#a little bit more of amelia's backstory is revealed

[kaylatoonz]

Amelia Rose Thorndyke (movie Amy Rose)

I know there’s a slim chance of this happening but I think it would be interesting if they gave the human characters from Sonic X another chance, the Thorndyke to be more specific.

Context: (probably take place in movie 3)

Backstory- Just like in the show, Chris is a pretty lonely kid until Amy Rose crashes into his life 6-7 years ago (literally crashing into their family pool). After a late-night rescue, Chris takes in the small pink hedgehog to make sure it’s OK. Chris originally wanted to keep Amy a secret, but those plans were ruined the very next morning when Chuck, Ella, and Mr. Tanaka discovered her when Chris was trying to find food suitable for the little pink hedgehog. They were a bit skeptical at first, but after some convincing from Chris’s end was allowed to stay until he could confront his parents about it. Chris was concerned that their growing friendship would be cut short once his parents returned, luckily Amy managed to warm her way into the hearts of everyone in the household, even his parents and uncle. Years later Amy Rose is considered a part of the family and is spoiled with love thanks to Lindsey and Ella. Over the years Amy was able to chase away Chris’s loneliness but unfortunately not her own. Although Amy spends much of her time with Chris and her family, she feels isolated from the outside world. She understands the rules set by Mr. And Mrs.Thorndyke to never go outside to keep her safe, but she still can’t help but feel sad that she can’t meet anyone new or someone like her.

Those feelings come to an end when a shocking new cast reveals three beings that were like her, the blue hedgehog the most. The second the story was over Amy rushed over to her parents begging them to take her to green hills to meet these heroes. They immediately shoot down the idea, saying it’s too dangerous, and it could be a trap. This leads to a heated argument between the three ending with Amy being grounded until further notice. Feeling defeated Amy goes to her room as told. Left alone with her thoughts once again she came to one conclusion, she was going to take things into her own hands. That night she runs away to find the three heroes and hopefully go on an adventure to remember.

Sonic and Amy- unlike other iterations of Amy and Sonic's don’t see eye to eye as much at least at the start. Before Amy met the gang she built this image of the heroes that don’t quite compare to who they are. Despite this she gets along with knuckles and tails (though they are nothing like she imagined) it’s Sonic she has a problem with. Not only did he fail to meet every expectation she had for him, he’s also a jerky, reckless idiot in Amy's eyes. Sonic was always doing or saying something stupid getting them into trouble. Not to mention he always left her behind and never took her seriously (that is no way to treat a lady). This prompts her to prove him wrong by jumping head-first into danger that she believes she can handle (she is a bit of a hypocrite). On Sonic’s end, he sees Amy as a spoiled reckless brat who doesn’t understand anything. It’s a bit harsh but it's hard not to think that she is constantly getting into trouble when she can barely control her powers and keep making things difficult when he tries to leave her somewhere safe (sonic is also a hypocrite). Worst of all she left behind a perfectly good family to go on an “adventure”. Sonic would have done anything to have Tom and Maddie as a family on day one, so Amy's drives frustrated him. These frustrations grow during the adventure eventually leading to a heated argument between the two hedgehogs (similar to the argument Sonic had with Tom in the first film). Amy leaves the team hurt and conflicted by her original hope and goal.

“Was she selfish for running away in hopes of meeting others like her? Should she just return home where she’d be safe and out of their way?” She couldn’t help but feel guilty for her behavior towards the team (specifically Sonic) and her parents. She had come all this way to meet them only to show how much of a burden she was and she probably had her family worried sick. Wanting to set things right she decided to head back to the team to give them a proper apology before returning home where she would be out of their hair (quills) for good. Before she can do anything she gets kidnapped by Eggman or Shadow.

Back with team Sonic, Knuckles and Tails are disappointed by how Sonic handled things. They agree that Amy can be a bit of a handful at times but she has also proven to have her strengths (though there’s room for improvement). Tails even insisted that they have a lot in common if they BOTH take the time to get to know each other. Sonic disagrees that he’s anything like her until he crosses paths with Chris.

It turns out that as soon as the Thorndykes found out Amy Rose was missing Mr and Mrs Thorndyke heard straight to green hills while Chuck and Chris followed their trail to find Amy ( behind Nelson and Lindsey's back of course). This leads to them eventually catching up with Sonic and the gang but still no sight of Amy.

Upon meeting with the humans, they both learn that Amy has been kidnapped. Like everyone else, Sonic shares concerns for Amy's safety, though he lets slip an offhanded comment about her getting into trouble again which Chris and Chuck don’t take lightly.

On the way to rescue Amy, the team gets to know the new humans leading to a heart-to-heart between Sonic and Chris (this could work with Chuck but I think Chris needs some redemption after his Sonic X iteration). Chris let Sonic know that there’s more to Amy than her sometimes feisty nature. She’s always proven to be the most kind and compassionate person he has ever known and is always doing something amazing when no one‘s around to appreciate it (foreshadowing of the scene with Shadow and Amy). He also laments his mistake of not noticing sooner how lonely and isolated Amy felt which caught Sonic’s attention. As Chris continues he reveals to Sonic how having a family from the beginning Amy never had as much freedom to explore or had any friends of her own. She didn’t even know there were others like her a couple of weeks ago. Knowing this Sonic felt he owed Amy a second chance and maybe an apology.

Fast forward after rescuing Amy, Shadow, and Amy’s scene, the team saves the world (this going on long enough)

With the day bringing save and families reunited Sonic and Amy meet face to face once again. Before Sonic can voice his apology Amy starts to tearfully apologize to Sonic about her behavior. To comfort her, Sonic hugs Amy telling her he’s sorry he wasn’t the nicest guy either. Sonic even suggests that they could start over and she can join the team. Amy agrees to start over but suggests that she hold off on joining the team for a bit. She doesn’t believe she’s ready to team due to her lack of control over her abilities (at the time sonic and Amy didn’t know about the impact Amy had on shadow and how it helped a lot in the long run. Amy also feels she needs a lot of self-reflection after their adventure (she’s still guilty for causing so much trouble for the team and possibly being responsible for Shadow's sacrifice himself).

After some parting banter (less rough compared to their first meeting) Amy promises when they meet again for their next adventure she’ll be stronger than ever.

First thing when the hedgehogs arrive home both get teased by their siblings/family about their new friend).

Bonus content:

Chris and Amy have a sibling relationship, so like siblings, they can get on each other's nerves from time to time.

Nelson and Lindsey both help fund the Wachowski’s expenses that the government won’t help cover for Sonic, tails, and knuckles. Chuck also helps fund tails projects cause he has taken a liking to the little fox (though the project Chuck and Tail work on together can get a bit wild).

Chris, Chuck, and Tails whenever they visit each other work on new inventions together. This may include an explosion or two, much to the concern of the adults (between the Wachowskis and the Thorndyke).

Although Sonic and Amy are on better terms they often have a hard time complimenting each other face to face stating that it would “go to their head”. Occasionally a compliment sometimes does slip out from one of them which causes both of them to become flustered whenever it happens.

Sonic and Amy, both still share banter, though it comes out a bit flirtatious to onlookers which knuckles, tails, and Chris happily teased them about.

After their adventure, Amy loses a bit of confidence in herself and holds a lot of guilt for nearly costing Sonic his life (when Sonic got shot into space trying to rescue Amy) and the loss of shadow. This is one of the many reasons Amy is hesitant to join the team even when she gets better control of her powers. When Sonic learns of this, he isn’t having it, giving Amy a heart-to-heart talk about how she should give herself more credit ( and maybe mentioning how he’s been through something similar).

Sonic eventually learns about what Amy did for Shadow and other “small” deeds that helped the team a lot more than Amy thinks. Sonic gained a lot of respect and admiration for her after that. (He’ll let her know that whenever Amy is being too hard on herself with her shortcomings).

Whenever Sonic and Amy go on their “not date” dates Sonic offers to pay for the expenses despite Amy being loaded. (Amy’s not sure if he's just being a gentleman or he forgot she’s rich but she’ll take it).

Despite having a rough introduction with Ella(Amy nearly gave Ella a heart attack when she first arrived), Amy and Ella have the strongest bond, especially in the kitchen. They both enjoy cooking delicious meals and baked goods for the whole family to enjoy. And whenever Sonic and the gang come to visit she always appreciates the extra hands she gets in the kitchen. The boys also appreciate the food Amy and Ella make for them when they visit.

Mr. Tanaka serves as a butler and bodyguard to the Thorndyke household. He gives both Amy and Chris self-defense lessons to show that he cares about them in his own way (and to keep them safe). Mr. Tanaka was originally on the fence with Sonic due to Amy losing so much of her confidence in herself the last time she interacted with Sonic. Once he gets both sides of the story, he’s more understanding, though he is still protective of Miss Rose when Sonic is around.

Sam Speed and Amy often have a hard time seeing eye to eye with each other due to Sam’s blunt and overconfident nature. Similar to Sonic X, Sam developed a rivalry with Sonic once he learned of Sonic's super speed.

[seeyouonsaturn]

Meet Leo!

Verse: Transformers Prime [TfP]

Full Name: Leo Monti

Age: 19

Guardian: Smokescreen

Family: Gina Monti [aunt], Amelia "Millie" Monti [cousin, age 10]

Other Info:

Mixed race [african american mother, italian father]

He's transgender [he/him]. He came out at 15, luckily his family is great and almost everyone's cool with it. It's not really a big deal or relevant to the story here.

Leo's most prized possession is his jacket, which is an authentic vintage racing jacket he scored at a yard sale a couple of years ago. He almost never takes it off.

Leo is a 19 year old boy living in Jasper, Nevada, and one of the human allies of the residing Autobots. He's a huge fan of sports cars and dreams of becoming a racer himself some day, though those dreams seem pretty out of reach on account of him currently living in bumfuck nowhere, Nevada. He met the Autobots when he came across the coolest racecar he'd ever seen right there in Jasper, and had to stop to take a closer look at it. Without warning, said car suddenly turned into a giant robot and happily thanked him for the compliments, leaving Leo to nearly pass out in shock (in Smokescreen's defense, he was left unsupervised).

Seeing as it was his fault Leo found out about them in the first place, Optimus decided to appoint Smokescreen (who'd only recently arrived at Earth, explaining his carelessness about revealing himself to a human) as Leo's guardian, hoping that it'd teach him some responsibility. Unfortunately, Leo is not the responsible type when it comes to driving a fast car.

Backstory under the cut (since it's a bit long)

Leo got his love for cars from his mother, who took him to the racetrack with her ever since he was a baby. Becoming a driver himself has always been his dream.

Unfortunately, his parents both passed away when he was 8 years old, and he was forced to move halfway across the country to live with his aunt Gina, his father's sister, in Jasper.

With all the expenses of hospital costs, funeral arrangements, moving, on top of being newly pregnant with her own daughter, money became very tight. Nevertheless Gina did her best to provide a loving home for her nephew. She's legally adopted him and considers him her own just as much as Millie, but they still refer to each other as aunt and nephew because they've both agreed it would feel awkward doing otherwise.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot of opportunities to get into the racing scene in Jasper. There's just nothing out there. Leo hopes to make enough money to be able to move somewhere bigger some day, but even though he's managed to work odd jobs ever since he was 16, most of his paycheck always winds up vanishing as he has to help his aunt with bills. She insists he doesn't need to, but he knows she's struggling hard to keep a roof over their heads, and he can't in good conscience keep money for himself while there's no food in the kitchen for his kid cousin. He's a good kid.

Leo is close to his family. He's happy to help out his aunt with chores (most of the time) and considers Millie to be his little sister rather than cousin. He's grateful to Gina for taking him in like she did, for raising and supporting him. He may not clean his room all the time, but he'd do anything (else) for them. Beside his immediately family, Leo has a large extended family as well. Holiday gatherings are a week-long event each year, and while they're understandably stressful, Leo loves getting to see everyone.

After graduating high school, Leo managed to get an apprenticeship at the local mechanic's, which is the closest thing one can get to working with cars in the area. Most of the cars he gets to work on are rusty pieces of trash, but every once in a while someone brings in something a little more fancy, and his boss - the owner and sole employee of the garage - has taken notice of Leo's affinity for them and always asks him to take a "test drive" to make sure everything's in order, even when it's not really necessary.

His life takes a drastic and unexpected turn the day he meets Smokescreen. He just wanted to look at the cool car that somehow appeared on a sidewalk at the outskirts of town. He didn't expect it to talk! Smokescreen had only just recently joined Team Prime, and hadn't quite gotten the memo about being in disguise yet. Oops! So next thing Leo knows, he's at a secret base, surrounded by giant robot aliens while they're trying to figure out what to do with him.

Once the inital shock wears off, Leo and Smokescreen become fast friends. In more ways than one – no amount of scolding from the other bots can stop them from pushing Smokescreen's new alt mode's top speed to the max. Put those two together and what you wind up with is chaotic, irresponsible, and with seemingly no sense of self-preservation. You thought that one time Smokescreen went off with Jack was bad? You haven't seen him with Leo. Not even Miko could hold a candle to some of the nonsense those boys get up to.

It's not before long that their friendship develops into something more, which is... complicated, mainly, largely due to the whole interspecies aspect. Even when Leo and Smokescreen finally get it together and get the confessions out of the way, telling everyone else? Yeah, good luck with that. Smokescreen was tasked with protecting this human, not to– yikes, yeah, Optimus is not gonna be happy. Meanwhile Leo finally scored a boyfriend (who's also a giant robot, alien, AND badass car), and he can't even tell anyone. Dang it.

Millie finds out first, because little sisters are nosy. Someone save Ratchet, the humans keep multiplying; now there's a dang little one too because once Millie found out about the Autobots, Leo HAD to take her to see them.

