#criminall minds

[gredandforgeweatherby]

Welcome To Easttown

The flayings of Easttown pt. 1

.5

Summary: The BAU travels to Easttown for a case

Warnings: Death, graphic descriptions of death and flaying, swearing,

WC: 1.2k

A/N

Joyce Davidson awoke suddenly at the sound of her phone ringing. After getting only a few hours of sleep, she groggily felt around her nightstand for her phone. Once she grabbed it, she finally opened her eyes to see who was calling:

         Penny

Groaning at the early call, she answered.

“Sorry to wake you but we got a case. It’s pretty urgent.”

Gaining the ability to speak, Joyce quietly replied, 

“I’ll be there in thirty.”

Hanging up the phone, Joyce was finally able to read the time on the screen of her phone.

6:14

Begrudgingly dragging herself out of bed, she made her way toward her bathroom for a shower and to brush her teeth. Fifteen minutes later, she was getting dressed, putting on a bit of makeup, and grabbing her keys. She grabbed a breakfast bar before heading out her door and locking it, making her way to her car.

Exactly thirty minutes after Penelope called her, Joyce Davidson was opening the doors of the bullpen to be greeted by her bustling around.

“Everyone’s at the round table except Rossi and Morgan, they’re both a few minutes away.”

Walking up the stairs toward the debriefing room with Penelope, Joyce looks over at the files in her hands and asks,

“How bad is it?”

Penelope looked frazzled.

“On a scale from one to never wanting to leave the safety of my tech cave ever again, I’d say it’s never wanting to leave the safety of my tech cave.”

Joyce said nothing.

────────────────────────────────────────────

“Five women in Easttown, Pennsylvania have been found dead. Their bodies were found naked, with the exception of the latest victim who was found fully clothed, though the clothes were not hers. And here’s the real kicker, each of the victims had been flayed.”

That had brought everyone's attention up to Penelope.

“Flayed, was that the cause of death?” Emily questioned, flipping through her file to find the medical examiner's report.

“No. The cause of death was blood loss, which the flaying contributed to, but, the M.E. report concluded that the flaying was most likely just a way to torture the victims.”

“So they were alive,” JJ stated. Penelope nodded in confirmation, though no one really needed her to.

“Could it be the unsub’s signature?” Derek questioned. 

“It’s possible, however, flaying was historically used either as torture, as Garcia said, or as a form of execution. Though most sources state its origin in the middle ages, In Kleine Kulturgeschichte der Haut, author Ernst k. Jung provided an essay of flaying dating back all the way to the Neo-Assyrian, the king actually seemed to gloat ab–” 

“Reid.” Hotch interrupted his face as serious and stone-cold as ever. Reid stopped in his tracks, mouthing a sorry and awkwardly pulling his lips into a line.

“Easttown’s a tight night community, with the last time a murder happened being a few years ago. Nothing like this though. The plane ride's short so we won’t have time to debrief until we get there. Their chief was very insistent that we come, so, wheels up in twenty. ”

────────────────────────────────────────────

After the short plane ride, the BAU arrived in Easttown. Walking into the police station, the team of seven was met by the chief of police. He extended his hand toward Hotch, who took it.

“Agent Hotchner, Chief Carter, thank you so much for coming. We really need your help. The chief said dropping Hotch’s hand as he began introducing the team.

“No problem. These are agents Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, Jareau, Davidson, and Dr. Reid.” The aforementioned agents (and doctor) nodded their heads in greeting.

���Nice to meet you all,” said the chief before turning, “Follow me, I’ll let you guys get set up.

The seven followed him into a conference room with white boards set up. Chief Carter then left them to do their job while he went back to his office. The team quickly debriefed before Hotch told them their assignments.

“Prentiss, JJ, Morgan, I want you guys to go to the latest victim’s house, talk to the parents, see if you can find anything. Rossi and I will go to the scene, Davidson and Reid, I want you to stay here and work on the geographical profile.”

They nodded their heads in acknowledgment to their tasks, Davidson and Reid setting up at a corkboard while the rest of the team was leaving. 

───────────────────────────────────────────

Twenty or so minutes had passed and Reid and Davidson sat in the conference discussing different aspects of the case.

“The fourth victim, Maisy Ware, lived three miles from where her body was found, Rowan Huffman was found four, Maddie Bernard 5.”

“Chester is small, he can’t be too far.”

 What if he doesn’t live in Chester and only comes here for his victims? Joyce questioned aloud.

“It’s possible, but flaying takes time and a place to do it. If he didn’t live here he would have to own a property or something here to be able to bring his victims to and flay them. Coming here, taking someone, bringing them back to where he lives, then dumping them back here would be too risky.” Reid said.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Reid and Davidson continued to talk about the case. In the middle of his sentence, Reid was interrupted by two voices.

“I’m telling you I’m right.”

“Mare, come on, he was totally checking you out, even I picked up on that.” The man punctuated his sentence with his eyes shooting up at the other two people in the room. The woman, Mare, and the man stared at Reid and Davidson, them doing the same before Mare spoke up.

“Who the hell are you two?”

Reid and Davidson looked at each other with widened eyes, their mouths open a bit. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Joyce spoke up.

“Um, I’m Agent Davidson, this is Dr. Reid, we’re with the FBI.”

