#anyways I liked this one and it is very in character for vaughn and their relationship

[breezypunk]

aaaa I don't know if you're still open to these, but uhm... number 7 maybe, if you haven't done it already? 👉👈

thank you! <;3

soft otp prompts here

───── ⑅ ♡ ⑅ ─────

7- Write about one member of your ship asking the other to dance with them.

"Dance with me, V." Goro held his hand out to Vaughn who was sprawled out on the couch, eyes bloodshot red from the hours of crying he'd been doing.

Vaughn's anxiety was next level, he hadn't felt it in such a long while, his brain was in a fog, hardly able to tell what was going on, but Goro being Goro asks him to dance.

"Wow." Was all he could say. He breathed heavily, staring at Goro's hand, still stretched out towards him. Man he was a gonk, but it was so endearing. He really was so bad at this stuff, even six years into their relationship and Vaughn couldn't help but chuckle in moments like this, even if he was in such a funk, Goro tried so hard, he always tried so hard.

His ears finally started tuning in to the sounds around him, music was playing on the radio, his favorite.. Goro knew everything, didn't he?

"Fine.." He sighed slowly, sitting up and looking around the room in an attempt to bring himself back to reality. Goro's hand never faltered, he'd wait all night for Vaughn if he needed to, that was just the type of person he was, willing to wait for him, willing to understand that sometimes it took time to become comfortable with your surroundings after dealing with the high amounts of anxiety Vaughn had been dealing with, and not just at that moment, but for so many years.

He felt embarrassed and little awkward once he stood facing Goro directly. His eyes were still bloodshot red, his face was a mess, the little strands of hair were sticking to his forehead and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, which wasn't entirely untrue. He felt Goro's one hand wrap around his lower back lazily, just to pull him in a little closer, just so Vaughn could feel the warmth of Goro's body.

He really needed this.

"You do not need to say a word, V.. Just dance with me is all. Let it all go." Goro was right, Vaughn really did need to let it all go. His anxiety and depression stretched back to when he lost Johnny for good, for when he lost Jackie, for when he was mocked and made a laughing stock of the Bakker clan, it always piled up on him all at once until he completely lost it. But there was Goro, being the best he could possibly be, always dealing with Vaughn's outbursts, always right there when Vaughn ugly cried, when he could barely breathe, when he felt the world toppling over him twenty times over.

Goro didn't always understand what went on in Vaughn's brain, his thoughts and feelings were all over the place, but one thing Goro did know is that he wasn't going anywhere, and even if one silly dance could take the pain away even for just a brief moment, he was going to do it. He was going to slow dance with his lover in the middle of their living room, half naked, to their favorite songs all night if it meant that Vaughn would at least smile once, it's all Goro ever wanted.

Vaughn laid his head on Goro's shoulder and began to lose himself to the music, while also letting himself completely melt into Goro's arms, he felt incredibly lucky, and knew that he'd be okay for the rest of the night. He felt little pecks of kisses streaming down his neck and let out a small snort, how did Goro know how to do this so effortlessly?

Vaughn knew that even in his darkest moments he'd be okay, and even if it took a while to realize it, he knew, he just knew. Maybe all he needed was a dance, and maybe he'd start requesting them more often, Goro definitely wouldn't mind.

#hello this got deep #also yes this took a hot minute I am sorry #writing is so on and off with me :') #but I'm getting to them all I pwomise! #anyways I liked this one and it is very in character for vaughn and their relationship #cyberpunk 2077 #oc: vaughn leblanc #goro takemura #otp: golden hues #soft ship prompts #tag: inbox mail

[vacantgodling]

right, sexualities of all my MAIN characters from ALL my wips (as i can best describe them)

i'm leaving out rouge ocs like stellan or lauchlan just cuz they don't have a story they're just vibing lol. i'm also leaving out ones where i genuinely don't know yet like itri or seamus.

hyacinthus shrapnel (paramour) -> gay but extremely picky. he was wholly uninterested in sexuality and sex AT ALL until amon

amon (paramour) -> gay and he’s being very whorish about it

lavendula calderon (requiem for the monochrome) -> bisexual but hasn’t really been able to explore her attraction to non-men until the story starts.

erecia (requiem for the monochrome) -> straight-lesbian. she’s butch & troibemme (nb in this universe) but would consider herself bigender she/he in our terminology and fully considers herself both a man and a woman at the same time. she would honestly prefer the label straight-lesbian more than sapphic bc she’s not a woman all the time and that speaks to her experience more than anything.

narcissus spokes (prim & provocative) -> aro-graysexual (sex and romance positive). it’s something she comes to discover throughout her narrative. she doesn’t really experience or feel romance or desire for sex in a traditional way; she desires being wanted so she wants those things for herself but she doesn’t experience the actual attraction herself. she didn’t realize it bc on paper before her divorce, she didn’t have to question any of it—being with myrtus and being casually intimate but never hot and heavy seriously never bothered her. once he leaves though, through meeting new friends (i’m cooking) and generally going through it grants her new perspective.

tagetes gunn (empire) -> aroace (kink positive). the only attraction they have is to power.

kirsi sunniva (alizath) -> bisexual, with a preference for mascs

quill (teardrops of the gods) -> bisexual, with a preference for femmes

darren de leon (vampires don't take roadtrips) -> bisexual with a preference for mascs. he actually thought he was gay for most of his life until he turned like 14 and then he realized "oh, girls are kinda hot too"

julissa vaughn (donut wip) -> bisexual & polyamorous. the dream ending of this wip is her, joaquin, andres, saul and daisy ending up in a quintouple but alas.

noi randiche (noi, alone) -> nblm. they're nonbinary and they like men so. they don't really like labels anyway, but if they had to describe it that's what they'd say.

jenna magboo (jenna the reaper / jenna the witch king) -> bi-ace lesbian. she and carlos are in a qpr basically but in terms of fleeting romantic feelings she'd align more with lesbian (all of her 'crushes' have been women or femme-aligning but she doesn't experience attraction That strongly) but she also doesn't think she's had enough experience to say she's not bi also. lesbian is an important label to her especially because both of her mothers are lesbian, but she also knows she's young and likes the complexity of her labels.

carlos carvalho (jenna the reaper / jenna the witch king) -> aroace (sex/romance repulsed). in a qpr and is a caretaker of jenna - though when i say they're in a qpr its a very unspoken thing between them. like, jenna's whole goal is to become a witch and then make carlos her familiar so they're never separated, so i think that's very explicit about what they are to each other pff.

n blackburn (dead rites) -> the way that n barely registers his sexuality bc he's married to his work LMAOOOO. he'd say that he's pan, it really has more to do with the mental connection than physical attraction for him so anything is fair game (but again... married to his work actually)

beau bellerose (dead rites) -> gay gay homosexual gay

jihan (supernatural dads) -> pan, he's too old to have a preference and he's very open to experimenting.

hue rvynwell (supernatural dads) -> gay and he definitely had a crisis about it when he was growing up. however in his family it was such a nonissue LMAO they were like "why the hell would we care about that just make sure you have a kid" and whaddya know, he had 2!

piper fairwind (tcol) -> queer probably but she doesn't really think about any of that. if she were in our world, labels would be like the most meaningless shit to her LMAO.

san dearborn (tcol) -> aro-queer. romance is just not something she can wrap her head around however she does get into a... teammate with benefits relationship in book 2 that i think is funny as fuck.

deux undershield (tcol) -> literally the first cishet character to appear on this list LMAO

forte symphonia (tcol) -> bisexual

clear brightendale (tcol) -> gay and he's hiding So Deep in the closet he needs someone to tell him its ok to come out lmaooo (aka: literally everyone)

di absyna (lukewarm rejection) -> gay but at what cost (his strict religious parents being generally horrible is one cost pff)

toph (lukewarm rejection) -> bisexual and a menace, but mostly attracted to mascs.

nyseah nicoletti (nondisclosure) -> she's trans heteroflexible basically. she's mostly attracted to guys but she also definitely cares more about a connection than anything else so she's open to exploring. (also she's pff married to my partner they love her LMAO)

donte macbride (nondisclosure) -> gay but more than being gay, he's fucking exhausted.

alona springwell (nondisclosure) -> the second cishet to appear on this list LMAO.

dagmar (celestial weddings) -> being mspec and polyamorous is literally just the default sexuality of the world of celestial weddings so yeeee.

graves (the graves we dug) -> FAGGOT COWBOY YEEHAW. pff but yeah he's gay. and sad.

dove (the graves we dug) -> another faggot cowboy lmao he's gay.

calvin im (purple haze) -> the first cishet dude on this list

jake deluna (purple haze) -> bisexual but he has a rough time coming to terms with this.

nevaeh (god eater) -> tbh i don't think nevaeh even knows what sexuality is (being a beacon of paradise is a very isolating lot in life) but i think they're probably gray across the board. the idea of romance or sex isn't really something they have much of a concept in their brain yet but they're curious about it.

little bear (god eater) -> mspec polyamorous; he doesn't really have time for relationships most of the time but he's definitely open to being ridden by anyone who wants to give it a go.

taj (god eater) -> pan and very in... some sort of codependent infatuation with thei.

thei (god eater) -> pan and tired. in a codependency relationship thing with taj.

lennon rhapsody granger (gothica) -> a surprise cishet appears.

aurora o'rion (gothica) -> bisexual and a whore about it

morrigan briarcos (gothica) -> gay and longsuffering. lennon is his (1) exception.

chidori jonson (train master chidori) -> just generally considers himself queer :)

nyoka (the virgin of mt heredosa) -> demi. its verin or bust.

verin (the virgin of mt heredosa) -> mspec but he's a centuries old god so like the concept of sexuality is mostly funny to him. he likes what he likes.

red (red death and the oracle's favor) -> aroace (sex repulsed bc of trauma). her and hel are in a qpr and i'm obsessed with them and their relationship

hel (red death and the oracle's favor) -> gay but loves red more than he loves dick and that's saying something. he doesn't expect her to say it back or feel the same as him but she cares about him in her own way and he's extremely not normal about it. he also wants to jump arden's bones and Did.

arden (red death and the oracle's favor) -> gay but he can't be gay and the king so he's very closeted. not unaccepting of it but he definitely is not talking about it and only allows himself to indulge with hel under the cover of darkness.

ranger pellish (sixteen candles) -> aro-bisexual and Very sex positive. he's such a slut and he lives by that. him and nan are basically a qpr.

nanette rosenfeld (sixteen candles) -> lesbian but she & range are inseperable and she's definitely given him the strap on many occasion to make him shut the hell up.

tuker hayes (sixteen candles) -> disaster bi with a 13 year long crush on vani he's hopeless.

vanilla vega (sixteen candles) -> demi-pansexual <3

roger grant (sixteen candles) -> probably not straight but is he willing to admit that to himself right now? absolutely not :DDDD

marvin (marvin & linda) -> sexuality doesn't matter because the company is more important (probably gay but yknow. his identity is kind of irrelevant to him)

linda / stephen (marvin & linda) -> mspec but marvin's the first person he's had a connection with on a romantic level.

