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serendipityjxmn · 4 years ago

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Mr. President

Chapter 20

TW: Explicit violence, mentions of guns, drugs trafficking, gory killing scene

Words Count: 3k

Link to Masterlist

Link to Chapter 21

At first, you’re more like a property to him. He learned that the only way he can keep something or someone around for a long time, is if he treats them like a property. Because human’s feelings change, and he needs to protect himself from hurting.

Everything that he’s told you, the reason behind the marriage, the purpose of you are all true.

He needs to marry anyway, as one of the stupid ancient condition his old father has set and he knows his father had set it to make him stay grounded.

He scoffs, wondering why his father doesn’t learn from his past mistakes. And that’s why he’s made a plan on his own, to marry someone without a powerful background, one he can easily dispose when it’s time, one who won’t be a liability to him. A tool.

And now that tool is missing. He pinches his temple, eyes shut close. He’s alone in his office, late at night because he doesn’t sleep well these days.

Since his wife had packed her bags, left him and gone missing.

He sighs thinking about the last argument he had with you. It’s your own fault for building castles in the air and mistaking those as his genuine gesture and fall in love with him. And he realises that because he is not stupid. And during that one night, he sees you, fully sees you and he can’t deny the desire it stirred in his mind. This may be a temporary marriage but it doesn’t mean that he can’t touch you. After all, you are his wife. He knows you are beautiful, he’d known it since the first day because he isn’t blind. Yet he knows he can’t touch you without your consent. Although he did slip up because he tends to lose his vigilance around you. And that’s how he came up with another proposal.

Yet the proposal took a very different turn and became your last straw to leave him.

He couldn’t believe that you’re stupid enough to fall in love with him. Don’t you fear him? You know he’s dangerous yet you still confess your love to him and he doesn’t know whether to worship you at your feet or spanks you for it.

He’s never led you on and has never failed to remind what you are to him, simply an object yet you still fall for him.

He lets out another heavy sigh. Because frankly, he doesn’t know what to do. All of these aren’t supposed to happen and you’re not supposed to love him.

He had put up barriers and boundaries around himself and that’d made it very hard for anyone to simply approach him. People don’t approach him unless they want something from him and he’s well aware of it because he knows how the world works. Not to mention the fact that he’s the leader of the biggest mafia gang, notorious for all sorts of services they offer; machinery, assassinations, bribery, illegal weaponry, drugs trafficking and namely everything else. That had made it a billion times more difficult for anyone to approach or him to let anyone in.

And you’re well aware of it.

But you still fall for him.

He just doesn’t get it; how you’re able to fall for him despite knowing who he is and what he’s capable of.

He scoffs thinking how he could easily kill you. You’re too soft, weak and fragile.

Yet you still fall for him.

Despite knowing how easily he could kill you.

And without asking for anything in return.

And Jimin doesn’t find that believable at all. And at the face of such genuine adoration, he doesn’t know what to do. Because who on earth would be stupid enough to do that?

But you did. You are his stupid wife.

And that makes it even easier to kill you, not just by him. And the thought of anyone laying a finger on you angers him. It makes him want to kill someone. Tear their limbs one by one. Burn them alive. There’s just too many options.

But first he has to find you.

He sighs, for the hundredth time. You’re such a headache.

And that’s when his phone rings. A call from a private number.

“If it isn’t Y/N’s beloved husband..”

Jimin could feel his whole body tensing. “Who are you?”

The person from the other end laughs. “Damn, I need to come find you more often so you’d remember. You beat me into a pulp before.. and now I want leverage. You think you can just take my sister for free?“

Jimin’s hand clamp in a tight fist. “Jay.”

“You remember.. not bad. You see, when you take my little sister, you’ve caused me some complications. You can say she’s my source of income. She’s a pretty slut, no denying that. And I could’ve earned fortunes from selling her off. And you-“

“How much do you want?” Jimin cuts him off.

“Ah.. you’re a smart man.” He laughs before his tone turns serious again. “100 million won would do. For now. And don’t bullshit me saying you don’t have money or whatever. I know you have that much.”

“Where should I meet you?”

“I’ll text you the time and place. And don’t think of calling the police or bring your little friends. I have someone powerful backing me. She’s my little sister, but I’m not gonna hesitate to do anything if you don’t listen to my words. Right, little sister?”

A shrieking scream piercing through the phone is the last thing Jimin hears before Jay hangs up. Jimin’s whole body filled with rage and he grips his phone so tight it almost breaks into two.

“He’s not gonna come...” you slur, your vision not entirely clear and your swollen lips making it hard to enunciate words once Jay finishes his phone call to your husband.

“We’ll see about that bitch. And if he doesn’t.. count your time now..” he says in full malicious tone.

You don’t know how long you’ve been knocked out again but you wake up when you hear commotions.

“And the knight is finally here.” You hear your brother’s voice.

You struggle to focus on your vision. Your whole body freezes when your husband comes into view.

There’s no way Jimin’s here.

Perhaps it’s just a hallucination.

It’s a whole level of pathetic, you think. Because even when you’re in this state, he’s all you could see.

Perhaps you’re really nearing the end of your life, and your mind conjures whatever it desperately wants the most.

“Clara, what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” The person hisses.

And it’s weird because it’s your husband’s voice.

You blink several times.

And there really is your husband, walking into the warehouse alone. He can’t had possibly willingly walks into a lion’s den alone like that? It’s like a death wish.

Clara turns immediately as soon as she sees Jimin. “Ah.. Jimin.. my Jimin..”

Someone comes and pushes Jimin forward and makes him sit on a chair and tie his hands on his back.

You swallow thickly. You still can’t process the fact that your husband is here.

He finally turns to look at you and he stares at you for several moments, just taking in the sight of battered you covered in bruises and blood and you see the clench in his jaw.

You let out a gasp when the guy standing beside him takes out his gun and points the muzzle on the back of his head. You feel anger bubbling inside you at the sight of it.

Gathering all source of strength, you yell, “Leave my husband out of this Jay!”

Jay quickly steps forward and leaves a stinging slap on your cheek. “If you dare hurt him..” you start and earns another slap from him, making you whimper in pain. You cough several times, your throat feels like burning.

Jimin eyes you furiously. “Keep quiet. Don’t make any sound.” He says, jaw still clenched very tightly. “Clara, what the fuck is this? Why are you here?”

She comes and slowly sits on Jimin’s lap. You notice how he doesn’t flinch away or jerk from her touch. “Baby.. we’ve dealt for years.. good business, good sex. And then you’re suddenly married and you just.. I don’t know, changed?” She says as she runs her fingers across your husband’s cheek.

Jimin just glares at her. “Why did you help him?”

She runs her hand down from his cheeks to his jaw and then settles on his chest, palms flat against them. She shrugs then. “I don’t know.. you know I’m a little crazy. I like having fun. And things.. had been boring. Business is boring, you are boring.. and perhaps I’m trying to put you in place a little, you asshole.” She glares at him.

He gives a very murderous look. “I’m gonna make sure you regret this.”

She leans closer. “Awww shh baby.. I’m not gonna hurt your precious little wife..” and closer. You realize she’s about to kiss him and you hastily look away. You don’t want the last memory you have of your husband before you die is being kissed by another woman. She gets up from his lap, fingers still faintly brushing him everywhere. Then she smirks. “But maybe he will.” She laughs and then exits through the door.

“Did you come with what I ask for?” Jay asks and Jimin juts his chin towards a large black duffel bag on the floor beside him that you hadn’t realized. Jay grins. “Nice doing business with you.. brother in law.”

“Now let us go.” Jimin says.

Jay stops inspecting the money inside the bag and turns to look at him. “No, don’t think it’s that easy..” He signals something and one of his men comes forward. “See, perhaps you don’t really know my sister.. but let me tell you this. She is a fucking whore. And I’m gonna let her be a whore. And you.. you’re going to watch every single men here stick their dick into her pussy.”

Your whole body goes numb as soon as you hear that. Desperately, you glance at your husband. He doesn’t look at you but instead just stares at your brother. You’ve never seen him look so murderous before. Your eyes widen in panic when they pull you from the chair and then roughly push you till you’re kneeling on the floor on all four.

“J-Jimin-” you say, voice thick with desperation.

“Sshh.. shh little sister.. don’t worry.. perhaps your husband might even get hard from this. Don’t you want to please your husband?” Jay smirks.

You feel you eyes start to water when your brain reaches an end and think that there’s no way of escaping this.

He calls one of his men and several others starts to approach as well, all wearing the same look of lust. Jay grabs a handful of your hair and yank it backwards, forcing you to look up. “She’s all yours..”

The nearest guy smirks and licks his lips as he looks at you and starts to strip his pants. You look away immediately. You let out a cry when the guy kneels beside you and yanks your jeans down, exposing your bottom.

“No, no please, please-“ you start to beg and Jimin hisses.

“Keep your fucking mouth shut.” He grits. “Don’t beg.”

You look at him and find him staring right back at you.

“Just look at me.” He says and fresh set of tears run down your cheeks.

The guy smacks your behind making you cry in pain and you almost collapse to the ground but he holds your waist firmly, groping each side harshly. Then, you feel a hand slides from your shoulder towards your throat and slowly starts choking you.

Your head starts to spin from the lack of air supply and you want to scream so badly but no words could come out. The pressure on your throat is so immense and your lung starts to ache.

Then you see a knife hovering in front of you.

A moment of realization hits you that you’re really about to die and it suddenly makes it so imperative that you tell something to Jimin.

“J-Jimin- I love-“

But before you could finish your words, you hear people bursting the doors open and people in suits come rushing in large quantity.

You try to focus your vision on your husband.

His face is calm. Too calm.

Your sight moves towards the crowd rushing in again and briefly sees Taeseok among them and a rush of relief runs through you. The guy choking you eases his grip on your throat instantly as he gets distracted and you feel like collapsing immediately as you struggle to breath again.

Everything happens so quickly. Someone rushes to your husband’s side and unties him and then he’s beside you instantly while someone else unties you. You try your best to glance behind you and sees Jungkook frantically untying you after fixing your clothes.

“Y/N oh my god-“

Jimin quickly shrugs his coat off his shoulder and immediately covers you. He looks at you as he holds you tight. His embrace is so warm and you just want to close your eyes and lean against him. “Keep your eyes open, we’re getting out of here.” He says roughly.

You’re not entirely sure with your vision but you think someone gives Jimin a gun and he starts shooting at people and you freeze, sounds blaring so loudly in your ear. You let out a strangled scream and you squirm away under his embrace that he looks down immediately. Then he looks at Jungkook.

“Jungkook.” He says and Jungkook nods and you feel yourself slipping out of Jimin’s hold while Jungkook brings you flush against him.

For a moment, there are just sounds of guns, people screaming and punches being thrown.

Jungkook pulls you to the side where it’s safer but you just can’t shut your eyes when there’s too many things going on. You then try to focus on your husband. He’s a good few metres away from you and you couldn’t clearly see the face of the other person but you think Jimin’s holding the guy that was going to rape you just now. And then he shoots him right in the head without thinking. And then another shot right at his chest even though the guy’s already crumbling to the ground, lifeless.

Someone then comes up and thrusts your brother to Jimin, making him kneel in front of your husband. You don’t see it before but you now notice that he’s holding a knife on his right hand. Jay’s expression turns horror as Jimin nears him. And then slowly, your husband carves his face with the knife as your brother’s inhuman shriek fills the warehouse.

Your eyes go wide with horror as you watch the traumatising scene unfolds. You feel a scream bubbling from deep inside your throat yet they’re unable to escape from your lips. Your throat somehow still feels constricted.

“Holy fucking shit.” Jungkook mutters and you realize his grip on your arms tightens.

It’s slowly getting more quiet in the warehouse as most of your brother’s or Clara Kim’s men are now dead as they were hugely outnumbered by Jimin’s people. You then realize that he’s taking his time with your brother.

“What did you say you’re about to do to my wife? Cut out her face?” He chuckles. “Let me show you the real art.”

He leans close.

And then he carves your brother’s right eye out while he shrieks in pain.

“This is for touching my wife.”

And then he carves the other one.

“This is for messing with me.”

The scream finally escapes your lips.

“Fuck-“ Jungkook says and quickly covers your eyes and mouth.

The screaming doesn’t stop for a few more minutes and you think you’ll remember your brother’s inhuman scream till the day you die.

“Jimin stop it. She’s gonna get a trauma.” You hear someone says. Jin..?

You hear footsteps approaching you and then suddenly, Jungkook’s hand is being yanked away and your husband’s face comes into view. His forehead beaded with sweat and his expression furious.

You look at him in horror, frankly still traumatised and terrified at him.

But he doesn’t seem to notice. Instead, he thrusts a gun into your hand. “Do you want to kill him?”

Your panic immediately and clutched his arm desperately. “No, no please- let’s just go-“

“Ssh.. ssh I’m here.” He takes back the gun. “And we’re gonna get out of here.” He pulls you into his embrace, cocks the gun and fire a shot straight into Jay’s head.

Your entire body freeze. You watch in horror as your brother’s life starts seeping out, his breathing ragged until finally.. it stops.

“Good God- did you really have to shoot him in front of Y/N?” You hear Namjoon says.

“What?” Jimin asks, confused.

“God, you’re so stupid sometimes Park Jimin.” Yoongi says roughly.

Your husband finally turns to look at you and registers the paleness of your face. “Y/N, you okay?” He asks and then makes you stand to your feet. He keeps his hand steady on your waist and you’re thankful because you can’t feel your feet at all.

You don’t know how but from the corner of your eyes, you see someone who’s lying on the floor slowly lifts a gun and your eyes widen when you realize he’s aiming at your husband.

One of Jimin’s bodyguard sees it too and moves to kick the gun away and he did- but not before the guy cocks the gun and all the bodyguard manages to do is change the target, because the bullet hits you instead.

You fell to the ground immediately when the bullet cuts through your shoulder. It’s weird because it hurts so much that you almost feel nothing at all.

Jimin’s eyes widen when he sees you.

For a brief moment, you think you see your whole life flashes by in your mind very quickly.

If you die right now at the hands of your husband.. that you’d fallen in love with.. it doesn’t seem so bad..

You smile.

Then slowly, you bring your hand up to Jimin’s face to touch him one last time.

And then everything blacks out.

A/N: I rarely write post chapter notes because I’m afraid it would destroy your emotions lol but I just wanna thank everyone who had given support since day 1.. the story would not have come this far without the kind words you guys gave me. I feel a little bit emotional because we’re almost more than halfway through with their journey.. haha okay I’ll stop here. see you guys in the next chap! 🥰

Buy me a coffee here! 💜

Link to Chapter 21

Posted on 210516 9:00PM

#serendipityjxmn #serendipityjxmnmrpresident #mrpresident #mr president #bts fic #bts au #bts smut #jimin au #park jimin #parkjimin #kpop fic #jimin smut #jimin ceo #jimin mafia #bts mafia #jimin x reader

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riversofmars · 4 years ago

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Mirrorverse cut/alternate scenes

For @capybaraonabicycle, as promised, and anyone else that cares, 5k worth of cut and alternate scenes from “Through the Looking Glass”. Finally had a chance to sort through them lol. <3

Alternate version of Clara trying to convince 13 to help her

“Why would I trust you.“ The Doctor shook her head, finding it hard to believe that she thought her so naive.

“You know me, don’t you?“ Clara offered softly.

“I knew my Clara, I don’t know you.“ The Doctor replied firmly, reminding herself that there was a big difference, no matter how much she wanted to look into those big eyes and believe her.

“And your Clara, does she care about you?“ Clara asked leaning closer.

“Yes.“

“And I care about you, too.“ Clara reached out and cupped her cheek.

“Maybe you care about her, not me, you don’t know me.“ The Doctor pulled away defiantly.

“I’m finding you a lot easier to care for than her right now.“ Clara smiled softly. “Alright fine, you have no reason to trust me, I get that. How about you ask me some questions?“ She straightened herself up. “Get to know me. Maybe we can find a way forward together.“

“Did she ask you to speak to me?“ The Doctor needed confirmation.

“Yes.“ Clara nodded matter-of-factly.

“So she trusts you.“ The Doctor carried on.

“Absolutely.“ Clara agreed again.

“And you would still betray her?“ The Doctor couldn’t believe it but at the same time, she couldn’t discount the possibility. If this Clara was also a sort of evil counter part to her Clara, it certainly was something she should deem her capable of. And if she was capable of betraying someone that regarded her a trusted advisor, she was probably just as dangerous as the Emperor herself and not a suitable ally either.

“She’s gone too far. We all know it. Holds too little regard for those loyal to her…“ Clara explained.

“You mean to you.“ The Doctor deduced, trying to read between the lines.

“Let’s just say her moods swing… and her favour falls elsewhere.“ Clara answered.

“You’re jealous.“ The Doctor realised as slowly the pieces were falling into place. Clara shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

“Maybe.“

“But jealous of what? Or who? Do you want her power or her?“ The Doctor couldn’t read her expression, she just smirked, indicating she was getting close to the truth.

“So either, you want to punish her for ignoring you and go after her power. Or you’re trying to play me and you think if you can deliver me to her, her favour will fall to you? Which is it?“ The Doctor shot back firmly. “I’m fairly certain, whichever it is, you’ll have to go through River first.“

(…)

“Maybe we can topple them, you and me, no-one would have to know you’re not her… Why don’t you stay for a little while Doctor? Believe me, I’m the closest you will get to having your friend back and I think we can help each other, a lot…“

“You can’t be serious.“ The Doctor tried to pull away.

“She doesn’t appreciate me. I think you and I can have a much better relationship and help each other out. There are things I want and perhaps, if you were to stick around and work with me, we can both get what we want…“

(…)

“How long has your wife been dead now? When did you last see her? Must have been quite some time.

“Please, stop.“ The Doctor averted her eyes quickly.

“Oh darling, I’ll be gentle with you.“ Clara smirked, reaching out for her cheek to make her face her again.

(…)

This time the Doctor managed to push her over and free herself. She scrambled to her feet putting some distance between them and Clara sighed exasperated. She stood and her demeanour was changed, she dropped her act.

“What you’re doing here, what she is doing… you know it’s insane right? You said it. It needs to stop.“ The Doctor exclaimed.

“And you think I should put an end to it?“ Clara tilted her head in amusement.

“You could, with the quantum shade… have you never been tempted.“ The Doctor gestured towards her while Clara idle ran her fingers along the swirls of the tattoo.

“Oh Doctor, there are beings even a Quantum Shade won’t cross.“ Clara laughed as if it was a preposterous suggestion. “Besides, it’s treason, to even suggest it.“

“You were trying to rope me into your scheme only a moment ago, all lies then?“ The Doctor bit back.

“I thought you might be sympathetic to the cause.“ Clara shrugged and sat back down. She crossed her legs and spread her arms out to rest them on the back of the sofa. She regarded the Doctor who looked back at her with disdain.

“You’re all as bad as each other.“ The Doctor growled, scolding herself for being tempted to believe her at one point. “I’m already marked for death, aren’t I.“ She touched her hand to the back of her neck.

“Not by me. Not yet anyway.“ Clara hummed.

“I think the Quantum Shade would find my life rather hard to extinguish as well.“ The Doctor tried her best to sound confident in that fact. Surely her unlimited regenerations should be difficult for the Shade to deal with.

“Perhaps.“ Clara didn’t seem to care one way or another. “So Doctor, what do you think? Can we become fast friends.“

“I don’t know what game you’re playing but… either you will report everything back to her or you truly are working your own agenda in which case, I wouldn’t give you the information either.“ The Doctor shot back and looked around, finding herself in an almost identical situation as she had been with the Emperor. The only exception was that Clara remained seated and fully composed, her expression unreadable. Where the Emperor had been quick in her temper and cruel in the execution, Clara appeared devoid of all emotion now, cool and collected, unnervingly so.

“That’s a shame, Doctor, a real shame. I was so hopeful that you would listen to reason…“ Clara said at last. “But I should have guessed, you’re just as stubborn as her, aren’t you… You have more in common than you realise.“ She mused. “Your bullheadedness will be your downfall.“

“Have you ever seen her fall down?“ The Doctor shot back, anger rising inside her. They kept making fun of her, kept painting her as weak and pathetic, even though they didn’t know the first thing about her. Clara tilted her head raising her eyebrows, waiting for her point. “Because if we have one thing in common it’s that I always win as well.“

“We will see about that.“ Clara chuckled and got to her feet at last. “I promise you, that won’t be the last injury you sustain here…“ She pointed to her shoulder as she strolled towards her.

“I’m not scared of you.“ The Doctor bit back, standing her ground.

“Then you are very brave and very stupid indeed.“ Clara laughed and came to a halt in front of her. “Do have a think about it, Doctor. Think about who you want to cooperate with. Maybe if you chose to trust me, we could at least have something together…“ She smoothed the collar of her coat and the Doctor pulled away.

“I’ve never liked Clara in that way.“

“Oh, I know… Doesn’t change the way I feel though, does it.“ Clara sighed, her expression unreadable. “And it has no bearing on this dilemma of yours… How about we talk again tomorrow, have a good long think about it?“ As if on cue, the Monk stepped back into the room.

“I don’t think we have anything else to discuss.“ The Doctor retorted icily, determined to have the final word. She turned making her way to the door. The Monk nodded to Clara, indicating he would take it from here while the Doctor voluntarily switched the deception filter back on as she stepped out of the room. She just needed to get out of there and walked down the corridor they had come, breathing more easily.

Alternate version of 13 scheming with the rebels

13: “How can I help you?“

Missy: “Well, you do look like her…“

Monk: “We have informants around the palace too, they can keep us up to date with the Emperor’s movements.“

13: “You want me to impersonate her?“

Monk: “You would be able to move around the palace freely, you just… need to change your mannerisms a bit…“

13: “And what would you want me to do?“

Missy: “There is only one thing the Emperor truly cares about, just one.“

13: “River.“

Missy nodded.

Manton: “She wasn’t always like that you know? She was with us once.“

13: “You kidnapped her?“

Manton: “We’re not proud of it but… we were kind to her, we raised her well and she wanted to help us, she despised what her parents were, what this world was like…“

13: “But she fell in love with her.“

Missy: “And with the power.“

13: “Just one different choice…“ “In my universe, River was also taken from Amy and Rory… and she was raised to kill me. But she chose not to.“

Manton: “Maybe it’s still there, you know? Maybe she’ll see…“

The Doctor shook her head. River’s love for the Doctor had undone any hold the Silence had had on her, this would be no different.

13: “River would have died… did die… for me. She would do the same for her. You won’t turn her to your side in the same way as they were never able to turn her back against me.“

Missy: “She is her only weakness, Doctor.“

13: “Her weakness is her disregard for everyone else, her selfishness, her cruelty.“

Missy: “You might think that, but that’s to the reality we live in. It’s survival of the fittest, everyone else bows or gets cut down.“

13: “We will see about that.“

Missy: “So you will help us.“

13: “If you tell me what I can do, I will.“

Manton: “The easiest thing, surely, would be to have her replace her.“

Missy: “No she needs to get back home.“

13: “I can’t stay here and I don’t want that responsibility.“

Monk: “And that’s what will make you a kind and just…“

13: “No, I need to get back.“

Manton: “Who says you will find a way back? There hasn’t been a crossing in hundreds of years, yours was an accident, you don’t even know if you will ever find a way back.“

13: “I have to! I can’t stay here, I can’t… She them, see her, like that, every day, I can’t bare it.“

13 and talking to a lucid Kovarian about the universe’s past

Kovarian: “They stole a TARDIS and travelled the universe cause they were bored, found a species they liked in humans… so much violence, fighting each other, needless wars, destruction of their planet… They would rob banks and wreak havoc, gave them a taste for it… And then came the Time War…“

13: “What happened?“

K: “The Doctor destroyed them all… the Daleks… wiped them from the face of the universe…“

13: “It isn’t just a trick or…“

K: “Oh no, Doctor, they still tell stories about it… all that destruction…“

13: “And that’s when the Empire started expanding?“

K: “Oh no, that’s when the Timelords decided they had enough. Not even them, a race known for it’s hunger for power and dominance, could stomach it. So they exiled them. The war hero, the butcher. And they disappeared into a little bubble universe.“ “If anything, it only fuelled their fire more… That’s when they returned to Earth and they found the people who now reside by their side now… They all have their own stories with them.“ “That’s when they met Amy and Rory and things began to spiral. They were so perfectly matched… That’s when the stories started… do you… in your universe, does the Pandorica mean anything to you.“

13: “The Pandorica contains the mightiest warrior in history. There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.“

K: “They didn’t have a name anymore, stopped calling themselves the Doctor… they’d just… go from world to world and destroy and conquer…“

13: “It didn’t start with Gallifrey then?“

K: “If anything, it ended with Gallifrey.“

13: “Where are all the Timelords? This is Gallifrey, is it not?“

K: “Of course it is.“ “But do you think she would forgive them for casting her out, if you do, you’re even more naive than I thought… They returned eventually and of course they found them… And took her revenge… She left the general alive… killed their families instead… had them swear their allegiance…“

13: “It’s no wonder they despise her…“

K: “They are too scared to do anything… there is plotting and scheming but she is the most powerful being in this universe and surrounded by people she trusts… with River and Clara… She’s far too powerful.“

13: “Has no-one ever tried to stop her.“ “What have you been doing this whole time?“

K: “We tried, we really did…“

13: “River…“

K: “Did something similar happen in your universe?“

13: “You could say that…“ “Did you…“

K: “We’re not proud of it… to take someone’s child but… we raised her well, we looked after her, surely it was a better childhood than she would have had growing up amongst that violence… and she started out wanting to help but…“

13: “She fell in love with them… some things seem to be inevitable, no matter the timeline or universe.“

K: “That was when we lost, Doctor. When she turned on us, all hope was lost.“

13: “All hope?“ She looked to Missy who was dishing out food.

K: “Missy, yes, she tries… we do our best to look after the people here but it’s been a long time since any of us have tried to do anything. But the voices of unrest are getting louder. They just don’t look after their empire. You can’t just keep conquering, you have to look after you people as well, rule if you have to, but look after you people.“ “Maybe you arrival can spark something…“

13: “I doubt that very much…“

K: “I think you’ve already done something.“

13: “What?“

“Look around you Doctor.“

Cut flashback to the Pandorica

“What the hell are we doing here?“ Amy stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. Earth. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. How boring.

“Just following an invitation“. The Doctor answered ignoring her displeasure.

“Who from?“ Rory asked, equally as annoyed as his girlfriend.

“A very special someone.“ The Doctor replied with a sense of excitement.

“Not the one with the hair again.“ Amy groaned.

“What can I say, she intrigues me.“ He smirked.

“And what exactly are you planning on doing here? This seems really bloody boring in comparison to what we usually do.“ Amy huffed looking around the countryside.

“Well, it can’t all be burning down civilisations and bathing in riches now, can it.“ The Doctor chuckled. Though he couldn’t deny, he was rather sceptical himself. Usually, an invitation from River Song spelled excitement. The rolling British countryside seemed the complete opposite.

“We’re literally just here so you can get laid, aren’t we?“ Rory rolled his eyes and the Doctor shrugged.

“Hello Sweetie.“ A voice sounded behind them and the Doctor grinned. About time.

“Ah we were just talking about you.“ He smirked looking around. He looked River Song up and down appreciatively. Oh how he longed to work out this woman’s secrets. They had met a few times now and with every meeting, his intrigue grew. “I like your guns.“ He observed.

“Is that a euphemism?“ River smirked and stepped closer.

“Yeah, we’re here too, by the way.“ Amy huffed. “What are we doing here?“

“I have a present for you.“ River answered her question but addressed the Doctor who’s grin widened.

“Are you the present cause that’s certainly something I would appreciate.“ He smirked.

“The Pandorica is here…“ He answered in amusement.

“The Pandorica is a fairytale.“ He laughed.

“What’s the Pandorica?“ Amy raised her eyebrows, it sounded as though things might get interesting after all.

