#I knew but I forgot there were a couple such direct shot parallels

[eddiezpaghetti]

Your perspective on Byler is super interesting, thank you for these posts! I agree that Byler isn't queerbaiting, but what if it's still an accident in the sense that they intended to tell a story of unrequited love from Will's pov (like Steve/Nancy, or Dustin/Max in season 2), and this is what those shots of Will between Mike and El are for, and didn't realize that Mike could be seen by a part of the audience as queer and possibly loving Will back?

Okay, for the most part, I'd just be reiterating the post I already made. So let's narrow this down to something more specific. Why is it not like Steve and Nancy or Max and Dustin?

Let's look at Max and Dustin first. I'll make a post about Steve and Nancy later because this wound up being longer than I meant for it to be.

What first comes to mind with Max and Dustin is the moment it really ended. When Dustin saw Lucas and Max together in the junkyard. If Dustin and Max were similar to Mike and Will, parallel to them, then the moment Dustin saw Lucas and Max together in the junkyard would be the same beat in their stories to the moment Mike and El reunited in the desert.

However, take a look at how they're shot.

This, versus

This.

And, just as important...

This scene.

AND this scene.

As I said in my first post, the reunion scene is shot that way--with Will making direct fucking contact with the camera--because he's supposed to be the one you're paying attention to in that scene. Not El and Mike.

Likewise, you're supposed to be paying attention to Dustin's feelings in the shot where he's watching Lucas and Max, but you'll notice some key differences.

One, Lucas and Max arriving together is shot as significant, as the focus, before it shifts to Dustin's reaction, instead of Dustin's reaction being shoved INTO their arrival. There's an over-the-shoulder shot to show that he (and Steve) have noticed Lucas and Max arriving, but the focus is still on Lucas and Max, reiterating what the audience already knew, that they're blatantly going to be The Couple, as was made pretty clear by their previous scenes, which brings me to the next point.

Their previous scenes. Their previous scenes. Lucas and Max had previous scenes leading up to that moment in the junkyard. THOSE--Lucas filling Max in, showing up at her house, convincing her to sneak out so that he can prove that everything he's been telling her is true and winning her trust, and Max giving him at least that much benefit of the doubt--were the real equivalent to El and Mike reuniting in the desert (isolated from Will). You want the audience to care about a couple? This is what you do. You give them private moments. And I was truly remiss in my first post not to point out that...Jonathan and Argyle were also there. So was fucking Brenner. Why didn't we see them? Why was the scene shot in such a way that you briefly forgot their existence but Will Byers was staring into your soul? You know why.

Getting back on topic, the final piece of the puzzle here is the scene that followed Dustin accepting that Max liked Lucas and not him. Once more, Lucas and Max have a private, tender scene. Emphasis on private. Once more, we get them alone. They talk, get everything they have to say out in the open, and only once the conversation comes to a lull does the story move on.

You know what the equivalent scene would be for Mike and El? Well, you've got one of two options, and neither is great for them.

First, you have Mike in that scene where he makes the glasses and he starts to say something to El but immediately gets interrupted by Argyle throwing pizza on the table, ker-splat.

And second, you have the infamous "I love you" scene. Which they are emphatically not alone in. Famously, Will starts that conversation in the first place, and his face is hovering over Mike's shoulder the whole damn time. (Again, this could have been shot in ways that made us forget he existed for a little while, and the show decided not to do that.) But, I really must impress the importance of this...

EL. AND MIKE. WERE NOT. EVEN. IN. THE SAME SCENE. AT ALL.

They weren't even in the same place! Not consciously, at least! Sometimes the camera would show El on the counter and it'd be, like, the tip of her nose and a little bit of her brow, but that does not count. That's like showing the phone in a phone call. Her body is basically an inanimate object that only allows verbal communication at this point. Then who was phone? EL WAS PHONE.

Okay, outdated memes aside, my point is that this is not how romantic scenes work. There are things missing, things wrong, and things very present in places where they should be absent. And the creators clearly know this because those are the rules they've laid out before and the path they've followed since. Mike and El never had any private, intimate, romantic scenes in season 4, despite having them earlier in the show. This is carving out the trajectory of their relationship moving forward. It is a vector, it has direction and force, and it is going straight toward the bitter end.

So I guess this is mostly about why El and Mike aren't happening than why Will and Mike are. Which is only part of the equation, true enough. To play devil's advocate here, maybe it's possible that the result is that El goes on to be happily single because there's so much more to life than stupid boys, Mike lets go, and Will pines for the rest of his days. Sure, whatever. Possibility, I guess.

One thing, though.

You wanna know who did have private, intimate scenes before and after the desert reunion?

Ya bois Michael Wheeler and William Byers, that's who.

Edit: I meant to say one more thing that I'm just realizing I forgot to mention. Dustin's face while he was watching Max and Lucas was clearly visible while Will's is not. We can see HIM, but not his FACE. This is like placing a wrapped box in the middle of the kitchen table and saying "Do Not Open Until Xmas". We're gonna unwrap that later.

[strangeswift]

Katya/Goncharov Argument vs. MiIeven Argument Parallels (Hinting at the downfall of MiIeven and Mike and El's sexualities.)

The Duffers have confirmed that they took inspiration from Goncharov (1973) while writing Stranger Things 4. Given this information, the parallels between Goncharov and Katyas and El and Mike's relationships are undeniable.

Katya is in love with another woman, Sofia. While Goncharov has romantic tension with another man, Andrey. Katya and Goncharov are in a toxic, loveless marriage. What does this say about the Duffers intentions as far as Mike and El's relationship?

The most glaringly obvious parallel between Katarov and MiIleven is between the two couple's big arguments. Here I will point out how the MiIeven argument parallels the Katarov argument by presenting the Katarov argument and identifying the parallels.

The Duffers have actually paralleled Mike to Katya and El to Goncharov. For context if anyone hasn't seen the movie in a while and forgot, this is the scene after Goncharov is forced to kill Vasiliy in front of Katya.

Here we go:

Goncharov: You were never meant to see that.

Katya: I know what you do. I know how we make our money... What pays for this house.

Goncharov: Do you know what your mother would've said, if she knew I let you see something like that?

Katya: My mother is dead.

Goncharov: Yes, I realize. At your request.

Katya: It doesn't matter what she would've thought.

Goncharov: It matters what you think.

Katya: I don't think anything.

This section parallels Goncharov killing Vasiliy to El hitting Angela with the roller skate, as well as Goncharov feeling like a monster for being a mobster to El feeling like a monster.

When Goncharov says "You were never meant to see that." he is expressing concern about the way Katya specifically views him due to her seeing him kill Vasiliy. Just as El expresses concern that Mike thinks she's a monster after watching her hit Angela with the roller skate. And Katya's response is just as dismissive as Mike's.

"Do you know what your mother would've said..." is Goncharov expressing that Katya's mother perceived him as a bad person, as a monster. He is worried about other people's perception of him. Just as El is worried about other people's perception when she says, "Everyone looks at me like I'm a monster." Again, Katya is dismissive, simply saying "My mother is dead." and "It doesn't matter what she would've thought." Just as Mike is dismissive, saying, "Well they just don't know you."

When Goncharov responds, "It matters what you think." That is a direct parallel to "You think I'm a monster too." And Katya's response? Parallels Mike's reply.

Moving on:

Goncharov: You don't think anything of watching me kill a man, or you don't think anything of me?

Katya: You know I think the world of you.

Goncharov: (Pauses) All my life, I knew what I was. I knew what I'd become. I became what my father was. I did hope, that like him, I'd somehow still find a wife who loved me.

Katya: You have.

Goncharov: (shakes his head) No. I haven't.

Katya: I don't know what you want me to say.

Goncharov's "...you don't think anything of me?" Parallels El's, "But you don't love me anymore?"

Katya's "You know I think the world of you" parallels Mike's, "You know what I think of you. You're the most incredible person in the world." (Come on Duffers, this one was a little on the nose.)

Goncharov's "All my life, I knew what I was. I knew what I'd become." demonstrates his acceptance of what he is, what he sees as being a monster. Just as El does when she says, "I am different. I do not belong."

Moving on:

Goncharov: I don't want you to say anything. (Pulls gun, but doesn't aim it.) I want you to tell me where you were two nights ago. I know you weren't at Vasiliy's, he told me as much before I shot him in the face.

Katya: (boldy, showing no fear) I was with Sofia.

Goncharov: Do you know what people would say, if they knew...

Katya: They wouldn't say anything! You're Lo Straniero. What can they say?

Goncharov: (examining the gun) I don't want you seeing her.

Goncharov is concerned once again about other people's perception of him when he says, "Do you know what people would say, if they knew..." just as El is concerned about other's perception if her, as discussed earlier.

When Katya says, "They wouldn't say anything! You're Lo Straniero." she is referring to the fact that because Goncharov has power in the mob, he shouldn't worry about other people's perceptions. This parallels Mike's, "They're nobodies, and you're a superhero!" And Goncharov doesn't seem convinced by this, just as El isn't.

End scene.

Now, in this scene Goncharov is implied to be aware of Katya's amorous connection to Sofia. That raises the question of whether Mike and Will's relationship will parallel Katya and Sofia's, as well as whether El knows about Mike's feelings.

There are many more Goncharov (1973) parallels to dissect, but this is just the most glaringly obvious. I find it so interesting that nobody has compared these two scenes yet. Please go watch them both, you'll see the parallels in the staging and the actor's mannerisms as well.

[flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash]

Irresistible Danger - Part 57

Synopsis:  After being caught outside the compound on your own, Negan decides to punish you in the best way possible ;)

Words: 3,388

Warnings: nsfw, smut, swearing

ID Masterlist can be found HERE

Masterlist of all my fics can be found HERE 

Author’s Note: We’re interrupting the emotions and angst for a healthy dose of smut in this one. 

A Wonderfully Well-F*cked Morning

You drifted to consciousness on a wave of pleasure, the sensations happening below your waist causing you to automatically arch your back and reach down. When your fingers came in contact with thick, soft hair at the same time that a wet tongue hit your clit, your brain finally decided to come online. Eyes opening in surprise, you looked down and found the breathtaking visual of Negan’s gorgeous face buried between your thighs.

Holy shit, what a way to start the day. 

Glancing up, his mouth curled in a soul-stealing grin at the sight of you awake and watching. His “mornin’ doll” was spoken directly to your soaked cunt, the rumbled vibration of the words making you give a small moan and open your thighs wider, so he could do as he wished.

And, apparently, what he wished was to drive you absolutely mad with desire. The distant and withdrawn Negan of last night was gone, and in his place was the playful and passionate man before you. He teased with soft kisses along the crease at the top of your thigh and lazy laps of his tongue that just barely grazed where you needed them. When you tried to lift your hips in search of more friction, his large hands pinned them to the mattress. 

It wasn’t long before you had a deathgrip on his hair, thighs trembling, and even the muscles in your stomach starting to quiver. And yet still he continued, the devilish gleam in his eyes when he glanced up at you while gently sucking your clit almost enough to send you over the edge, until he backed off and went back to nipping at your inner thighs instead. 

You were just about to beg, plead, and promise whatever he wanted, including your soul, when a muffled knocking sound broke through the top layer of hazy desire shrouding you. Negan ignored the noise, continuing with his delicious torture so that you almost instantly forgot the sound had ever happened. But then it came again a few seconds later, this time loud and sharp...and right outside the bedroom door. 

Letting go of his hair and jolting up onto your elbows, you looked down at Negan with wide eyes. He had finally lifted his head from your pussy, the sight of his lips glistening with your wetness causing a soft moan to escape that you prayed whoever was at the door didn’t hear. 

“Fucking leave!” he yelled in that no-nonsense tone that both terrified and yet also made an extra trickle of wetness run down your thigh. 

The voice that responded was muffled through the door, but still unmistakably Simon. “Sorry, boss, but there’s a situation that needs your urgent attention in meeting room C.” 

Cursing harshly, Negan dropped his forehead to your lower stomach for a few seconds before lifting his head and yelling back, “I’ll fucking be there in 5!”

You stared in the direction of the office and listened for a few seconds until the unmistakable sound of Simon banging the door closed sounded (perhaps a bit louder than needed, as if he was letting you know that he was gone). You turned back to Negan, who now had a devious smirk on his face as he looked up at you.

Giving a doubtful expression, you said, “Only five minutes?” 

“Oh, doll,” he chuckled, head ducking down so the rest was muffled against your wet flesh. “That’s plenty of time.”

It was then that you realized just how much he had been toying with you before, as his demeanor instantly changed from playful to intense, and he set to work on your cunt. He knew just where to nip and lick, and when he latched onto your clit and sucked with the perfect amount of pressure, you shot off like a rocket, coming in less than a minute from when Simon had left. 

Still panting and sprawled across the mattress, you watched dazedly as he got up and went to his armoire for clothes to get dressed. He winced when tucking his erection into the boxer briefs and dark grey pants, and the bulge made your mouth water.

“What about you?” you asked with a nod in his cock’s direction. 

Pulling on his boots, he then straightened and trailed desire-bright eyes over your sated form spread out on his bed. “I thought I already made that clear, doll,” he quipped.

Unsure if it was the post-orgasm haze making you so dense or if he was purposely being vague, you asked, “What’s that?”

Walking around the side of the bed fully dressed, while you lay totally naked with thighs still spread and naked chest heaving, he ran a warm, calloused hand down over your throat and the tips of your breasts before answering. 

“That this relationship is about more than me getting my fucking rocks off.”

His hand moved lower, between your thighs, and he watched as if mesmerized at how you shuddered and arched into the feel of his touch on your still-sensitive flesh. “However, that being said-” he backed up a step and pointed at you with a stern look on his face, “-don’t fucking move from that bed until I get back.” 

He then tucked his tongue into his cheek, gave a playful wink, and was gone. Staring up at the ceiling, you figured this was one order you’d gladly follow, seeing as how your muscles wouldn’t be able to function properly enough to help you stand, anyways. It wasn’t until a couple minutes after he was gone that you sat straight up on the bed at the remembrance of his earlier words. 

He had called it a relationship!

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Forty-five minutes later and you, unsurprisingly, were in fact not able to follow his order, after all. Which shouldn’t be a surprise because, well, it was you we were talking about here, and when did you ever listen? 

You had tried though, really you had. After Negan left, and your breathing and heart rate had returned to normal, you sat up against the headboard to wait. Your eyes landed on a book that was open facedown on his bedside table, and the parallel to your own reading habits made you smile. Picking it up, you saw that it was some sort of psychological thriller. Making a note of what page it had been opened to, you huddled down into the plush mattress, the soft black headboard at your back, and started reading from the beginning. 

However, when the black and grey wall clock near the door ticked by almost an hour that he had been gone, you put the book down and sighed in annoyance. Whatever the emergency meeting had been about, it looked as though it might take a while, and you didn’t enjoy the thought of sitting here all morning and afternoon waiting, as if at his beck and call. Your brain also unhelpfully threw out the reminder of your previous plan not to have sex with Negan until a serious conversation was had about that damned padlocked box of unanswered questions. The subconscious, exasperated with the brain pulling this bullshit so early in the morning, yelled at it to please shut the hell up. 

Fuck it, you can at least freshen up a bit before he gets back, you thought while tossing off the sheet and standing from the bed. Stretching pleasantly sore muscles, you wandered over to the large armoire and tugged open one of the drawers. Smiling at how neatly the clothes inside were folded, you selected a moss green shirt and pulled it over your head. It was much baggier than his usual style, and you had never seen him wear it before, making you wonder if he ever got a chance to take off his leader armor and just sit around relaxing the day away in baggy sweats with a good book. Probably not, seeing as how he couldn’t even enjoy a perfectly delightful you-flavored breakfast without being interrupted. 

Heading into the bathroom to relieve your bladder and then wash your hands and face, you looked in the large mirror. Finger-combing hair that had seen better days, you then opened up some of the drawers under the sink that you hadn’t checked yet, mostly out of nosey curiosity. Finding one at the bottom that was stocked full of extra bars of soap, toothpaste, and still-packaged toothbrushes, you let out a tiny whoop of joy. Jackpot!

Opening a green and white toothbrush, you grabbed the already opened toothpaste that was on the countertop and squeezed a dollop onto the brush. Giving a sigh of happiness at the clean, minty taste, you weren’t even worried about Negan being upset you had stolen one of his unopened brushes. Especially since you’d have fresh breath when he crawled back in the bed with you and-

That fantasy died a quick death when the reflection of the man himself stepped into view while you were mid-brush. Locking eyes with him in the mirror, you saw a flicker of something in his expression as he took you in, standing there in his shirt and brushing your teeth with his personal supplies. 

“I thought I told you to be in the fucking bed when I got back,” he said, but his voice didn’t have the extra little growl that signified he was truly pissed. In fact, he almost sounded amused. 

Before you could even remove the toothbrush to respond, he stepped up behind you so that his front was pressed into your back. “Nevermind, doll,” he drawled while still holding your gaze in the mirror. “This’ll work too.”

You almost choked on toothpaste from gasping at the feel of his large, rough hands running up under the hem of the shirt and over your bare hips. Quickly leaning down to spit out the paste into the sink, you turned on the water and used a cupped hand to rinse out your mouth as he continued rubbing his palms along your torso and down over the outside of your thighs. When you put the toothbrush down and straightened, his mouth immediately attacked the back of your neck, sucking and nipping lightly. His hands moved further up under the shirt to cup your breasts, and his deft fingers pinched and twisted sensitive nipples at the same time that he ground his hips against your bare ass, letting you feel the ridge of his erection through the rough fabric of the pants.

You moaned softly and pressed back into him, almost overwhelmed by how quickly he had barged in and taken control of your body’s reaction. Any thoughts of self-doubt or questions of where you stood with him temporarily flew out the window in the face of the onslaught of intense and thorough possession he was directing your way. 

Unlike when you first woke up this morning, no part of him was teasing or going slow this time around. He quickly pulled the baggy shirt up over your head, and the sight of you totally bare made a groan punch from his chest. 

He whipped his own shirt and pants off in a quick flurry of movement before leaning in so that his warm chest was pressed into your back as he opened one of the drawers at your hip and pulled out a condom. 

Wasting no time, he opened it and rolled it down the swollen cock pressing into the small of your back. When he bent his knees to line up with your entrance, you assisted by hiking a knee up on the edge of the countertop, presenting yourself to him in a way that made him pause for a moment, as if in awe, before plunging inside you with a fierce thrust and strangled growl against the back of your neck. 

You looked up and were instantly transfixed by the sight in the mirror. Negan’s tattooed, leanly muscled form towered over yours, his rough edges and possessive thrusts juxtaposed against your softer curves and arching form. 

You watched his reflection as he gripped your hips and looked down between your bodies to watch himself fuck you, the sight making you moan and clench around his cock. His gaze lifted, amber eyes locking on yours in the mirror. 

One of his hands left your hip, trailing hungrily around the front of your body and up over your stomach and breasts before wrapping long fingers around the front of your throat. The grip was light, but the ruthless ownership behind both it and his pumping hips made your eyes flutter closed in ecstasy. 

He leaned in over you, breath coming in hot strikes against the side of your throat. “You like this, don’t you, pretty girl? Like being all. Fucking. Mine.”

The last words were each punctuated by a harsh thrust, making you cry out and open lust-filled eyes. His face was there beside your own, jaw clenched as he watched your reflection in the mirror with a fierce, almost pained expression. He let out a little snarl before turning his mouth to nip at the curve of your shoulder, and that combined with his grip at your throat and heavy, thick cock fucking you against the counter all combined to throw you into an orgasm without warning. He groaned as you shuddered and clenched in his hold, his gravel over sandpaper voice in your ear. 

“Yes, milk my fucking cock.”

Coming down off the wave of pleasure, you realized that his pace hadn’t slowed down, that he hadn’t finished yet. You lowered the leg propped up on the counter, needing both feet braced against the cool, tiled floor to keep your shaky body steady. 

Your gaze dropped, taking in the reflection of what was happening between your thighs. Both his cock and the inside of your thighs glistened with a coating of your release, and he felt even bigger inside of you, now that your walls were a little swollen and tender from both the friction of his cock and your recent orgasm. Right when his movements became almost too overwhelming against your oversensitized cunt, and you were about to ask for a break, he paused his thrusts and removed the hand from around your throat. 