prosper morning (the white shirts) -> hasn't thought about it too hard, but he definitely thinks marin is attractive and he Hates That a lot.

jane morning (the white shirts) -> she hasn't thought about it before so unknown

marin (the white shirts) -> gay asf

noh bell (noble) -> gay gay homosexual gay space super solider teehee.

peri (peri & dandy) -> outside of dandy, most lifetimes he's demi-gay. but he's really only ever attracted to dandy

dandy (peri & dandy) -> outside of dandy he's pan but he's also only ever looking for peri and only sleeps with people who have "peri energy" (whatever the hell that means lmao)

utah (broken clouds) -> fagggggggggggggggggg

gator (broken clouds) -> faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggg

slug (broken clouds) -> literally they don't know or care about any of that.

sjaak de witte (btaf) -> if he were in modern times, he'd be bisexual probably. and suffering.

biscella (btaf) -> another surprise cishet but i think in modern times she'd also probably be bi i just don't think in the canon verse she had the thought or bandwidth to explore her attraction to women (much to azelie's sadness)

#dude idk what to tag this as PFF #character stats #ig #idk

[miyagifangkai]

Close Call

Tagged: @westviewsstuff

Request: can you make a Daniel x Reader oneshot but the reader has a Jules Vaughn personality their just really happy, calm and bubbly person but sometimes they easily get angry, soo Reader and Daniel were biking together till the cobras tried to mess with Daniel reader had enough and stood up for him like literally pulling out a tazer while shouting at them the cobras got terrified and left, they got home and layed down on the readers bed talking about stuff while they looked at each other then they eventually kiss??

Word count: 1.1k

!!!Not completely proofread!!!

Warnings: Lots of cussing!!, violence, and kissing?? That’s about it! Also I’ve never watched Euphoria but I tried! 😊

Couple Pairing: Young!Daniel Larusso x Reader

Characters Involved: Reader, Daniel Larusso, Johnny Lawrence (he’s an ass)

A/N: hi!!! I know you requested this so long ago.. I’m so sorry this took so long. You are so allowed to be mad at me 🤣 but anyways!! Thank you for your patience and being awesome! I hope you like it!

You were always very easy going and honestly, so was your best friend, Daniel Larusso.

You and him immediately became friends on his first day of school. You saw him getting pushed around by Johnny Lawrence and his group of minions which made you feel bad for him. After they finished their petty and, shall I say, needless bullying you approached the lanky brunette.

“Hey, need a hand?”

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks,” the brown haired boy waves you off.

“C’mon, let me at least clean this up for you,” you take out your small first aid kit and start cleaning up the small cut on Daniel’s temple.

Daniel hisses when you disinfect the wound, “Shit, sorry dude!”

“It’s okay,” Daniel slightly chuckles.

You finish up and help Daniel stand back up.

“I’m Y/N,” you reach out your hand and Daniel shakes it.

“Hey, I’m Daniel. Daniel Larusso.”

You smile, “Cool! So, Daniel, first day huh?”

“Couldn’t tell?”

“Um, no. It’s kinda blatantly obvious,” you laugh, “but already getting caught up in Lawrence and his goons probably wasn’t your best decision.”

Daniel scratches the back of his neck signaling he was feeling uncomfortable with the conversation, “Yeah, I don’t think it was either.”

You two smile at each other and you say, “Need me to show you around?”

Daniel stares at you for a second debating if he should or not. He didn’t want any more trouble with anybody.

He decides to throw all the cons out the window and answers, “Yeah! Sure!”

You two started to become closer and closer with each other with each passing month. Him going over to your house and you going over to his, that is when he wasn’t training for karate. He told you about how he was gonna beat Johnny Lawrence’s ass; you supported his decision on learning karate. He had to take up for himself sooner or later.

But whenever he had the time you two would spend time together and after awhile you felt yourself starting to develop feelings for him. You were pretty sure those feelings weren’t reciprocated because you were just friends so you stuffed your feelings deep down so you wouldn’t ruin your friendship with him.

After school one day Mr.Miyagi gave Daniel the day off so he could hang out with you and give him a break. You two decided to go bike riding and pick up some burgers. After you both ate you two were riding back home when you were cut off by Johnny and his asshole friends.

“Well, well, well,” Johnny walked up to Daniel and leans over the bike rail, “Larusso has girlfriend.”

“Leave me alone,” Daniel leans back a bit on his bike.

Johnny mocks in the best girly voice he can muster, “Leave me alone.”

“Guys, really. We’re not bothering any of you. Can we just drop this stupid rivalry for one day?” You say rolling your eyes.

Daniel looks at you with concern, “Don’t, Y/N. Go home.”

You shake your head and stand your ground.

“Oh! She speaks!” Johnny laughs and looks at his friends and then looks back at you with narrow eyes, “No.”

“Get him!” One of Johnny’s friends yells and they grab Daniel and restrain him while Johnny starts punching him.

You scream, “Let him go!”

You run up to Johnny and try to grab his wrist but in the heat of the moment Johnny elbows you square in the jaw.

“Y/N!” You hear Daniel yell.

You fall down to the ground cupping your face as you start to feeling your anger rise. You look at Johnny with pure steam coming out of your ears and run to your backpack to get your taser out.

You walk up to Johnny with heavy steps, you gather all the strength you can and grab Johnny in a chokehold, and put the taser to his neck and turn it on.

“What the fuck!” Johnny exclaims out of the surpise.

Johnny’s friends drop Daniel to the ground and Daniel lies there holding his side. You let the trigger go and the taser stops.

“I suggest you motherfuckers get the Hell out of here before I taze his ass!” You scream.

Johnny fights you off getting out of your grip, “You’re a crazy bitch!”

“Crazy? Maybe. Bitch? Absolutely not!” You turn the taser on again and start screaming at them with all your might causing the boys to get on their bikes and speed away from you.

“Y/N, holy shit! That was–that–”

You give Daniel a small smile, “You’re welcome. Let’s get you home, yeah? My house is closer so we’ll go there.”

Daniel weakly nods his head and you two ride to your complex.

You throw Daniel’s arm over your shoulder and help him into your families apartment and you two go straight to your room. You lead Daniel to the bed and he lays down groaning.

You run down stairs and get a few small ice packs and wrap them with wash cloths and hand a few to Daniel. You put one on your eye and you sit down on the bed with Daniel.

“Johnny Lawrence is such an asshole! No wonder you’re doing karate.”

Daniel laughs, “Yeah, he’s a dick. I’m so sorry he hit you,” Daniel raises his hand up and puts his on yours and you immediately get chills from his touch.

You shake your head, “No. I’m okay. Don’t worry. How are you holding up?”

Daniel raises up on the bed and slowly pulls his shirt up and your eyes grow wide, “Oh man, they got you good,” you touch his ribs softly and Daniel sucks in his breath.

“Oh–sorry,” you look away.

“It’s okay. Just hurts,” you can tell Daniel is holding back tears.

You nod your head and look down at your hands starting to pick your nails. You see Daniel’s hand caress yours to make you stop picking and you look up at him.

Daniel takes the lead and kisses you, surprised you pull away quickly.

“Oh, Dan–”

“No! I’m sorry! I just thought–”

“No–”

“Y/N,” Daniel looks at you and you at him.

“Yeah?”

“I like you.”

Your eyes stare deeper into his searching for an answer but you never found one. You too afraid to tell him how you felt. For some reason you thought he’d be joking with you. You were all just a big joke to him.

You sigh throwing caution to the wind, “I like you too. I have for a long time.”

Daniel gets a big smile on his face, “Really?”

You chuckle happily, “Yeah! Really!”

Daniel leans in again and you two connect lips. You could practically feel his heart pounding and yours too as he cups your cheek. You two pull away from each other trying to catch your breath. You both smile.

You couldn’t believe that you and your best friend had just kissed. But you were so damn happy that you did.

#cobra kai #karate kid #daniel larusso x reader #daniel larusso #johnny lawrence #cobra kai imagine #karate kid imagine

[lavend-ler]

u r like me... one of maybe ten ppl on the planet that like my queen yvette. we're smart.

we are SO smart, thank u for this message, dear anon, u have The Taste 🙏

Yvette is such an interesting character for me but it just makes me sad whenever I think abt her cause the canon shut her off for literally no reason. she's there since the beginning, she should be an active figure, she's literally Rhys' best friend. yet all the bad writing decisions make her seem like a bad guy when,, she's rly not. she's just defending herself in the heartless Hyperion landscape. not to mention, she admits that she only took the deal when she knew that they wouldn't do anything to Rhys. she was just desperate, worried for her friends

but the narrative treats her horribly. not only the option not to shock her is hard to get in the first playthrough (which yields in her apologizing btw soooo) but also u have to make 3 SEPARATE CHOICES to actually save her from death. again, comparing to Vaughn who also double crosses u for (no reason) and game rly wants u to trust him. anyways, it's not abt him, I just love making choices that guarantee Yvette at the end of the game, it makes me smile

I don't wanna leave on a sour note so here are my Yvette hcs:

I usually can't decide where I want her to be the most post epilogue tbh. I see her either being with Helios Hellions, being their strategist (and not dying), helping the people. or I see her on a space journey across planets (with Sasha), learning abt new places and enjoying her time when her life finally belongs to her

tbh? in other scenario she deserves to rule Hyperion. with Blake by her side. just sayin

I hc her as a lesbian and my two ships for her are with Sasha (travelling, learning to let loose and exploring) and with Angel (they take over Hyperion together and work through feeling crushed by others, while learning to be each other)

the orange shirt is just her work uniform. on her own she prefers to wear cold colors, like that purple she has for her character text

she doesn't go anywhere without her glasses

going off of her lunch theming and all, I think she is very into different cuisines and has a refined palette. during her travels she makes sure to taste the local cuisine

she and Rhys are the best gossip buddies and they love to go clubbing together during the weekends

her favorite flowers are roses and she would love to have a rose garden (her splash card has roses!)

she also deserves to be a nerd! I think she's very into Bunkers & Badasses and with her strategic sense, she always maxes out the best stats for her characters

#ask #borderlands #yvette the lunch leech #I love u Yvette I wish u had so much more in canon #thank u for this msg anon <3

[elfcollector]

Can you tell us about some of your Wardens? The different Hero of Fereldan's are so interesting and I'd love to hear about yours!

