#what if i started tagging nikos whole name like shes a character from an actual piece of media

[slappycat]

niko time!!! (both main canon and au stuff for our lancer campaign :D)

[alj4890]

What Happened to Our Friends? ~Fluffy Friday

(Liam, Drake, Amanda, Maxwell) *friendship x unrequited love*

A Choices: The Royal Romance Fan Fiction

A/N Before the events of The Other Friend and this particular storyline was suggested by one of my little guys.

*song that is lip synched Dream Come True some of the lyrics listed below.*

Tagging those who wanted extra fluff 😉@brightpinkpeppercorn @riseandshinelittleblossom-deact @zaffrenotes  @fullbeaumonty  @speedyoperarascalparty  @bobasheebaby  @tmarie82   @littleblossom-18 @cocomaxley  @ehkw1989  @hopefulmoonobject @leelee10898  @itsstillnotwhatyouthink   @littlecrookedheart @mrswalkerwritesagain @debramcg1106 @krsnlove @littleblossom357 @ritachacha @lodberg

"We have to go to a karaoke bar. We are literally in its birth place!" Maxwell argued while staring out at the bright lights of Tokyo. The city looked amazing against the dark night sky.

Drake and Liam turned hesitantly to the one who had the worst singing voice. Amanda knew what their look meant.

"Don't worry. I won't sing." She folded her arms and looked away from them.

"Then I'll go." Drake said. He let out a grunt when Amanda hit him with a pillow. He smiled as he threw his arm around her shoulders. "We still like you. You're the frog of our group. Nobody croaks a song like you."

Amanda couldn't stop her laugh from coming out. "Yeah, yeah. Keep talking and I start belting out show tunes."

In a sea of neon, they discovered a club that Maxwell declared was the one. When they walked into the lobby, they were surrounded by many in cosplay. Liam studied some and tried to figure out why it was so familiar. His eyes widened as it hit him.

"Amanda! Look it's --"

"Liam! It's a room filled with RWBY fans!"

Maxwell and Drake stared at them in confusion. "Guys...want to tell us what Ruby is?" Maxwell asked.

"First off, it isn't technically the word, 'ruby'. It is the four main characters initials forming their team name." Liam began to explain. "Even though the one character is actually named, Ruby."

"It's an American created anime. It is about--"

Drake held his hand up. "Hold on, let me check on something. Yep. I don't care."

Amanda and Liam looked around and saw a shop selling some RWBY costumes. They whispered excitedly and ran off.

"HEY!" Maxwell exclaimed. "What has gotten into them? Did I miss something when we walked in here?"

"You had to go out and pick this place." Drake said. His jaw dropped when he saw his once sane friends. Liam had on a black hoodie that suspiciously looked like it had a bunny's face on it but was covered by some type of armor over his upper chest. He also had some armor on his upper arms. Gloves and blue jeans completed the look...and was that a shield? He had a large sword and was swinging it alongside what was once Amanda.

She not only was wearing a costume that made him and Maxwell blush at seeing her in something more revealing than she normally wore, she had somehow turned her hair red and had it pulled up in a ponytail. Or else it was a wig. He couldn't tell from this distance. Her outfit looked like something straight out of Greek mythology.

Liam and Amanda stopped before them and posed with their weapons. Amanda had a sword that extended into a javelin in her hand that she held as if to throw while blocking with her shield . "What the---what are you?" Maxwell asked.

"I'm Jaune Arc." Liam announced. "She's Pyrrah Nikos."

"Hello again." She waved and mimicked Pyrrah's sweet voice and phrase perfectly. Liam's smile grew with pride as some nearby asked her to do it again while recording her. When she added the, "I'm sorry," Liam clutched his heart. "That line gets me every time." He said to Maxwell.

"You know what gets me? Is finding a twenty-four hour psychiatrist for you two." Drake dryly replied.

"How did you get your hair like that?" Maxwell stepped closer to her and stared at locks that were once dark brown, a color he had been very fond of.

"Spray on hair color." She faced Liam and handed Maxwell her weapons. "Speaking of hair, hold still..." She ran her fingers through Liam's until it was mussed completely.

"Thank you. I forgot to do that." He scrutinized her and straightened her sash, causing Drake and Maxwell to simply stare. This could not be happening. Where were their calm, retiring friends? Who were these people?

