#:( another icon of old tv gone

[averagewriter-inthedark]

Now That We Don’t Talk | Jake Seresin blurb

Takes place during the TGM events

TGM masterlist

Characters & Pairings: Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x ex!reader (past romance), the dagger squad (platonic)

Content Warnings: light angst, profanity, slight suggestive content, cheating, breakup | female!reader | wc: 2.2k

Note: I’m obsessed with 1989 TV and I’ll admit I was never a TS fan growing up but her OG 1989 I liked and I fuck with some songs Evermore, Reputation, Lover & Midnights. That being said, I’ve got the vault tracks on repeat and as a fellow directioner….Harry, baby, I thought you’d be safe.

————————

“You went to a party I heard from everybody. You part the crowd like the red sea, don’t even get me started. Did you get anxious though, on the way home? I’ll guess I’ll never ever know. Now that we don’t talk.”

His number had been deleted for well over three years when she stepped foot into the familiar bar she once called a second home. It’d been just as long since they’d seen each other, neither aware they’d be reunited in mere moments. When she did find his face among the crowd of their colleagues, she froze, contemplating running out the door and back to her car. Images of their last night flooded her mind. She could recall the constant pinging of her cell phone. Text messages from mutual friends informing her that he had been seen in an intimate embrace with another woman before disappearing from the party.

When he got home he avoided her like the plague. Anxiety consuming his entire being, making it clear the rumors were not rumors. They were true as the sun brightened the sky in the day and the moon reigned at night.

“Jake,” her whimper made him freeze, hand on the railing of the steps leading to their bedroom. No response, only a shake of his head before he continued his journey up. Leaving her to cry herself to sleep on the kitchen floor.

It was a domino effect in the days following. The trust was gone, Jake going out more and coming back late at night. Eventually after two weeks of prolonging the inevitable, Jake returned to an empty apartment. All reminisce of their five years together gone in the blink of an eye. She left a simple note, “Hope it was worth it.”

“You grew your hair long, you got new icons. And from the outside it looks like you’re tryin’ lives on. I miss the old ways. You didn’t have to change. But I guess I don’t have a say, Now that we don’t talk.

Natasha was the first to catch her eye in the Hard Deck, putting down her beer to run over and greet the pilot with a quick hug. Careful not to let anyone else see since they were in uniform. “I’m so happy to see you, Blue.”

She returned the smile, though hers was more tense, “It’s great to see you too, Phee. How’ve you been?” Nerves swarmed her belly with each passing minute. Despite being happy to see her old friend, she was unable to ignore the elephant in the room. The man she thought she’d marry and grow old with on a farm after retiring from the Navy with a bunch of kids and animals was several feet from her.

Overall, Jake had not changed much since their breakup. He was tanner for starters, definitely more toned. But he still had that aura of confidence sometimes confused with being cocky and golden blonde hair making him appear like a life-sized Ken doll. Throughout their relationship she noticed the stares they got from men and women alike. Woman looked at him with want and at her with envy. Men did the same but opposite.

It always surprised people when they got together. Complete opposites, they were known to have a rivalry during their time at Top Gun when they were on the path to becoming the Navy’s best fighter pilots. Jake loved to get under her skin, she loved to deflate his ego. Somewhere the dislike and tension turned into complete desire. And before they knew it they were sneaking into each other’s dorms and getting naughty in the locker room showers.

Her body reacted when he was looking at her. He’d spot her in a crowded room and instantly the woman felt heat along her veins. And she felt that fire right then when a sudden rush of jitters sweeped her figure.

Natasha sensed it too, noticing how the woman became tense. Peeking a glance to the side, a glare took over her once soft expression, “We can go somewhere else if you want.”

“No,” she objected with a slight wave, “I’m fine. A little surprised--although I should’ve expected he’d be a candidate as well given the context of this mission. It’s just we haven’t talked since….”

“I understand,” Nat assured, placing a hand on her back and leading her to the bar. “Let’s get you a drink first, then we’ll deal with him.”

“I call my mom, she said that it was for the best. Remind myself, the more I gave you, you’d want me less. I cannot be your friend, so I pay the price of what I lost. And what it cost, now that we don’t talk.”

Her mothers words replayed over and over again with each step as the two approached the group. Jake was leaning over the pool, calculating his next shot when she moved straight past him causing him to lose focus and miss the ball he was aiming for completely.

“Blue!” Javy shouted, picking her up in a big hug and spinning them around. Not caring if superiors saw or the fact his best friend, who happens to be her ex, was right there. “I’ve missed you, Girl. What’s going on?”

“Nothing much, Javy,” she couldn’t help but giggle. Of all the friends Jake had, Javy was the one who still reached out to her from time to time. Plus he ripped Jake a new one when he found out why they broke up. To this day he still gives him hell for it. “Let it be Top Gun, to bring us all under one roof.”

“Don’t you know it,” he clicked his beer with hers. The two taking a swig at the same time. “Have you met these clowns?” he motioned to the three to his left, “This is Payback, Fanboy, and Bob.”

“Nice to meet you guys,” they shook hands, greeting her with the same enthusiasm. When Bradley arrived she was once again scooped up into a hug, although this time she caught sight of Jake’s hardened expression. That shouldn’t have surprised her. Bradley Bradshaw was the one man Jake always butt heads with.

But the blonde quickly shook it off when he realized he got caught. He had no right to be jealous. It’d been three years since they broke up. And it was his fault nonetheless.

“Well I’ll be damn,” Bradley set her down gently, still embracing her. “If it isn’t Miss. Blues Clues.” A playful slap hit his chest when they parted.

“You know I hate that name, Bradshaw.”

The two caught up briefly, sitting on stools at the opposite end of the pool table. At one point Bradley made her laugh that the beer she’d been sipping on spilled off her mouth, causing him to giggle and hand her some napkins. While dabbing the liquid away, she locked eyes with Jake. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. Pinning her to her seat with an unreadable gaze.

She nearly broke, feeling a speck of desire to talk to him, but then remembered her mothers words, “the more you gave him, the less he wanted you. While you may forgive him for all the hurt he brought you, you cannot subject yourself to that again. You deserve better.”

“What do you tell your friends, we, shared dinners, long weekends with? Truth is, I can’t pretend it’s platonic, it’s just ended so…”

She made a silent vow to herself, recalling the painful memories, the phone conversation with her mother along with bits and pieces friends have told her over the years of what Jake had relied on as the reason for their breakup. She would not fall again to his charm. There was no string that could be tied up in an attempt to fix what was cut.

Around them were friends they’d spend long weekends with. Javy and Nat were the most frequent, both having witnessed their relationship blossom and die. It made her wonder what others they hung out with knew. Whenever they’d see each other in passing the conversations always felt like they were walking on eggshells around her. And because she wanted to move on, she’d never ask what Jake told them.

For the sake of their jobs she’d be civil. The past was the past and it would stay there, but she’d make sure to remember it whenever those old feelings threatened to surface. From the looks of Jake throughout the night, he felt the same. It was obvious he wanted to find a moment alone with her to talk, but she refused to let that happen.

“I call my mom, she said to get it off my chest (off my chest). Remind myself the way you faded ‘til I left (until I left). I cannot be your friend, so I pay the price of what I lost (what I lost). And what it cost, now that we don’t talk.”

When she arrived at her dorm that would be her home for the next three weeks, the first thing she did was retrieve the letter to herself she wrote all those years ago. It was crumbled, having almost thrown it away several times, but remembering the significance within the words inked on the lines, she always pulled it back.

Parts of the paper were withered. A result from the teardrops that had fallen when she took to her desk after the phone call with her mother to write down everything weighed on her chest. Pouring her heart and soul into the paper. It wasn’t much, only taking up the front of the page, but it was enough to get the message across.

Her past self coming to remind her of those fleeting last months. Where Jake slowly became the ghost of the man she’d once loved. The constant worry and anxiety from hours of radio silence. Dinners that felt like an awkward first date. Not inviting her out with his friends anymore. HIs lingering eyes on women who weren’t her. Excusing it with bullshit remarks to make her think she was being dramatic. Finally, the party that sealed the deal.

To imagine what they would be if she gave him another chance would be an insult to herself. Instead, she thought about all she gained.

“I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock. Or that I’d like to be on a mega yacht. With important men who think important thoughts. Guess maybe I am better off, now that we don’t talk.”

After the breakup, she realized how much she hid herself from the world. There were things she pretended to like in order to please him. Like watching college football every weekend, entertaining mostly his friends and leaving her to sit on the couch with a book in hand only to not be able to concentrate with the loud ruckus they’d cause.

Or having to refrain from the things that made her happy. Singing at the top of her lungs in the car while her favorite songs played for the first time in years felt liberating. Not having to be careful on what she spent her money on now that she didn’t have to save more for rent because Jake started to blow his on going to the bar during the last several months of their relationship.

The worst was having to put on a facade in front of Jake’s superiors. Though stationed at the same base they were part of different squadrons. During the banquets and balls, Jake tended to make comments on what dresses she should wear and how to act when they arrived. He was always the kiss ass type who wanted to get promoted faster than his peers. Even though she praised him constantly, Jake was never satisfied unless one of his bosses complimented him. If she were honest to herself, she hated attending the events. Despite being in the Navy herself. Unless they were mandatory she’d find an excuse to not go. Being around men with egos as tall as the empire state building who only talked in statistics and status was draining.

“And the only way back to my dignity. Was to turn into a shrouded mystery. Just like I had been when you were chasing me.”

For the last three years, the way she carried herself changed. She had to for the sake of not letting her heart rot away. Taking back the self-respect she’d lost, after thinking for so long it was her fault Jake had betrayed her. That she wasn’t enough.

She was more than enough.

He was the one who chose to cheat. He was the one who didn’t try to defend himself or fight for what they had. He let himself go. He let her go.

So, after a good month of wallowing in self-pity and despair, she lifted herself up with poise and elegance. Remembering who she was before him. The woman who carried herself with confidence, never allowing anyone to tear her down. Who fought hard to build her career to what it was, after so many doubting her abilities.

The woman he chased after. Who at the core was strong, daring, resilient.

Sure, Jake taught her a lot. About herself, about what she wanted in a relationship. About love. She’ll never forget what they had.

She lost him, but along the way she found herself. And to her, that was everything.

“Guess this is how it has to be, now that we don’t talk.”

……..

Tag list: @avaleineandafryingpan , @caitsymichelle13 , @poppyalice2001 , @cutelittlepotatofry, @luckyladycreator2 , @americaarse , @elenavampire21 , @back-tooo-black, @wildellaa , @artemissunn , @pinkpantheris , @kmc1989

#Spotify #jake seresin x you #jake seresin x reader #lt jake seresin #jake hangman x reader #jake seresin #jake seresin angst #hangman fanfiction #hangman #hangman x you #jake hangman seresin #hangman angst #hangman x reader #hangman imagine #jake seresin imagine #top gun maverick imagine #top gun maverick fanfiction #top gun maverick #tgm imagine

[ask-the-clergy-bc]

What would the Emeritus brothers be like with a bilingual s/o? Specifically, one whose mother tongue they don’t speak? Like Spanish, Portuguese, or Mandarin, to name a few examples.