(also was/is Johana in a romance with divine Justinia or Leliana as divine?)

i have SO many wardens so i almost don't know where to start! i'll start with alia because i adore her and she's my canon warden so that seems fair!

alia tabris is pretty canon divergent; she's a hedge mage, for one! rather than giving her up to a circle when the magic came, alia's mother insisted on hiding the magic and keeping her in the alienage; not really free, but certainly closer than she'd have been in a circle. very bethany and mage!hawke.

anyway, alia is only nineteen when the game begins, and hasn't really trained her magic much; she keeps it hidden even through the kidnapping up until she finds shianni and vaughn, at which point she's so furious — and also trying to repress her magic so violently — that it slips out and she freezes him, and then shatters him into tiny little pieces. she takes the blame for everything with the hope that that will avoid a purge, and even once she joins the party her sense of her own magic is weird. she ends up finding that, while she learns to be decently proficient with a staff, she prefers channeling magic through her body — there are lots of uses! gather a great deal of force magic in your fist and then release it all at once when you punch something and you can knock down walls with relative ease. launch yourself across the battlefield with a combination of force magic and barrier magic around your legs. channel entropy magic through a dagger in another's gut...the options are limitless!

there's an element of like...how do i put it. for most of my characters, across series, becoming A Hero is a net negative; it inflicts a lot of additional trauma without enough gain to offset it. like, all my hawkes, almost all my inkies ( dove is the exception ), many of my wardens...they hate being The Champion/The Inquisitor/The Warden. but for alia, becoming a warden was the first time she got to eat enough, was free to explore her magic, had real, close bonds — the first time she was really allowed to act as young as she is. she seems very childish at times because this is the first time she's been allowed to be a child. not that there's no pain associated with becoming The Warden, but it brought her more good than harm. she's happy to be the warden, for all she might wince from being called a hero.

that being said, while she's great at leading a small group, she finds that she struggles immensely at being warden commander — she doesn't feel like she's good at it. and while she's not as bad as she THINKS she is, the fact remains that she's not great, either. origins is a lot of positive character development for her, but all the dlc she mostly undergoes negative development due to feeling like she just. keeps. failing others. this motivates her fleeing the wardens a little earlier than most of my other wardens, do — that and a desire to see zevran again, of course.

as for johana — she's leliana's beloved! she remains with leliana even once leli becomes divine victoria; spends a lot of time being annoying about how her "naughty priest" fantasies are all coming true. they never actually officially marry ( there's just so rarely time ) but at some point they just took to calling each other wife/my wife/etc and it stuck.

leliana is such a revelation for jo; she experienced a lot of comments from her family and others about being attracted to women, and her parents desperately trying to hook her up with a man takes on a particularly gross energy when johana is an out and out lesbian, and given how misogynistic howe is i can't imagine he didn't have opinions on the warrior woman also being gay. she's internalized that while few people will outright disallow her from loving women, that there is something inherently less holy / Right about attraction to women. not that this results in any hiding; jo leans hard into being The Problem Child, enjoys the relative freedom that comes with, and decides that if attraction to women is wrong then she'll just Be Wrong and not try to "fix" herself. but still, it's hard to carry that. and here comes leliana, bi supreme, who is at once the most holy woman she knows and who is also flirting with her and outright about being attracted to women.

it blows johana's mind, and leliana and johana's frankly bonkers devotion and loyalty towards her drives a lot of johana's actions. she makes a lot of Good Moral Choices ( as opposed to utilitarian morally questionable ones ) because leliana's there to remind her that she's capable of being merciful and moral and kind.

killing howe sort of breaks her brain, though, the catharsis is so intense ( she even promises to do things to his family that will make what he did to hers look like a mercy; she doesn't go through with it, but only because the companions don't let her ). and that's followed by very bad torture drakon; and she undergoes very rapid negative development about it all. gets bloodthirsty. she clears out ALL OF DRAKON ( including non - combatants like the sister in the chapel ) on her own, literally seeking out fights she didn't have to face, despite having no real reason to because she's desperate to take her power back, to feel powerful, TO HURT THE ONES THAT HURT HER. who hurt ser gilmore and mother mallol, poor fuckers... after that, she gets more erratic, more likely to kill everybody and quicker to violence, especially with anyone connected to howe or loghain. it's leliana ( and zevran, her bestie ) who soothe and help her re - regulate and re - center. by awakening, she's at least settled enough that she doesn't outright kill nathaniel, but it's a close thing.

#crackmonkeytrash #nonsense. #alia tabris #johana cousland #THANKS FOR THE Q!!!!! #torture / #i rly need 2 replay origins. i need TO POST ALIA !!!!!

[tippenfunkaport]

SPOP Alias AU

This is just a full on incoherent ramble about some misc thoughts I had about this so I am putting it under the cut 😅

for the benefit of the youths, Alias was a show about spies! and plot twists! and wigs! and how Jennifer Garner looks good in literally any outfit you put her in (seriously, just google Sydney Bristow disguises)

(so this is not a 1:1 AU but general spoilers for the TV show Alias to follow)

Adora is Sidney basically and working for what she thinks is the CIA doing nerd stuff at a desk job. And then her finance, Catra, is murdered!

And she's still mourning but Light Hope sends her on an undercover mission to do sexy spy work in Outfits! and Wigs! and while on a mission could swear she sees… Catra, whaaa?

So she's like WHAT is happening and goes back to Light Hope who is cryptic and says if she wants answers she has to join the CIA. And Adora is basically like, "…do i not already work for the CIA?" and finds out, in fact, she does not and her entire team (which is basically all the Horde characters) are actually working for SD6, an evil organization pretending to be the CIA. The real CIA (the princess alliance) wants her to go undercover and help take SD6 down from the inside. And she agrees because she wants to find out what happened to Catra. (And I know you're thinking why not make Catra Vaughn aka her handler but it's more fun if Catradora are both kinda on opposite sides for a while so her handler can be Mara and Adora is never really sure how much to trust her bc her girlfriend Light Hope is also a double agent working for SD6 and whose side are any of them really on?).

Light Hope and Mara kinda share the role of morally ambiguous Jack Bristow/mentor figure and Shadow Weaver is Sloan.

Anyway, meanwhile, Bow is Adora's innocent civilian roommate / best friend who has no idea that any of this spy nonsense is going on (so, he's Will aka Bradly Cooper before he was cool) but has been very earnestly trying to investigate Catra's "death" because something doesn't add up. He accidentally uncovers too much though and Light Hope thinks that he is a weak spot that SD6 could use to keep to Adora in line (bc Adora is starting to doubt their mission, the same reason that Catra had to fake her death). So Light Hope sends one of their best agents (Glimmer because I am who I am) to spy on and eventually eliminate Bow.

Meanwhile, Catra is basically a combo of Irina and Nadia (obviously not actually related to Adora) but where it's unclear which side she is on or how much influence SW as Sloane has on her but she ultimately prove to be on the side of good after lots of homoerotic fighting in Wigs! and Outfits!

So, in the show, (big spoilers for Alias) Adora's two best IRL non-CIA friends are Will and Francie and eventually Will and Francie start dating... but it turns out that the real Francie was murdered and someone else stole her face and is posing as Francie to spy on Will and manipulate him. (Alias is WILD, man) And Will eventually finds out and has to murder this person who l looks like his best friend that he loves in self defense. So! Clearly we are not doing that!

Instead, we are going to steal some of the vibes and have Glimmer (who Bow has no preexisting relationship to) sent in as an agent whose job is to seduce him and get close to him and pretend to be his girlfriend to keep an eye on Adora (bc Light Hope doubts her loyalty knowing she's trying to find Catra). And Glimmer starts to become torn about her mission as she starts to genuinely like Adora and feel bad about betraying her and to actually fall for Bow for real. So when she gets the order down to kill Bow, she can't do it and flees. Her only ally is the disgraced Shadow Weaver, who fled when SD6 fell apart and is perfectly happy to manipulate Glimmer in her darkest hour.

She teams up with Catra who recognizes she's not a bad person and then two of them take down SW and get back into the CIA's good graces.

Meanwhile, Adora puts Bow into the witness protection program which protects him because everyone wants to kill him now, but also means he has to cut all ties with his family. So he HATES Glimmer for all those months of lying to/using him and ruining his life. He starts to work for the CIA as well because what else is he going to do after all that? and Glimmer is working there too after it's revealed she ultimately protected Bow and Adora and her and Catra took out SW so she comes to work there and ✨ tension✨. Because he's really mad at her and doesn't trust her at all but they have to work together and have been fake dating for a year and how much of those feelings were real and something something eventually they start to become actual friends for real this time and decide to try dating for real and they kind of pretend they just met and try to keep it all sweet like a real first date except they have too much history and end up fast burning.

And while Glimbow are being a disaster Catra and Adora are trying to rebuild what they had but the whole war between the factions have made them very different people and they need to figure out how to get back to each other while stopping SW who is back from the dead and looking for magic First Ones artifacts that lead to immortality / the end of the entire world.

Standard stuff, really.

#alias #alias tv #spop #catradora #shera #she ra #catra #adora #glimbow #glimmer #bow #spy au #MAYbe I'll Make This #I used to watch Alias with my mom and it was never not the craziest show ever

[thedevotionaltour]

genuinely im never over how james and vaughn have the most intimate/emotional sex scene in the movie and book. all other sex is so like what i always view as "clinical" and it's like scientific research and studying a bug under a microscope. because it's all about sex it becomes so normal and clinical and without any intimacy (which is definitely like. part of the point i believe). it's a very medicinal type of erotic. i think the second most intimate one is when james and gabrielle hook up, where he basically worships her scars and wounds. james worships and obsesses over the injuries of vaughn and gabrielle, connecting him more to anyone else. the reason vaugh's sex scene with him beats out gabrielle's is due to the more intense character relationship and build up in it. and i think even more so because we don't really get sex from it. we get making out and heavy petting. but you don't see them fucking. james fucks gabrielle's wound (which is still fucking her. it is. because that is her. but i think it's both her and her wound as separate entities at the same exact time) more than he fucks vaughn on screen. everything is cut to black for him and vaughn and it just creates a very, very different feeling with how private it then becomes. even though in the book that scene is fully described, and still quite clinical, there is still a much more intense feeling as you see their relationship reach its peak and ultimate end as it leads up to vaughn's death. anyways.

#this was so much longer than i meant it to be. sorry im insane about this film. and book. crazy about it in general. #static.soundz

[izzyspussy]

been obsessed w Freaky since it came out. fucking Love that movie, for a solid three months i was watching it 3-4x a day. i also plotted out a reddie fic for it but we see where that ended up. anyways, jst a big supporter of my friends watching that movie bc its not like,,, super great or anything but its also very very great at the same time yk? 💖

idk i don't think there's anything not great about it, except for a tragic lack of (further) indulgence in my own personal tastes and desires. the writing is funny, the acting is good, the costuming is like nothing special but it's contemporary so what are you gonna do really but it's good, it's transgender, the soundtrack is fun, i like the way the scenes are put together. i suppose the cinematography and the actual character writing are not anything special either, but really there's nothing about it i would say is bad tbh. like it's not groundbreaking but that doesn't mean it's not good. and more importantly i'm in deep romantic love with the concept and we are going to be married and adopt a dog together.

anyway it's the second time i'm seeing it. it really was formulated to make me personally go a little bit stupid. it's like a designer drug. or designer pussy. you know.

anyway, i must confess. i rewatched it very recently and re-entered my bill hader thirst era, and i also just now watched bodies bodies bodies for the first time and was like haha what if richie played the older guy (lee pace, but scrungly) lol wouldn't that be funny. but then he wasn't in it for long enough to satisfy me, so i thought to myself hm. what other horror comedy could i watch and imagine richie in. and so here i am imagining (periodically, because vince vaughn does do it for me as well hwjaskfjks + actually these characters are compelling enough that they take one in!) richie tozier playing the butcher lmfao.

