#my dm has confirmed. several things. that I was curious about but did not actually want to know.

[quill-n]

My party's been on the stupid topic of how they both lay eggs and I've recently been cursed with Too Much Knowledge on aarakocra and dragonborn reproductive systems, so .

(the aasimar is Covell—the captain of their old crew. more info on him later *fingerguns*)

real embarrassing on Sybil's 16 intelligence btw, but it's also hilarious

[ingravinoveritas]

What do you make of David sayin he’s an ally, not an active participant (in queer subcultures)?

Did he come out as straight? I’m not sure anyone has ever asked him directly, not that he needs to give any explanations, I’m just curious because he gives off such a queer vibe even when he’s been married forever.

https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/david-tennant-on-the-spice-girls-spiceworld-movie-was-being-developed-before-they-even-released-a-single-459815/

Oh, my Asks/DMs have been blowing up over this one. I did have a chance to read this interview with David (is it me, or is he doing nonstop press lately?) and...wow. Definitely enjoyable, and noticeably more unhinged/queer than most of his other interviews (which makes sense, given that Attitude is an LGBTQ-focused publication). But let's get a screenshot up of the most talked about bit, so we can discuss:

Obviously there is a lot going on here, so I'm just going to go with what stood out to me most. I don't think there is anything in the world less surprising than David naming bears first, given certain preferences of his (which I've discussed several times previously on my blog).

What's really interesting though is that the question was asking about queer subcultures, but all of the ones David listed are used primarily (AFAIK, though someone please do correct me if I am wrong) in mlm/gay male relationships. "Queer" can be many things, after all--gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, ace--and yet when David heard "queer subcultures" he specifically went for the mlm/gay ones, and that definitely feels like an interesting choice.

The second thing that I felt was worth discussing is that a lot of the reactions I've seen to this is people saying how adorably clueless David is, or how "he's a little confused, but he's got the spirit." And I'm sort of perplexed by this because we are talking about an almost 53-year-old man here, and I believe he knows damn well what all of those terms/subcultures are.

It's been brought to my attention (from what I would consider a very trustworthy source) that David is not at all as technologically illiterate as he pretends to be. Instead, it's actually part of a persona that he puts on to avoid dealing with issues that would arise from people knowing he is online. I had an inkling of this just from Georgia saying David was the one who set up all the equipment for when they filmed Staged at home (because why would such a task be put in the hands of someone who is hopeless with technology?). But having this confirmed also aligns with David creating a fake personal assistant in the early days of his career so he wouldn't have to fulfill certain social obligations, and to put a barrier between his real self and the world.

So why, then, wouldn't the same pattern possibly apply here?

I know there also tends to be this image of David as a "bumbling, goofy dad" type, and that's definitely part of him and what makes him so charming. But I don't think he is a fool, either--especially not after listening to him talk about Shakespeare or politics or anything else at length--and I think he certainly knows how to answer these types of questions. I think David is more than clever enough to give answers that are cheeky but not revealing, because he knows the purpose of all this is to promote the BAFTAs, not to be a deep, probing exposé on the life and times of David Tennant.

Which then brings me to the big, gay elephant standing in the middle of the room--a.k.a., "I'm an ally rather than an active participant." (Again...so many interesting word choices going on here, and none of it feels like an accident.)

Going back to what I mentioned about the focus of these interviews, I'd like to point out one notable thing that David himself said in the Radio Times interview earlier this week:

This, I think, sums up what we are seeing in all of these interviews: The version of David that he feels is safe to present to the world. He makes it clear as well that he is not going to reveal areas of his personal life while up on stage, and I would say that the same thing applies to these interviews. (It also speaks volumes that in the year 2024, the version of himself he feels safe presenting in these interviews is one who fully knows what bears and twinks--sorry, twinkies--are.)

So no, I don't think David is coming out as straight. I don't think he's coming out as anything, in fact, because he knows these interviews are not the place for that to happen. And I think that saying he is an ally but not an active participant makes the most sense as an answer for a public interview, but neither that nor being in a straight-passing relationship necessarily makes him any less potentially queer.

To reiterate what I said above, there is no one way to be queer. For some people, being queer absolutely can mean going to leather bars and participating in subcultures. But for other people, "queer" can mean something very different. It can mean being a Kinsey 2 just floating along doing your thing until you meet that one person who changes everything. The person who makes you go, "I've usually been more into this and not as much into this...but I'm definitely into you." It can mean being attracted to/falling for someone--a co-star, maybe?--that you never expected to feel that way about. And if David is queer, maybe that also means not shying away from anything, but at the same time not wanting to take the spotlight off the awards and the nominees celebrating one of the most important nights of their lives.

Those are my thoughts on the Attitude interview and David's answers, at any rate. Happy as always to hear from my followers with your takes. Thank you for writing in! x

[15001700tt]

Descendants of The Moon

Descendants of the Moon Masterlist

Tag list: @chastja  @multi-fan-trash @serpentityx @syublush @laadychat @whoissheff Dm me if you want to be on the tag list!

Word Count: 5,154

Key: Italics- things that happened in the drama but do not old any importance to the story line

Key: Bold- Dialogue said in the Drama

Getting Caught and Catching A Virus

Episode 10:

Captain Yoo doesn’t respond to Dae Young’s radio calls so they head to where they are, but by then Agus and his men have left. Shi Jin summarized what happened. Fatima is a girl that was going to get sold today and she managed to shoot Agus from behind, Mo Yeon was able to remove the bullet and they left but Captain Yoo doubted this would be the last time they would meet. The soldiers help the children to get into the truck and back to the field hospital to get treated.

Once they’re back, Mo Yeon helps the doctors test and treat the infected children. Doctor Sang and Nurse Ha were treating one kid while Mo Yeon looked at the X-rays. 

“I see signs of pneumonia,” she told Sang Hyun. 

“We’ll take it from here, go wash up,” Sang Hyun told Mo Yeon. she nodded and went to the water basin and started scrubbing her hands. She was so distracted she didn't notice Yoo Ji approaching her.

“Are the children vaccinated?” Yoo Ji asked, her eyes not focusing, but it was subtle. Mo Yeon didn't catch it. Mo Yeon was snapped back to reality when she turned to respond but was taken off guard by the strong smell of alcohol.

“Have you been drinking?” she squinted her eyes at her friend, who in return shrugged.

“A little” Yoo Ji responded, her words slurring together. 

“I won’t even ask where you got the booze but why are you drinking now?” Mo Yeon thought Yoo Ji was doing so well staying sober or at least not abusing her alcohol allowance.

“Gwang Nam is being an ass,” Yoo Ji muttered. 

“He seems pretty nice to me” Mo Yeon scrubbed her hands harder. 

“It's a facade, why do you have blood on your hands?” Yoo Ji slurred, but her gaze didn't falter from Mo Yeon’s hands. Mo Yeon sighed, she didn't know how to explain what happened in the last few hours to her friend.

“I’ll explain later when you’re sober” Mo Yeon chose the easy way out.

“So what happened with First Sergeant Lim?”

“He keeps digging information about the Kim Hoon Jae case” Yoo Ji picked at the loose hem of her shirt.

“He won’t let it go, and I have no idea how to distract him enough that he forgets about it” she huffed.

“You still have the nightmares?” Mo Yeon asked that case affected Yoo Ji the most out of all her work. What she had gone through, changed her so much, sometimes Mo Yeon can barely recognize her friend. Mo Yeon knows the kind of psychological damage that Yoo Ji endured because of her involvement, she recommended multiple psychiatrists to Yoo Ji but she never confirms nor denies whether she actually goes or not. Yoo Ji nodded.

“I think it's good to tell him about it, maybe actually help you feel lighter. Holding it in isn’t going to make anyone feel any better,” Mo Yeon tried to recommend. Mo Yeon wiped her hands on the cloth towel by the sink, Yoo Ji shook her head, her face was red from the alcohol. Mo Yeon’s eyes were drawn to behind Yoo Ji to the moving figure behind them. 

“Doctor Kang! The girl you brought with you says that she’s leaving. What should I do?” Nurse Choi’s concerned voice sounded out, her eyes drawn to the drunk girl beside Mo Yeon.

“Are you drunk?” she asked Yoo Ji with surprise, Yoo Ji smiled cheekily and gave her a smile.

“Shhh, don’t tell anybody” she hushed Nurse Choi. 

“Take her back to her room and I’ll handle the kid,” Mo Yeon told Min Ji and nodded at Yoo Ji who was dozing off. Min Ji nodded and guided Yoo Ji away from the Medi-Cube. 

“I can walk” Yoo Ji shrugged Min Ji’s hand. Halfway through they ran into a few soldiers. Min Ji bowed and excused themselves before Yoo Ji made a fool of herself. Gwang Nam was one of the soldiers they passed. He paused and looked back.

“Yoo Ji?” he asked with uncertainty. Yoo Ji looked drunk, her cheeks red, and her eyes were unfocused 

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out” she responded with a goofy chuckle. 

Gwang Nam told the soldiers to go ahead and he’ll see them inside. He came closer to the two girls. 

“Please don’t tell anyone, if someone knows she might get fired.” Min Ji excused.

“It’s ok, I’ll take her back, you can go back to the Medi-Cube” Gwang Nam smiled at the nurse who nodded and left.

“Aw, everyone is leaving me tonight” Yoo Ji huffed and pouted. 

“I haven’t, but you’re pushing me away” Gwang Nam took her shoulders and steadied her as she started swaying.

“And you’re driving me crazy” she responded. Gwang Nam looked at her hard, it was throwing him off how she can be so drunk that she can’t walk properly but can hold a conversation just fine.

“Why won’t you tell me anything about yourself or your work?” Gwang Nam tried again.

“Because it’s not as exciting as I want you to think” Yoo Ji pointed her finger at his nose, her eyes glistening and unfocused. 

“Besides, it’s not like you’re telling me anything either” Yoo Ji slurred. 

“This is a different situation” Gwang Nam refuted, “you’re a reporter, isn’t everything out for the public?” he continued.

“Indeed, but not my personal psychological problems, I’d like to keep those private” Yoo Ji responded rolling her eyes.

“Just what are you hiding?” Gwang Nam’s curiosity filled him but he couldn’t get more out of Yoo Ji because right after her head hit his shoulder and her soft breathing evened out. 

Gwang Nam sighed again, she’s proving to be more work as they get to know each other more. He looked at her face that seemed so peaceful. He wondered if something happened that made her so wary of everyone around her. He reached the bunker and laid her down. He covered her and left her to sleep for the rest of the night. He glanced at the empty whiskey bottle by her bed and put it in the trash, just in case someone decided to look for Yoo Ji in her room.

Gwang Nam made his way to the Medi Cube, at this point he’ll miss the meeting but he’ll talk with Captain Yoo about it later. Gwang Nam was going to find out what happened with Kim Hoon Jae that Yoo Ji is being more resistant to giving information. Well, more than she already is but he knows sometimes she does that to annoy him and remind him that he’s also withholding information about his job too.

He found both First Lieutenant Yoon and Doctor Kang stocking up the cabinets in the Medi-Cube. They were talking about Myung Ju’s trip to the village to treat the remaining kids. It looked like Mo Yeon was ready to leave but halted when she saw Gwang Nam coming to them.

“Power of unity” Gwang Nam saluted Myung Ju and she nodded at him. 

“Did you need something?” Doctor Kang asked.

“Uh yes, I was curious about something” Gwang Nam started, turning to Mo Yeon. Mo Yeon raised an eyebrow, she knew he was with Yoo Ji and was bugging her about the Kim Hoon Jae case. She stared at his face and tried to see if he had any ill intentions, she knows Yoo Ji won’t ever tell him about what happened when she was on that case, but that doesn’t mean Mo Yeon won’t tell him the basics. He needs to stop bringing it up and just accept it.

“Yoo Ji was involved in the serial killer case of Kim Hoon Jae, she won’t let me ask about it” he continued looking uncomfortable, “I wanted to know if it had affected her in any way”.

“Mun Yoo Ji was involved in that case?” Myung Ju’s surprised tone told Mo Yeon that she didn't know any of this either.

