#◯ » just how much does survival cost? ( john murphy )

[respnsibility]

02.

[movedheach]

tags.

[turning-dreams-into-chaos]

Banished (Part 53)

~Banished~

Word Count: 9.2K

~Master~

*Based off episode 4x08 of the 100, God Complex*

*Bold/Italics are Trig!*

Previously…

“Emori, who is he?” He asked with a slight urgency.

“Someone other than me who’s going into that oven.” She said with zero remorse.

Murphy’s smirk slowly came to his face as he understood what Emori done. “Now that is a survivor’s move.” He said proudly. If this worked and ‘Baylis’ survived, then humanity survives, but if he doesn’t, then it wasn’t Emori. In his eyes, it was brilliant.

But you, who stood right below them and in the perfect spot to overhear, were seething. Emori played all of you, but she played you the most. Sure, the story she gave you about being banished was true, but this man had no part in it at all.

The only crime he’s done was break into the house to feed his family and he was going to die for it.

And it had been your call.

---

You still hadn’t told anyone what you overheard Emori and Murphy talk about during Baylis’ injection but you weren’t sure why. If this didn’t work and Baylis died, wouldn’t it be your fault? But if he survived…

No one would have to know.

Being desperate at a time like this was hard, you had to save the world, but at what cost? Baylis was sealed in the radiation chamber and you watched as Abby checked his vitals for what seemed like the millionth time. You stood back, keeping everyone in your line of sight, but the glare on your face was directed mainly at the couple in the room, John and Emori standing off to the side and pretending to be upset over the man.

Liars.

“He’s ready.” Jackson told Abby, but everyone listened in. You brought your knuckle to your mouth, biting softly to keep the secret inside you.

“But are we ready?” Raven asked as she looked around the room, you refused to look away from Emori and Murphy, not risking the temptation to spill.

“The guy’s a monster!” Emori yelled out and Murphy grabbed her to keep her back, keeping up their act as your stomach twisted.

Clarke turned around, seeing her ‘anger’ before she spoke to everyone. “We’ve been over this. None of us wants to do this, but the death wave will be here in 10 days.” She reminded and you took a breath, finally looking away to Clarke. “Luna’s cells grafted successfully and Baylis is making Nightblood on his own. This really is our only hope.”

Murphy groaned, throwing his head back slightly. “Are we really still talking about this? The Black rain is already here and 18 people died in it yesterday at Arkadia. If Nightblood can let us walk around in it, I, for one, wanna know.”

A silence fell amongst the room as they thought about Murphy’s words. Clarke looked to you, and you faltered before nodding. She nodded back before her mother and Jackson began. You slowly crept across the room to Murphy and Emori, standing next to them as the machine turned on. Noticing your arrival, Murphy gave you a look. “For the sake of your humanity, you better hope he survives.” You whispered as Emori and Murphy’s faces fell and Emori was now glaring at you. You met her stare with a stone-cold one of your own. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep your little secret.” Your eyes flickered up to Murphy’s whose jaw was locked and he was making sure no one listened in as you walked away, moving to stand next to Raven. Murphy and Emori shared a look, Emori’s a look of action before Murphy shook his head, letting his girlfriend know you wouldn’t say anything.

Jackson turned on the chamber and the process started, exposing the intruder to radiation. When he was exposed to enough radiation a non-Nightblood would react, he was fine and you were beginning to believe this might work. Jackson kept turning the dial, more and more, and more until Baylis’ vitals spiked suddenly. The machine started beeping and your blood ran cold. Clarke was leaning close to Baylis, looking right through the chamber's glass as she watched the radiation start to break out on his skin.

“Turn it off!” Clarke shouted and Raven grabbed your hand, holding tightly and you weren’t going to let go. Baylis woke up and you could do nothing but watch as he screams in agony.

“Get him out of there!” You yelled and Abby pushed her way past the equipment, trying to let Baylis free but Jackson wouldn’t let her.

“It’s too dangerous!” He yelled. No one could help him now. His screams turned to coughs as the blood filled his mouth and Baylis tried to cough it out, unable to breathe with the burns and blood pooling in his throat. He spat up the blood, lining the chamber and no one wanted to watch this man in pain, even if he had done the horrid things Emori claimed. The flatline on the machine echoed in your ears as it went off, meaning the man died. The man died and you didn’t stop it.

“What have we done?” Abby gasped out and no one had an answer. You couldn’t bring yourself to look at the recently decease test subject, the guilt hanging high in your head as you slowly turned around, meeting Murphy’s eyes right away as he rubbed Emori’s back, keeping her from looking at the man she indirectly killed. Murphy didn’t break eye contact with you, both of you acknowledging how messed up this was.

What have you done?

---

With 18 lives taken from the black rain’s arrival, Arkadia hosted a funeral for them. A pyre was made in the middle of the camp as people gathered around, bodies all 18 of the dead laying on top, waiting for the eventual burning. Jaha was speaking to the crowd, everyone listening to his speech as they watched in sadness. Bellamy stood in the back, trying to keep himself strong despite thinking two of those bodies, Mark and Peter Colton, were there because of him.

Jaha took the torch he was holding, letting it fall on the pyre as Jasper, not showing a care in the world, walked past Bellamy and towards the front gate. “Too many funerals, too little time.” Jasper mumbled to Bellamy who glared.

“Show some respect for the dead.” Bellamy chastised him as Jasper kept walking, only turning around briefly.

“Why? I’m sure they don’t mind.” He said as Bellamy watched him, furrowing his brows as Jasper tried to leave the camp with no bag, meaning no protection.

“Where are you going?”

Again, Jasper turned around but kept walking as he shrugged. “Wherever the day takes me.”

“You got a chem tent?” Bellamy called after but Jasper said no, confirming Bellamy’s suspicions. Bellamy took off after him, not letting his friend leave the camp. “No one leaves without a chem tent!”

“Do you have chem tent?” Jasper asked Bellamy to which he received a yes. Jasper smirked. “Then we have a chem tent.”

Not wanting to deal with Jasper today, Bellamy grabbed Jasper's arm, keeping him from reaching the front gate. “Maybe you didn’t see how those people died.” Bellamy tried to get Jasper to understand, but the younger boy just looked back at the still going funeral.

“I saw; I’m just not afraid.” Jasper whispered before pulling from Bellamy’s grip and continuing his walk. Bellamy tried to stop him again, needlessly reminding him it wasn’t safe as Jasper chuckled under his breath. “What else is new?” He asked rhetorically, opening the gate as Bellamy watched on. “Come on!” Jasper called back. “We’re losing daylight.”

Bellamy shook his head but Jasper didn’t listen when he rolled his eyes and took off, Bellamy calling after him as he ran to follow. “Damn it, grow the hell up.”

Jasper smiled; his plan successful. “Good, you’re coming.”

“Yeah, only because I don’t want to carry your body in a bag.”

“Hey, I’m light.” Jasper joked, making Bellamy sigh in annoyance. “I’m wiry, but I’m light.”

“Kom graun, oso na graun op. Kom folau, oso na gyon op.” Niylah spoke softly as she sprinkled dirt onto the deceased, merging her grounder customs into Skaikru. Harper slowly approached her, her brows drawn together as she put a hand on Niylah’s back.

“It’s beautiful.” She whispered to her, making Niylah nod. “What does it mean?”

Niylah smiled at her. “From the earth, we will grow. From the ashes, we will rise.”

Jaha was listening in, his head almost snapping around as Niylah spoke the words that had been taking up far too much of his thoughts.

From the ashes, we will rise.

“What did you just say?” He asked, needing Niylah to elaborate as he input himself into the conversation. Niylah was unsure what he was referring to, apologizing for her prayer for the dead as Jaha stopped her. “’From the ashes, we will rise.’ Where does that come from?”

She shook her head. “You’d have to ask a Fleimkepa. All I know is it’s what we say to ready our dead for the fire.” Jaha nodded, letting the woman get back to her prayers as he considered his options, and what he needs to do to speak with a Fleimkepa and verify the connection between the second dawn bunker and the grounders.

Jaha found his opportunity, taking the medallion Bellamy, you and he found to Kane, trying to convince Kane as chancellor. “It’s not a coincidence, Marcus. I need to speak with the Fleimkepa.”

“You already found the second dawn bunker.” Kane reminded his friend, knowing last time Jaha thought he was on to something, all you found was a bunker of death. “It was-“

“It was the wrong bunker.” Jaha interrupted him. “Cadogan said only those who reached level 12 would be saved.” He shoved the medal forward, Kane moving his head to see when Jaha pointed to the roman numeral on front. “This is level 11. What I found was a decoy, built to keep the level 12 bunker from being overrun.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Kane stopped him, not believing Jaha’s story.

“It’s what I would do.”

Kane smiled through his disbelief. “And you think Indra’s daughter knows where the current bunker is?”

“I think there’s a reason ‘From the ashes, we will rise’ became a grounder prayer.” Jaha insisted, knowing for a fact he was getting onto something. “Just like I think there’s a reason that a corporate logo became their sacred symbol.”

“The infinity sign.” Kane breathed out, slowly realizing despite not wanting too, that Jaha might be getting at something. “I can reach out to Indra. She might know where Gaia is.” Kane finally agreed.

Jaha was quick to stand, wanting to get going as soon as he could. “I’ll assemble a team.” He offered but Kane didn’t let Jaha leave.

“Thelonious, wait.” Kane called out. “Polis is a war zone. We won’t be welcome there.” Kane mumbled, knowing of the grounders disdain for Skaikru.

“We travel light.” Jaha assured him. “For this, we’ll need thinkers, not fighters.” Jaha was already putting together a team in his head.

Monty was packing in his room as Harper entered, stopping at the doorframe as she watched her boyfriend. “What’s going on?”

Monty hesitated, looking at the food packs in his hands before back up at her. “Kane and Jaha need an engineer for a mission.”

“Kane and Jaha!” Harper laughed sourly and Monty knew something was wrong. “Well looks like someone’s moving up in the world.” She patted Monty on the back as she entered the room and her voice wavered. “It’s just too bad in 10 days there’s not going to be a world to move up in.”

Monty stopped his packing, immediately turning in front of Harper. His hand went to her waist as his other lifted her chin delicately to look in her face. “How much have you had to drink?”

Harper stared softly into his eyes, whispering her words as the alcohol no doubt made her feel amazing. “Just the right amount.” She grabbed onto Monty’s collar, pulling his body into hers and wrapping her arms around his neck as she landed a sloppy kiss on his lips. Monty got lost in the feeling, kissing her back and grabbing her cheeks before pushing himself back, remembering she was drunk and he had a job. Harper let out a defeated sigh when Monty mumbled her name. “Duty calls.” She scoffed before pushing past, Monty grabbing her arm before she got far.

He cupped her cheeks again, rubbing his thumb across her skin to comfort her. “We will find a way to get through this.” He assured her. Harper nodded slowly before pecking his lips with her, their forehead resting together briefly before Monty sighed. “I have to go.”

“So, go.” Harper said. “I’ll be here if you get back.” Monty’s face fell at Harper’s words and she caught her mistake, her eyes widening slightly. “When. I meant when.” She fixed and Monty nodded again, giving her a final, definitely not their last, kiss.

---

After the intruders’ death, the moral around the lab had gone down tremendously, everyone was standing around staring at the path of the radiation on the big screen, its final days scaring everyone more and more. You took it upon yourself to clean out the bloodied radiation chamber, and the more you scrubbed, the more you felt you were scrubbing away your guilt, but neither the blood nor the guilt was going away. The blood just covered your hands and stained your skin.

