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percheduphere · 4 months

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honestly I'm more at a loss when people say sylki is canon. I am...very confused by what people mean by that. they were never anything romantic together? I honestly feel like I've missed a whole season of the show when that gets said. that's not from a shipping standpoint; that's from nothing happening that'd make them "canon"

like, to ship sylki is still to ship something that isn't and didn't become "canon". it's still wanting something that didn't happen between them

like, even if sylvie was an intended "love interest" (was she? even? on the basis of her being a woman that loki connects with?), I don't call that alone a romantic relationship between them being "canon". Like, if elizabeth bennet and mr darcy never became anything, they're not "canon". that's just something that could have been but wasn't.

they were never actually anything?

LET'S TALK ABOUT "CANON" & BISEXUAL REPRESENTATION, THE SERIES' MIDPOINT & THE THEME OF BETRAYAL, AND THE SUBJECTIVITY OF ROMANCE

I've been sitting on this inbox comment/ask for a long time because I wanted to make sure I respond in a way that feels productive, kind, and doesn't step on other fans' joy. Having said that, as a Lokius shipper, I think it's really important for Lokius shippers and Sylki shippers to unite on at least one subject and that's positive bisexual representation. This isn't meant to be a harsh reply--I understand what the anon is saying from their point of view--but I also want to delineate between canon and personal interpretation/taste.

I also want to note that it's unfair to disavow Mobius and Sylvie's impact on Loki, Loki's impact on each of them as a result of his individual relationships with them, and thus the impact Mobius and Sylvie have on one another separate from Loki. Doing so really halves the overall richness of the story, and taking this into account is why my metas are so annoyingly long. This one, in particular, is a mess but hopefully I've managed to wrangle it into some kind of coherence that addresses the anon ask that is respectful to Sylki. Fear not, Lokius shippers, I discuss Lokius in this post, too. But first, let's talk about canon and bisexual representation ...

CANON AND BISEXUAL REPRESENTATION

Canon is often defined as: 1.) what is actually written in text (as opposed to subtext), AND 2.) what the creator(s) verbally confirm.

I've said before and I'll keep repeating: the most important aspect of art is art's relationship with the reader/viewer. Individual interpretation is what escalates a medium to a deeply personal and, at times, spiritual level. Art is supposed to make us think and feel. We're supposed to interact with it and do with it what we will. This is particularly important when we consider that much of consumable art is hampered by the demands of capitalism. Fan-interpretation democratizes what people without power want to see and hear, whereas canon (especially mass media canon) often self-censures to sell to the widest audience.

From the creators' standpoint, Sylvie has always been intended to be Loki's romantic interest, and Loki was always intended to have romantic feelings for her. This is what the creators tell us. Whether or not one likes Sylvie and Loki together is subjective.

As for the text, the plot between Loki and Sylvie has the markers of a romance, albeit one that doesn't come into full fruition. By full fruition, I mean a happy ending with each character affirming one's love for the other and committing to being together. Now, a relationship doesn't have to be successful or reciprocal to be considered romantic. Heck, it can be absolutely toxic and still be romantic. Whether or not the plot is convincing in its execution of romance, however, is also subjective.

What romance requires is: 1.) at least one of the characters desiring the other, and 2.) at least one of the characters willing to sacrifice for the other. Sacrifices don't have to be big, either. They can be small and cumulative.

Canonically, Loki fulfills both of these romantic requirements for Sylvie. (More on Sylvie below).

Subtextually (that is, not canon as defined above), Loki and Mobius fulfill both of these requirements for one another.

I'm gonna soap box for the next two paragraphs, so you can skip over this if that's not your jam. Both romances, canonical and subtextual, can exist concurrently without erasing the existence of the other. Even if Loki and Mobius had miraculously become canon in S2 (it's Disney, this never would have happened but let's explore the hypothetical), that doesn't erase Loki's former romance with Sylvie in S1. To erase that history is bisexual erasure, which isn't okay. Likewise, quashing the importance of queer subtext in order to "kill the other ship" isn't okay either, as it reinforces optical heteronormative romance in mass media and is also a form of bisexual erasure.

What's more important than either ship "winning" is the positive portrayal of a bisexual character. This means a character who demonstrates genuine love and devotion to people of more than one gender. If we accept the canon AND the subtext (we don't have to like it; Sylki's not my cup of tea personally, but I accept it as real), Loki fulfills positive bisexual representation, however restrained that representation may be. The social goal is to get to the point where a media juggernaut like Disney allows its franchise characters to experience relationships with more than one gender canonically and positively. We're not there yet and I'll probably be dead before Disney ever gets there, but Loki can be seen as a historical stepping stone distinct from Aziraphale and Crowley (Good Omens) and Steve Bonnet and Edward Teach (Our Flag Means Death).

(NOTE: Polyamory is a whole separate subject matter, which I'm won't get into here.)

ON SYLVIE

There's fan dispute over Sylvie's interest in Loki. I've previously written meta on Sylvie's sexuality and how she responds to Loki's romantic advances here. In S1, while she starts off frustrated, I think Sylvie slowly develops interest and was cautiously hopeful that she and Loki could figure out their futures together. Loki has been consistent about wanting to be with Sylvie and supporting her up until the necessary plot conflict of the series midpoint (S1E6; the S1 finale). This midpoint is the root cause for why Loki and Sylvie's relationship becomes strained. Again, this doesn't mean that the romance never existed--the plotpoints are there--but it does mean Loki's character development got in the way.

So let's talk about the series' midpoint and the interplay of Mobius, Loki, and Sylvie's mutual impact. The three are so deeply entangled that it's worth untangling their cause and effect on one another.

THE SERIES' MIDPOINT & THE THEME OF BETRAYAL

I keep stressing in my other metas that the series' midpoint (S1E6) is the most critical. Structurally, midpoints are where the story turns. Midpoints occur on multiple scales: at the episode level (typically in acts 3 or 5, depending on how the screenwriter divides their screenplay), at the season level, and at the series level. Midpoints are what provide the overall narrative and character arcs with movement.

As a whole, there are 3 key midpoints in the entire series:

1.) S1E2/E3 - When Loki betrays Mobius for Sylvie (midpoint of S1)

2.) S1E6 - When Loki betrays Sylvie for the "bigger picture" (midpoint of the whole series)

3.) S2E3/E4 - When it's revealed HWR betrayed Renslayer; Victory Timely is brought into the mix, and Sylvie reluctantly joins the TVA (midpoint of S2)

There is another betrayal that runs near-concurrently with #2, which is Mobius's betrayal of Renslayer (it begins in S1E4 and continues into the S1 finale). Thematically, we can take Loki's betrayal of Sylvie and Mobius's betrayal of Renslayer as mirrors of one another because these are the only betrayals that are motivated by good rather than selfishness. The selfish betrayals of #1 and #3 bookend betrayal #2 to highlight the beginning Loki's readiness to become a hero in S1E6. Where S1 focuses on Loki exploring who he is, S2 focuses on the hero Loki will become. S1E6 therefore serves as Loki's turn, his launching point to get to where he lands in S2E6. The story is really well-structured!

The poetic irony is that Loki's S1E6 betrayal was not an act of villainy, but an act of character growth.

There is plot set-up for Loki's betrayal of Sylvie, and that set-up is 2-pronged: 1.) from Sylvie's end, her misinterpretation of Loki's intentions, and 2.) from Mobius's end, the provision of unconditional friendship. Building up to these prongs are S1E1 - S1E3, in which Loki's self-interest and impulsivity are emphasized. S1E4 pivots Loki from self-interest and impulsivity to consideration for others and caution. Sylvie did not bear witness to Loki and Mobius's interactions in S1E1-S1E2 and S1E4 in the time loop chamber. She has no context for why Loki would hesitate killing HWR. I'll discuss this more under "Prong 2".

PRONG 1: SYLVIE'S MISINTERPRETATION

In the scene below (S1E5), Sylvie makes an assumption about what Loki wants and Loki admits via subtext that ruling a timeline actually won't make him happy.

Sylvie smiles in response, implying she understands what Loki means, however Loki often speaks in double-meanings (he cannot be trusted) and Sylvie has doubts (she cannot trust). From Sylvie's point-of-view, Loki has discussed the desire to rule with her 3 times (writers' magic 3s again). Above is the third. The previous 2 are:

1.) In their first confrontation in S1E2, when Loki offers Sylvie the opportunity to be his lieutenant. (Can't find the gif of this. Grr ...)

2.) On Lamentis (S1E3) in the scene below:

By S1E6, Loki has no interest in rule.

He's honest when he says he's worried about the greater ramifications of killing HWR. Sylvie doesn't believe him. The question is how did Loki arrive at this point in his character arc? Why slow down now? Why worry about the consequences now?

The answer is in S1E4.

PRONG 2: MOBIUS'S UNCONDITIONAL FRIENDSHIP

It's established in S1E1 that Mobius knows Loki better than Loki knows himself and consequently better than Sylvie knows Loki. A lot of Mobius-haters despise Mobius's cold confrontational tactics but it is those same tactics that force Loki to self-reflect. And to be clear, Mobius uses cruelty in S1E1 because 2012 Loki would not believe in, let alone listen to, softness and compassion. Cruelty is a language 2012 Loki understands, therefore Mobius communicates with him on that level to get him to listen and start thinking about the answers to the hard questions.

Not exactly the gif I wanted, but close enough. In this scene, Mobius wonders why Loki, who "has so much range", wants a throne. He then asks Loki, what's next? The implication of these questions is that Mobius knows Loki will never be satisfied. He knows, deep down, a throne is a poor substitute for what Loki really wants: love, acceptance, and companionship.

Mobius's tone is mocking, his note that Loki has a wide range is complimentary, and the question is serious. Further, and this important, Mobius gives Loki respect in conjunction with his cruelty, his compliments, and his seriousness by acknowledging Loki's intelligence ("I am smart"; "I know") and his potential to be more than a villain ("That's not how I see it"). Understandably, this strange, dizzying mix of seemingly contradictory truths puts Loki off-balance.

Their tenuous allyship becomes a friendship in Mobius's eyes near the end of S1E2. Mobius is practically squeeing about Loki's multiple breakthroughs and how well they work together to Renslayer:

And Loki genuinely looks excited to help Mobius. Look at that fist-pump. Mobius doesn't see it, he's ahead of Loki, so his enthusiasm isn't an act. The seeds of mutual trust (rather than doubt) have been planted.

Unfortunately, Loki's poor impulse control and need to hedge his bets out of self-interest lead him to betraying Mobius. Both Sylvie and Mobius take Loki's betrayals poorly.

The key difference is that Mobius cannot resist the desire to trust Loki, to want to be his friend. This desire creates Mobius's doubt in Renslayer, which in turn leads to his betrayal of her.

Forgiveness isn't easy. It requires the ability to accept disagreements and another person's shortcomings. It requires good will, faith, and a willingness to move on. It requires compromise and, at times, letting go entirely.

Mobius torturing Loki with the Sif memory loop was awful. His personal hurt is directly tied to the below admission, which informs Loki what Mobius thought of their relationship:

And that revelation startles him. It forces him to evaluate his actions that led to Mobius saying such a thing (impulsivity; self-interest). Loki, who doesn't want to be alone, desires Mobius's friendship.

So when Mobius returns to Loki with an olive branch ...

Loki offers Mobius an olive branch of his own by affirming the friendship Mobius believed in but felt betrayed by.

Thus, Loki and Mobius accept each other's olive branches. They forgive each other and repair their relationship from there. This is critical thematically because Loki and Mobius each extend olive branches to Sylvie and Renslayer respectively, both of whom reject those olive branches more than once. Sylvie and Renslayer represent opposite ends of the chaos versus order ideology, for which neither is willing to compromise. Loki and Mobius also start out at opposite ends before meeting in the middle.

Sylvie unfortunately does not know anything about Loki's interactions with Mobius and how those interactions have impacted Loki's motivations. She doesn't know that Loki wants to "slow down and think about this" because the last time he acted on impulse, it turned out he almost threw Mobius's friendship out the window without realizing he had his friendship in the first place.

For her, the seeds of doubt have already been planted: Loki betrayed the TVA to pursue her, Loki expressed shock at Sylvie's desire to "walk away" rather than taking advantage of the "ultimate power vacuum" once the TVA is destroyed, he expresses the desire to rule 3 times. Therefore, it's perfectly reasonable for Sylvie to assume Loki would betray her for power even though she had hopes to the contrary. Romantic tragedy? Absolutely. Believable? Depends on who you ask and what your personal taste is.

There must be some kind of sentiment on Sylvie's part, however, because she chooses not to kill Loki. Instead, she kisses him goodbye and throws him through a time door.

Mobius's friendship is therefore the catalyst for everything that unravels between Loki and Sylvie in S1E6 (the series' midpoint). I think it's safe to interpret Sylvie's tearing into Mobius in S2E4 as not only due to being in the TVA and having all her traumas brought to the surface, but also due to experiencing jealousy. This level of anger matches Mobius's outrage about Sylvie in S1E4! Note, however, that this interpretation of Sylvie's interaction with Mobius is subtext. Subtext goes many ways!

THE SUBJECTIVITY OF ROMANCE

Are Loki and Sylvie a believable romance? It depends on your taste.

A fictional couple's overall successful reception by the audience (which is rarely if ever 100%) is contingent on a few things:

1.) Character development

2.) Story execution

3.) Chemistry between the actors

Reception and interpretation of the above are all subjective. In addition to these elements, another important factor is couple trope. Depending on your preference, some tropes might be nope while others are yum. You might even like most tropes but the actor chemistry, character development, and/or plot are just not doing it for you.

Loki and Mobius follow the tropes of:

Opposites attract/Complementary set

Sunshine and cynic

Enemies to allies to friends to lovers

Sherlock and Watson

Slow burn

Ride or Die

Loki and Sylvie, on the other hand, follow the tropes of:

Exceptionally similar but with key differences/Matching Set

BAMF duo

Enemies to allies to lovers

Bonnie and Clyde

Fast and passionate

Ride or Die

Loki and Sylvie's romantic dynamic may be compared to the following couples in other media:

Batman and Catwoman

Jack Sparrow and Angelica Teach

Benedict and Beatrice

If you notice, they all have very similar personality traits. They also fight and fight a LOT. It's part of their charm and can add to their chemistry.

Personally, I didn't feel any chemistry between Loki and Sylvie, I didn't feel like there was enough warmth between them, and I really wanted Loki to be loved by someone who makes an effort to understand him rather understanding his core traits off the bat by being the same entity. Loki and Mobius hit all the right story beats for me. Tom and Owen's chemistry as actors is remarkable. I'm also a sucker for ball of sunshine and cynic dynamics.

But that's just me. That doesn't mean I don't see what the creators tried to do with Loki and Sylvie in terms of plot, character development, and couple tropes. Some people felt chemistry between Tom and Sophia, others (like me) didn't. Whatever the case, the canon exists and the romantic tropes are there. I just feel the subtextual romance between Loki and Mobius is stronger and that, again, is my subjective judgment.

#loki #lokius #mobius #loki series #loki season 2 #loki meta #my meta #asks #sylvie #loki analysis #my analysis

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whohasthecards · 9 months

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part 1/add on

Fic Idea

Goose finally gets Jake to more or less accept that he was always welcome in Goose's home, and they get closer, and start bonding more. Jake comes over so often that a lot of his stuff gets mixed in with Goose's and Bradley's belongings. Jake and Bradley start to get closer to, they still annoy the heck out of each other, but in a more playful manner.

However, Jake starts coming over less and less, and slowly stops replying to Goose's messages. Goose starts counting the days. 12 days since he last saw Jake. 9 days since the last call. 6 days since the last decent text conversation. 3 days since the last small talk text reply.

The only reason why he refrained from acting was because of Bradley who mentioned how there were admirals on base, and although everyone was on high alert and busy, Hangman was called on more than others. The admirals seem to highly value his opinion, and the only time he really sees the other man is during hops. Most of the time he sees Hangman speed walking to various meetings or working on multiple stacks of paperwork.

It worried Goose, but Jake was an adult, and work is important to him.

However, it was 3 days since the last small talk text exchange, and it's been 3 hours since he sent another text, which was seemed to be left unread.

It was supposed to be an off day today.

Jake, like many in the younger generation is very tech-savvy, and with promptness instilled by the military, usually replies very quickly.

Goose managed to cook a 3 course dinner and Jake still hasn't responded.

Goose decides, fuck it, and goes to visit the younger aviator's house and knocks on the door.

He hears a lot of concerning thuds and crashes before Jake opens the door. Hair messy, dark circles around his eyes, wearing thick clothes, and

"Goose-?" Jake croaked out in a scratchy voice.

“Come here, kiddo,” Goose said softly beckoning Jake to step closer and press his palm against his forehead, frowning at the warmth radiating off him. “You’re warm, buddy, how are you feeling?”

“Exhausted,” Jake croaked, shrugging as he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down, swaying forward. Goose put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder to steady him, and tensed when Jake moved closer and rested his forehead on his shoulder.

Alarm bells were ringing in Goose’s mind as he instinctively wrapped an arm around him, and stroked a hand through his hair. He let them stand there for a bit as he felt Jake take deep and shaky breaths, while he rubbed circles on the boy’s back.

He squeezed the nape of the boy’s neck gently to bring him to attention, as he pressed his lips on the boy’s head, “Hey, son, why don’t we move to the couch, yeah?” Goose asked.