Your thought that he was granting you a reprieve was instantly proven wrong when he gave a growled warning of, “Brace your arms on the sink,” right before his forearms hooked down under both your knees and lifted your entire lower body off the ground. Since the action pushed you forward, your body had no choice but to do as he said, forearms holding the weight of your upper body against the surface of the sink while your lower half hung suspended at the perfect height for his cock. 

He resumed his quick pace, fucking into you relentlessly. And, surprisingly, instead of becoming too much, the sensations pulled back from borderline painful and started to feel pleasurable again. Very pleasurable. 

Your whimper caused him to give a low moan in response, and his voice came through gritted teeth. “That’s it, doll. Fucking come for me again.” 

Trying to find your voice, you wanted to say that you weren’t sure if that was possible, that coming again so soon wasn’t likely. Instead, the words choked in your throat when he bent down and licked up your spine before sucking roughly on the skin of your back. He then ground his cock into you so hard that your pelvis pushed against the edge of the counter, the hard surface rubbing over your clit in exactly the right way needed to send your body spasming into a second orgasm.

You lost yourself in pleasure that had no beginning and no end, just endless heavy waves of bliss. Dimly, you heard him give a groan of completion as he gave a few sharp, hard thrusts, and then his body went still. He allowed your legs to lower to the tiled floor, and thank god for being braced on the countertop, otherwise you would’ve crumpled in a quivery heap at his feet. 

You took in the reflection of both you and Negan’s sex-dazed expressions, skin flushed and dewy with sweat despite the cool bathroom. A satisfied smile curved his lips, and you watched in the mirror as he bent down and kissed the curve where your neck met shoulder, the scratch of his beard rising goosebumps to the already sensitive flesh. He hummed happily against your skin, and you wished that the two of you could stay in this intimate bubble forever. That no outside intruders or internal thoughts could stand in the way of feeling like this with him every single day. 

As if he were thinking something similar, he ran a warm hand down over the curve of your hip and said in a sexy, husky voice, “Now that is a perfect fucking way to finish off the morning.” 

Unable to help a dreamy smile in return, you were finally able to fully stand up from the counter without fear of your legs giving out. Turning in his hold, you twined arms up around his neck and tugged him down for a proper kiss involving lips and tongues and even a hint of teeth. 

You pulled away after a few long moments, and offered, “What are your plans for today?”

Biting his lip and giving one of his signature cheeky grins, he replied, “I have to go over some new outpost security measures with Simon this afternoon. However…” his hands cupped your ass and kneaded possessively, “my evening is all fucking yours.”

Lord, but you liked the sound of that. Standing on tiptoe and placing another, softer kiss to his lips, you suggested, “How about I bring us dinner around 7:30?”

“I’ll be waiting,” he replied with one last squeeze of his hands before he stepped away to dispose of the condom and gather both your clothes off the tiles. 

The men had brought back some freshly butchered deer meat from the supply run, and Ben had been excited to try making stew with both it and vegetables from the garden. Thinking of Ben was also a reminder that you had promised to hang out with him today. You were very curious to hear details about what was going on with him and Simon, not to mention needing a friend to talk through some of your own worries regarding Negan.

Pulling the baggy green shirt back on, you preceded him into the bedroom and grabbed your jeans from where they had been discarded on the floor last night. You didn’t want to return his shirt, so tucked it into the jeans to hide the obviously ill-fitting length of it before pulling on your sneakers. Turning, you found an also fully-dressed Negan watching you. His gaze took in the outfit with an expression that was difficult to decipher, but seemed somewhere between appreciative and smug at the sight of you in his shirt. 

Struggling not to roll your eyes or make a comment about “males and their strange possessiveness”, you walked out of the bedroom with him following behind. Stopping at the closed office door, you turned and looked up at him, unable to resist the urge to reach up and run your fingers down over his bearded cheek. He bent and gave you one final kiss in return, then opened the door and watched you leave. 

You weren’t able to contain the happy grin tipping up the corners of your mouth. Not even the sudden appearance of the brain, who was dragging the padlocked box of questions, could dim your mood. The subconscious strode happily at your side, but as the brain fell more and more behind, struggling to keep up with the heavy metal box, it turned with a sigh and went back to help. 

I know. I know! We’ll have a conversation with him tonight; open up the box and air out some of those unanswered questions. But for right now, we’re going to bask in the afterglow of such a wonderfully well-fucked morning. 

The brain and subconscious didn’t argue, just huffed and puffed as they worked together to finally pick the box up off the ground. Balancing the heavy weight between them, they gave each other exasperated looks, then hurried down the hall after you.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

[assassinshadow17]

Time for a review of the 100th AHW episode. And I will say.... it was amazing! the story and direction were fantastic and overall a great episode, felt like we were back in Season 3 or even Season 4!(Notable as the best seasons) 

SPOILERS, Watch the episode if you haven’t already, or if you don’t care then read on ig.

So first off, I liked the mother-daughter/generations of women being passed down to somewhat “terrible” or “discouraging” mothers. But I believe Kathryn and Katie had good intentions, to try to keep the passed down child from being hurt. As seen with Katie trying to steer Anna-Kat from cheerleading because she could have been made fun of by those girls(only cause they are self-centered and only care about being popular, not Anna-Kat’s fault) I loved Gieselle’s performance this episode, she really locked in her “Anna-Kat” for me and would love to see what she has to offer beyond this 5th season. However the step-mom was the real b**** and she shouldn’t be calling any shots or saying for people “Get over it” A real piece of work she is. At least Kathryn and Katie evaluated their mistakes and made Anna-Kat see that she should blossom and try what she wants to do!

Second off, the upcoming break-up of Trip and Taylor is incoming.... I’m actually really sad about this and I thought we were passed this back in the 5th episode of this season, but apparently they want Taylor to grow out of Trip, or at least move on from him as she’s going through college. I mean I suppose its something that always happens, High School relationships don’t tend to stick, but its really the memories of Trip and how caring he was of the Ottos + Franklin and Cooper. Loved his scenes with Anna-Kat, love his scenes with Oliver and Cooper, especially the family photo episode. Possibly the best episode of the series IMO. So wholesome and showed how lighthearted the show and family truly were. But also its really hard to see others move on, and its life but it freaking sucks and I feel like this will be the sad/disappointment of the season, Cooper and Oliver will be fine, but Taylor and Trip are coming to an end it seems. All the parallels, all the interactions between the two couples.... the promise in Trip returning in the family pic in ten years, would it even happen anymore? I also love his bond between Cooper, they are such supportive and amazing boyfriends to Oliver and Taylor. Their interactions though are so wholesome and are best buds for sure!(Especially since they are the worst hiders in the world LOL, also Cooper being the worst liar but that’s okay lol, if you get the episode reference.) Its too sad and I’m rambling, but I’ll miss Trip. I blame TA lmao, he can leave for all I care. But no I suppose this is for Taylor’s growth(Even if I hate it so much)

Franklin was funny, he really gets in your head lmao. Calling Cooper a dog though I- But he did get it in Cooper’s head that he needed to have his own dreams so that’s cool. Good job Franky!(but not good job in making them fight smh)

Now for Cooper and Oliver....

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OLIVER SAID IT “WE ARE COOLIVER DAMN IT” YES ADMIT YOU ARE BOYFRIENDS AND SAY IT PROUD! To backtrack as well, Cooper opening the scene with his cooking is muy bueno! His food always looks good like wtf?! But anyways, funny scenes with believing everything that the attack ad from Principle Albulin said lol(politics in a nutshell) Like I said before, Cooper finally started to find his dreams. I personally didn’t mind him not having anything yet, and just wanted to be with Oliver. But I’m so glad that they took this opportunity to chase that plotline, Cooper being a chef and enjoying it now, I’m glad he has his own goals. So moving on, Trevor was still an ass but what else is new? I did like how Cooper defended himself though, pretty badass not to take his crap anymore. Cooliver fighting as well, not a conversation we like to hear, especially since it was pretty serious. We knew they would figure it out, but it still hurts-I did like how Oliver got his attitude in order and realized that Cooper isn’t just going to have his dreams, Cooper wanted his dreams too. “No that’s YOUR goal/dream” A time where he got really serious and considered his future. Trevor saying that they were breaking up- Please Trevor, they would never, they always get like this. But yes they said some things.... But now moving on. Oliver did do the right thing and thought of Cooper, that chef apron was so loving and wholesome of him! “Your boy got it right” Stop Oliver, DON’T MAKE ME CRY- However to sum up Cooliver, it was some realization for them and realizing they don’t have to have the same goals to remain boyfriends. They can steer different directions and always end on the same street!(good overall IRL message too, no need to do everything together) They will always be together, even if they don’t spend every second together.

Cute ending scene between Cooliver too. I forgot the dialogue already but lol it was cute. Taylor is wanting Andre/TA, so yeah.... it was an amazing ride we had Trip, but..... (I’m going to go cry BRB!)

So Katie breaking the 4th wall was neat haha, here’s to 100 episodes AHW fandom, Cooliver fandom, every casual viewer! And hopefully many more episode to see and laugh, cry with. To enjoy. This fanbase is incredible, the cast is amazing, the crew gives their very best. To only great things for everyone and its audience, love you all!

Rating for Episode - 9.5/10. Flawless direction and plotline, just didn’t like Taylor and Trip’s trajectory, but that’s subjective ig(although we all hate it lbr)

[kinetic-elaboration]

July 1: 2x25 Bread and Circuses

Today, the Classic ep, Bread and Circuses aka Star Trek: Ancient Rome AU.

Literally all of the bridge is just standing around, watching Kirk, watching Spock.

Another missing ship hmm? The S.S. Beagle. With a crew of 47--that’s small. And surprise surprise, the Captain is someone ELSE that Kirk knows. Does he know everyone in the galaxy? Truly excellent at networking.

Feels like it’s been a while since Spock called him “Jim.” Possibly because this was written early in the season, when he still did that a lot?

Another Merchant Marine, or equivalent. Interesting.

He was kicked out of the Academy in his 5th year. How many years is the Academy? I always assumed 4 but maybe it’s longer if you count like extra trainings and stuff.

Kirk is so in love with Spock talking about the planet. His face has gone all soft again.

Excellent roads--the first clue it’s Rome. (The big televised gladiator fights is the second clue.)

“I believe they called it ‘video.’“ If there’s no TV in the 23rd century, what is their entertainment? Netflix?

“We’re beaming down”--dramatic shot--dun dun dun.

Yeaaaah triumvirate!! They’re really going hard with this dynamic at this point in the series and I’m here for it.

I feel like this is the first time they’ve called the Non-Interference Directive the Prime Directive but I could be wrong. It’s certainly the first time they’ve spelled it all out.

“Behold! I am the Arch Angel Gabriel!”

“We come from another...province.” That’s a very convincing delivery. Especially paired with those outfits.

You can tell this guy’s important because he’s the only one wearing cut offs.

“We have many beliefs.” I feel like McCoy is a Southern Baptist.

Flavius: “I know killing is evil. But maybe just this one time? As a treat?”

“That’s our ship, somewhere... at sea. Yeah, our ship at sea. Not in space. That would be wacky.”

This episode is LITERALLY  “Rome AU.”

I love Spock looking through those “Elite” magazines. Doing a little research.

"Captain, I thought you might find this interesting." Hands him a magazine with a buff man on the cover. Yeah, Kirk is definitely canonically bisexual.

And he likes that car, too.

Why do all of Kirk’s friends and/or heroes lose and it and become tyrannical? At this point, it’s becoming a distressing pattern.

The SPACE ACADEMY? Damn why didn’t they keep that name?

“My dear Mr. Spock.”

And Spock’s like “You got me there, that was an example of Logic.”

Oooh, nice knit hat. Spock needs more beanies.

The son/sun pun is inspired honestly and it makes the Enterprise crew look so silly like "So you heard the words of the sun, you crackpot?" whereas he means, "I heard the words of the Son," which makes so much more sense on its face.

This Spock and Bones banter is also inspired. “Doctor, you are stealing my word, please stop.” “Medical man are trained in logic.” “I had no idea they were trained.”

Flavius is a really good character. I feel like I really understand all the sides to him: the warrior who can’t quite untrain himself from the killing instinct, even after he’s converted to Christianity and vowed to be a pacifist who loves mankind.

The triumivrate would have had so much fun together in college. If Jim they were all the same age, knew each other then, and Jim weren’t a stick in the mud at that time. “He’s sick, he’s about to double over!” “I am? Oh, yeah, I am! So sick!”

Spock immediately grabs the sword. That’s that Vulcan Warrior instinct. He does love old weaponry.

I’m considering the possibility that Merrickus is another ex-boyfriend. The vibes aren’t as strong as with that guy from A Private Little War, but there was a charged sort of look between them just then.

“He knows who and what we are.” Aliens. You’re aliens.

Oh, you want 50 Vulcans? Fifty Vulcan pacifists for the arena? A rollicking good time.

“Beam... come ashore.” Kirk’s very good at the Prime Directive.

Haha Spock said it was “interesting,” not “fascinating.” McCoy stole his word so now he needs a new word.

Classic Bones and Spock philosophical debate.

“My word is my vessel, my oath, my crew.” I love him your honor.

His two dear friends! Don’t threaten them!

They really think they can threaten Jim into doing the wrong thing. Never! He’s too good!

Honestly, it’s not really the Prime Directive (which they have broken before) that stops him from just annihilating a whole city with his ship...it’s that that would be immoral in and of itself. He’s not obliterating a society lol. That’s not an option.

Uhura is very interested in Scotty and his plans.

I love the whole concept of Roman Gladiator Television. The fake-ass background and the sound stage. “Empire TV.” The fake applause, boos, and catcalls. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect to see in fanfic tbh.

“Two highly aggressive barbarians.” Aka Spock and McCoy looking confused.

Good thing Spock definitely trained with Vulcan swords for fun when he was a small child.

The pro consul  is obviously in love with Kirk. Who wouldn’t be?

I don’t know if I believe these not-so-ancient Romans are so strong or so smart. This is pretty standard threats and kidnapping. Also Merrick can cry me a river about how hard this all is and how sad he was to see his men die. He’s the First Citizen ! It worked out well for him. Except that he appears to be the pro consul’s bitch.

That was a real missed opportunity for “I’m a doctor, not a gladiator.”

Spock only knocks the guy out when he needs to get rid of him to help Bones!!

Okay, that Spock and Bones scene is one of THE BEST in the entire series. Between anyone! The tension. The emotion. The complex friendship. ...The way Bones 100% knows Spock has a thing for Kirk and there’s pretty much no other way to read that exchange. “You wouldn’t know what to do with a warm, decent feeling” and then Spock’s like ‘ah, got you there,’ eyebrow raise, ‘Really, Doctor?” and then Bones is IMMEDIATELY like oh, right, you’re in love with Jim, forgot about that.” Have they discussed this or is it just that obvious? How does Spock know that McCoy knows??

In other news, a gratuitous Kirk kissing scene. They’re not even trying to come up with a pretext for this at this point.

This TV Execution is about to be pre-empted...by Scotty.

“What did they do to you, Captain?” Spock is so worried!! This would be a good time to call him ‘Jim’ but he used up his quota earlier. And Kirk doesn’t want to explain. “They threw me a few curves. A few blonde curves.”

Flavius was killed?????????? NOOOOOOO.

...And Uhura finishes up the ep by explaining the pun. Honestly, I get that Spock wouldn’t get “they’re Christian actually” as the explanation for all this and I’m going to give Kirk a pass also because I headcanon him as Jewish but McCoy, who is almost 100% certainly some kinda Christian AND was the most interested in this ‘sun worshiper’ confusion should really have put that one together on his own.

So overall, a good episode! I’ve seen it quite a few times, I think, and it doesn’t disappoint. I enjoy the concept of ‘parallel Earth but what if MORE ROME,’ I think the son/sun pun confusion is nifty, and it’s an awesome triumvirate episode that really shows off Kirk’s leadership skills. So no complaints!

Next is Assignment: Earth, which is a complete cheat of an episode because it’s a back door pilot to a show that doesn’t exist, but it does have Spock holding a cat in the beginning, so I guess I’ll muddle through it. Then...starting S3 off with Spock’s Brain. A rough couple of weeks ahead. But the reward is The Enterprise Incident.

[generaldisdainn]

Four of a Kind

AO3 link

Rating: MA

Pairing: Kristanna

Previous chapter

The wonderful @epbaker​ drew some GORGEOUS artwork that’s loosely inspired by this fic that you can find here!

The lovely @ahtohallan-calling doodled the title of the fic which you can find here!!

Chapter 10

Kristoff, Anna, Ryder, and Sven were all scrunched together in that order on the sofa, watching Ryder play Breath of the Wild on the TV.

“So let me get this right,” Kristoff said, “it’s called ‘The Legend of Zelda’ but you’re Link, the guy who has to save Zelda?”

“Yup,” Ryder responded, most of his attention devoted to the game.

“And you’ve never been able to play as Zelda?”

“Nope.”

“Wow, sucks for Link,” Kristoff said. “He does all the hard work and Zelda gets the glory.”

“Well, she’s still a major figure in the games.”

“Yeah, but isn’t she not in some? And Link is in every one?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“So it should be ‘The Legend of Link,’ right?”

“Well, no, because Link is supposed to be a player avatar. You can name him other things, too, so it wouldn’t make sense if—”

“Wait, you can name him something else in this game but you decided to name him Link?”

“No, you can’t name him something else in this game, because this is the first game with voice actors in it, so—”

“These games have never had voice actors? ”

“ VETO!! ” Sven shouted and shot up from the couch.

“Aw, c’mon!” Anna complained. “I was having fun listening to them bicker!”

A few weeks ago, the four of them came up with the concept of a “veto”. It gave the person who declared it the power to force the other three to stop what they’re doing and do whatever that person wants.

“We are not spending another weekend like this,” Sven declared. “We are going to remind ourselves what real nature looks like. We’re going hiking, bitches!”

Sven was immediately met with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

“Ugh, fine,” Kristoff mumbled.

“Yeah, I’m okay with that,” Ryder said.

“Oh my god, that sounds so fun!” Anna squealed. “Are there good hikes around here?”

Sven seemed to begin to answer affirmatively, but the words caught in his throat. He pulled his phone from his pocket and rapidly typed something. A few seconds of silence passed.

“Yeah, of course there are!” Sven said. “Do you think I would use my veto power if I didn’t have a plan? We’re going to...um...” His words trailed off as he began scrolling furiously before suddenly stopping. “...Reinpikk Gorge! It’s got, uh...a big waterfall?”

“I’m sold,” Anna said, standing up. “Let’s go.”

“Alright, this might actually be fun,” Kristoff conceded. “Let’s be ready to go in fifteen minutes.”

* * *

Kristoff knew he was doing the thing he hates again; pretending to be excited about something for a girl. When he was seeing Samantha, he would always try to find time to go to wine tasting events with her, even though he couldn’t stand the people, the atmosphere, or the wine. She loved those things for reasons Kristoff could never really understand. Hiking was another one of those activities; he tried to feign excitement as much as he could for Anna’s sake.

But if he was being honest with himself, the moment they rolled into the parking lot of the park, he found himself drawn to its natural beauty. He’d done landscaping work on multiple occasions; he had to admit nothing compared to the real thing.

“I mean, just look at that, guys,” Sven said emphatically. “I hope everyone is now realizing just how brilliant of an idea this was, thank you, thank you, tips are not necessary but very much appreciated.”

“Give it a couple hours and a few dozen mosquito bites,” Kristoff said, half-sarcastically.

“You ever heard of bug spray, wise guy?” Sven said.

“I’m just excited to bother you guys about all the different plants,” Ryder chimed in.

Anna was silently giddy, eager to be in nature, happy to be past her problems with Kristoff, and glad to be such close friends with the three of them. As they all climbed out of Sven’s car and prepared for the hike, she could feel her excitement growing. She began to wander away from the car, Sven and Kristoff too caught up in their own argument to notice.

“Uh, Anna?” Ryder called after her. “Where are you going?”

“Oh, is nobody following me?” Anna said, spinning on her heels and noticing Sven and Kristoff still at the car. “Hey, guys! We get it, you’re an old married couple, now come on!”

Kristoff found himself once again getting wrapped up in Anna’s own excitement. He caught up to Anna while Sven did his best to stifle his urge to shout after him. After all, this was his idea, and if Kristoff was only going to be excited because of Anna, then Sven would happily take that.

* * *

“You have no idea where we are, do you?” Kristoff asked Sven.