#jack facts #oh to treat vince vaughn like a girl........................ #jack chats #horror tag

[sailorbadger]

re: my tags on this post, @psychicbluebirdmiracle wanted a list so here’s some of my favorite Robin Hood adaptations in no particular order:

Sidenote: most of these are either extremely niche and/or “you may think it’s bad but I think it’s good” because that’s just what my tastes are.

BBC’s Robin Hood: You all knew this one was going to be up here and if you didn’t, you haven’t been following me long enough. This is what gave birth to my brain worms. I’ve given a PowerPoint presentation about this which was three hours long. I have subjected other people to this show to the point that there is now a yearly celebration where we watch only one specific episode of this show and make memes about it. I am insufferable about this. The day I stop thinking about this show is the day I have lost all brain activity.

Back to Sherwood: I am once again reminding everyone that I have offered to exchange my firstborn child for the original English version of this show. The Vibes on this show are perfect and I will never forgive the people that cancelled it after only 13 episodes. Fun time-travel related hijinks? Sign me up.

Princess of Thieves: Who doesn’t love a Keira Knightley movie?

Disney’s Robin Hood: Listen, you just can’t go wrong with this one. Very solid all around. But there’s another reason I’m putting it on this list. My cousins (ages 6 and 4) were staying over with us on Easter and I put this movie on at one point to get them to sit down for a few minutes while my parents made lunch. My godson (the 6-year-old) asked me why I knew so much about what was going on in the movie and I explained that I watched it when I was young, and then my dad said that the movie is so old that he watched it when he was a child. It was a lovely inter-generational bonding moment over my special interest as my dad explained to my cousin about the different characters and how there’s a lot of different versions of the story.

Not really an adaptation but continuing from the last one, this YouTube video: Some of the best analysis on why most mainstream Robin Hood adaptations suck. This is why I mostly just like the versions that have good Vibes.

This soundtrack to a Swedish Robin Hood musical: I can’t even begin to explain how upset I am that I found out about this musical after it had already been cancelled due to the pandemic. I could have gone and seen it. There’s not even a DVD of it. At least we have the soundtrack which is full of bangers. Everything sounds as over-produced as you’d expect from the country that makes over-produced Eurovision songs, and I love every second of this. If you’re not going to listen to the whole thing, at least listen to Prince John’s song.

This even more obscure soundtrack to a Finnish Robin Hood play from 1997: Everything here is just Vibes. I wish I knew what the actual plot of the play was but these songs are great on their own. The fact that the singer from a famous Finnish band (Neon 2) sings a couple of the songs is just ?????A Choice???? but a perfect one at that.

Robin Hood: The Great Escape: My most vivid memories of listening to this play that’s a podcast is when my IBS was really bad and I was on the bathroom floor crying in pain, so I just put this on to distract me. Anyway, this one has good characters, interesting mix of different cultures and LGBT+ representation, and it all works seamlessly in a way that doesn’t feel forced. Definitely worth a listen.

Robin McKinley’s The Outlaws of Sherwood: I bought this book from my local library’s clearance about 15 years ago. It’s a solid fun adventure and that’s pretty much all I can say about it.

The Finnish opera adaptation of Robin Hood: The dogs in this are nightmare fuel and the whole thing is bordering on the “so bad it’s good” line. The lyrics are so weird at times, it’s awfully cringy sometimes but I love it so much. I own it on DVD and it has English subtitles so if anyone wants to watch it sometime let me know.

Carrie Vaughn’s The Ghosts of Sherwood and The Heirs of Locksley: I need a third part of this. These are a quick read, about 100 pages each, about the children of Robin Hood. And although the premise may sound cliché and childish, I swear these are so good and worth your time.

C.K. Brooke’s Marian: Princess Thief: Ah, yes, the “disappointingly heterosexual” one. Putting aside the fact that this book missed a great opportunity in making at least one of the characters gay, it has an amazing all-female-cast of characters (there’s a male love interest there too I guess, I don’t care about him). This book made me feel like how Sailor Moon made me feel in high school with it’s focus on the Power of Friendship.

That one Finnish audio drama that’s based on Finnemore’s version: Everyone sounds so horny in this one for some reason and the actual text is not helping. The theme song is a banger. It’s a shame the CDs were copy protected so I couldn’t rip the files for myself.

A black-and-white recording of a Finnish play from 1971: The fashion is so 70s it hurts my eyes. The songs are so bad. The plot is almost non-existent but I love every second of this. (I would have linked it but you can unfortunately only watch it in Finland)

The 2009 movie with a dragon in it?????: I don’t remember most of this except that it’s definitely in the “so bad it’s good” category. They just shouldn’t make high-budget versions of Robin Hood when low-budget productions are so much more entertaining.

Edale Lane’s Heart of Sherwood: I need to re-read this one because it had everything I could have asked for. A lesbian Robin Hood with a good story that was a fun adventure which still somehow made me very emotional. 10/10.

That one zoom-play on YouTube: I bought the novel that was made based on this play just because this was so entertaining. In a year I’ve only read about 20 pages of the book but the play was so good and at one point so full of twists I was staring at the screen with my mouth open for like 10 minutes.

I could probably include even more things from my List (I have a list where I collect all the different versions I’ve seen/read/listened to etc), but this is already too long and I ended up taking a few things out. I only included versions I’ve enjoyed the most but there’s still plenty of good ones out there.

#robin hood #I love weird robin hood retellings #please someone talk to me about them

[icannotreadcursive]

pls Harvest Moon people you'd marry. I'm one of those Stardew Valley people so it would be interesting to compare

Y'know, I have Stardew Valley for my Switch but completely stopped playing because I am physically incapable of fishing in that game. I have some mild disabilities with my hands but it's enough that I cannot do the fishing minigame, so I can't progress in the story, so I gave up less than 1 game-year in. I know there are mods for the PC version that change how fishing works, but that doesn't help on my Switch and I don't want to buy a game that I'm really not sure I can enjoy twice. All that said, I do have some familiarity with Stardew but because I never got that into it, I don't really remember characters' names even if I remember their sprites.

Anyway.

Harvest Moon!

There are a lot of Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games (they're the same franchise, except for when they're not, but that's another story) and I've only played so many of them.

My favorite game(s) in the series is A(nother) Wonderful Life, which I have put more hours into than possibly all the other videogames I've every played combined, and I spent years with only the version where you play as a boy, and this was before the games allows same-sex wooing, so I have Actual Opinions about which girls from this game I'd marry lol

All 3 original bachelorettes are honestly great--Celia, Muffy, and Nami. I do think I'd get along better with Celia and Nami than with Muffy IRL. And Nami canonically really just wants to marry you so she has a stable place to stay without having to leave town and go home to her alcoholic father, and I am very here for that. Would absolutely marry her, even as a straight woman, cuz she's cool, I think we'd get along, and she deserves better.

if we open up to non-romanceable characters, the woman to marry is Vesta. Big, boisterous, caring, good attitude, fiercely loyal and protective of the people she cares about, runs her own successful farm. Vesta is great. She doesn't get enough love from the fandom.

The bachelors in this game are kinds lame, tbh. I usually marry Marlin when I play because he's the least......something. If he got some damn therapy I could see actually marrying him. But really, Griffen, the guy who runs the bar--non-romanceable in AWL (I think he might be in the DS port/sequel), but he just seems like a nice solid dude.

In other HM/SoS games the guys to marry are Vaughn, the grumpy repressed rancher who barely talks (gee, where else is there a character like that who I love....), Chase the cook who's very cute and kind once you get past the slightly prickly because he's definitely coping with anxiety exterior, and Jack the relatably bored with life but upbeat shop keeper's son with a loving-yet-often-antagonistic relationship with his much younger sister.

So yeah.

That's my thoughts 💖

#eiiri answers #ask game #harvest moon #story of seasons

[spynorth]

I know you and I have discussed this a lot, but for the sake of posterity and for the understanding of your followers, will you talk about what it is you disagree with when it comes to Lucas/John in popular "fanon" and why you disagree?

I've been so lazy that I haven't wanted to do this but I can't think of anything else so here we go. There was a .. movement? what would you call it??.. when series 9 of spooks aired (along with quite a few years after) that was prevalent here on tumblr with the personals where people would have things like i believe in lucas north and lucas north lives and even back then when I had no thoughts whatsoever as to character complexity and how much fun it is to dive into things... it just felt so wrong to me. So basically a hugely popular fanon idea is that the writers intended for Lucas to have a split identity .. and tbh I think that is nothing more than fan attempts to reconcile the idea that this pretty white boy fave of a character is suddenly found out to be a lying, manipulative, terrorist. And I get that emotion behind the discovery and also find it really ironic because I don't know if fans of the show are putting two and two together that the characters that are his colleagues are probably feeling the exact same way? In fact, there's ample evidence that that's the case. But anyways, i guess my unpopular anti-fanon belief (so essentially the essence of what i disagree with when it comes to their ideas) is that Lucas is not excusable. He does not have remorse. He did not forget that he did what he did and sudden have some jekyll and hyde reawakening. He is very much aware. I'm gonna go through each ep in series 9 to bring up the aspects that make me think that, and I'll be sure to include the counter arguments for certain parts too. I'm gonna include links to the episode and timestamps for each point made but I don't think it works in countries outside the us so I apologize for that.

A little disclaimer that I hit the limit so I will have to make a separate post in regards to my evidence from episode 8. i apologize.

Episode 1

This one starts off pretty much like any other. You kind of get the vibe that the whole trauma of harry + ruth is gonna be the main focus but during the last 1:49 vaughn enters the chat and it get so fucking interesting. So if you watch the episode (linked above in the heading) and get to 56:17, the following interactions begins:

Vaughn: It's not really you, is it?

Lucas seems very confused here at first. There's a little indulgent smile and a shake of his head that does give off that vibe of 'who the fuck are you?' so I get why people tend to argue that he doesn't recognize him. But it's important to remember that in the next camera angle we see vaughn step out of the shadows and towards him.

Vaughn: 15 years and you look just the same. Seems terribly unfair. Lucas: Get away from me.

Alright, pause. I mean. could he just be freaked out by a dude who is talking like he knows him and invading his space given his past trauma being incarcerated during an operation? of course. But the way he steps back, that body language, that expression...I don't always believe that RA is the best actor (esp when it comes to voice inflection etc) but he really does sell series 9 of lucas for me with the slight gestures etc and this is where that really begins. During this conversation, Lucas circles around Vaughn, shoulders straight and square. He's ready for a fight. They talk a bit and at mark 56:46, there's the following:

lucas: whatever it is you want, vaughn, you're not getting it from me.

