#riverdale two shot

[delusionalwritingsofagay]

I want to know if you can do a omegaverse fanfict of alpha Archie Andrews X Omega male reader where the reader is a single dad of twin boys from a previous Alpha that left him. Who after his sons were born him and his family moved to Riverdale to start a new start. Quickly he people in Riverdale begin to realize he is the father of his twin Sons who got mixed reactions but he doesn't really care because all he cares about are his own children their safety thinking that he doesn't need a another Alpha in his life until he come across Archie. Who Archie surprisingly falls in love with the Omega reader loving how he takes care of his sons always imagining him as his mate but never know how to ask him until one day the reader was stressed since he has no way to pick up his sons from daycare because of the bad weather that day and his parents are out doing business as Archie realized and decide to help him giving him a ride to the preschool and help him pick up his sons who after that day it become a daily thing where the two will pick up the reader's sons and do something fun together. After a couple of weeks Archie finally asked the reader out who the reader accepted knowing that his sons love Archie so the sign to give it a shot. After some months they become official as everything was going well until the alpha that fathers the reader's Sons finally showed up causing trouble who Archie stands up for the reader which caused a fight between the two Alphas which cause both of them to go into the hospital. As the reader apologized to Archie that he bring him into this mess who Archie Comforts him telling him that he doesn't care as long as him and his sons are safe and that he would do anything for them. ( sorry for the long request)

Fresh start

Pairing : Alpha Archie Andrews x Omega Male reader Tags : Omega verse, Past implied Mpreg, Single parent reader Word count :1086

Authors Note : So sorry for the late reply, i tried my best but i have really bad writer block when it came to this one, if you would like a part two which includes the rest of you request, just let me know and I'll try to do it.

Riverdale was supposed to be a fresh start, a chance for Y/N to leave behind the painful memories of the past. After his Alpha ex left him and their twin boys, he packed up their lives and moved to this small town, hoping to find peace and a semblance of normalcy. The twin boys, Jasper and Leo, were everything to him—two tiny bundles of joy with laughter that could light up even the darkest of days.

The first few weeks in Riverdale were a whirlwind of unpacking boxes and trying to establish a routine. Y/N threw himself into being the best father he could be. He enrolled the boys in day-care, joined the local parents’ group, and tried to get to know the other families. While many of the neighbours extended warm welcomes, it was a small town, and secrets had a funny way of spilling out.

Some residents recognized Y/N as the single dad of twins, and the messages came from all sides. Curiosity swirled through Riverdale like a constant breeze, accompanied by mixed reactions. While most were supportive, Y/N couldn’t help but feel the prying eyes of judgement. But in those moments of vulnerability, he held fast to what mattered most: Jasper and Leo.

Looking after the boys kept Y/N busy. But after a long day, the exhaustion often settled heavily in his bones. The thought of allowing another Alpha into their lives felt daunting. He had loved before—deeply and completely—but had been left alone to weather the storm of single parenthood. Now, he was determined to focus solely on his sons’ happiness and welfare.

Then came Archie Andrews.

With his charming smile and infectious enthusiasm, Archie quickly became a fixture in the lives of those in Riverdale. Y/N first noticed him during a community event—Archie was leading a music class for kids. Jasper and Leo's eyes sparkled with joy, captivated by the way Archie interacted with them and the other children. The warmth that radiated from Archie was palpable, and Y/N felt a flicker of admiration he hadn't anticipated.

As the weeks rolled on and the seasons began to shift toward colder weather, Y/N found himself drawing closer to Archie in unexpected ways. They had crossed paths at the day-care more often than not, and each time, Archie made an effort to engage with Y/N and the boys. It was innocent at first—a smile here, a shared laugh there—yet it quickly blossomed into something more profound.

However, one fateful day figured to challenge Y/N’s outlook on life in Riverdale.

The weather turned unexpectedly nasty. Clouds rolled in, and soon rain pelted the streets like marbles dropped on concrete. Y/N found himself fretting about the condition of the roads. He had no car, and his parents were out of town for business. The thought of walking in this downpour to pick up Jasper and Leo from day-care felt impossibly daunting.

As he paced his apartment, a faint knock at the door interrupted his spiralling thoughts. When he opened it, the sight of Archie standing there, drenched from head to toe, sent confusion rushing through him.

“Y/N!” Archie exclaimed, shaking off the rain like a soggy puppy. “I saw the weather forecast and came to see if you needed help. I can drive you to pick up your boys!”

Y/N hesitated, torn between feeling grateful and the constant reminder of his reluctance to allow anyone into their lives. Did he really want to rely on someone else again? But as he saw the genuine concern in Archie’s eyes, he felt the weight of his pride battling the reality of the situation.

“Um, yeah… that would be great. Thank you,” Y/N replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

The car ride was both tense and comforting. Y/N’s heart raced despite the ease of the conversation. They chatted about Riverdale’s quirks and local hangouts, but Y/N found it hard to ignore the way Archie’s casual glances made his stomach flip. It felt strangely wonderful.

When they arrived at the day-care, the sight of Jasper and Leo running to greet him was worth the world. With Archie by his side, Y/N couldn’t help but feel a sense of delight as the boys excitedly recognized their new friend.

After picking them up, a spontaneous idea struck Y/N. “Would you like to come back to our place for some snacks? I could really use the company—and I’m sure the boys won’t complain,” he suggested, half-embarrassed.

Archie’s grin widened, and how could Y/N have known a simple invitation could change everything?

As weeks turned into a routine, the boys grew to adore Archie, and Y/N found solace in their little family growing closer. Each day meant picking up the boys and spending quality time together, whether it was building fortresses made of blankets or biking down the nearby trails.

Yet beneath that camaraderie blossomed something stirring in Y/N’s heart. The more time he spent with Archie, the more he realized how he had begun to imagine a future where they could be more than just friends. He saw in Archie a gentleness and strength that beckoned to him, softening the barriers he had built over the years.

Finally, weeks turned into a couple of months, and one sunny afternoon while Jasper and Leo played in the backyard, Archie mustered the courage to approach Y/N. “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he started, clearing his throat.

Y/N, cautious but curious, waited for the words that would surely change everything.

“Would you like to go out with me? Just us? A date?” he blurted out, a hint of apprehension ghosting over his expression.

Y/N’s heart thundered in his chest, and a smile spread across his face—a smile filled with warmth and hope. The boys were playing nearby, oblivious to the moment that was unfolding between their father and the Alpha who had quickly carved a place in their lives.

“Yes,” Y/N answered, his voice barely above a whisper tinged with disbelief. “I’d love that.”

Days turned to weeks, and soon they were officially together. It felt right, bringing the boys along for “family days” where laughter and joy filled their small home. The connection between them deepened, fortifying Y/N’s belief that perhaps he could trust again, and that maybe Riverdale was not just a place for new beginnings, but for new chances at love.

[supercap2319]

"What's a nice, pretty boy doing on the south side of Riverdale?" Archie grinned. Imagine his surprise when a guy around his age in expensive looking clothing came towards him.

"I was looking for you." He said.

Brow raised in curiosity, Archie leaned in closer. "And why exactly were you looking for me?"

"Your dad is Fred Andrews, aka FA Andrews, right? King of the Serpents?"

"That's right." Archie nodded, taking a drag from his cigarette. "And you are...?"

"Y/N. Y/N Lodge." He said.

His eyes widened slightly at the mention of the Lodge name. "Well, well, well. Looks like I've got myself a little piece of royalty on my hands here in Riverdale. What do you want with the Serpents, Y/N?"

"My mom... she grew up on the south side of Riverdale. And she apparently dated your dad in high school. I was wondering if I could ask him a few questions?"

He chuckled. "Pops wouldn't mind telling you a few stories about your mom, that's for sure. He talks about her all the time. But first things first... what's your poison? Want a drink?" Archie asked.

"Drink? Sure."

Archie signaled to the bartender to bring two shots. Once they were placed in front of them, he clinked his glass against Y/N's and downed the shot, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. Y/N downed his own and looked at the Prince of the Serpents. "So, tell me more about this mom of yours. Is she as hot as my dad said she was?"

Y/N made a face. "Hey! That's my mom, dude. You don't see me saying how hot your dad looks."

Chuckling, Archie leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Touchy, touchy. Sorry, couldn't resist the teasing." Around them, other Serpents were starting to stare. Talk. Point.

"Should I be worried?"

Archie looks from Y/N to his fellow Serpents and then back at him with a smirk. "Nah. They just think you're the new slut that's going to be blowing everyone in the Whyte Wyrm."

Y/N tugged on his jacket before looking at Archie. "I'm nobody's slut. I didn't come to suck cock. I came for answers. Are you going to tell me or not?"

Archie narrowed his brown eyes for a moment before he chuckled. "You're pure dynamite, aren't you, baby?"

[popculturebuffet]

Batman: No Man's Land Retrospective Part 1: Cataclysm

Hello all you happy people. This project's been brewing for a while now and i'm so happy to finally get to dive into it. For the next two years, i'm taking a look at one of the biggest and most influental batman stories ever. This is a story that's been adapted four times, introduced a batgirl, a story massive in scope that gives batman a problem that no amount of money, no amount of punching and no amount of batarangs can solve.

No Man's Land follows Gotham after it's utterly destroyed by a massive earthquake and the goverment "shockingly" decides rather than repair the crime pit, to let it burn and let anyone who can't afford to move or dosen't want to leave to fend for themselves. It puts Batman in his darkest hour: he failed his city, and now he and his allies have to find some way to save it. It's a massive story that i'll be reading as we go, reading each volume before I cover it. I know some spoilers, the story's 27 years old and a lot of it impacts later bat stories and i've read it's direct sequel new gotham, but as for the fine details and how things evolve.. that i'll be figuring out just before you do.

Before we get to the government abadoning Gotham like it'd later do with Riverdale, we have to get to the why: the massive and excellent event cataclysm. Yes there's an event that leads into the event.

Cataclysm is intresting in that while super villians do show up, this is gotham after all, their not the main threat. The main threat.. is simply a massive earth quake that most of gotham was warned about, but only Bruce took seriously. And even then.. i'ts not enough: While Bruce's holdings and headquarters are saved, most of gotham is totaled and the bat himself is left in the one building he couldn't quakeproof: his home. Our heroes are left desperatley trying to help or play catchup as the world falls apart and even as they try to save everyone they can the truth hangs ominously over them: Gotham.. may not be able to come back from this. So join me won't you for an epic unlike any other, a story of dread, hope, and quakemasters, this is Batman Cataclysm

We begin with Detective Comics and a prelude issue. As is standard for an event this size we're going to be jumping around a LOT of books today, along with three one shots. Every book in the bat family is touched and a ton of major bat writers left their mark on this one.

Unfortunately the one who does the most.. is Chuck Dixon

So for those less familiar Chuck Dixon is one of the biggest batman writers ever: He wrote Robin and Nightwing and defined Tim Drake and Dick Grayson as a result. His run on Nightwing is why I became a massive fan of the character and why I tend to prefer bat family books to the bat himself.

He's also a huge asshole. Absolutely giant in the industry of being a dick. I'd like to thank @brotoman-exe for the background here as while I knew Chuck Dixon was a conservative prick, he gave me some helpful info to explain why he became the bitter lemon he is now.