“Hush, getting lost is half the fun!” Anna said, slapping Kristoff’s arm with the back of her hand.

“So I’ve been seeing a lot of perennial weeds, which means we’re near water,” Ryder said.

“Yeah, obviously we’re near water, Ryder,” Kristoff grumbled. “That’s one of the defining characteristics of a gorge.”

“No, I mean we’re closer to water than we were,” Ryder corrected. “There’s also a higher concentration of evergreens, which is important because--”

“Okay, we get it, Doctor Plant,” Sven teased. “Look, none of y’all had to follow me off the trail, I just wanted to channel my inner Lara Croft.”

Anna imagined Sven in a too-small blue tank top and tiny brown shorts. She was amused as much as she was repulsed by the image. She couldn’t deny that she wanted to be a little adventurous as well; she hadn’t been this immersed in nature since she and Elsa left her parents. She looked to her right and spotted a large boulder, covered in cracks and crags, perfect for climbing.

“Hey, Kristoff, can you come over here? I need a spotter,” Anna said, already walking off in the direction of the giant rock.

“Wait, Anna, we should--” Kristoff turned to see Sven striding confidently away, Ryder close behind studying the flora. He let out a sigh, but if he was being honest with himself, this was an ideal scenario. Just him and Anna, completely alone, separated from everyone by a veil of nature. Completely unafraid to be himself. He quickly caught up to Anna.

“God, I forgot how fun this is,” Anna remarked, searching for a handhold on the rock face. “Did you ever do anything like this?”

“No, not really,” Kristoff answered absentmindedly, his gaze affixed on Anna’s ponytail fluttering in the gentle breeze.

“I used to go rock climbing all the time,” Anna said as she began to scale the rock, making Kristoff nervous. “I used to…” Anna’s words trailed off as she strained to reach a new handhold, trying to plant her feet where her hands had just been. Kristoff moved under her, his hands upturned, prepared to catch her if she slipped.

“You used to…?” Kristoff said.

“Oh yeah, I used to have a dream of...of climbing Mount Everest, but...then I learned people...regularly die on the way--”

Suddenly, her hand slipped. She shrieked as she fell backwards off the rock. She hung in the air for a second that felt like an eternity. Her heart rose and her stomach dropped, her hands grasped fruitlessly at the air, and her breath caught in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact with the ground.

The impact wasn’t harsh or abrupt, but rather warm and soft, like she collided with a giant teddy bear. She opened her eyes to see herself in an undignified position on Kristoff’s lap, who had collapsed onto his rear end when she fell into him. She looked up at his face just in time to hear him say “Jesus, Anna, are you okay?”

Typical, Anna thought. The two of them going to Ikea alone, her falling onto him after being separated from the other two—it’s like the universe was begging them to get together. She pressed her hand to her heart and found that it was racing, threatening to burst out of her chest. It was the combination of exertion, shock, and the sudden contact with Kristoff causing her heart rate to skyrocket.

“Yeah, I’m—I’m fine,” Anna stammered, readjusting herself, but not yet climbing out of Kristoff’s embrace. “I’m glad I asked you to follow me.” She laughed nervously.

“No kidding,” Kristoff said. “How about we just walk from now on?”

“Or you could carry me,” Anna responded, laying one arm around his neck.

Kristoff laughed. “No, no, we’re not doing that,” he said as he stood up, hoisting Anna onto her feet. “Come on, let’s see what’s on the other side of this.”

They started walking parallel to the wall Anna had just tumbled from. They didn’t say anything to each other for a little while, comfortable with just being alone with each other. Then, Kristoff remembered they had never finished their conversation from earlier.

“So, you wanted to climb Mount Everest?”

Anna snorted. “Yeah, but then I started doing research on what it would take to achieve that, and I decided it just wasn’t worth it.” Her eyes wandered, her words and her mind out of sync with each other. “And, y’know, I had other goals, more realistic ones, like starting my own animal shelter, officiating my sister’s wedding, making a perfect crème brûlée, stuff like that. And some of them I’ve already achieved, like making a group of friends on my own, being a better person than my parents are, finding someone I want to spend the rest of…” Her words trailed off. She snapped her head to look at Kristoff. “Am I talking too much? Is any of this TMI? I’m sorry if it is, I just--”

“Anna, you’re totally fine,” Kristoff chuckled. “Honestly it’s inspiring to hear about your goals, considering...well…” Kristoff shrugged, then hunched his shoulders. His eyes pointed at the ground. “...I’ve never really had goals like that.”

“Really?” Anna asked. “You’ve never wanted something so deep in your bones that you would, like, jump into a volcano to get it?”

“No, not really,” Kristoff admitted, almost embarrassed to say, knowing how driven and determined Anna was by contrast. “My parents...well, they settled in a big way. My dad had a promising career as an architect and my mom could have easily sung at the Met if she wanted to, but they both agreed to give up their potential to live much simpler lives.” Kristoff sighed, a sound dripping with regret. “Their decision must have rubbed off on me.”

“Wow, Kristoff,” Anna said, doing her best to sympathize. “I’m really sorry.”

“No need to be,” Kristoff said. “I’m fine.”

Anna knew he wasn’t fine. He looked at his face to see his normally boyish features locked in contemplation, making him appear older than he was.

“Well, you know what, Kristoff?” Anna began with an encouraging tone. “Now’s as good of a time as any. Let’s come up with some goals for you!”

Kristoff smiled a sad smile. “You don’t need to do that for me.”

“You say that like I don’t want to. I do,” she retorted. “Before my mom was a bitch, she was a guidance counselor, and I learned a few things from her.”

Kristoff’s sad smile turned cheerful, despite how he tried to oppress it; the tiny wrinkle on the bridge of his nose betrayed his true feelings. “Alright, why not?”

“Yay!” Anna clapped her hands a few times before gathering herself. “So before we come up with any giant goals, let’s start with small ones. Is there something you’ve wanted to do for a while, but never gotten around to it?”

Kristoff hummed and made a show of scratching his head. “Well...I guess...I’ve always wanted to read the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.”

“Okay, that’s a great start! Were you a big reader as a kid?”

“Yeah, but ‘Lord of the Rings’ always felt out of reach to me, and by the time I was old enough I--well, the friends I hung out with were way more into sports, so I just kinda stopped reading.”

“Well, I know it’s cliché at this point, but there’s no time like the present!” Anna’s words were bursting with optimism, their infectious energy broadening Kristoff’s smile.

“Yeah, it’s true. I guess that’s why it’s a cliché, right?” They smiled at each other, their eyes sparkling with each other’s light.

Anna blinked, coming out of her daze. “Okay, so what else?” She vaulted over a rock the size of a large dog while Kristoff walked around it. “Any places you want to see? Any skill you want to learn?”

“Oh my god, I used to want to play the accordion!” Kristoff said, his head craning back like the memory struck him in the forehead.

“Really!?” Anna exclaimed, a wave of giddy excitement rushing through her.

“Yeah, I used to be really into Weird Al when I was a little kid. But I ended up getting a guitar one Christmas instead.”

“Okay, so as your guidance counselor, I would tell you to get an accordion for yourself. As your roommate, well, not so much.”

“What about a guitar?”

“A guitar’s fine, a guitar’s nice and quiet.” Anna smiled broadly. “See? You already have two goals: read ‘Lord of the Rings’ and learn guitar! Who knows, you might start a ‘Lord of the Rings’ band in the future!”

“Yeah,” Kristoff said, something else piquing his interest. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Anna said, suddenly nervous. They stood in silence for a bit before Kristoff turned and walked in the direction of whatever he was hearing.

“Kristoff, wait!” She hurried after him. “We shouldn’t--” she started to say, but then she heard what Kristoff must have been hearing too: a massive volume of water, a sound that could only be coming from a waterfall. She rushed ahead of Kristoff, eager to see what had sold her on the hike in the first place.

First, she saw the enormous granite wall of the gorge that the water had carved out of the earth. There were shrubs and small trees dotting the surface, but for the most part the rock was bare, providing a stark contrast with the scenery of the rest of the hike. Then she saw the top of the waterfall, the river above it roiling and churning as it tumbled over the edge. Finally, once she reached the lip of the gorge, she looked down at the entirety of the waterfall as a joyful smile spread across her face.

The water leapt and danced over the rocks as it tumbled downward. Mist lifted from the torrent, forming a rainbow that arced from the top of the waterfall to the base of the gorge. At the bottom, the water gathered in a swirling mass and continued deeper into the dense forest, unimpeded and unshaken, just as it had been at the top of the waterfall.

Kristoff caught up with her and had a similar, albeit subdued, reaction. His eyes were fixed more on Anna than they were on the natural splendor. He loved seeing her this happy and excited. He loved it more than he cared to admit to himself. If this is what it took for her to be as happy as she was, he would take her hiking every day at a different gorge each time, and then cut new gorges directly into the earth once she had seen them all.

He decided at that moment that he wasn’t going to hide his feelings for her anymore. He wanted to be with her.

“Hey, Anna?” Kristoff asked.

“Look at this, Kristoff!” Anna shouted, her voice full of reverence. “It’s so, so beautiful! I can’t believe it!” She giggled and laid a hand on Kristoff’s arm. “I’m really glad we’re seeing this together. It’s just so...so…” She waved her hand in the air, like it would help her find the right word. “...I don’t know, I just like doing things with you! When we’re by ourselves, you and me, I just feel like I can be excited, and I am excited about this waterfall and this hike, and you, and…” Again, she let her words trail off before elaborating further. “Sorry. Was there something you wanted?”

Kristoff stifled his nerves. He knew he fucked up once with her, but he also knew he’d been forgiven; it was part of the reason why it was so easy to fall back in love with her.

“...Can I, um...can I kiss you?”

Anna’s eyes popped. She wasn’t expecting him to say anything like that any time soon. Her reaction made Kristoff even more nervous.

“I mean, uh…” Kristoff stammered. “I--well, I would like to. I may? I mean, ay mi? Uh...may I? You don’t have to, I just, um…” Kristoff decided to stop talking. Fully expecting a rejection at this point, he began to turn away.

Anna didn’t even expect herself to do what she did next. She turned his face back toward her gently with her hand, stood on her tiptoes, and delicately laid her lips on his. Kristoff returned the kiss, a less graceful one, but a kiss all his own. A vulnerable, tender gesture of love.

Anna lowered herself, smiling gently, her lower lip tucked between her teeth. But when she noticed Kristoff’s unsure expression, her own face twisted in concern.

“Was that okay?” she asked.

Kristoff’s eyes darted to the side. His lips were pursed and twisted to the side. Anna was beginning to fear she did something terribly wrong.

Kristoff inhaled through his mouth, preparing to speak, but then shut it again. He tilted his head, like a puppy trying to figure out where a sound was coming from. Anna was all but mortified at this point. She thought her potential relationship with Kristoff was ending before it began, right before her eyes.

Finally, Kristoff spoke.

“Do you want to go out with me?”

All of Anna’s tension dissipated in an instant.

“Jesus, Kristoff, that was terrifying!” she shouted, slapping him on the arm.

“Oh my--I’m sorry! Really, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to be!” Kristoff apologized.

“I thought you hated me! It looked like you were--oh, yes, by the way, I’d love to--but holy shit, don’t ever do that again.”

Kristoff smiled bigger than he had all day, embarrassed by his ambiguous reaction to the kiss, but also elated that she still had feelings for him. “Okay, okay, I promise. But also, yay!” he said.

Now it was Anna’s turn to look puzzled. “So, what changed? You were asking for space not too long ago.”

Kristoff responded without missing a beat. “I can’t afford to deny my feelings for you anymore.”

Anna blushed and gave Kristoff a quick peck on the cheek. “I won’t if you won’t.”

All of a sudden, Ryder and Sven emerged from the trees behind them.

“Are you guys done?” Sven asked.

Kristoff and Anna both turned to face them. “Have you guys been right behind us the whole time?” Anna asked.

“It was Sven’s idea!” Ryder accused.

“Not that bullshit again,” Sven said to Ryder. “Not the whole time,” he continued, turning back to Kristoff and Anna. He walked right up to the edge of the gorge. “Guys, can you make way for your king, please?” That, or a variation of it, is what Sven would say when he wanted a picture taken of him. Kristoff stepped down behind Ryder and Anna followed him.

“I need a pic of me in nature to balance out my Grindr profile,” Sven said to Kristoff. “That was kinda the whole motivation behind this trip for me.”

“Wait, your what?” Anna asked, like she had just heard a grand revelation.

Sven, Ryder, and Kristoff all slowly turned to look at her, each with the same expression on their face. Complete stunned silence.

Without warning, Ryder did something that was uncharacteristic of him as long as Anna had known him. He burst into hysterical laughter.

“Anna thought you were straight this whole time!” Ryder said to Sven between fits.

“Well, no one ever told me!” Anna shouted in an effort to defend herself.

“Wait, you actually never knew?” Kristoff asked.

“I don’t know, I just didn’t pick up on it!”

“Anna, don’t even worry about it,” Sven said, opting to be the voice of reason. “They’re just being stupid. But yeah, I’m like, really gay.”

Anna’s face was beet-red, but she smiled through her embarrassment.

“Actually, you know what?” Sven said with a new inflection. “I’m a package deal. Everyone get up here, we’re taking a group selfie!”

Hearing him say that made Anna’s heart lift. She knew she was an integral member of their crew now, but every time someone reiterated that fact, it made her so happy she could burst. She wrapped her arm around Kristoff and led him up to the edge, Ryder following shortly after. Sven pulled out his phone, opened the camera app, and held it at arm’s length, trying to fit everyone on the frame.

“Kristoff, crouch down, Anna, be taller, Ryder, you’re perfect. One, two, three, say bees!”

Kristoff and Anna didn’t have to say anything to smile. They couldn’t stop smiling.

[soldierswar]

Parallels - Chapter II

Winter Soldier X Hydra!Reader

Warnings: None. Just fluffy, awkward cuteness.

Plot: You begin to feel even more for the soldier, and you don't know how to handle it.

Masterlist for Previous/Further chapters

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Double assassination canceled. Well… At least one your end. He was doing all of the work. But, you would be a part of his team. So, you were at least working close together. Pierce saw just how well he responded to your presence and nominated you to work at his right hand until further notice. He told you as much right in front of the soldier. And when he announced it, you saw him look at you in that same peculiar manner. The type that made your heart skip a beat for reasons that were beyond your understanding. You found yourself unable to hide a smile, but you were at least able to mask it as gratitude for such a great opportunity. By the next day, you were abroad in one of the underground units working in close proximity to him. You and the team had to work out last-minute details for the whole operation. So many details had changed already and so quickly. You were supposed to be a key member. Not anymore. You were supposed to go to Istanbul. Not anymore. You were actually in Tokyo. 

The targets had a change in direction all of a sudden. And considering that it was going to be in an area with an astronomically larger population, it was going to make things a little more complicated. Regardless, you and the team were able to figure it out. The soldier would just be further on the front lines, and you and the others would be on the sidelines. It was something you could live with. Anything to get the ‘Project Insight’ show on the road without any speedbumps. It was a good thing that the perfect team was selected. A day before the operation was to take place, you took some time to yourself and went over to the in-facility shooting range. Nobody else was in there, and even though you weren’t going to be aiming your gun at anybody anytime in the near future, you figured that you might as well continue brushing up on your skills before you got too rusty.   You were still frustrated that you could only hit the middle target about 80-85% of the time; which was nowhere near where you wanted to be. Sure, a whole body was a lot bigger than the little dot, but if you could hit that dot all of the time it would give you extra confidence that you would be able to complete your missions, and defend yourself properly. You suddenly felt a hand on your left shoulder, and you jumped. It was him. You realized that you obviously couldn’t hear him come in with your noise-cancelers on, and the sound of gunshots taking over. But what you forgot was that he could walk into a room and leave so swiftly that you wouldn’t even know what was coming or going. You took the earphones off and turned towards him. Why was he here with you? Did he need something? “You seem frustrated,” he said. How could he tell? “I mean, if you took a look at my target shots, I guess you could see why.” He analyzed it and made a motion signaling you to go again. You put the earphones back on and took a few shots again. He made a quick head-tilt and stood behind you and slid his hands down your arms down to your hands to guide your aim, and then kicked your right leg to the side a little bit more to widen your stance. You suddenly forgot what it was like to breathe. His torso was pressed against your back, and his hands laid firmly above yours as you pointed, and took multiple perfect shots. After he pulled away, you immediately found yourself missing his body heat. It may have been a shock to feel him so close to you, but to feel that presence leave you felt like even more so of a shock. As though a part of you had left. A part of you that you had missed for so long, was suddenly leaving you again. “Thanks,” you said, turning back for a moment to look at him. He nodded. You wondered why he felt the need to help you. Much less, in that way. And he seemed so sure of himself to do so. You knew that he would never dare touch anyone else like that. Everyone else was way too scared of him. But somehow he knew that you would be okay with it. You liked that he knew that. “Can you show me that again?” you asked, knowing damn well that you didn’t need further help.   He raised an eyebrow. He was on to you. You made your original stance…Perhaps exaggerating it a little bit. This time his touch lingered a little more as his hands ever so softly, and slowly made their way back down to your hands to tip your arms up slightly. And this time, he slowly nudged your foot to the side. You kind of missed when he did that part abruptly. You wanted him to do more than that to you just as abruptly. ‘Stop it, Y/N,’ you thought to yourself. Even though you no longer needed him to, he held himself close to you from behind just a little bit longer. Once again, all air escaped your lungs and you nearly fell into a panic trying to figure out how to get it back. But before that, you used his direction and took another 4 perfect shots on target. When you turned around to thank him, you noticed his gaze lingering on you. You couldn’t help but stare back in what you assumed to be the exact same way as he did you. With complete and utter fondness. You saw more emotion in his eyes than he ever let on to be able to have. And because of that, his eyes seemed bluer than ever. You both continued to hold eye contact, and if your eardrums weren’t drowned out by the sound of your heartbeat, you could have sworn that you heard the booming of his coming from his chest going at the same rate. Maybe you just wanted it to be true. On top of that, you found yourself desperately having to hold back on pressing your buzzing lips to his, despite every other part of your mind pleading for you to do it. Oh gosh, you really wanted to. But you finally mustered up the self-control to pull yourself back together, and took a step away from him, and cleared your throat. You looked down at your watch and realized that you actually had a meeting to be at within the next couple of minutes. “Thanks again for the help,” you said, trying not to stumble your words by even breaking eye contact. “I just realized that I’m going to be late. But…Thanks.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “Bye again…Um. I guess just…bye?” Smooth. He softly nodded like a gentleman, and that same smile curled at the corner of his lips. Before you could stutter and babble on like an idiot, you raised a hand and waved your fingers and awkwardly turned away. Once again. Smooth.

[talltalesandbedtimestories]

A View To A Winchester (Part 15)

Series Page

Summary: Julie’s starting a new life after divorce in a home with a very nice view.

A Dean X OFC story. I got this idea staring out the view of my home office window and thinking how nice it would be to have Dean Winchester to ogle.

