#1.07: one arrest | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

why-this-kolaveri-machi · 4 years ago

Text

it wasn’t power i coveted; it was acceptance.

Titans 3.06

y’know, i was just thinking the other day that 1.06/1.07 and 2.06/2.07 were the best episodes of their respective seasons, so i have great hopes going in to this one. fingers crossed!

as always, typing this up as i see the episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. oh! um... that was a Cold Open, all right. *nudges* get it? cold? because it’s snowing? and two people got murdered in cold blood? eh?

... oh, i’ve just started.

1.5. i wonder if “i want to be sipping pina coladas on a beach with you” is the new “i’m just one day away from retiring.” i was so on edge after that--i kept expecting that car to explode. even so, the way they died wasn’t an anticlimax: brutal, and quick.

1.75. so i’m assuming that’s the titular lady vic! this show better bring up why this doll was important or why these two cops needed to be killed, and not leave it to the ether like jericho’s little mindscape jaunt in 2.08 (i’m still dying to know what that was about???)

i love how deliberately unappealing wayne manor is.

(sorry for the pic quality. i don’t have hbo max! ssshhh.)

2.3. i love the many references to “home” and “our house” when they’ve been here for less than a week and saw one of their friends get blown into pieces. i mean, i unironically love it: home is where family is, after all!

2.5. i’d like to say that kom is playing some sort of long game here, especially given the build-up we had last season and some of the more niggling details this season: why did kom choose now to use her bond to lure kory when she’s been on earth for months? why did justin call kory now, just around the time that she started getting kom’s visions? and what about kom’s ability to exactly imitate other people? hmmm.

2.75. the reason i wrote i’d like to say is that i’ve made the mistake of assuming plot complexity where there is none; i was so invested in the jason todd orchestrated his own death theory for instance, when it turns out that oops! ra’s al ghul just happened to leave a little lazarus puddle in gotham, and oh yeah! scarecrow just happens to have a network of henchmen working for him on the outside and a fully functional laboratory and a weapons cache fit for a new supervillain in the basement of the high security psychiatric unit/prison that he’s in!

(no i’m not bitter, why do you ask)

2.8. iiiii don’t know what to say about the implications of sex slavery being a thing on tamaran, so i’m not going to say anything at all. for now.

3. gotham, six years ago... wasn’t it five years before s2 that jericho died and the titans disbanded? and when was the flashback from 1.06 where dick let zucco die? i think it was after the events of 2.08: jericho? i can’t seem to find any transcripts or reliable information online, so i’m going to have to rewatch 1.06 at some point.

(i love the old-fashioned batman music in this heist scene)

3.5. “security is a joke... it’s my way of keeping my dad on his toes”. what you’re an ethical thief now, like an ethical hacker? i don’t think that excuse is going to sell, barbara, on the day you do encounter a decent security system and your father is forced to arrest you.

(then again, gotham’s security is piss-poor. did you know that you could just walk into arkham asylum without any official clearance, ply one of its most dangerous inhabitants with contraband, and said inmate could get away with having an entire laboratory and weapons cache--NO I’M NOT GOING TO LET THIS GO)

3.8 so that flashback between dick and barbara was really cute! and also illuminating:

a) dick sounds so light, so... um. look. i have some apologies to tender to mr thwaites, because while i’ve always thought he does a fine job as dick grayson, i’ve never been terribly fond of his cadence as he delivers dialogue. it’s often monotonous, i thought, but then again, he’s usually delivering exposition or dealing with one soul-crushing crisis or the other. so i was pleasantly surprised to hear dick sound so carefree and alive in his conversation with barbara, laughing frequently, his emotions so bare and bubbling to the surface. it’s really a fantastic contrast to the traumatised and world-weary dick grayson that we see now, even more so than the costume department just bunging a backwards-baseball cap on mr thwaites’ head and hoping that will convince us of his relative youth.

b) and god, when he wakes up from that memory, all alone in his bed, bleeding from bullet holes in his shoulder (bullet holes that are--in a somewhat convoluted way--barbara’s fault)? yikes. it’s great. you have my apologies, mr thwaites!

c) can you imagine dick just... crawling back to wayne manor, trying not to be seen by anybody, shedding his suit and just... collapsing onto his bed without even tending to his wound? the sheer emotional and physical exhaustion of it?

d) it’s so interesting to see how barbara and dick approach the idea of legacy--a big theme on the show!--in this flashback. barbara is the one bucking the idea that she should follow in her father’s footsteps, while dick seems pretty content with the batman-and-robin setup, and even tries to get barbara to join their team (robin-girl. pfffft). obviously after this several traumatic things happen wherein dick ends up questioning and then resenting his role as robin, his relationship with batman or even returning as a vigilante at all. and barbara... ends up replacing her father as commissioner. it’s tragic, really.

e) the dynamic between dick and barbara in the flashback reminds me of how it was between dick and donna in 1.08 and even between kory and dick in early s1. it’s like having an older, strong-willed woman by his side means he gives over the steering wheel for a while and lets himself... unspool, a little bit. it’s kinda endearing.

also:

*pinches his cheeks*

3. you know, we talk about dick and Eldest Daughter Syndrome, and that’s definitely valid, but here gar seems to me the embodiment of it, with all the emotional gardening and firefighting that he’s expected to do. he’s kind of the guy expected to keep his shit together and take care of everyone else while they are falling completely to pieces, unable to carve out time to process his own trauma. he’s also picked up dick’s and kory’s tendencies to bottle up their struggles and shun appearing vulnerable, and he’s struggling in the shadow of both dick and kory undergoing acute crises, his best friend (and frequent confidante) on the other side of the world, and seeing hank die, utterly helpless to stop it.

i’m glad that he got a chance to tell dick even a smidgeon of what he really feels, and i hope this is at least a semblance of a wake up call for dick to actually sit down and work with the people he repeatedly calls family.

3.5. it’s heartening to see that dick immediately makes it his priority to go talk to gar. but don’t blow off kory in the process, man!

4. i’m really loving this dynamic between kom and conner--i get the idea that both of them consider each other as Unknowns, alien two times over. but conner’s only ever known the titans, who embrace being different, and kom’s only ever known... well.

anyway, kory is Really Stressed, and honestly? #relatable.

when you’re forced to bring an estranged family member to hang out with your friends...

4.5. i love that the titans are spending so much time in the kitchen. a real family!

5. jonathan crane is a creep and i absolutely cannot stand him.

5.25. how did he get a whole lab setup (in the basement of a hospital...?) with a bunch of whitecoats to work for him? how did he just waltz into the viewing room of an operation theatre when he’s one of the most wanted men in gotham right now? why is jason wandering around maskless when--presumably--as the adopted son of the most famous person in gotham he’d be a tad more recognisable than your average joe?

why do i expect this show to answer anything anymore?

5.5. that’s not necessarily a criticism, mind; i’ve said since season 1 that titans is very comics-like in this aspect, all about the Aesthetic and the splash-page splendour rather than the niggling unimportant details of how or when the characters got to said location. like. the camera gliding over the operation being set-up, lady vic bursting in and doing her murder dance (imagine the luck of the poor intern who chose this day and this surgery to assist) and jason, shocked and slack-jawed, framed by blood.

5.75. it’s a sobering reminder for jason that, though he chose this path in order to gain control over a world that seemed like it was rapidly spinning out of his grip, he’s only succeeded in handing over even more control to a man with an agenda that is very clearly not aligned with his own. he’s in too far to stop now, though.

5.9. i have a lot more thoughts about jason! saving it up for the end of this recap, though.

6. more kitchen time! i better see dick do some cooking soon...

(”our kitchen”! it still delights me! kitchens are So Important)

6.25. so much of dick’s issues have revolved around his relationship with bruce, so it’s completely understandable that in the wake of a huge crisis where bruce literally asks dick to replace him and be a “better” him, dick would default to all the worst things he learned from the man. and i’m glad kory’s having none of it, but come on, guys. the woman’s literally fetched her fratricidal sister out of a hole in the ground with no idea what said sister is going to do next and experiencing a burgeoning sense of guilt far, far beyond her history with the titans, and dick’s too far into his autocolonoscopy that he can’t see that she needs help.

6.5. “he services your urges”--well, as far as we know, kory is the last person he had sex with...

7. “i hope [gar] isn’t angry with me...” SIR! i thought you’d already spoken to him! smh, as the kids say. kory wouldn’t be needing to reassure you if you just took the effort to build two way emotional relationships with the rest of the team. @superohclair was taking about dick’s relatively low emotional intelligence? i agree.

7.5. “i got my own problems [...] you and barbara? fix it.” YOU TELL HIM, KORY

8. man i really like this weird, sad tension between dick and barbara--this sense that both of them are approaching the other based on how they remember them and are ultimately disappointed by the truth. barbara thought she could trust dick to... well, be a better batman, but dick has not only failed at that in her eyes, but repeatedly undermined her while exploiting the authority that she gave him. in dick’s eyes, this is nothing like the barbara that he knew, rebellious and ready to do whatever it takes to find something.

like. this show sometimes really hits me in the chest about the ways it shows kids grow into adults and into caretakers, and the way it’s stop-start, the ways nothing can happen at all for a long time and then it’s Crisis Central all at once and there’s no space to breathe. the weird sort of sadness that comes with nostalgia.

8.5. oracle name drop! i agree with barbara, any system that can just randomly tap into gotham phonelines is a monster.

8.7. (i don’t know if it’s my imagination, but is dick holding himself... differently in this episode? like that wound is definitely bothering him, and he’s running on fumes)

9. man, that was a really sweet scene between kom and conner. “feeling alien in your own world”... “not quite here nor there”

honestly this team runs on conner and gar’s faith in their value as a family, and it’s a sign of conner’s generous heart that he extends that opportunity to blackfire. this arc of maturation for him, where he’s now able to consciously choose which parts of himself he can use to do the thing he wants to so--save people--has been so fulfilling to recognise. this baby’s grown with the titans! and what he’s learnt is that people can get fucked up, but the titans is a place where they can be fucked up, and grow.

MY MAN CONNER

10. oh man i’m drinking in the gar-dick interaction in this episode like i’m three days into the desert and it’s the only source of water for miles around!

a) gar is absolutely not dealing with dick’s bullshit this episode and I LOVE IT. it’s such a far cry from the man who was idolising dick/robin back in s1 and expecting him to solve all their problems. dick is fallible, dick is fucked up, but he Tries His Best and that’s ok.

b) dick, huffing and puffing through that vent, unable to put any pressure on his left shoulder, trying to have a heart to heart with gar... fuck i love this asshole.

c) bruce took in a kid who was suffering... “and made him into a weapon”. well. i absolutely agree with dick that it was bruce who put these kids into these horrible situations with him and they came away with a bucketload of trauma to add to the one that they already had. but we know that bruce was really trying with jason, and at the end of s2, dick was coming to acknowledge that bruce had offered him something that wasn’t just darkness. jason’s death and bruce’s reaction to that shattered that fragile progress.

d) “gotham got to me too.” i feel more sympathetic towards dick running off on his own than most, and it’s not just because i’m an unapologetic stan. we’ve seen before that dick... devolves when overwhelmed, and he lashes out and makes ill thought out decisions and just Does Not Deal. it happened after hearing the news that deathstroke had returned in s2, and it didn’t help that everyone around him was reeling at the news, either. this time, however, he has his salvation in his family, and despite some stupid decisions like running off and kidnapping supervillains without telling his team, he’s been really on the ball this season. thinking clearly and logically, holding it together and working on a plan, thinking two steps ahead of the villains... yes.

e) gar needing to believe that jason isn’t beyond redemption... there’s a lot of blood on his hands, too, from when he was manipulated by cadmus last season. it makes sense why he’d relate to jason’s predicament, and i hope dick picked up on that.

f) my head just added a plaintive ow after dick jumped feet first into the storage room

i need, crave gifs of this scene!

11. *sits on hands* i’m going to talk more about red hood, i promise!

12. more gar and dick! is it my birthday??!!

(actually, according to the tamil calendar, it is my birthday! my “star” birthday)

12.5. excellent. dick using some implausible training that bruce taught him to solve a mystery? passing some of that knowledge onto gar? that proud smile when he sees gar perfectly execute moves that he taught him? MY HEART IS EXPLODING

13. aw, i love flashback!dick and barbara, they’re so cute <3

13.25. why does it not surprise me that the way he proposes a relationship to barbara is by saying “we make sense”? this guy can deduce exactly who was present where and what weapon they were holding from a garbled audio recording but other times he’s utterly clueless, and that’s a consistent character beat right from s1

13.5. so.... that’s why lady vic has it out for... barbara....? i don’t get it. it’s flimsy. but hey! the fun thing about titans is that i don’t have to get it. the payoff has nothing to do with the plot.

14. i can’t believe that barbara fell for that, but at least that wheelchair fight looked awesome, so.

15. oh yeah, i forgot that red hood bullied the mob into helping him and scarecrow... at least that explains the whitecoats and the elaborate set-up.

15.5. honestly i love how this dynamic between kory and kom is developing, though i wish more of the team would pay attention to it. time to call justin, i think!

16. i wonder what happened after that second flashback where barbara got hurt during that heist. did she give up on doing any more (maybe jim caught her)? was it because dick was called away by bruce and then the titans and got caught up in his own issues? maybe barbara froze him out because she wasn’t looking for the relationship that he was looking for? maybe the idea of doing that with someone turning into batman-lite was just... unappealing? scary?

whatever it is, it doesn’t look like dick ever processed the end of that relationship. it’s very intriguing to see where their dynamic goes next.

