#shes the one who forms crushes on people and when gideon actually showed interest in her she was uncomfortable with it

[peridotporygon]

mabel pines can be interpreted as aromantic coded. in this video essay i will

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

Gravity Falls S02E18 - Weirdmageddon Part I

I really like that name for the end of the world. I'm not sure what to expect from this one since this is literally new territory for everyone. My one hope is that Mabel gets forgiven easily but there has to be some drama, either for the twins or the Stans (since that relationship really needs some mending, and the end of the world seems to be a good place for that kind of thing.) I think that's all so let's do this!

If this is the first shot of the episode, things are going to get _weird_.

Wait. Wait. What.

Okay, had to go back and check Bill's summoning circle.

I completely forgot about this but I guess he needs all the symbols for something beyond summoning everything weird into this dimension? But why? Uhm.

Anyway, back in Dreamscaperers I wrote:

Glasses = The ones Stan found in the room with the magic carpet? Question Mark = Soos Ice - Fish with food? > Pine = Dipper Star with an eye  Hand = Whoever wrote the journals considering the symbol on their covers? Llama/Alpaca? Shooting star = Mabel Heart with stitches

Fish with food ended up being Stan's fez. I _think_ Heart with Stitches could be Robbie. Hand is obviously Ford. I'm still not sure about Glasses (they really look like Stan's glasses but... how would that work?) and Star (maaaaybe Gideon? The star appears in the ending cypher in S02E14.) The alpaca/llama and the ice are a complete mystery. Considering everyone of importance is in there already, maybe Wendy is one of those two?

Symbols aside, does this mean that Mabel is going to be missing until who knows when? That's a bit disappointing.

Imagine being able to choose any physical form at all and choosing to keep being a dorito.

Before I paused I was convinced this guy was some weird Nigel Thornberry cameo.

So, Bill has 10 friends, which is exactly the number of symbols in the summoning circle. Huh. Interesting.

Maybe it means nothing but their appearance feels so sudden that I feel they have to be important somehow.

Immersion ruined, the Northwests would never lower themselves and go "downtown"

What a trianglist, she had no problems with Mabel.

I imagine Wendy can't wait to go to college a thousand miles away from her family.

Death, Famine, War, Conquest and Capitalism.

That's horrifying. But he's a dick. What a moral dilemma. Nah, he really deserves it.

Why steal Durland? Huh. Maybe he's also one of the symbols? Or Bill is just being Bill.

Oh, oh, I know what they do!

What an intro, I'm 100% sold.

What can our protagonists do? I guess Ford has a plan, maybe the symbols are for unsummoning Bill and that's why he's collecting them so they can't do whatever ritual they need to do. Maybe Ford and Stan will be in a similar situation that made them fight 30 years ago, but this time they actually communicate and win? Mabel is out so I hope they rescue her (or she rescues herself) before too much plot happens.

I _love_ how much of an effect the changed OP had on me.

After watching 37 episodes with the same opening song any changes are immediately noticeable and it feels _wrong_. What a great way to show how everything is changing for the worse thanks to Bill.

It does make me wonder how Gravity Falls is going to recover though. It looks _bad_, bad enough that in any other show I wouldn't be surprised by a time-machine or a literal genie undoing everything bad that happened. I doubt that'll happen here, since the town itself is so used to the "weird" but if someone dies all bets are off.

YESSSS, Dipper doesn't blame her! I'm sure there'll be some self-blame later on but I'm so glad his first reaction was to be worried.

Why is Soos unaffected? Is it related to his presence in the summoning circle? Looking for unaltered people may be a good way to find who are the missing symbols.

Soos deserved more episodes, what a hero

Has there been any positive romantic relationship in Gravity Falls?

Wendy and Dipper was an unrequited mess, Mabel and all her crushes were all disasters of some kind or another, the less said about Wendy and Robbie the better, and Tambry and Robbie is the result of the twins messing with their minds without their consent. Oh, and Gideon and his murderous crush on Mabel.

I love that tiny shiny dodrio.

I didn't need to know that Bill's hat was meat and bones.

What? No! Warnings later, explanations how to defeat a demon now!

This is the first time he calls Dipper by his symbol, right? He also called Ford "six fingers." The writers really wanted everyone on the same page here about making the relation between the symbols and the characters.

...I refuse to believe that the eye piece meant nothing with how much it has been shown!

Weirdmageddon sounds much better.

Wow. He has been wandering around for three days, probably having to scavenge for food and water. These kids are really going to need a therapist after summer break is over.

For some reason I find that guy more disturbing that most of the weirdness in this episode so far. He just sounds very predator-y.

...oh Dipper, those nachos are three days old at best. So young, so ignorant of the consequences of gastroenteritis.

...of course. I'm glad she's okay. She's been shown as a very badass so it would have been a shame if she was down without a fight.

But, but, rabies.

Can't wait for the weirdmaggeddon to be over and then immediately after everyone dying of infectious diseases.

So, how many post-weirdmageddon dipper/wendy fics did this scene inspire?

