#and by investigating the town's history they discovered how much craziness happens there | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

omegangrins · 3 years

Text

Universal took Tremors from its creators after 30 years of work.

TL;DR After 25-30 years making the series, Brent Maddock, Michael Gross, Nancy Roberts, Ron Underwood and S.S. Wilson were kicked out so Universal Studios could make more money off the merchandising before the Tremors copyright expires in 2025.

*****MAJOR SPOILERS**** This will make you sad, angry and frustrated. But there is hope. #StampedeTremors

Soooooo, ever since I blew up and sidetracked a post about David Fincher's Queen Biopic with Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury discussing the Tremors 7 ending, I've done some more research on the whole thing. The Graboid hole for this goes deep.

Michael Gross didn't want it.

“There’s a part of me that feels that Universal Home Entertainment might’ve had enough of Tremors. The suggestions that were made in the course of this [movie] made me think maybe they’ve had enough. They came to me and said, ‘What if we ended it at 7?’ and I said, ‘Whatever you choose to do, I’m good with that.'” “That being said, The door is still open for an eighth Tremors. It may seem unlikely by what people see on the screen, but it is possible. There could be an eighth. And if there were, and if it were an interesting story, I would be up for it because Burt is always a great deal of fun. It would depend on his physicality. How much they want me to do. If it’s in another two years, I’ll be 75 years old. So I will continue to hope and pray that I stay in shape, to do what is asked of me – if it is asked of me.”

AND Universal even killed off any ambiguity that he fought for.

"We shot it both ways, where everybody's mourning Burt, and he climbs up over the cliff and looks at all of them in mourning and goes, 'Jesus, God, I'm not dead. And he's really pissed off at them. It's like, 'How would you possibly think...?' But he's bloodied, just he's a mess. He looks like he's been through an earthquake, crushed by a house, but he's alive. And he says, 'You idiots. Of course, I'm alive.'" "They decided it just had this punch. Frankly, I thought to myself -- I didn't express it to them, but I thought to myself -- 'Maybe Universal's getting a little tired of this franchise.' Because this wasn't my idea." "I said, 'I can live with this. Because they came to me. They said, 'Look, you've been doing this so long. What do you think?' And I said, 'Well, as long as we kind of leave the door open.' I mean, I can kind of see an eighth film where it opens with Burt in a hospital bed, in a full body cast and saying, 'I survived.' He could hardly move a muscle. And maybe eight is...if I had a concept for eight, it would be Burt horribly injured, but in a motorized, weaponized wheelchair that has rocket mounts on the side and can leave an oil slick behind like James Bond's car. So nobody can chase him." "I always said, if Kevin Bacon or Fred [Ward] or Reba [McIntire] or anybody [wanted to return], I'd be there in a minute. Just because one, I love Burt, but I always thought of him as this guy kind of on the fringes, and I just came to the fore because everybody else walked away."

https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3637682/michael-gross-says-door-still-open-potential-eighth-tremors-movie/

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/tremors-shrieker-island-michael-gross-on-burt-gummer-death/

While Universal ignored how Michael Gross was setting up his son Travis Welker to pick up his torch (Which I'm give or take on Jamie Kennedy yet he brought a Grady-like optimism to the shittier of the series.)

"My reaction was disappointment, as I had planned an entire storyline around his participation."

Even Jamie Kennedy tried to but they wouldn't let him.

"Lot of people have been asking me, so I might as well spill it. I will NOT be in the upcoming TREMORS 7. I had a great time making the last two. But no TRAVIS this time around. But hey you neva’ know what can happen in the future.... have a great time boys! Tdawg out!!!"

https://mobile.twitter.com/JamieKennedy/status/1188981479973347329

After 7 movies and a TV show, nothing more than a spit in the face for the man who carried a franchise. Then when they do the montage at the end, we get clips of Hiram Gummer but NOTHING of Burt Gummer from the TV show. It's 13 episodes of Burt in Tremors that's longer than all the movies combined but yet they don't even include it in the ending montage while including his dead grandpa.

Same with the original creators. Did you know Stampede Entertainment (Brent Maddock, Nancy Roberts, Ron Underwood, and S.S. Wilson) were working on Tremors for 25 years and even had the 5th one written, "Thunder/Gummer Down Under".

Then were told to sit on it for 10 years before Universal eventually told them to eat dirt? That's gotta hurt. It hurts me and I'm not even connected to these movies. All that work down the drain just because of someone's say so. And for no reason. Well not exactly....

Universal knows fans want Tremors merch. I mean, look at how they took #BurtGummerDay from @BabyFarkMcGeeZax. And they want ALLLLLL of that merchandising money. With none of it going to Stampede because it would give them leverage. Not to mention they don't want anyone else getting the idea to make cute monster toys before they can roll out their own line.

Don't believe me? See Universal pull some Hollywood Accounting with Tremors already.

http://imgur.com/gallery/mFNIHV3

Half a billion dollars... completely untraceable. I've tried. Emailed the numbers people and they can't tell me anything unless you pay $50 a film to see the numbers. Which makes me ask, who paid for the numbers on 1,5, 6, & 7? And why only what they made? Not their cost. Same for the numbers on 2, 3, & 4. Why numbers on the cost, but nothing on what it made? It seems weirdly targeted to make it look like the Stampede Entertainment ones only cost money but made nothing.

Then when you find out that the copyright to Tremors will revert to its creators after the 35 year mark, which makes that date 2024-2025 since Tremors was filmed in '88-'89 but released in '90.....

Wellllllll some things start to add up. Especially when you consider it's Universal. They already know about owning copyrights for things long out of due. Ask Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman. Or Nintendo when Universal tried to sue them because Donkey Kong was too similar to King Kong.

Ask Stampede (S.S. Wilson) yourself. They have a Question and Answer page right on their site.

Like did you know you can't find ANY official Tremors merch? But you CAN find tons of fan-made creations. Give it a Google. They don't even list Tremors on the Universal website. Go ahead. Ask them. I try weekly. No responses ever.

https://www.universalpictures.com/about

Even with a longer history, more money made, and amount of sequel potential in comparison to their other films?

http://imgur.com/gallery/ZnXEsI3

Fans are clamoring for more but Universal says no?

Hell, you can watch the TV show for free on the NBC site.

But before my investigating, the episodes were so jumbled and missing it would ruin people's enjoyment.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/comments/m0wvwu/tremors_episode_9_graboid_rights_is_back_on_nbc/

What about how they made a Tremors series pilot with Kevin Bacon? The only bad thing about it is that they need to pull a Sonic redo on the Graboid at the end but who knows, I suspect it's like that for plot reasons after reading the unaired script.

https://youtu.be/hWU3GpKmIvw

That Universal/NBC/SyFy has proceeded to hide deeper than a Graboid burrows. https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/tremors-star-kevin-bacon-confused-sequel-series-picked/

Despite no one knowing why. http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ

Read the script for yourself if you don't believe me. They've already hidden it for two years. Andrew Miller worked too hard for it to be hidden. And it plays. It works and plays with what's already there while being new and old. Quite good.

Have you seen the Kevin Bacon/Michael Gross commercial featuring them in Perfection Valley? The whole commercial is a sly way to use Tremors WITHOUT actually saying anything Universal would have claim to call copyright on. "Sandworms" "My old co-star" "Trevors". It's a great big middle finger to Universal.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E_O0K9hmlrw

How about the original script for Tremors 2: Aftershocks. The creators have wanted it seen for 20 years but it took a crazy Larry like me to get it out there. It's got Val, Earl, Burt and Heather in it too. Pretty good too. So good they reused the ending in the TV show episode "Shriek and Destroy".

All these things swirl together and make me wonder more and more. For the plethora of Tremors fandom goes deeper than even me... Like Imgur user @BabyFarkMcGeeZax. They created Burt Gummer Day five years ago through sweat and love alone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/comments/mb2rtz/babyfarkmcgeezax_created_burt_gummer_day_and/

Yet what does Universal do? Take the day, plaster it over the end of their hero's death, and not even give a line credit or thank you to @BabyFarkMcGeeZax or a mention on Twitter as they blurb it everywhere.

Ever seen the gif battles about Tremors at r/HighQualityGifs?

https://www.reddit.com/r/GifTournament/comments/luvt39/giftournament_battle_13_round_3/

https://www.reddit.com/r/HighQualityGifs/comments/dtz11k/battle_178_tremors/

How about The Everything Sequel podcast where they discuss how amazing all of The Tremors Saga is after discovering it for the first time. Even going so far as to pitch their own sequels.

https://share.transistor.fm/s/e24901de https://share.transistor.fm/s/bdea7b5e https://share.transistor.fm/s/cf79bbc1 https://share.transistor.fm/s/fac66438 https://share.transistor.fm/s/a90415cd https://share.transistor.fm/s/c0e8153e https://share.transistor.fm/s/6b6572f9

There's so much fan content and people screaming for more Tremors! Like "Perfection, NV", a fan film.

youtube

Or this collection of alt Tremors posters.

http://imgur.com/gallery/MgkhnfE

Including the thousands of pieces of fanart.

http://imgur.com/gallery/6f7Txh0

http://imgur.com/gallery/nXG1ph1

The story behind Tremors comics. http://www.enemyofpeanuts.com/2013/03/09/the-short-story-behind-tremors-comics/

Even the new Tremors game. OR games.

https://youtu.be/G6PX1QY2oIc

https://stefanocagnani90.itch.io/tremors-thegame

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremors:_The_Game

https://www.playfg.com/dirt-dragons-game.html

Look at all this love.

And this isn't even an officially licensed game.

"A fortune", you say? Interesting....

So let's make Tremors 8 Ouroboros with the OG creators back on board.

https://imgur.com/gallery/o2kCFLu

We restart the TV show and end the movies for a while. Just like The Librarians. If Marvel can switch between movies and TV, Tremors can too.

If you think I'm crazy too, just see and know how I've been in this position before. I'm well aware of how this "story" plays out.

I mean, Tremors *does* foreshadows its ending with a sleeping bag. https://imgur.com/gallery/5HexQ

Notice too how you can find little Behind the Scenes for Tremors 5-7 despite a smorgasbord of material for 1-4 and both TV shows.

http://imgur.com/gallery/b4STAkl http://imgur.com/gallery/gSlZ1fC http://imgur.com/gallery/fnFt9MD http://imgur.com/gallery/6mDHTtg http://imgur.com/gallery/4M28quW http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ http://imgur.com/gallery/6l0Dogl

And it's not like Universal isn't known for shady business practices. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Pictures

What about how they own the rights to damn near every monster except for Godzilla. And not just the classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, Mummy and Invisible Man. They have Kong, Hulk, Jaws, Michael Myers, The Thing, all the Jurassic Park dinos, all the Romero zombies, Chucky, Casper, Riddick beasts, Hellboy, and Jaegers/Kaiju. These dudes know merchandising rights and they're looking to score the next Poke'Mon franchise.

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/10/24/how-universal-re-copyrighted-frankensteins-monster/

Take a gander at all these articles gushing with love for Tremors:

Why the 'Tremors' Franchise Is Better Than the 'Alien' Movies https://collider.com/why-the-tremors-franchise-is-better-than-the-alien-movies/

As Kevin Bacon's Tremors returns to TV, we explain the entire franchise It's way more complicated than you think. https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a807140/tremors-franchise-series-guide-kevin-bacon/

20 Fun Facts About Tremors https://ew.com/article/1990/07/13/tremors/

Thirty Years After Tremors, Reba McEntire Tells Us Why She's Absolutely Down to Return For a Reboot https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a30457996/tremors-30-anniversary-reba-mcentire-interview/

30 years ago, Tremors became perhaps the most perfect bad movie https://www.thv11.com/mobile/article/entertainment/movies/film-on-11/getting-reel/30-years-ago-tremors-became-perhaps-the-most-perfect-bad-movie/91-8f6854df-9dcc-4870-ab3a-4f91a658ac3f

How Tremors 7 Succeeds Where Other Horror Movie Franchises Failhttps://screenrant.com/tremors-7-movie-succeeds-better-horror-movie-franchises-reason/

A Complete Rundown of the Entire Tremors Saga https://www.dreadcentral.com/editorials/363290/beneath-perfection-thoughts-on-the-entire-tremors-franchise/

Kevin Bacon Wants to Revisit His Only Film He Ever Re-Watched https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/kevin-bacon-tremors-1234956657/

Look at all this #BurtGummerDay love. That adds up to thousands of people watching Tremors for the first or fiftieth time. And this is only the first "official" year. It'll only grow.

http://imgur.com/t/burt_gummer_day

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2215552755347508/permalink/3124638257772282/?ref=m_notif¬if_t=group_comment

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2215552755347508/permalink/3124638397772268/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/about

Can you see the Tremors? Can you feel them? Fans want Tremors and they want it from Stampede. http://imgur.com/gallery/ZaVL7Mc http://imgur.com/gallery/f37bEV7 http://imgur.com/gallery/De6DlqQ

After all this time, and all this love, and all this greed, it's time we break Hollywood tradition and give power back to the people. When people can #RestoreTheSnyderVerse or #SaveTheVentureBros, we can #StampedeTremors for #BurtGummerDay.

Take this hope and fly!

#StampedeTremors

BTS, gifs, and videos of The Tremors Saga. Tremors: The Lost Tapes from S.S. Wilson's personal collection https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1EA9246EF966DDA2

Monster Makers https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tmm-tremors/ https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tmm-tremors2/

ADI's creation documentaries https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR9WUo3tIVnb4CyMR1SLVsxPyBwz1Met_ BTS gallery of Tremors http://imgur.com/gallery/b4STAkl

The making of Tremors https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m-HUUt21tRA

Inside the Graboid workshop https://youtu.be/YgPuC2tNBpM

Stampede Entertainment's video archive for Tremors https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/category/videos/tremors/

Tremors opening https://youtu.be/gnqPYTOzc38

BTS gallery of Tremors 2: Aftershocks http://imgur.com/gallery/gSlZ1fC

Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 2 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors2/

The making of Tremors 2 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fAlqzM0CyPI

Tremors 2 original script with Val, Earl, Burt and Heather. http://imgur.com/gallery/8QaHPRy

Tremors 2: Aftershocks opening https://youtu.be/pVi24Gc0KdQ)

BTS gallery of Tremors 3: Back to Perfection http://imgur.com/gallery/fnFt9MD Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 3 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors3/

On the set of Tremors 3 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZhrvkB5nKs

Stampede Entertainment's video archive of Tremors 3 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/category/videos/tremors3/

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection opening https://youtu.be/UXjdZitldB4

BTS gallery of Tremors the Series http://imgur.com/gallery/6mDHTtg

Stamede Entertainment's https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors-series/

Behind the scenes of Tremors the Series lost monsters. https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors-series-lost/

Cold opens for Tremors the Series https://youtu.be/srB6rZgv_Po https://youtu.be/v3ZkC08rKtg

BTS gallery of Tremors 4: The Legend Begins http://imgur.com/gallery/4M28quW Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 4 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors4-2/

On the set of Tremors 4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bppXVxldTqU The weapons of Tremors 4 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/weapons-of-tremors-4/

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins opening https://youtu.be/3gDlAEUBesg

BTS gallery of Tremors 5: Bloodlines http://imgur.com/gallery/6l0Dogl

Tremors 5: Bloodlines opening https://youtu.be/t8jrCVI676Y

BTS gallery of the unaired Kevin Bacon Tremors pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ

Script for the unaired Tremors pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/UbtTvyf

Trailer for the unreleased Tremors pilot https://youtu.be/hWU3GpKmIvw

Kevin Bacon talks Tremors. https://youtu.be/TAGOlEIR7mA

Interviews with Alec Gillis, Brent Maddock, Nancy Roberts, and Ron Underwood https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmUAAK3guQ8t6dKzwH9V0RzerkdLr0d1

S.S. Wilson talks his Tremors career. https://youtu.be/ZJhZmty_dKs Making Perfection https://youtu.be/hpCSCQJEmnk

Have a question about Tremors? Find it here and if you can't find it, ask S.S. Wilson yourself! https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/fan-extras/tremors-faq/?include_category=general

And if you love Tremors enough to have made it this far, enjoy a collection of gifs for you to use at your pleasure.

Tremors http://imgur.com/gallery/kPiEe3d http://imgur.com/gallery/5Sb4Vpg http://imgur.com/gallery/1uZxiue http://imgur.com/gallery/NX5r2

Tremors 2 Aftershocks http://imgur.com/gallery/i1IZZf8 http://imgur.com/gallery/krcmrgQ http://imgur.com/gallery/GjTxAg1 http://imgur.com/gallery/DabFZTt http://imgur.com/gallery/QLTStyx http://imgur.com/gallery/P92e1ri http://imgur.com/gallery/IUAvd http://imgur.com/gallery/h8BZ0qN http://imgur.com/gallery/ZQi2KOb http://imgur.com/gallery/WDZdM

Tremors 3 Back to Perfection http://imgur.com/gallery/5ebddmR http://imgur.com/gallery/Rj9fqIy http://imgur.com/gallery/ikzXFbd

Tremors the Series http://imgur.com/gallery/cqSMk40

Tremors 4 The Legend Begins

http://imgur.com/gallery/ufV3of1 http://imgur.com/gallery/zPGBOW3 http://imgur.com/gallery/ri5jLRd http://imgur.com/gallery/y7A3l5D

Tremors 5 Bloodlines

http://imgur.com/gallery/Pmunxjo http://imgur.com/gallery/0yazNVG

Tremors 6 A Cold Day In Hell http://imgur.com/gallery/S4qlPCI http://imgur.com/gallery/Xa2mUsS

Tremors Pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/RXXjbKr http://imgur.com/gallery/kCErQyF

Tremors 7 Shrieker Island

http://imgur.com/gallery/FzpJllb http://imgur.com/gallery/JGweZjH

22 notes · View notes

goddesswritings · 4 years

Text

peacefall - the adjustment | Sam Taylor

Title: peacefall – the adjustment

Pairing: AU Ghost!Sam Taylor x OC

Summary: Y/n is a writer and her books are pretty popular. She moves into a house in the country to get away from the craziness of the city. She wants to put all her focus on her next book. Weird things begin happening in the house. She discovers she has a ghost and he has quite a past. They begin to bond, but he begins to see that she is hiding something big from him. Something that will impact her life.

Word Count: 2.1k

Y/n/n = Your Nickname

MASTERLIST

********

PART ONE <<

“I wasn’t sure what to expect, but a helpless, miniature person was not it. When my older sister came to tell me, we were expecting a new sibling she reminded me that I was once that new person coming into life and that now, I share the responsibility in protecting them. That my life was going to change for the better, with this new addition to the family, as was theirs.”

Today you decided to make this ghost show itself one way or another, because you were getting sick of its games. It had been responsible for hiding the book notes. It was keeping you up half the night with the noises it would make. No matter how much noise it made, it would never show itself.

This made you realize the history of the house needed to be found and then maybe you would be able to figure out who was haunting the place. A big part of you knew the ghost was the man that was seen in that dream. Sam. But you needed to make sure that there was a Sam who did indeed live in the house. Maybe then he can settle down and let you reside with him in peace.

Waking up this morning, you felt a slight pressure in your head. This was your sign you were going to get a headache sometime during the day. So, you needed to make the trip out of the house quick, before the headache set in. Because once the headache hit, it took a full day to recover. There was no remedy for them.

Quickly getting dressed, you called a cab to take you to the library, where you knew to find information on the house you were living in. There had to be something in the books about it.

When you arrived at the library, you spotted an older lady sitting at the desk reading. You really hoped she could help.

She looked up as you approached her, “Hello, can you help me?” You questioned with a smile.

She smiled, “Of course I can. What did you need?”

Hoping you didn’t sound crazy when you told her this, you just dove right in, “I moved into town a few months ago, into a little house on Monroe Street. The house is incredibly old, I can’t really tell you how old though because I’m not good with that kind of stuff. Anyway, there have been some odd things happening in the house. I need to find out the history of the house.”

She had listened intently to you and the smile never left her face, “Oh dear, you’re the author who moved into the Taylor house.”

You tilted your head, “Oh yes, I am. Now why is it called the Taylor house?”

The woman stood up, “Why don’t we go have a seat at that table and I will tell you the history of the house.” Nodding, you followed her to the table. Settling in the chair across from her.

“In 1854, a man by the name Sam Taylor bought the house. No one knew much about the man, just that he was a very handsome fellow that had all the women wanting to become his wife. All we know is that he was an extraordinarily rich man. Oh, and he was extremely sweet. He used a lot of his money to help the town prosper.” Sam Taylor sounded like the perfect man.

“What happened to him?” As if you didn’t already know. You’d already put together that the dream was not just a dream. It was something that took place in that house, which means Sam must be the one haunting the house.

The lady frowned, “It’s not good darling. He was involved with a woman named Annabelle Porter. He was in love with her, even though she was betrothed to another man. He loved her with all his heart. People were positive she was going to leave her betrothed to marry Sam, but it didn’t play out that way. Sam disappeared without a trace.”

“Did they find him?”

She shook her head, “No dear, they didn’t. There was talk that he just simply left town because Annabelle wouldn’t marry him. But the authorities think differently. They had investigated his home to discover it had been broken into, or it seemed that way. They didn’t find anything else. But about a month after he disappeared, all his money went missing from the bank. They know that he wasn’t the one to take it.” Poor Sam.

“Oh my, that’s so sad…. Ugh.” A searing pain in your head cut you off. It was intense. You quickly gripped your head in pain.

“Are you alright dear?” The lady asked sounding afraid.

“Ugh….. no.” You were willing the pain to go away but knew it would not. “Could you…. uh…..call me a cab?” You had managed to ask this through the bursts of pain.

“Darling, don’t you think you should go to the hospital?” She was genuinely concerned at this point.

“No…..ah…. I just need to get home and……oh gosh……take my medicine.” The pain was so intense it made you want to cry. At this point, you knew that not even the medicine could help to suppress the intense throbbing. Nothing ever helped. The lady must have agreed because she rushed off to call a cab. You just stayed there, laying your head on your arms while trying to forget the pain.

Ten minutes later the lady showed up beside you, “Come on honey, your cabs here. Let me help you.” She helped you to stand up and walk outside. You were doing the best to breathe through the pain. Finally in the cab, you were on your way home. The librarian had even paid for the cab ride, how sweet of her.