Luna slowly moved to stand next to you, picking up beads Clarke had taken off Baylis’ neck before his body was removed. “The stones of his ancestors.” Luna mumbled as she held them in her hand, looking at you who stopped cleaning. You stared at the stones and cursed in your head. Those stones were going to damn you, wouldn’t they?

You were so focused on the stones, you weren’t even aware of Clarke leaving your side, wanting to listen in on Jackson and Abby talk. Jackson had been trying to figure out why the man died, and he might’ve figured it out. “Sodium polyphenol sulfonate.” He told Clarke after she asked what he found. “It’s an additive used to prevent clotting. It looks like the radiation had broken it down and caused a chain reaction.”

“What happens if we remove it?” Clarke asked and it was then your attention was pulled away to her.

“We could save everyone.”

Your jaw slacked slightly at Abby’s words before you dropped the rag you were using. “You could save everyone?” you clarified and Abby nodded.

Everyone was listening in, hopeful in fixing the cure as Murphy stepped forward. “So, you’re saying this could still work.”

Again Abby nodded, the room falling quiet upon the revelation as you bit your lip. “But you’d need to test it.” Your words served as a reminder that things weren’t just going to be perfect. “The last guy died. I have his blood literally on my hands and you want to try it again?”

“Please give us another idea, Y/N.” you scoffed, looking around the room to see if anyone was on your side. Raven seemed to be, Luna too. Roan kept his glance at the floor completely unreadable and Emori and Murphy- well, you knew what side they were on.

Again, Murphy was the one to speak up. “So we just go out there and hunt for someone else?”

“No!” you yelled and Clarke gave you a sad look.

“No one’s going anywhere in this storm.” Miller shut down Murphy’s idea, looking to the storm moving steadily on the screen.

“Then we wait for it to pass.” Murphy suggested again, trying to come up with any ideas to protect his girl.

You were surprised when Roan finally decided to speak up. “When it does there might not be anyone to hunt for.” He said and you narrowed your eyes, trying to decide what side he was on. You didn’t suspect it was yours.

Luna scoffed as she listened to your people bicker, unimpressed by the suggestions coming out. “What’s the matter with you people? Even Baylis honored the dead.” She held up the stones and your nerves escalated and you brought a hand up to your mouth, trying to hide your nervous breaths as you looked to John and Emori, seeing Emori’s eyes widen. “He wore the stones of his Rock Line ancestors. Who will honor him?”

“Wait.” Clarke mumbled, turning to you to see your eyes piercing at Emori, although she figured you staring at the stones. “Baylis was Sangedakru.”

“He was.” Emori said in defiance, noticing your gaze quickly before looking away in fake disgust. “He was also a thief and probably stole those stones.”

It was a good lie, you’d give her that, but something tells you it wasn’t going to last long. “A thief who doesn’t bear the mark of Sangedakru.” Roan muttered. Everyone was trying to figure out the lie as you and John locked eyes, his full of worry but you didn’t do anything.

They dug their graves, what’s the point in dug yours too?

“That wasn’t Baylis, was it?” Clarke growled at Emori who took a small step back in fear, grabbing Murphy’s arm.

Murphy let out a laugh, needing to keep up the guise they’ve made. “Come on Clarke. That’s crazy, of course-“

“Who did we just kill?” Clarke yelled at him, her lip trembling as she fully came to terms what happened. Everyone was looking to Emori and John and without another word, Emori took off running straight towards you. Your eyes widened slightly before you realized she was looking past you. She grabbed the IV pole standing next to the Chamber as everyone shouted her name. She didn’t get far before Roan had stopped her, holding a knife to her neck as you just stood there, feeling like crap because you had been on the wrong side. Emori yelled at John, telling him to take out the machine before you grabbed the pole from her and set it down, ignoring the death glare she was giving you.

Murphy tried to help her, but Miller put a gun to his head, not letting him get any closer as Emori struggled in Roan’s grip. “Looks like we know who’s next.” He said and you gulped, looking towards Clarke and seeing the look of terror on her face. Whatever happens next, it’s not going to be good.

---

The sun had long set since Bellamy and Jasper left Arkadia, the quiet night in the woods causing Jasper to sigh happily. “I know it’s bad and everyone is dying and all but I’m gonna say it. I don’t miss the mosquitoes.”

Bellamy scoffed at Jasper’s attitude. “This is all a big joke to you, isn’t it?” He asked, furious with how Jasper had been acting. The world was ending and Jasper didn’t have a care in the world.

“Now you’re getting it!” Jasper shouted back to Bellamy, not slowing his walking as he shined this flashlight through the tree lines. “One big cosmic joke and you’d realized that if you pulled the stick out of your ass.”

Bellamy had had it. He grabbed Jasper's arm, getting him to look at an angry Bellamy. “That’s enough.”

“I’m just trying to help you.”

Bellamy’s lip pulled back in an irritated smile. “You’re trying to help me? That’s funny. We’re leaving. Now.” He ordered but Jasper had no plans on turning around.

“Damn it, open your eyes!” He yelled at Bellamy, getting him to stop leaving. “The clock is ticking and it has been since we landed on this terrible, beautiful planet. We’re living on borrowed time.”

Bellamy bit his tongue, not holding back his explosion as he headed back to Jasper. “If you know that, then why are you throwing it all away?”

“I’m not.” Jasper whispered to him, a smile lining his face briefly. “You are.” Bellamy let out a laugh, not believing Jasper’s thoughts. “What’s the point in beating yourself up over all the crappy things you’ve done? You did them!” he yelled, making Bellamy grit his teeth. “Don’t say you had reasons because, at the end of the day and the end of the world, nobody gives a damn about your reasons.” Bellamy didn’t want to but he was listening, feeling the guilt of his decisions still eating away at him. “No matter how much you punish yourself, it's not going to change anything. It’s not going to bring anyone back.” Jasper’s attitude had shifted completely from before, the thoughts of his own demons, of Maya, surfacing in his speech as he took a deep breath. “The way I see it, we can spend our last days wallowing in our reasons or we can do whatever the hell we want!” A laugh bubbled out of his lips as Bellamy’s eyes narrowed. “Really mean it this time.” He nodded his head to the stump next to Bellamy, a smile stretching on his face. “Magic Beans.” Bellamy turned, seeing the stump as Jasper shined the flashlight onto it.

“Hallucinogenic nuts.” Bellamy mumbled in disbelief of Jasper. “That’s why you dragged me out here?” He shook his head, remembering vividly of his first and last time he ate those nuts, the deaths of floated Arkers forever on Bellamy’s list of ‘crappy things he’s done’. “If you think I’m taking those again, you really are crazy.”

Jasper shrugged and pulled out a knife. “Whatever the hell you want.” He told his once rebel king before cutting the jobi nuts free and stuffing them in a bag.

---

After Emori’s lie came to light, everyone was against them. They handcuffed them to the rocket, but you stayed back, watching from afar and wondering if you deserved to be locked with them as well. At least you weren’t the one to construe a lie that killed a man.

Emori looked defeated, but Murphy was becoming hysterical, pulling on his restraints as he begged. “She was trying to save her own life! We’re not going to touch your stupid machine!” He kept pleading, calling out names and begging for everyone to listen as Clarke closed the launched doors, sealing them away from you all.

“Please tell me you’re not actually considering putting Emori in that chamber.” Raven asked as everyone made way from the rocket, solemn faces across all of them.

Clarke hesitated to answer her before turning to her mom. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“There’s nothing else to do.” Roan cut her off, knowing what needs to be done. You clenched your fists softly. “We all know it.”

“Abby,” Raven blurted out, trying to appeal to Abby’s humanity. “There has to be something that doesn’t make us murderers.”

“Jackson and I examined every possibility. The only thing we know for sure is that if we do nothing, we die.”

“And we don’t want that.” You spoke out, eyes on the ground as everyone turned to you.

Abby shook her head. “No, we don’t.” She turned to Jackson and took a deep breath. “Prep Luna for the next extraction.”

“No.” Luna said, gaining looks of confusion from the doctors in the room. “You’ve taken enough.”

“Luna it’s okay, we’ll sedate you.”

“I said no.” She repeated herself, growing angry at Abby’s insistence. “I won’t allow my blood to kill any more innocent people.”

On the inside, you were relieved. Luna wouldn’t donate blood, Emori wouldn’t die. That was good.

“Luna please.” Clarke started begging. “Your blood is the only thing that can save us.”

“My blood is a curse.” She spat at Clarke, disgusted in how they wanted to use her. “It will however keep you from following me out in the rain.” Her foot dragged behind her as she walked past the group, trying to head the door outside despite Abby’s protests of her hip injury.

Roan stepped in front of her, keeping her at bay. “We can’t let you leave.”

Luna scoffed and turned to Clarke. “Is there no line you won’t cross in order to survive?”

“Survival requires sacrifice.” Roan spoke up. “If the freikdreina dies-“

“Don’t call her that.” Raven spat out, stopping Roan from using the derogatory term.

Roan stopped, listening to Raven’s order. “If she dies saving the world, that’s a good death.” Luna still had no plans to stick around, not caring if the world died because maybe humanity is already dead. “I don’t want to fight you. You’re wounded.”

“You have no choice.” Luna reminded him before turning and kicking into his chest. Roan flew backward into a cart, making you jump from the sudden attack as you weren’t expecting it. The attack hurt Luna more than she already was as she limped back and put her hands up. Roan got to his feet and you watched terrified of the ending in this fight.

Roan approached her, his fist up but he didn’t use them. Instead, he kicked her knee out, sending Luna to the ground in a cry of pain as Roan wrapped his arms tightly around her neck and held Luna against her struggles as she passed out, no longer thrashing about in his arms. “Sleep well, natblida.” He whispered in her ear. You watched on, a sickening feeling in your stomach taking you from the room as you ran past Roan and Luna and up the stairs. No one said a thing until you were gone and Roan lifted Luna in the air.

He brought her to the table, laying it across as Raven scoffed. “So, what now? You strap her down and steal her bone marrow?” Clarke met Raven’s eyes, unsure of what to say. “Welcome to Mount Weather.”

---

Polis was quiet as Jaha, Kane, and Monty walked up and bodies laid across the courtyard, radiation burns covering their bodies as the trio looked around. “Black rain.” Kane sighed as he kept moving forward. “It fell here, too.”

Once the three men cleared the dead bodies, a bird call echoed through the courtyard, stopping Kane, Jaha, and Monty in their tracks as they prepared for an attack. Popping up from the shambles of Polis, grounders pointed their weapons to them and Indra appeared, marching towards them as Kane let out a breath of relief.

“I thought she was your friend.” Jaha mumbled not at all feeling the comfort Kane had.

“She is. That’s why we’re still alive.” Kane started towards her as well, telling Monty to put his weapon down as he followed the order. Kane met Indra halfway between the groups as he smiled. “Thank you for meeting me. I didn’t know if you would.”

As soon as his sentence was finished, Indra punched him in the face, sending Kane stumbling backward before he regained his footing, sending her a confused look. “Don’t smile at me Kane.” She growled. “What do you want? You have 30 seconds, after that, as the enemy of my enemy, you are my enemy.”

Kane shook his head, easing his way softly. “Indra, you have to know that we had nothing to do with the attacks on your land or embassy.”  

Indra stopped him, not wanting to hear the excuses. “What I know is Azgeda marched on Arkadia and you made another alliance with them to save your people, not mine.”

