#brain was in “something’s weird” mode then i was going super fast with my legs for a couple hours

[autistic-katara]

ok but why did rollerskating cure my anxiety

[greekgeek21]

Percy Jackson & The Avengers: Convergence - there is a fight scene included

I am not dead, just extremely busy. My summer lacrosse season just ended, so hopefully I get some inspiration to write some new chapters. In the meantime, I hope this will tide you over for some time.

Keep in mind, this was written weeks ago, so I am not in the mood to answer any weirdly specific questions about my artistic choices. In other words, if you don't like it, you don't have to read it! I know, it's a truly monumental realization.

For my kind & loyal readers, don't forget to comment, like, and follow!

- your author

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Avengers or PJO!

Ω ♆ Ω

By the grace of the gods, the group managed to pass the sirens without an issue. It seemed like the mortals had finally accepted that it was in their best interest to listen to the Seven. So, as soon as Percy warned everyone to fill their ears with wax, they filled their ears with wax. Of course there were a few complaints, but that was expected. Nobody was perfect (no matter what Narcissus insists).

From there on out, the nerves were building. Percy had informed the team that their next stop would be Polyphemus' island, and everybody, mortal and demigod alike, knew what that place was. It was where the most infamous cyclops lived, but most importantly, it was where Annabeth was being held, if Percy's father was to be trusted.

Since it would still be another two hours or so, according to the sea expert, until they reached the island, the group decided to try resting. Some tried to nap, while others sharpened their weapons or hung out on the deck. It was futile, but they were trying to prepare themselves for a situation that they had never before encountered, not even Percy.

It was safe to say that everyone was scared shitless.

Ω ♆ Ω

Leo had decided to go downstairs and tinker with some stuff from his belt as a distraction from their impending doom. It was working too! He was in his own little world that only machines could enter. That is, until Tony Stark walked up to him.

"Whatcha doing, kid?" he asked, peering over Leo's shoulder to catch a glimpse at the boy's creation.

"I'm making a mini automaton to help us find Annabeth when we get to the island," was the answer.

Taking a closer look, Tony started to see it. It was a very small machine, but if you looked closely, it was clear that it was made of metal. The automaton was about the size of a quarter, and looked like a celestial bronze spider. Leo was currently adding the last two legs to it when Tony walked up.

When Leo looked up, he held up his creation with a proud smile. "This baby can be our spy. It's eyes are tiny cameras, and it's made almost completely of celestial bronze. We can send this in, and then know where Annabeth is before we storm the place."

Tony nodded, "Yeah... Pretty good idea, kid."

And ok, so Leo was freaking out a little bit on the inside because one of his idols had just complimented his work. But on the outside, he just smiled a little wider.

"You haven't even seen the best part. You've gotta see it after I turn it on. I added stealth-mode so nobody should even be able to know it's there," Leo said, grabbing the spider and flipping it over to press a button.

As soon as he had, the spider flipped itself over in his hand and started crawling up his arm. Tony was a little creeped out, but it was blocked by the fascination for this new kind of science the demigods had. The spider should have to be controlled by a human, but it was moving like it was almost...thinking on its own. There was no way it had an AI, but that was the only solution his mortal brain could come up with.

"Is it an AI?" he asked.

"Nope. It's a greek automaton. They don't need AIs. I programmed it to listen to a few simple commands when needed, but if we don't order it around, it'll just stick around me waiting for orders. Pretty cool, right?"

"Awesome," Tony whispered, in awe of how smart this seventeen year old kid was.

"Thanks. I think I finished it just in time because I heard Percy calling us back upstairs," Leo said. Before he had even finished he was walking towards the deck, not a care in the world for the metal spider crawling around on him.

"Oh, I'm definitely becoming friends with this kid," Tony muttered to himself before following Leo.

Ω ♆ Ω

"Did you get it done, Leo?" Percy asked as soon as he had seen him.

"Yep. Here it is." Leo held up the automaton-spider.

Percy smirked. "Oh, Annabeth's gonna love that."

Leo shrugged, acting clueless. "I have no idea what you're talking about. The spider was just the first thing I could come up with."

"Sure it was," Piper snorted.

Leo fake-gasped. "Beauty Queen! How could you ever think I would lie?! I would never!"

Clint whispered to Natasha, "The kids clearly have a strong bond that only comes from fighting for their lives with each other."

Frank turned to them, surprising the spies that he had heard them, "No shit, Sherlock."

Before anything else could be said, Percy reclaimed the entire group's attention. "If you look to the right, you can see Polyphemus' island. We're going to dock on the south side of the island because that is the only way to get on without climbing a cliff and facing carnivorous sheep. Hazel should be able to disguise the ship until we invade the base, so don't worry about being seen. Leo will send in his spider to check things out and then we'll follow after we know where Annabeth is. Everybody got that?"

At the noises of affirmation, Percy nodded. "Good. Suit up if you're not already."

Of course, Tony had to break the calm solemnity by saying, "Cap, I thought that was your line?"

Everybody collectively rolled their eyes.

Ω ♆ Ω

After they docked, Leo released his spider with specific orders to find Annabeth Chase while staying hidden. That was working until Polyphemus' stupid super-senses could smell the celestial bronze. Leo hadn't known that a blind cyclops would be able to smell metal, but you learn something new everyday, right?

The spider lasted all of five minutes in the cave before Polyphemus smelled it and crushed it under his giant smelly foot. Percy had thought that the cyclops would take longer to reform, but when had he ever been that lucky? Something that completely baffled him was how the mortals got him to not eat them. The dude had been pretty desperate for food the last time Percy had run into him, so how had the weird boss guy gotten him to hold off?

The only thing he could think of for them to feed him would be...nope! He's not going there right now.

The last thing the spider had transmitted to the group was a picture of a mortal holding a gun to Annabeth's head while she was gagged and chained. It made his blood boil.

"I'm going to kill them," He growled, starting to get off the boat and storm the place.

Jason stepped in front of him before he could, "Easy, Perce. You don't know what you're walking into. They want you to go in half-cocked, so we can't give them that. You know Annabeth can handle herself, so just take a breath and we'll figure out a plan."

Percy took a shaky breath, but it did nothing to cool his anger.

"Jace, if you don't step out of my way in the next two seconds, I will be forced to move you, and trust me, you don't want me to do that."

The son of Jupiter stood his ground, "I'm not moving. I know you Percy. Hurting me would go against your fatal flaw. I'm your best friend; your family. I know you would never intentionally hurt me."

Jason glanced over at the rest of the group, who hadn't dared to move if it upset Percy even more. The guy was a ticking time bomb, and they needed to defuse it before it went off and destroyed any chance of getting Annabeth back safely.

Percy almost looked in pain as he spoke his next words, "Jason, I love you. You're my cousin, but Annabeth is my everything. I will hurt you to get to her."

Jason sighed, expecting that answer. "Then at least let us come with you on your suicide mission. I'm not letting you die without me."

"Fine, but hurry up. I'm leaving now," and Percy shoved past Jason and started the trek up to Polyphemus' cave.

Jason turned to the others, who were all staring after Percy with shocked expressions. "Well you heard him! Move your asses!"

That seemed to startle them awake. Everyone but Bruce started moving.

Ω ♆ Ω

By the time the team had been able to catch up to Percy's fast pace, he had already reached the nearest entrance to the cave. It was a dark, narrow path that had walls of rock on either side reaching up for hundreds of feet.

"This is the part in the horror movies where I start screaming at the tv to not go in there and they still go in there," Piper whispered.

They were all just staring at the darkness, and it was getting awkward. For someone who was so hasty to get to Annabeth, Percy was sure taking a long time to get there.

"Are we gonna go in or..." Tony said.

Percy sighed. "Yeah. We're going in. Just don't separate from the group."

He led the way into the cave with Steve right behind him. Percy appreciated having someone else who could take some of the responsibility off his shoulders. Almost his entire time in the godly world, he had been expected to be the leader because of his father, and he had stepped up, but that doesn't mean it didn't weigh on him. Annabeth was the only one who had been able to help him with the stress, and without her, he was losing it. He had already been barely hanging onto his control over his powers, but now without her, what he was doing could barely be called control. It was more like holding back a rampaging bull with a string.

Ten minutes later, they found themselves hiding behind the wall that led to the room where the gang was waiting. Just as the spider had shown them, Annabeth was kneeling under the gang leader's feet while he held a gun to her head.

She looked murderous, so at least something was still normal in the world.

Steve poked his head around and gave a quick scan of the room before turning back to them, "Ok so we've got at least ten humans, with five monsters. One of the monsters is as tall as a building so I think he's the largest threat. Tony, Clint, Nat, and I will deal with the humans if you guys handle the monsters. The main priority is getting Annabeth to safety. Percy, that's your job."

Saying that last bit was just to clarify for everyone else, though they looked like they didn't need to hear it. Percy had a determined look on his face, one that said he wasn't going to allow anyone else to have his assignment.

"You got it, boss," Tony remarked. "Do you just want to storm in there?"

Before he could get an answer, Percy charged into the room, leaving his friends entirely unshocked, but the Avengers were looking a little mad.

"Don't worry, plans aren't really his thing. Even if we do make them, they never go our way. It's better to go with the flow when fighting with Percy," Hazel reassured, and then turned to follow her godly cousin. The rest of the Seven followed, leaving the Avengers to just stare at each other in confusion.

"I like their style," Tony said before flying into the room.

Natasha sighed. "I'm really starting to regret meeting these kids."

Clint smirked at her before leaving, closely followed by Steve and the Black Widow herself. For all three of them, everything about this mission was against their nature, but there wasn't much they could do about it. They were in unknown territory with a group of newly-allied teens and no backup. It was a shitshow before they had even left.

Ω ♆ Ω

Frank was fighting a dracaena, and it was making it super annoying. The thing would not stop talking about grocery stores. It was quite distracting when trying to kill it.

"Seriously! Can you believe how nobody can see how bad those chains are?!" it exclaimed.

Frank sighed, ready for it to be over. Whenever he would try to stab it, it would just slither away right at the last second, all the while continuing to complain.

He decided to use his shapeshifting abilities to catch the thing off-guard. In reality, he could probably deal with it in seconds, but when he really used his inner son of Mars, it drained him. He needed to save his strength if he was going to fight Polyphemus.

Speaking of, so far, the cyclops had stayed out of the fighting. He was just sitting on his throne made of rock, picking at his teeth with what Frank really hoped wasn't a human bone.

Frank changed into a squirrel for a second, climbing up onto the back of the dracaena with the animal's speed and before the monster could react, he changed back into a human and stabbed it through the back with his spear.

"Huh. I guess you can shut up," he remarked as the monster turned into dust.

After, Frank turned to help Hazel take down an empousa. She had already defeated four before that, so it was a pretty easy fight. He had been keeping an eye on her throughout his fight. Sure, he trusted she could take care of herself, but it was also his job to watch her back.

"Thanks," Hazel told him with a quick peck on the cheek after they finished.

Believe it or not, that kiss on the cheek was a major improvement. It had been a real adjustment for Hazel to learn how couples expressed affection nowadays, and it had taken even longer to start showing it herself. It helped that Frank preferred words over touch, too.

"No problem."

Ω ♆ Ω

"Get some, térata!" Leo screamed, running up to the manticore and sending giant, continuous blasts of fire at it.

He had heard of Dr. Thorn from Nico, Percy, and Annabeth before, and had somehow retained the knowledge that it was extremely durable on the outside. That meant that he had to think smart in order to beat it.

So far, Leo was distracting it and holding it off with his fire while he thought of a plan. However, he could only hold it off for so long. He would eventually tire out.

Come on, Leo, THINK!

Then it hit him.

It was so simple! He had been told the story of how the Nemean lion was defeated at Camp. Now usually, he would totally ignore any schooling he was given, but the stuff they were taught at Camp was much more interesting than algebra. So yeah, he remembered some stuff.

So, he decided that his best shot at beating Dr. Thorn was landing a large enough hit inside of him. That meant he had to figure out a way to get him to open his mouth. That wasn't really the hard part, though. The hard part was figuring out how to not die when he had to get closer to the monster.

"Estoy jodido..." he muttered before taking a step forward, never once stopping his assault on the beast.

The Manticore didn't seem to be moving back from the intensity, but rather reveling in the fact that he hadn't gained one burn from the fight. He was just waiting out Leo.

That was not a fun revelation for the son of Hephaestus to have.

And that was when the thorns started attacking him. He should've been expecting it, really. The guy had a tail of poisonous thorns and he hadn't used it yet? Something should've registered in his mind. But that was past-Leo's mistake. Present-Leo had to deal with the super tall, scary, poisonous, and royally pissed-off greek monster in front of him.

Dr. Thorn let out a war cry and swung his tail around, releasing a line of spikes at Leo, who managed to just barely duck out of the way. He was not keen on becoming swiss cheese!

"Ok. It's time to end this." Leo sighed in annoyance, jumping back up and charging.

He swung his battle hammer up and lit it on fire, deciding that he might as well stick with the common theme of stupid ideas. He managed to keep dodging attacks all the way up until he was within ten feet of the manticore. Then, he threw his weapon at the monster, praying to Apollo for good aim. He had fixed the sun chariot plenty of times, so the god had to owe him at least one favor.

Once again, Leo's stupid demigod luck kicked in and the hammer somehow embedded itself in the monster's mouth, which had been opened in a prideful roar. Honestly, the son of Hephaestus didn't know HOW he did it, just that it worked.

With the distraction of having a flaming hammer in his mouth, Dr. Thorn didn't see Leo running up with his arms raised and prepared to fire. By the time he did, it was too late because long blasts of fire were flying straight towards his open mouth.

The monster was able to mutter a silent curse before he disintegrated into dust, once again sent to Tartarus.

"Take that, bitch."

Ω ♆ Ω

Piper was absolutely sure the Fates were laughing at her. They had to be. There was no way that she just happened to be stuck with the two empousa. It didn't help that Jason was struggling to not drool over the girls. She just had to keep chanting in her head that the monsters were using their charm powers on him, and he was not actually attracted to the disgusting things.

After the two monsters tried to both swipe at her at the same time, she growled and shouted, "Jason! Get your head in the game and come help me!"

He had been blinking and shaking his head for the past two minutes and it was getting quite frustrating to have these donkey-cyborg-vampires ganging up on her with no back-up. Once this was over, she was going to make Jason work to get back in her good graces.

With just a little bit of her charmspeak added into her order, Jason was finally able to break free from the empousai's spell. He quickly willed his gladius to be a javelin and launched it through one of the monsters, which made it explode into a shower of golden dust. A traitorous part of Piper's brain insisted on calling that move hot, but she was able to school her expression back into a scowl before her boyfriend could notice.

The other empousa let out a shriek and said, "You MONSTERS! That was my sister! I'll make you pay for that!"

They only had a second to appreciate the irony before she launched herself at them with even more fervor than before, fueled by the rage of losing her "sister."

Jason couldn't help but notice how she was wearing a cheerleading costume. It was very ripped and destroyed, but it was clearly a cheerleading uniform. And as he was deflecting her claws, the ADHD part of his brain realized that the logo on the uniform was for Goode High School, Percy's old school. He almost wanted to laugh when he remembered the story of Kelli, an empousa acting as a cheerleader during Percy's freshman orientation. Percy had always said the monster had a nasty habit of coming back quickly, but Jason had just thought it was an exaggeration. But no, he and Piper were really fighting Kelli, one of Percy's recurring monsters.

It would be hilarious later, truly. But for now, he had to actually kill the thing.

Kelli had backed off when she realized that attacking out of rage wasn't going to work against two experienced demigods, and that also gave Jason and Piper a chance to make a plan themselves.

"Got any ideas?" he asked Piper.

She grinned with a terrifying amount of murderous glee. "I thought you'd never ask."

And then she told him her plan, which was essentially just using him as bait while she got to do all the killing. The prideful Roman part of him wanted to insist on him killing it, but he managed to reign that in when he saw the look on Piper's face. She was not asking, she was telling. Who was he to say no, especially after he hadn't been able to fully resist the empousai's charm?

A scary thought told him he was turning into Percy. He brushed that off for later nightmares.

"Come get me, bloodsucker!" He shouted, raising his arms up in a taunting manner. If he was acting like Percy, might as well go all the way right?

With yet another shriek, Kelli stormed at Jason, completely disregarding the daughter of Aphrodite that was stepping back and preparing to literally stab the monster in the back with her dagger.

Sometimes Jason wonders how a creature could be so stupid. Their plan was so obvious!

It went off without a hitch, technically. Piper let the empousa get a little too close for comfort before she killed it, but he trusted her to get the job done and she came through. Kelli had been prepped and ready to bite into his neck right before she exploded into dust.

It was one Hades of a trust exercise, that's for sure.

"Please don't let it get that close next time, Pipes," he breathed out while he put away Juno's Gladius.

Piper gave him a quick peck on the lips, "Not a chance, Superman."

Ω ♆ Ω

Considering the circumstances, the Avengers weren't doing half-bad. They were actually fairing pretty well. They knew how to deal with humans, so their job wasn't that hard. The only difficulty was that there were four of them and ten of the bad guys. They were sorely outnumbered.

Currently, Steve was fighting two at once, with a third opponent already knocked out a few feet away. He was blocking one with his shield while punching the other in the face. He then switched roles, instead kicking the first attacker and driving his shield into the gut of the second. The one he gutted gasped and fell to the ground, and was knocked unconscious was a simple hit to the temple. While he was distracted with taking down his partner, the still-conscious bad guy recovered from the kick and was able to land a hit to the back of Steve's head. Clearly, the fighter had been prepared to have achieved some form of disorientation from the Captain, but all he got was a pissed-off Avenger.