So Chuck as you can tell was a big writer: he wrote most of batman after all. He then got blackballed from the big 2 in the early 2000's. From his perspective, it was for being conservative and he went full right wing asshole before it was cool. In reality.. it seemed he was just a dick. He had a weird tirade about a tounge in cheek Marvel MAX, their mature leaders line, series about the rawhide kid that recast him as a macho camp gay man, and made the bold assumption the writer of the book, a vetran artist, was tricked into it. He sunk his own career and blamed the woke media for it. He bounced around in other companies, as early IDW apparently was fine with his bullshit, but eventually he ran out of options and ... well he made this

Yes that is Chuck Dixon, batman and gi joe writer making an off brand gi joe comic about Q from Qanon. I swear to god this is not something I made up. This.. this happened. You can even buy it on amazon

Look is it fun to dunk on Chuck Dixon making a comic about the quannon conspiracy starring the titular q as an action hero. yes. I mean I could do it all day. But my larger point is that Chuck Dixon sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms, is an objectively bad man. Not sex offender bad, but while the bar for being shitty in comics is high, it's not so high that "being mad a character was made gay and making action hero comics about an active and dangerous conspiracy" dosen't rate.

So I have the unfortunate duty of being objective about his work here. I do not like this man, but he was an objectively good writer. It does not, as he seems to thinnk, excuse him from being a piece of shit. I simply can't avoid talking about him as of the 7 batman titles at the time, he wrote three of them: The afformentioned Nightwing and Robin, along with detective comics.

Since I need to wash the taste out of my mouth and this will be easier than mentoining every writer as they come up, let's meet the rest of our writers room who as far as I know haven't written qanon: the continuing adventures. I wonder if the villian is joe biden as cobra commander. Perhaps bill clinton. Clinton Commander.

Writing the flagship Batman comic is Doug Monech, one of many longtime batman writers on this project. He wrote some in the 80's and what i've read of his run, which has sadly been undercollected or only half collected in the case of one collection I have as he wrote both detective comics and batman up to crisis on infinite earths, is excellent. Well done stuff that helps build up batman's world and his relationship with jason todd. I prefer post crisis jason, but he still does a good job with batman's struggle to let the kid in. He's also the one responsible for blessing the world with Harvey Bullock.

For Shadow of the Bat we have consumate Weirdo Alan Grant, a british writer who afraid to ask "You want nuts. Well let's get nuts". His stories i've read are decent and kind of weird, and fittingly he created my faviorite Batman Villian, Scarface, aka the puppet what bullies his owner/other personality. Grants work here is impecable, as is everyones even ass face and made me want to check out more of his 90's shadow of the bat run. He's got a weird poetic style to him.

For our spinoffs we have batman legend Dennis O'Neil, who with Neil Adams redefined the character. he was also editor and wrote large chunks of other bat mega crossover knightfall. He's awesome and I miss him dearly.

Finally we have Devin Grayson who wrote Catwoman and does a decent job with it. She's the only one besides Chuck Q Dixon to have a bit of infamy though rather than be for being a raging asshole, she simply wrote something what bad. She followed him up on nightwing and while the better person, decided to have Nightwing join the mob for a while, and had him get assaulted by fellow vigilante the tarantula and said assault not treated lik ea big deal because a woman did it.

She's fine here but it's hard not to think about that run so bad I refuse to ever touch it when bringing her up.

So with our writers room assembled let's talk about the issue. It's a fun one off as I said: a criminal brags to his buddies about beating up batman. It's also here where a fairly stupid choice by dc edtorial comes up: At the time batman was to be considered an urban legend by gotham. It's a period I mostly remember for getting mocked in the pages of young justice as Peter David has never met a stupid decision he couldn't take the piss out of and Linkara doing the same in his march of the titans retropsecitve.

Since this does come up with several citzens proclaming batman dosen't exist, I... have to dive into all the ways this is nonsense. So here we go: batman has been on at least three superhero teams, none retconned out by crisis on infinite earths; he was on the justice league of america, left tha tgroup to found the outsiders after political red tape prevented him from going on a rescue mission, and after leaving them rejoined the league as it's leader for the justice league international era. He left soon after to keep his profile low.. but waas still seen on news interviews and coverage and was still publicly on the roster for some time. And by this point he's REJOINED the JLA and was part of them thwarting an alien invasion, an invasion of angels and other very public disasters. On top of that his former sidekick Nightwing was famously part of the Teen Titans as robin, leading two incarnations up to this point. The New Teen Titans in paticular were a very public group, famous in new york and most notably saving the world from Trigon and getting a giant ass parade for it. He also operates as Bludhaven's hero at the time of this book and unlike batman isn't nearly as stealthy.

On top of this the Joker has been a very public meance, killing dozens, fighting the justicfe league a few times, fighting batman in a bi plane at new years and most notably after killing Jason Todd, he became ambassador to iran

The point of this long detour is that it makes zero sense that batman is seen as a "legend" at this point who "dosen't exist". While he does stick to the shadows and is defintely the most standoffish of the justice league any time he's a member, there's enough public tracks to make him being some sort of mythical figure laughable. I try not to be this pedantic in a comics review, writers slip up, canonical mistakes happen. Even now when you can google things. But this isn't a simple mistake this is a weird status quo shift that made things awkward for other books for no real reason. Batman's already feared as a larger than life figure. Just because crooks know he exists dosen't make him less terrifying or them less prone to exagerate.

Thankfully the bulk of attitude , at least for now, from most of the writers was

Most of it is lip service with only two big moments, this one and the other where it's relevant to the plot. Most of gotham tends to know batman and co are out there.

Okay now we can FINALLY get to the issue which again is fun: the criminal embellishes the hell out of the story and we see both his inflated version where it's an ocean's elven style heist and where he goes to to toe with batman.. and the reality: his crew was whoever he could get, he got the info from being a janitor, the heist went sideways fast and both batman nad robin tore his ass up. This is confirmed to his friends when batman swoops over and scares the shit out of the guy. A fun simple story.

The real meat though is in the ending: We meet Jolene Relazzo a character introduced just for this storyline for two reasons: to set it up and to serve as a plot point for the ongoing arc. She's a seismologist, one who warned Bruce Wayne about an inevitble disaster years ago: Gotham is on a fault line and while it hasn't had a quake in living memory, i'ts due and should. Given who she was talking to, Bruce set to work: as the issues after this reveal Bruce quakeproofed every wayne holding except the manor, and fired his board of directors when they all said it was too expensive. Is this a lot to just. .have on exposition? yes. But it shockingly works: I didn't realize Jolene debuted here till I looked it up as she feels like a natural fit: Bruce isn't stupid. He's batman. He prepares for shit. So it makes sense he knows a decent amount of scientests. As Homer Simpson will tell you bruce is one, but while he's a master of a lot of things, he specializes in forensics. He's not a super genius, and thus him listening to experts makes sense. And given his preparedness it makes sense his first action would be "quakeproof my shit". And given the cost he does so for the reasons he does anything: it's the right thing to do. It saves him money sure, but as we'll find out some of these holdings are apartments or hotels. Innocent people could get hurt. employees could get hurt. Bruce could never allow that if he can help it. And as the quake arrives.. Jolene can't reach bruce whose in his cave.

To the writers credit, paticuarlly alan grant who writes the explination there's a simple reason for why Bruce coudln't quakeproof the manor: the batcave. he coudln't risk someone finding out about it. As for "Why didn't he ask steel or another super hero to do it", Clark and Wally could probably speed read the info and john henry is a former construction worker, so it's possible .. but it'd draw too much attention. I'll see how plausable it is as we go as to why the rest of the league stays out, i'm betting not so much but here.. I get it. It's way too many questions to easily answer and might upset unions in town. Batman simply COUDLN'T get the mansion quakerpoofed. Now the fact he had no plans for if the quake happens is a little stretch.. but Batman has to plan for a lot. He probably thought he'd get forwarned or the cave would hold.

It does not. The mansion collapses bringing alfred down to the cave, trapping bruce and leaving Bruce's home gone> it's a truly shattering scene and well done by alan grant, underlying just how sudden this is: like any disaster it just htis and in a second everythings gone. Batman does wiggles his way out and trie sto go for the car or one of the exits but everything collapses. He's truly trapped.

Meanwhile Harvey Bullock was tailing a local criminal bamed "Billy Wildman" but the quake happens. He's forced to team up with Anarky, who as the name gives away is an angsty teen who dressed like an adult. They work together as Bullock quickly realizes he needs the help to help civilians. And that's the big part here: most of the hero work done.. is search and rescule. Batman's not above that and has saved many a person but their usually hostages or kidnap victims. This is the kind of emergency work brave first responders do every day and that while batman will do in a pinch is outside his element.. but he and the other heroes of gotham do. Anarky is a street punk.. but gladly helps.

Finally we have Barbra Gordon, at this point oracle, batman's eyes and ears who after being shot by the joker traded in her batgirl suit for being a computer genius and tech whiz for any hero who needs it, mostly the bat family. Her own Clock Tower base was shaken but is otherwise fine. Naturally it was one of bruce's quake proofings and Barbra presumably bought it from him. She goes to see what's going on but sees the situation as it is.. and takes command. While she takes a second to let her terror at what could've happened to her love ones out, she instantly takes charge of the police she finds, convincing them not to go fleeing for their loved ones; She's sympathetic: her boyfriend, dad, stepmom and batdad are all out there, but they need to help those who need it. So she gets what resources they have and gets to work. It's one of my faviorite scenes in this event: When crisis hits, Barbra is the first to respond and the first to make a dent in the nightmare Gotham is facing.

Batman is having less luck on his end. He does manage to pull a spider man, escaping the wreckage.. albeit instead of just with pure will expert timing. He reunites with Alfred.. but there's no exit. Their truly trapped. The only way out is a bunch of underwater currents Batman never mapped. And I do like this: yes you could say "this is the same man who quakeproofed a city, why didn't he map these tunnels or have an exit" And the simple answer given and one I accept.. is that he never got around to it. Batman has backup plans for his backup plans.. but I like this batman who simply, as a human does, lets things slip. The Quakeproofing was easier: It was an imminent threat, and something he could deligate. Batman really NEVER deligates batman stuff and until recently didn't have any full time staff for the cave itself. If somethings low priority like say exits on the offchance the quake does hit and he's inside or mapping the cave systems he'll ignore it. Batman's a workaholic with control issues: the only things bruce deligates in costume are the stuff Alfred and Barbra are better at, cleaning the house, cleaning wounds, and doing computer stuff. It makes sense SOMETHING would give.

So with no other option he plans to surface and if it exposes him so be it: there's no second guessing, no other option: he's going to save his dad. And as he dives.. he gets hit with an aftershock.

So while batman might be batdead in this 7 part event that has his name, let's check in on the rest of gotham. The first tie in was earlier and in the pages of Nightwing. It's an excellent tie in as Dick hears about the quake during his night shift at the bar he works at, working at a cop bar to get info.

At this point Nightwing is the hero of Bludhaven, which is gotham but worse. Which yes is possible. Less super crime at first, but more street crime. It's everything gotham was pre batman and our hero fights with no real allies and only the right thing on his side. Still he books it the second he finds out what's happening and TRIES to find Barbra and Bruce... but being the hero he is dick gets sidetrack, finding people in distress and putting himself at great risk to save every last person, including a mom who gets her daughter out but nearly dies. It's a heartwrenching issue as you follow these people from the start, and see just how far Dick will go. It's one of the big pulls i've mentioned of cataclsym: Seeing our heroes against impossible odds they normally don't face this way.

As Dick heads off to go find his dad and girlfriend, well sorta girlfriend I forgot it's more of a situationship at this point and we'll get to the actual hookup in this very crossover, but that's for later.