Robbie is conspicuously missing from that list

nevermind. Would have been an amazing selfie though, can't fault him for that

Aw. This got me a bit teary-eyed. They really can do anything if they are together.

Shame about Mabel being inside Bill's floating lair completely out of their reach.

What a raw deal, last game I played with twins on it they l– actually, never mind, spoilers. But it was really cool, believe me.

It looks like the mission briefing for a stealth game so, in my case, I'd try to avoid the lights, fail miserably a thousand times and then rage quit. Hopefully Dipper is better at stealth.

Making the world weird?

Wouldn't they know what's going to happen? Since there seems to be only one timeline? Actually, nevermind, I'm too sober to analyze the time travel mechanics of gravity falls.

Time Baby was the most powerful entity in the show so far! Stakes have been raised.

RIP Bodacious T, we never go to know you.

Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015

Two months being a villain and he still hasn't learned to avoid monologuing.

Don't worry, Gideon. It took Steven Universe 6 years to grow a neck, you'll get one someday.

Huh. So Bill manipulated him by using his obsession for Mabel. That's a nice way to explain why it came back after so many episodes without mentioning it too much.

Ugh.

She's a genuine action movie heroine trapped in a cartoon

I have no idea how Wendy manages to get more and more badass this season.

Right!? Right!? Wow.

Holy shit, this really is Fury Road.

that's deep, man

Ah, that explains it. Nothing more dangerous than a philosophy major.

Hatoful Boyfriend, 2014

My mind is exploding right now. I wasn't ready for anime Dipper and Wendy. What are the monkey and kid in the backseat referencing?

Lady Gag– nah, I refuse to use the same joke three times in the same liveblog.

* screams in terror too *

What a shame that we couldn't see the birth of the legend of Soos.

I can't believe Dipper is using the "Power of Understanding" to talk Gideon down.

This is really good. I almost want to joke and say "but it wasn't worth the Wendy/Dipper episodes" but it actually does make them work in retrospect. It's probably the largest source of character growth for Dipper during the show and here's the payoff.

I mean, yes.

WHAT

HOW DARE YOU

GAME IS OVER, AND I WON

NOW IT'S TIME TO START THE FUN

I ALWAYS LOVE CORRUPTING LIVES

NOW LET'S SEE WHICH PINES SURVIVES

well, that's nice.

---

I wasn't sure what to expect from this "Part 1", I thought it was going to be mostly setup. And it had a bit of that, just to show how screwed Gravity Falls (the town) is, but after that it was all action and it was all good.

I think getting Ford out of the way early was a good idea, it removes the possibility of a quick solution. Now Dipper has to figure things on his own. He still needed Wendy to remind him of what he and Mabel are capable of but that's a friend offering help, not "the mentor" giving him the answer to the problem. On the other hand, while Stan hasn't appeared after the goat, he hasn't been captured yet (he's important enough to deserve an on-screen capture, unless it's going to be revealed as a demoralizing surprise?) so I think he'll appear soon since he's just a guy, without any special knowledge about Bill.

Soos really deserves his own show. "The Legend of Soos" Or give Wendy her own show with Soos as the mysterious stranger that appears from time to time to help. Because wow, Wendy is lost in this show, she should be the protagonist of something.

But the star of the show was Dipper talking Gideon down. I _really_ didn't expect that. This is not a show where the protagonists defeat their villains by talking to them (with some exceptions) so I thought they'd defeat him in some other, more violent, way. And the way he uses the "Power of Understanding" to do it (go read Scott Pilgrim)! While Dipper never got to that extreme, he "gets" it and that's just * chef kiss *

I can't wait for the next episode, especially because this one ended in a cliffhanger, so until next time!

[gch1995]

I went on to TV Tropes, and found a list of bad writing tropes. Sadly, most of them apply to every character on OUAT.

Aesop Amnesia: The more times a character is taught a lesson without learning it, the lower the viewer's opinion of him/her and you.

(Rumple, Belle, Emma, Snow, David, Hook, and Regina from S4-S6. I don’t think anyone on this show who lasted past season three ever really learned anything new after the first two-and-a-half seasons from past experiences. They just went back-and-forth until they came back full circle to the same points they were at before in the end of the Neverland arc at the end of S6-S7. The writers could not stick to positive character development, or write realistic regressions at all. I didn’t really hate the characters for it, just the writers behind them)

Angst? What Angst?: Make your characters react realistically to setbacks or tragic events. Too little angst makes them appear callous or ditzy.

(Literally, everyone on this show. There were no realistic human reactions anymore after the first two-and-a-half seasons)

Character Derailment: Characters can grow, but don't suddenly mutate them into something else.

(Let’s see, Rumple, Belle, Emma, and Hook seemed to be the biggest sufferers of this trope on OUAT)

Character Shilling: Having characters suddenly talk up another character for no real reason doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

(A lot of the Rumbelle drama from S4-S6)

Chickification: Be careful when you decide to make an Action Girl less action-oriented; if not done properly, it will annoy your audience.