“The FBI?” The man asked.

“The Behavioral Analysis Unit. Your chief called us in to assist on the recent flayings here.”

The man stood there, looking grateful that they were getting help, whereas the woman looked annoyed.

“Chief didn’t tell us he was bringing anyone in.” And with that, she left the conference room, presumably to talk to Chief Carter.

The man she left behind stood there a bit awkward, staring a Joyce and Spencer, them staring right back. After what seemed like an eternity, he cleared his throat and spoke.

“She doesn’t always take well to people on the outside working on her cases, she was the same with me. That’s Detective Sheehan, I’m Detective Zabel.” He gave the two of them a small smile, holding his hand out for them to shake. Joyce took it happily, a “nice to meet you” exiting her mouth, while Reid pressed his lips in an awkward line and waved. Detective Zabel looked a bit perplexed but dropped his hand quickly.

“Uh, anyway, I guess I’ll leave you two to do your job. If you need anything from the case my office is just down the hall to your right, the third door. It’s labeled.” He turned to walk out the door, making it a few steps past the threshold before pausing and reentering the conference room. Joyce and Spencer had already turned back to their board, not expecting him to be back.

He flashed them a smile, this time it showed off the dimples in his cheeks.

“Welcome to Easttown.”

[annmaximoff18]

Spencer: did you know that pigs

Derek: no reid, no one wants to hear about pigs

Spencer: .....

Y/N: the pigs what?

Spencer: What?

Y/N: about the pigs, I want to listen to you

[iamcxlleigh]

⸻ 🗯️ 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀.

❛ 𝖺𝖺𝗋𝗈𝗇 𝗁𝗈𝗍𝖼𝗁𝗇𝖾𝗋 𝗁𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗈𝗇 ❜.

Aaron Hotchner in a relationship with an asperger girl.

❪English is not my native language, an apology for any grammatical or spelling errors.❫.

▬▬▬ Aaron knew about asperger's syndrome, it is something that as particular as it sounds, it is among the different disorder he has seen throughout his career as a profiler, he could identify a person with this syndrome as he knew the characteristics that identified this condition.

▬▬▬ When he met you, he thought you were very sweet, but you proved to be too shy and somewhat awkward when talking, you didn't even look him in the eyes when conversing, you even found it difficult to understand some simple things that Hotch tried to convey, you didn't get it, he could notice the autistic spectrum characteristics in you.

▬▬▬▬ He loved you, he realized how much he liked you since he didn't want to profile you as he would do with anyone, he wanted to get to know you more and more, that you yourself gave him the confidence to know more about you.

▬▬▬▬ You were a little younger than him, very different from him in so many ways, he felt really nervous and scared to take you into his world, destroy you because of his chaotic work, and because of his little experience with asperger people, he only knew Reid and sometimes even didn't understand him.

▬▬▬▬ One night he spoke to Spencer as they were returning from a case, he thought talking it over with him would be best, he commented that he was meeting a girl with asperger's syndrome and wanted to know how to treat and understand her, Reid took the time to give him some facts about the condition and give him some advice, the most important was “Pay attention to the details.”

▬▬▬ Aaron understood it soon after, You had difficulties to understand nonverbal communication (gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc.), You didn't understand jokes, jokes, metaphors or sarcasms, for you everything was for its literal meaning, your way of speaking and expressing yourself was so correct, technical and formal with a moderately childish tone of voice, that for people who didn't know you it could sound annoying and pedantic, but for Hotch it turned out to be simply cute on you.

▬▬▬▬ You were talking so passionately about your favorite things, explaining to Aaron even the smallest detail without being able to stop for a second, another characteristic of your condition, this man could listen to you talk for hours and hours and he wouldn't get tired, this helps him a lot to know you in depth.

▬▬▬▬ The first time you met Jack, Hotchner was scared that you couldn't relate well with him because of your poor social skills, but to his surprise, you were much better at striking up a conversation with a child than with an adult, you missed the real world just to play with his son as if you were just another child, an image that destroyed his heart was watching you and Jack playing in the little boy's room with all his toys on the floor after dinner, you were laughing and enjoying yourself like he had never seen you before.

▬▬▬▬ Your relationship was progressing very well, everything seemed to be going great, until one afternoon, Hotch decided to take Jack to the amusement park due to the little one's insistence to go, he decided to invite you to accompany them, which you happily accepted, Once in the park Jack and you were walking each one holding Aaron's hands. At first you watched with amusement the attractions with their lights and the people having fun, but it came to a point that the screams and laughter of the people were bothering you, they sounded so loud in your head that it began to upset you.

▬▬▬▬ The loud noises made you very anxious, you realized that there were many people around you and it made you uncomfortable, you felt a discomfort run through your chest as your throat felt clogged with the need to cry, you tried to pretend that nothing was wrong as you didn't want to ruin the moment with Aaron and Jack, but you were dating an expert profiler, indeed, you didn't even have to be one to notice that you didn't feel well at all.

▬▬▬▬ At the moment Hotch noticed it, he saw how you moved the fingers of your left hand similar to how you do when you are nervous, when he asked you what was happening you hesitated for a second, but with much sorrow you approached him whispering in his ear that you did not feel comfortable in that noisy place, everything got worse when a group of teenagers nearby began to scream and laugh scaring you so much that you covered your ears with your hands on the verge of tears, you seemed so helpless and weak that Aaron quickly took the determination to get you out of there.

