gary’s dad worked from home, so he was almost always around when Gary got home. Usually, he’d just come downstairs a few minutes after Gary came through the door, but sometimes he happened to be downstairs on a break.

”They’re working you to death,” Gary smirked, grabbing a can of soda from the refrigerator, “Also, you do know that Mom went to the store yesterday, right?” He pointed out, with another grin, “You don’t have to eat last night‘s leftovers.”

"And waste the rest of your mother's splendid cooking? I think not. I am the Leftover King!"

Gary rolled his eyes in a lighthearted display of feigned annoyance. Truthfully, he found his father's quirks rather endearing, but playing the part of the generic teenager was all part of the fun.

"Speaking of Mom, where is she, anyway?" Gary inquired, glancing out of the kitchen window. It seemed that Ruby Hammershmidt wasn't in the garden, her usual afternoon haunt.

"She's off picking up something she bought. A side table or something," Derek shrugged. "She should be back in about half an hour. Left a little while ago."

Gary nodded in understanding. His mom was usually off buying and selling antiques and stuff like that while Gary was at school. It was a hobby of hers that Gary took an interest in. Sometimes, when a piece needed to be fixed or refurbished, Gary would help out with some of the materials he had squirreled away in the attic. It was often good mother-son bonding time.

Gary then took a couple more sips of his soda, decided that he really wanted to get to work, drained the rest of his soda, and tossed the can in the trash. He then turned and made for the stairs, but his dad stopped him.

”Woah, woah, Rocketeer, where’re you headed?”

“My room. I want to get to work on my city,” Gary explained, halfway turning to face him, “I’ve been waiting all day, Dad.”

Gary‘s dad raised an eyebrow but said nothing else. He then shrugged,

”Alright, go on, kiddo. Have fun with your city. Build me a nice big house with a pool, won’t you?” He joked, cracking a smile, “Just make sure to come downstairs for dinner and not get sucked into that little world of yours, righto?”

Gary nodded once, already turning back towards the stairs,

”Alright, yes sir!” And then he was off, running up the stairs towards his room.

Gary raced into his room like the man on a mission that he was, and he skidded to a stop at the door, his shoes slipping on the hardwood. He knew he was a bit over excited to get back to work on something that he’d been working on for nigh months now, but that was just how he was. He just had to grab a few things before he went up to the attic, where he kept the model city. Most of his models, like the Eiffel Tower and the White House, for example, had their own space on Gary’s shelves, but since the city was so massive, it was up in the attic, which was fine for Gary since that was also where his parents made him keep his hoard of bits-and-bobs for model-making..

Gary grabbed his travel-friendly model-making kit and went to the end of the hallway and pulled down the ladder for the attic. He pushed the kit up the ladder and onto the attic floor in front of him before he pulled himself up the ladder. He always found it hard to climb stairs or ladders with stuff in his hands. Gary had this weird thing about wanting to be able to see his feet when he was going up things.

The attic was dark and dusty, so Gary pulled the cord directly above him, turning on a single LED bulb and shedding the space in bright white light. He picked up his kit and made his way over to his model city, which he had covered with a sheet the night before to prevent it from somehow getting dirty or messed up.

Gary whipped off the sheet and then stood for a moment, admiring his handiwork.

”Now that is what I call a great place to live,” Gary said, doing an announcer impression with a grin of pride on his face, “Crime rate? Zero. Coolness rate? One hundred percent!”

He chuckled to himself and put down his burden, kneeling and opening the kit while spreading the different tools around so he could get a good look at them all and decide which one he was going to use.

Where did I put my tweezers? He wondered, sifting through the disorganized kit with his eyebrows knitted together, I could have sworn I put it back in here last night…?

Then, Gary remembered. He’d left his tweezers on the table in his bedroom because he’d brought them down to re-add a couple pieces to his White House, which had lost a pillar and a windowsill.

“Shoot,” He said aloud, looking at the trapdoor and thinking whether or not it was worth it to climb back down the ladder and back to his room, Well, while I’m up here I should add in a couple figures. It’s about time.

Gary stood and brushed himself off. He turned, went over to the corner where he kept the figures and other materials, and he opened one of the drawers he knew held the plastic trees and streetlights. He didn’t think his city was yet ready for a civilian population, but a couple trees, streetlights, and other fixtures wouldn’t hurt to add some atmosphere. He gathered the figures and deposited them in the only empty space in his city, the park. It would serve as a holding spot until he could disperse the items evenly among the many buildings. He observed the pile for a moment before frowning thoughtfully.

I’m missing something. I’ve got the regular city stuff, but the park’s going to be pretty empty save for some trees… yeah. Parks usually have gaudy statues and stuff, but I don’t know if I have any of those on hand, He swept his eyes around the attic before they landed on an old trunk that he recalled his dad once telling him belonged to his grandpa, Hey! Grandpa was an architect. Maybe he had some little models he used for planning or something?

Gary climbed over piles of boxes and maneuvered around random items that had been put up in the attic for storage until he reached the trunk. There wasn’t a lock on it, but as Gary sat down and tried to open it, he found that it was a lot harder to open than he expected as the latch was rusted a bit. Gritting his teeth, he pulled with all his might, and the trunk popped open with a slight cracking noise.

Inside, there wasn’t much to look at. It was mainly empty, save for a photo album, personal papers, a wedding ring, a small statuette of a broadsword, and then just a couple of random items that seemed to have no sort of connection to each other.

I guess Grandpa was a bit of a minimalist, Gary thought, reaching down into the chest and taking out the broadsword, This would work for the park, though. I can put it on a hill or something. If I add a little plaque or something on the base of it it‘ll look just like any old memorial.

Gary then put the statuette on the edge of a box behind him and he began to dig through the papers, curious to know if he could discover anything interesting about the grandfather that died before he was born. He leafed through them, skimming underneath headers that seemed like they’d contain interesting tidbits, but he stopped after the third or fourth paper. The long, vague life of Jason Hammerschmidt wasn’t all too interesting of a read.

Gary stood and turned around to grab the statuette, ready to return to his city and then grab his tweezers, when he knocked his knuckle against the statuette. Gary’s heart seemed to skip a beat as it wobbled on its base, but it didn’t fall.

Whew, that was close. I don’t want to break that of a things! Gary thought, grabbing the statuette in his hand and walking towards the narrow path he’d made between the towering stacks of boxes, Dad would probably kill me.

Gsry turned a corner, and his shoulder bumped against one of the box towers. Then, a couple of unfortunate things happened in very quick succession.

First, the statuette slipped out of Gary’s hand, and, faster than he could duck down to try to grab it, it shattered against the floor. Then, Gary felt a severely strong force rush against him, and his vision was obscured by what looked like silver mist as he fell backwards and hit his head on a box behind him.

Gary‘s vision blurred, and for a moment all he could think was that he really didn’t want to get a concussion or die alone in the attic from blunt force trauma. Everything then went black, but just as quickly, his vision cleared.

Gary sat up, rubbing the back of his head, not sure if he was sure of what had just happened. It seemed to have happened so fast that his brain had struggled to register it. He tried recounting it in his head, but it was still just as confusing.

Gary turned to look at the offending box, a purple plastic one with the label “Dad’s Pots”. He scowled as he stood back up. Now his head hurt and he’d just broken one of his Dad’s last remaining items of his father’s!

Gary supposed he could try to recover the pieces and glue them back together, but when he looked for where he dropped it, he couldn’t find a single trace of it.

Maybe it rolled between the boxes…? Gary thought, getting on his hands and knees and pushing boxes and other junk out of the way. This is just great! I broke and lost it in one fell swoop!

Gary spent well over an hour trying to find the statuette, but no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find even the slightest trace of it. He didn’t give up, even though he was feeling a little funky and his head hurt. He only halted his search when he heard his mom calling him down for dinner.

Gary sighed deeply before climbing down the ladder and closing the trap door. He decided not to tell his parents about the broken statuette until he found it. He wanted to make sure it was actually broken before he went and got himself in trouble for it, because while he’d heard the sound of it shattering, he actually hadn’t seen it, and he was hoping that the damage wasn’t as bad as the sound had implied.

Gary trudged his feet when he reached the kitchen, and he flopped into a chair. His dad raised an eyebrow when he saw him. Clearly, Gary’s dad was confused and maybe a bit concerned by the sudden demeanor change from how he’d been couple hours before.

”You okay, Gary?” Gary’s mom asked, ever vigilant to her son’s appearance as she set a plate of lasagna in front of him, “You look… ruffled.”

”I’m fine, mom,” Gary said, feigning nonchalance despite the fact that he was still feeling a little odd, “Though, I did fall and hit my head in the attic. I’m fine, now!” He added the last part on rather quickly as his mom‘s expression twisted into a frown, “It doesn’t hurt anymore or anything.”

Ruby Hammerschmidt was excellent at telling when her son or husband was lying, but she seemed to not be too worried about Gary this time, as she let it slide and dropped the topic.

Gary was grateful that she’d left him alone on that, as he really just wanted to finish his dinner and get to bed. A good night’s sleep would make him feel better, that he was certain. He practically inhaled his lasagna and then brought his empty plate to the dishwasher.

”Thanks Mama, that was delicious. Also, despire the fact that I’m feeling fine, I do feel a little tired, so you don’t mind if I go to bed early tonight?” Gary asked, trying his best not to rub the back of his head, where a small welt had formed.

Gary’s parents exchanged a look. Clearly, there would be further questioning now or in the morning depending on whether or not they wanted to talk about his behavior. Gary hoped it would be held off for the morning because he suddenly was feeling very drained.

”That’s fine,“ Gary’s mom said after a moment or two as she walked over and gave Gary a hug and a kiss on his forehead, “Sleep well, and make sure that you’ve got any and all of your homework finished.”

Thankfully, Gary thought, reciprocating the hug, I didn’t get any homework today.

Gary then hugged his dad around the neck and turned to go upstairs, not running this time like he had only a couple hours before.

In his room, Gary kicked off his shoes and put his glasses on the bedside table before flopping down on his bed. He had been intending on laying down for a moment before getting up to do his night time routine, but sleep hit him like a sack of bricks, and he was out like a light in mere minutes.

[alfredstvthoughts]

Public Eye - My Life's My Own (Season 4 Episode 4; 20 August 1969)

CONTENT WARNING: This episode concerns the circumstances surrounding an attempted suicide and this review will mention the topic due to it's plot relevance.

With Helen Mortimer (Pauline Delaney) away to visit her sister who has suffered an accident, Frank Marker (Alfred Burke) has been left in charge of her boarding house while she's away. During this time, Shirley Marlowe (Stephanie Beacham) arrives asking for a room. Though Marker shouldn't be accepting guests in Mortimer's absence (he had forgot to take down the vacancies sign in the window), he lets her stay.

Right away it is clear Shirley is not a usual customer. Not only is she always playing her transistor radio rather loudly, she also asks for a large quantity of coins to make phone calls and goes on to make a number of distressed sounding calls to someone called Chris.

That night, Marker breaks into Shirley's room after receiving no response to his requests to turn her music down to find she has attempted suicide with an overdose of pills. He then desperately attempts to revive her with coffee, smelling salts and a forced walk outside. These intense (and potentially distressing) scenes are handled sensitively and Alfred Burke's intense performance here does an excellent job of expressing Marker's desperation as he frantically tries to revive Shirley. There is also some suspense as Marker and Shirley's walk is observed suspiciously by a police car patrolling below, which with Marker facing a return to prison if he misbehaves leaves us wondering if the police will become suspicious and arrest Marker (particularly as he has already ended up in a police station over his wrongly being accused of the wage theft during Paid in Full).

