#you can’t suggest things like murdering innocents because he wants to keep his account safe for his younger followers

[worstloki]

Wholeheartedly believe Loki could get a few followers on social media and it would go to his head. He doesn’t need to fight the Avengers on the regular anymore because he’s busy making posts and chatting with random people with his ‘RP Earthsona’ etc.

[saphirered]

I just found your account recently! I love your style of writing, and you portray the characters so well! Can I please make a request (if it suits you!!) for Dorian, Opal and Dariax with a reader when they take a watch together by the fire and the reader tells them they look pretty in the light? Just some soft feelings, words, maybe a kiss...?

Welcome and thank you! Hope you like this one just as much as the others! 😘

(Dorian)

The sounds of the night are accompanied by the soft strumming of strings and a hummed lullaby just quiet enough as to not wake the fast asleep companions, save for you and the bard himself. Someone had to take first shift and neither of you were opposed so you were put in charge of keeping the fire going and assuring nothing would succeed at brutally murdering you all. The latter seems to have become a serious concern you could do without. But at least it gives you evenings like these. Who wouldn’t appreciate a private concerto from your favourite genasi bard?

There you are, seated comfortably on a log staring over the flames, captivated by the melody, the nimble and practiced fingers plucking at the strings with an airy grace, staring into the night. The firelight hits Dorian just right. He reminds you of the sunset, right before the last light leaves the sky, that mix between the blue fading dark, with hints of reflected orange and gold; an image of true beauty. Were it not for that beautiful song keeping you grounded, you might as well have drifted into the ethereal and forgotten your task entirely. You find yourself humming along.

You’re pulled out of your trance by Dorian himself whispering your name. By the looks of it you had missed the first few times he called for you, the song coming to a close shaking you back to reality. Dorian had been a little louder than he intended to and you watch some of the others’ steer. Both of you share a look and hold your breath until you’re sure they’re still fast asleep. He beckons you over, something to say and not willing to take the risk of speaking just a little too loud again so you step over the sleeping bodies and find your way to Dorian’s side of the fire, sitting down next to him on the makeshift bench of a fallen tree.

“Hey, everything alright? Not to offend but you looked a bit out of it. Copper for your thoughts?” Dorian whispers as he absentmindedly plucks at the strings.

“Just deliberating wether you’re some sort of siren in disguise enchanting those who’s eyes fall upon your dashing looks and hear your angelic melodies or not.” Dorian’s very glad it’s dark but the fire still allows you visual of the lovely shade of purple he’s turning at the cheeks. He stops playing and puts the instrument to the side, wrapping an arm around you and pulling you into his side. His plan to prevent you from seeing him so flustered fails as you only get a clearer view looking up at him with a smug grin.

“Is that your way of saying I’m pretty?” The first words may have been a bit more high pitched than he wanted to. You chuckle and feel Dorian’s knuckles jab playfully into your side. It doesn’t deter you from that smug sense of accomplishment remaining.

“Do I have to spell it out for you or would you prefer it in song?” You lean in, grabbing his chin and angling his face down closer to yours.

“I certainly wouldn’t be opposed-“ That’s all you need to hear before you close the distance, placing your lips on his. Dorian’s very happy you can’t see the blush grow or he might never hear the end of it. Your ability to get him all hot and bothered is something he both enjoys and fears but then there’s moments like these where he’s reminded exactly why he likes your occasional smugness.

(Dariax)

Dariax sits by the fire to preserve as much warmth as he can. The night is colder than expected and he had given you his blanket to stay warm yourself. He doesn’t regret the decision because you’re warm and comfy and that’s all worth suffering the cold but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t wish for some more warmth. Clutching his spear tightly to keep the blood flowing he stands sentry like a valiant guardian. Little does he know you’re still awake, or rather, awake again.

You hear the deep breaths being taken, sounds of movement; pacing. You open your eyes and there you are met with a sight you could wake up to more often. The gentle light of the flames highlight and shadow as they move in the breeze giving Dariax the appearance of a protector watching over you with an air of radiant divinity. There’s even a sense of grace. But you also see him shivering lightly.

Dariax watches you sit up and stretch your arms, blanket still in your grasp. You make eye contact and he offers you a smile. You pat the spot next to you on your bedroll and not one to question, Dariax does as suggested, sitting down next to you. You engulf him in the warm layers and feel Dariax relax just a little at the change of temperature. You lean your head on his shoulder and cuddle up against him as much as you can. He puts the spear aside and wraps one arm around you, the other holding the blankets close against himself. While he continues to keep watch you begin to drift off, not fully asleep, but more daydreaming of the divine sorcerer sitting next to you.

“You know you look real pretty, especially in the light of the fire, right?” You mumble and Dariax has to do a double take if he heard that right. Not that he’s not used to people calling him handsome or any variant of the term but more so you speak so openly and unrestrained.

“You sure you’re not still dreaming?” Dariax pushes back a laugh as he leans his head against yours. You’re cute when you’re sleepy and compliments like this from you are definitely something he could get used.

“If I am, it’s a damn good dream but I don’t think I am. You tell me oh-radiant one.” You smile leaning your chin on his shoulder and kissing his cheek feigning innocence and obliviousness. It’s definitely moments like these that have Dariax completely smitten by you and he’s not ashamed to admit it.

“One way to find out?” Dariax pinches you and you gasp. The audacity. You’re clearly awake now. Game over? Not yet. Dariax looks very proud of himself as you swat his arm but put your ‘dreamy’ face back on.

“Hmm. I don’t think I’ve been convinced.” Dariax does not like the mischievous grin peaking through. It’s a look he’s seen many a time and it’s always an omen for something you’re plotting. He fears for what he might have set in motion if you’re seeking revenge.

“Need me to pinch you again?” Dariax asks somewhat hesitant. Sometimes he’s really oblivious and it’s sweet but you might just have to take the lead here or you won’t get anywhere just yet. While Dariax is a very good flirt, being on the receiving end it may just take him a second longer to process. Don’t worry. You’ll help him out.

“I’ve got something else in mind.” You softly place your lips on his. That’s all the explanation Dariax needs. arm around you finds your back and pulls you just a little closer to deepen the kiss.

(Opal)

Opal is tossing and turning. What does she have to do for a nice and comfortable bed? The life of an adventurer is fun and all but she would really appreciate a soft mattress that doesn’t smell of grass, dirt or whatever other surface she has use as a base. Homegirl’s used to the fineries of societies so the life on the road is not and will never be her comfort zone no matter how many times she’s in the situation. She’s used to it though and she likes this life so she’ll accept and embrace every part of it.

Your attention shifts to the human at the sound of moving covers and groans of discomfort trying to find a more suitable position to fall asleep in as you keep watch. With a huff Opal sits up scrunching and readjusting, more like beating her makeshift backpack pillow in annoyance. She tries it one more time, putting her head down but still she doesn’t deem it right. Another huff and she sits up meeting your eyes. You offer her a nod and she grumbles, gets up and places herself next to you.

Grabbing a stick on her way Opal prods at the fire, the flames responding in a small burst of embers but you’re in safe range. Opal relaxes a little having found company in you and something to focus on rather than wallow in annoyance. She doesn’t say anything but the half smile she offers you is enough to make you feel appreciated for just being there.

Opal returns her focus to the flames staring into them getting caught up in her own wandering mind you watch. You can’t help but notice how the flames enhance the opalescent… everything to her, through a beautiful glow. She looks like a living breathing jewel. Just simply breathtaking. Don’t get this wrong, Opal is pretty no matter what. This is simply another angle you had never seen before, the way the light of the fire hits her features just right and how the flames reflect in her eyes, the sparks of ember changing that flow every so often, she’s a true visage.

“Hey, Opal?” She looks at you. “I just wanted to say you look lovely.” Opal lights up at the compliment with a warmth akin to that of the fire in front of you both. She knows damn well she’s gorgeous and looks aren’t everything but that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy the compliments you offer her. If anything, she really enjoys it coming from you and makes her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Why thank you. I have to say you look amazing yourself. What can I say, this light does great things for us gorgeous people.” There’s a hint of jest in her voice as she brushes a hand through her hair, pursing her lips with a wink. You hold back a laugh at the joking self-obsessed tone she uses.

“Even the light of a fire dulls in comparison by the shine of the Gem of Byroden.” You hold the back of your hand to your head as if you’re about to swoon. The gesture sends Opal into a muffled giggle fit as you quickly cover her mouth.

“Shhh. Let’s not wake the others.” You whisper. Opal pulls your hands away, checking over the others as she kisses your palms and making sure the others are still asleep. Luckily they are. Unsatisfied with just your hands to kiss she pulls you closer and kisses your lips instead silencing your surprised squeal.

[itsclydebitches]

I think the worst thing about V7 is they completely fail to take the cold and grimm attack into account. How many are dead from the cold? How many were killed by the grimm attack? How many were already evacuated? Despite the fact the cold doesn’t kill grimm (the whole reason Atlas is there) and doesn’t kill people (despite the show TELLING us it does, even as 3 men and unconscious woman are out in the tundra), Mantle is dying. Is it cold to leave them? Yes. Welcome to ugly real world RWBY+.

If anything, the Tyrian-Clover-Qrow-Robyn fight makes things worse for me because it  actually makes a decent amount of sense (regarding the cold, I mean. Not other aspects lol). Weiss tells us that you need aura to protect yourself from the cold and sure enough, these characters all have aura. They’re also involved in a fight so even if their aura wasn’t active due to the cold before, it definitely is now. I can believe that Qrow, Clover, and Tyrian, as powerful fighters, are all fine out in that tundra. Robyn’s situation should be critical not just due to injuries she may have suffered from the crash, but also because she’s unconscious (no aura) and lying in the snow. She’s going to freeze to death, which to my mind just further supports Clover’s “You need to stop fighting me so we can get her help” and further damns Qrow’s “Nah. I care more about freedom than the life of an ally.” Similarly, Clover’s aura breaking is also a major concern but he dies immediately after he loses it. There’s no chance for the cold to be dangerous because the sword through his chest got to him first. RWBY has managed to write a scene where the cold is indeed a threat but we understand why it’s not an immediate threat: these people have powerful aura, Clover dies right after his breaks, and (admittedly with a bit of interpretation), Robyn may have indeed been in danger and that danger may be referenced in the next Volume. If she at any point experiences health consequences for being left like that - unlikely I think given that she seems fine post-arrest, but I don’t want to slam RWBY for things it hasn’t actually done yet - or if we’re given another stipulation like she wasn’t out in the cold long enough for it to be deadly/damaging... then RWBY would be in the clear. That scene, cold-wise, is internally consistent. 

