#ghost stories and serial killers are a hard sell for me

[tam--lin]

Speaking of which: what good horror have you read lately?

[giorgiastastes]

버닝 / Burning (2018)

"It's too close, you might not see it"

What to say about this movie...

The film itself is quite simple, even too easy at first sighting I'd dare to say, but the meaning behind, the interpretations and smart details is what makes it unique and pretty much a masterpiece.

I'm sure that most people, or at least those who usually watch unchallenging to elaborate movies, won't like it. If you're looking for something what will be "explained to you", for the director to give you that big plot twist or long monologue, you won't find it here. But if you want to watch a work of art that'll make you think, reflect and crash your minds, you have a good journey in front of you.

I remember that as soon as I've finished watching it I went online to look for theories, to see if someone else had the same idea as me, if I got it right and what I've missed, and then I planned to write here my thoughts on the real explaination, but after rewatching and searching I've figured it out BURNING doesn't really have a "true" explaination in my idea, or better, the director definitely knows what he believes is the so called truth, but the strength of it is how free of interpretations it is. I've read hundreds theories and honestly all of them could fit just right, so for once I've decided to do something different.

In here I will summarize all the theories, under layers and explaination that I've read, figured out or found, and I will leave to you, the reader, to believe your own "truth"

This will be full of spoilers, it's actually a summarization of the after watch, so read at your own risk, and since I'm taking for granted that you've watched the movie and remember it quite well too, I won't always repeat the plot when not necessary.

• Ben sells organs on the black market. That's how he gets his money and Haemi is aware of this, and decided to sell her own organs to pay off her debt. She even says I'D SELL MY ORGANS IF I WERE YOUNGER. She could also be unaware of this and that's why she dissapears.

• Ben is a serial killer. He seduces fragile women who are very easy preys to such an handsome and carismactic young man, and then gets rid of them after he gets tired. This happens about every couple of months, which corresponds to his journey in Africa timeline. They are the greenhouses he burns, because he knows nobody will look for them, and in fact the police does not care about the greenhouses, just like they don't care about missing women nobody knows about.

Ben also owns all the qualities of a maniac sociopath who's keen on control and feels no emotion or empathy. He never cries for example. He also feels pride in his crime and he's almost tempted to confess them to show how good he is. That's why he says to Jongsu that he will burn a greenhouse close to him, but he didn't mean it in a special terminology, but more like in an emotional sense. He will kill the the closest thing the other has, which is Haemi. He also states that she dissapeared like "smoke".

This would also be justified by the creepy call the protagonist receives by Haemi before she dissapears. The biggest evidence placed by the director to prove that this theory is the most correct one is in the last scene, where Ben is putting makeup on a new girl. For a non Korean speaker it's quite hard to get the reference but Makeup and corpses' cremation are spelled in the same way in the hangul language, therefore the movie showing us Ben doing the girl's makeup is the alternative way to say he's killed her and is now cremating the body, hence his obsession with fires.

He's the one who cleaned Haemi's room and took her cat. He also keeps his victims personal objects as a throphy of some sort.

• Ben is a pimp. He's the trainer for these beautiful, young but poor women who are ready to sell themselves when he convinces them to do so. This is shown as Haemi also become less and less shy as the movie goes on, as seen in the undressing scene, while being more bold and provocative too. He changed her drastically, or maybe only let her discover a different, more free, part of herself. He also applies makeup on them how he would do to a doll, playing dress up for a woman who's now becoming just an object of desire that can be bought.

• Ben is a human trafficker. He sends women into slavery while promising them a life of luxury and happiness. That's why he shows off his idyllic lifestyle, and then sells them in Africa (where he goes frequently), where they'll never be found.

• Ben is a life guru. He teaches unsecure and frustrated women to feel liberated and less oppressed, to leave it all behind and start from scratch. They pay him, that's why he's rich. He also keeps a "souvenir" of every woman he has turned. This could explain why he shows up to the meeting with Jongsu in the finale. If he actually killed or sold these women he wouldn't fall into the other man's trick.

• Ben doesn't exist. He's just the symbol of everything Jongsu is not but aspires to be. He's rich, confident, cultured and attractive. Every flaw and layer of insecurity Jongsu seems to have, Ben lacks. And in the end, when the protagonist finally becomes brave enough to mature, to actually chase the woman he loves, he's able to kill the shadow of himself that only reminded him of how miserable he was.

• Ben and Jongsu are the same person. Much Fight Club like, they're the same human being, just different, extreme sides of one. Jongsu could have a personality disorder or maybe we're just shown two sides of him that prove his mental health issues. That's also why Haemi seems to be involved with both of them without choosing a side, because one is the gentle but insecure fraction, the other the bold but arrogant one. And then, in the end, when such division is making him go insane, he decides to kill his alter ego.

• It's just a love triangle. One of my favorite songs of all time had a similar topic. There's the main character, a shy and quiet boy, who falls in love with a girl who feels foreign and unreachable to him. But he's not the only one in her life. She also has another lover who's much more attractive and manly in a way, and all three start to share this peculiar poliamorous love story, mostly platonic. She's very pretty and feels as free as Venus, torn between two men. Then one day she leaves, and she'll never come back. But while the second boy easily moves on with his life, figuring out it was just a näive fling, the singer remains stuck, obsessing over her day and night, trying to find answers and solutions just not to deal with the realization of her not loving him enough to stay.

• Every character represents a social stereotypes and criticism of modern South Korean classes. I think this is very straightforward, especially Jongsu's jealousy of Ben's wealth, and Haemi's attempt to RISE in the social pyramid, surrounding herself with high class people like Ben or his friends, even letting them make joke of her, to mock her, all of it just to feel part of their group and reality.

• It's all in Jongsu's head.

• The disappearance of Haemi, whether it happened or not or HOW it happened are not the main focus on the movie, which instead is the characters dealing with such loss and lack of knowledge on what happened. Much like the Russian movie Loveless (2017), where the event is only used as an artistical device to let the story progress and the characters' grief culminate. Maybe we really don't need to know what happened to her, maybe she's dead, maybe she's alive and better than ever, but to the movie's intent such information is superficial, it's just the human need to fill our curiosity when were too afraid to deal with the pain of remaining unaware of it. Jongsu is sure she's been killed and that brings him to his next move, but the viewer, he doesn't need to know, because he doesn't need to act, to keep the story going.

• Haemi might have killed herself. Ben is the only one who knows about this and that's why she gives him her cat. She also shows multiple signs of advanced depression, for more than half of the movie is almost like she's not there, like she's already just the memory, the ghost of a girl who once was there.

• The movie itself is just a metaphor. The metaphor is many times used by the characters and maybe not only as a word, part of a dialogue, but the overall film might be A BIG, CRIPTIC METAPHOR.

• Everything is hereditary. From family's fortunes and richness to behavior and inner rage. Jongsu was born poor and will die as such just like his father, and even though he seems like the most innocuous being, he's able to take out his rage on other just like this father. I guess it's in the genes.

• Jongsu is the calf. The calf represents Jongsu's pureness and naivety. And when he sells it, he's also selling his soul in a way.

• Haemi represents South Korea, Jongsu North Korea, Ben is the new Korea, the one always more and more Westernized.

• We're just reading the plot of Jongsu's book. When Haemi leaves for Africa he has plenty of time to write the story he's planning to put into words, and that's what he does. Everything we see after she comes back from her journey is just the plot of the book, and the creation of Jongsu's imagination.

• A modern reinterpretation of the Great Gatsby. Yes, obviously a VERY liberate view of the novel, but many details seem to be quite evocative.

• A criticism to how South Korea treats women. Even the movie itself does this, probably on purpose. The one who disappears is a woman, but the ones who are the main centre of attention are men. She's only a story device, never the real protagonist.

• Ben wanted Jongsu to discover his crimes so he could reach fame if the other ever made a book out of it. He's so full of himself he'd rather be punished for his crimes than never showing off how good he was at covering every proof. That's why he dies almost peacefully, and shed a tear, which he claimed to have never done before.

• The well Haemi reference to, symbolizes falling into prostitution. That's why Jongsu's mother knows about it too, since it's quite obvious she's now an escort. But she states the well is dry, as a way of saying that it's not how easy and fun it might seem.

• This is just the tragic story of a boy who's lost every possible source of love. From his father in jail, his mother who abandoned him, to the only girl that ever showed him affection disappearing, and a new friend who he decides to kill.

• Ben is Death or maybe the devil personified. He helps Haemi get the courage to end it one for all, and even pushes Jongsu to kill, cursing his soul.

[goldenzingy46butwriteblr]

First Line Tag Game

rules: list the first line of your last 20 stories. see if there are any patterns, choose your favourite opening line, and then tag 20 of your favourite authors!

tagged by @duplicitywrites

hello and welcome to ‘trixie has many unposted sherlock aus that none of you knew about’

1. Operation: Brook | MI6 AU | Sherlock (TV)

It had just been the three of them, in the beginning.

2. Did You Miss Me, Mycroft Holmes? | Sherlock (TV) | unposted

Sherlock might be high, but he’s not stupid.

3. untitled AU with Eurus & Sherlock are twins | teen AU | Sherlock (TV)

Eurus' lips were red.

4. Alone On The Ice | ice skating AU | Harry Potter

There had probably been a time when the ice rink wasn’t Tom’s first priority, but it had been a long time ago.

5. untitled murder comedy | writer/serial killer AU | Harry Potter

Harry sighed, scrolling through online dating sites whilst procrastinating on writing the latest chapter of his novel.

6. untitled uni AU | crack + all the headcanons | Sherlock (TV)

John smiled at the man by the door, holding out a hand.

7. Falling For Someone (Long Gone) | fake marriage AU | Harry Potter

The Wedding Killer, as they have been dubbed, has killed three couples and left one heartbroken and alone, mere minutes before the vows could be exchanged.

8. My Heart Beats Against Your Silver Knife | muggle AU | Harry Potter

In the darkness, two crimson eyes snapped open, pale skin making him almost akin to a ghost.

9. You + Me: The Remix | reincarnation AU | Harry Potter

Tom Riddle liked things that fascinated him.

10. Penguins Do It | oneshot, fem!AU | Harry Potter

Tommie had had a hard day.

11. untitled original fiction | urban fantasy | original work

The building blew up behind xem.

12. untitled original fiction | afterlife | original work

Satan had had enough.

13. untitled mythology AU | Hades and Persephone | mythology

There was a Time Before The Gods, where things existed as wild, roaring magic.

14. untitled murder mystery | Sherlock (TV)

There had been a murder.

15. untitled jail break AU | Harry Potter

Tom jerked, hands fighting the cuffs behind his back.

16. untitled grief 2.0 | death fic | Harry Potter

The world was quiet, still.

17. A War Of Wars | Lucifer’s family | Lucifer (TV)

Michael was on Earth for a reason.

18. untitled vampire AU | Harry Potter

Harry Potter had been nearly killed as a child.

19. untitled psycho Holmes AU | Sherlock (TV)

Everyone knew you didn’t mess with the Holmeses.

20. Aziraphale’s Adventures In Not Selling Books | Good Omens (TV)

Aziraphale did not like selling books.

conclusion: my first sentence is usually short as fuck because i’m a dramatic bitch

fuck okay tagging people

@itsevanffs @hypnagogue @feyriddle @alfiisha @tomarryherewewhoaagain @sakuraganesan @thepinkjellyfishwriting @jazz-keeps-the-sadzz-away @itsjustanotherwriter @thoughts-ofawriter

[noladyme]

Skip To My Lou, My Darling - Chapter 6, Beware My Frozen Heart I

The road so far…

Finding out that their connection is real, and not forced upon them by celestial powers, Dean and Lulu have embraced their feelings – and years of pining can now end. Now Dean must find a way to deal with Lulu’s decision to be a hunter, with the dangers that entails.

Our story continues in season 8

Tag list (Let me know if you want to be added) @edonaspanca​ @wonderlandfandomkingdom​

I

63 years ago.

It’s so cold out here, but her feet are too sore to wear her shoes. Not that it matters anyway; they’re soaked from the snow. The crown is digging into her scalp, and she dropped her sash a mile back. She just needs her coat; and then she can go home. And maybe she misunderstood what the others told her. Maybe he’s alone, and just waiting for her.

There’s his car! She walks up to it, removes the crown from her head, and looks through the window. There he is… with her. Why her? And why are they…? No… The night is like a lovely tune. Beware my foolish heart. How white the ever-constant moon. Take care my foolish heart…

She drops the crown in the snow, and walks back towards the bridge. The dance is over.

---

I was splayed over Deans chest – my breath still ragged from my last climax. “Say it again”, Dean demanded. “I’ve already said it a hundred times”, I chuckled. “Just one more time… Please…”. “Led Zeppelin rules…”, I sighed. Dean squeezed me tight, and kissed the top of my head. “God, I love you”, he smiled.

There was a knock at the door. “Dean!”, Sam called. “Don’t come in, I’m busy!”, Dean answered. There was a pause. “Dude, just… have you seen Lulu? I can’t find her…”. “He said, he’s busy!”, I yelled. Dean snickered. There was another pause. “Ok… I’m just gonna… go now”, Sam replied. I heard him move down the hallway.

“We should get dressed…”, I said. “That’s the worst idea you’ve had all day”, Dean grunted, and locked his arms around me, so I couldn’t move. “Counting the one where I was about to sell my soul into eternal damnation?”, I smiled. He raised a brow at me. “That one’s a close second”, he muttered; his eyes slightly harder than they had been a second ago. “I’m still pissed about that”. I kissed his chest, and wriggled my body out of his grasp. “I’m sure I can find about a thousand other things to piss you off, that I’ve done, and will do”, I smiled, and crawled out of the bed, in search of my underwear.

Having put back on my panties, I found my bra draped over a shotgun on the wall. Dean handed me my jeans with an unhappy expression. “You know, I’m not happy about that whole vampire situation either”, he muttered, and pulled his boxers over his still very firm behind. “That wasn’t very smart”. “Tammy was there. She’s a good hunter”, I said. “She was also a demon”, Dean grunted; putting on his t-shirt. It was my turn to frown from the lack of skin he was showing. “I didn’t know that at the time”, I retorted. “And it turned out ok in the end”. He raised a brow at me. “That bandage on your neck says otherwise”, he sneered. “Can we just… not do this, for five minutes? Please?”, I sighed. Dean nodded, and the corner of his lips twitched into a smile.

As I stood up from having put on my boots, Dean’s arm snaked around my belly from behind, and he kissed the back of my head. “You wanna keep room 13? Or just settle in here...”. I frowned, and didn’t know how to answer in a way that he’d like. “Lou?”, he muttered. I sighed, and turned around; looking into his worried eyes. “I… can’t”, I said. Dean’s jaw dropped. “You said you wouldn’t leave”, he breathed. “And I’m not… not really”, I said. “But I still have to go do my job”. Dean shook his head in confusion. “Alone? No. You can work from here. Do research for us. It’d still be hunting”, he tried. I raised my brows. “Barefoot and hopefully not pregnant in the library? That’s where you see me?”, I asked. He shrugged. “You can use the switchboard room if you like it better”, he said. I stroked his cheek. “You know that’s not happening”, I smiled. “Dean, I’m…”. “Not ready. That’s what you are”. I sighed deeply. “Is this how it’s always going to be? Either we have sex, or we fight?”. “As long as you keep making crappy decisions, yeah!”, Dean grumbled.

I took his hand. “Look… I get that you worry about me. And I love that you do… But I’m not yours. I can make my own decisions”. “Thinking that I had the perfect woman specially built for me was kind of bigheaded”, Dean muttered. “Yeah, I know”, I smirked. “Like I’m not my own person with my own independent thoughts and choices”. Dean nodded a shrug. “You’re right”. “Like the choice to…”. “You’re not hunting alone”.

I let go of his hand, and went over to the door; sick of the conversation. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea”, he tried; as he followed me down the hallway, pulling on the flannel shirt he was carrying. “You’re never going to think it’s a good idea”, I chuckled, and took the shirt from him. “That’s mine, by the way”. “You’re right about that”, he muttered. “I won’t”.

We stepped into the library. Sam looked up from Bobby’s journal. “Already fighting again?”, he muttered. “She wants to go hunting alone”, Dean grunted. “Tell her it’s a bad idea!”. Sam looked between us. “I’m not getting involved”, he muttered.

“You finished with my book?”, I asked; trying to change the subject. “Yeah, I think I got all we could from it, while you two were… uhm… whatever”, Sam muttered. “I know it wasn’t any of my business, but I couldn’t help but look into the box you brought. What are you working on?”. I had almost forgot about my case. “Oh, uhm… some sort of white lady, I think. Maybe a weird phantom hitchhiker. I’m not sure”. “What have you got?”, Dean muttered.

I pulled up some old death records and articles. “Every year since 1950, like clockwork, young women disappear from lover’s lane, near Sioux Falls. People report to have seen a woman on the bridge nearby, on the day of the disappearings”. I pulled out a picture of teenaged girl. “She matches the description of this young woman, Annie Jones, who died that year, to a T. A few days later the women are found dead under the bridge, near where the first girl was found”. “Sure it’s not a serial killer?”, Sam asked. “A geriatric murderer? Bobby didn’t think so…”, I said. “This is his old case?”, Dean frowned. I nodded.

“Besides, freezing someone to death seems like a lot of work for a really old killer”. I handed Sam the pile of death records. He looked them over. “Hypothermia… Hypothermia again… All during springtime. Yeah, this seems like our kind of weird”, Sam muttered; letting Dean take a look over his shoulder. “Jodi had the box in her basement. Bobby had been trying to help her solve the case, but didn’t have a chance to finish it up”. “Great!”, Dean smiled. “You finish your research on this then. Stay here. We have wifi and coffee. You’ll be all set up! Me and Sam can go take this thing down”.

I shook my head. “It should be another 2 weeks or so before whatever this is happens again. I was just getting a head start”, I said. I looked at Sam. “Sam, come on… You packed that bag for me. You know I’m ready!”, I pleaded. “He what?”, Dean snarled. “Sam!”. He looked at his brother with angry eyes. “She’s gonna hunt either way. Been doing it for a year”, Sam said. “I just made sure she had the right equipment”.

Cass came in to the room, carrying a tray of steaming mugs, and some fruit. “I prepared some nourishment for you all. Sam has been working hard; and you two have been spending your energy on…”. “Yeah… thanks, Cass”, I muttered. “Did you hear what she’s planning to do?”, Dean said. Castiel nodded. “I have excellent hearing. Lulu is going to hunt. And she thinks Led Zeppelin rules”. Dean frowned. “And you think that’s a perfectly awesome idea?”, he grunted. “You spent months – years even – watching over her. And now you’re gonna just let her hunt alone?”. “He wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t asked him”, I sneered.

