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ssa-lesbian · 4 years

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criminal minds rewrite, with jemily endgame

rewrite 1: jemily was always gonna happen

s2e18, jones: jj wakes up with emily in her bed. it is implied that this isn’t the first time this has happened, and when jj suggests they stop, emily gets upset. they begin avoiding each other. the team notices but they don’t comment on it until they’re alone. jj is hit on by will but she struggles with her own feelings about emily and eventually brushes off will by explaining she’s in love with someone else. episode concludes with her approaching emily about their relationship, and it is implied they make up.

s3e17, in heat: it is revealed emily and jj are still sleeping together and “kinda maybe” dating but are super quiet about it. they meet will in florida and he accidentally outs them to the team, as he figured it out when they were in new orleans and thought the rest of the team knew. emily was already out, but jj is worried about the implications of being in an out relationship despite her team’s reassurances. episode concludes with emily telling jj she understands if she still wants to be secret, but jj takes a deep breath, locks eyes with her, and tells her “no. i need to be me. and that means loving you, no matter what.” and then they passionately make out.

s3e18, the crossing: end of the episode, jj tells emily she’s expecting their first kid. emily just loses it and bawls her eyes out. (she’s trans and sired the baby)

s3e20, lo-fi: the rest of the team finds out about the pregnancy when jj is hit with morning sickness and everyone’s like “lol are you pregnant or something” and she’s quiet for a moment too long and they’re like “oh my god you’re pregnant”

s4e7, memorium: agent todd flirts a little with emily, but emily kindly explains she’s dating jj and jj is carrying their child. todd is mortified but emily and jj think it’s cute. when jj goes into labor, emily cannot stop crying. she’s afraid to hold henry at first, but when she does, she cries even harder. she’s a fucking baby. also garcia and reid are still named their godparents, or honorary uncles and aunties since neither are particularly religious.

emily keeps showing the team pictures of henry when jj’s gone. all she does is talk about henry. everyone makes fun of her for it but secretly they’re glad she’s so happy.

s6e2, jj: jj still leaves for the pentagon. she and emily still live together, just different jobs.

s6e2-e18: jj doesn’t know about emily’s past, and emily doesn’t know about her afghanistan mission. emily never wanted to think about her old life, and jj didn’t want to burden emily.

s6e18, lauren: when emily disappears, jj isn’t targeted by doyle because she was in afghanistan and henry was with her mom, who took him to disneyland that week (whatever, rough timelines). she’s notified and her son and mom put into protective custody and immediately joins the bau to track down emily and doyle. jj is the one to ride in the ambulance with emily to the hospital and is also holding her hand when she codes. she nearly loses it when emily comes back. jj then makes the call, transferring her to a different hospital and calling only hotch. when emily wakes up from her operation, jj explains everything before going back to the original hospital and telling the team. “blackbird” is still a thing, just more kissing on the jet. her two weeks in paris with her are her last for a very long time. scrabble is still their only communication. jj tells henry that emily will be with them soon and he just has to wait. no one has the heart to tell him otherwise. little did they know—

s6e18–s6e24: her daughter was conceived in paris, and this is when the horrible afghanistan mission went down. jj doesn’t think about it much. she doesn’t tell emily until much, much later.

s7e1, it takes a village: jj rejoins the bau and brings back emily. they kiss a lot.

s7e6, epilogue: when emily brings up her death, jj is startled, as that was a memory she specifically pushed away because of how painful it was.

s7e23, hit: fluffy domestic jemily in the beginning. emily is a bit off and jj asks why. emily tells her not to worry about it. the whole interpol situation is brought up, and emily brushes off jj’s insistance. emily is sent in undercover with another cop to try and sneak in, but their lines are cut short after two gunshots. jj loses it. just as the ranks move in, the bombs go off.

s7e24, run: emily is taken as the hostage this time. izzy still fucks with jj and henry and jj beats her up. morgan finds emily with the bomb strapped to her, and emily tells morgan to go. he snaps at her— “i’m not leaving you. not ever.” it’s a callback to when morgan found her impaled by doyle and blamed himself for her “death”. i love parallels. the bomb is dismantled. in the hospital, emily talks with jj about interpol. jj encourages her to take the job since it’s a huge promotion. they’ll still see each other, just not always. jj doesn’t take it well but she tries. it’s not a wedding but a going-away party. jj and emily kiss tenderly before emily turns and walks away.

s8-s9: jj is on her phone a lot and smiling; it is implied she’s looking at emily’s texts.

s9e14, 200: when jj is kidnapped, her disappearance is noted by sandy, who was watching henry and was supposed to pick him up that morning. first thing hotch does is call emily, but she’s on an assignment without service. a few hours later, he calls her again, and that’s when she flies over. same thing, yada yada. blackbird. she finds and saves her. they kiss so much. emily stays with her for the next few weeks making sure jj recovers before moving back to interpol.

s10e11, the forever people: when jj’s trauma is called out by reid, he calls emily, who flies over. she stays with her as she breaks down. michael is conceived during this time period.

s11e1, the job: when jj calls hotch, emily is home with her, having taken a few months off for maternity leave

s11e7, target rich: one of the new framed photos on jj’s desk is of emily holding michael.

s11e19, tribute: basically the entire episode, except in the beginning emily wakes up by herself. the episode continues as usual, they just hold hands and touch each other and kiss each other more. when tara first meets her, she says “oh, jj’s girlfriend” and emily’s smile is so big.

s12e3, taboo: emily greets the team joyfully. luke doesn’t realize she and jj are together until the end of the episode when he realizes she’s the woman holding michael in one of jj’s photos.

s12e6, elliot’s pond: emily moves back to the states. jj is overjoyed.

during cases they’re professional but occasionally brush hands and touch shoulders.

s14e5, the tall man: domestic jemily fluff in the beginning. emily gives jj the opportunity to opt out of this case since it’s in e. alleghany, but jj still goes. emily already knows the details about rosaline’s suicide and helps ground jj. at the end she gives jj her new necklace. they cuddle. they are in Love.

s14e15, truth or dare: it’s emily and jj who are kidnapped. emily has the gun, but while emily is telling jj about her truth (it’s a lie btw, she says smth like i never loved you or whatever), jj is the one who sees the unsub raise the gun to shoot emily, yells out emily’s name and launches herself to take the shot meant for emily. emily shoots the unsub, but not before jj is sprawled over her, bleeding out. emily begs for jj to stay awake and that she never meant it, that jj was and is and will always be her one true love and that she had bought a ring and was gonna propose to her after this case and— jj’s eyes close.

s15e1, (different name cause no chameleon): okay the canon s15 opening two-parter doesn’t happen cause i think it’s stupid. s15e1 picks up directly off of where s14e15 leaves off as a cliffhanger. jj recovers. shyly mentions that she wouldn’t mind being married to emily. they kiss. emily officially proposes. everyone claps.

s15e4, saturday: emily takes off and gets super drunk at matt’s. jj works the case.

s15e8, rusty: mendoza doesn’t exist. at the end of the episode, they’re lying in bed, and emily, thinking about how lonely the unsub was, asks, “jj?” jj murmurs. emily says, “i love you.” they snuggle even closer. the light catches on their engagement rings, hands locked together.

s15e9, face off: i don’t care about the chameleon. the beginning shows emily and jj planning their wedding and getting a little overwhelmed. the unsub is garcia’s stalker. at the end, the unsub captures garcia, but emily and jj rescue her. tara and luke follow the unsub after he’s escaped. tara tricks him, and luke shoots him.

s15e10, and in the end: aftermath is resolved. garcia opts to step down from the bau and go work at the nonprofit. she struggles with telling the team. jj and emily have their wedding at rossi’s house. rossi announces his retirement. garcia announces her departure. luke asks her out. jj and emily kiss. the kids are cute. all is good.

#im writing this at 2am #sorry if its incoherent #a lot of feelings about jemily #jemily #jemily headcanon #jemily hcs #jemily au #criminal minds #criminal minds au #criminal minds rewrite #jj #jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #long post #ill make a keep reading segment in the morning

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diyunho · 5 years

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The Joker x Reader - “Secrets” Part 3

The Joker did something so unforgivable and despicable you don’t ever want to see him again. After months of avoiding The King of Gotham, you really can’t understand why he appointed you as the only person to take care of his son in case of emergency. There’s no way you’ll accept to help the little boy in his father’s absence, yet the three years old has no fault in what happened between you and your ex.

Frost just called with a security report for The Joker: most of the henchmen in the building are dead; five missing for the moment and his best guess is that they are the ones who sold his boss out and allowed Ezra to get inside the Penthouse. Maybe even helped the New York gang kill the others; no way to know for sure until watching the footage from all the cameras scattered around the premises.

You and J barely convinced Alexis to go back to sleep after he was given a bath: the three years old was very agitated and scared, which is understandable after what happened just a couple of hours ago. The fact that he’s sick didn’t help either: his fever increased and you had to put in extra effort in order to convince him to swallow his medicine.

“Can y-you take him to Los Angeles for a few days until I clean up the m-mess here?” The Joker asks, struggling to wrap new bandages around the surgical marks on his right leg. The soft fabric of the sweat pants keep on sliding down his foot and J lifts it up again, frustrated he can’t manage to keep it in place.

“Yes, no problem,” you agree and check your cell, waiting for your father to call.

Jase didn’t answer his phone and Y/N left a short message urging him to get a hold of her as soon as possible. You really don’t know how you’ll explain what you did: invoking the code in order to offer protection to another clan is a serious matter and The Godfather won’t be happy to hear that J has LA’s alliance now.

Not after everything The Clown Prince of Crime did.

“For God’s sake,” you sigh and decide to be the bigger person, kneeling in front of an irritated Joker that just can’t get the gauze around his scars. “Hold this,” you frown and he grabs one end of the roll while you cover his skin with the dressing. “It seems healed,” you point out, continuing to patch him up.

“The doctor told m-me to do it for one more month. Nothing that can be d-done about the way I talk; I hope it goes a-away,” J shares extra information you don’t care to hear. “A-are you sure you don’t mind t-taking my son?” the question makes you yank at the bandages and the change in mood is evident.

“I don’t mind,” you respond through your clenched teeth. “What I do mind though is being lied to. What I do mind is you being secretly married to another woman. What I do mind is you pretending you liked me,” you pause for a second to breathe in much needed air. “What I do mind is you convincing me that we should have a baby when I didn’t want one. What I do mind is you saying that if it’s a boy we should name him Alexis when you already had a son named Alexis with your wife!!!” you raise your voice, incapable of stopping the tirade.

“So?” The Joker bitterly replies, in a very foul disposition himself.

You slap J and he instinctively closes his eyes before the second strike lands on his already numb cheek.

“A-are you done?” he growls, barely restraining the urge to escalate the fight that just started.

You glare at him without blinking, enraged by the indifference of his hurtful actions. So many thoughts rushing through your head and you don’t have a chance to tell The Joker everything you want because your phone suddenly rings. You take it out of the pocket, correctly guessing your father is calling back.

“Do this yourself!” you hiss and undo the bandages wrapped around J’s scars, getting up in a hurry.

“W-what the fuck, Y/N?!”

You don’t even pay attention to his tantrum since reporting to the Godfather is more important than listening to your former boyfriend’s complaint.

“When Alexis wakes up, I’m gone! I don’t want to spend one extra single minute in your presence!” you shout and rush towards the terrace, pressing the screen of your cell. “Hi daddy,” you soften your tone and step outside, slamming the glass door behind you.

J forcefully exhales, staring at the gauze loosely hanging down his foot.

“Goddammit,” he grumbles and bites his lower lip, not excited on how the conversation ended.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been a jerk for once?...

Definitely.

Not after what you did for him and his son.

The woman J used in such a despicable manner didn’t think twice about saving a child that’s not hers; LA’s future queen didn’t even hesitate to save the man that made a fool out of her and didn’t deserve any kind of help no matter the circumstances.

The Joker shouldn’t have been a jerk…

Not today.

*************

Three days afterwards

“Sir, The Godfather is here,” Frost announces on intercom to a less than pleased King of Gotham.

“…Great…” J talks in a low voice, dreading the imminent meeting he was expecting anyway. “Let him pass,” the consent is given even if Jase doesn’t need it: the mobster is already in the elevator, going up to a Penthouse he hates infinitely more since The Joker’s secret was discovered.

Your father stomps out the elevator, immediately noticing the green haired Clown Prince of Crime sitting down on the couch closest to the center of the living room. The Joker wants to get up but Jase cuts him off:

“Sit down and don’t insult me with more fake respect!”

J smirks and The Godfather is already fed up with person he always despised and barely tolerated because of his daughter’s request.

“I heard we have a situation,” Jase grumbles and halts in front of The Joker, his menacing demeanor warning of a disastrous outcome in case things go wrong.

“You c-can say that,” the vague answer makes your parent lose his temper:

“YOU WILL DO NOTHING! You won’t seek revenge, you won’t move a finger until our year of forced partnership is done!! Gotham is under LA’s protection for 12 months and there’s nothing that can be done!”

“A-apparently,” The Joker’s insolent remark prompts so much outrage it’s nearly impossible to suppress the damage:

“You insolent prick! You were learning how to crawl when I was already building my empire! Do you think I’m intimidated by the likes of you?! I AM THE GODFATHER!!!” Jase shouts while J puckers his lips, aware he shouldn’t push it yet he can’t shut up:

“And I’m The Joker! I w-won’t let anyone…”

“You’re The Joker?!” your father interrupts. “Do you know you would be dead right now if it wasn’t for Y/N?! Why do you think I didn’t come for you when I found out what you did, hm? Do you think I just turned a blind eye to your affront? ME??!! NEVER!! I wanted to do exactly what Ezra did and my daughter begged me not to!!! You’re still here breathing because of Y/N! Do you understand?!!”

