#i don’t advise anyone to follow my lead btw

[aboveallarescuer]

Btw, I wonder if you ever thought about the Jaime/Cersei and Dany/Daario relationships paralleling eachother? I never see people talking about it but some of their quotes and scenes seem intentionally similar to me. + For example, how Daario and Jaime's (yes, Jaime Lannister is a toxic romantic partner, the fandom can stay mad) reaction to their respective marriage proposals are heavily linked with posession (more so than love).

First of all, Anon, I'm assuming you're the same person who sent me two asks, this one and another about Tyrion. Re: the latter ask, I basically agree with your comments and have nothing substantial to add, so I'm going to focus on answering this one.

So, yes, I had thought about similarities between Dany/Daario and Cersei/Jaime before, but I'm glad you sent me this ask because you made me think of more parallels and antiparallels. They are certainly worth discussing because they highlight different aspects of Dany's and Cersei's characters and make it clear, once again, that they are meant to be foils.

(I'm not going to add book quotes here because I'm tired, sorry... But you can ask for evidence in another ask if you find anything I say questionable)

Daario and Jaime are both hot-headed, arrogant warriors presented as alternatives to the husbands of the two queens (Hizdahr, Robert).

Both Dany and Cersei love these men instead of their husbands.

Both Daario and Jaime react angrily when they find out that Dany and Cersei are going to marry.

Both Daario and Jaime ask the queens to leave their husbands and to be with them instead, but they both deny their requests.

Both Daario and Jaime offer to kill their queens' husbands for them. Both Dany and Cersei imagine the two men following through with their threats at some point.

Dany ends her affair with Daario after she takes Hizdahr as her consort. Cersei doesn't end her affair with Jaime after marrying Robert (and she did nothing wrong in this particular situation).

Neither Dany nor Cersei hides their affairs well (though it's worth noting that Cersei is being more reckless in doing so because she was queen consort and her power derived from Robert, while Dany was queen regnant and, therefore, had power in her own right. Indeed, Dany taking Daario as her lover is compared to Lewyn Martell, a man, taking a paramour in Dorne. That certainly isn't how the Faith views Cersei's affair with Jaime. Also, as I said above, Dany's affair lasted while she was unmarried, while Cersei's happened while she was married).

Dany thinks she'll never have a child with Hizdahr because she believes she's infertile. Cersei thought she'd never have a child with Robert back when he was alive because she always took measures to prevent that from ever happening (and she definitely did nothing wrong here).

Dany idealizes her relationship with Daario way more than Cersei idealizes hers with Jaime. For instance, Dany says to herself that she would give up her crown for Daario if he ever asked her to do so, but she doubts he ever would because she assumes he loves her solely because of her power. Cersei never considers giving up her crown for Jaime (to be fair, I don't think Dany would've done that for Daario either). In this particular case, I actually think that Rhaegar is Cersei's Daario, because it's with Rhaegar that Cersei dreamed and still dreams of marrying and having his children and living a blissful life together (though, even in that fantasy, Cersei would still want to be queen, while Dany thinks she'd be content living a normal life alongside the man she loves without any power or luxury in the house with the red door). Daario and Rhaegar (rather than Jaime) are the men who bring out Dany's and Cersei's romantic sides (which makes sense because Cersei idealized Rhaegar back when she was a young girl like Dany). Rhaegar is the one that got away for Cersei, and I imagine Dany will have similar feelings about Daario in the future.

At some point during their reigns, both Dany and Cersei send Daario and Jaime away, but for opposite reasons: Dany does so because Daario advised her to kill her subjects and she's appaled by the suggestion; Cersei does so because Jaime advised her to cooperate with her subjects and she assumes that that means he is disrespecting her authority (which he does sometimes, but not always).

It's harder for Dany to be apart from Daario than it is for Cersei to be apart from Jaime. Dany immediately regrets her decision to send him away and even goes as far as to think that, because she had an indirect role in Hazzea's death for allowing Drogon to roam freely, she is a monster just like Daario (seriously, how can anyone think that book!Dany is arrogant???). Meanwhile, Cersei only comes to regret her decision to send Jaime away after she needs his help, specifically after the Faith arrests her and she has no reliable option to choose to fight for her life in a trial by combat.

Both Dany and Cersei spend most of their storylines away from these men. (I could be wrong, but I don't think GRRM had Daario out of the picture because he was supposedly bored with him like I've seen some BNFs or 'neutrals' argue... I do think that was a choice specifically made to strengthen the parallels between Dany and Cersei).

Both Daario and Jaime feel jealous of Dany's and Cersei's relationships with other men throughout AFFC/ADWD.

Daario returns with the Stormcrows when Dany recalls him even though it would have been beneficial to betray her and turn to Yunkai's side, especially since he already knew that the Second Sons had done that. Jaime doesn't return when Cersei asks him to go back... You could even say that he switches sides, in a way, by deciding to prioritize Brienne's request instead. This is part of a larger pattern: while most of Dany's people (including Daario) remain loyal to her by the end, almost all of Cersei's allies abandon her. While it's said that Dany managed to keep everyone (former slaves and former masters) together, Cersei destroyed the Lannister-Tyrell alliance due to her poor decisions.

ADWD Daenerys X ends with Dany thinking about how Daario wouldn't mind seeing her in such a messy state like how she is by the end of the chapter. AFFC Cersei X ends with Cersei hoping against hope that Jaime will return and win her trial by combat. Both expect to be reunited with and to be saved by their lovers at the end of these chapters.

Dany doesn't trust Daario, but she doesn't close herself off from him either, which is why she has the support of the Stormcrows. Cersei says she lost her trust in Jaime, but then, by the end, she is in such a dire situation that she desperately decides to put all her hope in him and trust him way too much (to a degree that even Qyburn finds concerning since he lost his hand). This is part of a larger pattern: while Dany is wary of some people, she knows that she should still take risks and make alliances. This attitude doesn't make her omniscient and she is not immune to making mistakes or to people (like Brown Ben) betraying her, sure. That being said, Dany still remains open-minded, cooperates with influential allies and makes a peace agreement that could have worked if the deal wasn't inherently false for prioritizing the privileges of the masters over the lives of the slaves and if her primary goal wasn't to protect the disenfranchised first and foremost. Meanwhile, Cersei thinks she should distrust everyone, which leads her to alienate potential allies that could have been useful and to be surrounded by people who claim to agree with her on everything, but who are neither experienced nor reliable. Then she creates plans that rely way too much on these very untrustworthy people, which is why they backfire: from the construction of the dromonds (which she relied on Aurane Waters, who turned his back on her) to the attempt on Bronn's life (which she relied on Balman Byrch, who turned his back on her) to the scheme to have Margaery and her cousins arrested (which she relied on Osney Kettleblack, who turned his back on her) to the decision to rearm the Faith Militant (which she relied on the High Sparrow, who turned his back on her) to her decision to trust that Jaime (who also turned his back on her) will return to fight for her life ... I'm sure there are more examples, but that's enough to illustrate my point. Cersei's thinking is too extreme, while Dany has a healthy distrust of others. As a result, Cersei makes hasty decisions and burns bridges unnecessarily, while Dany is able to make more carefully weighed decisions, as well as to create and maintain important alliances.

Finally, I think Dany and Daario's relationship is more positive than Cersei and Jaime's. Not only there's no verbal abuse or disrespect of sexual consent like how it happens with Cersei/Jaime, but Daario didn't switch sides to Yunkai, gave her good counsel (such as when he tells her to hold court and reminds her that her children need her) and genuinely cares about Dany, which we see from when he tells her not to get married time and again to when we contrast him with Osney. He is possessive and brags about sleeping with her on some occasions, yes, but I think it was @evilwomen who pointed out in one of our conversations that Dany doesn't feel bothered by any of that, which goes to show how much she loves him, since she's willing to forgive actions that would be considered insults for his sake.

So, once again, thanks for this ask, Anon, it encouraged me to think about connections that I hadn't considered before.

And you know, I said this before and will say it again... This is why I think Dany is the YMBQ... Not just because she clearly fits all the requirements, but because she and Cersei were way too carefully written to parallel and contrast each other (so much so that the author mentioned that in multiple interviews). You said you "never see people talking about" the parallels between Cersei/Jaime and Dany/Daario, but look at how much I managed to find off the top of my head (and I'm not even sure this is comprehensive, tbqh)??? Now imagine that happening to all of their casts of supporting characters and to all the political events and to pretty much every single aspect of their characterizations and storylines. Their parallels and antiparallels are really overwhelming, and it's why I decided to make gifs showing why they're foils.

[politicalprof]

Election Thoughts and Comments (to my class):

I sent this out to my class today. Weird times:

------------------------

Hi everyone --

As the election approaches, I thought I'd offer a few thoughts on what to expect tomorrow night. If you've already voted: good for you! If you're planning to vote tomorrow, I do hope there are no lines or other issues. You might want to take a water bottle along if you're stuck in a line for a while.

Indeed, turnout this year seems to be extraordinary. About 133 million people voted in 2016. Almost 95 million people have ALREADY voted in 2020. We may see turnout around 160 million people. That would be more people than have ever voted in a presidential election -- by a large number.

FYI, if you haven't heard, President Trump is making a number of statements about the election that I wanted to talk about. Unfortunately, what he is saying is plainly false or may work to undermine the legitimacy of the election results (whatever they might be -- I for one lack a crystal ball).

One concern is President Trump's insistence, "We should know the result of the election on November 3rd, the evening of November 3rd. That's the way it's been and that's the way it should be" (November 1, 2020). This is completely false. For example, we did not know President Trump had been elected on the evening of HIS election. Final results weren't in until the next morning. Moreover, having been through the presidential election of 2000, I promise you we had no idea who won that one for weeks.

I certainly hope the results of the election are clear on election night. In fact, I think there is a decent chance they will be. However, if the elections in so-called "swing states" -- those states where presidential elections tend to be close, and that alternate support for Republican and Democratic candidates -- are close, then we may not know for some time. THIS IS NORMAL. IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

Why is this normal? Because states have a variety of laws governing WHEN they start processing mail-in and absentee ballots, and HOW LONG after the election date they process ballots that are mailed before the election but that don't arrive until after the election. In Illinois, for example, votes are opened and counted as soon as they arrive. Alternatively, as long as your ballot is postmarked before election day, Illinois will count the ballot if it arrives within 14 days of election day. (BTW, Illinois has GREAT voting procedures compared to a lot of other states. Good for us!) Pennsylvania, by contrast, only starts opening ballots ON ELECTION DAY. It will take Pennsylvania longer to record all its ballots than it will take Illinois simply as a result of Pennsylvania law.

This perfectly normal -- even if it is annoying. Don't freak out if we don't know the results at 10 pm CST tomorrow night. It's just the American way.

A second concern has to do with WHY President Trump is insisting that we must know the results on election night. His strategy appears to be to claim he has won the election if he is ahead on election night, and then to demand that outstanding ballots -- e.g., legally cast ballots that have not been counted as of midnight on election day -- should never be counted. An adviser to President Trump stated it this way: ""If you speak with many smart Democrats, they believe President Trump will be ahead on election night, probably getting 280 electoral, something in that range. And then they'll try to steal it back after the election. We believe we'll be over 290 electoral votes on election night. So no matter what they try to do, no matter what kind of high jinks or nonsense they try to pull off, we'll still have enough electoral votes to get President Trump reelected."

The argument here is that Trump may be ahead on election day based on ballots counted on election day (plus any counted in states like Illinois where ballots are counted as they arrive), but then those results might change as ballots are counted later in the process. Why? The expectation is that Democrats are more likely to have voted by mail because nationwide, more Democrats requested mail-in ballots than did Republicans. If this is true, it may be that in states like Pennsylvania, where mail-in ballots aren't even opened until election day, President Trump may well have an election day lead that could turn into a loss once the mail-in ballots are counted. (Please note I am not saying this WILL happen -- how do I know? It's just a possibility.)

Hence the Trump's campaign demand that results be declared on election day, and no ballots be counted after election day. Such a rule could well leave millions of legally-cast ballots in places like Pennsylvania uncounted -- ballots that everyone suspects may be votes for Joe Biden.

To be clear, counting ballots that arrive and/or are opened on or after election day is not "theft." It is not "high jinks." It is voting in America.

So what can YOU do? Other than vote, the answer is: be patient. Remember that there are a lot of people peddling a lot of bad information in an effort to advance their partisan interests. (And lest I be accused of being partisan in this post, if anyone can find Biden quotes in which he is demanding state laws not be followed and votes not be counted, I'll happily comment about those. Let me know.) You're going to have to turn your BS filters to "high." It's going to be a long day.

In addition, it appears that if the election is close, the Trump campaign is prepared to file lots of lawsuits to try to stop ballots from being counted across the United States. Just yesterday, for example, President Trump commented, about Pennsylvania, "The night of — as soon as that election is over — we are going in with our lawyers.” He was clear about his motive: "I  think it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election," he said.

In other words, this is shaping up to be hard, ugly and contentious. It shouldn't be. But it is. So we're going to have be patient, tolerant and smart. That, of course, is always what democratic citizenship requires. This year more than others.

Oh, and should anyone want a laugh, I am doing on-air local commentary for the election on WEEK-25 (NBC) tomorrow night. My daughter wants me to wear a tie, but I don't think I will. Feel free to tune in if you want. But I promise it's not on the test.

Dr. Crothers

[stardustdates]

The lonely angel and the beast - Douma x reader

Scarstardust’s comment 1: aah I am so obsessed with Douma currently TwT I wish I had been here for him :( this is more of a fic than anything so I used she/her instead of you! Tho it’s very sad- please proceed with caution. Douma isn’t the villain in this btw!

Stardust’s comment 2: Honestly I even think this is the most fucked up pieces I’ve ever written. 

Stardust’s comment 3: Just finished writing. I feel terrible, but I’m proud  of my writing, I promise I’ll offer you all Douma fluff after that-

TW: dark topics, c//lt, s//lf h//rm, violence, mentions and detail of human s//crifice, ab//se of minor and adult. Reader discretion is advised. This is purely fiction and should not be romanticized or seen in a positive light.

Let the date the sacrifice begin.

A lonely angel. That’s what the leader of the Scarlet church was defined as. While the world saw her as a symbol of purity she could only notice her own tainted soul. 

The members of the church often wondered why so much of her time was spent in the bathroom. Perhaps she really cared for her appearance or just craved the tranquility that she barely ever had. None of it. She was purely trying to scrub away her follower’s sins from her body. scrubbing her skin over and over again as she reopened the scars on her arm.

 She was a symbol of purity thus humans wanted to cleanse themselves through her blood and that’s how her mentor started the habit of the ceremony drinks. Each follower would be graced with a cup of wine mixed to a few drops of the young girl’s blood.

Yet once again she was called to hear more of the sins committed by followers. Expected to reply to all of them with kindness. She was escorted to her confessional room where she found herself hidden away by thick curtains, a way to give the confessing sinner a sense of anonymity.

As she heard shuffling in the room she was waiting for another adult to alter her innocent child mind with a gruesome story for she was the messiah and god would speak to her. But she was met with the soft, monotone voice of a child.

“-Is anyone here? No emotion was carried in the kid’s tone.

-I am, dear lamb. She muttered, hearing a soft sigh on the other side of the crimson curtain.

-Hello. -The voice started again- I come to you today to confide in you sins I could not forget, for you see my parents have died, I lead followers equal to yours, yet I feel but void. I am much scared of becoming a beast.”

The slow breath of the boy could be heard through the curtain. Oh Lord knew (Y/N) wanted a peak through the curtain. The voice seemed about her age, if not just a bit older. A few minutes seemed to pass before the girl crawled to the curtain, extending her hand through them, abstaining from looking, knowing she would be harshly punished if she did.

“-Child -she started calmly- please let me hold your hand. -A break was given as the boy did as told.- I pray for your family, may they join the scarlet heavens. You will not turn into a beast for you shall miss them.

-Oh but. I simply could not bring myself to regret them. He stated bluntly.

-Then I will pray for mercy to be given on your soul, My ch-

-Douma. I’m Douma. She was cut by the boy, before finishing”

her hands moved on the other side of the curtain, reaching for the child’s face, feeling him flinch at the cold skin.

“-Then please, Douma. Come to me tomorrow. I will wait.” On these words her hands went back in her velvet cage.

And come back Douma did. days after days, months after months, year after years. Every day he’d reserve an hour to the other leader. Never to see each other’s face yet knowing the last of each other’s secret. Until he was invited to an event.

“Come to the velvet moon, Douma. It’s the day I will access the ultimate heavens.”

These were the words spoken to him. The last words he heard without a face on them.

For during a week he could not see the leader. Oh how he lounged for her presence. As time went by he had came to notice how she made his empty heart fill with butterflies he never expected to be alive. A glimmer of possessiveness. He wanted her to himself

But they were both now 18 for the girl and 20 for the boy. Four years had past since their meeting. Yet Douma had lost his humanity on the way. A sin he did not reveal to the woman he saw as an angel, too scare to scare her away. He didn’t know why this woman made him feel or how she did. He only knew tonight was her ascending, yet he doubted nothing unknowing of the nature of this ascension.

What horror he felt, what pure despair he met as he arrived. Finally seeing his angel’s face as she was tied by her arms to two pillars, suspended in the air by ropes, a white kimono around her weakened form. Shaking in anger as a knife was wielded by the man considered her mentor, by the awful smell of the glasses everyone were holding, this smell of blood and alcohol mixing. It was truly infuriating. He could not take it. 

He looked at her once more noticing how she was nervously looking around, mumbling prayers and hopes of being saved. That until her so called mentor spoke up.

“feedeth yourselves mine own children f'r tonight thy presence shall summon our l'rd, drinketh the blood of the angel hath sent from above. Connecteth with the heavens of h'r purity.  F'r tonight is h'r lasteth in this painful vessel the lady inhabits.“ the old man spoke an old dialect Douma could not fully understand but from key words. It filled him with more rage, as the man delt a violent stab to the newly adult lady. Striking her thigh as the blood pooled in a bucket placed under her. The rage to kill a thousand men. He felt enough rage to feel invincible. In his own mind he could have killed Lord Kibutsuji himself may he have been the one threatening the angel. His angel. Which received a stab to her other leg. The older man using the dagger to rip through her skin and muscles as a sharp scream got out of her.

But alas he could only watch as her body relax through the pain, giving up the moment she noticed the lost boy for he was the only one she didn’t know in the ceremony room. She knew from that moment that it was Douma. Her face turned peaceful at his sight. 

She could very well see him walking toward the elevated space of the room. Watching as the considered mentor yelled at him to back away from the leader. Douma did none of that. It all went so quick. Quicker than the humans could see. All that they could register was the birch color haired man holding the old man’s head, his body a few feet away. He quickly dropped it hurrying to the barely conscious girl as he heard her followers all running away, screaming from the scene they had witnessed.

 He was as fast as he could to untie her, trying to mush her thighs back together. The blood was too much. He wanted to eat her, his instincts screaming at him. The girl weakly laced her arms around him, muttering her thanks. He knew she’d pass out soon. He knew it would be over. They wouldn’t get a happy ending. There was no way lord Kibutsuji could appear and turn her into a demon, for alas Douma as himself was still too weak, hadn’t consumed enough to gain the power to change her himself. Seeing her struggle at staying awake he was like hit by lightning. Sudden realization of their memories flashing to him. For the first time in years he felt something. Immense regret filled him as he hugged (Y/N) tight, crying as he screamed and exclaimed his love for the angel.

“Angel. You can’t leave me. You’re mine. You made my cold heart work again, angel I love you. Don’t leave me. Angel. My angel. I love you. I love you. Please. I loved you. It’s true.”

He felt her hands on his face, like the very first time they had met. 

“Douma, oh Douma... Come to me again tomorrow, I’ll wait.”

But her hands dropped away. For his angel had shed all of her feathers.

And as he sunk his fangs in her soft throat, taken over by his instincts, Douma promised himself never to love again.