After Amanda and Liam were satisfied with how the other looked, they all walked in and were surrounded by multiples of particular characters. There was a table with pictures of scenes from RWBY and a sheet of paper. Amanda read it and immediately wrote her name down.

"What did you sign up for?" Liam asked.

"RWBY lip synch contest!" Liam groaned when he couldn't think of a song to lip sync dressed as Juane.

"Seriously! What has happened to you two?"

They shrugged at Drake. "You would understand if you watched it." Amanda answered patiently. Liam's pitying look at him and Maxwell freaked them out.

"How have we not known you two suffered with this affliction? Have you been having clandestine dates to watch this?" Maxwell's laugh died when they lowered their eyes.

"Wait, that's what you have been doing?! What did you use to trick us into not joining?" He asked.

Amanda chewed on her bottom lip while Liam rubbed the back of his neck. "You know that committee we asked if you wanted to be a part of that you both refused last year?"

"Are you talking about the one to make sure roadkill is removed in a specific--good lord we were stupid to believe that was an actual thing." Drake held his head at the revelation.

Maxwell's eyes widened. "You even made an acronym for it! You called it...RWBY!

"It was rather grim for a committee." Amanda winked at Liam, causing him to double over in laughter.

"What's so funny?" The two left in the dark demanded.

"You wouldn't understand it." Liam replied. Amanda took pity on them. "Grimm are the creatures that our characters, and many that you see here represented, fight."

"You have private jokes over this?" Maxwell thought something was very wrong with this. He wasn't sure what, but she shouldn't have private jokes with just Liam. That was supposed to be their thing.

They sat at a table and began to watch some Ruby's and Weiss' and a few Sun's try their hand getting the crowd into their performances. Many Yang's, two Blake's, and one Nora gave it their all.

Amanda sat with her leg shaking. She recalled why she never volunteered to do these things. She hated being the center of attention. Her costume had gone to her head and made her think she really was brave.

Noticing her jittery nervousness, Maxwell leaned forward and spoke in her ear, "Just pretend it is only us in the room."

Liam grinned at her. "Remember, your song is to me."

She nodded and stood when her name was called. She left her weapons and got on the stage. Her head was bowed in front of the microphone as she waited for her song to start. She couldn't help but think of the irony of lip synching this song in front of Maxwell.

"What do you mean her song is to you?" Drake asked.

"Her character is in love with mine. I, or rather my character doesn't know it and has a crush on someone else. That one," he pointed at a girl all in white. "Weiss is the one Juane likes, until season 3." His smile disappeared as he thought of that season. That ending still upset him.

"They kiss!" Maxwell had pulled up an image on his phone. He gritted his teeth as he looked up at Amanda. Why would they pick these two characters?

When the first piano notes were played, her head came up and she began. She started on one end of the room, acting coy with some of the other Juane's.

When she reached their table, she had relaxed and was really playing it up. She actually appeared sincere as she mouthed the rest of the lyrics. She smiled at Liam and moved around him. He in turn did the mannerisms of Juane causing cheers from the crowd.

I've been spending time wondering why,

Nothing that I do can catch your eye.

Just can't capture your attention.

Maybe I'm too tall or not your type,

But I'm not giving up, I'll get it right.

Being close to you is my intention.

I see more in you than the rest of them do

And I'm not gonna let you fall.

I'll swallow my pride, time after time,

Cause you're worth it all.

Whenever I think of you,

How I wish you only knew,

That you might be my dream come true.

But what do I have to do to make you notice me?

A girl dressed as Weiss at a nearby table began to flirt with Maxwell. Amanda narrowed her eyes and thought the timing couldn't be more perfect. She walked over to stand directly in front of the man she secretly loved with her whole heart.

Oh, know that.

You and I we would be alright,

We could dance on the roof, we could light the night.

Gotta make you see me in that way.

Why don't you,

Forget about the little chick in white?

She don't care about you and she's so uptight.

Let me put a smile on your face.

She tilted his face up and ran her gloved hand along his jaw and into his hair as she leaned down to look directly in his eyes. He swallowed nervously and placed his hand over hers.

How I wish that you knew that I'm crazy for you.

