#maybe to marcus vance

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Making childrem have connectios for the only reason that it would be really funny to see their parents deal with that:

Roger Harlan first crush was ... Janice Palmer. And look at that: she also was his childhood best friend. And what is that? She didn't like him that way and was oblivous of his feelings most of the time. Now it was a first crush and Roger moved on. But we did have a specially taxing moment where Roger tried to confess when the whole Palmer familly (Cecil and Carlos included) where at the Torniquete and cringe failed as Janice called them good friends.

Earl got visibly upset about the whole situation wich was worse because it led to Cecil trying to cheer him up by saying "I know is hard to see your son upset, but is for the best it didn't work out because it would be kindda weird with she being my niece and the two of us being basically brothers just from different parents." and Carlos, who ofc was with his husband, also offering his emotional support and talking about how scientifically speaking most people move on from childhood crushes quickly and Roger would be fine and not even think about his previous feelings in the long run. It got to the point that Abby started feeling pity for him and interviened by asking to go personally thank the chef forcing her and Earl to go to the cerimonial chef greetings room as to remove him of the situation. Later Steve patted Earl's back sadly as Carlos was sharing his dessert with Cecil and being very coupley at the moment.

#sorry #i promisse i like to believe earl did move on at some point #maybe to marcus vance #there's some fics of the two #but also Earl failing is funny to me #janice is already in college and this was when they were younger so that's why there's no Esteban on the Palmer family dinner #welcome to nightvale #wtnv #earl harlan #cecil palmer #carlos the scientist #roger harlan #janice palmer #abby palmer #steve carlsberg

[jennamacaroni]

Deborah is always giving things to people, and people think because she is very rich and very capable, she doesn't need anyone to give things to her. But Ava gives her something. [you take over from here]

its been two and half years that i've been ruminating on this prompt and never have been able to figure out what this gift could be. this morning i finally found my answer. thank you for sending this prompt which i'm sure at this point you've long forgotten about <3 love u

The package arrives by courier the same evening that Deborah learns ‘My Bad’ is going to network television.  After an obscene bidding war, the purchase price from NBC Universal’s deal will be more revenue for Deborah than all 2,500 Palmetto residency shows combined.  It also happens that NBC has the Super Bowl next February, and network executives pitched the big game to Deborah’s team as the perfect lead-in to maximize viewership.

That’s how big Deborah Vance is in popular culture these days.  Big enough to follow up the most-watched television program of the year.

It’s kind of stunning, Deborah thinks, as Marcus offers her the iPad with the contract pulled up, ready for her signature.  Maybe in her wildest dreams she imagined this level of fame and brand recognition, but it was never all that realistic.  Especially not at her age.  It was impressive enough to sustain her Vegas residency as long as she did in a culture where even the most prolific actors are put out to pasture after age forty.  But here she is, about to sign the biggest deal of her career, north of seventy years old.

Josefina interrupts them before she has the chance to sign, knocking softly on the doorframe to Deborah’s office, holding a small package wrapped in a recycled paper grocery bag.  “Sorry to interrupt, Deborah, but this was just delivered.”

Deborah waves her off.  “Leave it in the kitchen, I’ll get to it later.”

Josefina turns to follow Deborah’s instructions, but something changes her mind.  She hovers instead in the entry to the office, a strange look on her face.

“What is it?” Deborah asks, studying Josefina’s frown, mind going back to Ava hovering in a similar doorway holding the envelope from Kathy back after Frank died.  She shakes the memory away and stands, holding out her hand and beckoning Josefina forward and to get on with it.  She thought this was finally over, that after nearly hitting her with the Rolls Kathy would have gotten the goddamn message.

Josefina enters but stops short of handing it over.  She looks Deborah clear in the eye and says, “It’s from Ava.”

Ah.

Deborah isn’t sure if anyone on her staff is still in contact with her ex-writing partner, but it’s been six months since Deborah fired her on that Hollywood rooftop.

First came the denial:  Ava teary eyed on a night that she should have been celebrating, not believing Deborah’s words.  I can do three months severance and extend your health insurance for six.  Then came the anger, weeks of indignant and resentful texts and voice messages, Ava at her worst poking at every tender part of Deborah she knew, which is just about all of them.  Deborah never once wrote back.  Then bargaining for her job back, even when Deborah knew she was doing just fine writing for television back in LA, that she was even becoming pretty successful.  Then came the weeks where Deborah heard nothing at all, Ava’s messages stopping completely, no updates on any of her social media that Deborah most definitely didn’t keep checking, just to make sure.  Ava’s name in the credits became the only way Deborah knew she was still out there, still okay, still working.

Deborah clears her throat, swallowing down the acute tightening, ignoring the quickening of her heart rate.

“I’ll take it,” she says, curtly, “give me a minute.”

“I already opened the champagne Jimmy sent,” Josefina explains, handing Deborah the box across the desk.  This was a night for celebration, but Deborah suddenly feels like anything but.

“I said, give me a minute,” she snaps, more forceful this time.  Her tone clearly hits the mark because Josefina and Marcus share a knowing look before seeing themselves out.  The contract, Jimmy, the champagne, it can all wait.

She sits back in the opulent wing-backed chair and lets out a long exhale, holding the small wrapped package and measuring its weight.  There’s not much to it really, just wrinkled paper, crooked lines of clear packing tape, and Ava’s chicken scratch with her name and address.

She unwraps it carefully, like she’s afraid of what might be inside.  There’s a plain white envelope with Deborah’s name written small in the center and a box for a pair of noise canceling headphones.  She slips her finger under the seam of the envelope, tearing it open.  A piece of note paper is tri-folded inside, Ava Daniels in neat block printing stamped along the top of the personalized stationery.  Deborah chuckles, thinking Ava has come so far from writing solely on post-its.  The note is simple, Ava’s messy handwriting in black ink in the center of the page:

For your collection. - Ava

Deborah opens the box but there are no headphones inside, only a bunch of balled up paper surrounding an oblong taped up ball of bubble wrap.  Contained within are two ceramic figures, an unlikely pair:  it’s quintessential Deborah in her favorite updo wig, a pants suit dusted in golden glitter, complete with golden high heels and microphone in hand.  The other is a slightly shorter and paler figure with short auburn hair, striped t-shirt, high waisted jeans, and thick black Doc Marten boots.  The tiny Ava is holding a small black notebook.  They’re both laughing, and if placed side by side, the salt and pepper shakers turn slightly into one another, like they’re leaning in and sharing a raucous joke.

Deborah tears up, staring down at them centered on the desktop, Ava the pepper to her salt.  The other half of her pair.  She misses her desperately then, and if she’s serious with herself, has been for the past half of a year, never letting herself truly sit in those feelings until now.

She picks up her phone, squints at the screen through tears, and pulls up Ava’s contact.  Before she knows what she’s doing, Deborah hits the call button.

The phone rings twice, then is sent to voicemail.

The recorded message says, “It’s Ava, drop it like it’s hot.”

Deborah clears her throat.  She has no idea what she even wants to say.  I miss you.  I’m living my dream, I’m famous as hell, about to be more rich than ever, but I’m not happy.  Not without you.  Please come back.  None of it is worth it without you.

But that would be selfish.  Ava is doing fine, thriving even, without Deborah.  She needs to let her be.  Instead, she says, “Hey, it’s um, it’s me.  I got your package.”  She sniffles, swallowing tears.  “They’re perfect.  Thank you.”

She hangs up.

After her hands stop shaking and she’s gathered herself, Deborah carries the shakers to the wall of china cabinets where her collection is fully lit and on display.  She makes room right in the center one at eye-level and sets them together, close enough to touch, their heads leaning into one another.

A few moments later Deborah signs the contract and the house celebrates, Jimmy toasting Deborah and her accomplishments over the phone to a bottle of Dom Perignon, a vintage for 1976, the very year Deborah filmed the late night pilot and ended up starting her stand up career.

If anyone notices the new addition to the salt and pepper shaker collection, no one mentions it.

#hacks #hacks hbo #filling some prompts to get back into it #so if you remember sending one i never answered you might get lucky :) #ava x deborah

[alrxiin]

Redacted Characters as Song Lyrics

(This includes listeners)

Just some Redacted characters as lyrics from songs I listen to, cause I'm bored and currently hyperfixating...

• Werewolves

David :

♪A Little Death - The Neighborhood♪

"The neighbor was knocking, yeah. But no one would let him in.

Touch me, yeah. I want you to touch me there. Make me feel like I am breathing... Feel like I am human."

Asher :

♪ Everywhere I Go - Hollywood Undead♪

"Let's get this party started! Let's keep them 40's popping!

So just get buzzed and stay fucked up. We'll keep them panties dropping."

Milo :

♪Rebel Love Song - Black Veil Brides♪

"So take your hand in mine, It's ours tonight.

This is a Rebel Love Song!

Hearts will sacrifice, It's do or die.

This is a Rebel Love Song!"

Tank/Darlin' :

♪You're Gonna Go Far, Kid - The Offspring♪

"You're gonna go far, kid...

With a thousand lies and a good disguise. Hit 'em right between the eyes, hit 'em right between the eyes!

When you walk away, nothing more to say.

See the lightning in your eyes. See 'em running for their lives."

•Vampires

Vincent :

♪Bogini - Quebonafide♪

"Jej skóra wygląda i pachnie jak Latte Macchiato, A wzrok na mnie działa jak Mate.

To już nie jest normalne, mylę kawę z herbatą, Ale w razie "W" dam ci erratę.

Byle bez cukru jak na filmach. Krzyczy głośniej niż Walkiria."

Sam :

♪1000 koni - Bedoes♪

"Jeśli zabijesz za mnie, skłamię, po czym wezmę winę za ciebie. Wszedłbym na minę za ciebie.

Czy to jest prawdziwe dla ciebie?

Jeśli zabiję za nią, ona skłamie, po czym weźmie winę za mnie. Ona by weszła na minę za mnie.

Powiedz mi, skarbie, czy wyjdziesz za mnie?"

Quinn :

♪PILLOWTALK - Zayn♪

"So we'll piss off the neighbors, In the place that feels the tears, The place to lose your fears.

Yeah, reckless behavior.

A place that is so pure, so dirty and raw.

In the bed all day, bed all day, bed all day. Fucking and fighting on... It's our paradise and it's our war zone."

Adam :

♪Desire - MEG MYERS♪

"Honey, I wanna break you. I wanna throw you to the hounds.

