#or Rory is is well and truly gone

[katoska]

"Proceed with caution as sandworms can be extremely dangerous, for both the Living and the Dead. If a Deceased Soul is eaten by a Sandworm, they will still remain in the Afterlife. The same applies to the Living, they must live in the Afterlive as a million tiny particles."

[awriterinthenight]

hiii if it's possible could you do a jess mariano one where everyone in the town is just waiting for him and reader to finally get together cause everyone knows they like each other but they are both oblivious and keep insisting they're just friends

Everyone Place Your Bets

words: 2171

warnings: Nothing except for the town being how they are towards Jess

summary: You and Jess were just friends, right? Even though everyone was constantly betting on when you'd get together

a/n this was written off of candy, an energy drink, and pure adrenaline, so please enjoy and I put off my school work to write this, help

Recently all anyone ever heard anyone in Stars Hollow say was, "look at how well they compliment each other' or 'when are they going to get together, I'd swear they're already dating' or the really out of pocket things from Miss Pattie, 'they'd have such cute kids if they just got over themselves'. That last one was what finally made you snap. Everywhere you went someone said something about you and Jess, even though you were just friends.

Right?

The town had gone insane recently. Originally it started with small comments, nothing major, and nothing truly about you two being together. Jess was new to town and instantly became the town troublemaker. Wherever he went trouble followed, even if some of the things that happened weren't his fault. Doose's Market is an apple sort? Must've been Jess stealing one. The coffee at Luke's was cold? Of course it was Jess' fault, even though Luke was the one who forgot to put a fresh pot on. Princess Diana died 5 years ago? The town didn't know how he did it, but it must've been Jess. Stars Hollow residents were just crazy enough to try and blame him for that.

Everyone wanted Jess to stay away from them, and even more to stay away from their precious Rory Gilmore. Most people thought he'd be a bad influence on her, so it was frowned upon when anyone saw him even remotely near her. The town tried to keep her away from him, which led to him accidentally meeting you.

You hadn't planned to walk into Luke's that day, but all you wanted was a cup of coffee, so why not stop at Stars Hollows finest. Walking into the little shop on the corner felt like stepping into a different world. No phones were allowed or else Luke would yell at you, even though he was already yelling at Jess when you walked in. On the counter was a display of pastries, including the muffin you now really wanted.

You stood there at the counter waiting for either Luke or the boy at the counter to acknowledge you for just a second, so you could get what you came in here for, but it didn't look like that was happening anytime soon. Fed up listening to their argument about how the younger boy should stay away from some girl and he was a bad influence, but why should he care blah blah blah, you just leaned over the counter, grabbing the muffin out the display.

Luke, finally noticing you, turned and pointed at you, "Hey, you can't do that, this is a diner not a buffet. You can't just take without ordering," he scolded.

"Well no one here seems to be working, so as long as I pay why should you care?" you retorted, taking a bite out of your muffin, pulling out the money you owed.

Luke stuttered for a moment before saying, "Fair point, but don't do that again," then turning to the younger boy at the counter, "I'll finish this argument later, but for now deal with customers before there's more of her," he instructed, pointing to you.

The dark-haired boy muttered something, waving him off. He then turned to the counter, starting to read his book, disregarding the job he was told to do.

You stood there for a few seconds before asking, "Could I get a cup of coffee?" making the boy look up at you, before silently turning to pour coffee into a mug. He handed it to you, going back to reading his book. You sat there silently unsure about what to say since you wanted to make conversation with him.

"That was quite an argument," you started, trying to catch the boy's attention.

His eyes stayed on the book, "I've had worse," he quipped, practically mumbling it.

You nodded, "So not to be nosy, but what'd you do, knock a girl up?" you joked, attempting to joke with him.

He let out a slight chuckle at your comment, setting his book down. He never interacted with customers much, but this seemed like a conversation worth having and he didn't know why.

"Not that it's any of your business, but if I did do that I think the town would chase me away with pitchforks and torches," he said, a playful tone in his voice.

"I think burning you at the stake would be more effective," you joked.

"This town would love to do that to me," he mentioned, leaning against the counter, now almost eye level with you, "I didn't even do anything, just talked to the wrong girl, apparently this town is obsessed with her."

You nodded, knowing immediately who he was talking about, "I see," you said, "If it makes you feel any better I wouldn't want them to chase you out of town. I mean you have better taste in books than almost anyone else here," you told him, pointing to his book.

His expression turned to shock as he held up the book, "You've read this?" he asked.

"I mean it's no Jane Austen or Mary Shelley, but it's pretty good," you said with a shrug.

He nodded, looking as if in thought for a moment, "I just started it, so I'll have to take your word for it."

You couldn't help but smile at him before looking at the clock to see the time. You had somewhere to be soon, so sadly you had to cut your conversation short.

"I have to go, but I'll see you around..." you said, looking at the name tag he had on, "Jess," you said with a nod.

"I'll see around too..." he trailed off, waiting for you to tell him your name.

You stuttered a bit before saying your name, to which he nodded saying, "I'll have to tell you what I think about the book when I finish it."

After that day in the diner, Jess starting hanging out and talking to you more. In the classes he had with you he would distract you by talking about whatever book he was reading, or who pissed him off at school. Every time he went to the bookstore he brought you with him, because in his words, he needed a second opinion on what books to get. Whenever you walked into the diner, which was more frequently now, he would always immediately head over to where you were and spend his entire shift with you until you left.

It was safe to say Jess seemed to be over Rory and maybe into you, but you didn't believe that would ever happen. Jess was just a friend, no matter how much the town pushed and gossiped.

News, like any other, spread quickly in Stars Hollow about the new girl Jess was supposedly seeing. It started with weird looks from people and whispers about how you were friends with Jess. Which then turned into more notable people like Kirk or Babette asking questions as to why you were hanging out with Stars Hollow's troublemaker.

Eventually the town changed their gossip to how cute you two would look together and when you would get together. You and Jess thought it was crazy, since you were just friends. Although sometimes you spent the night at Jess' place when you watched movies together, or how Jess constantly had an arm around you, or his hand on you. The townspeople might've seen it as something a couple would do, but friends did that stuff too.

Right?

Allegedly there was an underground bet going on about you two. You didn't know much about it, and refused to believe that even that was too crazy for this town. The betting was real and quite interesting. Kirk and Miss Pattie were the two highest bidders who were competing to win.

Miss Pattie said it would happen soon with Jess just kissing you out of nowhere and it would be full of passion, and details she did not need to describe. Kirk had placed his entire paycheck from his latest job that there would be an argument, but you would confess first in the gazebo. The two of them argued about how theirs would happen and how the other wouldn't, which led to almost everyone having a bet on you and Jess.

Somehow even Luke and Lorelai got roped in, with Luke betting (mostly out of spite) that neither Jess or you would ever confess, while Lorelai (who was just glad Jess was away from her daughter) said you would confess first, leaving a very stunned Jess.

Other bets include things like where it would happen, most people speculating it being during one of Stars Hollow's many town events, or when you both graduated. People betted on things like how it would be done, who would confess first, and even what you'd be wearing.

Eventually the betting had gone on long enough that it was spiraling out of control. You started to see more people watching you and Jess. While he just ignored it, you couldn't stand it. Without truly meaning to you started distancing yourself from him. Going to the diner less, calling him less, and even stopping going to the bookstore.

Your whole dynamic shifted and your final straw was when Kirk kept dropping hints on what you should wear on certain days and where you should go. Trying to clear your head you decided to take a walk through Stars Hollow, accidentally passing in front of Luke's.

Jess, who was closing up, caught a glimpse of you outside the diner, and quickly ran after you. He found you leaning against one of the walls of the gazebo, looking at the sky.

"You've been avoiding me recently," Jess said, getting right to the point, while also startling you.

it took you a second to compose yourself before sputtering out, "I haven't," lying to him.

He took a deep breath, walking to stand right in front of you, making you take a step back, "I've known you long enough to know when you're lying."

"I'm not lying," you said, messing with the hem of your shirt, "I've just been busy," you told him, shivering from the cold. You meant to bring a jacket, but forgot since you were rushing out your house.

"So you call not coming by the diner anymore and not showing up for our trips to the bookstore, not avoiding me?" he said with a scoff, "Cause that seems like you avoiding me."

You were silent, unable to think of a response, or excuse to tell him.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice softer and quieter than before.

You took a breath before answering, "This town, that's what happened. Everywhere I look someone's always watching us, watching me," you exclaimed, "I can't stand. It's like we're some show for them to watch then take bets on. I thought if I walked away it would all stop," you admitted, your head hung low.

"You thought if you walked away from me the town would leave us alone?" he questioned, confused as to why you would do that, "This town doesn't leave anyone alone, why would yo-" he started, but got cut off by you.

"No, not that the town would leave us alone, but that all of this would stop, that," you said, taking a deep breath, "my feelings for you would stop," you whispered out, Jess only able to hear it from how close he was standing to you.

Jess froze for a minute, now it was his turn to be unable to find words.

"I didn't want to face this cause I knew you didn't feel the same. You like Rory and not me, which is fine," you said, rocking back and forth on your heels from how nervous you were.

"I don't like Rory," Jess confessed, stunning you, as you lifted your head up to look at him, "I mean I did, then I met you, and you are nothing like her. You're better than her in so many ways. I don't want her, I want you," he confessed, looking deeply into your eyes.

You looked back at him, "Really?" you asked softly, your face so close to his you could feel his breath against your face.

He nodded, moving his hand to your waist, "You're what I want. Screw this town and their stupid bets."

You couldn't help but laugh at his comment saying, "Yeah, screw this town," before kissing him. The kiss was slow and soft, but turned more passionate, as his hand clung to your waist pulling you closer, while one of your hands stayed on his waist, the other in his hair. You didn't know how long you stood there with Jess, since to you it felt like forever, but it was soon broken by a yell.

"I knew it, Miss Pattie owes me $500," Kirk yelled, running across town to Miss Patties. You laughed at his antics, before being pulled back into another kiss.

Taglist (ask to be added or removed or added to a specific character)

@almost-gabrielle @scarlett-8 @atashiboba @that1deerpersondownstairs @herondale-lightworm @purplerose291 @mitskiswift99 @crumby-child @rafslytherin @shanksvskidd @yerrmar @oceangirl15 @livia7137

[inej-ruination-ghafa]

high infidelity - d.f

paris | glitch | masterlist

Warnings: none

Summary: the one where you do something stupid after your partners break your hearts

Wordcount: 1.5k

Your head was spinning as you ran out of the village hall, your heart pounding in your chest. This was not how tonight was supposed to go.

There was no method to your madness as you just started running as far as your feet would take you. You didn't make it far before the throbbing in your feet caught up with you.

Stopping on the pavement, you pulled your shoes off and looked at them for a minute. He had bought them for you when you had gone shopping last week. That nauseating feeling in your stomach returned as you thought about him. Him and your supposed best friend having feelings for each other this entire time.

You didn't hesitate as you threw the shoes as far as you could, watching as they landed in the grass. You sat down on the pavement, not caring about the dirt staining your dress as you leaned your head into your hands and finally allowed yourself to break down.

The wound in your heart split open at his indiscretions. The rain started to pour at tat point, soaking your skin and the dress you were in.

Jess should have been it for you.

He had promised you that he was going to be there for you no matter what. So many people had let you before without any care for your feelings and you had thought that he was different but he was just like everyone else. He didn't care about you and you wondered if he ever did.

A sob racked through your chest as you realised that you had wasted your summer with someone who never truly loved you. Everything you two had done together had been ruined by this moment.

You thought back to the danceathon and the way that Dean had walked over to you and Jess on the stands, demanding that he admitted that he had always had feelings for Rory. The night had been perfect, records playing, the two of you smiling as you danced around the room.

In his defence, he never admitted to having feelings for her but at the same time, he never denied it which might have been even worse.

As you thought about it all, you felt that bile rising up in your throat. God. He had told you he loved you, you’d even slept with him and for what, for nothing. To be treated like this.

You were so caught up in your mind that you didn’t even hear Dean walking over, your shoes in his hands. He dropped them next to you and you looked up at the sound, noticing it was him.

You felt selfish.

Him and Rory had been together for nearly two years and she did this to him. You and Jess had been together for a quarter of that time. You should be more worried about how Dean was feeling than you.

You wiped your tears away with the sleeve of your jacket and he sat down next to you. The sun was coming up over the square and you wondered how long you had both been wallowing in your own problems before you came together.

The rain started to cease and he didnt care, even if the storm was coming. He just sat there with you in silence and did not care about the problems racing around you.

“You dropped these,” he gestured to the shoes and you hiccuped a laugh out.

Shaking your head, you picked them up, “I meant to,”

“Oh,”

He had a look on his face like he had done something wrong, brows furrowed and raised as he looked at you. You instantly reached over, hand taking his in yours, “I’m sorry,”

”For what?” He questioned.

You shrugged, “For everything I guess,”

There was silence. The two of you thought that you had both played some part in breaking up one another’s relationships and even if that was not the truth, it might as well have been the truth for you.

Neither of you knew what to say, or how to console one another for the whole problem. It was a position you had never been in before. Did you apologise? Yell? Should you be grieving or angry?

Dean could see the thoughts swirling around in your mind and he stood up. You watched in confusion, brows furrowed as he stood up and held his hand out to you.

“Come on,”

Hesitantly, you took his hand and allowed him to pull you up. You left the shoes down there, neither of you even touching them. They were a reminder of everything that he had put you through in the last couple of hours. You weren't going to go back for them, no matter how much sentimental value they might have held.

“What are we doing?” You seemed suspicious of him and he tried to wave it off.

He didn't let go of your hand and at the time, you didn't even question it, “Walking you home. It's late at night,”

You made a sound that was half of a laugh and half a sigh and it made a smile pull at his lips, “Its 5am,”

he shrugged, “Its early in the morning,”

He let go of your hand and linked his arm with yours as the two of you walked in silence towards your house. You had done a science project with him a few weeks ago and he remembered where you lived after you had worked together.

The two of you walked in complete silence and that’s what you both needed. Even though you didn't want to get lost in the damning thoughts that made you blame yourself for it all, they seemed to vanish when he was around.

You both stopped outside of your house after a quick walk. He looked at you for a second and noticed the puffiness of your eyes from crying and the tears that had dripped down your face onto your 1950’s dress. This wasn't fair to either of you and anger bubbled up inside of Dean as he looked at you.

Neither of you deserved to be treated this way by Jess and Rory.

He caught his eyes flickering down to your lips and you noticed, brows pulling together slightly as you tried to figure out what he was thinking.

“Thank you,” the words were breathy and he felt his breath hitching in his throat as he looked back into your eyes.

He gave you a half hearted smile, “After tonight, it's the least I could do,”

The two of you stood there for a few moments, just looking at one another. Neither knew what to say but just stare at one another, knowing exactly how the other felt.