And I'm waiting by your side.

I'll get you alone,

Make you my own,

It will be divine.

She walked away, smiling at Maxwell's stunned expression. She returned to the stage and continued to work the crowd into a frenzy as they began to clap along with the last few stanzas. She ended the song by meeting Maxwell's eyes with a heartbroken face as she pleaded the sad words, "notice me?"

Once the contest ended, Amanda was announced as the winner. As she went to the stage to collect her prize, the guys all stood cheering. She was given a gift basket filled with RWBY collectibles and shirts. She promised the crowd to share it with her Juane, causing the cosplayers to laugh and applaud.

"I feel like we are stuck in some alternate dimension." Drake whispered to Maxwell.

Suddenly a loud song began making them both jump. Liam whooped. "They're playing Shine!" He jumped up and grabbed Amanda as her face lit with recognition of the song. They joined the other cosplayers and began to do some choreographed dance.

"They have a dance!" Mawell knew this was the final straw. Drake was pulling it up on his phone. "Yep, and apparently it was a pretty big deal between their characters. Why am I looking this up?! This has to be some type of contagion. We will probably lose our minds soon just like them."

Maxwell frowned and watched them dance in line. They came back, cheeks red and an arm around each other. "Can you believe this night?" Amanda yelled over the music.

"Nope. I haven't been able to believe any part of it." Drake teased. "Are we ever going to do what we originally planned?"

"I booked a room for the karaoke." Liam motioned for them to follow him.

Amanda fell into step with Maxwell and slipped her arm through his. She gave into an impulse and kissed his cheek. She leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked. "Thank you for encouraging me earlier."

His anger evaporated when he looked down at her. "Why did you and Liam choose these two out of all the characters?"

A soft smile appeared on her face. "These are who we share the most characteristics with. Juane is placed as leader of his team but doubts his ability to be the right one and struggles throughout the series. He wants to protect all he loves and is relentless in trying to make himself worthy of their faith in him. He never sees what he really is."

Maxwell nodded. "That is definitely Liam. What about yours?" His curiosity peaked as she started to blush.

"Pyrrah is one who offers encouragement to everyone. She doesn't mind being in the background yet is willing to step up when it is the right thing to do. She sees the best in those around her and tries to point it out to them."

Maxwell grinned. "That's you. Anything else you identify with?"

"Well...she did suffer with an unrequited love for Juane. I definitely know what that feels like." Amanda preceded him into the room while he paused outside. Did she mean she had been in love with someone or was in love with someone and it wasn't reciprocated? Who was it? Liam was dressed as Juane...but she lip synched some lines to directly to him. He wondered if he would ever figure it out.

[darley1101]

A Bit Of Normal

A/N Some fluffy goodness featuring Damien and Ava for @confessionsofabrokegirl. “I care about you, I've always cared about you” and “Time flies when you're with someone you love.” They fit in nicely within the realm of my Perfect Match series, so that is where it is set. I hope you guys enjoy! If you would like to read more Ava and Damien you can do so by clicking HERE

Warning: cute bit of fluffiness with a side of angst

Tagging: @clarissafics  @confessionsofabrokegirl

Permatag: @debramcg1106  @boneandfur @speedyoperarascalparty @flynnomalleys  @blackcatkita @mfackenthal @hamulau @endlessly-searching-for-you @umccall71 @damienazariostan @penguininapinktuxedo @eileendannie @writtenbycandy @josieschoices @tmarie82 @drakelover78 @starstruckpixelberryhistoryvoid @kingliamthirst

A Bit of Normal

Drawing her legs to her chest, Ava wrapped her arms around her calves and tucked her chin into the little valley between her knees. Through lowered lashes, she stared out at the vast expanse of woods that butted up against the back of Damien's property. With the full moon casting shadows and a slight breeze causing the trees to sway in some hypnotic dance, it reminded Ava of a scene out of a horror movie. She half way expected a monster truck sized werewolf to come galloping out to howl at the moon; or worse, Cecile and her gang of Eros thugs. Thinking about Cecile and Eros made Ava think about Alana. It hadn't come as much of a surprise that Damien's ex was connected with the corrupt research corporation. From the very start, there had been something shady about her presence in Damien's house. Hayden taking a nose dive into the hardwood floor right before they could put some distance between themselves and the scheming bitch had really put a kink in things. They couldn't travel with a comatose android and they couldn't leave him behind. Alana had seized the opportunity to drag Damien into the office, literally slamming the door in Ava's face when she tried to follow. There had been raised voices, talk of some guy named Nikos, and then their voices had dropped so low it had been pointless to try to eavesdrop further.