“It’s said the Pandorica contains the mightiest warrior in history. There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless terrible thing, soaking in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.“

11: “If the shoe fits.“

River: “A nameless thing… What do you call yourself these days?“

11: “Haven’t decided. Sweetie always works.“

River: “Alright, Sweetie. Everything that’s ever hated you is coming here tonight, looking for the Pandorica.“

11: “That’s my kind of date night.“

Amy: “I think I’m gonna be sick.“

Alternate version of 13 making out with Mirror!River while pretending to be the Emperor

Mirror!River: “I’m glad you’re okay…“

13: “Did you worry about me?“

“You know I did…“ She pressed a firm kiss to her lips, it was full of relief and devotion and it took the Doctor’s breath away. She returned the kiss, knowing if the didn’t she would be found out but she couldn’t control the feelings it invoked inside her. It isn’t fair. How was she alive and her River wasn’t? It was cruel. “They tried to take you from me so many times, so every time I worry that maybe…“ River broke off, she couldn’t finish the thought and the Doctor looked into her eyes, shook to the core by the depth of the emotion in her eyes. How was someone like her capable of it? How did someone like the Emperor deserve this level of devotion? It wasn’t just jealously and frustration, it was anger and rage that bubbled up inside the Doctor. This wasn’t fair. She envied their life together. It wasn’t about their power or the lifestyle but the simple fact of them being able to be together. Staying together. In a linear fashion. They had everything her and River never did and never would. How did she get to live and her River had had to die? No good deed goes unpunished. Maybe the Emperor had been right. Maybe they had all been making the wrong choices all along. Why couldn’t they have made the selfish choice? Just once? The Doctor felt herself being dragged down in a spiral of emotion.

She lunged forward and kissed River deeply, forcefully, passionately, with no small measure of aggression. She knocked her into the wall and River gasped in surprise, her eyes widened in shock. She wanted to say something but the Doctor didn’t give her the opportunity. She pushed her hands into her air. God, how she missed that feel of her soft curls around her fingers. She ripped her head back and River actually whimpered, part pain, part arousal. The Doctor kissed her again, pulling at her lip with her teeth. She brought her hand up and curled it around her throat.

“You underestimate me.“ The Doctor growled and tightened her grip on her. River pushed herself against her and the Doctor felt herself loosing her inhibitions. What did she have to lose? She was already trapped in a terrible nightmare. She had failed at bringing her wife back, she probably wouldn’t get another chance now, if she ever managed to get back home at all. And here was this River, alive, breathing, gasping, whimpering, as she held her close. Beautiful, intoxicating River Song. How, perhaps, wasn’t even all that different from the woman she loved. They all carried both light and dark inside them, she was beginning to see that now. She hated her for being the one that lived.

Was it wrong to take out her emotions on her? Who was there to judge her? This was the closest she could get for being with River again. Not to mention it was her most convincing play.

“I’m sorry for doubting you.“

“You will be.“

Alternate/cut scenes from the Wedding flashback

Kovarian: “It’s from River…“

Manton: “Why would she be contacting us now?“

K: “It’s an invitation…“

M: “We can’t trust her, since Berlin, she’s… there are so many reports of her meddling through time and space, bumping into the Doctor, causing chaos together…“

K: “And now they’re getting married.“

M: “They what?“

K: “It’s an invitation to their wedding. On the planes of Utah, April 22nd, 2011, 5pm.“

M: “It’s a trap.“ “Why else send us this?“

K: “Unless… what if after all this time, she’s finally realised. We raised her well, we tried. What if she’s realised that what they’re doing is wrong and she's giving us a last shot at stopping him.“ “And even if it is a trap… we have never been able to catch up with him, at least this time we know where he’s going to be, we can’t pass up this opportunity.“ “Well, what does one wear to the wedding of your adoptive daughter and the most deadly creature in the universe?“

——

“Why Utah.“ Amy looked around as they stepped out of the TARDIS. The sun was blaring down on Lake Silencio and the surrounding dessert. It didn’t agree with her pale skin.

“It’s a still point in time. Easier to create a fixed point.“ River explained. “We don’t anyone to be able to rewrite any of this.“

“But Utah? It all just sand and dust! You could have at least put up a marquise or something.“ Amy huffed.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be a wedding to remember.“

“Right then, where is this aisle? And where is the Doctor.“

——

River blinked against the blinding sunlight of the Utah dessert. There was this unsettling, yet terribly familiar feeling, that she had forgotten something. That’s when she realised it probably had something to do with the gun in her hand. The gun she was currently pointing at her soon to be husband. Or had they had the ceremony already? All of a sudden, she couldn’t remember. She knew that feeling, something or someone was messing with her memory. She looked around and saw them again, the Silence. They stood amongst the crowd of invited guests, representatives from the civilisations they had conquered, all bearing witness to their union. It was all coming back to her now. What a triumph it had been supposed to be. On the planes of Utah, at a still point in time. They had meant to turn their wedding into a fixed point, easier to do at a still point, so nothing could ever undo their bond.

(…)

11: “And yet she didn’t chose to do your dirty work.“

Kovarian: “River, please, put an end to this, you’re the only one who can.“

11: “Yes, very clever of you, to use her in that way, to appeal to her better nature and all that. All your mind control and conditioning…“

K: “We never did anything of that sort.“

11: “What else is an upbringing? And you would turn her against her parents, against me.“

K: “Any decent person in the universe must take a stand against you.“ She looked to the guests, fear and dread painted on their faces. They weren’t here for the joy of it, it was an obligation.

11: “You’ve been foolish to come here but of course we knew you would.“

K: “River, please…“ The window was closing. If River didn’t take the shot, they would have to try their luck, there would be a blood bath.

River looked back to her husband, all memory of the silence in the crowd gone again. Attention back on the gun in her hand. What was she planning on doing with it?

(…)

11: “You would try and steal my wife away on our wedding day, I suppose you would try after stealing a child…“

Suddenly, they were surrounded by stone statues.

Kovarian: “But they are…“

Manton: “They can’t be…“

11: “Weeping Angels, yes. I didn’t use to believe in them either, but bumped into them a few times now and thought surely they can be useful. Always running and hiding when you look away, the ultimate cowards, jumping back in time every time you touch them just to get away… but you know what a little bit of love and attention can do.“ “So clever, this, love it, really clever if I say so myself. Stops them from jumping back in time, anchors them to a timezone. So instead of running away, they make you disappear, send you back. So in case anyone fancies a trip to early days Utah, I’d stay quite still.“ “I thought we might need some security around the place.“

Alternate 13 and River reuniting in Clara’s quarters scene

River: “What is happening?“ “I was in the Library, you were there, so young and I…“

13: “I… used something called an extraction chamber, ancient Timelord technology, extracts a person from their timeline at the moment of their death.“

R: “So I’m… dead?“

13: “Technically… you’re caught between a heartbeat and your last, one day you will have to return to it, your death is a fixed point, the consequences would be…“

R: “Then why did you do it?“

13: “I missed you.“ “I just… needed more time with you. I wanted you to travel with me again…“

R: “So where did we travel?“ “Some sort of parallel universe?“

13: “More like a mirror universe, it’s almost as if everything is flipped on its head. The Timelords have conquered the universe, oppressing the peaceful Daleks and Cybermen… Missy… I’ve met the Master and she is… good and kind and… and I’m… Clara.“ She pointed over to her as if it didn’t need saying. “Amy, Rory, you… we’re all…“

R: “Through a mirror darkly.“

13: “When I used the extraction chamber, I got knocked into this universe, I didn’t know I succeeded in bringing you back until Clara crossed over and brought you here.“

R: “And what is my purpose of being here? I doubt she did it out of the goodness of her heart to reunite us.“

Clara: “She’s a clever one, isn’t she.“

13: “Clara wants my help to secure power.“

C: “In exchange for your life.“

Cut/alternate dialog between 13 and Missy back at the camp

Missy: “I was so happy when you turned up. It was like having my childhood friend back only just the good bits, before he turned…“

13: “Same.“ “But that is not enough for me to stay here. I know most of my friends, they’re gone but… I can’t bare to see them like this. And River…“

M: “Tell me about her.“

13: “What?“

M: “I want to know about her. About your wife, what was she like?“

(…)

13: I just thought if I could…“

M: “But an extraction chamber, Doctor…“

13: “I used it once before… stupid really… and it cost me a lot then too… but at least she’s out there, travelling the universe, I know she’ll return eventually so… no harm no foul? I thought that… now that there are no timelords left I could… no-one to police the bloody thing…“ “We could have eternity together and then when it is my time, she would return to her moment of death and we both just…“

M: “It’s a wonderful idea… but how many people do you actually know that would go to their death knowingly?“

13: “Clara will… else my universe would have broken apart long ago. I would. I have done it, many times… And I know River would, too. She… we… are not like the people you know.“

M: “Then I hope you will succeed Doctor, truly.“

(…)

13: “What are you hoping to accomplish here?“

M: “I don’t know. But I can protect the people here, not everyone is like them…“

13: “Of course not, there are good and bad people everywhere, it’s just the other way around here…“

M: “And everyone has both good and bad inside of them as well, Doctor. No-one is born good or evil, they’re all choices. Choices made due to different circumstances and values and…“

13: “I can see that. I could have gone her way… I really could have… and in my world, you did… And I tried so hard to get you back, get my best friend back. Another failure added to a long long list.“ “She’s kept them all alive and close… Amy, Rory, Clara, River… Maybe she is right, maybe I was just too weak to protect them.“

M: “Kindness is not weakness, Doctor.“

13: “Here it certainly seems to be.“ “What’s worse is, I don’t want to be part of any sort of assassination attempt, not even on someone like the Emperor…“

M: “Regrettably, I feel the same way. She may be… cruel, violent, a terrible person but she’s also… she used to be my best friend. I know I might not be able to get her back, in the same way as you didn’t get your Master back… but I don’t want her to die. I want to stop her, not kill her.“ “And I don’t want Clara Oswald to stand in her place, either.“

13: “The we disregard Clara, whatever she is planning and we come up with something of our own. Whatever she tries to do tomorrow, she will need me, that puts us at an advantage. There will be confusion, whatever happens, we can use that.“

M: “And we can free your wife. Maybe, if we can uncover Clara’s plot, the discord amongst the Emperor and her so called friends will give us an opportunity.“

Alternate Version of the gladiator games, the Emperor decides to kill River herself rather than having her and Missy shot

“I’ll do it myself.“ The Emperor decided and before her wife or anyone in the royal box could protest, she made her way down the stairs to the arena floor.

“Round two it is then?“ River grinned excitedly. “You might want to step back for this.“ She gave Missy an apologetic smile. She could only assume that she disliked fighting just as much as the Doctor did. She watched the Emperor as a guard rushed towards her when she reached ground level. He offered a long sword to her. “What? No weapon for me?“ River called out.

“Wouldn’t be much of an execution then.“ The Emperor smirked.

“I hope you know what you’re doing…“ Missy reached for River’s hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“Not usually but when has that ever stopped me.“ River winked and let go of her hand, gesturing for her to get out of the way.

“This time, I won’t go easy on you.“ The Emperor said, pointing the sharp blade at her.

“Likewise.“ River grinned as she kicked off her heels. She wasn’t exactly dressed for a fight, she still wore the same gown she’d come to the Emperor’s quarters in to impersonate her wife, but she would make due. They started circling each other. River had scanned her surroundings, there were no weapons to be found.

(…)

Emperor: “She betrayed you, you know.“ “She was sneaking around the palace, trying it on with my wife while you were trying to get to her, probably.“

River: “Who can blame her? I mean, look at us.“ “You think I’m so insecure that I care? Do you have any idea how many times we’ve each been married to other people? You think what we have is so small and confining? You don’t know the first thing about what we have.“ “We don’t tie each other down.“ “Well, unless we do but that’s an entirely different context.“

E: “She left you here to die.“

R: “Did she? Or did we just split up to carry out our bits of the plan? Because we’re not joined at the hip and able to look after ourselves?“ “You’ll see, she’ll be back.“

Cut dialog between the Emperor and the Doctor after the Doctor outsmarted them and decided not to kill her

13: “Don’t mistake mercy for weakness. How are things ever going to change if you don’t break the cycle.“

Emperor: “The moment you leave, someone else will take my place, you’ll see, you just don’t understand this world, Doctor.“

13: “I understand enough. It won’t be easy but if good people band together and make a promise and stand their ground their cause will outlast you and any other destructive force looking to tear it down.“ “Because that’s the difference, equality, freedom, kindness, they are ideals, they are ideas and you can’t destroy ideas, you can try and bend and distort them, doctor them, if you will, but they can’t be destroyed. People can be destroyed. Not ideas. And there will always be people prepared to stand up for their ideas.“

E: “And they will DIE!“

13: “And what will you die for? Who I am is where I stand, where I stand, is where I fall! And even if I never get to return to the people I love, I will stand by my ideals, if that means staying here and keeping these people save then thats what I will do.“

#Mirrorverse #fanfiction #doctor who #cut scenes #river song #thirteenth doctor #thirteen #eleven #eleventh doctor #yowzah #space wives #Mirror Universe #through the looking glass #clara oswald

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hopevalley · 4 years ago

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Season 8, Episode 5: What the Heart Wants

I was going to try to follow my scene-by-scene format for the entire season, but I’ve been getting a lot of migraines recently, presumably from staring at the computer too long, so I don’t want to spend all morning working on typing up the play-by-play for this episode.

Also, for what it’s worth I think this episode lends itself to plot discussion better than some of the previous episodes...at least in some sense.

And as another head’s up, it’s back to being critical for me. ;P

Storylines:

School Ends/Graduation/Parent-Teacher Conferences

The Dress Shop/Rachel

Postal Service, Ned

Bill’s Uniform, Nathan’s Vacation

Carson and Faith

Henry

Elizabeth and Lucas

Clara’s Dilemma

School Ends/Graduation/Parent-Teacher Conferences

This plot felt a little scattered, but for once it wasn’t the kind of storyline they foisted too much drama upon. After years of every single function possible being besieged by bullshittery, it’s a relief to see one go off without a real hitch.

The beginning scene with Robert hugging Elizabeth was sweet. I enjoyed the Canfields immensely and am intrigued by Angela’s role in the story long-term (PLEASE let her befriend Allie!). Nathan...eh, I have thoughts—but I’ll talk about that a bit soon. The actual ceremony was cute and kind of fun with the kids singing.

Neat Thing I Noticed:

Continuity? Cat Montgomery is still listed as Emily’s mother. ♥♥♥ I don’t know why but this made me really happy???

Complaint Corner:

Parent-teacher conferences should have been in this show from a much earlier point, and so should graduation have been. If there was a point to this celebration (the first year in a while anyone was old enough to graduate) that would have been a nice touch, too. It just managed to feel sliiiightly out of place.

I’ll forgive the “everyone in town goes to the graduation” thing because this is 1918...something like this would be a whole-town affair IMO. Invite everyone and have a nice get-together/party, probably on a Sunday afternoon after church but Hope Valley does whatever it wants, so...eh.

The threat of merging Hope Valley with other schools doesn’t fit in this scenario and it feels like they ripped it directly out of Tales from Avonlea which was almost rage-inducing to me.

Look, school mergers happened a lot in the early 1900s, especially around the WWI mark, but it wouldn’t be hitting a rural western town just yet. They don’t have any way of getting these kids to other towns for schooling. Where would the next closest school be? It would have to be pretty large and modern to merge multiple schools together.

*Adjusts nerd glasses* This felt forced and completely unnecessary. If anything this guy could be telling Elizabeth that they’re working on building a modern school somewhat close by, and could even have her involved in some decision-making regarding layout. Then they could bring in a “merger” storyline next season without it feeling out of place.

It mostly just felt dramatic for the hell of it, and it was boring, as was this man’s threat that Elizabeth had no right to teach a blind student. As if they’d accept Angela at a better school? As if her parents could afford top tier education for her? PLEASE.

Now it’s time for Nathan. The man chose to go fishing instead of to the parent-teacher conference? It makes him look like a tool. This isn’t about him or about Elizabeth; it’s about Allie. I understand why he didn’t want to go, but he should have done it anyway. It would have taken five minutes of his time.

His flippant attitude annoyed me because it went completely against his character as we know it, but Elizabeth’s lecturing was irritating, too. For a moment I thought we had Lorigail back on the show...

I think Elizabeth was well within her rights to warn Nathan about the effect his work has on his ward, but that inquiry took like a week AT MOST. Heck, let’s be generous and say TWO WEEKS. Allie’s concentration suffered for two weeks. There was no need to say more than, “Hey she worries about you and her work suffered for a bit during that time frame, just so you’re aware.”

I think what annoyed me about the math program thing is that...Elizabeth being a teacher would probably be VERY WELL AWARE that MOST of the parents to her students aren’t good enough at schooling to assist their kids with their homework. I dunno, it just feels out of place for her to tell Nathan that she wants to put Allie in an accelerated “program” and that Allie might need his help with her homework. It’s even more out of place when he admits he used to bribe his sister to do his work for him. Like. It’s very possible he’s not that good at math and isn’t capable of helping. (But maybe that will be a plot down the road...?)

“Or a tutor...” BITCH WHERE IS HE GONNA FIND A TUTOR IN THIS TOWN?! It’s super annoying to see dialogue like this that feels completely out of touch with the reality these people would be living in...lol. But also if she needs a tutor to stay caught up in an advanced program, she probably...shouldn’t be in the advanced program.

I don’t know how to feel about this whole thing here: “Nathan, you are Allie’s world. You’re the only father she’s ever known, and as she grows up you will always be the measure of the quality she’ll look for in a man as she chooses who to marry.”

On one hand, it does fit the situation (he seems to think everything is behind him but Elizabeth’s words are kind of a caution that 1) his actions still have an effect on Allie, and 2) every day he’s teaching her by example). On the other hand, it seems almost wildly inappropriate to bring up? At the same time, it’s probably not wrong that Allie will measure other men (friends, acquaintances, potential future romantic interests) against Nathan’s example.

I dunno. The conversation felt disjointed.

I think what they were going for was Nathan just feeling too awkward and weird about being with Elizabeth to want to be there for the conference, but...he interacted with her quite normally after the inquiry and stuff (even after she’d broken things off with him), so...it feels out of place. Like maybe this should have taken place right after the breakup and not weeks later?

Anyone else have thoughts on this and why it doesn’t feel quite right?

The Dress Shop/Rachel

This plot wasn’t what I would call a waste of time (rather, it’s worth having it mentioned now), but part of it was completely pointless and stupid. The whole Rachel getting lost thing was tacked into the promos to stir up drama, but nothing happened and there was nothing worrisome even going on. YAWN.

Rosemary’s desire to do something meaningful and different with her life is super interesting. I’m very curious to see what they decide to do with her if Dottie does sell the dress shop.

Also, Rosemary finding the book under Rachel’s bed was pretty funny.

But yeah, I didn’t really find much in this plotline to care deeply about. I guess I am pretty interested in knowing who might be purchasing the dress shop and/or if this decision is to bring someone else onto the show (a female love interest for the man who doesn’t win Elizabeth’s heart in the end, or even to bring back an old character*) or to take the dress shop out of the equation entirely... It’s also just as possible that Rosemary/Lee or Clara/Jesse end up buying it themselves down the line... Thoughts?

*I can’t begin to imagine who would be the best fit for this in this case, though. Who would have the money to buy her out?

Postal Service, Ned

Ned is just honestly so cute and fun. I love him. He’s really been doing well this season and seeing him wander around town delivering mail door to door was kind of nice.

Also, he’s one SMOOTH operator! Look at him, talking about putting a bell on the door so that he and Florence won’t be caught off-guard if they’re in the middle of...something.

Oh my, Ned. What might customers be...interrupting? :3

Continuity? Not only was the ulcer from last season brought up, but the horrid cabbage juice was, too. :’) It was a nice touch. And these two had just enough screentime to be kind of fun/interesting without also taking up too much time.

Bill’s Uniform, Nathan’s Vacation

Nathan got his vacation and Bill is in charge...again. This happens an awful lot. I wonder if it’ll actually impact the next few episodes or if it’s just here for the hell of it.

I love Bill a lot and I want to brag up his character in this episode a bit. I’ve complained many times in the past about him being written like a Grumpy Old Man Yelling at Clouds but this episode was super respectful. He got his scene with his uniform. Nobody interrupted it. There weren’t even any words. I quite liked it.

But it also felt kind of...pointless? I don’t want to judge it too harshly yet. Like the dress shop plotline, this could actually be going somewhere in the next couple of episodes.

Plus, unrelated to the uniform, it was nice to see Bill acting fatherly toward Clara. While it sort of came out of nowhere for the wedding, I appreciate the attempt at continuity there. Plus, so far this season, I’ve felt like Bill’s almost been a father-figure to Clara, Fiona, and even Nathan, so I’m enjoying that a lot.

Carson and Faith

CONTINUITY? The show finally remembered that not only is Carson actually a surgeon, but that was his original passion. It’s not that they completely forgot (S5 had him performing surgery on his sister-in-law, after all), but giving Carson a PASSION makes him a way more interesting character to me.

And also, finally, this feels like a REAL high-stakes plotline for him and for Faith.

I really liked Faith’s take on things. I know, I know, I’ve been rooting at them to break up, but the reason is mostly because they’re just so BORING together. I’d rather watch Henry twirl around in a chair for an hour than suffer through date scenes with these two.

It’s not that I’m against a doctor wife/husband team. I’m not. I just think Faith was a much more interesting and cool character on the show before Carson showed up and usurped her place (and completely overshadowed her for literal seasons). This plotline for Carson might actually be interesting. Like, a fellowship? For modern surgery? IN BALTIMORE?!

I hope this is Faith’s way of saying she wants a break and/or a break would be good for them. I can’t picture her leaving Hope Valley without any trained medical staff, let alone long enough for a fellowship...

But if this goes through, what will they do with it? Would they really write Carson off the show? To be perfectly honest with y’all, I’d be fine with that. At least it’s the type of write-off that makes a lot of good sense (unlike some of the other ones we got). I guess this is just another “wait and see” plotline which is uhh...the theme of this episode, huh? Anyone have thoughts on this?

Henry

Henry barely had any screentime, but I do want to say he is #relateable. The man is back at work for ten seconds and already exhausted. SAME.

Also, I appreciate that he’s ready to be back in the oil business. At what cost? I know people were worried they were gonna kill him off, and I really doubted it, but now I’m starting to wonder where they’re going with this exactly. Yet another wait and see moment LOL!

Elizabeth and Lucas

Some damn fine scenes for Lucas and Elizabeth in this episode. Mostly the scenic ones. :P

I enjoyed the agreement to a date. The horseback riding stuff was pretty cute.

Complaint corner? I don’t know. I have petty complaints. Even though the celebration for the kids was a town-wide event, and therefore Lucas was invited, it still felt out of place to see it brought up. Maybe it should have been mentioned as a town celebration from the start?

Then Lucas’s comment about not wanting to make things awkward for Nathan (who is actually a parent and there) makes a liiiittle more sense. I do think it was good of him to not go, even though he wanted to spend more time with Elizabeth, but it gave off a weird vibe, like, “Look at how good and wholesome Lucas is!” Is that intentional? I’m not...sure...?

For what it’s worth I already felt like Lucas was an honorable person in this regard. He loaned Nathan money, after all. Maybe he should have told Elizabeth he views Nathan as a friend and doesn’t want to hurt his feelings unnecessarily and/or if he was there he’d want to hog her all to himself or something cheesy. Hm.

My other complaints are:

Elizabeth running to the saloon would be WAY faster than all this getting set up at her house...?? Who thought this made sense?

Elizabeth’s dress looked like a nightie she bought at Kohls.

Too many damn candles.

Characters Do What Plot Dictates Even Though Plot Makes No Sense. More at 11:00!!

I have no further comments on the dress. It needed sleeves or something so it looked more like a dress and not like a nightgown/piece of lingerie.

I think the candles might have been on purpose to parallel Jack...but I hated it lol. Fire hazard? HAVEN’T ENOUGH THINGS IN TOWN BURNED DOWN/EXPLODED?!

I didn’t hate the date scene! But I never feel like Elizabeth has any meaningful conversations with Lucas and it’s starting to drive me batty.

Could we get uhhh something of substance please? It has to be surface-level nonsense on purpose. Right? RIGHT?

(And no, discussing a book for ten seconds on-screen is not “intelligent conversation” okay...?)

It’s really a shame because I’m starting to actually warm up to Lucas a little bit in this season but it feels like the conversations are just...kind of stilted and she’s not really into dating him—just agreeing to it because he’s the only option.

And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but...he deserves better than that.

Don’t get me wrong, by the way. If it’s part of the story and it’s revealed as such down the road, I’ll be fine with it...but I always worry they’ll just skip important relationship milestones and/or important conversations and expect us all to just accept it.

Kiiiiiind of looking forward to the rainy date scene in the next episode, though. I’m Team Nathan mostly but I’m keeping an open mind and I think I might actually enjoy it. Hopefully they’ll get some good scenes together that don’t feel like this one did.

Clara's Dilemma

Clara’s fears about running the salon without Fiona...are legit. LOL.

Also, this little bit was funny (between Mike and Jesse and Bill):

Anyway, if Clara was that worried about it, she should have just...told Fiona no? I hope it comes up down the road. Poor Molly??

I genuinely don’t know how I feel about Clara and Jesse’s involvement in this episode. I guess it was okay. I liked Clara’s scenes with Bill. I thought the idea of Clara and Jesse buying into the cafe was a nice one. Jesse having “invested” their money and lost it all, though... They did a similar plot with other people in what...Season 5 was it? Or was that the start of S6? He didn’t even say what he invested it in? But he admits the money is all gone?

I think that’s what was missing from that scene. “I invested it in X, hoping to make us more money, but it didn’t work out and we lost everything.”

I’m not going to criticize Jesse’s characterization, only because sometimes character "growth” doesn’t happen for the better of anyone involved. My biggest worry here is that it’ll be solved by the end of next episode....but I hope that’s not it.

Like, I think they did better with Frank and Abigail if we’re going to talk about a man who didn’t know how to live like he was in a committed relationship. It made more sense with Frank, too, being older and single most of his life. His bouts of selfishness felt realistic.

Jesse feels like he’s somehow getting worse and worse as a person as the show goes on. I’m kind of at a point where I hope he and Clara divorce, because he’s so damn selfish it’s embarrassing. He’s off having a beer while his wife works multiple jobs? And then he has the audacity to act like they should save money when he just blew all their savings?

I’m sure it’ll work out fine but I hope Clara puts herself in charge of the finances at the very least.

As to investing failures, I liked how they did that with Henry and Abigail. That was the kind of tension and worry that felt natural to me—like she trusted him with her money after he’d proven himself untrustworthy ten million times throughout the years, and he failed and had to uhh admit that.

Jesse straight up betrayed Clara. Which, if it’s dealt with in a satisfying way...I think can be a good plotline. I just worry about it actually being dealt with properly. That’s a huge stumbling block in a relationship. And why is he continually getting worse as a person? There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

Gasp... it’s almost like it’s just plot because they feel like they have to give someone something every damn episode.

Which brings me to THE FINAL

COMPLAINT CORNER (The Big Boy™ Complaints)

The show has really struggled with finding its footing. I wish they’d take notes from better shows with ensemble casts (cough cough Road to Avonlea cough) without also ripping off their storylines (cough school merges cough).

My #1 complaint at this point in Season 8 is the SHEER AMOUNT OF THINGS GOING ON EVERY EPISODE.

I want continuity, so I want to see things happen naturally over a season, but my God do we not need to have mindless pointless crap in the episode. Rachel getting “lost” for ten seconds wasted literal MINUTES of screen time that would have been MUCH better allocated to basically anyone else in this episode.

And I don’t think it would bother me so much if it wasn’t also shoved into the promo like it was supposed to matter. It didn’t matter. Nobody cares. Why was it allowed to stay in the episode alongside stuff like Clara and Bill’s conversation?

Or Lucas and Carson’s?

I think they want to appease all the fans in every episode by giving them scenes of their favorites, but what did Henry sitting in his chair accomplish in this episode? Rachel getting lost? Jack not sleeping well/missing his mom? The school superintendent?

Did Bill trying on his uniform have to be in this episode? Did Jesse and Clara’s problems have to come fully to light right now?