Which sadly makes the other scenes look ridiculous. RWBY demonstrates that it can do this work in one place (perhaps by accident) but not elsewhere. All living things might have aura, but few if any of these civilians would be able to control it to keep themselves safe. Maybe we can acknowledge that the Qrow-Tyrian-Clover fight wasn’t really that long - only a couple of minutes - and if the military arrived promptly after Clover’s murder then Robyn wasn’t out there very long, but we can’t say the same for people who have had their heat shut off all through the fight with Watts, the meeting, the Ace Ops battle, and now well into the morning as they’re directed towards a crater. We can’t provide an internally logical excuse for RWBY here. All of which brings us back to your questions, anon. We have to assume that some have died/will soon die from cold, so will the show actually acknowledge that? How many have been evacuated? Either it’s a lot - somewhat justifying Ironwood’s desire to leave with a majority - or it’s just a few - increasing the number who should be in danger from the cold. And the grimm are a whole separate problem where we have to acknowledge how staggeringly convenient the people’s survival is, well past breaking our suspension of disbelief. We’ve seen flying grimm in Argus ignore all the panicking civilians to instead attack military planes, we’ve seen the RWBYJNR group slam in at the last second to save everyone encountering a grimm in Atlas, and via the promos we’ve seen grimm so stupid they don’t go around a small barrier to maul a civilian before Jaune or Ren can stop them. It’s not that there are good worldbuilding reasons for this (the military has a surefire way of drawing the grimm away, the grimm are established as completely mindless beast), if anything, the worldbuilding we have gotten (negativity draws grimm, many grimm are quite smart) suggests otherwise, which leaves us with the issue that RT is unwilling to follow their own rules because, well, that’s harder. It’s harder to write a story where the heroes convincingly win after you’ve stacked the odds against them to such an extent. It’s harder to write an upbeat story when you include scenes of innocent civilians freezing to death or dying at the hands of monsters. But that’s the situation they’ve given us. They need to work with what they’ve written. The answer is not to go, “Oh shit, everyone should be dying here but we didn’t actually want an entire Kingdom to perish and have our characters grapple with the emotional trauma of that... so, uh, none of the grimm manage to kill people! The cold is no longer a danger! Salem herself won’t decimate them all for, uh, reasons! There. Problem solved” and the viewer is left going, “Actually no... the problem is still there? You’re just choosing to ignore it.” 

[renecdote]

for your writing prompt list: maybe 17, 22, or 23? :) I always love reading what you write!

23. “I can’t breathe in this dress, can we please hurry up.”

“This is a bad idea,” Steph says again. Maybe if she says it enough times, she’ll desensitise herself and it won’t seem like such a bad idea. This is the fifth time in as many minutes though and no luck yet.

“Can you at least hurry up?” she tries. “I can’t breathe in this dress.”

“I’m working as fast as I can,” Jason replies. Sharp, but not as waspish as it could be, considering the... everything about this situation.

Stephanie glances toward the door, looking for shadows through the frosted glass window. A few people have walked past, and she’d held her breath for a good minute after they were gone just to be sure, but so far their luck has held and nobody has come in.

“Relax,” Jason tells her. “Gordon locks his door when he leaves and nobody else has a key.”

Stephanie doesn’t ask how he knows that. She pulls at the bodice of her dress and paces a few feet across the office then back. She thinks she’d be a lot more comfortable if she wasn’t wearing this dress. It’s a deep burgundy, uncomfortably tight at the bust but falling loose around her knees. Gorgeous, really, but not exactly breaking and entering attire. She’d feel much better if she was in her Spoiler gear.

Then again, maybe not, seeing as how they’re breaking into the commissioner’s safe.

“You do know what you’re doing right?” she asks. (Only the second time for this particular question.)

“I’ve been cracking safes since I was eight years old.”

Stephanie stops her pacing to gape at her partner in crime. “Bullshit.”

Jason grins, teeth glinting in the light  from a streetlamp coming in through the window. “I had a colourful childhood.”

Stephanie keeps staring at him, eyes narrowed, looking for some kind of tell. He was raised by Bruce ‘poker face’ Wayne, though, and if he’s bullshitting her, he isn’t giving it away. Steph likes to think her own poker face is pretty good, but she only practiced it lying to her parents, not the entire Gotham population.

Jason is touchy about the whole…. Wayne thing, though, so she bites her tongue on all the retorts that first jump to mind (jokes about colourful bird costumes and the like) and says instead, “Well I hope your colourful childhood taught you enough skills to break us both out of jail if we get caught in here.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “We’re not going to get caught.”

Stephanie admires his confidence, really she does, but she can’t bring herself to share in it. “I’m just going to say it one more time because I feel like you’re not appreciating the gravity of what we’re doing here. We broke into the commissioner’s office and now we’re breaking into his safe and after this we’re probably going to destroy the evidence we find so. I think a little concern is valid in this situation.”

Her partner in crime (real crime tonight, she thinks needs emphasising, not crime fighting) has the nerve to grin again. “Admit it,” he says, “you’re having at least a little bit of fun.”

Stephanie is so stressed she can’t remember what it ever felt like to not be stressed. “If we get caught, I’m going to throw you under the bus and say I did this under threat of decapitation or something.”

“If we get caught,” Jason reminds her patiently, “you’re the one who is going to be under that bus.”

On account of the whole framed for murder thing. Right. Like Stephanie could ever forget that. It’s the whole reason they’re here looking for the fake evidence after all. She takes a deep breath, lets it out nice and slow.

“Lets just not get caught,” she suggests.

Jason is still grinning. Maniac. “Relax. I got this. We’ll be out of here and eating celebratory pancakes in no time.”

Stephanie hopes he’s right. All jokes aside, she really, really does not want to end this night in jail. Being accused of murder and going on a wild adventure to prove your innocence is nowhere near as fun as it looks in the movies. And that’s saying a lot, since not even Hollywood makes it look all that fun. Stephanie takes another breath, returning to her post as lookout. Fine, she tells herself, it’s all going to be fine. 

Just as long as they don’t get caught.

[need-a-new-hobby]

The Crossing

Piper was baffled. She kept glancing between files. On one hand, she could join the rest of the team with the stalker case in Maryland. On the other, a woman named Audrey was charged with murder of her husband whom she claimed abused her. Suddenly, there was no choice. She looked up at Hotch and smiled sadly. “I’ll get my stuff.”

As Spencer got ready to go into the conference room, he noticed Piper packing her go-bag. “You’re not coming with us?”

“There’s a possible abuse case in Boston. I’m gonna go with mom and dad.” Spencer nodded meekly, his mouth drawn in a line. 

“Be safe.”

“So just to be clear,” Piper paced, tossing a mandarin between her hands, “Audrey Henson killed her husband of 20 years while he was sleeping. She confessed while sitting next to the body at the crime scene and repeated her confession at the lockup.”

“She’s not denying it.”

“Okay, and her lawyer is building a case around battered wife syndrome?”

“Yep.” Piper nodded.

“There's never been a domestic violence report filed from that home and not a single medical record documenting injury. Not one witness who can say they ever saw or even suspected abuse. Am I with you so far?”

“Toe for toe. Theories?”

“Well, there’s no reason to believe physical abuse right? That doesn’t mean there was no abuse at all.” She sighed as Hotch just blinked at her. “Abuse can be more than physical. And often it’s the ones you never expect.” Clearing her throat, she continued. “Other than physical, abuse can be verbal, psychological, emotional, financial, sexual, harassment and stalking, spiritual or religious, reproductive, image-based abuse. Directly from the Handbook for Domestic Violence.”

“So what are you trying to say?” Piper took the seat opposite Hotch and Rossi and clasped her fingers.

“If she’s going through battered wife syndrome, it’s more likely some form of psychological and emotional abuse, but...”

“Spit it out.” Rossi ordered, exasperated.

“They’re the hardest to prove and easy to tear apart in a court of law.” Hotch began pacing and Piper stared at her mandarin. “She won’t have any financial records, no access to insurance, bank accounts or inheritance. She probably doesn’t have many friends and her kids...” She struggled to keep her voice steady. “Depending on their emotional maturity, they either don’t care at all, or they’re doing everything they can to get her out.” Hotch kept pacing and Rossi noticed how the young doctor maintained eye contact with her mandarin.

“We’ll get Garcia track any record she may have. Once we get the story straight, we’ll go in. Piper, stay out here and note her behaviour while we’re talking to her,” Hotch planned. Piper kept staring at the mandarin. Her phone buzzed and she excused herself.

“Hey, how’s your case going?”

“Typical single stalker case but I dunno. Some elements are weird. He never shows his face so he’s probably hiding his identity or self-image issues. How bout you? Everything okay?”

“No. Jeez, Spence, I’m trying to be professional but...”

“No, I get it. Your mom.”

“I’m just afraid they’re gonna find out. Pretty sure Rossi’s already got a clue.”

“Look, you have to protect this woman. You know emotional abuse cases the best out of all of us. What’s your gut say?”

“You sound like Derek.”

“Take that back. You take that back right now.” Piper smiled.

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“Being you. Knowing exactly when to call. Exactly what to say.”

“I guess cheering you up comes naturally to me.”

“Dr Reid, did you just make another joke? You’ve been spending too much time with us.”

“No-one else I’d rather spend time with. You gonna be okay?”

“Me? I’m the king of okay. Well, queen really.”

“That's a rubbish title.” Piper laughed. “Be safe.”

“You too.” She flipped her cell shut, slipping it in her pocket, smiling. She turned right, shook her head, then turned left into their workspace.

“Good, you’re back. Garcia has news,” Rossi updated her, noting her newly cheerful mood.

“There's no driver's license, no passport, no bank account. It's not even jointly held. Her name's not on their plastic, their checks, their mortgage, their car titles. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Aside from a birth certificate and a marriage license, there's no actual record that Audrey Henson even exists.”

“How many years in the current home?” 

“It looks like they've lived in that house their whole married life”.

And we're certain there are no medical records that point to a history of abuse?” 

“Actually, sir, there's no medical record at all beyond the birth of their second child Nathan.” 

“What about life insurance? Any assets? Any financial motive for Audrey to kill her husband.” 

“No. I mean, there's insurance, but Mrs. Henson isn't the beneficiary of any of the policies.” 

“She's not?”

“Sarah, their 19-year-old daughter, is.” Piper scoffed.

“No wonder the kids don’t care. She murdered their golden goose.”

“That is a very dark but accurate metaphor. Every asset is in the name of everyone except Audrey.”

“Thanks Garcia.” Hotch cut the line. “We’ll talk to Sarah first.” Piper nodded, grabbing her blazer.

^-^

4 people sat in a large room. Nathan Henson sat, arms crossed on the plush leather sofa. Rossi leaned against a cabinet while Sarah paced opposite him. Hotch sat with perfect posture in the leather seat as Piper stood behind him near the door. “Is that what my mother said, that he hit her?” Sarah scoffed.

“We haven't spoken to your mother yet, but we understand it's being suggested by her attorney,” Hotch explained. 

“Unbelievable. She's actually blaming him?” 

“So you don't believe she was abused?” Piper asked as calmly as she could.

“If anyone was abused, it was my father-- what he had to put up with being married to her. She was a lousy cook. She couldn't do the laundry right. The house was always filthy. Hell, she couldn't even grocery shop without some kind of supervision.” Something fired up within Piper. But she held her tongue.

“Supervision?” Hotch took over.

“She'd get all the wrong things. Wrong brands, too much or too little of something. And my father was always patient with her. Always. She's just... she isn't... She's not bright,” Nathan explained. 

“You mean she's mentally challenged?” 

“No, I mean she's stupid.” 

“This is your mother we're talking about here,” Rossi said, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“No, we're talking about a woman who killed the only real parent we've ever had. Our father was kind and gentle and loving. He always had time for us. Always. He was at every game, every school event, everything important.” 

“And what about your mother?” 

“She never went to anything. Not once in my whole life. I guess she just couldn't be bothered.”