The two men hatefully stare at each other, none of them willing to lose any ground despite the sticky crisis they landed in. J is fuming and your parent is far past enraged: he’s furious to the point of sharing something personal to prove his affirmations.

“I never understood what my daughter saw in you, Joker!” Jase snarls. “I had such a bad feeling about your relationship and I’m never wrong about that stuff!”

“Then y-you should have t-told her!” The Clown bites back since this is the perfect opportunity to retaliate.

“I DID!” your father screams. “But Y/N insisted she loves you and I had to stomach your company because if she was happy, then I guess I had to accept it! And for what?! For you to break her heart again after it took her forever to recover from what happened with Sean?!”

The Joker surely wishes to lash out but the last sentence catches him by surprise: why would The Godfather mention Sean? The insane events that occurred a few years ago are sort of common knowledge in the underworld: Sean was your boyfriend until it was discovered he was actually an undercover CIA agent.

“I failed my daughter,” your father’s firm tone diminishes while confessing to the ugly truth. “Sean passed all the background checks; there was nothing suspicious about him. Believe me when I tell you I was very thorough: I wouldn’t just let anyone come so close to her. And when I found out by accident…” Jase deeply inhales, flustered, “…it was goddamned late, 10 days after he proposed.”

J’s eyes get big at the revelation: he had no idea about this part of the story and for once he keeps quiet and listens, intrigued.

“I went over to their house with my crew and dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night. Y/N was very agitated, not comprehending what was going on until I told her and showed the evidence. I’ll never forget the look on her face: she seemed so lost staring at those papers and pictures certifying that Sean was Matt Simmons, CIA agent infiltrating our lives in order to bring me down. He didn’t care about her; she was just an assignment…”

The Joker wants to finally reply, yet The Godfather won’t allow interference:

“He knew what was in store for him and he kept on begging, promising he was truly in love with her and stating he didn’t report to his superiors in a while and had no intention in doing so. Who knows?... Maybe he did love her after all…,” Jase straightens his shoulders. “I doubt Y/N heard any of his vows; she was too shocked to process the gravity of the news. I should have been more vigilant, but I didn’t see it coming: she yanked the gun out of my hand and shot him in the head. I think she regretted her choice the moment she pulled the trigger, but it was already too late…” your father mutters.

The Joker weights in all this information thrown at him since he had no clue you were the one that killed your ex: everyone assumed it must have been your father.

“Do you know how hard it is to watch your only child die a little bit more each day? I‘m not talking about death in the real sense of the word, but about the worst kind of demise: when you lose someone you loved so much that nothing else matters. And then you came along,” Jase shrieks getting to the conclusion he was aiming for since the beginning of the dialogue: “And you were infinitely more appalling than Sean: at least he was doing his job, while you were nothing but a greedy, manipulative asshole!”

The King of Gotham is so aggravated by The Godfather’s comments his heart is pounding out of his chest.

“Y-you can’t t-talk to me like this!!” he stands up to confront Jase but your parent is immune to the Clown’s threat.

“I can and I will!!” he yells. “That’s why you will do nothing! Got it?! Stay put! In the meantime, be grateful Y/N is such a saint offering safe haven to a little boy that’s not hers! If you think tending to Alexis is a piece of cake, THINK AGAIN!!!!!!” Jase lectures a stunned Joker to the point of starting a physical altercation, but he manages to contain himself and walks away towards the elevator, mumbling: “Son of a bitch!”

The Joker is left in the middle of the living room, completely stupefied at your father’s rant: it’s tough for him to grasp the notion of not being invincible or untouchable. And he is aware why Ezra came after him: because The King of Gotham did to his daughter the same thing that was done to you. J used her also in order to acquire what he wanted since his wife didn’t mind the little indiscretions as long as they were able to get richer, more powerful and influential. And now Nessa was lying 6 feet under after he barely escaped the ambush that almost claimed his life too.

Once his secret was out, everything came crashing down so fast he didn’t have time to process what it all meant: when you claw your way up without any remorse, you might end up bleeding worse than the ones you tear apart.

************

2 weeks later

Nixon is guiding The Joker around the patio, the final destination only a few feet away: he’s here to pick up his son and the bodyguard thought you’re still outdoors, yet there’s no sign of you or Alexis. Only Harvey Dent relaxing on the cozy sofa under the umbrella shadowing the guest from the late afternoon sunlight.

“Hm,” Nixon halts. “She was here a few minutes ago; I’ll go search for her. Please take a seat Mister Joker,” the man offers and J nonchalantly limps towards the ottoman opposite Two Face, sneering.

“Dent…”

Harvey taps his fingers on the mixed drink he’s holding, already annoyed by the green haired visitor.

“Joker…” he acknowledges the unwanted presence.

They watch in silence as the goon disappears inside the house before Dent inquires:

“Are you here to get your kid?”

“U-hum,” J admits. “You?”

“Visiting.”

The Joker tugs at his longer than usual locks gathered in a ponytail while bending over to grab a bottle of water from the table. A gust of wind blows a few shorter strands right on his face and he brushes them off, huffing.

“Y/N went to put your little boy to sleep; I guess he needed a nap,” Harvey communicates in such a sour manner it instantly irks J. “Some people wouldn’t recognize a good thing happening to their miserable existence even if they had it written black on white.”

The Clown grinds his teeth, vexed:

“You have s-something to say to me, D-Dent?!”

“Oh,” and the scarred ex-politician pauses before gulping down his cocktail,”I have plenty to say to you!”

The clash is inevitable but actually terminated before it blows out of proportions since you are coming out of the mansion.

J stands up and greets a displeased Y/N that was expecting him tomorrow morning, not that it really makes a difference: her world is turned upside down every time she sees him anyway.

“Alexis just fell asleep and I don’t want to wake him up,” you ignore his false politeness and march towards the two individuals postponing their brawl. “He often has nightmares after what happened with Ezra and it’s best to let him rest.”

“C-can I sleep here t-tonight then and we’ll take off in the m-morning?”

You are not a huge fan of the idea, yet you consent for the sake of the three year old that you took under your wing when you didn’t have to.

“OK. You can sleep in his room, there’s an extra bed in there. You can order food, one of my curriers can go pick it up for you. Or you can eat whatever you want from the fridge,” you extend your hospitality and bite in the same time: “I’m sure you remember where stuff is; nothing has changed except…everything.”

The Joker doesn’t reply and Harvey can’t help but realize how much you struggle to keep it together; he wonders if J realized also or if he even gives a damn. Probably not.

“Y/N,” Harvey intervenes. “When you have a moment, could we please work on my transaction?” he elegantly gets you out of the unpleasant meeting using the main reason he’s there for.

You momentarily snap out of it, grateful to oblige.

“Of course. Yes,” you add and escort him through the glass panels leading towards the stairs that will take Dent to the second floor where your bedroom is.

J is left alone, not that he doesn’t enjoy the solitude. He’s indeed debating on what he should have for dinner, maybe dishes he can share with his son after he wakes up from his nap. The Joker wishes to talk to you and he speculates you won’t want to listen to anything he has to say. Why bother?

He lost that privilege a long time ago.

*************

“How much would you like to invest?” you get on your laptop while Harvey is stretching on the leather sectional in front of the TV.

“Same as always, please.”

“Alright, it will take me a few seconds for the wire transfers between accounts,” you type in a frenzy and almost ignore his honest concern:

“Are you ok?”

“Huh?” you lift your head higher while glued to the screen: you crave the welcomed distraction so badly nothing else counts.

“Are you ok?” he repeats and the evasive response heightens his uneasiness regarding the apparent calm Y/N.

“I’m perfect, no worries,” you crack a smile and glance his way.

Dent scratches his scar, disputing on his next sentences.

“I’m asking because…e-hem…because you used to have this sparkle in your eyes and now it’s gone,” he blurs out before he loses confidence in his speech. “I know it’s not my place to comment, but I thought you should know someone noticed…”

Your hands stop on the keyboard and fighting the tears back is somehow so much harder than wearing the mask you parade with in front of everybody, including your father.

“You want to know how I noticed?” he pushes it more, hoping you will understand he’s well intended. “After Rachel died, I see the same emptiness daily when I look in the mirror. It might not be the same situation…”

“Harvey!!” you cut him off and he suddenly registers he’s out of line.

You sniffle and wipe the tears rolling down your cheeks, the bottled up emotions too strong to control.

“I’m very sorry,” he scoots over, upset he made you cry.

You start sobbing and Dent feels so bad he instantaneously curses his stupid decision.

“Y/N, I’m sorry. I should have kept my mouth shut,” and he’s relieved when you grab his hand and squeeze it.

“Thank you,” you faintly articulate and Harvey offers the box of tissue from the coffee table with his free hand, still uneasy about your present condition. “You’re a good man,” you whisper and he shakes his head, regretfully informing:

“Used to be, honey. Used to be…”

You let go of his fingers and he softly caresses your shoulders since he doesn’t know what else to do.

“Yyyy/Nnnnn,” Alexis pushes the cracked door opened. “Ynnn/Nnnn,” he whines and you jump from your spot eager to lift him up in your arms.

“What is it sweetheart? Another bad dream?” you inquire and the little one rubs his eyes, pouting.

“Whe’s mommy?” he buries his face in your neck, comforted by the woman’s embrace.

“Your mommy’s very far away,” you signal Harvey to sit down since he’s preparing to flee. “I’ll return soon,” you wink and exit your bedroom in order to take the three year old back to his chamber.

“Whe’s daddy?” Alexis yawns and you gather the strength to be cheerful for an innocent child’s sake.

“Daddy will be here when you wake up,” you kiss his temple. “After your nap you can play in the backyard, then we’ll have dinner and you can watch cartoons, ok?”

“U-hum,” he agrees and you lay him in bed, covering him up with the soft blanket.

“Do you want your giraffe?” you push the toy on his pillow and he snatches it, sulking.

“I’ll stay here until you fall asleep,” Y/N soothes The Joker’s son the best way she can, reckoning if it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t be alive right now. And that makes her sadder.

The young boy got under her skin and even if he reminds her of his father’s deceit, she wouldn’t have it any other way; keeping Alexis close is a way to make sure she always stays alert:

When you give your heart away and it’s returned to you in pieces, a few will go missing each time it happens until there’s nothing left.

************

Two hours afterwards

J is walking towards your master bedroom, angered he left his cane on the patio: his leg is hurting and the limp only makes it worse. Ten minutes ago he received a text with new information that you and The Godfather will be interested in also: it might not change the situation as a whole, but the plot twist could ensure he takes full advantage of the forced alliance between LA and Gotham. That’s what The Joker does anyway: he exploits every tiny thing to his advantage and the fresh data is certainly no petty scrap.

The door to your room is still opened simply because when you have Alexis over you want him to have easy access to your quarters, most likely to snuggle under the covers with the nice lady that’s taking care of him.

J pries the door open and wants to call out your name when the sight compiles the opposite: you dozed off cuddled up to Harvey, both covered with his suits’ jacket. After you invited him to stay and watch a movie you passed out first and he didn’t dare wiggle; he just used his coat to ensure you’re not going to get cold with the AC blasting from the ceiling. Having Y/N near him felt genuinely peaceful and Dent snoozed without a care in the universe for the first time in years.

And even someone like The King of Gotham can’t help but discern the vague smile on Harvey’s lips: the smile of a man that’s been through hell and he’s finally granted a small piece of heaven.

Part 1: diyunho(.)tumblr(.)com/post/177920419051/the-joker-x-reader-secrets-part-1

Part 2: diyunho(.)tumblr(.)com/post/178630090876/the-joker-x-reader-secrets-part-2

Also read: Masterlist

diyunho(.)tumblr(.)com/post/153664676321/joker-x-reader-masterlist

You can also follow me on Wattpad and AO3 under the same blog name: DiYunho.

#the joker x reader #the joker fanfiction #the joker imagine #the joker suicide squad #the joker jared leto #the joker #joker #joker fanfiction #joker imagine #joker jared leto #harvey dent #dcu #mister j #mister #Mistah J #Mr.J

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diveronarpg · 5 years

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Congratulations, JULIE! You’ve been accepted for the role of TAMORA. Admin Rosey: Trinity is one of the characters that I had the most fun writing -- she very much evolved from my initial concept with her and has grown into this very independent entity that needs someone just as strong as she is to portray her. Writing her isn’t an easy task, nor is capturing the nuances of her character while maintaining a circumspect view of who she has the potential to become. Julie, I honestly don’t know how, but you managed to do all that and more. Trinity is very much welcome to step on all of Verona’s neck. Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.

WELCOME TO THE MOB.

Out of Character

Alias | Julie

Age | 19

Preferred Pronouns | She/her/hers

Activity Level | 6/10, I think, with replies coming every other day - we can only hope.

Timezone | MST

Current/Past RP Accounts | Santino + Loretta

In Character

Character | Tamora / Trinity Zakarian

What drew you to this character? | Am I allowed to say everything? From her past, her present, to her potential future, I think everything about Trinity just absolutely fascinates me. The deliberate choices she has to make in her every day life just to walk among other people and be perceived as what she wants them to see is so interesting. It’s not necessarily just a woman performing for a nonexistent audience repeatedly because she feels she has to. It’s more of someone who could be perceived as almost otherworldly performing for an audience that is watching her, at all times. Trinity pulls the strings to her own marionette and is fully aware of that.