After that, Marker tries to get to the bottom of why Shirley attempted suicide. It turns out that the Chris she was so desperately phoning the previous day is the wife (Katharine Blake) of Dr. Nourse (Gary Watson), who Shirley had previously been nursing and appears to be in love with her (the twist that Chris is actually the wife and not the husband as one may initially believe is handled well). Shirley had then been thrown out by Dr. Nourse. It's also worth noting that this hint of homosexuality was definitely daring for the time (although not the first time Public Eye had dealt with homosexuality with some of the missing ABC episodes also featuring homosexual characters and the possible suggestion of John Ingleby being gay in The Bromsgrove Venus).

The larger plot surrounding Marker's efforts to make his way in the world once more upon his release from prison is mostly on pause in this episode, with only a few scenes addressing Marker's need for a new job following his dismissal from his building job with Kenrick in the previous episode as well as a suggestion from Hull (John Grieve) that he'll need to find a new place to stay with Mortimer's boarding house about to fill up with holiday season approaching.

Instead, this is a slow-paced, mature and sensitive character drama mostly focusing on the interactions between Marker and Shirley. Alfred Burke gives one of his best ever performances as Marker while Stephanie Beacham portrays Shirley's range of emotions extremely well. Additionally, Gary Watson is suitably unlikeable as the unsympathetic Dr. Nourse (who, having heard Marker's report of Shirley's suicide attempt offers a brutally heartless response during Shirley's next phone call: "Next time, make sure you turn off the radio first"). Katharine Blake is also good as the quieter Chris, who seems dominated by her husband but still wishes to speak with Shirley.

There is no neat and tidy resolution to this episode, with Shirley having left before Mortimer returns near the end of the episode. The scenes where Marker and Mortimer discuss Shirley and Marker's proposed attempt to track her down are beautifully played in an understated way and Chris also makes an appearance at the boarding house, trying to find Shirley herself.

The one flaw with this episode and one that Mortimer brings up during her conversation with Marker near the end is why didn't Marker call an ambulance? Marker's own explanation to Mortimer is extremely weak (it might have been more excusable if he gave a plausible reason like he felt an ambulance would have taken too long to arrive meaning he had to act fast himself to save Shirley) and there is no doubt professional medical help could have saved Shirley faster.

Overall, while My Life's My Own does little to push the overarching plot of the season forward, the fact that it is such a well-written, mature, intelligent and sensitive character tale means that this can be easily forgiven. The writing, performances and drama are all perfectly-tuned, making this episode exceptional stuff.

In 1970, the Armchair Theatre TV play Wednesday's Child was broadcast, effectively serving as a prequel to this episode, depicting the events before Shirley's arrival at Mortimer's boarding house. This is also reviewed here.

[yestolerancepro]

Tolerance Project Blog

Jumping the shark the Tolerance Project and the Jaws Franchise.

Part 2 Jaws the sequels a classic case of diminishing returns

Introduction

Hello there and welcome to the 2nd Chapter in a blog that looks at the Jaws Franchise this chapter covers the 3 sequels

The original Jaws film from 1975 was included on a list of film published by Screenrant of Franchises that peaked with their first film they said this about Jaws.

One of the most important releases in movie history, the original Jaws, was credited with starting the summer blockbuster as audiences know it, and forever changing cinema. The highest-grossing movie of all time when it came out in 1975, Steven Spielberg’s epic tale of a killer shark who terrorized beachgoers was a sensational piece of action filmmaking that was as thrilling as it was terrifying. Three sequels were released, and its legacy can still be felt in recent films like The Meg, but the series peaked with the original. It is a classic horror film that cannot be replicated in any way or form.

Screenrant recently published an article called 10 films that deserved better sequels Jaws was included on that list this is what Screenrant said about the Jaws sequels

Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jaws has been cited as one of the films that created the summer blockbuster, and set the tone for the success of Spielberg's career. It makes sense that producers wanted to capitalize on the attention that Jaws was receiving, but the many sequels that followed were consistently less effective than the original film.

Though not the worst sequel overall, Jaws 2 set the tone for how filmmakers would approach the legacy of the franchise, and this should've been treated more carefully. Like many sequels, Jaws 2 falls prey to the mistake of following the same plot as the original, but not doing it as well.

The next section of the blog looks at the Jaws sequels highlighting the good parts and the bad parts of both this is taken from a cinema blend article titled after watching all 4 Jaws films here are the best and worst parts of each sequel

The Best thing about Jaws 2 ?

Best Thing About It: Some Of The Characters From The First Movie Return

There are many great things about the original Jaws, but probably the best thing about it is the characters, as Police Chief Brody (Roy Schieder), Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and Quint (Robert Shaw) are all super memorable. Hell, even the secondary characters, like Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary), and Deputy Lenny Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) elevate the movie.

So, it’s a relief to find that some of the cast from the original flick return in Jaws 2, as Schieder, Gary, Kramer, and Hamilton all have significant roles in this sequel. 

It features a plot pretty similar to the original (which I’m going to harp about in a moment), and so the returning characters have to deal with yet another shark attack at the beach. 

With Scheider returning, it brings a sort of comforting closure to the story, as he once again gets to kill another shark, but this time, the story centers around the Brody children, as well as some other young people. 

Honestly, even with the returning characters, Dreyfuss and Shaw’s absences are deeply felt, and it’s little wonder that Jaws 2 wasn’t up for Best Picture like its predecessor, as it’s missing a lot of the heart and soul that was in the original. 

The worst thing about Jaws 2?

Worst Thing About It: It's Pretty Much The First Movie, But Not As Good

Tell me if this sounds familiar: Mayor Larry Vaughn tries to downplay the severity of shark attacks at Amity Island, and Police Chief Brody has to go to war with one. That sounds like the plot of the first movie, right? Well, it is, but it’s also the plot of Jaws 2. 

However, this time, we don’t have Hooper or Quint along for the ride. Instead, Chief Brody is pretty much on his own, and he’s more paranoid than ever (as he should be) about sharks. In one scene, he even starts shooting at the ocean on a crowded beach due to what he thinks is a shark. 

That said, Vaughn seems completely brain dead to discount Brody’s fears after what happened in the first movie, so it’s kind of ridiculous seeing him push back yet again against the police chief’s concerns.

In the end, this feels very been-there-seen-that, and not in a good way. 

Jaws 2 tried to copy the original a little too closely

Beyond the film's near-instant status as a pop culture phenomenon, making the stakes for any sequel much higher, the glaring issue with creating a sequel to Jaws is the open-and-shut narrative. The shark is clearly blown to bits in the last few minutes of the original, meaning the threat to Amity Island is gone. But, with its absolute box office domination, Universal executives and producers David Brown and Richard Zanuck demanded that Jaws needed a sequel. However, Steven Spielberg refused to direct a sequel, potentially because of the difficult production of Jaws. Apart from Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss, and despite Roy Scheider nearly backing out, most of the principal cast and crew from the original film returned for the sequel.

The story of Jaws 2 wound up being a rehash of its predecessor: Amity Island's tourist season goes awry with the arrival of a massive great white shark, and Richard Brody must outsmart the shark while the Amity Island mayor pretends as if nothing is wrong. The narrative obviously worked the first time and, if box office receipts are to be believed, it worked a second time as well, despite the film lacking Spielberg's visionary direction. Jaws 2 grossed $208 million worldwide on a $20 million budget: obviously not as impressive as its predecessor, but a solid profit nonetheless. Critical and audience reception, on the other hand, took quite a dip; many hated how similar the film was to the original but with much less exciting direction and a less interesting supporting cast. This lack of innovation and too much focus on sticking to the original film was the first nail in the Jaws franchise's coffin.

Further reading

Jaws 2 secretly has the most realistic shark scene according to this article on the ScreenRant website  https://screenrant.com/jaws-2-realistic-shark-scene-diver-scare/ 

Talking about Jaws 2 the film celebrates its 45th Birthday this year The remind website published this article to celebrate its birthday https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/3744/jaws-2-1978-roy-scheider-john-williams/

Did you know that the first 2 Jaws films are number 2 and 3 in the list of highest grossing horror films of all time behind the 1973 film The Exorcist I know this sounds funny but I wouldn’t class the Jaws Franchise as Horror but thats just me you can read the full list by clicking here https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-highest-grossing-horror-movies-of-all-time/

This article from the Collider Film website covers John Williams work on Jaws 2 to read it click here It Didn’t Have Spielberg, but I’m Glad This ‘Jaws’ Sequel Brought Back One Key Player From the Original

To watch a video about the making of Jaws 2 Click here

The Jo blo website has released an article on what they say is the best scene in Jaws 2 you can read the article or watch the video about it by clicking here Jaws 2 (1978) – The Best Scene (joblo.com)

JAWS III or is that JAWS 3D ? 1983

Jaws III aka Jaws 3D (depending on which version you are watching the 2D Television Version or 3D version) which people saw at the cinema  is a bit of a mess.

Jaws 3D Attempted to bring terror to third  Dimension

Obviously, the third Jaws film couldn't be another re-do of the original, so Brown and Zanuck originally thought to pivot to parody. The original plan for Jaws 3, according to the film's original producer Matty Simmons, potentially involved John Hughes as the screenwriter, Joe Dante as director, and Bo Derek and Richard Dreyfuss as the two leading stars. Unfortunately, Steven Spielberg hated the idea of a Jaws self-parody and threatened to stop working with Universal if the film went into production. With Brown and Zanuck no longer having immediate plans for a third film, and most of the cast and crew from the past two entries neglecting to join for a third, Alan Landsberg Productions bought the rights to produce and pivoted the film to a marine theme park extravaganza.

The resulting film certainly separated itself from the previous Jaws entries in the worst possible ways. The biggest change is in the title: the 3-D. Adding polarized 3-D to films (and making the title have a 3-D pun) had a small resurgence in the early 1980s with films like Amityville 3-D and Friday the 13th: Part III. The choice to add 3-D made the traditionally troubled production of Jaws films infinitely worse. Dennis Quaid, who played this film's version of Mike Brody, said that he was rarely not on cocaine during the whole shoot. The director, Joe Alves, was incredibly inexperienced as his background was in art direction and production design; he'd only worked as a second-unit director for Jaws 2. Add on the chaos of shooting at SeaWorld Orlando and zero connection to Jaws or Jaws 2 and Jaws 3-D was seemingly doomed to flop.

Jaws 3-D belly flopped upon release. The film was met with abysmal critical reactions, sitting at an 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, and making only $45 million worldwide. WIth the increased production costs due to the use of 3-D, Jaws 3-D barely turned a profit. Critics despised the 3-D gimmick, although nearly everything in the film--from the acting to the special effects--received some level of critique. Critics were also unimpressed with the nonsensical plot and factual inaccuracies: a major shift from the relative care taken in Jaws and Jaws 2. So, the gamble on a major location change and the addition of 3-D didn't save the Jaws franchise either.

The Best thing about Jaws 3D

Best Thing About It: The Plot Is Really Interesting This Time Around

3D movies are very much still around. In fact, we run a whole series titled To 3D Or Not To 3D, in which we let you know whether you should spend a few extra bucks to watch a movie in 3D…or not.

However, while 3D is still around (and mostly brought back due to the massive success of James Cameron’s Avatar’s 1 and 2), it was immensely popular decades ago, and especially popular with horror movies, such as Parasite, Amityville 3-D, Friday the 13th Part III, and yes, even Jaws 3-D. 

All of this is to say that 3D was a huge gimmick back in the day, rather than it having anything to do with the plots of these films, and such is also the case here. 

Even so, the plot is actually pretty good. This time around, the Brody children are all grown up, and played by Dennis Quaid and John Putch. Bess Armstrong and Lea Thompson play their respective girlfriends in the film. 