For now we check in on another hero: Azrael. For those less aware, Azreal was the center of one of batman's biggest events and one I might cover someday: Knightfall. To make a very long story short after loosing his first bout with Batman, super genius and roidy mcgoo Bane studied his foe, then released every villian in arkham and blackgate, arkham for the criminally sane, and let batman wear himself out. Then Bane broke into his house, broke his shit and then broke his back, and rather than choose his actual son, Batman choose Jean Paul Valley, a 20 something who he'd resecued from a cult. This.. didn't go well as Jean still hasn't fully got the cult out of his system and went all grimdark and 90's and didn't hand the mantle back when Bruce was better. Bruce kicked his ass, but still let Jean Paul operate once he was deprogrammed.

So JP is currently taking Bane back to the arms of Saran Essen and.. some other guy. Sarah is comissioner Gordon's wife and Barbra's step mom. With him is Nomoz who I had to google as.. he's an actual troll. He was in the same cult Jean Paul was and why he put on costume again but eventuallys witched sides. I think he's neat. It's just.. neat to have an actual troll in the middle of this pretty grounded story. Well grounded for a former cult member fighting a luchador pumped up on steroids.

Bane escapes and a chase insues, but Bane wants Jean Paul to rule with him as "we're not so diffrent you and me' Jean defies him and that's that for now. He just.. kinda vanishes for the rest of this part of the crossover. All it does is explain where Sara was. It's a solid issue and I like this kind of detour: seeing how the rest of the batfamily handled the quake and it's a neat way to weave it into what was going on with Azreal at the time.

Back at the main plot, barbra gets some good news as when Bullock gets back, he decides to go look for her dad when he finds out no one's been sent as what people they have are busy putting out fires in both senses as gas manes have exploded. But her quiet relief when Bullock goes says a lot as does his saving Jim. Babs and Jim's reuinon is also touching.. he tells her to keep working, as it's important.. but is VERY proud of her.

The next issue covers batman's underwater adventure, as he tensely navigates currents. While he's doing that, we get one of my faviorite plots as we follow the Huntress, who had the misfortune.

Huntress is another vigilante in gotham.. and one of the few not given the okay by Batman. She was the daughter of a mob family that got wiped out in front of her eyes and grew up to become both a dedicated teacher and a hunter. The problem is Helena will ABSOLUTELY go for the kill at this point in her life and Batman has a thing about that. Maybe you've heard. And look I can get tired of Batman's "YOU CAN'T OPERATE IN MY CITY WITHOUT MY SAY SO"

Shtick. It's mostly for Stephanie Brown, who we'll get to. But this is a plot i get and like: Helena wants to do the one thing Bruce just CAN'T allow. He can't have a killer in his city claming to do what he does.

This event adds a wrinkle to it though: how justified is his no kill code when there's no prison to take the villians to? When things are hardest how can he possibly justify this? The answer is that he has to, that it's who he is... but does EVERYONE have to stick to it?

In this case Huntress has to help a bunch of people on the same subway car, complicated by some asshole with a gun taking hostages not knowing how bad it is. She manages to rescue his hostage and save the day.. but an aftershock leaves the guy pinned. And she.. leaves him. In the clutch.. she can't hold up to some code she dosen't belivie in. I belivie in it, I get why bruce does, it's a good code.. but where's the line? It's a fascinating thing to dive into... why should Helena keep this up when things are this bad and one more criminal is not going to black gate, but is going to make things so much worse.

The answer of course is just becaue things are hard don't make it right, but I love this situation pushing that. While i'm in the court of heroes not killing unless it's absolutely necessary, I like testing them. Helena falling into it first makes sense but i'm curious as this goes how far batman can be pushed by the horrors that await.

Speaking of the Bat he emerges in teh bay.. and screams in horror, letting out a big no as he sees the full situation: his city is dying, on fire, torn to pieces, the skyline gone.. and there's little he can do.

Now for another interlude and a fantastic one. Catwoman was just casually robbing a department store for the thrill of it. She could just buy goggles but admits in narration ther'es just something about gotham.. something wild that makes someone want to do crazy shit. She loves this stupid city.

The quake hits and no one has any idea what's going on.. but Selina helps. it's a great show of her character: Yes she's a thief and this is long before her protector of those who society forgot schtick I love so much.. but she's a good person. She'll steal shit.. but she'll also help, guiding a group of survivors through the wreckage. She does try to bolt.. but when she sees her city torn to shit... she doubles back and helps and then goes and helps who she can. Despite her protestations... she can't help but to help either.

We then get Robin's tie in.. which is only a few pages long. Yeah Robin was overseas, throwing hands with a dictatorship apparently and at the tail end of this arc returns home.. just as shit gets real. Robin at this poitn is Tim Drake, the third robin and one of the best. Tim was made a contrast to the previous two robins: He wasn't an orphan, he has a family that apparently live right next to Batman at this point, and he leans more into the detective side having figured out who Batman and Nightwing were and urging Nightwing to become robin again in the wake of Jason Todd's death at the hands of Ambassador Joker.

So onto the next chapter, a one shot Blackgate: Isle of Man. We follow a death row inmate Jared Manx whose execution gets delayed.. by act of god. Jared says he's innocent, that he didn't do what he did and despite every attempt was still going to get the chair. He protects his lawyer and a nun brought ot comfort him as things go pair shaped and a riot breaks out with many a criminal escaping, including KGBeast, exactly what that sounds like, who kills whoever's in his way. It's a well done issue especially since it marks Batman's come back. Hearing what's going on Batman SWIMS OUT TO BLACK GATE despite everything he's just been through, and quickly goes john mclane on their asses when he gets there. A few do escape and we'll catch up with them later, but batman's able to help the police helicopters land and clean house. Sadly.. jared does not make it. He sacrices himeslf to save his companions and claims "actually I did do it". And I like the ambiguity left: was he lying the whole time or, and this is what i go with, was he just lying to save innocent people. He died.. but he got to go out on his terms saving innocnet people and wether he's a murderer or not.. he won't be forgotten for that.

Back to the bat proper and the next issue is another banger as Batman grapples with just how hopless it feels... he can stop criminals but.. this is something else. Alan Grant does a damn good job as he waxes poetic about the devistation and how batman feels.. and how he presses on anyway. Saving who he can. He does realize he can only do so much, and thus goes for help: From the Penguin. At this point Penguin's settled into his modern role as a fixer who keeps his hands clean and more brokers crimes and has his men do them than actually get arrested again or try and use a penguin blimp to blow up the Gotham mint or some such. Batman gives him an ultimatum: don't fucking loot, instead help whoever he can since he has the resources to. Given the circumstances batman has nothing to bribe Pengy with... but he can still do threats okay. If Penguin loots Batman WILL come for his ass when thigns are done and will not stop making his life hell. And since he became a shady mobster to avoid that Penguin agrees. His men would be shot on sight anyway and the faster things get closer to normal the better.

We catch up with Tim who can't get back into the city: Roads are blocked and while most would be fine with just having to lodge in Bludhaven, showing you just how bad things have gotten when that's the GOOD option, Tim has no time for that and steals a motorcycle leaving an iou and tearing it up to get back to the city.

Jolene is having a less rad time, as while her building is safe she wants to get to bruce to help.. and instead gets kidnapped by some shady crooks. and "coincidentally" right after things get worse as a mysterious villian calling himself the Quakemaster, real missed oppertunity to call himself the aftershockmaster but whatever, sends a message to the police and a tape to the media: He caused this, and he'll destroy what's left unless he gets his ransom.

We take a break from this newly introduced baddie who will surely last longer than the length of this review for an anthology issue. Batman Chronciles is a batman series I was unaware existed before reading this trade, a quarterly book to help add extra stories. This issues stories really hone in on this event's strengths that while , as always batman is the center, we get a lot of what the rest of gotham is going through, boots on the ground as everyday civilians and other vigilantes deal with this nightmare.

Our first story is the contract, an okay tale that features a kid who belivies in batman. You know batman leader of batman and the outsiders , the justice league, the league of international heroes. That mytholgical figure. It does have a fun twist on the kid waiting for batman to save them: he dosen't.. but a bunch of criminals contracted to do.. contracted by Bruce Wayne. It's a brilliant twist in an otherwise okay story.

The rest are all shorter tails either spotlighting various victims or setting up things to come: Ras Ah Ghul gloats in his evil lair that batman's lost the city.. and he will finally have him as his heir forgetting the no murder thing. The Penguin saves people... but only those he finds useful and only for a favor down the line. A man tragically calls out and is trapped... and is not found, robin finding someone else instead. Two Face's henchman plan to turn him in for reward money. It goes as well as you'd expect. And a little boy waits , having lost his parents.. but finds Dr Leslie Thompkins, who once again comforts a young orphan.

Onto Nightwing. Dick finally makes his way to the clocktower, where Barbra has returned to help cordinate things. The two are relived and as usual are adorable together. Before things can get a bit more serious Tim shows up to kill the mood. Babs is at least still happy to see him as, to my shock, they hadn't met before this. Neat little moment.. that becomes less neat when all involved realize NONE of them have heard from bruce.

Bruce himself is busy in a new identity: Detective Hawke. I love the look as Jim is naturally suspcious of a random officer showing up, the last thing he needs is a supervillian attack fucking now... until it hits him. He's been through so much and i'ts only getting worse so it's likely a huge relief to find that batman is back and doing all he can.

As Batman saves lives the rest of his team look for him.. but find the giant cratered manor, utterly horrifed. While it's not mentioned on text, the art does a good job showing how devistated dick is.. he's trying to hold it in but it's clear seeing his home for some long gone .. it's a lot. He goes in to check on the cave and Alfred, while Tim goes to check on his dad, who hugs him tight, a sweet moment and one of the few bits of hope we've gotten so far.

Dick finds more as Alfred is fine along with Harold, who came in with some digging equipment giving the two an exit now they have help. Harold is batman's mute tech man, forced into working for the penguin till Batman rescued him and gave him a home in his creepy basement. I mean granted who dosen't want to live near a giant robot dinosaur that was used to hunt men for sport?

The next issue deals with quakemaster; The police have doubts about his claims.. but are going to give him the money in case as there's no way in hell they can survive another quake. Batman does his thing investigating, going to find Joelne Relazzo... and finding she was kidnapped. Since Bruce is a distrustful batstard, he does check to make sure she's not a villian.. but isn't and comes to the correct conclusion: the quakemaster kidnapped her for her knowhow to make himself seem more credible.

Batman relays with Gordon and the two try to trap quakemaster.. but like any good villian he sent henchman to collect the money. They have no idea who the guy is and our heroes have no real leads.

So Batman goes back to the cave and brushes off his son and sidekick who were worried he might you know be dead, or lost. Same with his father. I get tensions are high but even for Batman this is a dick move. It's about an 8.. not quite "slapping robin in the face" or "war games" , a comfortable quiet or papa spank.

Batman does put together that Quakemaster is lying

The facts he has are all wrong.. which Batman reads as a clue. Jolene is feeding him bullshit to make it clear no one's in any danger. He still worries for HER, as kidnapped scientest is not a long lived profession.

Time for another side story, and this one is one of my faviorites. Sadly another Chuck Dixon joint but hey. This follows Huntress again this time with Spoiler

Stephanie Brown is the daughter of Cluemaster, aka tenmu riddler . When she found out what her dad was, she became Spoiler, determind to "spoil" his crimes by tipping off Robin. She soon became attracted to him and at this point is currently operating but only when he lets her as Batman is not a fan because "I DIDN'T TRAIN HER AND I'M NOT GOING TO YET BECAUSE BLURRRRRRRRRR". As you can probably guess by now I hate this look for batman. For chuck it was probably "Well it's his city of course he am the god he am the god". For me i'ts being a dick to a teenager who just wants to impress her crush and has a genuine talent for this and making Robin's life harder because shut up. Ther'es a line between "batman dosen't understand people's emotoinal and will often make decisions on pragmantism and not what''s necessarily the emotionally healthyc hoice " and "batman is a giant asshole who wants everyone else to be like him." and this feels like it's crossing it. Maybe it's better in the individual issues I don't know it just feels.. off to have Stephanie HAVE to get the permission of robin or feel like she needs it and I prefer the later her who when given similar dickish paramiters by Barbra when Steph became batgirl, instead just... proved her worng when she could. And Babs gets more of a pass as while she was being a tad condescending this was also after Steph's previous career left her seemingly dead. I put that "death" more on Batman than her, but tha'ts a whole other mess. My point is he had no reason to not take her in then and there, see if she had it then cut her loose like huntress. With Helena i'm more understanding as .. they can't kill people. That's a line they can't cross. I'm understanding in this circumstance, but in regular day.. no. They can't just kill people because their bad people.