“So if your father didn't abuse your mother,” Piper asked, “why did she kill him?” 

“Probably just to take him away from us. She was jealous that he loved us more than her.” 

“Why would she think that?” 

“Because he said so all the time.” Piper excused herself politely and dialled the first number that popped in her head.

“Hey Pipes. How’s your case going?”

“Every sign’s pointing to what I was afraid of.”

“You talk to the kids?”

“Yeah. They’re acting exactly like... Exactly like Lucy did. They hate her, Spence.”

“Have you talked to the mother yet?”

“No, not yet. We wanna go in knowing as much as possible. I just...I need to clear my head.”

“Well, go over the facts. Just keep talking.”

“This woman has nothing to her name. If her birth and marriage certificate were lost, she wouldn’t exist. The kids say she’s stupid..” Piper’s voice broke. “They say she couldn’t do anything without supervision. Spence, I don’t think I can do this.”

“I know, Pipes, but you’re the only one who can. Keep going.”

“The father always told her he loved the kids more than her, he was always patient with her, she couldn’t cook or do the laundry...” She trailed off.

“Piper, talk to me.”

“She was invisible. God, Spence, you’re the best. Thank you.”

“Still haven’t done anything, but I’ll take it.”

“Be safe.”

“You too.” Piper turned off her cell and turned to see the two kids walk out. She smiled politely, then walked in. 

“He made her invisible. Think about it. There’s nothing she inherits, no financial motive, her kids think she’s a failure because she can’t cook or do the laundry, always needed supervision, no-one wanted her around. They made her invisible.”

“We still have to actually talk to her,” Hotch reminded her softly and she just nodded. “Let’s visit the house first, though.”

^-^

Inside the bedroom, Hotch examined the family portrait. “Seems like a perfect family.” He handed the photo frame to Piper. “What do you see?”

“Audrey’s standing further away. Father has both hands on the kids’ shoulders, suggests they’re closer to him than her. She’s the only one who isn’t smiling. Wearing all white and a pearl necklace. Suggests purity, innocence, wholeness and completion but can also seem stark, cold, and isolated... I dunno, maybe I’m reading too much into it.” She said as she gazed forlornly at the picture. 

“Two mattresses. Not very intimate.” Rossi noted. 

“And for a lousy mother, room’s kept pristine,” Piper scoffed. Rossi agreed, pointing to the perfectly kept hangers and shoe stand. They walked back outside into the centre of the room. 

“Something’s missing...” Hotch noted. Rossi looked up from the bloody mattress back to Hotch and Piper.

“The rest of the blood.”

“Someone cleaned up.” Piper said scornfully and she walked out. 

^-^

Back in their large workspace, Piper walked in, gleefully holding up their lunch. “Rossi, your pesto pasta with chicken and tomato. Hotch, your kung pao chicken. What’d I miss?”

“JJ just updated me about their stalker case, they’ve given them a profile, should be wrapped up soon.” Hotch held the photo of the Henson family gently. “You know, sometimes you can’t see it but... they look pretty happy.”

“All families have issues Hotch,” Piper remarked as she sat down. “Everyone wants to pretend they don’t, but sometimes it’s instability, addiction, rebellion. There’s always something.”

“Well, that’s comforting. Besides, happiness is easy to fake when you only have a split second. You should see how many happy-looking photos I have of me with my exes.”

“Yeah, how many times were you married? 6?” Piper joked.

“It’s like the number doubles every time. I only got married 3 times.”

“Were you ever happy in any of your marriages?” Hotch asked. Piper left to answer her phone.

“I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. If I was, I can't remember. I'm not sure if me and the idea of being married is a good mix.”

“You kept trying.” 

“Well, I didn't have any kids.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, I mean I might have tried harder if there were children involved.” 

“I tried.” 

“Hotch--” 

“I gave absolutely everything to... Haley and Jack and my job.” 

“So something had to give.”

“Yeah. You're right. But it doesn't mean that I am any less committed... Or try any less hard for my son.” 

“Hey, hotch, what the hell do I know? The only people I've ever made happy were divorce lawyers.” 

“Well, we've got 4 failed marriages between us. We're experts at something. Where does it all go wrong? 

“Everybody has their breaking point. Your wife reached hers.”

^-^

“Drew. Hi,” Piper spoke softly into the phone.

“Hey, you free?” 

“Well, both my bosses are talking about their failed marriages so... Yeah, I’m free for a few minutes. How are you?”

“Good. Missing you. You coming to visit anytime soon?” 

“I dunno. I’m in Boston right now. Working a battered wife case.”

“Jeez, I hate those cases. Domestic disputes are the worst, right?” She heard him laugh derisively on the other end.

“Well, they’re messy, that’s for sure.”

“I remember my last domestic dispute case. This guy claimed his wife was being abusive. Here’s the kicker; not a single scratch, cut or bruise. He claimed it was emotional abuse, like cut the crap. You know what I mean?”

“What happened to him?”

“Nothing. There wasn’t any evidence of abuse and I figured the guy just wanted a divorce, so I left it.”

“Oh.”

“Hey, have you given any thought what we talked about yesterday?” 

“What, moving to Florida? I--I don’t know, Drew, I have a life here, friends, a job--”

“That you didn’t even apply for. I mean, weren’t you just some history teacher? You caught a break, Pipes. Don’t fool yourself. C’mon, you really wanna keep flying around from DC to Boston to Michigan to wherever else a case pops up? Or do you wanna be with me?” 

“I-- Give me some time, I’ll--I’ll figure it out. Wait, Drew, wh--what if you come to DC?”

“And what? Play house while you travel state-to-state? That’s so stupid. C’mon Pipes, you’re smarter than that.”

“Listen, I gotta go. I’ll call later.”

“Sure thing, sweetheart. Bye.” She heard the dial tone and slipped the cell back in her pocket, tapping her heel to the ground, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. Once she was ready, she turned on her heel and went back in.

^-^

9am. Piper read through the files one last time while munching on a warm chocolate chip muffin wearing her favourite cardigan. Hotch glanced at her ever so often, mostly because that cardigan wasn’t a good sign. He remembered the last time she’d worn it during a case was Reid’s abduction, when she’d needed comfort. She smiled at Rossi who’d gone out to get them fresh cups of coffee. When their makeshift breakfast was finished, Hotch wiped his mouth with a napkin and announced for them to start interviewing Audrey Henson.

“You understand why you’re here, Mrs Henson?” Hotch asked gently as Rossi pulled up a seat next to her and Piper remained standing like a watchdog next to the door, listening intently.

“I killed my husband.” 

“And you're aware that you don't have to talk to us?” 

“What else is there to say? I shot him.” 

“Why?” 

“It's what I had to do.” 

“Had to?” 

“It sounds... terrible.” 

“Did Philip ever hit you?” 

“Hit me?” 

“Was he abusive?” 

“No. Never. Not even when I probably des--no, he was very patient with me.” 

“Why did he need to be patient?” 

“Well, are you kidding? Look at me. After Nathan was born, I completely let myself go. I'm fat, I'm a terrible housekeeper, I'm a terrible cook. No, believe me, I needed a husband with a lot of patience. 

“Audrey, Nathan tells us that you never attended any of his sports or school functions, that you were never there, not even once.” 

“He's probably right.” 

“Why didn't you?” 

“Well, I was doing such a terrible job at home, I didn't want to embarrass my kids out in public, too.” Rossi met Piper’s eyes which were starting to blink more than normal, her nose twinging pink. She just nodded at him. Pulling the sleeves of her grey cardigan, she left the room and glared at the ceiling. The district attorney walked up to her.

“So, what’s the verdict doc?” Piper steeled herself.

“Audrey Henson was never physically hit by her husband.”

“I knew it.”

“And yet,” Piper steamrolled ahead. “She has been profoundly abused by him.”

“But you just said--”

“That’s the problem you have. She has been psychologically tormented just like prisoner’s-of-war, Patty Hearst, Elizabeth Smart, they all say the same thing. They had no place else to go. He had complete control over her. He cut off all her contact with the outside world.”

“You’re kidding.”

“We’re not,” Hotch interrupted from behind Piper. “Come on in. There’s one last thing we still have to ask. Might pique your interest.”

Inside the room, Hotch asked her one last thing. “We'd like for you to take us through the killing step by step, as well as you can remember.” 

“I had just-- I was finishing up the laundry, and, uh, I was hanging up my husband's shirts in the closet. I looked over and I saw him on the bed, and I knew it had to be then, that that was my only chance. And so, I decided I had to kill him. I picked up the gun... And I shot him. I shot my husband.” 

“And then you... Sat there and waited for someone to come home?” 

“Oh, no, no, no, no. I had to clean up.” 

“Why?” 

“Well, there was blood everywhere.” 

“And did you clean up to hide what you had done?” 

“No. No, I was going to tell Sarah what I had done when she got home. I wasn't hiding anything.” 

“But then why clean all the blood up?” 

“Because the police were going to be coming. Philip would have been furious if I allowed all those strangers into the house with a mess like that.” Piper sat down besides her and held her hands as Hotch, Rossi and the D.A. left the room.

“Can I say something?” Piper asked her as she looked back with doleful eyes. “You remind me of someone.”

“Really?” Piper nodded, humming.

“She was wonderful and kind and I took her for granted. I’d like you to know, I think of you as the same.” As the officer came to take her away, Audrey asked her who it was.

“Her name was Aubrey. Aubrey Bishop.”

[onisiondrama]

“Onision Interview With Attorney” April 27, 2020 Speaks

Apparently the attorney is Vincent’s sister. If that’s true, I’m guessing he didn’t have to pay for this interview because she already has a bias against Chris Hansen. (Vincent hijack Hansen’s website and publicly announced he sold it to her. They turned it into a website advertising her attorney services. She also helped Vincent filed a lawsuit against Chris Hansen, but Idk if it went anywhere. It looks like the site has since been reverted back to Hansen’s.)

Notes:

Greg / James announces they are going to talk about online culture and how people are impacted by social media.

He asks a really wordy, broad question. I’m not exactly sure what he’s asking, but I think he’s trying to ask how private people can stay safe on the internet? She says with the pandemic attorneys are using the internet more. She says cancel culture is very dangerous.

(Wait- why is there a picture of James as a teenager on screen? I just noticed this. I’ll add it to the top of the post. Sorry, that distracted me.)

She gives an example of a couple going through a divorce and one of them uses their big social media presence to damage the other. She said that makes the attorneys think if they should keep representing someone when their ex could inflict damage to them (the attorney) with things like negative reviews. (People left negative google reviews for her law firm after she got involved in Vincent’s online feud with Hansen. It looks like they are all gone now. From what I saw, it was complains of unprofessionalism with the website situation. People may have left false reviews as well, but I did not see them. I only looked very early on.) 

James says this is the opposite of the justice system where everyone has a fair chance. Public opinion controls right and wrong.

Attorney says public opinion is a myth because most people don’t know the laws or have been to law school. That’s why they have lawyers.

She talks more about how scary it is for lawyers, to risk their livelihood. People can put them out of business with negative reviews who don’t even live in the same country.

James asks what she thinks the general legal repercussions could be for trying to destroy someone’s private life on social media. She says there’s options, but they’re difficult. You could sue for defamation, but you’d have to prove the statement is false and defamatory, you’d have to locate them, you’d have to prove loss of money, and the defendant would need the ability to pay.

