#and the Other other problem is that I actually have incredible respect for Carlos hes something of a personal hero for me

[lovesour]

musings below

#I would love to write fic. the ethics of RPF are convoluted but I don't bother with convoluted #I mean look. I don't know these guys so. In essence when you write fic about them you're only toying with an _idea_ of them. Not really the #Although admittedly it would be jarring to have your likeness used for fangirly wetdream daydream written in the purplest prose #the purplest prose youve ever seen and slapped onto archive of our own #The other problem is I'm not good at writing #and the Other other problem is that I actually have incredible respect for Carlos hes something of a personal hero for me #musically. theatrically. and stylistically as well. Adore that guy #and he's actually very Online. and. Present. for being an older gentleman. Alright he's not that old. #Lots of political commentary. I love to read his newsletters as well. He is actually a very warm man. Something a lot of people don't know #because they were never able to get over his theatrics and sense of style. found him arrogant or pretentious. #And he is pretentious but I say this in a strictly loving way #Anyway. Let me tell you a secret #Carlos actually has a tumblr. Yeah. And well #Frankly the idea of him being on the same platform as me horrifies me to no end. Imagine if he saw what I was doing #PFSSHSHHS. I think at the precise moment Carlos ever opened my blog. wherever i was #and whatever i was doing the flesh in which i inhabit would instantly initiate self destruct #because i couldnt live after that NYAHAHAHA #And he is so accesible by virtue of being very authentic genuine. but i can never ever interact with him online becaaause #I have a personal guideline I must always strongly adhere to. NEVER. MEET. YOUR HEROES. #So yeah. That's my musing for tonight. It's 3 AM and I'm unhinged. Like maximum of seven people will ever read this. Whatever

[lestappenforever]

Hi. I just wanted to say I love how rational you are. Your answers to asks are so well thought out and thoughtful as well as kind. So keep being amazing.

As for Lestappen going mainstream, there are two sides to it. One is that Max haters want Max to be a villain so badly. They want everyone to hate him and especially the F1 prince (he’s a princess but to each their own I guess) but what they don’t know is Charles loves Max and vice versa. They are the same, they see themselves in each other. Two, Lestappies are also scared because we have a bubble here on tumblr and Ao3 (X doesn’t count because that place is toxic AF) People don’t want that bubble bursted because once it is and Max/Charles get a whiff or any negativity they might start hiding their interactions. But the thing is, of course they know people ship them, just about any celebrity knows people ship them with whatever other person out there, the problem would be breaking the fourth wall and just being outright insane about wanting them to be together or harassing them and their partners about this.

Do people really think if both Max and Charles were not happy about it they’d allow their teams to post about them with the actual ship name??

Also, we have Carlando. Everyone and their grandmother knows about Carlando. Both Carlos and Lando use that ship name. So does Carlos’ dad, F1 commentators etc. So why should Lestappen be any different? Yes there are people out there with no value for basic human decency and lack of common sense but if we are all respectful, I don’t see why Lestappen can’t be as fun as Carlando and even way better. So if some people think they are doing the nasty behind their gfs backs that’s on them, but keep it to yourself or fandom spaces don’t go to Max and Charles or their partners with that bs and that includes their comments or tagging them in whatever. We don’t know the extent of their relationship whatever they are to each other makes them happy and we should be happy for them too.

Looking forward to today’s podium (Lestappen 1-2) and their honeymoon in Las Vegas as per F1 Las Vegas suggested 😉

Good evening, my darling anon! Thank you so much for your kind words. I love getting asks, and this fandom makes me so happy, so I'm very glad to hear that you think that’s reflected in the way I answer asks. ❤️

And you are absolutely right, with everything you've said. Max haters will make Max out to be the villain he isn’t no matter what, and that’s never going to change. But they will be free to live in their delusion because there is no denying that not only do Max and Charles respect each other, they also like each other. Genuinely. The people who can’t deal with that are going to keep trying to convince themselves of a reality that doesn’t exist, which is fine. What isn’t fine is trying to force their narrative on people who clearly disagree with it.

As for them being aware of people shipping them: Oh, absolutely. Shipping is everywhere, and if they were truly uncomfortable with the concept of Lestappen, their teams would not be posting about it on main. It’s that simple. But keeping certain parts of shipping, like fanfics, far away from the people of the ship is a given anywhere, with any ship, in any fandom. That’s something that’s meant to be fun for fans, and nobody should be pushing those things onto the people involved, their partners, their families etc., in any capacity. That’s simply a matter of common decency, and being a reasonable human being.