"That tickled."

It took less than five seconds for Steve to take him down after that.

Natasha also started with three adversaries. Key word being 'started.' It had taken barely any time to take down the first two. And all she had to do for the third was a scissor kick and hold until he passed out. She had just finished doing that when a call from Clint got her attention.

"Nat!" he shouted.

She turned on instinct and threw a throwing knife at the person running up behind her straight into their chest. They stopped with shocked features before falling to the ground in a heap, dead weight pushing the knife even further in and no doubt killing them faster.

"Getting rusty, Clint?" she teased, throwing a look over at her friend.

"No," he defended. "I'm just making sure you're not getting rusty!"

The archer hadn't realised one of his two attackers had sneaked off to go after the "bigger threat." He would never let Nat know he thought she was the bigger threat, though. That would be fueling an ego he knew was somewhere deep down in her.

Tony had been given two people to fight as well, and he was doing pretty well. He had the obvious advantage of being in the air, so all the gang members he was fighting could do was try to shoot at him with their guns, and his armor was designed to withstand a nuclear bomb. Bullets weren't gonna do much damage.

"Guys, seriously, we should just talk this out. We both KNOW I'm going to be knocking you both out in five seconds, so why don't you surrender instead? It'll be so much easier for the both of us!" he said, raising his hands and readying his repulsors.

As expected, the bad guys didn't show any sign of slowing down their useless attack on him. With a roll of his eyes and an obnoxious sigh, Iron Man shot them both in the chest, knocking them out cold.

"That felt too easy. Did that feel too easy to you?" He asked the other Avengers as they gathered back together.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Tony," Natasha said, "That fight was too good to be true."

Now that the truth had been revealed to them, the Avengers could blame what happened next on the Fates.

Ω ♆ Ω

There it is! I hope you liked it

other chapters :)

[lorenzodemedisi]

Won’t Forget You.

PAIRING.

Steve Rogers x Rachel Summers (Earth-818)

SUMMARY.

Rachel Summers was beyond the state of shock when the famous Captain America felt from the sky and burst open her ceiling to plunge hard on her living room’s floor. She’s been alone for so long that she completely forgot that in the outside world life was going by. Little did she know that by helping the super soldier in great needs she would yield her own shell in front of the bluest eyes and a killer smile.

A/N.

FLUFF, Fluffy, Fluff and a bit of Angst! ( wow i’m shocked )

That’s right I'm writing a fluff piece for a change, I'm impressed with myself. My anxiety and depressive ass can be happy sometimes *O*. Anyway, this one-shot will probably evolve into a series...Maybe. But, I fell in love with Rachel Summers when I was reading an X-Men comic last summer and I really wanted to see more of her but there isn’t so much stuff about this character, so here I am, writing a Steve x Rachel. if you want more information about her, here’s a link or just ask me. As always thank you very much for reading, it means a lot to me. Don’t hesitate to give your thoughts, comments, and feedback! I hope you enjoy my fluffy piece. 

A lots of Love. Lex. xxx

WORDS.3597ish. 

°°°

Steve Rogers groaned, exhausted and wounded, he felt a cold cloth wiping his forehead. He tried to move his head and opened his eyes, feeling a soft cushion behind him.

« Don’t move. » A soft and feminine voice instructed him. « Your injuries are pretty bad, it’s better if you don’t move. »

But Steve will have none of it. Opening his eyes, he growled low and deep when his vision hit the soft light coming from the rustic windows and a blurred sight of a red-haired woman.

« N-Natasha? » Steve whispered closing eyes, feeling a huge headache creeping inside his brain. « I wished. » The woman chuckled softly, putting the wet cloth in the small bowl on the bedside table. As she saw Steve turning his head toward her, the woman frowned. « I told you, not to move soldier. Don’t let me uses my power on you. » She scolded her eyes becoming gold but when Steve smiled at her words, they turned into a soft blue again destabilized by his reaction, she sighed. « You sound like her. » Steve informed her, his voice raspy and tired. He frowned closing his eyes « W-Where am I? » He asked. « In a safe place. » The woman whispered, looking at the soldier wounds on his hand. « And why… » Steve swallowed, licking his lips. All his body was hurting like hell. Which is good right? It meant that he was healing. « A-And why should I trust you? » He asked, turning his head once again toward the stranger.

He opened his eyes, seeing more clearer, he met her deep and clear blue sight. She was red-haired and a halo of light was around her head, making her looked like an angel. She smiled softly, her eyes were bright and her skin seemed smooth and soft like silk. She was beautiful.

« Because I didn’t kill you when you burst through my ceiling in the middle of the night. » The woman replied shrugging her shoulders.

She smiled one more time before raising from the chair taking the bowl filled with dirty water and leave the room where Steve, tired, get back to sleep. He was badly wounded. Rachel didn’t know from where he came from, but last night he just fell from the sky and dropped on the ground of her living room, making a huge hole on her cabin’s ceiling. Bloody and unconscious, she took him in. Because that was the right thing to do.

°°°

Steve Rogers woke up a few hours later, feeling better. Opening his eyes, fully this time, he could see that he was lying on a bed, in a small but very well-decorated room. The walls were only woods, with very beautiful paintings tied on them. The light was less bright and the sun was still up. He put himself on a seating position and looked at all his injuries. His hands were bruised raw, and he felt his ribs burning a bit. His headache was just a dull feeling at this point, and a few cuts on his arms and legs but nothing that his body won’t heal alone. As the door open, Steve took the green sheet, and cover his naked chest seeing the pretty woman from earlier enter with a food tray in her hand. She laughed looking at his reserved reactions. If only he knew what she had to do, in order to help him heal him last night, she thought shaking her head.

« Don’t be such a prude, Captain » She chuckled putting the tray on the bedside table next to him. « Who are you? » Steve asked dead serious, his tone hard. He was thinking fast. Well, as fast as his brain could allow him right now.

He already had spotted the potential threat in the room and possible exit. The woman, even though she seemed really nice and pretty, was a potential threat.

« I’m Rachel. » She smiled, extending a glass of water to him. « Only a few, sip.» She advised him. « I made chicken soup and garlic bread. I hope you not allergic to either of those. » She winced, tucking on her long blue skirt.

Steve looked warily at the food, but his stomach betrayed him as it growled with hunger.

« I can’t get allergies, thanks to the serum. » He informed her, siping his drink. « Right. » Rachel nodded, then took a seat at her usual spot next to the bed. «Do you remember what happened last night? » She asked gently passing him the hot bowl of soup.

Steve shook his head as he put the glass on the small table and took the hot dish in his hand. He took the spoon Rachel offered him and start to take a hot and huge mouthful of the food. He hummed surprised by the delicious and amazing taste of the meal. Rachel chuckled softly seeing him enjoyed what she had prepared.

« Well, according to the news, you and your amazing friends were attacked on your Quinjet last night. It seemed that it was a terrorist group, named H.Y.D.R.A, I think. » Rachel explained to him, watching him eat.

Steve stopped to move, the spoon mid-air as he remembered everything that occurred last night. His team, the Avengers were going home from a successful attack on an H.Y.D.R.A base, and then dozens of men coming from nowhere attacked them, blowing a hole on the small plane. He remembered sending Nat and Clint to safety inside of two Stark’s capsule thing - it was like a small plane for one person. Thor took the fight outside flying in the sky taking most of the men with him. Tony putting on the suit followed the God. And Bruce took this unfortunate moment to change into the Hulk, compromising the all plane already in a wreck. At that point, Steve had already taken down, most of the remaining men. But the Quinjet was crashing, with the weight and angriness of the Hulk. Steve's only way out, was to jump out of it before it exploded on the ground. He remembered jumping, falling and then nothing. He looked up, his eyes catching Rachel’s gold one. He blinked once and they were back into their original blue one.

« Whoah! You guys can surely make every battle into an epic fight. » She muttered, amazed. « What? » Steve frowned. With his super-hearing, he had heard every word the red-haired woman had whispered. « What? » She exclaimed a little bit louder. « I mean, don’t you want to call someone. I don’t know, any member of your Team, perhaps? » She smiled, licking her lips. « Yeah, sure. » Steve suspiciously watched her. And then he remembered the conversation they had earlier « Don’t let me uses my power on you. » She had said to him. Taking a mouthful of the soup, Steve, almost, forget his thought. Tasting the salty and flavorsome soup on his tongue. « But after I finished this miracle. » He hummed taking another spoon.

Rachel discreetly sighted. She had almost been busted.

°°°

« Stay put. » Maria Hill advised him. How could Steve stayed put? Half of his team was M.I.A. Apparently, Clint was badly injured, his pod crashing on some rocks or something and Maria Hill told him to « stay put » when he called her through the phone and she said that she will call him when she would have more information. Steve will have none of it. Raising, he put back his undershirt lying at the foot of the bed. He walked difficulty but with purpose to the open door but froze dead in his tracks. He was completely and utterly shocked to see this woman, Rachel flying. Yes, she was flying her body floating in the air, her head raised and inspecting the huge hole, oddly it looked just like his body, on the ceiling. Steve caught the sight of his shield, resting next to the chimney. He took it, without making any sound, but he didn’t know about the second wooden plate next to the blue carpet who creak loudly once you step on it. Rachel heard it, lost control of her levitation, and dropped dead on the ground. She aimed the couch, falling on it hard then bounced once and put her feet on the ground.

« Are you insane, sneaking on people like that? » She yelled, outraged. « You will tell me who you are right now before I knocked you to the ground. » Steve command in his Captain's voice, raising his shield in attacking mode and making a fist of his other hand.

He looked dangerous, in front of Rachel who gasped seeing the huge metal disc being waved in front of her face. She backed away raising her hands in front of her chest, protection mode, and bite her lips.

« Ok, ok. I will tell you everything, but please, Captain, put the shield down! » She exclaimed, making a move toward the ground. « Are you with H.Y.D.R.A? » He asked making a stepped toward her. « No! » She cried out, making a stepped back. She took a deep breath, understanding that he won’t let go of his shield. « My name is Rachel. Rachel Anne Summers and I’m a mutant. I know I will sound completely crazy but - » She licked her lips, her hands were shaking a little. « Try me, I’ve seen a lot of crazy and weird stuff happened. » Steve encouraged watching her warily, up and down. « I’m not from this reality ok? » She sighed. She looked at him frowned and tucked her skirt into her hand. « There is a lot of alternatives reality where, alternate us, exist and have done other choices than we do in our own reality. For example,  where I’m from you are dead. » She explained, shrugging her shoulders. « What? I-m…» Steve stuttered, shocked by the revelation Rachel was telling him.   « Yes, that’s a story for another day, but all you really need to know is that: I’m a mutant and I have powers. » She stated flexing her fingers a bit. « Like flying? » Steve asked nodding at the open ceiling above them. « It’s a little bit more complicated than that. » She grimaced a little thinking about all the Phoenix subject and her statue as an Omega Mutant.  « I need to seat down. » Steve informed her, his head throbbing with his headaches from his injuries but also because of thinking too hard. 

Aliens, alternate realities, H.Y.D.R.A… the modern world was being more and more complicated. He was about to seat down on the couch, putting his shield on the floor but a boiling sound made Rachel jumped on her feet and clapped her hands together.

« Not here, Captain, the milk is ready! » She exclaimed pulling on Steve arm’s for him to rise from his spot. « I don’t understand, why I can’t seat here if the milk is ready. » He frowned feeling his headache returned in full force.

Rachel smiled before walking through a door behind the couch under the bewildered look of the Captain.

°°°

Steve faintly smiled as he now understood better the excitement of the woman. Seating on the porch of the small cabin next to Rachel, he sighed. Oddly for him, he was happy. A hot cocoa mug in his hand and the beautiful sunset behind the breathtaking landscape of woods was a quiet and enjoyable moment. Rachel smiled seeing him smiling and took a sip of her beverage. It was one of her tradition when the sunset came, she sat alone on the stairs of her porch and watched the beautiful scenery with hot cocoa and only the quiet sound of the wood for company. 

« What’s a mutant? » Steve asked after a couple of minutes of silence. 

Rachel took a deep breath, maybe it was better to be alone. 

« It’s a person born with a DNA slightly different from the usual combo. » She explained looking at birds taking a flight on the pinkish sky. « It’s their DNA, that gave mutant power. It’s completely random, a baby could be born with a mutant’s DNA whereas his parents are normal. » She turned her head to looked at him. « Unlike you Captain, I was born with my super-powers, thanks to mom and dad. They were mutant. » She took a sip of her drink, winking at Steve who only grinned. « Why are you here then? And not on your own Earth? » Steve asked, putting his cup on the wooden floor. « War happened, people who didn’t understand the mutant, killed us or imprisoned us. » She revealed dropping her eyes on his cup. She huffed seeing he had already finished his drink. « I’m kind of familiar with that. » Steve raised his eyebrows, resting his back again the pillar behind him. « My parents where afraid for me, so, with the help of another mutant, they just send me here. I was eleven. » Rachel bit her lips, feeling the tears threatening to fall on her cheeks, but she held them, not wanting to cry. « I was taken by Nick Fury and the S.H.I.E.L.D organizations, that’s how I know Natasha Romanov. » Rachel revealed, nodding her head.

She took a sip of her drink, looking at the trees in front of her house. Soon she would have to cut some of them because of the Winter coming. Steve was surprised, he knew Fury had some very odd and mind-blowing secrets of his own, but he didn’t imagine that kind of secret.

« And so you’ve been alone since then. I mean without your family and friends from your own reality? » Steve asked her, feeling a bit sorry for the woman who rescued him. « I don’t mind being alone. » The red-haired shrugged. « It’s when I do my best thinking. » She replied with a smile.

And I don’t have to hear all the internal thoughts of other people, she sadly reasoned.

« Yes, me too. » Steve sadly smiled, looking at the view in front of him.

It’s been a while since he didn’t just stop, and enjoy simple life things. Like a good view, a good beverage. He turned his head looking at the woman next to him who after putting her drink down had a chocolate mustache on her lips. A good company.

« You have a small something on -» Steve smiled pointing at his own lip. « What? » Rachel frowned, wiping her lips, a soft pink blush on her cheeks. She had taken most of it but not all of it. « Just- » Steve pointed his finger at her own lip, but she missed the spot again. « Wait, here. » He whispered, wiping the chocolate with his thumb, his eyes watching her.

He took his finger into his mouth licking it. Rachel's eyes went back and forth between his pink mouth to his blue eyes. She was strangely closer to him and could see a hint of green into the clear blue that was his eyes. Steve felt drowned toward her, her sweet vanilla and bit spicy scent feeling his nose. Suddenly, he felt dawned by her, and her aura. She seemed to be everything that was holding the epitome of his happiness on her lips and he had to touch them.  Rachel Summers was a mystery, some kind of girl coming from another reality. But she seemed genuine and took him in and patched him up when he felt into her house without any question ask. He didn’t know if he trusted her. He didn’t know if he could but right here, right now all Steve Rogers needed was to let go, for once and enjoyed the sweet and romantic moment. So he leaned his head toward her face as Rachel closed her eyes. He brushed hir lips, asking her, a quiet question. She felt butterflies into her stomach before pressing her mouth on his; raising her hand to softly stroke his clean-shaven cheek. Steve kissed her even more but a faint sound made her broke the kiss.

« Umm…It’s my phone and it’s probably for you. » Rachel flushed, her eyes avoiding to look at him.  « I’m gonna go answer. » He told her, before rising up and entered into the house.

Rachel took a deep breath. What was that? Eyes wide open, she shook her head and bite her lips. Putting her head on her knees she watched the sunset, a shy smile on her lips. 

I just kissed Steve Rogers!

°°°

And now, he was leaving. Rachel’s compass in one hand, and one of the many maps, Nick Fury had given to her when she moved into this small house, in his other hand. His full suit on, and his famous shield on his back, Steve was ready to join back his team. According to Maria Hill, a Quinjet piloted by Tony was waiting for him a few miles away from Rachel’s cabin. He couldn’t lend next to the red-haired woman’s house because they were some kind of shield force around her home. When Steve confronted her about it, she only shrugged turning her back to him. Steve took his helmet and put it around his face. Rachel looked at him in the dim light of her living room, the only sound was of the cover-up brushing the wood’s ceiling. The night was now set around the woods and Rachel for the first time, felt empty and lonely. Strangely, sadness filling her cores, even though she met Steve less than 24 hours ago and he’s been conscious for 5 hours of those. She liked those moments she had been with him. 

« That’s ok if I walk through this shield force. It won’t hurt me? » Steve asked suspiciously, sorting his helmet on his neck. « Why do you ask me? I don’t know anything about this shield thing. » Rachel waved vaguely her hand above her head. Steve pursed his lip, knowing deep down that she didn’t tell him all the truth about her powers. « All I can say is that you traversed it last night, just fine and without any complication. » She smiled pointing at the ceiling.

Steve chuckled softly under his breath. She was right. He licked his lips watching her fully. Wearing a long blue skirt with a white crop top, she avoided looking directly in his eyes. Rachel was the kind of woman who was independent, funny, sweet but also mysterious. And he really wanted to decipher every bit of secrecy she was hiding behind these big blue eyes.

« I’m gonna be back, you know. » Steve informed her, with a knowing smile. « No, you won’t, Captain. » She replied, sad. « But that’s ok, I won’t forget you.» She winked.

Steve laughed, before turning around and stepped outside in the cold and icy wind of the woods. She was wrong he will be back, he knew it deep down. 