Thanks for opening up requests! Love your blog! 🖤

Thank you so much!! <3 I hope you enjoy!! <3 

Papas with a Bilingual S/O 

You did ask for an S/O with a mother tongue the Papas did not speak, so I’m going to follow that guideline. But I DID just want to add a fun fact in there as well! 

The Papas are actually all polyglots, meaning they can all speak multiple languages! Some more than others for one reason or another. When it comes to being a demonic pope with legions in so many parts of the world, you HAVE to speak so many different ones! However, this doesn’t mean they all speak every language to exist (except maybe Primo.) 

I also kept the reader’s native tongue vague so you can apply whichever you’d like! :)

-

Papa Nihil: He might speak several languages, but he’s not exactly the best at picking up new ones these days. Sometimes you can’t teach an old dog new tricks… but that doesn’t mean he won’t try! Whether he learns your native tongue or not, Nihil is happy to listen to you speak. Nihil adores when you playfully teach him new words or phrases. He is happy to use the best ones on you! Nihil is happy to know enough of your first language to convey his feelings or know yours. So expect him to at least know how to tell you he loves you, or that he wants you to have a good day. Truthfully, when it comes to his love of horror movies he might ask you to translate certain iconic scenes into your native tongue! And best of all? He will be putty in your hands when you flirt in your native language! Daily you get a lot of, “Amore, how do you say *insert random mundane word* in-?” Random words he has asked about so far; TV, blanket, carrot, window, Ghoul, screw driver, and swimming.

Papa I: You would be hard pressed to find a language Papa couldn’t speak, or at the very least understand everything you were saying. Papa is a legendary linguist within the Ministry, and has led many apprentices in keeping dead languages alive. But that doesn’t mean his verbal speaking is perfect in every tongue! So he was delighted when you were open to letting him learn more from you with your first language. These impromptu lessons are actually what caused you both to become close friends and eventually a couple! Papa appreciates all your efforts in teaching him, and he is a fast learner. He has even gone so far as to encourage you to teach lessons to the siblings of sin, if you were so inclined! In your daily lives he will always speak to you or leave you thoughtful notes in your first language. The only difficulty he has is learning slang and common sayings… but you find it both hilarious and a bit adorable when he tries!  

Papa II: Funnily enough, you both don’t know each other’s first language. Most of your communication has been through English! So it was a fun time for you both when you became closer to deciphering each other’s native tongue. You mutually wanted to be able to understand each other in all three languages; Your first language, his Italian, and English! So it was a lot of work and fun together. Papa absolutely loves teaching you Italian every chance he can. Claiming that it just sounds so much better rolling off of your tongue. And in turn, he cherishes every time you sit in his lap to teach him more of your language. Papa picks it up rather fast, even if it’s not entirely perfect. You both eventually know enough to hold a conversation in each other’s mother tongue! Though Papa prefers letting you get to speak, no matter what the language is. He just finds your voice soothing overall. He also happily teaches you how to curse someone out so you can use it in the ministry! You laughed at the generous offer! 

Papa III: Ever the romantic, Papa finds it incredibly charming when you flaunt your linguistic skill around him! Language is such a beautiful and fascinating subject! There is nothing more interesting to him than learning how each different language communicates- especially when it comes to poetry and music. He is wrapped around your finger each time you use your first language to flirt with him. Papa will constantly encourage you to try and seduce him with your words (even if you only pretend. He’ll never know what you’re ACTUALLY saying if you say it with enough flirty tones!) While proficient in the languages he uses regularly for his Papal duties, it takes him a little longer than his eldest brother to pick up your first language. But that doesn’t stop him from trying! Papa will go out of his way to make sure he knows the basics so he can always tell you the most important phrases of your mother tongue! Such as ‘Good Morning/Night’, ‘Thank you’, all the pick up lines, and eventually ‘I love you.’ Though the majority of the time, he uses it to flirt with you or gossip. 

Papa IV/Cardinal Copia: One of the original reasons you fell for Copia was that he went out of his way to learn your native tongue when you first became friends. According to him, you always exclusively used Italian when speaking with him. It was only fair that he learned your first language too! Copia was a hobbyist linguist on top of being an official tome translator for the ministry at one point. So he was happy to learn a new language to converse with you! As a couple, this is one of his favorite ways to bond with you. He sees it as a chance to grow closer to you while perfecting his grammar and pronunciations! Typically, Copia will switch to your native tongue when you are alone or at home. But he’s also not above utilizing it in public when he doesn’t want others to eavesdrop… or just shit talk someone in the room he can’t stand.

#the band ghost #ghost bc #ghost reader insert #reader insert #gn reader #reader x papa #papa nihil #papa emeritus i #papa emeritus ii #papa emeritus iii #cardinal copia #papa emeritus iv #ghost fluff

[ryeriy]

far from home

warnings: fluff

a/n: slowly checking up💪🏻

navigation post

Ding, another notification popped up on my phone. It was another message from Alex.

I promise you that I'll call you when I land

you better :)

💋 xoxo

I shut off my phone after seeing the last text. Smiling to myself. I always hated when you had to leave to play a road game. This was one of his first road games of the season and of course, it was on Halloween. I was going to spend it alone this year. I decided I was going to buy candy for myself, drink some wine, and watch the same old TV shows I've seen millions of times.

As I grabbed the remote, I turned on the TV to watch reruns of shows I'd already seen. Like the same Back to the Future marathons. They're on every day or something. They just constantly keep doing it like we haven't seen it enough times.

Ding, a notification popped up on my phone from Alex.

just got settled in my room for the night, i miss you already

I miss you too 💋

what are your plans to ruin the house while I'm gone this time?

He referred to the time I had a few friends come over. We all got so drunk and wasted that we broke three glasses and one lamp. Wasn't fun to fess up to.

don't worry, I'm just going to eat candy, drink wine, and watch you play

no getting drunk with your friends or passing out candy to those kids?

nope, this year it's all about me

haha! what would you do if I was home with you?

do the same thing, but I'd watch movies instead and maybe something more too :)

🤭

🙃

I see you 💋

go to bed, I'll talk to you in the morning

but I wanna talk to you stillll

just go to bed I'll talk to you in the morning alex

fineeee 😒

night bae 💋

night gorgeous 😍

I turned off my phone, smiling as I turned it off. Putting my phone on my nightstand next to me. I turned off the lamp on my nightstand and rolled under my covers closing my eyes for the night.

Ding

Time passes by as I sleep in my bed. I was deep into my sleep now. It's been a few hours since I feel asleep

Ding

The second ding I heard and I grabbed my phone. I turned it on to see that I had two new text messages. The time on my phone read 3:13 am in the morning, October 31st.

hey, you awake?

I'm so boreddd please be awake rn 😫🙏🏻

why so needy?

I can't sleep and I miss you

I knowwwww I miss you too baby

I just want to be with you right now cuddling you in bed and passing out candy to kids when they come by for trick-or-treating

I'd love that :))

So do I, I just need you here baby

I wish I could

Me too, can I call you now?

Alex, it's three in the morning

it's six for me!

fine, but only for you my love :)

Ring, ring, ring

My phone went off. It was Alex calling me. I couldn't help but smile when I saw his icon pop up on my phone with the words "my love" appearing on my screen.

"Good morning, gorgeous," he said softly to me. I heard he was almost in a whisperer because he was in a hotel room with someone.

"Morning," I smiled from across the other line. My smile was so big he probably saw it from Canada.

"Happy Halloween, baby," he said to me. I could hear the smile on his face. I could bet that his face was red and had a large smile on it.

"Why thank you, kind sir," I replied to him. I let out a yawn as I stretched. "You know I have to work today right?"

"Well, then I'll keep it short and simple, I love you and miss you and happy halloween," he said while blowing a kiss over the phone.

"I love you too, I'm going to go now so I can get some sleep and you can play a good game tonight," I blew him a kiss make over the phone.

"Bye bye," he said.

"I'll see you tomorrow, bye."

31 days of Halloween

join my taglist

mentions: @ethanedwardsgf

#ryeriy #nhl hockey #nhl x reader #nhl fanfiction #hockey #ryeriys blog #31 days of halloween #ryeriys 31doh #alex turcotte x reader #alex turcotte

[insane4fandoms]

Only Mack

We do love a sequel

@crazy-obsessed-enby @neons-trash-blog

Also I woke up from my slumber to write this, lmao

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

The downside of having an egotistical, sociopathic, and horny obsessive fictional character turned sentient that is able to control every electronic you own and more, is that it made you realize how great it was being alone.

What a great sentence to start this story, am I right?

Anyways, that statement is true however, since at the wonderful hour of 5 am, you were awoken by a suddenly electric jolt going down your back, making you yelp in pain, sitting up straight out of fear.

“Now Viewer, up and rise for the start of this new day!” You closed your eyes and sucked in some air, preparing yourself for the whole day of shocks and that annoying soothing voice.

“Honestly, I’m sure you would be used to my ‘love touches’, by now,” Mack gave a condescending laugh, as if you would laugh with him. He gave that damn smirk while fake wiping tears.

You gave the phone a glare, turning it over and trudging yourself to the bathroom, the one out place where Mack can’t follow unless you take him (as if you would take him anywhere to where he gets to see you without clothes).

“Just because I can’t see you, doesn’t mean I can’t imagine you~!” You face turned red at Mack’s words, wishing you could just grab the phone and smash it to pieces, but that would be futile to do so considering he’ll come back in another screen.

Computers, phones, tv, headphones, Apple Watch, hell, even your tamagotchi he managed to get into! Not only that, but you’re pretty sure he’s a sadist considering he loves shocking whenever you pet your guard down, and claims it was his ‘love bites’.

You should have destroyed every single electronic the moment he became sentient, yet you allowed his words life you into a trap you know you could never escape now. You reluctantly trudged out of the bathroom and made your way to the computer, looking so fine when he popped up on the screen.

“Morning handsome and/or beautiful. You love it when I say that, right~?” He cooed, making you wish he actually existed so you could punch his irritating, yet charming face.

I mean, he technically does exist in real life, you thought, thinking of Matpat. Is he aware of Matt? And if so, does he get jealous when you watch game and film theories? Would he try and stop you?

“Go on! Write another story about how much you tremble from my words~,” Your ear tips heat up from embarrassment, but merely avoided him and placed the curser to the chrome icon. Google Docs was your favorite place to be.

“How about you write another spicy one~? I know how much you love me like that~,” You merely sighed, feeling embarrassed and began to write. For a while, he was suspiciously quiet, since usually he would comment on your writing, but it was like he wasn’t there at all.

That made you a little uneasy.

That was until you suddenly jumped and pushed your chair away from the computer out of fear when an electric hand shot out of screen quickly. Your chest was rising rapidly in a panic, but soon melted into annoyance when you heard Mack laughing hysterically.

“That never gets old,” He sighed lovingly, enjoying your fearful expression. You gave him a glare, leering at the static hand. But suddenly, something popped inside your head, and you just stared at the retreating hand.

You’re not sure where and why, but you impulsively jumped up from where you sat, and grabbed the hand, shuddering at the static jolt. Mack yelped a little, never feeling your touch before, and it was so sudden too.

“What are you-?!” You cut him off as you suddenly leaned in, and gave him a kiss. You can’t believe it, your first kiss and it’s with a psychotic sentient computer ai sadist. You wished it could have gone differently, yet it was the heat of the moment and you just went for it.