There’s always some sort of purpose behind what she does: she smiles half an inch wider because she knows that people will find the way it tugs at the line of her face more familiar. She stands with her spine rimrod straight because that’s what comforted her mother most when she looked at Trinity like she was some sort of animal in her own home. She stabs her wife thirteen times in the chest because she knows it will allow for a shallow mockery of the last few moments she had with her son. Verona is a city full of Gods, people worth revering, and Trinity chooses not to worship them time and time again. She has no feelings of reverence towards Cosimo, or Damiano, or even Fortinbras, even if he’s the one who originally brought her here, and if she ever were to feel that way, she’d choose to stamp them out under her heel.

There’s also the matter of this concept of warmth and humanity that Trinity feels is fully out of reach for her. She’s tried time and time again to connect in the way other people can and just can’t; she got a glimpse out of the corner of her eye, for some time. Maybe she held it in her hands for a little while before dropping it when she gave birth to her son. What happened to Alyosha is tragic, without a doubt, and it hurts my heart just to think about it. I think Trinity’s played those last few moments over and over in her head to see if she can pin down the exact moment she went from a woman to a corpse all over again. I think it’s interesting that Trinity knows wires have crossed at some point which shouldn’t have been crossed, and something that’s not supposed to be firing is sparking anyways. She’s sought out human connection over and over, and it seems to slip between her fingers every time. I’d love to explore that more thoroughly.

What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character? |

LET THIS WASP NOT OUTLIVE, US BOTH TO STING: Trinity's good at hiding; that much is obvious. She can mask even the ugliest of emotions with relative ease; making people think she's something she's not isn't a difficult feat. In Titus Andronicus, Queen Tamora bides her time by marrying Saturninus to save her own skin and get revenge. In sort of the same vein, I can see Tamora either going undercover in the Capulets somehow or forming a relationship of some kind with one of them to provide leverage over the Capulets for the Montagues. She's only just re-arrived in Verona, but like her bio says, her roots already run deep into the soil by the time February’s arrived. She's got nothing to lose and plenty to gain; donning a veil of warmth and affection towards a Capulet for whatever they'll give her in return could go far. And if she ends up reaching into their chest to claim their heart for her own, all the better: she craves warmth like roses crave the sun in the heat of summer.

TITUS, I AM INCORPORATE IN ROME, A ROMAN NOW ADOPTED HAPPILY: Faron brought Trinity to Verona with a purpose, and that purpose in my mind was likely to use her actions to vault himself to a position of power. But Faron is dead, and any motivations for his relationship with Trinity are buried with him. She can't speak with the dead, as much as she wishes she could some nights, if only to hear her son's voice. She has no skill in divining the future. This really depends on the direction of the game and what the other players on the table, but in the hands of Gertrude, Antony, Laertes, or even Romeo, I feel she has the potential to help turn the tides for the Montagues in the same way she did for Faron. There’s no love lost between Fortinbras and Tamora—give her the opportunity to claim what she wishes, and she’ll bark for someone as much as she’ll bite.

THRICE NOBLE TITUS, SPARE MY FIRST BORN SON: This one is a little far out there, so please bear the fuck with me. Trinity, if she were to ever discover just what Vivianne did to her own son (who, keep in mind, when abandoned was the same age as Alyosha when he died), would set her sights on Vivianne and wouldn't stop until she felt satisfied. Whether that means Vivianne's death, or throwing a big enough wrench into her plans that she falters in the face of Cosimo, Trinity's willing to take whatever opportunities are presented to her. This sort of goes in-hand with wanting to explore just how deeply Alyosha's death has impacted her; I don't think Trinity's ever looked it head-on in the mirror, and confronting Vivianne might finally give her the chance to see in herself what everyone else has over the course of the last year and a half.

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Let her reunite with the one person she truly cared about :)

In Depth

In-Character Para Sample:

TW FOR MURDER

The claiming of Hotel Emelia is a droll affair, in much the same way she’d expected it to be. It’s also a quick one: from the time she and Ronan are approaching the front desk to waiting patiently for the elevator to reach the top floor and look for those who might remain, it takes twenty minutes. Maybe half an hour. The elevator lets out a soft ding to indicate it’s reached its final destination.

There are only two guests on this floor, but it doesn’t stop Trinity from reveling in the way the attendant shakes as she unlocks each and every door with the master key. They all creak open, slowly, to reveal nothing but a dark room and some neatly-made beds. Ronan’s shaking with barely-restrained excitement and impatience by the time they reach the end of the hall.

“You want to get done, Richard. You have plan, after this, hm? Usually you go slow.” she asks, as the woman with SOFIA on her name-tag trembles so much she nearly drops the key. Trinity watches as Ronan presses the end of his M22 closer to her spine, harshly enough to make her jump.

“I’ve got some house calls to make, Tamora,” he tells her, like that explains why he’s rushing through this with a near primordial if not sadistic focus. It doesn’t matter. He’s a bizarre specimen, even among the Montagues, same as she -- it’s why they’re the perfect pair for this sort of task. The door clicks open. This room is not empty like the others; the lamp on the desk is on, and the shower is running in the bathroom.

She looks over her shoulder: “I’ll take it. You can cut chaff from rest of wheat. Be good.” When she shoots him a pointed look, he shrugs, but chooses not to say a word. Wise of him.

She enters the room, closes the door behind her. It makes a sound close to a whisper when it thuds shut, and it’s only when Trinity can hear Ronan limping away with the clerk’s tapping footsteps just ahead that she proceeds. With one hand she reaches for her knife, and the other for the bathroom handle. It opens, she’s pleased to discover. Steam rushes past her as she encroaches further.

Whoever it is in the shower, they’ve got their back turned towards the spray, a hand running through their hair. She reaches out, black painted nails grasping the shower curtain -- and smiles in outright delight when the man behind it screams loudly enough to be heard for miles.

The first time she’d ended someone’s life with a knife and nothing more, Trinity’d been shocked to discover just how easy it was. There had been no resistance. By now, it’s almost mundane, like chopping vegetables for a stew. One after the other, right into the pot.

Rivulets of red run down her arms, stain the front of her vest, and all the man does is watch in mixed terror and confusion. It’s close to what she wants, but not quite enough. She wants fear. Terror. Downright horror. Oftentimes when an individual is stabbed it feels like being punched, before the sympathetic nervous system starts doing its proper work. There are maybe a blissful thirty seconds of confounded gasping, pleading, and scrabbling to pull her hands away from him before he drops like a sack of bricks. This nameless creature, whoever he is, whatever he did? He dies gasping on the floor of the too-small shower. His blood is still warm, at first. but it’s soon cooled by the running shower. It’s as disheartening a realization when she sees the shower has aided in removing most of it from her hands, too.

She watches the rest run down the drain, and then steps out and leaves him there. Any mark of what she’s done is, for the most part, washed clean before it had the chance to stain. She gives herself a passing glance in the mirror. Raises one corner of the mouth, then the other, and smiles at herself with all her teeth. It’s like looking at a stranger and her closest friend all at once, her eyes lit up like the stars. Smile for the cameras.

Ronan is waiting for her in the hall, the clerk next to him, tapping out a text to Damiano - she can only assume. If she’s right, it will read something like food is waiting on your desk. Some foolish, stupid little signal.

She nods at Sofia, clearing her throat. Ronan glances up, turns the phone off, slips it into his pocket. “What are we doing with her?”

“Her?” He’s already looking away. Wonderful.

When Trinity steps closer, the young woman shakes like a leaf. It worsens when she raises her hand and smears whatever remains of the man’s blood over her mouth — it ruins whatever lip gloss Sofia's chosen to wear for her shift that night, without a doubt. For a moment, Trinity wonders if she’s going to vomit. She smiles, and reaches back to wind her her fingers through Sofia’s blond hair. It’s dirty-gold in hue. She’s sure it shines under the sun, but in the overhead lighting of the Emelia, it looks dull. Flat.

Sacha’s had been so light it’d been close to silver. Trinity can remember the way her wife had purred whenever she’d played with it, even when it was something as simple as fingertips ghosting over her scalp. She presses her mouth into a thin line before speaking with some resignation. “You did very good, solnyshko.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Sofia whispers, staring at Trinity with eyes wide. Like a doe. Not a doe. A fawn might be better.

“I do,” Trinity replies, and the woman lets out a pitiful wail in response.

“You don’t have to do this, please, I have a daughter, my husband, a family, I only just got hired, I won’t tell a soul-” she’s quivering with it, and when she collapses to the floor and grabs at Trinity’s legs to plead, her hands cold and clammy, Tamora goes with her. There they sit, on their knees together: Sofia, sobbing, mouth wide open in resigned terror. Trinity, watching, waiting, feeling the thundering rhythm of her pulse as it quickens. So close to warmth. Just a few seconds away.

So did I, Trinity thinks. “You are... loose end,” she murmurs instead. The way she slits Sofia’s throat is precise. It’s over before the woman can cry out. Sofia’s weight becomes exponentially heavier, as she collapses to the side, with red running deep across her throat and staining the lavish green floors. Trinity ends up yanking out a clump of hair from her scalp as she goes.

She’s still plucking the strands from beneath her fingernails when they re-enter the elevator at the end of the hall, knowing the bodies will be swept away before anyone can so much as bat an eye. No one will wonder where the three on the top floor of Hotel Emelia went; if anyone asks, they’ll be quickly silenced.

Ronan presses the button to take them back to the lobby, tapping his better foot in time with a silent beat. She smiles at him in thanks.

“You’ve got something on your teeth,” he says, brow furrowed.

She grins wider: A quarter of a centimeter, canines bared, swipes at the corner of her mouth with her pinky finger. Lipstick comes away, smeared dark against her skin. The elevator dings. “I know.”

Extras:

Some thoughts:

The Zakarian family has their fingers in every pie imaginable, thanks to the reputation that protects them, but it was Sacha, Trinity’s wife, that had the closest affiliation with mob business in St. Petersburg. Over the fifteen year period of their marriage (they married young, and in-love, when Trinity was only twenty-two), Trinity danced with the best and worst of them: she knows plenty of members in the Russian mob, and considers them to be her closest allies, rather than the Montagues. When Sacha and Alyosha were so tragically killed, it was the Russian mob that paid for the funeral, with the Zakarians throwing some money at the problem to stem suspicion. She’s even somewhat familiar with Boris, even if he’s not from St. Petersburg.

Shortly before Faron’s death, on the fifth of November, she departed from Verona to visit Alyosha’s grave for the anniversary of his death. She didn’t return to Verona until the twenty-second, and missed Faron’s funeral. She still commit to the tradition of wearing dark colors for forty days and forty nights, however, and visits his grave semi-frequently. She’s not even sure why: she had no care for the man, and in the end, believes he faltered in his goals due to avarice and selfishness.

Her first language is Armenian, her second is Russian, her third English, and her fourth is Italian. She’s got a peculiar accent, but for the most part, she’s used to speaking Russian. Adjusting to Italian in Verona has been strange, although she’s not necessarily a woman of few words.

She’s been relatively-hands off when it comes to business dealings in the public eye since the death of her family. Her brother, Artur, has stepped up to the plate to ensure things are running smoothly. She trusts him enough not to make a mess of it, but I’m thinking maybe she sets up camp somehow in Hotel Emelia to ensure it stays in the hands of the Montagues.

I’ve got a playlist, and a pinboard.

#accepted #accepted: tamora

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fluffyjoeck · 6 years

Text

there’s a fire within my soul

this is a little something i wrote to surprise the beautiful @preciousjoeck as a thank you for being such an amazing friend. she spoke to me about the enemies to fake dating to lovers trope and i loved the idea. this turned out a little different to what i had planned, but i still hope you enjoy it!!

this is a spy au, because there’s no way i could write a fic about jack and joe feeling anything but undying love for each other based on their lives bc those two are so in love it hurts, and have always been like this. @ me if you think differently.

The bet is simple – don’t fall in love with Jack Maynard. He wants to laugh at how easy it will be. The mission itself will be tough, but he thinks when their target is captured and Jack has to snog Mikey at the Christmas party for losing, it will all be worth it.

They’d been brought to the main HQ together, barely speaking as they walked side by side in the corridor. This was where they were told about their undercover mission, where they needed to pose as a young married couple who were settling down in their first home in a nice quiet, suburban area. They tried to fight it, tried to suggest other agents, but they were fighting a losing battle.

“Don’t fall in love with me,” Jack had said, a smirk on his lips that Joe couldn’t possibly stand. It was like Jack was asking for more ways to be hated.

“What makes you think I could ever fall in love with a guy like you?” he counters, but Jack doesn’t even react to it.

“What makes you think you could resist me?”

Joe knows Jack’s only trying to rile him up, but it’s working. They’re joined by Conor and Caspar, who are eating up the news of their mission. It’s only Oli who seems genuinely concerned for their safety.

Although, that’s probably because he found out that Josh will be their handler.

“Well this is cosy.”

Their home is a small, two-bedroom house. It’s fully furnished and has views to be envious over. It’s somewhere that he could actually see himself settling down in, but in much different circumstances.

They order Chinese, because neither feel like cooking, and they keep to themselves all night. They read over their mission, discuss options, and get their backstory in order. They’re no longer Joe Sugg and Jack Maynard, they’re Ben and George Davidson. It’s all straight to the point, and as soon as they’re finished, Jack goes for a shower.

This is when he realises that oh god, he’ll have to share a bed with Jack. It shouldn’t make him feel so awkward, it’s not like he’s never shared a bed with someone before, but this time it feels different. Especially when Jack comes out of the shower, wearing nothing but the towel draped around his waist.

He climbs into bed first and doesn’t say anything when Jack joins him under the covers, after turning off the bedroom lights. “You better not kick in your sleep.”

