#kind of an interesting take on the whole ‘I keep my ID secret to protect my loved ones’

[remnantoforario]

Remnant’s Top Ten Anime of 2020

2020 Was certainly a ride wasn’t it? To those that managed to make to make it through in one piece, or any piece, good job. Hopefully 2021 is better to us all. 

Despite the world mostly being on fire, I’d hazard to say that a lot of good shows came out in 2020 (despite a number of them being delayed to either later in the year or this year altogether). I meant to release this list much earlier, but I kept changing it around. 

Anyway, here are the ones I thought were the best. 

Honorable Mentions:

Dorohedoro

Synopsis: The plot centers on a man named Caiman and his search for his real identity after a transformation by a sorcerer left him with a reptile's head and no memory of his former life. 

Along with his friend Nikaido, he violently assaults sorcerers in the Hole, with the aim of taking their heads into his mouth, where a strange face will appear and confirm whether the sorcerer he has bitten onto was the one responsible for his transformation or not.

As the residents of the Hole, the En family and the Cross-Eyes gang, along with many others, collide with one another, the mystery of Caiman's identity begins to unravel, reigniting ancient grudges and threatening to forever change both the Hole and the sorcerers' world.

Thoughts: This is the only Netflix anime I watched this year (I missed out on Great Pretender before the year ended), and I can honestly say I had fun with this one. It’s animation was good, the story was engaging enough, and the characters were all unique (Noi best girl). The one problem I would say with the show is that it can come off as unfocused at times, meandering from one plaot point to another with no real connective tissue. 

Still a fun series though. 

ID: Invaded

Synopsis: The anime follows the investigations of Narihisago, a renowned detective now in prison, who is tasked with diving into the id wells of various serial killers. 

Two years prior to the current events, Narihisago's daughter Muku was brutally murdered by a serial killer, leading Narihisago's wife to commit suicide. These deaths prompted him to hunt down and murder the killer, earning him his prison sentence. He is still depressed and haunted by his wife and daughter's deaths, but also uses this as motivation to take his work seriously and help stop serial killers. 

Thoughts: One of a handful of original series that came out this year. This show gave me heavy Inception/Minority Report vibes from both its premise and presentation. It wobbles under the weight of its own concepts towards the end, but it still a fun ride nonetheless. 

Gleipnir 

Synopsis: The story centers on Shuichi Kagaya, a high school student with an unusual secret. He has the ability to transform into a monster resembling a giant dog mascot costume with a zipper down his back and a large cartoonish smile. After rescuing a strange girl, Claire Aoki, from a warehouse fire, they join each other to search for Claire's older sister, who is assumed to be responsible for the death of their parents.

Thoughts: When the initial rollout for this show began I admit I wasn’t really a fan. I thought it was just going to be a hyper violent, fanservice show. Now in some ways it is that, but if you really look Gleipnir tells a very interesting tale of identity and what it truly means to have a wish granted. The music was pretty good as well, and that’s really something from me as a person who doesn’t pay attention to soundtracks. 

Hope this show gets a season 2, but if not I’ll more than likely start the manga. 

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina

Synopsis:  Fascinated by the stories of Niké, a witch who traveled around the world, Elaina aspires to take the same course. Her determination of studying books and magic leads to her becoming the youngest apprentice witch to pass the sorcery exam. 

However, when Elaina attempts to receive training in order to become a full-fledged witch, she is rejected due to her extraordinary talents until she finds Fran, the "Stardust Witch," whom accepts her. After earning her title, the "Ashen Witch," Elaina begins her exploration around the world, visiting and facing all kinds of people and places.

Thoughts: As a fan of the Light Novels, I was pretty excited when it was announced it was getting an anime. For the most part it didn’t disappoint. Though it skipped most of the stories in the novels, the show still told a few good stories that made for some amazingly animated tv. 

Talentless Nana

Synposis: In the near future, mysterious monsters known as the "Enemies of Humanity" begin to appear, and with it so do children with supernatural powers called the "Talented". To prepare them for the upcoming battle against these Enemies, all the Talented are sent to a school located on a deserted island, where they have all their daily needs provided for until they graduate and communication with the outside world is forbidden. 

One day, a new student named Nana Hiiragi arrives at the school. Her friendly and cheerful personality lets her quickly make friends with the class. However, with Nana comes a whole litany of mysterious occurrences on the island. 

Thoughts: I can’t say too much about Nana without spoiling it’s first episode twist, but I will say that its a pretty interesting show with a fairly compelling game of cat and mouse being played. 

Now on the the actual list:

10. The Misfit of Demon King Academy 

Synopsis: After 2,000 years of countless wars and strife, the demon king Anos Voldigoad made a deal with the human hero, Kanon, to sacrifice his own life to ensure peace could flourish. Reincarnating 2,000 years later, Anos finds that royal demons now harshly rule over lower class hybrid demons in a society that values Anos's pureblood descendants over the demons who interbred with other species, such as humans and spirits. 

Finding that magic as a whole has begun to decline and his descendants weaker as a result of the peace he created, Anos, now technically a hybrid himself, decides to reclaim his former title of Demon King, but first, he must graduate from the Demon King Academy where he is labeled a total misfit.

Thoughts: Originally I was going to put Nana in this spot, but its lack of a real ending pushed it out of the list. If only slightly. Misft at Demon Academy is just a fun ride from start to finish. There’s always something about shows with ridiculous OP protagonists (Overlord, One Punch Man, etc.) that gets the blood pumping. 

It’s like junk food. Great for the right moment, but not needed all the time. 

9. Ikebukuro West Gate Park

Synopsis:  A charismatic troubleshooter tries to keep the peace between warring factions while protecting his loved ones in Ikebukuro West Gate Park.

Thoughts: I honestly had no idea what to make of this show when I first saw the synopsis, but I gave it a try on a whim. I’m glad I did because this was easily the dark horse of the Fall season. I really liked the mostly self contained story format the series had, and there were a few very good episodes here. Check it out. 

8.  My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Synopsis: Catarina Claes, the young daughter of a noble family, one day bumps her head and regains memories of her past life as an otaku. It is then that she realizes she has been reborn into the world of the otome game Fortune Lover, reincarnated as the game's villainess who, regardless of what route the player took in the original game, is doomed to be either killed or exiled. 

In order to avoid these routes that lead to doom, Catarina begins taking countermeasures to try and avoid things going the same way as the game. This, however, ends up having unexpected consequences on her relations with the other characters of the game's world.

Thoughts: Normally I’m not a fan of Reverse/Otome harem series, but somehow Bakarina managed to pull me in, to a good result. This show was easily one of the best comedies I watched this year with a good cast and a likable protagonist. 

7.  Deca-Dence 

Synopsis: In the fortress city of Deca-dence, the lowly Tanker girl, Natsume, dreams of becoming a Gear warrior following her father's death during a Gadoll attack. She is assigned to a maintenance team led by Kaburagi whom she discovers is more than he appears. Kaburagi has a secret role in eliminating "bugs", humans who threaten Solid Quake's operations. 

When Kaburagi discovers that Natsume is listed as dead in the company database, he decides to keep her under observation and offers to train her to fight.

Thoughts: Giant monsters and giant robots. What more do you need? Watch it. 

6. A Certain Scientific Railgun T

Synposis: The Daihasei Festival has begun, and that of course means that Tokiwadai Middle School—a prestigious all-girls' middle school—is competing too. Despite the participation of the "Ace of Tokiwadai," Mikoto Misaka, the other students who are participating are still putting their utmost effort into winning, no matter how impossible the feat may seem against her might. However, not all is fun and games. Due to the the festival, Academy City opens to the outside world, and various factions have begun plotting ways to infiltrate the city. Misaka appears to be on their radar, and as the festival proceeds, people lurking from the shadows begin to emerge...

Thoughts: Not really much to say here. It’s the third season of Railgun, but good thing here is that each season of Railgun is better than the last. Truly the best of the To Aru universe. 

5. BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.

Synposis: Urged on by her friend, Kaede Honjō begins playing the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online under the name Maple. Not wanting to get hurt, Maple opts to be a shield user with maxed out defense stats, and continues putting every status point she earns in the game into increasing only her defense level. 

As a result, she is left with slow foot speed and no magic, but her high defense allows her to endure most hits without taking any damage. This, along with her basic-level creative thinking, allows for her to make unexpected accomplishments in the game, its quests and events. By doing this, she ends up earning all kinds of equally unexpected skills and becomes one of the strongest players in the game. Thoughts: Bofuri is another OP power fantasy like Demon King Academy, but with the twist of being fused with CGDCT. The cast is extremely likable (especially Maple) and when Silver Link wants to they can make the battles REALLY dynamic. A nice comfortable watch, which was sorely needed in 2020. 

4. Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

Synposis: The story follows Princess Syalis, a young princess who was kidnapped by the demon king, and her quest to sleep well while imprisoned.

Thoughts: A simple premise for a not so simple story. Sleepy Princess for me was easily the best comedy of the year, with plenty of heart and action thrown in as well. I was wary of the series at first, thinking that the premise wouldnt be entertaining for more than a few episodes, but boy was I wrong. Each episode was funnier than the last and Doga Kobo pulled out all the stops to make it look as gorgeous as possible.  

3. Jujutsu Kaisen

Synopsis: Idly indulging in baseless paranormal activities with the Occult Club, high schooler Yuuji Itadori spends his days at either the clubroom or the hospital, where he visits his bedridden grandfather. However, this leisurely lifestyle soon takes a turn for the strange when he unknowingly encounters a cursed item. Triggering a chain of supernatural occurrences, Yuuji finds himself suddenly thrust into the world of Curses—dreadful beings formed from human malice and negativity—after swallowing the said item, revealed to be a finger belonging to the demon Sukuna Ryoumen, the "King of Curses." Yuuji experiences first-hand the threat these Curses pose to society as he discovers his own newfound powers. Introduced to the Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School, he begins to walk down a path from which he cannot return—the path of a Jujutsu sorcerer.

Thoughts: Originally I wasn’t going to put this on the list, because the season doesnt conclude this year, but I decided to make an exception since the show started so strong. Many people were hyping this up as the next big shonen, and they were right. Mappa really went balls to the wall with this show and I’m pretty hype for what happens this cour. 

2. Akudama Drive

Synopsis: The bustling metropolis of Kansai, where cybernetic screens litter the neon landscape, may seem like a technological utopia at first glance. But in the dark alleys around the brightly-lit buildings, an unforgiving criminal underbelly still exists in the form of fugitives known as "Akudama." No stranger to these individuals, Kansai police begin the countdown to the public execution of an infamous Akudama "Cutthroat," guilty of killing 999 people. However, a mysterious message is sent to several elite Akudama, enlisting them to free Cutthroat for a substantial amount of money. An invisible hand seeks to gather these dangerous personas in one place, ensuring that the execution is well underway to becoming a full-blown bloodbath.  

Thoughts: Want to know what it would be like if Quentin Tarantino made an anime? Well here you go. An adrenaline filled rollercoaster ride from start to finish with a crazy cast of characters and even crazier visuals. There’s even a bit of social commentary in there if you squint. 

1. Oregairu Climax

Synopsis: Resolved to become a more independent person, Yukino Yukinoshita decides to smoothen things out with her parents, and the first step toward achieving that goal is to prove herself. As graduation draws closer for the third-year students, Iroha Isshiki—the president of the student council—requests a graduation prom in collaboration with the Volunteer Service Club. Yukino accepts this request of her own volition, hoping to use it as a chance to demonstrate her self-reliance, but what lies ahead of her may prove to be a hard hurdle to cross.

At the same time, a chance for the Volunteer Service Club members to better understand each other presents itself. And thus, Hachiman Hikigaya's hectic and bittersweet high school life begins to draw to a close.

Thoughts: The gif says it all really. I could just leave that there and end this list on a somewhat high note, but I’ll explain it. 

Now objectively, there were better shows than this one (off the top of my head JJK comes to mind) but when you combine all three seasons there is no contest in my mind that Oregairu had one of the most perfect endings to a series I have ever seen. 

It was an ending 7 years in the making. The first season in 2013 was good, the second season two years later was even better, but Climax was Oregairu at is absolute best and that goes beyond the story and characters. A lot of praise also has to go to Studio feel., who took over animation duties from Brain’s Base in season 2. While BB’s animation was much more accurate to the LN, feel’s more realistic designs fit the more mature direction the story was starting to go, giving the anime some of its best moments. 

Watching Hachiman, Yukino, and Yui grow and change from naive teenagers to somewhat understood young adults was amazing and sometimes heartbreaking to watch. Hachiman’s search to find something “genuine”, Yukino’s desire to be independent, and Yui struggling with her feelings of love and friendship all clash and compliment in very interesting ways that makes these three characters even more relatable than they were before. 

Lots of long running series don’t stick to landing, but in my eyes Oregairu stuck it perfectly. That’s why its my favorite anime of 2020.

Here’s to 2021. 

[hiccanna-tidbits]

okay, okay but hear me out!

Hiccanna, Moanida and Jackunzel (and maybe someone else if u want) going on a holiday trip together (it could be sea or lake or just swimming pool).

And that three couples playing "chicken fight game"~ When u have to sit on partner shoulder or ridding piggy-back and knock down or separate the other couple!

sksksks just imagine the fun and the chaos!! hahaha

Okay SO I recently watched Palm Springs so I’m just imagining The Gang going to like…a fancy pool resort in like Arizona??? SURE LET’S GO WITH THAT

I’m imagining the only resort the gang could afford to stay at is someplace out in the middle of Arizona or something

It takes a LOT of persuading to get Jack to go, because he haaaaates deserts. Rapunzel basically has to beg. Moana finally managed to bribe him with really good homemade ice slushies. (She’s used to making smoothies for Merida, so how hard can slushies be??? Just throw in some ice!)

Rapunzel offers to help Moana with the slushies, since she gave Jack SO many puppy dog eyes to get him to come. Since they’ve got two people working on them, they’re REALLY good slushies. Jack approves.

Anna also tries to convince Elsa to go, but the perpetually-single Elsa is just like “Um, deserts? Sunburns? Being indefinitely stuck with gross couples doing gross couple stuff?!? Yeah no thank you”

Hiccup tries to wake everyone up at like 6 am to go hiking because "that's when the desert iguanas are out guys!!! C'mon, we have to go!!!" Anna is only persuaded to go after Hiccup makes her coffee--she really wants to make her bf happy, but also mornings can suck her dick. Rapunzel is more than happy to go, because she loves mornings anyways!!! And oh my god, IGUANAS!!! Jack, Merida, and Moana are like "oh FUCK no" and put the pillow back over their head, shoo Hiccup away, and go back to sleep.

On their hike, Hiccup just goes "!!!!!!!" about every reptile he sees. Snake, lizard, horny toad, literally anything with scales will send the boy into an excited frenzy. Rapunzel has similar reactions. Anna could not love both of them more.

At one point, they stumble across a gila monster sunbathing, and Rapunzel is overtaken with the unwavering desire to adopt him. She gets Hiccup on board, and he tries to lure the lizard over with a dusty piece of a snake carcass he found (Anna tried to tell him he really shouldn't touch that, but he was not to be swayed and Anna ended up figuring he could just wash his hands really well when they got back). Anna finds herself in the unusual position of having to be the Voice of Reason, having to be like “hey uh I think this might be illegal and stuff??? Also aren't they poisonous???”

(I know what you're thinking. Bold of you to assume Anna knows the difference between poisonous and venomous.)

Rapunzel literally CANNOT stop gushing to Jack about all the wildlife she saw when she gets back! Jackrabbits! Kangaroo rats! Roadrunners! Peccaries! Centipedes! Jack has only mild to moderate interest in desert ecology, but loves hearing his gf gush so he listens attentively anyways. 

Anna and Rapunzel definitely hit up the gift shops in the resort town at some point, and go ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT HOGWILD buying gifts for everyone. They probably max out their credit cards. It's embarrassing, really. But Anna gets Hiccup an absolute shitton of those little wall lizard things and he nearly cries tears of joy when he sees them, so it's all worth it, really.

Moana will not leave the pool like. The entire time. The girl is just obsessed with being in the water, honestly. She gets restless, though, and can't just stand in the pool and vibe--she needs to constantly be moving and swimming around or she'll explode. Merida is more than happy to indulge her by hanging out in the poor with her, but Merida is also constantly challenging her to swim races--a very dumb idea, considering Moana is on the high school swim team and water polo team. Merida, naturally, is an extremely sore loser and is not above excessive pouting, splashing, yelling in angry Scottish, and dunking her girlfriend in revenge. It's at least entertaining for all of their friends to watch.

Jack keeps fucking taking huge buckets of ice from the ice machine and dumping them in the pool. At first he only does this because he keeps griping about the pool not being cold enough (this boy will accept nothing less than sitting in the goddamn arctic ocean), but after her figures out that it pisses off his friends, he takes to pouring said ice directly over their heads. Merida has threatened to murder him several times for this.

Hiccup and Anna's main pool activity is just lazing around on their pool floaties (Anna has a duck one, Hicccup has a dragon one because obviously), sipping cocktails, and just generally vibing. Through some ungodly mixture of pure charisma and a fake ID that Rapunzel helped photoshop, Jack manages to talk his way into getting the whole group access to alcohol. Hiccup is a sangria or Moscow Mule kinda guy while Anna usually gets a Pina Colada or a Sex on the Beach (she's aspec, so she literally will not stop joking about the irony of this). Merida makes a game out of attempting to tip over their floaties and dunk them. Jack, chaos gremlin that he is, puts aside his usual rivalry with Merida to join in. They have a surprisingly strong dunking alliance.

Hiccup and Anna try to form a syndicate of their own, and try to lounge on the same floatie so that they can protect each other while fighting off Jack and Merida together. Unfortunately neither of their floaties were made to hold 2 peoples' weight, so the one they're on ends up tipping over, spilling their cocktails everywhere and dunking them anyways. Jack and Merida consider this a Win By Default.

Moana of course loops everyone into playing water polo at some point. Unfortunately some idiot decided it would be a good idea to let Merida of all people pick the teams, which means of course that they are incredibly rigged. It's Moana, Merida and Anna vs. Jack, Rapunzel, and Hiccup, so basically The Jocks vs. The Nerds (although admittedly Anna is more of a softcore jock--she's nowhere near on Moana or Merida's level, but she's still more naturally athletic than Hiccup, Rapunzel, or Jack). Naturally, Jock Team absolutely whoops Nerd Team's ass. Jack gets salty and demands a rematch. ...Jock Team kicks Nerd Team's ass again.

Throughout all of this, no one thinks to just...rearrange the teams a little. Merida was counting on this. All according to plan.

In the titular chicken game (yes, I remembered, don't worry!), it's Merida on Moana's shoulders (Moana swims and has a lot of upper body strength, what can I say?), Hiccup on Anna's shoulders (I mean...Hiccup's a twig, and Anna HAS to have a fair amount of upper body strength from throwing busts around and punching men off boats and such), and Punz on Jack's shoulders (Jack's pretty lithe and good at keeping his balance while jumping around, so he's their best candidate for not just falling over).

Jack and Rapunzel actually manage to stay in the game longer than anyone expects--their primary strategy is “be good at dodging and staying out of the way while Merida and Hiccup duke it out.” And it works! As limber as Hiccup is, Anna's not nearly as coordinated as Jack and is no match for Moana's sturdy footing. Also, neither Anna nor Hiccup are prepared for how goddamn ruthless and determined to win Merida is. Even though they really, really should have been. I mean...have you met Merida???

When it comes down to Merida-Moana and Rapunzel-Jack, Mer feels a little bad for having to go up against Pure Sweet Punzie. Unfortunately, Rapunzel turns out to be a very hardcore fighter when she puts her mind to it, and Merida is much more evenly matched than she initially thought and realizes she must use her Full Power. It definitely helps her snap out of Going Soft when Jack starts brutally roasting Merida in particular (as per usual). Merida gets a rage-fueled Second Wave, and finally manages to knock Rapunzel over in one foul swoop. Merida and Moana are victorious!

Moana and Merida basically always shower together after a day at the pool. They claim it's because they both know how to handle curly hair in chlorine, and just like to wash each other's hair, but the rest of the gang is pretty sure that's not all that's going on in there.

One day, Anna hits up the resort town alone to buy some kind of secret gifts for her friends with what little money she has left (this girl seriously has no chill when it comes to buying presents).  She goes past this huge, fancy ice cream shop and she's like “!!!! OMG!!! I'm gonna surprise all my buddies with pints of their faves!!!” She just gets super hyped and buys everyone ice cream, getting so caught up in the thrill of it that she forgets that she'll have to like. Drive all this back all the way back to the resort in the rental car. In like. You know. 110+ degree weather.

By the time she gets back to the resort, the ice cream is, of course, goop. Poor Anna, feeling incredibly dumb and like an utter failure of a friend, just kind of bursts into tears. Like damn. This is too much. She was gonna make all her pals so happy, and all for naught! Jack just kinda shrugs and throws all the melted ice cream cartons in the freezer anyways. Once they're (partially) re-frozen, Rapunzel and Moana make slushies with them. They actually come out pretty decent. Anna is substantially cheered up.

