#Dr. Emily Grace | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crowleysgirl67 · 5 months

Text

Family Business

Author: @crowleysgirl67

Word Count: 3782

Parings/Characters: NCIS team, BAU, (Y/N) Gibbs, Hotch x Reader (eventual)

Warnings: NCIS/CM crossover, show warnings, angst,

A/N: Thanks for reading! Loosely based on NCIS S3 E 23/24 the hiatus,

“(Y/N)”

You turned at the sound of your name and smiled as you saw your dad approach with Fornell in tow. You abandoned your new team mates, who watched with curiosity, and met him in a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“We had other business to discuss and I mentioned you and your team were here.” Fornell chuckled. “You know he can’t resist seeing you.”

“Please you’re the same way with Emily.” your smile never faded.

“Plus he wants to scope them out ya know how dads are.” Fornell smirked as Gibbs rolled his eyes.

“Well come on then. I’ll introduce you.” you hooked your arm through your dads and led him over to the team.

“Special Agent Gibbs, this is my team Dr. Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan, David Rossi, Jennifer Jareau, and Emily Prentiss. Penelope Garcia is our tech analyst who isn’t in the group right here. Nor is our team leader Agent Hotchner.” He gives a slight nod as you introduce everyone, obviously sizing them up a bit.

“Guys this is Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS.”

“Gibbs?” Morgan questions, looking between the two of you.

“My father.” you smiled, glancing over at him catching the small smile that graced his face before it disappeared.

Hotch emerged from his office and appeared at the top of the steps, looking down watching. Rossi spotted him and waved him down, “Come meet Agent Gibbs”

Confusion crosses his face as he comes down the steps, “I’ve already met her, she's on the team.”

“Not me Hotch.” you smiled and rolled your eyes.

His attention shifted to Gibbs “Special Agent Aaron Hotchner.” he introduced himself.

“Special Agent Gibbs” he shook his hand in a firm grasp.

You shook your head slightly as they sized each other up. You understood he just wanted to make sure you were safe, but sometimes it was ridiculous. Their weird spell was broken when a cell rang, Gibbs unclipped it from his belt and answered “Gibbs.”

He took a few steps away to listen to his call. When he was finished you approached him to say goodbye knowing he had to go. After your goodbyes you headed back over to the team.

“What?” you asked, feeling a little weird as they stared at you.

“So that was your dad huh? Interesting guy.” Morgan says.

You shrug, “He’s my dad.” you did worry that they were profiling him but you didn’t dwell on it as Hotch beckoned everyone to the conference room. Time for another case.

***

“What the hell was that?!” Hotch shouted at you.

“What do you mean what was that? It’s my fucking job!” you seethed. Who the hell did he think he was? You did your job, you weren’t out of line.

“You could have been hurt, or worse.”

“So could anybody! Rossi, Derek, you! Any of us could!” you crossed your arms.

“You’re different.”

“How the fuck am I different?”

“You’re young, you haven’t been doing this as long.”

“Are you kidding me? I’ve been doing this since I was eighteen.”

“Under your father, sure.”

Your jaw dropped, “Your excuse is that I’m inexperienced because my dad taught me? My father is one of the best damn agents there is and I will not stand here and take this.” you stormed off.

***

You clenched your jaw but kept quiet. The plane ride was tense and you felt a little bad for the others that they couldn’t relax a little because Hotch was mad at you, again. It wasn’t as if you tried to get in trouble, it was just something about him treating you differently than the rest of them that pissed you off. Sure you were the youngest but that didn’t mean you weren’t capable. Hell you’d been doing this for years. This work was in your blood, who you were.

Protecting people was your job, even if it meant you were in harms way. Standing in front of that kid today was no different. The unsub had been waving a gun around and the kid would have been in the crossfire if you hadn’t stepped in.

By the time the plane landed you’d finished your reports and dropped them in front of Hotch as you deboarded faster than the rest of them. You were half way across the tarmac by the time they got off.

“Who the hell is that?” Morgan asks as you run up to a man in a red sports car.

“Does she have a boyfriend?” JJ asked.

“She’s never mentioned one. Can anybody see him clearly? Maybe it’s just her dad. We don’t know what kind of car he drives.” Emily suggests. “I think his name is Tony.” Spencer joins them on the ground.

“Slow down, pretty boy. How do you know that?” Morgan looks at him.