It is neat to team the two up though: Steph tries to honor the code while Helena.. does not, but Helena also shows her a bit more repsect.. she's gruff but unlike Robin or Batman dosen't seem to dismiss her. She also relates to having a parent who sucks, as Steph has to confront cluemaster. Cluemaster DOES want to get money to treat Steph's ill mother.. but can't understand why this upsets her. That in the middle of a disaster when at the very least after escape he could've just... fucked off and gone on with his life or helped people.. he STILL chooose to steal money. Steph dosen't let Helena kill.. but still dosen't make it out of the situation cleanly, having once again been fucked up by her dad. It's deeply engaging and while a lot of i'ts probably just being a fan of Stephanie Brown's later apperances as Batgirl, it's still deeply engaging and since Steph was in a mall when the thing happened another nice boots on the ground story.

We'll finish the story in a second but for coherence sake i'm going to save the penultimate chapter of the quakemaster saga to do alongside the finale for Cataclysm as inbetween them are two unrelated side stories that just.. break the flow. Ic an't blame the trade for including them, but instead of moving them after the steph story for better reading their kept when they came out.. wedged inbetween a massive cliffhanger in the Quakemaster plot.

So i'm covering them here. First is catwoman which is.. not a great issue this go round. It should be, it has Catwoman fighting Poison Ivy who plans to retake the city for plants and is written okay, and has a good moment of selena going back to rescue her latest victim she honey trapped.. but it has a LOT of Catwoman slut shaming Ivy. I mean Ivy shouldn't kill and brainwash anyone of any gender, but the framing of it is just.. bleh. I do like Catwoman having to team up with Bullock and Ivy's own spores getting on her face.. and WANTING them to keep growing even if she dies, but this is forgetable and if I read this again, which I likely will, i'll defintely be skipping it over.

The next one's a bigger disapointment: the concept is brilliant: at arkham the power goes out... just as Killer Croc's cage is open so he escapes and Joker convinces him to let him out. He also lets out scarecrow , riddler and two new characters Vox and Witch.. who only show up here despite being given intresting backstories. THey kidnap an unfortunate guard and decide to play a game: whoever tells the best story kills the man.

Unfortunately, the stories are.. eh. Only vox and riddler's stories stick out, vox for her tragiclaly imitating her mom smashing her father in the head with a beer bottle on her brother and the freaky art style and Scarecrow for the fucked up ending where some puppies eat their owners alive. The rest are forgetable. It's a lesser attempt at the BTAS episode "Almost Got Em. The ending, joker delcaring they all one and all of them carving up the poor bastard and leaving him alive but his mind broken, is horrifying.. but the issue is a wasted opprutnity not helped by where it's awkwardly wedged in

So onto our finale: Robin investigates quakemaster as do Renee Montoya and Bullock. The latter two eventually find his hideout while Robin. .figures out who he is. I knew due to the guidebook I mentioned, but it's still a neat way as they give you the clues.. you just don't realize it. Quakemaster tends to do two things: pause mid sentence to rethink his words.. and not use any words with b in them.

While Jolene hopes her clues are getting through, Gordon goes to meet mayor Marion Grange, who seems to be one of Gotham's few competent mayors.. but is tired and pissed having to deal with 80 problems. And she gets an 81st as armed goons burst in to demand the ransom money. She informs them the city.. is broke, another devistating blow but understandable: gotham had two pandemics back to back before this.

As they prepare to kill her the rest of our heroes find quakemaster.. and his hostage, Mackinzie Bock, recurring detective the wiki didn't have much on.

So we come to the end of Cataclysm. Robin.. decides to mock quakemaster, daring him to say his name. Suprisingly this dosen't end in Bock's death, but in Quakemaster loosing his temper and going after our heroes. This allows the detectives to free bock and go fre relazzo whose greatful and gives harvey a kiss on the cheek. Awww.. now she has scabies.

Meanwhile Bock and Robin really rock tonight as they find the Quakemaster... and Arnold Wesker's hand up his ass. Wesker is the vintriloquist, a tragic supervillian and my favorite batman villian alongside his usual partner, Scarface, a chalk white gangster puppet and his other personality. Quakemaster is another of Wesker's personas, forcing him to do this scheme just like scarface.. nad not much else. It's a clever twist and I love the fact that the only super villian to have a major role in this .. was Scarface. The rest were one offs.

The two try to flee but BOck has a clever solution.. he won't shoot wesker.. while the issue is a bit iffy on Robin blaming wesker when he clearly has DID and his alters are the criminals, he doesn't want wesker killed. And neither doe sbock who instead shoots Scarface in the head while poor wesker calls for a medic. It's tragic as it is brilliant. He can't hurt an innocent.. but scarface isn't an innocent.

So with that the day is saved. Nightwing goes to save gordon, Wesker is taken in. Yet.. it's far from a happy ending. As Dick notes.. the city MAY not recover and while batman assures them it will and they at least won... it's very clear gotham.. isn't okay. They saved the day, prevented another disaster.. but like all the victims they've saved.. it's only so much triage. Gotham is bleeding out and there's only so much surgery batman can do before it flatlines.

[wlw-multi-fandom-imagines]

Can you do a Veronica lodge x Fem reader where y/n just found out she was Archie Andrews secret twin sister and she lives in cali with her mom so her mom and y/n go to meet Archie and then Veronica catches y/ns eye and y/n catches Veronica’s eye

"So, did you ever feel like you were missing something? You know, the twin connection thing?" Archie asked, staring across the table at you as he stirred his chocolate shake. Despite the fact that Pop's was packed tonight, nothing could distract him from studying your face. Despite being fraternal twins, he could see so much of himself in your features it was almost unnerving.

"I don't know. I mean, I get random pains every so often, so maybe that was you boxing this whole time? If so, we're going to have to revisit that," you joked. The nerves that had twisted your stomach in knots the entire trip from San Diego to Riverdale had disappeared practically the moment you and Archie met. Maybe it was the twin connection thing he mentioned, cause the two of you didn't have much in common in terms of hobbies.

You didn't catch what Archie said next, as an alluring figure sauntered through the entrance to the diner your newfound brother had insisted you visit. He noticed eventually that your eyes were no longer fixated on him and turned around to see what had distracted you so suddenly.

"Wow, we really are twins," he sighed in disbelief as he turned back around in the booth. "That is Veronica Lodge and believe it or not, I had almost the exact same reaction in the exact booth we're sitting in back in high school."

You finally managed to break your gaze away and bowed your head in disappointment.

"I just met you and we're already about to have our first fight."

"Relax" Archie chuckled, reaching for his milkshake again as you lifted your head. "She and I are old news. We can save the first fight for something bigger."

"In that case, care to introduce me?" You arched an eyebrow at him and then grinned as he started to slide himself out of the booth. A new rush of nerves hit your stomach as he crossed the diner to catch the brunette's attention and wave her over. This trip to Riverdale was already paying off, in more ways than one.

"Veronica, this is my twin sister, Y/N. There's quite a backstory there, as you can probably imagine. Y/N, this is-"

"Veronica Lodge," she interrupted your brother and outstretched her hand to shake yours. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Y/N is actually in town for a couple of days...I have some stuff to take care of tomorrow so she could probably use someone to show her around. Know anyone, Ronnie?"

You shot Archie a glance and made a mental note that subtlety was not one of his strong suits. Nevertheless, it paid off quickly and you couldn't knock him for that.

"I may know someone. Y/N, meet me here around 1 tomorrow for your official Riverdale tour."

[fanfics4all]

Lines Crossed

Request: Yes / No  Hi! I was wondering if you could do a Malachai x Fem!Jones!Reader where she works a car garage and does both Ghoulies cars and Serpents bikes and one day when she gets home Jughead immediately slams his phone in her face with a piece of her and Malachai the two of them fight she goes back to the garage and is working on her bike when Malachai shows up right before Jughead and some of the other Teen serpents do? Anon

Don’t be shy, request things! <3 Have a nice day/night

Malachai x Fem!Jones!Reader 

Word count: 1925

Warnings: Mentions of blood, fighting, should be it

Y/N: Your Name 

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(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

The scent of oil and gasoline clung to my clothes, my hands still stained with grease as I shut the garage doors behind me. It had been a long day at Jones Auto, the shop I built from the ground up. The only neutral ground in Riverdale, where both Serpents and Ghoulies came for their rides- bikes, muscle cars, whatever needed fixing. 

I didn’t pick a side. I never did. 

But that didn’t mean I didn’t have my…preferences. 

The second I stepped into my trailer, kicking off my boots, Jughead was already on me. His face was red with anger and before I could even say a word, my little brother shoved his phone in my face. 

“What the hell is this?” 

I blinked at the bright screen. It was a picture. A very clear picture. 

Of me. 

And Malachai. 

His arm slung around my waist, my fingers curled into his jacket, both of us close- too close for comfort in Jughead’s eyes. The way I leaned into him, the smirk on his lips, the way his forehead was nearly resting against mine- it told a story neither of us had planned on broadcasting. 

“Where did you get that?” I asked, my voice eerily calm. 

Jughead scoffed. “Does it matter? It’s all over town now! Y/N, what the hell are you thinking? He’s a Ghoulie!” 

I crossed my arms, tilting my head. “And? I work on Ghoulie cars every damn day, Jug. You think I don’t talk to them?” 

“You don’t just talk to Malachai.” He shot back, jabbing a finger at the picture. 

“You’re- what, dating him? Are you insane? Do you know what kind of guy he is? What he’s done?” 

My jaw clenched. “I know exactly who he is.” 

“That’s worse!” Jughead’s voice was full of disbelief. “You choose to be around him? You’re with him?” 

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t know him like I do, Jug.” 

“I know enough!” 

I sighed, rubbing my temples. “This isn’t your business.” 

“The hell it isn’t! You’re my sister!” His voice cracked slightly, frustration and worry mixing together. 

“You’re a Jones. You know what Malachai’s crew had done to the Serpents! To me! He’s dangerous!��� 

I exhaled sharply, stepping closer. “Oh, and you’re so innocent, huh? The Serpents haven’t done their fair share of damage?” I shook my head. 

“I work for both sides, Jug. I’ve got no reason to play into this stupid war you and your freinds keep feeding into.” 

“That’s bullshit!” He spat. “Neutral ground doesn’t mean you crawl into bed with the enemy!” 

My eyes flashed dangerously. “Watch your mouth.” 

Jughead ran a hand through his hair, pacing like he was trying to figure out how to talk sense into me. 

“Y/N, please. Malachai uses people. He hurts people. You think you’re different? You think he actually gives a damn?” 

I let out a humorless laugh. “God, you're so blind!” 

“To what?” 

“To the fact that I’m not some naïve little girl.” I snapped. “I know exactly what I’m doing. I know who I’m with. And if you think for a second that I’m stupid enough to be played- then you don’t know me at all.” 

Jughead shook his head, looking at me like I was making the biggest mistake of my life. 

