#Mutual: JJ / Mike | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

elecman108 · 9 months ago

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"They do get a bit... quirky, but there's so many of them that, in all honesty, if you get sick of one there's bound to be another that will piss you off even more." -Vincent, probably, to some new hire

Fuck! I finished the Fazbear Crew and almost forgot Manora Mouse from Popgoes! There's a few from Popgoes that I skipped over (Cody Coyote, Lillie Lamb, Holly Robin, Morse Mole, Owen Owl), some mainline characters I skipped (Jeremy Fitzgerald, Fritz Smith, William Afton, the Mimic, Map Bot/Staff Bots, Music Man, there's probably more I'm forgetting), and some that I do have that are missing for specific reasons (eg. Lefty missing bc Marionette is here, Fredbear missing bc Goldie is here, Spring Bonnie missing because Springtrap/Vanny is here*), and some other Fangame characters I probably would want to add, but this is already like, seventy characters. I'm taking a break from them lol.

You're insane for clicking the readmore by the way. All characters, in order of left to right, by colour set:

PINK: Helpy, Cindy, Pigpatch, Pete, Mangle, Bonnet, Cupcake, Chica, Cyan, Katlynn, Minirena, Bidybab, Electrobab.

RED: XOR, Bane, Roxanne Wolf, Foxy, Ned Bear, Stone, Ray, Eclipse, Circus Baby, Ennard, Cassie Stevens, Ella, Marionette.

ORANGE: Sun, Penguin, Gregory Fazbear, Freddy Fazbear, Bloodmoon**, Jackal**, Grimm**, Jackie**, Orville, Manora, Fen, El Chip, Wendy.

YELLOW: Deedee, Doug, Blake, Princess**, Springtrap, Goldie Fredbear, Blank, Plushtrap.

GREEN: Popgoes, Happy Frog, Lolbit, Virtua**, Dreadbear, Chester, JJ, Montgomery Gator, Glitch.

BLUE: Mike Schmidt**, Reiyn, Vanessa, Ballora, Carnie, Bonbon, Lolzhax, DJ Music Man, Candy, Sara, Moon, Balloon Boy, Bonnie, Stanley, Liz Schmidt**, Discord, Vanny, Monika.

PURPLE: RXQ**, Rachel, Saffron, Mystie, Mr. Hippo, MXES, Shadow**, Vincent.

*Vanny AND Springtrap are both technically "Spring Bonnie", as Springtrap is the original Spring Bonnie and Vanny took over the appearance as the "original" Spring Bonnie given Springtrap had transitioned decades ago.

**Everyone with this has an alternate name, so in order: Jack-O-Moon, Jack-O-Bonnie, Grimm Foxy, Jack-O-Chica, Nightmare Cupcake, Delilah Afton, Michael Afton, Elizabeth Afton, Alex/RWQFSFASXC, Steven.

And, for anyone wondering about the relationships across the board with so many random Bisexuals...?

(Shit Pic Quality is my passion <3)

Mystie divorced Mr. Hippo forever ago and she's well over it because she has so many kids (the adult Animatronics like Cupcake, Foxy, Monty, etc) and grandkids (the kid-like Animatronics like Minirena, Bonbon, etc) to take care of. Mr. Hippo is still sad about it and keeps trying but it ain't working.

Katlynn and Wendy are my favourite girls, yes they're OCs, but they're in my AU so they go here. <3

Shadow and RXQ are my two favourite dead spectral idiots who are kind of like sandpaper against everyone else but each other. They're the perfect flavour of weird for each other yet grate the nerves and invade the privacy of everyone else around them on purpose just to get a rise out of them.

Foxy and Goldie are like hell together - they're in love, then Foxy's over here flirting with every man at the bar and Goldie's in the arms of DJ Music Man and flirting with Sara for some reason. They are both entirely unfaithful to each other yet still keep the other in the loop of their actions and it's a disaster. They've been besties for so long and the mutual pining for sixty years is REAL.

Baby and Ballora met each other once and decided to be essentially married. They have been together since their location had it's opening night, and have three kids (Minirena, Electrobab, and Bidybab). They're essentially like Freddy and Bonnie, but well before Freddy and Bonnie even existed. They're the ultimate power couple.

Doug and Rachel both owned a business and are actually married. Rachel jokes that her coworkers (Ray, Bane, Pete) are kind of like her kids because she's always telling them off for antics, and Doug is just madly in love with his rabbit wife.

Vincent died once. Springtrap got a new lease on life. They're both exes of the disaster couple that is Foxy and Goldie. Springtrap tries to be smooth and Vincent ignores him, but the second Vincent is mildly romantic Springtrap overheats and faints and requires repairs. They are the true disaster duo.

Chica and Roxy are absolutely out to be gay do crime insult Moon and get away with it. Chica is the buff chef and Roxy is the shockingly good driver and enjoys cleaning. They probably have unofficially adopted Cassie too, don't get them wrong.

Balloon Boy is that one weird kid who hangs around his nerd Marionette and somehow they're perfect for each other. Marionette is the most normal of the Toy Series aside from Mangle, and Balloon Boy eats batteries. Need I say more?

Freddy adopted Gregory as his son. Bonnie adopted Bonbon and Bonnet when he learned that the rabbit kids' dad (Funtime Freddy) and his boyfriend (Funtime Foxy) were scrapped. You ever play Dream Daddy? A similar thing is going on here with these two dads.

There are some former relationships that I didn't include (Delilah and William, Mangle and Toy Chica, Lefty and Rockstar Foxy) because one side of the relationship is very destroyed. There's a lot of relationships where both sides are destroyed too. Also Delilah/Virtua totally divorced William's bitch ass before he murdered her and turned her into a robot in my AU.

And, because it's Pride Month and I probably don't have more art for you, here's a bonus D&D Crew Set!

I think there's an additional one since the last time I posted about my D&D PCs, but that'd be just Cyrus. I have another one I'm cooking up (maybe an aasimar of some sort) but I'm gonna think about it some more before posting about them.

#the disappointment speaks #drawings by me #ocs #I mean this could be an art dump depending on if you look at me yeeting my fullbody refs together as an Art Dump or not #I have like all my non-DND-FNAF fullbody refs to do #and one dnd ref to do once I decide how to make the character idea I have #and THEN I can put them all together and say ''look at all these bitches I've made'' lol #I have a plan for putting them all together too I may have posted about them but idr #hopefully my work calms down so I can keep working on my other stuff and personal projects more than one ref at a time right? lol #its pride month babey you know what that means? gay robots <3

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professionalidolizer · 6 days ago

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->☆ “but we’re a million worlds apart..I don’t know where I would.. even start..”

☆- “yeah, I know how this works! Obviously. No I don’t need help-?! Augh!”

☆- “ANYWAYS. Ahem- Hey. I’m Tre- local cop! Despite what..others say-..u-Uhm..yeah. Tre. He/him. Got it?”

☆- “interests? Oh- uh. Not many have asked..that before- OKAY! I do enjoy reading, writing, piano, musical theatre, a tiny bit of cooking? recently I’ve developed a new..hobby..Per say..- BUT THATS NOT IMPORTANT!”

☆- “and-! Oh. Crush? Ehehhh….uhm. Does the soda..c-count? More specifically orange..?”

☆- “HEY!! I’M THE ONE INVESTIGATING HERE!! STOP TRYING TO GET MY ATTENTION WITH APPROVAL AND SMALL-TALK!!”

->☆ DNI!!

☆- “since I like to keep my workspace organized and PROFESSIONAL…ahem- I do have some personal boundaries that I advise you not to cross.”

☆- “nothing gross. Okay? Please?? Enough weird stuff happens here already. Considering it’s- well. You know.”

☆- “keep it semi-PG? a couple dirty jokes here and there are acceptable, but nothing too graphic for the imagination. Eughhh..”

☆- “and- holy crap I cannot express this enough. DO NOT SEND THE SAME ASK OVER AND OVER AGAIN. sometimes it takes TIME to answer them. I’m a busy person, you know. Get over yourselves.”

☆- “oh, and no political talk, zoophiles, pedos- you people are just..- WHY??”

☆- “so- to sum it up, don’t be a Dick.”

((woah I really have no life, huh? Anyways! HELLO HI!! You might know who the mod of this blog is, if ur mutuals with my main blog (cough @averagetmntfan) but chances are, you probably don’t. so HI!! My name is Mike/jj! You can refer to me as either, I don’t really mind.))

((Anyways!! Let’s put some ground rules here, okay? Okay!! So 1.) I’m a MINOR. Meaning, it’s highly inappropriate to say certain words to me and/or character. Assuming he too, is a minor. (Headcanon says 17). So nothing sexual or kinky towards either, please. Just DNI if you’re here to start unnecessary drama or hate. Get the fuck out<3))

(( I prefer also to not have graphically sexual asks? Also if ur a trump supporter, homophobic, transphobic, pedo, zoophile- all that shit. Leave. Interact? BLOCKED.))

(( that’s really all tho. HOPE U ENJOY THIS CHAOTIC ASS BLOG!! :D))

— mod Mike/jj<33

#ramshackle #zeddyzi #Ramshackel tre #blog #rp blog #ramshackle Tre rp blog #Ramshackle rp blog #tre #Masterpost #dni list #Mike Loses his balls dignity and life

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kierras · 5 months ago

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kie never expected moving out of the home on figure eight to be easy, but she hadn’t expected it to be this complicated either. a part of her thinks that she should’ve seen this coming — she knew how her parents felt about jj, her father especially, and the animosity between them had only been growing since the pogues had returned from south america. even with the gold in toe, her parents hadn’t let up on their feelings about her friends and after kitty hawk, jj seemed to have fallen even more out of their favour, something kiara thought hadn’t even been possible. so, no, she hadn’t expected her parents to take her packing up her room and moving into jj’s house quietly — but she hadn’t expected it to go so badly neither.

before the gold had turned their lives upside down, kiara had thought her father was the more reasonable of her parents. her father had always seemed a little more lenient — letting her feed the boys after the restaurant had closed, bailing john b out of jail… those were things her mother never would have condoned. but when she’d gotten back from poguelandia — a part of her still misses it there, longs for how easy everything had been — anna had proved her wrong, extending olive branch after olive branch that kiara would practically snap over her knee. she didn’t mean to. despite what mike and anna carrera may think, kie didn’t wake up every morning and wonder how she could make their lives miserable. she just… had different priorities than they did. she knows now that won’t ever change. and after her father had taken things to a violent level… well, kie doesn’t really know if she ever wants to be on the same page as them again.

who she does want to be on the same page as is jj. but the last few days, kie has wondered if that feeling is mutual. she can’t blame him, not really. he’d just finally gotten used to not getting knocked around by his father, now he’d gotten it from hers? her chest felt tight at the thought, heart sinking into her stomach at the memory of her father’s fist connecting with her boyfriend’s jaw. she knows it’s far from the worst he’s ever had, but it makes her sick none the less. she nods when he speaks, chewing on her bottom lip and letting her eyes trace over the bruise on the curve of his jaw. “yeah… no. that was a good call. my dad…” she trails off, head shaking. “you should try not to cross paths with him anytime soon. i don’t know what he’s going to do.” which is kind of scary. kie remembers being a little girl and thinking her father would always be in her corner — that no matter what happened, she’d be able to run to him. now she doesn’t even know how she’s supposed to look at him and she can only hope that living with the knowledge that she won’t ever forgive him for this might finally make him look at the bigger picture. she reaches a hand out tentatively, fingers skating his forearm. “you don’t have to avoid me, though. i'm on your side here.”

— the dusty toy box starters // accepting! — @kierras said: you’ve been avoiding me .