“I caught a glimpse of her cell phone screen when she was texting.” he shrugs as they watch you get in the car and the two of you take off.

***

When you walked in Monday morning you headed straight for Hotch’s office. Might as well get the yelling over with. You were feeling a little better after spending the weekend with your dad and friends. Ziva and you did a little sparring to help you work out some of your aggression. You flex your bruised and a little bit bloodied knuckles and roll your shoulder a bit where she’d gotten a good hit in. Open handed you tapped on Hotch’s door in lieu of knocking.

“Come in.” he said without looking up.

You walked in and shut the door, which made him look up. He regarded you as you crossed your arms waiting for him to start.

Instead of yelling he said, “You’re hurt.”

“Oh this is nothing. Just did some sparring over the weekend.” you shrug off his comment. You’d had worse which actually caused permanent bone pain.

He looked pointedly at your bruised knuckles, “Since when does sparring do that?”

“When you spar with a former Mossad officer. She is ruthless.” you chuckle softly.

“Was there something you needed?”

“Uh.. You’re not gonna yell at me? You were pretty pissed earlier.” you were confused. You had expected to be yelled at not this.

“No. Anything else?”

“Uh… I guess not.”

He nodded and went back to his work effectively dismissing you. You left his office confused, not that you minded not being yelled at. In fact it was nice not to be, but you were confused why he had a change of heart. It crossed your mind that one of the others might have said something to him. You were with them all weekend you didn’t see how they could have.

“Yo (Y/N). You ok?” Morgan asked, walking up beside you.

“Huh? Oh. Yeah I’m fine.” you answered distractedly.

“Yeah cuz you sound fine. What’s up?” he slung his arm over your shoulder.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. But thank you for your concern, that's sweet.”

“Ok, I’ll drop it if you answer a question for me.” he grins.

“You want to know who picked me up?” you guessed.

“Exactly. So who is he?”

“Tonys a friend, he works with my dad.”

“Just a friend huh?” he raised a brow at you.

“Yes.” you roll your eyes and nudge him, “He’s like my big brother. You tryin’ suss out if I’m dating anyone? Because the answer is no.”

He didn’t get to say anything else as JJ came over.

“Conference room in five.” she said as she passed.

“Ya heard the lady.” you chuckled and ducked from under his arm and headed that direction.

After the case debrief, everyone scattered to gather their things to meet on the plane. You were the last one out as you slipped your phone from your pocket and sent a group text to Tony, Ziva, Mcgee and you included Abby. Although you were sure it wasn’t her she would get a kick out of this.

*Alright, which one of you did it? Fess up.* you sent the text and grabbed your bag after making it back to your desk. Their responses rolled in quickly.

*Ooh you’re in trouble* you chuckled to yourself at Abby.

Ziva: *I don’t know what you’re referring to.*

Tony : *Did what? Whatever it was I plead the fifth*

You: *Who got to my boss? He didn't yell at me today.*

Ziva: *Is that not a good thing? I am confused. You were just complaining about him yelling at you.*

Abby: *gasp* (Y/N) are you disappointed he didn’t yell at you?

Tony: *Do you like him???*

You: Shut up Tony.

Abby: *YOU DO!!!! That’s so cute!!!!

You: YOU’RE MISSIN’ THE POINT!

You: *Who did it???*

Tim: *I did. I texted him a video from your phone of you sparring with Ziva, with a caption about you being upset about being treated differently. I then deleted the evidence.

Tony: *Go probie! I didn’t know you had it in you.*

You: *Awww Tim. <3 Thank you, that was sweet.*

Tony *Hold up! That’s it? You’re not gonna call him out?*

You: *No, it was sweet.*

Tony: *Sweet?! You’d kick my ass if I talked to him. Hell you’d try to kick Ziva's ass too.*

Ziva: *She would not get far.*

Tim: *I thought she was doing pretty well the other night.*

Ziva: *I was going easy. Gibbs was not too happy with the small bruising she acquired from that.*

Abby: *That’s his baby. Of course he’s unhappy when she’s hurt.*

You: *Guys you realize I’m still here right?*

Tony: *Back to my point. What the hell (Y/N).*

You: *It’s sweet coming from Tim. He isn’t as gung ho to fuck somebody up over my feelings being hurt as the two of you are. I love that about you but sometimes you gotta just let me bitch.*

“What’s got you smiling like that?” Morgan slid up next to you.