Your lips your numb instantly, it felt like sticking your tongue on a battery, yet you were rough and passionate, only hearing the spluttering of Mack. 5 seconds felt like forever, but you eventually pulled away, letting the hand disappear.

You gave a small smile, wiping your mouth with your sleeve. Maybe his presence awoken something in you, or maybe his actions finally broke you. Either way, you knew that what you did made you both feel a little hot.

He confirmed that when he finally had a dark glint in his eyes, a sinister grin appeared as the screen glitched a little bit. You simply had a innocent smile on your face and gave him a wink.

You know exactly where this might head to.

“Do that again,”

#in space with markiplier #iswm #iswm mack #iswm x reader

[what-gs-watching]

"Why is no one having a good time? I specifically requested it."

Here’s a thing: my husband used to watch a ton of tv, all the time. Always had something on in the background. But then he got sucked into TikTok and his attention span broke, so I’ve been watching most things myself.

He just put together a snack to wind down from his work day, and came back in for a glass of milk. I’m on the couch and as he swished by he said “I just turned on Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, which in and of itself was surprising, only to continue “and remembered he’s dead…” and I let out a wail I’ve been mostly ignoring. 

Andre Braugher, I’m so sad that you’re gone. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of my absolute favorite comfort shows, and I’m not sure how I’m going to stand it now, for a while. Captain Holt is iconic, you can’t watch that show and not fall in love with him. 

And now it’s just…sad.

Nine-Nine is another one of those shows I started watching religiously while it was airing on cable, the entirety of the reason being Andy mother-effing Samberg. I have been in love with him (and the Lonely Island, which we should talk about eventually) since that crazy man joined SNL and so nothing was going to tear me away from his randon sitcom. I came for him, obviously, but I stayed for everyone else.

Including, and mostly, Captain Raymond Holt. 

I’m not gonna lie, he might be the most realized, well-defined character on the show. The man has layers. Gay, black cop who finally becomes captain of his own squad. Deadly serious, married to a professor, proud dog dad, lover of rules, hard grudge-holder, extremely literal and blunt, with the weirdest sense of humor. 

Most of the best moments of this show involve Holt. There’s an entire scene wherein the squad is put on the night shift and it’s fucking with everyone’s relationships and someone suggests his bad mood is because he needs to  bone down with his husband. His reaction has me crying every single time.

He has a dance-off with a kid on the street. He goes undercover as a straight person and does it hilariously. He gets incredibly, heavily, disturbingly invested in the Halloween heist game Jake sets up each year. He creates a ridiculous balloon arch for a wedding and gets deeply attached to it, and is infuriated by the fact that everyone thinks it’s weird as hell. He has the most fantastic arch rival relationship with an old partner, to the point where he plans to deliver a scathing eulogy when she unexpectedly dies. He learns the choreography set to Salt ‘N Peppa’s “Push It” and performs it to distract Amy while she’s giving birth. 

It feels like a lot of characters on tv are two-dimensional, but good lord, Holt was in full technicolor, and it’s obvious the reason it works so well is because Andre Braugher was a master of his craft. He WAS Holt, for a lot of people, including me. No one else could have stepped in and created that man. 

Throughout the show, Jake treated him like a surrogate dad because his own father (lol at Bradley Whitford in that role) was a dumpster fire, and it was really sweet. He just wanted validation, and acceptance.

In the finale, he tells Jake, "On my first day here, I asked Jeffords to tell me about everyone, He told me you were a great detective, but the one thing you couldn’t figure out was how to grow up. Well, I think you’ve finally figured it out. Over the years, you’ve sometimes referred to me as something of a father figure, but I want you to know, if I had had a son, and he had turned out like you, I would be very proud of him.”

I have a dad of my own, he’s wonderful and I love him and we have a great relationship, but y’all, Holt can be a surrogate dad for me too. He can be one for everyone. He always had a pearl of wisdom and he supported the entire squad in absolutely everything, and he was just an excellent human. Who was FUNNY and multidimensional and just…dope. 

He’s one of those perfect characters. And they don’t come along that often. So I guess the point is, thank you, Andre Braugher, for bringing him to life, and giving us the gift that is Captain Raymond Holt. I’m glad we still have him, even if we don’t have you.

#brooklyn nine nine #brooklyn 99 #captain holt #captain raymond holt #andre braugher #andy samberg #what g's watching #comfort show

[havin-fun-imagining-twd]

A measure of reverence, Pt. 1

Please accept my genuine apologies for the month long delay again, slowpokes. I do have the next two stories after this typed out, which amazes even me :D

When - the morning of the season 2 Chupacabra episode whooo. For the Slowpoke Series, the morning after A mighty good team.

What - the group is gearing up for another day of searching. There’s caffeine, chattering about an iconic early 2000s TV show, Daryl cracking funnies (”What are you brayin’ at, jackass?”), and Shane’s gradual descent. And you finally primp your eyebrows

Relationships - slow burn Daryl x You at the friendship level growing stronger every day, platonic Glenn, and more.

Perspective - You 2nd, Him (Daryl POV) 3rd

Pronouns? - she/her for convenience

TWs? - some language

Is it super long? - nope, about 3,500 words

Is it boring? - at times, y’all, you know how it is. This one was kept lighter because the next two are a bit darker

Are there plot references to other stories? -  aw yeah, here’s a link to the Masterlist, slowpoke

Are there lame screenshots from the episode? - naturally, and word-for-word dialogue!

(never wanted to do a bleach wash for a fictional character’s costume so badly)

................................

Early-morning

................................

your morning

“Your mama said yes?” you check with Jimmy again.

“Yeah.”

“I think it’s smart, he knows the area.” Glenn sounds unsure of himself when he next volunteers, “And hey, after we get back, I can help you with…stuff. What, um, what stuff around the farm needs doing? I grew up helping my parents in the garden?”

While those two talk about that, you see that Lori is up and dressed and already hanging laundry to dry. She didn’t really sleep in as much as she probably needed to, but you call “Good mornin’!” just the same and go over to help her.

Dude, you’ve been buzzing around since 6am. The migraine that hit you last night you were able to pretty much do away with after taking the prescription Glenn found—but you woke up early to desperately use the toilet (not even in the RV, you’d used a quickly dug hole by the treeline behind some brush and trees. Blame the magnesium and charcoal).

Anyhoo, you made the coffee today while still half-asleep, and dude, one cup of coffee usually doesn’t perk you up so much!

You’d set up a jar of sun tea for Carol, did laundry, spent some time with Carl, chatted with Maggie and Patricia, survived the lengthy discussion between Rick and Hershel about Carl’s transfusion this afternoon during which Rick still didn’t confront you about how Carl getting shot was your fault and you really wish someone would just out and say it and get it over with, then you opened up + fed + watered the chickens before collecting the eggs for the Greenes, sacrificed a t-shirt to be made into fabric strips for the search party today, primped your eyebrows (finally), made your hair look passable, and wiped down with baby wipes in your tent by way of showering, AND learned some shoulder/neck PT exercises from Jimmy, it was great! You’ve barely even fallen into an inner spiral about the Shane/Lori/Rick/baby situation and about poor Sophia all morning!

Trotting over to Lori, you place your mug (it’s Jacqui’s old mug, actually) on the ground and start to help hang the damp, cleaned clothes. “How’d you sleep?”

Something about the way she says it seems hint that she feels guilty for not waking up early. “Slept like a log, if you can believe it. I didn’t even feel Rick get up.”

“Good.” You shake out and flatten Dale’s cargo pants to get some of the wrinkles out before hanging them.

“Was that your doing, then?”

“Might could’ve told him to sleep in with you last night.”

She takes a slow breath, then pastes on a smile and is most likely trying to sound normal when she asks, “Next time, wake me, especially on laundry day. How are you, is your dizziness gone, honey?”

“All gone.” But ouch, you lift your injured shoulder a little too high while hanging the pants.

She notices and lightly tuts. “Let me hang them, you can hand me the clothespins.” While fixing the line, she makes sure, “Last night, Patricia mentioned checking your stitches. Did you see her?”

“Saw her this morning when I was talking with Maggie. My stitches are doing great, gonna have ’em for another week or so. Why did you have on that frowny face as I walked over here, Lore?” You glance down at her belly then back to her eyes.

With a subtle shake of her head, she hangs up another shirt. “It’s nothing, it was…” she peeks over at you. “Carol just called me our ‘unofficial first lady.’ At first I thought it was funny, but...” That pasted-on cheerful expression falls away to reveal a sort of nervous look. “I-I don’t know why—was that just her saying that, you think?” Her tone of voice suggests that she hopes it’s only Carol who thought so.

However, you shrug very unhelpfully. “Rick is kinda the group’s head, I guess. How’d it come up?”

“She wants to cook dinner for the Greene’s.” She pauses, frowns, and becomes visibly uncomfortable. “But she thought the offer would sound better coming from me. I should’ve told her that was just Ed’s voice in her head, but I was too…I-I didn’t know what to respond so I just kept hanging laundry.”

At least her brows smooth out when she adds, “Dale’s boxers, of all things.”

That got you giggling. “On that topic, I don’t know how y’all got all the bloodstains out of all these. You’d never know.”

The clothes T-Dog had been wearing when his arm got sliced open + the clothing you, Rick, and Carl had been wearing when Carl was shot = clean as if nothing at all happened. Even the clothes the Greene’s lent you that you wore for two and a half days straight (and got egg and blood stains on) look fresh.

You crouch down to grab your coffee and cannot help but remember the phrase Daryl used last night regarding your ‘mother-henning’ as you check, “Did you eat enough breakfast, Lore? That way your vitamins will absor—shoot, we have to get vitamins.”

“I had some water when I woke up.”

“Oh, that’ll keep you going.”

She bumps you with her hips, entertained enough to smile a little.

“Wanna use Jacqui’s mug after I’m finished?” you offer, holding it up. The handle had broken during the rush to leave the CDC, but Lori glued it after. “Have a sip, it’s nice and strong. A little bit is okay, right?”

Nodding, she takes it and her eyes turned glassy. “I miss her.”

Which is why you aren’t expecting the sudden grin after she drinks some. “Honey, this is espresso.”

...........................

his morning

He’d woken up early and taken out the original map to bring to his tent so he could fix all the grids. When his stomach started yelling at him for breakfast, he brought the map back to the campsite and downed a can of beans while working. He even put timeframes down, it was a productive-ass early morning. And that’s with his slight headache after getting slightly drunk last night.

It was Y/N who actually, um…she noticed he wasn’t feeling too hot and went and brought him some painkillers. After poking fun about his breakfast choice, obviously.

Speak of, she’s on her way over with a mug of coffee.

“Good morning, troublemaker,” Dale calls to her. He’s holding this real teeny mug (teacup? fancy shot glass?). “It’s nice to be using Irma’s demitasse this morning.”

Not knowing what that means, Daryl watches as Y/N twists her mouth playfully while chirping back, “G’morning, Dale.”

“You’re definitely feelin’ better,” Daryl muses when she reaches him.

“Miles better from last night. Good stuff is gonna happen today.” She holds out her mug for some reas—oh, the coffee is for him?  

Again, he has to quickly pause and digest what it feels like for somebody to give a damn, then has to shove back the assumption that there’s some hidden angle behind it.

