#Cassie and Greg really are the friends ever

[soupmanspeaks]

NO BECAUSE IT WOULD BE REALLY FUNNY IF GREG AND CASSIE WERE IN ON THEIR PARENTS SHENANIGANS JUST GLAMROCK FREDDY POWERED DOWN IN HIS GREEN ROOM AND THEM FRANTICALLY MAKING EXPLANATIONS TO THE KIDS LIKE "ohhh freddy--uH--he-….forgOT HIS MORNING COFFEE!!" "wh-ohhhOHHHHH YEAHHHH….!! he….alwAYS HAS A COFFEE!!! HEH…cant-…can't power through without it!!!" internally, they're both like "FREDDY GET BACK HERE NOW THERES DISSAPOINTED KIDS AND ANGRY PARENTS WHERE ARE YOU" and then in the vents down below its just that one image of AUTO from WALL-E going "GIVE ME THE PLANT" Liz:"JEREMY JUST GIVE US THE DOLL-" Jer: "I NEED TO PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE, LIZZIE-" Charlie: "JEREMY, MICHAEL IS HAVING A MELTDOWN IN HIS GREEN ROOM AND THE STAFF CONTROL SHOCKING HIM BY THE MINUTE TO WAKE HIM UP, I WILL GIVE YOU TO THE COUNT OF 5 TO GIVE US THE DOLL OR SO HELP M-" Also yes I know its never stated in Security Breach that controlled shocks are used on the Glamrocks but you know what? for angst and silly purposes of torturing my blorbos I'm adding it to this au eheheheheh

I have this silly little au where everything is sort of the same, except the Afton Siblings just talked out everything, and now Michael just has his two ghost siblings chill around him when he's working This started because I had a thought about Michael, CC, and Elizabeth having a BANGER prank idea, they're going to like, a Walmart or something, and they buy a bag of candy, and when Michael goes to check out, he's holding both Elizabeth and CC's hands. yk, normal brother stuff, the cashier asks "is the candy for the kids lol" yk, for small talks sake, and then Michael responds with "What kids?" The cashier looks back to where the kids were and finds that they're not there, as well as both of Michael's hands being in his pockets lol like fast forward to when he becomes GlamFreddy (I'd assume the fire happened in the pizza sim location because they wanted to get rid of William) and like, so many shenanigans will ensue Like, the Pizzaplex is setting up stuff for Halloween? What's better than to get real ghosts that can induce nightmares onto you! Or maybe one day, Freddy and the two will pass by the Cupcake Shoppe, which'll be selling Ice Cream cupcakes one day (those exist, right?) and Freddy'll say "Omg, look, Elizabeth, you can finally get your ice cream now!" And then Elizabeth will sucker punch him in the chest cavity Speaking of chest cavity, as they're getting the ice cream, Elizabeth points to the ice cream, mid-scoop, and says to Freddy: "Omg, look, Freddy, its you!"

Or like, idk, maybe some kid will be a bit too scared to hug GlamFreddy, or something, and then CC will just go "It's okay, he wont bite" and then just turns to look at Freddy with the most sh** eating grin ever as the guy struggles to contain a robo mental break down so many thoughts lol /pos

[sketchymangos]

GGY Fanweek 2024

Day 3: nothing bad ever happens

THE GANNGGG‼️‼️

(ggy trio + cassie + character in ggy who no one knows or talks abt that i basically made my oc atp and included in the friend group) LOVE THEMMM

the gang watches greg play a game

@ggyweek2024

while drawing them i imagined that they were playing Who's Lila? (REALLY cool game, check it outt), tony would have the TIME OF HIS LIFE figuring out the story and how it all connects together

and OMGG ignore gregs hand plzz i feel like it came out wonky 😭😭

in case the text is hard to read:

1: "weird game, huh? " - ellis

2: " yea. pretty cool, tho" - amelia

next to tony: determined to piece the story together

characters:

gregory (sb)

cassie (sb ruin)

ellis (tftpp ggy)

tony (tftpp ggy)

amelia (or lia as i like to call her) (tftpp ggy)

[zibiscusloon]

So Ruin got me feeling things-

‼️ (Spoilers under the cut!!!!) ‼️

-First off can I say how much I adore Cassie? Girl committed breaking and entering, dealt with a decrepit torn down old Pizzaplex, fought off several animatronics that by all means could have killed her, helped some of those said animatronics find peace, all in the name of saving her friend. You go girl.

-ECLIPSE!!!! 🌞🌗🌚 I LOVE THEM!!! 💕💕💕💕(For those who don’t know, I’m now outing myself as a Daycare Attendant simp), Sun/Moon was always my favorite character in the original game, and I’m so happy we were allowed to give them some sense of closure with themself, Sun & Moon are definitely in a more healthy state of mind as Eclipse.

-GLAMROCK BONNIE—

-Also got fed on some Glamrock Fronnie content, we keep winning-

-“You and me, forever and ever. Love, Freddy.” Freddy that’s pretty gay-

-The 👏Roxy 👏redemption 👏we 👏were 👏fed 👏

-Her and Cassie’s bond is so cuteeeeee….. and she came back to try and save Cassie in the end!! (Steelwool we better see more of these two-)

-The overall atmosphere really tipped more into Fnaf traditional horror which I loved

-Mimic was… something.. still don’t know exactly how to feel about them. I mean I knew that couldn’t be Gregory that we were talkin go to cause I know he isn’t a lil coward but still..

-Speaking of Gregory-

-DUDE. WHAT THE FUCK.

-I’ve been backstabbed, betrayed, bamboozled-

-AFTER ALL I DID TRYING TO SAVE YOU-

-Gregory and me are now on bad terms y’all. Love the little bastard to death but I’m really pissed at him right now.

-THERE WAS NO REASON FOR THAT-

-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

-Gregory and I are beefing right now. Leave me be.

-It’s also now heavily implied that the Princess Quest Ending was the true ending to the original game instead of.. the true ending-

-Also implying Vanny is no longer under Will’s influence. Kinda sucks.. like yeah good for her that she’s free now but girl got no time to be a villain! Let girls be deranged!!

-I have.. a lot of headcanons and AU shit to rewrite now. (Pretty much now confirms Greg and Cass aren’t siblings so Imma have to get rid of that-)

-I’m trying what I can now to find all the endings. LORD I’M A WRECK.

[when-hyperfocus-hits]

This short story is inspired by @puhpandas ! I thought it was a headcanon that had a lot of room for ✨ angst ✨ so I wrote a little something… enjoy!

Original Post

—

“I don’t get it, Cassie. Why did you go out of your way… to save him?”

“He’s my best friend… We’ve been friends ever since my birthday party… And I always felt bad he never had a house of his own… He was lonely. And he must feel even more lonely now.”

Roxy tilts her head at me, and even though I can’t tell her expression, her small hum makes me believe that she’s at least trying to understand.

I explain further, “My Dad didn’t know Gregory didn’t have a place to say. Gregory said not to tell him. He made me promise, even though he comes to our house when it’s thunderstorming and he needs shelter. I didn’t know what to tell my Dad when he asked about it.”

Roxy appears to be thinking. “Well… what happened?” She sounds actually a bit curious.

I get lost in my thoughts. He visited our house almost every day after my dad got off work. My dad didn’t think anything of it at first… but when Gregory started staying late nights, my dad started getting suspicious something was going on… but I couldn’t tell him.

One night, it was stormy out, one of those really bad storms that rattle houses and light up the whole sky with white bolts of lightning. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and how the wind could blow his tiny shelter away, or how the thunder scared him, or…

But a knock at my window interrupts my thoughts. I already know who it is; he always comes over when it gets that bad.

“Gregory…!” I don’t waste any time getting up and opening the window for him. “You’re soaked! Why didn’t you come sooner—?”

He waves me off, stepping inside on a towel that’s always there that I keep just in case.

I figure he doesn’t want to talk about it now. “Want dry clothes?” I turn around, getting some clothes from my drawer that I keep for him when this happens, but when I turn back, Gregory is kneeling, curled up on the towel on the ground.

“New clothes?” I hand them to him.

“Thanks,” He mutters, looking up at me.

I cautiously try to bring up the subject again. “I didn’t see you at the pizzaplex today… what happened?” When he doesn’t answer right away, I add, “I missed you.”

He sighs. “…I got in trouble again. They almost got me this time.”

I look away. “If… you stayed with us… you wouldn’t have to keep sneaking in for stuff—“

“Cassie…” He groans and curls up again. “I told you, I can’t.” He mutters.

“You can’t keep… hiding. We can help you…”

“Can we not talk about this??” He snaps, but immediately lowers his tone when he says, “Please?”

I don’t answer, pacing around my room a bit before asking, “So you didn’t eat today?”

“Just some snacks,” He says simply.

Despite how tense it feels to talk right now, I ask, “Are you hungry….?”

“I don’t want to take your food…”

“No, no, we have leftovers. My dad made pasta tonight.”

“At least it’s better than dumpster pizza,” He chuckles, but stops when he sees I don’t find it as funny as he does. “Yeah, pasta is fine…” He adds quietly.

“My dad is probably still awake but hopefully he’ll be in his room or something…”

He just silently follows me downstairs, eyes fixed at the ground.

“Cassandra, what are you doing up this late—?”

My dad’s voice makes both of us jump.

“And— Gregory, what are you doing here?”

“He didn’t feel safe at his house—!” I butt in without thinking.

Gregory shoots me a look, and I already know I’ve messed up.

“Why?” My dad’s eyebrows furrow deeply into that line in between his eyebrows.

“I… I don’t necessarily feel unsafe…” Gregory starts but my dad isn’t finished.

“You’ve been coming over a lot here lately, Greg. Not that you’re bad company— quite the opposite— It’s just I’m worried about you. If your family is treating you badly—“

“No! No… I’m okay.”

My dad’s brows remain furrowed but he backs off. “Okay. If you ever need anything—“

“He’s hungry,” I jump in to end the conversation before it escalates.

My dad seems to buffer for a moment. “Right… Food. We have pasta.”

“Yep, I know.” Gregory flashes him a tight smile.

My dad eventually gives us our servings of fettuccine alfredo, saving the smallest serving for himself. But when Gregory and I go back upstairs, Gregory can’t seem to bring himself to eat. He just stares at the ground, almost completely lost in thought.

“Gregory….?”

It’s too dark to see at first, but when he starts to shake, I realize.

“Greg, don’t— don’t cry… Why are you—“

“Leave me alone, Cass—“ He says with tears in his voice.

“Is it the pasta?”

“No—“

I don’t want him to cry. That’s all I care about right now. “I’m sorry I said that to my dad— I didn’t mean to— It just came out—“

“No, Cassie! It’s not that—!” He practically slams his palms on his eyes in frustration.

“Then what is it??”

“I—“ He stops to take in a shaky breath. “I don’t want to go back…”

My vision blurrs as my ears start to grow hot. “…But you shouldn’t have to…. You can stay with us…”

“I can’t…”

“Why??” My voice breaks.

“Your dad will figure out… and it’ll be complicated and everything—“

“But it’ll be worth it in the end…” I kneel next to him.

He swipes at his eyes with his sleeve. He pauses. “You really think so?”

“Yes…! Yes…” And for once, I can actually feel a little hope.

He looks at me with red-rimmed eyes, but under all the stress and sadness in his expression, I can tell he’s feeling a little hope too.

It lingers only for a moment before it dies out again. “I can’t…” He whispers, more tears slipping down his face.

A knock at my door makes us both turn.

“Greg…” Dad’s back again, and I know he’d be even more worried that we’re both crying. “You’re not okay.”