The story revolves around a great white shark (actually two of them) infiltrating a SeaWorld amusement park, and one of the Brody children and his girlfriend trying to stop it before it kills some of the park’s guests. 

I like this plot since it’s greatly different from that of the first two, and I consider it a strong suit of the film. 

The Worst thing about Jaws 3D

Worst Thing About It: It Takes Way Too Long For Things To Get Moving 

Yes, the plot is pretty good, but it takes too long just to get to any of the good stuff. We’re introduced to the Brody children and their girlfriends, and get a lot of lead up to the events, but the actual fun stuff doesn’t happen for almost an entire hour into the movie. 

Instead, we get several shots of people riding on the water, and discussing sea life, but very little in the actual realm of shark attacks. I actually watched this film with my son, as he’s a huge fan of the first two movies, and he told me that the film was putting him to sleep. Hey, if you can’t keep your target audience awake, you’ve failed somewhere along the way.  

Further reading

You can read about Producer/Directors Joe Dantes original plans for Jaws III and his unmade sequel Jaws 3 people 0 by clcking here click here https://theplaylist.net/joe-dante-unmade-jaws-sequel-20230721/

Further Watching

To watch a video called 10 things you never knew about Jaws III from Minty's comedic arts click here

To watch Jaws 3D a video retrospective from the Oliver Harper Youtube channel click here

Just Wondering 

If anybody is reading this a question has anybody seen the original 3D version of the film what was it like? I imagine it was a rather strange experience the only 3D film I have seen was Captain EO at Disney land in California  in 1989 and again at EuroDisney in the early 90s.

Jaws 4 The Revenge 1987

Jaws the Revenge  Sunk the franchises ship

Despite the chilly response to Jaws 3-D, the film made enough profit for Universal executives to try making another Jaws sequel. Universal bought back sole production rights and got to work on a third Jaws sequel. Universal CEO Sidney Sheinberg still saw power in the IP and wanted another film to promote the upcoming Jaws ride at Universal Studios. So, another Jaws was rushed into production. Yet again, the film had another troubled production with a rotation of screenwriters, a short turnaround from the green light to release, and some truly questionable budget-cutting measures. The most infamous of the cost-saving attempts included the special effects, one of the original Jaws's strongest points. Most cast and crew, especially director Joseph Sargent, repeatedly stated that the production was a ticking time bomb doomed from the start.

Like the film before, Jaws: The Revenge leaves Amity Island for a new location--this time, the Bahamas--but unlike 3-D, an original cast member returned: Lorraine Gary as Ellen Brody. Actually, Jaws: The Revenge seemingly cuts 3-D completely out of the franchise's continuity, as the film completely recast the Brody sons for the third time. Having the Brody family mostly together again, and the star power of Michael Caine, sounds like a positive in Jaws: The Revenge's favor. But, the other major story changes--like Ellen Brody's telepathic connection to the new fishy foe--led to the infamous flop that killed the Jaws franchise. Additionally, the script seemed to be in constant change, leading to a ton of re-shoots. Not only did these re-shoots make the final film more confusing, but they also prevented Michael Caine from receiving his Oscar in-person; Roger Ebert joked about this scheduling mishap in his review of the film. The irony of missing accepting the industry's highest award for troubled re-shoots on a bad film wasn't lost on Ebert or Michael Caine himself. Infamously, Caine wrote in his autobiography that Jaws: The Revenge "…will go down in my memory as the time when I won an Oscar, paid for a house and had a great holiday. Not bad for a flop movie."

The Best thing about Jaws 4 The Revenge

Best Thing About It: The Story Is Utterly Bonkers...In A Fun Way

I love so-bad-they’re-good movies like Batman & Robin, so please forgive me for saying that I think Jaws: The Revenge is the best of these sequels.

It's just utterly bonkers, and the plot is right there in the title. The shark has followed the Brody family to the Bahamas and is exacting revenge on them. 

Why exactly is it exacting revenge? Well, it’s never truly explained (besides the mention of possible voodoo), nor should it be, since it is all the more hilarious without clarification. The whole movie is just one bizarre event after the other. Michael Caine makes an appearance as a pilot, and the shark actually attacks the plane and submerges in it the ocean. 

The ending makes absolutely no sense, and the shark even roars like a dinosaur at one point. It is an absolute train wreck of a film, and I kind of love it to pieces, just like I love Mortal Kombat Annihilation, which I know is bad, but I enjoy it anyway. 

The Worst thing about Jaws 4 the Revenge

Worst Thing About It: It Was So Hated, It Effectively Ended The Franchise 

Let’s be real. Jaws probably would have been better off if there weren’t any sequels. But, since there are, I applaud The Revenge for being as far from the seriousness of the original as possible. 

Unfortunately, audiences didn’t feel the same way, as this sequel is often cited as being not only the very worst movie in the franchise, but also one of the worst movies of all time. It was a laughing stock, and rightfully so.

Further Watching and Reading

There was even a Jaws computer game to tie in with Jaws 4 the Revenge it wasn’t very good by all accounts you can find a video about it here

For more context on what makes Jaws III and 4 so bad watch this video exploring those terrible Jaws sequels by clicking here

Did you know that Jaws 4 the Revenge has the Dubious honor of having one of the lowest scores ever on the film rating site Rottern Tomatoes the Game rant website published the story here  https://gamerant.com/jaws-revenge-0-rotten-tomatoes/

To watch a video called 10 things you didn’t know about Jaws 4 the Revenge click here 

Pictures

Poster for Jaws 2 1978

Poster for Jaws 3D 1983

Poster for Jaws the Revenge 1987

Captain EO shown at Disney theme parks

Notes thank you to the following websites for their help in creating this blog Google images for the pictures Minty comedic arts for the video documentaries on all of the Jaws films the Oliver Harper Youtube for his retrospective on Jaws 3D and Screenrant on the excellant article on what sunk the Jaws Franchise

[ncisfranchise-source]

Jessica Knight “is an adrenaline junkie,” Katrina Law points out. Her job as Chief REACT training officer? Well, that didn’t really satisfy that part of her. But she did get a taste of it in the NCIS Season 22 premiere, in which she became the one holding hostages—two suspects in her case, which involved a missing undercover agent: Torres (Wilmer Valderrama)!

And, after it was all wrapped up, Knight was offered a promotion, with her tactical actions noticed by the Office of Strategic Support. But she turned it down. She was tempted, however, as “any person who is ambitious” would be, Law tells TV Insider. (Watch the full interview above.)

“Even if you know that it might not be the job that you want, even if you know that it might not lead to immediate happiness, for ambition, you have to climb that ladder and you know that some rungs of the ladder might not be as comfortable or as wonderful as the next rung,” she continues. “But I think ultimately, this is the point that Knight is at in her life where before she would’ve immediately taken that job and she would’ve just sacrificed her happiness, her wellbeing to do what she was supposed to do. And for the first time she’s going, you know what? I think I’m going to pause and I think I’m actually just going to do what makes me happy and what instinctively feels right.”

Instead, Knight is returning to where she belongs: back in D.C. with her team, Parker (Gary Cole), McGee (Sean Murray), and Torres. It’s easy for her to settle back in, Law says. One relationship that definitely hasn’t suffered? Hers with Kasie (Diona Reasonover). “They’ve been talking pretty much every day since she left, so they’ve been texting like BFFs,” she says.

But Knight has a lot of ground to cover with her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen). “Even though they broke up, there is true love between the two of them and a genuine affection and respect,” says Law, noting the issues that came up as a result of her move to California. “There’s a lot of loss on both sides and a lot of trauma that comes with it. So it’ll be interesting to see if they recognize that, if they talk about it, if their love overcomes that. But ultimately I think there are going to be some really fun and awkward, awkward, awkward moments.”

The fourth episode will be a major one for the exes. At that point, Knight will have been back with the team for weeks, if not months, “but yet they haven’t spoken about anything and now all of a sudden they are in a situation where they are sitting next to each other with no way out and the conversation needs to be had,” Law previews. “And I don’t know how it’s going to be edited or how it’s going to come across the audience, but I think that there is a very definitive moment where Knight opens up the door to say, do you want to stay this way or would you like something to possibly change? And Jimmy has a reaction that kind of breaks her heart a little bit.”

So while Knight may want to get back together with him, she continues, “I think she realizes that there are these fundamental issues that she cannot work through with him, that he has to do his own work on these issues to become whole again and she just needs to take a step back.”

Watch the full video interview above with Law about Knight’s choice at the end of the premiere, her and Palmer’s relationship, what’s coming up, and more.

[teenmomcentral]

As the search for Amber Portwood’s fiancé, Gary Wayt, continues, the Teen Mom: The Next Chapter star is asking the public to pray for Gary’s safe return and insisting that she “did not hurt him.” 

As The Ashley previously reported, Amber’s fiancè– aka Gary 2.0– was reported as a missing person in the state of North Carolina, just days after it was revealed that he and Amber were engaged to be married. 

After the news broke about Gary’s disappearance, an emotional Amber joined YouTuber Elle Bee’s Live stream to answer questions about her missing fiancé, whom she denied having a “big blowout fight” with prior to his disappearance. Amber asked for help and cleared up rumors that she had anything to do with Gary going missing. Since then, the investigators in the case have given interviews to several news outlet….and Amber’s previous fiance, Matt Baier, has even weighed in on the situation.

During her YouTube interview, Amber stated that she and Gary got into an “emotional” discussion that ended with Gary 2.0 leaving (without his phone) and driving away. Gary 2.0 has allegedly not been seen or heard from since Sunday afternoon. 

After police were notified on Tuesday of Gary 2.0’s disappearance, the Bryson City Police Department in North Carolina officially labeled the 39-year-old a missing person. 

“I’m praying for anybody that sees him,” Amber said. “Nobody has found him or heard from him yet. They only know that he was in a Walgreens [the day he went missing] alone on camera and that is all we know.

“ … So please, everybody, do not think the harshest things right now,” she continued. “Just please pray, do whatever, like, whatever your religion is, just please hope that he is OK. Just hope he’s OK.”

Regarding the alleged “explosive” argument she and Gary 2.0 had at some point over the weekend, Amber argued that she and Gary 2.0 “have a wonderful relationship.”

“There was no explosive argument. You guys have to understand, OK?” Amber stated. “I am not what people have been saying about me all of these years. I changed a long time ago, OK? You guys have to understand this. Please listen to what I’m saying. I’m an honest person to you guys.”

Amber denied that she had any part in Gary 2.0 going missing.

“ … We have not had explosive fights,” she continued. “We are very in love. This man asked me to be with him. This man asked me to marry him. I have not touched this man in any horrible way. He does not touch me in any horrible way. We do not yell at each other. We have a wonderful relationship, please understand this. People change.”

Amber– who confirmed that Gary 2.0 took his wallet and car keys with him when he left, later stated that she and Gary 2.0 had “a discussion” before he went missing, but she claimed it wasn’t “heated or anything.”

“It was emotional, because it has something to do with the fact of his parents being Vietnamese, and me being who I am and stuff like that,” she said. “It had nothing to do with us personally, OK? This is the only thing that happened. He was very upset about this, I was upset.

“We do not yell at each other,” she added. “We do not hurt each other.”

Amber claimed that she has been in contact with Gary 2.0’s family since his disappearance, though she revealed she was “hurt” that someone in his family seemingly reached out to the media about the situation, as Gary 2.0’s “family members were told not to even make any comments.”

In addition to insisting that nothing nefarious happened between her and Gary 2.0, Amber noted that their vacation rental is in the mountains and that Gary 2.0 “has never driven” in that type of terrain.