“It was a very complicated case, he was on the loose and had killed so many girls and the detectives had no idea how to find him, his killings were irregular, he didn't have a pattern or a connection to his victims” Mo Yeon started leaning against the shelf lightly. 

“But he was found because of his medical records, right? I heard about it on the news, it was very impressive” Myung Ju commented. 

“It was Yoo Ji that was able to tip the police of his location, she looked up his medical records and his file from the police department, she was able to find the exact bar he hung out at because he had Hodgkin's lymphoma-” Mo Yeon was cut off by Gwang Nam.

“And the bar he hung out at was the only one in the area that had two separate bars with virgin drinks, yeah, I know that part but was she ever involved in the arrest or came in contact with him?” Gwang Nam asked but Mo Yeon knew that he would come to realize that Yoo Ji is psychologically hurt from that case.

“I only know some of what happened, not everything but yes, she was involved in the arrest,” she answered.

“Wait, didn't Kim Hoon Jae break out of prison and kidnap someone” Myung Ju’s eyes widened as she started putting the pieces together. 

“Yoo Ji’s connection to the major media channels was able to leave her name out of the news, but yeah, she was the one that was kidnapped by him. He had her for two weeks, he psychologically and physically abused her,” Mo Yeon told them. Gwang Nam held his breath, he didn't know it was this serious.

“Her need for information is just something that helps ease her anxiety, because when she was with him, he seemed to know everything about her life, like he was there when it happened, and that broke her. Yoo Ji is not the kind to feel helpless often and this one really did a number” Mo Yeon informed them of the severity. Myung Ju and Gwang Nam made eye contact. With Gwang Nam’s line of work, he may never be able to tell her the entire truth. 

“But this need for information is destroying her from the inside out, it’s not healthy and she often has insomnia because her brain is going haywire with so much information, and the nightmares,” Mo Yeon told them. 

“I feel like a jerk now because of what I said” Myung Ju sighed. 

“You can’t take it back, Yoo Ji will know that I told you and will get pissed off” Mo Yeon informed her.

“She doesn’t want people to know because if they do they might change how they act around her, she doesn’t want to be tiptoed around or get any pity” Mo Yeon explained Yoo Ji’s thought process.

“She’ll know I told you tonight, and she’ll be pissed off. Don’t let it put you off though, it’s her way of testing you” Mo Yeon told Gwang Nam, she picked up her stuff and bid them good night. Gwang Nam sighed and leaned against the wall. Just as he thought things were getting easier.

“Regretting asking about it?” Myung Ju asked him.

“No, but I thought she was messing with me, I didn't think it was something this serious” his tired and defeated voice responded. 

“You should’ve known from the moment she kicked the crap out of the thugs at the hospital; she’s not normal, none of us are” Myung Ju finished off, and smiled at him sympathetically, she told him good night and left him alone.

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

-The Next Morning-

Dae Young and Myung Ju went to the village but they found it completely deserted, so they came back, Mo Yeon and Shi Jin were having a moment *the hair tying* and then the packages from Korea came. At this point in their morning/afternoon, Yoo Ji woke up with a hangover and drank coffee, and moved on with her day, a hangover was not stopping her from doing her usual routine. 

She heard the packages had arrived so she went to see if she got anything, she noticed a box with lots of hearts and the names of the Captain and his Deputy leader on it and knew that they were in deep shit. So she hung out near the corner of the room to watch the show.

“Sergeant First Class Seo, there's a package from someone named Shin Ji Young.” Mo Yeon radioed Dae Young, which made Yoo Ji choke on her laugh, Myung Ju should be coming any minute now.

“Where are you now?” his voice was serious yet panicked.

“In the kitchen” Mo Yeon responded. Almost five seconds later, Myung Ju came bursting through the door and grabbed the box from Mo Yeon’s hands.

“Oh! That surprised me.” Mo Yeon squeaked

 “I'm going to have to inspect this real quick.” Myung Ju glared at the box. Myung Ju read the messages written on the box, each sentence growing angrier.

“Does Dae Young have a younger sister?” Mo Yeon asked curiously.

“Dae Young is an only child!”

“That shouldn’t be my fault” Mo Yeon defended. Myung Ju huffed and ripped open the package and got out the envelope, it seemed like there was a picture in there because Mo Yeon got closer to Myung Ju to get a closer look and squinted her eyes.

“Omo, why is Shi Jin here?” Yoo Ji silently laughed, looking at those two jealous fools. 

“The day we met Shi Jin Oppa. We send our memories to you.” Mo Yeon read out loud.

“First Lieutenant Yoon, bring your gun.” Mo Yeon looked murderous, it made Yoo Ji crinkle her eyes more, just to stop herself from making any noise.

“It’s a misunderstanding” Shi Jin and Dae young came barreling in, probably ran all the way here from where they were.

Yoo Ji watched as they tried to explain the package but failed miserably and were digging themselves into bigger holes. Mo Yeon told Shi Jin to follow her leaving Myung Ju and Dae Young alone. As they left Yoo Ji noticed three people behind the wall and she went over and found Woo Geun, Cheol Ho, and Gwang Nam.

“What are you doing?” she murmured, hiding with them

“I was right. It was obvious it was a blind date.” Gwang Nam broke his stare off with Yoo Ji, well it wasn’t really a stare-off, she avoided his gaze.

“You’re talking about the first birthday party of Bravo Team's Sergeant Park's son? They both disappeared right after they gave their presents” Cheol Ho confirmed.

Woo Geun sighed in annoyance and brought out money to pay the bet that he had with Gwang Nam, Yoo Ji smirked, it seemed like Woo Geun was horrible at making winning bets.

“They said that a high school classmate's father had passed away.” Woo Geun scoffed

“It doesn't even make sense that the two of them would have the same classmate.” Gwang Nam told him, they didn't go to school together. Yoo Ji chuckled

“They couldn't even get their story straight with us either.” Cheol Ho smiled. 

“A room full of special forces agents and none of them can lie correctly” Yoo Ji mused, shaking her head. Yoo Ji turned and left them.

“Nurse Choi called Mo Yeon because of an Emergency in the Medi-cube, Yoo Ji made her way there, Sang Hyun and Nurse Ha followed her. Mo Yeon arrived before them.

“The narcotics are gone,” Nurse Choi Min Ji said.

“Who would’ve taken them?” Sang Hyun pondered.

“All the patients are here and nothing else is missing” Nurse Ha stated.

“Not everyone, someone has been missing” Mo Yeon sighed, getting out her radio.

“Has anyone seen Fatima lately?” 

“Come on we need to find Shi Jin” Yoo Ji informed Mo Yeon.

Once they found him, they made their way into town, the bar valentine ran might have information.

“How have you been?” Shi Jin greeted Val, Yoo Ji nodded in acknowledgment at the girl.

“You need something,” Val stated, getting straight to the point.

“Information. A red dress, a 15-year-old girl. She's stealing narcotics.” Shi Jin gave her the basic info. Val shook her head, already refusing his request.

“I keep telling you, we sell everything here except women and information” she reiterated.

“Val please, this is urgent and serious.” Yoo Ji pleaded for her to hear them out.

“You don’t have to, but there must be someone else who could” Shi Jin interrupted.

“Please, she’s only 15 years old,” Shi Jin asked again. Val cleared her throat and looked away, she sighed and rang someone up on her phone.

“Where is the black market for narcotics?”

As soon as they got the location, Yoo Ji paid Val the amount she wanted and they were set on their way. 

“How do we find it?” Mo Yeon asked once they reached the place, there were a bunch of buildings that looked run down and were on the verge of collapsing. They didn't wait long until they heard a girl scream. They ran over to the sound.

“Son of a bitch! were you lying to me this whole time?” Fatima asked angrily.

“No, Fatima you trusted me too much, now follow me before I beat you harder,” the boy said as he held Fatima by her hair.

“Stop! Don’t touch her” Yoo Ji shouted at the boy. 

“Is he a soldier?”  one of the boys asked, Yoo Ji sighed.

“Your uniform is always bringing us trouble” she Sighed as she looked at the boys pulling out their weapons.

“Don’t worry, we have more weapons than him,” the leader, Yoo Ji assumed, said.

“I hope you weren’t looking for us” he continued with a smirk on his face as all three of them put their hands up in surrender.

“More guns? Why are there guns every day? What kind of country is this?” Mo Yeon whined as she felt fear penetrate her, Yoo Ji chuckled.

“It's because you both ran in with no plan,” Shi Jin told her.

“If we came later, she might’ve been hurt more” Mo Yeon refuted. Yoo Ji is still making eye contact with the leader.

“Yes, good job because Fatima will be fine while we get shot at” Shi Jin’s sarcastic voice was lowered but Yoo Ji still heard him. 

“What are they saying?” one of the goons, asked.

“Who cares? Put your gun down if you don't want to die” the leader told the captain.

“What the hell are we going to do now?” Mo Yeon asked.

“Well, it isn't like there isn't a way” Shi Jin said as he evaluated the situation.

“Seven guns. Mun Yoo Ji takes the right side. I'll take the left side.” he joked, Yoo Ji nodded.

“Don't be scared,” he whispered to Mo Yeon. 

“I hope you were serious” Yoo Ji gritted her teeth readying herself to fight with speed she never used to beat the boys with machines that can kill her in twenty seconds.

“Let’s see if you're really made of what you say you are,” Shi Jin said to Yoo Ji with a chuckle.

“Okay, let’s make a deal” Shi Jin moved forward, with his hands still raised in surrender.

“I’ll drop my weapon and you let the girls go”

“What do you mean, you’re gonna drop your weapon and the girls get on their knees now” the boy refuted shaking his gun around. Yoo Ji noticed his loose grip, either from carelessness or from inexperience. Probably only shot it once or twice before today. She surveyed the other boys and found them to be pretty much the same.

“Huh, I thought I could fool him” he paused, “okay, no more jokes when I say now, you run back to the car and wait by the door,” he instructed Mo Yeon. 

“Five minutes should do it,” he evaluated once again.

“You’re overestimating my ability to move fast enough to avoid the guns Captain Yoo, make that 10” Yoo Ji added.

“If five minutes pass and we’re not out, just leave no matter what.” he continued, ignoring Yoo Ji’s comment.

“Oh god, Gwang Nam is going to kill me” Shi Jin glanced at Yoo Ji. 

“I’ll try to spare you by not getting injured,” Yoo Ji told him.

“What is that bastard saying? Shut up and drop your weapon” the leader said moving towards them and putting his hand to stabilize the gun in his other.

“Okay, okay” Shi Jin muttered. 

“I’ll drop it, do you like this spot?” Shi Jin asked with a small smile on his lips.

“I can’t use this gun anyway” Shi Jin continued, the boys can’t understand him still because he was speaking Korean but Yoo Ji understood. He’d had to write a lot of reports.

Yoo Ji realized that he was going to take the leader’s gun and use that instead, so she quickly picked a target and zeroed in on his actions. 

Shi Jin waited until the boy was lowered enough and slid his gun backward and jammed the boy’s hand upwards so he couldn't shoot him. 

“Now!” Mo Yeon sprung in action and so did Fatima. Yoo Ji quickly grabbed the boy’s hand towards one of the other boys so that he wouldn't shoot, and then kicked him in his stomach so he would double over. She quickly was able to get his gun.

“You think I’ll get arrested if I use the gun” Yoo Ji wondered out loud to Shi Jin.

“Yes!” he yelled back. She huffed and threw the gun far away from their reach. Shi Jin was able to grab another boy’s gun and twisted his elbow so he had no control of his hand and shot in the clutter of boys’ direction but didn’t hit anyone specific mostly to scare them and to make them back off. 

Yoo Ji yelped as she heard the gun go off and quickly punch another boy coming at her. She disabled another gun as another smaller boy came at her, the gun in her hand went slamming down on his shoes. He yelled in pain and she looked away and saw Shi Jin do the same.

“Aw man, now you're just stealing my moves,” she called out to him, but she was running out of breath, she breathed hard as a blond boy circled around her, his hands on his gun shaking. 