“Okay,” Jake mumbled, as he stood up, stepping back before Goose pulled him back to his side and guided him back inside to rest at the couch.

He managed to find out that Jake has been forced to overwork himself due to certain admirals who was holding the permanent status of the Dagger Squad against him to get him to do multiple tasks. He was doing way too much for one man. Overworked himself, until body just crashed on him. Jake felt horrible, everything felt heavy and achy, he couldn't breathe properly, and he was very much, exhausted.

Goose was angry for the boy, and begins to dote on him. Feed him, get him Gatorade, snacks, hugs, and manages to pack him a bag and before Jake realizes what was happening, he was bundled up in Goose's car to stay at the Bradshaw household to recuperate.

Goose brings Jake to the house with Bradley helping Jake into the guest room and arranged the pillows and blankets to be set around Jake like a hybrid of a nest or a cocoon. Goose comes back up with actual food on hand, and feeds Jake. Goose and Bradley basically take care of Jake the whole time. At one point, Bradley have to briefly carry the other man.

Goose also calls Mav and Iceman to tell them about Hangman and the admirals situation, and Ice said he'll deal with it, while both ask for updates about the young aviator.

Iceman and Maverick visit and they spoil Jake with treats.

They also give Jake the next few days off as a reminder to never overwork. Jake is "grounded".

"Grounded", meaning that he is not allowed to work.

He can play video games, use his phone, watch TV, but he's just not allowed to work.

Goose distracts him by spending time with the younger man. Jogging with him. Playing catch. Solving jigsaw puzzles. Diamond art. Comics. Movie marathon. And more.

#fanfic #top gun maverick #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin #pete maverick mitchell #top gun #top gun fandom #mavdad #tom iceman kazansky #bradley rooster bradshaw #nick goose bradshaw #mother goose #top gun 1986 #fluff #dadmiral #was thinking of writing something longer but didn't feel like it so have this idea instead because I have no attention span to write fics #i like thinking about how soft Goose would be to the naval aviators #and his kindness makes everyone respect him the most

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alluringjae · 2 years

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open your legs, not your bible - jjh

open your legs, not your bible | sinfully vowed to you

SUMMARY. what happens when the demon’s favorite son is also an angelic piece of heaven the Lord speaks of? he’s so good no wonder your innocent bible is discarded, like your drenched panties.

PAIRING. jaehyun x fem!reader

WORD COUNT. 2.4k

GENRE. smut and angst | bad boy!jaehyun, good girl!reader, forbidden romance!au

PLAYLIST. heaven (slowed down) by julia michaels

WARNINGS. public oral sex (f receiving), fingering, dom!jaehyun, minor corruption kink, praise kink, explicit language, petnames (jaehyun saying good girl is not good for my heart), mention of reader being a virgin, references to and slight bad-mouthing Christianity, both jaehyun and reader are from hella rich rival families, mentions and portrayal of manipulative parents, wait for a special surprise towards the end

⤑ vero’s words: this idea all started when me and my friends were talking abt our college sexcapades, and one of them mentioned the title mid-convo. not even kidding, that got me writing at 8 am the following day before work 😵 also im still not over dearm huhuhu cha minho my beloved 😭 this was supposed to be a smutty piece, but the more i ventured to the whole good girl concept, pursuing a forbidden romance just felt right. the biggest sin one can commit, right? this isn’t edited yet, but other than that, enjoy!!!

⤑ masterlist

⤑ leave me some feedback or hellos here!

---

WHEN YOU’RE BORN INTO THE LEES, ONE OF THE RICHEST FAMILIES OF THE CITY, YOU’RE UNDER EVERYONE’S EYES.

One mistake and you can dishonor your entire family line. That’s why they’re strict on you, the heiress of your father’s real estate firm. After your older brother Taeyong took over your mother’s hotel management business, monitoring all branches of such across the country and abroad, it’s a matter of time you take your place in the family.

After all, your future has already been pre-determined for you; from your career, lifestyle, and heck, even some of your friends. If they don’t pass mommy and daddy’s standards, might as well say bye-bye.

Standards ranging from having good grades, no nights out partying, no vices, dressing modestly, no cursing, and more, all of these things formed you into the good girl all throughout the city. You can never to disobey her family. So that’s how your life has spiral into for the past twenty-four years.

Not to mention attending Bible study every Saturday and Mass every Sunday, that’s the cherry on top on being an ideal woman in today’s society. That’s the thing when your family are diligent believers, praising for the Lord for His righteous acts for your family.

Or in other words, making your family richer and more successful each passing day.

As controlling it is, you never ought to complain. That’s the work of the devil, your mother says whenever she’d see your eyes fume from stress at times. Thus, you’re practically an angel to the eyes of the public. And no one would never second-guess your personality.

But boy, it’s always the good ones that shock the most.

“F-Fuck!” You gasp out, clutching on the edge of the table as a determined tongue swirls around your drenched womanhood. Such sensations are new to you, yet they’re so addicting. You can’t get enough, and never will any time soon.

How fast life runs when you’re merely skimming through your favorite Bible verses, reading them aloud with passion. Then in another frame, something else gets spread open with oozing content. How shy you became, yet didn’t refute and nodded to keep going. And poof, goes your beloved book in some random corner of the room.

“So sweet and innocent,” The man below you moans. “Your pussy is a dream come true.”

“Profani-Oh, God!” You try to call him out, but you’re dumbfounded when his slender fingers dart your hole back and forth. From the table, your fingers seek support from his brown locks.

“You were saying?” He peeks out from your floral dress, smirking. And god, it was the hottest thing your eyes laid on.

Lips puffy and dripping in your essence, he widens your legs more and continues diving in further. As soon as he finds that spot in you, nothing can hold your pleasure-building moans back. It’s something you’ve never felt before, or rather, something you should’ve saved for marriage. You’re doomed, or were you?

How can something so vulgar feel so heavenly?

“You may be religious to Him, and devoutly read the Bible, but you’re my religion.” He says in between lapping your clit and lower lips, slurping every bit of your wetness. “I lay my entire being for my one and only queen.”

Wetness he caused if not for his swoon-worthy charm and enchanting looks that makes you thank the Lord for bringing this man to you. Even if the two of you used to share judgmental looks out of generational hatred, love seeped its way through. And your heart cannot control who it wants to love, and same to him.

However, he’s poison to your life. If anyone in your family finds out that you’re sleeping around with the eldest son of your rival family, you’d meet your untimely doom.

But not only is he the eldest son, he’s also next in line of taking over his mother’s real estate company. Hence, spiking generations-old rivalry with your family. Aside of work, he’s your mother’s worst nightmare.

Massively notorious for his reckless behavior and the occasional scandals of his fights outside the bar with god knows who, he’s gotten away with it numerously because of his intelligence. You can only picture how dependent his parents are on him because his younger brother Sungchan is still in university, destined to inherit another family business. Other than him, there’s no more heir.

He acts like a God in this world, taking advantage of it.

Why? Because all he wants is freedom from everything. Even if he works hard and does his parts as an heir, he can’t commit to it entirely.

So he spits at anyone who gets in his way, always determined to get anything he wants. And easily, he does.

But that changed when you entered the picture, or rather reentered when he rejoined Bible study Saturdays 3 years ago. How pure you were then, leading everyone into prayer and such. How he loved riling you up to the point you blew up for the first time in a sea of curse words. How hard to get you were, even if you weren’t playing a game. How it took a single sweet kiss merely months after building a proper friendship, your first even. How such crazy lust and adventure rushed through your veins for more led to true, absolute love.

He corrupted you, but in the best way possible.

Jeong Jaehyun may be the owner of your undying affection, yet he remains your dirty little secret. And from all the years of your life, you’re choosing to rebel. It may be in private, but in time, it’ll break down its doors. Because you finally realized how you deserved so much better.

You are your own person, and you’re meant to make your choices. To be controlled like a puppet is not living, nor being tossed around as the good girl image. That’s the fault of your parents, pressuring you over and over again to uphold it or else the consequences will be grave. If not for Jaehyun, you’d never realize it. He too resonates with such thoughts, and the both of you ought to break the cycle of hatred when your time to rise in power comes.

After all, love makes you do risky things.

Just like this very moment in the Bible study room of the church, empty for the past hours.

After you and Jaehyun pretended to fight in front other rich, influential kids in the session, one of the nuns put you two on duty to clean up as punishment.

Little did they know, it was all an act so you spend more time with him. Yet it’s also a trip down memory lane of how your relationship began, when the hatred was real while working together only to be exchanged with developing love.

Lately, neither of your apartments are safe from the public eye, and motels are becoming risky to book. Vacation homes can’t be used either as both of your parents have CCTV access.

You’ll just have to make do. Anything for the love of your life.

He continues to be relentless in making you fall apart in his hands like glass, crashing blindly and powerfully. The gushing sounds of your pussy squelching and soaking his fingers, which he uses to lift up the hood of your clit.

Erect and puffy, his tongue aims to stimulate it the most.

Your throat runs dry and your thighs shake mercilessly from yet grind against Jaehyun’s satisfied face. Mascara-filled tears escape your lids, then your stomach can feel a knot ready to unwind.

“Jaehyun!” You almost scream as your mind only chant and think of him at this moment. Your hand fires up to your lips to avoid suspicion, and Jaehyun’s quick to notice muffled moans.

“Yah.” His pace slows down.

“Yes, Jae?”

“Let your hand go, or I won’t make you come.” He orders.

You’ve gone this far, and you won’t allow having your orgasm get denied. As much as you like to get your way always, sex would be the only thing with compromises. And Jaehyun has denied your orgasms numerously, so you’re at a loss.

“Sorry, baby.” You follow, lowering your hand.

He smiles from under your dress. “It’s okay, love. Now let me continue to feel good, hmm?”

Jaehyun’s the one who led you through the acts of sex. You can’t deny how intimidated you felt by that, but he’s never pressured you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. Step by step, you already know what’s it like having his fingers toying with your core while your hands and lips around his cock.

He’s a sweet and passionate lover, unlocking the door of the joys of being eaten out.

Double the penetration, double the speed of your orgasm. Jaehyun’s tongue and fingers are partners to this sexual deed, and you can only just anticipate what happens next.

“I’m so close…“ You choke.

“Let go, baby. You deserve it.”

Hard and breathtaking. That’s how your orgasm felt.

Your lips emit an elongated moan as you came in Jaehyun’s mouth. Your entire body shivers, sweating behind your gorgeous designer dress. How tainted it makes you feel, yet also heavenly. You say hello to the angels up there, who may only look down at you for your so-called “forbidden” deeds.

How you’re the forbidden fruit, and Jaehyun is one of God’s beloved children who lusted for it.

He hums louder to match your noise, bringing your thighs closer to lick your core more. Helping you ride out your high, your lungs heave hastily as if they ran a marathon. With one final kiss to your clit, he gets up from his knees and doesn’t waste a second to collide his lips with yours.

The taste of you lingers in every exchange, your arms naturally wrap behind his nape. His hands grip your waist, making your legs tangle around his lower torso. The two of you cannot simply get enough of each other, tongues clashing for dominance and filthy moans echoing the room.

“You’re such a good girl for me.” He says.

“Always.” You reply. “Only for you.”

“Not even for your family?”

“Except for my brothers, fuck them.”

Your making out session gets so heated instantaneously. It’s never felt like this before, and you cannot get your hands off Jaehyun. Whether it’s how good he is to make you come like that or his presence making you feel so at ease, you wanted more. Heck, you desired whatever this man can give you.

Or rather, you deeply desired him to deflower you.

“Jaehyun, I--”

“Yes?”

“I want--" Before you can continue your sentence, your phone beside you vibrates.

Calling: Demon Mother

“Oh, shit.” Your lips parts from your lover, while he keeps going by pecking your neck. You’re strict with lovebites, but it’s nothing too harsh.

For now.

“Be quiet.” You glare from the side.

He smiles sinisterly. “When am I not?”

Rolling your eyes, you tap on the green button on your phone. “Hello?”

“Where are you, miss? We have a dinner with important people in your father’s company in 3 hours!” Her voice booms through even Jaehyun get startled. Yet you’re used to it, and it sucks.

“It’s not easy to clean a whole room even with a partner, mom.”

“It’s not my fault you couldn’t keep your hatred from the Jeongs as discreet as us. We are never to go low and battle with such a scandalous family like theirs.”

You sigh. Even if it’s a fake fight, news got around quickly in your elite world.

“Anyways, I’m packing up and heading my way.”

“You better, or you’re gonna hear it worse from your father too.” She hungs abruptly, and you sulk on your position.

“Is she mad?” Jaehyun stands more upright, yet you don’t give him eye contact out of shame. “Talk to me, baby. Please.”

“You heard her, Jaehyun.” You say. “She dare insults the family of my lover, the one I can never shout my affections out to the world.”

“Angel.” A nickname he uses it when sadness overtakes your mind and soul. His hands cradle your face that shifts it so you can look at him. Which you do. “This is the kind of love we signed up for.”

“But I didn’t ask for this kind of life.” Your heart wrenches. “I want to be able to live and love freely. No prejudice nor judgement. Don’t you think God was cruel for this fate?”

Jaehyun sighs in agreement. Religion this, religion that. All his life his parents taught him that if he doesn’t follow his family, he disobeys the Almighty. Only to later realize that he was manipulated; brainwashed that his parents are on the same level as Him.

How wrong and immoral.

He may have lost his faith, yet it was momentarily restored when you waltzed into his life like a dancer. A couple of failed turns, only to transform into a beautiful variation.

“If there’s only one good thing He gave me,” You sense his calloused fingers brush over your frizzled hair, tucking them behind your ear. “It was you. His favorite angel.”

Your heart swoons while a tear freely falls down your cheek. “I love you, Jaehyun.”

“I love you more, (Y/N).” His lips kiss yours a little longer. It’s unpredictable when you’ll see each other again, or spend hours being by his side. And so you both savor every meeting, peck, touch, laugh, moment you have with each other.

Because things can drastically change in a heartbeat. At least for you, it did.

That very dinner later in the evening wasn’t merely to celebrate your father’s company ranking high up across the country. Defintely topping the Jeongs, which has been a long-term goal these past years. He speaks of merging companies with his colleague, the Kims. Much to your naivety, you’re the main pawn in his game.

“Be a good girl and follow daddy in this venture.” He speaks in his professional voice in his office, where you and your mother sit and listen. Sipping on his whiskey, he awaits your response. Good girls only talk when being spoken to, but it’s merely a façade now. A façade you acted perfectly in.

“How can I be of help, daddy?” How you wished you didn’t ask such a question.

“You’ll be marrying into the Kim family in the next couple of months, specifically their oldest son who’s bound to take over their company right after your wedding ceremony.”

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empressgeekt · 1 month

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Trolls- headcanon, Creek and Branch are Cousins and Rosiepuff was both their grandmother...

okay. This randomly came to me, and I have to write this down. On mobile sorry for issues.

So, I was scrolling through Tumblr and saw fanart of acdepressed creek, and I though, "hey he kind of looks like Floyd's old concept design". Don't look up that design it's horrifying, but originally Floyd was supposed to look like Grandma Rosiepuff. Then things started to spiral. F9r two characters who seemingly have nothing to do with each other, Rosiepuff and Creek look awfully similar to one another. Same skin tone, and they both have minty green in their hair. In fact one could argue that Creek resembles her more then her own canon grandchildren. BROZONE all have cool colors and John, Clay, spruce, and branch all have blur eyes like her, while Floyd has a smaller similar nose shape. But that's the extent of it.

What if Rosiepuff had two surviving children, instead of the one who had brozone? And Creek was born of that second child.

I don't know what other people think but alot of the jab Creek makes towards Branch feel very personal. Sure pre trolls one Branch was not liked by the community, but Creek despises Branch personally. He tells Poppy that Branch doesn't want to be happy. Confronts Branch head on while the others passively complain. He even calls out the vest and that is a deep cut to Branch as we all know...but how would Creek know? Unless they share more of history then we think.

There are number of ways that's this could've played out, be it Creek's parent having a falling out with Rosiepuff before he's born, or maybe they didn't want anything to do with the band, but the two sides of the family clearly don't talk. Evident by Rosiepuff raising Branch alone, and never once is an aunt/uncle mentioned. However it wouldn't be too hard to believe that Creek knows about Rosiepuff, her death, and blames Branch for it. Heck he could've been taught that by his parent, The possible child of Rosiepuff's. And now in turn hates Branch.

This could even be supported by the amount of similar traits Creek has with Brozone. For starters, both Creek and at least two of the brothers (branch and clay) are planners. Branch and clay are prepping for the worst, but Creek is always planning how to control situations he finds himself in. Their uses are different, and as are the strategies, but the principle still stands. Creek also has a high emotional intelligence, like Floyd. He'd have to in order to manipulate people the way he does. A level head under pressure could also be a shared trait, Creek only really panics when he's in immediate danger, being eaten or when he and chef were one fire, otherwise he's very collected. He's the one telling everyone in the bird cage to remain calm after all.

But if they are related the why didn't JD or any of the others ask about him when Brozone reunited? Well, simply they didn't know about him. Creek is either the same age or younger then Branch, and if the two sides of the family weren't on speaking terms in the first place then its a slim chance they would be told about a baby cousin. And I have a hard time seeing Creeks family taking Branch in afte the accident and he went grey. So if branch knows about their relation, he's probably so detached that he doesn't consider them family. Not to mention the whole betrayl thing...

So thought? Was my brain on to something? Or is this just rambling.