When arriving home, you made your way to the kitchen and located the pain medication. Then you quickly took two before retreating off to the living room, where you passed out on the couch.

****

You guess you’d slept for a few hours, because when you were waking up you noticed that it must have been late afternoon. Also, you felt as though you were being watched. Turning your head, you saw a tall man, with Carmel eyes and dark hair. It was Sam.

Sam was looking at you with concern. It was easy tell he had been watching you for a while and it surprisingly didn’t bother you. Sitting up, you smoothed out your clothes.

“Sam?” You asked hoping to god he wouldn’t disappear because you really wanted to talk to him today.

“Yes, I am Sam.” He finally spoke.

“Are you not scared of me?” He questioned while looking you over, almost like he was trying figure out why you weren’t scared of him.

You shook your head, “No, should I be?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. Everyone else who has lived in this house has been afraid of me. They all moved out with the first month. You are the first one who has stayed this long.”

“Well I don’t think there is anything to be scared of with you. You’re harmless.”

He chuckled, “Well that’s a first.”

Hearing him laugh, made you smile. It was completely crazy that you were actually conversing with a ghost right now. Add that to the list of things you would have never thought could happen. That list was getting quite long at this point.

“Yes, I suppose it is. I’m Y/n/n by the way.” You introduced yourself. You would think he would want to know the name of the woman inhabiting his house.

“Well you know that I am Sam. Sam Taylor.”

“Yes, I do.” You paused for a second, “Can I ask you some questions?” Suddenly you felt the need to know what it was like being a ghost. You needed to know how he was still here and how he was able to talk to you like this.

“Go ahead, I have eternity.” He chuckled a bit at that, you cracked a smile at his little joke.

“Hmmm okay. How long have you been trapped in this house?”

“Well I died in 1858 and its 2019 now, so I have been stuck here for 161 years.”

161 years. That was a long time to be stuck in a house like this.

“Oh wow, that’s a very long time.” You commented.

He shook his head, “It does not feel that long to be honest. Time passes a lot differently once you are dead.”

“Really? That’s cool. Umm, is it lonely?” That was a question you were afraid to ask.

He shrugged and started to walk around the room, “Sometimes it can be. It all depends on who’s occupying the house and the time of year. I don’t know why, but in the winter, it feels a lot lonelier than in any other seasons.”

“Oh.”

“Is it lonely living alone?” He suddenly asked. You hadn’t expected him to ask questions, but you welcomed it.

“I haven’t always lived alone. Right now, I need to be alone. I’m working on a particularly important book that needs to be finished and the only way I can do that is if I’m completely alone.” You couldn’t go into specifics about the book. Not yet.

“Oh okay.”

“How are you even communicating with me right now?” That was your biggest question right now.

Sam stopped pacing the room and faced you again, “I do not know how we are communicating. You are the first person to be able to see me. Other tenants were just able to hear me messing around the house. But they never actually saw me or heard me speak. No matter how hard I tried to get them to see me.” You could detect a hint of sadness in his voice. That was something you could understand.

There was an idea as to why You were able to see him right now, but you decided not to tell him.

“Well I guess I am different than them. More willing to see you maybe?”

He shrugged while looking closely at you. It felt like he could see right through you and it was a weird feeling.

“Well I am sorry for scaring you since you have been here. I was really only messing around.”

You smiled, “You didn’t scare me Sam. I knew you were only playing games and I think it’s fine.”

“You are quite different Y/n/n. No one else has been as open minded as you have been. Is there a reason you are like this?”

Suddenly you found interest in the wood floorboards, “Umm no, I don’t think so. I guess I’m just willing to experience this.”

You finally looked up to meet his eyes. Now you knew he was staring into your soul.

“Well I enjoy talking to you. I have not talked to a soul in all the time I have been dead.” He admitted.

“Wow that is an awfully long time not to talk to anyone. Please feel free to talk to me whenever because I like talking to you too.” It was the truth. Talking with Sam eased your mind of all troubles. He had a very calming personality.

“Good because I think we are going to be talking a lot.” He had the most amazing smile upon his face.

“Yes, I would like that.”

“I’m afraid I need to take a break. I don’t have much energy to talk to you for too long.”

This had you frowning because you had momentarily forgotten that Sam was a ghost. Ghosts needed energy to be able to manifest.

“Okay. I should probably go get some writing done. Please feel free to come to me whenever.” Honestly, you enjoyed being around Sam and he felt very human to you. It made you want to learn more about his life. You wanted to be able to talk to him about my life too.

“Yes, I will. Now please don’t overwork yourself Y/n Y/l/n.” He spoke before disappearing from sight.

That was weird. You don’t remember telling him your full name. You introduced yourself as Y/n/n. How did he know?

You were happy that you had slept off the headache. Now, you would be able to get some more of the book done. It needed to get done soon. You didn’t know when the deadline would be.

PART THREE >>

74 notes · View notes

hairasuntouchedaspartoftheamazon · 3 years

Text

Hear me out ----> SPN/Gravity Falls AU

A while back I saw a post(that i cannot find again, much to my chagrin) that listed a bunch of things Grunkle Stan did that have extreme Dean energy (this includes a brief but sincere attempt to make Jurassic Park real) and now a Gravity Falls AU lives in my head featuring:

Dean as Stan, who left home when he was twenty-one after a massive fight with his parents and Sam over Sam’s college shit and was a drifter for seven years until Sam called him and said he needed help in this podunk town in Oregon

Sam as Ford, who did manage to get out and go to college, met Kevin(as McGucket), and proceeded to do some real shady work with eldritch beings that resulted in both of them proceeding to get visions of some messed up shit, which causes Kevin to quit the project, leaving Sam to call Dean to Gravity Falls....we all know what happens next, Sam falls through an inter-dimensional portal and Dean is like “Okay I live here now, gotta figure out how to get Sam back”. Problem is, he only has one journal and needs two more. Where could they possibly be?

Flash-forward about twelve years; cult survivors, podcast hosts, and sorta-siblings Anna and Cas are driving up to Oregon to look at the weird shit present in Gravity Falls/The Mystery Shack and their shitty car breaks down. Cas staying to supervise the car while Anna goes and scopes out some potential material has nothing to do with the hot tourist trap guy who happens to be a mechanic, it doesn’t Anna.

Cue the pilot incident where Anna almost becomes Queen of the Gnomes and Cas gets to drive a golf cart and gnomes are defeated with leaf blowers. Car’s still broken and there is obviously a lot of weird shit going on here so why not hang out for the summer?

More below the cut, including recurring characters and some plot lines

Featuring such recurring characters as:

-Cassie Robinson my beloved, small town writer who desperately wants to break into the big time. Writes a combination of political and social critiques and the standard local stuff. We get introduced to her in the second episode, where Anna and Cas discover that she built the Gobblewonker in attempt for publicity so that someone will read the Gravity Falls Tooter(yes i just made up the name of the town’s newspaper) She regularly appears when Anna and Cas are researching local history or when a robot comes to threaten the Shack because Dean owes her money again.

-Claire, Kaia, Alex, and Patience as the resident teenage nuisances who nominally work at the Shack but actually mostly cause a lot of problems for the local-definitely gay-sheriffs. Claire and Cas are almost definitely related but they don’t know this at first, a minor plot point near the end of season one is figuring out that they are in fact related and the shocking realization that Claire likes Anna better. Anna is pretty good friends with all of them and Cas is minorly terrified, as you should be with teenage girls who live in the woods and absolutely know how to throw knives. Alex being a pyschic is a major plot point of season two especially after they become friends with Kevin and realize that hey, the shit of twelve years ago is happening again except it’s spreading to people who aren’t even involved this time.

-For that matter, collection of pyschics Missouri, Pamela, Alex, and Kevin who regularly find out weird pieces of information that sometimes become plot relevant and sometimes do not at all.

-Jody and Donna who also only do their job nominally because ACAB and mostly just maintain trails and shit around town cause they used to be park rangers but being sheriffs pays more and also they can make sure no one gets arrested for stupid shit. They regularly show up in like the weirdest places which Donna always defends as ‘we’re on a date’. No one questions this.

-Victor Henrikson as the investigating FBI agent in season two who is just like “i don’t know what the fuck is going on here but I KNOW it’s sketchy what is wrong with this town” because yes there is a witch here her name is Rowena and yeah she brews potions and stuff during the full moon no one sees anything wrong with this at all except Henrikson who was prepared to arrest a nutty drifter building a doomsday device but not prepared to deal with a whole town of people who absolutely believe in ghosts. His partner is Billie, who, like in the show, doesn’t think that some people should get to break rules whenever the fuck they want and is thus absolutely ready to rain justice down on this crazy white boy who think’s he’s gonna end the world. I kinda love her perspective cause it’s like, okay just because someone is the protagonist of the story doesn’t mean they’re special.

-Charlie and Ash as the only people in town who get wifi on a regular basis and thus show up when there’s some kind of need for tech or phone calls. Running gag that nothing works tech wise unless one of them is in the vicinity, with the exception of TVs. There is also absolutely the episode where they play a game of D&D in real life and Charlie has never been happier but Dean and Ash absolutely rig it because they suck.

-Bela Talbot in the role of Pacifica Northwest cause she’s a bitch and I LOVE HER SO MUCH.

-Kelly Kline my beloved, who’s the liason for the local Yakama tribe(cause I read a headcanon that she’s Native and that lives in my head rent free baby) who regularly reminds people that certain things are not for you to touch, there’s got to be respect there. This theme stays pretty constant throughout the show cause while after awhile Cas kinda forgets about the podcast he’s supposed to be co-hosting, Anna is still on top of things and trying to collect stories so she and Kelly butt heads a lot while Cas and Jack(who’s like eight) discuss frogs and bees in great detail.

-The Banes twins who comprise the other half of the witch activity in this town and who are very very nice but you do not want to fuck with them whatsoever. They show up extremely often and always give very strange but specific excuses to why they are certain places such as “checking the frequencies of the energy in this location” and that’s a running gag for awhile until it turns out in season 2 that they’ve been aware of the machine Dean’s rebuilding for awhile now and they’re working on protective measures to keep everyone safe no matter what comes out of it this time.

(Also, to compensate for the fact that Sam and Dean are not twins and thus someone would probably realize that there is a different dude living in the weird house in the woods, the Banes go a little Society of the Blind Eye and modified people’s memories. Because they want Dean to get the portal right and then shut it down permanently once things are the way they’re supposed to be again)

-Benny who is absolutely still a vampire, he runs the diner. The vampirism is a well-established fact and no one questions it, in fact Anna finds it hot.

Plot Lines of Season One Include:

-Bela Talbot whom I love attempting to buy/steal/destroy the Shack because she knows there’s some funky machinery down there and a lot of weird artifacts that she could make another fortune selling, yes she summons demons so that she can figure out where the deed to the place is, yes Anna gets to punch her in the face at one point because “These are my friends, you bitch!”

-Cas trying to decipher some of the stuff in Sam’s journals and figure out who the hell wrote them. This involves him thoroughly annoying basically everyone in town except Kelly because they are weird best friends who absolutely have long conversations about the difference between local mythologies and urban legends.

-Anna sincerely making friends for like the first time in her life and deeply enjoying being a kind of weird aunt to the local girl gang and the person who brings Rowena gossip and does have a weird love/hate relationship with Bela going. Like, I mentioned in the beginning that Anna and Cas are cult survivors, their social weirdness and then re-joining the world is absolutely discussed. Are they choosing some of the weirdest people ever to base their social knowledge on? Yes. They don’t care.

-Subplot of Dean genuinely trying to get Cas to go out with him but Cas does not realize this whatsoever so they’re just both awkward as fuck. Running gag of Dean walking up to Cas all smooth and trying to ask him out but Cas just...does not get slang and thinks Netflix and chill really does mean Netflix and chill. They end up watching Wynonna Earp.

#spn gravity falls au #cazi writes #spn #gravity falls #this has lived in my head for five days let me rest #but this is excellent no?#I love it but that may be because i have extremely niche crossover ideas

4 notes · View notes

underneaththesurface · 4 years

Text

The Martinez Murder

Omi: Good Evening Riverdale! I’m Omi Klyde

Estelle: And I'm Estelle

Omi: And this is Underneath The Surface, where we dive into the history of our town, Riverdale.

Today, we’ll be discussing the Martinez Murder

Estelle: And since this is a special occasion, we've decided to switch it up.

Why, you ask?

Omi: because I’m nosy

no, because I got to do the research this week. Lemme tell you. There’s some stuff that might get us in trouble if we reveal too much

Estelle: Luckily, we like living on the edge.

Omi: Yesss

a lot of this information I actually got from my older sister, who reported on this case at the time

Estelle: So we know this is going to be gooooood.

Omi: Adelfa knows her shit

Estelle: Can you say shit on a podcast?

Omi: Well I just did so, I mean, we’re not sponsored-are we sponsored???

Omi: Abe! Are we sponsored??

Estelle: I- I don't think so.

Abe: How the hell should I know? I just joined y'all!

Omi: alright, so, as we all know, the Serpents and Ghoulies have been in opposition since their creation, basically. Well, this whole thing was started by the waterboarding of Abdiel Martinez’s -the leader of the Ghoulies at the time- teenage son

sometime around 2009

Estelle: Wait-

They waterboarded a teenager?

Abe: what the-

Omi: the serpents weren’t as soft as they are now. The ghoulies were actually a lot less rowdy in the 90s/2000s

Estelle: I see.

Abe: Why, though?

Omi: Honestly, because of a simple wrong place wrong time misunderstanding. the leader of the serpents at the time was actually apologetic to Abdiel because apparently it really messed the kid up

Estelle: That's-

Abe: How you do accidentally waterboard the wrong person?

Estelle: But you said the leader of the Serpents actually apologized?

Omi: yes!

Actually, he even paid for some therapy.

The two groups had a truce

Estelle: Wow!

What happened to that guy?

Omi: oh, the leader?

Not 100% sure.

Think he died in combat or something

Estelle: huh.

Omi: But...

Estelle: That’s pretty tragic

Abe: I knew there’d be a but

Omi: it is. And he seemed nice too, from what Adelfa told me

yup, there’s always a but.

Well, not long after that, the ghoulies went after the leader’s kid

Estelle: Of course.

I mean- why actually accept the truce if you just- you know- go after the kid.

Abe: You said "kid", does that mean he was younger than the boy who was waterboarded?

Omi: eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

the ghoulies might’ve been soft, but they still had some wild members from the 80s there advising

yeah, he would’ve been about our age then

the age of the boy who got waterboarded was 16 I think?

Estelle: Oh. That's-

Abe: NINE OR TEN????

Estelle: That’s just horrible

Omi: nine or ten...poor kid

Estelle: But what did they exactly do to the 9/10-year-old?

Omi: they jumped him.

Kid came out with cuts and bruises according to medical reports

Who the heck jumps a literal child??

Estelle: Ghoulies, apparently.

Abe: Didn't they do something like that to someone from our school?

The beanie guy.

Estelle: (wheezes) the beanie guy...

Omi: Nuggethead? Yes

a serpent himself

Estelle: I- I want to correct both of you, but-

His own name isn't that much better.

(whispers) Is that mean?

Omi: am I wrong??? I’ve seen him eat the entire menu at pops in one sitting

Abe: He's why you left the Blue & Gold.

That guy eats everything.

Omi: ok one more bash and I’ll get on with the story-

but I have seen him eat a burger off the floor

Estelle: That's not just Jughead...

Abe: Yeah I'm pretty sure Mark's done that, too.

Estelle: No, I thought it was Brian.

Omi: wouldn’t put it past either of them

Estelle: Pretty sure Jonathan would do it too, if it wasn't for me.

Omi: teenage boys are something else, aren’t they? Like little creatures

anyways I should definitely go back to the topic because you’re usually the one who reigns me in

Estelle: The struggle is real.

Abe: Can't relate.

Estelle: (laughs) Let's save this for another time, yes. Please continue.

Omi: So, of course, the serpent leader was not happy bout this.

therapy stopped for the Martinez boy

Estelle: My respect would be gone if he didn't.

Omi: in fact, he was so angry about this, the serpents captured both Abdiel and his wife

the truce was over

which, is understandable

Abe: Oh no, not the wife.

Omi: the wife. But, the kids were left out of this part

Abe: Oh good, he has some morals.

Estelle: (wheezes) Better than the Ghoulies.

Omi: i don’t think the ghoulies ever had morals, minus maybe a few members. those young ghoulies scare me-they had the whole town scared of clowns for a year, remember that?

Estelle: Oh yeah.

Abe: Not a violent person but I was this close to buying a gun, yes.

Omi: those were some times

Anyways, what is known about what happened next is the following: the couple was taken, reported missing for a few days, and Mrs. Martinez returned blind and widowed. Information was either redacted or they were unable to attain the exact details of the murder

Abe: Wh-

Estelle: Oh, that-

Abe: Blind??

Omi: blind

Estelle: I have to say, that is an effective way to lead

Abe: Are you seriously condoning this?

Omi: she stumbled into the south side emergency room, bleeding, and sobbing hysterically

no I get what you’re saying

Estelle: I mean, he was pretty chill and they abused that and now they paid.

Omi: makes sense to me

Abe: Y-yeah but-

Omi: y’all wanna hear something interesting tho?

Estelle: Oh Yes.

Abe: Oh No.

Omi: Guess who’s kid runs the ghoulies now

Estelle: I- shut the fuck up.

Abe: Estelle-

Estelle: It all makes total sense now.

Omi: does this mean I can say fuck on this podcast

Estelle: We'll take the fine, should we get one.

Omi: daddy can pay for it we’re fine

Abe: Okay, but let's not overdo it please.

Omi: yes his son is now the leader and that is why the ghoulies are reclaiming their 80s wild child glory

also thats why they seem especially brutal towards the serpents

oh, want to hear another thing?

Estelle: Yes.

Always.

Omi: law enforcement never found the body, BUT

there are rumors

Estelle: Not surprised, honestly.

Abe: What rumors?

Omi: well, supposedly, there was a scavenger hunt

set by the serpents, for the ghoulies

Estelle: Oh.

Fun.

Abe: (laughs)

Omi: the body hasn’t been discovered to this day, as far as we know. But, that’s why there are so many random holes in fox forest

allegedly

and here I was, thinking we had massive gophers

Abe: Oh my god.

Estelle: Maybe they helped.

Omi: who knows, there’s lots of shit in that forest, especially that creepy funeral home and crematorium, which is also supposedly linked to the ghoulies but law enforcement hasn’t found proof of that

Estelle: How?

Omi: also we’re close to greendale and that town has lots of weird happenings. I suspect radiation

They searched the place

Abe: Yeah I believe that.

Estelle: See this is why I don't go to that forest.

Name one good thing that's happened there.

Omi: Absolutely nothing.

too many kids go missing on the paths through it no way am I stepping foot in it

Abe: But y'all are dragging me to that house on Wabash Avenue?

Omi: its not in the forest. Free range baby

Abe: I don't wanna run into an angry man as we wander around his house.

Estelle: I'll get you some holy water, you'll be fine.

Omi: we’ll be fine. ill do a crazy dance to distract him

Estelle: If Omi screams, we'll run.

Omi: and I’ve never screamed

because we will be fine and if not I will ask Queenie for her bat

do you think ghosts like 90s r&b?

Estelle: I'd go for EDM.

Abe: Oh yeah.

Omi: so you have nothing to worry about my dear sweet Abe

theyll be dancing

Estelle: Now, some of you might have been wondering why it's the three of us.

You wanna introduce yourself?

Abe: Hello everyone! I'm Audrey Lincoln. Last time, Omi and Estelle decided to investigate the case of Wabash Avenue, and they've been thinking about turning it into a vlog.

Estelle: And of course, our lovely friend Abe came to mind.

Abe: So, the following weeks, I'll be part of the team.

Omi: shes talented, beautiful, stunning, spectacular, amazing, wonderful

Abe: Omi-

Estelle: And if our talented, beautiful, stunning, spectacular, amazing, wonderful friend likes it, she's more than welcome to stay part of the team.

Omi: i’d definitely like her to be apart of it, then we’d see you more!

well, I think that wraps up this week

Estelle: Feeling a little more unsafe in this town.

Omi: wait, you’ve felt safe in this town?

Estelle: When I was a little girl, yes.

Abe: Before History class.

Estelle: Or before I started following the news.

Omi: Valid points.

Well, I’m Omi

Estelle: I'm Estelle.

Abe: And I'm Audrey.

Omi: Don’t forget to tune in next week for: The Truth Behind Pickens Day!

Estelle: See y’all then!

Abe: And sweet dreams

#oc: audrey lincoln #oc: estelle ollier #oc: omi klyde #ocappreciation #riverdale #tsp: underneath the surface #the swosie project #the martinez murder #lou oc #laurien oc

9 notes · View notes

loretranscripts · 4 years

Text

Lore Episode 131: Sea of Change (Transcript) - 9th December, 2019

tw: none

Disclaimer: This transcript is entirely non-profit and fan-made. All credit for this content goes to Aaron Mahnke, creator of Lore podcast. It is by a fan, for fans, and meant to make the content of the podcast more accessible to all. Also, there may be mistakes, despite rigorous re-reading on my part. Feel free to point them out, but please be nice!

They call it the Wild Coast. It’s a stretch of land on the eastern side of Africa, starting around the coastal city of Durban and ending 900 miles later at Cape Town, and as for as long as ships have been sailing there, there has been tragedy. They call it the Wild Coast because of the frequency of shipwrecks that have taken place over the years – the Santo Alberto in 1593, the Good Hope in 1685, and the Bonaventura a year after that. Even today, ships occasionally fall victim to the rocky coast and stormy waves, like the Greek cruise liner, the Oceanos, which went down in August of 1991. Thankfully, there were no casualties, but one ship wasn’t so lucky. The S. S. Waratah was also a passenger liner, built and launched in 1908, and measured over 500ft long with a weight of 10,000 tonnes. It was a big ship, and as a passenger liner, it was designed to hold a lot of people in relative luxury. On its fateful journey, there were over 200 passengers on board, as well as dozens of crew members who served them and operated the ship. In July of 1909, the Waratah approached the southern tip of Africa after a long journey from Australia, and it came within sight of the Wild Coast. It made a routine stop at Durban and then continued south with the new destination of Cape Town, but a storm caused ocean swells as high as 60ft, and in conditions like that few ships stand a chance. Somewhere on the way to Cape Town, the Waratah disappeared. There were no survivors.