Aunt Gina finds out eventually too, and she's always tried her best to be supportive of Leo – she was totally cool with him being trans and gay, and did suspect he had a boyfriend – but what the fuck is that! Holy shit. Yeah, it takes her a while. But her kids are both assuring her that it's fine, the giant robots are friendly, and apparently this other kid's mom is cool with it too, so... okay? Sure? Aunt Gina and June need to start a support group (they definitely meet up for coffee regularly after this). She does try very hard to be accepting of her kid's boyfriend and not be weird about the fact that he's a giant alien that turns into a car. It's cool. Whatever makes him happy. She'll do her best to accomodate him and would invite him over more often too, but she doesn't think he can fit inside the house.

Just when she's starting to get used to this new reality, Millie (who's always wanted to be a pilot) brings home a special new friend of her own.

[flysafepapi]

best interests (do you understand?) 8/?

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Ollie x OFC John x platonic!OFC Tommy x platonic!OFC

tagging: @the-makingsofgreatness​

Summary:  Even in the short amount of time it’s been since Amelia moved to the city, she’s heard all sorts of stories about them. The Peaky Blinders. More than half of the stories, she suspects, are wildly exaggerated and  little more than idle gossip traded when people are well into their cups. Even so, she made a promise to herself to stay away from men who looked like trouble, especially after the last time, and if anyone in this dreary city was trouble, it was them.

masterlist

“I was married once, before,” Amelia says, rubbing her thumb over the gold band on her left hand. The details of her life before this, before London, have been deliberately kept a mystery. Ollie knows some of it, from little things she’s let slip in conversations, things she’s deemed safe enough to talk about. Alfie knows, but that was a given. She’s never said a thing to anyone else, until now. 

“When I was sixteen, I fell in love with a neighbourhood boy. Not one of my brother’s friends, I was never that foolish, but someone we all knew. He was sweet to me, and kind, at first. Even my parents were fooled by him, enough to say yes when he went to them to ask if he could marry me. But my brothers weren’t.” 

She lights a cigarette and leans back in her chair, tilting her head back to blow the smoke out in one thin stream. In the dim light, it almost looks beautiful, in a way. 

“They were against it from the start, and I should’ve listened to them, but I didn’t like them very much back then and thought they were just trying to ruin my chance to be happy.”

“What did he do?”

Esme doesn’t look at her, but Amelia knows she’s listening regardless. Everyone else is gone, thankfully, off to wherever it is they go when the work is done. The Garrison, she guesses. 

“He broke me. And I thought I could hide it, or run from it, or- I don’t know. It started small, you know? Complaints that what I made for dinner wasn’t good enough, and bruises from his hands around my wrists. Didn’t take long before it got worse and worse.”

“Amelia-”

“My brothers were smarter than me, always have been, and they knew. I don’t know how, because I hid it as well as I could, but they knew. One day, they came to the house and took him away. And I never saw him ever again. And I never let myself get that close to anyone else again, until-”

For a minute, she stares up at the ceiling, lost in the memories. Sometimes, when the nightmares find their way back to her, she can still feel his hands around her neck when she wakes, locked tight around her throat. 

“That doesn’t matter. What I’m trying to say is that regardless of what his reputation might be, Tommy wouldn’t. I know he wouldn’t.”

“How long have you known him?”

“Long enough to know that he’s a liar, and a thief, and a thousand other things that would’ve gotten him locked away by now if he wasn’t one of the smartest people I’ve known. But he’s not one of them. Trust me, if you can’t trust him. I can’t tell you that it’ll be the happiest marriage. But sometimes being safe is better than being happy.”

“Is that why you’re with your man up in London? Because he’s safe?”

“God, no. He works for the only man in this country that could kill me and face no retaliation from my brothers.” 

“Why is that?”

Amelia’s never told anyone this, either. 