#dreamworks trolls #trolls #trolls branch #fanfic #headcanon #trolls creek #trolls movie #trolls headcanons #Creek and branch are cousins?#This makes wya too much sense #random #rant post #theory

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hard-times-paramore · 5 months

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Why Nero Devilmaycry is Asexual

It's a headcanon, but turns out I had a lot of evidence. And even if I didn't I like when I have characters I can relate to with this one thing about myself, so nothing you could say would stop me. Still. Hear me out now. If you’re open to reading this post, then let me tell you, I think it very well holds up in canon.

As a start, look how he acts when he sees the sexy demonic lures from that frog demon in DMC4:

His reaction to the demons is to notice they’re causing a stinky storm which is probabbly hiding something, and he kills them. That’s it. Not even a fucking comment. In fact he even seems a bit avoidant.

Now compare it with Dante’s scene.

He knew they were in fact lures for a giant evil smelly frog, and yet he joins in the game and acts all flirtatious, actually acknowledging that he’s being faced with two sexy naked ladies.

Another evidence is Nero’s immediate reaction to seeing Gloria. Which I don’t even think needs any comments. Just

He can’t even look directly at her. He’s so uncomfortable help him.

Of course one might argue that all of that is because he’s in love with Kyrie. And I totally agree, he is in love! He’s asexual but not aromantic, and he loves her. But being in love with someone - and considering they weren’t together yet - doesn’t mean shutting down all interest and attraction to other people. Since he doesn’t show that attraction in the slightest, I think it’s cause it’s not there to begin with.

(On that note, it's nothing big but Nero is in love with Kyrie, one of the few female characters whose clothes cover her up. She’s a lot more modest/non sexualized when compared to Lady or Trish.)

But that was DMC 4. What about how he's like in the next game?

What I’d say from this game, is that Nero is ace, but he’s not out to Nico. And I can understand why, because Nico’s dirty jokes are like, Her Brand when it comes to humour. Dante would love chatting with her. Nero, however, does not.

I mean, a dirty joke was her first reaction when Nero tried to tell Kyrie he grew back a whole arm

(he’s tired)

Whenever innuendos happen in this game towards Nero, it’s been because of Nico. Look at what she wrote in her diary, when she gave Lady her clothes after Nero rescued her.

Even though Nero himself during that scene was focused on her wellbeing and asking about his friends, nothing else (…actually, in that scene V was the one who made the comment about Lady’s appearance. V, who is Vergil, and the only other time they ever met was when they were a bunch of teenagers trying to kill each other, and uh. Awkward).

And since we brought this up, when Lady was rescued from inside of the Artemis demon, she was completely naked, but Nero?? Payed no attention to that?? He only looked at her face, and was mainly concerned with her safety and with the fact she was Dante’s friend, not about her body. She could have been fully clothed and there would be no difference.

It took Nico’s little comment for him to realize that “wait, she’s naked, wait, I have a girlfriend”, I mean. He goes “what?” and it takes him three full seconds to remember that, complete with a face journey:

Like, it’s just my humble opinion but if someone forgets that carrying a beautiful nude stranger in your arms miiight be kind of erotic, maybe sexuality just doesn’t occupy that person’s mind for most the time in the first place.

And holy shit, speaking of Kyrie, Nico seems rather interested in their sex life. She literally built an arm for Nero with the purpose to make sex more comfortable for them. And he did not ask her to build it, because she never tells him what she’s making beforehand, and by her comments it was supposed to be a surprise anyways. He ends up using it for healing.

Complete with that sexy joke she makes when Kyrie called him in the end, and the reaction she got, I conclude the following: yeah Nero is still ace as heck, he just hasn't come out to her yet. I get him, he doesn’t know her for that long, and I have that kind of friend too.

And just as a final point, just take a look at the main characters in this series! They all have shown a rather sexual side (specially in DMC4 which is by far the horniest game of this series). There’s Dante with his constant teasing and innuendos, Lady and Trish with their provocative clothes and body language, and even some demons sometimes act like that. But Nero? He seems to be an exception to that rule. In all his sarcasm and attitude, he’s still more about the taunting and mocking the enemy than flirting with it. While he’s the only one to have a love interest, the dynamic of their relationship shows a profound bond, loyalty, protectiveness and warmth. And yet with all that, it doesn’t get on the sexual side that was to be expected of those games, considering the other characters.

So, yeah, that's been my Ace Nero Manifesto. I wrote my evidence but, in reality nothing can stop me from headcanoning a character as ace just because I feel like it.

#devil may cry #dmc5 #dmc4 #nero #nero sparda #dante sparda #kyrie #nicoletta goldstein #dmc lady #asexual #asexuality #ace headcanons #ace characters #sfw

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grantspectortrash · 2 years

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Quiz Night

Pairing: Steven Grant x FemReader

Summary: Steven plans on taking you on a date, and when you get there you discover it's Quiz Night. This is technically Part 2 to Suited and Booted, but you can read them separately without each other!

This is in Steven's POV because why the heck not, but it means reader is referred to as she/her.

Warnings/Tags: No warnings, just fluff. Hand-holding, admitting feelings, all that cute stuff. Mentions of Jake and Marc (Jake has horny thoughts, but nothing explicit!!)

Word Count: 2.1K

A/N: credit to Nerdist.Com for the gif from GIPHY. As always if I have portrayed anything incorrectly please call me out on it so I can fix it :) If anyone has requests I would LOVE to hear them!!!

---

Steven is staring at himself in the mirror. He's just got home from work and he knows that, across the hall from him, you've already been home maybe an hour? An hour and a half? At any rate, he knows he doesn't have long until you start making dinner and he needs to stop that.

He's taking you out to dinner tonight, not that you know it. He's booked a table at this cute place he thinks you'll like, and he hopes you'll say yes to going with him.

As he looks at himself in the mirror, he waits for Marc's response.

What's the issue Stevie, you nervous?

"Of course I'm bloody nervous." Steven says, shrugging off his jacket and chucking it on the sofa. He needs to get changed into something nice, something that he could wear for a date. After what you said about him in the suit, he wants to impress you again. "I promised Y/N I'd take her on a date, after everything she did for me."

Steven's reflection stares back at him - the same, but different.

Yeah, she's a nice gal. Pretty too. So stop messing around and take her on this date!

"Okay. Okay. I can do this. Just, no funny business, yeah? I want to do this on my own."

Such a shame, Grant. I'd love to get my hands on her.

The voice in the mirror speaks again, but this time it's accent changes, losing Marc’s familiar intonation.

"Hey!" Steven points at his reflection, suddenly all defensive. His reflection just smirks. "I swear Lockley, stay out of this."

I'm just saying, we could've had her when you were in her shower. Wasted opportunity, hermano.

Steven closes the doors of his mirror. He doesn't want to speak anymore, he needs to get changed.

Jake Lockley was the most recent alter that Steven had encountered, and he was still struggling to like him. Sure, they were technically the same person, but Jake was like an annoying older sibling who did what he wanted, when he wanted. He was the most difficult to keep under control.

In truth Jake was the protector. Sure, Marc was the mercenary and the one who agreed to Konshu’s deal, but Jake was the embodiment of everything Konshu wanted. He was ruthless, he was the vengeance and the anger that the protector of the night was supposed to be. Jake stepped in when Marc’s trauma was simply too much, and he did it well. Steven was more than appreciative for what Jake had done.

It was just the constant sexual remarks about you that Steven couldn’t stand. It meant that sometimes, when Jake decided to influence his thoughts, it was very difficult to focus around you.

Don't worry Stevie, I'll keep us in check.

The voice in his head turns back into Marc’s familiar accent. Steven sighs, grateful to have Marc looking out for him.

"Cheers, mate." Steven speaks aloud as he gets changed. He’s found a black shirt and a jacket in his wardrobe, and decides to keep the same dark trousers and shoes on from his work uniform.

He quickly feeds Gus before whispering: “Wish me luck!”

Gus doesn’t respond. Steven walks out and knocks on your door.

It takes exactly twenty-four seconds for you to answer the door after Steven knocked. He knows because he counted. If it had taken longer than a minute, he would have chickened out and gone back inside. Yet, there you are.

"Hey, Steven." You're smiling at him as soon as you see him. You're still in your work clothes, but Steven still thinks you look lovely. He swallows hard before speaking.

"Please tell me you've not made dinner yet. I'd like to take you on that date I mentioned, if that's alright?"

He smiles at you sweetly, his nerves making his hands involuntarily fiddle with the sleeves of his jacket, pulling them over his hands.

"Oh um, yes! That would be lovely. You didn't have to, you know. I uh, can you just wait here while I change? I won't be long."

Steven nods, smiling at you. You smile back and motion for him to wait, and then your door closes again.

Look at you go, Stevie. She really is gorgeous. I like your style.

Marc speaks in his head and Steven has to stop himself from blushing. You were gorgeous, Steven just hadn’t had the courage to tell you that yet.

It takes ten minutes for you to come back out of your apartment. Steven’s jaw nearly drops to the floor, but you don’t even notice. You’re too busy locking the door.

“Wow, Y/N. You look great!”

“Is it too much?” You say, patting down your hair and touching at your clothes.

“No…no! You look lovely, yeah? Gorgeous, actually.”

There, that wasn’t so hard.

Steven doesn’t notice the way blush creeps into your cheeks, but Marc does. Steven is too nervous and all jumpy inside to notice anything other than putting one foot in front of the other. You fall in line beside him as you wait for the elevator.

“So, where are we going? Or is it a secret?”

“Oh uh…a secret I guess. Yeah, why not? A secret.” Steven smiles at you, he likes the idea of keeping you waiting. He can see the curious gleam in your eyes and the way you’re smiling at him like this is the most exciting thing you’ve ever done. You’re staring at one another, both of you hardly believing that you’re going on a date together.

The ding of the elevator makes the pair of you jump.

“Oh jeez,” Steven chuckles to himself, then motions to you, as he always does when the pair of you leave for work in the morning, “Ladies first.”

You oblige, as you do every morning. You push the button and Steven stands beside you. It’s a routine that’s been instilled in the pair of you, although this time Steven can’t decide whether or not to hold your hand.

Do it, she’ll like it.

Steven catches Marc’s reflection in the elevator mirrors. Then he sees you, and you’re already looking at him. The pair of you blush, although your cheeks turn a shade darker than his.

“I’m really glad you said yes, you know?” He says to you, and you nod.

"Why wouldn't I?"

The elevator doors open on the ground floor and you both make your way to the exit. Like usual, Steven holds the apartment building door open for you, and you step out into the London streets.

It’s dark now, the sky probably full of stars somewhere above all of that pollution. There’s taxis and people hustling and bustling all about the place. To Steven, London always felt like the city that never sleeps, which is why he liked it so much. It reminded him of himself.

“We just gotta turn left, go down a couple of streets. You happy to walk?” Steven turns to you, pointing down the road.

“Yeah, of course.” You would walk anywhere for Steven Grant. You would walk around the entire world if he asked you to. But, he doesn’t know that.

Without thinking, or maybe it’s Marc’s influence, Steven holds his arm out for you to link yours with his. He’s surprised by even his own actions, and worries for a second that you won’t want to touch him, but then you link your arm in his with a grin on your face and Steven practically melts.

He can smell your perfume and feel the heat of your skin against his. And he’s happy, happier than he’s been in a long time.

The pair of you walk, arm in arm, towards the restaurant. You talk about work, and Steven listens. He talks more about Egyptian mythology and - particularly - Apep, who was the embodiment of Chaos in the form of a large serpent.

Steven doesn’t know why he’s telling you about it, he worries that you’re probably bored or think he’s weird, but it’s so nice to talk to someone that isn’t Marc, or his annoying boss Donna, that he just can't help himself.

“You know,” Steven says, “it’s so nice to have a neighbour. You’re the best anybody could ask for. It was lonely, a bit, before.”

Por Dios, save the sob story, Grant. Unless it’s a ploy for some pity sex.

Jake, you had one fucking job. Either stay out or you’re getting locked out.

There was a beat of silence.

Stevie, you’ve got privacy.

The chat between Jake and Marc happens in Steven’s head before you even respond. There’s a slight frown on your face.

“Lonely?” You shake your head and come to a stop. “Sorry, this might be way out of line, so please just tell me to shut up if I'm wrong but I always assumed you live with someone. I can hear you arguing sometimes…”

Your voice trails off and the awkwardness is evident in your tone. You’re not sure what to say, and it takes Steven awhile to find his voice.

“Oh…right. I would never tell you to shut up.” Steven unlinks his arm from yours to face you head on.

He looks at you, all pretty and polite and obviously trying not to seem worried about you, and he sighs. “I’ll explain everything to you after we’ve eaten, yeah? All I’ll say now is, I do live alone. No girlfriend, no friends, not even a roommate. Just me, and my brain. Oh, and my goldfish.”

You nod at him, your frown dissipating and turning into an understanding smile. You'll wait for him to explain, whenever you're ready. You're halfway through asking what his goldfish is called when Steven’s eyes trail from your face to just behind you, where you’ve unknowingly stopped just outside the restaurant. And Steven deadpans.

“Fuck. What the hell?”

You turn to see what he’s looking at, and you see what he’s seeing. The 'QUIZ NIGHT' signs are plastered all over the front door.

He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, “I booked this place because I thought it would be nice and quiet. Somewhere small so we could be alone…but now? There’s going to be a bunch of competitive people all yelling answers and ruining our night.”

“Hey,” you rest a hand on his arm, “This could be fun! I honestly don’t mind.”

Steven feels your touch and notices how gentle your voice is, but he can’t stop from feeling like a massive idiot.

"But I wanted it to be romantic, and I am so bad at quizzes, you know? Unless it’s about Egypt or-"

“You wanted it to be romantic?” You interrupt Steven’s rambling by giving his arm a soft squeeze. He stops talking almost immediately, and he wishes he could swallow his tongue. Why had he said that?

“Uh...yeah? I really like you, Y/N…I’m just not a fan of quizzes.”

You laugh, a really deep belly laugh that takes Steven by surprise. He’s worried he’s said something wrong, or that he's got it all wrong and you only see him as a friend, when you pull him in for a hug.

It only lasts for a second but Steven can smell the shampoo in your hair, and he feels like home. He only used it the once, but he never wanted that smell to end after he had showered at your place.

When you pull away you’re smiling at him. “I really like you too, Steven Grant. And you may not be a fan of quizzes, but I still wanna go on this date with you, even if it means we come last in the quiz and embarrass ourselves to death.”

Steven can’t help but smile. You just had that effect on him. He pulls the courage from deep within, imagining that he’s just as confident as Marc, or even Jake for that matter, and he holds out his hand for you. You take it willingly, and the pair of you enter the restaurant.

That night, your team name is Laters Gators, at Steven’s request. You chat and you laugh and you eat and - most importantly - you come fourth out of six teams at the quiz night. The pair of you hold hands while you write the answers and Steven tries to answer as many as he can. He’s not as good as you, even when he subtly listens to Marc and Jake who, for the most part, know their stuff.

It’s a great night, and by the end of the quiz both you and Steven realise this is a great start to a new relationship.

---

taglist: @later-gators12 @alicetweven @bristark616 @toracainz @dopeqff

#moon knight #moon knight x reader #moon knight fanfiction #moon boys #steven grant #steven grant x reader #steven grant fanfiction #steven grant fluff #marc spector #jake lockley

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canonicallyobserving911 · 6 months

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Buck & Eddie: The Announcement

Still here! - 6x13 "Mixed Feelings"

I've posted several times about how 6x13 was the finale for me since the rest of the season COULD AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN YEETED TO THE SUN AND OBLITERATED but I digress.

The video above includes two scenes, one from 6x9 "Red Flag" and the other from 6x13 "Mixed Feelings". I've combined them to illustrate how they might be related. When Buck joined the team while they were sitting on the rooftop in 6x9, Eddie asked him, "Would you prefer an announcement?" and Buck replied, "Uh... I would" with the first scene from 6x13 when Bobby said, "Over here guys" because it seems like these were subtexts for the announcement of Buck & Eddie.

I've already completed two posts; one for 6x8 regarding the comment Buck made about "Raining Men" (linked here) and one that includes all six scenes of Buck and Eddie, Buck and Chris and the Buckley-Diaz Family for 6x13 (linked here). Also, I've mentioned before how I've watched 6x13 numerous times and each time I've watched it, I've noticed something new. The last time it was Bobby's comment of "Over here guys" that caught my attention because it reminded me of Eddie's question to Buck in 6x9 about if he wanted an announcement that prompted this post. It appears it may have been included as part of "the announcement" for Buck and Eddie too in addition to the "Raining Men" subtext that was included in 6x8, 6x9, 6x10 and 6x13.

Some may be asking, why is this important?

Well... it's important because IIRC, Buck and Eddie have NEVER entered the scene of a call LATE when they were with the 118. The entire team arrives at scenes together, they always have. The only time Buck and Eddie showed up to a call "late" or "just in time" was in 4x13 "Suspicion" but reminder, Buck wasn't in uniform and the 118 wasn't there since Eddie called it in and the 133 was dispatched 👀. Therefore, that scene was eliminated from this analysis.

Also, Captain Mehta was in 6x13 too (exactly two years later following the shooting - detailed post about Captain Mehta in 6x13 linked here) and I've been wondering why he was there if all they wanted him to do was play poker.

I've never believed that was it because reminder, Captain Shore was the 133's captain in 5x16 "May Day" and if the show wasn't trying to tell the audience something, she would have been at the poker table with Chief Williams (another person the audience hadn't seen since season 2 during the earthquake).