Ships vanish. It’s one of the risks that humans accepted when they began to venture out into the dark, mysterious waters that separated them from the undiscovered. Because, if we’re honest, there are simply too many opportunities for tragedy on the open water, and sadly some ships don’t make it home. But if you read enough of the stories about lost ocean liners and missing schooners, you’ll start to notice an exception to the rule. Yes, sometimes ships vanish from sight, but every now and then, the unthinkable happens – they return. I’m Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

[2:52]

Our love affair with the sea is thousands of years old. All you have to do is read the histories and mythology of ancient cultures and you’ll notice right away just how central the open water was to their world view. Homer’s Odyssey, written around the 8th century B.C., tells the tale of Odysseus and his decade of travels around the ancient world, and he does much of that travel by sea. Countless other ancient stories are connected to the ocean as well. 400 years after Homer, the Greek historian Herodotus recorded the Egyptian tale of a pharaoh named Necho II, who had lived and ruled two centuries earlier. Necho was said to have assembled an expedition that left Egypt through the Red Sea on the north-eastern corner and then slowly circumnavigated Africa. They arrived at the mouth of the Nile three years later. But sailing wasn’t a new thing, even back then. Most historians think that humans first jumped into small sailing ships, similar to catamarans, all the way back in 3000BC. They began their migration from the island of Taiwan and slowly spread out south and east. 1000 years later, they were firmly established in what is now Indonesia, and soon after that they spread as far as Vanuatu and Fiji. By the 10th century, they had reached more remote places of the Pacific like Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island, and some even made it all the way to the west coast of South America, now settling in what is now Chile. 4000 years of expansion, giving birth to dozens of culture, and all of it thanks to sailing.

Of course, it wasn’t always about migration. For many cultures, the ocean represented the unknown, and each of them had a deep desire to go out, to explore and discover and learn – oh, and to get rich, of course, because nothing kickstarts a new industry like the promise of massive wealth, does it? But as more and more ships set sail for uncharted lands or even simply became part of growing naval fleets and merchant routes, the odds that tragedy could strike began to rise. Most of what we know today about ancient sea-faring cultures was born from that tragedy, too, in the form of shipwrecks, and every year, it seems, older and older wrecks are being discovered. Just last year, in October of 2018, researchers announced the oldest yet, a 2,400-year-old Greek merchant vessel that was discovered at the bottom of the Black Sea. It’s so well preserved that researchers were able to recognise its design from images painted on ancient wine jars, which is crazy to think about. But of course, the shipwreck is real, and that means we can learn so much more about it than a wine jar could ever have taught us.

Shipwrecks were a tragic necessity in an age when humanity was spreading out and taking risks, so much so that shipping companies just sort of assumed they would lose some of their ships in the course of doing business. And that, of course, helped give rise to commercial insurance, where companies could hedge their bets and avoid going bankrupt when random chance got in the way of the bottom line. In London, many local sailors and ship owners would gather in a coffee house owned by a man named Edward Lloyd. By the late 1680s, he had so many customers who were connected to the shipping industry that he posted daily shipping news to keep them informed. But his café also became the place to buy insurance for ships, and even when all those insurance underwriters left the café and set up shop on their own, they remembered his influence by naming their group after him. Today, it’s still around, and known as Lloyds of London.

So many ships have sunk to the bottom of the ocean over the past few thousand years that we’ve even created stories about them, stories that hint at our regret and longing, at the loss we’ve suffered through, and the deepest desire of our hearts – namely, that those long-lost vessels might one day return. They even have a name – ghost ships – and folklore is filled with them. One example is a schooner known as the Young Teazer. It was active during the war of 1812 and worked as a privateer, a government approved pirate ship, in an effort to torment and hamper the British ships off the coast of Nova Scotia, and things went according to plan for a while – until June of 1813, that is. After an encounter with a British naval vessel, the crew of the Young Teazer found themselves trapped in Mahone Bay on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia. Fearing that his capture might lead to execution, one of the crewmen was said to have ignited the powder magazine below deck. The resulting explosion left 30 men dead and the ship nearly destroyed, while the survivors were all captured and thrown in prison by the British, but it also began a new chapter in the ship’s story. Over the past two centuries, stories have been whispered about a flaming ship that has appeared in Mahone Bay. Locals refer to it as “Teazer Light”, and even though many sceptics have pointed out that the sightings could be nothing more than the reflection of the full moon on the water, it hasn’t stopped folks from hoping for the alternative.

Another ghost ship found in folklore is also the most famous: The Flying Dutchman. As far as early modern ghost ships go, the Dutchman is one of the oldest, most likely dating back to the late 1600s. All of the sightings seem to repeat the same, frightening details, too – a mysterious ship, spotted off in the distance, glowing with an eerie luminescence and devoid of all human life. But these stories are all just legends, yarn that’s been spun on the wheel of fantasy, sometimes stitching together real events and people, but never fully true, and folklore is full of stories about ghosts for a very good reason. We like to think that, however dangerous the seas might be, that against all odds those lost ships might somehow come back. Amazingly, though, life has managed to imitate art. Over the last few centuries, some lost ships have pulled off the impossible, and in doing so they’ve put themselves into a whole new category – real ships that were once thought to be lost, only to return to the land of the living.

They’d been expecting its arrival in Newport, Rhode Island, but it never sailed into the harbour. The SV Seabird was a merchant ship that had departed weeks earlier from Honduras, where it made regular trips. The ship’s captain, John Huxham, knew the route well and shouldn’t have had any trouble. But it’s never safe to assume, is it? When the ship was later found on nearby Easton’s Beach, it was clear it had experienced trouble, and when those that discovered it stepped on board, they entered into a mysterious scene. Coffee was boiling on the stove in the galley, a pair of pets were walking on the deck, but other than that the ship was completely and utterly empty. No crew were onboard. Most people think that Captain Huxham and the others must have exited the vessel while it was still a way off from shore. The missing lifeboat seemed to confirm that idea, and with a bit more time to investigate, there’s a good chance the authorities might have solved the riddle, but a week later they travelled back to the beach, only to discover that the ship was gone, and it was never seen again.

A century later, in 1884, another merchant ship was found drifting through the Atlantic. The SV Resolven was sighted just outside of Catalina Harbour on the east coast of Newfoundland. Like the Seabird, the Resolven was also missing its lifeboat and had been completely abandoned. The only sign of damage was a broken yard, that horizontal beam at the top of the mast that the sails hang from. The ship that found the Resolven was the HMS Mallard, and they did their best to put the pieces together. They’d sighted a tall iceberg in the region and assumed the Resolven had come a bit too close to it, which would explain the damage, but it wasn’t enough to justify abandoning ship, which struck them as odd. Even more mysterious were the signs of normal life inside the ship. All of the lanterns were still lit and below deck, the stove in the galley was hot with a fire still burning inside it, and most mysterious of all was the ship’s log, which contained records of all the activities onboard. The most recent item on the page had been written down just six hours prior to the Mallard’s arrival.

But if we’re going to talk about actual ships that have turned up empty, we simply can’t ignore one particular story, because it’s quite possibly the one that introduced the idea of ghost ships to American culture, giving us our own version of those old-world legends. The Amazon was built in 1860, first sliding into the water at the shipyard owned and operated by Joshua Dewis up in Nova Scotia. It was a wooden brigantine, a two-masted sailing ship, and it was of average size, measuring just shy of 100ft long. But life didn’t start out smooth for the Amazon. On the ship’s maiden voyage, which began in June of 1861, the captain became ill. Before they could even begin to transport their cargo across the Atlantic, the Amazon was forced to return to its home port, where the captain died a few days later. The next captain didn’t fair any better. Under the supervision of John Parker, the Amazon had a number of accidents, including crashing into a brig in the English Channel. Somehow, though, the ship survived. When Captain William Thompson took over command in 1863, he ushered in a period of peace for the ship and it travelled all over, performing the duties it had been designed to do. But four years later, in October of 1867, an ill wind blew the Amazon off course, where it ran aground at Cape Breton Island at the northern tip of Nova Scotia. The extensive damage led the crew to abandon ship, and four days later the wreckage was hauled off by a salvager.

But the Amazon wasn’t finished just yet. After being sold to a local businessman and restored to sailing condition, it was moved to New York City, where it became part of a merchant fleet owned by a man named James Winchester. Oh, and they changed the ship’s name, too. No longer would it be called the Amazon. Instead, it would be the Mary Celeste. The first job for the newly-restored ship was to carry a cargo of over 17,000 barrels of denatured alcohol, a type of ethanol that’s been coloured and made toxic to discourage consumption. The ship’s owners brought on a man named Benjamin Briggs as captain and allowed him to hire a crew of seven experienced sailors, and then they began to plan the route to Genoa on the north-western coast of Italy. Captain Briggs was so confident in his ship and crew that he brought his wife, Sarah, along, as well as his son Arthur and daughter Sophia. Together with the crew, they all settled in to the Mary Celeste, and left port on November 7th of 1872. It was the last time any of them were seen alive.

A week later, on November 15th, another ship left the same harbour in New York. The Dei Gratia was captained by a man named David Morehouse, and depending on the sources you accept as reliable, he was a casual acquaintance of Benjamin Briggs. Their destination was Gibraltar, located at the southern tip of Spain, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic, and it was route that placed them on roughly the same line as the Mary Celeste. A month later, on December 4th, the Dei Gratia was off the coast of Portugal, when someone spotted a ship about six miles away. As they drew closer to it, everyone could make out the name on its stern. It was the Mary Celeste. From a distance, they noticed a few key details – the sails were in poor condition, some of the deck hatches were wide open, and the lifeboat was missing. Morehouse ordered two of his crew to row over and investigate. They found the interior cabins to be wet and disorderly, as if a storm had blown through, and Captain Briggs’ sword was discovered beneath a bed. The ship’s compass was damaged, and the cargo hold was filled with about 3ft of water. It was chaos and disorder – but not entirely.

While the hold had taken on water, all of the valuable cargo was still onboard, ruling out pirates, and the ship’s kitchen was neat and orderly, too, with no signs that anyone rushed out unprepared. After searching the whole ship, nothing else alarming could be found. The crew and passengers had simply vanished. In the end, Morehouse decided to bring the ship with him to Gibraltar, where he might be able to earn a potion of its salvage price. It took another week, but eventually the Mary Celeste arrived in port, bringing its mysterious journey to an end. But at least one abandoned ship in the past managed to evade capture entirely. It slipped from their grasp and drifted away, leaving its owners wondering if they would ever see it again, and in doing so, they taught everyone involved a valuable lesson: the only thing more mysterious than a ghost ship is one that keeps coming back.

When it comes to abandoned ships, few have drifted into the minds of sailors like the story of the SS Baychimo. It was a 1300-ton steamer built in 1914, and for many years it served in the merchant fleet of the Hudson Bay Company, but that’s not where it started out. It seems the Baychimo had actually been a German vessel for its first few months in the water, running the trade route between Germany and Sweden, where the company that operated it was located. But when World War I ended, part of Germany’s reparation agreement included making amends for the loss of ships suffered by other countries, and the Baychimo was given to the United Kingdom. It was there in western Scotland that the Hudson Bay Company took ownership, and because the Baychimo was equipped with a powerful steam engine and a thick, steel hull, it was assigned a route between Scotland and northern Canada, where it picked up animal pelts in exchange for goods that were unavailable to the Inuit communities who lived there.

It wasn’t always an easy trip, though. In 1928, the ship ran aground in Camden Bay in northern Alaska. Thankfully, it was undamaged and moved back into the water, keeping the Hudson Bay Company from losing the cargo. But when it comes to the constant barrage of dangers from the sea, it’s impossible to dodge all the bullets. Three years later, in October of 1931, the Baychimo got caught in heavy ice in the waters north of Alaska, bringing the massive steamer to a halt. The crew initially abandoned ship, but when the ice began to break up, they happily returned. A week later, though, it happened again, this time further out from land. To save the crew, the Hudson Bay Company sent an aeroplane out to rescue them. When the plane arrived, all 37 crew members exited the ship for the last time. Only 22 were able to fit on the aircraft, so the other 15 stayed between to wait for a second flight. A few days later, a powerful snow storm brought whiteout conditions, and when it was over, the ship was gone, sunk by the heavy ice, no doubt. But it hadn’t. A few days later, the ship was spotted in a new location, and the remaining crew were able to board it and remove the valuable cargo in case tragedy finally did catch up with it. And then they left, abandoning the Baychimo to the ice and harsh conditions and kicking off a string of sightings that earnt it a powerful reputation as an Alaskan ghost ship.

In March of 1932, a man named Leslie Melvin was guiding his dog sled team along the coast on his way back to the city of Nome in western Alaska. As he looked up from the sled at the scenery around him, his eye was drawn to the ocean, and he spotted something. It was the Baychimo, floating peacefully without power up the coast. Later that summer, a trading party spotted the ghost ship further north, off the coast of Wainwright, and they actually managed to board the vessel. When they discovered it was empty, though, they exited and went on their way. In March of 1933, a group of Athabaskans, part of the indigenous community in Alaska, also boarded the ghost ship, only to be trapped inside it for ten days while the winter storm cut them off from land. I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like to be inside in the dark with all the unidentifiable sounds that come with being aboard a ship trapped in the ice and wind. As the months went on, more and more rumours spread out, trickling through each of the nearby Hudson Bay Company outposts like water through a network of pipes.

There was a July, 1934 sighting by a team of scientific explorers, as well as multiple reports in September of 1935 from further up north. It was clear that the Baychimo had not gone away for good, and it was out there, haunting the shores and waiting for someone to capture it. The last time the ship was boarded was in November of 1939, eight years after it had first disappeared. A captain by the name of Hugh Polson brought his whole crew onboard, hoping to either be able to get the ship running again, or at least tow it to port, where it could be salvaged for its valuable materials. But the longer they stayed on the ship, the more ominous and oppressive it felt. When the ice began to build up around them, they panicked and headed back to their own vessel, leaving the ghost ship to fend for itself. No one boarded the Baychimo ever again.

The idea of ghost ships is one that we’ve held onto for a very long time, whether it’s the ancient tales of ships like the Caleuche of Chiloé Island or the Flying Dutchman of Europe, or newer ones such as the Valencia of Vancouver Island and the Governor Parr, near Nova Scotia. It seems no matter what we do, we can’t escape the stories. Ghost ships, it seems, are here to stay, and they’ve become one of the most popular bits of folklore too, drifting their way into film, television and books over the past couple of centuries. We see glimpses of those legends in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, an epic poem from 1798 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and The Pirates of the Caribbean films have their own interpretation. It’s impossible to say how long we’ve been telling their stories, but it’s clear that we’ll never really stop. The Mary Celeste has had quite an impact all on its own, too. Since the events surrounding its abandonment in 1872, whispered versions of the story have spread all throughout pop culture. It’s been subject of multiple films, novels and television episodes. It’s even appeared in the British sci-fi series Doctor Who.

Ghost ships have proven themselves to be a thing that simply won’t go away. They may drift off into the fog for a little while, but eventually, when we least expect it, they will make their return, appearing in some new context or location. And no legend backs up that dependability like the SS Baychimo. The ship was spotted off and on over the years that followed its abandonment, making the first eight years of its story something of a mystery, and that’s how it went, decade after decade, until one final sighting was reported in 1969, almost 40 years after the original crew had been rescued. After that, the authorities lost track of the ship once more, and to this day no one is quite sure where it might be. Perhaps the ice finally won, and its resting on the ocean floor, or maybe it’s just drifting a bit too far outside normal shipping routes to be spotted. In our modern world of satellite imagery and commercial air travel, one would think it would be easy to find, but so far, we’ve had no luck. Like many of the ghost ships found in folklore, the Baychimo had come to represent equal parts hope and despair. It shows us just how much is possible when it comes to abandoned ships and their longevity, making it clear that not all that is lost is gone forever. But it also reminds us that real life can sometimes be a bit more frustrating than we’d like. Just because we want the answers, doesn’t mean we’ll always get them.

Tales of ghostly ships that never seem to go away are one of the most attractive and popular stories for lovers of the strange and the unusual, and I hope you enjoyed your voyage onboard many of the better-known ones today. But there’s one more story that doesn’t get told enough, and it adds a new twist to a classic legend. I’ll tell you all about it right after this short sponsor break.

[Sponsor break from The Great Courses Plus, Audible and Squarespace]

The Ellen Austin was a three-mast schooner. It slid off the shipyard and into the cold Atlantic waters, way back in 1854 under the ownership of one Captain Tucker. Back then, Maine was the place to be if you wanted timber for building, and it had been for centuries. Prior to the Revolutionary War, there was a constant flow of resources headed back to England, but now, local ship builders up on the coast of Maine were getting rich making new vessels for wealthy owners, and the Tuckers were one such group. I could tell you about how large the ship was, how it was over 200ft long and weighed in at 1800 tons, and I could tell you how it was sold a few years later, in 1857, but the most important thing to know about the Ellen Austin is that it was very good at making the trip between London and America. Actually, 1857 really wasn’t a good year for the crew of that ship. In February of that year, a report was published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that claimed the current captain, William Garrick, had been using violence to abuse and control his men. It seemed he had a temper and tended to take his anger out on anyone near him.

A few months later, in July of 1857, the ship left Liverpool full of passengers and began headed towards New York City. But along the way, a wave of smallpox broke out on the ship, and it had to be quarantined so that the sick could be taken care of. Five months later, it happened again. The Ellen Austin didn’t just travel to New York City, though. In the late 1860s, it was making trips to San Francisco, although after a number of accidents that involved running into other ships, it was eventually repaired and brought back to the east coast. Through most of the 1870s, it was back to that standard London-New York route. And then something changed in December of 1880. The ship had been sold to new owners some time that year, and had been sent on a journey further south, toward Florida and the Caribbean, which is where something rather strange happened to them. Off in the distance, they spotted another ship, but it wasn’t moving. The captain at the time was a bright fellow who was very aware that pirates often used tactics like this to their advantage – pretend the ship was empty, wait for another ship to come closer, and then pounce. So, instead of approaching the mysterious vessel, they lowered their sails and set a watch on it.

After two days of vigilant observation, the captain of the Ellen Austin decided that it was safe to approach. Once on board, they discovered that the vessel had, in fact, been abandoned. The cargo was still intact and safe, and there seemed to be a full supply of food rations, but if the former crew had left because of some emergency, there didn’t seem to be any sign of it onboard. They were just… gone. So, the captain assigned a small party of his crew to get the ship ready to sail, and then the pair of vessels left the area together, headed for London to cash in on their newly salvaged prize. Only, the weather had other ideas. A storm blew in three days later and the two ships became separated. Looking back, we now know that it was a large hurricane that was headed towards the southern portion of the United States, but to the crew of the Ellen Austin, it was just frustration. They had lost sight of the other ship.

The captain ordered the ship to turn around and search the area. It took them days, but finally they spotted the missing ship off in the distance. Relieved that they would be reunited with their prize and the fellow crew members who were operating it, they sailed toward it. But even from a distance, things didn’t look right. The captain of the Ellen Austin hailed the other ship, hoping his men had safely weathered the storm, but surprisingly, no one replied. So, they approached the lifeless vessel and boarded it, guns drawn in case of pirates. What they found, though, defied explanation. Everything seemed just as they had found it days earlier. The valuable cargo was still in the hold, safe and sound, the store of food was still untouched, and the beds all seemed to have been unused. And yet nowhere on the ship could they find any sign of the small crew they had transferred over. The men were gone.

Over the years, new details have been added to this story. Some claim that the captain ordered a second team to pilot the ship home, only to have fog separate them again, resulting in yet another lost crew, but that story comes to use from a naval officer who wrote about it in the 1930s, and there doesn’t seem to be much proof of it outside of that. Still, it’s a fantastic tale that takes the notion of a ghost ship and turns it around in a way that defies explanation, and it also reminds us of just how unpredictable and mysterious life on the open sea really can be. We humans love the predictable, we love consistency and dependability and being able to count on life going a certain way. We build our sense of security and safety around the notion that everything will be okay. But once we set our oars in the ocean or raise our sails and travel to distant lands over treacherous waves, it becomes clear that we’ve stepped into a whole new world that is outside of our control. We might fight it or try and plan against it, but in the end, we are completely at its mercy, because we can never be fully prepared for a sea of change.

[Closing statements]

#lore podcast #aaron mahnke #podcast transcripts #ghost ships #ss baychimo #hauntings #131 #transcripts

11 notes · View notes

chiseler · 5 years

Text

The Mad Gasser of Mattoon

While it must be admitted that no country on earth can top India when it comes to mass hysteria—I mean, the Indians really, really know how to panic over silly nonsense—the United States comes in a very close second. Despite sneering American press coverage of, say, the Monkey Man hysteria in north central India in the late Nineties, it seems we aren’t nearly so rational and sophisticated a population as we’d like to believe. Whether confined to small rural communities or spread nationwide, delightfully stupid instances of mass hysteria are sprinkled liberally throughout our history. Orson Welles’ 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast was small potatoes compared to some of the seriously dumb crap stalwart Americans have panicked about. From the Winsted Wild Man, to the Great Airship of 1897, to both Red Scares, to the child-raping Satanic cult hysteria of the Eighties, to the post-9/11 fear of, well, pretty much everything, to the Ninja Burglar who terrorized the residents of Staten Island for nearly a decade, Americans are just as primed and ready to start flapping their arms and trampling one another, as Rod Serling pointed out in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” (1960), whenever the lights blink. Today, as fed by media both legitimate and less so, America as a whole seems to be one ugly, sloppy, rolling ball of mass hysterias. We are a gullible, susceptible people.

Although a few sillyassed contemporary revisionists are attempting to rewrite history, claiming the incidents that took place in Mattoon, Illinois in the Fall of 1944 really were the work of a shadowy and diabolical madman, their efforts are about as worthwhile as those of the hundreds of researchers who’ve claimed they’ve discovered the true identity of the (equally fictional) Jack the Ripper. As things stand, The Mad Gasser of Mattoon remains a perfect textbook example of American mass hysteria at its finest.

Mattoon was a small, quiet community in central Illinois, home to a few factories but far from the bustle of Chicago, Springfield or Champagne-Urbana. In 1944 it was even quieter than usual, considering most of the able-bodied men in town had been shipped off to the war.

