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twdmusicboxmystery · 3 years ago

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The Orange Backpack Symbol

So, we’ve been batting around the symbol of the orange backpack for a LONG time. We first saw it on a hitch hiker in 3x10, Clear, when Rick and Michonne went and found Morgan. We’ve seen it and things like it many times since. We still aren’t entirely sure what it means, but these are some ideas we’re batting around.

(Not my edit but just thought it was funny. It shows the fandom picks up on these symbols, even if they often don’t know what to do with them. 😊) I’ll give you my fellow theorist’s observations, first. They are excellent and most likely correct, even if we can’t say for sure, yet. Then I’ll chime in with a few of my own.

@frangipanilove:

I’m still uncertain about the Orange backpack symbolism versus regular backpacks. It sort of depends on the Dutch angles from Coda. If the term “Dutch angles” was something that came from TPTB, then I can make a strong case about Orange being tied to Beth. If it didn’t come from the horse’s mouth then it’s a much weaker connection. It could still be a thing, but it’s just not a case I can argue very convincingly.

@twdmusicboxmystery: For the record, though we haven’t heard tptb specifically mention “dutch angles” in any particular interview that we know of, I do believe we can safely say this came from them. It was talked about in the fandom a LOT and I believe the writers themselves leaked the first idea for it. It’s also part of the “on screen notes” in the Amazon digital version of the episode. Amazon has no involvement in the show other than carrying it and wouldn’t know what to put in the on-screen notes. Which means they come from the production itself. So I DO believe the “dutch angles” idea can be seen as something confirmed by the writers. Back to @frangipanilove:

@frangipanilove: But either way, I believe the “back” in backpack is a reference to “come back” or “return”, “resurrection”, Sirius symbolism. Same with “back pocket”, as well as the torsos we’ve seen sometimes. My reasoning behind that is from season 3 when Merle returned to the show, and Michonne wrote a “biter gram” where she used a walker’s back to symbolize “go back” to Merle.

The original Orange backpack in 3x10, Clear, can be tied to return symbolism in many ways. They initially ignored the guy, then later saw him dead. They passed him, but returned to grab the backpack.

And we’ve seen the backpack numerous times since, and it’s easy to tie it to reunions and returns to one’s family etc. We saw it in Michonne’s trippy vision with Virgil as well. Basically, it’s more return symbolism, because she’s going after Rick. She’ll find him, but even if she doesn’t, the return symbolism has already happened in that she found his boots and the iPhone (apple symbol) with the etching. That’s return symbolism.

(To her, Rick is dead, but these told her he might still be alive, so he’s just been resurrected in her mind.)

So, I view the backpack symbolism as return symbolism, and then the question is if Orange is a symbol that adds something different to the symbolism, or if it just enhances the return symbolism.

@wdway:

It's funny that we're having a discussion about the brownish orange or rust color backpack because I wanted us to discuss it, haha. I've been thinking of it quite a bit in the last few weeks and I agree with you to a certain point, @Frangi, about it possibly being a reunions symbol.

I guess the difference for me is that I believe it also represents a journey. Some journeys are shorter than others, but a journey that reunites you to a person you have not seen for a long time, or even possibly thought were dead. In my head, that's for the rusty orange color.

In the Clear episode, team Rick passes the guy with the backpack, they journey to his hometown where he reunited with Morgan, someone who he was not expecting to see and may even believed was dead. The difference is, he picks up the backpack on his return home.

With Glenn, his rusty orange backpack journey was longer, but he ultimately reunited with Maggie who he hoped was alive but was not certain.

Daryl wore the rusty colored backpack when he, Rosita, and Denise took a short journey to a nearby community. On their way back home, they encounter Dwight. It was a reunion, but not a good one. And although Dwight was alive, the last Daryl had seen him, I'm sure Daryl hoped Dwight was dead.

It occurred to me while I was doing my research about the red rag that Daryl is wearing a rusty orange with brown legging on his right leg when he is on a journey to find/reunite the body of Rick. I need to go back and check but at the D.C. capital, there was a banner of an eye that we believe to be Emily's/Beth's. I believe that banner was a rusty orange, which would mean that there would be a reunion with someone that would require a journey to be reunited with someone believed to be dead.

I believe a regular or bright orange could possibly also be a journey color, but not necessarily a reunion with someone the person believed to be dead. Virgil had a bright or regular orange backpack when he found Connie. And yes, Connie was believed to possibly be dead but we are not led to believe that Virgil knew Connie, so the reunions part of it does not apply. Only the journey he had taken from his Island.

I do not know if tptb actually mentioned Dutch angles but I have seen several interviews of movie directors over the years that have used Dutch angle and have commented that it is something taught in film school that could represent something being somewhat out of tilt, something that is not quite right. I do want to mention that in the episode Stalker that has Daryl and Alpha in the garage there was Dutch angles around Alpha which ties it to the episode, Coda.

I think there were better images of the eye in the promo pictures for that season. The second shot is in the entry hall where they showed all of the different exhibits, banners in different colors, etc. What I want to point out is that chevron at the bottom. The banner looks like it reads, “Natural History,” and maybe the word “Living.”

@frangipanilove:

Regarding the Orange cover on Daryl’s leg, I interpret it as boot symbolism (it covers his leg = boot = trunk), which is synonymous with trunk symbolism IMO. That’s also what we see after Michonne has had her hallucination, including the orange backpack; she finds Rick’s boots in the boat. Boots = trunk and boat = vessel = vehicle.

So, I interpret in a way that ultimately points to the story of survival by way of trunk (three/tree/trunk symbolism). In Michonne’s case, it points towards Rick’s survival story, but because of the blue heron painting (among other things) we know that Rick’s story and Beth’s story are two versions of the same story.

So, when I interpret the symbolism around Michonne in that episode as pointing towards a reunion with Rick (or return to Rick), it means I also interpret the same symbolism as pointing towards Beth’s survival.

The banner in the museum in 9x1 IMO is eye = Sirius symbolism. This is because of Sirius as the “heavenly dog with a star in its eye” from the Robert Frost poem, and therefore also a reference to the one-eyed dog from Alone, among other things.

And in 9x1, the eye banner is orange, and Daryl’s leg wrap is orange. Which ties orange symbolism, eye symbolism and boot (Daryl’s leg) symbolism into Sirius symbolism. The orange backpack = return/resurrection. Daryl’s leg wrapping = boot = trunk = return/resurrection. The orange eye banner = Sirius = return/resurrection.

Also, I don’t think they will ever comment on whose eye it is on the banner, but you cannot convince me that it’s not Emily’s eye unless they specifically deny it.

This is a very short explanation of the symbolism pathway that leads me to think back = return. It’s a way to explain it that fits into my system. But basically, I believe what you say about a journey is just a different aspect of it. They’re slightly different ways of ending up at more or less the same spot. But in order to have a return, there kind of has to be a journey involved, otherwise it’s not much of a return, right?

Actually, I don’t know where you guys stand on this now, but I remember when the Michonne episode aired, @twdmusicboxmystery interpreted the apple symbolism as “separation.” I interpreted it as kind of the opposite: apples as a symbol of “bringing your family back, as Virgil said after poisoning Michonne. She said it took her family away from her, but I believe tptb use the apple symbolism as pointing towards reunion/return/resurrection.

My point is, we’re both right because they are two sides to the same story. There can’t be reunion unless there has been some sort of separation first. So, it could seem like I interpret the apple symbolism opposite to what @twdmusicboxmystery said after the episode, but I actually don’t think about it that way. I think we’re both picking up on what’s important about the apple symbolism, and then we use slightly different word to describe it.

I focus on the return/resurrection part, but in order to have that, there has to be some kind of separation or journey preceding it. You can’t reunite with someone you haven’t been separated from, and most likely, there’s a journey involved. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make much sense, right?

We first saw the eye banner when spoiler pictures from filming 9x1 emerged. They made no attempt to prevent the spoiler pics from coming out, they actually made quite the spectacle of it instead. I actually find that very interesting, because if it really is Emily’s eye, which I’m fully convinced it is, then it was a very loud announcement to TD about Beth, the eye/Sirius symbolism and also the orange symbolism.

We first saw Daryl’s leg wrapping in Stradivarius, right? We see the orange leg wrapping (IMO a boot/trunk reference) in Stradivarius, which is kind of the first we see of Daryl after the time skip, if you don’t count the small clip from the opening minutes of 9x6, which is an interesting clip. But you actually don’t see the orange leg wrapping there.

Which, if you don’t count the clip from 9x6 is kind of the first chronological appearance by Daryl after FM. You see him transitioning into the orange leg wrapping in FM, but chronologically that’s set in the time between 9x5 and 9x7. I love the little clip from 9x6, so packed with symbolism. But I do find it interesting that it doesn’t show the orange leg wrapping. It’s like they went out of their way to NOT show it. No idea if that’s significant or not, but certainly interesting.

@wdway:

You're right Frangi at the core we pretty much all believe the same thing. I agree totally with the eye banner being symbolism of Sirius the one-eyed dog but I also was very excited about seeing the Chevron symbol at the end of the entry hall banners, all in colors that can be tied to Beth. To me it speaks that there will be some type of military tie between the Sirius symbol (Beth) and the Chevron symbol (Commonwealth/CRM)

@frangipanilove: Yeah, agree on the chevron. They really like to pile on the symbols, don’t they. It’s symbolism on top of symbolism.

@wdway: We did actually see a quick glimpse of Daryl's orange legging in Who Are You Now, immediately following the reveal of the X on Michonne's back.

@frangipanilove: That’s awesome. Because that means that when we see it in Find Me, it’s the first time in the chronology he wears it. Assuming he had the orange leg cover during the entirety of 9x6, it means the very first time we see Daryl wearing it is when he’s standing waist-deep in the water spear fishing. Obviously, we don’t see it, but I’m going to assume we’re meant to believe he’s wearing it in the water while spear fishing.

Spear fishing is something we saw with both Leah and Carol in FM. He threw a fish at the front door with the X. In 9x6 we saw him catch a fish on the spear, then immediately a walker emerges from the water. All very strong symbols. Michonne has a very poignant voiceover, lots of symbolism there as well. He sees a walker representing himself grown into the tree trunks (three I believe). It reaches out for him, or something. Then the blue bird comes, grabs the ear worm, we see the nest, the bird babies. More poignant monologue from Michonne, tiny beacons of light etc.

@twdmusicboxmystery

What actually kicked off this conversation not long after Fear, 6x12, In Dreams aired, was that I noticed in Grace’s dream, when she met her daughter Athena, Athena was wearing an orange backpack. Not THE orange backpack, but another one.

I don’t have tons to add except to say that I totally agree with these two ladies. Another, slightly different (though not really) way you could look at it is that backpack always appears before someone dies, but there’s always a return as on the horizon as well.

In Clear, as @wdway mentioned, Morgan qualifies as a resurrection and return, but the hitchhiker carrying the backpack also died. In this case, Morgan also disappeared again, not to reappear until 5x01. So it was also the beginning of another separation between Rick and Morgan.

I seem to remember Carl having the backpack in 3x16, just before TF finally kicked the Governor’s butt. I’ve often wondered if it was a death omen for Carl. And it may have been, given that this is the episode where Gimple took over and probably planned Carl’s arc. But that wouldn’t come for a long time.

It’s more likely that it meant other things. Many of the Gov’s people actually did die, but that also kicked off the Gov’s arc where he disappeared and didn’t return until 4x08 when he bulldozed the prison. And there were HEAVY Beth parallels during those two episodes (4x06-07) about him. There were also smaller returns here, such as Karen returning to Tyreese at Woodbury, and them finding Andrea. Though she, too, actually died.

Michonne’s vision with Virgil has been covered pretty well here. Clearly it’s leading toward her finding Rick (reunion) but also kicks off her separation from her kids, Daryl and the rest of TF. We didn’t see obvious death around her, but I’m sure there will be some in her coming arc. The fact that she keeps ending up with Negan’s bat in her hands is proof enough of that.

I’m sure you can also see how the orange backpack ties into the left/right/back pocket symbolism as well.

So yeah. I think you get the idea. It’s a fascinating symbol, isn’t it? And one we’ll definitely keep an eye on moving forward. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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introvert-celeste · 3 years ago

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Do you think Luz will go back to the human relam this early in the mid season finale?

Like I mentioned in my last ask, I do think that Luz will go to the human realm briefly in tomorrow's episode, but I don't think she'll stay. Since she doesn't have the portal door or the key, I don't think it's very safe for her to go venture too far from where the portal lets out, hence the rope tied around her in the promo images. It's the only way to guarantee that she'll be able to make it back.

Not sure if this counts as a leak but in case it is, spoilers under the cut for the next episode title:

Seeing as episode 11 of season 2 appears to be titled "Follies at the Coven Day Parade," I figure that Luz will be back in the demon realm, and the issue of returning home will be put on the backburner again.

Also, while I'm on the topic: I wouldn't think they'd have a coven day parade without the coven heads so I have HOPE that we will address the Raine situation immediately after the hiatus ends. Blease, I wanna see them again 😭

#the owl house #toh spoilers #asks #luz noceda #toh theories #toh leaks #for the potential leak under the cut

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breakingsomething · 4 years ago

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Dawn Station - Pilot

Basic summary: Video game developer Jack Mcloughlin is finally releasing a new game after a ten year hiatus.

Content warnings: Murder, dismemberment, body horror

It comes as a shock to everyone, including you, when Jack Mcloughlin announces the release of a new game at the start of the second week of October.

There are several reasons why this is such a big deal. One: Jack Mcloughlin has been making games since he was twenty seven, and has released only five of them in the thirty years he's been doing it. Two: Jack Mcloughlin is world renowned for his fantastic horror games, all done in wildly different styles, but still notably his own. Three: Jack Mcloughlin has not, up til now, so much as mentioned working on a new game. The only social media site he's fully active on is Twitter - which you check regularly for any updates - and before the release of his last game, Ehrmann Lab, he had left a series of cryptic clues for two months leading up to the announcement. Those had been probably the most fun two months you'd ever had in your life, and even helped you make new friends. But this time around, there is no warning. The trailer is dropped at Purina Expo, one of the biggest American gaming conventions of the year. You were incredibly lucky to be able to snag tickets. Usually, this convention is where the hottest games that would be coming out the following year would be announced, trailers would be played, and developers would discuss - so everyone there on October 10th is shocked to not only be the first to see the trailer, but to hear from the man himself. Jack Mcloughlin takes the stage, gleefully announcing the release of Dawn Station on October 31st this year.

Now, the release of a new game from Septic Games - Mcloughlin's own software company, which he founded after his second game's release - is a big enough deal. But this… this is something else. Mcloughlin explains it before the reveal of the trailer, and you listen with great excitement.

"Dawn Station," says the man, practically bouncing across the stage with glee and shouting into his mic with a hoarse Irish accent. "is a feat of modern gaming. Now, I understand that when you play games, it can get boring to replay them later on after you've finished, because - well, you know how it goes! You know all the twists and turns, all the jumpscares, all the fights, all the spooks. But what if I told you that there was a way you could play where things were different each time?"

Behind the man, on a large screen, an image comes up. This is the first promo image for the new game to be shown to the people. The image is of a tilted hallway in what looks like a complex, broken down space station, overgrown with unusual plants that glow and spark. In the centre of the image is an astronaut. His helmet is on the floor, blood soaked. His face is half in shadow. All that can be seen is curly olive hair and neon green eyes - two on his face, and one embedded in his neck. The suit itself is torn, ripped open with a mouth and a dripping tongue where the being's stomach should be. A torch is on the ground behind him, attempting to cast light on the room. The words "Dawn Station" come up in solid, bright green font next to the being's face.

"This is Dawn Station!" cries the developer, over the many excited murmurs of the crowd. "The first ever virtual reality game with a fully developed artificial intelligence antagonist! An antagonist who learns from the players movements and choices, who grows and changes based off of what you do. You control the game, now more than ever! He's clever, he's learning, he knows where you are, and his objective is to kill the player - introducing... Alien X, otherwise known as… the Anti!"

Everyone cheers. Mcloughlin steps aside, a beam splitting his pale face, and allows the room to darken, and the trailer to play.