°°°

Rachel Summers was again, levitating by the time Steve was back. But this time, she was flying outside next to trees, with a huge blade in one hand. Steve was looking at her, she hasn’t changed since the night he left her a few months ago. He told her he will be back and there he was. Steve needed some short but good holidays after the Ultron affairs. And after taking the lead of the new Avengers Team, he just left leaving a note to Natasha explaining that he will be back in a couple of weeks. And he couldn't think of anything better place than Rachel Summers’s cottage as a holiday location. Rachel heard a faint crack sound. Someone was there, turning quickly in the air she was ready to attack, her blade up and her fist being immersed into a faint golden mist, but she was shocked to see Captain America smirking at from below. Confused, she lost her balance and concentration and started to fall but this time there wasn’t any couch to fall on to. Rachel started to panic, crying out loud she already saw herself crushed on the floor. But then she saw the outstretched arms of Steve’s as he ran to caught her into his stronghold. Rachel’s body felt right into his figure, but her descent was fast, made the soldier lost his footing and fell to the ground, the red-haired woman above him.

« I told you to not sneak up on him, Steve! » Rachel yelled, hitting, softly his hard chest as she raised to look at his laughing face. « And I told you, I will be back. » He replied still laughing. «  Hey, Rachel, it’s the first time you called me Steve. » « What are you doing here? I saw the news! Are you ok? » She frowned looking at him, annoyed but searching for some injuries on his body.

He wasn’t wearing his suit, but a soft blue shirt and a pair of jeans. Steve looked rather normal dressed this way. Not like the bossy and always serious Captain. 

« I want to know more about your Earth, the other reality. » Steve softly smiled, pushing a stray of her long red hair behind her ear. « And also, about you. » Steve looked at her blushing under his deep gaze.

She pushed herself from his body, taking his hand into her own and lift him up.

« I told you my story if you told me yours? » She asked, crossing her arms on her chest, smiling at him. « That’s fair. » Steve conclude, taking the blade who fell next to them. « Let’s start with this. » He waved the weapon, raising an eyebrow.  « Alright. » She nodded biting her lips. « But I need hot cocoa, do you want one? » « Yes, please! » Steve almost yelled.

Rachel laughed in front of his excited face. She hasn’t forgotten him. But it seemed that he didn’t forget her either.

°°°

Tag List: @jtargaryen18​

[the-quiet-winds]

I Wish that I Could Witness All Your Joy

have some super fluffy fluff, co-written with the best ever @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts because it’s my birthday and i need the pick-me-up

jane sighs as she adjusts her position on the couch, trying to listen to the tv she’d set to as quiet as possible so as not to wake the other queens. jet lag was possibly one of the worst phenomenons of modern life, she decides. she’d been with the creative team on a few day trip to canada of all places to meet with a photographer and producer while the other queens stayed in England to keep performing; she and katherine had called before and after every show to check in, and now jane was back everything was fine. except, of course Jane’s current inability to sleep.

she hears a light set of footsteps approach the door and she looks up to see katherine, half-asleep with unruly hair, blinking sleepily from the doorway.

“you know it’s not morning yet, kat,” jane laughs gently. “what are you doing up?” while she’d normally be worried about katherine being awake at 1am, jane had heard no sign of a night terror and katherine herself looked absolutely fine.

katherine pulls her blanket tighter around her shoulders, then shuffles over to the couch. she sits down next to jane, curling up next to her, spreading the blanket over them both. 

“i heard you up,” she mumbles as she curls up against jane. she feels an arm wrap around her shoulder and sighs as she slips back closer to sleep. “i couldn’t really sleep either,” she says.

jane raises an eyebrow at the words as she sees katherine very clearly on the edge of sleep, but she just presses a kiss to katherine’s temple. it was sweet that katherine wanted to keep her company, although jane reckons the likelihood of katherine actually making it through the night without falling asleep is near impossible.

they sit in comfortable silence for a while, katherine’s eyes closing and then fluttering open every few minutes as she tries to keep awake.

katherine snuggles further into the hold, laying her head back against the front of jane’s shoulder. 

“i may have slept with one of your blankets when you were gone,” she admits half-mindedly, so barely awake she doesn’t know what she’s saying. 

jane smiles at the words, pressing another light kiss to katherine’s head. 

the girl adjusts again, then sighs quietly. “you’re comfy.”

jane gives a quiet laugh. “i’m glad, love.” katherine nods absently.

“like the softest pillow.” she yawns. then, a few seconds later with her eyes almost closed: “i missed you.”

“i missed you too, kat,” jane smiles softly. “you know, love, you can go to sleep if you want to. having you here is enough.”

“‘m gonna stay awake,” katherine protests weakly without even opening her eyes and jane chuckles.

“okay then, kat.”

“you’re very endearing when you’re half asleep,” says jane lightly. she feels katherine quietly and tiredly laugh against her. 

“only ‘cause i love you so much,” she murmurs in response. her eyes close again. “i won’t fall asleep, i promise.” she can feel herself failing at this goal all the while. “we have time to make up for.”

katherine’s words bring a smile to jane’s face, even though she knows they’re going to inevitably be false. sure enough, katherine’s breathing becomes slow and even as she slips into sleep. she unconsciously snuggles up to jane and jane lifts one hand to absentmindedly run through katherine’s slightly tangled hair.

they stay there for a while. katherine’s chest slowly expands and contracts in sleep. every once and a while she shifts closer to jane, until she’s practically melded to her side, but jane won’t complain. the tv is quiet, just enough for jane to hear, but not loud enough to block out katherine’s words. 

“that’s my mum...prick...” she murmurs very, very softly.

jane glances over at her, a slight frown on her features, but katherine still seems fast asleep. there’s silence for a little while longer, enough for jane to turn back to the tv, but then katherine mumbles something else.

“you leave us alone.” even though her voice is barely audible the tone of defiance is clear, and jane looks at her properly.

“kat?” she whispers. “are you okay?”

katherine is silent again for a longer while, although occasional mewls or sleepy sighs creep forth. jane turns her attention back to the television, whatever wacky late-night game show is on. 

finally, katherine speaks again, voice slightly harder yet still obviously asleep. 

“she loves me...i love...her...”

jane feels the love fill her heart at those words. even in her sleep, katherine’s so sure that she loves jane, and that jane loves her. that’s all jane ever wants, for katherine to remember she’s safe and loved, and she sometimes worries that katherine doesn’t realise just how much her mum loves her. hearing her say it with so much conviction, even unconsciously, just makes jane so happy and proud.

“i do, kitty-kat,” she murmurs softly, tucking a strand of hair behind Katherine’s ear before tracing a line down her cheek. “i love you so much, sweetheart.”

katherine twitches in her sleep. once, then nothing. 

she shifts again, her head jutting out, then back. 

she’s still for a while. 

she twitches again.

incoherent words slip through her barely parted lips, and jane can’t pick up on a single one. 

then she makes a full-fledged, understandable sentence. 

“she’s my mum...always will be...”

jane can’t stop the smile that grows on her face at this. she presses a kiss to katherine’s forehead and murmurs soft reassurances that katherine was right; she couldn’t hear her, of course, but jane hopes her unconscious brain will still understand.

katherine falls quiet again and doesn’t say anything coherent, just little half-mumbles and sounds. the hours tick by with katherine fast asleep until early morning, when an advert on the tv starts playing at an abnormally loud volume and jane rushes to turn it down.

katherine jumps slightly at the sudden noise. jane lightly strokes her upper arm, trying to calm and lull her back to sleep, but katherine wakes up anyway. 

she gives a tiny, adorable yawn as she comes to, slowly recognizing where she was and who she was with...

...and then the horrible pain from sleeping at the angle she did sets into her neck, causing her to let out a feeble whimper.

jane turns at the noise, concerned. “what’s wrong, love?”

“neck hurts,” katherine mumbles through gritted teeth. “i slept at a bad angle.”

“you were rather leaning awkwardly,” jane immediately goes into mum mode, fussing about her. “does it hurt to move it?”

“it hurts to keep it still,” katherine half-whines, slightly pouting with sleepy annoyance, “let alone move it.”

jane looks a little downhearted, mostly realizing there wasn’t much she could do to relieve katherine’s discomfort. she gives her a quick kiss on the forehead, then stands up, her legs immediately protesting after sitting for so long. she makes her way upstairs and retrieves one of the hot water bottles, fills it, and gently lays it around katherine’s neck. the girl lets out a relieved sigh and relaxes back against the couch. 

jane looks at her fondly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “you really are quite adorable when you talk in your sleep,” she says lightly, hoping to get to the bottom of what katherine was dreaming about.

katherine blushes slightly, cheeks and ears tinged pink. “was I talking?”

“just a little bit, love,” jane chuckles. “a few words here and there. it was very cute.” katherine’s blush deepens.

“what was I saying?” she asks, readjusting the hot water bottle slightly.

“it was mostly mumbles,” jane says, “but there were a few things about me, I think? you definitely said ‘that’s my mum’, followed by a word I won’t repeat.” she says the last part slightly teasingly, but her tone is still soft. “it sounded like you were having a very strong discussion with somebody.”

katherine flushes even deeper, if that was possible. jane fights a smile - it’s always rather adorable and a bit funny when katherine looks as pink as her hair. 

“there was this guy,” she explains bashfully, “he was really mad about something. i don’t know why but he took it out in us. screaming and yelling and all that. told us that...” she sighs. “told us that what we have doesn’t matter, that i won’t be worthy of you...weird stuff like that.” she shrugs. “i don’t know where it came from.”

“it sounded like you let him know his opinions were wrong,” jane nudges her gently. “you know that you’ll always be my daughter and that i’ll always love you, right?”

“yeah, i know,” katherine says, and a small smile plays on her lips at the reminder. “and i’ll always love you, too. no matter what anybody says, real or imaginary.”

jane smiles at this, glad that katherine was saying these things, but a part of her still worries about katherine’s subconscious creating that dream for her and putting those worries into katherine’s head.

jane herself starts to feel a bit drowsy, the time change finally catching up with her. a nap couldn’t hurt, right? 

“come here, love,” she says, pulling katherine against her again. she adjusts the hot water bottle, the warmth of it soothing them both. 

she kisses the top of katherine’s head. “that’s my good girl,” she coos quietly. “my little seymour.”

katherine smiles at the familiar nickname. “love you, mum.”

“love you too, honey. this life or any other,” jane sighs, falling asleep with her girl in her arms.

———————————————————————————————————–

tag list: @percabeth15 @kats-seymour @qualquercoisa945 @jane-fucking-seymour @a-slightly-cracked-egg @justqueentingz @annabanana2401 @wolfies-chew-toy @broad-way-13@tvandmusicals @lailaliquorice @aimieallenatkinson @sweet-child-why03 @gaylinda-of-the-upper-uplands @funky-lesbians @thinkaboutitmaybe @hansholbeingoesaroundzeworld @anaamess @beeskneeshuh @prick-up-ur-ears @theartoflazy@justqueentwo @brother-orion @paleshadowofadragon@lafemmestars @beautifulashes17 @jarneiarichardnxel @idkimbadwithusernamesandstuff @sixcago @mixer1323 @boleynssixthfinger @aimieallen @elphiesdance @boleynthebunny @krystalhuntress @lupin-loves-chocolate @bellacardoza16 @bluify @second–butthole @katherines-choker

[tumblunni]

Hi am sleeby

Aaaa yo hi hello for some reason my followuo medicine dor the tooth surgery makes me more drowsy than the actual anesthetic did? Its weird its supposed to be pain meds but the sleepiness is SO OVERPOWERING and kicks in SO FAST that i keep falling asleep before i can even tell if it actually reduces pain or not, lol. Good for good sleeps! Ive never had such speedy results from a sleep medicine ever before, like wow it usually takes me 1 or 2 hours every night to get to sleep and this is like ten minutes like wow i can actually just close my eyes and go to dreamland just by deciding hey It Is Time. Is this what its like for normal people witjout insomnias???

BUUUUUT the disadvantage is that well i have to keep taking this for paon management and i cant just sleep constantly yknow. So im here forcing myself to power thru the SUPER STRONG SLEEPY JUICE and try and be awake long enough to at least eat one food a day and walk arpund my house a little to stretch my legs. But im just so happy dozey sleeples tired and it feels like my sense of time is dilating or something. I cant focus as well on stuff and its like i look over to the clock and wow where did three hours go? Like i managed to stay awake but i was running on such low brain battery that i basically did nothing BUT stay awake, lol! But i know i cant sleep for like 60 hours straight geez, i need to get some awakes sometimes!!

And aaaa im just even more easily happied by cute things and even more emotional about MY AMAZING FRIENDS like holy shit fuck im already such a Cliche Softboi and i already get all emotional and send I LOVE U MAN messages tp my fremds when im tired but now im just stuck in that mode 24/7 dear god guys i love you guys

I just went off in a weird ramble in a friend's inbox cos they vaguely mentioned body positivity and i was llike OH GOD I FEEL SO STRONGLY ABOUT BODY POSITIVITY like yo please everyobr out there who is plus size please know that every time you love yourself you are making bunni so proud!! THE WORLD NEEDS TO AWAKEN TO THE TRUTH THAT MAINSTREAM "SEXY" STANDARDS ARE SEXIST RACIST TRANSPHOBIC HOMOPHOBIC FATPHOBIC EVERYPHOBIC BULLSHIIIIOOOT also why do fuckin anime waifu ot superhero spandex groin creepy fanservice things always look SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE like yo if the poor girl looks like she doesnt want to be there or shes breaking her damn spine in half then HOW IS THAT MEANT TO BE SEXY seriously body positive stuff is so great just to see someone doing a fashion shoot pinup thing who looks HAPPY AND CONFIDENY AND RADIANT WITH LIGHT god dammit please love your selfs i love you my frieeeeends

Also ursula wtf i never knew ursula was supposed to be "funny" until i grew up, kid me was just happy to see a chubby lady who was beautiful and confident that shes beautiful and then WHOOPS OH NO the joke was meant to be a fat woman being "deluded" that she wa sbeautiful or something?? And also she was intended as a cariaccature of drag queens? No fuk all that she IS beautiful and she is 100% right and also she is now everyone's supportive trans auntie and i love her. Like seriously man all her actual actions in the movie are so evil but shes just so cool and cute and stylish and pretty and loveable and has all the best lines and great animation and wonderful singing voice I CANT NOT ROOT FOR HER EVERY TIME!! Her and hades totally have the same feel for me. Best part of the movie, really wanna hug them!! I wanna be best friends!! If ursula did a body positive campaign i thibk itd sell a million fashions SERIOUSLY THAT FANCY BLACK DRESS/OCTO TENTACLES THING AND HER AWESOME SWOOSH HAIR AND THE GREAT COLOURSCHEMES OF LL THE FASHION PURBLES I JUST LOVE HERRRR

Im so sleepy u guys

Hug urself for me cos im so sad i cant do it

Where are my infinate reaching ocean crossing arms

[elizabethrobertajones]

13x05 watching notes

I’m not used to getting what I want.

-

Expectations: holy crap am I excited to see Billie again. Yeah yeah Cas or whatever, we know he's back and would be coming back from the moment he died, and all the rest is just flavour text... BILLIE is an utter treat and given A: how she died (not just dead reaper killed off for man pain as a minor thematic antagonist, but also woman of colour on the show which was a bummer and at least she alters their post-death appearances dismal stats even if she isn't back-back as her full and healthy self a la Cas as a worst case scenario >.>) and B: the themes she embodied, and C: that Cas just got punted back OUT of the Empty, well, I am ridiculously pumped to have her (or the image of her >.>) around again, because of the utterly fascinating thematic conundrum she'll represent and because Billie was the most freakin awesome character ever, and Lisa Berry just exudes this raw calm power, and I went and watched Shadowhunters over hiatus 90% because she was on it in like 3 episodes and lo and behold she was a powerhouse in her scenes there too :P

Of course I have a personal stake too and as a meta writer it's not quite so obvious, as a shitposter you might have caught me endlessly referring to it, and as me personally inside my head, I know that I introduced Billie to Terrible Coffee AU to be a side character to the drama, meaning to embroil her in it as a voice of amused-warning-to-later-friend for Cas, and began constructing an entire narrative to explore cosmic consequences in as if post-death the show's Billie had wandered over to my silly AU and was using her extreme disappointment in them all to add another level of irony to the characterisation (listen: imagining what face the canon character would make at their role in your AU is a great way to characterise and people think I'm good at it, so free writing tip :P) and I had to make Billie proud about what I wrought. 

I failed to actually write that section in time for this episode, had no idea there WAS an expiry date and that Billie would come back, but here we are and I've accidentally over-thought Billie to an absolutely astronomically disproportionate degree to probably most people around these parts for the sake of having her tease Cas about Dean from the deck of a boat while they were sipping cocktails together. :P

I can and will mentally insert a cocktail into Billie's hand in her scene(s).

-

OH AND THEN THROW IN THAT THIS IS A YOCKEY EPISODE. Of all the current writers, he's the one who makes me lose my chill completely. He's got an incredible way with character and emotion which I absolutely adore, so I find it pretty hard to worry about all the nervous little things I worry about aside from how much the grand scheme of things will let Billie back. And season 13 seems to be going pretty in my favour as a viewer and meta writer so. Super sublime chill.

-

Oh boy the recap people are trying to put us out of a job.