Although the invasion of Normandy two months earlier seemed to bode well, as with the rest of the country there was still a palpable paranoia in the air that infiltrated most of the women, children and elderly residents who had been left stateside. They worried not only about the young locals in Europe and the South Pacific, but also about what those sinister Germans and Japs might have up their dirty sleeves. And those were only the big things to worry about. There was plenty else, too, all the day-to-day small town fears, especially those harbored by lonely middle-aged women.

On the night of August 31st, Urban Raef and his wife were awakened by a strange smell in their bedroom. The smell sickened both of them. Convinced there was a gas leak, Mrs. Raef attempted to get out of bed to check the stove’s pilot light, but found she couldn’t move her legs.

That same night, a young mother in the same neighborhood woke up when she heard her daughter coughing in another room. As with Mrs. Raef, when she tried to get out of bed to check on the girl, she found her legs seemed to be paralyzed. In both cases the symptoms passed relatively quickly, and the incidents never made it into the papers. Not until later, anyway.

Around 11PM the following night, Bert Kearney, a local cab driver, still had an hour and a half left on his shift. Back home, his wife was awakened by what she described as a sweet odor permeating the room. As the smell grew stronger. Her legs began to feel weak, so she called her sister, who was living with them at the time. When the sister entered the room, she not only smelled the sweet odor, but pointed out it was coming through the open window. As there happened to be a lot of cash in the house that night—stacks of it, in fact, which the sisters had been counting at the kitchen table earlier in the evening—the pair jumped to the conclusion this strange odor must be the work of a prowler who planned to rob them. They called the cops, who could not find any evidence of anything. No odor, no gas, no footprints or fingerprints, no sign of attempted entry. But when Bert returned home after his shift, he claims to have spotted a tall, thin man wearing dark close and a tight cap crouching near the house. Although he gave chase, he soon lost the man in the darkness. The creeping paralysis soon passed, though for the next few days his wife did complain about a burning sensation in her mouth and throat, obvious side effects of the strange gas the tall thin stranger had pumped into the bedroom.

The Kearney’s story made the papers, and that was the end of it. With the details of their harrowing evening now made public, they provided the other residents of Mattoon with the only blueprint they needed.

In the three days following the publication of the Kearney’s story, six other people called the cops to report eerily similar gas attacks with all the same trademarks: a weird smell, partial paralysis of the legs, and a burning sensation in the mouth and throat. One elderly woman claimed the tall, dark-clad Mad Gasser, as he was quickly coming to be known, crawled in through her bedroom window and, um, “attempted to gas her.” A middle aged couple, Carl and Beulah Cordes, returned home on the night of September 5th and discovered a white handkerchief on the back porch. When Beulah picked up the handkerchief and took a big whiff, she said, she began vomiting violently, and from that the pair concluded it must have been left by the Mad Gasser to knock out their dog so he could break into the house. An older woman living with her adult daughter claimed they were in the kitchen when a tall man dressed all in black began rattling the knob of the back door. Finding it locked, he used a syringe to inject the mysterious gas through the keyhole. Both women passed out, waking up several hours later with that telltale burning in their mouth and throats.

Even those who could not claim to be victims of the Mad Gasser themselves spotted him all over Mattoon, sometimes carrying the kind of canister and hose farmers use to spray pesticides. In every instance, the eyewitness descriptions matched perfectly the description Kearney had given the newspapers.

For all their investigating, cops could find no evidence of anything. There was no lasting physical damage to the victims. They could detect no evidence of any strange gas. Although robbery was the presumed motive, no property had been stolen. Even that handkerchief the Cordes’ had found, upon careful analysis, revealed no chemical residue.

The FBI was called in, but likewise found no evidence of anything untoward.

Frustrated by this, as is usually the case, the townsfolk formed roving bands of well-armed angry mobs to patrol the streets at night, determined to capture this Mad Gasser themselves. As official requests that the vigilante groups disband went unheeded, the chief of police was forced to issue a warning begging citizens not to loiter too long on the street for fear they might be mistaken for the Mad Gasser and shot. The town council also issued a plea begging citizens to be real, real careful with those guns.

Roughly two weeks after the Kearney’s story hit the papers, as the number of reported gas attacks in Mattoon approached thirty, the cops stopped caring. Nearly every report could either be explained away quite simply as a reaction to fumes from the local factories, or simply dismissed as false alarms. Considering no evidence was found of anything (save for that evidence created by the supposed victims themselves), this Mad Gasser nonsense was simply a waste of the department’s time, resources, and patience. They had plenty of real local crimes and misdemeanors to deal with as it was.

Not long afterward, and pretty well fed up themselves, town officials came out and told the citizenry to just calm the hell down and stop being stupid. There was no Mad Gasser, and never had been.

After two weeks of public madness and shrill, fear-mongering newspaper headlines, that’s pretty much all it took to bring things to an end. Although it doesn’t seem to work anymore, there was a time, amazingly enough, when all it took was to have someone say, “Oh, just calm the fuck down and go home. You’re all being a bunch of stupid little pansies.”

Seventy-five years after the events in Mattoon, as noted above, a number of revisionists have claimed they’ve identified the mysterious gas that was used, or better still the demented chemist who was behind the attacks, while others note that an eerily similar string of gas attacks took place in Virginia in 1933. It strikes me these people are desperate to sidestep the simple, undeniable reality that people—Americans in particular—are for the most part a stupid, frantic lot eager to not only believe whatever crazy nonsense they’re fed, but run with it as hard as they can.

by Jim Knipfel

2 notes · View notes

hollowedsammy · 5 years

Text

Hello, hello, everyone! My name is Susie, I am 21-soon-to-be-22, I live in the EST timezone, and this is the first of my two characters, Sam! If you’d like to plot, like this or IM me! This contains his basic info, backstory, info about what he’s currently up to, some misc. information, a small playlist, tropes that apply to him, and wanted connections. Yeah... I went a little hard.

☾ ↪ cillian murphy, male, forty, he/him. ／ ❛ have you heard from samuel marx lately ？ yeah, the forty year old mechanic / drug dealer. pretty sure they’ve been here twenty years, and from what i’ve heard, sam can be kind of cynical & self-serving, but i caught them on a good day once, and they were pretty funny & clever. i’m probably overthinking it, but given all the crazy shit around here, i hope they’re okay. maybe they’re watching their favorite scary movie, i heard it’s child’s play.

trigger warnings: homophobia, parental/domestic abuse, self-harm, depression

BASIC INFORMATION

Full name: Samuel Joseph Marx

Nickname(s): Sam (everyone), Sammy (his mother, close friends, or significant others only)

Age: 40

Gender: male

Sexual orientation: bisexual

Birthday: January 12, 1956

Zodiac: Capricorn

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Personality type: ISFJ

Family: Joseph Marx (father, deceased), Serafine Marx (mother, deceased)

Criminal record: shoplifting (3 counts), underage drinking (2 counts), auto theft (1 count), fraud (2 counts), possession with the intent to distribute (2 counts)

TROPES

Beware the Quiet Ones

Cornered Rattlesnake

The Cynic

Deadpan Snarker

Don’t You Dare Pity Me!

Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas

I Just Want to be Loved

I Need a Freaking Drink

Lower-Class Lout

Not Good With People

Perpetual Frowner

The Runaway

Smarter Than You Look

The Snark Knight

Sour Outside, Sad Inside

When He Smiles

FIVE-SONG PLAYLIST

“The Mute” by Radical Face

“Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant

“Run Boy Run” by Woodkid

“The Kids Aren’t Alright” by Fall Out Boy

“Emperor’s New Clothes” by Panic! at the Disco

BACKGROUND

Sam was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He had a small family -- just him, and his parents. His father was a police officer, and his mother was a housewife.

Sam never got along with his father. Never. He can’t remember a single time that he didn’t entirely despise the man.

Joseph Marx was a corrupt cop, as well as an abusive husband and father. The Marx household was frequently filled with the sounds of slamming doors, screamed profanity, and glass breaking. While he frequently took his anger out on his wife, Sam quickly became Joseph’s favorite target.

Sam was also a favored target of other kids. An incident during which two older boys held him under the water instilled an unshakable case of hydrophobia in him, and he was often beat up when teachers weren’t around. Many said he brought it on himself -- what did he expect, when he was so obviously queer, dressed in such ratty clothes, acted so strangely?

Unsurprisingly, he developed delinquent behavior early on, and was frequently in trouble for cheating on tests, stealing other students’ possessions, skipping class, smoking, drinking, and stealing cars for joyrides.

Bullied at school and abused at home, Sam had few friends, and spent as much time as possible out of the house. He’d wander the swamps and streets alone, only occasionally having a companion with him.

Finally, when he was sixteen, Sam hit a breaking point. A terrible fight with his father led to Sam being thrown into the kitchen window. The glass shattered, cutting into Sam’s skin. His mother tried to help him get cleaned up, but Sam had had enough. That very night, he packed a small bag and snuck out the back door. He stole a truck from one of his neighbors, and hit the road, never to return to Baton Rouge.

Lacking any sort of plan, Sam wandered from town to town, making money via odd jobs, shoplifting, pickpocketing, purse-snatching, and selling dime bags of weed. He had his fair share of scrapes with the law -- even spending six months in a correctional facility when he was eighteen -- but always managed to worm his way out any long-term consequences.

While in jail, Sam finally wrote to his mother -- now that he was eighteen, he couldn’t be forced to return to his family’s home, so he could assure her that he was alive. While he kept in contact with his mother from then on, Sam never spoke to his father again, and refused to ever return to Baton Rouge, even after his father was shot and killed in the line of duty.

ARRIVAL IN HOLLOWAY

Sam got to Holloway at the age of twenty. He only intended to stay for a couple weeks, long enough to make enough money to make a cross-country trip. The girl he was dating at the time went to school in Maine, and he wanted to go visit her.

When the first Hollow Man murder happened, a couple weeks after Sam’s arrival, he was nervous. When it became evident that there was a serial killer in Holloway, he started thinking maybe he should just say “fuck the money” and skip town altogether. However, before he could, the police were asking to talk to him.

It had been discovered that a couple of the deceased had bought drugs off of Sam a few times. While they hadn’t thought much about Sam at first, this caused the cops to look closer at him. Upon further digging, the investigators found that Sam was a drifter who had dropped out of school and run away from home, had a history of behavior issues, an ever-growing rap sheet, a brief stint in jail to his name, a skittish and antisocial air about him, and an obvious hatred of cops.

Yeah. It did not look good.

Sam was interrogated many times. His story never changed. He did sell weed to two of the deceased. No, he didn’t hurt them. He never even interacted with them beyond the sales. He was asleep at the time of the murders. No, no one can confirm that, he was alone. No, he doesn’t have a hotel room, he’s been sleeping in his truck.

Despite a lack of solid evidence or a motive, Sam was still a prime suspect for the first few murders, and he was told not to leave town. Knowing it’d look much worse if he ran, Sam decided to get a job -- partially because he was stuck in Halloway for the foreseeable future, and partially because he knew he might have to hire a lawyer soon. He eventually persuaded the local auto shop to hire him as a mechanic. (Accused of murder or not, Sam is damn good with cars.)

No official charges were ever brought, and eventually, another murder took place while Sam had a clear alibi, having been drinking in a local bar in full view of at least a dozen people all night. He got busted for having a fake ID, but at least he wasn’t an official murder suspect anymore.

Key word being official. Some suspected that Sam had an accomplice, and that the whole thing was a set-up to clear his name. Despite rumors, whispers, stares, and even a few people accusing him of the crime to his face, he always maintained that he never hurt anybody.

After being cleared, Sam intended to get out of town as soon as he could. But then, the girlfriend in Maine he’d been planning to go see dumped him... via postcard. It was the cherry on top of what had been a shitty few weeks.

Sam decided to stay for a little while until he figured out where to go next. He was rather enjoying having a steady paycheck for once, and it wasn’t like he had a plan. “A little while” eventually turned to twenty years.

NOWADAYS

Sam has now lived in a half-double in town for many, many years. It’s small, but he makes it work.

While most have probably abandoned the idea that Sam killed anybody, he’s still not exactly Mr. Popular in town. He’s known to be a sarcastic, self-centered dick, who has no respect for authority. (Some things never change.)

He still works at the auto shop. The original owner’s son runs it now, but Sam is the longest-standing employee, as well as the best mechanic.

Sam still hates cops. If he could refuse service to them, he would.

He’s still selling weed on the side (his boss looks the other way -- so long as Sam doesn’t get busted while at work, he doesn’t really care), and can be bribed into purchasing alcohol for underage students. However, he refuses to get mixed up in anything harder than that.

He mostly keeps to himself, and isn’t known to be particularly violent. If someone else attacks him, he’ll defend himself, but he rarely throws the first punch.

He’s been in an even more melancholy mood than normal lately, because his mother died last month.

He honestly thought the Hollow Man business was behind him. But now that a new victim has been found, he can feel people looking at him sideways again.

And, no matter how much he says he doesn’t care what other people think... he doesn’t like it at all.

MISC.

Sam’s sexuality is not public knowledge. He’s not ashamed of it, but he also wants to avoid harassment, so he’s only ever openly dated women. The only people who know are men he’s been with in the past, and maybe, maybe a very close friend.

Despite his dislike of people, Sam is quite fond of animals, and even adopted a stray cat he found a couple years ago. He’s named him Hecate, and he is quite possibly the ugliest cat in existence -- he has one eye, crooked fangs, and scratches everything that isn’t Sam.

Sam suffers clinical depression, but is in denial about how serious it actually is. It’s driven him to make some pretty damaging decisions, and he’s had a habit of burning himself with cigarettes since high school. The scars are all over his shoulders, arms, and stomach.

Sam was -- and still is -- a frequent target of classism. Due to his lack of education and working-class background, many assume the worst in him, and many underestimate his intelligence. While he uses it to his advantage, he is irked by it.

It surprises people to learn that Sam is actually very well-read, and a talented actor. In another life, he could’ve joined a Shakespeare company. In this one, he reads passages aloud to himself when he’s alone.

Sam claims to hate... well, everyone, but he holds a special contempt for bullies and abusers. One of the only times Sam’s been known to instigate a fight is when he got sick of listening to a drunk guy catcall a woman walking by, and just decked him.

Sam still hates water, and refuses to go swimming -- on the rare occasions he has to go near the water, he won’t put his head under.

Sam has a pitch-black sense of humor. The Hollow Man murders are one of the few things he won’t joke about.

SUGGESTED CONNECTIONS

Someone who still believes Sam was or is the Hollow Man.

Related to the above, some of the younger characters have probably been told by their parents to stay away from Sam. Whether or not they listened is up to you.

Friend with benefits.

Exes.

Someone who has become aware of Sam’s depression and is trying to help him -- whether he likes it or not.

Unrequited crush (from either party).

And anything else you can think of!

#hollowfm.intro

2 notes · View notes

phanboyo · 5 years

Text

Woof so close to the deadline, i can’t believe i finished it. It wasn’t supposed to be half this long, but it just kept going and going and GOING.

@skulking-around-the-phandom‘s prompt: Danny goes intangible through the ground to avoid a painful impact and discovers something very strange beneath Amity Park…

complete; 8,152 words

Danny gasped as his breath clouded in front of him and then sighed. Another ghost attack. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, nothing different from usual, and that was exactly the problem. Maybe it was a good thing that he had fallen into a routine of sorts, but the part of him that forgot all about Desiree kind of wished for something unusual to happen.

He raised his hand. “Mr. Lancer can I use the restroom?” Danny was already out of his seat before Mr. Lancer replied. He transformed in the hallway and shot up through the roof to find Technus closely examining a floating overhead projector.

Danny floated there for a moment, clearing his throat when it became obvious that Technus hadn’t seen him come.

“Oh, ghost child! What a surprise!” Technus said, completely unsurprised.

“I know that’s a piece of junk, but that doesn’t mean you can take it,” Danny said, putting up his fists.

“But if it really is junk, then I’ll take it,” Technus lit his hands up “and you take this.” Technus blasted Danny, who for once had the sense to turn intangible before hitting the ground.

Danny expected to open his eyes to dirt and complete darkness, but instead saw a large chunk of metal illuminated dimly by an old flickering light on the wall. Danny blinked and took a step towards the metal. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be some sort of door, shut tight with a crank like on a submarine or a bank vault. He shook his head.

“Technus first, weird old door later.”

Danny shot back through the earth led by his fist, and was pleasantly surprised when it hit a waiting Technus square in the jaw. “Well that was convenient,” Danny said. He blasted Technus while he was recovering from shock and quickly sucked him into the thermos. The lack of Technus’s presence caused the overhead projector to crash into the ground, smashing into a few jagged pieces. Danny stared at it.

“Not my problem,” he decided, rushing back to class before someone came over and blamed him for the theft.

Danny couldn’t focus much on class after that. He was thinking of the door underground. What could it be? A secret government facility? An ancient UFO, buried by centuries of dust? Maybe it really was a giant underground bank vault. How much money could be in there? Or gold?

He told Sam and Tucker about his discovery after class. Tucker was fond of the UFO idea but he also wouldn’t say no to a bunch of gold bricks, which, Sam reminded, was stealing. Sam thought that it was probably just a reservoir or part of Amity Park’s sewers, which made a lot more sense but also made Danny a little bit disappointed. She was probably right.

Once the final bell rang, Danny was finally able to go back down and investigate. His hopes were significantly lower after Sam’s comment, but he figured he might as well check it out anyway. It took a minute to find the door again, but before long he was back. The door had unsurprisingly remained unchanged. He approached it and put a hand against it. He felt nothing, so he put an earthquake against it. Again, nothing. The light from the old incandescent bulb on the wall was too dim to make out much, but lighting his hand with ectoplasm, Danny could see through the green light that the door was incredibly rusted. He decided that if he wanted to know what this was, he would have to go through the door. So, taking a deep breath, he stepped through.

And was met with darkness. He took another step. Still dark. He kept stepping forward until suddenly his eyes were assaulted with a light much brighter than the dim flickering bulb outside the door. He blinked and looked around. He was in a small grayish room with two large switches on either side and another, much smaller door directly across from him. Danny didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t just a small boring room.

He walked through the door on the other side into another small room, though this one had three normal-looking doors with faded labels above them. Over one of the doors Danny could make out “rec…all.” whatever text was in the middle had been too faded and scratched out. The labels above the other doors were similarly unreadable. Looking at the doors, Danny wondered for a moment if it really was an old government facility.

Using the handy-dandy “eeny meeny miny moe,” Danny walked through the door to the right.

The room was largely white and metallic. It had an examination table in the center, accompanied by a tray with surgical tools whose sharp points shining in the light made Danny shiver. In the back was a large steel box, which Danny assumed was a refrigeration unit, as well as a counter with beakers, test tubes, and a microscope among other things. There was a sink and a few glass cabinets with various chemical containers and medical supplies, and sitting in a wheeled stool at the counter was man in a white coat who appeared to be in his late forties, reading a book.

He didn’t seem to notice Danny’s presence, so Danny cleared his throat, causing a small clank from the chair as the man jumped and turned to him.

The man froze when he saw Danny and the two just sat there staring at each other for an awkwardly long time, neither moving, neither blinking.

“Hi,” Danny said finally.

The man blinked. “How did you get in here?” He asked.

Danny glanced behind him. “The door?”

“But—” the man blinked again. “You’re from the surface?” He stood slowly.

“Yeah,” Danny responded, taking a step back warily.

“Incredible,” the man said, tapping a finger on his chin. “So the exposure to radiation has caused you to glow, among other things, I’m sure.” He began to circle Danny, who was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable. “Your hair is naturally that white?”

“Um, yeah.” Danny responded. “Who are you?”

The man stopped. “Oh, where are my manners? I suppose it’s been quite a while since I met anyone new. My name is Harold Dire. And you are?”

“Danny Phantom. What did you mean by ‘exposure to radiation’?”

Harold looked somewhat shocked. “Well, er,” he scratched his head. “You know. Nuclear fallout. From the bombs dropping.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Bombs? Nuclear fallout? What are you talking about?” Had bombs dropped somewhere near Amity Park and Danny somehow hadn’t noticed? He was pretty sure he would notice the detonation of a nuclear bomb.

Harold looked at him with some mix of pity and distress. “You mean you don’t know?”

Danny suddenly got really really worried.

“I had expected there would be some loss of history or news with the collapse of regular society but this is beyond what I ever would have guessed.” He began pacing and put a hand to his chin again. “It’s like the whole of society has some sort of repression.” He looked back at Danny briefly. “Or perhaps the only ones who were old enough to remember have been killed. It stands to reason that… shorter lifespan… ages ago…” he began muttering.

Danny clapped his palms together. And Harold looked up suddenly as if he had forgotten that Danny was still in the room. “I’m gonna ask again. What are you talking about?”

He looked at Danny. “Right, well… you might want to sit down.”

Danny remained standing.

“Okay, well, we were attacked a little over 40 years ago, before your time.” Danny rolled his eyes. “Russia finally did it. They bombed us.” Danny blinked.

“Russia.”

“Yes, precisely. You know what Russia is?”

“Yes, I know what Russia is.” Danny shook his head. The man was obviously crazy. Maybe this was some kind on underground insane asylum, for the people to were too crazy to be locked away in regular mental hospitals. Then again, the guy was wearing a lab coat. Maybe there was some sort of patient uprising. Or maybe he really had just been down here for a few decades, afraid that the Russians were gonna get him.

“So you’ve been down here alone for how long?”

“42 years,” he said, putting a finger up. “And I’m not alone. There’s Henrietta, and Lilly, and Andy, and Eve to name a few. Oh, I should introduce you! They’d love to meet you!” He paused. “Actually they’d probably incredibly wary and distrustful of a strange person from the surface who broke into the shelter, but you’re only like, thirteen, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I’m fourteen actually”

“So how did you break in? Are you alone? Do your parents let you break into fallout shelters all by yourself?” Harold opened the door and left, beckoning Danny to follow.

“Um, well I just sort of found it while I was… fighting, and—”

“Fighting? Who were you fighting? Looters? Gangs? Super-powered mutant monsters? But you’re only fourteen.”

“Um, actually pretty close to the last one.” Danny ran a hand through his hair. “And I know I’m young, but someone has to protect the town. Might as well be me.”