A few things I love about this line as far as what I use to justify my opinion about this arc (is it opinion when its glaringly obvious? idk idk) are that 1) it shows he does in fact know him and 2) the way lucas' voice cracks in a moment of what i can only assume is apprehension and a bit of fear blended with the phrasing ("you're not getting it from me.") really feels like lucas knows exactly whats up. he has one fear in regards to this situation and he's really fucking hoping he's wrong. but. alas. When vaughn claims to be giving up, says he's going to leave him alone, lucas swallows three times. I'm a swallower. in a non dirty way. But when I'm trying to release tension, especially tension in regards to anxiety in relation to a situation that could really bite me in the ass .. I also swallow it down. That's where the phrase swallow your fear came from actually. the physical tendency that people have to do that in situations such as this. But anyways, Lucas is trying to relax, to take control of his discomfiture, but Vaughn delivers some great parting lines and I think Lucas' reactions to those alone negate the whole he didn't know thing, but I'm still gonna go episode by episode because I love research papers.

Vaughn: just tell me one thing. I'm too curious. what's it been like? Lucas: what's what been like? Vaughn: Being lucas north, of course.

THAT IS THE MOST PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE COMMENT. (57:15 if you need specifics) And Lucas looks at him with an expression that I will admit is a bit unreadable. But I think it can be inferred to be like oh please god don't let this go where I think it's going because of his reaction to Vaughn's final parting comment of "Good to see you, john." Lucas isn't confused by that comment. He swallows and closes his eyes and clenches his fist because the one person that can make his carefully constructed lie tighten around his neck has just played his cards and showed that he has no trouble doing so. It's not confusion that crosses Lucas's face. It's sheer fucking panic. You don't have to look wild eyed and sweaty to be in a state of terror. In fact, deer in the headlights is a very real thing and I think we get a great glimpse of that here.

Episode 2.

There is a lot I could say about this episode in regards to his development and the fleshing out of his backstory as far as his canon background with maya goes but I'm keeping this strictly about the things that make me believe he is a fucking manipulative mastermind and not rehashing his whole story. So yeah, if you know the show, I'm leaving things about. but his attempt at rekindling a romantic relationship with her has nothing to do (right now in the series at least) with evidence that is knowingly lying and 100% aware of the bombing of dakar and the part he played etc etc. In short, the only thing I can really say about this episode in regards to proof of what he was doing, is that he uses the idea that he's arguing for beth's reinstatement as a way to tack on asking harry for the level a clearance he needs in order to look into what vaughn might possibly be after. He does have the following conversation with maya (56:49).

lucas: maya, when i was in africa, something happened. i couldn't risk bringing it home to you. i couldn't.

I have a lot i could say about lucas and the unhealthy relationship with maya (in regards to the way he treats her etc) but I don't know if i'll ever waste my time considering she isn't featured on this blog... but if i did..it would be in another post. My main reason for including the above quote is because, though ambiguous, it does give another hint that he is well aware something happened when he was in africa before joining mi5 (pre lucas north, if you will). I said ambiguous because I know there's a vibe of well he didn't know what part he played in it due to forgotten memories via trauma and like .. ok. I'll bite. for now, we'll say it's ambiguous. But I'm including it seeing as how I will refer to it in the future of this post.

Episode 3.

This is a fun episode for me because it really paints a pic of how dedicated Lucas is too painting whatever picture he needs to achieve his goals, and it does it through a scene with him and Maya. Twelve minutes in to the beginning, he gives her a call. Tells her he's ready to come clean. Direct quote is "I want to tell you everything. Tonight." A lot of shit goes down in the episode (i mean, it's a spy show. it cant all be double life rogue agent soap opera stuff, right?) and eventually at the 55:30 mark, we get a scene where maya visits his flat. Soooo Important and I really want to break the whole thing down but I think I'm gonna do the whole transcription first and then attack it point by point.

maya: you lie to me and i swear you will never see me again. lucas: okay. come in. maya: why did you let me believe you were dead? lucas: alright. i went to prison for eight years. Is that good enough? maya: prison? Why, did you kill someone? lucas: no. maya: did you hurt someone, then? lucas: no. maya: I suppose you're innocent? lucas: no. maya: Why did you decide to turn up now? lucas: a photograph of you. all those years I'd spent trying to forget, they just fell away. I had to see you. maya: is that true? lucas: every word.

Alright. *rubs my hands together*. This is so fantastic. And I am coming at this not just as someone who has tried to do research on the whim of his own vibe, but also as someone who knows the strategies for lying, knows the dedication to the tiniest of details that you have to remember. One of the most important strategies in crafting a believable story and wanting to win the other person over, is telling just enough truth to make the lie not a lie. What do I mean? Take the above conversation for example. From the very beginning, maya is straight forward and up front with what she wants of him and Lucas seemingly agrees - but straight out of the gate he is lying by definition of omitting the truth. He did not let her believe he was dead because he was in prison. Lucas was incarcerated while on a mission in Russia for mi5. He had already abandoned maya and essentially played dead but by referencing both the incarceration and the time length with no other details, he allows her to fill in the gaps. We can assume based on her reactions and further questions, that she associates this answer with the one I cited above in episode 2. It would be a logical jump on her part to tie him saying he was in prison for eight years as being related to the thing he told her that he hadn't wanted to bring home to her. Which .. it wasn't. It wasn't at all. so. That's lie 1. He continues to lie by omission as the conversation continues. She asks if he hurt someone or killed them. He answers no. Technically not a lie since being found out during a covert operation wasn't directly related to him killing or harming anyone, but he is allowing his answers to be tied into his prison answer which, as discussed, was not actually why he was gone at all. So, Lies 2 and 3. The fourth and final lie (in this scene anyways) is his declaration that every word is true. Is it? in a way, yes. but only because he knows how to spin it. he knows how to lie without lying. a perfect unraveling of the truth. Oof. Lucas..my boy ... oof.

Episode 4

We start off with a shot of lucas and maya in his bedroom (aw. romance in falsehoods. i love it) and as he begins to get ready for work after mi5 calls him, the following happens:

maya: i don't even know what you do, john. lucas: private security consultant.

MAN. Man oh man. I love that we are staying true to that whole tell me the truth and nothing but the truth thing. Granted, granted, I am not a polarizing asshole and I do understand that hes in mi5 and that whole secrecy and lying thing comes with the territory but damn is he good at it. that fucker didn't even hesitate. but anyways, this is a great point to show that he is still a lying liar who lies. Anyways, the show goes on - ooh spy stuff. I forgot this show actually dealt with spy stuff. I've been caught up in the liar liar pants on fire plotine of it all - and at 20:47 (in the middle of an operation. pesky career. getting in the way of everything) vaughn calls lucas on his mobile. he tells him he wants him to retrieve a file (albany) and ends the call with:

vaughn: please. they won't leave me alone. do this for me and i'm gone. forever. you can carry on with whatever life you want.

Lucas understandably has a meltdown after he hangs up (no music, distorted camera, he's grabbing his hair. it's all very bbc one drama of them) but again, we have that declaration of vaughn that i think is so important. with whatever life you want. lucas doesnt question this. he's not like 'yo jorah, what the fuck are you on about? go back to dany." (granted asoiaf was in the future but i mean. let me have this joke). like he doesn't act liek its cryptic at all. he is straight up like ahhhhhh and pulls at his hair until he resembles albert einstein. boy knows.

So then more spy show (whyyyy. i'm trying to watch this character deconstruct at the most base of levels. why must you show me actual spy right now) until we get to a scene at 22:01. Lucas is in the grid's data vault. it's literally big white letters that flash across the screen. Thames House Data Vault. they do not want you to miss it. bbc really went: insert giant gif of waving red flag here. So anyways, king of the boy scouts is in the data vault. it's very data vaulty. lots of flashing lights and giant monitors. just what i've always imagined a data vault to me. he has a moment where hes like .. no .. no .. i cant (i think they missed a chance for a dramatic instrumental here personally) and the show goes on until he returns to the vault at 34:56 and he basically uses the system to rewrite it, bypass some firewalls and grabs albany while using another employee's credentials to make it look like he accessed it instead of lucas. that throne of lies is just getting more ornate. His colleague ruth catches him out as he leaves. That's important later. but the conversation they have at the time is pertaining to their current operation and she doesnt mention the data vault. anyways, he meets vaughn to deliver albany at 42:01 and the following occurs:

vaughn: hope you covered your tracks. did you use a fall guy? course you did. didn't have to do that, of course. you could have taken a risk. talked your way out of it. harry pearce would have believed you. still, better to be safe than sorry. best to set someone up. whose life did you ruin today, john? lucas: look, i did what you asked. I helped you. Now you and I are done. vaughn: you didn't do this for me. you did this for you.

I mean, vaughn is so accurate. In all of this. Lucas could have probably talked to harry. in fact, I think that's what the 'lucas north' people believed he was would have done if he was staying true to the role he had been playing. but he didn't. know why? because taking the gamble of talking your way out of something like this would mean he was taking the gamble of a lot of his secrets coming to light. to a liar who has so carefully constructed a web like his, you don't want to risk a single strand. and the whose life did you ruin today, john? just fucking kills me every time. And that comes back to roost later in the episode when the operation of the day has been wrapped up and an interaction with the team back at home base in the grid happens. ruth asks everyone if they know of a stephen owen from section g who is being accused of stealing files and corrupting the data system. She looks right at Lucas and is like "he's only 22. he'll serve time for that". She knew something was up. Which is proved later, but we'll get to that. anyways, boy george still didn't come clean.

Episode 5

this episode literally has nothing to do with proving lucas is an asshole but the ending of this episode at 57:37 when he goes to visit maya and she mentions that her boyfriend is there AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE VAUGHN MAKES ME LAUGH EVERY FUCKING TIME LIKE WELL PLAYED MY LITTLE CREATURE BLACKMAILER MAN. fuck what a douchebag i love it.

Episode 6

THIS EPISODE IS MY FAVORITE IN REGARDS TO THE LUCAS IS NOT INNOCENT DISPLAYS OF TERMINAL DOUCHEBAGGERY. I'm gonna try to not use capslock during this whole thing. There's so much I want to say about the entire mindfuck that is the last scene I mentioned above but .. deep breath...that's not important. I will admit that I do have a bit of an emotional tug for lucas because god I can feel that terror. I've been there. That feeling of everything falling down, it's becoming too much. Which comes up later in this ep. So anyways, a lot of shit happens (this episode is actually one of my favorites) and it all involves lucas trying to be a douche canoe for vaughn while also doing his job .. which ... mult tasking is clearly not his good point. At one point he stops by the house of a retired colleague to pick up the supposed actual albany file (the location was found using the file that lucas got for vaughn originally). he has an asset with him while it happens named danielle. he leaves her in the car. she knows something shady is up. she snoops. shit once again goes all spy drama on us and we're suddenly at the ending scene with danielle shot in the neck and lucas claiming to get help. This is actually a really emotional scene for me. I don't know why. you know when you get that heavy feeling in your chest because a scene is just so weighted? yeah. i feel that tug every time. But at 47:09, we get this:

lucas: let me see. danielle: it's bad, right? lucas:danielle: hey, look at you. you didn't lie. lucas: yeah, keep the pressure on. really tight. danielle: oh, please don't let me die. please. I won't say anything. I won't tell no one what happened. Just don't let me die. lucas: I'm not gonna let you die. I'm gonna call you an ambulance.