Section Word Count: 4,200    

Section Content: fluff, flirting, angst, bullying, R-rated language 

~~~~~

Dean called Cas and told him he was running late. And that Julie would be coming to the festival as well. “Another date?” Cas asked. I guess this is another date. Doing everything out of goddamn order again. What’s new? After a lengthy list of what Cas and Jack shouldn’t discuss or bring up, Cas ended the call with, “I guess that only leaves the weather. When it doesn’t directly relate to signs of an impending Apocalypse, of course.” Smart ass.

Dean drove round to pick up Julie in Baby, freshly washed and rumbling for attention. He rolled up her driveway and stopped at the edge of the front walkway. She hopped off the front stoop wearing faded jean shorts and a white t-shirt that read “Italians Do It Better” in green, white, and red block letters. He caught that cute little skip she usually only did when she thought no one was watching. A high ponytail bounced to match the lightness in her steps. Sun reflected off the large brown lenses of her sunglasses. She leaned into the open passenger side window.

Looks like a fucking college girl. Dean mentally cursed at his cock for springing to attention. And I’m acting like a fucking horny teenager.

“You clean up real nice.” Dean cleared his throat.

She smiled. “So do you.”

“Hop in, sweetheart. I don’t want to have to speed this time.”

She laughed and climbed in. “I don’t think my heart can handle another one of those drives.”

He reversed down the driveway. “Just don’t want to disappoint Jack and get there too late.”

A frown stared back at him after she fastened her lap belt. “You can blame me.”

“I don’t want to have to explain why you’re to blame.” He grinned.

“Fair enough.” She crossed those legs that reminded Dean of a 50s pinup girl. Nice and curvy in all the right places. Her attention turned toward her open window. The breeze played with the wispy hairs she hadn’t wrangled into the ponytail. She pulled at a strand that got caught in her candy apple red lipstick. Dean licked his lips. How does acting like a horny teenager differ from me acting like my usual, horny adult self?

“I’m glad you said yes to coming out with me, us.” Dean tried to revert to some neutral conversation.

“Thanks for inviting me.”

“There are a couple rules, though.” He smiled.

“Rules? Wow. Do I need to walk six feet behind you at the festival? If so, you can drive me right back home.” She pursed her lips.

He raised a hand. “Okay, rules was the wrong word. More like warnings, I guess.”

Her arms were crossed now. “That doesn’t sound any better.”

“If you haven’t noticed, I stick my foot in my mouth. A lot.”

“I haven’t noticed, which is odd considering how much I stare at your mouth.” She shot back in a sarcastic and seductive tone.

Damn. Not helping me focus here, Jules.

“You’ve met Cas. And, Jack is sort of a chip off the old block. But, a little better adjusted.” Turns out a five year old nephilim has better social interaction and communication skills than a two-thousand year old angel. Who’d have thought?

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.” She nodded.

Dean raised a finger. “One thing he always wants, though, is to ride shotgun in Baby.”

“I have no problem being relegated to the back seat. I probably won’t get as queasy.”

Dean narrowed his eyes. “Is that a shot at my driving?”

She grinned and looked back out the window.

“Hm.” Dean turned up the volume on the stereo a little more to compete with the wind for the rest of the drive.

~~~~~

The expected awkwardness occurred once Dean arrived at Cas’s house. Cas forgot to invite them in after announcing he needed a couple more minutes and instead shut the door in their faces. Dean shrugged. “Sorry.”

Julie laughed. “It’s fine.” She turned and wandered down the path to look up at the cottage front. “It looks like a cute place from the outside.” Dean joined her, standing close enough to sniff the perfume she wore. “Is he worried I might find the dead bodies he’s hiding in there?”

A nervous laugh bubbled up from Dean. “Two guys, you know, the place can get messy.”

The door opened and Jack walked out, closing the door behind him. “Dean.” Jack smiled from ear to ear. He strolled with that goal oriented, mission style of his.

Dean patted him on the shoulder. “Hey, Jack. This is Julie.”

He tilted his head to Julie and outstretched his hand. “Hi, Julie. Nice to meet you.”

Julie removed her sunglasses and offered Jack a warm smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“Cas’ll be out in a minute. I love festivals.”

Julie’s eyes widened. “Do you?”

“Yes, especially this one. It’ll be the second year in a row we’ve gone to the Italian Festival. Did you know Saint Anthony of Padua is the patron saint of lost things?”

Dean held back a sigh.

She nodded. “I did, actually. I went to Saint Anthony’s elementary school. We learned a lot of things about him.”

“Does it actually work?”

Dean watched Julie try and track the conversation with her eyes. “Does what actually work?”

“Praying to him to help you find something you lost?”

“My mom would say yes. I’m not quite convinced.” She smiled.

“Are you Catholic? Since you went to a Catholic school.” Jack started his interrogation.

“Whoa, easy tiger.” Dean interrupted. “Remember what we said about politics and religion?”

Jack thought for a moment. “Don’t bring them up if you can help it?”

Dean winked.

Cas slammed the door and jolted the three of them where they stood. He marched to the tiny group and nodded. “Hello again, Julie. Lovely weather we’re having.”

Smart ass.

~~~~~

Julie turned out to be exactly the insider Dean needed when they drove through Little Italy. She navigated him around the tiny side streets. They found a parking spot beside a line of row homes. Dean began to parallel park Baby into the tight area.

“You hate parking your car on a city street.” Cas reminded Dean, seated next to Julie in the back.

He turned around to glance between the two of them through the rear windshield as he reversed. “Yeah, well, I hate paying twenty bucks to park in a lot even more.” He smiled at Julie. “I should take you with me everywhere.”

He couldn’t see the reaction in her eyes shielded by the sunglasses, but her cheeks reddened.

“That doesn’t sound like a feasible request, Dean.” Cas turned to Julie. “You have your own life and daily obligations, correct?”

Jack sighed. “He’s flirting, Cas.”

Dean shook his head and righted himself in the seat to finish parking. “Think I can borrow you a bit longer, Julie, so you can direct us on foot the rest of the way?” He side-eyed Cas. “Alright if I ask her that?”

Cas nodded. “That seems fine.”

Julie laughed.

~~~~~

The four city blocks around Saint Anthony’s school and church were decorated with Italian flag streamers draped from every available electricity and streetlight pole. The streets were flooded with a river of people. Cas and Jack had disappeared into the two blocks comprising the fairgrounds a half hour ago.

The aroma of sauce and grease and beer had been too much for Dean. He asked for Julie’s opinion on what to try. She suggested a panzerotti and vinegar coated french fries. Her memory did not falter as she parted through the bodies to the food stand she had in mind. She told Dean she frequented this one often as a pudgy kid. After waiting in line for ten minutes, they searched for a place to sit.

Dean and Julie deposited their red and white paper food trays and large beer cups at one of a dozen picnic benches under a tent. The festival goers around them were enjoying a band’s rendition of an Italian folk song.

Dean sat and inspected the panzerotti. “What is this again?”

Julie placed her glasses on the table top, rubbed her hands together and leaned in close to him. “Deep fried dough with a molten, delicious mix of sauce and mozzarella inside. It’s like a stromboli bomb. I’d tell you to be careful, but there’s no way around it. First bite’s gonna burn no matter what.” She grinned. “So good. You’ll need that beer.”

Dean smiled and tore into the panzerotti. The contents seared his lips and mouth. “H-H-Hot!” He exclaimed and chugged down some beer. He swallowed and sighed. “Awesome.”

She laughed, nibbled at the corner of the treat in her hand, then fanned her mouth. “I can’t believe they’re allowed to sell these without someone signing a waiver first.”

Dean chuckled and blew on his snack, shoveling a couple french fries in while he waited for it to cool down. He noted the families and crowds, the conversations and music swarming all around. It felt stuffy, the heat of the nearby stands cooking and frying trapped under the tent. “This wasn’t as much fun last year. I basically just stood in the center of the fairgrounds with Cas while Jack hit every single ride. Three times each at least.”

Julie smiled. “Don’t they know how much you love food?”

“Oh, they do. But, it was more about giving Jack the chance to experience it, you know? And, helping Cas through it.”

She picked at the dough with her fingers and munched with care. “They both seem nice. But, what’s their deal? I don’t know many kids that call their parents by their first name.”

How do I always tell her the truth, now, without telling her everything. “Jack didn’t start living with Cas until a couple years ago. So, the dad/son thing is still kinda new for both of them.”

“Divorce?”

“He was never married to Jack’s mom.”

Julie nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s tough all around.” Dean watched her as he took another bite. He cringed at the hot sauce hitting his tongue and the expression on her face that was leading to another question. “So, you said you knew Cas for a long time. Did you two come to Delaware together? Did he work with you and your brother?”

He chewed, thinking. “He’s helped here and there over the years. When business slowed… I knew Cas would be lost for a while. I got my footing and told him this would be as good a place as any for him to start over with Jack.” The look she gave made him self-conscious. He patted a scratchy napkin around his mouth. “I’m covered in panzerotti, aren’t I?”

She shook her head, lids blinking slow, taking him in. “No. You’re all about saving people, huh?”

He smiled at her wistful expression. “Kind of hard to shake, I guess.”

“Julie!”

Dean cocked his head to the other side of the picnic bench at the call.

Julie’s eyes widened. “Maggie! How are you?”

“Good. Haven’t seen you in forever!” The tiny brunette was pushing a stroller. A passed out toddler covered in chocolate ice cream stains swayed in the seat.

Hm. Should share some ice cream with Jules after this. I bet she likes sprinkles.

Maggie’s big blue eyes surveyed Dean. He nodded at the acknowledgement. She looked back over to Julie. “How are you? Visiting your mom? How’s she?”

“I’m good.” Julie stated. Dean noticed her posture stiffen, putting a little more distance between them on the bench. This isn’t a “nice to see you again” situation. “Um, mom’s good. I see you have another little one.” She smiled and motioned to the child.

Maggie beamed back and pushed the stroller back and forth with one hand, on autopilot. Dean caught a weariness and exhaustion in Maggie’s smile. “Yeah. Davey, Jr. Just turned two a couple weeks ago. Dave’s grabbing some food with Madison. I think the last time I saw you was at the Flower Market years back. Maddie was four maybe.”

Julie nodded and smiled. Tight lipped and on guard. Yeah, she’s not one to give a lot of info to just anybody.

“I’d met your husband, Steve? How’s he?”

And there it is.

Julie cleared her throat and shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. We, um, we’re divorced.”

Maggie clutched her chest. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

Julie shook her head at Maggie. “Of course you didn’t. Or, you wouldn’t have asked.” She turned and looked at him, her eyes screaming SAVE ME. “This is Dean.”

Dean whipped out his best smile and nodded again. “Hi there, Maggie.”

Maggie fiddled with her hair. “Hi.”

“Hey, Mag. I found Rich and the crew over by the grandstand. They’re saving us seats.” A tall, tubby man saddled up behind Maggie. He held a tray filled with grease and sweets and sipped on a huge soda cup.

“Where’s Madison?” Maggie looked over her shoulder.

“Caught up with some school friends. Gave her the last of the tickets.”

“Dave, do you remember Julie? She was in our class at St. Anthony’s.”

The blue eyes scrunched together under a low riding ball cap. A long slurp and then recognition followed. He pointed with the soda cup. “Julie Jelly Belly! First in the lunch line, last to get picked for Dodgeball.”

Maggie smacked her husband’s rather pronounced beer belly. Dean swore he heard some liquid slosh around in there. Julie’s face reddened. What a dick.

“What?” Dave asked with a shrug, then slurped again.

Maggie shook her head.

Dave gave Julie a leering once over. “You look great now.”

Dean leaned into Julie and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Amazing how some people just get better with age.” He made sure Dave heard his voice, loud and clear, above all the noise.

Dave’s vacant expression was the only response he got back.

“Well, we’ve got to go. But, it was great seeing you!”

Julie waved.

The couple wandered off. Dean watched Maggie smack Dave on the back once they were out of earshot.

Julie laughed. “God, sometimes I forget how little some people change. And I had a crush on him back in school.”

“On that?” Dean frowned. He pulled Julie closer.

“He was cute back then. Still a dick, but cute.”

“I wouldn’t have been a dick to you.” He whispered in her ear.

Julie pulled away to stare at him. She looked like she’d sucked on a lemon.

“I wouldn’t have.” He repeated. “I was never the popular kid. We moved around too much for me to make a name for myself. I hated guys like that.”

“Well, you wouldn’t have noticed me, I’m sure.” She shook her head. “And, that’s okay.” She smiled. “You notice me now.”

He lifted his chin and looked down his nose at her. “Well, I definitely wouldn’t have picked on you. I protected Sammy from asshats like that. Gave them a proper beat down or wedgie when they deserved it.”

“Sammy had a good big brother.” She grinned. “Finish your panzerotti. We’re going to go take a walk through the fairgrounds next.”

He nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

~~~~~

At some point during their carnival exploration, Dean’s fingers had interlocked with hers. It may have been so he didn’t lose her in the crowd and pulled her through a massive bottleneck. But once he did it, feeling the warmth and tight grip she returned, he went back to hold her hand throughout the late afternoon that stretched into early evening.

“Aw, this is my game!” He fished a couple bucks out of his pocket and sat on a spinny steel stool attached to a makeshift plywood floor. “Want to try?”

“I’m not very good at shooting games.”

He tapped the stool next to him and placed the buy-in on the counter for them both. “Humor me, sweetheart.”

Julie sighed and sat. The game attendant swiped up the cash and flicked on their mounted water guns. “Step right up and take a chance!”

Dean tested the turning radius of his weapon. A tween sat to his right. He passed the time as they waited for two more contestants and spun in his seat toward Julie. “Just have to breathe into it beforehand. Get your sight level and don’t squeeze the trigger until the buzzer goes off.”

She smiled and nodded, leaning down to try and line the gun up with the bullseye target directly in front of her spot. Her sunglasses rested in the collar of her shirt. From Dean’s perspective, she seemed to be enjoying the time with him.

“Dean!” Cas’s deep baritone startled him out of staring at Julie. He marched up and stood between their stools in his pale green button up and khaki cargo pants. “We’re almost out of tickets.”

“Are you asking me for money to buy more?” Dean raised an eyebrow. Jack was on Julie’s left and they chatted.

“Of course not. I have my own earnings. I just wanted to make you aware that we’ll probably be done soon and ready to leave.”

“Well, we need two more players.” He nodded to the empty spots next to Julie. “Why don’t you and Jack give it a try?”

Jack shrugged and sat next to Julie.

Cas looked at the attendant. “What’s the hoped for outcome if one wants to win?”

The wrinkled man pointed to the horses at the left of the huge game display. “You get your horse to the other side first.”

“Fair enough.” Cas wandered over next to Jack.

“Alright.” Dean smacked his hands together. “Game on!”

~~~~~

“That kid cheated.” Dean mumbled, marching away from the game seven minutes later. He had Julie by his side, hands locked together again. “No way he won three games in a row fair and square.” Jack and Cas caught up to his gait on his left.

“His reflexes and speed could just be better because…”

Cas put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I advise you to stop talking now.”

Dean cocked his head to see Julie grinning. “Did you find all that amusing, Jules?” He tried not to grin back.

She stopped in the middle of the path and looked upward. Dean, Jack, and Cas all halted in a delayed response. “Hey Cas, how many tickets do you have left?”

“Eight.”

“Could we all go on that?” She pointed up to the three story high ferris wheel in the middle of the fairgrounds. The massive steel spoked frame was decorated in what looked like thousands of multicolored lights.

“I’m not opposed to it.” Cas replied.

Julie stared at Dean and squeezed his hand. He sighed. “Sure.”

The line for the ride wasn’t very long. Jack and Cas filed in ahead of Dean and Julie. When they rocked off in their own carriage they gave the waiting couple a friendly salute.

“Are you thinking this ride will calm me down?” Dean passed the tickets to the attendant and tugged her up the rickety aluminum stairs.

She slid next to him on the hard seat. “Not really.” She shivered.

“Chilly?” He asked.

“A little.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. The bar secured them in their carriage, they rocked backwards and up, and Dean’s secure footing disappeared. The evening sky above the rooftops and tree canopies turning deeper shades of blue as his eyes gazed higher.

“I kind of just wanted to get you alone for a little while.” She whispered, nuzzling into his neck.

“Hm.” Dean closed his eyes and smiled when she shivered again. They floated and swayed in a static spot as another group got on the ride.

“If you were perfect at that game, too, I would have thought I was dreaming again.”

“Again?” He rubbed her elbow. The carriage jerked up another click and stopped. Cas’s and Jack’s sneakered feet dangled above them.

“I don’t remember anything after Ina touched me, once we got to the shopping center and I parked the car.” Dean’s body turned rigid at the mention of the Jinn’s name. Julie slipped an arm around his waist and burrowed closer. Her warm breath bathed skin along his t-shirt collar. “I thought maybe she had drugged me. That’s what I asked the doctors. But, they said nothing came back in the tests to suggest that.”

His other hand latched onto her forearm.

“It wasn’t like I woke up in that bed as if no time had passed between the car and the hospital. It wasn’t a snap of the fingers. Have you… have you ever dreamed and felt like you’ve lived days, even weeks during it?”

‘Why, yes, Julie. I was kidnapped by a Jinn, a magical creature that feeds off human blood and puts its victims in a comatose, dream state. Hate to break it to you, but that’s exactly what happened to you, too.’ If I’m truthful right now, she might jump out of the damn carriage. “Weeks?” Avoid answering at all costs.

“That’s what happened. I was living my life. But, it was this, fantasy life. Just me… and you.”

Me? His thoughts focused on the night he’d found Julie. The Jinn was spouting some shit. Julie dreaming about me. The ferris wheel rotated without a hiccup with all its passengers accounted for and aboard the ride. The cool night air trailed over their entangled limbs. Goosebumps formed over her skin. He wondered how much of it was the wind or his fingers brushing along, needing to touch as many parts of her as he could. I was in her fairy tale life. Like the one I had, so long ago. The one that brought mom back to life and teased me with what could have been. Before she was really brought back by Amara, like a game show parting gift. ‘We appreciate you playing Dean. You were going to blow yourself up to save the world, but big sis and universe creating bro here worked it out, thanks to you.’ He stared at the back of Jack’s head. And there’s the former archangel slash human whose unstable powers took mom away again. A quick stab hit his heart. Here we are: one big happy band of misfits. Yeah, explaining supernatural stuff is going to have her looking at me like I should be committed.

Dean figured they had about eight cars to unload before them once the ride was done. They swirled and spun. The festival lights, the crowds, the noise; it all dipped close then faded away. He wanted to know specifics from Julie. The worry that his curiosity would only lead to more of her questions made him hesitate.

“Still there, Dean?” She tugged at his shirt.

“Yeah.”

“I freaked you out.” She stated.

“No. No.” He tilted his head down, nudging her forehead with his nose. He needed to look into her eyes and provide some reassurance. Those brown eyes were wide and cautious. He flashed her a smile. “What did we do in this dream of yours?”

Her eyes crinkled up with her grin. “A lot of what we started to do earlier today... in my bedroom.”

A brow lifted. “Why Julie, was I your sex slave?”

“Pretty sure there was mutual agreement in all of the activities that occurred.”

He bent down and kissed her, soft and slow. “I don’t doubt it. Was that all that we did? Cause that sounds like an awesome dream to have under any circumstances.”

“Not all. We just spent a ton of time together. Looking back on it now, the parts I can piece together, I should have known something was off. Because it was literally only you and me. In our neighborhood, in the city, taking drives along empty roads for miles.” She smiled. “I felt safe.”

He played with the tip of her ponytail as the carriage swung to a stop, almost at the very top of the wheel. “It sounds like that’s what you needed and your brain gave you that calm. That safety.”

“Well, then, you were just what I needed.” She kissed his cheek. “You were perfect. But, I gotta say, you were even better than what I could’ve dreamt up today, when you...” She trailed off when they locked eyes again.

“When I what?” He offered his best innocent expression.

She blushed.

“Come on.”

Her eyes drifted to his mouth. “When you ate me out.” The blush deepened under the ferris wheel lights. She licked her bottom lip, the red stain worn off it hours ago. It took a second for him to realize she mimicked his response to her statement.

“Sweetheart,” he sighed, shifting in the uncomfortable seat, his excitement growing at their proximity and the intimate confession. “You’re killing me, you know that?”

��Let’s put you out of your misery then.” Her lips brushed against his ear. “Can I come back to your place tonight?”

His eyes widened. “Well, I was already planning on staying over at yours... but, wherever. Long as we finish what we started.”

“Good.” She caught his lobe between her teeth.

Dean moaned. Gotta live up to this unstoppable sex machine she’s built up in her head. Yep, I may die tonight. But, what a way to go. Sure as hell a thousand times better than death by bacon. And, I fucking love bacon.

Part 16

Series Page

[vedj-f-bekuesu]

2019 in Retrospect

2019 has been fairly quiet, so I decided to start off this year by looking back on it. I’ll be dividing it by main fandoms/characters/ships because this year there were actually some new ones. That hasn’t been the case since, like, 2013. 

Sonic the Hedgehog

It was an...alright year for Sonic. TSR was fine but too light on content, Mario and Sonic Tokyo felt like a step down from Mario and Sonic Rio but was still alright, and I have not played SEGA Heroes (and haven’t bothered with the Chao in Space short). Lowest spot for me was the IDW comic; the Zombot arc has had one interesting story so far, but the rest has had either bad writing (primarily aimed at Shadow’s turn) or it’s just been wallowing in its bleakness in a way even Shadow the Game didn’t. Then again, I find zombie stories uninteresting to begin with, so no duh I’m not interested in a Sonic take on it. 