Moana prepares some tropical fruit platters for everyone to snack on. Rapunzel tries to “improve” them by adding chocolate sauce and nutella to half of them. Sometimes it works (I mean...bananas and strawberries with chocolate and/or nutella is pretty solid). Other times it just tastes...very weird. Merida gest frustrated and yells at Rapunzel for “ruining all of her girlfriend's good mangoes.”

Jack just thinks this whole thing is so funny, and decides to swap the chocolate sauce with barbecue sauce to cause further chaos. Absolute mayhem ensures. Everyone has a bad time. Except for Anna, who apparently is just a freak who enjoys eating pineapple slices dipped in barbecue sauce.

At some point, Merida gets really drunk on appletinis or some shit and signs the entire group up for a local archery competition. Much to everyone's chagrin, it's no refunds. Naturally, basically everyone sans Merida does terrible. Rapunzel and Hiccup very nearly shoot themselves, while Jack and Anna come very close to  accidentally shooting a group of referees (although Jack might have done this on purpose). Moana gets the farthest, if only because Merida's taught her how to shoot a bow at some point. Merida actually ends up winning--although unfortunately, the prize is $20 and a very cheap plastic trophy (which Merida STILL manages to find a way to break before the trip is even over).

The rest of the group is much more amicable to the concept of going on hikes when said hikes are in the evening. Hiccup and Rapunzel are still excitedly chattering about the local ecosystems the entire time, and Jack and Anna are just kind of looking at their nerdy SOs like “<3 <3 <3″ Moana and Merida, meanwhile, are just kinda vibing in the back, passively listening in and watching the desert sunset.

Rapunzel manages to capture Mer and Mo's interest and gets them to participate more with geology, of all things. Merida just thinks rocks are cool (especially when they can be thrown at people bothering her!), while Moana likes learning about the physical history of places--how water can carve out landscapes, and all that. Hiccup and Jack just kind of exchange a look like “I had no idea that they were into rocks, but...the more you know, I guess???”

Jack makes fun of every reptile they see, mainly to piss Hiccup off. Unfortunately it has the opposite effect, and Hiccup can't help but be entertained--mainly because Jack's insults are so weirdly specific and over-the-top that they loop around to being hilarious. Seriously, he keeps saying shit like “Those are the lamest scales I've ever seen. Absolutely drab, and not nearly shiny enough to prove that nature is beautiful. 0/10.” and “Ohhhh, this fucking rattlesnake think's he's so scary, with his dumb percussion instrument tail!!! I could be more intimidating with a mean look and a large pair of maracas!”

At some point, a bunch of tourists riding donkeys pass them. Anna, Rapunzel, and Merida just absolutely lose their shit fangirling over how cute the donkeys are, thus exposing all three of them as the unabashed Horse Girls they are. Hiccup, Jack, and Moana find this extremely amusing, and definitely aren't above teasing their girlfriends about it. Hiccup asks if next time they take a couples' vacation, the Horse Gang (as Moana insists on nicknaming them) would like to go to a ranch instead.

Anna gets like. Obsessed with palm trees. Like they're just so pretty and exotic and tropical!!! OMG!!! And they definitely don't have them wherever the gang is from in this AU. (Also if griping about Elsa not having "tropical powers" is anything to go by, she DOES canonically like the tropics!) She has to take a picture of like...every palm tree on her phone. And considering the gang is in Arizona, that means Anna is stopping to take a picture like...every 2 minutes. Rapunzel catches onto the fact that Anna likes them, and paints her a picture with some when Punz has the time. Anna definitely cries when she sees it. Hiccup can't do nearly that good, but he does buy her some little plastic figurine ones in a gift shop that she can put in her room. Anna also cries about this. She just cries whenever any of her friends indulge her random fixation on palm trees. Surely she doesn't deserve such niceties!!!

Rapunzel is just. In love with the desert landscape tbh. Like the huge funky cacti!!! The shrubs!!! The desert wildflowers!!! The mesas!!! All of it!!! So of course she needs to pull out her easel and paint it. Jack walks by one day and sees her working on it and, partly just to troll her, he's like “put some snow in it!” As he walks away, Rapunzel just stops like “wait...that'd actually be such a great idea for a surrealist-type fantasy piece!!!” After she finishes the main landscape, she adds an overcoat of little puffs of snow on top of everything, and has some clumps falling off of the cacti. When she shows Jack, he just about cries tears of joy, but frantically tries to hide it. She gives the painting to him as a present at the end of the trip. He hangs that shit front-in-center in his room and cherishes it forever and ever.

At some point, Jack gets the ingenious idea that he's going to prank Merida by catching a tarantula and leaving it in her room. It's one of the harmless ones--Jack fact-checks this by offhandedly asking Hiccup and framing it as a casual interest in local etymology. Still, Merida screams far louder than is at all dignified, and also probably loud enough to wake a neighboring country. Rapunzel later has to physically hold Merida back to keep her from absolutely beating Jack into a pulp. Rapunzel also manages to get the World's Largest Sheet of Cardboard and the World's Largest Cup and somehow manages to get the damn thing back outside.

[pumpkinpaix]

老师好！Thank you for writing! i found you through your MDZS story and i really adore your insightful writings about the show. In my opinion, i even think the show is better than the novel in their presentation of WX relationship ~ ! it feels more natural and less pandering. Another essay suggestion for you if you want to write --- In the show, who do you think fell in love first in WX? When were the "turning points" when they realized?

sldjfslikl first of all anon, it’s WILD that anyone would address me as 老师 and i’m simultaneously flattered and gobsmacked. (i’m really really really not qualified to be called 老师 friend—thank you, like, a lot?? but yeah, i gotta say i’m not that cool) thank you for reading my fic and liking it and apparently my one meta enough to come talk to me!! also, SORRY this took approximately a million years i’ve been working on it on/off for like. two weeks. (@the other anon who also requested meta—pls forgive me im really doing my best apparently these take a lot out of me)

confession: I wrote a WHOLE ADDITIONAL essay in response to your opinion about show vs. novel that i ultimately decided to cut because it flies a little too close to the discourse sun and you didn’t ask for that hahaha. if it turns out you are interested in it, feel free to hmu and i can post it (though i’ll probably try to keep it out of the tags for my own mental health’s sake im not cut out for this lmao)

that all being said, who do I think fell in love first? it was definitely lan wangji, and it was right here:

[id: screenshot of lan wangji watching wei wuxian making a wish to “protect the weak and curb the strong, with a clear conscience for all my life” from episode 7 of the untamed drama. wei wuxian’s eyes are closed, his hands clasped. lan wangji looks on with a surprised tenderness. /end id]

I think it’s safe to say that he already finds wei wuxian attractive/intriguing (see: his reaction to wei wuxian drawing his portrait, tying the lan ribbon around their wrists, the PEAK gay panic in his voice when wei wuxian trips and falls on top of him), but this is the first moment he’s really moved by him. up until this point, wei wuxian has been teasing, immature, A Nuisance™, too clever for his own good, troublemaker energy personified etc but he hasn’t ever revealed his deeper moral values in front of lan wangji—and he does it like this, without pretension, without irony. He doesn’t spend his wish on something frivolous or material: he wishes to be able to do good for all his life, to be righteous, to be kind. it’s the wish he makes for both of them. “the promise we made together all those years ago,” as he says, half a lifetime later.

like just. imagine, for a moment, being lan wangji, whose whole world is being constantly challenged and needled by this unfairly attractive, chaotic bastard and then he just comes out of left field with this. I think this is where lan wangji first recognizes himself in wei wuxian—that at their core, they share their most important values.

look what i’m saying is this is where I fell in love with wei wuxian.

(sidenote: I really think a lot of the tragedy of mdzs/the untamed is stems from this moment. wei wuxian fails, over and over and over, even when his wish never changes, even when all he ever wanted was to do good without fear.)

i had to think for a really long time to try and decide which moments i wanted to talk about on wei wuxian’s part, because i don’t think he’s nearly as easy to pinpoint. lan wangji falls in love like a lightning strike, but wei wuxian’s love is something that grows so slowly, i don’t think he realizes what it is until pretty late in the game.

so let’s begin with this moment on phoenix mountain:

[id: screenshot of lan wangji and wei wuxian facing each other on phoenix mountain from episode 25 of the untamed drama. lan wangji is waiting expectantly for an answer, having just asked, “what am i to you?”, hand behind his back. wei wuxian is holding his flute, expression complicated and uncertain. /end id]

this is the first time i think wei wuxian is asked directly to label his feelings about lan wangji, and he says, “i once thought of you as a lifelong, intimate friend.” and when lan wangji presses, “and now?”, he doesn’t respond.

two episodes later, when wei wuxian is taking the wen refugees out of their prison camp and lan wangji appears before him, I think he has some kind of answer to lan wangji’s question:

[id: screenshot from episode 27 of the untamed drama. wei wuxian holds out chenqing before him in challenge to lan wangji, who is offscreen. he is smiling, just slightly, resigned and fond and terribly sad. /end id]

“if there really must be a battle between me and them, then I would rather fight to the death with you. if i must die, then at least i would like to die by hanguang-jun’s hand. it wouldn’t be an injustice.”

if that isn’t some kind of confession, I don’t really know what is.

but it’s too late—he’s now a defector in the eyes of the four sects. lan wangji lets him go and wei wuxian rides away. the remainder of his first life, that’s how things stand. even through everything with a’yuan, the final massacre at the nightless city—even though there’s something really meaningful there between them, it’s all tinged with a sense of impossibility, you know? there’s no outcome where they can resolve it happily. wei wuxian has gone too far down that single-plank bridge.

the first moment i think wei wuxian has to confront the unresolved and unsaid things between him and lan wangji comes when lan wangji gets drunk that one night and tells him, “i have regret.”

“what regret?”

“that at the nightless city, I did not stand beside you.”

[id: screenshot of wei wuxian looking at lan wangji (offscreen) with tears in his eyes as the full realization of what lan wangji just drunkenly confessed hits him from episode 36 of the untamed drama. /end id]

“so all this time, you’ve been searching for me?”

earlier i said can you imagine being lan wangji for a sec, and i’m gonna say it again except god. can you. IMAGINE being wei wuxian in this moment. finding out that this person that you maybe suspected you had deeper feelings for but never acted on has spent the entire sixteen years of your death searching for you, regretting that he didn’t stand with you before you died? a regret that he’s been carrying in secret, alone, for sixteen years?? that’s A Lot to unpack.

however, I don’t think wei wuxian really, fully understands and accepts how he feels and how lan wangji feels in return, how far they’re both willing to go until episode 42, at the confrontation at jinlingtai.

[id: two screenshots from episode 42 of the untamed drama, right after lan wangji takes a stand beside wei wuxian against the four sects. image 1 is lan wangji smiling at wei wuxian: he is gentle and sure. image 2 is wei wuxian smiling back at him, eyes red-rimmed and wet. /end id]

even though lan wangji has been walking with him since dafan shan, he’s been doing it with a plausible deniability. and here, when wei wuxian is trying to give him an out, lan wangji puts everything he has on the line so that he can clearly stand with wei wuxian, without dissembling, without hesitation. “the feeling of of walking on a single-plank bridge into the dark truly is no worse.”

lan wangji is finished with regrets.

“it’s just funny, that’s all,” wei wuxian says, “back when the whole world flattered me with praise, you were the only one who would scold me. but now that everyone is calling for my death, all hating and condemning me, you’re nevertheless the only one standing by my side.”

i think after that, for all the remaining episodes, there’s an unspoken commitment between the two of them that underpins the rest of their interactions, which I think I can say without reservation that I like more than how it played out in the novel. EDIT 16 APR 2020: I changed my mind a while ago, ahaha. Turns out, I don’t prefer CQL over MDZS. I love them both so much. ;A; there’s something really profound about it, the trust in their unlabelled relationship. it really feels like the inexorable culmination of two adults in their mid-thirties coming together after falling in love for almost twenty years. there’s a maturity to it that isn’t present in the way the novel does the confession (which does have its own disaster energy™ charm) that I think highlights the fact that they love each other, not just because they admire each other, not just because they’re attracted to one another, but because they understand each other—because when they look at each other, they also see themselves.

[castiel-has-bees]

Hooking up with the right people

Gabriel x reader

Word count: 1k

Warnings: implied smut, several sexual themes (what do you expect, it’s Gabriel)

A/N: Hey! So this isn’t my favourite, but it’s okayish I guess. I might do a Pt. 2. Go check out my Castiel one shot! Ships are open!

I was a Winchester, through and through.

Basically the perfect combination of my entire family, I had my father's stubbornness, my mother's brains, Dean's confidence, and Sam's strange patience. Of course, I inherited most of their bad traits also. I had my father's drinking habits, my mother's temper, Dean's cockiness, and Sam's rebelliousness.

As the middle child, I was always the mediator, never picking a side, always breaking up the fights, and I was sick of it. I had to get out, so that's what I did. I packed my bags, left a note explaining I was leaving and wouldn't be back. Then I went to find the expert on getting away from your family, Gabriel.

It was no secret we had a past, one full of passionate hook-ups and getting caught by my brothers, which had ended badly. But I needed his help.

I found what I was looking for, a classy bar where I'd gotten a tip that Sleipnir would be, and from there I could seduce him into giving me Gabriel's location, who could hide me from my brothers and Castiel.

I got on the long black dress with a very provocative neckline, I only owned it so I could use it to get information for cases.

I flashed my fake ID and walked past the bouncer. There was soft music playing through the speakers and various women in dresses and men in tuxedos. The lights were soft yellow and the whole place smelt of bourbon, aftershave, and tobacco. It was horrible, but I still put a smile on my perfect, ruby lips, and waltzed over to Sleipnir, who was wearing a forest green suit and had his caramel blond hair slicked back, reflecting what a snake he was.

I sat down at the bar next to him and asked the bartender for a pina colada. Twirling the straw between my fingers, I looked over to see Sleipnir staring at me, looking me up and down with a faint smile on his lips. Good.

"Heya," I said, twirling the straw in between my thumb and pointer finger and making sure he saw me looking him up and down.

"Hi," he said cockily, leaning back.

"I'm (Y/N)."

"I'm Steve"

I smiled, "Is that what you're going by now, Sleipnir?"

His smile was instantly erased and he set his drink down on the counter, looking suddenly tense, "How do you-"

"-Relax, I'm not a hunter, just an interested party."

He seemed to relax, I didn't look like a hunter, which helped, plus, a hunter wouldn't be caught dead in a dress like this. "Oh, what kind of 'interested party'?"

I leaned closer to him, biting my lip again, "Depends on what kind you want me to be."

I leaned in to close the lap between us and kissed him. One thing led to another and we were getting dirty looks from the bartender. "You want to take this back to my place?" he asked, breaking apart so we could breathe.

Perfect, it was all going to plan. "Sure."

He snapped and suddenly we were in a candlelit room that smelt strongly of roses and something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"What'd'ya think?"

I smiled again and kissed him, slower this time as we leaned towards the emerald green bed.

I waited until I was sure he was asleep to get out of bed and get my clothes back on. I tiptoed across the room to the door and tried to open it as quietly as possible. Sam, Dean, and Castiel would probably realize I was gone now, but the warding here would keep Cas from finding me.

I looked around until I saw him, Gabriel. He was making out with, what I assumed to be a porn star based on the size of her boobs. He shut the door and I sighed, walked over to the door he had just shut, and ripped it open.

They both ripped apart and a half-naked Gabriel turned to me, probably to tell me to leave. Upon seeing me, his eyes widened in surprise and his eyebrows raised, "(Y/N)..." He snapped and the porn star was gone.

"Gabriel," I said, "I need your help."

He simply blinked once, making no indication he had heard me.

"Gabriel... Hello, earth to Gabriel," I said, waving my hand in front of his face.

"H-how did you find me?" He asked.

"Well," I started to explain, "I found Sleipnir in a bar, he snapped us back to here, I slept with him, and he fell asleep afterward."

"You and Sleipnir...?" He asked as if this was the biggest concern he had right now.

"Unfortunately," I laughed, "Hey, I mean, it wasn't that bad."

He got a frown in his face, "Why are you here (Y/N)? You shouldn't be here."

I frowned back at him, this defiantly wasn't the reaction I was expecting. I was expecting him to be happy that I was here, or straight up furious, not just frowning. "I-I need your help, please."

He bit his lip, "What do you need?"

"Protection. From the angels, demons, monsters, the whole crap-load."

"What about your brothers and Cas?"

"I-I can't do it anymore, I can't hunt and pretend everything's fine and drink away my feelings. I-I just can't anymore," I could feel tears start to prick at the corners of my eyes and I tried to push them down.

"Okay," He said.

"Okay?"

"Okay, stay here, with me, then."

"Really?" I asked, my voice breaking. Tears started to stream down my face.

"Yeah really," He said, taking a step towards me so we were only inches away. He raised a hand and wiped a tear off my cheek and pulled me into a warm embrace. I could feel tears continuing to stream down my face and my legs started to get weak.

Suddenly we were sitting on the small, yellow love seat, but his arms were still wrapped around me. I snaked my arms around his chest and he started to stroke my hair.

I don't know how long we sat like that, but my tears were soon gone and we slowly broke apart, my body shuddering due to the heat being taken away from me.

"(Y/N)," Gabriel whispered, "What the hell happened to you?"

"Too much," I said quietly back, "Way to damn much."

[takadasaiko]

Love Me Twice: Chapter Ten

FFN II AO3

Summary: Liz re-introduces Tom to her team and Red and Cooper discuss where it's all heading.

Chapter Ten

When Liz had said that her team was a good resource for intel and backup, Jacob had assumed that had meant for her. He could take leads that she passed along and run them down in ways that a federal agent couldn't. He hadn't expected her to walk him into where she worked to speak to her team directly. At a federal black site. Below ground level with limited escape options. None of this was setting well, but she brushed off every argument that he made.

"They know you."

Jacob bristled at that even as he followed her into the lift that would take them down to what she called the War Room. "But I don't know them."

"You don't remember them. There's a difference." The doors squealed closed and she turned towards him. "I'm not going to let anybody hurt you."

"You know my line of work isn't exactly legal," he pointed out.

"They're not going to arrest you either. They know about St Regis."

Jacob turned to stare at her. "You told them?" he demanded.

"I think Reddington did? It just sort of became common knowledge in our circle after you got out and after… well once you and I figured things out."

The doors opened and Jacob fought the urge to run. What good would it do? He was stuck in a black site with a bunch of federal agents that knew he was a covert operative. Despite Liz's optimism, he had no idea how this could end well.

One of those agents looked up from his desk, eyes focused on Liz and started for them, talking the whole way. "Agent Keen! What's the news you couldn't share over… the… Holy crap. Tom?"

"Hey, Aram. Surprise," Liz offered with a struggling smile.

The other agent - Aram - stood there gaping. "How? When? Why didn't you…. you know what. It doesn't matter." Without warning he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Jacob's neck. "You're alive."

Jacob jerked backward at the sudden contact, stiff and ready for a fight. It took a moment for his mind to process that Aram had hugged him. Why a fed was hugging him, he had no idea. All he knew was that he had no interest feeling any more contained than he already was in this place.

"He doesn't remember," Liz explained as Aram startled back, pulling his attention around.

"Doesn't remember… what?"

Liz pursed her lips together thoughtfully, gaze shifting towards the main part of the room. "Let's talk in Cooper's office."

It was surreal as Liz made introductions that her team didn't need. While he only recognized them from the file Tremblay had given him, they knew him. What's more, Aram wasn't the only one that seemed happy to see him. Cooper - an assistant director of the FBI - greeted him with a warm handshake and a promise to both of them to help get to the bottom of all of this. Ressler - one of Liz's partners and the one that had been with her the longest - was more awkward, but managed a quiet "welcome back." The only one without much to say was Park, but as far as Jacob had seen she'd joined the Task Force after his supposed death. She looked as confused by the whole interaction as he felt.

"Have you told Reddington?" Cooper asked, and there was something layered beneath the face value of the question.

"No," Liz murmured, "and for now, I'd like to keep this between us."

"I thought you trusted him," Park popped off.

"It's complicated. He and…. the woman I believed was my mother are locked in some sort of war, and until we find out why, I think my circle of trust extends to the people in this room."

Ressler turned to look at her. "Believed to be? What did I miss?"

"Tom's… employer hired him to protect me and he ran a DNA test on her. It was secure. She matched to Katarina Rostova, but there was no parental match with me."

A quiet settled over the group as they digested the new information before Cooper's gaze landed on Jacob. "The person that hired you must have known who you are."

Jacob pulled in a breath, steadying himself to open up to the feds. "Looks that way. All I have is an alias: Brigitte Tremblay. She's gone dark, though, soon as Liz and I ran across each other. She hadn't returned any of the calls."

"I can trace the number," Aram offered. "Might give us something."

"It's a place to start," Cooper agreed. "Aram, work with Tom to get any information he has that might get us a lead on Brigitte Tremblay. If she's slipped up in any way, I want you to use it to ID her. Ressler, Park, catch Keen up on what we uncovered on The Collector."