“I’d prefer to be awake if I were to ever kick you,” he retorts, and although it’s not his best insult, he’ll go with it.

“I don’t know why you’re having such a hard time with this,” Jack says. “If I were you, I’d be living it up. It’s not every day you get married to such a stud like this.”

Joe groans, rolling his eyes at the comment. “Just stay on your own side of the bed.”

They don’t – they wake up with their limbs tangled together but neither bring it up.

He remembers the first time they met, back when they were first starting out. It wasn’t that he always hated Jack, but they’ve never got on well enough to know each other. Jack had been cocky, sure that his connections to one of the top agents Conor Maynard was sure to get him in. He had the skills to go with confidence though, and Jack was consistently at the top of the class.

Joe watched as all the best cases went to Jack, silently fuming as he got smaller cases. Jack would go to Berlin and work with top agents, while he and Caspar would end up in the British countryside, tracking down a drug dealer pretending to be a pig farmer.

So yes, he was jealous of Jack. But that wasn’t the tip of the iceberg. It was their first mission together – the only time they worked together alone before this. He doesn’t like thinking about – neither of them mention that night in Paris, or the way their bodies moved as one as they raced back to the hotel room. They don’t talk about how urgently they kissed one another, almost like they needed it to survive.

They don’t talk about how Jack left early the next morning, or how he paraded his new girlfriend around the office the next week.

He doesn’t mention how he let someone like Jack fucking Maynard break his heart.

“Will you stop squirming?” Jack hisses in his ear, and he shoots daggers back at his ‘husband’. They’ve only been at it a day, but he’s already sick of playing happy families.

They’re currently at a party being held in their honour by their next-door neighbours, meeting the rest of the street. Joe’s had to shake hands with so many people, and his jaw hurts from smiling so much. He’s told them the story of how Ben and George met – “a mutual friend introduced us at university. I could feel a spark between us, so when he asked me if I wanted to dance with him, there was no way I’d think of saying no. Thankfully George wasn’t put off by my dance moves!”

They’re the centre of attention throughout the night, constantly being asked questions about each other. “How did you know you that Ben was the one?” one woman asks Jack, and he watches as Jack stills ever so slightly.

“There was always something about Ben that I couldn’t put my finger on,” he says, and Joe finds himself forgetting that they have an eager audience surrounding them. “He’s always been so kind hearted – he always does his best for everyone, and he never complains about it if it gets too tough. He’s smart, and he’s a lot stronger than he appears. He’s not too bad on the eye either, which helps.”

Joe doesn’t know what to think about this, there’s a growing part of him that wishes for the slight opportunity that he’s speaking about him, but George and Ben are just made-up people with a made-up background.

“I guess I realised that I couldn’t see a future without him,” Jack adds, and he watches as everyone eats up his answer. He’s glad he’s left the talking to Jack, but they’re pulled off in different directions again, and he stumbles his way through more questions.

They eventually find some time for themselves and they met outside in the garden to reconvene. “Do you have eyes on the target?”

“Of course I do. Unlike you, I’ve been doing my job all night,” Jack says, and Joe doesn’t actually believe what he’s heard. “Marcus Butler, lives two doors down from us. He lives with his girlfriend and he works at a clothing store. He’s invited us to come over for dinner tomorrow night.”

He’s about to respond, but they’re interrupted by one of the guests – Tanya, he thinks she’s called. “We’ve been looking for you!”

“Sorry,” Jack says, as he wraps an arm around Joe. “I just wanted to get some alone time with him. We haven’t seen each other all night, and I missed him.”

Tanya coos at that, although he doesn’t see why she wouldn’t. Jack’s incredibly believable at this – if he hadn’t known better, he’d think Jack actually meant it. “Well hurry up lovebirds, or you’ll miss Jim’s party trick!”

He doesn’t want to know what the party trick is, and hates how domestic this whole night is, but he pretends to be excited. “We’ll be five minutes!”

They watch as Tanya goes back inside, and they wait until they’re sure before they start speaking again. “We’ll have one night to build our evidence – do you think we can do it?”

“Come on, we could do it in our sleep,” Jack says, overly confident just like he usually is, but this time Joe doesn’t actually mind it. He doesn’t think he can keep up with this charade for much longer.

Finding the evidence is easy, it’s fleeing the situation alive when Marcus catches them.

“This has gone from Come Dine With Me to Die Hard real quick, and I don’t like that,” Jack says to Joe, as they dodge more bullets coming their way.

Then, there’s a gunshot that kills him.

Well, he doesn’t actually die. But Joe’s sure this is the closest he’s been to dying.

“I got him,” Jack says, sounding borderline hysterical, and he starts applying pressure to his wounds, which hurts like a motherfucker. “I don’t think they wanted him injured, but we kind of messed this up, didn’t we?”

“I was a fucking pro,” Joe says weakly. He starts feeling a little tired, but he knows he needs to keep his eyes open. He’s seen enough spy movies to know what to look out for when avoiding your imminent death. “Will you stay?”

“Of course,” Jack says, which makes him feel a little better. “I’m not going anywhere Joe, so you can’t either.”

“Tell me more about how you fell in love with me,” he attempts to joke, but somehow it comes out wrong.

“I never planned to,” Jack says, which definitely takes him off guard. He’s either dying, or he’s hallucinating this conversation. Either way, he doesn’t like the sound of it. “But then you kissed me in Paris and that night we shared was fucking magical, but I got scared. Conor always said it was too dangerous to fall in love when you’re in this profession.”

It’s a lot to take in, even if he wasn’t currently bleeding out, so Joe decides his best move is to play it safe. “You never listen to what Conor tells you.”

“I never wanted to hurt you,” Jack tells him. “You deserve so much better than me.”

He wants to tell Jack that he doesn’t get to decide what’s good for him or not, but it doesn’t come out. Instead, everything goes dark.

He wakes up, in an extremely dodgy looking medics room. It’s not the first time this has happened to him, and it certainly won’t be the last time.

“How are you feeling?” Jack asks, and Joe can see him in the corner of his eye, sitting in a seat beside his bed.

“Like I’ve just been shot,” he moans, and Jack just shoots him a pointed look in return.

If he thinks back hard enough, he can distinctly remember Jack confessing his undying love for him. Which is, wow. Not something he’d have ever expected to hear. He’s not in the mood to make this a moment straight from a romcom, so instead he shuts his eyes, letting himself fall asleep again.

He wakes up, properly, on his own.

Which kind of hurts, until he sees Jack rushing in a few moments later. He’s dressed casually, which isn’t something he’s used to seeing, but Joe likes it. “You’re awake,” Jack says, eyes widening at the sight of him sitting up in bed. “Holy shit, are you okay? I need to call someone.”

“No, please, I’m fine,” Joe says, and he watches Jack think it through. He concedes in the end, and sits back down on the chair. “I didn’t think you’d still be here.”

“My partner got shot on my watch,” Jack says with a shrug, which stings a little.

“Right, and not because you’re in love with me?” he asks, watching as Jack flinches at the words.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t remember that,” Jack says, actually looking embarrassed. “It’s fine, you know. That you don’t feel the same. And why would you? It’s not like I’ve been anyway like a decent human being to you.”

“Nope,” he says, because it’s kind of true. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t fancy the pants off you.”

Jack looks up at this, shocked at the words. “What?”

“I’m still mad at you, for everything, but I might not be so mad if you take me to dinner when I get out of here,” he says, somehow finding the nerve to act so nonchalant. Caspar would hug him if he was here. “So much for not falling in love with me.”

“Fuck that bet,” Jack says, and Joe actually laughs.

“You’re only saying that because you have to snog Mikey,” he says in a mischievous grin. Oh, he’ll enjoy that. Jack tries to argue his way out of it, but a bet’s a bet. It’s only fair he humiliates himself in front of all their colleagues.

“Don’t worry,” he says, reaching out to hold onto Jack. “I can teach you a thing or two to calm your nerves about it.”

(The doctor that comes in to check up on Joe finds them making out on his bed, which will definitely spread around HQ. But it’s okay, he thinks, because he’s waited too long for this and he’s going to enjoy every moment of it.

It’s a danger to fall in love in their line of work, but Joe’s never been one to follow the rules.)

#joeck #this is a little rushed #but it's half one in the morning also i'm trying to come out of a writing slump #so pls don't hate it too much #but i might go back to this universe and expand it at some point bc i love spy aus!!#also yes that is an abba lyric as the title #i'm so freaking excited for mamma mia this week

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waveridden · 5 years

Text

FIC: living on your own time

“Mr. Kerchev is just married, and there’s nothing more that newlyweds love on honeymoons than other newlyweds to show off in front of.” Kepler arches an eyebrow, presumably to let everyone absorb that. (W359 undercover as married AU, 3.1k)

A/N: this is actually a chunk of an abandoned WIP from a handful of months ago. I decided to rework the opening scene into something presentable. The longer fic, if it’s ever finished, would be Minkowski/Lovelace and Eiffel/Jacobi, with a little bit of Eiffel/Jacobi even shining through in this scene. (What can I say? I’m biased.)

AUcember || title lyric || read on ao3

“Ladies, gentlemen.” Kepler looks around the room. “What do you know about the Ukrainian mob? And Agent Eiffel, don’t say that you know they’re from Ukraine.”

Eiffel closes his mouth just long enough to frown. “That’s a legitimate piece of knowledge, sir, I think it’s to my credit that I- ow. ”

“Whoops,” Hera says cheerfully, and lifts her heel so it’s not crushing Eiffel’s big toe anymore. She’s smiling, which is the worst part. Smiling like she knows that she’s embarrassing him in a mission briefing. Smiling like she doesn’t care, which is even worse. It’s the ultimate betrayal.

Kepler doesn’t even acknowledge them. Consummate professional, that guy. “Of course, we have local mob chapters all over the country, but the main boss-”

“-is in Ukraine,” Eiffel finishes triumphantly, but this time it’s Minkowski who elbows him in the ribs. “Hey!”

“Time and a place,” Lovelace says mildly, from where she’s practically draped over one of Maxwell’s fancy touch-screen computer tables. Which is totally unfair, because if it were Eiffel, Maxwell would’ve pushed him on the floor by now.

“The time is now!” Eiffel protests. “We’re talking about the Ukrainian mob! There’s no better time!”

“I can duct tape his mouth shut if you want,” Jacobi offers, which, again, definitely unfair. If Eiffel said something about duct taping Jacobi’s mouth shut, Hera would make fun of him for having an oral fixation, and Kepler definitely wouldn’t make a face like he’s considering it. Eiffel tries to glare, but Jacobi just sort of smirks at him. “Solve a couple problems.”

After a couple seconds, Kepler sighs. “Just keep poking at him until he stops trying?”

Eiffel rolls his eyes, but Minkowski and Hera both say “yes, sir” in eerie unison, so it must not be worth the effort of arguing.

“Good,” Kepler says. “The Ukrainian mob - which is based in Ukraine, thank you, Agent Eiffel - is helmed by this man.” Maxwell, standing at Kepler’s side, hits a button, and a couple of images pop up on the massive display screen. It’s a blond white guy, early thirties, with that creepy dead-eyed stare that most mob bosses have. “Mr. Yevgeni Kerchev, who likes to cause a lot of trouble by dealing arms.”

“Seems young,” Lovelace says, propping her chin up on one palm. Her eyes narrow. “Let me guess, inherited?”

“Correct, Agent Lovelace.” Maxwell hits another button, and another image comes up, this time a family photo. “Here we have Mr. Kerchev, with his recently deceased father Piotr and his missing-in-action brother Viktor. This is all speculation, of course, but we’re pretty sure that Yevgeni killed both his father and his brother in order to take over the operation.”

“Mr. Kerchev is on watchlists all over the country. CIA, FBI, NSA, anything with three letters. Hell, the EPA probably has it out for him.” Kepler’s eyes sharpen. “He’s also stolen proprietary Goddard tech to redistribute.”

Hera whistles lowly. “I didn’t know you could steal from Goddard.”

“Generally, you can’t.” Jacobi frowns at the screen, eyes narrowing. “How’d he get away with it?”

“Mob connections, probably.” Maxwell’s mouth twitches. “Probably went all Godfather on some employee.”

Eiffel jolts upright, a slow grin already spreading across his face. “They made someone an offer they couldn’t refuse?”

Jacobi glares at Maxwell, who already looks sheepish. “You had to enable him?”

“Oh, don’t hold out on me now, Doctor.” Eiffel clasps his hands together. “Please, tell me more about Mr. Kerchev sneaking a horse’s head into Rachel Young’s bed.”

“You had to enable him,” Kepler repeats heavily, and this time Maxwell shrugs. “Fine. The point is, our goal is to bring Kerchev in as soon as possible. And luckily for us, it looks like we have an opportunity.”

“Wedding bells are ringing for Mr. Kerchev.” Maxwell hits another button, and a few more pictures pop up, all of Yevgeni Kerchev with a pretty blonde woman. “Meet Natalie Delight, and yes, that’s her real last name.”

“The YouTuber?” Minkowski says dubiously.

“Who taught you what YouTube is?” Eiffel demands. He recognizes her, now that he has a career to put to the face. “Hera, did you-”

“Me, actually,” Lovelace drawls, looking immensely pleased with herself. “Someone’s got to teach our good commander how to entertain herself online.”

“Remember before we worked with them?” Maxwell sighs, slanting a longing look at Jacobi. Even Kepler looks a little wistful, which hurts maybe more than it should. “Back in the good old days, when we would’ve been done with the mission briefing by now.”

“Already be on the next flight to Ukraine,” Jacobi mumbles.