He moved slightly closer to her and she could feel his breath on her face. She muttered his name, not sure what to do.

He hummed in response, “We shouldn’t do this,” you whispered, voice soft and quiet like you didn't want anyone else to know what was going on there.

Your heart was racing in your chest as you looked at him, eyes tracing the curve of his face, the brown in his eyes, the light freckles on his skin that you had never noticed before. You had never really noticed how beautiful he was.

Every bone in your body told you that this was wrong after what had happened. You had only just broken up with your boyfriend and here you were, heart pounding as you looked into Dean’s eyes.

Your brain might be saying no, but the shattered part of your heart tried to reason with you that this was fine.

“Tell me to leave and I will,” he muttered, voice seemingly deeper than it was before.

Your breath hitched in your throat. You couldn't say a single word. You couldn't tell him that you didn't want this because some sick and twisted part of you did.

Dean leaned in, his nose lightly bumping against yours and your eyes fluttered closed. Against your better judgement, you moved in and closed the gap between you, pressing your lips up against his.

He was gentle and soft and the way that his hand cradled your face was different to any other kiss. He was nothing like Jess Mariano. He held you delicately, like there were already cracks in the porcelain of your skin and he was afraid that a few more mistakes would shatter you.

As you stood there, kissing him gently under the flickering porch light of your house, you let everything else melt away as he held you.

You forgot about all your misery and let yourself enjoy this, even for a moment. you didn't need Jess Mariano. he had never loved you the way that you needed him to, he had never loved you enough, destroying whatever the two of you had together.

As you stood outside of your lonely house, Stars Hollow might as well have burnt around you because all you could focus on was his lips against yours.

Dean was going to be the one. Right?

[heymickyursofine]

Things Change. Benny Weir X Fem!Reader

Summary: After months of ignoring Benny at all costs, you finally have a talk with him.

Warnings: Cussing if you count that, otherwise none! Let me know if I missed anything.

Months had passed since the last time you talked to Benny. 4 months to be exact.

You avoided him at all costs, even going as far as not to sit with the group at lunch, going off and doing your own thing.

Erica and Sarah would join you, the former more than the latter as she was the one who was the one in the group the most pissed off at Benny. Hell, she might have even been more upset than you. Her reaction to the situation made you feel sane like you were rational in your decision to cut Benny off and you made the correct one.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to kill him? Drain him of all his blood?” Erica looked down at you as you walked to her house. The two of you had been hanging out a lot recently, you loved it.

“I think so. I don’t think death should be his punishment, just losing our friendship.”

“Is there a difference?” She cocked her head.

You shrugged, “I guess not.”

“Do you think you’ll ever forgive him? I’m not saying you should, I'm only curious.”

You pondered. “I don’t know. I’m conflicted. I miss him a lot, even after everything he did. I don’t regret what I said, I was valid for that. It’s funny how someone can wrong you but you still miss them.”

It truly was. You didn’t think you’d be mad at Benny forever but didn’t know when you would forgive him. Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Years. Who knew?

Not you, that’s for sure.

In the following days after you chatted with Erica, you thought a lot about the situation. 4 months had been a long time to go without talking to Benny, and maybe that was enough.

You had no clue what to do. So when you showed up at Benny’s house on a whim you started to regret your decision. Your closed fist paused inches from the door.

You weren’t going to do this.

Letting out a sigh, you dropped your hand and turned around. What exactly were you thinking of doing?

Tell Benny you forgive him and that you love him the way he loved you?

Give him a kiss that’s so passionate it would put a romance movie to shame?

Oh my god… that’s exactly what you were going to do!

Idiot.

Absolute fool.

The self-respect you had for yourself was- “Y/N?” You froze. Oh no, this was happening. Do you run away or face him? That was your dilemma.

Those two choices kept replaying in your head and before you knew it, you were slowly turning around. “Benny. Hi.” You spoke through gritted teeth.

“Oh-oh my-“ You held up your hand to stop him from coming any closer. “Don’t.” He stood there, staring awkwardly at you, waiting for you to make the first move.

You let out a weak laugh, “This was a mistake.” Obviously.

“Don’t leave, please.” He could’ve begged, and by his tone, it sounded like he was.

“Benny, you have to know that I’m still mad at you.”

“I do. I swear I do Y/N and you have every right to be.”

“Yeah, no shit. You drugged me.” He grimaced when you put it like that.

“I know, and I’ll never forgive myself for that, but please come in. Let me explain myself.”

“I don’t know what else there is to explain Benny. You gave me a love potion because you thought that I couldn’t love you without it.”

“I-I did-“

“Did it ever cross your mind that maybe if you simply asked how I felt it could’ve gone in your favor?” Your words were laced with venom as you spoke, walking back up the stairs of his porch, coming to stand right in front of him.

“No-“

“Well you should’ve! You should’ve been rational and actually thought of the fact that maybe I could’ve loved you. Did you not think to ask Sarah or Erica if I liked you? Or even Rory?”

“Rory?” He asked, confused.

“Yeah! I talk to Rory you know—well actually you wouldn’t know. But if you had asked any of them you would've known that I was in love with you too, you idiot!”

You shouldn’t have been yelling, feeling bad for his neighbors, and his Grandma who might have been inside.

Benny’s mouth was wide open.

“What?” You spat.

“You-you were in love with me too?”

“Did I say that out loud?” You laughed unsurely.

“I’m sorry Y/N. I should’ve asked you first.”

“Why did you do it, Benny?” You whispered. “I didn’t think you could love me without it. It wasn’t the right way to do it. I don’t want to imagine what could’ve happened if it worked.”

“Why didn’t it?”

He let out a slight laugh, “You were already in love with me.”

“Well aren’t I lucky?” You spoke sarcastically.

“Yeah—uh, listen, Y/N, I’m really sorry. If I could take it back I would, I should have known it was stupid. Apparently, I didn’t learn from Delilah’s dog.” You almost laughed at the last part, remembering how well that blew up in his face, but you kept your composure. “I shouldn’t have drugged you.”

“So you admit it?”

“Well, yeah-“

“Then I forgive you.” You shrugged.

“R-really?” He stuttered out in shock, not expecting you to ever forgive him for his actions.

“As long as you promise to never put any spells in my drink again… we’re good.”

He smiled, “I promise. Thank you.” There was a beat of silence until he spoke again. “So, do you still love me?”

You rolled your eyes, “Unfortunately.”

He scoffed jokingly.

“Of course I do, Benny.”

“Lucky me,” He sighed blissfully.

—

Words from Micky: Part three is here! Thank you for all the love on the previous two parts, you guys are amazing! I do have some more Benny works that are in the chamber, but I currently am working on some full length fics over on my Wattpad.

PART 1 (HERE) PART 2 (HERE)

FOLLOW MY WATTPAD: controversiallyoungf

[herefortheships]

What is your opinion on the Beetlejuice 2 Dream Theory?

My short answer is that it's plausible, but not likely that that's what the writers or Tim intended. That said, every viewer is entitled to their own interpretation. When a piece of media leaves the author's hands, then it doesn't belong exclusively to the author anymore; the story takes on a new form when it falls in the hands of the audience ("the death of the author is the birth of the reader" etc).

I'd have to rewatch the movie with my brain prepared to point out references that may show that everything we're witnessing as the movie plays out is not real.

As for my personal interpretation, I don't think that's the case. There was indeed a dream sequence at the end though; we have to decide, when does the dream start? Was it when Betelgeuse and Lydia were dancing in midair? (Betelgeuse does break the 4th wall to tell the audience "I love a good dream sequence", so that's possible). Or was it later after Lydia says her goodbye to Delia? I've only watched the movie once so far, so my thoughts may change when I rewatch it, but for now, this is where I think the dream starts:

I think the dream started with Lydia quitting her show. She may not have quit it at all, as a matter of fact, but her dream started with this because she's now hoping for a fresh start and quitting her show is part of what she has identified as her ideal life, going forward. She's dreaming about a perfect life, believing herself rid of Betelgeuse and Rory and her past, and starting fresh with Astrid, focused on being her mother and being there for her this time. Astrid and Lydia only have each other now after the loss of Delia and Charles, as far as family goes. All of that from that moment on is the dream. In truth, she isn't rid of Betelgeuse, and she is pretty isolated now. So she is shaken awake by the nightmare (I already made a detailed post about that, so I won't go into detail about the dream and what I think it means here). I think the dream ends when she hears/feels Betelgeuse in bed with her. Betelgeuse isn't gone and he's still very much in love with her, which may not be a very comforting thought to her just yet lol.

Now as I'm writing this, as a matter of fact, her little jumpscare when feeling Betelgeuse in bed with her might have a double meaning. Why was she dreaming about him being in bed with her? To be honest, when I first saw that in the theater I thought the wedding had gone through, since they were sharing a bed now! Lydia may be beginning to realize her feelings about Betel have changed, which understandably scares her right now. Then she wakes up again and he's gone. There is a question here, was he part of the dream or was he truly in bed with Lydia? Maybe he was there after all (which is what I personally believe).

Anyway, I am beginning to ramble, but Tl;Dr: There was a dream, but it starts when Lydia quits her job (or maybe after she quits, when she and Astrid are in vacation together).

Again, if it's the same theory I read (which I totally love and find super intriguing), it does make good points, so in short I would say it's plausible. Today I read a post about how the name "Richard" repeats in the movie in several instances, which may add to the "none of this is real, it's all a dream" theory. But to be honest, for me at least, there is more reason to believe that what we witnessed in the film did happen, and Astrid, Rory, Richard, etc are all real and part of Lydia's life.

That Lydia isn't married to Betel by the end of this film doesn't mean her feelings about him will remain as they are and that she will never accept him or even love him, though. This movie was SO a setup for a third film and I am sure of that. It was left open ended so in the event it didn't land well, the franchise could be set to rest with this sequel which was mostly a passion project for those involved, but now we know the movie was a massive hit, so it's very likely and I have no doubt we will get a final third part. There is a LOT of "the rule of three" around Betelgeuse, starting with the fact that you need to say his name three times to summon him. "Third time's a charm", you know what I mean? So I believe the final movie will see them married (yep, not just together or just friends, but married). Marriage is a very important theme in Beetlejuice, both for the series and the titular character himself, so that wedding will happen and it will go through next time, for better or worse (and I hope for better!) Again, rule of three applies here. I think the story is prime for either a soulmate story, or a tragic "true love will set you free" kind of story in which Lydia has to marry Betelgeuse in order to free his soul so he can move on (it was pointed out to me that this resembles the story of Corpse Bride, which is also a movie directed by Tim Burton). If he goes with the latter, then that doesn't mean Lydia won't love him and will just marry him to free him (as in she’s his true love but she doesn’t love him back romantically); she may still fall in love with him, but will find a way to break his attachment/curse to set his soul free and "let him go" for now (it could go either way tbh 😭), and they can still find each other in the afterlife. And wouldn't that be nice? If the two of them can move on to a better place in the great beyond in the finale? To spend eternity together in peace.

Anyway, rambling again! This is my answer. Sorry for replying a little late (and "yapping" so much lol), but trust me I was thinking about this question all day.

[championari]

Alright. I said I would write this and I’m gonna stay true to my word.

I’ve been seeing a lot of takes since The Giggle has come out questioning the potency of 14’s ending. People have been citing multiple different times during the reboot era where the Doctor has “settled down” somewhere, from Darillium, the university in S10, to even Trenzalore. However, I think all of these comparisons are apples to oranges, completely missing the details of each instance and how The Giggle’s ending rebukes all of them. 

So, because I cannot leave an inaccurate take alone, I’m going through every single one of these instances and explain why 14’s ending is different from them, in chronological order.

I’m gonna start with a weird one: S7EP4, The Power of Three. Because it provides a good example of all the things we’re going to be talking about. 

Prior to this episode, long time fans already had a good idea that the Doctor…does not do well in monotonous environments, a truth that is consistent across multiple incarnations.

“I don’t do families.”

“Street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home. I’ve never had a life like that.”

“Here you are, Living a life, day after day. The one adventure I could never have.”

“Christmas dinner.” “I don’t do that sort of thing.”

“Oh god I had a terrible nightmare about you two!” [Talking about Amy and Rory having a normal life in Leadworth]

The entirety of The Lodger

“There’s a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there.”

The Power of Three, spells this truth out in bold, montage style marker pen. The Doctor “needs to be busy”. Why, as Amy later asks?

Personally I think this answer varies slightly between regenerations, based on experiences and losses each face goes through. 9 couldn’t imagine a life of peace coming out of a war, a war that he had a major hand in. 10 continues that idea, with the added baggage of losing Rose. 11’s reasoning is a bit subtler: he says to Amy that he is running to things before they go, as if he now understands how short beautiful things last. He’s going from one thing to the next in avoidance of staying to watch things die. 

“And what’s the alternative? Me standing over your grave?”

This doesn’t change by the end of the episode. The Doctor explicitly tells the Ponds that he’s only staying to watch the cubes, and once the threat is gone, he’s already out the door. He only stops because of a potential threat, an idea we will return to in the next example. He even accepts the idea of Amy and Rory wanting to stay behind: “things to do. Worlds to save. Swings to swing on. Look, I know. You both have lives here. beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously human. You don’t want to give them up. I understand.” The Doctor is saying, ‘I know you have lives here, and that I can’t always be a part of that. And that’s ok.’ 

This episode in my opinion is a perfect microcosm of The Doctor regarding this topic, spelling out explicitly why The Doctor can't ever settle down. The Doctor needs to have something to run to because they don't feel secure enough in any place to not allow their altruism outweigh their need to process their trauma. The only thing that could motivate the Doctor to stop, even just for a second, is the promise that their friend(s) will be there too. The next example is the worst-case scenario of this issue.

Trenzalore is an interesting case. When I first heard of it being counted, I immediately shut it down, because Trenzalore was a literal war zone (wars are obviously not a good place for mental health time). But in doing research, there is actually way more baggage contained in this period making it unsuitable for this argument than just that fact. 

Trenzalore was set up to be the Doctor’s final resting place, where they would truly die. It wasn’t the first time a death prophecy had surrounded the Time Lord, and once again, just as with The End of Time, the thing that kills them is, what Davros would later call The Doctor's “greatest indulgence”: compassion. Tasha Leem warns 11 that she will burn the planet upon the possibility of the Time Lords returning, a warning the Doctor takes extremely seriously.

“This planet is protected.”

“Christmas has a new sheriff.”

For 300 years, 11 stayed true to his word. He fought long and hard, for the townspeople and his own. He was celebrated and was loved. But Clara returning with the TARDIS revealed how he really felt about all of it. 

“Everyone gets stuck somewhere eventually.”

“But you didn’t have your TARDIS.” “Well, that made it easier to stay.” 