Eddie's and Buck's "late" arrival prompted A LOT of unanswered questions for me and I've listed some of them below.

Why were they late?

Where the heck were they?

Were they together? (Since they entered together, I think they were.)

What were they doing? 👀👀

Why didn't they enter the scene with everyone else?

Did Bobby know where they were?

If so, why didn't he call for them sooner?

Is it possible the way Bobby called them along with the way they entered the gym was the announcement about them becoming a romantic couple?

Based on the way season 6 ended, it seemed like the "RUSHED" and messy bridge collapse wasn't supposed to end the way it did and I've often wondered why Bobby was underneath the rubble instead of SOMEONE ELSE (based on the first set of BTS pics that were released, I have an idea of who it should have been but for some reason, it was all changed. Goodbye FOX network and hello ABC) especially since Bobby was trapped under Metro Dispatch's roof in 5x16. The storyline shouldn't have been for him because the team had already worked to get him out of the rubble in season 5 and it was significant then but not so much at the end of season 6. None of the rest of the season made any narrative sense and it's possible it never will if they continue the mixed up and forced narrative they threw in at the last minute for season 7.

It would have been easier if 9-1-1 would have just told the audience what they wanted them to know instead of expecting people to do mental gymnastics to figure things out but... anyway. Was Buck's and Eddie's entrance in 6x13 part of "the announcement" regarding them becoming a CANON couple? Only the showrunner(s), writers and producers know the answer to that question and HOPEFULLY it will be answered in season 7.

#buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #bobby nash #911 on abc #911 abc #the buckley diaz family #buckley diaz family #christopher diaz #911 season 6 speculation #911 season 6 #911 s6 #911 meta

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ziggyhadathought · 9 months

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I don’t know if it’s bad writing or hinting at rhysand’s character but the descriptions of feyre’s outfit UTM where she is sa’d, degraded and roofied and the description of her outfit when mate introduces her to part of his court leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

“nearly identical to those I had been forced to wear Under the Mountain.”

(ACOMAF)

“my hair onto a crown atop my head—right behind the black diadem”

(ACOMAF)

“my hair coiled around a small gold diadem”

(ACOTAR)

“my face adorned with cosmetics rouge on my lips… kohl lining my eyes”

(ACOTAR)

“vicious line of kohl at the outer corner of each. My lips she’d painted bloodred.”

(ACOMAF)

It’s like she’s physically still there. Why is she in the same clothes she could have skimpy clothes to sell be bit but not a replica. he knows how uncomfortable feyre was before

__________________________________________

“Good. They should be afraid of them.Afraid of me.”

(ACOMAF)

This I think is kinda sad because they are not afraid of her they are afraid of rhysand. The only reason she is somewhat safe is because of rhysand’s reputation. This scene is supposed to show where feyre becomes sexually empowered there is a section where she imagines them calling her a whore and she learns to ignore it comparing it to the music. But all rhysand does here is present her in the same way amarantha presented her while UTM.

__________________________________________

“And with a tug on my waist, he perched me on his lap.The High Lord’s whore.”

(ACOMAF)

She is still a doll. There is so much weight put on names and titles in this series and in other maas books so I find it a bit distasteful that rhysand’s trigger is used here. It’s the one phrase that is shown to deeply effect rhysand and one of the few times his sexual trauma is even mentioned. I know it’s all a part of there ruse and it’s just a trick but it’s strange.

“That every male in here is contemplating what they’d be willing to give up in order to get that pretty, red mouth of yours on them”

(ACOMAF)

There could have been so many other things said here about how they are all bowing to her and they are worthless and she could kill them if she wanted but he reduces her to only sexual power, she is something to be consumed. And I see that he can be trying to make her more confident in her own body.

Yes she is sat on the throne but she’s in his lap he is always that barrier between her and power this is seen in later books when rhysand ordered the IC to withhold information from feyre even though she is the high lady and it was pertaining to her body. They are mates and supposedly equal but the chain of command is never altered.

“He’d apologized in advance for it—for this game, these roles we’d have to play.”

(ACOMAF)

I really despise how it is suggested that this was the only way they could have gotten the orb, rhysand didn’t need to have her on his lap or lick her. He’s 500 years old and he couldn’t conjure up a better plan than extended foreplay.

“But it seems true: Tamlin’s pet is now owned by another master.”

(ACOMAF)

From a political standpoint why would he want such an important figure thought of as a private escort? This takes away all of her credibility to the illyrians. It is trained into the illyrians that females purity is currency and their bodies a commodity so how is this smart. If I was a misogynistic warrior who sees humans as scum my highlord grinding on a woman clothed in scraps wouldn’t convince me of her political prowess.

“The Steward was staring unabashedly as he leaned against the wall. Unsure whether to interrupt. Half terrified to. We were his distraction. We were the sleight of hand while Az stole the orb.”

(ACOMAF)

HOW THE HECK WAS THIS THE BEST PLAN THEY COULD COME UP WITH!!!????

who was their sacrificial sex doll before Feyre 👀?

#acotar critical #feyre archeron #a court of thorns and roses #acotar #feyre x rhysand #high lady feyre #thecourtofnightmares #hewn city #anti rhysand #high lord rhysand #a court of mist and fury

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emmatgc · 5 months

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The What Ifs and Assumptions they said, now its finally high time to answer with a BANG

Num #1 :Grace and Tommy will still break up ultimately, they will fight. He keeps things from her and she didn't saw the other side of Tommy. What if she saw? She couldn't handle it all. She will leave him. That's why Lizzie is better.

Tommy and Grace had 5 years together physically, 2 years apart after the 1st year and 2 years before the wedding. Don't you think they didn't quarreled or fought? They did! The show implied though that despite provocations, Tommy doesn't shouts at Grace and wants to fix the problem or fight asap. Freaking cute right? A cold blooded killer wooing his wife not to fight or be mad at him anymore. Thats Tommy with Grace. Then, what's this non sense of they might still willingly breakup huh? Heck, they were apart for 2 years and both were f*cking crazy with each other and ehem never stopped fookin each other, at least in their heads! Tommy was a mistress by all accounts, he is fine with that, his son a bastard for 2 years, didn't care and he is the King of Birmingham at that point! 🤣 Oh, don't forget Grace was a spy, an undercover agent. I believe she can handle herself quite ok. Thank you!

Newsflash! Grace left already but returned why would she leave again? When Tommy bought her that arrow house in the country side! Tommy filters what he shares, true, and why? Did he ever tell Lizzie everything? For heavens sake, he change the safe codes after they sleep together when she told her he knew haha what was that? He doesn't trust her, at least not completely. She was loyal hmm esp when it suits her purpose, too. With Grace, he doesn't want to share everything to protect them and not put her or them in danger. Legitimate business is the priority. That's a very big difference.

Lizzie was and will always not be better.

Num #2: Tommy would have cheated in the long run even if Grace is alive

Hell No! Like I said, he may have cheated with others and thought of them as Grace so why on earth would he cheat on the actual person he dearly wants, loves and adores for? Not to mention desires and lusts over totally the way a man so in love should. He wants the original, he has it already. Why would he cheat with a copy cat? He would never cheat on her.

Num #3 Grace wouldn't understand Tommy if she would have lived, she wanted him to change. Lizzie accepted everything of Tommy.

Ummmm nope. Tommy wanted to CHANGE the moment he SAW GRACE in that pub. How so? He already cared by asking her as twisted as it was but its Tommy "are you a whore" scene. He cared more for her during the dance and her jerk kimber move , and well verbally implied he is undeserving of her thus he WILL change after 1 night of making love. Just 1 night! Grace and Tommy are the same. They both had said it. What makes you think Grace wouldn't understand? She killed a man for him, what did lizzie do exactly? Distract enemies, yeah. Great. The nerve to ask or assume she wouldn't understand his dark side. Lizzie did not accept Tommy fully in fact she whines constantly and wanting him to change for her, too. For Her! Thinking he would change! Grace made him think for himself. Others just demands of it.

Num #4 Tommy loved Lizzie more or the most.

Before I answer, how can you even say this? Tommy, breathless in Grace's presence and humbled by her wit, beauty and status. Does things only a man in love does- Kiss passionately, make love sincerely, tease each other, back hugs, neck kisses and sought after her, constantly. Does not cheat on her. He needs her. He fookin needs her so bad. He listens to her. Doesn't yell not treat her like dirt. Doesn't own her like a property and doesn't pay for sex. Yes it changed, she got promoted but very limited love or affectionate if you call it. "In this room , I love you?" What does that mean? after this, I don't anymore? Tommy supposed to be a man of no limitations eh? but for Lizzie, he certainly has. Tommy yearns for Grace even after her death. A simple gesture of sitting down beneath the huge portrait he didn't take down can calm him. A strand of her hair symbolizing his undying devotion and you call that less of what we saw in Seasons 4 to 6? Ridiculous! You think of Grace is alive and Grace wanted to leave , he will be ok with it? Of course not. Lizzie left. Not a word from Tommy. They were miserable together most of the time. Accept it. There were flashes of joy, ill give you that but the love, the romance and flame, never the same, never even there.

Num #5 (oh my favorite)

Tommy only married Grace for the baby.

Hmmm i think you are confusing it with the other one. Tommy will marry Grace with or without the baby. He broke up with May even without assurance Grace is staying but with certainty in his mind she was sailing away. Tommy even said to her to lie about the baby and let her husband believe its his , that tells us something right? Yet when Grace told him "I love you not him" Fuvk. The end. He melts and "nearly got fucking everthing" scene was born. He was more interested with Grace as to be his own wife then charlie. No offence charlie. He even waited 2 years to finally get married. Oh by the way, by off chance that baby is not Tommy's but Grace wants him to adapt or be the Dad, i would bet my life, he would gladly accept it no matter what. Just for Grace. No big deal.

Fast forward, when Grace died, Tommy tried to be a good dad but he failed. Without Grace, he cant. He just cant. He continued on living but we all know, in the end its Graces picture or portrait hanging hugely not some family picture of theirs. Its Grace only and always. While Charlie is the extension of Grace, it is not the same. He is not HER.

Num #6: Tommy doesn't know what he wants so he cant love Lizzie wholeheartedly

Bullshit. Tommy knows exactly what he wants. Power. Too ambitious for his own good , too. He knows what he wants in terms of love , too and it ain't Lizzie nor others. He is damaged goods already. Grace's made his heart beat again. It cant and simply wont beat for another love again. That is mainly because HE DOESN'T WANT TO! Haven't you thought about that? Do not excuse Tommy's behavior towards Lizzie. Im team Grace but i pity lizzie. My goodness. What was SK thinking? No self worth left and finally she left, good for her. He is hot and cold towards her not consistent. He lacks loyalty and basic respect towards her. It means only if it suits both their purpose. Carnal, limited and passing. Tommy Shelby either loves you or dont. Plain or simple.

Epilogue

By all accounts, Tommy loved his family and extended family. He chose them over Grace the 1st time, she died because of his family, too. But they were never loyal to Tommy and vice versa nor trusted each other completely. Tommy said it himself "my family hates me". Tommy was only devoted to Grace. He was never alone because she is there by his side, always. They were the same. Just utterly the same. Two halves. Two souls. The devil and angel. Hell and Heaven but both FIRE.

#tommy x grace #tommy shelby #grace burgess #peaky blinders #grace shelby #cillian murphy #annabelle wallis #thomas shelby #tommy x grace forever #true love always win

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smilesrobotlover · 7 months

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Whumptober day 25- alternate prompt- betrayal and also drugging lol

Ok guys this is where whumptober begins to have a plot, so buckle up cuz these last few days are gonna be a lot (except for day 26 that has no connection to this lol). Anyways I had so much fun writing this, I hope you have fun reading it. Talon is a joy to write.

Warnings: drugging and kidnapping

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The men searching for the heroes were in a busy town one second, then plopped in the middle of an open field the next second. Talon was dizzy and tried to reorient himself while Ammon placed a steady hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t throw up Talon,” he said, and Talon only gave a thumbs up. The other men chuckled as they recovered from the sudden change in scenery, and Leon looked around the field.

“Where are we?”

The others looked around, none of them recognizing the area. Talon expected the same thing for him, but he actually recognized some of the scenery. The fence along the edge, the trail that leads to the castle, and most importantly, Lon Lon Ranch. It stood proudly in the distance, practically begging for Talon to come home. He almost started crying right then and there, and the others looked at him in confusion.

“Talon? Is everything alright?” Leon asked, eyeing where he was looking.

“That over there is Lon Lon Ranch! That’s my home! It’s just over there!” Talon exclaimed, unable to mask his excitement and relief.

“Well what are we waitin’ for?” Rusl ran to Talon’s side. “Let’s get you home!”

Talon started running to Lon Lon Ranch, with the others closely behind him. Talon was practically bursting with joy as he got closer to his home. The smell of hay and horses already hit his nostrils. His daughter’s beautiful singing already filled his ears. Oh Malon…

I’m almost home, sweetie.

Talon ran through the entrance and glanced at the sign above the horse pen.

“Some place ya got,” Rusl muttered, looking at the house and barn. Talon frowned. Something wasn’t right. He looked at the sign again and gasped.

“‘Ingo’s Ranch?’” He read. “What the heck?”

The others looked at Talon in confusion, and he simply pointed at the sign, a baffled look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Benji asked. “Is this not your ranch?”

“No! I mean, yes, it is! But it’s supposed to be called Lon Lon Ranch, not Ingo’s Ranch!”

“Who’s Ingo?”

Talon turned and glared at the house. “He’s my colleague. He’s helped around the ranch for years. I don’t know why his name is suddenly plastered all over now.”

The men all gave each other worried looks, and Ammon stepped up.

“Maybe it’s because you went missing, and so the ranch’s ownership went to him?” He suggested, but Talon shook his head.

“That still ain’t right! Even if somethin’ were to happen to me, the ownership of the ranch would go to my daughter Malon! Not Ingo! I—“ fury built up inside Talon and he balled his fists, marching to the house. “I have some questions I need to ask him!”

The others followed Talon as he burst through the door, and he saw that Ingo wasn’t there. He frowned and marched over to his office, where Ingo sat, counting rupees.

“INGO!” Talon shouted, a little too loud, and the man jumped ten feet in the air, spilling rupees everywhere.

“T-Talon? You’re alive? I-I mean,” Ingo stood up and smoothed out his fancy looking clothes, the look of surprise still on his face, “you’re alive and well! Oh what a relief—“

“Why do you look so surprised to see me?”

“Oh! Uh, well,” Ingo sat back down and relaxed his posture, “you went missing, we all assumed you were dead.”

“So you stole my ranch and changed the name?”

“You were gone! What was I supposed to do?”

“Give it to my daughter!” Talon got close to Ingo, “where is she?”

“Where is who?”

“Malon!”

“Oh! Malon! Uh… she’s uh…” Ingo looked around, sweat pouring down his face, but he took a deep breath and gave Talon a smile. “She’s in her home.”

Talon stepped back and let out a breath. Of course that was where she would be. Talon had a new home built within the ranch, a home where Malon and Link would’ve had room to raise their baby on the way (and where they could play their music without disturbing Talon). The farmer turned around and left the office.

“Wait! Let me take you to her!” Ingo called out to him.

“Good idea, that way we can deal with the property of the ranch, and give its ownership back to me!”

Ingo scoffed. “This ranch shouldn’t belong to you.”

“It’s been passed down the family for generations Ingo, of course it belongs to me!”

“Well you never did anything with it! All those years, while I worked my butt off you just sat there sleepin’ the day away! This ranch would’ve failed if not for me!”

Talon glared at him for a moment, but he didn’t defend himself. “Well then, it sounds like it’s time to give the ranch to Malon then,” he said, and turned around and kept walking. Ingo growled and caught up to Talon.

“Now you listen here, I— WAH!” Ingo jumped at the six men standing awkwardly in the dining room. Talon had almost forgotten that they were there, waiting for him. “Who are these people? What is that?” Ingo pointed at Kass who made an offended expression. Talon sighed and put his hand on Ingo’s shoulder.

“They’re my friends, Ingo. Now come on.”

Ingo huffed and spun around, marching out the door. Talon looked at his friends who all had varying expressions of confusion and worry.

“Y’all can just stay here, I’ll be right back,” Talon assured.

“Are you gonna be ok?” Ammon asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine. Just wait right here.”

The men nodded and Talon turned around to follow Ingo. As they walked to Malon’s house, Talon’s emotions kept running rampant. He was furious, worried, irritated, but most of all, he felt betrayed. Talon had worked with Ingo for years now, and for him to turn around and do something like this? It hurt. Link’s warnings echoed through Talon’s head. Link never liked Ingo. He always said that he was a selfish and greedy man, and that someday he was going to betray him and try to steal the ranch. Link had always said bizarre things, but this in particular made Talon upset. Ingo was his friend. He would never do something like that. But in the end, Link was right, and Talon felt hurt by it.

They entered the home and Ingo marched right in, heading straight for a door in the kitchen.

“Malon?” Talon called out, excitement to see his little girl practically eating him up inside. Ingo hovered near the door, then shrugged.

“She’s probably down in the basement,” Ingo muttered, looking around nervously, “she uh, she tends to go down there a lot.”

Ingo opened the door and went down the stairs, and Talon followed. He observed the small set of stairs as they went down. He rarely went into their home, let alone their basement, so this was all new to him. Ingo opened another door at the bottom and gestured for Talon to go in. The farmer narrowed his eyes at the dark room, only lit up by the setting sun. He went inside and looked at the tidy room.