(Emma Swan after she got together with Hook)

Compressed Vice: Don't have a character develop a bad habit or flaw out of nowhere solely for the sake of setting up An Aesop (doubly so if it contradicts previous facts about the character), and especially don't show its consequences in a hamfisted, unrealistic manner.

(Rumple and Belle from S4-S6, tbh)

Conflict Ball: Don't have a character cause conflict just because the plot says so.

(S1 Regina, 3B-6A Rumple and particularly Belle, Hook, and especially Zelena)

Creator's Pet: Treating a certain character with tons of love when they really don't deserve it is never a good idea.

(Hook, Regina, and Zelena)

Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy: Making the story excessively bleak and giving absolutely no hope will only tire out the audience until they lose interest in the story.

(3B-S7 of the entire series)

Demonization: Some of your potential audience may actually see where this position is coming from, if not actually agree. You'll turn them off by your exaggerated portrayal. It also makes it seem like the position you hold isn't nearly as solid as you think, since it can only stand up to strawmen.

(Rumple from S4-S6, and not in a good way)

Designated Hero: Having your hero Kick the Dog and still expecting your audience to see them as a paragon of virtue because you say so doesn't usually work; rather, it makes your hero unlikable.

(H00k, Snowing, Emma, Belle, and even Henry at one point or another. Pretty much every once truly heroic character on this show after S3 at one point or another)

Designated Love Interest: If you say that two characters are in love, don't make them hate or be apathetic to each other, actually go out of your way to make them love each other. Otherwise, it just feels contrived

(6A Rumbelle on both sides, and Belle’s characterization after the town line scene with Rumple, but that was just OOC. 5A CS on Hook’s side, and the main reason why I hate CS so much is because Jmo and Colin have no chemistry. It was forced)

Designated Villain: Having your villain come across as harmless or even too benign and still expecting your audience to see them as a monster because you say so doesn't usually work; rather, it makes your villain petty and perhaps far too sympathetic.

(Rumplestiltskin in 5B)

Die for Our Ship: Attacking a rival of your pairing of choice doesn't necessarily make that character a bad person and makes you look petty.

(What they did to Rumple, Belle, and Rumbelle to prop up Hook/CS, and Nealfire’s death).

Distress Ball: Don't have a character get kidnapped for no good reason.

(I actually haven’t thought of too many instances in the series, but Gideon in 6B. There was no point for him to rip apart Rumple and Belle with character destroying Drama™️ in 6B, so that Gideon could be kidnapped by the Black Fairy and become the “big bad” because there were no lasting or serious consequences for it in the end, anyway. Gideon had his memories erased of his upbringing under the control of the Black Fairy for 28 years and his time as a villain by deaging him back to an infant with a blank slate mind, so what was even the point of committing all that character assassination of his parents, getting him kidnapped, and making him the big bad decoy villain of 6B? It was just for Drama™️, which is bad writing.)

Draco in Leather Pants: Have an acceptable reason for making a truly evil character suddenly be nice. "He or she is hot!" will not do.

(Hook, Regina, Zelena, and even Rumple on a few occasions.)

Dull Surprise: Have your characters emote during events that would make a real person do so.

(Belle’s complete lack of trauma after being locked up for 28 years, but there are more instances of this on this trash show, sadly.)

Failure Hero: While having the hero lose from time to time adds some realism to the hero and drama to the story, if they lose every single fight or mission, not only will it destroy any and all tension, but the reader will feel bad for relating with the hero.

(BELLE from S4-S6)

Faux Action Girl: If you say that a girl is strong, then make her strong. If said Action Girl comes off as too weak, the audience will begin to hate her.

(Sometimes Belle and Emma, I guess)

Hero Ball: Heroes are expected to make bad decisions every now and then, but when they do this against all common sense it becomes annoying.

(Emma, Snow, David, Henry, and particularly BELLE)

Idiot Ball: When the character is suddenly acting like an idiot.

(Rumple and especially Belle from S4-S7)

Informed Wrongness: If a character is actually in the wrong, prove it.

(Rumple wanting to use the shears on the Rumfetus in 6A. Still don’t understand how or why it was ever proven it would have been so awful when they would have prevented Gideon from living a fate that was far worse, and Aladdin was fine. Also, Rumple has said himself that magic couldn’t be used to make someone love you on numerous occasions, soo...But whatevs..I also don’t get how Rumple taking back the curse “ruined” Killy’s sacrifice).

Jerk Sue: Having a character be a complete Jerkass who gets away with it just because the author designates them as such and says you should support them does not make for a strong character, and is more likely going to turn out be a case of Creator's Pet, and often The Scrappy. Also, it tends to look like a half-assed effort when the author just throws in some secondary throw-away detail in an attempt to make you feel sorry for the character and expect you to not get upset when they behave like a jerk for no other reason than they feel like it at the time.

(ZELENA!)

Moral Dissonance: Don't have the hero behave contrary to their usual morality and be completely oblivious to it.

(BELLE, EMMA, SNOWING, EVERY “HERO” ON THIS SHOW after 3A!)