Superimposing Dean's speech to Patience over Sam crying over Dean nearly dying in 2x01 and ghost!Dean lurking behind him, which of all the reminders that they die a lot is a... lot of a thing. Because John etc. Season 2 theeemes everywhere. And then of course them getting shot as ghosts in 4x15 aka time to save Tessa. And Dean wasn't having an easier time in that episode, hell-damaged and talking to Tessa about how he wished he'd gone with her. Could just be subtle reaper reminders because the next shot is Sam detoxing demon blood in 4x21, nudging us into new territory for Jack theeemes. But that's part of the "pain" in his speech, "horror" is Dean hilariously dying in 3x11 when hit by a car, which, well, wasn't hilarious at all for Sam or the rest of that episode for us once the dying montage was over, and just reminds us how much they're dicked around with by the universe... And then "Death." Over. Death's hand.

Look, I am a simple person with simple wants. I would have been satisfied to just have this about Billie but now you're making me want to see DEATH again and see what the heck happened with him. I mean I've always sort of wanted to see him back again because if Billie would be pissed at them... :P But I could accept she was his stand in from now on. That she WAS the new Death all along, even, for our wild spec. Now I am MADLY excited about how they're going to utilise all this stuff because oh hi have you met me the reapers and death stuff is my absolute favourite stuff on the show. I was always hoping this wasn't going to be a cop out with the tasty sounding title, and it seems like they want us to really be on the ball about the themes here, to whatever end.

(Just having paused it to squeal here, it could be a fake out about Death because the first shot of him in his killer intro montage was his hand with his ring because in season 5 that was the cue we needed to know that was the ring we needed and that Death was who he was supposed to be... Logic dictates the ring crumbled in 10x23 but if they wanted to invoke Death without bringing Julian back...)

Weeeeeeeehheeheheheheeee Death's "affront to the balance of the universe" speech in 6x11 where he was resentfully giving Sam's soul back on one condition... The same thing Billie was pissed about in 11x02 onwards. Is he here to cover for her reappearance and make this seem like it's all just a big cosmic theme? Because something tells me this episode is about their deaths somehow or another, either temporary, threatened, or big picture :P

Or it's confirming that Billie is Death, there's always that because the next transition is Dean killing Death to Billie LITERALLY CONTINUING DEATH'S SENTENCE FROM 6x11 - "you cause disruption on a global scale -- so next time you die and your brother bite it, we're going to toss you out into the Empty."

"And *nothing* comes back from that" *stab*

Leaving it there with Cas - no cutting to him back alive in the bramble patch. Instead the last note, the only one ABOUT the Winchesters in season 13 aside from Dean's 13x03 speech being used - is Dean saying Sam needs to keep the faith for him, which was the comment only answered in dramatic irony by Cas's return. No comment on the dominoes of Cas stabbing Billie, getting stabbed himself, going to the Empty, and coming back from that. No comment on the deal. This is all stuff we're either meant to know already or isn't strictly relevant right now... But we'll see :P

-

Sort of scared to play the cold open because eye horror in the promo pics and I don't wanna see the doctor drill some random person of the week through the eyeball :P

-

Oh no, it's kids. I think they're still alive because of the promo where they refer to talking to some kids. Or one of them with the implication both made it out the house although I assume their time is numbered regardless.

They're visiting a house which used to be a mental health clinic, which has weird overlap to last episode and the fact the guys went to a fully functioning house with a modern day therapist in it. Mel pointed out the Asylum direct visual reference in one of the props we see in the fast promo so I suppose that's a good season 1 reference to keep in the back of your head.

The floppy haired kid with the backpack (aka the Jack mirror?) is more uncertain about doing this but encouraged by his friend to go along with it. His friend is a dick.

I hope someone's had a good look at the stained glass window because I can't tell if we've seen it before or not. This may or may not be set re-use >.>

You can tell the boys apart because one is half battery (the dick) and one has full battery still (our sympathetic guy)

Don't touch the plague masks!!!!

Literally that was your entire fault and at least the one we were rooting for legged it with a minor wound. I think even some other ghosts were yelling at them for waking up the doctor (I HOPE that's not a parallel to The Empty and Cas waking him up)

But yet... sam and dean seem to have visited both? Was it only "minor" brain drilling and the other kid comes back home slightly altered? Mel also made promo shot comparisons to Naomi and her drilling... Brrrr.

-

Anyway Dean is making himself PB&J so I don't have time for you all. Ouch.

Did Sam literally just compliment Dean for making himself a sandwich?

is it a recovery sandwich?

I get the feeling if we're seeing this and the promo was a lil later on and some investigating further into the episode then maybe we're basically seeing Dean's breaking point for being babied through his grief by Sam's attempts to cheer him up.

Makes you wonder why they picked that instead of this, but this could be a relatively dull opener and Sam trying to talk Dean into going to a strip club was too funny to resist, because it kind of was :P

-

Sam has been on screen 6 seconds and he's annoyingly peppy

I love Sam btw, like, you are not allowed to judge me for how I may talk about Sam in the coming stretch of episode because I get the sense he's in full on cheer up mode, which turns anyone into the most irritating person on the planet and then you throw in Sam's eyebrows and basically I can't with him :P It's not a judgement on his character, I know he's trying to help Dean because of what Dean told him, but Dean just wants to operate a shell of himself for a while and Sam's trying to dig him out of it because it's painful to see him like that and he doesn't know that Cas is reconnecting with them soon, and if not today then next week and also probably by the second half of the season Mary will be back with them.

-

Anyway Dean just carries on stoically making his sandwich and we all talk a lot about the symbolism... I think in this context perhaps it's loosely linked to Kevin operating as a ghost out of this kitchen after dying halfway through his PB&J and coming back for the crusts as unfinished business. He was mourning his mom while he was alive but then it turned out she was alive but too late he was dead.

The PB&J is also symbolic of humanity so idk. He could just be making it because it's sweet and he has a sweet tooth, it's vaguely reminiscent of pie filling but not enough to be traumatic and it's Dean's "I'm doing 1 good thing for myself today" personal quiet method of getting better in the long slow aftermath that Sam wants to rush.

-

"GET THIS" Sam is on full on Sam-ing

-

Awww Jack's watching DVDs. I assume Sam HAVING a stash of DVDs is stuff he's collected as an adult with a Bunker to go on a nostalgia kick. I assume they have a PO Box pretty much for Sam's Amazon deliveries. Like, he hasn't been lugging DVDs around with him since the start of the show and before that they had a bunch of VHS tapes in the back of the car or something :P They grew up dependant on what was on motel TVs and picked what they liked to come back to as adults with a settled address.

Also: the clouds part and bestow on us: a thing Sam likes!!!! That's like at least 4 songs, a couple of movies including Star Wars stuff, HP Lovecraft, and now liking old bad fantasy movies that even Dean judges him for.

Or, I assume, Dean has watched and may or may not reference if the opportunity came up but he needs to box something off as Sam's weird nerd shit that makes him unappealing to the ladies, while Dean, obviously, has never liked anything nerdy, and has had lots of straight edge manly sex with women and all comments about Zorro masks are stricken from the record.

Sam, being in a magnanimous, my brother is grieving, mood, just literally takes the hit and keeps going. Jesus Christ Sammy.  

I would swear he's worn his worst plaid today just to give Dean something else to judge him for :P

-

Oh uh anyway point is Jack is being stashed in the Bunker just like Sam once stashed Cas with his netflix. Sam's being responsible for the pop culture education of 2 generations. At least Netflix lets you pick whatever you want once Sam's not trying to be helpful, and in 11x06 Dean related to Cas to switching to bad TV, rather than watching Sam's picks of the good stuff you're meant to watch.

Less chance of Jack going on a complete rampage through trash TV, but still if nothing else Dean's hands-off approach to the kid means that Sam is being allowed to mould him however he likes :P

-

I just went back and watched again just because I realised the credits were ALREADY over after 5 names. It was like, J2, Misha (yay!) and 2 people I hadn't heard of who I assume are too important named characters in this episode to skip but also not reoccurring characters. I wonder what the slippery slope is when you don't put Lisa Berry's name in the credits of an episode you've advertised she's in. Even people who've checked on TV guides will know... But I guess you treat the episode as internally self-spoiling and ignore what everyone knows for the sake of the person who buys the DVDs and watches through without even reading the descriptions in the sleeve or whatever. Anyway glad she wasn't spoiled but it does make me like *itchy teeth* about Death being in the recap, because naaah. Naaaaaaah. NAAAAAAAH. they wouldn't. they're not. it isn't. She's making like, a hallucinatory cameo for theeeemes and I got to stick with that until the episode proves me wrong, never mind bringing Death back :P

-

As a fan of Death and the reapers (probably already a band name) I'm like... so on edge right now :P

-

Oh wait also Dean said "what about Jack" - he's using his name even to Sam now. Not teasing him about the anti-christ

-

Ya know, based on how beer for breakfast (name of my band) went over and letting Dean be Agent Page (oh the promo is so the breaking point - Dean already is calling him out on all this IN THE TEXT, using his words to point out the weirdness) I am actually thinking that Dean would have actually quite liked to go on another job with Jack. That he was starting to see the use of him and to warm up to him ever so slightly as a person since he showed effort and did a good job and saved Sam and dug the graves for them. I don't think Dean would ASK out loud but if Sam had said, "Jack comes and that's final" Dean would have done that face shrug expression and let it happen without much complaint.

Sam is bending to Dean's apparent desires and being like, well Dean doesn't like Jack, this could be a chance to get Dean out of the bunker without Jack and let him forget all his troubles for a bit...

-

Like, I don't wanna worry you Sam, but last time you decided you needed to cheer Dean up from his extra super special worries about Cas, you took him out into the woods for a fun werewolf hunt, got shot and strangled and had to kill literally every single werewolf in the episode with your bare hands while bleeding profusely from your stomach, while Dean had a random encounter with Billie in the depths of utter despair that he'd lost everyone he ever loved and the world was now going to end without you all.

Dean's a drama queen about a lot of stuff but when he tells Jack your plans don't usually work out, this is the sort of shit he's referring to :P

-

*Sam looks so freakin smug with himself walking off after the badge exchange and Dean's like... what. What?*

-

Poor kid with his great big bandage on his forehead.

He "can't even talk" because the trauma was so bad and we cut to him apparently drawing in his room, which makes me think right back to 1x03.

Omg lol of course Dean walks in the door alone to chat to him. And sees him drawing repeatedly the MotW. We bonding over trauma so bad we can't even talk about it again?

-

OH there's 3 boys. Shaun/Sean (I'm gonna pick Shaun because this is America and I assume you all don't spell stuff proper - FYI to Americans reading this, please remember to read this all in a shrill British accent, what what) and Evan who was presumably the one who died in the cold open, and Mike is the third, who they're inseparable from but was NOT there in the house with them that night, and by nightfall at the promo scene they had not spoke to him yet.

What a frikkin rug pull though, to have 2 boys in the open, so you think they're a duo of best friends, and it's like NO WAIT THEY COME IN THREES... Bahahahaha

-

Dean back upstairs with Shaun, and he's sat down to talk to him with a "you know" and at this point I am pausing and getting a stuffed toy because he's either gonna open up to a kid who won't squeal about it because he can’t talk, or say something completely awful because he's in an awful place and either way I don't need Emotional Honesty Hour from Dean Winchester at 9:30 in the morning without a friend :P

-

On no, Dean talking about knowing what it's like to be scared of monsters, but then trying to reassure the kid that he can at least make it go away PHYSICALLY even if the horrific psychological trauma can't be erased. Comforting!!

-

Promo sceeene!

Which we already picked over but aw yeah so Shaun didn't tell Dean anything after all, except for the plague doctor drawings (and he didn't show he had the mask with him? Really?? Did he drop it earlier?) so Dean really did just open up to the kid about understanding his pain but being the thing monsters are scared of... A better Dean pep talk than Patience got at least, since Shaun was a regular victim and Patience might have been angling to join the life... and it mostly just served to make him say that :P

-

Since I've been barrelling through all the Wayward Sisters old episodes this month, I am reminded that I spent a good long while wallowing in Yockey vs Sam knowing Dean's porn habits and outing them to Jody in 12x06... 

I think Sam trying to make the sacrifice to go to a strip club with Dean (and I can't believe this is the third time I'm putting myself through watching this exchange because omg second hand awfulness and yet I went back and watched it twice it was so good) probably fits under this characterisation umbrella. 

Of Sam vs performing Dean, as much as the callbacks to season 1 and Dean vs Sam's Jess grief that I was talking about last night thanks to an anon nudge. And parallels to 12x16 and their chat about the swimming pool outside a similar hotel set (although this one is infinitely lower rate :P) - the writers playing with the knowledge that Sam and Dean have grown up completely latched onto each other like this and Sam's been dragged to strip clubs by Dean almost certainly and they just kinda know more than they want to about the other's personal habits, and they have low, bad boundaries. 12x16 was asserting some back, letting them have separate rooms, and showing Sam grossed out by the thought of Dean skinny dipping which, I mean, fair (if you're Sam anyway :P) but they don't really GET those boundaries. 

So there's some re-poking season 12 specific themes here as well, just in that Sam, who has historically had his own walls up about Dean's porn and interest in strip clubs (because they're extremely not his thing) is willing to cross a line for Dean and just go with Dean to a strip club and buy him a lap dance from a place with a decent online review. Which also shows low bad boundaries that he would try and manipulate Dean back to happiness this way, just like in 1x19 especially, Sam had to angrily re-assert his boundaries about Dean constantly trying to set him up with Sarah, and Dean had to point out he has a stake in Sam's sex life too, even if it's just having to put up with Sam being cranky and miserable. Historically, Sam having to put up with Dean's sex life is considerably more on the "ugh, TMI" range for him :P

-

... sorry, yelling "promo scene!!" usually means I stop analysing for a moment and just watch, because I already went over this ground last night, but I guess there's more untapped depths :P

-

Holy shit, though in the reaction shots for Dean after talking about the Clam Diver, he's standing with his back to some stuff that on my screen makes a beautiful bi flag. What the hell. I was thinking how colourful the backdrop was last night but...

I mean that's the blurry background to his close ups on this.

I THINK it's just the road lit up behind him but oh gosh getting it in the background of the shot for THIS conversation about the Clam Diver? GUYS what are you DOING. 

Who directed this??

I overshot and landed on "how you ever got laid" "heh, tell me about it" I can't BELIEVE, STILL that Sam just gave him that win. For some reason it reminds me of Swap Meat where he judges Gary for being a virgin based on the Star Wars stuff, even though Sam is an established Star Wars nerd of more than the general audience variety, and mostly likely read the old tie in novels :P Sam owning that his nerdy interests as a teen didn't exactly make him very sexy is probably the most frank thing he's ever admitted to Dean and he's just trying to help Dean. 

(Tbh, again, it may have helped Dean more if Sam just reacted all prickly and got wound up, which is generally what someone teasing wants - a reaction, not rolling over and showing your tummy. Anyway more on the pile of Yockey probing their sex lives in relation to how they see each other, with Sam letting Dean be the one with the more manly sexy interests and letting the performing Dean layer that all comes from win, and then trying to pander to it some more by looking up places to make Dean feel even more manly and in control)

And holy crap I'm glad I have no yoga today because Yockey's got me talking in loops and I've been back to this conversation in the kitchen 3 times and it's nearly 10am and I've made such bad progress. Mental contortions instead :P

Ooooh directed by John Showalter. I'm pretty sure he's been around for aaaages and contributed more than his fair share of nonsense... :P

I just looked him up on the superwiki, saw he directed the episode with HP Lovecraft (and that ridiculous "I was busy having sex with women" or whatever line about Dean not reading the novels) and basically I am gonna hit the brakes on this thought and just watch the episode or I'm going down a rabbit hole I don't come back from until 11am :P

-

Oh but the thing I was trying to confirm was... Not that I knew I was looking for it except in the most abstract sense that I was thinking of it in one hand and thinking maybe there was something by this director in the other without realising it was the same hand... the blue & red light falling on Dean in 10x16 which looks an awful lot like the bi flag and shortly preceded Dean confessing all that delicious confessional stuff?

Yeah guess which director according to Superwiki.

Now i'm done.

-

I want to know what metric The Clam Diver got "four and a half" of on whatever site Sam was reading about it.

That's in Sam's browser history.

-

"Is it my birthday? Did I win a bet that I don't know about??"

"I'm just trying to be nice."

"W h y."

"Because..... you know why."

"I'm f i n e."

Sam, back off, he's gonna stab you :P

-

I got to ask... is the automatic door not working an improv because the door broke, or thematically relevant, because that's the sort of random thematically relevant detail I could have a nerdgasm about for absolutely hours of typing while Sam is harassing Dean into the building talking about him not believing in anything. The higher powers aren't doing shit for Dean even when he waves at where he thinks the sensor should be, so he gives up and just opens the damn door himself.

The door has a sticker that says, quite clearly, "warning automatic door" and at the very least for the shortsighted is a great big yellow warning sticker on it, so I'm gonna have to go that they're signposting that it's supposed to open, so this is something either scripted or added with full intent to metaphor and my brain hurts.

-

Sam is trying to understand this massive great big VOID of misunderstanding and it's... frankly awful. He's babbling about his understanding about Dean and his confusion

"You're not, Dean. you said you don't believe in anything, and that's not true! you-you-you do believe in things, you believe in people, that's who you *are*, that's what you DO. I know you're in a dark place and I just want to *help*"

This is telling us a lot more about how Sam sees Dean than Dean's faith arc. Of course Dean believes in people and saving people and that the planet is worth saving. That's a baseline assumption around here. Dean and *faith* though, in believing in things, in how the universe treats them... it doesn't even open automatic doors for them. Cas is DEAD. Cas is where Dean's belief arc centred in the last minute of 4x01 and Cas is where it has freakin' remained for the next 9 years. Cas lost faith in God and Dean chucked away the amulet because he lost faith in everything - Cas and Sam and himself and their ability to save the world that didn’t want to be saved. Cas became God and Dean lost all hope he may have had left. Cas came BACK to Dean and his faith was restored but in THEM. GOD came back and Dean and Cas had similar and unchanging positions on it right down to Chuck basically telling Dean not to confuse him with his own father, but the ridiculous superimposing over John over Chuck and Chuck as Cas's failed father who Cas now just ignores outright and Dean lashes out on his behalf because he knows Cas doesn't believe. That Chuck broke Cas back in 5x16 and... Yeah. Cas is gone now and what does Dean even have left in his personal faith? Chuck didn't answer, the automatic door won't open even when he waves at it...