Except, when he goes to grab it, it’s barely full (?).

Carol’s voice pops in from his right, and he hasn’t ever heard her sound so teasing before. Never heard her make much noise at all. “Was the espresso accidental, pookie?”

Ha, ‘pookie.’

“Might could’ve been?” Y/N admits with a groan. “Yo, feel my pulse, it’s goin’ haywire.”

That explained why there wasn’t much coffee in the cup, he guesses. Intending to check over the map again, he’s next aware of Y/N snickering to Carol, “Ohh-ho, can that be his nickname?” with her thumb pointed at him.

What does she mean about a nickname? Best ignore that.

...wait, did she mean ‘pookie?’

His ears perk up again upon hearing Y/N happily announcing, “Nah, I slept off the migraine like almost completely!”

 That makes him stop nit-picking the grid boundaries and look up at her. “Last night?” Is she even okay to go out today?

 Y/N gives a little bow and takes a sip from her water bottle. “Like two hours after falling asleep I woke up ’cause I was getting one, so I took one of the pills Glenn found at the drug store and,” she pauses and turns around. “Glenn, air high-five!” she calls over, and he and she do a little clapping motion from a few yards away. And yeah, she winces because she used her bad shoulder.

Turning back with a shrug, she finishes, “But yeah, I simply went back to sleep, woke up feelin’ pretty good. I th-think having all those other painkillers already in my system helped,” she adds as Carol walks back to, uh, he didn’t know, someplace, wherever she came from. “How’s your hangover, any better? Stomach ain’t queasy?”

“I didn’t drink enough to get hungover, m’fine,” he grumbles. “You, uh, doing okay with what you got goin’ on?”

“Same as yesterday.” She starts concentrating on the new grid lines and appears to be silently mouthing directions while pointing out the path they’d taken yesterday. It’s like she’s studying for a test.

Then a dumb thing happens: when he goes to wipe his nose on his shirt, he smells tuna fish.

Cigarettes he knows he smells like, and BO, obviously, everyone’s sweaty as hell these days, but tuna? He’s gotta draw a damn line somewhere.

When he asks Y/N about it, she’s too absorbed in the grid to give a helpful answer. “I never really mind how you smell, to be honest. Ain’t there a thing to do with gene compatibility and that or some such?”

She doesn’t really mind how I…and what was that about jeans?

Lifting up his shirt again to sniff it then fast as he can, yanking it down where it rode up in the back so his scars won’t be on display, he asks more plainly, “I don’t smell like fish?”

“Oh, that, yeah.” She nods, taking another sip of water. “You had tuna with your breakfast again, right?”

He shakes his head and stands there dumbfounded, trying to figure out how it was possible that he smells like fish (and why he cares).

Rick comes over to study the grid, positioning himself next to Y/N with a “Good morning, weirdo. Daryl, how’s things?”

Then, Daryl remembers how he’d tossed that can of tuna he’d had for breakfast yesterday into his tent. When he took off his overshirt last night, he must’ve flung it right onto the can.

Maybe he should clean up in there…

…Either way, he’s jogging over to change.

.................................

You

“Colored strips to mark the boundaries and searched areas, that’s clever,” Rick mumbles. “Hey Dar—wait, where’d he g—” He looks up and all around. “Y/N, where’s Daryl? I was about to ask him a question.”

“Grabbin’ a fresh shirt.”

He nods and points to a spot on the map. “Do you know what this here is?”

“A high ridge. He wants to get to the top ’cause it’ll show a lot of the search area.”

“Then it looks like you and he are set to head this way after searching this stretch right here?”

“Mr. Greene said most of the houses there were cleared of any sick ones—um, walkers,” you share, massaging the side of your neck the migraine hit last night. “Our hope is Sophia found a safe place to hole up there, it’s right off the trail.”

On her way back to finish helping T-Dog cut the fabric strips for the search grids, Andrea briefly comes over and stands beside you to get a look at the new plans.

Rick’s doing The Squint at you. “Are you okay to join us today? How’s your head? I know Shane doesn’t…” he gestures at you leaves it at that.

Yeah, you know what Shane doesn’t want and what he thinks about the whole thing.

You assure Rick, “My head’s pretty good, all told,” and leave it at that.

“And the rest of you?” he presses, maintaining the squint.

Andrea raises her brows and has your back when she says, “She's able to decide for herself,” as she turns back to rejoin T-Dog, who, as you now see, is inclining his ear to listen in.

“Are your energy levels even any good after givin’ almost three pints two days ago?” you more remind Rick than ask.

He glances behind at the T-Dog and Andrea. Why’s he about to smile? “Well, after about a coffee mug’s worth of espresso,” he chuckles, “I’d say so.”

Ah, another accidental victim. You’re grateful no one in the group has heart issues (and that some of them recognized the mistake by the taste. You and Rick did not have that skill).

“Sorry, Ricky,” you say through an awkward smile.

But it’s cool, he’s still grinning about something. He looks at Andrea and T-Dog again. “When I mentioned how Shane doesn’t feel comfortable with her searching today, she licked the ridge of her teeth just like he does when he’s mad.”

“You’d think they was raised in the same house,” T-Dog dryly comments.

A dumb thing happens: the comment doesn’t hit you like you expect it to. You should have giggled and forgotten about it.

And you like being compared to your siblings, you love them. You loved it when your foster siblings started adopting mannerisms like you guys.

But hearing that silly, little, meaningless observation comparing you and Shane, it hit different…

Stop being an idiot about it. Stupid girl. Shane is a good man, you know that. Give him a damn break.

Rick looks more serious when he murmurs, “Speak of, let me go get him. Just need to go over a few things. Be ready in a few.”

.................................

Him

He had to take a dump first, so he’s only just now grabbing a different shirt. He figured he’d just yank his clean one from the clothesline.

“I can give you one of Shane’s ribbed tanks if you want,” he then hears Y/N offer.

He looks over to where she’s walking with two bundles of strips, one white, one yellow.

Then he looks down at his tank top. Is it that bad?

Whatever, he’s gonna put something on over it, anyway. “It’ll get just as mucked up as this one.” Speaking of, he grabs his shirt off the clothesline and starts to unbutton it.

This look passes over her face as she peeks at his tank top for a stretch longer than he would think was normal. “That was Merle’s,” she figures out.

How, he has no idea.

“You’ve always worn the ones with the thick straps that go up higher, your brother tended to wear the more wife-beater type—sorry! The kind with thinner straps. Ma hated the nickname for those types of tanks.” She follows this up with an apologetic mention of, “They called them ‘wife-beaters’ in The OC, so it’s on my mind,” as if whatever that was made sense to him.

“...That a movie?”

“A TV show. Oh, Glenn!” she suddenly calls over to him.

One of their little exchanges starts. Daryl forgets to put on his shirt because truth be told, it’s kinda easy to get kinda sucked in when those two start, even though those two can jabber on about literally damn nothing.

She stretches her arm carefully. “Your middle sister made you watch The OC with her, right?” she asks Glenn.

“She and I did, yeah. Appa, too, but it was more of a hate-watch thing. Kinda weird they only ever had one Asian on the show, dude, like, Orange County’s got a huge Asian population. We’re like 1 in 6.”

Y/N looks at Daryl in expectation of him being surprised, too, then back at Glenn. “For real?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s crazy.” She flops the bundle of fabric strips from one hand to another. Glenn starts to sword fight it or whatever with the other bundle of strips.

“Oh right, sorry—anyways,” Y/N starts up again, “Maggie and I got to talkin’ about the show over breakfast. We both decided it stopped existing five minutes before the third season ended but we both love that Kirsten and Sandy had another baby in the season four.”

“Oh, and the thing with Kirsten’s alcoholism? And the way Ryan—”

However Glenn was gonna end that sentence gets cut off by Rick as he and Shane stride over to the map laid out on the hood of Carol’s old Jeep station wagon.

“Good mornin’, guys. Let get going. We got a lot of ground to cover.”

Daryl jogs over with his shirt. It’s hot as hell outside, he’s already sweating like a pig in a bacon factory.

He ends up next to T-Dog, Rick in the middle, Andrea beside him, Y/N, then Shane.

“All right, everyone’s getting new search grids today,” Rick starts. “If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might’ve gone further East than we’ve been so far.”

As Daryl finally puts on his shirt, the teenage boy appears from out of nowhere. “I’d like to help,” he pipes in. “I know the area pretty well and stuff…”

“Hershel’s okay with this?” Rick asks.

“Yeah. Yeah, um—he said I should ask you.”

Unless he was just nervous, what that Jimmy kid just said was either a lie or a white lie. But, Rick doesn’t argue.

For a cop, that guy’s a little too trusting. “All right, then. Thanks.”

Daryl catches Y/N’s frown as she looks at him, then at Jimmy, then at Rick with her brows all low, unconvinced. It looks like she’s about to wave Jimmy closer when her brother interrupts.

“Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me.”

Not even looking at her directly, Daryl sees his friend’s muscles tense up, he can tell even from his spot across from her.

“Give this a measure of reverence, Shane,” she hushes. She’s trying not to react too strong.

“I’m bein’ upfront about the situation, Y/N,” Shane insists. Then to everyone there, he goes on to declare, “Daryl brought her back there just yesterday, she wasn’t convinced. Anybody could’ve been holed up in that farmhouse.”

The way his friend hunched when her brother mouthed off made a big part of him want to mouth off right back. But Andrea, classy as hell, steps in without missing a damn beat. “Anybody includes Sophia, right?”

She was so casual about it that it pretty much made it seem like she was brushing off a bug from her shirt. That chick is good, shit.

..................................

You

Andrea must’ve been such a good attorney, good Moses. You’ve never seen her feathers ruffled, like, ever, she lets it all just roll off. How is she so calm? Because while you were fixing to pounce, probably very obviously, she slid a hand around your waist and smoothly (so smoothly!) pointed out to Shane, “Anybody includes Sophia, right?”

It’s either the jitters from the caffeine or your damned hot head, because you’re just—you’re ready to start clawing at the man who’s overtaking your brother, because why would he have said that out loud? To all them? You’re fucking mortified.

That wasn’t Shane, it wasn’t Shane! Why is he being like this? And why can’t he button his stupid shirt all the way, huh?

Dale is coming out of the RV and gives you a look as if asking ‘what happened?’ so, you imagine taking the stupid tea kettle off the stupid burner to calm down.

No one else seems to be as agitated as you, not even Daryl, which is a huge relief.

Echoing Andrea, he’s as nonchalant as they come when he scratches his nose and reminds everyone, “Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yea-high.”

To which Andrea is quick to reinforce, “Good lead,” along with Rick when he agrees, “Maybe we’ll pick up her trail again.”

“No ‘maybe’ about it,” he grunts. “We’re gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird’s eye view of the whole grid.” Except, Daryl hadn’t mentioned anything about a horse before, neither yesterday nor today.

First of all, he can ride a horse? Hot. Second…who did he ask for permission about borrowing one? He briefly catches your confused stare as he points to the spot on the map. “If she’s up there, we’ll spot her.”

T-Dog’s been nodding away at all of this, impressed. “Good idea,” he tells Daryl. But then his brows lift and his lips pout a little in the way that happens before he cracks a joke. Lo and behold: “Maybe you’ll see your chupacabra up there, too.”

The tension in your body from a few moments ago goes *poof* as you grin.