“He’s family too, and they know that if he killed me, it must’ve been for a damn good reason.”

~~~

“Just the woman we wanted to see!”

Her plan had been to get a drink and some peace and quiet, but apparently it’s not to be. She’s too exhausted to argue and lets John herd her into the small room just off the entrance to the pub, taking a seat across from him, almost directly opposite Finn.

“How have you been, Finn?”

Amelia’s sure Finn mumbles something, when he ducks his head and concentrates on the papers in front of him like they’re the most fascinating thing he’s ever seen, but for the life of her she can’t understand the words. She shares an amused grin with Arthur and John, and takes pity on the youngest, shifting her attention to the bottle of whiskey on the table. 

She’s listening to Arthur extolling the virtues of the women of London, highly amused at his frustration at not being able to tell his stories how he wants with his youngest brother sitting there, when the door opens and Isiah steps through with someone she doesn’t recognise. The cousin, she figures. 

“Lia! I was beginning to think you’d never come out again.”

“It’s payday.”

“Told you,” he says, to the boy beside him, a triumphant grin on his face. 

“Get into a fight, did you?”

“Some idiots at the Marquis of Lorne. Tried to stop me and Isaiah from drinking, but it's all right.”

Amelia eyes the bruises, then sighs when she hears Arthur ask where Jeremiah is. Whatever follows isn’t going to be anything good. She should probably stop them, but the more Isiah talks, explaining what happened, the less inclined she is to keep them from doing something stupid. Fucking racists.

“Stay here with Amelia, alright?”

“Where are they going?”

Amelia shares a look with Isiah. 

“The Marquis of Lorne.”

“Shame,” she sighs, picking up John and Arthur’s cards to see what they’ve got in their hands, “That was a nice pub.”

“Who are you?”

“Oh, right. Amelia, this is Michael. That lost cousin you were talking about with Tommy earlier. Michael, this is the lovely Amelia. Strictly hands off,” Isiah winks at her, “If you want to keep your hands.”

“Sleeping with one of them, then?”

“Sorry?”

Michael is, apparently, entirely blind to both social cues and the warning tap on the shoulder Isiah gives him, hissing at him to shut up before he does something that he can’t take back. 

“Excuse me?”

“I thought nothing was off limits to the Peaky Blinders.”

“Alright, Amelia, we should be-”

Isiah cuts off abruptly when Amelia raises a hand to stop him. 

“What’s the rush? We were just getting better acquainted, weren’t we, Michael?”

Finn looks like he’s trying to shrink into the wall, looking down at his hands to avoid her eyes, and Isiah closes his eyes and leans his head back against the back of the booth in resignation. Michael barely spares them a glance as Amelia shuffles along the seat, around the table, until she’s sitting close enough to him that she could probably count his eyelashes. 

“You want to know what it is I do for your cousins, to make me off limits? Get a little taste of what I can do?”

“I don’t have any money left after the drinks.”

Isiah winces.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. The first one is free, just like it was for your cousins. Sound good?”

“Alright,” he says, looking at her with just a hint of colour in his cheeks, and though he tries to sound authoritative, she can hear the slight tremor in his voice from her hand on his knee. Not a lot of girls in the village, she guesses, or parents that wouldn’t let him go near any of them. “Go ahead.”

The knife in her hand is sharp, she knows, she sharpened it herself just the night before when sleep wouldn’t come, and she knows that he feels the lethal press of it against the inside of his thigh, right against where she knows very well the femoral artery runs. He goes rigid, and she leans in to whisper in his ear. 

“I don’t care who you’re related to, or what their reputation is. Imply I’m a whore again, Michael,” she drags the knife down, towards his knee, not pressing down hard enough to do any damage but enough to make the threat known, “And what they’re out doing to the men that gave you those bruises will feel like a fucking kiss from the angels above compared to what I’ll do. And when I’m done, all the whores in the world won’t be able to help you, because there won’t be anything left. Understand?”

She lets the silence stretch for a long moment, and when it becomes apparent that he’s not going to answer her, she presses down a little harder, watching as the fibres in the fabric separate neatly under the wickedly sharp blade. 

“I said, do you understand?”

“Michael-”

“Yes,” he grits out, humiliated and feeling angry about it. Less than it happened and more that it happened with an audience. “I understand.”

“Good boy.”

[ameliapodcast]

Dissecting an Episode: Melissa Menken

Inspiration

I'm a film major, as will become pretty apparent by the end of this, if not for any actual knowledge, for all the incessant rambling.

Bit of backstory, before I get into this first.

I'd started listening to The Amelia Project mostly because I didn't wanna use a podcast story I'd already listened to, and a friend of mine in Comms. who is pretty crazy about this show, recommended it to me for the assignment. I've just finished the episode now, actually.

Another reason why I went into it was the premise, of the podcast being exactly what I was looking for in terms of a storyline.

Flashing forward to the present, I'm sure you must be wondering: why this episode specifically? Well, my reason's pretty simple: I wanted a challenge, and Melissa Menken was just that.

With the power of transcript, even though it doesn't seem like it, on first listen, it's pretty simple to understand how it could actually follow the three-act structure of most stories, without actually doing so?

So, here goes.

1. Set-Up: On first listen/read, the set-up is, very obviously, the voicemail.

Melissa leaves a voicemail on the project's answerphone, claiming that she's innocent in a crime she didn't commit, immediately shifting to a calmer tone talking about cocoa, implying that she knows for a fact that the Project will help. They're practically obligated.

However, I believe there's a little more to it than that.

When Melissa enters the Interviewer's office, she instantly guesses that he's about to offer her cocoa and that Salvatore(I think that's his name) is about to interrupt the two of them. This, THIS is what provides the grander set-up and what truly sets the episode in motion.

Confrontation and Crisis: Personally the trickiest part for me, since this is a little harder to explain without a direct protagonist or antagonist. I can definitely try, no problem there, but I'm sorry in advance if it doesn't make any actual sense.

It's also typically the part where we see the most clarity in the character's actions and some resolution/development in plot, which is why I actually admire Phillip and Oystein for completely switching it up here. (I've placed both under the same subheading since they're both a part of the second act, and there's no clear demarcation of the categories in the episode.)

We switch back and forth between the past and the present, where the Interviewer joins in the accusations about Melissa killing Solveig Larson, a well-known inventor working in a rival company, and Melissa being unable to prove her innocence because of her ability.

There's further switches, almost dizzying, leading a further confusion and intrigue. Finally the Interviewer, amazed, asks her how she guessed every little detail about him correctly.

Melissa reveals her ability to the Interviewer. He's skeptical at first, understandably so, but when she demonstrates this with a future phone and a joke about having eight cups of cocoa, we (the listeners) finally begin to understand all that's going on. Melissa tells us exactly what led to the circumstances, and how a simple impulse led to virtual collapse.

3. Resolution: The Interviewer and Melissa have both gotten what they wanted, and both have achieved a positive resolution. Melissa's faked her death, which as far as she's concerned, is able to save her from herself. The Interviewer has, yet again, been able to conduct another death-faking satisfactorily, and the audience has finally been able to understand this episode. It seems that almost everything is answered and another arc satisfactorily ended.

(I'm not mentioning the epilogue with the Agent Haines guy since that opens up a whole other Pandora's box of complexities, so this is where it ends.)

Anyway, if you've read this far, thanks! I wrote this at 1 am with a cup on coffee, so I'm going back to bed now.

Good night.

Reasons we have the most dedicated listeners: THIS

Wow! We are impressed! Thank you so much!

[katsidhe]

Ranking Every SPN Midseason Finale

15) 10.09 The Things We Left Behind. Claire’s reintroduction isn’t as bad as some of her later appearances, mostly because she’s still hostile towards Cas and the Winchesters, but it’s still not great. There’s Rowena and Crowley drama I don’t care about, and Dean kills a bunch of people, which is kinda fun, but would be more interesting if it had any consequences.

14) 14.09 The Spear. Michael’s monsters plan is pretty dumb. I’m still not clear on why Michael stopped possessing Dean at any point. Michael and Jack have a good conversation, and I suppose an assassination is the only viable plan for the Winchesters to go for, but most of this episode is just a series of “why” moments one after another.

13) 1.10 Asylum. This is a perfectly acceptable MOTW episode, and a ghost-addled Sam yelling at and punching Dean is fun, but it’s simply not up to snuff with the kind of plot or character development that the other midseason finales put on the table.

12) 13.09 The Bad Place. I really like Kaia and Jack here. The moment with the angels pounding on the ground to break the wards is genuinely pretty cool.  The stakes get upped with the reveal that Mary’s being tortured in Apocaland, and Dean reacts by threatening Kaia at gunpoint, nice. It’s not a bad episode, and it’s not incredible either.

11) 12.08 LOTUS. Is this episode silly? Oh yes. Am I thoroughly entertained when watching it? Resoundingly yes. Every dumb terrible campy detail--like Lucifer turning crosses upside down—combined with the sheer balls-to-the-wall wtf-ery of the President being possessed, and the interspersed moments of genuine drama—as when Sam banishes Lucifer—creates a combination that I can’t help but enjoy. I also like the likely somewhat unintentional implications as to how the political landscape of the SPN world was changed by the sheer volume of apocalyptic events it’s experienced. Seems fair to conclude that God is angry.

10) 8.09 Citizen Fang. Dean sends Sam after Amelia with a fake text, as their s8 conflict comes to a head. This is far from the shadiest thing Dean’s ever done, but it’s so fascinatingly, unapologetically a Relationship Red Flag that I really enjoy it. Plus, I find Sam’s conflict with Benny pretty interesting here.  

9) 6.11 Appointment in Samara. Dean’s deal with Death is a cool concept, and it’s set up well, but it falls a bit flat. Dean fails the test in a way that’s very predictable, and that has no consequences, because Death likes Sam enough to retrieve him anyway. The better part of this episode is Soulless’ desperate, last ditch attempt to save his life at the cost of Bobby’s—he screams and begs as his soul is returned, and I love the moral dilemma here.

8) 9.09 Holy Terror. Kevin!! His death was viscerally shocking and heartbreaking. This episode is consigned to mid B tier because of the angel drama I don’t care about, and because I am still torn on if I really like Kevin’s death thematically speaking. For one thing, I miss him to this day—I miss having a cynical, informed perspective on the Winchesters in the room. For another, it muddies the waters of Dean’s crime in having Gadreel possess Sam, in ways that are sometimes interesting but sometimes miss the point.

7) 15.08 Our Father, Who Aren’t in Heaven. *chanting* New Cage canon! New Cage canon! Jake Abel steals the show with his insane chemistry with himself, and makes the s15 conflict much more interesting just by existing. I love how goddamn uncomfortable Sam is this entire episode, I love Adam and Michael’s weird compelling dynamic, I love Dean’s awkwardness, and I love the four of them all together. I just want them to sit in a room and talk foreeeever.

6) 7.10 Death’s Door. I don’t even like Bobby that much, but even I have to admit that this is a great emotional episode. Sam and Dean deal with their grief, and it’s done well enough to make me grieve for Bobby too.

5) 2.09 Croatoan. Good episode is good. It’s a zombie episode with a real sense of fear and isolation—and then Sam gets infected. Dean’s violent refusal to kill Sam, the subsequent reveal that Sam is somehow immune, and then a demon revealing that this town died just for an experiment on Sam? Creepy and emotional and intriguing!

4) 4.10 Heaven and Hell. Demon and angel battle! Some very fun additions to what we know about the angels and their motivations: Anna’s commitment to fleeing and defying Heaven, coupled with what appears to be Ruby doing the same with Hell, is cool. I also love how Sam ends up successfully playing both sides off each other. Plus, it ends with Dean’s emotional reveal about his time in Hell.

3) 3.08 A Very Supernatural Christmas. Iconic. Three separate things to love: fantastic pre-series content, including amulet backstory and the reveal of little Sam finding out about monsters; a truly wonderful MOTW that involves Christmas tree stabbing and fingernail pulling; and the looming emotional juggernaut of  a final celebration before Dean’s deal comes due.  

2) 5.10 Abandon All Hope. Crowley’s delightful introduction as a smarmy survivalist, Ellen and Jo’s tearjerking deaths, Cas captive and mouthing off to both Lucifer and Meg, Dean’s unsuccessful shot, and of course Sam and Lucifer’s first meeting in person. Action packed and spooky and thrilling and simply beautifully executed.

1) 11.09 O Brother Where Art Thou? In Hell, is where, and I couldn’t be happier!! Lucifer’s reintroduction coupled with Sam’s distress and brittle scared determination is atmospheric and terrifying. Rowena’s betrayal and Amara’s pitch to Dean are compelling. Most importantly, though, I had to wait a MONTH for 11.10 with Sam’s CRYING FACE in my head: best worst cliffhanger of the series by miles and miles. Bury me in this episode.

[matt0044]

“I can believe in spandex-clad superheroes, aliens and mayhaps some demons but I draw the line hard at phantoms.”

Clearly these are the Flat-Earthers of the Power Rangers universe.

Dino Fury has arrived and a new showrunner in the form of Simon Bennet with Chip Lynn stepping down. So far, it’s made a good first impression with the theme song. I’m not opposed to “Go Go Power Rangers” being a consistent leitmotif of the series. I only wish the song was just longer to appreciate it more.

Buzzfe- I MEAN, Buzzblast reporter Amelia Jones reports in with her editor-in-chief to insist on a change of pace from the usual celebrity gossip and investigate Dinohenge out in the woods. Rather than a Gym or a Juice Bar, we get ourselves a Social Media outlet that’s pretty crowded with plenty of hussle. I’m actually reminded of VR Troopers with the whole newspaper angle they got.

As Woody use to say, “What an ideeeeee-ah!”

Jane allows Amelia to go off on her little ghost hunt, not being one for the paranormal. Somebody’s clearly never been to Briarwood before. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that those in the Power Rangers universe would be more open to the supernatural going down. Unless it’s a matter of what’s been scientifically proven such as new aliens regularly coming down to screw us Earthlings over.

Amelia meets Ollie by way of snagging him with her net launcher. I... guess you can just purchase them no questions asked, second amendment and whatnot. The comedic banter is pretty well grounded and less over the top compared to seasons prior. It helped that they’re among the Rangers as we get to know them and they learn of each other. Though I wouldn’t rule out comic relief yet...

Got my eye on you, Garcias. :P

Amelia leads Ollie to Dinohenge where his mother, Dr. Akana, is analyzing the circle of dinosaur statues just laying around. Her drone even picks up signs of an underground chamber only to be interrupted by Warden Buzzki- I MEAN, Warden Garcia. The copper tells them to pack it in while leading the doctor off.

Amelia and Ollie stay to clean up while having another ghost debate because again, nobody saw Mystic Force. Speaking of, a violet colored knight beams in with a scanner honing in on an energy source he seeks. The two hide while watching him blast open a way into the chamber below. As you’d expect, they decide to just walk away quick and call the ward-or they just rush ahead blindly.

Yep, they’re Power Rangers.

They follow Void Knight into the chamber where sentries are lined up one by one in a circle with a lot of advanced tech. The villain busts open a door to reveal a humanoid Solonasaurus and a Red Ranger in stasis. Our resident Alpha tries to reanimate his leader only for Void Knight to damage the controls.

Ollie rushes in with one of the Chromafury Saber along the wall before Amelia launches another net at Void Knight with maximum volts. Solon tries to toss a Power Key at them in order to command the Hengemen with their Sabers. However, Void Knight is quick to recover and seizes of the foot soldiers for him.

Amelia and Ollie are preoccupied by the enemy grunts while Void Knight localizes his exact target within a compartment nearby. Solon finally revives Zayto and brings the Red Ranger back to action. Amelia and Ollie soon even the odds by morphing with their Power Keys, psyched that they’re real superheroes. I love how Ollie claims that they’re get Zords based on the news.