“No— I am—“

“No, you’re not.” He states, not in frustration, but in firm concern. “Is someone hurting you at home?”

“No— Nothing is wrong—“ But the way he starts to tremble makes him even less convincing.

“You’re shaking, Greg. Clearly something is wrong…!”

“I— No—“ His face contorts as he cries more.

“I’m calling the police—“

“No—!” Gregory shoots up, his eyes wide and full of panic.

“We have to help you, Greg! Trust me, it’ll be okay.”

“No, no, no— You can’t—“

“It’s okay; you don’t have to protect whoever it is.”

Gregory tries to protest but he’s already reaching for his phone.

“Don’t worry,” He tries to reassure Gregory, but he just seems to get even more panicked.

“No! Please! You can’t—“

“Gregory—“ I hold him back, trying to give a hug or anything to give him reassurance but he pushes me away again. But not just me, he pushes my dad and I away, bolting down the stairs, despite my dad trying to chase him down.

“Gregory!” I scream desperately as he slams his way out the door and into the pouring rain. My dad follows after but I can’t seem to move. In fact, I don’t think I can do anything at all.

I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe…

“Kid! Breathe!” Roxy shakes me out of it.

“Sorry—“ I gasp for air. “I didn’t realize…”

“Don’t be sorry. Just watch yourself.”

Her paw is heavy on me when she rests it on my shoulder. “I didn’t know he was… homeless. If we knew— If Vanessa knew, we wouldn’t be so hard on him.”

“…I haven’t seen him since,” I add quietly. “That’s why I’m looking for him Roxy… He deserves a better life. A place where he can hide and be safe… You understand, right?”

After a moment, she nods slightly. “Yeah… I guess I do… I’m sorry, Cassie. And if I ever see him again… I’ll say sorry to him too.”

“If…” I whisper, feeling hope vanish again like it vanished in his eyes that night.

[puhpandas]

I still see fans use the glamrocks dismantlings against greg! which is crazy cuz the game makes us do it and we’re never faced with an alternative ever. It’s not like greg was presented with a faz wrench, realized he could reboot the bots, then turn around and said nahh. He had maybe 3-4 hours left on the clock and I doubt any kid could make a plan to reboot 3 violent robots while also worrying about vanny within that amount of time

Their dismantlings, while sad in ruin, feels like a cheap attempt at glamrock angst when the glamrock angst should’ve been focused on how FE treats/neglects their robots. Why are we blaming the child over the greed/carelessness of men that put him, and everyone else, in that situation? Sotm better pull through and show how evil big corporations are so fans can parallel it with FE smh

YEAH I've actually never really thought about that second part. I think that's actually why I was so miffed by it in ruin and it didnt hit, and I love the glamrocks so it really should have!! it felt too cheap and thrown in, like there wasnt any buildup. and jtop literally SAID in the john interview that they put in chicas rebeakening as fan service to be able to feel that satisfaction at fixing her. he pretty blatantly either said or implied idk which but pretty sure it's the former that it was so you could fix what Gregory had done, which is. kind of strange

I understand it from an outside player perspective, bc it's like everybody felt bad breaking them, but I feel like this wasnt the way to go about it, especially because Gregory himself was not even involved when they were being fixed. theres nothing about the actual situation being expanded upon, just one part being put back into place by the "kind" child to fix what the "other" child had done

I think that's why I was miffed by cassie and roxys relationship too and it didnt hit like Gregory and freddys. it felt so sanitized, like, the whole point of roxy is that she isnt at all what a perfect character for the brand would be like and shes insecure and mean and lashes out, but then as soon as cassie finds her under the forklift shes suddenly back to being a soulless entertainer robot that's nothing but kind? her voice acting LITERALLY turns robotic!! it's like her entire personality was stripped away for her to be more likeable, even if that wasnt the intention, and it just didnt make it feel genuine

that's what it feels like with 'fixing' chica too. theres no real genuineness to it, it's just slapping a bandaid on it and not talking about what really matters about the situation. PLUS in the process it just paints Gregory who's already in an atrocious light from another event from the exact same game in an even worse light, especially with how jtop implied it in the interview that he was the "bad" to Cassies "good".

it feels like less to actually make you care or think about chica being sentient trapped in this building and broken and STILL under the virus and just. heres a bandaid, hope you guys feel better about (gregory) breaking them! isnt cassie a sweetheart for doing this? (theres an unlike unsaid there)

no hate to cassie or anything /gen. I have zero problem with her, it's just how it all as a whole was handled. this feels like a mistake theyve been making a lot recently with focusing on the wrong things. not focusing on the sentient Fazbear ent characters and how they each dont fit into their boxes for one reason or another and instead just the "look roxy and cassie are friends and shes back to acting like her animatronic performer self and now you as the player get to experience satisfaction but nothing about the situation actually changes". it's like this with mimic too, where they keep focusing on the boring mortal parts of mimic of it just being an old ass rusty robot instead of the glitchtrap AI virus parts of it, which are the actual dangerous scary parts that make it feel powerful and hard to beat in any capacity

ur so right about the Fazbear ent stuff not being focused on enough, especially since it's one of the most prominent amazing storylines in sb!! Bonnie in ruin should have served that, but it didn't, it just added more kindle to the fire in our own minds to make the story better. they didnt actually talk about the implications of bonnie being there and dead and phased out but it's there. the implication is good enough I guess, but it's just another thing about how it could have been expanded upon. like cassie could have had a little dialogue putting it into perspective like "omg he was here the whole time? it looked like someone killed him! it's so unfair that they just phased him out like that :(" or something then boom, makes the player think about it

ur so right about all the things u said in ur ask about the "glamrock angst" instead of focusing on the actual sad parts of their story that are AMAZING. especially since they're framing them being broken as the most terrible worst thing to ever happen to them and the ONLY bad thing when it was done by Gregory and not the mistreatment and abuse from Fazbear ent that made Freddy abandon the place (bc of bonnie) which was done BY the company. its framing Gregory as being the bad one twice in the same game when he didnt need another player while Fazbear ent, who is already the culprit of the glamrocks story that isnt expanded upon enough, isnt emphasized so players only focus on Gregory breaking them as being their worst fates

[monster-rinds]

Chapter 34: Complications

The humans left my domain shortly after that, with Felicity taking a brief moment to turn back to me and wink.

With the text message from Hayward grocery to fire them, they’d clammed up and glowered at each other, and scowled at me, and had messaged each other to communicate something, before going. Obviously a lot of trust lost.

I let myself look as sad as I felt about it, and kept my gaze on the corner of the table furthest from them.

I’d said all I needed or could say. Any more would be pushing or manipulation, and they clearly felt I’d done enough of that already. Or, at least, so I guessed.

Once they were gone, this left me with the option to disincorporate and seep into my domain to rest and think.

Felicity’s wink, the last facial expression I saw on Cassy that night, accompanied by Felicity’s continued smugness, left me to assume my former ersatz partner would be in contact with me. I figured that she would probably come in another host, extending a portion of herself like a pseudopod riding a human frame. If she could still do that while engaged in mutual vore with Cassy.

I felt I should try to focus on Chord and how to pursue him, but Cassy’s dilemma gripped me.

Now that I was no longer trying to put out emotional fires, my own and my friends, I could finally grapple with how much it had taken me by surprise. All of it, but specifically this new possible property of human souls. New to me, at least. The fact that it was new to me was something I needed to face.

It must have been a rare occurrence if it not only took me by surprise but also Felicity. The effect that Cassy had on the Strands was subtle enough that I would have missed it if I wasn’t new to the whole idea of the Strands in the first place, and paying extra attention to them. But, still, let’s say there have been Supraliminals for as long as there have been humans at least, someone would have noticed, and one would think word would have gotten around.

So, if your regular, run of the mill liminal emanants weren’t aware of the Strands at all, and nobody told them about it, cases like Cassy would come back to them mostly through human myth, and humans haven’t been around for very long. I think I mostly ever spoke to liminals, when I even spoke to emanants in the past, so I wouldn’t have figured it out through them.

Also, was this mini-universe inside a lucky soul thing confined to humanity? Or have other animals exhibited it? Humans aren’t as special as they think. But, I’d have to experiment to be sure, go around and examine lots and lots of other creatures. And, the apparent rarity of the trait made me want to attribute it to humanity.

On the other hand, my hyperfocus on humanity for the past couple of dozen million years was probably also warping my perspective quite a lot.

Anyway, practically speaking, its rarity and how it had come as a surprise to me was only relevant in terms of learning what I could do about it, and what it meant to Cassy. Felicity and I had both made guesses as to what was going to happen to her, but neither of us really knew.

And, also, Felicity could have been lying to me about anything.

It occurred to me that no one had even bothered to ask how long Cassy and Felicity had. Felicity could probably have made a guess, being internally aware of how much free individual energy each of them had left, and how quickly it was being used up. But if any of us had asked her, there was no reason to trust her answer, unfortunately.

That conversation was probably happening while they walked to Greg’s truck, leaving me out of it.

And once they’d fused, how would that work? Would one of them come out on top, having consumed the other? Would there be some sort of parity, carefully engineered so that they were equals? Did physics itself have a say in the matter? Would they become full emanant, or would they become the kind of being that Cassy had already been developing into? And what would that have been if Felicity hadn’t interrupted?

And what would they be capable of?

These were all questions I couldn’t answer, and the answers were necessary if I was going to even try to rely on Felicity to help me deal with Chord.

They were answers I’d really like to have if Felicity was going to be interacting with me at all, actually.

Mostly, I just wanted to do right by Cassy.

And then it hit me.

The reason I was suddenly caring more about Cassy now than I had before was because of her budding emanant nature.

I cared about all my human friends, a lot more than most emanants usually do, I think. Probably the same way humans care about their shorter lived pets, like rats, insects, or feeder fish won at the county fair. I had valued their friendships beyond the emotions that they’d fed to me. I had felt like a person while interacting with them, with a complexity of socialization I never got from other emanants. But I always knew humans were ephemeral and fleeting and, when it was best for the both of us, I was always ready to move on.

However, this time, with Cassy, I had learned that she had had a chance at longevity and a prolonged friendship with me, a deeper friendship, right in the same moment I learned that she would irrevocably become somebody else. Probably subsumed by a monster eating monster who had upended my own existence and identity by manipulating me into doing things I’d sworn to myself not to do.

Sure, I’d gone along a little too easily, and I was still making sense of that. But that didn’t absolve Felicity of having taken advantage of me like that.

It dawned on me that I was pissed. Really, really pissed.

And yet, for survival purposes, it seemed like I was going to have to take that anger and focus it on Chord.

The problem with dealing with Chord was that in order to safely approach him and outmaneuver him, I needed to access Fate Vine’s memories about him. And whenever I did that, I felt like I was thinking more like Fate Vine and less like myself, like I had just before I regained control of myself earlier that day.

I didn’t want to do that.

Maybe if I got a piece of paper and a pen, I could access a detail about Chord, jot it down, meditate on myself for a bit, and then repeat the process until I had a diagram of him in front of me. And then I could read that as myself, as if Fate Vine had left me notes.

Would that work?

In order to do that, I felt I needed real pen and paper, not something manifested in my domain. It needed to be something concrete, not a part of my own psyche, otherwise it wouldn’t work.

And I started to fret about where I would go to get that.

Hayward Grocery, if they were open, had a tiny office and school supplies section, like most grocery stores. I could get it from there.

Heck, I could get it from there even if they weren’t open. What scruples I’d had regarding that place were now quite gone.

