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yourfavoritewitchbitch · 10 months

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Evermore

Summary: It's been 7 years since the love of your life left you behind for his career. When he decides to come back, is it too late to start anew? Will you decide to start over or realize what's been right in front of you this whole time?

Warnings: 18+ for future chapters. AFAB!Reader. Minimal use of Y/N. Reader is given the nickname Peach.

Word Count: 1.9K

Masterlist

Your peaceful, dreamless sleep was abruptly interrupted when the shrill sound of your phone ringing startled you awake. Light from the early morning just beginning to filter through the curtains casting a soft glow around your room, you peek one eye open to check the clock on your bedside table that reads 6:34. Drifting off to sleep only a couple hours before, the bright red letters now seem to taunt you. Placing the receiver to your ear with a groan, knowing exactly who it is before you answer.

“Yeah?” you huff, throwing your head back into the soft pillows.

“Well, good morning to you too,” that all too familiar sing song voice of your best friend, ever a morning person. You truly couldn’t be mad at him though. Even if it was your day off and you were hoping to sleep in. Days off seem to come few and far between with running not one, but two full-time businesses took its toll but you honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. Staying busy meant your mind stayed busy. No time for those intrusive, dwindling thoughts that creeped in when you were idle. Much like today, you wished you had planned your day off on a different day this week.

“Steve, get on with whatever you’re going to ask,” your voice raspy, still laced with sleep trying to keep up the feigned annoyed tone.

“Rough night?” his voice timbre lowered, laced with concern.

“Fine Stevie.” A lie you knew he could easily suss out. He knew you better than anyone. You suspect he might know you better than you knew yourself.

Deciding not to prod you any further this early in the morning, he went straight to the point. Changing the subject, his voice once again jovial,” Well… Maddie wanted me to ask if you wanted to get breakfast with us. She missed you this week. I know you hate me calling this early, but I also know you can never say no to her.”

“Blaming it on Maddie, huh? Right, well tell Princess Madelynn that Auntie Peach will be on her way as soon as she gets some caffeine in her bloodstream.” You heard him chuckle on the other end. He was right, you could never deny her.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, I’ll swing by. She wanted to go to Benny’s for pancakes. I’ll get her dressed; we’ll be there in 20.” Before he hung up you heard him tell her to get her shoes on, and heard that sweet voice yell over the receiver, “I love you Aunt Peach!” He laughed, and you answered with that same jovial tone. “Love you too sweet girl! See you soon!”

You drag yourself from the warm cocoon of your bed. Your bare feet hit the cold, hardwood floors and you shuddered not ready to face the day. You dressed and made yourself presentable before heading downstairs to make a pot of coffee.

Sipping your coffee while you wait, you see that now old, but still much-loved BMW pull into your drive and honk. The car he exclusively used only on the weekends now. You waved through the window and poured your coffee to go.

“Hey Angel!” You cooed at Maddie, while opening the door to sit down.

“Auntie Peach!” The young girl squealed, “Daddy said you needed cheering up today.”

“Madelynn Grace! I told you to keep that between us!” He chided, eyeing her from the rearview. He then hesitantly looked over to you already staring at him. She moved her hands to her mouth but giggled, “Sorry daddy.”

“It’s ok Steve, it’s been 7 years. I’m okay. I didn’t even realize what day it was until a few minutes ago.” A lie you supposed would make Steve feel better, even if he saw right through it. You reached over and placed your hand on his, resting on the console, gently giving him a reassuring squeeze. “I promise, I’m ok.”

He gave you a thin-lipped smile and nodded as he shifted himself to back out of the drive. Maddie started rambling in the back. Always a chatterbox. If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought the kid was Robin’s the way she goes on and on, but Robin watches her while Steve works most days, so she picked up that habit from her.

The radio filled the comfortable silence, in between Maddie’s bursts of random thoughts or questions. You were ok. That’s the least you could tell yourself after all. Brave face for the ones you loved. Just get through the day.

You arrived at Benny’s soon enough. Steve got out and unbuckled Maddie. As soon as he sat her down, she tackled your legs in a crushing hug yelling for you to hold her. “Alright Angel,” you relented with no hesitation. She hugged your neck and gave you a big, sticky kiss on the cheek. “I missed you.” She said into your neck, and you could have just melted right on the spot. “I missed you too!” whispering into her curls as you squeezed her back with just as much enthusiasm.

The three of you entered the diner and found your usual booth in the back. Maddie abandoning Steve to take a seat by you. Marcie, the waitress came over with fresh cups of coffee and OJ for the princess. “Hey Y/N! Hey Steve!” She batted her eyes at him as she spoke. He thanked her and smiled as she walked away.

“Still got it, huh Stevie?” giggling, without looking up from the menu you were perusing. You knew he was glaring at you.

“Stop it!” He tossed the straw wrapper from Maddie’s OJ toward you. She was now thoroughly distracted, enraptured by the crayons and paper provided by the diner ignoring the banter between the two of you.

“No, you stop it! I can’t tease my best friend now?” you sipped your coffee and smiled over the cup at him. He rolled his eyes as Marcie came back to take your orders.

You had your usual waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Steve opted for something healthier, an egg white omelet with veggies, he said he was watching his figure. You couldn’t contain the eyeroll. And of course, pancakes with extra whipped cream for Maddie. The food made it out in record time, as usual.

“So, I was thinking…” Steve paused, finishing his last bite. He chewed his bottom lip for a moment.

“Easy now, don’t think too hard. You might hurt yourself.”

“Ha, ha! Anyway, how about we all get away for the rest of the day? I can drive us up to Indianapolis, and we can visit the Z O O.” Spelling it out so Maddie wouldn’t catch on. “I know it’s not exactly a relaxing getaway but it’s something to get you out of the house,” he looked up at you with those pleading, puppy dog eyes. He didn’t want you to be by yourself today. Steve, always taking care of everyone he loves. “I can drive you back home to change. I need to grab Maddie some snacks anyway.”

“What?” you snort, “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“What? No. I didn’t mean it like that. I…” he started, throwing his hands up in protest.

“I’m kidding! Let’s go, I’m game for anything.” You interrupted him smiling and looked over at Maddie. Sticky cheeks and hands from the syrupy goodness she just finished, staring dreamily out the window. You smiled and tenderly brushed her hair back from her face. “Ready to go Princess?” you asked her. Too enraptured by her sweet face smiling up at you, you had missed the way Steve stared at you both with his own beaming smile.

Eddie Munson is currently on a flight from LA to Indianapolis fighting what he can only describe as the worst hangover that hell could conjure up. Not the way he intended to spend his 30th birthday but here he was. The rockstar life was beginning to weigh on him. Yeah, the women and endless parties were fun, but he was starting to miss the way his life used to be. When things weren’t so complicated. That old saying you don’t know what you have until it’s gone is really starting to ring true for him here lately.

He needed a break, and this morning only solidified that deep need within him. He had just kicked his current girlfriend to the curb after finding her in bed with one of the party goers from the night before. He was tired of the endless stream of bullshit that came with his fame and fortune. People used him up to the point that he barely recognized himself. After the knockdown, drag out blow up with his now ex-girlfriend he promptly packed a small bag and got his driver to take him to the airport where he now finds himself on his way back home.

He needed to see his Uncle Wayne. It had been far too long. The weekly phone calls were never missed, but he was ready to see the old man in person.

As the drone of the plane’s engines stilled his mind, he tried to rest but couldn’t. His thoughts drifted to that one person that lurked just below the surface of his subconscious. He could picture those tears welling up in those heartbroken eyes while those words drifted from that perfect set of lips that he still longed to kiss when the world was quiet, and he was alone with only the ghost of you to haunt his dreams.

7 years ago, it was a much simpler time for him. He knew he would have been spending his birthday with you. He never once had to question your love or faithfulness to him. He wasn’t rich nor famous, but you had loved him anyway. The one person that gave a damn about him in that miserable town besides his Uncle. He pushed you to the back of his mind as best he could and ordered the stiffest drink the limited plane menu had to offer. He could at least numb the pain for a little while longer.

The day flew by in a whirlwind of smiles and laughter. Maddie had effectively worn herself out along with you and Steve. She was out as soon as he put the car in drive to head back home. She looked like a cherub, all rosy round cheeks and soft curls haloed around her face. You wished in that moment you could freeze time for just a little while so she could stay that little and sweet.

You and Steve chatted quietly about nothing in particular to pass the time. Sometimes moments of peaceful silence passed between you. It was always this way with you two. You could enjoy the company without a word passing between you. Most of the time it’s why you got along so well. You knew when to talk and you knew when to keep your mouth shut.

The time passed quickly and soon enough you were back in Hawkins.

“Why don’t you just stay over tonight since it’s already so late?” you asked, even though you already knew the answer. It’s not that he lived too much further in town, but you often stayed at each other’s houses on any given day.

Steve glanced at Maddie through the rearview, still snoozing away. “Yeah, of course. I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed seeing you in the morning again.” You saw his sleepy smile in the light of the passing streetlamp.

Both tired from the days adventure neither of you noticed the black car sat in front of your home or the man with those wild, untamed curls sat behind the wheel lighting up his cigarette watching that BMW that he instantly recognized slowly pull into your drive.

#eddie munson #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson X reader #eddie munson fic #steve harrington fic #steve harrington x female reader #dad steve harrington #eddie munson x fem!reader #steve harrington x fem!reader #older!eddie #older!steve

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slashingdisneypasta · 6 months

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Ok one more asl before I go to bed XD imagine the Dragon Patrol finding out how unhappy Poppy and Ben really are. As the days go by, Poppy looks sad- though not as devastated as she probably should. She hasn't spoken a word about her life with her husband and family (though she's their captive, she doesn't expect them to care either way. Which at first, they don't). Though maybe, around Stupid or even Wheezy since they're the most friendly, she starts slowly opening up about her marriage. How Ben acted when he drank, and how he always suspected her of cheating despite her loyalty...

Though what's probably most shocking is how she still chooses to keep her ring on despite it all. Poppy doesn't want to, really. A tiny part of her that she's ashamed of is disappointed that they didn't try to take her ring away. But she feels like she has to keep it on. She has to stay loyal to what she was bound to, even if it was never her choice. Surely, Ben will eventually come get her, right? She can't just pretend their marriage is over just because she's a hostage now. Even if she may or may not be gaining feelings for her captors and doesn't want to leave.

I know that they probably don't care too much, or at least not in the emotional soft way. But imagine them seeing this (especially if one or more of them are starting to love her themselves). It got me right in the heart XD

... 🥺 goodness.

My heart is feeling very soft and delicate about this. But- imagine Greasy using context clues, eavesdropping, and his intuition to suss out the whole situation here. And as Poppy becomes apart of their little family, and even he is more warmly towards her and thinking of her as more then a pretty little thing he dislikes Ben less and less.

Imagine Ben finally coming, and most of the dragons are basically just godang surprised (like Who is this?? That's the husband!?? Wh- Its been 7 years- ), Greasy decided to play up the dragon hostage thing. Its partly his plan and partly protective instincts. If this King was so worried about her loyalty back then, then he really can worry now. Now it can be true. She has a dragon mate now and he is not going to let her go like this bastard did. Greasy picks Poppy up in his teeth by the back of her clothes and lifts off into the air so hard that the rocks on the ground all shake and clatter. He takes her high up on the mountain and so they're alone and shakes his head. No... no, Poppy, I am not letting you go back there. No.

Greasy-

You are a good friend. Don't ask me to say it again- I cant. If you left, Psycho and Smartass... they- they would be heartbroken fools if you left. Stupid would cry, and that would be awkward. And Wheezy would make the home unbearable from the smoke bleeding from his nostrils, and Lottie- she-... *nose huff* And to think you might leave with that evil bastard- no way.

I-

I'm going to keep you here until he leaves. Or I kill him. either way-

Eventually Poppy manages to climb up onto a sufficiently tall rock and put her hands on Greasy's nose- making him stop. Get his attention. her voice is gentle, a sound unfamiliar to Greasy, when she tell him "Good. Thank you, Greasy.

"I wouldnt wanna go anywhere, anyway."

(Just??? Deep platonic love??????????? Aghhhhh)

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dirtyoldmanhole · 6 months

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part two of rev ch25!

i realized last night, something else that twigged me about the 'predatory vibes' of that jumpscare of the last scene -- is that if nintendo meant gunter to strictly be read as wholesome, there's been similar scenes in the series where the rescuer/mentor will be seen arriving on the scene, and immediately shaking the protagonist awake. pretty hard to read any malicious vibes in those scenes.

here? we don't know how long gunter/(anankos) has been there with corrin. it's the unknown that keeps us guessing.

though it also does beg the question: why didn't anankos take the chance to kill corrin while she was totally vulnerable and unconscious for [who knows how long]? is gunter still that much in the driver's seat to at least keep the killing blow from happening?

it's clear that there's "more" of gunter consistently than, say, possessed!mikoto/scarlet/arete. he's had plenty of chances to kill corrin, if he was truly as far gone as they were.

it's honestly why I think a better interpretation is aaaaaaall of this (save the literal two "ENTOMBED GOD" lines that were anankos) was actually, pretty much 100% gunter in the driver's seat. he does have the motivation to lead a, heh, "mostly royals' party down into the bowels of anankos' castle to get slaughtered, and i do actually think the man's willing to shed that much blood on his hands.

he's done. he's laying all of his cards on the table and wanting to go out with a bang. he knows he's not walking back outside from that castle alive.

...which still makes for some deliciously skeezy implications in that last scene ahem

food for thought! anyhoo.

this chunk's a little more conversation-heavy than badhotwrongvibes heavy, lol.

still absurdly fascinating, when you realize that this is actually a three-way conversation of sorts, and not just corrin + gunter thinking out loud companionably. he's not a separate entity from anankos, but there's that tangible sense of him trying to suss out exactly how much corrin suspects and what he can get away with.

you know, i have to say it's bananas how well he's, hm, masked everything the whole time?

it's not just us being unable to tell "gunter" from "possessed!gunter" -- corrin's known him her own life, and the betrayal takes her even more by surprise than it does us. granted, she's not as suspicious as say, xander/takumi, but still.

Gunter: Then...this same attacker is trying to catch you while you are separated from everyone. Did he or she somehow know that we'd split up? Our original suspicion may be correct, Lady Corrin. Your attacker could be part of our group. Corrin: I know—you and Ryoma both said so before, but we can't be hasty. Scarlet would have hated for us to turn on each other for no reason. Gunter: Scarlet ... You're right, milady. Gunter: The sight of her with that flower pinned to her chest just before the jump... Gunter: I do not wish you to meet the same fate, milady.

bullshit.

i'm kind of loling in a terribly tasteless way at how lowkey annoyed he seems by the scarlet mentions. 'ah yes i kill one (1) person and you still harp on it'

remember when I was mentioning how gunter very clearly jumped down the bottomless canyon before scarlet/corrin? gunter's goddamn talented about masking / keeping a general eye on the details of not slipping for two freaking decades.

but, uh oh! dearie me, you slipped up there! that's about to get important.

anyway, those two decide enough talk, more action and so they roll up those stairs from the last scene only to run into ... azura.

possessed!gunter's thinking 'fuck yes, i can pin this on her'.

Azura: Is that you, Corrin? Corrin: Azura? I didn't realize you were near… Azura: Corrin, you look pale. You as well, Gunter. Is everything OK? Gunter: What are you doing here, Lady Azura? The only way to get here is by coming down that corridor. I saw no other way… Corrin: Gunter, don't tell me that you think… You believe Azura is the one who… Azura: What are you talking about? What happened?

pause for a second: i want to take a note here about how interesting is it that we're really starting to see him crack in terms of not giving a single shit about his companions, and actively sabotaging the campaign in the open.

up until literally one scene ago, Gunter was always the one mentor figure that could be counted on keeping a tight ship, bringing Corrin useful advice, useful weaponry to dispense to everyone, being an emotionally stable presence, amicably interacting with everyone at base camp and even in the pre-battle conversations (like with Ryoma), grieving along with everyone.

what changed?

as mentioned above, i really, really do think he's preparing himself to drop all the cards on the table and go out with a bang. he's emotionally, actively severing every connection he could with the others. if he never cared about people to begin with, he wouldn't have this psychological tension of abruptly changing and stepping away.

put bluntly: these are not the actions of a man who plans to live out the day.

in pretty much every fates path (including this one), he dies (heavily implied he offs himself) except for the one conquest married path with corrin.

we're very close to finding out exactly why.

...

very conveniently, enemies warp in.

but the battle doesn't start quite yet until after this last revealing conversation. corrin tells azura to call in everyone else for the fight, and for the first time you see gunter come as close to rejecting her orders as he's ever come.

this sounds neurotic, but pay attention to the ellipses (...). Treehouse as a rule doesn't really sprinkle a lot of ellipses in the EN script, so when they are applied... usually the character's going under some kind of turmoil.

this conversation is lowkey emotionally eviscerating when you know what's coming up.

he specifically throws that line back at her ("you can't stop believing in people") viciously in the next chapter as part of his betrayal, intensely enough that I really believe that's a hell of a raw wound for him, especially with how he words it here in a way that sounds remarkably bitter.

...

anyway, among the enemies that warped in -- remember that cloaked attacker all the way back in the chapter that Mikoto got killed?

turns out her old possessed hubby killed her, and we get treated to this awesome still of possessed!Sumeragi.

(dude your shark teeth are whack and i kinda want them lmao)

and theeeen the battle starts in earnest!

nothing with gunter happens until after the next level, so next time we pick up? it'll be chapter 26, the vallite king. :')

dysfunction junction and a fuckton of feels, here we come.

#krad loveblogs revelations: electric boogaloo

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idealisticrealism · 2 years

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TCL 2x06 recap

Hahahahaahaaaaaaa get ready for more unhinged fangirling (and just so many words omg)

Also thanks so much to those of you who left replies on the previous recaps, I honestly really love seeing them– it’s awesome to know that you guys are actually enjoying my insane ramblings haha. So please keep sharing your thoughts and I’lll keep sharing mine :P

Honestly I am so happy we’re still on the same day as last ep! Though lbr I desperately wish we could have seen what happened between Garrett accepting the deal and Thony getting home– like how did she get home?? Did she drive back to the cleaning storehouse (I’m going to start calling this Cleaning Ladies’ HQ, or CLHQ for short lol) in the truck with Arman and then he dropped her home on his bike??? Or did Garrett insist on driving her home so he could chastise her about her involvement with Arman?? I mean either option would have been great to watch but lbr I would prefer the former lol. But sigh I guess that’s just going to be left to the imagination. But ugh it hurts to see her so upset– she was so steady and brave in the moment while making the deal, but now the reality is setting in, the feeling of once again being caught in a trap. And oooh it wasn’t until she told Fi just now about helping Arman move drugs that I remembered her reaction to Fi’s plan to sell party drugs for Brandon. Feeling like a bit of a hypocrite now, are we Thony?? And maybe a liar, too, considering she tells Fi that Garrett threatened to deport her unless she informed for him again– bc firstly there was zero mention of deportation (I honestly believe that Garrett is done with that threat, and also that he legitimately did actually intend to let Thony go and just take Arman in for the drugs), and secondly, we all know she begged him to agree to her being an informant, in order to keep both herself and Arman safe. But to admit that to Fi would be to reveal even more about the depth of her and Arman’s connection than the events in the motel did (and that was already plenty) and I honestly don’t think Thony is capable of facing that right now.