Yeah, I gotta hurt you. I gotta hear it from your mouth.

Boy, I wanna taste you. I wanna skin you with my tongue.

I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna lay you in the ground."

•Other

Gavin :

♪ Keep It Down - Migrant Hotel♪

"While I throw you around-

You're gonna scream ...

Shhh: girl keep it down.

The scars you leave on my back, A painting of your attack.

You're biting down on my fist...

I know you cannot resist."

Guy :

♪Flesh - Simon Curtis♪

"Push up to my body, sink your teeth into my flesh (Get undressed, t-taste the flesh).

Bite into me harder, sink your teeth into my flesh (Pass the test, t-taste the flesh).

Hold me up against the wall. Give it 'til I beg, give me some more.

Make me bleed, I like it rough...

Like it rough, rough, rough."

Marcus :

♪War Of Hearts - Ruelle♪

"I can't help but love you, Even though I try not to.

I can't help but want you, I know that I'd die without you."

Lovely :

♪Respite On The Spitalfields - Ghost♪

"We will break away together.

I'll be the shadow, You'll be the light.

Nothing ever lasts forever...

We will go softly - Into the night."

Baaabe :

♪I Wanna Be Yours - Arctic Monkeys♪

"Secrets I have held in my heart, Are harder to hide than I thought.

Maybe I just wanna be yours...

I wanna be yours, I wanna be yours.

Wanna be yours."

Sweetheart :

♪Riptide - Vance Joy♪

"I just wanna, I just wanna know...If you're gonna, if you're gonna stay.

I just gotta, I just gotta know! I can't have it, I can't have it any other way.

I swear she's destined for the screen - Closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you've ever seen, oh."

Angel :

♪THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND - Bad Omens♪

"I miss the way you say my name...

The way you bend, the way you break.

Your makeup running down your face.

The way you fuck, the way you taste."

Freelancer :

♪I See You - Jutty Ranx♪

"I want you to myself...Can we take this somewhere else?

My heart's an open book and you just took it off the shelf.

You make me make moves. I see you, you know I see you.

I break through to get to you. It's so true, it's so true."

Honey :

♪Sugar - Sleep Token♪

"Do you wanna see how far it goes? Do you wanna test me now, my love?

You must be crazy if you think that I will give in so easily...

Things we buried low - Coming to the surface now, my love.

You must be crazy if you think that I will give up the game, oh.

Sugar, I've got a taste for you now."

Darling :

♪Killpop - Slipknot♪

"Maybe I should let her go...But only when she loves me.

How can I just let her go? Not until she loves me.

We were meant to be together.

Now die and fucking love me!

We were meant to hurt each other.

Now die and fucking love me!"

Translations :

♪Bogini — Her skin looks and smells like Latte Macchiato. The way she looks at me works like Mate. Something is wrong, I confuse coffee with tea... But in case I'll just give you Errata. With no sugar like in the movies. She shouts louder than Valkyrie."

♪1000 koni — If you kill for me, I'll lie and take the blame on myself. I'll step on a mine for you. Is this real for you? If i kill for her she'll lie and take the blame on herself. She will step on a mine for me. Tell me, darling: will you marry me?"

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #redacted david #redacted milo #redacted asher #redacted tank #redacted darlin #redacted vincent #redacted sam #redacted adam #redacted quinn #redacted gavin #redacted guy #redacted angel #redacted baaabe #redacted sweetheart #redacted freelancer #redacted honey #redacted darling #redacted marcus #redacted lovely

[unluckyhoneybee]

Hi! could you do prompt 22 from the song list “I've been getting used to waking up with you. Fire and the Flood by Vance Joy.” with Marcus Armstrong? Maybe something where they’re still lowkey/messing around and not in a public/established relationship yet. Thanks for providing us with marcus fics!

Songs. Fire and the flood by Vance Joy.

Note: always a pleasure to provide Marcus fics.

You had fallen asleep late that night. You didn't mean to, it wasn't your thing. You were fuck buddies, not a couple. But it felt good. His arm was around your waist and his bare chest pressed to your back. It wasn't the first time. A couple of drunk hook ups had ended up in you waking up together, plus that time after his birthday party.

You were feeling your heart beating fast on your chest because even when you were just there for sex, feelings had started to grow between the you two.

You felt him stirr and grab you tighter, his fingers pulling you even closer and his nose nuzzling in your hair. You stopped breathing for a second. Then he pulled away and yawned. He moved carefully, probably thinking you were still asleep.

Too shy to move, you closed your eyes and faked it. He moved around the room for a bit and left a minute later. You were on his apartment so you weren't scared of him leaving without saying goodbye.

You gave him a few minutes and used them to try and calm a bit. When you went to the kitchen, he was toasting bread.

"It smells wonderful" You said walking to him. He turned to you and smiled.

He was wearing only sports shorts and his hair was messy.

"Oh hey, good morning" He smiled and reached for you, grabbing your waist and pulling you closer. Yoi gasped and looked into his eyes.

He didn't wait much before giving you a kiss. You sighed and leaned on him. You just wanted this to last forever.

"Good morning" You muttered on his lips.

He kissed your cheek.

"I've been getting used to waking up with you"

"What?" You looked up at him.

"I want this with you. I want it to be real. A couple. I want to be your boyfriend. I can't stay like this with you" He took a deep breath "I love being fuck buddies, really. But I want everything else. I want everything."

You cupped his face and kissed him deeply.

"I want it too, Marcus. I'm dying for it. I want you. I want to be your girlfriend"

He kissed you over and over again.

"I love you, I love you so much" He said cupping your cheeks.

You smiled and hugged his waist.

"I love you too, boyfriend."

He chuckled.

"That's super nice, girlfriend"

#marcus armstrong #Ma #F2 #Blurb #from prompt list #Fluff

[mitsuki91]

Sooooooo as I write this fanfiction, I think about posting some headcanon. Too bad I can't write the fic in english, sigh. So please excuse if this doesn't make any sense for you:

Lily Evans love BL. She doesn't know that are called like this, but she is a huge fan. That's the reason she wants James AND Sirius

Remus Lupin is afraid of sex. He is afraid he can pass 'werewolf' by sex. He doesn't even kiss anyone around full moon because he is not sure that only bite can pass it, maybe saliva is enought. Not so much studied about this

Peter is a "latin lover", the only one in the Marauders who like only girls and the one who had more girls ever

Sirius is gay. He is in love with James. James is in love with him (and Lily) but is so stupid he doesn't realize it

Mulciber is obsessed with Mary McDonald. He tries to stop thinking about her and fails. That's the reason for the "prank"

Mulciber and Marlene share the first kiss and the first sex with each other

Marlene is abused by her mother's partner

Avery is interested in gay sex but is actually bi and see himself in a future happy straight marriage

Avery fancied Mulciber and he (Mulciber) never realized

My names for Mulciber and Avery are: Marcus Mulciber and Anthony Avery. Yes, just beacuse the firsts letters are the same

Mr. and Mrs. Prince want Severus Snape to become Prince again, and "forgive" him for his father. Severus dream about it for a while so this is the reason for the "Halfbloody Prince"

Mr. and Mrs Prince are friends with Abraxas Malfoy, so that's the reason Lucius became friend with Severus since day one

There are no more Prince. Severus is the last one

Lucius tells Mulciber and Avery to be friend with Severus. They do it because of that

Emmeline Vance had a crush on Remus Lupin

Remus Lupin was mad, and I mean MAD, after the prank. He cannot stand Siriur anymore. Sirius didn't notice because was wrappened in his own gay drama with James

Sirius, despite being gay, has regular sex with Dorcas Meadowes

Sirius and Dorcas were childood friends

Dorcas has a deep crush on Sirius but she knows James always came first and she cannot win

Severus Snape snip away from reality after the prank and the real reason he wants to became a Death-Eater is to be able to kill Sirius Black

Severus Snape also lost hope in society after the prank when Dumbledore downplay the entire thing, ask him to forget it for "poor Lupin" and let James and Sirius go away with it

So Severus Snape want see the world burn and after losing Lily no one can stop him anymore

Dumbledore never stops loving Gellert Grindelwald

I suppose this is enough, so this are headcanons that "can" be canon, so in future I may write headcanon about my "what if" fancition. Maybe.

#harry potter #severus snape #james potter #sirius black #peter pettigrew #remus lupin #emmeline vance #mary mcdonald #marlene mckinnon #mulciber #avery #marauders #the marauders #pro ship #pro shipping #james x sirius x lily #james x sirius #headcanon #remus x emmeline #sirius x dorcas #dorcas meadowes #albus dumbledore #albus x gellert

[mollrat101]

Hacks Finale Initial Thoughts

These thoughts are a jumbled mess. Still processing but here are my initial thoughts. Spoilers below

Ava going through all the growth. Making sure the tenant knows she’s going into the garage instead of scaring the shit out of them. Apologizing to Taylor for tossing her crisis onto to her (good way of putting it). Not asking for credit on Deborah’s special. 

Plus, her acting so nice to Taylor got her a big reward. See, Ava, this is what can happen when you act genuinely nice to people? I mean you shouldn’t do it for a reward, but the point is it’s just a good strategy. People who like you, will think of you when works comes up. 

Josefina being a gossip queen is honestly something I feel like the fandom has thought for a long time, good to see it confirmed lol. Josefina saying Ava looks like she’s gonna stick around :(

Ava sleeping with someone who has short, blond hair and trying to check the power dynamic beforehand, then they kick her out...wow. If they didn’t want me to read romantic subtext, maybe they shouldn’t have Ava fuck a Deb mirror hm??? The foreshadowing was appreciated and also rude. 

“Sweet Love” being the song we hear in Deb’s L.A. mansion. I died, how dare they. 

Whoa that was an amazing moment where Jimmy stood up and said “Fuck you” to a man who said his dad would be ashamed of him. That’s an easy trigger for Jimmy. You shouldn’t have brought up his dad, dude. Deb saying Jimmy’s dad would be proud of him. Omg my heart that’s all he wants. 

Ava being over L.A. The absolute turnaround. Her trying to love it despite how miserable she was those 5 years before. 

Ruby!!! I knew she’d likely be back. Also lol that Ruby is like “you keep not telling me when you’re in town, should I take that personally?” Lol probably Ruby. It’s not about you, she’s just in love with world-famous comedian, Deborah Vance. 