“Malon?” He called out, seeing no signs of life in the room. Suddenly, something pushed him harshly into the room, and Talon fell to the ground. He looked up and saw Ingo shut the door, and Talon’s heart dropped at the sound of a click. “INGO!” Talon shouted and tried to open the door, but it was locked. He heard Ingo’s maniacal laughter from the other side, and Talon banged on the door. “Ingo! Let me out!”

“No! I’m never gonna let you out! I fought hard to get this ranch, and you are not going to ruin it!”

“Ingo… I… I trusted you! My whole life I trusted you! How could you do this?”

“Because I deserved the ranch! Not you, not your stupid daughter, and not that twat of a husband!”

Talon felt his blood boil at the insults thrown and he banged on the door some more.

“You’re gonna regret this! My friends will know what will happen and they will get me out!”

Talon heard Ingo swear on the other side of the door. He must’ve forgotten about them, which was good, there’s no way Ingo could win against any of them. They were all so much stronger than Talon could ever be.

“You should’ve stayed on the other side of that portal thing, Talon, it would’ve made everyone’s lives easier,” Ingo said, in a dark tone.

“Portal? What—“ Talon gasped when he remembered the portal. The portal that led him to the others, the portal that took him from his home, the portal that he was shoved into… “Ingo, you pushed me in that portal? Were you— were you trying to kill me?”

Ingo didn’t respond, and Talon banged on the door. He heard footsteps going up the stairs, and Talon knew that he was alone.

“INGO! Get back here! Where’s my daughter? Ingo!” Talon banged on the door but it was in vain. He was trapped here, his ranch gone, his daughter missing, and his friend… no longer a friend. Talon stepped back, feeling weary from all that’s happened. He slid to the floor, despair creeping up as he curled up. He prayed that the others would find him, they were his only hope now.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“They’ve been gone for a while,” Linebeck commented, looking out the window as the sun began to hide behind the horizon.

“They’re probably arguing some more, that got pretty heated back there,” Rusl glanced at the door where the two men stormed out. “I don’t like leaving him alone with him.”

“Talon will be fine, that Ingo guy sounds like a wimp,” Ammon assured, tapping the table with his finger. Rusl sighed.

“A wimp that took control of his beloved ranch.”

The room grew silent, and the men continued to wait, until the door opened, and Ingo walked through, looking angry.

“Oy, where’s Talon?” Ammon asked, and Ingo tensed up.

“Uh, he’s… dealing with paperwork. To give the ownership to his daughter,” he said in an unsure tone. The men all glanced at each other, confused at his nervous stance. “In fact, he’s gonna be a while, would any of you like some milk?”

Rusl hummed. “Milk wouldn’t hurt.” The others only grunted in response.

“Splendid! I’ll bring out some milk! And uh,” Ingo stared at Kass, “do you… do you need a bowl or—“

“A regular cup will do,” Kass huffed, and Ingo nodded, disappearing into the kitchen.

“Uh, no offense Kass but how will you drink out of a regular cup?” Linebeck asked. Kass glared at him and the sailor quickly looked away. “Never mind.”

It was silent until Ingo came in with drinks. The others slowly drank the milk while Rusl chugged his.

“Mm, fresh milk, there’s nothin’ better,” he muttered to himself, but frowned. “Though, this tastes a little strange.”

“What? You’ve never had cow’s milk before?” Ingo asked, looking more nervous.

“Oh, no, I haven’t.” Rusl stared at his milk. “I’ve only had goat milk.”

Ammon leaned forward. “I have had cow’s milk, and I do think that this tastes a little weird. You sure it’s not spoiled?”

Ingo’s nervousness melted into offense. “Of course it’s not spoiled! I always keep track of that stuff! How dare you assume that I don’t!”

Ammon raised his hands defensively and leaned back into his chair. “I never liked milk that much anyways,” he mumbled, going back to sipping the milk.

“Well I think it’s delightful,” Kass said, setting down his empty drink with Linebeck staring at him in shock. “Thank you for the milk, Ingo.”

“Er, you’re welcome.”

Leon set his half empty cup and crossed his arms, glaring at Ingo. “How long is Talon supposed to be?”

Ingo looked at all the men, chuckling darkly as they all took sips of the milk. “Oh, not long, do not worry.”