When every episode is formatted like this, with 10 plotlines all interconnected slightly and going on at the same time, I feel like...nobody gets the spotlight they deserve when they deserve it.

I cANNOT believe I’m saying this, but this plotline for Carson, especially if it will end with him leaving the show for a while or permanently should get the focus it deserves. But it won’t if we get tiny snips of it here and there and then BOOM decision made because Reasons.

And again, I know I’ve said before that I want more continuity throughout the season, but... the best way to do that is to tighten up the plots. Have fewer of them per season and give more screentime to the ones you choose to pursue.

Anyway, I’m still enjoying the season, but I hope they keep some of this kind of stuff in mind for next season. They don’t need plotlines for everyone in every episode. They need the plotlines they choose to write to be worth their screentime.

Sorry this was sloppily written and all that. Hopefully it makes sense. Very curious to see y’alls thoughts. Feel free to make your own posts and @ me, or reblog this or comment!

#when calls the heart #long post #season 8 spoilers #season 8 shenanigans #analysis and meta discussion #character studies and information

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retvenkos · 3 years ago

Note

not asking you who you'd ship me with in the grishaverse because at this point everyone on tumblr knows the answer to that probably (though any chance of getting more of your wonderfully divine headcanons about matthias & I is a chance I gleefully take), but since you are shipping everyone I have to tell you that I've been thinking about Mal & you together for a little while. I just see it so clearly??

I think you'd have a relationship quite like Alina and Mal's, except healthier and less dramatic lol. but Mal is the epitome of friends to lovers and to me you embody exactly that. you're not the unbridled fury that enemies to lovers can be nor the bittersweet inevitability of soulmates, but really this idea of familiarity and comfort that you only unlock after spending a lot of time with a person, probably in childhood. Mal would represent exactly that to you: home, family, and love, and you're not really sure how or when you realize that it's not the same love you used to feel at Keramzin, that your feelings have shifted in the most terrifying yet beautiful way, but they have.

so in this scenario if you are Grisha, you get tested and your powers found out and you get sent to the Little Palace and your goodbyes with Mal are probably the most tearful moment Ravka has ever seen. You're holding on to Mal for dear life because he's really your family and you don't want to leave him behind, they're taking you to an unknown place without him, and you're so scared - but Mal tries to hold it all together because he has to be strong for you, and promises he will write to you every day and you will never truly be separated because he'll find you when he's older and strong.

(as soon as the carriage leaves he locks himself in the dormitory and cries all evening on his bed because your absence is so loud in these silent halls)

Inevitably years pass as you continue your training and Mal's letters become more scarce - sometimes you're the one who forgets to reply for a whole month, sometimes it's him - until you're not in touch anymore but you don't forget him, you never do, and you dream of him so often and all the words you wish you could tell him but never got the courage to

Until one day, almost a decade later, he is received at the Grand Palace for a particularly triumphant feat of his (Mal, always the hero) and the King wants to meet the First army soldier everyone is talking about, and you happen to run into him as he's trying to find his way to the audience room (because how stupidly huge are these Os Alta palaces, really?) And you literally can't believe your eyes.

so you'd be getting the childhood friends to lovers reunited after losing contact for many years which is TOP TIER romance

and Mal has changed obviously but not so much, and so have you; and he's taken aback by your beauty in your purple Kefta, and suddenly all the petty and insulting stereotypes about the Second Army he used to joke about with his regiment friends leave his mind because Saints - who needs a Sun Summoner when you're glowing like all the stars in the sky?

you'd quickly fall back into your common habits because they never left you, they're second nature at this point - Mal has basically forged your personality from the youngest age and you have his, and you fit together so perfectly

he'd be assigned to a more permanent post in Os Alta thanks to his prowesses in battle, maybe as the King's personal guard, meaning you'd get to spend so much time together

People would raise eyebrows at the sight of a couple between the two rival armies, but you don't care one bit - your love for Mal runs in your blood much deeper than arbitrary oppositions based on foolish pride.

If you're not Grisha, I don't think you'd join the First Army; war is probably not for you. I think your paths would separate too when he joins the Army and you leave the orphanage with what little money you saved over the years (sneaking out of Keramzin and reciting or singing your poems on the streets for a little bit of coin, or selling the meat and fur Mal would hunt for you) to move to a bigger city and try to do something with your life. You could be an artisan, or another kind of shopkeep! I can see you being manually gifted and creative, so you'd probably have an artsy business in the capital, like pottery or tapestry or painting on porcelain or something of the sort

and once again Mal is called to Os Alta probably for the same reasons - he just can't help distinguishing himself in combat, can he? - and he steps into your shop by total chance, and he's like. Olive???? Since when do you do sculptures???? And you're like. Malyen Oretsev???? Since when are you taller than me????

(Though the sculpture part doesn't surprise him that much, because you were always so creative and gifted in the arts, and he's always admired you so much for it.)

(But the TALL part??? ok, you are short, but you left him when he was like, thirteen and he was Not That Tall. how can your forever friend have grown that tall so fast???)

And so you ALSO get the long-lost childhood friends rekindle and fall back in love trope because my heart goes mushy for it ❤

your dynamic would be on point, because Mal knows you better than anyone and so he can read you like an open book. Either when he needs to find the teasing comment that will get you all riled up, or when he senses your discomfort or sadness and has to find the words to cheer you up.

You'd just make so many sweet memories with Mal, and he'd be down for every single thing you want to do as long as he gets to spend time with you. Want to be rambunctious on the streets of Os Alta and pull pranks on passerbys like you are 8 again? Yep, can totally do that. Feel like breathing in the fresh air of the wilderness and getting out of town to see a beautiful sunset, like you would in Keramzin? Of course! Just want to chill together doing your own thing and relishing in each other's presence? Absolutely.

he loves when you read to him, whether that be a book you own or a story straight from your imagination that you just wrote, and he's absolutely mesmerized by your voice and how much emotion you put in it. (though he can't help himself from making little jokes every now and then or trying to guess what will happen next in the story because he's what my mom calls a Culo Inquieto™)

you'd generally be such a cute couple who never lost that mischievous but oh so comforting and familiar spark from when you were kids, and is willing to stay with the other through thick and thin. you've found your other half in each other and I'm so soft for that. 💜💜

sorry I rambled but I just think that idea is so cute and you deserve a ship! (also, don't even get me started on the Chaos BFF Duo you would make with Jesper...) my head is killing me so I won't write any more but just know I hold this ship in extremely high regard. <3

clara, i will have you know i waited until i got ice cream in order to read this, because i knew it would be an experience™ and now, i,,, 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 i'm so goddamn soft, how dare you make me yearn????

you mean to tell me you came up with all of this... for me? you think of ships for me??? how—how dare? how dare you be such a good friend, to the point where i am baffled by your kindness??? how dare you be this thoughtful and poetic,,,,,,, and just, big brained, ma'am.

because all of this is so perfect!!!! ohmygod i'm soft. i'm in love. everytime you write a ship or fanfic, i sincerely wish i was a romantic like you so i could have a proclivity toward fathoming such soft romantic scenes,,,,, you, clara, know how to do a ship™.

(also, i have to say i love the childhood friends torn apart, only to come back together,,,, it has laughter lines by bastille energy,,,, listen to this song and tell me it doesn’t have the same vibes that that very specific and heartwarming trope,,,)

but, since you gave me such a beautiful gift, and since i would do anything for you, here are some more headcanons for you and matthias:

first of all, i think that you and matthias would spend a lot of time finding the beauty in small things. i think that it would be good for him, since he’s reevaluating who he is and his place in this grand world, and i think since you’re a romantic, small things would be important to you both.

— for example, you guys definitely star gaze together. it’s hard, since you are in ketterdam and the smoke is impossible to see through, but maybe you guys leave ketterdam for a while, and you spend a lot of time looking up at the stars. matthias loves to learn about everything you know, and repositioning himself underneath the sky is a good start to figuring out who he is.

— you also like to sit by the water and talk. there’s something about the water that pulls memories from you both. matthias talks about what it was like, far away, in his little village before the drüskelle. (i get the feeling his dad was a fisherman or something,,,, the vibes are there), and you get to talk about people you once knew, dreams you once had. point is, you do a lot of talking - swapping stories and hopes.

— oh! another idea i can’t get out if my head is that matthias asks you so many questions. i feel like it’s a sign of real love and trust, when matthias starts asking you questions, because you have to be like,,, level 50 in order for matthias to admit weaknesses, and one of his biggest is that there’s so much he just doesn’t know. i think you also get really good at just,,,, telling him stuff so that he doesn’t have to ask, and he really just appreciates it.

i also just love the idea of matthias giving you to strongest hugs, or tbh, just holding you, and it’s all because he’s the big, strong one™! you know he’s got a protector complex, so that kind of feeds into his hugs,,, just that intense need to protect you, but also, he’s deathly terrified of losing another person he cares about, so he clings. (but only when you’re alone. the drüskelle in him is too Proud, but if you hang onto him in public,,,, he’s not complaining, just getting used to it)

okay, but i got a little bit ahead of myself, because i didn’t even talk about when you guys first meet, and the whole dynamic that is that™

— so, clearly, you are bffs with nina, whether your a grisha or not, and since i want fluff oNLY we’re just going to pretend like helnik didn’t happen,,,,,, they’re just friends. anyway, she’s the first one to pick up on your feelings for matthias because a) heartrender, and b) you two are the best of friends, and she just knows.

— and so you know a lot of teasing ensues, and almost everyone gets in on it and constantly makes jokes about you and matthias,,,, sometimes while he’s right. there. you’re Mortified But Coping™ and you can’t imagine what is going on through matthias’ head, because there’s no way he can feel the same, right?

— wRONG, we’re all idiots when we’re in love, and no one is more of an idiot than matthias. he is definitely ~soft~ for you but refuses to let it show because (1) the dregs are crass and he doesn’t want to give them fodder, and (2) you seem very uncomfortable about this whole thing, and he doesn’t want to make it worse

after some time, the teasing dies down, because both of you are too boring to tease. it would be funny if one of you freaked out, but you’re just,,,, suffering in silence. boring. and besides, inej and kaz are way more funny to tease. have you seen the murder in both of their eyes whenever you mention anything??? scary, but golden.

for the most part, the jokes die off, and i think after the jokes stop, you and matthias become much more comfortable with one another, and it leads to so! many! good! moments!

— did i ever tell you matthias is in love with your stupid humor? your enchanting laughter? you’re so infectiously light and it makes him feel like he’s walking on clouds or something,,,,, he’s enchanted by you, but doesn’t have the words to explain it.

— you know he remembers all of the little things his dad used to say about his mom,,,, and he feels all of that awed respect and soft warmth for you, but what to do with it???? he can’t really remember what his parents would do - it’s been so long and cold without them, but he tries to remember, and it’s the little things he does. he’ll tell you something really sweet in fjerdan and you’re just like ??? but it doesn’t translate super well, so you’re just left with the way he said it, and it means the world (plus, if you really get the courage, you can ask nina to explain it,,,, fair warning though, she scoffs at it every time. because it’s fjerda, alright?)

— you definitely end up reading him some poetry. it’s all under the guise of him ‘learning about the beauty in other cultures’ but really, it’s just an excuse to read him romantic shu poetry (they really know how to do it, let me tell you). and you also end up telling him stories about your childhood and your life, and he finds your rambling so adorable. especially since he has seen your work on paper! he finds it so sweet that your mind is so full of life that it wants to go everywhere at once, and experience every possible detail.

— you definitely end up showing matthias his way around ketterdam, and he keeps all of your hastily drawn maps, and whenever he goes past a street corner, he remembers the way your eyes sparkled in the light of the streetlamps.

i definitely have the feeling that you confess your feelings first. matthias has been trying to get the courage to do it, but he just can’t, and one day you tell him late at night - when, for just a moment, the world is still and quiet, and you can’t hold in all that warmth in your chest. you’re a little shy about it, but so is he, and when he hears you confess, all he can do is smile, because you have all of the confidence and strength he wishes he had. and all that courage laced in his chest, he’s learned it from you.

that’s ll i got for now, but i believe in clara x matthais supremacy.

#asks #mutuals #clara — 🌙#long post #shipped #let me just reread this ship every day for the next millenia thanks

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melancholydreadfuldream · 5 years ago

Text

find my way back to you

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 11th Doctor x Reader & 12th Doctor x Reader

Summary: A visit from the Twelfth Doctor turned your life upside down.

Warning: ooc, angst, plot holes, etc

You giggled at something the Eleventh Doctor said. He beamed at you adorably.

"So, this is me." You said as they arrived on the front porch of where you lived. You smiled at him. "Thank you, Doctor, I have fun today."

He smiled. "T-that's great. I, there is still so much I can show you." He said.

You smiled and kissed one of his cheek. "See you next Tuesday, Doctor." You whispered and then with a giggle, you turned and hopped inside. You turned again and waved him goodbye.

The Doctor is touching the cheek where you kissed him. He has this adorable look on his face. He waved back at you before he too burst into a giggle and left.

7777

You entered the house and covered your mouth to stop the burst of squealing out of you. You can't wait to call Clara and tell her all about it. You moved to turn the lamp near the door and screamed when you saw a figure seated comfortably on one of your sofa.

You quickly tried to pull open the door to run and maybe called out the Doctor but to your horror, you realized the door somehow locked by itself. In your panic, you didn't noticed the figure had pulled out a sonic screwdriver which is the reason why you are trapped with him.

You screamed for the Doctor as you tried to get the door to open but it was futile.

"Don't bother screaming. I have put a soundproof barrier within the house." He said.

Resigned to your fate that you're trapped, you turned around to face him. "W-who are you? What do you want with me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He gestured on the sonic screwdriver on his hand.

You blinked at him. You observed him. The man is a bit old but still handsome in his own way. He was dressed in black with a hoodie. You turned my gaze at the sonic screwdriver on his hand. "D-Doctor?" Clara told you about regeneration. She only knew because she jumped into his timeline and saw his many past incarnations' faces. You can hardly believe it but here he was.

"I'm sure Clara has told you all about regeneration, correct? And I'm sure, if I remember correctly, my past self has also told you some about it."

You nodded mutely.

"Good, then you can relax now, I'm not going to harm you." He said.

"When?"

"Pardon?"

"When will he regenerate into you?" You asked. "What happened?"

He stared at you with a look that you can't decipher. "Spoiler."

You sighed at his word. "Why are you here?"

"I need your help."

"Me?"

"Yes, the future of the universe depends on it."

You stared at him in disbelief. "Are you sure you need my help, not Clara?"

He rolled his eyes at you. "Right, I forgot that this you are still filled with insecurities."

You glared at him.

"This does involve Clara. But, you are the only one who can fix this." He said.

"How do you mean?"

"Next Tuesday, he...me...your doctor is going to come and ask you out for a date. You will reject him and break his hearts."

You are stunned. "W-what? Why would I do that?"

He didn't reply for a second. He gave you a look that tell you he's trying to be patient.

Your mouth dropped open when you realized what he meant. "You're kidding me. The future of the universe depend on me breaking your...his hearts?"

He didn't say anything, just shrugged.

"Why?" You asked.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, because you're asking me to hurt him...and I never would do that to him, to you!" You demanded.

His eyes softened at what you said. "I didn't take this decision lightly, you know. But I have calculate everything within my timeline and this point in time is where the changes must be made."

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't."

"Doctor! Stop being vague and tell me!" You demanded.

"So bossy. Clara taught you well." His expression is torn between annoyance and fondness.

"Doctor, just tell me. You...you are crossing your own timestream and it is all to make sure that we would never get together? Do you hate me that much?"

"I don't hate you, (name), in fact it was the opposite." He said with a solemn look. "But this is what needed to happen now. Your future-self agreed to it."

"My what?"

He rolled his eyes at you. "Keep up with me, (name), I know you can do it."

"But..." You are confused and you hated it. "No."

"No?"

"No. I won't do it. I don't care my future self agreed to whatever this is. I'm not going to break his hearts. Because that would meant I have to break my own too. Why would I do that? And don't tell me the future of the universe depend on it. I need more reason than that!"

"That wasn't enough?" He asked almost mockingly.

"Stop that! You are trying to hurt me. You are trying to make me hate you. Why would you do that?"

He sighed. "It wasn't my intention." He walked toward you. His hand moved to reach your hair but he only hovers over it. "You're making this really hard, (name)."

"Well, if you are asking me to sacrifice my feeling for you then I deserve a thorough explanation as to why that is." You pleaded.

He shook his head. "Your future self did warn me you will be difficult about this."

"Well, you should have listen to her." You said petulantly.

He chuckled. "I am." He sighed and he put his hands over your face. "Let me show you." He told you to close your eyes and you did. He put his forehead over yours and a series of images beamed directly inside your mind.

You gasped as you felt overwhelmed with the images, no, memories and the emotion that came along with it. You blacked out.

7777

You sat in front of the huge windows in your room. Tears falling on your cheeks. You understand now...somewhat. You didn't want to but now that you know, it would be selfish of you to pursue a relationship with the Doctor with what's at stake. But what you still have a hard time of accepting is the fact the Doctor has to have a romantic relationship with Clara.

You and Clara are best friend since childhood. You and her almost always share the same love interest time and time again. Of course you know Clara also fancy the Doctor. Who wouldn't? But the thing is your love interest always choose Clara over you time and time again...until the Doctor. You can hardly believe it when the Doctor choose you over Clara despite her being his impossible girl. You and Clara had agreed to remain friend regardless who the Doctor choose. And so far, Clara has been very supportive of the two of you.

And now, the future Doctor is telling you to give up on the Doctor and make it so his past-self divert his feeling toward Clara. How is that fair? Why does it have to be her? You know, of course you know, Clara is the Doctor's best match, more than you. It still hurts though.

The Doctor need Clara to be by his side. But she won't be if you are the one the Doctor choose. She still traveled with the Doctor apparently but she won't make the right choice when the time come, not without her strong feeling for the Doctor. And that was when everything spiraled out of control which led the future Doctor and your future self agreed to change their past for the sake of the world. You wanted to call bullshit on that but you know you won't.

The future Doctor were also there in your room but he made no move to console you, choosing to give you some space to sort your cluttering thoughts.

"So, what do we do now?" You finally asked with a hoarse voice as you turned to him still with glassy eyes.

The Doctor took a breathe of relief which made you blinked, realizing that he must have worried for you and how you will cope with it.

You forced yourself to smile weakly at him.

He started explaining what you will have to do to break his past-self hearts and ensure he won't try to pursue you.

"Are you saying I should make him hate me and stop travelling with him?"

"Hate is too much a strong word. You just have to make yourself less desirable to him." He said.

"By purposely making a mistake that will make him think less of me?"

He didn't reply. "I know this is hard."

"Do you?"

"You think this is easy for me? I love you, (name)." He said. "In the future where I came from, we are married. We are happy but we agreed to save Clara. She was our best friend."

You hitched a breath at his confession. You also felt ashamed because he is right, Clara is your best friend. Doing this will also save her from her fate. Why are you hesitating? Are you really this selfish? You took a deep breathe. "What do I have to do?"

7777

The next few days are hard for you. The future Doctor made a lot of plan in order to ensure the break up is permanent. He has blackboard where he wrote his plan and explained it over and over to you until you can't get it wrong.

On Tuesday, the Doctor come for you and you turned him down quite cruelly, telling him you don't have time for him right now. He looked like a kicked puppy. And then you and the future Doctor made plan to make sure Clara will stay with the Doctor and have adventure together.

The future Doctor took you to go wherever the Doctor and Clara goes with his vortex manipulator to plot a series of events making sure that it will drive them closer and intimate.

You hated every second of it as you watched the manipulated scene unfold just as the future Doctor predicted. He is quite the match-maker. You could see it, the undeniable attraction between the Doctor and Clara.

But to her credit, Clara refused to fall into temptation knowing full well that the Doctor is currently interested in you.

Then, come the part that you hated. The future Doctor instructed you to travel with the Doctor and Clara to a planet where he has designed a fake conflict. That will be the place where you will make your Doctor see your 'true color'. You will have to act still in character to avoid suspicion and that you are not under duress. The future Doctor did indeed know you well. The mistake you are supposed to make is actually something that you can see committed based on your own flaw.

And the Doctor is disappointed in you so much he dropped you home immediately. Clara can only stared at you with pity but she made no move to defend you.

You got inside your home and broke down crying. The future Doctor stared at you with a look of pain. You rushed into his arms without thinking and hugged him tight. He hugged you back, rubbing your back to console you.

7777

"Were you really happy with the other me?" You asked suddenly as you both sat cuddled together on the floor.

"I am. We are." He replied.

"You said we are married."

"We are. We got a ring and everything. Clara is my best man."

"You mean she is my maid of honor, don't you?"

"No, she is my best man."

"She is a woman."

"So?"

You chuckled. "I wish I could see it."

"You can...if you want. I can share you my memory of that day."

You eagerly accepted his offering.

He hesitated. "I don't think this is a good idea. Why torture yourself with things that will never happen now?"

You sniffed. "Just call it my payment or whatever. Please. I need to see it, our would-be future together."

He sighed. "As you wish." He said as he pulled you closer to him.

You closed your eyes, preparing to see a lifetime worth of memories of your would-be future with the Doctor.

"I become immortal?" You asked in shock.

"Yes, you were dying and I had to save you. I wasn't prepared to lose you. And the Mire technology is there to be taken advantage of so I did."

"We could have forever."

He didn't respond. Eventually, he said, "Now you can have a normal life, meeting a man that can properly love you, have a bunch of kid and grow old together."

"I never wanted that. I only ever want you." You said, clutching his face in your hands.

He sighed. "Don't, (name), you will only make yourself suffer more."

"And you...?"

He shrugged. "I will vanish, cease to exist."

"And you are fine with that?"

He didn't reply.

We are interrupted by the sound of wheezing Tardis which made you panic.

"What do we do?" You asked him as they both stand up, staring from the living room window the sight of the Eleventh Doctor and Clara walking toward your house. He was mumbling to himself while Clara pushes him toward your house. "Doctor, what do we do?" You asked again.

The Twelfth Doctor glanced at you with a look you can't decipher and then he suddenly pulled you close to him. He kissed you hard and you instinctively responded to the passionate kiss as if your life depend on it.

He broke the kiss and you both turned to see the look of brokenhearted look on the other Doctor's face. Without a word, he turned and went back on the Tardis. Clara stared at you with disapproval before she, too, turned to chase after the Doctor.

So, this is it. Tears started to fall from your cheeks. It finally is done. You lost the both of them.

7777

It was midnight.

You both are waiting.

"It worked." The future Doctor suddenly said.

Your heart almost jumped into your throat, choking you good. You glanced at him.

"My memory is changing..." He said almost in awe before he turned to you with a sad look. "I'm sorry, (name)."

"Doctor..." You whispered brokenly. You stood up and reached out toward him, nearly falling as you did so.

He caught you in his arms.

"No." You whispered. "Don't go. Please don't leave me."

He looked sad. He kissed your forehead. "Hang in there, (name) (last name), you will be fine. In fact, I know you will be amazing. Even without the Doctor."

You clutched his arms, unwilling to let him go.

He remained in your arms until he vanished without a trace, leaving you on your own.

You cried even wailing as you cry your heart out.

7777

The Doctor never come back for you.

Clara did come to you and demanded explanation about the old man she saw kissed you that night.

You told her you had come to your sense and realized that you and the Doctor are not compatible. "He's an alien. It will never work for us."

"That man you are with is too old for you. Where did you even met him?" Clara asked.

You snorted. "The Doctor is a thousand more older than him."

Eventually, Clara admitted to start having relationship with the Doctor and asked you how you feel about that.

You forced an ignorant smile and told her to go for it.

She look disappointed in you and she left.

She only contacted you via phone or chat after that. You never saw the Doctor again.

7777

Years passed by, you think. You have your up and down in coping against the loss of the Doctor and Clara but you make do. The memory of the would-be future of you and the Doctor still lives inside you, comforting you on the most loneliest night. You tried to move on from the Doctor a few times, dating someone but it never worked out.

One day though Clara appeared in your front porch, angry at you.

"The Doctor has regenerated." She said. "Guess who he regenerated into?" She glared at you angrily.

You flinched.

"He has the face of that old man you kissed that night years ago!!" She yelled. "Explain that to me, (name)! That man, he was the Doctor, wasn't he? What was he doing there?"

You weren't prepared for this confrontation at all. "Did he realize it?" You asked instead.

Clara stiffened and shook her head. "I think he blocked that night out of his mind. I don't think he gets a good look on that man that night. But I did." She turned to you furiously. "What was going on that night? Tell me! The truth!" She demanded.

You sighed as you sat down. You told her everything.

Clara shook her head in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"He said not to. For this to worked out, you must never know. He said you would be unwilling otherwise."

"He would be right." Clara said. She turned to you. "The Doctor and I broke up."

You stared at her in shock. "What?! Why?"

"He is the one who break it up. He said he's too old for me."

"And you didn't fight for him?"

"You didn't either!"

"I had no choice!"

"Well, now you do. You can have him back."

"Clara Oswald, I can't believe you would say that to me."

"Well, he is yours in the first place."

"But he choose you."

"No, he was manipulated to choose me. By you! And by the other Doctor!" Clara said angrily. "He never love me. Not as much as he loves you."

You flinched. "That is not true." You said firmly. "I don't know what happened between you and the Doctor but he loves you. I know he does."

"Well, how do you know that? You haven't met us for so long! You didn't know what was it like!"

"Were you happy with him?"

She didn't reply for a second before she nodded.

"Then, what's went wrong?"

"He regenerated and he's changed. He doesn't want me anymore." She said. "And frankly, after what I know now, I don't know what to feel."

"Just give him time, Clara. You did say he just regenerated. Maybe he still need to sort thing out in his mind." You consoled her. "He did choose you. And he never once come for me. That should be enough for you to hold on to."

"How can you be okay with this?"

"I wasn't okay at first. But it's been years, Clara, I moved on."

Clara stared at you. "I'm so sorry. I should have known. I should have been there for you."

"The Doctor needs you more."

She sighed. "I have to come back to sort thing out with him."

"Okay."

"You are lying, aren't you?"

"W-what?"

"You still have feeling for him."

"Your arrival just make me nostalgic, that's all." You lied.

She hummed. "I'm gonna tell him the truth."

Your eyes widened. "You can't!"

"Why not?"

"What was the point?" You asked. "You are just going to make him feel guilty. Why would you do that to him? You know how he is. Don't add this burden on him." You pleaded.

Clara eventually agreed to keep it a secret.

7777

You can't believe this is happening. You were kidnapped on your way to work. They blindfolded you and pushed you into a room and forced you to sit in a chair as they tied you up.

Someone is yapping sarcastically at your kidnapper. You frowned as you felt like you recognized the voice. Your blindfold is lifted and your eyes widened as you saw the Twelfth Doctor sitting in front of you, also tied up.

He look as surprised as you. He didn't seem to recognize you at first. "Why is she here?"

"According to our record..." The robotic voice of your kidnapper sounded above you making you flinched. "...(name) (last name) is your companion."

The Doctor snorted. "You need to updated your record. She is no longer my companion. I disown her."

You flinched at the disdain in his voice.

"If you are trying to make me comply with you using her, you have taken the wrong person." He said nonchalantly.

You felt like crying but you bite your lips to stop yourself. "He's right. I didn't even know who he is." You said.

"He is the Doctor." Your kidnapper said.

You stared at the Doctor.

He shrugged, thinking you didn't believe that he is the Doctor. "I regenerated."

Your kidnapper designed a twisted game where the both of you have to tell the truth or risk electrocution. He called the Doctor bluff about not caring for you.

The Doctor, not wanting to hurt you, answered as best and as flat as he can be. He was good at telling lies. You know this. But you are not. So, when asked whether you have feeling for him, you tried to lie but that caused the Doctor a pain of electrocution.

"Okay, you won. I still have feeling for the Doctor, okay?!" You screamed. You turned to the Doctor with tears in your eyes. "You. It is always you. I never stop loving you."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open as he glanced at you with confusion and disbelief. "But you are with another man. I saw him that night."

"You stupid Doctor. Remember that night! See him! Really see him!" You shouted.