I’m guessing Cassidy and Devin are the ones on the scene.

Void Knight retrieves a containing full of ooey-gooey slimeballs known as Sporixs, a no doubt topical type of villain, before Zayto engages him. The soundtrack has certainly gotten an upgrade this season with the brand new composer. The action leads to the Sporixs being unleashed from their containment unit. Void Knight cuts off the exit in order to pursue them outside.

Void Knight finds one that manages to grow into what will be first Monster of the Week and teleports off with the cretin while the other scatter. Back in the base, Amelia and Ollie demorph with their morphers camouflaging themselves as watches Beast Morphers-style. Zayto also demorphs in order to reveal himself as an alien human with antennae that can read minds. I smell a moral episode.

Zayto reads their character bio-I MEAN, their minds to assess if they’re truly trustworthy and confides his backstory in them. He lead an order of knights to defend his world from the Sporix, creatures born of pure destruction, in a neat mix of Ryusoulger footage and original footage. They drove them off Rafkon but soon learned that their next target was Earth when the dinosaurs still lived.

Zayto’s posse had the most metal idea of riding the Dinosaurs as their steeds against their foes. Now that’s one remake of Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog we need. However, they are visited by none other than the Morphin’ Masters who connect Zayto’s order to the Morphin’ Grid. Yes. They actually took a one-off lore tidbit in the Season One episode “Big Sisters” and really expanded upon it.

Zayto’s order was sadly lost in their efforts to contain the Sporix before he went into stasis for whenever a new threat arose to seize them. Now they’re loose and hibernating after being spread all across the surrounding area. This not only gives us a good reason that they’re sticking around their setting but also adds a bit more of a chaotic factor to the Monsters of the Day formula to come.

Void Knight is tough but not leading a motley crew of world conquerors. Rather he’s a lone wolf hunting for the Sporix for his own ends, making the Macguffin of this season one and the same as the Monsters of the Day. By proxy, the Sporix are individuals until themselves with an evil nature to them. Who knows when and where they’ll spring up or how they operate under their own devices?

Zayto gladly recruits Amelia and Ollie in his new order of Dino Fury Rangers, starting us off with a trio just like with Beast Morphers. I guess the tradition still carries on after the Disney Era. I love that Zayto’s the Red Ranger but also a mentor with Solon as his Alpha 5. It turns the Red Ranger rookie trope on its head and even makes everyone else on the team the Watsons to his Sherlock.

Alright, Simon. You hooked us. Now reel us all the way.

[sokkadora]

tattooed heart; an ellie williams x fem!reader

chapter 3: a cold morning

masterlist here.

part summary: a tad bit of backstory on how joel, ellie, amelia and you met, seth being annoying, y/n and dina escapades, ellie apologizing for the kiss.

trigger warning: none .... i think

a/n: enjoy! and please check out my book safety net on wattpad! my account is @/CATRAMITYS <3333

- ☽ iii ༓ iii ☾ -

                life in jackson could be described as fairly easy - slow and consistent. the people who were living there never actually left and there weren't many people that would move into the city. most people you've known since they were the ones living inside the walls ever since you had come there.

some of the children were born there, yet most of the people came to the settlement as the time passed, seeking protection from the fireflies, infected or bandits. and so far, so good. the settlement was started by maria, tommy's wife, and her father a long time ago. when tommy left the fireflies in search of a normal, peaceful life, he ran into wyoming, finding this place. before their hard work, it was quite hard to manage - they needed to protect the settlement, build walls around it and make sure the people in there were safe, yet the young married couple was way more ambitious.

they wanted to make the old hydroelectric power station work again and that was one of the settlement's biggest projects to date. and to the wonder of everyone, they made it work again, so jackson had a stable supply of electricity almost every day. except for huge storms, which you all were waiting for to end sitting in the dinner, telling each other stories in the light of candles and so. these occasions were fun.

the city was independent - you had your cattle, horses, hens, and pigs, you had women who could sew clothes and make fabrics, you had a few men who were capable of making a gun. also, your mechanics were capable of making a few old cars work if the things would get really bad. in spring and summer, you always made sure to harvest vegetables and fruits, hunting throughout the winter mostly. you had a school and a kind-of-a-cinema when you were bored. for existing in a post-apocalyptic world, jackson was fairly normal.

and though you never got to know your parents, you had amelia. this lady was pretty old in the time she found you — she wasn't that kind of a brutal survivor who would bash someone's skull, twist her knife inside someone's body, or shoot them dead. she was the quiet traveler who was purposely avoiding big cities, who was traveling through woods and walked among rivers to see where her road will lead her. from the moment you bumped into each other, you became friends. family even. but once you got bit, she almost shot you. until she found out you were immune.

you and amelia didn't know what to do, but once amelia caught word of an old man and a 14-year-old immune girl traveling to the fireflies in salt lake city, you two went to find them. it took a few months to find them, the two of you almost giving up after taking shelter in what you thought was an abandoned apartment in pittsburgh.

SUMMER OF 2033:

"y/n, in here." amelia called for you quietly, gesturing to the apartment inside. you nodded, glancing behind you before quickly moving inside and locking the door.

you let out a sigh of relief, readjusting your ponytail and checking out the apartment. amelia jumped in front of you, pulling out her handgun, "get behind me, sugar." she whispered, softly moving towards the bedroom where she heard noises.

once she opened the door, the two of you aimed your guns at the people inside, two dark skinned boys, one around your age at the time and an older man with a red haired girl also around your age.

"amelia, they're not bad." you say, lowering your gun slowly to look at them better. the older woman glances at you before putting her gun down too.

the young man steps forward with his hand outstretched towards you, "i'm henry, who are you?" he asks nervously, glancing

you look up at him, then glance at amelia. she nods, signaling that it's okay, "i'm y/n." you respond with a small smile.

henry grins a bit, gesturing to the others, "we all just met but, this is joel," he starts, gesturing to the older man in the flannel, "this is ellie, and this is my little brother sam." henry finishes, gesturing to the girl and the boy.

"amelia and y/n." amelia introduces, gesturing to her then you. "sorry for the, uh, abrupt entrance. we thought this apartment was empty." she laughs nervously, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"no worries. we were about to head out anyway." henry starts, beginning to walk out. "wait, would you two like to come with us?" we're planning on getting out of this city tonight."

you and amelia look at each other before she turns her head towards the henry again, "i don't thi—"

"amelia, c'mon! safety in numbers, remember." you remind her, crossing your arms over your chest and looking at her knowingly.

the woman scoffs and shakes her head, looking at her lap for a moment, "fine, okay, we'll join you guys."

upon leaving the apartment, you, sam, and ellie began to talk to each other. once you found out she was 14, like the immune girl, you went up to amelia while you were waiting in henry's "office".

"amelia, can i talk to you for a second?" you whisper to her, gesturing to a quieter spot. amelia's eyebrows furrow in confusion as she looks away from the outside to you, nodding.

once in a quieter spot, you tell amelia your hypothesis about ellie and joel, them being the two you’ve been searching the country for, "no, no way. they're probably just father and daughter."

"don't daughters usually call their fathers dad instead of their actual names?" you ask her, irritated while your arms fold over your chest. amelia stares at you blankly, hands resting on her knees. "this is the man and the immune girl we're searching for, amelia. we have to tell—"

"guys?" a voice calls into the room, making yours and amelia's head shoot towards the sound. it's sam. "henry says it's time to go." sam tells you two awkwardly.

amelia sighs heavily, rising from her place on the desk and looking at you, "you and i will finish this conversation later."

that conversation never went as well as you hoped, you and ellie finding out that you both are immune in the radio station during a slow game of truth or dare. neither of you knew what it was, but henry gave you the basic gist of it.

ellie was thrilled to know she wasn't the only immune person, and she wasn't alone in that area. after losing henry and sam the morning after, you four headed off to find joel's brother, tommy in wyoming after finding a car.

after finding tommy and heading to the university of eastern colorado, things only got more rough from there. joel and amelia both got impaled, barely making it out of the science building alive before getting on their horses and passing out. resulting in you and ellie panicking before getting yourselves together and finding a nearby town to stay at for the winter.

during that winter, you encountered david, and his friend carl. you and ellie almost lost your lives after getting captured by them, then joel and amelia swooped in saving you and ellie from becoming the monsters you both fear.

the rest of the journey carried into the spring, you, joel, ellie, and amelia becoming much closer during the time from winter to spring. once you all got to the firefly hospital and joel and amelia found out what the cost for the vaccine was, they saved you and ellie.

you both had become to loved and valuable to them, neither wanting to bear the loss of another child. and they lied to you both to keep you safe. so after they took out most of the fireflies in the hospital, including their leader, marlene, you all headed back to tommy's, to jackson.

you and ellie both stopped the elders before entering jackson, "hey, wait." ellie called, looking to you for a bit of comfort.

amelia and joel turned around, looking at the two of you. you bit your lip as ellie started talking, "back in boston — back when i was bitten... i wasn't alone." she reveals, glancing between joel and amelia.

"my best friend, riley, was there and she got bit too." ellie tells everyone.

"and i was with my best friend, carly." you tell the group, fidgeting with your fingers. "we didn't know what to do. so, she says 'let's just wait it out. y'know we can be all poetic and lose our minds together. we're still waiting for our turn."

"then it was tess." ellie states, fidgeting with her fingers anxiously.

"then henry and sam—" you continue the statement for her.

"none of that is on you." amelia states, stepping a bit closer to you and ellie.

"no, you don't understand." ellie says sadly, rubbing her face.

joel suddenly steps forward, "i struggled for a long time with survivin', and you-" he briefly clutches his watch. "no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for. now, i know that's not what you want to hear right now but it's—"

you shake your head, looking away before turning back at joel, "swear to us." you interrupt, looking between the two adults seriously. "swear to us that everything that you said about the fireflies is true."

joel and amelia look between you and ellie with a hesitant look, "we swear." she says to you two, placing a hand on joel's shoulder.

you and ellie take a pause, processing everything before looking back at amelia and joel, nodding, "okay." you say together.

MARCH 2ND, 2038:

that was how you got into jackson. the first months there were pretty weird to you - the city had rules, schedule and they gave you food every morning, midday and evening, calling it breakfast, lunch, and dinner. the first week, you spent with vomiting since your food wasn't used to eat regularly. it was also pretty hard trying to trust strangers before you realized they don't mean you any harm. amelia was immediately capable of working at their farm with their animals, while you were getting the jobs like cleaning up mess or help in the kitchen - which meant that you didn't see each other that much.

- ☽ ♡ ༓ ♡ ☾ -

but after last night you and ellie went your ways after the talk with joel and amelia. there were many exchanged glances as she walked you home although you insisted you were fine. when you stood in the doorway of your house, ellie kissed your cheek before waving goodbye shyly.

a knock wakes you out of your sleep, groaning as you sit up and walk to the door, "just a minute! geez." you call out, walking to the door while scratching the back of your neck tiredly.

once you open it, you see dina. your other best friend, "hey dina." you yawn, squeezing the door handle as you look at your friend who's already dressed. "oh shit-"

"yep. hurry up and get ready, stupid." dina grins, stepping inside and sitting on your couch as you head into the bathroom with a new set of clothes. "maria also wants to talk to you."

stepping out of the bathroom, you reload your pistol and grab your switchblade that joel made you, "alright, dina, let's go."

she nods, opening the door as both of you step out into the cold air, "are joel and amelia up yet? or ellie?" you ask curiously.

"tommy and amelia went out early for patrol. something about a herd or infected up north, i don't know where joel is, and ellie, is still asleep. like ellie." dina tells you as you nod in understanding, chuckling at the last part of her sentence. "are you four... good?"

you glance up at her, sighing, "yeah, i guess so." you shrug, looking away and itching your nose.

once you and dina get downtown, she leads you into a restaurant, "this way." she says, motioning towards the nearly empty restaurant.

once you two enter, dina walks away to socialize with the others. you glance at her anxiously as she just smirks, shooing you in maria's direction.

"hey, y/n! over here!" maria calls from across the bar, making you groan and walk over unenthusiastically.

you walk to maria, "yes?" you ask, rubbing your face with your gloved hands.

"seth has something he wants to say to you." maria tells you, glancing towards the kitchen.

you glare at maria, irritated, "i don't wanna hear what that bigot has to say."

maria looks at you with an unreadable expression, "do it for me, please?" she asks gently.

you scan her face over, and sigh, resting your foot on a small crate, "fine."

"seth! seth, come here." maria calls towards the kitchen.

"fuck me." you mutter under your breath, as you look up.

seth walks out of the kitchen sheepishly, with something in his hands, "hey. look last night, i was drinking too much." seth starts, making you scoff quietly.

"sure." you say in disbelief, crossing your arms as you rest your right leg on the stool next to you.

"i'm trying to say i'm sorry!" seth exclaims, getting more irritated with you. "maria tells me that you and dina are heading out." he tells you, making you glance back at dina. "i made you two some sandwiches." he reveals.

seth places the sandwiches on the bar counter, giving them a pat before scooching them towards you.

"okay." you mumble, staring at him awkwardly.

"they're steak." seth informs you, gesturing towards the sandwiches you haven't taken yet.

maria gets tired of the awkward silence as she takes the sandwiches as she shoves them into your chest, "thank you, seth." she says assertively, scaring seth back into the kitchen.

turning around with the sandwiches, you bump into dina, "what've you got there?" she asks curiously as you shove the sandwiches into her hands.

"some... surprisingly decent looking bigot sandwiches." you scoff, dusting off your pants while looking around the outside room.

dina lifts them to her nose, taking a whiff, "they smell absolutely scrumptious." she says in a fake posh accent, making you laugh as she secretly throws them away.

"come on you two, time to go." maria calls from the doorway of the restaurant, gesturing to the outside. "y/n, i need to talk to you for a minute before i head back inside."

you stop next to maria, gesturing for dina to go ahead without you as she closes the door, "are you amelia and joel good?" maria asks quietly, making you roll your eyes. "they seemed to be in a better mood this morn—"

"we're fine maria." you interrupt her, your eyes closing in annoyance as you're getting tired of this question.

the blonde woman puts her hands up, "just wanted to make sure. i worry y'know." she chuckles, bringing you into a short embrace. you nods, pulling away, "go find dina." she tells you heading into the restaurant as you head on your way.

you find dina and overhear how she's about to start a snowball fight with a bunch of the kids. you sneak up behind the kids, snowball in hand. dina glances up and spots you, making you put a finger over your mouth to shush her. she looks back at the kids, egging them on as you come up and headshot a girl named, isabella.