[thebluelemontree]

On a reread of Sansa V of GOT, this really stuck out to me when Joffrey asked the Hound to recount him calling Robb the lord of the wooden sword and the Hound replies with; "Did I? I don't recall." This is in front of Sansa on the parapets with the heads on the wall. The same chapter Sandor tells Sansa to give Joff what he wants. He is going against his own advice here, isn't he? Is he emulating her defiance? Or just trying to not be a cause of distress to Sansa? (Love your posts) -Tyler

Last ask was from Sansa VI. Apologies

Yes, he's emulating her defiance. Apologies in advance, but I really love this chapter, so I need to talk about what leads to that moment at some length. 

"Save yourself some pain, girl, and give him what he wants."

"What … what does he want? Please, tell me."

"He wants you to smile and smell sweet and be his lady love," the Hound rasped. "He wants to hear you recite all your pretty little words the way the septa taught you. He wants you to love him … and fear him." 

Sandor advising Sansa to appease Joffrey probably is a glimpse of how he coped while living with his abuser. We know that even before his disfigurement, six-year-old Sandor was already terrified of Gregor. At that age, one can imagine there was little he could do against his brother except steer clear of him and give him whatever he wants. Remember, Sandor's face was held to the fire precisely because he rebelled against the unspoken house rules. He dared to take something that belonged to Gregor, even though Gregor didn't want it or care about it. He learned that any attempt at agency would only provoke the abuser into brutal retaliation. Not that this justifies Gregor's response to Sandor playing with the toy, but it does explain Sandor's reasoning behind his advice. In the passages that came just before, he saw that defiant streak in Sansa when she told Joffrey she hated him, and she was struck for it.  

He doesn't want her already terrible situation to worsen, so he's advising her to be loving, soft-spoken, beautiful, and accomodating. She needs to be vigilant over Joffrey's moods and never displease him with her behavior or appearance; however, Joffrey also needs to see that Sansa fears him so that he can feel in control. If Joffrey feels like he's already broken her and won, he might be satisfied with that and decide not to beat her. Now obviously, Joffrey is always going to be violent and cruel no matter what Sansa does. And I think Sandor knows that most of it will be unavoidable because he says "some pain," not all pain; however, it's the best advice he can give from one domestic violence victim to another. 

Sansa's response to Sandor's advice shows that she does take it to heart but also manages to express her defiance while doing so.  

“After he was gone, Sansa sank back onto the rushes, staring at the wall until two of her bedmaids crept timidly into the chamber. "I will need hot water for my bath, please," she told them, "and perfume, and some powder to hide this bruise." The right side of her face was swollen and beginning to ache, but she knew Joffrey would want her to be beautiful.”

She does not mince words with the maids. She very matter-of-factly points out the bruise the king put on her. The powder is just a show for Joffrey, but she isn't seriously attempting to cover up what he did, nor is she cowered by shame. And she knows those maids report back to the queen, so she is indirectly telling Cersei, "look at what your son did." She's throwing that shame and disgrace back on her captors. It's also very poignant that the evidence of her abuse is right there on her face. She's not pretending it was an accident or making any secret of who did it. Just another way that Sandor's backstory might be influencing her actions at this moment.  

The hot water made her think of Winterfell, and she took strength from that. She had not washed since the day her father died, and she was startled at how filthy the water became. Her maids sluiced the blood off her face, scrubbed the dirt from her back, washed her hair and brushed it out until it sprang back in thick auburn curls. Sansa did not speak to them, except to give them commands; they were Lannister servants, not her own, and she did not trust them. When the time came to dress, she chose the green silk gown that she had worn to the tourney. She recalled how gallant Joff had been to her that night at the feast. Perhaps it would make him remember as well, and treat her more gently.

 (I'll come back to this dress later.) There is an intense conflict within Sansa as she tries to put Sandor's advice into practice. In private, she can thoughtfully work out how to appeal to Joffrey's sense of nobility (at least the appearance of) and hopefully get him to flex power through mercy rather than cruelty. She still has her pride and her anger, though. When in the presence of her abusers, her desire to lash out at them in equal measure is barely containable. Reclaiming her dignity and avenging her family is in a constant tug-o-war with her will to survive and the advice she tries to follow.  

Joffrey does not make this any easier, because later this same chapter, he goes hard antagonizing her.  He hurls insults and death threats. Mortifies her with talk of her menstruation, and getting her pregnant. The coup de grâce he's hoping for is to see her crumble before the heads of her father and Septa Mordane; however, through sheer strength of will, Sansa manages to push through her terror and tame it. Her obedience to the order becomes defiance as she stares at the unrecognizable faces, separating them from the people they used to be. "He can make me look at the heads, she told herself, but he can't make me see them." The absolute stone-faced badassery of asking Joffrey, "how long do I have to look?" as if she could do this all day without flinching would never be lost on Sandor, who is silently watching this whole interaction. He's not just moved by her suffering, in my opinion. It's her grit, her audacity, and courage under fire.  

To his massive disappointment, Joffrey isn't getting the satisfaction of her crying and pleading. So then he turns on Robb, her only hope for freedom at that point, which brings us to Sandor's act of defiance. 

Remember the green dress and Sansa's purpose for wearing it? It's clearly not Joffrey who is inspired to behave more nobly or gently toward the wearer here. It's Sandor. Sansa wore that dress the night she responded to his secret and his boorish behavior with courage and compassion that he didn't deserve from the way he was scaring her. If the dress could trigger anyone's memory, it's Sandor's. So how can he do any less than aspire to her example? 

"I remember your brother from Winterfell. My dog called him the lord of the wooden sword. Didn't you, dog?"

"Did I?" the Hound replied. "I don't recall."

Sandor is answering Joffrey's question, just not in the way Joffrey was hoping. He is modeling his response after hers. It's not just an act of defiance but solidarity with Sansa. This chapter shows some of the first cracks in Sandor's loyalty to the Lannisters. It's even better Joffrey is just too dim to realize that Sandor is deliberately taking the wind out of his sails. There's probably a twinge of regret in there too for taking lame, immature digs at Robb, and having it brought up again at this particular moment. BTW, I covered the scene that immediately follows here and Sandor's response to that. 

Thanks, Tyler. Sorry it took me so long to answer.  

[onf-headcanons]

Another OFFICE AU aka CEO AU

A/n : Alas its not draft clearing but a brand new work for 2021 (but i still have some drafts as well)XD Hello, did any of you remember an idea dump I dropped for last year Christmas? you could easily guess which was it by tallying the mood board with the idea lists (*winks)

Setting :

1. OFFICE AU 2 , it is a brand new one where ONF member is a young CEO while you are his secretary. So I will name this one as CEO AU

Of course it does not hurt should you wanna imagine it as the already exist office au, using the idea dump posted for 2020 Christmas.

2. ONF MEMBER that I will integrate would be Hyojin and Seungjun as mentioned during the Christmas post, but I wont stop you for imagining other members, thats why in headcanons I will use ONF MEMBER instead their names. (For member X reader scenario)

3. In this headcanon, reader is slightly older than ONF member, maybe 2 or 3 years older. Same age is plausible, then it would be ONF member continued their studies further so they started working late.

ok lets go, beware its long and sorry if it is messy I tried my best to control 2 way storyline, I had fun writing but I know I am lacking much much more than I could notice. total 6k word count (dies)

1-1

• You work as assistant/secretary for the head of department/CEO in company before the young successor joins and his predecessor retires. • Because you tend to separate work life and private life, you established personality to look like ice queen on the outside (reality) but actually passionate carer on the inside (virtually). None of your colleagues knew, only your close friends • You have been using a chat app (not tinder type) for since you started intern, • 1. That app's specialty was anonymous. • 2. Its like a hideout spot where you can share and post whatever you love. (Because there are some co-workers added your FB or Insta and you felt it is a hassle to create another fake account exclusively to add people) • 3. Even though you tried and failed at 1 or 2 virtual relationships with other users, you never despise the thought of online dating. But you do know it’s not realistic so you never take it too seriously (it is also self-protection) • You would post some photos but mostly are just lunch pics, occasionally an outdoor view from your office floor, also some cute stationaries or accessories found on the way back home. (Just adding this trivia for fun linking the universe, maybe you pass by Minkyun’s flower shop as well?) • (It will be funny if your contents was more on sharing random idol pics that you follow, passionately promoting it hence creating a more impact contrast later when revealing) • One day you came across a post asking about what kind of cologne to buy for a predecessor who will be retiring. Being a good Samaritan, you leave a few suggestions under the post and did not really take it to heart, you forgot about it once you see the original author replied "Thanks" • Not knowing that 1 interaction would change your life forever.

1-2 • The next day, your superior announced his retirement and mentioned a young successor will join the company next month. And ONF member being the young successor does make rumors flying around the company, making people questioning his ability as he is related to company board of directors. The department you are in is under top 5 sales/profit bringing, so with a young successor would be inexperienced which might lead to drop of department reputation of course people are going to worry and gossip. • First impression with ONF member is actually ok. Well dressed, good looking and nice manners. The moment he followed his predecessor walks into the office floor, girls starts to make all sorts of gasping noises (lol) • Your superior mentioned that he bought a retirement gift for your superior deep down you approved at the selection of the cologne brand. • You might goes, this guy got sense, not bad. • One night after several days ONF member joined the department/company, you received a PM from a user, thanking you for the cologne recommendation. It took you a while to remember who it was. You politely replied him “You are welcome.” • The user also nonchalantly asked about how you can make such suggestion that pinpoints because by the glance at your profile, first impression could be very much misleading. • You just replied that you happened to know someone at that age who likes that type of scent hence the list of suggestions, what you did was just you taking the liberty to do a lucky guess. • Out of curiosity, you tap at the stranger’s avatar to get a glimpse of his profile, but out of your disappointment, there were no picture of his to know what he looks like. But there are pictures of scenery from places he travelled. • You also noticed that their “joined the app” days are way lesser than you are, quite a new user. • You found a few pictures of places you went before/ places that you want to go. Delighted, you started the conversation asking if he likes travelling and his next travel plans. • The other party replied briefly his plans and his experience during travels, from his words you know that he won’t be travelling overseas for the next 2 years as he had a new job and responsibility to learn. Instead he will be focusing on doing domestic travels. • His words made you reminisce your rookie days and you responded him that you understand him with empathy. You did not pry further but you do give him some encouragement, telling him that things will get better and once he got the hang of it, he will have more time on his own. (Yup at the moment you are thinking he is a freshman or newbie joining new company) • You timidly ask your new chat friend why they decided to join and use the app. He replied, “I don’t really play social media apps and I don’t want anyone to find me online, the anonymous system this app provides mental security for me.” • The reply was so different from those who are playing the app just for flirting and finding a quick date, you replied him, “Same as you.” • The conversation ends by the other party mentions he will need to be early for work and politely wishes you good night. The next morning you found the stranger has added you as friend, without any thoughts you tap on your screen and now you have a new mutual.

1-3 • Back to office, as ONF member is still new towards his scope of work, you would sometimes giving him advise and guides by sharing “What would his predecessor does.” or “What he can do by not violating company policy”. He takes advises well and would always inquire for your suggestion before making any critical decision. • Once he started to get the hang of it, you passed the torch of freedom to him because you are only a secretary/assistant. But he will still come to you, which you felt he was being dependent. (I feel if it is Minkyun, he will be more dependent should the scope of work is totally unfamiliar to him. Tendency of dependent to independent would be Seungjun, Hyojin, Yuto same par as Jaeyoung, Changyoon then Minkyun.) • (Of course sometimes there are some doubt raised regarding to policies and because he sees things in another perspective, you know he meant no harm but sometimes you wish he would just shut up and just follow the policy just for convenience sake+lessen damage. That’s because should any dissatisfaction of decision happens, colleagues will firstly come to interrogate you, hoping you to twist his decision or questioning your ability to lessen the damage done towards merit they/the department holds. AND YOU HATE PLAYING THOSE POWER MIND GAMES, even though the image you impose looked like you are skilled player.) • So there is some sense that being strict is you are trying hard to protect him and protecting yourself. • BTW ONF member, your new superior has a bright personality unlike his predecessor (huge reason is due to the age factor), even though inexperienced in work, he has good be friending skills. So people in the department felt it was less stressful working under him because he would do small talk with his underlings. (This hc is not suitable for Changyoon and Yuto during the beginning, due to their personality they would try but not suddenly initiating small talks on the first week joining.) • IT WILL BE FUNNY IF SOME FEMALE COLLEAGUE TOOK PITY ON HIM BY MENTIONING/GOSSIPING THAT YOU ARE TOO STRICT AGAINST HIM • Its not that you hate him or he does not have the ability to do his work, it’s just when he is standing on the opposing side against company policy it troubles you. • Every time when things like this happens, you would low-key complains by posting status on the chat app, mentioning you don’t hope for an understanding but you would hope those who are not in your shoes would shut up. Your mutuals mostly are office workers as well so resonates with your words. • Your new friend leaves a comment underneath the post you asking if you are doing alright, and hope you do not stress yourself too much. You thanked him for the mental support. • He will even PM you asking if you are doing alright, most of the time you don’t want to lose your cool plus you don’t think it is wise to abruptly rant towards a stranger as if they are emotional sandbag, so you will politely thank him and say that you are alright now. • Since you and your new friend work on the day, you two chat during the night and weekend, getting to know each other in a very casual pace. A bit of child hood and you both also shared your majors in studies. He told you that he used to study at overseas and he picked up hobby of travelling around a bit during those days. • You never turn on the app during lunch (to avoid people finding out) but your new friend does send you some messages during lunchtime. • As you and the new friend get to know each other, there has a few things in common, you two like talking about travels and you two read works by the same author • By the way the new friend is a he. You two are using ID names the whole time during chatting, because you have told him that you are not comfortable giving and knowing each other’s real name. He understands and respects that. • And you confirmed that he is slightly younger than you. Which you replied to him, “Oh my superior is same age as you.” • This new friend gives you a calm and mature vibe even though he is same age as your new superior. You could not help yourself but comparing. • The other party goes: “Wow, he must be a very successfully accomplished youngster.” • You go: “Nah, other than his outgoing personality that brings freshness to the department, he still got lots to learn.” • Your new friend then continues, “Your new superior is a lucky one, I can confidently say that because I have an excellent senior who would always look out for me.” • You respond, “Then you better treat them well.” • And he goes “Of course.”

1-4

• Work is as usual, possible you unintentionally eavesdropping and caught ONF member saying towards you (even better backing you up when some junior colleagues are reverse gossiping about you) : You know, Y/N might look cold and stern sometimes but actually a kind and gentle person. Y/N would always give out advice for the sake of the department/ company. • Cues you would fluster a bit by those words. • A few days later you are done briefing your superior their schedule. And ONF member suddenly ask if you are free for dinner. It’s already his 4th month in the company and wanted to properly thank you for guiding him with patience and prudence. • At first you wanted to decline him because you don’t want to deal with work related stuff after office hours, ALSO you don’t want anyone to start weird gossips. • Another reason is you don’t want to talk about yourself too much in front of your superior. Heck you even avoid your colleague’s invitations for dinner because you value your “me time” very much. • But looking at his anticipating face, you got soft and agreed that a coffee would suffice.  ONF member smiles at you suggest both of you to have coffee right now at Starbucks next to your company building. You are free to choose whatever drink you like. • Before both of you leave the room. And then you heard a familiar notification sound, you thought your heart is going to stop, that is the notification sound from the chat app you are using. You did not have your phone with you so it was obvious the sound comes from ONF member’s phone. • And that was a notification alert of the system has found someone nearby and presented to the user.  It got you curious and worried at the same time. • At Starbucks, ONF member had to answer a call, so you ordered his drink as well. • Later you see him start replying messages while waiting for orders to be done.  You wanted to have a peek at his user name but you are a few steps away and your instinct told you better don’t do that. What if it is already someone you already know? • “Curiosity killed the cat, remember?” You tell yourself. • Once you are at your desk, you took some deep breath to calm yourself and try to remember if you recalled wrongly but truth is you are accurate. You hurriedly checked you phone, there were no new messages and you are sure you have turned off location visibility.  Lucky for you it was never turned on to begin with. • You also kind of worried if your superior actually has a “fun” lifestyle after office hours. But, it’s hard to relate him to a playboy image when he looked like a friendly good boy. You shake your head and deny yourself. • “If (ONF member name) uses that app then I will need to be more careful.” you thought while sipping the frappe. So back at home, you started to alter all posts’ visibility to “Visible for mutuals only”. Took you nearly a whole night but better safe than sorry.

1-5 • More weeks pass by peacefully but one day a conflict happened between you and ONF member and some colleagues/minor members of the board.  He went ahead to announce that he decides (had a thought) to run a campaign/new rule (maybe a budget cut). The moment he finished his sentences, you know the seniors will not be happy with it. • Later after meeting, you politely confront with ONF member that he should discuss with you before announcing it on meeting. Plus, announcing without any advance preparation will put him and you in an awkward position as verbal announcement are not persuasive enough. Of course you are also worried that people might use this issue to tackle and exploit the cons of both of you being inexperience and young. • “With all due my respect, Mr.(ONF member name), it will be nice if you could discuss with me before dropping that bomb at the meeting.” you try not to sound fierce but your tone clearly does not sound you are cool with his actions at all. • “And later having you lecture me and stop me? You do know it was for the good of the company too right?” He retorts like usual • “Yes but no.” you try to fight back. “ It’s not that easy, there are people need to be dealt with and I don’t think you--” • Before you could finish, ONF member says with an eyebrow raised, “You don’t think I can handle it, because I am still unexperienced.” • You unconsciously frown and thinking, why is he suddenly trying to pick a fight deliberately today? Why is he suddenly trying to piss off seniors in the department/company? • ONF member then with firm tone, gives you suggestion, “Should you have anyone come to you and complain, tell them that you knew nothing at all and request them to talk to me directly instead.” • “I am the CEO, not you.” He adds. • You could not help but sigh, knowing there is not point arguing because he is not going to back down. And deep down you do know the new rule/budget cut will do more merit than harm. (Your focus is more on how deal with seniors employees not him for now because seniors are more pain in the ass compared to him) • But still there are people come to you and bug you while you are working and you can’t tell them to leave you alone hence it stresses you out. • You escape to the bathroom taking your phone with you and vents out at the app by posting a status mentioning you are just trying to do your job and wants a peaceful work days. • You also come across seeing your new friend posting a status prior your meeting time, it’s a photo of frappe you recommended him to try it out. He is thanking you for recommending it. • You could not help but feeling a bit jealous, should your title and work scopes are different/ should you are just normal employee rather than a CEO’s secretary, you might not need to face these kind of stress. • “Guess you have to bear what you signed up for huh?” you thought to yourself after 15 minutes cooling yourself down. • You switched your mind set and step out from bathroom. Returning to your place with your usual ice cold face. You are trying hard not to show that you are weak against stress. You are too immersed at people coming at you asking you questions, without knowing ONF member actually observing you with concerned gaze from his room. • That night, you receive a PM from your new friend asking if you are doing ok, as you never sound that upset before. He said he can lent an ear so you can tell him what happened. You spare him all the intricate details and tell him briefly that your superior made a mess and you need to clean it up also back his plan no matter you like it or not. • The whole progress he did not interrupt you nor tried to tell you what you should do, he let you type all the way until you finished. Once you are done, you asked, “I don’t know what might be up in his sleeves that it’s inconvenient for me to know beforehand but... Isn’t he a jerk, putting me into an awkward situation?” • Your friend backs you up and agrees with you that matters should be discussed, and critiques your superior actually could trust you more. • You thanked your friend for letting you to rant and mentioned you have accepted the fate because of the title and responsibility you hold in the company. That’s being professional and mature in office. • The other party replied that even if that is the case, he hope you don’t stresses yourself too much as it seems your new superior still needs your guidance and support. • You playfully replies, “Well I am not his babysitter XD, he will need to face a lot of issues by his own someday.” • “Why is that?” • “Well I can’t always be by his side though? I might get married and resign.” you reveal your future plans to your new friend, “Moreover, even I don’t resign, I might take pregnancy leave though?” • The other party comments, “I never thought you had that planned out.” • And he continues, “Your profile gives out the ‘I love my job so much.’ vibe” • You then back up your point by saying you do want that plan to work but too bad you are single now, so of course you are going to focus on your job more. Plus, you do not plan to find a partner in work place anyways. • The new friend leaves more supportive words and hoping it will cheer you up. By the end of the conversation, he also offers that you can come to him and rant should you need an ear. • You grin at his words and felt warm towards his actions. Rarely any of your mutual actually PM to check up on you. “Maybe he was just being nice.” you thought before you wish him good night.