Ooooh only one person uses the weird kitchen door, which means Hot Detective Flores is back! Though as much as I like her, she does nothing but cause me stress haha. I‘m glad that the cops seem to have moved on from Thony as a suspect so quickly and easily– unless part of her reason for coming here and telling them about MMM’s disappearance was to see their reaction– but lbr it does look suss that MMM disappeared so soon after a death at his motel (sidenote, him being missing ‘over a week now’ definitely fits with the expected timeline). But aaaaarghhh I was worried that his disappearance would cause the cops to search his apartment and potentially find more videos– honestly, I’m surprised Arman didn’t look at MMM’s license for his address and then find his keys and go to his apartment to search for any sign of the Chris video. Unless maybe he did??? Honestly he’s savvy enough to think of it, and dedicated enough to protecting Thony that he’d absolutely do it. Ok tbh I am adopting the headcanon rn that he actually did go and do all that after disposing of the body, and just didn’t tell Thony bc he didn’t think she needed to know/wanted to let her just forget the whole thing. But anyway tbh it’s kind of funny to hear Flores say reassuringly “We WILL find out how your loved one died” to the three people who were literally present at/involved in his death lol. But also omg Chris how about you don’t yell “they’ll know I did it!!” literally moments after the detective walks out the door??? God you are such a teenager lol. And ok I love Thony’s certainty in saying that that the cops won’t find the body and that “Arman made sure of it”-- but like is that just her having enough trust in him to know he would have taken care of it, or did he actually tell her what he did with the body??? And if so, when??? Doesn’t this show know that I need to be privy to literally every single conversation and interaction between Armony?? C’mon writers be more considerate of a poor fangirl haha

(Also I forget to mention this every single week but I really love the new title screen thing with the soapy water washing away the red from the lettering like it’s washing away blood, leaving the pure white text behind. This show has such style man)

My thought process as Arman pulls up to the house on his motorbike: ‘oh hey I stood right by that letterbox thing down at the end of the street! Ok wait so these guys didn’t sell the motorbike or Nadia’s car, despite the severity of their financial issues? Also what is Arman staring at? Is there some kind of evidence that Robert has been at the house?? Omg wait did Nadia throw his stuff out????’ (*literally laughs in delight as the camera pans over his stuff on the ground lol*). Tbh I had fun pausing to check out his various belongings, and while the childhood pic of Adan is cutest, and the squash racquet is hot (I would watch him play that ANY day), the random lamps are definitely my favourite addition. Like are they sentimental lamps?? But anyway oh my goddddd this is a scene I have been hoping for for a long time, and holy shit Eva is legit giving it her all– hell hath no fury indeed. (ngl I’m giggling a little at the fact that she would have had to yell and throw those clothes right into the camera while filming this lol). But omg “What the hell are you doing??” / “What the hell are YOU doing?? I’m doing what I should have done the first time I laid eyes on you with your cleaning lady”-- honestly I love this line, because it is such a great throwback to the moment Nadia first sees them together in 1x02. (I’m ignoring their first scene all together the morning after the party in 1x01, because she was still drunk and didn’t actually see Thony and Arman interact at all; though mannn her 1x01 line “I like her. Give her everything” is particularly impactful now). But in 1x02, Nadia watches as Arman literally drops everything– leaving in the middle of an important meeting with Hayak and Knight– to disappear with a woman he barely knows, when it would have been far easier for him to get one of their guys to take her to the clinic, or even just tell her to go to a hospital instead. And I gotta mention the next time Nadia witnesses them interact as well; in 1x03 where she watches from across the club as Thony gives Luca’s drawing to Arman, and honestly she’s right with what she said– Thony really does look at him like he’s her hero in this moment, while he looks at her with an almost bashful pleasure, which (if Nadia had seen it) she would probably barely recognise, given how rare it must be for him. That was the moment Nadia started to understand something they hadn’t yet seen themselves, and was partly why she brought Thony to the wedding reception with her, to further observe how they would interact. She’s been watching this whole time, and though she’d tried to convince herself that the connection between them didn’t mean anything for her own relationship with Arman (I’m almost certain there was an interview that said Nadia has slept with other women during their marriage, so maybe they’re ~open), the truth is she’s always known that what Thony and Arman have is different. It's real, and she knows it, even if they don't.

Which is exactly why she calls bullshit when he says “There’s nothing going on between Thony and me. You know that!” And gotta say, as much as I love Arman, I kinda call bullshit too. Though while I can imagine some people would say he’s gaslighting her, I actually don’t agree. (“Gaslighting”: to deliberately manipulate someone by psychological means into doubting their own sanity). I think in Arman’s case, he genuinely believes he’s telling the truth, because to him, ‘nothing going on’ means a) he and Thony aren’t sleeping together, and b) that their relationship isn’t going to progress beyond what it is now. He’s aware of his feelings for Thony, and is also aware that she has some kind of feelings for him (even if he doesn’t know exactly how far those feelings extend), and though there is an undeniable pull between them he also knows that there is a line neither of them will cross, one that exists because of Nadia– especially since everything that happened with the prison and the debt, and how much Nadia’s safety and livelihood now depends on him as a result of that. And so that’s what he means with that line– while he and Thony are connected, that connection will never go any further (despite what Nadia clearly believes) as long as he and Nadia are together. Hence his frustration– she’s accusing him of having the very thing he so desperately wants, but has denied himself ever having. And he genuinely does try to explain what he’s been doing/make her understand about the plan with the drugs, except she won’t let him (damn at the accuracy of her “you’ll take any excuse to be with her” line though, wow), and then just as he’s about to try to convince her of his dedication to her, he sees the ring, and the devious landmine artfully planted by Robert explodes between them. Because while Nadia sees the reality– the inevitability– of Thony and Arman’s connection far better than he does, Arman sees the truth of Robert’s actions better than she does, and that disparity only serves to push them further apart. But omg the way I gasped when she yells “There is no more us!!!” and he just stares at her because he knows her well enough to see the truth, has fought bitterly with her enough times to see that this is different– that this time it might actually be real, that they’ve passed that point of no return and that their marriage is over. He can’t entirely believe it though, doesn’t dare to; because if it’s real, then she has actually just released him from the obligation he has towards her, from the slowly-growing weight of unhappiness that he has been carrying since even before he met Thony. And the irony of it all is that by leaving him, she has given him the freedom to do what he otherwise never would have done– the exact thing she was accusing him of in the first place: be with the woman he loves.

Okay so Armony are about to have their meet with Garrett to discuss the plan, and honestly I hate when scenes start with both of them already present! Like excuse me I need to know how long they have been waiting and what they have been talking about and how much they have looked at each other etc??? Like did they deliberately arrive earlier than Garrett so they could work out their plan? Have they been texting back and forth since last night trying to figure it out?? No matter how much this show feeds me (and ngl it feeds me well; see the above paragraph for proof lol) I am always going to want more lol. But ugh they have clearly talked it through together and are presenting their little plan as a duo and basically completing each other’s sentences and I love them. But honestly it confuses me a bit that Garrett starts the meeting by asking how they’re going to use Robert to get Cortes, and then only like a minute later he’s signing up for their plan to use Cortes to get Robert?? It just seemed like a sudden and odd priority shift, bc until this moment it seemed like he didn’t care about Robert (despite Robert’s extensive crime-ing) and only saw him as a means to getting Cortes? But tbh I don’t care lol. I just care about this Armony eye contact and the way Arman looked like he wanted to say something before Thony turned and walked away ugh. I’m gonna headcanon that after she gets in the van, he leans against the passenger door and talks to her through the lowered window, maybe arranging a time for them to meet at CLHQ and unpack the drugs from the van? (Also two sidenotes: firstly I’ve never noticed that little semi-bald patch in Arman’s beard over the right side of his jaw– is there a scar there because I would be very into that. And secondly dude I love the leather jacket as much as anyone, trust me, but it is too hot for you to be wearing it all the time! Take it off before you get heatstroke!! …. And while you’re at it, the shirt should probably go too. Just to be safe lol)

“Now that dad’s back in town you guys can get married!” Omg. I cannot describe my love for this scene, firstly for the near parent-trapping, and secondly for the fact that it literally legitimately felt SO real in terms of how a 12 year old would see and react to this situation. Like oh my heart Jazz is so cute and earnest lol, and Fi and JD were so gentle with setting her straight ugh. Bummer about the JD girlfriend, but eh, I’m sure she won’t last haha. I swear the JD and Fi ship (I’m going for “J-Fi” here because I’m lazy lol) is gonna sail by the end of the season– or at least it better, because I love them already ugh

It’s probably ridiculous that it irritates me that Arman changed the money into a different bag? Like why? Though I guess he had to take it all out of the other bag to count it anyway or whatever (also, where did he do that? La Habana??). But ugh yaaaasss that was such a satisfying power move watching him casually drop a ton of money in front of Robert and see Robert be like that meme of the lady who looks confused with all the mathematic equations floating around her lol. (That was terribly described but c’mon, you know the one.) Honestly I was so happy for Arman here because not only is he a fifth of the way closer to freedom, but he got to show the guy who thinks he has him completely backed into a corner that there is more to him than Robert realises. Robert clearly does not like to feel like he’s been tricked (which is ironic because he’s literally being tricked right now lol) so he immediately goes to Nadia to whine like the spoiled child that he is. I definitely did enjoy Nadia’s face when she learned Arman had paid off so much– yep, he did try to tell you last night, but you wouldn’t listen! Not that that means she wasn’t justified in everything she said last night, bc she was mostly right– there is absolutely 100% something going on with him and Thony– but to be fair to Arman, she’s wrong about what lines they have or haven’t crossed. But even so, his involvement with Thony doesn’t mean he was lying about selling the drugs, or when he said that he was doing this for him and Nadia (aka, for their freedom from Robert). Two things can be true at once Nadia!

Lol I love seeing Arman putting two relatively small boxes on the stack while in the background Thony is lugging a box off the truck that is practically as big as she is. Girl has got being self-reliant down to an art form. Ngl my brain is still very confused by the ‘how do they have both the money and the drugs in their possession’ question, but whatever, I‘ll roll with it (just like I’m rolling with Thony’s inexplicable outfit change back to what she was wearing at home last night; maybe the blue shirt got dirty between the meet this morning and now?). But who cares about these things when there’s completely unnecessary Armony touching to scream over??? I love that he holds out a hand to help her get down even though she has very clearly been hopping up and down from that van like a lil’ mountain goat all morning unpacking these meds (I also love that his other hand first covered hers on the box for like a split second before she straightened up ugh). But ugh she doesn’t shy away from him or say she’s fine– she just immediately puts her hand in his and lets him help her. Given that stubborn independence and self-reliance (like mentioned above) are some of Thony’s major character traits, I love to see little moments like this, which show that she is learning to accept help from the people that care about her, even when she already knows she could manage alone. (Bc the whole point is that she doesn’t have to anymore).

And so anyway she lets him help her down, and then ughhhhhhh they just… hold on??? And I say they bc honestly while Arman is more overtly deliberate in keeping that contact, it’s not like he’s preventing her from pulling away– his grip is relaxed, and she could have easily slipped her hand out of his the moment she was on solid ground (and without it seeming weird or like she was trying to get away from him), but she didn’t. Instead she just looks up at him, fingers still curled over his and thumb pressing against his skin, and ugh the way he's looking at her??? His fight with Nadia last night had such a feeling of finality to it, and while lbr he doesn't know for sure that she won’t backflip again and take him back when she calms down, he can’t help but let himself have this moment where he isn’t a man torn between obligation to one woman and love for another– he’s just a man looking at the woman he loves, the woman he could finally have a future with. And he shifts closer like he’s being pulled in by the dream of that future, and maybe she is too bc her eyes flick down to his mouth for just a split second– and then it’s like she snaps out of it, like ‘wait shit nope still married' and pulls back, her neck muscles tensing like she’s literally holding her breath??? And then she turns away for all of a second before she’s like '......unless….…?' lol and turns back to bring up the elephant in the room (or rather, the belongings in the truck haha), aka the signs of the possible dissolution of his marriage??? How uncomfortable must it be for her to acknowledge them, especially when they might actually mean nothing (she's seen the way Arman and Nadia fight, and yet thus far they’ve always still stayed together), or they might mean that things are really over between Arman and Nadia this time, which would open the door for the beginning (lbr, the progression) of something between the two of them??? But despite the awkwardness, it’s more important to her to make sure he’s okay, and ugh the way he steps closer to her again, his eyes on her face and voice all soft as he thanks her… Never thought I’d say this, but I’m almost glad for the appearance of Robert and Nadia, because oh man I can’t take this tension and all these unspoken truths. Ngl I did have a very brief moment of insanity when she said “If you want–” where I literally thought she was going to offer for him to come stay at her house ahahaha. I love that she did offer him somewhere to stay, though, because she cares about him and wants him to have a roof over his head. She’s trying to look after him, because that’s what they do for each other; and only a moment later he’s yet again looking after her by telling her to go into the storage room (presumably to have more cover/be closer to the exit on the other side if she needs to run) and ugh the way he puts his hand on his gun, ready to do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Honestly these two and their mutual care and protection of each other are going to be the death of me.

Anyway ughhh I am SO into this framing of Armony on one side and Nadia and Robert on the other. This is the shift I mentioned in a previous meta, with the Arman/Nadia partnership being severed and the two of them realigning with Thony and Robert (though lbr Arman and Thony were already very much aligned long before this, lol). I also love the framing of the shots inside the storeroom, with Arman behind Thony and his eyes on her rather than on Robert. I appreciate that Robert actually seems fascinated by the discovery of Thony’s actual profession, and the way his gaze flicks to Arman– whose eyes are still focused only on Thony– for confirmation. I also appreciate that he doesn’t actually sound sarcastic when he refers to her as ‘Doctor’; he’d been actually fairly respectful to her the day before, but there’s a new element to it now– maybe it’s that he feels she’s more worthy of respect now that he knows her profession (in which case, he’s a jerk), or maybe it’s just that he realises that he has underestimated the depth to her and is re-evaluating. Honestly I think she has intrigued him from the start and this has only added to that. But aaaaah I love when people who are used to being the one manipulating others– and who see themselves as the untouchable puppetmaster pulling the strings– get played themselves, and damn Armony did an amazing job at having Robert walk right into their trap. Because of course the man who wants to take everything Arman possesses would never be able to resist taking a chunk of his business away from him. (Though seriously, if one of them had been wearing a wire during this interaction, they would have had enough to hand Robert over to the FBI right away… but I guess that would have cut the episode pretty short haha). Anyway I’m so happy that Arman is now free from his deal to work for Robert (of course, so is Nadia, but lbr we all know that working for Robert suited her just fine). But ugh the look Arman gives her after ensuring her freedom from Robert– see, I told you I was doing this for you too– and the expression she’s wearing like she knows there’s more going on here than she understands, but she just can’t see it yet. I love the moment Armony share after Nadia and Robert leave– “You didn’t tell Nadia the plan?” / “No. That’s why it worked.” because a) it just further reiterates that Armony are their own team now and Nadia is not part of that (he literally let his marriage implode rather than defend himself to Nadia and jeopardise the plan), but also b) it’s gotta have Thony wondering what this little business deal will mean for Arman and Nadia’s marriage, and whether Nadia will let him come home now that she realises what he did to get them free of Robert. And while obviously the potential for Arman and Nadia making up is not at all what we want, I want Thony to realise that it’s not what she wants either.

But ugh of course Arman is immediately thinking about Thony’s safety and trying to convince her that he should go to the meet with Cortes alone– and of course she refuses and insists on coming with him lol. Tbh her argument about being able to answer any questions about the meds is weak (Arman could literally just call her if any came up), and we know the truth, even if she can’t face it herself. Because she’s almost lost Arman twice now– firstly when Hayak blew up his car a month ago and she spent a horrific week thinking he was dead, and then secondly when Hayak had him attacked in the prison (who knows if she’s actually aware of the third time, aka the prison shower showdown)– and both of those near-misses happened at times when they were separated. Since then, she can’t face the idea of him walking into a situation this dangerous on his own, can’t help but be terrified of what might happen to him– so the only (admittedly irrational) way she can control that fear is to be there too. And maybe she’s hoping that Cortes will be less likely to harm Arman if there’s a witness present, especially a woman– after all, her time in Arman’s world has shown her that there is still honour among criminals; and now, for him, she’s staking her life on it.

But anyway okay I’m confused again– why do they need money from the FBI for the drugs? They had no problem buying the drugs before with their limited funds (after all, they’ve said how cheap they are to buy from Mexico), but I guess maybe this time they’re getting way more? Idk. I love that Thony’s mind immediately went to the opportunity to steal from the FBI and take a cut for themselves (I see you’ve learned a few things, haha) and clearly Arman loved it too– ughhhh the way he just stares at her with such wonder and pride, and then abruptly looks away the moment she looks up at him lol. (Sorry, buddy, but not quick enough. She totally saw those heart eyes, but then again, it’s not like you’ve ever been particularly good at hiding them. Unlike her, who is maybe too good at it….)

Omg when did Garrett and Jefferson become such boyfriends???? “I’m an atheist” “sorry Russo, he’s an atheist” / “You’ve got nothing to worry about boss, we got this” and all the giddy little grins? Like geez guys try to be less like completely smitten newlyweds here haha. (Though lbr it’s super cute and I love it). Also my confusion about this entire Robert/Cortes situation continues, because literally last night it seemed like Garrett was going to keep his little teamup with Thony and Arman a secret– like when he said it was a false alarm and turned Jefferson away– but now he’s told the FBI all about it?? I guess maybe he was just waiting to get a clear plan from Thony and Arman that morning before he took it to Russo? Also lol at Russo mentioning Maya having met Thony– you can immediately bet Maya is going to show up at some point, despite Garrett’s assurances lol. Just like the comments about Thony being in danger if Cortes sees the FBI, and Garrett saying that nothing will go wrong. Famous last words lol…

So is La Habana gonna be like a shared custody arrangement, or…? Lol bc apparently rn Arman gets the office overnight and as soon as morning hits, she’s tossing him out. (That little finger click and gesture to get out? That was hot lol). Also I kinda love the clear way we are being shown the division between them, particularly in these shared spaces of theirs. And I love that this scene further reiterates that she was never just the pretty face around the club– they were both equally the pretty face that lured the customers, and the business sharks running the show behind the scenes. But omg, rumpled grumbly Arman all squished onto that too-small couch?? I love it so much haha. But lbr buddy ‘I didn’t have anywhere else to go’ is a lie, Thony made it very clear you were welcome to her bed… ahem, I mean the bed at the clinic. (Shhhh I can dream, lol). Also I will be 100% honest, I definitely stared at his thighs when he threw back the blanket haha, but I was totally just looking for evidence of the scar that should have been there from the explosion in 1x01. I swear :P But anyhow I actually am so happy about this fight, because unlike their fight in front of the house, this isn’t all fire and anger. The things said then could have been put down to heat of the moment, and the writers could have used this scene to have them talk it out and reconcile now that Nadia knows he was telling the truth about the drugs (even if she still doesn’t know the whole story, and she knows that there’s more to it). But instead the same argument is covered again, but with tiredness and resignation rather than furious attacks. ‘What I did was for us, can’t you see that?” / ”No, I can’t see it”-- honestly I feel like when Arman says ‘us’, he doesn’t mean them as a romantic couple; he means both of them, individually. And he has been fighting to free them both, because he cares about her and knows that being near Robert is only going to be bad for her in the long run. (Plus he just hates Robert and can’t stand the thought of Robert feeling like he’s ‘won’ her). But when Nadia hears ‘us’ she takes it to mean their relationship, their connection to each other. Which is why she doesn’t believe he’s fighting for ‘them’. But lbr these two are doomed either way– bc if they remain under the crushing pressure from Robert, they’ll crack under the strain until they shatter apart. And if they get free of Robert and re-establish the level of financial security they had before, then Arman will no longer have the same obligation to protect and provide for her, and he won’t be able to resist the pull towards what he really wants– a life with Thony.