Jacob watched as Liz perked up at that. The name obviously meant something to her. "You found something with him?"

Park flashed her a grin. "More than something. It's good."

"Let's go." Liz started out the door, but paused, turning towards Jacob. He must have looked like a deer in the headlights for the way her expression softened and she reached out, her touch against his arm gentle. "I trust them. You can too. I promise."

"I've never known cops to have my back," he confessed softly. "Especially feds."

"Well this fed saved your life a few years ago and you still owe him a favour," Ressler chuckled, halfway out the door. "Don't think I'm not calling it in sooner or later now that you're back."

Liz smiled and let her hand drop. It brushed Jacob's and he felt a shiver pass through him. His fingers started to close, holding her hand there, but in the last second he stopped. She didn't, though, and her fingers closed around his, giving a reassuring squeeze and held his gaze.

"I trust you," he whispered and her lips quirked up.

"Don't let Aram get sidetracked with Doctor Who." One more quick squeeze and she was gone, following her partners out the door and down the stairs.

Jacob turned to Aram. "Like the British scifi show?"

"We totally marathoned the Fourth Doctor one time when we were waiting on some intel to come in a few years ago. There was the one where K-9…" He grinned sheepishly past Jacob at his boss. "Right… We can, uh, cover that some time when we're not trying to find the mystery woman that knows where you've been the last two and a half years. Of course. Just, uh… follow me. We'll get started."

Jacob nodded numbly, not bothering to correct him. He knew where he'd been the last two and a half years. It was the previous ten he was worried about.

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

"Before we get started," Park said as she paused at her work station, turning to look directly at Liz, "did you know? Because last I heard your husband had been brutally stabbed to death in a home invasion that turned out to be Federal Marshall after some secret of Reddington's. Didn't Cooper ID him?"

Liz did her best to push down the instinctive desire to go on the defensive at Park's tone. "I found out the night before last. He's been… trying to come to terms with the fact that he was married… had a family and a life that he doesn't even remember."

"Sounds rough."

"It has been. And yes, Cooper ID'd him."

"Not just that, but we all saw him flatline," Ressler pointed out. "Hell of an accomplishment to fake all of that."

"It is, but we've seen doubles before. Sinclair manages it pretty convincingly. Tom told me about a Russian-based program he came across during his time with Halcyon that surgically altered people to look like their targets. It does happen."

She didn't like the look Ressler gave her, almost like he thought she was stretching it.

"Yeah, but who would have those kinds of connections and resources to put it together so fast?" Park asked, shaking her head.

That, Liz had an answer to. One that had been battering around inside her mind since she saw Tom hanging in Katarina Rostova's warehouse, but she hadn't dared to admit out loud yet. "Scottie Hargrave."

Ressler blinked at that. "Tom's mom? Why would she?"

Liz risked a glance over to make sure Tom was distracted with Aram. "She has means and motive."

Ressler didn't look convinced. "Motive for faking his death?"

"If she thought it kept him safe, yeah. I could see it. She thrives on control and there was something…. strangely resolved when she took Agnes a coupe of years ago. She said she'd already mourned him once. I didn't… catch it then, but it was weird."

"That's screwed up," Park managed and Ressler snorted.

"Welcome to the Keen family drama."

Liz shook her head, unable to deny the statement. "Tell me what you guys found on the Collector."

Park lit up at that. "Michael Kowlaski was actually Viktor Petrov. While his paperwork says that he was American-born to Polish immigrants, the identity for Michael Kowlaski was farmed. All the paperwork, the credit history, everything was manufactured."

"Like a shelf company for a person," Liz murmured and Park nodded.

"Exactly like that."

"How did we get to the name Petrov?"

"Aram worked through the night going through photos linked to the Kowlaski ID," Ressler explained. "Cooper recognized one and was able to confirm that it was actually Victor Petrov, a KGB officer known for his intelligence work. Everything started to fall into place."

Liz leaned back against Park's desk. "Okay, so we've got the who and the why -"

"You mentioned that in the debrief," Park said. "The Sikorsky Archive. Petrov's last words. Do you know what it means?"

"All I know is what I've been told. It's a blackmail file that the woman that posed as my mother says she's being blamed for stealing and that she thinks Reddington knows who really has it."

"So another dead end?"

"No… maybe not. I had a PI follow Ilya Koslov -"

"Not Reddington, by the way," Ressler offered and Liz tried to ignore Park's confused look.

"- and she found that Koslov was obsessed with the Archive."

"So he's our next best lead?" Park asked, shaking the confusion from her expression.

"Seems to be." Liz closed her eyes, working through the pieces of the puzzle that made up this case. It was huge. Expansive. Pieces looked like they'd fit and then were part of a completely different puzzle altogether. This, though… she thought they were onto something with this. "The Collector always has two demands: a new secret to carry on and a favour. I know we recovered a jumpdrive on him. Has Aram cracked that yet?"

Ressler shook his head. "He's still working on it, but I think that's what had him here all night. His program's cracked pieces."

"It's German… Something about Bonn, but other than that, we don't know yet," Park agreed.

Liz risked another glance over to Aram and Tom, the tech genius looking like he was in the middle of a long-winded explanation of something that probably could have been said a fraction of the words he was using. Tom, to his credit, was patiently nodding along that he was following. The two had always gotten along well, so it was good to see that even with his missing memories Tom was able and willing to listen through.

"Then I say we focus on Ilya," Liz finally said.

Ressler quirked a ginger eyebrow. "Hasn't he gone into hiding?"

"We'll find him," Liz answered confidently. "We have to."

Park shifted where she was. "If Rostova isn't your mother and Reddington isn't… whatever the latest thing you thought he was… why?"

Liz pursed her lips, working through each word as she let them fall. "Because Reddington used us to get to here. He used us to get to The Collector to kill him. He tried to steer me away from this woman, but he never gave me a clear reason why. He uses us, and just once, I'd like to have more pieces of the puzzle than he does."

There was a moment of silence between the three partners before Ressler nodded. "Okay. Let's find Koslov."

"Uh, guys?" Aram called over. "Mr Cooper just called down. Mr Reddington is supposed to be coming by with intel on The Collector. I know you said…"

"Guess that's my queue to leave," Tom said and his gaze shifted around to Liz. "How about this: give me a lead to track down on this Koslov guy and I'll start in on the groundwork."

"Tom…"

He gave her a small, lopsided smile. "I promise I'll come back. Here, gimme your phone?" He reached a hand out and she held it out to him. He punched in a number. "Saved just above the pizza delivery guy."

Liz found herself echoing the smile. "Good. Let's get you out of here."

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

They walked a thin line with Reddington. That wasn't new, and for the most part Cooper had reconciled himself to it. There was give and take. He gave them terrible people that needed to be taken off the streets and that they wouldn't have had access to without him. In return, he took what he wanted. Sometimes it was a piece of information or access, and then sometimes the price was higher. Sometimes he used them in ways that Cooper found very difficult to see as anything but a betrayal to the very woman that Reddington had surrendered himself for. His actions had forced her into more compromising positions, put people she loved at risk, and consistently left her in the dark on issues that directly affected her without even a hope that he'd reveal the answers to her someday.

Despite all Reddington had done - and for every veiled motive, every secret he had kept about Elizabeth's past, he had quite literally saved her life and career time and time again - Cooper couldn't blame Elizabeth for not wanting to offer up the fact that Tom was alive. Reddington's secrets had, they had thought, cost her husband his life two and a half years before. He was alive, but far from whole, and her wish to protect him from the chaos that Reddington brought into her life was understandable. It was the reason that Cooper had given them a good headstart before calling Reddington into the Post Office.

Reddington didn't like being summoned, that much was clear. He helped them at his leisure and on his terms, despite the fact that, theoretically, he worked for them, but that afternoon Cooper had no patience for his antics. He'd used them to lure a Blacklister out and, when Cooper had refused to hand him over blindly, Reddington had had him shot down in the street.

It was nearly time for Cooper to pack it up and call it a night when Reddington finally strolled into the Post Office with a reminder that he's not at the FBI's beck and call, even though his immunity agreement did have some wording that leaned heavily in that direction. He continued on and on, casually taking a seat across from Cooper with his hat in his hand and Dembe lingering at the door. Cooper lost track of exactly what the point of the story was, but it had something to do with a woman from Beijing that he'd met while smuggling political refugees out of the country. By the time the story wound down, Cooper had already had to send Charlene an apologetic text and a promise to pick up dinner of her choosing on his way home.

"I'm sorry, Harold, was there a reason you called me in when I should be at Marcel's having the most exquisite Lobster Timbale that I've ever tasted?"

"Victor Petrov," Cooper said simply, not bothering to point out that if Reddington had come when he'd called that he could have been out long before his reservations.

"Ah," their often complicated CI managed. "You've put a name to the legend."

"I'm not going to waste both our times asking you exactly what you thought you'd keep Elizabeth from finding out about her mother," he stated firmly, "but I do need to know what Petrov was trying to move through Mr Krause. Aram's working on the encryption, but so far we've only gotten pieces. You said that Petrov was connected to the Cabal."

"He was," Reddington answered, his voice serious now.

"I'm not a fool. We may have decimated their stronghold in the United States, but my guess is that they have a further reach. You handed us this Blacklister and so far, without details of what was being transferred, we've gotten nothing from it other than a dead former KGB operative and another dead end." He paused, taking a risk. "Does Bonn mean anything to you?"

"Is that Krause's final destination?"

"We believe so."

Reddington tilted his head to the side and Cooper straightened his spine. He was already asking for less than they'd been promised on this. Finally, the other man relented. "I already suspected that Petrov had re-aligned himself with his old allies in the Cabal. If he's orchestrating deliveries to Bonn, then it's not just a smaller faction he's trying to reach out to."

"How many factions are you aware of?"

Reddington sighed, and for a moment Cooper thought he was going to try to slip around this. Apparently it wasn't worth the effort. "Originally? Many, but there were key players housed in the United States, Russia, China, and two in Germany: one for the East and another for the West."

"So Petrov was trying to make contact with one of the factions in Germany?"

"There's only one left. With the fall of communism in Germany, the Cabal lost its foothold in Berlin. Bonn is all that's left, but Harold -" he caught Cooper's gaze and held it, and in that moment his voice was deadly serious - "if this is more than an attempt to make contact, if the faction in Bonn is using someone like Petrov to move information Stateside, this is bigger than either of us could have assumed."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have killed the man with the answers then."

"What's done is done. Aram mustcrack that encryption and he must do so quickly."

"Or what?"

"If we wait to find out, it will already be too late."

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

TBC

Notes: ** insert dramatic music here **  

I feel bad for poor Tom right now. Everybody in this story knows more than him and he's just not okay with that.

Next Time: When Tom's search for Ilya continues to run into dead ends, Liz takes matters into her own hands.

[selemina]

So how about you tell me a bit about what you're upto? What's going on in your campaigns this week? :3

This week nothing, because I have been busy with real life, I didn’t have time to prepare. ^^’ But I can tell you what happened in the last sessions up to this point!

The quarantine story arc started with everybody going to a student fashion show. Alexia and Isa had been invited to be models, but once there and with a few events, both Permid and Lyn also asked to join. However, in the middle of it, they realized their tech wizard Raph was... not online. Which was impossible : Raph is ALWAYS online! They tried to contact people in Saclay and couldn’t get anybody. Worried, they drove with a few other people from Saclay, over to a secret entrance. (I took some liberty with reality, based around the historical fact that there are aquaduct networks that used to bring water from Saclay to Versaille’s castle for the fountains of the palace. :) ) Using those tunnels, they managed to get inside... All of Saclay was under a severe quarantine : no radio, no internet, no phone lines... Everything was cut off. Knowing this had to be about the magical events happening around town, the group realized they would be hunted down sooner or later. In any case, Salin and Saka (both from Mira) coulldn’t be found by the government, so they offered to get a few of the kids and go over to the other world, Mira, to hid in there for a week or so until the search let up.

Saka, Isa, Lyn and Permid agreed to go with Salin to Mira, while Ivan and Alexia decided to stay to keep an eye on things and protect who needed it. They also had not heard about Damiana in a while...

The A team, in Mira, landed at the White tower as usual, where Master Kavoleg was in the middle of a meeting with representants of each nation, informing them about the existence of Earth, and the imminent crisis it faced of having magical resurface, all unsupervised and without direction. After most left, they met the Human representant of this council :

He seemed very curious about this new human-only world with no magic. They all discussed the current state of things, and the worry that if there was already a military presence during this “quarantine”, things might be a little difficult to resolve peacefully...

Still, since they had a week of down time, Saka asked to start looking for his missing brother, Sisik, that had last been since just before the whole thing. They headed to the port town where he had been seen last, and started looking. They heard about the fact that Sisik was looking into disappearances that seemed to target specifically magic users, and just as they exited the building, someone tried to get saka alone in an alleyway. While Isa was 100% here to help, Saka and Permid saw right through it, and managed to stop the kidnapping attempt peacefully (I will never say enough how proud I am of my players for going out of their way to not be murder hobos! ;W;)

They learned that those kidnappers had no real idea who they worked for, they were just there to subdue people and pass them over to someone else, and got a better cut if the people were magic users. They handed the kidnappers to the town’s guard, and Saka immediately stormed out, realizing that this was a serious issue, and his brother might be somewhere in there. He went to the Axis outpost, and was told that if he could provide something that belonged to Sisik, they could attempt to locate him.

Which meant They had to go back to Saka’s home, in Iridescence, the land of dragonborns. A place he had avoided at any cost for three years... Still, for his brother, he pushed through and went, with the others in tow. It didn’t take very long for his anxiety to return to be explained, as they ran into his ex-lover, Zahz. Apparently their relationship had been toxic, between Zahz’s abuse of control, and Saka’s desperation to be loved at any cost, and the break-up had been messy. But it had been enough of a shock that Zahz had decided to work on himself, or at least start the process to become a better person. The two awkardly reconnected, wary of falling into old habits but still very much in love with the other. Saka also visited his parents again after 3 years, and after some scolding for not giving news himself, he was given one of Sisik’s baby teeth to help locate him.

The process didn’t seem to go through, until Permid realized the problem was that Sisik was in a different plane of existence. With Salin’s help, they devised a spell to locate the plane in which Sisik was being held, and once they had this information, they adapted the locate spell to be able to reach Sisik. They very quickly realized he was in the Underdark (which I THOUGHT was a different plane for some reason, so woops, now the Underdark is a different plane in my world. XD), and that his magic had been drained from him to the point of leaving him barely alive. There was also mention of a Wish spell, that left Permid very worried... Saka on the other end focused on the fact that magic drain at this degree was not only against the Axis’ codes, but also a warning sign of a potential catastrophy about to happen. He made a report to his superior in the Axis, and called for backup. They agreed to start organizing a strike team to take this threat down and save the captured civilians, giving the group a few days to get ready before the attack while they located precisely where the prison was.

Lyn, Isa and Permid had a moment of hesitation : they came here to hide for a while, not to be part of a strike team and potentially kill people! Salin reminded them that they always had the opportunity to leave if they wanted, but she would be doing everything she could to keep them safe and away from the main battle. In the end, they decided to stay and assist Saka. -Which Salin was very glad for, as it would force Saka to hold back to keep them safe too, keeping him from putting himself in danger recklessly like he had a tendency to. A little bit of manipulation Zahz reproached her later, but to each their way of keeping their friends safe. ;)

The B team had their own adventure in the meantime! :) As a doctor, Ivan realized very quickly that the Tieflings under his care were being brought to a field hospital the government had put in place, away from prying eyes, essentially in a temporary military base. VERY unhappy about this, he started organizing a passive resistance with the nurses and other doctors, while making sure he could go to said hospital and visit the tieflings himself.

Damiana, who had started showing tiefling traits, had been kept in her own room without any phone or internet for a week now by her very religious grandmother, in the hopes of forcing the devil out of her. All it did was push her to escape her house once she heard that her family wanted to send her to a covenant essentially, so god could help her repent. None of that for Dami, thank you! She eventually found her way to the student dorms, and was given a place to stay for the moment, and a way to disguise herself to look like she used to.

On her side, Alexia had been keeping an eye on her and her patron’s territory : the school. To their credit, the military presence here wasn’t abusive, just checking for anybody’s ID as they passed by. Soon, though, a different kind of government official showed up, walking straight to her : enter Special Agent Dyla Ross, that I’ve spoken about at length already. XD He presented himself, and asked Alexia, as a person of interest, to follow him to the field camp. There, a small firing squad suddenly appeared, weapons trained on her, and got ready to fire. Alexia decided to protect herself with mage armor, while Ivan (who was just coming back from the field hospital and saw his student in danger) rushed over, projecting an illusion in front of her for added protection. The weapons clicked, unloaded from the start, and the firing squad moved back into their hiding spot while Dylan casually walked back in. This had been a test to see what their first reflex to danger was : if they had attacked the firing squad, it would have looked very bad for them, but instead they chose to be safe. He then got them both into his office and got as much information from them as he could. Ivan being very forthcoming and open with information, even helpful, seemed to surprise Dylan deeply, but he appreciated it. There was only one attempted lie, that Dylan dissuaded quickly. Ivan offered to send Peter his way, since the vampire was originally from Mira, to get more intel on the new world.

The next day, Alexia and Damiana met a new friendly face over breakfast : Tethys, an exchange student that seemed to also have magic abilities. Shortly after, Dylan showed up again, offering to drive the kids over to the atomic research facility next to the Synchrotron to test out some theories about magic. Under the supervision of Archeon White talon, Permid’s dad and local scientist, they set up different dummies and tries spells on them. Everything was recorded in any ways science knew how : heat, motion, air displacement, visual, slow motion... After a few shots, Dylan got on the field and asked to be fired at with magic. Everybody immediately protested, but he insisted. He tried to use deflect missile on a few things, quickly realizing he could not actually catch magic, and after a round of test got himself healed on camera for the record.

They then drove to Ivan’s house (because Dylan wanted to try and see Peter again), where the doctor and Dylan spoke some more while the team welcomed a second new face : Shanti! :) Recently turned tiefling too, plagued by voices in her mind for a while, Shanti got to meet Omnideus and become a cleric like Ivan. They caught her and tethys up to speed, and everybody turned in for the day.

Next day! :D While Shanti was getting used to the new house, Oni came by the see if she needed anything (since he’s been adopted more or less by the Standons, and is still looking for purpose). After a short talk, shanti noticed Omnideus staring ominously in the direction of the school, and they both hurried there. At school, a fire alarm had gone off, and Alexia, Dami and Tethys started evacuating, when Alexia was informed by her patron that something bad was going on. They quickly realized there was a student in distress, in the middle of a wild magic surge, unfortunately wrecking havoc on the school ground as she looked for help. They got there, along with Shanti while Oni kept the military forces from doing anything stupid and making things worse. Damiana figured out that they needed to help the student focus on a spell to expel the excess magic, and with reassuring words and a comforting, confident presence, they helped her calm down enough to cast a spell, resolving the surge as peacefully as they could. (Rip school windows) And guess who showed up! :D Dylan, again, having heard that something was going on at the school. He took in the situation, forced to recognize that these kids knew what they were doing. He also confronted Alexia about things she was not telling him on purpose, and as a show of what her patron could do, she made the statue right behind her brandish its stone cane straight at Dylan’s face, not touching him but barely. (Dylan had to recognize that yeah, ok, she was being honest about her patron being In the statue...)

He then told them to all come at the field camp tonight, as they needed to discuss how to handle this whole situation, and make a proper plan before his superior, the General in charge of the quarantine, showed up to demand a report and a plan of action.

And that’s it! :D So next time will be a big session : between storming the underdark fortress and deciding on what the world should know of what’s going on here, big things are going to happen, as we reach this arc’s finale! :D And after that.. Beach episode on Mira! ;) (And then we move to the next and final story arc! ;) )

[an-avid-reader]

Origin (Lux #4) - Jennifer L. Armentrout 

my rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis for book one

After losing her father, Katy and her mom move across the country to West Virginia. With her luck, Katy's new neighbour is pleasing to the eyes...maybe even abnormally so. But that's not all, this town has it's secrets--maybe that's just how small towns are. Little does Katy know that her new neighbours Daemon and Dee are more than they appear to be. As Katy is swept into Daemon and Dee’s lives, she quickly learns that they are aliens; as she spends more time with them, Katy has an aura which makes her a target to other aliens. Paradoxically, Katy must be protected by the twins while also losing the aura before she gets killed.

Note: this review is written after rereading the book

Link to Goodreads // book 1 / 2 / 3 // Spoilers in review!

Okay so I realized that I suck at taking notes, especially for spoilery stuff because most of my reviews are spoiler-free, but I tried my best! To be completely honest, while I was rereading the series, I definitely think this is the best book in the series; I loved the writing and the progression of relationships, the inevitable betrayal, and the flow of the story felt so natural.

I seemed to have remembered a few details, but I also had forgotten quite a bit. A small but kinda important (ish?) detail is that this takes place in area 51, which I think is so funny, especially after all the memes. I didn’t really think much of it until I reread this book--to be fair, I also don’t really follow that stuff either, but it fit really well with the narrative and maybe now when someone mentions area 51 I’ll think about this book. 