this made the kids go feral, sending them to one side of the playground as you and dina hid on the other side, laughing your asses off.

you and dina played with the kids for around fifteen minutes before you heard ellie's voice. you turned around and saw jesse, waving politely at him before returning to the game.

"dina! come on! you and i are paired for patrol today." jesse calls out to his ex, making her roll her eyes before heading out of the playground, following jesse.

"hey, y/n! can i talk to you?" a familiar voice called, you turn your head to see ellie. you smile and wave at her before putting the snowball fight on a pause so you could talk to her.

"hey." you say breathlessly, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

"hey." ellie responds awkwardly, tapping on the wooden fence.

"i just wanna say sorry for ditching you after the... thing last night." ellie apologizes, making you tilt your head in confusion.

"oh, no, it's okay. i totally get it. i- i just- i felt bad." you tell her, looking at her apologetically while fidgeting with your fingers.

ellie shakes her head lightly, "why?"

"because, i started the whole thing and i... i just shouldn't have kissed you in front all those people and—"

"no! it's okay, you were drunk." ellie says, laughing off the light embarrassment.

"well, still i don't want you to think—" you start before ellie interrupts your once more, making you chuckle lightly.

"no, i'm not reading into it or anything." ellie tells you, making you shake your head.

you look up at ellie, smiling softly, "you know what i love about you?" you start, making ellie blush a little. "how you let me finish my sentences."

ellie chuckles, shaking her head, "alright. well, we should probably get going." you nod, before a snowball nails ellie right in the shoulder. "ow!"

you turn around angrily, glaring at the kids, "what the fuck?!" you exclaims at them, making them giggle.

"i'm not even playing!" ellie yells at them.

"cause you're a chicken?" one of the kids yells out, making the rest taunt ellie playfully.

"i hate those kids so much." ellie mutters to you irritated, making you look at her mischievously.

"you wanna fuck 'em up?" you ask evilly, giving ellie a side glance.

ellie looks to see if anyone's coming before nodding, "yeah, i do." ellie leaps over the fence as you both start playfully shouting at them.

"you asked for it!" you yell at them.

"you better run you little shits!" ellie exclaims, you and her taking cover behind a structure.

the game was the first to ten hits wins, it took you and ellie a minute, but you beat to little shits 10/3.

"no fair!" isabella whines, wiping the snow off her coat.

you spread your arms out victoriously, "eat it shrimps! how's it feel?" you brag to them, making them all run up and tackle you. "you'll never get away with this!" you yell happily as they dog pile on you before ellie comes and rips one off.

"get off of her you little monsters!" the red haired girl exclaims, making them scurry away before helping you up.

"i guess i asked for that huh?" you ask your friend, heading towards the gate.

"yep." she deadpans at you, making you smile. you both exit the playground, heading to the stables. "so, jesse wants us to do the creek trails. he's gonna relieve amelia and tommy."

"oh, okay. that's nice he assigned us together." you tell ellie, greeting the lady at the front of the stables. "you're gonna like this one."

someone yells to you and ellie they'll take your horses in so you can grab them. yelling out a quick thanks, you head over to grab your horse, moon. walking to the east gate, you pet his neck, greeting him.

"look who decided to join us." jesse tease you and ellie, making you roll your eyes.

"ha ha, you're so funny." you tease back, elbowing him gently in the side and taking your rifle from him.

"open it up!" he yells up at the gate keepers. "settle down. alright. you all know the drill." he assumes, looking to all the patrol groups. "run your routes, mark your logbooks, clear any infected you see. you run into anything you can't handle, you come back." jesse tells everyone. "be smart about it. alright, get going."

you and ellie glance at each other with a small nod, getting on your horses and riding off towards the creek trails.

[vanishingpod]

We took a little break last week from our Podcast Rec Sundays because production stuff took over our lives a bit, but we’re BACK with four shows we think you should check out! 

The Amelia Project: With season 3 right around the corner, now is the perfect time to jump into this dark, British comedy headfirst like we have. The show is set at The Amelia Project, an agency where people go to disappear--if their story and reason for disappearing is deemed interesting enough by the staff. Every episode tends to take the format of a client making their plea to be disappeared, including the planning stages...at least, to begin with. The amazing thing about this show is how it slowly escalates and spins out in absurdity, without ever feeling like it’s made a huge leap out of the world it’s set up. It’s a world where a woman wanting revenge for a cheating husband, a cult leader in over his head, an advanced AI, a self-aware fictional character with an existential crisis, and the Loch Ness Monster, all end up seeming pretty much par for the course, and the genre can swerve from comedy to satire to conspiracy to meta-commentary to mystery in the blink of an eye. We couldn’t recommend this more--oh, and you’ll want cocoa on hand. Trust us. (Find them @ameliapodcast)

Seren: If you’re looking for a sci-fi exploration story about the human spirit, this is where you go. We start the story, and spend most of the run time, with Seren, our protagonist, who has been sent on a single-occupancy spacecraft away from her home to join a colony on a distant planet. Not much more is known about the situation than that at the outset, and we are only slowly revealed more through the audio logs of Seren as she makes the journey, cycling through boredom, fear, desperation, loneliness, regret, and hope as she parses through her life up to this point and what she thinks she’ll be heading towards. An incredibly intimate story set in the vast of space. Seren is bold yet subtle, bleak yet hopeful, incredibly lonely yet inspiring immediate connection with the protagonist. The design, production, acting, and writing are all gorgeous, paced beautifully, and deeply felt. This is a show that always feels like it is barreling towards something but isn't afraid to let you live with Seren for a bit, feel what she's feeling, breathe with her, care for her, become her for a moment--it's an incredibly cathartic show in so many ways. (Find them @serenpod)

Valence: Alright, who wants some urban fantasy? We certainly do! Who wants a ragtag bunch of characters? We also do! Who wants to do crimes, but like, for the good of humanity? WE DO! There’s a level of tense glee throughout Valence. You could attribute it to the hyper specific and all-enveloping soundscape that bring the world of New Candler to life or even the excellent vocal performances throughout that make this heightened sci-fi/fantasy world feel grounded and navigated by flawed, 3-dimensional characters. Whatever it is, Valence presents a full experience. Through the story of Liam Alden wrestling with his birthright as a Magic User (‘muse’ in the show) there is a palpable sense of us vs. them, science vs. magic, industry vs. human interest, haves vs. have-nots, that make the story feel relevant and accessible. Honestly I found myself thinking a lot of the Uncanny X-Men and Mr. Robot as I listened to the storylines involving tech heists (HEISTS, we LOVE heists) and assembling a ragtag group of outsiders (again, we LOVE a ragtag bunch!) who are all galvanized to action against a technology conglomerate set on making life easier for some, by jeopardizing it for others. It’s a grand adventure, a call to action, and a fuck you to capitalism, and who doesn’t love that? (Not on tumblr, but you can find them on Twitter here.)

The Godshead Incidental: It’s tricky to put The Godhead Incidental under any one genre because it juggles a little bit of everything while also subverting a lot of the expectations of the genres it uses. It’s a sitcom, but also a conspiracy drama, a slice of life story that also features a world filled with literal gods, a workplace comedy and an emotional dramedy that deals with stuff like agoraphobia and millennial ennui. Also, there are pigeons, just SO many pigeons. We got sucked in by their amazing cover art and stayed for the instantly lovable, vivid cast of characters. Some of our faves are Em, our protagonist, a perpetually Over This advice columnist at the titular publication; Lorem Ipsum (a particular fave of ours), a mysterious, fast-talking thief that takes over every single conversation; and Tervis, Em’s agoraphobic landlord, who has a backstory that is both incredible and underwhelming all at once. The show is brilliantly produced, beginning to end, and is SO easy to immerse yourself in--we really don’t see any way you wouldn’t like it, to be honest. (Find them @godsheadincidental)

If you love any of these shows, please consider leaving them a review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or wherever you listen to podcasts--you can also (depending on when you’re seeing this post) nominate them for Audio Verse Awards! 

Previous recs: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. 

[luciformia]

What was your original story plan for FAOLM? Did you intend to have Amelia play such a large role? Were Matt and Toby originally going to join VILE? Did you always plan on ending it that way? :D

So when I started writing faolm I had a really, really vague idea of what I wanted. Like literally all I knew was that Gray was gonna be the protagonist, he would have the dreams, and it would be about shit he got up to in Sydney. Him getting back into his old VILE ways was originally supposed to be through the influence of a coworker, I ended up scrapping the idea but the notion of Gray’s actions being influenced by his relationship with others, developed into the idea of him valuing his friendships quite highly, which then lead to Toby’s creation.

Matt was originally designed to essentially be that person you worked with who were 75% sure was a cryptid. I feel a little guilty admitting this, but she was actually only introduced to be a dick when Gray and Toby were talking. But then I got really attached to her and that’s when the idea of her being an ex-dancer came in and I was like “Okay you’re staying I like you” (I wasn’t actually sure why she was an ex dancer at that point, I just knew she was. It was also where I decided that Gray and Toby were gonna have some sort of history in ballet (Ok I know it doesn’t really work with Gray’s character but it’s a hILL I WILL FUCKING DIE ON)) (Also fun fact, originally Matt’s VILEsona was supposed to be Juliet, based on the fact that it was the only role she ever got to dance professionally, but I changed it once I decided on Gray’s backstory as not to complicate things or make them kinda weird.)   

Amelia is honestly the character who changed the most throughout the course of writing (I’ve probably said that before, but anyway). The original idea was for her to be a minor antagonist, someone who got in Gray’s way during the robbery. Then that expanded to her having a sort of Crouching Innocent, Hidden Badass energy, and her and Gray having a sort of cat and mouse situation as Gray tries to maneuver Matt, Toby, and the robbery whilst trying to outsmart her. Once I decided to have Matt and Toby be taken by VILE, however, I realised that the idea wasn’t going to work, because Gray wasn’t gonna be in Sydney for much longer. But at that point I’d become too attached to Amelia as a character, and I needed connective tissue between Gray losing his friends, Gray making the decision to find his friends, and Carmen getting involved again. So I gave that role to Amelia, and her character was set.

I’ve definitely said this before, but I didn’t actually decide to make Amelia an ACME agent until the chapter in which it was revealed. It fit, by pure luck, ridiculously well, and is the reason chapters 16-19 are some of my favourites of faolm. If it’s not obvious at this point, I was writing a lot of faolm as I went along, and I didn’t actually know how it was gonna end until about May, and even then, I didn’t have the details finalised, like Carmen’s involvement in the ending, until a month later, and it underwent a myriad of changes even after that (it was originally gonna be Matt who Gray met on the graduation heist, not Toby).

Now that I’m a bit more experienced and actually have some solid foundations, bsaolq has a lot more planning behind it. Sorry for the rambling but I will not hesitate to go absolutely off talking about faolm. 

[crimsongodss]

BASIC INFORMATION

Full name: Jasper Faust

Age: 30

Gender: Cismale

Sexual orientation: Homosexual. God he is... so gay. Jasper: “I’m GAY.” Fausts: “We know.”

Birthday: April 2nd

Zodiac: Aries

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Personality type: ESTP - The Entrepreneur

Affiliation: Former leader of the Crimsons, newly minted Consigliere.

Occupation: U.S. Marshal. Recently inherited both ‘Wolves’ and ‘The Den’ from his deceased twin.

current residence: Faust Manor

financial status: Upper Class

education level: Bachelors from Yale in Economics. ( Oh, yeah, Faust Senior definitely had to place a few phone calls about that one. )

familial connections of note: Jaxon Faust ( twin - recently deceased )

pets: God, don’t give him that RESPONSIBILITY.

PLAYLIST

Hell Boy - Seth Sentry

GOMD - Sicick

Close Your Eyes ( And Count To Fuck ) - Run The Jewels

Pursuit of Happiness - Kid Cudi

American Muscle - Calamity the Kid

Semi Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind

OVERVIEW

Faust. The man who made the deal with the devil. How incredibly accurate for a guy like Jasper. 

What do you know about the Fausts? Scrappy and they’ve got moxy. So much, in fact, that it’s almost enough to distract one from the pile of bodies their empire is built on. You see, you don’t make a position like Crimsons unless you plan on there being graves to dig, and so despite their reputation, the Fausts are, and have always been, masters at pulling the wool over the world’s eyes.

Enter Jasper Faust. Wild child. Demon boy. Murderer. Pick your poison by calling him what you want. When he was a Crimson, he was the one the Fausts sent in when money wasn’t a strong enough language. Jasper wasn’t always a Crimson, but that’s also because the Crimsons didn’t exist before him. He created the role after being an advocate for the Fausts to take a more aggressive role amongst their peers in Chicago. Before that, Jasper was one of the leads in collecting information from other criminal organizations. He took on jobs in return for future favors and thus began a network built on debt towards the Fausts.

More recently, Jasper stepped into the role of Consigliere when a snitch revealed the former Faust Consigliere to be a spy. Jasper is also struggling with the death of his twin that died in the most recent raid of the Faust Headquarters. 

It’s difficult to shake Jasper of a conviction once its set. His greatest strength and deepest weakness is an unwavering loyalty that almost always turns to blindness. This makes him the perfect hellhound - or the perfect man to shake hands with the devil. 

[ tw: the basics: death and violence ]

BACKSTORY

Matthew and Cathrine raised their children with nothing but love and support and so it’s a real testament to ‘nature over nurture’ when they still managed to have a child like Jasper.

Jasper was born many things: cruel, antagonistic, power-hungry - but perhaps most importantly, he was born bold. He’s always had a taste for adventure and adrenaline, and not a lick of fear has ever seemed to affect the boy.

It was always intended for Jasper to join the family business, though there was a bit of a trial and error period. Jasper grew up wanting to be a fighter-pilot, but the dream died when he found out he was color-blind (thus rendering him ineligible to fly). The young man looked to his family instead. At the time, most of the roles amongst the Faust clan were about securing the monopoly on the import / export business in Chicago. While Jasper had a mind for money, that was in his blood, he just didn’t have the patience for it and most vocations planned out for him by his family were just a little too neat for him.

Still, it was decided that he would go off to school for Economics. Jasper got into Yale, entirely thanks to his parents. How did Jasper sit through an undergraduate degree in Economics? Word on the street is that Matthew called in a few favors and that word would be absolutely correct.

While in college, Jasper found it hard to sit still. Naturally, he redirected that energy. He began as a small time merc, taking jobs for families other than the Faust. Money didn’t trade hands, favors did, and soon Jasper had racked up enough alliances to make a small name for himself.

Jasper’s pet project was expansion. When Jasper returned to his family upon graduation he had a rolodex worth well more than its weight in gold and a body count far higher than anyone expected.  

With the airforce ruled out, he turned to law enforcement thanks to the Fausts alliance with the Leons. In a past life Jasper was a hunter and so that made him perfect for his job as U.S. Marshal. He keeps an eye on the feds for the Fausts. 

PRESENT DAY 

Jasper steps into the role of Consigliere when snitch reveals the former Faust Consigliere (Amelia O’Shea) to be a spy. 