1-6 • The next day, you are being summoned by your superior the first thing in the morning. He passes you a pile of documents and requests you to go through it. It a proposal regarding to the budget cut/new rule and he hope you can be his ally. His gaze is not as firm as yesterday, but it’s more of seeking approval and acknowledgement from you. • You let out a sigh and mutters, “You know, should you have hand this to me beforehand the situation won’t be that ugly.” And then you start to flip the pages. • “Sorry.” He apologizes. “But I really want to make it work. It’s also a handover work by my predecessor.” • “You look up upon him too much, ONF member, he is a sly fox just like the other seniors.” You do not mean to back stab but you are telling the truth. “Has it never come to your mind why he did not initiate the plan when he is here and requested you to initiate it when he is gone?” • “I know. But this move is going to benefit the company; I am willing to bear responsibility.” ONF member adds • You stop reading and look at your superior in the eye, “You better hope this work though, I don’t want my 5 months effort of guiding you goes to waste. And I hate the idea that I need to re- adjust my pace with a new superior.” • ONF member gets your intentions behind your words; he swiftly stands up from his chair and thanked you. “I owe you big one, Y/N. Another cup of coffee to thank you for reals?” • “No thanks, I will be busy. Next time.” You feel uncomfortable because the social distance between you two seems shortened, so you politely decline. • Luckily the whole budget cut/new rule policy worked out fine and by year end, benefits shows. You and ONF member can finally relax a bit knowing that you both have won the fight.

1-7 • Meanwhile, you did not stop interacting with your recent favourite friend. As you two got to know each other even more, both of you chat almost every day during the night. He never bores you and he can understand most of the topic you bring up. You are amazed that how can someone has so many things in common? • It spikes your curiosity and you ask him if a wonderful person like him has a partner in real life. He answers you that he is single, just like you are. • (You thought he is lying because he is such a nice guy, but of course you do tell yourself not to 100 percent trust everyone online) • Then he asks your opinion about online virtual dating. You honestly told him about your experience. But you added that even though you failed twice/thrice, you are not against it. • And that moment, you don’t know what has gotten into you, you playfully type, “You are asking my opinion on that as if you are preparing yourself” • “Prepare for what?” he asks • “To get yourself an online girlfriend.” You reply. • His respond reads, “Yes I am.” • “That’s wonderful. That girl you will be confessing is a lucky one.” • “Yea, indeed you are.” • You pause for a moment when you saw the message. • “Wait, you serious? ME??” you quickly send him the message because you thought should you hesitate longer, the mood will turn awkward. • He replies you by sending you a heart emoji. • You give a quick thought, well it is interesting chatting with him and he does seem nice. Plus, it’s online anyway, you could call it off should he becomes toxic and annoying like your previous experiences. • “I wasn’t sure if you are ok with someone like me. “He continues. “I am fine if you want to call it off should you found someone in real life later on.” • “Don’t be silly, that should be my line.” You retort him. • And then you have it, another secret. You have an online boyfriend now. You both even declared each other as a pair of soulmate publicly on the app. But you two did not exchange selfies, keeping the relationship virtual and anonymous. • However you two always share interesting stuffs happen on daily. New book, new cd, a random shot of a puppy or cat you met on the street. • Also before year end, you overheard girl colleagues gossiping about your superior has a girlfriend now; you are not interested at his private life so you just let it slide. • But you did briefly mention it to your boyfriend. Not in a gossip tone, more of a life update share. • Of course there are some girl colleagues that are ok with you comes to you, hoping you leak some information about ONF member’s rumoured girlfriend. But of course you know nothing at all, leaving them with disappointed answer. • Fast forward to the week before Valentine’s Day. It is also 10th month since ONF member joins the company. • Out of the sudden, your online boyfriend suggests you two to meet up. You are not against it, and it’s not like you never met anyone you know from the app. Thinking why not knowing a new friend in real life, you agreed his offer. (Also because you are curious what he looks like so that you can understand why he was single before dating you) • You even inquired his preference in chocolate and promise bringing him some on official first date. • Your boyfriend thanks you and suggests a place for dinner. You knew that place, it’s expensive and you could not help but wondering if he is trying hard to match you. (You still thinks he is just a normal employee in a company) • But, your boyfriend only replies: “Don’t worry, it is the perfect spot, I could not think of others that are suitable to our taste.” • You can only acknowledge it because you don’t want to have an argument to blow up but deep down you could not help yourself to start doubting again. • “It’s going to be Ok, right?” you question your decision, but it’s too late.

1-8 • On Valentine’s Day, younger female colleagues in your office give out chocolate treats to younger male colleagues as friendship presents, some of course using the occasion to confess. • You don’t have the habit of presenting chocolate treats as a token of friendship appreciation at the office. But you are giving your date chocolate treat later; you hid yours in your bag carefully scared of being teased should anyone saw it. • ONF member gets some too. One female colleague even teases him if he is going to get chocolate from his girlfriend. And ONF member replies that he might get it later that night. • Of course ONF member will asks you for chocolate treat with an innocent face, you just bluntly tell him that you don’t have the habit to give out chocolate treats, he only pouts after listening to your respond. • By the way today you unintentionally changed your makeup (lipstick or eyeshadow). No one dared to make any comments but not your superior, ONF member. • He goes: “Y/N ah? Did something good happen on you? Are you going to a date tonight?” • You are typing quick report and his words caught you off guard. You flinched at his words. Hoping ONF member did not notice, you quickly lied by telling him simply ran out of your usual makeup colour. • But your superior teases you a bit, “Aww, I was hoping I could attend your wedding in near future. “ • You have gotten used to his socializing pattern, so you counter him by asking if he is going to bring his girlfriend to have a nice dinner at a grand restaurant. • And to your surprise, he revealed the place he will be having dinner with his partner. It’s the same place where you are heading to later. He had a special room booked exclusively for tonight’s date. • “Oh, Oh… Have fun and enjoy your dinner.” You force yourself to break a smile. • ONF member only smirks at you and gives you a few pats on your shoulders and says he will have an unforgettable night before returning to his room. Leaving you questioning the meaning of his actions that are unpredictable but also definitely intentional. • Of course you had a quick thought asking your boyfriend if it is possible to change location, you could not bring yourself to ask as you are worried you might sound rude/arrogant trying to change plans on the last minute. You deduced that since ONF member will be having dinner in a room, you might not going to bump into him. You and your boyfriend can just finish dinner quickly. • You could not have that bother you too much time because you need to finish your report so that you can leave on time. Once it reaches the end of office hours, the others started to leave. You made up a plan to leave after ONF member leaves the office. You keep raising your gaze to have a slight peek towards your superior’s room. • Seeing him finally standing up from his chair and adjusting his suit. You can tell he is finally leaving. He passes through your desk and asks, “Y/N ah, please don’t tell me you are planning to work overtime during this special day?” • You only smiles and tell him you are going to finish soon, “Don’t you have a dinner to attend?” you remind him without looking at him, acting as if you are typing the remaining contents of your report. • “Yea I do. See ya.” ONF member waves you goodbye. • You leave the office after 10 minutes. (As for method of transport to the restaurant, I will leave it to your choice.)

1-9 • You reach the building of the restaurant. You let out a sigh, hesitating to step in nonchalantly knowing ONF member is inside there as well. The least thing you definitely do not want to happen is ONF member finding you having a dinner date tonight. It’s embarrassing and it will break the balance of your work and private life. • While you are pacing in front of the building with hesitation, you receive a chat notification from the app. You open it and it was your boyfriend, notifying you that he has arrived, and he reminds you the restaurant located at 38th floor. • You nervously bite your lower lip knowing it’s too late and it is rude of you to cancel the date on last minute. He was a decent person to chat with and you don’t want to lose a good friend. You are blaming yourself for agreeing to attend this date too casually. And you also find yourself way too wary of your virtual boyfriend’s thoughts towards you should you now called him to cancel the date. • Then you heard a familiar voice called out your name and you turn your head towards the voice unconsciously. It’s ONF member, walking out from the building. You flustered and panicked by just imagining scenarios of him asking why you are here and other many more questions. • “OMG…. Shit shit shit….!” You cursed in your head, regretting your life decisions. Recalling the entire chat context between you two, this might be the worst thing ever to happen in your life. • He is grinning while reaching out to grasp your hand. You unintentionally try to back away from him but he was faster. You tried to pull your hand away but he pulls you toward him instead. You nearly bumped towards his chest. • “Y/N ah, I told you its 38th floor; you did not get my message?” ONF member asks as his smirks widens. • As he finished his words, you only look at the young guy in front of you with disbelief, processing his words. Seeing you froze due to the big plot twist, ONF member taps you on your forehead hoping to unfreeze you. • “It can’t be…You are (ONF member’s ID in the app)?! “You exclaim. • “Yeap.” He responds. • “Impossible…How?” you ask. “How did you know it was me?” • “At first I had my doubt when I first saw an old post of yours. You shot a sunset pic from our office floor by the window near the lift right?” he returns with another question. And man he is good at remembering details. • “Then I confirmed that it was you by the time I announced budget cut/new rules for the company/department. ” he explains   • “I…” You could not bring yourself to say anything, but you are not an idiot, “(ONF member name), did you risked your reputation in the company just to find out a stranger’s real identity?” • “No, I did not, I swear. I initiated the plan to suddenly announce the budget cut because I want to find out which board seniors will make a move to cover up themselves, as requested from my predecessor.” He knows you well to sense that you are angry, and he quickly denied. “I only know it was you when I checked up on you. Since then I have been dropping so many hints for you to realize, but it seems like you are the dense one here.” • You can tell he is telling the truth. • “This is absurd…” you mutter while placing your hand on your forehead. • ONF member let out a sigh and he shifts behind you, places his hands on your shoulders then pushes you forward. “Come on, I am starving we can talk about it later, you did not had a decent meal during lunch as well right?”   • He is right, you only had a mini croissant during lunchtime.

• You follow him without a word to the entrance of the building and enter the lift to 38th floor. ONF member has booked a nice room that both of you can enjoy the city’s night view.

1-10 • It was a luxurious dinner but you are not in the mood enjoying it. In fact you are so stressed that you could not even taste your food. You did not touch your dessert at all. • You only quietly trace the shape of wine glass in front of you while looking at the night view, hoping the night to pass quickly. • “You are not happy with me being your date, Y/N?” he suddenly asks. • You jolted and you finally look at him in the eye for the first time tonight. • “You startled me, I am still trying to grasp the situation here.” You reply him with a low voice, trying to act calm by casually bring your drink closer to you and hydrates your throat. • “Hey Y/N-ah, I know you mentioned before that you don’t like the idea of dating someone from the office, but…” his eyes are fixed on you. “I like you. Not just the virtual you, but also the real you.” • “I called you a jerk.” You know you should not bring it up, but you still did. • “Which I did act like one so, no hard feelings.” He accepted. “I am truly sorry about that, I was trying to prove myself way too hard.” • Now it got awkward since he apologized without any complaints. You don’t know what to say and avert your gaze again. • “You know, Y/N ah, when you are stressed, you tend to avoid other people’s eye contact. “he breaks the silence.  “And you are doing that ever since you reached here.” • Upon hearing his words, you flinched and exchange eye contact with the young man sitting in front of you. • “And oh, and you flinch as well.” He adds, “Which is very adorable in my opinion.” • “(ONF member’s name), I …” you try to explain yourself but he cuts you off. • “It alright, you don’t have to push yourself, I have made you stressed out way too much today.” ONF member smiles at you while saying based on what he observed. • He finally stands up and offers to send you home. You could not decline him because you felt terribly sorry for ruining such as nice date. • “I am sorry, should it is another girl, it will be a terrific night for you.” You apologized before leaving his car. • “Don’t worry; it is an unforgettable night for me.” He responds with his usual smile. • Back at your place, you are frustrated that the night ended up in an awkward and weird way. You only noticed that you did not get to hand him the chocolate treats as promised. • You cannot sleep that night, gazing at the chocolate treats as you holding the package in your hands. You cannot tell if you messed up or you are lucky that he happened to like you. • You wanted to consult a random mutual of yours but you hesitated. Because at this point you are not sure if you actually have the full grasp on the situation. And you don’t want a biased reply. • “It’s just this boyfriend of yours happened to be him, I guess?” you murmur to yourself. But that did not clear up your mind enough for you to make any decision towards the situation. • Several days passed, ONF member did not send any message to you in the chat app. He acted like usual back in office, but it does not look like he has any intention to talk about what happen between you two either. • (The problem is you cannot look at him in the eye) • You are troubled if you should initiate the first move. It’s not like you hate him, you never did in the first place, it’s just he annoys you sometimes. • Then you overheard ONF member having small talk with colleagues, and they ask about his Valentine’s Day. He only replies it was an unforgettable night and he is glad that he is able to meet his girlfriend, it was better than never meeting her at all.

1-11 • From his words, you gain a bit of courage and decided to make your first move. • The next day you arrived at the office earlier than usual, you take out something from you bag and places small gift box on ONF member’s desk. The small box has a memo attached to it. • You hurried back to your desk, acted as if nothing happened while the office starts have more and more colleagues coming in. ONF member arrives later on and he greets you before heading in his room. • You take some quick glances, making sure ONF member notices your belated Valentine’s day gift. • He did noticed and read the memo you attached, then he made a confused look but he adjusts his facial expression immediately as he sees you stood up from your place. • You head to his office room to brief his morning schedule. Like usual, you step into his room, closes the door and starts the briefing. ONF member stares at you with a puzzled expression while sitting on his chair. • Once you done your part and you ask him if he has any schedules to add into the list, he places the gift box into your view and pushes it towards you. • “What do you mean by this?” he inquires. • “I promised you chocolate for Valentine’s day, sorry I was late.” You purposely answer him the wrong information. “ Don’t worry I made a brand new ones.” • “You know I meant this.” He pulls out the memo has his eyes fixed on you. • The memo wrote, “(ONF member’s ID), Let’s call it off --- (Your ID)” • “That’s how it is.” You tried not to break into a smile, you are getting your revenge and this is fun. “You are the one who said you are fine to call it off if either one of us found someone in real life right?” • ONF member pauses for a moment, his eyes wandering then he admits he did say that. • “Well you found someone in real life, so there is not point for us to continue virtual dating on the app anymore right?” you slightly let out a victorious smirk as you ask him. • ONF member finally gets what you mean and he let out a smile. He puts down the memo and pushes himself up from his chair and walks towards you. • Thankfully the design of his room is made up of walls, once the wooden door is closed; no one knows what happens inside. • “So, you are fine with us dating in real life then?” You can feel his breath as he is only one step away from you. This time you are not going to back away and you look at him straight in the eyes. • “I will need to adjust a bit. You have a problem with me being your girlfriend?” you reply with him with another question. • ONF member unconsciously let out another smile, he quickly hides it with his hand,  “No, not at all…” and those were the words you can hear coming out from him • “That settles it then.” You widen your grin towards him before turning around ready to leave his office. • But you are being pulled back by a pair of arms. Your back come contact to his chest area. He is hugging you from behind you. • “Seriously, I don’t get you.” He low key complains. “I thought you are going to hate me for real this time.” • “I was going to, you did not texted me and you acting like nothing happened after that night.” You pout as you explain to him. “I thought I have ended my career the moment you told me who you are. And who would have thought a decent CEO would date someone randomly they met in a online chatting app?” • “I am sorry; I thought leaving you unbothered for some time so that you don’t get stressed out.” You could tell from his tone he does feel apologetic. He never sounds like that before during work.

• "But I am dead serious on trying to start a proper relationship with you that’s why I suggested for us to meet up.” he continues. “Glad you felt the same.”

• You freed yourself from his hug and turn to him. • “Now listen, (ONF member’s name), as we are professionals, I do hope you understand that there is a clear line between work and private life.” You remind him. “Just because we are dating now, does not mean that I am going to let you off easily if you messed up during work, ok?.” • “Man, I don’t think I will ever win you huh?” ONF member only look at you affectionately and continues, “As you wish, my beloved assistant/secretary.”

A/N : the concludes for this oneshot headcanon fic should there are more ideas I might write a continuation about this pair for a part 2. Also thinking of linking the universe with MInkyun Florist AU, just a maybe. 

[alexthepartyman]

Fine Line

Chapter Six: I’m hopeless, I’m broken.

“Yeah?” Uncle Jason asks as Penelope comes in. 

“Thank you for the flowers. I know I can be challenging, but your work is appreciated. J. Gideon. I appreciate the appreciation.” I look to Jason with confusion. He didn’t get her those flowers...what? Who’s posing as Jason? “And btw, you’re not challenging. Well, no, you’re totally challenging, but you’re not challenging at all in a bad way. Sir.” She turns around and looks at the framed photos. “Hey, is this your family?”

“Yeah. Sort of.” 

“Nice. Hi, Jamie. How are you doing? You finally got off your crutches?”

“Working on it.” 

“Thanks again for the flowers. Hey.”

“Hey…”

“What the hell does btw mean?”

“By the way. Internet shorthand.” 

“You sent Garcia flowers?”

“No. You need something?”

“Missing child in Wilmington, Delaware.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Eleven year old Billie Copeland was last seen on the playground at four-thirty yesterday afternoon.”

“Isn’t there a thing that says we get notified immediately? Why wasn’t this reported sooner?” I ask.

“Yes, the Child Abduction Response Plan. What happened?”

“Well, there was reason to believe she was with her father. Her cell phone shows a call to him around the time of her disappearance.” 

“So they’ve since ruled him out?”

“He called the mother about an hour ago,” JJ answers. 

“That doesn’t mean he isn’t involved.” 

“He’s on his way to the family home, so you can talk to him there. The local police are now considering this a stranger abduction.” 

“Twenty hours later?”

“Long term stranger abductions of children Billie’s age are rare. They represent only half of one percent of all missing cases per year. But they are usually more likely to be fatal. Of the children that are abducted and murdered, forty-four percent die within the first hour. From that point forward, their odds of survival greatly decrease. Seventy-five percent are gone after three hours. Virtually all of them are dead after twenty-four.” 

“We’ve got four hours, then.” 

“Shall we go?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“She’s been missing twenty-one hours.” 

“You should have let Derek drive, we’d have gotten here in fifteen minutes,” I remark. 

“We’re gonna go meet with the lead detective at the park where the girl was last seen.” Aaron drives away.

“We need to know everything that’s being done,” Jason says.

“I’ll find out what the press is running, see if I know any of them. We may need to manage what they put out. Jamie, be careful to stay away from the media, they’ll have a field day if they find out about you.” 

“Good. See what the uniforms know from the canvasses. Elle, I need you to be a liaison with the family.” 

“A liaison?”

“In a child abduction, the parents are likely to break down if we aren’t careful.” I move alongside them towards the house. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We’re looking for a male in his mid to late thirties who drives a late-model green SUV. If anybody has seen anything suspicious, we have a hotline set up at the Wilmington Police Department. Billie Copeland is an eleven year old girl. The last time she was seen, she was in a blue track suit and a blue soccer uniform.” 

Mrs Copeland sniffs, turning off the TV. “They’ve been running that over and over again for the past two hours,” she says. 

“They just want to help find her, and running it over and over again, it may get to somebody who wasn’t watching before, somebody who might know something,” I explain, letting my arm shake. 

“The press wants to talk to me. I just...I don’t think I can face it.” 

“It’s best you follow our guidance.” 

“Why don’t you just tell us what happened?” Elle asks. 

“Um...I was focused on practice, and...Billie was...being a pain, as usual, she was giving me attitude. So I told her to run it off. I sent her away.” 

“That’s not your fault. There’s no way you could have known. Focusing on what we can’t control...that’s only going to make you feel worse. What’s done was done.” 

“How long have you been divorced?” Elle asks.