“Do you even know how to shoot that?” Yoo Ji asked him in English, taunting him. He clicked his safety off but didn't get a chance to press the trigger before Yoo Ji hit his knee cap to the side, breaking it. He fell to his knees and she kneed his nose, he dropped the gun and she kicked it toward the other pile of guns.

She held her breath, noticing a boy sneaking towards the direction Fatima ran to take cover in, her call of warning died in her throat as Shi Jin started shooting towards the boys’ shoes making his fall and stay down. She didn't think he was shot, just knocked out. He started walking backward towards Fatima, who didn't run with Mo Yeon to the car as Yoo Ji assumed. Yoo Ji breathed hard.

“Well this was a work out” she tried to slow down her breathing. She started making her way to them when she saw the boys getting up and starting to shoot again, she rolled her eyes and snuck up behind one of them and elbowed the back of his head, knocking him out. 

“Why don't you guys stay down” she growled. They pointed their guns between her, Shi Jin, and Fatima.

“Shouldn’t Mo Yeon do something to help us?” Yoo Ji shouted at the Captain.

“I told her to leave if we don’t come out” he yelled back as he ran out of bullets and took cover behind the old truck. He tried to reach for another gun but couldn't get it in time. 

“Now what?” Yoo Ji yelled as she kicked another boy away from her and grabbed his gun and pointed at him. Her question went unanswered as she heard a car come screeching towards them, she managed to roll out of the way. She glanced at the car to see it was the military car that they came in and Mo Yeon was driving it now. 

She suddenly backtracked the car almost crushing Shi Jin’s hand,

“Hurry, get in!” she told Shi Jin. Yoo Ji who was on the other side of the car from Shi Jin opened the door and jumped inside the front passenger seat while Shi Jin and Fatima got in the back. As they made their way back, Mo Yeon was grinning.

“Wow, awesome! This is totally exciting!” she said laughing. Yoo Ji looked back towards Shi Jin who looked at her disbelief. Yoo Ji and Shi Jin were heaving, trying to catch their breath from fighting a whole gang.

“I'm still excited! Did you become a soldier for this?” Mo Yeon asked the Captain.

“I fought off the enemy!” she yelled in glee. 

“You mean you ran over the enemy, we fought off the enemy” Yoo Ji responded with amusement in her voice.

“You almost ran me over too!” Shi Jin told her.

“I knew you would avoid it, it was all calculated” Mo Yeon replied with a grin on her face.

“With calculations like that, how did you make it through medical school?” he grunted in the back. Yoo Ji chuckled.

“She could save people but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t put them in hospitals” Yoo Ji replied jokingly, which Mo Yeon fake glared at her. The car started slowing down and came to a stop.

“What’s wrong with this car?” Mo Yeon asked in confusion.

“Why don’t you know? You beat it up too much, this woman now wrecked three cars” he said Yoo Ji laughed as she got out of the car.

“I'll try to get in contact with anyone nearby.” Shi Jin pulled out his walkie talkie.

“Big Boss transmitting. The location is roughly 15 km from the city towards the barracks. The car is down. If there is any soldier within the radius, contact me.” Captain Yoo said. A second later Dae Young’s voice responded.

“Wolf transmitting. Currently on landmine operation in the direction of Phantom Village.”

“What’s the matter? Why do you always get stuck on roads?” Dae Young’s voice cut through with a bit of an edge.

“No kidding” Shi Jin responded while looking at the car engine.

“I’ll send Sergeant Gong” Dae Young sighed. 

“They’re sending Cheol Ho to pick us up,” Shi Jin told the girls. Mo Yeon took Fatima a little farther to scold her while Yoo Ji stayed near the car

They were finally able to make it back to the base and Mo Yeon went to take a shower and Yoo Ji decided that she should do the same, her muscles will start to ache from her vigorous workout. As soon as Yoo Ji got out of the shower the lights went out. She sighed and felt her way back to her room.

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

-The Next Morning-

The Alpha team got the news that manager Jin got arrested for identity fraud by the Mohoru Police and then one of the patients told Shi Jin and Dae young that manager Jin has a fistful of diamonds. Shi Jin concluded that he was probably on the run from someone. 

*The Alpha team gets all suited up in all black and goes to save the manager but it's a black op so it’s not officially said that they rescued the man. While they are there Shi Jin faces off with Agus one more time. As he is the one that’s been haunting manager Jin down for the diamonds.* 

They came back with the man and he was put into the Medi-Cube. Shi Jin was interrogating him. When Manager Jin started coughing and calling for a doctor. It turns out he has internal bleeding from the diamonds. 

Yoo Ji sighed as she shook her head trying to shake away the dizziness. Damn it's happening more often now. She felt light-headed and couldn't focus. Gwang Nam came running towards her, he looked so shaken up.

“Doctor Kang and First Lieutenant Yoon” he stated but paused. 

“They’re in OR, what’s wrong?” Yoo Ji said, confused.

“Manager Jin has the M virus” Gwang Nam spilled out finally. Yoo Ji’s chair fell as she suddenly stood up.

“What?!” her voice rang through the room. 

“They are in isolation in the OR” Gwang Nam informed her. Yoo Ji’s dizziness was forgotten as she booked it towards the Medi-Cube, Gwang Nam following her. 

Once she arrived, she found Shi Jin and Dae Young glued to the doors separating the girls from the rest of them. She pushed through the doctors and stood in between the men.

“The U.S. base has a laboratory but I am not sure they will cooperate,” Myung Ju said.

“I'll take care of that,” Shi Jin said as he opened his phone.

“I'll go prepare the transportation,” Dae Young said as he ran out. 

“What’s going on?” Yoo Ji’s voice was strong but her eyes wavered, looking at both her friends.

“Manager Jin seems to have the M Virus, we both got contaminated by blood” Myung Ju responded. 

“We’ll be ok,” Mo Yoeon assured Yoo Ji. 

Yoo Ji started swaying slightly, the rush of adrenaline had left her body and all she felt now was exhaustion, days of not sleeping, and not getting any rest was taking its toll on her. Her swaying got more noticeable and Mo Yeon gasp alerted everyone that's wasn’t aware, as Yoo Ji almost hit the floor. Gwang Nam swooped in and supported Yoo Ji holding onto her waist. Shi Jin looked at Yoo Ji with complete shock. 

“What is wrong with her?” Gwang Nam asked.

“She needs an IV and dextrose solution, she needs rest” Mo Yeon instructed one of the nurses. This wasn’t the first time this happened, but it put everyone on edge, the circumstances were horrible.

“Overexertion and insomnia, she’ll be fine.” Mo Yeon explained, “we’ll be fine” Myung Ju looked at Mo Yeon with concern for Yoo Ji while she was also anxious about their own situation. Gwang Nam settled Yoo Ji on one of the beds.

Captain Yoo and Deputy Leader Seo came back, Gwang Nam saw both of them march to the OR. Gwang Nam peaked at the situation, Dae Young hugged Myung Ju tightly and wouldn’t let go. Gwang Nam figured that she’s probably the one that got it. He looked back at Yoo Ji, she was sleeping peacefully, but once she wakes up, he’ll have to tell her.

[mysticsparklewings]

Sweet Ohuhu Snail

This artwork is now available as a free Coloring Page!

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Finally, some hints of new supplies I was mentioning a while ago have manifested into a piece of art. :D

This is sort of a follow-up to my Ohuhu Brush Marker Review, as back in October, Ohuhu released a 72 set of the brush markers, and naturally, I was very curious to see the 24 new colors for myself. (And I have a bit of a story about how this set arrived to me that I'll get into momentarily.)

Spoiler alert that my thoughts on the markers themselves as a product haven't changed; they're still really nice alcohol markers for the roughly $1 per marker price tag. I'd still love to see yet more colors and additional consumer features like open-stock markers, refills, replacement nibs, etc. But overall, as I said last time and I will continue to say, I really wish these had been around a few years ago when I was first getting into alcohol markers, despite the few shortcomings they have. Aside from color selection (which I'll address further later), they're an excellent beginner alcohol marker set if you want brush tips.

But before I get into the specifics of this set and the foreseeable future (as Ohuhu just recently announced another brush tip set on the horizon), I shall tell you the (long-ish) story of how I ended up with the 72 set in the first place:

Back in November, Ohuhu put a post up in their "Top Fan Group" on Facebook, which I joined on a whim after being recognized as a Top Fan a few times by that point. This post said the following:

Hi Ohuhu Friends, Ohuhu.com is going to open the SHOP function to several products soon, so you can buy the products directly on www.ohuhu.com then. Before the shopping cart is officially public to the customers, we need 3-5 volunteers to help us test this SHOP function. 🗒️What we need are some inputs regarding How is your experience with our website, and Is the purchase process smooth? What problems have you encountered while shopping on the website etc？(We will have the conversation by DM.) 🚨The tester should be based within the continental USA. As a thank you, we will give you a free set of markers, just let us know which pack do you want via DM.📷 Thank you! Put your hands up if you would like to help us with this in the comment zone! (We will randomly choose 3-5 person within a week.)

[For context, previously you could only purchase Ohuhu's products through Amazon.com] Me, being both the frugally minded and skeptical person that I am, saw the post and immediately latched on to the "free set of markers" mentioned. (My instinct said it was probably a choice from a pre-selected list of some kind.) I was curious and figured, based on what was said, that 1. I might not even get chosen, 2. Even if I did, surely they would explain the process to me and I could then gracefully bow out if it didn't sound right to me. And so I cautiously commented as instructed. Within a few days, I was contacted by a representative and I found out through communication with them that the way this would work is that us volunteers would place orders through the website for any product, let them know of any issues or feedback we had during the process, and then once the order was placed we would provide the representative with our order number and be refunded. Likewise, if all did indeed go according to plan, this sounded like a great way to get my hands on the new 72 brush marker set, which previously I had figured I wouldn't get for a while as my 48 set has been serving me very well since August with no issues. (And it kinda didn't make sense to me to turn around and order a new set that would give me 48 duplicate colors so quickly.) I've seen a LOT of horror stories about shopping online, I watch too many "drama community" videos on Youtube that often talk about sketchy websites and scams, and so throughout this entire process I was nervous, saving "receipts" (screenshots and the like to the uninformed) where I could, and generally expecting something, anything to go horribly wrong at any second. Despite Ohuhu being a fairly reputable company at this point and having only ever heard good things about their customer service. Still, Ohuhu has made enough of a name for themselves that I hoped they'd know better than to intentionally scam their customers. If word got out to the many YouTubers covering their products, they'd have a PR nightmare on their hands. (And I also had to remind myself that the art community as a whole is not the Youtube Makeup Community; generally speaking, the art community isn't as...well, dramatic. At least not when it comes to art supply companies and scamming costumers. I'm not saying it never happens, I'm just saying I don't think it happens nearly as often as when shiz goes down in the YMC.) Naturally, this means I had some questions I wanted to be crystal clear about before making any purchases of any kind. Namely, I specifically asked to make sure I was reading correctly that once the order was placed and I gave my order number that I would be receiving a refund, and if said refund would be just for the purchase price of the product ($69.99 in this case) or if it would include the shipping cost (about $5-$6 dollars) as well. The answers to which were yes and the refund would be for the total cost including shipping. I also wanted to know approximately how long it would take for the refund to go through. The answer was within 5 days. So everything up to this point seemed to check out. I was still skeptical (this is what the internet has done to me) but I was 80% sure it would be okay, and the payment would be through PayPal, so if something went wrong I could file a claim over there and provide my evidence and hopefully at least get the money back if nothing else. I'll also note that I did notice 1-2 minor bugs on the website while in the checkout process, which I informed the representative of as I was supposed to, but I honestly wouldn't have noticed them if I hadn't been trying my best to really test the website and live up to my "job" in this situation. If I had just gone through the checkout process as I normally would have with no hesitation, I wouldn't have seen the bugs at all. I was genuinely surprised by how smooth and polished the website experience was; I was expecting much buggy/glitchier, considering that they were asking for test volunteers. And the two bugs I did notice were pretty minor things that really don't break or ruin the shopping experience. So I went through with the purchase, gave the representative my order number, and hoped for the best. I immediately received an order confirmation email that told me I'd be able to track the shipment within 1-3 business days. The order was placed late on a Thursday night, so I figured I wouldn't be hearing anything else until Monday at the very earliest. (As here in the States, Saturday and Sunday usually don't count as "business days") Much to my surprise though, that Sunday the representative I'd previously spoken with reached out to me asking if I'd been able to check out the tracking feature yet. So I explained that I'd gotten the confirmation email but no tracking email yet, and that I also didn't see a way to enter my order number on the website to track the order if I (as I had) checked out as a guest. (It did appear if I had made an account that the order number would've been saved to my account and I could've potentially tracked it that way.) But again, I hadn't expected anything until Monday, so I wasn't too concerned anyway. Sure enough, the next morning I had my tracking email and everything seemed to be in order; it even baffled me by saying the shipment was expected to arrive the very next day. I thought I was surely reading something wrong or maybe it needed a little while to re-calculate or something, but I kept an eye on and it didn't change its mind. And low and behold, it was a little later in the day, but the markers were indeed delivered that Tuesday! I eagerly got them open and gave them a good once-over just to make sure everything seemed right at first glance, as I knew to swatch them all out and get a more in-depth look was going to take at least a few hours. But I was quite relieved; we'd made it this far with no hiccups, now I just needed the refund to come through and we'd be right as rain. Miraculously, two days later the representative reached out to me yet again to tell me that the refund had been sent. And wouldn't you know it; the official PayPal email was sitting in my inbox waiting to tell me so! So in the end, things turned out pretty great. Ohuhu got their website tested, and I got my markers without a hitch. It did seem a little weird to me, the whole premise, but I assume they budgeted for this in the same way a company might do giveaways or budget for advertising, maybe even like some companies do for PR packages to influencers. And, realistically, it does kind of make sense that the best way to test your online shop (and by extension, in this case, the refund process) would be to have actual customers do it. Either way, it worked out well for me, so I can't really complain.