Most Writers Are Male: Don't write women from ignorance, stereotypes, and/or in unsympathetic ways (either in the form of misogyny or over-sexualization).

(The writing for Emma and Belle in seasons post s3 ish in their relationships with Rumple and Belle, but for different reasons. Belle got dumbed down and turned into a harpy and a hypocrite with Rumple to vilify him, while getting declared “strong” for emotionally abusing him, leading him on, or doing shit like banishing him with nothing. Meanwhile, Emma turned into a codependent and violent stepford wife with no personal values, or life outside of Hook.

Also, the whole “evil is sexy” trope in female villains was offensive).

Out of Character: Moments when the character does something that he wouldn't normally do without any justification.

(Every character on this show at one point or another 98% of the time post season three ish. Yeah, the sad thing was that it wasn’t just moments of OOC ness, but overall characterizations in general)

Protagonist-Centered Morality: A character's moral standing should be based on their actions as a whole, not solely on their actions toward the main character. A sure sign of a Mary Sue or a Designated Hero.

(Hook, Emma, Belle, Snow, Henry, Regina, )

Race Tropes: Tread carefully with these. Having a minority character act like a walking stereotype screams lazy writing and will upset people

(OUAT did this a lot)

Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Bashing a female character for liking/doing traditionally-feminine things is another form of misogyny, and can piss off the audience.

(I think they’ve done this sometimes)

Romanticized Abuse: Make sure that your romance is actually a reasonably healthy relationship. If abuse, either physical or emotional, is presented as sexy or sweet, the characters could become Unintentionally Unsympathetic, and viewers may get the wrong idea of what an acceptable real-life relationship requires

(Captain Swan, Rumbelle at times, and even Snowing at times)

Ron the Death Eater: Have an acceptable reason for making a truly good character suddenly be mean. "I hate him or her!" will not do.

(BELLE at the beginning of S6 with Rumple before he started screwing up, and in 5x18 in the UW with him)

Satellite Love Interest: Define your characters by something other than being the lover or crush for The Protagonist, or the archetypal "perfect" boyfriend/girlfriend.

(Belle for Rumple, but they didn’t always portray her as the archetypal perfect love interest for him either)

Strangled by the Red String: People going directly from being strangers to being genuinely in love is not very realistic or satisfying to watch. If you're going to make two characters fall in love with each other, try to take it slow.

(Emma and Hook)

Strong as They Need to Be: Don't have characters suddenly gain or lose power without any explanation.

(The whole loss of Rumple’s seer ability after he was resurrected. Was it ever explained? The only thing I can think of is that he wouldn’t have done a lot of the OOC stupid shit that he did if he could have seen the future)

Stupid Sacrifice: Characters shouldn't give up their lives for nothing (if the character is not a Martyr Without a Cause).

(Rumple and Belle in S7)

Villain Ball: See Hero Ball, only swap "heroes" and "villains".

(Rumple on-and-off-again from S4-S6)

Villain Decay: Don't have your antagonist lose their power and competence without a good reason

(RUMPLE from S4-S6. Seriously, he was honestly the worst possible main antagonist they could have chosen, and the least competent! )

Wangst: Make your characters react realistically to setbacks or tragic events. Too much angst makes them unrealistic and annoying.

(Every main character on the show, tbh, but especially Belle )

What an Idiot!: Characters should not make unrealistically bad decisions to drive the plot.

(Every main character on the show at one point or another from S4-S7)

Wimpification: Stripping the action, common sense, and strength from characters to add Wangst is a good way to piss off the audience.

(Rumple, EQ, Belle, Emma, Snowing, Hook, and every main character on this show)

@0ceanofdarkness

@ishtarelisheba

@done-with-ouat

@jxhniarty

@rufeepeach

@rumplestiltskin

@toewsgirl42

@forzaouat

@foreveradearie

[thetradeway]

Session 9 and downtime

Recap of downtime activities: Ahleqs and Gideon are introduced to the goddess Mystra via The Watchful Order. Then they go drinking!

Gunna feels the pull of the ocean and ends up at the docks. Meets Feyrilla - some stuff happens but someone is scraping their bowl so I can’t hear what. Something religious? Then he goes to look for a fight. Underground pitfighting ring - The Bloody Fist. He rolls poorly and gets a shoeing, but makes 50gp (could have been 200 if he rolled better)

(Kessler isn’t here yet so we’ll come back to her)

Melaina - she goes gambling and then robbing. Doubles her money gambling! Gideon reminds her that she will need to join the Watchful Order, as she is an arcane trickster. She also might want to buy a longbow?

Tarragon gets a message from her halfling friend Jirr in the Dripping Dagger.(see next post.) She is directed to the Shrine of Nature where she meets a High Druidess! Will accompany her to examine Tansy personally. Hired as an assistant herbalist! 35gp and 1 herbalism recipe learned. (Relaxing Bark)

Still waiting for Kessler so there’s some bullshit. We move on.