“hm?” jj asked, head still ducked under pope’s new car. they had barely declared it the pope mobile before pope backed it into a tree on his way to pick up dinner. it would’ve been comical, honestly, if the smell of motor oil wasn’t fucking with his newest concussion. but, he had sent john b, sarah and pope to go get dinner while they waited for cleo and kie to get back from the other side of the island. cleo must’ve walked by him, but the shift in the air around the car, and the comforting sound of his girlfriend’s voice, settled around the blond, the annoyance for pope’s stupidity melting as he slid out and squinted up at kie. in truth — he hadn’t meant to avoid her. he never wanted to avoid kiara. but in the past few days since he went to the hospital, he’s been keeping to himself at home. john b left him alone, only stopping by his room to feed his best friend like a skittish dog who was prone to biting — honestly at this point, jj wasn’t sure that was so far off — while the girls were on figure eight. on any other day, jj would be there too, helping kie finish packing the last of her previous life. to say goodbye to the home she grew up in. but, jj didn’t really want to be near mike carerra right now. considering he was the one that put him in the hospital in the first place. they had been going to finish kie’s move two days ago. all the pogues coming for support, jj leading the charge. he had managed to get past anna, who looked almost resigned to the events occurring in her home. but then, all 6 foot 3 inches of michael carrera were blocking his way. jj had blacked out, as he often does in a situation like this. adult men jabbing fingers into his chest, yelling at him about ruining everything. if he was smarter, jj would’ve stepped around him, ignored the poison the adult was spitting at him, to get the rest of kie’s stuff. and let him be angry in his own corner. but he wasn’t known for his wisdom. he couldn’t remember what he said, all he remembered was the splitting pain in his cheek, the blood in his mouth, and the feeling of his head smacking against the concrete of the carerra driveway. the police were called. shoupe peeling him off the concrete, a quiet what are we gunna do with you, kid? the last thing jj heard before he passed out. the concussion wasn’t his worst to date, but he still had to lay in the dark for most of the day following. this outing to fix pope’s car the first time since the fight he’s spent a prolonged amount of time outside. which was the reason why he hadn’t seen kie in a few days, but he wasn’t trying to avoid her. “sorry…just figured it was better to stay away from your dad. is everything alright over there?”

#jaymaybnk

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swiss-cheeze · 5 years ago

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French Road, East || Spencer Reid

Request: YES/NO: Hi! Do you take requests?? If you do, can I please request a Spencer x Reader (Including the BAU), where they are dating and the reader is a year or so younger than spencer, but just as smart and very loved by the team, and one day she has to save the team from an unsub and gets really hurt and after everyone is safe they are all really worried about her?? Idk if that made sense at all. Love you work!

A/N: OKAY SO, myself and a few other tumblr accounts got sent this exact same request from the same requester. I have spoken with all of the accounts i know of that have gotten the request and we have all mutually agreed that we will continue with our own fics in our own way on the basis/sense of ‘every writer is different and it's cool to see how others interpret the same request’, please go check out their fics too but please also dont message any of us about this little thing thats happened or saying one was better than the other because that's not what we’re doing here.

We write because we love writing and we love making worlds and being creative, this is a mutual agreement, yes we’re not too pleased with this happening but we are fine with going ahead with both of our fics.

Thank you.

A/N: I also got a little carried away with this little thing and kind of forgot about the ‘they get hurt’ part and instead left the end open for angst purposes; possibly a second part if requested? I don't know. This is also 10 full pages on Google Docs.

Words: 5727

Gender: they/them, none.

Warnings: descripton of people being beaten, kidnapping, mention and use of drugs, previous trauma of the BAU team brought to light, mentions of sexual abuse and assualt, mentions of possible rape.

Description: when 6/8 of the BAU team gets kidnapped, it's up to you and Garcia to find them before it's too late, but what happens when an old nightmare may consume someone's life again?

PART 2: https://snitchthewitch.tumblr.com/post/626602019637149696/french-road-east-apartment-23-spencer-reid

------

Spencer had slept over at Dereks after they had both consulted over their paperwork while you had gone to yours and Spencer's apartment alone, normally you two would arrive at work together with coffee ready for the day but today it just felt...off. Coffee in hand you entered the elevator and checked your work phone for any missed messages.

Derek Morgan phone (4)

Derek Morgan imessage (6)

Spencer Reid phone (2)

Spencer Reid imessage (4)

Okay, that was a bit weird. They normally called once, maybe twice, had your phone shut down last night? As you entered onto level 6 you stepped off to the side of the opening on the hallway, out of people's way, as you opened your phone for the messages, Derek first.

‘Going out with Spence and Pen’

‘Spencer misses you’

‘Pen says she wants to hug you’

‘We’re fucjlkeddd’

‘I don't think somethings okay’

‘Pick up’

Fuck, okay, maybe they just encountered a mugger? Spencer next.

‘mISS YOUUU’

‘Derek ssaysys he doeessdnt frrl ojay’

‘Someoned follow us’

‘French road, east’

What the fuck? So apparently they got followed? And then? What the hell is french road east? Was it an actual road to the east? Maybe the voice messages would help.

“HEY (Y/N/N)!” its Derek, “WE’RE HAVING OUR BEST TIME! WISH YOU WERE HERE!” the music was as loud as Derek was shouting in your ear, you couldn't help but smile.

“(Y/N)!” Spencer, “I MISS YOUUU!” you laughed at his drunk talking, “SHOTS!” and it finished.

“Hey (Y/n), we’re uh,” a laugh, it's Derek, “we’re walking back to my place now, with Pen and Pretty Boy over here,” you heard a faint shout of your name before laughter and the call ended. There was one voice message left, “someones following us. Under six foot, black clothes and looks disarmed but I can't tell from where we are and it's dark. I'll update you later (Y/n), i'll keep Pretty Ricky safe. I promise” and that was it. You brought your phone away from your ear and looked at it skeptically, Derek's story was backed up by Spencer because they both said they were being followed, Garcia hasn't messaged you though, she probably got cut off from her phone before anything happened, probably in Derek's pants pocket. Maybe they were playing a prank? No they wouldn't, Derek’s voice was too certain to be a prank. You shook your head from the thoughts before walking into the Bullpen and dumping your bag at your desk and looking around, Anderson, Mike, Daffey, even Esmerelda was at work today and yet you couldn't spot a single one of your teammates.

Okay, maybe they all slept in? You walked up to Hotch's office and knocked before putting your head through the door; looks the same as it was left. Funny. Hotch was always the first one in, if he ever left at all. You walked to Rossi's office and yet this was the same as Hotch’s; untouched and unmoved. Okay, this was a little scary, you made your way to the conference room with quick feet as the creek of the door being opened sent a shiver down your spine as no one was waiting for a case or even grabbing coffee, but you did notice the one folder that sat alone in the middle of the table. Cautiously, you made your way over to the file, picked it up and opened it, the photos inside the folder almost made you throw up.

Hotch, Emily, Derek, Spencer, JJ and Rossi were all sitting against a wall, beaten, bruised and dirty, arms positioned behind their backs. Underneath the photo was a piece of paper with bold red writing, almost blood like.

YOU WERE WRONG.

Your throat constricted as your breathing increased, you started hyperventilating as you heard the click clack of a certain pair of heels.

“(Y/N)!” Garcia yelled, she was running as quickly as she could with her platform, a file and laptop in her arms, “the-the team they've” she took a breath, “they've been taken, captured, abducted!” it took Garcia a few seconds to realise that you were close to fainting. Garcia put her things down on the table as she directed you to sit in a chair, got you a cup of water and started the breathing exercises that she remembered Spencer teaching her, he taught everyone tricks to help those when having a panic or anxiety attack as its something they would definitely encounter during their time with both agents, victims and unsubs, a few minutes passed and you finally calmed down.

“T-they, they tried to contact me” you said quietly as you looked at Garcia who was red eyed.

“And i was there (Y/n), they dropped me off home and where going back to Dereks, i didn't know if they made it or not because i had already past out by the time my head hit the pillow” Garcia reminded you, it took you a moment to realise but you where both in the same situation, and you nodded as the plan started coming together in your mind.

“Okay,” you stood up as Garcia opened her laptop, “when did you find out?” you asked, you needed to determine how long each of you knew the team was missing.

“I unlocked the batcave and I had the same file on my desk, when I saw the photos I ran up here and then to you,” you nodded as Garcia spoke.

“Okay, I want cameras of every place each of our team members have been, bars, apartments, anything and everything. See if there are any recurring cars or bikes or vans that drive past the streets, do facial recognition on anyone following them like with Reid and Morgan, see if it's happened to all of them.” you took a breath as you called in someone from the bullpen and handed them both the files you and Garcia had been given, “Get this to the lab for fingerprints, this is top priority; we have a team missing” you'd told them, they nodded slightly scared and confused before walking off as Garcia started talking.

“I've got the filters on and they're searching but it's going to take some time,” Garcia said sadly.

“Look up previous cases the BAU has had including the words ‘you were wrong’, ‘French Road’ and ‘East’, possibly other words like ‘it was wrong’, ‘they are/were wrong’ that type of thing, date it back to Rossi's days,” you ordered Garcia.

“(Y/n), a lot of those files are physical if you go back to Rossi,” the tech analyst reminded you.

“I know but still, set filters for that and go as far back as you're able, tell me if you get any hits, i'm going to go down to the file room and i'm going to go back as far as Rossi's days for the physical copies until he started going digital,” you told Garcia, she looked reluctant to let you go so you moved to where she was sitting and you gave her a large hug, “we’ll find them Pen, i promise” you mumbled into her cherry scented hair.

“What about Spencer?” she asked softly as the two of you let go of each other.

“He sent me a message saying ‘french road east’, that has to mean something,” you smiled, “i'm going to try and find that road through all of DC and if there's a hit i'm going to go there and see what's up with it, it might be where they were taken or a street Spencer noted as an important thing for us to know” Garcia nodded and quickly sat back down and started typing on her laptop as you left.

God only knows what your teammates are going through right now.

-----

“YOU SON OF A BITCH” Derek yelled as J.J. was dragged to the middle of the floor and repeatedly beaten.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT” Hotch yelled as J.J. started to whimper, the people stopped at Hotch's comment and left J.J. on the floor, Emily and Spencer scrambling with their hands bound to get to their teammate, making sure she was okay.

“What do we want? We want you guys on our side!” one of the people said, he was happy, how could this make anyone happy?

“FBI agents in our group? We’d rule the world!” another one exclaimed as the rest of the group laughed.

“It obviously took a lot of time and planning didn't it? To capture all of us” Hotch said cooly, though on the inside he was boiling.

“Six months,” someone said, it was a new voice that came from the entrance of...the sewers? Poor Spencer was probably having an attack with all these germs.

“Hey boss! We got ‘em” another one said, god there was too many to remember.

“I can see, you missed two though” the Boss said as he looked at the team, a few of his men dragged Emily, Spencer and J.J. back to the wall they all sat at, “genius's lover, and the black guy's girlfriend” the man noted as his men became eerily quiet.

“The blonde girl was with that skinny guy,” a man pointed to Spencer, “And that one,” he pointed to Derek, “but they kept going to crowded places and bumping into people that we couldn't get them, and the other...one”

“The sexy one?” the boss's voice rang out with a grin.

“YOU LEAVE (Y/N) OUT OF THIS YOU BAS-” Spencer yelled before one of the men kicked him in the stomach, causing him to cough harshly.

“Shut it druggie” the Boss said, the looks on the teams faces gave him all the pleasure, “oh yeah, we know all about you guys; how Hotchner lost his wife, Rossi has had 3 divorces, Morgan was sexually abused, Prentiss has had an abortion at 15 and J.J., sweet little J.J. had a miscarrige” snickers from the men could be heard as the team looked away, embarrassment? No, just confused as to how these people knew such intimate things about them.