You're in awe. The trailer shows that you play as a character named Drew Oliver, an astronaut in their mid twenties who's aboard the Dawn Space Station, which has fallen to the planet you seemed to have been monitoring - the Othohiri 5RM. The game seems to revolve around attempting to explore the little bits of the planet that you can while repairing the ship and dealing with your descent into madness, all the while being chased down by the Alien X, a shapeshifting monstrosity who's eager to end your life before you can finish your goals. After watching it… well, everyone is absolutely blown away, especially you. This is unlike anything Mcloughlin had ever produced, especially to this scale. It's no wonder he hadn't produced a game in ten years if this was what he had been working on. You're practically vibrating with excitement at the breathtakingly beautiful scenery and realistic yet perfectly stylistic graphics, and the 8D sound design that seems to echo from all around you. It's incredible. The second you get back to your hotel room that night, you're one of the first to preorder the game.

Your week at the convention ends, and you go back home, counting down the days to the game's release. However, even more exciting things are happening. On Twitter, a few of your favourite youtubers are acting rather cryptic. KrisDoesGAMEZ and rrroadblock, two streamers you like, retweet Mcloughlin's announcement tweet with eye emojis and promises of the game being good. DUSSST, visualthursday and BroAverage make their own posts about it. PeachCheerio and TheSkinnerr upload short update videos promising exciting things to come.

On October 15th, it happens - ten youtubers each upload an early access demo of Dawn Station, having been chosen and given the code to play it by Mcloughlin himself. You don't watch the videos because you want to play the game yourself with no spoilers, but from what you've seen, it's fucking amazing. Critics are already calling it the game of the decade. The internet is thriving, and a few people have already cosplayed Drew, the main character. Your best friend uploads a joking cosplay of the Anti and walks around town with it on. He gets over a thousand likes and teases you about being too good for you now that he's internet famous. You're living for all of this.

On October 16th, youtuber PeachCheerio is murdered in his own home.

Everyone is shocked, rightfully. Here is a man who had streamed just the day before, chatting with his members and looking at Dawn Station memes on Twitch. Today, he was discovered by his girlfriend in his own home. Leaked police reports tell you that the man, whose real name was Ronald Murphy, had been messily dismembered, his organs removed, half of them missing. You're in shock. He was one of your favourite streamers, and maybe it's silly to mourn someone you've never met, but you're deeply, deeply saddened by the news.

However, it doesn't stop there. The very next day, youtuber DUSSST - or Louise Greendale - is found the same way Ronald had been. Louise's girlfriend apparently called the police in hysterics before panic tweeting about the incident. The posts were taken down an hour later. The screenshots of what she'd said trend of Twitter and Tumblr anyway.

This is when the conspiracy theories arrive. Two youtubers dead in two days, both brutally taken apart and missing organs? Some people mock the theorists for it. Who had even said Louise had been killed the same way as Ronald, anyway? That is, until more apparent police reports are leaked revealing the details of Louise's death. The internet goes wild. The Los Angeles police department posts a video begging whoever's causing the leaks to stop, to think about the families of the deceased. All this does is prove that they're true. This video, too, is later taken down.

You log off in disgust. Some people have no fucking shame.

Things heat up the next day, on October 18th, when user rrroadblock, or Aryan Jha, dies as well. The death is covered up for the first few hours afterwards, but eventually is leaked in the same manner as the last two murders. This time, the theorists are no longer labeled as crazy. In fact, everyone's getting in on this mystery now. Three popular youtubers dead now, each found in bloody states in their own homes, three days apart? No one knows what's happening, but that doesn't stop people from guessing. And while you refuse to involve yourself in any of this, you also find yourself wondering who or what - not what, of course it's not a what, that's just ridiculous - who is killing all of these people.

Day four. The internet is silent, waiting. And yes, sure enough, youtuber KrisDoesGAMEZ, or Kris Velvet, is dead.

This time, someone realizes something that makes everyone pause. Each of the dead youtubers are all the ones who were given the free demo of Dawn Station, and are even dying in the order that they played it in. Everyone goes insane. Even you're suspicious - of what, exactly, you don't know, because why would someone murder someone else so brutally over a video game? Despite that, this can't be a coincidence. People place bets on whether youtuber ducksontheroof, or Donna Campbell, is going to be the next one to be found dead. Donna herself makes a statement on her Instagram, expressing disgust at all the people who were spreading such information around. She then deactivated all her socials apart from her YouTube. The people who had been making bets were shamed, and you have to log off yet again. This is getting to be too much.

You stay offline until nearly four pm the next day. Your friend calls you up to give you the news, but you already know what they're going to say. Let me guess, you start, voice flat and tired. Donna Campbell's dead.

They confirm it. You don't know what to say.

Her family put out a statement asking people not to theorize about her death. People do it anyway. Reports state that the remaining five youtubers who had played Dawn Station, along with, surprisingly, Jack Mcloughlin himself, had been taken into police custody. For protection, you assume. Once again, the internet goes insane. This proves their theories about the game connecting all the deaths, and a silent dread and buzz of twisted excitement hangs over everyone. You're just disgusted. People are treating this like some kind of murder mystery game, like this isn't real, actual lives.

Two days pass without news. At the end of the second day, there's yet another leak. Youtubers Doomandgloom - Persephone Henry - and TheSkinnerr - Rodney Pratt - are dead. You're just numb. You're just so fucking numb.

This reveal, of course, inspires yet another debate. If the youtubers had been under police protection, how had they died? Had the police seen anything? Why hadn't the leak said anything about it? Who was killing all these people in so little time, how hadn't they been caught? Had, really, no one seen anything at all?

There are now three youtubers left who'd played the game. Hothothotstanley, or Stanley McIver, visualthursday, or Khia Herrera, and BroAverage, or Chase Brody. You met Stanley McIver, once, at a convention in London three years ago. You have a picture on your memory board of you standing in the convention hall, him with his arm around your shoulder, you with a grin and sparkle in your eye. You can see the picture from your bed. You turn away from it.

However, the next day is a surprise to everyone. A video is uploaded to someone's Twitter - a full, uncensored video of the murder of Stanley McIver inside the government safe house he and the others had seemingly been kept in. The video is immediately taken down and the Twitter deleted, but everyone has seen it. Including you. The video is… horrifying. Of course it is. Why did you watch it? But you do manage to see who it is that killed him. Everyone on the internet does. And this - this video, that's maybe five minutes long - is enough to make everyone go silent.

The killer looks exactly like the Anti from Dawn Station.

No one knows quite what to make of this.

Even less so when Jack Mcloughlin dies the next day.

He's murdered. Same way as all the rest of them, in police custody. Now this is enough to shock everyone into mourning silence. Only a few pricks are left, and their accounts, channels and blogs are swiftly deactivated. Nine deaths in nine days. Nine deaths. Nine. Jack Mcloughlin.

The next day, Khia Herrera - well, you know.

Chase Brody is the last one left alive. You never watched his channel that much - he's really into horror, and is known for his Walking Dead playthrough and his Undertale Genocide run - but you still already feel a strange sense of loss. A sort of emptiness. Something churns in your stomach that you don't understand. There's a lot that you don't understand.

The release of Dawn Station is cancelled.

You spend the night at a friend's house, and just bawl for hours. You shouldn't be so upset, you shouldn't! You never knew any of these people! But fuck, there's something about seeing all these people who you'd been watching online for so long, who have given you so many happy days, so many laughs and inside jokes… just die. How had this happened? Who was it who was doing this?

Your friend sadly suggests it's some sick Jack Mcloughlin hater who decided it'd be fun to cosplay as his newest character and kill people to scare everyone. But while you outwardly agree, you internally know it's not true. Because every time you watch that video, every time you watch Stanley die - and you watch it a lot, just trying to make yourself feel something, even if it's just sick - you can tell the person isn't human. You know that's ridiculous, of course. But there's something about its eyes. Its face. It glances up at the camera and makes eye contact, and grins with too many white, jagged teeth, like an anglerfish. The eye in its throat sees you too. It glows. You shudder every time, watching it shake with glitches and laughter.

You're scared. You feel sick and dizzy and you lock your doors out of fear. You stay inside and open Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram again.

Poor Chase Brody, says the internet. They're already mourning. Already accepted his death. Poor, poor Chase Brody.

You hope he's ok, wherever he is.

#dawn station #jacksepticeye #antisepticeye #boop writes

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eroticfriendfictions · 3 years ago

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I doubt any of the people on the bb disorder are insiders so I don't see why discussing any episode that hasn't even aired yet classes as a spoiler

There actually are some show staff members on the discord, but they aren't very active. Anyway, if you're sending me this message then I assume you saw my response there.

I do agree that it's overkill. Stuff like episode titles, press releases, and promo images should not count as spoilers. These things are designed to be released and viewed prior to the episode airing. You don't go to a bookstore and just blindly grab a book and buy it and hope you like it because reading the back cover might give too much away. You don't go to a movie theater and ask the employee at the ticket booth to just pick something for you because you haven't seen any commercials, reviews, posters, etc. in fear of having it ruined.

Honestly, if any media can be ruined that easily, then it's not good to begin with. And if you do like to go in completely blind, then it's on you to have some self control and mute the channel or server or whatever until you've viewed it. We didn't have this strict of a spoiler code last season and things went fine.

But I already voiced my opinion on it and the admin shot me down and I'm not really interested in pushing back more. It is what it is I guess.

#important answers to important questions #anonymous

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arcadianambivalence · 5 years ago

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World on Fire, Episode 4, or How We React to “Normal” in a Crisis

Spring 1940

Months have passed since the last episode, and characters have had time to steady their nerves. Kasia’s previous reservations about killing Germans is largely gone, Lois has decided to have the baby and not involve Harry in her life, Webster and Albert have resolved to stay together, and Nancy has repeatedly tried to sneak her discoveries into her broadcasts (or to smuggle her research out of Germany) despite blackmail.

Other characters have started to lose their determination. Claudia and Uwe’s marriage is falling apart over their differing ideas about how to protect Hilde, Harry is struggling with his responsibilities in combat, and Grzegorz is grappling with his empathy and endurance.

(More under the cut)

The Winter of 1939 – 1940 has ended, and with it, the illusion of peace for Western Europe. Stationed in Belgium, Harry’s group retreats closer and closer to the French border as the German army arrives with far more resources.

Meanwhile, the American hospital in Paris receives wounded soldiers from the front. Refugees fleeing the war need attention too, like a Jewish emigree couple attacked by Anti-Semites, much like Albert was attacked by fascists in the first episode. Henriette, a nurse and Webster’s friend, confides in him that she is Jewish and had hidden that fact when she applied for work at the hospital.

Albert and Webster count their days left together. Webster is happy just to be with him, but Alfred is afraid of being seen. They’ve been together for half a year, and the closest Alfred can get to public displays of affection is a brief kiss after a furtive look around. The reasons for this become all too clear when they return to his apartment to find a swastika on the door and a severed pig’s head on the doorstep.

“I’ll never be safe anywhere in this world,” he tells Webster. “People have got plenty choice of what they might hate me for.”

(I would like to take a moment and appreciate this show for pointing out the fascist movements and rising acts of intolerance all over Europe in the late 1930s and 1940. This is especially visible in the Paris subplot, drawing attention to the wide swath of cultures in the city without entirely romanticizing it as a place of absolute refuge from prejudice. It makes me think the show is laying the foundation for exploring Occupied France and Vichy France next season...)

The German gains in the invasion bring new worry to the Rosslers. “The better the war goes, the worse for Hilde,” Claudia says. Uwe is not happy that Nancy and Claudia continue to meet. Claudia discovers Uwe has registered as a Nazi to cover the family after his conversation with the workers last episode. She is horrified, and the two have a big argument with Nancy uncomfortably caught in the middle. “The Nazis are going to win,” Uwe says. They must appear to be on their side.

Claudia refuses to take the same course of action. She brings Hilde to Nancy to say goodbye, perhaps permanently. Mother and daughter will be staying in a little cabin far away from the city and its watchful denouncers.

Uwe will not be joining them.

Nancy gifts Claudia a bottle of spirits and Hilde American candy, then asks them to listen to her radio show and toast to a better future.

The way Nancy makes sure to place her hand firmly over Claudia’s hurts.

Douglas has concern for his own children’s safety. Tom returns home on leave and confesses that he is thinking about deserting and becoming an official conscientious objector. His father has reservations. Tom could be executed for desertion, and then there are the political ramifications of a pacifist letting his own son into the movement. Hurt and betrayed, Tom leaves home as if he does not plan on returning.

Things fare little better between Douglas and Lois. Although Lois adamantly states that she does not want Harry or his mother involved in her life anymore, Douglas tells Robina that Lois is pregnant in the hopes that Robina’s sense of social (and financial) duty to her grandson will override any qualms about class.

(The cautious back-and-forth between Douglas and Robina is great, as always, and if Harry and Lois don’t get back together, can their parents have something?)

In the middle of these life-changing historical events, characters continue to talk about relationships and their social lives. Lois can’t bring herself to sing one night because she’s heartsick over the realization that her feelings for Harry was a love for a person that never truly existed. Robina and Douglas still have small talk while the latter spoons cubes of sugar into his tea. Stan teases Harry for his two girls back home. Thomasz and Kasia’s interactions are sweet when they get to act like two young adults who aren’t in an occupied country with their lives at risk every minute...then they casually discuss killing a soldier like it’s a fact of life.

Moments like this feel like a kick in the teeth.

On one hand, you could argue that the characters are too blasé about the killings and the risks involved. At one point, Thomasz arrives late to a rendezvous and gives “There was a round-up” as his explanation, almost as if it’s a regular occurrence. On the other hand, wouldn’t it have been? Poland had been occupied for half a year by this point, and maybe Robina was right last episode (to a degree), you do get used to it...or at least, you continue to live alongside it.

All characters undergo a great change in this series, but it’s still startling to see how they react to their circumstances, especially when their reactions are so different from who they were before or how we expected them to be.

Kasia, Harry, and Grzegorz are all placed in perilous situations that ultimately lead to the decision of whether or not to take someone’s life.

Kasia lures an SS officer to a secluded part of town with the expectation that Thomasz will kill him, but when Thomasz has not arrived and the officer starts to go too far, Kasia draws a gun from her purse and kills him. In retaliation for the death of an officer, a new raid is carried out, leading Kasia to come face-to-face with the family of an innocent woman executed for what she did.

The moral quandary in her storyline returns: if killing the enemy results in the death of innocents, do you kill the enemy?

When Harry kills the German sniper, he does it to save his own life, but he also does it to save the lives of the men in his troop. It is one of the few sequences in this show that has the kind of heroics expected of war depictions. But what could in other hands be cathartic violence against non-character antagonists in battle is undercut by Harry’s emotional reaction after the skirmish and the way he freezes at the beginning of the conflict.

He’s not calm-under-fire war hero of fiction, but he’s not exactly a romantic hero, either. Yes, he is the romantic lead of the show, but unlike last episode, he spends his few moments of quiet dealing with his deep-seated familial issues brought out by his powerlessness.

On the run from a death squad, Grzegorz holds a German soldier at gunpoint. The soldier, barely an adult and crying in fear, lowers his jammed weapon. But instead of killing the soldier like Kasia and Harry do, Grzegorz offers his hand. Despite all of the atrocities he has witnessed in the past year: his father’s death, people burned alive in Danzig, narrowly escaping execution, the massacre on the farm, the starvation and sleeping in the woods...and there is still a kind little boy thrown into something much bigger and meaner than he is underneath the exhaustion and self-preservation.

It’s Konrad who kills the soldier, to Grzegorz’s horror.

“I killed one German, just like a German killed your dad.” “Not that German.”

The landscape of the woods around them changes. Snow dusted ground gives way to moss and mud. A spring fog cloaks their journey. And just as the natural landscape subtly changes, so does their luck.

The two stumble across a troop of British soldiers (wait, where are they?) and quickly join the men. Their relief is short-lived, though, and they are soon back in combat. Konrad is shot through the head.

In order to air with a certain rating, World on Fire has to clean up some of the images of violence. You don’t see blood spurt out of people when they’re shot. The scenes of death are not drawn out.

But the image of Konrad, dead before he hits the ground, blood covering face, with a stunned Grzegorz kneeling over him shocked me.

When Grzegorz grieves, the loss of his family comes out, too, for his father Stefan and father figure Konrad.

In Grzegorz’s final scene, he stumbles through a forest, the British soldiers long gone. Spring is here and beautiful, the snow has melted away, the birds are chirping, and green has returned to the Earth. Grzegorz seems unaware of the world around him, only the journey ahead in the middle of anywhere and nowhere.