▬▬▬▬ On the trip to drop you off at your house, the air conditioning in Aaron's car helped you calm down along with his hand, which rested on your leg silently giving you to understand that he was there for you at all times, but you felt extremely ashamed of yourself for reacting like that and ruining the night, Jack saw you worried without understanding why you had reacted like that in the park, he wanted to know if you were okay, but honestly you did not feel like talking about what happened.

▬▬▬▬ When leaving you at your home, Hotch noticed the instant relief that ran through your body to be in your comfort zone away from people and loud noise, you tried to apologize for ruining his night and making him feel sorry for taking you out of the park in that state, you thought that after today Aaron would not want to see you anymore, but he was totally sincere in his own way, he made it very clear that he was not upset with you and he was willing to help you in all your crises as many times as necessary, he was not going to abandon you for anything in the world, he could not leave without kissing your head in a careful and loving way, being this action one of the first signs of affection of the major towards you.

▬▬▬▬ That same night, he took Jack to bed to sleep as usual, but his son still worried about you asked his father why you had behaved that way, in the best possible way he explained to Jack your condition and some characteristics that you suffered from this, resolving doubts of the child, When he found out and understood what was happening, he bravely promised his father that he would protect you from all the bad things and help you to enjoy the world as he did, these words touched Aaron's heart, making him smile sweetly, thinking that his son was an angel and very intelligent.

▬▬▬▬ In the solitude of his room, Hotchner realized how difficult this disorder could be for you, what happened today in the park helped him to see that you needed a boost to move forward in your daily life, that you needed someone by your side to help you get ahead, and he would be that someone, he was really in love with you and would not let you go so easily, he would help you to be more independent and brave to face the world, but above all, to feel loved.

— 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 —

‹ 15. 04. 2023 ›

credits for : @iamcxlleigh

¡Hola, gente! How are you? This is the first one I wrote about Hotch so I hope you liked it, I liked writing about him. 🤍 remember that my native language is not English so I'm sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes.

I found it very interesting to write about Aaron and an autistic character, respectively with this condition, I am an asperger's sufferer so I don't know.... Now it's my dream to have an Aaron Hotchner to take care of me. 😔

If you want to see more writings with this theme or any situation with Hotch, you can write to me !!

calleigh angelo ──── ‘lista maestra’

¡Nos vemos! 🗯️

[whitecriminalcastle]

I may or may not have a thing for fifty/sixty something years old guys... maybe

Thomas Gibson | Linus Roache | Raul Esparza

[millaguarany]

A alguns meses voltei assistir Criminal Minds, e tenho que falar !!! Spencer Reid, virou um nerd gostoso !!

[deceasedream69]

me alegro mucho ver muchísimos más escritores latinos/hispanohablantes por aquí!!! me encantan las historias de spencer con latin reader!!!!! gracias por escribirlas

Siempre escribo en inglés porque es la única manera que tengo para practicar y porque la mayoría de lectores hablan inglés, pero me gusta incluir el español por ahí. No creo que historias en español lleguen a tener muchos lectores aunque nunca lo he intentado.

[a-s-t-r-y]

6 Series Antiguas Que Si O Si Debes Conocer Y Mirar

[seriesdepelicula]

Los posters de todas las temporadas de la serie CRIMINAL MINDS (2005-2023).Temporadas: 16 Capitulos: 333 (hasta aqui).Evolution.

[chaoticinsomne]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Criminal Minds (US TV), Teen Wolf (TV), Grimm (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Stiles Stilinski, Spencer Reid/Original Male Character(s) Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan (Criminal Minds), Penelope Garcia, David Rossi, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Emily Prentiss, Original Characters, Original Male Character(s) Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence Summary:

stiles Stilinski esta hecho, ya no puede con la puerta del infierno en la que se convirtio beancon hills y por fin ha tenido suficiente se va del maldito pueblo de pesadilla, armado con solo su inteligencia y sarcasmo stiles sube en las filas del FBI rápidamente e incluso logra ser jefe de un equipo de 3 personas para tratar con casos sobrenatural que él mismo levanto, stiles ya no es el chico de 16 años que se enfrento solo con un bate de beisbol a hombres lobos psicopatas, quimeras, darach, zorros, ahora es un hombre de 27 años que tiene una pistola su ingenio y años de tratar con seres sobrenaturales que no dudarían en matarlo, cuando los altos mandos cren que el equipo de stiles debe unirse a la UAC (BAU) stiles no está convencido, él conoce los verdaderos monstruos y son los humanos, stiles deberá decidir si confía o no en el equipo de la BAU con la información de lo sobrenatural y su pasado,su confianza es difícil de ganar después de tantos errores

este es el nuevo fanfic que estoy escribiendo. ya estan 2 episodios en AO3 si gustan verlo, tambien tratare de publicar aqui, sinceramente esta historia es algo que ha estado en mi mente y dije por que no? y aqui esta.

[moolool77]

Spencer en la temporada 9..... 🤭

[crimiboo]

Sabes... ¿La diferencia entre la Criminología y la Criminalística?