Jasper’s twin, Jaxon Faust, is gunned down in the raid on the Faust Headquarters. That same snitch is to blame, but there’s greater betrayal that hits closer to home. Jasper is convinced that Theodore Cohen, the other Faust near Jaxon at the time, could have saved his twin if he had just tried a a little harder. This bitterness sits with him. 

Jasper inherits both the bar Wolves and the illegal fighting pit under it called The Den from Jaxon.

Jasper’s looking for revenge - and he wants to be on the frontlines when it happens.

OTHER

Will take a bullet for anyone that’s an Faust. Incredibly loyal. Almost to a fault.

Rides that fine line of chaotic neutral and chaotic evil.

A U.S. Marshal

A piece of shit. you’ve been warned!

basically that trope of the toxic, possessive asshole 

An absolute trashfire of an idiot in every aspect of his life EXCEPT his job. He’s incredibly good at being a U.S. Marshal.

Once accidentally shot his older brother Oliver when he was a child. Oliver still has the wound.

Going off that, he’s decent with a gun, BRILLIANT with hand-to-hand and knife combat

An adrenaline junkie. Still low key searches for ways to fly. There’s little he loves more than flying.

Pretty sure he attacked a kid with a baseball bat in high school

Fearless. “Everyone dies someday.”

More than happy to fight things out, you will lose

Over the course of his life he’s probably broken his nose like… three times? Idk he’s lost count

Has been arrested and bailed out more times than anyone can count

Color-blind!

Is a fire hazard. Has an affinity for making things go up in flames.

Rude. mean. cruel. But rarely, if ever, lies (unless it’s for a job.) Unforgiving too though, so mark that one down.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

the victims: Jasper was the head of the Crimsons for the Fausts. Maybe he attacked your character. Maybe he extracted information from them.

the ride or die: The one he tags up the city with, the one he cuts someone up with….but also the confidante and the one who makes sure his ass doesn’t wind up dead in a ditch somewhere. (preferably Faust affiliated!)

the hook-up: These have been few and far in-between. Jasper’s pretty sold on Jason so don’t expect any sort emotional attachment, but the on and off nature of his and Jason’s relationship means that there have been gaps… and sometimes a guy’s gotta get laid, you know? (Men only please!)

Also happy to plot things out if you have an idea!! :3

[ibroughtthisonmyselfpixels]

Intermission 2 Replies

I don’t think I’m gonna be getting any more replies on the intermission, and there’s only so long i can leave this until i do, so here’s the reply-to-existing-replies batch now. but first:

@bountifulberries replied to your photoset “So because I have no restraint, I made a very smol tiny Sim called...”

I think a paid surrogate mother would be a very interesting contestant / sim in general!

It’d certainly put a new stamp on the 100bc, that’s for sure

@sevenleafsimblr replied to your photo

“FORMER BC ORGANISER FOUND DEAD IN HOME A once-prominent figure in the...”

��

he died before his prime

sevenleafsimblr replied to your photo “A sweet or agreeable succession or arrangement of sounds.”

it completely flew over my head during the Melody Reveal that "melody" is also a music term and im mad @ myself

Un Der Standable

@jackssims replied to your photoset “Deacon: “…spinning?” ”

It looks like she’s t-posing to asset her dominance

Lissa said by PM:

This is a little silly to mention but -- I think it's kind of cool how you're incorporating old stuff again? Like, between the Wilkersons and a tie to Charlie and stuff. I know that old stuff can be hard for you sometimes, so I Just Think It's Neat ^^

i said at the time that it’s more out of necessity some of it than anything else to flesh out the neighbourhood, but you know what? i change my answer. it’s not that the old stuff isn’t hard for me, it’s that the new stuff is just as hard. i want my being good back

@tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “But back then, when I didn’t have to hide… the Wilkersons and I - we...”

I am terrified of what comes next but I am actually so happy that she has a good support network

without that system in place who knows where she would be. somewhere you wouldn’t wanna read, i’ll bet

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “At first I liked Jase best, just because he was so quiet and strange...”

They must be very good friends. They survived using the blue shell on one another

Cid is a good dad and won’t ground Lauro for that. Now if he’d used that lightning on him, he might’ve thought about it - that fucking lightning bolt’s the fucking worst

jackssims replied to your photoset “¦it wasn’t always good. Not those times. But that wasn’t because of...”

Those blondes... �� (unless of course I’m reading too much into this, then I redact my eyes emoji, but I’ll wait and see)

That’s true; we never did get a real answer for that, did we?

tosimornottosim replied to the same:

B I t c h e s

Well, yes, that applies regardless

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lynn: “You’ve got it riiiight here! BLEH!!” Melody: “U-under my eyes?...”

Lynn is such a good person..............................;;;;;;

Lynn makes you cry from all six of your eyes. strexgnome

jackssims replied to your photoset “And t- then there was the one that worried everyone… the - I got a,...”

��

tosimornottosim replied to the same:

:eyes:

sevenleafsimblr replied to the same:

uh oh.....

I will only say this: it’s fortunate that the girlfriend didn’t make everything totally and utterly worse for her

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lavandar: *wide-eyed* “Y-you - you dated your own bully?!”...”

I don't trust you Blonde Scarlet and Viola

O KA y whether they’re who you think they are or not that description is fucking hilarious

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Estelle: “…Oh god, Melody. Are you okay?”  Melody: *shaking* “Please…”...”

Don’t touch her you fucker. Don’t touch her

‘Limp’ is very specific and deliberate consistently-abused-child language, at least to me. If you don’t put up a fight, it doesn’t hurt as much.

jackssims replied to your photoset “Estelle: “…Melody? Melody, can you look at Mommy please?” Melody: “…”...”

Fuck Estelle

tosimornottosim replied to the same:

I want her to die

sevenleafsimblr replied to the same:

estelle can you be a good girl and get some sleep and not wake up

It isn’t wrong, but it is interesting that ‘can you be a good girl’ is what a lot of you replied to throughout this. is it because it’s the most convenient place, being at the end; because it feels weird commenting on the actual violence; or because the emotional manipulation is the straw that breaks the camel’s back?

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lavandar: “Noooope! No no no no, no. It doesn’t work that way,...”

PREACH IT LAV IM SO FUCKING PROUD OF YOU LAV

As you well know, this is something I have to work hard to convince myself, hence the soapbox. (Can it be a soapbox if you have trouble holding the soapbox’s beliefs?) It doesn’t help that I do charity work at a bookstore, and Torey Hayden / Cathy Glass / other trauma-porn books come in on the regular - it’s hard to be confident in the legitimacy of how Mum’s affected me when stories that feature kids who’ve been utterly decimated and forgotten over the years are in my line of sight that often.

Incidentally, I hope I haven’t crossed the line to trauma-porn here. This is intended to be an explanation for part of Lorelei’s backstory and why she has a lot of the mannerisms she does (plus a few hints for down the road, but that first thing first and foremost) - obviously making you sad is a goal too, but not to an exploitative extent, you know? 

@cafesimming replied to your photoset “Lorelei: “I… I’m sorry. I won’t say it again, I’m sor–”...”

i havent been replying but i just got s chance to read sll this and i love lorelei and i love lavandar and i love this story and im quite literally on the verge of tears reading all this rn and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa love

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

bountifulberries replied to your photoset “Lavandar: *shrinks back, curling up onto herself, breathing shakily* ...”

All of this is making me so sad but it’s so well done!! I literally didn’t wanna go to bed last night bc I wanted to keep waiting for updates to post

get some sleep Kasey. if you’re going back to school you need all the sleep you can get. i can be awake for you and get in trouble for it

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “I really am sorry, you know. Lavandar. That I’m p- that I’m putting...”

It wasn’t a lack of bravery. You were so brave

there’s two kinds of bravery: to confront, and to endure. Lyra has the confrontational bravery covered. Lorelei is the endurance. 

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “He looked at my arm. He looked at me. H-he… looked at me, like Lyra...”

Zeus bless Jase. In all truthfulness

give him the happiest of marriages and the least of links to that box with the finger in it...

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “¦He didn’t say a word… to me.” Jase: “…” Pal: “Poor fucking Melody....”

is. is he gonna make himself talk to help her. is. is he gonna do that. because if he does i'm fucking gonna cry

He!! Did that!!

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “But I’ll… even with everything… I’ll forever be grateful that he...”

god what a hero

the hero we need but we don’t deserve

jackssims replied to the same: 

Good. This is good (I hope)

It was a mixed blessing

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “I didn’t put two and two together until Jase told me later… but Mom...”

You weren't bad. You weren't bad

Lorelei knows that. Melody does not.

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “¦what happened after that, Lorelei? Did she–?” “She was held for a...”

oh colby...

I’m not sure where else to put this yet, but designing Estelle was almost as much - not necessarily fun, but it took about as much thought as designing Amelia did back in the day. I think she’s quite handsome, but it’s ruined by her looking almost perpetually sour/disgruntled. I even employed another Enid Blyton trick: her eyes are closer together compared to my other Sims, and a pale blue, much like Prudence from another St Clare’s book. Until they (Prudence’s) turned brown in a later scene in one of the few legitimate continuity errors I’ve seen from Enid but that’s neither here nor there 

I’d also like to emphasise an actually salient point: if it wasn’t clear, Estelle isn’t mentally ill in any way that I know of. There may be neuroses there that never got diagnosed, but they're not the root of her behaviour even if there are. She’s reprehensible enough without chemical imbalances there to influence it. 

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “We tried to be safe. She tried to… let us be a normal family. A happy...”

I understand rationally that Colby is a victim of abuse but /damn/ does he make my blood boil rn

I in turn understand why you’d be angry at him - he allowed a very volatile influence back into Lorelei’s life - but honestly I mostly feel pity for him. He’s a bit like, um... what’s a good comparison...? Charlie Swan feels like the closest analogue, though the circumstances are different there. He can try to lay down some rules and speak the truth of it, but when the largest female influence in the house is this dominant, this domineering, and cares more about what he can do for her than what he chooses to do for himself, what chance does he have? 

It doesn’t help that being willing to please and put his own neck on the line to keep other people happy is kind of a core part of his personality - he’s the person from whom Lorelei inherited the Good trait (much like Amelia got Perfectionist from Maus), but his manifestation of Good leans more towards Doormat than Empathetic, if you see what I mean. It becomes especially clear if I reveal and then you consider he dropped out of college at twenty halfway through a tech degree specifically to marry Estelle so that she could have someone to keep her company at medical school. Self sabotage for the boosting of others.

(Estelle’s two years and a few months Colby’s senior, by the way)

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “I was a wreck at home, and a - even worse, at school. I kept my mouth...”

I wish there was a word for like, SHSL Mom. Because that's what Lynn is. She's like a Double Mom

maxi extreme ultra Mom

Vid incidentally got very upset at around the Jase Pal break-up post, for good reason: these people are just kids. this stuff is much too big for them, they didn’t deserve this.

@geezsims liked your photoset “¦to Bridgeport.” “God. All by yourself? No one-?”  â€œThe journey, y-...”

Han. Han. I admire the like, Han, but I feel like you’ve missed, like, nine tenths of the story here

tosimornottosim replied to the same:

See Colby /this/ is how you Dad

by dying your hair, or sending your kid to a safe place? i’m not sure the intended message here

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “¦Lorelei Kessler.”

My hero

I need a Lorelei; I’m holding out for a Lorelei til the end of the etc

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lorelei: “I trust you, Lavandar. I trust you. I trust you. N- no...”

Lavender: *a gentleman's guide to love and murder playing* I've decided to marry you! I've decided to marry you!

Blessed Image

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “Lorelei: “Lyra?! Uh- um -” *clambers up* “You’re - you’re back?” ...”

Man I’m happy you’re going to be here, Ly, but what a buzzkill We almost had a confession!

Like I said in the end credits, we almost had a lot of things ;)

tosimornottosim replied to your photoset “¦ *crunch* *click* *crunch*  â€¦ Lyra: “…okay, and - open.” – End of...”

Now you’re the cockblock, Dub

bountifulberries replied to the same:

RUDE

jackssims replied to your photoset “¦ *crunch* *click* *crunch*  â€¦ Lyra: “…okay, and - open.” – End of...”

Ending it with a tease, eh?

Okay y’all I understand but like y’all, y’all. y’all. this part of SoS is ultimately Lorelei’s story. If I’d ended it with the full Lyra reveal, it would become Lyra’s story again too much, and a lot of the impact of what Lor’s been talking about would’ve been lost. I felt like I was pushing it as it is

jackssims replied to your post “Intermission 2: Melody End Credits”

This interlude-update was amazing. It made me feel stuff like never before, and I was always refreshing my dash for it. Great job!

holy hell thank!!!! I’ll try to maintain that quality, or at least a small fraction of it, into the rest of the project going forward! 

[araliaceaes]

IVY LANGSTON ( CIS FEMALE & SHE/HERS )? oh, aren’t they the TWENTY-TWO year old DARK WITCH who works as a BARISTA at THE ROASTED BEAN? word on the streets is that they are BOLD & DYNAMIC, but they can also be DEFIANT & IMPETUOUS. by the way, they look eerily similar to JESSICA HENWICK, don’t they? ( izzie / 21 / pst / she/hers ) 

like this if you wanna plot!

FULL NAME: ivy amelia langston AGE: 22 PRONOUNS / GENDER: cis female / she/hers SPECIES: human ( witch ) HOUSING: an apartment in frenchtown with a couple of protection spells around it. FAMILY: her mother, her stepfather, and three step-siblings. on some days, she actually gets along fine with her step-siblings. she and her mother are estranged. she hates her stepfather. BACKSTORY:

( tw: emotional and verbal abuse )

a human and a witch fall in love, but like many tragic love stories, there is no happy ending. the human doesn’t know the witch is a witch, and when she finds out, she leaves and takes their child with them, swearing their---her---daughter will have nothing to do with magic. but i’m one of the good witches, her lover protests. the woman doesn’t see the difference: they’re all dealing with the devil.

and so the girl is named ivy langston, given her mother’s surname and nothing of her father, though she looks more like him with her dark hair and dark eyes than the blonde and blue of her mother. the two move to the suburbs of massachusetts just a short drive from the coast, and they’re lulled into normalcy.

her mother soon meets a man full of charisma with no spells or potions in sight, and when ivy turns four, they marry. she’s not even jealous of her new stepbrother, born a year later; she gets candy when she asks for it and her parents buy her books and dolls and a gameboy. in the back of her mind, she knows her father is not really her father, but she never bothers to ask. why should she? after all, everything is perfect.

but cracks start to show. children are cruel when you look different, especially when you look different from the rest of your family. middle school is no better, and ivy fights back. she’s a regular at detention and she becomes known for her argumentative personality.

the biggest crack, the one that shatters everything, is when her mother finds out she’s a witch just like her dad. childhood wishes turn into reality, and kids who are mean to her suddenly get sick or trip over nothing. ivy’s mom starts to turn on her, a reminder of a man she never wants anything to do with again, and all of ivys attempts to win her mother’s affection ( drawings and tugs on sleeves and good grades ) are in vain. even as a young girl, she can sense the hostility, how her mother’s eyes wander over her to her other children, how she greets them warmly but greets ivy with dismissal. 

if there is one thing her mother has been sincere about when it comes to her, it is harsh disapproval. nothing ivy ever does gets her mother to look at her as someone other than as a mistake, a girl with the same magic running through her veins as her father’s; she swears she saw fear flash across her mother’s face, too.