There’s an unspoken sentiment in these words, echoing 11's philosophy in Power of Three: the Doctor will always want to leave, in this case, to understandably avoid his prophesied death. But he doesn’t, because “Every life I save is a victory”. Their compulsion to help, their innate capacity to help those in need. So often it’s been their greatest strength, but here it’s framed as destructive selflessness. 11 has become so wholly committed to helping others before himself that he’s willing to accept his own death. 

Clara correctly calls this out: “What about your life? Just for once, After all this time, have you not earned the right to think about that?” The Doctor didn’t stay on Trenzalore for himself, he stayed for everyone besides himself. It’s only because Clara gave the Time Lords a proper verbal smackdown that the Doctor managed to survive. Had they not intervened, The Doctor would've suffered and died, once again to protect them, despite already saving them from annihilation in the previous episode, Day of The Doctor. Trenzalore wasn't The Doctor stopping, it was a century-long effort to keep satiating the bottomless survivor's guilt they still carried from The Time War.

Darillium is yet another case of looking like a time the Doctor settled down somewhere on the surface. But the details don’t match that conclusion. The entire thesis of 12 and River’s final conversation was about the fleeting nature of their situation. 

“Times end, River, because they have to. Because there’s no such thing as happily ever after. It’s just a lie we tell ourselves because the truth is so hard.”

The Doctor says this, cries at hearing the Singing Towers, despite already knowing they have 24 years in a night. Because he knows it can’t last. There’s already a deadline on their moment of peace before it’s begun. Eventually River must go to The Library. 

The final quote of the episode punctuates this: “And they lived happily ever after.” Fading away until “happily” remains. Because they didn’t have their “ever after” and they didn’t “live”, because a person can’t entirely experience life to the fullest with a clock hanging over their head. 

While they got their moment of happiness, it was only a moment. 24 years is just a blink of an eye for a Time Lord, and sure enough, we see by the end of “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”, the next chronological episode, 12 is ready to leap back into the fray. Still the same overall Doctor he was before.

The University is an extension of this. We find out that the only reason he has stayed is to guard Missy in the vault. When 12 tries to mindwipe Bill (an eerie parallel to both Donna and Clara), he directly says: “I have no choice, I’m in disguise. I have promises to keep.” Just like with Trenzalore, The Doctor’s altruism has trapped him somewhere he doesn’t actually want to be. The second he hesitates, he immediately runs after Bill, inviting her into the TARDIS and sneaks off to the universe behind Nardole’s back.

So, now that we’ve gone through each past instance, what’s the connection? What’s the key issue(s) that prevented the Doctor from permanently stopping in any of these cases?

The (fear of) loss of their friends, and the Doctor’s own self-loathing. Either out of fear of the march of time, or the chains that their altruistic nature binds them to, The Doctor always runs away from the picket fence life.

Now, let’s look at 14 and how this ending departs from all other examples.

Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle more prominently explains 14’s origins as a coping mechanism. The reason why 10’s face came back was to retreat to an incarnation that didn’t invoke the loss of The Ponds, Clara, and Bill. The second destruction of Gallifrey and the reveal of The Timeless Child. The Doctor’s avoidance of their trauma has now been made physical, just like how mental stress can often manifest as physical changes or ailments. 

“We stand here now, on the edge of creation, a creation that I devastated, so yes I keep running, of course I keep running!! How am I supposed to look back on that?!”

Already this is a departure from the instances we’ve discussed, because by the very nature of having 10’s face again, it’s forcing the Doctor to ask why. 

“It’s like I'm trying to tell myself something. Like I’m trying to make a point.”

But 14 chooses not to answer it, because answering it means accepting the truth: it’s too much. The trauma can’t be avoided anymore, because The Doctor would always be reminded of what they’re trying to avoid by looking in a reflection. 14 telling Shirley, “I don’t know who I am anymore.” Then asking Donna, “what am I? What am I now?” It’s not because he’s been given a blank slate and doesn’t know what to do with it, like other regeneration stories. In trying to run away again, to bury the trauma and pain, The Doctor has made it more visible than ever, and doesn’t know what to do with that. 

Ironically, the Toymaker causing the bi-generation was the greatest gift he could’ve given the Doctor, because 15 was exactly who 14 needed to see. He’s happy, energetic, full of life and wonder, but also empathetic, understanding and open. He’s the only other person in the entire universe who The Doctor will listen to (well, one person, we’ll get to the other later), because he knows all of the trauma they went through, and yet, made it through ok.

“But you’re fine.”

“I’m fine, because you fix yourself.”

15 is leading by example, their own ‘ghost of Christmas future’ but positive. 14 now has an ideal self to strive towards, a face born from love and empathy. 14 doesn’t have to ground herself out of moral obligation, 15 will now protect the universe. 

But that leaves one question: why Donna? Out of all of the people to settle down with, why her? That’s easy: because she gets it. 

Donna, out of all of the companions the Doctor traveled with, understood the soul behind the legend, because she recognized someone fundamentally similar to herself. One of Donna’s signature character flaws is her horrendously low self esteem: “I’m nothing special.” no one ever listened to her (thanks Sylvia, for at least cleaning up your act later), so she covered up the silence with noise. She held onto whatever indisputable moments of genius she had to drown out the cacophony of voices shutting her up. Wild Blue Yonder explained this perfectly: Donna believes she is both brilliant and stupid at the same time. 

She lives in two contradictory self images at once, and so does The Doctor. The genius and the idiot. The universe’s most fascinating person, and the person who would easily throw away their life for the betterment of others. She’s seen their blinding arrogance/rage (the Racnoss, Jenny) and their crippling self doubt/loneliness, and always met both with empathy and kindness. 

“Doctor! You can stop now!”

“Cause sometimes I think you need someone to stop you.” 

“It won’t stay like that. She’ll help you. We both will.” 

“Is ‘alright’ special Time Lord code for ‘really not alright’ at all?” “Why?” “Cause I’m alright too.”

Donna shouldered the burden of destroying Pompeii, she silently hugged 10 after coming back from Midnight. All because she knew what all of that would feel like in her own life. She didn’t need to know the history of The Doctor and Davros, because she saw her best friend afraid and knew he would want comfort, because she would too.

Even if Dalek Caan manipulated the timelines to get Donna to him, That friendship was completely real to both of them. We saw what Donna was like without the Doctor in Forest of the Dead and Turn Left, and she always felt some level of unhappiness. 15 years removed from them and she still felt as if something was missing. In every future/reality, she always wanted them there. Same for the Doctor too. Within only a few episodes of losing her, 10 started to fall into becoming the “time lord victorious”. 12 looks the way he does because of Donna’s plea to adhere to his name, and save people. Even before 14 came into existence, the Doctor was willing to tell other people how important she was to them, on account of River recognizing Donna by her name: “you’re Donna, Donna Noble.”

Donna didn’t just travel with the Doctor and she wasn’t just friends with them. She completely understood them, their soulmate. Two halves of a greater whole, The DoctorDonna. 14 stayed because there was a more stable incarnation to take his place, and because his best friend would be there alongside him, helping and supporting him through and through. The Doctor stayed because, for the first time in their life, they felt safe. In where they would be staying, and what they would be leaving behind. 

That's why 15 doubling the TARDIS was so significant. In giving 14 her own TARDIS, 15 is allowing his younger self to have what they always removed from the equation: free will. The Doctor can still go anywhere they want, which makes them even more motivated to stay and fix themself. 14 can feel safe staying with Donna, Wilf, Mel, Rose, Shaun, and Sylvia because the option to travel is still there.

And the truly amazing part of all of this is that the TARDIS knew it from the beginning. Was it a coincidence that very soon after 13 regenerated into 14, the TARDIS landed close to where Donna and Rose would be shopping? 

“You didn’t always take me where I wanted to go.” “No, but I always took you where you needed to go.”

The TARDIS brought the Doctor home, and this time, they stayed. Because it was a place where they wanted and needed to be. 

[lisupandowntown]

7, 10, 24 from the ask game?👀 @writing-whump

Good ones, Sol! Here are the questions, although the list renumbered them when I cut and pasted:

Have you ever written whump inspired by personal experiences?

Logan's celiac saga is the closest personal experience although I was younger when I was diagnosed so it wasn't as dramatic. I did get glutened at restaurants a couple of times though. Weirdly, I don't get sick very often and when I do, I tend to just work through it. Never had strep or an ear infection and rarely get fevers or stomach stuff and when they do, they don't last long. I do get motion sick, but not horribly, and I have meds I take aggressively, lol. I had Covid for three days before I thought to test to see why I was kind of achy. So I have to make a lot up when I write.

What is your favorite whumpy story you have written?

Oh that is hard. I sort of divide my stories into the ones that involve plot and arcs, and those that are more standalone, single scene, character study type things where the focus is on the interaction between the characters and not any plot going on around them. So some are favorites because of plot and some are favorites because of the whump/sickness. I have favorite stories for each of my OCs - for Logan and Gabe it's the ones where he's screwing up and she's trying to teach him to be better, plus I really did like writing his meningitis drama. For Rory, any time he's sick and Noa's taking care of him and he lets himself be a little vulnerable - Icky and More Icky, Saturday Night and Later Saturday Night, things like that. Jeremiah and Drew - I liked Jeremiah's appendicitis drama and ofc I really like the N S F W bits. Adam and Avery - any time they banter and give each other a hard time (and no they aren't a couple but I lump them together)

Do you have any whump pet peeves? Meaning things that just bug you when you see them in a fanfic.

So my biggest pet peeve is something that I know a lot of people like to read, and some writers really love to write. It's something personal for me, but I don't like super drawn out, unrealistic levels of whump or sickness that doesn't really further anything in the story. Just paragraph after paragraph describing how sick the character feels and how they're about to throw up or pass out or whatever but they just . . . don't, and there is no reason for it. There was a writer here a long time ago who is gone now and I really liked their characters and their stories except for the fact that every illness just dragged on way too long. A character who eats a truly unrealistic amount of food and then takes forever to get sick. Every fever making the OC completely delirious to the point their friends want to drag them to the hospital. Now done well and mixed into the plot? Fantastic. But when someone feels that sick, they need to throw up eventually, lol. On the other hand, I'm sometimes guilty of rushing the sickness in my own writing and I know that's a problem too. I'm trying to be more patient about it.

Great questions @writing-whump! (And I know I owe you the other ask - working on that now.)

[nuwho20zine]

“Hold my hand, Doctor. Try to see what I see. We are so lucky we are still alive to see this beautiful world.”

STORY OF THE WEEK: Vincent and the Doctor (season 5, episode 10)

Release date: 5 June 2010 Main characters: Eleventh Doctor & Amy Main villain: Krafayis

Today, we are remembering “Vincent and the Doctor”, one of Doctor Who’s most beloved episode—and for a good reason. Mr Hobbes wrote a beautiful commentary for us, so I’m just going to let him take over.

“A visit to the past to meet Vincent Van Gogh seems like such a simple premise, perhaps even low-hanging fruit to the outsider who knows little about Doctor Who and doesn’t have high expectations for the show. The Doctor and Amy, after spotting a monster in one of Van Gogh’s Louvre paintings, go back in time to protect the famous artist from the alien threat. Even a longtime fan may be expecting nothing but goofy hijinks from such a setup. But what we get instead is a lovingly written tribute to the artist alongside a truly touching exploration of mental health that makes this episode one of the all-time greats. This episode, while not without its levity, knows how to handle its subject matter with sensitivity. We see the social isolation that living in an era without a proper understanding of mental illness causes, as well as brief glimpses of Van Gogh at his absolute worst and how his behavior causes him to drive people off. But none of that stops the writing from treating him sympathetically, focusing on his mental struggles but not letting that define him. Because Van Gogh is still a genius, a master painter, and most importantly of all, a kind man.

“This episode works amazingly both as a standalone that can be watched anytime without any context and a complement to the overarching storylines in this season. With Rory gone, we get to see Amy subconsciously coping with issues she’s not even fully aware she has while trying to help someone with aliens and depression. And this episode is a key moment in grounding the Eleventh Doctor, a quite cartoony figure in comparison to many of his counterparts, showing us how he has a deep understanding of these issues that comes from experience. It’s a very emotional summation of a whole lot of character’s arcs, resisting dreary exploitation or saccharine happy endings in favor of something joyful, heartwrenching, and honest. The ending scenes will shatter your heart into a million pieces and then offer you glue. Absolutely not an episode to be missed.”

🔵 Pre-order the zine here.

[kirsicca]

The camp curse continues with Rori getting the bee poisoning 🐝

Frankie is trying to frank (pun intended) with his feelings and so far it has gone well!

•───────•°•❀•°•───────• Our backpackers: our main guy Frankie Shirey by yours truly Jamie Carpenter by @thebramblewood Roberta Rivera by @lonvely Miranda Chen by @foxsimthings Marcella Vinca by @jonquilyst Asher Reid by @plumbobpaparazzi Uriah Fox by @foxsimthings Katie Hale by @oatberrytea and our tour guide Ralena Ziegler by @kaepy

[asmeninas]

RORY GILMORE

the most shocking ask I've ever gotten... not at all the prepared answer I referred to in the tags of the meme reblog. This threw me for a loop!!!!!!!!

How I feel about this character

she's babygirl. Bur seriously I think she's so much fun to think about and play with in my head. The way her mind works is fascinating to me. Compartmentalizing yourself into derangement is such a great character trait. Even getting to the point of realizing you're acting wild and still blocking out the obvious why, the ways she lies to herself in order to still pretend she fits into this model of who she's supposed to be. So compelling. This is who she is since the pilot, the character she has been since the start, but then she enters a stage in her life where all the structure she held onto is gone. She doesn't turn into another character she's just experiencing life in way that's way less under other people's control and she doesn't know what do with that and with the idea of who she's supposed to be. And then she's presented with the possibility that it's okay to be wild and not follow these rules, self-imposed or otherwise, and it takes her time to settle on what her own personal boundaries are on all that. That's not immature or pretending you're someone you're not, she's 20 years old and trying shit out to see how it fits her. Instead of all of this really interesting (to ME) stuff people just see her as the Girl Who Reads and go like wow we never See Rory Read anymore she got stupid.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

It's just Logan. I would say sorry about being monogamous but WELL.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

obvious answer if we take this as favorite non-romantic relationship is Lorelai, even if I see their relationship as a lot more fraught (from the start) and complicated than I guess most people watching the show. But I think her season one friendship with Lane is so good and special and feels truly real and lived in, and it's a shame that friendship gets progressively pushed back and further back with every season because people and asp herself liked Paris, who sucks, better. At least Lane had Adam Brody for 10 seconds I guess.

My unpopular opinion about this character

She can cheat on whoever and with whoever she wants. I give her permission.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Instead of jess leaving town at the end of s3 she should've been allowed to murder him

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 17: The Time Ripper

Current Masterlist // Previous Story

Fandom: Doctor Who || Pairing: 11th Doctor x OFC

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​​​ @arrthurpendragon​​​​ ​​​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​​​ @stareyedplanet​​​​ @foxesandmagic @kmc1989 @caplanbuckybarnes​​​​

[If you would like to be added to this specific OC’s taglist, let me know!]

