#and her partner rapped Spencer | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ithehellisbucky · 4 years ago

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forget me not

spencer reid x reader

Request: No

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: Kidnapping, torture, drowning, murder, drug mention, etc

Summary: You and Spencer don't realize you love each other until it's almost too late

Author's Note: First thing in like fucking forever, so yeah. This was originally a request and then I was at school and I couldn't look at my request so it was way off script, so I just did my own shit, this also takes place in the 5th season, in the middle just after hayley dies.

"The unsub is a white male between the ages of 35-45. His modus operandi is drowning in the great lakes, he's already struck Superior, Michigan, Ontario, and Huron, so we expect Lake Erie to be next." Hotch says, glancing at his phone every minute or so. It's his third case back since Hayley died, and he's picked up a habit of waiting to hear bad news.

"This unsub has recently developed a hallucinative disorder where every face he sees has an emotional connection. There were no discernable connections between his victims which leads us to believe that his mind is filling in the gaps at random." Reid says, gesturing abstractly at nothing at all in particular.

"This disorder was likely triggered by a recent brain injury connected to the Great Lakes so keep a lookout for any recent accident victims. He was very social until the accident, and after it he immediately became anti-social. He was probably in a relationship recently, but then broke it off, he is not married, but possibly has children, which he will not shy away from using in a hostage situation." Morgan exclaims as he leans against a desk.

"His victims are all over the place, so we advise everyone to be on high alert. There is no pattern to the murders, from a 51-year-old single mother of two to a 14-year-old on vacation." You pause and take a breath, looking back down at your notes. "Someone out there knows this man, so we implore you to tell as many people as possible, our Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau will be setting up a press conference, and it is very important to get this out to as many people as possible."

"Won't that just spook him more?" One of the sheriff's deputy says, with a concerned look on his face.

"Yes, but at this point, he will kill again no matter what, it's better to have the public be informed because he will take another victim, whether we find him during or after is up to us."

He nods, and looks down at his notepad, badly masking his disturbed grimace.

"Thank you and let us know if you have any leads," Hotch exclaims, closing the meeting.

You walk up to Spencer "I bet we're their favorite people right about now." You say, sipping on your coffee.

Reid avoids your eyes and continues to fidget with the chess piece that he probably stole from one of the officer's desks. "What's wrong Reid?"

"I dunno, I just have a really bad feeling about this one," He picks up his cane and walks away. When Spencer has enough he needs to walk away, and as long as he wasn't hurt that was fine with you.

"Reid, y/l/n, Garcia's got something." Morgan raps his knuckles on the doorway and calls you into a conference room. "Hey babygirl, what do ya got for us?" He exclaims, shifting the call to speakerphone.

"A luscious blonde mane and an intense yearning to hold you." Emily giggles a little bit and Garcia can probably feel Hotch's glare "oh come on Derek."

"Sorry baby, keep goin'."

"I have a name. One Larry Todd. 3 weeks ago he was in a boat accident in which he had a severe concussion and was unconscious for 3 days. He immediately broke up with his girlfriend Shelby, which she was very angry about, adieu to her Facebook page. His ex-wife reported that he missed his last two visitations with his daughter Amelia." She takes a pause "he owned a bait shop that's been closed since his boat was destroyed in the accident, and it's listed as his last residency.

"Fits our profile to a tee," Emily exclaims.

"Thanks, Garcia," Hotch says, hanging up the phone call. "Emily, JJ is in the conference so run out and let her know. Morgan and Rossi, go to the bait shop with SWAT, and Reid and y/l/n go to the ex-wife's house; Emily and I will stay here and see what else we can dig up."

Everyone goes their separate ways. The sheriff takes the driver's seat, with you in the shotgun seat and Spencer in the back. You can hear the clang his leg makes against his cane and his foot bouncing.

"I'll take the daughter, and you can have the ex-wife."

"Okay," responds Spencer.

The ex-wife Miranda opens the door sobbing when you knock on it. "Excuse me, ma'am, my name is Agent y/n y/l/n and this is my partner Dr. Spencer Reid, do you mind if we ask you and your daughter a few questions about your ex-husband?"

She continues to sob but lets you in. You look back to see the sheriff playing video games on his phone and you scoff.

Spencer sits down with the crying woman and you politely ask if you can speak to her daughter. She tells you yes and that Amelia is around back.

"Bye, Reid." You blow a kiss to Spencer and walk out the door, shaking a sinister nagging feeling itching at the back of your neck.

You walk across the pavement and open the gate to enter your unsub's former backyard. "Hi Amelia, my name is y/n, I'm a friend of your mommies."

Beginning to grow more suspicious, you pull out your gun and triple-check to make sure it's on safety. If Todd is there you know that he would be fine with sacrificing his daughter for his own goals and you wouldn't let that happen "Amelia? Is your daddy here."

"Boo!" A little girl with pigtails holding a stuffed rabbit jumps from behind the recycling bin and you chuckle, putting your gun away in your holster. "Did I scare you?"

"You sure did!" You laugh. "Wow, that's such a pretty bunny, where did you get it?"

"My daddy got it for me." She said, showing off her gap tooth.

"That's so cool! Do you remember what it was like when he gave it to you?" You kneel to be at eye level with the child.

"Yeah, he was super cuddly, now he's a little more pokey, but that's okay." She says, playing with the bunny ears.

"When did he get pokey, Amelia?" You hesitated, something was off "I just want your daddy to be cuddly again."

"A little bit ago. He used to tell me stories till I fell asleep eeeeeverynight, but then he stopped for a week and when he came back he was like a big lion."

You had a growing sense of paranoia budding in your spine, why was she telling you all this so fast? "What type of stories?"

"He used to tell me princess stories, but after he stopped for a week he talked all about ones about the scary lady who tried to take me away, but then he stopped her! And the boy who was being dangerous so he had to make sure that she didn't hurt me." She exclaimed absentmindedly.

You start to pull your phone out of your pocket until Amelia starts talking again "and just now, he was talking about the bad knight who tried to take me away."

Your jaw dropped and you tried to find the best course of action, but by the time your brain started working it was too late. He walked up behind you and whispered into your ear "Nighty-night."

And then everything was black

~~~

"Hey, mommy."

"Yes, sweetheart?" She quickly wiped the tears off of her face to turn to her daughter.

"Can I have ice cream?"

"Of course sweetheart" she gives me a small smile and gets up towards the kitchen. "Where's that nice agent that came here with Dr. Reid?"

"They weren't a nice agent, they were a bad, bad, bad knight, and they were trying to take me away, so daddy took them instead."

No.

Oh no.

No no no no no no no no.

Where were they? Where was y/n?

I pulled out my gun without a second thought and left my cane behind, I ran as fast as I could without it, and by the time I was in the backyard my knee was burning and they were gone.

~~~

You woke up halfway through the drive. The road switched from smooth the bumpy a million times over, and it smelled like bees. Not like honey, not like pollen, like bees. Just bees. It smelled nice, but you don't want to die smelling bees.

You wanted to move. Move your body, move your head, move your eyes, move anything, but you couldn't move. Nothing could move. There was a sweaty tv shirt shoved between your teeth. Your hands were bound with bristled rope and there was metal all around you and you were certain that this was the back of a van. At first, you thought there must be a blindfold over your eyes, and then you realized that they were just too tired to open.

There was an old country song playing over the radio, a love song about a family in a house. The truck stopped shaking and he pulled the ignition. A growing sense of dread filled your stomach as he walked around towards the back of the truck. He opened the door and you saw his face.

That could only mean one thing- you weren't leaving here alive.

~~~

Within minutes crime scene techs were on the scene, but I knew they wouldn't find anything useful. The only thing that was there was the absence of y/n and our distraught profile.

"They were right here, right here, they were- they were right here, right here." Hotch looked at me somberly, and Morgan rubbed my shoulder with sympathy.

"We need to update our profile," Emily said, there was no time to waste, "we know what this guy does to people, and if he would risk abducting an armed federal agent in front of his daughter there's no doubt they in danger."

"We know Emily," Everyone looks at me kind of funny like I've said something wrong, but at this point, I don't care what anyone thinks of me, "His reason for doing this was for his daughter, he took out anyone he saw as a threat, a motherly figure, someone who could be her older brother, anyone who was a threat and wanted to take Amelia away from him.

"His disorder is fairly undocumented, being exactly the opposite of prosopagnosia, where patients disassociate faces from their loved ones, causes him to feel emotions about people he's never seen before, and his subconscious is assigning meaning to them at random, picking up anyone shows the slightest twinge of distaste.

"y/n picked up more than a twinge, they were there to take his daughter away, so he likely believes they're the mastermind." Everyone looks at me and waits for me to say the thing we all know is coming "he's not going to kill them before they suffer."

As we hitched a ride back to the station my leg was bouncing like crazy and my fingers were tapping the numbers of pi into the leather of the car door. Emily put her hand on my shoulder but I couldn't feel her, y/n missing was the only thing I could feel.

"Garcia I need you to check if Larry Todd owns any vehicles large enough to hold a person, trunks, vans, trucks anything," Morgan says into his speakerphone once we get back to the station.

"Oh god it's true, he really has them?" I can hear the distraught coated thick on her voice "do you think they're in pain, do you think he-"

"Garcia we don't have time for this, does he or does he not have any vehicles in his name." I snapped, I could apologize later when y/n was in a hospital bed.

"No, but you know I'm never one to go to bed early, and it turns out his great uncle died a year and a half ago, but his van was pulled over and given a speeding ticket a few months ago, how much do you wanna bet that's our guy and not a psychopath's uncle."

"Thanks, Garcia," Rossi hangs up the phone and turns to one of the sheriff's deputies in the room, "put out an ATB on that van."

"Okay, I'm gonna go through the medical files again, see if there's anything I missed," Hotch catches my arm.

"There isn't, right now all we can do is wait and look." He pauses "we've sent out patrol cars to look for the van, go out with Morgan, and circle around Lake Erie."

"Hotch, what if- what if we don't find them, or we find them and it's too late, or we find-"

"Right now she's alive, you said it yourself, he's not gonna let her die so easy."

As disturbing as it is hearing that someone you love more than anything is being tortured, I found it strangely comforting. They're alive. They are alive. They are prepared. After Tobias took me they brought me to a CIA torture seminar, just on the off chance that anything happened, I wouldn't break again.

I stared out the window of the passenger side of the SUV. Morgan wasn't talking, he knew what I was feeling, because he felt it before, when it happened to me.

"We've got a report of the vehicle going down sunmist lane" the scanner jumps to life.

I had memorized the map the second we landed; "we're five minutes away" and then, quietly under my breath, I whispered, "I'm coming y/n."

~~~

He held your head underwater for the 7th or the fiftieth time. You can't remember. You can't remember. You can't remember anything other than the water under the dock filling my lungs.

"What do you want with my daughter?!" He screamed at you as he pulled you out again, You vomited up all the water that my body could muster. You didn't know he had a daughter.

You forgot everything you learned to do. You forgot to pretend it was affecting me, You forgot how to hold my breath, You forgot. You forgot everything.

Except for Spencer, Spencer's smile, Spencer holding you, Spencer missing you until that was gone too.

Everything went away but the water.

He kicked you back off the dock again, and for a second you gasped for air, and then you sank, nothing even mattered anyways.

The man pulled you out again and kicked you in the ribs; you felt something rip inside of you and you screamed as loud as you could, which was more like a whimper.

"Larry Todd put your hands up!" Two men came behind the man who drowned you, you couldn't remember them, but you could remember the rip in your ribs filling with water.

He shoved you back into the water and you didn't even try to fight this time, you just sank, feet after feet after feet of water. You didn't hold your breath, you didn't care.

A figure appeared above you, and you saw the angel. He had a shimmering brown halo and a beautiful bright face that looked terrified, just like an angel.