17. so.... what, did vic deliver some fear toxin to barbara? i... what?

17.5. and i TOLD YOU that they would never explain that doll or why vic attacked those two cops at the beginning! oh, titans. never change.

18. did jason just randomly have tim’s restaurant burgled? god, i’m feeling a bit nauseous... are they going to kill tim’s father?

18.25. i feel like the rest of the season is going to wrestle with jason’s culpability in the horrible stuff he’s doing and i’m already seeing that prospect divide fans. on one hand, his story is taking a lot of oxygen away from other equally interesting story arcs, and he’s done some truly awful things, like indiscriminate murder, threatening to kill children, blowing up hank, and potentially killing tim’s parents.

there’s something to be said for the kind of hold that crane has over him, and the so-called ‘anti-fear’ drug that he keeps plying jason with--he’s alone, drugged almost constantly (to the level of dependence), fresh from the trauma of being bludgeoned to death. he hasn’t conquered fear; he’s ruled by it. on the other hand, given that he’s the one character on the show given an obvious and identifiable ‘mental illness’ arc (maaaaybe dick too), one can argue that it’s irresponsible to show this progress into such violence: jason was vulnerable because he was struggling, and that left him vulnerable, but it took only a push before he became a fucking serial killer.

but that could mean we underestimate the degree of that vulnerability, and the mechanics of this universe where he fell into the clutches of the one supervillain perfectly designed to exploit that vulnerability. that helpless spiral into further and further self-destruction is all too real. it’s valuable to know that someone who has sunk that low can still seek help--actual help--and get it.

18.5. i don’t know. it’s not a question i’m going to resolve at the end of an overlong recap at 1 in the morning. i don’t believe it’s even a question that titans can resolve. but i am interested in where they’re going next with jason.

19. this episode was genuinely great! i’m pumped for the rest of the season!

#titans #titans spoilers #meta #dick grayson #koriand'r #barbara gordon #garfield logan #conner kent #komand'r #jason todd #jonathan crane #a byronic cupcake #badass strawberry truffle #manic pixie pop tart #a tragic jalebi #this is a 3k+ MONSTER yikes

50 notes · View notes

tv-music · 4 years ago

Text

Umbrella Academy Review 1.07

The Day That Was

We begin this episode with the story of Harold Jenkins, born on the same day as the Umbrella Academy kids, his mother died in childbirth leaving his father an alcoholic mess who takes his problems out on his son using his fist. Harold is a big fan of the academy and is convinced that as he shares their birthday he may be one of the 43. Dressed in his homemade uniform he tries to join the academy only to be told by Reginald that there is nothing special about him. When he returns home he is hit by his father and finally snaps, rather than get the beer his father asks for, he grabs a hammer and puts an end to his Dad’s abuse once and for all. He gets 12 years for the crime, and just 5 days earlier, the day we meet the siblings no less, he watched Klaus throw away dear old Reginalds diary and collect it himself. As he does this we get to see Harold's adult face for the first time, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, it’s Leonard. This brings us nicely back to where we left off in the last episode, with Leonard (I know his names Harold but for the sake of simplicity I’ll keep referring to him as Leonard) in the house taking one of the figurines but this time, as he overhears the rest of the family meeting take place, we see the first change caused by Five’s appearance, he realises they know his real name, even if they don’t actually know it’s him.

The siblings continue their meeting, and Five convinces them that they need to work together to figure out who Harold is and he, Diego and Alison investigate. They go to the police station in order to get Harold’s file, when Diego is informed he’s a suspect in his ex’s death - no real surprise there. When Diego gets the file, Alison immediately recognises Leonard and informs her brothers who he is. I’m glad that it wasn't dragged out and the 3 of them head over to Leonard’s house to investigate. It doesn’t take long for them to find his weird shrine but when they do Five collapses and they realise he was seriously injured. They take him home and while their Mum is caring for him, Diego mentions theres another address they can check, unfortunately as he and Alison leave the house, Diego is arrested for his ex’s death so Alison heads out alone

Luther is still convinced that this has something to do with his time on the moon and once again deals with the discovery that there was no real mission. With no Alison to comfort him this time and no Diego to tie up Klaus, Luther and Klaus are left with each other. We’ve not really seen much interaction between these two characters so this was interesting to watch. This was the first time I felt any real sympathy towards Luther, when he literally started crying on Klaus’s shoulder I felt genuinely sad. I was also surprised by the turn this episode took with these two characters, Luther looking to feel numb and forget the way Klaus does and Klaus having to be the responsible one, a role reversal that didn’t feel forced or for laughs but just two people both going through something difficult, Klaus grieving for Dave and Luther realising who his father really was.

Luther’s gone to the club and Klaus is following reluctantly, being led by Ben, to try to stop him. Klaus understandably doesn’t want to go in, but Ben makes it clear that Luther would do it if it were the other way round, no questions asked. I understand Klaus’s reluctance, he’s trying to get clean and a place like that is going to be really difficult for a newly sober person to be. While in the club, Klaus, already struggling with his addiction, started having flashbacks as part of his PTSD - give the poor guy a break. Klaus sees Luther in trouble and tries to help, almost getting himself killed in the process (or was he actually dead for the duration? I’m not sure if that was how it was intended) Klaus enters what we can only assume is the afterlife and while there he finally gets to speak with his Dad and gets some answers. Reginald wastes no time in expressing how disappointed he is in his son, while taking no responsibility for the damage he’s caused. He did reveal the answers to the mystery surrounding his death - he killed himself to bring them back together in order to save the world - did he never think of just treating them better and speaking to them? Of course, in true tv fashion, Klaus returns to the land of the living just as his Dad is about to tell him something important

Leonard, realising that the Hargreeve siblings know his real name and it’s only a matter of time before they find him and reveal all to Vanya, takes her out of the city and to a remote cabin in the woods - it’s like Vanya’s never seen a horror movie before.

It’s dark, they’re alone at a creepy lake and Leonard is more than a little insistent on Vanya tapping into her power - at this point I’m screaming at Vanya to see the red flags here, why isn’t she getting warning signs from how insistent he is on her having a power and figuring out how to use it while isolating her from her family? I know she’s had a tough life but come on. He takes her to dinner and when they get back to the car, there's a group of men there ready to start a fight over absolutely nothing. In Vanya’s desperate attempt to help Leonard, she inadvertently uses her powers and causes what looks like an awful lot of damage to the attackers. I find it hard to believe that this was a coincidence, she was struggling to tap into her powers and he knows they’re rooted in her emotions, Leonard hired them, I’m sure of it. When Vanya is allowed in to see Leonard at the hospital he’s wearing an eye patch - it was his eye Five found

There’s no real changes to Hazel and Cha Cha’s day which is unsurprising but it was interesting to see it from Hazel’s point of view. Instead we see the aftermath to Hazel knocking out Cha Cha, Hazel tells her he’s leaving and he hopes she can respect that, but Cha Cha makes it clear that she can’t stating that if Hazel doesn’t kill her she will kill him and Agnes - why is she so bothered by him moving on in his life, I never got any romantic vibes from them and no ones that bothered by a coworker or friend changing paths

Diego’s in prison, Five’s injured at home, Klaus is still sober and has some answers from their father he surely needs to share, Luther is high/drunk and continuing his party, Vanya is at the hospital with a newly eyeless Leonard and Alison is on her way to find her - the episode ends with the siblings all in very different places, in more ways than one - they all need to come together and fast if they have any chance of stopping the impending apocalypse

Extra Thoughts

I grow more and more fond of Diego every episode, him jumping through a glass window, when both Alison and Five had already found ways into the house and could have let him in had me laughing. The fact that the door was unlocked just made it better

Everything in the afterlife being black and white other than Klaus’s shirt was genius, but it was heartbreaking to see Klaus thinking he was going to see Dave but getting his Dad instead

I hope the story line with Diego being arrested goes away fast - it wasn’t surprising but was just unnecessary seemingly only there to separate the siblings

#tua #klaus hargreeves #luther hargreeves #five hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #alison hargreeves #diego hargreeves #ben hargreeves #reginald hargreeves #pogo #umbrella academy #the umbrella academy #hazel #cha cha #tua review #tv #tv review #review

40 notes · View notes

pynkhues · 4 years ago

Note

what do you think was the symbolism of the "they like you on red" line? i didn't really get that part but saw someone saying that "it was a nice touch". i just thought it meant that women liked beth in red and nothing else but i guess i was wrong.

Hi hi! I think it's one of those lines that can mean whatever you want it to mean, anons, but there's definitely a lot that can be read into it as cinema has what we tend to call a 'colour language'. In that, colours have certain meanings that years of visual storytelling has effectively canonised, and it means that shows and movies use those colours to tell us things about the characters, themes, relationships and story overall.

There's a really good, short, introductory article about it here on No Film School, and I'd really recommend watching the video there too as it's a lot of fun, but for the colour red, it boils down to this:

RED – anger, passion, rage, desire, excitement, energy, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence

All of the core six characters have worn red at varying points in the series, and I'd say it has a different meaning in each of the characters. For Ruby and Stan for instance, they very frequently wear red at the same time, which, in my reading, gives those scenes a strong thematic throughline of strength, unity and love and shows them as partners in their relationship.

Beth's relationship with the colour red though is, I think, a really defined one across the series, and the show drawing attention to it through that exchange with Beth and Nick was interesting, because it was rooted in Nick trying to control Beth's image, and Beth rebuking that by saying she doesn't wear red, which is a lie. Red is probably the colour she wears third most after black and blue, and it's a colour that's had significance for her since the start.

Namely, it's a colour heavily associated with Beth's relationship to power – both the loss and the gain of it, and frequently as a one-two punch in the same sequence.

As the series has progressed, it's gotten more nuanced with how it utilises red on Beth, moving from feature to trimmings as her wardrobe increasingly darkens as she further emulates Rio, but it's meaning I think is fundamentally the same. Beth has a complicated relationship with power, and that's realised through the way she wears red.

This has actually been there since 1.02, and has been a regular touchstone, so hey, let's take a look at that a bit:

In s1, the colour is much more the focal point because I think Beth's relationship to power was a lot simpler. She either had some, or she had none, and so the boldness of the red was really about encapsulating these moments when she felt powerful or powerless. We see that I think especially in the scenes where she's both – like how Rio's arrival in both 1.02 and 1.07 shifts the balance away from her.

In a lot of ways, s2 is an extension of that dynamic, but as the power plays between Beth, Rio, Turner and Dean all escalate, the use of red in the costume team is even more defined. This becomes particularly clear in moments like 2.03 when Beth gets the key from Rio, the entirety of 2.04 where the pendulum swings between her and Rio and her and Dean, and especially in 2.10, where Beth wears red almost the entire episode. Notably, it's an episode where she has almost no power at all, and she chafes against that until her showdown with Turner at the end of the episode.

S3 meanwhile massively pulls back on the red. It features in a few pivotal moments, particularly in the middle of the season, but otherwise is pretty absent from Beth's wardrobe overall. Again though, the outfits that incorporate red are tied to not just power, but control as well. Her red floral sweater in 3.01 is something she wears across the episode as she tries to build her operation and, successfully, maintain the balance in her life, and when the colour comes back into her wardrobe in 3.07 and 3.08, it's when she's starting to regain a degree of control.

And then s4! Red's back! And interestingly, with the exception of the dream sequence, it's always paired with black – with black as a base colour, a blazer, or the pyjamas underneath her robe.

Red in s4 I think evolves to not just be about power, but the way the line has blurred between the personal and the public, the criminal and the domestic. The maroon robe in particular is frequently worn by Beth at really pivotal moments where this happens – when she thinks she's about to be arrested only for Dean to be, when Rio delivers her the new plates, when she finds out Annie's been kidnapped, when Rio returns to her what he stole.

This blurring of lines is more than just the blurring of these spaces, it's the blurring of how one impacts her power in the other. Her getting rid of the Canadian money professionally led to a loss of power in her personal life by Rio taking Annie, just like how her personal conflict with Stan led to her leaning into her personal power over Phoebe to get the fake cash back for Rio, which in return led to him giving her more professional power again with the plates.

Red is a power colour, and it's considered one as much in real life as it is in cinematic language, and it's one the show often leans into (gosh, even look at Beth and Stan's fight in 4.09 where he's wearing red as he holds the power, and Beth black with only the smallest trimmings of it as she loses it).

The scene with Nick and Beth, like I said above, was sort of encapsulating all of this. Nick wants Beth to dress a certain way as a means to demonstrate his own influence (even if he does it through the constituents), and Beth balks because she doesn't like being told what to do anymore. I think it can be read just on that level, but I think the show has consciously and purposefully built a thematic narrative for Beth through the colour red too, and I think that's pretty fun to pick apart, especially given she, in true Beth form, rebels and wears pink instead.

#i think the show says a lot with the girls' wardrobes tbh #but beth's has evolved so much since s1 and the way they still bring items back to reuse #like that shirt above when she turns herself in to turner in 2.13 being the same she speaks in front of city council to in 4.14 #*4.13 #sorry i can no longer type apparently haha #beth boland #set dressing #nbc good girls #nick martin #beth + nick #welcome to my ama

20 notes · View notes

topazy · 4 years ago

Text

The Fierce And Broken

1.07

Master list

“It's been a few days. Maybe the bomb at the bridge scared them off?”