“Um...it’s been final for six months, but we haven’t lived together in over a year.” 

“Are you seeing anyone?”

She laughs, “Between work and Billie, when would I have the time?”

“Not one date? Any men coming over to the house?”

“I-I had a few casual dates after work, but they never came to the house. Billie still hopes that her father and I will get back together.” 

“How did Billie’s dog die, Mrs Copeland?” Uncle Jason asks.

“Uh...it was hit by a car two weeks ago. How did you know that?”

“Shrine in the room. Helps her grieve?”

“Her father did that for her.”

“They get along well?”

“Best of friends. She calls him every night, tells him about her day, asks about his. He’s a cancer survivor, so he takes time off from work, pulls her out of school for father/daughter field trips. Says we all need to stop and enjoy life. But he forgets that he has responsibilities, they both do, which makes me the bad guy. And she blames me for the divorce. Blames me for everything...I shoulld have just let her go with her father. I’m sorry.” She gets up off the couch and storms away from us.

“She’s pretty fragile.” 

“The last thing she did was fight with her daughter. Can you imagine what that feels like?”

“Pretty terrible. Lost Jamie once, I had to rescue him.” 

“I thought that was Eddie.” 

“He was there.” 

“Elle, I was seven,” I tell her. Tires screech from outside. 

“Mr Copeland’s here.” 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I have been calling you all night!”

“I’m sorry, Marilyn, I turned my phone off.” 

“How could you turn your phone off? What if Billie got sick or…we needed you.” 

“I said I was sorry!” Mr Copeland walks back to us in frustration. “What’s being done to find my daughter?”

“We’re assessing that right now.”

“She’s been missing since yesterday! What the hell have you people been doing since then?!” 

“Where have you been, Mr Copeland?” I ask.

“Me?”

“Where were you all day and all night?”

“I have a cabin in Brandywine Valley.”

“Police tried you there.” 

“Well, maybe I was out at the time.” 

“Bille tried your cell phone yesterday afternoon.”

“Well, I shut it off sometimes. I like the solitude.” 

“You didn’t fight your wife for custody of your daughter,” Jason adds. “But you...you like being in her life.” 

“I want her to grow up in her home with her friends around. This is the only place she’s ever lived.” 

“So you love her very much.”

“Yes.”

“Why do you waste any precious time we have left? You weren’t at your cabin. You weren’t at work or with friends. Police didn’t call us until a little while ago because they though your daughter might have been with you?” I look to Mr Copeland, whose face screams disbelief. “That you might have taken your daughter. Until you can give us a satisfactory accounting of your whereabouts from the time your daughter went missing until -” Jason gets up and puts his face in his hands. “Would you help me understand why a devoted father who talks to his daughter every night suddenly turns off his phone, disappears for almost twenty-four hours?” 

“I was...busy.”

“Not good enough,” I remark.

“It’s one thirty. You called your wife at eleven thirty, found out Billie was missing.”

“So?”

“Well, Brandywine Valley’s fifteen minutes away. Where were you, Mr Copeland?”

“I…I was at Sloane Kettering Hospital. In New York City. Dr Baylan Mahal is the head of oncology. You can call him if you want.”

“I will.”

“How long?” I ask.

“What?”

“How long do you have?” I ask. “It’s an inference. You mentioned oncology...only viable answer, your cancer came back.” 

“It’s in my lymph nodes now. You wouldn’t know what those are.”

“Immune system glands. Mine are messed up, too. Can they do anything more?” I take a seat in front of him, on the ottoman. 

“No. Please, find my daughter. Find my daughter.”

“Of course.” He puts his head in his hands and cries. 

“Call Sloane Kettering.” 

I look back as Jason leaves, Elle stands, and I extend a hand out to hold Mr Copeland’s shoulder. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You took all the police off the street?”

“We believe your daughter was abducted by someone in the area, and that she’s probably still nearby.”

“Then shouldn’t you be flooding the area with cops, knocking on doors?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Yes, it is.” Mr Copeland pops his medication, and I pop mine, too.

“Youre taking the meds again.”

“Look...what exactly are you people doing to help get my daughter back?”

“You’re sick again, aren’t you?”

“We want you to meet with the press...both of you.”

“Elle…” 

“Press conference. That’s what you have? You just said you’re already taking the press that’s running off the air.”

“I know. But this will be different. Trust us, Mr Copeland.” The doorbell rings. 

“I’ll get it. Just tell Marilyn what you need us to do.” Elle sticks her hand out towards me, jarring me from gettin up and following him. 

“That was his second remission.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“Billie won’t even talk to me anymore. How am I gonna tell her that her father’s sick again?”

“One thing at a time, Mrs Copeland. Once we find your daughter, you’ll figure it out.”

“Can I help you?” 

“Mr Copeland, I’m Helen Godfrey from a few blocks away. I have printouts of all the sex offenders in the area. I think if you just...look at any of these…”

“What the hell?” Elle asks, heading out of the house. I get up and grab my crutches to see Mr Copeland running to his car with a paper in his hand. “Mr Copeland?” 

“I’m really sorry,” I quickly apologise, walking out the front door.

“Mr Copeland!” Tires screech as the yellow truck pulls out of the driveway and heads off. 

“There are sex offenders in the area. I thought he should know.”

“Stupid,” Elle remarks, ripping her phone open. 

“Ma’am, I’d highly recommend leaving that to law enforcement,” I quickly advise, following after Elle. 

“Hotch, we have a problem.” 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mr Jones isn’t interested in pressing charges,” Aaron says. 

“Am I supposed to be grateful? The bastard’s a pedophile.”

“Not all sex offenders are pedophiles,” I cut it. 

“Did you check up on him? Did you ever search his house>” 

“He solicited a prostitute. Nothing with kids.” 

“But he’s registered on-”

“Mr Copeland, please. There are at least a million different ways to get on that list.”

“That’s why accessing that type of information is supposed to be left up to law enforcement.” 

“We understand your frustration and your anger, but you’re jeopardising our efforts to save your daughter’s life. Every minute spent chasing you is time we’re not spending on Billie. So either get control of yourself and follow our directions or stay out of our way.” 

“What would you like us to do?”

“Make a public appeal for information regarding a witness driving a dark green SUV.”

“Isn’t he supposed to be the suspect?”

“Yes. But when people hear suspect, they can’t see the guy next door as a monster. They can’t imagine their neighbour doing something like that, because that’s not how they know them. If they’re a witness, they might be a hero.”

“Okay, but what if he thinks it’s a trick? What if he panics or thinks or it’s too risky, and then he-”

“You’re not just speaking to him. You’re talking to his neighbours, as well. Anyone who knows him.”

“We’ve done everything we can to relieve the pressure on this man. We’ve taken the cops off the street. You won’t have any standing with you on the dais. Only a local minister.”

“Hearing he isn’t a suspect might calm him down as well,” Aaron adds. “Right now he’s under enormous stress. And we need him to believe, even if it’s just for a little while, that we’re way off the mark, that we’re not close to arresting him.”

“Are you? Close to arresting him?”

“We need the public’s help.” 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“If you keep looking at me like that, they’ll definitely notice,” I scold Derek. 

“I’m not too sure you should be off your crutches.” 

“How am I gonna be able to walk without them if I don’t try? Besides, it’s not like I’m going that far.” 

“Okay, come on.”

“Here they come.”

“Would you close the door? Thank you,” I hear JJ say from the stage. “Okay, can I have everyon’s attention? Please, if you could just take your seats...the Copeland family is here to make an appeal. As you all know, their eleven year old daughter Billie is missing. So if ou could just have a little compassion and patience. Mr Copeland.” I poke my head around the corner to watch the scene unfold with my own eyes. Mr Copeland sets up to the podium with his wife and the minister.

“Yesterday…” he clears his throat. I gently nod. “Yesterday, at approximately three pm, my daughter...our daughter…” The minster holds her hand. “Belinda Copeland. Billie. Went missing from the recreation center. We are looking for a man, a witness, in a green SUV. There have been some reports that he is a suspect, but that was a mistake. He’s not suspected of anything. We would like this man to come forward and tell us what he knows. We need your help. He may not even understand how important what he saw is. So anyone with information about this individual or his green SUV, please call the tip hotline. Thank you.” I smile up at him and give him a thumbs up. 

“Mr Copeland! Mr Copeland!” 

“We’d like Billie to come home now. It’ll be dark soon. Thank you.” 

“So the body located by police earlier today is not Billie’s?” My heart sinks to the floor, rage filling me, hot and deep. What the fuck? There was a body? There was a body? How did he even find out?! 

“What?” 

“The female body -”

“There’ll be no more questions. Thank you.” 

“What body?” 

“This press conference is over. Let’s discuss this outside.” I dart along the walls and find myself at the door out of the room, ripping it open for the couple to walk through. 

“What body?” 

“Come on, Mr Copeland. There’ll be no more questions. That’ll be all for now.” I look towards the cameras and the reporters. 

“Press conference is over,” JJ repeats. 

“Mr Copeland!” 

“What about Billie?” I look at the flashing photo lights and blink, closing the door behind the minister, and JJ goes up to one of the reporters. 

“Is that your idea of compassion?”

“I only asked a question. You’re the ones who didn’t tell the parents-”

“Because we weren’t sure. Raising and destroying hopes with inconclusive information is dangerous,” I cut in. 

“James.” I groan at JJ. “A positive identification hasn’t been made. Asking them about that was out of line, Hal.” She shuts up and drags me out. 

“Is there a body?!” 

“Please just come with me,” Elle begs. 

“Tell me right now, did you find a body?” 

“Mrs Copeland-”

“Did you find Billie? Is my daughter dead?” She asks. I reach up and let her lean on me. 

“A body was discovered,” Aaron answers.”

“It’s not Billie. The body that was found was much older, looked like it had been there for days. Looks like maybe a junkie or an overdose.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I saw the body myself. It’s not your daughter.” 

“My god, I can’t...I can’t…” 

“Please, just come with me right now,” Elle says, leading Mrs Copeland away as she cries. Mr Copeland follows them. 

“What the hell was that all about?”

“A reporter asked them about the body.” 

“Probably heard it on the scanner.” 

“I should have prepared them for that.” 

“We don’t have anything to tell them yet,” Jason argues. 

“Billie’s running out of time.”

“And so are the parents.” 

“Come on. A little hope, huh? We’ll make it, we’ll make it.”

“James, you’re not allowed to go up to reporters.” JJ scolds me as we follow Jason out.

“JJ, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. We have to be careful what we tell the media, or else we could get Billie killed.” 

“I know, JJ.”

“We haven’t even properly discussed what’s going to happen if they catch wind of who you are-”

“Minor consultant, working under SSA Jason Gideon of the Behavioural Analysis Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Tell them that.” 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How’s it going?”

“The unsub’s in here somewhere.”

“If you can’t find sex offenders with green suvs, try anybody with green suvs.” 

“You gotta bet that the police talked to them in their initial canvass.” 

“Maybe not. Our unsub is a solitary individual. He isn’t the type of guy to insert himself into an investigation. Wouldn’t it make more sense that he wouldn’t have answered the door during the initial canvass?” 

“Neighbourhood was crawling with cops, canine units, search and rescues. Make him nervous and jumpy, he’d want to avoid them at all costs.” 

“Yeah, you could easily just pretend you aren’t home,” I add. 

“So then he couldn’t allow anyone into his home to ask routine questions, even if the girl was bound or gagged because it’d be too risky.”

“It’s next to impossible to control breathing, speech patterns, body language when the body’s under extreme duress. Maybe if we compare hotline tips with anyone who wasn’t at home during the initial canvass.” 

“Or didn’t answer the door.” 

“We’ll find our unsub.” 

“Let’s get to it. Jamie, here you go,” Aaron hands me a pile of files from Spencer’s work area. “Green SUVs, in the area.” 

“Got it.” 

“Sergeant.”

“Yeah?”

“Here’s what we need. Everything that come in here…”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Yeah. It was worth a try. That’s right. Thank you.” Derek hangs up the phone. “Nothing.” 

“Agent Morgan?”

“Yeah?” 

“This the kind of thing you’re looking for?” 

“What is it?” I ask, pushing the chair out to get up. 

“Uh-uh. Crutches.” Derek scolds me, and I groan and set them up. “Reid.”

“A Mr Lomax has a neighbour with a green SUV, but he hasn’t seen him all day. Says that’s unusual. Thought he might have been out of town, but now he sees some lights on over there.” 

“1106 Springfield. Where’s our canvass sheets?” I grab them from a nearby table. “1106.”

“1100 block. 1106...no answer.”

“Let’s go talk with Mr Lomax. Nice call.” 

“Thanks. Good luck.” I look up at Spencer as we head out. 

“I am definitely not using these come Tuesday.”

“Tuesday? Why then?” Spencer asks.

“That’s when school starts up again, and I’m headed back on A/B weeks for the month.” 

“You should use your crutches for as long as you’ve been told to. You know, the correct way of getting off of your crutches is to go to physical and occupational therapy.” 

“Oh, come on. These things are annoying! I’ve been going since it happened!”

“Actually, it’s been one month and twenty days since your accident, and you started going to physical and occupational therapy a week after it, so you’ve been going for one month and thirteen days.” 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mr Lomax?” Derek asks as we approach a man aggressively raking leaves in his yard. “Agent Morgan. Agent Reid. James Rossi. FBI.” The two men beside me pull out their badges, and I pull out mine that granted me access to the buildings. 

“Holy smokes, that was fast!”

“Did you call in a tip about your neighbour, Don Curtis?”

“Lives down the street. I saw the news thing, you know?”

“Yep. Green SUV?” I ask, spotting the car.

“Yeah. I was thinking...Don drives a dark green explorer, and he’s at the park all the time. I figured, like they said on the television, maybe he knows something but he doesn’t know that he knows it.” Or he’s our unsub, and he definitely knows he is. “Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, we do.” I look back towards the man. “Where’s his explorer now?”

“It’s usually in the driveway, but I haven’t seen it today. Haven’t seen Don either, which is kind of weird. We’re always out front talking about the lawns. He never has any crab grass.” I don’t know what that is, so. “I don’t know how he does it.” 

“Do you know if he has a dog?”

“Used to. A big golden retriever. Her name was Candy. I think she died like six months ago.” 

“Thanks, Mr Lomax,” I say, as we turn to walk away. 

“Yeah, Hotch. Morgan. Better get over here right now.” I swing myself forward, starting the walk down to the house. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Third house down on the right. We knocked on the door, but nobody’s answering.” 

“His neighbour said he’s definitely there.” 

“He’s got a green ford explorer in the garage.”

“Break down the door,” Jason suggests.

“No. We don’t have probable cause.” 

“You don’t think owning a vehicle that was used to kidnap a child is probable cause enough?” I ask the detective. “He’s got a green SUV, dog that died recently, spends time at the park.” 

“Pretending he’s not home.”

“None of which are illegal. No judge is going to sign a warrant based on that information.” 

“You’re weighing the life of a child against the price of a door?”

“I’m weighing the law against the price of a door.” 

“The girl’s in the house right now. The longer we stand here and wait, the longer he has to finish her off.” 

“I’ll call a judge. If we go in there without a warrant, all that evidence will get thrown-”

“No time!” I yell, bouncing up and down.

“We’re aware of the rules of evidence. What do you propose that we do?” 

“JASON!” I yell, throwing my crcutches off and running after the old man as he dashes to the house. 

“JAMIE!” 

“Gideon! Gideon, wait a minute!” Derek yells. “Gideon, Gideon, you need -” He gets cut off by the sound of glass, Jason hits the window with a potted plant, shattering it and climbing through the window. 

“FEDERAL AGENTS, FBI!” Derek shouts, kicking the door open and wielding his gun. I follow after everyone else, dashing down the hall after Jason, but stopping before rounding a corner. I pop my head out, spotting the open door at the end of the hall. Jason heads towards it, and I pull my pocketknife out of my bag and unfold it, preparing myself to attack. Derek rounds the corner with his gun in front. I pull back as Jason screams, a man walking out of one of the rooms. 

“Where is she?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I hear a gun cocking.

“Where’s Billie Copeland?” 

“Please don’t hurt me.” 

“Gideon…”

“Please! Please put the gun down.” 

“Gideon!”

“Get him out of here!” 

“Let’s go. Let’s go.”

“TEAR THE PLACE APART!”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Just as we expected, he has an extensive collective of deviant photos and cartoon downloads.”

“Partitioned in separate folders?”

“Yep.” 

“Access the internet history. Identify any pornographic sites, shut them down.” 

“We’re uploading to Garcia as we speak.” 

“What is this? Is it all porn?”

“It’s a lot of home movies with a bunch of kids in it. This one, you need to see it.” I keep my head down as the tape starts to play. 

“Ssssshh. Remember what I’ll do if you tell.” I shiver at the sound of the voice. 

“Gideon, we searched the entire house. Upstairs, downstairs. Everywhere. There’s no sign of the girl or that she’s even been here. It is possible that he moved her. Polly Klaas was found twenty-five miles from home. Danielle Van Damme, thirty, Samantha Runnion, fifty-two. But keep in mind...we were twenty hours late getting involved.”

“Man doesn’t take chances. He wouldn’t drive around with a girl in the car. He took her, got her off the street as quickly as possible. Just keep looking. Jamie, details.”

“I’m on it.” 

“You know, it’d be helpful if I knew exactly what to look for,” I comment. “We just have kiddie porn, and that can put him away for something...but it doesn’t help us find Billie.” 

“I know. Details, what does he mean by that?”

“Survey everything. Point out anything that catches my attention. Hey, is there, like an attic or a basement?”

“There’d be a door somewhere, or stairs.”

“Sometimes there isn’t. I remember being in a house...you got to the basement through a hole in the closet floor. You wouldn’t know it was there, it was covered up. I’m gonna get Jason.” 

“What kind of house has that?” Spencer asks.

“I don’t know. You know what he’s talking about?”

I walk down the hallway and head into the living room, where Jason is pulling something out of a broom. “What’s that?”

“Insulation. What did you need?”

“I was thinking...is there a basement or an attic? Sometimes, there will be patches in the floor or the ceiling, and when you take out the patches, there’s the entrance.” I explain. “Didn’t he have insulation on him? Access point might be in a bedroom or in the hallway.” 

“The hallway. Jamie, there’s a vent.” I turn around and head back the way I came, stopping under a vent in the ceiling with poofy stuff hanging from it. 

“You mean this thing?” I ask. 

“Yeah. That thing. Hotch, get me up there.” 

“Here, take my crutches, I can get up there. Jason, help me.” I take off my crutches, letting them clank on the wooden floor under us and jump into Jason’s arms, opening the vent and hoisting myself up from there. “Jesus Christ, I’m heavy.” 

“You’re just out of shape. Alright, thanks, Hotch. Jamie’s already up there. Jamie, look for Billie.” I nod, crawling away from the hole and looking around, spotting a girl with a bright pink arm cast. “She’s here.” I crawl towards her, unwrapping the tape from aronud her mouth. “Sssh. It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m Jamie. We’re gonna take you back to your parents. You’re safe now. Is your arm hurting?” I ask. 

“I wanna go home.”

“I know.”

“Hey, Billie. My name’s Jason. Jamie and I are gonna take you home.” 

“Can she get to a doctor afterwards to check on her arm?” I ask. 

“Yeah, maybe. Your mommy and daddy are very worried about you.” 

“I wanna go home,” she pants. 

“Let’s go see your mom and dad, huh?” Jason undos the rest of her bindings takes her in her arms. “Oh, I forgot. I took this for luck.” He gives her something. “Let’s bring it back to where it belongs, okay? Let’s go see your mommy and daddy. Jamie, go down after her. Hotch! Here she comes. Here you go, sweetie. Watch your arm.”

“Thanks, for not getting mad at me.” I say as he lowers her into Aaron’s arms. ‘Watch her arm.”

“What did you even do?” I chuckle at his obliviousness. “Watch your arm.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I got absolutely nothing.” 

“Aw, nothing.” 

“Ssss…two pair…” Spencer hisses. “Of aces…”

“Oh, get out of town! Why you always winning? Nuh-uh!” 