The comment about the ring was interesting though– like whoever puts it on her hand (or more importantly, who she accepts it from) is laying claim to her? Originally it was Arman, but then the ring became Robert’s, and then he gave it to her– and so by her visibly wearing it, it’s now a sign of her connection to/acceptance of him rather than Arman. And lbr she could have put it away somewhere safe or even hocked it when Robert gave it back, but she chose to wear it, even knowing the message it would send to Arman. But ugh the way their voices get all low and he tells her she’s free of Robert, basically implores her not to get caught in his web again, and she holds back tears as she tells him that she knows that what he’s doing is for Thony. The fact that he stops trying to argue against it– he’s accepted that they both know it’s the truth now– and just tries to warn her in the only way he can that being close to Robert is dangerous, that he genuinely is trying to protect her, regardless of the state of their marriage. But ugh the quiet conviction in ‘my safety is not your concern anymore’ and ‘don’t be here when I come back’– we have seen them have many fights by this point, constantly lashing out at each other and pushing each other away, but always coming back to the safety and familiarity of their relationship– but to me, this is the point where their marriage truly ends. After this, I honestly can’t see the writers giving us scenes where they try to come back from this, aka try to ‘make it work’. I think they are definitely going to continue being in each other’s orbit– with La Habana, Robert, the drug business etc, there’s still a lot connecting them– but it will no longer be as a partnership. As allies, maybe, hopefully; but never again as husband and wife. (At least I really, really hope so.)

Omg I am in LOVE with Fi clearly just rolling with the fact that Thony is going to go undercover to meet a drug kingpin (it’s like that John Mulaney quote of “You know those days when you’re like, ‘This might as well happen’” lol), and aw she even goes all in to find her an outfit and make her look the part. Considering Fi has been the one doing most of the freaking out lately, I think it actually helps her (as well as Thony) to take a turn being the strong one, the one who says it’s all going to be okay. Thony’s feeling out of her depth, and so afraid for both Arman and herself– like I said earlier, maybe in the moment when she insisted on coming, she felt that having the two of them there must surely make it safer; as if even a high-level criminal would hesitate before killing two people (especially including a woman) because it doubles the likelihood of someone noticing them missing or knowing where they were last seen. But now she’s terrified that she might be wrong about that, and even more terrified that it might be her messing up somehow that gets them both killed. She insisted on coming because she thought it would protect Arman– but what if it does the opposite? What if he dies because of her?? And ughhh Fi reminds her of how brave and strong she is, and then gives her her ‘armour’ to wear so she can feel the part, and I just love them so much ughhhh. I have said it before that these two are the true centre of the show and I stick by that

Okay but we were 100% ROBBED of getting to see Arman’s first reaction to Thony in That Outfit. Am I going to fic it? Look, at some point, probably lol. Because you just know that that boy forgot his own damn name for a moment there when he first laid eyes on her. I’m picturing him and Garrett tensely standing at some designated meet point, waiting for her to arrive (maybe there was a bit of final briefing to do or something, idk) and as she pulls up they’re snarking at each other over something, and then when she steps out of the van Arman literally stops talking mid-sentence and just stares. And Garrett makes some teasing comment (like "careful, that puddle of drool will ruin those fancy shoes" or "what's the matter, zebra got your tongue?" Lol) that Arman doesn’t even hear– he's already walking towards her like he's being drawn by a magnet. Garrett huffs and then follows, then tells Thony that this outfit is much more on the mark than her goth one, but she’s not listening to him either. She’s only looking at Arman, and Garrett rolls his eyes a little and then does some very pointed throat clearing and then is all “Are we going to stand here having a staring competition all day or are we actually going to get this done?” and they snap themselves out of it. But anyway ugh the two of them driving in the caddy looking like that, with that sultry music over the top?? And the line “eye for an eye, heart for a heart, gave you my light, I’ll show you my dark” – like help??? Honestly whoever does the music for this show deserves a goddamn award. I have literally been listening almost solely to playlists of tracks from TCL for months now and I am loving it. But anyway major kudos to Arman for being able to focus on the road and not on the amount of bare thigh on display in the passenger seat lol; that’s some serious discipline right there. (Though lbr he’s had a lot of practice at trying not to stare at Thony haha, with varying levels of success).

But ugh the way she stays in her seat for a few moments after he gets out of the car, mentally readying herself– and then suddenly he’s there, opening the door for her and holding out a hand to help her onto her feet, and I love the symbolism of him aiding her through this almost as much as I loved the prolonged eye contact and hand holding ugh. The silent reassurance and support in the look he gives her? Help. Honestly I was hoping he’d hold out his arm and she’d take it so they’d walk into the place physically connected, but then it would have made her seem like someone who was more there for decoration than as his equal partner– ugh the power couple vibes were definitely strong. Loved that he continued to check in with her with little looks as they get inside and meet Cortes– also it just further reiterates that invisibility she has when she’s in her cleaning lady persona, considering Cortes saw her literally like 2 days ago in Robert’s office and yet doesn’t recognise her at all. I’ll acknowledge that it’s partly context (even if he thought he recognised her as the cleaning lady he’d seen, his brain would have convinced him that it didn’t make sense for her to be here like this now) but it’s definitely partly that he just didn’t see her, barely even looked at her in the office– even though he’s certainly looking today. This moment definitely highlights the way Arman saw her from the very start, even despite her wearing her cleaning lady invisibility cloak at the time, and it was unfathomable to him that anyone could overlook her. Ugh. (Also sidenote: hearing Arman say his name with the real accent during their introduction, rather than the Anglicised version, was super hot). Also omg catch me dying over Cortes saying “Me, I at least like a date before I jump into bed with someone, if you know what I mean” and the way Armony look at each other as Arman says “We feel exactly the same way.” Bc actually, you guys don’t just like ‘a date’ first, you like to completely entwine your lives and create an unbreakable bond of mutual trust and devotion before you get to the jumping in bed part hahaha. (and while I’m more than happy to wait for that bed part, please god let them it be coming at some point lol). Anyway I love that when they first sit down, he immediately orients his body towards Thony with his arm along the couch behind her, making the distance between them feel smaller ugh. Tbh I was surprised by how quickly their ‘date’ ended; and while he played it cool, Arman was clearly eager to wrap things up and get Thony out of there– and maybe Cortes picked up on that, or maybe not. Either way ugh this is the second time in only a few weeks that Arman has been forced to leave a woman he cares about in the company of a dangerous man; but at least with Nadia and Robert, he knew she was going to be safe. Leaving Thony must have been so much harder for many reasons, and tbh I think if he had seen in her eyes that she couldn’t handle being left behind, he would have done whatever it took to get her out of there with him. But Thony is badass and brave and did what had to be done, and that’s one of the many reasons why he loves her.

(Lol like halfway into the ep and already over 6.5k words. I am a mess. As much as I disapprove of them making Arman disappear for the rest of the ep, I do appreciate that it might be the only thing that saves me from myself haha)

Okay Garrett’s “He left her there” better not have any judgement in it, bc seriously boy you’ve seen how much Arman protects Thony– agreeing to the sting to take down Hayak, arguing for her to be let go when they were caught with the meds, etc– so don’t act like he would just willingly leave her in the clutches of a man like Cortes! Grrr. Anyway I just noticed Garrett is still wearing his wedding ring?? (and that Oliver has a finger tatt, lol). Honestly mate I think you’d be better off giving up on that one… especially since you are clearly not over Maya (wait do I ship it? Oh god maybe a little. gross)

Oh man, forcibly prolonged interactions with strangers are already so awkward, and this is even worse given the whole practically being kept captive thing. Like how much time has passed already? When did they move to sit by the pool? What have they been talking about? Has he actually asked anything about the drugs, which was her main argument for her being brought along in the first place? (Sidenote: just noticed this actor has forearm tatts that have been covered up, and I think they did the same for the actor playing JD bc I noticed something on his bicep last ep. How rude that they rob me of my chance to be nosy lol). But anyway omg “And how long have you and Arman been together?” / “Just a few months now,” (truth) ”but we’re not together, we’re business partners.” (lie lol). Well I guess it’s not so much a lie as it is not quite the truth. And haha “You could have fooled me” – I love this line because technically they are fooling him rn, but clearly not about their relationship lol. Like seriously, even this aloof criminal who saw them together for like all of five minutes could see what was between them. Ngl everyone can see that there’s something there, including Thony and Arman themselves, but they both refuse to acknowledge it openly because they’re too afraid of what it’ll mean if they do. Because think about it– what if one of them tells the truth about how they feel, and the other chooses not to take their relationship any further? Thony’s all too aware of Arman’s sense of obligation towards Nadia, and Arman’s afraid he’s too much of a liability to be worth the risk to Thony, especially when her family has to come first. And then there’s the even more terrifying option– what if they tell the truth and find that the other wants to be with them too, but then things fall apart later on?? After everything she went through in her relationship with Marco, Thony is afraid to trust someone with her heart (and Luca’s) again, and it would just be so hard to believe that someone used to the kind of upscale, intoxicating life that Arman has led could ever be happy in the simple family life that she has. Meanwhile Arman has always viewed himself as unworthy of her, and is afraid that someday she would realise it and abandon him, like so many others in his life have done. (Isabel, his parents, Hayak, and to an extent, Nadia). And so anyway with all of that, are we really surprised that neither of them will actually step up and say how they feel???

Wait dude it’s lunch time rn? So this guy has already had two glasses of wine before lunch on a weekday? Sorry bud but I have some professional advice for you regarding the level of your alcohol consumption lol. Also that huge plate of spaghetti and garlic bread is making me wonder how your cholesterol’s looking haha (says the girl who would absolutely demolish that meal given the opportunity lol). But anyway live fast die young I guess lol

Aww I love that Fi called JD! It’s so nice to see her having someone to lean on other than just Thony (who, lbr, is dealing with enough of her own shit) and ugh JD is so steady and kind (and tall. and cute. Have I mentioned lately that I ship it?). Honestly I was so nervous for her when she told him the truth about Chris– the fact that she did shows how close they really must have been when they were together– and his compassion for her made me love him so much. It makes sense that she can trust him about this though; he’d never do anything to hurt Jazz, and having her mother and brother jailed or deported is just about the worst thing he could possibly do to her. And that’s not to mention how much he cares about Fi herself, and Chris too, who he would have been a dad figure to when Chris was only a few years old ugh

And speaking of Chris– oh you foolish boy. You’ve really gone and done it now, putting your face and your name out there. Such a relief that JD got him out of there in time– hopefully they can come up with a plausible excuse for his visit before Flores comes knocking, for example that he came bc he wanted to request that if they found the video of Marco’s death, could they not tell his mom about it because he’s worried that it would hurt her too much to see it. But anyway ugh JD telling Chris he needs to forgive himself for the death he caused– I can imagine that a soldier who spent years at war knows a little about that. As much as I wanted a chance to see Arman bond with Chris, I definitely want to see JD & Chris bonding more (Arman can claim the Hot Uncle role later; let’s work on Hot Husband and Hot Stepdad first lol)

But ugh omg this whole conversation between J-Fi about when they split up and why she didn’t tell him she was undocumented and whether he would have proposed?? Helpp??? I am such a sucker for stories about people who love each other but who are kept apart by circumstances outside of their control– ideally I want the barriers between them resolved pretty quickly (Armony are definitely in this category lol) but I also love those like J-Fi, who get a second chance years later. So c’mon writers, send the girlfriend on her way and give us the J-Fi we deserve lol

Lol guess who learned something new today? I was all like ‘why does Arman call it Sportsbook when Nadia and Robert both call it Fast Lane??’ – well fun fact, a sportsbook is an establishment that takes bets on sporting events and pays out winnings. Clearly I am not a gambler or a televised sports enthusiast lol. But anyhow damn, respect to Nadia for dictating the terms of her business arrangement with Robert; she literally rocked up and bossed him around and he practically thanked her for it god I’m starting to get dom/sub vibes here too lol. But anyway Robert makes her feel admired and respected and wanted, whereas lately Arman has (unintentionally) made her feel tolerated rather than appreciated– while he does care for her greatly, I think he holds a subconscious level of resentment towards her, as the thing that stands in the way of what he wants above all else. And she can sense that, even when he’s not aware of it himself. But oooh her expression when Robert commented on the ring and how lovely it looks on her– I think she now sees that Arman was right, and Robert views it as a symbol of her connection to him rather than Arman, proof of him staking his claim. Interested to see what she does with that knowledge– like I said in another meta, I want her to use Robert and then throw him under the bus to take his kingdom right out from under him lol, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see on that one.

The fact that none of the many many guards at this very isolated property have noticed the random car hanging out nearby is a little ridiculous lol. As is the fact that Garrett gets into the compound by sneaking past when their backs are turned– Cortes should definitely fire every one of these goons lol

Ugh Thony looking out the window as if for rescue; makes me think of her “he always shows up when I need him” statement. She knows Arman can’t come for her right now– and in fact, by getting the drug handover done, he is literally doing everything he can to get her her freedom as soon as possible– but she still can’t help but wish for him to appear. And then lol at the ‘well, shit’ expression on her face when Maya walks in. I actually really enjoy the way these two interact, and how they both try to protect the other– Maya by warning her to get out and away from Cortes asap, and Thony by trying to convince her to do the same. Totally in love with the little ‘oh, honey’ look that Thony gives Maya when she learns of her relationship with Garrett; lbr Thony can definitely relate to falling in love with someone she probably shouldn’t have, but at least for her that someone is a man who will literally always put her before himself, which is clearly something Maya didn’t get from Garrett. But while he may be a selfish asshole, Thony knows he really has been trying hard to protect Maya, and that there are good sides to him– certainly far more than Cortes, who is only ever going to hurt her worse and worse until one day she ends up dead. Honestly when Thony said she’d been with someone who hurt her too, I gasped aloud, because I have always believed that Marco (while definitely abusive in multiple other ways) was never physically abusive towards her. I always felt that while Thony accepted/tolerated a certain level of his emotional/financial/social abuse, she would never have tolerated him getting physically violent with her, partly because she has too much fire in her for that, but mainly because she wouldn’t have been able to trust that that violence wouldn’t eventually be turned on Luca, and she could never allow that. So her comment to Maya had me all like omg?!??, and then she added ‘not physically’ and I was just like jesus don’t scare me like that lol. Also later she tells Maya “The way he treats you is not love” and honestly this line says so much. And tbh anyone who judges Thony for ‘cheating’ on Marco– a man who abused her for years and put their son’s health at further risk, and who she could not legally separate herself from/who made it financially almost impossible for her to escape from– can piss right off imo

Anyway omg when Thony had Cortes’ gun to her head ugh… my poor baby deserves all the peace and happiness in the world and yet she gets so much fear and suffering instead. I loved seeing Maya rescue her though, and then Thony immediately trying to rescue her right back– as ever, this show is THE BEST when it comes to women helping other women. And ugh they looked like such a badass duo there facing off against Cortes, Thony staying close by her side and giving her her strength and support. But ugh he did what abusers do and weaseled his way closer until he was almost able to strike– if he’d gotten the gun from Maya, they’d both have been dead in seconds. Which is why I’m pretty much on Garrett’s side when it comes to shooting him tbh; I know that a cop shooting an unarmed man is terrible, but in this context it was the right call, because like I said, he was literally moments from killing them. And to allow one or both of them to be hurt/killed before he could be ‘legally’ taken out is just insane. Damn at Garrett’s trust in his aim though– Cortes and Maya were standing very close– and daaaaaaamn at Thony’s quick thinking (she has learned a few things from being in Arman’s world lol). Honestly so proud of the fact that she did that for Garrett; she and Maya could have just stood there and done nothing, and then told the FBI the truth about what happened– and they would have likely faced no consequences, while Garrett would be hauled away for manslaughter or something (I assume?). But Thony understands that legal and illegal don’t always match up with right and wrong, and she knows that Garrett just saved both of their lives– and so in return, she saves his freedom. It’s going to make their dynamic even more interesting now, and tbh I can’t wait to see more of how they interact and help each other in the future, especially now that he will literally never threaten or blackmail her ever again.

Anyway, not sure what I’ll be stressing over more between now and next ep– Thony getting caught for her aiding and abetting (because as @enigmaticfox brilliantly pointed out, Thony put the gun in Cortes’ left hand, but we definitely saw earlier that he’s right-handed ugh), or Flores looking into Chris, or the (thankfully unlikely) possibility that Arman had a run-in with Sin Cara when trying to get the drugs and ended up in a world of trouble of his own aaaaahhhh (for once I’m actually tempted to watch the promo for next ep, but nah, I’ll just suffer in suspense instead lol)

Alright that’s all for 2x06, kids. See you in a couple of weeks with a recap which will undoubtedly break 10k based on how quickly things are going downhill with my self control lol

#The Cleaning Lady #Armony #TCL recaps #hit a new record today guys are you proud of me lol #I am both proud and terrified haha #honestly how will I survive the next half of the season when the Armony REALLY gets going #(spoiler: I won't)

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sea-owl · 1 year

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As someone who’s into MCU and Bridgerton, I got some prompt crossover with these two:

Mr. Tony Stark arrive to London and is searching for a bride for his protégé Mr. Peter Park. He was then introduced to a lovely Miss Penelope Feathering at Danbury ball by Lady Danbury who’s friend with Mr. Stark and became quite smitten with the short redhead lady. As the pair became close, Colin Bridgerton arrived home from his long-months trip and was shocked to see Penelope with her arm loop around Peter Parker's arm. Oh boy, he will not let that American boy take his precious wallflower away from him.

Anon I don't know if you know this but I was mostly a Marvel blog before I got into Bridgerton. I should write some more for them again. Also I know you requested polin but with the recent news of Andrew Garfield and Phoebe Dynevor sparking dating rumors I kinda want to switch this to Saphne.

Ok imagine Mr. Tony Stark, his husband Captian Steve Rodgers, and their son Peter are coming during London social season to visit an old family friend through Tony's godmother Aunt Peggy, Lady Danbury.

Of course Lady Danbury is gonna drag them to all the social functions where her and Tony are gonna terroize the ton together with Steve in the back attempting to do damage control but he's mostly dodging Lady Danbury's cane.

Peter is just kinda left on his own at the party but he doesn't mind. He's fascinated by the new experince and is just taking it all in.

At one of these parties he meets a Ms. Daphne Bridgerton. They're roughly the same age, and they start a conversation about music. Peter tells Daphne about his wide range of taste, mainly due to his fathers, while Daphne tells him about composing some of her own music. The two talk becoming instant friends, and this catches the attention of a few parents.

Violet and Tony will later ask their children about the nice boy/girl they met at the ball. Both Daphne and Peter will laugh and say the other is a new friend they made. Violet asks if he may be a potential match to add to the list. Daphne will say no, Peter was not looking for romance, and she suspected he may have someone already back in America. Violet still added his name to the list.

By midseason when Daphne wasn't entertaining potential suitors her and Peter were being friends in a corner.

Enter Simon and the fake courtship.

Peter who was trained to spot fake shit from birth immediately sussed them out and privately asked Daphne about it. Daphne confeses that if she appeared to capture the heart of a duke other gentlemen would immediately see her as a potential marriage option and not a friend. Simon would also be left alone if he apoeared to he courting her.

Peter who has seen this before when his Aunt Natasha and Uncle Clint got married for a mission and then just stayed married after immediately says, "As you wish Duchess."

#this is either gonna age poorly or be funny later #this year this is set in is ambiguous because im too lazy at the moment to research #bridgerton and marvel crossover #lowkey i love the image of lady danbury and tony being terrors together #bridgerton #marvel #saphne #besties peter and daphne

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l1ft-l1ft1ng-l1ft3d · 11 months

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OK, guys. Storytime! 😵‍💫

(No, I didn't get caught!!!)