“I know how it looks, but believe me, we’re still trying to find a way to save everyone.” Indra shook her head, calling Kane a fool before retreating and Kane called after her. “You’re fighting for a city that won’t exist in 10 days. The radiation doesn’t care if you’re Trikru or Azgeda. If we can’t come together to fight this enemy, then what hope is there for us?”

Indra stopped walking, looking over her shoulder. “The only hope we ever have. To die a warriors death.” She started walking again and Kane was losing his chance.

“Indra wait, we need to speak to your daughter!” He called out. “She can be the one that saves us all!”

Indra stopped again, turning completely to face Kane, unsure whether she should believe it. “How?”

Gaia was praying to the commanders and the flame as she was interrupted. Indra rushed to her with Kane, Monty, and Jaha behind her. “Gaia, these men need your help.”

Gaia stood grounded, unsure of what was happening but Monty caught sight of her arm, his eyes furrowing. “You tattoo. In the center.”

Jaha took a look, glancing from the tattoo to the medallion in his hand that had the same symbol. “Still think it’s a coincidence?” he asked Kane who stayed silent.

Gaia looked down at the symbol on the metal before taking it from Jaha. “Where did you get this?”

“I found it.” Jaha told her, earning a slight gasp of disbelief from the girl. “Now I believe it’s so it could lead me to you.”

Monty spoke up, breaking the shock silence that came over the room as he asked where the symbol came from. “It’s the holy symbol of our order.”

“Mother.”

“Gaia please.” Kane interrupted her, needing to keep on track. “Skaikru helped you protect the Flame. Help us now.”

Gaia hesitated before agreeing. “It adorns the crypt of the first commander, Bekka Pramheda.” Jaha’s hypothesis was the crypt was in fact the bunker, and they needed to know where it was. There was one problem, however. The bunker was in the temple which was controlled by Azgeda just like the tunnels were.

If they wanted to get into the temple, they’d have to put their faith in the alliance.

---

After you left the lab, you headed over to Becca’s office, the giant window wall providing you the perfect viewing of Luna sedated on the exam table as Clarke, Abby, and Raven stood around having a short conversation you couldn’t hear. You sunk to the floor, leaning your head back on the glass with your eyes closed.

Everything was so fucked. Murphy and Emori were practically screwed and you…

There was a knock on the door to the office as your head rolled over, seeing Roan opening it and lean in the door frame. “You okay?” He asked and you nodded and gave him a thumbs-up before slowly rising to your feet as Roan let the door close and joined you in the room. “Nightbloods. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson after Lexa.”

You let out a chuckle as he stood next to you. “Don’t beat yourself up over that. She beat my ass more times than I could count.” Roan chuckled as well, a smile spreading on his face that somehow cheered you up slightly.

Your new smile however had faded as you looked out the window, seeing Clarke comforting Abby. Roan sighed. “We’re doing the right thing.”

“Are you certain about that?” you laughed slightly bitter.

Roan raised a brow at you but you weren’t looking at him, too focused on your friend and her mother. “Certainty’s a luxury that leaders can’t afford.” He reminded you and you rolled your eyes.

“I’m not a leader. Clarke’s the leader.” You told him, turning away finally to look at him instead of Clarke. “I’m just the girl too crazy to die.”

Roan nodded, raising his brows to show he agreed. “Sometimes we need crazy.”

“No one needs the crazy, Roan.” You sighed out, leaning against the wall. “You know, back before everything with the grounders when I was just Skaikiler, I didn’t kill unless I had to.”

“I know.”

“Then what am I doing now?” You blurted out before closing your eyes and sighing. “I’m sorry. I just wish there was something I could do.”

Roan nodded his head, looking down to Clarke much like you had been doing. “One day what they’re doing here will be worth it.”

You didn’t turn to look out, instead moving and leaving Roan by the window as your head drooped. “Hopefully I’ll live to see it.” You mumbled, getting Roan to turn around.

“What do you mean?” He asked, having overheard your mutter despite your low voice.

“Nothing.” You let out a sigh, licking your lip before sucking in a breath. “I just think I’m about to do something crazy.”

---

The 5 of them in Polis made their way to the Temple, keeping an eye out for Azgeda they finally ran into. “It’s okay!” Kane shouted after they were commanded not to move with weapons drawn on them. He reached into his pocket to grab the seal Roan gave Skaikru as he held it up, showing them they meant no harm. Azgeda emerged from the city’s rubbles, making Indra’s nerves spike. “Keep your head down.” Kane muttered to his people. “They’ll let us pass.” The ice nation came closer as Kane turned his attention to them and everyone put their weapons on the ground. “I’m the Skaikru Chancellor. As your ally, we seek safe passage into the temple.”

There was some shouting from Azgeda as the seal was taken from them and Azgeda was planning on letting them go. Indra, however, had other plans. When the man in front of her turned his back on them, she picked up Kane’s gun, opening fire and killing every Azgeda man she saw.

Kane was shocked, his eyes widening as he yelled at her but Indra wouldn’t hear of it. “If there’s a bunker in there, Azgeda will never see the inside.” She walked past him, leaving him standing there with his mouth open.

“Come on, Marcus. It’s not our war.” Jaha reminded Kane as he picked up the seal off the ground and handed it to Kane.

“Roan will think we did this.” Monty pointed out as Kane stared at the now slightly bloodied seal. Everyone followed after Indra, keeping pace as they entered the temple and Indra promised Echo would be sending reinforcements against them.

“It’s beneath the alter.” Gaia told them, pointing in the direction as Jaha moved slowly, pulling back pieces and scraps of metal before he found what he was searching for. Everyone helped move the coverings now, the salvation just in front of them.

There was an inscription on the bunkers seal, the symbol sitting pretty in the middle as Gaia translated. “Salvation lies within.” She told them, moving back to sit up. “We were taught it referred to the ship that brought her to us.”

“How do we open it?”

“Like every other lock, Mr. Green.” Jaha reached into his pocket, pulling out the medallion. “With a key.” He moved to place the piece in the hole of the lock, but it didn’t fit. “No.” He whispered, keeping up his tries to get it to fit as everyone looked on impatiently.

“Can you open it or not?” Indra asked but Jaha didn’t answer.

“We need more time.” Kane said before looking to the woman. “Can you reposition your army at the temple?”

“If I do that, we lose the tower.”

“The tower won’t save you.” Jaha told her, refusing to stop his attempts at fitting the piece in.

Indra glared at him. “Neither will ashes of the first commander if that’s all that’s down there.” Gaia pleads with her mother, wanting to believe in the commanders saving them. “I’ll move my guard detail to the temple door. Buy you some time.” She relented before looking at the weapon on Monty’s arm. “But I’ll need your guns.”

Kane didn’t give her them, looking at her incredulously before Jaha groaned. “Just give her the damn guns, Marcus.” Kane nodded as Monty and he handed over the guns to her, helping her carrying them on her shoulder. Gaia started reading the inscription again, running her hands over the crypt’s lock.

Kane pulled out the last handgun he had, passing it to Indra. “I fear jus drein, jus draun will be the end of us all.”

Indra swallowed with her nod, looking to her daughter and calling her name out. Gaia turned to look at her, seeing the guns loaded on her mother. “It would seem you should keep praying.” Gaia nodded before looking back to the crypt, closing her eyes and beginning her prayers again.

---

Music was playing loudly through Arkadia as Bellamy and Jasper returned, the younger boy spirits lifting as he walked inside. “Got it started without us.”

“Got what started?” Bellamy knotted his brows as he followed behind Jasper, confused as to what he was walking into before he saw the party the younger Arkadians had thrown and he stopped with a sigh. “Have fun.”

Jasper looked at him then to the party then back, nodding his head to get Bellamy to follow. “Come on.” He said but Bellamy didn’t move. Jasper rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s gonna die, Bellamy. We can go out like them,” he paused, gesturing over to the group of older men and women sitting around worrying before walking to the much more fun side of the Ark, “Or like us. The ending’s the same, but who says the journey has to suck?” He turned away from Bellamy, skipping over to the group and holding the bag of Jobi nuts in the air. “I come bearing fruit!”

The crowd cheered at Jasper's arrival and Jasper threw them to Niylah who made tea from them. Bellamy stood back, looking around the ark and between the two groups. He wasn’t paying attention as a girl named Bree approached him, getting far too close for his comfort.

“Wanna dance?” She asked, giving him a smile and Bellamy put his hands on her shoulder, gently pushing her away to separate.

“I don’t dance.” He told her.

Bree wasn’t going to let him go. She came closer again, grabbing Bellamy’s jacket to keep herself close. “I don’t really want to dance.” She whispered under her breath and Bellamy let out a small laugh, grabbing her hands to release her hold.

“I have a girlfriend.” He told her, smiling at the thought of you after the day he had. “I don’t really have any plans to dance with anyone else but her anymore.” He said and Bree sighed, wanting to try again but a hand landed on her shoulder. Both she and Bellamy looked up, seeing Jasper standing behind her before he nodded back towards the party and Bree gave up, sending Bellamy a wink before retreating.

“Girlfriend?” Jasper smirked at Bellamy, who pursed his lips, grateful for Bree’s absence. “Didn’t know it was official.” He teased and Bellamy chuckled under his breath. He started to walk away before turning around, pretending to pull Bellamy by an invisible rope. “Come on! You know Y/N would join us!” Jasper called out, not caring whether you would or wouldn’t as he roped Bellamy in. Bellamy sighed, shaking his head and knowing now he’d need a distraction or he’d be stuck missing you all night. He took the first step towards the party and Jasper cheered, throwing his hands up in the air as Bellamy caught up. “Let someone else save the world for once!”

Bellamy nodded, taking the cup that was held out for him and taking a sip, tasting the Jobi Nut tea before he was prepared and downed the rest of the cup, feeling the burn before he smiled.

---

Still handcuffed to the rocket, Murphy was trying his best to untie himself, biting and pulling on his handcuffs as hard as he could. Emori was accepting her fate, telling John to stop. “No Emori, I’m not letting this happen to you.”

“You have to.” She whispered, finally looking into Murphy’s eyes. “John listen to me.” She moved as close to him as she could, being handcuffed. “Make them think you’re okay with this. We can make Clarke think you’re still with her.”

Murphy shook his head, not wanting to agree with Emori’s plan. “I’ll kill her if she thinks about hurting-“

“Damn it John!” Emori yelled at him, her voice cracking. “Think! Don’t give them a reason to pick you out next. Survive, please.” She begged and Murphy didn’t want to want to agree but he didn’t have time to tell her.

The launch door opening to show you and Clarke side by side with Miller and Roan behind you both for protection. Murphy and Emori were still looking at each other as you held your breath, hearing Clarke tell them it was time for you to take Emori. Murphy immediately started begging for her life and you refused to look up at him.

“It’ll work this time.” Clarke’s empty promises did nothing to assure Murphy or Emori, or even you.

“How about we just go with that and forget the test?” Emori asked and Clarke gave her a sympathetic look.

You finally looked up, seeing her red-rimmed eyes lined with previously shed tears as that stomach-dropping feeling came back to you. Clarke nodded her head to Miller who pulled out a syringe and sedated Emori, catching her in his arms as Murphy started pleading to him and telling him that he didn’t have to do this but Miller knew it wasn’t true.

Miller carried Emori out of the room, Roan going with him until it was just you and Clarke. She looked at you, but you just stared at Murphy, your face neutral as Murphy yelled. “You don’t have to do this!”

Not wanting this to go the wrong way, you put a hand on Clarke’s shoulder, nodding away from Murphy. “Go. I’ve got him.” Clarke hesitated before nodding, sparing a last glance at Murphy before leaving you alone with him.