Castiel smiled softly. “Yes I would have, Lulu. You’re my friend. I want you safe”. Dean smiled. “Cass agrees. You’re not going”, he said. “Oh, I think she should go”, the angel said. “But not alone”. My jaw dropped. “What?”, I asked. “If Sam and Dean goes with you, you’ll be safer”, Castiel smiled. “But they have work here…”. Sam ran a hand over his tired face. “Actually, there’s not a lot we can do right now”, he said. “Kevin’s still working on the translation of the tablet. We might as well keep busy with something else”.

Dean seemed to think it over. “All right”, he exclaimed. “Guess we’re going to Sioux Falls”. I chewed my lip. “You weren’t exactly invited to the party…”, I muttered. “Suck it up. You’re not going without us”, Dean said. I rolled my eyes. “Lou, I will tie you up in our dungeon. Don’t test me”. His eyes were sending me a warning, that was half serious, half mischievous. “Maybe some other time”, I grunted; the corner of my lip twitching. “Fine”.

Dean’s face lit up. “Awesome! Whip out the Karate Kid soundtrack. Time for a training montage…”. “What?”, I frowned. “Lou, you wanna hunt? You gotta train first”. “What do you call the three demon-vampires I took out last night? And the ghosts I’ve been taking down all year…”. “Dumb luck”, he grunted. “And sloppy as hell”. I laughed sarcastically. “You want to fight me? Hand to hand combat?”, I asked. “Hell yeah. Test your skills”, Dean said smugly. “I’m gonna enjoy this”, I smirked.

---

About an hour later, Dean had me in the gym; testing my skills – and my patience.

“Again!”, he growled; after he’d nailed me to the wall, with his hands around my neck for the fifth time. I pushed him off me. “This isn’t fair”, I sneered. “Monsters don’t play fair”, Dean smirked. “Again!”. I took a stance in front of him; the baton he’d let me use as a stand in for a knife, in my hand. “That’s not what I mean”, I said; and jumped at him. He moved out of the way with a chuckle. “Too slow”, he smiled.

I let my shoulders drop, and threw the baton on the floor. “I’ve seen you fight; you know. And that’s what you’re doing now”. He began circling me. “You’re fighting as Dean Winchester – the great hunter. Not as a monster”. “Huh”, Dean grunted. “I like the sound of that…”. He sprang for me, and before I knew it, I was on the floor; and Dean was straddling me. “I’m sure you do”, I panted. “But this case isn’t even a monster. It’s a ghost”.

I was about to push him off me, when he grabbed my wrists, and pressed them down on either side of my head. “As much as I hate to admit it, ghosts are usually stronger than me – and as long as you can’t fight me of, you shouldn’t be hunting them”. “You’re still trying to turn me off this case…”, I sighed; struggling against his hold. His weight on me was sending very distracting thoughts through my head. He leant down to whisper in my ear. “Oh, sweetheart… I’ll be forever trying to turn you on…”. He sat back up. “But yeah. In this particular case, I still think you should stay here”. I pulled my arms upwards, making Dean lean over me again; his face close to mine. “You’re enjoying this too much”, I whispered. “And just for the record, my knee is dangerously close to your groin; I could just…”. I made to lift my knee; but Dean rolled of me. “Watch the jewels, Lou. We both want them safe”, he warned. With a swift move, I straddled him, as he had me. “On that, we agree”, I smirked.

Dean suddenly sat up, and his lips where on mine – kissing me with an almost insatiable hunger. I tried to push him off me; but he was too strong – and in all honesty, I was enjoying it. His arms where around me; holding me in place, and my own arms pinned down. “You’re gonna have to learn how to wrestle out of a move like this, if you want to hunt”, Dean growled. I began moving my hips, grinding against him. “I could always distract you…”, I breathed. “Not working”, Dean grunted. I bit my lip, and grinded again – this time letting out a soft moan. “Ok, it’s working a little bit”, he admitted with a grunt. “So how do I get out of it?”, I asked.

Suddenly, we were standing; Dean having lifted me off his lap, but still keeping me locked in his grasp. “With a vampire or a werewolf – or even a ghost – you wouldn’t. You’d be dead. At least with the moves you have now”, he said. He flipped me around, so my back was to him – and I felt his beginning erection pressing against my back. “With me…  Let’s just say, you might be able to persuade me without using violence”, he breathed into my hair.

I pushed out my bottom, to get him to take a small step back, leaving place for me to slide my hands behind my back, and take a hold of his hardness over his pants. Dean groaned slightly. I began gently squeezing it, and felt Dean loosen his hold on me. Just as I thought I was about to have the upper hand, he pushed me against the wall; making me brace myself with my hands in front of me. He grabbed my wrists, and held them over my head in one hand. He pressed himself against me again, and snaked his other hand in front of me; down my belly, to the waistband of my jeans – pausing there. I looked over my shoulder at him, and saw him search my eyes for consent. I gave him a slight nod; and with a mischievous smile, his fingertips slid behind the fabric, and ran through my curls.

I tried to pull my hands from his grasp, wanting desperately to touch him. “Nuh uh…”, Dean chuckled behind me. His knee went between my legs, so I was locked in place. “I’ve got you. You’re not going anywhere”. His fingers travelled down over my clit, ghosting the sensitive nub; and making me gasp. “You know, we should probably talk safe-words”, he smiled. “You think you’ll need them?”, I croaked; moving my hips to get him to touch me for real. Dean laughed gravelly. “Sweetheart, you are in for it”.

Suddenly, two of his fingers where inside me. He began pushing hard at my front wall, and rubbed at my nub with his palm. I pulled at my wrists; tried to get out of his hold on me – but he simply pushed me harder against the wall. His hand was thrusting and rubbing hard at me. “Push me off you”, he growled. I moaned a snarl, and gyrated to get free. “You’re stronger than this, Lou. Come on!”. “I… I don’t want to”, I whimpered. “You want me to have the upper hand? To win the fight?”, he chuckled. “No…”, I breathed; my insides beginning to clench around his fingers. “Then why aren’t you fighting me off?”, he teased. “I want… Oh, god!”, I pleaded.

Dean slowed down his movements inside me. “What are you doing?”, I whimpered. “Don’t stop”. He pulled out his fingers, and simply let them ghost my folds. “You’re giving up. Fight me!”, Dean demanded. “Dean! Please!”. “Earn it, baby”. With a roar, I used Dean’s hold on my wrists, to lift myself up; and press my feet against the wall. I kicked myself backwards, and we fell to the floor. Dean let go of my wrists, and I rolled away from him; getting on my feet.

“Good girl”, Dean smiled. “You won”. “Where’s my prize?”, I panted. “Your prize is; you won’t have to wait in the motel, while we take out the ghost”, he said; and stood up. “You can wait in the car. I’ll even crack a window”. I sighed. “You know, for a guy who haven’t even taken me on a proper date yet, you sure as hell feel entitled to tell me what to do”. “Lou, what do you want me to say?”, Dean shrugged. “We haven’t even been at this for an hour, and you’re already worn out”. “Am not…”, I lied. “I’m just… you know…”, I pouted. “What?”, he frowned.

I walked slowly towards him, biting my lip. “You just started something you didn’t finish… And I want you to finish it”. I put my hand on his chest; and he watched me intently, as I got on my toes, and tilted my head – brushing my lips against his. “You want…”. Dean swallowed hard. “I mean, we could take a break, and uhm…”. I caught his lower lip between my teeth, making him gasp.

I grabbed Deans hand, and turned around, so my back was to him again – as if I was trying to get back into the position we’d been in before. Felling his warm breath against my neck, I placed his hand over the top of my jeans; and ran my fingers up his arm. Grabbing a firm hold of his arm, with both my hands, I used my full bodyweight, to pull him forward – taking him by surprise – and making him land on the floor, on his back; with me on top of him. I rolled away from him, and got back on my feet.

“I think that just earned me a gold star!”, I smirked. Dean looked flabbergasted. “Where’d you learn that?”, he gasped. “WWE… Never tried it before though. Thanks for being my crash test dummy”, I smiled. Dean stood back up, and stretched. “Ow!”, he said. “Sorry”, I playfully pouted. “Want me to kiss it better?”. “You can’t flirt your way out of every situation!”, Dean growled. “And… yes”. I raised a brow at him. “Make me”, I smirked.

Dean chuckled sarcastically. “You’re going down!”. He sprang at me, and within seconds, I was on the floor; and Dean had his forearm against my neck. “I’d be happy to”, I croaked. “But Cass or Sam might walk in any second”. I grinded my hips against his. “Lou…”, Dean said warningly. “What?”, I whispered. “Am I doing something wrong?”. I slid my leg around his hip; and pulled him closer. The bulge on the front of Dean’s jeans gave away that I was doing everything right. “Is this how you plan on killing monsters?”, he asked; his voice breaking. “Grinding them to death?”. “Well, it seems to be taking your breath away”, I said; biting my lip. Dean shook his head, seemingly trying to focus on anything other than my mouth.

“Lulu!”, Sam called from down the hall. “Oh, thank God”, Dean croaked, and rolled of me. His brother joined us in the gym. “Thanks, Sam. I almost had him”, I frowned; and got to my feet. “Did not…”, Dean rasped, his back to us – discretely adjusting himself.

“It’s Jody. She wants to talk to you”, Sam said; and handed me my burner. “Jody?”, I said into the phone; smirking over my shoulder at Dean. “Lulu! You promised to call me!”, the sheriff said. “Sorry, ma’”, I smiled. “Please stop calling me that. I can feel my hair graying every time you do”. “Grey hair is hot. What’s up?”, I asked. “You’re with the guys?”, she said. “Yeah. I’m uhm… apparently in hunter boot-camp here”, I smirked. I heard Jody sigh. “Dean?” “Yup…”, I grunted. “Put me on speaker… now”.

I pressed the speaker button, and held up the phone. “Dean Winchester!”. “Hi, Jody”, Dean said warily. “Would you pull your head out of your ass, boy? Do you have any idea what this young woman has been doing for the last year?”, Jody snarled. “Jody, I’m just…”, Dean began. “Being a dick, that’s what you are… Get over yourself!”. I grinned at the frowning man who was currently getting his ass handed to him over the phone. “You hearing me? Dean?”. “Yes ma’am”, Dean muttered. “But did Sam happen to tell you what she did yesterday?”. “No, what?”. Dean smirked at me. “She ran straight at a nest of vampires with nothing but a machete and a minidress to protect her”. There was a pause. “How many did you take out, Lulu?”, Jody asked. “Three”, I muttered. “Good job… And don’t ever do that again! Are you crazy? You’re not ready for that!”. Thanks, I mouthed at Dean. He sent me the widest grin I’d seen on his face to date. “Sorry, Jody”, I said. “But why’d you call? Other than to yell at us?”.

She paused before continuing. “There’s been another one. Young woman, found under the bridge”. “That’s too soon!”, I gasped. “I know… How far are you with that research?”, Jody said. “I’m still working on it…”, I admitted. Sam clenched his jaw. “We’re on our way, Jody. Be there as soon as possible”. “Sounds good. See you then”, the sheriff said, and hung up.

I shook my head. “This is too soon. What the hell? Ghosts don’t usually change their MO…”, I muttered. “And this had been going on for more than 50 years”. “We’ll figure it out”, Sam smiled.

---

After packing up, we left the bunker – and Castiel – behind, to drive to South Dakota. Dean was still grumbling over the fact that I insisted on coming along. “This is my case. You’re the tag-along here”, I pointed out, as I dropped my bag in the trunk. Sam put the box of papers and records in there as well. “She’s not wrong, Dean”, he smiled. “And from what I’ve seen, Lulu’s done a damn good job on the research so far”. Dean frowned and dropped his own bag next to mine and Sam’s. “What about interviews? Have you done any of those yet?”, he grunted. “Didn’t have time to get to those, before Cass showed up for my book”, I said.

Sam had given me back Bobby’s journal, which was now safely stored in my backpack. The iron knife Sam had given me was stored in the pocket in my jacket I’d sown in for my angel blade; and I had a bag of salt in my pocket. I was more than ready to get this show on the road.

I went to get in the back seat, when Sam halted me. “Do you mind? I haven’t slept in two days”, he said, his face almost grey with exhaustion. “Sure”, I smiled, and went to sit in the front passenger seat, next to a smiling Dean. “Sammy!”, he chuckled. “You got short… and hot!”. “Shut up”, his brother responded from behind us.

After a few hours of driving, Dean put his arm on the backrest, and invited me in to cuddle up against him. It didn’t take much coaxing to accept – and soon I was leaning against his shoulder; sighing contently. A small snore came from the back seat; and I looked over my shoulder – smiling at the sight of the 6’4 man sleeping like a baby behind us. Dean glanced down at me, and licked his lower lip. “You know, he’s out cold…”, he muttered quietly. I looked questioningly at him, as he raised a brow at me. Only then did I realize what he was implying. “No! Not happening”, I said pointedly. Dean pouted playfully. “We could be really quiet…”, he whispered. I pulled back from his grasp, and chuckled. “Forget it”, I grunted. “Lou…”. “The lady said no!”, Sam snarled from the back seat.

Dean cleared his throat embarrassedly, and I squeezed his thigh gently, before winking at him. He smiled crookedly, and stroked his index finger down my jaw.

“How far are we from Sioux Falls?”, Sam yawned. “About two hours out. You can still get some shuteye”, I said; looking back at him. He raised a brow at the back of his brothers head. “Not taking that chance”, he muttered. He grabbed the thermos of coffee, and poured himself a cup, downing it in one go. “Cold”, he frowned. “Want me to make a stop?”, Dean said. “No, just turn on some music”, Sam groaned; and tried to stretch his long legs out.

I searched the glove compartment for a good tape, and smiled brightly when I stumbled across one labeled Lou. I looked Dean with a warm pouting smile. “Not that one!”, he said, and tried to snatch it from me. I smacked his hand away, and slid it into the radio.

“Lying in your arms, so close together…”.

Sam chuckled from the back seat. “Shut it”, Dean growled. I smiled at him, and caught him looking at me from the corner of his eye; a warm smirk ghosting his face. “Made a mistake, when I let you go, baby. I drive myself crazy, wanting you the way that I do”, I whispered along to the song. The next song was Landslide, by Fleetwood Mac. “How much time did you spend on this?”, I muttered. Dean didn’t answer, but I saw his cheeks redden. “He was on lockdown for three days”, Sam smirked. “I will turn this car around!”, Dean growled. I shook my head. “Behave… both of you”, I said. Sam cleared his throat, and looked out the window; stifling a grin.

When we finally arrived outside Sioux Falls PD, we’d gone through the tape three times – listening to the greatest hits of Lou and Dean. It included Ramones’ version of Spiderman; Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train; Bon Jovi’s Bad Medicine; AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top – during which Dean muttered something about a girl he once knew, who’d flashed Angus Young at a concert – and finally, for some reason, Cherry Pie by Warrant.

Jody looked up from some papers on her desk, when we entered the station. “Miss Timberlake…”, she muttered with a half-smile. “You owe me 100 bucks for that motel bill you skipped out on”. I gave my friend a warm hug. Dean sent me a look. “Timberlake?”, he grunted. “Save it, John Bonham”, she grunted, before pulling him in for a hug. She patted Sam’s cheek after hugging him. “You look like death run over. What’s wrong?”. “Been working… Not getting much sleep”. Jody raised her brows. “You need to take better care of yourselves”, she said; before putting her fingertips against the bandage on my neck. “All of you!”, she grunted.

“The girl”, I said, cutting to the chase. “She was found under the bridge”. “Yeah”, the sheriff frowned. “Icy cold. Three days after being crowned prom queen”. “Poor girl”, I muttered. “She’s not the first prom queen to go out the same way, though, is she?”. “Well, you have the records. Weren’t they all?”, she asked. “No… Only some of them”, I said.

An officer looked in our direction; frowning. “You three should go… somewhere else”, Jody said. “Ghosty stuff isn’t a good topic here”. “We’ll set up at a motel. Let you know where we’re at”, Dean said. “You’re welcome to use my house…”, Jody offered. “That nosy neighbor of yours gonna be good with that?”, I smirked; remembering Mrs. Boone, who’d shown up at all hours of the day, when she found out Jody had me crashing on her couch. “Good point”, she smiled. “But pick a different motel. The 6 is pissed at you”, she said, cocking a brow at me. “Right…”, I winced. “See you later?”. Jody nodded, and waved us away; suddenly looking angry. “I told you!”, she said loudly. “We have no comments for the media as of now!”. “Sorry, sheriff”, Dean smiled. “We’ll be on our way”.

We got back in the Impala, and made our way to a motel just outside town. Dean was pouting when he came back from the front desk. “They only have one room”, he grunted; and handed Sam the key. His brother just shook his head, and went to unlock the door. “So much for privacy”, Dean muttered to me. “We’re here to work”, I retorted. He looked at me in almost anguish. “Lou…”, he groaned. I intertwined my fingers with his, and kissed his stubbly cheek. “Dead girl. Ghosts. Work”, I said. “Move the car”. “You move the car”, he frowned. “Ok!”, I smiled; longing to get my hands on the Impala. Deans eyes widened. “Wait, no. Scratch that. You just… go to the room”. I rolled my eyes, and walked over to our temporary accommodations.

A few minutes later, Sam was draped across one of the beds in our shared room. Dean came in with his and my bag. “Dude, you look like crap. We can go check out that bridge later”, he said. “Get some sleep”. “Actually, I was gonna go that”, I said. “You’re welcome to join”. I smirked at the frowning older brother. “You were going to go… alone?”, he said. “Not if you’re coming with”, I shrugged. He muttered something below his breath. “Fine, let’s go. You good with this, Sam?”. Sam wasn’t answering. He was out cold.

---

About an hour later, Dean and I were scouting the area around where the last girl had been found. Dean was just hanging up on Jody, when he came over to join me, where I was crouching over a patch of grass that seemed to have suffered from frost bite. “Jody’s meeting up with Sam at the motel in a few”. “Huh…”, I muttered. “EMF? I don’t have one”. Dean handed me his own. “Of course you don’t…”, he grunted. “Dean…”, I warned. He sighed, and watched as I turned on the meter. It instantly reacted slightly, though not as it would, had there been a spirit present at the moment. This was residue. “Good. You found out it’s a ghost. Now what?”. “You tell me, Mr. Hunter Man…”, I jeered. “You’re the expert”. “No, please. Be my guest. You seem to have this thing down”.