He frowned. He was silent for a long while. His eyes widened as he finally pieced it together. "W-what? That man...that was me? B-but..."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. But I have no choice. You told me to, future you." You said, finally letting the worm out of the can and once you do, you can't stop revealing everything.

He look like he wanted to throw up. He desperately trying to comprehend what you are telling him.

7777

Once you and the Doctor are able to get out of the hostage situation, he grabbed you aside, demanding explanation.

"And you believe him?" He asked in anger.

"He showed me what happened!" You yelled, defending your action.

He frowned. He stalked toward you, grabbing you harshly. "Show me." He demanded.

You stared at him before slowly nodded your consent.

He closed his eyes as he put his hands to cup your face.

You closed your eyes and brought out the memories of the days of the future Doctor was with you. You accidentally showed him your would-be future with him.

He gasped as he released you. He took a few step back away from you. He looked at loss at what to do.

"Doctor?"

"You should have told me." He said brokenly.

"But you told me not to."

"How can you trust him over me?!" He yelled at you.

"He is you!" You yelled back.

He shook his head and left you behind...again.

You took a deep breathe trying to calm yourself despite the tears.

7777

"Clara Oswald, I hate you." You said as you glared at her. You found out she is the one who staged the kidnapping of you and the Doctor with the help of the Doctor's former companion, Jack Harkness.

"Now you know how it feel to be manipulated." She said petulantly.

"You are going to ruin him." You said.

"He will be fine. He will come to his sense eventually."

"He might never forgive me."

"Then he is very foolish." She said. "I just want to fix us, our friendship. No more secret."

"No more secret." You agreed.

"So, the threat that alternate Doctor has passed by, there is nothing stopping you to be with him again, (name)."

"Not this again. What about you, Clara? You love him."

She hummed. "I think you loves him more." She said.

"That's not true. You saved the Doctor over and over again. You even died for him again and again. If that's not love..."

"Alright enough, let's not start comparing who love who more, yeah?"

"You started it."

7777

You sat on your front porch staring at the night sky on your own.

The Doctor suddenly appeared and walked toward you slowly, almost hesitantly.

You glanced at him cautiously. You slowly stood up and met him half-way. "Doctor...?"

He glanced down at you with a look you can't decipher. Suddenly he pulled you to him and hugged you tight.

You were surprised. But you hugged him back. "I thought Clara said you are not a hugging person anymore."

"Shut up." He said.

You smiled and hugged him tight. You closed your eyes in content.

"one step closer

closer to the light

no matter where we're going

i'll be by your side

and everything we used to know

crashed into the great unknown

one step closer

we're gonna be alright."

find my way back - eric arjes

a/n: this is very mushy and probably cringe-worthy too. not original ideas but i still enjoy writing it so i hope you enjoy reading it too. please drop comments if you like it.

also, i wanna says thank you to those who follow my blog and has dropped like/comment/reblog on my past stories. thank you so much, dears.

#11th doctor x reader #12th doctor x reader #eleventh doctor x reader #twelfth doctor x reader #doctor who fanfiction #doctor who x reader #shiefenwrites

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offbeatcappuccino · 4 years ago

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Do You Like Brahms? Final Review (Spoilers!)

Cast: Kim Min Jae, Park Eun Bin, Park Ji Hyun, Kim Seong Chul

Streaming Platform: KOCOWA TV

Year: 2020

Rating : 8.9/10

Synopsis:

Do You Like Brahms? is a drama set against the backdrop of the field of classical music in Korea. The story revolves around two protagonists Park Joon Young (Kim Min Jae) , a talented piano prodigy, who’s won numerous accolades at various global piano competitions, and Chae Song Ah ( Park Eun Bin) , a business major who decided to repeat four years of undergrad to major in violin. Their stories intersect when Joon Young decides to return to Korea for a sabbatical after his successful North American tour and Song Ah chooses to take an internship at the Kyunghoo Cultural Foundation, the same foundation which offered its first scholarship to Joon Young to help support his musical studies. The growing relationship between the two characters and the conflicts that they face with their friends and families as they struggle to succeed professionally, but also personally forms the crux of the plot.

The title of the drama Do You Like Brahms? has a lot of significance to the actual plot of the show. Johannes Brahms was an accomplished German composer and the most famous story about this personal life is his unwavering love for Clara Schuman, the wife of another famous composer, Robert Schuman. The title is significant in the drama because Brahms is the only composer that Joon Young outright refuses to play, but also because both Joon Young’s life and to a certain extent Song Ah’s as well parallel Brahms’ own life.

Pros:

Realistic & Healthy Relationships: Almost all the romantic relationships that I’ve seen in all the dramas I watched this year all had some sort of “fate” element that brought them together. For instance, in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, Ko Mun Yeong and Moon Gang Tae were acquainted with each other as children, but then drifted apart after Ko Mun Yeong practically spooked the living daylight out of Gang Tae. However, In Do You Like Brahms, both Park Joon Young and Chae Song Ah meet by random chance and its really heartwarming to see their relationships progress in the same way that it does for many people. They start out as acquaintances at work, who quickly become friends, before committing to a serious relationship towards the later half of the series. Seeing them at all three stages is truly heartwarming and comforting, especially due to the strong chemistry shared between the two leads.

Unlike other characters in other k-dramas, Joon Young and Song Ah aren’t dramatic in the way they show their affection to each other. We don’t have some crazy scene where one saves the other’s life or even the typical k-drama piggyback scene that happens whenever the female lead gets too drunk. Rather, we see scenes where affection is conveyed by the way that Joon Young asks Song Ah if she’s done with class, or whether they want to grab dinner together. It’s the way that the very shy and timid Song Ah feels comfortable enough to pull Joon Young’s strings from time to time, or how she gifts Joon Young an umbrella because he doesn’t own one. Similarily, Joon Young shows how much he cares about Song Ah in the way that he uses the beige handkerchief hat she gave him to clean his piano or how his usual sad face lights up every single time he sees Song Ah’s smile.

Another aspect of Joon Young and Song Ah’s relationship that I truly admire is how good these two are at active listening. Even during their most explosive arguments, they never try to cut each other off and make a genuine attempt at listening to each other. When one of them is having a rough day, there isn’t this desperate attempt by the other to offer useless advice. Instead, they just let the other just vent as much as they want, while they’re sipping on another cup of tea. Even when things are rough, they constantly respect each other’s boundaries. However, the show also acknowledges that their relationship is not perfect by any means and its nice to see them work through their problems. Overall, it’s really nice to see a k-drama that doesn’t glorify toxic relationships.

Realistic and Nuanced Acting : A common problem that arises when you’re doing any type of drama based on playing an instrument is that very often a show will show an instrument being played the wrong way, or will rely on professional musicians as body doubles to play the instrument. As someone who played violin from the ages of 11-17, I can confirm that this drama does such a good job highlighting all the nuances that come with playing the violin, whether it be tuning your instrument , your string breaking, or even rubbing rosin against your bow, and even the sentiment surrounding being last chair in orchestra was really nice to see because you know the show writers really did their research when they decided to write the script for the drama. Also, major shout out to Park Eun Bin for her vibrato technique and I guess it helps that she played violin at the college level. Same goes for Kim Min Jae, who also knows how to play piano. Fun fact about the show is that many of the pieces played by the characters in the show were actually played by the actors themselves and they spent a considerable amount of time brushing up on their skills to play some pretty complicated pieces.

Cons:

Conflict: It doesn’t take long for viewers of the show to figure out that there are some serious obstacles in Joon Young and Song Ah’s relationship with one of them being Joon Young’s inability to prioritize and move on from his past. This is an issue that somewhat works itself out in this drama, but I think the other more serious issue for this couple was the very apparent disparity these two had in their professional lives.

One issue in this relationship was how insecure Song Ah felt because she was not an accomplished musician like Joon Young and was being constantly berated by those around her that she simply was not good enough to be Joon Young’s girlfriend. One of the major scenes in this show was Song Ah’s advisor straight up telling her that she would be a “good wife” to Joon Young by taking care of him before his performances and by doing so, completely invalidating Song Ah’s own professional dreams of becoming a violinist and her own journey in music. While Song Ah does ultimately quit the violin for valid reasons and ventures into the world of music management and event planning, it was somewhat disheartening to see that Song Ah really does end up doing exactly what her professor said she would and it was also disappointing that Song Ah and Joon Young did not ever really have a sincere discussion about this issue, especially considering the toll that it was taking on Song Ah’s life.

This brings me to one of the biggest cons of the show, which is that both Song Ah and Joon Young have serious issues in their life outside of their relationship, which they never confront individually or discuss with each other. In addition, the way the show is written, there is no room for resolution of these issues and we’re left with an ending that is sweet and romantic, but also feels like the show was wrapped up way too quickly.

Lee Jung Kyung: Most complaints about second leads on k-dramas is that they do not get a proper storyline and many viewers are left wanting more scenes of the second leads. The problem with this show is the exact opposite, which is that the second lead in this show has absolutely way too much screen time. Lee Jung Kyung is a poorly written character, who at many times comes off as whiny, self-absorbed, and irrational in her newfound infatuation with Joon Young. I understand that she’s supposed to be a source of conflict for the main couple, but so much of the plot was devoted to Lee Jung Kyung, when the writers could have been investing that time on Song Ah’s and Joon Young’s character development and conflict resolution.

#do you like brahms?#kim min jae #park eun bin #kdramas

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quickspinner · 5 years ago

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Second Chance - Ch 2 Second Chance at a First Date

“Luka, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go,” Marinette pouted when the chauffeur helped her into the car next to him. “I asked you out, I should have planned the date.”

“I know,” he grinned. “But this way we have a chance of keeping at least this one date out of the tabloids.”

“I hardly ever see you in the tabloids,” Marinette remarked. “Why is that?”

Luka chuckled. “One of my friends from lycée works for a legitimate entertainment magazine, so I make sure all the news goes to him first and that heads off some of it, but honestly, for a rock star, I’m boring. Juleka and I wanted to retain as much control as possible over our brand, so I work a lot. I don’t drink or party, I don’t date all that much. I’m not really hard to find because I eat at the same places and work out at the same gym every day, so mostly they show up and take a few invasive pictures and then get bored and leave. I don’t get mobbed at the door everywhere I go unless there’s an album release or something big like that. The last time the tabloids really cared about me was when I was dating Clara.”

Marinette gasped. “That’s right, I forgot you dated Clara Nightingale!”

Luka ran a self-conscious hand through his hair. “Yeah, I can’t actually believe I had to guts to hit on her in the first place, but we were on the same tour and she’s so sweet, I’d developed this massive crush on her, and when you’ve been up for thirty-seven hours straight a lot of stupid things get said.” He blushed a bit at the memory, putting a hand to his forehead. “Man, I was so awkward, but she was really nice about it. She was even sweet when she dumped me, although I think we had both realized by then that neither of us were invested enough in the relationship to overcome the challenges once the tour was over. It’s bad enough trying to date with my schedule but you add hers into the mix and it was—” He shook his head. “We parted on good terms and we still keep in touch when we’re both in town, despite what the gossip rags tried to make it. When I didn’t spiral into drunken despair, they moved on pretty quick. Way more profitable to follow someone like Jagged who makes a scene everywhere he goes, or someone like XY that people love to hate.”

“How inconsiderate of you not to go on a bender and be found in a ditch on the side of the road,” Marinette giggled.

“Very. I’m terrible for magazine sales.” Luka took her hand. “Anyway, I figured if we used the car service and went to a restaurant with a covered entrance we’d squeak by without ending up in the papers. I can’t guarantee that, though.”

“I figured,” Marinette shrugged. “I kinda got used to it while I was with Adrien. I’ll get used to it again if I have to.”

There were thrilling implications there he didn’t want to think about too hard just yet. “You look beautiful. Is that one of yours?”

“Thank you. It’s actually not,” Marinette admitted, looking down at her dress. “One of my friends made it for me a few months ago as part of a trade. It’s lovely, though, isn’t it? He did a great job. He’s going to be huge once his line debuts next summer, I’m sure of it.”

Luka smiled. “And when does your line debut?”

“Oh,” Marinette sighed, and made a face. “That’s kind of the hard thing about coming off of this internship. I’ve had two years where everything was sort of laid out and planned for me, and now I have to figure out what the next step is on my own. Although before even that, I have to put together a mini show and presentation for the awards committee to demonstrate what I’ve taken away from the experience. There will be a lot of really important people in the industry, I’m hoping to make an impression and see what opportunities develop from there.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.”

“It is,” Marinette shrugged, “But it’s worth it, and I’m certainly not lacking for inspiration material. I’ll get it done.”

“And you still made time to go out with me.” He nudged her with his shoulder. “I’m flattered.”

Marinette smiled at him. “Prioritizing is definitely something I’ve gotten better at while I was away.” She laced her fingers through his and darted a glance up through her lashes that hit him like a punch to the gut. “I missed you a lot while I was gone, Luka. I’m not about to miss you while we’re both right here.”

“Well,” he said, hoping his sudden inability to breathe wasn’t too obvious, “We’re in total agreement on that one.”

Luka was relieved that he managed to make it to their table without tripping over himself (Marinette wasn’t so lucky, but that was normal for her, and he was there to catch her). He rubbed his hand on his knee as he sat down, reassuring himself that he was in fact wearing pants, since he was getting increasingly worried he might be dreaming.

Except if he were, wouldn’t he be dreaming about the sweet, stuttering, blushing, beautiful mess he remembered? Not this confident, flirty, undeniably hot woman.

He was in so much trouble.

“Thanks for taking me out, Luka,” Marinette said once they were settled. “Honestly I didn’t even know if you would want to see me after all this time, and...everything.” Marinette’s cheeks reddened, and Luka found himself relaxing at the familiar flush. “I probably owe you an apology for everything that happened back then.”

Luka shook his head. “You didn’t hurt me on purpose. We were all young, you were in love. I knew it; I think everyone did but Adrien.”

Marinette groaned and covered her face with her hands. “I’m still sorry. I could have handled it better. I could have handled you better. Sometimes I want to die when I think about how I was back then.”

“Well, we all have some memories like that,” Luka chuckled. “I don’t hold any of it against you. How is Adrien?”

“He’s doing well. Things were hard for him for a while, especially right after we broke up, but he’s in a better place now. He...I don’t want to say too much or speak out of turn, but he’s had some long-standing issues and he’s finally seeing someone about them, and he’s made a lot of progress.”

“That’s good to hear, I’m glad he’s getting some help.” Luka glanced away. “The way he grew up would have messed up anybody. But I’m sorry it took losing you to make him realize he needed it.”

Marinette shrugged, and her smile was crooked. “I’d really rather not get into it.”

Luka winced. “Of course, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

Marinette shook her head. “It was messy for a while, but we’re both in good places now, both individually and in our friendship, so let’s just leave it at that.”

“Right,” Luka agreed. “So tell me more about this presentation you have to do, it sounds interesting.”

“In a little bit,” Marinette smiled, leaning on the table towards him. “We talked so much about me last time, I want to hear more about you. Is being a rock star everything you dreamed it would be?”

“Yes and no,” Luka admitted. “It’s awesome, don’t get me wrong, and it blows me away how many people want to hear my music, but—hang on, let me think about how to say this right.” He frowned as he considered his words. “It’s great bringing my music to more people,” he said slowly. “I don’t regret anything and I’m so grateful. But…”

“Take your time,” Marinette encouraged, putting her hand over his on the table, and he flashed her a grateful smile.

“I miss the deeper connections, I guess. I miss looking in someone’s eyes and playing something that’s meaningful for just that person, or for just the two of us.”

“Like the day we met,” Marinette agreed softly, and he nodded, smiling fondly at her.

“I don’t get to do that often any more, and I miss that.”

“Can I ask you something?” Marinette said, cheeks tinting pink again. “That song you wrote the first year you hit it big…”

Luka didn’t even need her to finish. The whole album had been about moving on, letting go, and several of the singles had hit big, but he knew exactly which song she meant. “It was about you, yeah. I hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable.”

“I cried when I heard it,” she admitted. “To this day, it’s the only one of your songs I can’t listen to.”

“I’m sorry. I kind of hoped you wouldn’t figure it out, but I should have known you would.”

Marinette shook her head. “Don’t be. Clearly it was something you needed to write, and I think it was something I needed to hear.”

Luka smiled. “So you listen to my music, huh?”

“Of course I do,” she exclaimed. “I have every album you’ve released, physical and digital copies.”

“You’d do that even if you didn’t like it,” he teased, though he was touched.

“That’s true. But I do like it,” she leaned in, and the fingers covering his hand brushed over his knuckles in slow strokes. “I like the music, and I like the man who makes it.”

“Careful, angel,” he told her, voice deepening slightly as thrills danced through him from her touch. “You’ll make me blush.”

“Luka, that voice is dangerous,” she laughed breathlessly, cheeks a bright pink.

“Mmm, so I’ve been told,” he grinned slyly, pleased to find he affected her. She’d had him off balance since he’d laid eyes on her at the concert. “I think there was even a magazine vote about it once. But I think your eyes are what’s dangerous. I could get lost in them forever.”

Once upon a time Marinette would have combusted on the spot, sputtering and stammering until she literally fell over. Tonight Marinette just blinked those beautiful eyes and asked softly, “Would that be so bad?”

Luka moved his hand to thread his fingers through hers. She remained solid in his grip. Still not a dream. “It sounds like heaven to me.”

***

Luka was feeling a little thunderstruck as he walked Marinette back up to Alya’s apartment, where she was staying for the time being. On the one hand, he’d been burned badly by Marinette once before, whether she’d intended to or not, and if she’d been fire then, she was something infinitely more dangerous now. On the other hand, she’d made her interest in him clear, and he wanted very much to explore what they could be together. The chemistry between them was as strong as it had always been, and just the way she’d been looking at him tonight was enough to make him feel weak. Add in the flirty banter and soft touches and he was perilously close to melting at her feet.

The old saying about things that seem too good to be true was in his mind as she turned to face him outside the apartment door. Luka flattened one hand against the door and leaned in, keeping his hand in his coat pocket. Marinette raised her face to meet him and he pressed his mouth to hers softly. He felt her fingers tangle in the front of his shirt to pull him closer. He took her hands and detached them gently.

“Next time,” he said softly into the space between them, and then he had to clear his throat. “Can there be a next time, Marinette?”

“I’d like that,” she said, and then, more hesitantly, “You don’t have to hold back so much, you know. I’m not delicate.”

He took her hand in his and flattened her palm over his heart so she could feel how it pounded in his chest. “I know that, but right now, I am. My life already goes so fast I feel like I can hardly keep up. I’d really like to take things slow between us, if that’s okay.”

The smile she gave him was slow and soft. “Definitely.”

“And part of it is that…” he paused, thinking over his words. “Sorry, it’s just I don’t want to say this wrong.”

“Take your time.”

“I still have a lot of past Marinette in my head,” he said, running his thumb along her cheekbone. “The girl I was in love with all through lycée.” Her breath caught and he gave her a moment to absorb that as he considered his next words. “I want us to get to know each other again, if that makes sense. I don’t want to be blinded to who you are now by a bunch of memories and unresolved feelings. I want be sure I’m really seeing you, and I want to make sure you’re really seeing me too. So...can we start like strangers?” He huffed in frustration. “No, that’s not what I mean, exactly…”

“It’s okay, I think I understand, and you’re right.” Marinette curled her hand lightly around his wrist. “I know I probably put you through a lot back then and I’m not trying to rush you into anything.”

“Marinette,” Luka said gently, “If we’re going to have anything in the here and now, you need to let that go.” He smiled. “I was never angry with you, and you don’t owe me anything. Clean slate, okay?” He bit his lip and looked away. “I’m not asking you for anything, but for my own peace of mind, I want you to know that I won’t be seeing anyone else, casually or otherwise, until we figure out what we want us to be.” He gave a lopsided grin. “I know that there are all these preconceptions that people have about rock stars, but I have to be honest, I’m not very good at casual anyway. Just not my thing, you know?”

“I wondered,” Marinette admitted. “It didn’t seem like you, but it’s like you said, about rock stars and you always look really hot on stage and—“ she buried her face in her hands. “And why haven’t you stopped me yet, oh my God…”

Luka lost his battle against laughter and he pulled her to him, hugging her even as she punched his arm. “Ow, you’re strong,” he laughed, squeezing her tight.

“So are you, that was like punching a wall,” she said, her tone grumpy, but she slid her fingers down his arm with appreciation, leaving goosebumps in her wake even through his dress shirt.

“My personal trainer thanks you for the compliment,” Luka grinned, and then he sighed, loosening his arms and taking half a step back. “I’m supposed to be saying good night here before I get carried away.”

Marinette slid her arms up around his neck, and the smirk she gave him nearly killed him on the spot. “It wouldn’t hurt to get a little carried away, would it?”

Resistance crumbling, Luka let her pull him down into another kiss, fuller and deeper than before, taking a moment to really savor the feel and the taste of her and the way she moved against him, and then he pulled back and kissed her cheek. “Goodnight, Marinette. I can’t wait to see you again. I’ll call?”

“You better.”

***

Juleka was sitting on his couch when he got home with his guitar in her lap, playing Seven Year Ache at half tempo with a morose expression. Subtle as a funeral dirge, he thought, rolling his eyes as he hung his keys on the rack by the door and took off his suit coat. “I’m gonna take my key back if you start waiting up for me every time I’m on a date,” he called.

Juleka took one look at his face when he walked into the living room and groaned, letting her head fall back. “I thought you were over this, you absolute idiot.”

“It was a lie,” he sighed, flopping on his back on the loveseat and propping his long legs on the arm. “I was never over it.”

“Luka, she wrecked you for years.”

“No, she didn’t,” he protested. “One, it wasn’t her fault, and two, I was fine.”

“You were heartbroken.”

“Heartbroken and fine, Juleka.”

“Fine is not the same thing as happy,” Juleka snorted, folding her arms.

“I’m happy now,” he replied, grinning at the ceiling like a loon.

“You could at least string her along for a bit,” Juleka grumbled. “Make her suffer just a little.”

“She didn’t do anything wrong, Jule, cut her some slack.”

“I don’t need to, you give her plenty for both of us.” Juleka pursed her lips. “She picked someone else over you.”

“That was her right. I don’t hold it against her, why do you?”

“She hurt you.”

“Yeah, well that hurt went platinum, so I think you can forgive her now.” Luka scowled and tossed a throw pillow at her. “Considering we paid for these apartments with the money from that album.”

“There’s no amount of money that can make up for what she put you through,” Juleka groused.

“Come on Jule, she was your friend.”

“She was, until you went and fell in love with her like an idiot and she broke your heart.” Juleka looked at him and rolled her eyes with a sigh that meant she was giving up. “But you’re obviously going to date her whether I think it’s a good idea or not, so I’ll save my breath.” She pushed off the couch and dumped his guitar on his stomach.

“I sure as hell am,” Luka agreed happily, and Juleka groaned as she opened the door to go back across the hall to her own apartment.

“You’re disgusting, you know that right?” she called, and the door slammed before he could answer her.

Luka rolled his eyes and pulled the guitar into place, strumming lightly as he grinned at the ceiling.

#quickspins #backlog #second chance #lukanette #luka couffaine #i am lukanette trash i admit it #marinette dupain-cheng #miraculousladybug #miraculous ladybug #mlfics

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timeagainreviews · 4 years ago

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My Series 10 Rewatch: The Pilot

Hello friends! If you caught my last update, you'll know I took the last couple weeks off to study for my Life in the UK test. My test was on Saturday and I am happy to report that I passed! I think it took me longer to go through security than to take the actual test. After two weeks of studying, I am very much ready to get back into the groove of talking about Doctor Who. We now continue with my series ten rewatch!

The title "The Pilot," is an interesting choice for the first official episode of series ten. While it references the plot of the episode, there is also an implication that this story is a bit of a reset to a new beginning. It acts as a pilot to the Doctor and Bill show. Not only had Clara been the companion for basically three seasons at this point, there was also a year of hiatus between "The Husbands of River Song," and "The Return of Doctor Mysterio." It is a weird placement for a final season for a showrunner and lead actor. It's also a weird place to drop a brand new companion.

This new version of Doctor Who opens with the Doctor as a university professor teaching possibly the worst class on campus, that everyone seems to love. His star pupil is a girl named Bill, who isn't actually a student but loves his lectures. Speaking of star pupils, there is also a love interest for Bill in the form of a girl named Heather, but more on that later. The Doctor's office at the university is peppered with references to the past. On his desk sits a jar with the sonic screwdrivers of previous Doctors, like an assortment of pens. There are also portraits of River and Susan. And tucked away in the corner of the room sits the TARDIS, with an "out of order," sign hanging from its doors.

The first time I watched this episode I started to groan at the fact that the TARDIS was out of commission. Not because it should never happen, but more that I expected this to be incredibly tedious. After several years of Steven Moffat's plot arks leading to disappointment, I was bracing to be underwhelmed. As it turns out, the TARDIS works as good as it ever did. But the Doctor and Nardole are grounded regardless. This is due to the fact that there is some sort of door or safe they've been tasked with guarding, which brings us back to the whole bracing for mediocrity thing. I remember immediately thinking "Missy is in there." Spoiler alert- she absolutely is.

Dumb safes and meaningless promises meant to build up empty intrigue aside, the real reason to get excited for series ten is Bill. I was immediately interested in the concept of a black gay companion with a gender fucky name. I remember when the pictures circulated of her wearing a vintage Prince jumper and everyone was speculating whether she was from the '80s or '90s. This only added to my excitement for her character. As many of you know, I am a big fan of the idea of companions in modern Doctor Who that aren't from modern-day earth. Sadly, as it turns out, she's not a hip '80s lesbian, she's once again from modern-day England. Oh well, at least Nardole is from the future. Though I don't understand why he is suddenly a cyborg that makes whirring noises and drops lug nuts. There was none of that in Doctor Mysterio.

The Doctor calls Bill into his office where he confronts her about attending his classes. He wants to take her on as her personal tutor, despite her not being a student. He mentions that he noticed she smiles when she's confused, which is a good indication that she is openminded and naturally curious. It's even implied that he sees a little bit of Susan in her. I liked that little nod to Susan, though it begs the question why the new series has never had her return. While looking at the pictures, Bill indicates that she has no pictures of her mother before she died.

The Doctor uses this as an opportunity to do a kindness for his new friend Bill. Using his ability to time travel, the Doctor goes back in time to take a shoebox worth of photos of Bill's mother. Nevermind that doing this might change the trajectory of her mother's life, thus undoing any chance that she might meet Bill's father. It's a sweet moment for Bill, but it's undercut by Moffat's shitty writing. Bill notices the Doctor's reflection in one of the photos, but never brings it up. She doesn't even thank him. It doesn't really go anywhere other than to inform the audience that the TARDIS does, in fact, still work.

It's this kind of gay people need tragic backstories for no reason mentality that frames a lot of this episode. While I applaud Moffat's inclusion of a gay companion, it comes off as a middle-aged man's depiction of a young gay woman. There is diversity on the screen, but none in the writing room. This is made all the more apparent by Bill's horrible chips anecdote. Bill has a crush on a student who comes into the cafeteria where she works. So she gives her extra chips every day until it starts making the girl fat. The Doctor asks her why she is telling him this story and she replies with "I was hoping it would go somewhere." As did Steven Moffat, but it didn't. It just hangs there like a fart saying "Did I mention I was gay?"

The next few scenes take place over a montage. We see Bill and the Doctor in their respective student and tutor roles. And we also see Bill having a bit of a social life. Bill catches the starry-eyed glances of Heather at a club and they both stand there on the dance floor staring at each other. There's an implication that the two of them are into each other, but we never actually see anything to show why they would actually like one another other than raw animal attraction. In fact, their few interactions are actually rather awkward and cold. There's about as much chemistry between the two of them as there was between Clara and Danny. Which if you remember was zero.

There isn't really a whole lot of focus on anything other than characters for this episode. Moffat usually writes in one of two ways- heavy on character and light on plot, or so heavy on plot that it sits weird against his characters. This would be the former, as the plot is nearly non-existent. Bill begins to notice Heather around and tries to chat her up. Heather shows Bill a puddle that doesn't make sense considering it hadn't rained in days. I kind of love Bill's reasoning that the puddle is piss from the men on campus. That was genuinely funny. Well done, Moffat. But there is more to this puddle in that it also shows your reflection wrong. Heather notices this because the reflection of the star in her eye isn't where it should be.