“Geez fuck!” you jumped and slid your phone in your pocket. You’d been so absorbed in your text conversation you hadn’t heard him approach.

He laughed and you shoved him playfully.

“Didn’t your mama teach you not to sneak up on a lady?”

“I don’t see Garcia anywhere.” he shoots you a shit eating grin.

“Derek, you are a little brat.” you admonish, but grin back anyway.

***

When you arrived at Rossis, you were surprised to see that Hotch and Jack were the only ones there.

“Am I early? Didn’t you say six?” you asked Rossi as he invited you in.

“I did. You know how everybody is. Fashionably late.”

“I suppose that’s true.” you chuckled softly.

“You alright?” he took notice of your arm in a sling. It wasn’t there yesterday after you closed the latest case.

“Yeah. Just an old injury acting up. Keeping it immobilized helps.”

He nods, “Well make yourself at home. We’ll be in full swing before you know it.”

You smiled and made your way in taking a seat near Jack who was coloring.

“Hi Miss (Y/N).” Jack smiles at you.

“Hey Jack. Whatcha colorin’?”

“Tow Mater.” He shows you his coloring book.

“Wow. He looks really good buddy.” you smiled softly.

“Thanks! Do you wanna color too?”

“Sure. I’d be happy too.” you adjusted the sling a bit before sliding down next to him on the floor.

Hotch found himself smiling as he watched you color with Jack. You were very attentive to him, even after everyone else arrived.

“You’re really good with him. Thank you.” Hotch slides next to you on the couch.

“He’s a good kid. You’ve done well Hotch.”

“I can’t take all the credit, Hailey did most of the work.”

“You both did great. He seems well adjusted for losing a parent so young. It’s hard.” you watched Jack giggle at some magic trick Spencer was showing him.

“How old were you?” Hotch glanced your way.

“I was seven.” you rubbed your arm. The accident had robbed you of your mother and twin sister and left you hospitalized for months.

He squeezed your shoulder gently, “I’m sorry.”

You give him a small smile and pat his hand gently, “I’m sorry too. Losing your spouse is incredibly difficult. I’ve watched my dad all these years.”

***

You excused yourself when your phone rang and stepped into an empty office to take the call.

“(Y/N)” Tony's voice was grave over the phone, cluing you into trouble.

“What’s happened? Who's hurt?” you gripped the edge of the desk with your free hand.

“There was a bomb your dad…” he started

You didn’t hear anything else as you felt your knees give out and you sunk to the floor. “No! No. no no.” you chanted as you struggled to breathe, to focus.

The door flung open as Hotch and the others filed in. They had seen you go down, their concerned faces went unnoticed by you.

“Is he alive?” you gripped the phone so hard you thought it’d break.

“Yes...” Tony’s voice faded away as Hotch pried your phone from you to get details. He was alive, the relief swept through you. Whatever else you could deal with as long as he was alive.

Your brain was in overdrive as you scrambled to your feet, “I’m sorry, I have to go. I have to go.”

“(Y/N).” Hotch said, making you look at him. “You’re in no shape to drive. I’ll take you.”

“I.. ok.” you nodded. He was right, it was a bad idea for you to drive yourself.

The ride to the hospital was a blur as you stared out the window trying to compose yourself. Hotch didn’t say anything as he drove, just kept glancing over as he watched the tears slip down your face in silence.

“(Y/N)!” Abby cried out as she saw you approach.

“Abby” you hug her. “How is he?”

“He’s in a coma.” Abby gives you the grim news.

***

You hadn’t left the hospital since you got there, and by extension neither had Hotch. You spent most of your time in a chair by his bedside, holding his hand and staring blankly between bouts of tears. It had been three days and you were getting worried he wasn’t going to come out of it.

You wondered how your feelings had been compared to what he had gone through after coming home to find his wife and one daughter were murdered and his youngest in a medically induced coma to heal from the wreck. If his feelings were half as intense as yours, you didn’t understand why he hadn’t lost his mind. In comparison he hadn’t been in the coma that long, yet you were losing your mind.

Tony stopped by briefly to check on you and bring you a bag. He knew better than to try to get you to leave.

“She likes big comfy clothes when she's in distress. Also she bites her lower lip, so watch out for that. She hasn’t done it in a while but I suspect she might start. It’s almost as if it's an unconscious act. She’ll do it until she bleeds so stop her if you catch it.” he said casually as he stood next to Hotch as they watched from outside as you sat in a chair beside Gibbs bed. The large oversized hoodie Tony brought already on you, like a security blanket.