Ooh Marty’s getting married to Victoria. Ooh my theory of the Mayor and Marty falling madly in love seems thwarted for now, but the good news is that 1) we learned Mayor Jo is demisexual so it’s like...is her horniness over Marty because they have an emotional connection? lol we shall see and 2) Marty literally has gotten married and divorced so many times so the door could still be open. Of course, he did say “tastes change” so maybe he’s saying this is the woman he wants to settle down with. Good for him?? I don’t care about him. 

Huh, so Marty did try to marry Deb and she said no to focus on her career. Huh. That...puts a new perspective on a lot of their interactions. So I guess him marrying this woman his age is actually...Marty finally getting over Deborah. The way it’s framed it tends to depict Deborah constantly waiting on him. But she had him...and she let him go. Well, that definitely makes her seem like less of a victim. But it’s also like...Deborah. You couldn’t have gotten married and had a career? I have no idea where this binary is coming from that you have to choose. Honestly, I think a better answer is you’re just scared but whatever. I’m not saying I want them married but like yeah. 

I think you’re meant to feel confused about Marty and Deborah. It’s clearly a complicated relationship with a long history. That’s not necessarily bad. On the one hand, Marty treats Deb like garbage much of the time and yet in others he seems to show genuine affection for her. It’s not a good relationship and I will be happy if Deborah really and truly gives up on him, but I’ll admit it’s an interesting one even if I think it’s better these two keep their distance from each other. 

Oof Marcus, of all people, telling Ava not to make her life worse to be closer to Deborah. Well, he learned his lesson hard so I would listen to him. But also feels like such a 180 to last season where Ava was trying her best to get away from Deb. I’m not really sure how I feel about this change. On the one hand, I get it because Ava has gotten attached to Deb but on the other I didn’t foresee a problem Ava would have would be not focusing on her own stuff in exchange for prioritizing Deb’s work. I’ll have to chew on that. 

I am living for Ava’s cheetah-print jacket because omg it just screams Deborah. 

Deborah choosing to stick with Jimmy :) Omg the writers are making me invested in him. Series regular, Paul W. Downs, people. Well, if we get more seasons. 

Ava showing up made me so emotional omg. Deb instantly relaxed at her presence. 

The fact that Deborah acknowledges that she takes up a lot of space in...everything. In the space of the people around her’s lives. In a roundabout way, it’s acknowledging her self-absorption. This season has definitely made me look at Deborah in a new way. Gonna have to chew on that one too. 

Jimmy being an absolute legend and lying about that guy being okay lol. 

I’m so glad we got DJ’s reaction. The fact that Deborah feels more comfortable telling things to strangers than to her own daughter oof. Like we knew but still ouch. And DJ being like “go to therapy” lol. Deb is right, it’s almost impossible not to fuck up being a parent. For you to not fuck up, you would have to be perfect and nothing bad would ever have to happen and it’s just not reality. DJ can do it, I believe in her. Deb wore D’Jewelry *screams* ...but acknowleding it’s still garbage lol

Marcus making progress yay! Proud of him. Wilson and him being friends <3 Sorry Miss Loretta, looks like you’re going to have to say that outfit for another gay wedding. 

Deborah selling out on QVC, yay! Bidding war with the networks. She’s killing it. 

Awww Deborah couldn’t contain her emotions. 

After everything, Deborah giving Ava the appreciation she deserves. Words would never be able to encompass how much Ava has changed Deb’s life. 

I saw it coming but omg the rooftop scene. “I want to be wherever you are”. That’s it, Ava just declared her love for Deborah. We don’t need to prove anything folks, it’s all there. 

Ugh Deborah acting like they’ll see each other in court as one last little bit of string connecting them...and then dropping it. How can dropping a lawsuit somehow break your heart? It’s Deborah giving one last kindness. She really does want Ava to succeed. 

The parallels of Ava going from being aghast at having to work for the “QVC muumuu lady” to watching Deboarh’s QVC special at the end just because she misses her. That was uncalled for but also I loved it. 

“Goodbye Stranger” wow, dagger through the heart

This felt like a series finale although I know they’ve said they wanted to go beyond it. If there is a season 3, I would hope they explore why Deborah cuts off Ava entirely. Like, okay, it’s understandable for Deborah to let Ava go so she can explore her career and because Deborah doesn’t want to crowd out a relationship again with her dreams and ambitions. I get that but also like...they could still talk?? Ava wouldn’t be playing those QVC specials and getting updates from Jimmy if there’s not basically no contact between them. Why do that when they could’ve just continued talking on the phone or something? These drama queens had to break up jesus christ. 

Ava said she was pushing her away because she’s afraid so maybe she’s right. It’s like Deborah can’t figure out any middle ground or at least she hasn’t figured it out yet. About how there’s not a choice between having your needs and dreams completely taking over a relationship or that you have to cut them off entirely. Now that I have that thought is that a possible reason she cut Kathy off besides the betrayal? She forgave Ava pretty quick. Could it be that Deb pushes Kathy away because she just thinks the same thing will happen again? Kathy will feel suffocated by not enough of herself being in the relationship. The answer is probably a mix, but yeah it’s probably mostly the betrayal lol. 

If they go for a season 3, I’m not sure what room they left themselves to move. Deborah’s special went really well. That’s what initially drove Ava and Deborah together and now it’s done. I’m sure they’ll think of some kind of plot point, but right now it feels pretty complete. Devastating but complete. 

I will say that I hope, if they go forward, that we get to see more of Ava. It’s true that their relationship is pretty unbalanced right now, not just with Deborah’s dreams (which was to be expected) but also with the emotional journey. Ava’s feel like it’s barely begun or maybe that’s just my feeling. She made obvious progress, but it doesn’t feel quite as sweeping. Idk just my thoughts. Maybe next time, it will be Deb helping Ava with something, who knows. 

Anyway, those are just some initial thoughts. I’ll be wanting to do a complete re-watch to see what I think overall. I enjoyed the finale despite RIPPING MY HEART OUT. But honestly I kind of expected that lol. 

#hacks hbo #hbo hacks #hacks #hacks thoughts

[nightingaelic]

Companions react to reload dashing.

"I don't know, I kind of like it," the courier said, turning the latest addition to their weapons stash from side to side in the sunlight of Primm. "It's a little... flashier than what I usually go for, but it's compact and in good condition."

They fished around in their pack and withdrew a couple of .357 Magnum rounds. "'Lucky.' Yeah, I'll keep the name. Lucky I have some ammo for this old girl, that's for sure. What do you think, regular or hollow point? We're probably more likely to see coyotes than Powder Gangers from here to the NCR outpost, but you never know."

The courier started down the main street of Primm, trying to do three things at once as was their habit- swapping out the ornate gun's ammo, talking nonchalantly about their fragmented memories of the area, and stepping gingerly around the remains of the escaped prisoners that had sent all the locals scurrying to hole up in the Vikki and Vance Casino. They had just pulled up their Pip-Boy to confirm their route while stuffing the revolver into their holster when some invisible force flung them down the street and straight into one of El Diablo's rickety support beams.

Arcade Gannon: "Six!" Arcade yelled, immediately taking off after them. "What in the... what did you do?!?"

"Nothing," came their faint reply, from under some newly-shattered lumber. "I'm okay, though."

Arcade descended on them anyway, looking them over for broken bones and splinters. They had a lovely bruise flowering on their right shoulder and forearm which he deemed less than life-threatening, but their eyes were a little glazed over.

"Six." Arcade snapped his fingers in front of their face. "Stay with me. I think you might have a concussion, so we're going to set everyone at the casino loose again and then beg some local to let you use their bed for recovery."

"I don't know what happened," the courier mumbled.

"Not important right now," Arcade said, flinging their arm around his shoulders. "Okay, on three, we stand. One... two..."

Craig Boone: Boone's rifle flew up, pointing at each of the nearby buildings' roofs in turn, searching for any convicts that might have laid a trap for the town's liberators. He wracked his brains for anything in his years of service that might explain what had just happened: Heavy artillery fire, explosive devices, mysterious scientific tech left over from the NCR-Enclave War?

One by one he crossed the options off and realized his sweep was fruitless. There was no one in the street but them, and the courier was already struggling to their feet. "Fuck," they said fervently, as Boone approached them. "What was that?"

"You tell me," Boone said with a frown. "Let me see that revolver."

The courier handed it over. Boone popped out the cylinder, took each bullet out of its chamber and peered at the gun's guts. Aside from the black metal, gold etching and ivory handle, it looked like any other .357 Magnum he'd laid eyes on.

When he closed it up again and tried to hand it back, the courier waved him off. "Keep it. That thing's cursed."

Lily Bowen: "Pumpkin!" Lily bellowed, charging down the street toward where her surrogate grandchild had fallen. "Pumpkin, are you okay?"

"Fine, Lily," the courier replied shakily from under some rotten wood. "Little bump on my head, maybe."

Lily extracted them easily and hugged them to her chest. "Don't do that again," she scolded. "Grandma can't keep up with you if you go so fast."

The courier chuckled. "Yeah, I... trust me, it wasn't intentional, whatever it was. Whew."

"The last time someone moved that fast around Jacobstown was when a caravanner tried to pet the bighorner ram," Lily said with knowing smile. "Marcus had to help him down from the tree he landed in."

Raul Alfonso Tejada: "Híjole!" Raul looked around, but the source of the mysterious wind that had carried the courier into the rollercoaster was nowhere to be seen. "You okay, boss?" he called.

The courier's groan was audible, even from two blocks away. "Not really. What in the ever-loving fuck..."

"Must've angered un aparecido," Raul offered, begrudgingly breaking into a jog to rejoin them. "Maybe that gun's name is a warning."

"Ugh." The courier pulled themselves to their feet and looked around, bewildered. "Ever seen anything like that before, viejo?"

"Seen it? No." Raul shook his head. "There's an old Mexican legend, though, about a soldier somehow teleporting from Manila to Mexico City, way back in ancient times. Always thought that one was mierda, personally, but here you are breaking all the rules, Six."

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: Cass let out a hearty guffaw and slapped her thigh. "And just what dust devil did you piss off, before you wandered into town?" she asked, rushing over to where they had fallen.

"Fuck you," the courier replied, picking an impressive shard of wood out of their coat.

"Eloquent as ever." Cass grinned and helped them extricate themselves from the rollercoaster's wooden beams. "Seriously though, how'd you do that? The only things I've seen move that fast are NCR trains and missiles that come courtesy of angry super mutants."