“And that little lover of yours, genius?” another voice questioned, the voice came toward Spencer, gripped the poor boy's hair and ripped his head up to look up at him as a pained expression came over the doctor, “they’re in for it big!” he cackled, “gonna have a lot of fun with them when we get them later,” and with that he threw Spencer against the wall, Spencer groaned as a few of his teammates called his name but he didn't register it, only the pounding in his ears and the feeling of blood rushing down his head. And with that, the men and their boss left, the door to the sewer room shut and the click of a lock echoed around the room, the silence the team heard afterwards was loud, deafening.

------

“What’ve we got Garcia?” you asked the analyst as you walked back into the room, placing 3 files on the table in front of her.

“Okay, very few cases including those words you gave me, a lot of the cases were only one unsub or two and I highly doubt there were only two unsubs so I crossed them off and? I got nothing,” the girl sighed as she got rid of the tabs to continue working, “the facial recognition software and car registration is still going, i've got hits for all of our friends being in the places that they mentioned, all of them had unfortunately been walking at the time but they go from one camera to another and then suddenly they're gone,”

“So our unsubs are sophisticated, this definitely took time to plan and get the right things for,” you mumbled as you looked at the victim board Garcia had hastily made up on the clear plastic, each member of your team's faces were up there along with a few other colour pieces of paper for the unsubs, and that's it.

“I haven't gotten any hits on the cars either” Garcia mentioned softly, you nodded.

“Okay well, i've got three cases here that all mention those words from before. First one is a group of five unsubs from Rossis and Gideons days but a lot of them are in jail if not all of them, the second is a cult group from Missouri and the last one is a gang of over thirty people; and not all of those thirty people had been found, prosecuted, jailed, killed and etcetera you get it” you fanned out the files and opened each of them.

“Which one do we think it is?” Garcia asked, we had no leads of which one it really is, so you took a breath and read over the files.

“Okay well, the five unsubs are all in jail and only two have been let out of prison in the last six months and it wouldn't be them because they only have two people in their gang, they’re loyal so they wouldn't start a new group without the originals” you closed the file and pushed it away and moved onto the other one, “the cult is rather big but they’re based in Missouri and i don't think they’d travel all the way over here to kidnap agents. This isn't religious or anything and they are so, definitely not them” you closed the file and landed on the last one, “okay, this one,” you looked over the file as Garcia started typing away, “fifteen have gotten out of jail in the past 2 years, five where never found and the rest are still in jail” you looked to Garcia, “this could be it”

“AH HA!” Garcia exclaimed, “i have a hit on three of those people who are in the system and they are following our lovely friends” Garcia typed another second as multiple video cameras came up showing your friends walking (or stumbling depending on who it was) along with one of three people following behind them a few feet.

“It has to be them then,” you said, “i'll go back down and find the rest of the files, Garcia i want you to find every bit of land, buildings, warehouses and houses they have ever bought, i want to know what they ate for breakfast on the third of january last year, i want to know what plumbing system they used in 2016; i wante everything” you said, albeit forcefully, as you walked out of the room and towards the file room again as Anderson walked back into the conference room and handed Garcia a few papers.

“Thank you Anderson,” Garcia mumbled as he looked over the paper, and sure enough there was fingerprints that matched one of the people who followed your teammates, Garcia then pulled up the video surveillance of the BAU and the facial recognition was quick to find the man enter the room, place the folder down with glove-less hands before walking out, he had a visitors pass.

-------

The scraping of metal against the floor awoke each member of the team slowly as a few people walked into the room, placed food trays on the ground in front of each team member, uncuffed the team and then walked out. The team looked to each other as a voice floated through a P.A. system above them.

“It isn't poisoned, and if you don't eat it then that's up to you but you will starve,” and the system shut off with a harsh beep.

“Hotch?” Derek asked.

“Eat unless you want to die,” was all their unit chief said before he moved forward and started eating the sandwich he had. Emily followed suit and gave a throaty moan as she drank the water from the goblet on the tray, the others soon followed.

-------

“There's nothing,” Garcia said as you entered the room again, “they don't have any land or anything,”

“Well find something then,” you said harshly, Garcia jumped slightly at your harsh tone but started typing again as you pinned up photos of each of the members out of the prison, “have you done a deep search on each person that's out of prison and that wasn't found?” you asked Garcia.

“Yes! Yes, five of the fifteen have alibis from the night our friends got taken and i can't find the rest nor can i find those other five that were never found, they really are off the grid (Y/n)” Garcia said as her fingers flew fast against the keyboard, you looked at the clock on the other side of the room.

“Ten hours,” you muttered, “god only knows what they’re going through,” you rubbed your hand over your face and paced slightly, “we have 15 persons of interest and we can't find them, do the ones with alibis have addresses?”

“They all do, three have work and home and the other two dont work and are stay-at-home-dads, all of their names and addresses have been sent to your phone” Garcia told you as a ping from your phone sounded.

“Okay, i'm going to go and check out that place Spencer gave me before he got taken, i'm gonna grab a few other people to go to other addresses because it'll save time and then regroup back here,” you said as you pulled your phone to your ear and started calling a few people.

You parked the car and made your way to French Road which was, as Spencer did say, to the east of the FBI headquarters. It looked like any other little street, a few cafes and a few empty blocks, it wasn't in the city but it wasn't in the suburbs; it wasn't deserted but it wasn't crowded, you noted this. Spencer and Derek weren't taken from here because they were in the middle of the city at the time of abduction, so there has to be something here that Spencer saw to make you come here. You looked in every alleyway on both sides of the street, doing a shallow dig in the dumpsters, opening a few cafe doors and asking a few questions but ending up with nothing. You let out a huff as you looked up and down the street again, until you realised something.

This was a dead end street. The end was a large circle so cars could do a U-turn and go the opposite way, stationed at the end of the street is a path to some sort of forest/secluded jogging track, this had to be a lead, it has to be. The leaves and sticks crunched as you walked along the track, your gun positioned next to you in your hand, ready for action whenever needed, that's when your phone made a large shrill and scared you half to death.

“What is it Mike?” you asked into the receiver after realising it was the other team who was out asking questions.

“We have a lead for the group from one of the stay-at-home-dads; they’ve been planning this for awhile but haven't put effort into it except for the past six months. We couldn't get a name because the guy was too loyal and was convinced they’d come after him but he did tell us that they tried to get in contact with him to regroup, he obviously refused but they left him alone after that, one phone call and nothing else,” Mike said, you could hear the slam of a car door as he got into one of the SUVs with his partner.

“Okay, that's good Mike, get that to Garcia and see if she can try and trace that call and what tower it's pinged from,” and with that you hung up as you heard Mike say ‘got it’ before the line went dead. You looked as far down the path as you could from where you stood but didn't go any further, if this was a lead then you would need backup and probable cause as to why you're there.

“All five of those men checked out with the same story, they each got a call asking them to rejoin the team and they refused, the caller disconnected right after that but they haven't gotten any threats since then. Unfortunately i couldn't find a tower it was pinging from and the number was from five different burner phones too,” Garcia said as you looked over the victim board.

“Background searches with those ten we had earlier?” you asked, “found anything else?”

“Um one, he's only 26 and but its a loose thread,” the picture came onto the screen, the man looked like he could pass as 16, “James Micheal, 26, the only thing i could find was that his credit card has weird transactions over the past six months so it fits our timeline however, i can't find the account it's going to so it must be a bugged one or fake or something similar” Garcia said as she brought up the transactions.

“Found him on the streets?” you asked, Garcia grinned and brought up a video feed, and upon further inspection, plus audio, you now had a profile.

-------

“Right-o,” a voice said, the metal door screeched open causing the team to wince as he and 2 other men stepped in, “who wants to go first?” he questioned, the sickening grin could be heard through his speech as the sewer was way too dark to see 3 feet in front of them.

“Grab the kid, he had the addiction,” another voice muttered before the men moved forward.

“HEY FUCK OFF,” Spencer yelled as two of the men tried to pin him down, Derek started scrambling towards Spencer to help but after a nasty blow to the jaw he backed away with guilt.

“Get the needle,” one of them said, this caused Spencer to tense, fuckfuckfuckfuck, this can't be happening, no way are they gonna inject him again.

“Look nerd, it's your old friend!” the first man said as he shook a small clear bottle in the slim stream of light from the roof, and sure enough there was a label with the one word that caused Spencer's fight or flight to make its appearance, Dilaudid.

“NO, DON'T YOU D-” a punch to the jaw caused Spencer to splutter and breath heavily as his arm was grabbed roughly, tied and the needle entered into his skin and vein, he sobbed. The team heard Spencer whimper as he felt the liquid inject into his veins and bloodstream, the telltale shortness of breath was quick to take its mark along with the immediate drowsiness as the men walked out without saying another word.

“SPENCE” J.J. exclaimed as the man in question fell into a slumber and the team crowded around the twitching boy, it was just like last time.

“Protect him,” Hotch said, “don't let them take him in this state, fight, bite, kick, i dont give a single shit,” the team looked at Hotch and nodded as they all took a silent oath to protect their friend.

------

“Our unsubs are up to ten people, possibly fifteen or more if they have recruited new people,” you started the profile with Garcia standing next to you, “we have one person of interest as of right now, James Micheal, we have video evidence and audio evidence of him speaking to each member of the BAU team trying to proposition them, as you all know a few of our team members would have ignored him, and a few would have talked or said a simple no; those who didn't say anything he continued to walk next to and annoy until that team member said something,” you took a breath, “we have evidence of James stalking the BAU team for the past 4 months from their work, to their home, to where they go for dinner on a special night or the bar; this includes both myself and Garcia in this stalking pile, we have added extra security to our own homes.”

“James has been making up to five thousand dollar transactions to some bugged account for the past six months and another two thousand dollars to a seperate account 2 months prior to those first six months,” Garcia was now delivering the digital trail, “this means he has been with this team for at least eight months, possibly more, he is most likely new, shy and unsure of what he is doing. James is being used and he knows he is but he has no way out as our unsubs keep saying things like ‘ill kill your family’, ‘you're nothing without us’, stuff like that,” Garcia used her hands to talk as she also pointed to the victim board to the photo of James’ driver's license.

“This team on unsubs are highly dangerous and we must proceed with caution around and with them, they all have gotten out of jail in the past 2 years and they obviously have a vengeance plan, please remember this. We also have a lead to where this team of unsubs could possibly be hiding but until we have James we cannot infiltrate the area. There is a fake missing person report out for James so we can hopefully get him into questioning, thank you,” and with that the people around you filtered away back to where they were meant to be going. You turned to Garcia.

“Do you think that was enough? What if we don't get to them wh-”

“Garcia stop, we cant think like that, we are the best of the best even without the team, okay?” you held Garcia enough to ground her as she nodded and wiped her tears.

“SSA (L/n)?” a new voice asked, you looked to the glass doors and sure enough, James Micheal was waiting there.

“James,” you said as you walked towards him.

“I saw the flyers and I just have one proposition,” James said, his voice was deep and definitely didn't match his face.

“What is it?” you asked as you walked to the interrogation room and allowed James to sit down in front of you with your back to the mirror, Garcia and Anderson were already standing in the small room before the interrogation room.

“I want protection until those guys are back in prison, i don't want them anywhere near me and i don't want them to find me,” James said, his voice was ridden with anxiety, you nodded.

“We can do that James, it's alright,” you reassured the man in front of you, “can you tell us who is in this group? Where are they staying?” you asked, James nodded.

“There's ten in the group, they're off the beaten track down some street in the east-”

“French Road?” you questioned, James nodded.