“Cause he cheats!”

“Poker. It’s mathematics, it’s statistics.”

“Which explains why I’m horrible at it,” I comment. “I don’t think I had anything either.” 

“No, you didn’t.” 

“He’s from Vegas.”

“House rules.”

“There’s that, too.” 

“Alright, shuffle.” 

“Give me a card,” Derek demands.

“Hey, Hotch,” Jason asks. 

“Yeah? He can play poker, we’re not using actual money.”

“It’s not that. Not even his dad can teach him to play.” 

“Uncle Jason!” I exclaim.

“It’s true. Did you send flowers to that tech girl...Garcia...and say they were from me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Jason, people need to know that they’re important, and sometimes you forget that.” 

“I already sent her a gift.” 

“What? Jamie, you didn’t tell me.”

“Well, maybe you should ask,” I remark. 

“Oohh, boy got some sass.” 

“It’s his dad. Dave can be blunt. What did you get for her, Jason?” 

“An MP3 player. Jamie helped pick it out. They last longer. Unless you drop them, or the battery dies, whichever comes first.” 

“So, she got two gifts.”

“What if she thinks I’m sweet on her?”

“I’ll talk to her.” Elle gives a funny look that makes us all laugh.

“Give me cards,” I say.

[msbluebell]

what about a "you start war, you face consequences AU"? At the end of BE Route, Edelgard thinks have achieved her goal. But everything go wrong! First, Claude, who has survived, becomes the king of Almyra and declare war to her to the Empire . And he's VERY powerful. Also some former nobles of Alliance and Kingdom don't accept the reunification and start a rebellion with the former knights of Seiros . The peace wil not happen any soon and a lot of people die or suffer or join the rebellion 1-2

2-2. Finally, Felix has survived and becomes the feral guy and decides to avenge Dimitri (his best friend), Rodrigue (his dad) and Sylvain (his lover) by killing the black eagles one by one and nobody (even Byleth) can stop him, no matter what they do. And Byleth has not the power of Sothis anymore. They can only watch everything falling apart, while being powerless. They can only watch their friends die by Felix's hands, Claude taking back the Alliance AND the Kingdom, ect...

This is actually what would have most likely happened if the Black Eagle Route didn’t have an Deus Ex Machina ending and the Crests and God powers didn’t disappear for no reason. I have made no secret of the fact that Black Eagles is my least favorite Route (yes, I’m including Church Route in this), and the lack of actually having to reform and change the system thanks to magical convenience is one of the reasons. 

Nobles will not give up their crest fixation just because Edelgard hates crests. And without crest disappearing, it is unlikely they will take to Edelgard’s reforms. She may end up turning her own allies against her. Especially ones that don’t believe in her cause and just gave up because they didn’t want to be killed.

Also, it is a very, very, very dumb move to spare Claude in the Black Eagles Route. No matter what, he is a political opponent that proved he’s 1) very manipulative 2) very good at thinking on his feet and gathering resources. He should have died just to eliminate the potential for later rebellious uprisings, even if Byleth and Edelgard didn’t know anything about his ties to Almyra. Looking objectively at Claude’s goals and the ending of Black Eagles Route, yeah, he still has a dream of uniting Fodlan and Almyra. And unlike Fodlan, Almyra isn’t suffering from being war torn for five years. There IS a chance he’d come in take over, especially if any of his friends died in the battle. 

Point is, Black Eagles Route has a lot of potential for mess if the crests don’t vanish (which I am so fixated on. The CHURCH didn’t make the crests, so why did they disappear? I interpret Byleth’s powers disappearing because they choose to relinquish them, which is a slap in the face to Sothis btw Byleth, but why did the CRESTS disappear when the Church fell? They had nothing to do with their creation! Ugh.)

(Black Eagles, much as I dislike their Route based on their actions and lack of self-awareness, still deserved a better written ending.)

But I’m ranting. Let’s get on to the prompt with Consequences AU:

I’ve spoken in another post about how Byleth, as I interpret them, more accidentally sided with the Black Eagles than anything. It would be the same in this AU, accidentally burning their bridges when they saved Edelgard in the tomb. Then they were forced to see the path through to the end because they couldn’t go back to anyone else, and they DID disagree with Rhea and distrust the Church, so maybe Edelgard is right...?

It was foolish to hope, in hindsight.

Rhea going mad was something that they expected, but they didn’t think their own actions would be the breaking point that drove her to such insanity. And they can’t erase the image of Dimitri kneeling in the rain as an axe meets his flesh. So many of their students died...but that was just...pitiful.

Edelgard assures him that it was for a better future, that all the death and sacrifice now will mean less suffering later.

But it’s hard to look at the people suffering in the NOW and think it’s better for the future. It’s like Edelgard is so fixated on the world that will be she forgot to take care of the world they’re in, or maybe she didn’t, and the people around her just don’t seem as real to her as the people in the future she’s envisioned.

Byleth’s first clue that everything was going wrong should have been their hair and eye color returning to it’s original state.

Sothis and they...the both of them have always been one, whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. They are a single entity that was separated and then made whole again. But now there is an emptiness inside of them, and the emotions they’ve developed are fast fading again. They’re becoming numb once again as they lose the part of themselves that was her, and they don’t understand why.

Soon, they even stop caring.

Edelgard insisted that it was a wonderful sign. That they pointed their blades towards the heavens and won, so her path must be the righteous path.

Byleth no longer cares enough to correct her.

Their students, the Black Eagles, frown more when they speak now. Byleth has lost their emotions, so the fondness is ebbing away again. They’re distressed as they lose their teacher, and Byleth tries to pretend they care until even that seems pointless.

They follow Edelgard because they know that’s what they decided to do, not because they care. They’re too muted now, and even guilt is slipping away as time erodes more and more of Sothis from their very being.

Then the murders start to happen.

It starts when Dorathea was found outside of the Opera House. Her body had been cut down by the singular strike of a sword, left to rot in the street by an unknown assassin. The Black Eagles mourn, and Edelgard swears justice will be paid. The guards are doubled in the city and the hunt is on.

It doesn’t keep Fernidand from dying later. His entire platoon was killed, a mix of sword wounds and Reason magic leaving behind a field of corpses. Witnesses say it was a pale, dark haired, man. Just one. With an unused lance tied to his back. Something about revenge, the witnesses say. For a father, a best friend, a brother, a sister, and a lover.

A year goes by and the guards get lazy again. It seems the assassin had reached their goal or died in the process.

Until Almyra declares war.

Byleth gives their advice as it is sought, but no longer cares enough to see to the personal welfare of the troops themselves. It’s...demoralizing, to say the least.

Then Berneddeta dies in her room, a knife left behind, the signal of House Gautier’s crest carved into the hilt of the blade. A warning.

There are no Gautiers left, though, they were all killed, so it can only be Felix, Byleth explains to Edelgard, because there is no one else left to avenge House Gautier, and Felix was a childhood friend of both Dimitri, who is dead, Ingrid, who died defending Dimitri, and Sylvain, who also died in that battle.

Edelgard puts a bounty on his head.

But her troops are too spread thin with Almyra’s sudden and unrelenting assault. With another war on the horizon, many nobles that don’t care for Edelgard or were taken over surrender to Almyra without hesitation. Fodlan is once again halved, and with it Edelgard’s forces.

Then Lindhardt is killed by Felix, this time with a note: “I’m coming for you Edelgard.”

Claude, it seems, is the leader of the Almyran forces, and declares quite happily that he’s going to make Fodlan a part of his country. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes when he says it though, and he’s barely holding back heavy disgust.

Byleth can’t help but think of how foolish they are when they have sentiment.

Byleth also advises Edelgard to surrender.

“Not you.” Edelgard begs, knuckles gripped against the table, “Of all people, you cannot abandon me.”

But the Byleth she wants is long gone. Or, actually, they never existed. But if if they had her dream killed them until nothing but a numb shell was left behind. Byleth, as the are, is under no illusions of what they are now. A walking corpse, with all that made them human faded into the back with a sleeping Goddess that was once themselves. 

Casper, who swore he wouldn’t let another one of his friends die, falls next. Felix, it seemed, has sided with Claude and is now leading the lands that was formally Faerghus. The people of the Alliance and Fearghus help rebel, throwing riots so large that they cannot be suppressed.

Petra is gone shortly after, taken by riots.

“FOR GOOD KING DIMITRI!” Cry out the people of Faerghus as they flood the streets of Fhiridad. Imperial soldiers are pushed back by people not even wearing armor, such is their numbers, and when actual soldiers come Faerghus is no longer a Dukedom of the Empire.

“FOR THE NOBLE CAUSE!” Cry the people of the Alliance as they’re lead by those still left of the Golden Deer. Hilda’s older brother has taken the helm and lead them to victory.

When they finally take Enbarr Byleth isn’t fighting. They don’t care, and watch from Edelgard’s side as they march her palace. They warn her to surrender, but she claims she’ll die first.

Felix walks in, and cuts down Hubert. Claude walks in behind him, hands on his hips, looking up at Edelgard and Byleth with a cold smile, “Did you get what you wanted?”

“I don’t want things.” Byleth answers, emotionless, “I haven’t since the power Sothis gave faded away, and I was left incomplete again.”

“Sounds awful, hope all this was worth that.” Claude answers as Edelgard’s eyes widen in horror.

“Perhaps if I could still feel, that would hurt.” Byleth answers him, “But I can only remember what emotions felt like, the experience is lost to me now.”

“...wow, that almost makes killing you feel like I’m being merciful.” Claude remarks as Felix glares from beside him, “Teach, why did you DO this to yourself?”

“I had meant to take Edelgard prisoner.” Byleth confesses, “I was simply run out and had nowhere else to go. Helping her seemed like the logical choice at the time, but it’s strange, I can’t see the logic in it now.”

Claude originally meant to take Byleth prisoner, if they could somehow be captured. Interrogate them and whatnot, allow their former students to air their grievances before they were executed for treachery. 

Not that just feels too cruel when Byleth was apparently already killed long ago.

So, when the final battle ends, Claude tells Felix to end Byleth.

Byleth never even lifts their sword.

[ofmymuses]

sooooooooooooooo  ..  a  little  while  back , i  made  THIS  post  --  &  as  of  lately  i’ve  been  really  considering  doing  it  ?  or  maybe  actually  making  it  into  a  small  mumu group  of  maybe  around  6  people  where  they  can  make  muses  and  npcs  in  the  town / community  ??

i  have  2  ideas  as  of  right  now  for  the  setting  and  i  was  wondering  if  y’all  could  give  your  input  on  which  you  would  prefer  to  see  turn  into  something  bigger ??  it  can  literally  just  be  a  simple  01  or  02  ~  or  you  can  give  further  comments  on  why  you  prefer  that  one,  whatever  you  feel  :’)

it’s  also  currently  2am  as  i’m  writing  this   ..  so  i  do  apologize  in  advance  if  something  i  say  doesn’t  make  sense  ------  my  inbox  is  always  open  if  you  need  further  explanation  on  anything

(  btw  both  are  set  +  would  be  played  in  2020  following  the  actual  dates  so  it’d  be  april  04th, 2020  ic  rn  &  both  could  potentially  have  different  verses  too ---  like  supernatural  or  dystopian  verses  for  example  )

option  01)  “afar”   ---  view afar’s pinterest board.

the  community  of  afar  was  first  established  in  1996  by  two  lovers ,  hannah  &  esperanza  shortly  after  they  were  kicked  out  for  showing  their  true  love.  their  ultimate  goal  was  to  create  a  space  for  everyone  to  feel  safe  and  welcomed  ;  for  the  weirdos  and  the  runaways  and  the  lost  causes.  everyone  is  welcome  at  afar  so  long  so  long  as  they  don’t  have  intentions  of  harming  the  other  residents.  there’s  no  mayor  or  authority  in  afar  --  when  a  decision  needs  to  be  made ,  it’s  done  so  using  a  “majority rules”  sort  of  deal.

there’s  two  ways  to  access  afar’s  “main  space”  ( aka  everyone’s  trailers  are  )  ---  a)  by  following  a  5  -  7  minute  trail  that’s  off  the  highway  or  by  following  a  10  minute  side  road  that  leads  directly  to  the  community.  there’s  forestry  alongside  the  main  space  as  well  as  mountains  nearby  that  many  use  for  hiking  and  photography  purposes  or  for  a  quiet  place  to  settle  thoughts.

people  come  &  go  all  the  time.  no  one  questions  those  who  are  there  for  a  night  and  then  leave  the  day  after.  the  community  of  afar  are  very  relaxed  folks  who  found  their  sanctuary.  everyone  knows  everyone  in  afar  ;  they  very  much  consider  themselves  a  little  family  despite  any  bad  blood  some  may  have.

everyone  has  their  reasons  for  joining  the  community.  whether  it’s  running  away  from  something  or  wanting  a  place  you  can  truly  be  yourself  /  find  yourself  or  simply  because  you  need  somewhere  safe  to  stay  ---  every  reason  is  valid  and  never  judged.

no  one  stresses  too  hard  about  anything.  &  that’s  just  the  way  they  like  it.

option  02) “ashbrooke”  --- view ashbrooke’s pinterest board.  

no  one  really  knows  when  ashbrooke  was  first  established.  people  just  started  to  notice  its  existence  and  resided  in  it.  there  has  been  many  peculiar  happenings  in  ashbrooke  ;  most  of  which  the  residence  have  become  accustomed  to.  such  as  seeing  the  ghosts  of their  loved  ones  (  and  those  of  strangers  ) ,  roaming  pets  that  go  missing  &  the  many  legends  that  surround  different  locations  within  the  town  just  to  name  a  few.

ashbrooke  is  quite  literally  in  the  middle  of  absolutely  nowhere.  it  takes  nearly  2  full  hours  in  all  directions  to  get  to  the  next  town  over.  people  say  there’s  a  reason  for  it  being  so  isolated  but  no  one  thus  far  has  been  able  to  crack  the  code.  there’s  forestry  and  a  large  swamp  surrounding  the  town  that  wandering  children  and  teens  like  to  get  lost  in.

not  to  mention  the  secret  cult  ----  sisters  of  the  dawn  ---  that  meet  every  night  at  4:30am  sharp  to  do  ...  well ,  no  one  really  knows  except  the  members.  the  cult  isn’t  common  knowledge ,  though  you  would  think  it  was  with  all  the  whispers  of  residents  arguing  about  whether  or  not  it  really  exists.

the  town  is  lead  by  religious  leaders ;  father  mark  &  sister  margaret  who  are  two  of  the  most  powerful  names  around.  it’s  rumoured  that  they’re  the  ones  who  steal  the  pets  and  do  some  sort  of  witchcraft  that  steals  their  life  force  and  makes  them  live  longer  ---  it  started  when  one  of  the  residents  trespassed  &  poked  around  in  their  house  and  found  a  photo  album  of  a  couple  throughout  the  decades  who  look  identical  to  those  two.  not  to  mention  the  weird  locked  basement  door.

ashbrooke  is  full  of  mysteries  &  secrets.  but  i  wouldn’t  advise  looking  too  deeply  into  them  ...  for  no  one  knows  anyone  who  has  &  there’s  a  reason  for  that  . . .

[stalwartsandall]

Still Pretty Podcast - Chosen

So, I watched Still Pretty's Chosen video and, in true nitpicky form, I'm not going to discuss any of the host's interesting and articulate insights... I'm just gonna latch onto the bits I disagree with and gnaw at them like a rabid dog. And so, a counterpoint in two whingy parts...

Part One - Presumption of Masculine Entitlement

Here's the section I disagreed with most strongly, it's Lani's reaction to Buffy's scenes with Angel and Spike:

The possessiveness and entitlement each them feels to Buffy is beneath both of them. Angel and Buffy are not together. Spike and Buffy are not together. Buffy has promised neither of them her heart nor her fidelity. They are entitled to neither from her, nor are they entitled to explanations or excuses. The presumptive male entitlement to female minds and body is a problem in our culture, so I wanna walk through this carefully.

You know what, it's a nice, tidy, patriarchy-punishing interpretation of the text. Lani's reading paints Buffy (our hero, our icon) as a woman dealing admirably with the immature, presuming bullshit of a couple of dudes, both of whom seem to think they deserve a piece of her. And Buffy's defiant refusal to cede to masculine entitlement would be a wonderful message for the show, especially in the finale.

But it's just not the reading I get. I don't see masculine entitlement; I see three people in confusing romantic circumstances. And, if I've got to pick sides, if I'm forced to call out anyone's bad behaviour here, I'm going to call out Buffy's. Buffy is the one who ducks and obfuscates with both guys. Buffy is the one who is physically intimate with both of them and then engages in semantic gymnastics to avoid discussing that intimacy.

Let's start with Angel. Here's the full exchange:

BUFFY - If I lose, if this thing gets past Sunnydale, then it's days—maybe hours—before the rest of the world goes. I need a second front, and I need you to run it.

ANGEL - OK... that's one reason. What's the other?

BUFFY - There is no other.

ANGEL - Is it Spike? You're not telling me something. And his scent, I remember it pretty well.

BUFFY - You vampires. Did anybody ever tell you the whole smelling people thing's a little gross?

ANGEL - Is he your boyfriend?

BUFFY - Is that your business?

ANGEL - You in love with him? OK, maybe I'm outta line, but this is kind of a curve ball for me. I mean, we are talking about Spike here.

BUFFY - It's different. He's different. He has a soul now.

ANGEL - Oh. Well.

BUFFY - What?

ANGEL - That's great. (mumbling to himself) Everyone's got a soul now.

BUFFY - He'll make a difference.

ANGEL - (mumbling) You know, I started it. The whole having a soul. Before it was all the cool new thing.

BUFFY - Oh, my God. Are you 12?

ANGEL - I'm getting the brush off for Captain Peroxide. It doesn't necessarily bring out the champion in me.

BUFFY - You're not getting the brush off. Are you just gonna come here and go all Dawson on me every time I have a boyfriend?

ANGEL - Aha! (points) Boyfriend!

BUFFY - He's not. But...he is in my heart.

ANGEL - That'll end well.

Gather readers, for this will not happen often; I'm going to defend Angel. Sure he's petty and snippy, but he's not overly pushy or controlling. He asks questions and calls Buffy on her second front lie. He's jealous and a bit childish but, when Buffy tells him to leave, he grumbles good-naturedly and he leaves.

It's not entitlement to voice an opinion about Buffy's choice of boyfriend. When people we love make decisions we think are dangerous or ill-advised—like say dating a creature we know to be an amoral mass murderer—it's perfectly reasonable to question them.

Angel displays jealousy, he wants something he doesn't have, but that's not the same as being possessive. He doesn't imply that he has a right to Buffy's mind or body. The closest he gets to expressing entitlement to Buffy is this line: I'm getting the brush off for Captain Peroxide. And, to be fair to him, that's exactly what's happening. His offer of help is being rejected because Buffy's involved with Spike.

Lastly, it is not possessive nor entitled for Angel to want to know Buffy's relationship status because... he and Buffy just kissed. A kiss is obviously not a declaration of commitment nor a promise of fidelity but it sure as shit means Angel's within his rights to ask about Buffy's relationship status. She doesn't have to answer but he's allowed to ask without being labelled possessive.

Ok, let's move on, to Spike...

So, as Lani points out, Buffy and Spike are not together. They are not in a relationship. They haven't promised fidelity.

But they are in the midst of something. It's ill-defined and non-binding but it's not platonic friendship. The previous night they shared a bed. They held each other and gazed into each other's eyes. Buffy has platonic friendships with Giles and Xander; she would not have asked either one of them to take her to bed and hold her in that way.

And Buffy acknowledges that it was not simple comfort and friendship. When Spike offers to gloss over the incident, offers to strip it of meaning and significance, Buffy chases after him and stops him. She demands that he declare himself and then she tells him she was there with him that night. And she ends their conversation by suggesting that, after the battle with the First, they might discuss/identify/pursue their relationship.

And then she walks out and kisses another man.

Does she cheat on Spike? - no. Is it messy and complicated? - yes. Is Spike's momentary annoyance and jealousy an example of unreasonable entitlement? - hell no!