They walked through the ‘rec… all’ door and Harold looked at Danny skeptically. He obviously thought Danny’s logic was flawed. “We will be continuing this conversation later, but for now,”

The walls of the room were a deep red color and they were walking on a grey carpet that had probably been plush and light before years of use. There was a pool table near the center of the room and a couple of chairs and a couch pushed to the walls, in one of which a woman about Harold’s age sat stitching something. There were a surprising number of bookshelves around the chairs. There was a card table, where two older folks were playing, and in the corner was a girl Danny’s age leaning over an old fashioned jukebox.

Everyone was frozen in place, staring at Danny.

“Let me introduce you.”

There’s more but i dont want Tumblr to have a seizure again so you can read the rest here on FFN or here on AO3

#I think any of Danny's ideas about what the vault was would have made better stories but I'm a sucker for fallout so here we are I guess #my writing #phic phight #fic #oc #boyo makes stuff

17 notes · View notes

dukereviewstv · 5 years

Text

Duke Reviews TV: Smallville 1x09 Rogue

Hi, Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Tv Where We Are Continuing Our Look At Smallville By Talking About Episode 9 Of Season 1, Rogue

This Episode Sees Clark's Secret Being Discovered By Sam Phelan, A Corrupt Metropolis Cop Who Decides To Blackmail Clark, Meanwhile, Lex Works With An Old Flame, Victoria Hardwick (Played By Model Kelly Brook) To Take Over Their Parents Companies...

So, Let's Watch Rogue To See How It All Goes Down...

The Episode Starts At A Gala In Metropolis, Where Clark Is With His Buddy Lex To See Museum's Latest Aquirement, A Jeweled Armor That Was Worn By Alexander The Great...

But It Turns Out That Clark Wasn't The Only One Lex Invited To The Gala As Lana Is There Too With Whitney (Who's Playing The Role Of A Professional Wallflower Tonight Instead Of A Quarterback) Inviting Clark To Their Table, Lana, Lana Goes Off To Rip Aunt Nell Away From The Jewelry Exhibit...

Why? It's Not Like She's A Kleptomaniac Or A Thief Or Something, Oh, Wait...

Going Outside For Air, Clark Runs Into Lex Who Thinks He's Running Away From Lana Which Leads Him To Say That If He Isn't Going To Get Lana If He Keeps Running Away From Whitney, Which Is True But Clark Doesn't See Whitney As His Enemy....

Which Leads Lex To Remind Clark About The Phrase "Keep Your Friends, Close But Your Enemies Closer" But As The 2 Boys Talk They're Interrupted By An Old Flame Of Lex's, Victoria Hardwick Who Lex Would Rather Talk To So He Tells Clark That They'll Chat Later...

Meanwhile, Outside Of The Gala, We Meet Detective Sam Phelan, A Corrupt Cop Who's Hassling Some Hood To Get Him Information From Internal Affairs, Telling The Guy He Has 24 Hours To Do So. Going Out For Air Like He Said, Clark Sees A Bus Go Out Of Control As The Driver Has A Heart Attack...

youtube

(Start At 3:16)

The Next Day, Clark Helps His Dad And Mom With What I Believe To Be A Tractor Engine While He Tells Both Of His Parents About What Happened With The Bus Which His Mom Is Proud Of Him But His Dad Again Worries If Somebody Saw Him...

Meanwhile In Metropolis, Phelan Blackmails A Security Guard To Give Him Pictures Of The Museum Gala To Find Out The Mystery Of Who The Person Who Stopped The Bus Was Only For Him To Discover That He Knows Lex Luthor...

Back In Smallville, We Cut To The Luthor Mansion To That Lex Brought Victoria Back To Smallville Where She Tells Lex The Real Reason That She Looked Him Up...

youtube

(Start At 2:41)

Meanwhile, At The Torch, Principal Kwan Is Having A Problem With The Way The Torch Is Being Run To The Point That He Fires Chloe And Suspends All Issues Until A New Editor Can Be Found...

What The Hell Is Going On With This Town? Someone Tells The Truth About What's Going On And Parents Get Get All Stir Crazy! I'll Tell You What The Real Truth Is...

Lana Promises Chloe She'll Talk With Kwan, But Chloe Doesn't Have Much Hope...

Arriving In Smallville, Phelan Runs Into Lex At The Beanery As He Tells Lex That He's Looking For A Witness To The Bus Accident Who Just So Happens To Be Clark. But Not Happy Phelan's In Town, Lex Tells Phelan He Has No Clue Who He Is...

Which Forces Phelan To Find Clark On His Own, Which Unfortunately He Does, By DROPPING THE TRACTOR ENGINE ON HIM!...

youtube

(Start At 2:13, End At 3:34)

Telling His Parents About Phelan, They Maybe A Little Upset But They're Not Mad At Him As Jonathan Just Tells Clark To Leave Phelan To Them, Later That Night, Lex Drops By The Loft To Talk With Clark About Being Involved In A Police Investigation And That Phelan Came To Talk With Him Which Led Lex To Discover The Investigation Was Already Ended...

Warning Clark To Be Careful Of Phelan , He Tells Clark About His History With Him, Saying That He's Not Only A Dirty Cop But The Type Of Cop That Does Whatever It Takes To Get The Job Done And If He Has Something On Clark, He'll Use It...

Visiting Phelan At The Beanery, He Tells That All He Wants Is Clark's Help To Further His Cause, To Which Jonathan Tells Him No, This Puts Phelan To The Point Of Blackmail Stating That If He Doesn't, Clark's Life Will Be Under The Microscope Which Pisses Off Jonathan....

youtube

(Start At 3:45)

Meanwhile At The Torch, Lana Comes In With Good News And Bad News, The Good News Is The Paper's Reopened, The Bad News Is That Kwan Chose Her To Be The New Editor, Which Causes Chloe To Blow Her Chips Despite Telling Her That It Was The Only Way To Get Kwan To Reopen The Paper And Until They Could Come Up With A Better Plan She Thought Maybe Chloe Could Ghostwrite...

Which Is A Good Plan To Point Clark Thinks It's A Good Idea, Which Causes Chloe To Completely Freak Out Because "You'd Always Side With Lana" No, It's Called You Don't Have A Leg To Stand On Chloe (Hell, You Don't Have A Leg To Stand On In Real Life Right Now) And It's Better Than Nothing (Like King Julian From Madagascar) So, Shut Up! You're So Annoying!

Confronting Clark At The Beanery, Phelan Tells Him To Get In His Car, But Clark Tells Him No To Which Pushes Phelan Him More Saying In His Own Way That He'll Hurt His Family If He Doesn't Get In The Car...

Later That Evening, Lex Has Dinner With Victoria, Who Asks Lex If He's Considered Their Proposal To Which Lex Says That He Didn't Even Have To Go Over It As He Knows Their Real Plan Which Is To...

No, Nothing That Diabolical, But...

youtube

(Start At 2:17)

youtube

Meanwhile In Metropolis, Phelan Wants Clark To Do What He Asked That Other Guy To Do: Steal His File From Internal Affairs, Which Is In A Safe On The Fifth Floor And Says That If He Does This He'll Never Bother Him Again And So, Clark Goes Into The Apartment To Get The Safe, However...

youtube

(Start At 2:07)

See Ya In 25 To Life, Pal!...

Coming In Late Last Night, Clark Tells His Parents That He Was Working At The Torch Which Leads Jonathan To Ask If Phelan Has Contacted Him To Which Clark Tells Him That They Shouldn't Worry As He Thinks That Phelan Is Out Of Their Lives Forever...

But Then Sheriff Ethan Arrives To Search The Kent Farm On Tip From Metropolis PD Where In The Garage They Find A Dead Body In The Barn And A Gun In Jonathan's Car Which Forces Them To Arrest Jonathan For Suspicion Of Murder.

Knowing That Phelan Is Behind This, Clark Tries To Stop Them From Arresting His Father To Which Jonathan Tells Him To Just Be Strong...

Confronted By Phelan, He Tells Clark That He Expected Him To Double Cross Him And That A Person With His Job Comes Up Not Only One Back Up Plan But 10...

youtube

(Start At 2:34, End At 3:17)

Talking With Lana At The Torch, About How Feels Like He's Complicating His Parents Lives, She Tells Him Not To Blame Himself For What's Going On With His Dad As She Tells Clark About A Time She Tried Running Away To Metropolis Only To Be Found By Nell, Who She Asked If She Regretted Adopting Her To Which Nell Said That It Was The Best Thing She Ever Did...

Going To See His Dad In Jail...

(Clark) Now I Know How Barry Allen Feels...

He Tells Jonathan About Last Night With Phelan Saying That He Didn't Have A Choice Saying That He Was Trying To Protect Them And When Phelan Came Back When Jonathan Was Arrested He Wanted To Kill Phelan But He Didn't. This Leads Jonathan To Tell His Son That While He's One To Know About Losing His Temper, Clark But Clark Can't Afford To Lose His Temper Or His Anger Because Once He Crosses That Line, There's No Going Back...

(Clark) Yeah, But What If? And This Is A One In A Million Scenario, Dad Some Crazy Madman Who Looks Like A Clown Ties A Nuke Detonator To The Heart Of The Person I Love Who's Carrying My Unborn Child And Forces Me To Kill Her By Using, Oh, I Don't Know Let's Call It Fear Gas That Has Kryptonite In It So It'll Affect Me And Once Said Person Is Dead, The Entire City Blows Up?...

(Jonathan) Then Fine, You Have My Permission To Kill That Person...

Years Later...

Running Into Lex, He Knows That His Father Is Innocent And Offers To Get Jonathan The Best Lawyers In The State, But Clark Tells Him That He Doesn't Think Any Lawyer Is Going To Be Able To Help Him Which Leads Lex To Believe That It's Phelan Doing This Which Leads Lex To Ask What Phelan Has On Him? To Which Clark Tells Him To Stay Out Of It...

But Saying That He Doesn't Stand A Chance If He Takes On Phelan By Himself Clark Tells Him That Phelan Told That He Has Secrets Which Lex Admits He Does But The One Thing He Doesn't Want To See Is Clark And His Family Get Hurt By Phelan But Clark Refuses Saying That He Needs To This On His Own...

That Night, Clark Is Confronted By Phelan In The Barn As He Tells Him That After Last Night, Phelan Has Internal Affairs Poking Their Noses Where They Don't Belong So He Wants Clark's Help To Pull One Last Job But Clark Says Fine, Tell The Whole World About Me I Just Don't Give A Damn Anymore Which Leads Phelan To Tell Him To Think About His Parents...

youtube

(Start At 4:00)

Getting In The Car With Phelan They're Tailed By Lex As They Head To The Museum Where Phelan Decides That Instead Of Picking Up His Internal Affairs Records, He Wants To Pick Up His Retirement Package By Stealing Alexander The Great's Breastplate By Shutting Down The Security System And Faking A Bomb Threat To Get The Guards Outside...

With Lex Outside, He Notices The Guards Coming Out Of The Building To Check Out The "Bomb" Which Turns Out To Be Just A Damn Clock!

So, With The Breastplate In Hand And Bag, Clark Tosses It Outside To The Guards And Lex..

youtube

(Start At 3:27, End At 4:27)

I Wouldn't Be Shocked If That Happened After Clark Left...

But It Didn't Instead We Get A Shootout With Phelan Getting Shot By The Cops, But When Lex Asks Phelan What He Had On Clark, All He Tells Him Before He Dies Is "Go To Hell, Luthor"...

So, With Phelan Dead, The Charges Against Jonathan Are Dropped As The Kents Wonder What Will Happen When The Next Phelan Shows Up?...

Yeah, It'll Be Sooner Than You Think, Guys, Sooner Than You Think...

Meanwhile At School, Lana Prints A Story Within Kwan's Criteria That Manages To Piss Him Off, Believing Lana Only Wrote It To Get Chloe Re-Hired Lana Tells Kwan She Did It Because Chloe Was Born For This Job...

To Which Kwan Says That He Admires Her Passion, But Her Reporting Lacks Accuracy In Which Chloe Enters To Say That She'll Work On It So, Yeah Kwan Gives Chloe Back Her Job On The Condition That She Doesn't Print What She Can't Prove...

With Chloe Apologizing For Flipping Out On Lana Saying That When She Butted In On The Newspaper, She Thought That Lana Was Trying To Cut Clark Out Of Her Life As It's The Only They Do Together, Which Is A Dumb Excuse...

Yeah, Rational Is The Last Thing I'd Peg You For Right Now, Chloe...

But Saying She Wants To Be Friends With Her, Lana Tells Chloe That If There's Something Going On With Her And Clark, She Doesn't Want To Stand In The Way Of That But Chloe Just Tells Lana That There's Nothing Between Her And Clark And They're Just Good Friends...

Later That Night At The Luthor Mansion, Lex Goes Over Footage From Phelan's Attempt To Rob The Breastplate But All He Sees Is A Black Blur Which He Pauses To See Nothing!

And That's Rogue And It's Okay...

Don't Get Me Wrong, It Seems Like A Good Episode But It's Just Not One Of My Favorites And I Admit Freely That When I Look Back At The Series I Don't Watch It Despite The Story Being Okay And The Regular Characters Being All Right I Just Don't Like Phelan As A Character And Unfortunately We're Not Done With Him On, No He Didn't Survive Being Shot By The Museum's Security Guards But He Does Appear In A Flashback In An Upcoming Episode Called Zero Which Goes Over An Incident In Lex's Past At Place Called Club Zero Which Has Been Mentioned Before This Episode By Roger Nixon In The 4th Episode Of This Season, X-Ray But Even If I Don't Like This Episode I'm Not Going To Stop Anyone Else From Liking This Episode So I Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

#smallville #the wb #the cw #tom welling #kristen kreuk #michael rosenbaum

2 notes · View notes

spartanguard · 6 years

Text

something in the water, part 4

Emma is sent to investigate a mysterious sea monster appearance in her hometown. Thankfully, her family there knows her secret: that at night, she transforms into a swan. And she knows that whoever the universe thinks her soulmate is, as dictated by the tattoo on her side, won't be there. Though maybe she was wrong to assume that. And when did a merman start hanging out in the ocean near Storybrooke?

A/N: Life continues to be busy, so thank you for your patience as I take my sweet time in updating my @cssns story!! It shouldn’t be *quite* as long until the next chapter, though! and thanks to @optomisticgirl for looking things over!!

The next morning saw Emma shuffling into the diner at what she would usually call an ungodly hour (8 am), but she was too awake to go back to sleep. After she transitioned back, she wrapped herself in a blanket in her car and continued to watch the cove for any sign of what she’d seen last night, but two hours of staring produced nothing. She was starting to think that she’d imagined it, which of course led to other concerns—like, maybe she was destined to take over Cruella’s mantle as the town crazy lady.

(Or maybe her eyes weren’t deceiving her, and there really was a merperson in town. What did she do then? Did it have anything to do with her mark? Did she even want it to?)

Coffee. Coffee would help.

She didn’t let the door close behind her before she plopped on a stool at the counter, ancient bell still ringing. The eternally grumpy Leroy, sitting two seats down, looked her way, grunted, and went back to his bacon and grits.

Thank God for Ruby. A steaming mug was in front of her without having to say a word. “Rough night down at the cove?”

“Not so much rough as weird,” Emma complained before taking a long sip. It certainly wasn’t Starbucks, but it was hot and made from beans—she’d take it. The burn it gave as it hit her tongue and moved through her roused her up just as much as the caffeine did. “I think I may have actually seen something, but I’m also not sure it wasn’t a fatigue-from-milking-cows-induced hallucination.”

“Well, like I said last night, I haven’t seen or heard about anything over there; but who knows? The ocean is a mysterious place. And so is Storybrooke, for that matter.”

“True that.” How many cities could boast that their little ice cream shop didn’t need a freezer because its owner kept things cool with her own ice magic? (Which reminded Emma—she needed to pay Ingrid a visit before this trip was done. Best rocky road ever.) “And how does Dorothy fit into that mix?”

Ruby blushed almost as red as the streaks in her hair. Emma had discovered over their dinner last night that just about any mention of Ruby’s new fling would do that to her—which was probably a good sign that it was going to be more than a fling.

“I’m not sure,” she said quietly, refilling Emma’s mug. “We haven’t gotten to that conversation yet; she was visiting her family back in Kansas this week so she...missed all that.”

It did worry Emma a bit, given her own history, that a significant other of Ruby’s would react poorly to the revelation of her other side. She’d definitely done the whole hiding-it thing for a long time with Neal; probably too long, in hindsight, but there was also the matter of keeping things a bit under wraps so as to not terrify society as a whole. “You’ll know when the time is right,” she assured Ruby.

“I hope so. I really don’t want to mess this one up.”

“From what you’ve told me, she’s nothing like Peter.” Ruby’s first boyfriend had ran away screaming when she transitioned in front of him, literally crying wolf, but the citizens of Storybrooke were well aware of their local pack, even if they didn’t all know that the owner of their favorite diner was a member of it. “I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about once you get there.”

Ruby gave her an uncharacteristically small smile, compared to her normal wolfish grins; that was how you knew she was actually worried. But it quickly melted away to something a bit more hungry. “And what about you? When are you gonna shake your tail feathers for a certain someone?”

Emma’s defensives immediately went up. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that you went on a date with this town’s sexiest librarian and you didn’t tell me!”

“I’m gonna tell Belle you said that,” Emma said evasively and took another sip of coffee. “And just when did you hear that? You told me you were going to ‘sext Dorothy until I come and/or pass out’ after I left.”

“I can multitask,” she replied, coy as ever. “You really think Snow could keep that quiet?”

“No,” Emma grumbled, slumping back over her mug.

“Well? How was it?”

She mused on it over a long pull of coffee. “I...don’t know?” she finally said. “Like, 90% good?”

“Bad kisser?”

“Ruby!” She glared at her friend.

“Hey, just making a guess. So he didn’t kiss you? Is that it?”

“Rubyyy.” She was whining now.

“Fiiiine,” Ruby sighed back, and turned to grab some dishes that were ready to go out. “But this conversation is not done.”

Emma just groaned again, and lamented the small size of Granny’s mugs. As she drained her second cup, the bell on the door sounded again, and just like in any small town, all eyes turned to it. But only Emma’s eyes lingered after everyone else went back to their meals; at least the newcomer was staring back.

She should have known it would be impossible to avoid Killian here, and the wide-eyed look he was giving her said he was thinking the same.

Ruby, of course, didn’t miss a beat. “Hey, Killian! I’ll be right with you; just sit at your normal seat.” Which, judging from his hesitant steps toward the counter, was the one next to Emma. And even if it wasn’t, his options were to sit next to her, or to Dr. Hopper down at the other end and risk an involuntary psychoanalysis before breakfast.

She didn’t need to look to know that he was scratching that spot behind his ear as he stood hesitantly a few feet away, while she was trying to find something interesting at the bottom of her empty mug.

But then she picked up the faintest scent of leather, paired with that crisp salty-and-spicy smell she’d come to recognize as his, and it immediately brought back the memory of being wrapped in his jacket. It had been a long time since she had felt so warm and safe from a simple gesture like that, which either meant her bar was very low—or, more likely, that she was a fool for trying to ignore him.

It was completely possible to still be friends and keep her distance, though, right? Right. Okay, she could do that. So she took a deep breath, turned on her seat, put a smile on her face, looked up and him, and spoke.

“Hi,” they both blurted out at the same time. Because of course they did. Uneasy smiles quickly melted into easy giggles, as if their mutual awkwardness made everything more relaxed.

He slid onto the stool next to her and stared at the counter for a moment before looking back up at her, a penitent look on his face. “Emma...I just want to say I’m sorry for the way things ended the other night. I apologize if anything made you uncomfortable.”

“I…” she started, not quite expecting that. Her plan had just been to pretend it had never happened, but she couldn’t deny that his was probably a bit better (or at least more mature). “Uh, me too. Things got a bit heavier than I expected, and I know I’m at fault for that. Sorry.”

“It happens,” he shrugged. “That said, I do value that you trusted me enough to share with me; I know how hard that can be.”

No shit he did. “Hey, same; it had to be even tougher for you. Thank you.” She placed her hand over his where it rested on the counter and gave a quick squeeze.

“Did you two fuck or something?”

They both jumped at the gruff—and loud—question from the down the counter, where Leroy was giving a stern look.

“W-what?” Emma stammered, and could feel a flush rising on her cheeks.

“Sure sounds like you did,” he huffed, returning to his bacon.

She was speechless—partly because of the implication that Leroy figured they had; partly because yeah, it really had sounded like that; and maybe a bit because she was now imagining what that would be like. (Probably amazing.)

Killian nudged her shoulder with his and tugged her out of her silent shock. If he’d been embarrassed, he’d clearly gotten over it and was giving her one of those ridiculous dimpled smirks. “He clearly isn’t aware of your first-date rule,” he said quietly.

“Huh?”

“That you don’t pillage and plunder on the first one,” he finished for her, winking.

She snorted a bit. “He must think we’ve been on two or three.”

“Oh? Is that when pirate activities are permitted to begin?”

“Somewhere in there,” she quipped playfully. “You’ll just have to find out.”

“Is that you asking me out?” he queried, almost cheekily.

“Maybe,” she answered coyly—a bit because she was trying to rein in the flirting, and a bit because she was finding it harder to resist the more time she spent with him. Wasn’t this why she was avoiding him in the first place? But now also: why was she, again? That was silly of her.

A voice cleared; apparently Ruby had slipped back behind the counter and was now standing in front of them, grinning wolfishly at their banter. “So, what’ll it be for breakfast, lovebirds?” she asked, winking at Emma.

Emma rolled her eyes, but at the exact same time, they both blurted out their orders. “Pancakes.” And then promptly dissolved into quiet laughter at their synchronicity.

Ruby just turned towards the kitchen to put their orders in, but Leroy had one more thing to say, apparently.

“Well, if you ain’t fuckin’, you should be.” And then he slapped some cash on the counter and left, leaving a stunned and blushing pair behind him. Emma was pretty sure her face had never been more on fire.

Thankfully, Granny came by to refill their coffees, and Emma hoped beyond hope that the old wolf would have some sort of reassurance for them—that Leroy shouldn’t be taken seriously before noon or something. But to her eternal anguish, it was nothing of the sort.

“He’s right, you know,” she said all-too casually, glancing between them and walking off.

Well, now she was completely mortified. And remembered why she was avoiding him.

“Allow me to apologize again,” Killian murmured in an equally embarrassed tone.

“No, you don’t need to,” she sighed. “This is just...Storybrooke. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re just now being subjected to this.”

“And why’s that?”

“Seriously? Look at you!” she exclaimed.