A/N: Disclaimer: This chapter's plotline is from Doctor Who's comic stories. Most of the dialogue is directly written from the comic. The plot is NOT mine.

"Victorian London, Victorian London, you know the last time we were here there was a huge giant Cyberman we destroyed, right?" Gabby patted down her checkered green Victorian dress on their way into the console. The Doctor had heard the last bit of her statement followed by Renata's sharp response.

"What?

The Doctor turned from the console in time to see Renata leading the humans in, her expression twisting with outrage.

"There was a what?" She quickly met his eyes and stalked up to him. "Is that the Cyberman you were talking about a while back?"

"U-uh, well...maybe…" The Doctor scratched the back of his head, briefly shooting a glare at Gabby. Explaining the full details of that trip wasn't exactly on his to do list today.

"You just couldn't stop yourself from getting into trouble while I was gone, huh?" Renata shook her head at him. The smile tugging at her lips helped the Doctor relax. She wasn't killing him today.

"Well, that's why I need you around," he cleverly came up with.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not your babysitter."

"No, you're way better," he swiftly turned her around to the others. He took great notice of her Victorian dress in the process. She was regal and stunning as usual.

"Umm, Doctor, is that supposed to be happening?" Rory's voice, unfortunately, dragged the Doctor back to the present. He was motioning to the flashing light on the console.

"Ah, nothing to worry about," the Doctor slipped from Renata's side and had Rory follow him. "Use the egg whisk!"

Rory blinked at the instruction, his head briefly glancing at Amy to make sure he'd heard right. She gave him the confirming nod. "Uh, right, the...the egg whisk."

"Kryon radiation," the Doctor's words pulled Renata's attention. He was at the monitor reading the reasons behind the warning light.

"Are you sure?" She lifted an eyebrow at him.

"That's what the TARDIS says…"

"Let me guess, something alien?" Amy folded her arms over her chest. There had to be a record for the shortest amount of time it took their trips to go haywire. There just had to be one!

Renata said nothing but she hitched the side of her dress and pulled out her sonic from her side pocket. "Well, it sure seems like it. Let's go see what it is." Her expression was far too much like the Doctor's. It left Amy gawking.

The Doctor, despite not seeing Renata's face, was positively beaming. "Did you hear that? My Renée wants to go investigate!" He pulled out his own sonic and dashed after her.

"Lovesick moron," Gabby shook her head, though a part of her was just as happy as the Doctor. Little by little Renata was beginning to let loose.

The trio of humans soon ventured into the dark Victorian street on the other side of the doors. The Doctor and Renata were each holding the sonics in the air, truly investigating together.

"It is Kryon radiation," Renata hummed with interest. "It shouldn't be, but it is. What's it doing here?"

"Why would it even be here?" The Doctor lowered his sonic to take a closer look at the reading. "This is a sleep Victorian street."

"That doesn't look very 'sleepy' to me," Gabby's voice drew the pair's attention. She was pointing at the end of the street where a group of people had gathered. "Looks very awake to me, doesn't it?"

"Oh dear," Renata blinked at the sight. She recognized the formal attire of policemen at work. "Alright, I think we should head back and think about our options…"

"Sorry sir, going to have to stop you there!" She heard the unfamiliar voice of a man and it was only then that she saw the Doctor going towards the stranger. The policeman was trying to hold him back.

"Doctor!" Renata hissed. "One of these days I'm going to make him wait and come up with a proper plan!" She stomped under her dress.

"I'd love to see that," Gabby shared a laugh with Amy. Rory was the only one who thought Renata's annoyance was well placed and not a joking matter. How could the Doctor just walk into a human issue like that?

Renata eventually led the humans towards the spot. They were allowed in at the call of the Doctor's. He was already up to the part where he lies to get the information.

"You could have waited for me," she whisper-hissed when she was at his side.

"Sorry darling, sometimes I just can't help myself," he shrugged. His playful innocence died the moment they got a glimpse of what had driven all the attention.

A woman's corpse laid on the ground with the worst types of lacerations on her body. Behind them, Gabby and Amy swallowed roughly. Rory was more or less used to the scenes from the hospital but this wasn't something nice to look at either. It tugged at his nurse heart seeing the poor woman liked that.

"Her throat was cut," the Doctor noted the deep red gash across the woman's neck. "She died pretty much instantly I reckon. What do you think, Rory?"

Rory blinked at the call of his name. Amy and Gabby shifted so that he could go up to the Time Lords, something that made him absolutely nervous. It was like he'd been sent up to his parents to explain himself. Renata certainly played the part of a mother, he'd come to realize.

"Um, why are you asking me?" He asked in a much more cracking voice than he would've liked. "You're the Doctor here!"

"Yes, but you're the nurse and you've been practicing medicine far more recently than I have."

"He's right Rory," Renata said just as Rory opened his mouth to no doubt argue with him. "I was nowhere near medicine. I was a, um, what would you call it? Event planner? I ran a charity and right now that's not what the situation calls for. It needs a man who's been around patients. So, what do you see?"

Rory swallowed nervously. His eyes fixated on the corpse and did his best to give the right information. "W-well, she's dead — we can see that. Um, the wound was made by something sharp — of course it was Rory, that's a stupid statement."

Renata placed a hand on his arm, stopping him from insulting himself any further. "Rory, you're being too hard on yourself."

He nodded and tried to really think. There was nothing really outstanding on the corpse, at least not with the naked eye. He sniffed. "Actually, there's a funny smell…"

"Breath mints, they're in her hand," the Doctor nodded to the lost bag of mints on the ground, said mints sprawled on the ground.

"No, I know there's a funny smell," Rory insisted, making the Doctor take another whiff. Everyone else did the same.

"Mm, it's something else…" the Doctor started again, "Almost like there should be a smell...but there isn't."

"Doctor," Renata tugged at his sleeve. She had noticed a man at the end of the street seemingly coming towards them. Her sonic was twinkling just as it had when it read off the Kryon radiation. "He's emitting the same radiation signals."

"You're right," the Doctor said after noticing her sonic. "It's not what they're emanating from, but who! Be back in a minute, following a lead!"

"Oh no you don't!" Renata immediately grabbed his arm when he intended on running off. "I'm coming with you this time! I've gotta teach you not to leave me behind!"

"Leave you behind? Never!" He swooped forwards to plant a kiss on her lips then yanked her in the direction of the man, barely giving her time to register everything.

"What about us!?" Gabby called after them and her answer came in the form of the psychic paper. The Doctor had thrown it at her. "Well, he's extra rude today!"

"What exactly are we supposed to do without them?" Rory huffed at the sight of the disappearing Time Lords. "We're in Victorian London! In the past!"

"Calm down Rory, we got this," Gabby promised him and waved the psychic paper. "We just make up lies. Renata hates it but it's literally how we get through these things. I can't exactly go up to people and say 'Hi, I'm Gabby and I'm from the future. Also, my DNA was altered and I have super powers'. Can you imagine how that would go?"

"Give me!" Amy snatched the psychic paper from her, all too eager to see what new identity she would adopt for the case. "I'm thinking detective!"

"I'm thinking it's Victorian London which means no female detectives!" Gabby shot Amy a 'duh' look.

"And who were you again?" One of the policemen came up to the group.

Amy whirled around with the psychic paper in hand. "I'm Miss Marple!"

Gabby snorted beside her and snatched the psychic paper from her, ready to give herself her own alter ego like Amy. Perhaps they would stretch the truth just a bit more today. "I'm Nancy Drew!" Amy did double-take at her and got a wink in return. She was keeping Nancy Drew. "Oh, and he's— " she nodded back at Rory, "—Inspector...Clouiseau?"

Rory would have shaken his head at both women for their playful games at such a horrendous time. "We're with C.S.I. … London?" He was beginning to see why Renata complained about the lying part. It was hard coming up with them on the spot and much more to uphold the lies.

~ 0 ~

Renata and the Doctor ran as fast as they could after the strange man, though Renata felt she was at a huge disadvantage wearing her Victorian dress.

"We just want to talk!" The Doctor called to the man in vain. "Why don't people want to stop and talk anymore?"

"You barely want to do that!" Renata huffed at him.

"Well, if it's with you, always!"

"Why are you flirting with me today more than normal?"

The Doctor beamed. "Ah, so you've noticed! Good, I was beginning to get worried!"

Despite her best efforts not to do it, her lips curved into a flushed smile. It was at that moment that the Doctor got an advantage and caught the stranger's tailcoat.

"You seem to have a lot of Kryon radiation and that's a bit strange as it comes from the Matrua Nebula! I was just wondering if you could—" But the Doctor recoiled when the stranger's appearance flashed from a human man into a green alien resembling a fish's head with land claws.

All Renata saw was the Doctor's body landing on the ground with a hard thud and the green creature scurrying away. "Doctor, what the — are you alright!?" She bent down beside him and helped him sit upright.

"I think so," he said and verbally counted his fingers to make sure that none of them had been bitten away.

"You know what that looked like, right?" Renata pulled him up to his feet and adjusted her dress. This running wasn't precisely what she had in mind when she put it on. "That was a Shimmer. Haven't seen those in a while…"

The Doctor gave a solemn nod of agreement. He reached for her hand and gripped it. "Would you like to go back, Renée? Clearly this isn't a human and I don't quite like the idea of having you near a reptile killer."

Renata shifted her hand so that she was able to squeeze his. "Where you go, I go. We made that promise and I intend to see it through."

The Doctor smiled at her. He led the way down the street in a hasty sprint. They had to catch up to the creature before it did anymore harm.

~ 0 ~

"You seriously went with 'Nancy Drew'?" Rory was looking at Gabby like the woman had lost it giving out that famous name to the policemen.

"I don't see you giving Amy crap for using Miss Marple," Gabby snorted, folding her arms. "And you know, I actually met Agatha Christie" Her expression went grim for a moment as she thought back to those days again. She inwardly sighed. God, she really missed Donna still but no longer would she be guilty about things that weren't in her control. The best she could do now was move on and live as happy as she could be. That's what Donna would've wanted.

"Amy, are you alright?" Gabby heard Rory enquiring and looked over to the ginger who was still staring at the corpse. It wasn't a pretty sight at all but there was something else on Amy's face, something quizzical. "You seem a bit distracted…"

"There's somthing about this murder, I just can't put my finger on it," Amy mumbled, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Things seemed familiar but how could they be? She hadn't been around any other murders…

"Make way for Sir Charles Warren!" One of the policemen announced as an older man in a suit and black tophat came forward. The mustached man only stopped when a reporter demanded details of the latest murder.

"Act sharp guys, looks like he's the boss," Gabby told the others in a hushed voice.

Warren had sent the reporter away and soon was asking about the case and then the trio's presence. With an elbow into Rory's side, he took up the lead and presented themselves.

"City police, eh?" Warren read off the psychic paper. "Well this is Metropolitan police territory! We don't need your kind here thank you! Can I see your identification?" Rory nervously produced the psychic paper to the man's face. As soon as Warren caught a glimpse of it, his entire demeanor changed into a welcoming one. "My apologies, my Lord! I wasn't told that you would be here! Lewis, this is the Earl of Upper Leadworth!" He called to the other man that had first announced him. Rory barely blinked when Warren took the psychic paper from him to show Lewis. "He's believed to be the inspiration for Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes!"

Rory had no idea what the hell was going on and it showed when he glanced at Amy and Gabby helplessly. He was much less amused to find them almost laughing at his reaction. He only looked away when the men started calling to him again. He had to switch back to the lying mode. "Yes, um, hello! Didn't mean to tread on any toes, happened to be in the area and, wkek, you know! These are my assistants, Miss Marple—" his arm gestured towards Amy then shifted to Gabby, — "and Miss Drew."

"Oh, of course!" Amy snapped her fingers suddenly. "Jack the Ripper! I remember this at school! Lizzie Stride…" Her eyes lowered to the corpse. "This is the night of the double murder!"

"You wanna look a little less happy about that?" Gabby was staring incredulously at the ginger.

Even Rory was at a loss of what to say on his fiance's behalf. None of it stopped Amy from continuing on. "It was 45 minutes later when the second body was found — Mitre Square!" She hurried to the closest policeman and grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket. "We can still save her! How do we get to Mitre Square from here?"

"She's lost it," Gabby scowled. It was even worse when the policeman answered Amy's question and gave her the directions she was looking for.

She bolted from the spot.

Gabby dashed after her, yelling for Rory to stay put as another policeman followed them. They needed to strategically split up and since Amy had taken a stupid lead, she would have to follow.

"Amy, you have to stop!" She cried in vain as the ginger kept going. Even the policeman was trying to stop them without success.

Amy was determined to reach the site of the second murder and to her luck, she did. She came to a skidded stop when she saw a green creature standing over a woman's body on the ground. Before she opened her mouth, whether to shout at it or scream, who knew, the creature fired something at her. She clapped a hand at the side of her neck.

"What was that!?"

In a few seconds, her limbs started going numb.

"I can't feel my legs, I can't...I can't move! My v…"

Her voice was drying up as well. Her legs started buckling and at the worst time ever because the creature was coming towards her. She would have liked to scream but her voice was gone. Just as it would reach her, something gold flashed across her.

"Away from her!" Renata had produced a barrier that, truthfully, was costing her quite the energy. She was still working hard to develop these strange powers of hers but she would be damned if she didn't try to use them to protect her friends.

Behind her, the Doctor swooped Amy away from the immediate area and helped her sit on the ground. Whatever Amy was trying to say, the Doctor didn't wait for it as he instead turned to now get Renata away from the creature. He brandished his sonic towards it. "The thing about lizards is that their tympanic membranes are close to the skin! It means that you, my dear, can't help but hear everything incredibly loud!" With a smirk, he flicked his sonic and it produced a loud, eerie noise in the air.

The creature screeched and fell back, allowing Renata to lower the shield. She fell to her knees with a heavy breath but soon had the Doctor at her side.

"Renée, are you alright?" He tried helping her stand but it was too soon for her.

"A-Amy…" She flapped a hand backwards, gesturing towards Amy.

"But…"

"Amy!"

The Doctor cursed her selflessness, though in another moment he would admire it to the fullest extent, and hurried to Amy. She was in and out of consciousness and he soon realized why.

"Dart to the neck. Try not to talk for a moment. It's some kind of muscle relaxant! All we have to do is find out what the creature used…" He trailed off when he realized that the creature was long gone. "Well, that's not good."

"Amy!" Gabby's voice soon carried in seconds before she and the rest of the cops arrived. "Oh God, what happened?" She looked between the trio with a dreadful eye. "I told her not to go but did she listen, noo."