Sam sees Dean as having no faith in God (while Sam has had the much more complicated journey there with his personal faith, and feeling it in a religious way) but instead he tries to get a read on Dean's personal compass, and god dammit Yockey *takes a shot* in Wendigo of course Dean sits down with Sam and tells him HIS personal philosophy on why he does what he does: saving people, hunting things, the family business. The thing is, Dean has already in this episode reached out to Shaun and described himself and Sam as the people who know about the monsters, the ones who can't erase the trauma but they can erase the monster, and help what little they can there... Save *other people* from it - yeah it's a message full of regret and defeat that Shaun already got hurt and that's probably why Dean couldn't get him to open up because he didn't come in bubbling with wide-eyed optimism about saving the day, but heavy eyes that had seen this too much. But oh does he still care about the people, and saving them. He just doesn’t trust what HE can do, what they can do against the tide of awful. It's not in his speech to Patience, because it's not the motivation to be a superhero any more - he is just a guy doing a job. And he's lost his heart in many ways. But he will still fight to protect and help people because baseline, Sam is right, that IS Dean and even damaged like this he'll go on hunts and protect people. Take Jack into the Bunker with them in 13x01 expecting it to be a self-destruct thing where base case scenario they can take Jack out with them or something and contain the blast...

But yeah. 13x04 expressly ended linking Dean's lack of faith, via dramatic cast-iron irony, to Cas coming back as Dean voices what losing Cas has done to him.

And then Dean gets to say his bit -

"We've been down this road before, and I've fought my way back and I'll fight my way back again" which HONESTLY echoes Cas in the Empty telling his depression to stuff it and that he'll fight and fight for eternity if he has to.

Dean is trying to get better, he made himself a PB&J, he's just taking this all at his own pace, and Sam's starting to smother him.

-

"How?"

"Same way I always do: bullets, bacon and booze." Dean regrets his no bumper sticker policy because that and the "whole bottle of Jack" comment from last episode are both iconic Dean talking about his coping methods out loud way.

Also throws back to 10x11 and how Dean did that list of 3 things which he was getting back to when he lost the Mark and left a blank space which should have been "babes" or something and just put more booze into it. The swap of sex for food happens a LOT with Dean. For some reason the Dean vs cake explanation I wrote recently was floating around tumblr again last night, in which the middle of season 10 conveyed clearly that cake was stuff Dean hadn't tried yet (and 10x16's confession tied it all together - we're really delving deep into the stuff that was explored back then and I've thankfully been in fandom for so have the language down really well but I hope I don't have to explain this entire complicated web over and over later :P) and pie was coping methods heterosexual sex with women - tying what Dean wanted in 10x07 in the hook up he didn't get, to pie in 10x13 via that gross dating app... All this with the cake, croissookies, and that comment in 10x11 where Dean was trying to detox and eating egg white omlettes (hi 12x18) and cutting out booze.

And, of course, there's the whole bacon = bisexual experimentation thing from 8x13, 9x13, 11x21, and I guess now :P Cass had a much more thorough bacon masterpost somewhere out there which I may have to dig out and reblog with a knowing look...

-

And Dean slams his hand down on the bell to punctuate this statement and hopefully bring an end to the conversation by summoning a hotel receptionist.

-

Cue screaming kid having nightmares about what he's seen.

His mom kisses him on his forehead where the doctor drilled him, and leaves the door open so she can be concerned about him.

Oh no, his backpack DOES have the mask in it. Dr Monsterface used it to get to him :<

(Oh wait hi yes that thing Jody said about the Dr Sexy leviathan in 7x02 is still fresh in my mind. Leviathans as a depression metaphor in a way The Empty rapidly escalated.)

-

I saw/maybe reblogged a post about how Jack might have Kelly used against him and 13x04 was the nice version, but he's going around carrying his grief about her in a backpack. We have to hope like hell Mia gave him catharsis enough or he might carry that grief with him and things can use her image to get into his head.

(That and the 2x "shoot him!" order about Dean from Miriam and Buddy to the sheriff and Mia, 2 people who wanted to help, are causing foreshadowing concerns)

-

I love the cuts between the doctor coming for Shaun, though - the bell ending one conversation to Shaun waking up screaming, and then he gets up and pretty much goes to confront the doctor head on rather than cower - but cut to an empty bed.

-

Dean's empty bed, but he seems to have left the keys?

-

Ah, he went and had some, uh, catharsis somewhere. I swear to god those are probably the sunglasses from 1x19 dug up again and stuck on his head just to haunt Sam.

-

The fact his tie is tied around his head makes me feel like he was probably blindfolded at some point in all that... Hehehe. I doubt his tie is tied so nicely around his head with a pretty bow because he did it to look cool :P It would just be the same knot but on his head in that way.

-

Sam's like "oh great" but doesn't kick Dean awake? Like on a normal day when dumping a glass of water on his face and telling him to suck it up would be the correct thing, Sam's like, "Sam's got this!" goes and gets dressed, takes the keys, and leaves Dean passed out on the floor. In 1x19 he hit the horn to wake Dean up because serves you right.

-

(if he only went to a strip club he may have just made off with someone's underwear thrown on him for being a good tipper rather than actually having sex with anyone... I kinda doubt if he was THAT drunk he'd be more than a very generous customer they don't mind kicking him out at closing with a bra still on his head :P)

(I'm gonna assume Dean did not actually have sex but just went out and had some very drunk miserable fun and made a friend last night and now he's gonna be dependant on Sam for cash for a while until he can scrounge some back up :P)

Also, um, what is he holding when he rolls over? Is that a fun kinky times toy whip? Exactly what sort of place did he find last night, and please, for the love of god, tell me it was not the place Sam was diligently reading the reviews for between his fingers yesterday, apparently.

-

Listen say whatever you want about the fact he walked home holding it, if that boy had his tie tied around his eyes he was not the one holding it while he was having fun :P

-

I like Mike. He's a burly farm worker hefting hay outdoors in the sun, which makes him like 3 different directions of Cas parallel (the strong one in the dynamic, sun, hay), and also he was sensible enough not to be running around in a haunted house for youtube hits.

...

Look, at some point Cas hefted a bunch of hay out of the back of his truck and onto the side of the road and that happened in canon and no one ever mentioned it

thank you Yockey for acknowledging off-screen hay hefting.

-

Aw no he's lying because he's scared and Sam makes him tell the truth and it's that he WAS scared and he thinks not going to the house was cowardly, but now his friends are missing and hurt (so far as they know because Shaun getting killed overnight might not have made it to them yet)... He does tell the truth in the end. He's also in DEEP denial about their deaths.

-

Is that enough bacon, Dean.

-

No, no it is not.

-

Sam, you're gonna kill him if you give him more beer right now. Is he smuggling local ales to Dean?

I don't think I can actually watch Dean eat this entire pile of bacon with Dean's bad mood eating habits. This pause is just to procrastinate dealing with that.

-

Wait also the friend is called "Mike" which, uh... Michael? is a thing we should be more worried about? What happened to that guy anyway?

-

Man, we're 16 minutes in and where's Billie?

-

I feel like Dean being hung over for the rest of this case is probably not going to help with him getting caught and threatened with a drill by a regular old ghostie.

-

I'm snooping Sam's tablet before he delivers the cliff notes exposition, and aside from the creepy images at the top, including an old school newspaper article in the top image results that is illegibly small, but seems to have photos of the doc alive, the first and only legible article mentions a woman with depression who goes to the doc because she had depression because her son drowned... Which makes 2 son drowning deaths in 2 episodes, with the kid in 13x04 who killed his mom in the car. Also reminds me of 7x14 where when Dean confronts the guy behind all the nightmares, it's because his little brother drowned in the sea and he could never let go of that guilt. 

I think drowning is the metaphor for depression here - people losing a part of themselves metaphoric to small son, who is overwhelmed in the water... Dean related to that loss and used it against the Plucky's guy, and that was in the slight turn around section of season 7 - the part where he began confronting the loss of Cas through mirrors because of course Cas was coming back. In season 13 the plan has been set in stone and can be done briefly and with HEAVY dramatic irony that we're all aware of because we only actually have 1 episode without Cas so far, even if 1 was his death and one was his waking up, he's surrounding Dean's grief in a layer of dramatic irony. Dean may be overwhelmed and drowning. We may have SEEN the memory of Cas drowning in the Empty, but it's all done with dramatic irony, that Cas is not lost to Dean but presumably finding his way back.

-

Dean had better not puke at the grieving mother's house after all that bacon and beer for breakfast after a hard night out.

-

I love the cut between Sam asking what happened in one scene and the woman saying "I don't know" in the next - there's some good thematic transitions I've noticed already, especially this way of skipping exposition here, but I liked Dean ringing the bell for the hotel and Shaun waking up screaming, because Dean was about to go out on his grief metaphor night out and for all I know get the sexy kind of drilled while Shaun was getting the unsexy kind... and then the cut to Dean's empty bed, because this is how bad his grief was hurting him.

(Also after Sam tried to control and placate Dean's grief, he resisted Sam's attempts to smother him but he still has been accepting the offers, and did eventually go out and get wasted and Sam had encouraged it - just Dean did it on his terms and without Sam, just his tacit approval that Sam wouldn't bitch about it.)

-

ALSO WOW AFTER 13 YEARS YOCKEY FINDS A WAY TO SUBTLY WORK IN THE COLD SPOTS FOR GHOSTS.

-

LOOK HOW INTELLIGENT THAT MAKES OUR BOYS LOOK WHEN THEY READ THE SUBTEXT OF A SCENE FROM A SURFACE READ OF SOMEONE WHO DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT GHOSTS BUT IDENTIFIED THE SIGNS AND THE PEOPLE WHO KNEW WHAT TO LOOK FOR COULD UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS HAPPENING WITHOUT HER SAYING IT AND NOW THEY KNOW EVERYTHING JUST FROM INFERRING IT

WOW

-

Night time and they go to the house and we're at 18 minutes in. I mean we have time for a jump scare, some bad shit to happen, and then the ad break before pt.2 of the episode.

-

Buzz buzz

-

"What's up, doc?"

-

*ad break*

*back to Dean getting drilled*

-

Sam saves him and on with pt.2 of the episode.

-

All the masks are back in place.

-

Oops, don't touch the masks. *horrible screaming from elsewhere in the house*

-

Well, except to burn them. Sensible to stay in the room, defend their turf, and get to the burning asap instead of poking around or investigating the screaming any more. 13 years and they have learned a fair amount about ghosts and I am admiring how competent they are. Sam especially has the lead here, probs because Dean is off his game by an enormous degree to him.

-

Ahahah and Sam did a round circle at the door so we see the doc get partway through the door, realise there's salt, and have to awkwardly back out of it to have a second go and honestly that is the funniest shit a ghost has ever done on this show even though it's also terrifying :P

-

*burn burn burn*

-

So rescue Shaun?

-

What can possibly happen next with nearly 20 minutes left

-

LIGHTS BLOWING DOWN A HALLL

-

Now they dealt with the advertised ghost I'm just waiting for Billie to show up, because they're about to be mobbed by a ton of ghosts and she can save their asses, or else... well idk I have to watch, but I'm just laughing because of lights blowing down a hall - 3 times already this season, for Jack, for Patience at least with them flickering rather than exploding like this...

-

These are all the whispers about the doctor which we heard in the cold open

-

I love the Winchesters running around shouting sensible ideas about what the ghosts are doing though.

-

Is this going to be Dean's torch everything solution?

-

YIKES, no, it's 4x15/11x17. BAD IDEA, DEAN. i can't believe he even carries a pre-prepared take me to the veil kit. Like, that's the reckless nothing to live for might as well die trying to do something dramatic toolkit. We also get shades of 11x16 with him doing that in a super haunted house.

You can NOT pass into the veil in a super haunted house with just your brother to watch over you and stop these 1000s of ghosts killing you.

Jesus Christ Dean.

-

Wait is he literally doing this

-

Sam is like FFUCKING HELL RIGHT HERE WITHOUT EVEN A SALT RING? ON THE FUCKING STAIRS UNDER THIS SYMBOLIC STAINED GLASS WINDOW THAT LIZZY DIDN'T ANALYSE EARLIER?

DEAAAAN

-

And yeah this is 2x01 all over again with Dean walking down the stairs trying to get the attention of a ghost.

-

Wait back up new reaper with a customer service calm grief counsellor voice, but what did she say her name was? :P

"Hello, my name is JESSICA and I'm here to lead you to your next life"

... well I hope she survives the episode just because I always root for the reapers and she's clearly just a random obstacle to Dean who is doing her job, a regular old part of the natural order, but that is not a name you use at random :P

-

I'm just sitting here running my hands through my hair trying to deal with this right now. Gonna play a few rounds of Pokemon shuffle because I sort of knew this was coming since they showed 5x15 and 2x01 in the opening recap, but the way Dean did it and then walking immediately into a Jessica? Yeah I need a mo.

-

Dean maybe never told Sam what he did in 11x17 because he didn't at the end of the episode and idk if that's one of those things you don't just bring up at the breakfast table.

-

JESSICA.

-

"Hi, I'm the spectre of the loss of the most important romantically loved loved one in your life, do you feel like moving on from them to the next thing"

"sorry I can't come to the phone"

-

YOCKEY I AM DISTRESSED.

-

Accidents don't happen accidentally.

-

"Oh god."

She knows what she's got herself into.

-

Sam takes 20 seconds to set his waych and sdakdfjgkl hang on who cares about Sam

WE'RE IN REAPER HQ

-

"Dean Winchester is the the veil!"

Please say this whole thing goes to red alert.

-

Where's his file. It it like 5000 times the size of all these little ones?

-

Sam put down enough salt for Dean but not himself.

-

I don't think that's ghosts blowing lights any more, I think that's emergency lightning from the cosmos.

-

SHAUN! Oh no, you're dead :(

-

At least he's talking again.

-

Generally the freshest ghosts are the more talkative ones, and as Bobby showed us back in 7x19 which I generally try not to remember or rely on for ghost lore, because the older ones are fading and falling into patterns and the fresher ones still have a stronger sense of self and their old life.

-

OH NO Shaun got possessed because of course that's how he got back here with the mask. I think we saw a smaller ghost in a t-shirt in some of the promo stuff, but I thought it was a kid, not a teenager.

-

"I miss my mom" he's on the other side of the grief from Jack, who misses his mom because he's alive and she's dead. The doc said he'd feel better and he froze and let him kill him. Also Kevin parallels just of a kid whose most important relationship is his mom and now he's dead.

-

Dean's thinking clearly for the first time in a while because he's not in his body. All soaked in alcohol and grief. He realises he let Shaun down by not being there to protect him. Which may have all happened this way in another episode, but that PB&J, man. It was a Kevin thing all along. (I SAID it was a Kevin thing and you all were like blah blah Cas blah blah Jack, look, don't doubt me on my Kevin knowledge, guys, I am still RAW about his death and it was 4 years ago :P) Dean's remembering in the middle of grief that it's "saving people hunting things" after he let Patience down with that speech. Or so I hope. They used Dean's speech over the open of the episode like in a season 1 episode they'd usually layer the more optimistic and simplistic "saving people hunting things" from Dean's like, second day on the job, not where he's all messed up and old.

Anyway Shaun is an emergency Kevin patched into his life to make him feel bad about failing people, and I guess that puts Dean at similar crossroads to the middle of season 9. Hopefully to a different end, just like this should be subverting 11x17 for why he just abruptly decided to cross into the veil, because Jessica is not having a good day :P

-

DEAN GOING INTO THE VEIL TO HELP LOST PEOPLE is doubling up the job of a reaper. Reapers CAN'T COMMUNICATE across the veil to the living, and don't wanna solve the cases. They come to move on the one person with a ticket upstairs in a house full of hundreds of ghosts and just ignore them... Dean actively dives into their turf to solve the case and find out how to move the souls on. He SAYS he wants to help move the souls on.

I have such a huge love of Dean blurring the lines with being Death, and being a reaper. It's just such a symbolic thing. Their job is moving people on, basically handing souls to the reapers to carry on the job, when it's ghost cases. They're the human agents of the reapers breaking the ties that hold ghosts to the earth so that the whole process can carry on and the world doesn't fill up with ghosts - like it did when the veil was broken. (or is it still? Again, the whole Kevin thing not quiiiite answered, although maybe/maybe not that was a sign Chuck was fixing the thing... But then there were a whole bunch of souls Billie for for them out of the veil like 2 episodes later...)

-

Reaper lore is fucked up on this show :P But Reaper HQ just in the first glimpse looked aaaawfuully empty adjacent...

-

I'm guessing even though Dean's got back with the info he needs, and Sam's about to wake him up because the clock ran out, the reapers are going to intervene...

-

WAKEY WAKEY DEAN

-

Oh look Billie's back.

"Hey Dean"

-

I haven't been this happy in about 1000 years. Like seriously Cas getting back was great and all but HOLY SHIT have you seen Billie? I would set this as my desktop immediately but my mum and Cat are both gonna have to watch this episode with me and probably see my desktop in the process, so... Saving a screencap for later ;)

-

This is literally the best thing.