Spoiler

The next episode’s promo places him on a beach. Is he transported out of Poland by a ship on the Baltic sea? Or are we supposed to believe Grzegorz and Konrad have spent all winter and spring walking through Poland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and finally into France?

Notes

Konrad calls Grzegorz son...

After a disastrous cup of tea with Douglas, Robina makes sure to pay for the both of their orders before leaving

Tom brings the canary home, a visual connector between Jan and his bird in the pilot and Tom now

When Kasia breaks the news to the Polish family of the executed woman, Thomasz notices a German officer kissing a Polish woman next door, which indicates that not all Poles consider Germans the same way they do (and raises the threat of someone recognizing them later)

Robina casually mentions the newly-appointed Churchill to see Douglas’s reaction

#world on fire #world on fire pbs #world on fire bbc #world on fire masterpiece

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aspiestvmusings · 5 years ago

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THE MASKED SINGER (US) S3

THE MASKED SINGER (USA) SPOILERS!

Here’s what we know so far.

Premiere date: Feb 2nd (02/02/2020) right after SB

Clues: There will be clues (video clips?) aired/shown during SuperBowl (commercials) on Feb 2nd

Clues/Clue packages: will be presented differently this time...to make the guessing harder.

Voiceovers: This season the clue package voice overs apparnetly won’t be done by the celebs themselves, who are in the costumes, but by their family members/relatives/friends - people, who know them. (Why not hire a VO actor to read all of the contestants clues instead of involving more people - because the more people that know the identities the harder the secret is to keep, right?)

SEASON 3 COSTUMES:

A-Z

Astronaut

Banana

Bear

Elephant

Frog

Kangaroo

Kitty (Cat)

Llama

Miss Monster

Mouse

Night Angel

Rhino

Robot

Swan

Turtle

Taco

T-Rex (EDITED TO ADD: JUST REVEALED)

White Tiger

And based on the order of the revealed masks, it looks like they are divided into three groups in the following way (these are my guesses based on the order in which each mask was revealed, but there could be mistakes in my guesses):

Edited: to correct the names/masks of the 6 contestants in group A, because it’s not the first 6 costumes revealed. Same with Groups B & C. The order of costume reveal is not the order they’re divided into groups of six.

GROUP A (1)

(Pink) Miss Monster Mask (looks female & she is short!)

Robot Mask (looks male, but he is short-ish; costume: vintage robot)

Llama mask (looks male; costume: tourist w. a camera style)

Turtle Mask (ETA: sounds male, & he is short-ish, could be a team-sports baller - athlete, but sounds like he can sing; costume: punk style leather)

White Tiger Mask (looks male & he is very tall - looks to be around/almost 2m)

Kangaroo Mask (ETA: looks & sounds female...actually...)

GROUP B (2)

Banana Mask (cannot tell if M or F, but possibly a female artist)

Mouse Mask (looks female)

Frog Mask (looks female to me, but could be male, is possible an athlete; costume: purple “Mask” suit)

Kitty (Cat) Mask (looks female, costume: LV burlesque show style)

Elephant Mask (looks male, & he is tal-ish; costume: design gives me MCU quantum realm/time travel space suit vibes)

Taco Mask (cannot tell if M or F)

GROUP C (3)

Astronaut Mask (cannot tell if M or F, most likely male, they are short-ish)

(White) Swan Mask (looks female)

Rhino Mask (looks male, costume: safari & pilot jacket)

Bear Mask (looks female, costume: purple & pink teddybear)

Night Angel Mask (looks female)

T-Rex Mask (looks male; costume: Reneissance/Shakespeare style look) PS. it seemed to be something resembling a 2-headed dragon or so.. so 2 people in one costume or like llama, who has two sets of legs... but instead...it’s a “dinosaur”)

***********************************************

This year the US show has record number of masks/celebs (18), so they are divided into 3 groups (last year it was 16 and 2 groups). And this year the show is filmed and airs differently. First the first group filmed all their episodes, then the second group, and lastly the third group (filming currently). Then only after that all remaining contestants from each group are “united” and compete against each other in the “quarter finals”.

And they also air the episodes this way: First three episodes are group A. And since each week one mask is voted out, then in the end that leaves 3 masks standing in Group A “finale”. Then next three episodes (eps 4-6) is group B. And then next three eps (eps 7 - 9) is Group C. That means that during the first 9 episodes each group competes separately.

Then all remaining 9 contestants (3 + 3 + 3 from each group) get together, and form one group...and the show continues as known from previous seasons. And still each week one (or in some weeks 2) masks are voted out. Til only 3 remain by the Finale episode. This means that S3 has most likely 15 episodes or so (depending on how many weeks have double-eliminations between episode 10 and The Finale)

************************************************

Each costume looks kinda male or female. But you cannot judge the gender of the celeb under it by the look of the costume. If the costume is pink and/or has a dress, it’s not definitely a female celeb wearing it, though they do prefer to use pink for girls & blue for boys...so far. And if the costume is dressed in a suit, it’s not definitely a male celeb wearing it.

Some costumes, which show the persons physique more, make it a lot easier to guess who is wearing it (their gender, their size - height & bodytype), but even then there could be curveballs thrown in there.

I have added guesses on who I think is wearing the costume (male or female celeb) based on how much of the person can be seen under the costume. And based on whats shown in the video clips, and promo pics...the little clues about the celebs that we’ve gotten. Some of these estimates might be off.

We know based on the little info that has come out that there is (at least) one very tall celeb in the costume (Taco, Tiger?). And we know that at least two contestants are not very tall (a bit or quite a bit shorter than the shows host, Nick C., who is 6 feet..or so = about 180cm tall).

Regarding height: When Turtle, Miss Monster, Kangaroo & White Tiger stand next to each other, then they are in order of height with Tiger the tallest & Turtle & Miss Moster the shortest. Miss Monster is quite a bit shorter than host Nick. Robot is also shorter than host Nick. Other short or short-ish contestants include: astrounaut...

IF we assume that (like in most of the time on this format) there are equal number of male & female contestants, then... that makes the guessing based on just the costumes easier...on which one each is.

EDITED OUT AFTER EP 1 HAD AIRED.

**************************************************

STATS:

The 18 celebs in the costumes, combined have:

in total: 69 Grammy nominations (so at least a one or few big(ger) names from music world) EDITED on Feb 3rd: - 25 (the number of noms that the Robot, the 1st mask voted out, has) = 44 left for the remaining 17 contestants

in total: 88 gold record (so at least one or a few big(ger) names from music world) EDITED on Feb 3rd: - 12 or more...depending on which ones count here (as far as I know all or almost all of the Robot’s albums have gone Gold and/or Platinum, and he’s released over 10 albums + mixtapes etc) = 76-ish left for the remaining 17 contestants

in total: 11 super bowl appearances (this doesn’t mean that they’ve played during SB, it also includes all apperances during SB games...like performing during half-time, ...any celeb appearance during the game/broadcast...)

in total: 3 stars in the (Hollywoood) “walk of fame” (so at least 3 big names, who have been given a star there)

in total: 160 tattoos (this means at least a few celebs, who have a lot of tattoos, because 160 divided by 18 gives us 8-9 per person, but I’m guessing some have none/max 1, and some have more than 10) EDITED on Feb 3rd: - 86 (the number of tattoos that Robot, the 1st mask voted out, has - his tattoos made up about half of all the tattoos) = 74 left for the ramaining 17 contestants

in total: 1 title in the “Guinness Book of World Records”** - this one could be easy to figure out if someone took the time to check the list of record holders in those books...

** There are quite many celebs, who have been in Quinness World Record Book. It doesn’t have to really be a “real record” - it can be something like “reached 1 million followers on IG the fastest” or “took the most selfies in a limited timeframe”. Some of the famous people, who have/had in 2019 (when they were cast) or have had titles of Guinness Records include: Eminem, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Shakira, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Justin Bieber, Dolly Parton, Ozzy Obbourne, The Rock, RDJ (kinda, thanks to his fans), Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Lawrence, Cristiano Ronaldo (athlete), Alex Rodriguez (athlete)

***********************************************

And that is basically all theyve revealed so far. Which I personally consider a plus. And I hope that theyve really upped their game, and dont make guessing so easy. For profesisonal singers among the contestants their voice alone will give them away most times (examples: Leopard, Rottweiler last season... who have such unique, well known voices). So it’s a bit more challenging for people guessing for the clues not to be so easy. Which is why I hope they really made the clues harder...like they have promised in the previews.

***********************************************

SPOILERS: We have knows for a little while who would be eliminated first. Because weve seen the four costumes that make it to the last epsiode of Group A (ep 3x03) - Kangaroo, Monster, Tiger, Turtle. Since the Robot was unmasked first, that means Llama will be unmasked next (on Web, Feb 5th). We know this because they always miss that they’ve included soem revealing bits in their promos (or include the pictures/clips on purpose). They accidentally included an image of the last four masks for griup A. And you can also determine who stays for how longif you pay attention to the clips - you can tell how many different performances each mask has - cause for some they include just one, for some several, and the more different songs/performances the further they make.

***********************************************

How many different perdormances from each mask/contestant have they included in their promos/promo clips (this means: they persorm AT LEAST this many different songs):

Astronaut

Banana = 1

Bear

Elephant

Frog = 1

Kangaroo = 1 + 1

Kitty (Cat) 1

Llama 1

Miss Monster 1 + 1

Mouse 1

Night Angel

Rhino

Robot 1

Swan

Turtle 1 + 1

Taco 1

T-Rex

White Tiger 1 + 1

***********************************************

#THE MASKED SINGER #TMS #TMS US #TMS USA #SPOILER #TMS SPOILER #TMS SEASON 3 #THE MASKED SINGER US SEASON 3 #I HAVE HEARD TWO OF THE MASKS SINGS AND BOTH VOICES SOUND KINDA FAMILIAR #I CANNOT PUT NAMES AND FACES TO THE VOICES JUST YET. NEED TO HEAR FULL SONGS AND SEE MORE. BUT... THE GAME HAS STARTED #I'VE GOT MY CUP OF TEA READY. I'M WEARING MY SHERLOCK HOLMES HAT AND HAVE A MAGNIFYING GLASS AT HAND #I HAVE A SUSPICION ABOUT ONE SPECIFIC CELEB BEING IN THE SHOW IN S3. THEY WEREN'T IN GROUP A. BUT THERE ARE STILL 12 MASKS LEFT THAT...

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okimargarvez · 5 years ago

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MAIN TARGET

Original title: Main target.

Prompt: a hacker unsub is targeting Penelope.

Warning: what if for 15x4.

Genre: action, family, romantic.

Characters: Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez, unsub, BAU team, Andrew Mendoza, Maxine.

Pairing: Garvez; slight maxcer, katt, prendoza.

Note: oneshot 68 in Garvez collection.

Legend: 💏😘🔦.

Song mentioned: Eri come l’oro ora sei come loro, Tiziano Ferro.

Note: As I promised, here there is the second story about the spoiler for 15x4. The first I written was based more on the plot and pics, this one it’s after seeing the promo. So I written as I NEVER watched the sneak peeks. Hope you can like it, but more than the episode will be good. The final part it’s based on @thinitta opinions. Thank you, again!

GARVEZ STORIES

MAIN TARGET

No one has entered my golden limbo anymore, an abandoned, cold, tired kitten

-Are you sure you had nothing better to do than to accompany me to this nerd competition?- despite her protests, she has not been able to convince him that she is able to bring the trophy she has won alone, which confirms beyond any doubt that she is still the best hacker out there. -You will be very bored.- the man shakes his head, amused by her statement. He justifies her only because she was too busy “kicking the ass' of geeky kids, to realize how much fun he had, on the contrary. How many times he has laughed or smiled.

He keeps the door open, but he collides with a girl who apparently doesn’t seem at all a computer’s lover, but appearance are not everything and maybe she has accompanied someone in this competition, as he did. He starts to apologize, but she is raising her hand, signaling that it was her fault. Her eyes however don't leave Penelope's body, that is stop behind him. It seems strange to him, he feels an unidentified sensation that he prefers to remain so, so he remembers the way in which more or less the whole place looked at her when they arrived. In the IT field, Garcia is a celebrity. -Anyway, I don't think so.- he resumes their speech as soon as they are outside. -And I was happy to be able to spend time with my best friend.- she stops, turning almost to effect rallenty, widening her eyes and mouth.

He recognizes that kind of expression on her face. -Awww, Luke, you are my best friend too!- she exclaims, stroking him on the arm, not being able to embrace him. -This reminds me...- she hits him symbolically on the shoulder.

Luke massages himself exaggeratedly, to make her feel guilty. -Ouch! Why?- he also uses the hurt puppy eyes look.

She doesn't leave him too much to stew in his juice. -For having terrified me to death with that bomb.- she explains, as they start walking again. It wanted to sound like a nice joke, but in the middle the voice betrays her, breaking.

With his free hand and without stopping to walk he takes her by the arm. -Well, but I didn't asked for be in that situation.- and above all, the bomb was fake, nothing but a diversion. But those two seconds in which he believed he was going to die had been enough for him to see everything more clearly. The important things in his life, which were not things at all. One image. The photo in his memory. The first meeting between Roxy and Penelope. About a week has passed, but he didn't need more than those two seconds to understand why in such a moment he had thought just that.

The blonde taunts herself immediately, unable to be really mad at him. -I know, sorry, I... I was only afraid of... you know.- to lose you, but to really lose you, not to say, not in the sense that you move to another city or even another state or you get married with Lisa ... lose yourself permanently.

Luke also hears the part she prefers to keep silent. -Yes, I know.- what's between them has now become clear, impossible to hide. Neither of them tries to. They don’t know when it will happen, but little, very little is missing. The wait is almost over. This awareness is sufficient not to make them anxious, in fibrillation. It is as if they were already together, even if not officially. She didn't introduce him as her boyfriend to the hackers they met at the competition, but most still perceived him as such. Sometimes attitudes, body language tell more than what we just say. -Would you mind if we made a detour?- the blonde nods. They leave the trophy in the trunk of Luke's car. He sees her watching him trying to understand what goes on in his mind. He chuckles, amused. It's always nice to be the center of her world. They reach the entrance of a park. -Here I take Roxy and Lou to stretch their legs.- Penelope no longer knows where to turn her head. Everywhere there are dogs of every breed, color, size. There are those who run, those who play, those who sleep. It is a kind of circle, reminiscent of an amphitheater or an arena, but covered entirely with lawn, the benches for the owners arranged in a strategic way, to allow everyone to keep an eye on their puppy. One dog in particular attracts Penelope's attention. She leaves the bag and runs towards him. Luke watches her talk to a blond man about her age. They smile. He feels a twinge of jealousy, but doesn’t frighten him or fight against it. Not anymore. She may have a smile on her face, but her heart belongs to him anyway. Something vibrates next to his thigh. He looks down. A pink cover, with the head of a piglet. She has an infinity of them, little less than the frames of the glasses. The mobile phone screen lights up. It was not a deliberate, voluntary action, he will be said later as justification. It was a normal instinct to drop his gaze on that surface. And it's not his fault that he can read quickly, not as much as Reid, but he is doing pretty well. -Hey, Penelope!- simultaneously he does the right thing, calling her. -You got a message.- but then his brain processes the information provided by the retinas. -But what...- and he can't really stop there. He takes her cell phone and scrolls through the email to the end, rereads it a second time, just to be sure. So, he sees that it is part of a series of similar emails from the same sender. He starts reading those too and is about halfway through when she returns to the bench.

The smile immediately turns off on her lips. She is quite bewildered, confused, more than angry or indignant. -Luke, why are you reading my mail?- she asks, but despite the sight problems, she is also a skilled reader. -Luke?- she repeats, shaking him from the numbness or trance in which he has fallen.

He doesn’t give up the telephone set, shows it to her, indicating the contents of one of the emails. -What the hell is this?- even if she knows those words by heart, her eyes can't help reading them again. And she experiences exactly the same thrill as the first one. -Please tell me it's just a joke, a hacker stuff.- Luke pleads, not ashamed to use a desperate tone, not at all macho.

Penelope shakes her head, forced to give him a displeasure. -No, I... don't ask me.- she tries to take back her cell phone and instead ends up that he grabs her wrist.

-This fool says: Tonight, I will dream of a new way to kill you. You did not want to give me a chance in the real world and I will destroy you first in the virtual one, where you are more comfortable, and then also in the real one. There will not be a single trace of your existence, the black queen will cease to exist. No comment?- hearing this threat coming out of Luke's mouth is more than she can bear. She abandons herself on the bench, but the man doesn’t waste any time. He did it when it was not even thinkable, he did it a little further on, for sure he will not scruple himself now.