Chaotix kind of mirror that. Vector’s managed to get a good showing in, batting 3 for 3 on the game front, and having a key role in two of them. And like I said before, the Chaotix have genuinely had the most interesting stories within the Zombot arc, although with Vector and Charmy turned this may become more limited. Speaking of though, Espio and Charmy have had weaker presences. Espio managed to get into all three games in some form but to a lesser extent (one just by name), and Charmy was really left behind. 

As for Vecpio, it’s been pretty bare for canon material stuff. Espio got mentioned in TSR as contributing the report that reveals Dodon Pa’s true role (with him and Vector being the key to making everyone shut up about him being suspicious, proving they’re best as a team). And Mario and Sonic Tokyo has something if you headcanon some stuff; when Vector talks about the medals, Espio is the first person you’re directed to. Nothing is said by Vector about Espio in text, but you can implicate that Espio was chosen first because of his strong link to Vector, being the first one Vector would trust to compete at a gold level. Other than that? Dry. And with no announcements for Sonic games in 2020, this may just continue. 

Crash Bandicoot

On the reverse side, we have Crash Bandicoot having a really strong year. CTR:NF came out (which is a remake of my favourite Crash game) and has been doing gangbusters. On top of this, it has been going out of its way to revive pretty much every dead character in the franchise, to the point that we have RIlla Roo back in the fold (something I genuinely didn’t think would happen 19 years beforehand). 

Skipping straight to the shipping for this, I wouldn’t have imagined it for Crash ever, but there’s actually some in-game material for me to latch onto for DingodileXKomodo Joe! Dingodile has been pushed into a more jovial character since N-Sane Trilogy, being even more doubled down on in CTR:NF. However, for the past 20 years Komodo Joe has managed to avoid being given traits closer to Espio. This game finally catches up to him, and does it hard. Seriously, his character took a hard turn for the stoic badass Espio did after Heroes, and when did Joe ever use Martial Arts magic ever? Aside from making that dynamic naturally more matching, Slide Coliseum joins in the fun with the visual upgrade. It has holographic projections of a trophy girl repping a couple of racers dancing each, and guess who the devs felt could be paired up for how they go together rhythmically? That’s right, my reptile boys. Man. 

Super Mario Bros

What a weak year for Mario for me. What Mario got for new games this year were Luigi’s Mansion 3 (which I’ve not played), Mario Maker 2 (which isn’t new story content and doesn’t interest me in the slightest), Yoshi’s Crafted World (which I forgot was a thing) and Mario Kart Tour/Dr Mario World (which...um). 

Because of this set-up, Bowser hardly got anything to do so he’s really been on the backburner. Considering how he’s been pushed in the rest of the decade that’s saying something. In fact, the most character stuff he got was in Mario and Sonic Tokyo, and even that was mostly just alright (I think Bowser Jr got the best deal out of that).

Spyro the Dragon

Spyro was alright, but this one’s more understandable. With 2018 being the big year for Spyro’s return, 2019 was a rest for the little guy. That being said it wasn’t completely quiet; Spyro Reignited Trilogy finally got its port on the Switch, and to tie in with that Spyro got an appearance in CTR:NF. 

Because of the latter point, Gnasty Gnorc got a surprisingly strong year. Not only having more people learn about his glow-up in SRT, but bringing over that petty and angry character to CTR:NF. Seriously, his bit in the grand prix intro video is great, and he has more lines in his racing quips than any other game. 

OK KO

I don’t think I made a post about OK KO on Tumblr (or maybe I did one, I can’t remember). But I did manage to get into this just before it got cancelled so there’s that. 

I maintain that the Sonic crossover (aka the first thing I really knew about OK KO) didn’t give me a good impression of the show.It just seemed like “here’s the Sonic and Eggman dynamic but with more cartoon shenanigans*” and it spent more time making endless Sonic references. While some were deeper cuts which actually were impressive, most were references I could see in pretty much any Sonic-referencing material. It wasn’t until I decided to look up more info on Lord Boxman sometime after because I wanted to check if N.Gin was an influence that I found out the plot of the actual show (crossover notwithstanding) was pretty nuts and way more up my alley. 

Speaking of, there’s Voxman. Whereas other ships on here I have to dig through material to construct nuggets from them, this was literally in the text. And why not, they have a good dynamic and are usually the most fun to watch bounce off each other. And I still like the fact that if KO and Lord Boxman were the Sonic and Eggman parallel, the story ends with Eggman becoming Sonic’s stepfather. Let’s see IDW tell a story like that, it’d be better than the Zombot stuff. 

*I think that was the point but still. 

LEGO

Man I wouldn’t have thought they would have remade LEGO Racers but the one they made this year was gre--

Okay no, this year basically reignited another flame that I thought was snuffed out like 16 years ago. For a brief history of me and LEGO, when I was six I had a freestyle box which I used to make an elemental superhero persona. I played with this until I was 11. Before then, my sister got some LEGO Harry Potter sets (which we still have in the loft), I played LEGO Racers a lot (and wasn’t very good at it), and I owned two random other LEGO sets (the trike from Life on Mars and Lava from RoboRIders). 

After that, I only dabbled in LEGO when there was a Sonic set done for LEGO Dimensions. I did try to play more into it, but it was really prone to crashing in certain worlds so I eventually got frustrated enough to stop playing it. Sometime in the interim though my sister started enjoying LEGO films without me knowing, so when February came around I was dragged to see LEGO Movie 2 when all I wanted to see in 2019 was Toy Story 4. Dad insisted on it since we rarely have family outings. In retrospect; 

LEGO Movie 2 hit me in a way a piece of media hasn’t for years, or even decades. It’s shot up to be my third-favourite film of all time. And it’s revealed to me that LEGO is shockingly good at making endearing characters. So much so that breaking it down (pun not intended) has to be done by theme.

LEGO Movie: Part of the reason why I didn’t get into LEGO earlier was because I did see LEGO Movie back in 2014 when my sister was given it on DVD (she wasn’t into LEGO then) and I wasn’t impressed with it. In retrospect, I can appreciate what it did more, and I bring it up because it’s what makes Unikitty, Benny and Metalbeard so endearing when combined with what happened in TLM2. Lucy’s okay (moreso in the sequel), Emmet’s cute, President Business is fun but the MVP is definitely Rex Dangervest, who’s this feral monster but with Emmet buried away deep inside ready to flesh him out. When I make LEGO stories, I just have Rex change his mind on rescuing himself after getting the dinosaurs, and instead wreaking havoc in the present. This kills Emmet off in any story I do but it’s a worthy sacrifice. 

LEGO City Undercover: As a video game person I’m kicking myself for not getting into this before. Frank Honey is the best; he’s adorable and weird yet still feeling very much human and basically the Emmet of his city. Rex Fury has grown on me lots since my initial assessment of him,it’s infectious how much fun he has with being a criminal (while Vinnie is more fun when not doing criminal stuff and Chan seems to be more focused on doing criminal stuff as a job. I also think his calmer side is criminally (no pun intended again) overlooked). Also Ellie is underrated, she is the best straight man you could ask for. 

LEGO City Adventures: As I’ve said before, pretty much everyone in LCA is adorable, especially Duke and Harl. Still hoping for more Daisy time in the second season, she could be a riot if played properly and not just a Fendrich stooge. 

Ninjago: Coming in with the hot take here; I prefer the movie version of Ninjago to the series. I think the problem with the series is that it has so much baggage from before the series started to iron out some of its issues and cliches that it’s kinda hard to get into as a new person, whereas movie Ninjago is a lot more approachable and written better off the bat (although I do see why it wouldn’t go down well with existing Ninjago fans). This all just makes me think of that moment in series 11 where Nya sees her worst fear of being normal in an artefact and it shows her movie self, almost as a take that. It just makes me think the show writers are salty about movie Nya kicking show Nya’s ass in being a better character. Also shout outs to Kai, Cole, Zane and Lloyd for being great characters as well (Jay is cute in the movie, his show self can be punted off a cliff for all I care). And I am with the movement to have Cole come out as gay (or at least bi if they want to keep Tournament of Elements I guess). 

Nexo Knights: This show is regarded as another Ninjago wannabe, but it feels very different to Ninjago to me. So much so, there’s not a single one of the heroes I don’t like and they all need to be cherished. Macy gets props for being the best female character to me, Aaron is probably my favourite now and this is a house of Clance for future reference. 

So, with all that being said, what do I think of the prospects for 2020? I think it’s going to be quieter than 2019 to be honest, since there’s a lot winding down, and on the game side there’s been zero announcements. Crash and Spyro having a rest is understandable, Sonic’s going to have to get past the movie before gearing up for 2021 probably (for the record I have no interest in the movie) and Mario just needs to try harder. And with OK KO dead, only LCA is holding the fort for guaranteed new content I want to engage in right now. 

You know what would be fun though? Series 20 of the minifigures theme is due at the end of this year. Wouldn’t it be awesome to use the occasion to give some phsical minifigures to characters who never got them before? LIke, Rex Fury somehow still has enough demand to be a persistent feature in the customs market, give him an official figure (especially since he’s the only character from LCU that’s not Chase that’s even appeared in merch outside the game). Or let Sky Lane get her LEGO Universe look in physical form to go with her LIXS look. Or heck, finally give Rocket Racer his original look, that’s how I discovered the minifigure world in the first place!

[twdmusicboxmystery]

10x03: Ghosts - Details

Let’s talk details today. I realized (because several people told me) that I didn't talk about the Carol/Daryl kitchen scene yesterday. I totally meant to talk about it. My post yesterday had so much in it, I didn't realize that I left it out. I'll get to that in this post.

***As always, spoilers abound below for 10x03: Ghosts. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

Opening Sequence:

I talked about the numbers at the beginning. I won’t go into details about the numbers leading up to 44. I'm sure they probably have significance, but I think I already pointed out the things that are most relevant to TD.

I forgot to mention something yesterday about the 49. @wdway​ had the insight that, in terms of history, Alaska was the 49th state to enter the United States union. That may seem random to you, but those of us who have studied the symbolism for a long time are familiar with this. Why? Because we saw so much Alaska symbolism in S6 around the wolves. Remember we saw the Alaska license plate in 5x16. 

The Alaska license plate has a flag with stars on it reflect the Sirius symbolism. So, the wolves (possibly the Whisperers), and Alaska are very entangled with Beth symbolism. The 49th hour could also represent Alaska and the wolves, which is just another way to point to Beth's return.

It's also important to note that we see a lot of binoculars in this episode. The characters look at walkers coming toward them from far off, so the binoculars theme is strong.

At the group meeting, Lydia says she doesn't believe Alpha is sending the walkers. We don't know who is if she isn't, but I think Eugene gives the explanation we’re supposed to accept. He believes the satellite falling from the sky and subsequent fire is bringing in walkers from all directions. Iet was bad luck that the satellite touched down near TF's communities, and they might be dealing with a lot of walkers for a while. We also see that the highwaymen want revenge on Alpha for killing two of theirs on the pikes. I think they’re probably setting up something there.

Rule of Threes:

A few examples I didn’t mention yesterday. After the town meeting, they divide into three groups. Father Gabriel will lead Alexandria in fighting waves of walkers coming from the north. This is where Rosita and Eugene are. It basically means staying in Alexandria and fighting them as they reached the fence.

Aaron and Negan go south to fight off the walkers coming from that direction. As Eugene said, the ones coming from the south are more dispersed and therefore somewhat easier to kill.

The third group is Daryl, Carol, and Michonne, who go to the northern border to meet Alpha. Another example of threes and also the north symbol.

Another example of threes comes when Negan and Aaron argue while fighting walkers. Aaron doesn't want Negan to have the crowbar because he doesn't trust him with a weapon like that. Negan finally relents and picks up the broomstick. Then Aaron says, "three coming in on your side." So he turns to fight three walkers. A small instance of three, but it’s there nonetheless.

Rosita and Eugene:

The first time we seem Rosita and Eugene, they're fighting at Alexandria together. Rosie asks, "You want to go back, don't you?" Eugene answers, "No, I'm good." It's a small scene, but the dialogue is very Bethyl-ish. It houses both the "you can't go back," theme we saw in S5, in the “No, I'm good,” reminded me of Beth singing, We’ll Be Good in Alone.

Meeting Alpha:

This was pretty straightforward and were obviously setting up a Carol vs Alpha arc. We saw the H coin Lydia left at the base of Henry's Pike.

Another instance of threes comes when Alpha points out that she knows TF has crossed her land three times. Once during winter storm, once during the fire, and once when Michonne and Aaron were on the bridge. I have to wonder how she knows all that. They’ve shown very obviously that she and Beta were not in the area, so how does she know. Did some of the Whisperers stay in the area? Maybe. Did she set up cameras? No idea. But it's very intriguing.

Aaron and Negan:

It's also important to note that Aaron and Negan fight walkers near a green and yellow tractor. Obviously, the colors catch our attention, but I thought of two times we've noticed tractors that are tangled up with Beth symbolism. 

The first was in S6. Just before Glenn's death fake out, he and Nicholas and Heath went to a tractor store to kill all the walkers there. It's kind of interesting because this was right before Glenn's death fake out, which has parallels to Beth's. But it's also interesting that Heath was there, and now he's with the helicopter people, the same as Rick.

I’ve also talked recently about the theme of having a weak character die while a strong character lives. I mentioned it with Lizzie and Mika, as well as Gamma and her sister. Nicholas and Glenn were another example of this.

We should talk about the hog weed. I talked about Aaron's blindness yesterday, and how this walker looked a lot like the Cherokee Rose walker from 6x06. The other thing is that Negan says the green stuff covering this walker is hogweed. Not only is that a pig reference, but this is a real weed you can look up. It does cause rashes and blindness. The reason Negan knew what it was is because he got a burn on his arm. Hogweed is an interesting choice because it flowers in a similar way to carrots. Only, it's very toxic where carrots are obviously not.

At one point, Negan makes random reference to the story of America. I thought that was kind of an odd thing for him to say until @wdway​ pointed out the 49th hour being an Alaska reference. It might be a way of saying that the US history is important in the symbolism. Remember, we’ve also seen paintings about US history, including the Thanksgiving painting and the Crossing of the Delaware painting.

When Aaron gets to the cabin, he's thrashing around and walkers get inside the door. Negan kills them. We had a couple of other Beth callbacks here. I noticed Negan said, "You all right?" It's a pretty generic thing to say, but I remember our fandom making a big deal about Daryl saying that to Beth in the graveyard. Because it showed he cared if she was all right or not. And remember that in this parallel, Negan = Daryl and Aaron = Beth.

Negan also asked if Aaron had washed out his eyes. Aaron said that he used water to wash them out and it was gone. Negan gives him water to drink. So, an example of someone running out of water once again.

Carol/Daryl/Michonne in the school:

I talked about how because of the dog on the outside, I believe everything is a reference to Beth's return. First off, let's note that we see a lot of broken glass here. A lot of it. (Broken glass theory).

Then there's the clock with no hands. @frangipanilove​, @wdway​ and I have actually talked a lot about what this might mean. We haven't settled on anything concrete yet. I think we need to see a few more examples of it before we know for certain.

For me, I think part of it is that Carol is sort of in prison in her own mind. So, the clock with no hands may represent a prison or the fact that time is not passing for some reason. 

@frangipanilove​ had a really good insight. She suggested since we saw a lot of clocks around Beth (that's where the clock symbolism originated, because someone asked Gimple if the clocks at Grady were important and he said yes) perhaps a clock with no hands represents zero time. In other words, perhaps when there is no more time, that’s when Beth will return. I think that's a really great insight because something else in this episode points to the same thing and it’s sort of an adjacent symbol.

Next to the clock is a flu poster. It occurred to me this could be connected to the radiation/sickness theme.

We see the egg timers around Carol. The thing about egg timers is that they always count down. If you set a timer for 30 minutes, it counts backward from 30 to 0 and when it hits zero, the bell goes off. We see the egg timer several different times around Carol and it always counts down to zero.

Remember also that in 4x16, A, Joe Claimer talked about New Year's Eve and the ball dropping and counting backward down to zero. This is a theme we've seen before. We’re thinking that the timer represents counting down to Beth's return and when it hits zero, she’ll show up. Seeing the egg timers go off three different times in the school represents this, and the clocks with no hands on them may too.

Of course, my opinion on this may change as we learn more.

I talked yesterday about how Daryl looks through the broken glass. I instantly recognized this as a Coda call back. We saw the gov look through glass when he went to the funeral home in 4x06, and that had a ton of Beth foreshadowing in it. Rick did the same thing at Grady just before Beth was shot. Now we see both Daryl and Carol do the same thing. So this is definitely a call back to Coda.

In the school, Carol says, "I'll take first watch." That's a call back to Consumed when she told him the same thing. This part looked visually similar to Consumed because it's her and Daryl in a dark building. They’re not alone, of course, and as I talked about yesterday, there also a lot of callbacks to Still, as well.

In the part where Daryl told the story about his father driving truck, there's a couple of details I didn't mention. Carol calls his dad a “meth-snorting trucker.” That’s a callback to Merle’s crystal meth, but also remember that Daryl mentioned the tweaker who used to sell to Merle in Still. So, this is a reference to Still.

Daryl mentions that the girl in the story, on the side of the road is crying. Think Beth in Inmates. He also mentions that when he thought he hit her, his dad called the local PD. Grady anyone? And even the way they sit with their feet flat & knees pointed to the ceiling is very reminiscent of how Beth and Daryl sat on the porch of the moonshine shack. Oh yeah, and the walls of this room are painted bright yellow. Just saying.

One other thing: his references to I-66 and Kentucky jumped out at me as significant. I couldn’t remember other times we’d specifically seen either in the show, so I Googled. The I-66 in Kentucky is a real thing. There’s a main drag that runs from Kentucky to Kansas, and to the East, one of its termination points is near D.C. Makes sense as a reference, right. But I also found out (HERE) that there were originally plans to extend it all the way through California. Those plans got cancelled in the ‘90s and the highway was never extended, but if it had been, it would have gone directly though New Mexico. So this is actually a cloaked New Mexico reference. Definitely a foreshadow.

In the gym sequence, Carol stepped into a noose, which makes it part of the hanging theme we've seen before. We also saw soccer balls a lot. I'm not sure what that represents, but the camera focuses on them several times.

@bethgreeneprevails​ also pointed out some parallels to Beth in this sequence that I totally missed. Carol stepped into a trap with her foot—like Beth did in Alone. With her foot in the trap, she shoots at a walker—like Beth did in Alone. And her cutting her arm where she did, with glass no less, is a parallel to Beth’s suicide arc in S2. I was trying to compare it to her bandaged arm in S5, which is the opposite arm. But in S2 she cut her left arm with a piece of glass. Coincidence?

Which leads to another theory we’ve been batting around. I said yesterday that we didn’t see her sustain the injury. We’re kind of wondering if, also paralleling Beth in S2, Carol did it to herself. I don’t know if it would have been conscious or unconscious, and I truly don’t think Carol is actually one to commit suicide. But it wouldn’t be the first time we saw a character self-harm to relieve grief. *coughs Daryl* I’ll come back to this in a minute.

Let's talk more about Carol's hallucinations. I said yesterday, I think there were three hallucination sequences inside the school. I don't count her seeing the home economics book, because I don't think that was a hallucination sequence. I think that was her seeing things while awake. But the other three were almost more like extended dream sequences.

I think the first one was when Daryl told her the story about the truck and the missing girl. That was dream sequence number one, and as they stand up, we hear the egg timer go off.

Dream sequence number two was when she walked to the glass window that was broken and saw the Samara walker inside. Then she sees Henry and hears him call her mom. It looks like she's about to get stabbed by the Samara walker when suddenly she wakes up. 

That's when Daryl finds her and says she's been gone for half an hour and tells her his dad was not a trucker. After that, the egg timer goes off. So because of the nightmare, she actually woke herself up prior to the alarm that time. But when Daryl tells her his dad was not a trucker, she was definitely awake then.

As soon as he leaves, she sees movement in the corridor and starts chasing it. This is when she goes into the gym. The gym is her third dream sequence.

I've also said that I think each of them represent something. I'm not entirely sure what yet but here's a few musings.

I said Daryl’s story about the girl disappearing in front of the truck sounds a lot like Beth and her body disappearing in Atlanta. So perhaps that represents the past. The second hallucination was Carol seeing blood and a dark walker and then Henry. I think this represents what she's dealing with now. Specifically, Henry's death. The dark girl (Samara) walker might represent Carol's own inner darkness and the demons she's dealing with. They’re literally haunting her dreams and chasing her around.