There's a W@lgr33n'$ in a terrible neighborhood in the city I live in that's constantly shoplifted from + has lots of homeless + mentally ill people loitering outside at all times of the day. I robbed them blind for 5 months (I l1ft3d from them at least 2x per week) until the owner/manager of that location figured out that SHITLOADS of expensive cosmetics, skincare, feminine hygiene, haircare, first aid items, vitamins/supplements, stationery, etc. were disappearing. He never saw me conceal b/c I always used blind spots, but he definitely suspected me after a while.

This owner/manager (white, probably mid-50s) is a real dick suck of a rules guy/wannabe LP agent who takes theft at his store personally. Judging from his behavior, he thinks people are stealing from his store to punish + take from him, but really, people rip him off because capitalism is garbage + nobody can afford anything. 🤡 He now constantly patrols the store like some bullshit rent-a-cop and follows all $h0pl1ft3r$ (whether they've stolen small items like ice cream or energy drinks or larger, higher ticket cosmetics/skincare/drugs) out of the store while shouting at them that they're worthless thieves + to never come back.

In early May, I stopped into this W@lgr33n'$ location to do a little l1ft1ng, and this limp dick asshole manager/owner sees me walk in. He then practically ran over to one of his employees who was stocking shelves + basically told her to watch me while I was in the cosmetics/skincare/haircare section. The owner was SO obvious about sussing me out that I immediately realized what he was doing + noped the fuck out of there with a quickness without taking anything, but I could tell he was big mad that he hadn't been able to definitively "catch" me stealing + ban me from his store.

I hadn't been back to that W@lgr33n'$ location since then for any reason (no lifting, no shopping, no nothing) until today. My best friend (who lives in the same neighborhood as this W@lgr33n's) needed a few things, so I went with her to watch her son while she shopped. (Obviously I wasn't going to l1ft from there after my last interaction with the manager/owner.)

Within a minute of walking in with my best friend, the manager/owner had seen me + was already sussing me out + giving me dirty looks. There was nothing he could do about me being in his store because I wasn't doing anything wrong, + he was pissed! 😭

While we were there, an obviously homeless + mentally not all there POC stole a small container of ice cream - literally such a cheap item that it barely even counts as a loss for the store. The shitbag prick of a manager/owner sees what happened, chases this guy down + starts yelling loudly enough for everyone to hear that this guy stole ice cream, screams at the guy to leave, and follows him out into the parking lot while continuing to yell at + insult the man while the employees at the registers are rolling their eyes + cringing with secondhand embarrassment.

Watching that sort of totally unprofessional, aggressive, righteous behavior from the manager/owner + seeing how totally disproportionate his reaction was to the value of the item the person stole really left a foul taste in my mouth. Like, first of all, go fuck yourself for acting like your shitty merchandise is somehow more important than people + actually matters in the grand scheme of things. Folks have been $h0pl1ft1ng for as long as stores have been around + will $h0pl1ft long after that militant fascist prick manager drops dead of a stroke from the stress of constantly trying to catch thieves stealing from his shitty little store in a shitty little neighborhood in a city full of poor/disabled/homeless/unemployed/mentally ill people who are NEVER going to leave his precious store alone.

I guess I'm mostly just ranting, but I also want to remind every l1ft3r to be really aware of the "vibes" of the management + employees, + to avoid stores with aggressive managers/owners ego-tripping on playing cop with l1ft3r$. If anything feels *off* in any way to you when you're l1ft1ng, don't hesitate to drop everything, leave right away, + never come back. Moral of the story: Don't let some shit maggot little store manager catch you slipping + don't forget to rob W@lgr33n's of everything that isn't locked down to the floor because fuck them! 😭👌 The revolution is coming + worthless capitalist Nazis like that manager will NOT be spared. 😎👍

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a-pale-azure-moon · 2 years

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Midnight Plays Azure Gleam: Chapter 2

Finally, a chance to play a character other than Shez. No prizes for guessing who I immediately switched to when the battle started.

Edelgard meeting with Jeritza. Nothing suspicious here at all, nope.

Seriously, it makes no sense to me why Seteth is suspicious of Byleth in 3H but apparently trusts Jeritza implicitly here. I know he's been working at Garreg Mach awhile but it's still weird AF.

Jeritza: "We'll follow the blood scent." (Yes, he actually says this. Teacher of the year, everyone.)

I mean, I don't want to harp on this but it was barely believable in 3H that this guy was hired as a weapons instructor. To have him as a professor pretty much breaks all plausibility.

Good on Sylvain, Dedue and Dimitri suspecting a trap.

Not much to do on the battle prep, because it forces you to take Shez, Dedue, Ashe and Dimitri. Jeritza's also a green unit.

Aw, Ashe admits he can lockpick but isn't proud of it. Don't feel bad, Ashe. It's a valuable skill and I made use of it many, many times in 3H. xD

Monica?! As in Monica Monica or Kronya Monica?

Initial impression is that Dimitri feels very strong, even at level 1 with a basic Iron Lance. He's slower than Shez, but I'm guessing that's just because it's early game. (It'd better be at least.)

...And his crest activated the first time I tried a combat art. Now his weapon's almost broken but it sure did delete every enemy in range, lol.

OK, I guess this is the real Monica since a bunch of dark mages showed up and mentioned Kronya by name.

Escort mission, yay! Every gamer's favorite!

...Does Dimitri recognize the mages?

Still getting frequent pop-up windows. It's very disruptive to the flow of the game.

And here's the actual Kronya. And she goes down pretty easily.

And now we get to face a Demonic Beast. This should be fun.

Its attacks are pretty simple to dodge, but breaking the armor is less straightforward, since it requires using different weapons (and therefore, different classes). Getting Umbral Steel is going to suck in this game if this is the only way to get it.

Somehow I S-Ranked that. I figured I took too long to meet the time limit, but nope. And Dimitri wins MVP honors for the first time. Definitely won't be the last.

Alois! I'm a bit disappointed Dimitri didn't laugh at his pun, TBH.

Dimitri immediately susses out that the mages were the real ones in charge, not the bandits.

Monica outs Tomas as her kidnapper. Jeritza pretends like he hasn't a clue.

Arval says he "felt things" upon meeting Kronya. Not kinship or malice, he says, just pure emotion, whatever that means. Sorry writers, you aren't being anywhere near as cagey as you think.

Interesting. Annette speculates that "Tomas" might be trying to damage the church's reputation. I'm glad someone actually says it, since that was only implied in 3H.

Sylvain says the church should do a better job vetting their employees (hard agree). Ashe is about to respond when we get interrupted by a cutscene.

Solon appears! And then immediately poofs away. Not that I expected to battle him right away, but that was still pretty anti-climatic.

#few3h #fe3hopes #azure gleam #midnight plays azure gleam #blue lions

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selfship-sideblog · 3 years

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So this little ficlet is because of this post. I know the anon didn't ask me specifically, but I wanted to see how I feel about writing this kind of think and if I can do it.

Hope all Sykkuno simps have a lovely day and that you like this!

Disclaimer: This fic is just for fun and if Sykkuno ever says that he isn’t comfortable with fics about him I’ll delete this. Also I'm not comfortable using his real name so he'll go by Sykkuno in the fic.

Note: Gender neutral pronouns for reader, short/small reader.

Word count: 1005

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

"Ok, guys we're starting and - oh we're imposter now. First game of the day and we already got imposter, with Poki," Sykkuno said to his chat as his and Poki's characters appeared on the screen with "Imposter" in red letters above them.

The screen faded into the Dropship of the Polus map. Sykkuno walked to the keys along with the others, faked the task and walked down along with the others before splitting off towards the medbay.

Sykkuno faked some tasks and looked for people to kill. The lights went out while he was alone in O2. He went down and saw Rae on the water wheel, so he just killed her before going up towards the lights and being the first one there and fixed them. He went out of electrical and towards labs. As he walked in the medbay the animation for a reported body flashed before it faded away into the meeting.

Toast had been the one to report the body.

“Ah, Poki already killed two people,” Sykkuno said to his chat.

During the meeting they discussed their positions and the time of the kill. No one suspected Sykkuno, but Poki had a little sus on her but everyone skipped since they were on seven and weren’t exactly sure.

A little later into the round Sykkuno walked into medbay and saw Poki, Toast and Wendy.

“Ok, guys we know exactly what to do.”

As Toast and Wendy started leaving Poki’s character jumped forward as she killed Wendy.

Now to kill Toast-

“Sykkuno, sweetie, have you seen my pho- oh here it is!”

Sykkuno jumped in surprise at the sound of someone’s voice and turned his head to the right. His eyes lit up and his lips turned up. An arm covered in grey appeared on the camera before it returned with a phone in the hand.

“Hey (Y/N), you’re up,” Sykkuno smiled to the person outside the camera frame.

“Yeah, I just got up. Oh God it’s 11 am! It’s so late!” the person shouted.

“That’s not so late.”

There was a chuckle, “Maybe for you bae.”

Then the person came fully into frame, with a wild mess of a hair, a big hoodie hanging down from their small body, leaned next to Sykkuno and gave him a kiss. “See you later.”

“What the fuck Poki!?”

The unfamiliar person jumped at Toast’s shout, snapping their head towards the computer and their eyes widening.

“I’m asking myself the same thing, Toast!” Poki replied.

“Wait, wait, what happened?” Abe asked.

“What’s going on?” The person next to Sykkuno asked him.

“Oh, well, you just interrupted my double kill.”

“Oh, no I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were playing!” The person apologized frantically, their eyebrows furrowing.

“No, no it’s alright. Don’t worry about it,” Sykkuno assured them, still his sweet self while in the background Toast was explaining how Poki killed Wendy and that it was probably a failed double kill since Sykkuno was there too, while Poki was trying to accuse Toast. “I’m streaming too though.”

“Oh,” they looked at the camera and waved, “hi!” then they turned to Sykkuno again “Still I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok.”

When Sykkuno’s name was called in the conversation, he just said “It’s not me guys.”

“But did Toast or Poki kill Wendy?” Jodi asked him.

“Uhm, I - I don’t know. My partner came in the room and I was distracted,” he stumbled over his words.

“It’s definitely Poki, we sussed her last round and it’s probably Sykkuno too and they were going for a double kill but he was distracted,” as usual Toast was right.

“I better go before I get you in more trouble,” the person left with an apologetic look.

Sykkuno turned back towards the computer and saw the chat had blown up with messages, but focused on the game. The voting time had ended and the others had voted out Poki.

“Well, it’s over guys. It’s over,” Sykkuno laughed, covering his mouth with his hand.

The next round started and Sykkuno didn’t even bother to call a sabotage and waited until Toast called an emergency meeting. They voted him out and after he was thrown in the lava the “defeat” screen showed up.

“Poki, I’m sorry I got distracted, I couldn’t kill Toast,” Sykkuno said.

“No it’s ok, it happens,” Poki replied.

As the others were talking Sykkuno read the chat and saw a bunch of questions of who the person that came in was and commenting on how cute they were.

“Uh, that was, um,” he lowered his head for a second, hiding his smile, “that was my partner (Y/N).”

The chat was very excited, some were saying they were really cute together, others that they were happy for him and some even asking if they would be featured in his streams in the future.

“I don’t know, they have never said they wanted to be in my streams, but if you guys want I’ll ask them,” Sykkuno answered, brushing the bangs off his face.

“’Was that your hoodie they were wearing?’” he read the question, “Uh, yes,” he answered with an awkward laugh, “they especially enjoy wearing that one, they say it’s very comfortable.”

A lot more questions went by in in the chat but Sykkuno answered one more question “How’s the relationship going so far?”

“Well, uhm, I don’t know how they feel and what they think, and uh,” he began stuttering, not sure how to answer and how much he should share, “how serious it is, but it’s been going good. We’ve been dating for uh, four or five months I think,” he answered.

He thought about it for a few seconds and he decided to say it:

“They’ve made me really happy and I hope they feel the same,” he said, softer than usual and a little blush on his face.

He saw the teasing comments of his chat like ‘that’s the face of a man in love’, ‘HE’S BLUSHING’ and even ‘smittenkkuno’ and just laughed nervously.

#sykkuno x reader #sykkuno #not tagging the others sine they're only mentioned #c/o #c\o #celebrity other #real person fiction #sykkuno imagines #fluff #dawn writing #fanfiction #rpf #gender neutral reader

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ct-multifandom · 3 years

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Miracuclass Amogus Cringe

I was going back and forth about making this post, but then I saw @charming-mage ‘s and I was like screw it we’re doing this. This ended up 10x longer than I thought it’d be.

Marinette (crewmate) - tries to organize everyone into a buddy system to corner the impostors, gets frustrated when people agree to her plan and then start running rogue. When discussions start she’s leading the conversation and asking the most questions. She greatly prefers crewmate over impostor because she likes the mystery solving element of discussions.

Marinette (impostor) - whenever she kills someone she goes, “ahhhh” out loud and panics while her avatar sprints away from the body. She likes coming up with convoluted plans, especially when she can communicate with her fellow imp(s), and tries to make it seem like she’s in two places at once wether it be through venting or falsified testimony.

Adrien (crewmate) - he has to unmute and ask how to do like every individual task to the point where he’s been voted out over it before because cmon, you’ve gotta be lying about it at this point, just piece it together and stop unmuting during task time. He makes puns and sings little improvised songs while tasking. When he suspects someone but they don’t get voted out, he offers to tail them at the cost of his own safety. Same with fixing sabotages late-game. To him, getting killed is just part of the game progression, and it’s not a big deal because he trusts his fellow crewmates to avenge him and doesn’t mind ghost-tasking.

Adrien (impostor) - okay maybe he lies about not knowing tasks sometimes. But it also took him a while to learn imp mechanics and he kept asking about them out loud like, “what’s the red square task on the floor? Why’s my name highlighted?” And somehow nobody noticed while his partner(s) were like nggggg Adrien no... At least he’s good at playing innocent/fake-detective-ing in discussions. Whenever he kills someone he makes some stupid one-liner about it out loud.

Alya (crewmate) - we got Sherlock Holmes over here. She overanalyzes every tiny detail and isn’t scared to sacrifice the sus for the greater cause. When she finishes tasks, she likes to hang out by security and snoop in case of the rare satisfaction of catching someone red-handed. If there’s an emergency meeting, it’s probably because she probably saw something. She supports Crewinette’s plans to corner the imps. She thinks tasks wins are boring and that it’s a lot more fun to win through voting correctly. If they task-win or lose she stops before the new game and asks who the imps were and for a recap of their actions.

Alya (impostor) - a force to be reckoned with. She’ll wait for the perfect moment to strike someone, and then cover her tracks, join a group and win herself a strong alibi anyways. Her reputation as a ruthless detective protects her, even when the game is set to show that the ejected person was innocent. She always chooses someone to kill and someone to blame for it, but sometimes she gets carried away and they vote her off for pointing too many fingers.

Nino (crewmate) - he’s just tasking, man. If he gets killed he’s like, “oh mf” and just keeps ghost-tasking. He mostly hangs out during the discussions unless he has something solid to say, only jumping in at the end to confirm, “so we’re voting for _?”. He leads his own little crewmate squad around when he finishes tasks to protect them while they finish theirs.

Nino (impostor) - mostly plays off the strategy of his partner(s). He likes playing the protective team-player type “innocent diversion” role while the partner(s) get to killing, so when discussions start he’s totally in the clear, which gives him an opening to dodge suspicion in the future if he needs to take over killing. He pretends to fix sabotages all the time because people rely on him to do that as a crewmate.

Max (crewmate) - freakishly good at the card scanning task. People always ask for his secret and he’s like? It’s so easy? He has every map memorized to a t so he can point out the contradictions in people’s stories like an ace attorney character. It’s surprisingly really helpful. He’s the opposite of Alya in that he’s a big supporter of the “guys, stop voting off random innocent people, we have like five tasks left. Whoever hasn’t done them, just finish them” strategy.

Max (impostor) - he tries his best to protect his partner(s) in the discussion while laying low himself, and sometimes he gets voted out for it, but if he senses that there’s nothing he can do, he’ll throw them even further under the bus to build credit for himself. He doesn’t like sacrificing innocents as a crewmate, so his defenses are only sus when he’s caught being wrong. He sabotages a lot to control people’s movements and vents liberally unless he committed to a tasking group. That being said, he can go whole rounds without killing out of caution.

Kim (crewmate) - he’s the guy who calls emergency meetings early into the game only to say, “I miss you guys :)” He gets voted out all the time for doing troll-y crap and ignoring Crewinette’s plans. He’s also severely confused by some of the tasks and game mechanics, but fakes it till he makes it, until the discussion where he rarely says anything valuable and just jokes around. Sometimes, though, he’ll offer a tiny offhand detail and everyone’s like Kim, I hate to say it, but you’re a genius or that’s the piece we’ve been missing! And he’s like haha ok. He’s always behind on tasks, sometimes out of laziness, sometimes out of confusion, but he’s one of the people Max is impatiently waiting on.

Kim (impostor) - he gets caught in the act a lot and it’s hilarious, but other times he gets away with everything the entire time, which is kinda scary. He’s weirdly good at introducing so much confusion and derailment to discussions that everyone gets totally lost and doesn’t know what’s going on, allowing him to survive when they could’ve easily figured him out. Unlike Max, he knows literally nothing about the maps and always says he was at the “slidey thing” or whatever and everyone’s like idk wtf the slidey thing is, and if this were anyone else they’d be gone immediately, but it’s Kim so he might actually be telling the truth. He refuses to learn the names of anything because this really helps him out.

Alix (crewmate) - always trying to convince her friends to experiment with ridiculous game settings. Occasionally, she gets to them, and they get games with comically unbalanced imp:crew ratios, awful lighting, an overwhelming load or lack of tasks, or hilariously low cool downs. She revels in the chaos. When she tasks she usually moves from place to place alone but tries to hop in with groups to confirm her movements. She’s pretty good at sussing imps out when they offer enough information, but otherwise she just makes goofy comments with Kim.

Alix (impostor) - not too worried about killing people and venting. She moves fast and dashes from place to place, joining a group on the opposite side of the map from her last body. If anyone says, “I saw someone vent but I didn’t see who” it was probably her. She likes the “stand in a clump and watch the chaos ensue when one person drops” technique as well as the gambling “hope that the UI for the task everyone’s doing covers your killing and venting” strat. Sometimes she’s forced to vent to a dead end and gets caught, and sometimes the big brain detectives catch her, but she’s usually pretty smooth.

Rose (crewmate) - a big fan of hide and seek mode. She likes grouping up for tasks, protecting each other at the cost of efficiency. During discussions, she has a hard time believing anyone’s the impostor, and everyone’s like, Rose, we know there are exactly three of them, you can’t defend every individual person. Whenever she gets killed she is like *gasp* et tu, Brute? No matter who it was.

Rose (impostor) - runs around with her squad when... oops... looks like something got sabotaged! Uh oh, wonder who could’ve done that? She’s in a battle against that task bar more so than the players, and tries to stay away from killing. She emulates crewmate behavior perfectly so no one ever suspects her until really late. If she’s the only imp left and she has to kill, it’s like an Agatha Christie locked room mystery level of drama and betrayal within her squad. But we were all together the whole time... omfg no way... it was one of us.

Juleka (crewmate) - she secretly prefers when everyone tasks alone, but goes with the squad for Rose. She only talks in discussions if she’s 100% sure about something, and she often incomprehensibly mumbles vital evidence. ~10 minutes later when they catch the imp she’s like iItoldyouso and the crew’s like ??? If she gets killed and her tasks are done, she haunts that impostor relentlessly. Sometimes she even organizes ghost brigades in ghost chat and gets everyone to follow them.

Juleka (impostor) - definitely gets a kick out of the kill button. Whenever she takes someone down she’s like heeheehee. If she was peer pressured into a task team again, she’ll anxiously try to slip away unnoticed for a second to catch someone in the hallway outside, but if she’s alone, she’s on a hunt. Nobody is safe. When she defends herself on voice chat she also mumbles incomprehensibly and everyone’s like sure, fair enough.