“Yeah, yeah that one,” he agreed, that was everything you needed from the previous encounter, “they don't have a lot of security but they’re pretty sophisticated with what they have on hand. They know everything about all of that team though,” Jack mentioned, “Emily got an abortion and that Red dude?”

“Reid” you corrected.

“Reid, they know of his Dilaudid thing and Hotch and his wife - they know everything,” Jack was shaking now, “they-they said they were going to use that against the team, the addiction, the trauma all of that”

“They’re going to dose Reid?” you asked with your shaken voice, that wasn't a good thing. Jack nodded as he looked to the clock.

“Most likely have already,” he whispered, you looked to the clock, 12 hours since the disappearance. Fuck. You nodded.

“You’ll be taken by another agent to a safe house and let out when this team is apprehended,” was all you said before walking out of the room and letting the door shut behind you. Your throat tightened and you couldn't breath as you sunk to your knees, Garcia and Anderson rushing to you.

“Breath (Y/n), breath” Garcia reminded you, “breath with me my sweetness” she said, Garcia made more effort to show her breathing as you tried to copy her, a few minutes passed before you had finally calmed down, tears streaked your eyes as you bumbled your words.

“I-its French road, Spencer was onto something,” you mumbled softly, “th-they know everything, from Reid's addi-addiction to Emily, and Hotch's wife,” you took a deep breath, “I-I want S.W.A.T. stationed with me, w-we’re going to infiltrate that place with the hel-lp of Jack and his direction-ns, possibly a map,” you looked to Anderson who nodded and walked out while taking out his phone to call for S.W.A.T., “Garcia i dont want you there,” you said, looking at the girl, she nodded in understanding as you stood up and started walking towards the way of the S.W.A.T. team.

------

J.J, Derek, Emily, Hotch and Rossi all whimpered as each member got kicked, punched, pulled, twisted and everything in between, Spencer was only just coming to from the drugs.

“N-no, dont,” Spencer whimpered, he was weak and could barely open his eyes but soon slipped back into a slumber.

“Y-you won't get away with this,” Emily whispered as one of the men gripped her jaw, her voice hoarse and scratchy.

“Oh darling, we will,” the man grinned as he threw the girl to the floor as the others piled the team on top of the others, all groaning and silently crying.

In retrospect, (Y/n) was rather glad that all members of the team were in the room when the door was busted open.

“FBI, PUT YOUR HANDS UP,” you yelled, the words echoing around the room, the men snickered as S.W.A.T. trained their guns on the men.

“It’s alright boys,” the boss said, your eyes trained towards the voice.

“Let. My team. Go,” you said calmly, gun now cocked, the man laughed.

“Go on boys,” the men moved out of the room but the boss stayed standing.

“Grab the team,” you said to S.W.A.T. behind you, the men walked in slowly and trusted you with your trained gun as they started carrying or walking out your team members, one having to cradle Spencer bridal style, “ambulance,” you said into the mic on your vest, “we need an ambulance for a poentional OD, Dilaudid was used, possibly a cocktail of other drugs but its unknown. Dont use other narcotics and if i find out you do i will be going to jail due to murder of doctors and nurses,” the sirens wailed in the distance.

“You’ve got tendencies too,” the boss said in front of you, “murder, killing, everything” you scoffed.

“Everyone does, its whether we have the empathy and understanding of ‘that's wrong’, which is why we don't do it unlike you people,” you seethed through your teeth, “hands up, you are under arrest for the kidnapping and torture of six FBI agents,” the man stayed silent for a moment.

“(Y/n) (L/n),” the man said, “pathetically in love with Agent Spencer Re-”

“It’s Doctor,” a voice said behind you, the cock of a gun could be heard before the tell-tale sound of a bullet being fired next to you, your natural reflexes made you dive to the right (as the bullet came from the left) as the boss was hit in the forehead and fell to the floor. You looked to the gun carrier.

Spencer Reid.

Gun held out straight, no tremble and a stern look.

Spencer looked to you and tears immediately spilled from his eyes as you stayed stone against the floor, “i see you got my message,” Spencer said softly with a smile before he collapsed to the floor in a heap of limbs, the gun clattering to the floor as paramedics rush to Spencers aid.

It seemed to go in slow motion, everything whizzed past you as other paramedics helped you to your feet, your eyes glassy and vision blurred as you got brought to the back of an ambulance. Around you each member of your team was being attended to, brought to a stretcher and taken in another ambulance, eight ambulance’s in total.

It was okay, you got all of the men, all of your team was safe.

Except.

“HES FLATLINING”

“We need to get him to the hospital NOW!”

“HE'S GOING TO O.D.”

#criminal minds #spencer reid #derek morgan #jj #penelopie garcia #aaron hotchner #hotch #hotchner #david rossi #emily prentiss #spencer reid x reader #reid x reader #spencer x reader #criminal minds x reader

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rebootgrimm · 29 days ago

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hey there…how did u find my spider blog……….

scrolled until I found you reblog something from Rott, found the spider post, checked the reblogs. Not hard

#Mutual: JJ / Mike

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thefabelmans2022 · 5 years ago

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for the writer asks: 💜👶👀⭐️💻🎀💬💭💘 + one you want to answer that you haven’t been asked yet!! xoxox

i'm so sorry this took me long. i'm not gonna make excuses i just forgot about it i'm so sorry.

💜: top 3 favourite lines

god that's so hard but i'm gonna go with:

"He was a part of a group, a collective, a chain of seven. When there’s a chip in one link, the other six keep it together." from An Abnormal Defect of Moral Control (IT)

"...there’s a small, quiet, guilty part of him that hopes it isn’t a joke, and thinks that maybe together they can live with the sadness, and maybe he loves this stupid boy with all of the madness in his soul. And there’s a lot of madness in it." also from An Abnormal Defect of Moral Control

"Lindsay checked out her nails as the boys fought...She made a mental note to go to the salon after rehearsal, assuming the boys hadn’t killed each other by then." from TBA (Arrested Development)

👶: advice for new writers

this is such cheesy advice god but i think one of the best things you can do is just write. if it's bad, so what? it's still writing, and it's still practice (practice makes perfect!) and you can learn something from it. you can look back at your "bad" writing, figure out what it is you don't like about it, and remember that for the next thing you write.

another piece of advice is probably simpler: read. i think stephen king says this in On Writing. read fic, read books, look at what you like and try and emulate it (but don't like straight up copy it).

👀: favourite response to one of your works

my friends always leave the sweetest comments on my stories ily guys. on my most recent fic (shameless plug - you're in a hammock with a beautiful boy, IT, reddie, 600 words, mutual pining, check it out) dee (@gobbluthlesbian) left an amazingly sweet comment and i cried lmao. jj (@foxmulldr) said some really lovely stuff about the narration and writing style in An Abnormal Defect of Moral Control (not linking it again i've already linked it twice) and all of the comments on that fic from other people with ADHD made me so happy. along those lines, some people with bipolar disorder left really nice comments on Magic And Bees (again, AD) and on that same fic the first comment was from @pega-and-the-pen and i had just finished see you on the b-side (MOST ICONIC AD FIC) so i freaked the fuck out when i got that email

⭐: how do you get your inspiration?

mostly from music, which is probably why most of my fic titles are song lyrics. other times it's from conversations with my friends, and tbh sometimes i just daydream about fictional characters and sometimes turn those daydreams into fics.

💻: three works of yours that are must reads?

Magic And Bees (Arrested Development - bipolar Gob gets help from Tobias)

A Bluth Family History (Arrested Development - 20th century history as experienced by the Bluth family)

An Abnormal Defect of Moral Control (IT - Eddie stops taking his medication and tries to cope with the re-emergence of his undiagnosed ADHD)

🎀: favourite story

of mine or just in general? my favourite of mine is probably either An Abnormal Defect of Moral Control because it's very much based on my own experiences and it's really personal, or TBA because i'm a sucker for band AUs and i really like the dynamic between the characters.

in general: the Piano Man series by @valenciaperez (which i mention a lot but i'm not gonna stop i will preach the Piano Man gospel until i die), The Edification of Eddie Kaspbrak by @rebeccabunch, see you on the b side, babe by @pega-and-the-pen

💬: describe one of your completed works in three words

me? completing a story? it's less likely than you think

A Bluth Family History: history, pop-culture (i hyphoneates it it counts), family

💭: any ideas for a possible WIP?

maybe? as well as the billions of WIPs i already have i've been thinking about an IT fic about mike and eddie being the last two losers left in derry, and i've kinda got a post-chapter 2 fix-it fic idea but rn it's mostly just excerpts from the Losers' club group chat

💘: what's your favourite AU? least favourite?

i'm always a slut for a band AU!! i'm also lowkey always a slut for a friends with benefits AU but pretend you didn't hear that.

anyway, i don't know if i have a least favourite AU, but i think i often like the idea of hogwarts AUs better than the execution, if that makes sense? like i like thinking about what houses the characters would be in and all that but i'm not really as interested in the actual hijinks they get up to. which is ironic considering one of my many unfinished fics IS a hogwarts AU.

one i haven't been asked but want to answer:

✏️: favourite thing about writing

the feeling of having made something.

(and the friends i made bc we commented on each other's fics ily alex)

#i'm so sorry this took me so long jesus christ #i got it when i woke up and went 'oh dope i'll eat breakfast and then i'll answer it!!' and now it's 5pm #anyway ily sav tysm 💖💖#asks #my writing

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nooowestayandgetcaught · 7 years ago

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2, 8, 12, 13, 19, 29, 34, 41, 50!!!

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

I have written for around 167 fandoms according to AO3 and the ones I’m gravitating to currently (either actually writing for or want to) is nothing really specific I mean I wanna do some more Gotham tbh!!!

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Answered!

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

oh no I don’t know,,, I failed this sfdgsfd

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?

UHHHHHHH IDK ANY ANTAGONISTS I MAKE FOR A FIC THAT HURTS MY FAVES??? i failed this too

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

@glove23 brought up Favor For a Favor (2k, Explicit, Yuri!!! on Ice, Yuuri/Detroit Hockey Team) which I definitely have immediate plans to work on,,, ummmmm all of the responses to In The Eye Of The Storm (3k, Explicit, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Keith/Lotor) have been positive for a sequel so I may attempt it! For me personally I would love to do more of That Feeling Of series (12k, Teen, Mike/El, El & Hopper, El & Max) if I could after we get a new season idk I get asked all of the time to do continuations on my short fic but idk idk I never do it

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

god I have a LIST,,, for all of the hard work I put into Too Good To Be True (9k, Explicit, Star Wars, Luke/Han) I am deeply unsatisfied by the stats; Simple Pleasures (-1k, Mature, Yuri!!! on Ice, JJ/Isabella, JJ/Isabella/OMC/OFC) IS ONE OF MY RECENT FUNNIEST FICS AND I SUCCESSFULLY PORTRAYED A MUTUALLY LOVING CASUALL FOURSOME WITHOUT GETTING WEIRD OR FETISHY AND IT GOT SLEPT ON; I’m gonna just promo Someone To Be Thankful For (2k, Mature, OUAT, Aurora/Mulan, Shang/Phillip) because I adore this and Free (-1k, Teen, The 100, Clarke/Lexa) because it has no comments despite its high view count and I think that!!! needs!! to!! change!!!

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

That was actually constructive and worthwhile to listen to? nah I just get pointless hate comments on the occasion or gross baiting

41) What’s you favourite minor character you’ve written?