I stood up. “I’m going up to the bridge. No one’s reported seeing the ghost this time around. It’s all out of wack”. “Ok, let’s go”, Dean said, and reached for my hand. I walked ahead of him before he could grab it. “What?”, he asked. “You’re being a jerk, Dean”, I sneered. “I’m trying to do my job here, but it’s really hard, when you keep riding my ass on everything I say and do”. His gaze softened. “I’m sorry”, he muttered. “You’re right. Let’s try to figure this thing out”. “Yeah?”, I asked. He nodded. “Yeah. Do your job. Tell me how I can help”, he tried with a crooked smile. It was almost endearing. “I want to scan the bridge. See if there are any spirits around”, I sighed. “After that, I want to check out the lover’s lane”. Dean’s face lit up. “For ghosts, you horn-dog!”, I chuckled. “Oh”, he grumbled. “Fine”.

The bridge didn’t give away any readings for spirits; confusing me even further. Dean took off his jacket, and threw it into the car. “Kind of hot for April”, he grunted. “Yeah”, I agreed. “That girl still died from hypothermia, though. It has to be connected to that spirit. But she died in early May. So why freeze to death? And why are the dates suddenly different?”. Dean shrugged. “You’re the brains in this operation. I’m just the brawns”, he smiled. I walked over to him, and patted his chest. “You do a great job of that”, I smirked. “Come on. Take me to lover’s lane, stud”.

The sun was beginning to set as Dean parked the Impala a few miles away from the bridge. Markings on the ground showed that this was a place many cars parked; when the people in them were searching for some privacy. There were trees around, making it possible for a couple to go about their business, without being spotted. I got out of the car, and scanned the area. Nothing. I frowned. “This brings me back”, Dean smirked. “To what?”, I asked, searching the ground for any trace of something that shouldn’t be there. He swallowed hard. “Uhm… Susan…”, he muttered; leaning against the Impala. “Farrow?”, I chuckled. He cleared his throat. “You remembered”, he said. “Yeah… Took her to another lover’s lane after prom”. I nodded and laughed.

I continued scanning the area around the car. Suddenly, Deans arms snaked around my waist; and he pressed himself against me. “It brings me back somewhere else as well”, he breathed, and kissed the top of my head. “Where’s that?”, I croaked, trying to focus on my task. “You… me… backseat”. He brushed my hair away from the back of my neck, and nibbled at my neck – sending waves of warmth to my core. “I’m trying to work”, I squeaked quietly. “There’s nothing here. Just us”, Dean whispered into my ear. “Come on… We have to share a room with my brother. Can’t we take a break, and just…”. He ran his finger across my jaw. “I guess…”, I breathed.

I turned around, and Dean pressed his lips to mine. As I parted my lips, and he gained entry to my mouth -brushing his tongue against mine – I was a whimpering mess. Dean scanned the area for company – and happy that we were, indeed, alone – he suddenly bent down, and threw me over his shoulder; and carried me back to the Impala. “Dean!”, I yelped. “Put me down”. He smacked my butt, and put me down; grabbing the EMF-meter from my hand, and throwing it through the open window, on the front seat. He opened the door to the back seat for me, and I got inside. Suddenly, I was flipped on my back, and Dean slammed the door behind him – crawling up to place himself between my legs.

I tugged at his t-shirt, and he pulled it off; letting me run my nails down his chest. “Lou”, he rasped. “Careful. I’ve been thinking about this all day. Don’t finish it before its even started”. “I knew I had you back in that gym”, I smirked. Dean’s pupils blew in remembrance. “Yeah”, he admitted; before pressing his lips against mine again.

Our tongues battled for dominance, and we made out like two teenagers. Pushing myself into a seated position, I quickly shed the layers on my torso, until I was left in my bra. Dean pulled down the cup from my right breast, and sucked my nipple into his mouth, making me gasp loudly. Frantically, I went for his belt; unbuckling it with shaking hands. “Foreplay?”, Dean grunted. “Skip it!”, I growled, and opened my own jeans, and pulling them down over my bottom. I kicked off one boot, and got my leg free, so I could pull down my panties as well; and my already glistening folds met the evening air. Dean ran a finger between my labia, and entered me slightly.

My eyes widened. “Wait!”, I cried out. “What?”, Dean asked in a startled voice. I pushed him off me, and leant over the back rest, reaching for the ignition, turning the key so the radio began playing. “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean. She was the best damn woman I had ever seen…”, Brian Johnson began singing. “Oh, baby”, Dean grinned. With a firm grab of my hips, he pulled me back onto the backseat; and pulled down his jeans – freeing himself. I grabbed his erection, and guided it towards my entrance. Dean pushed into me with a strangled groan; and instantly began moving on top of me. I locked my leg around his hip, and rolled my hips to meet his movements.

The Impala’s mufflers got a run for their money, as the entire car was moving with us. We simultaneously kissed and laughed from the rocking of the vehicle. It wasn’t long before I noticed Deans face change into a more strained expression. “It’s ok”, I panted. “You can…”. “No”, he shook his head. “Not yet. You… oh, wow… you first”. I grabbed the back of his head, and kissed him deeply; before tilting my hips, making him stroke against the sensitive spot inside me. The strain on my back was uncomfortable, and when Dean saw my facial expression, he put his hand behind me, and pulled me up to straddle him. He leaned against the backrest, and I moved up and down on him; feeling him fill every inch of me. He put his thumb against my nub, and stroked it; while simultaneously massaging my left breast.

The fire in my belly was building, and before long, I saw white; and my walls clenched around his hardness. I came with a raspy moan, and Dean followed me soon after. I collapsed against his chest, and chuckled. “Wow…”, I grinned. “Uh huh”, Dean agreed. He put his hands on either side of my face, and kissed me gently.

Suddenly I heard a buzzing. Dean pulled back – his lips still puckered. “What’s that?”, I whispered. Dean patted my thighs to get off him, and I moved, letting him lean over to the front seat, and pick up the EMF. All the lights where blaring, and we looked at each other in wonder.

We quickly got cleaned up and dressed, and both got out of the car. The EMF-meter quieted down gradually, before going black again. “What the hell was that?”, I said. “I don’t know”, Dean frowned. “But we should get back to the motel”. I nodded, and we got back in the car.

As we neared the bridge, a thought struck me. “Prom…”, I muttered. “What?”, Dean asked. “The girl who died this time. She was prom queen. Three others were crowned queen as well”. Dean pondered my words. “You think the ghost has it out for prom queens?”. “No”, I said. “Not all of the victims were crowned. But they disappeared around prom night”. I slammed my palm against my forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!”. Dean smiled. “You’re thinking of it now. It’s good work”. I chuckled. “Are you saying atta girl?”, I asked. “Something like that”, he shrugged, and squeezed my knee.

As we drove over the bridge, I picked up the EMP-meter, and turned it on. The sun was all the way down, and the bridge wasn’t lit up by anything, but the headlights of the Impala. Suddenly, a jolt went through my body, as the radio turned itself on; not playing the tape inserted – but instead letting a soft female voice begin a melancholic tune. “The night is like a lovely tune. Beware my foolish heart. How white the ever-constant moon. Take care my foolish heart”. The EMP-meter’s lights blared, and it began buzzing fiercely. “What’s happening?”, I muttered. “What kind of ghost messes with a man’s tunes?”, Dean growled. “Your lips are much too close to mine. Beware my foolish heart. But should our eager lips combine. Then let the fire start”.

“Dean!”, I yelled. He slammed the brakes, just as a young woman in a pink dress appeared in front of us. She was walking in the same direction as we were driving; barefoot, carrying her shoes, and her hair was tussled. Her whole body was shaking, as if she was freezing. “That’s her”, I croaked.

The young woman didn’t seem to notice us. Dean sprang out of the car. “Hey!”, he yelled after her. She didn’t respond. “Miss?”. “She can’t hear you… she’s just a reflection”, I breathed, and got out to join him. “No, stay in the car!”, Dean growled.

I walked towards the reflection, when suddenly she turned around, and looked straight at me. Her makeup was smudged, and her mascara had been running. The radio continued playing the soft melody. “For this time it isn't fascination. Or a dream that will fade and fall apart. It's love, this time it's love. My foolish heart”. The girl mouthed along to the music.

An intense chill went through me, and I blinked. She was gone. The radio turned itself off. I was as frozen in place. “She was crying”, I whispered. Dean grabbed my arm. “Come on, Lou”, he muttered. “We need to get out of here”. I nodded, and rubbed my arms, entering the car again.

---

Back at the motel, Sam had been joined by Jody, and they were bent over the papers from my box. “You find anything at the bridge?”, Sam asked. He was finally looking well rested; and apparently, he was well fed as well – I could tell from the open containers of Tupperware, I recognized as Jody’s. “Yeah, a friggin’ ghost”, Dean said. “We saw her. And she messed with my radio!”. I stumbled over to sit down. “Whiskey”, I croaked. I felt an intense chill throughout my body. I’d never been that close to a ghost before; having mostly seen them at a distance.

Dean poured me a drink, and I downed it. “You saw her?”, Sam asked. “The white lady?”. “No, I think she’s just a reflection… I don’t know, I’m… That was insane!”. Dean furrowed his brow at me. “I’d say you look like you’ve seen a ghost, but that would be redundant”, he muttered. “What was her name again?”. Jodie pulled out an old death record. “Annie Jones. 18 years old at the time of death”, she said. I looked at the picture of the young woman; Dean leaning in to look over my shoulder. “That was her”, he said. He read the record Jodie handed him. “But she was cremated…”. “There must be something out there of hers left”, Sam said.

I got up, and went over to my bag, grabbing a cardigan to put over my tank-top and flannel. “You ok, Lulu?”, Jody frowned. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit shook up”, I smiled, and sat back down. “Did you make any connection to high school proms, from the papers?”. Sam smiled. “Now you mention it; yeah”, he said. “All the victims disappeared on prom night, or just after”. Jody narrowed her eyes. “The shift in dates make sense now”, she muttered. “Sioux Falls High has had the prom around the same date every year forever… Until this year”. “What happened?”, Dean asked, as he was heading for the deliciously smelling Tupperware. “Chicken!”, he grinned, and grabbed a leg. “I’m not sure”, Jody said. “Something about the gymnasium being rented out for some event or other, on the usual date. They decided to advance the date of the prom. Local rich guy, Mason, is celebrating his wife’s 80’th, by recreating their prom night”. “Confusing the hell out of the ghost in the process, so she wasn’t seen until after the victim was found”, Dean said, his mouth full. I handed him a napkin.

Sam ran a hand over his face. “About that…”, he began, before Jody interrupted him. “The girl who was found the other day didn’t die from hypothermia. She had a diabetic seizure”, she said. “Coroner confirmed it about an hour ago”. “So no victim this year?”, I asked. I rubbed my hands together. “Could you close the window?”, I asked Dean. “It’s not open”, he muttered. “I am thoroughly confused”, I said. “And tired. Do you mind if I take a nap?”. “Go ahead”, Sam smiled.

I got up and passed Dean. “We can take the other bed”, he muttered. I patted his chest. “You’re on the couch, Fabio”, I smiled. “We’re working”. “Come on!”, he complained. “You had yours”, I whispered; and went over to lay down on the bed furthest from the door.

I heard the other three muttering quietly, before I dozed off. It must have been a few hours later, when I felt the bed dip, and Dean putting his arms around me. I was about to croak at him to go to the couch, but the room felt chilly; and his warmth was welcome.

---

[trashballerina]

BNHA Fics I really like

Btw, the ones with a ⭐ are my favorites

journey to the past 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15046934

Izuku is five years old the first time he's saved by heroes. He's an instant fan of the woman in pink with her cheerful smile and the man with his ice powers and fine-boned features, even if they both refuse to tell him their names.

For most of his life, Izuku has been the centre of villain attacks, but he has never been injured. Every time, he's saved by bright, unknown heroes—heroes who smile at Izuku, and ruffle his hair or ply him with hugs, and seem mesmerised by how small he is.

Heroes that the rest of the world doesn't believe exists.

Opinion: Honestly, it’s really pure and heartwarming with a side of angst. Seeing a young Izuku fanboy is adorable and from what I remember it's pretty well written. I honestly really love this one.

Lies in the guise of truth

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15124007/chapters/35067359

All Might is the world's #1 hero, the symbol of peace, the pillar that the world knows they can stand on. He dominates every room he's in, from press conferences to his Hero Agency.

It's pretty easy for everyone to overlook Yagi Toshinori, All Might's 'quirkless secretary'. But he's still there.

Opinion: I really love Dadmight. Like I really love Dadmight so I may be a bit bias. It diverts a bit from canon, but I was alright with that. It’s wholesome, cute, and Toshi deserves some love 

I Would Understand  ⭐

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12729852

Shinsou Hitoshi had a bit of a problem, and that problem was that he’d gotten attached to Aizawa Shouta. And somewhere along the line had started seeing him as a parental figure, a replacement for all the foster home parents who’d passed him along and never quite done their job.

A kid who's been in foster care his entire life spends a normal, average day after training with the teacher who seems to care a little too much.

Opinion: I have found myself revisiting this fic thrice already lol. Honestly, the first chapter is my favorite and well written--as are the other chapters. I love the melodic and somber atmosphere of some of the scenes and it really feels so sweet but hits me in the feels. The EraserMic in here is beautiful and great Dadzawa.

Ghosts of Flowers

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19851709

Shigaraki gets the chance to carefully sift through the pieces of his recovered memories and tries to hold them close.

There is something that bothers him a bit though: Hana seems—oddly familiar.

It’s not until he’s reviewing the U.A. training exercise footage their mole got them that he realizes it.

The Yaoyorozu heiress, with her long, dark hair, her elegant eyes, and her confident smile, she looks just like—

But she can’t be Hana.

Opinion: I love this one a whole lot. The concept is interesting and executed really well. I really love the characterization of the characters and you get some great internal dialogue and inside thoughts. While I do think the story goes a bit fast, I really enjoyed and understand there’s a lot to tell in ten chapters. 

Not a Spare Part

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18974530/chapters/45052543

In one universe, Tony Stark closed his eyes to a world where Superheroes were a rarity.

In another universe, Tony Stark opens his eyes to a world where Superheroes are the norm.

(An AU where after the events of Endgame, Tony Stark finds himself inhabiting the body of a young quirkless boy named Midoriya Izuku and figures out that the world could use... another Iron Man)

------- Basically, Izuku becomes Iron Man.

Opinion: I really like this fic. Tony is giving Izuku the confidence he needs and makes some new friends and builds old ones. 

Reconfigure  ⭐

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16893972

It's been years since the League of Villains was disbanded. Out on parole and stuck in therapy, Tomura Shigaraki is coasting through life. While he's no longer a villain, he's not exactly a productive member of society either. When an awkward past fling shows up, he's met with a shock: a 3-month-old baby girl. Turns out motherhood is hard when you're a serial killer. Suddenly saddled with the responsibility of a child, Shigaraki has a choice: keep his life the boring way it is or become a father for his kid he didn't know he had.

He knows nothing about being a good parent (and neither does the recently paroled Dabi/Touya Todoroki), but help comes in the most surprising of forms, specifically pro hero Uravity. All Ochako Uraraka wants to do is be a hero, so when she stumbles across the former villain with a baby, she can't help but worry. With Shigaraki clueless, Uraraka decides to do her best to help. What starts out as a chance meeting between two old enemies turns into something else as they find themselves in a strange predicament and more people get involved. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Sometimes, it's a handful of mostly reformed villains and the heroes they tried to kill when they were teens.

Opinion: Alright, before you dismiss this one, hear me out:  Tomura/Ochako really works in this fic. This fic has become one of my favorites because of how its written, characterization, and Tomura’s child--because I’m a sucker for wholesome parent and child content. I honestly really love this fic and had a lot of emotions throughout.

Something Still Remains  ⭐

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22737019

“Are you Shouta?” the shadow-man asks, and his tone is polite but there’s something verging on almost desperate behind it.

Shouta considers. He’s unarmed, facing an unknown person who knows his home address and his first name, he hasn’t slept in thirty-six hours, and he’s wearing kitten-patterned pajama pants. Despite all of that, he’s still confident in his ability to handle himself in a fight, but nothing about this situation is making sense, and it’s sending him slightly off-kilter.

Starting with how the shadow man knows his name.

“Maybe,” he says, after his silence has dragged on a beat too long. “Who’s asking.”

Opinion: It’s a one-shot, but a heckin good one at that. The tone of this fic is so gentle and quiet. Also, Kurogiri characterization is great. I’m absolutely craving more.

How to kidnap an underground hero and an UA General Studies student- A guide by Present Mic

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068645/chapters/55178836

Hizashi knew what the villains were planning, he was one of them after all. But they wouldn’t hurt what was his and the plan was rather simple. Really.

Step 1: Convince them that it is just going to be a family holiday and that they desperately need a bit of a break

Step 2: Get Shinsou to take quirk suppressants, make him believe it’s a good thing and that it would help him, tell him that they would wear off on their own, not that they do

Step 3: Put the pills into tea, not coffee, the latter could cause health problems

Opinion: I have so many feelings about this. Like way too many. It’s not finished, but I need more. Erasermic, Shinsou, and Eri, and literally everything I love

it's a chatfic, but with villains

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11777448/chapters/26554635

DABnation added NotDeadpool, Ketchup, Magic Mike, BIG MEATY, MoonMoon, FidgetSpinnerPro, MAGNIFICENT, and Loan Snake to the group.

Stab Lick Delicious:Why is Kurogiri crying DABnation: i think DABnation: he realized he made a mistake

Opinion: It’s been a while since I’ve read and it’s unfinished, but I remember having a really fun time reading this and having quite a few laughs.

Karma in Retrograde

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924609/chapters/34574417

When Dabi is struck by a de-aging quirk that regresses him to the most influential part of his life, he finds himself turned back into a sixteen-year-old U.A. General Studies student with lots of self-esteem issues, parent problems, a destructive quirk that he can't manage, and no memory of the years that he's lost - not to mention the fact that his little brother is now the same age as him and one of the top students in the U.A. hero course. In U.A.'s attempt to make up for what they missed and help the Dabi of the past, present, and future, he is placed with the only students that know him and have yet to find out what truly makes the difference between a hero and a villain. There, they must face the question of whether he can change or his destiny is already set in stone.