“Not Ukraine,” Kepler says. “If you all don’t mind terribly, I’d like to get you sent on your merry way, so if you could let Dr. Maxwell and I finish with your mission briefing-”

“Aye-aye, sir,” Eiffel says, and doesn’t even protest when Hera lifts a hand to close her fingers over his mouth. He doesn’t even lick her palm, because that’s the kind of chivalrous guy and good employee that Doug Eiffel is.

“Go on, sir,” Hera says, and lifts her other hand to cover the first for good measure.

Kepler doesn’t smile, but Eiffel kind of gets the impression that he’s pleased anyways. “Natalie Delight has just married Yevgeni Kerchev, and they’re going on a honeymoon. South of France, lovely spa resort, vineyard attached, very remote. They’ll be there for ten days, and that’s ten whole days where Kerchev will be out in the open for us to find.”

Minkowski leans forward. “Sir, is this an assassination or an extraction?”

“Extraction, if possible. We don’t know what Kerchev did with the weapons he stole from Goddard, and we want them back.”

“Extraction,” Lovelace repeats. “Undercover?”

“Undercover. Mr. Kerchev is just married, and there’s nothing more that newlyweds love on honeymoons than other newlyweds to show off in front of.” Kepler arches an eyebrow, presumably to let everyone absorb that.

Eiffel glances around the room. If they need newlyweds, then they need two people. Hera never goes on missions, by virtue of technically not being trained for that, and with something this secretive Kepler will probably want Maxwell to stay in Canaveral.

And of course, SI-5 mission assignments are always… erratic, to say the least. Eiffel’s not really trained for any of this, but he’s still gone undercover more than once, so there’s a good chance that he’ll be going again. As far as partners go, Minkowski’s kind of an awful liar and Jacobi is about as subtle as a flaming sledgehammer, so that leaves…

“Dibs on Lovelace,” Eiffel says, even though it’s muffled by both of Hera’s hands. She grimaces, but digs her fingers into his cheek and holds on. “Hey!”

Kepler arches an eyebrow. “Something you want to share with the class, Agent Eiffel?”

Hera reluctantly pulls her hands away, and Eiffel grins. “Dibs on Lovelace?”

“It’s cute that you think it’s your choice,” Maxwell says, “but yes, that’s the plan. You and Agent Lovelace will be going undercover as newlyweds honeymooning at this resort.”

Eiffel grins over at Lovelace, who smiles back at him, looking pleased. Sure, everyone on this team likes to act like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, and sure, they’re normally right. But something about working with Lovelace makes him better at his job. Probably something to do with them actually being friends.

“What do you say, Isabel?” Eiffel wiggles his eyebrows, and she rolls her eyes at him. “Wanna get hitched?”

“Mm, I think I’m the one who proposed.” Lovelace glances at Hera. “Can we make that official?”

“I can make that official,” Hera says, because she is Eiffel’s best friend, and by extension his greatest enemy. “Congratulations on the engagement. And the wedding. I was Eiffel’s best man, of course.”

Eiffel beams at her. “Aw, baby, you know I wouldn’t have anyone else.”

Maxwell clears her throat, and all eyes go to her. She looks excited. Unnervingly so. “Sir?”

“Because this is such a high-priority mission, we need as many agents as possible in the field.” Kepler inclines his head. “Hera, obviously, you’re staying here with me, and Maxwell is staying because she has more than enough other projects to work on. So Jacobi, Minkowski, mazel tov.”

“No,” Jacobi says sharply. “No, sir, you can’t-”

“I’m going to have to object too,” Minkowski says, looking a little green around the gills. “You don’t mean-”

“I do mean.” Kepler fixes Minkowski with a placid look, and Maxwell has to hide her smile behind her remote. “Jacobi, Minkowski, the two of you will be going undercover with Eiffel and Lovelace. This is too serious to let go because you two are squeamish about it, do you understand?”

“Colonel,” Eiffel breathes, “it’s not even my birthday and you’ve given me the greatest gift of all.” Minkowski glares at him, but Eiffel can’t even bring himself to care. This is it. He’s died and gone to heaven, which must be real after all, because now he gets to watch Minkowski and Jacobi have to act like people. People in love. People in love with each other. “Hera, am I dreaming?”

“Maybe,” Hera whispers back. “But probably not.”

“Why do I have to be with Minkowski?” Jacobi demands. “Why can’t I be with Lovelace?”

“Eiffel called dibs,” Maxwell says, which is completely true. Eiffel knew he liked her for a reason. Maxwell is Eiffel’s favorite now. “That, and we’re pretty sure she’s the least likely to go stir crazy and kill him while you’re living together for ten days.”

“Minkowski’s really not my type. And for that matter, neither is Lovelace.”

“Do you want to be married to Eiffel for a week and a half?”

Eiffel carefully looks just over Jacobi’s shoulder, so it doesn’t look like he’s invested in hearing the answer. Because that would be desperate, and Eiffel isn’t desperate.

“Maybe Minkowski won’t be so bad,” Jacobi allows grudgingly, and Eiffel doesn’t let his face fall. He refuses. Hera bumps her hip against Eiffel’s, and he bumps her back, because there’s not much else to do in a moment like this.

“If only so Eiffel doesn’t die,” Minkowski agrees. Eiffel rolls his eyes. One of these days, these people are going to get tired of giving him shit. It hasn’t happened yet, but it has to one day.

“Congratulations on your vows,” Kepler says, with all of the infinite patience of someone who is very, very close to snapping at them all. “Eiffel, Lovelace, you’re our A-team on this. You’re going to make sure Kerchev is complacent and comfortable and having the time of his life, do you understand?”

“Yessir,” Eiffel says quickly, and Lovelace nods.

“Minkowski, Jacobi, you’re backup. You only contact Kerchev and Delight through Eiffel and Lovelace, never directly. You are there for intelligence, and you are there to make sure things don’t go wrong. Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” Jacobi grits out. If nothing else, Eiffel can appreciate the fun shade of puce that his face is turning right now.

“Excellent.” And just like that, the vein bulging in Kepler’s neck goes from “meltdown imminent” to “meltdown might be happening next Thursday.” Eiffel barely avoids sighing in relief. “You’re leaving for your honeymoon bright and early tomorrow morning, so get packed. Maxwell already emailed out your supply lists, and we’ll have some waiting for you once you get to France. Remember, you have ten days.”

“It’ll only take four,” Jacobi promises. Minkowski mutters something in agreement.

“Eiffel’s going to help me review comm devices,” Hera announces, and grabs him by the elbow. For such a tiny woman, she has hands of iron. It’s one of the things he loves about her, although maybe not in this moment. “Right, Doug?”

“Right,” Eiffel says, because he’s not about to argue with Hera about this. “Colonel, permission to check up on the comms array?”

Kepler nods. “Dismissed, both of you. Make sure you have something that’ll work well long-distance. You never know what kind of situations you’ll run into.”

Eiffel flicks off a quick salute before Hera starts tugging him towards the door. “Hey, Lovelace, wanna go ring shopping later?”

“I’d rather shave my legs with a potato peeler,” Lovelace answers blithely, ignoring Eiffel’s full-body shudder, because ew. “Goddard’ll have rings for us, right? We kind of need them.”

“We have a selection of standard-issue fake wedding rings,” Maxwell confirms, which is maybe the strangest sentence that Eiffel has ever heard come out of her mouth. She’s starting to say something else when Hera drags Eiffel out of the room and shuts the door behind her.

“Well,” Eiffel says slowly. He gets the feeling that he’s missing something here. “Comms room?”

“Comms room,” Hera agrees. “Great place to avoid being overheard.” She starts down the hall, moving so fast that it takes Eiffel aback.

He waits until he pulls the comms room door closed to look at Hera. “What?”

“What, me?” Hera frowns. “How about what, you?”

“What me?”

“Jacobi?”

Eiffel grimaces. “Yeah, that wasn’t the best.”

“That was totally unfair of him,” Hera says nobly, which, okay, that might not be true. Eiffel doesn’t have the best track record with undercover missions, but Hera probably doesn’t care about that. She’s definitely the best friend that Eiffel has ever had: she’s smart as a whip, she’s a good listener, and she is completely devoted to defending his honor even when he doesn’t deserve it.

“Maybe,” Eiffel hedges, but apparently that’s not enough, because she glares at him. “What? The guy’s allowed to not want to marry me for the sake of taking down a Serbian mobster-”

“Ukrainian.”

“Don’t tell Kepler I said that.”

“After your whole ‘I know he’s from Ukraine’ bit?” Hera snorts.

Eiffel winces. “Not my finest moment.”

He’s never going to admit it to anyone other than Hera, who already knows all his darkest secrets, but he kind of wants Kepler to like him. It’s partly a self preservation thing, because he gets the impression that people Kepler doesn’t like go away and are never heard from again. But it’s also because he’s pretty sure everyone else on the team likes him. Even if it’s the awkward, begrudging kind of liking that people start out with, they still like him. Kepler doesn’t seem to like anyone, but Eiffel’s going to try his best anyways. Because that’s what doing his job is all about. Or something.

Hera waves him off. “You’ll have another moment soon, don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you?”

“You’re welcome.” She flashes a smile at him, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Okay, we actually do need to do our jobs-”

“Do we?”

“Yes, Douglas, so pick a comms array for when you head off to France.”

“Alright, geez.” Hera only calls him Douglas when she’s patronizing him, or as a codeword something’s gone horribly wrong. He’s actually not sure which one of those situations is happening right now. But he gives it a minute, just to feel it out. He starts going through their communications devices - they need something that prioritizes the short-range, but Kepler was right about the long-distance - and settles on one of the newer models, setting it on the table in the middle of the room. “Think these’ll work?”

Hera, who seems to be settled in staring at the door, doesn’t even look. “Mmmhm.”

“Do you know what I’m talking about?”

“You don’t need me to tell you how to do your job, do you?”

Eiffel pauses. “Nnnnnnno?”

“Do you think those will work?”

He looks down at the case. “Probably?”

“Then they’re yours.”

“Hera, what’s-”

“Nothing!” Hera whirls around and slams her hands on the table. The comms room is small enough that the smack echoes, and Eiffel has to try not to flinch. “You know, maybe I’m trying to- to have your back on this whole Jacobi thing, which I still don’t get, by the way-”

“You don’t need to get it,” Eiffel mumbles, but shuts his mouth as soon as Hera’s eyes sharpen.

“Maybe I don’t need to get it, but I’m still trying to back you up with all this, and you don’t even seem bothered by it!” She folds her arms, and suddenly she looks far too small. “Maybe it’s bothering me, and I don’t know why it’s not bothering you that this is happening.”

Eiffel blinks. “This isn’t about Jacobi.”

She looks away, and Eiffel lets out a long breath. Of course it’s not about Jacobi. This is going to be the first time he’s going undercover since… since.

“Hera,” he says softly, and goes around the table so he’s closer to her. “All four of us are going to have a direct line to you and Alana the whole time.”

“The whole time,” Hera repeats, not quite mocking, and it feels like a fist wraps around Eiffel’s heart and squeezes. “Yeah, nothing’s gonna go wrong.”

Eiffel snorts. “Darlin’, something’s going to go wrong, and you and I both know it.”

She shoots a glare at him, which is completely undercut by how watery her eyes are. “Then why aren’t you worried?”

“Because I’m going to spend the whole time partnered up with Isabel, who’s one of the best people to have in a crisis. And Minkowski and Jacobi are going to be there, and they’re the best backup. And best of all-” he reaches out and rests his hands on her shoulders, as lightly as he can, and she relaxes into it - “you’re gonna be in my ear making sure that I don’t do anything too stupid.”

“You’d better not.”

“I’ll try my best.” Eiffel grins. “I’ll call you every night.”

Hera’s face relaxes into a smile, and Eiffel’s lungs collapse with relief. “You think your wife’s going to like that?”

“You know, I get this funny feeling that she’ll understand.”

“Every night,” she says seriously. “Last thing before you go to bed, no matter how late it is.”

“What’s the time difference between Canaveral and France?”

“Enough that you’ll be calling me and the other way around.”

Eiffel smiles and squeezes Hera’s shoulders. “Every night and twice on weekends.”

“Good,” Hera says, and steps forward to bury her face in the crook of Eiffel’s neck. “Come back.”

“I will.”

“Without the bad parts this time.”

“I will,” Eiffel repeats, and hopes more than anything that it’s not an empty promise.

#wolf 359 #w359 fic #jacoffel #eiffel x jacobi #like................. barely. but w/e #waveridden.fic #aucember18 #yall i am gonna be real i feel a Bit iffy about posting an old thing instead of writing something new but i am still recovering from those #overnight shifts so i am doing what i can for you!!!! i hope you enjoy the fic!!!!!!

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marrymeinthespacestation · 7 years

Note

How would the RFA + Saeran react to MC breaking up with them and then years later finding MC married and with kids

it’s a loooong one! (some angst!)

Zen:

- he regretted every day ever since you left him

- he knows it’s entirely his fault because he neglected you and never appreciated you despite the fact that you loved him and helped him so much in his career

- he didn’t dare to look for you afterwards because you guys ended on such a bad note with screaming and crying

- you didn’t leave the RFA or the chatroom, but every time you were logged in, he would leave and he would only show up for a while during a RFA party before disappearing completely

- the others wanted to help you guys but apparently there was nothing for them to do because the both of you didn’t want to see or know about each other’s lives

- but after five years of struggling with his career and life and accepting the truth, he’s ready to move on

- he’s finally has got a good musical and he’s on the way to the venue when he sees you

- at first he didn’t believe it, he thinks his eyes are playing tricks on him until you look at him

- you are absolutely stunning and much more happier than you were with him

- before he can say anything, your 4 year-old son runs up to you and hugs you

- he’s speechless but he forces a smile

- you smile back and walk up to him with your son in your arms

- “hi, Zen.”