He scoffed at you. “You said you would help us.”

“I said I wouldn’t tell anyone.” You snapped at him, coming closer so he wasn’t yelling at you and risking Clarke overhearing.

He let out a laugh of pain, staring into your eyes. “It’d be a shame if Clarke found out you knew Emori was lying.” Murphy said and you clenched your jaw, knowing he was just upset. You started to turn around, not want to deal with Murphy but he called after you. “No, no, no, please, Y/N, please! Don’t do this, please I love her!”

You stopped walking immediately, feeling like you were shot in your chest. “Did you tell her that?”

“What? Y/N-“

“Did you tell Emori that you loved her?” you repeated and turned around, seeing Murphy’s brows drawn together. “Or were you so busy trying to find a way to save her that you didn’t tell her you loved her?” You weren’t sure where this was coming from, maybe from your own pent up feelings for Bellamy, but you didn’t care. You closed your eyes, taking a deep inhale before looking at him again and speaking with softer words. “Emori will be fine.” You promised him.

“If she dies, you die.” He threatened but you didn’t let his words get to you.

“Emori’s not going to die, Murphy.” You repeated and Murphy could feel how your promise didn’t feel as empty as Clarke’s had.

“And why’s that?”

You knew he wouldn’t take your word for it. “Do you trust me?”

Murphy narrowed his eyes at you. “Why should I?”

“Because,” You moved away from him, stopping on the other side of the launch doors and watching Murphy as the doors closed, “I’m crazy, right?”

Once the doors were closed, you let out a shaky breath, losing your composure as he let out a scream from the inside. Everyone paused, looking to you before you turned around, looking eyes with most of them before coming to Clarke’s side.

She didn’t say a word as she looked at Emori on a table much like Luna was. Abby was getting the syringe ready as Jackson tied a band around Emori’s arm, readying her for the injection. You moved out of Abby’s way as she came over with the syringe, your leg shaking as heavily as Abby’s hand was. Clarke was quick to notice, stepping past you to stand by her moms’ side.

“Mom?” She asked, but Abby showed no sign of a response. “We have to do this.”

Abby nodded finally, knowing Clarke was right as she tried once more to inject Emori but couldn’t. “I can’t.” She whispered to Clarke who nodded and took the syringe from her.

“I’ll finish it.” She whispered as well and you watched feeling yourself slowly sink into reality as you stepped forward when Clarke was about to inject her.

“Clarke?” you spoke softly, putting your hand on Clarke’s arm. She barely managed to look at you, her eyes already tearing as you tried to smile. “We need to talk.” She was confused, looking down to Emori and about to speak before you pulled the syringe out of her hand, placing it on the table. With a spare glance thrown to your confused friends, you pulled Clarke away from the table.

“Y/N-“

“You can’t do this.” You told her. She bit her lip, looking to Emori on the table before you took a deep breath. “I knew about their lie.” You whispered, keeping your voice quiet in the room. Clarke’s eyes slowly looked to you and you bit your lip. “Before we put that man in the chamber, I knew Emori was lying about who he was and I didn’t stop it.”

“You knew?”

Nodding your head shamefully you turned to Emori laying on the bed. “I overheard them talking about it and I didn’t stop it. I told you about him, made you think that using him was alright and I did nothing to stop anything. He’s dead because of me.”

“He’s not-“

“He’s dead because of me.” You repeated and Clarke didn’t stop you again, knowing there was no point. Baylis’, or whatever that man was called, fate was in your hands and you failed. “So, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to inject that serum into me.” Clarke’s mouth fell open and she started shaking her head.

“Are you out of your mind? Do you want to die?” She asked you, gaining the attention of a few people as you tried to shush her.

“Of course, I don’t want to die.” You whispered harshly, pulling her as far out of earshot as you could. “But I’m not going to let Emori. That’d be two more deaths on my hands.” Clarke still wasn’t content with your answer as you sighed and grabbed her hands. “Clarke, I told you when it came down to it, I wasn’t going to take someone else’s spot to live. Either I die then right alongside everyone else, I die now and Abby knows what to do to fix the serum,” you paused with a shaky breath, “Or I survive. Everyone survives. Bellamy, Octavia, Kane, you. I need to do this.”

Being speechless wasn’t something Clarke was used to, but right now she really didn’t know what to say. “And if you die?”

You hesitated, even though you were just getting injected now, in a little while you were going to face your death. “Make sure your mom and Jackson figure out the serum.” Clarke tried to smile but you could tell it was forced, mostly for your benefit. You led her back over to Emori, no one knowing your plan as you looked down at Emori. Her eyes were closed as she laid unmoving, completely sedated. Clarke grabbed your hand under the table and you closed your eyes, feeling her look around the room before she picked up the syringe. She held it to Emori’s arm, making you think for a second, she wasn’t going to go through with it before her eyes locked with yours. “I’ll bear it so they don’t have to.” You whispered. You turned your arm slightly out and Clarke nodded. Right over her shoulder, Abby turned at your words, her brows furrowing before Clarke put the syringe in your arm.

“Clarke?” She whispered but Clarke didn’t stop. Slowly, the serum entered you and watched your veins turn black on your arm until the serum was gone and Clarke pulled the syringe out. You winced at the withdraw of the needle, the realization of what you just did becoming a reality.

“What did you do?” Roan asked, looking between the still black mark on your arm and up at you.

“We’re testing me.” You told them all before looking over your shoulder, your fate in the radiation chamber awaiting you.

What the hell did you just do?

You spent the next few hours letting your mind run crazy with the possibilities of what’s to come as you laid on the bed Emori once did, staring at the tiled ceiling above you. You let yourself think of everything you could, including Bellamy. If this didn’t work and you died, you never would’ve gotten to say goodbye to Bellamy. There were so many things you’d yet to tell him and in just a few minutes now you might not ever get the chance.

God Abby, please have gotten this correct.

Jackson walked up to you, giving you a short smile before you sat up and stretched out your arm, no words exchanged as he drew your blood. You didn’t watch, staring at Clarke as she joined. “It worked.” She said and you glanced down, seeing your blood now black as it sat in Jackson’s syringe. Everyone in the room was on end, shifting in nerves as you let out a heavy sigh.

“It’s been two hours.” Jackson said as you held your arm, blocking the needle mark with your thumb. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’m going to throw up.” You grumbled under your breath, knowing it was nerves rather than the serum. “I’m ready.”

“You sure?” Clarke asked, putting a hand on your shoulder. Nodding at her, you pushed yourself off the bed for the first time in two hours.

“Almost.” You whispered before turning to her. Realizing you wanted a moment alone, Jackson gave you space, taking your blood over to Abby who was rather close by. “Clarke, if things go wrong, I need you to promise me something.” Clarke furrowed her brow and you let out a laugh to cover your sorrow. “Tell Kane I’m sorry for everything.” You began and Clarke gasped lightly, not prepared for you to have been giving her your goodbye speeches. “I know he’s always tried to do what was best for me and I never really made it easy.” Having tried to decide what you wanted Clarke to tell Kane and Bellamy for the last few hours, you didn’t realize it was going to be this hard. You took a second, trying to even your words and completely unaware of Abby listening in at the mention of Kane’s name.

She hadn’t thought about him. Knowing how much you meant to Kane, Abby’s heart stopped. If he lost you, he’d break. She knew how she’d feel if it was Clarke going into the chamber and being exposed to the radiation. At the thought of her daughter and radiation, Abby was reminded of what she saw before Clarke and you arrived; Clarke covered in radiation burns. Maybe this was a sign.

She needed to stop this.

You were still trying to get through your speech to Clarke. “Just make sure Kane knows this wasn’t his fault. Or Bellamy’s.” Clarke quickly caught the change in your tone at the mention of Bellamy. Your face fell and you kept biting your lip. “And tell Bellamy that I-“

Abby stepped into your conversation, stopping you mid-sentence. “I can’t let you do this, Y/N.”

You furrowed your brows, looking between mother and daughter to see Clarke as confused as you. “Abby, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Mom, it’s okay, we trust you.” Clarke tried assuring her but she just shook her head, taking small steps backward.

“No, I won’t let Kane lose you again.” She ran to the chamber before anyone could get in her way and picked up the IV pole standing next to the chamber that Emori had tried to use earlier.

“Abby?” you called out seconds before the doctor swung the pole right into the chamber glass. “No!” you shouted at her alongside everyone else. Abby wouldn’t stop, hitting the glass over and over again, wires and pipes above her getting hit and sending sparks as well. She landed one last swing into the side, the glass there breaking fully before you were finally able to grab the stand away from her. “What did you do?!” you cried out, looking at the completely unusable chamber in front of you. Abby was breathing heavily, her adrenaline leaving her as she panted.

“I couldn’t let you go in there. Kane-“

“That wasn’t your decision!” you shouted at the woman, not caring about what anyone thought right now. “It was mine! It was my decision!” You weren’t aware of how distraught you were until your voice crack and Abby sunk to the ground.

Everyone was silent when you were yelling at her, Clarke being the one to approach either of you. She put her hand on your shoulder and you pushed it off, not wanting to be touched as you walked right past her and everyone, aware of everyone’s eyes on you as you left the room with a weight on your chest.

It didn’t matter what Abby’s reason for destroying the machine was. If this was the final hope, then she ruined it.

---

The struggle to get the bunker open was worse than ever, Kane using a crowbar to pry it open but it wasn’t working. “I told you it’s never been open.” Gaia said after Kane took a break, needing to catch his breath.

Gunfire rained outside, followed by men shouting as every inside the temple become more on edge than before. “It’s now or never.” Jaha said as Kane dropped the crowbar, wanting to help Indra despite knowing they couldn’t open the door. “We were brought here for a reason, Gaia. Think. Is there another key? It would have a 12 on it.” He said pointing to the roman numeral on the front but Gaia shook her head.

The door opened to the temple and Indra trotted in, looking at the still sealed bunker. “I’m sorry but we have to go. You should’ve brought more guns.” She told them, blaming their lack of guns as the problem.

“Then move your army into position.”

“I will not give up the tower for the tower and a door you cannot open.” Indra bit back at Jaha. Kane stepped in their squabble, suggesting coming back later but Jaha reminded him there wasn’t time and insisted he was staying and Monty vowed to stay as well.

“Maybe we are not worthy.” Gaia pointed out. “Maybe we are meant to burn in Praimfaya.”

“No.” Jaha disagreed. “We’re not meant to burn. We were meant to rise from the ashes.” He argued with the phrase, believing this wasn’t the end for them.

“Wait.” Everyone looked to Monty, the boy looking like he was onto something as they pressed him. “’From the ashes, we will rise.’ What if it’s not just a motto?” No one knew what to say. “What if it’s an instruction?”

Jaha looked to the fire next to the bunker, telling Monty to put the seal in the fire and he did. The fire turned a bright pink and everyone was taken back, shocked as they saw the metal start to melt away. Jaha covered the fire, snuffing out the fire before pulling away the cover to reveal the key.

“The 12th seal.” He whispered, sharing looks with everyone before he picked it up carefully, bringing it over and placing it into the lock. It fit perfectly and Jaha started turning the key giving them an entrance into the bunker. Indra turned to her guard standing by the door and told him to guard the temple rather than the tower and the 5 of them made their way inside.

The bunker was intact, no blood-covered walls like the last time, no skeletons standing guard, no signs of the bunker failing.

The bunker was your people's chance to live.

“Salvation lies within.”