And the third sequence in the gym? Again, I can't be sure, but I think it represents the future. Something about the Whisperers will lure Carol into a trap. Perhaps that will lead to Ezekiel's death fake out. I said yesterday that I thought maybe their group ran into walkers outside the school and that's where Carol got the glass in her arm, but we didn't see it. I was thinking about that work in terms of what it meant for Carol, but it occurred to me it could foreshadow Ezekiel's arc.

Perhaps Carol will be lured into a trap by the Whisperers and it will lead to Ezekiel's death fake out. (Hence not seeing some interaction with walkers. That would perhaps symbolize Carol not realizing Ezekiel is still alive. It also lines up well with not seeing what happened with Beth and the walkers after Coda, and Daryl not realizing she is alive either.) Something like that. Only after that do we see the female whisperer’s eyes open, which probably represents Beth’s return.

Again, this is conjecture on my part and my interpretations will probably change as the arc unfolds. This is what I'm leaning toward now.

Let’s talk about the kitchen sequence.

They played a song called Care of Cell 44. Again, we kind of freaked out and realize there's a song by this name the show. There’s the 44 again, which is the issue where Andrea was shot in the head and survived. We actually saw a 44 on a magazine at the end of Coda with Morgan. Aside from being an obvious reference to Andrea’s comic book arc, you could also argue that we saw a 44 the end of Coda and now are seeing on again, which suggests the event of Coda are coming back around.

Think of it in terms of music. When you play music, there are signs at the beginning and ending of the coda to tell you when to start the coda, and when to end it, especially if there are repeats. So we saw a 44 at the end of 5x08, after Beth was shot. Now we’re seeing them in a big way again.

Back to Care of Cell 44. My thoughts immediately went to 7x03, The Cell. Daryl was a prisoner at the Sanctuary. Anyone who cared to interpret the symbolism there knew it was all about Beth. They played a song a lot like the one Beth sang at the prison in S3 and Daryl started to cry.

Also remember that even though Angela Kang wasn't show runner yet she wrote both The Cell and the episode in S3 where Beth sang. She put similar songs in both episodes. So it's important to note that music always has importance for Angela. And now she’s the show runner and doing an amazing job.

So we hear this song play during the kitchen sequence and it’s a fairly upbeat song. It reminded me of the upbeat songs we saw around her in 6a when she was making cookies and killing walkers, as well as songs we heard in 5b, such as the Bee Gees Spicks and Specks, which talks about leaving a girl behind.

So I know certain shippers are freaking out about this dream sequence, but that’s kind of laughable. I have three things to say about it.

1) There is nothing remotely romantic in it. It lasts about 15 seconds and Daryl and Carol barely look at each other. I also had the thought that their positioning in the kitchen, with Carol on the right and in front and Daryl on the left and slightly behind, looks a whole lot like when Deanna and Spencer fought in the kitchen in S6. If anything, that's backs up the idea of Carol and Daryl being mother and son in the sequence.

2) I don't think we've seen all of the sequence yet. I think it might follow a pattern similar to Rick's Old Man Coda/Carl’s vision for the future. In S8, we saw a little bit at a time. First, we saw Rick waking up, then later he went out into the main room and talking to Michonne. Then later we saw Judith come in, Rick talk to Carl, and eventually Rick taking Judith out through Alexandria to where Negan was working. But not until Carl died and they explained that this was his vision for the future did we actually see the full sequence, nor did it make sense.

I think there might be something similar here. Because the way Carol’s kitchen dream cut off, without much hint as to what it all means, makes it feel very unfinished. I kind of hate to speculate on where it's going (although, you know me, I will ;D) because I just don't think we have all the puzzle pieces yet. I think we’ll see more of this dream throughout the season, and we’ll get a little more with each time.

The other option is that maybe we won't see more, but some point Carol will explain something that's going on in her own head that will make this make sense. Either way, I don't think we can do much correct interpretation of this yet.

But!

I will give you two possibilities that are thought of. Just keep in mind that they will most likely change if we learn anything new.

So here goes. The fact that Henry is in the dream is important. He's wearing his compass rose T-shirt. The compass rose is part of the Sirius/North Star symbolism, and also remember how heavily Henry was paralleled with Beth when he was still alive. So, I'm thinking that Henry being in this sequence symbolically represents Beth being there.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Carol says she needs jam and Daryl tells her to go get some. We don't actually see her go, that the point is, she’s out of jam needs to go find some.

Remember that this is the episode where we had the peanut butter and jelly reference from FG, and that is definitely a Bethyl thing. Jam and jelly are the same thing. I feel like this is part of the peanut butter and jelly theme.

Beth = peanut butter and Daryl = jam. Carol and Daryl are the two similar ones in these relationships. In other words, Carol and Daryl are alike. They're the ones that are prone to pessimism, isolation, and self-destructiveness. Their significant others, Beth and Ezekiel, also similar. There are more prone to optimism, faith, and positivity. So the jam would actually represent both Carol and Daryl.

I think the fact that they’re out of jam and looking for more perhaps represents that neither of them are in a happy, romantic relationships with their significant others right now. They're not currently the jam to someone else's peanut butter currently. And then Carol almost leaves to get more. My first thought was this was simply another way of saying that Daryl and Carol will go on some sort of trip together, looking for their significant others.

Then I considered Henry. I'm thinking he might represent Beth in this equation. So maybe it's something more like they'll find Beth first and once she's with Daryl, Carol will need to leave on her own to find Ezekiel. Something like that.

And again, I'm really, really conjecturing here. Because I feel like were missing a great deal of the sequence and by the time we get it, I might realize I’m completely off in this interpretation. I'm okay with that. I'm just telling you some of the thoughts that gone through my head so far. Then we also see Carol's watch with no hands on it.

If it means Beth’s return, what I've said here already would make sense. It could also represent Carol being in her own prison and needing to break out of it by going to look for the jam. Again, just some thoughts. 

That takes care of the symbolism side of things, but I wanted to talk about something more literal concerning Carol. It was something Angela Kang said on TTD. (I’ll talk more about TTD tomorrow.) She was describing this scene and she talked about it in a way that hadn’t occurred to me until I heard her say it. For Carol, the scene is very carefree and upbeat. UNTIL she sees Henry sitting there. That’s when Carol wakes up and starts to cry.

So, according to AK, the reason Carol doesn’t want to sleep is because when she sleeps, she dreams of her dead children, and she can’t bear it. I could tell Angela was almost in tears talking about this with Carol. She obviously has a lot of sympathy for Carol’s character. I thought it was sweet.

And this may possibly counter what I said above. About seeing more of this dream. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t. But the reason it cut off so suddenly is because she saw Henry and woke herself up. Then immediately looked for more pills, which she didn’t have.

My point? AK confirmed this hallucination was not about Daryl. Not at all. The breakfast is just Carol’s idea of normalcy. Hanging out with her BFF. Eating breakfast. Being happy. But the point of having this in the episode is how messed up she still is about Henry.

And actually, that’s built right into the title. I think the ghost girl story Daryl told (technically Carol told it because it was her subconscious ;D) was a symbol/foreshadow having to do with Beth. But from a more literal standpoint, this was all about Carol’s ghosts. The ghosts of the children she’s lost.

I think the foreshadowing is showing where her dark, destructive frame of mind will eventually take her, and what it will lead to in the show.

Also, it occurred to me this might support our self-harm theory. Much like after Daryl lost Beth (and remember Henry was heavily paralleled with her while alive) Carol might be self-harming to deal with her grief.

I think that’s all I have for today. Thoughts?

[dachi-chan25]

GoT S8 Episode 4 "I don't even care about the title of this" Recap

So here I am once again (I didn't do a Recap of the battle episode cuz frankly I'm not a huge fan of battle stuff, and it was very messy the way D&D executed it, there was not much stuff to analyze so yeah) and well the way some people talked about Jon yesterday really had me worried (and hey if you hate him now or don't believe in him it's fine, not your fault but the writers') but when I watched the episode I got a completely different impression (which is fine I mean sharing a ship doesn't mean we have to agree on every single thing) and I will talk about it.

Oh yeah I am not a fan of D, nor of aegony and I still believe in Pol! Jon and jonsa so if you are not intrested in reading about any of that this is not the Recap for ya.

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Funeral & Feast

From the very beginning of the episode I was like 👀👀. We get a shot of Ser Jorah's corpse and D mourning him and then we get the exact same thing with Theon and Sansa (drawing this parallels between them is truly intresting) but we only get Jon's sad expression after we get Sansa sobbing which makes me think he was watching her (this is also supported by the fact that D was not in his direct line of vision and the fact he is not standing anywhere near her in that moment or afterwards).

Jon gives a pretty emotional speech about the fallen and the future generations, and the director made sure we get a shot of Sansa behind Jon as he talks about the future generations (aka children) when a more open shot would have made it more vague and meaning about everyone's children and not just Jon & Sansa's, I mean for me the foreshadowing was strong.

The pyres are lit, and I guess this is where the rumours about WF burning started (gosh I am so glad they didn't had D burn it) .

Everyone is celebrating the victory in the Great Hall, everything starts on a serious note, until Gendry gets up the benches to go looking for Arya, and D calls on him. Ok serious talk, did any of y'all notice that look of worry that passes between Jon and Dadvos??? Like they were waiting for the worst, why in the Seven Hells would Jon expect the worst out of someone he supposedly loves and believes in? Cuz he does not. And yeah he is relieved but not relaxed when she names him Lord of Storms End (k seriously i thought d&d had completely forgot about the riverlands,stormlands, westerlands,the Reach, dorne, and everywhere else that was not "plot relevant" ) and the fact that no one even knew who was ruling there like? ??? Didn't Jon sent letters to every lord in season 4 or 5??? Like how do they not know this???

Back to Jon, he looks puzzled like he doesn't know what game she is playing. While she is patting herself in the back for getting rid of a man that had a better claim to the throne than her. Tyrion is a dumbass, cuz D can't name Gendry shit until she actually has the alliance of the stormlands but whatevs, she is not a politiciiian she is a kweeeen.

So yeah the mead and wine get passed around and everyone seems to be having a good time except for 1 person: D

Why is this? Well because she is not their hero, not really, and she knows, I mean she watched the NK walking through her flames, if not for ser Jorah she would be dead and that can't be cuz she is special she has to be cuz she is the last Targy except now she knows that is also not true, and we get her looking at Jon.

And Jon??? Well he doesn't give her the time of the day (again if he loved her so much he would be spending time with her, trying to include her in the conversation with him and his friends) cuz he is lauguing and drinking with Tormund and Sansa (honestly Sansa was so flirty with that "c'mon, do it in believe in you" like i have used that same line girl what), he turns around for a second and smiles at d (he is having a good time and why wouldn't he smile, she is not the one that made him smile he is smiling cuz he is happy and on his way to getting drunk) thing is Sansa catches him sharing a smile with D and her reaction is so out of proportion for a "sister" when she was all smiles and heart eyes not 2 seconds ago, her smile disappears and she leaves, what is Jon's reaction? He turns around and watches her leave super confused, D is smug until she realizes Jon didn't really pick her, she didn't won cuz he still is looking at Sansa and not back at her.

Things get crazy with Tormund and he shouts for anyone to hear that Jon is a "King" and then only then Jon turns to see D's reaction, and she gives him a forced smile that he returns because he doesn't want to antagonize her. By this point Jon is making 0 effort to resume their "relationship" but also doesn't want to be percived as her enemy.

And we get a terrifying look on D's face as she sees everyone around her celebrating without a care for her, their kween, cuz they would rather have Jon or Sansa, and she can't take it, so much she has to go.

Now we get a drinking game between Tyrion, Brienne, Jaime and Pod, is all cool until Tyrion mentions the fact Brienne is a virgin, she gets upset and leaves, Jaime goes for her and Tormund has the realization that he has no chance with Brienne. Now he goes to complain to the Hound who gives 0 fucks about his lonely soul, and suddenly everyone gets a sexual partner (everything is very heterosexual of course, we know the only gays in westeros are dead or in the Iron Islands) and we see Sansa watching (this is what she wants that she doesn't have, she doesn't want sex she wants romance but she can't have it with the one she wants) and she has a 1 on 1 with the Hound that I have already talked about.

Gendry finally finds Arya shooting arrows on her own, and tells her the good news, not only that but he proposes. And oh, I knew Arya wouldn't want to get married but this was hard to see, we still get a kiss so she loves him but that is not the life she wants for herself.

Aegonyyyy & "The Truth"

Jon is looking miserable in his room. I mean if anything has been consistent with Jon is the fact that he wants to deal with everything on his own, but the fact that he has to deal with this whole existential crisis and the up coming war must be exhausting. D enters his room unannounced (fooking rude, but I don't expect any better cuz she has never shown him respect at all, even Jon knocks when entering the office he shares with Sansa) he stumbles up (he is drunk totally unprepared for any conversation she wants to have) and gives her his condolences about Jorah (meaning this is the 1st conversation since the parentage reveal they have, and D is the one to iniciate it not Jon, again nothing about this makes me think he loves her) he doesn't hug her or approach her any further, as always D is the one forcing intimacy between them, honestly we get no real reaction from Jon when she tells him Jorah loved her but she couldn't love him cuz she loves Jon.

One of the cornerstone's of a romantic relationship is the frist time someone declares their love, and usually when one half of the pairing doesn't say it back it screams trouble. A kiss does not equal love, and it's not a good thing to do when someone is pouring their feelings for you. Now Jon does seem more into the kiss but as the director's commented he remembers what she is (not who but what) and pulls back. Jon's expression is not good if they selling me a romance, he doesn't look tortured by his desire and love for his aunt, but disgusted and defeated like he thought this was over but apparently nope he still has to be like this.

D has never respected Jon or his feelings (like when s7 was airing I remember I said she reminded me of Tw1l1ght when she watched Jon sleep, and how little she respects his privacy) and this imbalance in their relationship is again present when she starts complaining about how people love him and not her (gee I wonder if that has anything to do with setting your dragons on them when you arrived) like really, not once she worried about his feelings about not being who he thought he was, the only thing she cares about is the IT and if he will get in the way. Jon is visibly annoyed while giving his back to her so she doesn't seem but the audience does. What's more she expects Jon to lie to his family isolating himself from them to make her happy (that's fucked up) I do believe Jon intended to tell them everything (he just doesn't know how, and is understandably afraid cuz he never felt truly a part of the pack, and now he thinks he really is not) now he sees D is not going to let go of him, of the North, he can't say anything (i mean he totally should tho, I know d&d are just doing this to hold onto pol!Jon and dark!dany for as long as they can before being all smug like bet you didn't see it coming, except i do, I see u villians. Jk maybe I am wrong xd) he still wants to say it, and D goes absolutely crazy saying the truth is gonna destroy them (why dear isn't that the name of your epic couple song?) And that she wants to live in her selfish ass fantasy while stating how threatened she feels by Sansa (by this point Jon knows she burned the Tarlys for not bending and Sansa is not bending, if she bent know d would surely find it suspicious) the ONLY way he can protect Sansa as long as D is still at WF (and maybe forever) is if he is in the middle, her feelings for him have to be enough to stop her from hurting Sansa, or at least that is how I see his PoV right now, better for Sansa to be alive and hate him than having D kill her.

********The Braime is scene was so good tho 😢😢😢😍😍😍

War Council & Stark Meeting

Or the moment most people wanted to throw Jon in the trash...

So they making stupid ass, basic plans to defeat chess master Cersei.

And there, told ya D wanted to burn shit down before Missandei. Jon gets her to listen (Tyrion is grateful af)and instead of burning shit down like idiots they will lay a siege. But then Sansa raises an important issue everyone should care about: The physical and mental recovery of their armies. But D is like crazy tbh, there is no better word and she still treats the Long night as Jon's war and the northern as Sansa's people, and my girl rightfully calls her out. Jon puts a stop to that and he was heavily critiziced for it, but like he did the right thing?? I mean i hated how hurt Sansa looked, but Jon is trying (still) real hard to protect her, but there is nothing he can do if Sansa keeps antagonizing D (did y'all see how out of proportion was her reaction to a valid question??) also I think Jon wants to get D as far away from his family (specially Sansa) as possible.

Onto the reunión it was pretty telling how Sansa and Jon were already fighting it out like they do, both lost in their little world til Arya is like guys pls stop. Arya served as an excellent contrast between what sisterly concern looks like and what Sansa is showing. Jon is desperate, he has to go with D, not only because his family will not be safe if Cersei is alive, but because D feels they owe her that, and D wants him by her side and that is the only way she won't accuse him or his family of plotting against her, by this point i don't think jon has any plan to separate himself from her, he will do what she wants for as long as she wants because she has the power to hurt the people he loves and he rather be unhappy than losing his family forever. So he makes Bran tell them and makes them swear they won't tell anyone (he is explicitly defying D's wishes here) why?? Well there could be many reasons, his last act of free will, or maybe he wants the Starks to hate him and get him out of the pack (he doesn't even consider himself a part of the pack, and from his PoV Sansa doesn't either, cuz he is an idiot just not in the way people think he is) for choosing his Targ family over them, I lean toward the later but who knows?? I just know something bad had to happen for Arya to leave like that with no intention of returning and Sansa not saying goodbye to Jon and just wistfully watch from the battlements.

Farewell Jon

Again people hated Jon for this. But imho Jon is clearly not well in that moment, he looks tired, depressed. And i doubt very much this is the last scene with Ghost he will have.

Also Jon says he wishes he could go North is pretty sad?? If Jon loved d that much he would be sad about being at odds with his family but determined he is doing the right thing, he would be at least a little eager or something, not saying he wishes he could go up north and hide himself from everything. Also Tormund saying a part of the north will always be in Jon is foreshadowing that he will definitely come back.

Jon self deprecating "I hope it's a girl" when gilly tells him they want to name the baby after him. Jon is not alright.

He can't say goodbye to Ghost because this is not goodbye, this is not the last time they will see each other, and Jon can't bring himself to say goodbye (tbh he looked like the saddest boy ever, he didn't look like an uncaring ass to me) because ghost is his tie to his stark side, and he just can't part from that (also I am good with Jon not taking him to the South, like we don't wanna see my pure boy die)

Tyrion, she is in love with Jon u idiot.

So yeah D is with the dragons, and i don't know about y'all but Rhaegal is flying just fine (I think D didn't want Jon riding Rhaegal anymore to avoid more talk about how kingly he is).

So yeah Sansa is seeing this lizards fly, and Tyrion approaches her, she is not even trying to disguise how much she loathes the idea of D being kween, Tyrion is trying to work out why, it would certainly make things easier if the Lady of WF and the crown had a civil relationship. Sansa acts very snappy and brings up the good relationship the Warden of the North has with their kween (I want to slap Tyrion everytime he says "she is your kween too" to any other character) Tyrion very unsubtly says Jon is not coming back, and Sansa gets so emotional, she tells him she doesn't want Jon to go South.

Tyrion is baffled (cuz he is boo boo the fool) as to why Sansa is so against D, and even tells her how much more power she'll have if Jon is out of the picture. She doesn't want power tho she wants Jon. Sansa cleverly points out Tyrion is scared of D, and asks him why he thinks she would be a good kween (lmaooo this is what it looks like when u a brainwashed fool, Tyrion straight up says he believes in D as opposed to Jon saying they needed her armies) Tyrion says bs and Sansa says what if there was a better option. (This might save Jon's ass later tbh)

Welp that escalated fast

So now, we have the stupidest team ever traveling by boat to KL or dragonstone??? Somewhere in between maybe.

Varys and Tyrion are having a chat about Jon's parentage. Welp. Varys is Team Snow now I guess and Tyrion is still a fool. Honestly none of this bodes well for the D.

Now she is flying magestically with her 2 dragons when bam! Euron sinks her battleship and her battle dragon and her everything.

D, like the impulsive fool she is, charges against the Greyjoy fleet only to discover that they all have Scorpions, and she is risking it too much.

Everyone swims to the shore (honestly how Lucky they are that everyone knows how to swim) but Missandei is missing.

Cersei is the supreme bitch drinking wine and relishing in how unprepared D team is. Missandei is chained (😢) and very scared.

