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maddieinwonder · 3 years

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The Eighth

Spencer Reid x Fem!BAU!Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: None, this is a fluff-only zone!

Word Count: 2.3k

Plot: Reader has been in the BAU for one year and a lot has changed, especially her relationship with a certain genius. (Part 1 here!)

Author's Note: Seriously, I wasn't expecting my first two fics to blow up like that. Just, thank you to everyone who read them ♡♡♡

As for this one... I had to write a Part 2, basically as an excuse for me to write good things about everybody in the BAU and go wild with the backstories hahaha I hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

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Under the dim lighting of the BAU jet, your pen paused on the small book beneath it, causing a small blotch of ink to seep through its pages. The words usually flowed out of you without inhibition, but today was different, and frankly, you were feeling a little overwhelmed.

You didn't think the team would remember this, but today marked exactly one year since you joined the BAU. As if the universe were smiling down on you, the week also turned out to be a great one - or at least, as good as it could get around here.

The team had just closed a challenging case with minimal casualties, everyone had been ordered to have a long weekend off, and the person you most wanted to spend it with was dozing off beside you without a care in the world. Of course, he didn’t know about your feelings... yet.

Closing your journal, you gave up on writing as your eyes wandered restlessly toward your sleeping teammates.

Your eyes crinkled into a smile when your gaze landed on Hotch. This was the first time you’d seen him actually asleep on the jet, and in your opinion, he deserved whatever rest he could get. Since you joined the team, you had seen the man endure countless late nights in the office. Something you had quickly attributed to the missing wedding ring on his finger.

Yet, he remained a stalwart to the team. He constantly checked in with everybody, shielded the team from messy politics, and even managed to crack the occasional joke. Of course, he was still stoic most of the time, and you weren’t exactly sure if he was capable of blinking, but now you knew the warmth and care he possessed too.

Then there was Rossi, who had defied all your initial expectations. You had thought a celebrity like him to be gracious, maybe a little egoistic, but he was straight forward and meticulous to a fault. Still, it seemed he couldn't escape his nature as a performer, as he shone the brightest in the interrogation room.

The day you first witnessed him in action, your jaw had dropped to the floor, and he never stopped bringing it up in jest. He always joked that he didn't know whether you or the unsub was more shocked, but after that day, he also took the time to mentor you in the craft. You liked to think he was proud of how quickly you were able to put it into practice.

Your eyes wandered to Emily, sleeping soundly in the next seat. With Penelope and JJ’s busy schedules, she had taken on the role of showing you the ropes, and you had become fast friends. Turns out, the both of you were eerily similar: competitive, quick thinkers who never backed down from a challenge.

Unfortunately this meant you were never paired together on cases, but you did have an ongoing chess tournament slash drinking game. The chess was your idea, the drinking was Emily’s, and you were currently winning, much to your obvious pride and the rest of the team's amusement.

The person you actually got paired with the most was Derek; effectively fulfilling the fantasies of many women you knew. But as it turned out, the two of you made a damn good team. His calculated disposition combined with your breadth of knowledge - only rivalled by the good doctor - made you an extremely effective duo, and Hotch picked up on it immediately.

You being younger than him by a few years, Derek made it a point to check in with you often, and in turn, allowing you to glimpse at his pensive, empathetic, and insightful sides. He had become a big brother to you, and you like a sister. A bond that proved to be a strong one, across the many cases you tackled together.

You smiled to yourself, eyes landing on Penelope and JJ, dozing off together under a bright pink, knitted blanket whose ownership was in no doubt. It was rare that the tech analyst came along on cases, but she was always a welcomed presence for everybody involved.

Amidst the sea of gruesome cases sent to the BAU, you had come to look forward to Penny's witty banter, either over the phone or in person. The image of her colourful outfits and her outrageously decorated office were enough to make you believe in a light at the end of any tunnel.

It reminded you of your first case, an extraordinarily challenging one that the team managed to unravel in the nick of time. When you arrived back at the BAU, Penelope was the one to drag you out to celebrate. Little did you know, the rest of the team had also gathered at the bar with party poppers and birthday cake. When you found out that Penny had planned everything, you knew you had earned a friend for life.

As you smiled at the memory, JJ shuffled in her sleep and your attention was drawn to her sleeping figure. You didn’t know how she could look so perfect even when she was asleep. But then again, you’d come to realise that there was very little she couldn’t do.

You had already been friends with the communications liaison, but working with her in the BAU was a completely different beast. Of all the chaotic personalities in the BAU, only JJ had a hold over every single one. She was able to apply the same to the local police and media, and still meet the victim's families with the utmost grace and empathy.

During her brief window of absence when Henry was born, things just weren't the same. You liked Jordan, and you knew she always gave her best, but there was an unmistakable sigh of relief when JJ was back. And although she never asked for it, you and Penelope did everything you could to give her and Will a break from their newborn, including regular movie nights in with baby Henry.

Last but not least, the one that you couldn't forget even if you tried, Dr. Spencer Reid. You had joined the BAU because of him, you realised now. But what began as professional interest, had quickly developed into a full blown crush on your co-worker.

You realised this fact on an absolutely unremarkable day, except for the fact that your heart skipped a beat when Spencer walked into the office that morning. He wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary, his usual combination of sweater vest and shirt, but when he smiled at you, your face flushed visibly and you wanted to melt into your chair in embarrassment.

If the genius had noticed it, he didn't let it show. But Derek most certainly did. Every chance he got that day, he teased you about your newfound crush on "pretty boy", and soon the news made it to everyone's ears. Emily not in the least, as she used the knowledge to win several chess games, much to your annoyance.

And still, Spencer remained oblivious. Despite how often you sat starry eyed listening to him explain a completely random fact. Despite how many weekends you spent together bonding over your shared interests in Star Trek and Doctor Who. Despite the fact that the seat next to him on the plane was basically reserved for you. You didn't think he knew, because he never made a move.

That's why you decided last week. The next time the team had a long weekend off, you would ask Spencer out on a date. You just didn't think it would happen so soon.

Midway through your thought, Spencer groaned in the seat next to you. His hands lifted to move his hair away from his face, and you resisted the urge to do it for him.

"Are we there yet?" He asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

You felt your heartbeat quicken at his voice, gravelly and soft, not fully back to reality just yet.

"No, not yet," you answered back in a whisper. "It's only 3AM. We have about two hours to go."

"Why aren't you asleep?" He asked. His head leaned back onto the headrest, but this time, his face turned towards yours. The two of you were far too close to each other for this to be work appropriate.

"Just thinking." You tapped the cover of your book with your pen in explanation, trying to look anywhere but at him. Spencer hummed in acknowledgement, the sound driving you wild. Then he did something you could have never expected.

"Hey," he began, pulling your gaze to meet his hazel eyes, "happy one year at the BAU." His lips formed a small smile, sleepy but genuine.

"You remembered?" You couldn't fight the wide smile that made its way onto your face, nor the glee that spilled out of your voice.

"Of course. Eidetic memory, remember?" He joked, gesturing at his head. Maybe it was the lack of sleep talking, but you felt like you were on the verge of tears.

"Thank you. Really."

"Hey, hey, hey, don't cry." Spencer said, suddenly sitting upright. He leaned forward as if to touch your cheek, but his fingers lingered in the air in between you awkwardly.

You brought your own fingers to your face, realising that you were, in fact, crying. A small laugh escaped your lips at the absurdity of it all.

"No, no, I'm alright, Spencer. Just overwhelmed, I suppose." You tried explaining, gently wiping the tears from your face.

"Why?" He asked, his voice laced with concern.

“I didn’t expect anyone to remember it, that’s all.” You said, feeling a little ashamed now, but your words seemed to light a fire in the doctor’s eyes.

“Well, whoever forgot it must be stupid because you’ve made a difference in the lives of every single person on this jet.” He said in an uncharacteristic huff.

This was your chance, you realised.

“Hey, Spencer,” you said after a pause, biting your lip nervously, “what difference did I make in your life?”

Spencer looked as if he had been caught, his eyes instantly darted to the seat behind you, his fingers twitching. You tightened your grip on your pen, willing yourself not to collapse from the anticipation.

“Of course, I-I mean, many things can’t be quantified due to its subjective nature, but you did change my life."

"Like?" You pressed on.

"You gave me something to look forward to everyday." He said, his eyes lifting to meet yours. You felt your heart soar a hundred stories above the ground.

"Really?" You were in disbelief, your voice barely a whisper.

"Really. You're... you're intelligent, beautiful, and you open my mind to new things every day. I feel like you understand me in ways the rest can't, and you’re the person I want to tell everything to. There’s nobody else but you.” He blurted out in a single breath, as if he'd lose the words if he waited any longer.

Your eyes threatened to spill tears again, but you blinked them back, preparing to say what you wanted to say to him long ago.

"Spencer... I like you. Like, romantically like you." You whispered, your eyes barely able to meet his. His eyes were wide open, his eyes glancing briefly at your lips.

And in a moment of pure bravery, as he explained later, he placed his hand over yours and squeezed. "Me too. I like you, romantically."

Long after that, he would tell you that he'd never seen you smile so widely before, and he instantly knew that he wanted to be the reason you smiled that way all the time. But in the moment, he just laced his fingers with yours.

You squeezed his hand back. Feeling calmed by his warm touch, you leaned closer to him. You still had one question on your mind.

"Did you know that I liked you?"

"I figured it out eventually. Last month." He said sheepishly. "But I've had feelings for you since a month after you joined the team." His cheeks turned a light pink at the confession.

"You know what? Me too." You blushed, leaning against his shoulder.

“Another thing we have in common now,” he said, resting his head on yours.

You weren’t willing to let him go now that you had him, and luckily, it seemed like he had the same idea, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you close.

The two of you fell into slumber easily, not even realising it when the jet had landed back in Virginia.

It didn't take long for the rest of the team to realise the interesting sight in front of them, but not even Penelope's high-pitched squeal managed to wake you up.

In the end, it was JJ who decided to end your unknowing humiliation by shaking the two of you gently. You and Spencer jolted awake, immediately taking in the various smirks and grins from your team in front of you.

"Ok, that's enough guys." Hotch announced. You noticed the small smile on his face before he turned around to leave the jet.

The team - mostly Emily and Penelope - looked as if they wanted to enjoy the sight for a little longer, but at Hotch's word, decided they would leave the teasing till later.

"That's not exactly how I imagined telling the team," Spencer said, when the two of you were finally alone. He ran his fingers through his hair in an action of mild distress, but you noticed the smile that was still glued to his face.

You leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek, enjoying the blush it left behind. "Well, that means less time with them, and more time with you," you teased.

Spencer picked up his bag and offered his hand to you. "I'm counting on it," he said, smiling widely.

You took his hand, your gaze trailing up his wrinkled shirt to his messy brown hair, finally landing on his earnest eyes. Of all the times in the past year you got to be the BAU's Eighth. This moment had got to be the best.

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oh-theres-a-woman · 4 years

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Flowers in a Peaked Cap; Part One

A/N: Heres to attempt two at writing this author’s note… Let’s just say, I haven’t perfected the art of saving drafts. Note to self to actually find out how to make the draft before losing three solid paragraphs of rambling about the story… Sophie Points; Nil. Laptop/Internet Points; One. Welp, honestly internet and laptop have won a hell of a lot more than that. Just don’t remember how many times I’ve lost work because of not quite understanding how to post on here…. Safe to say I’m still a noob.

Any hoot! Enough rambling about that stuff.

After posting the first piece to this story; in the very very early hours of this morning. I couldn’t help but feel the massive urge to continue and work on the more of Tillie’s little adventure. It made me want to think about her as a person outside the relatives that we already know. What this girl’s goals are and ambitions. Unlike the rest of her family, I think she has a relatable amount of vulnerability and anxieties that are more from society’s working in the 1920s compared to her brothers; Arthur, Thomas and John that all suffer war-related mental illness and scars.

Actively she’s a romantic escapist that wants to make her brothers and aunt proud. Making a name for herself in the means of writing and exploring the tales that are brewed from the memories of old days.