His right arm surrounds her shoulders, pushing her to lean against him. -He... I...- she is shaking. She is terrified, but he doesn’t know if it is more the responsibility of the stalker or the fact of having to confess it to someone. As if it could be her fault, as if she could have ever done something to deserve such unwelcome attention. But in the eyes of these depraved people, even a smile, like what she did a little while ago, can be considered an invitation, a suggestion.

He sighs, trying to calm down, because it could only shake her further. And this is certainly not his target. -You went out with him?- he knows it's an awkward question, but he's forced to ask it. He should treat the matter like any case, not get involved. But it is practically impossible. Did Morgan do it when Battle tried to kill her? -Make me understand, because I want, I need to understand.- fortunately, to his enormous relief, she shakes her head.

-No... the situation is...- she stutters. Without thinking about it, Luke begins to caress her hair, and continues, realizing that the gesture is helping her. -There is this guy, on the web... he has been explaining me in details... how he is gonna kill me...- she doesn't cry, and the thing is quite strange, but she vibrates like a jackhammer and the beating of her heart gallops. It's all true, he didn't imagine it, it's not a funny joke, even if he hoped for it.

He swallows, feeling anger rise up his body and stop in his throat as usual. He closes his eyes. Counting even up to ten thousand won't help. -How long?- he asks only, without opening his eyes. If he does, he will find that she is afraid of him too, right now. Because his voice seems to come from the depths of hell. Such anger resounds within him, implacable and at the same time so tempting...

Her lips tremble, her hands vibrate, the whole body is shaken by sobs. -A few... a few weeks... almost a month.- she admits at the end.

All good intentions are sending to hell immediately. -WHAT?- he shouts so loud as to attract the attention of some owners and even some dogs, who stop to stare in their direction. He looks at her without masking the nervous in any way. But his arm remains where it is, wrapped around her shoulders. -Is there any living thing, apart from Sergio, to whom you said it?- Penelope shakes her head, fleeing her gaze. And he doesn’t seem about to perform a deplorable act. -Why didn't you tell anybody about this?- some men simply keep an eye on him from a distance. But the real question is Why didn't you want to tell me either?

-I, I don't know! I thought it wasn't dangerous, he never did anything other than sending me those messages, and I didn't want to waste time of the team, with all the things that have happened in these months...- JJ's confession, then she then had risked to die because of the daughter of the Chameleon, the bomb, the break between him and Lisa, the engagement of Emily and Andrew. It is understandable, her reasoning, but not for this more acceptable. Because she risked being killed so as not to weigh on others. And he can't see it as a nice thing. He may never find out what it feels like to kiss her. Or to wake up next to her. And only because he fell in love with a too generous woman. No way.

-How could you believe it wasn't dangerous? This madman will not limit himself to online threats, his language says so, he will come out. Very soon.- he can't take it, looking at her in a normal way. -There is even a part where he talks about me.- he whispers, showing her. You fell for the new boy like an ordinary whore. You were like gold and now you're like them. But I know how to make you come back precious. With death you will recover that aura of purity.

-I'm sorry, Luke, please excuse me!- watching her cry and begging him to forgive her for faults that are not actually hers, is more than he can handle. He takes her face in his hands, forcing her to stop. But she manages to say one last thing. -I don't want you to hate me too!- he takes a breath before speaking.

-Hate you? I don't hate you and I could never do it. What does it mean that too? Who would this fool be?- the childish appearance has never made her less attractive to his eyes.

-My brothers, because I allowed Jesse to get out of prison and because it is because of me if our parents were out at that time.- she replies, eating only a few words in sobs. Luke wipes her latest tears to flow down her cheeks.

-I am sure they don't really hate you, and that in any case things will work out .- he replies in a calm tone, realizing that it is working, that she is calming down. -But right now, we have to focus on this madman. We need to talk to the team about it. You will see, we will take him.- he cannot have the mathematical certainty, were it not that the idea of living together every day from here on with the possibility that she will be torn from his hands... is inconceivable. So, they will be able to find him and make him harmless, in a more or less definitive way. This will depend on him. Hackers are often cowards, although it is bad to think so, since she also falls into the category; but it is enough for him to remember the reaction of the boy who worked at WUKO and enjoyed driving cars to invest people. He doesn’t believe that he will be able to endure a physical struggle.

-No, please, we can't tell the others, it's one of the few times that we don’t have a case, they're all relaxing... I know that Emily and Rossi are helping Matt to assemble the crib, Kristy sent me a pic... and they chose a tremendous color.- she chuckles, but she can't fool him, because his eyes are still shiny. -With all that has happened... we deserve a break.- but Luke is not willing to listen to reasons.

He caresses her delicate face again, bringing it closer to his own. -I wish I could do as you say, Penelope, but... I have a bad feeling.- it is the instinct of the hunter, who has awakened from hibernation and is almost never wrong. -I have to protect you, I can't lose you, okay? I know it's melodramatic, that seems to come out of a bad action movie with some romantic skits, enough to convince your girlfriend to come to the cinema with you to see him...- marketing strategies, nothing else. -But it’s still the truth.- the weight of his words hovers between them. He lifts her chin and their lips meet for the first time. During the kiss he feels her tremble. She is afraid, she is terrified, but she has no intention of communicating it to him, not even to him, after all that has been and is happening even now.

And every kiss you denied is a little bit that you of lost me

They separate gently. Penelope immediately looks away and the man realizes that the path is still long, he has not crossed the finish line. -Luke, I...- he doesn’t allow her to waste her breath in listing the thousand reasons why that kiss is not to be understood in the only sense it assumes. He does it in her place.

And every ‘I love you’ that I kept silent is a bit that I lost of you

-No.- he shakes his head. -It was not a comforting kiss, nor I did let myself be taken by the role of friend or protective colleague, by the atmosphere. Do you really want to deny what's between us?- she shakes her head, curling up against him. -Good. Now let's start by informing Emily, she will decide what is best to do, what do you say?- she disagrees, even though she is aware that Luke is right. So, she just keeps silent. -Listen to me, Penelope, I will not allow anyone to kill you or tear you a single hair, do you believe me? I know you are afraid, I’m too, I am terrified, but I will not leave you alone for a second, it will have to kill me first, pass over my dead body, as they say, to get to you.- the woman remains with her eyes sealed, clinging to the his chest as a lifeline. A buoy in the middle of the sea. -I couldn't do anything for Battle already... but this time... I'm here, and I'll do my part.- she walks away and looks at him, shocked.

-You know?- she only whispers. But she should have guessed that someone had told him what had happened after her reaction as they were discussing Ferrell's case again. Luke nods.

-Yes, I know, and even now I struggle to understand how someone could have done such a horrible action. Not just for shooting you. But that bastard went out with you. He was able to admire a suit that you had chosen specifically for him. And your smiles. He had a privilege that I didn't think it would ever be granted to me... for this I hate him, even if he's dead.- he doesn't want to hide even a small part of his thoughts anymore. -I would have liked to kill him with my own hands.- he fears that she could get away, after all this is the main reason why he has always limited himself to flirting with her.

-Wow.- she replies instead, as the information aligns in her brain.

-Yeah.- he sighs and calls Emily. -Hey, am I bothering you?- he feels the blonde's gaze on him. He strokes her hand gently to reassure her. -Huh, well, maybe it's better if you put the speakerphone on. Penelope has a stalker. Ok, a quarter of an hour and we'll be at BAU.- he hangs up. -Honey, I know you don't want to bother anyone, but believe me, if you force Rossi to wear another tie to come to your funeral, he will be very annoyed.- despite the dramatic situation, he managed to make her laugh. -Here, let’s go.-

And your every silent smile was a photo of us

On the way they still talk about Battle, but above all, Penelope reveals that there was another time when someone wished her dead, not long before he appeared on the horizon. -They were called the dirty dozen, it's a complicated story, but it has to do with Cat, Cat Adams. It's thanks to Reid if they didn't kill me.- he listens without asking questions, he keeps them all for later. -In practice the worst and most skilled assassins wanted my head on a silver platter, like Salome with John the Baptist.- along the way she makes various attempts to make the story less ugly. But he remains silent and inscrutable. -I lived for some time indoors in the BAU, in an office. I had equipped it pretty well and sleeping on those sofas wasn't bad either, I don't know if you've ever tried...- nothing, not even in this case any decipherable reaction. -And it wasn't terrible, I'm serious!- she doesn't know if he believes her, and she's afraid to deepen what goes on in his mind, considering what he told her about Battle. And that in any other case it would have exclusively terrified her, but since it was him... she had also been flattered. Because even if he hadn't explicitly told her he loved her, it was as if he had. -They have all been very close to me, Rossi has tried to teach me how to play poker, but, you know... I'm bad at bluffing.- a hint of a smile. She should be decidedly satisfied. -And Hotch dined with me, we cooked the jalapenos... - whatever is going on in his mind, he never lets her hand, until they reach his car, and if by chance someone risks touching her, he quickly drags her against him, literally shielding her. -I wanted to tell you so you won't find out from others, as happened with Battle.- she concludes, and he understands that she's done. He brings her hand close to his mouth, kissing her knuckles.

-Thank you for trusting me.- trust is all in a relationship and he has a weight on his conscience to take off, but this is not the right time. They will first eliminate the threat and then discuss it. -It is really terrible to imagine you in such a situation and to know that all this was happening only a few floors higher than mine... and rationally I know that I could not have done anything. It was not yet my turn, but this time it is. Please allow me to protect you.- he is kind to ask, considering he won't accept a negative answer anyway.

-I don't want you to be in danger because of me.- she replies instead, putting the cards back on the table. Luke understands what she meant by that phrase. -You want to do what you couldn't with Battle, am I right? Hunt him and eliminate the threat.- her eyes memorize every detail of the man. -What if I asked you instead to stay by my side and let the others conduct the research? Would you be willing to do this for me?- she is asking him a lot, because she is aware of his nature, how much he misses certain aspects of his previous work.

The man doesn’t reply hastily, risking to say the wrong thing, as has often happened to him before and not only with her. Obviously, he had imagined to personally hunt the bastard who was threatening the life of his... loved girl. Like a knight on a white horse in fairy tales, like Orlando in the Carolingian cycle. Fearless and intrepid, heedless of death. But he is too insightful not to understand the blonde's point of view. If he dies during this hunt, what sense could there to try to protect her? Yes, she will be alive and this is the main thing, the main goal; but without him... right now that he has confessed what he feels... he meets her gaze for a thousandth of a second and obtains confirmation. She could die of it anyway. -Penelope, honey... if that's what you really want, I'll do it, even if it's going to be really hard.- she nods.

-I know. I know I claim a lot, but... try to see it in this perspective. You won't be on the bench. You will be my personal bodyguard. Or would you rather leave me alone while you are all out looking for him? I'm not a profiler, but I know hackers are a particular category of unknown subject. They are not part of the classic schemes.- it is not certain that he understood what she meant. -It could send you off the road, sidetrack you and wait for the right moment to attack me when I'm alone. If he really intends to move on to the facts.- she concludes.

-Fuck, you're right, that's why you are the genius of the lamp and I am the Aladdin's carpet.- the joke manages to snatch a giggle, but above all it goes to hit a very hidden part of her soul. Never, at first glance, she would have said that Luke was such a playful guy. And she likes to bask in the belief that she is partially responsible for his transformation.

-There would be another thing too... and I don't think you will like this more than the other.- she recovered her security not because she stopped being scared... it's difficult, when you know there is someone out there who has done of you his main goal. Rather, because panicking won't get her anywhere. And she has a lot to fight for. Her extended family, Sergio and now also Luke. She will not allow any homunculus to ruin everything. It took four years to get to this point and he still seemed on the verge of making a decisive move, regardless of this situation, which accelerated things. But she has no intention of thanking him when she has him in front of her. The man patiently waits for her to start talking again. -Here, the fact is that... the unsub it's like me. I think I'm a more challenging opponent for him. I mean...- he got there. He brakes, risking to cause a tamponade. He recovers part of his faculties and pulls over laterally.

-You want to be the bait, don't you? You want to lure him into a trap, you want...- he shakes his head. She knew he would never agree.

-Luke, if it is true that you love me...- it sounds like a fake phrase. -You have to let me do my job. I'll be safe, I'll be behind a screen and you'll be with me!- she tries to make him reason. -It's my field, this, not yours!- she protests, clenching her fists.

-Let's see what Prentiss will say, and what the others will think.- he replies, as a sort of respite.

In my opinion it is much better to give a cut and thank goodness because you were doing too well, you know

JJ is the first to notice their entwined hands when they enter the meeting room. The other thing that stands out is the absence of Spencer, who arrives a few minutes later, with a very strange look, half confused and half with head on the clouds. There is a third detail. Almost everyone is dressed inappropriately to do their job, because in fact it was not expected that they would.

-Well, now that we're all here... Penelope, do you prefer I explain the situation to others?- the blonde is about to respond, when Agent Alvez takes the floor in her place, standing up and separating from her for the first time in about an hour.

-I would like to do it, if you don't mind...- he just gives her a look and maybe he wants her approbation. Garcia opens her laptop and a first image appears on the screen in front of them. One of the last emails the asshole sent her. Full of vivid details on how he will kill her. Everyone's eyes widen in disbelief. JJ just can't conceive that this is happening again. Although more than six months have passed, he feels the scar throbbing, the last of a beautiful collection. Luke leaves them a few more seconds to absorb everything. -This person, if we can call him that, about a month ago started contacting Garcia, writing things like the ones you see here. Spence, we has already sent you a detailed copy, I am sure that in five minutes you will have read it all.- the youngest nods, bending over the tablet and trying to concentrate each neuron on the task entrusted to him. Even if the image of a certain girl with whom he was spending a nice afternoon continues to disturb him, tease him. -Garcia has narrowed the field of research while we were waiting for you.- he looks at her with such pride that all doubts disappear from the mind of the profilers. Tara caresses the blonde's shoulder, sitting next to her.

-He is good, but not so much.- he is not at her level, it is the translation. -He managed to mask his real address, well, any teenager who spends too much time in front of a computer...- the fact that she is rambling, as usual, reassures them, even if they can't let go too much. The danger is always out there and this time it has a precise face. -To make a long story short, the area from which he sent those messages is Denver.- another image, it is a map with a red dot towards the center of the state of Colorado.

-This, however, doesn’t mean that he is still here, right?- Rossi asks and he is not the only one to have wondered this question. Everyone first looks at Penelope and then turns their gaze to Luke. He nods.

-Yeah, I think so too.- he turns to the boss. -I know it's not correct, that goes against the protocol...- Emily lets him speak, but her face darkens. -I wish I could stay with her, I should blindly trust the teams and the witness protection service...- but he shakes his head, because when the person you love in first person is at risk, then everything changes.

Taking into account what he risked with Barnes only two years ago, he doesn’t expect the brunette to nod so strongly. -They won't let us handle this case, because one of our agents is directly involved…- she replies. -So, I don't see where is the problem.- a radiant smile appears on the lips of the Latin. -Matt, I think it's better if you also stay here in Quantico, Kristy is so close to giving birth...- the other man nods, relieved. Although the idea of witnessing the birth of another child perhaps makes him more anxious than leaving with others. -The rest of us are going to Denver, although I feel we won't get much out of it, we can't leave out any options.- Reid never took the floor, which is quite strange, but above all he is still staring at the tablet. -Wheels up in twenty.- JJ reaches out, placing a hand on his shoulder.

-Hey, Spencer, are you okay? - he winces. Jennifer is her best friend, but six months is not enough to erase certain confessions. He is torn about the need to tell someone what happened to him, because it was since Maeve's time... or rather, this comparison cannot stand. Because the first time he saw Maeve was practically the last. Max, on the other hand... why can't he stop thinking about it? What's so special about her?

-Yes, yes, I am... upset by this thing.- this doesn’t calm the uncertainties of the blonde. -Shall we go?-

Taking advantage of the paid leave they both have in arrears, Luke moves to live at Garcia's house, along with Roxy, of course. Perhaps his apartment would have been safer, with all the weapons hidden, but when he proposed it to her, he read in her eyes that it was not the best choice. He had lived there with another woman; however girls were friends. Her home, however... was a virgin. In any case, he equips it as a bunker, installs every security system he knows and almost they get into a fight, when he discovers that it was such a vulnerable target. He calms down because losing his head doesn't help anyone.