A/N: Finally posted! Am I right? Okay, tell me what you think pretty please! I live on feedback and validation and it means the world to know your opinions!

Tags are open! Please send an ask instead of a comment asking! 

Let me know if I’m missing someone?

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[tvandenneagram]

The 100 Enneagram Quick-Typings (Part 2)

Octavia Blake: 8w7

Octavia is strong, confident and independent. Due to her childhood, Octavia wants to experience the world and have freedom, as she previously was hidden away. She does not want to be controlled or taken care of as she believes she can look after herself.

Octavia has a short temper (like Bellamy) and is often prone to outbursts. She tries to channel her anger into being a warrior and protecting her family and friends. For example, she is fiercely protective of Lincoln and would do anything for the people she loves.

8s like to take matters into their own hands and protect their ‘people’ which we clearly see with Octavia. Octavia believes that people should fight for their goals and if they do not, they are weak. Once Octavia becomes leader of the Wonkru, we can see some of her unhealthy traits as she becomes power-hungry. However, she realises her wrongdoings and tries to redeem herself. Octavia shows her wing 7 as she is more impulsive than an 8w9 would be.

Quotes

“The farmers won’t save the world, Monty. The warriors will.”

“The warrior doesn’t mourn the dead until the war is over.”

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

"A warrior needs a war. An enemy. On the Ark, we made death the enemy. That's how we survived."

John Murphy: 3w4

Murphy is selfish, cunning, funny and clever. Murphy begins the series with a quick temper and seems to have no loyalty to anyone but himself. He also has a tendency to try and promote himself in the community, which can be typical of unhealthy 3s. Murphy has no problem throwing people under the bus to benefit himself and his interests. However, as the series progresses, Murphy becomes more loyal to the community and is active in rescuing Clarke (integrating to 6)

Murphy also becomes more empathetic and considerate of the interests of others, as we see in his relationship with Emori. He cares deeply about her wellbeing and wants to keep her safe. Murphy is also shown to be considerate of children in the community and wants to make sure they are ok. 

Murphy is very charming and charismatic which is very typical of 3s. Murphy can talk himself out of trouble and adapt to new situations. In the early seasons, he was shown to be a bit of a con-artist. Murphy has a wing 4 as he is more introverted and introspective than a wing 2 would be.

Quotes

“In this world, when people leave, they don’t come back.”

"Being a god should be more fun than this."

“Come on, this is ridiculous. I don’t have to answer to you. I don��t have to answer to anyone!"

"Welcome to the world of grey."

"What level of crazy is too much for you? I'm just curious."

“Bygones."

Lincoln: 6w5

Lincoln is hardworking, quiet and reserved. Lincoln keeps most of his feelings to himself and tries not to express his emotions. He follows the rules of the Grounders, despite being a non-conformist. Lincoln wants to help bring peace between the Sky People and the Grounders, despite previous conflicts between them, showing his kind and peaceful nature. 

Lincoln is always thinking about survival and keeping himself safe, like a 6. He has a real knack for problem solving and has a hidden intellect. The reason Lincoln is able to survive for so long, is due to his forward-thinking nature and his ability to plan and prepare for potential problems.

Lincoln has a great relationship with Octavia as he cares deeply for her. Lincoln takes it upon himself to care for Octavia and keep her safe, despite Octavia feeling like she can take care of herself. Lincoln also tries to get involved in political issues as he thinks he can make a difference. Lincoln shows his wing 5 as he is very quiet and reserved compared to a 6w7.

Quotes

“We've all got a monster inside of us, Clarke, and we're all responsible for what it does when we let it out.”

“If death has no cost, life has no worth. That’s how we live.”

"I want you to remember me after I'm dead."

“The world has been trying to turn me into a monster for as long as I can remember.”

“Mebi oso na hit choda op nodotaim (May we meet again.)”

Monty Green: 9w1

Monty is conflict avoidant, sarcastic, smart and loyal. Monty has a positive outlook on life and tries to look on the bright side. He goes with the flow and follows the lead of those around him (like Jasper), which is typical of a 9. 

Monty does not like violence and prefers to solve problems in a different way. If he can, Monty tries to avoid conflict and let people work out their own issues. However, Monty can sometimes be a bit passive aggressive as he sometimes quips at those around him. 

Monty is a very calm person and tolerate his friends at their worst. He wants to be a supportive friend and wants to be there for his friends. Monty doesn’t like being the centre of attention and he would much prefer to have intimate conversations with his friends. Monty shows his wing 1 as he is more uptight and reserved than a 9w8 would be.

Quotes

"If a war is the only way to have the last survivable land on Earth, then maybe we don't deserve it."

"8 people alone in space for 5 years, and one of them's John Murphy. I should have drank the tea."

"Float you! For three months I’ve watched you torture yourself and everyone around you – mostly me – but I’m done being your punching bag. Either you pull yourself together and you get on with your life or you fall apart alone."

[vaniri]

Name: Dawn Dewitt Aliases: Dawn Bowers, Margaret Bowers Age: 27 Nationality: American

Height: 5'8" Hair color: Golden brown Eye color: Green

Favorite weapon: Litchfield repeater Favorite colors: Black, Red, Blue, Pink Horses:

Selise (Silver Dapple Pinto Missouri Fox Trotter)

Epona (Black Arabian)

Morgana (Dark Bay Turkoman)

Neema (Perlino Andalusian)

 another Epona (Red Chestnut Arabian)

Rinrin (Bay Frame Overo Criollo)

Cheyenna (Silver Kladruber)

Amber (Mealy Dapple Breton)

Arthur (Dun Criollo)

Past: She was born somewhere in the US, as a daughter of an animal wrangler, Matthew Dewitt, and his assistant, Hope Murphy. She spent her entire childhood in the circus owned by her grandfather, John Dewitt, travelling around the country. Dawn remembers these times fondly, as full of fun and love she received from her family and the circus crew, who always pampered her and taught her some funny tricks. She always loved horses and she learned how to ride them at a pretty young age, hoping to become a part of the show one day (she really wanted to become a vaulter, and her grandfather seconded that idea). She never had a chance though. Dawn was orphaned at the age of 11, when a gang of bandits raided the circus, burned it to the ground, and killed almost everyone of the crew (and most animals). Thanks to her mother, Dawn managed to escape and got to the nearest town, where she begged the sheriff for help. Not much could have been done for her family though and Dawn was left completely alone. Not having any other family or anywhere to go, she was sent to an orphanage, from where she escaped weeks later, ending up on the street in one of the big American cities. A couple of months later she was found by a local outlaw on the run, Jake Bowers, and his son, Brad. Seeing his dead daughter in her, despite the life he was leading, Jake took Dawn in and soon he became her second father. He was a honorable and kind-hearted man who taught her how to shoot a gun, use a knife, hunt (and provide food in general), and most importantly, he showed her that some people, even those who seem completely rotten, may still have some good left in them. Jake and Brad forged Dawn into a woman she is today; she was riding with them for years, helping good people and dealing with the bad ones - even when it was against the law. These years gave her certain kind of wisdom and understanding, made her discover her determination, but also taught her compassion, and helped her acquire a couple of useful skills that now help her survive in the harsh world she lives in. When Jake made sure Dawn was ready to survive on her own, he encouraged her to part ways - he was already wanted in many states, his time was running out, and Dawn wasn't save with him. But before he let her go, he helped her get her revenge on the people who killed her family. Some time later Dawn started her career as a bounty hunter, which not only provided her good money and associates, but also helped her protect Jake and Brad  - she never gave up on them, and having an insight into the bounty hunters "community", she could always warn them when they were in real ranger. When the noose around their necks tightened too much (metaphorically - and Dawn preferred it that way), she helped them escape to Mexico, where they hide till present day. Dawn still keeps in touch with them, but not too often, for safety reasons.

Present times: Dawn never gave up bounty hunting, so she's always up to turn a criminal in. She's also not afraid to get her hands dirty, even if it's not necessarily legal, and does what is needed to be done, if it only pays well. When she's not helping the law (or breaking it), her friends, or anyone who's ready to pay for her services, she's running a trading company with Cripps, her adoptive father's best friend and most trusted associate (who stayed with Dawn since the man left to Mexico, to "take care of her"). She's pretty content with her life. She is capable of surviving on her own and making money. She has many great friends, family (her horses and her dog, Dexter. She loves animals more than anything) and a place to call home, as her home was always a big tent moving from one place to another - just like her camp today.

Personality: She is a strong woman who knows what she wants and what she's capable of. She can use pistols and rifles and shotguns and even fight with her bare hands, but she knows that her brain is the most powerful weapon she has. She's open-minded, but never abandons thinking on her own. Dawn is also pretty self-confident and never lets the others get into her. She knows she doesn't need everyone's approval. Earning Dawn's trust is hard, but when one does succeed, they get a steadfast ally who will fight by their side to the very end. She is extremely loyal to her friends - she loves them dearly, to the point she would give her own life for them if needed. But she is not naive and can sense when someone tries to simply use her to their own advantage. Easy to talk with, resourceful, and sometimes even funny, Dawn is a pleasure to be had around. But she also has a darker side. Due to the events of her past, she became a vindictive person, unable to let certain things go. When someone gets under her skin, they may as well consider themselves dead. Or worse. Dawn believes that death is not always enough for a punishment and she'd rather see certain people suffer. Forgiveness is not something that comes easily to her. She's also pretty stubborn and always "knows best". She feels loved by her friends and respected by her associates, but she was never in love, and no man ever showed real interest in her (only her skills or body), so she feels rather unlovable. And at some point of her life she gave up on the thought of finding love completely. But then she met a certain cowboy ;)

Random facts:

She can play the violin, but she doesn't own any at the moment

She probably has a middle name, but she doesn't remember it

Dawn loves all animals, but horses have a special place in her heart

She can read, write, do basic math and speak Spanish a little

Dawn is not a fan of cigarettes and alcohol. She avoids smoking at all costs and drinks only occasionally

[easilydistractedbyfanfic]

Countdown to Season 6 Raven/Murphy #5 - The Same

Alright alright alright! One more day and I’m continuing my countdown! If you missed them, we’ve already got posts #1, #2, #3, and #4. I also have a LONG post about Raven specifically, here, and also a What If/Speculation post about their relationship and where it might go in S6. 

Again, this is absolutely my self-indulgent way to talk about things I love about Raven, Murphy and their pairing. This time around it’s a little bit hodge-podge, but it all does tie in to how I think they’re similar and in many ways, are two sides of the same coin. Honestly, I see so many similarities, some of which I have laid out in the posts above, but there are so many instances in this show where I feel like they’re the same character, as weird as that might be. 

I had a post already about how similar they sometimes SPEAK, but also I think it ties in to how similarly they THINK and how well they KNOW each other. In 1x06, Raven is talking to Finn. She tells him “That wasn’t your nothing face” and that instead it was his “going on a spacewalk face.” This is very suggestive of how well she knows him, right? Well, then we get Murphy in 5x04 asking her “why do you still have that Raven work face on” and then in 5x11, he says (about Raven) “See, that’s the look of failure right there”. Soo... another example of how they talk alike, think alike, and it’s a given that the people we know best, care about the most, are the ones who we KNOW have certain faces/looks they make. You can chalk this up to family or romantic interest depending on what you ship, but either way, it IS there. 