"It's the Ripper!" One of the policemen pointed at the Doctor, having taken a quick scan of the area and made the easiest assumption.

Gabby sent him a scrunched-face glance. "Seriously? We're not doing that." She had barely said the words when the rest of the cops tackled the Doctor to the ground.

Renata wobbled on her feet when she tried turning around. "Hey! Get off of him right this instant!"

They ignored her the first time and instead kept making the wrong assumptions. "He said he was a doctor! We should have guessed!"

Another cop had found the Doctor's sonic. "Is this your weapon? Were you going to kill Miss Marple the same way as the others!?"

"Miss who?" The Doctor lifted an eyebrow at the man, quite calm despite his situation.

Renata huffed and stomped her way towards the men. "Let him go this instant or so help me I will hurt you so badly that you'll be the ones in need of a doctor!"

One of the policemen had stood up to face her. "Ma'am, you are—?"

Renata got right in his face with the angriest eyes she could produce. "I said," she gritted her teeth together, "let him go! That woman is our friend. We arrived together on the scene! Feel free to corroborate that with the first officers we met behind the Metropolitan lines. If you don't and you continue harassing him, I will make sure that your superiors know of your terribly embarrassing mistake. Can't have that, can we?" She flashed the man the sweetest of smiles contrasting her blazing eyes.

The policeman had the good sense to step back.

The Doctor smirked from the ground when the policemen left him alone.

Wipe that smirk off your face right now, he heard the scolding voice of Renata in his mind. It had the opposite effects.

I like this commanding version of you. Now he loved the effect his words had on her. As tall and commanding as she was, her face blushed a deep red that would've been noticed by the others if it had been daylight.

"What is going on?" demanded a new man. All the eyes went to the arrival of another man with Rory at his side.

"We thought we had the Ripper, sir!" The policeman Renata threatened was quick to say and pointed at her, something the Doctor glared at him for. "But this woman is interfering!"

"Seriously, how are you cops?" Gabby frowned at the whole group of policemen agreeing with the man. "You're so incompetent."

"What's happened to Amy?" Rory quickly rushed to Amy's side. She was stirring awake from all the mess.

"Paralyzing dart, she'll be fine in a bit!" The Doctor managed to call as the policemen tried dragging him away.

"Stop this instant!" Renata yelled over the commotion, proving she had the highest voice in the group.

"Alright, alright, let's take a moment here," the man that'd come with Rory finally spoke up.

"But he's the Ripper!" One of the policemen insisted, holding up the Doctor's sonic in the air. "He was going to slice the woman with this!"

The man seemed unimpressed. "With that? A pointy stick? What is this man, a wizard?"

Before Renata could even warn him not to, the Doctor grinned. "Well actually, some people have regarded me as one!"

Renata facepalmed. How was this the most intelligent man in the world? Luckily, no one seemed to take his words literally.

"As far as I've been told, that woman is one of his assistants. Of course he'd be kneeling next to her! Wouldn't you do the same?"

The policeman reluctantly let go of the Doctor. The Time Lord fixed his jacket and swiped his sonic back.

"I rather like the man," he announced and stopped by Renata's side. He cupped her face for a moment, eyes searching for any type of physical injury on her from the energy she expelled.

She didn't say anything but curled her hand around his that rested over her cheek. Her eyes willed him to meet hers. She afforded him a light smile. She was perfectly fine. That was enough for the Doctor to be able to move on.

He turned to the man responsible for easing the situation. "I like this man," he grinned. "Good job, Rory. I wondered where you'd wandered off."

He completely missed Rory's scrunched face. He hadn't wandered away, the Doctor had. Did he just forget that?

"Inspector Abberling," the man introduced himself and shook hands with the Doctor.

"Doctor, Renata," Rory stepped closer to the Time Lords, "he can't see anything on your paper."

"Really?" Renata mused on the implications of what that meant for the man. "I've never met a human who couldn't."

"Means he's a genius!" The Doctor beamed. "Same happened with Shakespeare and Ptolemy! No, wait...that was a sheet of paper. Doesn't count."

Renata put a hand over his arm, smiling at him while he went back and forth with that story. "Please, let's move on."

Abberling found the Doctor as bemusing as anyone else typically would upon first meeting him. He listened to the Doctor review, out loud, what had happened so far as everyone else had missed out.

"This isn't a man! It's a creature! Talon fingers, some kind of leecher, possibly minerals from the deceased's body! That might be why there was a lack of smell, Rory."

"Right…" Rory nodded, trying to act as if he'd understood the connection with that bit of explanation even when he so clearly hadn't. Who would? Even Gabby was looking as puzzled as he was. She'd traveled with the Time Lords for a long time now and if she still didn't get them, then it meant he wasn't doing half bad.

"He's wearing a shimmer suit," Renata said, her eyes lingering on Gabby. Something sparked in the girl's eyes.

"Oh! Like those Vinvocci you met!" Gabby wondered if those same cacti people were now terrorizing Victorian London. It didn't sound like them.

"Okay, what is that?" Amy arched an eyebrow at them.

"It's like an all-in-one disguise kit for aliens that don't look human and it's drenched in Kryon radiation, which means that it's from the Matrua Nebula," the Doctor explained. They started heading back to where the first corpse was.

"What does that mean?" Amy still didn't understand and neither did Rory, nor Gabby for that matter.

"There are two species in that area," Renata started and since she had used simple vocabulary, it gave their companions hope that she would help them understand better. "The Ju'wes and the Re'nar. Either of these races could be our culprit. They were always known to have problems with each other, always getting into trouble and blaming each other for blowing things up." Renata glanced at the trio with a look only a scolding mother could hold. "Absolute children."

The three humans had to look down as if they were the ones in trouble. Without realizing it, they all silently agreed that perhaps Renata would be able to stop those two races from arguing if they placed her in the middle. With the look she had on...anybody would stop dead in their tracks.

As soon as the group reached the site of the corpse, the Doctor took another study of it. Now that he knew what he was looking for, it was easier to draw conclusions. "The peritoneal lining has been cut through, a kidney and the adrenal gland are missing."

Renata came beside him and bent down as much as she could in her dress. "They wanted the Adrenal Medula, where all the stimulants to help you fight or flight are made."

"So...so that's what these things are looking for?" Gabby made a face. That definitely didn't sound like the Vinvocci.

"The Adrenal Medulla is where your body makes adrenaline," the Doctor started, pushing himself up to his feet, "Think of the rush of extra strength or the energy you get when you're scared. It all gets made in that."

"But then why is it choosing to drag the death out?" She peered around his body to the corpse. "It sliced and cut this woman. Why bother?"

"Because it needs the victim to be afraid, terrified," the Doctor said grimly. "The more he does, the more terrified the victim is...and the tastier they are."

Gabby was utterly repulsed. Renata quickly straightened on her feet and took the girl away from the corpse. She would rather the humans not keep looking at the corpse.

~ 0 ~

Inspector Abberline had taken the group to his study in the New Scotland Yard to go over the case.

"Jack the Ripper, I remember reading about him in school," Amy was telling the group once they were alone to 'rest for a bit'. As if they could actually rest with a murderer on the loose. "Wasn't it someone from the Royal Family, though?"

"You've been watching too many movies, Amy," the Doctor gave the ginger a look. "Too many flights of fancy. That said, the fact that he's really a shape-changing alien doesn't seem that far-fetched compared to that."

"I remember the Ripper murders—wasn't there one more, though?" asked Rory. "Mary somebody? We could tell her and save her."

"Oh no, we can't do that," Renata shook her head, subjecting herself to the same crazed looks from him and Amy.

"What do you mean 'doesn't work like that'?" Amy was soon to gain outrage at the situation. "You mean you'll just let her die?"

"Don't give me that look," snapped the Time Lady. "I don't know about this murderer but I get the feeling that he was big in Earth history—"

"He is," the Doctor grimly confirmed. "Every victim is a static point in space and time. They can't be altered."

"History can't be changed," Renata said.

This still wasn't good enough for Amy. "But you chased him! If you'd caught him, what would have happened then?"

"Amy, we chased him before we knew what the true nature of the event was," Renata pointed out.

"And if you note, Amy, he got away," the Doctor said, making Amy roll her eyes. "Time takes care of some things on its own. Poor Mary has to die—that much I know. But she was the Ripper's last victim. Which means that after he kills her—he's mine."

Gabby's face scrunched. "I don't think that sounds any better."

"Inspector Clouseau!" One of the police offers flung the door open. "Come quick! We've found a clue and a message from the Ripper!"

An ominous atmosphere fell over the group. They returned to the streets and were led up to a building that indeed held a message for them.

'The Ju'wes are not the men. We will be blamed for nothing.'

"What does it mean?" Abberline hoped to get some answers from the group because so far, his people had nothing.

"The Ju'wes on Earth?" Renata whispered to the Doctor, ow more confused than ever. "Why here?"

"What is it?" Gabby asked the pair of Time Lords. "What does the message mean?"

"It means that I was right. It was the Ju'wes or someone who wants us to think so," the Doctor sighed, bringing a hand to the back of his neck to rub. This was about to get even more complicated.

"Think?" Rory caught onto the key word.

Before the Doctor could explain, another man came roaring onto the site. "What are you doing, man!? You want to start a riot? Clean the message off right away!"

"But sir, we haven't been able to take a picture yet!" Abberline exclaimed. "In an hour or so, it'll be light enough and then—"

"I didn't say 'do it in a couple of hours', I said do it now!"

The two men went back and forth with each other, their voices getting louder with each minute that passed by.

"Oh God, this is a waste of time," Renata glanced at the Doctor.

He nodded in agreement. "Come on, we'll not find anything else here tonight." He made a turn and held his arm out for Renata to take. She curled her arm around his and together led their companions away from the scene. "Going on Ju'wes physiology, the Ripper has feasted enough for a few weeks. We need to prepare for when he returns, not chase where he's been."

They returned to the TARDIS to skip those weeks but Amy wasn't having it.

"So what, we're just going to leave Mary to die!?"

"Amy, we've been over this," Renata sent an irritated look in Amy's direction. "Don't you understand? What would happen if we were to intervene and save this Mary?"

"Well—" Amy began but Renata cut her off with a sharp voice.

"Catastrophe, Amelia Pond!" Amy flinched and so did Rory and Gabby on her behalf. Renata didn't look the least bit fazed by her hard attitude. "Reality would change. The Ripper's victims may increase because he couldn't kill this woman."

"But what if we stopped him before he killed her? Then he wouldn't be able to kill elsewhere! Then Mary would live!"

Renata's jaw tightened. Wasn't Amy listening to her? "But what if Mary then gave birth to someone not meant to exist? Another Hitler, for example?"

"Anything could happen every time you walk out of the TARDIS door!"

"Amelia Pond, stop this!" Renata spun around to the Doctor, gesturing for him to make a comment or something that would help Amy see the reality of the situation.

"She's got a point, Renata," Rory said and immediately heard Gabby sighing 'don't help' on the side. "You and the Doctor interfere all the time with Earth's history. Why is this any different?"

"Because we don't like interfering with history!" The Doctor snapped. "Usually something non-linear is affecting it and I'm returning everything to its original state. With this, however, the Ripper killings are the original state, alien or no alien. It's supposed to happen."

Amy was shaking her head fervently.

"Without Mary's death to emphasize their mistakes, the metropolitan and city police wouldn't end up working together. All of London would be changed. But what we can do—" The Doctor came to an abrupt stop after looking up and finding no such Pond in the room.

"Where did she go!?" Gabby dreaded the answer.

Renata was absolutely furious with the girl. "Oh my goodness! She's going to do something reckless after we told her not to!" She pointed a finger at the Doctor. "She cannot travel like this, Doctor," she said as she stormed out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor said nothing but the look on his face was more or less the same anger as Renata's. There was only so much they could let slide from their companions and right now, Amy was pushing it.

~ 0 ~

The Ju'Wes decided to make its presence known to the Doctor and Renata when they split up to find Amy. Though it was a blatant attempt to scare them — since neither of them were harmed — the creature revealed its true intentions. He was not a Ju'Wes, but a Re'Nar instead and he would make sure that the Ripper's murders were blamed on the Ju'Wes.

"This keeps getting worse and worse," Renata huffed on their way back to the Scotland Yard offices. "I hope that Rory and Gabriella were able to find Amy before she does anything stupid. Honestly, the nerve of that girl—"

The Doctor slipped his hand around hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You can't let this cloud your head right now."

"How are you so calm about this?"

"She's not the first companion to do something like this. Remember Donna?"

"How could I forget her," Renata said in a whisper and sighed. "But...I just can't tolerate someone who doesn't listen."

"Well…" The Doctor sent her a teasing smile that, despite her best efforts not to, made her relax a bit.

"Shush," she wagged a finger at him with her free hand. "This is just different. Amy blatantly disregarded my words as if I didn't know what I was talking about. And it's not the first time she tries to do something stupid. Either she learns, or she needs to leave, Doctor. Donna learned."

The Doctor nodded.

Together, they reached the offices and found Charles Warren working. He was thoroughly surprised when he noticed he was no longer alone in the room.

"Hat the devil!? Don't you know how to knock?" He eyed the strange gold device the Doctor held in his hand. It was glowing. "I could have been handling sensitive information here!"

"Really, sir Charles? Or are you just worried that someone might see your real face?" The Doctor raised the sonic in the air, letting it whirr. "A lot of Kryon radiation around you, sir Charles. I should have guessed when you demanded the sign to be removed."

"Why?" the man sneered, "So Gallifreyans could claim jurisdiction over my prey? I don't think so, Doctor."

"So you knew who we were from the start," Renata noted. "You're an imposter. Where's the real Charles Warren? Have you hurt him?"

"He's having a nice long holiday while I take his form."

That honestly surprised both Time Lords. At least they knew that the real human was safe and sound.

"So let me guess, you're using Warren's position to help with hunting the Ripper," the Doctor put his sonic away. "What is he? An escaped Re'Nar?"

Another note of surprise was the fact that Warren didn't attempt to avoid the answers. Someone asked, and he answered. "During the war, many terrible things were done. And at the end of it, we atoned for our sins. Mac'Atyde — that's who you know as the Ripper — didn't." He moved towards a table for a drink. "He enjoyed what he had become. And he hunted for more sport. He had to be stopped. I had to stop him." He turned around and offered the pair two glasses. "Here. Dandelion and Burdock. Anyway, we fought in deep space, but both ships fell through a Temporal Eddy. He crash-landed here. I followed. By the time I found him, he'd already killed once. To gain intelligence on the case, I took this form, put the real sir Charles in a safe place."

"This is one big outer-space chase," Renata sighed. "And the humans are caught in the middle."

"I'm from the future," Warren said. "I know Earth's history, how the Ripper's murders end. I'm aware of cause and effect. I'll keep on him until the last murder, then I'll retire 'Warren', let the real one return, and slip into the shadows."