But would Chord be monitoring the place? It had been Fate Vine who’d gotten me fired and cleaned up my alterations to their network, but at Chord’s orders.

Now that I had just very publicly devoured Fate Vine, would Chord watch my old haunts carefully, in case I returned to them? I knew his own stronghold or lair was just outside of town, in an old horse ranch. So, he tended to use agents to do his dirty work in town. What would I find in Hayward Grocery besides a pen and a notepad?

I was afraid to use Fate Vine’s memories to even hazard a good guess.

Which was when I felt a scratching on the edge of my domain.

Another emanant had found me, or knew where I was, and wanted to meet with me.

Felicity, I figured.

They weren’t in my domain, and probably knew better than to enter, just poking a finger in or something like that, so I couldn’t immediately sense who they were or what they were like.

I had to manifest myself again and greet them. Which I did.

It was a human host, just as Felicity would use. A pizza delivery driver of queer presentation holding a pizza in an insulated bag, branded with the business they worked for, smiling with anticipation.

The emotion I felt from them was monochromatic, an echo of that anticipation.

But when I examined them with all of my senses, I only saw a small shadow in the monster realm, and nothing occupying the strands.

I had no idea how Felicity would present herself now that she was locked in a merger with Cassy and taking advantage of Cassy’s little pocket universe. I didn’t know if I could recognize her without closer interaction.

“Yes?” I said.

The smile turned into a grin, and the other emanant declared, “Here to talk, of course!”

The expressions and emotions seemed like Felicity’s. But I wasn’t so sure about that voice. It was deeper, and chest resonant, and Greg was the only host I’d heard her use with a similar timbre. The inflections seemed off.

I should have just turned them away right then. But I thought that if this was just a liminal emanant, which they’d have to be if they weren’t Felicity, I could take them, whatever they were. And they were a rider or parasite, like Felicity, so in my experience that ruled out a number of dangerous possibilities.

Just a bit more talking before I invited them in.

“I’m sorry. I’m expecting someone, but you’re going to have to verify your identity somehow,” I told them.

“Oh, Sweetheart, we just talked. But now that the others are being tucked into bed, we can get down to business,” and they winked.

“OK, sure. Come on in,” I muttered, stepping aside.

I didn’t see it coming, because it was another thing that was outside my experience. I hadn’t realized an emanant could have this mix of traits. There really was no reason they couldn’t. I just never had even thought about it.

But when they stepped into my domain, I saw the telltale waves of influence rippling outward from their pale grey eyes, and realized it was already too late.

---

“Uh, Felicity, I guess,” Greg addressed the monster in his friend, as they all walked toward where he’d left this truck. It would be several blocks, but it would still save Ayden and Cassy some walking to go there and get a ride home rather than to just split off and go their separate ways. Greg looked over at her to see that he’d gotten her attention. “How long have you got, you know, before, uh, fusion?”

He’d spoken specifically to Felicity because he wanted her, not Cassy, to see his expression. An expression not meant for a friend. But he also figured she’d more likely know.

As she grimaced in a way not unlike Cassy often did, showing as much teeth as possible, Ayden picked up his pace to get up abreast of Greg and look across his chest at her to hear her out, too.

“Maybe let me explain what’s happening,” the monster said, very clearly not in Cassy’s voice. “Because, I don’t think there’s any kind of a hard deadline. It’s a whole process.”

“Go on,” Greg grumbled.

“This is going to be review, but here it is, as plain as I can make,” she sighed, hands in pockets, looking down at the pavement as they walked. “Cassy was already becoming an emanant, somehow…”

Greg interrupted, “I don’t get that. How? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, exactly, OK? I’ve never seen this before, but it must not be the first time. There are myths, you know, right? Like with vampires and wolves and ghosts and shit like that. Right?”

“Go on.”

Ayden was being very quiet and just listening.

“Emanants aren’t born. We just spring into existence when the forces are right. When there’s a vacuum in our ecosystem, it’s easier.” She looked around at the neighborhood, and all the houses with their porch lights on and blinds and shades pulled shut. “Gresham has been a wasteland of emanants lately. At least, the commoners, I guess. I always wondered why that was, but Synthia said it had something to do with too many Supraliminals present. And I guess I’m one of those, apparently. But that made a vacuum. And, Greg.”

“What?”

“Cassy wants to be an emanant. A monster, specifically. Very badly.” She looked at him. He hadn’t stopped looking at her. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight. She continued, “It might be something to do with her hyperspace inworld, or whatever we want to call it. And it might also have something to do with how many people have been seeing actual monsters lately. It just started in the past month for her, from what I can tell.”

“OK. I don’t get it, but OK. Go on.”

“There are two rates of process that govern this, and a couple of points of no return,” she said. “One of the processes that dictate the rate of our intermingling is the rate at which she is turning into a monster eating monster. That’s been slow, but is picking up. The other process is the rate at which she is attempting to consume me, because I am choosing to match that to maintain a kind of parity. The more of an emanant she is, the larger a mouth she can have, so to speak, and the more of me she can consume in a moment.”

“Fuck,” Ayden muttered.

“Yes, fuck,” Felicity said. “So, I’ve determined that we both gain each other’s memories as we consume the other. That’s not a super common adaptation, but common enough. Synthia taught it to me. And I think Cassy developed it because of her burning desire to know everything about monsters of all kinds.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of her special interest,” Ayden confirmed. “Especially monsters from other cultures.”

Felicity nodded, “So that tells me something. The other two factors are how many memories she has, and how many memories I have. And it’s not a linear exchange. When she eats my memories, they become hers and something that I can then eat instead of her original memories, and visa versa. Her memories will get transferred to me long before she processes all of mine, though. And the longer we’re able to maintain this dance, the more thorough that will be. Keep going and there’ll be a feedback loop of sorts, with us duplicating memories.”

“Which means?” Greg asked.

“Eventually, we’ll effectively be clones or twins, but not ever completely. Unless one of us fully eats the other, we’ll never have a full set of memories in either of us.”

His gut grew cold and heavy. “You’re not going to do that, are you?”

“Greg,” Felicity said. “By the mechanics of diffusion, most of her memories will be on my side of the equation long before she becomes fully emanant.”

He snarled and took an aggressive step toward her, a thing he hated doing, but he couldn’t stop himself. “And when will that happen?”

“Longer than either of us would like,” she smiled.

---

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[fnafsbheadcanon]

Cassie: It truly sucks to be you Gregory: I mean a huge majority of the fandom hate you for destroying the animatronics and I can’t blame them because you destroyed Roxy who’s my personal favorite, you also killed people plus your friend Tony, and you betrayed me to save your own skin, and even if it wasn’t you that still doesn’t change that you hurt so many people. Thank god I’m not like you.

Gregory: Idiot. You haven’t went through your villain phase yet. Just wait until you kill more people and make my life miserable by maybe torturing/killing Vanessa and Freddy, and see if you’re the same Cassie that you are.

Cassie: What is that supposed to mean? I won’t be like you. I’m not a killer.

Gregory: Not yet anyway. Remind you of a quote Cassie. “It takes one very bad day for you to become a monster.” Since you had your bad day, it won’t take long for you to be evil.

Cassie: EVEN if that was true the fandom will defend me.

Gregory: Not unless you kill their favorite characters.

Cassie: True, but that won’t happen. The fandom loves me.

Gregory: They do. Scott Cawthon however is a big fan of me. That is what really matters. He probably sees me as his favorite character.

Cassie: What- how?! You barely have any character in you. He should be my big fan not you.

Gregory: Simple really. He has something big planned for me. He will characterize me more than you could ever think of. It may not be soon, but in the future I’ll get my spotlight. It’s only a matter of time. Maybe wait a year or two for it to happen.

Don’t know if you heard this, but in a QnA, Marta (The VA for Gregory, Roxy and Vanny) said that Scott Cawthon is a big fan of Gregory. As from what she heard from employees from the steel wool team. The QnA was a month ago. I forgot what it’s called, but it’s confirmed that Scott loves Gregory.

A big W for Gregory and Gregory fans in general.

Makes me very excited if he can get character this time.

Yay! Good for Greg. :)

[wiretism]

michaellll i got sad thinking about ggy againnnn :(

okay well. i was actually thinking about how ellis and cassie should be friends bc they both got fucked over by the events of ggy (gregorys disappearance and tonys death, and thats not covering the theories that cassies dad got killed by someone who was glitchtrapped) and also they deserve nice things. also also i love them so they should meet. and i was thinking theyd probably meet while looking for gregory and tony, if someone were to write them meeting.

but then i was like, man, wouldnt it be fucked up if ellis was the only fucking person who tried to look for tony? wouldnt that be really fucked up? especially if somehow he found out that tony decided he “outgrew” ellis and disliked him for acting his age? that would hurt. can you imagine one of your only friends, just before their possible death, decided they didnt like you anymore, and your other friend was superior? and then they and that friend fucking vanished? god wait. that totally looks like. fuck. that totally looks like they planned to ditch ellis when i put it that way. im so fucked up over them KANDJDNG

anyways.. cassie ellis friendship save me….. cassie ellis friendship……. save me cassie ellis friendship………

(do they have a duo name. i should give them a duo name. is ellis’ favorite monty? if it is then understudy duo? since monty was called bonnies understudy and roxy fills a similar role?? mike im sooo normal abt this can u tell. can u tell im being very normal and not hyperfixated on them and didnt spend like 15 mins writing this ask.)

-cross

CROSS YOU ARE PAYING FOR MY FUCKING THERAPYYY

I LOVE the Ellis and Cassie team up SOOOO MUCH and it’s extra fucked up when they DO inevitably find Gregory and he. Doesn’t fucking remember Ellis. LIEK!??!?!?!!!

And Ellis’s fandom picked favorite is Monty… also understudy in the way they’re both overshadowed (in universe not like by the fandom) by ggy. They both bear the brunt of it without ever even knowing until it was too late… ough…

And it looking like the ditched him I actually had a thought abt that. An animatic actually but I don’t recall the song. Where Ellis tries to talk to tony n he’s like “I’m out with Greg” and Ellis is a bit hurt by that and goes to bed and the next day tony “ghosts” him (he’s fucking dead) and Ellis is upset until his mom asks him if he’s heard from tony and it all goes downhill up until they find Tony’s body

[retrospectislame]

(long post)

FNAF Security Breach Ruin theories that I'm sure people have thought of already but I'm still gonna post here because I havn't been able to stop thinking about this game:

(theories are seperated with a 🎈)

(also keep in mind that this is just my personal little theory ramble, I could absolutely be wrong)

🎈 I dont think we ever hear the real Gregory's voice in ruin.

Even when the mimic (That's what its called right? Or at least thats what we're calling it? Idk I'll just go with it) is chasing Cassie, when he's saying, "You were never supposed to go to the pizzaplex" and "Do you really have any other option?" (or smth like that-), I think that is still the mimic pretending to be Gregory.

Why? (more after break)

Well first of all, the instructions during the chase are coming from the walky talky that the mimic has been using to communicate with Cassie throughout the DLC. And like, don't get me wrong, but im pretty sure Gregory wouldn't be able to hack his way into the radio frequencies that the walky talkys are using. The same can be said for the speakers in the elevator before Cassie falls. To maybe even have a chance at communicating with Cassie through either of these, he would probably have to be in the building, which he explicitly says (even if it is the mimic talking) he isn't.

Also, Gregory talks about the M.X.E.S security system that was put in place to keep the mimic down there, but how would he know about that? And how would he know about the mimic being trapped down there to begin with? I mean sure, there is speculations that he had been living in the pizzaplex for a little bit, but i dont think that a evil, sentiant animitronic living down in the basement of a children's pizza place would exactly be considered public information, even if it is just among the employees. Not to mention that he probably wouldnt even be looking for that kind of information in the first place if he was living in the pizzaplex.