On the same topic of speaking the same but tying in to how they think the same, in 2x08 we get a flashback to Finn & Raven talking together and she really wants to pass her Zero-G test. Finn comments about how she thinks about that test all the time, even when they’re having sex. Raven jokes that she’s “multitasking”, which is awfully familiar to how Murphy tells Echo & Monty in 5x03 that he “worries about more than one thing at a time. It’s called multi-tasking”. Aww, these two, how can you not love them? They find so many of the same things funny, too - the sarcasm, the rude & pointed comments, the way they dig at each other like in 5x01 where she pokes him about screwing up his relationship and he pokes her about not getting them to the ground. Their jokes and humor at other characters is surprisingly similar throughout the seasons if you pay attention. 

Fighters & Survivors - In 2x08, Jaha tells Abby not to go too hard on Raven because “she’s a fighter and we need those”. In 2x16, Jaha tells Murphy “You’re a survivor”. In 3x06, Jaha lies to Raven about something and ALIE asks him why. Jaha says that Murphy knew the truth and they lost him (aka Raven would come to the same conclusion aka same). In 3x10, Murphy says “The things I do to survive...”. In 3x13, Pike teaches that “the key to surviving...is to keep fighting at all costs....” and in 4x06 Murphy says “it’s the fighters that survive”. In 4x11, Sinclair says the Raven Reyes he knows doesn’t quit, “she keeps fighting”. In 5x03, Raven says “they’re survivors, just like us”. There’s a lot of commentary that links them with the same qualities - they’re the same - two sides of the same coin. 

Pain & Suffering - In 2x01 Murphy says to Raven “Dying, SAME AS YOU”. He shoots her in the left leg, he gets stabbed by the Grounder in the left leg. In 2x02, when he hears Raven screaming due to the surgery to get the bullet out, Murphy says “yeah that was me in the Grounder camp...” (aka both tortured to the point of screaming, being cut into, similar experience) In 3x02, Jaha tells Murphy “You’re in a lot of pain, John.” In 3x05, ALIE says about Raven “...so much suffering”. And if you wanna learn a lot more about just what else they have in common, scroll back up to the “What If/Speculation” post link at the top of this post. 

They know each other - Even when these two aren’t getting along, they still “get” each other and that’s because they recognize the similarities they have. In S4, Murphy says things about Raven like “all work and no play makes Raven a dull girl” and asks “what the hell is wrong with you?” when she acts unlike herself. For her part, Raven says things about him like “once a cockroach, always a cockroach” and “you’re still a dick, Murphy”, but of course my favorite is “she doesn’t know you like I do”. In S5, she tells him she’s not sure she can pull the lever & he says “I know”, because he DOES know, because he knows her. He also says “why should you always be the one to sacrifice” because he knows she’s done it before. He knows she’s bothered that she couldn’t get them down to the ground (aka cranky 5x01), In 5x11, Murphy sarcastically accuses her of having an inflated ego (cave won’t hold her head) and she says “See, he hates when I’m that good.” This and plenty more add up to a casual and an in-depth knowledge of who the other person is and an illustration of it throughout the seasons. 

Anyway, Raven & Murphy have a lot in common, and if I want to read into what that means in terms of soulmates and how they’re made of the same stuff, how they have symmetry, parallels and similar paths and how they are really good foils for the other person’s flaws (aka they make each other better, they believe in each other, etc)... Well, lemme just say I think there’s a lot of evidence I’m laying out in all these posts. So if you wanna read into it too, then we’re in good company! 

[alwaysaprille]

am I an asshole if I genuinely want you to answer all the salty asks so I can read your responses?

Not an asshole, but it might take a bit!

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

Ice Mechanic, Dr. Mechanic, Murphamy (as romantic). 

      2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?*

Br/ven is the only one I can think of right now. 

      3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

LOL, yes, but only if it gets to the point of racism/phobia. 

       4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

Its Cl/xa. So yes. 

        5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

Cl/xa. 

        6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?*

Not as yet, no. But there’s always a chance. 

        7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

Meta. People who meta tend to be very full of themselves now. And I know I am also a “meta” writer, but I try to avoid making myself seem more important than I am. 

         8. Have you received anon hate? What about?*

LMAO, YES. Basically about everything. I think I’ve received so much now that I couldn’t even tell you.

         9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Octavia: the epitome of a racist white savior who has an additional bonus of being an abuser. 

       10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Octavia’s character arc since S2 has not made any sense whatsoever. I don’t think they have any idea what they plan on doing with her or, if they do, they don’t have a good idea of how to execute it.

       11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I like Echo. I think she’s misunderstood. She’s not perfect and she definitely has issues, but I think she has potential.

       12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I actually enjoyed Bellamy’s S3 arc, lots of people said it was out of character, but I really thought it fit him, and more importantly, it was a manifestation of his trauma, which he had not excised up until that point.

       13.  Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

I....still think John Murphy is a trash human being. Like full offense but he peed on a kid, killed 2 more, shot and permanently disabled Raven and didn’t really begin to actually earn his redemption until the very end of S3 and then again in the very end of S4 and I’m still unsure how much of that was motivated by his survival instinct. 

         14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

I have publicly disassociated myself with the Blarke family, but I assume that’s the fandom people most associate me with so I’ll give my opinion about that. I think that too many Blarkes ignore the racial stereotypes that sometimes show up in the ship and they still haven’t really let go of the princess and kinght trope. 

         15. Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

I don’t know if this is necessarily unpopular, but I do think the show has strayed too far from it’s original premise and that has continued to hurt it as the Seasons pass 

       16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

The lack of promotion. The focus on the Grounders. The casting of Alphabet Soup as the Commander as opposed to an actual WOC. 

       17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen...

Instead if Cl/xa happening the way it did, I would have pursued one of the following options:

I would have had L/xa not abandon Clarke and the Arkadians at Mt. Weather in 2x16 if the plan was for them to eventually become romantic. I would have had them be separated at the end of 2x16 by something/someone else, so that when they did manage to reunite, Clarke wouldn’t have spent 3 months (I also would have abbreviated this time apart) hating/being rightfully angry with her. And the romance that developed (in 7 days-because the first 7 days in Polis Clarke was a prisoner) wouldn’t have felt rushed. I also would not have killed L/xa when(right after consummation)/how(accidental bullet) they did. She should have died like the warrior she was. 

OR

If L/xa betraying Clarke at the Mountain had to be the option, I would not have fulfilled the romance between Cl/xa. I would have preferred to see them become friends/friendly. Work together for the mutual good of their people, so that way we could have avoided the feeling that the relationship was rushed (and therefore unfinished). 

       18. Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?

No. Some people don’t ship the obvious ships and that’s fine! However, I think if you do choose to ship something that’s not popular or canon (especially if it’s obvious that it’s not going to happen), you probably shouldn’t be angry/rude about it.

       19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Just one thing? How quickly people panic, every time we get any news there are a ton of people who are terrified about what it means for the show.

        20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

Marper

        21. What are your thoughts on crack ships?

I think the definition of crack ships has been wildly distorted in this fandom. A crack ship by definition is a ship that is highly ridiculous, bizarre, disturbing, and/or unlikely to ever become canon. The characters don't have any chemistry, never interact, are in different canons or timelines, are different species, one is an inanimate object, etc. But for whatever reason this fandom thinks that a “crack ship” is any ship that they personally don’t like. A huge example of this is people calling Bellarke a crack ship, when it doesn’t fit the main criteria (Bob and Eliza’s chemistry is often talked about-they were even nominated for an award, Bell and Clarke’s relationship is the basis of the show and they interact in some capacity in almost every episode, they exist in the same timeline show, are both humans, etc.). So basically, I think it’s fine and often fun to ship them, but....people are...taking it too far. 

         22. Popular character you hate?

Octavia. 

         23. Unpopular character you love?

Gaia (who isn’t unpopular as in people don’t like her, it’s just that people don’t pay her enough attention).

         24. Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, despite everything it’s a really good show, thought provoking and interesting. However, I wouldn’t recommend it until after it’s finished airing in it’s entirety and I would tell them to avoid the fandom at all costs.

         25. How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX?

I don’t want to expose my romanticness with this answer so...I’m gonna be mum. 

         26. Most shippable character?

Raven Reyes. 

         27. Least shippable character?

John Murphy (I literally can’t see him with anyone outside of Emori, although i do think there might be another relationship in the works)

[lindseysfandoms]

Emori Meta #1- Her Parents

I’m finally writing official meta, guys!

The following was greatly inspired by @bombshellsandbluebells‘ fantastic meta which you can read HERE, and is just some further thoughts. Go give them some love cause they deserve it!

And yes, I understand that I am about to exclude Otan greatly from this post. I don’t mean to undermine his importance to Emori’s life- because they were absolutely a united team- but sadly, the show gave us so little of him and their sibling dynamic that I in turn have so little evidence to pull from. I’m also trying to show how it should have Emori and Otan’s parents taking care of them both; the responsibility of raising a child should not have been placed on actual children cough. Don’t worry, this will make sense soon. So just keep this all in mind and forgive me as I focus only on Emori- I’m just trying to make a point and defend my girl. 

This will be quite a jumbled mess, and it’s gonna be a long one. Stick with me. Sorry for the language. I hope you all get something out if it. Enjoy.

Do you know what actually breaks my heart ten times over about Emori every single day?

The fact that she must have had parents. 

Yes. Emori had a mother and Emori had a father. That’s just simple biology- but it’s so much more than that. 

At some point in time, two people must have fallen in love and couldn’t wait to start a family together. Someone must have carried Emori inside her stomach for ten months, felt her kick and move, wondered if this little life would have her nose or her lovers eyes. Someone must have watched her belly grow from the outside, who’s heart skipped a beat whenever she felt her move. Someone must have prepared for her and sewed her baby clothes. Someone must have spent hours thinking of the perfect name. Someone must have imagined all the things she would learn. Someone must have been ready to teach her how to hunt, how to trade, how to walk, speak, read, love, grieve, grow, be strong. Someone must have been ready to show this child what the world had to offer, and, despite their challenges, how beautiful still life could be. 

Ask your own family- they did this for you. Whether they were your birth parents, adoptive, foster, two men, two women, multiple people, grandparents, aunts, uncles… SOMEONE out there took care of you when you couldn’t take care of yourself. You DO have a family, because they are the ones who raised you, and they love you. 

That’s who these people were supposed to be to Emori. I, for one, often forget that these people actually existed. They were already Emori’s parents. They already loved her, as any expectant couple does. They wanted her. They were ready.

Until she was born. 

These people- who had just spent months of their lives waiting and preparing for this little child- took one look at her and changed their minds.

These people took one look at her and didn’t see the beautiful baby girl of their dreams- they saw a defect. They saw a stain. They saw a mistake.

And you know what they did?

They threw her away.

…Okay, let’s step away from Emori for a moment. It’s crucial to note something that The 100 has shown us in seasons past- not every Grounder agrees that Frikdriena are stains on the bloodline.

Way back in S2, Jaha crash lands in the Dead Zone, remember? He is rescued by a little boy with a facial deformity named Zoran, and he brings him back to his family, who is on the run in search for the City of Light. His mother Sienna later explains to Jaha that even though their culture called for it, they never could have left their boy to die. That mother and father would rather struggle and suffer in the blazing desert than give up their child.

Emori’s parents didn’t leave their people and vow to raise and love her against all odds. Emori’s parents weren’t willing to risk their lives in an unknown land if it meant their baby lived. Emori’s parents didn’t fight for her. They didn’t even consider. 

They just got rid of her.

Let me restate that- nobody has ever fought for Emori in her entire life. Ever. Nobody has ever thought she was worth an effort. Not even her own parents. 