Mylene (crewmate) - seasoned task group leader. She also sings little task songs like Adrien. She tries to organize people into chatting regular status updates so they can tell if someone goes missing. She reports every body she finds and actively participates in the discussion, but whenever she makes good points, she gets overlooked. Then, the crew’s like Mylene, why didn’t you say anything sooner? And she’s like agjdjdhh Either that or she gets voted off for always reporting and being too eager to discuss on top of it.

Mylene (impostor) - gets her partner(s) inside her team and tries to tag-team anyone passing by, only for all the impostors to have alibis when she reports. If the ratio is right, they can destroy their own group, and then immediately point the finger at whoever is left, which works about half the time. Mylene is a pretty convincing actress, but the high IQ tricks only work a couple times.

Ivan (crewmate) - he’ll take one for the team if he has to, especially in those sabotage cases where you’d have to be isolated and vulnerable. Otherwise he’ll protect his group. He has an “innocent until proven guilty” attitude when he runs into other people on the map, and skips during a lot of the votes.

Ivan (impostor) - we all know he can’t lie to save his life. He usually gets voted out really fast if he kills someone because he gets nervous and starts saying contradictory things when questioned. That being said, he’ll do what he can to keep his partner(s) in the clear. He never vents because the risk is too high for him, instead just running around and saying, “sorry” out loud when he catches a victim.

Nathaniel (crewmate) - he’s the opposite of Adrien in that he’ll do anything to avoid getting killed. He runs around tasking on his own, but he’s usually behind because he’s so focused on avoiding everyone, to Max’s frustration. He also never reports bodies. This causes him to be sus at all times, so he gets voted out a lot. Wild Nath sightings are rare and terrifying because he’s never in the clear and he’s just standing there, menacingly. Imp!Alix sees him as a fun combo of Where’s Waldo and Assassin.

Nathaniel (impostor) - the millisecond that cool down timer runs out, someone is getting killed. Hit and run. He’s good at entering a fairly crowded large space, striking, and staying in everyone’s blind spots while he runs away, especially when the lights are out. He likes venting to isolated areas and killing as many people per round as he can, laughing when someone finally reports and everyone unmutes to go WHAT!? at the number of deaths. He tends to operate separately from his partner(s) unless they have an actual plan.

Chloe (crewmate) - gathers every single person in medbay and makes sure they all watch her scan. Yeah okay, we get, you’re a crewmate. She feels personally offended whenever someone kills her, which is often, since people tend to jokingly target her. During discussions, she accuses anyone and everyone of being sus, even if she just walked past them or saw them tasking alone. She likes stalking people as a ghost and spilling tea in ghost chat.

Chloe (impostor) - reacts similarly to Marinette when she kills. She will throw her partner(s) under the bus if it’s more advantageous in the long run, and she’s great at shifting the blame to innocents. People vote her out a lot anyways, and she says she can’t believe that they even like this stupid little game. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Unless she wins. Then it’s fun.

Sabrina (crewmate) - discussion detective supreme. She keeps track of every piece of evidence and testimony, every detail. She tails the sus at a distance, trying to catch them doing something. Sometimes it gets her targeted, but sometimes she catches them and calls emergency meetings to snitch. Somehow she manages to do this and finish her tasks at the same time.

Sabrina (impostor) - sabotages everything, and tries to get her partner(s) to do it too. Once she won because the crew just didn’t fix O2 in time. She avoids killing Chloe, but feels bad if she has to kill anyone else too. She typically just sticks to making other people seem suspicious, and likes the game mode where you can’t see if you voted correctly or not.

Lila (both) - she rarely joins these games. She isn’t even a member of the chat group they use. They occasionally invite her, and she usually lies about how busy she is, but she accepted a couple times to further her narrative. She pretends to be really bad at being an impostor to establish herself as someone incapable of trickery. Regardless of her role, whenever the body announcement pops up, she goes, “oh nooo, not [victim(s)]... nooo....” and Mari’s like stfu Lila.

Bonus Polaroid kids because,,, they <3

Kagami (crewmate) - hella efficient at tasks. Two discussions in and she’s done. She’s the interrogation specialist who stresses out the imps and crew alike with her barrage of questions. She likes moving either alone or in partners, three people maximum, unless Crewinette needs her, in which case she’ll stick to the plan no matter what.

Kagami (impostor) - you’re walking through the base / there’s no one around and comms are down / out of the corner of your eye you spot her / Kagami Tsurugi. She will have you cornered and you won’t be able to do anything about it. She always has a made up explanation for what she was doing, but sometimes it falls through solely because she’s always acting sus.

Luka (crewmate) - he likes crewmate a lot more than impostor. He’ll tag along with a task group until he’s done, and then he’ll go lurk in the corner and spy on people. He moves along the walls, and a few times this has led to him witnessing murders in the middle of the room while the imp only saw him after it was too late. Cue the mad dash for emergency meeting.

Luka (impostor) - works together with his partner(s) to perform some high level backstabbery. He rarely gets voted out unless he messes up because he builds bonds of trust with like half of the crew while he leads the rest into his partner(s)’ traps. He feels bad about killing sometimes, but he doesn’t mind sabotaging.

Zoe (crewmate) - she finds one or two other people she trusts and follows them around. She uses the logic of “well we could’ve both killed each other by now but we didn’t so they must be safe”. She immediately recounts everything that happened to her that round in discussions, even irrelevant details, just in case they might end up useful, and tends to bandwagon with voting.

Zoe (impostor) - tries to catch people in secluded corners or rooms with closable doors to kill them. She avoids taking risks, but sometimes she reports her own bodies and tries to act all surprised by the discovery. She’s a good actress, but she’s not the best bs artist, although the crew is used to her giving a ton of details right from the start, so they don’t suspect her unless there’s a hole in her story.

Marc (crewmate) - does tasks on his own but makes sure to stop near crowds when he can. Whenever he’s running around alone and sees someone else, he immediately turns around like ohmygodohmygod and anxiously dances around the other person who’s more than likely just another, equally anxious crewmate with places to be. He still gets killed a lot.

Marc (impostor) - he goes full anime villain mode. All according to keikaku. He’s one of those people who disproportionately rolls the impostor role and ends up with it like twice every five games. He plans out every move he’s gonna make, every complex lie and big brain play, and sometimes he gets that glorious evil win, but sometimes his plans are totally sabotaged by stupid things like Kim’s trolling.

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vavuska · 3 years

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CRUELLA, THE STORY OF A PUPPY SLAUGHTER (Part 2)

Here for part 1:

Part 1 - Summary:

In the previous part we saw how was originally described Cruella de Vil in Dodie Smith's 101 Dalmatians: a rich heiress, bossy, cruel toward animals, obsessed with fancy jewls, luxury and also fur coats. Cruella met Anita at school, they were in friendly terms, even if Anita described Cruella as a menacing student, expelled from school for drinking ink. Dodie Smith wrote that Cruella comes from a troublesome family: her ancestor was a serial killer, with the supernatural ability to summon storms and a tail (reference to Bram Stoker's Dracula and the devil). Cruella has strange eating habits (uses a lot of pepper, the Devil's spice) and is usually cold (as a corpse or a vampire). Cruella was so obsessed with fur to marry a furrier not for love but only for his job. Cruella's husband is weak and she is the dominant element in the couple, she also forced him to take her surname after their marriage.

We saw also the rapresentation of Cruella in 1961 cartoon version of 101 Dalmatians. Cruella is still a old friend of Anita. Her main colors are red (her loudy red car is the fist thing we see of Cruella) — expressing blood, anger, determination and passion — and green (she is always surrounded by nasty green smoke that comes from her cigarette) that rapresents envy, sickness and greed.

Her appearance is very particular, because she looks like a skeleton and her skin is very white - pale, very different from the healthy pink one of the other characters. She looks like a corpse, she looks sick in this 1961 version of 101 Dalmatians.

Her entrance is accompanied by a song, written by Roger, in which he anticipates the evil intention of Cruella and underlight the disturbing connotations of her surname (Count de Ville is one of Dracula's alias; Cruella de Vil is a pun name on “cruel devil”).

3 - Cruella in 1996

The 1996 live action of 101 Dalmatians the entrance of Cruella is anticipated by a sequence in which we heard a news London Zoo discovered the excoriated carcass of its prized 3-year-old female Siberian tiger, then the news reporter says that according to animal protection groups that monitor the international trade that a white Siberian tiger's fur is so rare that the offer of a pelt would surely draw the attention in contraband. And then the journalist ask “Who cold do something so horrible?”

Then enters Cruella. She wears veiled garment complete with Balenciaga-inspired extreme shoulders and floor-length black and white fur cape.

We saw this mysterious woman with veiled face and a long fur coat - we doesn't know she is Cruella yet - , exiting from her black and white 1974 Panther Deville, license plate “De Vil”. This version of the car is more closed to the book's one.

In Dodie Smith's book, Cruella's chauffeur-driven car is black-and-white striped, which Mr. Dearly describes as “a moving zebra crossing”, and Cruella boasts that it has the loudest horn in London, which she insists on sounding for the Dearly couple.

We saw Cruella shaking the ashes of her cigarette on the shiny and impeccable shoes of her vallet Alzonzo, while he tries to not look bothered by this lack of respect, and then we saw Cruella entering in a luxurious place called “House of De Vil”. Her red cigarette holder — switching from the turquoise the 1966 animated version favored — matched with her brilliant red lipstick, makes a great contrast to her black and white attire and also underlight the psychology of color typical of Disney villains: red is associated with malice, evil (hell and the devil), blood, danger, strength, power, determination and passion.

Now we have a sight of this long railway-like white hallway surrounded by exotic fur-clothes. Now we know she is a stylist and that she is maybe the one who cold be interested in the fur of the dead Siberian tiger.

A crowd of terrified / adoring employees hurry to greet the woman: “Good morning, Miss De Vil”.

Finally Cruella enters in her office and takes off her hat with veil, reveling her double-colored hair. She is Cruella De Vil in all her glory.

This sequence recalls openly the Devil Wears Prada.

This version of Cruella played by Glenn Close is much more human that the 1961 version. She is more charismatic too and also more fashionable. Her entrance is not as scary as the 1961 version, but shows her obsession for fur, her violation of the law and abuse on animals (also at those at risk of extinction) and her high level stylist house of fashion.

She isn't Anita's friend anymore, she is Anita's boss.

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While walking to her office, Cruella meets Anita, played by Joely Richardson. She spots that Anita is working on a new model (no more white tiger stripes, but dalmatian's spots). Anita's design catches her eyes and interest, as well as Anita's dog, Perdi: they had a strange chat about Perdi's fur. That, knowing already the plot of the movie and the news details Roger and Pongo were hearing in the previous scene, well, this conversation sounds a lot disturbing.

Cruella: “Anita, darling.”

Anita: “Good morning, Cruella.”

Cruella: “What a charming dog.”

Anita: “Thank you.”

Cruella: “Spots?”

Anita: “Yes, she’s dalmatian.”

Cruella: “lnspiration?”

Anita: “Yes.”

Cruella: “Long hair or short?”

Anita: “Short.”

Cruella: “Coarse or fine?”

Anita: “l’m afraid it is a little coarse.”

Cruella: “Pity!”

Anita: “But it was very fine when she was a puppy.”

Cruella: “Redemption! We need to have a little girl talk. Come to my office. Bring the drawing.”

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Ok. The next scene contains a very popular quote from this movie.

We are in Cruella's office: she has just invited Anita to talk about her design. Cruella wants a new coat and would love to wear the one that has just see at Anita's desk. Let's remeber she doesn't want to wear Anita's puppies already, for now is just an abstract idea about someone else's puppies, but they are still talking about Dalmatians' spots, compared with leopard ones and Anita seems to be perfectly fine. I don't think she knows already of Cruella's criminal way to obtain fur from animals at risk of extinction that her henchmen steal from Zoos, but Anita works for a woman who loves to wear REAL fur. I just can't imagine Cruella wearing any faux fur coat. This is not a crime, because it's legal wear fur coats made of mink, sable and ermine and such, but I found very weird that Anita is not having any suspect about Cruella's intention, because she is working on a model of striped tiger fur and Cruella lives for fur, worship fur. She just could not accept to wear faux fur.

However, Anita doesn't seem bothered at all by this strange talk about her dog's fur (yes, dog are not coats), but as a woman who works for fashion/fur industry and loves dogs she should know that in some parts of the world it is legal using cat and dogs to make clothes. I simply can't understand why she is not having any reaction at Cruella's strage interest about Perdi's fur.

Cruella and Anita talk about their work and Cruella makes lovely appreciation for Anita's drawings: she says she is talented and she doesn't want to risk to lose her pen.

That's now that Anita says she would not left Cruella's House for another job, she would left only if she decided to be a stay-at-home mother and wife. Well, no, she talks more genericly of "plans" with a hypothetical, for now, husband/boyfriend, and this could means everything, for example moving to another city, the assumption about marriage is an association made by Cruella that told us a lot of things about how producers would she looks, compared with the family-oriented Disney business plan. This is a very relevant issue we was also in her 1961 version: the losing comparison between Anita's family's oriented live choice and Cruella's — who is sigle, rich and indipendent — one. Cruella loves only her fur coats, while Anita have an husband, a simple house and also a lot of dogs. Cruella is alone, evil, ugly, wears a lot of make up, and not happy, while Anita is married, preatty but in a natural way and happy of her simple lifestyle with her husband and their dogs.

Cruella: “Now, darling, tell me more about these spots. l did leopard spots in the ‘80s. Well, dalmatian spots are a little different, aren’t they? Cozy. Classic.”

Anita: “Cuddly. Less trashy.”

Cruella: “Exactly! Do you like spots, Frederick?”

Frederick: “Oh, l don’t believe so, Madame. l thought we liked stripes this year.”

Cruella: “What kind of sycophant are you?”

Frederick: “Um, what kind of sycophant would you like me to be?”

Cruella: “Frederick… l’m beginning to see spots. What would it cost us to start again on next year’s line?”

Frederick: “Millions.”

Cruella: “Can we afford it?”

Frederick: “Well, yes--”

Cruella: “Pay it, darling. Now go away. l have to talk to Anita.”

(...)

Cruella: “Sit down, please. How long have you been working for me?”

Anita: “Uh, two years last August.”

Cruella: “And you’ve done wonderful work in that time.”

Anita: “Thank you.”

Cruella: “l don’t see you socially, do l?”

Anita: No.

Cruella: “And you’re not very well-known, despite your obvious talent.”

Anita: “Well, notoriety doesn’t mean very much to me.”

Cruella: “Your work is fresh and clean, unfettered, unpretentious. lt sells. And one of these days… my competitors are going to suss out who you are… and they’re going to try to steal you away.”

Anita: “Oh, no. lf l left, it wouldn’t be for another job.”

Cruella: “Oh, really?bWhat would it be for?”

Anita: “Well, l don’t know. Um, if l met someone, if working here didn’t fit in with our plans.”

Cruella: “Marriage.”

Anita: “Perhaps.”

Cruella: “More good women have been lost to marriage… than to war, famine, disease and disaster. You have talent, darling. Don’t squander it.”

Anita: “Well, l don’t think that it’s something we have to worry about. l don’t have any prospects.”

Cruella: “Thank God.”

Cruella makes a very cynical — but historically appropriate and also very sharable — critic about marriage. She was right, expecially because of what we saw about her 1960s version and how she is rooted in anti-feminism and in an open condamn of women's growing emancipation from the “traditional family role” imposed by media in the 1950s and 1960s, rapresented by 1961's Anita. However, Cruella is a cruel, evil villaness, so what she says to Anita is just a condamn made by Disney on women who choose career over family and love.

But, here, Cruella is not a friend of Anita who gives her a kind and appreciable life advice (if we ignore that Cruella is evil), Cruella is Anita's boss and doesn't want to lose a valuable and talented employee, so from this point of view her statement sounds a lot more controversial: women in the 50s lost their job if they got married, they were fired because most of the time bosses made them sign a contract with a marriage bar that allow employers to withdraw from the contract, so their contract would terminate on marriage, or said in a simple way: employers used to fire the soon-to-be wife, because it was clear for them that a wife should focus more on family and house care than on a career (that's because the soon-to-be wife is going to have an husband, the bread-giver of the family).

Nowdays, it's a bitter different, but women that want to have also a family are discriminated in workplaces: employers ask constantly in job interviews of they plan to have a family, if they have some relationships or if they are single. That's because employers would lose money paying for maternity leaves to their female employees that cannot work for some month. A young woman in fertile age with a stable relationship is a risk for a employer more than a young man in fertile age with a stable relationship. A newly mom is more closed to chose a lesser paid job or a part time one compatible to her family then a newly dad.

And also this quote, remember we are talking about the 90s, gives a clear flashback on women's unstable careers back then, but also puts in highlines some stereotypes about women who menage to balance both work and family: their quility of work is lower than before (this is said by Cruella to the new-mom Anita, we will see it below), they are not productive enough, they makes employers lose money, ecc. Nowadays, unlike in the 90s there is a constant svalutation of women who chose to put family first: they have no free time, they have no a social life (well, some shy single woman like Anita doesn't have a frizzy social life too), some kind of lifes are better than others (luxury and exotics vacation are better than reading books, dancing and going to bars with friends is better than playing sports or painting, ecc.) and if they dare to go out with their friends or take time for themselves and their hobbies, society is still ready to shame them for “not being good mothers”. That's not right: everyone should be able to live their life as they want, to have a frizzy social life or just enjoying a little time for themselves, without receiving criticism of any sort.

In the US the marriage bar, the practice of restricting the employment of married women was never explicitly eliminated by federal laws. Marriage bars were widely relaxed in wartime, during World War I and World War II due to an increase in the demand for labor in the assistance of war efforts (mostly because men were at the front).

Since the 1960s, the practice has widely been regarded as employment inequality and sexual discrimination, and has been either discontinued or outlawed by anti-discrimination laws. For example, in Italy marriage bar is declared illegal with law nr. 7 of 1963, that establishes the prohibition of dismissal of female workers for reasons of marriage (later extended also to male workers), and law nr. 1204 of 1971 prohibited dismissal of the working mother within the first year of the child's age (maternity bar).

The main reason of the bar is that married women were supported by their husbands, therefore they did not need jobs. However, marriage bars provided more opportunity for those whom proponents viewed as "actually" needing employment, such as single women or married men (needed to support the family).

Discrimination against married female teachers in the US was not terminated until 1964 with the passing of the Civil Rights Act.

Marriage bars generally affected educated, middle-class married women, particularly native-born white women. Their occupations were that of teaching and clerical work. Lower class women and women of color who took jobs in manufacturing, waitressing, and domestic servants were often unaffected by marriage bars.

However, some State law provides protection for people discriminated for their marital status. For example, in California, discrimination in employment based on marital status is against the law. Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), it is illegal for an employer to discriminate based on an applicant’s marital status or perceived marital status.

Under the FEHA, it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to treat an applicant or employee differently based on the employee’s marital status. This includes: Refusing to hire or employ, Refusing to select a person for a training program, Firing, bearing, or discharging an employee, Discriminating against a person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.

Marital status could refer to whether an individual is married or not, has been married, or plans to get married. This includes: Currently married, Divorced, Married to a same-sex partner or opposite-sex partner, Engaged to be married, Married but separated, Married but seeking a divorce, Widowed, Annulled marriage, Plans to get married someday, Plans to never get married, Other marital states.

Forty years ago, on October 31, 1978, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) was signed into law to prohibit discrimination in the workplace on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Since its passage, more women have been able to continue working while pregnant; they have also been able to work further into their pregnancies without being forced to leave their jobs.