“Chupacabra?” Rick repeats, again sporting The Squint.

“You never heard this?” Dale, now next to Daryl and across from you, hoists the gun bag on the hood and begins handing them out while staring into space and narrating. “Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole things reminds him of a time he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra.”

Sweet little Jimmy finally relaxes and lets out a quiet giggle while Rick’s squint turns into a mild smirk.

Unfortunately for sweet little Jimmy, Daryl grates at him, “What are you brayin’ at, jackass?”

Okay, you’re sorry, but even though it wasn’t appropriate of him to react that way to an innocent giggle, that comeback was really quick and you’re snorting. Still, poor kid. You switch places with Andrea to be next to Jimmy and make a point to openly laugh at the conversation.

Rick is stuck in squint-mode, isn’t he? “You believe in a blood-sucking dog?”

And Daryl is quick on the draw. “You believe in dead people walkin’ around?”

Yet again, you’re somehow the only one who finds this funny (Glenn, dude. Where are you?).

Next thing you see is Jimmy casually reaching for a long gun.

Rick and you both stop his arm, and T-Dog cautions, “Hold on there, kid.”

“Hey, hey. You ever fire one before?” Rick challenges.

“If I’m going out, I want one.”

Daryl shoulders his crossbow and tosses out, “Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees.”

You’re the only one laughing, again. Rough crowd today.

“Jimmy, yesterday I got ‘quit cluckin’ like a mother hen’ from him, don’t even worry about it,” you share. “You mentioned you did skeet shooting with your dad before, right? So you’ve fired a shotgun, then?”

“Once or—I mean, yeah.”

That means he has no idea, never mind.

Shane speaks up and sounds much more like himself when he does. “Why don’t you come train tomorrow? If you’re serious, I’m a certified instructor.”

“Not to brag, but he’s a really good one, too,” you definitely brag.

Jimmy, overwhelmed at all the attention from grown-up strangers, nods slightly.

Andrea (so smoothyl!) tactfully and kindly solves the problem. “For now, he can come with us.”

“He’s yours to babysit then,” is Shane’s brusque surrender, and he waves Jimmy over with his hunting tomahawk.

Andrea, of course, doesn’t pay this any mind and goes to arm herself with her pistol. You try to follow suit by not staring daggers at your brother.

Instead, you finally let everyone know, “Glenn is going with him, y’all. I don’t know where he ran off to, but these are theirs.” You hold up the yellow fabric strips, then look at Jimmy. “Glenn’s smart and fast, you’ll be in great hands with him,” you say out loud, then whisper in his ear, “I know you asked your mama, but you gotta ask Mr. Greene, too, okay?” Back to a normal volume, you wish him and those around the station wagon, "Don’t die, don’t get bit.”

You’ve just started to jog off to join Daryl and start today’s search when Shane stops you and pulls you in for a hug. He kisses your head. “Don’t die, don’t get bit.”

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the official teeny tiny taglist

@its-freaking-bats​ @spenciepoo338​ @whistlesalot​

#twd #the walking dead #twd fanfiction #the walking dead fanfiction #reader insert #reader-insert #reader insert fanfiction #canon compliant #daryl dixon #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl x reader #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon x you #slow burn #slow burn fanfiction #Shane Walsh #glenn rhee #Rick Grimes #jimmy twd #theodore douglas #T-Dog #andrea twd #Andrea Harrison #Lori Grimes #espresso #Shane's descent so sad y'all #the Slowpoke series #Dale horvath

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 45: Blademaster

Disclaimer: I am not a blademaster, I just play one on TV. (Spoiler alert: I don't play one on TV. Also this post spoils everything to do with Wheel of Time, I mean seriously this very post will casually discuss the final confrontation of the series and parts of the ending without a care for your virgin eyes.) Let's look at some other blademasters who have graced TV (and the page) lately!

This chapter gets a heron-marked blade icon because Rand is going to become a blademaster.

Sitting on an upended barrel in front of a still-closed ironmonger’s shop, Nynaeve warmed her hands under her arms and surveyed her army.

She is not a blademaster, but I guess the very brief time Nynaeve spent as a queen has instilled a sense of authority in her, to be considering Min, Elayne, and a sack as much of an army.

Once again she resolved that if anything went wrong, she would somehow pull attention to herself while Min and Elayne escaped. She had told them to run if anything went wrong, and let them think she would run, too.

Really, if at this point you aren't at least warming up to Nynaeve a bit, you're deliberately blind to her good sides. For all she worries about the group giving her away, she's much more concerned with making sure they escape.

The damane put a shaking hand to her throat, but before the woman in the lightning-marked dress had time to move, the damane turned and punched her in the face; the sul’dam’s knees buckled, and she almost fell.

More power to this lady. Must be one of the newer damane (or perhaps the sul'dam is especially awful) to still have this kind of response. Probably not an Aes Sedai though.

The four of them stood in a rapidly emptying street, but the people who had decided to be elsewhere were avoiding looking at them. Nynaeve had been counting on that—people doing their best to ignore anything that had to do with Seanchan—to gain them a few moments. They would talk eventually, but in whispers; it might take hours for the Seanchan to learn anything had happened.

Oh no, the villains have planted the seeds of their own defeat, what a tragedy.

Nynaeve wiggled her toes in the boots; they were a little tight. The dress was tight, too, across the bosom, and loose elsewhere. The hem hung almost to the ground, lower than sul’dam wore them, but the fit would have been even worse on any of the others.

It's not often that you see the hero steal a minion's clothes and have a hard time fitting into them.

She thought she would have gone mad if she had had to wear the collar; that was why she could not make her voice sharp with Elayne now.

Another bit of Nynaeve's kinder nature leaking out, though I expect Elayne and Min register it as "vaguely sharp" instead of "monomolecular sharp".

It was not as if she, Nynaeve, felt these things, but in her head was a lump of sensations that she knew belonged to the sul’dam.

Note to self: see how this compares with descriptions of the Warder bond later.

“But an a’dam isn’t supposed to work that way,” Min said. “They always claimed it won’t work on any woman who cannot channel.”

Well they're right, it doesn't. It's just "woman who cannot channel" is not a set category; an a'dam won't do anything to a three-year old even if in twenty years they'll grow up to be Lanfear-tier. They even know that, and they must know about the difference between sparkers and learners, but that's a truth too inconvenient for them to address.

Stark terror rolled across the woman’s face, and Nynaeve’s stomach heaved as she suddenly realized the sul’dam had taken her literally. If she thinks I can, it’s because she knows. That is what these leashes are for. She took firm hold of herself to stop from clawing the bracelet off her wrist.

What does it say about the sul'dam that they can so easily use these powers that Nynaeve finds repulsive? Just how deep does Seanchan propaganda have to go to make people into carefree torturers?

As far as I am concerned, you are worse than a murderer, worse than a Darkfriend.

Of course, as much as I agree with Nynaeve on a gut level, the setting and logic disagree. Darkfriends are still worse than those who wield the a'dam - but I don't think there's much more difference than a step or two. The Seanchan build a society based so much on fear and vice that there's little practical difference between their lands and the world the Shadow would make except that the Seanchan might be overthrown, whereas the Shadow freed possibly never could be.

A gull perched on a piling stared at him; gulls had pitiless eyes.

I'm really all the more offended by Jordan's corvid slander when it's clear that he knows that there are birds that would gladly serve the Dark for a french fry and refuses to use them.

He did not look back to check on them. There was not supposed to be anything to connect them; five men coming into Falme at an early hour, but not together.

Both Rand and Nynaeve are pretty good at spy missions, all things considered. What part of Two Rivers life has taught them all this?

He had not been able to leave the banner behind. He did not think any of the soldiers would have gone into the bags, but he could not say the same for Verin, nor predict what she would do if she found the banner.

I'm pretty sure that Verin would have left your shit alone, Rand. Though I guess the Pattern would have needed someone to show up with the banners if you'd tried ditching them. Still though, Verin really isn't anywhere near as invested in fucking with him as the boy thinks.

“He’s crisscrossed this town,” Hurin muttered, grimacing. “His smell is everywhere, and it stinks so, it’s hard to tell old from new. At least I know he’s still here. Some of it cannot be older than a day or two, I’m sure. I am sure,” he added less doubtfully.

The fact that Fain's spent the past four months scuttling through town like a madman is entirely unsurprising to me.

A banner flapped in the wind over the house the soldiers protected; a golden hawk clutching lightning bolts.

I don't think I've explicitly highlighted the fascist imagery of the Seanchan banner, so uhh... You all know what kinds of symbols Hitler liked, right? Besides the right-angled kinds?

I have to find Fain, too, Rand thought. I have to. But when he looked at Mat’s face, he said, “Ingtar, if the dagger is in that house, Fain likely is, too. I can’t see him letting the dagger or the Horn, either one, far out of his sight.”

Rand not being willing to let the well-being of his friends fall to the wayside for the sake of the mission is why he's a hero and also if you think about it why he's so tremendously bad at the whole prophecized savior part of it.

I mean to have the Horn in my hands before the sun sets again.

He who thinks he turns the Wheel of Time may learn the truth too late.

Wait! A guard. One man. He isn’t even wearing his helmet.

Either the garden has been so safe of late the Seanchan can no longer conceptualize it at as a threat vector (unlikely, considering how paranoid they are), or Fain's influence has got another soldier slacking.

Rand stared at him. The Seanchan was overconfident? The only thing that kept him from going back right then was Mat’s anguished murmurs.

It's a shame Rand never remembers Ingtar as an object lesson in hubris. If anything, he practically learned the sin from this guy.

The furnishings in the hallways were sparse, and seemed all curves. Here and there a tapestry hung on a wall, or a folding screen stood against it, each painted with a few birds on branches, or a flower or two. A river flowed across one screen, but aside from rippling water and narrow strips of riverbank, the rest of it was blank.

I'm trying to decide if the Seanchan are minimalist in their decor or if they just couldn't risk bringing the cool stuff across the sea with them, so they only have a few bits here and there that no one would miss if a storm wiped them all out.

“It is. By the Light, it is! I am saved.”

Everyone is much too busy to realize how strange Ingtar's last sentence there is.

One of the women with a collar around her neck looked up. He was too far to make out her face clearly, but for an instant it seemed that their eyes met, and he knew. The blood drained from his face. “Egwene,” he breathed.

For a pair that aren't fated lovers, these two really have a way of spying each other through windows and across crowded streets.

“What are you talking about?” Mat said. “Egwene is safe in Tar Valon. I wish I were.”

Ha!

It will please me to kill one or two of you for disturbing my morning. Those who survive will tell me of who you are and why you came.

I can't wait for him to die.

I have been suspicious of him since Huan died so mysteriously, and he has always wanted that dagger.”

Oh sure, the ONE TIME the Seanchan's overzealous secret police might have been useful, they're not deployed. Also note that Fain did say he'd kill Huan in his last POV.

The trembling hand he held up in front of his face was turning black, darkness creeping outwards from the bleeding gash that crossed his palm. He opened his mouth wide and howled, clawing at his arm, then his shoulder. Kicking, jerking, he toppled to the floor, thrashing on the silken carpet, shrieking as his face grew black and his dark eyes bulged like overripe plums, until a dark, swollen tongue gagged him. He twitched, choking raggedly, heels drumming, and did not move again. Every bit of his exposed flesh was black as putrid pitch and looked ready to burst at a touch.