Once the markers arrived to me, I was very happy to see that Ohuhu is now including a colorless blender in their sets, in addition to the 48 or 72 colors. A colorless blender is one of the things that I said last time would've been nice to have (though not a necessity as you could easily go out and purchase say a Copic, Prismacolor, or another brand of Colorless Blender to compensate) and personally I love that it's 48 + the CB or 72 + CB, instead of counting the colorless blender as one of the colors you get, which is what I've most commonly seen other brands do. It's a small detail, but for some reason, I can't seem to get over it.

One of the things I was most curious about in swatching though was that, I assume as a response to me and many others that mentioned we wanted them, in the marketing for the 72 set Ohuhu seemed to really be trying to push that there were more pastel colors.

After actually having and swatching the markers for myself, I'd say about 7-8 of the colors are what I'd call true pastels. There are some beautiful new colors (R13 Clematis, in particular, might be my favorite Ohuhu color now and I LOVE the Green Grays they added) but there weren't as many pastels as I was hoping for, and personally I was hoping for some more pale pinks/peaches that would work well for lighter skin tones. Maybe some yellows since I felt we were kind of lacking those too.

And originally, I was a little...disappointed isn't totally accurate, but it's the best word I have.

However! I'm inclined to be a little more forgiving as just last week, Ohuhu announced they'd be releasing a 24-color skin tone set, which (although I'm withholding major judgment until I have the markers in-hand just like last time) is looking to hopefully be some of the pale pinks and light skin tone colors, maybe even a few yellows, that I was hoping for. We'll have to wait to see the colors in person, but using their digital swatches as a [very] rough guideline, the new colors look like they could be pretty promising.

The only thing I'm a little disappointed about at this point is that 5 of the skin tone colors will be duplicates, but at the same time, after seeing which colors are duplicates, it kind of makes sense just in case someone wants to buy the skin tones and doesn't have the 48 or 72 set, which I'm sure does happen. Just like I'm sure people buy, for example, the skin tone sets from Copic or Winsor and Newton to supplement other sets.

Still, though, this continues to support the idea to me that Ohuhu is really trying to listen to what fans of the brand are asking for; People asked for brush nibs and took a little while but we got them, we asked for pastel colors and they at least tried to address that, and now we've asked for skin tones and it looks like they're going to address that, too.

Naturally, after all of the above, I had to make some art to give the markers a go beyond swatching and to talk about all of this with you, my lovely Sparklers.

So I ended up drawing this cute little snail inspired by a picture I saw over on Pinterest.

I don't know if he thinks he's going to eat that berry or if he's just smelling it, or maybe he thinks it's just pretty (I used the aforementioned R13 in the shading for the berries), but it makes me happy to look at all the same.

Originally I had planned to try and only use the new colors to really show them off, and I did use a fair amount of them, but I felt just a little too limited so I did open up to the full 72 set. But I did use all only my new markers and not the markers from the 48 set I already had, so...

Maybe it's still fair?

I also tried some texturing on the...mushroom? branch? rock? he's sitting on, and while I don't think it looks the best close-up, from further away I think it worked out pretty well.

Similarly to the crab I drew for the 48 marker set though, I wanted a more interesting background than just plain white. After some consideration, I decided my best option would be to mix my green and yellow PanPastels. So I did.

Unfortunately, I exposed a couple of very noticeable fingerprints doing that and I ended up getting pastel dust all over the drawing so my black lines got greyed out a bit.

I fixed the fingerprints by adding some intentional ones for the sake of balance and in the name of visual texture, and I fixed the lines by going back over most of them and a little post-editing after I scanned the drawing in.

Other than that, my observations about the Ohuhu markers remain the same as last time. They blend and layer really nicely (especially, as I've observed recently is the case with most alcohol markers, with thicker paper) and the colors they do provide are really vibrant and fun.

I do still hope the new skin tone colors live up, that yet even more colors are coming, and I'll repeat that I'd still love to seem them add consumer comforts of being able to buy individual markers, refill inks, and replacement nibs. But all of that may come in time, and even so, I think they're very recommendable for alcohol markers.

I'm also really happy with how my little snail turned out just as an art piece; this whole thing is just really really cute to me.

Now I just have to wait with bated breath for the USA launch (they've already launched in Canada) of those skin tone markers and hope they're not too expensive so I can get them right away :P

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Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings

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Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[astra-knights]

Crashing Seas: Aphmau AU

Word length: 3900+

Summary: Ever since the early death of Mermaid Queen Rachel, King Derek of Atlantis shuts out anything from the Mainland and forbids interaction for the safety of his home. His eldest daughter Melissa has other plans and strives to discover more about the world she is forbidden to see with her brother, Aaron, and many of her closest friends. When she happens to meet a beautiful Mainlander girl named Lucinda, would Melissa risk all she’s known to know more about this girl and her world, or is she doomed to fail?

Note: This is based loosely on the Little Mermaid Disney film with unique twists and character changes, I hope you all enjoy! If you’d like to be added to the tag list, send me an ask or a dm <3

Tag List: @ptsdaaron

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Chapter One: Breaking from the Wreckage

 Melissa was laying on her seabed, staring out the open hole of her bedroom. She was waiting for the sun to rise high enough to light the waters she lived in. She had her arm under her head, her brown hair floating around her. She was getting anxious, that was one of the reasons why she was awake before the sun touched the seafloor. She wanted to go scavenging again, and today was the best day for several weeks. Being the crowned princess was a pain, Melissa had to take extra classes, do extra public events, and have less time to herself compared to her younger brother Aaron. Even though they were two years apart, they couldn’t be more different. Melissa was excitable and adventurous, often the one getting caught in trouble out of the pair. Aaron was quiet and reserved, he knew how to not get caught. Despite the differences, they pulled a lot of adventures together. Their proudest adventures were scavenges from sunken Mainlander ships, finding new and interesting gadgets that they knew nothing about as Merpeople but were fun nonetheless. The two siblings loved their scavenges since it gave them a reason to get closer together. Ever since their mother died, their father had become distant and cold to them, so they relied on each other to keep afloat.

Sunlight broke through the water, fracturing in beams across the pale seafloor; the water went from a deep blue to a green-teal right before Melissa’s eyes. She smiled. She swam out of bed and went across the room to Aaron, shaking his shoulder rather aggressively, she whispered, “Aaron! Aaron wake up!”

Aaron whined, stretching a bit. He turned over and opened his eyes a sliver, the deep ruby color shadowed by his lashes, “Whhaaattt?”

“We need to leave, now!” Melissa said with excited urgency, “We’ll only get a few hours!”

Aaron rubbed his eyes, yawning, “What time is it?”

“Sunlight just touched,” Melissa replied.

“Sweet Irene, Melissa, how long were you awake?” he asked, sitting up.

Melissa hesitated.

Aaron looked at her, his face showed concern. “Were you thinking about Mom again?”

Melissa didn’t say anything, which only confirmed Aaron’s concern. She changed the subject, “Anyway! I saw this old wreck the other day over by the ravine, it’s close to falling in. We should head there first.”

“I, um,” Aaron didn’t want the subject to change quite yet. He didn’t like that whenever their mother was mentioned, everyone shut down on him. He had questions, he was missing some pieces, and no one will give him any. But he decided to leave it for now and he said, “Alright. Lead the way.”

Melissa grinned and swam over to the open window, looking over her shoulder to make sure Aaron was following. Melissa led the way to the ravine, careful not too swim too fast since Aaron tended to lag behind as he got lost in his thoughts. The swim to the ravine was far from any of the outside villages so they didn’t have to hide from the curious eyes of their people. Their father, King Derek, kept them on a tight leash ever since their mother died so it was rare to see the royal siblings out for a swim on their own without supervision. So, to keep their father from hearing about their adventures, they traveled early and away from anyone who could see them.

They arrived at the mouth of the ravine, Melissa stopped a little over the lip and looked for the ship. The ship was broken in half, the front of the ship was lost to the ravine, but the back of the ship sat balanced on a ledge several meters down into the ravine. The sunlight exposed the ship’s golden accents that would have been hidden in the darkness otherwise, that’s how Melissa found it. She smiled when she saw it, her whole body felt tingly with excitement as to what they would find down there. Aaron swam up next to her, he looked down at the broken, barely stable wreck of a ship and said, “Tell me you’re not serious.”

“Oh come on, Aaron,” Melissa said with a grin, “Live a little.”

She swam down towards the ship, Aaron followed with, “If I die I’m blaming you.”

Melissa was too excited to listen to her brother’s concern as she entered the large hole of the ship. She looked around the dim area, awed by the curious environment. She couldn’t name the objects around her like the globe, the astrolabe, the chart of the stars, the pens and ink wells, they were all foreign to her, but they were so interesting. Melissa approached the astrolabe first, it rested on a desk with an overturned chair nearby. She picked it up, turning it over in her hands as Aaron went over to the shelves. He picked up a small snow globe, though he didn’t know what it was. He shook it and watched the small flakes of fake snow float around, settling down on the plastic snow covered houses.

“Hey Aaron, check it out!”

He turned and saw Melissa looking through the astrolabe’s scope, she was smiling at him. She could see his face clearly, especially the amused look he gave her as he said, “You’re a child.”

“I prefer an adult that knows how to have fun,” she said with a grin. She lowered the scope, “What did you find?”

“Some—uh,” Aaron waved the snow globe around, showing it’s floating snow, “glass, ball, thing. It’s cool.”

“Oh!” Melissa said as she swam over to inspect it. She shook the snow globe vigorously, watching the blizzard of fake snow swirl around, “Awesome. We’ll have to take it to Dante, along with this thingy,” she said, holding up the astrolabe.

Melissa looked around for a bag or a crate to put the stuff in as Aaron moved over to the globe in the corner, he spun it around and watched it lazily as he said, “You know he doesn’t know what he’s talking about right? He doesn’t actually know anything.”

“He knows more than you,” Melissa defended, “He had a childhood friend on the mainland, he showed Dante all sorts of cool gadgets.”

“Ah yes, the boy with white hair,” Aaron said with a scoff, crossing his arms, “That doesn’t sound made-up.”