Tarragon is gathering herbs at the shrine when she hears music and decides to follow it. Sees a mysterious figure playing a lyre - wearing an oak leaf mask. He whistles and summons a dog-wolf (?). He has a message for me. If I’m interested in the Emerald Enclave, go to the Falcon Mir in the southern ward. She goes back to the Dagger to get her friends before heading off to the Southern Ward. Tarragon frames it as a picnic, offers to bring food.

Kessler turns up so we go through her downtime, but not before she announces that she don’t want to go on no stinkin picnic. She shows off her new Power Armor. We go on a picnic! Keeping an eye out for Gideon’s shoe that he lost between there and the Copper Cup while he was drunk the other night.

Folk of all races in the Southern Ward - mostly homes. One of the smaller districts. Pretty chill. Falcon Mir is a mansion. We come across the gates of it - swanky iron with the name over the top. This is not what Tarragon thought she would find, and she says so.

Ahleqs summons Mr Pickles from his new amulet. Mr Pickles is an Al-Miraj - a rabbit with a unicorn horn, and they tend to be very aggressive. Ahleqs is immediately terrified of it. It speaks common, and tells him to stand up straight and stop hiding behind the dwarf. It’s very snappy and haughtily rejects offers to feed it.

The Emerald Enclave seek to maintain the balance of Nature. Rangers and Druids, a few Barbarians. Tarragon gets a green leaf pin. All the others in the Enclave wear the same one. Does she need to do anything? Raeph has a job for her. Stoutfellow Farm. A scarecrow has come to life and is terrorising people. Hasn’t killed anyone so the Watch aren’t interested in fixing the issue. (Typical.)

Tarragon wants to know what sort of bennies accompany joining the Enclave, apart from the neat pin? Access to portal sites, access to mentors, care for animal companions - many bennies for joining.

Gunna decides Mr Pickles would suit some barding. Ahleqs suggests this to Mr Pickles; he considers the idea, then decides he’s perfect as he is.

The Farm is to the east of Waterdeep, past the City of the Dead, where we’ve already been. Path to the left takes us to Stoutfellow farm. There are halflings working in the fields; this is the point at which Gunna discovers that halflings (and gnomes, and goblins) are supposed to be that height - they are not in fact children.

Some of the halflings call Ahleqs over to help them stomp grapes into wine. He agrees enthusiastically, delighted at his new job. Fails his acrobatics check; is covered in wine for the rest of the day. Both Gunna and Mr Pickles are greatly amused.

Tarragon asks a halfling girl about the scarecrow - none have seen it. Told to speak to Mr and Mrs Stoutfellow. She points us in the direction of the house. It’s adorable and made out of a large mushroom. Gideon is suspicious - seems like a fairytale style trap. Ahleqs tastes it - it’s made of fungus and bark, not gingerbread. We’re probably OK here.

Mrs Stoutfellow invites us all in; the bigjobs have to stoop.

Mrs S came up with a recipe for perfect wine. Would we like to try some? Of course, duh.

They’ve heard banging in the barn - the scarecrow is trashing it and killing goats, smashing down vines. Comes overnight. Doesn’t look like one of theirs - must have come down the hill. Tarragon asks if we can speak to the person who saw it - Mrs S immediately runs out of the kitchen. Returns with a young male halfling.

He was in the barn with his sweetheart when it attacked the first time, crushing grapes “with its horrible mouth”, crushing them up and spitting them everywhere. Killed a couple of goats. Slashed them to ribbons with his claws. Hopping around on his one leg. Quite speedy. Bout the same size as Ahleqs. He only saw one, but one is enough.

Did it break out into song? Something about if he only had a brain? “No, now you’re being daft.” What sort of time does he show up? After dark, but not at any set time. Does it go to the same place every time? Witness says he’s only seen it in the barn, but could be anywhere. Hasn’t been seen near the house. Near barn and vineyards, in that area.

We go and check it out on a clue-finding mission before the sun sets. Barn has a small hayloft. Ahleqs investigates goat pens - splattered with blood. Damage in vineyard looks targeted in one area to do max damage. Some vines torn, others cut??? Whoever did this came from the west. Kessler’s alarm spell will tell her when something triggers it, so she sets it up in that area.

Ahleqs suspects that this might be the work of a rival vineyard; he goes back to ask Mrs S if she has any competition. There is a punitive farm where convicts from the city are indentured, but they’re locked up at night. There is another farm nearby as well, but they are very well off and unlikely to be motivated by money. She gives Ahleqs a few pork pies for us, and a few other things.

We investigate but don’t find much, so we hunker down to hide and get ready.

The scarecrow trips Kessler’s alarm spell, and we kill it fairly quickly. Tarragon wastes a 2nd level spell and a beast shape, believing it to be more dangerous than it is. However after the fight, the bear shape is able to track the scarecrow’s origin by smell to one of the nearby farms. We sneak around (Tarragon uses her other 2nd level spell to cast Pass Without Trace, which might still be active next week? She transforms back out of bear form to do it.) There’s a big standing rock among the houses, Tarragon knows that halfling and gnome settlements usually have one of these as a central meeting place; they usually have significance, but this one seems like an emulation of a stone like that, not an actual one. This village is kind of a tourist trap so she believes it’s a fake, put there to please tourists. Sophie’s fallen asleep so we call it there.