“Why are you telling me this?” Hotch glanced at him.

“While I may be the joker of the group, I’m not stupid. You care about her.” Tony doesn’t look at him.

“She’s a part of my team of course I do.”

Tony shakes his head, “We both know it's more than that. As her friend I’m speaking for all of us, hurt her we’ll hurt you. She’s been through enough already.”

Hotch can’t help the small smile. He was glad you had such caring friends.

Tony stepped away to tell you goodbye before returning to work, they still had a case to solve. Hotch watched as you hugged him and pondered his exchange with Tony.

Director Sheppard had arrived again and you let her have the room. You were currently on the bench outside of the hospital room, head in Aarons lap and asleep as he stroked your hair. He was quietly talking to Dave who had stopped by to check in. The team had started coming in shifts to help relieve him. He had gone home for a little bit to shower, check on Jack and catch a few hours of sleep.

A flurry of activity going into Gibbs room stopped the conversation. Hotch turned as much as he could without waking you to stare into the room to see what was going on. He couldn’t see much with the doctors in the way but he could see the Director's face in relief. Gibbs must have woken up.

Aaron was reluctant to wake you, as you hadn’t been asleep that long. He knew he needed to but he was determined to give you a few extra minutes or at least until the doctors were through. When they looked to be about done he gently began to rub your back, “(Y/N). Time to get up.”

It didn’t take him as long as he expected to rouse you and you sat up. You rubbed your hands over your face to wipe away the sleep and looked around. “What’s going on?”

“Miss Gibbs?” the doctor stepped out before Aaron could answer you.

“Special Agent Gibbs.” He corrected the doctor for you.

The doctor took it in stride “Your father is awake.”

You jumped up, “Can I see him? How is he?”

“You can see him but I have to warn you, he has amnesia. He doesn't remember anything from the last fifteen years.”

“Oh no,” You whispered as you wavered on your feet a bit. Hotch stood wrapping an arm around you to keep you steady.

The doctor gives you a sympathetic look, “Try not push him to remember. We want him to try to do that on his own.”

“Ok.” you nod and turn to look at the director and dad through the window.

“You don’t have to go in until you're ready, kid.” Rossi gave your shoulder a squeeze.

“Thanks Rossi, but it’s not gonna hurt any less, might as well get it over with.” you gave him a small, unconvincing smile. Hotch dropped his arm allowing you to move freely as you walked to the door.

You walk through the door and both turn to look at you.

“Shannon?” he had so much hope in his voice, it hurt.

The dam breaks and the water works start at him calling you your mother. “No daddy it’s me (Y/N).”

“You didn’t…” he trails off as he looks at you.

“No. I survived.” you knew what he was trying to say. You made your way over and sat in the chair beside his bed.

His calloused hand cupped your cheek as he wiped your tears away. Not that that did any good against the steady stream.

“You look so much like your mother.”

You let out a half laugh half sob, his pain was probably fresh. In his mind it was fifteen years ago. You had been too young to know the details of when and where he was told. He never talked about it, even after you’d gotten older. He had been deployed when it had occurred, that much you knew.

“They weren’t sure you were going to make it.”

You met his eyes, surprised he would even talk about it. You weren’t sure how much he remembered yet. Staying silent you let him continue.

“You died twice. At least that’s what they told me when I was able to come home and see you.”

“I don’t remember much, but I only thought it was once.” you remembered very little about the crash. It was always flashes of memories, you did however vividly remember dying.

“What do you mean?” he looked at you questioningly.

“I only remember dying once. It was cold and dark and I was scared, but then mom and Kelly were there. Mom..” you cleared the lump in your throat. “Mom said I had to go back. We couldn’t leave you all by yourself. She said I was the strong one, I’d made it this far. Kelly hugged me and said to tell you she loved you and that they were gonna be waiting for us.”

He was staring at you and something flashed in his eyes as he remembered more. “You never told me that.”

“What was an eight year old me gonna say? You’d just lost your wife and daughter. I lost my mother and twin sister. Really I was too traumatized to do much other than work on healing.” you sniffled.

He didn’t say anything and scooted over to make room on the tiny hospital bed, before patting beside him. You were careful as you climbed up next to him, you didn't want to hurt him more. He pulled you into his side and kissed your head.