"If I knew, I'd tell you." The courier shook some final splinters loose. "If only so I could dare you to try it next."

"Think it was the gun?" Cass suggested, eyeing the revolver at their hip. "Might be where it got its name."

The courier pulled the .357 Magnum out again and flipped it around to offer her the handle. "All yours. Be my guest."

Veronica Santangelo: "Whoa." Veronica stared after them. "You didn't tell me you could outrun cazadores, Six!"

"I can't," the courier replied crossly. "Or I couldn't, until just now. I'm just as surprised as you are."

"Fascinating." Veronica meandered over to their resting place, watching the ground as she did. No fragmentation mines, no tripwires, no sign of technical tampering whatsoever that might have sent the courier flying. She shrugged and knelt down to offer them a hand. "Here. Help you up?"

The courier took it, and Veronica freed them from the pile of firewood they'd inadvertently assembled. "My head feels funny," they muttered, once they'd gotten their hat on straight again.

Veronica put her other hand out. "Can I see that gun?"

"Nope." The courier wound up and chucked the old revolver as far as they could into the rollercoaster's support structure. "I know bad luck when I see it."

ED-E: ED-E beeped and scanned the rollercoaster. The support beam the courier had hit was holding firm, but several of the boards above them had been shaken to the point of detachment and were hanging on by one rusty nail. ED-E zoomed to the rescue, covering the distance to its companion in a heartbeat and buzzing loudly in alarm.

The courier looked up and spotted the problem. "Shit," they said, and scrambled to get out of the way just as the rotten lumber began to fall. They took great, heaving breaths as El Diablo rained its pieces down, and they reached out to pat ED-E's dome affectionately. "Let's just pretend I meant to do that," they said.

ED-E let out an inquisitive chirp. "Nope," the courier replied. "But we should try it again, when there are fewer buildings around."

Rex: Rex whined and trotted after the courier, clearly confused by their sudden departure. The courier, for their part, just lay on the ground, wondering what mistakes they'd made to wind up angering the Mojave gods.

"Don't tell anyone about this," they joked, once Rex drew near. The cyberdog licked their face and laid down next to them.

#fallout #fallout new vegas #fnv #fnv companions #fnv companions react #fallout new vegas companions #fallout new vegas companions react #reload dashing

[sapphicscholar]

Help I’m having cracky fic ideas galore! But just hear me out. Because I just saw this tweet (thanks @howmanycatsistoomany) about the launch of the world’s longest cruise—9 horrendous, continuous months. And it’s my literal nightmare! But also! Imagine the fic potential!

I have memories of my stand-up comic parent being invited to be the in-house entertainment for a month-long cruise (paid well, but they said no bc we are much too similar as people for anyone in my family to have ever considered it), so now I’m imagining a post-S1 Hacks fic with Deborah Vance being offered a metric shit-ton of money for this cruise, and Marcus somehow sweet talking her into it (something about it financing the new tour, it requiring new material weekly making it a good opportunity for writing and practicing new shit, etc., but maybe she doesn’t realize how fucking long it is until it’s too late). Anyway, she drags Ava along (duh, if she’s getting tortured, Ava sure as fuck is too). The email news breaks in month 1. And they still have EIGHT WHOLE MONTHS stranded together on this boat with a bunch of people they both loathe. Can you imagine?? Am I going to write it?? (Probably. Maybe. I should not. I will.)

(I could also see this working for slightly earlier seasons Grace and Frankie with the kids getting them tickets under the logic that “old people love cruises” and using a bit of the Walden Villa style playing them off each other, though with less shittiness—well Frankie realllllyyy wants to go, and you wouldn’t want to crush her dreams would you? Perhaps they’ll be in the audience for Deb’s act and get a little “in this universe” spin off fic…)

#fic ideas #hacks hbo #ava x deborah #would anyone even read this except me?? unclear!

[sothischickshe]

9: Are there any fics you’d love to see but don’t want to write yourself? What are they?

i love this question SO much! <3 ty for asking!!

so i yelled a lil abt it before, but!! additionally:

1. post-canon: ruby breaks up with both beth and stan, and comes up with a plan to get annie out all by herself (or maybe ben n sara help?! they seem smart!), and then ruby and annie move somewhere really nice together with their kids!!! optionally also: diane tuts some sense into stan, and they both join the commune a bit later? also! annie and ruby grab beth's kids and marcus + rhea and nancy + dakota too!!! beth and rio are allowed to visit but!!! only at the same time as dean bc everyone else prefers one lump of suffering rather than eking it out.

2. turner faked his own death and has been on holiday with his bf this whole time having fun.

3. immediately post canon: ruby realises that getting dean hopped up on sugar and convincing him to beat vance to (near?) death solves a lot of problems, actually.

4. au: rio & lucy are in the same birdwatching club, and lucy knows beth from work or crafting or w/e, and she cupids them together. also maybe she's (a?) literal cupid?

5. beth runs kevin out of town and/or throws him off a bridge. (maybe annie/nancy endgame?)

6. rhea keeps teaming up with beth and then rio and then beth and then rio and so on and so on and can't really keep up with what's going on, and eventually beth and rio realise and get mad at her, and then she gets way madder back at both of them bc it is in fact their own fault. maybe she yells so loud they're literally blown off the planet?

7. beth and rio have a disgruntled grumpy sex life bc they both desperately want to be bossed around & have their hair yanked and it's super not working out. don't/resolve however you want.

8. stan realises he and beth are literally romantic rivals.

9. high school au in which beth and rio are both staff. and also literally high.

10. adult marcus + jane ~parent trap elderly beth and rio into a relationship

11. beth goes to revenge shoot mick in the shoulder. he convinces her she's pregnant with his kid. either true and/or plausible cos they DID hook up, or completely implausible bc they didnt, but he still manages to convince her.

12. beth and rio get married for some convoluted crime reason and are forced to co-habit to sell it and it's AWFUL

13. brio plumber au

14. rio/ruby enemies to lovers

15. rosa IS actually the boss. in fact she's no one's grandmother, maybe she kidnaps children and manipulates them into a life of crime??? nick's flashback manipulation was actually rosa's uber-manipulation. maybe beth/rosa endgame?

16. rio is in no way the boss, he's mick's idiot protégé and poss so drunk he hasn't noticed that fact. aggressively canon compliant.

17. rhyming names comedy pair ups (series?)!!! mick and nick can't tell which of them rio is mumbling at/about?! gene and dean meet fighting over a coffee order at starbucks?! ben and ken discover they're related?! annie and danny get matching tattoos?!

18. beth and rio have weird chair sex after the 'we can get away with anything now' or w/e abrupt ep ending. bonus: it's not very good, which ~explains much of their subsequent behaviour.

19. hipster hatted barman/dylan

20. literally anything from nick's assistant's pov

21. reader insert fic where dean's monologuing abt his weird sex dreams abt rio at y/n while you're trapped & forced to listen to him. bonus: ao3 skin which removes any nav away from the page.

22. annie/ruby/stan/mick (any combo, or any individual) feed an oblivious beth and rio weeded food bc they're annoying. shenanigans ensue? bonus: beth and rio are locked in a cupboard for containment reasons & forgotten about & then they die.

23. beth/crazy cat lady enemies to lovers.

24. arranged marriage brio au where they're both instantly repulsed by the other and aggressively try to wriggle out of this situation. eventually discover they have basically the same unpleasant personality and are VERY into the sitch, and probs get rudely angry @ whomever has kindly done something to help them wriggle out of said sitch. also they're in their 50s.

25. beth/rhea/hot coach

26. after beth goes to rio's family dinner thing, she feels compelled to invite rio to family dinner back (i guess this is an au where ppl have manners lol) with dean + the kids. it's extremely awkward fgfgf.

27. canon compliant: actually it was beth who put out the hit on turner.

28. immediately pre-canon, rhea finally breaks up with rio & this explains ~a lot.

29. s2 canon divergence where beth explains at least some of what happened with boomer / rio has the sense to ask some fucking sensible follow up questions to ‘throwing the wrong jacket away’ rather than simply pouting. rio IMMEDIATELY asks for marry pat’s phone number. maybe beth/mp endgame though?

30. jt develops better musical taste.

31. annie + angela fall in love. kevin is never heard from again.

32. when beth fobs judith off in s3 by telling her she got a promotion + they can afford help now, judith doesnt immediately buy it and keeps sniffing round, and she runs into mick a few times who’s on babysitting beth duty. beth convinces judith that mick is the nanny, and mick somewhat grudgingly goes along with it. presumably mick/judith endgame.

33. dean/his brief young car salesman boss from s2 enemies to lovers. 

34. that time dean claimed his shirt was covered in exploded hot sauce? no, that was dog blood. he’s a serial pet murderer. explains the cursed boland family pet sitch in detail.

35. literally anything from the pov of rio’s neighbour’s tiny gf. presumably mostly fascinated with architecture, but maybe she occasionally notices ppl too?

fanfiction asks, but this is clearly the best question of all time

#ok 35 feels like enough dfgfgffffgfgf #plllllllls feel free to use these prompts @ anyone #but dont fucking try to get me to write any of these #nbc good girls #tv #fanfiction #fanfic #📀📀📀📀 #Something

[jennamacaroni]

the 1

She's doing good.  Really.

Friday will mark two years since closing on the townhouse and almost six months since moving back in again, and finally there isn't a single unpacked box left.  She actually can’t remember a time when she didn’t have a pile of cardboard boxes filled with crap in whatever tiny, shitty space she was living in.  They’re a very useful side table or nightstand if you’re lazy enough.  Doesn’t help that since moving out of her parents house it’s been a new place almost every year, first that closet of a dorm followed by various dumpy (and definitely haunted) Hollywood apartments because fuck sitting in traffic for half her day.

It’s also the first time she’s lived for any significant time on her own, aside from those first few weeks living at the Palmetto, which she’s definitely not counting because living in a hotel, especially one in Las Vegas, is simply not living at all.  First there were her parents, then Sarah, her randomly assigned freshman year college roommate with whom Ava somehow avoided mutually assured destruction, and finally a revolving door of randos, their lives intertwined by the Craigslist algorithm and interactions reduced to passing by each other in shared spaces like ghosts.  And then there was her room at Chez Vance, just a few doors down the hallway from Deborah’s own.

But it’s been half a year alone now and she’s done pretty fucking well.