LOOK AT HER.

LOOK AT THAT SCYTHE. HOLY SHIIIT THAT SCYTHE.

-

Billie's understated attitude is just *clenches fist*

She just shows up!! LOoking LIKE THIS!!!!

I don't even wanna hit play, I don't wanna move past this point, I just want to bask in this one image forever.

-

THE COAT. NO one has shown up in a floor length leather coat in the entire show so far, because no one has been good enough for it.

-

"We need to talk" Yeah no shit babe.

-

LOL getting right to it - Dean like, Cas killed you. Billie like, "how's that working out for him?" - does she know? Either way, she's rubbing it in. Because of course she has eeeevery right to be pissed. :P

-

UTTER GLEE.

-

I have a sudden feeling... Billie says, "certain rules - after you kill one "incarnation" of Death" (Hey 1000 points to trisscar) "another one takes its place" and dude.

Death died and within 10 seconds Billie was singing "o Death" and following the Winchesters around, annoying them, making deals with them, making ultimatums with them... Like, the reapers aren't exactly itching to kill EACH OTHER and promote someone, and I guess just one biting the bullet and taking one for the team doesn't work... But this suddenly explains EVERYTHING about Billie getting all up in the business of the people who basically fuck up every deal and ally they make and hanging out with them... doesn't give you much of a life span.

Back in 12x06, Billie taunted Dean, made fun of him for not getting what he wants, and said she wanted something from him. Came to Mary and said she was there to reap her when she was ready. She LET Dean make another deal, a deal where one of his family would have to die, or he himself do it. In a car full of Winchesters, one of them is gonna take one for the team, or ruin everything and kill the reaper who's been bothering them, holds so much over them...

-

I'm thinking very hard about changes of state right now - that Billie and Cas had mirrored deaths, and Billie came back improved, and Cas... Well, we don't know how he came back except he's been put on a better path, for his character narrative, in confronting and overcoming the symbolic depression, and he has a better coat. Not much to go on yet, and I haven't been participating in the wild flailing about all the ways he MAY have come back different, but this makes a veeery interesting mirror about returns and changes of state, upgrades after death. Now I'm interested in what may have happened to Cas.

-

But, like, to a magnitude of difference to how utterly delighted I am that Billie won the game :P

-

But yeah this is a bit of a lore fudge but who caaaares because it brings Billie back and powers her up and makes her into THE BEST CHARACTER ON THE SHOW IN A TOTALLY INARGUABLE WAY.

-

I love her new ring :P

-

"This universe can be so many things, and sometimes it is poetic."

Hell yeah it is Billie. I've been saying so for ages, but this really puts it in such a beautiful way. This is Dabb's entire job. He makes this universe *rhyme* with itself. This is what his mirrors and parallels and character repeats have been doing. I even compared scene transitions in 13x03 to the way poetry ends each line in a verse. It's something all the writers have been doing - making the story rhyme.

Gaaaaah. THIS is Dabb's writer meta commentary, perhaps. I think I can trust Yockey to spell it out this way :D

-

She took him to Reaper HQ!!! Like Cas he's passing through states - I assume he'll be back in time to finish the hunt, but in the mean time... He's got to work through some shit, just like Cas did last episode. Rhyming with each other.

-

Dean is wearing a black and grey plaid with thin red lines, and a black jacket. He's bringing like the only colour here to all the blackness.

-

yeah, Billie, keep the scythe away from him.

-

I love she set her desk up in the W section because even though it's not the middle of the alphabet, she's keeping a CLOSE FREAKING EYE on the Winchesters.

-

Ooh she knows Dean went to the AU... She's interested in Jack. Dean's chance to protect him!!!???

-

Billie looks INCREDIBLE how did I ever let myself talk myself into doubting she was here to run the game?

wait shit Dean's doing epic character stuff. Not bargaining with his life, or asking for Mary or Cas back. He just wants to complete the job and free the ghosts because freakin sshdfkjsjlks PB&J brought him back to his senses and he needs to save Kevin-stand-in rather than let him wallow in the veil for 3 seasons again

THAT is one heck of a thing, Dean. I love you so much

not as much as billie but it was a beautiful character moment

-

Billie is STUNNED.

-

Jessica gets to take all the ghosts back. She thought this was going to be a terrible day and it actually worked out.

Again, with like 10 minutes left of the episode so this isn't how it ends.

-

Now Dean's talking about trust, and Billie brings up how they keep breaking cosmic bargains. I think he may be stalling - even planning to NOT give up Jack even though Billie went first... Or he's gonna tell her but... Natural order? She can't just go... kill him...

If Dean's still uncertain about Jack he could always make a query about IF she could kill him, but not give away enough, or have her as the weapon in his back pocket should Jack be a problem... something for him to regret later, maybe?

-

This is stressful

-

Dean spills. "Lucifer's son. Jack. When he was born it created a little rip."

-

What does Billie know about the AU?

Well she knows how the multiverse works, and she knows a "big dumb Winchester" is fairly statistically likely to be the one to knock it all down.

The warning not to try and get Mary back? Now Cas is back? The consequences may still be on Mary, however she's returned to them, intentionally or not, she could topple it?

Ugh I hate spec but all these lines are so leading :P The comment that Sam's plans don't work out, in this light, for example, is realllly nerve-wracking. And we know from spoilers the AU is going to become a more immediate problem at some point...

-

"That does sound like us."

-

"You've changed." Billie reading Dean deeply and now we get to the character part of this where she's just... analysing him.

"The Dean I know and love" look I'm die hard Destiel to the bone but Dean x Death is something I've always thought the dynamic for was absolutely stunning since their first meeting, and I hate to say it but making Death into Billie is making it aaawfully tempting to ship :P

Please show him his massive folders.

-

She's currently just calling him out on how bad he feels. Pure awful character exposition.

-

"I don't matter." OH DEAN NO.

He and Cas totally rhyming with each other about their passing through these dark other worlds...

Dean couldn't save mom, he couldn't save Cas, he can't even save this kid... But he already saved the kid with that bargain with Billie, and Cas is... out there somewhere. And Mary is a whole other problem and the one he can't solve right now. If she's alive, she's on the other side of a wobbling house of cards he can't touch. But the difference in the way he gets finality on Mary vs the finality on Cas? 13x01 vs this episode as Dean slides from dealing with Cas to dealing with Mary? Getting this blunt exposition from Billie about it...

I think Billie would have thought it was funny to show Dean his file, but then realised because he's changed she needs a different approach to intimidate and interrogate him. She sees that he doesn't feel like a hero any more, not the guy who saves the world. All his crushing losses have made him feel like he's still utterly helpless to make anything good happen in his own life.

And Dean can't work through it, won't work through it, and he knows it - this is the thing that has broken him hardest... That at this point there will be NO recovery except the story handing back Cas to him, and even then that's one hell of a shake to what he believes he can accomplish... If they wanted to scare him back down from "i kill gods" Dean who then went and killed Death too, to show him the universe his huge, and keeps on ticking and his actions have put Billie in charge and the natural order keeps on ticking... But he still can't get mom and Cas back...

-

I am literally sitting in that room in Alice in Wonderland where she's floating around on her tears.

I mean in my head, anyway :P

-

My heart is broken.

Billie's "don't you?" though when Dean says he doesn't matter... I wonder what she knows that Dean doesn't :P

But Dean starts ranting to her about how Sam's been trying to help and he's useless... :(

"You really believe that. You want to die." Well, yeah the universe has become a crushing hard place where no one makes sense and Dean doesn't even believe in the blaze of glory death, doing something HEROIC now, let alone not believing in it because he thinks he deserves better and a happy ending at the end of this all...

Lowest point, unlocked! \o/

-

Oh, ALL those notebooks are his individual deaths... How he dies. "heart attack. burned by a red-haired witch" HEY ROWENA

Are they potential deaths or ones still looming over him, disappearing as he passes those marks? Or are they his entire history of deaths not died?

-

"Unfortunately, none of these books say you die today"

....

So are they potential future deaths or what?

-

I mean, Billie just introduced hope to his life.

-

"I stand witness to a much larger picture" they could not have picked a better character to be Death. She has such DEPTH and WEIGHT to the way she speaks, and such an amazing calm, powerful aura of energy. I just love her so so much.

-

OH GOSH this camera angle with the scythe in the background behind Dean's face... Gotta save and remember to add that to this, because after telling him all the ways he dies, Billie moves onto his big picture cosmic weight. That he's important. And Dean has the scythe symbolically pointing at him as she talks, telling him he's at those crossroads of life and death but not today... Is this going to be a burden like the one Chuck laid on him, or Billie reminding him that a heroic life is not such a bad thing?

I really think this is one of the best episodes of the show and I got a few minutes left of it and don't know how this resolves :P

-

SHE IS LITERALLY giving him the 4x01 Cas speech - "you have work to do" and telling him he's important, telling him he deserves to live... Kinda still like I hate you but you're important, and setting aside past grudges. There's more for him to do.

-

"And trust me, having my eyes opened to the importance of any humans, especially Winchesters, is not a thrill." HA. yeah, she's an anti-Cas but she and Cas are literally bouncing off each other in the story anyway since he stabbed her and then got stabbed himself in turn.

Rhymes. Rules. Reason. Billie is the best character on the show and I love her.

-

"So, you wanna die, but I say, keep living." "Hmm."

This is NOT the same as what happened with Cas - but he may not remember it - but it works in sort of mirrored ways. Cas utterly defeats the Empty with his will to live, may not remember it, and may have to piece his newfound will to live together himself in this new hopeful return to life. I hope. Dean has no will to live, and orders of work and purpose are just the way his life goes, the orders endlessly being placed on his head by every cosmically powerful figure... God, Death that time in 6x11, Billie now, JOHN every day of his life from aged 4 to 27 and then one final order to haunt Dean to his first grave...

-

"I need to know. My mom" *wakey wakey*

Oh, and there's the so far missing hope. She can't lie to him and say Mary's dead, so she cuts him off in indecision and uncertainty, and THAT, unfortunately, is a massive step  up from where he was in total despair that there is no one he can save...

And Cas may very well be back in his life to give him the hope that it can be done again by the end of this episode... Aaaaaaaaaaaah.

-

Anyway Dean goes wakey wakey at last and the house seems to be wrapped up, yay.

-

there's exactly 5 minutes left, which is always the omen. :P

-

Sam comforts Shaun's mom, and wanders through the scene, looking small in the chaos, to rejoin Dean at the car.

-

And like in 11x17 Dean lies again.

Sam is too smart for that, chases it up when Dean tries to brush it off as luck, and says that when Dean says they talk about it later, it means they won't talk about it and it's Dean's way of shutting off a conversation from ever happening...

Sam calling out their communication issues? I am LIVING

-

Dean glances at the mom, and is reminded that they do this job for a reason, that he bargained to save the souls of the children... Sold out the info about Jack for it...

"I saw Death. The Death."

*Sam does the eyebrows*

"He's dead"

"No she's not"

*EYEBROWS*

"it's billie"

And Dean goes on to even say that she wanted intel, and does Sam pick up on it?

... no he doesn't. He doens't ask or guess what it was...

Dean repeats the line about work to do, which is also, especially in the context of Sam and Dean talking, what they say in instances like for example 2x22 when Dean had just sold his soul for Sam, when they're about to go back to work with their regular job. The open the trunk of the car and look at their gear and announce they're going to go kick ass phrase. (Which, of course, in 4x01, Cas was subverting the context by saying it to Dean away from Sam, putting the burden on him - Billie at least made it about Sam and Dean both but that she was talking to Dean)

But they're sitting on the back of the car, keeping the trunk closed... Not moving on

And Dean starts talking about how he's not okay.

And how he always believed in what they did - saving people hunting things - that losing John or Bobby or people they cared about was a hit he could take for the higher purpose. Billie has just REMINDED him that he is bound to a higher purpose. But he's so lost, and he's lost people who he CAN'T lose. Mary and Cas at once is just TOO MUCH. It makes the universe cruel not poetic...

(I say, having it paused here but knowing Misha's in the credits again as an awful TEASE :P)

He just needs a WIN.

And he may just get one because he told 90% of the truth to Sam, conveyed exactly what was going on behind that line about not believing in anything from last episode, the power of which narratively brought back Cas because that was a huge step in his grief arc, to admit it. Now he's explaining it, telling Sam how badly it's all got to him...

Oh god where is Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas.

They're driving off and there's music, which... agh.

-

drive drive drive sexy car

-

Omg we're going back to the house... More grief on the mom for her son... Just really WALLOWING in how much loss hurts everyone, and even when the soul has moved on, that Dean got a win for their knowledge of the afterlife, that they know ghosts can go to a better place, the mom doesn't, she has lost Shaun and that's it for her. No closure, just pain.

-

drive drive drive

Billie reading Dean's book

-

I think Billie really has a huge interest in Dean... :P

-

drive drive drive... Okay so Yockey is the new Robbie montage guy.

-

Also Sam is asleep while Dean drives - this seems to parallel 12x20 where he was asleep and Dean checked his messages from Mary...

-

Bring bring?

-

BRING BRING.

Called that like a boss :3

-

WHAT, NO "HELLO DEAN" ON THE PHONE?

FUCK YOU YOCKEY I TAKE IT ALL BACK I HATE THIS ENTIRE EPISODE

-

I mean there probably was one under the music if that was Cas...

-

Well this alley has that cross from 11x06, aka the start of Cas's depression arc, the one where Metatron was teasing him about a real life angel on camera...

-

drive drive drive

-

Cross reflected in the car

-

Hey, bison sign

-

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

-

Has he just been waiting at that phonebox for hours.

-

I'll just wait here then... I'll wait for you...

Well that got fucking tied up with a fucking bow, from all the left over crap Robbie left lying around.

-

God I don't even have anything to say... Cas waited. For Dean. Like the love ballad warned he would. Because he's Dean's real life angel, and Dean's win. It was FOR Dean. Dean's arc narratively brought Cas back into his life, but on Cas's side of the story they fully fleshed out the end of his depression arc and made Cas bring himself back on his own terms so it doesn't shove Cas into a subheading for Dean even when the bigger story is handing Cas on a plate back to Dean...

And that, my friends, was one hell of a fun game :P

[docholligay]

Comments on First Impression

bearisonford I love this.  When you first mentioned the tie I was like...Is that the taco tie???  And to find out it is made me laugh out loud at my office.   I really enjoy the banter between tracer and pharah ans how Em is feeling like she fits in at the end od it

THANK YOU from the first day I saw the hideous fish taco tie, I was like “Tracer needs that. On a base level.”

rhiorhino So I know I generally save my comments for my reblogs but I just saw the "when you learn what pants are" line again and I'm dying.

Was looking for a “British English vs North American English” joke and honestly the idea of Lena showing up in her underwear does not disappoint.

keyofjetwolf I know you've struggled with this, though not only do I not know why, but none of that effort shows in the final product. I've adored the bits and bobs you've shown me, and I loved reading them again in the context of the full work. You continue to endear the characters to me, and I continue to be grumpy about it. YES EVEN WHEN I ASK FOR THEM The opening bit with Mercy and Pharah. The way they're so fucking married warms my goddamn heart. Mercy sitting there thinking about new love and being romantic, meanwhile Pharah's spitting in the sink, and help me, I loved that transition. And how it comes with the acknowledgement that maybe it's a changed love, but still love and no less for its comfort and familiarity. And Pharah starting in on Tracer before Tracer's even there. SUBLIME. The one mystery left: WHO PAID

 I’M SO PLEASED THAT I’VE MADE YOU SHIP MERCY AND PHARAH. And yes, for me it’s important to write about how love is different, when you’ve been with someone a long time, but somehow it’s NICER, it’s not wild, it’s more comfortable, like a couch you’ve laid on forever and its worn specifically to you.

And the answer is, of course, Mercy and Emily split the bill while Pharah and Tracer continued to bicker.

keyofjetwolf Over to Tracer and Emily, who not only are in a different stage of their relationship, but just so very different. Tracer's little spiral down into her thoughts about the prawns, those moments are always a joy. OH AND. I wanted to take a moment to compliment not just your Emily voice, but how you've chosen to write her accent. I know you work hard on that (BY WHICH I MEAN OBSESS ABOUT IT), and I keep meaning to mention it specifically to you. Things like having her say "aren’t they now". They're little twists on her dialogue that always put me in the right place for her (she has a lovely, warm, rolling Scottish brogue in my head). I know you'll never give yourself enough credit for it, SO LET ME ASSURE YOU OF HOW GOOD IT IS.

THANKS I’M INCREDIBLY INSECURE ABOUT IT FOR LITERALLY NO REASON AS IT’S NOT SOMETHING I WOULD EVER FAULT ANYONE ELSE FOR

But yeah, I’ve said this before, but Tracer’s tiny ADHD brain is MY tiny ADHD brain and this is literally why I have alarms set for every five minutes when I need to leave. keyofjetwolf So then Emily finally meets Pharah and Mercy, and it goes exactly like I'd expect. Pharah managing to be intimidating just by being in the room, Mercy lovely and sweet and also kind of awkward and ugh they're such nerds, I hate that I love them. ADORED Emily self-censoring, trying not put herself down. She's only known Tracer a while, and it's a beautiful touch to see how good Tracer's been for her. YOU REALIZE OF COURSE AT SOME POINT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT TRACER MEETING EMILY'S PARENTS

 I PROBABLY WILL AT SOME POINT keyofjetwolf Angela touched her arm. “I am delighted with the product of all of her work,” she giggled, a bit drunkenly.  --Gods help us, they're both a little drunk and even more ridiculous.