Ahora para empezar que muchos piensan que estas dos ciencias son lo mismo y eso no esta mal y más si no se sabe del tema, al final nadie conoce todo, esa es una de las razones por la cual empecé este blog para poder ayudar a los demás y yo también poder ir aprendiendo.

Asique con esto claro, hay que saber que la criminología a pesar de estar ligada a la criminalística y verla como su complemento esta tiene un campo de trabajo diferente al de la criminalística.

La diferencia que encontramos entre estas dos es que la Criminalística busca reunir todos los elemento de un lugar para saber como se desarrollo un echo y la Criminología busca saber el porque se llevo a acabo tal echo, en este caso seria saber las conductas antisociales que presente el sujeto o los sujetos que llevaron a cabo tal echo (aunque el objeto de estudio de la criminología es un poco controversial).

Desde mi punto de vista personal puedo decir que la diferencia entra ambas ciencias es que mientras la Criminalística es mas enfocada al campo, la Criminología esta mas enfocada a lo psicológico o bien al estudio de las conductas que presentan las personas o en este caso el delincuente y al saber del porque lo hizo.

[annmaximoff18]

Spencer: I cut my finger

Y/N: I can kiss it to make it better.

Spencer: but that is...

Derek: He also hit his lip with the door when we were coming.

Y/N blushes.

Derek: You're welcome (whispers to Spencer)

[iamcxlleigh]

𝐘𝐄𝐒, 𝐒𝐈𝐑. | 𝐚𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐛𝐚𝐮!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐒

𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ⨟ You are young, beautiful and full of eagerness to learn coming into the BAU, that's what Hotch could notice mainly when he first saw you, over time he realized that you started to see him with different eyes, eyes dangerously in love.

The moment he decided to request his transfer from the unit, you showed up at his office telling him all the reasons why he couldn't leave and leave his team.

𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ⨟ new bau reader, young reader, you are in love with hotch, hotch is married to haley, situation located in the chapter “In Name and Blood” (S3E2).

𝐧/𝐚 ⨟ english is not my native language, an apology for any grammatical or spelling errors.

(the reader has a default name, I do not use y/n).

You knocked on her door slowly and a little saddened by everything that was going on in the office. So many things at once.

The delicate case, Gideon's disappearance, Prentiss' absence and now, Hotch's transfer.

— Come in — Your boss's voice said, you walked in looking at how he put his things in a box, you really couldn't believe that Aaron Hotchner was really leaving.

In these months that you had been with the team, one of the people you admired the most was Hotch, his determination, audacity, courage and intelligence, he proved to be the most capable agent in his job.

He had become your role model, someone you wanted to make proud for your performance, your feelings towards your boss had been increasing as time went by.

Becoming something more personal, something that surpassed admiration and professionalism, a crush that would not go beyond your feelings in the depths of your heart and mind.

— JJ gave me the details of the case, so you have them with you — You said walking into his office with the folder in your hands.

— I'm not on the case, James — Hotch answered looking at you firmly, with that typical serious expression.

— I just follow orders — You answered leaving the folder on his desk, you looked for a second at the empty space where his family photos were previously, You sighed before moving away from his working area and joining properly with both hands in front of you — Until I'm a field agent, I just follow any kind of order, sir.

For the time being, your work was summarized in doing paperwork, going back and forth in the office, even doing some interrogations, you climbed little by little until you were authorized to go out into the world to hunt the sudes, to be an expert profiler.

Hotch observed you without deforming his serious expression, being the special supervisor of the unit he was very aware of the evolution of his new recruits, so he followed your progress, you were being excellent in your work for the moment.

He got to know you very well, carefully evaluating your behavior, habits in the office such as being the first to arrive after him, cleaning your desk every day, drinking your morning coffee without fail, among other simple things.

Even detailing the feelings of admiration for your colleagues and expressed commitment to your work, but Hotchner was not blind and something he had noticed was the beginning of that feeling.

That excitement as you looked him straight in the eye, and how you listened attentively to his words as you sought to follow everything to the letter, even noticing JJ and Garcia's jokes about your happy feelings for him.

— All right, thank you James — He expressed continuing with his work, you nodded slightly before walking slowly to the door of his office resigned.

But when you put your hand on the handle you stopped thoughtfully, you could not leave without struggling even a little.

— Sir, I have something to say — You said plucking up the courage to say everything you had to say — About your transfer.

— Garcia and Morgan already tried it, it's a decision made — He replied crossing his arms.

— Not until you're in the system — You affirmed — I know I'm new and you don't like me as much as the rest of the team, but I want you to know that you, Agent Hotchner. are the most qualified for this position. You are the most qualified for this position, and we don't want another unit chief other than you.

Hotch listened carefully to your words, you seemed a little hesitant to speak because of nerves, but ultimately you were being sincere.

— I know this job is very stressful and leaves a lot of fallout, I haven't experienced it up close yet, but you have and I can tell you are the most professional and prepared to be here, I can't imagine anyone else in your position and I don't see any other officer doing the job of saving lives as well as you do.

— James, listen-.... — He wanted to speak, but you kept talking and talking with your arguments.

— And I really don't think you can sit in an executive office from 7 AM to 6 PM, I mean I'm not saying no but the point is, your job is here, helping people and catching sudes, making a real change to the world no matter how small.