Yeah that dagger really ought to be destroyed ASAP. It won't be, naturally, but they really ought to have done it.

“I suspected it might come to you and me.” Turak spun his blade easily, a full circle one way, then the other, his long-nailed fingers moving delicately on the hilt. His fingernails did not seem to hamper him at all.

They might not seem to hamper him right now but I would not be at all surprised if the small lack of mobility they caused as a result is what let Rand win this battle.

The void enveloped Rand. Saidin flowed toward him, glowing with the promise of the One Power, but he ignored it. It was no more difficult than ignoring a barbed thorn twisting in his flesh. He refused to be filled with the Power, refused to be one with the male half of the True Source. He was one with the sword in his hands, one with the floor beneath his feet, one with the walls. One with Turak.

Rand is going to get very skilled at ignoring barbed thorns twisting his flesh before too much longer. It does seem appropriate that saidin is easy to avoid when Rand feels that doing so is an immediate matter of life and death.

The Swallow Takes Flight met Parting the Silk. Moon on the Water met The Wood Grouse Dances. Ribbon in the Air met Stones Falling From the Cliff.

I can picture a couple of these but others... Is it stones plural because there's a lot of jabs, for example?

Lightning of Three Prongs met Leaf on the Breeze.

Yeah these definitely both involve multiple motions.

The Boar Rushes Down the Mountain. Every movement of his blade was an attempt to reach the High Lord; now all Turak could do was retreat and defend, down the length of the room, almost to the door.

Turak's mistake of course was expending the initial effort letting Rand warm up instead of cutting him down immediately.

The River Undercuts the Bank. He dropped to one knee, blade slashing across. He did not need Turak’s gasp, or the feel of resistance to his cut to know.

Well, now that Rand's seeing without looking, we can determine that not only is he a blademaster but he's also a Jedi.

Never before had he confronted a human being with a sword except in practice or bluff. I just killed a man. The void shook, and saidin tried to fill him.

Yeah, it's apparently never easy the first time. I wouldn't know because I've never k-

Because my first time I killed fifty people at once so I just spedrun the cold badassery process. Obviously.

“From birth to death,” they intoned in unison, “I serve the Blood.” And plunged the daggers into their own hearts.

It's good to see that the Seanchan are so thoroughly dedicated to creating as repulsive a society as possible.

What can one girl count, even if you love her, alongside the Horn, and what it stands for?

GRRM would later steal this.

“The Dark One can have the Horn for all I care! What does finding the Horn count if I abandon Egwene to this? If I did that, the Horn couldn’t save me. The Creator couldn’t save me. I would damn myself.”

Remember up there when I said that logic defended the Seanchan? Fuck logic, let's go with our guts. This is where the narrative itself clashes against the inevitable end of "ally with the Seanchan as they are". What does saving the world count if our heroes abandon the damane to this? Despite how bloated the narrative had gotten, Jordan still should have made the redemption of the empire (just like the redemption of the Tower, the Whitecloaks, the nobility, etc.) part of the main story, not try to shove it into a sequel trilogy that will never be written. As is, our heroes damned themselves: it's all well and good to say the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of damane are better off under Tuon's regime that might fall than the Dark One's which might not ever fall, but the underpinning logic of the series is that the Dark One will not ever win this war. The damane could have been saved.

He ran with them. Part of him hated himself for running, but another part whispered, I’ll come back. I’ll free her somehow.

Because this itself could set up an echo for things down the line: Yeah, Rand has to ally with the Seanchan, but Nynaeve could have outed the secret and shook the empire to its foundation in much the same way that she's the one who will save Egwene here. It's not like she was doing much anything else in the last few books anyway.

Ah well. Next time: Redemption!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #nynaeve al'meara #min farshaw #elayne trakand #seta zarbey #bayle domon #yarin maeldan #rand al'thor #hurin #ingtar shinowa #mat cauthon #perrin aybara #egwene al'vere #turak aladon

[gaybitchfx]

HOLA SOY DORA

DORAAA

BOOOOOTTSSS

C’MON DORA

DODODODODDO DORA

DODODODODO DORA

DODODODODOD DORA

DODODODODO DORA

DORA DORA DORA THE EXPLORER

DORA-

I got an illumi request

I ain’t fixing any typos so deal with it mkay

Sooo

Reader is like really bubbly and hyper ‘n shit and likes to wear really girly and pink pastel outfits and when reader and illumi stand next to each other they are 100% opposites

Kinda like

Kinda like us🥹

Ahem anyway-

While reader and illumi were out on a date someone called out how the reader dressed and how a man shouldn’t be dressing like he does

And that just ruins readers while ass mood for like a week, he’s less hyper and bubbly doesn’t wanna dress like usual and doesn’t really wanna go out to places with illumi anymore

SO

Wanna know how illumi comforts him ?

Kills the bitch.

Reader didn’t know he was dead till him and illumi were cuddling on the couch watching TV together and it says blah blah blah is dead and reader is like “huh..I wonder who did that..” and illumi is smirking and shit and then is like “hey you want some ice cream ?” And since ice cream heals everything reader is happy again to his old self❤️🫦

-🍓 Character(s): Illumi

-🍓 Type of reader: M!Reader

-🍓 Category: Sfw

-🍓 Warning(s): Being criticized for what you wear

-🍓 Note: We look iconic just like those two houses (the black and pink house)

-🍓 Edited: ❌

You two were the complete opposites of each other.

Illumi would rather wear dark-themed clothing, never in his life touched a color that was too bright for the eyes. You would wear pastels or anything bright that fits your daily mood, even if it was too much.

When standing next to each other it was like coal placed next to an ornament, not very compatible looking. But they do say opposites attract one another yes?

“Oh illumi look!” You exclaimed and quickly went up to a window that showed puppies playing with each other. “They’re so cuteee! Can we have one pleaseee!?” You pleaded and looked at Illumi with a pout and puppy dog eyes.

“No.” He firmly said making you sulk.

“I’ll be back for you just wait.” You whispered to one of the puppies as Illumi dragged you away from the glass. “I can’t believe a man would dress like that of all things.

He looks like he dressed in the dark.” Some man said loud and clear for you to hear while making direct eye contact with you.

“Fucking sickening.” Illumi had turned his attention away from the man and onto you, you were visibly sulking like a deflated balloon.

“Are you alright?” Illumi question you as he did a little squeeze with your hand. “I’m fine! Let’s just…let’s just go home..” You said with a quick smile. Illumi clicked his teeth and took note of what the man looked like as the two of you walked home.

The next day was even worse, you were more sluggish and just looked upset. What that guy said struck a nerve. “You want something sweet dear?” Illumi asked as you watched tv on the couch.

“No..” You grumbled making Illumi frown a bit. “Want to go for a walk?” You shook your head and brought your attention back onto the tv. For the next few days, you barely dressed in your usual attire and didn’t even bother leaving the house with Illumi.

That was the last straw before Illumi left for a bit and searched for the man that had ruined your whole week and took care of him in the nicest way possible.

“I’m home,” Illumi said as he took his shoes off by the door. “Welcome back.” You said with a small smile. Illumi sat down next to you and rested your head on his lap and changed the channel to the news.

The news lady explained the death of a certain man and showed a picture of his face. “How odd...I wonder who did that.” You hummed but shrugged it off. Illumi had the biggest grin he could muster up, it was pretty unsettling.

That grin had gone away when he looked at you. “Ice cream?” He offered making you spring up, nearly hitting him in the chin with your head.

“Hell yeah!” You exclaimed, and just like that, you were back to how you originally were.

-🍓tags: @jkloserdazai @reallyromealone @lostsomewhereinthegarden @secretivemessenger

#illumi hunter x hunter #illumi zoldyck #illumi x male reader #illumi x you #illumi x y/n #illumi x reader #fiction #best son #fluff #pinch of angst #male reader #hunter x hunter #hxh x male reader

[isaksbestpillow]

Hello dear lgbtqs and other associates, I'm gonna live blog GAP the series episode one. Here we go.

There are Thai captions!!! And that’s Ayan’s mom!

What does GAP stand for? My guess is Girls Are Pretty. I’m wearing fleece on fleece and fluffy socks I snatched from the laundry basket, I’m sure this episode will not make me self-conscious about my appearance haha.

A bit confused by the tilted camera angle. Does it accentuate Mon’s quirky personality? Or does she suffer from vertigo? Maybe we’ll find out!

Not even five minutes in and something lgbt is happening in Mon’s head, love her already!

I don’t know these men.

You’re in her dms, I’m in the shrine I’ve built for her over the past twelve years. A bit intense but I post fanfiction on the internet so I’d never judge a girl Daydreaming about Scenarios.

I sort of wish Sam were an assassin or a mafia overlord, I’d find it easier to excuse than being a toxic boss in a regular office.

Girl boss has arrived!!

I am sensing trauma around rules and broken trust.

Heels are a health hazard.

Mon is mentally stronger than me because if my first day at work had gone anything like that I’d be in the bathroom crying.

Mon’s family is cute! But what is this camera angle.

This is not the grandmacore I enjoy.

Finally a 30-year-old in my tv show!!

Okay, another arranged marriage.

I would rank this as the third most uncomfortable homophobic family dinner I’ve seen on Thai television this year after the corpse mushrooms in Khun chai and the celebratory mental breakdown in 180 degree longitude.

Do teenagers these days even look at web pages?

Sam in this outfit, wow. I am looking respectfully.

Go Mon, speak your truth!!! I like that she’s not a pushover by any means.

I love their tension! This bathroom scene reminds me of the iconic did you also want paper towels from Skam season three episode one Friday clip.

Are we gonna get a romantic feeding scene later, I think so.

I love this trope.

A promising first episode!! Some expository dialogue and odd camera angles but an overall fun experience. More of this please.

#gap the series

[hashtag-girlblogger]

how to live like it's 2014 again

If you're anything like me, you're nostalgic for everything. I am constantly wishing to be somewhere else or in some time else. I'm nostalgic for the 60's (I was born in 2001), nostalgic for the early 2000's (pop is just not the same), and most of all–I am nostalgic for 2012 to 2016. I think it is widely agreed that these years, especially on Tumblr, were the last best years many of us have ever had. I was a baby, still in middle school and just 15 years old in 2016. But wow, what a time to be alive. Music, movies, TV, pop culture, fashion, the internet–the world was a better place.

I have been toying with the idea of exiting mainstream society (as best I can) for sometime now. I've been thinking, "Is it possible to live in another era while stuck in the constantly evolving 2024?" Can I abandon social norms or things of "the time" and just live like it's 2014 again?

I've thought about what this would mean, what it would look like. Only listening to Halsey, Calvin Harris and Marina. Splurging at Victoria's Secret and wearing the iconic Tease perfume at all times. What's TikTok? You don't use Valencia on your Instagram posts? I'm obsessed with WeHeartIt. Look at my new Penny board!

Alternatively, I could take the Arctic Monkeys, soft grunge, American Apparel and Marlboro cigarettes route. All black, watching AHS Coven and wondering if I have secret witchy powers too.