James asks if he’s been right when he said it’s not worth going after someone with no money or if you could claim their future assets. She says it could be a thing, like in the state she practices a judgement is good for 20 years and in some states it can be renewed for longer. You’d have to check the state. She says if they’re a minor, the parents could be held responsible.

James asks if there will be a legal shift to protect people from baseless cancel culture. He uses Taylor Swift and Johnny Depp as examples. She believes there will be a shift. She says there should be responsibility on providers that allow negative comments that enable cancel culture.

James asks if someone could be punished for unknowingly telling a lie about someone. He uses the example that he said someone was a murderer, then later finds out someone else was found guilty. Yet he doesn’t remove his initial statement and doesn’t make a public correction. She asks isn’t that why the news publishes retractions? James says people act like the news, but don’t do that. He says everyone wanted to interview him, but when they realized everything they wanted to interview him about was false, they suddenly didn’t want to interview him anymore. They publicly ignored the issue instead of publishing a retraction. He says if you pretend to be a newspaper or journalist, you have to hold yourself to the same standard. Attorney agrees and says everyone needs to be careful with what they say as facts.

She says people shouldn’t be afraid to interview someone in fear of the online effect it might have. She asks where the great interviewers like Oprah, Lisa Ling, and Barbra Walters would be. James says this is black and white mentality, if you’re not with us you’re against us. You can’t have an impartial opinion. He gives an example, if weren’t against Johnny Depp when everyone was angry with him, then you’re an abuser. He says you can’t even have a dialog or find out the full story without people trying to cancel you. He says it converted the media into pandering to their audience.

Attorney asks if now we have to not watch Woody Allen movies because of what he was accused of? James says he stopped watching Johnny Depp movies for a while and that was wrong because he let society and popular opinion control him. He says we want to be with the in-crowd, so when someone is cancelled, we want to go along with it to go with the flow. We’re afraid to admit when we’re wrong or that will be one more reason to be cancelled. He says it’s a complex social structure.

He asks for advise for public figures and private people trying to recover from being canceled or if their ex ran a humiliation campaign online. Attorney says she has a website because all attorneys need websites now. She was dragged into it and everybody started posting really negative reviews because the person that started this cancel culture stated what her familial relationship was. No one has any knowledge of that before they said it. (Dude... when I went to “HansenVSPredator dot com”, your face and name showed up. You have the same last name as Vincent. His last name was on every Hansen stream. Your law firm is across the river from where Vincent said he lived. Vincent tweeted your full name when he announced he sold the site. It wasn’t that hard to figure out. At the time I assumed she was either Vincent’s cousin or sister. I’m not a Hansen stan, but Jesus. Blaming him for all of the negative attention she received is a stretch. If anything I blame Vincent for even suggesting selling her a hijacked website from a high profile person to use for her business. Especially after Vincent got twitter totally pissed off at him. Terrible idea. I remember at the time thinking this poor woman doesn’t know the shit show she just walked into.)

Then her rating, which was really good, went down. She says profanities started being used and it was disturbing. She says she has her own harassment suit. (oh so it wasn’t Vincent’s) The platform got rid of the reviews and she was able to find out the identity of some of the individuals. This all caused loss of sleep, not being able to work, headaches, being afraid and worried for the people she’s working for. She wanted to protect them and was able to file a harassment charge and those are hard to get filed.

He says she’s a private citizen and when someone with a social media presence goes after you makes it difficult to work at your job and function as a human being. Online community doesn’t understand there’s the real world, then there’s the online community. The real work is mostly rational people working jobs with other people. There are consequences for their actions. Online you can be extreme you can act like there’s no law, until reality hits and they’re sitting in court. When people irl agree with you, when police agree with you, when people in court agree with you, it’s important to bring people to the real world so they can’t destroy your life more.

Attorney says people contacted the Bar Association on behalf of the person they’re following. She said it brought harm to the person who started the cancel culture. He made false statements about her. Because of her familial association, she should be banned. People going to the Bar Association inspired her charges against him.

James says we need to be held accountable when we drag people who are entirely private, people who never had a Youtube channel, for bringing negative attention to them. (Like the underage fans you insulted in your body ratings videos?) There’s no reason for us to inspire people to go after private people. His own family members were targeted. They have no association with his channels. (They were on his channels though. Not saying they deserve negative attention, just pointing it out. His mother acted in a number of his skit videos and she has her own channel. He also did a collab with one of his sisters to promote her channel.) He says they were entirely innocent.

He says he hopes the world we’re approaching is one where there is an anti virus for the virus, which is cancel culture. He says we keep acting like heroes by hurting people who are not involved.

He says, like in the attorney’s case, you can’t involve people who are not involved. Says you can’t take someone from a platform they are on and attack them on a platform that they are not on. He gives the example of someone cutting him off the highway, he can’t take out a camera and stalk them to humiliate them online. He should handle it with the police. She agrees and says the authorities are the ones that can do investigations.

James asks for a closing statement from the attorney. They promote her new channel and she says she would like to talk to Cher one day.

She says if something isn’t fair to share, don’t share it. James says you should think about if what you’re going to share will hurt a private citizen. He says he understands public figures, like himself, are different. When you involve family members and private citizens, you become legally accountable for what happens to them.

[diaryplan-au]

DIARYPLAN - CHAPTER II

WARNING : THE CHAPTER CONTAINS DISTURBING AND FLASHING IMAGES. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Daniel glanced at the amount of messages he received. He showed it to Hosuh, who gasped in awe. The two boys kept the info in mind that the messages can also decide their fate.

“They are telling me to bring a screwdriver?” Daniel doubted as he looked at his friend.

“They have a point though,” Hosuh agreed, “You can fix things and maybe stab people at the same time with it?”

Daniel furrowed his eyebrows and went back to his phone, “Yeah, but I don’t want to kill people…”

Hosuh disagreed, “No, like you don’t have to. You can defend yourself and I think that’s what they meant.”

The two boys looked around the room. Daniel sighed, “Well… Guess I’ll bring a screwdriver,” he said before going on an adventure to look for a screwdriver.

Hosuh felt his phone vibrate, and proceeded to open it. He was a bit surprised that they can message him now. He thinks it’s the same people that told Daniel what to do. “O-Oh, I can receive messages now? Who are they?”

He went to where Dan was and showed him the messages. Daniel sighed in relief, it was just one of the people who guided them, “I have no idea who they are but it seems they’re guiding us what to do. Let’s think before we act and use the messages and our diaries to our advantage.”

Hosuh nodded and checked his small notebook like what the message told him to.

Hosuh didn’t know what to do, since there were new diary entries. Daniel noticed this, “Your diary guides the group on what to do, right? So I suppose we should follow what is written in your diary.”

However, the light haired male shook his head, “That’s the thing, I mean the reason why I don’t know what to do. The decisions inside my diary are based on what I believe so we could have good or bad choices.”

Daniel nodded and found a screwdriver, he proceeds to put it in his small bag near his desk and waited for more instructions on his phone.

Hosuh’s phone vibrated again, catching the attention of the two men.

Hosuh perked up from the mention of the news and shook Daniel’s shoulder, “Daniel, Daniel! The news about unsolved deaths!”

Oh yes, Daniel forgot about it since he was distracted from Hosuh’s diary. He grabbed the remote and switched it on the news channel. There, a female reporter was on television while a picture of a male with a light blue shirt and blonde hair showed up beside her.

“The unsolved deaths still continues. A sophomore named Evan Lousen was found dead this morning. His body was covered in multiple stab wounds and his neck had been snapped and cut. Investigations are still ongoing, but we found a lead. It seems that the murderer’s targets are usually people with smartphones. Furthermore, as they looked into the victims’ phones. The police found out that most of the info on their phones have erased, as if the phone was completely reset. The contacts, browser history, gallery, everything. Please be safe and never go alone. If you find anything suspicious, please contact us at *** *** ****.”

Daniel switched off the television, his head down low thinking what to do next. There’s a murder going on and they can’t go alone.

Murder…

Stabbing…

Stephen…

The news reminded him of Stephen, on how he would threaten them during recording sessions. But it was a friendly one so they didn’t take it seriously.

Daniel’s small laugh caught Hosuh’s attention. He raised an eyebrow.

“Now I would tease about Stephen doing the killings,” Daniel joked as he glanced at Hosuh, then his face became serious along with the atmosphere in the room, “But this is real.”

Daniel’s phone made a noise and Hosuh’s phone vibrated at the same time. The green haired male merely read the message and wasn’t in the mood to respond. On the other hand, Hosuh has something to say.

“Honestly, I think that the police won’t believe us that we can predict the future and may think that we programmed something in our phones that can function like that,” he frowned.

Daniel nodded, “But we will call the police if something terrible happens.”

The light haired male then thought of something, “What if the murderer comes after us next because they’re usually targetting people with smartphones.”

“Hosuh, a lot of people worldwide have smartphones.”

“Yes but what I mean is that the murderer could also be a user,” he argued.

Daniel didn’t think about it. The murder could also be a user? It does make sense. But what good will killing do? Catch the attention of the other diary holders? What if it was a trap? What does happen when one diary holder survives the game? The caller didn’t say anything on what would happen.

Daniel checked the battery percentage of his phone, it wasn’t very low but it is a good idea. He grabbed the charger and proceeded to charge his phone.

Hosuh glanced at his phone, its battery percentage was high so it wasn’t necessary. He then thought of something.

“If our phones turn off from low battery, do we die?”

Daniel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Honestly, I don’t know but let’s just charge our phones. I don’t want to find out.”

Hosuh’s phone vibrated again and read the message. He raised and eyebrow at it and looked at Daniel. He waited for it to come but it didn’t. He checked his small notebook and the diary still hasn’t updated yet. It was the same.

“What are they trying to do?” Hosuh pondered to himself.

Daniel agreed, “That’s what I was thinking…”

“Do you think the diary updates when something happens or when a diary holder does something?” Hosuh asked.

Daniel shrugged, his diary hasn’t updated yet either, “We will investigate this with Jay.”

The light haired male agreed, “Once you’re done charging, why not go to the cafe like what my diary says?”

“And wait for Jay?”

“I guess so,” Hosuh checked his small notebook again, “It says we have to investigate him because he doesn’t receive messages and diary entries like us.”

Daniel thinks that Jay is suspicious. But what if he wasn’t involved at all in this survival game? Daniel doesn’t want to start a fight nor distrust his friends but he guesses there’s going to be a lot of killings and deception around his circle of friends. He has to be careful.

Hosuh felt his phone vibrate again, he checked the message and smiled. They really do care about him and Daniel, “We will be careful. Thank you for your concern! We will listen to your warnings and keep each other safe!”

Daniel checked Hosuh’s message. Reading it gave him a boost of confident, “Hosuh, let’s go meet Jay alright?”

The light haired male nodded.

For how many minutes, Daniel’s phone was now fully charged. Hosuh brought a small backpack with him. Like Hosuh, Daniel brought a small bag. Inside it was the screwdriver, a couple of bandages, his charger, a small notepad, pen, and a dice.

He made sure to lock all the doors and windows in his house while Hosuh plugged off the necessary equipment in his house and turned the lights off. Daniel thanked him as he locked the front door of his house.