His smirk back made her realize what she said. Dammit, this was why she usually wasn’t part of the world this early. “Oh, fuck me,” she groaned, shoving her face into her hands.

“Are you sure? Sounds like that’s what everyone wants to happen.”

She just groaned even louder and collapsed against the counter. “Let me know when my food gets here; until then, I’m hiding and shutting my mouth.”

“So I can drink your coffee, then?”

“No!” She sat straight up and tugged her mug to her chest, slopping a bit of the scalding liquid on her hand. “Shit,” she cursed as she shook it off; why was Granny’s coffee the same temperature as lava?

(Also: why was this shaping up to be such a terrifically terrible morning?)

“Oh, bloody hell—I’m sorry, love,” Killian said, actually having an acceptable reason to apologize this time. “Let me help you with that.” He grabbed her flailing hand with his right one, and set it in his left palm. Then he took a napkin and dipped it in a glass of water that had been left out, and, leaning forward to inspect, gently pressed it on her burned skin. She let out an exhale; that felt perfect. “Better?” he asked, looking up at her through his ridiculous lashes.

“Yeah,” she breathed, both in relief and because she was still getting used to just how damn blue his eyes were.

He straightened his spine, but his eyes didn’t leave her gaze. And suddenly, the air in the few inches between them was nearly as hot as her coffee.

She wasn’t sure why, but her eyes flitted to his lips—his extraordinary, full, luscious lips, and she could still see a bit of coffee left on them. It’d be a shame to waste it; maybe she should just lean forward and—

“Food’s up,” Granny nearly shouted, and the clatter of their plates on the counter made them jump apart. That was either the best- or worst-timed delivery—she couldn’t decide—but they both thanked Granny nonetheless.

Wordlessly, they busied themselves with their dishes, but still managed to reach for the lone bottle of syrup they’d been left with at the same time. The fingers of her left hand brushed the back of his right, and the light dusting of dark hair there. And for some reason, they just froze like that for much longer than they should have, and part of her kind of wanted to grab the rest of his hand, but he then he pulled it back.

“Ladies first,” he said, smiling politely, but she could see the rosy color on his cheeks. Was this how it was always going to be with them? (And part of her was wondering just how long “always” would be.)

“Thanks,” she replied, and poured a healthy amount of syrup over her hotcakes—or at least, what she deemed a healthy amount. Killian had an eyebrow arched in disbelief when she handed the now-lighter bottle to him. “What?”

He took the container and said, “I’m not generally one to judge, but were you planning on having any pancakes with that syrup?”

“They’re still in there,” she protested, cutting into her stack with her fork. Sure, they were drowning in syrup, and it dripped off when she lifted her first bite, but that was just how she liked it. “You’ve clearly never had great syrup, have you?” she continued as she licked it off her lips, a bit seductively.

He arched an eyebrow and bit into his much drier pancakes, but she saw his eyes go wide as he swallowed. “No, I don’t believe I have.” And proceeded to pour significantly more on.

“Told ya,” she teased, taking another bite. “Granny gets hers fresh, and New England has the best there is.”

“I believe it,” he agreed. “Although I’m still getting used to having something so sweet for breakfast.”

“Oh? What do you usually have?”

“Mackerel, mostly.”

She choked down her next bite. “Fish? For breakfast?”

“Pretty much every meal, really. Coastal England,” he explained with a shrug.

It made sense, but she had to wonder: “So...you’ve never had a Pop Tart?”

He chuckled. “Afraid not.”

“Oh my god. I grew up on those. Probably because they were cheap for foster homes, but oh man. So good.”

Conversation continued to flow as they ate, discussing the kinds of foods they had as kids (him: fish; her: Lunchables and Happy Meals), her telling him what schooling was like in the US (he was homeschooled, apparently), and then chatting about favorite movies, since they didn’t get to that the other night (where they discovered they still shared a love of The Princess Bride).

“If you still need anything for your job, I’m sure there’s something in the library, if you wanted to stop by,” he offered, far from nonchalantly, sneaking glances at her as he carefully scraped up the last of his scrambled eggs (which she guessed he’d discovered also tasted great with maple syrup).

“I just might have to take you up on that,” she replied, equally not casual, especially as she used a finger to wipe a stripe of syrup from her dish and then licked it off, turning to look at him as she did. It was totally a Ruby move and she’d completely blame it on her friend’s terrible influence.

“I look forward to it,” he replied, popping the ‘t’ and letting his tongue poke out to lick his lips; she wasn’t sure if that was just to get any last drops of syrup, in response to her lewd gesture, or both. She was leaning towards the latter...as well as towards Killian.

But just then, her phone lit up with a text from Regina and both eyes instinctively jumped to it. “Oh shit, the time,” Killian cursed, and hopped off his stool in a panic. He quickly pulled some cash from a pocket, tossed it on the counter, and grabbed his satchel from where it had been forgotten on the floor ever since he sat down. “I apologize for dashing out, love, but if I don’t leave now, I’ll be facing Belle’s wrath. See you soon?” It was more a question than a farewell.

“Yeah, you will,” she told him, smiling—at the idea of their next meeting, and at how adorable he was when he was flustered.

“Can’t wait. Until then,” he finished, nodding his head in some sort of bow, and then dashing off. She followed him with her eyes, swiveling on the stool as he left. He gave her one last grin as he pushed the door open, and she released what could only be described as a happy sigh as she watched him head down the stairs and down the street.

“I heard that,” Granny said matter-of-factly, once again filling Emma’s mug.

“No, you didn’t,” she tossed back, defenses going up again.

“You really want to argue with what I did or did not hear?” Granny sassed back; they both knew the answer was a resounding no. “I may be old, but my senses are still sharper than yours, sweetheart, and I know what I’m seeing.” Then she leaned in and whispered, “And honey, between us? It doesn’t take extra-strength senses to see it.”

Shit. She was really falling for him, wasn’t she?

(And she wasn’t entirely sure that was a bad thing.)

As she meandered across town back to the house, she replied to Regina’s message; they hadn’t talked since Emma arrived in Storybrooke so she was looking for an update, even if neither of them were terribly pressed to solve the maybe-mystery and she still had over a week. She texted back that things were going well, and that there was possibly a lead but she had to research it more. She still wasn’t sure she trusted her eyes or brain to tell the truth about whatever she’d seen, but it at least warranted more investigation, regardless of any personal reservations.

And she thanked whatever gods were up there that Regina had texted and not called—while her boss was much more chill than the entirety of Storybrooke when it came to matchmaking (and completely understood Emma in that regard, having her own broken-hearted history), she would have immediately picked up on the chipper tone Emma would have been unable to hide and wondered just how “well” things were going and if “going well” had a name.

It had seriously been ages since she’d felt anything like this—not since Neal, maybe even since her last high school crush (Graham, who had just moved to Storybrooke from Ireland back then; clearly, she had a thing for guys with British Isles accents...but who didn’t?). She just didn’t do this—she’d never let herself, and let alone had met a guy worth pursuing. And while she knew she should be a bit more cautious, for the first time, she was finding she didn’t want to be.

She had to force herself to avoid the library that day, electing for another day of farm work and internet research. She briefly continued her search for info on ashrays, but given what she may or may not have seen last night, she decided she better delve more into merpeople—but that took her to increasingly weird and obscure corners of the internet, and more than once had led her to DeviantArt or some odd piece of fan fiction. (Who the hell wrote mermaid sex?) (And what did that mean in regards to her mark?) (Though, it was kind of hot…)

That left her with basically no choice other than to go there the next day, and she just hoped she could restrain herself enough from either making Killian think she was completely insane, or pressing him against the stacks and kissing the crap out of him.

She didn’t even make it that long before seeing him, though: she, David, and Snow went out for ice cream after dinner and there he was, picking up a pint of rum raisin from Ingrid. Of course, he joined them as they all ate their treats (Emma finally getting her Rocky Road), falling yet again into easy conversation that ended with Snow inviting him over for dinner the next night.

That was the thing with Killian: aside from the awkward end to their conversation the other night, everything was just...easy. It wasn’t forced, and there was no pretense: they just seemed to flow together. It really should have frightened her, especially after that conversation, but she knew that avoiding him was futile, so why bother?

And she just really didn't want to anymore.

That night, at the cove again, she got a couple more glimpses of the creature. They were brief—the moon glinting off of dark-colored scales and outline of a fin before it disappeared below the surface—but it was enough for her to be almost certain it was a merperson. What to do next, she wasn’t sure. She knew where to start, though; the real challenge would be in not coming off insane.

The next day, she headed to the library after lunch, a couple coffees in hand.

“Emma,” he greeted immediately, looking up from the computer at the circulation desk. His glasses were slipping down his nose a bit; paired with the huge, dimpled grin he was giving her, he’d never looked more adorable.

But the bulge of his biceps in that barely buttoned shirt sure said something else.

That wasn’t why she was here, though. (Well...not entirely.) “Hey,” she answered. “Thought you might need an afternoon pick-me-up...and maybe might be able to help me find a few more books?”

“Bribing me?” he insinuated as he strode around the desk. “That doesn’t seem your style.”

“Oh? And what is my style?”

He stood in front of her, practically invading her space; his warm scent mixed with that of the coffee and she was pretty sure that nothing had ever smelled as delicious. “You strike me as the type to go after what you want, and to hell with what anyone else says.”

He wasn’t far off, but she probably wasn’t as bold as he assumed. Then again, he definitely brought out a side of her that not even she had seen in years, possibly ever—it was one thing to put on a front and play a role as part of her job; it was a whole other thing to do it genuinely, and was both thrilling and terrifying.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she tossed back coyly. It was an instinctive response and probably a bit cool for where they were at, but those old walls of hers weren’t completely gone, and every now and then, they tried to get in her way.

“You know I do, Emma.” His sincerity tamped them back down for now, though.

She hid her responding smile in her coffee, taking a long sip as she handed Killian his. And she didn’t miss his own genuine, gentle grin as he took it.

“So, you were after marine biology?” he asked after swallowing a sip, but then stared down at the cup, surprised. “Oh—you got my order right!”

“I’m a PI; I notice things,” she responded as they headed to a different part of the library. “And it’s pretty hard to mess up black coffee.”

“You’d be surprised,” he answered, complainingly.

“Oh, no, I’m aware.” She hadn’t added that the reason it caught her attention was because it was her coffee preference, too. “But yeah, anything else we can turn up on sea life would help. And I could probably use some more fantasy books, to help pass the time. It’s not that exciting a cove,” she added, chuckling for reinforcement.

Thankfully, he laughed in agreement. “Aye, I’m sure we can find something for you there. Anything in particular strike your fancy?” he asked as he browsed the shelves in front of him.

“Well, if I’m hanging out by the sea, maybe some more stories like that? Like mermaids or something?” she answered as casually as she could muster.

He was silent as he pulled some books off the shelf and set them on the table in the nook. “Aye, I know we have a few,” he answered solemnly. “However, I’m not sure how accurate they’ll be.”

That took her by surprise—did he know something? “Oh? They’re not? How so?”

He shrugged. “I mean, growing up on the coast, you hear all the old fishermen’s stories, the legends,” he explained, returning to the shelf. “About how you shouldn’t get too close to sirens, how they lure sailors to their deaths. That sort of thing.” He chuckled as he grabbed another volume. “There’s this one story about a group of mermen in Scotland who basically challenge ship’s captains to rap battles. Bloody ludicrous,” he laughed.

She giggled with him, partly because his laugh was infectious and she loved its sound, but also because she knew it might not be as ridiculous as he thought.

“But I’ll see what we have. Maybe there’s something even crazier in those books,” he said with a wink and placed his damaged hand on the small stack he’d gathered. “This looks like everything else that we have; I’ll leave you to it and see what else I can find you for pleasure reading.”

“Thanks,” she called after him, and settled in for some completely unnecessary skimming. Unless there was a tiny breed of whale with really narrow, thin tails, she wasn’t going to get any leads in here. But at least she got to enjoy the view as he walked away.

An hour or so later, she was half glancing at the field guide in front of her and half texting Ruby while sipping her coffee when he came back, more books in hand. “There wasn’t a ton, but I managed to find a few things that should hold your interest.” She perked up as he came in, for multiple reasons, and looked over the spines when he set them on the table next to her. Some were old, some were clearly meant for children, one looked like a romance novel (since she now knew that that was a thing), but there was one that said Merfolk in gold foil that looked promising.

“Thanks! These will definitely keep me entertained.” She was itching to start going through them, but knew how that would look.

Thankfully, he redirected the subject. “How goes it here?” he asked, nodding at what she’d been half-reading.

“Pretty good,” she fibbed. “This one has a lot of good stuff in it—just what I was looking for, really.” (She’d at least had the courtesy to make it seem like she’d looked at the others, rearranging them into a messy stack.)

“Glad I could help,” he grinned back. God, she hated lying to that smile—but then it fell. “I hate to do this, or make it seem like I’m kicking you out,” he started, “but I have to head over to the elementary school in a bit so I’ll need to lock up. But obviously, you can check out anything you need, or come back later.”

“Oh! No, I don’t want to hold you up; let me just check out this one,” she said, adding the field guide to the top of the mermaid books, “and these, and I should be good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah; Snow probably has something for me to do before dinner tonight.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he agreed, chuckling. And without a word, he picked up the stack while she gathered the rest of her things, and walked with her to the circulation desk.

While she was digging out her library card for him, she could tell he was chewing his lower lip in thought. “I need to ask, just because I’m curious: where exactly have you been doing your surveillance for this job from?”

“Oh, Cruella offered me a spot by her place,” she said casually, handing over the dinged-up card. At least that wasn’t a lie, even if it wasn’t exactly what she did. (Though telling him she spent the night skinny dipping might not be the worst thing.)

He scanned the card and handed it back. “Have you actually seen anything?”

“Nothing conclusive. Thus: the books.”

“Fair point,” he conceded, then continued scanning while obviously thinking about something, brow slightly furrowed. “Well,” he finally said, “why don’t you investigate with me?”

He said it casually, looking up with another easy smile, but it made her freeze. Not at the idea of spending more time with him, obviously, but...it could be dangerous.

Because she knew that, come 11 pm, she wouldn’t want to leave, but she wasn’t sure if she was quite ready for any major revelations yet. And what if there really was something supernatural out there? How would he react to even that?

Although...it could be a good way to test the waters, in that regard.

She swallowed, hoping he didn’t notice her momentary nerves. “I could be probably be persuaded to. What’s in it for me?”

He scanned the last book and finalized the checkout in the computer. “Well, you know how comfortable my chairs are, and what my beer selection looks like,” he offered. “I’m right in the middle of the cove, so you’d have a good view of the whole thing.” As if to emphasize his point about a good view, he lifted the stack of books to set them on the counter by her, shifting open the V of his shirt in the process as the muscles of his chest moved underneath it. “And the added benefit of my delightful company,” he finished with his flawless grin.

“Hm, you make a mighty compelling case,” she mused as he walked around the counter. “I think I’ll have to take you up on that.”

“Excellent! That can be our next date,” he stated as she took the books in her arms.

“Next?” she queried, slightly jesting. “I don’t remember asking.”

“You’ll just have to forgive me for going out of turn,” he threw back, stepping into her space and smiling. But then his face became quite serious. “Will you go out with me again, Emma?”

His proximity was overwhelming her senses—his warmth radiated off him, carrying his scent with it, and the earnest hope in those sea blue eyes was all she could see.

She blamed her next action on her momentary intoxication: she rose ever so slightly on her toes and placed a small kiss on the apple of his cheek, where an old scar met a pair of freckles. “Yes,” she said quietly as she went back down on her heels.

His fingers brushed the now-rosy spot where her lips had just been and his eyes were wide in a shocked, bashful expression; heck, she was blushing herself from it, and how bold she was and how adorable he looked.

(She was totally screwed, wasn’t she?)

But of course, now she didn’t know what to say since she’d gone and done that, even if it was such a playground thing to do; it was obviously a huge deal for both of them. Better to get out now before the inevitable panic came. “See you later?” she said, for some reason saying it like a question even though she knew she would.

“O-of course,” he stammered back. “Snow would have my head if I bailed.”

Their shared chuckle set them both back ease. “Yup, she would. Til then.”

“I look forward to it.”

(Definitely, completely, 100% screwed.)

Somehow, Snow actually didn’t have anything for Emma to do at home other than some quick dusting; she even had the table set already. So Emma took advantage of the free time to dig into the new books.

The kids’ books were quickly tossed aside, cute as they were, but were clearly fiction. The older one was practically written in Old English and therefore indecipherable, so she ruled that one out until she could pick Killian’s British brain about some of it.

The romance novel...just, no. (Although she took a peek...and held onto it for later.)

She finally got to the one that had grabbed her attention earlier. The cover was blue leather embossed with images of a mermaid, merman, and other fish and shells surrounding the golden title. And inside was exactly what she needed: everything about merfolk, from where they lived, to when they were most visible, to how to avoid being drowned by a siren, even reproduction. (Which had her wondering if the author of the romance novel ever saw this, because the artists online sure hadn’t...oh God, why was she becoming an expert on this?)

She fell so deep into her research that she jumped a mile when the doorbell rang. And then it was a mad dash to make sure she didn’t look like a hot mess before heading downstairs; she tended to sprawl on her bed while reading, leaving her hair and clothes all sorts of rumpled. She changed into a not-wrinkled shirt and braided her hair before pounding down the stairs gracelessly and nearly stumbling at the bottom—right into Killian.

He caught her, though, and righted her on her feet. “Hello to you, too, love,” he joked.

“Ah, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine; don’t worry. Just glad I’d already handed off the wine,” he assured her, nodding toward Snow, who stood to the side in the entryway.

Emma cast a glance at her sister-in-law, but she knew what she was going to see: a cheesy, excited grin plastered all over her face at the sight of Emma in someone’s arms.

Oh, right—Killian was still holding her. It felt so comfortable—so natural—that she’d hardly noticed. So it probably looked exactly like whatever Snow was thinking.

He seemed to realize that, too, and gently squeezed her sides before stepping back. Uncertainty on his face told her that he wasn’t sure if he’d crossed a line or not, so she decided to tell him he hadn’t by grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the dining room, throwing a cheeky grin over her shoulder that he responded to in kind.

Thankfully, the rest of the night went by far less eventfully, in that regard, but she didn’t miss the way Snow seated them next to each other. (And then lit candles and dimmed the lights. It was basically a double date.)

(But, where she once thought she’d roll her eyes at something as cheesy as that, she not only enjoyed herself, but found herself looking forward to the possibility of more. That was definitely new. With Neal, she basically tried to keep him as far away from David as possible; whereas he and Killian almost got along too well.)

After dessert, Emma walked Killian down to the pond. The sun was still out, and Killian had already said he couldn’t stay terribly late, but she still wanted to show it to him. Even if she couldn’t explain the entire role of the pond in her life, it felt like a fair trade after he’d somewhat bared his soul on his ship.

They didn’t even talk much; just held hands and sat at the end, watching the sun set. It was simple, casual, slightly romantic, and just...easy. She even went so far as to rest her head on his shoulder; his spine momentarily stiffened at the contact, but then he sort of leaned back into her and she felt him place a kiss in her hair. How she didn’t melt on the spot was a question she couldn’t answer—maybe, in a cosmic play on words, she’d molt later?

The sun finally finished its descent, and Killian morosely declared that he should go. “But I’ll see you tomorrow night, right?” he asked as she walked him to the end of the gravel driveway.

“Definitely. I’ll bring pizza.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Another brief moment of awkwardness hit—neither was really sure how to say goodbye, and she kind of felt like the ball was in his court, placed there by her earlier peck on the cheek. But then there was his at the pond...so where were they?

He decided. Much like she had earlier, he leaned over her—immediately making her heart race—lightly gripped her shoulders, placed a kiss just to the side of her mouth, and murmured his goodbye. She somehow managed not to dissolve again while giving her own farewell as he started his walk home.

She waited until he was out of sight to head back into the house. That weird twinge in her side was back but she didn’t give a single damn—she was flying and she didn’t even have wings yet.

If Snow or Dave noticed her goofy grin or girlish sigh as she climbed the stairs, they didn’t say anything. And she didn’t even bother to go to the pond for her transformation—when her alarm went off, she just threw open her window, stripped down, and once in her swan form, flew out into the night.

She swooped around town a bit, slowly making her way to Killian’s cove (she knew it had a proper, contrived name, but that was what she was gonna call it now). The wind in her feathers made her feel as free as her heart felt light—the first time in ages she’d been able to say that.

But she was glad for the anonymity of her swan form, too; it was only because of that she felt able to express her joy. If Ruby or Granny were out tonight, they might have caught a glimpse of her flying, but it wasn’t like much could be deduced by a lazy flight pattern, right?

And she just wasn’t ready for it to be public knowledge yet. She trusted Killian, but not many other people or the kind of pressure they might put in them when they were both clearly so damaged by their pasts. Snow and David being aware was unavoidable; the rest of Storybrooke could wait.

She landed gracefully on the surface of the cove, swimming around in some happy little circles before starting what had become her usual rounds. Killian wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and neither was the merperson, but that was okay—she still had time to see them both.

Since nothing was happening and she didn’t want to risk passing out so far from home—even if showing up naked at Killian’s door didn’t seem like a completely terrible idea—she flew home to her pond, waiting for tomorrow.

The next day at lunch, Ruby tried to sniff out what was different about Emma, because apparently “the only way more endorphines would be rolling off of you would be if you’d had sex, and then I’d be smelling more than just you.”

Emma just rolled her eyes, laughed, and ate her onion rings, content to keep it to herself for the time being.

“I’ll figure it out!” Ruby promised.

“I’m sure you will.”

Ruby leaned over the counter conspiratorially. “Especially if it has to do with all the ones Killian was giving off this morning.”

Emma was equally concerned by that statement and thrilled by that fact.

Her hands had never been so shaky when holding a pizza as they were after she rang Killian’s doorbell. She took a deep breath to calm herself a bit lest the pizza become a tragic victim of her excitement—and no food as exquisite as pizza deserved that fate.

The door swung open only a moment later to reveal a grinning Killian, dressed in just a T-shirt and some ratty jeans but still looking terribly attractive.

“Hello, love; that smells delicious.” The leer on his face told her he wasn’t just talking about the pizza.

Ever the gentleman, he escorted her through his house—a cute little seaside cottage decorated in dark marine hues, both light and masculine at the same time—and then out the back door to the porch that connected to his dock.