“You’re choosing him over your own family?” 

I clenched my fists. “I’m choosing me, Jughead. I built my own lift, my own shop, my own damn rules! You don’t get to tell me who I can and can’t be with.” 

The tension between us was thick, years of sibling loyalty being tested in ways neither of us expected. Finally, Jughead exhaled, shaking his head. 

“I hope you don’t regret this.” 

I grabbed my keys off the counter, ignoring the way my chest felt tight. 

“I won’t.” 

I walked out the door without looking back. 

The moment I stepped back into Jones Auto, I felt like I could breathe again. Here, I wasn’t just Jughead’s sister. I wasn’t a Jones who had to pick a side. I was my own damn person. And sure enough, leaning against one of the cars, arms crossed, watching me with that ever-present smirk- was Malachai. He pushed off the car as I walked in, eyes flickering over me, reading me like an open book. 

“Trouble at home, Princess?” 

I scoffed, throwing my keys onto the workbench. “Nothing I can’t handle.” 

Malachai stepped closer, reaching out to trail a finger under my chin, tilting my head up so I had to look at him. 

“He found out, huh?” 

“Yep.” 

His smirk widened. “And?” 

I grabbed the front of his jacket, yanking him down so our lips nearly touched. 

“And I don’t give a damn.” 

Malachai let out a low chuckle, his hands finding my waist, pulling me closer. 

“Good.” 

His lips crashed into mine, and in that moment, I didn’t care about Jughead. I didn’t care about the Serpents or the Ghoulies or the war they wanted to keep fighting. I cared about this. About him. About us. 

The garage was supposed to be neutral ground. It was the one place in Riverdale where the bullshit gang war didn’t exist. Where Serpents and Ghoulies could come to get their rides fixed, no questions asked. No fighting, no drama, just business. I built that peace. I worked for it. And in one reckless moment, Jughead and the younger Serpents destroyed it. 

It happened fast. Too fast. 

One second, Malachai had me pressed against the workbench, his hands on my waist, his lips brushing against mine with that cocky smirk of his. And the next- he was ripped away from me. 

“What the hell!?” My shout barely left my lips before the sound of fists colliding with flesh filled the garage. I whipped around to see Jughead and three other teen Serpented- Sweet Pea, Fangs, and some new kid- beating the shit out of Malachai. 

Fists flew, grunts and growls echoed against the walls as Malachai tried to defend himself, but it was four against one. And they weren’t holding back. 

“Stay away from her!” Jughead roared, delivering a brutal punch to Malachai’s ribs. 

“Y/N isn’t yours to mess with, Ghoulie scum!” Sweet Pea spat, landing another blow to Malachai’s face. 

My heart stopped. 

No. No, no, no! 

“GET OFF HIM!” I screamed, my voice breaking, but they didn’t listen. They just kept swinging. I saw red. 

The first thing my fingers wrapped around was a heavy wrench sitting on my workbench. Without thinking, I snatched it up and slammed it against the metal bench with a sharp, thunderous clang that ripped through the garage. The sound was so violent that the Serpents froze. Malachai groaned from the floor, wiping blood from his mouth as he struggled to push himself up. All four Serpents turned to look at me. 

The rage in my eyes must have said everything because the fight was over. 

“You stupid somes of bitches!” I seethed, voice trembling with fury. 

“This is neutral ground and you just fucking broke that!” 

None of them spoke. 

Jughead had the nerve to look like he regretted it, but I didn’t care. Not anymore. 

“You think you can just waltz in here and decide who I can and can’t be with?” I spat. 

“You don’t own me. You don’t get to make that choice!” 

“Y/N, we were just-” Jughead started, but I cut him off. 

“I don’t wanna hear your damn excuses!” My grip on the wrench tightened. 

“Get. The hell. Out!” 

No one moved at first. 

So I lifted the wrench again, slamming it even harder against the metal, making all of them flinch. 

“NOW!” 

That did it.

Jughead clenched his jaw, his hands still balled into fists, but he nodded at Sweet Pea, Fangs, and the other kid. One by one, they backed away, their eyes flickering between Malachai and me. They turned and left. And for the first time in years, I felt like I had lost my brother. 

The second the Serpents were gone, I dropped the wrench and rushed over to Malachai. His lip was split, his knuckles raw, and there was already a bruise forming on his cheekbone. His breathing was uneven, but his eyes were still sharp. 

“Damn.” He muttered, wiping more blood from his mouth. “Didn’t know you had that in you, Princess.” 

I let out a shaky breath, running a hand through my hair. “Shut up and let me fix you up.” He chuckled, but it turned into a wince. “Mihgt take you up on that.” 

I led him to the old couch in the back of the shop, grabbing my first-aid kit. He hissed when I dabbed alcohol on his split lip. 

“Don’t be a baby.” I muttered, but my voice was softer now. 

He smirked, wincing again. “Not my fault you’re rough with those hands, baby.” 

I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything. My hands were still shaking as I patched him up. Not from fear, but from anger. 

Once Malachai was good I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed my phone, still fuming and dialed my Dad. FP answered on the second ring. 

“Hey, sweetie. What’s up?” 

I took a deep breath, forcing my voice to stay even. “Jughead and some of the others just came into my garage and jumped Malachai.” 

Silence. 

Then-

“They what?” Dad’s tone dropped, voice edged with danger. 

“They broke neutral ground, Dad.” I said, gripping the phone tighter. 

“They came in here, dragged him off me, and beat the shit out of him. In my shop. They think they get to tell me who I can and can’t be with, and they crossed the line.” 

Dad sighed heavily. “Y/N��” 

“I don’t give a damn how you feel about Malachai.” I cut in. “I don’t care if you like him or not. But this? This is about my business. I worked too hard to make Jones Auto a safe space for the Southside, and they just threw that in the gutter because of some stupid gang war!” I was on the verge of tears at this point. 

More silence. 

Then, finally, Dad exhaled. “You’re right.” 

That caught me off guard. “Wait… what?” 

“I don’t like Malachai.” Dad admitted. “I don’t trust him. But… I respect when you’re building, Y/N. And if they broke that trust, then they need to face the consequences.” 

My grip on the phone loosened. “So, you’ll handle it?” 

“They’ll know damn well not to pull that shit again.” He promised. 

“And as for Jughead… I’ll deal with him personally.” I swallowed hard because I knew that meant trouble for my little brother. But after what he did tonight? He deserved it. 

The second I hung up, Malachai chuckled from where he sat on the couch, a hand pressed to his bruised ribs. 

“Damn, Princess.” He mused. “Never thought I’d see the day FP Jones took your side over Jughead’s.” I let out a breath, sinking down next to him.

“Neither did I.” 

He smirked, leaning his head back against the couch. “You know this just makes me love you more, right?” 

I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help the small smirk tugging at my lips. 

“Shut up, Mal.” 

But when he reached out, intertwining his fingers with mine- I didn’t pull away. Because for the first time in forever, I wasn’t standing in Jughead’s shadow. I was standing on my own. And no on- not my brother, not the Serpents, no one- was going to take that from me. 

Tag list: @les-bio-lie @tashy-bear @ashwarren32 @hollie-blogs-blog1 @lover-of-books-and-tea @nerdygaloresposts @teenwolfbitches28 @kmc1989 @drw0301bieber @lady-of-lies @ravenmoore14 @ravenempress101 @cillianchamp @rowanthomasknapp @rachelxwayne @ready-4-fanfiction @madammarvellous-blog1 @emo-godess-loves-you @hiya-imthatgirl @mindsetjupiter @averysinclaire @mittelerde1999 @sweetest-peas @rousewriter @camiconfessions-blog @thecaptainsgingersnap @cenyddtheunicorn @jacksxsouthsideserpents @lover2448 @mamacobie13 @scarrasco1325 @madebyleftovermuses @fandom-princess-forevermore @liz-owl @adamsbubblegumbitch

[thesimonkshow]

My theories about Season 3 of The White Lotus (Who dies)

So the newest season The White Lotus premiered a few days ago after being off air for a couple of years & we were immediately plunged into a new era of the show, no Jennifer Coolidge, no vocal trills in the opening and instead of arriving in the aftermath of the seasons murder, we were thrown into the thick of a shootout at the Thailand resort, everything we think we know about the show is thrown clear out the window.

I have a feeling one of the only similarities we are going to get from seasons before (other than Greg) is that we'll be dealing with multiple deaths and I'm going to talk you through who each of the unlucky guests/staff will bite the proverbial bullets.

Out of all the new guests, the Ratcliff family have been the characters who've attracted the most amount of attention, though not for the best of reasons: the Patriarch Tom has gotten himself into shady business dealings which are starting to catch up with him after a journalist called him for an interview about his company, Matriarch Victoria is a heavily sedated mess who doesn't have much of a spine and seems quite judgemental and let's not get started on their offspring!

Saxon, Piper & Lachlan take centre stage in my main theory, I think everyone has cottoned onto the 'Hear No, See No, Speak No' theory in their first shot of the series as each have formed a pose like the money forms in a respective manner. Saxon is mouthy, saying some really icky and weird things during his screen time about other women at the villa including his own sister, however Piper's Hear No and Lachlan's Speak No have not yet played out, but as time passes, they will be shown.

For Piper, I think her Hear No elements will be displayed as she begins to commit to converting to Buddhism (as shown in the weeks ahead trailer), she'll end up shut out her mothers protests but for Lachlan, I think his Speak No moment will be more serious. The indecisive Lachlan is the important piece of this story, he's always stuck between choices: Duke or Cal Tech, Temple or Pool etc. The way the characters are framed from his POV look very much like an angel and devil on the shoulder, he's always trying to appease both sides but eventually he's going to have to land on one overall choice.

'A few days before the show aired, I got a message from a friend who showed me a now deleted tweet about Saxon getting involved with his brother in some sort of satanic sex ritual, which also coincided with the same week I saw someone saying they'd seen six eps of the show in advance, it sounded very Riverdale esque, so I pushed it to the back of my mind. However, after seeing Saxon & Lachlan's interactions in the first episode, especially their bedroom scene, I realised this theory might end up happening, this show despite being an anthology, always has some hallmarks: full frontal in the premiere, a death at the end of the show & one controversial gay sex scene roughly halfway through or so. It wouldn't be a shock if Saxon & Lachlan have this scene this time around.

Something else about these scenes is that someone always watches on, and that brings me to Piper. Something I've noticed in both weeks ahead trailers is that there's a scene with her in the dead of night spotting something & then screaming. I think during this scene, she's going to see them going at it (it's worth noticing in the opening titles there's a painting of some men watching two naked women together, which could be a misdirect which leads to Piper finding Saxon & Lachlan or it could be what it says on the tin and Saxon & Lachlan watch two of the friends having a drunken one night stand). Anyway Piper freaks out and threatens to tell, which leads Saxon to plead with Lachlan to do something and making the most pivotal decision of his life, he tricks Piper into eating food laced with the juices of the Poong-Pong tree that Saxon noticed in the first ep, fatally poisoning his sister & pushes her into the lake. Piper will be the dead guest, the shooting won't be the cause like we all think it will but it could be pivotal later on.

Ultimately the Ratcliff's will end the season two down, Tom wheeled off due to his shady company dealings and Piper in a body bag, Victoria will be despondent, lifting her hand out for Lachlan to stroke like Piper used to, which he accepts, his other hand locked with Saxon's. Lachlan will never speak of what happened in Thailand, Saxon will never comprehend the awful things he's saying, so by Piper overhearing the brothers, she breaks her metaphor and thus pays the price.