Let's talk about Heather for a moment. She's a very odd character. Firstly, there is her eye, which has a defect that gives her iris a star shape. Bill asks the Doctor what kind of defect would do this, but neither the Doctor or the show has an answer. Much like Moffat's running gag from "The Curse of the Fatal Death," said- I'll explain later. But later never comes. Other than her eye, Heather's other two biggest traits are that she's most likely a lesbian and that she wants to leave. Her personality isn't really all that important other than to act as the thrust for the plot, which is sadly from another episode of Doctor Who altogether.

Doctor Who is a very old show. It’s bound to repeat itself. Chris Chibnall ripped off "The Silurians," wholesale with "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood." I get that this was necessary as a means to re-establish the Silurians and why they've remained underground. But on other occasions, Doctor Who seems to repeat itself out of sheer laziness. Remember when the library in "Forest of the Dead," saves everyone at their time of death? Or when Missy plucks people out of their timeline at their time of death? Or when the Testimony records people in history at their time of death? Or when the Thijarians comfort people at their time of death? Because I do. So it's not surprising that when Moffat wants to steal from another episode, he steals from one from his own stint as showrunner.

The episode I'm talking about is "The Lodger," written by transphobic Brexiteer shitlord- Gareth Roberts. In it, a spaceship disguised as a top story flat lures people to their demise while searching for a pilot to take it into space. The ship's main criteria for a pilot is that the candidate be someone with wanderlust. Does any of this sound familiar? That's the exact same M.O. of the mysterious puddle. It latches onto Heather because it senses her desire to travel and extrapolates that into consent to take over her body and use her to pilot it around the universe. However, another part of Heather's psyche has kept it earthbound- a desire to be with Bill. If you remember correctly, this is very similar to how "The Lodger," ended. Craig and Sophie's desire to stay together is what kept them from being reduced to ash by a machine too stupid to realise it was killing its host.

Now, I understand that it sounds like I'm ripping on Moffat quite a bit, but I actually do like him as a writer. "Heaven Sent," is one of the best episodes in the entire history of Doctor Who. This one, however, is not great. After the puddle overtakes Heather's body, it begins to follow Bill everywhere. At first, Bill thinks the puddle is Heather, but her creepy Midnight-esque repetition of everything Bill says is enough to raise suspicion. Bill begins to run to the safety of the Doctor, where she finds him and Nardole fussing with the giant safe. The room in which the safe is located only lets friends inside, which is either telling or worrying as the puddle is able to simply wash into the room under the door. As I watched the water flow down the stairs I found myself feeling forgiving toward the effects department from "The Horror of Fang Rock." Green blobs beat slow-mo water any day.

For no reason other than it needed to be more spooky, the puddle screams like a wraith every time we see it. I loved the little addition of Heather's wet mascara adding to her ghostly appearance. The Doctor, Nardole, and Bill take a trip around space and time to see if they can shake the puddle. But no matter where they go, the puddle is never far behind. For a creature made of water, it certainly is thirsty. And trust me, that's far better a pun than the one I was considering. The WAP references were just too low of a fruit.

For reasons I can't exactly pinpoint, the Doctor decides to take the chase right in the middle of a battle between the Daleks and the Movellans. While I love the return of the Movellans in all of their Rick James majesty, it's a very weird scene. As far as I can devise, the Doctor is merely trying to see if the puddle can withstand the blast of a Dalek. It almost feels like Moffat needed to wake the audience up with a jolt of Dalek action. Up to this point, there has been very little tension. What I can't figure out is what Nardole is doing with the Fourth Doctor's sonic screwdriver the whole time. From what I can tell, he's shutting doors, closing off the corridors and locking Daleks out. Maybe? I really don't understand.

The Puddle takes the form of a Dalek just long enough to make us worry that maybe Nardole didn't get them all. Watching the Dalek disintegrate into a puddle of water was genuinely cool. I was reminded of things like the clear Dalek from "Revelation of the Daleks," or the visible innards of the teleporting Dalek in "Remembrance of the Daleks." I like it when the show does weird visual stuff with the Daleks. It's part of why I love Davros so much. The puddle reforms as Heather, holding out her hand for Bill to take, which the Doctor warns her not to take.

Part of the tragedy of the Doctor's character is how oblivious he is to human emotion. It's part of why he needs human companions in the first place. He couldn't possibly conceive of a situation where Heather's own yearning for Bill might be the cause for all of their problems. But Bill sees this. She sees the human desire underneath all of the scary and so she too reaches out, grasping hands with Heather. What I don't understand is why Heather needed to leave and see the universe without Bill. Why they needed to say goodbye at all is more of that "gays can't have nice things," bullshit I mentioned earlier. Let's walk through the logic a bit.

Toward the beginning of the episode, the Doctor explains that the acronym for TARDIS- Time and relative dimension in space, means life. If you think about this, it's him saying that life is basically you in a point of time and a point of space, relative to you. Thus it explains the very essence of being alive and experiencing the universe from your unique perspective. But toward the end of the episode, he changes this position to mean that TARDIS means "What the hell?" As in, just go ahead and live life how you choose. This comes after the Doctor trying to wipe Bill's mind and deciding he can't. This leads to the Doctor allowing himself to travel, despite the promise he made about the safe nobody cares about. Basically, Heather doesn't get to join in on the Doctor and Bill's travels because Moffat still had to do a thing.

A lot of this episode is neutered by this need to adhere to the season ark. Which I now realise is a major contributing factor as to why I so often forget Nardole is a companion. Nardole is forced to become the Doctor's babysitter, forcing him to hide his travels with Bill. Because of this, we see Nardole as more of an authority figure than a companion. He's the strict schoolmaster the Doctor and Bill are forced to sneak past on their way to adventure. What this does, sadly, is cut Nardole out of a lot of the adventures. The same thing happened to Danny Pink, whose opposition to the Doctor often times left him out of the fun. Also like Danny Pink, it's an arrangement that worked best with Rory Williams and has been imitated to hell and back since.

While I can't consider this episode a total success, I also can't write it off outright. It would be easy to damn it in a "Simpsons did it," fashion for taking its plot from a previous episode. It would be easy to write it off for being plot light queer bait where nothing really happens. I could rail on the inclusion of the Daleks for the sake of Daleks. But I have to ask myself- what is the function of this episode? The answer to this question brings me back to its title. This episode is a pilot for a new iteration of the series. We're in a new place with some new faces, and some familiar ones. The pieces on the board have changed location and strategy. If the function of this episode was to hit reset, I would say it succeeds.

Bill is a very likeable character. You immediately want to see more of her. Her introduction is both charming and endearing. The roundabout way she took to arrive at saying "it's bigger on the inside," seemed less thick than quirky, which is right on the money. You want to see more of her. You want to hear more of her questions. You want to experience the universe through the filter of her perception. We needed a companion who was different from the previous one. It was important that the audience is able to move forward with the new cast. We're not comparing Bill to Clara as many did with Martha and Rose. We're not being asked to forget the past any more than we are being asked to cling to it. This is exactly the right tone and in that way, I find it to be wholly successful.

#doctor who #the pilot #series 10 #steven moffat #peter capaldi #Twelfth Doctor #Bill Potts #Pearl Mackie #Matt Lucas #nardole #TARDIS #daleks #movellans

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ranger-jedi-knight · 5 years ago

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A New Hero ch 7

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887313/chapters/53462290 Tag List: @vixen-uchiha

Ok, so that other fic I was talkin bout? Fell thru. Lost inspo for it. Maybe i’ll get the inspo back, we’ll see. But, here’s the next the chap!! So, Mari is NOW 15. I’ll do a few chaps of her bein 15 tho n dealin with HM’s douchiness. Also, Lila appears, but this isn’t canon Lila. I don’t remember who or where I saw this idea, but basically, Mari’s nonna took Mari with her to Italy and she met Lila. Long story short, they became best friends. Lila is an inspiring actress n deals with her mother sorta abusing her thru neglect. So that comes into play here. I hope that makes sense. So, I hope you enjoy this new chap!!

“Lila!” Mari shouted happily and ran over to her Italian friend. The Italian grinned and ran over to Mari and the two hugged inside the bakery. “What are you doing here? I thought your mother was going to England,” Mari asked and Lila shrugged in response.

“I’m not sure. The embassy decided to send her here instead. And, I’ll be going to your school, Mari!” she said excitedly.

“No way!” Mari beamed at that. She then dragged her friend up to her room.

“So, I saw the short film your class made,” Lila began as Mari started braiding Lila’s hair. Lila undid the small sides and braided them as she talked. Mari hummed when she heard that. “I was wondering, could we do a film together?”

Mari’s fingers paused briefly at the question but went back to work. “I don’t see why not. We just gotta ask Nino and Max. What would it be about?” Mari asked as she tied off the braid and Lila turned to her.

“Well, I remember the stories you said about the school not doing anything about bullying when we were younger. Is that still happening?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

“Yeah. not so much in our classroom. But, ya. Chloe’s been getting evidence for a couple of years now,” Mari replied and Lila smirked.

“Well then. We make a movie about it. But they don’t know. We get permission from the whole staff and parents and videotape everything that happens.”

“What do you mean they don’t know?” Mari asked as Lila sat down next to Mari and crossed her legs on the chaise.

“We have a few people that have scripted lines, but its mostly outlines. The rest is improved. They say what they feel is real. As for the staff. We tell them we’re making a film, but need to be recording a lot, explain that it happens during class. But we don’t tell them what it’s about. Especially not Damocles and Bustier. Only tell a few teachers we trust what’s going on,” Lila explained and Mari nodded at that.

“And it would be shown to the school board with Chloe’s evidence?” Mari asked and Lila nodded. “Ok, let’s do it.”

“Ok, so the basis is that I’m a new student at the school. But I lie about everything. Only a few people know that. And one of them knows because I lie about being friends with Ladybug, she knows cause she is Ladybug and has never met me. The others saw the confrontation and know. And so, they try outing me but with a few sugary words, the principal and teacher don’t do anything to me and get angry at the victim, as they’ve always been doing,” Lila said and Mari nodded.

“Ok, before we start casting the few main characters with lines, we should ask Nino and Max if they’re ok with filming and then get permission,” Mari added and Lila nodded agreement. “Ok, I’ll call them over and we can ask them.” Mari picked up her phone and got the two to come over quickly, with Chloe, Kim, and Adrien following behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were able to get the two to agree quickly and asked that principal after that. Thinking the film would help their reputation, Damocles agreed quickly and made sure all the staff knew what would be happening. So then, it was just figuring out who would be the main characters. “So, Adrien, would you mind being the one my character is trying to win over?” Lila asked and Adrien smiled.

“I don’t see why not,” he replied and Lila smiled.

“Great! Mari, could you be the girl that’s actually Ladybug?” Lila asked turning to Mari who looked embarrassed while the others sans Max snickered.

“W-why me?” Mari asked and Lila just beamed at Mari.

“Because! You’re so kind and helpful just like Ladybug! Please!?” Lila asked and Mari looked at her friends who nodded agreement. Even the ones that knew were agreeing with Lila.

“It’ll be fu~un,” Chloe said in a sing-song voice. Mari groaned, rolling her head back and looked at the ceiling.

“Fine. How’d we go about it?” she asked and Lila cheered.

“It’ll be very simple! If we can, it’d be amazing to have Ladybug help do this,” Lila said and the four friends smirked at Mari.

“Oh, I think Mari can get her to agree,” Chloe replied and Lila smiled with a nod.

“Of course. Anyways, during moments when Ladybug is needed, like when I first lie and Ladybug comes to out me, Mari will be nearby talking a little and then find somewhere to hide and the real Ladybug will appear to tell me off and then go back to the alley Mari’s waiting in. So that’s how it’ll go. Whenever Ladybug is needed, Mari will hide somewhere and Ladybug will appear. Of course, though, we can’t get Ladybug to do every scene or be recorded leaving the place Mari went,” Lila explained and the group nodded.

“Who else?” Mari asked and Lila hummed.

“Chloe would make sense as another person that knows,” Lila began and Chloe nodded agreement. “Adrien, would you mind being the other? The one that my character tries impressing?” she asked and Adrien smiled as he shook his head.

“I’m fine with that. It could even help me,” Adrien replied and Lila tilted her head in thought.

“How so?” she asked.

“My dad hasn’t exactly been following child labor laws. He’s been trying to find a way to get me to do what he wants again. This....this would help him dig his own grave,” Adrien said and Lila smirked.

“Oh, that sounds great. He won’t get away with that,” Lila replied and the group smiled at that.

“I’m all for helping take down Mr. Agreste. Now, did you want to lie about some celebrities? Cause we would need to tell them what was up since not everyone will know we’re filming a movie,” Mari said and Lila nodded.

“Yeah, we don’t want them to get hurt. Or try suing me. That doesn’t sound fun,” Lila agreed. “Are there any you’d recommend?”

“Well, I personally know Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, the Wayne’s and I’ve met Prince Ali. But I don’t talk to him much, plus he’s really busy. So if I get those two to agree you can do some lies regarding them. Prince Ali, perhaps just talk about helping in a few of his family’s charities. Nothing big, but it implies that you help,” Mari said and Lila nodded.

“That sounds great! How do you know them?” Lila asked and Mari blushed while her friends smiled happily at her. Only Max was also curious.

“She’s designed and helped Jagged, Clara, and Ali. Ali will occasionally call to see if she could design a logo, but that’s not often. The first two regularly commission items. The Wayne’s are a family friend. Or maybe mo~re,” Chloe explained and Mari’s blush deepened a bit.

“That’s sooo cool!” Lila gushed grabbing Mari’s hands and shaking them. “And what do you mean by that, Chloe?” she asked, a slightly teasing tone in her voice.

“It looks like Mari-bug here has a small crush on Bruce’s youngest son, Damian,” Chloe replied.

“And it seems it might be returned!” Kim added happily. Mari’s blush deepened once more.

“Guys!” Mari whined out and they just smirked at her.

“You go ask them if it’s ok while Max sends out the email to the class saying what’s going on,” Chloe said and Mari nodded agreement. Max pulled out a laptop and got to work while Mari stood up and walked away to talk.

“They’re ok with it! Just don’t do too much, ok? Just tell mostly white little lies. We don’t want to risk their reputation,” Mari explained and Lila nodded understanding.

“Sounds good. What lies would Jagged be ok with?” Lila asked as Mari went to her computer and opened up her mail.

“He’s ok with most anything. But the one thing that you would have to get permission for is saying he wrote a song for you. That’s something that can hurt him. Especially if the supposed song isn’t known about by your mother. So for that one, if you so wish, do that one in private, to be really safe, only use that one for one of us. Ok?” Mari replied and Lila nodded.

“Ok, that’s fair,” Lila replied and looked over Mari’s shoulders. “What’s that?” Mari glanced over at Lila before looking at the email once more.

“Their lawyers sent this. It’s an agreement of sorts. It allows us to mention and lie about them as long as we agree to keep the lies fairly simple. Should a lie get out to the public, either party that is asked about it is to immediately say it is a lie made up for a film we students are making. The people who’ve agreed to let us do this have already signed to it. We just have to sign it ourselves and send it back to them. We also need to keep a detailed record of any and every lie said to make sure once the film is done, we can dispute any lies spread from overhearing the filming,” Mari explained as the papers printed. The group nodded understanding at that.

“Who all needs to sign it? I highly doubt we all need to sign it,” Chloe asked and Mari nodded.

“The lawyers ask that the directors, filmers, and the person saying the lies sign it. For extra, I will sign it too. Adrien, would you mind signing it too?” she turned to the blonde in question and he nodded agreement.

“Marinette, a lawyer needs to be present when this is signed to make it legally binding, otherwise any one of us could not heed to it,” Max said and Mari nodded slowly at that.

“True. But I trust everyone here to heed it,” Mari replied and Max nodded at that. “Did you put in the email to not actively talk about the lies in public where anyone can hear?”

“Yes, I figured that would be good. Do you wish to read over the email before I send it out?” Max asked as he turned the laptop toward Mari.

“Sure, here, sign these while I look it over,” Mari said handing the papers to the four. As they each signed the papers, Mari went through the email and made sure it said everything important to know. “Ok, this looks good Max. Go ahead and send it.” Mari handed Max his laptop and took the papers back and quickly signed them before scanning them once more.

“There. We’re all ready for Monday,” Max said and Mari smiled as she finished sending the copies back.

“Good. I’m going to give these to my parents for safekeeping,” Mari replied and they nodded and started talking while she left her room.

“This’ll be interesting,” Tikki whispered as they made their way to her parents in the bakery.

“It will be. But it’ll be good. The school needs a wake-up call,” Mari said and Tikki nodded her agreement. They soon reached the bakery and Mari smiled at her parents. “Maman, Papa,” she greeted and the two smiled at her.

“What is it, sweetie?” Sabine asked leaning against the counter as a break appeared in the bakery.

“My friends are filming a movie that has some celebrities being mentioned. We signed a disclosure for safety and I thought you’d know the safest place for our copy,” Mari replied and her parents smiled.

“Of course, dear. I’ll call our lawyer over and he can hold onto it,” Tom said taking the papers from Mari and setting them on the clean counter next to the phone.

“Thank you, papa,” Mari said pressing a kiss to her parent’s cheeks before running back upstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Father, Mari is planning on bringing her partner here when she next visits,” Damian called walking into the Batcave where Bruce was sitting at the computer there working.

“Thank you for the heads-up, Damian. Has Mari gotten any intel that could help pinpoint Hawkmoth’s location?” Bruce asked turning to his son who simply shook his head.

“Not yet. They haven’t encountered anything that could possibly help. But if she or one of her friends does, they’ll email it over as soon as possible,” Damian replied and Bruce nodded at that.

“Alright. Was that all, Damian?” Bruce asked and Damian nodded.

“It was, father. I’ll be going now.” With that, Damian left the cave to find Jon to talk.

Mari-aculous @MDC_Designs

Had a great time with my friends! Made some new designs and made plans to make a film. This is gonna be great! Got ice cream to celebrate! #awesome #thisllbegreat #icecream *selfie of Mari holding ice cream with Chloe and Adrien hugging her with Lila, Nino, Kim, and Max holding their own with big smiles looking silly behind them*

Ok, so here’s the next chap! That was pretty quick. Don’t get used to this, who knows how often this’ll happen. This was fun. So I hope you like my take on Lila in this. Don’t get me wrong, I hate canon Lila with a passion. But this isn’t canon Lila. Tho there WILL be class salt here. You’ll see, hehehehehehe. Anyways, I hope you liked it and until next time!! -Love Willa<3<3<3

#fanfic #fanfic update #update #my writing #A New Hero #ml x dc #maribat #ANH ch 7 #class salt later #youll see #this is a different lila #fanon lila really #shes an aspiring actress here #thought id give this a try instead

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donotexterminateupgradepudding · 5 years ago

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Defining the relationship between the 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald - part 1.

This is my first Dr. Who meta post; I am going to start with a topic that has had me thinking since I first saw it in season 8. The relationship between the 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald. When I watched each episode for the first time I didn’t pay too much attention to all of the details, but I really liked their dynamic, it reminded me of the 10th Doctor and Donna. Not the same but similar. I now have gone back and re-watched this season to ponder the details a bit more. This comes from me trying to determine what type of relationship they have. When 12 regenerates and runs around London trying to determine who murdered the dinosaur, he’s disoriented, blunt, and tries to figure out how to define his relationship with Clara now that he is a different person.

When he comes back to pick her up, the two of them slowly approach each other and after he states he’s made some mistakes and he’d like to do something about them he comes right out and says the following.

Clara replies that she never thought that he was her boyfriend. To which he states that “I never said that it was your mistake.”

I’m still not quite sure what is going on here. The Doctor is making it clear he’s a different person and he’s formally reintroducing himself to her. When she replies that she didn’t think he was her boyfriend, she has a look of slight shock and looks a little dewy eyed.

Did she think the 11th Doctor was a boyfriend of sorts and now is realizing that this older and very different doctor is not boyfriend material? One part of me wants to read this as her being hurt realizing that the 11th Doctor really is gone. Another part of me wants to think that she honestly didn’t see the 11th Doctor as a boyfriend. Maybe this shows that she was unsure what to think of him? Maybe she thought of him as a boyfriend sometime - since she did bring him to Christmas dinner and have him be a boyfriend. Clara is a great character because she plays her cards very close to her chest and keeps her feelings locked away. What is interesting is his statement of taking the blame and stating it was his mistake. That he did lead her on and wanted her to think of him as a boyfriend as the 11th Doctor.

He then takes her back home. They discuss the newspaper ad and the TARDIS phone number and how this woman is keen on them to stay together. He directly asks her how she feels on the subject. He gives her the option that she can only be home if she wants to be home. Clara looks upset but apologies profusely that she’s sorry; she doesn’t know who he is anymore.

Her phone rings and he insists she pick it up since it could be her boyfriend calling.

Interestingly, she tells him to shut up as she smiles and looks a little embarrassed before she tells him that she doesn’t have a boyfriend. This leads to the dramatic climax where his past self calls Clara to reassure her, that she’s likely scared and his future self is even more scared and that he uses her friendship with him the 11th Doctor to make sure she helps the 12th Doctor. He does this full well knowing she can’t deny his request.

She almost cries after he says good-bye and it allows the 12th Doctor to directly ask her if she’ll help him. He finally gets her to look at him and she has her emotional moment as they hug and she begins to accept the 12th Doctor. And thus, their new dynamic is established. The Doctor doesn’t think he’s a hugging type anymore, while Clara retorts that he doesn’t get a vote. To which he replies “Whatever you say.” He then awkwardly suggests that they get coffee, or chips or chips and coffee. Clara accepts the coffee. I don’t know about you, but Clara accepting the offer of coffee sounds like a first date to me. Both of them have first date body language, he’s hesitant but trying and she goes from being closed off to open as they walk off for coffee.

Clara beings to relax as she’s thinking - okay, we are going to get some coffee. Since he has no money to buy, she tells him that he’ll do the fetching but he’s also not sure he’s the fetching type. As they go off together we get this statement from her to end things:

Her body language is relaxed and natural. He’s still a bit uncomfortable, though this is likely in part to him not knowing his new body yet and also still unsure after that intense hugging moment. The point is she’s now looking at him and she’s more comfortable with accepting him as the Doctor, her Doctor. Thus, the 12th Doctor will defer to Clara as the boss in their interactions in the future.

In episode 2 “Into the Dalek”, he brings Clara with him as a sort of safety. He knows she is a compassionate person and it is clear he doesn’t quite know how she fits into his travels, but he does know that having her with him is important to him and he immediately trusts her to help him re-activate Rusty’s memories.

I think that “The Robot of Sherwood” follows this episode nicely as he feels like he must both defend her from danger and have her attention (as much as possible). Robin Hood is a dream for Clara and she is dazzled being able to meet a man she clearly loved of as a child. He can’t believe that Robin Hood is real and must show that he’s “fake” to prove to Clara that he’s real. I’d say this stems from him in the first episode telling her that she’s standing right in front of him but not able to accept that he is him. His immediate dislike of Robin Hood and his merry men leads to great banter and only does Clara get him to realize that they are very similar men by telling Robin Hood about the Doctor’s past. It is clear that he’s very protective and possessive of Clara and despite his much more bitter and blunt attitude he cares about her.

Unlike some of the previous Doctors who are much more friendly the 12th Doctor struggles with expressing himself through physical contact and words that he can’t always say, he’s the opposite of 10 and 11 on the surface.

However, as he becomes more comfortable with himself and with Clara his physical distance begins to shift. For “Listen” he allows Clara to connect with the telepathic interface to try and find her dream in her own timeline. For Clara to connect with the interface, he leans over her from the side and guides her hands into the interface before he steps away from her. There is so much going on in this scene.

For the 12th Doctor, this is an intimate behaviour. If he were completely touch adverse, he could just tell her to place her hands in the interface but instead he guides her hands in with his. His touch is gentle and there is a bit of a gap between his and hers, but this is something you would not just do with any person. If this were intended to be a very intimate, more overt and sexualized action, they would have framed it where the Doctor is positioned directly behind Clara, wrapping his arms and hands around her while he reaches around. Instead, he cleverly is positioned to her left and he’s at her side. To me this shows that he’s becoming more comfortable and desires some level of closeness with her yet he’s not ready to be more forward in his mannerisms. He’s not sure what she means to him yet. At the same time, the episode ends with the TARDIS using Clara’s timeline as an input takes her back to learn about his childhood secret. She doesn’t tell him about her discovery, I feel it in part shows that she too isn’t quite as confident in her relationship with him yet (since she can’t be honest about it) but she protects him as well by not letting him cross his own timeline. The TARDIS wanted her to meet the Doctor as a child so it must be important to their relationship.

I don’t want to examine every detail between episodes 2-4, but the episode were the Doctor become much more forward and comfortable with her is “Time Heist” the 5th in this season.

As I watched these episodes a second time it got me wondering how the Doctor developed in regards to how he saw her and his relationship with her. At first pass, my lazy read is that they are really good friends - on a second re-watch by episode 5 “Time Heist” it is quite clear that the Doctor sees their relationship as a relationship where they go on dates (that really always turn into crazy adventures). “Time Heist” starts off with the Doctor staring into her washing machine as he discusses where to go.

His suggestions/monologue are as follows: The Satanic nebula. Or . . the Lagoon of Lost Stars. Or we could go - to Brighton. I’ve got a whole day worked out.

Now, just looking at his suggestions, even with half a brain cell, that looks like the Doctor has planned a day full of activities. Activities that one would generally interpret as a date; albeit a date only a Time Lord would come up with. A Time Lord who has been traveling with her for some time.

He’s acting similar to the 9th and 10th Doctors with Rose, 10th with Martha. Whether or not 9 and 10 wanted to date Rose and Martha is a whole other meta post. What I want to highlight is Mr. Cranky-Stick-Insect-Doctor flat out told Clara he planned a date for the two of them. An entire day long.

Additionally, I tried to look up more information on what it means for a couple to go to Brighton. Some sources imply it is a good place to go on a date from London (which is where Clara lives), another thing I found was that couples that didn’t want to be seen publicly in London would meet up in Brighton. Or it could just imply that the Doctor is being conventional and suggesting it to be tourists in Brighton, just like tourists of the Satanic Nebula and the Lagoon of Lost Stars.

Clara declines his offer as she has plans. She tries to non-verbally let him know that she’s got a date, and as expected he’s slow on the uptake - why is she wearing make up? Why is she in heels?

Their entire conversation seems to be the Doctor completely confused and missing the fact that she’s going on a date with a guy and it is likely the same guy she went on a date with previously which he knew was happening during “Listen”.

This then leads them to robbing the bank of Karabraxos, helping the abused species and just it is another day with the Doctor and the TARDIS helping the universe.

After their adventure to rob the bank, the Doctor proudly returns Clara in time for her date. He’s brought her back at 7:12pm for her evening plans.

Everything about this makes it seem like he’s being a great friend (other than the fact he already got Clara’s attention and delayed her from the date in the first place). He out dated her planned date.

The Doctor then teasingly tells her to not do anything that he wouldn’t do. Clara responds finally and directly that “this is a date.” so after their adventure she’s finally spelled it out what is happening at 7:15pm.

Clara then realizes how she’s going out for another meal after their Chinese take out with Psi and Saibra. The Doctor then pulls her leg that food eaten on the TARDIS doesn’t count, she asks if he’s kidding and in his deadpan straight delivery he points out that he’s kidding. Their dialogue gets very interesting as they then banter back and forth again. Doctor: Bye-bye

Clara: See ya. Don’t rob any banks. Doctor: Don’t rob any banks what?

Doctor looks directly at Clara as she pauses and then nods as she replies. Clara: Without me.

Doctor: ‘course not boss.

Clara exits the TARDIS, you hear the door shutting. Doctor: Robbin’ a bank. Robbin’ a whole bank.

Which leads to:

The camera then pans out and he walks to the TARDIS control panel and pulls the lever. The Doctor is in a good mood, just watch how he walks up to that console with confidence and kicks his leg up with a flourish.