- “hey, MC.”

- he pushes back his tears and asks you for a hug which you gave after putting down your son

- it’s a comforting hug, a hug that meant there were no more bad blood between the two of you

- if you’re happy, Zen’s happy for you too

Jumin:

- work got in the way of your relationship; work always got in the way of everything

- his father never approved of you and forced Jumin to marry a rich socialite for business purposes

- and when Jumin gives in to his father, you’re furious and left his penthouse that night

- he has never seen you again since

- six years down the road and he’s attending a company party with his wife

- and then he laid his eyes on you, the most beautiful woman in the room right now

- you look absolutely gorgeous in your sparkling red gown

- he knows his wife is talking to him but he can’t hear her at all

- then he sees a man carrying a little girl in his arms coming to you and he forces himself to look away, he doesn’t need to know more

- he turns to his wife and just leads her away to meet the other business partners

- as long as you’re happy that’s enough for him, but the only regret is that he’s not with you

Yoosung:

- the reason you broke up with him was because he was still behaving like a child

- he promised to change and ditch his gaming habit late into the night but once he got into LOLLOL, he ignores everything else and you

- you have had enough so you left

- he was a total mess and he’s angry at himself

- he made sure he studied hard and become a doctor to win you back and most importantly become an adult

- but it was too late when he found out that you already left the country

- it hurt him of course but there was nothing he could do since Seven had promised you not to tell anyone your location

- four years later he’s a famous and successful doctor and he’s been invited to a doctor’s conference in the States

- he couldn’t believe seeing you at the airport

- he ran straight up to you with his luggage behind him

- you’re surprised too but you eventually smile

- “look at you, Doctor. Kim. Congrats.”

- he wants so much more than just a congratulations but before he can say anything, your husband and your two kids come up to you

- Yoosung is absolutely heartbroken but you’ve made your choice and he respected it

- his fellow doctors are calling him back so he turns to leave

- “it was good seeing you, MC. really good.”

Jaehee:

- it was a mutual break up; the both of you agreed that your relationship was slowly becoming stale

- Jaehee was too busy with her job and you wanted something more than just casual dating

- even though you two broke up, you two are still friends, but not as close as before

- and then you both eventually drifted

- the next time she sees you, you’re happily married with two kids

- she goes up to you and you’re happy to see her

- you guys promise to catch up one day over coffee

- she still feels a little sad but you deserve a happy life

Seven:

- secret agent missions were never ending despite Seven leaving that job

- he was constantly called back to clean up jobs he didn’t finish and honestly you were tired of it

- he always said “this is the last one” but there’s never an end to it

- so you broke up with him

- he loves you too much for you to leave but you’ve already made up your mind

- you told him not to use his hacking skills to track you down

- and since you were long gone, Seven went back to being an agent

- seven years later, he’s dressed in a hotel staff uniform and standing behind the concierge desk for his undercover mission

- that’s when he sees you, your husband and your twins checking into the hotel

- he decides not to meet you and just watch you from afar

- his heart aches but at least you are happy

- he never ever wants to see you miserable and he’s glad you’ve found someone worth being with

- you two broke up because he was still living in the past - he can’t get over Rika and his actions

- you tried so many times to get him out of the funk and you know it’s not easy but he doesn’t make any attempt to improve himself

- and you just gave up

- he didn’t know you were the best thing that ever happened to him until you left him

- he tried so hard to find you to apologise to you but he never found you

- years later he’s walking in the streets and comes face-to-face with you

- you excuse yourself from your husband and little boy to talk to him

- he shoots a sad smile and quickly apologises to you, he doesn’t want to miss the opportunity again, even though it may already be too late

- you smile back at him and ask if he’s doing well

- obviously he’s not, but he’s doing well in his therapy sessions

- he looks over your shoulder and at your family

- he and your husband give each other an understanding nod

- “please don’t make me keep you from your loved ones. we’ll see each other some day soon.”

- and then he left quickly so you wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes

Unknown:

- the reason for break up was because you wanted a family and kids but Saeran is obviously against it

- every time you brought up the issue he would avoid it and eventually you guys fought

- so you left him and you pleaded him not to chase after you

- he was not happy so he tried to keep tabs on you

- but you made sure he’ll never find you because you told Seven to keep him off of your back

- when Saeran knew Seven was helping you, he was upset and angry

- he eventually gave up and never thought about loving anyone at all

- three years later he sees you in the hospital

- he wants to approach you but you’re cradling a newborn in your arms and your husband is pushing your wheelchair

- you’re happy with a loving husband by your side, and your baby girl

- that’s something he can never provide you with

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castaliareed · 7 years

Text

All Roads Lead to the Same Castle: Pt 2 Deals, Annulments, and dangerous liaisons

If you haven’t check out Pt. 1 of this little series of metas on s.7 and s.8 predictions. It is basically my winding road ramblings on the subject.

Spoiler Alerts of course. And a disclaimer that it is really hard to predict where the show is going and do even pretend you understand what exactly is driving the characters at this point. I don’t fully blame the show. It is extremely challenging trying to work a story backward. They know the ending but now how the author plans on getting there. Not to belabor that point...my thoughts and Pt.2 under the cut.

THE BACKROOM DEAL

Jon is not the only one up to political maneuvers. In the finale, Tyrion goes to speak with Cersei alone. We believe she has refused to help fight the WW. After speaking, Cersei returns and says she will help. Yay! We quickly learn that Cersei has no intention of helping. Jaime storms off. This is the last straw for him. What about Tyrion?

Tyrion may just have done a backroom deal with Cersei. Thinking Cersei is pregnant with a potential an heir to the throne and knowing Dany claims to be incapable of conceiving. There is an opportunity for Tyrion here.

Thus, far he has indulged the WW threat. Tyrion is a bit like the Maseters he never really believed it and he never completely took it seriously. Even seeing the wight, I’m not sure Tyrion takes it that seriously. His thinking might be let Jon & Dany take care of the Northern threat if they live, they will be seriously weakened. Making easy work for Lannister troops. Cersei promises Tyrion a role on the small council. Once her child is born, Tyrion can groom the kid to be a great ruler.

Tyrion appears to be having serious doubts about Dany. He did not like or trust any of the people in her alliance with the potential exceptions of Greyworm and Missandei. The Sand Snakes killed Myrcella. The Tyrells are partially responsible for the events that led to Tommen’s suicide. They are also responsible for framing Tyrion for Joffrey’s death. He never liked Theon from way back at Winterfell.

We could even put the tinfoil on and conclude [TINFOIL ALERT] Tyrion possibly concocted a poor battle strategy for Dany knowing that it would inevitably get her allies captured or killed. Leaving him as the sole influence over her. This almost worked until Jon showed up and Dany did not burn him for not bending. Jon also took Dany’s focus off the war in the south and directed it to the WW threat in the North.

Tyrion sees now that controlling Dany might not ever be as easy as he thought. That combined with Dany’s penchant for burning her enemies (except Jon) and her inability to have a successor could push Tyrion to do a deal with Cersei. A child would be much easier to control via a regency.

The look he had on his face as he stood outside Dany’s door was one of concern. Remember in Pt 1. The possibility that Jon is manipulating Dany was discussed.

DOES JON SNOW KNOW ANYTHING?

The question becomes are Jon and Tyrion aware of what the other is doing? If this story gets the simple straightforward play. Tyrion didn’t do a backroom deal with Cersei and will be shocked when Jaime arrives to tell them Cersei won’t be sending troops North. (Come on, Tyrion knows Cersei! Why would her lie surprise him? Even if he didn’t do a deal with her, he has to expect her betrayal) And his look of concern or anger that we saw on the show during the J&D sexy time could be a tinge of jealousy as some suggest. Or worry that she is being distracted.

Or his look could mean that Jon getting closer to Dany is putting a serious wrench in his plans. Perhaps, he is on to Jon’s plans and is further questioning Dany’s leadership abilities. And feels a bit guilty. Tyrion did at one point seem to be encouraging the relationship. Perhaps, he is having second thoughts about encouraging it.

Once Jon’s parentage is revealed, we could see him taking sides. Who’s? Again, it’s hard to say. The show is going to play this for maximum suspense. Let’s not forget it looks like Jaime will be showing up at Winterfell, too. It’s possible they all begin to take sides.

YES, SANSA IS STILL MARRIED!!!

Another [TINFOIL ALERT] Tyrion may even be considering rekindling his marriage to Sansa. It is one of the first things he mentions to Jon. After seeing Jon’s reaction to his comment about his marriage to Sansa, he thought perhaps he would need to be more careful when broaching the subject.

If Tyrion had hopes on re-enstating his marriage to Sansa, he could have decided it was to his advantage to win Jon over. He could have decided to work with Jon. OR he could be very interested in getting rid of Jon (first by appearing to work with him and then betraying him). After which he would claim that his marriage to Sansa was not a sham at all. And he could make a claim for Winterfell. (Arya and Bran showing up also puts a dent in this plan for Tyrion…)

In the books, Sansa has not married again. She also notes that her still being married to a presumed alive Tyrion is a problem for Littlefinger, who wants to marry her off to Harry Hardyng. The show really skirts this question only saying her marriage to Tyrion was not consummated. That’s grounds for an annulment. Except, Sansa has not been granted one yet.

The week after the finale articles have come out about GRRM original outline that said there would be a love triangle between Jon-Arya-Tyrion. The thinking is that this love triangle was transferred to Jon-Dany-Tyrion. Possible except that it gets the tension of the dynamic backward. The Jon-Sansa-Littlefinger triangle represents what the original was supposed to be. Jon and Arya (in the outline) were supposed to be tormented by their feelings for each other until Jon’s parentage was revealed. Thus, resulted in a dangerous love triangle between Jon-Arya-Tyrion. The dynamics of a Jon-Dany-Tyrion triangle don’t work in this context. The torment will happen after the reveal. In the outline, it is not known whether Jon and Arya were supposed to be aware of each other's feelings. Only that it caused them torment. It possible this idea was tossed out. It’s possible that this was reversed and applied to Jon and Dany to cause tension. (I’ve recently read that theory as well…) AS we know it’s near impossible to make predictions about the show at this point. That being said whatever the love triangle we are meant to see Jon’s reaction to Littlefinger’s declaration of love for Sansa was highly suspicious. It suggests that we are witnessing one triangle already. I mean, he nearly killed the man. Imagine, what will he do if Tyrion tries to make a case for his marriage to Sansa?

Jon will discover that he is Sansa’s cousin. The actors have long said this will change their relationship. To the best of the audiences’ knowledge, they don’t know this yet. (more on the audiences’ knowledge in Pt.3). Many believe Jon has strong feelings for Sansa. Will they eventually act on repressed feelings (if they do in fact exist)? Even being cousins will they have to keep it a secret to preserve the alliance with Dany? What will Jon do when he knows his parentage and Tyrion tries to make a case for the marriage to Sansa? Hell, what will Sansa do?

Again, it can’t be stated enough that in the books an alive Tyrion is a problem if Sansa wants to marry again. Annulments are not handed out lightly. It takes money and power to get one even if the much was not consummated. Usually, the man has to request it or a woman’s very powerful family. If she wants an annulment from another person of a powerful family who does not want it, you have a problem. Rhaegar’s getting annulment from Elia, really would have had to have been kept secret lest he loses the support of Dorne. Most likely in the books, he will have tried to do something similar to the first Aegon and have two wives. Unfortunately, Westeros is a patriarchy and Sansa or Dany won’t likely be getting two husbands. Though, it really isn’t a bad endgame. [PLENTY OF FAN FICS WITH DANY+fAEGON+JON AS A TRIAD]. No, Sansa will have to get rid of Tyrion if she wants to marry anyone again. Add to this that she may (or may not) have more than familial feelings for Jon...and...well...

HAPPY ENDINGS?

In a happy ending, we might see a J+D union and S+T union or a J+S and a D+T with one pair ruling one region and another ruling the other region. Or J+D each ruling a region and S+T acting as their hands. Doubtful that we see that happening. We know that the end will be bittersweet.

I predict a dark ending with a sense of hope. An ending in which our heroes the Starks become very morally gray. An ending was they will have to act deceptively, even become downright bad. While I personally love the idea of exile for Dany and possibly for Tyrion as well. That is probably not the ending. Both may befall a darker fate at the hands of the Starks. There is a great meta on Tyrion being the savage giant Sansa slays in the prophecy. I’ve had this theory for awhile. He is the only character referred to in the books as a giant. And there is something very savage about book!Tyrion. Littlefinger was a perfect red herring for the savage giant. Except Sansa did not slay him, not with her own hands. The true savage giant will be someone she kills with her own hands. Tyrion even says “Sansa is not a killer, not yet at least”. Sansa is inching closer and closer to being an outright killer on the show. Both Ramsey and Littlefinger were executed on her call. And while she has not gotten her hands dirty, it’s only a matter of time before she does.

How and the ultimate why Sansa would have to get rid of Tyrion remains to be seen. Does he get wind of her feelings for Jon? Does Sansa find out that he is planning to betray Dany which would put Jon in danger? This goes for Dany’s fate as well. Is Jon a true undercover lover or simply trying to make the best of a bad situation and secure Dany’s help. We really just don’t know what is motivating our characters.