And then he pulled you up.

~~~

This might be heaven, but it might be hell. You can tell the room is white without opening your eyes. There's a steady beeping sound to your left and it smells like chlorine.

When you finally manage to open your eyes you wished you hadn't. All you see is lethargy around you.

JJ is drooling in her sleep while Emily is asleep on her shoulder, Garcia is snoring in the corner with her knitting in a pile next to her. Morgan and Rossi are nowhere to be seen, but you can't blame them, seeing people they love getting beat up over and over again never gets easier. You can hear the faint sounds of Hotch arguing with someone over the phone in the hallway.

But worst of all is Spencer. He's wide awake and his foot is tapping like crazy on the ground. There are deep and dark eye bags surrounding his eyes and hints at a beard forming on his face. His cane is tossed uncharacteristically on the ground, and he pays it no attention whatever.

You open your mouth to speak, but when you do a stabbing pain shoots through your diaphragm and you gasp. The second Spencer hears you he shoots up and kneels next to the bed, which must be no easy feat.

"Hey, how are you?" He strokes your hair as gently as he can.

You try to speak but no words come out.

"Do you want some water?" You nod, trying to not feel pathetic. The second the glass of water comes into your eye line you knock it out of his hand and it goes shattering onto the floor, waking everyone else in the room up.

You start to cry, feeling guilty and scared about why a glass of water could've terrified you so much. "Hey, hey, it's okay, it's okay, it's just a bunch of sand made into something you can drink out of, it's not a big deal, don't worry." That calms you down a little bit.

You look around to see the rest of the team cradled around you. "How are you feeling honey?" Garcia whispers as if speaking too loudly would mortally wound you.

You reach up and touch your throat, and it burns. There's more confusion, and then JJ is getting her hand cut on the glass she was cleaning, Garcia was whispering too loudly and Emily was touching your arm, and Hotch and Morgan and Rossi were walking in the room and Spencer was pushing a button on your bed and the monitor was beeping and then you were screaming.

Screaming so loudly, screaming in pain, screaming in fear, screaming in confusion, screaming because you were overwhelmed and sad and scared. "Everyone gets out," Spencer says, and everyone quickly does, he knows you best, and right now, everything was too much.

"Wh-what happened" you whisper, throat and lungs still hurting but since you had screamed the worst part was over.

"The unsub kidnapped you, and tried to drown you, your heart stopped in the ambulance, but they brought you back." You remembered "You had been dunked in the water and brought back up at least 15 times, not including when I brought you out.

"You needed 53 stitches and had a punctured lung when we found you." He pauses "You're safe now, we have him in custody and he can never hurt anyone ever again." You let out a breath that you didn't know you had been holding.

"I'm so sorry," You were crying "I forgot you, I'm so sorry. He made everything go away but the water I'm sorry that I forgot you."

"It's okay, it's okay, you didn't do anything wrong, you were trying to stay alive." He stroked your hair and held your hands gently "He tortured you, when Hankel tortured me all I could think about were the drugs and the pain, you didn't do anything wrong, you survived."

"I survived?"

"Yes."

"Can I tell you something?" You chuckled, your tears had stopped but it was still wet on your face.

"Anything."

"I thought you were an angel when you saved, and now I realize that you weren't my angel, it wasn't magic, and it wasn't godly." Spencer looks puzzled, and you paused to take a deep and painful breath "It was the fact that I am so deeply in love with you, that seeing you love me back felt like heaven.

Spencer stares at you, his mouth closed and his mouth on the floor "You don't have to say anything, just know that-"

His lips are on yours before you can finish your sentence. For a moment you forget about the pain in your throat, the burn in your lungs, and the agony all over your body; it was just Spencer.

You pulled away for breath, your breaths dancing with each other.

"I was so scared" he whimpered in fear.

You stroked his hair gently "I was more terrified than I had ever been. I was so horrified that I would wake up tomorrow and my reason for living would be dead. I was more scared than I had been when I thought my dad killed a kid, I was more scared than when Hankel tortured me, I was more scared when I realized that I loved drugs more than my own life.

"You were the person that held my hand when I was hurting so bad I would forget to breathe, and then you weren't here because you were the person in pain and I realized that I loved you because nothing hurt me more than the fear that I could lose the one thing in the world that made me feel okay."

He takes a deep breath and looks at you as deeply in your eyes as you thought could ever be possible. "I love you too, and I promise you I'll never let you go."

His lips meet yours, and through a kiss, you whisper "I'll never forget you again"

And you knew that you had Spencer and everything is going to be okay.

My Masterlist

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scuttling · 3 years ago

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Newbie

Fandom: Criminal Minds Pairing: Aaron Hotchner/Latina OFC Sophie Cortes Word Count: 3,786 Tags: SFW, Pre-relationship, Self-confidence issues, Canon-typical violence Summary: On Sophie’s first day at the BAU, she gets nervous. On Sophie’s second day at the BAU, they get a case. Collection: Sophie Cortes timeline, 0-6 Months at the BAU (See Masterlist for reading order) Link to A03 or read below! On Sophie’s first day at the BAU, she’s a little bit nervous—change your outfit three times, run your Keurig with no cup underneath, hair up? hair down? hair up? nervous—so she takes a deep, steadying breath before pushing open the glass double doors that lead to the bullpen.

She took cues about attire from other people she saw the day of her interview, so today she is wearing a simple black and white dress with pumps and gold jewelry, and she feels she fits in, but she gets more than a few curious looks when she enters.

Her instructions are to report to Agent Hotchner’s office first thing, but she is stopped on her way there by a tall, handsome, impeccably dressed man with a frankly gorgeous smile. He’s Black, with a shaved head and a great voice, and suddenly she doesn’t mind the interference.

“Hi, I’m Derek Morgan. You’re Sophia Cortes, right? Hotch mentioned you were starting today.” She smiles warmly.

“Yes, pleasure to meet you. You can call me Sophie,” she says, reaching out a hand for a shake. “Agent Hotchner told me you’re from Chicago, and so am I. Please say you aren’t a White Sox fan.” His smile becomes even brighter, if possible. She might be halfway in love with him already.

“God, no. If you want to watch good baseball, it’s the Cubs all the way.” She laughs lightly, happy to have a little rapport with a new colleague so soon.

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“I’m glad there’s a little more color in the office now,” he jokes, and she understands where he’s coming from completely. It’s bad enough to be the only woman in the room, sometimes, but when she’s also the only person of color, she feels… inadequate, somehow. Like she has to work twice as hard to be seen, even though she literally stands out among her peers.

A blonde woman with a fair complexion and pretty, almost doll-like facial features steps up behind him, and he looks over, introduces her.

“Sophie Cortes, this is Jennifer Jareau, our Communications Director.”

“Everyone calls me JJ,” she says with a smile and a handshake.

“Nice to meet you. If you’re the Communications Director, you’ve got the toughest job in the unit, then.” JJ looks surprised, then nods her head.

“Absolutely, but don’t tell them that. They’d never believe you,” she says with a playful shove of Derek’s shoulder. “Don’t let being a profiler go to your head like this guy.”

“Who, me? I’m as down to earth as the next devastatingly handsome guy.”

“Yeah, right,” a voice says from her right, and Sophie turns to see a woman approaching them with pale skin and dark hair, bangs, a kind smile. “We love you and all, but you’re a little cocky.”

“Is it being cocky when I’m that good, though?” he asks with a wink, and Sophie already feels more at ease just hearing them talk with each other. She can get acclimated to anything when the environment is right. “This is my partner, Emily Prentiss. Prentiss, this is Sophie Cortes. The new newbie.” She sets down her bag, heads over to shake hands.

“Nice to meet you, Sophie. Love the dress.” Sophie thanks her for the compliment. “I appreciate you taking the newbie title from me; fair warning, you’ll probably be here for five years before they stop calling you that.”

“Ah, I’ve been called worse, I’ll take it.” She glances around their workspace, looks up to Derek. “Is my partner here? Dr. Reid, right?”

“Oh, he texted, said his train is running late,” JJ explains. “He’s really excited to meet you, though, so don’t mind if he’s a little… overwhelming, when he does get here.”

“You’ll fall in love with the kid, everyone does,” Derek explains, and it makes her heart feel warm. This is definitely a team she wants to be a part of. “But he can be intense.”

“I appreciate the heads up.” Before she can say any more, Agent Hotchner descends the stairs, heads toward them.

“Good morning. I can see the team has taken the liberty of introducing themselves.”

“Hello again, Agent Hotchner.” Sophie shakes his hand, and he smiles softly.

“Hotch, please. You can put your things in that desk and I’ll give you a tour, if you’d like.”

“Sure, sounds great.” The team shares a brief look, but she doesn’t know them well enough to comment, just stows her belongings and follows the unit chief. “The team was very welcoming. They seem really tight knit,” she comments as they leave the bullpen, and he looks at her, nods.

“When you spend as much time together as we do, traveling as we do, it’s inevitable. Was it not that way in Intelligence?”

“You couldn’t get those people to sit down to dinner together, let alone tease one another. They’d probably bite each other’s heads off.” They worked well together, but in private the environment could be pretty toxic. She knows Unit Chief Roberts wouldn’t have put up with it if the team didn’t get such good results.

“I can see how this environment might seem a little strange, then,” he says, opening the door for her. They take the elevator.

“Strange, but good. It reminds me of when I was a cop, and I’ve missed that kind of camaraderie.”

“Well I’m glad you felt welcomed. We really are happy to have you.” They approach a closed door which he raps on lightly; the woman who answers has a bright smile and an even brighter outfit, lime green and navy blue, with matching accessories, including green glasses. She makes Sophie feel very… plain.

“Oh, hi!” the woman says, and her grin gets bigger. “Wow, you’re beautiful.” Sophie laughs, a little taken aback, and Hotch sighs lightly like he’s used to the odd behavior. It’s all very endearing.

“This is Penelope Garcia, our technical analyst. Garcia, this is Sophia Cortes, our new profiler.” She reaches out a hand.

“It’s nice to meet you. You can call me Sophie, or Cortes, whichever you prefer. And you’re beautiful, too. I love your style.”

“Thank you; I can tell we’re going to be fast friends. You’ll have me on speed dial,” she says, walking to her desk and jotting something down on a pink Post-It. “If you need something researched, narrowed down, blown up, compared, etc, I’m your girl.” She hands her the note—her direct line—and smiles. “I’m sure you have much more to see, but don’t be a stranger!”

Something tells Sophie she won’t be.

He shows her all around the office—copiers, the breakroom, supply closets, restrooms—and they end up in the briefing room, the last two to walk in.

“You remember Gideon,” Hotch says, and the man nods a greeting. Still as personable as ever, she thinks. “And this is your partner, Dr. Spencer Reid.” She’s not surprised by his age—she read some articles about him once she had his name, knows they call him ‘boy genius’ quite literally—but she is a little thrown by his nervous smile, his dark eyes, his untidy flop of brown hair. Derek wasn’t kidding when he called him kid; he looks like he belongs at an after school chess club meeting, or something.

He’s adorable. Like a puppy. She immediately wants to keep him. She smiles wide.

“Sophia Cortes, but you can call me Sophie, if you like.” He stands, and they shake hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’ve heard all about you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too. I hear you’re from Chicago. Did you know Chicago is home to 2,716,450 residents living in over 100 neighborhoods?” She smiles wider.

“Yeah, with 600 parks, 500 playgrounds, 29 beaches, and 26 miles of open lakefront. It’s beautiful. Have you been?”

“We worked a case there, once. I didn’t get to see any parks or beaches.” He makes a frowning kind of face and she laughs softly, takes the seat Hotch offers her.

“Well you’re young, there’s time.”

“Now that we’re all caught up on introductions, we can get started,” Hotch states, and Sophie’s first morning meeting begins.

It’s a little boring, as far as first days go, but she doesn’t mind. She has access to her computer, gets it set up the way she wants, finds out from the team where all the best places are nearby for coffee or drinks or lunch. She meets with the section chief for introductions, goes over some policies with Hotch—who, she was right, is definitely funnier and more thoughtful than he must let on. He probably feels like he has to act a certain way, because he’s the boss, but she likes pulling the human out of him, makes it a personal mission going forward to make him smile.

He’s too handsome not to smile. On Sophie’s second day at the BAU, they get a case.

“I usually like to let new profilers get acclimated to the team before going into the field,” Hotch tells her as they board the plane, “but it didn’t make sense to keep you in Quantico. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

“Of course. That’s why I’m here, I want to help.” She stows her bag overhead. “I’ll observe, give my input when I have it, follow everyone’s lead.”

“Sounds good. You know you can come to any of us if you have questions.”

“I know. Thank you.”

They do a deeper debrief on the plane—three women have been murdered, all in their mid 30’s, athletic and blonde, last seen dropping their children off at school—and Sophie is tasked with going to the most recent crime scene with Hotch and Prentiss.

“What can you tell about him so far?” Hotch asks her while the detective on the case speaks with Prentiss about some details of the scene. She glances around the room, takes it all in.

“Well, there’s blood everywhere. Serious overkill each time. He either knew the victims, or has a deep-seated hatred for a woman they remind him of; my money is on is the latter.” She looks through the kitchen, at the bloody footprints that lead to the back door. “Tracked blood all through the house, left the back door open. He’s disorganized. He may have seen them at the school and planned to follow them home, but he didn’t do any pre-surveillance on them. Something about these women triggers him and he acts within the hour.”