high school is better. she’s more outgoing, more fun. she finds a passion for art, makes new friends, throws herself into a thriving social life, searching for the attention and affection she never receives at home. she brings home c’s and b’s, d’s on her worst days, but it’s not like anyone cares. she tries to spend as little time at home as possible; all she gets from her mother is emotional and verbal abuse if not dismissal, and her stepfather’s not much different. there’s always arguments happening in the langston house.

all but cut off from her supernatural side except for passing comments her mother makes, it’s up to her to figure out this shit on her own. her dad’s nowhere to be found, thanks to her mother. social media brings her together with a couple of other witches from her school, and they form a little coven, helping and teaching other magic. there’s solidarity and security in it, even if they aren’t always using spells and potions for the good of society. her ex was shit, so why not hex him?

when the unveiling happens, ivy knows she has to get the hell out of her house. her stepdad’s revealed to be a hunter, her mom’s anti-supernatural, and ivy’s never felt more suffocated in her life. her stepdad might not realize she’s more than human now, but she’s not sticking around for him to find out. as soon as graduation hits, she takes all the money she’s saved and takes off for art school in rhode island. 

college is full of flings and parties and loud laughter and feeling almost whole. four years pass and she’s lost again. she’s not going back to massachusetts, but when a friend of a friend tells her about fairview, she figures it’s a good place for another fresh start. she gets an apartment in frenchtown and a job as a barista, working as a freelance illustrator on the side.

PERSONALITY:

she’s daring, vivacious, and brash with a tendency to jump first and look later, but she gets along easily with a variety of people due to how vibrant and genuine she is. a definite spitfire with a love for life and a good time, she also has a sharp tongue and a temper on her. likes attention and searches for it in parties, the beds of strangers and almost lovers. 

makes arguably bad decisions, both when sober and drunk. insecure and unsure as hell, but covers it up with faked confidence and a smartass attitude. not much of a filter. trying her best while at the same time not trying at all. she is also unapologetically, wholly herself even if she isn’t quite sure who that is all the time. if you don’t like it, she doesn’t care---she’s tried to be someone she’s not before, and she’s tired of it.

bisexual biracial babe

dark witch bc she’d rather side with the supernaturals than the humans, despite having a foot in both worlds. and she’s always been a bit of a spiteful, petty thing.

MISC.

Does your character have any nicknames? if you can come up with a nickname for ivy, be my guest

Does your character have any distinguishing features such as tattoos, scars, piercings, etc? she has a few tattoos; one on her thigh, another on her back, and one on her arm. she has a few piercings on her ears, as well.

What is your character like in relationships? Are they clingy? Faithful or unfaithful? Do they jump from one relationship to the other? Do they even have an interest in something romantic? she’s faithful in relationships but with a tendency to leave before people can’t too close in fear that they’ll abandon her. so, she’d rather be the one to cut off. jumps from one relationship to another quite quickly because of her need for affection. kind of a serial monogamist who also has flings in between??? she really enjoys sex, too. 

What kind of things does your character like? What do they dislike? she likes alcohol, nightlife, binging netflix, drawing, painting, and being around others. big on art. she dislikes boredom, authority, being told what to do, bigotry, and being hungover. good thing there are potions for that!

How does your character treat their friends and family? How about strangers? Enemies? she is steadfastly loyal to her friends, and while she’s not great at advice, she’s always there to listen and help them get their minds off things. she’s fun. she likes a good time. she’s friendly to strangers, supernatural or otherwise, and tries not to antagonize them. as for the rest? fuck her enemies, and fuck her family. 

Where does your character go when they are angry? she likes to go the gym and punch her feelings out. or she goes running. she likes to stay active otherwise her anger will consume her, and it’s one of the few times she likes to be alone.

Does your character have a secret? If so, what is it? once a spell went very, very wrong and the outcome was very, very bad

Does your character have any flaws? What are they? she is headstrong, reckless, and spiteful. she doesn’t like to face her problems until she absolutely has to, and she’d rather numb her pain than deal with it. she’s argumentative, pushing buttons simply because she can; she can also easily say the wrong thing at the wrong time. and she has her vices. she’s also rather dependent on people; she needs to be surrounded by others to feel loved, and she has a hard time being alone. surprisingly, she’s also the type to keep her problems bottled up until she bursts.

WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS:

i’d love some friends! people who showed her around fairview when she first moved there / helped her settle in, maybe. some ride or dies. new friends. party friends who really only get drunk and high together; it’s fun, but a rather surface-level friendship. drinking buddies who end up having a heart-to-heart and becoming better friends.

will they won’t they, flings, friends with benefits, slow burn????? 

enemies & rivals. she’s probably pissed some people off, and she’s not one to hold back when she doesn’t like someone. 

witches! dark witches who are trying to further bring her into the ~dark side~ or light witches who are trying to sway her away being a dark witch. an older witch who can be a mentor. she’s mostly self-taught, a magical education cobbled together through old spellbooks, the internet, and other witches she’s come across. girl’s got a lot to learn. witchy friends would be cool too :’)

anything and everything

[stickystarspectrumtroll-ocs]

Infinity Train AU for my OC squad

I’ll reblog this or make another post for more OCs some other time, but right now it’s late so I’ll just talk about Allets and Eliote.

SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 1-3.

Allets definitely gets on the train for reasons relating to her parents. In this AU, like with other AUs I’ve made, they’re not royalty but they are super rich, and just as concerned with keeping up that fancy-pantsy image. Maybe after she has some REALLY big messup at a formal party with a bunch of other rich folks, and her parents give her a serious verbal beatdown and shut her in her room, the train comes for her while she’s in there crying about it.

Her number’s probably like, 256 or something.

She’s probably really in a rush to get home at first because “Oh god, my parents’ll totally know I’m missing by now, if I don’t get back soon they’re gonna kill me!!!” She’s quick to stop and help denizens in need though.

This takes place sometime between seasons 1 and 2, so Allets doesn’t get One-One’s sort of orientation video explaining what the train and her number and stuff are about, but she does witness some other passenger getting it (she then goes to talk to them but they end up getting swept off on some whole other thing she can’t follow them on before she can get close enough).

I think she meets Eliote when she’s been going through cars for like, a few days, or a week or two.

Eliote’s been on the train ever since her parents’ death, so like, 8 years. She got on sometime during Amelia’s reign and wasn’t given the whole explanation of what the train and the numbers and stuff are about, and at this point she doesn’t really care and has just accepted this is her life now and forever. It’s not like she has anything outside of the train to go back to anyway, right? Back when she first got on the train she kinda just ventured about aimlessly for some time, maybe tried and failed a few times to find some folks to take her in before deciding to just make it on her own. She gained more knowledge and experience when it came to train cars and dealing with more dangerous ones over the years, eventually kind of setting up her own little space in some car or other with not too many passengers passing through it and just kind of staying there except for when she has to get stuff from other cars, like food. Oh, and her number’s like, somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000. Maybe like 1,098. Or 1,593. I dunno.

So after Allets runs into her and winds up helping her with something despite her insistence she doesn’t need anycreature’s help, Allets somehow winds up convincing Eliote to come with her and help her get off the train. I haven’t decided how yet.

Of course, they gradually become good friends over the course of all that. More of Allets’s backstory comes out bit by bit over time, Eliote has a full backstory reveal scene somewhere mid-storyline (which ends up making her number go down by like a hundred or so). They both get plenty of character development and chipping away at both of their numbers.

If their numbers both get down to 0 within the space of a season of the actual show, I think their exits show they actually don’t live TOO far apart and can see each other outside of the train too. But I kind of prefer the idea that it takes longer, and maybe Eliote’s still got some hundreds to go when Allets gets to 0 so Allets stays to help Eliote get HER number to 0 before taking her own exit.

BONUS NOTES

I have this idea also that Eliote has met the Apex before, and she hated them and everything they stood for immediately, even before she found out from Allets the truth about the train, conductor, and numbers and therefore knew they had it wrong about those. Like, she could see that they spent their days causing senseless destruction and being total jerks to denizens who hadn’t done anything to them, and that they regarded denizens as “not real people” who didn’t matter in any way, shape, or form, and that was really all she needed to know. Sure, before Allets she didn’t go out of her way to make friends with denizens and didn’t feel like she could depend on any of them, but she never went out of her way to cause them harm either (if they weren’t trying to harm HER that is) and she never once doubted that they were sentient beings who mattered as much as passengers. And she knew full well that being a straight-up butthole doesn’t make you strong. She wasn’t sure whether they were right about the train thinking it did or not, but she didn’t care. Either way it was wrong, and what difference did the way the train or numbers worked make to her? She didn’t care why she was on the train, all she knew was she was here, for better or worse, and she was just trying to get by. She wasn’t trying to get off the train, she wasn’t trying to be the best on the train, she was just trying to survive.  Kind of iconic really. Grace and Simon tell her numbers are power and she’s supposed to gain more of it by being a butthole, and she just goes “Do I look like I care?”

Maybe Allets and Eliote will cross paths with the Apex while they’re together. I’ll think more later on how that would go.

I think Allets might be an interesting foil to Grace. They both come from rich households with abusive parents, but where Grace’s are neglectful, Allets’s are controlling. They’re both charismatic and good at talking with people and swaying them with words, but Allets uses it primarily for good from the start, and Grace um. Doesn’t.

It’s late, I’ll add more to this AU tomorrow.

[shirtlesssammy]

8x05: Blood Brother

Then:

Benny, Dean, and Cas had one heck of a survivalist vacation. Sam’s brain broke (again) and he hallucinated a life outside the Life.

Now:

Benny! I really like Benny and am still really bummed that he’s gone. But right now, he’s topside and confronting his old nest. He wants to right some past wrongs -namely, them killing him. Cue machete time!

Sam and Dean are on the hunt for a very elusive Kevin Tran. They enter a motel room hoping to find him, but the room is empty.

(Sidenote: Mid-century wooden plaque appreciation note. They use these again in 8x08.  Liz Lemon also has an orange one hanging behind her door on 30 Rock. Boris has one in her office too. :D) The boys are at each other’s necks about tracking Kevin (and shared animosity about how they handled the off season). Dean gets a distress call from Benny and grabs a Toblerone before hitting the road. 

For science:

(What was up with early season 8? They’re just so tan and pretty.)

Dean’s trip to find Benny gives him lots of time to think about purgatory. Benny whistling in purgatory is kinda my jam. He draws the monsters in and they take them down as a team. This whole sequence is cinematic gold.

Sam sits down to do a little digging on where Kevin is hiding when he decides to stalk his ex a little. He’s distracted by a noise in the bathroom. He finds a broken fan and has his own flashback to his idyllic time fixing things after hitting a dog.

Here is a Sam Winchester plaid shirt appreciation picture:

Dean finds Benny’s truck and a supply of AB negative, and wanders the docks a bit before finding his friend. Benny’s a little worse for wear. He doesn’t stay that way for long once he gets a little vamp food in his belly though. In fact, he’s back to normal in no time, much to Dean’s shock.

Benny thanks Dean and dismisses him, but Dean wants to know what he’s tangling with. “You and that whole friend thing, man.” That’s right, Dean is loyal (especially when you save the love of his life --uh, but I’m getting ahead of things). In purgatory, while Benny and Dean hack their way through monsters, Cas still smites them dead. He’s a magnet though and they need to keep moving or ditch the angel.

Benny hides his contempt for Cas through sarcasm. Cas calls him out on his crap. Dean doesn’t like his new BFF and BF fighting.

Cas argues that maybe Benny is right. It’s dangerous to travel with him, and chances are good that he won’t be able to pass through the door they’re hoping to find. “Cas, we're gonna shove your ass back through the eye of that needle if it kills all three of us.” Poetry, Dean, pure poetry.

Back on the docks, Benny tells Dean that he’s hunting his maker. “Why?” Dean wonders. ”Kill him, before he kills me, again.”

Sam is still struggling through his motel equipment induced psychosis. This time the ice machine reminds him of trying to fix Amelia’s backed up sink. She finds him in her motel room and becomes instantly combative.

Going through Benny’s old nest’s belongings, they find a list of yachts.

It seems that’s how they would feed. Track yachts, board, burn, and bury it at sea. Dean picked up on the salient point of the story. “Vampire pirates. That’s what you guys are. Vampirates.” DEAN BEAN. I think Dean and Benny are friends because Benny actually enjoys Dean’s jokes.

They locate an address and head out. On the road, Dean gets Benny’s backstory on why he was killed. He was loyal to his maker, and the nest, until he met Andrea, a beautiful Greek heiress. They settled in Louisiana. His former vampire nest found them, tore out Andrea’s throat, and beheaded Benny. I haven’t heard a more tragic love story since a hunter traveling to the ends of purgatory to find his angel only for said hunter to lose the angel anyway.

Benny and Dean make it to their destination. Here is a picture of Dean just chilling on the bow of a boat. I never noticed that before. Heehee.

They head into the opulent house, machetes drawn. Benny finds a picture of Andrea on a table. It’s recent and in full color. Benny panics over it when a door opens from above and Andrea walks down the stairs. He stares at her in shock while the rest of the nest creeps up on him and knocks him out. “Idiot,” Dean spits at Benny from where he’s hidden himself. Oh, Dean. Love does not make us weak.

Benny wakes up to the taunts of his old nest while Dean prowls the hallways, blithely ignoring Sam’s phone calls.

Meanwhile, Sam stalks Amelia online in between irritated calls to Dean. Cut to a flashback of Amelia asking Sam, “You stalk helpless women and you break into their motel room and you fix their plumbing?” Listen. God bless you, Ben Edlund, for your delightful juxtapositions and also for the double entendre of “fix their plumbing.” You glorious canary. Anyway, Sam stares at her, gormless, and explains that he’s fixed the sink (that somebody shoved a ton of limes into). He stares at a fresh bag of limes on the counter. We all stare at the bag of limes on the counter. Amelia, what the fuck’s up with all the limes? And why are you so ashamed of them that you’re cramming them down the disposal? We learn that Amelia has “moved into town” by setting up residence at the local pay-by-the-week motel.

(I hope limes factor into your “Amelia is a hallucination” theory, Boris.)

Back with Dean, he angrily calls Sam and demands to know why Sam called him. Oh, Dean Bean. Dean whisper-shouts to Sam that he’s stalking a vamp nest...while he’s stalking the vamp nest. Sam’s considerably concerned (pissed) that Dean is taking on a vamp nest alone. Dean protests that he’s not alone, he’s with a friend. Sam responds with, “All your friends are dead!” OUCH. Sam, ouch.

Back with Benny, Andrea gives Benny a good slap, shoos away other vamps, and then leans in and...kisses him. Yay? When I first saw this episode I remember going YAY but, guys, I have seen this episode so I’m just going to weep gently for the rest of the recap. Benny and Andrea talk about their vampirism. Andrea slips a knife into Benny’s pocket and gives him the keys to his cuffs. She tells Benny to kill their master so that they can be together. Cue swelling music.