Bellamy raised his eyebrows at Clarke, “do you really think that?” She shook her head, Bellamy turned to face you. “What about you? Do you think the grounders have been scared off?”

“No.” You admitted, “I think they are planning on how to attack us. Not that it will take them long.”

Clarke frowned, “what do you mean?”

You sighed standing up. “From what I’ve been told the grounders have already got biological warfare nailed, I imagine they have other tricks up their sleeves. It’s amazing how advanced they are without technology. I think we should- is something amusing?”

You and Bellamy both turned to look at Clarke who had a strange look on her face. She shook her head, “no sorry...i just never realised you were such a fan of the grounders.”

What was her problem? You ignored her comment and continued talking. “We need to be prepared, I think you need to find out what people’s strengths are fast.”

Bellamy seemed intrigued by your suggestion. So far they hadn't come up with a better idea. You weren’t invited to the ‘leaders meeting’ but you’d overheard them talking. Since you were in the next room checking what medical supplies the camp still had, you had since been dragged into the conversation because Bellamy wouldn’t stop asking your opinion on things. “What do you suggest Al?”

You quirk a brow suddenly feeling a mixture of emotions, was this your chance to finally make a difference around camp? Bellamy had done the best he could but to survive the grounders you needed to be more organised. An idea that is easier thought than done. “Well, we need to know who should be on the frontline.” Clarke made a scoffing noise. “Any of us could fight if it came to it, but that doesn’t mean we should. Monty and Raven are far too useful to risk losing. Me and Clarke are the only people with medical training. We need to utilise people to the best of their abilities.” You shot a glance at Clarke, “or not.”

“It’s the best idea we have got so far,” Bellamy stood up. “I’ll get Octavia to help me make a list of everyone and what they are best at.”

You smiled at him before walking out of the drop-ship. For all his flaws he wasn’t a bad guy, Bellamy had done some reckless things that you didn’t agree with, but he was trying his best. At least he was open to hearing what you had to say.

______

You stepped inside the tent Raven was currently in, and unsurprisingly she was working hard. “Hey, genius.”

She turned to you and smiled, “hi Al.”

Ever since Raven had broken up with Finn you had been worried about her, she seemed fine but it could have just been an act. She told you how Finn said he loved her, but Raven ended it with him anyway. You were proud of her. Your friend respected herself enough to know when to call it a day, something you wished you could have done for yourself.

“Earth to Alba,” you looked straight ahead to see Raven wavering her hands in front of you. “Sorry, I completely zoned out. What were you saying?”

Raven smiled and motioned for you to sit down next to her. Once you were seated she repeated her previous question. “I was asking how your morning has been? You were gone by the time I woke up, usually I need to shake you awake.”

You chuckled at her comment. Raven had shared a tent with you most nights, apart from the one night when she spent the night with Finn. “I got up early to check on Murphy, his finger nails are finally starting to grow back.”

Raven pulled a face, “that’s so gross.”

You shrugged, “I’ve seen worse.”

The brunette smiled at you, and shook her head before turning back to the table in front of her. “Murphy is lucky to have you, nobody else would stick their necks out for him.”

“He was a good friend to me on the ark, he was there when-let’s just say whenever I needed a shoulder to cry on he was it.”

On the ark your parents used to joke Murphy was secretly your older brother. The two of you could be fighting like cat and dog one minute them playing like best friends the next as children. Regardless of what age you were, you and Murphy always had each other’s back.

“Like I said, he’s lucky to have you.” Raven paused before continuing, “we aren’t on the ark anymore...you have more than one friend down here. I’m always here if you need a shoulder to cry on.”

You opened your mouth to reply when Finn barged into the tent. He walked towards Raven and leaned down to see what she was building. “What's for dinner?”

Raven glanced up at him. Split loads, turning one bullet into two. It's all I can do until we get more gunpowder. Jasper has a recipe. Yesterday I saw him taking buckets from the latrine. I didn't ask.”

You felt uncomfortable. The calm atmosphere had changed the moment Finn entered the tent. Raven’s positive attitude had shifted, she now seemed pissed.

Finn obviously hadn’t of noticed because he kept talking. “Is one of those for me?”

“Maybe. Still deciding.”

He cleared his throat, “I keep wanting to apologize again.”

Oh. This was awkward. You cleared your throat, “I can give you guys a minute.”

Raven sighed, “You don't have to.” You weren’t sure if she was talking to you or Finn, but the pleading look on her face made you stay. “We're good. I’ve got to get this done.”

Finn shook his head, “that's bad.”

“What?” The volume of Raven’s voice surprised you. It was getting higher each time she spoke.

“When you're really pissed off, you always find a project, something to keep your hands busy so you don't punch someone in the face.”

The brunette frowned, “I'm not keeping busy, Finn. I'm keeping us alive.”

“Yeah. You're right.” Finn mumbled under his breath, “That was a dumb thing to say. See you later.”

You see Raven’s face fall. She looked hurt. “Wait. We're good. We're good. We are. I just want you to be happy.”

“Fire! Help fire!”

You ran out of the tent and towards the smoke. You were relieved to see Octavia and Murphy both stumble out of the tent. You noticed the furious look on Murphy’s face, Murphy was now standing toe to toe with Del. “This is all your fault! We told you it was too much wood.”

Del shoved him, “get the hell away from me!”

You were standing by Octavia’s side and rubbed her back as she continued to cough. Bellamy jumped in between the two boys before a fight could escalate. “Hey! Hey! Hey, stop! Save it for the Grounders.”

Octavia stepped away from you and towards her brother. “Well, now what the hell are we gonna do? That was all the food.”

Clarke stormed over shaking her head. “Any idea what happened?”

“Murphy says that Del kept feeding the fire, mostly because Octavia told him it was a bad idea.” Bellamy explained while glaring at Del.

Clarke scoffed, “And we believe Murphy?”

You answered her frowning, “yes. I’m sure O will say the same.”

The Griffin girl shook her head. “Whatever, we need to get more food. Anyone we can spare goes out.”

______

Delinquents gathered round to hear what Bellamy had to say. “Each group takes someone with a gun, and they're for killing Grounders, not food. We don't have the ammo. Use the spears for hunting. Get what you can. Be back by nightfall. No one stays out after dark.”

You eyed others in the camp as the split off into pairs. Your eyes landed on a head of blonde hair, oh great. It was only you and Clarke left. Sighing you went to walk towards her when you felt somebody’s hand on your shoulder.

Turning around you saw Raven staring at you with a worried look on her face. “You shouldn’t be going, the camp needs a medic. What if somebody becomes ill.”

She had a point. Thinking back to your previous conversation with Clarke and Bellamy, you knew what you had to do. Turning away from your friend you faced Clarke. “Hey Griffin,” you said walking towards her. “One of us needs to stay here, and I think it should be you.” She looked at you surprised. “You are the better medic, and the camp needs you.”

She pressed her lips together into a thin line before reluctantly agreeing. “Okay, be safe out there.”

You nodded and turned back to see Raven staring at you with a disappointed look on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest, “that’s not what I meant.”

“Clarke is more useful to this place than I am, she’s need here more than me.” You answered honestly.

Raven’s face twisted. “That’s not true. Octavia and Murphy need you, I need you here. You should have just let Clarke go.”

Running your hand through you’re hair, you let out a deep breath. Truthfully you didn’t want to go hunting, the idea of grounders attacking petrified you. But you needed to be brave. “I’ll be fine, and back before you know it.”

Raven’s expression softened as she pulled you into a hug. “Please be safe.”

“I will.” You pulled back from the hug, “I’ll be excited to see whatever badass creation you have made by the time I returned.”

She smiled hesitantly before returning to her previous job of making bullets.

Myles walked towards you. “Hey Y/N. You alone? You maybe want to go together?”

You pondered for a moment if it was a good idea to hunt with him. You had hated him for what he did to Murphy, but in times of war it was better to let go of grudges. “Sure. I'll get some gear.”

As you started collecting what you need Finn approached you. “Hey, you ready to go?”

Confused you studied him, “are you coming with us?”

Finn let out a chuckle. “You're lousy with a spear, but you're sneaky. We would make a good team.”

“And?”

“And Clarke says I’m to keep you safe, and so did Octavia. She actually threatened me.”

“I’m glad,” you laughed. “I’m also terrible at tracking, so you will come in handy.”

Myles joined you once again. “Hey, partner, we're wasting daylight. Oh, Finn, you're joining the band?”

He nodded, “yip.”

You glanced back one more time before exiting the gates as Myles started telling the story of how he got arrested on the ark.

______

Myles looked around trying to figure where the animal went. “Is is one of those scaly panther things?

Finn looked at him, “bore.”

“Good,” Myles did relived. “Because that panther meat is nasty, but I could eat a whole boar by myself, no joke. You know what the best part is of the boar? It's gonna sound gross.”

You stopped walking and turned to face them, you had noticed the look on Finn’s face. “Guys, quiet for a second. What is it?”

Finn crouched down to inspected the ground better. “These tracks. They're perfect.”

A knot twisted in the pit of your stomach, this was bad. “It’s too perfect.”

Standing up, Finn spoke in a low voice. “We're the ones being hunted.”

You looked up at the tree lines and the bushes where you stood. I’d the grounders where there they where well hidden. “I don't see anything.”

The moment the words came out of your mouth arrows started flying in your direction. You and Finn managed to dodge some, but Myles got hit. A arrow landed in his leg before a second one hit him in the chest.

Myles screamed out in pain. You tried to help him but Finn pulled you back. “Al, come on. We got to leave him.”

You went to argue that you couldn’t leave him behind when something heavy hit you on the back of the head. The last thing you remember is Finn screaming your name before landing on the ground.

______

You awoke to a grounder screaming in your face. He tied your hands and began dragging you along behind him as he road his horse. You felt a wave of relief seeing Finn was tied up beside you.

After a while the grounders stopped when you reached a grounder outpost. Finn nudged you, “We walked for about three miles after crossing that creek, another two or so before we got to the road.”

“I don't think it matters, Finn. They didn't blindfold us, which means they don't care what we saw. They're probably gonna kill us. What do you want from us?”

A grounder opened the door to revile a wounded child laying on a bed. Anya stepped out in front of you. “Help her. If she dies, he does. Her name is Tris.”

You shook your head and took a couple of steps back. “I can't do this. I don't have any equipment.”

Anya eyed you suspiciously. “We'll provide you with what we can Alba of Skaikru.”

“Why do you think I can save her?”

Finn let out a frustrated sigh, “Lincoln told her.”

Anya nodded confirming his theory. “Yes. Our healer is gone. There's nothing we can do for her.” She pointed at Finn. “For his sake, I hope you can.”

Finn grabbed you by the shoulders. “Al, you can do this.”

You bit on your bottom lip, “What happened to her?”

The grounder leader pulled a face of disgust. “She was on the bridge when your bomb exploded. Your people did this to her.”

“How could you send a little girl into battle? What is wrong with you people?” You asked bewildered.

Anya remained expressionless. “She was with me. She was my second. It's how we train them to be warriors.”

“Oh, so the killing can just go on and on.” You quipped back.

“Your people the bomb on the bridge. You did this to her.” As Anya spoke Tris began gasping for air. “Help her!”

You studied the young girl for a moment trying to asses her. Her skin was calmly, she had chills and was sweating. You pressed your hand on her chest to feel how fast her heart was beating. Tris was septic. “She needs clean blood.”

Finn looked at you worried, “A transfusion?”

You rummaged around the room for anything useful. “There's no tubing!” You turned to face the grounders. “We need a syringe, the biggest one you can find, and I need a cannula. It's like a hollow needle.”

One of the grounders eventually handed you ‘equipment’ you could work with. You times to face Anya, “Ok. I'm gonna need your blood.”

“No.”

“You're from the same tribe. It's the best match we're gonna get.” You tried your best to explain why you needed their blood, but all the grounders refused.

“Alba, if you're gonna do something, you have to do it now. Just use mine.” Finn rolled up his sleeve for you to tie a tourniquet around it.

Tris let out a whine of pain that didn’t sound normal. Shit. You knew she was dying but stilled tried your best. “I can't find a vein.”

“Al...”

“Oh, come on.” You continued to look frantically before eventually giving up.

“She's not breathing.” A grounder spat.

Anya raised her hand, “take him away and kill him.”

“No. No. No. No! No. No.” You protested, and fought against the grounder holding you “I did everything I could. No!”

Finn shouted as he was dragged away. “Alba, stop. They'll hurt you.”

______

“Anya will take no pleasure in your friend's death.” Caliban one of the grounders from before spoke. “Prove your worth, and you'll be welcome here.”

You squinted at him confused. “I couldn't save Tris. Why would you want me?”

“We told you. Our healer is gone.”

Maybe this bizarre offer could work in your favour. You might have the chance to get back to camp and warm the others. “Will I be able to go back to see them... my friends, my home?”

He let out a wicked laugh, “tomorrow there'll be nothing to go back to.”

Dame it. All you could do now was try and distract him. “Those marks on her shoulder, what were they? Lincoln has them, too.”

Caliban pulled his top down to reveille his own. “Each scar marks a kill in combat.”