In the progression of this story, I want to be able to explore the growth in Tillie as a young woman. The stepping out of her brothers’ shadows and coming into her own. Growing into a more confident young woman that could be from meeting new people like in this chapter and moving away from her fears.

I do see romance in this story, something like and full of all the trend first experience one faces at one stage or another. In terms of smut, I’d think it’s lighter and would be something that is worked towards. Tillie to me doesn’t seem rather lust-driven. So, it’ll happen if it does, and if not; its simply because Tillie Shelby isn’t interested in that sort of thing.

Important note; I’ll be working on organising the Taglist a little more throughout my next few posts. Please notify me if you’re interested in anything specifically and want tags there or if you mind just being on the general tag list and included in every story I post. Thank you!!!

Requested By; @csigeoblue

Parts; [ Prologue ]

Taglist; @zodiyack, @itsfrancisneptun, @amys-small-world, @fandom-fucking-shit, @hesagod-notyet, @hinagiku0, @dylanlover24, @amirahiddleston, @a-dorky-book-keeper, @theamuz, @csigeoblue, @smallheathgangsters, @beautycinders

Word Count; 1400

Watery Lane wasn’t the play that supported the wild fantasy’s of Tillie Shelby, but the little bookshop that was filled with many hopefuls or lads that were born a little more well off collectively grouped together. Reading the stories they wrote. This gathering was apparently one that caught the attention of the paper since the known publishers and well-off lads from another book club around England had found themselves doing a sort of travel for their source material.

Since the profile of this club of prolific writers had taken interest in the area of Small Heath and its inhabitants. Inviting upstart writers or aspiring tellers to come and meet them. So, onward the youngest Shelby strolled until she pulled open the door of the quaint little bookshop. The signal of her arrival was the sound of her kitten heels and the ringing of the bell on the door. Doe-like blue eyes that were like the crystal-clarity of the purest of water found themselves settling on a group of well-dressed gentlemen. Her eyes flicker between some faces she knew of Small Heath, most of them being the arseholes she went to school with and thought themselves privy to a better life.

It wasn’t that Tillie didn’t believe they weren’t welcome to it. Mostly, it was the way they treated people in order to get there the young woman didn’t quite agree with. She was rather foolish coming to her though since her brother’s had a very vision about how the Shelby family should be seen. Their measures to getting things done with it were also less than admirable. Perhaps, it was the fact that Billy Bronson, James Fitz and Joe Gilbert made hers and Finn’s school life a living hell one way or another. But, it also made it seem extremely unfair to talk to their older brothers about what happened. Since most knew better than to fuck with the kin of the Peaky Blinders.

Plooms of cigarette smoke clouded in the air, filling the bookstore with a spiced herbal infusion and rippled tailored sticks of tobacco. Moving her gaze from the lads she knew; to the new arrivals. The youngest of the Shelby mob offered a little smile. “Is there room for one more?” Tillie finally spoke up, pulling her book that contained the novel she had poured hours and hours over. Smiling hopefully. Arms hugging the expensive leather made book that her brothers banded together in the hopes for a lovely birthday present in the days before the war.

Hoping that she’d fill in with various things she enjoyed to draw, but instead, Tillie hadn’t touched it until she was old enough to respect things. Asking Aunt Pol to help her keep in a safe place until then. Scraps of paper were best for sketches in any case.

Eyes ever hopeful looked at the posher sort, some seemed wary until a certain collared lad smiled and offered a little nod then the place he’d been sitting. Away from the boys that seemed to make life a little more bothersome. “Thank you,” she whispered, settling down in the seat. Resting the book down on her lap before looking to the other lads who straightened their composure.

“We were all about to introduce ourselves since we’ve never travelled outside of London for such a meeting before. Yet, it seemed like a brilliant idea when bought up. Birmingham seemed like the best place, so raw and thrilling. Small Heath alone.” Spoke finally a lad in a handsome waist-coat, the colouring of coal, stiff collar and matching suit made her think of it being something her brother; Tom would wear. Only on the best occasions, or when he was dressing-to-impress. Unlike Thomas, this lad had handsome hazel eyes, the slightest tan to his skin like he enjoyed the frolicking on the beach. His name was Walter, but everyone called him, Walt.

“Even the presence of criminal activity and organisations like the Peaky Blinders, it does make the area a prize for writing. Wouldn’t you agree, lads,” spoke up for eccentric Norman, who took delight in the thing that only made Tillie smile in a measure of great awkwardness. The name seemed to follow her everywhere she went, and there was a measure of awkwardness for that. “Sorry, miss, I didn’t quite mean to be so rude, it’s just you don’t seem the sort to know much on that end, too kind and pretty, huh?” Norm covered himself for any form of rudeness that could have been interpreted.

Only causing a polite little lowering of her head, as her hands wrapped anxiously around her book’s spine. Before relaxing at the conversation drifting off elsewhere. Sobering to the notion that the following cough from Joe Gilbert had goosebumps appearing on her arms. Causing a vast amount of discomfort in the young woman. Tillie traded glances with the nicer of the Londoner’s; Robert. Whom quickly coughed to get things back on track.

“In any case, back to the introductions. We shouldn’t dwell too long on the story topics if we’ve lacked the proper course of introduction. Shall I start?” Robert spoke up, settled against set up for the purpose of meetings. “My name is Robert Augustine, myself and these other gentlemen,” he said, gesturing to the others in the group of London lads.

“Are from a collective of young men that wish to write and publish arts. Never before have we had a lady join us, but surely in this modern world we’d be able to welcome the bright minds of femininity amongst us. After all, lady authors are blooming into the publishing world more and more with each generation.” His words seemed to still the anxiousness within her soul at the agreement of his other companions. Looking forward to seeing a hand extended to her, Robert allowed her to stand. The mix of coarseness and softness met between the two palms meet.

Holding her book, Tillie looked down smiling a little at her feet. Hugging her book to her chest, like it was the most precious thing to her. That was… Because it truly was the thing that held so much value to her heart. Her right hand still gently in the hold of the Londoner, cheeks lightly warming. “I’m Tillie Shelby, and I like to write about my brothers, their stories before the war. When we were kids,” she lit up sweetly talking of her brothers. Her hand and Robert’s naturally finding it parting, before he settled in his spot by the desk. Arms folding at his chest with a little smile.

“Would you be willing to share any of those stories?” Robert asked in a light voice. Tillie could only think of one response.

“Would I ever,” she beamed with a presence that seemed to warm the room and the quiet little shop around them. Settling down into her seat once more, she didn’t think about when the others were introducing themselves. Instead, she found herself lost within stories. The more whimsical tales of lads that laughed and partied. Or the ones that filled with a warmth that made her think of the family that suppressed or lost who they were before the war. Among them, none had known those woes and horrors.

They’d seen things happen on the outside. Felt the absence of a brother, father, uncle or grandfather that either died or lost what kept to their memory that their younger-selves recalled. Tillie was young then. Merely a baby in some regard. But she couldn’t ever forget the days of laughter, wherein night terrors; her heroes would just come up and curl into the undersized cot she called a bed. Soothing their fingers along with the softness of infant or child hairs–that had yet to understand dryness or damage.

When business didn’t entirely rule the Shelby family but happened in the background. Those were her tales. The tales of rawness and loss from a different scene. Where her brothers; the men who took over the role of an absent father, became; fathers, uncles, older brothers and best friends. And… Pol became the only mother she ever knew and remembered. Her voice spoke of the volumes to family values and how terrible things broke people. Yet, she never uttered their names aloud.

Only recording them within her mind when she read the tales that meant something to one of her brothers. Art. Tom. John.

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fangirlshrewt97 · 4 years

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Geralt Whump Week Submission Day 5

TITLE: I Walk a Lonely Road

SHIPS: Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier|Dandelion (Platonic or Pre-Slash)

PROMPT: Loneliness

MEDIUM (Netflix, Books, Games, Hexer): Netflix

WARNINGS: NA

SUMMARY: Excerpt:

And yet, Jaskier had followed him. Jaskier followed him despite his grouchy demeanor, his taciturn nature, his ostracism at the hands of the general pubic. And not only did Jaskier follow him, he befriended him. In his long life, Geralt had come across the whole swath of humanity, from the saints to the scum of the earth, but very few had had the courage to be able to look him in the eye for more than a few minutes at a time. And even less had thought him to be someone worth knowing. Jaskier was the first, and only, human brave enough to ask to be - no not ask, declare himself to be Geralt’s friend.

Alternate title: Geralt misses Jaskier and ponders on having a friend.

WORD COUNT: 1483 words

AUTHOR’S NOTES: Additional Tags include Geralt Whump Week, Loneliness, Introspection, Friendship, Angst with a happy ending, Geralt deserves better, Geralt has abandonment issues, Geralt has trust issues

AUTHOR: Fangirlshrewt97

CHARACTERS: Geralt of Rivia, Jaskier

LINK TO AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25089355

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It was odd, how unsettling the silence was the first time Geralt and Jaskier parted for the season after they started to travel with each other for the majority of the year. Geralt heading towards Kaer Morhen, and Jaskier back towards Oxenfurt.

The world seemed to be amplifying the specific absence of nonstop chatter and mindless strumming, so that even the existing chirping of birds, the rustle of leaves against the wind, the rush of the stream down the hill, all of it seemed to be background noise to the silence.

Geralt urged Roach into a light trot instead of the sedate pace she was currently on. Maybe distance would lower the volume of the silence.

Jaskier was closer to Oxenfurt than Geralt had been to Kaer Morhen, so Geralt had led them towards Redania after they finished their business in Temeria. It was simply because Geralt did not want to cause the bard further difficulties as he made his way back to his winter roost. It was challenging to travel during winter even for a Witcher, it would be even worse for Jaskier.

Roach started to slow down after nearly two hours of trotting, so Geralt decided to make camp, dismounting from Roach and leading her by the reins as he scanned the area for a good campsite. Finding a small clearing a little ways from the road, Geralt tied Roach to a tree and settled down saddle bags. He removed a small dagger and went in search of food.

After a quick hunt and a large rabbit that had had the unfortunate luck of crossing his path, Geralt gathered firewood and created his fire for the evening with Igni. He went through the motions of cleaning the rabbit and cooking it, eating mechanically.

It was difficult to believe so now, having travelled alone on the Path for nearly seven decades now, but three years with Jaskier were all that Geralt had needed to become used to him. There were some days when the bard was too much, too loud, too colourful, too much frenetic energy. But other days, he was the one bright spot of sunshine that reminded Geralt that while most humanity hated him for his existence, his duty was done for people like Jaskier, people who made life worth living.

Who brought some joy into a world of cruelty and death, a breath of fresh air through the stink of decay and destitution. Who was brave, and smart, and courageous. But who also was not afraid to fight for what he believed in, or who. Geralt had lost count of the number of fights he had stopped Jaskier from getting into over himself, but the surprise of someone fighting for him was there every time.

If Jaskier had been here, he would have been complaining over the blandness of the rabbit, and prattling about buying spices at their next stop at a town so it did not feel so much like they were eating barely-cooked meat.

Geralt felt his lips twitch upward at the thought. Even without being beside him, the bard had wound his way into Geralt’s head and life. It had not actually been too difficult, Geralt had never had to properly set up walls to protect himself beyond the insults hurled at Witchers. Why bother, what human would ever want to be around a monster like him? And sorcerers? Please, they were so stuck up with their inflated senses of selves, Geralt found it incredible some of them did not simply fly away with egos. Other Witchers were so few that he crossed paths with. And his brothers? Well they had always had a place there.

So. Geralt had skin thicker than the hide of his armor, but his walls crumbled at the slightest show of affection, or understanding, or kindness. Or even just being treated as a person and a not a killing machine.

And yet.

And yet, Jaskier had followed him.

Jaskier followed him despite his grouchy demeanor, his taciturn nature, his ostracism at the hands of the general pubic. And not only did Jaskier follow him, he befriended him.