Finally, (even though I'm sure there's more things to back this up, I just don't want this to get too long lmao) how would Gregory even drop the elevator? Like I don't this theres a button labeled "button to drop the elevator thats in that old ruin under the pizzaplex," and to actually cut the cords he would have to be there which he isn't. The mimic is the one who most likely dropped the elevator, and if it wasn't them specfically, it was probably someone/thing that was working with them. (or also possibly the fact that that elevator is probably decades old and has probably had no maintainance whatsoever during that time and has also retained at least some fire damage and-) (<also, if the elevator did fall out of just extreme damage, the mimic probably knew that and thats why they led Cassie there)

🎈 But this also sprouts another question:

Why did the mimic drop the elevator?

Well, my theory is that it wanted to disguse itself.

I'm gonna say now that I don't fully know how most of the animitronics work (especially when it comes to the mimic) but I think that it's going to use Cassie's body as a way of hiding itself when it eventually (maybe) makes it up into the real world.

I also think that we may see Cassie again. How far into the future, I'm not sure, but I think we'll see her again eventually. Of course, if my theory happens to be correct, it's not going to be Cassie, but instead the mimic in disguise.

🎈The last thing I wanna talk about is just a few questions that I have now that ruin has been released:

How do Cassie and Gregory know each other? What is their relationship with each other? Are they friends? Siblings? Two runaways that met on the streets? How did they meet? Where the hell are these kids' parents?

Did Cass and Greg meet before SB or after? (before ruin of course) If they met before, then that raises a lot of questions. (How did they get separated before SB, why didn't he mention her at all during SB, etc. etc.)

How did the mimic contact Cassie at all? It probably chose her because 1. It already had a sample of Greg's voice, probably from when he went down there in SB, 2. She's a child, she's guillible enough to go wherever her friends ask her to go. But how???? The only possible way I can think of is call, text, maybe leave her a note, but I don't think she has a phone considering she's like 8, and leaving a note would require literally going to her house, which the mimic obviously can't do.

Who installed the M.X.E.S system in the first place? Was it one person trying to keep the mimic a secret? Was it Vanny? Vanessa? (considering the rabbit, it may be, but im not sure tbh) Was it the company that runs the pizzaplex just trying to hide the past wrong-doings of the previous owner and make more money?

Is the Glitchy Rabbit Thingy(TM) really evil? If you think about it, it may have only been trying to stop Cassie because she was disabling it, which would unleash the mimic and allow it to escape. Maybe the rabbit isn't as bad as we think.

Where is Music Man? Y'know the big one. Did he just retain so much damage that he doesn't work anymore? For a little bit I had thought that the giant endoskeleton in the daycare theater may be him, but after comparing the two, it's clear that they are just not the same model. (Music Man's arms are skinnier, it wouldn't make sense for him to have a jaw considering his mouth is a screen, head shape, etc. etc.) Speaking of which:

What the hell is that giant endoskeleton for? That's what I really wanna know. And why is it only there in the AR mode?

What does M.X.E.S stand for? I feel like that could be really important.

Uhhh, that's all I got for now I think. Thank you for coming to my ted talk lmao I don't really know how to end this-

[bartramcat]

CSI/GSR: Long vs. Short Term Arcs

Okay, this is very off the cuff and inspired to some degree by @addictedtostorytelling and the discussion of Morgan and Greg and Hodges. Some stray things:

We know that the only thing decided about Sara Sidle pre-show was that she was meant to be Grissom's love interest.

At some point, before CSI continued to be a ratings juggernaut that Zuiker figured Grissom would go deaf, and that would be how the show would end.

When Grissom turned Sara down in Play With Fire, TPTB had decided that was going to be the end of that.

Things no one could have predicted:

The overwhelming worldwide success of the show, necessitating a workable resolution to Grissom's deaf storyline.

That no matter what, whenever Grissom and Sara are onscreen together, there is "something" there.

Billy and Jorja both were invested in GSR.

It seems to me the combination of the above is what gave us Season 4. In terms of GSR, a case could be made that they were starting all over again in a serialized novel sort of way.

Now I confess to knowing absolutely nothing about the Harry Potter novels, but, in my youth, thanks to Masterpiece Theatre, I did read all of The Forsyte Saga and Trollope's Palliser novels. What serialized novels have in common is that, for the most part, each novel stands on its own, but the author feels the need to continue to explore aspects of his characters beyond the original scope of the original novel.

In that regard, I suppose we could see 1-3 as a kind of GSR entity on its own. Grissom gets promoted and brings the girl he loves to Vegas, only to discover he can't have both the job and the girl. Beginning in 2, Grissom has two simultaneous arcs: the fear of going deaf and his unresolved feelings for Sara, with the first further compounding the complications associated with the second. What he doesn't discover until season 3 is that his "push me/pull me" relationship with Sara drives her to another man, a fact which utterly devastates him to an extent he could never have imagined.

Still, it is the deaf arc that is of more overriding concern: if he can't hear, he not only loses his job but also his entire sense of self at that point in time. Resolving his feelings for Sara will have to be backburnered, so he decides not to punish her for getting a life, as, at that point, he has no life to offer her, since he's not even sure what his life will be.

Meanwhile, back in Saraland, she discovers Hank is a dog and ends the relationship. If GSR were bad soap opera, the fact that Sara was seeing Hank would have been seen as a primary impediment. The thing is it never was. To me it's just one more nail in the Sara low self-esteem coffin. Also, if it were soap, the lab explosion and Grissom's unconscious revelation of his feelings for her would have led to some kind of positive resolution. The problem is that Grissom's deaf arc is still in play, not to mention all of his other relationship with Sara fears.

Sara misreads the situation; she thinks, finally, he might be ready to take the plunge, but she's completely wrong. By bringing their relationship to an either/or position, she basically pushes him into outright rejecting her, thus ending this phase of their arc. Ironically, Grissom's deaf arc gets resolved in the very next episode, but, by then, he really thinks it is "too late."

The thing about 4, besides it being incredibly hard to watch Sara descend into the abyss, is that, for the first time, the show makes it unequivocally clear that Grissom is both sexually attracted to Sara and in love with her. (The first doesn't always imply the second, although we learn later, for Grissom, it does.)

While Homebodies explores Grissom's fears that he won't ever be able to keep his loved one (Sara) safe--perhaps foreshadowing--Invisible Evidence certainly spells it out that his attraction to her is as physical as it is intellectual and emotional. I doubt anyone could watch those "pin me down" seconds out of context and not think that was a man who was about to fuck the shit out of her. (Of course in context it can't happen, but the desire is certainly there.)

Overall, however, outside of that, Grissom goes out of his way to distance himself from Sara: that "too late" thing again. Then the show throws Butterflied at us (and him), wherein it is made abundantly clear he is in love with her and regrets turning her down. What he doesn't know is that she hears everything he says, which twists the knife. She wasn't wrong: he does have feelings for her, only those feelings aren't strong enough for him to risk it, to take a chance on love.

So what we have for the rest of 4 is Grissom continuing to distance himself from Sara under the misguided belief that he has killed any feelings she had for him, while she continues to sink into depression and alcohol dependence. Given his distancing, he seems unaware that something isn't right with her until late in the season, and then it hits him between the eyes and in the gut in Bloodlines.

In a weird way, 4-6 is the inverse of 1-3. If Season 1 begins with a lot of light-hearted flirtation (and off the charts sexual chemistry) and ends with a seemingly insurmountable rift between them, 4-6 begins with the rift and works its way to their becoming an actual committed couple in a seemingly stable relationship. Of course the frustrating part is that the show neglected to tell us when, where, and how, although it's pretty evident that, for Grissom, Bloodlines is the catalyst for him to try to rebuild their relationship. I do not think he did so thinking the end result would be a "beautiful life" with Sara. More than likely, the best he hoped for was for them to be friends again.

As an aside, in the middle of 1-3, we have Cassie James, Grissom's personal Cassandra, telling him "You don't know what you need until you find it." While Grissom's "need" for Sara is couched purely in work terms throughout 3, season 4 into 5 shows a man who has seemingly come to terms with the fact that he both loves and needs her. The first half of 5 shows him far more in tune with her, and they begin to be comfortable together again. While I think he is perhaps at a place where he might occasionally daydream about the possibility that someday they might be together, I also suspect he thinks that ship has sailed.

And that is why he is completely floored in Snakes. Seemingly out of nowhere, she more or less tells him she's still in love with him, although, unlike in Play With Fire, she has no expectations that he can ever reciprocate her feelings. She, too, thinks that ship has sailed, but, now, she is reconciled to that fact.

I suppose the question for me has always been whether or not he goes to her in Nesting Dolls and tells her that it matters to him, not as her boss but as a man, why she's so angry, if Snakes doesn't happen. A large part of a believable narrative is that one thing must naturally lead to another. As a narrative arc, from 4 to mid-5, we get the following:

Invisible Evidence makes it clear that these two people are still sexually attracted to one another, even though neither one would consider acting on it at this point.

Butterflied confirms Grissom is in love with Sara and regrets turning her down.

Early Rollout tells us Sara may have a serious drinking problem.

Bloodlines is Sara at her lowest point, having been pulled over for a DUI, which signals to Grissom just how miserable she is.

In early 5, they begin to rebuild their camaraderie, with Grissom occasionally kind of sort of flirting with her, in his fashion.

Snakes confirms that, despite everything, she's still in love with him.

After her meltdown in Nesting Dolls, Grissom goes to her and coaxes her to tell him her deepest secrets, after which he comforts her, although what transpires between them after he takes her hand, like so many things GSR, is left vague.

It's always been curious to me that after their conversation in Unbearable that the curtain is drawn on exactly what the nature of their relationship is. I have always read, from Big Middle on, that they act like a couple, albeit a couple in the workplace. We get very little entree into their private interactions, so when and how they became lovers is open to individual interpretation. It isn't until the final scene of 6 that the show bothers to tell us they are lovers, and, judging by their interactions in Way to Go, have been a couple for some time.

I don't know about anyone else, but I think they seem married in that scene: completely comfortable with each other in a way that more or less screams that scenes like the one we are finally privy to have been occurring for a while.

In any event, 4-6 is a pretty remarkable journey in GSR land, as the two characters move from barely being able to speak to one another into a full-fledged love affair.

The amazing thing to me is that both the 1-3 and the 4-6 segments follow a logical progression, with each small insight or revelation explaining both choice and behavior--and leading into the next arc in their relationship.

It really is good stuff.

[suspiriu-m]

Examining Youth Culture

Youth Culture in television in cinema is a theme we’ve all seen before. In some way or another, we’ve all probably related or even seen ourselves in something we’ve watched. A lot of experiences we see in these coming of age style pieces most of the time have something to do with at least one of three recurring themes. Sex, drugs and alcohol. Character archetypes are also an important part of these stories too. To sum it up, we’re generally confronted with Jocks, Nerds, Goths, Popular Kids, Pot Heads etc.

A major point to take into account when looking at this type of media is the perspective the story is told from, and where it’s taking place. For example, Barry Jenkins’ 2016 film Moonlight, is completely different from 2018’s Love Simon, directed by Greg Berlanti. Moonlight tells the story of a young Black man named Chiron. Through three different time periods in his life, we see him come to terms with his identity and sexuality, all while living with his drug addicted mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Miami. Throughout the film Chiron not only faces the struggles of his sexuality within himself, but how his unaccepting peers react, his mess of a mother, and maneuvering masculinity without the guidance of his missing father. In a review written for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw says that Moonlight

“is a film about masculinity, the wounds and crises of which are the same for all sexualities, but conditioned by the background weather of race and class” ((Bradshaw Moonlight review – a visually ravishing portrait of masculinity).