Letting out a sigh, Ava let one of her legs drop so that her toes barely touched the dew covered grass. Her body tensed as a bush rattled to the right of her. She let out a nervous laugh as calico cat darted out and sped across the back yard, disappearing into the woods. There was no point in telling herself to stop being so paranoid, it would be an impossible feat at the moment. Between expecting Eros to pop out of the shadows at any moment and waiting for Alana to take them all hostage, Ava was the poster child of a paranoid wreck.

“This seat taken?”

Slowly shifting her gaze from the woods to the man standing next to her, Ava tried to smile but ended up grimacing instead. “I'm surprised the treacherous bitch let you loose.”

Without waiting for an invitation Damien sat next to her, reaching for her hand. Semi-reluctantly, she let him twine his fingers through hers. She wanted to ask him why he had let Alana slam the door in her face, why their conversation had to be secret when it was all of their lives hanging in the balance. “You're pissed.”

“Not really,” she admitted, ducking her head down so that she could study her chipped toe nail polish. Her eyes brimmed with tears. Getting so emotional over something as trivial as chipped polish seemed so silly. It wasn't the polish so much as she missed the certainty of her life in New York. Now, nothing was certain;  other than Eros was hunting them and they couldn't trust Alana...except they probably had no choice now that Hayden was, for all intents and purposes, in some sort of software malfunction coma. “Just tired, I guess. I'm really tired of not knowing what's going to happen next. And yeah, okay, maybe I am a little pissed. She slammed the door in my face, that would piss anyone off.”

“Hey,” Damien said softly. He cupped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, his gaze searching her face. “I'm sorry about Alana. She had no right to do that. The only reason I let it slide was she was willing to offer up information on a source that might be able to help us getting Hayden running again.”

Ava nodded, her fingers sliding up Damien's arm to wrap around his wrist. She dragged his hand upward so that it cupped her cheek and leaned into it. “I'm not mad at you. I promise. I'm just...ready for things to be normal.” She lift her head, her eyes meeting his. “Do you think she really has a source that can help Hayden?”

“If anyone can help Hayden, it's Nikos. Long as we don't question where the parts came from or insult his bears, we'll be fine.”

“Bears?” Ava felt both of her eye brows shoot straight up. It was a joke. It had to be. This Nikos character didn't really keep bears...did he?

“He likes to surround himself with a bunch of goons and then nickname them according to whatever bear he thinks they most resemble.”

A giggle erupted from Ava. “That's ridiculous!”

“Pretty much,” Damien chuckled, wrapping his arms around her slender waist. “So, I was thinking...we have some time to kill before we meet with Nikos...how would you feel about salty, buttery popcorn and one of those ridiculous romcoms Nadia's always going on about? We can mock its cheesiness.”

Twisting in his arms, Ava narrowed her eyes. “I like rom-coms.”

“They're all the same,” Damien teased. “There's always some poor schmuck pining away for a girl whose completely oblivious until said schmuck finally says 'I care about you, I've always cared about' and then poof the girl magically realizes she feels the same way. Of course there's hilarious one liners and the accident prone co worker for shits and giggles.”

“You realize that up until recently I was the poor schmuck pining away for the boy who was oblivious to my feelings,” Ava sniped, crossing her arms over her chest and eyes still narrowed as she waited  for Damien to respond.

“Not the same thing. I wasn't the only one oblivious to how the other felt.” Damien had her there. They had both been fools, pining away for the other when had they just spoken up they could have saved themselves a world of heartache. Perhaps even avoided this whole Eros fiasco. Or, she inwardly grimaced, maybe not, since it was Nadia who initially brought Eros into their lives. Nadia and her innate need to find true love. “So...how about it? You. Me. Popcorn. Cheesy movie.” He drew her closer, nuzzling her neck with his  nose. “Would kind of be like we're having a little bit of normal before the next shit storm.”