Opinion: I really like this fic. I really love young Dabi. It’s been a while since I’ve read, but I really love this one.

komorebi  ⭐

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16717599/chapters/39209133

The change can't be immediate, or it’ll seem forced. It has to take time, in order to be realistic. He knows that.

He’ll need to seem like a villain. But he’ll be a hero.

And for that, Hitoshi thinks he’d do just about anything.

Or,

Someone's selling UA's secrets, and Shinsou Hitoshi definitely doesn't have anything to prove.

Opinion: If you haven’t noticed, I really like Dadzawa. This one is super interesting, written really good, and I love the characterization of Shinsou. Like some chapters had me rioting I thought they were so good. I love the alternating moods ins scenes and I feel that I can really feel the atmosphere--if that makes sense lol.

Mendacium  ⭐

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21297146/chapters/50713442

"Why are you doing this?" Shouta couldn't help but ask. Really, this kid couldn't be much older than his class, and he was already out his risking his life to fight... and was good at it. That was the worst part of all, that a child would act like an experienced soldier in the face of danger. "If you stop now, I won't report you. You can just go on home to your family, and maybe try to be a hero-"

A laugh cut him off, but it was more sad than condescending. "Mr. Trash Bag, I'm doing all I can to get home. But like hell I'll be a hero. I've been used by the government too much." A slight European accent colored his words, and his Japanese was a little hesitant, but the determination was clear. "I have to admit, though, your quirk is really awesome. The ability to stop others' energies... remarkable."

The boy tensed, and Shouta activated his quirk on reflex.

"Too bad it doesn't work on me, then. Can't erase what you don't have, after all!"

OR: Edward didn't want to help Truth. He didn't want to go to a different world to defeat yet another Father. He didn't want to become a vigilante there.

He also wanted his brother back. The choice was obvious, even if Truth is a massive asshole.

Opinion: 10/10. Superb. Love our short funky blond alchemist. There’s ling chapters, great Edward Elric, and it had me rolling a few times with laughter. I thoroughly love this fic. 

Demons of the Past  ⭐ 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17642501/chapters/41601551

For Enji Todoroki, hero name Endeavor, reconciling with the past is easier said than done. Even more so when a dead son comes back to haunt him.

Opinion: I had this before BUT HEAR ME OUT! This fic is absolutely amazing. I was blown away with the characterization of Enji and I know so many people hate him-- I included--but I think his perspective is interesting. The high emotional scenes really had me feeling. Honestly, give this fic a try and you’ll see what I mean.

Black Cat Cafe  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15442725/chapters/35844969

Aizawa Shota was a man tired of life, bitter and jaded from the endless horrors of the world. Six years ago, he disappeared, his existence erased.

Redeye is a stoic man with a mysterious past, who runs a tight shop, cares for his young ward with his whole heart, and makes a flawless cup of coffee.

He also has an unabashed fondness for stray cats.

(Otherwise known as a bitter Aizawa makes café Switzerland, adopts twenty hero-in-training children, some villains, and Shinsou, and then kicks All for One’s ass into next week. And maybe falls in love.)

Opinion: This is the one bois. I think this is my favorite bnha fic. The concept, the characterization, the PINING. I am absolutely in the with this story and the author.

Sure As the Setting Sun  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12111294/chapters/27462717

Mob never aimed to be a hero, despite being an apprentice to one. He only wanted to make sure his quirk never hurt anyone ever again. However, an incident that occurs in his third year of middle school spurs him into action despite his wishes. Mob enters into UA academy, the top heroics school in all of Japan, and winds up with several new friends and much more trouble than he bargained for.

Opinion: It hasn’t been updated for a while, but seeing my two favorite cinnamon rolls together melts my heart. Mob is in the hero course but has the moral dilemma of fighting, and honestly, it is so interesting to see how it’s handled. 

_________

Well, I hope you enjoyed the list. I really tried not to star everything (I like them all!). I’m probably going to make more for different fandoms and more in-depth tbh. I had a lot of fun doing this! If anyone has any fic recommendations for, please don’t feel shy to send me some! I love talking about writing!

[shineonmalcolmbright]

Shine On, Bright: Chapter Eight

Table of Contents

Present

Malcolm’s not ready for Ainsley to follow him back into the room, to speak with Martin but the whole time Martin laughs. He claps his hands together, “I can’t believe it, a family reunion.” The whole time Malcolm tries to remain about as indifferent as possible. There’s no way he could’ve ever said no to his sister because if he did, they’d still end up in the same room together.

Ainsley though makes direct contact first with Martin even as he continues to chuckle about their so-called family reunion. She informs him, “We’re going to take a quick break so the authorities can ask you a few questions about a murder.”

And Malcolm looks up because it’s time to face the truth or potential truth. “A serial killer, actually,” he interrupts.

Again, Martin chuckles, he leans forward a bit while smiling. “Oh really? Have you named him yet? I always thought The Surgeon was a little too on the nose.”

Ainsley closes her eyes for a second, seems like a better approach than rolling them as Malcolm just stared at their father. This is going to be a lot. It always is. Somebody could compare it to pulling teeth but there are worse things like somebody using tweezers to pluck out your eyelashes one-by-one or somebody peeling your nails from your fingers. Maybe teeth are still worse than the nails. There’s a certain intimacy to it. Well, that and the eyelashes.

“But. . .it’s not about me,” continues Martin as he sits back resting his hands on his knees.

Only Malcolm catches them all off guard by posing a new question. “It is about you, about your station wagon.”

Somehow this gets Martin to shut up, it even gets all his chuckling to stop. He’s still grinning though. “The camping wagon? Where was it?”

The whole time Malcolm watches him, studies him, waits to better understand whatever Martin might say. This isn’t good. This isn’t ok. There’s the knife weighing him down along with the rest of his questions stuck in his head.

“It was found in a junkyard in the Bronx.” Take yourself out of the story, he tries to remind himself to stop himself from falling out of time. “It was found where we also found ten dead bodies.”

Still so quiet, Martin sits there. He’s answering questions just fine and all but all the humor is gone or joy of the so-called family reunion. He seems to shrug the comment off. “I’ve never been to the Bronx and as for the murder, well, what can I say?” The laughter returns, such a light chuckle in this round. Unlike before where he was loud maybe there’s a weird nervousness here. It’s hard to tell. Either way, Martin finishes his joke with his punchline. “I’ve been indisposed.”

Take yourself out of the story, Malcolm continues to tell himself but he’s getting closer to detaching and falling through time. The longer he talks to his father with the knife and questions weighing him down. Memories of the “camping wagon” moving its way along a winding road before rocks cleared away for them to get one good view of the Overlook Hotel, a place where the dead walked, despite how they never should.

“We don’t believe you committed the murders, but instead, we believe you may know the person,” Malcolm says while staying in the present.

Martin’s chuckle changes all together. It went from boisterous family reunion to something nervous like all the stories of the dead within the hotel walls. “Cars show up in all sorts of places, Malcolm.”

Except Malcolm isn’t going to take it. He lifts a hand almost smirking about it. “So-So it’s just a coincidence that one serial killer’s car is found in the junkyard of another serial killer.”

All humor or nervousness disappears from Martin, he’s just sitting there. Kind of shrugs his shoulders, closes his eyes for a bit as if he’s attempting calculating some sort of equation. The whole time his hands rest on his knees without him fiddling with his handcuffs. “Let’s see what the odds are then. There are usually between 25 to 50 active serial killers for about. . .”

“STOP!” Malcolm shouts, as if he’s not loud enough he puts a hand up getting Martin to shut up with all his mumbling going on. This isn’t ok. This isn’t alright. Take yourself out of the story, it’s what Gil would tell him especially whenever it came to Martin. He couldn’t though. He couldn’t do such a thing. He was in too deep. “Stop.” This time it’s much softer. Ainsley stares instead at Malcolm as he starts to pace, talking with his hands as he’s moving around. “I know-I know they’re connected.”

Martin sucks in his lower lip, leans back in his seat a bit as Malcolm comes closer pulling out a photograph, it’s a close up image of a pocket knife. Nothing special about it, just steel and wood but Malcolm holds it up so he stays silent letting the kid talk.

“This knife was found in the center console of the station wagon.” Take yourself out of the story, but too late. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember it!”

Martin looks up from the photograph. “Sure, that was your knife.”

There’s something wrong about the way he said it. Sure, that was your knife not Sure, that’s your knife. There was something mocking about it, saying each and every single possible word out loud. Sure, that was your knife. Martin even smiles again as he watches Malcolm. The whole time he’s smiling and nodding but Malcolm stands and watches him still stuck, stuck on those words from him unable to bring himself out of the story and he knows he knows he’s about to fall through time.

“Yeah, we got that in the, uh, rest stop just off the turnpike,” Martin continues while Malcolm gawks at him. “I know what you’re thinking: What kind of rest stop would sell a switchblade to a kid? Well, it was New Jersey or Ohio.”

Gradually, Malcolm lets the photograph come down like gravity is moving his arm and not his own brain. He does need to remind himself to breathe, take in a deep breath. Inhale. And so he does as he looks down at the photograph he hangs onto. Inhale! The knife was found in the console of the station wagon in the junkyard with all those bodies and flashes of memories of another time, and another life.

Martin won’t stop. Of course, he isn’t going to stop. “You were never one to crush a penny. You wanted a practical souvenir.”

Practical. Again, Malcolm looks up at Martin not that he really sees his father in the moment. Already, he’s gone, falling out of time. It’s a bad habit. But he manages to get the right words out, he has to choke them out but says them for Martin to hear in the present, “Is that why I wanted it?” Ainsley probably doesn’t notice he’s gone. Yes, he’s physically standing in the same spot and in the same room as them but that doesn’t mean he’s tethered to the actual moment.

Somewhere outside the Overlook Hotel, Young Malcolm sprints through a hedge maze, branches punching and scraping at him, in an attempt to stop him, lion’s feet crafted of branches puncture the ground before him. All he has is a pocket knife to defend himself. Not practical after all, but that’s not what matters. No, not at all.

Behind Young Malcolm, somebody shouts, My Boy! Come on and take your medicine! Young Malcolm holds the knife at the topiary lion, it’s already slick with blood, but not from branches attacking him. Not his blood. It’s somebody else’s blood. Another element, another part to this story that’s. . .faded. . .

Practical.

Martin’s still talking, of course, he didn’t notice Malcolm’s exit or maybe he did and waited for the moment he returned. Hard to tell, either way, Martin continues, “Why else would a boy want a knife?” Martin’s squinting at him, he’s careful the way he shapes each of his following words. Practical. “To whittle a piece of wood, to scale a fish. . .

Who else was there with them? Malcolm glances from Martin to Ainsley. Two of the three because there was also his mother and Gil had left by then. It was the four of them out there, lost in the snow between the walls of the. . .

“When we were at the Overlook, what happened there, Dr. Whitly?” Malcolm finds words again returning to his earlier mantra, Take yourself out of the story. Although this is his story, it’s about him, it’s about something, it’s about a knife, it’s about lost memories, it’s about a lot of things.

And Martin leans forward whispering to Malcolm all while Ainsley stares the two of them down. “Perhaps we should table this for later because it seems like you’re taking up all your sister’s time.” No response from Malcolm, he stands there staring at Martin unable to choose what to focus on. Practical keeps coming to mind with brief moments of him and that knife and there’s blood on it, not his though. “There’s only so much of dad to go around.”

Unable to answer, Malcolm stands there clenching his jaw. It's locked into place, maybe he’ll never be able to open his mouth again and will casually die because of it. Trying to remind himself not to shake or let his guard down. Not here. Not in front of this person. Not with these words floating through the air. There’s a different reason to why he won’t get any answers. Worse is the knife weighing him down, his practical souvenir because why else would a boy want a knife? Already his headaches and he can feel his teeth crunch in his ears as he clenches too hard but can’t stop. Anxiety starts up again, it’s a steady sizzle inside his chest more like electricity, only it’ll grow and grow.

“Malcolm?” Ainsley speaks up behind him. “Can. . .Can I talk to you for a second?”

It’s all a whisper.

Malcolm releases his jaw and turns to face her. Everything is alright. Everything is going to be alright. There was blood on his knife back after something happened. Another person had to be there. It wasn’t any of the four of them. Not them. Ghosts don’t bleed either, he knows this far a fact. An unfortunate fact for any person to know but most people could guess that right.

“Yeah,” Malcolm whispers real low and looks away even though Ainsley is already heading out.

The door is so loud in the moment of noiselessness. Malcolm struggles to look anywhere but at her or at Martin, which is hard because the room isn’t too big. He turns, clenching his jaw again. It’s going to be a real pain. He follows Ainsley out having no idea what she’ll say but most words aren’t going to make sense. Not with anxiety sizzling inside him, growing louder inside his brain, memories that don’t connect because there’s something missing, a lot of something missing. And yet, somehow deep down between Sure, that was your knife, Practical souvenir, and Perhaps we should table this for later. . .Malcolm knew for sure, he did something horribly bad. One last time, he looks down at the photograph of the knife stuck wondering What did I do? because he’s avoiding the real question poking about his brain, Who did I hurt?

[woolishlygrim]

Winter Weebwatch #5

After last week’s surprisingly bad bunch of episodes, this week’s episodes are surprisingly good! There was also no Darwin’s Game this week, probably because it got pre-empted by a sporting event, but to be honest, I don’t think anybody was especially crying out for another three paragraphs of me struggling to remember what happened in it.

Also, there is a huge trigger warning for discussions of suicide, both in fiction and in real life on this post, specifically in the ID: Invaded review.

In/Spectre

★★★★☆

So, this episode was cruising along for an easy three stars for most of its runtime. Continuing on the Steel Girder Nanase storyline, the episode sees Kotoko and Saki simultaneously deciding to hate each other and deciding that they need to work together to decipher the truth behind Steel Girder Nanase, who they believe to be the ghost of an idol, Haruka Nanase, who was accused of murder and subsequently was found crushed by a steel girder, her face unrecognisable and even her teeth unidentifiable, the body only identified by virtue of carrying Nanase’s identification.

… Just so we’re all absolutely on the same page here, next episode is definitely going to reveal that Nanase murdered someone else to fake her own death, and that Steel Girder Nanase is actually some poor woman who was her victim, right? Right.

But anyway, this episode settles into a nice, consistent tone, sets up a fun and legitimately intriguing supernatural mystery, and seems all set to make its way to a satisfactory conclusion in one or two episodes, probably.

What elevates it to four stars, though? The fairly throwaway joke in which a fully animated opening sequence for a completely fictional magical girl show, complete with an original and fully vocalised song, plays, and ruthlessly satirises the far-right, taking shots at capitalism, militarism, and the police and justice system.

It’s a joke that doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the series at all, but it’s so unapologetically vicious while also making me laugh out loud that I had to add an extra star for it. I just had to.

ID: Invaded.

★★★★★

Honestly, I wavered on whether this should be a four star or a five star. If I could do half stars, it’d be four and a half, but I think it edges out five.

This episode switches gears a little. With the Gravedigger killed, and the woman who was manipulating him into his murders arrested, Sakaido dives into the woman’s mental world, hoping to figure out exactly what caused her to turn to murder, and why murder in such a specific, gruesome, and sadistic way.

And he fails completely.

The story tempts us with just enough information that we can start forming the half-baked foundations of a hypothesis, but not enough that we can actually form any kind of cohesive theory. We see in the woman’s mental world that she is stuck as a child, endlessly riding a train that’s going in circles, each loop having it cross the train crossing where her mother committed suicide. We see that her victims are gathered at said crossing, waiting patiently to cross. And we see that her accomplice, the man she had killing for her, is present on the train as well, as a young boy very far removed from the blank, not-all-there man we’ve seen up to that point. We see Kaeru, usually representing the murder victims, in this mental world is presented as a suicide victim, having removed her shoes and asked the woman to wipe off her wounds before expiring in a seat at the end of the train.

But we never get enough to build any kind of meaning out of it. The show deliberately withholds closure from us, mirroring the woman’s lack of closure over her mother’s suicide (why did she decide to do it, and why do it by throwing herself in front of a train she knew her daughter was riding?), telling us that we will only ever have a handful of puzzle pieces and no way to piece them together.

I admit, that affected me pretty deeply. As someone who obsesses over puzzles and especially over the whys and wherefores of why people do things, whose lowered empathy response means that figuring people out is often a maddening struggle, the show presenting a puzzle that can’t be solved is infuriating. But more than that, as someone who has had a friend commit suicide, leaving no note and providing almost no indication beforehand that he was going to, I’m familiar with the bewilderment that can follow something like that, the attempts to piece together a cause-and-effect that makes sense.

This episode kind of got to me. I’m not sure I liked that it did.

‘Not having enough information’ is the running theme of this episode, anyhow, as the rest of the investigation team takes some time to discuss the recurring appearance of John Walker, a mysterious man in a red frockcoat who has appeared in five separate killers’ mental worlds (and who appears also in the woman’s, as a reflection in the train window). As they talk, they realise all they know is a baffling mess of contradictions about him: Nobody has ever seen him in real life, and yet the fact that five different people dreamed him up wearing the same bright red coat means he must be going around wearing what is basically American War of Independence cosplay; there seems to be no single link between the killers who have him in their mental worlds, and yet there are strange coincidental links; none of the killers remember who he is, but all of them have extremely strong recollections of him.

The end of the episode pulls another gutpunch on us, as Hondomachi, having killed the Gravedigger in seeming self defence earlier in the episode, finally gets her wish to be trained to dive into people’s mental worlds -- only for Hayaseura, her boss and the man who recommended her, to tell her that it’s not enough to have just killed, you have to be a serial killer, something he knows that she is. While we obviously saw her murder someone (by provoking them into attacking her and then framing it as self-defense) earlier in this episode, Hayaseura also points out something that I’d dismissed at the time and completely forgotten about: That in the very first episode, before Hondomachi was kidnapped by the Perforator, she was alone with one of his victims in the basement, and when we next saw him he was dead, even though the Perforator couldn’t have killed him.

That’s … actually some really solid writing. I hadn’t even realised on my first watch that the guy couldn’t have been killed by the Perforator.

Pet.

★★★★☆

I feel like I haven’t given this series enough credit for how surprisingly vicious it is. The first episode sets us up to think that Tsukasa and Hiroki’s friendship is pretty cute, and the second episode clues us in to the fact that they’re (quasi-?)romantically involved and sets up a clearly unhealthy but quite sweet all the same romance where you think that, hey, they’re screwed up people but they clearly love each other. It isn’t until the third episode that the rug gets pulled out from under you, with the reveal that Tsukasa is actually quite abusive, and this episode pulls the rug straight out from under us again.