More on the setting/the whole Daedaleus premise: um yikes. I’m not sure if Armentrout did it on purpose, but technically what they’re doing is illegal and doesn’t follow proper scientific protocol??? You can’t clinically test medication (/drugs) as soon as it’s synthesized. Not to mention, did the patients actually give consent to be part of the project ?? What about a supervisor?! I think at this point I’m taking away the “fun” part of the story, but I just feel like I should mention that this isn’t how lab and drug testing is done xP. I’m also going to geek out here, but why was it called LH-11? 11 maybe for their 11th version of the drug but LH? That’s usually for luteinizing hormones...maybe Luxen...Hormones?? Who knows…

While the whole science experiment isn’t completely accurate to reality, the prejudice (I don’t think that’s the right word)...stereotype? Erm the whole ‘Oh Daemon is a Luxen and there’s a group of Luxen trying to take over the world and he’s part of it’ narrative is kind of represented in our society--yes this book was published a few years ago, but there’s still a parallel to racism and prejudice against people with religious beliefs. I don’t know if that was Armentrout’s intention, but it was something that I found to be a bit interesting. I’m also glad that Katy didn’t buy their claim (well except for maybe at the very end)--if Daemon is concerned about taking over the world, wouldn’t the Daedaleus try to idk take him out?! Katy trusts her man!

Speaking of Katy and Daemon, I definitely felt that yes, while there were some cringe-worthy moments, their relationship seems more realistic?? The thing about the Lux series is that their cheesy relationship works in this case, and I don’t really mind it. I think that Armentrout’s writing also improved, so she was able to present things clearly but in an eloquent way. I think it also has to do with them slowly getting over their initial lust phase, and how Katy and Daemon really grew as characters throughout the story. I also acknowledge that some parts of their relationship are kind of toxic?? Right out of the gecko, we have Daemon going "I'll burn the world down to save her", which I get you’d do anything for the person you love, but also??? no thanks??? Maybe it’s because I can’t relate lol. The same thing applies to when they save their own skin and then Ash, Andrew, and Paris all die instead “I would do it again” yikes. Finally, there’s the whole oh yeah I’m going to lie to Katy and not tell her that her image is being blasted to the world, which I understand you want to protect her, but sooner or later she’ll find out, Daemon!! I swear I’m not hating on their relationship, those were just some things that I’m not super on board with, but overall, I appreciate that their connection ran deeper than just lust. I also appreciate that they got “married” in Las Vegas--that’s kind of iconic, not going to lie (even if it was under their fake IDs).

As I previously mentioned, there were some things that I sort of forgot about. Notably Matthew’s betrayal, which kind of stung because after rereading the books, as well as Oblivion—the first three books from Daemon’s point of view—I was cheering him on and I really thought that Matthew was an underrated character! And now he has the audacity to betray Katy and Daemon like that??! No thanks man. I also forgot that Bethany is pregnant, but to be honest, I sort of picked up on that pretty quickly--the fact that she was always tired, Dawson being a bit overprotective, but what put the nail in the coffin (or whatever that saying is) is when she had her arm across her waist when they were executing Daemon’s plan to “light up Vegas”.

Very quickly, here are some other things that I loved/found funny in this installment: I love that we got to see Dee and Archer’s little romantic spark, Archer being like “don't forget the box of condoms on the floor" and embarrassing Katy (tbh just Archer being Archer was great), I like how we finally got more scenes with Luc (even though he completely obliterated Lyla), and like I mentioned before, the rash decision to get married.

Overall, I think that this book could easily be translated into a successful film if done correctly (said every bookworm ever). I’m not too sure about the previous books, but this one definitely has enough dynamics and craziness going on. I was just so eager to keep on reading whereas I didn’t really feel that from the previous books (though I still really do enjoy this series); again, this is probably my favourite book from the series after having a reread.

If you’ve read this book, I’d love to know your thoughts and opinions! Did you like it or found it to be meh? I’d love to discuss! =D

Thank you for reading my review, I hope you have an outstanding day, wherever you are in the world!

~ Cassandra / an-avid-reader

PS- as of writing this review, we are still in quarantine, I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy <3

[london-mcgarr]

Murder! Rhetorically Speaking

The Murder: 

On June 6th, 2010, Mark Smith, a cyber security engineer at SmartLock Technology, was found dead, at around 10:37PM that night, in the company’s parking garage. After many missed calls, Rachel Smith, Mark’s wife, decided to call Mark’s bestfriend and co-worker, Scott Anderson. Anderson reported to Mrs. Smith that he had last seen Mark when he clocked out at 5:30 that evening. Mrs. Smith, now worried, phoned the police as it was now 10:15PM, and Mark had never worked that late before. The 911 operator then dispatched the patrol unit nearest to Mark’s office at around 10:30 that night, and when the officers arrived on-scene they found Mark’s lifeless body surrounded by a pool of blood, coming from what looked to be about a dozen stab wounds. The two officers then requested back-up, and proceeded to secure the area. By the time I arrived at the parking garage, it was 11:28PM, and there were about three patrol cars there, six officers in total, and the coroner was en route to our location. The victim was lying on his front side, his right arm stretched above his head, and while his left arm lay limp at his side. Visibley, there were multiple stab wounds to the victim’s back, as well as bruising and lacerations covering the victim’s hands. It was quite obvious that the victim had been attacked from behind, struggled with his assailant, and eventually endured the many stab wounds he died from. After the coroner arrived, he determined the victim’s time of death to be at about 9:45 that night, and that he had about 9 stab wounds in total, 7 to the back, and two to the victim’s abdominal area, most likely obtained during the struggle. The items found on the victim included his wallet (still containing his money and driver’s license), his company ID card, the keys to his Audi, and a smaller loose key found in his front pocket. The victim’s body was transported to the city morgue at around 12:45 in the morning, and the forensic unit continued to collect additional evidence until about 1:23AM. At approximately 1:40AM, I was the last to leave the scene after releasing 2 of the 3 patrol units, leaving one behind to surveil the area until another unit could relive them.

Getting In Touch With Your Inner Detective:

1. My report begins with discussing the who, what, where, when and how the body came to be discovered, and ends with me leaving the crime scene and who was watching it when I left.

2. I found myself adding the details that are usually included in crime shows because I watch a ton of those, and I didn’t include the tedious details, like the names of each officer on the scene or who went to inform Mrs. Smith and at what time she was notified. I find these details tedious because they don’t really center around the victim himself.

3. I used language that is primarily used in true-crime podcasts and other shows where law-enforcement reports are read. They are usually formal, but also straight to the point.

4. I used a candid and direct tone in my description of the crime scene.

5. I organized my information into the order that it was discovered.

6. Again, I watch way too many crime shows, and listen to way too many podcasts about true crime. Therefore, I just mirrored the character that law-enforcement is often depicted as in those.

Coroner’s Report: 

At about 10:45PM on 06/06/10, the coroner on duty, (Dr. Martin Weisman, myself) was requested at the parking garage on Roosevelt, connected to the SmartLock facility. I arrived at around 11:45 PM, and proceeded to record any initial findings about the body (i.e., its appearance, temperature, etc), and determined the time of death to be at approximately 9:45 that night (06/06/10). After transporting the body back to the morgue, I performed a full autopsy and discovered 9 stab wounds, as well as contusions on the victim’s chest, as well as bruising on the victim’s face and hands- most likely from falling to the ground. The victim’s hands were also covered in small lacerations, concentrated around his knuckles, which is consistent with patterns of struggle, insinuating that the victim was trying to fight back. Although the victim had 9 stab wounds, the cause of death for Mark Smith was ultimately exsanguination (blood loss). The fatal stab wound occured to the lateral, right anterior side of the victim, which lacerated the victim’s right coronary artery. After the victim died, rigor mortis began to take effect, and was in its beginning stages when I arrived, which is why the victim’s approximate time of death is 9:45 PM, but could have occured in a window of about 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. There are no visible signs of scarring or tattoos on the body. The body of Mark Smith is currently located here, at the Hillside Morgue, and is being kept in freezer 29B.

Eulogy: 

Mark Smith was a wonderful husband to wife, Rachel, and father to daughters, Isabel and Sage. Mark was one of the most talented engineers at SmartLock and helped the company soar to new levels of greatness, earning it one of the best reputations in the field. As a kid Mark would always talk about how his biggest dream in life was to be a dad- and thanks to Rachel I am happy to say that Mark fulfilled that dream. We aren’t always guaranteed the longest life, but I know for Mark living a full life was more important to him. Mark was a smart man, an honest man, but most importantly he was a good man. I hope that we will all remember Mark as the man he was and the life he strived to live. Isabel and Sage, please know that dad is always looking over you, and Rachel- Mark will always be by your side. May he rest in peace.

Closing argument: 

Thank you, Your Honor, and members of the jury for being so patient these last few weeks as we try to bring justice to Mark Smith’s wife and two daughters. As you all know, Mark Smith was blackmailed by the defendant, threatening the lives of his family if he did not comply with the plan. On June 6th, 2010, Mark Smith was to re-enter SmartLock after all other employees had gone home for the day. In the security logs, please note Exhibit A, we can see that Mr. Smith unlocked the door to his office at around 7:30 that night. According to the plan the defendant had outlined for Mr. Smith in an email, Exhibit B, he was to transfer all secure shares of the new cyber currency, “Compu-coin” into the unmarked, off-shore that the defendant had secured. Such protected files within the company required intensive work, especially if it were to go undetected- which is why the defendant, CEO of SmartLock itself, blackmailed his top technical engineer into doing so. Now, members of the jury, I want you to look over there at the tiny, sweet face’s of Mark Smith’s daughters as I continue to what happened next. Ladies and gentleman of the jury, the defendant knew that a man like Mark Smith would not have been able to keep a secret like this- which is why he had his computer bugged to show him exactly what Mark was doing on his computer. While transferring the cyber currency, Mark was able to purposely make what seemed like a minor mistake with one of the accounts, as it is one of the warning signs that the cyber division of the FBI watches for. An small error like this would have ensured that the transfer was investigated. Sadly, the defendant, John Conway watched as Mark did this, from a remote location. After Mark finished, he walked to his car, and probably ran, quite frankly, because he thought he had just lifted the price from his wife and kids’ heads. What he didn’t realize, though, was that he had just put a price on his own. The defendant slipped out from a darkened corner of the parking garage and proceeded to stab Mark Smith- his employee, the father to Isabel and Sage and husband of Rachel, nine times. Nine times. I wonder what it was he said to you, John, as he was gasping for his last breath. Was he begging you to stop? Did he ask for mercy? The truth is, ladies and gentlemen, is that we will never know what those final words were. In fact, we will never hear any words again from Mark Smith- the defendant, John Conway made sure of that. I am asking you today to serve the justice that Mark fought so hard to obtain. If not for Mark, then for his family that must live the rest of their lives knowing what this monster did to their dad. I am urging you all to come back with a verdict of guilty. Thank you.

Discussion:

1. I found the closing argument to be the easiest to write because it is essentially all about emotion and writing things in way that stirs your audience. I personally find the structure of a courtroom argument to be quiet poetic, so I have a certain appreciation for this kind of writing.

2. I thought the coroner report to be the most difficult because I found myself pausing to think of more medical terms and trying to remember what the anatomical names for the positions of the body were and it just made the whole process of writing the report slower.

3. The rhetorical situation of academic writing is the prompt or assignment in which you are responding to because this is supposed to be the springboard for whatever analysis or prose is expected of you, as a student and such. The audience is always going to be others involved in academia, whether that be other students, professors or those just interested in the topic. For most academic writing, the tone should always be direct on some level, but I don’t think there should be a universal tone for this genre, as that would defeat the purpose of considering all parts to the piece and not just the one. For academic writing, the jargon is usually formal words that don’t repeat (so using a Thesaurus a lot would help). Anything essential to the central idea will most likely be included, but unnecessary tangents that people often talk about when they speak will probably be excluded from an academic paper.

[jesus-otaku]

Title: Reset

Fandom: Mystic Messenger

Pairing: Zen x MC, Yoosung x MC, Jaehee x MC (platonic), etc. I think you get the idea

Word count: 3029

This idea has been bouncing around in my head for ages, so I finally decided to just sit down and write it. I’m so disappointed that Tumblr formatting ruined some of the stuff, but it can’t be helped. Hopefully when it goes up on AO3 the formatting won’t get too messed up. Without any further ado, I present a fic in which all of the characters retain their memories after the reset and are aware of the reset. I haven’t played through all the routes yet and my memory is a little foggy on others so please have mercy on me for my accuracy or lack thereof.

How could she hit the reset so cheerfully?

They had all agreed at the start: there would be no grudges, it was her choice, and none of them would interfere with the others' chances. It was just a game to her, so there was no sense in being dramatic about it. And she couldn't know that they knew about the reset. No, that secret had to stay with them.

Welcome to the RFA!

Zen, though not surprised, was ecstatic to be chosen first. She had seen his charms! He was handsome, he was famous, he was talented, so of course he would be chosen. He threw himself into love headfirst; never mind the others watching on with slight traces of envy. They would get their turns. Phone calls passed by in a blur. He sang to her, dreamed of holding her in his arms, wondered what it might be like to kiss her. When Echo Girl started her ridiculous rumors, his newfound love was only a chat room away to comfort and support him.

And then the bomb came, and real, genuine fear seized his heart. His hands shook as he demanded that Seven give him the address of the apartment. Frankly, he would have liked to deck Seven one in the face for putting her in danger like this. How could he let her stay in an apartment with a bomb all this time and never say anything? How could he not do something? She was supposed to be their princess, wasn't she? And Seven had just left the RFA's princess in an apartment loaded with a bomb, like she was an expendable tool they could demolish whenever they liked.

Zen didn't know who the stranger holding her captive was, and he was too worried about her to care to find out. And when they managed to escape the deadly apartment, he wished he could wrap her up in his arms and never let go. He didn't think he could have borne it if she had been killed.

God, why did there have to be a reset?

Don't leave me.

He was going to make a press statement, and finish these rumors once and for all. And maybe once his love saw how much he cared for her, she wouldn't reset, and they could live happily ever after just like a fairy tale.

Don't leave me.

She loved him, right? She couldn't have been pretending this whole time. He'd opened up to her so much, treated her so well, tried his hardest to overcome his struggles for her. She had to love him, even just a little, didn't she?

Please don't leave me.

Why was she hitting the reset?

Babe, please don't—

Welcome to the RFA!

Yoosung nearly cried with happiness when he realized he had been chosen.

Okay, maybe he did cry.

But just a little.

She didn't stand for any of his nonsense about Rika. He'd thought they were alike, but with a firm kindness she asserted over and over again that she was no replacement for Rika. He came to understand soon enough. She really wasn't Rika. But she was still amazing, in her own beautiful way, and Yoosung fell for her like a ton of bricks. He couldn't even focus on LOLOL when his mind wandered to her. Hell, he would quit games altogether if it meant she would see him as more than a child. It drove him crazy that he wasn't allowed to go see her. He wanted so badly to see what she looked like, to actually experience their first meeting face-to-face.

There was a bomb in the apartment this whole time?

Yoosung wanted to throw something out of sheer frustration. How could V have let something like this happen? What had possessed him to think that letting Rika keep a bomb in her apartment was a good idea? Sure, Seven said that V kept calling him and leaving worried messages, but Seven always defended V just like everyone else did. And why hadn't Seven done anything to deactivate the bomb after Rika's suicide? Why wouldn't he give Yoosung the damn address so he could go and rescue her? He hated not being able to do anything for her. Sitting there and worrying wouldn't save her, but Seven wouldn't allow him to do the one thing he believed he was capable of doing.

Going with Seven to resolve the issue was as close as he was going to get. Yoosung knew he wasn't much of a knight in shining armor, but for her, he would have to try. She was his princess this time, and he had to protect her.

His eye would heal, but if he lost her, his heart would never recover.

Don't reset.

He tried his hardest to warn her before the party that he wasn't going to be looking his best, but he still saw a flash of worry on her face when she saw the bandages for the first time. His heart fluttered. Finally, they could see each other, touch each other, share a kiss.

I've never loved anyone like this before.

She couldn't reset now. She couldn't. They had just gotten to meet in person. There was no way she was already tired of him, right? There was still so much he wanted to do with her, so many places he wanted to take her. Was he still just a child to her after all? Or was this really all just a game for her?

Don't reset.

What had he done wrong?

Please don't reset, I love—

Welcome to the RFA!

Jaehee was pleasantly surprised to be chosen next. She hadn't expected much, since Mr. Han had gone to such great lengths to make sure she wouldn't stand out in any way. She was just an office assistant. Why would she choose such a dull route?

But oh, God, it was glorious to have a female friend. Jaehee couldn't help the grin that would come over her face when she saw her in the chat room, or when her name popped up on the caller ID. And she fought so valiantly for Mr. Han to cut Jaehee some slack. Jaehee would have hugged her forever if she could have, just for that alone. Finally, there was someone else who was willing to fangirl over Zen's musicals, who supported her interests, who would fight tooth and nail to get her better working conditions.

When the presentation was a flop, she was there in the chat room as if she somehow already knew what had happened. Jaehee had an inkling of a suspicion that Zen's visit could be credited to her as well, although she didn't have any proof of that. She just wished she could have offered the same level of support in return.

From Zen and Yoosung's play-throughs before her, she knew there was a bomb in the apartment. But nothing happened this time, and so she kept quiet about the bomb. There was no sense in going through another scare if they didn't have to, and Jaehee was sure that her newfound friend had enough problems of her own without having to worry about the bomb for a third time.

Would she stay if Jaehee asked?

Please, stay.

The coffee shop would be like a dream come true. It was a simple dream, nothing grandiose, but Jaehee was willing to hope that it would be enough to keep them together. Maybe she would stay. Maybe there would be no reset this time, and they could continue like this forever.

Please don't leave me.

Weren't they friends? Hadn't they formed a strong bond with one another? Had this just been a fun diversion from all the drama of the other routes for her? Jaehee had been pushing herself so hard to grow as a person. Was that all for nothing? Would she have to go back to being a mindless assistant at C&R for the rest of her life?

Stay, please, stay.

Had they ever really been friends at all?

I thought you were—

Welcome to the RFA!

As soon as he saw that he had been chosen, Jumin braced himself. He had seen what a mess the others had turned into after their resets, and he didn't want to be the next in a line of broken hearts. He would go through the motions, and play along for the next eleven days, and that was it.

But damn it all, when she tried to win your heart, she really gave it her best effort. Jumin never stood a chance.

He did well at avoiding the inevitable for the first few days. It was stressful, with his father's new fiancée and the nightmares that ensued as a result, but he managed to get through it. And then Elizabeth 3rd escaped.

In the middle of him questioning whether he was really meant to be a pet owner, she stepped fully into the picture. She mentioned that Jaehee had suggested she come, but that didn't matter to him. She was still there. She had agreed to come, and that alone tore down half of the barriers he had built up. He latched onto her, perhaps a little greedily, the only person offering him unconditional comfort in this hellish week.

He couldn't help kissing her. Sarah was just too obnoxious, and he couldn't think of another way to convince his so-called fiancée to leave. Besides, he'd been thinking about going in for the kiss all day. But then he was a goner. Consequences be damned, he loved her.

And now he was terrified of losing her.

I need you by my side.

Maybe saying that he wanted to keep her in the penthouse was a mistake. Maybe that was going to scare her off. He was just so afraid of her leaving and never coming back. He didn't know what else to do. Would getting rid of Sarah and proposing be enough to convince her not to reset?

I can't lose you.

No, no, no, no. What had done it? Where had he gone wrong? Was he too possessive after all? Was she going to go back to one of the others who wasn't so clingy? He couldn't help it. He'd never loved a woman, not like this, not this overwhelming feeling that threatened to engulf him when he so much as looked at her. Had she really loved him? Or was this all a ploy to check another route off the list? Was she actually the same as all those women who threw themselves at his father?

I need you, my love.

How could she hit the reset so cheerfully?

Don't—

Welcome to the RFA!

Seven pumped his fist in victory when he was finally, finally chosen. Truth be told, he had fallen long ago. It had been a slow kind of torture, watching her love stories unfold with everyone else, but it had been worth it to be the last to sweep the princess off her feet. Even someone like him could at least pretend to have happiness, right?

He loved being the one to make her laugh. She matched him joke for joke, prank for prank, like she somehow already knew him inside and out. If he hadn't fallen for her already, he would have thrown his guard up to protect his heart, but he'd been a goner for ages. Everything she did and said just wedged her further into his heart. What really did him in was the fact that she could see right through him when he was pretending to be the “usual” 707. He was completely transparent to her, no matter how he tried to close himself off to protect her.

“I'm dangerous,” he tried to warn her, but that didn't stop her either. Nothing seemed to stop her. Maybe that was part of why he'd fallen for her so hard. No matter what he did—ignore her, warn her, whatever—she didn't leave his side. She didn't force him to tell her anything, but she didn't make him keep it all pent up, either. He found himself being honest with her almost without thinking. It was just unconsiderable to do anything else. He wasn't supposed to leave any traces of himself in this world, but maybe it would be okay if he just left proof of his existence with her.