“Well, it’s a nice evening; hopefully that’s amenable for your mystery creature,” he commented as they strode out to the end of it.

Anything she’d read said that merfolk typically only went to the surface once the sun started going down, to reduce risk of being seen. “Hope so,” she agreed, but she also had a feeling she might get a bit distracted.

He was glancing around at the water as they sat down. “This thing—it wouldn’t happen to be a swan, would it?”

Her heart skipped a beat and she froze in her seat. Shit. Did he know it was her? Had David said something? Or Ruby?

“I keep seeing one around here,” he continued casually, unaware of her distress as he opened his beer—and, she reminded herself, he wouldn’t have reason to suspect it might cause her that because he was a normal person, and normal people don’t expect their girlfriends to be the Swan Princess. He finished his observation with, “But I only ever see the one.”

She calmed herself and recovered quickly. “Oh? I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for, based on the description I was given, but what’s so unusual about that? Swans are pretty common.”

“They are, but don’t swans mate for life? So it’s weird to see just one by itself. I kind of feel bad for it,” he added as he opened the pizza box; even though logically she knew better, she still couldn’t tell if he was aware or not that he was actually talking to the swan.

“Well,” she started, choosing her words carefully. Maybe it was better to speak for herself as much as any hypothetical single swan (and, having been on the unwanted receiving end of a few aggressive male swans’ advances, she could speak from plenty of experience). “Maybe she just hasn’t found the right mate yet,” she stated, and then shoved a slice of pizza in her mouth before she could potentially stick her foot in it or reveal too much.

He seemed to catch her drift, though, reading her all too well. “Let’s hope it’s that, then, and she does find her mate someday,” he said, smiling softly.

She swallowed her bite (and her nerves, and possibly her sanity) and added, “I’m sure she will.”

They mostly spent the rest of the evening in companionable silence as they kept a lookout and watched the sunset. The sky put on a spectacular show but nothing from the ocean did, save for a few fish that flopped up and out. (“Is that what you’re after?” he teased. “I sure hope not,” she replied.)

And she’d been right—10:30 came around way too soon for her liking, even if they’d only held hands and drank beer the whole time. But it was just so relaxing and easy and nice; she’d had so little of that and was loathe to give it up.

The alternative—staying and revealing everything—wasn’t an option, though, so she pried herself away with the promise of returning the next night and another quick kiss on the cheek.

But just because she had to leave him didn’t mean she had to leave-leave. She drove to her secluded spot by Cruella’s, let the transformation happen, and headed back out on the water, hoping Killian had returned to the dock.

Alas, he hadn’t, and the house was dark—but he’d left his beer bottle on his chair, and his sweatshirt from earlier. She was chuckling internally (since she couldn’t out loud) at the adorableness of it when she heard a splash from the open water.

Her eyes jumped toward the sound in an instant. There wasn’t anything there, but she saw the ripples from where it had been. She dove under in an attempt to catch a glimpse, but it was too murky.

When she surfaced, it was to the sound of another splash and the sight of another ripple. Damn.

It got quiet for a few minutes, so she picked a dock (that wasn’t Killian’s) to hang out under and watch, hoping for another sighting.

And she didn’t have to wait long until she saw it: the same blue fin from the other night. Her mind hadn’t been playing tricks on her—it really did look like that: a gorgeous, deep blue, with light-colored specks and edges.

It slipped back under quickly and gracefully, but there was no denying anymore that it could be anything but a merperson—likely a man, judging by the size and shape of the fin (per the book).

She was actually kind of happy that Killian wasn’t here to see this; she was glad that she wasn’t completely rocking his world just yet. That bandaid covering knowledge of the supernatural could stay on a little bit longer before she ripped it off.

The merman surfaced (breached? No, that’s whales—she actually had read the field guide a bit, to be polite) a few more times, but then seemed to settle in for the night and everything went quiet.

She went back closer to her car for the night, slept, and woke just before dawn, as usual. There still wasn’t any action, but she’d noticed that Killian had gone out at some point to get the stuff he’d left behind—and she wasn’t at all surprised; she could easily picture him waking from a dead sleep to realize something was untidy.

She chuckled to herself—out loud this time—and drove home.

The next few nights passed very much the same: she’d bring food, or he’d already have some there (he made excellent seafood alfredo, it turned out) and they hung out on the dock, keeping watch and hanging out until she had to leave, which got harder and harder to do each night.

He started each evening hoping they’d have better luck than the night before, making Emma bite her tongue about the merperson; it became quickly apparent to her that it (he?) only came out later, making her wonder if their chatter frightened him away. It would make sense, if he was trying to avoid being seen. But Emma certainly wasn’t about to put the kibosh on these nights together.

One night, they talked a bit more about their pasts and mementos they carried—for her, some odds and ends from childhood but mainly her necklace and how it was the last thing Ruth gave her (but stopping at that, for obvious reasons); for him, a ring that had been his brother’s and the leather cuff on his wrist that had been passed down his mother’s family. (“Is that why you freaked out about the water on our date? You didn’t want to get it wet?” “Essentially.” That made sense now.)

On another, he pointed out the constellations to her and told how he used them to help navigate when he moved here. He didn’t want to rely on the GPS in the middle of the ocean, and it did cut out on him a few times. “Which one did you follow then?” she asked, laying next to him on a blanket spread out on the dock.

“That bright one there—Deneb,” he said pointing. “It’s part of the Northern Cross, which is also known as Cygnus—the swan.” She tried really hard to ignore the fact that a swan had led him to her.

And on the next, they’d scooted their chairs closer together in an attempt to cuddle; it had gotten chilly again, because Maine. He gave her his hoodie after they finished dinner—pancakes from Granny’s—but she was still shivering, so he just hauled her into his lap. She protested at first, but he really was warm.

And he was close—so close. She could see the golden flecks in the center of his irises and the faint freckles across his nose and the lush pinkness of his lips and then—and then they were on hers, soft and firm within the scratch of his scruff, and tasting like maple syrup. It didn’t last long, but it didn’t need to—it was perfect like that. (But she was also pretty sure her heart was beating so hard that her wings were going to sprout right then and there.)

Leaving was terribly difficult that night—especially because now that the seal was broken, they couldn’t stop kissing. Quick pecks, deeper kisses, a bit of tongue action—she wasn’t entirely sure how she got from the dock to her car without throwing him against every single vertical surface. (She somehow kept it to three.) They were even awkwardly kissing through the open Bug window before she slowly backed out.

But, like each night, she drove to her hiding spot, just barely throwing her car into park and getting her shirt off before the transformation took this time. (She was glad she’d at least gotten that far; there was definitely a night when she was a teenager that she spent tangled in a t-shirt.)

And there was the merman, like he had been the last few nights. He still never fully broke the surface, and eventually disappeared down there, but she did get some glimpses of pale skin that shined in bright contrast to the dark scales in the moonlight.

And now she wondered—just how close could she get to him? (Or should she even try?) She was being paid to, for one, but also to sate her curiosity.

She tried to decide what to do as she drifted off to sleep, but all she could really focus on was Killian—how incredible it was to kiss him, and how amazing other things might be.

And then she was taking a shower the next day and caught a glimpse of her soulmark; somehow, she’d forgotten about it in the past few days—completely Killian’s fault, she had to assume—but it almost seemed to mock her now.

So no, she decided; she probably wouldn’t try to meet the merman. That sounded like tempting fate, and even if fate was potentially tempting, she was pretty sure she had something even better now.

thanks for reading and sticking with me! tagging @kat2609 @thesschesthair @optomisticgirl @fergus80 @xpumpkindumplingx @shipsxahoy @selfie-wench @mryddinwilt @cocohook38 @annytecture @wingedlioness @initiala @fairytalesandtimetravel @word-bug @pirateherokillian @bleebug @its-imperator-furiosa @queen-mabs-revenge @flipperbrain @sherlockianwhovian @laschatzi @ive-always-been-a-pirate @jscoutfinch @nfbagelperson @stubble-sandwich @killian-whump @lenfaz @phiralovesloki @athenascarlet @kmomof4 @ilovemesomekillianjones @whimsicallyenchantedrose @snowbellewells @jackieorioncat @bmbbcs4evr @branlovesouat @jennjenn615 @jaiabean @therooksshiningknight @a-faekindagirl @technicallysizzlingcloud @deathbycaptainswan @superadam54

#cs ff #cs modern au #swan!emma #something in the water #my ff

69 notes · View notes

sunfrost23 · 5 years

Text

S. H. I. E. L. D. Sunday: AoS Season One Episodes 9-14 Reviews

Annnd we’re back once again at the start of a new week and it’s S. H. I. E. L. D. Sunday! WHOOP WHOOP! Today we’re reviewing the next four episodes of AoS, nine through twelve. When we last left our daring agents, they had just had a crazy run-in with some pagans and an Asgardian. But the very next morning, in a small town in Utah, a woman named Hannah Hutchins starts Magneto-ing as a result of harassment by the locals. See, she was the supervisor of the local particle accelerator, and the town blames her for an accident there which killed four men.

The team flies in from Dublin to perform the Index intake and assessment on Hannah (the Index is S. H. I. E. L. D.’s list of powered people), or, as Skye prefers to call it, the welcome wagon. Their efforts are interrupted by the still ticked-off locals, and the situation is only made worse when Hannah’s supposed telekinetic powers send a police car driving into the mob. To put an end to the tension, May tranquilizes Hannah and the team takes her on to the Bus.

The team is puzzled by the situation, since Hannah really seems like just the nicest person who would never use her uncontrollable abilities to hurt people. Skye is incessantly annoyed with May for pretty much the whole episode because of her lack of people skills, arguing that her methods just scare Hannah more and make the situation worse. Phil finally opens up about why May is called the Cavalry, revealing that years ago in Bahrain, they were trying to be the welcome wagon to a powered individual but it went horribly wrong. A bunch of agents and a little girl were taken hostage. May went in and neutralized the threat, but the girl died, and May was never the same.

Meanwhile, weird things are happening on the Bus, and the team eventually finds out that Hannah actually isn’t telekinetic. It turns out that one of the men thought to have died in the accident, Tobias Ford, isn’t dead; he’s just trapped between dimensions. He had a crush on Hannah and so he would purposely mess things up so that she would came to investigate and he could see her. One time he messed things up too badly, which led to the whole thing exploding, three of his co-workers dying, and him being trapped between dimensions.

All of those accidents that were happening were actually just him trying to protect Hannah from being harassed by the other people. He causes the Bus to lose power and they crash in a field, but May drags Hannah off the plane to lure Tobias away. They meet in a barn and May persuades him to let her go. He agrees and dissipates into nothingness. I actually don’t know if he’s dead…? He could be just trapped in that other dimension forever… which would be kind of sad…

I like this episode all right, it’s kind of another average one, but we start to learn a little bit more about May, which is cool. It also gets a little philosophical with Skye’s conversation with Hannah about God and His mercy. They actually get it kind of right, surprisingly? I don’t appreciate perpetuating the stereotype of evil nuns that run orphanages, but when Skye brings up how God is love and that He does forgive… that’s right. “That’s the version I like,” she says. That’s the only version!! Oh well, it’s still nice to see them get some of the truth.

Yeah, other than that everything’s pretty normal, the subplot with FitzSimmons trying to prank Skye and pretty much failing is funny, and… yeah. It’s good.

Next up is The Bridge, and in it we see the return of ya boi Mike Peterson from the first episode. Not surprisingly, this episode is connected to the Centipede program. This weird dude named Edison Po who cannot go ONE FREAKIN’ SECOND without shoving food in his face was broken out of prison by a bunch of soldiers juiced up the the Centipede serum. He’s a former Marine and acts as their organizer with Raina, so… that’s--that’s why they broke him out of prison. Anyway, the team eventually tracks down one of their facilities, a warehouse in California, but they’re too late. Po and Raina already split, but a few soldiers stayed behind to thwack anybody who showed up. Ward, May, and Mike manage to fight them off, and they discover that the soldiers have exploding camera eyes just like Akela Amador did.

Suddenly, Raina kidnaps Mike’s son Ace, and she meets with the team on a bridge to negotiate an exchange, hence the name. Everyone assumes that she wants Mike in exchange for Ace, but no no no, she actually wants Phil. *gasp* Of course, since Phil is a nice guy and he doesn’t want an innocent little boy to get hurt, he gives himself up.

Mike gives Ace to Skye and then immediately runs to rescue Coulson, but the bridge suddenly explodes, and Mike is caught right in it. Po and Raina escape with Coulson in a helicopter, informing him that they reason they captured him is because they want to know how he came back to life.

This is, like, the third episode that I feel like I forget about. I don’t really know why, since it’s, like, really important? Mike comes back and Coulson gets kidnapped, which leads directly into the next episode, and yeah. It’s another one that’s kind of average, but still not bad. I don’t think we’ve had a bad episode yet. It moves really quickly and it keeps you interested for the time you’re watching it, not to mention that crazy shocker-cliffhanger ending. Oh, and also Ace is adorable, so it’s all worth it.

The next episode is The Magical Place, and as you might guess from the title, in this episode we learn some more about the T. A. H. I. T. I. project. Since Coulson was kidnapped last episode, Victoria Hand is leading a task force to find him and hopefully destroy Centipede for good. Skye tries to hack into S. H. I. E. L. D.’s database to find information, but Hand is none too pleased about this and she kicks her off the Bus. Thinking on her feet, Skye employs an elaborate plan to pose as an agent and blackmail a corrupt businessman into helping her, since she can’t use any computers without them locking down. She traces Raina’s purchases and discovers where they’re keeping Coulson, then regroups with the rest of the team to go find him while Hand and all her agents go in the entirely wrong direction.

While all of this is going on, Phil is being held hostage in an abandoned town. Po interrogates him to try and uncover the secrets of his resurrection, since the Clairvoyant is veeeeerry interested in that. For all his vaunted “clairvoyance” he can’t see what happened, so Po uses a mind probe to try and see into Phil’s brain. His methods ultimately fail and the Clairvoyant kills him remotely with that same paralyzing technology from Iron Man.

Raina then takes over and uses her wicked manipulation skills to get Phil to willingly go into the machine. It awakens a bunch of traumatic memories and he starts screaming, “Please let me die!”

Right at this moment the whole gang shows up to rescue Phil and they arrest Raina. In gratitude for what she did to save him, Phil removes Skye’s bracelet, and he declares that their new mission is the track down the Clairvoyant. He also goes to see one of the doctors who worked on him, and discovers that he was dead for days before they figured out how to revive him. Since the experience was so painful, they replaced his memories with a beautiful island.

In the end tag, we see that *gasp* Mike is alive! But OH NO he’s missing half his leg and he has one of the eye cameras implanted in his head! AAAAAHHH

But seriously though, my heart just sank when I saw that for the first time. Poor Mike. He didn’t deserve what he got.

Overall I like this episode pretty well. I think the highlights are the time spent with Phil and Raina and it’s really cool getting to learn about the secrets of T. A. H. I. T. I. and all that. The other parts of the episode with Skye doing her thing is fine, but I don’t think it’s really the part of the episode that matters. It winds up being kind of forgettable in the end.

Episode Twelve is called Seeds, and it starts off with a couple cadets of the S. H. I. E. L. D. academy going swimming at night. Suddenly, the entire pool starts to freeze, and it looks like one of the kids, Seth Dormer, is going to be trapped, but he’s rescued at the last second by Donnie Gill. (who, for the record, was not originally with the swimming party. He was sitting in the corner like a loser.) Fearing that this may have been a murder attempt, Principle Anne Weaver contacts Fitz and Simmons to consult in the investigation, and Skye and Ward come along because… because of course they do.

Meanwhile, Coulson and May head off to Mexico to find former agent Richard Lumley, who may have information about Skye’s history. He reveals that he and several other agents were sent to China to retrieve an 0-8-4, which turned out to be the infant Skye. Her entire village had died protecting her from some kind of monster, and several of the agents were killed as well. She was finally hid inside the foster system to protect her, with protocol ensuring that she be moved around from house to house frequently.

Back at the Academy, FitzSimmons give a talk to try to encourage everyone to remain calm, but just as they’re doing so, Donnie is suddenly frozen in the same way the pool was. But, of course, Fitz and Jemma are there to save him, and so they do. Fitz tries to befriend Donnie to try and find out if anyone would target him, while the others go to collect intel from the other students.

Fitz, trying to be friendly, gives Donnie advice on his inventions, but then Ward discovers from one of the cadets that Donnie and Seth actually staged the freezing events to lure FitzSimmons there so that they could help them perfect their freezing device. Of course, he discovers this information too late to help Fitz (good job Ward) and the two boys, with parts supplied to them by Ian Quinn, successfully make a giant weather machine.

Quinn wants a demonstration before he seals the deal, and so they turn the machine on, causing a crazy superstorm to start around the machine. But since Quinn is a scumbag, he leaves the two gullible kids to deal with the problem themselves.

They fail in that regard, and lightning strikes the device, electrocuting both of them. Seth dies of cardiac arrest, but Donnie gets cryokinetic powers. He is incarcerated at the S. H. I. E. L. D. facility called The Sandbox and Coulson tells Skye what he learned about her past. She is understandably upset at first, but she finally says that she is comforted by the fact that S. H. I. E. L. D. has been protecting her her whole life.

In the little end tag thingy Phil calls Quinn to make threats, but Quinn is a smooth scumbag, and so he smugly replies, “The Clairvoyant says hello.” *gasp* What? It’s all connected? Woooowww

I feel like I always forget about this episode, but I’m not sure why, since it’s pretty good. It’s kind of different from anything else in the season and I like it. We learn a good chunk about Skye’s past, which is always nice, and Donnie Gill is a cool character. (pun 100% intended) There isn’t much to say and it isn’t spectacular, but it’s a solid episode.

All right, now it’s catch-up time for last week. Behold, the next four episodes!

Kicking things off with the thirteenth episode, T. R. A. C. K. S., which I have to preface by saying, this is my favorite episode of Season One. Why? Well read on…

Everyone’s favorite dirtbag Ian Quinn has made a purchase from a company called Cybertek Industries, and a secret team of mercenaries has been hired to escort it through the Italian countryside. Guessing that the package is important, and wanting to apprehend Quinn after discovering that he’s allied with the Clairvoyant, Phil and the gang go undercover as normal passengers on the train transporting the package.

May goes in pursuit of the package, but the comms suddenly short out and Phil and Ward get kicked off the train and stunned by a dendrotoxin grenade. (dendrotoxin is what’s in the night-night guns. So… it’s makes you go to sleep.) May abandons the train to continue hunting down the package, but she is captured by the local police chief, who has been accepting bribes from Cybertek to make sure their shipments go through safely.

Back on the train, chaos happens and Jemma gets stunned by one of the same grenades that got Ward and Phil. Skye and Fitz stash her in a luggage carrier and get off the train, following the mercenaries to Quinn’s mansion. In the meantime, May escapes from the dirty police chief and kills him, regrouping with Ward and Phil, who recovered from their temporary stunned… ness. They get back on the train and find Simmons, who has also recovered.

Skye and Fitz have arrived at Quinn’s mansion, and Skye goes in alone, looking for the package in the basement. She instead finds Mike Peterson, and he has… uh, he’s looked better, you know what I’m saying? Quinn then shows up and reveals that the package is a bionic leg, which he attaches to Mike. He receives orders from the Clairvoyant and leaves, but Quinn, THE FILTHY LITTLE SCUM THAT HE IS, shoots Skye. In the stomach. Twice.

Coulson and the team arrive just in time, arresting Quinn and rushing Skye to the nearest S. H. I. E. L. D. medical facility. In the end tag, we learn that Mike’s leg was developed by Cybertek as part of Project Deathlok. And then all the comics fans lost their minds.

I seriously love this episode. I love whenever the team does more traditional spy stuff, like going undercover, and all of their fake roles are a treat to watch. It has an unconventional structure but I really like it, because I think it helps build the tension very effectively. We also get hilarious scenes like Fitz and Skye pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend and Ward utterly failing at using the holotable on the Bus, which may be the best part of the episode.

Of course, all of the comedy dies (quite literally) at the end, where the tension is crazy. It’s legitimately shocking when Quinn shoots Skye, and I remember how it just hurt my soul to watch it happen. It was all so well done, in my opinion, and I just… it’s great.

So yeah, obviously I have nothing but praise for this one, and it’s one of my all-time favorites.

In the next episode, T. A. H. I. T. I., the team is rushing Skye to the hospital. The doctor soon tells them that there’s nothing they can do, and it looks like all hope is lost--

Well, no, not all hope is lost, and Phil is determined to save her. He decides that if doctors brought him back from the dead, then they must be able to save Skye. As they’re flying to find one of these doctors, Phil discloses the nature of his resurrection to Fitz and Simmons, stating that whatever was used to heal his fatal wounds can be used to save their fellow teammate.

They’ve also got resident slimeball Ian Quinn aboard, and S. H. I. E. L. D. orders that Coulson deposit him at a facility, but Phil doesn’t want to waste time on silly things like orders, and so he keeps Quinn in custody. Since he, y’know, disobeyed a direct order, they are quickly boarded by agents John Garrett and Antoine Triplett, also known as Trip. They’ve been hunting Quinn for a while, but since Phil and Garrett are old pals, they agree to let Quinn stay on the Bus until they save Skye.

Garrett interrogates Quinn, who reveals that the Clairvoyant ordered him to shoot Skye, the goal being that Phil would be forced to find out how he was brought back from the dead. The Clairvoyant is obsessed with finding that out, although it’s curiously the one piece of information he doesn’t already know.

It turns out that their original destination was a dead end, but FitzSimmons dig through some files and discover an old World War II bunker called the Guest House, which appears to be connected to Phil’s resurrection. They fly there instead, but they don’t know the countersign to get in. Phil still doesn’t give a flip about anything and busts in anyway with Garrett, Ward, and Fitz, killing the guards. That’s morally questionable, but it backfired anyway because there’s a failsafe installed which is going to blow up the whole base.

Phil and Fitz find the drug that healed Phil’s fatal wounds, GH-325, and Fitz rushes it back the bus. Phil, however, decides he wants to wander around for a little while, and he just barely makes it out in time with Ward and Garrett. As they get back on the bus, Phil suddenly screams at Jemma to not give the drug to Skye, but it’s too late--she’s already injected into her.