He put his keys inside the bag before walking to the nearest cafe with Hosuh.

“Daniel, tell Jay to meet up there,” Hosuh suggested.

The said male nodded and texted Jay to meet up at the cafe instead. The recording session is cancelled and he reminded himself to notify his fans on social media that they will be taking a break. Telling them the full truth would cause a mess.

Along the way, they came across a dead body. It matched the description of the dead man in the news. Evan Lousen. It was him! The police are investigating and they were all over the place. Yellow tape surrounded the dead body and the blood lingers in the air.

Daniel’s eyes widened, “Shit.”

Hosuh couldn’t believe it. A dead body of a human. An ordinary human that lived like the others. Dead before his very eyes. Citizens surrounded the scene but the two men couldn’t unsee what they had witnessed.

Daniel wanted to leave already but the screaming and crying of a man made him pay attention.

“It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me! I swear I am innocent!” A man in his late 30s cried out. Tears streamed down his face as he was being pulled away by the police. He struggled and kicked but judging from his appearance, he was weak.

“My son! I wouldn’t do that to my son! No!” Citizens threw things at him, calling him a murderer.

Daniel and Hosuh watched with heavy hearts as the old man was taken away. The green haired male looked down and went ahead. Hosuh quietly apologized and went after Daniel.

While walking, Daniel couldn’t help but ask, “Tell me Hosuh, was that person framed for murder or does he have some kind of disorder?”

Hosuh looked down, “I have no clue.”

“But what do you believe?”

Hosuh stayed silent. He pulled out his small notebook and saw that a new diary entry was added.

“It says here that I believed that he was framed, should I?” He looked up.

Daniel sighed,

“I don’t know, Hosuh.”

[DANIEL’S BACKPACK : SCREWDRIVER, BANDAGES, CHARGER, SMALL NOTEPAD, PEN, DICE]

- • - • - • - • - • - • -

Hello, welcome to the DANPLAN FUTURE DIARY AU. You will be guiding Daniel Lim to survive throughout this survival game.

I am your host, Archer, and I am responsible for delivering the messages to the players. But some of them are unavailable for now.

We have a few rules regarding sending messages to the players. But please be informed that the messages will be directed to the DanPlan characters in the story, not the real crew.

Rules for the messages (we will be updating them from time to time) :

1. Do not ask unnecessary questions. Let it be related to the player, or the situation. For the messages, you can guide them what to do next however it is for them to decide whether to follow or not.

2. When interacting with a player, please only send messages to those players that are available in the story or that were on screen.

3. Strictly no ships, sorry.

4. When interacting with a player, please use the hashtag “#interactDIARYPLAN (name of the player and number of the chapter they were in)” so we will know whether that message is directed to the story and not the person using the account. Messages without this hashtag will not be considered unless they are questions about the story, characters, account, rules, et cetera. Anonymous messages with the hashtag are counted though.

5. No spamming.

6. When a new chapter is released, the messages/asks for the previous chapters will be discarded.

Be warned that your choices and messages matter in the story. You can cooperate as a team with the FanPlan or be against them.

As much as possible, we will try to publish new chapters twice a week so you can prepare.

We will not consider reblogs and comments from the posts as messages for the players. Please use the ask box of the account.

If you don’t like the outcomes of the story, I’m sorry but that’s not our problem. We let you fans decide the outcomes. However, we do not condone fighting about the story no matter where you are in social media. Please respect the choices made by other people. Don’t hate people because of their choices.

Thank you for your cooperation.

WARNING : THE STORY CONTAINS GORY IMAGES, FLASHING IMAGES, MIGHT CAUSE NIGHTMARES, AND SWEARING.

[mst3kproject]

912: The Screaming Skull

This is another episode where the movie didn’t really leave an impression.  I remember the Gumby short, mostly on account of the bots’ traumatized reaction, and Tom Servo’s proboscis is one of those images that never goes away. But The Screaming Skull itself?  About the only thing I remembered about it was that it was in black and white.

Newlyweds Eric and Jenny pull up in the Electronic Car of Tomorrow outside their stately new home.  This house belonged to Eric’s previous wife, Marion, and Eric inherited it after she died in suspicious circumstances.  It doesn’t take long before Jenny begins seeing signs that Marion’s spirit is not at rest and does not approve of Eric’s decision to re-marry. Maybe it’s just Mickey, the disabled gardener who doesn’t quite understand that Marion’s dead.  Or maybe it’s Eric himself, who murdered his previous wife for her money and is planning to do the same thing to Jenny… but sssh, we’re not supposed to have seen that coming.

This movie gets one thing really, really right – and that’s the fucking peacocks.  Peacocks look pretty, but those shiny feathers cover up actual angry velociraptors who scream like the restless dead.  I stayed at a house in Italy where the owner kept peacocks and hearing them for the first time at two in the morning scared years off my life. They will also steal your food right out of your hands and drop it in the dirt without eating it, just because they’re assholes.

Other than that... my god, this is a dull, gloomy little movie.  It tries so hard to build suspense and all it builds is melatonin. Hearing a mysterious knock on the door once or twice is spooky.  Hearing it four or five or six times just draws our attention to the fact that it’s the same sound clip playing over and over.  Mickey is never believable as a threatening figure, while Eric, looming over Jenny with his I-know-what’s-best-for-you attitude, is so threatening and does things that are so obviously bad for her, you never believe in his innocence for a moment.

The fact that we know very well it’s Eric doing all the ‘haunting’ actually makes some of what’s going on quite funny.  For example, the bit with the repeated knocking.  You can picture him knocking and hiding in the bushes, counting to twenty and starting to wonder if Jenny is coming, and reaching out to knock again before once again leaping off the front step to hide.  Over and over again.  Then there’s the skull itself… is it supposed to be a real human skull?  If so, whose is it?  It can’t be Marion’s because her grave hasn’t been disturbed.  Where did he get it from?  How does the jaw stay attached?  Movies never think about this stuff.

Eric is a really repulsive figure, denying Jenny her autonomy and constantly pushing her to get worse.  Having made sure she identifies the portrait with Marion, he forces her to be the one who destroys it when she clearly doesn’t want to.  When she pleads to be put back in a safe place – the hospital – he refuses, telling her she will be happier at the house when it is patently not true.  I honestly wonder how this would have played in 1958. Did people back then honestly think a man knew what was good for his wife, particularly his mentally ill wife, more than she did herself?  Would they have seen Eric as merely overprotective instead of abusive, and been truly surprised by the reveal?  I have no idea but I hope not.

This abuser chooses as his victims people who are particularly defenseless.  Jenny has struggled with mental illness for years and has bought into the idea that being loved will cure her (Eric encourages this belief, even stating to Reverend Snow that she’ll be cured when she’s “really loved”), which leaves her incredibly vulnerable.  Eric’s chosen scapegoat, Mickey, has a disability that hampers his ability to communicate.  Eric describes him as having the ‘mind of a child,’ leading people to dismiss what Mickey says and to believe he will behave irrationally. Even if the truth comes out, Eric has every reason to be confident that people will believe the word of the able-bodied man over the disabled man or the mentally ill woman.

Eric’s behaviour and his status as unquestionable villain leaves me rather confused about one of the prominent motifs in the movie: that of The Beast in the Jungle, the story Mrs. Snow gives to Jenny.  It’s the tale of a man who only realizes he’s in love with a friend after she dies, and finds he has wasted his life.  The fact that they bother to give the story’s title and explain its plot suggests that it must be very important somehow.  I suppose we’re meant to see Eric as the hero of the story, who ignores the love of a woman and throws his life away for nothing.  But Eric is actively malicious towards the women in his life, while the protagonist of The Beast in the Jungle believes he’s cursed by a terrible fate and tries to protect his friend by not letting her get too close to him.  The two situations are not at all equivalent.

For all that, though, it’s possible to read The Screaming Skull as a feminist movie.  For the most part the movie infantilizes Jenny, treating her as somebody in need of comfort and care, yet she is also somebody who should be allowed to make her own decisions about the form that comfort and care take.  She wants a cure for her mental illness and learns that she cannot get it through the Power of Wuv.  Her tragic backstory and personal issues do not revolve around men, being rooted instead in her relationship with her mother.  Most interesting of all, Eric’s plot to get rid of Jenny involves turning her and Marion against each other – and it ultimately fails when Marion, from beyond the grave, refuses to let him!

Eric is Jenny’s only source of information about Marion. Mickey was close to her, but his handicap and his dislike of Eric keeps him from really talking to Jenny.  Eric tries in a dozen tiny ways to convince Jenny that Marion would have hated her, drawing on the fact that he already knows Jenny is prone to be jealous of other women.  All the information he gives her about Marion sets the dead woman up as a rival, right down to Mickey having liked her better and being expected to hate Jenny as a result.  But at the end of the story, Marion’s ghost arrives to speak for herself, and while she uses no actual words, her opinions are clear: she does not hate Jenny, she hates Eric, and she will not allow him to hurt his new wife.  This is a tale of women standing up for each other, even from beyond the grave!

On a practical level, unfortunately, Marion’s ghost is also where the movie falls apart.  The other characters have just discovered Eric’s deception and are discussing what to do about it, when the ghost appears in the form of a skeleton in a gown and hat and chases him across the estate before killing him!  In some movies this kind of supernatural denouement doesn’t work, being as much a deus ex machina as the dinosaur in The Beast of Hollow Mountain, but here it’s pretty satisfying.  Whether Eric actually murdered her or not (based on the information the movie gives us, we suspect this but cannot prove it), he has used Marion as a bogeyman, and she’s through with his bullshit and ready to take matters into her own spectral hands!   The problem is the ghost itself.  The skeleton in Marion’s clothes is ridiculous and the things that happen to it don’t help.

Take, for example, the moment when the skull clamps its jaws around Eric’s throat.  This looks so silly, especially when actor John Hudson is so obviously holding it there as he pretends to ‘struggle’ with it, that I laughed out loud.  My favourite part, though, is when Eric throws a chair at the ghost, and the fake skeleton goes flying apart.  Its arms were hanging from strings to keep them raised and when the prop falls apart they go sailing away in different directions!  It’s hilarious and it completely kills whatever mood of fear the movie has managed to generate.

And that’s not much, because the movie shoots itself in the foot right at the starting gate.  It opens with the infamous sequence in which the film-makers promise free burial to anybody who dies of fright while watching The Screaming Skull.  This is perhaps the ultimate example of telling the audience something you cannot show – they can’t show us a scary movie because all they’ve got is The Screaming Skull, so they tell us we’re about to see one.  The main effect of the bit, besides making the movie a couple of minutes longer, is to leave us extremely cynical.  What makes this movie think it can scare us literally to death?  As a result, we’re even less scared than what little scared we would have been anyway!

This one sucks.  It’s got some interesting subtext but that’s probably unintentional and the text is boring and predictable.  The Gumby short and Tom’s coffin delivery woes are far more interesting than anything in the feature presentation.  I fear we’re in for a succession of awful boring movies in the future because so far, when I’ve come upon a film I really don’t want to watch, I skip it and go on to something else.  Now I’m starting to run out of interesting movies.  It’s probably all downhill from here.