Melissa sighed as she over turned an open wooden crate, placing the astrolabe and the snow globe inside before picking it up, she turned to look at her brother. Aaron was playing with the globe, spinning it and stopping it before spinning it and stopping it again. Something was eating at him, that was obvious. Melissa swam over with the crate, she rested it on her hip and said, “Do you know where we are?”

“Not really.”

“We’re right,” Melissa spun the globe a bit before finding their home. Her finger tip covered part of the large tip of the Mainland and she slid it down a few degrees and stopping, “here.”

“How’d you know?”

“Mom showed me,” she said.

Aaron looked at Melissa, “We had one of these?”

“Not really, Mom found one and showed it to me,” Melissa said, “I think it’s a globe, if I’m remembering right. I think Dad got rid of it after she—” Melissa stopped herself.

Aaron looked over at his sister. Now was his chance. He swallowed and said, “What happened to her?”

Melissa didn’t reply. She turned away from the globe and said, “Let’s find some other things to bring to Dante.”

Aaron got upset and spun around towards Melissa as she packed the crate with other trinkets, “Why won’t anyone tell me anything? I’m not a child any more than you are!”

“It’s not important Aaron, just drop it,” Melissa said.

“It’s not fair!” Aaron shouted, “Why won’t you tell me anything? Why do you keep having nightmares about Mom? Why do you go out of your way to find these—these pieces of junk, when you know Dad hates it?”

“This isn’t junk, Aaron, they’re part of entire world!” Melissa defended, “An entire world we know nothing about! How can we just ignore them when bits of their culture are falling into our home every day?! You can’t expect our people to just ignore it.”

“So we go against our father, the king of Atlantis, to prove a point?” Aaron said, crossing his arms and leaning against a beam on the ship. “That’s a bit childish for the future queen of Atlantis.”

“Oh whatever, I won’t be queen for decades,” Melissa said, “And until then I’m going to do whatever the hell I want,” she turned and grinned at Aaron, “with my partner in crime.”

Aaron rolled his eyes, a tug of a smile on his face, “You’re not winning me over with that lame title.”

“Would you prefer…Double Trouble?” Melissa said with a growing grin.

“Don’t make it worse.”

“Couple of Dudes.”

“Please stop.”

“Beauty and the Beast.”

“Now you’re just insulting yourself.”

Melissa busted a lung laughing, she had to grab onto the nearby shelf for support. Aaron began to laugh at his sister’s hysteric laughing. Their relationship had its tensions, as many relationships did, and they always seemed to bounce back. But no amount of teasing and subject changes would stop the growing tension between the two.

When the laughter died down, Melissa said, “C’mon, grab more stuff.”

Aaron swam to the other side of the room to grab more trinkets, he grabbed a few before swimming back to his sister and putting them in. Once Melissa was satisfied with their haul, they left the wreck and swam out of the ravine. A few hours had passed while they were down there, so they were running low on time before they had to do royal obligations for the day. Melissa looked around cautiously before she said, “Hurry, let’s go to Dante.”

Melissa led the way to Dante’s cove located closer to the Mainland shores. Aaron followed after her, watching her with mild upset. He couldn’t help but kick himself for being so easily persuaded to change the subject he wanted to talk about for years. He knew that the Mainlanders were responsible and that her death was the reason for the ban of Mainlander interaction and objects, but there was more to it. He could feel it, he could see it in his sister’s eyes and his father’s cold shoulder, there was something he was missing, and it was his right to know. She was his mother too. He could feel his bond with his sister growing thinner and thinner the more she avoided his questions and changed the subject. He felt torn between knowing the truth, and keeping his best friend. He had no idea what to do.

Melissa swam to the mouth of Dante’s cove before stopping, she called inside, “Dante! You home?”

There was a clatter and a crash from inside followed by Dante’s voice echoing through the cove, “You scared me Princess, come on in.”

Melissa led the way into the cove and Aaron lagged behind. Dante’s cove wasn’t his home but it might as well be. It was a secret cove that was full of Mainlander trinkets and tools like hammers, screws, wrenches, clogs, and other bits of things. He liked messing around with Mainlander items to see how they worked and functioned. Since he was young he always had a fascination these types of objects, and then King Derek banned anything from the Mainland, so Dante moved to a secret cove. The only reason Melissa and Aaron knew about it was because Melissa wanted to know about the objects they found, and Dante was suggested. They had an agreement, keep Dante’s cove a secret and he’ll give any knowledge he could about any objects the siblings find.

Dante was swimming around his cove, rushing to tidy up his messy workspace with pulled apart objects and such. He pushed a crate onto one of the ridges in the cove as he looked over his shoulder to see Melissa and Aaron enter, “Ah, there you are. Sorry about the mess.”

“Is it messier than usual?” Aaron asked, looking around, “I didn’t notice.”

Melissa gave her brother a look as Dante swam down to them, he noticed the crate and put his hands together, “More goodies for me?”

“Sort of,” Melissa said, “Mind taking a look?”

“Anything for you Princess,” Dante said with a smile, “Put it on my desk.”

Dante led the way to his work bench, Melissa eagerly following. Aaron kept a few feet away, arms crossed, but his eyes on Dante and Melissa. Melissa put the crate down on his work bench and leaned on the table with excitement as Dante rifled through the objects in the crate. He pulled out the snow globe Aaron found and examined it, first the miniature snow-covered buildings and then tilting to look at the base. When he saw the floating snow, he shook up the globe and watched the fake snow fly around. He smiled, “I know this, it’s a snow globe. My old friend Travis showed me one when I was a kid.”

“Is that the guy with white hair or is this a totally new ‘friend’?” Aaron asked.

“Aaron,” Melissa warned as she gave him a look.

“May I remind you that you have a friend with bright red hair?” Dante said, “And my hair color isn’t exactly normal either.”

“Oh, so white hair is totally plausible then?” Aaron said, sarcastically.

“Absolutely,” Dante said with a tight smile, making Aaron roll his eyes. He added, “Careful, you keep doing that and your pretty eyes will get stuck there.”

Aaron glared at him and Melissa stepped in, “Aaron don’t be a jerk. If you’re going to be trouble, then watch the entrance.”

Aaron felt hurt that his sister didn’t take his side and he tensed up before he backed down and mumbled, “I’ll stay.”

Melissa nodded with vindication before she returned her attention to Dante, she leaned forward, “Go on, tell me more.”

Dante smiled at her and picked out something, the astrolabe Melissa was looking through earlier. He said, “Ah, beautiful,” Melissa smiled, excited to Dante put a name to the object she found. He looked it over and said, “This…this is a, uh,” Dante glanced at Melissa’s excited expression and felt a bit of guilt before he said, “This is obviously a…Scope…ilizer. Yeah, Scopeilizer.”

Melissa beamed at the name as Aaron snorted and said, “Yeah, that’s a real name.”

“Aaron!” Melissa scolded, glaring at him.

“Oh come on, that was totally a fake name,” Aaron argued, “He hesitated!”

“I just, forgot for a bit,” Dante defended, digging himself deeper into the lie he was building, “But it came to me in the end.”

“Thanks so much Dante,” Melissa said to him with a smile, “You have no idea what this means to me, to us. You telling me about these objects, helps me understand the Mainlanders more.”

Dante smiled a bit, “Anytime, Princess.”

“Gross.”

“Alright Aaron, swim along we’re leaving now,” Melissa said as she picked up the astrolabe and the snow globe, “You can keep the rest of the stuff Dante.”

“Very kind of you Princess, swim safe,” Dante said as Melissa swam towards the mouth of the cove.

Aaron hesitated, staring at Dante with both annoyance and confusion. Aaron was curious about his motives, what reason did he have to lie? And rather poorly too.

“Aaron! Come on!”

Aaron left the cove and swam after Melissa, who had waited for him. As they swam back towards the palace, Aaron said, “We’re cutting it close, aren’t we?”

“Don’t worry so much, we’ll make it,” Melissa said.

“But our cove—”

“Don’t worry about the stuff now, we’ll just hide it in our room for the night,” she said.

“Melissa—”

“It’ll be fine Aaron, trust me.”

Aaron didn’t trust her, especially with the very thing that could cause their father to burst into hellish flames. Aaron held his tongue, though he didn’t like it. They swam into their window and Melissa hid the items under her bed quickly as the door opened, revealing their father’s personal advisor.

“Morning Ein,” Aaron greeted, eyeing his very suspiciously acting sister.

Ein was the son of the former advisor to the king, and with his father’s recent retirement Ein was made the new advisor. He was good at his job and the siblings enjoyed having someone they grew up with in charge of their everyday life, rather than a bitter old man. Ein rested his hands behind his back casually and greeted, “Prince Aaron, Princess��Melissa?”

Surprised by Ein’s presence, Melissa slammed the top of her head on the base of her bed as she tried to get out. Ein had an amused smile on his face as Melissa showed herself out from underneath the bed, she smiled sheepishly and said, “Ein! How are you?”

“After that, much better,” Ein replied with a cheeky grin.

“If our father giving you trouble again?” Aaron asked as Melissa straightened.

“You know it’s illegal to talk bad about the king.”

“Since when?” Melissa asked.

“Since both my job and family pride are on the line,” Ein said with a small smile. “Either way, your father wishes to see you both before we start our schedule for today.” He waved towards the doorway, “Shall we?”

Ein led the way down the hallway as Melissa and Aaron followed. Melissa whispered to Aaron, “What do you think Dad wants to talk to us about?”

“Probably your terrible table manners.”

Melissa elbowed him, “Be serious.”

“I am.”

Melissa hit him, making Aaron’s teasing grin grow. Ein stopped at their father’s throne room and he said, “Here we are.” Both siblings straightened immediately in attention as Ein opened the doors and said, “Your highness, I present your daughter Melissa, and your son Aaron.”

Melissa entered first, followed by Aaron. Their father had his back to them, hands clasped. The two siblings could feel the rising tensions in the room, Aaron swallowed nervously. Their father said, “Thank you Ein, that will be all.”

Ein closed the door and they were left alone with their father. Derek turned to face his children, his face was sunken with the grief of losing his wife for many years and the isolation he caused because of it. He looked at his children as if he was seeing them for the first time, they looked a lot older than he remembered. When did they stop being so young? Melissa felt the awkward tension building and decided to speak, “Good morning father,” Derek looked at her, “Did you sleep well?”

“No,” came his blunt reply, “No I did not.” Melissa felt tenser now. Derek said, “I didn’t call you here for pleasantries. I called you two here to tell you, that from now on you two will be in separate rooms.”

“What?” Melissa said with sudden surprise, forgetting her place, “Why?”

“You need to focus on your preparations to take on the throne,” Derek said, “I want you to be ready when the time comes.”

“Which won’t be for several decades!” Melissa argued, “Father, please—”

“This isn’t up to discussion,” Derek said harshly, “You’re lucky I’m even telling you beforehand. Ein convinced me to on your behalf.”

“Father, please, we need each other,” Melissa said, desperate. She needed Aaron in her life, she wouldn’t survive otherwise; she couldn’t handle feeling alone. “I need him.”

“He’s holding you back,” Derek said. “My decision is final. Aaron, you are to move your belongings to a room on the other side of the palace—”

“Father!”

“You are not to visit her during her lessons, you are not to distract her from her duties as the future queen, do I make myself clear?”

Melissa looked at Aaron, wanting him desperately to say no, to tell their father off. But Aaron’s face was blank, he had shut himself down emotionally. He responded, “Yes, sir.”

“Aaron,” Melissa said, hurt by his betrayal, “Aaron, no.” She turned to Derek, “Father please don’t do this. We’re all that’s left for each other.”

“We’re done here,” Derek said as he turned his back on his children once again. “Ein! Take my children to their room, have Aaron pack and prepare Melissa for her lessons.”

Ein entered at the call of his name and after hearing his instructions, Ein replied, “Of course, sir.”

Melissa wanted to scream, shout, cry, something. But all she could do was glare at her father’s back with frustration and anger. Ein led them out of the room and back to their own. Aaron began to pack his belongings numbly, slowly, while Melissa sat on her bed in quiet thought and Ein stood out in the hallway. After a few moments of heavy silence, Melissa said, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Aaron said, “What would I have said? He seemed pretty set on everything.”