Love Simon however, is a completely different ballgame. The juxtaposition between the two films is extremely noticeable, even from just from looking at their promotional images. While Moonlight is more of a serious, realistic and emotionally charged movie, Love Simon has more of a young adult, coming of age, happily ever after tone to it. In the film, the main character has to find his way through growing up, high school, coming out to his friends and family, but most importantly figuring out how Blue is. Blue is the person that Simon has formed a connection with through emailing each other. The only problem? He has absolutely no idea who Blue even is. One of the more important aspects of this film when looking to compare it to others is the fact that the main character and most of the cast are all white. Not only that, but it takes place in a much more suburban setting compared to that of Moonlight. Simon’s relationship with his parents is very strong, his friends are all super close to him and the impression is given that they would obviously support him once he comes out. Surprise, they do.

In terms of which character I related to from the selection of films and shows assigned, I don’t really feel like I can truthfully say that I felt some sort of connection with them. Being gay myself, there wasn’t a crazy amount of representation in terms of queer youth in the films. Yes in Mean Girls you had Damian but he was kind of underutilized and exaggerated. In Euphoria you have Jules who is a trans woman but that also isn’t something that I’ve experienced and won’t pretend to. Could I relate to a few aspects of her character? Of course, i’m sure anybody can. But am I able to say I identify with her? Definitely not. That’s not a bad thing though, trans stories need to be represented in the media. More importantly they don’t always have to be represented in some tragic story or situation. Even though we’ve seen more queer representation today than ever before. We still have a long way to go. Rachel Bays wrote an article for The Advance-Titan stating

“Out of 109 major studio releases in 2017 researched by GLAAD, roughly 13% had LGBTQ characters. Of these films, about 64% featured gay men, 36% featured lesbians, 14% featured bisexuals and 0% featured trans-inclusive content”(Bays The complicated history of queer representation in film: The Advance).

It’s imperative that we see more queer representation mashed with Youth Culture in our media because not every single person experiences the same thing, especially queer kids. In terms of Kids, Saved By The Bell and Mid 90’s, I don’t specifically remember any particular moments in which I personally felt any sort of strong connection.

Now, if we’re gonna speak about common themes in a lot of these stories, then here is where I can say I definitely connected with some situations more than specific characters. Sex, drugs and alcohol are topics we see come up in a lot of coming of age or youth centered stories. In Kids, the main cast is basically parading around the city smoking, drinking and fornicating multiple times throughout the entire day. In Euphoria, one of the main characters Rue suffers from drug addiction. Kat comes to terms with her sexual awakening and a lot of her storyline is focused on her coming in touch with that side of her, whether or not it was the best way to portray it. And most of the other characters are all seen smoking, drinking out having sex at some point in the series.

Growing up, especially in our teen years, we’ve all had the opportunity to partake in at least one of those activities previously mentioned. I know for a fact that I have definitely been to parties, drank alcohol, smoked weed. I’ve encountered hookups and the whole nine yards. Something that really stood out to me in Euphoria was the episode in which Jules ends up meeting with an older man in a hotel room late at night. We shall not name the character for sake of spoilers but those of you who watched know exactly who i’m talking about. That entire scene was just gut wrenching for me to watch and I know it was for many other young queer people as well. Everything about that scene was purposefully uncomfortable to watch from the cinematography, music, acting and the location.

Speaking of music, the soundtrack to a film or TV show is super important and a lot of the time helps the creators in getting their point across. Euphoria specifically used a lot of modern music but also threw in some classics as well. The singer-songwriter Labrinth played a big role in adding music to the show’s soundtrack. He even collaborated with Zendaya in making All For Us, the show’s theme and closing track. It was premiered in the last episode of the series and incorporated into the storyline with a performance by Zendaya herself. This song specifically is so important aside from the rest of the show’s music because it aids in showing Rue’s downfall at the end of the season. She goes through so much in her recovery and relapsing and her relationship with Jules that when Jules finally decides to hop on that train and leave even though Rue tells her it’s not the best idea, it absolutely crushed her. In an interview for Rolling Stone magazine, Labrinth stated “When you look back to your teenage days... it feels semi-magical but semi-crazy and semi-psychotic. I wanted to make sure the music felt like those things”(Marks How Labrinth Created the Perfect Soundtrack for HBO's 'Euphoria').

To help convey how certain songs can help in telling a story, I created a short playlist with songs that I felt matched certain plot points in the show. Without going into too much detail in an attempt to avoid spoilers, I want to give you guys a short explanation of each song about how I feel it can fit into the show. In no exact order, the first song I chose was Regulars by Allie X. The song is about trying to fit in with society and the people around you when you feel out of place all the time. Personally, I feel like this is a good representation of Rue when she comes home from rehab and has to try and blend back into society knowing that everybody knows where she was. Halsey’s Beautiful Stranger is about meeting somebody after being hurt so many times, or just being in a bad headspace and finally feeling like this person could be the one. This is a good explanation for how Rue feels about Jules when she first meets her. She’s hesitant but slowly starts to fall in love with her before Jules starts acting out. Contaminated by Banks is a piece about loving somebody but having their history or the other person's actions make you feel not so good about the relationship you have with them. This is how Rue feels after her first little fallout with Jules. They kind of have an on and off relationship throughout the season and Rue subconsciously has doubts. Simmer by Hayley Williams is a song about suppression. Suppressing your emotions, especially the bad ones like anger, fear, sadness, rage. Nate in the series suffers with a lot of mental suppression. He suppresses his feelings about his relationship with his father, his questioning sexuality, his feelings for a specific character. Although he does lose his cool multiple times throughout the show, it’s not until the end of the season that he really bursts and lets everything out. Another song from Hayley Williams with her band Paramore called Fake Happy is also on the playlist. Fake Happy, to put it simply, is exactly what the title suggests. Pretending to be okay when you’re really not. In the show Rue relapses a few times whether that be big or small, and she has to hide it from her friends and family.

Maddy and Cassie are both the pretty popular girls of this show, leading me to choose Rina Sawayama’s XS as a representation of them. The title XS, otherwise interpreted as “excess” is literally about money, appearance and materialistic items. All of which Cassie and Maddy display throughout the show. The popular cheerleaders with the nice clothes and toned bodies, the pretty makeup and done up hair. It’s a perfect representation of their characters in my opinion. Even though they do have storylines going deeper into their minds, this is what they portray on the surface level.

Hallucinogenics by Matt Masson is a song about going somewhere else most likely due to drugs, and feeling like a different person. Although the song is a bit lighthearted in terms of sound, I think it fits with the scene with Jules and Rue taking drugs together and tripping in her room together. Rue was wary about doing it especially after the fact that she just got clean, and she already has this war in her mind going on but she does it anyways because she likes Jules. Attack of Panic by Aly & Aj heavily focuses on anxiety, which is something Rue deals with multiple times throughout the show. Especially the episode when she’s in school and pretty much has a mental breakdown and runs to the bathroom and hides. Even though the character Kat isn’t the primary focus of the show, her storyline has a bit of line shined upon it multiple times. For her storyline i chose Doja Cat’s Cyber Sex. Kat becomes a cam girl at one point in her sexual awakening and kind of goes full throttle into it. The song talks about having sexual relations with somebody over the internet and that’s exactly what Kat does, except she sees it more as a way to make an income.

Last but not least, I of course had to choose Labrinth and Zendaya’s song made for the show All for Us. The song represents Rue’s feelings of not wanting to let her family down, knowing the struggles and pain they have gone through and not wanting to upset or disappoint them again. Everything she’s done to get clean and sober up has been because of them. She loves her family so dearly but in the end she just broke down again, all because of Jules and the mess that she got herself involved with pertaining to many of the other characters she meets throughout the show. I hope you guys enjoy the playlist and take a good listen to the lyrics and themes in each song! They might not be perfect, but to me they have a lot of commonalities with themes and specific moments and themes from the show!

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/playlist-for-euphoria/pl.u-AGAaiylr2l

[bucky-at-bedtime]

Natural

I mean, it’s part 2 of ‘Familar,’ but you don’t have to read that one. I do recommend it. Because I love that fic.��

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Fem!reader

Warnings: Fluff, cheesy 80s music, more fluff.

A/n: Just so y’all know, this features the cheesiest, most cliché 80s song – I definitely recommend. I don’t know what I’m doing with this fic, but it’s still one of my favourite things I’ve ever written, it is my self-indulgent fic, so enjoy pls. You could read the first part, familiar, here. Or you could not. You do you, ma dudes.

Masterlist

You watched as Steve made his way through the store, pretending to busy yourself with pricing some new records. The sun was shining outside, sending an orange hue down the aisles and warming the room, allowing Steve to shrug off his jacket and lay it across a half-empty shelf. He had a gentle smile on his lips to match your own and you found you couldn’t tear your eyes away as he browsed through a section of new vintage records.

Steve had become quite the regular at the record store. He often showed up in the middle of the day baring coffee or some sort of pastry and would stay anywhere between five minutes and five hours. He would always take something new home and update you on the tunes that he loved – ‘that Kiss song, New York Groove, is great’ or ‘I know it’s weird, but I really liked ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’.

You had thought, after the moment you had shared a few weeks ago that your relationship might develop into something more, but you had seemed to reach an impasse. Things were unmoving from your current state of friendship, with a dash of flirting.

You guessed being friends with Steve Rogers was good enough.

“What’re these?” He wondered aloud, fingers tracing along the edges of the box.

“Oh, they’re cassette tapes,” you mumbled, moving to stand beside him and dropping a pile of new records on the bench. “They were the way people listened to music in the 70s and 80s – they aren’t really around anymore, impractical, but I like to collect them wherever I can find them.”

You began searching through the box of tapes, tapping across the handwritten labels in search of something. “People used to make mixtapes for each other – like playlists of a bunch of songs they both loved or represented their relationship – it was seen as a big… gesture, but no one really does that anymore.”

You briefly glanced up at him, catching his eyes on your face, an unfamiliar look in his eyes. You ignored it, continuing your latest music lesson.

“I don’t know, I think it was really romantic. I collect them because they’re little capsules of time – a tiny tape representing something special to someone at some point.”

Finally, your fingers brushed across the familiar label and the rush of excitement ran through you. It was a little strange, how excited you got to listen to a particular collation of a few old songs, but you could’ve listened to this mixtape on repeat for days.

“This is my favourite one.” You picked one out from the box and Steve caught a glimpse of the title – ‘Cassie + Greg ∞’ – one of his eyebrows tweaked, a silent question.

“Cassie and Greg have great taste in music,” you chuckled, waltzing towards the wall of players.

There were CD players and Walkmans hanging from the wall, record players balanced atop stools and benches with iPod docs and Bluetooth speakers scattered between them. Each product was marked with a little handwritten price.

You stopped next to one old radio, brushing away a few leaves from the potted plant beside it and clicking the front cartridge open. The thing was old – Steve could tell from the clunkiness and the way it clicked and clattered, coming alive. Nowadays, everything was slim and silent.

When you pressed play, a quiet tune began, and you twisted the knob, turning it up as high as it would go, despite the crackling of the old speakers.

So long I've been looking too hard I've been waiting too long Sometimes I don't know what I will find I only know it's a matter of time When you love someone

She turned, leaning back against the bench with her eyes closed, a tiny smile pulled across her lips.