— Courteney... — He warned calling you by name, even knowing the nickname the others had given you «that was connie» you continued to speak.

— That's why I personally think you should stay, we all feel the same and hope you can consider it... Sir — You finished playing with one of your rings on your fingers, believing that maybe you had said too much.

You looked at Aaron like a freshly scolded child, hoping that your awkward words had changed his perspective on the situation even a little bit.

— Is this a personal request? — Your boss asked expecting a sincere answer, you looked at him understanding how dangerous the question was and how well thought out your answer had to be.

— Yes, sir... It is a personal request, but it does not affect or harm my job perception, much less cloud my respect for you.

There was a brief silence until Hotch's phone rang, I glance at it quickly before looking back at you.

— Well, James. Excuse me — He said briefly inviting you to give him privacy, you gave a quick nod before leaving his office going straight to your work station.

— Hotchner — You answered his call hearing Morgan's voice on the other end of the line, clutching the case folder thoughtfully.

He took the folder and tucked it in his things to take home, feeling a tremendous need to want to be aware of the situation and the progress of the case.

Without Strauss being aware, after all. Her transfer was not yet in the system.

Motivated by your kind words and absolute sincerity, he believed he could do his best one last time, your words helped a bit in the.

You were in Garcia's office handing her some papers when you overheard her talking to Hotch.

It was so encouraging, even when he specifically told Garcia to rush his transfer request through the system, a hunch in both of you gave you a glimmer of hope that he would forget that order.

And fortunately, he did. Hotch would not go away.

When the team returned from the case, you talked to Emily asking what had happened given a big bump on her forehead, she assured you that it was just a little hiccup in the situation with the unsub, she was going to be fine.

By the time the office began to empty out, you were one of the last ones left doing your paperwork, you were standing by the printer watching the papers come out one at a time.

Hotch was about to go home, and try to patch things up with Haley after their argument before leaving for the case, he crossed the lonely corridors of the unit but stopped when he saw you by the printer.

— Go home, Agent James — He said giving you a little scare, you turned to see your boss with his bags a few feet away from you.

In your head bounced the way he called you “Agent” even though he was one, they didn't tend to call you that way much.

— I'll be leaving in a few minutes, I want to finish this first — You answered taking the freshly printed papers — Good night, Sir.

You walked past Hotchner with the intention of going to your desk, but Hotch's voice stopped you again.

— Thanks, James — He expressed with a friendlier tone and not as professional as he was used to talk to you, you looked at him without understanding — Your words helped me to make the decision.

You smiled slightly feeling proud to hear that, you felt that as silly as it was, you did a good deed with your clumsy words towards your boss.

— Well, my personal opinion and silly feelings worked for something — You laughed looking at your shoes with some pity.

— It wasn't silly at all - Your boss replied shaking his head slightly — Personally? It was touching.

Your smile faded but not in disgust, it was given to the impression of his words. That your boss knew your personal feelings for him was embarrassing, and you were sure that if it were someone else half the office would know by now.

But you were sure that with Hotch, that personal detail would be safe.

— I'm glad... Sir — You replied with a sweet smile.

— And another thing, just call me Hotch. You're part of my team now — He answered with a small smile, you were surprised by how nice his smile looked, how lucky were those people who could see it more often.

— It's okay, Hotch. Thank you — You answered without leaving your smile behind, really happy about this moment. You both smiled at each other quite confidently.

You turned around as he did, each of you going your respective ways, ready to move on.

— Don't forget that your weapons test is on Friday, James — He reminded you fleetingly before walking through the glass doors to the elevator.

Of course you wouldn't forget, if everything went well in that evaluation. You could finally be a bau field agent.

— 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 —

‹ 16. 05. 2023 ›

credits for : @iamcxlleigh

Hello people, how are you? I hope you are well, I haven't written about Hotch for a long time since I was quite sick for a while, I'm still a bit sick but I'm getting better, and I decided to write a new imagina about the last chapter I saw of Criminal Minds. ❣️

If you want to read more of Hotch, don't forget to go to my master list, or send me a request. :)

calleigh angelo ──── ‘lista maestra’

¡Nos vemos! 🗯️

[whitecriminalcastle]

I work: to buy things that make me happy, and this make me happy

[matchacowbee]

ohhh my GOD

so remember my irl tk post I had posted the other day??? WELL GUESS WHATTTT

that same roommate tickled me today. bro lemme just TELL UU 😨

ok so I was laying on my bed being lazy n sad mainly bc today was hard enough and I had no sleep. So my roommates were trying to get me to feel better and ask what I wanted to eat for dinner.

omg so I’m laying face down just on the edge of my bed and I’m not even looking at the other girls.

they kinda mess w me a bit just because I’m being a bit of a bum bc I was sad. So like they were just pressing down on my back and like shoving me over a little.

the roommate who first tk me comes over and says, “don’t tell me I have to act like an older sister right now.” THEN THEN she shoves her hands underneath my underarms and tks me there. She literally goes, “Are you ticklish~?”

UMMMMMM CRIMINALL STOPP?????

so like obviously I move my arms down and squirm away and then she says, “aw that means yes” MIND YOU THIS WAS STILL IN FRONT OF TWO ITHER GIRLS OH MYYYYYYYYYY

then, it doesn’t even END. Lord omg.