Shipping is supposed to be fun, and if you take it to the real world and the real people involved, it stops being fun and starts being incredibly uncomfortable for everyone involved. Let’s stay in our little bubble and be happy here, and take the Lestappen content we get on main with open arms.

Oh, babe, me too. I'm manifesting a Lestappen podium with everything I have, and I am so excited for this race.

I absolutely love your take on this whole thing, anon, and your logic is flawless. I love you. ❤️

#Asks #Anon asks #Lestappen asks #Lestappen dynamics anons

[acrosstobear]

Tbh I feel like the reason Haas is dropping him is because Mick is not with them for the long haul. There's been talks with other teams and there are already rumours Audi will want him, possibly as soon as 2024. I do really want Mick to continue, but if you look at it from Haas's perspective it does make sense. They've always said they do not like having rookies or developing drivers, they had to do that because of other reasons last year (financial, Ferrari). What they want is experienced, realiable drivers who can develop the car, bring it home and score points. If you're Haas, why keep Mick for another year and risk potentially more than with Hulk when he's gonna leave anyway??

I do wish Mick had a healthier environment to develop. Like the one Guanyu seems to have. Very supporting team and teammate and not added pressure. But I'm hopeful for Mick and I do think he could be a good choice for Audi soon.

this got long winded so i'm putting it under a cut but this is a great conversation and question, anon bestie.

i think for me the biggest problem is that Haas has never really shown true intention to get themselves to the front of the grid. Gene seems to use the F1 team as marketing for his actual business, rather than choose to invest and actually try and improve the team. so if Haas is only ever going to be, at best, a midfield team, WHY would experienced drivers want to drive for them, and quite honestly, with WHAT money are Haas going to hire those experienced drivers? at some point, you cannot have F1 experience without teams that take risks on rookie drivers. we all know that teams in championship contention are not going to be the teams taking that risk. the nature of the thing requires that the lower placed teams take on rookie drivers to give them the f1 experience that the championship contending teams require. because otherwise, all you have is an aging grid who can't race forever and no one to replace them because no one has experience. ideally you have a mix of rookie and experienced drivers as teammates, and when the more experienced driver moves on, the rookie takes their place as the experienced driver.

when we look at Hulk, he's got MAYBE 5 years in him? if he goes to when Kimi and Fernando raced until, and they only got to race until then because of their past accomplishments and continued ability to drag the most out of the car. Hulk does not have any accomplishments to speak of, nor does he have a continued ability to get the most out of the car. i don't seem him suddenly developing that while driving a difficult, temperamental car at best. i think your long term investment possibilities are higher in Mick, so long as the team ALSO steps up and delivers a car. again it comes back to -- if Haas are always going to be a midfield car, then drivers who have the ambition and the growth and results to back it up will always try and move on to better team. who knows though! maybe Mick's next seasons are respectable but not incredible (think Carlos/Perez style) and he never gets the call up to a better team. again, his long term possibilities just generally look better.

100% agreed for the last part. teams that embrace rookies and help them grow and develop are critical to the sport. where would Charles be without Alfa Romeo? where would George or Bottas be without Williams? we've seen what happens when rookies get thrown into the deep end at a top team and are expected to deliver no mistake performances every week (*cough cough* Alex Albon).

with regards to Audi, i think there's a lot still up in the air. we don't know when they will take enough ownership of the team that they will have an influence on drivers. they have not said that they will be title sponsors of the team from 2024 onward. personally, as much as i would LOVE to believe in it, i'm going to keep taking it with a grain of salt and hope that there are other options that come up for Mick in 2023 or 2024.

#amanda answers #anon #do i tag mick lol #prob not? #this is long im SO sorry #the end -- im STILL hoping s*rgeant doesnt get the SL

[organic-guacamole]

HSMTMTS SEASON 3 EPISODE 5 REACTION

this is a good episode.

oo Kourtney's hair is pretty but how did she straiten all that so perfectly im- IN ONE NIGHT. jealousy jealousy.

i hate this show.

deep lake camp I'm crying

I hate the trope(?) of one side of a couple being clueless that the other is mad at them and is just so lost when they randomly, publicly, call them out in a passive aggressive way. please stop and communicate.

theres the bleep of the season! hsmtmts did it again

Maddox's face when Carlos swears though, I think I love her.