“Would you call it a crime of passion, then?” She looks over, curious, then realizes he’s testing her.

“No. A crime of passion indicates some level of culpability by the victim. Provocation. These women are just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong face.” He nods, satisfied with her answer.

“So how do we think he’s finding the victims?”

“He could have a child under his care who goes to that school, or he could live near the school, work there. He could work the night shift somewhere else and pass the school on his way home. I think it’s too early to narrow that down.”

“Any idea what weapon he used?”

“We would have to really examine the cast off to be certain, but my guess would be… a hammer, or some other small, blunt tool. This wasn’t done by a baseball bat or a shovel or something larger. We can also get an estimated height and weight of the unsub if we chart the area void of blood here,” she adds, pointing to a bare spot on the wall with blood droplets above and around it. “I’m guessing we’ll send the photos to Garcia for analysis.”

“That’s right. I agree with your assessment,” he begins, but she senses hesitation.

“But?” He looks over at her, thoughtful.

“We’re missing something.”

“We are, or I am?” she asks for clarification, and he smiles just slightly.

“We are.” She takes that as a good sign, walks another loop around the room for something they would have overlooked, and she brightens when she thinks she’s discovered it.

“Her purse is still here, cash, credit cards. Her jewelry was still on her body when she was found. But does it look to you like something’s missing from the entryway table?” She points to it, and it’s very ordinary: a calendar, a bowl for change, hooks for keys, a couple of photographs—with a notable blank space in the middle. “Maybe a photo?”

“We should ask the husband if he knows what was there. Good work,” he tells her, and he heads off in the direction of the husband; she follows close behind.

Back at the precinct, the team fills each other in on what they’ve learned.

“So our unsub killed each of these women with a ball-peen hammer, striking 8-10 times. Blood spatter analysis puts him at about 5’11”, 6’0” tall, around 275 pounds. The photo taken from the third victim’s house was of the victim and her 7-year-old son Josh; similar photos were taken from the other two homes—photos of mother and son.” Prentiss tacks copies of the three missing photos to the board.

“Sounds like maybe the woman they remind him of is his mother,” Reid states.

“That’s what we’re going with. We’re still not sure how he finds his victims, though,” Prentiss mentions, and Sophie takes a breath, hesitates.

“Do you have something?” Morgan asks and she shrugs, unsure.

“Maybe? One of the theories we threw out there was that he works overnight and drives past the school on his way home from work, when the kids are being dropped off. If he killed them with a ball-peen hammer, maybe we should look for machine shops in the area with overnight shifts? Those are typically used in metalworking, not construction.” She feels like all eyes are on her, and it makes her nervous. “That could be completely irrelevant, it’s just a thought.”

“It’s a good thought; I’ll have Garcia pull us a list, we can split up and pass around the description, see if our guy is a metal worker. Good call, newbie.” Morgan leaves to take the call, and JJ leans over with a smile.

“Don’t second guess yourself. You’re doing great so far. Theories are important, even if they’re wrong.” Sophie returns the expression, nods.

“Thanks. I’ve just gotta get used to the collaborative environment; haven’t been in one of those in a while.”

“You’d never know it. You’re fitting right in.” She takes it as a compliment, is happy to be of some use to the investigation and not just getting in the way.

The rest of the day is pretty quiet; they test out a few other possible theories, deliver the profile to the late shift, plan to hit the school early in the morning to look for potential suspects and to pass around the description to see if anyone meets it who works there, or lives nearby.

She goes to the school with Reid and JJ, speaks to teachers, janitorial staff, but none of them know a man like the one they’re looking for. She meets up with the others, who were speaking to parents, after about an hour of questioning, but they also come up blank.

“We’ve still got your machine shop theory,” Reid says as they drive back to the precinct. “The others should be done with those soon, so there’s still a chance we can find this guy today.” JJ’s phone rings, and she answers on the car bluetooth.

“JJ, there’s been another attack,” Prentiss says. “1419 5th Street—you guys are closer. Can you head over?”

“We’re on the way,” JJ answers, turning right, and Reid looks thoughtful.

“An attack? She’s not dead?”

“No. Not yet, at least. She’s being rushed to the hospital; her husband was home, caught the attacker in the middle of it all.”

“Did he get a good look at the unsub?” JJ asks.

“He’s with a sketch artist now. Hotch wants you to circulate the sketch ASAP; we think we may have a hit at one of the metal shops, if you can send it to me, too.”

“You got it.” She ends the call, looks at Sophie through the rearview mirror. “Drinks are on you tonight, newbie,” she says playfully, and Sophie can’t help but laugh. She had been so intimidated by the thought of joining the BAU, and she’s glad to see she’s useful, can actually help make a difference. It’s a feeling she won’t forget for a while.

Later that night, when they plan to try to catch the unsub before he leaves for work, she deflates, a little.

Hotch, Morgan, Prentiss, and Reid are going to breach the unsub’s house while JJ covers the front door and Sophie covers the back. She had assumed she would get to be part of the team going in, with her tactical background, and immediately thinks the worst, that they’re happy to have her brain, but that her body is a hindrance. Too short, too weak… it’s how she’s been treated her whole life, and she hates to think that she’s being dismissed here so soon for the same reasons. She tries not to let it show, but she dwells on it, a little, lets it get her down even though she knows she shouldn’t.

She snaps out of it when there’s movement on the back porch, a hulking, shadowy figure in the darkness.

“I’ve got him coming out of the back,” she whispers into her comms, and she draws her gun and points it at the unsub. “Stop, FBI!” The guy turns to face her—he fits the sketch to a tee, a real mountain of a man as the blood spatter analysis suggested—takes one good look, and goes running in the other direction.

Alright, so, he’s clearly not impressed. She can work with that.

“He’s running, I’m in pursuit.” She holsters her weapon and her boots pound the grass as she books it his way. The good thing about being so much smaller than him is that she’s much faster, catches up to him fairly easily, and again, she shouts for him to stop, which, of course, he doesn’t.

Her first thought is that she’s got to get this guy on the ground no matter what—this isn’t a shoplifter or something, he’s wanted for murdering three women and attempting to murder a fourth, so a little force is okay if necessary, and judging by his build, it’s going to be necessary.

Her second thought is, if I can’t catch him, I don’t deserve to be here. And that’s the one that makes the decision for her.

She leaps onto his back, grabs fistfuls of his shirt, and shakes him forward, backward, forward again, trying to throw off his balance. When he starts to wobble, she slides down his back, hooking a leg around one of his and driving her knee into the bend of his; he goes down, face first, and she reaches behind her for her cuffs, slaps them on his wrists before he has a chance to turn or stand. “Jason Farber, you’re under arrest for three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.”

“Attempted murder?” he asks, turning his face so he can speak more easily. He seems pretty calm for a runner, maybe just resigned to his fate, and she leans over so she can see him better. He’s breathing fine, uninjured, and just looks pissed. “You mean that overbearing bitch isn’t dead?”

“Yep, sorry to be the one to tell you, Jason, but she’s alive and kicking.” She continues to read him his rights, and is just pulling him to his feet when Morgan and Hotch skid to a stop behind her; if they look surprised… who is she kidding? They look surprised as fuck.

“Damn, Cortes. This guy’s like three of you,” Morgan marvels as she walks him back toward the cars so he can be tossed into the back of a black and white. “Did you make him an offer he couldn’t refuse?” She scoffs at that, and even the unsub snorts in amusement.

“She tackled me. Wasn’t counting on that.”

“I don’t think anybody was,” she admits, getting him into a cop car and shutting the door. She joins the rest of the team, gets a high-five from JJ.

“Hey, score one for the ladies. We never get to do any tackling.”

“She did better than I would have,” Reid admits without shame, and she laughs.

“It’s all in the legs. I lift chains at the gym.” He gives her a look like he’s got no idea what she’s talking about, which almost makes her laugh again. “You do pull-ups, but with chains around your legs.” She demonstrates, squatting and gesturing to her legs like she’s wrapping something around them.

“Okay, you’re the real deal, newbie,” Morgan says when she stands up fully. “Remind me not to run from you unless I want a face full of dirt.” The group breaks apart after that, but Hotch lingers, gives her a meaningful look when she makes eye contact.

“I bet that felt good.” She leans against the side of the SUV, feels a deep conversation coming on.

“It did. I’m stronger than I look, and sometimes it’s fun to be underestimated, but other times it gets really annoying.”

“I can imagine,” he says, nodding, and he mimics her posture. “I just want to make sure you know you don’t have anything to prove. I hired you for a reason.”

“I know. But I don’t like being a one-trick pony, and I’m definitely not waiting around for one of you guys when an unsub is on the move.”

“And I wouldn't expect you to. As for the ‘one-trick pony’ thing, that’s not how I see you at all. You’re extremely well-rounded, and that’s why I wanted you.” His eyes are kind, but penetrating, and she dips her head, nods.

“And that’s why I don’t want to disappoint you.”

“After what you’ve shown me the last two days, I don’t think that’s possible, but I want you to know you can come to me when something’s bothering you. That’s why I’m here.”

“I know. I won’t forget it,” she assures, and he stands fully, cocks an eyebrow in her direction.

“I heard drinks are on you tonight,” he says with a straight face, and she laughs lightly.

“I guess we better get going before they run up the tab, then.”

They walk in companionable silence back to the SUV.

#aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x original female character #criminal minds fanfic #latina original female character #hotch x original female character #criminal minds #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x female reader #hotch x female reader #hotch x reader

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wiener-soldiers · 7 years ago

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merch? merch. - peter parker

summary: You were always a sucker for comfortable clothing. However, you did not expect so much to happen because you bought a Spiderman shirt.

pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

words: 1,500+

warnings: none!

taglist: @sebastianstanfoundmymixtape

a/n: this has been sitting in my draft for forever and i finally finished it! got this idea when i bought a spiderman shirt lolololol. im also working on a jack kelly and a davey jacobs fic along with part 2 to my steve trevor fic so yay me. shoot a request if you wanna see somthing happen!

You weren't really sure why you did it.

Maybe it's because you were a huge dork, maybe because it looked really comfortable, maybe because it was super cheap, maybe it's because you really liked the shirt.

You don't really know.

Nor did you really care.

But you bought it anyways.

And now, an oversized Spiderman t-shirt was sitting in your closest.

The first time you wore it, you were having a rough day. You woke up late that day, making you late to the bus, forcing you to haul your ass on the subway to get to school. You barely make it to homeroom on time, but get a scolding from the teacher about being late anyways. Then you completely forgot your English essay at home the day it was due. Finally, hoping you could spend quality time with your best friend Peter Parker after school, he blew you off, something about running to do some errands for Aunt May. You wanted to offer to join Peter, but he ran off before you could ask.

So you went home, changed into a comfortable bralette and some soft Brandy Melville shorts, and of course, your Spiderman t-shirt. Because it's oversized, it falls onto about mid-thigh, so you tie it up into a knot at the front. Because your mom works that night shift at the hospital as a nurse and your dad was in London for a conference, you had the house to yourself.

You walked out of your room and into the living room, bringing your laptop, homework, and some leftover Thai takeout along with you. After you plant yourself on the couch, you start to binge watch Harry Potter while doing your homework.

When your mom finally came home from working the night shift at the hospital, she finds you fast asleep with your homework falling on the floor and the end of the Chamber of Secrets playing.

The next morning, when you wake up from your spot on the couch, she makes no comment on your Spiderman merch.

The second time you wore the shirt, your close friend MJ came over to watch Criminal Minds with you. This was your first break after the beginning of the second semester and both of you were dying to get your dose of Spencer Reid in.

The moment you answer the door, MJ laughs at your outfit choice.

"Nice shirt, nerd," she says as she kicks her shoes off, pushing hair behind her ear as she bends down to retrieve the chips and candy she brought.

You scoff and lightly kick her butt as you walk by, "Whatever."

"No seriously," she says while she chases after you, "Boxers and a Spiderman shirt? Where did you even get those?"

"The shirt?"

"No you idiot, the boxers! But where you got the shirt wouldn't hurt either."

You laugh and grab some chips, a tub of ice cream and spoons, and some sodas from the kitchen. "I got the shirt from a gift store in Manhattan."

"And the shorts?"

You look down at your feet, heat rushing to your face. To keep your hands occupied and grab the remote from the counter, walking back to the living room. You hear a scoff escape MJ's lips, "It's Peter's, isn't it?"

Your face burns and you throw a spoon at her face, "Shut up!"

She scrunches her nose, "Ew, who leaves boxers when they stay over?"

You mumble something under his breath.

She rolls her eyes again, "Speak up, dammit."

"...He gave them to me."

She bursts into laughter, "She's whipped! The girl's whipped!"

The third time you wore the shirt was when Ned came over to do a project.

You were assigned partners for a science project and you insisted that Ned came over to do the project as oppose to the school library. After school, the library was usually fairly quiet, but because of the pouring rain outside, a lot of students stayed inside the library to wait out the storm.