[somer-joure]

Item #4073 I appreciate about Gravity Falls: No Big Friendly Time Travel Reset Button

I love time travel stories. I’ll also admit that time travel stories are...touchy. Just like with fantasy and sci-fi in general, there's so much a writer can do with time travel that it’s difficult to do it well. There's a reason why Doctor Who, for example, has spent over fifty years ranging from the best thing on television to, "sweet moses, get me the brain bleach," depending on which episode or season you happen to catch. The trouble with time travel is that it’s too easy to use the Big Friendly Time Travel Reset button. It’s tempting to write yourself and your characters into a corner and then just erase the corner—to make time travel synonymous with magic, go back in time, and simply undo all the difficulties faced by the characters, or else send them to a parallel dimension where none of the awfulness ever happened. It's like writing the last page of a novel and revealing that the whole story was a dream. It’s lazy. That's not to say the Big Friendly Time Travel Reset Button can't be done well; I think it can, in the right hands and under some specific circumstances. But, off the top of my head, I can't think of an occasion where it was. When Gravity Falls launched into the Weirdmageddon three-parter I'll admit that I was a little nervous someone was going to hit the Time Travel Reset Button. After all, it's a fictional universe in which time travel canonically exists. Blendin had just shown up in the final minutes of D&MvTF. "Dipper and Mabel will team up with Blendin and go back in time and so something so Weirdmageddon never happens," was a popular fan theory at the time, I think. And, well, I'd just come off of watching Mystery Incorporated, and the way that show got its characters out of its apocalyptic scenario caused by an ancient eldritch abomination was by way of multiversal time travel shenanigans, and I didn't want to see Gravity Falls take the same way out. Because my main beef with the Time Travel Reset Button: if you can change the past however and whenever you feel like it, free will and consequence lose their weight. Up until Weirdmageddon, Gravity Falls had this interesting interplay between choice and circumstances going on with all of its characters. Circumstances mattered. They influenced a character's mindset and their ability to act, but the choice a character actually made, good or bad, also mattered. Take Mabel's choice at the end of NWHS. It's true that Stan just happened to reactivate the portal and just happened to be begging Mabel to keep it on at the moment Ford just happened to be back in Bill's dimension, the place the portal leads to, for the first time in thirty years. Had Stan fixed the portal any sooner or any later, he would have never brought Ford home. There's a lot of chance, if chance you call it, going on there. That said, Mabel's choice to trust Stan and allow the portal to fully activate remains one of if not the most important, far reaching decisions of the series and the pivot point on which the entire story turns. If she decides to press that button and shut the portal down, everyone loses. She and Dipper lose Stan, because with nothing to back Stan's claim that he wasn't trying to destroy the universe, they can't trust him. Ford never comes home. Maybe he shoots Bill down, and maybe he doesn't; either way, he's stuck in the multiverse for the rest of his life, however long or (more likely) short that is. And Stan—Stan loses everything. But Mabel doesn't press that button. There is meaning in her choice. In Gravity Falls, circumstances that change stay changed, and decisions have real, permanent consequences. The interplay between the two is one you don't often see in television. Part of that probably has to do with the nature of tv. The typical goal of most tv shows is to explore character and character dynamics via as many situations as the writers can come up with and to continue unto perpetuity rather than telling a story. The last thing most tv shows seem to want is permanent change and far reaching decisions. And because it's something that is so rare, I didn't want to see Gravity Falls lose it. If the Gravity Falls writers had taken the Time Travel Reset Button way out of Weirdmageddon, it might have. In resetting the Gravity Falls universe so that Weirdmageddon never happens you fix the Bill problem, but you lose everything that came with that part of the story, too. (And that's assuming you can change time at all, given how hard it was for Dipper and Mabel to do in The Time Travelers Pig.) Let’s say you reset it so that the portal doesn’t open at the end of NWHS. At the end of NWHS, Mabel isn’t quite the girl who’s going to break out of her dream world to face a horrible reality, Dipper isn’t the kid who’s going to give Gideon an impassioned speech about love and selflessness, Ford (who would be gone, but still) doesn’t have the humility to pass the heroic mantle onto someone else, let alone trust Stan with it, and Stan isn’t the man who’s going to submit and sacrifice himself the way he does at the end of TBTF. These are dynamic characters, and at the end of NWHS, they’re just not quite there yet. Using time travel to take the story back to that point, prevent the portal from opening, and ensure the rift never forms stops Bill, but it also leaves the story in an awkward place and all the characters underdone. It gets even more awkward the further back you go. If they use time travel to prevent Stan from pushing Ford through the portal, or to prevent Ford from ever trusting Bill, or even further back to the science fair to stop the Stan Twins falling out and the cascade of bad circumstances and worse life choices made thereafter, where does that leave Stan and Ford? On the Stan O’ War, or did they just fall out less disastrously and a little later? And where does that leave Dipper and Mabel? They would probably be around, but they wouldn’t be the Dipper and Mabel we, the audience, know. That Dipper and Mabel wouldn’t exist. It’s interesting that the two time travel episodes of this show deal with characters trying to change the past—Dipper fixing things so he doesn’t give Wendy a black eye in The Time Traveler’s Pig and, more selflessly, Dipper and Mabel wanting to give Soos a chance to meet his dad in Blendin’s Game—and both end with the conclusion that it’s best to accept what’s happened and live with it, whether that means giving your crush a black eye so your sister can have her pig or realizing that family means the people who love and make sacrifices for you, not the biological deadbeat who hasn’t had time for you since you were five. They offer time travel as a fix-it and then explain why it can’t be so. Moving back to Weirdmageddon, the story gently flirts with time travel as a solution and then immediately shoots it down. Blendin shows up at the very end of D&MvTF, reappears with Time Baby and the time police in force at the Fearamid and then—poof. Bill blows everyone up and Blendin gets the heck outta dodge. Time travel as a solution is dead. Which means the characters have to continue to make hard choices, and that those choices continue to matter. It means all the awful stuff still happens. Bill still tricks Mabel, Dipper still has to spend three days wandering the apocalypse on his own, Ford still has to erase his own brother’s memory, and Stan still has to basically die—but all the good stuff happens, too. Soos still gets to be the handyman of the apocalypse AND Mr. Mystery. Wendy gets to save her family (and kick all kinds of ass in the process). Gideon gets the chance to change. McGucket gets his due. Everyone in the Pines family suffers, but they come out stronger, and their happy endings are made even sweeter by the contrast. All this to say that I’m still happy that the Gravity Falls writers didn’t go with the Big Friendly Time Travel Reset Button.