So I’m sitting on the couch next to 2 of my roommates, THE SAME GIRLS WHO WERE IN THE ROOM W ME. the girl she comes up to me as I’m sitting and traces the top of my knee w her nails, AND HER NAILS ARE REALLY NICE AND LONG.

Ok so like I giggle a bit and then I just move my knee and go, “haha don’t do thattt :3” SCREAMING LITERALLY SCREAMING

this girl….. DOES SHE KNOW MY WEAKNESS?? DOES SHE KNOW ABT THE BLOG ????? pls it’s times like this where I panic if someone knows about my blog…

anyways 🧍‍♀️

[automatismascrive]

Giudice, vittima e carnefice: Broken Minds

Dice il saggio: i guilty pleasures sono una trappola poiché non c’è motivo di provare imbarazzo per ciò che piace. Dunque non sono particolarmente a disagio nel mettere nero su bianco che due delle mie serie di videogiochi preferite in assoluto sono Danganronpa e Zero Escape. Certo, probabilmente lo sono anche perché riescono a grattare un prurito che quasi nessun altro videogioco mi ha mai sopito, ma sono convinta che al di là dei misteri macchinosi e al limite del sensato, per non parlare dei personaggi stereotipati quando non direttamente cretini, si celi un delizioso piacere nel comporre i pezzi di un puzzle incredibilmente complicato o nel vederlo semplicemente sistemarsi con l’avanzare della trama – oltre alla mia goduria personale nel fare esperienza di quei twist finali anche un po’ nonsense che ho coltivato da quando a otto anni mi sono data la missione di leggere tutti i Piccoli Brividi. Che è poi anche il motivo per cui dalle medie in poi mi sono affrettata a divorare l’intera bibliografia di Hercule Poirot, che pur essendo assai meglio costruita presenta spesso e volentieri lo stesso problema di artificiosità che è facile da segnalare nelle avventure sopracitate (niente colpi di scena stupidi, grazie a dio).

Dicevo poc’anzi però che difficilmente i videogiochi riescono a regalarmi questa specifica soddisfazione – le due saghe citate, assieme ad Ace Attorney che sta prendendo polvere nella mia lista di Steam ormai da un decennio, sono diventate così popolari anche per la peculiarità del loro gameplay nel panorama odierno, che fonde puzzle, visual novel e a volte anche inusuali minigiochi. Sono quindi sempre contenta di poter testare e segnalare altri giochi che scavano a piene mani nel mystery strambo per regalarci la gioia di un pazzo pazzissimo giallo interattivo di serie B, siano essi giochi su piccioni avvocati ambientati nella Francia del 1800 (consigliato) o visual novel ambientate nel Giappone degli anni Novanta: è proprio di quest’ultimo videogioco, intitolato Broken Minds e pubblicato da LockedOn nel 2018, che voglio scrivere oggi.

Noa Karada vive da sola, non ha nessun amico e pochi conoscenti, ma i suoi genitori sono un’ingombrante presenza nella sua vita, specialmente quando si autoinvitano a casa sua per cenare a sbafo, giudicare le sue scelte lavorative e chiederle denaro in prestito; è perciò con un certo sollievo che Noa è costretta a lanciarsi dalla finestra per scappare da un incendio che sembra scoppiare durante la cena, preceduto da un’inquietante presenza mascherata da coniglio che aveva bussato sul vetro appena prima che scoppiasse l’allarme. Le indagini però devono partire in ogni caso, dunque Noa decide di affidarsi alla Yamagata Private Detective Agency, nonostante i loro modi sgradevoli ed eccentrici e la loro professionalità assai dubbia… La situazione però non tarda a precipitare quando numerosi cadaveri si aggiungono al mistero, mentre la nostra protagonista deve fare i conti con l’ingombrante presenza dei detective che sembrano più interessati a battibeccare e a compromettere la scena del crimine anziché a risolvere il caso a loro assegnato.

Questo setup un filo peculiare per un’indagine – se non altro perché i detective sono fin da subito presentati come individui non solo strambi ma anche piuttosto svogliati e incompetenti – viene supportato da un sistema di gioco che alterna dialoghi con sprite a schermo in cui occasionalmente potremo scegliere che risposta dare, sequenze di minigiochi che ci permetteranno di unire i puntini sulle dinamiche e le motivazioni del (dei?) misterioso criminale, e momenti in cui potremo selezionare lo stato emotivo di Noa. Quest’ultima fase di gioco è cruciale, poiché in base al mood selezionato con le prime scelte ci imbarcheremo in route drasticamente differenti, in cui molte conversazioni e soprattutto diverse opzioni saranno sbloccate o al contrario rese impraticabili a causa del drastico cambiamento di Noa, aprendo un totale di ben sei route diverse, ciascuna con più finali; è vero che tale varietà è in alcuni casi poco significativa, modificando solo il tono di certi dialoghi, ma rimangono comunque tutte abbastanza interessanti da essere portate a termine, complice il magico pulsante skip seen text, specialmente quando il giocatore riesce a farsi un’idea più precisa di che cosa sta succedendo nella vita di Noa e delle motivazioni del misterioso criminale.