He was so glad she had chosen him last.

Thank you for giving me happiness.

Finally, after all this time, he had found his brother again. He could have a family again. He even dared to dream that she might be a part of that family. She wouldn't reset. There was no way she would reset. She had finally obtained the true end, so why would she reset?

You are my happiness.

She would never reset. That would be ridiculous. She'd taken his dark life, and lit it up with stars he'd thought he would never see again. You couldn't give someone joy like that and then just leave. She wouldn't reset. No, she couldn't reset. If she reset, he would lose everything.

Please don't take away my happiness.

WHY WOULD SHE HIT THE RESET?

Please—

~

They walked V through the ground rules carefully. They promised there would be no interference with his love story. As broken as they all were, they couldn't bear to sabotage her new chance at happiness. And there was to be no revealing their reset memories.

Welcome to Mint Eye!

V wasn't sure how to handle being put in the spotlight. He had been in the background for so long, it felt odd and out-of-place to be the love interest. Especially when he was involved with Rika. His sunshine. How on earth was he supposed to be an even halfway decent love interest when he was already in love?

But it didn't take long for him to see why the others had fallen so quickly and so desperately. She was angelically kind, but tough as nails. Nothing seemed to daunt her. And she was nice to Rika—which he hadn't expected at all. He'd been afraid they would be at each other's throats. But Rika seemed to like her well enough, and there was no fighting between the two of them. If she could even deal with her alleged love interest having a significant other already, she had to be heaven-sent.

It was only when he found himself smiling like an idiot after one of their phone calls that he realized he, too, had fallen without noticing.

And he knew he had to get her out of there.

But what about Rika? That was something he couldn't quite stop wrestling over. He loved Rika, didn't he? He wanted to marry her, didn't he?

Or had that all been something else under the mistaken guise of love?

Either way, his conflicted feelings aside, he had to save her. There was no question of that. He couldn't let something happen to her.

I think I love you.

He couldn't believe he had let himself get caught. If he died because of this, he would have no one to blame except himself. He'd seen Rika changing, and he had done nothing. Like an absolute idiot, he had let it happen until it was too far along to be stopped. As he slipped in and out of consciousness, he clung to the single sliver of hope that he had that he would live, and that she would stay with him.

I love you.

Hadn't she loved him? She'd helped him discover what love really felt like—there was no way something like that could have been a lie. Right? So why would she want to reset?

You are my sunshine.

Was it really that easy for her to hit the reset like nothing had happened?

I can't—

Welcome to Mint Eye!

Ray was so happy he thought he might explode. It was finally his turn to be with her, finally his turn to be the one who made her happy. He was going to woo her so much that she would surely fall in love with him in no time. He showered her with flowers and compliments, took her to his garden, told her about the floriography he knew. She seemed happy. He hoped that meant he was doing the right things to win her over.

Then Saeran had to butt in.

She was a toy. What did all this flowery nonsense have to do with anything? She wasn't there to be the protagonist of some chintzy romance novel, she was there to be his plaything. He couldn't do anything too horrible to her, for fear of angering his Savior, but he could at least make sure she knew her place. If that meant she went hungry, so be it. It would make things interesting, if nothing else.

She didn't take the change well. But not in the dramatic, crying and whining and pleading sort of way he had been hoping for. No, she challenged him. Deliberately tried to get under his skin, into his brain. This girl was no passive toy. She was fiercer than anyone he'd ever met before.

She made him start to think…

Do I really need my Savior?

He wasn't sure who he was anymore—Ray or Saeran, it didn't matter. He was himself, whoever that might be, and he was going to help her escape from Mint Eye. To hell with the consequences. He would help her. Maybe even escape with her. It was the first time in a long time he had hoped to be truly free and happy, and it was a wonderful feeling.

I don't need my Savior anymore.

Would she really leave him, after showing such tenacity? Was everything going to end, just like that? He'd thought she had finally fallen in love with him. Had that been yet another betrayal? Was he going to be abandoned again? He didn't think he could take that kind of pain again. Not after finally believing he was free of it.

You saved me.

WHY WOULD SHE BETRAY HIM LIKE THIS?

DON'T LEAVE ME—

Delete “MysticMessenger”?

Deleting this app will also delete its data.

DELETE

[gffa]

I was going to try to do a Star Wars novels post this week, get back in the swing of things, but I can never stay away from STAR WARS fic for too long, there’s just too much that’s incredibly good! There’s so much that’s either just spot on to the characters or just hits the id or does something so clever that I’m enthralled (or does all three!) that is amazing and everyone should come scream about them with me! STAR WARS RECS: ✦ Cataclasm by dendral, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & waxer & cast, 45.6k wip    For reasons unknown to all but himself, Obi-Wan Kenobi has left the Jedi Order in the midst of the Clone Wars, taking with him a single clone. Anakin Skywalker has been unofficially tasked by the Order to find Obi-Wan and bring him home. Unfortunately for Anakin, it seems his former master is always ten steps ahead of him. ✦ Fountain of Force by esama, qui-gon & cast, final fantasy 7 crossover, 8.9k    In which Qui-Gon Jinn comes from Gaia. ✦ Shih by esama, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon, time travel, 8k wip    Obi-Wan Kenobi has a vision of the future, and tries to change it while elsewhere Ben Kenobi dies. ✦ Equinox by lilyconrad, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, sith!obi-wan, 40.8k wip    During the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan and Anakin crash on a remote planet and take shelter in the ruins of a grand estate only to find they are not alone. ✦ At Your Service by DonkerRood, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, crossdressing, spanking, 1.9k    Anakin dresses up in a maid outfit and he and Obi-Wan have some fun. Just smut. ✦ untitled by stonefreeak, shaak ti & yoda & kit fisto & mace windu & cast, 1.3k    When Shaak Ti returned to Coruscant she had not expected anything remotely as dire as an explosion at the Senate—injuring several senators and staff, killing two, and leaving Master Kenobi in a critical condition—to happen. ✦ Respite by GirlwithCurls98, anakin & ahsoka & rex & cast, 4.9k    After a particularly grueling mission, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and the 501st are sent to Kamino for some much needed medical care. ✦ Pursuit by Icse, obi-wan/anakin, mildly nsfw, modern au, 6.8k wip    Anakin Skywalker is a Grand Prix jumper transitioning into the Eventing world. While his scores are good during the cross-country and show jumping phases of Eventing, his dressage scores are abysmal. His sponsor sets him up as a working student for two-time Dressage Gold Medalist Ben Kenobi to help him pursue his dream of competing in the Olympics. ✦ Untitled part 1 + part 2 by glare-gryphon, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, a/b/o, 2.4k    Prompt: Anonymous asked: Hi are you still taking prompts at the moment? If yes how about Alpha Obiwan who when in rut tends to loose himself in his (very protective) instincts, while Omega!Anakin very much keeps his head and is very aware of what goes on around him but still willing to indulge Obiwan’s somewhat ridiculous alpha instincts ✦ On the Day After by victoria_p (musesfool), anakin & bail & breha, ~1k    Vader has many questions, and only one place to turn for answers. ✦ i’m just a kid of ill repute (and this skin i wear is my only suit) by SashaSea (SHCombatalade), obi-wan & anakin & padme & cast, kingsman fusion, 5.6k    “This is a disaster,” Anakin huffs out a near laugh, passing his remaining grenades to Obi-Wan. He accepts them with a grin and a few spare magazines for Anakin’s pistol, bumping their shoulders together. “This is fun.” ✦ Ain’t No Light Without the Dark by lumenbriide, obi-wan & anakin, 2.2k    “You should have joined me all those years ago, Kenobi.” Anakin overhears Dooku remind Obi-Wan about the temptation on Geonosis, and suddenly, Obi-Wan isn’t as infallible as he seems. He has secrets, just like Anakin; and their bond can only get stronger. ✦ Rewrought by esama, obi-wan & qui-gon & maul, time travel, 4.4k    Bit o time travel ✦ Faithless by esama, obi-wan, 2.5k    Obi-Wan loses his faith in Tatooine full details + recs under the cut!

✦ Cataclasm by dendral, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & waxer & cast, 45.6k wip    For reasons unknown to all but himself, Obi-Wan Kenobi has left the Jedi Order in the midst of the Clone Wars, taking with him a single clone. Anakin Skywalker has been unofficially tasked by the Order to find Obi-Wan and bring him home. Unfortunately for Anakin, it seems his former master is always ten steps ahead of him.    Chapter 10: This is an update rec and will focus on this chapter, rather than the fic as a whole. This is the end of the first arc of this fic and it’s a good place to leave off, including the previous chapter, as there’s been at least enough resolution to be a good stopping point, even though the major things are still in play. This is a chapter that’s about Ahsoka and her visions, how it starts to explore a bit of what it means to be a Jedi in contact with the Force, to have to struggle through being unsure if it’s your own anxiety that’s making you feel bad or if it’s a warning from the Force or some twisty, turny combination of both, and how they desperately need control over themselves to not spiral out, to not be consumed by all of this. The moments between Anakin and Ahsoka as he comforts her after a series of bad dreams, lightly touching on how Obi-Wan used to do the same for him, was really lovely and wonderful and worth the read alone! But also the really sweet moments with Yoda and Ahsoka!    I continue to love that this is a fic that’s spot on for the Jedi, if they’d ever managed to catch a fucking break or to have things brought to a head sooner, that they’re all struggling through this dark time, but they care very much and work so hard to do the best thing, and there are still moments of joy (Ahsoka and Yoda saying they’d ask Anakin to join them for meditation, which they’re surehe’ll love, I had such a smile on my face!) that it’s one of the best fics out there right now. ✦ Fountain of Force by esama, qui-gon & cast, final fantasy 7 crossover, 8.9k    In which Qui-Gon Jinn comes from Gaia.    I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up this chapter to read (which stands on its own, it’s part of a collection of shorter fics, but they’re unconnected), but I was curious and I’ve always liked this author’s work. What I got was something that was half-world-building and half character piece, wrapped up in the setting of a crossover, all of which came together just exactly as it should. The two worlds blended very well together, the River of Light and the stone Qui-Gon picks up that’s Force-sensitive, the way everything on Gaia just bubbles over with the Living Force, the way this is used by Qui-Gon to gain a deeper understanding of himself, in a lovely and incredibly Jedi sort of way, is wonderfully done. This is a piece that I thought really captured his character, this felt like the character I recognized and was incredibly engaging! It’s not just about Gaia, it really is a piece centered on Qui-Gon Jinn as a character, about his life as a Jedi and the antics he gets into (the sense of this being an actual galaxy is very nicely done as well! I enjoyed the helium-breathing planet just as much as I enjoyed Gaia just as much as I enjoyed everything else), it’s about self-reflection and understanding his own flaws and working on them, just as much as he understands what he’s good at.    It helps to be familiar with FF7, especially to understand the connection of the rock that Qui-Gon picks up and what happens later, likely because of it, but you absolutely don’t need to know it to enjoy this fic, it can just be a cool background world for Qui-Gon to have come from while you read the characterization stuff! It’s one of those fics that I read and made me fall back in love with the potential of Star Wars, it’s one of those fics that I felt like it understood what a Jedi would actually go through and how they’re such good people and the kinds of things they struggle with, it’s one of those fics that made it genuinely interesting and engaging to read! It’s a great piece for someone who has trouble finding Qui-Gon fic that suits my feelings, but also it’s just a really good fic. ✦ Shih by esama, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon, time travel, 8k wip    Obi-Wan Kenobi has a vision of the future, and tries to change it while elsewhere Ben Kenobi dies.    Oh, well. This fic is only two chapters at the time of this rec and already I’m So Very Sad about it, because it’s such a lovely, aching look at these characters and the impending doom hanging over them all, that Obi-Wan is plauged by unspecific but inescapable visions, that he knows something is going to go terribly wrong, but he doesn’t know what and trying to figure that out, trying to navigate between this sweet child in front of him versus the cloak of darkness that swirls around him, that visions don’t necessarily always come true versus that this one is one he knows is more important than that. I absolutely adored the scene where Obi-Wan goes to talk to moppet Anakin, the glimpse he gets into the child’s fears and uncertainty, the kindness that Obi-Wan naturally extends to him, it’s so true to his character, even as there’s a vague current of hurt and unease that Qui-Gon has so easily replaced him. But it’s not bitter, because that’s not who Obi-Wan Kenobi is, instead it finds just the right amount of sad versus knowing that he’s capable of walking forward to whatever comes next.    I would have read this fic just for that first chapter, the relationships Obi-Wan has with both of these people! But then the second chapter came along and, oh, Ben is so tired and worn down, there’s something so difficult about all the hard-won experience he’s gained, the balance between regret that he couldn’t do more, that it felt almost wasteful to stay on Tatooine, versus knowing that it was the right decision. That, when he realizes there’s a chance for change, it’s not a simple thing and that complicated tangle is so much more interesting than a straight-forward fix-it (much as I love love love fix-it fics, don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping for a fix it here, I’m hoping for good things, but I love that it’s not ever meant to be easy, if it were, then the original canon wouldn’t mean so much) and the conversation they have, the things that Ben understands because he’s seen so much more, are perfectly done. Because he’s right, it wasn’t just one thing or one person. And the ending of that chapter is the perfect hook to make sure I’m going to keep reading, because, damn, I’m definitely invested now! ✦ Equinox by lilyconrad, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, sith!obi-wan, 40.8k wip    During the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan and Anakin crash on a remote planet and take shelter in the ruins of a grand estate only to find they are not alone.    Chapter 8: This is an update rec and will focus on this chapter, rather than the fic as a whole. Also, there are likely to be spoilers beyond this point! One of the best things about this chapter is just how high the tension of it was, that the reveal wasn’t the end of it, but instead yet another racheting up point, that learning how the Sith versions were visions more than anything, the research that Obi-Wan had done (and I really enjoyed the difficulty with the translations and poetic language, it’s one of those little touches that really works for me) and how they both had to work to figure out what was going on in a way that felt spot on to them, that they would investigate and discuss things this way, but without feeling like the story had hit pause for the characters to become talking heads, which is something that can be hard to avoid. Instead, this felt like two characters who were genuinely on edge, little touches of Obi-Wan drumming his fingers on the datapad or the way Anakin curled up in the blankets add to this, that show what they’re feeling, rather than telling us. This adds to the creepy atmosphere of the house, whatever’s going on with the Force here, how run-down and dilapidated everything feels here in a very spooky way.    This is also the chapter where the Jedi versions, the real versions, first tumble into bed together beyond just a shard kiss or curling up together, and that made sense to me, because I really felt this sense of isolation with them, that they’re the only two people here in this house. When the Sith were there, sure, they were on edge and wary of them, couldn’t trust them, but at least someone else was there, but now there’s just nothing but them and whatever shadow is lurking around the corner and trying to sneak its way into them. This twines around the confession from the night before, Anakin learning to trust Obi-Wan just a little bit by telling him the truth, Obi-Wan helping to shoulder that burden with him, and so it’s pulling a whole lot of feelings and sexual tension to the surface, resulting in how they tumble together in a way they might not have in other circumstances, but makes sense for them in this moment. The connection is still real, it’s about what was already under the surface, even as it’s heightened!    I also really loved the smaller reveal in this chapter of what was happening with the beacon–the answer was the only one that made sense with what we already knew, but even having guessed it, it doesn’t detract from the creepy scene and the build-up of the tension when Obi-Wan was following Anakin, the way his whole demeanor was just weird and unsettling, like a shiver-inducing fugue state, until something seemed to be trying to dra him away into the dark, something that wasn’t just a physical presence, but was getting at his mind. And that’s far more creepy than just some physical monster that can be fought with a laser sword!    And then there’s the sex itself, ahhhhh. As much as I would have enjoyed penetrative sex, I think the handjob/blowjob combination probably works better here, because they’re just starting out, because it’s more about the desperate need for contact with the other person–especially Anakin, who is so afraid and feels whatever’s in the house so keenly, even more than Obi-Wan does. Not that the verbal comfort wasn’t lovely as well, I loved so very much that Obi-Wan was extra careful with his words because he knew how brittle and on edge Anakin was here, that Obi-Wan was so careful not to blame him for turning off the beacon, because that’s not what his concern was about. And that he’s hyperfocused on Anakin a way the situation warrants, so of course he makes even more effort than usual to make sure Anakin understands the lack of blame–another way where their interaction is heightened from normal, but in a way that’s pulling up what was already there underneath and makes sense for them.    But, okay, also Obi-Wan’s hand in Anakin’s hair, the visions of what their counterparts had done, what that says about what these two want, the darkness that looms in this place, even when these characters are both such good people, that this was about desire and want and heat and fear all rolled up together. It was the perfect balance between my affection for the way the (Soft) Sith versions are used in fic against how the Jedi are good and so valuable, that it’s about these characters as people and what they’ve been through and what they want, yessss.    All of that is true, there’s so much I love on a narrative level, on a more intellectual level, but then I whip right back around to: But Obi-Wan’s hand in Anakin’s hair. The way Anakin’s mind goes blissfully blank, the way he so desperately wants to belong to his Master, that desperate step forward that crashes right through his usual knee-jerk reactionary “I don’t belong to anyone!”, to show that if he choose to give himself to someone, chooses to let that person have power over him, then it’s different and comforting and so good. It’s about safety, it’s about being able to relax, because everything in his head isn’t dragging him down, that there’s someone there to take so much weight off him. But also I just really loved the image of Anakin all pliant and messy and sprawled out beneath his Master, cast in shadows, like he’s still very much a Jedi, but the imagery and potential thematic meaning in a house full of so much shadow is really, really lovely. ✦ At Your Service by DonkerRood, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, crossdressing, spanking, 1.9k    Anakin dresses up in a maid outfit and he and Obi-Wan have some fun. Just smut.    This was one of those fics that was just exactly what I needed when I picked it up, one of those that appeals right to my id and gives me the fun, light-hearted, smutty things I apparently enjoy a ridiculous amount. Anakin in a maid’s uniform, roleplaying with it and acting out to be bratty and so he’ll get Obi-Wan’s attention, who will spank him before fucking him, and it’s exactly what it says on the tin, if you go into this fic, you know exactly what you’re getting and you gotta roll with that. But it’s warm-hearted as well, it’s meant to be fun and joyful, that it’s about giving Anakin what he wants, satisfying something in him and making him feel so loved and content, that Anakin is so very gorgeous like this and Obi-Wan enjoys seeing him being able to whine for more, that Anakin gets to do that, that Obi-Wan gets to fuck the noise and restlessness right out of Anakin’s head. And by the time he’s finally pushing into Anakin, finally fucking him, it’s just nicely satisfying sex and exactly what I needed during shark week, bless and thank. ✦ untitled by stonefreeak, shaak ti & yoda & kit fisto & mace windu & cast, 1.3k    When Shaak Ti returned to Coruscant she had not expected anything remotely as dire as an explosion at the Senate—injuring several senators and staff, killing two, and leaving Master Kenobi in a critical condition—to happen.    This is part of the Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan series and should be read in order by this point! And, ahhhh, this was such a lovely tide-over until the next piece, where it’s not really about resolution, but about the Jedi reacting to the explosion that happened recently, the chaos they’re trying to help tame, and one of their own being injured and what that means for young Skywalker. This is so spot on for them, how they work to remain calm in the face of such awful circumstances and they work so hard to do the best for everyone, to break the news as best they can, consider what’s the best thing for everyone in the situation. There’s such consideration of Anakin’s reactions, knowing how close he and Obi-Wan are, and it’s just so good and warm-hearted and kind a fic that I’m in love all over again. ✦ Respite by GirlwithCurls98, anakin & ahsoka & rex & cast, 4.9k    After a particularly grueling mission, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and the 501st are sent to Kamino for some much needed medical care.    This was a cute little fic about Anakin and Ahsoka having pushed themselves so far that they need to rest, that they’re on the edge of physical collapse from how hard the Jedi are running themselves in this war. And there’s a lot of complicated feelings in here, especially Anakin who still doesn’t really understand the Jedi (so the line about the Code is unreliable, considering Anakin doesn’t really get it), but mostly it’s a healing fic, where Anakin cares so deeply about her, how his relationship with Obi-Wan helps him even when they’re not anywhere near each other at the moment, how the clones care so deeply about the Jedi and vice versa, how they Ahsoka and the clones help each other when they need this moment of respite. It was such a sweet fic in the middle of such a horrible war and I really enjoyed it a lot for that! ✦ Pursuit by Icse, obi-wan/anakin, mildly nsfw, modern au, 6.8k wip    Anakin Skywalker is a Grand Prix jumper transitioning into the Eventing world. While his scores are good during the cross-country and show jumping phases of Eventing, his dressage scores are abysmal. His sponsor sets him up as a working student for two-time Dressage Gold Medalist Ben Kenobi to help him pursue his dream of competing in the Olympics.    This is one of those fics that appeals directly to what I want sometimes when I’ve had enough of the heartbreak of canon and when fandom has gotten extra spirit crushing about things–where it’s a light-hearted, warm, embracing-the-fluff modern AU where Anakin is a horse jumper training for the next level, while Ben trains him and Anakin desperately, desperately wants to fall into bed with him. Where it’s all about Anakin being an adorable, soft disaster who does everything he can to get Ben’s attention, who is trying to stay away from doing anything with him because he feels its not proper. It’s just fun when you’re in the mood for something completely, ridiculously warm-hearted and cute and fluffy and with a little bit of smut mixed in. Which is exactly what I’m here for and I just sort of wrapped myself up in this like a warm, fuzzy blanket! ✦ Untitled part 1 + part 2 by glare-gryphon, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, a/b/o, 2.4k    Prompt: Anonymous asked: Hi are you still taking prompts at the moment? If yes how about Alpha Obiwan who when in rut tends to loose himself in his (very protective) instincts, while Omega!Anakin very much keeps his head and is very aware of what goes on around him but still willing to indulge Obiwan’s somewhat ridiculous alpha instincts    The first part is this cute, light-hearted, fluffy thing where Anakin has to put up with Obi-Wan’s rutting instincts and the nests he winds up making and it’s really adorable! And the second one is just ridiculously satisfying a/b/o porn, together the two of them are just an absolute delight to read! I am always here for Anakin in heat, just desperately wanting wanting wanting, wanting his Master to fill him up and fuck him and get this noise out of his head, I am always here for Obi-Wan who tries to be considerate and thoughtful, but it’s contrasted against the rutting instincts, where he just wants to flip Anakin onto his stomach and drive into him, wants to finally claim him and hold him and take care of him. And these two just hit me right where I live, they’re charismatic and, oh, the way Obi-Wan ground against Anakin’s backside, almost lost to this desire to push into him fast and hard, but holding back just enough to ease the way for Anakin, until he’s finally open and relaxed enough that Obi-Wan can properly fuck him, it’s sosatisfyingly delicious. I have a thing for Obi-Wan grinding back and forth, trying to hold himself back while Anakin writhes and tries to adjust, but they both want more, and this fic just delivered that so very well for me. ✦ On the Day After by victoria_p (musesfool), anakin & bail & breha, ~1k    Vader has many questions, and only one place to turn for answers.    This is a follow-up to On the Day Before, which should be read first! This was a lovely sequel piece to the previous one and it walks a fine line, because Vader isn’t someone who is kind or does good things anymore, but also I can believe that he could be inspired to follow Padme’s daughter, that there’s just enough of a spark of good and some misguided intentions, and it absolutely nails that Vader has never wanted power for himself, it’s always been about being someone else’s sword, someone he would do any amount of dark things to protect. And this fic walks that fine line very well, that Vader sees that he can’t just brute force strength his way through this, Leia would never be won over, but instead he has plans about her and, oh, it’s a disaster in the making and it’s spot on, this was so much fun to read! ✦ i’m just a kid of ill repute (and this skin i wear is my only suit) by SashaSea (SHCombatalade), obi-wan & anakin & padme & cast, kingsman fusion, 5.6k    “This is a disaster,” Anakin huffs out a near laugh, passing his remaining grenades to Obi-Wan. He accepts them with a grin and a few spare magazines for Anakin’s pistol, bumping their shoulders together. “This is fun.”    This was a fun fusion piece that just sailed right along and had the right kind of charisma and charm to keep me engaged the whole way through, there was just the right amount of sparkle and whatever-it-is that makes a fic fun to read! It’s fairly light-hearted and it’s centered on Anakin, as well as his relationships with Obi-Wan and Padme that are each complicated and each something more than friendship, something deeply rooted in him, if in different ways–and I really loved that with Padme it was more overtly romantic, but with Obi-Wan it felt more like he was woven into the fabric of Anakin’s life, both made for satisfying dynamics! I do think you should be familiar with the first Kingsman movie to read this one, but it’s definitely a delightful pick-me-up when you need something fun to read! ✦ Ain’t No Light Without the Dark by lumenbriide, obi-wan & anakin, 2.2k    “You should have joined me all those years ago, Kenobi.” Anakin overhears Dooku remind Obi-Wan about the temptation on Geonosis, and suddenly, Obi-Wan isn’t as infallible as he seems. He has secrets, just like Anakin; and their bond can only get stronger.    A lovely little story about Dooku trying to tempt Obi-Wan away from the Jedi and how it doesn’t really work, that’s not who Obi-Wan is at heart, and the conversation Obi-Wan has with Anakin afterwards and what that pulls to the surface between them. This is a story centered on Anakin’s complicated feelings and the relationship between these two characters, one that works towards giving them a little bit more understanding and showing the depth of care between them in an understated but entirely genuine way. It was a very nice read, one that engaged me from beginning to end and I’m very glad I picked up to read! ✦ Rewrought by esama, obi-wan & qui-gon & maul, time travel, 4.4k    Bit o time travel    This is one of those fics that’s the kind of thing I daydream about sometimes, what a time-traveling Obi-Wan Kenobi would do, had he a chance to do the Naboo invasion all over again, and written in an incredibly engaging, easy to imagine sort of way. It’s not precisely a happy fic, but it’s balanced between standing well on its own if this is all there ever is, it’s short glimpse into the canon being shifted to another track, or it could spiral out from here, if it was ever continued. I’m fine with either way, really, because what the point was focused on was the moments where Obi-Wan makes his move, where he springs his plans into actions, and seeing that through the eyes of people who have no idea what’s going on. The loss of Obi-Wan in their eyes, the grief Qui-Gon has to work through, the chaos that comes from the actions of the “Sith Lord” that escaped Naboo, it’s all super engaging and interesting and fascinatingto watch unfold! It’s beautifully characterized and written, it’s got great action and great emotional impact and so much potential that sets my thoughts spinning around it, which is exactly what I wanted from a quick time-travling oneshot! ✦ Faithless by esama, obi-wan, 2.5k    Obi-Wan loses his faith in Tatooine    Oh, this one definitely hurt to read, all the more so because Obi-Wan is sort of right about some things and sort of terribly wrong about others, but that’s kind of the point of his time on Tatooine, that he’s struggling through so much. It’s not ultimately where he’s meant to end up, because Obi-Wan is someone who comes back to his faith, but as a piece where he loses his way, it really worked for me, that this is one part of a bigger cycle that Obi-Wan goes through in his isolation. The writing is so sad and lovely, so self-reflective and you can feel the loss from the character without it being hammered home into the reader, there’s something almost understated here, except also there’s beautiful imagery–I’m not explaining this well, but it’s just a really well-done piece. It’s very much a piece about Obi-Wan being lost, even as he manages to continue to get up every day, some days harder than others, that he continues forward on this path he’s on, that it’s not just the loss of his family and culture, but a loss of faith and the slow, horrible feeling that instills in me, reading this. So sad, but lovely.