“She had five kills?” He nodded. “She was a little girl.”

“She was brave.”

You shook your head in disbelief. “You have a lot of them.”

“And half were after I hurt my knee.”

You bit down on your bottom lip. “Is your commander really going to kill my friend? And the rest of my people?”

The grounder explained in detail what would happen to Finn, then how they would attack ‘Skaikru’. Panicked, you kicked Caliban in the knee and used the scalpel to slit his throat. You sobbed out a apology before watching him die. The moment the realisation of what you done sunk in you threw up, but quickly pulled yourself together.

Not knowing where Finn was you started running in the direction towards camp.

#the 100 #Raven Reyes #raven reyes x reader #slow burn #slow romance #the 100 x oc #the 100 fandom #the 100 fanfiction #Raven Reyes/reader #the 100 imagine #raven reyes imagine #grounders #finn collins #Octavia Blake #clarke griffin #anya the 100 #John Murphy #Bellamy Blake

78 notes · View notes

olderthannetfic · 4 years ago

Text

Miami Vice episode suggestions

I was chatting with someone a few days ago about which Miami Vice episodes really cover that sense of the self being subsumed into the undercover role...

Yes, yes, I know: the answer is ALL OF THEM.

But for someone who doesn’t want to watch five seasons of TV just to write Miami Vice fusion fanfic for another series, here are my suggestions. These use Wikipedia’s episode numbering.

1.01-2 - Brother’s Keeper - The pilot includes the iconic Something in the Air Tonight scene and is basically the only time we find out that Tubbs is super inexperienced and just got there through sheer moxie. I love Tubbs. All things related to Tubbs are the Most Important Episode. (More relevantly, this is also an episode about dirty cops and identity.)

1.03 - Heart of Darkness - The dad from Married with Children is an undercover agent losing his mind. A strong and literally textual There But For the Grace of God At Least Until Sweeps Week moral for Crockett.

1.05-6 - Calderone’s Return - C&T leave the country despite being city cops to do a spot of extrajudicial killing. They take their shirts off, making this a Very Important Episode. Also, there’s undercover romance stuff.

1.07 - One Eyed Jack - Crockett’s old flame is in deep with loan sharks. The new boss played by Edward James “has had the same death glare since the 80s” Olmos shows up. So does that guy who was every gay dude’s sexual awakening in the 70s. “Little Joe never once gave it away,” as Lou Reed sang. (YES, I AM SUPER OBSESSED WITH JOE DALLESANDRO.) Internal affairs is bad like on all cop shows. Crockett gets framed. Ye olde fandom starts shipping Crockett/Castillo. I start shipping Castillo/Tubbs.

1.14-15 - Golden Triangle - Crockett and Tubbs go undercover as pimps with the help of a feisty hooker who is one of my favorite one-off characters, but what seemed like a small case leads to mysteries from Castillo’s past.

1.16 - Smuggler’s Blues - A famously atmospheric episode where C&T fly to Colombia posing as drug dealers in a mission to uncover dirty law enforcement. This is the episode the reboot movie’s plot is based on. Without credit to Miguel Piñero, I might add.

1.22 - Evan - The Gay Episode™. Makes absolutely everyone look like a gigantic closet case, and the bury your gays happened years before the actual episode, but less offensive than you might expect.

2.01-2 - The Prodigal Son - C&T go to NYC where Tubbs is from. Possibly the most iconic montage of The City As Character in the whole city literally to You Belong to the City as Crockett angstily realizes Tubbs is staying in NYC with his old flame. Spoiler: Tubbs is absolutely not staying with Valarie. TBH, I would totally pick Pam Grier over Don Johnson, but buddy cops, man...

2.09 - Bushido - Peak 80s weeaboo. Castillo kills AK47-weilding KGB agents with a katana. No, seriously.

2.16 - Little Miss Dangerous - My favorite hair metal lady stars as a fucked up prostitute who murders her johns because of childhood trauma or something. Features Tubbs being traumatized hotly. Err, I mean, a very serious episode that I like for deep and serious reasons.

2.18 - French Twist - The most inexplicable set design in all of Miami Vice history. I am not kidding. You will know it when you see it. Also good for showing Tubbs’ paranoia and Crockett’s doomed love life.

3.04 - Walk-Alone - Tubbs goes undercover in prison. No, I have no excuse for this rec except that Castillo going after him is super hot.

3.06 - Shadow in the Dark - Ripped from the headlines serial killer stuff where Crockett goes too far inside the mind of his quarry.

3.10 - Streetwise - Bill Paxton is a cop who destroys his life trying to save the prostitute he’s having an affair with. Wesley Snipes is also in this. (Yes, absolutely everyone guest starred on MV.) Peak nihilistic The Job Destroys You fare.

3.15 - Duty and Honor/The Savage - Castillo’s past comes back to haunt him again. Includes some stuff about trying to do the honorable thing while being on opposite sides.

3.19 - Red Tape - Viggo Mortensen and Lou Diamond Phillips are ill-fated cops. Tubbs goes undercover as evil.

4.03 - Death and the Lady - C&T investigate an artsy snuff film. Pure 80s aesthetic nonsense. I love it.

4.06 - God’s Work - Interesting episode that turns out to be about AIDS. Lots of Castillo in this one.

4.22, 5.01-2 - The “Burnett arc” - The series’ most iconic arc where Sonny Crockett gets amnesia and believes he is his undercover role, Sonny Burnett. He takes over the Florida underworld while Tubbs refuses to believe in his apparent death and searches for him. 4.21 is Crockett losing his wife and engaging in a spot of extrajudicial killing, but the arc really kicks off in 4.22.

5.05 - Borrasca - The CIA wants Vice to leave a murderous drug dealer alone for bullshit CIA reasons. A must-watch for what it implies at the end of the episode--a secret that now ties Tubbs and Castillo together, but not Crockett.

5.13 - The Cell Within - A dude Tubbs arrested in NYC (a total retcon of the pilot where he’s basically a traffic cop) has become a bestselling author, dedicated his book to Tubbs, and invited him to dinner. Too bad the actor playing him isn’t hotter, but this is peak bad fanfic plot where the villain kidnaps our fave and gives him the Let’s Rule the World Together speech while locking him in a cell. Tubbs is just that hot, I guess. Kudos for the scene where the dude makes Tubbs watch BDSM porn with him to demonstrate how the world is Full Of Sin. (Extra kudos for it just being footage of an episode from season 1.)

5.15 - Over the Line - I don’t even remember this one, but it’s about vigilante cops fed up with the system.

5.16 - Victims of Circumstance - Crockett has to go undercover as a white supremacist. A little hokey but worth watching if you’re interested in undercover bullshit on this show.

5.17 - Freefall - The actual last episode, full of nihilism and disillusionment with the system.

Or for a shorter list, try the pilot, the Burnett arc, and the finale.

#miami vice

61 notes · View notes

roseredfingers · 15 days ago

Text

1.07: ONE ARREST "A man must have a code."

#the wire #the wire hbo #thewireedit #tvedit #jimmy mcnulty #roland pryzbylewski #bunk moreland #cedric daniels #reginald 'bubbles' cousins #d'angelo barksdale #wendell 'orlando' blocker #lester freamon #jay landsman #tv: the wire #1.07: one arrest #m: gifs #*

33 notes · View notes

mysterylover123 · 6 years ago

Text

My Top 20 BKDK Moments (So Far)

by mysterylover123

Warning, anime onlys: I’ll be mentioning Manga stuff, though only 2 of them are all that spoiler-y

#20. YOU MADE THAT BORROWED POWER YOUR OWN

3.19 “RUSH!” Provisional License Exam Arc

What Happens: Bakugo asks Midoriya if he’s made ‘that borrowed power’ his own, complimenting him indirectly by saying that of course he passed. Deku gets super excited at being complimented by him.

Why I like it: For all the shit they throw at one another early on, BK & DK do really look up to/respect each other. They won’t admit it easily, but scenes like this (and a later scene in Chapter 194, where Deku compliments Kacchan and he too reacts extremely) showcase that respect. I love it. Also, Kacchan knows Deku’s AM’s inheritor already.

#19. HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANY BETTER? (Manga)

Chapter 168 “The Strange Tale of Aoyama” Interlude arcs

What happens. Post Internship arc, Bakugo asks Deku if he’s gotten any better since they last talked. Deku says no, and Bakugo reminds him that he said he’d surpass him. This prompts Deku to work harder.

Why I like it: Ideal RivalShipping is about two characters pushing each other to be their best selves. Bakugo is great at getting Deku to try harder, just as Deku prompts his best self.

#18. YOUR QUIRK IS AMAZING, KACCHAN

Backstory flashback, multiple times. Mostly Battle Trial Arc

What happens: Baby Deku and Kacchan walk through the woods together, talking about quirks, before DK is found to be quirkless. This is one of many scenes of Baby Deku and Kacchan being casual friends.

Why I like it: I love the cute scenes of them as kids, where they seem to be actual friends and hang out together, bonding over All-Might and quirks and heroes. I hope we get to see them hang out like that again as adults some day.

#17. SECRET OFA TALKS (MANGA SPOILERS!)

Chapter 217: End of joint Training Arc

What Happens: Kacchan joins in the AM and Deku talks (for the 2nd time) to discuss what’s happening with OFA. He also works with Deku on trying to master his new ability.

Why I like it: Bakugo is instantly able to help Deku zero in on the information he needs up joining the secret OFA talks, in a way that AM wasn’t able to. He makes a great partner for Deku here, getting right to the point and refusing to waste time.

#16. “I COULD MOVE LIKE KACCHAN”

Hero-Killer Arc, 2.14-2.19

What Happens: Deku is trying to master OFA. He thinks about how he wants to move, and uses Kacchan’s moves as his model. He’s able to discover Full Cowling like this, which lets him fight Stain and do well in the race - and everyone notices (Iida, Uraraka, Todoroki, Bakugo) that he’s moving like Kacchan.

Why I like it: Deku has lots of moments where he thinks “What would Kacchan do” or tries to model himself on the guy. He admires the crap out of him - but not in the blind way he tries to imitate AM, or Ochaco tries to imitate Deku, or Iida Ingenium. Because Deku doesn’t hero-worship Baku, but sees his flaws, he’s able to imitate him without losing himself.

#15. “HE’S AMAZING”

Battle Trial Arc, 1.07-1.08

What happens: Midoriya and Uraraka are pitted against Kacchan and Iida in mock battle. Midoriya goes on and on and on about how awesome Kacchan is and how much he wants to beat him - first in a speech to Uraraka, later telling Bakugo to his face.

Why I like it: Deku really looks up to Kacchan, and even at their most adversarial, he still talks about him in positive terms and speaks of him as a cool guy he wants to surpass. Deku doing this is also good for Bakugo, since he’s able to acknowledge his flaws and strengths without kissing his ass like his sidekicks in middle school; Deku beating him upsets his pride and sets off his Character Development.

#14. TWIN STARS OF CLASS 1-A

3.17 Class 1-A, License Exam Arc

What Happens: Aizawa meta’s about his class with Ms Joke, explaining that Deku and Kacchan are the center of every Class A incident, and despite not getting along, their presence elevates everyone else up.

Why I like it: The staff of UA seem to ship BKDK. They teamed them up to fight AM and encourage them to get along. Aizawa sees clearly how each one inspires everyone else. This speech groups them together as a duo who act in tandem. Twin Stars.

#13. “THE MOST AMAZING HERO ALWAYS WINS IN THE END.”

2.24 “Katsuki Bakugo origin” Flashback

What happens. Baby Kacchan fights off a bunch of older kids, even though he’s in tears. Baby Deku watches him from afar and looks deeply impressed.

Why I like it: Deku seems to have admired Kacchan since he was really, really young. I’m not sure when this scene takes place, but Deku’s big smile and wide, shining eyes when watching Bakugo seem like a mark of affection and love to me.

#12. ABOUT MY/YOUR SHOOT STYLE

3.23 Deku vs Kacchan Part 2

What happens: Post Fight, under house arrest alone, Deku and Kacchan have a very civil conversation, where depending on the translation either Deku brings up Shoot style and asks for advice, or Kacchan offers it on his own. Ends with Deku smiling.

Why I like it: Post-DVK2, they immediately establish that they’re now capable of talking to each other in civil terms. Kacchan gives Deku civil advice, and despite saying ‘it pissed me off’, the whole exchange is beautifully positive.

#11. GET OUT OF MY WAY, DEKU

1.12 All Might USJ Arc

What happens: Deku jumps in to save Al Might and is nearly killed by Kurogiri. At the last second Kacchan saves him by taking down Kurogiri. Also Later Kacchan is nearly killed and Deku screams in horror.

Why I like it: Bakugo doesn’t have a ton of scenes where he saves Deku, but the few times he does save someone/show concern for them, it’s usually him. This is Baku’s first save, and though he phrases it in rude terms, he still does it. Actions> words.

#10. WELL, NOW I’M EVEN MORE EAGER (MANGA)

Chapter 202, joint Training Arc

What Happens: Deku and AM go off to talk OFA. Kacchan refuses to be left out and joins them voluntarily. Noticing Deku is upset he encourages him in his own way, which AM observes. Once Deku smiles, Kacchan goes back to being his abrasive self.

Why I Like it: Baku is newly nicer (in his Tsundere way) after DVK2. He’s actually able to be kind to Deku and encouraging. This is similar to the advice the OFA users give Deku later, which helps him actually use the power. OFA Co-conspirators FTW.