WELL RIGHT NOW HEXNA IN CACOETHES SHE’S MA GIRL I LOVE HER she’s an OC like an actual OC I made up and like the person I gifted this to didn’t even read it I’m highkey like what tf FINE IF YOUR ASS WON’T APPRECIATE HER THEN I WILL or like I used to love writing about all of the BBC Merlin ladies (Gwen and Morgana not included because they are main characters) but like I NEEDED TO DO MORE WITH KARA AND I LOST MY OPPORTUNITY

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

uhhhhh ANGSFLUMUT!!! YEAH why settle I don’t believe in that

#ask #THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU #queerbycrs

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wantisamlindyla · 7 years ago

Text

Your Ghost - Chapter 3

Fandom/Pairing: Mike/Eleven Rating: Will be M in later chapters. Summary:

New York, 1999.

He wanted her to live again, even if she could only come back to him through the pages of a book.

Read previous chapters on AO3 here:

15 December 1984 - Day 399

Mike was playing with his Super Comm in the fort when Nancy found him.

He was flipping from channel to channel aimlessly when Nancy knelt down and ducked her head under the blanket. “Hey,” she said gently.

“Hey.” Mike looked up at his sister. Her hair was still curly and pinned back in an updo, but she’d scrubbed her face clean of makeup and switched her dress for pyjamas.

“I think your friends missed you tonight at the dance.”

Mike just shrugged. “I didn’t really see the point in going. We didn’t go any of the previous years.”

Nancy refrained from reciting a list of reasons why he should have gone to the Snow Ball as his parents had during dinner last night. She just watched her brother closely.

“Are you ok?”

Mike frowns in confusion. “Me? I’m fine, what about you? Barb’s funeral was yesterday.”

Nancy shook her head. “I’m fine. It’s really her parents that are grieving. It happened a year ago for me you know? But for them...I guess when she disappeared they still had hope, but now...it’s like they’ve lost her all over again.”

Mike listened to her intently, taken aback by the fact that Nancy was telling him all this.

“You know,” Nancy continued, “I was just…sad for so long after it happened. Then all I felt was angry, angry at myself, angry at Steve, angry at Mom and Dad. I felt like I needed someone to blame. But yesterday at her funeral…all I felt was…peace. Like wherever she is…she’s ok, you know what I mean?”

Mike nodded. He could definitely relate to the feelings of anger and the powerlessness Nancy had just described.

“Yeah, I mean, sure. What you and Jonathan did, getting the lab shut down.” He smiled at his sister, “It was ballsy, and brave. What you guys did for Barb…and Will, it was good.”

Nancy looked at him seriously, “We did it for El too,” she said.

Mike stared at her.

“I’m really sorry I haven’t been around much for you this year Mike. I know it’s been hard on you, I should have made more of an effort to be here for you. It didn’t really hit me until tonight. I was watching Dustin, Lucas, and, Will, dancing and goofing off and I realised that it wasn’t just me who lost Barb, you lost someone last year too.”

Mike didn’t say anything, he couldn’t. He looked down at the Super Comm in his hands, desperately trying to stop the dam that was building in his chest.

Nancy didn’t say anything. She sat there on the basement floor next to him and waited patiently.

Finally, Mike raised his head and said tearfully, “I used to get this feeling…she was with me. All year, at random moments, I’d get this prickling feeling on my neck or this funny feeling in my stomach, like she was right there in front of me. Sometimes I thought I could see her. I thought I was going crazy. But now I can’t feel her anymore. Ever since that night the thing came out of Will and Hopper said that somehow forced the Gate shut. I’ve…I’ve lost her. She’s really gone.”

As soon as the words came out of his mouth he burst into tears. Huge, gulping, painful sobs tore out of his chest. Mike realised he hadn’t cried at all since that night when his mom had arrived at the school in a panic and pulled him into her arms.

All this time, he’d been holding onto hope that El wasn’t truly gone, that she would find her way back to him somehow.

A long time later, he realised that he’d crawled into Nancy arms. She clung onto him tightly, tears slipping silently down her cheeks.

“She’s really gone isn’t she?” Mike asked Nancy fearfully. “I don’t know if she’s at peace or not, how do I know?”

Nancy sniffled and brushed her brother’s messy hair away from his forehead like she had done when he was much younger.

“Maybe...El really was with you, this whole time. Maybe she was too scared to move on….but… now the Gate’s closed, and she knows we’ll all be safe from the monsters. And she doesn’t want you to feel sad for her anymore so she decided to move on.”

Mike rested his head on her shoulder, listening to his sister’s steady heartbeat and her words. He wanted it to be true but at the same time he was also frightened she was right, that El had left and walked by herself into the dark, some place he couldn’t follow.

He asked Nancy something he’d been turning around in his mind for over a month, but too afraid to voice in case it sounded insane.

“Nancy…do…do you think it was her that stopped those demodogs outside Will’s house that night?”

Nancy didn’t say anything for a while. She considered it. “You mean…like her ghost?”

Mike sniffed and wiped at his face, “Yeah.”

“Maybe. It could have been. I mean…with all the crazy shit we’ve seen…who knows right?”

Mike laughed, “Yeah, right.” He felt a bit better, cleansed somewhat by his tears. “Thanks Nance.”

Nancy smiled at him, “You’re welcome. I just want you to know I’m here for you ok?”

“Ok.” She squeezed him in a tight hug and then she left.

Mike stayed in the fort by himself a while longer. Then, he stood up slowly, and he started taking apart the blanket fort bit-by-bit.

He folded up the bed sheets carefully and laid them on the chair. He, rolled up his sleeping bag, placed the cushions back on the couch and took the heavy books he had used as weights and stacked them neatly back on the desk.

“Goodbye El.”

***

Mike was just stepping out of the shower when he heard his phone ringing. He dashed out of the bathroom clad only in a towel to grab his phone. “Hello?”

It was Lola.

“Hey, did I wake you?”

Mike checked his watch. It was 3 am in the morning in San Francisco.

“No, not at all.”

“How’s the tour? Where’d they put you up?”

Mike looked out the window of his hotel room onto 58th street which was already teaming with people at six in the morning. “The Plaza.”

Lola gave a low whistle. “Jesus. What I wouldn’t give for four walls and a private bathroom.”

Mike had started dating Lola about a year ago. She was the lead singer of a rock band that was on tour 8 months of every year so she spent most of her time on the road in a tour bus with five of her bandmates.

They’d met at a mutual friend’s party where Mike had been intrigued by her tattoos and she had made fun of the way Mike wore his shirts; buttoned up and tucked neatly into his jeans.

“Did you just finish up? How was tonight’s show?” Mike inquired.

They spent a minute catching up.

His dinner with Will had been postponed until tonight, they were going to a sushi bar in the West Village.

Lola was frustrated with the gigs their manager was booking for them.

Mike was probably going to head to Indiana for a few days after New York.

There was a lull in their conversation and Mike stared out his window at the city feeling strangely unmoored.

He could have blamed it on exhaustion and the long tour, he hadn’t slept a wink last night. But it wasn’t that, ever since his candid interview on the radio, he’d felt like he was slowly unravelling.

“Mike, are you ok? You sound...distracted.”

Mike tore his eyes from the window. “No, no, I’m fine. Sorry, just got distracted.”

Lola paused for a moment. “Is...is there someone there with you?”

Her strange tone didn’t register with Mike immediately. “What?”

“Am I...calling at a bad time?”

“What?” Mike was startled. “No, no, of course not, I’m just...I’m tired that’s all.” Then the full meaning of Lola’s question hit home. His confusion morphed to anger.

“Why would you think that I was with someone?”

“Are you mad? It’d be cool with me you know. It’s not like I own you. We’re both adults. We haven’t even been in the same state as the other these last three months.”

“What? I...have you slept with someone else in the last three months?”

“Jesus, no. I’d tell you if I had, why are you so angry?”

“Because you just accused me of cheating on you-”

“You can’t cheat on me Mike, we’re in an open relationship.”

Mike blinked. He plopped down on the edge of his bed trying to process the bombshell his girlfriend had just dropped on him.

“What? We’re what?” He was getting tired of saying that. “We’re in an open relationship?”

“Of course we are honey.”

“But I didn’t know...we never talked about it.” Mike was bewildered. “Is this a new dating rule I haven’t been told about? You’re presumed to be non-exclusive until proven otherwise?”

Lola laughed, “No, no it’s just the way it is. If I tried to slap a label on our relationship then we probably wouldn’t have made it past two months.”

Mike was stunned. “I...I always thought of myself as a conventional guy Lola. Too old fashioned for something like an open relationship. I barely even understand how that works. What are the rules?”

“There are no rules Mike. We see each other when we’re both in town. We have a good time together, then you’re off working and I’m back on the road.”

“Have most of your relationships been...open?”

Lola paused. “No, you’re the first one.”

Mike processed this for a minute. “So the problem is me. Am I….do I come off as a commitment-phobe, or am I too much of a nerd to be full time boyfriend material?”

Lola sighed, “No sweetie. You know exactly what the whole intense broody author thing does to us ladies. You being really good in the sack helps too.

You’re just obsessed with your work. You don’t leave much room for anything else. And you like your space. Be honest, what is the longest relationship you’ve had with a woman?”

Mike didn’t want to admit to her that theirs was the longest running relationship he’d had at that moment.

“It’s not that easy to build a relationship when we’re separated all the time. Maybe when we’re back home we could try making more of an effort? Maybe I’ll even go on tour with you in July. I’ll help JJ out at the merch stand.”

Lola laughed lightly, “Well that I gotta see.”

***

Mike had a book signing and an appearance at a small event at the Brooklyn Art Museum that day before he caught a taxi to the West Village around seven that evening to meet Will for dinner.

Will kept apologising profusely for having to postpone dinner so many times.

Mike had to assure him it was fine. Usually he would have stayed at Jonathan and Nancy’s apartment, but his sister and Jonathan were currently away on assignment and Mike would have felt strange sharing the small space with Mrs Byers.

“She’s invited Hopper to spend Christmas day with us this year. How weird is that gonna be? Not weird-bad but weird blast from the past you know? Anyways I’m flying the next day to Hawkins the next day but it’s kinda a big deal. Next thing you know they’ll be moving in together...”

Mike couldn’t really reconcile the fact that Will’s mom was dating Hawkin’s former police chief. He had mixed feelings about the man.

Hopper had moved away so suddenly in ‘85, after everything that had happened, Mike couldn’t help but feel a bit abandoned by the guy. But Mike couldn’t ever blame him, he had saved his and his friends’ lives countless times.

And really, who could blame the man for not wanting to live in a town where kids got possessed by shadow monsters and there were creatures going around eating the townspeople?

Will must have noticed Mike was unusually silent during dinner. He nudged his elbow against Mike’s. “Hey. What’s up with you?”

Mike looked over at his best friend. Nobody in Hawkins would have recognised the handsome man sitting beside him as the Zombie Boy who had been picked on by bullies his entire adolescent life. He was tall and broad shouldered, the California sunshine had left him with a healthy golden tan. His light brown hair was well-cut and styled so that it didn’t hide his startling blue eyes or his sharp cheekbones.

Mike felt like a lanky, pasty vampire sitting next to him.

“Nothing.” He picked at his seaweed salad listlessly. “Apparently I’m in an open relationship with Lola because I’m afraid of relationships.”

“Huh?”

Mike explained the morning’s telephone call with Lola to Will. When he finished, Will didn’t respond immediately, he just took a long drink of his beer. Mike felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“You agree with her don’t you.”

Will sighed and gave Mike a wary look.

“I just don’t think you’ve met the right person yet that’s all.”

“You think I have problems with being in a committed relationship?”

“You have control issues.” Will stated plainly. “But so does Nancy, it’s fine.”

Mike didn’t feel like arguing the point with Will. Maybe he realised, deep down, that they were right.

He’d always known something was a bit broken inside him, a little bit skewed, but he’d always thought he was in good company amongst the party.