She's bought plants (multiple, and not all succulents) and kept them all alive.  Fat red tomatoes droop from vines trellised in pots in the singular corner of the balcony that gets any consistent sun.  Margaret the Monstera has multiple fronds of new growth and she’s growing seedlings in an egg carton on a window sill, for fuck’s sake.

She stays busy.

There are parties most weekends at one friend of Ruby’s or another and they’re filled with a lot of really hot hipsters with ambition for acting but who mostly wait tables or pour really expensive coffee.  Some ask for Ava’s number but she’s stingy with it these days, content with kissing the unique few who match her banter at parties and agree at the end of the night to maybe see them around.

She takes road trips, sometimes solo and other times with friends (yes, she has some of those now), and spends more time outside.

She walks.  Which Ruby incessantly points out in Los Angeles is just fucking ridiculous.

There’s a bucket list she’s working through of all the cheesy LA shit the ‘before’ version of herself would’ve definitely made fun of.  The Griffith Observatory and the Getty.  Strolling the Venice canals.  Micheladas at a Dodger game.  A taco truck crawl and a movie in a graveyard.

She’s trying new shit and seeing if anything at all will stick.

If anything will make this place feel like home the way a mansion in Las Vegas did.  Or maybe it was just the person inside of it.

Really, her whole vibe now, it's all just one endless and useless attempt at trying to fall out of love with Deborah Vance.

They’d done what they set out to do together:  wrote the show and went on a national sell-out tour to perfect it, all the while catapulting Deborah back in the mainstream zeitgeist and bringing in an entirely new audience.  Marcus is probably still jizzing about all the cash the Vance brand is raking in these days.  And though Ava pushed every button she could, Deborah never acknowledged the depth of whatever it was they shared.  The connection that surged like a high voltage power line between them.  The invisible string that tied them even now, a persistent ache in Ava’s subconscious.  Eventually the job was done, and the time came to leave Las Vegas.

And Deborah never asked her to stay.

It’s been months now back in Hollywood and with the success of the tour, Jimmy actually has to turn work away.  She’s been mostly freelancing but nothing has been the right fit.  She inevitably ends up disappointed in the material after she’s written it and hoping the next once in a lifetime opportunity will fall into her lap again.

But once in a lifetimes, they don’t come around twice.

And writing for Deborah, living with Deborah, laughing with Deborah, sharing that creative partnership with Deborah; well, Ava knows that was her one.

Shot her shot at twenty-six with, if all goes as expected, a whole lot of lifetime to go.

Because that’s the thing about opportunities, professional or otherwise:  some of the best ones just never come.  Sometimes, the greatest things in life remain just out of reach, the deepest unspoken wants stay unfulfilled.

Sometimes the greatest loves of all time end.  Or they never even happen at all.

It was love, of that Ava is completely sure.

Even if Deborah never admitted it out loud.

So Ava is trying to move on, and she’s doing great.  Really, really great.  She’s performing the role to perfection, in fact:  no meltdowns, no benders, new friends and steady work.  She hasn’t even snorted anything since being back in LA, even though coke is more plentiful here than even Vegas.  So what if caring for the plants feels like a chore, the relationships are meaningless and the work unfulfilling?  Almost everyone she knows hates their job, she’s better off getting used to it already.  Even her own mother said on the phone the other day that she’s the best version of herself she’s ever been.

Really, it’s just easier to pretend.

But every second of empty time is a conscious effort not to think of Deborah.  She’s there when the alarm goes off before Kelly Ripa’s work day is done, in the brand of matcha she surprised Ava with on tour that’s become her favorite.  She’s in every fountain Diet Coke, every crime drama rerun, and every stand up set on open mic nights at the local bars.  Deborah’s voice is there in her head, critiquing her work and pushing her to be funnier.  To be better.  Even when she’s no longer a part of Ava’s life.

So yeah, Ava knows it was love.  And that the two of them together were really something.  A mighty force.  A once in a lifetime.

But it’s been mostly radio silence from Deborah since she left.  Which is why it’s a surprise when the tickets arrive in her inbox one afternoon as she’s writing at a local coffee shop.  Deborah will be in town next week for an appearance on Kimmel and there are two tickets to the recording for Ava and a guest.  She shoots a short but polite text to Marcus to decline, blaming a fake deadline.

It’s even weirder when a few seconds later Marcus’s name appears on the caller ID.

“Marcus, hey,” she answers, stepping outside.

“Is this a real deadline or do you just not want to see her?” he asks, sans greeting.

“Wow, buddy, great to hear from you too, my man!  I’m doing so well, thanks for asking.”

“Just answer the question.”  Typical, Ava thinks, rubbing the sudden tension at the bridge of her nose.

“Look, it’s not that I don’t want to see her.  I really am–”

“Busy?”

“Um.  Yeah, kinda?”  She sighs at his pointed silence down the line.  Until Ava, no one knew Deborah as well as Marcus, so he definitely knows something is going on and he’s saying as much without really saying anything at all.  “I’m trying, Marcus.”

He doesn’t seem to need any more clarification.

“I don’t pretend to understand–” He stops and Ava realizes this is hard for him.  To be talking to her of all people about things that were never said out loud in the entirety of Ava’s tenure in the Vance empire.  It’s no secret he was jealous of how close she and Deborah became.  He was not shy about how talentless he thought Ava was early on and that her chaos threatened both his relationship with Deborah and his authority as CEO.  He certainly wasn’t missing having her around.

Which is why she really can’t believe it when he asks, “Can you just be there please?”

It’s the ‘please’ that convinces her, even though she knows it’s hopeless.  Being back in the crowd and watching Deborah in her element (even if it is on the opposite side of the host’s desk than where she truly belongs) and working the crowd to perfection like only she can will only magnify the hurt.  Seeing her on stage will just shine a light on the cavernous distance between them now and remind Ava of those countless nights on tour.  Of the packed comedy clubs and raucous crowds, the elation at each nailed delivery, especially flawless towards the end.  The indescribable satisfaction of their work earning every laugh.

There was no better high than watching Deborah shine on stage.

Well, except the one time Ava kissed her, in the wings of the stage after the Chicago show when they’d perfected the bit about DJ’s third overdose.  Those few seconds were the best of her life.  Deborah had let it last a few lingering moments, one palm soft against Ava’s cheek, and she’s still haunted by the journey in Deborah’s eyes after.  A flash of fear then resolution as she told Ava she couldn’t.  That she wouldn’t.  They’d never spoken about it again.

The day of the Kimmel appearance, Ava texts Deborah good luck, not that you need it, and it’s the first time they’ve spoken in weeks.  Their last text was a picture from Deborah of the dogs together having taken over her old seat on the PJ, sent with no caption.

Deborah doesn’t respond.

She shows up at the sound stage alone and early.  Kiki was the only one she’d want there with her and she wasn’t able to swing shift coverage or a babysitter in time to make it, but promised a rain check visit sometime next month.  She appreciates the unspoken promise that Kiki never asks her to come back to Las Vegas.

Ava spends the time waiting for the rest of the crowd to fill in by searching the wings of the set for any sign of Deborah’s entourage, but as the lights finally dim and the applause signs extinguish, there’s no sign of anyone she recognizes.  Not Marcus nor Damien, or any of Deborah’s stylists or makeup artists.  No DJ or Aiden either.  She’s stupidly fucking anxious there in the first row, chest tight, because any moment now she’ll be seeing Deborah again and she’s not ready.

As if she’ll ever be ready.

The production assistant counts down from five and then Jimmy’s band is striking up his usual entrance music and she’s just trying to keep on breathing.  It would really piss Deborah off if taping is delayed because her old employee inexplicably fell unconscious before she even appeared on stage.

“Now please let me introduce your guest host for the evening.”

Hold up.  Did he just say–

“She’s a titan of comedy, a Las Vegas legend, and fresh off a critically acclaimed comedy tour that’s coming to Netflix next month. Please welcome to the stage the one, the only, Deborah Vance!”

Ava is too shocked to join the standing ovation.  She’s frozen and slack-jawed there in the front row, feet away from Deborah as she is revealed by a sweeping retreating curtain. She’s dressed in a nearly identical red dress from her pilot, cut at the knees with long sheer sleeves and a neckline that dips to show just a hint of cleavage.  It’s her natural hair, too, styled into an elegant but simple updo.  She’d let it grow out a bit towards the end of the tour and it doesn’t look like she’s cut it since.

She’s absolutely radiant under the stage lights and Ava feels every beat of her broken heart.

Then, just for a second, Deborah’s eyes find hers, like she knew exactly where Ava would be, and Ava just knows.

That Deborah is about to slay this hosting gig like she was always meant to.  That some network is going to finally make her the first woman to host a late night network television show.  That she’s going to start a life here in Los Angeles.  And that she wants Ava with her for all of it.

Deborah waves to the crowd like the damn Queen of England and Ava can’t help but cry as she finally rises to her feet and wolf-whistles, just the way her dad taught her.

Deborah kills and Ava can’t take her eyes off her for the entire taping.

From the monologue to the final sign-off, she’s in perfect control and flawless.  Like she was born for this job and if one thing had been different all those years ago, she would have lived a completely different life.  Their eyes kept meeting in between takes and they shared so much without words, grinning at each other across the distance at the dream finally coming true.

As the audience is clearing, a single text from Deborah vibrates the phone in her back pocket:  Come backstage.

She takes a deep breath at the door to Deborah’s dressing room before knocking softly.

Then suddenly they’re face-to-face, and for once in their relationship, neither of them have anything to say.  No jokes to break the tension, no snide remark to rib the other.  They just stand there, taking each other in.  Breathing the same air and basking in the comfort of closeness that’s been missing all this time.

“You look good,” Deborah says finally, the slightest smirk pulling the corner of her painted lips.

“I have plants,” Ava explains, as if that says everything right there, and maybe it does because Deborah exhales a laugh, reaches to encircle Ava’s wrists and pulls her forward, wrapping her up in a hug.

It surprises her, they never really hugged before, but now it feels like the place she’s most meant to be.

“I’ve missed you.”

It’s muffled into the side of Ava’s head where Deborah’s face is pressed, but Ava feels like she’s in free-fall.  She never thought Deborah would admit missing anyone.

“Me too.”

Ava loosens her grip to let go, but Deborah just holds her tighter, so she sinks further into Deborah’s warmth instead.