The two of you ran from the subway station two your family’s apartment, but the pouring rain almost guaranteed that the both of you would get drenched regardless.

After hastily unlocking the front door, the both of you stumbled inside.

"Gee, (Y/N). I'm starting to think that going out into the rain was a bad idea," Ned laughs out. He opted not to wear his raincoat to protect his books. You were just stupid enough not to bring one.

You giggle, "Yeah? Well I was not about to let us do work in a loaded library that'll smell like mud and everyone's B.O."

He laughs, taking off his shoes and dumping the water on the floor. He wrings out his socks after. "That's really gross, man."

You follow suite, "You bet. Hold on, I'll grab us a change of clothes."

You run to your room and grab some clothes Ned had left at your house. You grab a couple more supplies for the project before you change into pyjama pants and your comfy Spiderman shirt.

You meet Ned in the living room and he does a double take when he sees your shirt.

"What?" you ask him.

"Nice shirt."

"What? MJ, now you?"

"Who's MJ?"

You look back at him, "I thought you knew you MJ was?"

"..."

"You know, brown curly hair? Sarcastic sense of humor? Absolutely gorgeous?"

"..."

You roll your eyes, "She goes by Michelle, Ned."

He widens his eyes in revelation, "Oh!"

You laugh at him and hand him the dry clothes, "Go change, Ned."

"Okay, okay!" Ned replies, grabbing the clothes from you with a smile from your face. "Thanks, (Y/N). Oh, and uh...does Peter know you have that shirt?"

You shake your head, "No."

"Show it to him, I bet he'd love it."

A blush was your response, "Go get changed, Ned."

The fourth time you wore that shirt was to bed.

At least that was your intention.

A soft rapping on your window wakes you. You roll around to face the window and notice a familiar red mask in your field of view. You sigh and roll out of bed and open your window to let the spandex clad man in.

"Hi, Spiderman."

He grunts silently in pain when he rolls through your window, "Hi, Miss."

You let out a huff in annoyance. For the past couple weeks, Spiderman has been showing up injured to your window asking for assistance. You had no idea why you hadn't told anyone yet, or why you decided to help him. However, he never asked for your name and you felt like this was your way of crime fighting and helping others.

"Where are you hurt?" you softly say, scrunching your eyebrows together and looking over is hunched form.

Spiderman slowly lowers himself on the ground and gestures to his ribs. You nod and leave the room, coming back with a pack of ice. He looks up at you and lets out a small laugh, "Nice shirt, (Y/N)."

You freeze.

You had never told him your name.

You step back, your hand hovering over the light switch. "Who are you? How do you know my name? What the hell?"

He stutters, "Uh...you have to promise not to scream."

"I make no--" you start to say, but before you get the chance to finish, he rips his mask off.

Peter Parker gives you a small sheepish smile. Your shock doesn't fade.

Out of shock, you throw the ice pack at him. "Peter!" you whisper yell, "you're Spiderman?!"

"I told you not to scream!"

"I'm whisper screaming!"

"Look, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. It's just that--"

"No, Peter Parker, you listen to me! Do you really have the audacity to show up hurt every night? I thought you hated me because you kept blowing me off! I really freaking miss you Peter I could almost--" you cut yourself off with a scrambled scream.

Peter stands up and pulls you into a hug, silencing and comforting you. You push yourself away.

"Peter Parker I could almost soak you in the face right now!" you threaten, stepping closer to him noses almost touching.

"What's stopping you?"

"Why you little--" you grab his face and kiss him, hard. His arms snake around your waist and pull you closer. You both pull away, out of breath. He rests his forehead on top of yours, heaving from the adrenaline.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

You kiss his nose, "I'm just glad your okay."

He kisses you on the lips once again, "I wasn't kidding when I said I loved that shirt."

You smile and look down. Peter’s eyes soften and he brings his hand to rest on your cheek. He slowly pushes your chin upwards to face him. Your eyes flicker up to his. Though is dark, you find yourself lost in his chocolate eyes.

“Hey,” Peter whispers to you, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry I kept ignoring you. You mean the world to me (Y/N) and I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I was keeping something as big as me being Spiderman away from you. But I could never bring myself to tell you, I...I didn’t want to drag you into this.”

You pull him into a tight hug, nestling your nose in the crook of his neck. You turn your head and rest your cheek on his shoulder, and you press a soft kiss on the side of his neck. “I’m in it for the long haul, Peter. You’re my best friend, and I love you in every way possible. Whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”

Peter’s body shakes with laughter, his grip on you tightening. “I wouldn’t want it any other way, darling.”

The fifth time you wear that shirt, it's in bed beside Peter as the both of you binge watch the original Star Wars trilogy. He rests against the headboard with you sitting in between his legs, your back resting against his chest with his arms wrapped around your waist. He toys with the hem of your shirt, a smile finding a way to his face when he remembers the first time he saw you in it.

You notice Peter's hands brushing against your stomach and slip your hand into it. "What are ya thinking about?" you ask him.

"Just about you, beautiful. Have I ever told you that I love you?"

You feel him press a kiss to your neck and you smile, pausing the movie playing on your laptop resting on your lap. "Yes, Peter. Everyday."

"That's good. I mean, if you ever came out with some '(Y/N) (Y/L/N)' merch, I'm buying it."

You laugh once again before kissing Peter full on the lips, the smile never leaving either of your faces.

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xocriminal-minds-imaginesxo · 6 years ago

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What’s in a Name?

A/N: To those of you who told me to post this story, thank you. There will be another part to this. I didn’t want to put it in the queue, I just wanted to post it before I chickened out.

TRIGGER WARNING!

Agent Jaelyn Renasci took off after the UnSub at a sprint. Her boots were grinding against the gravel, closing in on him at a quick rate. When she was only a few steps behind she launched herself forward, tackling him to the ground. After taking an elbow to the face and instantly she felt the blood falling from her nose. She grabbed his ankle when he tried to run away. Quickly scrambling forward, she put all her weight into her movements, punching him in the nose, a sickening crack resounding. Sitting on his chest, she pulled out her gun and pressed it to his forehead, finally getting a look at his face.

“Hello, Agent Renasci.” He smiled at her and it made her stomach turn.

“Renasci!” Morgan’s voice resounded through the alley.

“Where’s the girl?” Jaelyn growled. When he didn’t say anything, Jaelyn whipped her gun across his face. “Where is she?” She screamed.

“Renasci!” Morgan pulled her back and she struggled against him.

“No! Morgan! He needs to tell us where the girl is!” Jaelyn kept pulling, but Morgan just held on to her all the more tightly.

“And he will! In the interrogation room at the precinct, not here!” He had wrapped both arms all the way around her, pinning her arms at her side. When the cop had cuffed the UnSub and led him away, Derek finally let her go.

“What happened?” Hotch asked when they got back to the house.

“Is she here?” Was Jaelyn’s response.

“Renasci, you’re bleeding, you need to see a medic.”

“Aaron is she here?” Her eyes met his, with a pleading look. Sadly, he shook his head. She rest her hands on top of her head and sucked in a breath. She lifted her arm, but Aaron caught her arm before her fist connected with the wall.

“Your hand is already bruised, possibly broken, you don’t need to add to that.” His voice was low, and he tossed Morgan the keys. “get back to the precinct and see what you can get I’m going to accompany Renasci to the hospital.”

“I’m fine.” Jaelyn spoke through clenched teeth.

“Like hell you are, let’s go.” Aaron couldn’t help using the boyfriend voice in place of boss voice, but in this situation, it seemed appropriate.

With his arm firmly gripped around her bicep Aaron guided her to the ambulance. Knowing it was useless to argue she gave in to his guidance and trudged into the ambulance. The medic took some sterile gauze and began wiping the blood from her face and she hissed in pain.

“This hand is going to need to be casted.” The other paramedic said, and she shook her head.

“No, we don’t have time for that. Wrap it up and I’ll cast it after we interrogate this son mother f-“

“Jaelyn!” Aaron’s voice was harsh.

“He knew my name, Aaron.” Jaelyn spoke after a moment. “I don’t know how, but I know him. We need to get back to the precinct so you can figure it out.” Aaron knit his brows together and nodded his head.

“Fine, bandage it up. I’ll make sure she comes back.”

When they got back to the precinct the team was sitting in the conference room, Garcia on the speaker.

“What’s this son of a bitch’s name?” Jaelyn growled tossing her go bag in the chair having changed her bloody shirt.

“Oh my god wh-“ Emily reached out to Jaelyn, gesturing to the bruise that was now forming on her cheek, but she pushed Emily’s hand away.

“I’m fine. Garcia?”

“Dave Mitchell.” Garcia’s voice was timid, unsure why Jaelyn was so upset. Grabbing a case file Jaelyn stormed out of the room and into the viewing room. She pulled open the file and looked at the picture of the dead little girl, praying to whoever would listen that they could find the one he had taken last night.

“There’s more to this, isn’t there?” She didn’t even hear Aaron come into the room. “You’ve been on edge this whole case.”

“It’s the victim.” Her voice was a whisper. “She just… she reminds me of somebody I know.”

“The only thing we’ve gotten out of him is his name.” Morgan had entered the room.

Hotch, Morgan, and Jaelyn stood behind the two-way mirror, arms folded across their chest they waiting to see if he would get restless, but he just sat, as cool as ever.

“Renasci, I want you to go in. I think it’ll make him more willing to speak.” Hotch finally spoke. Jaelyn stared at him in disbelief.

“Is that really wise considering what just happened in the field?” Morgan was confused.

“Aaron, is that really a good idea? I agree with Morgan, I don’t think I can stop myself from pistol whipping this guy.” She didn’t want to tell him that she was nervous, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

“Yes, I’m sure. You’re going to walk in very calm and collected. You’re going to sit, and you are going to place two false photos along with the real photo on the table and ask him to confirm the victims. If he admits to each of them, we know he’s not the UnSub.” Hotch’s voice was firm. Jaelyn nodded her head and swallowed hard, taking the file from Morgan.

Hesitating, Jaelyn took a calming breath, and glanced at the boys who gave her a nod. Opening the door, she calmly turned and clicked it shut. Pretending she couldn’t hear her own heartbeat in her ears as she walked over to the table.

“Agent Renasci.” His voice caused her stomach to turn. Not speaking a word, she sat down and placed out all the pictures. Little girls, curled up in the fetal position, bruises around their necks.

“Can you please confirm that these are your victims?” Her voice was surprisingly calm, considering she wanted to do to him what he did to the poor little girl. His eyes flickered down to the pictures for a moment before meeting her eyes again.

“I can confirm that. Do you want me to tell them what I did to them? How I took them into the bathroom? Started by running a bath before I raped them?” Jaelyn couldn’t hide the disgust that had written all over her face. The blood drained from her face and there was a ringing in her ears so loud she could barely hear her own voice when she spoke.

“Where is he?” Her voice was wicked.

“Jaelyn, what are you doing?” Hotch voice sounded through her ear piece. She was so focused on the UnSub she didn’t hear Morgan walk into the room.

“Renasci?” Morgan placed a hand on her shoulder she shrugged him away, slamming her fists on the table, so loud it even caused Morgan to flinch at the sound.

“Where is he?” She asked again, her voice a thunderous boom, echoing around the room. There was a deafening silence following her outburst in which he smiled a sinister smile. Her chest was heaving, and her jaw was clenched tight.

“What do I get if I tell you?” He spoke coolly, she clenched her hands into fists.

“Renasci…” Morgan tried again to get her attention.

“Morgan, I’ve got this.” Jaelyn’s voice was dark.

“Leave the room Morgan.” Hotch’s voice sounded in their ear piece. Morgan furrowed his brow, concern written across his face, but he followed the order, slowly walking out of the room.

“We’ll tell the DA you cooperated, and you’ll get maximum security. If you don’t tell me or if you lie to me you will be put in a state prison for life and trust me when I say, guys like you don’t do well in prison.” Her voice tapered off to a menacing whisper. Eyes murderous from across the table, she stared him down until he finally answered.

“He’s where it all began.”

Jaelyn pushed away from the table and walked out of the interrogation room, out of the viewing room and out of the precinct. Barely making it to the edge of the sidewalk before emptying the contents of her stomach into the grass. A pair of familiar black shoes walked up beside her, his hands pulling her hair back.

“Thanks.” She mumbled, standing up and wiping the corner of her mouth.

“Do you mind telling me what just happened in there?” Aaron’s voice was soft.

“He’s not the UnSub.” Her voice cracked, and he stepped closer, holding himself back from reaching out to her.

“I gathered that. I’ve also gathered that you know who the UnSub is.”

“Yeah I do…” Aaron could sense she didn’t want to go into more detail.

“He gave up his name after you left, Garcia is looking up him up now.” JJ said when they stepped back into the conference room.

“Joseph Whiting was with him in prison.” Jaelyn heard Garcia’s voice over the speaker. “He has a rap sheet a mile long, filled with domestic violence and assault charges. 30 years ago, he was sent to prison after pleading guilty as an accomplice to murder.”

“When was he released?” JJ asked, all eyes pretending not to glance worryingly at Jaelyn and Hotch.

“Three weeks ago… oh god.” Garcia gasped.

“What is it Garcia?” Spencer questioned.

“While he was in prison he would brag about raping and molesting his partners granddaughter, Shauna, he was shanked and put in solitary confinement for his security.”

“How much do you want to bet she had blonde hair and blue eyes?” Emily asked. Jaelyn’s jaw was clenched, her hands were balled into fists so tight her nails were breaking the skin.

“Garcia, we need to find her she’s probably his end game. He blames her for getting hurt in prison. She’s probably where it all began.” JJ said.