"And what about when you catch him?" the Doctor asked. "Execution? Or take him to trial?"

"That's where you come in. Both our ships were destroyed and neither are capable of time travel. Why else do you think I let your human friend work on the case?"

"Yeah, let's not tell him that bit," the Doctor mumbled. Renata elbowed him on the side. "What?" She shook her head at him. "The Ripper strikes again in 5 weeks, we'll see you then, sir Charles."

"But know this," Renata settled a sharp look on the man, "if you try to play us, trick us, in any way...you will go down." Her eyes flashed a dangerous gold. "Earth is not a playground."

~ 0 ~

As the Time Lords found the TARDIS again, they saw their companions returning as well.

"Found her before she could cause any trouble?" The Doctor asked, keeping his eyes off the ginger in question.

"Kind of," Rory shrugged. Gabby snorted. Amy had been able to warn Mary about the Ripper but the woman hadn't believed it. They would keep it to themselves since it didn't do any change to the time line.

"Hey! Stop talking like I'm not even here!" Amy exclaimed.

"You, Amelia Pond," Renata's eyes narrowed on the woman, "shouldn't even talk right now. Your tenure in the TARDIS is in jeopardy and don't even give me that look of shock, not when you know exactly what you did to warrant such a consequence!"

Amy wouldn't try to do any look, much less try to argue. She knew exactly what she'd done but only now was realizing that those consequences could be mighty.

"Doctor! Inspector Clouseau! What are you doing?" Abberline approached the group.

"Hi Abberline, glad you got my note," the Doctor sauntered up to the TARDIS and unlocked it. "Look, I'm going to be quite blunt here. You're going to see some strange things but please know that we're on your side. Be back here on November the 8th at 9 p.,. Bring some men, got that?"

"Strange things?" Abberline noticed the rest of the group filing behind the Doctor as if they were all going to crowd into the blue box.

"Just stay right there and you'll see what I mean," the Doctor promised and went inside the TARDIS first.

"So, what's the plan?" Gabby asked them first thing inside.

"Nothing happens for the next month, so I thought we'd jump a few weeks and catch the Ripper on his last murder," the Doctor went straight to the console.

"So we're letting Mary die, still?" Amy couldn't help the disappointment that crossed her face. As angry as she knew Renata was, she still had a little hope that maybe she would get past it and do something for someone innocent.

"Actually, no," the Doctor left her dumbfounded. He worked the console to move them towards the weeks into November. "We're going to save her. Abberline's men will join us as we wait for the Ripper to strike and then when he does — we've got him!"

"What?" Amy quickly looked over to Renata, waiting to see what the Time Lady had to say.

Renata would not look at her. "We need to go," she headed for the doors after the TARDIS landed. As soon as she stepped out, she came face to face with Abberline and his group of men behind him. "Evening gentlemen."

"I...I can't believe my eyes!" Abberline said with his wide, blinking eyes.

"Oh trust me, inspector Abberline," the Doctor stepped out beside Renata, "A materializing blue box is nothing compared to what you'll see later."

For the rest of the evening, the group and the policemen would wait for the Ripper to show up. Outside of the last victim's home, the travelers separated in two groups while Abberline directed his men around the other streets. Hours ticked by with nothing to show and even when dawn came by, everything remained still.

At 10 a.m, one of the police officers cried murder. Mary Kelley had been murdered instead of Mary Warner.

"But you said Mary Warner was the next victim!" Abberline stood in front of the Time Lords with a helpless face.

"She was," the Doctor insisted. "I don't understand—" He and Renata suddenly paused in their spots.

"What's going on?" Rory approached the pair in time to see the sight. Each of them were clutching their heads, groaning in pain.

"We can feel Time altering," Renata scrunched her face. She had never been one for Earth history but when something as big as the Ripper's timeline was changing, she was bound to feel the massive effect.

"Mary Kelly was the fifth Ripper victim, not Warner!" The Doctor raised his head up to get some air. "What did Amy do!?"

"Nothing!" Rory exclaimed but soon realized it wasn't entirely true. Amy had gotten a chance to warn that Mary. Maybe she decided to believe Amy after all. "I mean...she spoke to two women. She tried to warn them but they laughed her off."

Renata dropped her hands to her side with a growl. "The universe has changed because of Amy's words and with the change, the present is fluid again! We don't know what happens next with the Ripper. Thanks to Amy, he could kill again and be anywhere."

"I-I don't think she realized," Rory said, knowing full well this is exactly what Renata had warned Amy about.

"Where's Amy and Gabby?" the Doctor asked. He checked their immediate area but didn't see either girl.

"They split up…" Rory trailed off shortly when he realized what he'd said. Oh God.

~ 0 ~

Gabby struggled against the binds around her wrists and the gag in her mouth. She would've shot Amy the death glare had they not been already getting one from the Re'Nar itself.

"Don't worry ladies, I've already eaten. You're going to be a message. A bloodied, battered, incredibly dead one. A message that says 'The Ripper still lives and now he kills purely for fun!'

~ 0 ~

White Chapel, 2011.

With two companions missing and the Ripper still on the loose, the Time Lords and Rory hopped into the future to see exactly what they were dealing with. History was still changing which made it impossible for the Doctor and Renata to 'see it' in their minds just yet. They needed to see it from a human's perspective. They visited the only spot possible for such an answer: the Ripper tour.

An old man was in the middle of the tour, listing off the Ripper's known victims when they heard key names. "...Catherine Eddows, Mary Kelly, Amelia Maple, Nancy Drew, Mary Warner—"

"Amy used 'Miss Marple' and Gabby used 'Nancy Drew' as their names," Rory swallowed a big lump in his throat.

The noise that came out of Renata's mouth was nothing human, nor alien for that matter. She nearly fell back if the Doctor hadn't caught her. "Not Gabriella! Poor Amy!" As mad as she was with the girl, she never wanted anything to happen to Amy.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on! Mary Warner was the original fifth and final victim. That can't be a coincidence!" The Doctor waved a hand for the tour man to stop. "Exactly when and where did Amelia and Nancy die? How close after Mary Kelly was it?"

"They were found following the night with the body of Mary Warner, in a yard on the junction of Hanbury Street and Brick Lane!" The tour man answered then raised a finger at the trio. "Unlike the others, these three were murdered elsewhere and then brought to this place of resting. Nobody has ever understood why!"

"Oh wait till I get my hands on that creature!" Renata curled her hands into fists. She spun around to head back into the TARDIS but Rory was already halfway there. He was getting his fiance back one way or another!

"Right then," the Doctor was last in the TARDIS, "If the girls were found the following night, that means they're going to be murdered tonight!"

"But why tonight?" Rory watched the Time Lords work fervently around the console. "Why not tomorrow night? Or next week? Seriously, why not just go back to the previous day and stop Amy from even leaving the TARDIS?"

"Oh, another bad idea!" Renata shook her head, her tone sharp with disapproval. Rory suspected that she hadn't even meant it for him specifically.

"It's cause and effect, Rory," the Doctor explained. "You know how it works. Look what's happened with Mary Kelly! We're part of history now. It has to happen—"

"It's Amy, Doctor!" Rory exclaimed. "It's Amy—"

"ENOUGH!" Renata's loud roar silenced the human in his spot. She was livid now and it was definitely directed at him this time. "I have had it with you humans disregarding our words like we didn't even say anything in the first place! We explicitly told Amy not to do anything but she did whatever the hell she wanted anyways!"

Rory side-glanced the Doctor for his help but it seemed like this time Renata was taking the reigns. "So you won't save Amy because she made a mistake?" Rory winced at Renata's humorless laugh.

"You still don't get it," she rolled her eyes. "Of course we'll try to save Amy because she's our friend. That's the point. She's reckless and we're expected to clean up her mess, thus giving her the illusion that'll always be like this." She looked Rory in the eyes, challenging him to say it was otherwise. Of course, he wouldn't. "It won't always be like this, Rory." Her words were the last words spoken until they returned to Victorian London.

~ 0 ~

Neither Amy nor Gabby could figure out where they were. The best they could guess was a cellar of some sort.

"This is awful," Gabby sighed after another round of struggles to free herself. The cellar was cluttered with all types of metal scraps. She was sure some of them were actual weapons but she couldn't get anything closer.

Amy kept staring at Mary Kelly lying unconscious across from them. It seemed like her words hadn't mattered in the end. She was still going to die anyway.

"Here we are," the Re'Nar stomped its way towards them. The look of disgust was the same in the girls' expressions. The green creature resembled a huge walking fish with big sharp shark teeth. "I have a score to settle with your Doctor. I'll leave your broken bodies for him to find and then I'll take his time craft. Are you scared yet? Mmm, smell those pheromones. You smell so good I could just eat you."

"If you had wanted to eat us, you would've done it earlier," Amy frowned. "You said it before too."

"Right, but what about her?" The creature nodded its head towards Mary Kelly. "The woman you spoke with in the Ten Bells. The woman you told to run from me."

Gabby swung her head in Amy's direction. "Way to go, Amy." The ginger ducked her head in response. With a sigh, Gabby shifted her gaze towards Mary. "Why isn't she moving? What have you done with her?"

"The same as I once did to your friend," the Re'Nar said. "She has the Nerve Agent running through her body, paralyzing her. However, your bodies shake off the toxins faster than expected, and I dare not overdose your systems. For I want you to feel everything I do to you. I want you to be terrified beyond mortal comprehension. You will be my tastiest meal ever and the Time Lords will know. Contemplate your fate," it turned to leave the cellar. "It will scare you more and that pleases me. I will be back tonight."

"Mary!" Amy called as soon as the creature was gone. "Are you alright? Can you move? Can you hear me?"

Mary had opened her eyes and though she spoke slowly, she did manage to speak. "I can speak but I can't move a muscle below my neck! It's the Ripper, isn't it? What manner of demon is it? We're going to die, aren't we?"

"No, we're not," Gabby glanced behind her shoulder to her bound wrists. She'd been trying to conjure up her abilities to slice through the rags. She had to get it right.

~ 0 ~

"I still don't know how this thing works, Doctor, whether it's smoke and mirrors or dark magics…" Abberline couldn't take his eyes off the TARDIS. "But I'm certainly glad you're on our side...you are, aren't you?"

"Indeed we are," the Doctor nodded affirmatively. "And now we know what the Ripper plans for tonight!"

Renata stepped out of the TARDIS wearing normal clothes now. She thought it was best to wear pants than a Victorian London gown for what was to come. "There's a tripple murder tonight, gentlemen. Three bodies."

"Amy, Gabby and Mary, we've got 12 hours to find them," Rory said quickly, hoping to get the search started now.

"Where's sir Charles?" asked the Doctor. "He should have been here by now."

"Sir Charles Warren? He's off the case!" Abberline said. "He resigned yesterday. There's nobody leading the Ripper case now, just us."

"Don't be so sure of that, Abberline," Sir Charles himself approached the group. "There are more people hunting this man than you could ever imagine."

"Sir Charles!" Abberline blinked at the sight of the man. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Well, technically, he's not seeing you now, is he sir Charles?" the Doctor smirked. "Want to show our Mister Abberline the truth?"

The man seemingly nodded and changed forms right before their eyes. Abberline audibly gasped when he saw the large creature in front of him.

"The real sir Charles Warren is somewhere safe until the Ripper is caught," the Ju'Wes explained to the stunned human. "Once I have him, we will return to my homeworld where he'll stand trial for these and so many other war crimes."

"We need sketch artists to copy these pictures," Renata came up to Abberline with two photographs of Amy and Gabby. "We're treating them as kidnaps. Spread them around. By the way, who's in charge now?"

"Well technically, as someone who's not linked to Metropolitan or City Police...the current head of the Ripper task force is you, Inspector Clouseau," Abberline left Rory utterly dumbfounded.

Renata and the Doctor sent simultaneous looks in Rory's way. "Well Rory, please do something," Renata handed him the pictures of the girls.

"Right," Rory nodded. He looked between the pictures and Abberline then held them out for him. "I'd like these pictures copied."

The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. "Well done! Always knew you had it in you. Quite a promotion! Now everyone, stay here for a moment, I have something that might help!" He let go of Rory and hurried into the TARDIS.

"What's he doing?" Rory asked Renata.

"Admittedly, it's a pretty good plan," the Time Lady shrugged.

The Doctor returned wearing a metal contraption around his chest. Just the sight of him wearing it with that stupid grin of his made Renata question her feelings for him.

"Since the Re'Nar has Kryon energy that we can sometimes track, and Amy and Gabby both have the same energy signatures from the TARDIS travels, we can use this!" The Doctor patted the metal mirrors sticking out around him. "The People-Finder-Upper-Tracker Thing! Not a great name, but early days. C'mon! Let's fund us a Ripper!"

Renata sighed as he marched on. "Please look a little less excited, sweetheart?"

~ 0 ~

Mary Kelly groaned in her struggle to move. She cried out for someone to help her until the Re'Nar came stomping in.

"Will you shut up!? Or do I have to use more Nerve Agent!?" It crossed the room towards Mary only to be hit by a strike of purple butterflies.

"Now Amy!" Gabby pulled her hands back just as Amy used one of the scrap metals to emit a high-pitch noise.

"The Doctor did say you'd hear louder than we do," Amy smirked as the creature was forced to run out of the room.

"Aaaaaand now we run too!" Gabby rushed towards Mary. "That noise will only keep it away for so long!"

"What...what was that?" Mary groggily stared at Gabby as the two girls helped her up. "With the—with the butterflies…?"

"Just a trick," Gabby made a face at Amy. They didn't want to further traumatize poor Mary by going into the elaborate details of the Cosmic Butterfly.

~ 0 ~

The search party went on for hours in the streets. The Doctor used his device around him to get a better read on the girls. Renata tried to act on her Vortex Butterfly abilities to see if the connection between her and Gabby was still active. They hadn't tried it since it happened on the Crucible but they were aware that the connection had weakened since then.

"I should be able to find her but I...I can't really feel her," Renata sighed.

"We'll find them," the Doctor assured her. He reached out to rub a hand down her back. "We always do."

Renata nodded, trying to convince herself that they would. It was like she told Rory, they didn't always get to save everyone.

"Inspector Clouseau!" Abberline called from a distance. Rory sprinted towards the man, prompting the Time Lords to follow. "This man thinks he's seen your friends! Finch street off Brick Lane!"

"That's North of here," the Doctor hummed, still neck deep in his device. "Let me adjust the dial, spin the cogs...yes! There's definitely some Kryon radiation that way!"

"Then let's go!" Renata motioned the men to lead them that way.

They ran towards the street and the closer they got, the more noises they started to hear. It sounded like screams and roaring.

"That house has a massive amount of Kryon radiation!" The Doctor pointed to a two-story home across the street. "He must have parts of his ship there!"

Not a minute after declaring that, the girls and Mary Kelly burst from the door.