On the third day they receive a message. Kristy gave birth to the baby. It's a girl. Matt is back in the minority again, and they are sure he won't mind. They even manage to laugh at it, although the tension is always clear between them, and of a different type than usual. It is not sexual, even if that remains latent and never disappears. It does not depend on being aware of what the other is feeling. Or for the only kiss they exchanged. It is the waiting that exhausts them.

By violating any existing protocol, the team manages, with the help of Emily's boyfriend, who has knowledge in the Denver police... to convince the chief of the latter to collaborate without letting the superiors know, because otherwise they know they will try to take them off the case. Even if they can't force Garcia to join the program if she doesn't want to. And they are sure Luke can do much better than any stranger, however well trained. However, they don’t get blood out of a stone and are forced to return to Quantico empty-handed, but with a heart full of panic.

On the jet, Spencer receives a message that interrupts his fifteenth reading of War and Peace. He does it whenever he feels scared, insecure, because it reminds him of Gideon, a case where computers were seen as the main threat, and also those who use them for work. He flows that short sentence that has already implanted in his retinas... but of course, he has an eidetic memory, no? But he is certain that this would have happened anyway, even if he was an ordinary man. He raises his head and glance at JJ who is talking to Emily and Tara. And suddenly he feels good, and not a reckless one for having given the number to an almost unknown woman. But she is not an unknown; her name is Max, and that's all he needs to know. Now he can concentrate on his job and prevent the asshole, as Luke calls him, from hurting Penelope. She has given him back the lucidity that he thought he had lost and she has succeeded in being simply herself.

-I don't agree and I don't like it at all.- he exclaims, as expected. Penelope shakes her head. -No one here has anything to say? JJ, are you really going to let your best friend, untrained to shoot and not even get out on the field, put her life in direct danger? Reid, is it possible that you didn't come up with one of your brilliant ideas? Someone say something, please!- they are all at her (their) home because they didn't even consider the trip from there to Quantico safe. A few days have passed and living with her is beautiful, an advance, a glimpse of the future... but not like that, not with that shadow always between them.

-I understand how you feel, Luke, of course we are all concerned about Penelope's safety, but we will be close to her, you know we would never let her go completely alone.- tries to reassure him Rossi, who has always seen him as a son and is responsible for what was born among his children... after all he was the first to insist so much that he joined the team.

To be on the safe side, they used his magic box of baseball tickets, the faraday cage, so that the unknown subject cannot hear what they are saying, even if their cell phones are turned off. -Honey, we've already discussed it. You have to let me do my job.- but the man's eyes reply You don't want me to do mine, though. And those of her, still Instead yes, you are already doing it and it could even last more than one case, right? Protect me and love me, as I will protect and love you. She strokes his arm, not ashamed to show affection for him. And he to reciprocate, intertwining their fingers.

-Dammit!- a book flies beyond the table, without being damaged. Everyone turns to Spencer. Garcia starts to vibrate, because she remembers another occasion when he did the same. -I don't know why it took me so long.- Emily intimates him with the look to go on. -We have not considered a fundamental variable. We assumed it was a man, right? But for those who were... JJ, Penelope, do you remember the case of Lila Archer?- the two blondes nod in sync. But Reid's super-powered brain has already gone further. There would be another example he could give… and which he would understandably prefer to avoid.

-What is it about?- Matt asks for those like him who still ignore the connection.

-She's an actress we met in 2005, I think.- JJ seeks the approval of her best friend. -The people around her, like a rival, her manager... died, paving her the way for success and at the same time various persistent messages arrived from a particularly devoted admirer...- it is the landlady to reveal the mystery.

-It was her assistant. She was a woman.- silence for a few seconds.

Tara is the first to break it. -Are you really convinced that this is a similar situation?- at the same time, Luke curses himself. Why was he so stupid? Why has he never considered such an option? Penelope risked dying from a stereotype.

Spencer shows them some sheets, prints of the emails of the subject unknown for Garcia. -It's in the language, it's all here, black on white.-

Agent Alvez sighs, trying to make as little noise as possible. The new dad next to him just looks at him. He won't make the same mistake. He will not be fooled by the fact that being a woman, the asshole is a minor threat to the woman he loves. They are in a van just one meter from the place where she is. He doesn’t see her, but sees what he is observing, as if they were inside her eyes, thanks to the micro camera installed in a special pair of glasses.

There is still no one, then, a noise. Years and years of training. Work undercover. And he jumps like a Newbie. Ouch, wrong term. -Friend, stay calm.- it's easy for him to say. But he tries to listen to him, aware that he is right.

-Hey, honey!- the asshole doesn’t have to understand that this is a trap. She didn’t write to her "let's meet in this place at this time", as she would have liked. No, Emily has come up with another plan, much more sophisticated. She loaned her boyfriend, an excellent bodyguard. Luke watches Mendoza smile at her and then everything turns black for a few seconds, but he knows it's because he hugged her, as he knows that being jealous of him is stupid and irrational... but he can't help it. He will have to work on it and he will have the time, so closed speech. -I missed you.- he says, and he could be an actor, however good and credible he is.

-Me too.- a snap. But she's not kissing him, no, it was probably... on the cheek, yes, he wants to believe it is so. Again, moving images. There are not many people, but one in particular attracts his attention, however out of focus it is.

-I have already seen her. Shit, I've seen her before.- he starts muttering. -During the hacker competition!- he stands up, banging his head against the roof, given the limited space.

-Where would you like to sit?- his girlfriend asks her boss's fiance in the meantime. Trying to do the right thing, he speaks to her thanks to the skillfully modified earring he wears.

-Penelope, I identified her, is the one sitting two tables away, I have already seen her, it cannot be a coincidence.- he communicates them, masking as best he can the anger that rises. He doesn’t care at all that it is a woman and not a man, as he assumed until a few hours ago. If she dares to hurt Penelope, he will have no hesitation. Andrew, who is equipped with another kind of device and has therefore listened to Luke in turn, takes her by the hand.

-What about this?- exactly in front of the mad woman. Penelope nods.

-It seems perfect to me.- but her smile falters. Just a second. Just one miserable second. And someone else's eyes widen.

-She has understood it's a trap.- Luke whispers, so softly that only Simmons hears him. He takes off the equipment. -I’m going.- he announces. The friend holds him by the arm, but he gets rid of it. -I don't give a fuck, I have to get in!- he opens the door and rushes to the street, almost spraining an ankle. Such distractions cannot be allowed. He runs to the entrance, but he has to calm down, think clearly. What if he was wrong and ruined everything? Then he looks through the window and feels himself dying. There is a body on the floor. He forces the eyes to focus on the image. It's not her, it's not her. He repeats it as a mantra.

He throws open the door abruptly, now he cares nothing about the surprise effect. The device screams the same name into Penelope's head over and over again. -Andrew, Andrew, are you okay?- a voice that she has never heard so desperate.

-FBI, let her go!- he shouts, and for the first time during this mission, he follows the protocol. He pulls the trigger, ready to fire. His aim is very good, but enough to risk hitting her? What was one of the last things Spencer said? These subjects tend to put themselves in extreme situations and if they understand that they cannot obtain the love of the subject of their desire, then they kill themselves, taking it away with them. He looks at the narrow weapon in those pretty hands. He has no intention of underestimating her.

-Good evening, Agent Alvez.- her voice is melodious, but there is something too much, like a coffee to which excess sugar has been added (Reid would not agree). -Why didn't you pretend to be her boyfriend? You certainly have more chemistry.- she is smiling, while she points the gun at the blonde's belly, her arm around her neck.

-You knew who I was.- he tries not to look towards Mendoza. -She has no fault. You love her, right? And then you have to let her go. Isn't this the true love? Wanting what the other wants, even if it makes us feel bad.- he approaches slowly, while the other people have already been evacuated. She doesn't care about anyone else outside of Penelope. -What's your name?- tries Luke again.

-Yeah, you really care! But Penny knows me, doesn't she? How could you not realize that I was behind all this!- she tightens tightly, until she snatches a moan.

Her eyes are shiny but she doesn't cry. -I... I'm sorry, I don't remember...- her eyes widen suddenly. -Elizabeth.- she says only. The other's face melts into an ecstatic expression, and almost seems to be about to embrace her. He takes advantage of it to get closer.

-Stop there.- but she is not stupid, not enough. -Penelope, do you prefer me to kill him or you first? Who do you choose?- the blonde's eyes fall into hers, while he reads her lips. Forgive me. He rushes forward.

The detonation of a shot. Matt gets out of the van like a fury, followed by the others. It was impossible to surprise her from behind, because she leaned against the wall. Tara stays with Emily to calm her down. Scuffle noises. Matt picks up Luke's cold gun. It didn't shoot, shit. Spencer touches Mendoza's neck: there is a beat. A stain of blood on the gray floor. Small.

The drops and the noise follow. Luke and the woman are struggling, but it is now clear who is getting the better of it. -Luke! Please don't do this! Luke!- Matt and Rossi lift the injured agent off the ground, careful not to hurt him. JJ rushes to her friend, while Spencer handcuffs the woman along with a dented but alive Mendoza. -I'm fine, I'm fine, but she shot him!- she embraces her, and together they leave that place in a sort of strange procession of sick people.

Reid feels the cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He answers, smiling when he recognizes the voice on the other side. -We have just solved a bad case and saved one of my best friends... I would like it if you can know her...- he looks at JJ -maybe all of them.- the wait, the uncertainty.

-It would be nice, but… are your days all like this?- she asks him.

-More or less.- he admits.

A little further on, red and blue lights signal the arrival of the rescuers. -It's nothing, just grazed my arm.- Luke protests, trying to convince them not to go to the hospital. But Penelope's gaze leaves no room for compromise. He resigns himself with a sigh. Andrew is loaded onto the same ambulance.

-We have to stop meeting like this.- Emily tells him with a trembling tone.

-I agree.- the man simply replies, chuckling. Wrong choice. His fiancée scolds him with a dirty look.

-What would you say about a nice double date?- Penelope suggests. Luke watches Spencer before the doors are closed.

-If we wait a few more days I think we can make a third date.

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seenashwrite · 5 years ago

Text

Notes From Nash: Season 15, Episode 3

It's ep three, and was third try the charm? Well, we're still in that little town, which is infuriating. But don't lose hope, chickadees. There was some character arc action and some plot advancing, and just drama in general, and it moved at a decently quick clip, all of which is refreshing after last week's ass-disaster of an episode.

If I were grading this ep, all things considered (including some damn fine acting moments that elevated the material), it's an A-. (Five points were docked immediately because we were still in the little town.) But seriously, this week's writer(s) had a LOT to make up for given the aforementioned last week as well as a largely lackluster premiere, so you know what? Props to them.

We got a loose end from season past tied up, got rid of some dead weight, and then there was a thing that happened that I’m not entirely sure was necessary at this interval, but I get why it happened. Of course, we had our requisite random hamfisted “solution(s)” and still-unexplained bits that should’ve been clarified ages ago, can’t not have those, it seems. Regardless, this episode was actually fairly interesting to watch. I’m still wary about the state of the season after the first two, but this one had some spark.

Spoilers below the cut, you know the drill.

This one's in order, I was jotting stuff down as I watched. Past ep breakdowns linked at the bottom. If you’re new, hello, welcome, etc., I don’t do meta shit or reading into the symbolism of the color of a blurry wallpaper just over someone’s shoulder, I look at writing and cohesiveness and structure and flow and all that jazz. I basically just call things as I see ‘em.

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More spooky-scary still seems to be pouring from the hellpit, but at least this crypt is pretty, and Harry Potter tent-esque because the square feet inside is seemingly bigger than the outside.

Rowena appears to be outfitted in one of my grandmother's housedresses, or a coffin lining, or a 1980s prom dress, whichever you prefer, and none of them have been pressed. I'm trying to say I don't like it. They also continue to do Ruthie's makeup in such a manner that she perpetually looks approximately fifteen years older than she actually is, so in a way I'm thankful this is likely her last episode. On the other hand, I trust these writers and the people who assemble/green light the promos about as far as I can throw them, so we shall see. In any event, Ruthie is quite the good actor and I hope she gets a million gigs after all this is done.

This Sam-Dean moment with Creased Brow Sam and Gruff Voice Dean is falling so flat, not because of them, but because we're hearing The Same Damn Thing We've Already Heard. Move the plot along, please----- Oh wait here comes Belphagor once again with a solution, this time a nice little plot rescue MacGuffin! Lilith's Crook. Just gotta blow it like a horn.

Motherbitch, this is stupid.

I got a thought: make it Gabriel's horn, so it calls in all the angels who should've come back with the reverse-y switch-a-roo, and they deal with sealing the hole, but bonus! At end of ep last scene is that it's also called Gabriel back, too. I'd announce to the universe that this show needs to hire me, but, welp.

Oh look, Ketch is in a hospital gown. Oh look, I bet Ketch is about to die in that hospital gown, instead of a badass suit like it should be. It looked like DHJ accidentally spoiled via a tweet that I happened to see-----

I dodge the promo images and articles and such so I can give a view of someone who doesn't know what is coming in these things.

-----because he talked about coming back just to leave again, that it was a pleasure, whatever, and y'all will have to fill me in on that because I kinda can't believe he whiffed that hard. I'm not looking it up, is my point. Did he whiff? Actually, don't answer that, I don't care. I mean, don’t go to trouble looking into it on my account.

Hmmm. Was Ketch’s death entirely necessary? At least, right now? I dunno. Maybe. I’m 50/50 whether this, or have him be double-crossy then get killed later. In any event, well-acted by DHJ. He's quite fantastic. He is wasted in all the Hallmark dreck he's been in, I really hope he gets some good work after this. That's that. Moving on.

We're 1/4 in, and I'll give it this: we've gotten some action, some drama, but they've GOT to make up for the lack of plot progression in episode 2. Belphagor is shady as shit, which we knew, and this just got reinforced by that demon who has such a hard-on for Belphagor getting axed.

I do not mind rando badass lady hunter having lines and playing a tangentially-important role in the ep, but this means if we ever see her again, she'll likely get killed, so I'm not getting attached.

So hell is an angry vagina. SFX, are y'all okay? Is that prick whose tweets occasionally come across my feed still working there? Y'all need some hugs? I know y'all need some better budget, that all the DC shows got it, but oh well, that ship's sailed.

Well done set dec, I dig the ghoulish statues in that hallway. And hey costume design, I like the ring that dude was wearing, I would wear that in real life. It would also look great as a wrist cuff. I digress.

We know this demon is not going to succeed in killing Belphagor, so once more we have a pointless halftime cliffhanger. Also, have I mentioned I'm done with Cas being a weak puss? I'm telling you, if stuff got rewound, he should be incrementally getting his mojo back, that tracks logically. See Ep. 1 notes for what I thought should've happened for a legit "Whoa" moment.

"Do you have any idea what he is?" --- he's a poop demon. Again, see the first episode of @youtotallymadethatup /shameless plug

[sighs]

Is this show gonna end with a Jack vs. Jack battle royale? Because fuck that noise. But! Writing-wise, it's okay that ol’ Belph may become the big bad. Nash, why would you say that, you ask. Easy.

IT WILL GET US THE FUCK OUT OF THIS LITTLE TOWN

A. Ny. Thing. to get us the fuck out of this little town. I am so goddamned bored.

Cas, this is a mistake. You should leave. What are you doing. Leave. Don't fall for that. Leave. Go now. Whoosh. Okay, or glow worm and barbeque the body. That was a nice little catch of emotion by Misha at the end. Except are the demons now gonna jump into his body? Better not, we've seen that season.

Commercials! Cannot believe I've not been inundated with the adverts for the convention here in the spring, that's usually the jam. Imma go get some frozen yogurt. Highly rec strawberry with a little warmed-up Nutella. Try it, then tell me I'm crazy. I'm not. It's heavenly.

Aaaaand, we're back!

Don't look so distressed Cas, y’all were gonna burn it anyway. But this takes Jack v. Jack off the table. Hopefully this means we'll be headed back to the Empty to get some progress on that hanging thread from last season sooner rather than later. Still, I'm glad we are down a character for awhile, this character in particular was starting to work my nerves and honestly, is just dead weight. I want it back to Sam and Dean for the most part this final season with sprinklings of Cas. Everyone else is secondary.