What's interesting is reversing the sexes of the protagonists and reviewing the chain of events:

A man is depressed, defeated, alone and afraid.

A woman (a friend, an ex, a co-worker, an ally) seeks to comfort him. She tells him she's asking for nothing in return but wants him to know the depth of her admiration for him and how wholly and unwaveringly she loves him. The man cries, is touched and grateful.

He asks the woman to share his bed. No sex, he just wants her to hold him, to comfort him, to give him strength. She does. They lie in bed; holding, stroking, gazing.

The following night they see each other again and they're uncomfortable and unsure where they stand. The woman gives the man a clear out, tells him that emotions were running high and they can dismiss the night in bed together as simply comfort.

The man says no, says he wants the truth, not mixed messages. He demands that they don't ignore the significance of the night.

The woman reluctantly lays it all out: she's in love with him and feeling utterly vulnerable, terrified that she'll be hurt.

Man says: don't be afraid; the night was meaningful for me too.

Woman says: really, what does that mean, can we define what we have?

Man says: do we have to... there's so much going on right now, maybe later. The woman says ok.

The man leaves and, within hours, passionately kisses his ex.

Then he returns to the woman and tries to downplay the kiss as 'a hello'. He dismisses the woman's jealousy as 'crap' and makes a joke about how hot it would be if the two women wrestled in oil for him.

Then he asks if they can share a bed again.

The woman is jealous and demands that she not to be whacked back and forth like a rubber ball.

Does anyone think: Ugh! How entitled is that woman! What right has she got to question the man?

Part Two - A Flat Note

This one isn't so much a gripe as a 'wow, it's amazing how divergent interpretations can be!' This is Lani's comment on Spike's sacrifice on the Hellmouth:

My only regret, that he tells Buffy she doesn't love him, when clearly she does. Spike has grown a lot over season seven and some people hate it—I know, they want their bad boy back—but to deny him this moment of growth, where he can accept love that is given and return it through his sacrifice, is a flat note.

I actually had to listen to that a couple of times because it ran so contrary to my interpretation of the scene that I initially couldn't comprehend Lani's meaning.

The thing is... I don't think it's clear that Buffy loves Spike. In fact I think it's wildly unclear. Buffy's behaviour towards Spike has always been been hugely contradictory and changeable. Her actions in the immediate lead up to the battle in the Hellmouth are especially difficult to interpret. Most tellingly, her 'I love you' is nowhere near full-throated and is ambiguous as hell.

So, I didn't read Spike's gentle 'No, you don't' as lack of character growth. In fact, to me, it felt like the exact opposite. Spike is the character who spent seasons five and six demanding that Buffy admit her attraction to him and love for him. I think it's a sign of his growth that he can (a) recognise and calmly accept her lack of love and (b) continue to love her and be willing to sacrifice himself regardless.

I am an ardent Spuffy shipper. I wanted the finale to include declarations of undying love. I wanted them to fall into each others arms and make eleventy-billion Spuffy babies.

But—based on the episode that came before—what Whedon gave us was better. It was fitting. It was true to Buffy. It was true to Spike. It was a surprise that felt entirely natural and unforced. It managed to neatly and simultaneously fulfil two seemingly contradictory statements: Cassie's 'She'll tell you' prediction in Help and Spike's 'I know you'll never love me' prediction in The Gift. Mostly though, it's an example of Spike (Love's Eternal Bitch) kindly and gently accepting his fate. It is, in fact, the exact opposite of the masculine entitlement Lani was bemoaning at the top of the episode. It's melancholy and pretty at the same time. It's many things but it's definitely not a lack of character growth.

BTW - I’m consolidating content on Tumblr at the mo; apologies to anyone getting this (and few subsequent posts) a second time.

[wantedtourist]

#from the bottom of my heart I hate that i've actually seen both these movies#okay but look.... TIG can literally kick his leg OVER macchio's HEAD#do you understand?!!??!? @nomercyonlytears​

I advise anyone watching NINY to keep their finger on the fast-forward button. As for Excessive Force, no fast-forwarding, or you might miss any of the following: Terry playing piano, Terry minus shirt, Terry holding a tiny kitten in his ginormous hands, Terry punching someone, Terry kicking his leg impossibly high, Chicago cityscapes. 

Okay but speaking of Chicago. Let’s imagine for a sec: Chris also lives above the same jazz club as Terry, the Deja vu. (And isn’t that just a fitting name.) I’m really feeling the neighbors-to-lovers trope in the backdrop of 90s Chicago jazz and theatre scene. (And of course we must not leave out the backdrop of 90s Chicago crime.)

Alright, so for instance, here’s a quick and cute Chicago-based au: After the events of NINY, Chris moves to Chicago, wanting to start over somewhere new. When Chris arrives to the city, he finds bartending work at the Deja vu jazz club, and an apartment above the club to boot. How convenient! That’s how he meets Terry, the biiiig tall hottie in the apartment across from his.

But he also encounters Terry almost daily at the Deja vu. Terry’s first stop after work is a drink and a jazz session at the club, and Chris loves watching Terry play with the band. You know, the band that Terry’s not even a part of but they apparently just let him walk up in the middle of a session and take over on the piano? That band. Well. That’s probably how Chris falls for Terry. Not that he plans on telling him that. He can’t afford another heartbreak, another new start.  

Chris’ career really takes off in Chicago. See, in New York, Chris was always holding back. He put Jake and Jake’s career before his. He was okay with being told he didn’t deserve the spotlight or lead roles. (”I love that!”) Not so in Chicago bay-bee. In Chicago his hot police detective neighbor encourages him to put himself out there and go after those lead roles. Terry is super supportive and sits through Chris’ practice auditions in his living room. And Terry always tries to make it to Chris’ opening nights when he can. 

Terry doesn’t stop to think why he wants to support Chris so much, he just knows he really likes how Chris’ face lights up when he lands the role he wanted, those large brown eyes shining with excitement. He just knows he really likes the glow of happiness that surrounds Chris after a show as he and Terry walk back together to the Deja vu, Chris’ cheeks pink with the bite of Chicago’s chilly evening wind. And if on one of those cold Chicago nights, Terry takes one of Chris’ much smaller hands in his own and tucks it into his coat pocket (Chris lost his gloves, again), well Terry is just trying to keep him warm. That’s why their fingers stay interlocked too. Warmth!

Meanwhile, throughout all this, James Earl Jones is knowingly observing them from the sidelines. Oh yeah, he definitely knows-knows before Terry does.

But don’t worry they figure it out eventually! I’m thinking, Terry has a dangerous encounter at work, gets shot at maybe, and when he makes it back to Deja vu, Chris is already inside Terry’s apartment (he has a copy of his keys, of course) waiting for him. They kinda just look at each other, and... 

Alright so forget “excessive in new york” we’re tagging this one “naked in chicago” <3. Btw permission for anyone to take this au and run with it. Also, if anyone has other Terry McCain/Chris au ideas, please share them, I’d love to hear them! 

For instance, @fahre: 

#this gifset got me through work today#specifically#that mccain needs a crime to investigate#a crime like#a highly illegal fighting syndicate#where people fight to the death#and that's run by the kind of people#who'd think nothing of kidnapping#pretty hardworking theatre actors#who kiss low quality playwrights#...#yeah

I’m intrigued! I like that you took this in a darker direction. 

Let’s go crime thriller!

Let’s go all the aus!

Friends, join me in my newest fixation:

Terry McCain (Excessive Force) x Chris (NINY)

In case you haven’t seen these movies…

Terry McCain is a Chicago police detective. 

He plays piano and he looks unfairly good while doing so. 

Terry lives in an apartment above a jazz club owned by his good friend James Earl Jones who tells him he should resign and just play jazz for a living, aww.

Anyway, here’s shirtless Terry McCain holding a gun. 

Chris Nolastname is a 20-something stage actor living alone in NYC. 

Chris is a hardworking cinnamon roll who wears his heart on his sleeve.

Chris likes men. And he deserves so much better than his friend Jake.

Someone like…

Fun fact: both movies are from 1993 so Thomas Ian Griffith and Ralph Macchio are both 31-32 in these.

Anyway, I’ll be making some au gifsets that I hope you guys will like :’). Those gifsets will potentially be: Terry McCain/Chris au, Terry Silver/Daniel 90s au, Terry/Daniel mob au, Terry Silver/Daniel/Terry McCain 90s au, etc. 

[rogers-senpai]

The Analysis of the Progression of Jonerys and Why the Truth Won’t Break Them PART TWO

PART ONE HERE

4.THE ACTUAL DETAILED PROGRESSION.

Even just before their first scene together, we are hinted at how crucial to the story it is. Everyone who knows what the book series is called didn’t miss the “I’ve brought ice and fire together.”

So their first meeting was tense. Both were stubborn, both didn’t trust each other. They had wrong ideas of each other, like I said earlier. The first scene ended with a small progress. He recognizes she isn’t as bad as he thought, learns the shit she’s been through, is clearly intrigued but still doesn’t trust her. She finds out that he has a similar story as leader, even though she doesn’t know to what extent and she is intrigued with what Davos said about him taking a knife in the heart for his people.

Their second encounter is more fruitful. Jon has talked to Tyrion who told him that Dany was chosen to lead, that she could have come to Westeros years ago, but chose to stay in Essos to help. Dany has talked to Tyrion as well, who advised allowing Jon to mime the dragonglass. They meet and another part of their past is revealed to one another. Their lost brothers. Obviously they both had drastically different relationship with their siblings, which also shows us again how they parallel, while still contrasting each other. Dany notices a similiarity between Rhaegar and Jon - both of them not liking to kill people. And that’s what pushes her to make a decision. He has just said, he hasn’t changed his mind, but she still lets him mime the dragonglass, promising to provide anyhting else he needs to do it. And that’s when their theme plays for the first time. What makes this theme different from other pairings’ themes is that it is built with some notes of both of their respective themes, their houses’ themes, their past relationship themes plus something new entirely, something of their own, like no other couple before them. It makes us realize - this is different, this was what was coming the entire time.The analysis of the theme isn’t mine, you can watch it in the original video here. First we hear Dany’s past love theme (”Love in The Eyes”), which is hard to recognize cause they changed it to cello to erase the Dothraki-like sound. He thanks her, clearly shocked. Why wouldn’t he be? Think about it. She gains nothing by giving him the glass. He just said he is still not going to bend the knee. She doesn’t know him, doesn’t trust him, doesn’t believe what he says. But she gives him what ne needed anyway. Would Cersei ever give something  anyone who wasn’t her ally? No. But Dany does. And when she calls him “Jon Snow”, his theme with Ygritte (”You Know Nothing”) plays, showing us his perspective, which just again proves the Undercover crap to be false, cause his perspective is in their theme, his past love theme, like come on.

Then they meet after Jon has been miming for some time, they probably only had short encounters in between. It can be considered that Dany has beel speaking about him with Missander - the look they share tells me so. And Jon is fidgeting his hands, clearly nervous, like Jon would be around a woman he is attracted to, don’t you think? Dany shows she trusts him more when she goes with him without her guards, which is understandable, since he spent his time miming, doing his work, not creeping around or anything sketchy. The cave scene was full of sexual tension. The lightning, the silence only interrupted by their breaths, how close they were to each other. I think we don’t talk enough how beautiful this scene was. Here we have these two strong characters, stopping for a moment, admiring some ancient work of art. Jon sees that Dany can see how extraordinary that is - that they are standing in a place where thousands of years ago, some now extinct (?) race made some mysterious paintings. They also touch for the first time. He didn’t have to take her arm, he could’ve just said “follow me”. While I love all of their scenes, I think the shot of them standing together in the corner, watching the paintings with the beautiful lighting, so small compared to the wonders of these  symbols is my favourite one. And then Dany is shown evidence of WW being real. Jon gives his speech about fighting together, and when Dany moves closer, their theme plays once again. It starts with DrogoxDany theme again, as it’s Dany who’s offering to fight for the North, on a condition he bends the knee of course, which is  absolutely reasonable for a monarch to make when asked to abandon her mission she’s been waiting to start her entire life to go fight your enemy which she doesn’t fully believe in just yet. In fact, it was generous. It is when she makes that condition known that the Stark theme plays, cause Jon remembers his duty to his house. And then we go to JonxYgritte theme part when Dany throws his exact words back at him, showing him how similiar their views are. Then they walk out arm in arm (that shot screamed equals and power couple btw), their relationship changed a bit, they’re more familiar now. And then Jon sees Dany lose her temper a bit, when they find out about the fail of Tyrion’s plan. And strangely enough, she turns to him for advice. Not all the people who surround her since Essos, but him. And he does give her the best advice he can. He questions her, he’s the one to convince her not to attact KL. Would Daario ever do that? No, he would encourage it, making her go the wrong path. Some people think Dany is going dark, and while I disagree, her chapters in ADWD do make her seem like she is on the edge. And while we don’t know how her journey with Essos will end in the books, we know she will come to Westeros, to Jon, who will show her to the light again, if she ever loses it, which I doubt. Also here we hear the theme again, first DrogoxDany bit, then JonxYgritte’s and then finally them combined.

Later Jon talks to Davos, says he thinks Daenerys has a good heart, and we are told that Davos has noticed him staring at this good heart. Then Missandei tells him that Dany set her free, that people follow her not because of her name, but because they believe in her, because they chose her, which we can see Jon is affected by.

In episode 5 we see them together when Dany returns from the Reach. The script suggests strongly he was waiting for her. He watches her fly over him with awe. And then Drogon comes at him. And what does Jon do? Pet him. He’s scared as hell obviously. But he does it anyway, which shocks and attracts Daenerys. She has heard people call her children monsters, them fearing them and then she sees Jon pet one of them. I can only imagine what she felt in that moment. The talk that follows shows us a completely amazed Jon staring at the Mother of Dragons, when he heard how much they meant to her. They aren’t weapons for her, but her children. Must have been a shocker to hear that from someone he has heard to had conquered an entire continent with those dragons. Also their theme plays again, this time only DrogoxDany part and the dragons’ theme - “Mother of Dragons”. Then we see Jon uncertain about her using them in battle. But he had burnt men with fire of his own, during the wildling attack, so the argument of him not wanting people to have this kind of death doesn’t work. She reminds him that he has killed many people for purpose as well, and says something he agrees with: “Sometimes strength is terrible.” Which also is an argument against EvilDany since if she were truly dark, she wouldn’t consider her actions terrible. Also we have the similiarity of them both wanting to help the people brought up. They walk very close to each other when Dany stops and asks him about the knife to the heart thing. Jon just smiles and doesn’t answer. But when asked directly if it was just a figure a speech, he can’t lie. But her guards coming save him. Daenerys reunites with Jorah and Jon was clearly a little jealous. The look he gave her when she was looking at Jorah? His face when she hugged him, which was the first time he’s seen her so intimate with anyone, let alone a man. Boy was clearly troubled.

Their next scene is much more formal at the beginning. He says he has to go home and proposes that she help him again, but Cersei is a huge problem. So Tyrion finds a solution (or so he thought). When Jorah offers to go North, Dany is visibly a little concerned. In a hilarious alpha move, Jon offers to go as well, but as a leader so petty. And Dany is devastated. Which hit me pretty hard when I first watched it. We have seen Jon staring and amazed by her, showing us he is growing something in his heart. We have seen her intrigued by him. But nothing screamed falling in love with him to me before. And then I realized. Of course she wasn’t shown gazing at him like some high school girl. It’s Daenerys Targaryen. She can keep her feelings on a leash. She has been through too much to let a man stop her from getting that throne. While Jon is not as experienced. He can not act on it, focus on his mission. But hide it? No way. But that scene is a breaking point for her, I think. It isn’t the ultimate love yet, but something is there, and now she can lose it. But Jon gives another speech, proving to be her equal again. And while Jorah goes to serve his queen, Jon goes as a King, which reminds me of what Nathalie once said. “I think an advice Khaleesi would give is don’t date a man who is intimidated by your power.”

The goodbye scene was when we hear their theme once again, this time a bit sadder, since he is leaving. This time it starts with the Jorah part of her theme with Drogo - the non-love theme, since we see Jorah looking at him, then kissing her hands and letting go. During their talk, the original notes of their theme plays with a bit of the Jorah part again, since Jorah looks back at her, seeing she’s not looking back at him, which just adds to the sad feel.

When Jon is out there on a suicide mission, Tyrion has a talk with Dany, in which he said the line which made the entire fandom gasp. Tyrion is the most observant person in the show I think, the smartest and we trust his judgement so the fact that he is the one to confirm that Jon is in love with Dany is huge. Dany brushes it off seemingly, but you can see was like “Omg, you think so?”. And then she gives a lame excuse and changes the topic. Smooth.

Jon talks to Tormund, who says what we were almost all thinking. Him not bending the knee is following Mance’s mistakes. His talk with Jorah, aside being another baby foreshadow, shows that while Jon might have wanted to make an alpha move, he is not petty enough to let this jealousy cloud his judgement of Jorah as a person, which is so Jon Snow.

When he senses the trouble, who does he think of? Daenerys. Yes, it might have been because she has dragons, but when you think about it, how big do you think he thought the chances of her helping, let alone bringing her children were? But he knows that if she won’t save them, no one will.

And what’s even more important, she does help She takes all of her dragons and flies to save them, save him.

Jon is sure they’re all going to die. He came to terms with it. And then she comes. Her and her dragons’ theme plays, and the whole the smart majority of the fandom is cheering. Jon sees a big part of the army of the dead being burnt and has hope in defeating them once again.While Jorah, someone we knew is in love with Dany, is looking at the ground, at the fire destroying the wights, Jon is the only one looking up, watching her as she watches him back.  He pushes Tormund out of the way to look at her being a badass warrior queen, I think that’s the moment he realized how deep in love with her he was. He is the first to run to her. She wants him to climb on, her face when he turns away is heartbreaking. But he hears a wight nearby so in Jon fashion, he protects those getting on the dragon, waiting till he can climb on himself. And then Viserion is hit. Dany is shocked and heartbroken, no matter what the antis say, she’s devastated. And Jon goes into an angry mode. Which is obvious. He feels like it’s his fault that she lost her child. He might be the only one to have noticed how much they truly mean to her, he was the one to ask her for help. And now a woman he loves is hurting because of this. When he sees the NK pull another javelin out, he does not want her to lose another child, doesn’t want her to suffer any more. So he screams “GO! LEAVE!” which broke my heart. Dany waits for a long moment though. When he is tackled into the lake, she flinches and it’s only when she sees the NK preparing to take Drogon down, that she leaves. When in the air, she looks back. She has just lost a child and someone she only recently realized she is in love with. Lost a child and a lover again.

I like to think that the thought of Dany was part of the reason he found strength to get out of this lake. It was beyond the wall he decided he wasn’t going to fight his feelings anymore, I think. So he might have been thinking “I can’t die without trying, without her knowing.” What he feels for Dany is stronger than whatever he felt for Ygritte, so while he left Ygritte for good, he comes back to Daenerys.

When she sees him return, after waiting and hoping for god knows how long, she is punched with how powerful her feelings are once again. He came back, even though the chances of him surviving seemed ridiculously small. And then she sees his scars with their own part of their theme playing, for the first time with no other theme, which speaks volumes. Something she was intrigued by - the whole talk of him taking a knife for his people - was actually true. The scars look fatal, but there he is breathing. His scar-filled chest is a sign of what he is willing to give for his people- his life.

Dany’s relieved face is the first thing he sees after waking up. This scene was so intimate and special. While them in the cave was my favourite shot visually, this scene is my favourite one story-wise. They have just returned from a death situation together. She has just lost a child. They have just realized their feelings. Now what? Seeing Dany so soft was nice, after her being all tough for forever. Jon did that. And Jon is soft as well, (he took her hand) which he hasn’t been with anyone expect his family since Ygritte. In this scene Jon finds out about Dany being barren, which makes him realize part of why her dragons mean so much to her. It is also interesting how she tells him something so personal, something that if he told anyone, would be another reason for people not to follow her - she can’t produce heirs, so she dies = another war for the throne, whatever plan Tyrion might think of. But she tells him, because she trusts him, because she knows he won’t tell anyone, she doesn’t even ask him to keep it a secret - she knows he will. And then she promises to help him defeat the NK - we know how much that means to Jon, after he spent so much time trying to get people to fight, to even believe him. He thanks her and calls her Dany. While we talk a lot about how cute that was, we don’t talk enough of how much that meant. She was introduced to him as Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne, rightful Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt and The Breaker of Chains, but slowly, as he met her, he saw past all that, he saw the young girl underneath, he saw Dany. No one else did. And then he bends the knee. The theme plays, again, with no other theme part. Neither of them is thinking of their past lovers anymore. They have found what they were meant to since day one.