As for the other guests/staff going down in the finale, I theorised Greg being shot way before the show came back, but I pushed it out of my mind like with Saxon & Lachlan as it seemed too fan servicy, but now that he is officially back, my theory is back on. I think he is planning on murdering his new girlfriend in a similar manner to how he offed Tonya last season, with the new manager Fabian as his new accomplice after Quentin died. I hope through their secret relationship, we see Greg open up a bit more about their partnership, as I though Arriverdverci lacked a scene of Greg finding out, so this could be the peek into Greg the viewers deserve. Ultimately I think the plan will backfire on both and both will end up catching bullets and while Fabian will die immediately, Greg will be clinging to life when Belinda finds him. The weeks ahead trailers have shown him fixating on her as someone who knows Tonya and when she voices her concerns to Fabian, he brushes her off, which is why I think they're partnered. He tries to get her to help him, but she's worked out what has happened to Tonya and decides instead to take his money so she can start her centre.

As for who is doing the shooting, it won't be a gang of thugs, nor will it be Tom, I think the one pulling the trigger is Gaitok, the hotel worker who has a strong friendship with Mook. Both the generic trailer and weeks ahead trailer have shown him being forced to step up as a security guard following multiple incidents, he mentions to Mook he doesn't want to hurt anyone but she encourages him to commit to his position. I think with him being somewhat privy to Tom's phone calls, he'll work out what's going on and try to detain him, leading to the first shot ringing out, we do know there's time between the first shot and the others, so my guess is Tom will be nicked in the leg or somewhere not fatally as Gaitok stares horrified, he'll panic & in that moment will inadvertently squeeze the trigger, sending more shots out, some of which will hit people either fatally or not.

Ultimately due to the deaths, Gaitok will be used as a scapegoat and Mook will benefit from it as she'll be appointed the new manager to close out the season, as we always go back to the location for the final shot. Sritala might get hit by a bullet but even if she doesn't, I think her experience with Rick will make her take a step back from public life, so Mook takes everything to close us out.

[anotherbluesunday]

✨Moodboard Teaser: In Technicolor✨

With the release of the first chapter coming in hot with its expected release being this Friday at the latest or sooner (possibly as early as tomorrow) I wanted to take the time to acquaint everyone with the primary couples in this story. Usually I cap it at two couples and have auxilary couples and characters on the fringes. But because this is a crossover between two of my favorite shows, I have expanded it to three—possibly four—couples with auxilaries (secondary) on the fringes. These couples will include original characters i.e. Wynn Galpin who is Tyler Galpin’s younger sister. There is a crossover couple that joins the Wednesday group with the Riverdale group. This couple is where I expect to receive the most backlash but idc. Their my crossover otp and I hope you all trust me enough to keep reading and join me/the characters on this journey. I have also switched some things up with one of the Riverdale characters because the ship only got screen time in the last season and it did more for their character than their actual failed relationships did the entire season. Fight me. But don’t. Or do.

Anyway, here are the couples moodboards, as promised. The visuals were inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juilet because these past few months since January I have been on a 90’s and 2000’s kick and I am dying for how that movie captured the beauty, grit, grime, and excitement of LA. So enjoy and let me know what you think! 💜

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We open with our crossover couple who are the star-crossed lovers—Cheryl Blossom, the queen of the Palisades and star tennis player and Pugsley “Lee” Addams, the king of Elysian Heights and leader of his grunge sleeze band Texca. Born second generation to a working class defense attorny and day-time caregiver to the elderly, Lee Addams has just wants to make it through his senior year of high school and hangout with his friends on the weekend. But when he and his twin sister Wednesday step a little too far over the line at their old school their parents pull some strings to have their three children—Wednesday, Pugsley, and Pubert “Bertie” attend Morticia’s former high school. There, Lee unwittingly comes face to face with the campus queen, the indomitable and untouchable Cheryl Blossom. Born into privilege with the face of an angel and the bite of a viper, she has everything and anything. Influence thanks to her parents name. Adoration by way of her beauty. And power because of her abilities to manipulate others. But what happens when a hurricane meets an immoveable force? Will they fold? Destroy one another? What happens when the pretty vicious face isn’t all it seems to be and the cutting confidence is stripped away? Who are the real people that lie beneath it all?

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Next are our second pair of the four star-crossed lovers. While it is never a good idea to fall for your twin flame, for Tyler and Wednesday it isn’t so simple. Twin flames and soulmates fused into one as if it were a sick joke, their story begins at a party—the raven haired twin sister with her face painted like a Catrina (see: Dia de los Muertos symbols and iconography) and the Galpin golden boy dressed like Sir Lancelot with the sacred heart etched into his chest plate. Like her brothers, Wednesday grew up living a modest life where nothing was taken for granted and family sits at the heart of all major decisions. For Tyler, he has forgotten the importance of family and community after starting university where his life has evolved into an endless stream of parties and hookup’s. Never struggling but also never being challenged to be better or grow, he’s hit a wall. A mid-life crisis of sorts but at the already chaotic age of 18 with his 19th birthday right around the corner. But from the moment he lays eyes on Wednesday she is all he can think of. All he breathes and dreams of—a beautiful stranger that won’t free him. Yet when this silver tongued Casanova tries to approach the dark beauty he’s shot down. Challenged to question who he is and what he truly is doing with his life that matters. What is in store for the idealistic social revolutionist and her troubled admirer? Where will they land when the walls of his kingdom come crumbling down?

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The youngest of three siblings each yet one is protected and coddled like a greenhouse flower while the other has flourished amidst hardship and bouts of poverty. Wynn Galpin is caught in a never-ending loop of compassions to her twin older siblings, Tyler and Enid. Both are straight A students. Both star athletes with Tyler winning championship after championship for swim and Enid earning a full-ride scholarship to UCLA for volleyball. Both are charming and charismatic. Both are perfect and Wynn can never compare despite how she tries. She doesn’t have the passion for swim or volleyball so she chooses cheer. “That’s not a real sport” she’s told. Her siblings get A’s but she can hardly scrape by with B’s while battling her depression and anxiety. At all times, her mind is screaming for her to just run off and disappear. And after the loss of her friend and pseudo-sister Polly, the darkness has become more persuasive. More invasive and vicious. But it is during a spiral that forces her out of the gym during cheer practice that she runs into the new kid. The brainiac junior in her senior level AP classes. Pubert “Bertie” Addams. A carefree class clown with a heart of gold and the virgin Guadalupe drawn in vibrant neons on the bottom of his skateboard. Where will this new path take them when the class clown and the beauty queen who seems to always be in tears meet to form an oddball friendship? And what happens when their hearts begin to long for more than just friendship but their worlds couldn’t be more different? How will things turn out for the greenhouse flower and her sidewalk dandelion?

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What’s the worst that could happen when you fall in love with your best friend? What happens when you think they love someone else? When you think they could never see you the way you see them in return? Do you stand there and wait for them to turn around? Or do you walk away while piecing together your heart that will never know real closure? Reggie has asked himself these questions nearly every day for the past six years since his family moved to the fringes of the Palisades and enrolled him in the affluent junior high nearby. Archie Andrews was his first friend at his new school all those years ago. The first one to get up during lunch time and sit down next to him. The one who didn’t care that his parents weren’t from money and had only recently come into their fortune. The one who didn’t care that he didn’t have the newest clothes, phone, or hairstyle. Like a guardian angel come to save him from perpetual solitude, Archie befriended Reggie with a bright smile and a silly joke. And since that day, Reggie has kept his love for the redhaired boy wonder to himself. Has been the picture of what a bestfriend should be. Has supported Archie and defended him. Joined their high school swim team with him just so that they could live out Archie’s dream of being the one’s to break Tyler, the former captain’s, record and win more championships than him and his team did. Reggie has lived a beautiful but painful lie for nearly a decade and the cracks have begun to show. The devotion now agony. The love a barbed dagger twisted liettle by little every time he has to play third wheel on Archie’s dates with his girlfriend Veronica. But one night their eyes meet across a sea of moving bodies at a house party. Archie kissing Veronica but can’t stop looking at Reggie. There’s a spark. A sadness. Hope. But is there truth? Is there a willingness to be honest? To accept this attraction that has been there waiting from the start? Does Archie know what real love could be like if he just turned around? Or will the lovefool angel look away once again and leave the poor friend and saint in the dark?

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Stay tuned for more because this is only the beginning. Next will be the auxiliary couples, characters, and family boards for the three main ones at play. But the next next post that will be following this one will be the official titlecard for Chapter One. Can’t wait to see you all again there. 💜

[wlwcatalogue]

Valentine's Special ~ Aerith/Tifa from Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Compilation)

Since today is Valentine’s Day, and FFVII: Rebirth is releasing at the end of this month, it’s the perfect time to get caught up on Aerith/Tifa, a.k.a. Aerti, a.k.a. possibly the most unexpected F/F ship in gaming! Here is what I consider to be the most comprehensive compilation of Aerti scenes from FFVII: Remake, prepared by yours truly for your viewing (and shipping) pleasure :)

Quick sales pitch: While Aerith is famously The One Who Dies and Tifa is known for her sexy character design, they are also popularly remembered as main character Cloud’s two equally appealing love interests, as attested to by one Robert Pattinson. However, just as the elements present in the original 1997 game Final Fantasy VII were expanded on and added to in FFVII: Remake, the relationship between Aerith and Tifa was also fleshed out… to the point where it became very, very easy to ship them together. To put it in Tumblr terms, it’s like Betty and Veronica, but taken in a different – but still (subtextually) gay – direction compared to Riverdale. Check out the video above, it's just 1.5 hours!

(Longer sales pitch / commentary below the cut)

Originally from the hit 1997 Japanese role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, Aerith and Tifa, along with the main character Cloud Strife, were one of the most famous love triangles of video games at the time, and arguably even now. (Note: Think Betty and Veronica (Archie but pre-Riverdale), or if you’re more familiar with anime, Rei and Asuka (Neon Genesis: Evangelion) or Saber and Rin (Fate: Stay Night).) Although they barely had any interactions together and really were primarily love interests for Cloud in the original game (and subsequent related works), the relationship between Aerith and Tifa was significantly more fleshed out in Final Fantasy VII: Remake (2020), going beyond your standard box-ticking “look, girl power!” exercise. There seems to have been many a fan who walked out of playing Remake who found Aerti (i.e. Aerith and Tifa’s relationship) memorable – whether read romantically or platonically – resulting in many GIFs, fanart, and even compilations of memorable scenes of their “friendship”.

Not only do they interact with each other outside of speaking about Cloud or other male characters (scraping a pass in the Bechdel test, yay!), Remake gives the relationship space to develop from “strangers who hit it off” to “individuals who care about and trust each other”. Significantly, Aerith is the one who seems to take Tifa’s concerns the most seriously and comfort her, and Tifa is also able to see past Aerith’s cheery façade and reach out to her at her times of greatest need. In my opinion, each of the pair offers the greatest emotional support to the other out of all the characters – even more than what they do for Cloud (or what Cloud does for them).

So what makes their relationship romantic rather than simply platonic to me (other than sheer force of will)? Even though there isn’t really any direct flirting or explicitly romantic lines, there are a number of moments which are framed romantically or parallel romantic moments between Cloud/Aerith or Cloud/Tifa. Perhaps the most obvious of this is when Tifa protects Aerith from falling (twice), which is animated and shot in a way which suggests that it’s just as swoon-worthy as when Cloud protected Tifa from a fall in a prior scene. However, another notable example is how the high-five gesture is linked to Cloud’s opening up to Aerith (as he has to be persuaded over the course of several scenes to do the high-five), but Aerith also high-fives Tifa in other scenes later, effectively appropriating the gesture. So while I never expect it to ever become canon, Remake’s Aerti has been a wonderful surprise and I hope to see even greater developments in their relationship within this subtextual space as the FFVII: Remake trilogy progresses.