[claps] Very excellent Ruthie and Jared. One critique: Wish there could've been some sort of line from Rowena, re: "And perhaps I'll get to see my boy again", something of that ilk.

But I want to say this, and say it emphatically:

The nonsensical spells pulled from asses must stop

The soul-catcher thing is an example of a great move because it drew upon the past, then built upon for the present. This heart and angel blood and salt shit, and then this “Oh by the way it needs my dying breath” stuff is just obvious “um um um well how about bleh” writing stumbles, and it shows. The only reason that lameness worked? Ruthie and Jared’s performances. Period. Because y’all gave them absolute garbage to work with, and they made it shine.

Hey! There's the two convention promos with one short local ad in between, followed by the same local ad again! I was beginning to think they'd forgotten!

WE ARE OUT OF THE LITTLE TOWN, I REPEAT, WE ARE OUT OF THE LITTLE TOWN

DEAN IS IN A HENLEY, I REPEAT, DEAN IS IN A HENLEY

Oof, Dean. I mean, I figured this convo would have to happen one day, it's been building, because even though his intentions are good, Cas has been involved in his fair share of shit taking left turns. Hopefully Cas is going to go seek out other angels. Also, re: Cas saying he's getting weaker - because, why? WHY. This has never been addressed in a definitive, satisfactory manner.

Right, so, like we do each time, let's check in to see if we've had any character development and/or plot progression:

Do Ketch and Rowena and Belphagor count, since they've progressed to being dead? Dunno, that's more of a finality to their overall arcs. Dean's being an asshole and Sam's being weepy and Cas is being an Eeyore, that's about par. Meh. Okay. So did the plot get advanced?

YES THANK YOU FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER SWEET LORD YES. But, eh... a little weaksauce. Yes, that chapter of the initial onslaught is closed, yet we know it's not over. So I feel like the ep should've ended with, after the bunker door slams, a cut to a little scene that serves as a clue about what lies ahead. I mean, ahead-ahead, season-wise. Like, twenty second blip, not even, then hard cut to black screen, then on to promo which appears to be MotW.

So that's it, really. More adept writers could've made the material of #1 and #2 into the premiere (minus several things, most specifically minus Kevin, should've saved Osric for something else down the line), then this should've been episode #2 instead of #3. Can't unring that bell, though. Let's hope we hit some speed before Buckleming comes along to run us into a ditch, then (fingers crossed) we have a few eps after that to rebound for the finale.

See you next week.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Past posts, from newest to oldest (and I sometimes do addendums if a response warrants)

Episode 2

Episode 1

#SPN Spoilers #15.03 #15x3 #SPN Season 15 #SPN S15 #SPN XV #Nash Notes #Nash Recaps #sort-of #Queueby Dooby Doo #Dad's on a blog post and #he hasn't been queued in a few days

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that-shamrock-vibe · 6 years ago

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TV Review: Young Justice Outsiders Part 1 (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: The first part of Young Justice Outsiders is finally all available for viewing so I thought I would give my thoughts on Season 3 thus far, it won’t be in depth because for me this season hasn’t been but there are light spoilers so be warned.

General Reaction:

I have been a fan of Young Justice since I found out about the series, I love it. I love taking these sidekicks and putting them in the spotlight. It’s why I loved Teen Titans and Young Avengers. I guess because I discovered them while I was a teenager myself, season 1 aired in 2010 when I was 19 so technically that counts, that I relate to them but also the first two seasons of the show were so well done and made for gripping binge-worthy viewing.

So you can imagine that I, like many other fans of the show, was thrilled when after an injust cancellation it returned 5 years. The only problem is Young Justice: Outsiders lacks the spark and somewhat originality that the first two seasons had.

These first 13 episodes of season three lack centric main characters, a strong A-Storyline and, until the last 4 episodes, that gripping binge-worthiness I mentioned the first two seasons had. Instead we have an Easter-Egg season crammed with characters who are splintered into different groups who each have their own storylines that, again until near the end of the 13 episodes, don’t really tie-in with each other and feel like they each need their own shows to develop fully.

Also, there is another time jump between Season 2 and 3 which makes more sense here than it did between 1 and 2 because in real-time 5 years has passed since the end of Season 2 whereas there it seemed to be done to push ahead the story and give the franchise a Star Wars feel of making it a multi-media experience with the comic-book tie-in series filling in the space between 1 & 2.

What’s Good:

Alright so I want to be fair to the season because it does have some good aspects which I actually liked.

Fan Favourites:

I will get into the sheer volume of characters introduced to this season further down but for now I want to talk about the fan-favourites introduced who were somewhat fleshed out rather well.

Firstly Lady Shiva. I have never seen Lady Shiva before but I know she is a fan-favourite character and, considering the underwhelming performance of Talia al Ghul recently, a favored replacement for her. I still think Nyssa al Ghul is a good replacement particularly in Arrow but here I understand why people like her. I thought the fact she is the trainer of the new League of Shadows recruits as well as an Enforcer for The Light to be quite good, although I do find myself thinking that, as mentioned, Deathstroke was exactly in that position in the second season and he was barely used, I hope that’s not the case here.

Then there’s Cyborg. It’s about god-damn time they brought this guy in. Just when I thought this season was not going to get graphic or gory they give us Cyborg’s Post-New 52 origins and that imagery of Victor’s body after the explosion was so good for me. I also liked how they’ve updated the Cyborg look and now given him mood-lighting with Father Box control which causes an interesting relationship between him and new character Halo.

Finally there’s Terra. I am excited for what has been teased with Terra so far. The fact she was part of the Markovian Royal Family which was introduced in the first couple of episodes and then herself being properly introduced in the last episode with her Geokinetic powers, while not yet fully realized I am sure will be great.

Beast Boy:

So again this is very much a light spoiler review but what I will say is watch out and be patient for Beast Boy because he does not have that much to do at the start of the season and only really appears in snippets as the opening scenes of the episodes but in the penultimate episode of Season 3A it is all about Beast Boy and it’s probably my favourite episode despite one glaring aspect of it which is an Easter-Egg within the DC Multiverse.

What’s Bad:

Shifting Allegiances:

There is a big shake-up in how our heroes are affiliate themselves with in the first episode alone.

Not only do Batman and Black Lightning quit the Justice League, Batman taking other members with him for his own team, but the original Aquaman Arthur Curry, who has just had his own billion dollar movie released, is no longer in the League and instead his protege Aqualad has not only become the new Aquaman but the leader of the League.

Then there’s the Team which this series is supposed to focus on. Again there’s a shake-up in the roster and the team that is shown in the promotion is pretty much the team for this season but...because of all the other characters introduced this season we do not spend enough time getting to know the new team, the new members on the team or the reasons why the members of the team who were there at the end of last season aren’t there now.

For instance, it is kind of explained why Tigress and Superboy are no longer on the team as they’re part of Nightwing’s new team and therefore in that promo image not this one, but Guardian and Lagoon Boy all have left without explanation. We know what has happened to Beast Boy and Bumblebee has a kid and is pregnant again so that probably explains their reasoning. Guardian aka Mal Duncan and Lagoon Boy weren’t very interesting characters which maybe explains their absence in terms of production but in-canon that can’t be the only reason.

Arsenal was expelled from the team during Season 2 so his appearance in this line-up raised curiosity, but he only appears in one episode but not with a single member of this team and instead with his fellow Roy Harpers.

Then new team members Arrowette, Spoiler and Thirteen who were promoted are barely used. Yes Robin II aka Tim Drake leaves the team and takes Arrowette and Spoiler under his leadership to form their own team with new character Orphan, but Arrowette and Spoiler were both introduced as civillians in Season 2 yet nothing is done to reference that. In fact many people thought Arrowette was Artemis in a new suit at first.

Thirteen remains on the team but I do not think has a speaking line and if she does it’s forgettable. All I know about this character is she is the protege of Zatanna but she has her own problems this season apparently and so this completely new character is barely utilized properly.

Also Blue Beetle, Bart Allen as Kid Flash, Static and Wonder Girl are all returning characters yet hardly either seen, utilized or developed in this season. Static loses Black Lightning as a mentor and Wonder Girl is seemingly dumped by Tim Drake when he quits the team due to Batman leaving the League, but Blue Beetle and Bart Allen who were focal characters last season are blink and miss them characters this season...glorified cameos at best.

Too Many Characters:

This brings me on to my biggest issue with this season, there are way too many characters introduced and involved in this season. There are 13 episodes but it feels like they have a combined total of 130 characters introduced. We have new characters that we are supposed to focus on and new ones that seem to be there just to be there.

For instance, new characters like Cyborg, Forager, Halo and Geo-Force I get we are supposed to focus on, but Cyborg isn’t introduced until Episode 10 and then heavily focused on for 4 episodes, while the latter three are all introduced at the start of the season and slowly and organically developed.

Then there are characters like Steel and Katana who I almost forgot were introduced at the start of Episode 1 until Episode 10 when there were slightly more prominent.

Speaking of that Episode 1 Easter-Egg hunt, once Batman announces he is leaving the Justice League he makes it clear that four members of the league are resigning to join him, Katana, Plastic Man who was introduced in Season 1 and again to this day I cannot say if he’s actually had any speaking lines, Hardware who I have no clue as to who that is and Batwoman...Batwoman! You had probably the best LGBT superhero and yet she’s only seen in two images and that’s it. What, the, hell!

Then Episode 9 “Home Fires” is an episode full to the brim with Easter-Eggs, I can’t even call them characters because aside from maybe three of them none of them are focused on. Along with Bart Allen who actually has something to do here, Iris West-Allen actually has some comedic moments and then Karen aka Rocket who has some speaking lines and Lynn Stewart-Pierce who is the ex-wife of Black Lightning but isn’t as good here as Christine Adams portrays her on Black Lightning aside from the fact that in this continuity she is the sister of John Stewart aka Green Lantern.

Aside from them, there’s the introduction of Lois Lane with son Jonathan, the reintroduction of Red Tornado’s human-looking form John Smith with daughter Traya Sutton, a pregnant Bumblebee, Iris and Barry’s twins Dawn and Don, Mera and son of Aquaman Artur, Rocket’s sassy son Amisted and the re-introduction of Black Lightning and Lynn’s daughter Anissa and Jennifer Pierce.

Away from this storyline in the episode is the reintroduction and death of Ocean-Master along with the introduction of Lady Shiva who kills him and the introduction of Granny Goodness. All this was just in the one episode.

Then we have Ra’s al Ghul and his followers, I can’t say League anymore because Ra’s has left both the League and The Light and Deathstroke seems to have taken his place in both, we are reintroduced to his followers such as Ubu and the Sensei but also introduced to the cameos of Talia al Ghul, Damien Wayne and a mysterious Red-Hooded Ninja...

Also when we are finally reintroduced to Batman and his new team, the only one we see return is Katana along with new character Metamorpho...I don’t know who this character is but I like him.

Wonder Woman said it best in Episode 8 when there’s a meeting of all the leaders of these hero teams and says that between her, Batman, Aquaman(lad), Nightwing, Robin, Miss Martian and Oracle. they do in fact have 5 teams at their disposal. That is way too many teams to focus on in one season, particularly when 3 of those teams haven’t been properly established yet and the other two have had massively unexplained shake-ups.

Missed Opportunities:

As mentioned before, there is another time jump between Seasons 2 and 3, here it is two years rather than five as it was Between 1 and 2 which makes no sense because less real-time has passed in each gap but I digress.

However, once again due to this time jump, we miss out on some major development. The biggest crime being that one of comics most famous stories, The Killing Joke is seemingly told as Barbara goes from Batgirl to Oracle and able-bodied to wheelchair bound.

Now maybe Young Justice creators took inspiration from the only time that story has been told in film or television and thought just to skip it but then why not have a spin-off series centred on the Bat-Family, which has grown this season not just by Batwoman and Spoiler but also Orphan and Harper Row who in the comics becomes Bluebird to make a grand total of 10 Bat-Family members, so you can flesh out these characters and iconic stories.

What’s Teased:

Alright to end this review on a somewhat positive note I want to talk about what is hopefully teased for the back-half of this season coming in June.

Terra:

Firstly we have Terra aka Tara Markov. Introduced at the start of this season but then formally introduced in Episode 13 as the Geokinetic Metahuman who is apparently enslaved on Bialya and later rescued by Nightwing’s team. However, the ending tease for the season shows Terra being taken in by the Team and secretly messaging Deathstroke who is now the leader of the League of Shadows having never apparently left the League apparently.

The only issue with this is it seems they’re playing out The Judas Contract which has also recently been told recently in the animated films. I mean it is clear at this point that they’re making the team in this series their version of the Teen Titans without calling them that but we shall see if we actually get to see this played out.

Red Hood and Damien Wayne:

Two Robins for the price of one. Jason Todd as an in-canon character was never physically shown on screen in the second season as he was apparently introduced and killed in that 5 year gap. However, with the introduction of this Red-Hooded Ninja who is under Ra’s al Ghul’s leadership with the exact same hairstyle as Jason Todd...it stands to reason that we will soon meet Red Hood in Season 3b.

Now as for Damien Wayne, Talia is introduced as a cameo this season as she watches Nightwing’s team flying away standing besides her father Ra’s holding a baby boy in her arm. It stands to reason that this is Damien and so unless we have a time-jump of 10 years I doubt we’ll see him again in any major capacity but the fact he has been introduced is big if the show reaches that 10 year gap.

Baby Sidekicks:

So as well as Damien, we have the infant forms of Don & Dawn Allen aka the Tornado Twins and Jonathan Samuel Kent aka a future Superboy. Also this season we meet Anissa and Jennifer Pierce who in the future become Lightning and Thunder respectively.

These pose as great teases but much like Damien, unless there’s a jump by 10 years I doubt they’ll be heavily focused on.

Apokolips Now:

Alright so Apokolips is DC’s hot topic at the moment, not only did they try to push it and Darkseid in the movies until Justice League fell flat but also the end tease of Season 2 showed Darkseid meeting with Vandal Savage and they are now apparently associates just as The Light were with The Reach in Season 2.

Now while any sort of Apokolips influence is minimal this season thus far, we do get an episode on New Genesis, a reintroduction to the Forever People as well as Mother Boxes and an introduction of Forager.

All this I feel is gearing up for Darkseid to either be the big bad of Season 3 overall or the overall villain of Season 4. Either way they are currently teasing Darkseid like they teased Thanos and that tease paid off in Infinity War so allow a series with those stakes.

Recommendation:

So overall I have to say, this season has a gripping ending but it took a very long time getting there. It never felt like a chore but at the same time the other two seasons gripped me from the start. I am still looking forward to Season 3b but I will be curious to see if the 5 month wait is worth it or not.

I will give this part of Season 3 a rating of 6/10, it was an okay start with a dragged out middle and an exciting ending. Hopefully the excitement will run the way through the rest of the season.

So that’s my review of Young Justice: Outsiders (Part 1) what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more TV Reviews as well as other posts.

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twdmusicboxmystery · 5 years ago

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TWD 10x10: Stalker - First Thoughts

Wow! Just wow! Okay, in terms of moving the plot forward, this might seem like a low-key episode. And plot wise, it KIND of was. Or at least it feels that way on the surface. Really, what happened here will probably end up being super important.

So, the episode pretty much held what we thought it would: no Beth sightings, but CRAZY symbolism. The biggest thing for me was the dialogue. I felt like every line was either a Beth repeat, or if not specifically that, just SUPER thematic and important.

As always, I’ll just throw out some of the things that jumped out at me most on first watch. Tomorrow, I’ll talk details.

***And as always, spoilers abound for 10x10 below. Don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned!***

So, at the beginning when Rosita and FG question Gamma, there are some interesting references. They mention worms (Worm Theory), that there will be no second chances, which is a Beth theme (rather her is pro-second chance/faith, but this is still along those same lines) and FG says if they kill Gamma, she’ll be the third whisperer to die at their hands. There was literally no reason for him to mention that. I’ll talk more about what I think this means tomorrow.

Then there was this interesting shot. After Gamma breaks down and tells them she killed her sister, she says, “Do you believe me now, father?” He nods, but when he does, it ONLY shows his one eye. The cloudy one. The Sirius eye. It’s a really haunting image (and sort of Terminator-ish).

I had to rewind and listen to what they were talking about when they did that shot, and it was this line about him believing her. So I’m seeing two things there.

1) The belief/have faith theme.

2) But I also wonder if something about this incident will set things into motion that will lead to the Sirius return (i.e. Beth).