But he hadn’t realised how everyone had really moved on and how desperately he was still clinging on to the past.

***

Mike decided to take the subway instead of sharing a cab with Will after dinner.

He wanted to walk.

He wandered aimlessly through the city for a while. He got a drink at a tiny hole in the wall jazz bar and listened to the band playing for a while. Then he bought an overpriced coffee from a tiny diner across the road.

It was almost midnight when he decided to catch the last train back to his hotel.

There were only a few people waiting for a train on the platform. There were a few tired looking shift workers on their way home and a group of noisy teenagers and a young woman sitting on a nearby bench.

The woman’s glossy brown hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and she had a large pair of thick black glasses slipping down a cute button nose which was buried inside a worn and well-loved book.

Mike realised with a start that she was reading his first novel. It was a rare first edition. His publisher had only printed a conservative 500 copies. There had been a printing issue and fthe raincoat on the small figure on the cover had turned out green instead of yellow.

The sounds of a train approaching caused the woman to look up from her book.

Mike’s breath caught in his throat.

He couldn’t take his eyes of her as she closed the book and placed it carefully away in the handbag she was carrying, her movements precise and careful.

She stood up, she slipped the straps of her handbag onto her shoulder and caught Mike’s gaze and froze.

They both stood there on the platform unable to move or do anything else but stare at one another.

Mike wondered if he was dreaming.

He had been thinking about El so much these past few days that perhaps his mind had somehow conjured her to appear before him.

But...she was El, but she wasn’t.

The frightened little girl with a shaved head was gone. In her place was a beautiful woman with long brown hair, but those eyes, those eyes that were staring at him behind those black wire frames.

El’s eyes.

Mike felt his mouth stretch into a smile, and then he was beaming at her.

She’s alive.

She’s ok.

She’s back.

He needed to touch her. He needed to hold her.

He took a step towards her.

The spell broke. El started like a frightened doe and bolted towards the train.

“El! El!”

Mike started after her, but the train door slammed shut in his face with more force than was usual.

“Shit!! Shit!” Mike slammed his fists against the train doors, barely noticing when the other passengers turned their heads to stare at the madman pounding on the side of the train and screaming.

He tried to make a break for the next train carriage, but all the automatic doors were closing.

Mike pressed his frantically hands to the glass window where El was staring at him. “El! El! It’s Mike! Mike!”

The train started to move. He moved with it, staring at her, desperately trying to take in every detail and commit it to memory, her sweet face, her wide eyes, the tears slipping silently down her pale cheeks, her pink sweater and the name-tag clipped to the front which read, ‘Jane.’

“I’ll find you El! El! I’ll find you!”

She shook her head, he watched her mouth form the words, Mike. No.

Then there were two pairs of hands on his arms, pulling his hands away from the glass and heaving him off the side of the train.

The train sped past him and disappeared into darkness.

And she was gone.

#will is a hottie ok #mike/eleven #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #mileven

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ambivalentman · 7 years ago

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AN ATHEIST KING: THE LOSS OF BELIEF AND CHARACTER IN MUSCHETTI’S IT (2017)

This essay features several spoilers for IT (2017). You have been warned.

A DISCLAIMER BEFORE WE BEGIN

I was, at one point, a hard core Stephen King fan. When I entered my 20s, I owned every book written by him in hardcover -- with the exception of special edition stuff like My Pretty Pony -- including several first editions (like a beautiful first of The Shining). My copies of George Beahm’s The Stephen King Companion and The Stephen King Encyclopedia were already dog-eared and annotated. My prize possessions were the four issues of Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction I had which featured the first publication of The Gunslinger, and the other I had which included “The Moving Finger.” My parents thought I was weird, most girls thought I was scary, and at one point even my grandma suggested I seek therapy.

This was until about 2000. Then, an event took place which caused me -- like those in the Loser’s Club -- to abandon childish things. It was a bad decision, but I gave up my Stephen King collection.

I didn't rediscover my love for King until recently. Sure, I dabbled a bit these last few years, reading Under the Dome and 11/22/63, but I never fully re-embraced the hero of my youth. Until I decided to re-read IT, his 1986 masterpiece about a group of wounded people forced to face a truly terrifying force as both children and adults. I saw that Andy Muschetti was adapting the novel for Warner Bros., taking over for Cary Fukunaga, who -- despite being a true auteur -- fell out of Warner’s graces. All news surrounding the new adaptation was overwhelmingly positive, and it had been a long time since we last saw a great movie based on King’s work.

Back in April, I broke my right hip. After two surgeries, being fairly immobile has given me time to read more, so I picked up IT. Revisiting IT transported me back to that time when I was obsessed with King. The experience was overwhelming, like when adult Bill Denborough gets back on his enormous metal steed, Silver, and recalls how he once raced the devil on that bike to save Eddie Kaspbrak. A flood of joy came from reading King’s pulpy prose again. Going back to that tainted town of Derry to hang with the Losers helped make my rehab a little easier. And though I am still on the mend, I am ready to rekindle my love for King.

Which brings me to my other love: cinema. I don't write much about the movies anymore, but I am chomping at the bit to discuss and evaluate IT. There hasn't been a more anticipated film this year for me.

And no film has both pleased and disappointed me more.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD KING ADAPTATION?

Because of The Dark Tower, IT, and the forthcoming Gerald’s Game, there have been lots of clickbait “Stephen King Movies . . . Ranked” lists popping up online. Nerdist had a particularly interesting one, in which their top 10 looked like this:

10. Creepshow (1980)

9. IT (2017)

8. The Dead Zone (1983)

7. Dolores Claiborne (1995)

6. Stand By Me (1986)

5. The Mist (2007)

4. The Shining (1980)

3. Carrie (1976)

2. Misery (1990)

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Despite the ranking, most King fans and movie lovers alike will agree with this list (although Creepshow over Pet Sematary or Christine? Really? Sincerely?). Two of these films are directed by Frank Darabont (Shawshank, The Mist), and two by pre-what-the-f-happened Rob Reiner (Misery, Stand by Me). And the new adaptation of IT made the cut. So, if we can acknowledge these are the canonical King adaptations, what makes them the best? It's a pretty steep drop off in quality after the top 10. There's Pet Sematary, Christine, 1408, and The Green Mile, meaning that out of 44 movies based on Stephen King’s novels (not including TV mini-series), there’s really only about 14 good-to-great ones. If this were baseball -- King’s favorite sport -- Hollywood would be batting a respectable .318. Be that as it may, this is not baseball, and producing only 1 solid movie for every 3 is pretty awful.

This suggests that adapting Stephen King is tough. Why, though? His books are packed with memorable characters, scenes, and visuals. You could almost say he writes movies. His dialogue is colloquial and specific, and he has a great sense of pacing. While you could easily point out that lots of his stories share only a couple variations for endings -- destruction or aliens -- he is a strong storyteller with a keen understanding of cause and effect and narrative fairness. There's a reason, after all, that he inspired a generation of writers and filmmakers like JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and the Duffer Brothers.

My theory is that King's greatness resides not in his ideas or execution, but in the spirit of his writing. King's voice is the soul of his work. When you read him, it feels like you are sitting down with a friend, listening to him share a great story. King feels familiar, like family. And the filmmakers who get that make films which reflect it.

Take, for example, the number 1 film on Nerdist’s list, The Shawshank Redemption. The use of Red’s voiceover narration immediately brings us into the tale of Andy Dufresne. Stand By Me and Dolores Claiborne also use great voiceovers. But in films like Misery, Carrie, and The Dead Zone, we are given protagonists who become our friends. We find Paul Sheldon to be kind and thoughtful, Carrie White to be sweet and misunderstood, Johnny Smith to be tortured and alone. These films understand deeply what King was aiming for with his characters. So, when Reiner changes events in Misery, it doesn't matter because not only did he truly “get” Paul, he also truly “got” Paul’s relationship with Annie Wilkes. Each of the films on this list, with the exception of IT (and Creepshow because it was an original script), truly grasped the core of King’s characters and their relationships to each other.

King is often considered a humanist author. His characters, including his villains, are often subjects for sympathy. In his work, there is a lot of insight into human nature, both light and dark. King is an observant author, grounding his most supernatural stories in a real world, with real people. This is best illustrated in his character relationships and interactions. Red and Andy develop first respect, then admiration, then deep friendship over their years in Shawshank. It is a relationship founded on honesty as they are the only honest men in the prison. Their mutual trust is what establishes the foundation for Andy’s escape plans, and ensures his success. In The Dead Zone, Johnny’s broken relationship with Sarah is haunted by lust and vitality, the very qualities Johnny loses touch with after his accident leaves him with a power which zaps the life from him with each use. Carrie White’s naive hope she can actually fit in is fulfilled by the compassionate Tommy Ross, which makes the tragedy of her coronation that much more devastating. The films capture these ideas to profound effect, which is why they endure. Once the novelty of plot dissipates, you are left with characters and their connections to each other and yourself. We enjoy a movie for plot; we love a movie for character.

King writes wonderful characters, and the best films based on his work never fail to capture those characters ideally.

Except IT.

Sigh.

THE PART WHERE I EXPLAIN WHY THE NOVEL IS A MASTERPIECE

It is not hyperbole to call IT “King's masterpiece.” Lots of critics have done it. By its publication in 1986, IT was the purest, most ambitious distillation of themes and ideas King had explored since Carrie in his fiction (and even in non-fiction dissertations like Danse Macabre). If you're reading this, chances are you know the story:

Every 27 years, the seemingly quaint hamlet of Derry, Maine becomes the feeding ground for an entity that has dwelled under the town’s surface for centuries. In 1958, after 6-year old Georgie Denborough is murdered by the creature -- assuming the shape of a murderous clown called Pennywise -- big brother Bill and his Losers Club come together to put an end to the evil. They are only marginally successful, as 27 years later, the Losers are called to return to Derry to kill IT for good.

IT is a multi-generational horror novel, spanning hundreds of years. We meet the Losers first as adults, all of whom (with the exception of Mike Hanlon, who chose to stay behind in Derry and become its resident historian and librarian) no longer remember the events that took place during the summer of 1958. Mike’s ominous phone calls, reminding the adults of the promise they made -- to return if IT ever resurfaced -- unlocks each adult’s dormant memory. As the novel unfolds, so does their collective remembrance of summer ‘58 and all the horrors it contained. King uses the flashbacks to highlight the differences between childhood and adulthood.

As with any epic sized novel, there are a myriad of themes to unpack. IT dives deep into ideas about childhood trauma, the power of personal shame, community corruption, racism, generational sin, and the coming of age ideas expected from a novel about kids becoming adults. For me, where the novel finds its most compelling thematic territory is in its exploration of belief. King wants us to recognize it is the purity of innocence, and the simplicity of belief that binds these kids together, and that the jaded cynicism of adulthood, with all its fears and anxieties, is what threatens to destroy them.

This theme hinges on the role of Pennywise. He is a shapeshifting, Lovecraftian monster, tapping into the fears of his quarry to exploit during the hunt. He appears to Ben as his dead father, to Mike as a pterodactyl-like bird, to the germaphopic Eddie as a leper, and to Richie as the lycanthropic Michael Landon in I Was a Teenage Werewolf. When Pennywise goes after Bev, it is by turning her sink into a geyser of blood which only she can see. Bill is tormented by the memory of his dearly departed brother, whose school photograph Pennywise animates and makes bleed. Children have very primal fears, and that which adults see as fake or absurd, kids often embrace as real. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, chupacabras, zombies . . . children do not reject fantasy outright as adults do, making them susceptible to both profound fear and hope.