That’s why she has only ever known to fight for herself at all costs. She’s never known what it felt like to be protected unconditionally. Emori had to raise herself, do all the things her parents were supposed to, and teach herself all the things her parents never did.

And I’m sorry, but who the fuck just does that? Who just throws away their own flesh and blood as if it was an assembly line reject? Who just ignores their paternal instincts and blindly follows the crowd? Who just punishes an innocent (a fucking baby no less) for something they had absolutely no control control over?

A lot of things about Grounder culture terrify me… but this just infuriates me beyond measure. If none of the shit above utterly breaks your heart for our Emori, I honestly don’t know what will. 

And growing up, that hit Emori hard. Real fucking hard. I can’t even begin to wrap my head around the guilt she must have felt. She carried that burden day in and day out. She truly believed it was her fault that she and Otan had such difficult lives. Her fault, because she was born this way. 

Her fault that her parents didn’t love her, want her, care about her.

Emori thought this every single day of her life. That’s the mentality of her childhood. Can you imagine that? Living with the reality that your own parents didn’t want you? That no other human being around you didn’t want you? That humanity thought you shouldn’t be alive? 

In response to all the Emori haters of Tumblr who cannot seem to give her a break… try stepping into her shoes, just for a moment. Imagine living through the tragedy after tragedy that molded her, being rejected by the people that bore you, never having parents that loved you. It would destroy you. It would harden your heart. You’d do things you wish you hadn’t. 

This is the kind of shit that turns people into psychopaths. Emori’s past could have absolutely broken her soul. She could have given up on life, love, happiness…

BUT SHE DIDN’T! 

Emori is not psychotic. Emori is not selfish. She is not evil, or vain, or cruel. Emori is human- flawed, yes, but beautiful and worthy nonetheless.

Just as @bombshellsandbluebells stated in their meta (again, linked above the cut), Emori never killed or stole just for the sheer fun of it. She was forced to do it to survive. She literally said this to Clarke in 4x07, people. It probably still haunts her. 

If Emori had killed for the sheer fun of it, that would make her a psychopath, friends. BUT SHE ISNT BECAUSE SHE IS GUILTY AND IS STILL CAPABLE OF LOVING OTHERS.

Despite every terrible thing that happened to her in her terrible lot in life, Emori survived. Emori persevered. She got through that. She found acceptance. She found people. She found a reason to live. She realized what made life worth living- LOVE- in John Murphy, and the same goes for him. Emori found the good still residing in humanity after almost all of them let her down, time after time. 

Now look me in the eyes and tell me that Emori isn’t an inspiration. Tell me, after everything she’s been though, that she’s still worthless. Tell me that she doesn’t deserve a family. Tell me she doesn’t deserve love. 

The very people who gave Emori life didn’t think she should have survived- but now she isn’t just surviving; she’s living.

Emori will continue to be one of my favorite characters on this show and all of television. How did we get so lucky with her? I am more and more amazed with Emori each passing day, and I’ll love and defend her until the very end. She (and Luisa!) deserve so much more from the writers and the fans. I pray they receive it soon enough. Cheers to more Emori goodness in S5!

Wowza. That was long. If you actually made it to the end, bless you. Sorry that it’s all a big old mess, but I warned you, lol. You also might want to read the paragraph above the cut again if you need to, btw. PLEASE let me know your thoughts/responses to this, and anything important I could have missed! (But you know the rules, keep it nice)

Rock on -@lindseypeicott

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 5/28/21: A QUIET PLACE PART II, CRUELLA, CLIFF WALKERS, FUNHOUSE, MOBY DOC and More

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and yes, I’m fully aware that I completely missed last week’s column.

Did you see what came out in wide release?! Basically, Bleecker Street’s Dream Horse in about 1,200 theaters where it made less than a million. Warner Bros. released its animated film SCOOB for the first time into about 2,500 theaters, and THAT made more than Dream Horse despite being available On Demand for over a year. (I’m not quite sure if that will end up on HBO Max fairly soon, but I guess they’re giving back to the theaters by giving them something new to show on a VERY slow weekend.)

Anyway, as mentioned before, this is Memorial Day weekend and the first REAL weekend of summer, so of course, we’re all hoping that the hoary days of the past year might magically be over, and we’re back to the $100 million opening days of the summer of 2019. Nope. Not happening, but at least two movies will give it the old college try.

Before we get to this week’s new wide releases, box office and everything else, a couple of weekends ago, I caught up with Zhang Yimou’s latest film, CLIFF WALKERS (CDC Entertainment), a terrific period spy thriller that’s really unlike any of the master’s other films. I ended up going to see this at the IFC Center, because my screener expired, and I really wanted to see it. Zimou has previously covered the war between Japan and China in the 1930s that eventually led to World War II, and the horrors that took place.

This one is a bonafide spy thriller as four individuals are sent into China to try to get information about the Japanese plans in a certain region. I’ll admit that it took me a little while to figure out exactly what was going on, because the characters were wearing heavy winter coats when first introduced, so I had no idea who some of them were once wearing regular clothes. But this is just a terrifically stylish film that also has a good share of ‘30s action, and it really shook me up in a way not unlike a film from Director Zhang in a long time.

I’m not sure if Cliff Walkers is still playing in theaters, but definitely keep an eye out for it, since it’s one of the master’s best movies in quite a while.

The biggest wide release of the weekend is John Krasinski’s A QUIET PLACE PART II, which is the first movie released theatrically by Paramount Pictures in over a year, having dumped much of its 2020 line-up to Amazon and Netflix for some quick cash. It once again stars Emily Blunt as now a single mother trying to survive an invasion by murderous alien creatures that detect their prey via sound. This time, her family meets an old family friend, played by Cillian Murphy, and her daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) goes off on her own adventure to try to put an end to the creatures.

I reviewed the movie at Below the Line and will have an interview with Composer Marco Beltrani sometime soon, and I won’t have much to say about the movie in that sense. I will say that I did like the movie even more than the first one, but basically that’s been all over the place in terms of people liking it more, some people not liking it much, yadda yadda yadda.

But let’s look at some box office history, shall we? Krasikinski’s A Quiet Place came out on April 6, 2018, and it was kind of a breakthrough, because it opened a time when Marvel Studios’ Black Panther had been dominating the box office for months, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One had opened a week earlier and was already a close to $100 million i.e. it was the “before times.” The movie opened with $50.2 million and was one of those huge-buzz PG-13 horror movies that people were talking about and going to see to the point where it ended up grossing $188 million domestically. Although it dropped to #2 in its second weekend against Rampage (remember that movie?), it was back at #1 the week after that and was one of the big buzz genre movies of the year. It got an Oscar nomination for sound and Blunt won herself a SAG Award for her performance.

But again, that’s the before times, and we’re now looking at a movie that was supposed to come out over a year ago that was delayed by COVID, a theatrical wasteland with many theaters still closed, most of the others still doing limited capacity, a lot of the country vaccinated but not enough to make people completely comfortable sitting in a theater with strangers (though that’s getting better), and one wonders what a popular movie that grossed $188 million in 2018 can do in the new world of 2021. I mean, we already saw what happened to Wonder Woman 1984 when it tried to open over Christmas, only with an HBO Max screening component, but then we saw Godzilla vs. Kong open big, but it STILL hasn’t grossed $100 million domestically.

Sure, there are more theaters open now, except for in a lot of Canada, and we’ll have to see how many theaters above 3,000 that Paramount can get, but I can definitely see this opening in the $45 to 50 million range. It should also be able to stick around a while, because there aren’t a ton of big movies opening in coming weeks. I’m gonna stay on the moderate side of things just because we’re not quite there yet, so I think this will probably creep its way to $150 or 160 million but will eventually have to give up theaters/screens for F9 next month.

The other big release of this Memorial Day weekend is CRUELLA (Disney), starring Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, which as might be determined from the title, is a prequel to the evil villain from the 101 Dalmations, Cruella de Ville. She was famously played by Glenn Close in the 1996 Disney hit that grossed $136 million domestically after a $33 million Thanksgiving weekend opening. That kind of money in 1996 is pretty damn good, because it’s before all of those $90 to 100 million plus openings we’d be getting in a few years or the $400 plus domestic grossers that became the norm. The movie is directed by Craig GIllespie, best known for directing I, Tonya and a slew of other movies over the years that most people forgot like Lars and the Real Girl and the Fright Night remake and Million Dollar Arm. (Remember that one?)

Obviously, a key to the movie’s success is the popularity of Stone in the Amazing Spider-Man movies, the musical La La Land (for which she won an Oscar) and The Favourite (for which she got another nomination). Stone benefits from having been acting for over 14 years with early hits like Superbad and Zombieland and The Help leading to a place where can she be considered an A-lister. Cruella is Stone’s first live action movie since 2019’s Zombieland: Double Tap, although she could be seen last year as a voice in The Croods: A New Age, a relatively big COVID hit with the $58 million it made domestically.

One also can’t neglect the popularity of Thompson, also a beloved Oscar-nominated actress, who has been appearing in popular and beloved movies for over thirty years on both sides of the pond, and she’s absolutely great in the movie. I think even the most negative reviews of the movie will point that out.

The thing is that we also can’t completely ignore the fact that Cruella can be seen on DIsney+ for a $30 premium fee, which when you have a whole family wanting to see the movie over the holiday weekend, that’s looking a lot better than the $100 to 150 that it would cost to take a family of five to a movie theater. Hey, don’t yell at me, but that’s reality.

I think some have been saying that Cruella might be able to make $35 to 40 million over Memorial Day weekend, but I think that’s not taking into account a lot of the factors I’ve mentioned, and because of those, I think it will end up more in the $28 million range for the four-day holiday. I write this without having seen how reviews panned out, but as you can see from my review below, I was mixed on the movie, and I’m guessing that reviews won’t all be positive despite the raves from #FilmTwitter.

Mini-Review: I didn’t go into Cruella with much in terms of expectations and only a little more knowledge. I remember hearing for a long while that this might get dumped to the Disney+ streamer and only part of that happened, but just cause it’s the Emmas, I was already in.

We meet Stone's Estella as a scampish young girl (not played by Stone) living in poverty in ‘60s London with her mother, who is suddenly killed while visiting a posh gala to try to get money from a mysterious woman. Now orphaned, Estella makes friends with two fellow orphans, Jasper and Horace, and over the next few years, they help each other while masterminding thievery plots. At the same time, Estella proves to be quite a good seamstress and fashion designer, and she ends up getting a job working for Emma Thompson’s Baroness, the height of a fashion icon but also a horrible person, especially to her employees. Eventually, Estella’s two thieving friends (played as adults by Stephen Fry and Paul Walter House) come up with a scheme to rob the Baroness of a keepsake that belonged to Estella’s mother. To do this, Estella creates an alter ego named Cruella, who hopes to beat the Baroness at her own game, unwittingly becoming a fashion icon in her own right.

That’s all the plot I’m going to get into, because there are a lot of twists in Cruella that I won’t reveal, but it’s also a movie with so many tonal and pacing issues, starting from the very beginning with all the kids’ capers. It then shifts into this dark, dark comedy that’s punctuated by pratfall humor that is definitely better when done by Fry and Houser, but it’s still a tone that is constantly shifting and drifting trying to find where to settle... and it never does.

I thought Stone was just fine in what is essentially a dual role, but it’s when she transforms into Cruella with half white and half black hair and an even more ridiculous British accent than her normal one where things start going sideways. It’s especially bad when you see Thompson crushing it as the Baroness, who is almost better as a villain then Glenn Close was in 101 Dalmations.