[the-master-cylinder]

SUMMARY Max Dire is a Los Angeles detective who is feeling the strain that his profession entails when his wife of two years, Liza, accuses him of bringing his work home and leaves him to ponder her future, while his partner, Jim Sheldon, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. Realizing that Max is experiencing problems, Adam Garou, a high-ranking officer distinguished by his success in reducing crime in other big cities, invites Max to join him at his apartment for a weekly meeting with other police officers who are experiencing difficulties. Adam advises Max that since he is a good detective and he should try to solve his problems rather than quitting the force.

Although Max is skeptical as to whether he will derive any benefit from the meeting, as he and his wife had already attended counselling sessions without success, he reluctantly attends the meeting where he meets other police officers such as Casey Spencer and Ramon Perez. Everyone who Max meets at the meeting praises the impact that Garou’s influence has had on their fortunes. Max soon realizes that the activities of the group also entail embarking on vigilante missions to clean the streets of criminals.

Max initially tells Garou that he is not interested in joining the group, but agrees to accompany them to a party where criminals are exchanging weapons. Before gate crashing the party, Max notices that each of the group members injects themselves with a strange chemical, which he learns has been produced by Garou. After they have injected this chemical, Garou and his team become more powerful and seemingly impervious to injury. The next day Max attempts to advise his incredulous boss of the strange goings on, but to no avail.

He visits Casey Spencer who tries to persuade him to inject himself with the chemical. When he refuses, she shoots him. As Max lies dying on the floor, she injects him with the chemical and he is instantly healed. They sleep with each other and, afterwards, injecting themselves and raid a criminal lair after. As Max and Casey easy dispatch the criminals, they sprout long claws from their knuckles, and grow sharp teeth. One of the criminals escapes and informs his crime boss what he saw. He is given instructions to deal with Garou.

Garou learns of Casey’s sexual encounter with Max and angrily advises her that he is ‘top dog’ before raping her. Afterwards, Garou and his group, including Max, gather together for another night of attacking the criminals. After injecting themselves with Garou’s chemical, the officers enter a vehicle to depart. The vehicle explodes as the key is turned in the ignition. As the remnants of the vehicle burn, the criminal who had been instructed to kill Garou is horrified to see that all of the officers have survived and that they are in their monster-like state. The dead bodies of the criminal and his associates are dropped from a helicopter through the glass ceiling of the crime boss’ home.

The same night, Max meets a deformed ex-police officer in a holding cell. He tells Max that he knows Garou and they used to work together. Garou has worked in numerous cities, and after the streets are cleaned of crime, all of the officers who work with him were killed (though he had escaped). He also explained that his deformity was caused by overuse of the chemical. Garou kills the officer to silence him and Max covers for him, but his suspicions are aroused and he begins to conduct some research into Garou.

After making a startling discovery, he sneaks into Garou’s apartment and finds Garou extracting the chemical from his own brain with a syringe. Max advises Garou that he realizes that he is a werewolf. Conflict ensues and although Max and Casey escape from Garou’s apartment, the latter is fatally injured. The next day Garou prepares to complete his final operation and Max resolves to stop him. After Garou has killed all of the criminals, including the aforementioned crime boss, Max shoots him with a silver bullet and Garou falls to the ground. Thinking that Garou is dead, Max turns away. However, Garou, who informed Max previously that a full eclipse protects him from everything (including silver), reappears behind him. A full eclipse had passed overhead as these events took place. He then turns into an extremely large werewolf, losing his human form entirely.

Max flees as the other members of Garou’s group are killed. Garou tries to kill Max, but the latter injects Garou with a solution of silver nitrate. As the eclipse is over, this kills Garou. Before he dies Garou returns to his human form and tells Max that if he lies in his blood he can take his power. In the finale, Max is shown to have moved to Denver with his wife Anna and their relationship seems to have improved. She is shown cutting her finger with a knife as she is chopping up food. Max licks her finger and then leaves to undertake some paperwork. She notices that her cut heals immediately and stares after Max bewildered. Meanwhile, Max is shown looking up on a computer the dates of coming eclipses in different American cities.

DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION The project was initially titled The Pack, after the name of a special unit of the LAPD that utilizes a secret new drug to help them combat crime. On the LA street location, director Anthony Hickox calls quickly for another take before the smoke disappears and the sun rises to ruin the shot. The FX crew relights the flames around the van and fans blow smoke across the scene. swirling it around the six actors who make up the Pack. “Action! One. two, three, monsters!” Hickox calls in his polite English accent. Slowly. the half-dozen transformed werewolves rise from the ground, move through the smoke and stand together. united in power.

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The story was born when writer Richard Christian Matheson was approached by a friend. Michael Reaves, to co-script a werewolf/cop movie. Matheson, who has written for over 30 TV shows including Amazing Stories and Tales from the

Crypt, wasn’t sure he was interested in working in this subgenre. As he explains further. “I’ve never been a fan of werewolf movies. As soon as they transform, they seem kind of benign to me. They don’t seem so eerie. and they lose all the facial detail that can be most frightening in a monster. I wanted to make sure that when they transformed. they did not look like wolves. I felt that would diminish the effect.

“If the script was going to be about werewolves. I also wanted it to be about addiction and overcoming the controlling influence of the lunar cycles,” he continues. “With that in mind, we set about putting the story together.

You know what, I love horror more than anything, but after making five of them, it was like, I wanna blow some shit up. Full Eclipse came along, which was a Richard Matheson script, who’s a horror writer generally and it was just such a great, for me, it had everything I wanted to do.HBO put six million dollars on that budget, which is why I could do all that shit. I love Full Eclipse because I got to do horror and these great action scenes, John Woo action scenes. Also, I was watching all these action movies thinking it must be so much fun to get to do that. – Anthony Hickox (Director)

Matheson is vehement when he describes how he visualized the creatures. “They weren’t going to be covered with hair and they weren’t going to be fully transformed.” he says, “They were going to be, in essence. stuck at the halfway point. because that’s the most frightening thing to me.

“Full Eclipse is not really a werewolf movie,” he insists. “It’s almost about the id coming under a sort of preternatural influence. It’s about addiction, and the ghastly transformational tendency of drugs. Like those guys who take STP and lift a car up, or can take a couple of rounds from a police revolver and keep coming at you.”

It didn’t take Matheson long to place the screenplay with Home Box Office. The writer has an uncanny ability to sell spec scripts, and to date has sold nine to various studios. The next step was finding the right director, and the production soon chose Hickox. He had his own opinions as to the important elements of the script and how the Pack should look, right down to their futuristic outfits and weapons. Luckily, the director and writers shared the same vision.

“I’m a huge comics fan: I read a lot of Marvel Comics, so I had a look I wanted.” Hickox explains. “Superheroes gone wrong. the whole Marvel mutant thing. I’ve always liked that concept; people with superpowers were a heavy influence. I’m quite sure I can’t buy the rights to the X-Men, so this allowed me to do my own version.”

Classic movies also played a part in Hickox’s conception. “I wanted the wolves to look like the first actor Henry Hulll who played one in Werewolf of London (1935),” he says. “We were going for a cross between him and Oliver Reed in Curse of the Werewolf. There’s a great moment where he turns from the jail cell window, and that’s kind of how I hope our werewolves are going to look. But I also wanted this to be different, especially with the two stages. There’s a first stage the Pack goes through, where they become superhuman and look like the true werewolves as the legends describe them-half man and hall wolf. Then there’s the stage where they become full wolves at the end.

“We really tried to let the actor shine through.” says the director of this approach. “It’s funny how each

face takes on a different character. We didn’t want them to just be covered in makeup. We really built on their foreheads, cheeks and necks. I also love their weapon claws, and the fact that they actually bleed when the claws come out of their fingers, which I think would happen if you were transforming.”

Bringing these ideas to screen life was a big jump, which is why veteran Tony Gardner, head of Alterian Studios was hired to create Full Eclipse’s special FX makeup. Gardner, in his quiet, professional way is a problem solver and a master artist. Not only did Alterian design the transformation makeup, as well as a terrifying 12-foot wolf for the final fight scene, but they developed the futuristic combat gear, helmets and even the insignias and logos for the Pack members.

We have a stage one look, which is just additive makeup and dentures. Gardner explains. “Stage two is where we get into appliances that go down from the forehead almost to the outer corners of the eyes. We’ve got this weird, funky appliance that goes from the tip of the nose to the lip line, just to connect the two in a more animalistic way. We’ve also got upper and lower teeth. Bruce Payne is the only person who enters stage three. That’s a big appliance makeup which goes from his collarbone over his head and covers him entirely, with big fake ears and hair and stuff like that. It’s a much larger cranium, and you see a lot more skull structure.

“We change them gradually to reveal them more and more as werewolves.” Gardner continues. “Different people are taken to different degrees. The only one you’ll see transform completely is Bruce’s character, who turns into an 11- or 12-foot wolf with fur over his entire body. It’s a big monster.”

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Yet even great makeup concepts wouldn’t mean much without the right actors in the parts. For the role of daredevil Pack officer Casey, Hickox brought in his old friend, British actress Patsy Kensit. Well known for her starring turn as Mel Gibson’s stunning South African girlfriend in Lethal Weapon 2, Kensit is also a major horror movie fan. The concept of becoming a werewolf appealed to her, despite the four hour-plus makeup process.

“I loved that,” she says. “I’ve I never done anything like it before. Garrett Immel, who works with Tony, was kind of my key person. They were fantastic. They’re so into it: they’re really great people and so talented. What they can do with just a bit of shading and some prosthetics is incredible.

Kensit not only enjoyed the special FX side of the shoot, but was enthusiastic about everything she was required to do, from a sexy love scene with Van Peebles to a midnight swim in the Pacific ocean. The love scene, naturally, was a great deal easier and more fun. “Anthony originally wanted something that involved a lot of nudity, and I wasn’t prepared to do that,” she explains. “Now it’s very erotic, but it leaves a lot to the imagination. Anthony’s got a great mind. So he shot it beautifully, and it’s pretty steamy.”

The venture into the Pacific ocean was anything but steamy, as Kensit recalls. “When Mario and I went into the water, it was freezing cold. I had kind of a half wetsuit under my dress. so it wasn’t as bad, but Mario had nothing. We were both covered in sand burns afterwards, and it was a really mucky part of the ocean. It was the most horrific. freezing cold night of my life, with the waves crashing over me. Apparently it looks great, and that’s always worth it. That was really the hardest part of the movie, but it was a great experience. It’s something I’m glad I explored as an actress.”

Kensit wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the opportunity to play a werewolf. Van Peebles also found the concept attractive, and is eager to discuss what he calls “man’s fascination with his animal nature, or his animal side. We’ve always been curious about our evolution from beasts, and our connection to them. I always wanted to play a werewolf or a vampire, or something of that nature. It’s very cathartic to be these different people. see what they feel and let that part of you go. It’s healthy to do this.”

Van Peebles didn’t mind the heavy makeup either, and in fact was intrigued by the whole process. Hickox saw a preview for Posse, which Van Peebles both directed and starred in. and immediately decided he was the right man for the part. The actor gives Hickox points for his progressive views on casting. “It was very forward-thinking on Anthony’s part.” he states. “Because it wasn’t written for someone black, or green or blue. And Patsy as the leading lady-it’s very avant-garde in that it doesn’t pander to typical views.”

If Full Eclipse’s hero is atypical. then its villain breaks just as many molds and stereotypes. Captain Garou is one of the most compelling bad guys since Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both Matheson and Hickox were concerned that without the right performance, Garou could turn into just another melodramatic villain. And, as Matheson explains, that wasn’t what either of them had in mind. “Garou didn’t want to be a monster.” the writer says. “He wanted to join the human community and make it better-to evolve and protect it. He was also learning to master his lycanthropic curse. Most monsters have a sort of grudge against humanity, but I don’t think Garou does: he simply dislikes crime. That makes him interesting. and Bruce really brings all of those nuances out. He’s a wonderful actor and a very bright man.”

Those levels of the character were exactly what interested Payne. While he worked to prepare for the action sequences speaking to friends in Delta Force and members of the Los Angeles SWAT team who were working with the film company-it was the psychological factors that Payne was more concerned with.

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“We’re all looking for something quicker, faster and easier that gives us a shorter feeling of contentment.” he says. “I found a lot of undercurrent issues within this character of a police officer who really feels he’s a shining knight. He’s developed this serum which is really part of his own body. This bad guy thinks he’s the good guy: he believes he’s on a good quest.”

To give the character of Garou even more depth and poignancy. Hickox decided to make some slight changes to the final transformation scene. The sequence involves Max and Garou having a terrible fight, in which Garou changes completely into the huge, towering wolf and almost tears the young cop apart. But in the end, when good naturally triumphs. Garou reverts to his true form: a very old man. The full makeup change wasn’t decided upon until the last moment, and therefore presented the film’s biggest challenge for both the special FX team and Payne.

“When you have a two-day warning, it’s impossible to create that prosthetic stuff.” the actor elaborates. “Fortunately, Tony is a very clever and energetic young man with a lot of good ideas. The man who actually did the hands-on application and coloring of the makeup was an old friend of mine named Mike Smithson. whom I had the great pleasure of working with on Switch. He’s a true talent, and he basically pulled together some of his own pieces, from his own face. They tried to match them and enhance a very old, elegant face as best they could. We put on a small. old forehead piece, but it wasn’t built for me, so he had to cut it and shape it, which is incredibly difficult. Actually, it’s a taboo thing. You don’t cut a prosthetic. because as soon as you do. the thin edge suddenly isn’t there and you have a ledge. In prosthetic terms, that ledge is the equivalent of missing a floor in a parking structure as you’re building it, so hiding it requires incredible tenacity.

Anthony Hickox was finishing Full Eclipse. This is another project where I focused writing around a rhythm section – hammond, guitar, bass and drums. For the action cues, many of Billy Ward’s performances were on midi pads, so that I could take his recordings and associate the information with other sounds – such as pitched slate tiles and other found sounds.  All in all, we had a lot of fun on this one, and I heard that Jim Kerr, who was married to Patsy Kensit at the time, liked my end credit theme when he heard it at the cast screening! – Gary Chang (Score Composer)

CAST/CREW Directed Anthony Hickox

Written Richard Christian Matheson Michael Reaves

Mario Van Peebles as Max Dire Patsy Kensit as Casey Spencer Bruce Payne as Adam Garou Anthony John Denison as Jim Sheldon Jason Beghe as Doug Crane Paula Marshall as Liza John Verea as Ramon Perez Dean Norris as Fleming Willie C. Carpenter as Ron Edmunds Victoria Rowell as Anna Dire Scott Paulin as Teague Mel Winkler as Stratton Joseph Culp as Detective Tom Davies

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY my-blog-of-interviews halloweenlove Fangoria#129

Full Eclipse (1993) Retrospective SUMMARY Max Dire is a Los Angeles detective who is feeling the strain that his profession entails when his wife of two years, Liza, accuses him of bringing his work home and leaves him to ponder her future, while his partner, Jim Sheldon, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head.