#9. NOW IT’S YOUR TURN

3.11-3.12 US of Smash

What Happens: Post All Might’s fight, Kacchan notices Deku’s tears and AM’s words, and puts the pieces together. He asks AM about Deku and when he’s shot down he remains quiet and brooding.

Why I like it: Bakugo changes forever in this section of the story. He realizes the truth about Deku. He blames himself for ending AM. He asks about Deku and shows awareness that something’s up with him. It’s all very self-aware and sweet.

(#8-2, examples of super-mega-ultra concern for each other)

#8. YOU’RE PROBABLY THE MOST FRUSTRATED OF ALL

3.04-3.10 Training Camp and Hideout Raid Arcs

What Happens: While fighting Muscular, Deku learns that Kacchan is in danger. He goes psycho Madman Deku mode for the whole Training Camp Arc, refusing to pause or rest until he’s saved Kacchan. He falls apart when Kacchan is taken, then immediately goes off to save him again even though he could die.

Why I like it. Deku likes saving people in general, but when someone threatens Kacchan, he goes crazy in a way he doesn’t for anyone else. He spends this whole arc hopped up on “Must save Kacchan” juice and keeps pushing and going no matter what. He cares about the guy, no two ways about it.

#7. DON’T COME, DEKU

3.07 “What a Twist!”

What happens: Bakugo is captured by villains. He’s being dragged through the portal and Deku comes barreling towards him with two broken arms, fully prepared to jump through the portal and die just to save him. Bakugo tells him not to and Deku listens.

Why I like it: Though this arc is filled with Deku being crazy protective of Baku, Baku gets his own fair share in right here. He tells Deku not to basically die protecting him, and Deku listens. Baku basically saves his life here, at the expense of his own.

#6. “ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? ARE YOU HURT?”

Backstory flashback repeated a lot.

What happens: Baby Kacchan slips and falls into a creek. Baby Deku goes down to help him up and asks if he’s ok. This offends Baby Kacchan’s pride.

Why I like it: Bakugo probably never had anyone treat him like a fallible human being until Deku came along. Everyone told him he was amazing and could never be hurt - but Deku doesn’t. That bruises his ego at first, but in reality it’s exactly what he needs: Someone who cares about him and will protect him, while still admiring him. (Plus this scene is cute).

#5. HOW CAN HE SMILE… (MANGA SPOILERS. MASSIVE ONES)

Chapter 210, Joint Training Arc

What Happens: In an effort to piss Deku off and get him to talk, Monoma using Shinso’s power taunts him about Bakugo, saying that Bakugo shouldn’t be able to smile since he destroyed All Might. Deku’s new quirk goes PsychoBerserker out of control in response.

Why I like it: Deku’s power-ups are often connected with Baku in some way. Like many superpowers, OFA seems to be fueled by emotions. So targeting Bakugo brings out Deku’s greatest powers. In this case, though, it’s not a villain trying to hurt him. It’s someone insulting him. And that means Deku will defend Kacchan’s honor and feelings as well as his safety.

#4. I GOT MY QUIRK FROM SOMEONE ELSE

1.08 “Bakugo’s Start Line”

What Happens: Post Battle Trial Arc, Bakugo is in emotional freeful. Deku notices and chases after him, telling him for no goddamn good reason that he has an inherited power. Kacchan doesn’t believe him and instead pours his heart out to him, crying and promising to beat him.

Why I like it: Buncha reasons. 1) Deku ditches all his lovely friends, including Ochaco, to go comfort Kacchan. Even in the same way Ochaco just ditched Kaminari. 2) Deku tells Kacchan about OFA. He won’t tell anyone else, he just decided comforting Kacchan was more important than his entire reason for being here. 3) Kacchan cries in front of Deku and tells him how he feels insecure. He doesn’t do that in front of anyone else. 4) Warm lighting, deep eye contact, and the beginning of a beautiful rivalry.

#3. DEKU AND KACCHAN VS ALL MIGHT

2.24 “Katsuki Bakugo Origin”

What happens: Deku and Kacchan work together to fight AM, after a nasty fight. Deku calls Kacchan out for not being himself. Kacchan sacrifices his body to make sure Deku can escape. Deku socks AM in the face to protect Kacchan. They win.

Why I like it: For a moment that started out so dark (sock to the face), this one gets sweet fast. On Deku’s side: He reprimands Kacchan for not acting like himself, compliments his can-do- attitude, and works together with him, overcoming his fear; he finds the strength to punch AM in the face to save Kacchan, with a callback to ep 2. Kacchan’s strength helps Deku win. On Kacchan’s side: He works with Deku to win, giving him his gauntlet, and sacrifices his safety so Deku can get out, even sounding kinda concerned for him when he gets in danger. They showcase what a great team they could/will make when they work together.

#2. MY LEGS MOVED BEFORE I COULD THINK

Chapter 1/Episode 2: Izuku Midoriya Origin/What it Takes to be a Hero

What happens: Deku, in a fit of depression, sees the monster AM saved him from suffocating some kid. He’s freaking out till he sees that it’s Kacchan. He runs into deadly danger to save Kacchan, inspiring AM to save them both.

Why I like it: Because this moment changed Deku’s entire life and Kacchan’s as well. Deku’s legs ‘move’ before he can think. And it’s explicitly because it’s Kacchan in danger; he doesn’t move until he sees Kacchan’s terrified eyes. Kacchan also shows concern for Deku, telling him to get away (he didn’t say that to the pros trying to save him) so he doesn’t die. This is another scene that follows up on an awful fight between the two, and changes both lives forever. Saving Kacchan gets Deku OFA. Being saved by Deku opens Kacchan to his humility for the first time and stops him from hassling Deku. Plus, just a super-snippy moment to me.

BONUS: Anime only, OPS & EDS

OP 1: The Day

Deku and Kacchan are surrounded by the romantic cherry blossom trees.

OP 3: Sora Ni Utaeba

Deku and Kacchan brooding on each other.

ED 3: Datte Atashi No Hiro

Admitted by the writer to be about Deku’s feelings for Kacchan. Fantasy Deku with his hand over his heart watching Kacchan. BKDK teaming up in Fantasy AU to beat All Might as they look each other deeply in the eyes.

2.24 OG

Anime-only Kabe-Don scene.

OP 4: Odd Future

Deku’s head bows when Kacchan is stolen.

ED 4: Update

“Cause I love, cause I love, cause I love being with you.” While they watch the stars together.

OP 5: Make My Story

2 halves, one whole.

THE BEST:

#1. Deku vs Kacchan Part 2

Chapter 116-121/Episodes 3.22-3.23

“It’s about your quirk…If your way of looking at him was right, does that mean my admiration was wrong?”

“No matter how many times I pushed you away, you always keep coming back!”

“We never talked about our real feelings…”

“Why was I the reason for All Might’s end?”

“The only one who can receive Kacchan’s feelings is me.”

“To me, you were an amazing, inspiring person, who was much closer to me than All Might. That’s why I kept chasing after you” (is it me or does this sound exactly like Hinata’s love confession to Naruto in the Invasion of Pein arc?)

“This is gross, so I can’t tell you, but…you’re my image of victory.”

“If the two of you recognize each other, and honestly raise each other up, you can become the best heroes, who both win and rescue.”

What Happens: Deku and Kacchan tell each other how they really feel. Through a fight because Shonen.

Why I like it: AM himself says it. They’re perfectly matched. They need each other to become the greatest heroes. Kacchan knows he can only talk to Deku about how he’s feeling; nobody else can receive his feelings. Deku loves and admires Kacchan as his friend, not his Great Hero like AM. It’s just perfect.

#my hero academia #katsudeku #bkdk #midoriya izuku #katsuki bakugou #top 10 moments #izuku x katsuki #kacchan x deku

2K notes · View notes

derenger · 4 years ago

Text

Growing up, parenting and gaming - Longread on life, computer games and finding yourself

This longread is dedicated to and written for all those current and former kids, who had or have troubles growing up, taking decisions, finding themselves in the world they live in, who play games independently of age and – perhaps – have not lost their love for a good game, good times and good buddies.

Perhaps it will help someone in their life. If that happens – I shall think of this writing as useful and my time writing it as not completely wasted.

The ideas have been on my mind for over 2 years now (they started getting very clear when I started doing therapy) and I have to put them on paper now.

Here it goes.

I grew up in the 90s in Eastern Europe. After the USSR collapsed millions of people found themselves without work, perspectives and means of existence. We were lucky that my dad had a good job that was paid in hard currency, however he was barely home – and by that I mean like seeing him 2 or 3 times a month.

We had good living conditions compared to others and my mom did the best she could too take care of my younger bro and me.

The first time we were exposed to computer games was when I was like 7 and my bro was 5 – in the office where the boyfriend of our aunt has been working. We played Dangerous Dave, Scorched Earth, Socoban, Digger, Civilization, The Incredible Machine and some others I do not recall the names. And of course, we liked it and it did not take long for our dad to install them on his PC at home. 2 years later my best buddy got Doom 2 installed on his PC and that was the absolute blast. We spent weeks trying to figure out how to get through level 2 and it was a big holiday when our buddy finally did.

My dad tried to restrict TV and computer time per week, so we always opted for the PC. Over time I learned to turn it on by myself and play when there was no one at home. My dad did not know.

A couple of our friends had 8bit consoles - soviet bootlegs of Super Nintendoes, with TMNT and Chip n Dale, but that was probably it. After all, we were living in a small village with not that many possibilities to make money.

When I was 10 we moved to a bigger city into a 1 room apartment. All 4 of us. This was 1996. 2 other very important things:

We started going to a far bigger school than before, where the mood was totally different from what we were used to. We were bullied and beaten, could not get along with other pupils and teachers and no one actually cared.

Father was home every day.

I mean, father was present home every day. It is not like he spent time with us doing sports or whatever. He just had any idea what to do with us as this was his first long time exposure to kids in the 11 years we were a family.

He was more of an authoritarian guy – we were not supposed to waste time in gaming clubs, listen to stupid music (Prodigy, Beastie Boys), we should have studied well, read books, have been doing sports and in general act like good kids.

We were doing some martial arts sports cause mom brought us there. We were taking music classes cause “everyone has to”. We were supposed to help out at home. We were not supposed to hang out with “bad” kid or stay outside till late hours. We were not supposed to smoke, swear and simulate illness to miss classes. We were not supposed to get into trouble.

It is not like we were putting a lot of thought into it. We just moved to the city from rural area and frankly speaking were absolutely not happy about. I guess we just went with the flow.

This was also the time when the first “gaming spot” in town opened – they had 2 Sega Mega Drives II and 1 Sony PlayStation. MK3, MK3 Ultimate, Contra Hard Cops, Golden Axe, some samurai fighting games for the Sega. SPS – Red Alert, Twisted Metal, Duke Nukem, Doom and of course – an incredible breakthrough for its time – Quake 2. And that was a revelation. I recall mom giving us money from time to time. To go play. Sega cost like 1 buck and hour, SPS – 1,5 bucks – far more expensive, so we played mainly on Sega.

At the same time we did have some games at home – Doom, Power Formula 1, Lines, the same Civilization, Lion King, Alladin, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Gods and Dune 2000. Dad did not want to allow us play games. Like, at all. Don’t ask me why he never deleted the games. The PC was mainly used for him to work. So when he left home, he took the power cable of the monitor and closed it in his spare suitcase. What we did was to unplug the cable from the printer and use for the monitor. Later on he hid both cables – from the monitor and the PC in the suitcase. I found a way to open the suitcase with a very fine flat screwdriver. Mom hid the fact from our dad for a while until he noticed the suitcase was “broken”. I believe they did not speak with each other for a week. But I am still proud of the fact of cracking that suitcase! Fuck yeah!

Things started getting worse when I transferred to a lyceum - 1998. I was 12. This was like a gymnasium for hardcore science-kids, where they went deep into math and natural sciences. I was hysterical the first 2 years as I was barely making the program. Even my dad had troubles solving the math they gave us. Music classes turned to shits. I had no time nor mood for sport. But I had to keep doing it all. Just because. There were a couple of bullies in class, whose parents bribed the management of the school so that their kids would have fancy graduation papers at the end and frankly speaking no one could get a grip on them. That had me very depressed.

Around 13 I started stealing money from my parents and missing classes to go to computer clubs – their number was getting bigger every week, consoles started to disappear. Half Life, CS 1.6, Age of Empires 2, Q3, D2 1.07, Black and White, SimCity 2000, NOX, StarCraft Brood War and many other games had our full attention. The biggest part of it was the fact you could play with or against your friends! That was so fucking awesome! At the same time I started discovering sci-fi and rock music, but that is a different story.

We stole a lot of money from our parents in those times and missed a lot of classes and of course after 3 or 4 months it all got revealed. Boy oh boy our dad smoked us. That was very very tough for a kid when all the things he actually liked were taken from him. Dark times when we were seriously asking ourselves what the hell our parents wanted from us as aside from the stuff they told us to do they never really told us what was it for. Everything else was useless, stupid or waste of time.

Somehow my marks at school got better closer to graduation and I graduated almost with a medal, went to university. I remember they had this PC club with like 200 PCs and from time to time we skipped one or the other lecture to play Starcraft or CS, but very quickly boozing with buddies became the major leisure activity and pushed gaming to the back. I did pretty well at the university, made my master with excellence and that was it – 6 years flew by in a blink of an eye.