Carlos my beloved. this episode is gonna be a trash fire and I'm here👏 for👏 it👏

I LOVE THIS SHOW.

Gina why are you going after Val??? what??? it makes no sense and it's embarrassing please just open your mouth for EJ. (ignore how that sounds please)

EJ AND RICKY SLAPPING EACH OTHER. NO FURTHER COMMENTS.

"EJ you've stolen the woman Ricky loves" well. Carlos is either diabolical or a lot more oblivious than we think.

why does Carlos keep assuming everyone is straight 🤨🤨🤨🤨

this is my favourite episode idc that we're only 8 minutes in.

I love Kourtney fr. never gonna stop saying that.

I'm sorry I forgot to type for like 5 minutes cuz I got so caught up laughing. Kourtney and Carlos' slap scene has me rolling

sorry guys I will now be deleting my blogs because I can never be funnier than EJ walking out in THAT costume.

throwback when I had to do what Gina's doing with Ricky in what do you know about love for a skit except I don't have a boyfriend and the guy I did it with was uh.... I'm gonna stop there. point of the story, DOING THAT IS SO FUN

80% of their song was done backstage though so like, no one saw....

my eyes rolled BACK in my head.

the timing Gina omg.

sorry but Maddox is 15? I mean- hm.

no Jet what the heck why would you out her.

"I need to sit down"

"I need to lie down"

thanks ricky

ELTON JOHN CASWELL OMG THE FANFICS WERE RIGHT. (fun fact: I got so surprised at this line I flew backwards and whacked my head on the corner of the bed and saw spots for a second. so uh, anyone wanna buy me a helmet to wear for the next episode?)

I love the bro followed by Ricky blabbing about his problems. iconic duo.

the way I understand where everyone is coming from but I'm still upset by it all.

like Gina, he just explained that he's fighting not to leave, and he doesn't wanna stress you out as much as he is stressed. also, Gina can be upset, yes, but the going on about EJ's name too like, no one knew?? so why'd she storm off at that part...

um. I thought Channing left...

omgomgimgim jet solo song???

love how the piano is always prepared for a sad introspective ballad at any given time.

wow

is the young Maddox like the actress's little sister or something???? because the resemblance is incredible

EJ. you better be calling a delivery man to bring something for Gina, or her mom to bring her for some reason (I think that would be weird, actually, but it seems like something Elton John 'bought a plane ticket for Gina in s1 just for the show' Caswell would do) because if you're leaving or doing something equally stupid I will lose all respect for you. (lies, I am in fact an EJ apologist)

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s3 #hsmtmts season 3 #ej caswell #ricky bowen #gina porter #carlos rodriguez #kourtney greene #ashlyn caswell #jet hsmtmts #maddox hsmtmts #val hsmtmts

[pink-flame]

You know, we did not get an official first Juke Bodyguard AU kiss. Did they kiss after Julie's show? I'd like to know how their first kiss was

I mean technically you did get their first kiss, it was just brief and apparently unsatisfying. So...let’s try this again. 😂 Have their second kiss. 

Julie was pretty sure that her Orpheum concert was the best show she had ever done.

There was the fact that she had been dreaming of performing there for practically her entire life, ever since Reggie and Alex had taken her to her first concert ever in that very same club. There was the fact that for the first time in a long time almost everyone she cared about was gathered to watch her, her dad, and her brothers, and Alex and Flynn. There was the fact that every single note seemed to fall exactly where it was meant to, her voice soaring like never before in a way that felt...easy.

But she would have been lying if she said that any of those factors were the real reason why it was her best show ever.

The truth was a lot simpler.

The truth was she performed the whole concert with a permanent smile stretching across her lips, lips that still tingled from where they had all too briefly pressed against Luke’s. They had exchanged I love yous. They had finally stopped dancing around each other and wondering if the other felt the same.

And they had kissed.

Even if it had been cut frustratingly short.

Still.

There would be plenty of time for that. Like. The second her show ended.

Only it didn’t turn out to be quite that simple.

Luke had clearly had the same idea because he was waiting for her in the wings, hovering even closer to the edge of the stage than he would on a normal night, those big eyes and that distracting grin fixed on her until her final bow. As soon as Julie practically ran off of the stage she was in his personal space, struggling to maintain some small semblance of professionalism by not immediately latching her lips onto his. It was a struggle though and one that he seemed to be feeling too.