***

You’d taken two weeks off work to help your dad out. During that time you and Hotch texted everyday even if it was just a check in text. You loved your dad but he was stubborn and you vented to Hotch about it.

You: Am I this bad?

Hotch: What happened now?

You: He’s not resting. I threatened to tie him to the couch unless he took it easy. I’m glad Jenny made him take a little vacay but dude chill!

Hotch: Yes, you have a tendency to be just as stubborn. Like father like daughter I suppose.

You: I deserve that. 🤪

Hotch: It’s not always a bad thing.

You: You wouldn’t say that if you had to deal with me 24-7.

“(Y/N) Door.” your dad yelled from the kitchen.

“I’ve got it!”

You: BRB dad needs me.

You jogged downstairs and answered the door, surprised to see Hotch standing on the other side of it.

“Hotch? What are you doing here?”

“Coming to see you. Got a minute?”

You glanced back in the house, “Yeah sure. Dad, I'm stepping outside!” you shouted and stepped onto the porch. “So what brings you over?”

Hotch shifted on his feet seeming almost nervous.

“Hey whatever it is you can tell me.” you said softly.

“I feel like a teenager asking out his crush.” he chuckled, “Which is in essence what I’m doing. Would you like to go on a date with me?”

You smiled, “I’d like that.”

“Great, maybe now you can keep her off my ass about stuff.” Gibbs huffed appearing in the doorway.

“Dad!”

“I’ll try” Aaron laughed.

#Gibbs x Daughter!Reader #hotch x reader #criminal minds #ncis #NCIS/CM crossover

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nunalastor · 24 days

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Omg i just had a Au/hc spark!

What if after Lucifer fell they realized they needed his joy back but couldn't possibly pardon him, not that he would come back either way. So they found some of his essence/grace/dna and used it to make Emily. Not an exact copy (they didn't want a repeat after all) - but like Charlie she takes after him A LOT. which is why the two have so many similarities.

Tl;dr: Lucifer doesn't know but Emily is his daughter and technically a Morningstar

tbh i've always wondered why she was so young - her being a lucifer replacement makes a lot of sense tbh

#hazbin hotel #nunalastor asks #lucifer #emily

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presiding · 5 months

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a doctor turned serial killer turned doctor again, an actor who paints, a gang leader, a mining baron, and a vice overseer walk into the room.

oh yeah and they lead karnaca now.

dishonored 2 is my fav game but i think it's mid, story-wise. here's why dh1 works and why dh2's overarching story sorta misses

tl;dr: story integration is critical for gameplay that offers audience payoff, but emily's personal arc from dishonor to honor is inconsistently demonstrated in the story, and is not an interactive part of the gameplay.

essay/long version under cut >

recap: what's dishonored's deal

[skip if you want] dh1 is an underdog story: corvo is an honorable man swept up in the machinations of a callous city, so his canonical ending being 'this child will rule over an empire' isn't about the child's rule but rather about corvo's reputation being restored in a more hopeful city, due to his & the player's rejection of the violent connotations of the tagline 'revenge solves everything.'

similarly, in dh1 DLCs, daud's story arc is that of an anti-hero: a dishonorable man who realises too late he has done irreparable harm. he sees the error of his ways after a single monumental death, and eventually a single life redeems him when he/the player stepped in to circumvent a terrible fate for a child, enabling her to rule unfettered.

daud & corvo come to a satisfying conclusion within the extent of their narrative arcs. it doesn't matter that a child on a throne isn't really a fix for a decaying empire - the player's actions throughout the city of dunwall was what mattered - and these stories could be framed as parables. in that sense, young emily as a ruler is a metaphor for a hopeful future for the city & empire.

dishonored 1 & its DLCs are also great examples of storytelling with perfectly integrated gameplay - you, the player, worked towards the outcome that redeemed the protagonists.

in your efforts to save young emily, you either achieved a good outcome (corvo) or prevented a worse outcome (daud).

bringing us to dh2 -

what's emily's arc

emily's arc is a coming of age: we're introduced to a reigning empress who questions her role & skillset ("am i the empress my mother wanted me to be?"), then her titular fall from grace occurs. from there, she learns to reject the violent, selfish connotations in 'take back whats yours' tagline (a la daud & corvo!) while rediscovering why her rule is critical to the empire.