And he’s pretty much in the same pose that Clara was in when she showed off her heels to him when he first asks if she is taller.

So what does this mean? It means that the Doctor clearly saw their bank robbing adventure as a date. It was an adventure and everything went well and he got to have hours of time with Clara before her date with Danny. He won Clara’s attention over Danny.

I see two possibilities i.) he was still oblivious to Clara’s plans being a date and he only recognizes this as a fact when she says so or

ii.) he’s a clever 2000 year old Time Lord and damn well knew she had a date, but he just pretended to not recognize her date b/c he had much better dates planned for them. If he doesn’t acknowledge her dates with Danny than they don’t exist since she’s having all of these “dates” with him.

The 12th Doctor is a very competitive individual, the 10th Doctor also had a similar streak in him to out compete others but 12 is so obvious with his. Therefore, he will compete with every man who vies for Clara’s attention by default. She’s his friend, he cares about her and he actually needs her to care about him and give him the attention he desires from her.

After “Time Heist” the Doctor is bolder and 100% confident in his invitations to Clara.

In “The Caretaker” we get a fast montage of Doctor & Clara adventures wedged in between her dates with Danny. Or are her dates with Danny wedged between her time with the Doctor?

They are stuck on a desert planet and chained to some pillars. Clara apologies to Danny for being late which he notices she isn’t late and she’d gained a tan in a few hours.

The next scene shows her coming out of her bedroom which is across from her living room where the Doctor likes to park the TARDIS. As she comes out her bedroom door, she is clearly dressed up for a date with Danny. Across in her living room he says “Fish people.”

Clara asks what they are like to which the Doctor replies:

He’s got her attention completely, he’s leaning forward his left hand gesturing to her. He then moves his hand towards the TARDIS beckoning her to “Come and see.” Without hesitation she hops into the TARDIS. The next scene shows her getting into a taxi wet as Danny compliments her dress and notices that she’s wet which she explains is a freak shower. She then tries to be casual as she pulls the strand of seaweed out of her hair.

It jumps to a scene of them running in some sort of corridor being shot at by laser guns/blasters as the Doctor then declares he hates soldiers and asks for Clara to agree with him, which she does. With their standard case of running from danger she then gets to open her door to Danny who wants her to go for a morning run with her perhaps on the weekend? Post run Clara declares that she can’t keep doing this - her time with the Doctor is making her time with Danny difficult and it is exhausting as well as hard to explain all the oddities with her in regards to their dates. As Clara calms down she relaxes and declares that she can do this. She’s got everything under control.

And this IS Clara. She has to make sure that everything she does is how she wants it to go.

The next time she willingly enters the TARDIS prepared for an adventure and the Doctor apologizes that there will be no trip today by trying to flatter her because he thinks it works on her. Their body language is interesting as she approaches him as he backs away from her and moves the display monitor at the same time.

They keep their distance from each other for awhile until he stops and explains that he’s going undercover and can’t tell her what it is. The entire time their body language is cat and mouse and she even tries to sneak a look at the monitor before he flips it off. Clara tells the Doctor that he’s being mysterious and goes on to say that as he is a clever person, he is making the mistake of thinking that she is stupid. Clara then points out that he likely can’t do undercover and teases him. He angrily snaps his fingers to open the doors and tells her that he will see her when he sees her. Clara sasses back “When’s that?”, clicking her fingers and shutting the doors forcing him to reopen them repeating that it will be “When I see you!”

She suspiciously strolls around him as she slowly exits the TARDIS and even reopens the door trying to get a look at the monitor as she points out non-verbally that she’s watching him.

The interaction between Clara and the Doctor then is repeated with Danny. He asks if she’s okay since he’s observed that every time he sees her (on dates) she comes to the rushed, in a state, or with a space helmet. Clara tries to blow off his comments by referring to her relationship with the Doctor as a “thing” that she’s had, but doesn’t have currently. Danny doesn’t buy this and reminds her that he isn’t stupid.

So Clara tries to do the exact same things to Danny that the Doctor tries to do to her. The Doctor is beating out Danny when it comes to their dates every single time.

The morning teachers meeting then introduces the Doctor as the new caretaker. Then in front of all of the teachers he introduces himself and winks right at Clara and smiles proudly in her direction! He’s thinking he’s so smooth!

Clara is shocked and the Doctor seems to be giving off the vibe of “Look at how awesome I am undercover Clara! Impressed aren’t you? You are impressed. Tell me you are impressed.”

This entire non-verbal exchange is hilarious because the Doctor is so into his undercover disguise that he thinks he’s all suave and awesome and look at how playful he is. This is the Doctor who when he first regenerated wasn’t sure how to be happy or fun and was scared about getting coffee or chips. Now he’s hamming it up as he’s more confident with Clara. Of course as he keeps going on about how no one is noticing him he boldly lets Clara know that his deep cover is awesome as she angrily gives him a hard time. On top of that, Danny immediately picks up that she knows him as she tries to ignore that he winked at her. When she finally goes back to confront him, he uses his broom to keep her away from him as he remarks that she saw right through his deep cover. He won’t give her any details, but it is clear enough that she knows he’s doing something that has to do with aliens. Due to his status being undercover he tries very hard to push her away and not give her anymore information since whatever the situation is, he will be able to manage it himself. This episode also builds up the tension between the Doctor and Danny. This is highlighted by the fact that as soon as he learns that was in the military the Doctor judges him and makes him a P. E. teacher implying he doesn’t like him and dislikes P. E. teachers as well. Clara puts a lot of effort trying to get the Doctor to realise that Danny is linked to her timeline from “listen” and I’m going to say that the Doctor likely on some level knows there is something with Danny but he’s too judgemental and stubborn to admit it. He argues that Orson Pink doesn’t look like Danny. This could be him just being oblivious but he follows it up by questioning Clara’s observation that Orson Pink must be related to Danny. Adding in that “Who remembers their P.E. teacher?” This statement is contradictory since the Doctor has just associated Orson with Danny (with his nickname of P.E.) and then his statement implies that Danny is totally forgettable. The Doctor even then uses this as a segue way to asking if “he” is here. The one guy that she keeps going on serious dates with? The Doctor doesn’t even look at her when they are talking and she looks very happy during his question.

I wonder if her happy/pleased look is because she’s happy the Doctor is asking her about her personal life? She asks him if he’ll start talking like a human being if she reveals the man to which the Doctor retorts he won’t because he’s being nice.

This then leads to the mix-up where the Doctor thinks she’s seeing the other english teacher who looks like the 11th Doctor. When Clara finally gets him to tell her about his plan, since she knows him well enough to conclude that his plan is dangerous and may involve the school she is annoyed that he keeps it from her in the first place. Though this is in part due to her conclusion because she will disapprove it, he just won’t say anything to prevent her being the boss of him. The Doctor after explaining about the Skovox blitzer that he has a plan and it requires his special watch. He dramatically poses looking right at Clara before he uses it to make himself invisible.

Upon being invisible he then flicks Clara’s nose. She is briefly annoyed but very quickly she goes from being annoyed that he didn’t share things with her to being completely excited by his invisible watch. Thus, the Doctor and Clara are playing with each other again, as he hides from her in plain sight and she loves it.

This is a person who is having a blast. She’s so excited that she even giggles and she says its incredible. The invisible Doctor then states that “Correct. I am both invisible and incredible.” And the two of them start feeding off of each others excitement and she’s ready to help out with capturing the alien.

But the Doctor let’s her know he’s got this one figured out and that she doesn’t need to worry. Instead, he jumps to telling her their next trip will be to ancient Egypt and that she should go canoodle with her boyfriend.

And then the two of them make incorrect assumptions as the Doctor tells her that he knows who she is dating through vague terms that describe the 11th Doctor and the english teacher while Clara thinks he’s referring to Orson Pink in regards to Danny. Clara then takes his advice and runs off to actually follow his advice since the Doctor is insisting she hang out with her boyfriend.

The situation becomes a comedy of errors as Danny cancels on Clara so that he can watch the Doctor and at the same time Clara runs to the Doctor as soon as Danny cancels on her. No date, the only other thing for Clara to do is to hang out with the Doctor and help him out!

Of course Danny messes with the Doctor’s plans and when he figures out that Clara and the Doctor know each other and worse, Danny calls him her Dad. They both look mortified in response to this comment.

And then the totally awkward moment begins as the Doctor decides to erase his memory - and Clara stops him by pointing out that Danny is her boyfriend. The Doctor has the gall to say he isn’t her boyfriend and that she’s made a boyfriend error - she would not date a P.E. teacher or soldier. To rub the salt in Danny’s wounds he suggests that Clara get a dog or a big plant instead.

Ouch.

The Doctor is hurt and upset; this version of the Doctor can be cruel when he’s upset. She argues back that she loves him and then the Doctor is stunned.

He’s so upset that you can see the shock, hurt, and pure disappointment in his face. He would have been okay with the 11th Doctor look-alike as the boyfriend since she’d be dating a ‘version’ of himself.

The Doctor is literally holding back tears here. He looks at Clara, then to Danny, then back to Clara has he has to actually compose his thoughts.

Clara said that she loved Danny. His only retort is “Why would you say that? Is this a part of the surprise play?”

He’s devastated. Clara has just openly said that she loves someone - and that person isn’t the Doctor. Clara stuck with the Doctor after he regenerated and has still be traveling with him and they have grown even closer as a result.

At this point it is clear that the 12th Doctor doesn’t just want Clara to see him as a boyfriend like 11. He loves her. And to hear her tell him that she loves another person, he just can’t handle it.

This version of the Doctor is terrible with his feelings or expressing them well. Additionally, he isn’t good at reading others as he gets upset and tells her it is a roller coaster while he asks why she isn’t dating the bow tie guy as Clara says that he “isn’t her type” (perhaps evidence that she did not see 11 as a boyfriend) and also implies that if 11 isn’t her type - what is her type? At the same time Danny is also reeling from the fact that there is this man, called the Doctor, who is an alien who hangs out with Clara and is clearly very involved with, but never mentioned once. Interestingly, without missing a beat, the Doctor reveals the TARDIS and then Clara begins to explain it, but she whispers to the Doctor what else to say and he tells her to lead to the line that “it is bigger on the inside than on the outside.” Even then when Clara needs a hand the Doctor immediately helps her out even after being hurt so much. Despite seeing the TARDIS, Danny is not convinced by the Doctor’s plans and they immediately argue until he passes Danny off to Clara to deal with as they debate what to do while Danny is completely ignored. As the Doctor bitches about having tons of work to do, Clara asks him if he’s okay. She doesn’t ask Danny, instead she asks the Doctor - likely since he’s upset about how things went wrong and he learned that Clara loves Danny.

Clara then works on getting Danny out of the Doctor’s way and he tells her that Clara still needs to finish the job. She told Danny about the Doctor without explaining Danny to him. He’s right, but his attitude is incredibly aggressive and the Doctor is really hurt. Danny was upset that Clara never told him about the Doctor and it is clear this hurt is vice versa but that the Doctor likely feels like he is owed more since he’s known Clara much longer than Danny. After this completely horrible interaction/nightmare for Clara as Danny and the Doctor have met and it didn’t go well - she is dying for Danny to say something. He summarizes what to Doctor looks but it leads to a very interesting conversation between them. Danny: then he turned into a Scottish care taker and every now and then, when I’m not looking, you elope with him . . . Clara: I don’t elope.

Danny: Do you love him?

Clara: No.

Danny: Really had enough of the lies. Clara: Not in that way. Danny: What other way is there?

Clara: You know what I mean.

Danny: I don’t know what you mean. I know what you tell me isn’t always the truth.

With these lines from Danny it is clear that, i.) he sees that the Doctor is a man who is competing for Clara’s attention with him [which is true].

ii.) he sees that she loves him and he can’t separate the type of love that she feels for Danny and the Doctor.

iii.) by telling her that he knows she’s lying, he’s thinking that she may love the Doctor more than him. Maybe?

This leads into their further conversation where Clara tells him that he knows who she is - but Danny wants to know who she is - when she’s with him. When she is with the Doctor. Which implies that Danny knows that there is a part of Clara that only comes out with the Doctor.

Clara’s clever plan is to have Danny use the invisible watch so he can see that Clara is the same with the Doctor as with him. Just like with the 9th Doctor and Mickey who he called Ricky - the 12th calls Danny Dave instead. Of course the Doctor figures out that Danny is in the TARDIS with them and he tries to distract Clara by saying he’s bored and that he’ll get her back just in time like he has for all of her previous dates.

The Doctor plays dirty as he reminders her that she’s never said “. . .no before, even in the middle of dinner [implied dinner date I take it].” Clara does her best to prevent him from traveling with Danny in the TARDIS and it results in the explosive argument where the Doctor and Danny go straight for each other since neither of them can stand the other. Danny sees the Doctor as an elite and the Doctor thinks Danny isn’t good enough for Clara as a former soldier.

Yes, Danny helps to save the day and Clara is caught between the Doctor and Danny vying for her attention as Danny concludes that he has to be good enough for the Doctor to approve of him. Neither man looks at each other as the Doctor does accept the fact that Danny helped to save the world.

The episode ends with Clara and Danny relaxing as she tries to get Danny to agree with her that the Doctor is a good guy underneath everything and she reveals that she trusts him. Danny wants Clara to trust him and since he knows men like the Doctor he doesn’t want her to become hurt as a result of the Doctor’s actions.

This is interesting since the Doctor obviously wouldn’t want to hurt Clara, the Doctor has always wanted to protect his friends yet this sets up further conflict between the Doctor and Danny.

What I find interesting about Danny is that he assumes that Clara isn’t choosing to do things with the Doctor of her own choice and free will. She does trust him and does crazy things - but from her perspective she’ll be alright - something that Danny does not agree with.

By the end of this episode, the Doctor’s view of his relationship with Clara has been shattered. The man she is dating is NOT the type of man he’d like her to date and it also means that Clara doesn’t feel confident to come clean to her about him. Danny is very upset about her lies to him. Yet, he doesn’t realize that the Doctor is even more hurt and upset about her lies to him. She has know Danny a much shorter time than the Doctor. All around the end of “The Caretaker” leaves everyone completely unhappy and disgruntled.

Clara’s conversation with Danny about her own feelings for the Doctor are unclear to me. Is she denying that she loves the Doctor? Does she not want to admit that she has deep feelings for this Doctor? Or is she uncomfortable with putting a label on their relationship which would the force her to define it. At the end of “Time Heist” the Doctor has defined their activity as a date. He has defined their relationship to himself but not to her.

At the same time, I think Clara refuses to label or recognize their relationship. This would imply that Clara would have to first off define the relationship to herself and then define it to the Doctor and then to others. It is easier for Clara to retreat to a relationship with Danny since he is much less complicated than the Doctor.

What this shows is that at this point in time the Doctor and Clara are failing to communicate with each other even though it is evident that they are in a relationship of some sort, that includes love and crazy dates. I’ll pick up with part 2 starting with episode 7.

#doctor who #doctor who meta #twelfth doctor #12th doctor #clara oswald #twelve x clara #danny pink

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bluepenguinstories · 5 years ago

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Remoras Full Ch. I: Ray of Sunshine

Blankets of darkness spread across the Arctic, just as it did every night. Violent gusts of wind permeated through the air, and me? I was humming a nice little song.

See, I had too much to be joyous about. Even if a gentle darkness blinded all walks of life on the icy terrain, my spirit was as bright and warm as it could ever be. Just ask anyone, my wife, my patrons at the diner, they’ll all tell you how I just love a good rumor. Oh yes I do. Little legends cropping about, little anomalies here and there. Anything to scratch that itch. There was sure an itch as of late, too! Something about a certain bit of activity…

...That I was about to witness in action.

Call it intuition, a hunch, or the idea that I may have already known, but something was telling me to go ahead and sit down next to that huge chunk of rock next to me. As I crouched, I went ahead and removed my glasses, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the fog off. What a big mistake on my part. The utter fool inside me had awakened as while I took to cleaning, gunfire erupted.

“Ah, so I see it has begun,” I muttered, a grin spreading across my face. My excitement couldn’t be contained.

Off in the distance lay another person, also beside a rock. This other person had aimed their rifle at a pack of arctic wolves and took one out. My sympathies for the wolf would have to be extended, as that initial yelp of pain from that canine caused a tear to fall down my cheek. Something about cats and dogs, y’know? When they let out those cries of pain, my maternal instinct kicks in and I feel the strong urge to jump in and protect them. However, being as that I wasn’t a mom, and that instead, I was a dad, I would have to hold said instincts back. Besides, I didn’t quite want this hunter to know my presence yet.

So instead, I continued to enjoy the spectacle and gave my guilty conscience a rain check.

After the initial wolf went down, the pack scattered about and ran toward the hunter.

Glad to see they got protective instincts of their own. Saves me the trouble.

One by one they ran, but the hunter’s motions were quicker. The rifle reloaded and fired one of them in an instant. The other two, still toward the hunter, decided to split and take their chances charging at each end. Smart, if I do say so. But the hunter had a trick; the rifle itself split. Right in two it detached to form two smaller firearms. Just as she did so, that was how I knew I found who I was looking for.

Confirmed.

Sunny would be amazed at my findings, especially after she was so convinced that such a person couldn’t possibly exist given all that was logical in the world. Ah, but I said, “rumors don’t lie, honey bunches.” She then proceeded to call me “my sweet ray of sunshine” and the back and forth of pet names began. She would’ve said that she won, and she definitely won on the sweetness factor, but I think I got the most pet names in.

...What was going on again?

Oh right. Hunter. So, this hunter lady shot the wolves with her firearms, without missing a shot, and the whole pack then lie dead.

I watched as she reassembled her rifle, only to disassemble it further, piece by piece, and stuff it all into her backpack. Then, she stood, peering down at the massacre.

Her short dark hair blended in so well with the night sky, her multiple layers of heavy coats may have seemed peculiar to some, but it was the arctic. Some things you didn’t question. However, why she chose not to have her hood up was something worth questioning. Something that added to the mystique of it all and made you wonder if what you were seeing was instead some sort of ghost, or a monster out of folklore. But, as we all know, ghosts didn’t exist.

So, I picked myself up and made my way toward her, this living person, with slow steps. She either hadn’t noticed me yet, or was choosing to ignore me. Well, if it were the latter, I could understand. Her distaste of others was part of the rumors I so heard of this hunter.

“Bravo! Bravo! Encore, I say, encore!” I called out to her. That sure got her attention as she took to her backpack, reassembled her rifle, and pointed it at me, all in one quick motion.

“Whoa there!” For someone whose life was on the line, I couldn’t help being so jovial. I hadn’t been so giddy since the last time I cooked an elegant seafood dinner. All I could do was wish she hadn’t misinterpreted my excitement as hostility. “I come in peace, lady! All I want to do is have a little chit-chat!”

I continued walking, my hands up, a sign that I meant what I said. She must not have bought it. She lowered her rifle just a tad and fired, the bullet having landed just a couple steps in front of me.

I looked down and scratched my chin. Mhm. Was due time for a shave.

“I see. So you took out those wolves with no hesitation, but you’re choosing to let me off with a warning.”

“Correct,” she spoke. Her voice low, a sort of baritone drone. Emotionless sounded too harsh a descriptor, but cold? Ah, yes. There we go. Deep and icy. Just like where we stood.

“How merciful of you. I’ll be on my way, then.”

I turned around and started walking away, but I was really hoping that she’d say something like “wait. Tell me what you want,” but that didn’t happen. Oh well, I knew better than to conflate hopes and expectations. So, I turned my head. She remained where she stood, her rifle still pointed at me. What I expected was for her to have vanished into the wind. There we go. Double whammy. Neither hope, nor expectation, fulfilled.

Sunny had warned me about this:

“Hun, even if she does exist and is residing around these parts, why would she want to talk with you?” We had discussed one night when our humble establishment lay empty.

“Because, dear, as we all know, I am quite the charmer.”

“Mm...I’m not so sure about that,” she disagreed, but her voice was as perky as her spirit was. “But the idea that you think so is rather charming.”

“Oh, hun, you know me too well,” we rubbed our cheeks together. “So you ought to have a little more confidence. People ‘round here don’t call me a ray of sunshine for nothing.”

“That’s because that’s your name, silly-willy!”

“Oh, Sunny, my warmth, my light, what did our last customer say about me?”

“Hmm...something like ‘that Ray, always treated me like a close family member’?”

“Ding ding ding! You’re right on the money! You’re so smart, dear!”

“You’re smart!”

“No, you!”

“All right, all right. I’ll trust you. But this person sounds dangerous. I’d rather you not get any owie-wowies.”

“Promise! No owie-wowies here!” Thus, we proceeded to hug, rub our faces together, then we went our separate ways. Her back at the restaurant, me, off to find this rumored hunter.

Her gaze was burning into mine. That icy, cold stare. Damn, I sure had to work up my charms before I really did get an ‘owie-wowie’.

“Before I go,” I grinned. “I’m just a wee bit curious.”

“What?” She replied. I was taken aback. Not just that she replied, but how that one word sounded more of a continued threat than a genuine question. Ah well, I’d just treat it like it was one.

“About a year ago, a body was reported found atop the roof of a financial office building. Torso slashed open, dried blood, a matchstick in her mouth. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Why would I?”

“No reason. If you don’t know, that’s okay. I’ll tell you a little more about the case. Seems there had been some fight that broke down. The body belonged to that of someone going under the alias of Clara Waters. There was a rifle, similar to yours, found at the scene.”

“Are you implying I killed this ‘Clara’ person?”

“Oh, heaven’s no! Besides, who do you take me for? Some kind of officer? Here to arrest you, am I?” I gave a bit of a chuckle. Couldn’t help myself. The idea of me working for such an institution. Ah, I may have been called a bastard once or twice in my life, but my interests lie elsewhere. “Besides, bold of me to imply that your existence would have anything to do with her death.”

“Well, lay your implications to rest. I have no interest in true crime stories.”

Was that a joke or something? If so, her delivery was rather flat. Still, had to roll with the punches.

“Don’t you think it’s the least bit peculiar that hers and your weapons happened to be so similar?”

She bared some fangs. If I wasn’t mistaken, I could hear a growl.

“Something tells me you were implying something, but not that I killed her.”

“Relax. I just came to chat, not here to make accusations.” Damn, it was hard defrosting this hunter, but I was giving it my all. “Maybe all I was getting at is that you knew the manufacturer of said weapon. Or maybe I just wanted to relay a tale to a stranger.”

She held her finger against the trigger, but didn’t quite pull it.

“I think I have more than a little reason to be suspicious of you,” she growled, a slight intensity raised to her snarl.

“And I of you, seeing as you just shot a pack of what is considered a protective species. Have you no shame, my lady? Couldn’t you find it in your heart to think of those poor animals and their species’ threatened existence?”

“They stole my kill. I’ll have to pray for forgiveness later.”

“So that’s what it boils down to?” I glanced to my right, where a mangled elk lay on the icy ground.

“I’m a hunter. I hunt for food. It’s what I do.”

“Very well, Ms. Hunter! Forgive this nosy house-husband!” I started to do a little spin, an eccentric act I seldom did, but my excitement was still in full effect. “I just have one more question: are you cold?”

She balked. “What kind of question is that? We’re out in the Arctic.”

“Mm...fair point!” I replied. I didn’t know what I was thinking with a question like that. Wrong time, wrong place.

I turned once again to leave her to her own devices. I waved a hand up in the air goodbye. Of course, an intense stinging sensation followed by a burst of pain and blood trickling down followed. She had shot me square in the middle of my palm.

It took every muscle in me not to break down and shout, to burst into a flood of tears from the pain. Oh, if Sunny were here, she’d chew me out for sure. But she weren’t, and I’d have to keep my dignity intact for when we reunited.

“You rubbed me the wrong way. Be grateful I didn’t aim for your head.”

I held my bleeding palm with my clean one. If the pain didn’t get me, the freezing temperature would. I took out the handkerchief and wrapped it around my wounded hand, then gave the hunter a weak smile.

“Ah, yes. I’m quite grateful for that. Very well, then. I thank you for this chat, and now I’ll be on my way.”

Just as I was about to part, the ground beneath us started to rumble and I could hear ice cracking in the distance. We both stared in the direction of the commotion: far off where the first wolf had been killed. There was a mountain beside the fallen beast, but that mountain soon split and what emerged was a splash of water, fish flying out onto the icy floor, and a beast taller than the mountain itself rising up.

Its fur a solid white, like snow. Like a polar bear. It stood bipedal, its fur standing on end, giving off the impression of a gargantuan arctic porcupine. If one were to assign a name, ‘yeti’ would seem most appropriate, but I felt it a disrespect to actual yetis (though being unconfirmed rumors, I don’t want to assume that they just exist), as this creature had facial features closer to that of a wolf, with sharp fangs, to boot. Then, there was the fact that this thing emerged from the ocean, as if some ancient aquatic being.

“Well, that’s a new one,” I remarked.

“Shit!” She hissed. “That was my last bullet.”

“Maybe this is one of those fabled frost giants from Norse mythology! Or, or, it could be something new! Something undiscovered! But it came from the sea! Like something aquatic! Fish, maybe? No, possibly mammalian? Or maybe reptilian! But a reptilian with fur? Hm…”

“Is this really the time to be ogling at that thing?” Her words fell on deaf ears. She just couldn’t understand.

“I’ve heard rumors of such a thing. Great creature that comes from the sea, defender of the arctic, but I never had any evidence to substantiate it!”

The creature roared a mighty gust of malice. We both shivered in our boots (yes, both she and I were wise enough to wear boots in these harsh conditions). Its face lowered as it peered down at the both of us.

I looked over to see her reach into her backpack.

“Maybe I could try taking it out with my fists,” she murmured, pulling out a pair of metal claws to attach to her hand.

Next to me, a shine sparkled on the ground. I recognized it as the bullet that pierced me and picked it up.

“You didn’t strike me as the reckless type,” I observed. “As if you could really slash something like that to death.”

“I have to try something,” she continued to murmur while averting my gaze.

“Maybe try using this?” I suggested, holding up the bullet in my good hand. She looked up and glared.

“Give it here.”

“Nu-uh,” I shook my head and reeled my hand back. “What do you say?”

“Really? We don’t have time for this. That thing is going to kill us both.”

“Oh, so now that it’s your life on the line, you want my help? How interesting.”

“Shut up!” She leaped forward, trying to grab it from me, but I swerved out of the way. “How about we make a deal? I give you this bullet and in return, you have to come with me to my diner.”

“I can’t believe I’m accepting help from a man,” I heard her say under her breath.

“Hm? What was that?”

“Fuck you. It’s a deal. Satisfied?”

I grinned. “Of course!”

I tossed her the bullet, which she caught, then loaded it into her rifle. As I waited for her to get it all set up, the creature took a mighty step, which knocked me off my feet. Just as the creature was about to lean forward, the shot was fired and landed right between its eyes. The force knocked the creature back and it fell back into the destroyed mountain, slain with a single bullet.

“Huh. For as big as it was, it was sure easy to kill,” I remarked.

“Get up,” she instructed. “As much as it pains me to say it, I made a deal. So take me to your diner.”

I grinned. Wherever Sunny was, I hoped she could sense the good news. Across land and sea, I was sending her the most positive of vibes.

We had made our way inside my humble establishment.

“So, Ms. Hunter, are you thirsty?”

“Got any liquor?” She groaned.

“Of course. All home-brewed, as well. We pride ourselves of only the finest--”

“Less talk. Ale. Strongest you got.”

I grinned. “Very well, Ms.”

In truth, the diner my wife and I owned was a little more than humble. Neither of us got to the position we were in by sticking with the ordinary. Back in the kitchen, there was a basement, which underneath, lie a brewery. It was the pride and joy of our establishment, and I figured if I were to show our hunter guest some hospitality, I ought to bring her only the finest.

“Now, let’s see...she wants the strongest...should I go with vodka, maybe? Whiskey?” Knowing her, she’d want a cold drink. But something that could knock her dead with alcohol poisoning, that was the tricky part.

“Ah!” The little imaginary flashlight above my head lit. I was at the very end of the brewery, with a giant keg that had a biohazard sign on it. “Perfect!”