Let's all hope for the best-- in the meantime, please enjoy this compilation!

[rythmicjea]

Archie's Dream 5x04

Should I be finishing up my chapter for Narwals? Yes. Am I? No. Instead, I can't get Archie's dream out of my head. Season 5 is considered to be "the worst" season. That's because the majority of people don't understand it. There are so many layers to this season. It's like a 14 hour long episode of the X-Files. If you take episodes 1-3 to really be the end of season 4 (and we all should) it's the shortest season out of all of them.

The show needed to get everyone back together in Riverdale. That's how shows like this work. The impetus is Archie's dream. On the surface it's a warning that Riverdale is in trouble. The soul of Riverdale is on the verge of collapse. And yes, that is true. Get closer though, and you start to see the shadows underneath.

The dream opens in the boys locker room of Riverdale High. Archie Andrews is giving his team a pep talk before the game. His voice is darker, deeper, it's that of a drill sergeant. He prepares them saying it's not going to be easy. That they have never faced anything like it but they cannot be afraid. He barks, "Do you know why?" And they answer "Because we're Bulldogs!"

The camera lingers on Reggie. Why Reggie? Here's the thing most people don't recognize about Mantle the Magnificent. He may not like you, but if you go to Riverdale, you're a Bulldog. And he will defend any Bulldog for any reason. That's why he's so offended and incensed that Jughead wears his Serpent's jacket. Because to him, Jughead is spitting in Riverdale's face. Jughead is one of Riverdale's sons and that should mean more.

We see the General tell them that their mission is to save their fallen brother. The next shot is of a football field as No Man's Land (the stretch of land between two trenches in war). There are football players in the background running plays. There are bombs going off and artillery fire whizzing by. I am an avid football fan. I grew up on Ohio State football. A football game is often referred to as a "battle". You'll hear phrases like "Battle on the Grid Iron". Each game is life or death for the players and the fans. But this is more than just a football game. This is actual life or death.

Reggie goes down. Shot in the chest from enemy fire. This is representative of how Reggie is on the "wrong" side in the season. He's aligned himself with Hiram. He doesn't care for the town and the school that he once loved so deeply.

Archie is then flown into the air by a bomb. He doesn't want to go further. He doesn't think he can. You would think that he would look at his target. Instead, he sees Cheryl. She's in her Vixens uniform. And while you can hear the squad cheering, Cheryl isn't speaking. She smiles at him, with tears in her eyes, nodding at him to go forward. Why is she here? They weren't particularly close. Why would she care about his mission? Because Cheryl has lost a brother. She knows that pain of not being able to help and the guilt that comes with surviving. She can't let Archie go through that.

Then we see the fallen soldier. We don't know his identity until Archie gets to him. It's Jughead. A chest wound pouring out blood. His heart was broken by his first love and his best friend. Jughead only says one line and it is "I just need a little help". We come to learn in the season that Jughead has become an alcoholic. His line is one that many addicts say. It's so simple to believe that with just a little help they can overcome their affliction. A lot of times it's said to get a fix. Just a tiny one to help get through the withdrawal.

On the sidelines is everyone who loves Jughead. The Serpents, Betty, Veronica, and Pop. They're all cheering for Archie to do what needs to be done. And at the last moment we see Hiram standing with a gun pointed at Archie. In the first four seasons it was always about Archie vs Hiram. But everyone forgets that the actual thorn in Hiram's side was Jughead. It's Jughead that exposes him. It's Jughead that picks up the pieces of his parental duties for Veronica. It's Jughead who is willing to risk everything to see Hiram exposed for all of his corruption and evil deeds. And Hiram knows it. But Hiram can't do anything to Jughead without exposing himself. That's why he willingly lets Jughead take himself to the slaughter against the ghoulies. Hiram was behind riot night. And that gunshot wound in Jughead's chest? Who's to say it wasn't Hiram who pulled the trigger?

Archie's dream tells the story of season 5. There's many reasons for him to come home. He declares that Riverdale is "dying" and they need to save it. But it's not Riverdale that he has to save, it's Jughead. He hasn't spoken to Jughead in seven years. When he calls his three friends, Betty and Veronica drop what they are doing immediately to answer. Jughead is the only one who hesitates. We never see him answer. Jughead is the most reluctant to stay.

NO ONE on the show knows how to handle an addiction. Not even Jughead. He knows how to take care of his father but it was never his responsibility to save his father. And FP? FP gets sober cold turkey. He falls off the wagon at his retirement party. He is magically able to handle alcohol responsibly. That's not how addiction works.

Archie offers Jughead a place to stay and a teaching position at the school. Archie lets him go when he needs to go back to New York without any questions asked. Archie is the subliminal support system that was taken from Jughead at the end of high school. He doesn't know what to do exactly (and he has his own issues - PTSD) but he can do the passive things to help his brother.

After seven years of silence, Archie has a dream that tells him his best friend and brother is in danger and he's the only one who can help. And if that's being an invitation back to a safe place and a warm bed then he does it without hesitation. To many Archie IS Riverdale. He is the heart of the town. But, Jughead put Riverdale on the map. Jughead is the town's conscience. To Archie, Jughead is Riverdale.

[palegreenchlorine]

what if hiram and archie but they're both girls

what if we were hiram and archie . and we were both girls

interesting premise, anon! it could go lots of different ways imo. really depends on the configuration. see one of the things that really creates the unique dynamic of hiram/archie is the fact that it’s built on the very patriarchal patterns of father-son relationships and ALSO the mafia/mob/cartel whatever (crime rings, essentially, are a male business.)

(there is also the question of race, but.)

hiram is brought into the mob the same way that archie is turned into a capo in season 2. i think before anything else, that is what shapes their dynamic that hiram does Wrong and archie Tries to Do Right. that’s the thing that shapes the entirety of season 2, right? archie wants to Do Right (protect fred) -> hiram offers him a way to do that by Doing Wrong (suggesting he start a vigilante group). archie then gets sucked into hiram’s world, with the lure of what i would call very male narrative motivations (this doesn’t mean these apply to men alone, but in fiction, are often seen as inherent traits for a male character to have) such protectiveness - over fred and veronica, power - over those who would seek to hurt fred and veronica. there was a point somewhere in the thousands of meta posts i’ve devoured in the last two days that fred getting shot makes him weak in archie’s eyes, and that hiram’s traditionally “powerful” persona becomes very attractive to him in the time following the fred incident.

have you ever heard of the theory of homosociality, anon?

the thing about the mafia, like i said before, is that it is a predominantly male business. the women, like hermione often cites in s2 to veronica, are supposed to stand behind their man as he makes his moves. the issue with hiram is the same issue that logan roy had in succession, which is that he had no acceptable male heir, so he does, again, what logan roy did: used his idiot son-in-law as a conduit for power. (idiot here used affectionately for archie, derogatory for tom wambsgans) what’s interesting to me is that hiram obviously prides himself on veronica having turned out to be such a cunning, self-sufficient young woman - and while this frustrates him as well, i have to believe that as some point he must’ve considered handing his empire over to her. but the fact remains that ultimately the mafia is a male business, and archie-and-veronica would’ve been a really odd, controlling couple because veronica would be running everything from behind archie’s stature. she does so, even, with nick st. clair and the speakeasy/casino side hustle in s2. she still has to rely on a man to pull the strings.

you know the riverdale genre theory? because of the way that hiram’s entire character is constructed around the mafia, and by extension, so is veronica’s relationship with archie, i think a lot of archie and hiram’s relationship has to specifically with their gender. think about it - none of the women on riverdale have such an intense relationship with the girls on the show who aren’t their daughters. even though alice HATES hermione and veronica, she doesn’t do anything more than forbid betty from being friends with veronica. mary doesn’t really interact with veronica the same way that hiram does with archie. gladys never even comes into meaningful contact with betty - for that matter, neither does hermione. all the girls have very complex minefield-esque relationships with their mothers, but none of the rivermoms ever reach out to the other daughters.

i would say on some level archie and hiram’s relationship cannot be replicated if they were female; say, for example, that hiram were to be woman, and still married to hermione; a lesbian mob boss would always be fighting her way into again, what is predominantly a male space. i don’t think she would’ve had the time to groom female!archie the same way into becoming her capo, because it wouldn’t supplement her position in the mafia to have more female capos. i believe if hiram were female, also, and veronica was still her daughter, there would be no focus on female archie (veronica’s gf in this scenario) and instead, veronica would have a very fraught, tense relationship with hiram instead, because hiram would be actively trying to groom her to take over the empire (?) instead of spoiling her and treating her as someone who would eventually marry into a different position of power. veronica would then fight hiram on all these things, because her girlfriend archie would be protesting against all the evil things that fem!hiram is doing, because fem!archie would be able to see it from the outside of the relationship. riverdale loves a mother-daughter struggle.

if, say, instead, this was a genderswap situation, where hermione is male and hiram is female, and veronica is male and archie is female, i believe nothing would really come of it either. again, fem!archie would be trying to convince veronica that male!hermione is evil, but male veronica would’ve been indoctrinated a long time ago. hiram being female and archie being female completely sap all the tension from their relationship, because all of a sudden fem!hiram would be using her cunning to ensure male!hermione stayed on top of everything, and fem!archie would be busy trying to ensure male!veronica wouldn’t succumb to the dark side. they would simply never interact! riverdale wouldn’t put them in the same room, even. it is possible i just lack imagination; but i just think the layers of repression and violence that form archie and hiram just don’t click in the same way if they were women. i don’t know.

(i do think, though, that fem!hiram would be a very possessive boymom over male!veronica. perhaps there’s something there? fem!hiram beefing with fem!archie over male!veronica’s attention? even so, riverdale, for all its female characters, doesn’t really do non-familial intergenerational interactions all that much. i have a jughead-meta reason for why this is, but that’s a story for a different time.)

[bleuangel88]

The character-building around Mickey Bolitar is frankly fascinating to watch unfold.

And the use of dialogue, things like placement, direction, and camera shots only add to this character standing out as he does.

One of the best things about a series is how you can become immersed in everything about it and take a moment to appreciate all the little details.

The opening scene had Mickey and our boy Spoon Spindell in jail after they got arrested, piecing together all the information they knew about Ashley and the mystery surrounding her disappearance.

Mickey and Spoon are so Scott and Stiles coded that I appreciate how this series scratches the Teen Wolf and a bit of Riverdale itch

.The two of them lying on the bench, mostly unfazed by their predicament, both focused exclusively on figuring out this. Ashley's situation was delightful.

But one of the most notably subtle moments was the placement of the Kasselton police emblem behind Mickey.We have this young, determined, protective, fearless teen boy on a mission to find his friend when the police won't even entertain her absence.

And he's sitting in front of their emblem of the American eagle, with the words "Honor, Service, Fidelity" emblazoned on the wall.

Mickey possesses all of these virtues. We've seen it, and it's only been two installments. He embodies what those words mean, and his mission to find Rachel is how it's showcased.

You just know that was a deliberate shot, and those are the little things in a series that make me squeal in delight.

Agent's intuitive proclamation that Mickey was a "protector" further solidified who and what Mickey is, although that moment was heavy-handed in its delivery as they spoonfed us this concept.

Mickey Bolitar is a worthy, honorable, lovable protagonist and hero, and we already know he won't stop until he gets to the bottom of everything that plagues the Kasselton community riddled with secrets.

..

Agent's intuitive proclamation that Mickey was a "protector" further solidified who and what Mickey is, although that moment was heavy-handed in its delivery as they spoonfed us this concept.

It's hard to say what the trio's plan is whenever they find Octoface, but it doesn't seem like they're thinking that far ahead.