[keep-it-i-resign]

Discussion/Analysis Time, my friends! Garcy Edition

One of the things I noticed was she very clearly still has her boots on. This could just be one of those things where they didn’t think anyone would notice but I’m fairly confident that in the grand scheme of things, Garcia Flynn would make sure his tiny historian Queen would be comfortable in her sleep so I’m thinking that this was more a directorial direction to save time than the characters really having a say.

Next, we’ve got the “gentle and responsive lover” comment and woooo if only he said that to me that boy has it bad for her. It’s very clear in the way he lowers his tone and softens his voice, even as he clearly teases her says a lot about how he feels about Lucy. He’s open with her and comfortable enough with her to immediately tease her a bit just after she wakes up. He even brings up that he enjoyed the company. As a man who’s been pushing away people since his families murders, he’s probably starved of any sort of company. Lord knows that no one in that bunker apart from Lucy really interacts with him apart from scathing comments. He’s probably alone a majority of the time between missions and he’s not the type to talk really talk to himself from comfort. This says a lot about him being comfortable enough to trust she won’t intentionally hurt him. It seems to me that when Lucy says, “I wasn’t that drunk” means there is, somewhere in her mind, an impulse to push the boundaries with him. Lucy seemed to be mildly disappointed that something didn’t happen and the way she inflected the ‘Oh’ has me thinking she has a hazy memory somewhere in her head of something actually happening and she can’t quite tell if it’s memory or dream who can blame her though - someone needs to climb that tree.

Whatever they talked about the night before definitely opened up both of them to a more friendly banter - one that’s clearly meant to suggest they either: sat and let Lucy complain about everything or they did the history nerd version of 20 questions and got to know more about one another. In my opinion both are likely since Lucy had clearly had a few before seeking him out (imo brought on by Wyatt’s need to keep acting like he and Lucy were still an item despite Jessica) and his comments about wanting to get to know present!Lucy (if she was willing to let him) being fresh in her mind.

It’s pretty clear though that Flynn must’ve picked up on some of Lucy’s other underlying issues. He’s a perceptive bastard, he has read he journal (although he admits that FutureJournal!Lucy seems entirely like a different person at times), and he knows a bit of what she’s going through. Her stating that it seems a little insane that he’s the easiest person to talk to speaks levels about what she experienced at the hands of Rittenhouse. I admit I do think that before she was held captive for six weeks, talking to Jiya or Rufus would’ve been easier for Lucy. However, she was a prisoner for six weeks. She saw everything that they really did, she saw the lengths they would go to, she saw her entire family line laid out in front of her and watched as the only family she had left reveal themselves as being part of the reason for all of this mess. They stripped her of what little innocence she had left and crushed it beneath their little Nazi boots. The only other person who has been that victimized by Rittenhouse is Flynn. Flynn, who saw his wife and daughter brutally murdered by a strike-team because he stumbled across a single bank account and asked a single question. They’ve both felt the crushing weight of their situations and are both looking for a little dry land where they can rest and someone else can help them bare that weight a little. I think her saying it’s a little insane is more the realization that she didn’t need to hide her pain from him because she sees the same in his eyes. No more fronts, no smiling to hide her pain, no need to struggle to hold her head above the water.

When Flynn does bring up that they are both alone in all of this, he notices that Lucy immediately looks down and seems to try and retreat back into her head. Flynn (instead of doing what I think the others would’ve done, especially Wyatt - try and push it further and make her talk) teases her about them both being geniuses, effectively giving her something else to focus on. Her little smile that she tries to hide shows she appreciates it from him that he isn’t pushing her to open up or pulling her in one direction or another. He himself seems to have really confronted that reality already but was willing to show that it’ll still hurt but it’s possible to start healing if you open up about your problems.

Lucy quickly finishing her coffee and leaving, I think can be seen in a few ways. As she’s hungover and slept in her clothes from the previous day, she probably feels gross. Another way is that she feels she might be pushing the limit on invasion of personal space even though we know our Garbage King would never get tired of his tiny Queen . As a socially kind of awkward individual, she’d probably be feeling that she’s overstayed her welcome and want to give him his space. The only other option is that she’s being confronted by this easy going morning with a guy and no expectations from him and is realizing that she could get used to it. Understandably, that would terrify anyone who had just been chosen second best after finally opening up to someone (I don’t blame Wyatt for that - I honestly think him and Jessica fit better than him and Lucy. He worked so hard in S1 to get her back that it seems out of character for him to be stuck between the two of them when he very clearly still loves Jessica enough to risk his freedom to get her back. Besides, someone needs to show that they can happily get the people they lost back otherwise Flynn and Lucy’s missions seem fool hardy.). Flynn was clearly heart eyes over her and still didn’t push her and made her know she was clearly welcome back at any time that she needed it without manipulating her into feeling guilty for leaving.

Whatever they did discuss was clearly good for the both of them. They both found someone they could turn too and not have to hide anything from them.  They found a friend and they found a safe space for the two of them. Abigail and Goran’s performances were brilliant to be able to give so much more depth into such a short scene and it’s one of the best subtle acting scenes I’ve seen.

Please, feel free to tell me what you picked up on or if you have other thoughts on how things played out because lord knows I missed something. 

[aion-rsa]

Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 4: Davidson, DNA, Buckells’ Codes & All Our Questions & Theories

https://ift.tt/3a37RHS

Warning: contains spoilers for Line of Duty series 6 episode 4.

After all the excitement of episode four (read our spoiler-filled review here), fans could be forgiven for taking a recovery day before putting their minds to work and trying to figure out series six’s many mysteries. But did Steve and Chloe take a rest after that shoot-out? No, so in their honour, neither will we. After all, as Kate told Ted in that piss-stinking underpass make-up scene, we’ve got a case to solve.

Jargon of the week: Nominal

Anybody convicted, cautioned, reprimanded, warned or arrested of a recordable offence has a “nominal record” on the Police National Computer, and is therefore a nominal. In the show, it seems to mean the chief individual/suspect in an investigation. In the series five opener, AC-12 referred to both Lisa McQueen and John ‘Clayton’ (before they knew he was an undercover officer) as “the nominal.”

Who is Jo Davidson’s “nominal” blood relative?

Episode four’s cliffhanger was that Jo Davidson is related to a mystery nominal previously known to AC-12. The forensics search at Farida Jatri’s house found DNA deposits matching Jo Davidson (supporting Farida’s account of having been in a relationship with and framed by Davidson). When Davidson’s deposits were checked against the various police DNA databases, they also came up with a match for another individual – thereby a blood relative of Davidson. It has to be somebody of significance to AC-12’s previous investigations into the OCG and corrupt police officers. Tommy Hunter? Fellow Scots ACC Derek Hilton or DCC Mike Dryden? We ponder the potential suspects in more detail here. 

Who is Jimmy Lakewell again?

Think of him as the male Gill Biggeloe, a defence solicitor who, at some stage in his career, crossed paths with a member of the OCG and from that point onwards accepted bribes to act as their corrupt brief in legal situations. In series four, when the OCG needed an innocent man to frame for the murders of Leonie Collersdale and Baswinder Kaur and the attempted abduction of Hana Reznikova, Jimmy delivered them Michael Farmer. Lakewell had met Farmer years earlier when he defended him against a sexual assault charge. Because of Farmer’s learning disability and police record, Lakewell knew he’d be easy to frame – which he would have been if Roz Huntley, Tim Ifield and AC-12 hadn’t got involved. 

Lakewell also colluded with bent copper ACC Hilton to have Steve Arnott attacked by one of the OCG’s ‘Balaclava Men’ when he was getting too close to the cover-up, and generally did all kinds of underhand business in exchange for OCG bribes to support his lavish lifestyle. He was arrested by Roz Huntley, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, and was serving time in HMP Blackthorn before he made contact with Gail Vella, and Steve’s plan to get him into witness protection led to Jimmy’s murder by the OCG. 

Who leaked the transport route from HMP Blackthorn?

Steve’s plan to spirit Jimmy Lakewell away from prison and into witness protection was compromised by somebody who knew the exact route the transport convoy was planning to take. The OCG knew where to stop the van carrying Jimmy and open fire. It’s likely that one of the corrupt prison guards at Blackthorn (the same one who facilitated Jimmy’s murder by Lee Banks, witnessed by Ian Buckells, and closed the door on the cell while Jimmy was being killed perhaps) was the leak. Chloe suggests that the leak could have come from inside AC-12, an idea batted away by Ted Hastings as not happening under his watch, who clearly has a short memory for dodgy corrupt coppers like the Caddy and Jamie Desford operating under his watch.

Did Jimmy Lakewell talk?

Interesting. Back at the station, after the ambush on the transport, Hastings, Bishop and Arnott interview Lakewell, who has been scared into not giving evidence and refused cooperation. Trying to persuade him to talk, Steve questions how safe Lakewell will be back in prison and Jimmy tells him “They’ll know I didn’t talk. That’s right, isn’t it DI Arnott? I didn’t talk.” After a pause, Steve gives him a slight nod. 

If you go back to the moment just before the convoy came under attack, after Steve asks Lakewell what Vella was investigating, there’s a cut to Chloe. In that time just before the attack, it’s possible that Lakewell did tell Steve something, knowing that whatever he said could never be traced back to him because the context would make the evidence inadmissible. With nothing to lose then, could Jimmy have pointed Steve in the right direction in that brief time? What Lakewell was asking Steve in that interview room was ‘Are you going to tell them that I talked?’ and Steve, being a straight-up guy, nodded that he would keep quiet. For all the good it did Lakewell in the end. 

Read more

TV

Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 4 Review: Mother of God!

By Louisa Mellor

TV

Line of Duty: the Jo Davidson Family Mystery

By Louisa Mellor

What did Buckells’ initialisms mean? 

You won’t find these in an official police lexicon. The initialisms next to which Ian Buckells saved the phone numbers of female suspects in his mobile are surely a little gag, poking fun both at Line of Duty’s taste for jargon and acronyms, and at Buckells’ coarse blokey persona. Use your imagination, really: RGT could be ‘really great tits’, FAF could be ‘fit as f**k, NA ‘nice arse’, BJL, well, you get the idea. Jo was right about one thing, Buckells really is a twat. 

So, Buckells was bent then?

He was certainly abusing his position as a police officer to coerce female suspects into giving him sexual favours in exchange for dropping charges. Was he though, working for the OCG? The fact that they had him witness Lakewell’s murder to show him ‘what happens to a rat’ suggests so, although that could equally have been done to shut him up and stop him from saying he’d been framed, just like they did to Farida. Kate says the bellend persona is all an act, but you can make up your own mind. Even if Buckells didn’t know he was a pawn of the OCG, by promoting an idiot like him so far above his ability, ‘H’ could pull the wool over a senior officer’s eyes multiple times without even having to bribe or blackmail him. 

Will Kate ultimately side with Jo?

You can take the girl out of AC-12, but you can’t take the AC-12 out of the girl. It’s pretty much certain now that Kate is not deep undercover, as suspected early on. She’s genuinely moved on from anti-corruption, but happens to have found herself in to a unit swimming with bent coppers. The question is: does Kate really believe that Davidson is innocent? Or does she suspect the truth – that Davidson’s bent but being coerced into it? This episode, Kate wanted to give the ‘Osman warning’ (issued by police to prospective victims of death threats) to Davidson, but was overruled by Hastings. She did, however, tip Jo off that Ryan was following her, which ultimately led to Kate’s job being threatened by Jo when Ryan showed his true colours. As a stand-up officer, Kate’s priority is the preservation of life. What steps might she take to preserve Davidson’s? And will it put her own life in danger?