“It says they tried to find her after he was released to offer her protective custody, but she went off the grid…” Garcia trailed off, fingers still clicking at the keyboard. Hotch looked down at Jaelyn, giving her a knowing glance, starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

“They’re not you baby girl.” Morgan spoke up, glancing over to Jaelyn as well, an inquisitive look on his face.

“No, they are not and… oh, oh...” Garcia trailed off.

“Garcia?” Prentiss tried coaxing her. They heard a choked sob come from the other end of the line.

“Baby Girl?” Morgan sounded worry.

“I… Um… I’m no…” She couldn’t form a sentence.

“She’s trying to tell you that her name isn’t Shauna anymore.” Jaelyn finally spoke up, her voice monotonous.

“What? How do you know that?” JJ asked. After a moment Jaelyn finally lifted her eyes and met the curious gazes of her colleagues.

“Because my mom let me change it when I turned 16.”

#Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfic #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotchner x oc #spencer reid #derek morgan #emily prentiss #jj jareau #imagine #criminal minds imagine

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flameaurasphere · 6 years ago

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250518 & 260518

Dear Diary,

Last night was magical. I haven’t had this much fun in 4 months. 🤩

When partner-in-crime and I entered the holding room for the performers (which, coincidentally, was the choir room -- ah nostalgia), almost everyone stared at us as if we weren’t welcomed lmao, but I’d understand why. While waiting for our soundcheck time, I mingled with a few of my (choir) juniors who were performers too. I guess it was nice to be exchanging some words after a couple of years of not seeing them. :”) Soundcheck was alright; we took a few pics in between time. One of the student event coordinators, David, was really friendly to us. We were supposedly correspondents for the event’s Instagram account for the night, but we didn’t really post anything lol. Dinner was provided but it sucked cos it was everything that would damage your throat -- curry chicken, fried egg, pathetically stir-fried cabbage.

Alas, it was time for the performers to assemble at the waiting area. The nerves were getting on me, but judging by partner’s body language, she was probably more nervous than I was. I’m so glad that our friends found us at our waiting area to cheer us on before our turn. During the item before ours, we went thru all our lyrics one last time as fast as lightning -- almost like an Eminem rap lol.

Before we knew it, in the blink of an eye, it was our turn.

Partner started off shaky, so I was looking at her the whole time, mouthing the words to her. Our first item was “Everything Has Changed”, and our second was “Up”. We’ve had a few mess-ups, but I couldn’t have expected a better performance than this. 👌 The light was too fking bright, but I looked at my friends’ direction anyway (for moral support) and smiled throughout. I was so ecstatic when we’ve finished the songs, I had to hi-five partner. I think we received a decent applause. xD

Right after, one of my juniors spotted us and praised us, who then brought us to another one of my junior (who, coincidentally, is partner’s cousin). We then broke off and looked for our own friends. I pretty much stayed in the hall the entire time cos I didn’t want to miss the finale item.

All the performers were invited to the stageground to dance and hype ourselves up. A talented band of students played “A Sky Full Of Stars”. During the climax of the song, this bazooka-sized party popper popped and it was the most beautiful sight in the history of my school. :”) Such a heavenly view. This is a night I’d never want to forget.

We stayed back to clean up the place. To celebrate, partner & I ate McDonald’s for supper. However, the food was more surfeiting than satisfactory. Oh gosh I could feel my pimples returning. Her friend, Abel, tagged along. He’s a weird guy with weird antics, but lowkey he cute lol. Man, I’m gonna miss partner oh so much...

I decided to slide into one of the performers’ DMs. She’s the only person (outside of the band that performed the Coldplay song) that caught my eye. Her name’s Erin and she’s a year 4. She has auditioned for the school’s talent show for the past 3 years, but without any luck, until she auditioned this year with her bandmate & guitarist, Andrew. Ah, cute backstory. :”)

Met up with a couple of guy friends to attend a Vainglory event. Welp, the two guys haven’t met before, but my friend went bonkers and started blabbering all kinds of inappropriate jokes. I’m sure my other friend, Spencer, probably has a weird first impression of him now. xD Spencer’s kinda cute -- he has unusual curly hair, but what sets him back is he’s vertically challenged and, although he’s buffed (he’s in the strongman club), his build is small. However, I’ve noticed he’s less chubby than he was the first time we met. Hahaha, he was this fking awkward guy, but today, we’ve unleashed his deep, dark & dirty side.

We played Vainglory Blitz, King Of The Hill style. Our team name was Salt. We won the first match-up (largely due to the opposing team’s poor team comp) but lost terribly in the next one. I kinda cheated tho... I was looking at the big screen cos I didn’t have vision in the middle sentry, and I saw the opponent Rona taking out the sentry, so I hurried down to stop them.

I remember the shoutcaster saying, “Team Salt has to focus more on winning the game, and less on being salty.” We screwed up so badly cos they were taking the objectives too quickly, and obliterating us one at a time. Ugh, staying true to our team’s name, I was really salty about the loss. xD Well, at least we won 500 ICE and brought home a Razer plushie.

We had dinner at Chir Chir -- some Korean fried chicken place -- as recommended by my friend. I usually don’t order salad, but the mango salad was great and could be shared among 3 people. Since we were broke, my friend suggested we go to the heartlands and have McDonald’s for dessert.

Everything after this is M18. Proceed at your own risk.

On the train ride, he showed me this blogpost about a girl’s fking bizarre masturbation experience. Wtf, could my day get any weirder than this?

Well, it did. My friend thought it’d be fun to bomb each other with hardball, sexual questions. In that 1.5h, we learnt about each other more than we’ve ever did. Some of the questions made me uncomfortable, but it was fun cos we usually don’t have such convos on such taboo topics. Spencer also sorta figured out I wasn’t straight. Rip lol.

~Flameaura

#dear diary #diary #flameaura

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writemarcus · 7 years ago

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TICKETS

AT-DOOR: $18 ADVANCED SALE: $15 Four programs of 6-8 shows..... 10-20 minutes each.... Ranging from comedies to dramas to alternative...... The Act One: One Act Festival 2018 is a self-producing competition-style one-act play festival. The audience will vote for each show they see, and thetop-scorers will have a place in the Finals: February 3rd @ 7pmPLEASE NOTE: ~Information and order of shows is subject to change. ~Please be forewarned: Some subject matter may be offensive or triggering.

Program 1 Jan 11 @ 7pm Jan 14 @ 5:30pm Jan 19 @ 7pm Jan 21 @ 8pm Jan 27 @ 7pm Jan 30 @ 7pm

Let's Hear It For Queens by Mark Lord (20 minutes) Musical Book, Lyrics, Direction by: Mark Lord Music and Musical Direction by: Joe Ferrante Joseph Riley - Antiquous Jim Haines - Poet Dan Segredo - Linguist #1 Kent Williams - Linguist #2 Caroline Purr - Storyteller #1 Regina Fischedick - Storyteller #2 Erin Clancy Balsamo - Storyteller #3A condensed version of an original full-length musical in tribute to the borough of Queens. Featuring original songs, poetry and rap.Saint Fancy by Stephen Bracco (12 minutes) Dramatic Comedy Directed by: Stephen Bracco Spencer Wolfe - Dr. Joey Kitty Ostapowicz - Fancy It's trust-fund alcoholic Fancy's birthday; today, like every year, her birthday wish comes true. Last year, she turned her therapist into a liver; this year, he's fighting for his humanity, and hers. Help Me Get Over You by Rollin Jewett (10 minutes) Comedy Directed by: Joseph Sexton Chris Ostrowski - John Marcy Agreen * - Phyllis A man who broke up with a lady enlists her to help him get over her. Personnel Best by Pete Holmberg (20 minutes) Drama Produced by: Roust Theatre Company Directed by: Jenny Tibbels Stage Manager: Stephanie Hollander Charlie Gorrilla - Luddy Khris Lewin * - Kyle Jonny Maldonado - David In the wake of Harvey Weinstein and the birth of the #metoo movement, three male partners in a successful PR firm convene behind closed doors to discuss a pivotal hiring decision. FACEBOOK (for Roust Theatre Co.) The King-Anning by Veronica Cooper (10 minutes) Comedy Directed by: Emily Lyon Jennifer Teska * - Mary Anning Mateo Moreno - The King of Saxony Aaron Kheifets - Carl Gustav Carus A comedic account loosely based on the very real meeting of world renowned English paleontologist Mary Anning and the King of Saxony, a natural history enthusiast. Set in 1844. Program 2 Jan 13 @ 7pm Jan 17 @ 7pm Jan 21 @ 3pm Jan 25 @ 7pm Jan 28 @ 5:30pm Feb 1 @ 7pm A Girl Smiles in the Arctic by Cambria Denim (18 minutes) Dramatic Comedy Directed by: Madelyn Shaffer Nayem Cardenas-Lopez - Nirliq Andrew Griffin - Justin Bieber Braiden Wells - Alan International pop sensation Justin Bieber and Siberian Inuit hunter Nirliq meet in their conjoined dreams every night. What happens when a depressive, childlike Englishman appears in their dreamscape? Hunt by Wil Hart (19 minutes) Comedy Directed by: Sophia Grasso Sarah DiRenno - McKenzie Katie Lugo - Miranda Dymon Davis - Megan In search of closure after her father's death, Mckenzie returns to the hunting shack where she spent time with him as a kid. Her two best friends tag along, not realizing what they're in for. Don by Kyle Smith (9 minutes) Comedy Directed by: Kyle Smith Mike Toperzer - Keith Armand Lane - Don Don reflects on the choices he made to get where he is, as Keith struggles to get Don out of the rain. Clean-Shaven by Justin Schwartz (15 minutes) Comedy Directed by: Justin Schwartz Ruthy Froch - Lucy Jackson Knight Pierce - James All is well as long as James heeds to Lucy's one request: to shave himself before they have sex. Until the one time he forgets to do so. A Match Remade In Heaven by Amanda Terman (19 minutes) Drama Directed by: Jak Prince Harris King - Anna Crystal Ramirez - God Eric Parness - Brian A husband and wife reunite in heaven, but their relationship is complicated by unexpected news. Maryanne by David Lewison (10 minutes) Comedy Directed by: Barbara McGlamery Mimi Fischer - Maryanne Alexander Rybitski - Voice In the near future, a lonely old woman has a household computer to watch over her every need. But what will she do when her computer falls in love…with her? The Wonderful World of Science by Steve Gold (15 minutes) (NOT PERFORMING JAN 13 @ 7PM) Drama Directed by: Laurence C. Schwartz Jamie Lee Kearns - Dr. Lindstrom Emily Cordes - The Woman A drama about a molecular biologist researching HIV who receives a visit from a mysterious woman during the early days of the epidemic. Program 3 Jan 14 @ 3pm Jan 18 @ 7pm Jan 21 @ 5:30pm Jan 26 @ 7pm Jan 28 @ 8pm Feb 2 @ 7pm Supreme Solution by Tom Block (11 minutes) Directed by: Tom Block Jacob Horn - Timothy Patrick Leonard - Ernest Lisa Yapp - June At the end of her life, June murders the Supreme Court Head Justice. But power is more deeply entrenched than she believes, and her plan only succeeds in making her a murderer. Two Super-Heroes Walk Into a Bar by Bryan Leys (15 minutes) Dramatic Comedy Directed by: Brian Leys Ian Potter - Mike Dombrowski/ Major Hero Kenneth King - Sal Patrillo/ Kid Vicious A horrific crime has taken place in Cincinnati. Two working class superheroes hold a secret meeting to plot vengeance against the villain responsible. Justice and beer will be served.

Double Rainbow by Marcus Scott (20 minutes) Comedy Directed by: Justin Schwartz Lindsay Fabes - Lea Anthony Franqui - Stuart Mark Andrew Garner * - Michael Lea and Michael, two far-left democratic LGBT rights activists, are under arrest and facing criminal charges. The charge: Assault and Battery.

The Trapped Language of Love by Ronan Colfer (18 minutes)Comedy Produced by: Ronan Colfer and Alexandra Bigourdan

Directed by: Rebeca Castilho

Ronan Colfer - HE

Alexandra Bigourdan - SHE

A man and a woman fall madly in love with each other at first sight, but are then trapped by the emptiness of their everyday language.

Journey to Wellness by Larry Rinkel (16 minutes)

Drama

Directed by: Leslie Anne Weishaar

Gail Merzer Behrens * - "The Woman" (Sophia Czernowski)

Jordan Ausländer * - "The Man" (Russell Garbowski)

An elderly man and woman, both recovering from serious injuries, find an unexpected connection when the man realizes he knew the woman’s recently deceased husband.

The Hawthorne Book by Lora Danley (10 minutes)

Drama

Directed by: Lora Danley

Olan Montgomery - Stan

Richard Alwyn - Joe

Joe, a struggling writer and deeply in debt, once again turns to his older brother Stan for help by asking him to part with his most treasured possession. This time, however, Stan has had enough.

* Member of Actors Equity Association

For more information about the plays, voting rules, prizes and more. You can

click here

or click on the buy ticket link (located below the image).

The Secret Theatre 44-02 23rd St. Long Island City, NY 11101 E, M, G or 7 train to Courthouse SQ/23rd St. ONLY ONE SUBWAY STOP FROM MANHATTAN

For tickets, click HERE.

#Marcus Scott #MarcusScott #Write Marcus #WriteMarcus #Theatre Bleek #TheatreBleek #Playwright #Black Playwrights #Double Rainbow #Secret Theater #Long Island City

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gideonlovescrack-blog · 8 years ago

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Hotch x Reader x Reid

Warning: NSFJL (Not Safe for Jacks or LESBIANS)

Synopsis: You are an unsub, unsure of your own sexuality. Fortunately, Aaron Hotchner, the stern bag of the BAU, and Spencer Reid, the pretty bag of the BAU, are here to STRAIGHTen you out. ———————————————————————————————————

The dreamiest doctor of them all, Spencer Reid, daydreams while looking at Aaron HOTchner. He runs his fingers up and down the ridges of his tie, unable to STRAIGHTen it. Hotch marches into the bullpen, case in hand. “Wheels up in thirty, STRAIGHT up it’s about to get dirty,” he raps, failing to hide his falsetto. Try as he might, Rossi cannot manage to beatbox his way to a promotion.

Hotch's tie is as STRAIGHT as he is, a STRAIGHT man STRAIGHT up trying to lead a STRAIGHT life on the STRAIGHT and narrow path. Reid looks at his own tie. It is as crooked as you, the unsub.

You wake up in a dirty, one way road. You are in a dumpster of a gay bar. Another beautiful STRAIGHT day, you think. You’ve been on the road for 13 minutes now. You successfully killed 153 STRAIGHT men. You are in Missouri, the STRAIGHT capital of the universe. The STRAIGHTS were talking about football, labias, and Tom Brady. You hid in the closet until it was time. You knew right when to come out and end it.

Suddenly, you see a shadowy figure dash across the alleyway and jog towards you. You (STRAIGHT) panic and try to run, but you cannot even walk in a STRAIGHT line. This is why you didn’t make varsity in the only public high school in Missouri. After a hard tackle by a hard body whom you can hardly handle, you fall hard on the ground. Hard. HARD? WHO SAYS HARD? NO ONE IS HARD.