It follows two plot threads. The first one is a milder one, with Satoru meeting the niece of the mysterious Company’s CEO, who exposits at him a little about how the Company was founded and some of the strifes that have led it to its current state of disarray -- namely that the qigong masters who created the psychic techniques the Company uses (just … roll with it) all simultaneously betrayed the CEO and were killed for it, leaving the Company with only one person who can pass on those teachings: Hayashi.

The second plot thread sees Tsukasa and Hayashi playing mind games with each other, with Tsukasa first trying to persuade Hayashi to return to the Company, before Hayashi tries to psychically rewrite Tsukasa’s memories, only for Tsukasa to rebuff him and for the two to end up in a psychic battle where they both try to repel the other one’s attempts to alter their memories.

It’s in this second plot thread that we learn all about Tsukasa’s many issues: Like Satoru, he is most definitely in love with Hayashi, and like Satoru, those feelings clearly aren’t reciprocated. Unlike Satoru, however, Hayashi doesn’t even seem to have filial feelings for Tsukasa, and we learn that when he started teaching Satoru, the Company told him that he couldn’t act as mentor for two people and had to choose one. He picked Satoru with what seems like startling ease, effectively abandoning Tsukasa.

There are allusions, as well, to the idea that Hayashi kept using Tsukasa even after that abandonment, entreating him to infiltrate the Company on his behalf and keep Satoru safe. Tsukasa’s … not happy about this at all, and also, as becomes swiftly apparent throughout the episode, more than a little unhinged.

As the episode ends, Tsukasa and Hayashi are ramping up their psychic battle, with Tsukasa informing Hayashi that he’s learned some tricks off Hiroki, so we’ll see where that one goes.

Infinite Dendrogram.

★★☆☆☆

More and more, it feels like this show is falling into a rut, and that’s honestly a huge shame.

There’s just no forward momentum to it. Things happen, but there’s no sense of motion, no sense of things winding towards a conclusion, either on an arc level or a series level, and yet at the same time it’s not fast and snappy enough to be a truly episodic series like, say, Kekkai Sensen.

So, this week’s episode sees Ray, now cursed with dog ears (for reasons which are not plot relevant, but I mean, it’s fine), teaming up with a new character, Hugo, a Dryfe Master whose job is essentially that he’s a giant mecha pilot, as the two attempt to tackle a base of bandits who have been kidnapping children.

The show tries very hard to set the bandits up as absolute monsters, and to sell us on Ray’s rage, but it kind of lacks the elements necessary to make an impact. The huge emotional moment where Ray sees that some of the children have been turned into undead is weakened by the fact that the cinematography is bog-standard, the animation direction for the scene is uninteresting, and the music is unremarkable. Even Ray’s reaction is strangely muted, with some anger but no real horror or anything like that, and not even a quiet fury so much as just moderate amounts of rage.

There are hints of a broader plot involving Dryfe, though (which we know from an earlier episode is prepping to invade), with Hugo making remarks that he can’t use his Embryo yet, because keeping it secret is part of some plan.

He does, eventually, use it anyway, and relatively without fanfare at that.

[random-stuff567]

Most My Hero Academia fanfiction do not make sense.

Fan fiction is what literature might look like if it were reinvented from scratch after a nuclear apocalypse by a band of brilliant pop-culture junkies trapped in a sealed bunker.

I got that from some random Times article. Lots of fanfiction are like that, My Hero Academia fanfics are no exception.

Why do I think so? Reasons below, please note that all these are not meant to be taken seriously:

Giving Izuku a random Quirk that doesn’t make any sense- And then what? Give him One for All? Make him absolutely curb stomp every problem in front of him? Make him the centre of attention? Make him a Marty Sue (Male equivalent of Mary Sue)?! Where’s the challenge? Character development? How about the other characters? And how the hell does giving Izuku a godlike Quirk and mastering it with little to no training, how does that help with his character?!

Also, minor issue, Izuku getting an awesome Quirk like fire manipulation or something, yet is still bullied for being useless? What sort of logic is this?

Bakugou’s treatment- Yes Bakugou is a jerk, asshole and other similar terms, but why in hell would he do shit like trying to kill Midoriya or someone else? In one particular fanfic I read that Bakugou tried to kill Izuku and Ochako even after the Battle Trial was over. Okay, out of character but I can handle a bit of OOC. But another where he kills his mom because he got expelled from U.A. And another where he raped a female Midoriya?! What the fuck?!

Bakugou is definitely an asshole, possibly an unrepentant one, but is it necessary to turn him into a downright villain? In the canon universe he’s trying to change. Sure not a lot of change but slight improvements there and there. Give the guy a break will you?

Poorly written crossovers- So let me get this straight, in this particular fanfic Izuku is somehow able to become a hero by selling his souls and becoming the Ghost Rider? And after killing an untold number of criminals he is still allowed to attend a high school in order to become a Pro Hero? With zero repercussions? And is even allowed to participate in the Sports Festival?...How has worldwide society not rust crumble in a universe with laws like that? Who wrote these laws? Politicians from the Marvel Universe?!

These are the type of stories that makes me glad that canon stories are written by professional writers and not random people.

Forced relationships- *reads one fanfic where the ship was bordering controlling and abusive with no warnings from the author* What the f-

Random OC’s that do nothing to advance the plot and have zero reason to be there- Do I need to further explain this?

Nonsensical training- How on earth does Izuku Midoriya, a Quirkless teenager that has zero prior physical training, gets skilled enough to take down Pro Heroes and villains with only one year of training? Do writers not know how hard it is to even earn a black belt? The only way Izuku could be trained to be like that is if he’s been taught by Lady Shiva (from DC), not some random dude who owns a dojo in his neighbourhood.

If you must then make Izuku not OP. Make him loose few fights and gradually become more skilled overtime. Not an instant Bruce Lee on cocaine!

Last one, my own opinion really, the romanticising of villains: Giving the villains a very sympathetic backstory that gives them reasons to why they are who they are? Go for it. Just don’t forget their crimes. Stain is still a serial killer with a shit excuse to kill and probably endangered hundreds of life’s by reducing the number of heroes available. Dabi still killed a number of heroes and those muggers in the anime. Himiko still mirdered at least 6 people. Shigaraki nearly killed about 20 teenagers and threatened to kill 30 people, all while having no regrets about it.

While I do sympathise if they had bad childhoods it is still not an excuse, they deserve their punishment be it life long prison sentence or death penalty. Villains are villain. A shit childhood gives some reason but not an excuse. God knows how much victims of child abuse are out there in the world but there are those who grow to be normal people. Shigaraki I can somewhat understand as it was due to All for One’s manipulation. Plus that theory that AFO was the one to give Shiagraki his Quirk or was the one that caused it to go haywire.

[tippitv]

Supernatural TippiTV Recap: 14-13 “Lebanon”

Okay before we get started. This is a long one and while I think it's pretty funny if I do say so myself, there's also a lot of me just... frickin ranting about John Winchester and rushed plots. If you loved this episode and don't want to see someone snarking about it, this might not be the recap for you.

On the other hand if you're like me and come from the TWoP tradition of snarking about the things we love most, then come on in!

THEN!

Two children talk about how their dad is on a hunting trip and hasn't been home in a while.

Oh wait... holy crap it's Sam and Dean. It took a sec to recognize them without the gravelly voices and almost 14 years of soul-crushing despair.

We also get a reminder of very recent episodes, including the one where Mary learns about the time John threw young Dean's food away because it reminded him of her. It's important to remember what an abusive, hardened asshole John Winchester was... so that we can forget it! Forget it all!

[insert video of recapper letting out a Klingon scream]

NOW!

Sam and Dean mosey on into a pawn shop that I'm positive is in the US because they never leave the US but there's a sign that says the shop buys "jewellery" which is how they spell it in places that also spell "flavor" with a u. Dean flashes a big wad of cash to get the broker to show them "the good stuff."

By this, he means the magical goods, although the secret room looks like a high school drama department prop closet.

Dean says they're looking for the skull of a woman who was executed during the Salem witch trials. While the broker goes looking for it, Sam picks up a teddy bear from, you know, a shelf full of cursed and magical items because it's not as if stuffed animals have ever been dangerous. <cue ironic flashback>

Luckily he's warned away from it before he can unleash some kind of... Pooh demon... probably.

Anyway, it turns out having the skull proves that the broker killed a friend of theirs or something... Honestly, very little of this is going to have any bearing on anything. Long story short, fisticuffs ensue and Dean shoots the broker while he's expositing to Sam. "They always talk too much," Dean says.

Sam and Dean decide to take a bunch of magical items home with them. Although... what if they rightfully belong to other peop---ah screw it.

Okay now... here comes a long, boring subplot about teenagers back in Lebanon, Kansas. The main thing that's pertinent to the show is that Sam and Dean have a certain reputation around town. And no wonder! They park right in front these teenagers and start talking about shit they would never want anyone to hear.

They head into the world's skimpiest liquor store and the owner addresses them as "the Campbell brothers." Say whaaaat? Have they been using their mom's maiden name for a while and I just missed it? I mean, I guess it makes sense because... Actually, I don't remember how much stuff is still in their world about the infamous Winchesters. Like I legit can't remember if Charlie or someone erased their FBI/police records or if it was just some fanon someone told me about.

Also, nothing says "real liquor store" like shelves of bottles turned so that their name brands don't show.

Anyway, Sam stage-whispers to Dean about an ancient Chinese pearl that grants "what your heart desires."

The plan is to get Michael out of his head, but they notice someone is driving off with the Impala. They run out to confront one of the teenagers about it. He confesses that a girl named Max is the culprit, so that we can spend several minutes on this subplot instead of the much more emotional and important main plot.

I mean, we go from the post office to a pizza joint to an old house on the edge of town to catch up to the Impala. Max has apparently brought all that lethal “secret” stuff inside for a party. The camera lingers on that teddy bear again as if it's going to be important to the plot later.

Max, the car thief, has a crush on a girl and ISTG I was prepared to be mad if she died. Like I don't even want this whole subplot at all but I'd be puh-hissed if they had queer characters on just to kill one. Luckily I was wrong and neither of them die. However, the dialog is killing me. "I'm sooo excited for pizza." Tell me you can't imagine Lumpy Space Princess saying that.

Apparently the ghost of John Wayne Gacy (sigh) was waiting for the kids to go in search of pizza before oozing out of a cigar box the Winchesters brought from the pawn shop.

Why is his ghost dressed as a clown? I mean yes I know Gacy was a children's party clown, but it's not like he died in that outfit. Aren't ghosts supposed to be wearing what they died in? OH GOD WHY DO I CARE.

The Winchesters show up and scoot everyone out of the house, but not before at least one kid sees the ghost. Sam zeroes in on the cigar box and Dean points out how Sam's love of serial killers and hatred of clowns are in conflict.

Of course, some of the kids come back in just as the ghost goes up in flames. Sam and Dean decide to just... tell them the whole truth instead of just lying. Like..."Yo, one of the things you stole was secret holographic tech and you could face prison time if you talk about it." See? Easy peasy. Instead, they just trust the kids to never talk about ghosts being real and meeting actual ghost hunters.

I briefly wondered if this was some kind of back door pilot for teen hunters, but I haven't heard anything about that. Granted I didn't actually look that hard.

Once back at the bunker, Sam finds the magic pearl but it's kinda... chalky and medicinal looking. It looks like something Goop would sell to stick up your hoohaw.

Dean decides there's no time to wait because we've already spent too long on teenagers playing hooky. Like, even Sam doesn't really know how to use it. "I guess you just concentrate on what your heart desires," he says, scrunching his face uncertainly. I mean what if this had happened

The music swells dramatically. The lights flicker off dramatically. A shadowy figure approaches... dramatically. Fisticuffs ensue! It's a nice callback to Dean and Sam fighting in the dark in the pilot episode because ta da! It's actually John Winchester! Which we all knew because this was foretold in promotions.

The lights come up, showing... just a whole lot of things for me to process.

Now, at first, things don't seem that weird. We've seen people come back from the dead so many times, it's basically as surprising as buying socks at this point. Except! John isn't back from the dead at all! He's traveled through time! He eventually tells us he's from the year TWO THOUSAND AND THREE. TWO ZERO ZERO THREE.

He's both three years younger than the last time the bros saw him AND 13 years older, because for Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and all the rest of us mortals, time has marched on. Consequently, John Winchester looks like he got stuck in a wormhole for a good while.

Now, kudos to John for recognizing his sons, especially Sam, who looked a little something like this the last time they saw each other.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Palo Alto?" he asks Sam. "And also not a middle-aged man?" he doesn't ask, but I bet he was thinkin' it.

It's just... sigh. I might as well get it all out now. I get what they were going for here. It's the 300th episode and they wanted to have John show up. But because everything is so rushed, they just gloss over anything remotely realistic to the characters. John is all softness and awe the instant the lights go up, instead of bristling and suspicious. Why wouldn't he think it was a djinn or some other creature's doing? "Well we don't have time for him to be as flinty and wary as John would have been in 2003, because we need to get to the part where he spends quality time with his family!" YES EXACTLY. The show is three hundred episodes old now and it deserves more than this speedy treatment put together seemingly for the concomitant promotional opportunity.

Anyway they have a Sit-n-Chat to catch John up on what they've been doing, including the living situation there at the bunker which includes an angel and the son of Lucifer. Goodness only knows what John is picturing.

Now that I think about it, the brothers should be hella wary too. I mean, what if the pearl is cursed? What if John is actually some shambling interdimensional beast masquerading as John? What if the whole thing is just a hallucination brought on by nefarious moon herbs in Paltrow's pookie pearl? They just uncharacteristically seem to rely on the pawn broker's ledger.

Fine! Fine! I’ll drop it.

They talk about how they met John's dad via time travel, too, but don't mention that's why John never saw him again after childhood. They talk about the Men of Letters, finally killing old Yellow Eyes, saving the world... Then just when they're about to tell him that Mary's back from the dead, she actually shows up and starts calling to her sons. What a coincidence! John is pained.

It seems like they didn't tell her, either? Did they just tell her to come over for a surprise or did she just happen to be on her way there anyway? Anyway John and Mary start in on a smoochy reunion so Sam and Dean quietly leave the room.

Sam's like, "How'd this happen?" And Dean's like, "We spent too much time on the teenager subplot instead of looking into this potentially dangerous thing, is how!"

For some reason, John is perusing the library alone instead of... um... making up for lost time with his hot wife. Sam goes to talk to him and finds out Mary's off writing a shopping list for Dean so she can make that emotionally important casserole again. This leads John to admit he fucked up with his kids. Sam is reluctant to blame John because he's had almost 13 years to get over it.

I hate that everyone's acting their little hearts out and all I can think is how painfully contrived the episode is. Whatever problems I have with the writing and the premise, I don't have a problem with the job the actors are doing. Okay, okay, I'm really letting go of it this time.

John rubs Sam's shoulder and tearfully says, "Son, I am so sorry." The cellos of sadness play sadly. "I'm sorry, too," says Sam. "You did your best, Dad. You fought for us, you loved us... that's enough."

It's one thing to decide you're going to move past the shitty, shitty things someone did because you're in the midst of the enormity of what's going on RIGHT NOW. But it's another thing for the show to minimize the past. John did NOT do his best. For fuck's sake, he left a little boy in charge of an even littler boy! Dean knew his Dad was possessed because his REAL dad would never be proud of him! When Dean stole food to feed Sam, John abandoned him to face the consequences!

God damn it I guess I'm not going to let it go, after all!

Anyway, Sam and Dean head into town for groceries and time paradoxes. The liquor store owner no longer recognizes Dean, which is the surest sign that something is Very Wrong. Dean is flabbergasted. "It's me! Dean Campbell! I come in here like... always!"

As Sam heads back to the car, he sees a wanted poster for his bro. It's the old Blue Steel one except I think Sam used to be on it too? He's not anymore. He heads back to the car to tell Dean, but Dean's already been a-googlin' on his phone.

He plays back a video of Sam as a turtleneck-wearing lawyer espousing a raw food diet with plenty of kale. Good lord how much raw food does someone the size of Sam have to eat to fulfill his daily caloric needs?

They kind of hand-wave how these new versions of themselves exist at the same time as the OG versions. "Our timeline is changing to this new one!" Sam says. He says they need to put things back the way they were or they'll be stuck. It's nice of the timeline to work slowly enough that they can figure this out.

Somewhere nearby, the angel Zachariah appears. Castiel moseys up beside him and he's brought some old friends.

They decide to head into the nearest pizza place. The teenagers are there because not even a paradox will get rid of this subplot. "Can I help you?" asks the waitress. I think the usual question would be, "Can I get you a table for two?" but whatever. Zachariah asks her who's been messing with time. "We sensed a disturbance in the, well, let's call it the Force," he says. Naturally, she's very confused, and even more confused when he says they're from Heaven.

He says he'll have Castiel murder everyone if they don't tell him what's going on. To emphasize this, Castiel whips out his angel mojo.

Sam and Dean see the bright light from across the street and come running in. Sam's like, "Zachariah?!" and Dean's like, "Cas?!" and Cas is like, "Is that with one S or two, and also who are you?"

Zachariah exposits that Heaven had big plans for the Winchesters but then their dad suddenly disappeared in 2003. Why wouldn't the angels assume the disappearance and the time event are connected? Why'd they have to just start asking questions in a random pizzeria? Fisticuffs ensue!

Zachariah force-chokes Sam while asking him for an explanation. Why do villains always try to make people talk while they're choking? Pick one or the other! But this gives Sam a chance to surprise Zachariah with an angel blade in the heart. Oh, Zachariah. Destined to die by Winchester in every version.

Meanwhile, Dean and Castiel are still tussling even though I'm pretty sure Castiel could kill them both pretty quick. Sam joins in for a bit, but gets flung into a table. If there's a table around, someone's getting flung into it. Then he goes back to strangling Dean instead of finishing off Sam, giving Sam a chance to make one of those angel-vanquishing sigils with his own blood.

They go back home. Dean explains the whole paradox thing to John. If he doesn't return to 2003, Dean will live the same life but alone, Mary will never have come back to life, and Sam will devastate kale crops like a moose-sized locust.