Is this the end of AC-12?

Unless they can uncover H (who, at this stage, all signs point to being CC Osborne) before the end of the month, that’s it. Rohan Sindwhani and CC Osborne are redistributing funding away from internal investigations and to frontline services (always a PR-friendly move), and planning to merge ACs 3, 9 and 12 into one department. Staff will have the opportunity to apply to join the merged department or transfer to others, but 90% will go. The clock is ticking, Ted. The clock is ticking.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Line of Duty continues next Sunday the 18th of April at 9pm on BBC One. 

The post Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 4: Davidson, DNA, Buckells’ Codes & All Our Questions & Theories appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[zephfair]

Day 8 Bleach fic Grimmichi

Still going with the 30-Day AU Challenge

Day 8: Horror Movie AU

UGH This was the hardest day so far because I’ve never seen an entire horror movie, so I wasn’t going to do anything for this one. Then I got the humorous mental picture of Grimmjow actually trying to be scary which morphed into Halloween. And then I realized that I just really wanted the two of them to get it on.

THEN I wrote 3,500 words of dirty, filthy sex only to realize in HORROR this morning that this is Tumblr and yeah, I probably shouldn’t post real porn on here lest I be banned or blacklisted or whatever is going on these day to censor folks.

THAT made me think that I maybe I should actually post this entire Dumpster fire worth of fic on AO3 so it’s somewhere safe. So I just did that.

ANYWAY, the beginning of this story is under the cut RATED MATURE and then here’s the link to AO3 where the graphic sex is. If you like that sorta thing. No judgment here.

While making regular visits to Earth after the war, Grimmjow learned just enough about human culture to be mightily confused by it and its nuances (learning mostly from TV and Urahara’s insane crew didn’t help), but when October 31 rolled around, he knew exactly what to do.

He used Urahara’s Amazon account to order what he needed and got ready in the alley behind the shop where no one could see.

At sunset, he drifted up to the Kurosaki residence and rang the bell, waiting and ready.

Isshin opened the door, took a long look and slammed it in Grimmjow’s face. “Ichigo, it’s for you!” his shout was loud enough to barely be muffled from the door.

Grimmjow didn’t move, rang the bell again, and the door opened with a pretty young girl cheering out, “Happy Halloween! Oh. You’re big. Do you want some candy?”

Grimmjow ground his teeth but didn’t answer.

“What is it, Yuzu?” another girl joined the first and looked up at him. “Ha. Nice. Ichigo!”

She slammed the door shut again.

Grimmjow was sorely tempted to just cero the door and maybe the entire house when the door opened the third time.

“What the...ah!” Ichigo actually jumped back and Grimmjow lost it. He doubled over laughing so hard he couldn’t draw a breath.

“Oh fuck you!” Ichigo said, immediately recognizing the maniacal laughter.

“You. Really. Thought.” Grimmjow couldn’t talk from laughing so hard.

“You’re a hundred feet too short to be a real Menos,” Ichigo snapped and Grimmjow hooted.

“Then why did you jump? I saw you!”

Ichigo muttered something under his breath, but Grimmjow grabbed the door before it could slam again. “I thought this was the stupid human tradition, to dress up and frighten each other.”

“Well, yeah, sorta.”

“And I did frighten you,” Grimmjow leaned forward then remembered he was still wearing the mask. He pulled it up and grinned at Ichigo.

“You’re lucky you’re pretty,” Ichigo informed him then reached out and grabbed his hand before Grimmjow could ask what that saying meant. “We’re ready to start the movie.”

“With your family?”

“Annual tradition. You might as well meet them sometime,” Ichigo said, leading him in. “You ever heard of Friday the 13th?”

“The day?”

Ichigo grinned n an expression that Grimmjow knew mirrored his own usual mad smirk. “Oh, you’re in for a treat.”

If Grimmjow had been wont to worry, he might have been nervous finally meeting the family of his … Ichigo but the fact that he didn’t think about it long enough to even define their … thing they had going on meant that he didn’t care. Or whatever.

Still, there was something a little unsettling when Ichigo led him into the family’s living room and didn’t drop his hand.

“Everyone, this is Grimmjow. He thinks he’s funny. Grimmjow, this is everyone,” was all Ichigo said before pulling him toward the couch.

Grimmjow pulled off the mask completely and dropped the hood before sitting beside him. Isshin was looking—glaring?—but didn’t say anything other than, “Snacks are on the table. We’re all out of souls but there is pizza.”

The dark-haired girl ignored him as she ate, but the lighter-haired girl smiled brightly. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Grimmjow. I’m Yuzu, that’s Karin. Sorry our brother has no manners.”

“He was raised in a barn. By wolves,” Karin said with her mouth full.

Yuzu wrinkled her nose. “So were you. Gross.”

Grimmjow looked at Ichigo who just picked up the plate next to him and went back to eating. Well, if he’d built up any kind of picture of what meeting the … Ichigo’s family was like, this was way more low-key than he could have hoped.

Then Isshin dimmed the lights and put in the movie. Grimmjow would never admit to a fascination with TV and movies, but it was something that he enjoyed in the human world more than most things.

But the film they watched in the quiet darkness was something else. It was funny and terrible. It made him want to laugh and when the fake blood flew, he did laugh. Loudly and so suddenly that Ichigo choked on the soda he was drinking.

“What the—shut up,” Ichigo hissed, wiping at the sticky drops on his shirt.

Grimmjow just grunted in response but kept grinning. Ichigo elbowed him and Grimmjow pushed him away.

“Shhh,” Yuzu ordered, her eyes glued to the screen, her arms hugging a cushion. They obeyed.

Until the next gruesome murder on screen. Yuzu jumped and Karin swore when Grimmjow let loose another raucous laugh.

Ichigo slapped him in the face with a couch cushion then held it there. “Whaaat?!” Grimmjow grabbed at Ichigo’s hands to break free from the smothering.

“Shut up! We’re trying to watch the movie!”

“But it’s hilarious!” Grimmjow wrestled the cushion away from Ichigo and propped it behind his own head.

“It’s not supposed to be funny.” Ichigo’s outstretched hands looked like they were trying to decide if outright strangling would be more effective.

“It’s not?”

“No, it’s scary,” Ichigo said and Grimmjow burst out laughing again.

“This? This is what you call scary? Ulk—” Ichigo’s hands found their target.

“Shhhh,” the other three hissed at them.

Grimmjow broke Ichigo’s hold and gestured to the TV. “You actually think this is scary? I can show you three ways of killing them easier unless you’re actually looking for more blood spray and then I can tell you—”

Ichigo’s hand slapped over his mouth to quiet him. Grimmjow huffed through his nose and licked the palm. Ichigo glared but didn’t move.

“Ichigo, take your—” it was good to see that Isshin was struggling for the right word too— “guest away if he can’t be quiet. I don’t need his suggestions on more efficient ways of slaughtering the innocent right in front of my young, flowering blossoms of—”

“Shut up, Dad,” Karin said as she smacked Isshin’s face with Yuzu’s pillow.

“Ugh, come on,” Ichigo stood up and moved his hand to pull Grimmjow up too. “We’ll go to my room since you can’t keep your big mouth shut.”

Grimmjow wasn’t sure what he’d done to piss off everyone, but he wasn’t about to complain about the chance to be alone with Ichigo in a bedroom. Ever since they’d started doing … whatever it was they were doing, it was a rare treat to be completely alone somewhere private. And comfortable. Much nicer than an alley somewhere.

As soon as Ichigo shut the door behind them, Grimmjow crowded close. He was held off by the firm hand on his chest. “Don’t even think we’re going to—”

“To what?” Grimmjow breathed right in his ear as he brushed his lips along Ichigo’s cheek. He kissed his way down along Ichigo’s jaw.

Ichigo helpfully tilted his head as the kisses trailed down his neck and said, “We’re not going to do this or you’ll think it’s a reward for your bad behavior.”

“Bad behavior?” Grimmjow scoffed and pulled Ichigo’s hips closer by his belt loops. “What’re you talking about?”

“Weren’t you being obnoxious on purpose just so we could ditch my family?”

Grimmjow planted his hands firmly on Ichigo’s ass but pulled his face away to say, “How was I obnoxious?” He couldn’t quite muster up the irritation to be truly angry when Ichigo’s hands were running up his chest and his breath was warm over his lips.

Ichigo’s chuckle was a warm gust. “Nevermind,” and he pressed his lips to Grimmjow’s. Grimmjow opened his mouth eagerly but Ichigo kept the kiss light, tracing his lips against Grimmjow’s top lip first then outlining the bow with the tip of his tongue.

The teasing touch made Grimmjow shiver and tighten his hands on Ichigo’s waist. But Ichigo didn’t hurry. He paid equal attention to Grimmjow’s bottom lip as he slid one hand up into Grimmjow’s hair and wrapped the other around his back to hold him close.

Grimmjow was breathing as hard as he would in battle when Ichigo finally finally licked into his impatient mouth. Grimmjow responded so fervently, he felt Ichigo’s back hit the door. He growled what might have been an apology as he slid his tongue against Ichigo’s to get him to play.

Battling Ichigo Kurosaki in this way had soon almost equaled the joy that fighting him gave Grimmjow. It was another way to enjoy the passion and energy that Ichigo put into everything he did.

Now Ichigo used the hand in Grimmjow’s hair to pull his head back. Grimmjow didn’t want to break the kiss and dove back in before Ichigo pulled him back again.

“The fuck’s wrong?” Grimmjow said, but Ichigo was pushing him then, and when Grimmjow felt the bed against his knees, he sat. Ichigo crawled right onto him and continued the kiss as if they’d never parted.

Grimmjow had two wonderful handfuls of Ichigo’s ass and he squeezed appreciatively before he encouraged Ichigo to grind down against his growing hardness. Then he moaned when Ichigo found just the right undulating motion and broke off with a gasp.

“Not laughing now, are you,” Ichigo said, looking down at Grimmjow and grinning his rare sincere grin.

“Nothing funny about this,” Grimmjow agreed and before Ichigo could get any ideas about taking charge without a fair fight, he flipped Ichigo ass over teakettle onto the bed. While Ichigo was still mid-bounce, Grimmjow climbed on top, his black cloak spread out over them.

“What the hell, I was trying to take things slow for once, you assmunch.” Ichigo pushed at his chest but it was like trying to roll a boulder off of him.

“You like it when I munch your ass,” Grimmjow leaned down to kiss him but Ichigo’s face was doing some kind of contortion he’d never seen.

He pulled back while Ichigo covered his eyes with one hand and said, “You can’t just say something like that.”

“What? I only said—”

“I know what you said! I’m saying don’t say it again! It just doesn’t sound...right.”

Grimmjow rolled his eyes because Ichigo couldn’t see it. He pulled Ichigo’s hand away and smirked down at him. “So I’m allowed to do it, just not to talk about it?”

“Yes. No. Oh my god, I don’t know, just shut up and kiss me.” Ichigo’s face was alight with a blush that Grimmjow was sure he could feel. He tried it, kissing Ichigo’s warm cheek and then the other before taking his lips again.