“Hi,” She said, looking up at him, as her lip slipped between her teeth.

“Hi,” He echoed, one of his hands coming up to touch lightly at her elbow and usher her slightly farther into the wings.

And that was ok, that was normal, in fact before she had started trying to ignore him they regularly touched way more than this in front of anyone and everyone. Only now her skin practically burned where his fingers rested on it and she found herself unintentionally swaying even closer to him. He must have been feeling it too because the next thing she knew his head was dipping down towards hers, and hers was tilting up and…

Oh.

“Luke,” She whispered, her hands coming up to press against his chest and halt his progress. “Let’s go somewhere more private, ok?”

He didn’t respond right away, his body seeming prepared to fight to continue its journey towards hers for a split second before her words pierced the haze around his mind. He jolted and took a half step back, one hand coming up to rub at the back of his head sheepishly.

“Right, yeah, good idea.”

He recovered from his embarrassment quickly, shooting her another grin and using his grip on her elbow to guide her out into the hall and towards her green room.

Julie wasn’t exactly proud of the way she spent the short walk counting the seconds until  she and Luke could be alone and more properly express their happiness at finally confessing to each other but...that didn’t mean she wasn’t counting them. Unfortunately when Luke finally gripped the door handle and ushered them inside they were very much not alone.

In fact the room was packed with just about everyone she had previously been so excited were there to see her play. Oh. Yeah.

“Julie, that was phenomenal!”

Before she could react, Julie’s dad was striding across the room and sweeping her up into her arms, jostling her away from a frowning Luke in the process.

“Thanks, Dad,” Julie said genuinely, returning his hug before pulling away with a smile.

Her dad wasn’t the only one who wanted her attention and to congratulate her, Flynn, Reggie, Alex and even Carlos all stepping forward to take their turn, the room quickly becoming an impromptu celebration of Julie finally achieving one of her lifelong dreams to perform at the Orpheum. And she appreciated it, she did. So much.

But she was also incredibly aware of Luke hovering at the outskirts of the gathering, Reggie and Alex doing their best to keep him involved in conversation, but his energy practically bouncing around the room and blasting into her with its intensity. She was pretty sure she was matching it if she was being honest. It had been the better part of a year spent thinking that their respective feelings were unrequited and now that the unrequited part had been proved to very much not be true they were both practically vibrating with anticipation of what came next.

So when Julie  glanced over her shoulder and locked eyes with Luke as they each did their best to keep up a conversation with different people, she knew the exact moment that both of them decided they were done waiting.

Luke was suddenly pulling out his phone and making a big show of reading a supposed message that had come through before hurrying over to her and practically tugging her towards the door.

“Sorry everyone, need to borrow Julie just for a minute, official business.”

Julie did her best to ignore the knowing looks Alex, Reggie and Flynn all sent them and the way her dad’s forehead furrowed in confusion, following Luke out into the hall and pausing just long enough to make sure the door was shut securely behind them. That turned out to be all she had time to do before Luke was swinging her gently against the wall and bracketing her body with both of his inescapably muscular arms.

“Sorry,” He murmured, his face once again starting to dip towards hers. “I got impatient.”

“No, yeah, same,” Julie said a little breathlessly, reaching up to rest a hand on each of his shoulders.

“Ok, that’s good then,” He said, his voice dropping by at least an octave as one of his hands slipped off of the wall to rest on her lower back, tugging her even closer to him and wrenching a gasp from her without her permission.

Their lips were just about to connect when Alex’s voice suddenly sounded from just on the other side of the green room door.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you, I’m on my way.”

Julie’s eyes widened in panic with the knowledge that Alex was about to step out and catch them in a somewhat compromising position. She knew that it wasn’t like they were doing anything wrong, and they certainly weren’t doing anything Alex hadn’t already probably guessed they were somewhere doing. But that didn’t mean she was ready for her best friend and assistant to see with his own eyes the way she and Luke simply couldn’t keep their hands off of each other at the moment. Luke clearly felt the same, only luckily for her his bodyguard instincts seemed to kick in. Just as the handle on the door started to move he tugged her down the hallway and through the next door they came to.

Julie’s first observation was only that it seemed that they had succeeded in avoiding Alex and she let a rush of relief flow through her. But her second observation was that she and Luke were pressed up against each other in what appeared to be a small closet.

Again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” She said quietly.

“I guess this is going to be our thing,” Luke answered with another one of those heat fluttering grins. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out.”