When asked if Gary 2.0 suffers from any mental health issues that require medication, Amber confirmed that her fiancé does, but did not disclose any other details. She also told Elle that police are now in possession of Gary 2.0’s phone.

“[Police are] doing everything, all of that is being done right now, OK?” Amber stated, before issuing a reminder to the public that Gary 2.0’s disappearance is not about her, Teen Mom, her past or any of her exes.

“This is about him missing,” she said.

WLOS News in Asheville, North Carolina, aired a news segment about Gary 2.0’s disappearance Wednesday, in which it was mentioned that Amber and Gary 2.0– who reside in Indiana– were in Bryson City attending the wedding of Amber’s bother, Shawn Portwood. By Sunday night, however, Amber’s fiancé “had gone missing.”

In the segment, Bryson City Police Chief Charlie Robinson reiterated previous reports that Amber and Gary 2.0 “had some kind of disagreement” prior to Gary 2.0’s disappearance.

“ … He left and when he left, he grabbed his wallet and his keys and that’s the last time he was seen,” Chief Robinson noted, before mentioning an “unusual” detail about the case. “ … He just grabbed his wallet and keys, he left his other personal items there and he left his cellphone there.”

Chief Robinson claimed that Gary 2.0’s parents, family and friends have not heard from the 39-year-old since he was reported missing. He also stated that Amber was supposed to head back to Indiana on Monday, but is staying put in Bryson City “until [Gary is] located.” (Amber made a similar statement herself during Elle Bee’s YouTube Live.)

In a comment to The Ashley via X on Tuesday, Amber’s brother, Shawn, denied that Amber and Gary 2.0 got into an argument before Gary 2.0 went missing. Later that day, Amber’s former fiancé Gary Shirley (aka Gary OG) posted about Gary 2.0’s disappearance.

“We need to find this man,” he captioned a missing alert about Gary 2.0. “Prayers for a safe return.”

On Wednesday, Matt Baier– another one of Amber’s former fiancés– took to X to comment on the situation, as well as the accusations being made on social media.

“I think the focus should be on hoping for a safe return,” Matt wrote. “The situation is hard enough for his loved ones and ppl throwing accusations around makes the situation harder for the ppl that love and care about him.”

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update V3 11

From Me To You - So we've got Sawako and Kazehaya seated next to each other now and the homeroom teacher has been replaced by what looks like a grown-up Gary Oak (same voice as the teacher in March Comes In Like A Lion, but it works for this one too), so Sawako offers to help with after-class activities, in doing so meeting new friends named Endo and Hirano. Things seem to be going Sawako's way now, with more students coming around to seeing and liking the real her, and even bearing witness to a genuine sweet, heartfelt smile from her. I was wondering when the real conflict was going to kick in, as this all seemed too good to be true, and lo and behold, Yano and Yoshida overhear some girls talking about alleged deinquent acts from their previous school years, and when asked where they heard these rumors, they say Sawako told them!

Hunter x Hunter - Much of this episode moved in slow motion as Gon's group charged past Luppi (who exchanges blows with Shoot and transforms into a more muscluar, multi-limbed, multi-eyed, fugly looking appearance), Pitou moves ahead of Netero and Zeno in order to alert Meruem, and poor Komugi takes the brunt of the roof dropping down onto her and Meruem. But Mereum takes the whole thing with remarkable calm, healing Komugi's wounds and then just...walking right past Netero and Zeno as though they're nothing.

SHUFFLE! - Rin and Kaede tried to move on with their lives while coping with the absence of Primula. Sia and Nerine learn from their fathers more about the truth of Primula's condition and how she's not likely to come back from it, but keep it a secret from Rim and the others until it comes out in the open when Rin gets it out of the God and Devil kings. There's only one real cure, and Rin wants to find it, with his friends gathering together to put a plan of action together. However, Nerine seems triggered by the whole thing and runs out!

The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II - A lovely little girls shopping day gone unexpectedly awry, with Gray, Reines, and Luvia hanging together at a department store that Luvia owns when a bounded field is created via a magical security malfunction. It wasn't much in the way of a mystery or even an adventure, but it was just so much fun watching these three different personalities working off each other in a situation Waver wasn't present in, and getting to witness Luvia unleash her ferocious wrestling moves again was a treat. While Lauren Landa greatly improved her voice acting for Luvia compared to before, I don't much like Luvia's character model in this show, it doesn't look as good. After a good, sincere gal pals moment between Reines and Gray, and some talk of Iskandr, we check back in on Waver to find he's recieved an ominous letter from Rail Zeppelin...

KonoSuba - None this week. Need a break from their madness.

Symphogear XV - The series finale for not just this season, but for the entirety of Symphogear, and as such they did everything needed to make it a worthy finale. Carol resurfaces to fight back against Shem-Ha, who uses the world's computer networks to have Yggdrasil cover the entire globe in a barrier, Noble Red use the last of their remaining strength and life force to do something that lives up to the first part of their name for a change, all of humanity joins together to hold back Shem-Ha's hacking virus, the Symphogears fight a beyond epic final battle against Shem-Ha and then even after she's been terminated and Miku has been freed they need to destroy the core of Yggdrasil with a united Climax Song that brings out the spirits of every dead character that still resides within the girls' hearts and songs. During the escape from the exploding core, as expected, Shem-Ha returns for one last scare and tries to drag Hibiki and Miku down to Hell with her, but the two girls manage to shut her down with their words and the strength of their idealistic resolve and their love, prompting her to entrust the future of mankind in their hands. And just to cap it off in the best imaginable way, the final scene sees Hibiki and Miku watching the stars once again, but this time they're just about to finally confess to one another their true feelings. <3

Eureka Seven - Finally got a full account of how Holland met Eureka and why they defected from commiting war crimes and anti-Coralian acts for the military, and in the process so much about how and why Holland has been the way he's been for much of the series is explained with few words to spare (like, his big brother physically abused him - now we see where he picked that up from!), and we can understand why this current mission matters so much to him. Talho also drops the bombshell of now being pregnant with Holland's child, we get some angst and development from Moondoggy of all people, and Dewey has the lead Voderac monk brought before him, hoping to force his hand in deciding the future of the planet.

[kingfishered]

Gary was completely fine with Ghost not calling him Adam. It would feel just as weird to him if he called him that, like two entirely separate parts of his life were trying to come together when they just didn’t fit. He didn’t want them to fit. He didn’t want Ghost to become associated with anything but the end of this period of his life that he’d spent hiding in fear, at least to start with. He shook his head, a mildly disgusted look on his face, to let Ghost know he agreed.

At Ghost’s comment on Shepherd, he frowned in confusion. Did that mean Ghost had been in contact with him since? Or at least known what he was up to? How? He couldn’t imagine Ghost being stupid enough to trust the man again and do more work for him, so he wondered how he’d found that out.

‘We are… coming back to this topic later,’ he told him, still with that same suspicious frown, but right now he was he was still in the midst of telling his story so it could wait.

Ghost’s distrust of the villagers earned him a huff of laughter, though. ‘What, you think there’s some Hot Fuzz kind of thing going on here?’ he signed, amused, but for Ghost’s reassurance he then let him know, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve never trusted any of them.’

He hadn’t. Maybe it was that same paranoia working against him still, but even where most people would consider themselves safe, he just couldn’t. Not anymore. He wasn’t sure he could ever fully trust another person again.

…Except for Ghost, it turned out, because here he was.

A little bit of guilt began to creep in when Ghost brought his attention to the fact that, even with all of this equipment, he’d still not realised he was still alive. It wasn’t really his fault, though - everything to do with Ghost had always been highly classified, closely guarded, with so many precautions taken to make sure no one could do exactly what Roach was out here trying to do. Listen in. Gather information he shouldn’t know.

So, he supposed it did make sense that he’d heard nothing about Ghost.

Gary noticed eyes on his side when he turned back to Ghost and felt a little bubble of self-consciousness grow behind his ribs. He… still wasn’t very comfortable addressing those scars, and tried his best to ignore the gaze, however fleeting it was.

His immediate reaction to realising he was going to have to leave this all behind was disappointment. He’d put a lot of work into all of this, years of it, it had been what had consumed his life ever since. But, Ghost was right, there was no way they could transport all of this.

His secondary reaction, though, came when he registered that Ghost had just… presumed he was coming with him. Which he absolutely was, mind you, but confidence he had that Gary was going to agree (or that he was going to force Gary to come with him, potentially) replaced his disappointment with relief, now knowing that Ghost was entirely ready to accompany him on his return to civilisation. Which he supposed was his next step, now.

He wasn’t sure where this step was going to take him. To Ghost’s house, yes, but after that? He hadn’t spared much of a thought about his future in ages, just expecting that at some point someone or something was going to take him out and that would be it. The end of this borrowed time he’d been living. Almost dying did things like that to you - it had made him feel a little like he’d been living in some kind of purgatory. Like he was just waiting for it to actually happen now, that at any moment the now fragile bond he had with life would break.

There was no better person than Ghost to have by his side after an experience like that, he supposed.

He spotted said man move the gauze that was pressed against his injury to check it, resulting in more fresh blood seep out. He was definitely going to get him to allow those stitches before they left.

Ghost didn’t give him a chance to suggest that before he was talking again, something about a Captain. Who Roach apparently knew?

‘The Captain?’ he asked, momentarily distracted from his concern over Ghost’s injury, but that quickly changed. ‘Explain while I stitch up your leg. You’re still bleeding everywhere. That and whatever you know about Shepherd.’

Watching the array of expressions that passed over Gary's face in a matter of seconds really made it hit home what was happening.

It was his Roach. Clenching his jaw, glaring at him like barely an hour had passed rather than five years and Ghost had made a stupid joke to try and lighten the mood after a tough job.

It was his Roach, treating him a little rougher than he'd treat anyone else because he knew Ghost would be able to take it without any offence, and he knew that he'd appreciate not being coddled.

Now that was the Roach he remembered. Fondly, might he add.

Ghost listened to Roach's recount of events with bated breath. He didn't know why it had made him feel quite as anxious as it did, he could very clearly see, from the man sitting in front of him, how the story ended.

And yet…

“Don’t think I could get used to callin’ you Adam,” he huffed, but eventually nodded and stared down at his bloody leg. What else could he fucking say to that? Sorry, you nearly got burned alive. Hey! Wanna rejoin so it can happen all over again? I’m asking this for a completely selfish reason because I don’t think I could stand to lose you again.

He wanted to call Roach a fucking idiot for being scared of Shepherd, the man was as fucking corrupt as they got. If he knew that Roach was alive and he wanted to resolve that little issue, he’d have probably sent his little shadow mutts to take care of him. Not that they would have had any chance against Gary, Ghost was proud to say that Roach was trained by the very best. 

But, he did wonder what he’d make of Graves.

“Wish I coulda known. Could’ve told you Shepherd wasn’t coming for you. Too busy losing three nuclear missiles with the help of some more very stupid Yankees,” Ghost mumbled, though he did quickly begin to watch as Roach demonstrated his little not-so-little setup.

It was good to know that, in spite of probably being at his wit's end, Gary was being sensible. Well, as sensible as he ever was. While Ghost was eager to admit to Roach that his little DIY set-up was very impressive, maybe even actually throw something in there about how he must have had a very good teacher, he knew he had to address a glaring situation.

“Be careful with folks like that, yeah?” he warned quietly, not an ounce of judgement in his words. Just… concern, as he worried there always would be from now on when it came to Roach. He wasn’t going to lose him again. “If they aren’t questioning it when weird shit starts happening, they got something worse going on behind the scenes.”