You are brought into a small, confined cell. Again, it is Missouri, so interrogation rooms are far too technologically advanced for this colony. The hard man walks in.

“Do you know who I am?” a careless whisper asks.

Before you can respond, he leans over. You see the curve of his tight ass. “I’m the doctor,” he seductively whispers into your ear. He’s so STRAIGHTforward. Your palms are sweaty. Your forehead is sweating. Your entirely body is drenched.

“Doctor? Where’s your stethoscope?” You snark.

He turns arounds and draws a deep sigh. You feel it deep, deep in the depths of your rectum. You sweat harder. Your tube socks are sopping wet.

“SONOFABITCHIAM D O C T O R SPENCERREIDIDIDNOTGETTHREEPHDSFORTHIS.” He slowly inhales. “I’m done with you shooting your pretty little mouth off. Wait until my partner gets in here. He’ll break you.”

69 seconds later, the door slams open.

“WHERE ARE THEY?!” the new man demands, slamming his hands down on the table in front of you. It is Aaron Hotchner, silver wolf of the BAU. Your shitoris tingles. You sweat harder. There is now a small puddle forming around your chair.

“I”M NOT GAY,” you reply, defenseless in the eyes of the law. You think of your victims, namely Donald Trump Jr. Oh if he could see you now.

“I’ll give it to you STRAIGHT then,” he continues. “We can’t waste any time.” But secretly, Hotch had begun sweating too. His jock strap grew tighter by the minute, but it *totally* wasn’t because he was gay. He was just having a long and hard day, and you only made it longer and harder. You look away, ashamed but surprisingly turned on.

“Oh, I’m sure you would love to give it to me STRAIGHT, considering I am a STRAIGHT man.” The sweat consumes you in the hot Missouri heat, and you find yourself dropping a sleeve off your shoulder. Looking back at Hotch, your gazes meet in a hard embrace, but no one is hard. He swallows the load in the back of his throat, trying to get his thoughts STRAIGHT, but he finds that he is unable to. He loosens his tie, excuses himself STRAIGHT back to the team, and sends Reid back into the room.

“Did you know that I can’t get this tie to STRAIGHTen?” He asks.

“Maybe I can help you with that,” you drawl. “Since I am a STRAIGHT man.”

“Do it then, Y/N”, he commands. With one swift motion he pulls you STRAIGHT to your feet. The sweat that has been collecting in your orifices is instantly released like a broken dam. The water is to your shins now.

He grimaces. “Did you know that 2.8% of the US population suffers from excessive sweating? You should see a doctor.” You roll your eyes. All the dermatologists in the world could not plug all your holes.

“Give me a second opinion then,” you seductively lisp. Soon your clothes are sliding off like a snake shedding its skin. He looks you up and down. Coming to a diagnosis, he confirms his suspicions. “Yup, just as I suspected. You are a flaming homosexual.”

Bewildered, you demand to know how he profiled you.

“You wear the same jock strap Hotch does,” he confesses. Hotch bursts into the room, breathless. Reid smirks. “Look who finally came out of the closet.”

Sinking into deeper confusion and more sweat, you watch as Hotch has a moment of contemplation. He puts on his stern, determined face and struts over to the younger man. In a flash, Hotch grabs Reid’s face and plants his hand around his neck in a moment of rage and passion. Their tongues battle for dominance, inviting you to join. The sweat is up to your necks. You have drowned the entire state of Missouri, and all the STRAIGHTs living in it. You are a hero to all.

Reid looks up, his pupils dilated and his tie more crooked than ever. He looks like he has rabies, a classic Missourian look. He wags his three PhDs at you. “What are you looking at Y/N?” You feel your prostate tingle within you, like a fairy has just climbed up your ass. You swim over, nearly drowning in sweat. You try to join them, but Reid stops you.

“First you have to call me Doctor.”

You instantly come 153 times, once for every STRAIGHT man you killed.

“Yes Doctor…”

“Louder. Sing for me, my angel of music” He commands in an alto 2, checking out that snout.

“YES DOCTOR” You scream.

Morgan walks by the interrogation room and shakes his head sadly. This is the third time this week. His Pretty Boy is slipping further and further away from him. He walks to Garcia’s lair, knowing that she’ll console her brown sugar.

Meanwhile, you are already being spit roasted. You come 6.064 million times, once for each Missourian resident you slaughtered with your salty excretions.

You yourself are ready to receive Reid’s salty excretions.

“Are you ready to Ph this DICK?” He huffs. It is hard to breathe underwater.

“Yes,” you beg. “I am ready to take this PhDICK. Please let me review your thesis.” You can barely speak, as Hotch is in your mouth and you are also underwater. You take turns coming up for air.

“I wish you would call me Daddy,” Hotch thought. But it was too late, as you were losing too much oxygen. The carbon dioxide was beginning to collect in your brain, and you are now on the second best high of your life, the only happy moment you will ever have as a Missourian. The first came from 73 bags of CRACK.

As you orgasm again, you belt out a series of arias. Rossi backstrokes into the room, weakly beatboxing in between winded breathes. He makes eye contact with Hotch, who shakes his head in a manner that could only mean one thing: no promotion. Again. Rossi drowns himself. In sorrow. He sadly whispers to himself “No one appreciates this Rossetti”. He butterfly pastas away, leaving no angel hair behind in his wake.

Suddenly, you hear Reid gurgle, “It’s Time.”

You both come 20,000 times, once for each word Reid can read in a minute. “And that’s why they call me the Doctor,” Reid smirks. The water is getting murky. He swims away, leaving you at Hotch’s mercy.

At the sight of Reid’s unraveling and the memory of Rossi’s disappointment, Hotch feels himself reaching his climax. “Comes up in 30,” he moans as he pulls out and covers all of you orifices. His eruption has finally plugged up all your holes.

Hotch, on the other hand, still has one gaping hole inside of him. Inside of his Heart.

His wife is dead.

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racingtoaredlight · 6 years ago

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Opening Bell: October 26, 2018

In recent days, the news story which has resisted leaving the news cycle is that of a caravan of thousands—Mexican government officials estimate it at 3,000-4,000—of foreign nationals marching towards the southern United States border, where many of them apparently intend to seek asylum based on conditions in their home countries. This column of migrants has become a focal point of news coverage and many Republican candidates in the upcoming midterm election have, with President Donald Trump in the lead, have used the looming caravan as a campaign talking point in hopes of stemming Democratic enthusiasm in the upcoming election. The White House is reportedly considering a variety of executive orders to prevent the foreign nations from reaching U.S. territory. This is a fine line though as no actions could take place upon sovereign Mexican territory and the deployment of the American military on American soil could possibly run afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act. Federal law or not, late yesterday Defense Secretary James Mattis ordered 800 soldiers to the border to support Customs and Border Patrol and local law enforcement.

Within the span of a 24 hours, a series of some of the most prominent Democratic critics of President Donald Trump all received packages filled with devices that appeared to be pipe bombs. A total of ten devices are now in possession of federal law enforcement and are being examined closely at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. At least some of the devices, while having the initial appearance of being explosive devices, were apparently inert, missing key components that would turn them into actual bombs. The rest of the devices are still being analyzed, but regardless that so many individuals who the president has directly insulted and solicited retribution upon for perceived slights, is…..interesting. It is too much to say at this point that there is a direct connection between the two—correlation is not causation, after all—and yet we are only a few months separated from the mass shooting in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland. Whomever ends up being behind this attack, and whatever his or her motivation, it cannot be denied that this administration has encouraged animosity towards the press at a level unlike any other White House in the modern era.

On McNeil Island in northwest Washington state, there is a colony of over 200 men who live on the island, but they are not incarcerated—the prison on the island closed in 2011—and yet they cannot leave the island either. All of these men, who despite having finished their prison sentences remain under civil commitment, were convicted of sexual assault of one variety or another. It is precisely this offense which, per state law, allows the state to continue to restrict these men to McNeil Island, apparently indefinitely. Laced throughout this set of circumstances are constitutional issues related to whether the state may continue to restrict the liberty of a citizen after he has served his sentence and social-medical issues as to the effectiveness of treatment for sex offenders; approximately two-thirds of the island’s inhabitants attend regular therapy sessions, which are optional. Complicating all of this is society’s attitude towards sex offenders, which is rarely couched in sympathy and understanding. At the very core of this piece is the question of when and whether criminals can regain the rights they held before they committed their crimes or whether some criminals are so dangerous and the nature of their offenses is such that they can never fully rejoin civilized society.

Anyone hear who lived through a significant portion of the 1980s may remember the terrifying unfolding of the AIDS epidemic. HIV/AIDS, which was first noted peripherally by doctors in San Francisco and New York after rare forms of cancer seemed to be infecting and killing gay men disproportionately to the rest of the population. By the early 1980s, the disease was ravaging gay communities in major metropolitan areas of the United States and then Britain. Tragic misunderstanding of the disease proliferated; paramedics in some cities refused to work on patients thought to be infected or would only do so after putting on the equivalent of Hazmat suits. Some, especially social and religious conservatives, considered the disease a righteous infliction of punishment upon a population which openly chose lascivious, sinful actions. Within the gay community, HIV/AIDS struck at the root of its culture; sex was as much about social interaction and connection as it was about the physical manifestation of love. By the late 1980s, the toll of HIV/AIDS was causing panic among the general public, yet the U.S. government responded only meagerly. Gay rights activists formed groups to promote safe sex and push for policy changes which recognized the horrors of the disease and noted that it also affected heterosexual partners for various reasons that most of society was not willing to openly discuss. These groups, notable ACT UP, pushed for policy changes which would fund proper medical research into drugs which would treat the disease at a reasonable cost. This is an incredibly thoughtful—and thought provoking—essay by Tom Crewe in the London Review of Books. I was but a child for most of the 80s—I was born in 1983—but I remember the magnitude of this story. If I had instead been a sexually active adult at the time, I can only imagine how much more intensely this time would have burned itself upon my memory.

In October 1998, Cher released a single called “Believe.” Cher had enjoyed a massively successful singing career in the 1970s and 80s, which she then supplemented with an acting career in movies like Moonstruck. By the 1990s, Cher was considered a musical legend, but she was no longer reigning on pop music charts. Then “Believe” came out and Cher’s career was completely rejuvenated. The song was unlike any Cher song, or any other song, which had come out before. The soaring chorus created an addictive hook which captured the audience’s imagination and attention. This vocal hook was the product of auto-tune, a here-to-fore unknown studio engineering tool which had been invented by a former oil industry scientist. From that point onward, auto-tune became an almost irretrievable part of pop music in the United States, Europe, and, especially, in Africa. Every pronouncement that auto-tune had exceeded its popular mandate, even after attacks by prominent artists, has proven to be wrong. Auto-tune is now heard in popular music across multiple genres, including country, but nowhere has it become more entrenched than in rap and R&B, where singing has replaced previous vocal patterns in some circumstances. I sent this to spencer last week and I know what his thoughts are on auto-tune, but I encourage you to read the whole piece and decide for yourself whether it is a cheap engineering gimmick or if it belongs in the same conversation as studio effects used by the Beatles and the Beach Boys decades ago.

Politics! The Center for Politics earlier this week published a number of polls which showed the status of a number of key races—spoiler alert, for all of his exposure and his extraordinary fundraising, Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke seems likely to fall short in his challenge to incumbent Republican Ted Cruz—and in turn forms the overall outlook for the 2018 midterm elections. Meanwhile, Stuart Rothenberg explains the context for what constitutes a “wave” election, but nonetheless states that Democrats are likely to retake the House of Representatives; the only question is the margin of victory, be it small or massive.

Welcome to the weekend.

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euro3plast-fr · 7 years ago

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Best Christmas Adverts of 2017

25 of the best and the worst Christmas adverts from 2017, with reviews from the Smart Insights team

The battle for the most popular Christmas advert is underway. It has been reported that UK companies will spend an estimated £5.6bn on marketing in the run-up to Christmas. While prime television spots alone are expected to attract a spend of £1.3bn. From Tescos to John Lewis we cover the best and the worst of Christmas adverts for 2017.

Marks & Spencer

Marks and Spencer have used a well-known character, Paddington bear as part of their Christmas advert this year. They have launched a fully integrated campaign using the hashtag, #LoveTheBear, accompanied by its own paw emoji. The campaigns aim according to M&S’s Marketing Director, Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne was:

'We have to break through that mood of the nation, which is why the campaign plays into something much warmer and more heartfelt. As we see every year, people do want a break, a little bit, from reality and this is what the campaign is supposed to provide them with,”

Alongside the advert and social media promotion, they have created marmalade-themed recipes and are hosting private screenings of the new Paddington film both for members of its Sparks loyalty scheme. In-store, you will find Paddington Bear merchandise, childrenswear, Paddington Bear themed foods and a book dedicated to the story.