Pregnancy discrimination involves treating a woman (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) forbids discrimination based on pregnancy when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, such as leave and health insurance and any other term or condition of employment. Pregnancy discrimination also includes perceived bias when expectant employees experience subtly hostile behaviors such as social isolation, negative stereotyping and negative or rude interpersonal treatment such as lower performance expectations, transferring the pregnant employee to less-desirable shifts or assignments or inappropriate jokes and intrusive comments.

Claims of pregnancy discrimination filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) increased sharply in the 1990s and 2000s, and pregnancy discrimination remains a widespread problem across all industries and regions of the United States. Yet statistics show that in the last 10 years, more than 50,000 pregnancy discrimination claims were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Fair Employment Practices Agencies in the United States.

So, yes. Disney here touched a lot of points in about two levels:

Family is more important than a career (successful, unmarried stylist Cruella is the evil one) and if you, a working woman, put career over family you are wrong. Nowday, we know that there isn't anything wrong about putting career first, but also we know that there isn't anything wrong also on putting family first or find a balance between the two. The important thing we should remember is that if we have not equality in working places, we should have not real free choices about our dream life;

It's perfectly fine excluding women in stable relationships or women with children from workplaces, because their work would not be at the level of a single woman, that can sacrifice her free time working late (employers exploitation logic deny free time);

Only child-free single women should be allowed to work, but only until they meet a soul mate (reminiscent of the old Disney penchant for old traditional gender roles).

However, returning at the plot, after that Anita reassures Cruella that she has no marriage prospects on the horizon, Cruella asked to Alonzo to bring Anita's drawings to her and the two women start to discuss about Anita's work, because Cruella want to add a long fur stole to Anita's original model: “I look wonderful in spots”, says Cruella,“we could do this in linen. It would be stunning in fur”. Then Anita remarks that would not be appropriate wearing fur in April, so Cruella give her famous lines: “But it’s my only true love, darling. l live for fur. l worship fur. After all, is there a woman in all this wretched world who doesn’t?” and then makes a joke that anticipates what she will plan to Anita's puppies more over in the movie: “lt is rather amusing, isn’t it? (...) If we make this coat... it would be as if l were wearing your dog.”

Then Anita and Perdi meet Roger (Jeff Daniels) and his dog Pongo, they fall in love and get married. Cruella doesn't like this. Obviously. We see a very enraged Cruella, wearing a black cellophane velvet with black and white coque feather trim, screaming against Anita's “betrayal”, when she read Anita and Roger's wedding publication on a newspaper.

Her anger toward Roger for stealing her best employee, maybe envy for Anita's love (well, it’s Disney), are promptly consoled, when her two henchmen bring her a little present from Mr. Skinner (Nomen omen, this surname fits perfectly creepy scared guy that work as furrier): it's the Siberian tiger found dead and excoriated in the London Zoo at the beginning of the movie. It was Cruella that wanted her fur and at the end she obtained it.

This Mr. Skinner (John Shrapnel) is a sadic taxidermist that enjoys killing and skinning animals alive, just like he did to the female white tiger at the London Zoo. He doesn't speak beacause when he was young, a dog attacked him by tearing open his throat and ripping out his vocal cords in the process, leaving him with a bad scar on his neck and is a little based on Mr. de Vil, Cruella's husband in Dodie Smith's book, but with the difference that Mr. Skinner has a more strong and menacing personality, while Mr. de Vil was weak and totally dependent by Cruella's desires.

Near the end of the movie, we will see in a crescendo of more explicit references to animal abuse, this charming version of Cruella de Vill ordering Cruella De Vil to Mr. Skinner to kill the dogs, because she fells that the police's suspicion are mounting against her: “poison them,” says Cruella “drown them, bash them on the head. Got any chloroform? I don't care how you kill the little beasts, just do it, and do it now!”

(See here for references: X and X)

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In second relevant scene, Roger and Anita are out, walking the dogs, when Anita spots Cruella's car. In fact, as happen at the beginning the black and white 1974 Panther Deville is the first element we see in this scene and anticipate the entrance of Cruella. Recognizing the car, Anita runs to home and there she found Cruella. She welcomes in a very lovely way Anita in her own home, but she is very rude with Roger, who tries his best to be polite during the whole scene. Cruella then mocks Roger about his job (he is a videogame designer, a well paid job nowadays, but that in the 90s can just make snobbish people like Cruella turn up their noses, it's not the classical respectable professions “to make money”). Anita and Roger are just returned from their honeymoon and Creulla acts very nicely toward Anita, she says she missed her and their exchange of ideas, but she isn't happy when Roger announce they are going to have a baby, but Cruella remarks that “she has no use for children”, but she is very interested in Pongo and Perdi's puppies.

Unlike her cartoon version Cruella during the movie shows a lot of different, hiconic and fashionable outfits: at her visit at Anita and Roger's house, she wears a zebra coat dress with mink sleeves with matching Russian-inspired hat, red PVC boots that match with gloves in the same color and material (long fake red nails on each finger) and her red cigarette holder. Her dress also features a practical detail: a cigarette case paired with ammo cartridges as if they are military medals. The zebra stripes also give off the impression of bones or a rib cage for that extra goth vibe. Her lips are permanently stained the color of crimson, while her winged eyeliner adds to her high drama aesthetic.

Despite being set in contemporary London, everything about Cruella's closet defies a specific time period. It is as if she stepped in from the '60s of the original story combined with a century's worth of high fashion references. This is very logic: people have a lot of clothes and is natural for a very fashionable stylist to have and wear a lot of haute couture outfits.

Cruella: “And you must be Rufus.”

Roger: “No, it’s-- it’s Roger. And it’s a pleasure, Miss De Vil.”

Cruella: “What’s a pleasure?”

Roger: “Uh, making your acquaintance.”

Cruella: “Such a sweet thought. l wish l could reciprocate. Tell me, darling, you married him for his dog. Oh, darling, l’ve missed you so. l hate that you’ve taken leave.”

Anita: “But l’m still working. Um, you’ve been getting my sketches?”

Cruella: “Well, it’s not the same thing. l miss the interaction-- And what is it that you do… that allows you to support Anita in such… splendor?”

Roger: “l design video games.”

Cruella: “Video games? ls he having me on?”

Anita: “Oh, no, he’s very good at it. Um, and it’s a growing business.”

Cruella: “Those horrible noisy things that children play with on their televisions?Someone designs them? What a senseless thing to do with your life.”

Roger: “Oh, did Anita tell you the news? She’s going to have a baby.”

Cruella: “ls this true?”

Anita: “Yes.”

Cruella: “Oh, you poor thing! l’m so sorry.”

Anita: “We’re very excited about it, Cruella.”

Cruella: “You can’t be serious.”

Roger: “She is!”

Cruella: “Well, what can l say? Accidents will happen.”

Anita: “We’re having puppies, too!”

Cruella: “Puppies! You have been a busy boy. Well, l must say, that’s somewhat better news. l adore puppies! l’ll expect a decline in your work product.”

Anita: “Oh, l shouldn’t think so.”

Cruella: “Be sure to let me know when the blessed event occurs.”

Anita: “Oh, well, it won’t be for another eight months.”

Cruella: “The puppies, darling. l’ve no use for babies.”

Again here we have a remark of how horrible is Cruella as boss (she says to Anita she expect a decline in her work, and this would make her useless and less precious for Cruella's House) and as person: according to Disney people who doesn't like children are horrible and cruel, but there is a double meaning in Cruella's word: “Iʼve no use for babies” could mean both that she is not interested in maternity (that's perfectly legit, not all like children, are comfortable with them or just dream to have children someday) but also that she couldn't find any material use of babies, while for puppies we know she knows well how to use them: as material for a new fur coat.

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The next scene is a classical recall to the original Disney cartoon of 1961: it's a stormy night and during the lightning flash for a few frames only, we see Cruella as a complete silhouette while few second after she opens the door and enters in Anita and Roger's house, with a big menacing smile on her face.

Pattern clashing will not only stand, but it is also encouraged, as the tiger cape with a leopard lining reveals. Paired with a leather skirt and tiger bodice featuring claw clasps

Again there is the recurring joke about Cruella misnaming Roger (Rufus, Rupert, Roland), if it's intentional (and this version of Cruella doesn't seem to left anything casual) it's a clear remark about how she dislikes Roger, the guy that stole her best designer, if it's not intentional, shows how Cruella find him irrelevant for her purpose at the point she doesn't even bother to rember his name to flatter him. Cruella is not polite or kind to Roger as she is with Anita. She doesn't need Roger, she need Anita and hates Roger for turning down Anita's value for her interests.

In this scene Cruella uses the same words she uses in the 1961 version (“How marvelous. How marvelous! How perfect... Oh, the devil take it! They’re mongrels! No spots! No spots at all! What horrible little white rats!”), but with something new that shows her uncaring nature (“All right, put them in a bag. l’ll take them with me now.”) and again mocks Roger for his “strange” and not prestigious job, when he firstly deny her offer for the puppies (“Oh? You’ve come into some money, have you? Did you design some silly game… that will drive the delinquent kiddies into frenzies of video delight?”).

However, compared to her 1961 alter ego, this Anita is more assertive and talks for herself, saying a determinated “no” to Cruella. Anita also starts to be a bit suspicious about Cruella's intentions (“But, Cruella, what would you do with 15 puppies?”). Roger and Anita this time seems to be equally determinated to refuse Cruella's business proposals.

Cruella crescent rage is underlight by the sounds effects of thunderclaps and it is Anita who says the final “no”.

“All right, keep the little beasts. Do what you like with them. Drown them, for all l care! You’re a fool, Anita! l’ve no use for fools. You’re fired! You’re finished! You’ll never work in fashion again! l’m through with all of you! l’ll get even! Just wait! You’ll be sorry, you fools! You idiots!”

When Roger and Anita refused to sell the puppies, Cruella's rage exploded as happened in the cartoon version (she screams and insults Roger and Anita, she tears the check into a thousand pieces and throws them in Roger's face), but let's remeber she is Anita's boss now: she uses her power and fired Anita's too, now that Anita and Roger refused to Cruella what she want, Anita become immediately useless. In fact Cruella has yet the design for her new outfit, from Anita needed only the puppies and if she cannot obtain them with good manner, well, as happened in the cartoon version, she will steal them.

In the previous part we saw how in the 101 Dalmatians of 1961, the car was the alter ego of Cruella, well, in this 1996 live action, her personality and her obsession is channeled into her outfits. Before it all goes to hell for the fashion maven, her rotation of zebra, leopard, and tiger print reveal she wasn't bluffing when she exclaimed of her fur obsession.

The costumes as designed by three-time Oscar winner Anthony Powell (co-designed with Rosemary Burrows) take Cruella's love of all things animal print to the extreme, delivering jaw-dropping results.

Cruella's entire life is a performance supported by her wardrobe, makeup, and hair. Cruella increases the level of red (it's the outburst of her bloody determination to obtain what se want, it's her mad passion for furs that determinated her end) during the climax with her fur coat of choice, which will soon be ruined by some farm animals. That smell is going to be hard to get rid of, and there aren’t any dry cleaners in prison.

As we saw in the previous part, Cruella's change of luck is well rapresented by her ruined clothes: she is going to jail, her life and career are over, her clothes aren't perfect and fancy anymore.

This happens also in the 102 Dalmatians live action of 2000: red clothing anticipates Cruella's criminal climax, while her ruined clothes are the sign of her defeat.

Nearly at the end of the movie, when her plans are finally reveled, Cruella wears a very unique red “flames” dress: the bodice is organza and silk satin beaded, sequined with a beaded net collar. The skirt is silk satin and nylon net beaded and sequined, lines in ostrich feathers. The headdress is tiered flames made of mirror, metal and painted glass. While her attire during her final metch with the Dalmatian is a black dress with large shoulders that recall Balenciaga, a black lather waist belt and a Gothic necklace with rubies, pearls and diamonds. The fur coat is floor-length black and red, while her headdress is a little hat with black and red feathers.

(See here for references: X and X)

4 - Cruella in Once Upon A Time

More recent version of Cruella can be founded in the ABC TV show Once Upon A Time. I will not make a summary of the themes of the TV because it has a very complex plot and that is not relevant for our comparison. So, let's say only that is a show who feature the adventure of Emma Swan, Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas)'s daughter, and her biological son Henry (who was adopted by Regina Mills, the Evil Queen, now mayor of Story Brook) to break the magic curse that turned Enchanted Forest to a modern day Maine town called Storybrook, in which live all the characters from the popular fairy tales we know from Disney adaptations, unaware of their true identities.

Cruella is introduced in Season 4. The evil Rumpelstinskin (Robert Carlyle) recruited her and some other evil lady to regain his Dark Lord magic powers and take his revenge on the people of Storybrook as well as his happy ending.

The first we saw Cruella is at her ungodly hour: she is divorcing from a guy called Mr. Feinberg, strongly in debt and FBI is repossessing her husband's belongings, including her fancy fur coats, her big mansion in Long Island, New York, and her other goods. (See here for references: X)

Cruella plays little importance in the plot, until the Author is released from the book; unable to kill him herself, she pretends to threaten Henry Mills's (Jared S. Gilmore) life to force Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Regina/Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) to do so. However, Emma confronts her, not knowing the restriction the Author placed on Cruella, and magically blasts her off a cliff to her death.

The actress chosed to play Cruella de Vil is Victoria Smurfit and her appearance recalls more the 1961 version than Glenn Close. She wears a black night gown with paillettes or little pearls, long red PVC gloves and a white fur coat, but drives her black and white 1974 Panther Deville. However, during the show she is seen also wearing leather black pants, red boots matching with her gloves and several different types of fur coats. Cruella's phone case has dalmatian spot patterns.

Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold snarkily remarks that he recognized Cruella's scent as “desperation and gin”, somewhat suggesting or implying that Cruella is an alcoholic of sorts. Cruella later confirms this, having blamed her misfortunes on “bad judgment and gin”.

Unlike her other version, this Cruella has some a very limited magic powers, and has only been known to accomplish a few specific spells. Her most remarkable power is the ability to control any animal, whether it be a Dalmatian or a Dragon. The green smoke that comes out of Cruella's mouth when she uses persuasion magic on animals is designed to reflect Cruella's green and yellow cigarette smoke in Disney's 101 Dalmatians.

Her other main power is a very limited telekinesis: Cruella is able to enchant her car to drive itself around.

In the 5 Season, after her death, Cruella ends up in the Underworld, a purgatory run by the deity Hades (Gregory Germann). She makes a deal with Hades, who offer her to rule Underworld in his absence and help trap the heroes there. Delighted with the idea of getting to torment souls for eternity, Cruella agrees to the deal. This makes even more evident the similarities with the goddess Hela from Norse Mythology, as both ruled the underworld and have half-black half-white hair.

However, the most important episode about Cruella is “Sympathy for the Devil”, in which we learn about her true story.

"Sympathy for the De Vil" Season 04, Episode 18

In 1920s England, a young and blonde Cruella De Vil (played by Milli Wilkinson as child and Victoria Smurfit as adult) is being mistreated by her mother Madeline (Anna Galvin) as she instructs her Dalmatians to chase her daughter, and is locked in the attic in the same setting that resembles the 1979 Gothic novel Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews. The room where Cruella is locked up is filled with her mother's dog statuettes and dog show trophies. Fast forward to several years later, and that a reporter, who is revealed to be the Author (Patrick Fischler) but is using an alias by the name of Isaac Heller, is paying a visit to the home pretending to seek out a story after having seen Cruella from the attic, only to have Madeline warning him to stay away. Isaac returns and helps Cruella escape from the attic. He then takes Cruella out for a date that includes dinner and dancing. Cruella reveals to Isaac that the reason she was kept in the attic was that she witnessed her mother kill her father and her succeeding husbands; Isaac then reveals to Cruella that he was more than just a reporter and has the ability to use his pen and ink to create magical stories. Isaac proposes that they run away together, and uses his quill and ink to give Cruella her persuasion powers to control animals.

(See here for references: X, X, X and X)

However, for Isaac, his future with Cruella would later take a unique twist that will put his future in danger. When Madeline pays a visit to see him, she tells him that Cruella had lied to him about what actually happened to her husbands: as child Cruella killed her own father, Madeline's first husband, by putting a poisonous flower in his tea. Cruella was a troubled child and her parents had hoped she would grow out of her disturbing behavior. But after Cruella murders her father, her mother fears that Cruella's murderous tendencies will get worse and will become a full fledged serial killer. Not wanting anyone else to get hurt or killed by Cruella and not wanting her daughter to go to prison, Madeline had no choice but to lock her Cruella away from the outside world and keep her close to try to snap Cruella out of her disturbed mind. However Madeline's intentions were in vain as Cruella ended up poisoning her next two husbands. Terrified that Isaac will set her daughter free and start killing more people, Madeline warns Issac to stay away from her, because she is dangerous and can not be saved, while Isaac doesn't believe her, Madeline tells Isaac that Cruella takes everything someone loves and destroys it and tells him to stay away from her or he will suffer the same fate as her two husbands and lose all he holds dear.

(See here for references: X)

When Madeline returns home, Cruella was ready for her, and eventually kills her mother by controlling her Dalmatians and commanding them to attack her.

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Afterwards, Isaac discovers that Cruella has stolen his pen, and goes back to her house to find out that Cruella used her ability to control animals to make her mother's pet Dalmatians turn against her and rip her to shreds, before Cruella herself slaughtered the Dalmatians and made a fur coat out of them.

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«Some people struggle not to be drawn into the darkness. But ever since I was a little girl, I've said... "Why not splash in and have fun?"», says Cruella to an astonished Isaac.

Horrified, Isaac makes a dash for the pen to stop her, but during a struggle the magic ink is spilled onto Cruella. She accidentally ingests some and the ink shows her true colors. As Cruella is about to kill him, Issac uses his powers as the Author to make it so that Cruella can never kill anyone ever again by writing it down on a piece of paper "Cruella De Vil can no longer take away the life of another." As he leaves, Cruella tells him she's not done.

Cruella kept this secret, as intimidation would still work for her needs.

This episode have a lot of Disney reference to the old 1961 version of 101 Dalmatians:

Madeline's car is similar in design and color to Cruella's car from One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

The song that Cruella hears on the radio is a jazz instrumental version of the song "Cruella De Vil", from One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

Ink spills on Cruella, just like Cruella spilled ink on Roger Radcliffe and Pongo in the movie. (One Hundred and One Dalmatians, 1961)

When Cruella uses persuasion magic, the magic comes out of her mouth in the form of green smoke, which is designed to reflect the green and yellow cigarette smoke that Cruella puffs in the movie. (One Hundred and One Dalmatians, 1961)

This 1920s version of Cruella de Vil we see in Once Upon a Time is inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Interestingly, in "Sympathy for the De Vil", Isaac can be seen reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. While he is captive in Mr. Gold's cabin, Isaac reads F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. And largely recall what we already saw of Cruella's original version in the book by Dodie Smith: Cruella is a cruel serial killer. She is smart and manipulative, shows no empathy and emotions and uses people for her own needs. She uses Dalmatians as her own weapons to take her revenge on her mother: she turned her own dogs against her and finally removes the last obstacle to her own freedom. Is important to notice that Cruella slaughters and skins the Dalmatians to create a new dalmatian fur coat for her own, that wears victoriously under Isaac horrified eyes. The Dalmatian fur coat is her trophy. Killers like to take trophies and souvenirs from their victims. Keeping some memento — a lock of hair, jewelry, piece of clothing, newspaper clips of the crime — helps prolong, even nourish, their fantasy of the crime or to relive the crime over and over in their minds. Cruella at the end fully reveals herself as the serial killer she is.