John agrees to go back. "Me versus your mom, that's not even a choice." That's... a weird way to phrase that dilemma. At the same time, Sam is delivering the news to Mary. He says "the lore is pretty clear" that if they destroy the pearl, everything goes back the way it was. What lore? They knew jack squat about it before they used it. Mary has some questions.

John tells Dean he's proud of him and I slightly expect Dean to whip a gun out on him. "I never meant for this.... I guess I hoped that eventually you get yourself a normal life..a family..."

WHAT.

WHAAAAAT.

He did nothing to prepare them for a normal life! Leaving your kids in motel rooms, never letting them settle down in one school, issuing ultimatums when Sam wanted to go to college? Man, Dean should've been like, "Nah, that was your other son, Adam, who got to live a normal life... at least until a ghoul ate him and his body was used by an archangel." But Dean is nicer than me, I guess. "I have a family," he says.

They decide to eat dinner even though who knows when the timeline is going to snap into place permanently. Oh my God they even take the time to wash the dishes after. They have a nice chat and again, everyone's acting their little hearts out and I'm trying not to be distracted. Dean tells Sam he doesn't want to change the past. "I'm good with who I am. I'm good with who you are." Please let that stick with no reversions to self-loathing and I'll retroactively like this episode more.

They cut to this shot and for a second I thought it was Sam and Dean holding hands at the sink.

Of course it's John and Mary. Sad piano plays sadly. John's not going to remember anything, but the rest of them will. Oh man what if John got Mary pregnant during his visit. Sam and Dean were out shopping for a while. I wish I hadn't thought that, but now that I have, you all have to be witness to my horrible brain's meanderings.

John reiterates that he's proud of them. So this time Sam pulls a gun on him! No, he doesn't. They all hug and cry genuine tears before John goes back to holding hands with Mary. Sam reluctantly smashes the pearl to bits. Seems like Dean would have to be the one to smash it since he's the one who made the wish, but it works and John slowly fades out of the present.

Everything goes back to normal, including the teenagers remembering and loudly discussing the existence of monsters in public.

Castiel returns to the bunker in his newer, homelier coat and less erotically tousled hair. "What happened?" he asks. The response in my brain:

Back in 2003, John wakes up in the Impala to the sound of his flip phone ringing. Smart phones are great and all but man I miss the battery life of my flip. It's the Dean of the day calling to check on him. John, although he's not supposed to remember anything from the future, seems to have experienced it as some kind of dream. He seems nicer, too. This will probably have no bearing on the timeline, though... right?

I mean, is that 2019 casserole still in his stomach? Did the wine turn back into grapes? Probably not but these are the kinds of things I think about.

Sigh.

I feel the episode does a disservice to its main characters. I've already ranted more than enough so I'll just pick one example:

If Sam had gone on to live a normal life, he would've become a cold-hearted douchebag who tells people that hobbies and families are a waste of time. Like, ha ha yes it's amusing that Sam is the leaf-munching Steve Jobs of law, but what's the meaning here? Are we saying that wanting to get an education for himself means he's a selfish asshole? Like this is the alternative to the codependent relationship with Dean that formed because of their father? Argh.

The John apologia is just so clunky and unnecessary. John could've said, "I should've done more than teach you to hunt monsters... prepared you for a normal life so you could have a family." Then Dean ccould say, "Being able to kill monsters kept us alive long enough so that we figured out things for ourselves. And we do have a family." Bam! It lets John be rueful without rewriting the past or having Dean swallow all the years of hurt and it even acknowledges that knowing how to hunt isn't a bad thing.

Thank you for sticking with the recap to the end! I do still intend to recap past episodes but things have been kind of stressful. Just staying afloat has been a chore some days.

For updates and info you can check here: https://www.gofundme.com/winter-rent-and-dog-care

I also have a virtual tip jar of sorts here: https://www.paypal.me/tippiblevins

[rebelbyrdie]

Story Idea

SwanQueen AU Adapted From The Dream I Just Had

Detective Emma Swan does not believe in ghosts, magic, aliens the Jersey Devil and especially psychics. When a serial killer snatches his 4th victim on her turf, she decides she'll try anything, including psychics if it will get Nicholas Zimmer back to his parents alive and well.

If asked, Regina Mills would say that she made a deal with the devil. The truth is actually a little more complicated She is cursed. This particular curse helps her find missing and exploited children.

When Humbert Graham, formerly FBI and currently just PI, asks Regina to Boston, things would never be the same.

They were in Nicholas’s bedroom.  His father had kept everything exactly the same.  He hadn’t moved a dirty sock or even touched his son’s rumpled bed.

"She's just staring, Graham. What the fuck?"

The detective's words were not new or even unexpected. Usually, Regina shrugged them off with ease. Today they granted against her every nerve.

"Give her a minute, Swan."

It took less than a minute. Letters, red like blood began to appear in front of Regina. They floated in the air, only visible to her.

G-A-R-A

"Garage. I didn't see a garage, though."

The home had no garage, just a narrow driveway that could fit two cars if they were bumper to bumper.

Regina looked around, desperate for something more concrete. There were no more letters but other things caught Regina's eyes. The basketball in the rec-center team photo was glowing. One of the action figures on the shelf, Iron Man, was shaking. The laces of lonely left shoe were sparkling. The long mirror mounted on his closet door fogged over then shadows played across it.

"No, Henry" She repeated what she heard automatically, uncontrollably. "That is bullshit. There is no way Gamora would win in a fight against Captain Marvel. Besides Numb Nuts, if you had read the actual comics, Carol knows the Guardians and has for-"

The window cleared, and the room started to spin. She could hear other voices too. Arguments and I Love Yous, first words and last-minute homework assignments. Her knees buckled and she could feel herself falling. It was too much.  There was a list of names on the mirror now, not in red letters, they were written in actual blood.  Names, Regina in her heart and soul, that she couldn’t save because their owners were already dead.

Emma caught Graham’s psychic as she fell.  She was really going for an Oscar with this performance.  She helped her stand up and steady herself.  She wasn’t prepared, not even a little, when Regina opened her eyes again.  

Yeah, Graham’s Psychic was pretty, beautiful even, but her eyes were something else.  They were dark brown and there was a spark in them, a world of emotions and swirls of things that had gone unsaid for a long time.  Those eyes told a story and Emma wanted to know it.  It was a fast and unexpected notion, like lightning in the middle of a blue sky - almost magic.

“Are you-uh”  Typical, she saw a beautiful woman and her IQ dropped to nothing.  “Okay?”

The Psychic, Regina, shook her head.  Her sun-kissed skin was pale to the point of grayness.  

“Nicholas is in danger.  This monster has done this all before.  Over and over again.”

Emma let the woman go and took a step back.  She’d almost been fooled.  “Yeah.  Three boys, which ran on every major news network for weeks.  You’re not shocking me with your powers here, Madam Psychic.”

Regina ran her slender hand over her face and eyes, like she was trying to scrub something away.  “Three?  I wish it was only three.  I saw nine names.  Nine already gone.”

She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.  She looked over to Graham.  “I saw some things that may help.”  Graham nodded immediately and pulled a worn notebook out of the back pocket of his jeans. ready to write.

A million things went through Emma’s mind, mostly doubts.  Nine?  Her ass there had been nine.  She’d combed through every database, scanned over missing persons posters by the thousands, she’d even called the fucking FBI.  There were only three.  

“There was another boy, they were friends.  I didn’t see him, but I heard him.  They were talking about-”  She paused, “I don’t know.  Captain Marvel and someone else, a G name.  Maybe a cartoon?  The other boy’s name was Henry.”

Emma’s stomach went ice cold and her mouth went dry.  This was too far. Way too far.  She grabbed the woman’s arm, hard.  “What the hell did you say?”  Regina didn’t fight or flinch, but she turned to look her in the eye.  

“A boy, Detective.  Nicholas was talking with another boy.  Not here, somewhere else.  They were walking.  Maybe to school or another activity. I don’t know if that boy is a clue or tied to the killer, maybe he means nothing, but you need to talk to this Henry.”

She gave the woman a shake.  “This Henry is my Henry.  My son.  He is on Nicholas’s basketball team. I want to know how the hell you knew that-”  She turned her head sharply and glared at Graham.  “You fed her personal info on me to, what, sell this bullshit show of hers?  What the fuck-”  

Regina’s hand, the other one, touched her hand.  “Detective if your son really is Henry, then he is in danger.  I’m not lying and my curse has never lead me wrong, not when it comes to the life of a child.

Emma didn’t believe in psychics, magic or curses, but at that moment, she thought that she might start.

[mysteriousgoldentriangle]

Halloween vibe stories

Stories that have the seasonal feeling. These are just some I could think of on top of my head. If I am missing one message me so I can add on to the list. Happy reading! stay safe :)  

Trick or Sweet Mabel sets Bill and Dipper up on a trick-or-treating date that they don't even realize is a date.

A Triangle in the Woods Deep in the forests of the mountain lies a haunted plot of land. A cabin that's theorized to be ruled by the most ruthless, terrifying demon that's ever existed on our plane of existence. Only the bravest and stupidest souls ever dare to tread there, and those who already have refused to even speak of it led alone go back. There's never been a single soul that's made it back fully sane… And Bill intends to keep it that way, damn it. No matter how DIFFICULT this stupid group of brats may be, they WILL leave that cabin running and screaming for their lives! Even if Bill has to destroy himself in the process!

The Bill Haunting When Dipper gets kidnapped by teenage boys in a cult, an evil spirit named Bill Cipher surprisingly saves him. Dipper slowly gets to know Bill and realizes the ghost is more human than he thought.

The Blindeye Murderer In the shadows of New York City there lurks a murderer that has never been caught before. He kills all his victims the same way, by cutting open the chest and ripping out the heart. He doesn't stop there. This murderer always, always, takes the eyes of his victims. Dipper Pines wants to be the first one to catch him and put an end to all the killings. However, what happens when he finds out the killer is the very same man he falls deeply in love with, Bill Cipher?

Golden Hills When Dipper falls for a mysterious stranger, his humdrum life takes an unexpected and dangerous turn. Trapped in a house of ghosts, nightmares, blood, and gold, Dipper can't decide between his own sanity or his new life with a man who may have more than just a skeleton in his closet. Based on the movie Crimson Peak.

Prey Dipper Pines works a summer job volunteering at the Gravity Falls, Oregon State Asylum in 1964. He thought he's seen everything until a new patient arrives a week before his 16th birthday. (depictions of rape, smut, and super jealous/protective Bill moments are contained in this book. Proceed with caution)

Everything you say is like music to my ears Bill~ Bill Loves Dipper very much, but in an extremely wrong twisted kind of way, Dipper wants nothing to with it, but he wasn`t given a choice in the first place.

Gone He whispers more praises. They curl in Dipper’s mind, sick seeds of something that resembles love. Perhaps obsession. It sits in his stomach like cyanide and poisons his blood.

Surrender to me Pinetree Bill Cipher loved his little Pinetree, But the boy didn`t love him back, He said he wanted proof well proof is what the boy wants then proof it is what he`s gonna get.

Don`t scream anymore my Pinetree~  Dipper Pines is a famous singer, His life could be called perfect, well that is until he starts receiving horrifying letters from someone who claims to be his biggest fan, His fear is getting bigger and bigger with every day, He hopes that everything turns out alright, but the newest letter tells him that it will not be like that.

Haunted Dipper knows that Bill is watching him and he also knows that he will never ever get away from him, He finally understands that now.

damnatis daemonium Historical!AU: 19-year-old Dipper volunteers himself as an offering to a demon so that he can finally join the famed Brotherhood. Of course, nothing goes to plan, and they summon the wrong demon.

Raised Spirits Dipper's always been into the supernatural. Especially ghosts, and hauntings. And everyone says the Cipher place is haunted. Dipper's not so sure about that... but it's worth checking out.

Wonderland Dipper was lonely sometimes. Mabel had her friends, Wendy and Soos had their own lives, Grunkle Stan teased him and never believed him about anything supernatural. Dipper wished that there was someone he could talk to about his adventures or just have a friend in general. Then he meets a man named Bill who believes him and everything about him is wonderful and very quickly Dipper finds himself falling down into a dark wonderland. THIS IS AU-ISH: This story takes place a bit before Boss Mabel, and then goes a bit AU from after that until it will completely diverge from the canon plot line.

The World That Faded Away / The Boy That Time Forgot When life hit Dipper Pines it hit Dipper Pines hard. Trainwreck hard. This was a statement that all who knew the boy could agree on. Life had taken a liking to the boy in the same way a feline had taken a liking to a particularly delicious mouse; it had trapped him, toyed with him, before swallowing him whole. As a result, the eighteen-year-old had horrific luck and a habit of getting himself and others into extremely bad situations. Like selling his soul to Bill CipherWho is only too happy to take what is, and has always been, his.

Defying Destiny Bill Cipher always dreamed of finding his other half. In his world, finding ‘the one’ meant so much. You were destined to be together, time and death would literally have no effect on your body until they day you unite. The most romantic stories have been passed down by people accidentally meeting the one and not knowing until they realize one day that ‘hey, when did my heart start beating again?’ It fills you up and makes you whole, you can enjoy the rest of your life with someone you know you're meant to be with, who is truly compatible with you like no other ever could be. Yes. Bill Cipher always dreamed of finding his other half. And killing him.

Touch Bill will make sure that no one will ever touch his little angel again. He`ll make sure they`ll all pay, and only then can he make his angel pure again.

Saligia Dipper and Mabel return to Gravity Falls five years later to be welcomed by the same amount of weirdness, only this time things get a bit darker. Hormones and supernatural forces make sure nothing goes right and on top of that Dipper has to deal with a horrifying dream demon. Will they solve the ancient mystery they're faced with or will everything go horribly wrong?

Intoxicated Obsession Obsession. That was the one word to describe what he felt towards Dipper Pines. Bill wanted Dipper to love him. And it was driving him insane. Ever since Bill cipher laid his eye on Dipper Pines, he knew that he wanted him, and Bill always got what he wanted.

Monsters "Stanleys recovered memories weren't enough to bring me back." Of course, this wasn't the reason. "It was you, Pine Tree. You and your strange obsession with me." No need to tell him. Dipper knew. It was his fault entirely. "Dipper Pines, you are truly messed up."

The Legacy of a Broken Heart And all my days are trances, And all my nightly dreams Are where thy grey eye glances, And where thy footstep gleams In what ethereal dances, By what eternal streams.

Hidden Beneath Gold In a small village, Dipper and Mabel Pines work to exhaustion to get money for their sick grunkle. Dipper has the most dangerous job and many threats to the people are at large in the forests, mountains, valleys, practically outside of the village. Dipper is willing to do anything for his family and packed with lost hope and negative thoughts, he accidentally stumbles across the most infamous threat to any village.

The Gospel of Dipper Pines "Is what they say true? Pine Tree's dead?"  Dipper Pines spent years going back and forth between his home in California and his summer adventures in Gravity Falls. Mabel Pines spent years trying to tame her bipolar disorder and live a mostly normal life. For years, their lives seemed destined to stay eternally separate from one another. That is until Dipper is murdered. Now, Mabel must piece together the remains of the life her twin once lived if she hopes to discover out who killed him. But Gravity Falls is not a town for the normal and, as Mabel delves deeper into the life Dipper once lived, she has to wonder if she really knew her twin at all. AU in which Dipper went to Gravity Falls alone. Incomplete, but has an ending summary.

Blood, Tears, and Puppy Dog Ears Ever since he could remember, a voice in Dipper's head always told him what to do. After following its orders and murdering the family dog, his parents send him and Mabel away to Gravity Falls, in need of 'fresh air' to 'cure his twisted young mind.' But the voice only intensifies, surrounded by endless mysteries. (A dark Billdip story)

The Triangle Murders To everyone's surprise, after college Mabel went on to become an agent for the FBI while her brother Dipper moved to Gravity Falls to run the shack alongside his great-uncle Stan. Currently following a series of murders, Mabel returns to Gravity Falls on less than ideal terms in order to investigate the latest victim. She hopes that with a little outside help from the closest person to her in the whole world, she can solve this case lickety-split. Can she catch a serial killer that's always two steps ahead and always watching?