Ema Winslow's connection with Agent, the tattoo artist, would've given them a solid lead if Agent were honest about Octoface. Agent knows who he is, and rather than tell Ema anything about that, they burn the photo of Octoface in the tattoo book.

But it seems Agent knows a lot more than they let on. Despite not giving Ema the information she needed, Agent did mention that the spirit encouraged them to put the specific butterfly on Ema because it represents a goddess known for protecting children.

Agent's cryptic parting words to Ema were that she might not be the child needing protection. Instead, she may be some manifestation of the Roman goddess, Abeona, someone who protected children.

Based on the path she, Mickey, and Spoon are currently on, it's a prophecy coming to fruition.

[jhsharman]

dangerous when neat, a neat story

They add a joke for Little Jughead. Big Jughead has already worn dresses and will continue to do so sporadically. Little Jughead's cross-dressing is probably less frequent but undoubtedly you can find a case of two.

They remove the funeral reference. Also there is no longer any demand to "take it off". Initially Mr. Weatherbee is handing Jughead a new suit right there to an undershirt and boxers wearing Jughead. In the Little Jughead version, we move to a scene with a faculty meeting over Jughead's dress before he gets a fancy suit to wear. This changes reaction shots from faculty in the original to students in the Little Jughead variant.

Situationally, the boy gobsmacked by Jughead's appearance and so distracted at the drinking fountain normally gets played at Riverdale High with a boy reacting to, like, a girl in a mini-skirt.

Funny that the dropping of the dated "Desi and Dino" reference takes us to "cuter than ever" -- suggesting they have always found him cute. A different changed reaction from the love interest in Jughead's life in a later variation of this basic premise.

A bullying sequence with homophobic notes to it. Limp wrist gestures, huh?

And everything gets set right in whatever version we are talking, including where Jughead can go necktie-less, and back to the blue sweatshirt -- until he wears a red one.

[arewordsenough]

Rated Explicit - 1.8k One Shot - M/M - Explicit Sexual Content

Summary: It's a very special day for Nolan and Brett. The McCall pack mating bite ceremony isn't quite what Nolan expected, but it will certainly serve to make the moment even more memorable.

Based on a prompt from one of my readers.

Featured group/pairing: Nolan Holloway/Brett Talbot

Key Tags: Mating Bite, Exhibitionism

The first SMUTober fic is here! The next two will be multi-part adventures first in Riverdale and then Teen Wolf.

[she-karev]

Quarantine (Andrew DeLuca x Alex Karev’s Sister Covid Imagine)

Previous Part Here

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: Two of Three

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Ship: Andrew DeLuca x Amber Karev (Alex Karev’s Sister)

Canon Episode: Season 17 Episode 4

Summary: Amber continues to quarantine in her hotel room and gets a surprise visit from Andrew outside the door who gives her a care package. She is bitter towards him at first but begins to soften when he tells her why he cares so much about her.

Words: 1880

April 15th, 2020

Amber Karev is in her hotel bed watching Netflix with the curtains open revealing the city life at night which to Amber is more entertaining than what she’s watching right now. She kept hearing about this Riverdale show and decided to give it a shot but she soon started to regret it. Despite how bad it is Amber can’t stop watching it while she blows her nose for the 20th time tonight.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m weird. I’m a weirdo

Amber groans at that sulky line from the Disney kid, “More awful than covid.” She takes a big sip of her water bottle before she hears a knock in her door, “Finally my soup. I’m coming!”

Amber stands up feeling the body aches, but the call of room service is stronger as she pulls her white cardigan around herself and grabs her mask. She coughs on the way before reaching the door and looking through the peephole to see it’s not room service to her displeasure.

Andrew DeLuca is outside her door wearing his casual clothes and black mask. He is carrying a black backpack and a white takeout bag with a dragon symbol on it. Amber inhales as much as she can and exhales to keep her anger in check. She thought this morning would be the last time she would see him for the next two weeks but as usual she knows there’s a force out there that wants her to suffer more and sent her ex to help.

“What the hell do you want?” Amber asks annoyed in a nasal voice due to her stuffy nose, “I was already checked by a nurse an hour ago and another one is gonna take my blood tomorrow.”

“I saw this morning that you were lacking in things other than a TV, clothes and oral hygiene so I thought I would get you a care package for the next 11 days.”

Amber pinches the bridge of her nose over Andrew not taking a hint. No matter how many times she tells him she doesn’t want to be with him he still tries to crawl back into her life with sweet gestures that do nothing to mend the pain he caused her.

Not seeing her reaction he continues, “I got you a couple of Harry Potters a couple of new releases and some spicy chips. I figured you needed something to spark your taste buds for a few seconds. Also, I got you that chicken soup from that Chinese joint at Weller you love so much.”

“What part of ‘get what you need and leave me alone’ do you not understand?” Amber asks with venom in her tone that catches Andrew off guard, “I am sick and I am tired and I don’t need you coming in trying to butter me up when I’m lonely hoping I’ll get desperate and let you in this room on day 14.”

Andrew tries to set the record straight, “Amber that’s not what I’m-”

“Because it has been months since I have touched another human being, but I am not desperate enough that some soup is gonna make me forget all the pain and have one gross night with you. Despite how low you think of me I respect myself enough not to whore myself out to you.”

Andrew closes his eyes in frustration, “Look can you let me-”

Amber keeps going in anger overlapping with Andrew, “So this whole concerned ex act is not gonna work on me so just take your freaking soup leave me the hell alone. It’s like you said to me the night you kicked me out I don’t want you here and I don’t need you here!”

“Will you just let me talk?!” Andrew yells back from his side catching Amber by surprise. She inhales and stays silent letting Andrew say his piece expecting him to piss her off again. Instead, his next words take her by complete surprise.

Andrew inhales from behind his mask before starting, “My nonna and two of my uncles died over the past few weeks because of covid.”

Amber is caught off guard by that fact and guilt immediately replaces her anger. She has been so angry with him and so distant she never considered that he’s suffering in silence because his home country is a hot zone for the pandemic. She never considered that she wasn’t the only one worried about her family in this scary time.

Andrew sighs in grief but continues, “I said goodbye to them over Zoom but still I wish I could have gone there and taken care of them in person. It might not have done much but at least I could feel like I did something to help instead of crying over a damn webcam. And then there’s my father, I’m scared for him, I’m mad at him but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. You and I both know he is probably ignoring the rules and not caring about the consequences without me and Carina there to help.”

Andrew clears the lump in his throat outside Amber’s door not seeing her leaning against the door listening to him. She shakes her head at herself for giving him a hard time when he has so much on his plate as it is. And hearing him telling her about his turmoil makes her feel sympathy towards him. She almost wants to open the door and hug him but knows it’s not safe for either of them.

Andrew continues, “Look I’m not here for an agenda, I’m not here because I’m hoping there’s a reward for me at the end in your bed. I’m here because I can be, and I don’t want to waste it. If your gonna keep insulting me and letting me know what an ass I am then so be it because I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you; I won’t survive and nothing you say is gonna make me stop feeling that way.”

Amber closes her eyes at that statement hearing the Andrew she fell in love with instead of the manic man who brought her down. It’s hard to believe that those two are the same person but for now she’s glad to hear the one who makes her feel loved and seen.

Andrew assumes Amber is still dismissive from his side of the door, but he continues, “I know you don't want me around but I'm not gonna stop caring about you. I might not be able to touch you or hold you but I’m here for you. No matter what you need. So, I’m gonna leave the backpack and soup out here in your door, I’m gonna keep a safe distance so I can make sure you get it because I put a lot of thought into it, and I know whatever your watching is making you want to kill yourself.”

Amber rolls her eyes at her ex knowing her so well but hears shuffling and footsteps from the other side. She looks through the peephole and sees no one there telling her Andrew is down the hall. She puts her mask on, cautiously opens the door and sees the backpack and takeout bag on the floor right outside her door.

She looks to her left to see Andrew two doors down looking at her in worry. Amber sniffles before focusing on her gifts and grabs both of them before closing the door behind her. She puts the backpack on top of the dresser drawer and unzips it.

Andrew was telling the truth as she sees her favorite Harry Potter books, Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of The Phoenix inside. There are two books as well that she is not familiar with and knows Andrew probably grabbed them from the new releases section. After pulling out the books she sees a big bag of Takis inside that she hopes she can taste.

In the small pockets she pulls out the essential needs for her condition. There are cough drops, Nyquil severe cold and flu PM, packets of lemon tea bags, travel size aloe tissues, spare masks, and ibuprofen for her headaches. The sight makes her inner doctor nod with approval.

She opens the white takeout bag next and is silently thrilled at the sight of the sealed container inside. Amber takes the lid off confirming its chicken soup to her joy. She inhales the rich aroma deeply loving the special soup so much it might make her quarantine bearable. Amber moves back to her door that is the barrier between her and Andrew.

“Are you still here?” Amber asks nasally.

“Yeah I am.” Andrew confirms from his side.

“You do realize this backpack is gonna have to be burned after this right?”

Andrew chuckles lightly, “All for a good cause. Do you need anything else? I don’t mind being your own Postmates, it probably pays more than what we make.”

“I’m okay for now thanks…and I’m sorry for what happened.”

Andrew nods, “Yeah me too. Do you need me for anything? Are you feeling worse?”

“I feel like my body has turned on me but that’s not new from this morning.” Amber tells him in a numb tone, “I’m fine it’s nothing I can’t handle, you can go if you want.”

“Okay.”

Amber sips her soup container tasting the rich liquid for a few seconds until her loss of taste kicks in to her disappointment. She has to remember to cancel room service since their soup is subpar to the one in her hand. Amber stands by the door for a few silent moments and can still feel Andrew’s presence outside.

She moves closer till she’s near face against the dark wood, “Andrew?”

“I’m still here.”

“You can go if you want.” Amber repeats more requesting than demanding, “I’m gonna have a nurse come in the morning and I still feel better than most right now anyway.”

“I know I just…” Andrew sighs and confesses his fear through the door, “I am afraid that if I leave, and you fall asleep you’re not gonna wake up this time and this is gonna be the last time I’ll see you.”

Amber’s heart swells at this confession as she can tell he is sincere in his worries. She decides to comfort him and make it clear that she is not going anywhere.

“It won’t be.” Amber tells him from her side, “I’ll call you in the morning and let you know how I am. I promise. You should go and get some rest before you go to work, and I should enjoy this soup you got me.”

Andrew grins at that, “Okay, I’ll be back tomorrow night and check on you. Call me if you need anything I don’t care what time it is, I’ll come.”

“I know.” Amber says with a grin as she can see he’s making an effort to make these a tolerable two weeks, “Good night.”

“Good night.” Andrew says with a grin before walking away from the door to leave Amber to her quarantine hoping this is the start to them reconciling while Amber is in her room beginning to see Andrew in a way she never thought she could again.

Next Part Here

[ninthprime]

the snowpiercer rewatch continues

this time with my original favorite season, probably still my favorite season (but i think i’m gonna be more positive on s3 this time and i don’t know what to do with that)

this liveblog’s like 3000 words longer than the s1 liveblog so apologies in advance. for Reasons i was particularly excited to study some things going on this season, especially in terms of the characters on big alice, so i took off my mental limiters. topics at hand: alex’s totally normal childhood, sykes also has every job, bess till is extremely depressed, audrey is ALSO extremely depressed, thoughts on this season’s specific depiction of violence and physical harm, and a surprise riverdale cameo

[rebelpeas]

wrote two fics today almost finished a zine art piece played frantic fanfic with my friends did shots of soju watched hannibal nbc watched riverdale (three episodes) Have A Headache. what a day