PART 3 IS UP HERE

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Carl/Beth Entanglement Details: S4 Vs. S8

Okay, so here’s what I want to talk about today. In the past few days, I’ve posted both of these memes, and I’ve been promising a Carl/Beth post. (Btw, the Carl one has already gotten more than double the likes on IG that my pics usually get. I know that’s because of Carl’s bite, but still. People are obviously connecting with this.

I was actually going to do this post before the MSF aired, and I just didn’t get around to it. Now I’m kind of glad I didn’t. Now with confirmation of Carl’s bite, it’ll just be a little more concrete. I want to remind everyone of some early intersections between Carl and Beth symbolism, so it’s a little more obvious that Gimple always planned it that way, and that Beth has to come on the heels of Carl’s death. Here we go:

I originally wanted to talk about the parallels between the train tracks sites from the second edit. I’m going to change it a bit and talk more about Carl than Daryl. By the way, if you haven’t read my “Beth Greene was Never Gimple’s Sheriff” post, I’d advise you to do so. This will make a lot more sense if you have that as background.

So let’s talk about the structure of S4. I’ve already talked a lot about how the structure of various episodes in S4 foreshadowed future events but I’m going to talk about the overall structure of episodes. In 4x08, the prison went down, right? Remember that there were a ton of callbacks in 8x08 to the loss of the prison in 4x08. So if the two seasons are being paralleled, the two MSFs line up pretty well. S4 = loss of prison. It’s burned down. S5 = loss of Alexandria. It’s burnt down/blown up.

Then everyone was separated into small groups. Rick and Carl, later joined by Michonne were one. Beth and Daryl another. Tyreese and the girls, which Carl joins fairly quickly. And then Maggie/Sasha/Tyreese. Things are a little different here, but I would like to point out that that is the start of @thegloriouscollectorlady’s 4 Arcs for 4 Communities theory. She theorized that the groups would = living situations/leadership in the future, and she was right. (Mostly. Not all of it, especially Daryl’s, has been confirmed yet, but I believe it will be.) So Rick/Carl/Michonne = Alexandria. Carol = Kingdom. Maggie = Hilltop. We had a forth group in Glenn/Tara who were joined by Abe/Rosita and Eugene. We have a 4th group now in Aaron and Eugene, though neither of them were in S4 to be paralleled with. The odd one out is really Beth and Daryl, who obviously aren’t running a community on their own, but may at one point.

So then we have episode 4x09, from which the top picture, this one, 

was taken. (Ignore the arrows; they’re from a different meta and I was too lazy to retake the screenshot. ;D) Now, the reason I’m bringing this up is that the bottom picture was something they focused on in 8x06. In fact, Daryl rode past it on his bike, and I felt like it was a callback to S4.

So Rick and Carl leave the prison, and there is some interesting symbolism in the first place they go (pickles) but I want to focus on the house they stay in, because we have two major sequences that both foreshadow Beth’s arc.

The first is Rick. He lies down to sleep and falls into a semi-comatose state. Really, his body is just exhausted from the fight with the Gov, and he sleeps for more than 24 hours. But it’s kinda like he’s in a coma for a time, and Carl really can’t wake him up. Then we even have a scene at night where Carl things Rick has died and turned because his breathing is so ragged. Carl tries to shoot him, but doesn’t. (And thank goodness, because Rick isn’t really dead.) But the point is that Rick is in a coma and no one can wake him. At one point, TF (just Carl in this case) thinks he’s turned, even though he hasn’t. And specifically does NOT shoot him. All things we believe happened with Beth.

Oh, and Rick has a Beth-ish wound:

Then there’s Carl himself. He goes out on his own and leads walkers away from the house. This is where we get the visual parallel above to where he was bitten. So that sequence where he falls down and the walkers pile on him in S4 was a foreshadow of that happening in S8, only then he was actually bitten, where in S4 he obviously was not.

Then he goes into the pudding house. The first room he goes into, he sees a bird cage, much like the ones we saw in Beth’s cell in 4x01. It’s open, though, and there’s a dead bird on the floor beside it. 

I have no doubt at all that that represents Beth, the song bird, being “killed” when she tries to escape her cage (Grady). And that by itself doesn’t suggest resurrection so much as just death.

However, as we go along, some interesting things start to happen. Carl opens a door and walker lunges at him. Carl falls onto his back but gets his gun and shoots the walker in the head. He shoots it in the EXACT same place Beth is shot: left side of the forehead. The walker face plants in front of him. For about a second and a half. Then it jumps back up again. Carl looks shocked that it didn’t die.

I mean, that alone should tell everyone that Beth’s wound wasn’t fatal. Or at the very least that it didn’t transect her brain stem to keep her from turning. If it was possible for that particular wound to do so, this walker wouldn’t have jumped back up. So it’s both proof that her injury was survivable AND a foreshadow of her living. Because right after Carl sees the dead bird and the cage, he sees a walker jump back up after sustaining the exact injury that Beth did.

Then he goes into the nautical-themed bedroom. This is where we get all kinds of crazy S7/S8 symbolism. Carl uses a lamp from the front yard to fight the walker (Lamp Theory). The nautical theme is ALL over the bedroom (Oceanside). There’s a yellow bat in the background (Negan). And of course in fighting the walker, he loses a shoe. (Lost shoes/feet theory). Oh, and after he gets out, we see a pair of yellow-handled scissors by his foot. (Yellow = escape/Beth’s yellow polo/opening credits flash; scissors = what she stabbed Dawn with.)

So all these crazy symbols come together in this scene. Then Carl eats his pudding and returns to Rick. The next day, Rick wakes up from his coma alive and well and everything is okay.

So here’s what I’m taking away from all this symbolism. First off, Carl could = Beth here, because he heads out on his own and has to save himself/take care of himself, which he does.

But as far as Carl’s arc is concerned, I feel like this represents him being the sheriff, being an adult, and making his own decisions. Remember they said twice that this was “his show.” This sequence in S4 represented his show. And only after the sequence that foreshadowed him being bitten did we see the dead song bird coupled with resurrection. (Meanwhile in 8x08, we saw a burning phoenix.)

On top of that, it wasn’t until after he escaped from the walker in the nautical room that Rick (also a parallel of Beth) awakened. (Of course in terms of the plot, we think she awakened a long time ago, but TF and the GA don’t know that. So I guess maybe it’s better to say that she’ll appear.)

So this foreshadows that sometime after Carl was bitten, at a time in the story when both Oceanside and Negan are in play, Beth will appear. And even more than that… remember yesterday I talked about the last stand at Hilltop, and most of us have thought for several weeks that Aaron and Enid will run into her at Oceanside. So I said maybe she would come with the Oceansiders to save TF’s bacon from Negan during the last stand. I almost feel like we have that foreshadowed here. The details, of course, could be very different than I’m thinking (they usually are) but think of it this way.

Carl (Beth proxy) defeats the walker inside the nautical/Oceanside room, suggesting victory will come from Oceanside. The bat in the room (Negan) is yellow, as are the scissors outside the door. Beth used scissors to stab Dawn, which ultimately led to her defeat, and Negan has lots of parallels to Dawn. At the very least, Negan is Daryl’s Dawn. (Is everyone following? I know this is a lot. Sorrynotsorry.) So I feel like the message here is that help will come from Oceanside specifically to defeat Negan, in the same way Dawn was defeated.

In fact, since Beth was kind of sacrificed to defeat Dawn and the system at Grady, and since Carl is the one in this scene, I think it shows that Carl in a way was sacrificed to defeat Negan. Gimple was super weird about what will happen next, but he keeps saying that Carl’s death will play into the story in 8b and people will understand why it was necessary. 

So maybe it’s something about Siddiq? Such that if Carl hadn’t made that sacrifice and brought him into Alexandria, TF wouldn’t have won against Negan? (And keep in mind that in the books, Siddiq has ties to Oceanside, so it really could all work together.) I don’t know. Just spit balling here.

But are we all seeing how this was foreshadowed in S4? And this sequence was many episodes before 4x16 where the hat was actually placed on Beth’s head. As I said many weeks ago now, Carl was never Gimple’s sheriff. Beth was always going to be the future.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that the shot in 5x16 of Carl and Judith looking at the music box in front of the Morse Code poster makes a lot more sense now. We always just thought that was about Beth and the music box, but it was more than that. They could have shown anyone with the music box. Someone closer to Beth, like Maggie or Daryl, might have made more sense anyway. But they went with Carl, and that was obviously purposeful.

In the season where Beth disappeared, and TF found a new home, they showed the music box singing, I think, to symbolize that she was still out there. But once the “new home,” including the Morse Code poster, which we saw being destroyed as Rick and Negan fought, was gone, then Carl would die. He’s even wearing his hat in this scene. And the new sheriff (symbolized by the music box) would appear.

In a way, it makes more sense than ever that the music box disappeared after S5. The last time we saw it was during the last season Beth appeared in. That’s because this arc that’s been running ever since wasn’t about her and wasn’t something she would ever be a part of. This was TF at Alexandria. We probably won’t see the music box again until she reappears, and her time as sheriff begins.

So what does that mean for 8b? I’ll give you a few possibilities I’ve thought of. Keep in mind, this is all just conjecture and could very well turn out to be wrong.

Aside from the Oceansiders showing up with Beth to save the day, which I think may not happen until the season finale, I’m still hoping that we, the audience, will see her earlier than that.

I think 8x09 is a possibility, but I’m really on the fence over whether they’d have her return in the same episode in which Carl actually dies. That might get some hate from the audience if they feel like one character is being exchanged for another and Carl’s death isn’t getting the respect it deserves. So on the one hand, I would think they’d stay away from that. But on the other hand, some of the stuff Gimple has said suggests that maybe something about Carl’s death might actually usher in the change in the story in a way that the audience will like and connect with. So maybe we will see her in 8x09? I can see it going either way and honestly don’t know which is more likely.

Returning to what I said at the beginning about 4x08 and 8x08 lining up, the parallels with Carl and Rick happened right after, in 4x09, so that suggests maybe we will see her very soon. But on the other hand, predicting things like that has never worked out especially well for us. I don’t think Gimple always lines up episodes exactly. I think he purposely shies away from that so things aren’t predictable. 4x10 was Inmates, where we had Beth’s diary voice over, and a backward progression that definitely foreshadowed some things. (Details here)And then Bethyl happened in 4x12/13. So you see what I mean? It really could fall anywhere and almost every episode is a possibility.

One scenario that occurred to me is that perhaps they’ll parallel season 5. I would actually really love it if this scenario happened, but again, it’s just conjecture on my part. So in 5x08, Beth seemed to have died, but actually didn’t, right? So in that MSF, much like this one, we didn’t have any major character deaths. The death came in 509, with Tyreese. Similarly, Carl will die in 8x09. The thing about 5x09 is that Beth was in that episode as a part of Tyreese’s death hallucination. And that episode was so bizarre and abstract, with a ridiculous amount of foreshadowing and Beth symbolism in it. (Details here.)

So I was thinking that maybe in a similar fashion, all of 8x09 will be Carl in the throes of death, just as 5x09 was for Tyreese. But maybe instead of a hallucination, we’ll see flashbacks from the missing 17 days after Grady, and Beth will be in them? It would be an awesome parallel. And again, no idea if it will be this way. It might work out completely different, but I’m kind of hoping. If that WERE the case, Beth would be there, but we might not necessarily find out she’s alive. They would just be flashbacks.

(And I did draw a parallel between the slide show in 5x09 and Michonne’s line about it being Carl’s show. Just saying.)

So that made me consider that in 5x10, the music box woke up. If they were to parallel S5, maybe we’ll finally see her in ep 10. I’d never seriously considered ep 10 as a possibility. A finale or MSF just seemed more likely. But that would be super-interesting as far as the music box is concerned, wouldn’t it?

In short, I have no idea when she’ll appear, but I wanted to point out/reiterate some of these entanglements. As I’ve said many times now, these are things we noticed years ago, but just didn’t understand the full extent of what they meant. As the seasons pass and the foreshadowing is fulfilled, we can see that it was planned and foreshadowed this way from the beginning. Now all we have to do is sit back and wait.

[livingwithashipname-blog]

Ermanda’s Inner Sanctum: Scorpion 4.07 “Go With the Flo(rence)”

I liked this episode, but it failed to live up to its predecessor (2.09 US vs. UN vs. UK) referenced through MI6 agent, Gemma.  The premises were very similar: Scorpion was commissioned for a job with an ulterior motive they didn’t realize until they reached a point of no return.  This episode’s strength came through the EQ rollercoasters scattered throughout beginning to end, much like season 3.  The prevailing question was, “what do women want?”  And it was really funny to see Walter try to answer this question with Paige going back and forth! 😂  Plus, Ralph was testing his own plans to get Patty Logan's attention!  Let's talk about this and more! 

Walter & Ralph: Problem Solvers

I really like the juxtaposition of Ralph and Walter's issues with the women of their affection.  Walter sees an issue with Paige's accumulation of beauty items and develops a serum that addresses all her concerns without notifying her beforehand.  Ralph is taking the time to think about ways to get Patty's attention by appealing to that which she values most - punctuality.  Considering Walter is the one who has to learn more EQ, it seems quite odd that he feels led to advise Ralph.  Ironically, the advice Walter gives Ralph ends up working in his favor.  The instance set up another father-son dynamic between them that I anticipate to grow more throughout the season.  

Walter's struggle with Paige in this episode is very reflective of the IQ/EQ clash that the writers are heavily exploiting this season since Waige is officially a couple.  It is comedically executed. At first, he assumes.  Then he shows lack of emotional support by following Gemma without giving emphasis to Paige's vibe.  When Paige requests emotional support, Walter gives it at a stressful moment for the team, prompting Paige to make a request that contradicts what she says earlier.  No doubt Paige is not helpful when she doesn't provide enough context to support what is needed when, which makes it harder for Walter.  However, one of Walter's best qualities that I mention countless times in these reviews is his ability to accumulate information from a series of events and come through in the most clutch moments!  His success leads to a really sweet moment between Paige and him at the very end of the episode.  The whole experience also helps Paige cope with her son's romantic pursuits when Walter suggests that Ralph use this experience to become better at relationships than he is right now.  Thus, these combined scenarios highlights the family harmony that exists between Walter, Paige, and Ralph!  ALL THE FEELS!!!! 💓💓💓💙💛💙💛💙💓💓💓

Back to Basics 

One of the highlights of this show is Paige's role as the team's communicator - a job that extends in her romantic relationship with Walter.  We have seen this dynamic exploited in other relationships within this team (e.g., Happy and Toby, Cabe and Walter).  It's a core facet of the overall premise and we are seeing it again between Patty and Sly.  She specifically reminds Sly to speak to his governance and constituents as humans, not as students requiring lecture.  This is vital for him to effectively reinforce and execute his platform.  If one can not garner interest for a proposed solution to a problem, then it is increasingly hard to sell it no matter how many facts are provided.  I hope Sly manages to figure it out!  He always tries his best to come through when people need him most!  I love these little things that bring me back to the beginning!  

Hello Florence Tipton! 

Scorpion has a new "friend."  And I get so many season 1 Walter vibes from her.  Isn't it funny that Walter doesn't like her after their first encounter?!  Can we say that he has grown so much that he is averse to former versions of himself? 😂😂😂  (Side note: As a preview to a topic I will likely address in my review for episode 4.09 It’s Raining Men (of War), it is by design that Walter, Happy, and Florence are trapped together. You probably know where I am going with this if you are familiar with how I talk about Walter and Happy. 😉)  

She doesn't like noise.  Takes pride in her work.  Has an outcast story like the other geniuses on the team.  Plus, the showrunners tease that she will be a burr for Walter and Paige.  Don't know what way that will be yet, but I have a feeling it will fall along the lines of intellectual connection.  I am excited to learn more about her!  

Drabbles...

So it seems like Cabe and Toby are meeting for regular sessions! Aww yay! But Cabe is not progressing because he refuses to open up. 👀😒

Patty: Some advice… K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple, Sylvester. Speak to those guys in a way they can understand, like a human. Not like a lecturer. Speaking of lectures, I gotta get to school.  Sly, Cabe, and Happy (in unison): Because you’ve never had a tardy and you’re not gonna start now. P: Damn right. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Why is Ralph hiding from Patty? Why is he scared of her? 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Oh lordt! Walter is trying to give Ralph advice on girls’ wants and needs! Send help! 😂😂😂😂😂

Walter, Walter, Walter… never come between a woman and her beauty products without making her aware of your suggestions first! Or better yet, just tell her she’s beautiful regardless! *facepalm*

It stinks and Happy figures Ray is back… 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Florence calls the ruckus in the garage by a certain name. Is it just me or did the writers manage to make a play on “covfefe” as a synonym for ruckus? If this is the case, I AM DEAD! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💀💀💀

Walter: Team! Just got a call from Gleason. Toby: MI6 agent, Gleason? H: Cut his finger off to help us beat a dictator at the UN, Gleason? I love that guy. T: Easy on the love, darling. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Space lasers are going to hit the earth if Scorpion doesn’t stop the satellite. Toby’s response… “Who’s up for Vegas?!” 👀 Gets yanked right back in place by Happy. 👌🏾 Me: Interesting… very interesting. 🤔

Paige has a negative vibe about Gemma and Walter doesn’t see it to make a statement in support as a response. Uh oh! 🎧We going down, down baby…🎧 👀  

Why are they taking Cabe’s vehicle? Paige or Walter’s car would be more appropriate considering they are 10x more reliable right now. Happy just started working on it! I understand it is an extension of Cabe’s arc.  Yet, it makes sense that only Walter and Paige are his passengers. Happy already stated that she wasn’t going to hop into that vehicle; Toby travels with his wife; and Sly would choose to go with Happy with whom he is already familiar than travel in a vehicle that’s essentially a “struggle bus!” Besides, Sly is like Quintis’ little brother! 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Revolutionary war joke with a British spy?! Ooh BURN!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

The hacker dumped the fob in the toilet and flushed it down the city’s drainage system! EWW! In the words of Cabe… Oh crap! 💩💩💩💩

Gemma: Ugh, it’s not in there. It’s gone. S: You’re gonna want to have that arm removed.  😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀

H (to Toby): Quick! Give me your keychain. (keychain says “attaboy”) T: What are you doing with my “attaboy?” (Happy flushes the keychain down the toilet.) T (to Sly): See that’s why I can’t have nice things. H: Uh… After Collins escaped, I installed GPS onto your keychain in case he kidnapped you again. T (to urinating guy): Don’t you see how much this woman loves me? Urinating Guy: I just came in to urinate. Now I can’t. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💚💚💚💚💚 Btw, Jadyn’s hair is sooo ridiculously gorgeous in this shot!

H: We don’t know what could happen to those guys down there. We need to stay close to the fob in case we need to take their place. S: I am only gonna say this once. There is not a chance in H-E- double wizard wands that I am ever going down into the sewer. Me: Yeah… that only means Sly is going down into the sewer. 😂😂😂😂😂

Sly says schematics show there is debris in the pipe. VFX doesn’t convince me of that. Lol! #gaffe

Toby and Cabe are the epitome of “good cop, bad cop” during this interrogation! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Florence: Was I not direct with you people?! I thought I made myself very clear! (looks around) Sirens, flashing lights… is this some kind of a party? (perp flies out of trailer bound & gagged) Oh! It seems that it is some kind of party. Uh, I do not wish to attend this party. C: We can explain. F: No need. Good day. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💀

Flo and Toby’s banter as she is trying to leave… 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💀💀

Walter recognizes Paige’s feelings and validates them… doesn’t work! 😂😂😂😂😂😂💀 Oh pobrecito! Paige is losing her patience because she’s too scared about the rat! Lordt! 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Umm… when did the back bed cover on Happy’s truck suddenly disappear?! Ran the red light… it was there. Shot of her driving fast down a residential service street… not there. When she and Sly reach the waste facility… it suddenly reappears! 👀 #gaffe Anything on the license plate, Ann @aspiestvmusings?