He basked in the intoxicating image of her, watching how the music affected her. It was one of his favourite things in the world – just watching her listen to the songs that she loved. It was as if he could feel the passion radiating off of her and it filled him like a drug, forcing a smile onto his lips and speeding the beat of his heart.

It feels so right, so warm and true I need to know if you feel it too Maybe I'm wrong Won't you tell me if I'm coming on too strong This heart of mine has been hurt before This time I wanna be sure

You were humming along, head tilted up slightly to bare your face to the sun that was streaming through the windows. Suddenly, Steve’s feet were carrying him across the room. He wasn’t sure what he was doing – for the last few weeks he had been trying to convince himself to just make some sort of move, and now he seemed to be doing something without even thinking about it.

Your eyes flickered open when his shadow blocked out the sun, and you blinked up at him, a small crease appearing between your brows as you pushed yourself up, incidentally shifting even closer to him.

“Hi,” he mumbled, closer to you than he had been in weeks. He tried to dismiss the way your presence made him feel lightheaded. His eyes were on you, flickering across your face, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards as he began to wonder why he hadn’t done anything sooner.

“Hi.” The word was a breathy response between the heavy beats of your heart, as if the air had been sucked from the small space between the two of you. Your own eyes flickered between his, watching him carefully, not wanting to scare him off.

I've been waiting for a girl like you To come into my life I've been waiting for a girl like you A love that will survive I've been waiting for someone new To make me feel alive Yeah, waiting for a girl like you To come into my life

Your eyes flickered down, catching the subtle movement of his arm, reaching towards you. You met his hand with yours and he pulled you away from the bench you had been leaning on.

A quiet laugh escaped your lips as you stumbled into the centre of the store, in view of the open window, fingers tightening around Steve’s. His smile was bigger now, too.

Sunlight filled the room like a spotlight on the two of you and a cool breeze streamed through the open door, twirling around you like it was attempting to choreograph. The streets outside were empty of pedestrians – it was a performance with no audience, intimate and personal and unspoken.

Steve pulled you close, and your free hand landed on his chest, your fingers resting over his collarbone. You felt his hand curl onto the small of your back, his fingers on fire, setting your senses alight. Suddenly, you were moving together, naturally, as if it was a dance that had been practiced before – in reality, it was clumsy and slightly off-beat and your laughter often interrupted the melody. It didn’t change the fact that this felt right.

Only in dreams could it be this way When you love someone,

yeah, really love someone

Now I know it's right,

from the moment I wake up till deep in the night There's nowhere on earth that I'd rather be

than holding you tenderly

Another laugh escaped your lips as he twirled you under his arm, causing him to grin and pull you tightly into his chest. You knew how cheesy and ridiculous this was, you knew it was cliché, but as you buried your face into his chest, attempting to stifle your giggles, you couldn’t care less.

He rested his chin atop your head, biting his bottom lip to try and hide his grin. He could feel your arms tight around his waist and your muffled laughter sounded better than any of the music he had listened to over the last few weeks.

I've been waiting for a girl like you To come into my life I've been waiting for a girl like you A love that will survive I've been waiting for someone new To make me feel alive Yeah, waiting for a girl like you To come into my life

The song was coming to an end and you pulled away slightly, daring to run your hands up his chest and around the back of his neck. His fingers found your waist, tightening as if he thought you were trying to pull away completely and he didn’t want to let you go.

The next moment proceeded naturally – almost instinctually. You pressed up onto your toes at the same moment that he ducked down, and your lips connected as if it was planned – as if it was normal and innate and just right.

Nothing seemed unsure or hesitant. His lips moved against yours like they had already done this a thousand times before, yet your chest still burst with the unfamiliar feeling of his lips on yours. His tongue swept soft across your lips, simple and teasing and suggestive.

Your fingers found their way into the short hairs at the base of his skull, pulling him down. He took the hint – you were asking for more and he obeyed, deepening the kiss and walking you backward until your back was pressed against a shelf of old records.

The kiss has been building up and it bursts like the bass drop of a song, exploding through your bodies and releasing like a rhythmic dance. He pulls your hips tighter against his and on hand travels down to the back of your thigh, hiking it up.

It’s a song playing loud in your head, silencing the world around and you were pretty sure it would never end. You wanted the song to go on forever.

But, no song goes forever.

The bell above your door jingled, signaling the entrance of a customer and the two of you tore away from each other. It was the record scratch of life, interrupting something melodic and important, pulling you back into the real world. You rushed over to the stereo, turning the music down.

You cleared your throat, sent Steve what you hoped was a reassuring smile and turned to the customer – a regular – Davie – come to donate a box of old records.

“Hi, Davie! Looks like you have a few more records for me,” you smiled, turning on the customer service side of your brain and leading them to the counter.

For a moment, Steve was frozen in the middle of the store, the corners of his lips twitching up into a relieved smile. He moved to watch you, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth and trying to keep from punching the air in excitement.

He was shaken from his reverie of joy when his text tone rung out through the store and he searched his pockets for his phone.

You were just taking the last record from the customer's hands when you looked up, only catching a brief glimpse of Steve as he rushed out the door, the sound of the bell echoing in place of the song.

Do ya’ll want a part 3?

TAGS (Hi guys, been a while lmao)

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[mrjoelgarcia9]

Let’s Talk #YoungJustice

It is now officially 2019. 

Time to start off the new year by talking about a great DC animated show.

Young Justice is better than Teen Titans.

For my thoughts on DC Universe’s Young Justice, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.

Young Justice centers around sidekicks wanting to break away from their respective heroes and form a new group separate from the Justice League. The team (in the first season) mainly consists of Robin/Dick Grayson, Aqualad, Kid Flash/Wally West, Superboy, Miss Martian/Megan/M’gann, and Artemis. Much to their annoyance, they are ordered around by Batman and other League members to resolve small conflicts while the League deal with bigger conflicts. However, they soon discover that several villains are working together as part of a mysterious group simply known as “The Light”.

At first, the show may seem similar to Teen Titans by how they both center around younger heroes. However, Teen Titans is mainly a comedic show with dramatic moments while Young Justice is a far more serious and dramatic take on the characters with the occasional comedic moments. The things the two shows have in common are Khary Payton voicing one of the main protagonists (Cyborg/Aqualad), Robin/Dick Grayson being one of the leaders, and in the second season, Beast Boy (who in Young Justice is regularly called by his civilian name, Garfield Logan) joining the team.

Also, Young Justice actually acknowledges the rest of the DC Universe while Teen Titans rarely featured any adult superheroes and villains (aside from Batman, Deathstroke, and the Doom Patrol).

UPDATE (1/1/2019): As a user has already notified me, there were several adult villains featured on Teen Titans. This was an honest mistake. However, I still stand by how it lacked the involvement of the overall DC universe.

The series was created by Greg Weisman, the creator of Gargoyles and The Spectacular Spider-Man.

His shows have been considered some of the best animated series ever made, as they feature a good balance of comedy and drama, excellent voice casts, and good animation. They are also known for how Disney, either directly or indirectly, has been the cause of their respective cancellations.

The show features a wide range of voice actors, most of whom have previously worked on other DC productions such as Static Shock, Batman: The Brave and The Bold, The Batman, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!, and even the DC Original Animated Films.

The only actor reprising a past role in the show is Bruce Greenwood (of Star Trek (2009) and FOX’s The Resident), who previously played Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman: Under The Red Hood. Despite having similar animation styles, the film and show are set in different continuities.

Other notable voice actors in the show include singer Jesse McCartney as Robin/Dick Grayson, Danica McKellar as Miss Martian/Megan/M’gann, Nolan North as Superboy (and Superman), the aforementioned Khary Payton as Aqualad, Eric Lopez as Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes, and Mae Whitman as Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark.

The first season of Young Justice started off a bit clunky. It was clear that the writers were getting used to writing about these characters. The first half of the season was overall OK and had several weak episodes, but the second half makes up for it with some great episodes that help expand the show’s universe.

The only notable criticism of the season that I can recall involved The Joker in the episode “Revelation”. He was voiced by Brent Spiner, who played Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as Puck on Weisman’s aforementioned Gargoyles.

Spiner’s interpretation appears to be mainly based on his performance as Lore, Data’s evil twin robot from The Next Generation, only with a bit more anger. It is one of the far more decent takes on the character, considering how this was his only major appearance on the show. Also, it could have been much worse.

Spiner’s appearance was also one of many appearances from the stars of Weisman’s past series. From Gargoyles, aside from Spiner, Marina Sirtis (Demona) and Keith David (Goliath) also appeared on the show. Sirtis plays the recurring villain Queen Bee, while David guest starred as Mongul.

While several of the voice actors from The Spectacular Spider-Man have appeared in guest or supporting roles, the titular character’s voice actor Josh Keaton made a guest appearance as the villain Black Spider along with several subtle references to the Marvel superhero.

As for the season’s story arc, it was better presented in the second half by how the series’ villains came together to take over the League.

The second season, subtitled Invasion, is one of the best TV portrayals of the DC universe. Not only does it build up from the first season by bringing back one-time characters and fleshing them out, but it also featured the best interpretation of Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle.

This season’s only flaws were the season premiere and how it integrated the heroes from Super Friends and Static into the show. The former felt rushed by how it abruptly jumped five years into the future rather than resolve the cliffhanger, while the latter was frankly the most forgettable part of an otherwise great season.

The finale was really good. The ending is surprisingly tragic for an animated superhero series, with Wally dying and the villains simply moving on to work with an even more powerful villain as if it were just another Monday.

Then it was canceled.

Without going into the reasons why the show was abruptly canceled, which has already been brought up by nearly everyone else, it was disappointing to see the show end on a cliffhanger. Unlike Marvel, whose shows have regularly ended on cliffhangers, DC is normally able to give their series proper conclusions or at the very least leave open for more stories to be told. The 2003 Teen Titans Series Finale, for example, had the latter type of conclusion.

The show’s upcoming revival over at DC Universe is a miracle. While shows being brought back from cancellation is nothing new, the fact that it is coming back nearly six years after it finished airing on Cartoon Network is amazing. Most cancelled show tend to be picked up immediately. The only other shows to compare this with would be American Idol and Last Man Standing, both of which were cancelled and revived more than a year later.

From what has been shown, another time skip will occur and introduce more heroes and villains. In addition, it will now outright state when a character has died, something only previously implied. Because the show is now on an online streaming provider clearly not intended for younger audiences, such as with Titans, it appears that it will have a more mature tone than the first two seasons.

As for the season’s subtitle, Outsiders, it references the obscure superhero group originally founded by Batman that has appeared in varying forms on Batman: The Brave and The Bold and Beware The Batman (coincidentally, two Batman shows which aired alongside this show on Cartoon Network).

Young Justice is a great animated series that is on the same level as shows such as Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League. It has a great voice cast, excellent animation, good writing, and is an overall great representation of the DC universe.

The first two seasons are available to own on DVD, Blu-ray (via Warner Archive), and iTunes.

Young Justice: Outsiders will premiere this Friday January 4, exclusively on DC Universe... which is only available in the United States.

As of this writing, no announcements have been made about the third season's international availability. The first two seasons, however, are available to watch on Netflix in certain regions.

Until next time, thank you for reading!

Happy New Year!

[infinite-nevers]

Relationship Interview

Maya Alexander & Dimitri Meliou - pre-holiday

relationship interview created by @yourlocalwriterblog

How long have you known the other person?

Maya: Too long.

Dimitri: I’d say around two years?

What is your favorite thing about the other person?

Maya: Is there anything? I have to actually pick one? Fine. He can be pretty funny but don’t ever tell him I said that.