In WF, Sansa gets the news (who sent her this raven?? Varys is my bet) and Jaime overhears. Sansa says she wishes she could watch Cersei's execution (and this was pretty harsh but Cersei deserves Sansa's hate so..) Jaime gets unsettled and that paired up with that scene of the previously on where Cersei reveals she is pregnant plus all that stuff on 8x02 about him doing things for his family, I guess it's pretty clear he will try to save Cersei for the baby's sake not out of love but because the baby is innocent and is his, he already has fought D and knows his chances to survive again are scarce so he has to hurt Brienne now if he doesn't want her to follow him.

This shit is racist as hell but the writing is poor and everyone hated it so I guess it's something.

Now we get to the parley. And idk why Tyrion keeps trying (I mean i guess it's for the baby as well) is clear Cersei would rather die than leave the throne to d (which is just as well cuz d thinks the same).

They try to negotiate but both kweens are too selfish and entitled for it to really work. Missandei gets beheaded, but before she says Dracarys (how sad they don't let her say I love you to Greyworm one last time and instead is used as a permission for d to go bersek on innocent people that are not responsible for Cersei's actions) honestly is disappointing we don't get to see if D would have allowed her and GW to leave, it's sad she doesn't get her own story apart from D's handmaiden and that her own death is not about herself but to cause pain to a white woman (that already has a super racist storyline) and turn her full dark (I mean she has been making the descent on her own just fine whyyy u do this d&d).

That’s it, that’s my take. I am looking forward to next week.

[poison-basil]

Detective Richard Grayson - Chapter 2

Fuck.

Dick and Red stared at each other, Dick’s eyes wide with surprise and Red’s mouth opening slightly.

“What do I do?” Dick mouthed to Red hoping to get some pointers.

Red did a little shrug, looking equally out of his depth.

Spinning around and looking up Dick saw Hood standing on the fire escape. Right, time to act natural and not like he was gossiping with a vigilante about other said vigilante.

“Hey!” Dick said, wincing at the loudness of his own voice. So much for natural. “I mean, hey, how’s it going Hood?”

Dick ignored the quiet snort coming from behind him and frowned at the smirk on Hood’s face. Before anything else was said Hood jumped down, landing in front of him. Despite his size Hood made an imposing figure.

Dick was pushed to the side by Red as he put himself between Dick and Hood. Red’s form totally eclipsed Hood’s, Dick had to lean around him to see.

Hood had his arms crossed and hip cocked. “I’m doing good Officer. Heard something going down, thought I would check it out.”

Red took a step towards Hood, “Don’t talk to the good Officer Replacement.”

Hood straightened his shoulders, his chest puffing in defense. “He doesn’t seem to mind.” and Hood nods in Dick’s direction.

Red moved, again blocking Dick’s view of Hood.

He grabbed Red’s arm and pushed him to the side. “I don’t mind.”

“See.” Hood said, shrugging and a slight smirk appearing on his face.

“Well he should.” Red said, glaring between Hood and himself. “If he had any sense of self preservation.”

“Hey!” Dick shouted, glaring at Red, “I can make my own decisions.”

“Dumb ones,” Red says, he sticks out his hand and points at Hood. “He’s a killer, he has killed people, like killed em dead, you know what that means right? They aren’t gonna wake up and get on with their day, they are probably gonna rot away in there shallow graves! He’s a bad guy!”

Hood looks about as shocked at Red’s outburst as Dick feels.

Hood shifts slightly from foot to foot. “Well, now I know how you truly feel about me.” If Dick was reading and hearing him right, he would think that Hood was actually hurt by Red’s words.

“Well, nothing has officially been confirmed, he’s shot people, but never been linked to a killing by the GCPD. He grievously wounds them, but so do you and Batman, I don’t see much difference from where I stand.” Dick explains, after meeting Hood he checked him out to see if there was any information on him. As he said there was nothing linking Hood to any murders in Gotham.

Red spluttered a little, looking between him and Hood. “No but,” he looks at Dick, “He said he’d-”

“No I didn’t.” Hood interrupts and Red’s head snaps so fast Dick as to wince.

“What?”

“I never said I killed anyone.”

“You-” Red’s hands drop to his sides, his face scrunched in a way that Dick would describe as confusion. “You must have or-”

Hood interrupts him again. “I didn’t. Before you even met me, as Red Hood I mean, Batman was calling me a criminal.”

“He wouldn’t just do that.” Red said, his jaw tight.

Hood groaned. Putting his hands on his hips. Sassy. “Come on Red, you know better than to believe everything B tells us.” He puffs out a breath that blows his fringe to the side.

“Not about this… not about you.”

“What about him?” Dick says, surprising himself, both of them looked at him as though they forgot he was there for a moment.

“You remember the other Robin? The one that died?” Dick nods. How could he forget? The Joker rubbed it in the Bats face whenever he got the chance.

But what did that have to do with Hood? Dick looks back to him, Hood is standing unnaturally still, like he is waiting for the shadows to swallow him.

No. No, no, no, no.

It couldn’t be be. Could it?

This was little Robbie?

Dick takes to staring at Hood. Drawing parallels between what he knew about Robbie and Hood before him.

The jaw and the hair style - other than the white now running through his fringe. Now that he thought about it, they way that he talks is similar to Rob as well.

So much for Detective.

Though, he supposes if he thought Robbie was going to come back from the dead, he would of thought he was crazy.

“But how?”

Hood turned up his chin, keeping quiet. So he wasn’t going to say anything. He looked at Red and saw that he was working his jaw.

Dick waited him out, arms folded.

Red signed and kicked out his leg. He began pacing, fists clenching and unclenching. He marched over to Hood and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, applying pressure that made Hood stumble a bit.

“This little guy right here, went and died a couple years ago, as you know. But a few months ago he turned up with guns, putting holes in people.” Red smirked at him. “Can’t tell you all the gritty details - we like our little secrets, but you understand that something woo woo must of happened.”

Suddenly Hood had Red’s wrist twisting at an unnatural angle. Red dropped to his knees, crying out as Hood twisted it more. “Shut up.” Hood growled.

Dick felt a shiver go down his spine at the threat in Hood’s voice.

Quickly pulling his gun, Dick aimed it at Hood.

Cocking his gun got Hood’s attention.

As though breaking out of a trance Hood shook his head and let go of the wrist, he backed up hands raised in surrender. Dick lowered his gun and breathed in a silent breath of relief.

“Sorry -” Hood said, it sounded strained, “I didn’t mean-”

Red got up from the floor and glared at Hood, Dick was scared Red was going to retaliate but to his surprise Red stayed where he was.

“Calm down Hood.” Red said, his voice level and deep.

Hood’s hand went to his hair and pulled, Dick worried that he might actually pull it out. His face was twisted in fury and pain.

Dick went to take a step forward but Red’s hand shot out and stopped him, Dick looked at him, confused as to why he was being stopped. Red wasn’t looking at him though, his eyes were trained on Hood.

“What’s happening?” Dick asked, making sure to whisper.

“Shush,” Red said and louder he called out to Hood. “You gotta calm down.”

“Nononono.”

“You gotta stay calm Replacement, you know that.”

Dick pushed past Red’s arm, this kid needed help and he wasn’t going to just stand there when he obviously needed someone.

Before he got within arms reach Hood’s head snapped to him. He let go of his hair he put his hands out in front of him, trying to keep Dick away from him. Hood worried his lip, slowly shuffling backwards.

“Sta- Stay away!” Hood’s voice trembled over his words. “D-don’t come any closer.”

“I just want to help.” Dick took another step closer.

“No!” Hood shouted, he was panicking and reached for his gun, his hands were trembling as he tried to pull it out the holster.

Before he could lift it, Red flung a bird-a-rang knocking it out of Hood’s hand and it clattered to the floor.

Dick watched as Hood just stared at the gun. As though he couldn’t comprehend how it got there, and that tugged at Dick’s heart strings.

Hood was whispering something to himself, Dick noticed that it was the same word over and over again. ‘Wrong’.

“Go home Hood.” Red said, Hood looked up at him and nodded slowly bending down to pick up his gun.

“No, leave that.” Hood stopped and frowned at him, his head tilted. “Don’t want you wondering like you are right now with that.”

Standing back up Hood looked between both Red and Dick.

Dick felt like Hood lingered on him a little longer.

“You’re just gonna let him go like that?” Dick says watching as Hood got out his grapple.

Red Robin gave a tight nod. “There’s nothing we can do when he gets like this, it’s better to leave him be, to work it out, he prefers it that way. Doesn’t like people to see him like this.”

Dick flinched at the sound of the grapple being fired and watched Hood scale the building.

“What was that?”

Red frowned, “Let’s call it madness. When he came back, he wasn’t the same. Little things set him off, sometimes he gets really sad but most of the time he gets really mad, angry. He likes to be alone when they happen, so we don’t really know much about them.” Red looked at Dick, “But what just happened here, that’s new, i’ve never seen him so out of it.”

“If you knew he was on a hair trigger why did you grab him like he was a misbehaving puppy?” “It was an instant reaction, when he was Robin I would do it to calm him sometimes when he was upset,” Red clenched his fists. “I’ll have to make sure I don’t do it again.”

Red started to rotate his wrist and winced and Dick frowned slightly. That was the wrist that Hood twisted.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good, ego’s a just little bruised though.” Red said, through a half smile on his face.

“It’ll be our little secret Red, that you got your ass handed to you by a guy just over half your size.” Dick grinned at the groan Red made.

“You’re being mean.” And Dick honestly couldn’t believe the pout he saw on Red’s face.

Suddenly lights were flashing at the end of the alley distracting Dick for a moment. The cavalry had arrived to pick up the purp who was still unconscious.

Dick looked back to say by to Red Robin, but he was already gone.

Dick grinned and shook his head, Vigilantes.

__________

Dick got out of his car outside his apartment block, making sure to lock it was he turned towards the doors.

But a figure sitting next to it made him pause.

It was too dark to see any details about the person sitting there, so Dick made his way over. It was getting cold this time of night and Dick didn’t want them sleeping outside. Dick just wanted to make sure that they were ok.

It could just be one of the kid’s from his block had been locked out and Dick knew pretty much everyone that lived there, so that would be quick to work out once he got a good look at him.

Making sure to approach them calmly Dick called out, “Hey.”

As soon as the person lifted their head to look at him, Dick knew who it was. He would know those eyes anywhere.

Tim.

Tim was here.

Tim seem to stumble as he stood and for a second Dick was worried that the younger man was drunk.

Dick rushed over to him and was instantly relieved that the smell of alcohol was absent. Dick took a moment to take in Tim’s attire, he looked as though he’d rushed here, all his clothes asque and Dick was pretty sure his shirt was on inside out.

“Hey Dick.”

Tim’s voice sounded hoarse like he’d screamed for hours. Dick worried his lip before replying, “Hey Timmy, you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just wanted to see you.” Tim said, the smile Tim tried to make looked more like a grimace.

Dick pulled him towards the door, “Let’s get into my apartment, you’re so cold. How long have you been sitting out here?”

Tim scrunched his forehead. “What time is it now?”

Dick looked at his watch as they made their way past the security desk on the way to the elevator. “It’s three thirty.”

Tim blinks up at him as they enter the elevator and Dick presses the button. “About forty minutes I think.”

Dick felt some relief that Tim hadn’t been sitting outside for hours.

Now that they were in the light Dick could see that Tim was slightly shivering, rubbing his arms up and down. He pulled the younger man to his side, trying to give him some of his warmth.

There were bags under Tim’s eyes, more pronounced than they had been earlier in the day.

Tim was tugging at his heart strings and his need to look after him won out over his need to be away from him.

Getting out of the elevator they both walked to Dick’s door and as he was getting out his keys he heard Tim mumble something.

“Sorry, what was that?” Dick said, opening the door, he ushered the exhausting man in.

“I said, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

Tim nodded and walked down the hall when Dick pointed to the living room.

Dick was on his heels, “Why are you sorry?”

Tim was holding himself. Avoiding all eye contact with him. Dick took a step towards him and Tim backed up, his thighs hitting the back of the sofa.

“Well, I turned up without giving you any warning for one.” He bit his lip in a painful manor that had Dick wincing. “And I’m pretty sure I did something earlier that made you flee the cafe, so I’m kinda imposing on you right?”

Tim thought it was his fault. Dick growled in frustration and Tim flinched away. Fuck this is what he thought had happened and though Dick knew it was likely it still made him frustrated. This was making things worse. If Tim thought that Dick was in the wrong that would be ok, but now Dick had to try and convince Tim that it wasn’t his.

Which would be difficult without letting Tim know what he’d been thinking earlier.

“Timmy you aren’t imposing, if I didn’t want you want you up here I would of just told you to go home.” Tim is blinking at him as though he didn’t even think that was an option.

Dick walked to the kitchen to put his stuff on the counter and watched as Tim walked around the sofa and sat down. Dick grabbed a blanket from the back of a chair and brought it to Tim, holding it out for him to take, as soon as he did he walked back into the kitchen setting up some coffee.

“You hungry?” He asks and gets a little nod from Tim.

Dick hasn’t done shopping for a few days, so he was going to have to order in. There weren’t that many places open at this time, but this was Gotham and somewhere was always open.

Digging around in his draws he pulled out a couple of viable restaurant menus.

He took them over to Tim and dropped them in his lap, Tim looked up at him confused.

“I need you to order while I go get changed. Pick what restaurant you want, all my favourites are circled so just pick me something I don’t mind and I’ll pay for it when I go down to collect it.” Dick said.

Dick was just doing up his pants when he heard a little cough from the doorway. Tim was standing there, his face slightly flushed red and looking at the floor.

“I ordered the food, said they’d be here in an hour.”

“Nice, thanks Timmy.” Dick grabbed a shirt and pulled it on. As he got it over his head he caught Tim staring at his chest. Dick grinned and flexed his pecks.

Tim’s face goes becomes more red and he lets out a surprised squeak before leaving the room in a hurry.

Dick laughs and pulls his top all the way down and leaves his bedroom. Tim is sitting back on the sofa, knees pulled to his chest and wrapped in the blanket.

He looked so cute wrapped up in that blue blanket. Dick went and grabbed two cups and poured some coffee adding some sugar and creamer to his.

He walked over to the other side of the sofa and sat down next to Tim handing him his drink.

Tim took his cup and brought it to his nose and deeply inhales the scent and letting out a pleased sigh. Dick watched with a warmness building his gut. It was good to see him so relaxed around him, enjoying himself.

Dick wanted to know something though. “Why are you here?” Tim gave him a weary look and Dick quickly carried on, “Not that I don’t want you here Timmy, I do, but it’s late and you probably shouldn’t be walking around Gotham this time of night, being who you are and all…”

Tim scoffed, “No one knows who I am, all they know is Timothy Drake who wears suits and goes to meetings.They don’t know Tim.”

The scowl on Tim’s face causes wrinkles in his brow. “It’s still dangerous out there Timmy, for someone as pretty as you.”

“You think I’m pretty?” Tim’s eyes are wide as he looks straight at Dick. Open and honest. Dick wants to take his words back, so that Tim doesn’t end up reading too much into it.

But he can’t do that to this man sitting in front of him, so Dick plays it off, “Yeah, course you are Timmy, everybody whos met you thinks you’re pretty.”

Tim hums and takes a sip of his coffee making more pleased noises, and Dick has to carefully adjust himself in his pants.

“Thanks,” Tim says and Dick raises a brow in question, “For telling me I’m pretty.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Before the conversation could go on the buzzer is rung announcing the food. Dick gets up to answer, tells them hell come down and collect it now.

“Be back in a sec!” He shouts to Tim on his way out the door.

Dick is back about 5 minutes later, carrying a bag of food. He puts it on the coffee table in front of Tim. “I’ll get us some plates.”

Tim takes the food out of the bag and lays it out on the table, taking the lids off the containers, Dicks mouth starts to water at the smell of chinese food.

Dick comes back and sits down, “Thanks, here's a plate.” Dick says passing him one.

Tim quickly points out which ones are for Dick and which are his and Dick nods, reaching for his rice.

“So I noticed that you deflected my question earlier Timmy,” Tim tries to look innocent as he shovels noodles into his mouth. “None of that,” Dick says and watches Tim puff his cheeks a little, “Why are you here?”

“Can’t I just stop by for no reason?”

“Not with how I left things earlier and you ignoring my calls, obviously you didn’t wanna talk and now here you are in my apartment,” Now that Dick thinks about it, how did Tim know where he lives? “How did you know where I live?”

Tim mulls over his answers, slowly chewing his food. “Barbara let me know where you live.” Dick nodded, that made sense, Dick knew Barbara through work since her dad was the commissioner and Tim knew her from the library when he used to go there to do his homework. “As to why I’m here… I just had a rough day and it made me want to see you, just looking at your face makes me feel better Dick.”

“Bad day? What happened?” Dick asked, taking a bite of his orange chicken.

Tim looked to the ceiling as though in silent prayer. “Some idiots at work thinking that just because I’m younger I don’t know anything about my own freaking company! Without me they wouldn’t even have jobs! I shouldn’t have to fight for my voice to be heard by the board in my own company!” Tim said, heaving in angry breaths. “And Bruce is insistent that I move back in with him, thought it seems more to do with keeping an eye on me than wanting me around. Oh! And his son! Jason! That bastard has always made it his mission to make my life a misery and suddenly he wants to get along! Not fucking likely.”

Tim’s out bust has Dick almost choking on his food. He thought Tim liked living with the Waynes. He thinks about a little Tim sitting in that huge manor thinking he’s all alone with no one to talk to and Dick feels like a terrible person. He never noticed there was anything wrong.

“Is it really that bad? Jason wants to be friends now, right?” Dick tries.

He angrily shoves more food in his mouth, “Well, how would you feel if you’re childhood bully, who lives with you, suddenly out of nowhere wanted to be friends with you?” Tim glares at his fork as though it holds answers. “He has hurt me more than anyone else I’ve ever known! When I was young, I looked up to Jason, wanted nothing more than for him to just notice me and guess what? He noticed me, when I moved into the Manor he let me know just how much I wasn’t wanted.”

“Oh.” Dick says, his fork halfway to his mouth.

“And now that I’m back he wants to know my whereabouts at all times. It’s suffocating and strange.” Tim said, eyeing Dick. “No one ever really cared what I was up to before I left.  My parents didn’t care, they were always away, Bruce cared in so much that I was his ward and responsibility and Jason hated my existence.”

“There must of been someone right? Who cared? You always seemed happy when we hung out.” Dick felt like throwing up. How could he of missed this?

Tim gave him a little smile. “That’s because you were the person that cared. You genuinely wanted to know more about me and be around me. Also Alfred, he was the only reason it was bearable living in the Manor.”

Dick could feel his eyes start to water, oh god, Dick should of done more, paid more attention to his brilliant kid. He didn’t hang out with Tim all that much. Not enough to warrant such devotion.

Dick leaned over and pulled the food from Tim’s hands and he made a small sound protest. After putting the food down on the table Dick grabbed Tim’s arm and pulled him into a tight hug.

“What’re you doing Dick?” Tim said, his voice muffled by Dick’s chest.

“Hugging you, for all the missed time while you were away.” Dick brushed a hand though Tim’s thick, silky back locks. “I’m sorry you’ve been through so much Timmy. I would of helped if you’d let me know.”

Tim relaxed into his hold, “I didn’t tell you because you were my safe haven, I didn’t want to ruin that by bringing up all the bad. I just wanted to have a few hours now and then and forget about all that.”

Dick lifted Tim’s head, locking eyes with him. “I’m sorry I didn’t do more.” Dick whispered.

Tim looked at him for a long moment, his eyes were quickly flickering around his face. This gaze landed on his lips. Dick swallowed and licked his lips and watched as Tim’s eyes followed the movement tongue.

“Tell me to stop.”

“Stop?”

“Yeah,” Tim said, his voice breathy. “Stop me if you don’t want this.” Tim leaned up and lightly kissed him.

Dick froze, unable to think about anything other than the feeling of Tim’s soft plump lips against his. Tim’s eyes were closed and Dick could feel Tim’s heart beat against his chest. Tim was pulling away and Dick snapped into action, pulling Tim to him, pressing his lips to his.

Dick lightly licked Tim’s bottom lip, asking for entrance which he allowed, Tim opened and Dick licked into his mouth, tasting him.

God he tasted good, Dick shuffled closer to him and bit Tim’s lip making him moan out.

Suddenly Dick was all too aware of what was going on. He pushed Tim away with more force than he meant to and he fell off the sofa and hit his head of the edge of the coffee table. Tim rolled to his side and groaned, holding his head.