Ang gets handsy when she’s drunk

keyofjetwolf The whole part about leadership was just brilliant. How Emily accidentally hurt Tracer's feelings, and how Pharah WENT OUT OF HER WAY to make sure Tracer got her due credit. (I really adore this little thread of real contention you have between Pharah and Tracer.) What I think I loved most though was how Tracer had gotten lost in her own thoughts for a second, and not only did Pharah recognize it, she wasn't upset or thrown off by it--but then, again very specifically, attracted Tracer's attention to bring her back into things and make sure Tracer heard Pharah was complimenting and acknowledging her. There were so many displays of understanding, caring, and respect there, and it felt tremendously important to me to see them.

When I wrote this whole thing, AS MUCH AS I HATED IT, I knew, if nothing else, you would really like and appreciate that one passage. AND I AM GLAD I WAS RIGHT, TRULY, BECAUSE IF NOTHING ELSE THAT WAS JUST FOR YOU (and I know you’ve seen, and enjoyed, the bits of the fic that go directly into this issue, which takes place before this)

keyofjetwolf Then the whole end, which was amazing. The suit (SHE PUFFS HERSELF UP) versus the fucking tactical orange ~LYCRA~ leggings. And by the end, Emily had relaxed and slipped right in, and it was wonderful to see.I hope you'll choose soon to "officially" add it to your body of Overwatch work. You being stubborn and wrong as usual aside, it's a wonderful story, and it deserves to be there. THANK YOU FOR DOING SO WELL WITH MY PROMPT I LOVE IT

 I DID EVENTUALLY YOU’LL FIND

sailorsunspot I don't get on tumblr super often anymore because life is crazy; but my absolute favorite thin is when I get on and get to read another fic by you - you have no idea how large of a smile this put on my face, and how it brightened my entire morning today.

 YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS IS  BRIGHTENING MY DAY THANK YOU sailorsunspot Everything is love; mercy romanticizing new love to the tune of Pharah spitting, the juxtaposition Emily made between the Married Couple of Effortlessness and her awkward temerity + Tracer's...tracerness; I really love and appreciate how you highlight them two and play off of each other.

I love both of these couples so much and so differently, and I really appreciate that I write them in a way you can enjoy, because I know you love Pharah and Mercy!

sailorsunspot ALSO You have such a gift for connecting your writing - which feels like a weird thing to say? But I always love and revel in the lines I can draw, from one passage to another, the themes that hold true and fast, how you position foils to highlight differences and similarities - you're just, objectively, a Really Fantastic Writer. The fact that you write about relatable and characters I LOVE is proof some higher being likes me

 THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS I AM BLUSHING. And yes, it’s really important for me that certain themes stay true to the characters, or that there’s little details long time readers can pick up--Mouse the grey kitten has made appearances in several of my haruka-based fics, for example. The blue shirt from jet’s Blue Shirt has shown up, too. (To say nothing of like, Actual Character Traits and Details) But especially in my OW work, which is one long, extended arc, I really appreciate you telling me that it feels cohesive, because it’s intended to be one story about these six people that I adore, and how they grow and change with each other.

sailorsunspot ALSO I LITERALLY DIED AT TACTICAL LEGGINGS. Tracer and Pharah automatically falling into playful snippy mode, trying to verbally outwit each other is like, the BEST.

 THANK YOU SO MUCH

[sunshinemiranda]

Anatomy 101 - Anthony Ramos x Reader

Summary: Anthony is an art student who needs someone to model nude. He chooses the reader, who happens to have an unadvisable, annoying crush on the sunshine-y boy. 

Warnings: Swearing!

Word Count: 2,966

A/N: It is officially the first day of the Write-A-Thon! I may have stayed up until 12 just for this, oops. But I’m super excited because I love Anthony Ramos and I love this AU and there is just a LOT of love to give, okay??

askbox | masterlist

Really, when it came down to it, Anthony Ramos had asked you to be naked for him three times in total.

Let’s get some context in here.

As a student majoring in journalism, school was crazy most of the time. There was always something to do; an extra assignment to hand in, a project to finish up, extra studying to be done. Work dripped so excessively that there was no surviving college without a friend to kick you into gear and a bottomless coffee mug.

The former was named Anthony Ramos. The latter was a blue travel mug, which turned out to be a gift from the aforementioned friend. He was an art major whose grin embodied the entire sun. Anthony was the person who was always there to nudge you out of your morning bleariness and into work mode, or the person who stayed up with you into the wee hours of the morning to celebrate a finished report.

He was always there. And you would always be wrong to say that his laugh didn’t flutter your heart, or that the way he hugged you didn’t make you feel at home, but that was the only option right now. He never looked at you the same way you looked at him. You had accepted that.

The first time he mentioned you without clothes, was on your dorm bed, the both of you curled over laptops as you worked in silence. His thigh was pressing against yours, breaking your focus more than you cared to admit.

The tap of his fingertips against the keyboard slowed, and then stopped completely. He was thinking.

“(Y/N)?”

“Yeah, Ant?” You replied immediately, mentally kicking yourself for appearing so eager to hear him speak. God, you had it bad.

“So, we’re doing this anatomy study in class right now.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah. We’re um, supposed to find someone to model for us.”

“Really? Who’d you ask?”

“No one,” he swallowed. “Yet.”

A pause passed through the room and you continued typing, completely oblivious.

“It’s a nudity based unit.”

“Oh?”

Your hands went back to writing, mind only partially in the conversation until his words seemed to settle in and the equation seemed clear in your mind.

“Anthony-“

“Please, (Y/N), please, please, please.”

“No! It’s weird!” You insisted, a burning flush working its way up your face as you tried your hardest to fight it.

“It won’t be, I promise! I sound like a shallow douche, but all the people I ask think I’m looking for some weird sex proposition. Please.”

The colour on your cheeks worsened at his words, and you took a deep breath, setting your laptop to the side. Your thoughts were whirling into a tornado of, holy fuck, what the fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, a cycle that refused to end.

“Okay, but here are my conditions-“

“Thank you, holy shit, thank you so much.”

“You owe me, Ramos. Big time. First, you buy me coffee for a month. Second, you make me cinnamon buns. And third, you buy me lunch for the next three days. Okay?”

“Yes, absolutely.” He stood up, reaching to clasp your hand with a grin that brightened your small dorm. “Is tomorrow okay?”

“Yeah, sure. I can meet you at the studio.”

“Awesome.” He leaned to press a quick kiss to your cheek as he retreated out the door. “You’re a lifesaver, (Y/N) (L/N).”

“Yeah, yeah. Now get out.”

At the sound of your door clicking closed, you fell forward and buried your face into a pillow, groaning audibly. Damn that boy for smiling like the goddamn sun. Damn that boy for making you actually want to get out of bed to face the day. Damn that boy who you could never say no to.

There was no denying that you adored Anthony, much more than a friend possibly should. This situation was dangerously close to breaking the rules you had set around the issue. Actually there was only one rule, in the end: don’t tell him.

The decision to keep your feelings a secret had been made a long time ago and you were sticking to it, even if this whole nudity thing had a chance of messing it up. When you had imagined the chance to be clothes-less in front of Anthony, it had been very different. This was a sort of vulnerability that was incredibly new to the both of you.

You fell asleep thinking of him, just like you always did.

What in God’s name was one supposed to wear to a nude modelling gig? Wasn’t the point supposed to be a lack of clothing? Images of Hollywood-esque film scenes, involving beautiful women dropping a robe sensually, came to mind.

In the end, you wore a t-shirt and jeans.

The walk to the studio was painfully slow. There was more than enough time to overthink things and that is exactly what you did. More than once did your hand drift to your phone so you could text Anthony a sorry excuse and turn back while you could, but the thought of another woman taking her clothes off, stopped you. The thought of a body prettier than yours, the thought of a version of Anthony who loved this anonymous woman, the one your brain had created, an imaginary antagonist whom you had never met and already hated. It was enough to push you all the way to the studio without turning back.

The glass door pushed open fluidly and your steps echoed against the cold stone floor. The room had high arches and wonderful lighting. A thousand canvases of varying types of art hung on the wall, or perched against a beam to dry for the night. Anthony was turned around, cleaning his brushes in a tub of soapy water as he knelt on the ground. He was humming a tune and it made your heart flutter against your ribcage. That boy had always had such a beautiful voice.

“Hey, dork.” You called, and he turned around, a bit startled.

“Hi! I didn’t see you come in, you scared me.” He grinned, standing as he pressed his wet brushes to a dry rag.

“Which ones are yours?” You asked, gesturing to the pieces strewn haphazardly around the room.

He stepped over, letting his hand fall to the small of your back as he guided you to the east wall. Your heart stopped working. “These three. I have other ones, but they’re in the back room.”

All three were flower themed pieces, a swirling amount of acrylic paint that was applied thickly, allowing a sort of texture. You had always known that Anthony was good at painting but these were great. There was a sort of “at home” feel to all three; like sitting in your favourite chair after a very long day.

“You ready?” His voice broke you out of your stupor and you turned around, cheeks already flushing.

“Yeah.” It was the biggest lie you had told in your life.

He was blushing too, and that made you feel a little better. Gesturing to the centre of the room, he disappeared to grab a blanket to lie on the cold ground.

“Yeah, um…whenever you’re ready.” He mumbled, all but running to hide behind his canvas as he pulled up a stool.

Taking a breath, you kicked off your shoes and stepped onto the quilt, feet pressing into the soft sakura flower pattern. Gently, your hands drifted to the hem of your shirt and with a quick tug, you pulled it off in one go, not unlike ripping of a band-aid. Then, your fingers moved to pull at the button of your jeans, tugging at the zipper. Within a moment, your jeans were gone too and you were left there, shivering in a blue bra and pink panties that were definitely not matching, or the nicest (the embarrassment almost killed you).

“Anthony?”

“Yeah?” He replied, voice muffled from behind the canvas.

“Can you just…show me how to pose before I…”

“Oh!” He startled and stood up, rushing over to you. “Yeah, of course, of course, I-“

As soon as his eyes caught the sight of you, his voice choked to a stuttering stop. His gaze was determinedly set on your face, not daring to look an inch further down and it made you smile. Always a gentleman.

“If you could um…yeah just sit, and pull your knee up to your chest and let the other one down? And sort of, lean over your knee and just keep your hands on your ankle. That’s-that’s good. Yeah.”

You replied with a nod, heart still beating at a painfully fast pace. As soon as he returned to his place at his canvas, you turned away, reaching behind you to hover your fingertips at the clasp of your bra. You took a breath, then with a turn of your wrist, the band came undone and you slid it gently down your shoulders. Then, your fingers hovered at the band of lace that was the only article of clothing keeping you from being completely naked in front of the boy you loved. With a push, they slid down your legs, and you kicked them to the side.

That was it. You were completely exposed. Lowering yourself to the ground, you mimicked the posture he had showed you, leaning over one drawn up leg and letting the other fall to the ground.

“All good?” His voice called and you swallowed nervously.

“Mhm.” It was all you could manage at the moment.

He peeked out from behind his canvas. You couldn’t see it, for your head was down, but his eyes softened at the sight of you. Shoulders set demurely down, hair falling against your jaw, the curve of your spine; it was the most innocent and yet, sexiest thing Anthony had seen all day.

The hours passed quickly and in silence. He sang quietly under his breath and you found yourself relaxing at the sound. Every now and then, the soft clink of his brushes against a glass jar of water would perforate the atmosphere but it added an ambience that oddly calmed you.

After two hours of being hunched over, your legs had started to go a bit numb and your shoulders were stiff and starting to ache. It was becoming harder and harder to stay still.

“Anthony?”

“Mhm?”

“Can I take a break?”

He startled, almost dropping his brushes as he pushed his seat out so he could stand.

“Yes! Jesus, sorry, I lost track of time.” He stood, turned away from you and came back with another blanket, this time coming over to tuck it around your shoulders.

“Thanks,” you mumbled, altogether too distracted by the way his fingers had brushed against the bare skin of your shoulders.

“Here,” he smiled, leaning to grab a Tupperware container beside his easel. “I made those cinnamon buns you were wanting.”

Grinning, you took the treats from him with a grateful grin. As you bit into one, a sound fell from your mouth that sounded dangerously close to a moan. He blushed. You didn’t notice.

“So can I see it?” You smiled.

“No!” He choked it out quickly. A little too quickly, and you frowned quizzically at him.

“It’s just…” He breathed. “It’s just not ready. When I’m done.”

The rest of the session went well. The ice had been broken and things were better. It’s just as you’re heading out to leave, fully clothed again, that he asks you to be naked for him, a second time.

“It’s not finished.” He admits. “And I need you to come back for a reference, please, I promise it won’t take long.”

You stare at him, wanting and wishing you could just say no, but the hope in his eyes is too much and before you know it, you’re agreeing and setting a time and place.

This boy had such a strong grip on your heart.

The second session went well, actually. It flew by, if you decided to ignore the fact that you were very much not clothed. The two of you had started to crack jokes that made the discomfort melt away.

Then he asked you to come in a third time. You said yes without thinking of ever trying to fathom turning him down.

“And…” he moved his brush, pushing a bit of ochre paint against the canvas. “Done!”

You immediately pushed yourself out of your position, stretching, before the realization that you were one hundred percent exposed came flying back into your forgetful brain. Blushing, you reached quickly for the extra blanket and wrapped it around your body.

“I wanna see!” You stood, smiling as you made your way over to his easel.

He hurried to grab it, avoiding wet paint and pulled it away, turning it to hide from your sight. “Um, no. Don’t.”

“Why not?” You pouted, kicking at the blanket tucked around you.

“Just-just wait till you see it at the art show. You’re going, right? It’s in a week.” He looked up, a little wide-eyed.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” you smiled, reaching up to ruffle his hair.

He set the canvas down so he could bat at your hand, reaching up and grabbing at your wrist. He tugged, pulling your body into his and you were very suddenly aware of the combination of closeness and the blanket that was keeping you from being completely naked.

He was looking at you, eyes half-lidded as a small smile tips the corner of his mouth up. He was so fucking gorgeous. Unable to wait a second longer, you pushed up onto your tiptoes and pressed your mouth to his with an urgency that you had been suppressing since you had met him. Your arms found their way up and wrapped around his neck as he froze in shock. A moment passed. He startled into movement, and kissed you back. The notion was like a splash of cold water in the face and, internally freaking out, you pulled away quickly.

“(Y/N)-“

“I have to go.” You mumbled, leaning to grab your clothes and escaping into the bathroom to change before leaving quickly and quietly.

You didn’t see him for a week. However, that wasn’t to say that you didn’t think of him. You did. Constantly. The moment your mouth had met his was the moment you had completely and utterly fucked everything up. You had broken the one rule, or at least bended it. Did kissing the boy you love count as telling him the truth? Probably.

As you enter your dorm, kicking your shoes off, red marker on the calendar catches your eye. Ant’s Art Show, is written neatly into the little box and your heart tumbles like a clothes dryer. It had started a half hour ago. There was no way in hell you were letting your best friend down by not going to something you had promised. All feelings were set aside. It was his moment now.

Running across campus, your jacket only half on and your shoelaces left dangerously untied, the wind hit your cheeks and added to the exhilaration. As soon as the glass doors of the studio came into view, you pushed yourself into a sprint and all but rammed into the door. Crowds of people came into view and after a moment of fruitless searching for a familiar head of curly hair, you dove into the masses in the hope of finding him standing near his exhibition.

A painting of a naked girl hunched over in a familiar pose catches your eye and nearly punches you in the stomach with its beauty. There’s a familiar set of shoulders turned away from you, guarding the piece as he speaks to his art professor. The conversation wanders into earshot.

“Anthony, this piece is wonderful. You painted her so vulnerable, and open. How did you access that emotion?” His teacher is gushing, gesturing to the painting with an open hand.

“Well…honestly, professor, I just…I painted the girl I’m in love with. I painted her the way I see her when she lets her guard down, when she shows me just a glimpse of what she hides underneath. I wanted to do her justice. She’s beautiful.”

His professor, taken aback at Anthony’s honesty mumbles his congratulations and finds his way back into the crowd.

“It looks good,” you murmur, stepping forward as he whips around at the sound of your voice.

“Thanks.” He smiles, but it is faint and nervous.

“Anthony, about the-“

“Listen, I don’t know how much you heard, but that wasn’t just bullshitting for a good grade. I’ve already got that.” He grins, and you smack his shoulder playfully. “(Y/N), I love you. Always have. And I don’t know why I’ve been dumb enough not to say something, but if you could just…say something positive or at least slap me and walk away, it would give me a better idea of how bad I’m making myself look right now.”

Your smile had grown into a full grin as he spoke, and you paused, just to make him squirm a bit. Then, reaching forward, you took his hand in yours, brushing a thumb over his knuckles.

“God, I adore you.”

He grinned but you only had a second to take in the sight of such a beautiful smile, because he was already kissing you, hands wrapping around your waist and pulling you flush against him. As the two of you broke apart, you sent a glance to the painting.

“You sure you’re gonna get a good grade on that? You definitely didn’t hire a professional model.” You grinned.

“Oh, would you just shut up.”

A kiss was most effective in doing just that.

[cortex-reaver]

Chapter 61: From the Jaws of Victory

Warnings: Language, cyborg horror

Masterpost

Goggles watched the sleeping Hacker silently, wincing every time the Super-Reaver's wires plunged into his head and bored into his brain. Every sickening crunch and schlurp sounded as if from her own nightmares, and the sight of both her good friend and one of her greatest heroes in that thing--

She held her staff in front of her, running scans on the Hacker and the Super-Reaver frame every few moments. She knew he'd want her to take him out if the plan failed and the Super-Reavers, and PsychoDAN by extension, got full control of his mind. She warily watched his sleeping face.