In his long life, Geralt had come across the whole swath of humanity, from the saints to the scum of the earth, but very few had had the courage to be able to look him in the eye for more than a few minutes at a time. And even less had thought him to be someone worth knowing. Jaskier was the first, and only, human brave enough to ask to be - no not ask, declare himself to be Geralt’s friend.

Geralt did not know how to react to this, he had been brought up being told that Witchers travelled alone, their duty was one observed alone, their lives a sacrifice for the greater good, not their own.

His earliest memory, well, second earliest was of his mother abandoning him on the trail that lead to Kaer Morhen. It was calling out for her and stumbling down the path until nightfall, disoriented, hungry, and scared. It was being terrified of being eaten by the hulking figure with golden-yellow cat eyes that glowed in the dark until that figure revealed itself to be a Witcher.

Among his fellow trainees, his brothers to be, Geralt felt the first sense of family. He felt like he was part of a cause, like the hero of the stories people were going to write. And then they went through the trials. He watched, as one by one, most of the boys he considered to be his brothers died painfully, screams echoing through stone halls. He remembers very little of his own trial, knows it was just as scream-filled, but it is their voices that haunt him on the nights when he is most isolated. He also recalls the first time he left to venture on the Path, the beginning of the rest of his life, saying goodbye to the few constants in his life. Returning the next winter, weathered and worn by a world that had shown itself not to be kind. Returning to a hall where, of the handful of brothers he had stepped into the Path with, only Eskel returned. He learned then more than ever the true meaning of the words of his teachers. Friends were a liability, connections were distractions, and distractions got you killed. Help those in need, help your comrades, but above all, make sure you go into a situation with a clear head.

Geralt shook his head from his musings and cleaned up the remains of his dinner. After putting everything away, he took out his sword cleaning kit and settled by a rock next to his fire pit, using the whetstone to sharpen his blades before running over the swords with oil. He polished the blade to perfection as he had been taught, and placed the two swords back in their scabbards in Roach’s saddle.

He stretched for a bit, still feeling a little restless, but feeling too filled with energy to meditate. The cracks from days of laying on hard floors and riding make themselves known, and the stretching leaves him feeling pleasantly sore and limp. He makes his way to his bedroll, dropping gracelessly onto the mat and rolling onto his back. The clearing he had chose was well hidden from the road, and the circle of trees were tall enough to provide further cover. But straight upward? There was a large opening unobstructed by plants that allowed for a view of the starry sky.

The moon’s beams were at the edge of the circle of trees, lighting up the sky to give him a view that reminded him just how small he was in the larger scale of their world.

One of the lessons that was drilled into Witchers during training was to learn the night sky, and use it as a compass to orient themselves anywhere on the Continent. Geralt had not been the quickest at identifying them, but had enjoyed the lessons nonetheless. They were one of the few that taught the trainees the beauty of their world, rather than the violence and horror of it.

Geralt stayed staring up at the night sky until his eyelids grew heavy and he fell asleep to the sound of the woods, the rustling of the trees, the distant calls of owls, the scampering of small wildlife out on a hunt.

He had lived for the majority of his life believing himself destined for a life of loneliness. But he had found himself a bard - no, a friend. Someone who was voluntarily spending time with him because he enjoyed to do so.

The thought brought a smile to Geralt’s face, and he fell asleep underneath the canvas of the night sky like that.

Full of happiness and pride, humming a familiar song that had been written about him.

#the witcher #my fic #my writing #Geralt Whump Week #geralt whump week 2020 #geralt whump week day 5 #geralt of rivia #jaskier #geraskier #geraskier fic #whump #angst #let me know what you think!

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generousartisangladiator · 6 years

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A trip down a Memory lane. Sam and Dean. Season1. Part 1.

I have decided to do a short overview of the brothers’ characters and their development on episode-byeepisode basis. My idea is to follow changes of the brothers over time and all those events they experiences for all these years. It’s so interesting to pay attention how the brothers were changing.

01.01 Pilot

What do we learn about Sam here? Incredibly smart, his LSAT score put him into what? Into the intellectual elite of the world? Seems so. Confident, even smug, easily takes the initiative from Dean when they start investigating the case:

You're such a control freak, - says Dean and he is right. It’s not only the initiative he took from Dean, Sam is striving to control his life and, as a consequence, can’t tolerate the control from his father or his brother. Such strive to control is the first signs of responsibility – at that period of time it’s responsibility for his life and his fate, as well as the life of the family of his own – his girlfriend and prospective children. Sam takes his own decisions and is ready to be responsible for them. Another Sam’s characteristics, which is revealed in this episode is his determination, and commitment. He is able to set a goal and to do what is needed to reach it. However, for the first time one of his main fears is shown that is losing control. Losing control under the situation is Sam’s main fear in the early seasons: It’s clearly shown in the next dialogue:

DEAN So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?

SAM No. Not normal. Safe.

The safe life is the life, which allows to control its course, when monsters are not in the closet and you needn’t a .45.” (by the way, people often takes Sam’s words wrong and safe life is substituted by “normal”. Sam drew a firm distinction, he doesn’t want to live normally he wants the control over his life, the life where unpredictable factors are reduced to the minimum. The life where monsters won’t threaten people he loves. This Sam characteristics is reiterated by Dean later in the episode:

DEAN You're such a control freak.

The tragic end of the episode – his girlfriend’s death shows him the illusory nature of his control over his life and his fate, and this feeling will be one of those which will push him to his mistakes in season 4.

Also this episode reveals Sam’s outstanding abilities of investigator, his rebellious character and his openness – it’s him, ho calls his brother for the frank talk.

This first episode doesn’t reveal us much about Dean. His episodes are the second and especially the third. Nevertheless this episode reveals his loyalty to his family and his main fear, the fear to stay alone:

DEAN I can't do this alone.

SAM Yes you can.

DEAN looks down.

DEAN Yeah, well, I don't want to.

His another fear – the fear that he is not loved and his family doesn’t need him in a way he needs them will be revealed later and would be one of the focal points of the character up to and including the latest season. This episode also shows Dean’s tendency to show off (much later we will learn that underneath his cheekiness and proclivity to show off lie his self-esteem issues) and boss Sam around. And this episode also shows Dean’s thick emotional walls, he can’t be open and he cut Sam off when he wants to have heart-to-heart.

01.02 Wendigo.

A wonderful episode for both brothers’ characterization. Sam is crushed by his grief and guilt: he didn’t save, he didn’t guard and full of his wish to avenge Jessica’s death, he is so fully immersed into his grief, that he disregards the necessity to go on with the hunt – there is no Dad there, so let’s take these people to a safe place and go to look for Dad, his means to revenge. This scene reveals that in some extreme cases Sam’s purposefulness and drive can turn into obsession:

SAM Dean...no. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about.

Later this side of a wonderful quality will be revealed deeper. However, his obsession has its boundaries. What’s happening during this episode? Under Dean’s influence Sam goes into the hunt and feeling the responsibility for people who depend on them, people he even doesn’t know, gets determined to save them and without hesitation throws himself weaponless between the bunch of kids and the wendigo. Absence of understanding why it’s necessary to hunt instead of looking for Dad is replaced by the drive to save those people who are in danger and it reveals in his complete change of the mood at the end of the episode:

DEAN Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?

SAM Yeah, I know. But in the meantime? I'm driving.

This dialogue is a mirror dialogue of one in the beginning:

DEAN You wanna drive for a while?

SAM Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that.

DEAN Just thought you might want to. Never mind.

SAM Look, man, you're worried about me.

SAM I get it, and thank you, but I'm perfectly okay.

Who thinks these dialogues are about driving the Impala?

Dean. He worries about his brother and tries to distract him. This episode reveals such strong Dean’s quality as his feeling of duty – duty before his father: their father wants them to go on with the hunts, so be it so, before people who are in need of their help. He considers that it’s his duty to save them.

Dead in the Water.

Sam goes on through his grief and guilt, he wants revenge. But this episode also shows Sam’s inability to give up, he will go on fighting despite everything else and his loyalty to his family (in some regards the brothers are very different, but their loyalty to their family is in their blood). But also it shows other characteristics Sam had at that time: his youthful and a bit immature impulsiveness and his inability to control himself

SAM Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them.

DANIEL HUGH KELLY

DEAN Something you want to say to me?

SAM The trail for Dad. It's getting colder every day.

DEAN Exactly. So what are we supposed to do?

SAM I don't know. Something. Anything.

DEAN You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find Dad as much as you do?

SAM Yeah, I know you do, it's just—

But in fact, it’s Dean’s episode. In this episode Dean is a big brother. He is more level-headed, more sensible, in this episode he is the one who doesn’t lose the temper. It goes without saying that in season 1 Dean is more mature than Sam. But Dean hasn’t faced a deep grief burdened with guilt yet. Season 2 is to come. The revelation of this episode is that Dean adores children and can find a common language with them.

Given the fact that in his own childhood he babysat his little brother who wasn’t an angel with angelic character, that seems natural. But we don’t know it then. Babysitting his grownup brother is not equally successful though. Suggesting having fun with the waitress to a person who a couple of weeks ago buried his fiancée is not a paragon of empathy. But empathy is not a strong side of Dean’s character.

This episode also reveals that Mom’s death is a deep and pestering wound for Dean, a wound which he conceals behind his recklessness. It’s this pain which doesn’t allow him to reveal his feelings to his brother, who seeks the ways to mutual understanding and brother bonding. This episode gives the explanation of such Dean’s closedness which he demonstrated in the Pilot – there are things he can’t talk even now. These emotional walls he built are the reason of what is hinted in these first episodes, but which will be explored later – Dean’s absorption in his own feelings and ignoring feelings of other people.

Phantom Traveller. It’s Sam’s episode. This episode shows Sam’s bravery and selflessness and his ability to take responsibility for other people’s lives, it doesn’t even go into his mind that it’s possible to step back or give up:

SAM Okay. So we're getting on the plane, we need to find that demon and exorcise it. I'll get the tickets. You get whatever you can out of the trunk. Whatever that will make it through the security. Meet me back here in five minutes.

DEAN just looks at him anxiously.

SAM Are you okay?

DEAN No, not really.

SAM What? What's wrong?

DEAN Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh...

SAM Flying?

DEAN It's never really been an issue until now.

SAM You're joking, right?

DEAN Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam?

SAM All right. Uh, I'll go.

DEAN What?

SAM I'll do this one on my own.

DEAN What are you, nuts? You said it yourself, the plane's gonna crash.

SAM Dean, we can do it together, or I can do this one by myself. I'm not seeing a third option, here.

Dean. For the first time in this episode we are shown that despite the fact that Dean is the big brother and loves to boss his little brother around and he got used to take responsibility for Sam’s life and health, he is not a leader by nature it’s more comfortable for him to follow.

Bloody Mary. It’s Sam’s episode. This episode reveals us such his character traits as blownup feeling of guilt, his inability to forgive himself and his proclivity to taking responsibility. Sam is smart and rationally understands that Jessica’s knowledge about the impending danger would have changed nothing, as well as he understands that he couldn’t know that his nightmare meant something. But he blames himself for Jessica’s death and feels responsible for her death.. In the early seasons he is quick-tempered, can’t always control his anger, obsessed with grief, guilt, anger at his unfair fate and wants to revenge. But one more striking detail is brightly revealed here, the detail which later becomes one of the defining Sam’s characteristics – his propensity to put interests, feelings and lives of other people above his own. At this time it’s more a potential that full-fledged characteristics. It will be developing in the future and will shine with bright colours in later seasons. And this episode shows the premises of a possible character development of the hero. It was already hinted the last episode when Sam without hesitation went aboard the doomed plane in the attempt to save all its passengers and this was a rational level-headed decision, not a subconscious impulse. But this episode shows it even more brightly – he uses his felling of guilt as a means to save people. This episode also starts to show one of San’s determining characteristics, one of his core qualities - his mercy, his sympathy to other people and his ability to understand and…forgive. He forgives other people, but doesn’t forgive himself.

SAM Charlie? {Charlie turns around} Your boyfriend's death...you really should try to forgive yourself. No matter what you did, you probably couldn't have stopped it. Sometimes bad things just happen.