emily's rule is no longer metaphorical, but:

a literal thing for audience assessment (is emily a good ruler?) AND

the crux of her storyline.

at the beginning of dh2, emily is introduced as a disengaged leader ("i wish i could just run away from all this;" "i dont know if whether i should sail to the opposite side of the world, or have everyone around me executed"). the antihero has a precedent for the dishonored series in daud, so it's not at first glance an issue*, however, the fact that emily has ruled poorly reframes corvo & daud's endings as being less than ideal (a moralistic retcon) *we could talk here about how ready an audience was in 2016 for a flawed women as a protagonist, hell, even in 2023,,,

throwback to the beginning of this essay when i said:

'this child will rule over an empire' isn't about the child's rule but rather about corvo's reputation

emily's story arc, unlike for daud & corvo, is literally about the quality of her rule. we're no longer in metaphor territory (ironic phrase): a parable-style ending doesn't work.

does emily become a good ruler

we know she becomes a good ruler because the game says so. it is narrated to the audience via a (literal) word of god in the space of 30 seconds, after the final boss. the outsider tells us that emily becomes known as Just & Clever.

drawing a distinction here - this narration is not the same as the player actively being involved.

the player does not throughout the game become aware that emily has made political allies. during the game, she doesn't talk to these characters about saving karnaca or being a better ruler to the empire (there's a few lines might imply it, but you need to be actively looking and being careful to wait for every voice line. it's a far cry from daud & corvo's fight to save emily being unmissable - even though daud doesn't know at the beginning that's the goal).

how does the game show it

you can coincidentally not kill most of your subjects and never be aware that emily is looking to restore karnaca by means of instating a council - it's never brought up. it *couldn't* be brought up, because that council serves under the fake duke (armando), who is the last person she speaks to before she leaves for dunwall. its her suggestion that he rules karnaca, but armando's condition is that he will rule as he sees fit.

to back up a bit, emily's canonical method of restoring karnaca is by banding together key allies - hypatia, stilton, [byrne &or paolo], pastor, under a council beneath the duke's body double. they are passionate people who would each individually make worthwhile advisors, but if you think about those characters sitting at a table trying to reach an agreement, it feels like an assortment of people that emily didn't kill along the way and doesn't feel organic (up to interpretation). it's not stated if emily herself banded this council together, but logically she must have (worth a mention these are mostly characters that you as the player had reasonable rationale to kill during a high chaos run, except pastor). the underlying concept may be that karnaca's power is returned to its people - which is interesting given that the monarchy remains and armando's decision is final.

this overarching solution could also be taken as a critique to dh1's 'put your kid on the throne,' which is another reason its worthwhile looking at how emily was shown to be a better leader. obviously my point isn't that her solution was bad given the circumstance, but i mean she has very little agency here in all. if emily was shown to be more controlling as a leader, this could be interpreted as character growth, but that's not the case.

coming of age

how do you learn & grow when you can't specify your failings? emily doesn't really touch on her shortcomings as an empress. she non-specifically worries delilah makes a better empress than her. it's hard to argue her worries are meaningful when someone good at their job will still worry when lives are in the balance.

emily's best 'aha' moments (eg. crack in the slab comment about gaining perspective) are consistently undercut by a conversation with sokolov or meagan afterwards in which she demonstrates she hasn't learned anything (before the grand palace, emily condemns 'toadies sucking up to me' and is reminded by meagan that she's part of the problem). the story is confused about what it's trying to say about emily's progress, and when she's meant to show progress, if she was meant to show any progress at all. it could be argued that emily was never even a bad ruler, she had just been fed misinformation about the problems in karnaca and been the victim of slander by her political enemies. the game doesn't make this clear - it's easier to argue that the opposite is true given that her allies only have criticism.

worth a mention here that the heart quotes about armando - a fake ruler - interestingly mirror emily's character concerns. "see how he sighs? his life is a gilded cage." but this essay is already long.

while corvo & daud spend their games (and through the gameplay) 'earning' their redemption, emily is being led by the NPCs around her to a conclusion and a fix for the political mess in karnaca: meagan & sokolov guide emily to her missions, and there's no recurring quest for emily to investigate possible allies. she is able to gather the people she hasn't killed to herself by manner of... post-game narration. during the game, she's primarily concerned with getting her throne back.