Sleeping faces could fool you. And that went double for when neuro-tech was involved. You had no idea whether someone was actually unconscious or suffering the worst depths of Hell in there.

The walls' machinery hummed softly, as if holding its breath.

Yeah, me too, Goggles thought grimly as a bead of sweat trickled down her face. C'mon Hacker. Wake up already.

The staff pinged a notice: Armor modifications detected. Nanite-based modifications detected.

She glanced down to the Hacker's suit of body armor from Craig's Reaver factory. A faint silvery sheen now covered it, and its wrist bracers had begun growing a series of mean-looking modifications. She guessed the Super-Reaver's nanites would soon turn them into the monster's wrist-mounted rapier blades.

Hacker's skin looked the same, save for a slight tracery of circuit-board lines along the sides of his face near his ears. Otherwise he looked as fleshy and normal as ever. She wondered whether his implant would let him dictate how the Super-Reaver frame's modifications went.

A quick glance via the staff's systems told Goggles that the Hacker's body now had several billion more nanites than before. And looking at bio-scan mode revealed the nanites repairing all of his injuries and restoring him to full health in a fraction of the time a regenerator would take.

She let out an impressed whistle. No wonder he thought he wouldn't need regen time.

“Bet you can eat bullets and blades now too, huh?” she asked softly.

The staff pinged once more: Subject regaining consciousness.

Oh here we go...

Hacker's eyes opened abruptly, wide and focused at some spot over her head. They had once been a warm brown, but had turned a dark silvery gray. His face remained slack and expressionless, and his Super-Reaver frame rose up menacingly--

Oh shit shit shit SHIT--

Goggles turned the staff over to Focus Fire.

A demonic grin split the Hacker's face. He lifted both hands, wiggling their fingers evilly.

“Boo!”

The staff's beam scored into the wall a split-second before Goggles disabled it.

“FUCK YOU!” the soldier screamed, finding the curse woefully short of the sheer fury she’d crammed into it. “I ALMOST CUT YOU IN HALF!”

Hacker merely cackled as he sidled away from the crater her staff had left in the wall. The frame's tentacle legs wobbled and flailed as he struggled to control them.

“C-couldn't resist,” he giggled. The frame bobbed in tune to his laughter.

Goggles just smoldered at him.

“Really couldn't r-resist,” he went on, now howling. “Your face!”

She flipped her most obscene gesture at him with her free hand.

“Oh God, that was great,” Hacker wheezed, then his frame crumpled to the floor, leaving him sitting with his legs akimbo.

He blinked a moment.

“Wait, what? Don't they run these things with self-training gait software like the bots or...?”

He closed his eyes a second, then groaned with an expressive rolling of his eyes.

“No, cause they programmed the gait into the mutant bodies' brains so they didn't have to stuff the software into the frame's CPU. Idiots. How'd you even pick up new bodies if....ohhh....they weren't meant to just zombiefy random bodies? Wow. Specialization's a bitch.”

“That's weird,” Goggles remarked. “The old ones certainly were. By the way, you ever use cybermechs in your spec-ops time?”

“My guess is SHObeta intended 'em to be all-out,” Hacker muttered. “So she went with Beta-Grove style mutants for the corpse bodies. Probably more programmable that way.”

He blinked as he looked up at her.

“Mechs? Sure. Ever driven a Crawler? The one they call the Armchair of Doom? One of the reasons I thought I could do this. Now I'm not so”--

“Yeah. It's four-legged so it translates to a Reaver pretty easy,” Goggles replied. “Had to drive one for a couple missions. Tried it on my Reaver. Worked nice for getting the gait right. Try going 1-2-3-4 on the rhythm. Stick to a side-to-side sway to keep your balance evened out.”

She eyed his crumpled position on the floor with a lopsided smile.

“For uh, getting up,” Goggles added, “just push up with all four limbs.”

The frame heaved itself upwards, then smashed into the ceiling. Hacker yelped when he hit the floor, then skittered backwards until he hit the wall.

“Ow! Ow. WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU GIVE A CYBORG LIKE THIS A PAIN REFLEX?!”

“SHObeta. You know how she thinks,” Goggles muttered blandly as she rolled her optics. “Pain's her idea of behavior control.”

“Yeah, well she's an idiot!” Hacker growled, then pried himself off the wall. “Just so we're clear on that.”

This time the Super-Reaver frame obeyed him. After some bobbing and frantic clattering, he finally managed a better balanced standing position with the tentacle legs.

“Oh. Oh okay. Kinda like a big spider with long coily wires for legs or something...okay just uh 1-2-3-4, and repeat,” he muttered while slowly walking forwards. The frame wobbled, but kept its balance. He looked up at her with a slight smile.

“Doesn't hurt anymore. Not on my body, anyways. I think the pain's just wired to the frame's sensors so the uh, Reaver doesn't go too all-out and waste its hardware. Though given how tough they are, I can't imagine them doing that real easy.”

“Well they're valuable chess pieces,” Goggles pointed out. “PsychoDAN probably didn't want 'em going out on a limb.”

Hacker stuck one the limbs out sideways and wiggled it. He nearly tipped over in the direction of that limb, but kept upright by shifting his weight to the other direction.

“Hah to that,” the soldier remarked with a snicker.

Distant clattering echoed down the corridor. Hacker perked, then frowned.

“Damn. Wasn't expecting a response for a while,” he commented. “We should get going. They figure out what I did, they're gonna swarm us like locusts on Stam-Up and Berserk.”

Goggles nodded her agreement, then eyed him quizzically. Had he cut the Reaver frame's network connection to the station?

“And no, they can't hear me,” he answered her puzzled expression. “The rig is so like Tri-Op hardware that null.ethic did most of the gruntwork. Dropped me off the network, and had the system glitch out all the internal passwords on reset. The rest I can fine-tune as time goes on. Since null.ethic, uh, flips control to the core processing element. In the station, that was SHODAN. In here, that's my brain.”

He squinted at the clattering as it grew louder, despite nothing coming into view.

“For that much noise already and them being that far away? Damn. Didn't count on the network throwing an alert that fast. We gotta run.”

“Anything to get further away from Fugly Town is a good idea,” Goggles agreed, then headed to the elevator.

Hacker followed, his limbs clattering more evenly as he got the hang of the massive machine's walking style. The soldier reached the elevator then slapped the DOWN button. She froze at the massive shadow of Hacker's new rig falling over the doors.

“Shit,” she muttered, then turned back to him.

“What?”

“Did you figure out whether you'd be able to fit in here once you got wired in?” she asked, jerking her thumb to the doors. “Rebecca said something about having to bundle those legs like a yarn ball.”

Hacker blinked, then blinked again. He swore softly.

“Shit. I sorta did, but with you on the next elevator! I didn't think they'd react this fast!”

He turned to survey the hallway. Still nothing came into view yet, but the clattering had turned into a dull roar. He turned back, disgust and exasperation flooding his face.

“There's no way we're both gonna fit in there,” he groaned.

“Sure there is,” Goggles replied, an evil grin on her face. “How are you with full-body tentacle hugs?”

“WHAT?!”

The doors banged open. Thankfully it wasn't the ambush elevator this time.

“Grab me, then get inside!” Goggles shouted. “Fold everything up once you get in!”

“But how do I...? Without crushing you?”

“This armor's from the Reaver factory, remember?! You know my loadout! Now get your metal ass in there!”

Behind Hacker, the dull roar had become a thunderous rumble that shook the walls.

Grimacing, he carefully lifted one tentacle limb before looping it once around the soldier's waist. Goggles tried not to think of how many Super-Reavers that din amounted to. Her armor creaked as Hacker's limb squeezed her more tightly.

“Okay, going in,” he muttered, threading two limbs into the elevator.

Their claws angrily scraped the walls, throwing sparks as Hacker struggled to find his footing. He leaned the rest of his frame inside, then pulled up the last limb behind him. Then he huddled down, wrapping himself with all his limbs except the one holding Goggles.

“Okay just do a Reaverball, just do a Reaverball,” she heard him mutter over the noise of grinding claw feet, straining elevator walls, and sliding tentacles.

Through the open doors and Hacker's squirming Reaver limbs, Goggles could see the first Super-Reavers coming into view – from all sides of the corridor. Some crawled along the ceiling, while others skittered along the walls. And all of them moved with more unholy speed than she could've imagined.

“Get the door! Get the door!”

“Working on that!” Hacker shouted. “They're not coopera—AHAH!”

The doors suddenly banged shut, silencing the roar of the approaching mass of Super-Reavers. She sucked in as deep a breath of relief as she could with her squeezed torso.

“Don't worry about the elevator controls,” Hacker called out faintly amid the squished mass of bent tentacle limbs. “I figured out how they hacked the elevator in the ambush. It's really easy. Okay uh...here goes.”

The conveyance abruptly shot downward, with even more zeal than the regenerator room's doorway. Goggles crashed face-first into the ceiling along with Hacker and his new cybernetic toy. He clearly hadn't figured out how to keep his balance yet.

They stayed plastered there, screaming for what felt like an eternity.

Screeching loudly, the elevator bolted to a painfully sharp halt, sending both to its floor with simultaneous crashes. In Goggles' case, Hacker's long tentacle limbs mostly broke her fall. He landed face-first and stayed there.

Its doors whizzed open so loudly Goggles would've jumped if not for lying in a stunned heap next to a sprawled Super-Reaver. The limb holding her uncoiled, releasing her as it flopped limply through the doors.

The soldier tumbled out with it, her face in too much pain for her to think about moving just yet. One of her cybernetic lenses had cracked, showing a splintered picture. The other had gone out completely, blasting angry blue glitch into her brain. She heard her staff clunk into the floor and roll away from her limp hand.

“Hey,” Hacker called out, “You OK over there?”

“Next time, your ass is riding a freight elevator.”

He paused a beat.

“Gotcha.”

[marieserena4-blog]

hairy pussy daily - What Everybody Else Does When It Comes To Porn Hairy Photos And What You Should.

This naked old lady hiding in the bushes looks like the beginning of a storyline I don't want to go down. I consider saying my safe word to stop the narrative, but I don't feel like going through the loading process again. The old lady's boney arm snakes out of the bush, and she grabs my ankle. I should have loaded my feed splits, but I rushed through the set-up. Is he already using the same animation? The crazy old lady comes stumbling out of the bush, her saggy old boobs flopping around. I pick up a nearby potted plant and smash it on her head. It breaks apart pretty nice, full of high-def dirt. What kind of narrative is this? The lady falls on the ground and starts moaning. I back away to watch how the scene develops between Corey and her. Corey is looking at her with the same confused animation he used a moment ago. I really wish I had looked at the summary closer. Who knew something called 80s Turbo Ascension would have artisanal porn in it? He turns to me and shrugs and says, "Hey, babe. It looks like her leg isn't quite attached to the rest of her. I yank my leg away and curse at her. He runs his hand through his hair and says, "Cute skirt. It's an old hand-drive with a fixed wheel. Corey just stands there, cycling through different animations. This narrative is bugged up. "You want me to drive? " Corey asks, coming over. You can see the meat inside her hip. The scenery looks cool, with the blue freeway lights passing by and an old-fashioned neon metro in the background. " A minute later, we're cruising down the freeway, listening to some oldie about a girl named Jessie. Is this how the storyline is supposed to go? I'm just ten minutes into my first direct sense feed narrative, and I'm already a little bored. "Yeah, maybe you better. I can't ignore the fact that I feel a little bored. Corey is running through his back-story, talking about that Ferrari or whatever. I slip my hand into my skirt again and touch my pussy. But I can't just go back to feed-fucking all the time, every day. I don't even want to think about what it cost. Was the surgery really worth all that money? Why am I bored with everything after 10 minutes? A line of gleaming black limos snakes through a colorful crowd out front. We pull up in front of Club Heatwave, a big glittering building with a neon sun shining above it. Everything is super sharp. "Let's go," I say, going to Corey's car and opening the door. I think about fucking Corey again. Music thumps from within. The singer tells me to get out of his dreams and into his car. The inside is filled with shadowy bodies dancing through strobe lights and lasers and artificial fog. People are waiting in line, but Corey says something to the bouncer, and we slip past. The entrance hall is all mirrors and neon. We park in the player spot across the street and head to the grand entrance, Corey leading me by the hand. Why am I always bored with narratives after 10 minutes? Cheesy but kind of fun. " Corey asks, giving my bum a little squeeze. Corey's dancing is terrible. We head out on the dance floor and start to cut it up. "Wanna get some practice in? It looks like a motion glitch. It even has that fake fog smell. Oh, this one is naughty. I guess they had to give him some old moves, but did they have to make it this bad? I lean over to Corey and ask, "Who is that? This is kind of ruining the storyline. I look across the dance floor and see a tall man in a black suit with black hair standing perfectly still among the dancing crowd. " What the fuck, Corey. The dark man crosses the dance floor, coming toward me. There is a sort of glow around him so that I can tell he's going to be part of a storyline. Now he stands in front of me, looking down at me with his gleaming black eyes. He is watching me with dark eyes. " Corey stares at the man for a moment, then runs his hand through his hair and says, "Cute skirt. The other dancers don't move out of the way, and he passes right through them without breaking his stride. The skin is paper white, and underneath run thousands of tiny branching veins that seem to throb with his pulse. Say what you will about the game's production, they really know how to build hot guys. The man has the face of a gorgeous, forlorn angel, just inhumanly beautiful. I lean toward him for a kiss. Such obsessive definition. I mean, this is outright art. Wow, this guy can kiss. The I can feel the beat of the music passing through my entire body. I think this is what real kissing feels like. What an incredible render this guy is. I can see the dark blood throbbing in his neck veins. A smell comes off of him, something I can't quite place, sweet and rich, and we are kissing, and I can taste what I am smelling, sweet but metallic. The flesh is very nice. Then I notice Corey standing right there, looking at us all confused. He looks like a cheap plastic doll compared this new guy. Corey gets this really heartbroken look on his face and says, "Listen to me, Zhenzhen Sobakin. " I can't really get into the speech because it's too early in the narrative for that kind of stuff, plus he pronounced my name wrong. You'll break my heart if you go with any other guy. His lips are perfectly soft and fleshy-looking, like nothing I've ever seen in a feed before. I pull my head back and touch his face. You are the most special, most beautiful girl I've ever met. I guess this is a horror narrative. Literally, he just sinks his fingers into the face and tears a huge, bloody hunk out. The new guy reaches out and grabs a handful of Corey's face. The new guy squeezes the hunk of flesh like a sponge and lets the blood run down over my face, then starts licking it off. This must be some kind of art-porn sampler narrative. But the new guy's tongue feels good on my face and neck and I start licking him back and we start kissing and undressing right there. Faceless Corey keeps standing there, spurting blood out of his head hole. I need to fuck this guy. He strips off the black suit he's wearing to reveal a perfect white body and a huge, beautiful cock. I wonder what my real pussy and my real heart are doing while I'm lying there in the hygiene bed. Is this guy like a vampire or something? This is going to be good. Blood sprays everywhere. My pussy feels superreal. I hold onto him and close my eyes and let him fuck me. I've really, really got to start reading those summaries. My pussy is absolutely tingling, and I can feel my heart beating fast. God, this narrative really combines a lot of different kinks. He lifts me up with ease, and I grip his powerful, muscled arms as he slides his cock into me. I can taste Corey's blood on my lips. I open my eyes and see that everybody in the club has stopped dancing. Now I'm feeling like a thousand different things in my pussy, most of them incredibly good, some of them new, some of them way beyond anything I've felt offline. Pretty soon, they're packed around women nude hairy pussy us like the paparazzi in a fame simulation. The other people in the club are all slowly walking towards us, surrounding us. The man kisses and sucks on my neck. Despite the fact that I'm on the verge of cumming, I can't help but notice that the light in the club has changed. Some of the people reach out and touch my tits and my hair and my face. I feel like I'm looking at the man's face from two angles, seeing four of his eyes. It's a weird effect, and I wonder if there's something wrong with my visual line. With this guy's cock in me, it all feels good, so I don't stop it. The man's eyes are on me, and I'm mesmerized. Beside her, a man separates into a dozen slices. This is definitely a fatal glitch. They are all standing still as the music plays in the strobe-flashing darkness, watching this guy fuck me. It seems like it is coming from two angles, making everything seem doubled. But I'm so close to cumming. Her head floats off of her neck. All around us, the people begin to break apart, becoming floating parts. This is hurting my brain. Next to me, a woman in a pink dress opens her mouth, and her jaw floats away from her face. I feel my stomach drop in terror, except it drops at four different places all around the room. I wonder if the narrative can hang together for just 10 more seconds before it crashes. Oh, god, am I stuck in a crashing narrative? The weird lighting effect becomes more intense, and the man's seems to be made of four sections, except each section is his entire face from a different angle, and they're all crossing each other but staying in place at the same time, and eight eyes are watching me. One of my hands feels like it is way off on the horizon. Public fucking isn't really my fetish, but I don't want to have to stop everything and set up a new scene. The narrative should have already crashed back into safety mode. And it's going to be fucking fabulous. How are they so awful? They say it can fuck you up. Everything has too many sides. Another is ten stories below me. I feel myself falling and expanding. The man is staring down at me with his awful eyes. His face is as giant as a mountain range. Body parts are swirling around us, showing all sides at once. If you have any sort of questions pertaining to where and how you can use amateur hairy galleries, you can contact us at our internet site. Thousands and millions and millions of eyes. He has dozens of eyes. /u/_9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9