Normal. Just the word itself was like a soothing balm. Ava closed her eyes and snuggled against Damien's chest. “A bit of normal sounds nice. There's only one problem...this place doesn't have a television.”

“Who says we need one of those?” Damien rest his cheek atop her head, tightening his hold around her. “Close your eyes.”

“They are closed,” she murmured.

“Good. Now...picture this. There's this incredibly handsome private eye whose just sitting at his desk, enjoying this beaut of a sandwich-”

“It was a hot dog,” Ava giggled. “The private eye was eating a really messy hot dog and had mustard all over his chin and down his t shirt. Which had several holes in it. He also had on this really ugly old plaid flannel shirt. But yeah...he was kinda handsome. If you're into sexy Puerto Ricans. Which I am.”

“Good to know,” Damien chuckled. “So our sexy Puerto Rican private eye is eating a messy hot dog, covered in mustard, and minding his own business when the door to his office is flung open. Standing there is this short, overly cheerful woman with lots of hair, a squeaky voice, and an armful of weird, perverted drawings. She throws the drawings on his desk, wanting to know if he can find the weirdo whose sending them because a. she wants them to stop and b. she wants to suggest they go to art school because they're not half bad and with the right training they could be really good.”

Lifting her head, Ava opened her eyes and stared at Damien. “You're kidding. There's no way Nadia thought those freaky, cartoon-ish porno comics featuring her and that bozo Randolph were any good.”

“I wish I were. She actually said if he apologized she would write him a reference for NYU's art program.”

Ava let out a groan and buried her face in Damien's chest. “My cousin is the weirdest, nicest person I know.” She toyed with the collar of his shirt. “Of course the detective took the case. It was too good to pass up. It wasn't every day some cute girl came in wanting him to track down some amateur cartoonist with a fetish for provocative caricatures.”

“Provocative caricatures?” Damien shook his head. “That's a good one.”

“I thought so,” Ava demurred. “Now...where were we?”

“Alright looking girl walks in wanting help finding perverted cartoonist.”

Giggling, Ava shifted on the bench so that her back rest against Damien's chest. Her gaze drifted towards the stars glittering above, a sense of awe washing over her. It was hard to see the stars in New York. Between the smog and the brightly lit city-scape there wasn't much room for stars. “They're so pretty,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Damien agreed. “Think our detective should ask his artist client to go on a star gazing date or...should her smoking hot cousin that he accidentally meets in a bar?”

A soft smile tipped the corners of her lips. “The smoking hot cousin,” she replied. “Always wait for the smoking hot cousin.”

“Hm. Good idea. Except, oh wait, the smoking hot cousin thinks the artist and the detective would be cute together so she tricks them into going on the most boring date in the history of boring dates.”

Ava bit back a groan. “Are you ever going to let me live that down? It was an honest mistake! I thought you guys were crushing on each other. Nadia kept talking you up and you kept asking us to come in to go over mundane details of her case.”

“Correction, I kept asking you to come by, you're the one who kept inviting Nadia. And Nadia was probably talking me up because I kept asking her if you were single.”

“We really were oblivious schmucks weren't we?”

“Absolutely.”

Twisting so that she could see his face, Ava reached up and cupped his cheek. She drew the pad of her thumb across his cheekbone, her eyes memorizing every feature. His impossibly long lashes, that tiny mole near his left ear, that lock of hair that always fell across his forehead no matter how much product he used. “I love you,” she whispered. “And thank you for the distraction. It's made things a little bit more bearable.”

“Time flies when you're with someone you love,” he joked before turning serious. “We're going to get through this. Before you know it, we'll be back home in New York and I promise to sit through as many of those cheesy rom coms as you want.”

“You don't know what you're promising,” Ava laughed, curling into his lap. “I have quite the collection of cheesy chick flicks.”

“I've been to your apartment,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “I've your stash. Who knew you were a fan of Jessica Simpson's acting.”

“Hey, just because she can't act her way out of a paper bag doesn't mean the movie isn't good,” Ava protested.

“That's debatable.” Damien gathered her against his chest, squeezing her. “I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. How about we finish 'watching' that detective get his girl from the comfort of bed?”

[feroluce]

Tagged by @keishota, thank you!