Pessimistic? Maybe. Untrusting? Definitely, but Ghost had managed to stay alive for this long. When something looked too good to be true, it's because it usually was. It was better safe than laying face down in a muddy ditch somewhere, slowly bleeding to death because you got stabbed in the back by someone you thought you could trust.

Instead of continuing on the topic further, he turned it back to the radio. “You clearly know where to look, then, don’t you?” he mumbled, eying the thick binder before a soft frown settled on his lips. “Still thought I was dead, though.”

Wishful thinking? He couldn't help but bitterly wonder.

It was probably more along the lines of how classified all of Ghost’s work was, they wouldn’t broadcast it out over any radio stations. It was in person, all of it. It did make sense why Roach was under the assumption that he was dead. Simon Riley was. He couldn’t find any information about him if he tried, he’d worked with Price to burn his past to a crisp.

He’d have to be more careful when he talked about burning now, he supposed as he eyed Roach’s side again.

Despite his best efforts, a small laugh escaped him. He couldn’t exactly explain it, that would take far too much effort. So, instead, he tried to style it out as if he was laughing at something else.

“You know, I wish I was surprised that this was the kind of shit you got to doing when I’ve not been around to supervise you. You’re not bringing this with us, mind you, I don’t want this shit cluttering up my living room,” he mumbled, gently pulling the gauze away from his leg only for more blood to bubble out the second he did. Fucker. 

He wondered if maybe he should have accepted the stitches, though it did feel a bit strange having to take his trousers off in front of someone he hadn’t seen in half a decade at this point. He’d had to do more degrading things, sure, but when the opportunity arose to maintain a little bit of decency, he’d snap it up.

He pressed down on the wound even harder and risked a shy glance up at Roach.

“So long as you’re alright with it, I’d like t’tell the Captain. He’ll be over the bloody moon that you’re alive.” Quickly, he backtracked. “Only if you’re comfortable with it. You know ‘im well enough, he’s not changed at all over the five years. Little more grey, now, but as soft as ever.”

[gauchebistro]

Pokeani hype train at the station. All aboard!

[themaresnest-dumblr]

A very articulate and enjoyable venting of one's spleen - there's newspaper columnists at weekends who try doing this and don't turn out even a quarter as good.

Continuations of original stories and sagas are always potential banana skins, not least of all when the motivation is money in the short term above creating something that will last the test of time. At every juncture, there's the danger of alienating fans who enjoyed the older stuff - including ones that came on board at a particular part of the time line with a new set of writers with new priorities.

A previous work colleague was a devotee of all things DC, and tried to explain the utter mess it got itself into with an 'old earth' and new earth' era. Another, the Sandman series after killing off Dream only to realise they did need him back after all.

The greatest danger seems to be when they take something regarded as canonical fact and decide to make it the loci of a lazy plot twist- ie. Star Wars Palpatine or Buffy The Vampire Slayer's The Master being toastiest than a piece of toast that's just been dropped into Kīlauea when it's having a very bad day - only to return them alive because they 'say so'.

If you are gonna do stuff like this in any medium, the writers need to have a Bloody Good Reason For Doing So, otherwise they've just Jumped The Shark, Nuked The Fridge And Showered The Bobby all at once. But ninety nine times out of a hundred, it's just to carry on where they left off.

In short, Star Wars Reboot, Third Film, What Were They Thinking?

In defence of the reboot Luke Skywalker, the trouble with the old Luke was he came across as too Harry Potter, too perfect with a thin veneer of youthful flaw, and too self-righteous. The squeaky cleanness of Skywalker - and old SF aesthetics in general - was always a little too uncomfortably perfect for taste. Something that was equally grating about musician Gary Numan - whose music was heavily influenced by SF - and who was also welcomed back with open arms later when he became craggy and battered.

80s heroes and icons were always a little too pristine for their own good - even the rough diamonds like Han Solo - the media corporations living out Reagan's All American Dream of a Disneyfied Master Race against Evil Commies, Gaddafi And Stuff. No wonder so much of it hasn't aged well. Look for anything to match a 'Casablanca' or an 'Ice Cold In Alex' in the 80s and you'll be searching in vain - it was all about the aesthetic, whilst the scripts were pathetic.

This Skywalker at least had some wear in him, looked like he'd not only lived, but been battered by life, including the one enough to make him feel dashed enough to throw in the towel. A hero never feels as good as when they've come back from that and despite all their misgivings decides to give it one more shot, regardless of the end result.

In terms of the Star Wars universe, it could be argued that Skywalker had gone the same way as his dad Darth Vader - so consumed with grief and bitterness as to cloud his reasoning on the life path he was now pursuing in catharsis: Darth, helping oppress the galaxy and calling it 'order and progress' (like many a warrior turned politician tends to); Luke, having his fortress of solitude/Tibetan Monk/disappearing up his own arse in self-pity calling it 'protecting the galaxy from myself and the Jedi'.

As a teacher to Rey, he was more sports coach than Wise Old Master de a la Obi-wan Kenobi, but hadn't Yoda been the same? One of the most fun parts of the second reboot movie was seeing Luke being a reluctant teacher one minute, back to being the hapless pupil the next when you know who decided to gatecrash with a cameo. Although sorry to see him go, what a way to do so, after one of the funniest moments of the whole series that topped every piece of snark even Han ever made.

On that note, the killing off of Han Solo just as they were bringing him and Chewy back was unforgivable, and the attempted prequal movie series (stillborned by fandom evangelicals negative reviews for ideological reasons) a futile attempt to make amends - the bitter irony being they'd thought Harrison Ford was on his last legs (ah, the Tinseltown rumour mill, where facts come to die ...) whereas Carrie Fisher had plenty of years (and thus movies) in the tank.

But look on the bright side, at least the memories of your youth aren't of Battlestar Galactica ... no wonder Jane Seymour preferred to be Dr Quinn Medicine Womble instead!

Back in 1991 I was a college student in the music program at Douglas College, 20 years old in May 1991 (a month before I turned 21). I was not finding college much fun and my educational difficulties were showing up full force.

Then along comes Timothy Zahn with a continuation of the Star Wars saga that I had grown up with. Gen X were the target audience as children for Star Wars back in 1977 when I was a kid of 6 years old at least when Star Wars came out in April of that year. And the entire trilogy (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) were complete and released in the theatres by the time I had turned 13.

So as a young adult, what’s now referred to as the Legends series of books were a part of my life. I would save up and buy each one as they came out, reveling in the further adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa (now Solo) and their growing family. Some of the events in my own personal life (in general my luck with women mirrored that of Luke Skywalker who couldn’t seem to find a match even if he tried. I mean, look at his track record (the woman who tried to kill him back during the Rebellion days then there was Gaerial Captison, a few others here and there, Callista (the Bodysnatcher) Ming) and well, Mara… who finally in the Legends became his wife).

The relationship of Mara and Luke was one that really struck a close chord because to me Luke was the “everyman”; the hero of the story; the one everyone wants to be. And what I really wanted at the time,considering the circumstances of being in an abusive situation with my mother and her narcissistic traits, was an escape (from reality, perhaps); someway to get out of the situation I was in. So Star Wars was a way, when I wasn’t working at selling houses which frankly was no longer enjoyable by the time 1998 rolled around, to escape the abuse and BS at home.

Narcissistic parents and their enablers want you helpless and strip away your emotional supports and they did that quite well. If you’re doing the math, I was 29 at this point.

The Hand of Thrawn duology of Ghosts of the Past and Visions of the Future had come out and we saw Luke and Mara get engaged.

And well, I had met (online) my future wife and was on the phone with her a lot. This was wayyyy before everyone and their dog and cats. having their own personal cell phones. Cell phones and pagers (remember those?) were the realm of business people. I was in real estate, so I owned one of both.

I rolled a sabacc on that one. We’re 23 years together as of next month. We’ve been through ups and downs that probably would have broken up most couples including my mother’s meddling. But the choice that I made was to stick with my wife: to get away from my mother who had done nothing other than to beat me down every chance she got.

In other words my relationship with my wife saved my life.

And that’s also a reason why Star Wars is so important to me. It provided an escape and a bit of sanity in an insane situation and allowed me a bit of time to plan my escape. I left my parent’s hpuse in March of 2000. 4 months before my now-wife came up from the States and 5 before she and I got married (parents were not invited - her mother due to logistics because of her being back in the States, secondly, my parents weren’t due to my mother’s abusive controlling behavior and my dad because by now he’d become her enabler). My uncle; my mother’s flying monkey had predicted our marriage wouldn’t last.

23 years and every wedding anniversary that passes is lile another happy “fuck you” to my uncle.

This is one of the reasons why I’m disgusted with the sequel series. Everyone goes through trials and tribulations and they grow, learn from their experiences and mature to become hopefully a better version of themselves.

Rey on the other hand is a Disney’fied version of their typical Princess stories. There’s no growth at all other than the time she was on Jakku. There was the “immediate learning” of her Jedi skills with very little training - a kind of Mulan’ish immediately good at everything. There was no connection at all with Rey as a character.

But then again if one likes their stories to be all fluff and light, then fine. But don’t disrespect the original characters while doing it.

Turning the hero character into a miserable old grouch who lives like a hermit who tosses his father’s lightsaber when he originally treated it with reverence is not subverting the plot.

It’s being a dick and ruining a much loved character just for a cheap laugh. Yeah, I’m pretty angry with the sequels because when I was a kid, I idolized Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.

I looked forward to the sequels, hoping that they would do justice to Lucas’s vision, but we got a disjointed plot, “Somehow Palpatine returned”, Super Rey Palpatine and bitter old angry OT characters who were characterized as incompetent. And what enraged me the most was that we got this.

The final insult from Disney’s screwing up the sequels so badly was after filming TLJ, Carrie Fisher went into full cardiac arrest on an aircraft and passed away. There is now no way to rectify the mess that the House of Mouse has made to Star Wars; the franchise that I love more than any other sci-fi franchise. I grew up with this franchise and while I’ve grown out of what Lucas had termed as the target audience, when someone messes with the memories of your childhood, screws up your heroes, yeah, you get mad.

For me, Star Wars was my happy escape and thanks to Rian “Ruin” Johnson, it’s tainted irreparably. Harrison Ford may have wanted out but the rest loved their characters. And Mark Hamill wanted his character treated with some respect but instead of Luke Skywalker, the noble Jedi, he got Jake Skywalker - the down and out green-milk guzzling irritable hermit who “doesn’t give a shit no more!”

Disney has gone full on and said that anyone who dislikes the sequels and dislike the way Rey is written are old racists and white misogynists who live in their mom’s basements.

Well I ain’t white, I don’t live in my mom’s basement, I wish women got treated more fairly, I’m more liberal than conservative and I’m frankly pissed that my childhood film heroes got so disrespected. OK granted, I may be old and not a kid any more (my wife would beg to differ. She says I’m a 2 year old in a 53 year old body) but I still love my Star Wars with the exception of the sequels.

And Legends will always have a special place in my heart because it got me through the toughest part of my life.

[litgwritersroom]

The Wedding

Chapter one of Love Island, Actually

It's finally the big day! Bridget and Gary are getting married and more than one person is unhappy about it. Meanwhile, Delilah has to deal with her share of comments coming from her mother and River gets closer to someone else from the wedding party.

read it on AO3 | prologue

RIVER: reflections

River turned the lock of the backroom as soon as they stepped inside. She took a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror before turning on her heels and facing her best friend, who straightened his back and raised the piece of paper in front of him, taking a deep breath before glancing at her. She only nodded, encouraging him to read it out loud.

He cleared his throat. “Hi, Gary.”