[turnaboutancestor]

DGS2 Case 4: Review and Thoughts

listen.  listen, okay. listen. i didn’t need this in my life. i didn’t....i didn’t need this

This case looks like it’s gonna be VERY strongly linked to Case 5, a la 5-4/5-5, so it is by nature going to be an incomplete summary. Please keep that in mind as you read.  If I’m missing anything, it may simply be because it didn’t leave a huge impression on me right now.  ALSO, when I do case 5, I am in NO WAY repeating anything I’ve wrote here outside of like. A sentence or two.

Review

Background: Professor

We learned a little more about the circumstances surrounding Professor--Asougi Genshin, who traveled to Japan as a detective.

First, his capture came only after Gregson was adamant on performing an autopsy on Klimt van Zieks, something that otherwise wouldn’t have been performed due to Klimt’s status as a noble and the taboo surrounding it.  However, the autopsy provided a valuable clue that let to Genshin’s arrest.  This autopsy was led by John H. Watson, and assisted by Mikotoba Yuujin and Courtney Simon (now Sithe).

Second, we know one more important detail about his trial.  Vortex was actually the prosecutor in charge of the case, but stepped down to allow Barok on the bench after he insisted.

Third, it’s become obvious that his escape from execution involved multiple individuals within Barkley Prison. Though Everyday Mitermont was the chief jailer at the time and signed off on his coffin being moved to Lowgate Cemetery, it doesn’t appear he was actually involved in the plan to free him.  Sithe, who watched over the execution and “confirmed” his death; and an unknown individual who nailed down the coffin, preventing Mitermont from doing the final check, are at least two of the co-conspirators for getting Genshin out.  It was Mitermont that felt the brunt of that, though, and he was fired from Barkley.

Finally, Genshin saved Barok’s life at one point.  Barok was often the target of criminals due to being Klimt’s brother.  When they were surrounded one night on a backstreet in London, Genshin protected Barok, his hand bloody after the fact.

Background: Mitermont

Everyday Mitermont is happily married to Anna Mitermont and has two children.  When he was fired from Barkley 10 years ago, he couldn’t bring himself to tell his family about it, and decided to find a new job. However, the economy was in a recession, and he was unable to find a new job.  As a result, he took on a disguise and created a new identity for himself as “Hugh Boone,” and began to sell stories on Lime Street.  Eventually, Gregson found him and began to use him, as noted below.

His wife approached Sherlock to ask that he look for him, as he had been missing for the past day.

Gregson sent Mitermont out to be a decoy with the “Red Headed League,” a small-time scam of Maurice and Marco, two European nobles. The two captured Mitermont, and then he discovered Gregson’s body at the shabby room he rented out, forcing him to go to court as a witness.  As a result, he was unable to contact his wife without risking revealing his secret.

Background: Tobias Gregson

After his role in the Professor case, he became known as a “legend” in Scotland Yard--but he also started taking on cases alone, and did so with secrecy.  In order to better hide his movements, he used Mitermont (who he found by chance one day disguised as “Hugh Boone”) by giving him his police ID and asking that Mitermont make a scene where he was directed to go by proclaiming that “Detective Gregson is hear to investigate!”  In exchange, Gregson paid Mitermont a surprising sum of money, which allowed him to continue his ruse.

As this went on, Gregson began to use the shabby room Mitermont rented out as his second “office”, and brought quite a few police documents with him.  An investigation of his office at the Yard also led to the discovery of a notebook with many names and dates in a list.

These documents all had one thing in common: the Death Bringer.

Background: The Death Bringer

10 years ago, Barok’s name became widely known after the Professor case was resolved. However, he lost his very next case: the head of a crime syndicate managed to go free.

He was killed by debris at a construction site 3 days later, and the “Death Bringer” was born.  Since then, Barok has only lost 16 trials, and 13 of those “Not Guilty” verdicts have eventually led to the defendants dying.

Barok wants to know the true identity of the Death Bringer more than anyone, and as such has been investigating ever since.  This has led him to a number of conclusions:

The “Death Bringer” is an organization, as many deaths would be impossible with only one culprit

They seem to have access to information only members of the police force could have

Tobias Gregson is a central figure, coming up with the plans on how to kill their targets

Ann Sasha, otherwise known to us as “Jezail Brett”, was an assassin who carried out many of the murders

The Crime as Currently Known

Barok, in his investigation of Gregson, found a note with an address and meeting time. He head to the location, and went into the room at 5pm.  His attention was immediately grabbed by the desk, but as he headed toward it, he suddenly heard a gunshot--or rather, a set of firecrackers tied to a candle as a makeshift “timer”.

Three witnesses head to the room upon hearing the “gunshot”. Mitermont opened the door first, knocking over the board of case information that had been placed by the door. This allowed Barok to finally get a glimpse of Gregson’s body. Another witness went to call for help, and found a patrolman.  Barok, without thinking, picked up the gun he saw on the ground, and it was in this state that the police found him.  He was immediately arrested and charged for Gregson’s murder.

There is, however, one important discrepancy: there is no “time of death” written on the autopsy report. This is because Maria Goulloyne, Sithe’s daughter, noted that the fish and chips inside Gregson’s coat had already started to mold despite his body being in “fresh” condition. This led her to conclude that the body was tampered with to produce a fake “time of death”, but Vortex ordered her to keep quiet on this and leave that part of the autopsy blank.

Other Pertinent Information

Gina eventually found Gregson’s missing suitcase using Toby.  Inside was a passport/ticket, good for a trip to France for one week from the date issued: the day before his body was found.  Something inside the case also likely made Toby react, as he immediately attacked Ryuu.

Asougi is the prosecutor for the case, due to strongly requesting Vortex that he be put on it.  He doesn’t seem to be quite following Vortex’s orders, however, as Asougi seems to have his own agenda with regards to Barok and the “Death Bringer”. He remains adamant that his father is not the Professor; he only found out he was labeled a murderer by a mysterious letter he received from England when he was younger.

Also, how Asougi made his trip to England despite his memory loss was made clear.  He woke up on the Alaclair and felt a strong desire to go to England because he felt there was something he had to do there.  He mixed with passengers and got off the ship at Hong Kong.  From here, two things were in his favor: his English skills allowed him to get a job aboard a cargo ship, and his knowledge of English law piqued Vortex’s interest when he arrived three months ago, leading to the latter taking in the former.

It was revealed, to just about everyone’s surprise, that Mikotoba Yuujin was actually Sherlock’s former partner.  Iris came to the conclusion that John Watson was her father after recognizing the handwriting on Klimt’s autopsy report as being the same as the handwritten case records she keeps in her trunk.  She saw Watson’s signature at the bottom, believing it was him that wrote the whole report.  As such, “John H. Watson” features as Sherlock’s partner in her stories.  In reality, Yuujin wrote the report as Watson’s assistant, and Watson simply signed off on it.  This makes Susato and Iris half-siblings, though we don’t yet know the circumstances behind Iris’s conception and birth, and Iris herself still isn’t aware Yuujin is her father.  Sherlock himself also promised not to tell Iris anything about her father until he was able to do so properly.

Speaking of Sherlock: upon hearing that Ann Sasha was involved, he immediately set out to send an emergency telegram to Japan. What that telegram was currently remains unknown.

And, as a bit of trivia: Asougi reveals that his sword, named “Karuma”, is a symbol of the Asougi family, which is well known for their sword techniques.  As it turns out, one of Genshin’s disciples took up the sword’s name as their family name....and as time passes, that will eventually lead to Karuma Gou (Manfred von Karma) and Karuma Mei (Franziska von Karma).

Thoughts

Do you see this wall of text. Do you!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!???!?!  I’M NOT EVEN SURE I GOT IT ALL DOWN BUT FFS, TAKUMI!!!

First off, the last segment of this case was an investigation...you don’t expect a case to end during a fuckin investigation.

Second, I feel like I closed my 3DS out of stress or some other emotional turmoil like. A lot. During this case.

Third, DID ANYONE THEORIZE THAT YUUJIN WAS ACTUALLY SHERLOCK’S PARTNER???

This case was remarkable, for more reasons than one. I kept getting thrown curveballs of all kinds, and I don’t expect that to stop as I head into case 5.  From Asougi as the prosecutor to our main detective being the culprit....from that same detective being under suspicion for being a pillar of the “Death Bringer” to Yuujin being Sherlock’s partner...from Barok being our defendant to Sherlock finally revealing how he faked Asougi’s death....there was a LOT that happened this case.

Obviously, though, there are still questions, and I have a few theories or ideas. 

First, Gina mentions that she couldn’t remember the last name in Gregson’s notebook, dated the day before Gregson’s murder, and that it didn’t seem English--I’m about 80% sure the Japanese judge and basically the REPRESENTATIVE for Japan at the forensics symposium, Jigoku Seishirou, is dead as hell. For a while I was CONVINCED he was actually the true Professor, and Genshin was innocent, but I’m not so sure about that anymore.

Second, though I’ve gone back and forth on how I feel about him the WHOLLLLEEEE game, I think Vortex has less-than-legal motives or desires. Getting Maria to hide her conclusions on Gregson’s time of death is too shady, and he seems to have a specific goal he wants out of Barok’s trial.

Third, I’m starting to think the four names on that disc were all related to the Professor case in some way or another. Gregson was the detective, Watson was the lead coroner on his final victim, Asougi is his son...that leaves Sasha, though, and I don’t know how she fits in. If it’s NOT the Professor case, then they’re related by the Death Bringer (Gregson as the planner, Sasha as the assassin, Watson and Asougi unknown), which is Fucking Terrifying.  Either way, I would not be surprised if the reason Sherlock faked Asougi’s death is related to this disc, whatever that connection might be.

Finally...I honestly have no idea how this is all gonna turn out. We’ve got two conventions fighting each other: our best friend’s father was accused or serial murder and sentenced to death, and he believes him innocent; our rival prosecutor is our client, and he lost his brother to murder and much of his normal life to a “curse”.  I want to fix both of them--I want them both to find real, true peace, but I hope it can be done in a way that doesn’t too heavily compromise what they’ve done or how they’ve felt up until this point.

Anyway

I’m ready to die (no I’m not)

[ramblesandmumblesofanerd]

Rambling Reviews: Netflix’s Death Note

Welp, the day has come. As you can see, the Netflix version of the popular anime Death Note has just been released. And, as I said I would, I saw it. What are my initial opinions on the subject? Well, through the filter of professionalism I have put upon myself for this blog, I can certainly say that the film is dull, boring, ignores all of the rules of the source material and leaves you questioning as to why this film exists. If I were to remove this filter, all you could hear would be the incoherent screaming of a nerd who has been thoroughly wronged by whoever thought making this movie would be a good idea. For a better understanding of why this is the case, allow me to both make a few comparisons between the film and the anime/manga and also briefly talk about the film as a whole.

So, what is the plot of this particular version of Death Note? Well, one day at high school, Light Turner (ugh, that feels so wrong) comes across an old notebook which can kill people according to the onslaught of rules held within and the Death God Ryuk who practically forces the young man to try it out on a two-dimensional school bully. After he discovers the power he holds, Light and his high school sweetheart Mia Sutton decide to take it upon themselves to become KIRA, a God who will “never disappoint” and kill as many criminals as they possibly can. Eventually, the detective known as L gets involved and declares that he will capture and execute KIRA. And thus the story focuses on the struggle between Light being KIRA and also being a high school student all while trying not to be caught by L.

Firstly, things in this film just happen. The film never takes a moment to take a breath and calm down, every moment just races by at the speed of sound and smacks you in the face. Not even a full minute and thirty seconds pass until Light gets the notebook. No build up, no establishing characters, just: BOOM, Death Note. Also, the Death Note’s appearance comes with a lot of horror movie fanfare, as it comes on the breeze of a storm and causes all of the lights to flicker whenever it is being used. The same goes for Ryuk, especially in his initial appearance when he just messes around and scares the excrement out of Light. You expect big things to happen in this film, dramatic reenactments of iconic scenes lifted from the source material, but they fly by so fast that you're left wondering “...was that it?”. You wouldn’t have even known this was Death Note at the beginning of the film until you saw the title sequence.

So, I guess I should start talking about the characters at some point, shouldn’t I?

Well, Light was absolutely boring and was the complete antithesis to his predecessor. Light TURNER is just a punk high school student who helps other kids cheat on their tests for cash because his mom was killed. Oh, yeah, they go that route. One of Light’s first targets of the notebook was his mom’s killer, but I just couldn’t give a care. At all. Light Yagami was never driven by revenge (at least not until L started messing with his vision, and even then not by much), he just saw injustice in the world and his seventeen year old mind decided that if he uses  his Death Note to eliminate all of the evils of the world, he will assume the mantle of a godlike being. He does not care about anything else so long as it doesn’t benefit his vision. Granted, Light Turner eventually came to the same conclusion, but only after he got revenge and his girlfriend told him to keep going from there.

Meanwhile, there is Mia Sutton. “Who?” You may be asking? Well, she is Netflix’s version of Misa Amane, the Second Kira from the source material. She was a Japanese Pop Star who wanted to personally thank Kira after he killed the man who murdered her parents. By sheer coincidence, she came to possess her own Death Note and even more power than Light, thus how she was able to find him and become his girlfriend. Many people complain how she was not entirely necessary for most of the story, and I am willing to agree. Her character in the source material never seemed to go beyond “Love me, Senpai” and thus her intelligence in the later seasons suffered greatly. In the film, ironically, Mia is more like Light Yagami than Light Turner was for most of the film. She was the Id to Light’s Ego, as she constantly strived to eliminate all opposing forces, going so far as to plan ahead for certain scenarios. She was manipulative towards Light and vindictive to all who opposed KIRA. This would have made for an interesting twist, but by the time the climax was happening and everyone was going all in, I just couldn’t bother to care anymore.

Speaking of not caring, that is exactly how I believe the writers felt about the original, true version of L; they didn’t care, so they just made their own version. L in the source material was an orphan with a brilliant mind, one very similar to Sherlock Holmes. His soon to be butler and father figure Watari raised him at an orphanage where other children would soon be raised to succeed him should the need ever arise. This was due to the fact that L soon became a detective of then unparalleled genius and determination, solving all sorts of previously difficult or unsolved cases left and right until the day when KIRA became a looming threat. He is seen as secretive, emotionless, analytical, and deceptive in spite of his disheveled appearance. He is the perfect man to take on a mysterious psychopath like KIRA, be it from the shadows to keep his identity a secret, or face to face under a slew of fake names and aliases. Now, take all of that, and completely ignore it in this film. Netflix L is an overemotional child who openly mocks and taunts KIRA in the open without any form of protection other than a mask. He just comes out and says “HI, I will be your L for the evening!” And don’t get me started on him emotionally freaking out about losing control over the case to the point of actually holding a gun to Light’s head.

But what about Ryuk, the one character I was actually looking forward to seeing on the screen? Well, he is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I do actually like the way he looks, the effects are mostly practical and you do believe he is in the room...from the neck down. From the neck up, in spite of some moments, you can tell that the CGI isn’t registering as realistic to your eyes, so all you’re thinking is that Ryuk is just a man with either a green face mask or motion capture dots on his head. As for his character, Ryuk has apparently been a traitorous backstabber who has been passing down the Death Note for generations who constantly taunts Light for not just simply killing everyone who opposes him. All he’s really meant to do in this version is exposit rules about the notebook (most of which don’t even exist in the source material), laugh a bit and look scary. And yes, while the original Ryuk did that, he never came off as a threat rather than an interested bystander. Ryuk was a shinigami who just got bored in his world one day, as all you can really do in a world full of immortal death gods is gamble and sleep so long as you write enough names in your notebook to keep yourself alive. He sees how Light uses the Death Note and basically hangs around to watch the show and laugh at the funny humans until Light either gives up the notebook or dies. That’s what I like about the original Ryuk, he’s just a spectator and is thus an odd reflection of the audience.Netflix Ryuk is just a spiteful spirit who is more interested in Mia than Light.

So, you have failure across the board for all of the iconic characters, Not even the secondary characters like Light’s Dad or Watari get a pass, as they either have no character at all or the character we are given is so poorly written or overdone that we just do not care about them. Every character just felt so two-dimensional that I felt like I was watching a film starring a cast of cardboard cutouts. The only one who gave somewhat of a good performance was the tag team of Willem Dafoe as Ryuk’s voice and the poor shlub who had to physically be Ryuk.

And the effects...lordy the effects. When it comes to the deaths in this film, they are somewhat gruesome if not ridiculous. The first two deaths are reminiscent of Final Destination, as they are executed through what I can only describe as a Rube Goldberg Machine of Coincidence, and when the payoff comes watch out! There’s so much blood and gore, I’m surprised the town wasn’t painted red by the end of the movie. While death is kind of a big deal in this franchise, the way the film executed it was quite silly if not sickening.

So, in the end, Netflix’s Death Note was not a good film. It’s not even good in the “so bad, it’s good kind of way.” Fans will hate it because of how much it gets wrong and casual observers will just be bored and confused by it. I understand that when it comes to making an adaptation, some things need to be changed or erased, but when die hard fans of the source material leave your film feeling so much agitation that they want to make an entry in their sub-par blog(s) to talk about why it doesn’t work by repeatedly comparing it to the source material, perhaps it would have been better not to make your film in the first place. So, unless you like torture, avoid this film.

In the meantime, never stop rambling, TM

[cc-hatredisland]

Trial. 01  {.The Accusation.}

“There’s no need for any of this pomp and circumstance! The killer was found out a while ago!”

Well. Shiratori’s wasting no time here. I kinda feel things are only gonna get more hostile from here on out...

“Yes, you have been quite adamant about that.”

“Because! It couldn’t be more obvious!”

“Hey, uh, are we ignoring the whole someone dies no matter what part? Like... I’m rrreally not super comfortable with that. Just. Throwin’ that out there.”

“It is us or a killer. If they care so little they end another person’s life then I cannot say I’ll miss them terribly.“

“Yeah... but... like... I just... like... I don’t wanna do this. Can’t we just like... not do this?“

“... With this game set up the way it is... I doubt we could get out of it that easily. Do you really think we could just stride up to the door and leave?“

“Ding, ding, ding. Pointdexter’s right! Door’s all locked. And it’s only openin’ when the trial’s over.”

“I thought judges were supposed to keep their traps shut.”

“Hey, you heard me say I’m a heckler. Gave you a heads-up; can’t say fairer than that.”

Shiratori slams his hand down onto the podium.

“Even if we could escape! It’s wrong! We cannot avert our eyes to such a heinous act! I don’t agree with the punishment but justice is justice! And we all deserve that!“

“Ogawa-kun, I’m going to give you one last chance. Confess your sins and I will attempt to lighten your sentence.”

Some cross between a snort and scoff exited her mouth.

“Bite me.“

Manabu’s heavy sigh resonates with my soul in this charming moment.

“I get it. Everyone’s on edge. But let’s try to remember our goal here. Anzai and Wakatsuki are dead. We owe it to them to take this seriously and use the best of our abilities to--“

“Yeah, I get it! Poor Anzai, poor Wakatsuki! You know what-- I get it! It sucks! I wouldn’t wanna be dead either! But that’s not my fault and I’ll be hecked if I’m gonna take the fall for it! No way!”

“You’re taking the fall for it because you’re guilty! Admit it already! Admit your sin!“

“Alright, alright. This is getting a little hectic. You’ve been pretty vocal this whole time, Shiratori-kun. You’re a police officer, so that’s coming from some place of knowledge, right? Why not just fill us in?“

“Finally. Some sense. Yes, please give us a detailed report on why you believe the culprit to be Ogawa. And none of you... cut in. The last thing I need is more insufferable garbage spewed in useless protest.”

Shiratori doesn’t speak until he gets a nod from Kumatani. He clears his throat and begins.

“Tsukumo-kun and I were patrolling after our meeting. Only Tsukumo-kun and Wakatsuki-kun attended... who, if I might add, left rather early! We discussed what was on our IDs, the secrets and weapons and I quickly added those weapons to my stash. As I promised I would! The night is the perfect time for crime so I made sure to patrol properly. And what should I see but Ogawa-kun scuttling out of the Games Room! She seemed frazzled! I called out to her but the-- but... that rude person didn’t reply!“

He scoffs.

“I w-w-w-was there the whole time! S-s-so I c-can c-c-confirm it! We z-z-zwooped pl-place to pl-pl-place looking for tr-tr-trouble until we sp-sp-spotted her!”

“’Zwooped.’“

He couldn’t sound more scathing if he tried.

“Y-yeah like--”

Hirotsugu attempts to explain it with a gesture but Hanji’s no selling is pretty chilling. If looks could kill and all that...