an easy fix: if there had been less dialogue & narrative focus on emily's failings perhaps the ending would have felt more satisfying. it has the feel of cut content, but i don't know what was cut to be able to comment on it.

so what went wrong?

i can't help but wonder if arkane were worried they would lose a certain demographic if corvo wasn't playable (may have been deemed too much of a risk - 2013 was a different time), and so they had to take out story elements that were unique to emily's growth as a character/empress, because the usual storyline/gameplay integration had to work for both characters - in other words, gameplay that made sense for both corvo & emily was prioritised before emily's story & character development. which is a silly problem to have in a game that added character voices for the sake of improving characterisation - maybe emily's tale would have felt more akin to a parable if she had less lines that betrayed her ignorance (to the disdain of those around her).

i wish more care had been taken with emily's story. most players will never really notice the large variety of different endings - they're not particularly satisfying in and of themselves.

it's ironic that one of Emily's complaints is about her father/protector being overbearing, when his (parallel universe) presence in the gameplay may be one of the reasons her own narrative arc falls flat.

what are the upsides here

changing tune from what didn't work - don't you think the concept is fantastic? it's a great idea overall - can you imagine if the coming of age storyline was better integrated into the game?

it's valuable to talk about the integration of story and gameplay and characterisation from a craft perspective. dh2 genuinely is my favourite game - it's beautiful, the imm-sim design philosophy makes the world a delight to explore, the combat gives endless creative options for tackling any fight, there is a far greater diversity of cast in an in-text canonical way. there's loads to love!

i love emily as a dodgy leader, to me it adds interesting dimensionality to the outsider's narrations - of course in dunwall there's never a neat happily ever after! emily, like the outsider, both work well as characters who hold ultimate power but aren't necessarily worthy of it - and this makes perfect sense for the dishonored universe's morality & critiques of power. however, within this grey area there's still plenty of room for a satisfying ending, which isn't what we ended up with, whatever the true reason for that was. and also, damn, emily's a marked assassin empress, if she can't lead well then who can?

while dh1 was criticised for its narrative simplicity, dh2 in contrast and in hindsight shows us that simplicity isn't so bad - there's satisfaction in gameplay achieves a clear, simple narrative goal.

#are you a dh1 enjoyer but less so a dh2 enjoyer?#have you ever wondered why you don't love dh2 as much?#here's 1.8k words that might articulate some of that.#light reading.i guess #this essay wasn't meant to cover everything - just the core of the plot and why its important to integrate story & gameplay #and to compare dh1 & 2 #dishonored #dishonored 2 #dishonored 2 spoilers #emily kaldwin #daud #corvo attano #this week i'm cracking things out of my drafts!#<333 don't get me started on doto.#some of this might be contentious. idk i try to live in a bubble #the meme version was easier to read i know i know #this essay would have been a lot longer had i integrated more references from the game #i know a few others have said this but imagine if they went a different way with emily #like she realises shes not fit for the job and maybe no one is and says fuck the system cause shes got a rebellious streak #and does a kickflip on the monarchy and institutes something else. i dont even care what. make it funny #and then for the sake of continuing the trend we spend dishonored 3 undoing the horrible leadership emily instates <3 #i think they really loved emily as a character. i FEEL the love i believe its there.but didn't think enough bout how she would be perceived #there's a good couple comments from baldur's gate 3 devs about how much work goes into writing women to account for sexism #there's more that i could have added to this essay but for brevity's (ha.ha) sake i'll leave it there #other textposts about this game that i see around tend to romanticise dishonoreds story a little more

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8trackaxolotl · 9 months

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Hello murdoch fandom i finished my Emily Grace cosplay!!! I wore her at Matsuricon today and just had so much fun :) she’s fully constructed by me with historical patterns too!

#murdoch mysteries #murdoch mysteries cosplay #emily grace murdoch mysteries #emily grace #dr emily grace #william murdoch #cbc murdoch #cosplay #cosplayer #edwardian #victorian

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geese-in-a-frock-coat · 1 day

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What's your evidence for Watts and Murdoch being autistic? (I totally agree btw)

Hello, internet stranger. Buckle up cause I've thought too hard about this.

Ok disclaimer I have not really sat down and watched the whole thing for a hot minute. Its past nine, you're just gonna have to trust me this one.