And in a way, that’s kind of my biggest takeaway from this episode. Lots of details, symbols, dialogue, etc., but overall, what happened here really didn’t move the plot forward in a huge way. Daryl got hurt, but Lydia rescued him. Beta came to get Gamma, but she ultimately got away and is one of the good guys now. A few people died, but no mainstream characters. See what I mean?

There is the thing Alpha says about not being weak anymore. So obviously she’ll pull out all the stops, now. All bets are off and the war is about to become a lot more brutal. Daryl also talks to Lydia and she mentions that all this time she’s been in the woods, watching both sides and “deciding.” He asks, “deciding what?” and she doesn’t say, but I think the idea is that everyone has to take a side now. Where Daryl was trying to keep the peace before, and Alpha was PRETENDING to keep the peace, and Lydia was being all conflicted and indecisive, everyone is drawing lines in the sand, now.

So even though it kind of FELT like a low-key episode, I bet at some point we return to and can say this was the moment that led to the shit hitting the fan.

When Daryl first fights Alpha, the ravine by the river looks a LOT like the one from S2 where he hallucinated Merle. I don’t know if we should read into that, but it’s what it reminded me of. And when he gets hit and they do the red, tunnel vision, it looks a lot like FG’s vision when he first lost his sight, but it’s very red-tinged.

Do you remember in S6, especially, when they did those red promos? They usually meant death. Like they did them for 6x09, which as where Jessie, Ron and Sam died.

If this was anyone other than Daryl/Norman, I’d say it was a death omen. But we know better on that count. But I do feel like it could be symbolic. Like he’s about to hit emotional/psychological death again. Maybe because of Connie. Maybe because of Carol. There’s a line where Alpha talks to him. They’re both badly hurt and lying fifteen feet apart. She says, “Can you see beyond the darkness, into the light.” He answers, “No.”

Thematic much?

The part where she talks about seeing people she’s lost was interesting, but they also didn’t focus overly much about that line. I actually felt like it was more of a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil theme. She talks about seeing people, but the people aren’t really there. Or at least not physically. So that’s the sight reference. Then she gets mad at Daryl for what he says about her not loving Lydia (the speak reference.) And as she gets up, presumably to attack him, though she collapses, she says, “I’m all ears.”

During that part, she also says, “Pain made me. Pain made you.” (Talking to Daryl.) I thought that was an interesting line. The greatest survivors are the ones who’ve been through the most pain. That’s always been true of Daryl.

And I feel more strongly than ever that Lydia is a stand in for Beth. Which makes me really happy. Many of us have had head canons about Beth saving Daryl before. Lydia shows up in a blue and white shirt (pretty sure we saw her in it once before) and carrying Daryl’s crossbow. She’s pretty much the image of Beth, who he trained, showing up to save him.

And again, Beth’s saving might be more emotional. He’ll go through some kind of psychological death and she’ll show up to save him. I feel like that’s where this is going. (Not that I would mind her saving him physically as well. ;D)

When Lydia shows up, Alpha says, “You came home.” So that’s specifically part of the Home/North Star/Sirius theme.

We also see Lydia and Alpha being the opposite of Beth and Carol. When Lydia is leaning over Alpha, she says, “I’m not here for them. I’m not here for you.”

That’s the opposite of Beth taking Carol’s hand and saying, “I just wanted you to know I was here.”

In terms of plot, we don’t know where Beta is right now—he ran off into the woods—and a big group, including Rosita and Aaron—just left Alexandria. That can’t be good.

We also don’t get any hints about Connie and Magna. I gotta say, it doesn’t seem like Alpha has them. It’s always possible some of her other people have them and she doesn’t know it yet, but it really didn’t seem like she had them captive.

Okay, I have lots more to say, but it’ll have to wait for tomorrow. Hope this is enough to get you excited. 😉

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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sebeth · 6 years ago

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Young Justice: The Return (Animation)

In an earlier post, I wrote my thoughts on the upcoming return of the Young Justice comic book. Now it’s time for the cartoon series.

I’ve tried to avoid most interviews but I have seen the promo images and watched the two trailers repeatedly. I like to go in as spoiler-free as possible when watching/reading media but I only have so much self-control.

Let’s start with the main plot –

There will be a time jump between season 2 and 3 – we’re just not sure of the exact length.

The formation of the Outsiders, along with the rescue of Terra, will be the main arc of season three.

Dick reunites with Conner and Artemis in the beginning of the season for “one last mission”. Black Lightning accompanies the trio to Markovia to shut down the metahuman trafficking ring. Why? Besides the fact that human trafficking is bad. Black Lightning has no previous connection to Young Justice but he has long-standing connections to Batman.

Has Batman already formed the Outsiders minus Geo-Force and Halo? We briefly see Batman, Katana, and Metamorpho jump from a plane and later brawl with Deathstroke. Batman formed the group in the comics - it would make sense for him to be behind the group’s organization in the cartoons. A covert group for more adult missions he wouldn’t want the Young Justice children to participate in.

I’m guessing the Markovia mission reveals the metahuman trafficking ring is way more extensive than previously thought – leading Dick to reunite with - and resume leadership – of Young Justice.

The Light and the Reach experimenting with metahuman activation began in season two. Per Wonder Woman, the Justice League “have confirmation that on multiple worlds, earth’s metahumans are being deployed by the enemy as weapons of mass destruction.”

Wonder Woman’s comment suggests the abducted metahumans are being subjected to brainwashing along with experimentation. I highly doubt the newly activated metahumans would rampage across the universe without mind control directing their actions.

The “multiple worlds” comment ties together Bart’s “we have a mission in space” with the glimpses of the New Gods, Superboy’s brawl with Lobo, and Dick and Conner fighting Sensei/Silver Monkey on a foreign world.

New Genesis might be one of the world’s affected by the “metahumans of mass destruction”, Lobo could have been hired by the Light, and Sensei/Silver Monkey is guarding one of Ra’s Al Ghul’s headquarters.

On to the characters:

First up, the Outsiders –

Geo-Force, Katana, Halo, Metamorpho, Black Lightning

Terra

The Markov Royal Family

As I said above, I’m fairly confident Batman has already formed the Outsiders before the beginning of the season. Possibly as a true “covert” group – as in without the Justice League’s knowledge or permission.

Young Justice was told they were a “covert” group by the Justice League but mostly it was a “training wheels” type group – smaller missions while being trained by the more experienced heroes. They did covert missions but were still in the press and public’s eyes.

The Outsiders will be the true covert group – sticking to the shadows, away from the press, down and dirty missions, etc.

As for the individual Outsiders:

Geo-Force - Brion is an adorable big brother. Noble, protective, eager to find his sister and stop the bad guys. Visually his powers should be awesome – they are similar to Terra’s.

Terra – Not a member of the Outsiders but I wanted to include her with Brion. The big question: will Terra be a villain? I’m guessing “yes”. Comic cannon dooms her to this fate. I do believe it will be the result of the Light’s brainwashing instead of the general “evil” nature. Possibly making her a tragic villain. Will Deathstroke be involved with Terra’s brainwashing? Comic cannon says “yes”. Could Batman, Metamorpho, and Katana storm the island looking for Terra? Is that why the Outsiders end up fighting Deathstroke?

Black Lightning – Jeff appears serious and mature. Love his visual design. Can’t wait to see him in costume.

Metamorpho – We only have a visual impression. Very nice. I wonder if we’ll see Sapphire or Simon Stagg? Rex will be the one who gives Deathstroke the most trouble in the upcoming fight.

Katana – Not much to go on yet except visually. Katana’s design reminds me of a more adult version of her DC Girls attire. Excited to see her in action.

Halo – Will be entirely different from the comics. She is a person of color and possibly Muslim? Let’s skip all the drama and hatred over the race change. Please?! She’s seems to be a new character. I highly doubt her name is going to be “Violet Harper”. For those unfamiliar with Halo, she wasn’t a great character. Apologies to Halo fans. Violet was a sociopath who was murdered by the 100, a criminal organization. Aurakle, an alien entity, merged with Violet’s deceased body. The “resurrection” caused amnesia. It gets more complicated from there. Let’s agree to start fresh and give the new Halo a chance. Halo’s powers are light-based – different colors have different effects. Halo’s colors were the same ones used by every color Lantern corps. However, Halo predated the emotional spectrum Lantern corps by twenty years. I’m betting Halo receives her powers in the cartoon due to the Light’s genetic manipulation. The one thing I would like to see carry over from the comic books is the maternal/big sister role Katana has in Halo’s life.

On to the Young Justice newbies:

Spoiler – I’m excited – I love Stephanie. She had a brief cameo in Season Two. How and why did she join the team? Is she involved with Tim? Will this cause friction with Cassie? I hope not as I would love to see Steph and Cassie bond. Cassie is very exuberant in the cartoon and Steph has the same approach to life – I would love to see the two become close friends.

Arrowette – A surprise choice since we already have Artemis, Roy, and clone Roy in the series. Glad to see her as she was a prominent member/supporting character in the comic book series. Will she develop a close friendship with Cassie and Bart? Those were her two besties in the comics.

Thirteen/Traci 13 – Another surprise choice. Traci can easily step into the void Zatana left when she joined the Justice League. Will Traci have a romance with Blue Beetle? They were a cute couple in the pre-New 52 era.

Oracle – Not a true new character but Barbara has clearly been through some changes since season two. Will we see a Killing Joke flashback? Or did Babs become Oracle in a different way?

Static – Like Oracle, Static is a returning character but with an upgrade. The writers seem to love electricity this season – we have Static, Black Lighting, and Live Wire also makes an appearance in the trailer.

Notable absences:

Miss Martian – I won’t miss M’gann if she’s absent this season. She started out cute in season one, became creepy with the Conner-molding, and became worse in season two with the unrepentant mind-frying and toying with Lagoon Boy. So no thank you unless Miss Martian has learned from her mistakes and expresses honest regret over her actions. Feeling bad for mind-frying Kaldur does not count as honest regret. M’ganns the easiest case for a “hero goes bad” if the show writers wanted to go that route.

Aqualad, Lagoon Boy, Aquaman, etc – Atlantis has had zero representation in either trailer. Did something happen to Atlantis during the time jump? Will that be one of the mysteries during the season?

Miscellaneous thoughts on the upcoming season:

We are all but guaranteed a fourth and fifth season of Young Justice. We know it’s going to be one of the heavyweights of the DC Universe streaming service so I don’t want various plotlines rushed.

Season Three will have 26 episodes. The majority will focus on the Outsiders and the metahuman trafficking ring alongside a “mission in space”. That leaves room for some “done in one” episodes or time for the development of various subplots.

The two big questions on fan’s minds: Will we see the return of Wally West or the debut of the Red Hood?

I would bet Wally’s return will be near the end of the season. The writers will want a “wow” ending for the season finale and that would be it.

As for Red Hood…I feel it’s a strong possibility. I don’t think the writers would have had Jason’s memorial hologram if they didn’t have any intention of using the Red Hood.

The writers could have Red Hood’s debut be similar to Jason’s appearance in the Teen Titans comics: Jason attacks Tim, and leaves the “Jason Todd/Red Hood Was Here” message on the walls. I’m not sure if the writers want to redo the entire “Under The Red Hood” storyline. At this point, it’s been done in the comic books, an animated movie, and a video game – most fans are familiar with the details by this point. Jason’s attack on Tim would allow Dick to fill in the rest of the team on the details of Jason’s resurrection. Dick has been keeping his distance from the team as indicated by his “one last mission” line. Dick’s distance would easily explain why the rest of the team is unaware of Jason’s return. Tim wouldn’t explain “Gotham business” to his teammates – he’s much more introverted and was way more intent on respecting Batman-imposed boundaries than Dick.

A developing friendship between Arsenal-Roy and Jason is a must. Not only because of the “Outlaws” comic book but because it’s a natural development between two traumatized boys prone to lashing out.

What I Don’t Want:

A Conner-M’gann relationship – The pairing started cute but is now toxic. Creepy molding combined with mind manipulation = abuse.

No Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Starfire, Cyborg, or Raven. At least not this season. We have multiple new characters debuting this season, new characters who didn’t receive much focus last season, and a possibly debuting Red Hood. The seating capacity is full – no new debuts until season four.

I’ve rambled enough for now – so excited for January!

#Young Justice #Outsiders #Jason Todd #Red Hood #Roy Harper #Arsenal #Terra #Miss Martian #Halo

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nerdylittleshit · 7 years ago

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Thoughts about Spn 13x20

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

It is that time of the year where, as they say, the plot begins to thicken. Only three episodes left we are heading to the grand finale, so almost everything that happened in this week’s episode can be seen as a foretelling of what we can expect. Which unfortunately is neither rainbows or kittens, but when did this show ever? That being said it was a neat episode and for the first time since his comeback I had fun watching Gabriel. I liked what we learned about his past and how they moved his character forward. A quick update on all the feels, apocalypse world version. But in the end the most interesting part to me was what this episode told us about Sam and Dean’s current state and what it might mean for their future.

But as always, let’s have a closer look.

Wings & Things

Starting at the apocalypse world, where we learn that since the last time we saw them Jack made good on his promise and started to fight the angels. We already know that he is more powerful than an average angel, so it’s not surprising that so far he has been successful. Back in 13x02 we learned that Nephilim can become more powerful than their angelic parents, which in Jack’s case would be an archangel. So technically he could be powerful enough to beat Michael, but storywise it would be too easy. Besides as Mary reminded us Jack is currently almost too confident in his powers, a little reminder of season 12 where hubris was the downfall of the BMoL. Mary as well has learned her lesson the hard way and warns Jack that his recklessness is what will lead him to make mistakes.

Their whole relationship was portrayed as that of a mother and a son, and Mary later textually confirmed that by calling Jack “her boy” (while also reminding us that she saw Cas as her boy as well and still thinks he is dead). I really liked seeing them that way, because I think they give each other what they need. Jack is acting much more than a child than Sam and Dean. Because technically he still is, even if he doesn’t look like it. He needs guidance, he needs support and someone that loves him and cares about him. Kelly had been the empty space in his life, that neither Sam and Dean or Cas could fill. He looked up to them as role models, but Mary fills in a different role, that of a mother.

Mary on the other hand sees the other world as a place where she can redeem herself. The first step was to realize that not making the deal had horrible consequences in this world, that she was a victim as well, and that there was never really a right and a wrong choice. Now, just as Jack, she sees her purpose in trying to save this world. She knows that Jack needs her, as the mother he never had, while at the same he replaces the children she lost when she died. Mary’s relationship with her sons became so estranged because she felt unable to act like a mother to them. They no longer needed a mother, at least not in the way they remembered her. Mary had been taken away the chance to see her sons grow up and to raise them. But with Jack she has been given another chance.

The other interesting thing about this storyline was the return of Kevin. I already talked in my episode review on 13x18 about the different characters we met so far in the other world, and how much they changed or stayed the same without knowing the Winchesters. Both Bobby and Charlie are pretty much the same. Bobby is still a hunter because he always has been one. Charlie still fights the good fight, because she already did that (though in a different way) before the apocalypse happened. Kevin though is a different story. He is still the same kid who just wanted to go to school and was not ready for the supernatural to be a part of his life. But in our universe the Winchester take him in and that makes all the difference. Their relationship had never been easy, but in the end they became a family. They gave Kevin something to fight for, even though he had still lost his friends and (seemingly) his mother. In the apocalypse world Kevin became what he was meant to be in our world as well, an instrument of the angels. I don’t think that any of his actions in the other world were out of character. This is how Kevin would have reacted, all hope lost. And even then he decided not to wait for Bobby and the other survivors, to lessen the body count.

This draws a pretty good picture of the Michael we will be facing very soon. He doesn’t simply kill, he does it in the most sadistic way, with the only attempt to break Jack. Jack on the other hand proves to be a real Winchesters when he wonders what his purpose is if he can’t save everyone. Which is pretty close to Dean’s current state of mind.

Some other things:

- Mary mentions that with all the new people coming to their camp they will soon run out of supplies. This could lead to conflicts within the camp, but it also tells us that by beating Michael and the angels the job isn’t done. They have to rebuild their entire world.

- Mary tells Kevin that heaven is just full of memories, that none of it is real. This is a pretty stark contrast to the suicidal Mary we saw last season, who longed for her own heaven. It is also possible that the dream state we saw in 12x22 was her own heaven and that by letting go of it she left behind her desire to go there again as well.