I got my own PC during the first year at the uni, played a bit of Warcraft 3, HOMM 3, Quake 3, Lineage II but it was not like I was deep into that. I remember after defending my master I spent like 3 days playing Crysis without anyone saying a word. I mean, I was through with the university. I was free!

Soon after that I went on to work abroad as a project engineer in the chemical industry.

At the moment I am doing sales engineer for a good salary in Berlin, I am married and except for the Corona and all the restrictions it brought life seems ok.

During the last 10 years of my “adult” life I have been in many different situations. I have been very sick a couple of times, running on the edge of life and death. I have been in some useless relations that only drained energy and nerves from me. I also have been diagnosed with depression and burnout at some point, did therapy and consider myself fully recovered from both. I’ll be summarizing it all below.

When I look at my life it did occur to me that gaming was far more important than just the sheer desire to shoot buddies and skip school.

Growing up under the conditions where everything is predetermined one does not really get the chance to expose your own wish. After all, my parents both come from very unhappy families and did not have the exactly best examples of parenting.

It occurred to me that they never really cared about anything we achieved – whether in school, music or sports. I recall a couple of times when I did really good, like winning the City-contest in English language or getting my first “good” in algebra in 7th grade as that shit was extremely tough. I do not recall any reaction. In fact, mom and dad put their close attention to us only when things started getting really bad, like when we were skipping classes or got arrested for setting up fireworks in a crowded place. We never really got any positive feedback for anything we did because our parents just had no idea how to do that. I do not blame them – they were trying their best from their own experience.

And gaming was the absolute opposite to all of that.

Going to computer clubs we knew exactly that we were surrounded by like-minded lads. We made some good friends along the way – lads, who were always ready to jam on de_dust or bring their D2 chars to share some loot. One of the owners of the club had a daughter who was really good in Q3 – I remember everyone has been looking at her like she was some sort of demigod. The games gave us the space and playground we needed so much – clear even rules for everyone. If you frag – you win. If you don’t – you lose. If you suck – the older guys would always help with a couple of tips. Games also gave us control. I really liked the games where you went on an adventure, like NOX or Will Rock or serious Sam. Gaming also gave us the space to take our own decisions and suffer the full consequences if these were wrong – getting overrun by zerglings or getting fragged with rocket launcher with QUAD DAMAGE.

Gaming clubs were our safe space. At some point our dad did raid the computer clubs and did bust us a couple of times. Sure we got beaten on those occasions.

I recall my bro being very proud on getting 1st in the national 2v2 ladder in SC:BW later in the uni. He also used to game the whole night long at my parents place. This was over 10 years ago and they still do not know. He is still very good in SC though he does not play anymore.

I do play sometimes – currently grinding D2 and refreshing my knowledge in chess. I do not have more time for any other more or less serious game.

I am slowly approaching the point where I should write a conclusion – it is going to be quite simple. Gaming was the first opportunity to take my life into my own hands. It took me 32 years of my own life to find the power in me to take responsibility for myself and not to rely on someone else. My decision – my choice – my consequences. It took a lot of trouble and turmoil for me to get to this point and finally embracing the power within feels great. It was also the first surrounding of dudes just like me, which was a very good feeling back then.

During the last 6 months I switched to a job that pays almost the double of my previous one, my wife moved in with me from abroad, we have a nice apartment and are looking forward to vacations in the Alps. I still have to find a way to approach my parents though I am not sure the old hive is worth disturbing. I guess time will tell.

Whenever I am down or things do no go according to play – I do turn to gaming occasionally, just to get back into the world where I am in full control. It gives me power and I guess hope that everything will work out. If not now – then over time. You just have to keep practicing. And ask for help when it is needed.

I hope you found this read interesting.

#life #gaming #adulthood #friends

1 note · View note

why-this-kolaveri-machi · 5 years ago

Text

we’re partners in this.

so titans 2.12 was mostly about (awkwardly) moving pieces around to get them in place for a grand finale. it was great! but also awkward. but great! let’s talk about it, if you don’t mind:

SPOILERS ahead.

1. i apologise for going off on a tangent right off the bat, but i just had this weird bit of insight about this show’s universe and it’s kind of hilarious. so you know those clickbaity articles about titans fucking up its worldbuilding by having its characters be so blase about protecting their superhero identities? (screenrant and cbr have inundated my newsfeed. oh good lord the pain. the agony.) maybe that’s just how It’s Meant To Be. batman and robin have been around for at least a decade and a half; the big bat’s likely been around for longer. the justice league is a sophisticated organisation with connections, representation and influence on worldly affairs. no doubt there has been countless battles and alien invasions--to the point where superheroes have become so ingrained in public life that their identities are semi-public knowledge but Nobody Gives A Shit. it’s like asking folks about their local legislators--people are aware that they exist and perform a Function in society and that a minimal amount of research would reveal who they are, but most aren’t keen on/interested in doing that. as a result, keeping up a secret identity isn’t the priority it used to be. and That’s Fine! the titans universe is its own beast with its own internal mechanics and as long as it’s internally consistent, let it deviate from its comic origins as much as it wants to.

oh typical emmram, i can hear you say. scrambling for explanations to excuse careless writing and plot holes. well, dear Strawman I Just Made Up, you may be partially right--there was a time when i would’ve waved my ‘the author is dead’ flag, but (i like to think) i’ve matured since then. but also: have you considered that plot holes aren’t really plot holes if you can successfully use what’s been established about a story’s universe to explain them away and that it’s significantly more fun?

with this background in mind, i can appreciate more than ever that titans plays out more like an intense, soapy family drama (with perhaps higher stakes than your average soap). this was never a show about a bunch of disparate heroes coming together and finding purpose in order to defeat a common enemy. this was always about a bunch of kids who grew up in a world where vigilantism and superheroing and magic and alien invasions are just an accepted part of life, and the deeply dysfunctional ways they keep coming together and pinballing away, over and over again. there’s no point where each of the characters have definitely Gotten Over Their Issues so they can all gather together to defeat the big bad; it’s why this late in the game we can have rachel looking for people to connect to and relate with that aren’t a series of adults who claim to protect her but only keep her in the dark; hank at the bottom of a self-destructive spiral; dick barely picking himself up from rock bottom, and kory falling apart at the seams.

so anyway, that’s it on this edition of Emmram Tries To Give A Grand Unifying Theory of Titans; let’s move on to the actual episode.

2. rose’s story could’ve been so good, you guys. actually you know what, scratch that (she types, on a computer while having 20+ years’ experience in knowing how to use the backspace key), it’s a great story that got muddled in the process of the show trying to tell a number of great stories all at once. this season has been inexorably building up to dick grayson becoming nightwing, using his unreliable narration to build up suspense as we see him battle personal hangups and the fallout from literal decades of trauma to gain a sense of equilibrium and a renewal of purpose (it can be argued that even now, on the cusp of actually putting on that dang costume, he hasn’t really learned anything--but i’ll get to that later). if this is the main story that this season is trying to tell, then taking two gigantic detours for episode-long flashbacks and building up to jericho’s death as much as they did makes perfect sense. it also makes sense to set slade up as a foil to dick, in that they are both caught up in their heads and make self-absorbed decisions to protect their ‘children’ but dick comes through with the realisation that that’s a crock of bullshit.

but that’s not the case, is it? there are so many things going on at once but they’re all orbiting around this throughline of ‘dick becoming nightwing’ and so we only get the barest glimpses of some relatively complex character motivations and development going on with the others.

2.25. in this episode’s flashback (we’re still getting flashbacks! in literally the penultimate episode of the season! god i have never wanted to take a red pen to anything more) we come to a number of weighty realisations: the extent of rose’s powers, her feelings of otherness, her desire to connect with her father so that she doesn’t feel alone in her otherness, how desperate she is to connect with him--so much so that she’s willing to throw away her entire life and undergo physical mutilation in service of his revenge plan--and how...learning exactly how her brother died and... being with jason??? made her change her mind??? ok that last one’s a bit muddled, but i’ll try and make sense of it.

as far as i can see, there are four big turning points in rose’s story so far:

a) that moment in the car when slade invites rose to join him and reveals that he’s basically been funding her ‘normal’ middle class life till that point. i can imagine how destabilising that realisation might be to rose, and why she might think going along with slade, no matter how weird and how abrupt, is how she’s going to live a life true to who she is

b) but imagine actually being taken in by the titans, being given shelter and support and succour by a group that her father had described as ruthless and manipulative. i can imagine her still being on board with slade’s plan, but maybe the reason she didn’t do all that she could’ve possibly done while at the tower to sabotage the titans might be because she’s actually interacting with these people, and while they might be a Hot Mess, they aren’t actively cruel or vindictive. i wish the show had woven in more scenes of rose interacting with the others, of her learning intimate things about their pasts, of her bonding with the younger titans’ struggle with their own ‘freakish’ natures. rose hardly seems to have any presence at all after her intro episode, and that’s a pity.

c) dick’s confession about what actually happened with slade and jericho. it’s more complicated than she was lead to believe--her father was actually complicit in her brother’s death. it’s a very confusing moment for rose, who’s already (probably) feeling the first stirrings of guilt, unsure, really, about her devotion to the father and brother that she’s known only for a little longer than the titans themselves, and slowly coming to the sick realisation that slade used her as a pawn in his game against the titans.

d) jason latching onto rose is understandable--he saw her as the only person making the effort to connect with him when he was feeling vulnerable and rejected by almost everybody else. jason practically bleeds a need for connection and acceptance. i don’t think rose anticipated that jason would come with her, or be as attached to her as he is--but she sees in him a sensitive and struggling soul baring his heart to her, and in herself the kind of deception and secrecy that she’d originally wanted to rebel against. so she finally comes clean with him, and thinks they should help the titans against her father.

i mean. i might be making some assumptions (actually i’m making a lot of assumptions, to be fair), but i’m just trying to work with what the show’s given us, which is... not insubstantial, but haphazard enough that it’s easy to forget that rose exists sometimes.

3. i fell asleep right after watching this episode for the first time, and apparently at some point before actually sleeping i appear to have had some kind of Great Insight about it because in the notes app on my phone i typed in “dick bruce concept of justice” with no further explanation.

i’ve spent the better part of this evening trying to retrace my train of thought, and i think it went like this: essentially, i was curious that dick was so broken up about jericho dying that he banished himself to a five year long lonely journey to seek penance that ended with him voluntarily getting himself arrested, but didn’t seem all that cut up about zucco dying or basically ordering the deaths of the scientists at the asylum in 1.07. betraying jericho and the older titans’ trust in him is a far greater burden on him than being responsible for the death of people who have wronged him or hurt the people he loves. but this is also a man who has internalised batman’s mission and ethos for the better part of his life, so he can’t actually come out and admit that. instead the two things come together to form one conclusion: he killed jericho, and he must be punished for it.

(i also imagine locking himself away in prison was a result of growing up under the influence of batman--who responded to trauma by embarking on rigorous, brutal, solitary journey of penance and extreme self-discipline. batman doesn’t ask for help. batman goes to the batcave and rides it out.)

so when dick finally breaks himself out of jail, it isn’t because he’s come to a great realisation about his self-destructive behaviour (although he’s aware of it on some subconscious level); it’s because he realised the thing he was punishing himself for didn’t actually happen. he hasn’t really learnt a lesson. to be fair, he would need some pretty intensive therapy to untangle the things running through his head, so it seems quite believable that this is the way he gets back on his feet in time to be nightwing.

4. i know people think that the conversation between rachel and kory was awkward, and uh, it kinda was a little bit, but it makes sense that they can talk like that to each other. rachel wants to protect dick but feels confident enough with kory to lash out at her; kory is unafraid to be vulnerable or sad around rachel which just feeds into the trust that rachel has in kory. i don’t know, i thought that conversation was a nice way to both re-establish this dynamic and give some insight into what kory’s feeling.

5. god, mercy graves--a family woman!--tenderly wiping the blood off gar’s chin after having turned him into her own personal killing machine is just... so unsettling on so many levels.

5.5. it continues to KILL me that gar had so much faith in the titans right up to the very moment he had his fucking skull opened up and his brains messed with against his will: an undeserving loyalty to a family who took his easygoing acceptance of their shitty treatment of him at face value and essentially threw him to the wolves. how do you even start recovering from this? i feel like we’ve gone past the point where a few heart-to-hearts could help.

6. man, hank spiralling the way he did was too brutal to be anything but deeply uncomfortable. i’m sure the teenager who bought hank’s suit from him was supposed to inspire hank and remind him of his place and purpose as a titan, but it came off as kind of a cruel joke. hank has been putting his body out on the firing line over and over and over again, and his lesson is to be told that he isn’t putting himself out there enough? yikes.

7. stu and lily and their collective disdain for dick grayson’s drama are my new favourite characters on the show and deserve their own damn spin-off. MAKE IT HAPPEN DC

#titans #titans spoilers #meta #rose wilson #dick grayson #koriand'r #jason todd #rachel roth #hank hall #garfield logan

49 notes · View notes

winchesterbrotherstan · 5 years ago

Text

Supernatural- Hook Man (1.07)

Pairing: N/A, Olive Winchester (OC)

Summary: A second old-time classic rears its ugly hook, the siblings still can’t find their dad, Sam and Olive get hurt again

Warnings: stabbing, mentions of a dead parent, cursing, etc

Word Count: 5154

“Alright, thank you for your time.” Sam hung up the payphone and came back to the table with a sigh.

“Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is gettin’ cold over here, Francis.” Dean called, not looking up from the laptop.

“Bite me.” Sam hissed before sitting down next to me.

“Anything?” I turned, eyes wide.

Sam shook his head. “I had ‘em check the FBI’s Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Doe’s fitting Dad’s description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations.” He sighed again, seeing the disappointment on my face. “I’m sorry, bug.” He wrapped an arm around me.

“Guys, I’m tellin’ ya, I don’t think Dad wants to be found.” Dean spoke, and Sam’s face dropped into one of disappointment too.

“Check this out.” Dean tilted the computer toward us. “News article out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It’s only about a hundred miles from here.”

“The mutilated body was found near the victim’s car, parked on 9 Mile Road.” Sam read, disgusted.

“Keep reading.” Dean instructed.

“Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Could be something interesting.” Dean grinned.

Sam shook his head. “Or it could be nothing at all. One freaked out witness who didn’t see anything? Doesn’t mean it’s the Invisible Man.”

“But what if it is? Dad would check it out.” Dean persisted with a wide smile, knowing he had us hooked now.

***

We pulled up to the frat house the victim lived at, and I groaned.

“Do I have to come with you?”

“Shush.” Dean patted my face with his entire hand. “You’re just our little sister, you’re tagging along for today while Mom and Dad finalize the divorce.”

I rolled my eyes, but stuck myself to Sam’s side as he slid out of the car. He held my hand and kept me tucked half behind him as the frat boys looked at us.

“One more time, why are we here?” Sam hissed.

“Vic lived here.” I whispered back, wrapping my free hand around his arm.

“Nice wheels.” Dean grinned at the boys on the street, who were fixing their ugly little car.

They only received strange looks. Dean grinned again, and if it were a sorority house, we would’ve been welcomed with open arms.

“We’re your new fraternity brothers. From Ohio. We’re new, transfers. Looking for a place to stay.”

One boy arched an eyebrow and pointed at me. “She’s not a boy.”

Sam squared his shoulders. “This is our sister, Olive. She’ll only be here for a few days.”

One snorted. “Why would you bring a sixteen year old to a frat house?”

“Because our parents are finalizing the divorce today and she doesn’t feel like being there.” Sam almost hissed.

“Oh.”

“Hey, that your car?” Another boy broke the tension.

Dean’s grin grew wider as attention was averted to Baby. “Yeah, she is.”

“Oh, sick. C’mon, there’s a few places to stay inside.” He beckoned for us to follow him into the house.

***

“Who are you?” The boy slathered with purple paint and wearing yellow shorts turned as Dean knocked on the door.

“We’re your new roommates.” He smiled, then pointed back to me. “Well, not her. She’s temporary.”

“Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today.” The boy asked, holding the paint can and a brush out to Dean.

Dean shook his head and pointed to Sam. “He’s the artist. Things he can do with a brush.”

Sam looked horrified, and I sighed. I took the paint can and the brush with a roll of my eyes. Sam stood in the doorway, uncomfortable. Dean dropped onto a chair and picked up a porno magazine, glancing at me before tossing it aside and picking up another one.

“So…” He looked for a name, and found one on the magazine. “Murph. Is it true?”

“What?” The boy turned, and the paint went onto my shoes as the can jolted.

I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath, and Sam sighed, coming to my rescue. He turned Murph back around and told him to stay, then took the paint from me.

Dean held a hand out and I took it, sitting on his lap as I pulled my boots off.

“We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week.”

Murph’s posture fell. “Yeah.”

“What happened?” I asked as I wiped the paint off my boots.

Murph shrugged. “They’re saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy.”

“Rich. He was with somebody?” Sam asked.

“Not just somebody. Lori Sorensen.” Murph wiggled his eyebrows.

“Who’s Lori Sorensen?” Dean asked, taking my other boot and helping me push off the layer of paint.

“Lori’s a freshman. She’s a local. Super hot. And get this, she’s a reverend’s daughter.” Murph smiled.

Dean’s face turned grim. “You wouldn’t happen to know which church, would ya?”

***

“Our hearts go out to the family of a young man who perished. And my personal prayers of thanks go out as well because I believe he died trying to protect my daughter.” Reverend Sorensen spoke, and Lori was in the front row, looking embarrassed.

“And now, as time heals all our wounds, we should reflect on what this tragedy means. To us, as a church.”

The boys walked in, having parked the car while I cased the place. The doors slammed shut, and I groaned mentally, burying my head in my hands from the back row. Everyone stared, and after a moment of silence, Reverend Sorensen continued.

“As a community, and as a family. The loss of a young person is particularly tragic. A life unlived is the saddest of passings.”

I flagged Dean down with a glare, and he inches into the pew next to me. Sam followed, and Lori stared at him. I eyed him, and he sent a weak smile.

“So, please, let us pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children.” We bowed our heads out of respect.

Dean raised me, and Dean didn’t believe in God, so neither did I. Sam bowed his head, and I wasn’t sure where his idea of faith laid. Dean’s head didn’t go down, so I elbowed him. His green eyes widened and he blinked before looking down at our feet. He nudged my purple stained boot and smiled.

***

“Are you Lori?” Sam asked as the blonde came our way.

“Yeah.” Lori nodded.

“My name is Sam. This is my brother, Dean, and my sister Olive.” Sam pointed to us, and we waved.

“Hi.” I smiled, and Dean did the same, albeit begrudgingly.

“Dean and I just transferred here to the university.” Sam explained. “Olive’s staying with us for a few days.”

Lori nodded. “I saw you inside.”

“We don’t wanna bother you. We just heard about what happened and…”

Dean frowned. “We wanted to say how sorry we were.”

“I kind of know what you’re going through. I-I saw someone… get hurt once. It’s something you don’t forget.” Sam’s eyes glassed over.

Lori nodded, and her father walked up to us. Lori turned, and stumbled across her words.

“Dad, um, this is Sam and Dean. They’re new students. This is their sister, Olive.”

Dean shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon.”

The reverend smiled. “Thank you very much. It’s so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord’s message.”

I coughed, and Dean patted my back with a chuckle. “Listen, uh, we’re new in town, actually.” He led him away, and pointed me to Sam, a silent gesture to stay. “And, uh, we were looking for a, um, a church group.” He led him away entirely.

“Tell us, Lori.” Sam squeezed my hand.

“What are the police saying?” I tugged him to walk, and Lori followed.

“Well, they don’t have a lot to go on. I think they blame me for that.” She mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Sam tilted his head.

“My story. I was so scared, I guess I was seeing things.”

Sam stopped, and I stumbled over my feet as I was pulled to a stop. His eyes were wide as he stared at her.

“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t real.”

***

“So, Ollie, you believe her?” Dean asked as we sat down at the library table.

I shrugged. “Sounded like one of ours. Sams, you?”

Sam nodded. “I do.”

Dean smiles. “Yeah, I think she’s hot, too.”

Sam shook his head with an eye roll. “No, man, there’s something in her eyes.”

Sam was sounding sappy, and it scared me because Jess had only been dead for a few months. I jumped in.

“And, get this. She heard scratching on the roof. Found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car.” I moved to sit next to Dean instead.

He looked down at me. “Wait, the body suspended? That sounds like the-”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, we know, the Hook Man legend.”

Dean scoffed. “That’s one of the most famous urban legends ever. You don’t think that we’re dealing with the Hook Man.”

Sam and I looked at each other. I shrugged.

“Every urban legend has a source. A place where it all began.”

Dean sputtered. “Yeah, but what about the phantom scratches and the tire punctures and the invisible killer?”

“Well, maybe the Hook Man isn’t a man at all. What if it’s some kind of spirit?” Sam arched an eyebrow.

Dean looked at me, and upon seeing my agreeing with Sam, sighed. “Let’s go.”

***

“Here you go. Arrest records going back to 1851.” The librarian dropped the box in front of us.

Dean blew some dust off the top, and I breathed it in. I cleaned my throat, and began to cough.

“Thanks.” Dean patted my back.

She nodded and walked away. Dean coughed now too, and I had to duck under the table to finish coughing.

“So, this is how you spent four good years of your life, huh?” Dean rubbed my back.

Sam grinned as I popped back up, handing me a folder. “Welcome to higher education.”

***

“Hey, check this out.” Sam spoke and Dean shook my arm.

“No.” I groaned, huddling closer into him.

“Bug. Up, we found something.” Sam nudged my feet under the table.

“What?” I opened my eyes, climbing into Dean’s lap.

“1862. A preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. Looks like he was so angry over the red light district in town that one night he killed 13 prostitutes. Uh, right here, some of the deceased were found in their bed, sheets soaked with blood. Others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against the sins of the flesh.”

I grimaced, ducking my head into Dean’s neck. He gave my side a pat, and made me look at a paper. “Get this, the murder weapon? Looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook.”

Sam handed me another paper. “And look where all this happened.”

I sniffled, fixing my glasses back onto the bridge of my nose. “9 Mile Road.” I grumbled, voice crackly.

“Same place where the frat boy was killed.” Sam pressed.

I smiled at him, then up at Dean.

“Nice job, Dr. Venkman. Let’s check it out.”

***

“Here ya go, Sams.” I tossed him the hunting rifle.

“Buckshot won’t do much good if it’s a spirit, bug.” Sam eyed me.

“Yeah, rock salt.” Dean nodded and handed me another rifle.

“Huh. Salt being a spirit deterrent.” Sam nodded, impressed.

Dean took a coil of rope out and shut the trunk. “Yeah. It won’t kill ‘em. But it’ll slow ‘em down.”

We walked to the trees, and I held my rifle up, shaking.

“That’s pretty good. You and Dad think of this?” Sam walked in front of me, trying to calm me.

I smiled. “Dean told you. You don’t have to be a college graduate to be a genius.”

There was a noise in the trees, and Sam raised his gun. Dean pulled me between them.

“Over there, over there.” Dean pointed.

Sam raised his gun, and a figure emerged from the trees. Dean saw it first, and he shoved the keys into my hand.

“Drive to the motel, don’t come back, I’ll call.” He shoved me away before I could protest.

I ducked behind a tree, peering around the corner.

“Put the gun down now! Now! Put your hands behind your head.” It was a sheriff.

“W-w-wait, okay, okay!” Dean dropped the gun and put his hands up, and Sam followed.

“Now get down on your knees. Come on, do it! On your knees!”

I watched as the boys complied.

“Now get down on your bellies. Come on, do it!”

“He had the gun!” Dean defended himself, laying down on his stomach.

The sheriff’s light came my way, and I ran as silently as I could, getting back to the car and booking it out of there.

***

The phone rang, and I dove across the bed, checking the caller ID.

Deano ♥.

“De!”

“All good, baby. Saved Sam’s ass! Talked the Sheriff down to a fine. Sis, I am Matlock.”

I snorted. “But how?”

“I told ‘em he was a dumbass pledge and that we were hazing him.”

“What about the shotgun? Did he hear me?”

“Told him we saw a deer nearby, chalked it up to that.”

“Shotgun?” I repeated.

“Said that he was hunting ghosts and the spirits were repelled by rock salt. You know, typical Hell Week prank.”

“And he believed you?”

“Well, Sam kinda looks like a dumbass pledge.”

Police sirens rang, and Dean stopped talking.

“De?”

“Come pick us up. Cops are bolting somewhere.”

“On my way.”

***

Dean parked the car, and Sam was the first to scramble out.

“Why would the Hook Man come here? This is a long way from 9 Mile Road.”

“Maybe he’s not haunting the scene of his crime. Maybe it’s about something else.” I suggested. “Maybe he wants to finish the job, come for Lori?”

Two girls came out of the side entrance, and we ducked to hide by a bush. Dean grinned, pointing.

“Dude! Sorority girls! Do you think we’ll see a naked pillow fight?”

I hit the back of his head. “Come on, dumbass.”

Sam was climbing up a tree, to the balcony of the house. His foot slipped, but Dean caught it. He pushed him up before pulling me ahead of him.

“C’mon, bug.” Sam held his hands up, pulling me up as I got my feet against the tree, clambering over onto the balcony. Dean came last, and by then, Sam had the window open.

“Go first, you’re a girl.” Sam whispered.

I crawled in, narrowly avoiding Sam and Dean tumbling in. Dean was on top of Sam, who groaned.

“Shit, sorry!”

“Be quiet.” Sam groaned, shoving him off.

“You be quiet.” Dean scoffed.

“Both of you shut the fuck up.” I hissed, tugging Sam onto his feet.

***

Sam peered through the door. He waited, then opened it all the way. We moved from her closet to her bedroom.

“Come on.” He whispered, leading us from the dark to the light.

AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU DIDN’T TURN ON THE LIGHT? was scrawled on the wall in blood, with big blocky letters. I shivered in the darkness. Sam grimaced and Dean sniffled, hugging me into his side.

“That’s right out of the legend.” I whispered.

“Yeah, that’s classic Hook Man alright.” Dean tapped his nose, again sniffling. “It’s definitely a spirit.”

I coughed, now smelling what he smelled.

“Yeah, I’ve never smelled ozone this strong before.” Sam snorted.