{Charlie smiles faintly, then turns around to go into the house.}

DEAN {Gently hits SAM} That's good advice. {They drive off} Hey SAM?

SAM Yeah?

DEAN Now that this is all over, I want you to tell me what that secret is.

SAM Look...you're my brother and I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself. {SAM looks out the window and sees Jessica in a white dress on the street corner standing next to a light pole, as they turn the corner she disappears behind the pole, and we don't see her again.}

Dean here is in the role of a worried big brother. And why did Bloody Mary influence him? What does he have on his conscience? He is not new to killing people, as we learn a couple of episodes later.

Skin. This episode says that Sam is quite independent, well-adapted in society and had a lot of friends.

But this is Dean-centric episode. It’s in this episode where we learn more about Dean’s characteristics which Pilot only brushed against. On one hand, it’s his sense of duty. Because of his sense of duty towards his family he refused from from some dreams of some other life. On the other hand, the episodes shows Dean’s dependency on his family. Sam’s independence is only shown here to underline Dean’s dependency. He can’t be alone, his biggest fear is that his familywill abandon him. He didn’t forgive Sam for Stanford, he bears a grudge, he is jealous that Sam had a life, and Dean wasn’t a part of this life, he is jealous of Sam’s friends because they are not Dean’s friends. Dean bears a grudge against his father too, he abandoned him too. Here I think lies Dean’s wish to control Sam, to keep him in submission – when Sam is under control, he won’t run away, and consequently Dean won’t be alone.

SHAPESHIFTER: He’s sure got issues with you. You got to go to college. He had to stay home. I mean, I had to stay home. With Dad. You don’t think I had dreams of my own? But Dad needed me. Where the hell were you?

SAM: Where is my brother? (The shapeshifter leans in close to SAM.)

SHAPESHIFTER: I am your brother. See, deep down, I’m just jealous. You got friends. You could have a life. Me? I know I’m a freak. And sooner or later, everybody’s gonna leave me. (He backs away.)

SAM: What are you talkin’ about?

SHAPESHIFTER: You left. Hell, I did everything Dad asked me to, and he ditched me, too. No explanation, nothin’, just poof. Left me with your sorry ass. But, still, this life? It’s not without its perks. (He laughs.) I meet the nicest people. Like little Becky. You know, Dean would bang her if he had the chance. Let’s see what happens. (He smiles and covers SAM with a sheet.)

Dean feels loneliness and wants to be loved and is afraid that nobody needs him. The word freak here describes Dean.

Hookman. This is Sam-centric episode. First of all we are shown how deeply he has been affected by Jessica’s death, how deeply he grieves and blames himself for her death. Nice detail is shown here – what Sam heard from the shapeshifter didn’t go past him and Sam empathizing his brother tries to calm Dean down, to console him and to prove to him that he was unhappy in his student life, though from Pilot we know that it’s an utter lie, but Sam understands that this lie will make Dean happier. Sam is empathizing with his brother, but this episode also shows Sam’s ability to empathise with people he sees for the first time.

Dean sees Sam’s guilt and grief and tries to distract Sam. Dean is in the role of a big protective brother his prevailing motives are his wish to sooth Sam’s pain and worry about him.

Bugs. Episode though being far from stellar in its plot is wonderful in the brothers’ characterization. Firstly, this episode reveals the depth of the conflict between Sam and John, secondly, this episode refutes the myth that if John loved Sam more it means that he was milder to Sam than to Dean and Sam is more spoilt. This episode clearly shows that it’s simply a lie. John acted according to the principle: from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded and that’s why whatever Sam did it was never good enough for John. He punished for disobedience, and Chuck knows, that Sam wasn’t exactly a poster child of an obedient son. This card went to the other brother. That’s why Sam was reproached and Dean ‘got an extra cookie”. Sam looking for Dad wasn’t even sure that Dad would be glad to see Sam:

SAM You know, truth is, when we finally do find Dad... I don't know if he's even gonna wanna see me.

Of course, Sam was being youthfully judgemental and unfair. He was wrong in his judgement, but he will understand it later when they at last meet. And Dean’s influence in that is instrumental, this episode included:

DEAN Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you. Never. He was scared.

SAM What are you talkin' about?

DEAN He was afraid of what could've happened to you if he wasn't around. But even when you two weren't talkin'... he used to swing by Stanford whenever he could. (SAM'S smirk fades.) Keep an eye on you. Make sure you were safe.

SAM What?

DEAN Yeah.

SAM Why didn't you tell me any of that?

DEAN Well, it's a two-way street, dude. You could've picked up the phone. (SAM stares at him sadly.) Come on, we're gonna be late for our appointment.

He walks away.

Of course, the main role in Sam’s future understanding and acceptance of his father was played by Jessica’s death, which helped Sam understand John’s grief and bitterness and his drive for revenge and all that experience Sam acquired hunting with Dean (like the history of Matt’s relationships with his father in this episode), but Dean’s influence was important too. In this episode Sam demonstrates his bitterness towards his father and Dean succeeded in convincing Sam that Dad loves him and never refused from his son despite the cruel words when they parted.

This episode underlines Dean’s obedience to his father and his refusal to doubt him. But it’s in the beginning and in the middle of the episode, but the end raises some questions. Is Dean starting to have the first doubts that his father is always right? Sam acquires experience hunting with Dean, but the same is right about Dean. Dean teaches Sam the obligations to the family, but Sam also teaches Dean to take his own independent decisions and rely upon himself, not on a person who is older, more experienced and wiser (or it can turn out that it’s not the case as it happened to Dean in My Time of Dyin).

Home. That’s Sam’s episode, though some important aspects of Dean’s character are also shown. This episode once again underlines Sam’s empathy to completely unknown people and outlines Sam’s characteristics which will determine his fate – his inability to let get other people hurt. After having a nighmare about a woman crying for help he doesn’t even hesitate, - people can get hurt and that means they should help them. No doubts, no hesitations. And may be the nightmares that torture him is a means to help people? That detail which was hinted at in Bloody Mary is being developed here: Sam’s propensity to turn his own sufferings and his own grievances into a means to help people. Amazing! Such a breathtaking quality in a quite usual and very young man. It’s this quality that will lead him to the decision “to turn his curse into a means to help people” in season 4. It will be a reckless decision based on desperation, but in its foundation is this sacrificial, inner even not conscious need to save people. His “abilities” scare him and it’s clearly shown both in the beginning and at the end of the episode, but it doesn’t prevent him from using them to help others. The second character trait which is shown for the first time in the show, but which will be reiterated quite often later is his similarity to John. In fact this episode shows that Sam is John’s copy: when Sam is saving those kids from the fire he says the same phrase John said 22 years ago:

All right, Sari, take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don’t look back.

The same situation, the same pattern of behaviour, even the same wording and remember, Sam doesn’t even know the details of that night 22 years ago let alone the words John said! Like father like son.

Another subtle detail, we are started to show the reasons of Sam’s estrangement from his family in the period “before Stanford”. It will be slowly revealed later in the series and will take I think the whole 7 seasons, but in this episode we learn that Sam didn’t even suspect that it was Dean who took him out of fire. Sam didn’t remember his Mom, and nobody told him about her – the biggest blank in his life which was not filled neither with dear memories, nor with talks about her, or the circumstances of her death. He felt the void which nobody ever tried to fill. That the topic of mother was a taboo in Sam’s family will get its confirmation later in Very Supernatural Christmas, but it became clear in this episode. Mom is a topic of Dean’s and Dad’s conversations (adult talks), their foundation of the bonding, the topic Sam was excluded from. He was an object of concern and care, but did John and Dean ever treated Sam as a person? This question is raised in this episode and a definitive “no” will be given later.

Dean. This episode shows how much Dean is dependent on his father. Dean feels lost at sea, he doesn’t’ know what to do and he addresses to somebody who always told him what to do, who always took decisions for him. And is given no response. Another crack in seemingly unshakeable Dean’s faith in his father. In Dean’s eyes his Dad let him down and he relied on him so much. I think that in this episode Dean’s unconditional loyalty starts to be shifting from John to Sam. Dad left him and Sam is beside him having his back. Dean always loved his brother, but his loyalty always belonged to John, and he always took John’s side, but this episode starts to change that.

One more important detail. This episode shows the brothers’ attitude to their mother. Both of them are frozen in awe when they see her ghost. Sam doesn’t remember her, and Dean remembered an imaginary image not a real person, but for both of them it’s a loss not to be filled.

Asylum. A critical episode where the roots of brotherly conflict are shown. The wish to control Sam, which rooted in both Dean’s caring for his brother and in the fear that he may leave him clashed with Sam independent and rebellious nature, who rejects even the mildest control, and Dean’s control was far from mild. Under the supernatural influence Sam’s anger at the attempts to control him burst out and despite his apology and affirmations that he thinks nothing of the kind, everybody understands (including Dean) that Sam said what he really thought. He is really angry at Dean’s obedience to John and Dean’s attempts to make Sam be obedient too. But this event helps the brothers to move to each other and look for common ground, which happened in Scarescrow.

Scarecrow. It’s a very important episode both in brothers’ characterization and the development of their relations. The episode shows that the brothers started to change under the influence of each other and made a step towards each other and in there own maturing. At the beginning of the episode brothers quarrel and part: Sam is obsessed in his desire to avenge Jessica’s death and neglects the case their Dad gave them despite the possibility that people may die (his ability to put other people’s interests above his own feelings and emotions is more of a potential at that time, it’s not his MO yet, it is indicated but has not fully developed yet), and Dean put his duty as he understands it )his duty to fulfill John’s will as well as his duty to save people) on the first place, ignoring Sam’s feelings and his right for the choice. In the course of the episode a lot has changed Dean understands that blind obedience is not always a merit and he also understands a fact that it’s necessary to take one’s own decisions in life (a huge step forward for Dean, which predetermined a lot) and recognizes Sam’s right to choose his own life (it won’t last long, but it was the first attempt in the right direction). Dean is very possessive and to recognize the right to choose his life for Sam is hard for him), but what is even more important Dean finds the strength to apologize and that is a very mature action which demands an inner strength.

DEAN: Sam. You were right. You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life.

SAM: Are you serious?

DEAN: You’ve always known what you want. And you go after it. You stand up to Dad. And you always have. Hell, I wish I—anyway….I admire that about you. I’m proud of you, Sammy.

And Sam put his family above his feelings and his wishes. He didn’t refuse from revenge, but he understands that there are more important things than that.

DEAN: What made you change your mind?

SAM: I didn’t. I still wanna find Dad. And you’re still a pain in the ass. (DEAN nods.) But, Jess and Mom—they’re both gone. Dad is God knows where. You and me. We’re all that’s left. So, if we’re gonna see this through, we’re gonna do it together.

Dean learns from Sam the free will and Sam learns from Dean the sense of obligation to the family. Dean’s love for Sam is a bit of parental and to recognize that the kid grew up and doesn’t need chaperone is very difficult for Dean.

One more important detail – his drive to justice (he is a wouldbe lawyer after all!) . We have been already shown Sam’s ability to forgive, but Sam is not blind all-forgiveness. Here he asks the fact that town-dwellers escape the punishment for their murders:

SAM: And the rest of the townspeople, they’ll just get away with it?

Sam is merciful, but he is not a pushover, and he may be relentless to what he considers evil. This episode for the first time states one more detail: Sam is stronger than Dean, though in early seasons it’s more of a potential than the developed quality. In early seasons Sam’s personality is in the process of developing, and many things which the first season indicates are only under formation. In early seasons Dean is more mature personality, that is why we are shown characteristics which are much more actualized than in Sam’s case.