Back with Dean, he’s still having a shouty angry match with Sam when he detects a vampire. He uses Sam shouting on the phone as a lure (yesss) and slices off one vamp head, only to see another one just down the hall. His phone gets smashed in the fight. Oops.

Benny heads up with his guard to find his master in quiet contemplation in his study. The dude’s quite curious how Benny came to be topside, and wonders where he was while he was dead. Secrets secrets, man…

Meanwhile, Dean...

Back in Purgatory-flashback land, Benny argues against Dean’s monster prejudice. He tells him, “I think we both know which of our kinds kills more humans.” Cas backs up Benny. Oh, the burn, the sick, sick BURN. 

Benny tells Dean he’d gone clean before he died - donated blood only. There was too much good in humanity to kill it. While Dean and Benny squabble over the morality of vampires, Cas squints into the forest. Leviathan are approaching! They’re too close so there’s nothing for it but to run.

In the present Dean stalks the house…

In the present Sam heads off to find Dean…

Oops, we fell into the past again. Sam’s dog - named Dog? - runs into Amelia’s room and snuggles on her lap, drawing Sam awkwardly into her motel room. *eyebrow waggle* “I’ve seen a lot of stitches in my time and you got really good hands,” Sam tells her. SAM where did you learn pick up lines oh my god. Oh wait. You learned them from watching Dean, right? You learned them from watching Dean.

Amelia tells Sam that he must be a thrifty serial killer which...is certainly truth-adjacent. Sam asks her if she’s as shiftless as he is. She has nowhere to go because she has no one. Amelia nods. AMELIA my god if someone asks you if someone is going to miss you then you say YES this is stranger danger 101. She can’t resist his puppy eyes though. Amelia and Sam bond in the soft focus lighting.

Back with Benny in the present, the master continues to prowl around the study and boasts that he has everything he wants - both the sea and Andrea. Um. Okay. Benny tells him he doesn’t have Andrea, reveals his uncuffed hands, and then slices up the vamp lackey. The master tries to talk up how their long life is full of ennui and oh, wail wail, life is meaningless. Benny kills him.

After it’s done Benny finds Andrea. Yeah, baby! Let’s go live together in peace.

Andrea wants to “ride the high seas, plunder together.” MmmmHMMM. Oh, but also she wants to be a vampirate and kill people with Benny.

He looks at her sadly. “What I love. It ain’t here anymore. It was snuffed out long ago by monsters like me. I think we’re all damned.” Andrea vamps out and lunges for Benny when Dean suddenly comes from behind, knifing her in the gut and then chopping off her head.

Later, Benny asks Dean why he resurrected him - a horrible monster. Dean looks at his friend with the concern of someone who’s seeing his friend drowning into suicidal misery. Dean thinks back to Purgatory...

Sudden flashback to Purgatory! Leviathans zap in. There are two of them. Cas gets thrown to the ground by a leviathan whose mouth opens wide to swallow him down when….

Benny kills it, and saves Cas. (Me: curls up in a ball whispering “Dean saved Benny because he saved Cas. He saved Caaaaas”)

Back at the mainland dock, Dean and Benny disembark to find Sam. There’s a long, slow, beautiful moment where Sam shakes Benny’s hand and realizes what he is. His fingers twitch towards his weapon and then Dean slowly and almost imperceptibly shakes his head. It’s such a lovely moment of silent communication fraught with tension on all sides. “I can see you two have a lot to talk about,” Benny observes. He gathers up his stuff and heads out while Dean and Sam glare eye daggers at each other.

Benny, This is Quotes:

Mind if I take the Toblerone?

It does present a curious curl in the metaphysics, doesn't it? If you murder a monster in monster heaven, where does it go?

It’s good to know you’re as dumb as ever.

Vampirates!

Was Fabio on the cover of that paperback?

I am evil after all. At least I’ve had that much to keep me cold at night.

Don’t touch the produce.

All your friends are dead.

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

[katsidhe]

Ranking Every SPN Midseason Premiere

15) 10.10 The Hunter Games. Wow, this one is real bad. Has not one, not two, but three subplots I either don’t care about or actively despise: Claire bonding with Cas (uh, he’s wearing her dad’s corpse), Rowena’s petty infighting with Crowley (bleh why), and Metatron smugly egging on Dean’s violence (why would he care?). This is deep in the slog of s10 episodes that go nowhere fast.

14) 13.10 Wayward Sisters. Is it clear yet that I really don’t like Claire episodes? Sam and Dean roasting lizards is the only real moment of fun here. I liked Kaia, so I hated that she gets used as Claire’s insta-friend/retconned love interest in order to immediately fridge her for the backdoor pilot… so that Claire, who was orphaned young, can understand loss, I guess? Pointless and unimaginative. I also resent the deeply, deeply directionless magic spear/Alt!Kaia subplot that eats up, like, four other episodes in s14-15 and accomplishes exactly nothing.

13) 3.09 Malleus Maleficarum. I like this episode for the insight we get into Ruby’s backstory, and the frank conversation that she and Dean have about demons and his impending Hell tour. But other than that, there isn’t too much to recommend it.

12) 8.10 Torn and Frayed. The next several episodes are all good, and are difficult to sort. In 8.10, Sam and Dean choose each other over Amelia and Benny, in all-or-none ultimatums. I truly enjoy how miserable they both seem to find themselves about this, about how their relationship has grown more and more isolating when tbh it needn’t be. Naomi’s control of Cas in this episode fleshes out the chilling implications we got in The Rapture: Heaven is best when its dark AF.

11) 6.12 Like A Virgin. Monsters, dragons, and Eve: the reveal of Purgatory kicks off a brand new chapter of the show’s mythology. But more importantly, Sam is fully back now! Watching him navigate this brave new world while no one will tell him anything is fascinating and more than a little sad.

10) 4.11 Family Remains. Actually frightening! I like it when the show does the ~it was just humans~ twist. And this episode has great commentary on Dean’s emotional state after his reveal about Hell last time. It’s a good MOTW.

9) 15.10 Nihilism. Dean’s bar mindscape. It’s no Sam mindscape, but it’s definitely the most interesting thing that’s been done with Dean and possession. It’s kinda fascinating that Dean’s uncomplicated happy place exists in an underdog Americana limbo without either Cas or Sam. Also gives us, at last, a good take on Alt!Michael’s motivations—he’s hunting down God. Loses points because the idea of managing to lock Michael in Dean’s mind for any length of time is still extremely unlikely.

8) 1.11 Scarecrow. Meg’s iconic introduction, Dean and Sam’s first breakup; emotional clashing over Winchester family dynamics: what’s not to love?

7) 12.09 First Blood. We’ve got Sam and Dean coping with prison very differently, then using their deaths to escape, and an action sequence through the woods: it’s just real fun. Cas breaks their deal with Billie, which ends up having, uh, no consequences whatsoever. It’s a strong kickoff to a regrettably weak second half of s12.

6) 7.11 Adventures in Babysitting. A quiet, emotional breath after Bobby’s death: Sam and Dean are deep, deep in terrible misery. The potent psychological suffering of season 7 is a delight, and 7.11 doesn’t shy away from it. Plus, it’s got Sam volunteering to get bit in the neck, and a rare example of a Plucky Teen (tm) done right.

5) 15.09 The Trap. This is just a worse 11.10. But 11.10 is amazing, so that’s still a compliment: Chuck tries both torture and the promise of various bleak futures to get Sam to cave. Even if the various futures aren’t staged that well, there is so much stuff here that’s ripe for analysis: especially on the broader stage of s15, this episode is plain interesting.

4) 5.11 Sam, Interrupted. Sam and Dean in a psych ward! They’re dealing with the extreme stress and grief of season 5, and they’re doing it badly—this episode provides a great way for their respective coping mechanisms to be forcefully stripped away. In a delightful microcosm of the show, Sam confesses his anger and gets consequently wrestled down and tied down to a cot.

3) 2.10 Hunted. Gordon Walker, whose old-fashioned absolutism is only matched by his competence, is one of the most memorable early seasons antagonists, and for good reason. We also get Ava, the queen of season 2, who has taken it upon herself to warn Sam and save his life. Then Sam and Dean using code words to disarm Gordon’s trap, and the fallout from John’s final words: quality television.

2) 9.10 Road Trip. Oh my god, what a horror show. This is an exemplary episode. Just incredible. Kinda unfair that it has to compete with 11.10, because it would take the gold by a mile in most other matchups. It’s got a fascinating character study of Gadreel, which also serves to inject interest into the s9 angel conflict; it’s the violent, hypocritical lengths to which Dean is willing to go; it’s got needles in Sam’s brain and a nauseating, horrific picture of possession; it’s got That Bridge Scene. The payoff for 9.01 begins to come due, in spades.

1) 11.10 Devil in the Details. Season 11 gets two D-tier ranks and two S-tier ranks; this is the duality of man. Do I even have to explain why I love 11.10 so much? It’s Sam and Lucifer in a room in Hell for an entire episode, nuff said. It gets better with every rewatch—there are so many great tiny moments, so much history. Lucifer’s combination salespitch/dressing-down is threatening and fascinating and mostly accurate; Sam’s rigid terror and courage and heartbreak and anger and resignation and determination are intoxicating. I want to watch them talk in a room forever.

[bellringermal]

«She fancied Gehrman, unaware of his curious "mania", but was left heartbroken when Gehrman couldn't, or wouldn't, reveal his feeling towards her.» WTF, fextralife?!

Thank you fextralife! ~♡No okay let’s be serious for a second and put aside my fangirl heart that craves for the damn romance and let’s look at the facts, shall we?

Let’s begin with the Hair Ornament and how the Doll reacts to it.

The item is described as “ordinary” and does look as such. This is not something fit for a woman of noble lineage like Maria is, is the sort of gift that a middle-class Yharnamite would give his fiancee. In fact, I would say that the Red Jewelled Brooch that Gascoigne gave to his wife looks way fancier and in line with what a Cainhurst noble would wear than the plain, ordinary hair ornament.

Giving little tokens of affection before the marriage was a no-no for Victorian lovebirds unless the couple openly expressed the intention to get married and both families agreed to the arrangement.

In Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Marianne Dashwood’s spontaneous behaviour is considered unorthodox and her (only rumoured!) clandestine engagement with John Willoughby is heavily frowned upon. One of her biggest ‘sins’ was to have sent John a bunch of letters and locks of her hair that the young man respectfully gives back to her before marrying another woman.

So, if we take for granted that Yharnam’s courtship customs are similar to those of the 19th century’s I think it’s safe to assume that if an unmarried man gave something as cute and personal as a hairpin to an unmarried woman he was clearly saying “hey babe I like you. But I haven’t the slightest idea of what I’m doing and I should’ve finish that “how to pick up fair maidens” book before doing anything on my own” :P

Of course, we can’t take Victorian society and expect Yharnam’s to be exactly the same because of all the obvious differences such as the clearly more prominent role of women in society, (Amelia is the highest authority of the Church, many hunters are women, Viola, though traditionally married, takes instant action to help her husband etc) but I still think it to be a good lens through which seeing the game’s world and it surely gives some extra credit to Gehrman’s conscious decision to hide his feelings from Maria.

Now, on the subject of Plain Doll, if we gave her the Hairpin she says this:

What… what is this? I-I can’t remember, not a thing, only… I feel… A yearning… something I’ve never felt before… What’s happening to me? Ahh… Tell me hunter, could this be joy? Ahh…

And as she speaks, they even took the time to actually animate her so that she would wipe her tears and gave us the Tear Stone:

Now, the dialogue itself is enough for me to say that Maria had feelings for Gehrman because there’s _no way_ that mere admiration and/or respect for the guy would make her surrogate, who only shares a few, blurred memories with her, cry tears of joy. But hey, we could say that since Plain Doll was “made” to love her creator her perception could be warped by what Gehrman wants her to feel towards him. So, let’s read what the lore has to say about this ;) let’s turn the Tear Stone into a Blood Gem!

Created from a shining silver doll tear, this blood gem is a quiet but unfaltering friend that continually restores HP, the life essence of a hunter. Perhaps the doll’s creator had wished for just such a friend, albeit in vain

BOOM! “Albeit in vain”… and here it is why I think Gehrman doesn’t talk to/doesn’t care about and is openly dismissive of the Doll. She is not the woman he used to know but a pale imitation. She doesn’t have Maria’s memories, she is nothing like the hunter that fought by his side, the strong and kind woman he secretly fell in love with. Before Moon Presence brought the Doll to life, Gehrman poured love and care into her creation that most likely happened after Maria’s passing. All item descriptions related to the Doll include this bit:

“A deep love for the doll can be surmised by the fine craftsmanship of this article, and the care with which it was kept.“ It borderlines on mania, and exudes a slight warmth.”

Which once again, reinforce my idea that my boi Gehrman cared for Maria not _just_ because she was hot. He doesn’t dress her up in revealing clothes nor does he keep her hunter attire while retaining elements of it such as the brooch and her boots. Maria killed herself after renouncing her life as a hunter, her conscience forever stained by what she and her teacher had done to the inhabitants of Fishing Hamlet. Dressing the doll in her hunter set would have been an even greater insult to her memory. Gehrman’s decision to dress her up in the seemly clothes of a respectable woman of the time is actually pretty tasteful if you ask me. May look strange and “unnecessary cute” to us modern-day players but that’s how women used to dress. Take a look at this picture of Mia Wasikowska’s in this movie adaptation of Jane Eyre. The reason why I pick this movie is its director, Cary Fukunaga who also directed the first season of the award-winning HBO series True Detective. (a show inspired by R.W Chambers and Lovecraft’s nihilism & cosmic dread.) This too is a pretty dark and spooky rendition of Charlotte Brontë’s classic.

But no more talking about Gehrman, let’s get back to Maria:

Among the first hunters, all students of Gehrman, was the lady hunter Maria. This was her hunter’s [cap/garb/gloves/trousers], crafted in Cainhurst. Maria is distantly related to the undead queen, but had great admiration for Gehrman, unaware of his curious mania.  [Maria’s Hunter Set]

This description tells us a lot of things, but most of them are irrelevant to the subject of this analysis. I could go on for hours pointing out the similarities of her set to the Knight’s and other Cainhurst fashion but let’s not do that. What matters here is that Maria, despite being of noble blood, had no social prejudice towards her mentor (and I would assume, any of her fellow hunters.) and, just like Gwyn’s firstborn, “had respect only for arms and nothing else” :P

I wouldn’t say that the reason why she was heartbroken was the fact that Gehrman never revealed his feelings to her (as mentioned in the ask) but that she idolized him and the cause of the Byrgenwerth Hunters as a whole and couldn’t bear the guilt once the college’s research pushed their actions too far. Like Ludwig who had an unshakable faith in the ways of the Healing Church, Maria had faith in and was possibly in love with Gehrman and couldn’t believe that the man she admired so deeply would blindly obey Byrgenwerth’s orders.

“Go and kill those fishmen who did nothing wrong and aren’t bothering anyone. Oh, and be sure to rip that umbilical cord from the body of thad Great One that washed ashore.”

“Yep.” No question asked.

THAT’s why Maria felt betrayed. It hasn’t anything to do with Gehrman’s “mania”. In my headcanons Gehrman’s total obedience to Willem is motivated but there’s no solid proof in canon so let’s just say that Gehrman was an idiot who never questioned the orders from above :/

And now, let’s get to the final, FUNDAMENTAL point of this analysis: did Maria love Gehrman back?

Yes she did. Why else would anyone want to take a look at any picture one last time before killing themselves? To remember what they lost or could’ve had if things were different.

Why am I 100% sure that Gehrman is in that picture? Because in canon we don’t know the name of any other member of the Old Hunters. It’s just the two of them: Gehrman and Maria, the only ones with faces and backstory in a crowd of faceless, bloodthirsty mannequins.

Here you go, thanks Fextralife.