Credentials: Mega autisitc

Murdoch:

Does not understand social conventions. Like this ones pretty obvious. He doesn't understand why people keep dogs. Raises his kid in a completely non traditional way. Frequently doesn't get why people care about something that he sees as not being worth it (sports and popular trends and so forth).

Doesn't like small talk

Cares about justice NOT the law. The thing that really makes me think he's autistic is that he cares about things being just and is prepared to break the rules to do so. The main example being he lets that woman out of prison depsite the fact that he could go down for it. He turns a blind eye to Watts and lets Giles go even though they're both criminals in the eyes of the law. And on the flipside he sends George to prison because I think that's what he percieves as justice (if anyone's seen the bridge this really reminds me of Saga at the end of season 2)

Sees through hierarchy. There are so many epsiodes that play out like "I think Mr X is the killer." "But Mr x is extrememly important and influential!" "I don't care he killed her."

Interest in science and inventing. Look I know we joke about stereotypes but like, its a stereotype for a reason. He builds things with an autistic brain. He uses pattern repition through learning about previous inventions and applying them to his own devices.

Visual learner. This is not autism exclusive but he solves cases in such a unique way that it screams ND to me. Murdoch often literally builds a case. They make a joke about clue/cludo but he literally has to make the model of a house to picture where everyone is. He makes all those model of the ladies that were covered in metal. And let us not forget his famous chalk board.

Buzzkill. I say this as a long-term sufferer of leaves parties at 8:45 syndrome. He does 'boring hobbies' which autistic people often have because we don't feel the need to take up traditional ones.

Remember that scene where he attempts to read out his and Julia's book and just absolutely cannot tell that no one gives a single toss about anything he's saying.

Wears the same thing for nearly 20 years. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Refused to let his wife cut his hair because he didn't want to change from the lady who used to do it.

breather. Part 2: watts.

Cannot read social cues: Frequently insults other station house four people. Pretty sure he called someone's baby ugly but I might have hallucinated that. "You're face is symetrical." Got chucked out of station house because he didn't get on with any of them

Disregard for societal norms: doesn't feel the need to be polite or tactful with anyone or to really follow police protocol. Acts very 'improper' a lot of the time. Only got one shoe shined that one time because that was all he needed. Puts his feet on the sofa, lies on the desk and leans over tables.

Makes limited eye contact.

The man will fidget with anything: Look this is clearly a character decision from Daniel Maslany but its an autistic character decision if ever I saw one. We're talking pencils, cups, fabric, anything. If it is on the set, he will find a way to play with out. And I don't normally like to assign autistic traits onto behaviour implemented by actors but it's basically stimming at this point. I dare you to keep an eye on this man's hands for any scene and I garuntee you they will not stay still.

Disorganised, but not: He always has tiny bits of paper and whatnot in his pockets but always seems to know where everything is. organised but doesn't have to time to be tidy. Same whenever we see his flat, it's equally disorganised. as an autistic person I find things end up all over the place because I don't have the capacity to keep them in order.

Bad handwriting and can't spell

Physicality: Most autistic people will have some sort of problem with co-ordination. He walks uneavenly. He has an odd posture. I always think about that scene where he steps in sick and moves around like a dear on ice. He's clumsy, can't sit straight and has a strange posture.

can't think when being interrupted

can't focus on two things at once.

George realised he'd been possessed by aliens because he was acting normally.

pretzels: dare i say safe food. If not, they're bland, usually the same everytime and take little mental effort to consume.

Strong sense of justic: see william murdoch.

SPECIAL MENTIONS:

Dr Emily Grace: didn't become a doctor becuase she didn't want to adopt a 'cheerful bedside manor.'

Dr Julia Ogden: Married to Murdoch (like calls to like) and sees through the bullshit of victorian society.

Susannah Murdoch: has those two as parents and I have the full confidence of genetics on this one.

In conclusion:

There's probably so much more I could talk about that I just don't remember because there is a lot more of this show than most others. But anyway. Murdoch is autistic because he has to be for the show to work and becuase he often comedic-foils far too close to the sun. And Watts is autistic because there is no way on God's green earth a man who stands like that is neurotypical.

Thank you, internet stranger, I am here all week.

#sorry this is word vomit #there is a reason i shouldn't try and be funny on the internet #murdoch mysteries #cbc murdoch #cbc mm #william murdoch queer icon #william murdoch #llewellyn watts is autistic #llewellyn watts #dr julia ogden #dr emily grace #autistic stuff

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