Shit, that’s insensitive, huh.

“...Putting ’zwooping’ aside...“

“I took the opportunity to check inside the Games Room. There was some odd smell bothering me and I wanted to be thorough. And what should I see but Wakatsuki-san’s body? Just like you all saw. What conclusion am I supposed to draw? Ogawa-kun didn’t tell me about the body as she fled! She just ran off! She wasn’t concerned in the least! Furthermore, she was in the lounge, trying to hide something, no doubt! Her behaviour is more than a little shady! What other conclusion is there to draw?“

“When did you find her?”

“... Hm... it wasn’t long after she had passed, I believe... if the pertinent information on our cards is to be trusted. A handful of minutes, no more, no less.”

“I can more or less confirm that. I specialize in diseases but I know a thing or two about bodies.”

“A-ah... um... m-me too...”

“Any counter-arguments we need to hear?”

“...”

“Ogawa-san? ... Shouldn’t you defend yourself?”

“... I have nothing to say to ANY of you. You wouldn’t believe anything I say, anyway. Mr. Top Cop thinks he’s got it all worked out. He’s got a shiny badge, so why wouldn’t you trust in that?”

“We are giving you the opportunity to defend yourself. Don’t be difficult.”

“Yeah, c’mon Kurumes. I know you say all that shit about killing people but you wouldn’t really whack a guy, right?”

“Who knows. Anyone’s capable of anything! But... but...  for this... I... I didn’t do anything, okay?”

“Then why not report the body? If you’re not the killer, give us some evidence. Some explanation, just-- anything, please.”

“I’m not the killer because I’m not! What do you want from me?! I was... surprised, okay? Isn’t that obvious?“

She huffs.

“Besides. He,” she bobs her head in Shiratori’s direction. “hid all the weapons. If anyone was capable of killing someone, it’d be him, wouldn’t it?“

“... Hm... that is a fair point. I don’t think the murder weapon was ever found...”

“See? He just dug his own grave, bragging about his stash!”

“It is NOT a stash! And I was not bragging, I was being forthcoming! You might want to try it sometime!”

“Hold on a sec... Sugu-kun said he was hiding all of the weapons but that’s only the ones in plain sight, right? We all had one in our IDs. A weapon.“

“An interesting note. I naturally suspected some animal would succumb to base desires and looked in all the areas I imagined a... miscreant to hide something. I found sixteen lock boxes...“

“Wait, you... y-you know where all the hidden weapons are?“

“I see someone decided to attend class. Keep up, shut your mouth and listen. Six of those boxes were empty. And any weapons they protected, in the wind.“

“Ah! Worry not! I have three of those. Wakatsuki-kun, Tsukumo-kun and I all agreed I should hold onto the weapons. I then disposed of them in my room. Absolutely nobody should have been able to get them!”

“That still leaves three that can’t be accounted for.”

An uncomfortable silence stretches out. I eye You from across the room. He... showed me yesterday he had his. Is that worth talking about? I’m not sure... it’s confusing. Could You really kill someone? There was no way, right? I wasn’t sure... and that made my stomach turn. Before I can think any more on it though, someone else takes the stage.

“... Hate being coy, so I’ll come out and say it. I took my weapon.”

“... Yuunagi, you...?”

“Y-Yuu-chan, you couldn’t have... right?”

“Oh, tone down the fake surprise, come on. We’re in a kill or be killed situation, right? I didn’t want to take the chance. If someone comes for me, I want to be prepared. There’s nothing appalling about that.“

“There is if you’ve killed someone.”

“Well, I suppose there is that. But did I?”

She shrugs.

“I could’ve kept that information to myself but I wanted to be blunt about it. You can spend all day thinking about whether it’s a double bluff or not. I just thought I’d come out and say it.”

“... Even with that being said... that leaves two weapons missing.”

“Are we sure that Wakatsuki-san was killed with one of these weapons? We don’t want to waste time on a wild goose chase here.”

“Haha. Yeah. ‘Specially when the clock’s ticking. You only have an hour and a half to figure this out. Then you gotta do what you gotta do-- no matter how unsure you are!”

“Uhh?! Excuse me?! Information you didn’t mention earlier!”

“Yeah... sorry about that. I made a goofy-poo. Sowwy?”

Mikiro groans, sinking his head further into his hands.

“Thank you for the belated pertinent actually possibly crucial information.“

“You’re welcome.”

After hearing that, the police officer seems a little flustered.

“I-in any case. I’m quite sure that’s the case! I confiscated everything I could think of! And Wakatsuki-kun was stabbed with something. Perhaps if it were another kind of injury there might be some grounds... but a stabbing! Horrible! I wouldn’t allow that. Anything that could stab, puncture, slice or dice was taken away immediately!“

“We only have your word to go on. That means nothing. Especially if YOU’RE the killer! With all those weapons you’d be spoiled for choice!“

I feel like some parts are adding up here. And I finally opt to speak up.

“Shiratori was with Tsukumo, though. You were the one to see the body first and you saw Shiratori as you passed, right? You think he killed her, left and then returned to the scene with another person? What, to be really totally sure?“

“... Well I don’t know! It’s whatever, I’m just saying-- he has all those weapons.”

“I do think the key is in the missing weapons. And I think I found one of them. And... I think that one I found... is what ended Wakatsuki’s life.“

“AND YOU JUST THOUGHT TO BRING THIS UP NOW?! OF ALL THE--”

“ORDER! Behave yourself at once, Shiratori! We do not yap like savage dogs in this court!”

“Yeah, it’s delayed, my goddamn bad. But I was surveying the situation before saying anything. Could’ve been a red herring or something, I dunno. You were goin’ off on Ogawa, didn’t wanna add fuel to the fire. But now I’m feelin’ pretty confident ‘bout it.“

“About what?”

“About the murder weapon being Ogawa’s.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Think about it. Yuunagi volunteered it herself. She took her weapon with her for self-defense. Someone as jumpy as you... you’re bound to take one, too.“

Kurumi’s face pales.

“Well I didn’t. And you can’t prove it.“

“... Sorry, Ogawa. But I can.“

I give a nod to Mikiro.

“Me and Otomiya were checking the lounge after we heard from Shiratori. It was pretty well hidden. But there was a hand sickle covered in blood just wedged in there, stuck in the fireplace. Remind us. Where did Shiratori say you ran off to after you left the Games Room?”

“Aha! Caught! Just as I suspected! All that huff and guff and for what? An answer we already knew! Ogawa-kun IS the culprit!”

She grits her teeth, momentarily lost for words. It’s dizzying being in the moment like this.

But it’s not over. Not by a long shot...

[Next] >> [Previous]

[thats-immortality-my-darlingss]

My rough ideas/theories

-new to having a blog, not new to pll, never written a theory and shared it, this is not a final theory just some ideas and I’m mostly writing it to clear things up in my own head- 

So in my opinion, Uber A cannot be:

- One of the main 4 girls

- One of their main bed buddies, besides Alison

- A parent or anyone old enough to be my mother, I’m looking at you, Tanner is A theorists.

- Anyone that has not been in it since the start

- Any background characters that have only had partial roles in the show

Who I think Uber A could be, based on who i think the show would pick, not necessarily who i want:

- Wren

- Melissa

- Mona

- Alison

- A twin 

(I'm just going to go through anyone who springs to my mind and say if i think they could be Uber A or not, sorry if this is confusing or jumbled I'm literally just writing my thoughts) 

So the person who I want and have always thought would be A is, Wren. 

He has always been super shady and I also think he would be cool as A. Im not even going to list all of the reasons why, theres so many shady scenes with Wren and I'm sure anyone reading this has already read them all anyway. Plus if i wrote them all down I would feel like I'm totally ripping off the amazing theories i have read.

Other people I think can/can't be A - (analysing each character)

Spencer:

So i really love all of the Spencer is A theories, but I just don't think it would work and I wouldn't buy it unless they made it totally convincing, which knowing this show, it just wouldn't be. I love the parts of the theories I have read that say Spencer could be A because of when she has referenced that woman who wrote a murder mystery novel on a crime she was about to commit. And how Spencer wrote the essay about that murder and then thats exactly how Charlotte died. I think if they had this story planned from the start then Spencer being A could be amazing, but I highly doubt this is the case and I also just couldn't believe it because we have seen Spencer alone in her bedroom, awake all night researching clues and trying to figure out who A is, so because of this I cannot believe that Spencer is A. (but i wouldn't put it past the show to do this and not care that there would be plot holes tbh)

Twin:

I do however like the idea of Spencer having a twin. I think Troian could seriously pull of playing an evil character, (I'm thinking along the lines of Katherine from vampire diaries). I think the fact Mary Drake went to Spencer and was saying how Melissa and her look like twins was very suss and unnecessary unless she's hinting at another secret twin. I also think that they were trying to throw us off with Jessica and Mary so we wouldn't expect another twin reveal. Also, when Spencer visited Hanna, I don't believe it was a dream sequence, it seemed so much more real than the usual dream sequences and Spencer didn't have bangs. Why would they change her hair style for a dream? I’ve seen theories saying Spencers twin could be Bethany, and I thought this too but watching the show back I'm not too sure as Bethany was in Radley and if Spencer was her twin then she would of been recognised when she was admitted. (again wouldn't be surprised if the show ignored these plot holes so could be possible) I don't think any other character could have a twin, i just don't think anyone else could pull it off, except maybe Sasha but i don't think i could deal with another secret Dilaurentis child or another blonde girl in the mix, we have enough. 

Alison: 

I also love the idea of Alison being Uber A, Marlene said the show would come full circle and so it would make sense. Plus I am bored of old lady Ali (no offence to Sasha, I love her) and I want bitchy, manipulative Ali back. 

Aria: 

I’ve also seen some great Aria is A theories and I love these too however for the same reasons I would hate for Spencer to be A, I also wouldn't want Aria to be A. We have seen all of the girls alone and still being tortured or hunting for clues. People say that Mona was A and she received texts sent by herself, but this is just sending texts, we never saw Mona alone hunting for clues, only with the other girls. So that rules out any of the 4 girls, and it may also rule out Alison but I need to keep rewatching the show and see how Alison has acted when she's alone. 

Bed buddies: 

I hope to god that none of the bed buddies (Caleb, Toby, Ezra or even Paige) are Uber A, someone to do with the show said it was going to be a ‘romantic tragedy’ but I just can't see any of these people I mentioned being Uber A. Yeah, some of them have some clues and hints but really? Not A material. I would literally die if Caleb turns out to be A. #halebforever 

But i think Ali could be A because that would be a romantic tragedy and would be full circle. 

Melissa: 

I do think Melissa could still be A, but I'm not sure I would like it. I liked it how she was always shady and then in season 5 we found out she was always protecting spencer, if she turns out to be A then it would undo this and I just wouldnt like that. Howeverrrrr I could be on board if Melissa is working with wren and they turn out to be an amazing power couple ruining the lives of rosewoods residents one by one. 

Jason:

hmmm i don't have any jason is A theories except that ‘full circle’ could just mean the lies revolve around the dilaurentis family once again. I would actually hate for Jason to be A because I love him and Spencers strange bond and I’d hate for him to betray her tbh. I just love all the times spencer has gone to him like he really is her big bro. (even though this whole mary drake thing now makes it so confusing, siblings or cousins? who knows. 

Mona:

I absolutely love badass Mona and ‘full circle’ could mean that Mona has actually been A the whole time. Buuuttt I don't really want this to happen, I love it when Mona is badass but mostly when she's on the girls side and trying to take down A with them. 

Lucas:

Nothing to say here, just please don't let Lucas be Uber A. 

Not sure who Im missing here or if I'm missing anyone at all. 

So basically the only people I would be happy or semi happy with being Uber A are:

1. Wren

2. Spencers twin

3. Alison 

I really hope that whoever Uber A is, the character is turns out to be extremely badass. I hated the Cece/Charlotte story, not only because of the plot holes but also because I hated how they tried to make us feel sorry for her. I don't want a sob story about how and why this person is A, I want a ruthless, badass killer who isn't just a fragile patient from Radley, they need to be the PLL version of Katherine Pierce or Kai Parker from The Vampire Diaries. This is the kind of villain I want. Mona was kind of like this, and I loved her as the villain so something along those lines would be A-mazing. 

I also hope that the whole Cece/Charlotte story was fake and Cece was working for the real Uber A the whole time. I would love for this person to be Wren and he's been pulling the strings since the very beginning or maybe since Mona. I’d like him to be the mastermind of the show and maybe have someone working with him who is a twin of one of the girls (spencer). Maybe they're in a relationship, we already know Troian and Julian have great chemistry so would be cool. I loved the dollhouse and how creepy it was, and I think the person in the suit wasn't Cece but was Wren, Spencer said they felt familiar so they would either have to be a sibling of hers or a previous love interest. I guess it couldve been Cece if her and Spencer are sisters with the latest reveal but i hope thats not the case. Plus it annoys me because if Charlotte is a trans female then why would she want to dress up like a man, they just seems poor on the shows behalf. 

In conclusion I hope Wren is A but id still be happy with any of the three i wrote above. 

So yeah sorry this is long, thanks to anyone that actually reads it hahaha. I mostly wrote this for my own benefit and so that once we do find out who A is, I have my thoughts posted so I can go back and see if any of it is accurate. Feel free to talk to me about any of your own theories, I love hearing them and if you agree with anything I've said and wanna talk to me the feel free to do so!

[steves-on-a-plane]

Secret, Secret

Words:1552 Pairing: Peter Parker x Male!Reader  Other relationships: Dad!Bruce Banner Request: “hi can I request a Peter Parker x male reader. that's just filled with fluff.” -Anon Summary: So I got the idea for this story from this request^ but I might also write something else that’s also just Peter Parker X Reader. Anyway this turned into Peter & Male reader telling the reader’s Dad, Dr. Bruce Banner, that they are in fact a little more than best friends. IDK it was just a idea I had, and im not even sure I’m happy with the final product. Let me know what you think! 

“Peter, I don’t know if this is such a good idea after all.” You frowned nervously. The two of you were walking together down the pebbly path that led to the entrance of the Avenger’s Compound. You had decided it was finally time to let the rest of the team in on your biggest secret.

“[Y/N], it’s going to be fine.” Peter insisted. He reached out and took your hand. “Remember how worried you were when we told Aunt May?”

“This is different.” You insisted. “Aunt May doesn’t turn into a rage monster at the drop of a hat.”

“You’ve never been over when I forget to take out the trash.” Peter rolled his eyes. “C’mon, we’ll talk to your dad first. He likes me.”

“Dad like’s everyone. It’s the other guy you have to worry about.” You tried to smirk, wishing you could be as calm and self-assured as Peter Parker. Then again, he was Spiderman, he had a good reason to be confident. You swiped the Avengers ID that your “Uncle” Tony have given you and the two of you entered the building. Wanda and Vision were coming down the main hallway that you and Peter were walking up. You always liked the couple a lot, even before they showed they could keep yours and Peter’s secret.

“Hello, [Y/n]. Hello Peter.” Vision greeted to two of you pleasantly. “What brings you young gentlemen here today?”  

“We’re here to see Dr. Banner.” Peter explained.

“Are you finally going to tell him about the two of you?” Wanda asked excitedly.

“Wanda, shhh! Say it over the PA system, why don’t you?” You looked around uncomfortably. You would hate for your Dad to hear your news from someone else first.

“[Y/n], your concern is unnecessary. Dr. Banner is working in his soundproof laboratory with Mr. Stark.” Vision told you.

“If they’re working, maybe we should come back another time.” You suggested to Peter.

“They’re always working!” He laughed, grasping your hand again. You wriggled out of his touch for fear that someone else might see. Peter looked hurt, but he understood what you were worried about. You loved your dad and you were fairly close. After your mom died you only got closer. The two of you told each other everything and he knew you would feel much better once you had your only secret out in the open.

“We’d better go before I change my mind.” You sighed. “Catch you later, Wanda, Viz.”

You and Peter weren’t exactly quiet as you came into your father’s lab. For one thing, you were laughing loudly at a joke he’d just told you to lighten the mood. Your deep bellow seemed to boomerang around the room and echoed back to you. Seemingly undisturbed by anything your father and Tony kept their eyes on their work.

“Uh, Dad?” You called from the door before taking a few steps towards him. He didn’t respond to you. “Hello? Earth to Dr. Banner!” Still no response, so you walked even closer. You were now standing about a foot away. “Opera sucks!” You called trying to get his attention. “Dude!”

“[Y/n], he’s wearing headphones.” Peter pointed to your dad’s ears which you now saw were in fact covered by over the ear headphones. You reached out and gave your dad’s shoulder a gently shove.

“Sorry,” He apologized, taking the headphones off. “I was trying to concentrate.”

“Your kid thinks your music sucks!” Tony yelled from across the room. Before casting his eyes back at his computer screen.

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” Your Dad chuckled. “What’s up guys?” He asked looking away from Tony and over at you. “It’s Thursday, don’t you usually have dinner with Aunt May on Thursdays?”

Bruce Banner was basically Dad of the year every year. You were the only kid you knew whose parent actually paid attention to you and knew where you were at all times. He always remembered that you tutored Math and Science on Mondays and Wednesdays, and worked on the school newspaper basically around the clock. He knew all of your friends’ names and could probably tell you five fun facts about each of them. He knew that Peter was your best friend, and while you spent most of your time hanging out at the Avengers Compound, you made time every Thursday to visit with Aunt May.

“We’re kind of blowing Aunt May off this week.” Peter explained. “She understands.”

“What’s so important? Deadline at the school paper?” You dad was concerned. It wasn’t like you to skip out on a commitment.

“Not exactly.” You tried not to bite your lip. It was a telltale sign that you were nervous and he’d pick up on it in an instant. “Pete and I have to talk to you about something.”

“Oh. Okay.” You Dad reached up and removed his glasses a telltale sign that he was nervous. “Should we, go somewhere more…?”

“The lab’s fine.” You assured him. “Besides, Uncle Tony’s going to find out eventually anyway.” You inhaled a deep breath. This was the first time you were going to admit to your dad who you really were. You always assumed he sort of knew. You’d never brought any girls home for him to meet. You never talked about being interested in any girls, or boys for that matter.

“You remember when you wanted to start seeing Natashia? And you gave me that great speech about how you weren’t trying to replace Mom, but you were ready to move on and you wanted to try with Nat because she understood you for who you really were and not just the man behind the Hulk?”

“Yeah. I remember.” He nodded. “You handled it very maturely.”

“Awesome. I’m just asking that you do the same for me.” You said, wringing your hands together. “So you know how Peter and I met at the school Newspaper? We started spending a lot of time together because I would write articles and he would take pictures…”

“He knows how a newspaper works.” Peter piped up.

“Right. Listen, Dad, Peter understands me the same way that Natasha understand you. He’s not just my best friend, Dad.” You still couldn’t exactly put to words what you were trying to say, but your dad was smart; a genius. Some things were more powerful than words. You reached over and entangled your fingers inside of Peter’s for the first time ever in front of your Dad.

You didn’t say anything and neither did Peter nor your dad. The room was silent except for the random bleeps coming from Tony’s computer in the back of the room. The longer the silence stretch the more uncomfortable you begin to feel. In your head, you were begging for someone to say something. You probably would have even settled for one of Tony’s witty comments in that moment. The seconds stretched on for what felt like years and still no one said anything.

“I know this probably wasn’t what you wanted from your only son…” You started to say, but your dad interrupted you. He put his glasses down on the counter next to the microscope he’d been working with, and got up off his chair.

“I’m sorry,[Y/N], but I have to stop you right there. This is who you are. You can’t change who you love any more than I could change my eye color or Uncle Tony could stop being sarcastic. And I think Peter,” your Dad turned to look at your boyfriend. “is perfect for you. You’re both smart, strong young men who I couldn’t be prouder of.” Then your Dad surprised you both by pulling you and Peter into a tight bear hug.

“Can I say something now?” Tony stepped out from his workstation coming alive for the first time. Now you couldn’t help but bite your lip. In the back of your mind you had hoped your dad would be cool with whatever you told him. It was a relief to know that he was. But Tony on the other hand, He was unpredictable, who knew what he was about to say. You felt your dad put a protective hand on your shoulder and assumed his other was on Peter’s.

“Tony…” Your Dad almost sounded like he was growling. You were too afraid to look back and see green in his eyes.

“I just want to say,” Tony began, holding both of his hands up in a sign of peace. “that I’ve had my suspicions since Underoos and Mini Hulk started having weekly dinners with May. Now don’t go all Jolly Green Giant on me, but we’ve had a pool going…”

“We?” Bruce repeated.

“Yeah, you know the whole team. Rogers, Barton, Wilson…speaking of which Romanoff and I had ‘before prom’ so it looks like we win.” The next thing you knew, Tony was pulling out his wallet and handing you a small stack of bills. “Take each other out to dinner on me and congrats. I’m very happy for you. Really.”

“Well that was easier than I expected.” You sighed in relief.

“I told you, you had nothing to worry about.” Peter smiled.

“I guess you were, right.” You leaned over and kissed Peter right there in the lab in front of your dad and Tony.