youtube

Latest update: We can now reveal our tale of true Christmas spirit with our favourite @paddingtonbear #lovethebear > https://t.co/CbdLGcbYIn pic.twitter.com/fNKu7Sr5f0

— M&S (@marksandspencer) November 7, 2017

Campaign Live reported that 'M&S's campaign achieved 159,957 engagements within the first 12 hours of release on 7 November. Of those interactions, 93% were positive in sentiment'. Whereas John Lewis only received 74,039 engagements within 12 hours.

Vodafone

Martin Freeman returns in Vodafone's Christmas ads, with a festive love story. Martin meets a young lady who’s using her Vodafone Video pass to stream It’s a Wonderful Life. The love story is told across six pieces of content – two for TV and four for social. Their main aim is to highlight two new launches their pay as you go product PayG 1 and Vodafone Passes.

youtube

Tesco

Every family has a different turkey tale, Tesco features a range of families spending Christmas day together as they focus their attention t0 the turkey. They finish the Ad with the tag like 'However you do Christmas, we’ve got a turkey for you'. I think this is a great advert from Tesco, it's heartwarming, and authentic.

youtube

Tesco did receive some backlash for the advert because they featured a Muslim family in the advert. Tesco replied by issuing a statement:

“Everyone is welcome at Tesco this Christmas and we’re proud to celebrate the many ways our customers come together for the festive season.”

John Lewis - Moz the Monster

The much anticipated John Lewis advert was launched last week, and there have been mixed reviews. Similar to previous years John Lewis has returned to its focus on creating an ad that will pull at your heartstrings. The advert focused on a little boy befriending a monster named Moz living under his bed. In True John Lewis style Moz the Monster is accompanied by Elbow, who perform The Beatles’ lullaby Golden Slumbers.

youtube

They launched the advert on John Lewis’s website, social media channel, and in-store. as part of their campaign, they have teamed up with Facebook to use their augmented reality platform, offering consumers the chance to ‘Mozify’ their faces. You can also buy Moz merchandise such as cuddly toys, books, mugs, and pajamas.

Marketing Week reported that the advert received '2,906 mentions of the John Lewis Christmas ad on social media between 7 and 8am, after the ad was released at 7.40am. During this first hour, mentions peaked at 246 per minute. Overall consumer sentiment was 86% positive, while 14% of mentions were negative.'

For me, this advert didn't reach the expectations of previous years. it didn't leave me feeling warm, fuzzy and excited for the festive season, it actually left me confused.

Sainsburys - #EverybitofChristmas

The supermarket says it made a conscious decision to move away from one-off Christmas ads in favor of a more consistent brand approach. They made an advert based on their 'Living well' campaign for consistency. The campaign is centered around a song about Christmas, featuring members of the public and a couple of 'celebrities'. For me, Sainsbury's was the biggest disappointment, compared to previous years such as Mog the cat or 1914 Christmas day ads, Sainsburys really missed a trick. For those who can keep up with the jumpy, feative song you can sing along in their karaoke version.

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Peacocks - #XMASFACTOR

That's right peacocks have joined the battle of the Christmas adverts, with an XFactor theme. Featuring ex-contestants such as Jedward, Honey G and Wagner, they sing a bespoke rap 'Deck the halls with rhymes from Honey'. Although I felt a little sorry for the acts featured in the ad, it stands out from teh crowd and is perfect for their target audience.

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Mcdonals - #reindeerready

Mcdonals based their story on a young girl who saves a McDonald's carrot for Santa's reindeer. We follow her as she takes the carrot home ready for the reindeers until she gets home and her older brother says You know there's more than one, right?'.

Although a slightly confusing message going to McDonalds for 'carrots', they have supported the advert with a Snapchat partnership that introduces a hub on the social platform with special features. There's a carrot-collecting game, an augmented reality lens that shows dancing reindeer and new geofilters.

The link between a carrot and McDonalds seemed odd to me as that's not what they are really about. But it tells a sweet story which got the 'Aww' vote from the Smart Insights team.

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Argos - #Readyfortakeoff

Argos take us to their magical Argos distribution centre, where the elves are busy helping Santa deliver toys. However, a robotic puppy is left behind, so one of the elves chases the delivery spaceship to make sure the toy gets to the child in time. The ad ends with the message: “Argos, ready for take-off. Presents delivered within four hours'. The ad helps promote that Argos will be making deliveries within 4 hours up until 6pm on Christmas Eve.

According to Gary Kibble, Marketing Director at Argos:

'There’s an opportunity as 40% of the respective customer base currently shops at both brands so encouraging the other 60% to shop across the two is a big opportunity.'

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Aldi - Kevin the carrot is back

Our Email Marketing Manager, Kim Greenop-Gadsby had to say about Aldis Christmas advert:

'Kevin the carrot is back and this time he’s looking for Santa and love. This year we find Kevin outside in the snow, acting as a substitute nose for a snowman. Harry Potter actor, Jim Broadbent commences to narrate, as Kevin is awoken by a passing train. Believing to have seen Santa, Kevin catches the train. Once inside he enters the dining car and his gaze falls upon the beautiful Katie, as she lounges upon some mince pies while reading “9½ Leeks”. Our hero is instantly infatuated and undertakes the perilous journey to reach his carrot love. He travels passed a needle-like fork and the remains of a bisected gingerbread man. Horrified, Kevin starts a chain-like reaction that leads to peas being throw into the air and heading directly towards his love. With no thought of his own safety he throws himself in front of the speeding pea. And all goes dark. He awakens to being held gently by Katie and continues to say, “I think I pea-ed myself," thus winning over his lady as she bends down to kiss her romantic hero.

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This ad pulls at the heartstrings, as much as animated carrots can. Like most retailers who have a mascot in their advert, Aldi is no different and is selling a plush version of Kevin and Katie. Last year, customers scooped up multiple Kevin's and proceeded to sell them on various auction sites at extortionate prices. This year Aldi have restricted purchases to 2 Kevins and 2 Katies per customer with sales supporting the Teenage Cancer Trust.'

The carrot soft toys went on sale on 19th November online and sold out straight away. People already have the toys on eBay selling for around £50.

Pandora - DO Get What You Wish For

Somya our Content Intern, reviews Pandoras ad:

'Pandora – the jewellers you can rely on, to deliver great Christmas adverts. Unlike the dreamy Debenhams video, Pandora has gone for a more light-hearted approach, yet, making for a highly effective Christmas advert! Starting with a groovy background score, the video immediately establishes a relaxed, cheerful setting, where we see couples asking for their dream Christmas presents, by dropping not-so-subtle hints.

In addition to giving you numerous clever ideas on how to nudge your partner on getting that perfect present, the advert cleverly makes use of Christmas symbolism, to create a simplistic yet powerful holiday narrative. Moreover, the video cleverly ends in exactly 60 seconds, avoiding any dangers of becoming too repetitive.

Another interesting feature of this Christmas advert is definitely the choice of words. The caption, “DO Get What You Wish For”, could’ve been a question asking people what are they wishing for, this Christmas, but Pandora wanted to leave no scope for confusion there. Even though the caption may sound quite authoritative, oddly enough, it can help give a sense of rightfulness to the viewer. Through its simple yet powerful use of diction, the Pandora advert can leave you with a sense of worthiness, worthiness to deserve a great Christmas present!'

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Asda - Best Christmas Ever

The very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory advert features a grandad and his granddaughter. The couple explores the Asda factory discovering new and exciting creations for Christmas. Although a good advert for me this doesn't have the wow factor or get me excited for Christmas.

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Waitrose - #ChristmasTogether

Our Blog Editor, Annie shares her thoughts on Waitrose:

'One of the greatest things about Christmas is the magical element in colour, either garish reds and greens or delicate silvers, golds and blue to represent chilly winter days. Waitrose’s Christmas advent doesn’t capture any of these elements, instead choosing to represent their best food with a dull black and white filter. Like many other supermarket Christmas adverts, you find yourself looking at the different festive foods they offer, but the bland colours leave me feeling disappointed. Where is the crisp golden turkey skin? The brownness of the gingerbread? The light, comfortable and supportive warm hue of a family coming together at Christmas? I’m sure that even when snowed in with a black-out the candles would still shine some festive, warm emotion into the house but there’s nothing warm about this advert. I find myself staring at some black and white boiled potatoes in a black and white pan and it doesn’t make me want to run to Waitrose to buy them. I want colour.'

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Sky - Movies at Christmas

Our Rob Jones reviews Skys Christmas advert:

'With the aim of bringing the family together around a movie at Christmas, Sky Cinema have produced an ad for the Christmas season which follows the relationship between a mother and daughter over 25 years. The piece, created by WCRS for Sky follows a mother and daughter from 1992 to the present day. The focus of the ad is onThe Sound of Music, one of the first films to be broadcast on Sky in 1989. The clever part? As the little girl ages, the Sky TV boxes change too. If you watch closely at each shot of the TV, you’ll notice the Sky boxes accurately change over time. For example, moving from the old Amstrad Sky TV box and finishing with a Sky Q box, in the present day.

This represents the relationship between Sky and their loyal customers. Even in the age of Netflix, who doesn’t know someone who has Sky TV. Brilliantly thought through, effectively put together and finished off with a few mentions of “The Sky is full of stars” a quote from the Sound of Music'.

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Talk Talk - This is Christmas

A real British family enjoying Christmas day. Talk Talk film a one families Christmas day to capture authentic, unscripted footage. Compared to the big brand campaigns this is a refreshing advert that everyone can relate to. For me Talk Talk have capture what christmas is all about.

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Boots - #Showthemyouknowthem

Boots take us back through two sisters memories, looking at their Christmases together sharing 11 boots products from the brand’s archives. Annie shares her thoughts:

'I am a big fan of storytelling! Storytelling is a great way to represent your brand, what you stand for, and what your product means to your audience. I think Boots got this right! We’ve probably all sent at least one beauty related product to a family member or friend, but here boots shows you WHY it’s important and what it means. Two sisters who have been through life’s challenges and milestones together, coming together for Christmas. But, for me it’s the story Boots tells that engrossed me into the advert because above all else, it’s relatable. Being able to empathise is a valuable personal emotion and Boots shows that they can not only relate, but empathise with the wider population and show the value in their products - the coming together of family at christmas with gifts that mean something.'

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Debenhams - #Youshall

Somya, our Content Intern shares her thoughts on Debenhams attempts to copy the cinderella story:

'The Debenhams Christmas advert is here and let me tell you, it’s here to stay! Amidst a plethora of not-so-christmassy Christmas adverts, the Debenhams advert hits you right in the feels. It makes you want to curl up in your bed, with some fuzzy popcorn and re-watch all the versions of the Cinderella movie ever. No, really, the advert itself has the potential to bloom out in a full-fledged feature film, Cinderella 2.0.

The advert begins with a romantic train setting, where the modern-day, clumsy Cinderella meets her prince charming, and needless to say, it’s love at first sight! However, Debenhams has taken the age-old fairytale, added a quirky twist to it and made it oh-so relevant to today’s day and age. Even though the advert consists the classic lost shoe, romance finds its way through hashtags and social media. With the help of rapid reposting, #FindMyShoe and #FindThatGirl seem to be the two magical hashtags that unite the digitally-savvy lovers.

In a short duration, the brand has managed to convey a powerful narrative with a strong emotional quotient. The advert effortlessly showcases the strength of smooth and crisp storytelling, in conveying a brand message and engaging the audiences. As Ryan Deutsch (Senior Vice President of Global Customer Success at Persado) correctly points out, “Retailers need to get their arms around the fact that emotions matter and that urgency is not the most important emotion." Oh, and a cameo by Ewan McGregor ain’t hurtin’ nobody!'

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Barbour - The Snowman and The Snowdog

Rob gives his honest thoughts on Barbour's Christmas ad:

'The ad features the story of The Snowman and The snowdog, which was a animated film launched in 2012, a sa sequel to The Snowman.

Whilst the ad includes some brilliant animation, snow and a pet dog, which all make the ad feel christmassy, the ad also doesn’t seem to have any association with the Barbour brand. Nevertheless, it’s great to see an animated christmas film being used, as we all those those sort of ads.'

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Matalan - Creating Value in Every Moment

Our Email Marketing Manager, Kim Greenop-Gadsby had to say about Matalans Christmas campaign:

'This year Matalan feature a busy family and Dodger the dog. While the busy mum and teacher dashes off she grabs the dreaded “to-do list”, which Dodger tries to eat. We cut to the mum trying to organise the primary school Christmas pageant (which of course, includes a dinosaur, superheros and Santa). Through all the chaos of kids picking noses, fighting and set disasters, our mum receives a text from Matalan that her click-and-collect is ready. We can instantly observe our mum relax and smile. We cut to the dad and kids at home, dealing with their own chaos. Dodger again is trying to eat dad’s to-do list. After they struggle to get the tree and house ready we see a well behaved Dodger in a cute reindeer outfit. Mum collects her order from Matalan and arrives to the Christmas party. Our mum changes into a stunning red dress, is relaxed and full of smiles. Mum and dad enter a room and we see their smiles disappear. Naughty Dodger has eaten all the food.

I can relate to this advert. A working mum, having loads of those to-do lists on the fridge and dogs that would happily eat anything in sight. However I don’t think I would be as relaxed or cheery as the mum without a relaxant pill or copious amounts of mulled wine. For Christmas we all have a desire to make things as perfect as possible. At least this advert shows no matter how many to-do lists you have, things can still go Pete Tong.'

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TK Maxx - A White Christmas

TK Maxx offer something a little different as they promise that they will deliver actual snow to people for free if you find an exclusive snow globe in the shop. This is a grwat spin on the normal christmas advert and makes them stand out from the very competive crowd.

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Children's Hospice - #FirstChristmas

Among the chaos of Christmas, adverts like this bring us back to what really matters and raises awareness for those who find Christmas hard. This advert by Shooting Star Chase brings to life the story of the Barker family, who tragically lost their son, Matthias, after a battle with cancer. The ad tells the story of a father, struggling to come to terms with the passing of his son and how the family comes together to help him cope with their grief. Although hard to watch, an advert like this always gets my vote.

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House of Fraser - Bring Merry Back

The sister theme strikes again, as House of Fraser follows two sisters through each Christmas they have spent together.

Paddy Earnshaw, Chief Marketing Officer at House of Fraser, said:

"As adults we can sometimes lose sight of the magic of Christmas as we have to do grown up stuff like manage plans and ‘to do’ lists. There is no such thing as a picture-perfect Christmas where everything goes to plan; that’s half the charm and the fun. "

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Lidl

Lidl have a series of six short separate adverts following different characters such as The Cavalier Carver, The Mince Pie maverick, and the Double Dipper. Characters we can all relate to and see through the Christmas period.

Claire Farrant, the supermarket’s Marketing Director, said:

‘Our campaign “Every Lidl Thing For Christmas” has been developed to showcase the fantastic breadth of food and drink we have for the UK customer at Lidl.'

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Morrisons - Christmas List

Morrisons looks to tell the story of how three families prepare for their perfect Christmas. The first ad shows a family writing letters to Santa, listing what they want this Christmas. The second focuses on a young girl and brother, who encourages her to do things such as feed a reindeer and putting the star on the tree. The aim to promote their Free From range. The adverts lack the wow factor for me and I the link between an older brother encouraging his sister to do new things and eating gluten-free are still confusing.

Here is what our Senior Research Analyst, Rob Jones, thought:

'As Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury’s have suffered over the past few years, Morrisons have found their feet. Morrisons have increased market share, profits and revenues more recently, this is is almost unheard of in these difficult times for grocers, with the exception of the discounters Aldi and Lidl. A marketing overhaul has also helped to reinvent the brand. Continuing the brand message that Morrisons is a family focused brand, the story follows a little girl that is nervous to feed a reindeer and take centre stage in a school play, but isn’t nervous about the treats she can eat, as they are gluten free. It’s easy to associate. those with allergies and dietary limits are always unsure of what they can eat, represented by the little girl's nervousness of most things. The ad promotes the free from range, sharing the message that everyone can enjoy mince pies at Christmas.'

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Overall the quality has been good but not as good compared to previous years. The biggest disappointment for me was John Lewis. It has been good to see brands using more digital platforms to promote their campaigns and adapting to platforms such as snapchat or Instagram. Next year I would love to see retailers take a brave move into new creative territory to shake it up and to challenge consumers’ perceptions with something unexpected.

Which Christmas advert gets your vote this year? Let us know what you think and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

from Blog – Smart Insights https://www.smartinsights.com/internet-advertising/best-christmas-adverts-of-2017/

#Blog – Smart Insights

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haelune · 7 years ago

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@griinsley이 반란에 합류했습니다! (근원)

✄ – The sound of his converse going down the hall was the only noise beside from the music coming from a single room. He knew who was in there so he let himself in with a huge smile. Once the older turned to him and smoke, even if it didn’t seem possible his smile got wider. Spencer made his way closer and slammed the paper down on the table in front of the other. “I got accepted.” He pointed towards a section on the paper. “New lungs for me.” The younger reached up to rub at his nape, the emotional meaning behind it finally hitting him. His eyes were glazed over as he looked back over at the paper to read through it once more since he was dazed over the whole feeling. Suddenly the male sniffled and wiped at his cheeks, laughing lightly. “What if it works and I get a lot better? I could do better at dancing, maybe try rapping too! Everything will get better.”

surely, he’s going blind. too many hours of staring directly into the monitor of the mac used for making beats is finally starting to take its toll, for what he is seeing now cannot actually be there. being that his mother is a real-estate agent, and her partner had been a music teacher; haelin’s knowledge of medical practices and how they work is extremely limited. he’d heard spencer imply that he was going to get new lungs before he’d actually taken a moment to read the text that had been highlighted for him by the trainee’s gestures - and though the wording is somewhat esoteric, he gets the gist of it. and as he does, his eyes widen and he looks away from the printed sheet of paper, toward the boy who seems so excited to envision a future where he is freed from the shackles of his disease - and for it once to not seem like a fairy tale.

the gesture somewhat belated, the rapper moves to finally quiet the sound system that had been going this whole time - blaring an unfinished beat so that the producer could pick up on any flaws or areas of potential improvement. but his focus, reasonably, has been stolen away from the mac’s monitor.

spencer, from what he had come to know of him, must be a blue flame personified. despite his medical drawbacks, haelin has never not seen him wearing himself thin; working as hard as he can to beat what plagues him and run toward the music that fills his veins, that fuels his life. and the rapper can say, with no single doubt in his mind, that he respects the boy in front of him more than he’s respected another person in a long time. that kind of drive, passion, willpower ... it’s something that really touches him, even through his efforts to appear like a block of ice in the realm of raging emotions. maybe he even sees some faction of himself in the younger ... for he was once in a similar predicament - ordered to quit rapping after his near-fatal experience involving a hunting knife and resulting in a scar, both physical and mental, that will never totally evanesce.

but he’d rather die than give up his dreams. and he can sense that same crazy spark in spencer - and that’s primarily why he’s come to see the blossoming artist in the fondest of lights.

“this is ... this is crazy,” he says, still incredulous. “what is it, like, a lung transplant?? is that a thing, or - hey, whatever the hell it is ... it better fix you. you deserve it. you’ve worked so hard.” lifting his eyes from the paper yet again, having been trying to catch an explicit statement in regards to accuracy rate or the procedure itself, he sees spencer trying to expel the moisture from his cheeks. the rapper blinks at him, not knowing what to do, or say - it feels surreal for him, and he’s not even the one with the opportunity. but now, he’s smiling. soft lips spread into a grin - wide, bright, and the very epitome of mirthful - as he watches the younger. he hadn’t prayed in a while - but now would be a great time to start up again.

“ah, spence, stop it. you’re making me soft.”

#griinsley #🌙 ( ❛ colloquy. )#( this thread? this dynamic? this concept?#pure. wholesome. perfect. icb i'm in love ?? )

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ricardosousalemos · 8 years ago

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Boss Hog: Brood X

The cover of the November 13, 2016 edition of The New York Daily News featured a photo of an enraged anti-Trump protester, mouth agape in mid-scream, hoisting a placard reading “Reject President Elect.” Whose scowl should it be but that of Cristina Martinez, lead singer in Boss Hog, the sleazy, funked-up blues punk band she formed with her husband (and ex-Pussy Galore bandmate) Jon Spencer back in 1989.

For many Boss Hog fans, it was the first glimpse of Martinez they’d seen in a long while. The band hadn’t released a new album since 2000’s Whiteout, and had only played sporadically in the interim. The front-page appearance was all the more surprising given that Boss Hog weren’t exactly model activists in their day—their entire oeuvre was an assault on good taste that included nude album covers, profane provocations, and covering Ike Turner at a time when he’d been branded public enemy number one. But in hindsight, Martinez’s Daily News snap was a perfect promotional poster for Boss Hog’s first new album in nearly two decades, a record that—like that portrait—captures its subject feeling alternately defiant, enraged, and, frankly, a little scared.

Back in the ’90s, Boss Hog’s evolution ran parallel that of the Blues Explosion, and by mid-decade, the two bands were at their creative zeniths, funneling their grimy blues-punk, Blaxploitation funk, and break-beat influences through an interconnected sewer system. And that symbiotic relationship extended to the lead couple’s playfully combative duet dynamic, with Martinez rebuffing Spencer’s come-ons like she was splashing a drink in his face. But even though the two bands are enjoying second winds this decade, their aesthetics have diverged considerably. Like Spencer’s most recent Blues Explosion blast, Brood X is about coming to terms with the changing nature of the city that he and Martinez call home. But where Spencer’s record was filled with nostalgic nods to the golden days of New York punk and rap, Brood X is consumed by feelings of dread and dislocation.

Certainly, it’s several degrees darker than the pop-oriented Whiteout, where Boss Hog had essentially streamlined into a trashier Garbage. Brood X also downplays the dusty-grooved blues/funk vibes of their mid-’90s releases to wade back into the primordial stew of goth, No Wave, and post-punk that coursed through the ’80s New York underground at the band’s infancy. At the same time, the addition of keyboardist Mickey Finn—initially recruited for a string of 2008/2009 reunion dates—gives Boss Hog the means to project their grit with a vivid, cinematic grandeur. The frantic opener “Billy” serves as the showroom model for their retooled capabilities: Over Spencer’s needling guitar riff, Martinez purrs out apocalyptic intimations (“I want all the darkness!”) like PJ Harvey fronting PiL, while the lock-step battery of bassist Jens Jurgensen and drummer Hollis Queens effortlessly alternate between a galloping death-disco and a gut-punching thrust. And then Finn’s ray-gunned keys thread it all together like a B-52’s channeling Richard Kern instead of Ed Wood.

Even though the songs on Brood X were written well before last fall’s election nudged the Doomsday Clock a few seconds closer to midnight, their unsettled energy is well in sync with these troubling, trembling times. The album may have been envisioned as a critique on the cost of living, but it now sounds like an anguished, existential address on the fear of dying: The organ-hummed “Ground Control” recasts eerily serene scenes of a gentrified New York (“Where did my city go?”) as a haunted-house horror flick, while “Shh Shh Shh” finds Martinez writhing atop a queasy, repetitive bass throb, her echoing distorted-telephone voice slowly degenerating into madness. And when Martinez asks, “How does it feel to feel good?” on “Black Eyes,” the song’s stalking, sludge-covered lurch suggests she won’t know the answer anytime soon.

Boss Hog’s sporadic track record—and Martinez’s decision back in 2000 to choose child-rearing over touring—can mean she’s often overlooked by listicle celebrations of great ’90s frontwomen (even as her soulful sneer has endured through progeny like Peaches, Karen O, and Alison Mosshart). Brood X feels like necessary recourse in that regard. With Spencer playing a mostly silent partner here, we get an unfettered, full-screen view of Martinez’s particular POV—not just as a paragon of pre-Giuliani New York, but as a working mom stepping back into the punk-rock trenches.

Brood X’s quiet closers are no less visceral than their high-voltage predecessors, providing a more intimate manifestation of the agitated feelings coursing throughout the record. On “Sunday Routine,” Martinez renders domestic doldrums as a Nick Cave psycho-drama, her spite becoming all the more audible as the details of her day turn more mundane. (“Hiding under wolfskins! Reading airport novels!”) When she seethes, “we lack for motivation / we need the agitation,” she gives voice to the simmering restlessness that’s thrust her back into the spotlight after so many years away.

Most striking is “17,” a ghostly acoustic blues that initially sounds like it was scraped off an old 78, but gradually morphs into a piece of musique concrète built from synth shocks, chopped-up vocals, and feedback scraps. “I was swallowed by the noise/I was just 17,” Martinez sings, offering a fever-dream reminiscence of her teenage-delinquent days in Pussy Galore. But in the song’s dying moments, she’s swallowed by a different sort of noise: an encroaching torrent of cicadas. Brood X is named for the variety of cicadas that spend 17 years underground before swarming to the earth’s surface to lay their eggs—only to die shortly thereafter. With the band hinting in interviews that their comeback could very well be a one-and-done affair, it seems all too obvious: They’re crawling out of the darkness covered in dirt, using their rare moment in the sun to unleash an infernal buzz.

#reviews-albums

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