Do I really want to kill my guest? Well, of course not! The biohazard sign was more of a decoration. Or, more there as a necessity in case one were to die upon drinking it and a lawsuit was filed. Think of such a warning label as a sort of unsigned waiver!

After pouring a mug of the infernal liquid, I brought it back up and served it to her table. She sat, her arms crossed, shivering.

“Are you cold, miss?”

“What do you think? We were just out in the tundra and you wanna ask me--”

“The heater’s on,” I pointed out.

“Still. We haven’t been in here very long.”

Heh. I was quite enjoying this. If only honey bunches were here to share in the pleasure of having such an honored guest.

She took a sip of the drink, then wiped her mouth.

“Vodka?”

“Only the finest,” I placed my hand on my chest.

“It’s okay, I guess. I’ve had stronger.”

I walked to balk at that, but then again, I wanted to believe she was bluffing. Yes. That would’ve been more likely, wouldn’t it? But the most likely was that she wasn’t bluffing, considering who she was. Or who she resembled, anyway.

“So cut to the chase,” she spoke after another sip. Her voice just as low and icy as before. “What business do you want with me?”

“Simple, really. My wife and I heard rumors of a peculiar hunter who roamed around these parts and we thought you would make a great addition to our team.”

“What? At this restaurant? That’s it?”

I sat at a stool, back to the counter, elbows leaned back against it, looking rather cool and laid back. “Hm...well, that’s not quite it, but...yes.”

“No.”

“She thought you might say that. She did say you were one tough nut to bust. Then again, I told her she didn’t quite know you. Then again, I don’t quite know you, either. We’ve just heard things here and there between the two of us. After an exchange of cutesy adjectives, I convinced her that I could get you to say yes.”

“You must be out of your mind, then. I’m a hunter, not a food service worker. I only cook the food I hunt, I can’t stand people, and I don’t care to clean anyone else’s place but my own.”

“Oh ho ho! That’s not quite what we had in mind!”

“What, like prostitution?”

I spat out. “What kind of person do you take me for?”

“You’re a man. I despise men.”

“Ah, yes. So I’ve heard.”

“There you go again. Saying you’ve heard things about me.”

“Mm-hmm. Maybe not ‘you’ you, but an image of you all the same. By the way, I didn’t think you’d have such dark red hair. Almost looks black. Rather, I thought you were described to have light blue hair.”

“People have said things about me, huh?”

I nodded. “Yep. How there’s some hunter about stirring up trouble, striking fear. All that silly little nonsense. I’m sure in reality, you’re more a hermit just trying to get by. Am I right so far?”

“More or less.”

“Some, particularly, in the criminal underworld, have spoken about someone who matches your description. Light blue hair, cold as ice, a seasoned killer, and poor social skills. Got me to wonder if there was something to that. If you might happen to be the infamous figure known as R--”

“Remora.”

“Hm?”

“I’m Remora.”

“Ah. So that’s what you’re calling yourself these days.”

“I just love how you can talk shit about someone you don’t know about.”

“Whoa! Easy there, killer!”

“The only thing I kill is fish. Sometimes elk, if I want a big meal. Wolves, if they happen to be trying to steal my elk from me.”

“Ah, you’re a fisherman. Er, sorry, fisherwoman. Also, that’s quite a few things.”

“Life out here isn’t always easy.”

“No,” I shook my head. “No it isn’t. Tell me, what are you doing around these parts?”

“I have a home I built for myself.”

“Somewhat of a hermit, are you?”

“I prefer my privacy, yes.”

“Perfect place for self-exile, as well. The Alaskan wilderness, Nunavut, the Siberian wastelands. All viable options to get away from everything. So then, why here?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Not much, really. You could say I’m just a cat waiting to get killed by my curiosity.”

“As if that wasn’t already self-evident.”

I gave a chuckle to that. Let it be known that Remora wasn’t without her humor.

“I like to keep a positive attitude about everything. Helps in such a bleak environment,” I smiled my warm smile. “Figure everyone could use a ray of sunshine every now and then.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, right. Ray Sunshine, at your service. Or as you could say, I’m just a regular Ray a Sunshine.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sounds too similar to my old name. I would rather just call you Mr. Sunshine.”

I wanted to spit out my (lack of a) drink (so spit...spit?) because of how funny that was. “So it really is you, huh?”

“I’m Remora. You could say I had a similar profession as this person you keep mistaking me for, but that’s behind me. I’m just someone who wishes to be left alone now.”

“Ah, forgive me, then.”

“Forgiven. At least you treated me to a drink.”

“Of course. My wife wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if I didn’t. Not after we both wished to see you in person.”

“Is that so? Where is she, then?”

“Out catching fish.”

“...What I should be doing right now,” she groaned.

“It’s a joint effort, you see. Running this place. She brings home the food and the supplies, take stock of inventory. In turn, I cook the food and serve the drinks and put the inventory to good use.”

“Sounds like she does most of the work,” she remarked and propped her legs up above the table. Then, she took another swig of her drink.

“If you wish to see it that way,” I smiled. Some may think I ought to be harder on her, but every guest is important to me, and she was as much a guest in this home as any other patron who may walk through the door.

“Here,” I pulled out my phone. “Wanna see pictures of me and my wife? We’re so adorable together! I just love her so damn much!” I started swooning just thinking of all the pictures we’ve taken of us together.

“No thanks,” she said, but I knew what she meant to say was “yes, of course! I just love such sweet sweethearts!” So show her, I did.

“What the fuck?” She remarked, that time it being her turn to spit out her drink. She wiped her mouth. “How did someone like you nab someone as pretty like her?”

“A regular Lancelot, are you?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m just stating facts.”

“Well,” I chuckled. “We were both high school sweethearts! We met on a sunny day, rays of sunlight hitting our faces as we stood on the bleachers after school hours. All the sports teams were off season, so we had the whole field to ourselves.”

Actually, that wasn’t quite how it was.

“Erm, to be more precise, we didn’t quite meet on that day. Rather, it was a rainy one, and I was alone that day, having heard about the fair in town. Being young and superstitious, I wanted to consult a psychic and ask if I could learn the secrets of the universe. While walking through the crowds of the fair, however, I happened to bump into a girl from my high school. We turned to face each other – me, a bespectacled lad with shaved dark hair, and a little bit of stubble, much like you see today, only a lot younger. Then there was her – a curly light brunette haired beauty with a fair bit of melanin and a smile that could light up the darkest of rooms.”

“Is this a long story?” She groaned.

“Of course not! Nothing is too long when describing the love between me and my sweetheart!”

Remora rolled her eyes. I went on.

“We introduced each other. ‘I’m Ray Sunshine,’ I told her. ‘I’m Sunny Reyes,’ was her reply. It was at that moment that we both knew we would be together forever. Do you believe in soulmates?”

She looked like she was about to open her mouth. I didn’t give her enough time to answer.

“Well, we were young, we were in love, and we were just a tad too superstitious for our own good. Because of our similar names, we became a couple and right after high school, we got married.”

“...That’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.”

“Maybe so, but love is a ridiculous thing!”

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

Just as Remora uttered such words, the front door opened and a gust of wind blew in. The wind wasn’t the important bit. What was important, or rather, the most important thing in the whole world, was who entered. My lovely little honeycomb herself.

“Hello, my ray of light!” She greeted, her words glistening with joy. Held over her back was an arctic lamprey which she must have dragged out from the depths of the seas herself. “One of our patrons requested this. You know what to do.”

“I’ll help you to the freezer, darlin’. After all, we have a special guest with us.”

“You don’t mean!�� She gasped.

“I’m right here, you two,” our special guest groaned once more.

We both looked at Remora, wide-eyed.

“Indeed!” Both Sunny and I gave a synchronized gasp. The sign of true love. “What a catch, indeed!”

“That lamprey isn’t too shabby, either, my sunny day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so long!”

“Oh, and it was attached to a whale shark, no less! But the damn thing got away!”

“You two are disgusting. Being here is exhausting. Can I leave already?”

“Oh Remora, you don’t need our permission,” I crooned.

“But!” Sunny chimed in. “My husband and I would love if you heard us out!”

“Didn’t I already do that?”

Sunny, with the full strength of her luxurious beauty, threw the lamprey into the kitchen and I watched it land right in the sink. I knew such a gesture as “that fish can wait. We ought to talk business.”

“Remora, if you come with me, I promise my husband will cook you the best meal of your life.”

The hunter shrugged. “A free meal is a free meal, I guess.”

I beamed. I was willing to take whatever I could get.

The three of us walked together and behind the kitchen was another doorway where once opened, revealed the second half of the diner: our home.

What stood before Remora, Sunny, and I was a lobby. Rather plain, with a cubicle in the middle.

“Every independent business needs a side hustle, y’know?” I gestured to the secret beauty that was our home.

“What is this, an office?”

“Hehe, like a manager’s office? As it turns out, the only people who work here is me and my wife.

“I have been wondering about that. You mean you have no wait staff, no other cooks, no cleaning crew?”

“Nope!”

“...Do you even get any customers?”

“A few here and there. Researchers, long time friends, shady individuals in the criminal underworld.”

“What was the last one?”

I gave a hearty laugh. “We’re sort of a rumor, ourselves. Our little establishment, that is. The rumor of a diner in the middle of the arctic circle where a patron may request any dish and it shall be served. Likewise, a patron may request any little thing, in secret, and we may oblige, for a price.”

My wife must have sensed the air in the room grow stiff, as she spoke up. “Oh, but there’s nothing like ‘kill this person’ or anything else of the sort! Mostly, it’s just ‘investigate this place’, ‘find this ancient artifact’, et cetera.”

“So a sort of mystery hunter?”

“You may think of it as such,” I thought confirming such a thing would be a reassurance. “Of course, any request you accept and accomplish, you are entitled to a cut of the commission.”

“I have no need of money.”

“Everyone needs money. It’s just the world we live in,” I argued.

“My old job gave me more money than I ever needed and it still couldn’t cure me of who I am.”

She sure was good at dropping hints that she really was the one the rumors described. If I wasn’t mistaken, the truth was just as harsh as a world dictated by money.

“There are some things that do not go away,” I replied. “Like a persistent feeling you cannot shake. Or one’s past life.”

Remora nodded. “Then you can understand why my answer is still no.”

Heartbroken as I may have been to hear such words, I had to accept that such a thing was a definite possibility.

“I can, yes.”

Damn. She sure could make the air around her thick. If I wanted such a predicament, I’d have gone outside. But, the atmosphere was already what it was, and I had to respect a guest.

“It was nice to meet you, Remora.”

Both Sunny and I watch her take off. But something wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t just let her leave without letting her know where she stood with us. I ran after her, back into the cold.

“Hey!” I called to her.

“What?” Her tone sent chills.

“You’re welcome back any time! We’ll cook you any meal you want! Or, for the right price, we’ll fulfill any request you may have!”

She gave no reply, but I hoped she would have at least given a nod before she faded from view.

Once she was gone, I went back inside. On the counter of the diner was a note left by Sunny:

Dear My Ray of Sunshine,

Better luck next time, huh? Sorry, hun. Really. But I still think you did a great job! You managed to get her to come in and you even confirmed that she exists! Give yourself a pat on the back! As for me, I got pulled away once again. This time to a place in the South American rain forest. When I get back, I will be sure to shower you in lots of hugs and kisses and all that good stuff, so hang tight, my ray of sunshine!

Be sure to keep the diner clean for me, and make sure to keep a note on any interesting rumors so we may fish them out together! Best of luck out there!

Sincerely,

Sunny Reyes

P.S. You had better cook that damn lamprey! Save some for me, too, will ya? Know that you can call me any time and whenever I have reception, I will send you many heart emojis! Love ya lots!

Ah, that Sunny, the sunshine of my life. She sure could be gone for long periods of time, but whenever she returned, it was like another honeymoon. That’s why we dubbed one of the rooms in the back the ‘honeymoon room’ just for us.

As for me, you may find my little discovery disappointing, after she turned out to not be interested in our deal, but I had a feeling that the rumored Remora would appear once more. After all, call it my intuition, superstition, or a combination of the two, but I had a tendency to be right about such things.

#remora #action #drama #writing #new story #stories #arctic #diner #rumors #fiction #remoras full

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years ago

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Iruma-kun 10

That mascot is still around to annoy poor Kalego, huh? (LOL) I also noticed the demonstration demons have horns like oni.

Oh no! This means Azz-Azz is a prime target for Iruma!

(I was going to write something. Then I got so engrossed in the action, I forgot to…)

LOL, Sabro’s too heavy for Team A to lift!

Oh, Iruma’s hair isn’t tied anymore…

“…pruning this cactus.” – Does Eggie-sensei like plants?

Ooh, the first double-parter ever for this show, I think it is.

Shinchou Yuusha 9

Apparently ep 10 got delayed…*sigh*

LOL, thre’s product placement for a certain ice cream brand in this episode, huh?

Can we not with the boob grope???

*Rista takes care of Mash and Elulu* - Rista’s such a mom sometimes…

Stars Align 9

This one scene with Nao looks really blue…it’s almost unsettling.

Oh dear…I understand the sentiment of an inferiority complex all too well.

Dr Stone 22

Now we’re back to good ol’ science vs. survival of the fittest philosophy clash. Now, see, that’s the Dr Stone I like best!

Torricelli’s law.

Why is mica like baumkuchen? Probably because it has a lot of layers…

Wow, for WSJ – which encouraged fangirls all over the world to make yaoi/shonen ai ships – they sure tossed out the yaoi/shonen ai option real fast…

Skarn. I’ve never heard of it until now.

Magma, staring at the product of magma…LOL.

I…don’t get it. Even after watching the bit again, I don’t understand why Magma was trying to save Senku.

So…as is said for most WSJ series, the treasure was the friends we made along the way…LOL, what a way to acknowledge a trope.

Lemme guess…surprise birthday party? (Sorry, when I was reading up on Magma earlier, I saw that Magma helps with a birthday surprise for Senku and I found out what it was.)

I wonder if Rei is still up there at this point…? (Who’s Rei? You’ll find out if you read the Byakuya reboot…)

Well, “Rock Day” only works in Japanese. The language would’ve drifted over thousands of years so it shouldn’t work in the year 5731 (or whatever year Dr Stone is set).

Dr Stone 23

One episode until the end…but I’m away over Christmas, so I’ll have quite a bit to catch up on when I’m back. Update: I never did end up going away over Christmas.

Senku is much more of a trickster hero than an action hero. That’s been pretty obvious all the way through, but here it’s at its most obvious.

Oh, so Kaseki made the village bridge? Is that a correct assumption…? Update: I think the answer was yes from the manga.

How much chemistry does Gen know, anyway? Assuming he’s a humanities person because of psychology and his tricks, it must only be basic, right?

Thse intense stares…I’ve been reading JJBA: DiU lately, so I’m expecting an 80s-style “!!” to appear over someone’s head at this point, LOL.

Ooh, hardware. In fact, it looks like the inside of a computer…or, more relevant to this case, a phone.

So it’s not “rules are rules” anymore? Now Kinro’s changed his words to reflect his faith in Senku…hmm! Interesting! (Update: A quick google says Kinro is 18. Senku is about 18 (+ 3700 years). Plus, after they start dragging Ginro away, Kinro says his trademark line.)

Wouldn’t the coal smoke alert Tsukasa of the village’s location, though…? Then again, thanks to Homura and Hyouga, Tsukasa already knows their location…oops.

Rochelle salt.

I saw that one shot of the world from the 1st OP and I thought there was meant to be a post-credits segment…LOL, nope.

Dr Stone 24 (FINAL)

The “acquisition message” basically said “We didn’t (just) need one cell phone, (so) it was useless!” Notably, it uses the counter for large items (like computers) for the phone.

Having finished the Byakuya reboot now, I wanna cry every time I hear about the guy…

Oh! The eyecatch is a record!

Basically, what records do is that they recreate sounds by using vibrations created by the grooves of the disc. Sound is a set of vibrations.

“Astronauts are science elites…” – Except maybe Lillian Weinberg…

I like Shamil out of the guys from the Soyuz the most. He’s a cross between Tsukasa and Senku. Stoic yet skeptical, a voice of reason for Byakuya’s sillier outbursts.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the shield was made with CGI, tbh.

Byakuya’s humour here is betraying the emotional capacity of the scene…it’s gone from “100% tear-inducing” to “confusing”.

Please sing Tsubasa wo Kudasai, Lillian…*crosses fingers*

I didn’t get what I wanted, but oh well. This song is good too. (I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the record player was CGI too. It’s good CGI for sure.)

LOL, Puyo Puyo! Even Sherlock Holmes! Dragon Ball, Nintendo Switch, VR, Saiyuki! It’s like a treasure trove of references!

Normally the s2 announcement comes after the credits, so I was thrown for a loop when it was announced before the ED…anyways, this is the end of the s1 coverage. See you for s2!

BnHA 72

[no notes, sorry!]

Iruma-kun 11

Robin looks like Iruma…(this vaguely annoys me.)

I noticed Keroli (sp?) is in the back left, alone…that’s kinda sad.

Sabro is hella tall…even taller than Azz-kun, and that says something.

Ah…I love Eggie-sensei. He’s so funny!

Really? I thought Sullivan wrote them (the rules).

I wanna see an episode where Eggie-sensei can’t turn into his fuzzy form and has to do familiar activities with Iruma. That, or an episode where Eggie-sensei has some human parts and some familiar ones (although that would scare some little kids, I think…)

What a Machiavellian mindset Eggie-sensei has!

Iruma’s got wine, people! Underage drinking is a no-no! (partially joking)

Good on ya, Clara! Go kick those girls to the kerb!

The butterflies are so beautiful in this show!

So basically school clubs.

Hmm…it’s almost a Fordist approach. I mean, “freeing yourself up to do other things” is basically the entire ethos of that.

NGL 10

I was reading JJBA: DiU today and Colt seriously looks like a Jojo’s character…

“Your face is just like…”

N-No way! You mean, the Victor Mary’s wanted to see all along…is the other gunhead…?! Geesh, what a plot twist!

Stars Align 10

“We all play to win.” – That’s very Maki of you, Maki.

Shinjo/Oshimi???? That must be Ryoma…! By the way, what’s up with these Itsuse twins…?

Who’s Hatanooka? Update: That’s the team with Joy in it…and those fangirls who busted Mitsue up.

F*** it…Arashi, I wanna pummel you someday.

LOL, you can sell your temmates out with chanpuru, huh, Arashi?

Did Maki suggest something subliminally…?

*Maki and Toma run around* - LOL, this play is completely unorthodox, haha. I can tell even if I’m no expert.

Shinchou Yuusha 10

We’re back after another week’s break…

Come to think of it, how do fantasy worlds have concepts of “hours”?

LOL, how convenient it was that there just happened to be a dude needing healing walking past! (partially sarcastic, partially meaning it since the circumstances foreshadowed it)

“Talent”, eh? *stares at the camera, which is showing Rista’s boobs, with disapproval*

The Demon Spirit Orb is basically a monster cell from OPM 2, isn’t it…?

If Seiya came from our world…then I’m sorry, Wolks, but whoever told you is completely and utterly wrong. *gestures at all the conflicts around the world, including political turmoil*

“Are you calling…”

No Guns Life 11

Second-last ep!

Oh great…another yandere?(I read JJBA: DiU hardcover vol. 2 yesterday, so I’m still thinking about Yukako Yamagishi…)

There’s a convertible in the OP, though…I wonder if that will come into play later. Update: Even if it does come into play in the future, it doesn’t happen in ths cour.

Stars Align 11

It was like Joy was showing off to the camera…LOL.

Apparently, Joy’s name is a weird reading for yorokobi (happiness).

This feels like a final episode…

Hmm. I thought Yonex sponsored this. Turns out that’s a parody logo after all (or at least, here it’s a parody).

One of the Itsuse bros looks exactly like Maki, so it’s confusing…

I’m still confused as to why Shijo Minami’s shirts say nantei on them. The minami might be nan in another way of reading it, but…the shi can only be read kokorozashi otherwise and while the jou can be read many, many ways, tei isn’t one of them.

Ume = plum blossom, so that purple-pink colour really suits them.

BnHA 73

Eri’s name means, literally, “to break reason”.

This scene with the stars and the dancefloor…that’s new.

Iruma-kun 12

Sometims you forget this dork *points at Azz* is more powerful than Iruma and Clara…

You can see Clara and Iruma in the shot of Azz-kun.

The reason why I like calling Kalego “Eggie-sensei” is because he doesn’t like it!

I love how the narrator is even aware it’s been mentioned several times Iruma can’t decline requests.

New Magic is basically science…?

Oh, it would be hilarious if this character Iruma just bumped into and he (Iruma) would be in a Battler together…but I’ve read spoilers, so I know what Iruma will join…

Is this some kind of allegory for technology…?! *eyes sparkle* Yes, I want in! Iruma! Join this club!

Even this demon’s clip is a book! Amazing!

Clara! She dab! In a pot!

Come to think of it, in the basic premise, Iruma-kun (the show) is Kenja no Mago, right? The Wise Man’s Grandson…sort of.

Shinchou Yuusha 11

Almost at the end…I’ll sorely miss this show.

Is Tiana some former version of Rista…?

How old is Seiya again…? Update: Apparently he’s 17…and if he’s the same age as he used to be in this flashback, then…kinda squicky, no?

Stars Align 12 (FINAL)

I heard this show dropped the ball and that Nao’s mother got a rant, but otherwise I don’t quite know what happens here…so let’s finish what we started. Update: Nao’s mother’s rant was in a previous episode.

Oh hey! It’s that running thing Nao and Taiyo were doing…I think. (I don’t think I’ve grasped everyone’s names, even over 12 eps, so I had to check Taiyo’s name up.)

Oh, these gremlins…*sighs happily but also exasperatedly* No wonder this show took out a top 10 position for my 2019 list.

I’m worried now…there’s always a last minute thing to ruin an episode on this show.

I always thought Ryoma’s hair was pretty nice…(small LOL). That’s just my bias for bishonen showing though.

I’m…scared now…Maki’s dad must’ve come back and the red in the sky really sold that moment…

Maki…no!!!!!!!! Aw, f***, that’s the final seconds…geesh, way to end the series. If this were a 2 cour, I’d definitely watch the next one, but since I heard through ANN that this is all we have so far, really, the only thing I can do for a passion project is hope another cour gets funded and (maybe) purchase what I can to help out. Well, that’s it, folks, skedaddle out of here until next time.

No Guns Life 12 (FINAL)

This pendant reminds me of the mana compass I saw in Fate/Zero yesterday.

I bet Danny planted those footprints…or something like that. Update: Yup, he did.

Come to think of it, is Juzo still missing his arm from last time…?

“You weren’t my client, little lady.” – There’s one of two possible options here, I think: 1) the hands guy was or 2) Danny was.

I wonder, will the hand Extended ever become his (Juzo’s) left hand? Or will he get an Extension for it?

Wow, second huge end-of-season cliffhanger! Juzo got a new buddy, it seems…anyway, see you in spring!

Cautious Hero 12 (FINAL)

If the Valkyryja (sp?) isn’t magic…what is it???

That one guy lying on the side of the fountain, looking all drunk…LOL.

Geez, you make me wanna cry, show!!!

Even the alarm clock is dejected…geez…

This is…the best conclusion of the fall season in that Seiya defeated the Demon King and the story wrapped up properly, but the worst in that Seiya died. No one died in Stars Align, even if they failed a tonne! So…I dunno. I guess it should be happy it ended optimistically…anyways, enough of my moping. See you next time.

BnHA 74

Shin Nemoto = “the truth of the origin of the sound”, if you stuck the particle no between each character.

Tintin got scary, LOL.

Lemillion, making “no capes” go out of fashion again (LOL).

Wow, talk about a clip show…! This is really one.

Check the end of the episode, don’t forget to watch the post-credits segments, people.

#simulcast commentary #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #shinchou yuusha #kono yuusha ga ore tueee kuse ni shinchou sugiru #no guns life #Stars Align #hoshiai no sora #Dr Stone #mairimashita! iruma-kun #welcome to demon school iruma kun #Chesarka watches MI-k #Chesarka watches BnHA #Chesarka watches Stars Align #Chesarka watches Shinchou Yuusha #Chesarka watches NGL #Chesarka watches Dr Stone #this hero is invincible but too cautious #the hero is overpowered but overly cautious

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hopevalley · 4 years ago

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Season 8, Episode 9: Pre-Wedding Jitters

Y’all know what’s wild? The season is coming to a close! I feel like we just got started with Season 8, and it’s already nearly over. I’m not ready for things to end...except the love triangle. Lol.

One important thing I want to talk about, before we move on to my regularly scheduled episode write-up, of course, is the quality of the writing and filming this season. I really feel like the team took a step back and thought very carefully about how to improve the show, and then they went through the effort of actively trying to improve things.

Are there still badly-written areas of the show? Absolutely. Are there things I loathe seeing? Yes. Are there plotlines that are extremely contrived even by Hallmark standards? Unfortunately there are.

But I don’t think anyone can deny that the writing this season is, overall, an improvement over Seasons 5, 6, and 7. The only thing that I feel about S8 that is worse than 5/6/7 is the love triangle, but it had to come to a head eventually so it was always going to be a point of contention among the fans.

I’ve seen a ton of negativity going around the Internet, and you are all entitled to your opinions, but let’s hold back from being too angry until we see how things will work out. After all, there is a chance, however small, that Hallmark will end up surprising us.

So here’s to hoping that the writing quality uptick will continue as we move into Season 9.

And now, our plotlines from this episode:

The Dilapidated Love Triangle

The Wedding Planning/Party

The New & Improved Henry Gowen

Miscellaneous (Car Investigation, pastor position/Jesse and Clara + Cafe, Carson and Faith, Mike and Fiona)

This was another episode that felt pretty smooth in its storytelling; it had some smaller plots going on, but two primarily large plots, a smaller one that revolved around Henry, and then a few small (connected) plots from previous episodes/that overarched the whole season!

Sorry for the muddle by the way, it took me hours to type this and I’m too tired to read it over thoroughly before posting. If you see any glaring issues please let me know so I can fix them, though!

The Dilapidated Love Triangle

Let’s just get the pig slop out of the way, shall we? I think we are all in some sort of agreement by now that we’re tired of the triangle and just want to see it resolved as soon as possible so that we can get on with our lives and invest our interests in the right place(s).

I also believe most of us are also in some kind of agreement, however we feel about the characters, the triangle, and who Elizabeth’s choice should be, that this thing has been very poorly paced. This sentiment seems to be echoed across the Internet right now. The pacing is AWFUL. After two years of almost nothing happening, now we’re going to bullrush to the end of the triangle? That’s a yikes from me, Chief. (Wait, didn’t I say that last week, too?)

I was never a fan of the narrated beginnings of episodes. I think they’re really tacky and boring. That said, there’s no other way to get into Elizaeth’s head easily because...I don’t know. Either Erin isn’t that skilled or the director doesn’t know how to direct her, or the script sucks. They struggle SO MUCH with show-don’t-tell that they have to resort to telling...which is fine, sometimes. This is an instance where telling is just mega redundant since she says the same exact thing probably 10 more times in the episode. I wish they’d have just kept the first part of the reflection or focused more on that—how Nathan talking about it...makes it feel fresh and raw again in a way she didn’t expect.

Anyway, Elizabeth writing that she’s been “left to reflect, once more, on the senseless accident that took [Jack’s] life” is ridiculous. Senseless? He was in charge of the training mission, but unless I’m losing every last marble I’ve ever had, wasn’t it Jack’s choice to go after the younger recruits who had been separated? Wasn’t it thanks to Jack’s quick thinking and intervention that only one person lost his life that day (Jack himself)?

This is where the whole “Jack died heroically” thing kind of matters, actually. Especially when you butt it up against Nathan being the original person intended to go. Would he have risked his life like that? We’ll never know, but I’m sure Nathan thinks about it a lot, and it’s not something that should be left out of this story.

It’s valid for Elizabeth to wonder why Nathan kept the Secret hidden from her for almost three years, but what is really troublesome is the weird shift she seems to have between Casual Curiosity and Stricken Grief about it.