River giggled, rolling her eyes at his silliness and purposeful silence. He smiled in return, allowing his eyes to fall back to the page as he kept reading. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you. For everyone who doesn’t know, I’ve been asked not to talk about Gary’s mishaps, mistakes, embarrassing moments or ex-girlfriends. So thanks for listening, everyone, that’s all from me!”

He pretended to fold the paper, sending River to another small fit of giggles, but then opened it again, a smile plastered on his lips. “Aww, alright, fine. Just for you, Bridge, I’ll do it properly. But only because it’s been such an emotional day. Look, even the cake is in tiers.���

“Noooo,” River groaned, making his grin wider as he winked at her.

“Gary’s my best mate. Has been for years. And in all the years I’ve known him, he’s always been a lucky bastard. He got lucky on our first day of secondary school that he happened to be sitting in front of me, and got to hear my high-quality one-liners. He got lucky that River never found out he was the one that broke her signed McFly CD…”

“He what?” River gasped, but Bobby only laughed.

He continued that way for a little while, spinning charming yarns about Gary’s teenage years to the delighted ‘crowd’ of River. Bobby broke for a moment to smile at the warm memories, finding himself getting awash in the glow of the day. He took a look at the paper, frowning as he read the next part. 

“But more than anything, he’s lucky to have found Bridget. They say you can tell how much your mate likes a girl by how quickly they get their shit together once they start dating. Well, within about a week of meeting Bridget, Gary was damn near ironing his bedsheets.”

He paused waiting for laughter again, but River only sighed. He glanced at her and swallowed hard, before taking a deep breath and going back to his reading.

“Gary, you’ll leave here today with a wife who’s warm, loving, and caring; who’s beautiful beyond compare, and lights up every room she walks into. And Bridget, you’re lucky as well. You leave here today having gained a lovely dress, and a nice bouquet of flowers.” 

His voice cracked and so did River’s heart as soon as she noticed his hands shaking. She rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it so he would keep going.

“No, but in all seriousness, Gary, you’re the best mate a lad could have, and I’m so proud to be standing beside you today. You’re surrounded by women who absolutely adore you. And look! Juliet’s here, too!”

She giggled and he seemed to ease at that. “Bridget, you’re a wonderful woman, who deserves a wonderful husband. And I promise you, I will not rest until I find out how you ended up with him.”

With a long sigh, River stepped to the side and put herself in front of him. Adjusting his blue tie, her manicured hands ran down the smooth piece of silk with a fondness she always had for him. Even cracking joke after joke, River had never seen Bobby look so serious, the blue outfit — that fitted perfectly onto his lean body — not helping with the vision at all. He should be relaxed, happy, and not looking like someone had just told them their dog died.

Yet, she knew it was too much to ask.

"You're frowning midway through speech again."

A part of her wanted to tell him she had warned him; that she had told him, even before they started the wedding preparations, that it wasn't a good idea for him to be so involved with it. She knew him too well to know that it would only make it worse, only make him think and rethink all the things that could've been but never were. However, she also knew that he was too good to say no to others like that, especially when he cared about them as much as he did with Gary and Bridget. He'd put everyone's happiness above his own if needed — and that was starting to piss River off.

She flipped her long, slightly curled dark hair back as she tried to find his hazel eyes with her blue ones, finding him with a small smile and a tilt of her head that he mirrored. "Sorry, I zoned out." He told her, looking away with a blush under his freckles that she knew too well.

"Listen, love, I know, ok? I get it," she cooed at him, moving the lock that always insisted on falling over his face out of the way. "But we cannot afford to ruin his day, now, can we?"

She watched him quietly as he shook his head and stared down at his feet, avoiding her eyes. God, it was like a stab to her heart seeing him like that — and how she hated it. The gloom never matched his goofy ways and it never failed to shock her, not when she was so used to seeing him with a smile on his face and a joke on the tip of her tongue. So, whenever his tiny voice filled with sorrow hit her, she’d get a hefty pang in her heart for him. 

"Your speech is flawless." Her voice was soft as she caressed him, doing her best to convey in earnest her sincerity. "Gary is very lucky to have you. We are all lucky to have you. You know that, right?"

His gaze reached hers again and he smiled, even if he still held a dreadful complexion. "You make it sound like it's true."

River gasped and feigned shock for his amusement. "I would never lie to you, McKenzie!"

"That's the biggest lie you’ve ever told," he smirked, his boyish looks already coming back. Trust Bobby to bounce back the moment he realised someone was worried about him.

"Untrue, that would be when I told Gary his buzzcut wasn’t that bad," she raised an eyebrow, making him laugh. "There he is, the Robert McKenzie I know and love."

He narrowed his eyes, pulling a face at her and making her giggle before he grabbed her in a hug, messing with her hair and tickling her ribs. "Love you too, Thames." 

River laughed, both at the nickname — usually, he would come up with a new river name or anything to do with a body of water, but "Thames" was his all-time favourite — and the tickling, as she tried only half-heartedly to untangle herself from his embrace.

"Let me go, oh my god," she begged, breathless, before he finally left her with a mess for a hair. "No, my curls, Bobby!"

"Oh, no, the curls!" He puckered his lips, mocking her tone with fake aghast. "What are we gonna do now?" He threw himself to the wall like the world was ending.

"Stop the wedding if you must, I need to fix it!" She looked at herself in the floor-length mirror, checking her pale green, silk dress. 

The two triangles cut out on her ribs were a little too high and her skirt was out of place. Huffing, she adjusted herself, being sure she didn't look vulgar before she leant in, going near face-to-face with her reflection to fix her expensive makeup.

"Can you text Kobi and ask where the fuck my sister is, please?" She asked him, searching for his eyes in the mirror.

Bobby frowned in confusion, sitting on the armchair between the door and the mirror. "Why don't you text Chelsea directly?"

"That little shit has my phone," she said with a roll of her eyes. "She's always with your brother anyway, so… please?"

"Fiiiiine," he whined, picking his phone up from his pocket. "Why does she have your phone?"

River stood up again, her smile turning into a thin line and her eyes falling to her feet. She could sense him watching her as she bit her cheeks. "Broke up with Levi yesterday and we were fighting over text, so… she grabbed it."

"You broke up?" She felt him getting closer. "Is that why I’ve not seen his gormless mug around here?” Bobby softened after realising how harsh he had sounded, adding a lot more gently, “What happened?"

She rolled her eyes before snapping them back at him, finding his widened with concern. "What always happens." She shrugged, trying her best to not sound sad. "I guess my baggage is too heavy, even for an Olympic athlete."

"Oh, Riv, I'm so sorry," he said, wrapping her in a hug again, this time holding more softly.

"I always thought we were incompatible anyways…"

"Yeah, 'cause he is a jerk and you're… not a jerk." He squeezed her body like a child. "But you know how to pick ‘em, huh?"

"Shut up," she cried out against his chest, burrowing her face. "But don't tell Gary, ok? I don't wanna make a scene on his day."

And as if it was divination, the sound of a knock on the door made River jump on her feet. "Is everyone decent?" Gary's voice echoed through the door.

"Such a delicate creature," Bobby chuckled, turning on his heels and opening the door just enough so Gary could see his face. "Nah, mate, I cannot convince River to wear anything that ain't her big old lady knickers."

Gary roared with laughter, swinging the door open before stepping inside. "And you didn't think of telling me?"

Crossing her arms and rolling her eyes, River turned to her pair of idiots. "I would be dead before I let any of you see me naked again."

Gary and Bobby shared a glance before immediately bursting out laughing at the memory. They looked exactly like they used to when they were teenagers, making River feel a little nostalgic. For most of her life, she had been part of this group, friends with those two. They were dumbasses and extremely annoying but also her favourite people in the world.

"Anyway," she cut their mocking session, crossing her arms. "Did something happen, Gary?"

Gary faced her, laughter still lingering on his face. "Nah, I’m just looking for my mates on my wedding day."

"You were feeling nervous, weren't you?" Bobby raised an eyebrow.

"He totally was," River agreed, tone teasing, standing next to Bobby.

"No way," he snickered. "I just wanted to check what the hell you were doing."

"Sneaking out to smoke," River immediately answered, not wanting Gary to even think they were there because Bobby was feeling down. That was a conversation they didn't need to have. "But Bobby fucking messed with my hair so I came here to fix it and he followed me, like a little creepy stalker boy, can you believe it?"

Bobby gasped. "That was not what happened at all!"

Gary cleared his throat before River could think of a clever clap-back, making her huff and turn to him. "Anyway, I was wondering why you're not with Bridget, Rivs?"

Oh, well, because she was too busy comforting their best friend who was deeply hurt about how things turned out while still trying to juggle her own feelings? Yeah, that would be the reason, but she couldn't just tell him that, right?

Besides, even if Bobby was able to keep it together, there was always the fact she couldn't stand Bridget. Maybe it was the fact of how much Bobby's stupid unrequited crush twisted whatever impression she may have had. Not helped by her other best friend being absolutely gaga over the girl, too. Honestly, what was so special about Bridget to those two? Maybe her dislike was also due to this obsessive need the bride had where she needed to be liked by everyone, which was the main reason why Bobby was still so head over heels for her.

You could do whatever you pleased with River but as soon as you touched one of her friends, you were done for. Especially when it came to Bobby.

But she couldn't tell Gary that either, now, could she?

"As your best friend, I'm on the groom's side," she remarked, looking for solidarity from Bobby. "Plus, how could I leave Bobby alone? What if he gets lost?"

"You got a point," Gary laughed.

Beside her, Bobby grimaced but she grabbed his hand and squeezed it, once, twice, so he would keep quiet. She looked at him and shot him a wink.

"We should go back to the guests…" And he understood what she wanted to say almost immediately.

They had something planned. A little prank you could say; an ode to the old times when they were 6 and popstar Gareth Gates was bigger than he’d ever be. Gary was always a fan. At least, River always insisted he was despite his protests. The prank was River's idea, something to make Bobby feel better.

"You're right, we should!" Bobby said.

He smiled at her and grabbed her hand and led her out of the changing room they were in but not before she could glance back and tell Gary: "Don't do anything I wouldn't do and for god's sake do not be late."

Gary chuckled again, "You do sound like my mum!"

"It's your mummy issues speaking louder!" River shouted, glancing back at him.

He gasped and faked a leap at their heels, making her giggle and pull Bobby by the hand, as they bolted through the church corridor, laughing and running like two kids, the sound of her heels against the wooden floor reverberating loudly. If they were younger, Gary's mum would already be screaming at them about how expensive their clothes were and how they should be quiet inside the church.

But they weren't kids anymore.

And Gary was about to get married.

"You should find out where Delilah is," River told him once they reached the door to the main room, breathless. "I'll find Chelsea."

"You're right," he nodded. "Text me when you get your phone."

DELILAH: first daughter

The sun was shining so brightly it had zapped away the morning frost. If not for the bitter sting in the outside air, the day could be mistaken for mid-Summer. While Jack Frost had been and gone, the wedding party was wrapping up the getting-ready time and with little else on the mind, the wedding nerves were settling in all around.

Delilah had cracked open the champagne and handed glasses all around to the other three in the side room of the church. Cheers were said and ‘good luck’s were passed and kisses on cheeks were shared aplenty with a misty eye here and there just for fun.

A sigh with such wistfulness that only a mother on her daughter’s wedding day could muster, Juliet brushed a strand of her soon-to-be daughter-in-law’s hair back, her eyes shining with a look of longing. “I always imagined this day, the one where I’d see a daughter down the aisle,” she said. “I knew it would be as beautiful as this, and I couldn’t ask for a more beautiful woman for my son. You’re making all my dreams come true, Bridget.”