“You did it.  You made history.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Ava hums to disagree but Deborah continues, her lips against Ava’s temple.  “You turned my whole world upside down.  And look where I ended up because of you,” she says, pulling back just enough so they’re face-to-face, her arms looping around Ava’s waist.

“All I did was help you write some jokes, D.  The rest was all you.”

“No,” Deborah says, emphatically, her hands finding Ava’s and squeezing them hard.  “It wasn’t just the show or the jokes, Ava.  You changed my life.  I was coasting with the residency, barely even living, filling my days with shit because I couldn’t stand how empty my life had become.  Until you showed up and pushed me to reach for things I truly wanted.”

“Deborah–”

“I didn’t think I needed someone else.  But I was wrong.”

“You were always meant for this,” Ava whispers as she tries (and fails epically) not to cry, “with me or without.”

“I’m done being without you,” Deborah says, her hands finding Ava’s face, thumbs grazing back and forth across her wet cheekbones.  “I should have told you.  Before.  I’m sorry that I ever let you go without you knowing.”

Ava shakes her head against Deborah’s palms.  “I knew, D.  Just because you couldn’t say it out loud doesn’t mean I didn’t know.  I could feel it, just like you.”

“Well let me say it now.  And every day for as long as I’ve got left:  I love you.”

“I know.  I think you already know I’ve loved you for a long time.”

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

“Finally,” Ava says, just before Deborah presses into her for good.

#hacks #ava x deborah #my mind turns your life into folklore #hacks fic #the taylor swift folklore fic series literally No One asked for #the 1 #also its up on ao3 you can find it there if you prefer #passed down like folk songs (our love lasts so long) #also no excuses listen to the song!

[smartycvnt]

Whirlwind

pairing: Ava Daniels x Deborah Vance

summary: Ava's emotional state had been all over the place that night, but she was glad to end it on a high note.

A/N: also posted this on my ao3, where I have fics that I don't have here.

Ava’s grip tightened on the neck of her beer bottle as she watched Deborah laugh at something some comedy club owner said to her. He was about a decade or two younger than Deborah, and was really laying it on thick with her. It wasn’t the flirting that bothered Ava, it was the fact that Deborah didn’t look like she wanted it to stop. Usually, there was an air of annoyance around Deborah whenever these sorts of things happened. Ava picked up on it quickly, and always, always came to her rescue. This time, Deborah looked like she was enjoying herself and it made Ava feel like she was about to be replaced.

That feeling had been there for a while now. Ever since their blowout about the email, Ava had lost the sense of security in their relationship. Deborah pretended that it hadn’t bothered her that much in private, but publicly, she’d put on a show about yelling at Ava for Marcus. Ava knew that Deborah had to be upset though, she had betrayed Deborah Vance, and Deborah Vance didn’t take betrayals lightly. Sighing heavily, Ava set her bottle down on the bar and made her way out of the club.

There was an awful tightening in her chest as she leaned against the brick wall. This was worse than whenever Deborah had insisted on making Ava do cardio with her for an hour. Deborah was everything that Ava wanted in her life, and Ava had fucked it up just after it began. She couldn’t believe that she had been so stupid about this. She’d been angry and lashed out at Deborah like a child. They had barely two weeks of blissfully ignorant happiness together before the news was broken to Deborah and her team. Ava wasn’t sure what she’d do with herself once Deborah fired her and left her to crawl back to Los Angeles. The thought of spending the rest of her (probably short) career all alone in Hollywood crept into her head and began to force tears to come to her eyes.

“Ava, there you are,” Deborah sighed as she stepped out of the bar. A couple steps towards Ava, and the blonde could see that her girlfriend was definitely having a moment. “Hey, are you okay?”

“N-no,” Ava answered honestly. Deborah opened her arms and Ava practically leapt into her embrace. Deborah’s arms tightened around Ava, which was the first time that night Ava felt like things were okay. Deborah was there, standing outside in the cold with her instead of inside laughing at whatever that guy was saying to her. Maybe, just maybe, Deborah did still care about Ava after everything. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Deborah asked her. She doubted that Ava had done anything, the writer had been on her best behavior for the past two months. Deborah had been surprised by that, even if she did miss their banter whenever Ava decided to be a bit more difficult. “I’m sure that you didn’t do anything wrong dear.”

“The email,” Ava whispered. Deborah sighed and dropped her arms from around Ava. They had moved past this, at least Deborah had. She had assumed Ava held onto it a little longer, but she hadn’t expected for it to last this long. “You didn’t punish me before, and you’re doing it now. You’re gonna leave me because that’s what I deserve.”

“I’m not punishing you for sending that email. You’ve done that more than enough to yourself, and I sure as fuck am not leaving you. I’m not going to hurt myself just to get back at you. Ava, it’s ridiculous that you’re even suggesting that. I like working with you, I love the things that we come up with together, I love you. Now come on, Marcus has the jet waiting to take us for a QVC taping.” Deborah grabbed Ava’s hand and tugged her along the sidewalk. Ava stumbled behind her, dumbfounded by Deborah’s very casual declaration of love.

“Do you mean it?” Ava asked as they shuffled into the backseat of a car. Deborah turned towards Ava, unsure of what she meant. Deborah had said a lot to Ava in that moment, and maybe, just maybe, something had accidentally slipped out. Deborah meant every word of it, whether she intended to say it or not. She had been spending an annoying amount of time trying to restrain herself from telling Ava in less appropriate settings how she felt. “Do you really love me?”

“I do, I really do,” Deborah confirmed. “I love you, Ava.”

“I love you too,” Ava said sheepishly. Deborah ran her hand through Ava’s hair, scratching her nails along Ava’s scalp lightly. Ava leaned into the touch and closed her eyes, sighing contently. Ava had been through a whirlwind of emotions that night and was glad to be ending it on a good note rather than heartbreak or embarrassment.

#ava x deborah #ava daniels #deborah vance #ava daniels x deborah vance #hacks #hacks imagine #hacks imagines

[smndragon]

Hello!

My initials are: P.G🌷

I included effy as a pfp because I just felt that it fit

Around 5-7 or 9

Things: generational, generational trauma, Vince, marble nights, marble frights, cherries, marabel, high school, sleep deprived, gender vary, blue sneakers or red with designs or stickers, ginger, hearty meals, metal, red necklace, large hands for the gender (female I feel maybe?), Let me down slowly, let me down, let me go. Alright uhh the thing on TikTok where Elsa goes"ShOW yOurseLf" came to mind😭 "please just leave me alone!", Henry, harry, eagle, Vance, marigold, golden presents or properties, angel remarks. With the angels I feel yours if you believe in them may be supporting a certain push into a relationship soon or at some point. I feel someone has made you feel good from words or telling you thins you needed to hear, sitting you down and talking or making small remarks about how you should take better care. Germanic. Grazing, mishaps, may have met or had a bunch of misunderstandings or times where either one of them or you approached in awkward or random manors. Cry me a river. I feel like you could game with one of them. You've forgotten one, someone from a long time ago. Maybe could've been elementary. Dance dance revolution. Lost and found. Don't forget me, may have been words someone wanted to say or has. A few have liked you for your resilience or bounce back, eyes also. Why tf did I get foot fetish Randomly. Scratching the back of someone's neck. It'll be okay. Charcoal brown, ash brown, dark chocolate brown. I see fluffy hair maybe? Goes up or is curly and messy. One may be flirtatious or playful. I feel they are more discreet than they seem. Chain necklaces. E-boy looking. I see red song, vendetta. "Fuck off." "Goodbye now" waving sarcastically. Allergies to peanuts, eggs, egg whites, peaches, honey, bees, cats, animals. Maybe even seasonal allergies. Max, Andrew, Michael, Jake, Finn, Alex, Nichol, Nicholas, dolin, Andy, Archer, Mary, Paul, Jack, Washington, Marcus, Stephen, Steven. Aries, Gemini, Saturn energy, Pluto in Sagittarius or a strong planet. I heard Forrest Gump for some reason, movie nights. Nat King Cole. Chet Baker. Old 40s songs. Vera Lynn. Etta James. Billie Holiday. Louis Armstrong the singer or astronaut. Jeremy. Michaels. Jacobs, Jacob. I see ginger hair, long eyelashes on a guy, nervousness that's hard to notice but very prominent in atmosphere. Someone has bad memory. Hard time remembering names so may say what they see. Sports. Skinny jeans. Lotus. Pink lotus. May have played superheroes younger or wanted to be one lol, even now someone wishes they could save someone any way they could. To have a deep connection and make someone feel safe and whole. James. Lucas, Lukas, Markus. Adam. J, K, R, M. Zeke. Sun goes down.

[blizabrth]

😤 Underdeveloped / background character ( gg)

hiiii Iulia! thanks so much for sending this <3

😤 Underdeveloped / background character

i honestly really love how so many of the side characters are fleshed out on the show. i think jt, diane, and the newer ones like vance are really well-developed and truly alive with personality. so my answer for this is 100% RHEA!!! it does make sense why she never came back/kept her distance after she learned who beth was/what she did, but her stint on the show felt short and rushed and that made me sad. the girl whipped out a checkbook to pay for the mortgage of a person she'd befriended in the last what? month? maybe two? however time works. she's either really naively trusting (which like okay, maybe, but eh), boundlessly generous (which i could get), or she really felt like she and beth were forging some DEEP friendship-- which means!!! they must've shared deep talks!!! not just vague-ing around "marcus's daddy" and sports ball. right? right!?!? in a way i do see it working fine narratively -- that the relationship was always about beth and her guilt anyway, so any conversations that may have seemed "heartfelt" to rhea were tainted from the start and thus not necessary to be seen on screen but idk i would just eat up any and all further backstory where rhea's involved!

send me an emoji for my opinions on these fandom q’s

#ask games #asks #misshazelevers20 #uncommon fandom asks

[hptriadfest]

MASTER LIST REVEALED

Title: Those That Move <- Clicky

Author: @hippocrates460

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Ronald Weasley/Viktor Krum

Summary: “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.” - Benjamin Franklin.

How Ron and Hermione decide to figure out what they really want, how they come to realize that it is Viktor, and how all of them choose to move.

~*~

Title: In The Dying Light <- Clicky

Author: @marshmallowmcgonagall

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Harry Potter x Ginny Weasley x Tom Riddle/Voldemort

Summary:

Six years after Dumbledore died, Harry appears to defeat Lord Voldemort but everyone flees the battlefield in the wake of a magical storm. In the depths of the nights which follow, someone unexpected arrives at the door of Harry and Ginny’s safe house in Godric’s Hollow.