The others glanced at each other again, weirded out by his attitude, but they returned to the drinks, hoping that Talon would be back soon.

~~~~~~~~~~

The room got darker as the sun disappeared behind the horizon, leaving Talon feeling even more hopeless. Surely the others would’ve noticed his disappearance, right? Surely they would’ve come for him now, right? Ingo wasn’t tough enough to go toe-to-toe with the men in there, even Linebeck could easily win against Ingo if it came to it. But still, it all worried Talon too much. Ingo was desperate to keep the ranch to himself, and that made him dangerous.

Talon sighed and rested his head in his hands. Nothing worried him more than Malon though. Malon was tougher than Talon could ever be, but with her pregnancy, Talon knew that she couldn’t do as much as she used to. Where she was concerned Talon, since he had no idea where she could possibly be. Was she somewhere on the ranch? Locked up in a hidden place just like Talon? Was she kicked out? Alone and homeless while trying to deal with her pregnancy on her own? And what worried him the most, did Ingo do anything to her? Surely with Malon here, she would be a threat to Ingo, and if Ingo went so far to try to kill Talon, would he…?

Talon whimpered at the thought. He couldn’t live with himself if anything happened to Malon or the baby. He was so excited to be a grandfather, and was so excited to see Malon and Link being parents. If Ingo ruined that… Goddesses, Talon wouldn’t be able to control himself. Anger bubbled inside his chest as he thought about everything that happened. He wanted to beat Ingo senseless for what he did, but with him locked up in the basement, there was nothing he could do.

The anger went away and Talon slumped. If he was only a little bit like the others, he’d probably be strong enough to get out on his own. They were all so strong, capable, and smart. Even the ones that didn’t fight were cunning in their own ways, using the skills they were good at to their advantage. But Talon had nothing. He was slow, scared, and lazy, just like what Ingo said. Adventuring wasn’t meant for him, he only slowed the others down.

Talon laid down and sighed. He could sleep, that’s what he always did when he was stressed. But for some reason, since being on this adventure, sleep didn’t come to him so easily anymore. Talon tossed and turned, thoughts churning in his head that was driving him mad. The thought of Ingo betraying him, the thought of him ignoring Link’s warnings about him, the thought of Malon, alone and scared, thinking that he was dead…

Talon shot up. He couldn’t take this anymore. His baby girl needed his help and he had to stop feeling sorry for himself. If he wanted to be like the others, then he needed to act like it! Talon stood in the middle of the room and hummed.

“How am I gonna get outta here?” He mumbled. Everything was neatly put away and shoved against the walls, so Talon didn’t see anything he could use. The windows in the room were too tiny for Talon to fit through, so that was out of the question. He looked at the locked door and observed it. It was just a regular door, but maybe… he could bust it open?

Talon started to tear through the boxes, trying to find something that he could use to break it down. He eventually found a big hammer and figured that it would do the job. He marched up to the door and slammed the hammer against it. It didn’t break, but it definitely left a mark. Talon huffed and continued hitting the door, finally breaking it off its hinges. Talon let out a huff, set the hammer down, and grabbed a pitchfork.

“I’m comin’ Malon!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rusl groaned as consciousness began to return to him, along with pain. He lifted his head and hissed as his neck ached something awful. He didn’t realize he was sleeping with his head hunched forward, but now that he thought about it, why was he sleeping with his head hunched over? Rusl reached up to rub his neck, but found his movement limited, and he was wide awake when he realized what was happening. His hands were tied together in front of him, and a rope was wrapped tightly around his chest, pinning him to a column. He looked around frantically, noticing his tied legs as well. Oh no…

“Hey look, Rusl’s awake.”

Rusl looked to his left where Ammon and Linebeck sat at the same column, tied up the same way he was. He looked to his right and saw Benji and Kass in the same predicament.

“Wha— Leon?” Rusl called out, and he heard a grunt behind him.

“I’m right behind you,” he heard the first knight murmur. Rusl was slightly relieved, but he looked down at himself again, worry creeping up again.

“What happened?”

“That lunatic drugged us,” Linebeck explained.

“Tied us up in the barn, he did a really good job at it too,” Ammon added on, wiggling his wrists slightly.

“Wh— but—- why? What purpose will that do?” Rusl still couldn’t wrap his head around this. Was this Ingo guy stupid or crazy?

“You missed his whole evil speech,” Benji started, his hands gesturing dramatically, “he wants the ranch to himself and said that Talon was a danger to that. Apparently with us here, we could help Talon steal his farm from him or something like that.”

“So… he’s holding Talon somewhere?”

“Unfortunately, that seems to be the case.”

Rusl groaned and bumped his head against the column he was tied to. “What can we do? We have to save Talon!”

Ammon shrugged. “There’s not much we can do right now. Unless someone is somehow able to slip these ropes, we might just have to trust that Talon can save himself.”

“But Talon… he’s not a fighter.”

“I mean, neither is Ingo,” Linebeck commented, “I’m sure if Talon had to face him, he’ll be fine.”

Rusl groaned again. He hated sitting here doing nothing while his friend was in danger, and he was sure the others felt the same way, but there really was nothing he could do. The ropes were too tight for him to just slip out of, and Ingo seemed to have stripped everyone of their weapons. He supposed that the only thing they could do was to trust Talon, and hope that he could at least save himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talon grumbled as he left his own home. Malon was nowhere to be seen, and even stranger, his friends were no longer waiting in the kitchen. It seemed that everyone was gone from his ranch. Except Ingo. Talon had seen him rushing from one place to the next, grabbing things left and right, before disappearing into the home where he probably went to sleep. Luckily, he seemed to be distracted so much to the point where he never noticed Talon, even when the farmer was right in the open. With Ingo resting in his home, it gave Talon the freedom to investigate the ranch. He checked every building, finding nothing of Malon and his friends. Malon missing worried Talon, but his missing friends worried him even more. They wouldn’t just abandon him, he knew that much, but he didn’t know why he didn’t see any of them. It was impossible for Ingo to have done something to all six of them, but then again, Ingo somehow took over Lon Lon Ranch, so Talon supposed there was more to Ingo than he realized. When Talon finished investigating Malon’s house again, he realized that he never checked the barn, and before he could run to it, he heard grumbling.

“Stupid… what do I do? What do I do?”

Talon ducked to cover and saw Ingo mumbling to himself as he walked to the barn. Talon waited until he went inside before he followed, being as quiet as he could. He slowly opened the door and saw Ingo babbling to himself. Rage took over Talon and he swung the door open, charging at the man who stole his home. Ingo yelped as he was knocked to the ground, and Talon pulled him up and slammed him against the wall, surprised at how light he was.

“Why, I oughta beat you senseless, Ingo!” Talon yelled out, threatening to punch him in the face.

“W-wait! Talon! Calm down, let's talk about this!” Ingo begged, and Talon grumbled, gathering his shirt in his hands.

“Where’s my daughter? What did you do to her?”

“Nothing! I swear!”

“You better not be lyin’!”

“I’m not! I promise! Malon wanted to stay in the ranch! She wanted to take care of the horses, but I didn’t let her! I kicked her out!”

“You kicked her out? Why?”

“Because she’s pregnant! Come on now, I couldn’t let a pregnant woman do the hard work of a farmer! I’m not that cruel.”

Talon rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, you’re not cruel at all. Except for the fact that you pushed me in that portal hoping that it would kill me, you kicked my pregnant daughter out of her home, you betrayed my trust, and you stole–” Talon gestured to the barn but gasped when he saw all six of his friends tied to columns, all watching him surprised. Talon tightened his hold on Ingo and started shaking him aggressively. “YOU KIDNAPPED MY FRIENDS? What is WRONG WITH YOU?”

“Mercy! MERCY!” Ingo yelled out as he was shaken. Talon stopped and glared at Ingo.

“You’re insane, Ingo, I can’t believe I trusted you! I can’t believe I never trusted Link when he warned me about you! I… agh…” Talon looked down, ashamed. He had so much to apologize to Link for. Talon shoved Ingo into the wall and grabbed his pitchfork, slamming it into his loose clothes against the wall. Ingo let out a shout when it went in, and looked surprised when there was no pain. “Don’t move,” Talon said, and grabbed one of his friend’s swords. He walked over to Linebeck and Ammon, who were smiling at him.

“Talon, I’m so relieved you’re alright,” Ammon said.

“Yeah, we were worried about you,” Linebeck added as Talon cut the ropes around them. “That was awesome. I almost wished you punched the guy.” Talon waved it off and focused on cutting the ropes. “Are you alright?”

Talon sighed. “I don’t know, I’m sorry y’all had to get roped up in this. Literally.”

Linebeck snorted slightly, then let out a sigh of relief when the ropes were cut. “Thank goodness, those were starting to cut off my circulation.”

Talon didn’t comment on it as he cut the ropes around their hands, and the two men went over to Ingo. Linebeck lingered near him while Ammon grabbed his own sword to help Talon untie the others. Once they were all freed, Talon went to send for a town guard. Ingo didn’t belong here anymore, and Talon just wanted this to be over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The town guard arrived a lot sooner than Talon expected. It was early in the morning, with the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. The guard was writing down all the information about Ingo, while the others stayed back.

“Oh come on, the things I did weren’t that serious!” Ingo whined.

“I dunno how to tell you this sir, but kidnapping, attempted murder, and stealing are pretty serious crimes.” The guard deadpanned. He grabbed Ingo and gave Talon a slight bow. “Thank you sir, I’ll make sure he’s taken care of.”

Talon gave him a nod, and watched as the two started to head to castle town. Rusl and Leon came up behind Talon, both resting a hand on each shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Rusl asked, and Talon only sighed.

“I don’t know, I’m really tired and… I just… Ingo was my friend.”

“I get that,” Leon patted his shoulder. “It’s not easy to have someone you care about betray you like that.”

Talon shrugged and rubbed his eyes. “I think I’m gonna get some sleep before I go out lookin’ for Malon.” Talon turned to his home, with the other two following him.

“Do you know where she is?” Rusl asked.

“I’m not sure. She could be in Kakariko, or castle town, or even Gerudo for all I know.”

“Gerudo?” Leon frowned. “Why would she be in Gerudo?”

“Well… her mother was half Gerudo, so I’d imagine that they’ll be her only support right now.”

Rusl and Leon looked at each other in surprise.

“I didn’t know you married a Gerudo,Talon.”

“Half Gerudo, but yeah, she was a wonderful person, Malon is so much like her in more ways than she’ll know.” Talon smiled at the memory of his daughter. Her beautiful singing voice, her inhuman strength, her strong will and love for horses, those were all traits her mother bore.

“It sounds like you really love your daughter Talon,” Rusl said softly with a smile. “I hope you can find her, safe and sound.”

“Me too…” Talon paused before the door and turned around. “Um… would y’all mind comin’ with me? I don’t really wanna be alone.”

Leon and Rusl looked surprised, but they quickly smiled and nodded their heads.

“Of course Talon.”

Talon smiled and entered his home, ready to rest his weary mind.

#ok Ingo may not be this crazy but whatevs #of course in this timeline Ingo couldn’t take over the ranch cuz Ganondorf never went into power #and iirc Ingo and talon were dancing in the staff credits. tho they could’ve been in the adult timeline #regardless anything could happen in those years #smiles writes #whumptober #whumptober 2023 #whumptober day 25 #strangers across eras #Malon is fine btw

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sixminutestoriesblog · 2 months

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st. patrick's day

Saint Patrick's Day! Green beer, green clothes, parades and corned beef and cabbage for all! In America, we have a lot of traditions associated with St. Pat's Day and a pleasure in celebrating them whether we're Irish or not - heck, even whether we understand them or not.

So let's take a look at some of the ways we celebrate and what we get wrong - and right.

To start with the man himself, Saint Patrick wasn't Irish. Patrick grew up on the Britain side of things. This doesn't make him British however. At the time, the Isle of Britain was run, mostly, by the Romans and letters from Patrick that have survived see him not only writing them in Latin but signing them as Patricius. Whether he was Roman by birth is still a mystery to this day but his family is believed to have been part of the Roman aristocracy. At sixteen, he was kidnapped and ended up in slavery as a shepherd in Ireland before eventually escaping back to Britain. After receiving training however, he returned to Ireland as a missionary and the rest is - well, not history but certainly lore.

There's some speculation, in fact, that the Saint Patrick of myth was actually two men. Saint Patrick the escaped slave and a bishop sent by Pope Celestine in 431 named Palladius to support the 'Irish believing in Christ' that already lived there.

Did he, or they, at least drive out the snakes? Legend says that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland and the island has been slither free since. The truth is - according to fossil records, Ireland never had any snakes to drive out. Ireland was under an ice sheet up until the last glacial period and after that it was safely surrounded by water. To save a little bit of the story, some historians believe 'driving out the snakes' was more of a metaphor for driving out the pagan religions of that time instead.

But we totally wear green to avoid getting pinched! Right? Actually - yes. Though the pinching is supposed to come from mischievous leprechauns, not your over-enthusiastic siblings. Apparently, leprechauns can't see you if you're wearing green and therefore, they can't pinch what they can't see. Given our decorations featuring the little people dressed all in green, you'd think that would make it hard for them to find each other but - not really. You see, traditionally - leprechauns wore red.

The pot of gold, sometimes at the end of the rainbow though - that's real(ish).

So is the leprechauns' strange blind spot with green why everything's green on St. Pat's Day? Not really. Green is associated with Ireland, the Emerald Isle, these days but for most of its history, Ireland, and St. Patrick's, color - was blue. Green recently came into prominence during Ireland's struggle with England. Green came to be associated with the Irish side of things and wearing green was a way to show which side of that you were on. The green beer/food though? That's entirely an American thing.

Speaking of green beer, the drinking is an American thing as well. Or, at least, the 'this is a traditional part of the holiday'. In Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day has long been a Catholic religious holiday - and it also happens to fall in the middle of Lent. Originally, the day had a lot more to do with going to church than to the local pub. Which isn't to say no one in Ireland celebrates the holiday with a drink. 'Drowning the shamrock' involved pouring whiskey over a shamrock in the bottom of a glass. The whiskey is then drunk and the soaked plant is thrown over your left shoulder to complete the tradition - and get you some extra luck.

Shamrocks being considered lucky is a part of the holiday. Called 'seamroy' by the ancient Celts, the shamrock was considered a sacred plant. St. Patrick was also supposed to have used the three leaves of the plant to explain the Trinity during his sermons. Like the clover, finding a four leaf shamrock is good luck and five leaves promises a future of vast wealth!

So, yes, a lot of our St. Pat's Day traditions aren't exactly... traditional. Don't discount them or their importance however. Many of the ways we celebrate St. Patrick's Day today are the direct results of Irish immigrants to America. The parades, the corned beef and cabbage, the celebration of Irish traditions - those were all created in the mid to late 1800s by Irish Americans that wanted to celebrate their heritage. So don't feel bad for indulging in a day of parties and eating your favorite food.

Just remember to cut a cross in your soda buns to 'let the devil out' before putting them in the oven to bake for the holiday.

#st. patricks day #saint patrick day #folklore #superstition #wearing the green #irish #irish history #st patrick #ireland

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brinxxxx · 9 months

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A Bang Chan FF (content warning 18+!!) (smut)

Whipped For You:

Chapter 5: The Mental Breakdown

Y/N POV:

I started to get ready. Wearing a tight black shirt ish dress. Nothing too revealing. It's not just me and chan at this dinner. It was was enough for him to double take. I were Smokey eye makeup with a red lip stick to match. Gold jewellery and black heels. A bag to match.

The door goes and it's Chan picking me up. I open the door to see his jaw drop at the site of me. I will admit his outfit was just as stunning. He really scrubbbed up well. Like he always does.

"Chan. Earth to Chan...?"

No response. I have an idea. I lean closer to him. Going to his ear and whisper "wakey wakey daddy" that brought him back. I giggle at his reaction, his face red like a tomato. Suddenly he forgets how to talk or breath as he chocked as I left his proximity. "We, we should get going...sh-shall we"

I loved every minute of flustering him. I can't wait to do it more. Payback. Karma. I lock up and head to his car as he opens the door for me like a gentleman he is. "Y/N you do look beautiful..."

"Thanks Mr Bang..."

"Y/N. I've told you. It's chan. Only during business call me Mr Bang. Okay?" He spoke so softly. It was dreamy. We sat in comfortable silence. It was nice.

We eventually got to this fancy looking restaurant. It was huge, they had vallet parking it was that fancy. We got in and was greeted with the other boss' s of the company.

Lee Minho, Seo Changbin, Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung, Lee Felix, Kim Seungmin and Yang Jeongin. JYP was meant to join but he had an emergency meeting so he couldn't make it. Even thought I was older than 4 of the bosses doesn't mean I wasn't terrified of them. Changbin was just older than me by 5 months. He loved reminding me when I worked for him.

We sat down enjoying each others company. Chatting amongst ourselves I feel someone staring at me right across the table. Chan. He didn't like how flirty chat I was doing with Minho. Infact I enjoyed it. Minho has a wife but always has flirty jokes and he knows me well enough that I can take them I could feel Chan's jealous glare between me and Minho. In fact he interrupted my conversation.

"Don't you have a wife Minho? Watch what you're doing..."

"Yeah chan. I do. It's harmless jokes. It's all friendly. Don't worry. Why would you care. She ain't yours. You've got your fiancé...no!?"

"You know my situation with my...partner. So don't even start!"

"Yes. Yes. You 'love of your life' isn't actually it. Are you still holding out for 'the one'? You better hurry up...before you know you'll be stuck with the wicked witch of the west..."

"You never I may have found her. How will you know? You know me. I like to keep my life private."

"You mean you're life so private you're supposed fiancé talks shit about you to the press? She's exposed so much shit about you. Heck she even said youve had an affair recently!"

Everyone went silent. Chan started laughing. "Well, she's talking shit. I haven't made a move on the person in mind. Let alone had an affair. She's found her person yet I'm getting the brunt for not able to find mine. I haven't seen any articles about this? Where are you hearing about this...?"

"Here...it's on Dispatch. See? She's mocking you. She's talks about how you sensitive you are in bed whil she sits and fakes it till your done. She even talks about your close relationship with...Y/N!?"

Everyone looks at you. You some how manage to perk up the courage to talk. "I'm close with all of you? I've worked hard since day one and always had a good work relationship with you all? I've never crossed any lines or done anything wrong in my line of work? I swear."

"Oh don't worry Y/N. We know you wouldn't do such a thing and plus even if you did who's to say we would sell out Chan Hyung and you? We may be your boss and yeah we work with a Chan Hyung but we are a close net family. Secrets are always kept with us. Don't stress...now shall we talk about something else? This conversation seems to be very dull...Y/N...how's is your Love Life?"- Seungmin wiggles his eyebrows about his question.

Ugh. That dreaded question. I hate being asked that. Not like I have much going on. The closest thing I had was that moment in Chan's office or at my house earlier. I spaced out thinking about that moment. I was getting really hot thinking about it and it didn't help he was right across from me gazing at me like I'm gonna be his last meal... god I want him so bad. No. I can't. I have to stay strong.

"Ughhhm love life...? Don't have one. I'm sorry very boring. All I do is work, eat, sleep and repeat. I don't do much else... I started going to the gym recently. I liked my PT he's kinda cute. Very supportive in what my image is. He asked me out but I declined. I don't like dates, don't like dating..."

"So you're telling us...you've e had NO action for what like...months? Jesus. How you handling it solo...?" - Felix gives a wink. Knowing what he meant I choked on my drink. The cheeky bastard. What's with these guys and wanting to talk about my love life or sex life? They aren't my friends. I mean yeah we have great chat and banter but we aren't that close. Bare in mind these are MEN. I froze thinking about the moment again. My eye darted to Chan. He kinda got my message. He nods at me.

"I mean I have a very good imagination so I've managed just fine guys. Don't worry. Haha well excuse me I need to go to the ladies room."

I exit swiftly and run to the girls room. Feeling very hot and bothered. I hear chan saying he and Minho were going out for a smoke so I'm glad he wouldn't be there for when I returned. However as soon as I opened the door to go back, Chan was there standing in front of it. As if he was about to walk in...?

"Chan? This is the ladies room?"

"Yeah I know I just had to do this..."

He grabs me passionately and kisses me. Closing the door behind him and pulled me into a stall. The sub side of me started coming out. Allowing Chan to take control and do whatever he wanted. "Are you okay with this...?"

"What about your fiancé..."

"What about her..."

"Chan. She's here. I saw her in the toilet before I left..."

"Fuck it. I want YOU. Not her. Now...does this baby girl want to be good and get treated...?"

"Yes...daddy"

#stray kids #bang chan #christopher bang #bangchan x reader #skz x reader #skz fanfic #skz smut #bang chan smut

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starseneyes · 1 year

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Chenford REWIND- Lucy Chen / Tim Bradford - The Rookie - Season 2 Ep 10, 11, & 12

This feels like a lot to put into one Meta. But, since I'm chunking these out and taking requests, it makes sense to me. Yes, "Day of Death" is a defining Chenford episode. But I feel like you need the context of what lead up to it and the fallout on the other side to fully understand its impact and discuss it.

SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to be spoiled, you don't want to read this. While I do write these as though I'm watching the episodes for the first time and try not to let fore-knowledge come into play, I will be spoiling these episodes in their entirety and everything that came before.

All squared away? Alright, lets dive in.

The Dark Side

"The single men in LA suck. Every time I go out on a date, and they find out that I'm a cop, they just get scared off." ... "Look, those aren't men. Those are boys, okay? Real men are not afraid of strong women."

Heck, yeah, they aren't! Lucy, honey, I get that it's tough out there for you, right now. But someday there will be a single man in LA who doesn't suck and isn't afraid of strong women. You'll see.

But right now, you're looking for anyone who isn't a total dud, and I get that.

"...dating a civilian is a bad idea." "I was told dating cops was a mistake. What am I supposed to do, join a nunnery? Sister Office Lucy Chen?"

I'm so glad I wasn't drinking anything the first time I heard this line because there would have been soda everywhere. My husband heard the line over my shoulder and cracked up, too.