After quickly polishing off the three quarters of a glass she had left, Delilah made sure her lipstick wasn’t smudged before she pushed herself into Juliet’s line of sight. “Mum, more champagne?” She offered.

“Best not,” she smiled insipidly, her eyes crinkling as her gaze fell on her daughter. Her real one. She made herself comfortable on the only seat in the room, running her hand down the bride’s dress. “I had a glass with your nan earlier. Not everyone can hold their drink like you can, Lilah, but please don’t have too many before the ceremony. You don’t want to be the sort of bridesmaid who’s remembered for her walk down the aisle for all the wrong reasons, do you?”

“That’s where my unicycle comes in, mum. Best way to hide the drunkenness,” Delilah answered, a freshly poured glass already at her lips, as Bridget and Noah both chuckled, “is with an even more memorable talking point. It has a side car if you want to join me.”

“Enough with the jokes, Lilah! Not on your brother’s wedding day!”

“It’s all good, Juliet,” Bridget soothed, shooting a look at Delilah who was biting back her smirk with a deep sip out her glass, “and you know Gary and I would absolutely let Delly ride down the aisle on a unicycle.”

“And she’s walking down with Bobby,” Noah interjected, sliding right up between the two women still standing. “From what I’ve heard, they’re as bad as each other. He’d probably be disappointed it wasn’t a tandem.”

Delilah raised a brow at him. “Wouldn’t a tandem unicycle just be a bicycle?”

The three of them laughed, leaving Juliet to gawk incredulously at them.

“And if you guys got to ride a bike down the aisle,” Bridget added, hand on her chest as she tried not to laugh too hard, “you know Gary and River would have something to say and insist on their own fun ways down, so you’d be stuck on a tandem with River right alongside Delly and Bobby.”

“There are worse ways to ride into a wedding,” Noah said, a hint of sincerity in his tone.

“Well,” Juliet announced loudly. She got to her feet, clearly feeling the attention hadn’t been on her for a while, and stood close to Bridget again. “This could be the only wedding I get to attend for my children, so I’m thankful all that silliness isn’t happening. Lilah, enough of it if you wouldn’t mind, not everything has to be about you. It’s Gary and Bridget’s wedding.”

“I thought it was yours…” Delilah said, and she waited for Juliet’s glare to subside before whispering out the corner of her mouth, “though I don’t know who you want to marry more, Bridget or your son…”

Juliet let out another wistful sigh as she gazed at the bride. Again, Delilah was left wondering if what Juliet wanted more, to be in the dress, or have the bride in it be her real daughter…

“You know, all this talk of walking down the aisle,” Juliet began, suckering all the air out the room as the other three knew exactly what was coming next, “makes me so sad that I won’t be joining you kids. What place does a mother have in a wedding? And it’s not like you have anyone else to walk you down the aisle, Bridgey.” Juliet pouted, rubbing a stiff Bridget’s chin.

“Mum,” Delilah said, her hand on her mother’s shoulder, hard enough to have Juliet spin her attention on the Maid of Honour rather than the Bride, “we’ve been over this so many times already.” Delilah smiled as she said it, but it was a frozen smile, meant to be soothing, but it was too unnatural, too full of thin warning.

“The wedding hasn’t even started yet, so Bridgey still has time to change her mind, Delilah. It could be my only chance to walk a daughter down the aisle.”

“You’ll get to walk Delilah down the aisle, Juliet,” Bridget said, her voice having shrunk since the last time she spoke.

“Not if I can help it,” Delilah guffawed, but when Juliet glared at her again, she quickly added, “Come on, mum, let’s go see how Nan and Gary are doing.”

BRIDGET: families

As her maid of honour steered her very-soon-to-be mother-in-law out the door, the bride almost couldn’t control a laugh that had been bubbling up in her chest as she watched the scene. After a moment though, her expression softened and a small sigh escaped. Her dark eyes then found the brown ones of the only bridal party member that was left in the room with her, one of her oldest friends and someone she thought of as a brother.

“Yeah, I know.” She said, rolling her eyes a little as she turned to the mirror, absentmindedly touching one of the loose curls that were delicately framing her face. “I’m actively choosing to be part of that family. God, help me.”

Noah’s low chuckle was his only response as he stood near the door, hands in the pockets of his trousers as his lips curved in a soft smile. She knew that he knew she was only joking, as truthfully she really loved the Rennells, even with all their rather messy family dynamics.

“Tell me the truth.” She said, looking at him through the reflection in the mirror. “Do you think I’m crazy for doing this?” Before Noah could reply, she turned around to face him and more words just kept tumbling rapidly from her lips. “I know it was all so rushed, I actually can’t believe we managed to plan everything and pull this whole thing off in just about six months, which was honestly mostly due to Delly, Chelsea and just about everyone else. And I know two years doesn’t seem a long time to be with someone before deciding to be with them for the rest of our lives, but─”

Noah had crossed the room as she rambled away and he cut her off abruptly as he stood before her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Bridget, breathe.” He said in his usual quiet tones, his lips still slightly curved upwards as he looked down at her.

She did as instructed, taking a big breath in and holding it for a few beats before exhaling softly as he nodded encouragingly back at her.

“Now to answer your initial question, no, I don’t think you’re crazy.” He said, his brown eyes shining warmly with affection as he saw the relief cross her face. “I think you’re very lucky.”

Normally, she could be expected to volley back with something in sarcastic, lighthearted tones like, ‘Well, that would be a first.’ But she didn’t, because after all Noah was someone who could see through her anyway, a by-product of the two of them knowing each other more or less for a decade now. So instead she went for something more like uncharacteristic vulnerability, as she blinked her eyes up at him and asked in a tiny voice, “Really?”

“Yes, really.” Noah replied, gently squeezing her shoulders before letting go and putting his hands back into his pockets. His lips curved softly upwards as he kept on gazing down at her. “You and Gary… You make sense. Honestly, he’s a better match for you than many of your past so-called ex-boyfriends. Or ex-girlfriends, too, actually.”

“Oh God, don’t remind me.” She rolled her eyes a little, before looking at him askance. “I swear, Noah. You’d better not bring up that ancient history in any speech you make tonight.”

“I’ll try to hold myself back.” He replied, prompting her eyes to narrow in a playful glare and a small chuckle to escape from his throat. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on embarrassing you unnecessarily.”

She smiled back in appreciation before noticing his own smile turning into something more of a smirk as he continued, “I’m sure you and Gary and the rest of your wedding party will manage that all on your own.”

She just shook her head and laughed a little, because, really, who was she to argue with that? The two of them then lapsed into a comfortable silence and Noah turned sideways to look as Bridget started walking up and down the length of the small room, rather lost in her own thoughts. She wasn’t as nervous as when she’d started rambling before, but something still seemed to linger, a mix of a pleasant buzz under her skin, fluttering butterflies in her stomach and something like excess nervous energy that compelled her to fidget a little.

“I know Delilah wouldn’t offer this, seeing as you’re marrying her brother,” Noah said then and she stopped short to look back at him and she noted the teasing gleam in his eyes. “But I volunteer as driver of the getaway car if you’re getting cold feet.”

“I actually think Delly would drive the getaway car if I asked, even if it is her brother,” Bridget said with a soft snort. “But I’d trust your driving skills over hers any day.”

He laughed softly in reply, tilting his head a little to regard her after a beat. “So? Do I need to bring the car back around?”

“No, it’s fine. Just silly wedding jitters.” She said with a smile and a dismissively waving hand. She was about to bite her lower lip in an automatic nervous reflex, but remembered her makeup at the last moment and instead just pressed her lips together into a line before speaking again. “You really think we’re good together?”

“I do,” Noah said with yet another reassuring nod and smile before giving her a look that was a little wistful and bittersweet, somehow conveying a myriad of emotions in the depths of his brown eyes. “Besides, this is the type of thing that cannot and should not be measured by time alone. And you know better than anyone that, sometimes, when you know, you know.”

She blinked her eyes and nodded slowly, a soft smile forming without her really noticing it, as she automatically thought of her parents. Theirs was truly the greatest love story she’d ever known, as they had only been dating for six months when they decided they wanted to be together for the rest of their lives, even going up against their families. There were moments when it wasn’t easy and they went through many hardships, but they’d always been in each other’s corners despite so many family members thinking their relationship was doomed to fail. But they’d proven them all wrong, as they had been the happiest couple she’d ever known.

She blinked again, her heart warmed as she thought of her parents, and she focused back on the present, grasping at the first thing that came to her mind. “Speaking of, where’s your better-half?” She asked, a half-smirk playing around her lips, but her tone was light enough that she knew he would take it more as affectionate teasing than an actual dig at him ─ even if she wasn’t exactly his wife’s biggest fan, truth be told.

He shook his head a little, before letting out a soft sigh. “She sends her deepest apologies. Bad weather has her grounded in Ireland and she only managed a flight back for tomorrow morning.”

She frowned a little at hearing that. “Ugh, I hate airport mishaps, they’re the worst. I hope she’s alright?”

“She’s used to it.” He replied easily with a careless shrug, not seeming too perturbed by the turn of events. “Bridge,” Noah called out and paused for a beat, his eyes searching hers. “Your parents would’ve been so proud of you.”

Her breath hitched in her throat as the emotions washed over her. She should’ve known Noah would see right through to what was actually bothering her. She nodded back in appreciation, blinking her eyes rapidly to keep the tears from spilling over.

“Thanks.” She gave him a somewhat watery smile, then made a show of fanning her eyes and groaning in fake exasperation. “Now go away! Go, check if everything is in place or something, before you make me cry and ruin my makeup.”

Noah just nodded back as a small chuckle escaped before turning to the door as requested.

RIVER: before the tide comes in

"Do you mind helping me with my tie?"

River snapped her head in the direction of the voice, so sure she could recognize it anywhere. He was standing behind her, wearing a three-piece suit, hands in the pockets of his trousers and a smirk on his face that could leave her weak in the knees alone. His caramel eyes took her in deliberately, taking longer on the waist, her ribs cut-outs and cleavage, not even trying to hide his stare.

Why should he when she was doing the same? She took her time, wetting her lips at the fantastic sight. The deep colour of his dark skin contrasted against the white shirt, his handkerchief and tie matching the colour of her dress — a pale green she picked herself — and his broad chest looked well-toned under his waistcoat.

"Noah," she said, his name sounding sweet on the tip of her tongue when it met the back of her teeth, ‘no’, coming back softly as summer rain when she parted her lips, ‘ah’. 

"River," he said, her name sounding like a stream of water at the soft ‘ri’ and turning into a smirk when he pronounced the ‘ver’.

Her eyes couldn't leave him. His presence alone was capable of making the entire church disappear and not even a painting of the Lord and Saviour could stop the surge of thoughts that crossed her mind whenever he was around. 

Noah still seemed to be admiring her dress, unable to stop his desiring eyes from drinking every detail of her he could, however small, as if he had been in a drought for the last 20 years of his life. God, he always had a way of making her feel special even from just a glance.

The piece of silk around his neck was loosely tied, almost as if his only intention was to invite her closer, and she bit the bait, wrapping his tie with her hands. She adjusted it, making it tighter, before raising her eyes to meet him. 

"Lovely colour," she complimented in a low voice with a smug grin, using the chance to pat down the tie and feel how firm his chest was underneath.

He chuckled, so softly she could barely hear him. "Believe me, It looks way better on you."

She smiled to herself, his deep voice sending her mind into a train of thoughts inappropriate for a church. River could only imagine what those hands were capable of when there weren’t any curious eyes around. Would they be soft and caring? Would they touch her as if they owned her? 

Fuck. Her lips had suddenly gone dry. She shouldn’t be thinking about those things, not now, not there and especially not when the object of her wild thoughts was him. 