I think where all these feelings come from is that the current state of the world is just not feeling so good (to put it nicely). The world is accelerating at a speed I do not want to keep up with. Social media and technology are great but it has literally become this crushing weight. "Just delete social media then." Yeah fair. I guess I just feel so disconnected from my life. From my real life. Like I spend so much of my time venturing into other worlds I've made up in my head. Like 2014 Tumblr. It's not here anymore, it's gone, but I live there. A part of me is still there.

I'm like 12 or 13 years old. Was still a competitive cheerleader, which I regrettably quit when I got to high school. I spent everyday after school with my friends, making video stars or doing gymnastics in the field. We would walk around our neighbourhood, talking about god knows what and enjoying every minute of it. I looked at the future and it could be anything. I could be anyone and do anything I wanted. I feel like that's what I really want. Maybe I miss the music and clothes and vibes of that era buy what I'm really craving is how purely simple and free I felt, how connected I felt to my own life.

Now I'm 22, soon to be 23. Graduating college soon, heading into my big girl job, big girl career. Totally terrified and also excited. But I spend my time alone, so much time alone. My social battery is always empty, I rarely catch up with friends. When I do, we always have to be doing something. Dinner, drinks, movies, parties, dancing, classes. It's never, just come over let's hangout. And I get it, we're young adults, we are supposed to be doing stuff, we are meant to be out and about living our best lives. I guess I just want it to feel different. I want it to feel like it used to.

Okay sooooo.

This is how to live like it's 2014.

Talk to your friends, often and without any agenda. Create the ultimate playlist, this one's pretty good:

Binge CW shows and trashy reality TV. Totally freak out when someone says you look like Violet from AHS (this actually happened to me at work the other day and I couldn't stop smiling). Say screw the trends and wear some skinny jeans and those Alexander McQueen ankle boots, Alexa Chung approved. Get off your phone and be alive now. It's 2014, you don't have a worry in the world.

#2014 #2014 tumblr #Spotify #thatblog

[carveredlunds]

inspired by this post and this post (and probably others i’ve seen over the years but can’t remember! if you’ve talked about this idea before, chime in!) and the fact that i’ve just watched “the man who would be king”. but why didn’t season 15 have more meta episodes? 

we had “atomic monsters”, where becky called out chuck’s bad writing, which was kind of meta, and we had “the heroes’ journey”, a send-up of sam and dean’s plot armour that ground the dramatic tension of the season to a screeching halt and was played for laughs. i guess we had chuck watching tv screens in “galaxy brain”, and several references to chuck ‘cancelling shows’, but the meta was shockingly light for a season where god is your final antagonist.

why didn’t we have sam and dean look directly into the camera, like castiel does in “the man who would be king”? they could have looked directly at the camera, begging the audience to let them go (because what was the ‘point’ of season 15 if not to be a commentary on how it had become a shambling and zombified version of its former self, with the characters desperately fighting for freedom?)

instead of whatever the heck “the heroes’ journey” was, why not go the opposite way with it, and go full existential horror with the idea of plot armour? instead of having sam and dean lose their plot armour, why not increase it? have sam and dean on a regular hunt, and sam gets stabbed, but he doesn’t die, because chuck doesn’t want him to go out this way. or dean gets horrifically injured, but it just heals by itself, in front of his very eyes, because chuck doesn’t want his favourite toy to be broken. 

why not have them become aware that they’re in a tv show? have them say they’re going somewhere one scene, and then suddenly, the scene changes and they’re there, but maybe sam says to dean “what just happened?” because they insta-travelled. they didn’t drive or walk. (side note: an episode of “doctor who” called “forest of the dead” did this, and it was so creepy.) or how about the brothers become aware of background music? suddenly, the music goes all tense and scary, and tfw look around wildly for where it’s coming from, before a monster of the week shows up.

and, to take that further, imagine having chuck interact directly with the scenes themselves? imagine something absolutely wild happening. like in “proverbs 17:3”, we open on one of chuck’s planned endings. sam is dressed all in white, clearly possessed by lucifer, and dean shoots him in the head, only for him to sit back up again. the scene freezeframes, and chuck steps into the shot and says “nah, too old school” or something like that, and rotates his finger, and the scene rewinds like an old video tape, and another ending plays out. the big thing here? this isn’t alternate universe sam and dean, but our sam and dean, playing out endings for a while until chuck gets bored and leaves or something.

sam and dean did talk about free will and destiny and yada yada yada, but they never truly acknowledged the cosmic horror of being two very special bugs in a jar that god has personally kept alive and suffering for his own entertainment. the season 14 finale set up such an interesting and self-aware situation that season 15 never followed through with. the penultimate episode was literally what was left of tfw, alone on a dying planet, the only characters on an empty stage, and the absolute mind fuckery of that was never really talked about.

for a show as meta as “supernatural” that had iconic episodes like “the french mistake”, lines like crowley’s ‘castiel, haven’t seen you all season’ in “caged heat”, and so many directly paralleled shots to past episodes, season 15 could have really gone full meta, but they were cowards.

#spn #spn meta #sophie speaks #sophie talks about spn

[valkyriesexual]

i got tagged in that thing about ‘post 8 shows to get to know me better’ which like... i feel like none of this makes any sense and i am dating myself here. but nevertheless.

1. buffy the vampire slayer (1997 - 2003). listen. it’s iconic. i have complicated feelings about it now, given everything we know about what the actresses went through on set with joss whedon, but at the time, it was formative. faith in the leather pants eating twizzlers in that apartment that the mayor put her up in is one of my earliest “oh i’m kinda gay” moments. belonging pt 2 still makes me cry. willow and tara. i’ll never be over it.

2. queer as folk (1999 - 2005) obviously, in the late 90s / early 2000s i was searching for queer rep anywhere i could find it.  we had just gotten direct tv, i think so my dad could watch the sopranos. little did he know, i was watching 30 year old brian fucking 18 year old justin taylor on the lowest tv volume possible after sneaking into the living room at 2 in the morning after everyone else had gone to bed. is it good representation? is it fucked up that the relationship that anchored the show was between a grown man and a teenager? i wasn’t thinking about it like that when i watched it.  i was just absolutely in awe. 

3. the l word (2004 - 2009) listen. if you watched the l word and wanted to bang shane, you were probably straight.  if you watched the l word and wanted to get railed by jennifer beals, you were just a mortal. if you watched the l word and wanted to be jenny schecter before she got that little dog... you were me. i may have been the only one in the world? i don’t know what that says about me.

4. charmed (og) (1998 - 2006) i watched charmed reruns literally every single day after school.  i adored charmed.  beautiful powerful women living in san francisco with the most bonkers late-90s / early 2000s fashion fighting demons? i was all in.  i remember my dad telling me that he thought holly marie combs was “plain looking” and i’m still offended.  Its been 25 years.

5. south of nowhere (2005 - 2008) i feel like i was the only person in the world who watched this show. it was on nickelodeon (???). it had 3 seasons. gabrielle christian moves from ohio to los angeles and falls in love with mandy musgrave. it disappeared and tbqh i can barely believe it aired when and where it did.

6. crazy ex girlfriend (2015 - 2019) a show about older ppl for an older me. i obviously relate a lot to a california attorney with a complicated relationship with her body and mental health struggles.  so. i stopped watching before the last season so i could continue to live in my fantasy world where rebecca was with nathaniel.  i know i’m in the minority, but i thought they were perfect together. the chemistry was off the charts. he matched her intellect. i loved it.

7. orange is the new black (2013 - 2020). i mean, it basically started off the rise of netflix’s original content, right? i mean, now, looking at how netflix treats their original content creators, it’s bad. but still.  and i think about danielle brooks saying "so I'm sitting there, bbq sauce on my tiddies" all the time. and i’ll never be over what they did to poussey. and how they handled it the next season by painting the killer corrections official as sympathetic. i didn’t watch anything after that season.

8. skins uk (2007-2013). this is another one that i have complicated feelings about, given what the now-adult actors have said about their experience filming the show as teens. the star power this show brought us though. dev patel. daniel kaluuya. jack o’connell. kaya scodelario. it was really something. i remember downloading it and watching it on my first laptop sitting on my fire escape and smoking as a college student and thinking that i was just so deep and grown up. how embarassing lmfao fml

#pers

[adiarosefandoms]

Top 3 OUAT Ships

Once Upon a Time gave us plenty of ships in its (too) long run, but these three in my opinion were the best.

1. Rumbelle

They took the series darkest most depraved character who was a famous fairy tale character in his own right, and then placed him under the mantel of the Beast combining two absolute icons and led him to fall in love with Belle (aka obviously the best princess) who they made an Aussie, and then had the audacity to hire the phenomenal Robert Carlyle who has a Scottish accent and is 20 years Emilie’s senior. This could have gone so horribly or so well, and it went the latter. The ever-repeating storyline of Rumpel just saying “I can change” and Belle giving him another chance is SO frustrating, but I ignore most OUAT post season 3, and in OUAT’s prime, Rumbelle was undoubtedly the best ship. (Also, I just remember how excited I got as a little seven-or-nine-year-old girl when they introduced Belle, it was a game changer for me.)

2. Captain Swan

I love Captain Hook. I’ve always loved the story of Peter Pan, but never did I expect to fall in love with Captain Hook of all people. But what made OUAT so unique in its time, was the way it completely scrapped the original storylines of our favorite fairytale characters and recreated a rough plot that connected them all together. Eventually it became an un-unravelable web of knots and tears, but at the beginning it was just so innovative and great. We were all waiting for Emma to get a love interest because she’s a female lead character in a tv show and that is the way according to tv gospel, but none of us were ready for the Irish eyeliner-wearing Killian Jones. The best relationships in the show be they familial, platonic, or romantic, were the ones between a hero (Emma) and a villain (Killian). The redemption arc he goes through thanks to her as well as how he gets her to more easily embrace love (though not completely as the show had a real difficulty with letting their characters grow) just shows how good they were for each other. Plus, we love a slow burn where the two bicker incessantly. It’s just so entertaining and as long as the bickering continues you know the fire is still burning.

3. Outlaw Queen

Robin Hood and the Evil Queen is not a ship I would have thought of when reading the original stories, but somehow OUAT makes it work. Literally destined to be together according to stolen pixie dust and a mediocre lion tattoo, we have yet another couple made up of a charming man from the UK and a stubborn woman. (I’m starting to think I have a type.) Regina had been deprived of a romantic storyline post-Queen due to being a villain or perceived villain in previous seasons, but as a fan favorite character we were all eagerly awaiting to see who the showrunners would pair her up with. The dynamic between Robin and Regina was one filled with heavy emotions of love and heartache, especially by the end. But it also remains to be one of the show’s most beautiful romances.

#once upon a time #OUAT #Rumbelle #Captain Swan #Outlaw Queen #Belle #Rumpelstiltskin #beauty and the beast #captain hook #killian jones #emma swan #robin hood #regina mills #evil queen

[anncanta]

‘Sherlock’. Family is always difficult

I`d never thought I`d said this but here I am.

The third and fourth seasons of BBC`s Sherlock are underestimated and misunderstood.

I just re-watched them and you know what? It`s beautiful. Genius. So deep. So big. So tender.

But maybe I should start from the beginning.

When I watched the 1st and the 2nd series of Sherlock there were a great fandom and a lot of stuff around it already. So when I joined, it was kind of becoming a part of a family, if you understand what I mean. That was more than reading a text, in a sense. That was sharing of an experience. This had some good and bad sides, of course.