Nickname: Fero

Starsign: Libra/Monkey

Height: Just barely 5′2″

Time: 09:07 AM. 

Last thing Googled: How to go deaf (guess what kind of awful thing I’m considering writing next lol)

Fav music artists: Motion City Soundtrack, MCR, The Used, Pierce the Veil

Song stuck in head: The Taste of Ink by The Used

Last movie watched: God, I haven’t watched an actual movie in forever.

Last TV show watched: Boku no Hero Academia. I just started season 2!

Wearing: Ratty old nightgown. I’m just about to go to bed.

Blog created:  Around 2015, I think? I’ve only this year started contributing stuff, though.

What I post: I reblog a lot of art, mostly Mob Psycho 100 right now. I also post my writing here!

Other blogs: None. I have the same account name on Ao3, though.

Do you get asks often?: Nah, I’ve only gotten a few. Those few have been really nice and sweet, though.

Why did I choose my URL: Feroluce is a name from a short story I loved called Bite Me Not or Fleur de Fur by Tanith Lee. 

Gender: Female, but I don’t mind being called they/them in addition to she/her

Hogwarts house: Hufflepuff

Pokemon team: Valor! I don’t play PoGo much since I live in a small town. I’m a huge nerd for the main games, though. I love making teams with lots of status moves and non direct damage. I have a soft spot for poison types.

Fav colour: Dark Red

Avg hours of sleep: 4-6 hours, sometimes 7. I have chronic insomnia, so I don’t sleep a whole lot at once. I can still function pretty well for it, though.

Lucky number: Meh. I don’t think I really have one.

Fav characters: The Esper Squad, Church/Tex/Caboose/Palomo/Bitters from Red vs Blue, Tohru Honda from Furuba, Genos/Saitama/Mumen from One Punch Man, Sans/Papyrus/Alphys/Asriel from Undertale, Niko/Protobot from OneShot, Wilson/Chester from Don’t Starve, GLaDOS from Portal... I like a lot of characters.

Dream job: Living it! I’m a Medical Lab Technician. I get to play with blood and guts and work cool machines all day.

Following: 390. Mostly fan artists.

Tagging: Anyone that sees this, feel free to put tagged by @feroluce!

[notesandcoffee]

Opinions 4.16-7

I keep getting the sinking feeling that I've missed something horribly important, no matter how I interpret this episode. I've watched them both several times at this point, and things aren't just adding up for me. I'm hoping writing this will make things clearer for me, so bear with me if it's not super-polished. UPDATE: kinda helped, but not really. Feel free to shoot me an ask if you’re confused, because chances are really high I am too.