They had met a couple of years before. Bobby had just found a new pub they could all hang out at after work and River tagged along, as she always did. A few hours in, while the boys were each trying to catch the cute bartender's attention for themselves, River was already flirting with the good-looking guy who dared to ask her about the stardust tattoo she had on her wrist.

That was when he introduced himself as the bar owner, a partnership with his university friend, Bridget — the cute bartender who turned out to be Gary's soon-to-be wife and Bobby's stupid crush.

Noah. At the time, she thought it was such a beautiful name, one that perfectly matched his handsome features and lovely eyes. It sounded sweet on her tongue, so biblical, River could almost hear the angel choir singing his name back to her. However, nowadays, she was sure it would be the reason for her ruin.

After all, everybody knew Noah was married.

"Behave," she teased, imitating his tone.

"Extremely difficult when you're around."

She rolled her eyes, not meaning a bit of it when her heart felt like it would jump out of her chest at any given minute.

River was never the kind of girl that wanted things that weren’t hers. She was a pretty girl and was aware of that, she never needed to ask for attention, let alone enjoy the company of taken men. Yet, there was something about Noah that would make her mind race, her hands move on their own. 

Maybe it was his perfume, a wooden scent that left her drunk. Maybe it was the softness of his eyes that looked at her with such desire. Maybe it was his rough hands that left flames on her skin whenever he touched her.

Or perhaps, the fact he wanted her even when he shouldn't was what really drove her wild.

"River!" She heard a high-pitched, extra feminine voice calling behind her.

She knew before she even turned who the voice owner was. With a sigh, she twirled on her heels to find her younger sister smiling like a child on Christmas. Chelsea wore a pearly pink dress with sparkling shoes, her hair tied in symmetrical twin buns, in a half-up, half-down style. She was even more adorable than usual — if that was even possible.

It almost made River forgive her, almost.

Trying to act innocently enough, she ignored Noah’s presence as if they were just having a regular exchange. River crossed her arms and put on a frown. “Where the fuck were you?”

Chelsea grimaced before glancing behind River, catching a glimpse of Noah before turning her eyes back to her sister. “Kobi and I are ushering the guests! It’s actually super fun and—”

“My phone, Chels! You have it,” River cut her mid-sentence, putting her hand out and raising her eyebrows in an unsaid question.

“Oh, yeah! Soz!” Chelsea gasped, searching for the phone before pulling it from inside her purse with a smile and handing it to River. “Hey, but it worked! You’re not fighting with that jerk anymore.”

River thought she heard Noah mumbling something, but she ignored it. Giving him any kind of justification for her relationship would be the same as confessing her imprudent feelings and letting him have the upper hand, and she didn’t want either of those things. 

“Thank you, Chels!” She said before unlocking her phone and running to her message app, clicking on Bobby’s chat almost immediately after.

River: got my phone back xx

"If you and Kobi are ushering, then you left him on his own?" Noah asked behind River, his deep, husky voice making her shiver. God, was he even real?

"Oh, my days!" Chelsea gasped again "You're right! I better go back before the bride decides to show up.”

Turning on her heels, her younger sister fled the scene as quickly as she had appeared, despite the limited movements her dress offered. River couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking her hand before turning back to Noah.

“See you later, then,” she said with a bashful smile as if she wasn’t thinking of undressing him just a few seconds before.

“Hopefully I’ll see you at the reception?” Noah asked her. 

“You know you will.”

BRIDGET: walking into the future

Bridget stood before the full length mirror as her fingers ran delicately over her long white dress. All things considered, it was a simple gown (certainly nothing like the tulle and pearl monstrosity that Juliet had wanted her to wear at first), its soft, warm fabric gently contouring her figure, with a scooping low back that made her feel sexy and elegant at the same time. The sweetheart neckline framed a bit of cleavage that was actually covered up by the shimmery pearlescent lace that extended to the long, fitted sleeves that reached her wrists and down her hips and the skirt of her dress to form a delicate fishtail that fanned at the ground around her feet, with just a bit of train.

A part of her still couldn’t believe this was actually happening, that she was standing in the backroom of an old church wearing a wedding dress and that any moment now she was about to walk down the aisle and get married.

Unbidden, a dazzling smile formed on her lips at the thought.

Which was so strange, because she’d never been one to dream of getting married one day. Never. Not to say that Bridget had anything against the institution of marriage itself, she just always saw herself as less conforming to certain age-old traditions. Her teenage, rebellious self with the pink streaks in her hair, piercings, dark makeup and all black outfit (matching her combat boots, of course) would’ve had a fit at seeing her now.

The thought made her laugh quietly to herself before inevitably her mind strayed to her parents once more. She’d asked Noah to leave her alone as she didn’t really want to talk about it, especially now, but she couldn’t escape her own thoughts. In the past, on the rare occasion when she did think about getting married, she’d always just assumed her parents would be there with her.

She missed them so much, sometimes with an intensity that still caught her unprepared in various moments of her life, even though it had already been four years since she’d lost them in that car accident. Her life had never been the same since then, as she’d had to cope with the sudden death of her parents and so many other things changing along the way. A short time later she’d quit her marketing job to focus all of her energy into taking care of The Sterling, the pub that her parents had owned and managed. She couldn’t bear to see it being sold or run to the ground when they’d sacrificed so much to have their own business. It somehow felt like the only thing she had left of theirs.

And how fitting that it was thanks to The Sterling that she got a new family of her own. It was where she had found a business partner that was like a brother and staff that she thought of as extended family. It was where she’d met Delilah and all their friends. It was also where she’d first met Gary, who had unassumingly swooped into her life one regular Thursday night, charming her with his easy banter and flirty lines. They had been in each other’s lives ever since and now they were headed straight into a new chapter.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the soft knock and someone pushing the door open before she had any time to react. “Okay, we’re all set!” Chelsea said in a bright tone as she walked into the room before she gasped loudly and looked at the other woman, her eyes shimmering. “Oh my god, babe! You look so beautiful!”

“Thanks, Chels!” Bridget replied with a bright smile. “But for fuck’s sake don’t make me cry now, I already sent Noah away because he was getting me all sentimental.”

“I’m sorry, babe! I can’t help it.” The bubbly blonde said, one hand delicately over her lips while the other one she fanned against her watering eyes. “You have to be the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m the only bride you’ve ever seen.”

“Not true. You’re the only bride I’ve ever worked for ─ so far! ─ but I’ve been to other weddings, of course. You’re still the prettiest one.”

They exchanged warm smiles, but then Chelsea was back to being the ball of exploding energy they all knew, hurriedly ushering Bridget out of the room. As they went down the stairs, Chelsea helping her with the train and veil, she could see the wedding party gathered in the area before the big front doors, standing in pairs and waiting to make their entrance.

Chelsea left her standing on the last few steps of the stairs to be kept out of view once the doors opened and moved to position the maid-of-honour and best man at the front, fluffing Delilah’s light blue dress into place and fussing one last time with Bobby’s matching blue tie. 

The duo turned and looked one last time back at Bridget, both of them giving her cheeky winks as if they’d coordinated it. She almost laughed and gave them a wink of her own, then her eyes fell on the second pair. Noah gave her a warm smile, his eyes seeming to twinkle even through the distance separating them, and River gave her a nod as a grin formed on her lips, the younger woman doing her best to contain her nerves but Bridget could see her almost trembling with excitement.

The soft, low murmurs coming from inside the main room dimmed as the piano started a soft, delicate melody signalling the start of the ceremony. The doors were pulled open and Bobby and Delilah stepped forward to make their way down the aisle. Bridget wished she could see them and she couldn’t help but fidget a little as it seemed to take forever before River and Noah followed in their footsteps.

The doors closed again momentarily and Bridget took a deep breath in as she moved to make her entrance. For an infinite moment in time she felt a wisp of regret for not picking anyone to walk in with her, as it would’ve been comforting and grounding to have company right then. And she could’ve asked Noah or even accepted Juliet’s insistence in doing so. But that spot was supposed to be her parents’ and she didn’t feel right having anyone else in their shoes.

As the doors opened, the butterflies took flight in her stomach and she stepped forward, vaguely aware of the many guests sitting in the church pews as she made her way down the aisle. It was a few moments before she noticed the melody coming from the piano was a little louder and that a female voice was accompanying what had so far been an instrumental rendition of a song that she loved.

She gasped in surprise and almost stopped in her tracks when she saw Yasmin Douglas, one of her favourite singers, sitting at the piano with a microphone and looking sideways at her with a soft smile as she flawlessly sang out the lyrics.

“Oh I can’t believe it’s true…I get to love youIt’s the best thing that I’ll ever doI get to love youIt’s a promise I’m making to youWhatever may come, your heart, I will chooseForever I’m yours, forever I doI get to love you I get to love youI get to love you…”

Afterwards, Bridget wished she could’ve taken mental snapshots to keep them as mementos for the rest of her life. How she laughed at the surprise, knowing Delilah was responsible for this somehow. Watching her best friend standing there with a playful grin as she delighted in her reaction, with Noah standing next to her with one of his quiet smiles. Looking across from them and seeing Bobby dressed in a three-piece with a kilt, so handsome and solemn like she’d never seen him before, with River just a step beside him looking absolutely stunning.

Yet the memory she was sure would be imprinted in her mind was the look on Gary’s face as she found his shining blue eyes, the smile on his lips so bright and full of love that it caused an effect a little like tunnel vision; he was all she saw; in that moment it was them and he was everything. As she reached him and his strong hands gripped hers delicately, she knew this was it.

Forever I’m yours, forever I do.

Next chapter coming soon.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

could i request for faith, being friends with and getting to reunite with lisa after going with john to exorcise her in the apartments?

You've been good friends with Lisa growing up. You also knew John by extension, but you were closer to her--often visiting her apartment complex owned by Gary Miller.

However as Halloween drew nearer, you’ve been concerned about her attitude over the phone and in letters. Especially with the rise in demonic cultist activities.

One moment, her voice sounded monotone...and the next freaked out, telling you Gary’s up to something bad and isn’t allowing her to leave the apartment at all.

When she stopped answering the phone altogether, you knew she was in danger and sought help from John.

He was actually on his way to investigate the apartment himself, showing you concerning letters from Lisa.

Together you headed there, taking a metal bat with you on the way out. “May God give me the strength to beat up whatever demons we find.” You tell yourself in the car.

“We’ll definitely need His strength.” He agrees, though he worries that a bat won’t be enough to keep the hellish beasts away from you.

Still, who was he to stop you?

Upon arrival, it was a desolate hotel...with the exception of statues, demons, and cult activity. Creepy stuff.

After getting into Lisa’s room, you were horrified to find a glowing red seal blocking the way in further. John left to break it while you stayed put, keeping a lookout for any intruders.

He took a while, and you got spooked when the power went out--though eventually he returned.

When you finally get inside, you immediately know it’s a trap and (against John’s wishes) you directly insult Alu to goad him into coming out.

But it’s Lisa who attacks you instead, and you realize she’s under his control as a vessel.

Well, fuck.

If John accidentally gets possessed during the battle, you try to protect Lisa, swinging your bat if he got too close. You didn’t wanna hurt either of your friends, but with barriers trapping you inside, you had little room and little options.

It made you wonder how weak his faith was for him to succumb to a demon’s power so easily...but you begged him to fight back, and thank god he did.

As Alu was vanquished for good, you grabbed Lisa’s hand and booked it out of there.

It was finally over..and what does she tell you after finally reuniting?

“That was insane...I need a smoke.”

You just laugh. 

Yep, that’s typical Lisa Pearson for you.