Quando si esplora l’ambiente si guarda praticamente uno slideshow, ma funziona abbastanza bene.

Questa varietà a livello di meccaniche, per quanto si possa sostanzialmente ricondurre a delle variazioni su tema sul formato visual novel, è ben incorniciata da uno stile grafico altrettanto vario: gli sprite dei personaggi sono cartooneschi, spigolosi e dalle proporzioni esagerate, a metà tra una serie di Cartoon Network e quelle illustrazioni piatte tipiche di certe graphic novel, ma si muovono in un ambiente finto-3D molto realistico e pensato per colpire per il suo contrasto nel momento in cui il giocatore si trova a navigarlo per cercare indizi o per scegliere il personaggio con cui parlare. Si tratta oltretutto di un gioco con un livello di attenzione al dettaglio e di rifinitura davvero sorprendente, considerando il suo stato di super-indie (ha nove recensioni su Steam, al momento!): oltre alle sequenze in cui Noa esplora l’ambiente attorno sé ci sono un paio di animatic piuttosto complesse, menù personalizzati per tutti i minigiochi, musiche originali composte per il gioco e sprite creati appositamente per la risoluzione finale del caso; anche le opzioni di accessibilità e le quality of life features sono tante, ben pensate e rendono l’esperienza di gioco piuttosto rilassante. Senza conoscere la storia del gioco sarebbe difficile sospettare che tutto questo sia il lavoro di un singolo, ma LockedOn specifica che l’unica persona coinvolta in maniera significativa nel progetto è proprio ləi. Ciò dota oltretutto Broken Minds di un’estetica generale molto riconoscibile e soprattutto molto schizofrenica, che ben si adatta al mondo e ai personaggi pensati dallo sviluppatore, che restituiscono un quadro di generica nevrastenia e di interazioni fortemente sopra le righe.

Ciascun personaggio con cui avremo la possibilità di interagire, infatti, sarà o marcatamente stereotipato fino a rasentare la parodia – come i genitori di Noa, talmente sgradevoli da risultare comici – o affetto da ogni sorta di tic, paturnie o instabilità: il capo dell’agenzia YPDA, Takuma Karashi, è un detective che maschera la sua inefficienza con un comportamento tipico dei detective dei gialli, arroganti e capaci di collegare gli indizi più sottili per arrivare ad una conclusione inaspettata, che in Broken Minds però porta solo a connessioni bislacche e insensate; la patologa Yuzuki Hiiro è insicura e morbosa, nonché straordinariamente incompetente, mentre Ume Hakase, l’esperta di tecnologia, si ritiene anche fine psicologa e cerca di scavare nelle improbabili motivazioni dei criminali senza alcuna pretesa di appellarsi ai fatti. Nonostante la profonda introversione e insicurezza, Noa sembra di primo acchito l’unica persona con una parvenza di normalità, fatto che favorisce assai bene l’immedesimazione del giocatore in ogni scena in cui la ragazza si trova costretta ad interagire con i personaggi che la aiuteranno (o la intralceranno) nelle indagini; certo, più il giocatore scava nei possibili scenari di gioco più la facciata di normalità di Noa inizia ad incrinarsi, fino ad arrivare ai veri finali della VN che saranno in grado di fare chiarezza sugli eventi che accadono nel corso della vicenda.

I detective come raffigurati in un’illustrazione. La mia preferita è la patetica Yuzuki, che però nasconde un segreto...

Eventi che effettivamente si ricompongono in un puzzle piuttosto intrigante: per quanto LockedOn stessə abbia ammesso che iniziare certe route può rovinare in parte la sorpresa che il giocatore dovrebbe provare completando i due True Ending (sconsiglio in particolare la route del Puppet da giocare tra le prime), in generale il mistero è in grado di lanciare al giocatore una quantità importante di domande interessanti, e anche solo la curiosità di vedere i quattro finali principali di ciascuna route spinge a cercare di completare il gioco. Per quanto trovi che la storia manchi di un colpo di scena super incisivo o di un twist che cambi radicalmente le carte in tavola al livello del mio amato Zero Escape, fatto che si soffre particolarmente sul finale, la qualità della narrazione e dei passaggi logici rimane piuttosto alta e permette alla VN di collocarsi tranquillamente in un ottimo posto nell’immaginaria classifica della qualità della scrittura delle sue colleghe di genere (il fatto che questa classifica sia estremamente povera in termini di qualità assoluta è un dettaglio in questo caso secondario). La vera nota dolente di questa visual novel risiede invece nel modo in cui si arriva a ricomporre i pezzi del puzzle.

Già, perché sebbene ritenga che le idee alla base dei minigiochi che costituiranno il modo principale per risolvere i misteri che circondano Noa siano originali e interessanti, la loro realizzazione lascia parecchio a desiderare. I cosiddetti Logic Train sono composti da una ruota delle fallacie, in cui sarà necessario associare ad ogni frase la fallacia logica che la contraddistingue per costruire un’argomentazione, un puppet theatre per ricostruire la scena del delitto e un minigioco in cui si dovranno selezionare le aree cerebrali… rilevanti… per l’affermazione fatta da qualcuno. Sì, l’ultimo è davvero tremendo, soprattutto perché siccome le aree del cervello si palleggiano compiti molto simili ci si troverà a cliccare tutte le aree simili per capire quale coppia è quella giusta, ma anche la ruota è composta da moltissime fallacie che si sovrappongono almeno parzialmente, e il fatto che sia possibile girare la ruota per ottenere un indizio o una penalità in maniera del tutto casuale non fa che contribuire alla frustrazione.