I grew tired of mopey Elizabeth in S4 and 5, so I’m not happy to see her back. Fewer eye drops, please. -_-

Anyway, it almost felt like a breakthrough when Elizabeth asked Rosemary why she thought Nathan took so long to tell her about Fort Clay, but Rosemary’s response was so bad. “He didn’t think it was important enough.” WHAT? WHO WOULD SAY THAT? Rosemary can be a bit thick-headed but that was almost too contrived for me to willingly follow. Anyone with a brain would realize it was IMPORTANT and THAT WAS WHY IT WAS A SECRET.

And when Elizabeth’s like, “Not important enough?” BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY IT IS IMPORTANT... Rosemary just tells her that Jack’s death wasn’t Nathan’s fault.

Which. She’s right. But that doesn’t make the secret unimportant. It’s still kind of a big deal. He’s confessed to being in love with Elizabeth multiple times now. Even Rosemary can’t be so dumb that she doesn’t realize that the connection between Jack’s death and Nathan is...meaningful, especially to Elizabeth. And that Nathan knew this and couldn’t bring himself to tell her because he knew it would hurt her.

Anyway, I’m doing my best to give Elizabeth a bit of grace here, because she’s just so self-centered I almost can’t stand it. To be clear, Elizabeth has ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS. It’s just that usually the issues at hand aren’t about her, they’re about someone else.

Rosemary’s right but what she said was straight-up stupid. I don’t know, I don’t think the characters are out of character so much as the dialogue just didn’t flow very naturally and I felt like the characters were making assumption jumps to force certain responses. If Elizabeth can’t agree with Rosemary that Jack’s death isn’t Nathan’s fault, then she should have expressed that a bit more directly so that Rosemary could draw the conclusion that Elizabeth does feel it’s Nathan’s fault. It came across like Rosemary was speaking to the audience more than to Elizabeth, and I didn’t like it.

The most delightful scene in the entire episode has to go to Allie and Lucas. That was so cute and wholesome and good. Her asking if she could sit at the bar, him offering her a treat, her trying to return the gift ‘cause she felt caught in the middle and like it wasn’t fair to accept it... SO GOOD. They remembered the gift multiple episodes later AND incorporated it into this episode flawlessly. LOVED IT.

Also, she asked an important question. LUCAS...where DO YOU LIVE?!

His story was a bit silly but I actually enjoyed it. It gives him a more playful vibe and also I think was almost entirely to ensure that Allie felt more comfortable and less anxious about what was happening around her. It was also his way of reassuring her that him courting Elizabeth wasn’t going to take Elizabeth out of Allie’s life...and that things will be okay.

I enjoyed it.

Things were a bit awkward with Elizabeth and Allie but they felt...better than before, so I felt like the conversation helped.

Lucas calling Allie “Allie Grant” was nice now that her adoption is official! I appreciate that.

Elizabeth and Lucas talk about how Lucas told Allie he’ll “work things out” with Nathan and Elizabeth definitely doesn’t appreciate it, and with somewhat good reason: she doesn’t like being caught in the middle of things any more than Allie does.

The thing is...she has had the power...all this time...to tell Nathan straight-up to leave her alone/that she isn’t interested. I stand by what I said before, that she shouldn’t have to tell him no for him to respect the boundaries she’s set, but if he’s not respecting those boundaries she needs to be firm about it.

I like how Lucas comes off in this scene. He wants to understand, he listens, he’s patient, he doesn’t push. I’m here for it.

She tells him what Nathan told her and he seems a bit overwhelmed by it, too. It’s pretty clear that he realizes she must be feeling all kinds of things after finding that out, especially after all this time.

Again, for the second time, Elizabeth doesn’t seem all that grief-stricken about the secret being kept from her for so long: she tells Lucas she just doesn’t understand how he could keep it from her.

He asks permission to suss out an answer and Elizabeth politely declines and says she’ll ask herself, but to please forgive her, she needs some time to...think.

She watches Lucas go and then...touches her wedding band.

Nathan meets Rosemary in the library and goes on a long boring monologue about how he’s read like, three whole books that women wrote, but still doesn’t understand women. No shit, sherlock. That was terrible writing...just straight up bad writing.

But I’m not exactly surprised because the very next thing that happens is that Rosemary tells Nathan...she’s been in his eXACT position before!

No...you have not. Yes, you were the unwanted third wheel, but that’s where the similarities ended, and you should have clarified. This just didn’t hit well for me, I don’t know. I don’t want to say it’s out of character, but...I don’t think Rosemary is this soft gentle personality anyway. I feel like she was always a bit more in your face with the things she said, not “try to encourage a manner of action in a very roundabout way” like she is in this episode. But again, without a logic jump from Rosemary, this scene doesn’t quite work.

I think I might have preferred Rosemary to play dumb and ask what specifically he didn’t understand about women. Make him freakin’ say it. And then she could react better.

We get Love Confession #3 or whatever we’re on with Nathan, now. Let’s go over the entire scene.

Elizabeth walks into Nathan’s office and instantly asks him why it took him so long to tell her what happened.

He says he felt guilty and when she tells him she doesn’t understand, he goes on to say that after the accident he requested a transfer to Hope Valley. He never met Jack but he knew he’d left behind a wife and child, and felt it was his responsibility to look after them and protect them.

She asks why he would assume that, and he explains that he felt it was his duty. And that when he found himself falling in love with her, he felt like he was betraying Jack and his memory. That’s why he didn’t tell her.

He then takes it ONE STEP TOO FAR and says, “I fell in love with you, and I think that love is always worth fighting for.”

Elizabeth says “Excuse me,” and leaves. Nathan’s face afterward is maybe a decent mix of “I probably shouldn’t have said that” and regret, but...woof.

Anyway, I was fine with this up to the point where Nathan said, completely unprompted, that love is always worth fighting for. How does he know? What are his experiences with love? Books he read, written by men??? PLEASE.

READ PRIDE & PREJUDICE U SWINE... ELIZABETH FALLS IN LOVE WITH MR. DARCY BECAUSE HE DECIDES HE WANTS TO CHANGE AND BE A BETTER MAN AND THEN DOES SOOOOOOOOO oh wait this is turning into an Elizabeth/Henry argument...OOPS?

Anyway, yeah. Not a fan of that line. It almost feels like there’s something missing. She’s standing in front of him about to cry because she feels hurt that he didn’t tell her this, you know, crucial information, and he’s just like “Yeah I didn’t tell u cause I love you and felt like i was betraying jack’s memory and also lol love is worth fighting for babe!” What kind of confusing mess of babble is this?

Honestly, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. :( I have so many really obnoxious opinions about Nathan and what they’ve done with him this season, but I feel like I should save them for a season summary podcast or something, just in case Hallmark ends up surprising me. Right now I just feel like they really just wanted to give him what the fans hated about him (he wasn’t passionate enough, not manly enough, not forward enough with his emotions, at least from what I read on Reddit and Instagram last year), but in like THE WORST POSSIBLE WAYS and for the wORST POSSIBLE REASONS in the VERY WORST SCENARIO.

I feared that would be Nathan’s reason for coming to town from the moment the character was announced and...I wanted to be wrong.

Anyway, I really liked his self-awareness up to that point. He never met Jack, which keeps some of the weirdness at bay. Also, he felt like he needed to make sure Jack’s family was okay, and that’s fine. I wouldn’t call it noble (as Rosemary later does), but it’s not exactly bad, either. Then we got the line of him admitting that it felt kind of bad to fall in love with her. I wish he’d gone on to say that wasn’t supposed to happen, or even given her a reason he loves her (so that it doesn’t feel like we’re just being told everything), because his line about love being worth fighting for right after he says he felt like he was betraying Jack’s memory by loving her...was...really strange??? Maybe a few sentences were edited out?

Elizabeth tries to refuse to play Fiona’s blindfold game and LITERALLY NO ONE SAVES HER (though I think Rosemary considered trying). I hate the idea of this game solely based on the fact that several people participating shouldn’t even be there (Nathan, Bill, Mike, Fiona, Molly), but Elizabeth wouldn’t be able to accidentally choose Nathan if he wasn’t there, so... -_-

I think I might have actually liked this (her “no” with Carson was super cute actually, probably the cutest laugh she’s ever had on this show) if she’d had the chance to reject a few more guys on the way down the line. If she was closer to the end of the line she’d feel her options were running out and might second-guess herself. Having Nathan be the second person she touches and having her choose is...eh.

Nitpicks aside (their hands wouldn’t feel the same and she held Lucas’s hand quite recently actually), it could have been worse. At least she stated who she was searching for...

BUT UGH THE EMBARRASSMENT.

The thing that gets me about the whole scene is 100% that everyone in town would know about the Triangle drama, so it feels...weird to see everyone so gung-ho to watch this happen... I don’t know... I like having fun too, but NOBODY even TRIED to step in???

At least Lucas found some humor in it right away (he smiles).

I think I wish someone had said something. Maybe Nathan could have said, “Nope, sorry” to lighten the mood a bit? Or Lucas could have said, “Almost!” since he was standing right next to Nathan?

Anyway, we’re spared having to wait because the very next scene is Lucas checking on Elizabeth and laughing about her choice.

One line I wish they’d added in is that someone else got it wrong. Imagine if Lucas said, “At least you didn’t pick Bill like Clara did!” Or even just made a joke about it in general like: “Of course I’m not upset. But if you would have picked Bill I might be a little hurt. My hands aren’t that old yet.”

Elizabeth tells him that she spoke to Nathan about the whole...thing and it was awkward. She chooses to not tell Lucas the rest of the reason Nathan gave, but instead only admits that he told her he loves her again. When Lucas asks what she said in response she said she didn’t say anything.

Lucas seems...a trifle upset at this, and understandably so. I think he can sense she’s...not really a sure thing and is worried about it. :( I feel so bad for him right now.

Rosemary stops by to see Elizabeth after Lucas leaves, and tells her she ran into Nathan at the library yesterday. Elizabeth tells her what Nathan said in his office and Rosemary says it was noble and selfless of him.

(I mean...it wasn’t selfless. Like at all.)

Elizabeth says she never asked him to be noble. She didn’t ask him to fall in love with her, either.

She asks Rosemary if she encouraged Nathan’s feelings for her at the library. Rosemary says no, but Elizabeth asks again and she interrupts her to ask Elizabeth if she’d rather hear what she actually said or just assume.

Rosemary goes on to say that she just wants what’s best for Elizabeth.

And we get Elizabeth asking how anyone would know what was best for her.

I mean, that’s like 90% on you for not communicating with your friends, but also, it’s 100% on you for just assuming you knew what Rosemary said to Nathan. I think she’s just looking for a reason why Nathan is being so persistent and in her mind encouragement from someone else is the only thing that makes sense, ‘cause she sure as heck hasn’t been encouraging him herself!

This hurts Rosemary’s feelings, probably because she was about to say that she wants what’s best for Elizabeth so she asked Nathan to stop getting in the way lol, and says maybe she should leave (since Elizabeth is in a bad mood). Elizabeth agrees she should go.

End episode. On this note. Woof.

Overall it wasn’t too bad I guess? But I’m not a fan of how some of this was written. It really felt like they cut lines out to make the episode shorter, when...they could have cut out one of the boring side plots. You know. The entire thing with Jesse and Clara, for example.

The Wedding Planning/Party

I admit that I got a little enjoyment out of Florence saying no to all the dresses. Highly relatable.

Then, at the barbershop, Fiona says the exact wORST possible thing about Florence wanting a hairstyle that’ll “knock Ned dead” FLHDSFAJDSA.

Florence goes on to say she wants anything but “ordinary Florence” and Molly steps in.

Honestly, I wish they’d just let Molly stick to being Florence’s BFF because that’s the role she plays best. Also, I’m almost sad Florence and Ned got together because it means #teamflomo is no mo’. :(

Paul shows up...

I don’t know what I expected but this boy would have been a literal BABY in season one, which makes the whole thing with Florence almost sadder AND it gives Florence more in common with Elizabeth (widow with a young child) BUT I HAVE OPINIONS.

I know what you’re thinking. “Manna, you always have opinions!” Yes, you’d be right.

They based this off of ONE (1) line of dialogue that Florence had in S1 when something was stolen from her house. She says, “while my child slept nearby” or something like that.

They brought a child in...for that? On one hand...I’m impressed.

On the other hand, I kind of had just assumed they’d retconned that and that Florence had no children (which is why she was always goofing off gossiping with Molly) so I don’t really know how to feel about the whole thing.

Rosaleen starred in an episode and never showed up again after S1, so I think I’d have preferred to see her return instead of a child we literally never laid eyes on. But he’s a cutie. And he’s named after his father just like little Jack so...I’ll take it!

The party begins and we have to do “the men are stupid and don’t know how to plan” again which is really annoying. The highlight of this entire thing was Ned saying (about his hairline) that he’s been driving with the top down since his 30s. I respect you AND ONLY YOU, Ned.

The party continues on and they play charades. Rosemary chose weird awful options that don’t make any sense and are hard to act out. Ned’s could have been funny but the one Bill got is just...so weird.

The funniest part about it is looking at everyone staring at Molly as she guesses it.

I think it was supposed to be...cute? Or something? It was just really weird for me.

“Cuddle up a little Closer, Lovey Mine” (yes, it’s “lovey” not “lovely”) was written and recorded in 1908. You can listen to it here. Lyrics here.

They then play the Most Awkward Game Ever, one that would have had me sweating bullets if I’d had to play it. Florence has to find her man by only holding the hands of the other men.

As Fiona says, it’s a bit...risqué, but Florence rejects Jesse quickly and finds out the second man is Bill by squeezing his hands too hard.

Bill explains that his arthritis is flaring up and of course Sara and I jumped on that almost at the same moment:

We like Bill. :P

And then Florence correctly guesses that the next man is Ned. It’s very wholesome and sweet.

But then it’s Elizabeth’s turn because I guess she’s not been traumatized enough this episode. I covered that in the triangle part of the plot, though.

The New & Improved Henry Gowen

We start off with a BANG here with Henry and Christopher. Christopher misses Rachel because he’s a twitterpated little FOOL and he tells Henry all about it...while Henry sees Bill tearing apart the stolen car in the distance.

He asks Christopher how he got to Hope Valley from Hamilton and Christopher just straight up comes clean about it: he drove a stolen car that his buddy stole.

Henry scolds him a bit, tells him he can’t borrow a stolen car, and explains that he doesn’t want Christopher to end up like him. Christopher seems kind of surprised by this and says, “You turned out good.”

To which Henry replies, “The jury’s still out on that.”

Christopher says he’s done with that kind of thing, and Henry tells him he believes him.

Honestly, Henry’s “I believe you” got to me. It sounded SO genuine. And also, can I say YET AGAIN that this kid was an impeccable choice to play Henry’s son? WOW. I can’t get over how much alike they are even in mannerisms and looks.

But THEN when Henry tries to say Rachel has something to do with Christopher being done with that old lifestyle, Christopher tells him “And you” AND I ALMOST LOST IT. SOOOOO GOOD. Henry goes on to explain that “long after” he divorced Christopher’s mom, he met Abigail, who saw the potential for goodness in him. And that he can’t help Christopher be a better man because he’s still figuring that out for himself, but if he thinks Rachel can help him, he should do what he can to not lose her.

Later, Henry invites Christopher to Ned’s party and Christopher declines but asks what happened to the woman Henry mentioned earlier—Abigail, of course. Henry says she left town to help her mother.

Is this a...hint of things to come? I’m...not sure.

Henry sits down for two seconds before Lucas asks to speak with him outside. Once there, Lucas admits that he contacted Christopher. This is one of the most contrived plotlines we’ve had in a bit, if only because I just can’t figure out how Lucas would have known who Christopher was, let alone whether or not he would be useful? He doesn’t even have the same last name... I mean, what, did Henry write in sparkly gel pens or something?

But for some reason he contacted Christopher to come work for Henry to keep an eye on him. He’s not proud of having done it, which makes sense. I guess I wouldn’t be either.

Henry’s upset about it. Lucas tells Henry that he took advantage of him and that he had to make sure Henry could be trusted.

Christopher doesn’t know that Lucas told him, though, and Henry asks that Lucas keep it that way.

It makes Christopher’s behavior with Lucas make more sense (when he kept trying to push him around earlier this season), but the timing is just...awful? Maybe talking to Elizabeth about Nathan’s secret made him feel guilty about his own? I’d buy into it more if I felt like there was a really compelling reason for Lucas to feel that Christopher would do any good...but it’s just too contrived for me.

Christopher randomly decides to go to Bellingham to see Rachel. Henry tells him not to make trouble if her parents ask him to leave. Henry makes to leave, and Christopher stops him.

I CANNOT SING THE PRAISES OF THIS SCENE ENOUGH. Christopher tries to tell Henry about the thing with Lucas and Henry’s like...you’re different now, you’re starting over it doesn’t matter anymore!!!! Everyone deserves a second chance!

AND THEY HUG AND CHRISTOPHER TELLS HENRY HE LOVES HIM.

They almost got me to cry. ALMOST. I refuse to cry at this show because I refuse to give Brian Bird the satisfaction, but boy oh boy was this close.

Henry responds with a “me too” and makes Christopher promise to write. Then the stage leaves and that is that.

The rest of the storyline for Henry is under the car investigation. They’re related but...only intertwine at the very end so I separated them. ;)

Miscellaneous (Car Investigation, Pastor Position/Jesse and Clara, Carson and Faith, Mike and Fiona)

Car investigation: Nathan starts this episode off on the wrong foot. I think that was...a mistake. THAT SAID...I’m relieved Bill isn’t being written as a complaining whiny pile of trash for once, so I just want to say that...they had to realize after last episode the fan opinion of Nathan would be...not great, so mayyybe they shouldn’t have started this episode off with him literally complaining about doing his job...while he’s in uniform no less. Also he has NO PASSION at all for his job, or for investigating, which I hope means he’ll end up quitting the Mounties. (It could be a hint of things to come...I hope.)

I mean, does he think Bill got his position for...no reason? Also, thank God Nathan turned down the promotion to Inspector if that was how he was gonna treat actually doing the work?? I’m pretty sure this is their idea of “humor” but boy did it fall flat after the love triangle mess that’s been going on.

The owner talks to Nathan on the phone later and is coming from Hamilton to get his car. Nathan seems to be telling Bill this to discourage him from wasting his time investigating, but Bill doesn’t want to stop lol.

Ned’s comment from the party about his hairline being him “driving with the top down” gives Bill an Idea in the middle of the bachelor party and leaves. Ned looks shook that he produced An Idea.

And follows. Ned is absolutely adorable as he assists Bill. They should interact more?? Long story short, Bill figures out that the top was probably up when it was being transported to Hope Valley (as you wouldn’t want people getting a good look at your face if they’re looking for a stolen car), and finds a footprint in the removable top.

The next day, Bill approaches Henry up at the oil derricks and comments on the fact that Lucas told him that Christopher checked out of his room at the saloon. Henry is up front and honest about where Christopher went, and says he went to Bellingham to see Rachel Thom.

He says, “You know how it is. You love someone, you’d do anything for them.”

The one interesting thing about this comment is that...no, Bill does NOT know. He’s never admitted to being in love in his life. He married Nora, but that was out of obligation (something he makes clear several times). Like, he obviously cared about Nora, but he wasn’t in love with her.

Obviously he’s loved someone enough to do anything for them (his son), but considering he’s dead, and possibly died in a really traumatizing way considering how it’s portrayed, that seems a bit...insensitive. :P

Bill counters it with, “Almost anything, maybe.”

He then goes on to tell Henry he found a footprint in the stolen car.

And he just. Kind of. Gives Henry. A look. Because he knows exactly who stole the car, he just has to prove it.

Henry stops Bill and says: “A while back I remarked about how you had never solved the mine disaster. Perhaps if you and I get together, I might be able to help.”

Bill doesn’t say a THING...he just leaves. But he looks kind of...put off by the whole thing.

Like he knows what Henry is doing.

Do you know what Henry is doing?

Anything.

For someone he loves.

(Pst. That someone is Christopher.)

As soon as Bill is gone, he picks up a pair of shoes and throws them into the fire.

I think it’s pretty clear that Henry is using this mine disaster thing to protect Christopher, and he’s doing it for this reason WAY MORE than he’s doing it to come clean and be a better man. That’s just my theory, though. I think if Bill hadn’t found anything out about the car, then Henry wouldn’t have brought it up.

But I guess he knows something. The question is...what? And also, when did he mention Bill never having solved the mine disaster? I’m really struggling to remember Henry ever saying that to him, at least not recently. Does anyone recall offhand?

Anyway, I’m wondering if they’ll tie up that whole thing about Noah and Peter that was never addressed on the show to the fullest. You know, the whole thing with them going into the mine knowing it wasn’t safe and not warning anyone. I think a lot of people who watch this show have never been in poverty or lived paycheck to paycheck, but sometimes a person just has to put their head down and keep working even when it’s not safe, because they have to keep living. Or because they had more time to put a stop to things before anything bad happened.

I think blaming Noah and Peter as much as Henry is pretty stupid, but they still shoulder some blame. They were working to fix that problem. Henry wasn’t. He did what he was told and shut up. But maybe there’s a bit more to that story. Could be interesting.

Could also be the worst reveal ever, so...who knows? I’m curious to find out.

BUT ALSO what do they mean Bill didn’t solve that case? The widows sued and won. Sure, he got beat up in S1 carrying evidence out of the mine, but it’s not as if there wasn’t a lot more of it inside the mine, too. Everyone knows the fault of the collapse was due to working conditions being unsafe. What’s left to solve? Is Henry going to give Bill the names of the people who told Henry to keep his mouth shut?

Or...are they talking NOT ABOUT THE HOPE VALLEY MINE DISASTER, but the original one that sent Henry to Coal Valley (and Nora into a marriage with Bill)? Because that one was not solved. The company just made Henry a scapegoat in that case.

THE WAIT TO FIND OUT MORE IS GOING TO BE TORTURE.

Pastor Position/Jesse and Clara + Cafe: I enjoyed Minnie in this episode and seeing her step in and help Clara and become part of the town was great. Jesse giving more credit to Joseph than Lee was pretty funny, and a nice set-up for Lee realizing that Joseph is a pastor. Lee is apparently head of the search committee to find a new pastor...which...sure...okay. Also apparently the newspaper died?? Uh.

I’m kind of hoping Rosemary’s new passion will be the newspaper since she’s supposedly going to dig her nose into things next episode and she used to write a column for the old paper (so she has some experience). Thoughts on that?

Anyway, Joseph agrees to pastor the church instantly the second Lee asks...so it feels weird that his original goal/plans/whatever just...don’t matter anymore? Okay.

They buy a bell.................WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY BIGGEST PETTY COMPLAINT OF THE EPISODE. BRO THAT BELL STRAIGHT UP LOOKS 3D PRINTED FJLKDSAHFLDSAHFLDSAHFKLDSA

Anyway I’m teasing. The Liberty Bell weighs a little over one ton, and two horses could easily pull that.

No complaints. My husband complained last week that there wasn’t a bell and now there is. It’s like he knew.

Joseph talks about what a “calling” feels like (I think this will come back again with Rosemary which has me VERY HAPPY): a tug on his heart.

Joseph also tells Lee that the men in his yard earlier were surveyors and that he won’t move, at least not far, because he has a congregation to lead, now. Makes me wonder if he’ll actually sell!

Anyway, Jesse and Mike are cute pals and decide to have a snack in the cafe while the gals are socializing with Rosemary (who has just returned from the library).

Rosemary’s books are on land acquisitions, surveying, and territorial law.

Minnie and Rosemary decide to talk about this while Clara leaves. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe just ‘cause it was boring lol.

She gets back as Mike and Jesse are talking about, uh, her, actually, and Mike asks if all is quiet on the homefront.

Yes, it is. Unlike the trenches of WWI.

But seriously I thought it could be a joke reference to “All Quiet on the Western Front”...a WWI novel. Since...you know...WWI is going on and hasn’t been acknowledged at all even though it’s almost over now.

Joke’s on me, though...that’s too advanced for Hallmark.

Anyway it’s only quiet for like two seconds, because Clara busts in, thinks they’re eating the food she’s been busting her ass over for the party, and yells at Jesse. It makes everything awkward. Jesse simpers about like a sad little clown instead of trying to be understanding. Yawn. Awful. Bye.

I don’t know what would fix that scene, but I think part of the problem is...I’m just not invested in Clara and Jesse anymore. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect them to need more time to get over the problems in their relationship but I don’t care about them enough to care about the journey...if that makes sense. I’d rather watch Bill dust for prints on the car some more.

They do have a chat, and work things out, so that’s good I guess.

Carson and Faith: Carson has officially stolen the dock from Abigail and Frank, and so my hatred for them doubled instantly.

Me, a territorial loon: THAT SPOT IS NOT YOURS!!!!! FIND YOUR OWN!!!

Anyway Carson makes things awkward and then busts out that he accepted the fellowship without talking to Faith.

She’s kind of hurt by this?? UNDERSTANDABLY?? But then he asks if it would have made a difference. I mean, common courtesy would be at least sitting down like this and telling her, “I’ve decided to accept it.” But no. He just. Accepted it without telling her he was going to. Bro...

They aren’t on the same page for even two seconds. He tells her he was committed to the relationship and put all his plans aside so that she could be happy.

Honestly, as much hate as Nathan’s getting right now, if people gave a damn about Faith I think Carson would be getting his fair share of hate, too. What a jerk???

He goes on to say it wasn’t a waste of his time (when she asks), but never bothers to tell her more or to prove he didn’t feel that way (BECAUSE HE SURE ACTS LIKE IT WAS A WASTE OF HIS TIME). He just says he hopes she changes her mind and comes with him to Baltimore.

At the party Carson and Faith go outside to talk where Carson admits that he should have told her he was accepting the fellowship before he wrote. She tells him that the year she was gone was almost too much time apart for her, and Carson promises to write her and tells her she can visit him, too, but she brings the conversation back to reality. They’ll both be super busy.

He suggests they get married, and then immediately says he’s not asking (it’s not how he’d propose), but that they could look forward to getting married. (Good thing they laughed ‘cause I sure wasn’t. It was super awkward...) He suggests seeing how they feel in about a year. (Oh...perfect timing for...next season...hm.)

Faith tells him she loves him and wants what’s best for both of them, even if that thing isn’t them being together. They agree to just enjoy the night and worry about the rest later.

Anyway, I feel like these two just have NO chemistry (they’re worse than Bill and Molly in my books). I really appreciate the attempt to give them meaningful material, and I like that Carson has a passion again, but boy oh boy are these two hard to watch. The plotline is really good, but the characters just...aren’t great. I figured if anything they’d give a plot like this to AJ and Bill to tie that up (some kind of conflicting reason she can’t stay in Hope Valley to be written off the show for good) so I was surprised to see it going to Carson and Faith instead, but like...in a good way because it’s actually compelling for their situation! I've been in a similar situation and it feels REALLY BAD to like someone a lot but not be ready or willing to commit to an extreme for whatever reason. Faith doesn’t want to go to Baltimore because she loves Hope Valley and she undoubtedly doesn’t want to see it go without a doctor at all. Carson likes Hope Valley but his passion is in surgery and he can make a huge difference in a big hospital. He could still make a difference in Hope Valley, too (undoubted he’s the only surgeon for many miles around these smaller towns) but he also likes hospitals and their equipment and maybe misses what he had a long time ago.

So it’s a great plot. It’s compelling. It’s even a bit tragic when you think about it!

But my God do these characters just...not come off as convincing. :(

Mike and Fiona: The scene with Ned was SUPER cute. Genuinely funny. Mike asking Fiona out. Everyone teasing Mike about how much he likes her. It’s very cute and wholesome. So far I enjoy it a lot. There’s not a lot to talk about here but I like that it’s...simple.

I MEAN...she’s so cute.

END THOUGHTS:

I want the next three episodes right now immediately, but I’m also going to be pretty sad when this season ends...I think.

The biggest speculation from this episode, by the way, is that they’re opening things up to write Abigail back onto the show. How do we feel about that?

Any other thoughts? Favorite scenes? Share!

#when calls the heart #long post #analysis and meta discussion #character studies and information

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