Everything works out fine anyway, and Skye stabilizes and shows signs of recovery. May asks why Phil was being a freakin’ weirdo and shouting not to administer the life-saving drug, and he claims that he just didn’t want Skye to suffer like he did. That is a LIE, however, because the real reason is that while he was wandering around in the Guest House, he discovered the source of the drug: the corpse of a blue alien. (which is a Kree, by the way, but he doesn’t know that.)

In the end tag, a mysterious woman named Lorelai shows up and convinces a man to abandon his wife for her. Exciting.

Yeah, there’s a LOT going on in this episode, and it all goes pretty well. It’s pretty intense, and it continues to reveal more about the oh-so-mysterious T. A. H. I. T. I. project. I’d probably rank it higher than some of the earlier episodes of this season, but it’s not one of my personal favorites. There’s nothing wrong with it, it just doesn’t come to mind first when I think of stand-out episodes of Season One.

I didn’t review all of the episodes I was supposed to, but I’m tired and nobody’s reading this so why does it matter. I will get fully caught up next week. Good night.

#agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.#sunday #s. h. i. e. l. d. sunday #reviews #tv shows

1 note · View note

gretchensinister · 6 years

Text

Burgess Wilderness Recreation Area 20/?

And so continues the story I began for the Black as Pitch Halloween event. It’s the kind of story I’m sure you know well. Five college kids, a cabin, and a state park that just doesn’t get many visitors any more… (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19)

Tooth pressed herself against the tiny, fold-down seat behind Katherine in the pickup. She felt a little safer than before, but fought against that feeling. Cars weren’t safe, no matter how ordinary they were.

Katherine gave her a worried look, and Tooth gave her a worried look right back. “I’m going to be right on the edge of freaking out until we’re back in town,” Tooth said. “If you’re waiting for me to be more settled before we go…well, don’t.”

“We’re not waiting,” Luc said. “We’re heading out right now. I just wanted to make sure everything in the back was secure.”

“Good,” Tooth said quietly as he started the truck and they pulled away. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to hunch over or stare intently out the window. She didn’t want to see the monster again, but she also didn’t want to leave Katherine and Luc to watch for it themselves. She wrapped her arms around herself. “Luc?” she said. “If you see anything in the road…don’t stop for it. Please. Just go around it, as fast as you can.” Did that sound crazy? Sure it did, at least a little bit. But Katherine and Luc had been kind, so far, and this request was an easy one. It was probably what they would’ve done anyway. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. Now they would ask why, and she didn’t have a good answer. She didn’t even know how long it would take for her to come up with a good answer.

Luc and Katherine exchanged a look, and Tooth braced herself to give a bad answer that would only lead to more questions. She could handle that. She could handle that as long as they kept the truck moving.

But, blessedly, they asked her nothing. And maybe in that look—well, she was probably imagining things, but she thought that in that look there’d been some sort of understanding. It seemed almost as though they suspected there was something about this horrible situation that wasn’t like anything anyone had ever seen.

She was probably reading too much into it, but then again, why were they out here on Sunday? Maybe they did know something. But if they did know something, how safe was she with them? They’d let her friends go to the park in the first place.

But even with that thought, she didn’t feel any fear. They were still people, and she could understand them better than she could understand the monster.

“We won’t stop for anything,” Luc said. “Well, maybe a fallen tree.”

“Don’t joke about that,” Tooth said. “It could happen.”

“Riti,” Katherine said, “I know you didn’t want to talk about what happened until we’re out of the park, but I want you to know…Luc and I found out some things about the history of the park this morning and that’s why we came. We weren’t sure of anything specific, but we…thought we might need to check on you.”

“So you didn’t know?” Tooth asked. “You didn’t know that—that something like this would happen?”

“No, not at all,” Luc said. “Even what we found, it was…almost unbelievable.”

“Good thing for me it was only almost,” Tooth said. She slumped over a little. There wasn’t any point in being alert, now, was there? The monster would get them or it wouldn’t. Running was all they could do, and the truck was doing the running now. She could rest, if not sleep. Definitely not sleep. Maybe not sleep for a very, very long time.

***

“Your fears are different from the other humans’,” Pitch Black said. “That is how I was first able to distinguish you.”

Sandy recalled what he’d told Tooth about his fears. “What did you make of them?”

“I was fascinated by the way they were bound so closely to many other emotions,” Pitch said. “Your fear was tied to loneliness, and longing, and curiosity, and wonder, and yet it was not sharply defined. And there was something else your fear was joined with, though it is difficult for me to describe it in your language. It is as if it is something you have never heard of, though it is still with you, even now.”

If Pitch couldn’t figure out what this last thing was, Sandy suspected this was only because he was trying very hard not to think about it. Which meant that he probably knew what it was and, one, that he honestly couldn’t believe himself, and, two, that he was going to continue to determinedly not think about it until…until the moment he needed to. Which might actually occur. Good Lord. At least he’d never have to live this day again.

“Whatever that is, I still don’t see how it would make you choose me,” Sandy said.

“That is true; what I have said is only enough for me to hunt you after those with clearer fears.” Pitch looked off into the distance. “Your fears caused me to notice your curiosity and wonder. I chose my offspring because she was filled with curiosity and wonder, and for her, these things were centered in the forest in which I live and in which she could live. I knew she could appreciate my home, and when I talked to her it appeared to me that she could be happier here and in a new form than as the human she was when I met her.”

Under what circumstances did that conversation take place? Sandy wondered. He could only assume they’d been rather different from his, but of course he didn’t know. And who knew if the monster had interpreted events the same way she had? All at once he felt bad that he didn’t know her name. But from the way the monster had reacted when he’d exchanged names with him, it was possible that asking her name might be interpreted as interest in her, or something. That wouldn’t help draw the monster’s attention in the way that he needed it to be drawn. But then, I shouldn’t worry, he grimly reassured himself. If I become like them, then I’ll have plenty of time to learn her name. We’ll be one big happy family.

Pitch continued on, apparently unconcerned with any flux of emotion he might have sensed from Sandy.

“It was not an appreciation of this forest that drew me to you,” Pitch said. “But there is something in you that can understand my being in a new way. You are drawn to the unique. You are drawn to things you do not fully understand. This draws me to you. In prosperity, I realize there are many things I do not understand about myself and my existence. I never needed to understand these things, and I have been able to protect my offspring without such understanding. I know there is nothing that could stop me from investigating these mysteries with my offspring, but what if the answers were things she would be happier not knowing? I would not have protected her properly then. You, I think, would not fear the answers to any questions. And I think you would be an excellent being to explore existence with.”

Pitch settled his head on his arms. “What would be the point of discovering things that make no difference to survival, if there was no similar being to share such discoveries with? And it does not matter that there would doubtless be more mysteries once you changed. I believe I would enjoy solving these with you.”

Sandy, with a horrified lurch, realized that he’d been listening to the monster fairly, as if he was a regular person and this was a regular first date. What was happening? Pitch was right there in front of him, obviously not human, obviously monstrous. No matter what he said, no matter how interesting it sounded, that didn’t erase the past twenty-four hours. Ugh. Why was he like this? How was he like this?

He desperately wished he had someone to talk to. He also desperately wished for another beer, but the only beer anywhere close was back at the cabin, and the only person who was around to talk to was, well, Pitch.

Sandy pressed his lips together and looked at Pitch. Under other circumstances, it might not be so bad to talk to Pitch. Sure, his appearance was alarming, but his voice…his voice was surprisingly pleasant. Maybe because he only needed a voice to talk to his offspring? He wouldn’t need to use it for terror, since he already had so many other weapons for that.

Fuck. He really did need a drink. If not beer, then at least a soda or something. And Pitch seemed to like explaining himself, so maybe…

Ah, fuck it. He seemed to keep forgetting what was really going on and assuming this situation could get worse in a normal way. But things were already fucked, almost as much as they could possibly be.

“Okay,” he said. “You’ve made yourself clear, and what you’ve said doesn’t sound too bad, but I’ve still got a huge problem with you. You killed my friends. That’s horrible, and it’s not something that I can just get over. Also, I’m still human, and right now I could use something to drink, so I don’t get distracted by thirst as I try to make a decision.”

The monster fixed him with a look of what seemed to Sandy like surprise. “What decision do you have to make?”

Sandy managed a small smile. “I have to decide if I want to try to be your companion or not. Don’t think I won’t make myself unsuitable if you can’t convince me that I’ll be happier with you than I would be dead.”

Pitch now looked actually worried, or so Sandy thought, based on the twitchiness of Pitch’s movements. “You can’t be happy when you’re dead,” he said.

“Maybe, but I can’t be unhappy, either,” Sandy said. Maybe he did have a little power here. He just hadn’t realized it because he also hadn’t realized how much the monster wanted him to be suitable.

Pitch narrowed his eyes and turned his head to the side. “There are many things about the things you have said that I do not think I understand,” Pitch said. “I will…I will take you to the cabin where you and the other humans were, and you can find something to drink there. You can also find something to eat there. And we will continue to talk.”

#blackaspitch #WHAT am I even DOING #toothiana #katherine #nightlight #Pitch Black #sanderson mansnoozie #rise of the guardians #rotg #fic #if you like it consider reblogging #I live and breathe for comments

5 notes · View notes

heistseason · 3 years

Text

One-page Summary

Tomás, a rebellious boy, is transferred to another college campus due to being considered a “dangerous person” by the local government. However, with some family influence, he escapes going to jail in exchange for leaving the South forever and go live on the North. This way, he’ll never be allowed to step a foot on the South ever again, due to magical boundaries and the local law. Tomás keeps it as a secret, as he doesn’t know who he can trust in the new city, neither the other people’s reactions when they know about his legal status.

As soon as he gets at the campus, he is met by Levi Zetterstrom, a former childhood friend whom he had a fall out with in his teenage years. Difficult memories are incited by this encounter, and later on he finds out that the last party of their trio, Farid El-Khayed, is missing. As Farid was the only thing that still linked them, they are forced to get together by the circumstances to find out what happened to him. And to do this, they’ll play a dangerous game called Heist Season.

Heist Season consists of entering the game by finding a rabbit hole, which is the any player’s first contact with the game. If the player solves the rabbit hole, they’re met with several clues involving town’s history and magic, which will lead them to the next clue. There are several players in the game, which usually play in groups, and the main goal is solving the riddles first. Whoever solves it first, wins the game. However, rumour has it that the deity who’s behind the game loves spreading chaos, and it’s common that some people go beyond the limits playing the game. Some people disappear, some go crazy, and some even end up hurting other players.

The Heist’s judge is the deity behind it all, and they require that everyone reaches the final riddle — the finish line. If not, the player is sure to forget their most prized possession. They also are known to incite players against each other for their own amusement, creating conflicts and feeding people their own fears.

He gets tricked into playing the game by another player called Bonifacio Gutiérrez, a bounty-hunter hired by his family to track him down. The way Bonifacio found out to tie Tomás to Montmorency was to enroll him in the game, as he didn’t really cared what happened to him and just wanted the money the Navarro clan would give him.

The North is formed by several clans, who managed to win the war with their influence and power, despite the alarming number of dead soldiers. One of this clans is the Navarro Clan, Tomás’ family, responsible for keeping him away from jail after his struggles with the law. His grandfather, Erasmo Navarro, was the one who dealt with the law, and his last wish before passing away was to make the family together again. In order to accomplish that, Sabine, his favorite grandchild and Tomás’ cousin, tracked down the boy’s past — it didn’t take long to find out about his relationship with Levi, who played a big part on the process to find Tomás.

The rival team that contains high-ranking people from two important student societies, the Student Council and the Model UN. The Silverman Campus has power struggles between several groups, but amongst them, this particular one is famous for spine-chilling secrets that involve them. One of this rumors is about Farid’s disappearance, which immediately gets his interest. The Model UN, known for their arrogance and self-indulgence, usually helps the corrupt Student Council to get away with their schemings. Against them, the secret societies make sure that they don’t have too much fun and often spoil their fun.

He’ll have to face Emmanuel, the Student Council’s corrupt and hedonistic president; Louis, his best friend and right-hand man; Satya, an overachiever who will stop at nothing; Mi-Kyung, a former famous athlete with a thirst for revenge; and Camille, a classmate hell bent on recovering a family heirloom lost in the game.

Despite his attempts of avoiding problem, he’ll realize that Bonifacio tied him to Montmorency, which will lead later on to a big fight, as the bounty hunter didn’t know that Tomás was being forced to stay in the North by magically binding law. Meanwhile, a trouble-making spirit is behind the game, and they don’t plan on releasing Tomás from it anytime soon. The deity finds him interesting, as he’s shaking several power struggles and the status quo with his no-nonsense attitude towards life.

Alongside Tomás, a secret society is allied to antagonize the Secret Council. Its name is The Order of the Infernal Aura, founded by students decades ago with the purpose of pissing off people they disliked, but with the excuse of “forming a group of talented sorcerers in order to expand their magic talents”. Erasmo, Tomás’ grandfather, is a former Infernal Aura president, just like his cousin. Alongside it, female and female-leaning members from the Infernal Aura branched their studies and created Sagesdötter, that focuses on female magic.

The Infernal Aura is composed by: Lysander, a former high-rank Student Council member; Cairo, the president of the Secret Society with a hero complex; Burke, a journalism student who’s hell bent of discovering the truth; Irina, a double agent who’s spying for them against the Student Council; and Lykke, Irina’s girlfriend and heir of his family’s mortal enemy.

As he plays the game, he will start figuring out about the power struggles in the campus and how they play a big part on the game. Since he’s a newcomer, he will have personal interactions with each of the members of the teams and form opinions of his own about them, despite other people’s opinions about each other. This will be a step forward on figuring out the clues for the Heists, which is the goal, so they can finally reach the last goal and win the game.

The reason why he joined the game was to investigate Farid’s disappearance with Levi, so they will start playing the game and narrowing down who might be suspects. First Levi will tell Tomás when he disappeared and if anything happened that night, like a fight with anyone or any possible reason for Farid to disappear. Police is not involved, as they believed that Farid ran away and there is no reason to investigate. Tomás isn’t big on authorities, so we’re just plain on ignoring them in this book. Several people would want him missing

However, when they get to it, he will find out that Farid’s disappearance was a lie fabricated by the seniors and forced by the deity to keep tradition alive.

0 notes

orbemnews · 3 years

Link

The Webb Telescope, NASA’s Golden Surfer, Is Almost Ready, Again Birthing a new space telescope takes a long time and a lot of money and inspiration. Astronomers first began pestering NASA for the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope even before that telescope was launched into orbit in 1990. Back then they thought it could cost less than a billion and be ready in the first decade of the 21st century. Thirty years, $8.8 billion, multiple mishaps and budget crises and a threatened congressional cancellation later, the James Webb Space Telescope is finally ready. NASA now plans to launch it into orbit as early as Oct. 31 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket supplied by the European Space Agency, from a site in French Guiana. During a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society, technicians and engineers showed off the telescope for what they hoped would be the last time to humans on the ground. “The next time the observatory looks like this,” said NASA’s Eric Smith, project manager for the telescope, “it will be beyond the moon and appear to us as a roughly 17th-magnitude point source.” Completely assembled in its clean room at Northrop Grumman in Los Angeles, the telescope, as viewed over a virtual “town hall” meeting during the conference, resembled a giant sunflower riding on a surfboard. The flower’s petals are 18 gold-plated beryllium hexagons joined to form a dish more than 20 feet across. The surfboard, on which it will float eternally on the far side of the moon, is a sandwich of five layers of a plastic called Kapton that will shield the telescope from the heat and glare of the sun. The telescope, named for the NASA administrator who led the agency through the development of the Apollo program, is almost three times larger than the vaunted Hubble and seven times more powerful in its ability to discern faint stars and galaxies at the edges of time. To get them into space aboard the Ariane 5 rocket supplied by the European Space Agency, the shield and the telescope mirror will have be folded up, then must unfold a million miles out in space in a series of some 180 maneuvers in the first month after launch. The steps of that deployment have been practiced over and over in the last few years. An early rehearsal ripped the sun shield, causing yet another delay to the project. The engineers think they have it right now, but they refer to the impending outer-space unfolding and testing period as six months of terror. And there are still a couple of half-inch tears in the Kapton that need to be patched, Dr. Smith said. The Webb telescope’s mission is to explore a realm of cosmic history that was inaccessible to Hubble. About 150 million to a billion years after time began, the first stars and galaxies were born and began burning their way out of a gloomy fog of hydrogen gas that prevailed at the end of the Big Bang. Exactly how that happened is unknown. The mission requires the Webb to be tuned to a different kind of light than our eyes or the Hubble can see. Because the expansion of the cosmos is rushing those earliest stars and galaxies away from us so fast, their light is red-shifted to longer wavelengths, much as the siren from an ambulance shifts to a lower register as it speeds by. Thus, blue light from an infant galaxy way back then, bursting with bright new stars, has been stretched to invisible infrared wavelengths — heat radiation — by the time it reaches us 13 billion years later. As a result, the Webb telescope will produce cosmic postcards in colors that no eye can see. But to detect those faint emanations of heat, the telescope must be very cold — less than 45 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero — so that its own heat does not wash out the heat from outer space. Hence the need for the sun shield, which will keep the telescope in permanent, frigid shade. As it turns out, infrared emissions are also ideal for studying exoplanets, worlds that belong to other stars. That approach was encouraged in 1996 in a pivotal report, “HST and Beyond, Exploration and the Search for Origins: A Vision for Ultraviolet-Optical-Infrared Space Astronomy,” from a committee led by Alan Dressler of the Carnegie Observatories. Their vision was prescient. At the time, exactly three exoplanets were known. In the decades since, while the Webb telescope was wending its way through a painful development, exoplanet research has bloomed. NASA’s Kepler mission found thousands of exoplanets, implying that there are hundreds of millions in the galaxy for astronomers and the Webb to observe. Indeed, one of the most anticipated early results from the Webb will be of the planets in the Trappist-1 system, just 40 light-years from here. It contains seven planets, three of which are rocks the size of Earth in the so-called habitable zone, where water could exist. Among other things, the Webb telescope will be able to sniff the atmospheres of these planets by seeing how they interact with light from their respective stars — a first step toward investigating whether potentially habitable planets are truly habitable or even perhaps inhabited. The ungraying of astronomy That search for life is front and center in a new documentary film about the Webb telescope, “The Hunt for Planet B,” which was made by Nathaniel Kahn and will premiere at the South by Southwest Festival in March. The film, somewhat to Mr. Kahn’s surprise, also documents a sociological revolution in astronomy — namely, that many of the leaders in the field of exoplanets are women. Feature billing goes to researchers like Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute, a pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial civilizations; Natalie Batalha of the University of California, Santa Cruz, a leader of the Kepler mission who is now planning Webb observations; Margaret (Maggie) Turnbull, an expert on habitable planets at the University of Wisconsin, and a former candidate for governor of that state, whom Mr. Kahn interviewed as she tended her backyard beehives; and Amy Lo, a Northrop engineer who works on racecars when she is not working on making all the Webb pieces fit together. “It doesn’t matter what I think,” Dr. Tarter says when asked by Mr. Kahn about life in the universe. The pundits and priests have been removed from the equation: “We’re not doing religion here, we’re doing science.” Mr. Kahn was nominated for Oscars for his film “My Architect,” about his father, the architect Louis Kahn, and “Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story,” about a pianist who lost the use of one hand to a neurological condition. He is a longtime amateur astronomer. He had set out to make a film about the building of the telescope, but one of the joys of filmmaking, he said in an interview, is that “you start out making it about one thing, Webb, and it evolves naturally into a much deeper story. And that’s really the emergence of women at the forefront of astronomy.” Sara Seager, a planetary expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose story helps frame the film’s narrative, said the emergence made perfect sense. “When exoplanets was a brand-new field, the field by definition couldn’t be dominated by old white men,” she told The New York Times in an interview. “In fact, older scientists were reluctant to jump into a brand-new and seemingly risky field, so there were few to no people to inflict their biases on the community.” Dr. Seager recalled being shocked when she started attending cosmology conferences that almost all the speakers were men with white or gray hair. “Simply, in cosmology there were no niches for new types of people to join,” she said. “In the exoplanets subconference, no one was over age 40 and most were under age 30.” Dr. Batalha said that the exoplanet field was originally led by men like Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the Geneva Observatory, who shared the Nobel Prize in 2019 for discovering the first exoplanet, and William Borucki of NASA’s Ames Research Center, who conceived and led the Kepler mission, but women had flourished and advanced. “If you talk to the senior females in exoplanet science, you’ll find that all of our stories are different,” Dr. Batalha said. “We survived for different reasons. And we stayed for different reasons. And now that we’re here, perhaps other young women can more easily imagine themselves pursuing the same path.” Forward to the past So far 4,332 astronomers from 44 countries and 45 states, plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, have submitted proposals for the first round of Webb observations, according to numbers supplied by Christine Chen of the Space Telescope Science Institute during the Webb show-and-tell. About 31.5 percent of the researchers are female, which roughly tracks with recent statistics that one-third of astronomy Ph.D.s go to women. “We naturally have diversity built into it,” Dr. Smith, the project manager, said of the Webb program during the recent show and tell. He added: “As scientists, we also know that the universe reveals itself rarely through data that conform to our models or theories, that rather it is those data that lie outside our expectations that point us closer to a universal truth. And so, just as we know we must seek to understand our data that are different from our preconceived notions, to understand the cosmos better, we need to seek different viewpoints when we conceive and build missions.” The launch of Webb in the fall will be among the grand events of space science this year, along with the next robot invasion of Mars, set to occur this winter when the latest fleet of robots lands there. It’s not crazy to think that if this pace continues, we might well learn in the next half-century that life exists in some form in the nearby cosmos, whether hiding under the ice of a giant planetary moon, under a rock on Mars or sweltering in some alien extraterrestrial swamp. Any hint would be a giant step toward understanding the whys and wherefores of our own origins. As Dr. Dressler and his co-authors wrote in their 1996 report, “A remarkable triumph of 20th-century astronomy is the demonstration that this notion is true: that our origin, and perhaps our destiny, lies among the stars” Alluding to the popularity of science fiction in movies, television and books, they wrote that “increasingly, great themes of human existence are being projected into space.” “Our physical journeys into the cosmos are maybe generations in the future,” they concluded, “but our minds already live in the Space Age.” Source link Orbem News #golden #NASAs #Ready #surfer #telescope #Webb

0 notes