Faith. It’s a very important episode in both brothers’ characterization, despite the fact that it’s Dean centric. The quality of writing in the first seven seasons is outstanding: no matter be the episode Dean or Sam centric both brothers were at the focus of attention. Sera’s writing, how I miss it. For the first time such important thing in the life of every man as faith is focused here. Not religiosity, but faith in its core meaning – the faith in Greater Good, faith in something which is bigger than you and the absence of such faith. Such faith gives strength, so may be one of the reasons that Sam is the strongest character of the show is that? This episode outlines for the first time such faith in Sam and the absence of such faith in Dean. And this episode for the first time shows that beneath Dean’s cheekiness and showing off lies the low self-esteem. And self-esteem issues make people dependent on outer approval and they need to be loved and to be admired and to convince themselves and the others that they are the best. And these traits will be explored further in a lot of episodes and will be turned in one of Dean’s distinguishing characteristics.

Here also shown another detail: Sam’s aversion to kill (has anybody noticed that during season 1 Sam didn’t kill at all, even monsters?). Sam has never found anything attractive in killing, though in the course of time he learnt to do that (and devoted the whole third season to it. To learn how to be more like Dean, that is to learn how to kill).

And in this episode it’s Sam who stops Dean from killing that faith-healer, who at the end of the day turned out to be an innocent man.

This episode also shows Sam’s purposefulness and determination. If Sam sees the goal and it doesn’t contradict his ethical principle, he refuses to see obstacles and is able to walk through walls. If Sam set the goal he achieves it, for better or worth, and he never failed. But this episode teaches him a very tough lesson that the price for achieving the goal may be too high. Sam feels guilt, that somebody died because of him and does everything he can not to correct the situation, he can’t correct it, but to stop what is happening to avoid such cases in the future. This pattern of behavior is very interesting and will be repeated itself in the future seasons. Sam has a tendency not to be self-absorbed, when he feels guilt at first he is remorseful and beats himself and then translates his feeling of guilt into feeling of responsibility, he takes the responsibility for what has happened and does everything to correct the situation if possible, or at least to stop it from happening in the future. He beats himself and takes the full responsibility for the consequences of his action. This episode is no exception he starts this investigation, he leads it, he stops Ann-Mary. That’s the difference between two brothers, as Dean is beating himself for his actions and moping about them and hates himself for them and then bury them and… repeats them. This episode is no exception: Dean is crushed by guilt and gave the leadership to Sam and just follows Sam. That’s what is constant in this show Dean feels guilt and mopes about it, Sam feels guilt and takes responsibility.

#spn #1 season #canon #Sam Winchester #Dean Winchester

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isadomna · 7 years

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Queen Katherine set out from Greenwich, with her husband and six hundred archers dressed in long, white, wide-sleeved gabardine coats and caps, on 15 June 1513. They travelled in small stages south towards Dover. There in the castle overlooking the sea, Katherine was formally appointed Queen Governor of the Realm. She was aged about 28 and was, by then, vastly experienced in her own right as a diplomat, princess and queen. Her upbringing in Spain at the side of her mother, Queen Isabella of Castile, had coloured her childhood with high politics and war.

As soon as her husband set sail for the English port of Calais, from where he was finally to launch his campaign against the French, she was to rule in his place or, rather, in his name. She could raise armies, appoint sheriffs, approve most church appointments and spend money exactly as she wished. Henry declared that he was leaving the English people in the care of a woman whose ‘honour, excellence, prudence, forethought and faithfulness’ could not be doubted. They, in turn, were instructed to obey her every command. A small council was left behind to advise her. With power now in her hands, it was time to say goodbye. Katherine and her ladies ‘made such sorrow for the departing of their lords and husbands, that it was great dolor [pain] to behold’. Most of the army was already across the other side of the Channel.

Governing England in Henry’s absence now occupied her days. There were felons to be pardoned, prebends, canons and bailiffs to be appointed, lands and annuities to be handed out, the estates of the recently deceased countess of Somerset to be dealt with and a long-running administrative spat between the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of Winchester to be resolved. She also, from a distance, dealt with the affairs of Calais, in Henry’s rearguard. Letters, patents, grants and writs now carried ‘teste Katerina Anglie Regina’ (‘witnessed by Catherine, Queen of England’) rather than the ‘Teste me ipso’ (‘I have witnessed this’) of Henry. She signed them ‘Katherine [or Katherina] the Qwene’.

Katherine had pressed for war, but she was still worried that her glory-seeking husband would behave recklessly, placing himself in unnecessary danger. Shortly after he had sailed she wrote to his almoner, Thomas Wolsey, anxiously begging for weekly letters to reassure her that her hot-headed husband was safe. She also wrote to her former sister-in-law Margaret of Austria, who was now regent of the Netherlands, begging her to send a doctor to be at hand for her husband. Katherine felt safer once Margaret’s father, the Emperor Maximilian – basically serving as a paid mercenary but still a far more experienced fighter than Henry – appeared at the scene of battle. Her hope now, she told Wolsey, was that ‘with his good counsel, his grace [Henry] shall not adventure himself so much as I was afraid of before’.

In August and September, Queen Katherine was faced with an invasion from the Scots, led by her brother-in-law James IV, who was married to Henry’s sister Margaret Tudor. James had threatened war with England if Henry went to war with France. Henry even recruited his sister to try to persuade her husband not to invade England while he was away in France. At the same time, Anne of Brittany, Queen of France was writing James, asking him to be her knight in shining armor and attack England. In the end, against the advice of his councilors, James decided to attack England. In August of 1513, James IV’s herald presented King Henry VIII with a written declaration of war. The king of Scotland was actually excommunicated by the Pope for breaking the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with England.

Katherine started preparing in July, as soon as news reached her that James IV of Scotland was mustering a large army. Early in August she demanded to know why the mayor and sheriffs of Gloucester had not responded to her letters asking how many men and horses they could supply. ‘News from the Borders show that the king of Scots means war,’ she said. There was no time for dallying. She ordered them to answer within fifteen days. In mid-August Katherine wrote light-heartedly to Wolsey asking him to tell Henry that ‘all his subjects be very glad, I thank God, to be busy with the Scots, for they take it for [a] pastime’. Katherine was not intimidated. She relished the challenge coming her way and had thrown herself fully into organising England’s defence. ‘My heart is very good to it,’ she said excitedly in a letter to Wolsey signed nine days before James led his army of up to thirty thousand men across the River Tweed. One of his first actions was to attack and take Norham Castle, belonging to the bishop of Durham. James had to be stopped before he marched farther south.

Surrey and his sons, Edmund and Thomas Howard, were in position by the beginning of September; their army gathered near Newcastle ready to march toward the enemy. Sir Thomas Lovell had another army at Nottingham; Katherine and her council had gathered a third in the south just in case the worst happened and James somehow got through the other two. The Queen was well prepared. She had been busy and not just, as she coyly told Wolsey, ‘making standards, banners and badges’. Katherine sent ten thousand pounds, a considerable sum of money, north to be guarded (and, presumably, used for war expenses) by the Abbot of St Mary, near York. She also sent artillery, gunners and a fleet of eight ships, including the Mary Rose, which carried additional troops, towards the Scottish border. Grain, pipes of beer, rope, cables and suits of light armour were also shipped north. For her first line of defence she would rely on the earl of Surrey and the troops he was raising in the northern counties, together with those that had arrived by sea. James had a large army, however, backed by some recently delivered and formidable modern French artillery.

Documents were drawn up, meanwhile, to declare Scotsmen living in England to be ‘enemies’; but that all Scotsmen that have married English women and have children may remain. All others would have their goods seized and their persons banished under penalty of their lives. All Frenchmen to have their goods forfeited and be committed to prison if they dwell near the sea coast; or else, if they dwell inland, to find sureties. Henry VIII – flush from his minor triumphs in France – decided to send Katherine one of his more illustrious captives, the duke of Longueville. Katherine was about to set off northwards towards the Scottish threat herself. The duke and six others with him would just have to stay in the Tower of London for a few weeks.

As the Scottish threat grew, in a letter dated 2 September to Thomas Wolsey in France, Katherine revealed that she was ready to head northwards. These short notes show that Katherine personally led what was left of the king’s artillery towards the North. In early September Katherine wrote to the Great Wardrobe (the central store of royal clothing and equipment behind Baynard’s Castle in London) demanding delivery of banners, standards and pennants for those who would march north with her. A herald and a pursuivant, dressed up in the coats of arms of England, were also to travel with her. It would be the herald’s job to deliver any formal battle challenges or other messages she might care to send the Scottish king. She took 1500 suits of armour, called Almain Rivets, on her journey – all part of her direct responsibility for organising England’s deep defence. Finally, so she might display a suitable amount of magnificence, six trumpeters with their trumpet banners were to accompany her.

Katherine began to move north with a body of troops variously described as ‘a great power’ or a ‘numerous force’. At this time she also ordered up a golden ‘headpiece with crown’, and had both a light sallet helmet and a rounded, broad-brimmed shapewe helmet (rather like an armoured sun hat) especially garnished – presumably with gold or jewels. There is no record of her being seen in armour. ‘Our queen also took the field against the Scots with a numerous force one hundred miles from here,’ reported a London-based Venetian. Peter Martyr, Katherine’s old professor, heard that “Queen Katherine, in imitation of her mother Isabel and imbued by the spirit of her father … made a splendid oration to the English captains, told them to be ready to defend their territory, that the Lord smiled upon those who stood in defence of their own, and they should remember English courage excelled that of all other nations”.

In the invasion crises of the previous reign, Henry VII had gathered his power at Kenilworth castle. In 1513, nearby Warwick was the destination of the queen, her guns and likely muster point for Lovell’s troops. Instead of seeking refuge in the secure Tower of London and letting her husband’s councillors take the lead, Katherine’s decisive action moved her closer to danger and confirmed her role as national commander. She would not have been involved in any battle that might have occurred had the Scots broken through on the border, but her determination to be nearby to organise the country’s stretched resources sent all the right signals to the people she temporarily ruled.

Prior to Sean Cunningham’s find, historians had only known that Katherine was in Buckingham, around 60 miles north of London, when she received word of Surrey’s victory. But the new evidence suggests that the queen intended to travel further north, if not directly into battle like Joan of Arc, then at least into the vicinity of combat. James IV’s army was routed at Flodden Field, near the Northumberland village of Branxton. The fighting, which began in the afternoon of September 9, was ferocious. Courageous men on both sides fell in bloody hand-to-hand combat, but gradually the tide turned away from the Scots to leave the English in control of the field. Many of the Scots, or so we read in English accounts, were so “vengeable and cruel in their fighting” that their opponents preferred to kill them rather than capture them alive, contemptuously leaving the corpses naked on the ground. Among the dead was the king: James struggled like a man possessed only to fall within a few feet of the great Surrey himself. The flower of the nobility died with him; so did the Archbishop of St. Andrews, two bishops, and two abbots and perhaps another eleven thousand or so of the more humble. English losses are estimated to have numbered about one thousand.

The impact of Flodden and its consequences was immediately felt in England. Surrey wrote at once to the Queen, informing her of the victory, and sent her James's banner and the bloody coat he had died in as trophies; Katherine duly sent them on to Henry by a herald. The body taken to London, which had been suitably bowelled, embalmed and cered. Then she gave devout thanks to God for Surrey's success, and returned in triumph to Richmond. On the way, she stayed the night at Woburn Abbey, and it was here that she took time to write to her husband:

Sir, My Lord Howard hath sent me a letter open to your Grace, within one of mine, by the which you shall see at length the great Victory that our Lord hath sent your subjects in your absence; and for this cause there is no need herein to trouble your Grace with long writing, but, to my thinking, this battle hath been to your Grace and all your realm the greatest honor that could be, and more than you should win all the crown of France; thanked be God of it, and I am sure your Grace forgetteth not to do this, which shall be cause to send you many more such great victories, as I trust he shall do. My husband, for hastiness, with Rougecross I could not send your Grace the piece of the King of Scots coat which John Glynn now brings. In this your Grace shall see how I keep my promise, sending you for your banners a king’s coat. I thought to send himself unto you, but our Englishmens’ hearts would not suffer it. It should have been better for him to have been in peace than have this reward. All that God sends is for the best. My Lord of Surrey, my Henry, would fain know your pleasure in the burying of the King of Scots’ body, for he has written to me so. With the next messenger your Grace’s pleasure may be herein known. And with this I make an end, praying God to send you home shortly, for without this no joy here can be accomplished; and for the same I pray, and now go to Our Lady of Walsingham that I promised so long ago to see. At Woburn the 16th of September. I send your Grace herein a bill found in a Scotsman’s purse of such things as the French King sent to the said King of Scots to make war against you, beseeching you to send Mathew hither as soon as this messenger comes to bring me tidings from your Grace. Your humble wife and true servant, Katharine.