[darkwriterpanic-blog]

Chapter 1

alcohol in my system that I can barely remember who the hell I am. I sulk and throw the bottle on the floor, adding to my mess of empty bottles and cigarette packs. I don’t really care if the noise bothers whoever’s under me, they can deal with it. For some reason the sound of the bottle connecting with my unswept hardwood floor is satisfying. I toil to light up one of my last smokes and decide that I need to make a run to the 24 hour store, which is my favorite store in the world. Out of everywhere that I’ve resided this store is the best. It’s close to me, sells everything I need, never closes and it’s the only store in Canada that sells my favorite kind of smokes. If I don’t make the trip I have a feeling that it’s going to be a really long night. I’m too drunk to put on my old, bloodstained shoes that I’ve had since my first murder, I can barely stay on my feet. After struggling for a few minutes I manage to slip them on. I stumble out the door of my apartment and lock it behind me. I focus hard on the red and orange pattern of the carpet in the hallways, I’m trying not to trip. I feel accomplished once I make it outside injury free. I love this apartment building for many reasons, one of them being that my rent is incredibly cheap- twenty dollars a month. My best friend Jacob happens to be the owner of the building. And I love the name- The Last Stop. It’s also pretty low maintenance and the other tenants don’t ask questions about shady happenings and other illegal circumstances. Sadly, the police do, and there’s a lot of legal attention drawn to this place, due to all the crimes committed. It’s risky as hell, it gets on my nerves. The other thing is that there are a lot of stairs which tend to be hard to get down when I’m drunk and hard to get up because I chain smoke. Somehow I’ve managed to never spill a drop of vodka while stumbling down the staircase.I would find somewhere better but this is the only place I can afford. The thing is, I don’t really have a job per se, it’s kinda hard to lay low when people identify you, and since my name is always on the news “Justin Hillsmith World Famous Serial Killer,” it isn’t hard for them. Besides it get’s in the way of my hobby (murder). I’m not broke or anything though because I sell drugs on the side so that I always have money for my vodka and smokes. I know what you’re thinking- “what about food?” Well, Jacob’s always getting on my case about that too. I don’t really eat because to be honest it just isn’t a priority for me. As I’m making my way through the dark alley that I always take on the way to the store I hear footsteps approaching. Initially I think that there’s somebody following me again, it’s usually someone trying to come steal my drugs- unsuccessfully of course, or a nosy citizen trying to expose who I am because apparently everybody wants to be a hero, and as I look around I realize that it’s a teenage girl walking the opposite way. She’s pretty short, and kind of chubby - but not fat. She’s wearing all black. Her hair is down to her hips and it looks black but with a tint of purple. The purple could just be from the lights though. She’s walking in a stride that isn’t quite a run. I stop dead in my tracks, hoping she won’t notice me. I decide to watch her for a few seconds out of pure curiosity, but to my dismay she starts sprinting to the alley exit. I roll my eyes (which is really a habit that needs to be put in check) and continue on my way to the store.I arrive at the 24/7 Convenience Store and go inside. It’s pretty much empty.I go to the counter to purchase 2 bottles of Smirnoff, 3 cartons of Marlboro cigarettes and a bag of All Dressed chips. I decide to check my phone because the old lady is working and she’s having trouble with the new touch screen cash register.There are a bunch of notifications from fan girls tagging me in their ridiculous fan fictions and my usual booty calls messaging me asking if I’m up. Those aren’t the notifications that get my attention though. The one I click on is a video link from Jacob. It’s a video of that same girl from the alley. Some cruel kids sent it out and it’s being posted everywhere, it’s titled “Ghost girl Loses It”. Ghost Girl’s running from something or someone- probably me if I’m being honest. Sadly, nobody takes it seriously when she comes running looking for help. There isn’t very much in me that feels bad for her and I can’t stop myself from considering that maybe she’d be a good victim. Nobody would believe her if she told someone about me. Besides, she’s already pretty isolated it won’t be too much work ruining her. She’s pretty hot too. I save the link to the post just before finalizing my purchase and exiting the store to make my way back.When I get home from the store I light up a smoke and start digging into Ghost Girl, I have nothing better to do anyways. It’s pretty easy to find her profile since people are tagging her in the videos. She’s also commenting telling people to grow the fuck up and to suck her dick. I like this one. It looks like Ghost Girl has a name: Sidney Holloway. Her profile tells me that she moved to Tombstone about 2 years ago, when she was 14. I don’t know why the fuck anybody would actually move to this shitty town, I only moved here because the police wouldn’t look for me in the middle of nowhere and right now there’s a lot of heat on me in the states. She has a girlfriend named Samara, which discourages me at first because how could I make a gay girl fall in love with me. After a bit more digging I find some good news- she has had boyfriends in the past, which means she can be pursued. After downing another half a bottle of Vodka and doing some basic research on Ghosty the sun starts to come up. I should probably go to sleep for a couple of hours. I can start my pursuit later. I haven’t slept in a week and Jacob get’s mad when the bags under my eyes are too dark- even though they usually are. I’m too used to being awake and about during the night time and by morning I usually have things to do, clients to meet with, people to stalk and errands to run. While I’m looking around I realize that I really need to redecorate. And maybe hire an exterminator. There are cockroaches all over the walls which are dirty and filled with holes from my drunken rages. The old green couch I got from an alley (someone was getting rid of it) has cracks and rips. It smells like stale smoke and vodka, combined with the lingering scent of my casual female conquests. The coffee table is wobbly too, it has marks from me stabbing my knives into it. Plus the stove doesn’t even work, it kinda does but it doesn’t really get hot enough to cook anything. I know that I need to sleep but I’m starting to think that isn’t going to happen- AGAIN. I’m too busy thinking but also not being able to think because I’m too drunk. That’s when I hear a knock on my door. I go over to the peephole and I can already guess the nature of this visit. Either a desperate customer or a whore. As I suspected, when I look I see the girl I took home from the bar a couple nights ago. I forget her name. I think it’s Victoria or Vanessa or something like that. She’s 19, and tall. Too tall for a girl in my opinion. And way too skinny. She’s wearing a pink and white dress that is extremely revealing. Unfortunatly for her I am not up for a repeat of my drunk Wednesday night. I open the door, aggressively. “Listen, Vanessa-” she stops me.“It’s Valery,  not Vanessa. I’m not hear for the reason you think. I’m here because I need help.” I open my mouth to tell her I’m not a charity worker but she puts her finger over my mouth and brushes past me into the apartment, closing the door behind her. She sits down on the couch. “I killed someone. And I don’t know what to do.” I’m suddenly filled with horror. Not because she killed someone but that she’s trying to drag me into it.“Look Valery. I can’t help you. I have enough to deal with, being involved with your shit is gonna get me arrested. So I’m going to politely ask you to get the hell out of my apartment and don’t come back.” I purposely ignore the hurt look on her face. I don’t feel bad, it’s everyone for them self in this game. On the verge of tears she hurriedly storms out of my apartment slamming my door behind her. Suddenly, I hear a blood curdling scream come from one of the other suites on my floor. That isn’t a good sign because it means that the police will more than likely be showing up within the next hour, knocking on doors trying to collect information. That wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that as soon as they identify me I’ll be thrown in prison for the rest of my existence which believe it or not, doesn’t sound too appealing to me. I need to get out of here. Well I guess that my theory about not getting any sleep is correct. I pour some vodka in a plastic water bottle, and then I grab a pack of smokes, my lighter and my leather jacket. I rush to put on my shoes, experiencing the same struggle from earlier and run out the door. While walking down the alleys, making sure to avoid the main streets so that any cruisers circling won’t see me. I’m used to the drill, this happens at least once a week. Trying to shake off my annoyance and paranoia- and the feeling in my gut that Valery is no longer an issue, I make my way to Jacob’s house. He lives in his own house, instead of the apartment building because he says it “isn’t his style”, plus if he’s in a suite he’s losing money because it means a renter can’t be in it. His house is navy blue on the outside, the paint is cracked and peeling. It’s a two story house with a triangular shaped roof. There are three wooden steps leading up to the white front door. The steps groan when you put pressure on them and everytime I use them I fear that they will collapse.I knock on his door and he answers within a few seconds. He’s not wearing a shirt, just his blue jeans. His black hair is a mess. I try not to look at his abs as I walk in. “I have an issue,” I say ignoring the young girl with orange hair and a zebra striped dress climbing out his window with her sparkly silver high heels in hand. “There was another disturbance at the building, I am started to get thoroughly annoyed with the presence of trouble caused by people other than myself.” I know that there isn’t much Jacob can do about it, other than evicting people, which he isn’t going to do. That doesn’t stop me from complaining. I also make sure not to mention Valery. I don’t want anything to do with it. Jacob walks over to the window and closes it making sure it’s locked. We both know how insane girls can be.“Of course there is Justin,” he says, clearly annoyed. “I thought you’d be used to it by now. It’s not my fault that you always pick the worst area to live in everywhere you go.” This gets me mad because he knows damn well that if I lived in the good areas I’d be identified. People in the hood might identify me, but they damn well wouldn’t say anything. None of us want police involved any more than they already are. When he sees the pissed look on my face he changes his tone to sound more sympathetic. His already thin lips press together into a line and he lets out a breath through his nose. “I know you have to Justin. I wish there was a way to make your life normal. For you to be pardoned. But it isn’t possible, so you’re going to have to live with the little annoyances.”“If I were absolved I would stop. I would get help and I would start over,” my voice is shaking. Jacob is the only person who reminds me that I have feelings, no matter how hard I try to numb them. “It’s too late for me Jacob.” The look on his face tells me that he already knows that but hasn’t accepted it. he doesn’t want it to be true. The unspoken truth though, is that we both gave up on a normal life years ago. “I just don’t want you getting taken away from me Justin. We’ve been best friends since we were 2 and this is all either of us have left, your booze aside.” A single tear runs down his cheek and it breaks my heart. “I’m scared our time is running out. You don’t sleep, you rarely eat. You’re trying to drink yourself to death and the whole world is looking to throw you in jail other than your hookers and customers. I’m terrified for you.” “I need to tell you something about tonight.” There’s apprehension in my voice and my shoulders slump forward. “There was a girl at my apartment before the commotion. I had hooked up with her a couple nights ago. She came trying to get me to help her because she murdered someone. I made her leave and I heard the scream just after that happened. I think it might have been her.” His shoulders and fists tense up. My eyes meet Jacob’s and his are full of worry. “We’ll get it figured out, Justin. It will be okay. But you need to get better.”Jacob’s words hurt because they’re the truth. I’m not used to staring the truth in the eyes, I do everything in my power to avoid it. For the first time in months I break down. I’m on my knees sobbing while he holds me. He says it’ll be alright but we both know that’s a lie. “We could’ve been so much more than this Jacob,” my voice is shaking and although I’m slurring my words he understands. I blame myself for his lack of success. No matter how often he tries to convince me I’m not to blame it doesn’t work. We sit there crying for what feels like forever and after a while Jacob and I fall asleep on the floor with tear stained faces, just as the sun hits the sky.

[allthefilmsiveseenforfree]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Ok, I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that every Jurassic Park movie basically boils down to this:

1. Hey, there’s dinosaurs! 2. Oh shit, those dinosaurs are not where they are supposed to be!

So this will be a spoiler-lite review, but I mean, c’mon. Look at that gif. You know what you’re signing up for here.

SO! A few years have passed since the events of Jurassic World, you know, when the dinosaurs were in a theme park called Jurassic World and then they were not where they were supposed to be, etc etc. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is running a nonprofit save-the-dinos type organization and Owen (Chris Pratt) is just like building a cabin in the middle of nowhere? Idk I guess raptor wrangling pays enough for a sweet retirement. Then John Hammond’s former business partner (James Cromwell) sends his emissary (Rafe Spall) to enlist Claire to help them kinda sorta illegally sneak the dinosaurs off Isla Nublar before a volcano blows up the island and kills them all. Oh, and they want Owen because he’s the only one who could possibly get close enough to Blue, his lil bby raptor buddy, to help them capture her. BUT IT’S ALL A DOUBLE CROSS because they don’t want to save the dinosaurs...they want to sell them to the highest bidder. Because, children, the real enemy is and always has been capitalism. So Rafe Spall brings them all back to James Cromwell’s house in northern California and like. Can u guess what happens. I bet you can.

Let’s be real - just because there are dinosaurs doesn’t mean this is a kingdom worth visiting (looking at you, Jurassic Park III). So where does this one fall in the dinosaur spectrum? Well...

A worthy, if slightly uneven, successor to its predecessors, made more charming due to the many sweet and subtle homages to the previous films. The script could use some work for sure, but the action setpieces are some of the most inspired I’ve seen in awhile, and the film attempts to wrestle with some pretty big philosophy in a much more active and engaged way than any of the previous movies save the first one.

Some thoughts:

Once the dinosaurs get to the northern California estate, the movie becomes an entirely different animal. The estate is sprawling, Gothic, and of course, it’s pouring down rain the entire time. As such, we enter into a sort of bizarre Gothic horror story, in which the good spirits/dinosaurs (Blue, that cute herbivore that just wants to bash things with his head) are trying to help people or warn people against the dangers of the bad spirits/dinosaurs (the Indoraptor). Seriously, you watch the scene where the Indoraptor reaches out and just brushes Maizie’s ponytail, and tell me that’s not some straight up ghost story shit. The sequence in which the Indoraptor climbs the roof and comes through Maizie’s window is some of the most terrifying footage I’ve ever seen - it’s a choice that works really, really well here, and injects some fresh life into a franchise in which pretty much the only thing that changes is the setting where the dinosaurs aren’t supposed to be.

James Cromwell is supposed to be British in this ALLEGEDLY but I’m not sure anyone told him. Godawful accent. Just godawful.

So the homages are many, and they’re beautiful - everything from a dinosaur walking on glass and the glass cracking slowly (Lost World);  Old Lady T Rex (OLTR) waking up from a tranquilizer and seeing her eye open and her pupil resize; the goat used to lure OLTR into her cage; the brachiosaurus being the first dinosaur Zia ever saw in person; Blue taking on the role of OLTR and coming in to save the day and attack the Indoraptor, allowing the humans to get away; turning the lights back on one at a time, pitting our heroes closer to sudden death via electrocution/Indoraptor. There are many, and they are subtle enough to feel authentic rather than pandering. As if this movie were built on the foundations of what came before rather than shining a spotlight on them and saying SEE DO YOU GET IT DO YOU REMEMBER THAT TIME THAT HAPPENED BEFORE? YOU GET IT, WE ALL GET IT, GOOD JOB EVERYBODY.

Toby Jones, have you ever played anything but a smarmy little creep? I feel so bad for you, I’m sure you’re very nice in person.

I did not sign up for mass dinosaur death by volcano - I thought this was going to be a rescue mission - and frankly, if I wanted to cry this much about dinosaurs, I would have watched The Land Before Time.

Daniella Pineda plays Zia Rodriguez, a paleoveterinarian who steals every scene she’s in. Love more women in STEM depicted onscreen, love more WOC in our main cast, hate that they cut out the fact her character was a lesbian “for time.” LET YOUR CHARACTERS BE QUEER, YOU CHICKENSHIT ASSHOLES, IT’S REALLY NOT THAT HARD.

Love America’s Next Top Daddy Jeff Goldblum chilling in a courtroom testifying how the entire idea of Jurassic Park was a bad idea and the idea of saving those dinosaurs is also a bad idea and that humans should maybe stop doing things just because they could rather than because they should. Why doesn’t everyone listen to Jeff Goldblum???

Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs (Ted Levine) plays Wheatley, a colonel type who’s in charge of getting the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar to California, and it took me 10 minutes to figure out it was Buffalo Bill, and then I couldn’t stop thinking “Holy shit, Buffalo Bill is gonna get eaten by that dinosaur.” This is because he collects teeth from each of the different dinosaur species to make a necklace for himself. You know, like a serial killer. Talk about typecasting.

The other thing this movie does that feels a tad surreal is slip in some political jabs, like when Buffalo Bill calls Zia a “nasty woman.” I also couldn’t help but notice that even the evil dinosaur mercenaries were allowing the baby triceratops to remain with its mother in the containment facility. When evil dinosaur mercenaries who are selling unbridled killing machines to Russia for $48 million dollars have a more compassionate policy towards creatures crossing the border than you do, you might want to pass some new legislation.

There’s a lot going on here. The central question of “what do you do with living creatures who are this dangerous” is a good one, and one that deserves to be explored. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle, it’s true, so at this point, the purpose of these movies seems to be to remind people that we should wield science and technology very carefully, lest we create our own inevitable downfall. That we have 5 of these movies repeating this very same message over and over again just proves how desperately our dumb, lumbering species needs the lesson.

[hollyplays]

The Roundup: July 2018

It’s been a shitty, shitty month. I’m getting evicted, we got into a car accident, the new insurance has my girlfriend confused for someone with a horrible speeding ticket record, and my little brother, who is learning to drive, has started hiding the car keys for some reason.

I have a tendency to hoard media. During my first year of college I was extremely depressed and contemplating suicide when I read a piece of advice- find something to look forward to, and you’ll never do it. So I started hoarding comics- I think I have 180 GBs of comics on my computer- and movies.

Well, at some point during July things got so bad I started burning through my movies. I’m not sure exactly how many I watched, but...it’s a lot. This is going to be long. 

(I have since stopped watching multiple movies a day, and gone back to semi normal movie watching habits.)

Tampopo: I think I technically watched this in June and forgot, but I love it. Tampopo is a “food western” about a group of food enthusiasts helping a young woman perfect her ramen restaurant. Tampopo has lots of smaller vignettes about how food affects our lives, and the result is lovely and comforting and meditative. Tampopo is excellent, and manages to have one of the best opening scenes to a movie I’ve ever seen.

The Exterminating Angel: This was my first movie by Luis Bunuel, and I loved it. This kind of supernaturalish, surreal horror really really works for me. Plus, the rich suffer, which is always nice. This movie is really wonderful, plus the behind-the-scenes stuff on the blu-ray was super interesting. Apparently to make the actors more uncomfortable in the scene, Bunuel would rub honey all over their arms. Nasty.

The Fisher King: My second Gilliam movie. Better than Jabberwocky, but I still wouldn’t call it good. Robin Williams was excellent as always, but I felt like Jeff Bridges was playing half a character. It had some touching scenes, but overall kind of forgettable. I don’t think I’ll be seeking out Gilliam anymore.

Badlands: I try not to judge directors on their first movie, but Badlands really comes out in Malick’s favor. This is as wonderful a movie about a serial killer as I’m likely to ever see. It’s like a landscape painting with characters. It manages to never be slow or drag despite long flowing scenes. I’m still thinking about Badlands more than a month later, and that says a lot.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine: This is a really interesting game. WWTLW has one of the most unique mechanics I’ve ever seen in a video game, and the process of watching your stories grow and evolve is so, so cool. I wish the overworld map wasn’t so barren, and that the sprinting mechanic wasn’t such a pain, but beyond that this game is excellent. The writing here is top-notch.

Eraserhead: I’d technically seen this before, but I was half asleep so I’m counting it. Eraserhead is obviously good- it’s film history for a reason- but on a second viewing I’m struck by just how impressive the visual storytelling is. The dialogue in this movie could fit on half a page, but there’s still so so much to it. You need to see this at least once.

Frances Ha: “Frustrating, but enjoyable” seems to be Baumbach’s general ouvre, and Frances Ha is no exception. Still, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Frances is likable, even when she’s fucking up, which is more than I can say for her life partner Sophie. For as much time as Frances spends making mistakes, it’s really lovely and warm to see things come together for her in the end. Worth a watch, especially at an hour and fifteen minutes.

The Thin Red Line: Jesus christ, this movie is so long. It’s two hours and forty minutes long, and nothing of worth happens after the forty minute mark. It’s a war movie that manages to be beautiful and haunting, which would be impressive if it didn’t just fucking drag. I might watch this again and just turn it off at two hours, honestly.

Days of Heaven: I wanted this to be better than Thin Red Line and it was. Days of Heaven brings Malick’s landscape painter sensibility to labor in the 20th century, and the result is genuinely fantastic. The visuals here are stunning, even if the story is a little lacking- my biggest frustration is that most of the story events take place in the third act, like Days of Heaven is the first part in a series of novels that doesn’t exist.

Fat Girl: I get what this movie was trying to do. I understand the metaphor for how dangerous it is to be a woman. I get it, and I can respect it, but fuck do I hate this movie. I just don’t wanna watch 2 hours of a young fat girl getting shit on by her family, interspersed with rape scenes. I’m not interested in that, no matter how pretty it’s shot.

Mary and the Witch’s Flower: I watched this as a palate cleanser after Fat Girl, and it served that purpose just fine. It’s an okay movie on it’s own, but in the shadow of the rest of Ghibli it kind of pales. The animation and visuals are as phenomenal as ever, but the story is a little all over the place. Definitely still enjoyable, but sort of middling.