So he gets up and he actually does dial emergency services. But as he is digging for the dead gunman's phone and dialing said emergency services, danielle keeps speaking.

danielle: I.. I promise I won't tell them about the house. About albany....

Lucas looks at her, pretty fucking stricken in his expression and as the mobile phone is on speaker, we hear the whole emergency services, which service do you require? hello? and about 30 seconds go by where lucas is watching danielle bleed until he presses the button on the phone (hanging it up) and pretends to give their location. I've seen people argue that he just took it off speaker but at 48:20 he puts the phone right next to her, zoomed in on by the camera, without pressing any other buttons.. and it is entirely too obvious that the fucking thing is not on the line with anyone. And then my fucking heart gets ripped out because someone at bbc got wise in the use of soundtracks and the most emotional music plays while lucas gathers danielle up in his arms and offers to put pressure on her wound for her. The camera zooms in and shows him moving his fingers away, allowing her to bleed out. Besides just destroying my soul emotionally, this scene really cements to me that bubba ain't got no qualms about lying to protect his own ass. just saying.

it ends with ruth admitting to harry that she has put a keystroke intercept on lucas' computer because she doesn't trust him due to him suddenly acting erratically. It cuts back to lucas who is getting a phone call from vaughn saying the albany file he just delivered in this episode is a fake. Now, at 57:38 he goes into the colleague he visited earlier's (now) empty flat and starts rubbing at his neck because he isn't sure where to go or what to do next. he's uncomfortable, clearly. The show also does its first distorted and blurred image of him before showing him lose it and people sort of cite this as some beginning of a jekyll and hyde breakdown? and this seems to be where the beginning of the whole theory comes into play? which. no. false. shut up janice. it's a camera angle meant to show he is LOSING IT in the sense his entire fucking world is threatened. The house of cards is beginning to tumble. the desperation is coming out.

**NOW. THE IMPORTANT EPISODES. THE FINAL COUNTDOWN** A few notes if i can. There is a lot of things I'm going to go over in these two episodes. A lot of misconceptions I will point out and disagree with. Forensic psychology research combined with a good ol' healthy dose of lessons in not taking everything at face value is really helpful here. If you read nothing out of this entire thing, please read these two sections.

episode 7

I'm cutting to scenes because we don't have time for explanations so if you want more context, definitely watch because this and 8 are so good. anyways. There's a scene where beth (another agent) follows lucas to a park where he meets and attempts to kill vaughn. Beth stops him and he points his weapon at herThe following conversation happens (26:55):

beth: you won't kill me. I know you won't. lucas: you don't know anything about me. beth: maybe not. but I've seen you risk your life to save others. And I believe in you. We all do.

this is a fantastic exchange because it brings up a really good point i want to make about pathological liars. the ability allows you to fit into any role. his ability to fully embrace the falsehood that is him being lucas north has created doubt in his colleagues when it comes to believing him capable of horrible things. they are ready to accept his innocence, his explanations... which is shown in the conversation where lucas 'comes clean' (i use the term so loosely here) to harry pearce in a later scene.

It begins at 30:18.

harry: one lucas north in dakar i can accept. two is stretching credibility. who is he, lucas? lucas: listen, harry. I know this looks suspicious. harry: somewhat.

There's a pause while lucas sighs and shakes his head, takes a few deep breaths. Overwhelmed by admitting his guilt? Or is he using that act in the means of buying precious seconds to figure out a plan? your opinion.

harry: let me be clear. the dakar bombing happened on my watch. seventeen people were killed on that day. And for 15 years they've gone without justice. So, you do not leave this room until you explain the full extent of your involvement in that atrocity. Do you understand?

I'm gonna cut in super quick just to say that at this point, Lucas flips over the picture that harry has given him of the real lucas north so that it is no longer face up. guilt? maybe. I also think it can be a way of not having anything that represents the truth staring at him in order to help him pull off his story (which my reasoning for this will be cited a bit further down)

lucas: My name isn't Lucas North. My name's John Bateman. harry: damn you. damn you! God knows I've had my share of betrayals. But not you. lucas: i'm sorry. harry: why were you in dakar? lucas: At university I fell in with a guy that fancied himself as a big time drugs dealer. He was shipping cannabis from dakar to hamburg. he asked me to go with him. harry: which you did. lucas: which i did. of course, idiots that we were, we got caught. luckily, the military police were open to persuasion. they took the drugs, they took everything. I was stranded in Dakar with no ticket home, no passport. I needed to pay my way back and I'd done some croupier work back in the uk, so i got a job in a casino. and thats where i met vaughn edwards. he was a regular. he said he worked in the exports business. he was always lucky. he seemed to have everything, I admit I was impressed.

I'm going to cut in here and add a little note that the quote about being impressed by vaughn ties in nicely to the post i made about john's background (a lot of it is just me fleshing out the faint lines canon gives us) and his desire to feel special which can be found here. Continuing the scene with harry ...

lucas: we met by chance a few times. or at least i thought it was by chance. he took an interest in me. eventually, he told me what he really did. small deniable errands for the british government. he asked me if i wanted in. i said yes. harry: what sort of errands did you run for vaughn? lucas: courier work, mostly. taking briefcases to people, places. I never asked what was in them. it was exciting, at first, and very well paid. harry: and you had no qualms about what you might be doing? lucas: vaughn told me that we were working indirectly for the uk government. i believed him. harry: it suited you to believe him. lucas: yeah, maybe. In those days, my morality was fluid.

I'm gonna stop right here and say - IN THOSE DAYS?? boy you just let a woman die in the previous episode. get the fuck out. So obviously right then and there, we get the vibe (the knowledge? its more than a vibe) that lucas is lying. this whole conversation so far has been a manipulation tactic. he is CLEARLY laying the blame on vaughn and setting himself up as the easily manipulated younger man who thought he was doing the right thing. but anyways. we continue.

lucas: .. but then there was lucas north. he worked in the casino bar. he was the only other Brit on the staff. I think he'd had a tough life, but he was clever, funny. And we became friends. I thought he was just another drifter, but he was in Dakar for a reason. harry: which was? lucas: spies. harry: why? what was the interest? lucas: vaughn. he knew all about vaughn. he knew he was a mercenary, he told me to walk away from him. I didn't want to hear that. harry: you're evading the question. why was he so interested in the intelligence community? lucas: because he was going to join MI5. harry: oh, please tell me this isn't going where I think it's going. lucas: he'd already got through the first round. and all the background checks were cleared. the only thing left was the face-to-face. he really loved his country, you know. I used to laugh at him for that. But he already knew something that it took me 15 years to find out. I'd made more than enough money. I was all ready to come back to the uk. but vaughn asked me to do one more job. it was more money than all the others combined. harry: what was the job? lucas: harry .. harry: what. was. the job. lucas: to take a package. to deliver a package. to the british embassy in dakar.

Alright first off, if you watch the question and answer scene and get to this part, he is fake crying. RA can do a good pretend job of crying in his roles. this is very obvious fake crying. He is making his voice quaver and he is covering his mouth which is a gesture used by people in the midst of lying or trying to convey emotion they might otherwise not be feeling. On top of that, I believe the quiet saying of harry's name when harry questions him on the nature of job is also a move well done on lucas' part. He goes on and talks about the aftermath of the bomb, in very emotional detail. The flashback scene as he tells it shows him leaving a suitcase in the embassy and leaving, quickly cutting to a few minutes later where he appears to be looking on in horror at the aftermath. It leaves it ambiguous and open. Much like harry, we are left to believe that he was manipulated, that he had no idea .. and I think this is one of the biggest instances that fanon latches onto.

He goes on and describes a panicked horror caused by the trauma of being involved in such a thing, which is believable, yes. He explains that when the real lucas confronted him about the bombing, vaughn shot him dead and urged lucas to hurry and grab the other man's passport. that they needed to leave the country asap.

Again, I'm reiterating that I believe this to be a ploy by a liar out to save his own skin. I will explain a bit further in a few minutes. He ends the conversation with harry in a fit of ethos and pathos style arguments. He appeals to the older man as the false colleague and friend that he thought he knew. relies on that camarderie that's been built up over the years to pull him through. I will give the specific quotes I am talking about without worrying about harry's comments between.

lucas: come on, what do you want me to say harry? i'm trying to be honest with you. yes, i'd like to tell you that i felt something as normal as anger. That some sudden surge of nobility meant that i didn't take that passport, I didn't go to the docks and I didn't run for my miserable life. I'd like to say anything that would take that look of utter contempt out of your eyes. so, please, don't tempt me.

lucas: all you have to do is trust that I want to get out of this mess. and this is my only chance. By finding Vaughn. now, this may not mean much, but you know that i've put my life on the line for this country, you know that. i tried to do all the good that lucas would have done if he'd lived. That's never been a lie. that's the deal that i make with him every single day.

that irritates me so much because it is such obvious BS but anyways. harry does allow lucas to leave and he ends up finding vaughn. They have the following conversation before Vaughn's death. (50:10)

lucas: i told them. vaughn: you told them? lucas: everything. vaughn: oh, i doubt that. I doubt that very much. what did you tell them, john?

So it once more shows flashbacks as similar to the conversation with harry, but this time we are shown that lucas knew the suitcase he took to the embassy was a bomb. He was shown how it worked along with how to detonate it.

vaughn: did you tell them that you didn't know? oh, no. no, i know what you did. you told them it was me. didn't you?