"Help! Help!" Amy pulled Mary with her while Gabby pushed them to the side. The Re'Nar jumped out of the door, ready to attack the group when the Ju'Wes—in its true form—attacked first.

"Give it up, Mac'Atyde!" It roared against the green creature. "I'm here to take you back before you kill again!"

"Take me back?" Mac'Atyde screeched. "And how do you plan to do that? We're hundreds of years before the war! I can't believe you sided with the Time Lords! You'll use their device to counteract mine!"

"Shouldn't we do something?" Abberline's head kept switching back and forth between the two creatures.

"...it wasn't a freak temporal Eddy that sent us here! I created a time portal, and I intend to open it again," the Mac'Atyde was arguing. "All of London will be sucked through into dead space! The most terrifying thing ever and the Ju'West will be blamed! The Re'Nar will win before the war even starts!"

"There's a big portal of doom somewhere in this house," the Doctor pulled off his device around him.

"It must be in the cellar!" Gabby said quickly. "It's where he had us!"

"C'mon," Renata helped the Doctor take off the device once and for all. The two creatures had begun fighting behind them.

The two hurried into the house, down to the cellar as Gabby instructed them. It didn't take much searching to find the device the Re'Nar spoke about. It was set to the corner and was glowing.

"That looks like it'll be going off any moment now," Renata dreaded to be right. She eyed the strange device standing on its four legs. If anything, it looked like a camera.

The Doctor sonicked the device and hated the results. "I can't turn it off—it's already started! All I can do is reduce the effect, localize it...but I don't have a suitable focus source!"

"Doctor, yes you do," Renata smiled lightly. "One of your ridiculous devices as usual."

The Doctor beamed. "Of course!" He jumped to his feet and grabbed her face to plant a kiss on her. "Genius!"

"O-okay," Renata blinked and yelped when the Doctor pulled her down in front of the device.

~ 0 ~

"No more killing!" roared the Ju'Wes as it tackled Mac'Atyde to the ground.

They clawed at each other with all their might, drawing blood on occasion. No human dared to get in the way for fear of losing a limb in the process. They only stopped when a bright yellow light emerged from the building. The Doctor and Renata were holding onto the device as a portal swirled into existence.

"Mac'Atyde! Stop now or we'll make sure you can never go home!" The Doctor called out to the creature.

"You fool! My ship was destroyed!" Mac'Atyde said. "Through that portal is empty space—I'd die! I can never go home anyway!"

"Do you really want to know how we beat the Re'Nar?" asked the Ju'Wes. "It's very simple, you know. We were willing to do the one thing that you weren't."

"And that was?" sneered Mac'Atyde.

"Sacrifice!" The Ju'Wes threw himself onto Mac'Atyde and then yanked him towards the portal. It snapped shut behind them.

"Where did they go?" Abberline swallowed hard at the leftovers of the site. "Tell me the Ripper hasn't escaped."

"Yeah, 'escape' isn't exactly what I'd call it," Renata sighed as she and the Doctor lowered the device to the ground. "On the other side of this portal is the depths of space. No spaceship, no suit. Instant death, Abberline, is what awaited them."

"What happens now?" asked Amy, her eyes flickering from the Time Lords to Abberline. "I mean, the Ripper is dead…"

"Yes but I can't prove it, can I?" Abberline smiled tightly. No, he wouldn't be able to prove it at all. "We'll continue the investigation and let it slowly fade away. With no more killings, Tom Bullen and his paper won't have anything to scare people with. The Ripper will be forgotten."

"Oh, it'll never be forgotten, Inspector Abberline," the Doctor said grimly as he reached for Renata's hand.

~ 0 ~

When it was time to return home, the first thing they did was check the time lines. There were no records of any of the travelers in any book. Something notable was the fact that Mary Kelly ended up dying one year after they left.

"So time basically healed itself," Amy said, scratching her cheek as she cautiously glanced over to Renata.

The Time Lady eventually met her gaze but once she did, Amy wished she hadn't. Renata's eyes were stone cold. "Don't you dare say everything turned out fine, Amelia Pond," her voice was cold to match. "The anger and disappointment that I feel for you right now is beyond me."

"I know I did something bad—"

"No, you don't, because you're about to excuse yourself right now with some poor line." Renata folded her arms over her chest. "I don't need nor want to know what you thought was right because the fact is you didn't know. You don't. You chose to ignore what I said, what the Doctor said, and then everyone just expected us to come save you when it blew up in your face!"

Amy ducked her head. She honestly felt like a child being scolded except Renata wasn't her mother and this situation wasn't what a child would get scolded for. She had messed with Time itself.

Renata shook her head at Amy. "You do that again and I swear that I will drop you back on Earth myself, do you understand?"

Amy had no choice but to simply nod. She couldn't afford to say something else that would set Renata off again. She met Renata's gaze for only a second before the Time Lady turned and stormed out of the room.

"I messed up bad," Amy's admission came in a quiet whisper. By that point, the Doctor had gone after Renata without supporting her nor defending Amy.

"Yeah, you kind of did," Gabby agreeing with Amy earned her a sharp look from Rory.

"That doesn't help," he said and walked over to Amy's side.

"You guys still don't get it," Gabby folded her arms over her chest. "If you want to stick around, you need to get it."

"What, like you've never made mistakes?" Amy bitterly asked.

"Of course I have! That's why I'm trying to tell you how things are! Look," Gabby walked up to the two. "my DNA may be all screwed up so that I'm part of a Cosmic entity or something but at my root, at my core, I am still a human. I know exactly what thoughts and feelings you guys have when we go to places like the one we just went to because I had them too. Of course I'd love to save everybody but the reality is we'd be doing more harm than good. Unfortunately, our Time Lords are in charge of making the choices that aren't pretty. They feel terrible enough. We shouldn't make things worse by mucking it up even more for them."

"So we let people die?" Even as Amy said it she still couldn't stomach it.

Gabby nodded. "The ones that Time dictates. Otherwise...I'm sorry but you won't be able to travel." She rested a hand on Amy's shoulder, offering her support despite the rocky air between them. It was something tricky to deal with but eventually, Amy would have to.

[whimsicaldragonette]

ARC Review: Viscounts and Villainy by Allie Therin

Publication Date: July 1, 2025

About the Book:

Don’t miss the conclusion to this spin-off series from Allie Therin’s acclaimed Magic in Manhattan universe! Love redeemed them, but the past isn’t done with them yet. New York, 1925 For jaded Lord Fine—Wesley, to the friends he’s surprised he now has—falling into his lover Sebastian’s world of magic and intrigue has changed everything. But when a plot to destroy magic is linked to Wesley’s own aristocratic world, he’s determined to root it out—especially when it threatens newly vulnerable Sebastian. Sebastian will never regret sacrificing his magic to save Wesley’s life, even if life without magic is challenging and sometimes dangerous. But now he faces the biggest danger infiltrating Wesley’s viscount circles to find a villain, without magic to protect them, because Sebastian’s magic is gone forever…isn’t it? Joined by old friends, Wesley and Sebastian follow the clues from New York’s speakeasies, across the ocean to England, and finally to a duke’s country estate. Always one step behind, they must race against time to stop those responsible and end the threat to the world, and magic, once and for all. Roaring Twenties Magic Book 1: Proper Scoundrels Book 2: Once a Rogue Book 3: Viscounts & Villainy

My Review:

5 of 5 stars

This was such a good conclusion to the trilogy! I binged books 1 and 2 on audio in preparation for reading this, as it had been a few years since I had read them. And I'm glad I did because a) I did not remember nearly enough of the plot details and b) it was a delight to experience them again. The audiobook narrator does an amazing job with the voices and really brings the characters to life. Jade and Zhang have a smaller role to play in this book, as they are off camera chasing their own leads and mostly showing up via telegram. Arthur and Rory are there as sidekicks instead, although they also spend much of the time off-camera, leaving the focus of the story and plot to fall on Wesley and Sebastian. As it should be. Watching Wesley learn to be vulnerable, and Sebastian learn to forgive himself, was wonderful, as was seeing their developing relationship. The plot was at times a little hard to follow, as there was a large cast of unfamiliar characters from Wesley's world. Once I got it sorted in my head though, I greatly enjoyed it. And it wraps things up nicely while still leaving room for future adventures. I'm coming to appreciate Allie Therin's writing more and more. Her wit and turn of phrase and masterful characterization all add up to a truly exceptional reading experience. I eagerly await the chance to devour her next book. I have also preordered the audiobook of this one and will be listening to it - and most likely, the other two as well - as soon as I get my hands on it. This series has entered my list of comfort reads I keep coming back to. *Thanks to Carina Press for providing an early copy for review.

[8unknowndoee]

!!!!!!! MAGNUS PROTOCOL SEASON 1 EPILOGUE SPOILERS !!!!!!!!!

So, I want to scream. Forever- preferably into the black hole / universal brain altering horrific beauty that is the reality wound.

The next few paragraphs should be proceeded with caution- I might have actually gone insane while writing this and you can tell by the strange paste and everything as it slowly goes down and drowns with other t.v. show references because my mind was racing.

So, I guess don't read if you don't want random unimportant references to Gravity Falls, Teen Wolf and My Babysitter's a Vampire.

Okay, first off. I both live in fear and excitement for the OIAR under Gwen's leadership because she is clueless. She is in the same position of power as Elias as in Archives but the exact opposite on everything else. She has no clue of the horrors that are truly around her, the few externals she has met is nothing in comparison to what Lena must know- to what Elias knew. Unlike Elias, Bastard of the Eye, his eyes are wide open to everything.

Gwen? Gwen has her eyes shut closed tightly and those few moments with the externals she spent was just her squinting at the bright light of horror that the actual world she lives in is. She doesn't even know what to do now that she is appointed Lena's position, she's just waiting there, tapping her nails away on her desk. She doesn't have a clue on what to do. She might have honestly aimed for a position of power she had no clue about, she just wanted the position and maybe the power that came with it within the OIAR without clearly seeming to think through what Lena might have been doing behind closed doors.

She's floundering and maybe if things had been alright, she could have learned slowly- if not in its own spectacularly horrible way but now? Now? Now is actual hell, Sam and the Archivist, in their eyes, presumably died. Colin is most likely dead inside their own work room's servers. The only one who may have had some sort of clue was fired and gone, leaving someone who has their eyes shut leading it all and we still don't know what Teddy might bring to the table.

Also, about the Colin ending, he might actually be dead or that ending became the most fucked version of Soos crawling into the arcade game machine in the world- it'll be that episode of My Babysitter's a Vampire where Rory was taken over by the sentient tree's crossbreed roots of electronic and plant life except it's all in one server machine rather then a school's computer room and crossbreed of him rather then plant life. Which is horrifying if he's still aware.

Which, Hello?

Did the Freddie Program do this separate to the three voices within it, just a machine that has been corrupted in a way similar to the tape recorder being able to bite? Did Jon? Martin? Jonah? Some fucked sense mix of the three's consciousness trying to move things along? Will Jon, who has been shown to place his hands into things via emails and specifically placed statements, send Gwen emails as a way to guide her into doing what he wants, guide Alice or Celia into something else?

In a fucked up sense will Jon become the Eye to this group of people, except more hands on? Will he be something similar to the Web and the Eye in the way where he isn't just watching as the Eye had but also playing a part in it well enough to pull strings along?

Is Jon building his own web of manipulations and schemes in this world, to become a later antagonist? Are the other two aware of this?Is Jon aware of this? I might actually go insane with how many random thoughts my brain is just coming up with as I write this.

Colin- Colin. My bastard, I'm in pain because we saw so little of him, less than Sasha which is why I'm leaving that horrified ending scream not as a 'he's dead!' and more of an horrifying open-ending of Colin pulling a Corey being part of the train stations's electrical manufacturing in Teen Wolf- like, it would be horrifying if he's alive let alone aware of everything that is happening but anything to make the problems here even larger. Colin fighting Jon literally from the inside.

Finally, the smallest but biggest thing of the whole Epilogue, Sam. He's alive! Hadn't doubted that because main character but what of the Archivist- what of the world they landed in? Is it our post-apocalypse world of Magnus Archives or new, crueler/kinder world? The tape recorder is there and we heard from it so we will hear from Sam still in this new world along with those in the OIAR within the computers, phones and lines.

I'm passing out now, the black hole / universal brain altering horrific beauty that is the reality wound has been screamed into.

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Trick or Treat

A conversation between Midge and Emily

The phone call comes in the early afternoon on a Wednesday.

“Hi, Emily, it’s Midge Schneider, from Stars Hollow. Lorelai’s neighbor?”

Emily freezes, a little confused. “Oh. Hello.”

“Hi,” Midge smiles. “Look, I know it’s strange for me to be calling out of the blue, but I found a few things that I thought you would really like, and I wondered if you’d like to stop by when you’re free.”

“...Oh. Well. Things I would like?”

“Photos of Lorelai and Rory,” Midge explains. “I’d mail them, but I worry about them getting creased. If you’re busy, I can drop them off at some point.”

“No,” Emily says, surprised. “I would very much like photos of the girls.”

“Great! Free Saturday afternoon?” Midge asks.

“I...yes, actually.”

“See you around one. I’ll make some cake. See you Saturday!”

With that, she hangs up, and Emily frowns at the phone.

*****

She pulls up to the Schneiders’ home that Saturday, and looks up at the house.

It’s a modest home. Well-kept, and Emily knows there’s an incredible garden in the back. She gets out of the car and steps up to the front porch, glancing around at the flower boxes, and an ornate bench swing. 

When she knocks, the door swings open and Midge smiles at her, still wearing an apron. “Emily!”

“Hello, Midge.”

“Hi, come on in!”

Emily steps inside, looking around at the front hall, painted a pale shade of pink, lined with family photos and show posters. She’s led through the foyer and back to the kitchen, naturally lit and adorned with cream wallpaper with what look like hand-sketched dusky pink roses on it.

Midge doesn’t stop though, and Emily follows her through to a warm dining room, its table long and laden with an antique tea set, and home-baked pastries.

“Have a seat,” Midge says, gesturing towards the table.

“I...I didn’t know you’d gone to all this trouble...” Emily admits, looking surprised.

“No trouble,” Midge shrugs. “I love to do this stuff, and I don't get to as often as I used to anymore.” She starts pouring the tea. “Lemon? Sugar?”

“Lemon, please,” Emily says, sitting down slowly, looking around. “Your house is quite nice.”

Midge beams and hands her a cup. “Thanks. We did a little refresh recently. Had the walls washed and a deep dusting.” She sits down with her own tea, taking a sip. “Please, help yourself to whatever you’d like. There’s chocolate rugelach, lemon blueberry cake, and cinnamon babka.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve had rugelach, but I don’t know that I know what babka is,” Emily admits.