- It is implied that Michael in the other world decides who goes to heaven and who doesn’t. Given that most angels in the other world fight down on earth it is possible only the bare minimum of angels and new souls stay in heaven, to keep everything running.

- There is probably a lot to say about the image of Jack’s wings protecting Mary and her unconscious body in his arms, which were all pretty biblical, so I let some other people talk about it.

Gods & Odds

As I said I liked Gabriel in this episode better than I did in 13x18. His scenes felt more lighthearted and closer to the character we saw in season 5, while at the same time the Winchesters had a chance to call him out on his past actions and to give the character another chance to change.

Gabriel, who has seen “Kill Bill” one too many times, is on a quest for revenge. After Asmodeus he tries to track down the norse Gods who once sold him to the evil colonel. Others have already pointed out that everyone seems to face their abusers this season. Cas had to face Naomi and Sam and Rowena have yet to face Lucifer (which given the promo will happen next episode). The question is how one deals with the trauma and the abuse they had to suffer through. Are you ever able to truly let go? Can you only rest if the one responsible for your pain got his/her punishment? In 13x12 Sam told Rowena that no matter how powerful she will be she won’t feel any less vulnerable and helpless facing Lucifer. And yet by the end of the episode he gave her the tools to her full power back, hoping she might be able to kill Lucifer.

Sam and Dean learned the hard way that revenge won’t make you feel better. There is no satisfaction in it, there is no healing of old wounds. And yet Sam bonds with Rowena, bonds with Gabriel, because they both have become victims the same way he did. He understands their need to do something, anything, to get some sort of control back. I do hope Sam and Rowena can end Lucifer, because I am beyond tired of his storyline, but chances are he lives at least long enough to meet his son. The real answer how to face their trauma however has already been given last week by Billie/Death: “Sometimes life is unfair and sometimes we lose things and sometimes we make mistakes. And some of these things can never be fixed no matter how powerful you become. Some things just are, and everyone has to live with that”. Let’s hope both Sam and Rowena have listened.

The reveal that Gabriel impersonated the real Loki did mostly fit with the theme of things looking like other things, or in this case two things who looked the same. And apparently demi-gods are powerful enough that they can transform vessel into their own doppelgängers? The more you know. Apart from that the real Loki had two narrative purposes. For one he told Dean that despite the fact that his father Odin despised him he still wants to revenge his father’s death, making it clear that Dean of all people would understand. There has been a big negative space all season long with mentions of fathers and more precise John, the same way season 11 had been build around Mary and her absence and we all know how that ended. I’m not sure how and in which way they could build in John, though I’m not a huge fan of the character and I rather they wouldn’t at all.

The other thing is what Loki told Gabriel: that he lived for pleasure and stood for nothing. It is the same thing that Sam and Dean accused him off, that when they needed him he ran away. Gabriel got his revenge, but it didn’t make him feel better, the way Dean knew it wouldn’t. But after he starts to wonder if there was some truth in Loki’s words, if it is finally time to give his life a meaningful purpose. This is what it looked like back in season 5, where Gabriel had seemingly sacrificed himself in order to stop the apocalypse. It is why I wasn’t very fond of bringing his character back, because it took away the meaning of this death, that had never been real in the first place. Gabriel is now on a journey we thought he had already been. It is a weird repeat of a story that had seem already finished, so I’m still a bit conflicted as to why they had to bring the character back in the first place.

Let’s talk for a brief moment about the other scene I know everybody is already talking about. Gabriel talking about his time in Monte Carlo and of course the porn stars. We see two versions of this story, one with the porn starts, one without. It is possible Gabriel simply forget to mention them the first time and what we see then is how it happened. The other interpretation however is that the version without them is how Sam pictured the scene and the other version with the porn starts is how Dean imagined it (which would be a callback to 2x15, the first time we saw Gabriel, where we had the story told from two different perspectives as well). Say the porn star version is Dean’s imagination, then it features a male porn star. With dark hair, in an ascot. Flirting not with the flamboyant brother but rather with the manly bearded dude. I’m sorry but there is no heterosexual interpretation for this.

The for me most important scene however was the last scene. Sam calls out Dean for going alone after Loki, after he already left Sam behind to go with Ketch into the other world. Dean falls back to treating Sam like a child instead of his equal. With Lucifer free and a Michael from another world ready to conquer our world it seems like a second apocalypse is on the horizon. This brings back Dean’s worst memory: Sam’s death and his time in hell. Back then Dean could do nothing to prevent this as it was the only option to save the world. But he can’t get through it again so Dean is willing to rather give his own life than to let anyone he cares about die again.

In 12x23 Dean lost everything and there was nothing he could about it as well. Instead of waiting for another tragedy to happen it seems Dean now takes matters into his own hands. Just like Jack he feels like a failure if he can’t protect everyone.

The whole scene felt to me as if the show is starting to prepare us what will happen in the finale, which given all spoilers is very likely to be Michael!Dean. Dean acts reckless, he even says he doesn’t care about his own life, as long as his family is safe. He falls back into old destructive patterns, but so does Sam. His promise to die together is the same inability to let go of his brother that Dean shows. Dean can’t lose Sam so he rather dies instead to protect him; Sam can’t lose Dean so he rather dies with him. In the end though we will likely see a reverse “Swan Song”, with the brothers separated, and while not dead one of them will no longer be himself.

Until then though let’s hope next week gives us the ultimate power couple: Gabriel & Rowena! See you then.

#supernatural #spn 13x20 #unfinished business #spn meta #spoilers #my meta

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itsjustwhatfeelsrightmobile · 6 years ago

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Rules

HEAD’S UP:

To all of my “loyal followers”: I know you may feel familiar with my rules, but please skim them on every blog you follow. In particular, you will need to scroll down and read everything below the “Guilt-Free Icons” section as they change for each blog. Everything else, yes, will stay the same. Thank you for your time and thank you for following so many of my blogs!

LAST RULE UPDATE: July 16, 2018

Mun

General

My name is Kymani, but most people call me “Kaichu”, “Kai”, or “Ky”. Go with whichever you like! Please note, however, that I will only sign my blogs and asks with "Ky" or the occasional "Kaichu" so as not to be confused with the many 'Kai' users in the world. So if you ever see someone claim to be me while using that spelling... they a lie, fam.

I use she/her pronouns and am a cis female so feel free to correct me if I make any -phobic booboos.

Mun is over 25. I’m happy to share my real age, but not so much to update this with every birthday.

My discord is (not very) selectively available to mutuals. If you choose not to exchange this with me, this is more than fine; please just be aware that I blog hop very inconsistently so I may be hard to reach.

Mun faceclaims are Raichu, Marina (Splatoon 2), Iridessa, and occasionally Kagome Higurashi.

You can find links to all of my other active characters on my mun page.

Health

I have several physical and mental disabilities. These include, but are not limited to, Sickle Cell Anemia, Asthma, Depression, Anxiety, and moderate OCD.

Note that there are some things that will trigger my OCD and therefore I will often choose not to follow you for or unfollow for. They include but are not limited to: uncut posts; icons that aren’t circles or squares (circles/squares with excessive decoration is FINE); using full-sized reaction images; and/or a general lack of organization on the blog. Most of these can be addressed, but I will never pressure a mun to change their style or format for me.

I will generally make or have someone make update posts informing you of my hospitalizations. Sometimes I forget, though. In any case, if I’ve made it clear that I am feeling unwell, do NOT hassle me for replies or an explanation of my situation. I will block people for this.

Be aware: I am a chronically ill person with many characters whose writing schedule is dictated by both her health and muse. I will forget things and disappear/reappear for weeks to even a month at a time from my blogs. As well, I may be very obviously selective/biased, so if this will upset you, my blogs are not for you.

Also note: it is not uncommon for me to unfollow and refollow people but this is not intentional. As I manage tens of blogs, it is easy to forget which blog people will follow me on. If you notice me doing this, feel free to message me and/or block that account.

Lastly, it is incredibly important to understand that due to the fact that I have been on opioids since I was a child, I have impaired memory. I can and will forget things we’ve discussed/written and I just ask for your patience and understanding on this.

I am open to answering questions regarding my health, but I expect you to both know the basics about the diseases and have read THIS PAGE before you approach me.

Last on this point but HUGELY important: please do not approach me with questions or jokes about how many muses I write. It's officially at the point where it's only okay or funny if I do it. Cause the thing is I know you mean it as a complement. I know you do. But the answer, for the record, to that question is this: "The cold hard fact is that I'm no longer healthy enough to attend school or work. So I am at home all day every day with the time (if I am well) to run as many muses as I please and it may be the only thing keeping me sane." So please, just don't make the joke. I'll joke along with you, I'll try not to make you as sad as you just made me, but it makes me really sad to think about and I have to stop pretending it doesn't.

Personals

Do:

Go ahead and follow! I don’t mind as long as you follow the rules. (Breaking them consistently enough to notice will lead to a block though.)

Like RPs if you like them. (But try to make sure my partner’s okay with that, too!)

Send in memes and questions; just don’t expect them to turn into a thread or anything.

Tell me if you’re following on behalf of a side RP blog cause I won’t check/know otherwise! (Only matters if you follow first.)

Don’t:

Reblog my promos.

Reblog my OOC posts.

Reblog my roleplays.

Following

This is a selective and private blog. This means I don’t follow everyone and I only RP with mutuals.

Please do not message me asking for an RP if we are not mutuals. I understand that you’re just reaching out, but it really makes me anxious and I will feel extremely guilty. Therefore, all messages of this kind will be deleted. Repeated attempts will lead to a block.

I will not follow blogs without a rules page. Very very rare exceptions are made for blogs that I know for fact are mobile-only. I am slightly more lenient when it comes to about pages, but only if there is significant writing on the blog for me to read through instead.

I am OC and selectively crossover friendly.

I’m cool with multimuse blogs as long as your muses each have an about page for me to read over. I won’t be making exceptions here simply because I find it impractical to go through the blog and look for writing for each specific muse I want to interact with.

I may several weeks to follow back. This may be due to illness or just not noticing because of how many blogs I run.

I eventually unfollow mutual-only blogs who have not followed me back. This is simply because I like to know I can RP with those on my dash and nothing more.

I do not follow blogs that exclusively use real-life faceclaims (rlfc). I will also not RP with rlfc, so if you have a verse that only uses a rlfc, I won’t RP with it. Please note that this applies to people roleplaying live-action characters, as well. Thanks for understanding.

Interaction & Replies

I am EXTREMELY selective about roleplaying with muns under the age of eighteen. Trying to deceive me about your age will lead to a BLOCK.

I am open to using messaging for OOC interaction at all times. IC interactions must be agreed upon beforehand.

All of my open starters and starter calls are for mutuals only unless otherwise stated. Repeated offenses for non-mutuals liking my starter calls will lead to a block.

I go through my thread tracker whenever my total thread count across all accounts exceeds 11O. I will try to message my partners about threads I drop but understand that I may not always have the energy to do so. You are always welcome to ask about the status of our threads so long as you remain polite and tactful.

Shipping

My blogs will always be multiship.

With that said, I’m almost always a ship-exclusive kind of girl. That means I’ll ship with one version of each character.

I like my ships to develop naturally, so even if it seems like I prioritize friends, know that you can always shoot me an ask and as long as it’s not a notp I’m always open to tossing the characters at each other and giving it a shot.

There are two exceptions to ship exclusivity for me: 1) i’ve decided to do one ship per verse and therefore duplicates are fine or 2) i’m playing a character with a canon ship.

Tags & Triggers

My blogs are never spoiler-free. For TV-show based blogs, the most recent episode aired in its native language will be tagged as a spoiler until the next episode airs. For games, I tag and try to readmore spoilers for a few months. Threads themselves may or may not be tagged if the line is sort of blurry. Always, therefore, read with caution.

I am blocking the tag #Ky Don’t Look/#Ky Dont Look for phobias related to penises, water, and a few other things. It is imperative that you read over my BLOCKED TAGS AND TRIGGERS for full details.

These triggers are often related to trauma and can give me panic attacks and/or depressive episodes. I will gently remind you a few times, but if it becomes a repeated issue, I will unfollow.

If you need anything special tagged or I’ve forgotten something, please let me know! I won’t bite.

NSFW & Smut

Many of my blogs will contain nsfw themes including but not limited to: themes of depression, violence, bullying, etc. These are rarely (if ever) tagged but can be by request.

Themes that are considered to be “trigger-heavy” will always have their own disclaimer.

Regarding smut: sometimes it’s difficult for me, sometimes it’s not. I can be extremely squeamish regarding the topic, so I’m very fickle when it comes to these threads. I ask, very simply, that partners who engage in these types of threads with me understand that I likely won’t finish these threads and that they do not push for replies on these. (Like, ever.) It will make me more self-conscious and, if I’m already panicking about a reply, it will only make it worse.

With that said, I would appreciate it if you didn’t baby me by disallowing me to write these threads. If it makes you personally uncomfortable to write them with me, that’s fine. But it has been deemed a safe and valuable practice by my counselor for me to continue to explore this subject so that, hopefully, I will become more and more comfortable with it. So when I’m interested in writing sexual nsfw, please don’t feel as though you need to shy away from me!

Aside from all of that, general rules apply: I won’t write sexual nsfw with anyone under the age of eighteen. (Although with that said, given my age, I tend to prefer my smut partners to be twenty-one and older. This is a soft rule, though, as my comfort with the partner outweighs a numerical value.) I also will not write any other kind of nsfw with anyone under the age of sixteen.

PS: when it comes to aged up characters, aged up x aged up is okay. aged up x canon adult is not. I am not the kind of person who will get all judgemental if you do it with other people, but I won’t personally engage in it. Understand though that I only consider it to be aging-up if the mun is aging their character beyond the natural progression of time. (So if Character A was 10 when they debuted but would have been 15 by the time they met Character B anyway I don't consider it to be aging-up.) For more of my opinion of the topic, please click here.

Activism & “Drama”

In this house, discussion about x-isms, x-phobias, and injustices as it relates to the roleplay community and/or the pokemon community is NOT considered drama and therefore it will NOT be tagged as such. HOWEVER:

While most of my blogs will NOT have a tag for it at all, should it come up, I will create an #activism tag for the blog. So yes, you will have a tag to block if you are genuinely discomforted by the conversation, but no, I will not conflate it with “drama”.

If you’re reading this on writtenbykaichu or a blog that features a dark-skinned person of color, please be aware that issues such as these are much more likely to be discussed.

Guilt-Free Icons

Yes, I am a mod at guiltfreeicons–Jerry Mod, to be exact.

I will, on very rare occasions, make posts regarding taking requests. Those posts are considered active for 48 hours after the ORIGINAL post was made.

If you need to ask a question about GFI, first read the rules. Then, try contacting us here. If that doesn’t work, contact us here. Most importantly:

Never ever I mean NEVER message me or any of the other mods regarding guiltfreeicons (or making icons for you on the side) on any of our personal or roleplay blogs. We WILL auto-block over this.

Miscellaneous

IMPORTANT: I am currently beta testing for rpthreadtracker.com. Because the beta website could be altered or lost at any time, I will try to backup my threads on the current version of the website. With that said, I will be focusing on using the Beta versions, so please click the [BETA] links first and alert me immediately if they give you any sort of trouble so I can update the trackermod. Thanks guys!

This blog will not RP with male gemsonas--no exceptions.

As a general rule, I am okay with gemlings as long as they are not directly related to Amethyst (daughter, sister, etc.)

I consider Amethyst's canon character development to be incredibly rushed, so on this blog you may feel as though I've knocked her back a few steps. This is so that I may work on her development at a fairer pace. (And yes, if you know me, it is also for the angst.)

Always always always plot out fight threads with me. We don't have to come up with things step-by-step ahead of time, but I expect to stay in contact with you throughout so that we can be on the same terms with where we're going and who's doing what.

Credits

Many of my Raichu base icons were gifted to me by thunderstonereject. If you would like access to these icons, you will need to ask them for their permission. Any public-use icons I have can be found at guiltfreeicons. All edits were made by me and are for my own personal use.

All Marina icons were made by me and are available to the public on guiltfreeicons. Edits, of course, are for and by me and not for public use.

All Iridessa icons were made by myself and Pebbles Mod and are available to the public on guiltfreeicons. All edits were made by me and are for my own personal use.

Credits for Kagome Higurashi base icons can be found here. All edits were made by me and are for my own personal use.

Amethyst Art & Icon credits can be found here.

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