~*~

Title: NEVER ENOUGH <- Clicky

Author: @big-draco-energy 

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini

Summary:

Established couple woos a third party for a one-night stand. However, it’s not that simple, and nothing is what it seems.

~*~

Title: The good things in life <- Clicky

Author: @harrypotterfanfictionwriter 

Rating: General | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood/Severus Snape

Summary:

Severus reflects on his life since two witches came into it.

~*~

Title: Yes, My Loves <- Clicky

Author: @cheekytorah / @hptruefan-cheekytorah

Rating: General | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood/Severus Snape

Summary:

For years he served an evil bastard, and now he only wants to serve his women.

~*~

Title: Three To Be Free <- Clicky

Author: @gremlin-writing

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin/James Potter

Summary:

With his wife dead and a toddler in his arms, James Potter shows up on the Black-Lupin doorstep.

~*~

Title: One Of Our Own <- Clicky

Author: @themadmage-fanfiction

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Ginny Weasley/Astoria Greengrass/Luna Lovegood

Summary:

Five years after the war, Astoria asks her wives about having a child of their own.

~*~

Title:  The Sweetest Question <- Clicky

Author: @aneiria-writes

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott

Summary:

After a bad day at work, Hermione’s Slytherin lovers know exactly how to soothe her anxious mind.

~*~

Title:  Company For The Waiting <- Clicky

Author: @parsley_sage_rosemary_and_thyme4tea <- clicky @non-binarypal7

Rating: General | Throuple: Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

Summary:

green light the promise of connection and commitment burning impressions, questions, passions

a short exploration of life, death, and love

~*~

Title: Three’s Company <- Clicky

Author: @Snarry5evr 

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter/Severus Snape

Summary:

Ready for a change after his divorce from Ginny, Auror Harry Potter accepts a position in America. Discovering his new charges were none other than the living Severus Snape and his housemate Draco Malfoy was only the beginning of the changes in store for Harry.

~*~

Title: Starting Anew <- Clicky

Author: @lillymoid

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle/Severus Snape

Summary:

Harry Potter couldn’t accept how the war ended, so he tried again but this time helping Voldemort and changing everything.

~*~

Title: Ron Weasley and the Triad of Support <- Clicky

Author: @littlebozsheep

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Ronald Weasley/Blaise Zabini/Neville Longbottom

Summary:

When Ron stresses over the 10yr school reunion and seeing Hermione for the first time since their disastrous split, his partners take it on their shoulders to cheer him up.

Taking an ansty situation, removing the angst and adding fluff.

~*~

Title: Even Chasers Get The Blues <- Clicky

Author:

@neontinkerbell

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Katie Bell/Alicia Spinnet/Angelina Johnson

Summary:

Alicia and Angelina are saying goodbye to Hogwarts after completing their seventh year, but their girlfriend Katie still has one year left. When the dreaded conversation about long-distance relationship woes finally catches up with them, will they be able to all agree on how to navigate it?

~*~

Title: my girl, my girl, my girl <- Clicky

Author: @klarogasms

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood/Pansy Parkinson

Summary:

They all looked quite different and had vastly varying senses of style, but they looked lovely together, all beautiful in their own ways. And the matching necklaces they wore - golden with a star, a sun and a moon pendant respectively - tied it all together.

or Pansy, Luna and Hermione being adorable for 5k words straight

~*~

Title: Before We Say Goodbye <- Clicky

Author: @cheekytorah / @hptruefan-cheekytorah

Rating: General | Throuple: Rose Weasley/Polly Chapman/Marisa Thomas (Original Female Character)

Summary:

Rose Weasley, Poly Chapman and Marisa Thomas have one more thing to do before they say goodbye to Hogwarts.

~*~

Title: Harry Potter and the Witches of the House of Ill Repute <- Clicky

Author: @hippocrates460

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes/Emmeline Vance

Summary:

“One for the money, two for the show, three to make ready and four to go.”

If by go you mean disrupt all the carefully laid plans in order to be good and kind to someone in need. That’s just how they do it.

A story of how three becomes four, and how love is essential, and some very fictionalized accounts of what it might be like to run a sex shop.

~*~

Title: maybe I just wanna be yours <- Clicky

Author: @fleurting

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter/Ron Weasley

Summary:

Harry’s always had a place in Ron and Hermione’s bed. He’s the only one of them who doesn’t see the spot as permanent.

~*~

Title: Enchanted Encounters <- Clicky

Author: @ischa-posts

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Teddy Lupin/Scorpius Malfoy/James Sirius Potter

Summary:

James decides he wants to go on a road trip with his brother and Teddy, of course Scorpius and Albus’ girlfriend tag along. But also: James is scheming, Scorpius is pinning (and maybe sulking) and Teddy is fighting a losing battle.

It’s really just a friends to lovers story with magic (and sex).

(More on the Ao3 Post)

~*~

Title: Love To Give <- Clicky

Author: @kittycargo

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Harry Potter/Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy

Summary:

Neville and Harry are in a relationship when Draco moves back from Italy and needs a place to stay. Neville never knew how much love he had to give.

~*~

Title: Sealing Their Bond - Clicky

Author: @articcat621

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Regulus Black/Hermione Granger/Rabastan LeStrange

Summary: After the Marriage Law spell revealed her two wizards, Hermione had been looking forward to her wedding night. Finally, it was here.

~*~

Title: Stay With Us <- Clicky

Author: @thunder-of-dragons

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Sirius Black/James Potter/Lily Evans

Summary: A week before the Fidelius Charm will be cast over the Potters’ home in Godric’s Hollow, Sirius has a suggestion to keep the Potters better hidden, and it’s one that does not include Peter Pettigrew.

~*~

Title: The Chasers and their Gold Digger <- Clicky

Author: @gaeilgerua

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Marcus Flint/Hermione Granger/Adrian Pucey

Summary:

Reading the gossip column in the Daily Prophet these days is usually good for a laugh.

~*~

Title: Studious <- Clicky

Author: @lilithshadefanfic

Creative Medium: Fan Art

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott

Summary: Fanart created for HP Triad!Fest 2020.

Prompt #54 by GaeilgeRua

A group project in Eighth year leads to a new friendship.

~*~

Title: How To Impress Your Muggleborn Lover; Texting Edition <- Clicky

Author: @littlebozsheep

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy/Pansy Parkinson

Summary:

It has been a couple of months since Hermione had started using positive reinforcement to get her partners to use Muggle technology. So far, it was getting some humorous responses. This month, they had started texting, and Draco was determined not to be beaten by Pansy again.

~*~

Title: Drive Me Wild <- Clicky

Author: @cheekytorah / @hptruefan-cheekytorah

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Neville Longbottom/Charlie Weasley/Viktor Krum

Summary:

While on a trip searching for a rare plant, Neville finds himself in the company of two wizards that can help him. How will Neville ever repay them?

Prompt #59

Prompter: GaeilgeRua

~*~

Title: Dining Under Duress <- Clicky

Author: @cheekytorah / @hptruefan-cheekytorah

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

Summary:

Dining under duress was a theme in their lives.

~*~

[mollrat101]

I feel like it would’ve been a million times funnier if Marcus hadn’t accidentally put Deborah on the lesbian cruise, but instead he did it deliberately lol. 

Cause I’ve talked about how I could understand why Marcus would be angry with Deb in season 2 because she doesn’t fire Ava, he’s still nervous about the new set changing the brand and taking his anger out on her because he lost Wilson. 

So this would be the exact petty thing that he knows would make Deb uncomfortable. 

And if she tries to lash back at him for it he can be like “Now, Deb, you said you wanted a surefire money gig. Well, the ladies wanted Deborah Vance. That’s my job as your CEO to maximize profits. I’m being professional.” Him knowing damn well they’re mixing the professional and personal because duh. Because Deborah would never want to admit that she hoped it was a gay male cruise because it would bring her some comfort from all the newness and that’s exactly why Marcus would sabotage. He’s not stupid, he would know what she meant by that and he’d be thinking “Really, bitch? You’re the one taking us on this risky venture and now you want to crawl somewhere safe?” And it could bubble up resentment that she views him for safety, but as soon as something more exciting comes along (Ava), she distances from him. I have a lot of feelings about Deborah as a gay icon and how gay men, for her, represent safety. Which is a lot to unpack even more considering she’s dated a few gay men. 

I could imagine Marcus’s little evil smile as he gets the offer and stops himself just before he was instinctually going to refuse. We could’ve had it all. 

“What’s the matter, Deb? I thought you liked trying new things now?” Him needling her because she’s putting him through a lot of newness and not involving him in it cause this is a thing she’s doing with Ava. And like if he was also using some subtext to suggest that Deborah would like to try something else too, I mean, I would be okay with that lol. He knows queer women make her uncomfortable and he doesn’t really want to unpack why but that’s just a bonus way to torture her. It would be hard for me to imagine Marcus hasn’t possibly wondered if Deb is a little queer, but he’s like “yeah you don’t touch that subject with a ten-foot pole.” Maybe I’m just projecting my hopes and dreams lol. 

The gays can be very petty. Marcus has it in him, just look at 1.09. He was thrilled that Ava had fucked up. 

But also would reinforce how much Deborah needs Ava. Marcus, the person Deb has relied on for 20 years, is having his own personal crisis and is pissed off at her basically now deciding to be a rebellious kid of all times. Marcus said last season he doesn’t think Deb will change, so Deb really only has Ava in her corner. Someone who hurt her deeply and yet is the only person who understands how important this is to her. 

Marcus and Deborah would make up eventually, but like until now I wanted the girls to be fighting because it’s funny to picture this once stable relationship just tearing itself to pieces for a little bit. Seeing normally in-control people who used each other for stability and then falling out would be funny, admit it. 

Again, this would torture Deb a bit more which could explain why things just go so badly and like Marcus would feel bad about it. But also like Deb has hurt him before so you know what, fair’s fair. It’s like this season is Deb’s choices coming back to bite her. But also yeah I would still want a similar thing where, when at their lowest, Deborah and Marcus would absolutely be there for each other. I want to picture Marcus coming to Deb because he’s so heartbroken over Wilson and Deb so surprised because they don’t normally do this. Vulnerability is not really their thing but she’ll try for him because she loves him. And also, once he can deal with his anger and hurt, Marcus will start to see how much Deb is trying and he doesn’t actually want to see her in pain. He can be both pissed at Ava for hurting his friend and also mad at Deb for the long-standing problems they’ve ignored for years. 