Our blacklister for the first part is a bee-shirted lady hunting down bad guys in a revenge quest. I just really enjoy the thought of all of those moving parts together, but I kind of wish that we got more of a glimpse into her daily life as an apiarist rather than just her wearing her bee-shirt as therapy. I wanted to bee more invested in her, and I wanted to see evidence of the fire, rather than having it bee in an infodump there at the end. But adding all of that in would have taken screentime from other plots I prefer, so I suppose it worked out in the end. In the first part of our two-part premiere, Dembe kidnaps Aram out of Janet's arms and into the trunk of a car, which he stops to force Aram in to... the trunk of another car. Dembe has a master plan in mind to clear his name with Reddington, and that is to figure out who opened the safe first, which is why he needs our master hacker, despite not knowing the slightest else about him. Aram pulls the data from the safe, and in a bit that hits too close to home for me, the data that he pulls is fucking useless unless he can break the encryption. Around this time, Dembe realizes that Aram  doesn't want to harm him, no matter how much he waves a gun at Aram, and the two tag-team to break into the security company to get the encryption to figure out who made it into the safe. Aram's protective, hyper-analytical personality is matched by Dembe's stoic loyalty to Reddington, causing Aram to pick up on things Dembe wasn't really planning on telling his hostage. With all the courage that comes from shit-talking "Agent Zuma" in front of the guard at the crypto-security company, Aram manages to steal the encryption key without much of an issue, until his colleagues show up to collect Dembe for Reddington. At the same time, Aram's kidnapping sets off a sequence of events in the P.O. Cooper and Ressler take turns taking shots at Red, both worried for their colleague. No one's really wrong in this scenario, but considering the amount of sympathy that's been garnered for Red, the rest of the P.O. comes across as callous to the audience. Red and Liz are searching for Dembe via his daughter (and granddaughter), the only two other people Dembe cares about. The relationship between our leads appears amicable, although there are a noticed lack of sentimental moments between the two in favor of Red's long stories and Liz's focus on the search. Red also calls in Glen, who happens to be in the middle of helping a Spanish-speaking driver, and is easily the funniest part of the premiere. Glen and Red bicker and get under each other's skin while both men are giving Spanish instructions to a confused señora, with Liz tagging along in the backseat. It gives everyone (literal) whiplash how quickly the scene ends and we're left with just Red and Liz again, but I'm always happy to see Glen in an episode. The interactions between Elise Janet and Navabi are cutthroat and tense, with each making suppositions about the other. After hearing of Aram's kidnapping, Navabi grabs Janet and immediately begins interrogating her for answers, without hearing the rest of the briefing. Not to be outdone with the emotional outbursts, Janet spends a solid amount of time trying to provoke Navabi into a reaction at their relationship. Navabi is mostly focused on getting Aram back into a not-kidnapped state, but she's barely holding it together around Janet's constant prodding, mostly by talking about Aram and his past. By the time Aram confronts her, she's done with talking about him and his relationship, having heard everything she needs to know through Janet. He gives a heartfelt statement about how he actually feels about her, and she responds in turn by trying to terrify him. Love triangles are such a bland "romantic" plotline in general that it's hard for me to believe I'm looking at one, but here we are. Everyone's trying their hardest to be mature about the whole thing, but no one actually is. While there's plenty of character development to be had here, I'm confused as to why I should be invested in this storyline. No one comes out on top in any scenario. If Aram had told Navabi earlier just how much her intensity scared him, or if Navabi had been a bit more clear with her intentions when she started, or Janet could just... stop fucking trying to get Navabi to punch her for a half-second, I would have reason to root for someone. That being said, other fans are more endeared to Navabi in a way that I don't relate to through this story, and want Aram to stay with Janet, so more power to them. I'm just having a hard time figuring out who it is I should be cheering for, even though my fave is in it. For the record, I don't like Janet with Aram, because she seems more intent on controlling him and showing him off than she does actually healing the damage she did while undercover. The episode even acknowledges this at one point, as Janet throws herself at Aram as he stares over her shoulder at Navabi. From the way Aram talks to Navabi at the end, being openly honest with her about what he loves admires about her, it's not hard to guess why Janet would be as insecure as she is. But Navabi, of course, turns it back on him in an apathetic rage. She has every right to, of course, but I can't help thinking that Aram is likely more of an anxious mess after that interaction than anything else. Friend. At any rate, that's not really what people are talking about, is it? This is the point where things start to fall apart, at least for me. Full disclosure: this is my understanding of events. This may or may not be correct, but it is mine. I had to write out most of the episode to merely understand what happened, but since it's been capped and recapped by now, I'll spare you that draft and just cut to the analysis. It's revealed that Katheryn Nemec -- better known to Liz as Mr. Kaplan -- poisoned the wine and is responsible for Red's episode. There was nothing surprising or dramatic about the reveal, as the audience knew the whole time about her struggle to stay alive, but I think I would have preferred at least the attempt at humor to help balance out how dark the