People have been raving about the Cruella soundtrack, and this is where I have to passionately disagree, because as much as I love the classic songs of the ‘60s and ‘70s played, not all the needle drop choices work. Many of them just seem shoehorned in to distract the viewers from the weak writing. When you have an amazing composer like Nicholas Britell (Moonlight, Succession), why on earth would you not USE him to do what he does?

One of the things that might bother me the most is that this is definitely a PG-13 movie, and when you’re taking a character from G-rated Disney animated movies and PG-rated Disney movies, sure, you can assume that fans of those movies will be older, but it also feels that it should be something that can be watched by your kids. I’m sure that some young girls will enjoy this, and it’s not like the sort of cattiness on display isn’t something they might experience in their own real-life classrooms, but it’s also kind of nasty in a similar way as I, Tonya, which I was never that crazy about either.

Cruella is just a disjointed mess that shows off a lot of beautiful costumes, and sure, Emma Thompson is a lot of fun, too, but ultimately, the whole thing just fell flat for me.

Rating: 6/10

Jason William Lee’s horror film FUNHOUSE (Magnet) is the kind of movie that I absolutely hate. How’s that for a preview? Yeah, this is a movie about a guy who kidnaps obnoxious reality stars to put them through their paces and kill them off one-by-one in grisly ways. If you know that is the premise, and you think, “That movie sounds like it’s for me!”... well, then, good luck with it. I mean, it starts with a woman hacking a guy’s heart for money, so I probably should have guessed that it was going to continue down the torture porn route, and sure enough... We’re soon introduced to a group of obnoxious and pretentious faux celebrities from YouTube and reality TV who are pitted against each other in a Big Brother-like popularity contest called “Furcas’ House of Fun” where the contestants with the least votes have to fight it out to eliminate one of them. The winner and survivor of this show gets $5 million. It pretty much goes exactly where expected, and I could barely get through most of it, because it just seems like the filmmaker watched the “Saw” movies too many times and just got the wrong thing out of them. I honestly think that critics who trashed the recent Spiral, which wasn’t bad, should be forced to sit through this one, as I feel that’s an apt punishment.

I was kind of interested in Rob Gordon Bralver’s MOBY DOC (Greenwich Entertainment), which debuts in theaters and digital platforms, when I first heard about it. I have a weird history and relationship with Moby, as I first saw this nerdy guy giving a DJ demonstration at the New Music Seminar in the late 80s and then by the early ‘90s, he was this huge superstar. I actually enjoy a lot of his records from the time so as not to take anything away from his success, but there’s something quite pretentious about the way he portrays himself in this talking heads movies where he’s the one mostly doing the talking. I’m sure anyone who is a bigger Moby fan than I am might find it interesting, but I just remembered how annoying he was in the '80s and '90s and could barely get through it.

Opening in theaters Friday and then on digital and demand June 1 is Danielle Lessovitz’s PORT AUTHORITY (Momentum Pictures) starring Leyna Bloom from the show Pose on FX, Fionn Whitehead and McCaul Lombardi. Whitehead plays Paul, who arrives at NYC’s Port Authority bus depot after being kicked out of his home in Pennsylvania. He has an encounter with Bloom’s Wye, a trans woman of color and falls in love with her, but as they get to know each other, she learns more about his false narrative and the double life he’s been living.

Also opening this week is Lynn Roth’s SHEPHERD: THE STORY OF A JEWISH DOG, a typical boy and dog movie set in 1930s Germany at a time when the Nuremberg Laws forbid Jews to own pets, so German Shepherd Kaleb is separated from his 10-year-old master Joshua (August Maturo) and becomes a street dog. Kaleb is eventually captured and adopted by an SS dog trainer (Ken Duken) at a Nazi work camp. As the son of German Jews, I really have to be in the right mood to watch a movie like this, and I just haven’t been in that mood lately.

Also launching on Disney+ this Friday are the LAUNCHPAD SHORTS, a series of live action short films by filmmakers from underserved backgrounds, which I probably will watch eventually but didn’t have time to do so before writing this column.

Other movies out this week include:

SWIMMING OUT TILL THE SEA TURNS BLUE (Cinema Guild)

BLUE MIRACLE (Netflix)

AHEAD OF THE CURVE (WolfeVideo.com )

That’s it for this week! Next week, a new month with a new Conjuring movie, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and another horse movie with DreamWorks Animation’s Spirit Untamed.

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Songs of the summer 2018: our writers pick their favourite tracks

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Songs of the summer 2018: our writers pick their favourite tracks

As we reach that time of year when debates heat up over which track will be named most likely to soundtrack the hotter months, which songs are Guardian writers picking?

Ariana Grande No Tears Left to Cry

There is a fine art to the ballad banger. From Gloria Gaynors I Will Survive to Robyns Dancing On My Own, they require equal parts defiant survivalism and a bruised vulnerability. No Tears Left to Cry the first comeback single from Grandes forthcoming album Sweetener does both, filling summer dance floors with a beat-heavy sway, and also announcing her return in the face of prior tragedy with steely assurance. No Tears Left to Cry is an oath to keep the party throbbing no matter the cost. I just want you to come with me, she pleads. Im pickin it up, loving, Im livin so we turnin up. With twists and turns that keep listeners on their toes, its influence spans genres and eras, from new jack swing to grandiose pop, with Grande stamping her sweet yet vital falsetto all over the track. We way too fly to partake in all this hate is a great mantra for 2018, and all the punchier given the songs sticky hooks. EB

Kacey Musgraves High Horse

Consider this an endorsement not just for High Horse, Kacey Musgraves exuberant country-pop send-off to a man who thinks hes John Wayne, but for the entirety of her record Golden Hour, the most perfect collection of summertime tracks since Frank Ocean dropped Blonde in August 2016. Though it runs mostly counter to the US national mood, and prevailing trends in pop music, Golden Hour is a mature, delightful, gorgeously visual album, one where Musgraves lyrics wrap around her melodies like a vine. Any number of its songs make for good warm weather listening the opening and title tracks, specifically but High Horse certainly lends itself most easily to the coveted song of the summer designation. Marrying a disco beat to Musgraves Texan lilt, it typifies what the singer herself called space country, a cross-genre sound inspired in equal part by marriage and acid trips. JN

George Ezra Shotgun

Look, there were cooler songs I could have chosen: one of Risn Murphys brilliant singles with Maurice Fulton. Lizzos anthem-in-the-making Boys. Christine and the Queens immaculate Girlfriend (or to be properly cooler-than-thou, Damn, Dis-Moi, the French version). But I cant lie. This summer Ill be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun with George Ezra, whose ode to razzing around coastal roads in a car packed full of sweaty bodies and crisp crumbs is, I have accepted, essentially perfect. Plus the enjoyably mindless chorus vibrates at the peak frequency that any sunbaked brain can handle. LS

AJ Tracey and Not3s Butterflies

Over the past few years, UK rap has fallen under the spell of afrobeats and afroswing, a shift thats run parallel to the cool-ification of African culture more generally (see: Black Panther, the Nigeria kit). There hasnt been such a love affair with Caribbean music here, however. Enter AJ Tracey, the buzzy Ladbroke Grove MC, and his mate Not3s formerly the Addison Lee guy, now a rising rap star. Africas really well represented now, so hold tight with my African friends but my culture isnt represented, Tracey told the Fader earlier this month. And so the pair created a dancehall-inspired banger with refs to a posterior thats bigger than Jupiter, shooters gettin peeled like a mango, and even a nod to Lethal Bizzles Fester Skank. Could it kickstart a wave of Caribbean-style hits? Maybe. But for now its in an arch and impossibly laid-back league of its own. HJD

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Mainland

From the possible indie rock album of the year, Hope Downs, this Melbourne quintets exuberant recent single could hardly sound more summery if it came with its own deckchair. And yet, those chiming power-pop guitars and uplifting tambourine bashes conceal an oncoming storm. The song was inspired by singer-guitarist Tom Russos visit to his parents birthplace in the Aeolian Islands, near Sicily, where he read about the Mediterranean refugee crisis. Thus, with vivid imagery of rotting piers and jagged rocks, Mainland reflects on the gulf between the secure and the dispossessed, and the randomness of fate and privilege: We are just paper boats bobbing adrift afloat / While winds of fortune shove us where they will / Woke up coughing on the shore, cold outcrop broken, sore / Back on the mainland, the chimps were coming up trumps. Its a deceptively feelgood anthem with a message for humanity during this hazy, crazy season in the sun. DS

Parcels Tieduprightnow

The de facto sound of summer tends to come with whomping bass and a throbbing kick-drum. It comes from open car windows, through the doors of bars late at night, or played tinnily through leaking headphones on buses. The sound I prefer is less 3am than 6pm, a hazy evening with a cold drink, something that skips rather than hammers. Parcels, from Australia, were noticed last summer when Daft Punk worked with them on Overnight. This years Tieduprightnow is less insistent, but just as lovely: pitched at a place where Orange Juice or Haircut 100 have turned the Chic knob on their amps up to 10, and the Byrds knob down to 0, and paired with a video that suits it perfectly: the band drive around the coast, not doing very much. Theres some surfing, theres a game of beach cricket. It looks how the record sounds: like joyful, aimless fun, the kind of day, and the kind of song, youd be happy to live through forever. MH

Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin I Like It

Its a bit on the nose, really, but these things often are. The artist of the moment paired with the Latin trap thats commanded the airwaves for a year-plus underpinned by an accessible, widely known sample in Puerto Rican singer Pete Rodriguezs 1967 boogaloo classic. The fourth single off Cardi Bs loaded debut LP, already popular even before Hot 97 started playing it every 10 minutes over the past month, is an irresistible bilingual trap-salsa bop that oozes exuberant summer vibes. Ella Mais Bood Up may be the sentimental choice (never more than after Sundays BET awards), but Cardis most vibrant triumph yet, with memorable assists from reggaeton titans Bad Bunny and J Balvin, is the one youll spend the next few months hearing from car windows. Youd be hard-pressed to engineer a better song of the summer in a lab. BAG

The Internet Come Over

Less of a pool party anthem and more of a rooftop bar scene-setter, the second track from the Internets new album Hive Mind is one of their finest to date, a sexy, slinky Prince-inspired ode to getting an object of desire to stop playing games. The song sees Syds delicate yet distinctive voice imploring a girl to give her the green light to come over, and by the time Steve Lacys guitar solo sneaks in, the sneakily effective argument is impossible to ignore. Theres a seductive sunset vibe to the accompanying arrangement and while the understated mellowness, a characteristic trait of their music as a whole, might not sound out quite as loudly as traditional songs of the summer, the balmy effect will stick around for far longer. BL

Disclosure Ultimatum

After a 15-month hiatus, the brothers Lawrence are back with Ultimatum, a shimmering sonic sunbeam driven by a vocal sample from Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara. While the last Disclosure album, 2016s Caracal, was a singles-oriented affair powered by cameos from pop megastars including The Weeknd, Lorde and Miguel, this new single suggests a return to form for the twentysomething brothers who were praised as the new lords of house music with their 2013 debut Settle and its worldwide hits Latch, F For You and White Noise. Shedding the standard verse/chorus structure, Ultimatum is more dancefloor oriented than those early tracks, and subtle in its moments of tension release, with builds dissolving into synth jazz better suited for daytime parties than darkened clubs. We have been missing you all immensely, Disclosure tweeted with the 17 May track release, so we wanted to share something weve been working on with you now the sun is shining, the trees are green and some dancefloors need filling. Their new album is expected next year; in the meantime, this Ultimatum demands you dance. KB

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us