“You could have backed me up,” Melissa said, “Actually show your support for me for once.”

“Are you serious right now?” Aaron said, “I’m literally leaving to go to the other side of the castle and never see you again, and you wanna start a fight?”

Melissa sighed, hanging her head. She couldn’t fathom being alone in this hell of a castle without her best friend by her side constantly. She didn’t want to be alone. Who would she talk to late at night? Who would help her with her lessons? Who would keep her secret with her? Who could replace someone like Aaron in her life? She didn’t mean to start crying and she sniffled, wiping her nose, “No, no, sorry. I just…I don’t want to lose you Aaron.”

Aaron had stopped packing, he hesitated before he said, “You won’t lose me Mel. You couldn’t if you tried.”

Melissa looked up at him and smiled. Aaron smiled a bit back, Melissa swam over to him and hugged him tight. Aaron held onto her, he was afraid of losing her just as much as she was of losing him. It was then that Melissa was struck with a wonderful, and very bad idea. She pulled away and whispered to him, “We should go see a Mainlander ship. A real one! Tonight, after sundown!”

Aaron was confused, “Wait, what?”

“You should come to me since I’ll be more guarded after my argument with father,” Melissa said, beginning to brainstorm. “We should bring Dante along too!”

“Wait, wait, Melissa—”

“No, no, you’re right, too many people involved,” Melissa said, “It’ll be us two, a duo mission.”

“Melissa hold on,” Aaron said, finally getting her attention, “It’s one thing scavenging a wrecked Mainlander ship for trinkets, but going to a live one? With Mainlanders on it? With spears?”

“Aaron you worry too much! We’ll be careful, we’re always careful,” Melissa said. She took his hands and said, “Please, Aaron, one final mission for us as a team. Our biggest plot yet. We’ll just watch, no interaction.”

Aaron hesitated, this had “bad idea” written allover it, like a majority of Melissa’s ideas. But the pleading look in Melissa’s eyes made him reconsider it. This was going to be the last fun thing Melissa would be doing for a while, and the last fun thing Aaron would do with his best friend at his side. He tightened his grip on her hands with assurance before nodding firmly, “Alright. Let’s find ourselves a ship.”

[sanctuer-y]

my losing game; you (a rambling note)

i think about our separation a lot, at a phase of time. and i’ve never come to a conclusion of why or where it went wrong between us.

it’d be much easier if you hurt me,or i you, i once think. then i’d back away out of pain or i’ll stay away in guilt. if only that was the case.

and i think of another scenario, where there’d be another people between us. the fault would be easier to blame, to you, or to me, it doesn’t matter. i wish it was that easy.

but what really happened is i willingly put a distance, slowly walking away. it was hard at first, with you and your willingness to stay put and deal with me acting up all the time. you and your freaking patience didn’t really help.

i walked away consciously, now that i recall. you’re never a hundred percent into me. and a young and naive me innocently think; love is all or nothing. probably a mindset i adapted from a soap drama or another romantic movies i consumed growing up. and to actually set it up for a real life feeling wasn’t the best decision, not smart, i’m aware.

i always have trust issues, growing up. be it from a problem with a friend back in elementary school, or by listening to stories of people i know who got stabbed in the back by someone they trust, i learn not to trust people so easily.

that’s why i was wary of you too, you know. i liked you, yes, you were kind of a social butterfly, not for your loud voices but your personality and i was not even biased towards you at that time. and i was hooked.

and you responded to me just as eager as i was, and we kept it going for so long. long enough that people started to assume things about us, things that we didn’t bother to deny anymore.

and ‘it’ morphed into something more. an ‘us’ thing that probably not even we can decide what to call it. then naturally people around us started to get used to ‘us’.

i was so used to be my own individual all my life before you. not once getting involved too deep romantically since forever. but it strikes me when people started to ask about your whereabouts whenever we are not side by side. and for some times i actually can answer because we kept each other updated at all times. and for that period of time i felt actually useful and important. i felt like i meant something.

that’s when it started to alarm me.

i meant something, probably to you, probably to our friends: alongside-you. but does it worth something in the end?

have i gained you or have i lost myself — and at what cost?

once, i think the issue i have was with our unknown statuses to each other. how we are glued to each other but never knew what exactly we are to each other? are we like, special friends? bestest best friend? a platonic couple?

and it was fine. i rethink about it so many times i lost count. but with that conclusion in mind i still keep seeing you, just as i would any other time. and it was okay, and i was happy. nothing changed. and i think if it has to be this way, then so be it. i was so willing to unsee the coming heartbreak to keep you close. and it was okay.

and people stopped asking question, you know? about us? it became a natural thing to see us attached at the hip everyday. they just assumed that if i would be there, then you would too. and to some extent it was the truth.

when our friends stopped being curious i started to ask myself more about it. about what this was, about what will come out of this if we continue doing whatever this is. it was fine before, as long as we stay close, as long as we enjoy each other’s company, as long as i can answer their questions about you, as long as i know a little bit more of you than they do.

and it doesn’t hit me all at once. i came to a slow realization that i don’t, in fact, know more about you. technically i’m your friend, and what you told me is what you told your friends. it finally dawns on me that you probably enjoy my company just as much as you do your friends. and i’m not mad about it. but i’m upset that i hoped too much.

i walked in this so-called-relationship with my head held high. i thought, yes, this is me, this is the progress of my life i have made, this is the new me and i have entered the next stage of my life now that you’re here by my side.

but what are you in my life, exactly?

we’ve never clarify. never made it clear.

and i think (yes i think a lot, i already told you) that i, in fact, in my conscious mind, was willingly, slowly losing my-self in order to keep you close.

and before you start to ask yourself about it, i would say, no, you didn’t force me to do it. nor you asked me to.

and that was why exactly why i’m upset about this arrangement.

i self proclaimed to be with you when you don’t deny nor confirm it.

and i take it as a personal offense to my individuality. that i did to my self. for so damn long.

maybe that’s when it takes the turn. and as i told you before, it was hard, and you were oblivious. and what’s worse is i don’t even know whether it was because you chose not to acknowledge it or you just don’t notice the change at all.

and i was agitated by it.

and i was thinking of ruining our friendship altogether just to make it easier and faster.

but you know i can’t. and you don’t deserve all the bad things i planned to do.

it’s been weeks now, we don’t text each other anymore. only occasional instagram dm convo. because of course i can’t just cut ties with you, right? not that i want to. and i was happy that finally i feel a little bit freed.

our last dm convo was a little bit unpleasant though. you started to get demanding. asking me to reply to each of your messages while it mainly consists of silly parody videos which honestly? i don’t find it amusing or funny that much. it’s almost like you’re doing whatever to keep it going and i don’t know what to feel about it.

so it’s only logical for me to reply accordingly, right? not overly excited or faking enthusiasm? 

in the end, i don’t reply to your last messages. not even reading it.

and i know you wondered why i stopped, but i hope i don’t have to point that out for you.

we still talk in real life. you still eagerly joining in several convos i had with my friends, invited or not. which actually i don’t know if i have to feel flattered or annoyed by it. while i usually stayed away from yours. for obvious reasons and somehow i feel less interested to.

i don’t hate you. i could never. but we should keep it this way, don’t you think? to save both of us from future problems. we gotta keep it this way.

i like it better this way.

[florrickandassociates]

TGF Thoughts: 1x04-- Henceforth Known As Property

Thoughts on 1x04 under the cut!

The episode begins with an image of the schtup list from last week, which is… fine but not engaging. Maia is annotating it in a crowded elevator. That makes sense! Why wouldn’t you take a confidential document, which you obtained illegally, pertaining to an ongoing investigation on to a crowded elevator at your workplace?

A woman offers Maia unsolicited cooking advice. She’s confused. Another woman jumps in to dispute the first woman’s advice. Maia remains confused. She exits the elevator, and Lucca greets her with information about a fertility case she’ll be working on.

Maia says that’s good, but Lucca realizes she’s a bit shaken and asks if she’s okay. Lucca needs Maia to find precedents for the case, then adds, “And tell me if you’re getting some bad-mouthing.” “If I’m getting…?” Maia asks. “Well, people say things. You know, sometimes people don’t know better,” Lucca explains. When Maia asks if people are talking, Lucca responds, “No. I mean, no more than what you said.” Sorry, does this mean that Lucca, who actually knows Maia, believes that an unverified twitter feed with the bio “Daddy’s little lesbian” is an account Maia is involved with?

Before Lucca can explain further, Barbara pulls her into a meeting.

Marissa knows what’s up: “It’s not your twitter feed, is it?” she says to Maia. Maia is still confused, so Marissa shows her.

“It’s hard to get excited about work when people call you lesbo behind your back.” -- @MaiaRindellSays. Yes. Because real Maia would definitely tweet about her workplace in the middle of a scandal under her real name. This sounds believable.

(I won’t get stuck too much on this point; I was in a fandom once where a 12 year old impersonated someone on Twitter and frequently tweeted about her own middle school homework and people still believed she was a 40 year old celebrity.)

(I don’t know where this music is from!!! Someone find it, please!)

The profile for @MaiaRindellSays (which is not a real account, boooo! The writers USED to make real accounts for their featured twitter trolls, like @Upriser7!) reads: “Daddy’s little lesbian. Love life and never change. YOLO.” I mean that sounds totally fake but okay.

This twitter account—which we later learn is a bot set up years ago—must be a super smart bot if it knows to tweet Maia’s feelings about her dad going to jail.

Fake Maia also tweets about canning fruit, and I wish they’d given her a different hobby because every time anyone says “canning” I think they’re going to summon Louis Canning and I’d rather they didn’t.

Fake Maia talks about sex too!

“Do you have any enemies?” Marissa asks Maia. Maia has a lot of enemies, Marissa! (Here’s a better question: does Maia have any friends? I understood when Alicia—who was in her early 40s in TGW season 1 (which took place in 2009-2010), was technologically inept, and was kind of a loner—didn’t know when internet things were happening. But would Maia really be so disconnected? Is she making an effort to unplug after those harassing calls? Are friends not willing to trust her? Do they think it’s too awkward to reach out? Are Amy’s friends reaching out to her? Why aren’t we seeing more about this side of the scandal? YMMV but to me, these questions are far more interesting than tracking down a twitter troll.)  

“It’s the scandal,” Maia realizes. “What do I do?”

Marissa says the way to track down the fake is to tweet to her. “I’m gay and like canning, too. We should meet up. :-)” Marissa DMs fake Maia.

COTW time! Case stuff happens!

I’m amused that the client’s last name is Salano, which I kept hearing as Solano at first, and her case is a dispute about eggs. Jane the Virgin, anyone? I’m sure that show could find a way to connect Laura Salano to Raf and Petra.

One thing I like about the case: Laura is a friend of Barbara’s. Another thing I like: the RBK team on this case is all female.

Barbara calls Diane in to help on the case, and once Diane leaves, Barbara moves closer to the client. That’s when it becomes clear they’re friends. “So you’re expanding?” Laura asks, referring to Diane. “Girl…” is all Barbara can say. “Explain,” Laura says. And then we cut away from them, and that’s fine, because we already know how Barbara feels about this. But this is one of those little “throwaway” scenes that end up mattering a lot to a show. Seeing Barbara around a long-time friend clues us in on who Barbara is outside of the office, even if all the information we’re really getting here is that Barbara has friends. (And, uh, that means a lot in this universe, because a lot of the characters don’t seem to have friends.)

Diane spies a man in Adrian’s office. She asks Marissa who it is. She has a suspicion, but needs Marissa to confirm. Marissa tries to be inconspicuous… and knocks a painting off the wall. Adrian and the man—Mike Kresteva, the Lying Liar—turn to look at her.

“Mike Kresteva,” Marissa tells Diane. (It makes sense for Marissa to recognize him; she’s Eli’s daughter after all.) Diane gets worried, and instructs Marissa to pull Adrian out of the meeting.