We do know Jon, Tyrion, and Sansa are all trying to play the game, a very dangerous game. And they are all headed for a collision course with not just the White Walkers but with each other at Winterfell. It is unclear exactly how much they are all aware of the others actions. (In my ideal world Jon and Sansa are communicating in secret with each other while apart.) In not fully understanding the game each is playing, they could become very dangerous to each other and those around them.

#jonsa meta #jonsa #jonxsansa #jon snow #sansa stark #game of thrones meta #all roads lead to the same castle

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sm0ak-queen · 7 years

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Hiatus Olicity Fic Rec - Part 1

Since it’s hiatus and there’s not much happening in fandom I wanted to share some of my favorite fics. You can find my older fic recs here.

Multichapter

The Edge of Hope (complete) by @thatmasquedgirl They say the world is coming to an end. But that's okay for Oliver because, as far as he's concerned, his ended two years ago. Or, maybe, it's just beginning again. Another way Oliver and Felicity could have met, this time involving a potential apocalypse, a few near-death experiences, and a whole lot of monsters.

Into You Like a Train (complete) by @hannasus Felicity Smoak’s only reservation about taking a job as script supervisor on John Diggle’s latest film is the lead actor: Oliver Queen. He’s a former teen heartthrob with a reputation for bad behavior and a messy drug habit that tanked his once-promising career. Now, five years after he disappeared off the Hollywood radar, Queen’s looking to make a comeback. But has he really cleaned up his act, or will his attitude problem make Felicity’s life a living hell for the nine-week shoot in New Orleans?

In Another Life (I could be your man) (WIP) by angelicmisskitty Their lives couldn't be more different - and yet Oliver can't take his eyes off the beautiful blonde woman that leaves the subway every morning at 7.43am. There is something about her that makes him look up every morning - something that also makes him aware he'll never be good enough for her, or that she'd even notice him.He had no idea how much his life would change the day he rushed over to help her...

Deceive, Inveigle, and Obfuscate (complete) by @machawicket When a threat to Felicity's safety isn't something that Oliver can put arrows in, the team has to look for different kinds of solutions to assorted legal problems. Diverges from canon during S2 mid-season break.

Let's try our very best to fake it (complete) by @mogirl97 ARGUS agents Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are given an undercover assignment to infiltrate a suspected war profiteering organization under the aliases of a married couple. A complicated history between them means that faking it as a Mr. and Mrs. isn't exactly something they were prepared for during their training.

She Refused to be a Swooner (complete) by SuchaPrettyPoison “I always have a blast in public restrooms.” Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen banter. There is an engagement with talks of a cowboy themed wedding. Wallets are stolen. A kitten is stuck in a tree. Oliver is protective. Felicity is brilliant. Stress eating happens. Hiding under a table in public is always best when you need a moment to yourself. Oh, and someone's dad is wanted by the authorities.

The Unbearable Hotness of Being (complete) by @machawicket A silly, epistolary tale of a kind-hearted but occasionally clumsy woman who realizes she lives in the same apartment building as the most unbearably handsome man in the world.

Velocity (complete) by @machawicket There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? AKA, the Olicity Speed AU.

The Victory (complete) by @anextraordinarymuse Oliver and Felicity meet by chance in one of the most crowded cities in the world. They think that's the end of it ... until they meet again, in another city, a year later. Chance meetings suddenly don't seem so random.

Technical Assistance (complete) by @thatmasquedgirl Felicity Smoak swore she'd provide technical assistance to all who need it. She's just not prepared for her newest client.

Someone Else's Sky (complete) by @punchdrunkdoc Oliver Queen, the Starling City Vigilante, moves out of his family home into a small apartment. But he has an unexpected roommate. A 'Just Like Heaven' AU

Can't escape this now (complete) by @callistawolf Oliver Queen, scion of a wealthy and powerful family, returns home from his exile to Russia to find that his mother has plans for his future that he wants no part of. Unfortunately, it's not really up to him and neither is it up to Felicity Smoak, who is about to find out what sort of man her father truly is. MOB AU

The Offer by @mogirl97 The evidence was stacked against her. The murder of her boyfriend was a crime that she didn’t commit, but the judge and jury didn’t see it that way. Felicity was preparing herself for the guilty verdict and a life in prison. Except that the night before her final trial, a masked stranger offers her another option. The opportunity to disappear, live a life in the shadows. A chance to get justice for others, justice that wasn’t awarded to her.

Songs Not Made For Love (Our Soundtrack) by Jules_Ink Strangely, when his brain had rebooted, the first thought that crossed his mind was that an “Executive Assistant” really would NOT improve this. Not at all. Because there on the screen stood, sprawled out in the lime green letters that were the trademark of the most notorious gossip side ever, “Oliver Queen engaged to secretary.”

One Shots

After the Storm by @overwatchandarrow The four months Oliver thought Felicity was dead. And the one month he realized she wasn’t.

Six Times Felicity Uses Post-It Notes and One Time Oliver Does by hope27

Mind Over Matter by @thatmasquedgirl It all starts with a coughing fit in an airport, and somehow just snowballs from there. And Felicity isn’t exactly prepared for the result.

Happy reading! I’ll be back with part 2 soon :)

#olicity #olicity fic #olicity fic rec #my fic recs #hiatus fic rec

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timeflies1007-blog · 6 years

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Doctor Who Reviews, Season 2, Part 2

Note: These reviews contain many spoilers for season 2 and occasional spoilers for later seasons. There are also a few references to plot points from the classic series.

Rise of the Cybermen: Like “New Earth,” this episode gives us the opportunity to see a different world, although in this case one that aligns quite closely with ours, but it’s again a pretty meager effort—some technology upgrades, some zeppelins in the sky, the end. (The ability to travel between universes is also established in a fairly underwhelming way; there’s a lot of drama about how the TARDIS is dead, and then she isn’t, just a few minutes later, and I don’t know what it means for the Doctor to fix the problem by giving up ten years when he doesn’t generally die of old age.) The low-key approach to world-building might have worked well in service of a more engaging plot, but the Cybermen story never quite finds a way to make the metallic monsters interesting. The first scene at least goes to an entertaining Frankensteiny place, but after that, in spite of his constant references to his impending demise John Lumic just sort of feels like walking exposition, necessary because we need someone who isn’t a Cyberman to explain the plan. I’ve liked Roger Lloyd Pack in other things, but he’s one of the least convincing evil genius figures I’ve seen on this show, and without a charismatic human presence to move their story along, the Cybermen just don’t make enough of an impact—especially since they’re stuck with trying to take over the world via evil earpieces. The scene in which a bunch of homeless men are converted while “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” covers the sound is a brilliant piece of darkness, but the episode never otherwise manages to make them look more than moderately intimidating.

This could have been a disastrous episode if it relied too heavily on the Cybermen narrative, but, fortunately, it devotes a lot of time to Rose’s and Mickey’s parallel world families. It’s a fairly brief scene, but Mickey’s reunion with his grandmother—now dead in our universe—is the clear highlight of the episode, and continues with the work that “School Reunion” did to give Mickey more depth. His interactions with Rickey and his band of revolutionaries are also strong scenes, although while Noel Clarke does a great job as Mickey in this episode, he overacts Ricky to the point where he becomes comedic—it’s unclear whether or not this was intentional. Rose seems to have moved on completely from the abandonment that happened in the previous episode, which is frustrating, but she does have some memorable interactions with the Doctor. The look that she gives him in an attempt to get him to investigate this universe’s Pete and Jackie is the most directly flirtatious behavior that we’ve seen from her, and they are really adorable in their undercover guise as waitstaff at the party. (The Doctor’s reaction to tiny lapdog Rose is especially cute.) Rose’s attempts to get to know this version of her dad are really nicely depicted here, and it’s lovely to see a slightly different version of Pete. I am a bit put off, though, by what this story does to Jackie. It’s a different universe and, therefore, a different version of Jackie, but Mickey treats his grandmother as basically the same person as the one in his universe, and Pete winds up being seen as a substitute for this universe’s Pete, and that makes the portrayal of Jackie seem like a commentary on the main version of this character as well. She has moments of seeming like our Jackie, but her shallowness and snobbery are played up so much here that we’re left with the suggestion that if she were a rich, childless woman instead of a poor single mother, she’d lose all of her good qualities. The whole character just feels like we are being asked to laugh at Jackie by magnifying her flaws, and it seems mean-spirited to me. It also sort of seems like she was written as unlikeable for the purpose of making it easy to get her out of the way so that our Jackie can be with Pete at the end. This does set up a great moment in the finale, but the whole episode plays into the critics who find Jackie shrill and overbearing, and she’s way too good for that.

There is a lot to dislike in this episode, including the lackluster parallel universe, the Cyberman plot, and the treatment of Jackie Tyler. The interactions between Rose and the Doctor help, though, and Mickey and Pete are so good here that they mostly save the episode. I wish it had been linked to a more engaging narrative, but I really appreciate that the show is giving Mickey a lot of good material before (temporarily) writing him off of the show. B-

The Age of Steel: “He takes the living, and turns them into those machines.” “They cut out the one thing that makes them human.” In the Davies era of the show, this is what the Cybermen are. The fact that they were once human is lamented, but there’s definitely nothing human about them anymore. The precise nature of the Cyber identity has been somewhat ambiguous throughout their long history on the show, but this is one of its most disappointing formulations. The notion that Cybermen have had their emotions removed is completely consistent with what we know from the classic series—it’s integral to these monsters that their emotions have been deleted because they see emotion as weakness and uniformity as strength. Ideally, this can provoke interesting questions about what it means to have a human brain (even if it’s been programmed by Cyber control) while the human body and emotions have been replaced. Out of all of Who’s monsters, they are in some respects the closest to us because of this retention of this human brain, and that gives these figures the ability to be truly unsettling and uncanny.

The show’s approach to the Cyber identity has varied a lot over the years. In the classic series, many of the most interesting moments with the Cybermen came in the form of resistance to certain elements of Cyber design and control. “The Tomb of the Cybermen” lets us see a character resist the effects of partial conversion, for instance, while “The Invasion,” (the best Cyberman story) gives us essentially weaponized emotion, in which Cybermen suffer from having emotion gradually re-infused. Once Moffat takes over, human nature becomes tied so closely to the intellect that a Cyberman with a human brain has only had part of its humanity cancelled, which gives us terrifying encounters with machines who are still sort of human. (Granted, it takes him a while to find a logical balance between these elements, but I would say he gets there eventually.) Here, it’s not that humanity is permanently unavailable to these Cybermen, but it’s completely dependent on the fairly straightforward piece of mechanics that is the emotional inhibitor. This device, which appears to be linked to the nervous system, suggests that one’s humanity is entirely dependent on whether or not one’s emotions are physically operational. The Cyberman whose human form was about to get married is heartbreaking, but her humanity is reduced to an on-off switch. Functioning emotional inhibitor=not human. Broken emotional inhibitor=human again. When Tennant says that he gave the Cybermen their souls back by turning their emotions back on, he’s not kidding; the perspective here is genuinely that the soul and emotional experience are completely synonymous.

My issue with this is not so much that it is a dull exploration of what it means to be a Cyberman, and more that it is a dull exploration of what it means to be human. To be fair, emotion is probably our most important characteristic, but reducing the human soul to a question of whether or not your feelings button is turned on makes human nature look one-dimensional—there are lots of things that define our humanity, and feelings are central among them, but they’re not alone. It doesn’t help that the solution to the problem completely undercuts the episode’s apparent message. The Doctor insists that human individuality is important, and that grief, rage, and pain are intrinsic to the human experience. Then, once he returns to the Cybermen their “souls,” they all do basically the same thing, with only very slight variation. This uniform action involves being destroyed by their emotions, including their grief and pain, and while I understand that realizing what you had become could easily kill a person in this situation, it’s a bit odd to have a big speech about grief and pain being qualities that are important to humanity and then follow it by having everyone commit suicide because of these qualities. There’s a really effective shot of a Cyberman looking with horror at its reflection in a mirror, but watching the emotionally-restored Cybermen continue to behave with almost total uniformity and be completely unable to handle negative emotions works so directly against the themes of this episode that I’m just confused about what anyone was thinking when they put together this story. If we’d just had a few outliers—someone saying “I’m in a lot of pain, but at least I can stomp on my enemies now,” or someone determined to hold on to life and consciousness in spite of the reasons to let go of them, or someone trying desperately to call for re-conversion back to full humanity—this would at least let us see what the Doctor is saying about the importance of individuality and emotional experience. Instead, while there is some variation in terms of the gestures that they make, from what I can see they just wander about dying en masse.

Lumic gets even worse in this episode; his interactions with the Cybermen early in the episode are so awkwardly written that they almost seem unscripted. His final showdown with the Doctor is mostly forgettable, even if it does give the Doctor a few good lines. (I particularly liked his sarcastic, ““I’ve been captured, but don’t worry, Rose and Pete are still out there, they can rescue me!”) The Doctor’s speech about the need for grief and pain doesn’t really work well within the Cyberman narrative but is a nice moment in an episode that sees Rose lose Mickey, get rejected by this version of her father, and see the death of this version of her mother. While he’s going on about the human imagination, it’s delightful. He moves pretty quickly into self-satisfaction, though, and he never seems to think through how he might actually convince Lumic, whose death is dull and silly. There’s some fun running around and some entertaining action-movie stuff here, but overall the plot is just completely misguided.