We see this in the Losers’ response to IT’s attacks. They are terrified, but never stop seeking solution. They find their weapons in objects. Even after he learns his asthma inhaler is a mere placebo, Eddie still uses it to calm his nerves, and later fires it at Pennywise, believing its contents to be battery acid. With Bill’s help, Ben melts down two silver dollars into bearings for Bev to shoot at the monster with a slingshot. When Stan gets trapped by Pennywise after finding himself alone in the house on Neibolt Street, he manages to escape by chanting the names of every bird contained in his field guide. The kids build an underground fort, which they convert into a smoke house to go on a Native American “Vision Quest.” It is during this dangerous endeavor that Mike and Richie seem to travel through time back to a primordial era where they witness IT’s arrival. The Losers’ passionate adherence to ritual and talismans give them a collective power. This power keeps them unified, and even frightens their tormentor. Belief is their truest weapon, especially belief in each other.

The other themes King addresses throughout IT are compelling, but it is this idea about belief that gives the novel its soul. There is no cynicism in King's approach -- he captures the imagination of these children with remarkable affection, and this results in each kid winning our hearts over. Pennywise may be the allure the book needs to attract its audience, but these kids are what inspires guys like me to re-read a 1,000+ page book.

They are also what inspired me to struggle with a movie engineered for my celebration.

IN PRAISE OF MUSCHETTI’S IT

Before I tear apart IT, which is very popular, having made over $200 million domestically in its first two weekends, I want to praise it. Despite having some huge issues, the film does some things very well. There is a good reason why this movie works for so many people.

The major reason IT works is because of its energy and general nostalgia. While these elements often fade on repeat viewings, they are so engrossing during a first one. Being set in 1989 puts the setting during a period Gen Xers remember fondly and for which Millennials pine. Movie theater marquees are showing Batman and Lethal Weapon 2. A poster for A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 is a coming attraction. The kids ride Schwinns, use Kodak Carousels, don’t have cell phones, and wear denim cutoffs. The aesthetic is perfect. Producer Seth Grahame-Smith revealed in an interview with Birth.Movies.Death that he prepped nostalgia lists for all of the child actors, from music to movies to video games to fashion as a way to show them what summer ‘89 in New England was like for him. The work paid off, because the town of Derry is authentic in its nostalgia. It is impossible not to be drawn into this world.

And this world is scary, even without Pennywise. As with all idealized nostalgic perspective on days long gone, there is a darker undercurrent (as if we punish ourselves for embracing such idyllic memories). Perhaps the darkest element are the adults of Derry. Kids go missing and the “Missing Persons” posters are simply papered over as new children are added to the list. A leering pharmacist flirts with Bev. In the library, as Ben investigates Derry’s ugly history, the Librarian lingers in the fuzzy background, grinning maliciously. Not one adult exhibits empathy for these kids, including Bill’s dad or Stan’s rabbi father. Certainly not Bev’s father, who inhales his daughter’s hair like she’s fresh out of the oven, and obsesses over her virginity with a fervor that would make even President Trump uncomfortable (or envious, if we're being honest). In some ways, the more visceral nature of the film captures Derry’s innate badness more clearly than the hundreds of pages King devotes to the subject in his novel. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand pages.

Muschietti and his casting director also got the casting perfect. As with the films of JJ Abrams, criticize all you want, but it's impossible to trash the impeccable casting choices. Each of these kids perfectly embodies the characters they portray. Kudos especially go to Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Finn Wolfhard as Ben, Bev, Eddie, and Richie. Ben’s beautiful sensitivity, Bev’s intense devotion and passion, Eddie’s passive-aggressive resolve, and Richie’s unending stream of bullshit are as sharp and resonant here as they are on the page. Even Jaeden Lieberher, as Bill, and Chosen Jacobs, as Mike, look and feel right. Unfortunately, the script makes some poor choices with their characters that nearly derails the film. But more on that in a bit. Without a doubt, these kids are legit actors. No scene better proves this than the swimming scene in which everyone is stripped to their underwear and dives into the lake from the frighteningly high cliff. The scene could have been incredibly exploitative as the boys ogle Bev, but instead the quality of these performances makes their pubescent sexual discovery innocent and real. Consider this a great contrast with the perverse exchanges Bev has with the adult world. It is both ironic and terrifying that Bev is perceived more as an object by adults than by teenage boys.

While the film finds many of its most effective scares in the presentation of Derry, and the juxtaposition of innocent and corrupt images, the advertisements promise that we will be scared senseless by Pennywise the Dancing Clown. As portrayed by Bill Skarsgard, this Pennywise bears little resemblance to the seductive, menacing clown Tim Curry created for the 1990 ABC television miniseries. Skarsgard’s Pennywise is serpentine, alien, with dead eyes and a slithering voice. His costuming suggests his age, and the cracks in his makeup reveal a facade. This Pennywise is less playful and charismatic, and hungrier. He drools as he corners the kids in the Neibolt house. And his shapeshifting is frightening, especially when he presents himself to Eddie as a relentless leper. Skarsgard’s performance is wonderful and wholly his own. He will invite comparisons to the iconic Curry, but ultimately his Pennywise will stand alone.

IT’s success as a film can be broken down into these three elements: Derry, the kids, and the creepiness of Pennywise. But its failure can also be broken down into three parts, too.

1) The absence of a thematic soul

2) The abandonment of characterization

3) The confusion of style for substance

A LOSS OF SOUL

A great adaptation isn’t necessarily about doing the book, but about capturing the soul of the book (or finding a soul no one even knew existed, ala The Godfather or The Shining). A movie can look the part, but if it fails to reveal that essence of spirit, it will eventually crumble. In the case of IT, the movie is about as hollow as the space behind Pennywise’s eyes.

The soul of this story is the children's belief. Outside of a generic, “We gotta believe in each other!” idea to which much lip service is paid, these kids are bereft of belief in anything. This is an atheist interpretation of Stephen King's story, in which our Loser’s Club prefer brute force over imagination. In the film’s climax, Bill leads the charge against Pennywise by picking up a bat and swinging at the clown’s head. All the Losers join him. The result looks remarkable, as each strike causes the clown to transform into each child's fear, but it is a graceless, uninspired physical solution to a metaphysical problem. It also ruins Pennywise. How evil can he truly be when all it takes is an angry mob armed with sticks to bring him down?

Throughout King's novel, the Losers seek many ways to defeat the demon. They melt down the silver dollars. Eddie’s inhaler becomes a chemical weapon. Stan’s bird book is a shield, the names of the birds his mantra. And the kids buy into Native American rituals, like the Ritual of CHUD, to confront IT. Obviously, the shift in setting from the 1950s to 1980s meant losing some of these talismans. After all, the 50s Wolfman, when compared to the 80s Freddy Krueger, is a flaccid nightmare. But every monster has a weakness, even human ones. The Losers spend no time thinking on this.

Indeed, Muschetti strips them of their creativity completely. Gone is Ben’s architectural acumen, which nearly flooded the Barrens and provided an underground club house. Bill’s storytelling, which keeps the group focused, is generically spread amongst all of them. Even Bev's love for fashion and art is lost. It's shocking to me how Muschetti removed the core elements from each of these characters, leaving only their gimmicks -- Bill’s st-st-stutter, Ben’s girth, Bev’s cigarette smoking, Richie’s humor, Eddie's hypochondria, Stan’s Judaism, and Mike’s blackness. In the need to appeal to every demographic, these characters were stripped for parts.

It is a testament to the strength of the performances by this group of kids that the Losers have any flavor whatsoever. The script provides them no depth, only set pieces and surface sentiment, yet they are convincing for awhile in the dark. But like Pennywise’s many facades, eventually they slide off and there's nothing remaining.

The soul of King's story is belief, imagination, and the collective power of childlike purity. Andy Muschetti’s adaptation is more in love with Halloween maze scares than it is with pursuing these ideas. His vision of defeating our fears involves angry children with sticks, not wounded children with imagination. Audiences may like the cathartic release that comes with beating the shit out of the monster, but it does nothing to feed their souls.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

I already alluded to the surface qualities that pass for characterization in IT, but it goes a bit deeper than this. Character interaction is essential to building great characters, and this is where IT fails epically.

To prove this, let’s take a closer look at Bill Denborough.

Bill is arguably the most important of our protagonists, especially in King's novel. The story begins with him making a paper boat for his brother and sealing it with wax so it will float in the gutter water outside. The death of Georgie becomes a source of guilt and shame for Bill. And since his parents pay little to no attention to him, Bill is made to face these overwhelming feelings alone. It is his determination and inner strength that propels him to lead the Losers in their quest to put an end to IT. But, this quest, while certainly obsessive, is rooted in shame and love. Bill loves each of his friends and often goes off alone because he fears their fate will be his fault, as he believes Georgie’s fate to be his fault. This is the source of Bill’s maturity, which sets him apart from everyone else in the club. Because of Bill’s maturity, the Losers follow him without much question. They are devoted to him as a leader and friend, and willingly choose to lay down their lives if need be.

This is far from the way Bill is presented in the film. He is a Captain Ahab, chasing his white clown into the sewers of Derry. He likes his friends, but often doesn't concern himself with their feelings. In fact, at one point Richie throws a punch at Bill and the two fight over their pursuit of the monster. This Bill is not a leader; he is a dictator. He lacks empathy, and mostly cares for himself. Even worse, his quest is no longer rooted in shame, but in pure vengeance. Bill doesn't express his self-loathing at what happened to Georgie. Instead, at the end of the film, when Pennywise presents Itself as Georgie, Bill just punches IT in the face.

The shift in Bill is a subtle one, but has huge consequences for the story. By changing his leadership style, it makes the other Losers look more like followers of fear than a group of equals. In many ways, Bill is no different than the crazy bully Henry Bowers, whose friends follow him out of fear. Like Henry, Bill is on a mission to destroy, has little regard for the consequences of his actions, gets others involved who don't necessarily want to be, and doesn't listen to reason. Yet, we like Bill and hate Henry because Bill stutters and Henry likes carving his initials into the bellies of defenseless fat kids.

This is not to say Bill isn't the hero, but that Muschetti misfires with Bill by removing his core empathy and giving the character over completely to obsession. While the rest of the characters don't fare as badly as Bill does, each loses something, mainly through the cutting of interactions. On a basic level, we see this in the fact that Bev only interacts with Bill and Ben through most of the movie, yet is presented as the symbol of group unity. She can't even be bothered to share a smoke with Richie, or have a conversation with Stan and Mike.

Bill and Bev certainly present issues in characterization, but no character is more problematic than Mike Hanlon. There have already been several insightful thinkpieces about the treatment of Mike that there is little I can add, but the gist is this: Mike is presented as a token black character for no reason. Granted, most of these characters are tokens in their own way, so it stands to reason Mike would receive no better treatment. It was a struggle for me to watch one of my favorite characters in the novel reduced to a handsome black face that has to face the racist white bully. It was harder to watch Mike's love for history handed over to Ben. Mike deserved better.

All of these wonderful characters deserved better. This is what happens when style trumps substance.

THE NEW HORROR AESTHETIC

IT is the culmination of the trend in cheap seat horror to rely on the jump scare as the source of terror. No horror film of this variety has handled this trope better than Muschetti’s film. Arguably, Muschetti has perfected the jump scare. His film is a maze at Knott’s Scary Farm or Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights waiting to happen. The soundtrack is pitched to screamtastic levels. Put a camera on audiences and every 5-7 minutes, prepare to see people grabbing each other or jumping like William Castle had come back from the dead to put a tingler in their seat.

This reliance on the jump scare is aided by a color palette washed in sepia tones and deeper reds, which enable the clown to do his Jack-in-Box routine in darkness that can't elicit laughter. Muschetti and his postproduction team nailed the look of this film like mad scientists.