Sounds of Summer by Ten Toes Spumoni: If we’re Facebook friends, you’ve probably already seen me talk about this album. It’s been on repeat around here pretty much since it came out. Ten Toes Spumoni is a good friend of mine, and I genuinely believed nothing he made would top Journal of Hypnosis, but Sounds of Summer blows it out of the fuckin water. Throw a few bucks his way, because he deserves it.

Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette: This is a standup comedy act that isn’t particularly funny. It’s amazing, and full of toothed commentary on the world and LGBT issues, but it isn’t funny. It’s heavy, and hard to watch, and worth the trouble. I think this is one of the few things I gave 5 stars this month, and it deserves it.

Wizard of Legend: A big part of watching movies for me this month has been finding the perfect roguelike to play while I watch movies. I eventually settled on Gungeon, but Wizard of Legend was a strong contender too. It’s roguelike elements are really enjoyable, and finding the perfect combination of spells is fun, but resources are a little too scarce for my liking.

My Own Private Idaho: I loved this movie more than I expected to, and I knew I’d like it. My Own Private Idaho offers an exceptionally gay take on modern Shakespeare, and River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves are absolutely phenomenal here. The interview segments are a little hard to watch, but the rest of the movie is beautiful and sad and lovely. One of my favorites in a long time.

Coco: Similar to Witch’s Flower, I thought this was fine. The music is wonderful, and the animation is beautiful, but the story is a little lacking, especially towards the third act. I think Pixar forgot how to write villains that aren’t just ‘good guy’s been bad the whole time’. Hell, even Incredibles 2 did it.Those complaints aside, Coco is really enjoyable and well worth your time.

The Spirit of the Beehive: A meditation on childhood, the Spanish civil war, early film, and Frankenstein. I enjoyed thinking about this movie later more than I actually enjoyed watching it, I think. It’s a little slow, but the third act picks up and wraps the story up nicely. Definitely watch Huellas De Un Espiritu if you watch it, it adds a lot of context which helps the movie out.

Simon Of The Desert: Short movies are nice when you’re watching three a day, so I really appreciated Simon Del Desierto’s 45 minute runtime. It’s both less surreal and funnier than I expected- Simon Del Desierto feels more like Monty Python than Jabberwocky did. Highly recommended.

Cronos: A little disappointing, I’m not gonna lie. I’m a huge Del Toro fan, so I was really excited to watch his first movie, but it left me lukewarm. He describes it as a vampire film, but it takes a long time to find it’s legs. Worth the watch just for Ron Perlman and the scene where a little girl breaks his nose.

The Devil’s Backbone: This is what I wanted Cronos to be. A Del Toro twist on gothic romance and ghost story, Devil’s Backbone is as unsettling as it is charming. The kids in this movie are exceptional actors, and the script sells their childhood so, so well.

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins: I didn’t expect too much from the graphic novel of TAZ’s first arc, but it really surprised me. Carey Pietsch’s art is just cartoony enough to bely the adult humor in the series, and the characters have been deftly adapted. The first arc in the podcast suffers a lot from ‘pregen syndrome’, where Taako and Merle weren’t super fleshed out, but the graphic novel rights the ship really well.

Black Girl: At 59 minutes, Black Girl is well worth your time mostly for how angry it’ll make you. Black Girl tells the story of a Senegalese woman who is deceived into becoming a house maid for a rich French woman, and the sheer amount of bullshit she puts up with before losing it makes her a saint in my eyes. I enjoyed this movie a lot, and I’m excited to see more African cinema.

A Hat In Time: I’ve played the shit out of this game and it never gets old. A Hat in Time is as charming as charming gets, and it perfectly recreates the feeling of playing Mario Sunshine for the first time. Only, you know, Hat in Time is fun.

Pony Island: Pony Island is one of those games that’s just a little too short- not because it feels rushed, but because I wished there was more when it ended. It’s a little cheesy in places, and the dialogue is a little slow, but the puzzles are perfectly scaled and the sense of humor is really great.

Styx: Shards of Darkness: This game might be good. I don’t know. The main character’s dialogue was so shitty I only played about 40 minutes of it. Imagine the mechanic in Jak & Daxter where Daxter makes fun of you when you die, but they got the writers from Family Guy really drunk and had them write it and never told them no.

[emilywatchescursedshow]

S2 E6 - No Exit

Uhoh I'm watching the recap and it's edited to be about Jo and Ellen so I guess that's what the episode is about. "You're afraid of my mother?" "I think so" still hits

No one else but me cares about this but keyboard shortcuts in the tumblr text editor do not read in dvorak. I'm in dvorak layout rn and the "B" key is coded to X but if I want to bold I do ctrl+"B" not ctrl+"N" which is the key that B is coded to. Explains why my copy/paste shortcuts have been all fucked up while I make these posts. And is just kind of interesting from the perspective of what even is the tumblr text editor??? Unknowable.

But here we are, I can't eat, I've been sleeping like shit, I have to stick around (on Long Island) until I meet with my advisor until 2:30pm and I've already read too much spn fanfic for someone who hasn't seen this show so let's keep watching shallllll we?

Blonde girl has checked the fuzes and is now getting covered in creepy goo. OOO creepy goo is oozing out of the outlet, and now there's just a guy's eye. That was kind of a strangely paced scene.

Had to rewind to get a sus on the camera work they did - a flyover shot of the roadhouse comes down to an OTS shot on Dean, a little disorienting. Don't know why the name Katie Holmes is funny and/or bitch "for Dean" but I also don't know why we're describing Jo and Ellen arguing as a "catfight" so I'm taking a lot of stuff on spec real fast with this episode.

Ellen wants Jo to go to school. "Nebraska is for Lovers." Why is a family with two children coming into a bar at 10 am.

All young blondes missing from a building uhoh is the fact that Jo is blonde going to be relevant are they going to use her as bait?

Dean Jo literally punched you in the face so hard you dropped a rifle I feel like you shouldn't be so quick to judge.

Sam picked up on the goo real fast. Dean is having a weird attitude about this episode.

Jo is here and feeling Dean up real hard to sell the "bf" thing. Got a screencap for my new profile pic lololol.

Ellen has the opposite parent syndrome to John.

Jo is having to go through Dean hazing I don't love watching this. Why are we having this Dean being an asshole.

"You think women can't do the job" no experience... what is happening right now.

I see where both characters are coming from here but I just wish Dean wasn't such a fucking jerk to her before, great way for a person to be defensive is to give them something to be defensive over.

Is this going to be like that one xfiles epsiode with the stretchy man? Is that why that one scene was paced so weirdly to focus on the screw? Bc the xfiles episode was all about unscrewing things from the inside.

Dean reaching blindly into a hole to find a piece of scalp. Gross.

Ah yes, me when I am a hot blonde lady receiving flyers for a lingerie party and have a countertop absolutely stuffed full of apples. And then I get my ankle grabbed by something in a vent and just fall over and start screaming?? I'm sorry but you need to sell the monster a little more than that. What's it going to do? pull her into the vent??

Uhoh we got another screen-cappable moment. Literally the worst sleep position in the history of the world Dean. Great job. Yeah no wonder your back hurts.

Is Dean going to have to confront the fact that Jo is very much not ok? Or are they going to keep not talking at each other until Jo inevitably gets murdered by the fans.

Uhoh Dean telling a story about his dad. The chain necklace is back. The Jacting around "I bulls-eyed every one of them.. but I don't know."

Jo is a Dean foil in this episode I guess? Or she's what Sam could have been if his mom didn't die and his dad wasn't a fucking asshole. Whatever - she's someone Dean has to bounce off of in a "self recognition" type of way. Which makes me happy their romantic "tension" hasn't really been played as such during this episode.

There's apparently "nothing wrong" with being a hunter to get close to your dad. Who is dead. From being a hunter. I hate this stupid logic.

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. A) Sam still has his ghost broke hand in a stupid cast and B) ash sent them. a text file. a fucking. a fucking text file list. of the people executed. I love this show.

Herman Webster Mudgett the three name serial killer classic. Sam is fangirling over HH Holmes. Sam listens to my favorite murder and is a little bitch on the facebook page.

I guess we're just going to fucking destroy this apartment building that keeps leasing to blondes for some reason. "Jack squat" when you can't curse on a ghost show.

Dean's "you're inexperienced line" is ancient history at this point he just let's Jo go on by herself.

Yeah I mean, duh. They had zero plan.

Now it's time for Dean to come to the rescue. At least by now we can be confident that Jo isn't immediately dead.

"She's taking care of ... feminine business"

If John is the reason Jo's father is dead.. that would be interesting.

"There's nothing you could have done." Actually, he could have stopped her from going lmao, that seems pretty clearly like something he could have done.

Jo baby just breathe.

Oh we're having prisoner to prisoner communication.

Where did the hand come from? And he's just yanking some hair?

Me when I'm normal walking down the street with what I'm assuming is a metal detector turned EMF reader and a shovel. Time to dig.

Sam take your cast off.

Extra spiders in the hole just so you know it's creepy.

They could have like, actually used her as bait. That would have been an interesting test maybe of like, her commitment to hunting bc then she would have to deal with the fear of being in danger as something that didn't happen like, accidentally. They could have had her foil be Sam, who didn't want to be a hunter, who wanted to go to school, and now has chosen to be a hunter to be close to his dad. Why Dean??? The bottle shooting story was good but like, is that advancing his character that much? Like Dean should not capitulate to Jo's desire to be a hunter so easily, whereas that would be a much more interesting angle for Sam's character to be challenged. Whatever.

She's bait now I guess. And HH Holmes is just. Here now. And is doing an amazing performance of being completely .. uh.. trapped by salt.

H o w and whyyyyyyy?? But.. yes?? (About the cement mixer with weird rock anthem stings.) Filling that sewer with cement will take 1 million years I'm not sure they thought through this.

Is Ellen going to tell them what "that's not the first time I've heard that from a Winchester" meant? Or is she going to continue the not explaining herself routine she had with that one hunter.

Yessssss give us the dirtyy backstory Ellen.

Why are Dean and Sam being blamed for something their father did.

Okay the why still holds what the fuck??

[in-defense-of-the-horror]

American Horror Story Hotel: A Rant Continued

Yesterday I posted my thoughts on AHS: Roanoke, because it was terrible and all my anger was eating me up inside.  I thought that would be the end of it, but I was wrong.

@colonelcaribou was curious as to my thoughts on Hotel, and so I’m here to present you with more ranting about American Horror Story (something that I’m always more than happy to do, by the way.)

SPOILER WARNING: Like my last AHS rant, this is intended for people who have already seen the season in question, this time Hotel.

Let’s just go ahead and start this off with one of my favorite things; unpopular opinions. Hotel is actually my personal favorite season of American Horror Story. While I don’t think it’s as good as Murder House from a critical standpoint, the strengths from the season all play to my preferences whereas the weaknesses are issues that I seem to have with every season of the show - making it the most enjoyable for me to watch. That being said, it’s the only season (excluding Roanoke) that I’ve only seen one time, and I’m probably the least familiar with it.

While it is my favorite season - it’s far from perfect. Since this is a rant, I’m going to start by talking about the things that drove me crazy.

I think one of the aspects that bothered me most throughout the season was Chloë Sevigny’s portrayal of the grieving mother Alex Lowe. I can see where she was going with the role, the under-played emotions were meant to illustrate the detachment and depression that her character is experiencing (at least, that’s what I got out of it.) However, it led to me feeling like many parts of the story regarding her character were bland at best. The fact that the only real emotion I remember her distinctly expressing was anger (which was often misguided, misplaced, or exaggerated) tipped the scales toward me actively disliking her character. This was a big issue that I had with what was an otherwise great subplot.

Before I move away from the Lowe family too much, it’s also worth nothing that I took issue with some character design choices for the small son, Holden Lowe. This sounds like nitpicking, and maybe it is, but could they have made the kid any creepier? It would be one thing if that was part of the story all the way through - or if they had made him look more like a normal kid in the flashbacks at least, but I actually found it really distracting. With the long, wispy, white blond hair, the pale skin, and his mother’s vacant expression - this kid was legitimately the most terrifying part of the season in my opinion, and it kind of sucks that I don’t think it was intentional.

Now let’s talk about James Patrick March.

Don’t get me wrong, I thought he was an interesting character. His design was great, Evan Peters did a fantastic job playing him, but his name bothered me. It’s not the first time that American Horror Story has changed the name of a character or even a historical figure being portrayed on the show - and I can see why they wouldn’t want to flat out say that this character was H. H. Holmes. After all, the Hotel Cortez was an amalgamation of many different locations, and it wasn’t even located in the same state as the infamous “Murder Mansion” that Holmes built in Chicago. Using the name of the actual killer would have been spreading a wild amount of misinformation, and considering the amount of liberties they had to take with the character’s history, could have been seen as pretty insensitive. 

It makes sense that they would choose a new name for him and just use Holmes as inspiration (like they did with the Briarcliff Institute in Asylum) but there was one episode where it started bother me; Devil’s Night.  In a room with the spirits of the most notorious serial killers, the fact that H. H. Holmes had been replaced with James Patrick March meant that he obviously couldn’t be at the soiree, since he was, in a way, hosting it. It’s a small enough detail, but it’s one that got on my nerves while I was watching, and as I’m typing this out I realize it really stuck with me.

That small issue is also a great transition into Devil’s Night, which was my least favorite episode and, as far as I saw it, the worst part of the season.

Let’s say for a moment that I buy into the premise of serial killer ghosts having dinner together annually on the one night of the year where they have physical form on this plane (which for the record, I don’t.) Let’s also say that the ghost of not H. H. Holmes was somehow a mentor to all these serial killers from all over the country, and that somehow makes sense. The execution was still very flawed. The whole scene was over the top, the dialogue felt very forced, and what the fuck was going on with the Zodiac killer?

Like, okay, I get that we don’t have enough information to do an accurate depiction of the Zodiac killer, but I feel like there were a lot of better alternatives than to making him look like the world’s worst Monty Python and the Holy Grail cosplayer (did anyone else get that impression from his outfit, or was it just me?) Much like my issue with Roanoke where they failed to give me an answer to an actual, historical mystery that they decided to bring to screen, I feel like there were a lot of ways to go.

Zodiac could have been just a regular guy whose name wasn’t mentioned. Could have been a regular woman whose name wasn’t mentioned. They could have created a name (like they did with James Patrick March.) He could have been Ted Cruz - which would have been the best use of a meme on television. He could have, and this is crazy, not been there at all. I think that would have been my top choice, actually, because from what we do know of the Zodiac killer, what are the chances he would attend an event like that anyway? I feel like the most elegant solution to the dilemma would have been to have a place-setting at the table for him (with the symbol on it of course) and then to have slipped a line in there about how he never shows. 

There were some other issues throughout the season, but these are the ones that really stuck with me, and that I’m still thinking about a year after watching it. So, with all these complaints, you’re probably wondering why this is my favorite season. Unlike Roanoke, Hotel had a lot of redeemable moments and now I’m going to transition into some more positive ranting.

For one, the ambiance was great. The set was stunning, the cinematography was gorgeous, and hands down this was the season with the best sound track. (They got my favorite She Wants Revenge song AND my favorite Eagles song in the pilot, how awesome is that?)

There was an excellent use of body horror throughout the season, from the grisly killings committed to represent the ten commandments to the flashback where Sally sews herself to her friends. I think more than any other season the visuals really stuck with me.

While I have already brought up some problems I had with certain casting decisions - there were a lot of fantastic choices also made in that regard. I was surprised by just how talented Lady Gaga was in her role as The Countess, Kathy Bates continued to impressed, I think Sally was one of Sarah Paulson’s most intriguing and well-played characters. Let’s  also not forget about the amazing supporting cast in this season. While there were countless characters in the Hotel Cortez that were wonderful, I don’t think any of them stand out as much as Liz Taylor.

In addition to being beautifully designed, perfectly portrayed and having a fascinating backstory that contrasts with  the darker themes in the rest of the season, Liz Taylor was possibly the best instance of representation in the season - perhaps in the entire show. While the Countess also offers some LGBTQ representation, I was deeply moved by the mature way they dealt with having a transgender character recur throughout the season. 

They addressed Iris not being comfortable with Liz due to her own ignorance, and she was upfront about how she didn’t know how to ask. Liz, a strong woman confident in her identity is happy to set the record straight, even though it means sharing about a time in her life before she had that confidence. 

That flashback scene also shows The Countess in a softer light as she helps Liz embrace who she was meant to be and acknowledging her as a woman before the rest of the world did. She pushes Liz to come out as a woman, and when she sees that she’s pushing too hard, tones it down and suggests a smaller, more manageable step. Maybe she didn’t handle being an ally the best, but the fact that she realized she was trying to force someone to do too much too fast and backed down showed a side of her character that was unexpected, especially considering her unflinchingly dominant personality.

Where I thought Liz really shined though, was after that when she’s in bed with Tristan. Tristan is surprised that he’s fallen for Liz because “he’s not gay.” Liz is quick to assert her gender and set him straight. “You’re not gay for being with me. I’m a girl. I’m a hetero girl.”

There’s one last big thing that made me really appreciate this season, and that was the mythology. Those of you who have been following me awhile know that I am tougher on vampire stories than I am on just about anything else. It’s partially because I got burnt out on it, but I also feel like a lot of vampire mythology is poorly executed and overly romanticized. If I had known there would be vampires in the season, I might not have even wanted to watch it - but I’m so glad I did.

There are a lot of vampire romances in Hotel, but at the same time I feel like they weren’t glorified. At no point did I feel like the show was trying to sell me on the concept of eternal love through a vampyric virus. On the contrary I think it illustrates how the undead are in many ways lonelier than they ever were as humans. The relationships aren’t born out of romance, they’re born out of the lust that comes with the vitality of everlasting youth, and that’s how it was depicted. 

All in all I felt like this was a much more realistic take on vampires. They’re less idealistic and in a way the idea of vampires being more human is a lot scarier than the alternative. They’re not dangerous because they’re monsters, but rather because they have the same wants and needs that we all have, but amplified. Not only does it make the prospect of them existing more plausible, it makes the idea of becoming one much less appealing - which is exactly how it should be. 

The undead (the ghosts and vampires both) were glamorous, but that beauty was always matched with such clear suffering.

I have a lot more that I could probably say about the show, and about this season in particular, but this hits most of my big points about it. While it’s not perfect, there were a lot of things that made me enjoy the story. 

In fact, writing this up, I think I’ve talked myself into re-watching the season to see if it holds up.