When Cruella drinks accidentally Author's ink that transforms her hair black and white, is another reference to the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith, in which is said that Cruella used to drink ink as a child. The dress Cruella is wearing at the jazz club is the dress Bérénice Bajo wears in the the famous 2011 comedy-drama film The Artist. Also the dancing scene between Cruella and Isaac recalls the one between Bérénice Bajo and Jean Dujardin, when play the role of actors Peppy Miller and George Valentin filming a ball scene for a mute movie.

Conclusion

As we saw, all the version of Cruella that were developed time by time, still share the characteristics of a sadic, cruel villaness.

Glenn Close version of Cruella doesn't care about animals' lifes, doesn't care about workers rights or other person's life projects. She uses creepy hanchmen to obtain what she wants, she steals and plot the death of even rare animals for their fur. She uses and manipulates people.

Victoria Smurfit's Cruella is a real serial killer. She is selfish, cunning, manipulative and the violence against animals is just a moment on her murderous revenge on her mother: she used Madeline's pretious dogs to kill her and then kept their skins as souvenir, as serial killers do.

There's no doubt that all those versions of Cruella are evil and Disney simply can not create any positive emotional connection with a woman who murders dogs. It's simply impossible to explain why Cruella hates dog in a way that can justify abuse toward animals. That is why this Cruella movie with Emma Stone is a huge mistake.

As conclusion, I will borrow again the words of composer Bill Lee from the 60s animated version of 101 Dalmatians to say what I think of trailer with Emma Stone as Cruella:

This vampire bat, this inhuman beast

The world was such a wholesome place until

She ought to be locked up and never released

Cruella, Cruella de Vil

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malachi-walker · 3 years

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Happy birthday, Mal! I love your fics, they evoke so much emotion in me and have made me cry many a time. I don't often reread fics, but i've reread multiple chapters of Rhythm and Blues because they're stuck with me so much. You capture the emotional pain of their trauma and the catharsis that comes with their growth so beautifully. You also write some brilliant meta and just consistently post some fantastic thoughts. Also your love for swords is very appreciated. <3 have a lovely day!

First of all, my apologies for not replying sooner. I was making my mind up about something that would definitely require the use of a read more and thus necessitate dragging myself to desktop (which I hate because my laptop predates the dinosaurs.)

But seriously. Thank you so much. This is honestly one of the sweetest comments I've ever gotten and definitely made my already pretty sweet bday even better.

So about that read more. In honor of you, @metalesbo, my friends @n7punk and @jem-jarrett and everyone else who sent me well wishes or just really loves my work... Here's the opening section of the next chapter of R&B. Enjoy. It's a long one.

Adora Eternia is about two months shy of her fourteenth birthday when she first realizes she's in love with her best friend.

Though--if asked--she would hasten to explain that it wasn't when she fell in love. But trying to pinpoint the exact moment is an exercise in catching mist: the more she tries to grasp it in her hands the more it spreads out and covers everything. It just is: pure and simple and very, very complicated.

It's the beginning of December and the whole town is covered in a thick blanket of snow. Winterfest will be here in a few weeks, so to help out the kids who want to get gifts for their friends the Right Zone administration has shuffled around the groups that usually take their monthly trips on the third and fourth Sundays of the month to double up with the other two. As part of group three, she and Catra got the first week (the other three members of their crew are week two folks anyway and thus outside the reorganization.)

It's still kinda weird to think that: their crew. For so long, it was just Catra and Adora. Adora and Catra. One unit bound together, just them against the world. But there's also something nice about being part of a small cluster, their "scrappy little lone wolf pack" as Catra had once put it with a wry grin before Lonnie shoved her over with an, "Excuse you, I'm a great people person when I'm not busy making sure you idiots haven't set yourselves on fire!"

They all got a good laugh out of that one.

But regardless, the holidays are coming up and this is the first year that any of their group has felt like actually doing anything for it, aside from wrangling together a sleepover and seeing if they can convince the kitchen staff to slip them some leftover eggnog.

They made each other promise not to go too extravagant and keep each person's gift to ten dollars or lower. Even though their quarterly stipend has increased from three hundred to four hundred to match with inflation over the past eight years, it still isn't a whole lot for three month's worth of expenses, especially when they also have to budget regularly for clothes to keep up with the seemingly endless growth spurts.

There's also the usual budgetary concern of keeping her and Catra's first aid kit well supplied...

Adora shakes her head to dislodge the intrusive thought and continues marching onward through the snow. This trip is a good thing. She won't let all the awful realities of their life taint it.

With so many kids running around and wanting to shop on their own to surprise their giftees, Right Zone had to negotiate with both the local police and whatever other civic authorities they could get ahold of to come out en masse and keep an eye on them all. The kids had still come with their usual teachers, of course, but doubling the load and also splitting up was a logistical nightmare. Which is just a convoluted way to say the town is positively crawling with uniformed officers, off duty members of the fire brigade, emergency personnel, and other such authority figures quietly keeping watch and making sure no one tries anything.

Adora knows that somewhere in the press of bodies, Grizzlor's busy wrangling two new "brats" (seven and nine, respectively, and definitely not friends.) Somewhere, a certain Magicat is probably grumbling over the indignity of being forced to wear shoes and kicking every snowpile she can, like she can send a direct message to whatever cosmic force is responsible for her current frustration.

On an ordinary month she and Catra--being old enough to be allowed a bit more freedom to do what they want--would buddy up to watch each other's backs while they did their shopping. But this isn't an ordinary month, so once they'd each gotten gifts for the other three they'd split up on opposite ends of Main Street with an agreement to move clockwise to avoid running into each other. Afterwards, the entire group would rendezvous at the small clock tower in the park a block over before heading back to Right Zone.

Ten dollars wasn't a lot to work with, but Adora had done her best: a new stress ball for Kyle, some moisturizing oil for Rogelio since the early winter shed had wiped out his supply and he'd been too busy to pick up some more, a twelve pound kettle weight for Lonnie now that their shared exercise routine was getting a bit too easy for her... Utilitarian choices, to be sure, but she's been paying attention and that has to count for something.

Catra's the difficult one, of course. Partly because Adora doesn't want to just get her something practical, but also because they share nearly everything between them already. About the only thing that is definitively off limits is Catra's guitar, and she's told Adora enough about her time with Tao over the years that Adora wouldn't even ask. Beyond that... Well, there's a reason why most of Adora's day off hoodies have small strands of orange fur stuck to them.

Still. I want to get her something that's hers. Something she'll like. Something she doesn't have to share with anyone, not even me.

In the end, she nearly walks past it. In one of the artisanal shops that dot small towns like liver spots, she finds a display of hand stamped necklace pendants, with a design sheet beside it. There are a lot of the usual nature designs and such, but the one that catches her eye is a treble clef with the five staff lines bleeding out from it. They ring the edge of the pendant in a half circle, and scattered haphazardly along the lines are the other music notes.

The lack of proper order would drive Adora insane. She understands that it's just meant to look pretty, not be an accurate representation of musical notation, but still... She knows her own (broken) brain well enough to know that.

It suits Catra, though.

"Hey," Mismatched eyes looked down at Adora as her head draped backwards over the back of their desk chair, the throbbing behind her left eye threatening to escalate into a migraine. "Guess I don't have to ask how the composing's going."

"It sucks," Adora groused back, sitting up and gesturing Catra over. She jabbed at two particular spots with the half chewed off eraser end of her pencil, two hard jabs each, like she was filing a complaint. "Most of it is just what I'm going for, but these two places here... They aren't sounding right. I've been going back and forth over structure all afternoon, but nothing I do helps."

"Hmmm..." Catra stroked her chin and nudged Adora over so she could sit on the arm of the chair (they'd never gotten around to requesting a second, mostly because Adora didn't want to risk Shadow Weaver suspecting they were getting too chummy.) "Got any scratch paper?"

Adora pointed to the pile of half crumpled notebook paper she used when making adjustments and Catra snorted. "Ok, dumb question. Just let me see here..."

Grabbing a pen, she quickly inked a fresh set of staff lines and copied the notes Adora had already put down, making sure to leave space to work. Glancing between the two, she drummed her fingers on the desk, playing along in her head.

"Hmm..." Catra murmured, worrying at her lower lip with a fang in a manner that was... Oddly distracting. "Ok, how 'bout this?"

Adora jolted, tearing her gaze from Catra's face to look at the sequence of notes scribbled onto the scratch paper. She paused, brow furrowing as she played them over in her mind's eye. It was a little unorthodox, veering away from the path she had carefully laid out... But also blending well with the next part. Almost like the notes took a quick detour and then lead the listener back to where she wanted them.

"Yeah..." Adora replied thoughtfully, the tension all over her body starting to smooth out. "Yeah, that could work."

"Awesome. Let's take a look at the next part."

They ultimately ended up spending several hours going over the entire piece, sussing out every place where Adora was having even the slightest niggle of unease. She didn't accept all of Catra's changes and Catra didn't push the matter, but the ones she did...

They felt right. More right than they had ever felt when it was just Adora running circles around herself.

When they finally finished up she looked over at Catra, tail waving sedately in that way it got when she was simultaneously engaged but relaxed, and asked, "Umm... Do you want to learn with me? I like doing this."

'I like making music with you.'

Catra paused, looking over at Adora searchingly, almost like she couldn't believe the question had come up. No matter how many years had passed between them, that look never really went away, and every time she saw it Adora's chest ached in a way that was hard for her to process.

"I'd like that."

Catra's composing style is very different from Adora's. More wild, more willing to bend and break the rules if it means maintaining audience engagement, but there's always an underlying order to the chaos. To her surprise and pleasure, Adora found herself learning just as much from Catra as Catra was learning from her. Their styles brought out the best in each other.

The jingle of a bell kicks her out of the memory. Mind made up even though it's nearly double her budget, Adora scans the stand of necklaces for the one with the treble clef pattern.

It isn't there. Adora swallows down the disappointment, though she can't help the sigh. Of course. The town was well aware of the large population of music students a short drive away and catered to them accordingly. But there are also dozens of kids out on the street tonight. It isn't that big of a surprise that the design sold out.

Not surprising, but disheartening nonetheless.

She's just begun to turn away when a voice calls from the back. "Hang on a sec there, little miss."

Adora jumps, but remains where she is as a large Taurian man with a massive snow white beard trundles out from a door behind the counter, wiping his hands on his apron. "Was there a particular design you were interested in?"

Adora points at the treble clef, hope rising. "This one. But it looks like it's already sold out."

"Hmm..." The man scratchs at his chin. "Well with Winterfest coming up, I'm out of blank pendants-"

Adora's shoulders slump.

"-But," The man continues with a smile. "I can double stamp it onto the back of another. Ordinarily I'd charge extra for that, but it's my fault for not ordering enough blanks. Rookie move. Besides, it's the holidays. Now would that be all right by you?"

Nodding frantically in case he changes his mind, Adora scans the other designs, quickly alighting on one in particular. "That one!"

"The claw marks? Bit of an odd combination, but the customer is always right," The old man winked as he reached out to take the necklace from her. "My jig and press is in the corner over here if you wanna watch."

Adora was glad he specified, because as nice as the man seemed there was no way in hell she was going into a back room with a stranger. But she stood next to the window beside a display of miscellaneous knick knacks and puzzles, watching him carefully place the pendant in a cushioned stand to avoid damaging the already printed side and tighten it into place before moving beside the machine.

"You're gonna want to cover your ears," He tells her, patting the machine with one massive hand. "Had to switch to a steam press when the arthritis caught up to me. Used to do it all by hammer. This boy's okay, but he gets loud."

Adora nods, glad for the warning when he bellows "Clear!" and the machine's hammer comes down once, twice, three times with a sound like the ringing of an enormous bell. Once the machine is stopped and carefully turned off, the old man removes the pendant from the press and hands it over to Adora for inspection. "What do you think? Does it pass muster?"

Adora runs her fingertips over the impressions in the metal, memorizing the feel of it, the leftover warmth of the impact. "Perfect."

"Good. Now let's get you rung up."

Counting the five dollars she attempted to surreptitiously slip into the tip jar (the old man winked as he turned back around, so stealth fail) Adora went very over budget, but the others would have to put a gun to her head for her to admit it.

Besides, it's Catra. They already know she's the sole exception to all of Adora's carefully maintained rules.

With everything finished, she continues trudging through the snow toward the park, breathing a sign of relief as she moves away from the shopping district and the people thin out; no one wanting to go to the park in the middle of such bleak weather. Angling around a clustered group of bare trees, she spots the small clock tower in the distance, as well as the figure already standing beside it. Grinning, Adora picks up the pace a bit until she can see Catra clearly and--

Her breath catches.

Since her only experience with this kind of thing has been through books, Adora always expected this moment would be more dramatic. Like back to back in the middle of a fight, or eyes locking from up on stage. Something spectacular, like fireworks, lime explosions, like the feeling of playing a song without a single mistake for the first time. It's always seemed like such a big deal in the stories, and in a way, it is.

Because there's Catra, lost in her own world as she gazes up at the streetlight that's just come on, her left hand extended to let the snowflakes fall into her palm and the light catches the orange of her fur just right to make a blaze of color against the black of her coat. She looks so small, standing in that space all alone on a cold winter's night, but Adora knows deep down that she could never be that small, not when she's Catra, not when she means so much...

Pretty much everything about the past hour--about her entire life since they met if she's being honest--snaps into crystal clear focus.

Oh. I get it now. I'm in love with you.

It's a bad idea. Adora knows that. Shadow Weaver is enough of a menace while believing Catra is simply her roommate, her sometime tool--and Catra had ended up being all too right about the torture not stopping, even after years of Adora trying to direct Weaver's attentions away from her. If the evil old bitch figures out Adora's feelings run deeper, so much deeper...

Her heart beats double time. This whole thing is an unmitigated disaster.

But it's still the best worst thing that's ever happened to her.

She must make a noise, because Catra's ear twitches in her direction, snapping her out of that distant contemplation. She turns her head and looks at Adora, lips curling in a lopsided grin. "Hey, Adora. Wow, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Adora blinks, coming back to herself and mumbling the first excuse that springs to mind. "... Just cold."

"Well no shit. C'mere."

When she closes the distance Catra glances around warily, making sure they're the only ones around, before reaching up and retying the scarf around Adora's neck, patting it once when she's done. "There. I know I make it look good, but you don't have the advantage of fur like me."

Adora looks down at the thin AC/DC t-shirt that Catra's wearing beneath her half open coat, the line of her collarbones and neck, and makes a snap decision. "Is it okay if I give you your present now?"

Catra blinks, a little thrown by the non sequitur. "I mean... Sure? Do you want me to give you yours?"

"I'm good with either," Adora shrugs, trying to ignore how fast her heart is beating, how much she wants to do this before this moment slips away. "I just want to."

There's a long moment of silence as they each examine the other, equally searching. What Catra's looking for, Adora doesn't know. She isn't sure she wants to know.

"Okay."

Breathing deep, Adora reaches into her pocket and pulls out the necklace on its leather cord. Careful to keep the pendant hidden in her hand, she passes it over, fingertips sparking as it's taken. Catra brings it close to her face, running her fingers over the four parallel slashes on the side facing her.

"Why the claw marks?"

Adora laughs, nervous butterflies positively rioting in her stomach. "Because you're a badass. Duh."

"True," Catra smirks, flipping it over and squinting at the other side. "And this?"

"Badass, loves music with all your heart. Not mutually exclusive concepts," Adora says, trying not to give away how much she thinks about this, how much she wants to take that hand in hers. She settles for a playful shoulder bump instead. "Plus we all know you're secretly a big softie."

"Excuse you, I am all sharp edges," Catra giggles, lightly elbowing her before transitioning into a soft little smile. "... Just not with everyone."

Oh God oh God oh God. That smile will absolutely be the death of her.

Swallowing past her horrible awareness of that softness, Adora asks, "So you like it?"

"I love it. Good luck ever getting me to take it off," Catra laughs, then frowns, flexing her fingers. "Hands have gone a little numb, though. Help me put it on?"

Adora.exe promptly crashes to desktop. But she still somehow manages to move, helping Catra hold back her mane so she can slip the leather cord over her head and tuck it beneath her hair. If she hesitates a moment too long in letting go, at least Catra only shoots her an amused glance. "How's it look?"

"Great," Adora manages to croak out, trying to swallow past the sudden dryness in her throat. "You look great. Umm... Happy early Winterfest, I guess?"

"Well, I'm gonna hold onto yours a little longer," Catra laughs, playfully sticking out her tongue before reaching out. "C'mere, you big dork."

Adora shuffles closer, mind and heart both screaming as Catra draws her into a hug, nuzzling her head against the side of her neck. A little whisper. "Thank you."

Adora swallows again, even harder. "You're welcome."

Between them, the necklace rests, the music side pressed right up against Catra's heart.

----------

Fun fact: the shopkeep is based off a cool old dude selling machine pressed necklaces I ran into at a Scottish festival when I was 13, and he made such an impression I never forgot him. Anyway, happy Valentine's! Have a Big Gay Realization!

#answers #rhythm & blues #the catradora rockstar au #featuring adora's big gay realization #and also fantasy christmas

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jq37 · 3 years

Text

The Case File – Mice and Murder Ep 4

The Case of the Puzzling Painting

Welcome back to Loam Hall where our Sylvan Sleuths are still hanging out in a room with a dead body. When we left off, Gangie had been snooping into Sly’s conversation about Fletcher Cottonbottom and now, he uses his Criminal Contacts feature to see what he knows, if anything, about a recent return. With a 26 he knows that his family used to be well respected but after the whole business with the insurance fraud and Sly busting it, the family kind of fell out of favor. So Fletcher was in a weird position where he was rich and a part of high society and had enough dirt on everyone to get them to do things for him but couldn’t actually show his face because he was disgraced. Gangie also knows that it’s rumored that Fletcher’s weapons running scheme was actually a front for moving art.

With regard to more recent news about Fletcher, Gangie was never in direct contact with him but he knows that 3-4 years ago, his most trusted henchmen started going missing--people attributed it to some kind of “Cottonbottom Curse” and that rumor is part of why Gangie decided to get out of dodge in the first place.

Buck does an insight check on the rest of the PCs and, with an 18, doesn’t clock anyone there as especially suspicious (Lars isn’t there but like..it’s Lars). Ian tries to give Squire Badger his last rites but ends up pulling the knife out, putting it back in, flapping blood everywhere with his feathers, and sending Constance into a badger rage. Buck tries to help smooth over things, claiming his big screw up was a new style of avant garde church ritual (Ian appreciates the support--who ministers to the ministers, you know?) and in the process sees his knife for the first time. Which, you know. He obviously suspected before but never nice to see.

While this is going on, Daisy sneaks off to try and check on the secret door and everyone sees her do it/eventually follows her but we’ll get back to her once we check in with Lars who is en route to the kitchen. Once in the hallway, they do a perception check and, on a 15, there are 3 doors and Ally gets to pick one. There’s a kitchen where Gilfoyle is talking to a group, a door where someone is crying behind it, and a door where they can hear nothing. Ally, the galaxy brained genius, goes for the quiet door. That’s the money door and with their ears pressed against the door, they can hear Edwina and Carolyn--the two mice maids that overheard Buck’s conversation with the Badger--whispering about what happened there and wondering if they should pay back the money they were paid to by Buck.

Gilfoyle walks out and sees Lars snooping but on a Nat 20 deception check, Lars is able to play dumb and skate by suspiciousness. Also, with a dirty 20 perception check, when the mice maids leave, Lars sees that they’ve been stealing silverware.

OK, back to Daisy who is getting to the séance room as quickly as possible. She has two rounds before people catch up to her so she’s trying to make the most of it by Investigating the painting she noticed was bolted to the wall earlier. She first rolls an 11, getting no new information. This is so frustrating to her. She’s good at this dammit! But being around Sly is rattling her terribly. She has feelings for him--strong ones. But she isn’t herself around him. How can she be with him if he makes her so unlike herself? Her introspection is enough to earn her advantage from Brennan on her second roll and boom! 25! Daisy is back.