Queen Katherine tactfully credits the victory against the Scots to Henry himself. She understood Henry and his desire for glory. Even while engaged in the Scottish campaign, she never forgot to congratulate him fulsomely on all that he did. According to many historians, Katherine had the intention of sending James's body (some even say "head") as a trophy to her husband, but the Englishmen thought it was too crude so she settled his bloodstained coat instead. I think Katherine’s letter is misinterpreted. In my opinion Katherine wanted to send James as a prisoner to France, in exchange for Henry sending her the Duke of Longueville – that’s what she meant by saying she intended to send the king’s person, but the stout ‘English hearts’ would not stand for it (and killed James) so she sent his bloodied coat instead. Katherine did not even dare to order the burial of James’s corpse without Henry’s agreement. She sent a message to Queen Margaret, offering her consolation for a husband killed by her own soldiers. ‘The queen of England, for the love she bears the queen of Scots, would gladly send a servant to comfort her,’ it said. Soon Friar Langley was on his way.

The island of Britain was, temporarily and for the first time, in the hands of two women. Katherine governed England as regent for her husband. It was her task to administer the victory. The newly widowed Margaret ruled in Scotland as protector for her one-year-old son, James V. The infant king had been crowned shortly after his father’s death at what, because of the tears shed for the dead left behind at Flodden, became known as the ‘Mourning Coronation’. Within a fortnight of Flodden, the talk was already of a truce. Katherine’s commanders in the north wrote recommending an end to the war. Many of the remaining Scottish nobles, however, were hankering for revenge and Katherine was asked to decide whether troops should be permanently billeted at certain points near the border. The situation was by no means stable and war could have flared again at any time.

Katherine continued to oversee negotiations for a truce with the Scots, and showed great skill in her diplomatic messages to her man on the spot, the bishop of Durham. Langley acted as an intermediary in the negotiations for a truce that was not finally signed until the following February. At the same time, Katherine instructed Lord Dacre to assert King Henry’s right to become guardian of his nephew, the young James V of Scotland – potentially re-opening the troubled English claim to overlordship of Scotland. Henry VIII also did his bit to improve relations by begging the pope for permission to bury James IV at St Paul’s, even though the latter had been excommunicated for breaking a papally sanctioned treaty of nonaggression with England.

Katherine oversaw the unwinding of the war machine, paying soldiers’ and sailors’ wages and signing off on the costs of artillery, shipping and transport. Even while at Walsingham, where she would have walked the last mile to the Virgin Mary’s shrine barefoot, she still had to oversee the day-to-day running of a country where domestic worries began to take precedence. The plague, for example, was killing three or four hundred Londoners a day. Although proud of the Scottish defeat and her own performance as regent, Katherine wanted Henry home. There would be “noo joye” here without him, she confided. On 21 October Henry sailed from Calais to Dover. He rushed eagerly home to Katherine, riding ‘in post’ to Richmond ‘where was such a loving meeting that every creature rejoiced’. They were back together again, this time as a pair of young conquerors.

There had been rumours that she was pregnant and had lost a child while Henry was away. Now was a good time to start again. According to Julia Fox we cannot know whether those ambassadors who stated that she gave birth in the autumn of 1513 were right, but it is doubtful. Certainly no baby or miscarriage is mentioned in her correspondence, and it seems unlikely that she would have risked a much-wanted child by accompanying the army from London. But her mother, Isabella I of Castile, despite being pregnant rode with the troops.

At that stage of her life, as Henry’s regime sent thousands of English soldiers to fight on the Scottish border, in France and at sea, Katherine was an ideal partner for her dynamic and aggressive husband. The chamber books and related papers can still offer much to deepen our understanding of how Henry and Katherine’s marriage developed, changed and soured over the following 25 years – a relationship that came to have a powerful influence on the course of the nation’s history.

Sources:

Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s Spanish Queen by Giles Tremlett

Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile by Julia Fox

Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, Volumen 1 by J. S. Brewer

https://tudorsandotherhistories.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/a-field-of-blood-and-glory-flodden-field/

https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2012/10/27/the-battle-of-flodden/

https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/katherine-of-aragon-and-an-army-for-the-north-in-1513/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-catherine-aragon-led-englands-armies-victory-over-scotland-180975982/#.X4wBqV0fcr4.twitter

#Katherine of Aragon #Catherine of Aragon #Flodden Field #Katherine's regency #British history #Catalina de Aragon #Women in history

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crimsonxhands-blog · 6 years

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Task 003 Bloodlines: The Crimson Legacy

“But the hearts of small children are delicate organs. A cruel beginning in this world can twist them into curious shapes. The heart of a hurt child can shrink so that forever afterwards it is hard and pitted as the seed of a peach. Or again, the heart of such a child may fester and swell until it is a misery to carry within the body, easily chafed and hurt by the most ordinary things.”

tw: drugs & drug use (pictured & mentioned), alcohol (pictured & mentioned), guns (pictured & mentioned), violence (pictured & mentioned), neglect (mentioned)

Maverick Crimson & Olive Brady || Fifty-Three & Fifty-Two || Beaufort, South Carolina || Current Location Unknown

If you read their love story on paper you’d very quickly become a fan of the passion and dedication Maverick and Olive have to each other and their chosen lifestyle. If you were told the fairytale of a couple of primary school sweethearts in a small town in South Carolina, who fell in love and ran away to pursue adventure, how could you not dream of such a love? They were the best of friends growing up, and through high school that translated to truer feelings. They were each others passion, escape, colour in a black and white world. They only wanted each other, their beat up van and the open road.

Now if I told you the story of two parents who neglected their children to the point that they entirely forgot their names. If these two parents in turn even forgot how many children they had. Young but entirely unloving towards the small lives they brought into the world. Feeding their children stolen food and abandoning them for entire nights in the back of a car. What if I told you a story about a couple that had 7 kids over the span of 20 years, and abandoned each at a small house in Muddy Waters to fend for themselves and each other.

Both are true stories about Maverick Crimson and Olive Brady. Having their first child as teenagers they had a dream to travel around America in a van. To make no real home or roots, just them and new experiences everyday. They were addicted to adventure, but that wasn’t the only thing they were addicted too. Alcohol and drugs were as much a lifestyle to them as their van travels. If they weren’t high, or drunk, or some combination of both, they were stealing and lying and betraying. They love each other and their chosen vices, and outside of that they had quickly decided there was not enough room for anyone else. They bought a house in Muddy Waters with some money they’d won in Vegas, and since that day the only time they thought of this home was when they had another kid to drop off.

Lark was left at 5 years old, and then began a habit of leaving their offspring at this place to be forgotten. To unburden themselves and their amazing lifestyle from children and responsibility. This house was where they went to reset, to forget and start fresh on a new chapter. They didn’t hate their children, they simply didn’t love them. And that made leaving them so very easy to do. They don’t know how many kids they’ve left in Muddy Waters, their names or anything about them. Honestly, they’re content on the road. Children were never the future for them.

Lark Crimson || Thirty-Six || Las Vegas, Nevada || Lasted 5 years

The leader of their clan and the first one to be abandoned by Maverick and Olive. He was barely five when his parents left without a word. One night he went to sleep in his bed under the stairs, they were smoking on the back porch talking about all the things they wanted to see one day. Then he woke up the next morning to silence, turns out they’d gone to see those sights without him. Lark got by on the generosity of others, his neighbours coming over every evening to bring him some food, local shop owners giving him some loose change from the tip jar so he could get by. Until he was old enough to start fairing for himself, Lark was taken care of by the community of Muddy Waters and more importantly to him, The Northside Rascals. He grew up dedicated to the gang before he was even a member. He idolised the people that took care of him the way his parents never had. And he vowed to take care of his family and to repay the Rascals with his undying loyalty. Present day, he does just that.

The original child, and the parent to the clan of misfits Muddy Waters now know as the Crimson Seven. Lark has become the loving role model each child that came after him needed. He was the type of brother that would beat the shit out of any kid that teased his sibling even once. And then when the sun went down and everyone went to sleep, he’d go through each room and pull the blanket up to make sure nobody got cold. He’d deny it with his last breath, but he has become their parental figure. Each and every Crimson looks up to their brother, his courage and bravery, his care and loyalty, his sacrifice for all of them.

The softest side you’ll ever seen of Lark Crimson is when he speaks about his little brother Bodhi. It’d been just him and the girls, when that little five month old kid appeared in his life. From the first day he’d spent with Bodhi, Lark knew he was different. He didn’t throw explosive tantrums like Clove, or constantly talk like Finley. No he was…..quiet. Always watching his siblings move around him. Lark took care of Bodhi in a much different fashion than he did the girls, because he knew Bodhi wasn’t going to tell him if something happened. Lark knew the world was cruel and could see from the smile of a young Bodhi, that the boy was going to give his heart to people that were going to hurt him. So he was always checking on Bodhi, always asking if he was okay. Lark sat out the front of Bodhi door for eighteen years, every night, just to hear him play his guitar. To feel some part of his soul. It hurts every fibre of his being when he has to see his brother suffer under the unreciprocated love of their parents.

Finley Crimson || Thirty || Salmon National Park, Idaho || Lasted 1.5 years

The second child and most wide eyed of them all, Finley arrived at the Crimson household halfway to two, and she found her eight year old brother. The most nurturing of the Crimson Seven, she always has a soft hand and gentle word for each of her siblings. She is a far cry from the violence and fire that Clove spits. In fact if Finley didn’t love her siblings so dearly, she would have taken off to the woods long ago to live her life in a tent by a river. She is known as Lark’s co-parent and the good cop of the two. She is the first with a tissue in hand when someone cries or has a troubling situation. Full of photos to share from their lives together as their own little family, and book quotes that could fill a library in her mind. When her siblings use their fists to fight their battles, Finley is readily there with a first aid kit to back them up. She’s reckless in her own right, but will always look out for her family first.

Finley set the tone for a softer side of the Crimson’s, she encouraged them to not bottle everything up but within the comfort of their home to open up with one another. But god help them all had they let everything turn to fire and anger from when they were young. To be fair not everyone had fully embraced Finley’s attempts to keep them all sane, but most respect her attempts to heal her siblings pain. She sees the pain her parents have left in their absence, she feels it herself. She has told Lark from well ago when they were children, that if she had the choice she’d bring the moon down to crush their parents and give a star to each of the Seven to chase out the dark holes in their hearts. It was up to Finley she’d take all the heavy hearts she sees in the darkened crying corners of their home, and she’d burden them upon herself to see her siblings live a life of love and fullness.

In her loving heart, Finley has always had the softest spot for Bodhi. Not because he’s different from the rest of them, including herself, but because he’s the hardest to read. In all her long speeches over the breakfast table about being open and honest and vulnerable with one another, Bodhi has always been the hardest to crack. She can read every one of her siblings, they’re pain is clear as day to her, even the fakest of Gryff’s smiles. But Bodhi is much quieter than everyone else, he’s a lot more reserved with his pain. He doesn’t fly through the door of the house and yell about how angry or upset he is. He walks in like any other day, and pretends like the world hadn’t crashed around him. Finley, aside from Lark, feels most connected to Bodhi. She sees a lot of her wide eyed hope in her younger brother, and she also sees a lot of stubborn loyalty to people that will continue to hurt him.