whole idea was. Instead we got Creeper McCreeperson blowing himself up after a fight in the woods to help protect a woman he had chained to the bed at one point. Okay, then. The difference between Kaplan and every other villain that we've had on the show is that the past isn't a thing that separates the audience from Red and the villain. Luthor Braxton knew Red before Liz, brought it up with him as he taunted him while the audience was left completely in the dark, but that's not at all the case here. Here, the attempt is made to walk us through how exactly Kate became a villain, outlining her relationships with Katerina, Annie, and Nikos all in a span of minutes, memories triggered while on a gruesome road trip literally digging up Reddington's past murders. The explanation in flashback doesn't really work how it might be intended to, for me, but it is an attempt nonetheless. We know that Kaplan's spent more time backing up Red and being there for him independently of Elizabeth; it doesn't make sense that Kate would betray Red so quickly in such a span of time, especially when her main loyalty is to Liz, and not Red. Liz has nothing to be obviously gained by betraying Red at this point, though Kaplan makes the argument before Red leaves to turn himself in. I think I would like to see Kate really struggle with the idea of betraying Red in her own mind in upcoming episodes, to really underline that betraying Red and Liz, by extension, is something she isn't at all used to. I did actually like the idea of exploring who Kaplan is and why she's such a close asset to Red, but I really wish that it was clearer where exactly the pieces fall in this case. I felt like the exploration of Kate's backstory really needed to be two episodes, and a lot of the things that would have held the story together must have ended up on the cutting room floor, likely due to time. Little details that would have made Katerina more human and not just a personal illusion, Masha's personality as a toddler, and Kaplan's life when she wasn't with the Rostovas. There were quite a few unanswered questions by the end of the episode, and I found myself trying to make sense of a myriad of continuity errors -- just in the episode itself, outside of the story arc it's located in. To cite an example I wrote too much about in a previous draft, why is "the American" described as blond when he's clearly not? And why is Dembe worthy of forgiveness for "betraying" Red when Kaplan is not? How did Kaplan get ahold of the fulcrum in a shitty motel room after a week of being inside? Why is there so much weird emphasis on Katerina's sex life? That last question was actually enough to throw me out of the story about the third or fourth time it was mentioned, and I was left wondering why we needed to care about it. The American -- later referred to as "Raymond" and very clearly not Spader -- was with Katerina in the car, but Spader insists to Kate that he had an affair with Katerina as well. It made me wonder which I should be believing, and it felt disrespectful to Katerina to watch. And Katerina's bisexual, by the way. I will not get into discussions or arguments about it because it's 100% true. Moving back to my previous point, there are a lot of continuity errors, most of them un-accidental. Kaplan's memory is shattered, and we're seeing odd-placed clips that describe her time only after meeting Katerina. In the ending story in 4.11 ("The Harem"), we hear about Kaplan's sister being involved in witness protection. Red spends the better part of that episode tracking down information related to Kate's sister, risking Liz's life in the process, making Kaplan's story -- the whole story -- of deep importance to Red. This incident had to have made an impact on Kaplan, but of all the memories we see, that isn't one of them. Either it happened before Kaplan met Katerina, it didn't happen at all, or Kaplan's memory is shattered beyond repair. The first is plausible, the second is not, and the third opens up a possibility that we don't see confirmation of on-screen -- the idea that Kaplan's memories aren't 100% accurate. One of the recurring themes of "Blacklist" is it's use of memory and how the mind can play tricks, and in some cases, torture. We spent the better part of 2 seasons trying to get into Liz's childhood memories, and spent a whole episode in Red's memories of Katerina and their relationship. But the main difference here is that if we are in Kaplan's memory, if it is shattered, it's not explained to the viewer the same way as it is with Liz and Red. Kaplan's memories are presented as unfiltered flashback, the kind that you see in a kind of extended montage. There's no hazy lighting to show that it might be a memory of a memory as we've seen in Liz, no explanation scene as we saw with Red. Just the idea that being shot in the head twice probably isn't the best way to remember the past. What does all of this mean? Is Kaplan on a weird revenge quest against Red, or a rescue mission for Liz? What's her best-case scenario in this situation? Is Dembe going to pay the same consequences as Kaplan, or is he forgiven? Has Agnes moved out with TK? Why would we not get an explanation for the gross incontinuity that is Kaplan's memory, or even a hint that it may not be accurate? What actually happened to Kaplan's sister, and why did Katerina pick Sam to take care of Liz? And who am I supposed to cheer for? The audience surrogate is Liz as a premise, and she's torn over the idea of Kaplan and Red feuding, and Red offers very little comfort in that regard. I would like to see Red actually acknowledge Liz's pain and try to comfort her. It would provide a sentimental moment between the two of them, and we would see more of how Red feels about the ordeal. Twitter kept pace with our breakneck episodes, and it was hard for me to keep up with everything and my cocktail at the same time. In truth, I think that's how I prefer it, so I won't complain. Hatley's back to interacting with all kinds of feedback again, too, but it seems most of our friends in the writers' room have been quiet, for the most part. I wonder what that's about.