[thorne93]

Fox the Fox (Part 2)

Prompt: Reader starts her job at the BAU, but her young associate and her have a chemistry they can’t deny; but will the fates let them be together?

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Warnings: language, mention of violence probably

Word Count: 1661

Note: First whack at a dedicated Criminal Minds fic. A huge thanks to my beta @like-a-bag-of-potatoes I couldn’t have done this without her. Thank you all for reading!!

Song: Roses - The Chainsmokers

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

The following morning at the office, you began filling out the report at your cubicle across from Spencer, his eyes lingering on you longer than socially acceptable. You saw it out of the corner of your eye and pretended not to notice all morning. At one point, you went to refill your coffee while he was at the coffee station as well.

“Hi!” you said cheerfully as you came up.

He turned to greet you but his hand accidentally knocked over the sugar onto the floor.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said as he bent down to pick it up, muttering something about making a mess. “Hope you don’t like too much sugar, since most of it’s on the floor now,” he informed, his mouth turning down on one side as he eyed the white granules on the carpet.

“I’m sure whatever’s left will be sweet enough for me,” you dismissed sweetly, reaching past him, your proximity getting closer to him. You didn’t mean to be that close to him, but you were reaching around him to get a coffee pod and you could feel his body stiffen, his breathing halt. You assessed the reaction for a moment, but dismissed it as him being uncomfortable with physical contact.

Morgan came up to fill up his cup as well when Spencer began to explain something about coffee and sugar.

“You know, the Mayans believed coffee was better than sex and it was actually the Columbians who started to sweeten coffee. They felt it was a delicacy, if you will,” he explained excitedly.

You were riveted but Morgan scoffed lightly.

“Thanks, kid, real interesting,” he teased as he shook his head, rolled his eyes, and started to walk away with a small smile on his face. Spencer’s face seemed to fall slightly, and you could tell just from the two days with him that he loved to rattle off facts but unless it had to do with a case, no one was interested.

As you stirred your coffee, you quietly said, “I didn’t know that. That’s fascinating.”

“Really?” Spencer questioned as he turned to you. “Most people here find my facts rather trying at times.”

You smiled gently to yourself. “I’ve noticed. But I like being informed and educated, if they don’t like that, that’s their loss. You can educate me whenever you want.”

You picked up your coffee and walked away.

As the day progressed, Spencer’s gazes were getting longer and more frequent. You noticed when he spoke to you, his speech pattern changed - it was more rushed and he tried to use words that weren’t in his usual vocabulary otherwise. He seemed almost as if he was trying to impress you, but was nervous in doing so. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say Spencer had a budding crush on you...

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

The next day, while you and the team were eating lunch around your desks while working, idle chit chat was circulating. They were getting to know you and so far everyone seemed to like you just fine. The feeling was mutual. Emily was a strong, independent woman and you absolutely supported that. Gideon was quiet, reserved, pensive, you felt like you shared a lot with him. Hotch was a little...stiff for you, but a great man nonetheless. Morgan was a good agent and he was nice and easy going, so you got along alright with him. Then there was Spencer, of course. You couldn’t quite pin how you felt about him. He was a great person, obviously, but something else about him stood out to you.

“Ugh, I just found out yesterday I have to go to my cousin’s wedding in a month,” Spencer explained with distaste.