The beauty of this is that audiences love IT. This is a horror movie that feels like a horror film. Yet, IT remains safe, like those scary carnival mazes. When you're creeping your way through one, every darkened corner promises danger, but behind all that tension you know none of the masked employees can touch you without legal repercussion. Sadly, IT isn't allowed to touch you either. Promises of danger lurk around every shot, but it is all bark and no bite.

Take the Neibolt Street House sequence. There's a clever moment in which Bill and Richie, separated from Eddie, try to find him before Pennywise gets him and are presented with three doors to escape. The doors are labeled “Not Scary,” “Scary,” and “Very Scary.” Of course the boys take the first one, and are presented with a frightening image. You would imagine they would be forced to take the third door, but instead they double down on the “Not Scary” path and are rewarded for their cowardice. This is the ultimate in style over substance. The scene looks perfect, but says and does nothing.

Still, the aesthetic is convincing. This is how we want horror movies to look, even if they have nothing to say.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF IT

Since Warner Bros.’s sinks are exploding with dollar bills right now, IT will have a seismic impact on the popular culture landscape. Some things are inevitable: we will get a “Chapter Two” featuring the adults returning to Derry for a final showdown with IT. We can also expect more horror movies. Will we get more clown flicks? I'm sure there's plenty of those being prepared for VOD as I write this.

What I am more concerned about is the state of horror film. Over the last decade, we have seen a renaissance in indie horror. Get Out, It Follows, The Babadook, The Witch, The Invitation, Cheap Thrills, Starry Eyes, Goodnight Mommy, and Raw are a few of the most notable titles. This movement has brought a variety of styles and an emergence of new voices unlike anything we’ve seen since the 70s. Even a big budget haunted house franchise like The Conjuring reinforced the brilliance of James Wan and reminded us of the power in the traditional horror story amidst all the rebels.

IT feels like a sea change, though. The Conjuring made tons of money, but it didn't make this kind of money. And while The Conjuring felt traditional, IT is being presented as something new. People are talking about it like it's different. Joe Hill, King's son and respected novelist, called IT “one of the five best horror movies I've ever seen.” This movie is a hydrogen bomb on pop culture, especially as it arrived on the heels of the poorest performing summer box office in 20 years. This movie isn't just new, it's a savior.

So while we can expect more Stephen King remakes and adaptations, we can also expect less money for horror indies. Studios will want more movies to look and feel like IT, and in this narrowing marketplace, that has the potential to choke out the little guy. This is the true horror.

I hope I am wrong. Horror films are cheap to make. That is their appeal for young filmmakers looking to make a mark. Hopefully this doesn't change.

The Stephen King fan in me celebrates the love IT is receiving around the world. The cinephile in me is afraid of what this means for horror cinema going forward.

#IT #Stephen King #Film Adaptation #Horror Movies #Finn Wolfhard #Sophia Lillis #Jeremy Ray Taylor #Chosen Jacobs #Jack Dylan Grazer #Andy Muschietti #Bill Skarsgard #Film Analysis

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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The Nets will regret firing Kenny Atkinson

Will the Nets really be better without Kenny Atkinson?

The Nets didn’t fire Kenny Atkinson for basketball reasons

All things considered, the Brooklyn Nets have exceeded expectations. The team’s best available player, Kyrie Irving, only appeared in 20 games before a lingering shoulder injury led to season-ending surgery. Caris LeVert has missed 25 games and in 14 of them he came off the bench (after returning from thumb surgery). Those two plus Spencer Dinwiddie (Brooklyn’s leader in total points by nearly 400) shared the court for a grand total of 67 minutes.

Elsewhere, Brooklyn’s roster had inconvenient hindrances. At least one of Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan were always on the floor, two gravity-killing bigs in a league that increasingly requires spacing at all five positions. Wilson Chandler’s 25-game suspension compelled Taurean Prince to be Brooklyn’s only full-time power forward. There was positional overlap, mixed with too much transience.

Making the playoffs in the Eastern Conference is not the most difficult task, but such grueling circumstances — significant injuries to key contributors, under the aura of anticipated progress — typically precede a total meltdown. These Nets could easily be where the Chicago Bulls or Detroit Pistons are, caving in to an uphill battle during one of the stranger gap years in recent NBA memory.

Before the season even began, Kevin Durant’s Achilles injury placed the Nets in an uncomfortable grey area, like a trustee who can’t access their looming fortune. But Kenny Atkinson, Brooklyn’s head coach of nearly four years who was let go over the weekend, did not let them beat themselves.

Atkinson has been romanticized as a cultural trend-setting figure who habitually squeezed more from Brooklyn’s sum than its individual parts seemingly could. His vigor enhanced a brand of basketball soaked in sound judgement and analytically-influenced decisions. Players who weren’t always talented enough for the roles they had to fill still saw Atkinson’s vision and executed it within a system that played the percentages on both ends.

He will be a candidate for several job openings this summer — be it in Houston, Washington, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans, Cleveland, Minnesota, Philadelphia, or somewhere else. He’s accomplished, with respect among players who made undeniable leaps under his eye. D’Angelo Russell, Joe Harris, Dinwiddie, and LeVert are just a few who benefited from Atkinson’s leadership. No coach will please every player, but there’s sweat equity in his style most respond to. On Saturday, the Nets robbed us from ever knowing how it would’ve worked with superstars who, before the season began, were vocally supportive of the culture and system Atkinson helped instill.

“He’s gotten us to this place right now,” Brooklyn’s general manager Sean Marks said during a press conference on Saturday afternoon. “With mutual discussions between the two of us, we both decided it’s time that we should move on.”

The Nets have suffered bad losses since the All-Star break, including a 141-118 blowout in Atlanta and a 118-79 defeat at home against Memphis. But to maintain that Atkinson wasn’t the right voice for Brooklyn’s locker room (as Marks has) does not justify letting him go when you consider who is actually in said locker room, and how many of them will still be around when the Nets are good enough to contend for a championship.

If the disgruntled figures were Durant and/or Irving, though, that’s a different story. Those two, Marks, and, most importantly, new owner Joe Tsai, are the four most influential opinions driving this franchise forward right now, and obviously none of them strongly felt like Atkinson was the right man for the job.

Coaching is complicated, but from most of what we saw about Brooklyn’s product, Atkinson was hardly the problem. On the court, Brooklyn took good shots and forced bad ones. On the day Atkinson was fired, they had the eighth-best defense in the league despite never having a single plus wing defender on the roster. (Iman Shumpert’s cup of coffee was the closest facsimile of this critical type of player.)

On Saturday, I asked Marks if Brooklyn’s playing style and on-court aesthetic had any impact on the decision to part ways with Atkinson. “No. I think the way they’re playing, we’re very supportive of the system that Kenny and his coaching staff have put out there. It’s about how they were implementing that system, you know, were the right pieces in the right places. I mean, that takes all of us there, so that didn’t factor in.”

Taken at face value, this passes the smell test. The Nets don’t post up. They don’t take mid-range jumpers. Their offense is third in location effective field goal percentage and their defense is second. This doesn’t mean their approach to basketball is the only one worth pursuing, or even the smartest way to accentuate Irving and, eventually, Durant’s skill sets, but what those numbers do say is Brooklyn was sensible and organized with Atkinson at the helm.

There were issues with the rotation, and Atkinson struggled to find balance among his best players, being that their strengths overlapped so harshly on the offensive end. On one hand, staggering Dinwiddie and LeVert kept one offensive creator on the floor at all times. On the other, there must also be some forward-thinking incentives at play, and an urgency to cultivate as much on-court familiarity as possible before Irving and Durant join them next season.

Atkinson is of the player development mold, which puts other areas of coaching under a microscope. During last year’s playoffs he didn’t entirely acquit himself as a tactical magician, but adapted to an environment where match-ups dictate results. He swerved towards iso-ball — the only playoff team that isolated at a higher frequency was Houston — and unleashed his guards on a Philadelphia 76ers defense that couldn’t contain all of them. (It was a strategy which forced JJ Redick to the bench for longer stretches than Brett Brown would’ve liked.)

Brooklyn’s crunch-time offense was generally fine under Atkinson, but there were hiccups here and there over the past couple seasons. In late December the Nets lost to the Karl-Anthony Towns-less Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime. It was just one game jumbled into the regular-season grind, but I can’t help but remember the last few minutes of regulation, when Brooklyn kept running the same stack pick-and-roll action down the stretch, even after it became clear the Timberwolves knew what was going to happen.

A few seconds after Ryan Saunders lets his defense know what’s about to happen, Atkinson jumps out of his seat and gives the exact same hand signal when his players screw up the execution:

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One player later they ran the exact same thing. Again, it was off-beat. Again, they scored zero points.

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This doesn’t look good, but one could argue that Atkinson was a victim of the talent (or lack thereof) Brooklyn had on the floor. That same action with Durant and Irving has a different result, whether the defense knows what’s coming or not.

Long before those two hyper-accelerated Brooklyn’s timeline, rumors about Atkinson’s job being in jeopardy started to percolate. Last December, when the Nets won two out of 14 games, including eight losses in a row, veterans in that locker room could sense a change on the horizon. They were 8-18 when they snapped their losing streak with an overtime win over the eventual champion Toronto Raptors. The Nets saved their season by winning nine of their next 10 games. It was the type of turnaround players who don’t believe in their head coach never make (including a three-point win in Philadelphia against the healthy Sixers).

Whether this year’s roster was sick of Atkinson or not, a firing of this magnitude necessitates a look back at what led the Nets to where they are. The decision to sign Durant, Irving, and DeAndre Jordan is one just about every general manager would make if in the same spot Brooklyn was last year. It’s a no-brainer, in almost every sense. But it’s worth wondering how things would’ve shaken out under less stressful, more patient circumstances.

The NBA is all about taking advantage of opportunity when it’s presented by fortuitous timing. The Nets had enough cap space to sign two stars with championship experience who were ready to win right now.

The alternative would’ve likely been to re-sign Russell, keep Dinwiddie, and ink Levert to an extension. Develop continuity with that core, hope Allen develops three-point range and becomes a legitimate franchise center, and stay as financially lean as possible without falling off their upward trajectory to attract free agents in 2021.

Again, no general manager would prefer Door B if Kevin Durant is walking through Door A, but that parallel universe is a fascinating one to consider, especially if the next couple years end in disappointment and Marks is the one looking for a new job.

What comes next is anybody’s guess. During his press conference, Marks sidestepped a couple questions about what type of coach the team will pursue this summer. Brooklyn’s opening is the most high risk, high reward opening in quite some time. And the question now becomes who can pick up where Atkinson left off and lead a team that hasn’t won two straight playoff series in 17 years to the NBA Finals?

Any serious candidate must command immediate respect from Irving and Durant and be familiar with world-class pressure. Is that Ty Lue or Jason Kidd? Mike D’Antoni or Brown (assuming Houston and Philly let them go)? Is it a Van Gundy brother or Mark Jackson? Is it Mike Krzyzewski, who recruited Irving to Duke and coached Durant on Team USA? This last option sounds impractical, but given Marks’ ties to the San Antonio Spurs and the downward trend the organization appears to be on … what about Gregg Popovich?

It’s probably too dramatic to describe Brooklyn’s situation as “a mess,” given that Durant is theoretically talented enough by himself to overcome just about any level of organizational dysfunction. But to achieve their goals the Nets can’t afford to be dysfunctional. As if there wasn’t already enough pressure, whoever they hire as their next head coach will walk in with sky-high expectations despite the absence of any runway to forge chemistry or build culture.

The decision to march ahead without Atkinson at the helm speaks to deeper, unknown issues that have little to actually do with the game of basketball and could not be resolved. We always knew the Nets would look very different next year. It’s a shame we’ll never get to see what that could’ve been with the same coach who helped get them where they are.

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