And you might be thinking, "Why is she going into all this? Tim and Lucy are nowhere near ready for romance". Welp, I want to show Lucy's mentality in this episode and will explain once we get to 2x11 how it feeds into the situation and the mis-read from Tim.

"Look, no, I'm saying that right now end of shift means leaving the job behind when you go home. But in success, each one of you is gonna catch cases that kick your ass, that consume your every waking thought. And non-cops won't be able to identify. Worse, they're gonna resent you for caring more about the dead than the living."

It's an interesting thought, and for those of us in Season 5, there's a lot to consider, here. I mean, Lucy was cautioned against dating cops, but Isabel and Tim were Rookies and nobody gave him crap about it, from what we know.

Look, I'm not sorry Lucy and Nolan broke up. But, I do think Lucy should consider dating another cop down the line. *cough* Tim *cough*

"Caleb." "Lucy."

It's a chance meeting at the right time. Lucy is on the hunt for a non-mutant man in Los Angeles, and she ends up at the bar with someone who seems semi-safe.

After the conversation she just had with her friends, we can see she really wants to be with someone.

"I was in college when they found the first victims. It was all anyone talked about. That, and how could a woman be so barbaric." "I worked one of the scenes, fourth victim, Lisa Cruz. Homicide detectives warned me not to look at the body. Should've listened."

I love how they're speaking to one another so openly about the whole thing. There's an ease to how they're walking side-by-side that feels lived-in. Yes, he's still her TO, but this is a glimpse at the other side of him—the one that knows how to have a conversation without screaming or scheming.

"Caleb, from the bar last night... I hope this isn't weird, but you left with your perp before I had a chance to ask for your number."

Tim is giving this guy the side-eye. Look, we are nowhere near romance for this pair, but Tim has come to care about Lucy. He wouldn't call her a friend, yet, but they're definitely on their way.

And Lucy's picking up on Tim's hovering, but I don't think either of them could pick up on the why. My husband swooped in to offer his opinion that Tim picked up bad vibes, but wrote it off because it made him look jealous. I don't think he's far off.

I think Tim was being a little protective. Not necessarily because of romance (everything with Isabelle is very fresh at this point). But, while Lucy is still his "Boot", she is crossing that line more and more towards "friend". Tim cares about what happens with Lucy.

He's trying to watch out for her, but she doesn't want a chaperone. For goodness sake, she's a grown woman, right?

"We don't call them perps." "Right, sorry. Anyway, this is my number. If you ever feel like waiting in vain for a drink, give me a call."

Tim Bradford with the save!! He snatches that tiny piece of paper so fast the camera barely catches it. That's a super hero, my friends.

"You got a last name, Caleb?" "Yes sir. Wright with a W." "What do you do? If you say screenwriter, you're going in a cell."

Lucy's horrified. This might be the worst thing Tim has ever done, in her mind.

Remember, at this point everything with Tim is a test. Everything could be used as subterfuge, and she can't trust what's he's going to do with the information he's gathering.

"I manage a medical supply company downtown." "I'm sorry about him. Things are a little crazy right now." "No problem. It was nice meeting you. Officer."

Tim gives her a "can you believe that guy" look, but she has that same energy directed at him. Tim's surprised by that. He really thought she'd appreciate him looking out for her.

She holds out her hand for her piece of paper, and Tim hands it over as she mouths, "Oh my god".

"Ten bucks that isn't even his dog." "It's been an awful day. Can't I just enjoy a cute puppy?"

Tim's getting a look into how Lucy unwinds and relaxes. All day, she's been sneaking glimpses at Caleb's socials to get a feel for him, and it's helping distract her from the no-good day.

Tim of this era hasn't yet learned how to help Lucy talk through things. But he has learned that Lucy and distractions work well for moderating her panic.

Think of the episode with the nuclear bomb and how they spent the whole episode talking about how to sabotage her ex's wedding. Distraction helps her.

"If I can be wheels up in the next 10 minutes, I might beat the afternoon traffic which means I will be in bed in the next hour."

I love how conversational they're being here. You can already tell the lines of TO and friend are starting to blur.

"That's a mistake." "What? Why?" "Look, after working a hardcore assignment like this, you need to go blow off some steam after shift. You know, give your brain a different focus. It's the only way you have a fighting chance of actually sleeping."

This isn't a Tim Test. He's trying to give her advice. Keep this in mind, my friends. It'll come back.

"As my Training Officer, are you saying that I should go get a drink?" "A strong one. Maybe even with another human."

Tim is really trying to do the right thing, here. He snatched away Caleb's phone number earlier, but Lucy's been cyber-stalking him all day and she looks interested.

"Well, I am here to distract you."

I swear I didn't remember that line when I wrote the part above about Lucy needing a distraction.

And we all know that what started as a distracting night led to a nightmare for Lucy.

Before we move on, I want to talk a little bit about Season 2 Tim and Lucy. I know a lot of people love what DOD does for Chenford in terms of progression. But I argue it doesn't cause the shift, but only expedites it.

Look at Tim in this episode, for example. He's downright conversational and friendly with Lucy. Yes, he tells her to get her head in the game instead of looking at Caleb. Yes, he teases her about her first Decomp, but that's the extent of it.

He talks with her openly and honestly about Rosalind. He tries to protect her from Caleb when he thinks the guy's just an unworthy suitor. He tries to give her advice at the end that isn't attached to any "lesson" but simply sharing what he's learned.

Frankly, I think that's what Lucy expected in a TO—someone to talk her through and give her sage advice. And then she got Tim.

Tim doesn't hand out advice willy-nilly. He's a "show" guy, right? Same thing with how he teaches. He's not much of a "talker" with Lucy when it comes to her training. He's trying to get her to think for herself by putting her through her paces.

But this whole episode, he's talking to her. Heck, he's talking with her. Tim doesn't make friends with his Boots, but Lucy is becoming the exception. They aren't there, yet, but they're on their way.

If we look at this episode separated from DOD (if we can), you can see that Tim and Lucy are already moving towards friends. The events of DOD expedites it, I argue, but they would have eventually gotten there on their own. Tim and Lucy are inevitable.

Day of Death

"My day of death."

The pain of a tattoo. The hangover of whatever drugs he gave her. The inability to move her limbs or fight back. Trying to take note of her surroundings, of anything that might be helpful if she can get away.

And that horrible fear that she won't.

"Sergeant."

It takes Harper two seconds to clock the conversation between the men, and she's the first to jump on it. Why? We'll get to that next episode.

"Lucy did not come home last night. She's not responding to texts or calls." "Did she go out with that guy? The one she met at the bar. Caleb Wright with a W."

He remembers it clearly, but he's trying not to panic. After all, his first date with Rachel was *ahem* memorable. Maybe Lucy moves at that same pace?

"Lucy doesn't do one-night stands." "And she's never late."

Her friends know her well, and Grey's smart enough to run with it. Let's be real, there are scenarios where a Sergeant might not listen, might not take it seriously, might not actually do anything.

This is television, and we're not going to let Lucy Chen go quietly into that good night. But it hits me so hard that there are so many cases where alarm bells are rung and left unanswered.

"Why are you doing this?"

Lucy's trying to keep her head in the game. That's what Tim told her to do last episode, right? Keep your head in the game.

"It's for you. To force you to face the truth of your death. It's the gift of something we rarely get in life—clarity."

Fuck you. I'm sorry. Lucy's thinking it and it needed to be said.

"... we believe Caleb is Rosalind's protege, and he took Officer Chen."

The news slams into Tim. And nobody else in the room sees it or knows why. He doesn't even wait to be dismissed. He rushes out of the room, phone dialing before he makes it through the door.

Because this is too much for him to handle. Tim has tried to handle a lot of things on his own. He's famous for isolating himself and trying to pretend he's fine. But this time he calls his best friend. Because he can't do this alone.

"Lucy's been taken. I need you." "On my way."

"Lucy". Not "Chen". Because in his mind, Lucy is already becoming more than a Boot. No, we're not talking romance, here. We're talking friendship. Kinship. Someone he cares about.

Tim Bradford has a very short list, so the fact that his Rookie is close to making the list is significant. But I'm not one who thinks Tim's romantically interested in her all the way back in Season 2. This thing's grown organically over time, though I'd argue DOD gave it a push, as did certain other episodes covered in Future Metas.

"Look, I know I haven't known Lucy as long as the rest of you, but I do know that she's a fighter."

Hell, yeah, our queen is!

"She's gonna do everything she can to stay alive until we save her."

And she does. She fights like hell and does everything she can to survive. But she's weak. She's lethargic. She's drugged. And she's isolated. Utterly alone.

Imagine that moment of fighting your way out, hoping that there'll be someone to hear your voice, to come to your aid, to get the help you so desperately need... and there's no one.

How much of the fight can you keep alive when you realize how little chance you have of surviving?

"... I can't just sit here."

Here's more of a "show" guy. And there's nobody to show.

"I'm fine. Just blowing off steam."

What he told Lucy to do. What he thought would be safe. What he thought would be relaxing. What he thought would be distracting. What he thought would be fun.

He's not blowing off steam. He's a pressurized gasket ready to explode.

"I get it, but you gotta get your head in the game." "I don't need a pep talk." "Then why'd you call me? Clearly you need to get something off your chest."

Tim forgets the power of words, sometimes. We see it a lot through the season. Maybe it's because he never learned how to use them growing up.

FAST FORWARD: We're a ways away from Season 4 and Tim's backstory episodes that help illuminate just how bad it was for him. Tim's father didn't use words. He used his fists. His mother likely didn't use words, either. They didn't talk about what he went through. He never learned to express himself that way. It takes someone coaxing it out of him, and right now that's his best friend.

"She wanted to go home. Okay? Go to bed. I told her that she should focus on something else. She went out with Caleb because I told her to."

And he's carrying the weight of that guilt. It's too heavy for him to bear. Tim Bradford has carried too many weights, and this one is too much. Did he doom his Rookie to die?

"You couldn't have known."

Angela's whole attitude shifts (how could it not?) because Tim Bradford is expressing emotions with his best friend. And that is huge and this whole thing is horrible.

"But I should have. I'm a cop. I was standing this close to the guy, okay? Right across from him and I never saw him coming. But she did, though. She... Some part of her didn't feel right about this whole thing. She hesitated. And I pushed her right at him."

He's wrong. It has to be said that Lucy might not have gone out with Caleb that night, but it could have been another night. Tim only thinks this because of his own guilt, his own pain, his own frustrations with himself for not being Super Cop.

Lucy wanted to go out with this guy. Maybe she wouldn't have gone out that night without the push. But Caleb was a serial killer, and would've put her on his list sooner or later... and more women would have died in the meantime. It's not Tim's fault any more than it's Lucy's.

He thinks he failed Lucy, but this isn't a situation where you can predict every move. We're not going to victim-blame here. We're not going to point fingers.

Because minus the serial killer plot, this shit happens every day. Around the world, there are people whose drinks are spiked, people who are abducted, people who have their choice and consent ripped from them.

And it's not the victim's fault in any way. And it's not the fault of a friend who suggested they have a fun night out. It's no one's fault but the asshole who perpetrated the crime.

Getting off my soap box, here, now, to get back to the Meta. But watching Tim go through this reminds me of how I still struggle with blaming myself for a friend of mine OD'ing because I didn't reach out to them that night.

What if I'd reached out? What if I hadn't ignored their vague Facebook post thinking that I'd only be adding to their frustrations and that they needed the night to cool off? Would they still be here if I'd commented? Or sent them a message? I'm a state away, so I couldn't reasonably drive... but could I have done something that would have meant they'd still be here?

I know I can't blame myself. But there are some days I still struggle with it. Because she's gone. And I'll never ever know if I could have helped. Cognitively, I know it's not my fault. I couldn't have done anything, but there's that part of you that still thinks... you made the wrong call, and if you'd called it the other way, it might be different, now.

"If I get that away from you, it's going right in your brain."

She kept her head in the game. She's up against life and death, here, and she's at the disadvantage. But she's a fucking fighter. Look, we know that Lucy is tough. This is something else entirely. She's staring down the murderer who wants to hear her scream, who wants to soak up her agony, who wants to get her to crumble.

And Lucy Chen's standing up to that asshole with the ultimate, "Fuck You" by not giving in.

She must want to cry. She must want to scream. But Lucy Chen is a fighter, and she's not going down easy.

Lucy Leaves a Clue

It's a long shot. It's such a bloody long shot. But she has to try. Lucy truly believes that she will be found, long shot as it is.

And that hope can be a powerful thing. Caleb tried to wield it against her, but he's no match for her.

"Any last words?" "Yeah. You're gonna be dead long before I am."

Damn right, Lucy Chen. Damn right.

"Now, I am responsible for a life that is in jeopardy, and I will do whatever I have to to save her."

And he means it. Watch Jackson's surprise to see Tim Bradford slam a guy's head against the horn. Because Tim's unhinged, here. Someone he cares about has been taken, and he doesn't give a damn what happens to him or his career.

He'll let it all fall if it means Lucy survives.

FAST FORWARD: We talk a lot about how Tim makes sacrifices for Lucy where his career is concerned. And while in later seasons it becomes their thing, I think in this case he'd have done it for any of his few friends. We later see him risk it all for Angela when she's kidnapped, too. Tim has a separate code for his friends. And Lucy's falling more under it over time. Again not romantic... yet.

"There can be charges in here that lead us to Caleb."

Did you clock that brief smile? Before Jackson walks up, Tim thinks they're at a dead end. Lucy's lost. She's gone. And he'll never get to atone for his mistake.

Jackson brings a sliver of light and hope, and it's enough that Tim actually briefly grins. It's not over, yet.

"Stars shining bright above you..."

The song. Lucy's song to keep herself calm and regulate her breathing. Yes, not talking would have been better, but she needs this. She needs light and life and love. Something bright to pierce the darkness.

Her oxygen is running low, and she's having more trouble breathing, more trouble seeing a way out. The last thing she's going to give that bastard is the satisfaction of watching her scream.

And Melissa O'Neil is breaking my heart. Acting-wise, she is literally in a barrel. There's no one to react off of. There's no one feeding her lines.

It's just Lucy in a barrel, and it's up to the actress to make us feel. No cool camera angles. No sweeping score. Melissa O'Neil had to carry us through this and she did it masterfully.

Yes, the Writers decided to have her singing this song. The script, or a Director or Editor decided to strip the rest of the sound from the overlapping visuals (there's a lot of playing with sound and its impact in this episode that's jaw-droppingly beautiful).

But Melissa O'Neil is the one who has to make us believe it. And we do.

A Glint of Light

Tim's eyes scan the miles of land, looking for some sign of disturbance to clue him in on Lucy's location. But it's something that doesn't belong that grabs his attention—something that literally catches the light of the sun and draws Tim in. Her ring.

He picks it up, still uncertain, but following the clue. A few kicks and... a thunk.

"I've got her! I've got her!"

Tim starts digging in the ground with his bare hands, the grit getting under his fingernails, the dust getting into his lungs. He registers the others, but only barely. He has to get to Lucy.

The ground gives way enough to reach the lid. Tim's hands are all over it, Nyla on one side and Jackson on the other. When they can finally see her, Tim asks for help as they pull her out. But he hovers, staying close, being certain he is the one to make sure she's alive.

Because if she's dead, it's on him.

Look, we know Tim didn't do anything wrong. But Tim Bradford carries a lot of scars and blames himself for a lot of things he shouldn't. And if he can't get to her in time, if he pulls her out and she's truly gone... he can never atone for this.

She's not breathing. Tim blows into her mouth and starts pumping on her chest. The sound drains from the world... just the discordant notes sounding off and echoing like the dying hope of Lucy surviving.

Lucy gasps, and the sound returns to the world. Each person takes a breath of relief. But then the sound zeroes in only on two people—Lucy and Tim.

"You're so strong," he murmurs, soft enough for her to hear, but no one else. But she doesn't hear anything. It's too much. It's all too fucking much. The sobs she'd held in before finally spill out as Tim pulls her close, holding her tight.

He thought he'd lost her. And, again, there's no romance here. But she matters, damnit. She matters to Tim more than he thought she would when they first met. He presses a hand to her hair, pushing his face next to hers.

It screams "I'm here. I'm here." Because in his mind, he is the one who failed her and it had to be him to save her. He owed it to her. He was responsible for her. He fucked up.

And it almost cost her her life.

Again, I don't think that. But Tim does. He truly believes he's the one who failed her. And when you have very few people in your life who care about you (and Lucy has demonstrated many times that she does care about Tim), you don't want to do anything to lose that.

But Tim believes he almost lost Lucy because he wasn't good enough. It plays so much into his childhood trauma, his trauma with his ex-wife, and everything else. Tim thinks he failed.

She doesn't cling to him, no. Her hands shake and her body convulses from the pain. But she lets him hold her there, back in the air, out of her barrel.

Tim isn't her person, yet. But she cares about him, and she knows deep down that he cares about her. She even told Rachel about his good heart.

But her not holding him is completely appropriate to the moment. It's not about him. This is about her. Her trauma. Her survival. Lucy's breaking in this moment. She spent so much time keeping her head in the game, and now she's finally releasing all the anguish she refused to show Caleb.

And she is safe in Tim's arms to fall apart.

I knew from the Pilot that Eric Winter was a tour-de-force. But in this episode we see so many damn layers. And Tim's relief at holding her in his arms at the end instead of cradling her corpse is palpable.

The way this scene is shot and performed and the sound... it all puts us in the moment. We are right there with them, and it's one of my favorite scenes of the entire series.

Here in the barren waste of sand and silence... there's life.

"Hmm. What are you reading, Teen Rebel?"

She wakes up to see Tim there, waiting. He hasn't slept. He hasn't left. We know that. He's spent the past 24 hours feeling completely responsible for Lucy, and it's not easy to leave the side of the person who you pushed yourself to save.

And the first thing she says to him isn't about what she's survived, or even about him finding her. It's about the damn magazine. And it's perfect.

After what she's survived, Lucy needs something familiar. And Tim is pretty damn familiar in her life.

Before we get too much further... I want to call out the lengths Tim went to save Lucy.

FAST FORWARD: We haven't yet reached, "Some things matter more". But Tim's already showing that in action. He's a "show" guy, remember?

Tim was willing to do whatever it took to save her. He would put it all on the line, and that's because he cares about her. No, they're not ripping one another's clothes off. It's Season 2, she's his Boot, and he doesn't even acknowledge friendship with her, yet.

But she is becoming his friend. She's becoming one of the very few people that Tim Bradford will upend the world for.

"They actually have some really insightful political articles."

Watch how fast that man wheeled his little chair over to her side. It makes me giggle with glee.

"Oh, which BTS member is your soulmate. Gotta be Suga, right?" "Totally. What's a BTS?"

Lucy laughs. Probably her first good laugh in days. And it's with Tim. Hardass, Tim Test, never-lets-up Tim.

"Have you been here all night?" "No. Mmhm. No." "Mmhmm."

Because TO Tim can't show that he cares. Not yet. I mean, he's never felt this friendly toward a Boot, and he can't go soft on her when she still has so far to go before crossing the finish line.

Remember, Tim likes rules and staying within them—whether they're the rules set out for him by a superior or the ones he's created for himself. Counting Lucy a friend is outside the lines. But much as he might try to deny it, he's showing it.

He's used to giving his Rookies what he thinks they need, and with Lucy, it's most often tough love and some manipulative tests. For him to break through his own wall of separating personal life from professional life is too much. So, he lies.

But Lucy can see right through him. Strangely, she's always had that power.

"How did you find me?"

Nolan interrupts the moment. Damnit, Nolan! But we'll all get to that later... next episode.

There's a reason I wanted to do these three together. Look, this show is still basically a Procedural at its heart with some continuous story lines. But these three episodes feel more serial than a lot of the show, and because of that, I think the whole picture is required to ascertain its meaning.

"He is a she and she is going to sleep in my bed since I am clearly never going on a date, again."

We started this whole trilogy with Lucy considering a nunnery. And, again, I think this calls attention to what it's like to be a single woman in the world. Yes, assaults can happen to anyone.

But as a woman, I can tell you I never get anything to drink but water when I'm out with my friends. I never leave my drink unattended. And a male friend always walks me to my car. Theater kids go out a lot to bars (like, after every rehearsal), so there was a season in my life where this was a nightly ritual. Trying to stay safe out there.

So, if Lucy doesn't want to ever date again after her ordeal, I don't bloody blame her, and neither do her best friend, past fling, and future husband.

"You hungry?"

Sometimes I swear this man is part Jewish mother. If you Fast Forward in the series, you see he's always trying to feed this woman.

And, yes, I'm saying this from experience. There was an old saying that if you wanted a lot more food from my Great-Aunt Mary, you said you wanted a little. If you wanted a little, you said you wanted none. And if you wanted none, you hid your plate.

"Yeah. I'm starving. You know what I really wanna eat right now?" "Veggie burger and fries. Extra pickles."

Awwwww! Remember in 2x01 when she sent him food? "You shouldn't have done that." "Well, I wanted to. And eating well is crucial to a fast recovery."

He's using the lessons he learned from her as an act of love. Again, not romantic love. But love, nonetheless.

"You know me so well." "Too well."

Look at those smiles. Alright, y'all, I'll admit those smiles put butterflies in my stomach, too.

And the fact that the director chose to take us off of the wide shot so we only saw Tim and Lucy for these last few lines. Because this is about them.

Tim is caring about Lucy far more than he should. And he's growing aware of that. But the nature of this episode makes it impossible for him to shove it down entirely. He writes it off as concern and guilt, and doesn't realize he's been slowly letting Lucy into his circle of friends.

But if we talk about who really knows Lucy in this scene? It's Tim.