“Hey, come here.” Dean called Sam over.

I looked down at what he pointed. It was a cross symbol, beneath the red, bloody writing on the wall.

“That look familiar to you?” I asked.

***

“Same symbol.” I pointed to the picture that Sam had in his hands.

“Seems like it is the spirit of Jacob Karns.”

“Alright, alright, let’s find the dude’s grave, salt and burn the bones, and put him down like the dirty son of a bitch he is.” I grumbled.

Dean looked at me, eyebrows raised. “When did you become me?”

Sam tried to snort, but choked instead. “Watch your language, bug.”

I rolled my eyes with a smile. “Let’s just go.” I shoved another paper into Sam’s hand.

Sam rolled his eyes again, shuffling through the papers. “Alright, okay, here. ‘After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in an Old North Cemetery’... In an unmarked grave.’ Just our luck.” Sam scoffed.

“Super.” Dean grunted, and I huffed.

“Okay. Okay, so at least we know it’s Karns. But we still don’t know where he’d manifest. Or why.” I sighed.

“I’ll take a wild guess about why. I think Sammy’s little friend Lori has something to do with this.” Dean glared at him.

Sam groaned, throwing his head back.

***

“Hey, De.” I rubbed my eyes as I latched onto his arm.

“Man, you’ve been holding out on me. This college thing is awesome!” He winked at a blonde that passed by.

“This wasn’t really my experience.” Sam scratched the back of his neck.

“Let me guess. Libraries, studying, straight A’s?” Dean rose an eyebrow, and Sam nodded. “What a geek.” Dean turned and ruffled my hair. “Alright, you do your homework?”

I nodded, fumbling with Sam’s jacket and pulling out a paper. “Yeah. It was bugging me, right? We haven’t been able to figure out how the Hook Man’s caught up with Lori, right? Sams and I think I came up with something.” I handed it out to Dean.

“1932. Clergyman arrested for murder. 1967. Seminarian held in hippie rampage.” Dean read with a sigh.

“De, there’s a pattern here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, pointing to the paper again. “Both cases, the suspect was a man of religion who openly preached against immorality. And then found himself wanted for killings he claimed were the work of an invisible force. Killings carried out, get this, with a sharp instrument.” I pressed.

Dean shook his head and threw up a hand. “Okay, so what’s the connection to Lori?”

Sam and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes.

“Dean.” Sam sighed. “A man of religion? Who openly preaches against immorality?”

Dean’s face became one of understanding, and he nodded, motioning a hand to continue.

“Except maybe this time, instead of saving the whole town, he’s just trying to save his only daughter.” I offered.

Dean’s eyebrows knitted across his forehead. “Reverend Sorensen. You think he’s summoning the spirit?”

Sam shrugged. “Maybe. Or, you know how a poltergeist can haunt a person instead of a place?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, the spirit latches onto the reverend’s repressed emotions, feeds off them, yeah, okay.”

“Without the reverend ever even knowing.” I offered again.

“Either way, you should keep an eye on Lori tonight, Sams.”

He nodded at me. “What about you two?”

Dean was looking at a blonde by the pool table. He was practically drooling over her, eyes wide and mouth open.

“De.” I shook his arm.

“I’m gonna go see if I can find that unmarked grave. Ollie, you should stay with Sam.” Dean’s eyebrows furrowed again, this time in concern.

I shook my head. “I’m coming with you.” I looked up.

Dean sighed, looking back at the blonde, then to me. “Fine, let’s go.”

***

In the gleam of my flashlight, I saw a headstone, a cross engraved on it. I hit Dean’s arm and pointed.

“Here.”

Dean gave my hair a ruffle and walked forward, tossing me a shovel.

“Let’s get this son of a bitch, babes.”

***

I hit the wood of the coffin and coughed, sweating.

“That’s it. Next time, we get to watch the cute girl’s house.” Dean huffed, breaking the rest of the coffin far enough to see the rotted body of Jacob Karns.

“Hello, preacher.” I trilled, tossing aside my shovel.

Dean helped me out of the grave. I dug the salt out of the duffle bag, and tossed Dean the can of lighter fluid. I poured over half the container, and I stepped back as Dean lit a match.

“Goodbye, preacher.” Dean sang in the same tone and threw the match over the grave.

It went out on the way down, and I laughed. He turned to glare at me. I leaned against his shoulder and laughed again. He sighed, pulling out another lighter. I took it and tossed it into the grave, and the bones went up in flames.

***

“What the fuck happened? Sams!” I tried to push past the two deputies that were in front of Sam.

The reverend had been attacked, in his own home. Sam had tried to stop him, but it was too late. Reverend Sorensen was in the hospital, and we were stuck trying to continue cleaning the mess.

“No, it’s alright, we’re with him. He’s our brother.” Dean pointed. “Hey! Brother!”

“Sams!” I popped to my toes.

“Let ‘em through.” The sheriff stepped aside.

“Thanks.” Dean whispered to Sam as I ran to him, jumping into his arms.

“Hey, bug.”

“The fuck happened?” I asked again, pulling back to look at his face.

“Hook Man.” Sam scoffed, letting me drop back onto the ground.

“Y-you saw him?” I tilted my head.

“Damn right.” Sam’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you guys torch the bones?”

Dean and I scowled. “We did! We burned them, through and through.”

“Sams, are we sure it’s the spirit of Jacob Karns? Maybe we’re wrong, maybe we got them all mixed up.”

“It sure as hell looked like him. That’s not all. I don’t think the spirit is latching onto the reverend.” Sam shook his head and lowered his voice.

“Well, yeah, no shit. Dude wouldn’t send the Hook after himself.”

“I think it’s latching onto Lori. Last night she found out her father is having an affair with a married woman.” Sam lowered his voice even more.

“So what?”

I rolled my eyes. “De, she’s probably upset about it.”

“She’s definitely upset about it. She’s upset about the immorality of it. She told me she was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished.” Sam explained.

“Okay,” I nodded. “So she’s conflicted. Preacher is latching onto her repressed emotions and he’s doing the punishing for her.”

“Right.” Dean nodded furiously. “Rich comes on too strong, Taylor tries to make her a party girl, Dad has an affair. Jeez.” He sucked in air through his teeth. “Jesus, remind me not to piss this girl off.”

“Okay, but we burned the bones. I dumped half the fucking container on them. Why didn’t that stop him?”

“You guys must’ve missed something.”

“No. We burned everything in that coffin.” Dean shook his head.

“Did you get the hook?”

Dean and I looked at each other, and his nostrils flared in his confusion.

“The hook?”

“Well, it was the murder weapon, and in a way, it was part of him.” Sam shrugged.

I snorted, threw my head back, and groaned. “So, like the bones, the hook is a source of his power. It’s keeping him here.”

“So. If we find the hook…” Sam started.

“We stop the Hook Man.” The three of us smiled.

***

“Here’s something. I think. Log book, Iowa State Penitentiary.” I plopped into Dean’s lap, and he caught me with a grunt. “Karns, Jacob. Person affects, disposition thereof.” Dean read over my shoulder.

“Does it mention the hook?”

“Yeah, maybe.” I smacked Dean’s hand away and flipped the page. “Upon execution, all earthly items shall be remanded to the prisoner’s house of worship, St. Barnabas Church.”

Dean seemed to flinch, and I looked at Sam “Isn’t that where Lori’s dad preaches?”

“Yeah. She lives there too.”

“Okay, so maybe that’s why the Hook Man’s been haunting reverends and their daughters for the last 200 years.” I closed the book, shoving it away.

“Yeah, but if the hook were at Lori’s house or at the church, don’t you think someone might’ve seen it? I mean, a bloodstained, silver-handled hook?” Dean asked, leaning his chin on my shoulder.

“Let’s check the church records.” I made grabby hands at another stack of books, and Sam slid them toward me.

I handed one to Dean, and he put it off to the side, reading it with his head still on me. I skimmed through it, but I couldn’t find anything. I sighed, and shoved it aside, picking up another book.

“Got it!” Sam perked up.

“Shh!” The librarian shushed us with a glare.

“Sorry.” I mouthed back.

“St. Barnabas donations, 1862. Received silver-handled hook from state penitentiary. Reforged.” He sighed.

“Reforged?” I rubbed my forehead.

“They melted it down. Made it into something else.” He sighed.

I groaned.

***

“Alright, we can’t take any chances. Anything silver goes in the fire.” Dean grunted as we got out of the car.

Sam nodded. “Lori’s still at the hospital. We’ll have to break in.”

“Alright, take your pick.”

“I’ll take the house. Ols, you with Dean or you with me?”

“I’ll go with Dean.” I grabbed his hand.

“Okay. Hey, Sam!” Dean called over his shoulder, and the giraffe postured boy turned, eyebrows raised. “Stay out of her panty drawer.” He mocked.

Sam rolled his eyes and flipped him off, then winked my way, sending an air kiss. I caught it exaggeratedly, putting it up to my face and grinning.

***

“Get that.” Dean pointed to the last thing, a silver candle holder.

I tossed it to him, and he threw it in the fireplace. We watched it, then looked around once more to make sure we hadn’t missed anything.

“Alright, I got everything that even looked silver.” Sam dumped a pillowcase on the floor.

“Better safe than sorry.” Dean nodded.

Dean and I dug our hands in, tossing handfuls into the fire as Sam got the rest. The wood ceiling creaked, and Sam and I froze. Dean hit my shoulder and I threw the chained necklace in my hand into the fire.

“Move, move.” Dean yanked his gun out of his waistband.

Sam moved up the stairs first, and I was forced to follow in the middle. We popped into the temple to see Lori sitting in a pew, crying. I nodded at Dean over my shoulder and he headed back down the steps as Sam walked over the Lori. He sat down next to her and I sighed, trudging back down the stairs.

Dean was crouched in front of the fireplace, watching as the rest of the things were thrown into the fire. He saw my slouched shoulders and stood, holding a hand out to me. I sighed, crashing into his chest. He kissed the top of my head.

“It’s okay, sweetpea. What’s got you so rough?”

I sighed again. “Jess hasn’t been gone that long. It’s been maybe a few months. And here he is, flirting up another girl. I get he’s sad and he’s bonding with her, and I get it’s his choice, but I know Sam. I know him, De, and this isn’t him.”

Dean sighed. “I’m sorry, babes.”

There was another creak from the floorboards, but it wasn’t around where Sam had ended. I looked up, and it got cold. I shivered, and my breath left my mouth in a cloud. Dean and I looked at each other, eyes wide. I snatched the rifle off the floor and scrambled up the stairs, almost faceplanting onto the floor.

“Sam, drop!” I screamed.

Sam crouched down, and Dean shot at the Hook. He disappeared into dust. Sam shot back up, looking at us with panic in his eyes.

“I thought we got all the silver!”

“So did we!” Dean shouted back at Sam as he helped Lori get to her feet.

“Then why the fuck is he still here?” I scowled.

“Well, maybe we missed something!” Dean scoffed.

Sam froze, and he snatched something off Lori’s neck. In the wall off to the side of Dean and I, a long scratch came across the wall, and I flinched. Dean turned around and looked at it. We saw nothing, and I felt panic rise in my chest.

“Sam!”

I tossed him the rifle, and he threw the necklace at us. Dean caught it, shoved his rifle in my hand, and he ran back down the stairs. I shot at the space in front of the scratch. Nothing happened, and I was quick to reload as Sam took his shot. Lori cowered behind him, and I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I looked down to see the hook embedded in my leg. I felt myself pale, and my head got light.

“Sammy!” I cried out.

Sam pushed toward me and took a shot. The hook went from me to his forearm, and he hissed.

“Shit!” I growled, and Dean ran up the stairs.

He scooped me off my feet as Sam tried to tie his arm off.

“I’ve got you, baby girl. I’ve got you. It’s okay. He’s gone, he’s gone.” Dean whispered.

I winced, and curled into him. He shushed me again, and I let myself black out.

***

“And you saw him, too? The man with the hook?”

“Yes, I told you. We all saw him, he hurt our baby sister and then he hurt him. We fought him and he ran.” Dean growled.

He had me in his hold. I hadn’t been hurt too bad, but it was, by Winchester luck, the same leg I had sprained. They had patched me up, and I was fine, but left stunned and scared. Sam was right next to me, arm wrapped up and already bleeding through. The paramedics left, and Sam scrambled away.

“And that’s all?” The sheriff asked.

“Yeah, that’s all.” I mumbled.

He nodded at me. “Listen. You and your brothers,”

Dean cut him off, “Oh, don’t worry, we’re leaving town.”

Dean fixed me in his grip and carried me over to the car. He helped me slide in, letting me curl my feet up on the seat as I cuddled up to his side. Dean’s head went up to the rear view mirror, and he stared.

“What’s he doing?”

“Just said goodbye. Here he comes.” Dean whispered. “He’s upset.”

Sam slid into the car with a somber look on his face. I forced myself to sit up and break the silence.

“Hey, Sams.” I pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Hi, baby girl.” He whispered.

“We could stay.” Dean offered.

Sam only shook his head, taking me from Dean holding me against himself. He pulled me in with a sigh, resting his head against mine. Dean looked back up at the rear view mirror, shook his head in disappointment, and drove off.

Previous Ep: Skin (1.06)

Previous fic: Dean the Birthday Boy

Next Ep: Bugs (1.08)

31 notes · View notes