“What’s wrong, don’t you like your cousin?” Emily asked as she looked up to him.

“She’s great. It’s that I’ll have to dance with her.”

“You don’t like dancing?” Morgan questioned before taking a bite of his sandwich.

“I don’t know how,” Spencer admitted, his eyes shifting to Morgan.

“Oh, the great brain doesn’t know something?” Morgan questioned with a smile.

“I know how to dance, but executing it is entirely different. Did you know that the waltz, originally derived in the 13th century, was revised later in Vienna? It actually caused a lot of controversy and scandal, because prior to it, men and women hardly ever danced together, and when they did it was rigid and they barely touched,” he informed animatedly and your giant grin betrayed you.

You cleared your throat and added, “And the waltz is in ¾ timing, rather than 4/4 like virtually every other dance.”

Spencer’s eyes shifted to you, his mouth opening slightly, as if to say something then he just closed it and narrowed his eyes, looking down.

“Right. Well, either way, I guess I’ll have to go get dance lessons. Joy,” he said, raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips, a habit of his when he was unhappy or unsure of something.

“I could teach you,” you offered without hesitation or thought.

“You know how to dance?” Spencer questioned as the team’s eyes floated to you.

“Yes, believe it or not I was in ballet, tap, and took several dance lessons.”

“I’d appreciate that, thank you,” Spencer said.

“Sure thing. We can practice three times a week, how does that sound?”

“Perfect.”

The glances from the other’s in the office to each other wasn’t well hidden from your observant eyes but you kept to yourself.

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

Later that night, just before everyone was leaving, you stopped Spencer.

“Hey, would you want to start the practice tonight?” you questioned, standing from your desk.

He glanced around the room for a second then replied, “Yeah, sure, that’d be fine. We can go to the conference room, it has a lot of open space.”

He led you through the building to one floor above yours to the large conference room. Together you moved the table to the farthest corner, then walked up to him.

“Okay, Spencer, what do you know about the waltz?”

“Everything,” he said quickly before you cocked an eyebrow. “I know the steps and the history of it, if that helps.”

“It does. Okay, so first let’s get the steps down then we’ll add music. I find that music on your first time is too much pressure to keep with the timing,” you said, thinking like a teacher.

“Whatever you say, Y/N,” he said joyfully as he stood there awaiting your instruction.

“Okay, put your right hand here on my back,” you instructed, grabbing his hand and putting it right underneath your shoulder, suppressing the feeling you got from it. He’s a coworker, you reminded yourself. “Now, take my hand in yours, like this.” You grabbed his free hand and held it up in the correct form. “Now make sure this is tight. It shouldn’t waiver, or be soft. We are one form that is solid so if I push--” you pushed his arm and his arm moved with it “--good! Just like that. The point is so neither one of us are slacking in form. Now, I’ll put my other hand on your shoulder. Remember to keep our hands about eye level. Am I going too fast?” you suddenly asked, realizing this was a lot.

“Trust me, I can keep up,” he informed softly.

“Good. Now, looking down while dancing is wrong and frowned upon, but for your first time, look down. Okay now, as the woman, I’ll step back on my right foot as so--” You stepped back and he didn’t move. “Now move your left foot with mine.” He did as instructed. “Great! Now the other foot…” you stepped back and he followed. “Excellent. So we’re going to go back, then side, together, and keep repeating that.”

For the first bit it felt like you were leading him, but after one time around the floor, he picked it up and was leading expertly. You had to remind him only once to keep the form firm and then he got it.

“Great! Now let’s add some music so you get used to the timing.” Regretfully, you broke apart and went to grab your phone. You opened your music app and found Blue Danube by Johann Strauss and played it. Running back to Spencer, you got back in formation, holding each other’s eyes as you danced gracefully across the floor.

“Very good,” you complimented once the song ended. Then added, “Would you like to learn how to twirl or no?”

“I’m willing to learn whatever you’ve got to offer,” he said with a patient smile.

“Okay, the twirl is really easy for you, all you’re going to do is hold your hand up, like a ceiling.” You pulled his left hand up and held it there as you slowly twirled underneath.

“What do I do?” he questioned.

“You just stand there and look pretty,” you joked with a laugh and a smile. “See, you’re the woman’s framing device. All eyes will be on her, and you’re simply there to put her on display, show her off, frame her.”

“I can believe that,” he said as he stared at you, his pupils dilating.

You stared at each other for another moment before you said, “Again?”

“Sure, one more time, then I’ve got to get home.”

You nodded as you reassumed the position and did one twirl, very successfully. You’d taught a few men to dance before but with Spencer, he picked things up so quickly, he did everything expertly after a few seconds of knowing what to do.

You said goodnight to each other and went home, your theory of his crush solidifying as he slightly blushed when he left. Knowing Spencer had a crush on you was incredibly flattering and endearing. He was renowned, intelligent, confident, reserved...What could he see in you? Probably a lot considering he profiles people for a living. You smirked to yourself before getting in your car.