Clove Crimson || Twenty-Eight || St. Louis, Missouri || Lasted 3 weeks

If there was a Crimson that everyone knew about, it would third oldest Clove. The sharpest of tongues and knives to match, she is the last sibling you’d want to get on the bad side of. More dangerous than the other six combined, Clove’s first solution is always undoubtedly violence. If it weren’t for her great ability to avoid capture, Clove would most definitely be imprisoned by this point. She has taught ever sibling to both take a punch and throw a harder one. Because Clove believes while she is always willing to murder someone that wrongs her family, they should always be able to fight back in the moment. So while her older siblings may have a more nurturing hand, Clove dishes it out as it is and doesn’t hold back. Whether that be getting into a fight with Van about his blatant disregard for his health and siblings worry for him, or running Sunny’s good for nothing boyfriend over with her car, Clove has no boundaries. And while she is reckless when it comes to the safety and well being of her family, she can be sensible in her individual life.

After twenty-eight years, Clove has still taken the abandonment of her parents perhaps the hardest. While her other siblings, aside from Bodhi, have taken to no longer caring and ridding themselves of worry, Clove harbours a lot of anger. She was abandoned the earliest and nobody mentions that, but she is awfully aware of this fact. She’s hates her parents like she’s never hated anyone before, not only for her own abandonment but for that of her siblings. Especially the likes of Finley and Bodhi, who have the purest hearts the world has ever seen. It’s this kind of anger that has found her knelt over her unconscious mother several times, a knife in hand ready to take her pain away. Or with a fistful of her fathers shirt, slamming him against the wall ready to unload her anger through her fists hitting his face. Lark is always there to pull her away, and Gryff to take her to the bar to keep her away. But that has never stopped the urge or desire of getting on her bike and hunting them down to a far off place where nobody would be there to stop her.

Nobody is immune to Clove’s aggressive outbursts, not even Bodhi. There has been a few times where she has stormed into his room and given him hell. But it has only ever been an uncontrollable outburst of frustration towards his constant attempts to make their parents love him. She knows he deserves more than a life of chasing their love and care, that if he let it go he could have so much more. But Clove doesn’t have the words to say that, the only way she knows how is to yell. But despite their few quarrels, Clove has always looked out for Bodhi. She was the first one to beat up a bunch of high school boys who were giving him a hard time, and she was always the one to drop him off at class in primary school. She had been Bodhi’s protector since he was a kid, and still is. On the day his leg was run over and his life had changed forever, Clove brought him the cane that he still uses to this day. She’s anger and he’s kindness, but they’re strangely good at understanding each other.

Gryff Crimson || Twenty-One || San Francisco, California || Lasted 2 months

Perhaps the craziest of them all Gryff is never seen without a spray paint can in hand and a mischievous grin to match. His laugh is intoxicating and his art is mesmerising. He has the creativity of Finley and the careless attitude of Clove. Gryff contributes to family discussions with misplaced jokes and a humorous approach to sometimes very serious situations. This can annoy the more sensible of the clan, though somehow Gryff has always become a very vital part of any hard time in the Crimson household. He doesn’t nurture like Finley, he distracts. Gryff encourages his siblings to ignore their problems and instead focus on other things, this isn’t the best received advice but it works for some. Gryff is proud to hold the title of longest arrest record among his siblings, getting arrested countless times for vandalism, car theft and break and enter. He’s as fun as the Crimson’s come and he knows it.

Since he was a boy Gryff hasn’t even batted an eyelash at his parents disregard and lack of care for any of the Crimson Seven. He has shown very little care for them when they drop in, and some would even question if he notices their presence at all. Of all the siblings Gryff is the only one that completely ignores the two and is seemingly unaffected by their actions. He’s vocal with his emotions aside from when it comes to his parents. When Maverick and Olive are in question, Gryff paints. A myriad of paintings have been created from their visits, littered around the house. Every drop off that he saw, Gyrff painted and as for those that came before him he created pieces from the stories he’d been told. He doesn’t care about what his parents did or where they are in the world. All he wants to do is create works of art so the Crimson Seven will never forgot how they came together as a family from the harshest of places to the tightest of units.

From the day younger sister Sunny was dropped off, Gryff was moved into Bodhi’s room, and they’ve shared ever since. The two have an unlikely bond, almost polar opposites but the closest of friends. They’ve literally grown up in each others pockets, the space equally their own. They’ve always supported one another in their creative outlets, and their room has quickly become an expression of the two of them combined. Gryff teaches Bodhi how to live life more in the moment and Bodhi is teaching Gryff to slow down before he burns out. They’re strangely good influences on each other.

Sunny Crimson || Eighteen || Marfa, Texas || Lasted 1 year

There isn’t much to be said about Sunny Crimson, aside from the fact that she is equal part Old Hollywood Glamour and small town grunge. She dances worthy of a spot among ballet royalty, then she’ll get on her skateboard with a cigarette between her lips and take off until the middle of the night. She was either going to be a smaller version of Clove, or move on to become a big star someday. It was clear what her other six siblings would have wanted for her, but somehow Sunny was happy living in a perfect combination of both. Because she wasn’t one or the other, she was a bit of each. If you paid a few minutes attention you’d see that Sunny is a little bit of every sibling that has come before her. She has Lark’s courage, Finley’s drive, Clove’s aggression, Bodhi’s contentedness and Gryff’s way of looking at the world. Maybe that was what maybe Sunny so hard to pin down, she was a mesh of a million different things.

When Sunny arrived at the house, everyone was surprised. It had been four years since Gryff came, they honestly weren’t expecting another one after such a long time. And everyone was only further surprised to learn that Sunny had been with their parents a year already, nobody since Finley had last even more than 5 months. But that didn’t change anything, they still welcomed her with open arms and a loving attitude. They’re having a tougher time with her lately, Sunny taking a more selfish stance than most that had come before her. She’d still do anything for her siblings, she’d walk through hell and fight the devil for each and every one of them. Though she does have a slight tenancy to put her own wants first.

Sunny isn’t as close with Bodhi as most, she finds that she doesn’t understand him. They’re similar in many aspects, they’re both quieter than the rest, both content with a small town life, of never getting out. They’re both at peace with their inevitable future in Muddy Waters and their mediocre lives despite their talents. But what Sunny doesn’t understand is how Bodhi can hold onto such hope and faith in the world after everything that’s happened. She gets it with Finley, because Finley is only doing it for her siblings wanting the greatest opportunities for them. As is Bodhi, but Sunny can’t quiet wrap her head around his dead set attitude on saving people that are beyond help. Sunny feels disconnected from Bodhi, more so than the others. But that has never stopped her from being there, or from him being there for her. From each dance performance she had, or each musical performance he had. It didn’t stop her from sleeping in the hospital when he was in with his knee, or him helping her with her homework when it didn’t quite make sense. They don’t get each other, they’re not close, but their still Crimsons, they still love each other.

Van Crimson || Sixteen || New York City, New York || Lasted 8 months

The youngest and the biggest cause of the arguments inside of the Crimson household, Van has very little care for the world around him. He’s young, already addicted to drugs and a lover of everything frowned upon by the community and more important his siblings. Van is not a bad guy, not in any sense, but it’s a known fact that he follows most in their parents footsteps. He’s chasing the illusive dream, he wants to party, get drunk and high then smash anything and everything he sees. Some of the older siblings will argue that Van is just a teenager and that his actions are due to his young age and careless attitude. Though other siblings, mainly Lark and Clove, will argue that he’s self serving and destructive due to following his own desires and not considering the consequences. Everyone has a different opinion on Van’s lifestyle, and honestly the youngest Crimson couldn’t care less about what any of them said about what he was doing. He has disregarded what they have said to him for so long now that he feels like he has his own separate rule book.

Van doesn’t hate his family, not at all. He simply loves his lifestyle as much as he does them. And it is those similarities to their parents that scare and worry his oldest siblings. Now he doesn’t idolise his parents, he hates them as much as anyone else. But he can’t see the uncanny likeness between himself and them. Van just wants to be a typical guy, he talks about getting out of Muddy Waters and leaving some place far away. Of living the dream as people call it, he talks of forging his own path. Someday he might grow out of it, his siblings would never ask him too, but they like the family together. All they have is each other, and it would appear that Van isn’t as interested in that as everyone else.

Bodhi feels heavily responsible for Van, nobody ever made it a point to say that Bodhi himself needed to look out for Van, he’d simply taken it upon himself. Nowadays the middle child well and truly has his work cut out for him. Van uses his kindness and protective instinct to his advantage. Bodhi will follow his younger brother around to his most criminal acts in hopes that somehow he could stop or help his brother from getting into further trouble. The biggest problem being that when Van knows he has a helping hand nearby, it only drives him to choose more reckless acts. Decisions Bodhi usually has to answer for as much, if not more than Van. Little does the youngest brother know he is the reason Bodhi’s leg got run over in the first place. Van had run out to their parents, under the impression that if he asked nicely they’d stay. But Bodhi had chased him to stop the younger boy and put himself between Van and their parents speeding off in a fury. Bodhi had given up his leg under the wheel the their parents car, for a little boy that didn’t know better.

#[ i'm gonna do a break down of each sibling in the future. but i wanted to get the task out ]#mwtask03 #tasks #tw: drugs #tw: alcohol #tw: guns #tw: violence #[ press read more if you want the longest post of your life ]

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bigyack-com · 4 years

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Little Women movie review: Louisa M Alcott’s heart meets Greta Gerwig’s genius in a warm, welcome adaptation of a classic - hollywood

Little Women Director: Greta Gerwig Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothee Chalamet Soon after the Academy released its list of nominees for 2020, many flocked online to express disappointment at the snub to Little Women director, Greta Gerwig. The film got nods in almost all major categories including Best Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay but Gerwig’s absence pinched a lot in the all-male director’s category. Then I came across a tweet -- “Well who’d you take out of this list to fit Greta?” And it made a lot of sense. You surely can’t take this away from Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) or Martin Scorsese (The Irishman). There is no way Todd Phillips (Joker) and Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon A Time in Hollywood) shouldn’t be on the list and if nothing else, this is the year of Sam Mendes (1917). But having finally watched Little Women, I must say that this was the year to introduce a sixth nominee. Watch the trailer for Little Women: What Gerwig has achieved with her film is second to none of the men’s works listed above. A stunning and still-so-relevant adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic, Little Women is warm at its core and has genius written on its every frame. Gerwig had proved herself to be a talented storyteller with her last film (Lady Bird) and this time, she shows you how she can bring out the colour and the tragedy in another writer’s work as well. Written by Alcott in 1868, Little Women has been adapted to screen multiple times (my favourite version of it is still the animated series that I’d watch with my brother after school on Animax). One of the first books I ever read, it is also among my most beloved. Alcott tells of the four young March sisters Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Beth (Eliza Scanlen) and Amy (Florence Pugh) who live in genteel poverty with their mother (Laura Dern) in 19th century America while their father is drafted in the Civil War. There’s also the rich neighbours’ lonely orphan boy Laurie (Timothee Chalamet) who forms a friendship with the girls.

Saoirse Ronan in Little Women. While many have long thought of Little Women as a childish, frothy piece meant for young girls and therefore undeserving of serious consideration, a thorough reading would prove how much more it has to offer. Alcott, in her semi-autobiographical novel, brought forth ideas of sorority, life as a middle class American during a debilitating war and most excellently, the female experience. She wrote of their sacrifices and helplessness in the face of patriarchal, wedding-hungry world and also of their ambition and the artistic struggle. While these themes ran as the undercurrent in Alcott’s work, Gerwig makes sure they shine through in the film. Especially in the final minutes when she decides to break away from source material like Alcott would have actually liked and preferred. While the episodes from the story are still much the same, Gerwig’s decision to completely alter the chronology of events brings an unexpected depth and poetry to the film. We do not meet the March sisters in their home on Christmas Eve as children but as grown women running their own lives and households. Jo is outside a New York publisher’s office to sell more pulpy, soulless stories, Meg is being seduced into buying silk that her husband cannot afford, Beth’s knocking on death’s door and Amy is in France with Aunt March taking painting lessons and trying to woo rich men into convenient marriages.