Marissa and Mike make eye contact. I wonder if Mike recognizes her. It would make sense if he did.

“Mike Kresteva. What’s he doing here?” Diane asks Adrian once he’s left the meeting. Adrian doesn’t know yet and wants to know why Diane is alarmed. “One of the partners at my firm, Alicia Florrick, knew him. He made her life hell,” Diane explains, accurately.

I don’t think we’ve ever seen Diane interact with Kresteva before, though he would’ve been a figure she’d heard a lot about, both through the gubernatorial race (she represented Peter in that voter fraud case!) and through Alicia. This Alicia reference is a necessary one. Diane doesn’t fear Kresteva because she disagrees with his politics; she fears him because she’s heard Alicia’s stories. I doubt Diane knows the anecdote about Alicia calling Kresteva Hitler and to his face and then telling him to die chocking on his own blood because she knows what she actually says to him doesn’t matter one bit, but, yeah. Kresteva’s that awful.

Anyway, Diane is warning Adrian that Kresteva is a Lying Liar.

The scariest thing about Kresteva, I think, is that he’s totally aware he’s lying. He just doesn’t care. He’s not gullible or easily confused. No—he’s calculated and cruel.

“I can handle myself,” Adrian tells her. Yeah. Sure. Diane isn’t satisfied with that answer and absentmindedly hands Marissa a sheet of paper. Marissa has to remind her to explain—a nice way of conveying how consuming and intense Diane’s dread of interacting with Kresteva is.

Kresteva is now on a task force about police accountability. He’s a fictional character in a fictional world, but that still makes me want to cry. The first time we met Kresteva, in W319 (Blue Ribbon Panel), he was making excuses for and shutting down inquiry into a cop shooting and then framing an unarmed black man. (That’s still one of the most eerily prescient episodes of TGW. The cop in that episode was named Zimmerman… and the episode filmed right before Trayvon Martin was murdered.)  

Maia and Marissa are still waiting for a reply from the Twitter account. (Wouldn’t a bot reply instantly? HOW DO TWITTER BOTS WORK? I’m almost curious enough to go down a Google rabbit hole!)

FakeMaia tweeted back. She wants a picture. So, Marissa goes into her “photostream,” which she keeps on her work laptop for occasions like this (what are you into, Marissa!?), and selects a picture of some random stock image girl. Maia wants Marissa to get a photo back from the bot. The bot sends one back instantly. Several, actually. They’re artsy images of a naked woman who doesn’t look like Maia but whom Maia says is really her.

So wait. There’s a bot on Twitter that carries on conversations, is up to date with the news, has hobbies, and just sends nude pics of Maia if you ask!? And it was created by some random photographer, on his own, several years ago? Is this supposed to be a play on that racist Microsoft bot from a while back?! Ohmygod I’m gonna stop nitpicking. Or, at least, I’ll try. I’m not sure if I’m more concerned that this could happen or skeptical of the plot.

At least Maia knows who’s behind the account now: she remembers the photographer. (Hey, they did this plotline on Desperate Housewives!)

“This feels like old times,” Kresteva remarks as he steps into Diane’s office. Again, not sure they ever met on screen. “And what line are you selling today, Mike?” Diane asks. “Why is everybody so suspicious of me?” Kresteva wonders. Hmmm. Why indeed.

He informs Diane of his new position. She refuses to give advice or say much. Kresteva says he’s changed. Sure. “How is your son doing, Mike?” Diane tries to change the subject. Turns out Kresteva’s son (named Jax; I remember this because I’ve been thinking about characters named Jax because of the Rindells) passed away. Kresteva almost seems like a human being telling his story.

The second he leaves her office, Diane Chumhums (HIIIIiiI CHUMMIE I LOVE YOU YOU SILLY LITTLE GOPHER) to determine whether or not Kresteva’s son really died. She hates that she has to look it up, but she does. Turns out Kresteva was telling the truth about that, sadly.

Diane goes to the fertility clinic to follow up on something COTW related. The doctor mistakes her for a patient. Diane laughs that off—“I’m not here for myself.”

Case stuff happens.

There’s a joke that goes on for way too long involving a doctor who’s hard of hearing. It’s supposed to be funny. It is not funny.

Sleazy Twitter Bot Bro is now a photographer who specializes in portraits of children. Gross.

Maia is, in theory, on the case of the week, but aside from the one scene where Lucca asks her to do a bit of research, her main work task seems to be investigating her personal life and using firm resources (computers, support staff) to do so. Either that, or she has a really generous lunch hour.

Marissa is comfortable being very assertive around Bro. When she speaks up on Maia’s behalf, Bro wonders if she’s Maia’s new girlfriend. Sounds like someone’s precious masculinity was wounded when Maia came out. Boo hoo. Marissa explains she’s not, “but that doesn’t matter.”

They broke up four years ago. I wonder if Maia’s bisexual or if she realized after (or during) the relationship she was gay?

The twitter bot was set up two years ago, which means Bro was bitter and resentful for two years. (Also means that Amy and Maia, if we believe the writers requested a photo of Amy and Maia for the icon, have been together at least 2 years.)

“What’s a Twitterbot?” Maia asks. … exactly what it sounds like, Maia. What weird sort of bubble does Maia live in!? (Alternatively: writers, it’s never a good look to make your characters more ignorant than they realistically should be for the sake of exposition.)

The bot will duplicate itself if he turns it off. Wha?

When Bro tells Maia to “tell your girlfriend to fix it,” she slaps him. Yay, Maia! (If this happened in the first episode of the show, I’d be worried about the series finale. I think we’re safe because it’s episode four.)

Maia and Marissa return from their non-work related adventure at the same time Diane and Lucca get back from working on the case. The subpoena guy (I’m sure there’s a technical name for this—process server?) who’s a crew member or something is in the RBK lobby, subpoenaing everyone who worked on the police brutality case in F1x01. (At least, I assume that’s why he’s serving them, since he doesn’t subpoena Barbara or anyone else.)

There’s something missing from the Maia subplot—and, really, from the way Maia’s been written so far in these first four episodes (well, mostly just these last two, so there’s hope!). Whenever the show could explore how Maia’s feeling or what she’s thinking or how she’s doing at work, it instead goes for a plot-driven conspiracy. Twists and turns are fun, but Maia’s a new character. These plots don’t give me much of a sense of who Maia is or how she’s coping with the aftermath of the scandal. Consider, for a minute, what the show would look like if Maia’s parents were obviously guilty. Instead of having to wait for the reveal of what really happened (which I don’t care about at all), we’d be dealing with Maia realizing the betrayal that definitely occurred. We’d be seeing her lose her innocence and rebuild instead of watching her investigate various family members we as the audience have no reason to trust. Maia would be the focus, not the facts of the scandal. Same goes for the harassment. Why can’t it just be some random person on Twitter who made an account, and Maia has to learn to steel herself against it? Why does it have to be an elaborate Twitter bot that also makes Fake News?

I keep coming back to the way TGW season 1 worked for Alicia. First, and I didn’t realize how smart this was until TGF began, Peter committed two crimes: one against the law and one against his family. Alicia even makes that distinction in the pilot. She doesn’t care as much about the crimes he allegedly committed, and she (and we) don’t know if he really did it. What she does know, and what we do know, is that he cheated on her with prostitutes. Since there are two scandals there, Alicia can lose her trust in Peter because of one (the cheating) while the writers are free to play around with the mystery/conspiracy of the other. But we don’t have that with the Rindells. Their scandal is all doubt.

While I’m on this kick of comparing the writing for Alicia to the writing for Maia, I’d also like to mention W109, Threesome. That episode has a plot that’s similar to Maia’s in this episode. Alicia is the last to know about Peter’s call girl’s appearance on Chelsea Handler’s show. Zach and Grace know about it. Peter’s legal team and publicity team know about it. Everyone in the office knows. It’s not until Alicia’s assistant pulls up the video that she finds out. We see Alicia react to the interview; how much it pains her to be called “frigid.” Alicia’s called to meet with Will and Diane before she can even finish watching the clip, and we get a great little sequence of Alicia walking through the firm, her confidence waning as she notices everyone’s eyes on her. Her whole demeanor changes completely from what we saw as she walked in to work. Will and Diane are talking about damage control when she arrives, and we can tell from the way Alicia’s moving she expects that they’re going to talk to her about the video. (I’m rewatching this now, and holy shit, guys, she even does the thing with her hands to calm herself down. You know, that thing she does in the last minutes of the series finale. SHE DOES IT HERE TOO.) She only relaxes, slightly, when she realizes they’re talking about Stern’s scandal, not hers. And the whole episode plays out with Alicia trying to figure out what’s going on with Peter, how to make Amber stop, and how to talk to her children about their father’s sex life. And, oh yeah, she’s on a case the whole time, too. I could talk for hours about Alicia’s arc in W109, and how the episode deepens the audience’s understanding of Alicia by forcing her to shift between so many environments, and how the central problem of Amber Madison’s eagerness to spread lies is resolved as an issue between Alicia and Peter, not as a convoluted plot. But I won’t, because I think the example of that first scene (which you really should rewatch!) illustrates my point: the writing for Maia lacks this nuance. The writing for Maia is mostly about plot. The writing for Alicia used plot to develop the character.

Lucca waits for Colin in the bar near the courthouse. She’s already ordered a burger and cut it in half for him. What’s their ship thing going to be? Burger and Fries? Onions and Peppers? (Note: this is not a serious question.)

Colin thinks Lucca’s there to flirt, but she’s there for work. But they don’t get to work before Colin invites her on a date to get milkshakes. Something about his therapist. This is cute, but not really anything I need to get into in-depth.

Lucca asks Colin about the subpoena; he says he’ll look into it.

Marissa made a breakthrough in the Twitterbot fiasco. She contacted Twitter and they froze it right away, which is definitely how Twitter deals with harassment. (I actually don’t know if this is realistic, but I’ve seen so much about how ineffective Twitter is at suspending trolls that this seems too fast, even though it also seems totally logical.) (But won’t the bot remake itself?)

Maia and Marissa high five, adorably.

Case stuff happens. This case is interesting.

Alma Hoff is back! So is just Stanek, who is still collecting electronics in a trash can.

Yesha gets a news alert from Chumhum about Maia being fired. She phones Maia to ask if it’s true. The news source is obviously fake, but I can’t tell if it’s Fake News or Real News For These Characters But Fake Because Copyright Laws.

Maia asks Adrian if she’s being fired. “I barely even know who you are,” Adrian replies, shooing her away. Heh. Wouldn’t Maia know it’s a lie from the fact that she didn’t call her workplace anti-gay?

Now there’s a story about Maia buying $350,000 in jewelry. Ah, it’s one of those sites. The ones that generate ridiculous stories about famous people that have no connection to the truth at all.

Now a Grand Jury is in session, and I think this insert of “GRAND JURY IN SESSION” is lifted from a TGW ep, probably 314 or something from season 7.

Diane is on the stand; Kresteva is questioning her. He starts off by framing her answers as uncooperative, and then begins to flat out lie. “What could be wrong with my motives?” he asks. LOL. I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING. (Even if it weren’t Kresteva specifically… there are still a lot of good reasons to be suspicious!)

“I think you tend to lie,” Diane responds. Kresteva goes after her about the money the firm makes off of the police brutality cases. It’s 30% of the firm’s annual income. Well that’s a cynical suggestion.

Kresteva asks Diane if she said that the problem was that “the people of Cook County hated African-Americans.” Wait, I thought she refused to answer in his version of events? Also, what does he mean by the People of Cook County? Does he mean in the legal sense (The People vs. ___) or does he mean that Diane said that Cook County residents are racists? What narrative is he trying to spin—that Diane was uncooperative, that Diane wants police brutality to continue so she can profit, or that Diane made sweeping accusations of racism? All of the above? Does it matter? Is the point to scare the firm away from these cases or to actually accomplish something with the Grand Jury? (I think it’s the former.)

Anyway, the real point of this scene is that KRESTEVA IS A LYING LIAR.