With that roll, she notices that the eyes in the painting actually move and can be used as a spying post on the other side. Then Sly runs in and they start bickering immediately. Daisy throws a crystal ball at him and absolutely brains him on a nat 20--the first combat roll of this very RP oriented season.

Buck and Ian are still in the room with the body for the moment and Buck asks Ian about the first few names on the list Gangie gave him. There were a bunch of members of the Burrows family--a working class family that all died of a consumptive illness. And then the Diggories who died in a carriage accident. The connecting thread? All badgers. Buck then zooms away to follow Daisy, Ian follows, and Lars, seeing them as they leave the kitchens, also follows.

So all the PCs are in the séance room now and they kinda have the sense of, “OK y’all, we’re all screwed but we’re al screwed together so we better throw our lot in with each other and start working together so we don’t die because no one else here is on our side.” Buck proposes an alliance and they all agree to share info. Sly asks about Buck’s knife and Buck admits it’s his but says he didn’t do it. Sly believes him--not because he wouldn’t do it but because he has no motive (that he knows about anyway. Buck doesn’t spill about the contract).

Gangie shares the list of names from before with the whole group.It’s like half badgers and then some other critters (full list here). Sly doesn’t share any of his secret info Grant got texted. Daisy and Buck don’t share about the key (though Sly you’ll remember sat her steal it). Buck does however mention his suspicion about the fact that Gilfoyle wasn’t around when Squire Badger gave his speech and Daisy does the same about the fact that he said he would call the cops but the cops haven’t arrived yet. Lar’s remembers that Jez’s husband is gunning for at seat in parliament and wonders if this is related somehow. Daisy mentions the eyes in the painting and everyone is like way to bury the lede dude! Especially when they’ve just all spilled their secrets. Everyone checks on the painting and with a 25 Gangie can intuit that this is probably used to spy on rich people when they’re mid-séance and vulnerable and spilling secrets (which he doesn’t share but Daisy comes to a similar conclusion on her own). Buck on a 23 can smell ledgers (idk how but the DM said so and I’m reporting it) and guesses that that’s where the Squire’s real office is which means that’s probably where the contract he needs to find and destroy is too.

The group makes a list of their loose ends which are what’s on the other side of the painting, what’s up with Fletcher, and the smell of ozone. Plus Ian remembers that the date on the bust in the study is wrong and shares with the class.

Lars tries to get to the other side of the room by ripping the painting off the hinges with a very impressive 26 but there is fully a wall behind it and the noise brings Gilfoyle, Harding, and the Badger kids running. Lars notes that in the stone behind the painting it says “⅓” and then hurriedly puts the painting back. Daisy thinks that might refer to a secret third floor or basement accessible by the elevator (but my first thought was that there were 2 other spying paintings in the house somewhere).

Everyone in the room hears the Gilfoyle and co. coming and try to act natural. There is a group stealth check that they all tank so heavily that all the suspicious staff and kids need to do to suss them out is roll above a 5.

AND THEY ROLL A TWO.

With that, Lucretia appears, totally buys that they’re doing very important spiritual work in there, and in fact guards the door for them. They use the privacy bought by their very vigilant sentry to plan their next steps. Sly, Daisy, and Ian will check out the study while they rest of them check out the elevator. As they exit, Lucretia asks if they got the answers they needed out of the spirits.

Oh yes, says Daisy, echoing Lucretia’s nonsense prediction from last episode. Either something good or bad might happen. Either way, I’m excited!

Case Notes

How baller of a player move is it to say a line so poignant that the DM is forced to let you roll with advantage? I have been on the other side of that as the DM and it’s so great. MAD respect to Rekha for that. AND THEN THE DICE COOPERATED. You simply love to see it.

The other best Rekha line is Daisy to Sly upon being called out about stealing the key in his normal, coy, quippy way: You saw me bitch.

Shout out to Grant also for being constantly on as Sly. The guy is on point always. Impeccable.

I am SO SO SO happy Daisy and Sly are on the same mission team. If I was friends with either of them I’d be like, “This is a toxic relationship, they make you too crazy.” But as an outside viewer I want them to be within crystal ball throwing distance always.

The question I’m sure we’re all asking: Is Brennan enough of a minx to invoke the butler did it trope? I know everyone at the table is thinking it even if none of them have said it outright. I figured the reason the cops haven’t showed up yet was the storm but who knows?

Two pieces of housekeeping, only Buck and Gangie know what the room behind the painting is with their high rolls and, after the bit of passing it back and forth with Buck, Daisy has the key.

I really can’t do the bit about Gangie’s mom justice. I wish there was a comedy Emmy for actual play DnD shows so D20 could get the accolades it deserves just for that bit.

Brennan indicated that the conversation between the mice maids was the most interesting info (Gilfoyle convo to staff was too public to be juicy/they could get the info from one of the many gathered staff people and crying is info on its own--though I am curious about who the crying person was) but I’m wondering what he meant by that. Because the fact that Buck paid them might be interesting if Buck did it. But we know he didn’t. Is it the fact that they were in the room at all? Again, info that the party knows if not Lars specifically. The fact that they were stealing silverware? What’s Brennan’s game here?

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #mice and murder #mice and murder spoilers #the case file

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ceyrann · 3 years

Note

yknow how.. san's a scorpio mars + gemini moon? and the fact that he gets sussed out everytime there's a secret spy?

MAN LITERALLY IS JUST BREATHING BUT ALL OF EM ARE LIKE "SANNIE'S THE SPY" DJHGKDJ OMFG YUNHO TOO. LITERALLY I FEEL SO BAD FOR THE BOTH OF THEM. THEY ACT SO SUSPICIOUS DESPITE NOT BEING THE SUSPECT DKJFGDKJFHG

perhaps its a gemini moon thing. hong gets away with it with his sun conjunct venus. a charmer really.

I'M SORRY THE EPISODE WHERE THEY PLAYED MAFIA THE SECOND TIME JUST REPLAYED IN MY HEAD AND I'M WHEEZING.

HJ WHO WAS KILLED IMMEDIATELY: NOW THE MAFIAS ARE ARGUING WHO TO KILL

SAN: ARGUING? OK IT'S JEONG YUNHO JUNG WOOYOUNG

HJ: SOMEONE FINALLY USED THEIR BRAINCELLS

Personally I don't think it's a Gemini moon thing? Or at least, not ONLY a Gemini moon thing..? Idk I know not much about astrology tbh hhhhhhhhhhhh

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gins-potter · 3 years

Text

Chicago Fire 9x11 Thoughts

alright here we go with fire.

trying not to have high hopes for this episode because i've found the last few episodes a bit disappointing but everything i've heard about it so far sounds really good.

oh yessssssss instructor!severide. love that for us.

oh that dummy is fucked.

sylvie's side eye when grainger suggested declawing Veronicat. love that for her.

grainger kissing the scratch tho, kinda cute.

stella in braids!!!

love seeing sylvie be honest with herself about her relationship with grainger tho.

concerned sylvie!!!

okay either a). casey's headaches have not actually gone away and he's just lying about it or b). they have gone away but that's just a sign it's getting worse. i don't like either option.

okay why did we not hear anything about erik and ritter breaking up? why don't we get anything about their relationship? oh wait i know why-

oh fuck that arm looks fucking mangled.

i suspect the guy in the apron. he sus.

so not the point of this call but Captain Casey and PIC Brett are such a Look together.

"I got someone to set you up with" "OH.... no..." literally Daniel Kyri has the best comedic timing on this show.

GALLO PUT THE BREAD DOWN.

okay but herrmann trying to set ritter up with the only gay guy he knows is peak hilarious well-meaning ally and seeing as how it's one of the few times the show has acknowledged ritter's sexuality, i'm here for it.

DARDEN MENTION i'm crying.

look i always want more reference to pre-show stuff.

ofc the useless kid from the academy has a dad in the department.

lmao boden knows what's up.

or maybe the guy in the apron is the one who suspects it wasn't an accident.

i love rallo/rillo (what is their ship name anyway?) but anyway yeah i love them and that is all.

okay Gallo is definitely gonna fuck up this bread.

Stella why did you put a wrench in the oven?

ah ok that's why.

lmaooooooooo.

asdfghjkl casey enjoyed that way too much.

how does will know about veronicat? but i love that he does.

gallo is enjoying this whole thing with andy and ritter a little too much 👀👀👀

yes i know i'm reading too much into it, just let me have nice things.

oh that poor bread.

sylvie just gave him such a disappointed mum look. i fucking love that.

ok i'm back to sussing apron dude.

love me some supportive stellaride.

CONCERNED SYLVIE.

oh jesus andy that's a terrible first impression. this is gonna go so badly.

OMFG GO FUCKING OFF RITTER.

ADAM!

i love him so fucking much.

well hello grainger.

they are actually kinda cute together (don't hate me i'm still a mad brettsey shipper).

oh shit mercer. what the fuck did you do?

severide's going in without a mask? that's seriously badass.

okay but mercer looks like such a scared puppy dog. i almost almost feel sorry for him.

CONCERNED SYLVIE.

can you tell i love it?

MATTHEW STOP BEING DUMB.

ERIK!

i literally always forget that we met Erik once before (we did meet him once before right?)

either way I'm happy he's back.

my heart.

can't believe we didn't get a kiss there tho. this is homophobia. literally.

OH MY GOD BLAKE MADE HER BREAD DOUGH.

oof daddy coming in to defend his son. big macho man.

oh my god did the muffin man dose the muffin?!?!?!?!

side note: violet and sylvie are such a good paramedic duo already.

how many old friends has boden lost at this point?

also why did severide just loose his cool a lil bit.

adam serving up looks as usual.

WAIT WHAT?

IT'S THE WIFE?

probs shoulda seen that one coming.

god i love severide.

viollo (is that their ship name?) are so competitive with each other. i kinda love it.

taking credit for erik and ritter getting back together is peak herrmann tho.

going from a stellaride kiss to a brettsey scene? i see you writers. i see you.

he sounds so worried SOMEONE HUG HIM.

brettsey theme???

SHE'S GONNA GO WITH HIM I'M FUCKING CRYING GUYS

okay this episode was so good now i'm gonna go cry in a corner because matthew fucking casey and sylvie fucking brett own my motherfucking heart.

#one chicago #chicago fire #oc spoilers

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theonlygamergost · 4 years

Text

Mcytubers playing Among us! - 1 / 2

So uhhh… This was supposed to be a random prompt to get over a supposed “writing block” but I ended up taking it seriously. Also, I know this group of people never played all together, but I don’t care UwU

This is an interactive story! At the end there will be a poll for you to vote, what are you voting for? Read the story and find out yourself!

(Cw! Jschlatt) Warning: It’s among us mate, mention of dead bodies and swearing, what do you expect

Walking down to storage the game started, Techno was a crewmate.

Filling up the gas tank was the first task, Jschlatt went into admin with Tommy while Dave opened the wires cabinet. As he made sure not to overflow the gasoline, Shelby and Scott were standing at the trash shoot, as they finished, they walked up to him, “Hey Techno want to come to electrical? I saw Shelby do trash so she’s safe” Techno nodded and followed the two friends, he was more comfortable having four people going, but he did see her do trash, so if he did die, oh well.

He started the electrical download just as the lights went off, great.

“I’ll go get it!” Shelby exclaimed, Scott hummed and let her go ahead while sticking near Techno, his teal suit was barely visible in his field of view as a gory slash and the noise of something dropping could be heard from the other side of the wall.

“SHELBY!!!” Techno finished downloading just as Scott ran towards the light and-

A BODY WAS FOUND!

Techno and Scott got teleported next to each other in the cafeteria, both of them looked around just to be relieved by the sight of the woman they thought was dead, in fact, she was the one who called the body.

“I was in the back of electrical with Techno and Scott, I went to turn on the lights but I couldn’t see where the body was or who walked in” The only one missing was Dave.

Techno spoke up, “Last time I saw Dave was in storage doing wires” Wilbur agreed, “Where was everyone?”

Schlatt and Tommy were walking down to electrical together while Phil and Fundy were between Oxygen and Asteroids. All paired up and far away from the crime scene.

“I was in medbay!” Tubbo exclaimed, “There is a vent in medbay that leads to electrical” Fundy pointed out, “ There is no way they vented, Techno was doing download, and that panel is on the vent, plus how could they pass through Techno me and Shelby and then kill Dave without no one seeing them?” Scott made a point, so they had no suspicions. The time was about to end so they all agreed to skip… but something wasn’t right, it’s just that Techno couldn’t figure out what.

Scott and Shelby went to the asteroids while Phil went down, Techno knew that the two friends were safe, so going with them was the best option, but he had two tasks in admin and Fundy vouched for Phil, so he went in admin with him.

“Here to do card swipe?” The man in the light green suit smiled behind the transparent visor, “And upload” Techno added as he started it, after two attempts, Phil got the card swipe and walked to the other side of admin table, “Two in navigations, one in reactor, one in cams and two in electrical… one is missing” Techno walked to the card reader and failed a few attempts before succeeding, “I feel like someone died… let’s go check out electrical just in case, you coming mate?” He didn’t have anything there, but he followed him.

They entered electrical to find Tubbo and Will, one doing download and one just standing there, they greeted each other and Phil told them his worry while opening the panel on the far right, an oxygen crisis was called right after.“Oh O2, let’s go Techno” Wilbur gestured at Techno to follow him, he followed.

As they ran to admin, a red suit was concentrated on a task, “Tommy why the fuck are you doing wires? Come do O2!” Tommy shrugged, “Nah, you guys got it” closing the wires panel, he went in the direction they just came by.

“That’s sus…” Wilbur whispered, it was barely audible since the alarm was pretty loud.

They entered admin and Wilbur did O2, as they were leaving to do the second one-

A BODY WAS FOUND!

“WHO DARED KILL PHILZA MINECRAFT?!?!?” Tommy slammed his fist on the meeting table, Tubbo, who was next to him, jumped at the sudden motion.

“You did Tommy” Wilbur was looking straight at him, “Going to electrical while 02 is going off is something only an imposter would do” Techno felt bad for leaving Phil alone with Tubbo in- wait.

“I- I- I didn’t do anything! You know me Big dubs I would never kill Philza Minecraft!!!” As Will was about to talk back, Techno touched his arm, “Tommy did go to electrical but didn’t we leave Tubbo and Phil together in there?” The attention moved on the yellow suit, “Well yes! But I left right after you guys did-” he tried to explain, “Actually, where were you Tubbo? I didn’t see you the whole game” Scott asked, Shelby nodded.

“I- uh… I’m in bottom storage! That’s why you guys didn’t see me!” Tommy got closer to Tubbo, “I would have seen you pass if you said that you left right after Will and Techno! VOTE HIM OUT!!!”

Tommy voted instantly, the rest of the crew hesitated,” That doesn’t clear you Tommy, I’m still not convinced… Wait- Fundy’s dead too!” His spot at the table was empty, Scott made an observation “If we vote on seven and we get it wrong they just need a double kill… “ The had fifteen seconds left, “Ok then, everyone skip, let’s just keep an eye on the children, they might both be impostors” Will skipped vote and so did Shelby and Scott, “Why can't it be you, Wilbur? I last saw Fundy with you on right side… “ Schlatt pointed at Wilbur as the room became dark, the last thing before they went back to their tasks was Wilbur flipping the tables, “ Funny enough Jschlatt, I could say the same thing-”

~~~~~~~~~~~

The round had been going on for too long, Techno had finished all of his tasks on the left side, he missed bottom reactor and medbay scan, but for now, he was filling the reactor. Shelby and Scott have been together the whole round, he walked into them twice, the first time in navigation, the second time a few seconds ago when they were heading to cams. He left the empty gas can next to the machine just as lights went down.

Since he was next to electrical, he took the corridor and entered the worst room of the entire map, flicking the lights on, a metallic squeak came from the back of the room. He walked around the lights panel to find Tubbo’s yellow suit kneeled on the ground, he snapped his head to see the pink suit as-

A BODY WAS FOUND!

“I left Shelby in cams, I did the one-two-three thing, and lights went down as soon as I saw Tubbo coming down from top reactor! He killed her and vented! I heard the sound” Shlatt backed him up, saying that Tubbo went left from cafeteria last time he had seen him, “ I trust Scott’s word, but I don’t believe you Shlatt, an impostor would jump on the blame-train to show themselves innocent” They had a small staredown, it was getting tense so Techno spoke up, “I can confirm that it was Tubbo, I did lights and heard the vent open, Tubbo was standing right on top of it” Tommy cheered as he called himself “innocent” and that voting Tubbo would make justice for Phil, Wilbur looked at him weird while everyone voted.

Everyone apart from Shlatt, “So we know that Tubbo is 100% impostor, so the suspects for second impostors are Tommy and Wilbur right?” Wilbur stuttered, “Wah- what makes you say that Big J? If I’m on the sus list, you are too”

Tubbo was ejected

Techno went straight to medbay, Tommy followed him, “HEY BIG T! You have scan big man?” he nodded, he would have preferred no one watching him scan then Tommy watching him scan, but be had a gut feeling that Tommy wasn’t the impostor, so he stepped on the scanner-

EMERGENCY MEETING!

Wilbur had called a meeting, as soon as they teleported at the table, he pointed a finger at Tommy, “Tommy is the most sus one out of all of us! Let’s vote him out just in case both of them were impostors” Scott hovered over the vote button, thought about it, and voted, Schlatt voted too “I’m ok with that, but I still think that you are an impostor Wilbur Soot” they all voted while Tommy yelled whines and excuses, Techno looked over at the boy in the red suit. he wasn’t sure if voting him was a good idea, but if he didn’t vote him the others would get suspicious, so he went with the flow.

“Let’s all stick together ok! We can win by tasks” Scott proposed, Wilbur and Schlatt had one more task, so did Techno, hopefully the ghosts finished the remaining one quickly.

TommyInnit was ejected

Both Shlatt and Scott looked at Wilbur when they were back at the cafeteria, “Wasn’t it your idea Mister Soot to vote Tommy off in case they were both impostors?” Schlatt walked closer to Wilbur, “You can’t blame me for sussing someone who ran away from a crisis and found a body! If anything I should be asking you why you were alone most of the time!”

“Boys please calm down and let’s go do my task” Scott sighed, “You’re the only one I trust here Techno, what tasks do you have left?” Scott started walking towards storage, “I only have medscan” Wilbur and Schlatt were not looking at each other, the impostor was one of them, so it probably wasn’t nice to know that the traitor was walking peacefully next to you while faking his innocent attitude.

Scott did shields and Wilbur entered admin to swipe his card while the rest waited outside, the green bar went up one last time while they were walking into medbay, it looked like only one task was missing, “You have to believe me guys when I tell you that I have the vials, Wilbur was lucky that a ghost did his task and he got to walk it off! It took him way too much to scan the card” Schlatt walked next to the scan and activated the vials, Wilbur barked back, “Yeah yeah sure, you are just salty we are going to win!” Techo stepped on the scan as the green laser went up and down, the others couldn’t see it since visual tasks were off, but the final decision was between Wilbur and Schlatt.

As the room went quiet he realized what was that feeling he had, he knew what felt wrong in the first round! That meant he had to be the impostor...correct?

The lights started to dim down, “Oh no!” Scott exclaimed as he tried to make a mad dash for the scanner, but as soon as the room went dark-

A BODY WAS FOUND!

Techno didn’t see anything, it was a fifty/fifty, or so it seemed. Techno was leaning towards one player, but he was nervous about making a mistake, he could only hear what they had to say before taking the losing or winning step.

~~~~~~~~~~

Who will Techno vote out? YOU DECIDE!!!

This link will take you to a poll! The winner will get voted out and I’ll reveal who was the impostor!!!

Find out who was the impostor on the second part!!!

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