Just like DJ and Deborah, this is a complicated relationship that involves a mixture of love and hate. Really that’s all Deb’s relationships. But especially with her children. It’s this push and pull of wanting to rebel against Deb but then also wanting her approval. Marcus isn’t ready to leave the security of Deborah, but he also needs to vent his frustration so there you go. 

Could end up seeing that in the last half, but this is definitely something I would think would need the full 8 episodes to unpack. 

#hacks hbo #hbo hacks #hacks #hacks thoughts #deborah vance #marcus #yeah basically i'm writing bits and pieces of an AU where my dreams come true #ava comes into deb's world and causes absolute chaos #even with things deb thought were stable #showing actually how fragile these things were to begin with

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek Villains Who Actually Had a Point

https://ift.tt/3t8D3MQ

This article contains spoilers for various parts of the Star Trek franchise.

Last fall, airing just a few weeks apart, both Star Trek and Star Wars debuted season premieres of new streaming TV episodes in which the heroes of each show had to fight a giant, legless worm-monster. In Star Trek: Discovery’s “That Hope Is You Part 1,” it was the deadly Tranceworm, while The Mandalorian’s “Chapter 9: The Marshall” had the murderous Krayt Dragon. The differences between the Final Frontier and the Faraway Galaxy could not have been made clearer by these dueling beasts: in Mando, the plot involved killing the monster by blowing up its guts from the inside, while in Disco, Book taught Michael Burnham how to make friends with it.

The Trek universe deals with the concept of evil a little differently than many of its famous genre competitors. There is no Lex Luthor of the Federation. Palpatine doesn’t haunt the planet Vulcan. The Klingons have no concept of “the devil.” (At least in The Original Series.) This isn’t to say Trek doesn’t have some very memorable Big Bads, it’s just that most of the time those villains tend to have some kind of sympathetic backstory. Even in the J.J. Abrams films! 

So, with that in mind, here’s a look at seven Star Trek villains who maybe weren’t all bad, and kind of, even in a twisted way, had a point…

Harry Mudd

In Star Trek: The Original Series, Harry Mudd was presented as a straight-up con-man, a dude who seemed to be okay with profiting from prostitution (in “Mudd’s Women”) and was also down with marooning the entire crew of the Enterprise on a random planet (in “I, Mudd”). He’s not a good person. Not even close. But, he does make a pretty could case against Starfleet’s lack of planning. In the Discovery episode “Choose Your Pain,” Mudd accuses Starfleet of starting the war with the Klingons, and, as a result, putting the larger population of the galaxy at risk. “I sure as hell understand why the Klingons pushed back,” Mudd tells Ash Tyler. “Starfleet arrogance. Have you ever bothered to look out of your spaceships down at the little guys below? If you had, you’d realize that there’s a lot more of us down there than there are you up here, and we’re sick and tired of getting caught in your crossfire.”

Seska

At a glance, Seska seems pretty irredeemable. She joins the idealistic Maquis but is secretly a Cardassian spy. Once in the Delta Quadrant, she tries to screw Voyager as much as possible, mostly by hooking up with the Kazon. That said, Seska is also someone caught up in hopelessly sexist, male-dominated power structures and does what she has to do to gain freedom and power. The Cardassian military isn’t exactly enlightened nor kind, so the fact that Seska was recruited into the Obsidian Order in the first place certainly explains her deceptive conditioning. You could argue that Seska could have become a better person once she had Captain Janeway as an ally, but, the truth is, she was still a spy caught behind enemy lines, but suddenly without a government to report back to. So, Seska did what she had to do to survive, even lying to Chakotay about having his child. The thing is, again, outside of Starfleet, Seska is at the mercy of the sexist machinations of the Kazon, so again, she’s kind of using all the tools at her disposal to gain freedom. Had Voyager not gone to the Delta Quadrant, and Seska’s villainy may have been more clear-cut. But, once the reason for her espionage becomes moot, her situation gets more desperate, and, on some level, more understandable. 

Charlie Evans

In The Original Series, Kirk loves telling humans with god-like powers where to shove it. In “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” he phasers Gary Mitchell and buries him under a rock. But, in “Charlie X,” when teenager Charlie Evans also gets psionic powers, Kirk does a less-than-a-great job of being a good role model. For most of the episode, Kirk tries to avoid become Charlies’ surrogate parent, and when he does try, it results in an embarrassing overly macho wrestling match featuring those famous pink tights.

Read more

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How Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Killing of Tasha Yar Became an Awkward Mistake

By Joseph Baxter

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Why Star Trek Needs More Characters Like Captain Lorca

By Lacy Baugher

Charlie was a deeply troubled human being, and there was no justification for him harassing the crew and Janice Rand in specific. But, angry, kids like Charlie have to be helped before it gets to this point. Kirk mostly tried to dodge the adult responsibility of teaching Charlie the ropes, and only when some friendly aliens arrived, did everyone breathe a sigh of relief. But, don’t get it twisted, those aliens are basically just social workers, doing the hard work Starfleet is incapable of.

The Borg Queen

Because the origin of the Borg Queen has dubious canonical origins, all we were told in Voyager is that she was assimilated as a child, just like Seven of Nine. As Hugh and Jean-Luc discuss in the Picard episode “The Impossible Box,” basically, everyone assimilated by the Borg, is, on some level, a victim. The Queen was never presented this way in either First Contact or Voyager, but, at one point, writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens had pitched a story for Enterprise which would have featured Alice Krige as a Starfleet medical technician who made contact with the Borg.

Because both Alice Krige and Susanna Thompson played the Borg Queen, it’s possible the backstories of each Queen is different and that maybe they aren’t the same character. Either way, assuming the Borg Queen retains some level of autonomy relative to other drones (likely?) then she’s pretty much making the best of a bad situation. In fact, at the point at which you concede the Borg are unstoppable, the Queen’s desire to let Picard retain some degree of his independence as Locutus could scan as a kind of mercy. The Borg Queen actually thinks she and the Borg are making things simpler for everyone. And with both Data and Picard, she tried to make that transition easier and, in her own perverse way, fun too.

Ossyra

Yes, we saw Ossyra feed her nephew to a Trance worm, and we also saw her try to kill literally everyone on the USS Discovery, including Michael Burnham. However, in the middle of all of that, Ossyra did try to actively make peace between the Emerald Chain and the Federation. And, most tellingly, it was her idea. Ossyra also pointed out one of the most hypocritical things about the United Federation of Planets: the fact that Starfleet and its government rely on capitalism without actively acknowledging it. Essentially, Ossyra was saying that the ideals of the Federation are great, but the Federation has all kinds of dirty little secrets it doesn’t want to talk about. In her meeting with Admiral Vance, pretty much everything she said about the Federation was true—and her treaty proposal was fair. 

Read more

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Q’s Return on Star Trek: Picard Season 2 will Follow “Significant Trauma”

By Joseph Baxter

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Why Star Trek: Discovery Needed to Write Out Its Klingons

By Lacy Baugher

The only snag: she wouldn’t turn herself over as a war criminal. Considering the fact that the Federation made Mirror Georgiou into a Section 31 agent, despite her war crimes in another universe, this also seems hypocritical.  Why not just do the same thing with Ossyra? Tell everyone she’s going to prison for war crimes, but make her a Section 31 agent instead? Missed opportunity! 

Khan

Khan was genetically engineered by wacko-a-doodle scientists at the end of the 21st Century. At some point on Earth, he became a “prince” with “power over millions.” But, as Kirk notes in “Space Seed,” there were “no massacres” under Khan’s rule, and described him as the “best of the tyrants.” Kirk’s take on Khan in “Space Seed” is basically that Khan was an ethical megalomaniac. Most of what we see in “Space Seed” backs this up. Khan doesn’t actually want to kill the crew, and stops short of doing it when he thinks he can coerce them instead. His only focus is to gain freedom for himself and his exiled fellow-Augments. In the Kelvin Universe timeline, Khan’s motivations are similar. Into Darkness shows us a version of Khan who, again, is only cooperating with Section 31 because he wants freedom for his people. Sure, he’ll crush some skulls and crash some starships to get to that point, but in his dueling origin stories, Khan is, in both cases interested in freedom for his people, who, are by any definition, totally persecuted by the Federation.

Khan is still a criminal in any century. But, we only really think of him as a villain because he goes insane in between the “Space Seed” and The Wrath of Khan. The Khan of The Wrath is not the same person we met in “Space Seed.” As he tells Chekov, “Admiral Kirk never bothered to check on our progress.” Had Kirk sent a Starfleet ship to drop in on Khan and his “family” every once in awhile this whole thing could have been avoided. In the prime timeline, Khan goes nuts because Ceti Alpha VI explodes and nobody cares. In the Kelvin timeline, Admiral Marcus blackmails him. Considering that Khan is Star Trek’s most famous villain, it’s fascinating that there are a million different ways you can imagine him never getting as bad as he became. In “Space Seed,” he and Kirk basically part as friends. 

Q

In “Encounter at Farpoint,” Q accuses humanity of being “a savage child race.” And walks Jean-Luc Picard through the various atrocities committed by humanity, through the 21st Century. Picard kind of shrugs his shoulders and says, “we are what we are and we’re doing the best that we can.” When we talk about the philosophy of Star Trek, we tend to give more weight to Picard’s argument: the idea that by the 24th century, humanity has become much better, in general than it is now. But, the other side of the argument; that there’s a history of unspeakable violence and cruelty baked into the existence of humanity, is given less weight. We don’t really listen to Q when he’s putting humanity on trial, because we can’t see his point of view.

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But, because Q wasn’t a one-off character, and because he said “the trial never ends” in the TNG finale, he’s actually not really a villain at all. Q exists post-morality, as we can imagine it. His notions of ethics are far more complex (or less complex) than we can perceive. Q is one of those great Star Trek characters who is actually beyond reproach simply because we have no frame of reference for his experiences or point of view. In Voyager, we also learned that even among other members of the Q Continuum, Q was kinder, with a more humanitarian approach to what he might call “lesser” lifeforms. If Q is villainous, it’s because of our definitions of villainy. Of every Star Trek antagonist, Q is the best one, for the simple fact that he’s not a a villain at all. 

Which Star Trek villains do you think had a point? Let us know in the comments below.

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