Midge lights up. “It’s a yeasted swirl bread,” she explains. “Usually chocolate or cinnamon. Lenny likes cinnamon so I stick with that.”

Emily nods, but hesitates. “I appreciate all of this, Midge. It’s very nice of you, but I am curious about those photos of the girls.”

Midge nods and gets up, setting her cup down, before going to the other room and coming back with a folder. “My son is a photography hobbyist, and the year before Rory started Chilton, we had a family get-together, and when the sun went down, he lit the whole garden and took really beautiful photos. Lorelai and Rory were there, and he got some great shots of them, too.” She hands them over and grins.

Emily takes it and opens it, looking down. “Oh, these are really something.”

“Right? Ethan did a great job,” Midge smiles proudly. “And the girls are so photogenic anyways.”

“They truly are,” Emily agrees, still gazing at the photos. “Lenny’s garden is remarkable.”

“Oh, he loves it,” Midge smiles. “It’s like his fourth child.”

Emily nods slowly as she looks at the other woman. “Can I ask you a question?”

 “Sure.”

Emily stays quiet a moment before speaking. “You seem to know Lorelai and Rory so much better than Richard and I.”

Midge shrugs a little. “Well...we met them when they were pretty young, and we adore both of them. Smart, driven girls. It was like having more kids. Well...we feel that way about a lot of people in town. Luke and Jess. Lane, too.”

“But you can’t possibly agree with all the decisions they make,” Emily comments tartly.

“God, of course not,” Midge scoffs. “Believe me, there are times I could pull out my hair, thinking about some of the stupid mistakes those girls have made. And Luke. And Jess. And Lane.”

Emily huffs.

“And when I was younger, I would have swooped in to fix everything,” Midge admits. “Just took the wheel and steered them away from whatever dumbass decisions they were making. But as an old woman, I know that they would hate me for it. I have to let them make their dumbass decisions and help pick up the pieces when they ask for my help. Because if they need help, they’ll ask. Well. The girls will. Luke and Jess are much bigger idiots.”

“Men usually are.”

“You’re not kidding.”

Emily sighs softly. “I absolutely loathe not just taking control and getting everything back on track.”

Midge shrugs. “You get used to it.”

[hqmillioncorn]

Did someone say Happy Nameday?!

“Happy nameday Rori!!!” Babycorn popped out of the ground in front of Rori. After Rori finished screaming he was finally able to process what Babycorn had said to him. It was only just a little bit weird. By her standards. “It’s. Not my nameday??” Rori didn’t even remember ever mentioning his nameday around Babycorn.  “I just know it’s your nameday cause Cherry told me so!” Right next to Babycorn the smaller and younger Cherrypit popped out of the ground as well. “Bah!” He wisely said. Of course he actually had no idea when Rori’s nameday was. He had just read Rori’s mind and picked out a random day. “Here we got you a present!” Babycorn rumaged through Hungstal for a bit before finding what she was looking for. “Ah-HA! Tada!” She held up her present proudly, “The newest B’ig Nunh almanac! I got it just for you!” “...T Thanks.” 

ffxiv write day 24: bar

with @windupiceheart 's rorichaux

on a day like any other babycorn is going to talk to her good friend rori :)

Another year passed, and with it came another Valentiones Day. With the festivities in Gridiania coming to a close for the day. Though that didn’t mean that everyone was gone by now.

Rori let out a yawn. His shift was almost over and soon he would be free.

Free to do whatever it was that Roris did with the time they spent not working. Perhaps he would go on a jog or eat a delicious meal. Truly the possibilities were endless. Yes, it would just a few more minutes until-

Something made Rori pause, something was coming. 

Or more like someone. 

Because even from far away, he could hear the telltale cry of someone yelling out his name. Followed by the sounds of several tiny little steps that could only come from a lalafell wearing a pom on her head. Rori figured that this might as well happen. 

It had been almost an entire day since Babycorn had last visited him during his work hours. Either she was slacking or she had finally died. There was no inbetween or any other explanation for her absence. 

The approaching cloud of dust was enough for Rori to confirm that it was indeed Babycorn heading his way. “Yeah okay.” He grabbed onto a nearby post and braced himself for impact. Then as the cloud of dust got closer and closer, a strong breeze blew past Rori, almost blowing him into the air like the stick-bug he was. 

When the wind died down opened his eyes, looking down to see Babycorn grabbing onto his leg like she was about to fly away instead. Babycorn looked up to stare at Rori with her huge and shimmering bug-like yellow eyes. “Hi Mister Rori-Chow!!” 

“Hi Babycorn.” Rori greeted her. 

He extended his leg out and waited for Babycorn to let go. Once she did, she plopped onto the ground. Looking more like a rag doll that had fallen off the shelf. “It’s Ro-ri-Show.” Rori explained for the hundredth time now. He hoped that breaking it down into sections would help Babycorn get his name right. His first mistake was to hope that Babycorn do anything right. 

“Okay Mister Rori!” Babycorn saluted him. 

Rori sighed, the first of many to come. 

Babycorn bounced back a step and placed her hands behind her back. She was wearing a strange outfit Rori had never seen on her. The big poofy skirt she was wearing sort of made her look like a giant cupcake. Complete with sprinkles. From what Rori knew of Babycorn he wagered that those were real sprinkles. 

There was also a massive candle on her head. Thankfully it wasn’t on fire. 

“Mister Rori! I have a surprise for you~!” Babycorn threateningly sang out loud. She didn’t mean for it to sound like a threat. It just sort of happened whenever Babycorn told people she had a surprise for them. “It’s right behind my back~” 

“Y-Yeah. Sure. Alright.” 

There was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. 

Unless this ‘surprise’ took eleven hours for Babycorn to explain like the last one had. 

Babycorn did a cute little twirl and extended her hand out to Rori. “I wanna invite you to my nameday party!!” That sounded normal enough.

At least, it was normal. Until Rori looked down to see what Babycorn was handing him.

Babycorn’s left hand was stuck inside of a glass jar. 

“Um.” Rori truly was at a loss for words. Which is why he just continued to stare at the jar around Babycorn’s hand and at Babycorn’s rapidly blinking face for the next few seconds. “What’s that you got there?” Rori finally worked up the courage to ask. 

Babycorn wasn’t sure what Rori was talking about. Pretty evident considering the confused smile she was giving him. “Hmm? What? Where?” She turned around in a spin, looking for something that was on her. Like an excited dog chasing its own tail. 

It was kind of cute. “I’m talking about the jar on your hand.” It reminded Rori of the time Babycorn stuck her hand inside of an anthill. Only pulling it out when he told her she could. Then Rori had to take a two hour bath to get all the ants out of his hair after 

“Oh this?” Babycorn wiggled her hand around. There was a simple explanation to this actually. “I was eating berries and I thought there were none left but I saw there was one more and put my hand inside to grab it!” She brought the jar closer to her and bit it for a while before giving up. 

Previous teeth marks showed that she had tried this before. “I also got the invitation to my party inside! See? See? I’m holding it!”  Babycorn held her hand up as high as she could for Rori to see.

Rori looked as close as he could. The jar looked pretty empty, aside from the obvious. True to Babycorn’s word her hand was wrapped around a now pretty crumpled piece of paper. That must have been the elusive nameday party invitation.

Even so this was far from the weirdest thing Babycorn had done.  As far as he knew. And yet, Rori still had to ask. “Why did you put your hand back in to eat berries with the invitation in your hand?” 

“Uhhhhhhhhh…” It seemed Babycorn didn’t have an answer. 

Not to mention that the jar looked pretty empty. There were berries in there bouncing alongside Babycorn’s hand and the invitation. “Were there actually any berries left in there?”

“There were!” This time Babycorn was quick to answer, “I ate em’ and then I put my hand back in the jar.”

“...Why?”

“I forgot it was empty!!”

“...” Rori had no idea what he was supposed to say next. There was a part of him that truly wondered how Babycorn had managed to stay alive this long. Was it luck? Was it fate? Was it some inexplicable third thing? 

Whatever it really was–Rori was glad that Babycorn always bounced back. Even if it came at the cost of several hours of hearing her yapping about some neat rock she found yesterday under a moldy piece of bread that she later ate and saved half of it for Rori.

“Wait-!” Babycorn suddenly exclaimed, “I know how to get this off me!” 

“How?” Rori asked genuinely wondering what sort of method Babycorn was going to come up with. Maybe something like licking it off? That sounded plausible. Though she could have never guessed what was going to happen next.

Without a moment's hesitation–Babycorn slammed the jar into the ground. It smashed into teeny tiny little glass shards. “Yay! My hands out!” Babycorn let out a cheer and waved her hand around. Weirdly enough it was kind of hurting but surely that would go away on its own eventually.

Rori stood frozen, mouth hanging wide open. “a,” That was the only thing he could manage to say. At least until he said the next thing, “You’re-uh bleeding. Um we should probably….” Probably go get that fixed or something. That was the smart move. Right. What the heck.

Babycorn looked at Rori, confused. Until she looked down at her hand. “I guess I’m bleeding now!” She said with a grin on her face. Bleeding suddenly from her body wasn't something Babycorn was unfamiliar with. 

This was the same girl who had an eternally bleeding scar on her body since childhood. 

“Uhhhhhh. Let’s just get some bandages for that.” 

Rori led Babycorn to the first-aid station they luckily had on hand. Turns out there were many accidents that happened to be related to Valentiones day. Babycorn walked behind Rori like a baby duck following her mom. As they neared their destination she suddenly remembered something! The very thing she was still holding in her hands.

“Mister Rori! Here! You can have my invitation now!” Babycorn held it up and waved it at Rori. Waiting excitedly for him to take it. “Here! Here! Here! Mister Rori! Mister Rori! Mister Rori!”

As ‘excited’ as Rori was to take a blood stained invitation he decided to tell Babycorn he would take it after tending to her hand. “I’ll go to your party. It’s not an invitation only party, right?”

“Nope!” Babycorn shook her head. “I think everyone should come to my twenty-seven nameday party! I made invitations so I could drop them from the sky all over everywhere!”

“That’s nice-”

Wait. Rori stopped dead in his tracks. Had Rori heard right? “...How old are you turning?”

“I’m turning twenty-seven!!” Babycorn winked and stuck her tongue out. Posing with her fingers pressed against her rosy freckled cheeks. 

Rori paused, taking in what he had just heard. 

“...You’re twenty-SEVEN?!” 

Babycorn was ONE YEAR YOUNGER THAN HIM?!?!?!

[my-emily-gilmore-era]

Gilmores prove life doesn’t end after 40

By Deseret News Feb 7, 2005

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — There's a certain irony in the fact that the WB — the network that targets teens and twentysomethings — has the two most believable, most well-rounded characters in their 60s on television.

And Richard and Emily Gilmore, as portrayed by 61-year-old Edward Herrmann and 60-year-old Kelly Bishop, have been an integral part of "The Gilmore Girls" since the show began 100 episodes ago.

"I know the WB is known as a young network and viewed, I think, a little bit too much that way," Bishop said. "This show is multigenerational. And, frankly, it's not about my own ego, but I wouldn't be inclined to watch this show as a viewer if it weren't for us, because I'm going to identify with an older person. I'm not going to be watching shows about teenagers because I've been there, done that."

In a medium that places such a high value on youth, the elder Gilmores are such an anomaly they're almost alone.

Herrmann replied with humor to questions about his "elder" status. "Let me get out of my wheelchair and dance," he said, affecting a truly elderly voice.

"That's kind of wonderful, too, that we're still alive," Bishop said. "And, what, 60 is the new 30, right?"

Well, maybe, but Richard and Emily have never had to act like teenagers to get airtime on "Gilmore Girls." They're not simply saccharin grandparents, they're complicated people living imperfect lives.

"It's interesting. It's wonderful," Herrmann said. "I mean, these people are lively. You don't die after the age of 40."

The Emmy-winning actor said the show's writers have "done a wonderful job with Richard."

"He's a fellow who's gone through a number of changes. . . . There have been a lot of plot lines for him, which I find true to life. So I haven't been bored at all."

The premise of the show is that their daughter, Lorelai (Lauren Graham), got pregnant when she was 16 and decided to keep and raise the baby on her own. Which, not surprisingly, drove a wedge between her and her parents.

A wedge that remained until Lorelai's daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel), was a teenager and Lorelai had to turn to her wealthy parents for financial help to send Rory to private school. That reopened the daughter-parents relationship and gave Richard and Emily their first chance to really get to know their granddaughter, but it's a rift that's never been entirely healed.

"What I look for at the end of the tunnel is the reconciliation between (Richard and Lorelai) in some way," Herrmann said. But when he has raised the issue with creator/executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino, "She said, 'Not yet. We can't. There's a wonderful tension between the two that you want to try to maintain.'

"So it's great fun. And, actually, (executive producers) Amy (Sherman-Palladino) and Dan (Palladino) have given us really good stuff to do this year."

Good stuff that culminates Tuesday (7 p.m., Ch. 30) as Richard and Emily renew their wedding vows. The couple, married almost four decades, have been separated since last season. Not separated by much — Richard moved into the pool house — but their relationship had deteriorated badly.

"I love the idea because I think that those of you who are in long-term relationships will realize that you have, of course, that initial love/lust and all that," Bishop said, "and then it settles down. And then it kind of hits a point sometimes in a relationship where you're really bored with the other person and kind of think, hmmmm.

"And then out of no place and for no particular reason . . . you look at the person one day and you are so in love with them all over again."

It made for some great material for Bishop and Herrmann. Over the 99 previous episodes, they've done comedy, they've done drama, they've had surprises and they've always come across as real.

"The palette is rich. There's a lot of stuff to talk about," Herrmann said.

"I mean, almost to slapstick," Bishop said. "I finally got to do physical comedy climbing out of the basement window. (Richard accidentally locked Emily in.) That was so much fun."

And she loves playing a woman who's not exactly a caring, nurturing mother/grandmother. Emily Gilmore loves Lorelai and Rory, but she expresses that love in a manipulative way that drives her daughter crazy.

She's at it again in the 100th episode, using Rory's father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), to try to end Lorelai's romance with Luke (Scott Patterson) — a relationship she doesn't approve of.

"I've gotten some really nice, vicious things to say to people," Bishop said, "which I always enjoy. . . . She's a piece of work, but, yeah, I had a lot of fun this year. Amy gave me some really nasty things to say."

Sherman-Palladino is amused at how Bishop — "one of the nicest people in the world" — takes so much joy in playing Emily, who is not. "I just love that she's so excited that she gets to be horrible to people."

But Bishop said she doesn't always understand viewers' reactions to the character.

"I'm surprised. People seem to really like her. And I haven't figured that out yet, because I think she's just horrible," she said. "I love playing her because she's so mean.

"And every once in a while people say they identify with her and I say, 'Why? I'm glad you're enjoying my performance, but you don't have to like Emily. Because I don't particularly like her. I like playing her.' "