One of the bad sides was that we all had such young adult feelings about the series. And, therefore, our expectations about the coming seasons were.

That`s why, when the 3rd season was out we were so shocked and disappointed so much.

You see, when an adolescent watches a TV show, hears a song, or reads a book, he or she wants a standard. That`s a rule, and it`s quite normal. By the way, it`s normal for adults, too. But what is interesting, some texts, and their authors, as if knowing this, are tricking us.

Sherlock, from the very beginning, was – from the outside, at least, – a superhero story. It started with the meeting of the strange, beautiful, and strong man, and continued with showing him and his adventures, building up tension with every episode and story until it comes to Reichenbach. To the zenith.

That is exactly what the young adult audience needs. The hero, the standard, which can be its reference and its hope (‘I believe in Sherlock Holmes’). The sun in the zenith.

But what next?

Let me get distracted for some time, and remember one theory about Sherlock that I love very much and totally support.

This theory says that Sherlock is, actually, a solar hero, a hero who is an icon of a dying and resurrecting god. There are a lot of clues about this point in the text of a series, and it is a theme for another post. What we need to know right now, is that Sherlock is a story about a god.

That`s what the first two seasons showed us.

That`s what we were ready to.

To which we were not ready was the continuation.

Because the continuation turned out to be a story about a god and people.

It all started at the beginning of episode one of the 3rd season.

Sherlock returned. That was the main theme of the episode. That was the main theme of the season.

So we thought. And we were wrong.

I wouldn`t name now all the beautiful details of the first episode and explain them. I`ll just say that most of them are more a decoration than a center of the story because that`s what this story is about – the difference between decoration and reality, the thoughts and the sense, the farce and the actual drama.

You see, most of us thought that we were shown a story about the return of Sherlock. But we were shown the story about the alchemical furnace stopped.

Remember when John, after a long time going to Baker Street, comes into the living room? Remember the dust in the air when he opens the door? Remember that golden light and slowly dancing dust in the empty room?

It`s not dust. It`s ash. It`s ash in a cold, cooled-down furnace, which is empty now.

Baker Street. The place where the miracles are real because there is one certain Baker there. He uses his furnace to bake people, souls, and substances; the flame in the furnace is part of a great flame of creation. When this flame is gone, the magic leaves the world.

What we see in episode 1 of season 3, the most important thing, is the world without magic. The empty world.

And what could save this world is the empty hearse.

He, who left his hearse, returns and returns the flame with him.

And that`s the point.

Moffat and Gatiss, old alchemists, were not so stupid to show us the return of a superhero. They said, ‘It`s time to become an adult.’

What does the adult need?

The adult needs a partner.

There is an idea in Jungian psychology that God learns in a relationship with people as much as we do. I think that`s exactly what happens in the 3rd and 4th seasons of Sherlock.

It looks like the first and second seasons were kind of stories of the Old Testament and the third and fourth ones – the stories of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is the God of power. The God of the New Testament is the God of love.

Of course, it is all told in a complicated metaphorical way. But – in full and without any sentiments. Like, you know, I just realized that the 3rd and the 4th season are among other things about the Holmes brothers trying to pretend they are people. Well, they are successful even – for a while, until it is clear that such games have a very high cost for those very people they want to be with. It is what John`s reproach to Sherlock in the finale of episode 1 of the fourth season is about. That look, when Mary`s dead. It`s not about ‘you killed her’, it`s about ‘why haven`t you warned me that we are not immortal, like you?’. That`s it. He hasn`t. He forgot. The gods who try to be people forget.

But they learn, as Jungians believe and as Sherrinford proves.

And yes. I like Mary now.

But that is the theme for another post.

#sherlockbbc #sherlock bbc #bbc sherlock #sherlock fandom #stephen moffat #mark gatiss

[agentnico]

The Last of Us - Episode 1 (2023) Review

Pedro Pascal once again plays the ultimate dad.

Plot: Twenty years after a fungal outbreak ravages the planet, survivors Joel and Tess are tasked with a mission that could change everything.

Ah here we are again - a video game being adapted into a movie/TV show. These don’t usually bode well. However HBO seems to have really gone all out on this one, by not only hiring Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin as one of the creators of the show, but also Neil Druckmann as the other creator. For those wondering who in the heavens this Druckmann chap may be, well he’s the fella who’s behind the original The Last of Us games. As we know those games definitely have a very strong fanbase and there isn’t even the slightest amount of disagreeable opinions in the regards to the sequel game whatsoever, so obviously everyone is so on board with Druckmann taking the reigns over the HBO series also, right?? To be fair, love or hate the narrative choices of the second game, hiring Druckmann to co-create the show proves that HBO set out to get the best team to make it; one that understands the world created in the game and one that would actually share a passion to create something special.

The result? The first episode has now aired and so now we are able to feast our eyes on either the mess that has been created, or another masterpiece from the Naughty Dog team. Luckily, judging from the first episode, it is the latter, as I am happy to report that HBO might just have a bombshell on their hands. Look, I’m going to come out clean - I’ve never played The Last of Us games myself. I tried do, I really did, but for some reason the gameplay and controls weren’t doing it for me, which was strange as I absolutely loved playing the Uncharted games (also created by the same studio). However I really enjoyed the world and the atmosphere of the games, so like a loser would, I went onto good old YouTube, and enjoyed watching a walkthrough of the game, where I could avoid the gameplay but enjoy the story. By the way, if you’re a loser like me who likes spending time watching walkthroughs, check out @theRadBrad channel, as he’s actually great at showcasing all the better qualities and aspects of the video game content that he plays. Anyway, coming back to the HBO show, what I immediately enjoyed was how the show is evidently first and foremost made for newcomers to the franchise, as the surprises and plot twists in the game are treated with just as much shock value and suspense in this first episode. For example, keeping it spoiler-free even though 99% of the gaming community know about it, the show when it starts follows a certain character, making it seem like they will be the main protagonist and we shall be following the story from their eyes. However within the first 20 minutes or so this character is brutally killed. Again, the original game’s opening is iconic, yet the show treats this plot twist with as much attention if not more. As we actually get to spend even more time with this character, seeing how they interact in the real world before the outbreak even begins, and I really enjoyed that. It gave the show more purpose. This isn’t just a means to get fans of the video games to shed out more dollar, it’s actually an opportunity for non-games to be able to experience themselves the world of The Last of Us without the need of having to move around joysticks aimlessly.

The first half an hour of this episode is simply ace. It’s thrilling, suspenseful and really throws you into the action and drama that this world is known for. The remainder of the episode is much more slower, however very necessary in building up the relationships and character dynamics that will surely play a major role later in the show. For a first episode this one does exactly what it needs to. In a way it reminded me of the very very first The Walking Dead episode, when one moment Rick and Shane are sitting in their cop car enjoying burgers and chips, and then the next Rick Grimes wakes up alone in hospital in the middle of a zombie outbreak. Back then that episode screamed potential and that we were in for something amazing. Which it was, until The Walking Dead ended up being 11 seasons long + spin-offs. However with The Last of Us seemingly following the game narrative really closely, I don’t imagine it will go on forever.

I also love the visual look of the show. Talking about the game’s atmosphere, this post apocalyptic world looks real. You’ve got the fungi growing on walls, the weathered half fallen skyscrapers... in the last moments of the episode you see our main characters set out on their journey into this wilderness and I cannot wait to see what more horrors this world will bring. Speaking of the main characters, Pedro Pascal is Joel, and if that isn’t some perfect casting right there! If you ever need an ultimate dad being a total badass, Pascal is your mad! *insert Ludwig Goransson’s The Mandalorian theme* He shows so much emotion in his eyes of regret, hurt and grief, yet still trying to make things work in this new horrible reality. Bella Ramsey as also showcases Ellie’s sassiness to the fullest, in fact more so than in the games, as she is willing to knife someone without hesitation and will cuss when need to. You can tell this Ellie has grown up in a post apocalyptic world and has learnt to adapt to her surroundings.

Look, I’ve already made my point. This is a great start to The Last of Us series, and I shall be tuning in to see where it goes next. I mean, it’s a show that features Pedro Pascal in the lead, how can you not want to watch that!? The guy is a natural charmer. 

Overall score: 8/10

#the last of us #hbo #hbo the last of us #the last of us episode 1 #neil druckmann #craig mazin #pedro pascal #bella ramsey #theradbrad #tv series #hbo max #the last of us show #the last of us episode 1 review #the last of us show review #the last of us series #drama #zombie outbreak #action #adventure #science fiction #horror #thriller #2023 #2023 in tv #gabriel luna #anna torv #nico parker #merle dandridge #john hannah #naughty dog

[takeachanceontoday]

New Test Muse

Name: Kenneth Andrew James McCormick Nickame: Ken, Kenny Age: 20  / Height: 5′2″  Sexuality: Panro note(s): @nurturing-starlight was who gave me my icons. I cannot be assed to watch the show (I dislike the art style & I dislike satire) so Kenny may end up OOC. I have however, studied the wikia extensively.

Kenny McCormick is best known in the show for his recurring death in nearly every episode of the first five seasons, often followed by some variant of "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and "You bastards!" from his friends Stan and Kyle, respectively. The gag has many precedents, going back at least as far as the regular cry, "You rotten swine! You've deaded me!" by Bluebottle voiced by Peter Sellers in "The Goon Show" in 1951. In the first few episodes, Kyle said the entire phrase. Later on, it varied, depending on who killed Kenny.

Kenny has died and come back over 103 times in the franchise (86 in the series, to date, two in the early animated shorts, six in other authorized TV parodies, six times in the video game, and twice in the movie).

He has also been killed nine different ways in the opening sequence. Kenny's most recent death was in Season Fifteen episode, "The Poor Kid" when he is mauled by a Giant Reptilian Bird. Kenny died in almost all the episodes until the writers killed him off permanently in the fifth season, in "Kenny Dies", but he returned at the end of the next season's finale, "Red Sleigh Down", remarking that he has "just been over there" (pointing off-screen).

Although he does not appear in "A Ladder to Heaven", "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", "The Death Camp of Tolerance", or "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers", he technically is in them, as Cartman mixed his ashes with milk and drank it, causing his soul to be trapped inside of him. By the sixth season, Matt and Trey got rid of the practice of killing him in every episode; they got tired of the joke. The reason why Kenny died continuously was given in an interview with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who stated vaguely that it was because Kenny is poor. Kenny is always resurrected for the next episode, although the explanations for his reappearance varied. In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", it is explained that his soul returns to his mother, takes to another body, is reborn, and then grows to be 8 or 9 years old in record time (and somehow retaining physical appearance and memories), while another simply had Kenny magically reappearing out of thin air in the second part of the two-part episode "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" after he was run over by a train in the first. The most recent explanation comes from the episode "Mysterion Rises", in which Kenny himself reveals he is unable to stay dead and always wakes up in bed eventually, while nobody else remembers his death. However, in the next episode, "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", it is confirmed that, while he may wake up in his bed, it is indeed his mother that gives birth to him every time. Kenny's "immortality" may be connected with the Cult of Cthulhu, as Carol mutters under her breath, "I knew we should have never gone to those cult meetings."

#TEST MUSE #&& About Me (Kenny) #south park for ts #pom don't look