Ichigo seemed to take out his frustration through his kiss now, and bit at Grimmjow, writhing under him while he pulled at Grimmjow’s hips. Grimmjow didn’t have any interest in taking things slow either, but he did realize they needed to get unclothed somehow.

He slipped one hand down and under Ichigo’s T-shirt and palmed the tight abs he found. He tried to take the shirt with him as he slid his hand up to the flat chest, but it got stuck. He sat back on his heels and tugged at Ichigo’s shirt. “Off.”

“You too,” Ichigo agreed, sitting up far enough to pull his shirt off.

Then Grimmjow opened the fasteners of the cloak and let it fall off his shoulders and bundle at his hips. Ichigo immediately clamped his hand over his eyes again and blushed. “You’re naked!”

“Well, yeah. Isn’t that the point?” Grimmjow rolled his eyes again. “Why are you blushing? We’ve been naked together before. A lot.”

“I know,” Ichigo snapped and glared at him. “But I can’t believe you were naked under there the whole time that you sat downstairs with my sisters. It’s like you’re...more naked.”

“More naked,” Grimmjow smirked. “That’s a good one.”

“Why didn’t you wear something under there?!”

“What do you think that Menos wear under their cloaks?”

And Ichigo covered his eyes and groaned again. “Ugh, why did you have to say that?! Thinking about Menos isn’t sexy!”

“Doesn’t feel like you have a major problem with it.” Grimmjow’s grin grew as he circled his ass a little. Ichigo’s hardness didn’t feel like it had flagged much.

“You’re a freak,” Ichigo grumbled.

“That’s what gets you off,” Grimmjow said as he leaned over and kissed him breathless. Ichigo’s hands worked and pulled the cloak away completely so he could touch all of Grimmjow’s smooth skin and hard muscle. He stroked up and down his back as Grimmjow stretched back out over him.

“Jeans,” Ichigo reminded him breathlessly.

Grimmjow grumbled but finally sat back so Ichigo could open his belt and fly. Then Grimmjow took over, pulling the jeans and briefs together over Ichigo’s slim hips, and down his long legs. He whipped them off dramatically with a snarl that made Ichigo roll his eyes, but Grimmjow knew it was amusement.

“Socks,” Ichigo commanded and Grimmjow parroted back “socks” sarcastically, but he removed them too. Then he looked at the entire naked body spread beautifully before him and could have thanked whatever deity looked out for Hollows for the gift he was given.

Ichigo was apparently waiting for Grimmjow to just pounce on him as usual and braced himself. That made Grimmjow want to be contrary.

[blackbatpurplecat]

My Thoughts on Batman #14

By popular demand (which surprised me and now I feel honored <3 ), here’s a little review on the latest issue of the current Batman run, #14: Rooftops Part 1.

What’s the story?

After the arc I Am Suicide, we are finally back in Gotham and follow BatCat through the city. Both are the main characters and apart from three speech bubbles of Clock King, even the only characters that speak and act in a fairly simple narrative.

The mood’s pretty melancholic; Batman reveals that Catwoman’s death penalty has been revoked by the President, thanks to Amanda Waller. Even though we’ve never seen or heard of any evidence against Selina. All we have is her claiming to have killed almost 300 men and that’s apparently enough for a death sentence... Yeah. Sure. Ugh. Now Catwoman needs to go to Blackgate, I assume for theft, and Batman has to take her in that same night. You can feel the tearful goodbye hanging above them and their mutual feelings for each other don’t make it any easier. It’s simply what we’ve seen over and over: Batman is struggling with two sides. He knows what’s right (arrest the criminal) and he knows what he wants to do (let the woman he loves go free), and those two things cancel each other out. We know he will always pick the side of the law but that doesn’t mean it won’t hurt less.

Catwoman, also saddened by the turn of events, pretty much accepts her faith though. She knows what’s coming for her and tries to lighten the mood a little bit by making suggestive comments and initiating a lovely make out session beneath the stars. She states that she wants one more night, living and enjoying her freedom. 

They again bring up the mass murder committed by her. Bruce doesn’t believe that Selina killed almost 300 people and wants to prove her innocence, yet he doesn’t know how. Selina repeats that she did kill those guys and promises to give him the truth if he takes her to Blackgate in the morning instead of right then and there. While Bruce states he knows she’ll try to flee, Selina replies she knows he will come after her.

So since they’ve come to some kind of an understanding, Selina very obviously suggests making the monster with two backs to say goodbye. Well OF COURSE! A farewell fuck! Since we still have no idea why or for how long Selina has known Bruce’s identity, we don’t know if it’d be their first (and last) time or if they’ve done it before. If they’ve been having an on-off-relationship like over the last decades or only fucked like in The New52. We can take into account that we’ve seen Bruce talk fondly and intimately to her so it’s not only fucking. But since I don’t care for anything outside of this issue, I’ll go with my own assumption and say “first time.” Bitter-sweet would be an understatement.

But, alas, the Bat signal pops up in the sky and dutiful Batman reacts just like we’d ALL expect him to react - work now, have fun later! But this time, he invites Catwoman to come along.

We jump to a clocktower where Batman faces Clock King who rambles on like a Bond villain and gets knocked out by Catwoman who swings in from behind. Is their work done, can they finally bang? The Bat signal in the sky says NOPE! So they go from villain to villain, Batman kicks the shit out of a various number of Rogues, Catwoman stays in the background and asks if that’s how he spends all of his nights.

Eventually, Catwoman grows tired and frustrated with him constantly postponing their boning and finally wants to do what she wants to do - breaking & entering! And Batsy comes along. Reluctantly.

They break into an apartment where Bruce sees a stolen cat figurine floating in the middle of the room. “It’s hanging by a thread, too thin to see” - God knows why. Selina simply grabs the cat and tells Bruce to run. They jump out of the window before the apartment explodes. Oh, and the apartment also belongs to Selina who had rented it under the name Holly Robinson. Ehm... okay...? Dunno what to do with that info. But another, more important thing: was that her alarm system in case another thief broke in and stole the cat? She would just... blow them up???!!! The thread is too thin, not even she can work around it so in order to take the cat, you HAVE to pull it down and trigger the explosion. This trap was set up with the intension to kill! What the fuck, Selina?!

BatCat watch the burning building from a rooftop far away and we learn that Selina owns the floors above and below the apartment and the sprinklers are awesome and everyone there is safe - again WHAT THE FUCK??? NO! This is fucking dumb! And Selina’s apparently so damn rich that she can rent 3 whole floors high in a skyscraper in the middle of the city?! WHAT?! And after revealing that load of info, she shows us that there are diamonds inside the cat figurine, kind of like a piggy bank for bad times.

She wants Bruce to have the diamonds and tells him to build dozens of orphanages after she’s gone. Sure. Because BRUCE FUCKING WAYNE needs financial support... Okay, let’s say the diamonds are a donation. Okay, I can buy that.

And to conclude this issue, Selina throws the tiny diamonds on the ground, takes her mask off, they start making out and FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY HAVE  S E X!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, what did I think of all this?

I really liked the art. Sure, it’s not the best art I’ve ever seen but it looks good and it’s definitely better than what Guillem March did in the Catwoman run. BatCat look like real people, no extreme poses or overdone, dramatic movements. There are some not so pretty angles here and there and on the first page, Batman’s face looks like covered in dirt but in general, the art is quite decent! Especially in the last panels where it matters the most!

The first two and the last two pages are wonderful. Buy the issue for those four pages, they are SO worth it! Everything inbetween is filler. The BatCat teamwork is way too short and while Batsy roughing up some C-List Rogues looked funny, it wasn’t engaging or anything. If it was meant to prove a point, I didn’t need it. I know that his duty will always come first. But I can try and interpret something into it if you want me to: Bruce kept pushing the expected sex back more and more, the Bat signal was the ultimate cockblock in this issue. But at the very end, the Bat signal shines above them while they’re going at it cowgirl style and Bruce does not shove her away to grab cowl and cape. Maybe it’s supposed to show us that for once, something or someone was more important than the Mission. And it would be incredibly rude to leave in mid-coitus.

The BatCat sex scene is like a kiss to my soul. I’ve been wanting some decent love scenes of my ship for so SO SOOO LOOONG!!! Lois and Clark got so many good ones, there are some of Bruce and the Demon Spawn, hell, there’s even a (granted, awful) sex scene between Batman and Black Canary! Why has it taken decades for DC to release a decent BatCat sex scene??? It’s what we freaking deserve!!! And I want every single BatCat shipper to see it!!! We’ve been denied something magical for too long, not only Batsy and Kitten were frustrated with this lack of sexy times.

And it’s even not creepy or rapey or anything, no! It’s very tastefully drawn, it’s sensual and lovely and just beautiful! They even drew Bruce’s scars all over his body, nice attention to detail. BUT fucking on hundreds of tiny diamonds CAN’T BE COMFORTABLE!!! Imagine rolling around naked on Legos! Not so sexy, heh??? What if you get one up the crack? They are sharp and can cut your ass skin open!

Now, apart from the nonsense I’ve already mentioned, like the booby trap, Selina’s financial situations, the weird laws Gotham operates in, and the mass murder bullcrap, there is one thing that I absolutely detest in this issue: the dialogues! Holy fucking shit! Has King ever in his life talked to another human being? Or heard people have conversations?! The dialogues are awful! This is Nocenti level of awfulness in my opinion. Imagine if Frank “I’m an insane sexist racist asshole” Miller and Nocenti had a hate child and that hate child was writing dialogues. THAT is what King produces in this issue! He even recycles big chunks of those terrible lines! And don’t get me started on the fact that BatCat STILL call each other “Bat” and “Cat”. Ugh, that’s so fucking dumb. My God, honestly, try to skip the dialogues, guys. It’s what I had mentioned before; King tries to sound so deep and clever while he delivers a pile of bullshit.

Will I go back to this issue in the future? HELL YEAH!!! I would print the sex panels out and frame them and put them on my walls!!! The art thankfully saved the issue from becoming another generic DC fart. They could have easily screwed up the emotional scenes between BatCat but artist Mitch Gerads did a great job with the facial expressions, the close-ups, and the angles. You (thankfully) don’t need the bad lines to understand what’s happening between our leads. Just look at their faces and you’ll feel what they feel.

And I am SO thankful that we FUCKING FINALLY got a beautiful BatCat love scene! I hope there are many more to come in the future!

Part 2 got the teaser “The final farewell?” - I hope we will finally find out what the deal is with that stupid as fuck mass murder plot. It annoys the hell out of me that King keeps going back and forth “yes, she did it”, “no, she didn’t”, “but she clearly states she did it”, “but he doesn’t believe it”, “but she says it” etc etc. It doesn’t make the plot more exciting or interesting but frustrating and boring. Just like the “will-they-won’t-they” DC have been doing with BatCat for decades now.

The way they’re handling it at the moment, the next issue will probably reveal the biggest twist *gasp* that she did not kill almost 300 people! She only claimed it and willingly went to Arkham and wanted to be sentenced and put to death because................. ?????????????? And then she will flee and lay low. And we will be without our beloved Kitten again. And that was important to the plot HOW?!?!?! Who needed it??? Ugh, King really isn’t the best writer.

Tl;dr Batman #14 is THE issue for BatCat shippers!!! Just marvel at the panels and don’t read the dialogues.