Timothee Chalamet and Florence Pugh in a still from Little Women. The childhood is revisited through precisely placed flashbacks that always have a connection with the now. Jo’s cheap romantic stories once used to be lovely home-produced plays that she would perform with her sisters. Meg may be discontent with her life in poverty now but once she’d wear ill-fitting shoes and old dresses to parties and still enjoy her night. Beth who was once full of hope and desire to stay with her family forever, has now accepted her imminent death. And Amy, the one character who benefits the most with Gerwig’s intervention, was once a jealous, self-important young girl who has now realised loveless marriages are her best hope for the survival of her family. Also see: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan’s Jitendra Kumar had once posed with Ayushmann Khurrana as a fan, see pic The film goes back and forth in between the two timelines in larger chunks in the beginning. But as one goes deeper into the story, the switch gets quicker, becoming a gorgeous duet between the sisters’ lives as women and girls. Although, it could get tricky to keep if you aren’t familiar with the story.

Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh and Eliza Scanlen in Little Women. Now the switches and the juxtaposition would have all fallen apart if not for the talents of the half a dozen actors that the film boasts of. Ronan has been a masterclass in acting ever since Atonement; in Little Women, she swims seamlessly between the feminist writer and the lonely woman in need of love. She is the leader of this bunch and a worthy one who can be offended, playful, raging, sorrowful, heartbreaking and heartbroken equally well. Watson, being cursed with the good and sweet Meg, finds little challenge in her part. Gerwig uses Meg largely to shed light on the less than bountiful financials of the family. She is the one lusting after silk dresses, married to a penniless tutor for love. Scanlen as Beth gets a few moments of her own. In one, she is sitting by the beach with Jo, talking death with the wisdom of a person who has seen enough pain. In another, she establishes herself as the child of the family, feeding soup to her dolls on the dinner table. It could give creepy flashbacks to Sharp Objects fans but Scanlen makes sure all that follows warms you up to the sweet and innocent Beth.

Emma Watson as Meg in Little Women. And I save the best for the last. Pugh is all Hollywood can talk about lately after Midsommar and Lady Macbeth and watch me join the wagon. She is unbelievable as she transitions from the most childish of the sisters to the wisest. Her mature, womanly voice could have caused trouble in the portrayal of Amy but with her stomping feet and her Regina George face, Pugh manages it like cakewalk. As the older Amy, she shows the self doubt of a defeated artist and the pain of unrequited love in scenes with Chalamet, towering over him at all times. And I adore Chalamet. Gerwig’s film is one of the warmest, most intelligently made films of this year. Powered by gorgeous performances and aided along by the 19th century charm of cottages, big skirts, carriages, grand pianos and Alexander Desplat’s lovely score, it’s the one film no one should miss, whether you are a little girl, young woman or a grown man. (Hindustan Times doesn’t use star-rating system in its film and television reviews.) Follow @htshowbiz for more Read the full article

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obclus · 7 years

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hi guys ! it's me, sapphire ! AKA your local loki enthusiast ! i’m from nyc so i live in / the / EST. all u need to know about me is that i pretty much an adult baby and love metaphysics. remember that one time voltaire pretty much rousseau’s book a pos ? what a fake binch, i mean ? and alright... i mean i’m obv pretty late, i get it. let’s talk about my lil star, adalinda ! — ( tw abuse and death, also bear in mind that this is rather long #srryntsrry )

ok so i got this lil info / page up, it’s semi finished but if you want any other basic info there’s that. click me !

if i had to to sum them up in three words they would be gilded, adaptable, and perceptive. i’ll briefly touch on why, you can read the bio for more details.

gilded and adaptive: covered or highlighted with gold or something of a golden or having a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something of little worth. this is so important! adalinda is in every essence, gilded. always. they always have some sort of mask on, it would be completely out of character and rare for them to show their true colours. they will lie, device, and manipulate any and everybody. it’s another way of her being so in tune with society’s values and ideals. they’re very aware that if they act one way or another, the outcomes will be different. whatever the situation calls for, she will ““““transform”””” their personality to gain the upperhand in the conversation. there is an art in lying, and adalinda might as well be fucking picasso or van gogh bc honestly, she’s insane.

perceptive: having or showing keenness of insight, understanding, or intuition. i choose this one because adalinda is a manipulator. that’s about as cut dry as i can put it. to them, knowledge is power and knowledge is of course not limited to street or book smarts. although she does love reading the works of machiavelli and hegel, but knowledge is grander than that. it is intuition. to know what drives things to happen in certain ways, to know what difference lies between a hand on top or on bottom of a handshake. she is very in tune with both verbal and nonverbal communication and will use these things at her leisure for advantage. if a certain topic comes u[ in conversation and the person she’s speaking with become distant in the slightest way, she’ll notice and make a note of it.

would like to introduce you to mommy and daddy issues 101, welcome please have a seat. both adalinda’s parents are deceased, rip. the relationship between all of them is extremely virulent. eloise and maximilian ( mama & papa ) abused their child from a very young age. but what is different about this ( i mean how different is it really idk ) is that adalinda does not fault her parents for this, not in anyway. they see it as a form of discipline and teaching her how to be strong, how to beat pain and fear. her father gave her the burn scars on her back and well her mother... what didn’t she do, lmao. kneeling on salt for extensive amounts of time, cold hands meeting soft cheeks, sharp words at every turn. above all this however as i said, there was love, twisted and incredbily fcked up, but love nonetheless. when their parents died adalinda mourned, but not with tears and black clothes, but with ferocity and the drive to ascend to become something greater — like her parents had taught her, and so the moth girl became the moth eater.

the relationship between her and her mother was strained bc i mean, adalinda has a thirst for power, she get’s that from her dad. but her mom was the god damn crown princess to the dutch throne, and adalinda is like u gave that up for a man !? tf when u’re supposed to inherit a country, but ur mom ceases her position in the line of succession for some dick.

ok here comes the inspo from one of my fav things, dc comics! my inspo behind the business is the one and only — lexcorp. dils enterprises is a company that specializes in developing new technologies for aerospace, medical discovery, while also having ties to resource exploration ( like renewable enegries and whatnot ). being the power hungry lil binch she is, when adalinda turned eighteen she reached out to her grandmother and uncle, in order to expand the companies ties in her mother’s homeland. though tbh, adalinda is hardly extensively involved with the companies endeavors, at least that’s what it looks like. think bruce wayne’s “fake” interested in the inner working of wayne enterprises.

*** rl quick, please fluctuate between she/they pronouns when referring to adalinda, don’t stick to one or the other. you, the mun are aware of my muse’s gender ( agender jsyk ) , but adalinda, has not made this public knowledge, mostly because there are certain perceptions and ideas that come to mind with gender in society. this obvs does not delegitimize their gender because that’s something they prefer to keep private. tl;dr if your character speaks about adalinda with another character it would be like this. “ do you know that girl adalinda? she’s one fcked up binch!” but if u, the mun, is writing u can use she/her or they/them like “she stood at five foot eleven inches but they were still short compaired to idkurcharanamehere”. if u don’t understand feel free to mssg me!!

also, in reference to their titles, politically she goes by adalinda, otherwise in an effort to be more "approachable" — they use the name AMARIS. they NEVER use their first name, eliza.

i sort of changed up the original plan for my muse to include a brother. their relationship would be extremely toxic as they would feed off of each other’s negative characteristics and be loyal to a fault to no one but each other. i’m perfectly fine with accommodating with other muns, and it doesn’t even have to be a brother, could be a sister too, but i would love to keep the dynamic the same. but if no one ends up applying for that sort of position i can always rework my original idea back in ! if anyone's interested, here's a sample para on what / how i think they interact with one another.

explanation of how adalinda got reinstated into the royal house: their mother, elosie had an older sister named silvia. This of course would have put elosie second in succession to inherit the throne. however, during liberation day, the state had organized a festival of sorts that would have been held nationwide. the royal family was also going to make an appearance in participation but while on the way there, the family was attacked and silvia suffered a gunshot wound and would eventually succumb to the injuries later that day. following this, elosie becomes crown princess, set for coronation on her twenty first birthday. enter maximilian dils, the British entrepreneur taking the world of philanthropy and developmental sciences by storm. at the time he an elosie met he was already twenty-four and she was eighteen. the two fell in love and since Maximilian was a well known atheist, it brought a serious issue within Elosie and her parents. the royal family was protestant and to marry someone who was not only of that faith, but denounced all faiths was extremely problematic. the two wed without seeking preliminary approval thus removing elosie's ability to inherit the throne and leaving her offspring with the titles of count and countess. by the time she’s twenty-three, elosie is now living in britain and pregant with twins. Both are ecstatic and they tell elosie’s parents before revealing the news to the nation. adalinda and eriadon ( adalinda born first ) are born in the netherlands through a water birth. the years pass by up until they turn seven years old, two weeks after their birthday, their parents are murdered in cold blood. they two children find their parents after returning from school. lying on the cold marble floors are the bodies of their parents marked with gunshots both to the head and heart. to this day the motive and killer(s) are unknown. this in turn leads to fleur and janus taking the children in to live with them. fleur is severely affected at the loss of both her children at the hands of such violence and has the twins very carefully cared for. though their early life ends up being excessively cloistered, adalinda doesn’t mind it. the seclusion allowed for her mind to develop in such ways that she feels are unparalleled if she were to have continued on in public school. by seventeen she he graduated from college and convinced her grandmother to allow her a bit more freedom. adalinda takes up volunteering at churches across the nation and the people of the netherlands start to take notice of the daughter of their dead princess. public opinion on her grows in appreciation as she is seen helping out the needy instead of attending extravagant balls held in the palace. all the while, the company her father built has been waiting for her eighteenth birthday to put her as acting CEO. when the day arrives, at her very first board meeting she realizes that the majority of the members have been preparing to auction off parts of the company for profit alone. they lie to her face and tell her that the company has been dwindling and that their best would be to sell it to off shore conglomerates. but the truth is that the company appeared to be doing fantastic, up until you realized that the highest bidders were men involved with war lords and liars. as she now sits as acting CEO she empties the board of all the existing members and replaces them with new ones, while also publicly outing the former as greedy thieves and giving the company a fresh new image. the absence of my father seems to have led them to become foolish. dils enterprises stands as a union helping those that suffer from world hunger, terminal illness, global warming. those that are displaced by war with a government who refuses to help them. these men who made the mistake of assuming this company was a step on their latter to greatness are now well aware that their brash actions will leave them with nothing but their names. let this be an example of what happens when we allow society to place such an unhealthy obsession with money. the lives of innocents are priceless. no amount of money should deter those who have the capability of doing something. to stand aside and allow it to get worse means you are allowing children to grow up without their mother and fathers, and i — i, stand here to tell you, that a lot of these children are not as lucky as my brother and i were. they all deserve the chance live their lives as exactly what they are, children. they shouldn’t have to wake up to the sound of bombs, or spend a childhood in a hospital. dils enterprises is committed to helping in any way that we may, to lift the burden off whomever we can, while also working to make the world a better, safer, and cleaner place. she stated in front of crowd of cameras outside HQ in downtown London. her plan is to expand what her father built and bring on new projects like partnerships with what we view in our society, people like Elon Musk — CEO Tesla Motors and SolarCity, the UN’s program GirlUp, and UNICEF. she takes two years off away from the company leaving it in the capable hands of her brother while she goes off to service in countries like Ethiopia, Uganda, India and Liberia. giving a speech to world leaders at the UN about the state of their world, unity, and the future of what is to come. because though adalinda is conniving, she understands that in a world of black and white, sometimes things bleed into gray, and whatever is found there should not be left to fade away. for humanity to grow, there needs to be an even playing field where education is provided to even the poorest of countries. she is just about to turn twenty when she returns back to the netherlands. her grandmother pulls her aside one afternoon, they walk about the gardens and fleur tells adalinda that parliament plans to reinstate her brother and her back into the royal house. you and read a bit more about this in a meta post i'll be posting before i go to bed! i would suggest reading it very much because it leads to the year and a half gap that lands adalinda at xaiver's school of all the places.

#( glitch in the matrix. — ooc. )#( srry for the dash spam idk i reblogged some quotes before i sent in the account pls don't hate me i am a leaf. )

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