Again, we build the throne of lies ever higher because the memory sequence now shows lucas strangling the real lucas north. it wasn't vaughn at all. And I'd like to reiterate for a moment the fact that strangling takes so much effort and dedication. lucas struggled against john, he fought. John had to hold on while his friend fought for his life. he could have stopped at any time, could have let the struggles appeal to some humanity inside him - but no. he didn't. he was determined to save himself.

vaughn: I wonder if you can even remember the truth of what you were? you're a killer john. who fell asleep, dreamed he was a hero. but, now its time to wake up and remember the truth. the dream is over now. and the killer .. is awake.

alright, so. This paragraph right here is the one everybody uses to sort of build up this repressed trauma memory theory and argue that theres a fracture in his psyche and this battle between lucas vs john comes into play. I get it, I do. memories repressed because of trauma are a very real thing and so is fractured identity in regards to ptsd but I'm immediately throwing that out because the only way to possibly have a fractured identity that results in two personas is through DID. and lucas does not have that and if he did, the show would have handled it poorly. i'm not even fucking touching that. I want to start with the first line of this quote. I wonder if you can even remember the truth of what you were? I don't personally believe that the metaphor of falling asleep and dreaming is referring to actually repressing anything?? It is my belief that this is referring to a very real thing that happens when you build your existence around a multitude of lies. I've said it in a few posts already, but I've lived the alternate life to hide from things. I've gone that route. Obviously not to the murdered my friend and stole his identity sense, but I have crafted a fake life that totally had people going for 16 years until i finally said fuck it and told my parents the truth. There's a thing about constructing those lives. You have to convince your brain that certain things are real. You know they are lies, you never forget it .. but at some point you begin to doubt yourself. You add details to the lies, little nuances to make them more complex and suddenly you can't remember if thats how it happened or not. It is easy to lie to yourself about the truth and I think that is what vaughn is referring to. not that lucas actually forgot. and I personally believe that the dreaming metaphor has more to do with pretending, with the fact that lucas found sanctuary in this new life but now everything has been found out. And the killer is awake is a nice punctuation mark to the fact that once again lucas north is acting out the events of dakar. he kills vaughn, the only link to the truth, much like he killed the original lucas. he is a liar. this is his true personality, his nature. its not a dr jekyll mr hyde thing.

there is a quote that goes around a lot from richard armitage which bugs the fuck out of me because people use it out of context but the one fans of lucas love to use is the following:

 "Suddenly, it’s like an awakening and … it’s like John Bateman starts to kind of wake up and say, “Hang on, what about me?”

I just. this makes me want to pull my fucking hair out. it's not literal. richard has even said that its not literal but i think people like to plug their fingers into their ears and sing their white boy apologist theme songs. But anyways, this quote, in my opinion, is a reference to what happens when that exterior you put on for other people starts to give way to the base instinct that is the core of your own individual personality. I am a friendly person. Most people on this site I'm fairly certain would agree with that. I'm easy to get along with, I'm charismatic, I'm chill...and I've learned how to use those qualities to my advantage over the years off tumblr. I can be a horribly mean person. We all can, i think. but the base character of my personality is an arrogant egoist with extreme narcissistic tendencies. extreme. I work at it. I don't let that be all that i am. I go to therapy. I have a support system that helps me realize when I'm doing wrong. But my base personlity - the john bateman to my lucas north, if you will - is an asshole. and that will always be my instinct. and when something sets me off, my killer wakes up too.

#long post // #murder // #terrorism // #pathological lying // #such a LONG FUCKING POST. #anyways read this or perish :: knife emoji :: #* headcanon. betrayal is a cancer. let it eat your soul. not mine.

[swagmother]

I’m having a big movie phase so here’s this weeks recap:

I started Pigsty by pier Paolo Pasolini over a week before I finished it and my first half of viewing I was quite sleepy and was off put by the dubbing that was going on and dialogue style but when I picked it back up I appreciated it more I thought the cinematography was great and the stories that were told were pretty interesting….. I think I will check out other works written and directed by PPP

Then I watched Cosmopolis which was pretty moderately adequate, I think David Cronenberg is clearly at his best when he’s doing body horror but he has my respect for making an occupy Wall Street movie starring Robert Pattinson about how no one has control in a world that grows ever more complex (in my opinion)

I also watched what many would consider a classic of sorts and one of the best movies ever made and I did like it but don’t feel like going into it because the creator is a piece of shit that should be lit on fire

I watched Garden State for the first time which was…. Fine… I probably would have loved it when I was 17 but believe it or not I’m actually 24 now and the only thing I truly loved in that movie was Natalie Portman because….. she rocks… I was also disappointed her character did not have a seizure???? Like as a former epileptic myself…. I need to see some seizures Natalie…..

Immediately after garden state, I watched the Cell, a uhh thing of sorts starring J-Lo and Vince Vaughn engaged in some surreal sci-fi serial killer thrills (wow!) but who cares…. Because this movie was so visually beautiful I kind of want to cry sometimes… the plot was like… fine, but to reiterate, very beautiful visuals costume and set design, color grading is also great and yeah it just felt good to watch this with my eyes and it’s a shame movies like this are few and far between….

Yesterday was actually pretty kooky because I saw puss and boots the last wish! And then I rested for 3 hours, and returned to the movie theater to see skinamarink…. Puss in Boots was quite enjoyable I’d say…. I think it lives up to the hype mostly. The animation is good, puss in boots gets a nice character arc, John Mulaneys big evil guy is pretty great…. i think the dog was hideous though that’s the only true flaw of this movie… one thing I’d say though, the first 10 min just made me miss shrek I guess? Like idk…. Just how shrek would treat minor characters or civilians or whatever was uniquely great and also funny and I feel like an attempt is made to capture this but it doesn’t completely succeed…. It’s a good movie though!

Skinamarink….. it’s not for everyone! I will say, … the movie mayyy be a little longer than it needs to be (for me) and I did get occasionally bored; but again, that only speaks to my “enjoyment” yk and we live in adhd times, but who cares about that! Art should be itself…. This was pretty spooky and definitely reminded me of how scared I used to be as a child… like it just feels like when you would watch one of those cryptid or alien or ghost hunting shows when you were 6 or 7 and lay awake scared to sleep, pining for the comfort of a TV or parent while complete silence surrounds you, looking through the crack of your bedroom door into a dimly lit hallway where even if something was moving in the shadows you wouldn’t know and you close your eyes extremely hard and pray whatever sporadic creaks and shifts in the house are meaningless, terrified because if your eyes open even the slightest smidgen you very well may get your soul obliterated by a ghoul or jump scared irl….. anyway, definitely will remember this one for a while, and very much look forward to future projects by the director/writer!

[emmythespacecowgirl]

Perfect!! Can I please request a male ship from The Pacific? <3 Thank you so much my love!! I couldn’t find your ship guidelines since you recently changed your blog url so I followed an outline from a previous blog who you sent a ship for! If I am missing any more info for the guidelines let me know and I will re-submit!

– your gender/pronouns: female she/her – your sexuality/gender preference: i’m bi but i have never openly dated a woman before! for gender preference: male, since we know so much about the male characters in the pacific anyway! – your main flaws and most defining traits: my whole life i’ve dealt with emotional dysregulation, depression/social anxiety, identity disturbance, school and keeping up with my loved ones. I also procrastinate too much, I don't have my drivers license LOL. I have ADHD and there’s a possibility that I could also have borderline personality disorder cos of childhood trauma and the things listed above. People know me for being kind, funny, sarcastic, creative in the visual arts and hardworking cos of my part-time job and i’m nearly graduating college in april [crosses fingers] and i want to be a commercial model with a bit of runway as well as getting into figure skating and ballet.– your hobbies and pastimes: grunge aesthetics, photography, I love fashion from the 40s’-now, but wearing fashion that is trending rn i prefer the 90s and a bit of y2k but that’s lowkey fading from my closet. I love to draw/paint, watch tv/film and youtube, play minecraft, daydream, write stories and read books and fanfic, listen to many genres of music mostly metalcore/punk or indie rock, 90s/00’s and today’s r&b, lofi etc. i can also speak a bit of french, tagalog/cebuano and brazilian portuguese. I would love to learn ASL one day.

– your appearance: between 5’6’’-5’7’’! I am Filipina so I have tanned fair skin. I have natural jet black-hair but my hair was bleached red at the end of the summer - it’s fading so it looks more copper. I have what they call an 'inverted triangle shape' so my body is kind of weird: skinny chicken legs with a bulky man-like torso?? I wear glasses but i wear contacts because i often wear a lot of 90s glam makeup or Euphoria-inspired makeup (graphic liner, glitter, rhinestones/Maddy perez or Jules Vaughn makeup sometimes)

– your personality type one quiz i took told me i was ENTP due to my creativity and another told me i’m INFP-T cos of my concern for my personal growth and cos i am stressed af (lol love quizzes calling me out)

– any pet peeves: pretentious people, mouth noises/chewing or kisses noises (misophonia triggers), people who say the word “pree-sent” and not “present” (like ‘present a class project’), too many tabs on a desktop, when people talk to me too much and i can’t keep up with them, ppl interrupting me

– your love language: gifts, words of affirmation and physical touch!

– your zodiac sign (or big three): Leo Sun, Taurus Moon and Cancer Rising!

– your Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw!

– your insecurities: socially, mentally and emotionally being behind on everything. Physically, I have body image issues cos of my body shape. I also hate my face shape and my nose?? A lot of people hate their noises. Also I hate being insecure about my height. I wish to be the ideal height for runway.

hey mk!! wow congrats on almost being done with college :)) that's super exciting!

I ship you with:

Bob Leckie from The Pacific!

ship theme song: I Could Make You Care - Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

wow

this man is completely smitten

like, i'm talking Love At First Sight

he sees you a couple days after he arrives back home from overseas

and since this is Leckie

you bet your ass that he's gonna go straight up to you and ask for your number

he's very excited for you to graduate college!!

he'll look over any english paper that you want him to

he'll even let you borrow his typewriter

the first time you speak French or Portuguese in front of him

his mind is totally blown

he thinks it's the most beautiful thing he's ever heard

Leckie is a very wordy, encyclopedia bitch kinda person

so he can definitely provide you with words of affirmation

Leckie comes with his own brand of emotional baggage

between his cold, distant relationship with his own parents

and seeing nearly all of his friends get injured in the war

he needs some time to find himself again

and he wants to do that with you by his side <3

as long as you provide him with consistency and a safe listening ear

he's yours for life

in return, he tries to get you to put into writing the things that you might find difficult to tell your loved ones and friends

he has plenty of books to choose from if you're in need of some bibliotherapy

he thinks you're incredibly beautiful

and different from the other girls he grew up with

and he loves that

he takes time every day to remind of how pretty you are

he'll just watch you in the mornings

he loves to observe you picking out just the right outfit to wear

and he's so intrigued by how effortlessly you apply your makeup

I think Leckie is either an ENFP or INFP

but either way, a pairing with an INFP or ENTP is very complimentary

Leckie definitely understands your need for focus and concentration

he's the same way when it comes to assignments and getting work done

he's not a big fan of people interrupting him

so he'll always call or text to make sure that you're not busy before coming over