“Are you saying that my notes from our meeting are incorrect?” Kresteva asks. THIS GUY IS SO FULL OF BULLSHIT, I NEED TO WATCH THE GIF OF ALICIA TELLING HIM TO DIE CHOCKING ON HIS OWN BLOOD, PLEASE A FEW TIMES NOW. Kresteva is so full of shit that his lies don’t even make sense! His whole shtick rests on the hope that the grand jury finds him trustworthy! If they don’t, then why shouldn’t Diane suspect him? What should it matter that his “notes” don’t match what Diane’s saying? They’re his notes. He could’ve written them whenever he felt like it; he could’ve written down whatever he wanted! It’s not a video. It’s not an audio recording. It’s not a print-out of an email. The people who say “believe me” (or variations of that) the most are the ones to watch out for.

Kresteva’s lies, which seemed outrageous back in 2012, play differently in 2017, don’t they?

This scene is very hard to watch because of the emotional toll it takes on Diane as she realizes nothing she says or does will help her out of this hole. Kresteva will just make up more lies, and when he does let the truth through, he’ll spin it to make Diane look bad. Diane’s mistake about Jax seems malicious when he questions her. Her denial of the conversation reads as guilt. How could Kresteva have made up all of that information, the jury must wonder. Isn’t it more to this lady’s advantage to lie than it is to the head of the task force?

Diane says Kresteva was in her office for six minutes. I don’t get why she says this, since we saw the full meeting and it wasn’t six minutes, so…

Diane’s furious when she gets back to work. “He’s setting us up,” she announces to the others. Adrian understands why: Kresteva wants to reduce the number of police brutality cases by having fewer cases filed. I presume this means not just shutting down RBK’s cases, but also making other firms fear taking them on.

Lucca goes to Colin to investigate further. “Yeah, he lies,” Colin acknowledges. “Does your boss know that?” Lucca wonders. Good question. Colin agrees to help out, which is very nice of him. (So far, Colin feels a lot like a flirtier Finn Polmar to me.) Lucca says he seems like a good guy and reminds him they have a milkshake date. They can’t have sex yet because it would seem like a quid pro quo. “Fuck, I hate being a good guy,” Colin jokes as Lucca leaves.

Case stuff happens. I like Judge Stanek.

Colin does bring Kresteva’s methods up with the boss. The boss hears Kresteva’s strategy for how to reduce the amount of cases and doesn’t care about (agree with?) the ethics of it. Colin tries a different angle: the firm is all African-American; won’t that look bad? Kresteva argues it’s not all black because of Diane. LOL DIANE IS ONE PERSON. (And even if you include Maia and Marissa, that’s still a small fraction of the total employees.)

Colin must have pretty high standing/be pretty good at his job if he can bring this up at work. Kresteva gets a small warning, but he’s allowed to continue.

“It’s fake news,” Jay tells Maia. The original twitter monster has morphed into a lot of fake news all across the internet.

Yesha tries to stop it by getting a TRO against Bro, but he says it won’t work because his servers aren’t in Cook County. Yesha tells Maia there’s nothing more they can do. “Not legally,” Yesha repeats. Then she leaves, as Maia, Marissa, and Jay all think of illegal ways to stop Fake News.

Marissa has an idea—create fake news about Bro. Wouldn’t it be easier to just phone his boss? WHY ARE YOU GUYS USING YOUR WORK COMPUTERS TO CREATE FAKE NEWS WITH EXPLICIT CONTENT? WHY AREN’T YOU GUYS WORKING?! (Yes, this has gotten under my skin, why do you ask?)

Bro’s boss buys the fake news. Would that really happen? I can see him being fired because it looks bad, but being fired because your boss believed ILoveFakeNewsDotCom or whatever seems strange.

Case stuff happens.

Bro shows up at Maia’s office to announce, “You’re ruining my life.” HYPOCRITE. (Though, I do have a question: if the fake news is no longer spreading because of him, what is this accomplishing other than revenge?)

He calls her a bitch. Hell. No.

Luckily, Adrian intervenes and Bro calms down. “You drop your news articles and I’ll drop mine?” Bro says. So they are his news articles? What happens when someone else gets the same idea?

“At this firm, we stand up for each other, Maia,” Adrian tells Maia after she thanks him. Awwww. (So does that mean he’s cool with her doing all of this on the clock, using work computers, and pulling Marissa and Jay into it, too?)

YES!!! A break from the Diane/Barbara tension!!!!! This week, they’re drinking together after a rough day in court. Diane’s sad. Barbara, too.

“Do you regret not having children?” Barbara asks Diane. I can’t believe we got through seven seasons of TGW without Diane ever answering this question. That’s cool!

“Sometimes,” Diane responds honestly. “Not often.”

“When are the sometimes?” Barbara wonders. This feels a lot to me like Barbara trying to decide if she should try to have kids before it’s too late.

“With my husband. I mean, it’s too late for us now, but, uh, but I look at him and I wonder what, you know, what his son would be like. Or my daughter,” Diane explains, breaking my heart. (She and Kurt are totally going to reconcile, right?!)

“Yeah. It’s interesting,” Diane continues, unprompted. “Most people think I didn’t want kids, and that’s why I made my work my life. What they don’t realize, it’s… it’s really just the opposite.” I definitely assumed that Diane prioritized work over having kids. I’m not entirely sure what Diane means by “the opposite” but I think she’s saying that kids didn’t seem to be happening for her, so she had time to throw herself into work, and then it was too late. I wonder if Diane would’ve considered IVF if it had been more common when she was in her 30s/40s.

Diane and Barbara talk a little bit more, then Diane finishes her drink and goes back to her office. She phones Kurt. He doesn’t pick up (or does she hang up too quickly? I think it’s the former but compressed for time). I CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK.

Then Diane has an epiphany: ENGLAND.

“We dialed 44 and then the number,” Barbara retorts when Alma asks how they called an agency in England. LULZ.

Case stuff happens; Laura wins! (Also, who knew Alma Hoff had a pottymouth?)

I barely talked about it, but this was a very complex and compelling case.

The Fake News hasn’t stopped. Shocker. Yesha has figured out that now Reddit is making fake news because people on the Internet also hate Maia.

Now Yesha and Marissa both advise Maia to drop it. So she does. But… Fake News has Real Consequences.

Someone brings the Fake News about Maia, which is now in the Cook County Vindicator which I thought was supposed to be a legit paper with actual reporters but whatever, to Kresteva’s attention. He’s looking for any ways to go after RBK, and this news article—real or fake—plays right into his story.

His white board of RBK targets consists exclusively of people we know (and excludes Reddick—who is Reddick, anyway? Is he still there?), including Amy. “Hired for SA ties?” reads a post-it next to Maia’s picture.

So… that’s what’s coming next. All the conspiracies come together! That means it’s time for ELSBETH TASCIONI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Seriously, Elsbeth is the one good thing about the unnecessary conspiracy plots The Good Shows like to do.)

[heavensturtle]

Day 12: Cafe

A short fic for day twelve of the YOI 20+ Club’s Daily Art Challenge!

- - -

Note: Pre-canon, a bit angsty, but don’t worry you know how things turn out for these boys!

- - -

“I think I’m going home,” Yuuri mutters into his coffee mug.

Phichit looks up from his phone with a start. They’re sitting at the Starbucks near their apartment. Yuuri returned from Japanese Nationals a week ago and has been hiding in his room ever since, sneaking out at odd hours to practice or grab the leftovers Phichit leaves in the refrigerator for him.

The cafe is Phichit’s attempt to force Yuuri to be in the same room as him for more than two minutes. It’s already turning out worse than planned.

“You’re what?” Phichit hopes he heard Yuuri wrong.

“I told Celestino I need a break. I’m going home.”

“For how long?”

Yuuri shrugs, not looking up.

Phichit feels a kernel of desperation plant itself inside him.

“Yuuri. For how long?”  

“I don’t know.”

The seed sprouts. “Yuuri, you can’t just give up.”

Yuuri sets the mug down. He hasn’t touched the coffee.

“Yuuri, you had a couple of bad skates, it happens to everyone.”

Yuuri winces. “Phichit, I lost against literal children last week.”

Yuuri looks so tired, so defeated, that Phichit wants to strangle whatever that thing is inside his head that makes him feel this way.

He also kind of wants to strangle Yuuri.

“One bad competition doesn’t mean you’re done!” Phichit’s voice rises, and he knows Yuuri will mind, but he doesn’t care.

Yuuri chews his lip. “It was two in a row. The Grand Prix was - ”

“Sixth in the world, Yuuri, is a failure only to you.”

Yuuri’s face hardens. Phichit knows he’s overstepped, but he’s just so, so angry.

He remembers how devastated Yuuri was after the Grand Prix. It wasn’t that long ago. Phichit had held Yuuri’s hands and brought him tissues when Yuuri cried and told Phichit the most egregious lies: that he never deserved to go in the first place; that it was only fair that Victor had mocked him with the offer of a commemorative photo after the event.

Phichit had been patient then. He’d been patient all this week, too, watching Yuuri ghost around the apartment.

He’s starting to think that patience is overrated.

“Victor thought it was,” Yuuri whispers, and Phichit loses it.

“Yuuri, I’m sorry, but do you hear yourself right now? Do you?”

This is surely in the Top Ten Things To Never Say to an Anxious Person, but Phichit, as previously stated, has sort of lost his shit at this point. He goes on:

“You think I don’t know anything because I wasn’t there, but you know who was there? Celestino. And you know what Celestino says happened, after you walked out on your skating hero? Celestino says he looked hurt. Not annoyed, not pissed off, hurt. Do you think someone who was mocking you would look hurt when you blew them off?”

“I don’t know,” Yuuri whispers, fidgeting with the pastry that he’s already broken into several pieces without eating a single bite.

“You know they wouldn’t. Why is it so hard to believe he wasn’t making fun of you?”

“He didn’t ask anyone else for a commemorative photo,” Yuuri says, crumbling a bit of pastry between his fingers.  

“Do you know that?” Phichit counters.

“No, but - ”

“But what?”

“No one else asked me for a photo.”

Phichit drops his head into his hands. “Yuuri. You were ignoring literally everyone. Celestino has on good authority that Cao Bin was trying to get a photo with you and you completely brushed him off.”

“I did?” Yuuri looks temporarily surprised, but settles quickly back into his self-loathing look. “It doesn’t matter. Maybe Cao was trying to be nice, but Victor - ”

“He wanted the photo, Yuuri. Do you want me to ask him? I follow his Instagram, I’ll DM him,” Phichit picks up his phone.

“Phichit, no!” Yuuri snatches it away, “You can’t just - ”

“What? Confirm that my best friend actually caught the interest of his hero?”

Yuuri glared at him, “You can’t just tease me like that,” he finishes.

“You think I’m teasing you?”

Yuuri looks away, “I know you are.”

Phichit feels a pang in his chest.

“Yuuri, you’re my best friend and I love you.”

“Phichit, stop,” Yuuri whispers, still not looking at him.

The pang becomes an ache. “This is what I’m talking about,” he says, “I try to tell you something important and you act like I’m being condescending. I’m not.”

Yuuri’s face cycles through a curious set of expressions before settling back on defeated.

“I’m sorry, Phichit. You’re my best friend too. I know you wouldn’t lie to me.”

“So you believe me? I swear, no one was mocking you, Yuuri. They were interested in you.”

Yuuri sighs, shrugs. “I’m still going home, though.”

Phichit couldn’t stop the tears from filling his eyes if he wanted to. But they don’t spill over. He sits there, lip quivering, for a few seconds.

“What am I supposed to do without you?” he finally whispers.

Yuuri reaches for his hand and squeezes, a rare gesture.  

“Be happier,” is what he says.

- - -

Also note: If you were wondering why there was no voicemail inbox for Victor yesterday, here’s why:

From the voicemail inbox of Victor Nikiforov:

Nov 5//12:01 PM

[1 New Message]

>

“Hi, Victor - ”

*call connected*

*** Nov 5//7:29 PM [1 New Messages] >

“Hi, Vic - ”

*call connected*

***

Nov 7//2:13 AM

>

“Hi - ”

*call connected*

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