Fortunately, a few characters get such good material that they elevate the episode well above the mediocre Cyberman plot. Mrs. Moore is a terrific character and makes a great temporary companion for the Doctor. In spite of dying pretty quickly, she’s a well-rounded, believable character, and her death seems like a meaningful loss. (I would love it if someday the show let us see the Mrs. Moore equivalent in our universe.) I also continue to enjoy Pete, although the episode kind of wastes the very good idea of having Rose and Pete pretend to be completely emotionless in order to get past the Cybermen in order to rescue Jackie. Watching Rose, by nature a fountain of emotion, fight off the need to express her fear and grief would have made for some excellent drama, but we don’t get to see that because they immediately find out that Jackie has already been converted and then they just stop pretending. Still, I love that Pete has been working as a spy, passing information about Cybus Industries to the Preachers. His final scene, in which he learns that Rose is his daughter from another world but rejects her because he needs to take down the rest of the Cybermen, is beautifully underplayed and really painful to watch, but even that gets overshadowed by Mickey’s decision to stay in the parallel world. This two-parter has maybe slightly overdone the whole “Rose and the Doctor treat Mickey as the tin dog” thing in preparation for this moment, and his magical hacker skills have never seemed plausible to me, but he gets an absolutely marvelous exit. His determination to both take Ricky’s place in fighting the Cybermen and to take care of his Gran is a great motivation for him to leave, and his last conversation with Rose is perfect in its simplicity. “We’ve had a laugh, though, haven’t we—seen it all, been there and back” isn’t the most poetic dialogue the show has ever had, but it’s exactly right for the moment. Then, when Rose and the Doctor have gone so that Rose can go give Jackie a gigantic hug, Mickey gets one more fantastic moment in his confidence that he can take down the Cybermen from a van because he “once saved the universe with a big truck.” Aw, Mickey Smith. You were really boring for a while but you got awesome eventually. B/B-

Idiot’s Lantern: Even if sometimes the stories themselves don’t completely work, Mark Gatiss is generally very good at writing a convincing Victorian-era setting, which is one of the reasons why “The Unquiet Dead” was so enjoyable. His efforts to convey the 1950s are a lot less specific: there’s some period-appropriate clothing and a general sense of patriarchy, and that’s pretty much it. It’s fun to see the Doctor and Rose in fifties garb, and I like that Rose continues to make use of stuff she knows just from being a human with a family—her flag knowledge from Jackie’s sailor boyfriend and her immediate suspicion of the number of televisions because of stories she’s heard from Jackie demonstrate that her human perspective is quite useful. It’s only useful for a brief period of time, though, because she quickly gets her face and brain sucked out and spends much of the episode trapped. (Rose has less than usual to do in this episode, “Fireplace,” and “Love and Monsters,” and I just don’t understand the concept of having Billie Piper on your payroll and not making as much use as possible of her talents.)

The plot, in which the television is sucking out people’s brains, is an overly literal depiction of the fear of technology, and the only really creepy moment is the visual of the faces trapped in TV screens. The Wire is eerie enough when she is keeping up the persona of the television host, but just sounds silly when yelling things like “Hungryyyy!!” or “Feeeed meee!” The domestic disharmony in Tommy’s family isn’t a terrible plot, but the father’s over-the-top performance and the dialogue’s heavy-handedness about how he’s exactly like the fascists he fought against render it pretty forgettable until the last few minutes. Rose’s insistence that Tommy go after his dad, and her wistful look in their direction, give us a nicely underplayed reminder of what she lost in the last episode, which is important in a season that tends to make Rose come across as forgetful. Although, given what we’ve seen of the dad’s temper, I’m a little concerned that she’s sending the kid into a situation where he’s going to be abused. It’s good that she’s still thinking about Pete, but this father seems like a very different model.

It’s the only really memorable piece of an awfully by-the-numbers episode, though, and one of Gatiss’s weakest contributions to the show. In general, I tend to like Gatiss as a writer of (relatively) realistic drama more than I like him as a sci-fi writer; I loved “An Adventure in Space and Time” and consider “The Hounds of Baskerville” to be the most underrated episode of Sherlock (where he’s a fantastic Mycroft), but when he writes for Doctor Who he tends to lean a bit too heavily on B-movie horror tropes. Old-timey, cheesy speculative fiction is an important influence on this show, but I think most of the other writers blend these influences more thoroughly with humor and character-driven drama than Gatiss does, and this episode is one of the most in need of an effort to reinterpret some of its influences in a more imaginative way. What we’re left with isn’t a terrible story, but it’s pretty pointless. C+/C

The Impossible Planet: The first part of this story isn’t quite as exhilarating as the near-perfect second part, but it’s a terrific piece of setup and a marvelous example of how well the Tenth Doctor/Rose pairing can work. A lot of episodes this season are let down by some combination of the setting, the monsters, and the minor characters, but this episode knocks it out of the park in all three respects. For the most part, the setting is ordinary Outer Space done very well—the endless series of sliding doors isn’t especially original, for instance, but it’s used very effectively. At times, though, the setting goes well beyond being a fun, slightly Star Trek-y space and becomes genuinely fascinating. The untranslatable writing immediately lends a compelling sense of mystery, the revelation of the somehow non-deadly black hole is astonishing, and the lost civilization is just gorgeous. The music is perhaps even more important than the visual—it’s lovely throughout the episode, and the brief sequence set to “Bolero” is an especial highlight. The Ood are among the best new monsters of the Davies era; they’ve got a striking appearance, and they create an intriguing perspective on what this future is like. They show not only a dark side of humanity’s future, but also a sense of how humans are attempting to justify that dark side—while it’s ultimately unconvincing, particularly in light of Season 4’s more in-depth look at the Ood, I can fully believe a future society using the idea of a species’ natural subservience as an excuse for exploiting them. Among the minor characters, Scooti is basically canon fodder, Danny is forgettable, and Toby never really interests me other than as a vessel for the Beast, but Ida, Zachary, and Jefferson seem like fully-rounded human beings within seconds.

Rose is just delightful here; she’s having a good time in spite of being trapped extremely far away from the Earth, and she’s trying to connect with the Ood, who remind her of the hopelessness she once felt. She also starts to have a real conversation with the Doctor about the possibility of living together on whatever planet they get dropped off on, and I wouldn’t have any objection to the Doctor/Rose romance if it always looked like this. Their conversation is hesitant and awkward, but it’s really sweet, and I love Rose’s amusement at the thought of the Doctor getting a mortgage. The Doctor himself is at his most jubilant here, and his impulse to hug the captain because of humanity’s obsession with exploration is a particularly nice moment. Everyone is just so loveable here that I spend more time basking in the wonderfulness of the characters and setting than actually taking in much of the plot, but there is some good setup for the next episode, particularly in the moments in which the Beast’s consciousness starts to come through. There’s a fair amount of exposition here, and most of the very best things happen in part two, but this is a glorious start to a terrific story. A/A-

The Satan Pit: This is generally a pretty highly-regarded episode, but I still think it’s massively underrated—I would put it in my top five. While it’s not as emotional as the finale, I would say it’s the best treatment of the Rose/Doctor relationship, and it’s also arguably the most fun episode of the entire reboot.

Both pieces of the story—the Doctor and Ida, Rose and the rest of the crew—work impeccably well on their own and dovetail together nicely. While I think that the Doctor’s adventures are a bit stronger, Rose gets a lot of great scenes with the crew, who continue to be extremely engaging minor characters. The crawling through the tunnels is claustrophobically terrifying, and Jefferson’s death is genuinely really tragic—at this point, it feels like he’s been in the last five episodes at least. The mysterious references to guilt about his wife give him a real sense of depth, and the actor does a stupendous job of making a man who could seem mindlessly violent truly likeable. Zachary is very well-written and acted throughout this episode; he could easily come across as a one-note character, but his capability in spite of guilt and uncertainty comes across very clearly. The script is nicely attentive to the ways in which the power structures in this time and place are allowing some of the problems to happen—I really like the fact that they’re having trouble tracking the Ood because the computer doesn’t register them as life forms. This is also the one episode this season in which I really believe that Rose’s personality has substantially shifted because of her time with the Doctor. She takes control in much the same way that the Doctor would, and she even sort of imitates some of the Doctor’s mannerisms in the way that she talks to the crew. Yes, she is basically suicidal in her attempted insistence on staying to wait for the Doctor instead of fleeing with the rest, but otherwise she is a terrific leader throughout this story.

The Doctor himself gets an even better adventure. His complicated feelings for Rose are woven throughout the narrative in a way that serves the story and their relationship; his initial retreat from the chasm is pretty clearly motivated by his need to get back to Rose, and it’s a beautiful expression of just how much of an impact she has on him. His almost-declaration of love for her, which he declines to actually say, because “Oh, she knows” is also a strong portrayal of the strength of both his feelings and his sense of hesitation. Ida isn’t quite as fully realized a character as Jefferson or Zachary, but she’s likeable and she works well as a foil for the Doctor’s religious musings. The old civilization looks amazing, and the elegiac music that accompanies their exploration of it is just perfect.

The Doctor doesn’t just wander about in this lovely little world, though, because the Beast has directed his attention toward ideas that are fairly unusual for this show. Doctor Who doesn’t often deal with faith in a religious sense—although it will do so much more frequently once Moffat takes over—and the Doctor really seems to struggle to articulate his own here. Early in the episode, he resists the notion that anything could come from before the universe, and the Beast’s response—“Is that your religion?”—seems like a pretty good reading of what the Doctor believes in. What his long run of speeches in the pit shows, though, is that he doesn’t cling to his beliefs, but rather looks for things that will challenge them; he wants to find things that will break the rules that inform his understanding. It’s a fascinating portrait of what faith looks like to him, and it’s entirely believable for someone who has had his lifespan and his adventures. This would have been a worthwhile look at the Doctor’s mind even if it had stopped here, but we also get a lot of attention to what he believes about humans. He is particularly enthusiastic here about human nature and about the specific humans that he encounters, and I especially like his ability to rewrite the Beast’s very negative reading of Rose and the crew in positive terms. He’s aware, though, of human failings as well, which takes its most interesting shape in his argument that humans don’t have an innate need to jump but rather one to fall. The mysterious pit gives him the opportunity to emulate that piece of human nature, and his descent into unmeasurable depths is a wonderful physical rendering of the more spiritual and psychological leaps of faith that he makes elsewhere in the episode.

His most dramatic analysis of humans comes, predictably, in response to the possibility of losing Rose. The entire scene of the Doctor versus the Beast is just splendid in every respect, even if it is sort of an unusual approach for this show to make. Meeting a trapped creature who could be the origin of all of the Satan (and other ultimate evil) myths across the universe is possibly branching out past science fiction into fantasy, and the idea that smashing the urns breaks the prison sounds like something out of a fairytale. The use of the black hole does give the story more of a science fiction basis, but it’s still a very different story from the rest of the season, and one that puts the Doctor in the rare position of coming into the situation with very little relevant knowledge and having to work to piece things together. His conversation with the Beast—who functions more as an inspiration of interesting behavior in other characters than as a compelling focal point himself—is really more of a monologue, but it’s an absolutely sublime one. His joy at gradually putting together the truth plays out beautifully, and his reaction to the thought of losing Rose is an excellent follow-up to his earlier unwillingness to verbalize his feelings. What he says here isn’t exactly a profession of love, but it’s a statement of the nature of his feelings for her: out of all of the universe, and the many wonders he has seen, she is what he has the most faith in. It is a sort of statement of love, rewritten in terms that make sense for a wanderer who is cut off in some ways from normal human experiences. The Doctor burning up a sun to say goodbye to Rose in “Doomsday” might be the popular choice for the most memorable portrayal of their relationship, but his exuberant exclamation of “I believe in her!” is the highlight of the Doctor-Rose pairing for me.

The rest of the scene is lovely as well, again thanks in part to the fantastic musical score. One could find some logical flaws here; the Doctor’s concerns about the rocket losing orbit if he destroys the urns could be satisfied by waiting a reasonable amount of time, until the rocket has had time to get past the gravitational force of the black hole, but this scene is such a burst of goodness that I don’t really care. Rose killing Toby and thereby getting rid of the mind of Satan is nicely in line with the characterization of Rose that appears in this episode, although the “Go to hell” line is a bit overly quippy. The music, the Doctor’s monologue, and Rose’s embrace of her role as hero in what she thinks are her last moments all work perfectly together until the tremendous moment in which the music triumphantly goes “Da-da-dahh!!!” because the Doctor has found the TARDIS. The death of all of the Ood gives a somber note to the otherwise joyous ending, but Zachary’s seriousness toward their deaths—putting all of them into the records individually—creates a sense of hope that this set of humans, at least, might start to recognize the problems with how the Ood race is treated. To be sure, using the TARDIS as a tow truck is a bit odd, but the universe has rarely looked more beautiful than it does in this scene, and the Tenth Doctor’s enthusiasm has rarely seemed more convincing. This Doctor is jubilant so often that his expressions of joy can sometimes seem diminished in effect, as if that joy is too easily won. Here, his determined outburst of positivity as he stares down Satan and faces the prospect of losing Rose portrays that sense of joy as something fought for and completely earned, and that makes this scene one of the Tenth Doctor’s very best moments.

This episode was written by Matt Jones, who never wrote for the show again, but I’ve read that it was heavily rewritten by Davies; it’s sort of a shame that he didn’t get a writing credit here, because I honestly think it’s his best work. “Midnight” is also a brilliant exploration of the Doctor’s mind and soul, but it’s a very bleak one; this episode manages to do a lot of serious, insightful work about the Doctor (and, to a lesser extent, about Rose as well) while maintaining the sense of optimism and enthusiasm that is so central to the Tenth Doctor. It shows that serious episodes and fun episodes don’t have to be completely separate categories, and as such it’s a pretty much perfect combination of everything that is good about this show. A+

#doctor who #female doctor #season 2 #tenth doctor #david tennant #rose tyler #billie piper #russell t davies #reviews

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