I would bet that this lad is a pretty good gift giver too

he's naturally observant

so Leck probably gets you a new pair of ice skates

or a new record by one of your favorite bands for your birthday

if you get him anything having to do with writing

this boy will melt like chocolate

he offers to teach you how to drive

Leckie definitely gives me Ravenclaw vibes

but honestly: this man thinks the Sun rises and sets at your feet

and he makes it his missions to help you recognize just how beautiful and perfect you are

he will never let you forget that <3

#enjoy #ships #my work #the pacific ships #bob ships #the pacific #bob leckie

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: The Orchid Affair (Pink Carnation #8) Author: Lauren Willig Content/Trigger Warnings: police brutality (on- and off-page), torture (off-page), kidnapping, parental death (in character’s past), spousal death (in character’s past), murder, period-accurate misogyny Summary (from author’s website): Laura Grey, a veteran governess, joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling exploits in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of Andre Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte’s minister of police. Jaouen and his arch rival, Gaston Delaroche, are investigating a suspected Royalist plot to unseat Bonaparte, and Laura’s mission is to report any suspicious findings. At first the job is as lively as Latin textbooks and knitting, but Laura begins to notice strange behavior from Jaouen—secret meetings and odd comings and goings. As Laura edges closer to her employer, she makes a shocking discovery and is surprised to learn that she has far more in common with Jaouen than she originally thought. Buy Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-orchid-affair-a-pink-carnation-novel-lauren-willig/11109359 Spoiler-Free Review: So first off, just to get this off my chest: I dislike the cover design for this series that started with this particular novel. I liked the previous painterly covers, so this shift to photographs of people is something I’m not happy with. Anyway, disgruntlement over the cover aside, the plot of this book is very much in keeping with the increased stakes as laid down in Blood Lily, even though the central plot point is about royalists looking to unseat Bonaparte. It’s not as much of a departure from the Bonaparte-focused plots of previous books: there really were plots by royalists to unseat Bonaparte and restore the House of Bourbon. But the focus on the royalists opens up a focus on something that was glossed over during Pink Carnation: the republican ideals that led up to the French Revolution, and the dissolution of those dreams as the Revolution devolved into the Terror. It’s a look (albeit briefly) at how revolutions founded on the best of ideals can fall apart if extremists get their hands on power and begin running the show. Definitely something to think about given all the things that are happening IRL right now. As for the romance, I really appreciated how Laura was on the older side of things compared to the previous female protagonists. As someone who’s already a full decade out of her twenties, it was nice to read about someone a bit closer to my age find romance, even under such dangerous circumstances as the one that Laura was in. I also liked how Andre was characterized as a widower with two young children in this one: aligns with the idea of him and Laura being protagonists who have seen more of the world, and therefore deal with it differently compared to the younger protagonists of the previous novels - except for Lord Vaughn, but Vaughn is characterized specifically as an older rake, without the same kinds of concerns and responsibilities as Andre. This book also goes back to the two-timelines structure that was left out of Book 7 (Mischief of the Mistletoe), and to avoid giving out spoilers, I will say that things have gotten a mite more interesting after Eloise got together with Colin in Book 5 (Temptation of the Night Jasmine) and there’s family drama going on in Selwick’s family after the things that happen in this book. It’s still not as interesting as the romance happening in the 1800s, but at least it’s picked up some. Overall, this was a pretty good inclusion to the series - though I admit I’m feeling a bit fatigued and may read something else now just to break things up a bit. Rating: four orchids

#book review #book reviews #the orchid affair #pink carnation series #lauren willig #historical #romance #regency romance #books

[arwainian]

My Reading This Week:

This is that stuff I have started, finished, or continued reading this wee! (So far not including articles for school, but maybe future editions of this style will) I'm trying to find something to do to catalogue the books I read for if twitter goes down sometime soon, but also to give myself a space to catalogue progress through things that take a while to read, or don't have a real point of being "done."

If I do this again, then the formatting will be subject to change as I do this more and come to conclusions about what works best about this for me! I also might move this to a non-tumblr blog, but right now tumblr suits me fine.

Started & Finished:

Delicious In Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi, volumes 10-11 by Ryoko Kui and translated by Taylor Engel

This manga delights me so so much. I love the art style and the tonal dissonance and all the characters and just... *chef's kiss* mwah. While reading these the other day I kept leaning over to my friend to show him panels I really liked. I'm actually considering tracking down where to read the chapters translated by fans before the official english volume translations come out bc i don't want to WAIT longer than I absolutely have to. But I also have enough to read already

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

What's up, it's my brand, queer historical romance with fantasy elements! AND this has murder mystery elements too. This could not be more my shit. I don't tend to preorder books because I am... bad at buying books that I want to read? But I did actually preorder an ebook copy of this as a little gift for myself after I read A Marvellous Light, and I found this so delightful that I could not stop my hands moving. This books wins the coveted "made me jump up and down" prize, and the prize of immediately being recommended to a lesbian friend. Also @ Freya Marske's agent, I would have read the ghost threesome, how dare you keep it from me.

Started & Ongoing:

Boy Oh Boy by Zachary Doss

A very dear friend recommended this book to me after [redacted] last year and I finally got around to picking up a copy through Libby and starting to read it. It is very weird. But I think I'm enjoying it? And yeah, I can see why Tort recommended this to me in the wake of All That.

Ongoing Reads:

Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women edited by Paula Guran

See it is big anthology books like this which are the first reason for the 'just plain ongoing' section. Tort also gave/recommended this one to me, if I am remembering correctly, because I am of course a vampire lover, of both the monstrous and scary-sexy variety. (Gosh this is a Tortoise heavy post) Anyway, I've tried reading a bunch of these in one sitting and can't really do it, so what I'll try is to read one short story from this collection per novella or novel that I read, so that I can make continued progress through it. So far I have read the first five stories in it:

A Princess of Spain by Carrie Vaughn Shipwrecks Above by Caitlín R. Kiernan The Fall of the House of Blackwater by Freda Warrington In Memory of... by Nancy Kilpatrick Where the Vampires Live by Storm Constantine

Aurora by Red (of Overly Sarcastic Productions)

comics with no end in current sight are the second reason for an ongoing section! This is fun, tropey fantasy fluff. This one updates three times a week and I do try to keep up, so to avoid being repetitive I probably won't mention it again unless i feel like there's something i Must say about it. but I feel good about finally having a place to say "hey! I'm reading this right now!"

There we go! Attempt number one of a non-twitter reading log, with all of the (non-school related) reading I did this week (and a bit before with that anthology). Also. this may or may not be the most formally formatted posts I have made to tumblr since I made those name-meaning posts for a bunch of homestuck characters, so please appreciate the effort I made

#bookblr #arwainian princessoid decrees #cal reading log

[lavend-ler]

???whats wrong with Vaughn???

anon, I have to tell u right off the bat that I had a misfortune of this being the first thing I saw as I woke up

ok tldr? nothing. there is absolutely nothing wrong with vaughn and I absolutely do not care whether u like him or u hate him. but u're here cause u want my rant abt him so

he commits the biggest crime a character can do - he's annoying. I cannot stress this enough but Vaughn is so annoying from the moment u meet him. he is constantly whining and complaining, nothing is right for him, he just gets scared all the time or bitches abt god knows what

Vaughn is a rly boring character. think abt it, there rly is nothing to him to make him interesting. as much as I like him becoming the bandit king there rly isn't anything special abt his actions, compared to any bl character actually. his story isn't interesting and reasoning why he even became a bandit king is so vague

he's not a character who has any agency in what he's doing, nor responsibility for his actions. I'm gonna touch upon this in a sec but for me it truly feels that no matter what uninteresting bs Vaughn is doing, the narrative is here to reward him for this. actually no matter what he does, the narrative seems to support him and never challenges his actions

speaking of no agency - remove Vaughn from the story and nothing changes. neither Tales nor bl3, nothing changes. he is such a nothing character, the only time he is allowed to "shine" is at the very ending and in Lilith DLC - cause at least it seems there they decided to write him a personality

I very much so hate how game and narrative treats Vaughn. the weirdest thing abt Vaughn is that the game is hellbent for u to like him. he's described numerous times as not only Rhys' best friend but yours, the player as well. I hate characters who are forced upon u to like them and it's such a baffling choice for me. borderlands, a game abt terrible ppl killing each other, wants real hard for me to feel sorry for this accountant and like him. when he just appears and does nothing to the story yet and it progresses and he still. does nothing. we're supposed to like him but why? cause Rhys likes him? why are we to believe Rhys likes him anyway?

the favoritism of his story is so blatant. the game actually kind of manipulates u to be nice to Vaughn and actively punishes u for choosing the wrong options. I don't think there is a single other character who would be panned out to look So Sad when u choose a mean option to them. everyone else talks back, is angry but Vaughn just simply Looks Sad and you should feel Bad for making him sad

which leads me to another point - I don't believe he even is a good friend to Rhys. it is revealed to us that Vaughn sold out Rhys to Vasquez and everything in game supports u not being mad at him. if u go back to game it doesn't even sound like he would ever tell Rhys if Vasquez hadn’t appeared

and if u choose to actually get mad at Vaughn the game still treats this scene as comedic. it's like sure Vaughn has betrayed u but heeyyy why would u be mad, u like Vaughn, he's ur best bro, he would never do a bad thing! and they even play the "bro" scene after u are a bitch to him, my god, it's so blatant

I am focusing on this so much to show u the lengths this game goes to favor Vaughn. think abt this - u can choose to be mad at him for double crossing u but that choice doesn't matter. he's still gonna be there, u can't do anything abt it. contrast this to Yvette who is also Rhys' best friend and also double crosses him. but the difference here is that the game doesn't want u to follow Yvette and doesn't want u to forgive her. have u seen her dialogue if u don't shock her? she's so nice and explains her side of the story. but the game doesn't want u to care abt her. remember when I've said literally nothing u do will make Vaughn consider that he's an asshole and he stays in the story? to save Yvette u have to make 3 SEPARATE CHOICES. if u don't do just one she's dead, she won't appear in the end

it's a me thing but I hate the conversation u can have with him in ep3 when he gets mad at Rhys for being cooler. I mean firstly duh and secondly now is rly not the time Vaughn. but he guilttrips u (and Rhys) until u chose the option to make him feel better

he's voiced by Chris Hardwick. I know that the characters are not their vas and the vas are not their characters but I deserve to take my time and say that I hate him and I think he's a disgusting person

and then bl3 happens. I don't even know what to say abt bl3, I mean we all know how bl3 plays out. all I can say is that he's gross, his model is gross, what he does is gross and what he says is gross. also his incompetence was amped up to 11

speaking of, have u tried listening to his voicelines in bl3? I have spent countless of hours listening to so many different character's voicelines but for Vaughn I couldn't even get pass 2 voicelines at a time, it was so annoying

I may not know much Vaughn voicelines but I do know one in which he says why him and Rhys aren't too close to each other anymore. I wouldn't care too much abt them being apart cause of all ^ that but how he says that Rhys chose corporate and he remained real? that's the most stuck up and terrible thing he could've said

again, honestly, I do not care if u like Vaughn or hate him but u wanted to know my reasoning so here it is. I gotta give credit where it's due, I do like Vaughn in epilogue of Tales and Lilith DLC cause then I feel like his personality is there. but other than that? I'm apathetic at best and hateful at worst

#ask #time to hate shit #also this post deleted in half on me so I had to rewrite a half of this