The stud finder joke returns! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Toby is an enthusiastic lover, huh?! Happy repeats the phrase! Hehehehe! #KinkyQuintis

W: Sly, I need your tablet! S (to Happy): Can you give him my tablet? H (to Walter): Don’t drop it! P: Uh no offense, Walter. I think I should probably catch it. W: (thinks) I concur. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀 Also, doesn’t anyone find it ironic that Happy tells Walter not to drop it?! Funny considering she dropped that wrench he passed to her last time. 😂😂😂 Yeah, that was a bit of shade from me. Tehehehe!

Man! Sly is getting a huge dose of exposure therapy this season!

Is it just me or does it seem like the emotional effort behind saving Sly was a bit slow?

I just love this Quintis tag team with Cabe! How awesome is it that Happy is the one to tell Cabe to stop being so closed off?! HOLY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!! GIVE ME MORE!!! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

The atomic watch Ralph makes for Patty looks a lot like an Apple watch… 👀😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Family moments a la Walter, Paige and Ralph… 💓💓💓💙💛💙💛💙💓💓💓

Ralph: My woman had a problem and I solved it. W: (looks to Paige) I don’t know where he got that. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Aww Flo!!! She’s just like them!

Walter’s still working on that love song! EEK!!!

P: Well? W: Well what? P: Look at me, Walter. I don’t have any of my beauty products which is why I need all that stuff now. W: (stares) I see absolutely no difference. P: Are you kidding me? W: No. All I see is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I truly see no difference. 😍💙😍💙😍💙😍💙😍💙😍💙😍 WAIGE FEELS!!!

Okay guys! Paige and Walter wear a lot of blacks and blues. Could there be a theme?! Hmm, I wonder… 🤔

[applegelstore]

Orchestra AU thoughts in three charming parts

A few people voiced their interest, so I figured I could explain what’s actually behind the orchestra AU idea, since this one isn’t exactly a crossover with some other franchise, and therefore you can’t guess any context from what you know about the other part of the crossover :,D Feel free to skip, it’s just text, but if you wanna talk orchestra AU with me, please go ahead! Warning, way too long post ahead (why did I spend an entire afternoon on this?):

PART 1 (basics)

The AU as such is the one where nothing hurts and everything is musical jokes (or musical sex jokes in Zaveid’s case) and shameless geeking. And it’s actually supposed to be a cross-Tales thing. With Rollo probably following Ludger wherever he goes like a dog, and nobody ever minds. And Phi probably following Velvet around, and nobody minds that, either.

So far I’ve deduced the ensemble from official material as follows:

Jr. Conductor: Cress

Jr. Jr. Conductor: Phi (in training, probably. THEN AGAIN CRESS SHOULD STILL BE IN TRAINING, TOO, HE’S 17, LIKE 90% OF ALL JRPG PROTAGONISTS EVER)

Solo Soprano: Tear, Lailah (not official, but try to fight me on these ladies)

Solo Bass: Zaveid (come on, he’s bass)

Solo Piano: Mikleo (this isn’t official either, but you can try to pry the “Mikleo plays piano” headcanon from my cold, dead hands)

Violin: Mint, Ludger, Sorey


Viola: Alisha (I guess it’s supposed to be another violin, BUT IT LOOKS SO BIG)

Cello: Velvet

Double bass: Richard

Flute: Milla, Mikleo

Clarinet: Rose (and probably abusing it to stab people)

Trumpet: Jude, Elize, Dezel

Trombone: Eleanor

Percussion: Rokurou, Luke, Edna

As you can see, we don’t have a FULL orchestra yet, but we also have a fuckton of games left.

PART 2
 (what most of you are here for. The Sormik spinoff)

…Everything was plot- and painless, until my unhelpful brain decided that we need some Sormik spinoff, some sort of plot, and also some fantasy/dark fairytale shit because I always fall for that. Also there’s the thing that we never learn in the game who the heck Mikleo’s father is, so there was room to fill with AU material. So, some of you may know that I’m a huuuuuge Seventh Wonder fan. If you didn’t, now you know. Seventh Wonder are super duper fucking amazing, and Tommy Karevik is a god. …Ah pretty ripped hipster teddybear god. Okay, back to topic. So there’s this song, King of Whitewater, which is about a water spirit luring in children (…and their relatives) with beautiful violin melodies. From this general theme, my unhelpful brain deduced the following, dark fairytale-ish concept:

When she’s still young and naive, Muse meets the very lonely water spirit. Eventually, she feels pity for him and falls in love with him. But sooner or later she misses a normal human’s life in a normal human town, and when he doesn’t let her get away and turns violent, she runs away, highly pregnant. She refuses to tell anyone who’s the father; the only one he trusts is Michael, who agrees to help her raise the child, too. They hope everything will be well. Yeah, you all know who that child is. Anyway, the water spirit is pretty heartbroken, and that makes him even more violent, and also feel betrayed for that yet unborn child. And from that day on, starts luring in little children who never see the light of day again.

Muse doesn’t know about this. And leads a normal life, believing she escaped.

All is fine until someday during a scouting trip in the woods between Camlann and Elysia, little Sorey and Mikleo get lost in the woods and accidentally find a mysterious (TM) lake. It’s surrounded by mist so thick they can hardly see anything, but all the time, soothing, beautiful violin music plays. Because that’s how the spirit lures in children. Because he wants his child back.

To which little Sorey of course violently disagrees, but it’s not like two little children had much of a chance to escape, so Mikleo talks the spirit into a compromise: stealing children isn’t okay, no matter the circumstances. At least wait til I’m of age. And please stop killing other children in the meantime. The spirit agrees and lets them go. Sorey is of course a crying mess. Somehow through his tears and apologies he manages to promise Mikleo that the spirit won’t get him. And Mikleo trusts him. Problem is that the spirit isn’t exactly stupid either, so he enchants the children so they forget everything that happened instead of like, running for help. Oh, except the song (which is the violin solo in King of Whitewater btw). They never forget the song. They just forget how and where they learned it, and ever since that scout trip it’s their personal thing that they often play for fun, believing it to be some kind of nursery rhyme. And nobody ever suspects a thing.

Everything is perfect. Everything is beautiful. They grow up to be smart kids and with wonderful grades in school. They become marvelous musicians. They meet wonderful friends in high school. Of course they eventually start dating.

But then Mikleo’s 18th birthday draws near and for a couple of weeks, things get weird. He gets nightmares in which he drowns or gets lost in the mist, nightmares in which Sorey dies or simply gets missing, nightmares that he can’t make sense of. He hears the song all the time in his head, failing to remember where he’d learned it. The morning after his 18th birthday party, he wakes up in Sorey’s arms and everything ought to be great and perfect, but somehow it isn’t. He asks Sorey whether he remembers the song they learned as kids. Or how they learned it. What’s it called, even. He doesn’t know, but he remembers the song and plays it for Mikleo. And suddenly, bit by bit, Mikleo remembers. So does Sorey, but much slower.

Sorey leaves for college and Muse and Michael are already gone for work, but Mikleo stays in bed because he’s tired. Sorey has a bad feeling about this (TM) but leaves him be. Mistake. When he gets back home, Mikleo is nowhere to be found.

AND HERE’S THE PROBLEM. I’m stuck here. I have not the slightest idea how to fix this and stop Mikleo from getting lost in a lake in the woods for the rest of his life. Sure, okay, Muse and Sorey violently disagree, BUT WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT IT. Violent violin battles are some of the less ridiculous “solutions” that have come to my mind so far.

If anybody knows how to give this thing a happy ending that doesn’t involve any deus ex machina moves from any end, I’d be grateful.

The worst thing about this is that experience tells me that I’d have zero trouble to actually leave Mikleo lost in the forest for the rest of his life if this was one of my original stories. Most of them are made of pain and suffering, seasoned with cute animals and super-natural shit for balance.

PART 3 (random Sormik related tidbits)

-Camlann is a tiny, mountaineous town which they love very dearly -they have to travel quite a bit each morning for high school and college (the former where they meet the rest of the squad) and later on to study some music or history related, they still visit their families often because they like it so much -I kinda want Selene to retain her maiden’s name and make it Shepherd for the sole purpose that Zaveid can then continue calling Sorey Sheps -also I came up with this bit about their living situation -shortly before Sorey and Mikleo start dating, they borrow the keys to a concert rehearsal room at some point, so they can practice their grand piano/violin duet a bit (Mikleo only has a piano at home, not a grand piano). It’s gonna be part of a huge concert thing, so it’s only one part of the show with an entire orchestra and occasionally other solos or duets -a hurricane cuts off all public transport for the evening and the entire night, and it’s also goddamn dangerous not to have a roof over your head for the time being -so they’re trapped in the rehearsal room until morning when the storm has subsided and public transport is also working again -once they’re too tired to actually practice once the evening gets late (like. very late. more like middle of the night/morning), they abide their time watching the storm through the rehearsal room’s hugeass windows -at some point, sleepy hormone rushes favor the confession and kissing bit -they have fond memories of thunderstorms afterwards -when she eventually hears about the thing, Rose is hollering with laughter because she probably had bets going that it would take them getting locked up in a room to finally confess and make out after years of mutual oblivious pining. She wasn’t entirely wrong, and probably made lots of bucks with her bet -anyway, when they finally perform their duet weeks later, the entire audience agrees that their duet was one of the evening’s highlights, and Sorey probably spends all evening smiling like an idiot and happily holding Mikleo’s hand -considering that the whole thing could be shamelessly crossover-y, I might get flutist!Milla giving flutist!Mikleo kindly big sister advise feelings (no, not relationship advise, because she’s the worst at that. Hey, not everything has to be Sormik-related) -not sure whether she’s still a vessel for Maxwell, but if lake spirits are a thing, why shouldn’t Maxwell be a thing -fun fact: I hate suits.

[kimmypaw12]

Should I write this yugioh fanfic????

Lol sorry for the alarming title but thats literally how I feel but ok straight to the point (This is going to start out as a bit of a long explanation so if u wanna cut to the chase to the story I'll have this **** to show where my story summary begins ) I wanna write a yugioh fanfic and I like to write story's that's start out happy then In the middle make it anxiety and sad then end it on a happy note if not, go straight into the anxiety/ depression and have the main character suffer right until the end but this story, they story I'm thinking of writing It makes me wanna cringe but at the same time I wanna shot for it and see how it turns out I wanna know if anyone would actually read it or would wanna read so Plzs let me know But alright I'll stop yapping and explain my story But first just to inform u (this is important) in middle school I wrote a fanfic about yugioh with my own oc involved they oc was a white wolf named akira that was supposedly Yugi's guardian. (Born where then tomb gaurdians were like marik) she was Created to help and support yugi to help him help return the pharaoh home (yeah I know it sounds bad but geez it was my first fanfic and I was in middle school. the years where start creative writing so don't make fun of me Plzs lol) anyway I never finished the story but it's still in my fanfic account XD if u are interesting which I doubt u are But u can just note Me or comment under and I'll send u a link, Lmao ******* But yeah the story I wanna write - (I'm not going to actually add this part in they story well maybe but) yugi has been having dreams of this white dog in his life as if it was an old friend to him, they were good dreams but yugi never knew who the white dog was (That part will be a quick introduction into the story but I'm going to make it like "this is how it could have been or it's a seep of a another dimension crossing into his, just something that happened else were but just not here. Do u follow lol?) Anyway (I'll say it as many times as necessary) One day walking home from school yugi pondering over his dreams he sees these kids acting weird off to the side in an ally to learn there beating up this dog with a rock, basically bashing its head over and over, this small defenseless white puppy! Yugi shouts at them to stop, the run for it and toss the rock off to the side It's cover in blood; yugi rushes over to the pup as it's lying on its side whimpering Yugi immediately noticed It looked like the dog yugi has been dreaming about and he also noticed her wearing a collar. Her tag reads only her name Amira (which cause yugi to wince as he remembers the name from his dreams as well) the color and tag are Covered in blood, blood stains all over the pups body The wounds still bleeding of course as Amira's white fur is consumed In red/pink The dog still breathing Just Barely and she's hardly moving, the small figure loosing lots of blood by the second so Yugi picks up The dog and heads to the vet which happens to lead near home but on the way she dies before yugi could even passes his house (the dog gives yugi a friendly lick before passing away just a btw) . Yugi cries of course as he decides to just go straight home with the dead dog to meet grandpa and yami' worried expressions They bury the dog in the back yard with the name akira carved into a small tomb stone. (I though about this and I feel like it be a way of me putting my first old story to rest lol if that makes sense) And do u wanna know why this came to me!!!! First off I was watching the channel ID all day today and was watching one episode of a series called fear the neighbor, and in this particular episode this old guy was killing this one guy with a gun then when he ran out of bullets! He then bashed his gun into the wounded man the used a cement block instead over and over like geez talk about over kill Surprising the man was alive for a bit before sercoming to death Abd the second reson was becuz in this one anime Scene I found on youtube I watched these kids kill a innocent puppy to death just to bully this one girl (the girl was taking care of the pup after school everyday) Out of anger fear and sadness she kills them with some physic power with out having to touch them I was like holy sh** and wanted to cry over the non existing puppy That's when everything clicked and I though about my tragic story I wanna cry about it but at the sane time i just wanna do it but I want U guys oppinion Plzs give me advise

[kennethherrerablog]

How to stop negative self talk (& finally reach your potential)

I’ve had the privilege of talking to many top performers and I’ve found one thing that stops them from reaching their full potential is how they talk to themselves. It may not seem like much, but negative self talk can be the one thing preventing you from living your dream life. 

But it doesn’t have to. You can start today and shift that hurtful self talk into something more positive. The way you talk to yourself can become a vehicle that helps you reach your goals instead of a barrier preventing you from obtaining them. 

Before we get into tactics, let’s take a look at how negative self talk affects us at a deep level. 

Btw, I have a video where I answer some questions about negative self talk. You can watch it below. 

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How negative self talk is hurting you

Do any of the below excuses sound familiar to you?

“I could never do that, I’m just not built for…”

“I never follow through, so I’m just not going to start”

“Why would anyone listen to me? I don’t have enough experience”

If they sound familiar it’s because negative self talk is something we’ve all experienced at one time or another. In fact, I dealt with this same issue not too long ago. If you’re new to IWT you probably don’t know this, but I used to be 40lbs lighter. Just picture it, I was 5’11’’ and 127lbs — I basically had the body of a female super model. 

During that time I would literally say to myself “I can’t be as big as those white guys. I’m just not built like that”. I literally used race to justify me being skinny. And I came to this conclusion without carefully considering different diets and workout plans. I didn’t even think to ask a friend to help me create a healthy diet or even advise on lifting weights. 

I didn’t do any of the things a rational human would do. Instead, I went to the gym, looked at the other fit guys, and did a half ass job until I concluded that my physique goals weren’t possible for me. 

How many of us do this exact thing?

We say “Oh, I could never look like that” or “I could never have that job”. 

We all do this. And the worst part is negative self talk is such a deep issue we don’t even notice we’re doing it. I certainly didn’t when I was complaining about being skinny. To make matters worse I actually used to joke about being skinny to cope. But I quickly realized there was nothing funny about the situation. The reality is, engaging in this type of self talk quickly turns into a self fulfilling prophecy. Whether or not it’s a joke doesn’t matter, the result is the same.  

In order for us to experience a better life we have to envision better for ourselves. We have to speak it when we talk to ourselves. 

Let’s get into what you can do to start eliminating negative self talk from your life. 

How to stop negative self talk

1. Subtly shift negative self talk

The first way to prevent negative self talk is to slightly change the narrative. Let’s take my fitness example from above. Instead of saying “I can’t gain muscle because I’m a skinny Indian” I could shift that self talk by saying “I’m going to try to find a way to make this fitness thing work for me”. 

Notice how I wasn’t extreme. My change in narrative shifted to curiosity instead of being certain that it couldn’t work. 

The same principle works for those of us who tend to make self deprecating jokes. It may seem harmless, but joking about being incapable of doing something has the same unintended consequence as negative self talk — it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. 

So what’s the alternative?

The best approach I’ve found for this is to turn self deprecating jokes into self aggrandizing jokes. Let’s use my previous gym woes as an example. 

Instead of me going to the gym and making jokes about being a skinny indian, I can instead take the same situation and say something like, “I’m sure that workout just added an extra 10lbs to my frame.” I’m still making a joke, but what I’m saying is building me up instead of tearing me down. 

Now I want you to try and do the same. Take something you’ve had negative self talk around and shift the narrative slightly to be more empowering. 

Instead of saying “I can’t do x”, shift that and say “Let me do some research to see how I can make x happen”. 

Doing so will motivate you to action and free you from negative feelings of guilt. 

Aside from changing the narrative, there is another way to rid yourself of negative self talk. 

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2. Be careful who you listen to

A lot of the time our negative self talk isn’t self generated, but rather memories of what other people have said to us in the past. This could be from a friend, family member, or some rando on the street. 

The fact is many people are critics of us and their criticisms can manifest in direct ways or subtle ways. For example, someone can criticize you by being very direct by saying you don’t have enough experience. On the other end of the spectrum, they can do what I call “concern trolling” and play the role of someone who’s worried about you. 

The result is still the same — both lead to negative self talk. The best way to avoid this situation is to determine who is worth listening to, and who should be ignored. 

Not too long ago I was hiring someone to redesign something for my apartment and I had to interview a few candidates. One of them noticed I was an author and started asking me questions. When she discovered my books were focused on personal finance she asked “so what are your credentials”?

I responded by telling her how successful my students have been with my material, but this answer didn’t satisfy her. She responded with “yea, but what are your actual credentials”. The assumption underneath her question was that I needed to have special credentials in order to talk about the subject of personal finance, regardless of the results my students have gotten. Needless to say, she didn’t get the job. 

Now in this situation I noticed myself wanting to argue with her, but what was the point? This lady and her opinion aren’t important to me. Now if she was from the NYT and wanted to interview me, then I would take the request seriously. I have credentials that I would share at an appropriate time, but this lady wasn’t someone important in my life so I simply ignored her. 

That’s what you’ll have to do in your life to help you fight against negative self talk. Get to a place where you’re able to give attention to the important people in your life and ignore the opinions of the rest. 

Now what if the people who are criticizing you are your parents or loved ones? You can’t just ignore them, righ? While I wouldn’t recommend simply ignoring your mother, there are ways to address their criticisms without allowing it to turn into negative self talk. 

I’ll give you an example. 

Let’s say you want to start a business and your parents say, “that’ll never work. Why don’t you just get a real job?”

One approach is to co-opt their fears and say, “You know what? I’m not sure if this will work, but I think it’s worth a shot. If you were in my shoes, how would you approach it?” Now they’re on your side instead of against you.

Another approach is to say, OK, instead of getting mad and storming out of dinner, I’m going to ask them what they think…what they wish they had done when they were younger…and what’s the BEST and WORST that could possibly happen. Gently guide the conversation in the right direction instead of walking in guns blazing.

See the difference?

You’re in control. Not the world. Not society. Not even your parents. It’s your responsibility to not allow people to prevent you from living the life you want. Best part is, this is a habit that will become easier and more intuitive the more you use it. 

Ending the habit of negative self talk for good

Negative self talk is a bad habit that can absolutely be redeemed if you put the right systems in place. Remember: Subtly shift the self talk and be careful who you listen to. 

But negative self talk isn’t the only bad habit we have. In fact, there’s a whole list of bad habits we all engage in that can lower the quality of your life. That’s why I put together this free resource that will help you end bad habits and build good ones. 

If you’re ready to take control of your habits, just click the link below and enter your email.

Download my Ultimate Guide to Habits to get started TODAY.

How to stop negative self talk (& finally reach your potential) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

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