Lo schermo da cui selezionare le main mood. Non ho screen dei minigiochi perché li ho odiati troppo, ma concederò che sono belli da vedere.

Il teatro dei burattini è invece abbastanza funzionale, anche perché è stato significativamente migliorato dalle build precedenti, almeno a giudicare dai commenti su Steam e itch.io. Si tratterebbe di un’esperienza molto frustrante, se lə sviluppatorə non avesse inserito sia l’opzione di giocare tutti i minigiochi in modalità facile sia quella di saltarli a piè pari, scegliendo invece tra diverse opzioni quella più logica per proseguire con la ricostruzione del caso o con l’obiezione di Noa – presumo che LockedOn si sia resə conto di quanto i minigame stessero impattando negativamente l’esperienza di gioco e in più di una nota alle patch ha reiterato che i Logic Train sono molto difficili (verissimo, anche se per le ragioni sbagliate). L’unico lato positivo di questi segmenti è che i loro tutorial sono accompagnati da uno sprite chibi della stessa Noa davvero adorabile.

Non posso lamentare però molto altro a questo gioco, se non il fatto che all’occasione l’elemento mystery e quello parodistico cozzano tra loro rendendo difficile al giocatore da una parte sentirsi abbastanza coinvolto nel mistero da provare a svelarlo route dopo route, o dall’altra di ridere liberamente delle interazioni disturbanti che si vengono a creare tra questo cast disturbato; per la maggior parte del gioco però ho trovato che Broken Minds riuscisse piuttosto bene ad amalgamare questi generi per tessere una storia in uguale parte appassionante e canzonatoria: il fatto che la personalità frammentata ma seria di Noa sia a messa a confronto con l’assurdità parodistica degli altri personaggi e che ne esca spesso e volentieri perdente (o additata come quella “strana”) indubbiamente è la chiave di volta su cui si regge questo precario equilibrio di genere che tanto amo in giochi come questo – e pazienza se ogni tanto una crepa si allarga in questa costruzione pericolante.

Sì, Ume, immaginavo. Questa sarà l’interazione più gentile che avrete con lei.

Beyond Broken Minds: due racconti, Prison of Lies e molto altro

Nonostante Broken Minds non abbia raggiunto purtroppo alcuna notorietà, LockedOn è abbastanza affezionatə alla sua ambientazione da aver prodotto, oltre che numerosi fix per il gioco e diversi update nel corso del tempo, anche altri pezzettini del puzzle che rimangono inesplorati nel gioco principale; sono nati così due racconti inclusi nel gioco base, Broken Egg e Broken Spiral, accompagnati dalle adorabili illustrazioni che ho inserito anche nel consiglio, che svelano qualche retroscena del gioco principale e che seguono i detective della YPDA oltre il caso di Broken Minds. La prima di queste infatti narra di una misteriosa sparizione che ha come tema ricorrente le uova, tutta raccontata dal punto di vista della persona scomparsa, mentre la seconda si incentra sul lavoro del misterioso quarto membro della YPDA in incognito, infiltrata nella polizia giapponese. Si tratta di storie scritte proprio come graphic novel, dunque in prima persona e dallo stile parco di descrizioni e ricco di dialoghi colloquiali, che permettono di aggiungere a questo mosaico di personaggi bizzarri almeno un paio di divertenti new entry e di fare luce su alcune delle vicende che erano rimaste in ombra durante il gioco principale, nonostante sia stato annunciato a questo proposito anche un seguito (Broken Spirits) che non ha ancora visto la luce.

Reiwa compare nel gioco principale come assistente dello psicologo di Noa. Ha una cantilena? Tipo troppo irritante?

LockedOn non è però una one-hit wonder, nonostante il secondo capitolo di Broken tardi ad arrivare: la sua pagina itch conta diversi giochi all’attivo, tra cui Prison of Lies, scritto nel corso di una VN jam e quindi abbastanza corto, ma che costruisce un mistero molto interessante pescando a piene mani proprio dagli Zero Escape, con un cast più serio e meno nevrotico di quello di BM e tanta tanta tensione. Si tratta dell’unico altro gioco dellə sviluppatorə che ho provato, ma anche i due capitoli della saga di Methods sembrano essere dei gialli interessanti e ben rifiniti, giustificando anche il prezzo un po’ più importante – se questo Broken Minds riesce ad appassionarvi, consiglio di tentare l’acquisto.

Sono sempre felice di scoprire sviluppatori che hanno una chiara idea di che cosa vogliono scrivere e che hanno anche le capacità per farlo bene; che poi questi sviluppatori seguano il solco di alcune delle mie serie videoludiche preferite è solo la ciliegina sulla torta; spero dunque di avervi incuriosito abbastanza da dare una chance a questa VN, o perlomeno a giocare Prison of Lies per convincervi che LockedOn merita il vostro danaro. Che poi sono tipo sei euro, eh, intendiamoci.