Jackson brought pretty flowers, which are nice, but will die. Nolan brought the most giant, pink bear. She's cute, but eventually she'll disappear from Lucy's life because her next boyfriend's not going to want to share the bed with a pink stuffy (unless he's into that... no judgment).

Tim. Brought. Her. Food. Yes, it'll be gone pretty quickly. But I can tell you after not being allowed to eat for both my deliveries of my three kids, I was famished. Lucy hasn't eaten in days, and she wants something filling and comforting. Tim brought her the exact order she wanted without her having to ask.

As much as he tries to separate professional and personal, Lucy's blurring those lines. To me, the Season 1 finale was really the start of that. And Tim bites back against that as much as he can in Season 2 (even treating Lucy like shit because she didn't report him for suicidal ideation).

But this trilogy of episodes breaks down that wall further. Yes, he's still her TO and he's still not going to think of her as a friend. But S2-3 is where that really comes together. They were already on their way, but with these events, he softens towards her in a way he never anticipated.

We get to see him soft throughout the series with "his people". But at this point, he's not yet ready to admit Lucy is one of them. It's outside his standard operating procedure for Rookies.

But, despite his protests, he's making a friend. The kind of friend that sticks. The kind of friend that doesn't leave. The kind of friend that loves with abandon.

And someday, someday, she might become more than that. But right now, he's not even ready to admit she's a friend... but, damn, our "show" guy really showed it.

I really want to call out the coloration and choices of this episode. When Lucy first wakes up on the table (with no establishing shot, so we're as clueless to how isolated she is, just as she is), everything i s tripped back. Melissa O'Neil's makeup is stripped down and we can see her pores.

The first time I watched that scene I thought, "Wow, they really stripped out all the color". There's something about the harshness of yellows, beiges, and browns on their own that evoke old Westerns. That sense of isolation, famine, and drought.

Lucy's world is often so vibrant that the stark shift helps us feel the anxiety with her. There's nothing bright or beautiful about this world. Only de-saturated hopelessness.

Now and Then

Lucy In The Mirror

Lucy's wounds have healed. Her wrists are free of the tie marks. Her face is free of the cuts and bruises. But the tattoo remains. She can hear the sound of the tattoo gun in her mind.

Yes, Lucy has many tattoos, but those were of her choosing. This was another violation—something inflicted upon her. Lucy tries covering up, but the foundation sticks to her shirt.

And, yes, there are makeups out there that can cover up tattoos. Being the daughter of a makeup artist, I know way too much about it and have seen mother in action covering an entire chest full of tattoos for a shoot. That's not the point.

The point of this scene is to remind us (and Lucy) that this can't be covered up. It's on her. It's permanent unless she has it burned off.

"When can she have it removed?" "Four weeks. Two days. Nine hours."

Her mind is on it all the time. She knows it down to the hour. Doesn't sound like someone who's healed to me. But, duh. That's the whole point of the episode.

"Hey, so what's your plan?" "For what?" "Officer Chen. I'm sure you've got some Alpha strategy to get her back on the horse, so, what is it?"

Let's be real. Tim would be Tim, but he wasn't going to be his harshest self on her first day back. He wouldn't be capable of it. But Nyla doesn't know that.

"So basically get her into as many fights as possible." "I'm gonna remind her that she's a cop, not a victim." "She knows that she's not a victim. Look, Chen doesn't need to fight. She needs to make peace with the voice inside of her head telling her she's never gonna be safe again."

I wish someone had asked Lucy. Looking at this situation, they're both coming at it from the wrong angle for Lucy. Tim's going for how he processes and Nyla's going for how she does. Neither of them asks Lucy what she needs.

Look, these are characters who are going to do what's in-character. For the scene and the arc, this has to go this way. But as a person who has had a lifetime of people thinking they know what I need and making it a thousand times worse, I have a personal response to this.

But in character? Both Tim and Nyla want what's best for Lucy and think they're the one to give it to her.

"Okay, I've been training Rookies a lot longer than you. I know what she needs." "That's ego talking. What happened to Chen is every woman's worst fear." "I'm aware of that." But you have never lived that fear."

That stops Tim. Because she's right. Part of Tim's arc in Season 1 and 2 with Lucy by his side is discovering his subconscious biases. She forces him to think beyond what he thinks he knows.

And here, he's facing that even without Lucy present. Because she's opening up his mind to seeing past his own limited perspective.

"It's clear that you have her best interests at heart. I am just asking you to consider whether she might be better served by someone who has been through what she has been through."

This is a lot for Nyla to offer. A woman's experiences are not owed to anyone. But she chooses to give him this insight into why she really believes she's the best person to help Lucy through.

And Tim's listening. He's really listening to what she's saying.

"And that someone's you." *nods* "Okay. I'll tell Grey to make the switch."

I love Eric Winter's choices on this. He's reacting not only to the information that Nyla just shared, knowing that she doesn't want apologies or empty words from him. He didn't do it. But he's sorry it happened. He's face to face with someone in uniform who, like Lucy, thought they were safe with someone when they weren't.

And he's thinking of Lucy. The last thing he wants to do is hurt her, to make this harder, to set her back.

Lucy At Roll Call

She pauses outside the room. Much as she wants to get back at it, this is a point-of-no-return morning. She doesn't want special treatment. She doesn't want weird glances. She doesn't want whispered words.

She doesn't want the damn applause.

"Congratulations you survived but you're branded by a serial killer and still processing the emotional trauma and we want you know that we are all talking about you, and looking at you, and thinking about you."

Damn it.

"Welcome back, Officer Chen. How're you feeling? Can't wait to get on the streets, sir, just get back to normal." "We're going to mix things up a bit. You're going to be riding with Harper this week."

What. The. Fuck!? Lucy just said that she wants to go back to normal. Riding with Nyla is not normal.

Lucy looks back to Tim for confirmation and he nods. But she's still confused. She's on-edge. She didn't expect to come back to work straight into a Tim Test, and that's what this feels like.

Everything that she wanted for transitioning back to work is going wrong.

"I'm not interested in chasing tame calls today."

Because Tim needs to process his way. Look, he in no way went through what Lucy did. Not at all. But he's still carrying his guilt and frustrating, and he needs to channel that into something he can do.

Tim is a man of action, and since he can't take action to help Lucy through her re-acclimation, he's going to do what he needs to do to distract him from worrying about her—his job.

"So why the switch?" "Tim felt you'd be better served riding with me." "Yeah, right. This has to be some kind of elaborate Tim Test that he roped you into." "Do I strike you as someone who could get roped into anything? Especially by Bradford?"

Note the switch from "Tim" to "Bradford". Nyla was trying to keep it conversational at the beginning, but the second Lucy calls out perceived pliability, Nyla snaps back to put Lucy in her place.

"Fair enough. So, I'll ask you again, why the switch?" "I convinced him that I would have more insight into what you were going through and could therefore be more helpful to your re-integration onto the streets."

Look how Lucy recoils. Much as Lucy loves talking things out, she doesn't want to talk about this. She doesn't want to have to think about what she's been through while she's out here. She wants normal.

"Did you go on a date with a serial killer, too?" "Uh, no." "Well, then I'm not sure how much help you'd be. But it's fine, 'cause I don't need any help. I've already worked through the trauma using both cognitive and exposure therapy combined with mindful breathing and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. So, it's, it's fine."

Of course, we know Lucy's far from fine. But this isn't what she wanted. She didn't want to have special treatment. She didn't want to be pulled from working with Tim. Frustrating as he is, he's familiar. That's normal.

And Lucy's gone through all the Psychological steps she thinks will help her be fine. It's her blind spot, truly. Because she seems to think there's a point where you're just "fine" and don't need to process anymore.

No, that trauma will come up, again, we know. But right now she doesn't want to face it. She's trying to pretend her way to being fine.

"Need backup for a felony car stop." "You sure?" "Hell, yeah."

Everyone's surprised to hear her voice. But she wants to get back at it. She doesn't want to feel different. It's bad enough what she has to deal with in her head. At the Station, she's a Rookie, yeah, but she's a cop.

And the more I look at this episode the more it feels like Lucy and Tim have traded spots for a day. Normally, Tim's the one who doesn't want to talk and would rather bury himself in the job. And Lucy's usually the one second-guessing.

But Tim second-guessed himself this morning and let Nyla have Lucy. And everyone wants Lucy to talk, but she'd rather get in the action.

"You want me to do the paperwork?" "Oh, nope."

Tim always has Lucy do the paperwork. She wants to do what's familiar, what's natural, what's practiced. "Please let me be normal".

"That was a nice job out there." "Thanks." "So you're just not gonna let me help you at all." "I don't need any help."

Look, we all know that she does, but not like this. Nyla wants so badly to help Lucy, but if Lucy isn't ready, trying to push her like this isn't going to change anything. It's going to push her further inward.

"Did you get the flowers we sent?" "And the basket. Thank you."

Lucy really has some lovely people in her life. And look at her genuine appreciation for Abigail, here. Baskets are one of Lucy's love languages, and she nailed it.

"What the hell is this? I let you run around with Harper for half the day and you start hugging people on duty?" "Don't listen to him. He's all bark."

Tim is being his grumpy-ass self and Lucy's smiling like the sunshine that she is. This is what she thought she'd have today. This rhythm to which she's already grown accustomed.

Yes, Tim gets under her skin and pisses her off. But she knows him. She's used to him. The Tim Tests come when she least expects it, but she knows to expect that.

While there are many mysteries left to this man, he's been her biggest constant during her Rookie year. And it's nice to get to talk to him.

"All bark? She is not buying what you're selling." "Because I don't hold her fate in my hands."

They're teasing. We're to the point in their relationship where they can tease one another, and you can see how comfortable Lucy is in this.

Apart from the action, this is the most comfortable we've seen her all episode.

"Heard you dodged some bullets." "Yeah, a few. What, are you keeping tabs on me?"

The discomfort is back. Because even Tim Fucking Bradford is acting different around her. There's a softness to him that she's never seen before directed at her. Yes, she's seen it... but not with those eyes directed her way.

"Look, if you need anything, you let me know."

Finally, someone asks what she needs. All day, people (including Tim) have been making assumptions about what she needs. But here Tim is truly putting her first and trying to see if there's anything he can really do.

"You got a time machine?" "I wish I did."

Because he'd go back and take back the decision that fed her to the lion. Yes, we all know it's not Tim's fault. But he still feels like it is. And this is what Lucy really wishes she had—not some remedy or quick fix... that it never happened.

"You're not gonna shower?" "Uh, I'm gonna do it a home."

Because she doesn't want the stares. She doesn't want the questions. She doesn't want the reminder.

She's wearing concealer under her shirt because she doesn't want to see the thing. And she's tired of the comments and special treatment. Lucy wants to go back to normal.

Now, we can already see from this episode that "normal" isn't really possible. Relationships have shifted. Lucy is not the same woman she was before. Yes, she'll open up parts of her that shut down over time, but she'll never be who she was before that night of carefree drinks gone wrong.

But that's what Lucy wants in this moment. Normalcy.

"Oh, but you're not going home."

The hell?! She was just abducted and now you won't let her go home? Sorry, but that was my gut reaction watching this.

"We have plans. Girls' Night." "Oh, I get it. You've seen that I'm find on the job, but you're still not convinced." "We just thought it would be fun." ... "It's... you guys have just never asked me out before."

Think of how happy Lucy was that she was getting invited to something normal!? And with these two bad-ass women!

Lucy spends so much of her time in the first two seasons with Jackson and Nolan that we rarely get to see her with the other women of the Station.

She was going to get to have a night out with two women she trusts—something safe. And she had just relaxed into that when they pulled this shit.

Look, I'm salty at these two. I love Nyla and Angela's my number three on the show. But this was a terrible idea. Nyla was critical of Tim throwing her into work, but she's throwing her into the dating pool.

And it's no wonder Lucy was triggered. She isn't ready to date, again. And that's fine. She should be able to get out there when she is ready.

But we all experience the world through out unique lenses and experiences. And a very real mistake we make is assuming because I need it this way, you do, too.

I have twin sons. When they were 9 months old, a friend handed down a toy to us. You throw a ball into the toy and it makes a noise. Ta-da! One child giggled uncontrollable. They other screamed and broke down in sobs.

Different people react differently. They need different coping mechanisms. They need different healing paths. When we try too hard to homogenize treatment, we miss the opportunity for true healing.

And part of the problem here is the utter lack of communication. Nyla has hinted to Tim what she went through, but she hasn't given Lucy any indication.

Now, Nyla doesn't owe Lucy her story. But she has chosen to help Lucy, and it would be a helluva lot easier to get through to Lucy if she communicated with her.

"Hey, Lucy had a bit of a moment last night when we were out."

Tim. Is. Pissed. Angela can tell that's all it took for him to be ready to go into Tim-Mode on someone's ass.

"It's not a big deal. She's fine." "What the hell is Harper doing?" "Helping. Don't get all 'Tim' on me. I just thought you should know." "Lucy's okay?" "She will be." "Alright. Thanks for letting me know."

Angela is the only one who knows about Tim's guilt. She's the only one who knows the weight he's been carrying, blaming himself for what happened to Lucy. She's the only one to know he has a growing soft spot for her.

So she does the right thing and gives him a heads-up.

And note how it's always "Lucy" when he's talking with Angela in these episodes. With Nolan, it's "Chen" because Nolan is not Tim's friend. But Angela's his best friend, and he can let his guard down a little when it comes to her.

Nyla Shares Her Tale

We already said that Nyla doesn't owe anyone her story. But by keeping it from Lucy, Lucy was pushing her away. She truly thought it was another outsider with outside opinions trying to force her to be okay.

Hearing Nyla's story, she is finally able to see her differently. There's a beat right after Lucy says, "I'm so sorry," where Melissa O'Neil shifts her gaze from cynical to sisterly—Lucy sees herself in Nyla.

For the first time since she's gotten out of that barrel, there's someone who isn't an outsider who truly wants to help.

"I shut down. I didn't even tell my husband. I kept telling myself that I would deal with it when I was ready." "But with every passing week it just got worse." "Maybe I pushed you too hard last night. But I know what it is like when you do not face things head-on."

Look how Lucy has shifted. Because Nyla can relate. Lucy was pushing so hard against her from the get-go that she missed the signs on this.

She was so focused on pushing everyone away and keeping everyone out that she missed that Nyla wasn't another outsider looking in with "expert" opinions on something they know nothing about. Nyla really does know.

"You and Chen are close, right?"

"I used to be inside her on the regular, so, yeah." I'm sorry. I had to. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I watched the scene.

"How's she doing? I mean, really doing?"

Because Tim is in his phase of needing to know how Lucy is, but not being the one "in the know". He's still her TO, and going directly to her for information is outside his code. But he can't help worrying. Lucy matters to him.

"She's good. Really. I think she'll be better once she gets that tattoo removed. Can you imagine that? Walking around every day branding by the worst thing that's ever happened to you? " "You think because it's physical, it's worse? Tragedies always leave scars. Only some of them you can see."

Again, this is about perspective. Some people are visual learners. Some are auditory. Some learn by doing.

I have a weird quirk of my brain that a memory is stronger for me if I can see a photo of it. Yes, I have other memories, but I can almost transport back to the moments in my photo albums since I've had decent memory. Visuals are important for me.

To Tim, it doesn't matter if it's visual or not. But Lucy might be different. Seeing that every day might mean more to her than it does to him. He's not considering that.

Seriously, as a former Communications student (two degrees in it), this episode is a masterclass in personal bias and intrapersonal vs interpersonal communication. In the moments of actual connection there's communication that's clear and concise.

Throughout the episode, everyone is making choices that are complicating matters. They're trying to do what's right, but they're doing it without clarity.

Nyla gets through to Lucy best when she talks to the woman in an open and honest manner. Same with Tim, later.

But, I'm skipping ahead...

A Punching Bag

Remember how I said Tim and Lucy have switched places this episode? In the same place where Lucy once offered Tim perspective (on his learning disability) and a gift (the book on tape), Tim will have his moment.

Lucy wipes her face without thinking, and Tim gets a glimpse of the tattoo. It flusters Lucy as she turns. She doesn't want to talk about it.

He's come down here for a reason. After spending all day asking others about her, he needs to see her for himself.

He wants to say something, too, but he's second-guessing. Ever since he pushed her toward a serial killer, he's been second-guessing where she's concerned.

"You got no quit in you, do you, Boot?" "No, sir. I get that from you." "I don't think so. You walked in the door this way. It's what makes you so aggravating."

He's teasing her. This is their rhythm. They've found it and they've earned it, and she's been stripped from it when she really wanted something familiar.

"I'm taking that as a compliment." "It was meant to be. You have a good night." "Yeah, you, too."

Tim turns to go, shoving his hands in his pockets. As he does, his fingers graze the ring... her ring. The ring he's been carrying around because it's tangible. It's something he can hold onto and remind himself that it's true—Lucy lived.

He turns around, no longer second-guessing. He has something to say, and he can only hope she hears him.

"You know, I got half a dozen scars. Bullet wounds, knife wounds, broken bottle. Then there's the ones you can't see, Isabel's addiction, a dad who would tune me up on the regular. And whether I like it or not, they're a part of me."

I can't remember him talking this openly about the trauma of Isabel's addiction before. But, he's in the Lucy role, today. He's talking things out while she's taking it out on a punching bag.

"I know what you're trying to do. And I appreciate it, but this is different. I was tattooed by a sadist who etched my day of death into my skin." "Okay, but you didn't die. Okay? You lived. And now he's the one in the ground."

Lucy sighs, because here's another outsider telling her what to do and how to feel.

"I'm not trying to tell you what to do with it. Okay? Burn it off, keep it, whatever gives you peace."

That's a little better. Lucy starts listening at that. Because, everyone's trying to push her in a direction, and he makes it clear that that's not his intention. He's not trying to push her to do or be anything.

"All I'm trying to do is give you some hard-won perspective."

If this was Pee Wee's Playhouse, we'd all have to scream because "Perspective" is the word of the day. Because each person's perspective has been an obstacle, today. Each person's perspective has been a roadblock.

But Tim's being very clear that he's offering only that—his Perspective. And, remember, Lucy cares very much what Tim thinks of her. She cares how he sees her. She doesn't want to let him down.

"You can choose to see that tattoo as your greatest failure. But I see it as proof that you're a survivor."

"You're so strong," he'd whispered when she started breathing, again. She might have been too overwhelmed at the moment to ever remember that, but we do. He recognized her strength and ability to survive right then.

This isn't lip-service. This is Tim Bradford being completely honest about how he sees Lucy.

"It wasn't your day of death, Officer Chen. It was the first day of the rest of your life. And no one can take that away from you."

There it is. No, this isn't going to "fix" the pain that Lucy's feeling. It's not going to make the trauma disappear. It's not going to erase the memories. But this mind-flip of that tattoo is powerful.

Because Caleb made her say aloud what that tattoo meant. He told her that it was for her, for her perspective, for her to own up to what he said it meant.

And here's Tim Bradford, a man who Lucy respects and trusts, helping her look at it from a different angle.

And isn't that what Tim does so well? Lucy even calls him out on it later in the show... He's the king at coming at things sideways and seeing another angle.

What he's saying is, "YOU, Lucy, get to decide how you look at that tattoo." She's spent so much time looking at it from Caleb's perspective that she didn't consider there was an alternative.

"Thanks." "Yeah. You're welcome."

Tim shoves his hands back in his pocket, and they both let the moment pass, easily. He said what he needed to say, and she heard him. Now, they can move forward.

"You riding with me tomorrow?" "Yes sir." "Good. Get in early. War bags need restocking." "Okay."

Tim pulls the ring from his pocket and tosses it to Lucy before she can register what it is. As she opens her hands, she sees it—her ring.

The ring she tossed off her hand in hopes that someone would find it. And Tim did. He found it. He found her.

"How did you find me?" Lucy asked from her hospital bed. Now, she has the answer.

Lucy looks up at Tim in awe and surprise. He smiles at the ring at her hand, and then back at her. He'd been carrying it around for a while because he didn't yet have Lucy back. Yes, she was at work, but not riding with him.

Tim once talked to Lucy about finding something tangible to focus on instead of the intangibility of nuclear disaster. Yes, he was being figurative, but I don't put it past him to take it literal. Lucy is back, but not back with him, yet.

Tomorrow, she'll be in his Shop. And now he doesn't need something tangible to hold onto to remind him that she is coming back, because she'll be there. By his side.

This is theirs. Tim told no one how he found her. She told no one that she'd dropped the ring. Only Tim and Lucy know this part of her story... of their story.

*phew* this one was emotionally exhausting. It took a week of work. But, I hope you enjoy it. It's heavier than most, but I think it's earned.

I would argue that Tim and Lucy are already on their way to friendship at the beginning of this trilogy, but the events that happen expedite it, and also solidify their trust of one another.

Tim respects the hell out of her. He knows what she's capable of, and now he's seen it for himself. Yes, he's going to be tough on her, again, when he's ready. And, yes, she's going to be pissed at him, when she's ready.

But only Tim and Lucy know who they are in the in-betweens. When the cameras aren't rolling on their chests and nobody else is listening in—like this ending scene. This is theirs.

And as they move forward in their relationship, there are all these touchstones, these pillars that shifted things that they can look back on as guide posts or stepping stones that at the time seemed small, but proved essential to their journey.

And, oh, I can't wait to see where it takes them next.

As always, thanks for reading.

#Chenford #Lucy Chen #Tim Bradford #Melissa O'Neil #Eric Winter #The Rookie #Meta #tw abuse #tw assault #tw rape

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