Dick rushed and knelt down next to him, “I’m so sorry Tim. I didn’t mean to hurt you! Oh god are you ok?”

Tim slapped his hands away, and slowly sat up, groaning. “It’s ok Dick, just leave it.” Tim gently lifted himself from the floor and sat back on the sofa. “You could of just told me to stop.” He glared up at him.

Dick floundered, he didn’t know what to say, he reached forward and Tim leaned back.

“Leave it Dick.”

“But -”

Tim sighed cutting him off, he started to get up and Dick waited anxiously incase Tim fell, tense and ready to catch him.

“I’m gonna get going before this gets weirder.” Tim says, “It was good seeing you, I’ll call sometime to hang out again. Just forget this ever happened alright Dick?”

“No I-” Dick couldn’t think of anything to say.

Tim turned and made his way to the door, Dick rushed after him, “But how are you going to get back?”

“I’ll get a taxi, I’ll be fine Dick, I’ll message you when I’m home.”

“You can stay here the night, take my bed, I’ll sleep out here.”

“I can’t do that, I’m going home.”

“At least let me drive you home?”

Tim leveled a glare at him from over his shoulder, his hand on the handle. “I’ll be fine, honestly. It really was good to see you again Dick. Let’s do this some other time alright?”

Dick nodded his head yes, as Tim walked out the door, he grabbed it quickly and watched as Tim walked down the hall, absently rubbing his head.

Fuck.

He’d fucked up again!

“I’ll call you!” Dick shouted, Tim gave him a two finger salute and grin as the elevator door shut between them.

Dick nearly slammed his door shut, stopping at the last second he didn’t wanna make anymore noise that would annoy his neighbours.

He slid down the door and put his head in his hands, scrunching his eyes shut and willing himself not to cry.

Sorry for any weird sentences and grammatical errors, I wanted to get this out before I move since It might of taken a while to get too so I didn't get around to prof reading it!

[jetrafied]

It happened so fast. One moment her sister was pointing a gun at her, the next they were both in the water. She barely registered the gunshot and when she saw blood in the water, dimly lit by the moon and lights on the pier, her first thought was she had been shot. She felt no pain, but maybe she was in shock.

Simultaneously checking her body and trying to swim against the current, she found no wounds. It must have been Anezka, who was nowhere to be seen.

Petra wasn't the best swimmer, despite living in Miami for a decade. She never had time to actually go swimming. But instincts kept her head above water as she tried to figure out what to do next. She considered trying to find Anezka, but even if she really wanted to, she couldn't see anything and decided it was a lost cause.

She was now too far away from the pier and was starting to panic. Do sharks come this close to land? How cold does the water get at night? How cold does it have to be before hypothermia sets in? She started to think of the girls, how she had spend so much time and effort in making sure they had a good, loving home, making sure she wasn't like her mother. She still struggled, but she knew the girls loved her and that's what mattered.

Then she thought about Rafael, who probably still loved Jane, despite what he said. Even if he didn't like Jane the way he said he did, Petra could tell Jane felt something for him, and even though she wouldn't act on it if Petra and Rafael were together, it was always going to be there. It was always going to hang over all of them.

Did she, Petra, truly love Rafael? She always, and will always, felt affection for him. He was a decent guy, he was the father of her daughters, he understood her in ways most people didn't. But it felt exactly the same way as when their relationship first started, the optimism, the comfort. It's how all of Petra's relationships started, and they always blew up in her face. For Rafael... at least they connected, but was that enough? Was it ever enough? For Petra, anyway, she never felt fully satisfied, like there was something missing.

But Petra would rather be with Rafael than be alone. Anything was better than being alone.

She thought about Jane, who had the love her life until he was ripped away from Jane. Petra never told Jane this, but Petra cried when she found out about Michael's death. They weren't incredibly close, but he did save Petra once, and Petra never forgot that. But she cried for Jane, who didn't deserve that. Why she never told Jane, she didn't know. Probably because she didn't like admitting weakness to anyone, not even Jane, who often saw through Petra's toughness.

As for Jane and Rafael, Petra couldn't ignore the jealous feeling she felt whenever she saw them together. And she hated feeling like that because it just made her annoyed with both of them, the only two people who understood her. Obviously her annoyance was more directed at Jane, since Petra was feeling jealous of her, because she wanted to be with Rafael. That had to be it.

Or was it? What else could it be?

Petra's train of though went off when she looked around and realized she didn't know where she was. The current was still pulling her and seemed to be getting stronger (or she was starting to get tired). She had been swimming for a while now and she didn't know how late it was. She was glad she lived in Florida, where the water temperature didn't get too cold, but it was still cold enough. A strong shiver went through her body.

She started to swim parallel to the shore, whatever shore it was and tried to find a spot away from the current.

How did she getting herself into these things? Bad luck seemed to just follow her. Sure, a lot of the things that happened to her were self-inflicted, but not everything. She was in this mess because she thought Rafael wanted to talk to her. Going back even further it was because she trusted her sister four years ago. Yeah, her sister hated her because Petra inadvertently caused the death of Anezka's husband, as well as pushed his dead body. Not great. But, Petra still didn't think she deserved almost getting shot and on the verge of drowning.

Petra imagined herself as a bloated corpse and decided that was not going to happen. She had too much to live for and as soon as she got back to land, she was going to have a serious talk with Rafael.

She could already see the tinge of light on the horizon. It was already pretty late when she left the party, but she didn't realize it was that late. Her body was aching and tired and she had dipped underwater a couple times, but through sheer will, she kept swimming.

Petra paused for a moment, taking a short break and closed her eyes.

“Ahoy!” Someone shouted off ahead of her.

Petra opened her eyes and saw a boat bobbing not too far off. Fishermen. It took her a second to register what that meant.

“Hello!” Petra, getting a burst of energy, swam faster than before. She grabbed onto the edge of the boat.

“Awful early for a swim, ain't it? Pretty far too,” one of the two men in the boat said.

“It's a long story. Can you take me to shore?”

“Of course. Climb on in,” the other man said.

Petra climbed in from the back and collapsed into one the seats, panting. The cool, morning air caused Petra to shiver violently. One of the men handed her a blanket.

“It's not much, but it'll help until we get to shore.”

Petra took it gratefully and wrapped herself in it. Relieved and semi-warm, and exhausted from swimming all night, she couldn't keep her eyes open and dozed until they got to the beach. One of the men must have called an ambulance while on the boat because there were EMTs (and police) waiting for them.

Petra was quickly checked out, given water, and wrapped in a space blanket, while the police questioned her. She understood why they would have questioned her, she was so tired and her head hurt. She didn't want to do this now. She told them what her sister did, about the blood, and that she didn't know where her sister (or her body) went.

When they asked who they should call, she almost said Rafael, before remembering his phone was gone.

“Jane Villanueva.” She saw the recognition on their faces, likely because of Michael.

Ten minutes later, Petra was wrapped up in a hug from Rafael first, then Jane. While Rafael held her tightly, Jane broke the hug and inspected Petra, tenderly brushing the hair from Petra's face.

While Petra was surprised Jane was being so nice to her after Petra was being so untrusting of her, she felt relief, a fluttering in her chest.

That didn't last long as they rode in the car. There was definite tension between them. Jane clearly didn't know what to say to her, while Rafael awkwardly sat in the backseat. And Petra found that irritation with both of them coming back up, which Petra hated because she had no reason to be angry with both of them. Jane especially. Jane was just being herself, and Petra couldn't fault her for that.

But like always, Petra snapped at Jane, because it was her first instinct.

“You're telling me you're 100% over Rafael?”

It was a horrible question, especially with Rafael sitting right behind them, and Petra could see the panic on Jane's face before she said, “100% is a lot.”

Jane glanced at Rafael before back to Petra, then turning her gaze forward.

They didn't say anything more for the majority of the ride. Shortly before they got to the hotel, Jane brought up that maybe Petra should come back to her house with them. Them. Rafael was living with the Villanueva's since Luisa kicked him out. Petra's stomach turned at the thought, of Jane and Rafael being in the same, tiny house together.

“I don't know how Luisa will feel about you being there,” Rafael said.

“I don't give a shit what she thinks,” Petra snapped. She was too tired to deal with this.

“You might if she tries to kick you out too.”

“I revitalized that hotel. I brought it back to life.”

“I'm not arguing with you, but Luisa is angry and she wants revenge. In her eyes, you're as bad as me.”

Petra understood why Luisa was angry, she had a lot of right to be angry. But Petra wished Luisa could have done this another day, not when she was physically and mentally exhausted.

“Jane, I appreciate the offer.” She really did. The idea of relaxing at Jane's sounded very appealing. “But I'm going to deal with this.”

Petra was fully prepared to deal with Luisa. She knew how to deal with her. What she wasn't prepared for was Luisa thinking she was Anezka. Turns out the whole thing was Luisa's idea, that Anezka was going to put Petra into a storage locker (alive, because Luisa wasn't a killer) and Anezka was going to pretend to be Petra. Which was the dumbest thing she's ever heard, the main reason being after Anezka tried that the first time, Petra had “Not Petra” carved into Anezka's forehead.

But Petra turned up her face in that goofy way her sister smiled and did the accent. Luisa bought it.

Until Anezka showed up, bandaged up like she had gone to a hospital in a cartoon show, and Petra's plan of buying off Luisa had failed.

Of course. Everytime she tried to turn the tables on someone, it backfired and came back and bit. After thirty-some years of fighting, sometimes it felt like she wasn't getting anywhere. One step forward and two steps back.

So when Rafael came to her and said it was her that he wanted to be with, she smiled and kissed him. She ignored that little voice in the back of her head, telling her that it was a bad idea, that it was going to blow up in her face somehow, that, deep down, this wasn't what she wanted. But like always, she ignored it. She ignored it when she cheated on Rafael, or when she stole his sperm and inseminated herself, or anytime she was mean to Jane.

Rafael was one of the few good things in her life and even if she wasn't 100% sure about this, like Jane said, 100% is a lot. She could deal with the actual percentage, for now. Because the thought of going through this alone was terrifying and Rafael was the closest thing in her life, other than her girls, that could bring her her happy ending.

Read here on AO3

[jacewilliams1]

“No complaints” – how I stumbled into a thunderstorm

In early May of 2006, I flew down to Alfonsina’s Hotel at Bahia San Luis Gonzaga in Northern Baja along with two friends, Marty and Jim. The occasion was Marty’s Bachelor party. No Vegas, no strippers, just a low-key long weekend trip to Alfonsina’s for some fishing, a few cold Pacifico’s, and some shrimp tacos. The flight down from the Bay Area in my sturdy little 1965 Cherokee 180C was relaxing, with a nice 15-20 knot tailwind, clear skies, and great visibility all the way down. The fishing was fantastic, the beer was cold, and the shrimp tacos were the best! Our weekend was exactly what we had planned.

Mission accomplished in Mexico. Now time to fly home.

Mission accomplished, we departed Alfonsina’s into a beautiful, windless Baja morning and arrived at Calexico (KCXL), our airport of entry a couple of hours later. After clearing US Customs and fueling up, I obtained a weather briefing for our hop home to KOAK. Our planned route took us to the west from Calexico, and around the R-2510, up the Borrego Valley, over Hemet and Riverside, through the Cajon Pass and across the High Desert past Palmdale, and over the Tehachapi Mountains. Then a straight shot up the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, over Panoche VOR (PXN) and up V301 and straight into Oakland’s Runway 28R.

As we got further into the briefing, the weather situation near the Bay Area started sounding less and less like a happy story. Conditions in Southern and Central California were just fine, and we actually had a bit of a tailwind to push us along very nicely.

Once we got within about a hundred miles of Oakland, however, conditions were forecast to deteriorate as a late season cold front pushed its way through Northern California and the Bay Area to the southeast. As our Pacific storms go, this one was not forecast to be anything special. There were no Convective SIGMETs, just the ubiquitous AIRMETs for Turbulence and Mountain Obscuration (pretty much a daily occurrence in the Bay Area), the winds aloft forecast was generally from the South at 20-25 knots, well within my personal minimums of 35 knots.

The forecast was for ceilings from 3000 ft to 5000 ft, tops at around 12,000 ft, with scattered light rain showers, freezing level was about 9,000 ft, with good visibility below the clouds. All the airports along my route, from Paso Robles up into the Bay Area were landing south or southeast, so the surface flow was consistent with the flow aloft.

When I queried the briefer as to the intensity of the areas of precipitation within the frontal band, his reply was that the Doppler radar site atop Mt. Umunhum in the Santa Cruz Mountains, about 10 miles south of San Jose International was down for maintenance. No radar data available. The surrounding sites were showing generally light precipitation, with a few isolated areas of moderate precip.

PIREPs are a significant consideration in any weather briefing, especially in the absence of any supporting hard weather data. Without local Doppler radar data, my next question was about any PIREPs in the Bay Area and along the final hour of our route. The briefer’s reply was negative. Nothing, nada, zilch.

The unique terrain of California adds another layer to the weather planning process.

So, my analysis was this… With the tailwind, our flight would be relatively short, 3 hours rather than 3:45. Flight conditions up until the last 45 minutes or so would be very good, with clear skies, unlimited visibility, and a tailwind to boot. Somewhere around Panoche VOR, the clouds associated with the front would begin, and we could make a determination on how to proceed into KOAK as we got closer to the Bay Area and an in-flight weather briefing. The timing would work out such that we would be arriving at KOAK about 30 minutes after the projected time of frontal passage. The forecast for our arrival was for wind from the west at 12-15 knots, scattered clouds at 3000 ft, and isolated rain showers. It sounded like a relatively benign blow-through to me.

We had a plan in place, we had plenty of options along the way, and we had a nice tailwind going home. Full of fuel and a fantastic breakfast at Rosa’s restaurant on the field at KCXL, we launched.

The first two hours of the flight home were exactly as advertised. We slid along at 8500 ft over Southern California, out north and east of LA without so much as a bump. We passed out to the west of Bakersfield, and roughly paralleled I-5 up the San Joaquin Valley. As predicted, we could see the clouds out ahead of the frontal band as we neared PXN. I went off NorCal frequency and contacted Oakland Radio for updated weather along the rest of our route and into KOAK. The briefer told me that the forecast weather was still valid. The front had just passed Oakland, and the conditions there were as forecast as well.

My immediate concern was the conditions along V301, over the Diablo Range between San Luis Reservoir and SUNOL intersection, to the south and east of Livermore on the arrival into Oakland. Again, I asked if the Doppler radar had come back up. “Negative,” was his reply. The surrounding sites were still showing just light precip. “Any ride reports on V301 at our altitude over the mountains?” I asked. “No complaints,” he told me.

When I came back on NorCal frequency, I asked for a pop-up IFR Clearance into KOAK for the ILS. I was cleared Present Position, V301, SUNOL, direct, maintain 8000, and expect the ILS28R. Pretty routine stuff. I figured it would be a good opportunity to get some actual IMC time and an ILS approach to 28R. Again, I asked NorCal if there were any ride reports over the mountains. “No complaints,” replied the controller.

We went into the clouds about over PXN VOR. No big deal. We were just bumping along V301, in and out of the clouds at first, then solid IMC. In the clouds it was just light chop, and my little Piper pretty much just flew herself, even without an autopilot. For about 15 minutes it went along like that, until we were near KARNN intersection.

Then the world suddenly went mad.

When the radar site is down, it can feel like you’re flying blind.

The airplane started shaking and vibrating so violently that the instrument panel was a blur. My first thought was that we had lost part of a prop and the imbalance was causing the plane to shake itself apart. I pretty quickly discarded that thought, and realized we had just penetrated an imbedded thunderstorm. So this was what the inside of a thunderstorm felt like. I didn’t like it.

With the Diablo Range mountains below me ranging anywhere from 2500 to 4000 feet, I knew safety lay to my north, over the Central Valley. I can’t honestly say I remember declaring an emergency or telling NorCal what my intentions were. I was pretty busy just trying to keep the airplane under control. I must have declared an emergency though, because I heard NorCal Approach tell me that I was cleared to descend to 6000 feet and turn right heading 360.

I remember reducing power so that we were just below Va, or at least averaging somewhere in that neighborhood. It was also extremely difficult to maintain anything resembling a stabilized descent since my vertical speed was oscillating wildly between +1000 and -1000 ft./min., oftentimes within a few seconds. Trying to maintain a heading within 30 degrees was next to impossible with the wild rolls that the turbulence was causing my little airplane to make.

It was purely survival mode. We were in a solid gray hell, and the Devil was having his way with us. Whenever I would manage to lose some altitude, we would get knocked back up 500 ft. by a tremendous updraft. Every time I would get the heading stabilized somewhere near 360, we would be swatted violently to the left or right and I would have to fight my way back to that heading.

After what seemed like an hour (it was probably no more than several minutes), we reached 6000 feet, but no joy. We were still in solid IMC, and we were still getting battered about mercilessly. I told NorCal that we were still in trouble, and needed to descend to 4000 feet. I was cleared down to 4000 feet, and they gave me a right turn to heading 040 to get me over lower terrain quicker. NorCal told me that the old abandoned NAS Crows Landing airstrip was 12 o’clock and about six miles.

As I descended out of 6000 feet, the turbulence seemed to gradually decrease, and I was able to maintain control quite a bit better. We would still get rocked periodically, but in general the turbulence was decreasing in severity as I descended.

Finally, at about 5000 feet, we came out of the bottom of a very solid black cloud base with Crows Landing directly ahead of us, bathed in brilliant sunlight. I asked my passengers if they were OK, and took stock of the airplane. We seemed to have both wings still attached, the engine was running smoothly, and we were in the clear. I was so relieved to be out of that thunderstorm, I completely forgot to inform NorCal that we were OK. There was complete silence on frequency. It seemed like everyone on frequency was holding their breath. The controller finally came on and asked if we were all right. I told him we appeared to be in one piece, and that we would cancel IFR, and proceed to Oakland VFR.

All at once, everyone on frequency was asking for deviations. Airliners on the EMZOH Arrival to Oakland that were descending out of the flight levels in this area needed to deviate around a massive thunderstorm that had billowed up to their altitude in a matter of minutes. We proceeded northbound until we were several miles north of Interstate 5, then turned back to the northwest toward Oakland. It was at that point we got our first look at the monster that we had just flown out of. It was huge. It was dark, and it was dropping lightning and massive precipitation. I couldn’t believe we had been inside that thing and lived.

Up high, it’s easy to see those storms. But what about when you’re in the soup?

The rest of the flight home was a big non-event. We had a little turbulence and a few scattered showers as we made our way up the Central Valley, over the Altamont pass, past Livermore, and on into KOAK.

After we landed, I did a thorough post-flight inspection of the airplane to see if anything had been damaged in flight. I could not find one single wrinkle. Quite the testament to the Piper engineers and designers.

When I got home, I got on the phone to FSS to ask the big question… What the hell had just happened? I actually got a very talented briefer on the line who was able to do a little detective work on conditions in the area at the time. It turns out that just prior to the time we were in distress, Monterey, Watsonville, and Salinas all experienced an increase in surface wind velocity, along with an increase in temperature and dewpoint just before the front passed over the area.

A pulse of warm moist air came ashore from over Monterey Bay, accelerated through Hecker Pass, a low gap in the Santa Cruz Mountains separating the Monterey Bay Coastal Plain from the southern Santa Clara Valley. That pulse of moisture-laden air smacked up against the Diablo Range mountains on the southwestern side with a lot of energy. So we had a warm, moist air mass moving at high velocity, unstable cold air aloft from the passage of the cold front, and a lifting mechanism. Sounded like a recipe for a thunderstorm to me.

Since that flight, I’ve become a lot cagier about situations like this. I will no longer accept a clearance over the Diablo Range with any kind of weather, opting instead to stay over the Central Valley at a lower altitude until we reach the Altamont Pass area, where the hills are much lower, before we turn towards Oakland for the approach.

I use this incident in my IFR Instruction as well. I assign my instrument students cross-country flights that could potentially take us over this area at times of questionable weather, then discuss strategies to avoid such a situation by planning a route that circumvents the area. Once bitten, twice shy.

Nowadays, whenever I ask for a ride report, and the controller says “No complaints,” I just kind of smirk, and say to myself, “Yeah, right…”

The post “No complaints” – how I stumbled into a thunderstorm appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/01/no-complaints-how-i-stumbled-into-a-thunderstorm/