Dimitri: I will never admit this to her face, but she can be quite kind when she thinks no one is looking. Especially not if she thinks I’m looking and certainly never towards me.

What is your least favorite thing about the other person?

Maya: How long do we have? Main one? God he can be so rude. You ask a question and he’s totally zoned out, won’t reply at all, just blank you.

Dimitri: She can be quite… brusque. I always feel like I annoy her just by existing. She’s like it with everyone but with me especially.

What is your relationship like?

Maya: I don’t hate him, I guess? Everyone would hate me if I hated him, because they all love him for some reason. I just think he’s a condescending dick who needs to get over himself.

Dimitri: Let’s say tense and leave it at that.

Describe what your last fight was about.

Maya: He has some bizarro opinions on supervillains. He thinks they’re all “misunderstood” and “just need a little bit of help”. Bullshit, he doesn’t see what I see in the insurance job. So, it was that. I think? We have so many.

Dimitri: Not sure, we have a few. I don’t think we agree on anything at all. The last one was maybe about superheroes or something?

Tell me about the first time you met.

Maya: It was a BBQ at Cassie’s, to meet Greg’s friends. I tried saying hello to him but he ignored me or muttered something. Asked him to dance with everyone later, just to be nice, and he was rude about it. So hard pass, thank you.

Dimitri: A garden party at Cassie’s, so we could meet all of her friends. She asked me to dance but I have two left feet so I said no. I think I made her mad about it? I didn’t explain myself very well, so maybe it was that.

What is your favorite memory you share?

Maya: That time he fell in the lake? Kidding. Mostly. We went to see a comedian once with some of the others and we didn’t argue once. We were the only ones who found him funny though.

Dimitri: That we share? I don’t know if this one will be hers but there’s this comedian I’d persuaded Greg to see. He brought Cassie, who brought her friends. Only Maya and I laughed throughout the entire thing. There was one time I saw her buy ice cream for a mother who couldn’t afford it for both kids but I don’t think she remembers that.

If you could make them apologize for something (and mean it), what would that something be? Why?

Maya: I guess there’s no one thing. He just irritates me. Maybe not be so dismissive of me but he’d have to change his entire damn personality.

Dimitri: She always gets me the wrong coffee. Just to be annoying. I know she knows it, she gave it to me once when she was hungover and not thinking. So why do it every other time?

Is there anything you don’t tell each other?

Maya: I’d probably like him if I gave him half the chance but I’m not willing to put in that effort.

Dimitri: I think I’d like her if she liked me.

When something exciting or funny happens to you, are they the first person you think about telling?

Maya: God, no.

Dimitri: Maybe if it’s about the comedian.

How close would you say your bond is? Would you like to be closer?

Maya: Not close. I don’t know, that’d require effort.

Dimitri: We are definitely not close but it would be nicer to be less antagonistic sometimes?

Do you know their favorite color? Food? Kind of weather?

Maya: Green probably, he wears it all the time. Ummm, he never eats anything spicy when we’re all eating together and always gets lemon meringue, like, be more adventurous, please. Also, will not stop complaining about the sun, so I imagine he prefers cold.

Dimitri: Orange, we went to her house once and her walls were orange, with this fox wallpaper in her kitchen. She loves spicy chicken wings. She insists on having them every BBQ even though she can’t handle the spice levels really, because she has to drown them in sour cream. She’s quite outdoorsy - her house was full of pictures of her and people on hikes, so I guess sunny weather?

How much do you want the other person involved in your future?

Maya: As little as possible but I guess it’s unavoidable now. Cassie and Greg are all the way.

Dimitri: We don’t really have a choice now that Greg and Cassie are engaged so moot point, right?

If you could tell them something and have them forget it by tomorrow, what would it be?

Maya: “I agree with you on more things than I’m comfortable with”. Urgh, I’d never live that down.

Dimitri: “Give me a chance.” Fat chance.

How much do you have in common?

Maya: Ever heard that song, ‘Let’s call the whole thing off’? We are that song and much further. Sense of humour maybe?

Dimitri: We find the same things funny. I don’t her well enough beyond that to say.

And finally, do you love the other person? How much?

Maya: You joking or what?

Dimitri: No.

[aion-rsa]

How The Big Sky Pilot Fulfills ABC’s “Lost” Promise With Ryan Phillippe’s Character

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for Big Sky episode 1.

The David E. Kelley-produced crime drama Big Sky premiered its first episode Tuesday night on ABC. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it’s thus far the first and only new pilot from ABC this fall season. And as you may have heard by now, it concludes with one hell of a bang.

The series is set in “big sky” country in Montana and finds two young teenage girls, Grace and Danielle being abducted by a creepy trucker. That puts Danielle’s boyfriends estranged parents, Jenny Hoyt (Katherine Winnick) and Cody Hoyt (Ryan Phillippe) on the case to find them along with their P.I. pal Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury).

Of course, as episode one reveals, it looks as though Jenny and Cassie will be the only two pursuing the case of the missing young women as Cody Hoyt is now indisposed. He’s dead, you see. When Cody visits Highway Patrol cop Rick Legarski (John Caroll Lynch) and shares his suspicions that a cult of truckers and ne’er-do-wells are kidnapping women, Rick all but confirms his suspicions with a bullet to the head. 

This is a very bold twist for any network drama to take. Ryan Phillippe is a big name find and seemed poised to recapture his mid-’90s teen throb thunder as the stoic male lead of this sure-to-be popular drama. And yet, Kelley and his team of writers decide to stay true to the show’s novel source material (The Highway by C.J. Box) and kill off their ostensible lead in shocking, sudden fashion. 

Introducing a big-name actor only to kill them off in the early goings is not unheard of in pop culture. Several classic horror movies have found success with the formula as Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho killed Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) early on and Wes Craven’s Scream did the same with Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore). On television, however, the act of killing a protagonist off in pilots in a rarity – likely because pilots are very precarious things and no one wants to risk alienating an audience before they even have one. Shows like The Shield, Oz, and Watchmen have all killed major characters early on…but not the major character. One classic network drama from the past, however, came really close and the writers were discouraged from doing so from the very same network on which Big Sky now resides. 

The pilot for ABC’s Lost premiered on Sept. 22, 2004 and it was an immediate, enormous success. The two-part episode was the most expensive pilot ever produced at the time. It centered on heroic spinal surgeon Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) as he wakes up on an island after a plane crash and immediately jumps into action to make sure his fellow survivors are safe. Lost was a large, ambitious show with a sprawling cast. For those first two hours, however, Jack serves as the audience’s anchor. By the end of the pilot’s first hour, Jack and some fellow castaways discover the plane’s cockpit deep in the jungle and within it a still-living pilot (Greg Grunberg). As the pilot croaks out what happened with the doomed flight, an unseen monster rips him from his seat and eviscerates him offscreen. After the chaos has died down, Jack and friends find the pilot’s mangled body high up in a tree.

It’s a shocking moment to be sure, but if pilot writers and Lost producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof had their way, it could have been even more shocking. The duo’s original plan for the pilot was for none other than Jack to be the one to be abducted and annihilated by the monster. It would have been his bloody body that viewers saw on top of a tree and not Greg Grunberg’s. Under this plan, Jack would have been played by a bigger-named actor (Michael Keaton later confirmed that he was in talks to play the doomed doctor). After Jack’s death, the show would center on the character of Kate Austen (played by Evangeline Lily), a middle-aged woman who lost her husband in the crash (this character description came to be applied to long-lost lovers Rose and Bernard and Kate became a fugitive)

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Abrams and Lindelof’s plans were foiled when ABC stepped in to gently point out that getting viewers invested in a lead character only to kill him off minutes later probably wasn’t the best way to build an audience. The duo concurred, kept Jack alive, and the character continued as the series’ de facto protagonist all the way through to the end. It’s hard to argue that keeping Jack around wasn’t for the better as it set up a conflict between his “man of science” perspective and John Locke’s “man of faith” that would serve as a microcosm for all the themes the series explored.

Who knows if ABC had a similar conversation about keeping Cody Hoyt alive with David E. Kelley for Big Sky? Kelley certainly gets the benefit of the doubt due to his impressive television C.V. (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, Big Little Lies). Then there’s the fact that Cody’s death was pre-prescribed by existing source material. Either way, it’s clear now that ABC feels emboldened to go down a shocking path in its pilots that wasn’t necessarily available to the writers of Lost over a decade and a half ago. Television has certainly changed quite a bit since then. Big Sky got its shocking moment and captured the zeitgeist. Now it’s up to the show to do something with all that attention.

The post How The Big Sky Pilot Fulfills ABC’s “Lost” Promise With Ryan Phillippe’s Character appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2UFLeRK

[monster-rinds]

Chapter 32: Brief friends

When I saw that they were sitting down at the MAX station, I decided to help their chances of catching a train by removing myself from the municipal view. I did this by pulling most of myself back into the Strands until I was only a thin stream of sky caviar the volume of a human. And then I winded and wove my may to the platform they were seated on and reconstituted my old form of Synthia, as I’d been just before the attack.

I set down a few paces away from them, within sight but in their peripheral vision, so I could then step over into a better angle to wave and say, “Hi.”

I hoped the distance was obviously non-threatening, and I did not step toward them.

They were startled in three different ways anyway. And I saw the most fear in Greg’s eyes.

Cassy, mouth relaxed but closed, lifted her head and looked right into my face, eyes wide. It was not one of her usual expressions and I didn’t know what it meant. It reminded me of someone else.

After a moment of terror, Ayden clenched his eyes shut and let out an explosive sigh, then looked and said, “Hey, Synthia. That was all you, wasn’t it?”

“No,” Cassy told him, without breaking eye contact with me nor even twitching her head, “that was not just her.”

I didn’t change my expression either. I didn’t want to give away that I was starting to suspect something, even if I wasn’t certain who I’d be giving it away to. But knowing there was no one else to hear our conversation, I spoke up before Greg added anything, loudly and clearly, “It was a big fight. I’m not sure I’d even say I survived, but I’m back. And I’m sorry for any terror I’ve caused. I just want you to know that.”

I turned to start walking away.

“Synthia –” Greg started to say, but Cassy interrupted him.

“Don’t leave,” she raised her voice to catch me. “We need to talk.”

I recognized those inflections perfectly. And when I turned back, both Greg and Ayden were looking at her with curiosity, alarm, and confusion.

She extracted herself from Cassy’s friends and stood up more firmly than she’d been walking just moments before, to take a few steps toward me and boldly face me in the light of the platform. “You’ve got the names and locations of our adversaries, and I’ve just learned something you really should know.”

“Felicity,” I said.

She lifted her hands to gesture down at her middle, and grinned, “In a flesh.”

Greg and Ayden scooted away from her, jaws slack, pupils dilated.

“Not your own,” I pointed out.

“Never my own.”

“Right,” I acknowledge, taking a step toward her myself. “How’s Cassy?”

Felicity shoved her hands into the pockets of Cassy's quilted coat, and said, “Different. But well, I think.” She tilted her head. “No. I know. I couldn’t hurt her if I even tried, not without your ability to adapt. But, uh, we’re now linked even more tightly than I was with you, I think. It’s weird.”

“I can’t even see you in there,” I said, relaxing my stance, not sure whether to believe her at all.

“Neat trick, huh?” The way she moved her lips and smiled, I could easily imagine Cassy’s lips covered with Amber’s lipstick, but they weren’t. “Let’s go somewhere where I can tell you all about it.”

“Greg needs to go to work,” I pointed out, realizing that he was in underwear, sandals, and the fuzziest, plushest baby pink maxi length robe I’ve ever seen. It had embroidered strawberries here and there on it, and must have been pricey.

Felicity shrugged, “He can do that.”

“Fuck work,” Greg said. “If they expect me to show up tonight, they’re assholes. I’m not leaving Cassy with you monsters.”

Felicity turned to Greg and in Cassy’s voice said, “It’s OK, Greg. I’m – oh my god, I’ve heard this so many times in movies, holy shit, but I’m fine, Greg. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but we’re cooperating, and it’s really cool!”

“Yeah, I’ve had her do that to me, too,” Greg stood up. “Didn’t feel fine to me, though.”

Ayden followed Greg’s stance, but stood behind him and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Felicity hid in my head to get away from, well, something nasty,” Cassy said. “And now I think I’m half monster.”

Felicity immediately relaxed her stance and rolled her head and eyes like a teenager and said, “Bit more than that, Sweetie.”

Cassy sighed audibly, hunched her shoulders and looked down at the ground, “Don’t call me that. Cass is fine, if you don’t like my full name.”

Then Felicity looked back at me over her shoulder with glinting eyes and said, “Cass and I have a lot to tell you. Seriously. You won’t regret it.”

“I’m already game,” I replied. “You don’t have to convince me of anything if we’re just talking. I like talking.”

“Then let’s go.”

“The Raunch Room?” Ayden suggested.

“Hey, yeah. Let’s monster that place up,” Felicity grinned.

---

The MAX wasn’t running out to Gresham anymore that night, thanks to me and my cloud of nightmares. And the city was a ridiculous mess of traumatized people trying to untangle themselves from each other and go home to shake, shiver, and take things to feel better.

So, instead of the Ranch Room, we ended up walking back to my domain, which I made up to look like our customary booth at Shady’s, but in a kind of a nice little shed with a dry bar. There was no actual alcohol there, though, just ectoplasmic stuff that looked like it.

I told the humans not to drink it.

If someone was still running a liquor store in town right now, they were probably swamped with customers. Same with the dispensaries.

“I’ve got a couple of edibles, if anyone needs it,” Ayden said. “They’re gummies, so we can split one, too.”

“Not for me,” Cassy said immediately. “Thank you.”

“Thanks, I’m good,” Greg added. “I’m scared as shit, and I like it that way right now.”

Ayden nodded and said, “Me too.” He put the edibles back in his pocket.

I had the door to the shed open, and gestured with my head, “Come on in and sit down. We’ll all be safer in there. It’s my home.”

“Yeah, not me necessarily,” Felicity said, smirking with Cassy’s face. “But I’ll go in anyway. Trust, right?”

“Sure,” I told her with hooded eyes. 

I had no intention of fucking with her if she didn’t fuck with me, though. And even then, I was pretty sure I had the decisive upper hand with her, now, and could just let her thrash against me without responding much anymore. Unless she wanted to become my parasite again, which I doubted.

She just grinned and stepped inside, followed shortly by the others, and then me.

“I really miss your old bullshit, Synthia,” Greg said as he sat down, looking around. “But this is fucking weird. I feel like I’m stepping into someone else’s dream.”

“That’s basically what it is,” Felicity told him. She jerked her head my way. “Her dream.”

“It’s like my headspace manifested in the physical world,” I explained. “Except I have no actual head like you do.”

“Weird as fuck,” Greg muttered.

“Hey, I absolutely love your robe,” Ayden spoke up, talking to Greg, probably trying to focus on something tangible and mundane. “Where’d you get it?”

“Kinda eggy,” Cassy teased him.

“Sorry guys, I love my robe, but we’re not going to talk about it right now,” Greg responded, shaking his head. “And I’ll explain my gender shit some other time, when we’re not about to grill a couple of eldritch monstrosities about what they just did to the city.”

---

Synthia looked over at him in what appeared to be a kindly way, and said, “We’re actually going to be grilling each other, ideally.” She put a hand on the table in his direction. “But, I’ll answer any of your questions, too. And I’ll be speaking with your elucidation in mind, as well.” Then she turned to Ayden, “If you want to know anything about dinosaurs, ever, just ask. I will not joke with you about them. I’ll tell you what I can remember. But, not tonight, OK?”

Ayden blinked repeatedly, “Why are you even saying that right now?”

“Because I want to talk to you about dinosaurs,” she replied. “As a friend and fellow enthusiast.”

“OK.” He folded his arms.

And then she turned to Cassy and obviously spoke to Felicity, “What’s the thing you needed to tell us?”

Besides looking out for Cassy, Greg didn’t even know why he was there. He couldn’t figure out how he’d pushed his body to go along with this. He didn’t know how he let his body drag him here. The whole thing felt like a DEFCON 1 situation, and his adrenal gland was telling him the literal Bomb was going to drop any second.

But somehow he was also dead calm and extremely lucid. He hadn’t lied when he said it felt like he’d stepped into someone else’s dream. But, also, everything was just too real. He felt his imminent mortality with every molecule of his body. Were any sliver or pin to pierce his skin right now, he knew it would irrevocably alter his form even just a tiny amount, and that felt monumental.

And yet, every time Synthia spoke, he felt just a little more calm and a little more safe. It was like she had the ability, despite absolutely everything she’d been saying and doing, to become the most human person in the room.

She could be covered in feathers and spines, with raptor talons and teeth like a weasel’s, with glowing red eyes, and if she spoke he’d want to believe what she was saying.

So, when she started talking about the hidden monstrous landscape of the city he lived in, and describing how she and Felicity could work to change it, he had to remind himself that it wasn’t a normal conversation.

It wasn’t even that she had some kind of magical influence over him, he thought. She just had a manner and demeanor that came across as a concerned older sister who was taking charge because no one else was trustworthy enough to do so.

It was weird, because he’d even heard that in that thunderous “No!” she’d shouted across the county earlier.

It didn’t fit, but it felt familiar and calmed him down anyway.

But what Felicity said next upended all of that.

“I don’t know exactly how or why,“ Felicity looked around at all of them cautiously, “but it’s like she’s got her own domain in here, and it has its own Source and Strands as well, perpendicular to the rest of the universe. Which means I can hide entirely within her psyche without being detectable by anyone else. But, there’s a hitch.”

“What hitch?” Synthia grunted at her.

“It’s like she is half emanant,” Felicity responded. “Part of her is not life, and it keeps slowly growing, and it’s an indelible part of her. I don’t know what it was feeding on before, but it’s now feeding on me. It started doing that as soon as I entered her system, and in order to survive I had to start feeding on it, to create a loop. And we’re sort of becoming each other, just like you and I were doing to each other during the fight, before we broke it off. Only, I don’t think Cassy can learn how to break it off before it’s too late.”

“Too late?”

“Final fusion, basically,” Felicity shrugged and smiled. “At least that’s what psychologists call it for DID and such. But we’re both actually looking forward to it. It’ll be interesting.”

That got everyone arguing, and loudly. Synthia, Ayden, and Greg, of course, all wanted to hear from Cassy herself, but they were divided on how to think about this supposed revelation. And Felicity just wasn’t giving up the front yet. She sat back with Cassy’s arms folded and kept shaking her head.

Eventually, she just said quietly, “I want to know what you know, next, Synthia. Then Cassy can talk.”

For expediency, Synthia relented, and motioned to Greg and Ayden to quiet down and listen.

“So, Felicity, you and I are what other local emanants call ‘Overlords’,” she started explaining. “Now, I really hate that term. I’m not a lord, and when I’m not a big cloud of eyes I’m not over anything in particular. I like my term, ‘Supraliminals’. But whatever, the other two guys in town fit the bill of Overlord pretty damn perfectly. They have the attitude.”

Felicity nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been getting that impression since I moved here.”

Synthia leaned back, drawing her hand back across the table with her. “I’m also learning that my language isn’t universal. Other emanants have their own terms for everything.”

“Yup.”

“Anyway,” she thumped her table with her fist. “So, there’s the one I call ‘Croc-face’, which we’ve all seen. That’s the little guy. Like a Samurai or Knight, who does the other one’s bidding for some reason. The remaining big guy calls it Sewer Teeth, which, sure. Sewer Teeth or Croc-face, it’s obviously not asserting its own identity much. I’m sticking with Croc-face.”

She did sound like a bigger sister who was trying to imitate some macho rebel leader or lone mercenary become gang boss, too, though. A hint of gruff leading man as portrayed by a voice that never knew a puberty with testosterone. It was incongruously cute.

He kind of wished he was her, honestly. But that wasn’t why he was here.

“And the remaining big guy?’ Felicity prompted, placing one fist on the table too.

“I mean, I know you know his name,” Synthia said, mysteriously. “But for everyone else here, and to verify my knowledge, he goes by Chord, as in a musical Chord. But I think it might be a bit of a pun, too, because his favorite shape is a giant snake.”

“Yup,” Felicity confirmed. She turned to Greg and Ayden and explained, “We have all sorts of naming conventions. Some of us just go with names we’re given, either by humans or other monsters. Others choose their names. And yet others go by no name and don’t give a shit what anybody calls them. I’ve always been called some form of Happiness. It’s part of what I am. Anyway, the thing that Synthia just fought and ate, was called…” then she looked at Synthia.

“Fate Vine,” Synthia said, with a perfectly straight face.

“Like a B-list super villain,” Ayden blurted.

“Yep.”

“Anyway,” said Felicity, tapping the table with Cassy’s fingernails in a quick rhythm. “I get the impression that you have some kind of a plan on how to deal with Chord and Croc-face?”

“I do,” Synthia said, turning even more grim. “And it’s likely to be even more disruptive than taking out Fate Vine.”

Felicity asked, “You really wanna do it, then?”

Greg was confused by the way the two of them were talking now. There’d been an adversarial vibe between the two of them, and things that Synthia had said seemed to indicate she was accusing Felicity of betrayal. And yet, now they were sounding almost chummy, and Synthia kept talking.

“I know Chord is going to figure out a way to come after me next, and even though I’m pretty sure I’m bigger than him, he’s much, much more experienced at assassination and all out brawling,” Synthia said. “So, it’s going to be messy and undesirable whether I fight back or not.”

Felicity opened Cassy’s mouth to say something more, but Ayden leaned forward and spoke up firmly.

“What about us?” he asked. “I’ve never seen anything like that storm before, and everyone in town saw it. How is the world going to react to this fight? What does it mean for us?”

Felicity looked over at Ayden’s fidgeting hands, while Synthia speared him in the forehead with her gaze, taking on the demeanor of an experienced supervisor.

“Humanity will go through another period of realizing that monsters are very real,” she said, voice flat and firm, but not callous nor uncaring. “There will be monster hunts, and some of us who are engaged in manipulating human affairs may be identified and rooted out. Others will rear their heads and destroy any who oppose them. There’ll be an upheaval in emanant populations as we realize we can take the time to reshuffle the order of our existences, and openly deal with those who irritate us. Infighting. And, probably, new religions and spiritualities will crop up, and old ones will be revised. As has always happened before. But, before I know it, because time can pass so quickly for me, it will all become myth again. And for you, it might be kind of fun, honestly.”

“Fun?”

Greg was glad Ayden was speaking up, even if in monosyllables. More and more, he found himself speechless.

“People eaters are very rare in the city,” Synthia told Ayden. “And any that come within a few blocks of you will get my undivided and swift attention. So, everything else will be a nice change from the banal exploitive hell you’ve been struggling with up until now.”

“What?”

“Ayden. You have a Precambrian horror that favors you, knows how people work, and who would love to infodump with you about extinct animals. Just roll with it, OK?”

---

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