“Oh yeah?” Julie chuckled. “How long do you think it will be?”

“Hmmm…” Luke wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body even more flush against his. “Hard to say. Better safe than sorry.”

Julie giggled at that, she couldn’t help it. She was happy and she loved him and he loved her and they were finally alone and they were back in a closet and…

Luke’s mouth pressed against hers, at first softly than more insistently, his fingers curling into the soft skin of her waist as she melted fully against him. Julie could hardly process the actual sensation of the kiss through all of the fireworks that felt like they were exploding in her mind as her brain practically sang in elation at the rightness of being Luke and Julie, together. Of course that didn’t last long as her lips parted of their own accord and he instantly deepened the kiss with a little groan of satisfaction that sent tingles from her head to her toes. She brought up one hand to rest on the back of his neck while she couldn’t resist letting the other work its way into that stupid, messy hair. She curled her fingers around a few strands of his hair, her nails scraping lightly against his scalp. His reaction was immediate, seeming to lose his balance at the sensation as he stumbled pushing both of them against the wall knocking over what she was pretty sure was a stand containing cleaning supplies.

Julie broke away from the kiss, laughing uncontrollably as Luke struggled to regain his balance, push away a mop that had landed on his shoulder and reconnect their lips all at the same time.

“I’m going to be honest, I’m thinking it’s probably a good thing I’m getting a new bodyguard soon,” She teased, stroking gently at the patch of skin on his neck she could still reach. “Apparently all it takes to take you out is a scalp massage.”

Luke smirked down at her.

“Oh, so what I’m hearing is you want me to show you my skills,” He said in that soft, low voice that made it really hard for her to focus on anything, even teasing him. “Observing...detecting...physical intervention…”

Julie wanted very badly to make fun of the way he was trying to use bodyguard lingo to get under her skin but the problem was it was absolutely working, which meant it was safer just to say nothing. Instead she let her eyes slide closed, and her head tilt up and could just feel the slightest brush of his lips against hers when a loud knock had them springing apart.

“Are you two done because Julie’s dad would really like to take his daughter to a celebratory dinner and I don’t want to have to be the one who tells him she’s engaged in steamy activities in a random closet.”

Luke groaned and Julie chuckled.

“We’ll be right there, Alex,” She called out.

“Will we?” Luke grumbled.

“Yes,” Julie said with a smile, before leaning up to press one last quick kiss to his mouth. “I love you.”

That seemed to ease some of his disappointment, a sappy, pleased smile spreading onto his face instantly.

“I love you too.”

“Now come on,” Julie said, tugging him towards the door with a grin. “The sooner we get dinner with my dad the sooner you can do one last security sweep of my apartment.”

#500 followers #prompt game #juke #jatp #bodyguard au #my fics

[someone-worth-racing-for]

i think we should all relax a bit - it is 2 races into a long, long season. both carlos and charles are very intelligent drivers who've said that they will & actually respected each other and avoided getting into unpleasant situations in the past (charles explicitly said they will avoid crashing bc they are aware of the costs of actions like that). so i am not worried on that front, and i am hopeful that they'll work well together to overhaul ferrari's rivals.

to me, it feels like carlos has always been a bit of an engineer - strategist himself. debriefing the team, giving useful info, evaluating what's going on around him (bahrain: "think about the 3 stops") - russia & hungary last year come to mind bc he was already considering strategy before the team really went too much into it (and if you go back to singapore 2017, he also chose to start on inters unlike basically everybody else lol). so everything has to be methodically tested and determined, problem solved one step at a time, which can get quite stressful. i think also about how people have said that carlos is, beyond just being pleasant, incredibly detail obsessed and exacting, so when things don't click perfectly, i think that might also be a source of frustration or anxiety.

I have nothing more to add, anon. Thanks for your message!

[beyondd-dazedd]

EPISODE👏 REVIEW👏 hsmtmts season 2 episode 10: get ready for some enthusiastic writing and a little too much looking into details

first off seb doing the intro made my heart happy i love him

ok i know everyone has been saying it but there is no way in hell they’re winning the menkies. unless the writers just go with the main character favoritism route, there’s just no way. however for the sake of comedy, watching ashlyn give us everything in the transformation scene and ricky being an absolute disaster is SO funny to me. like shout out to joshua because that scene made me laugh so hard. also a trio i need more of is kourt, red and ej. i just feel like they would be dramatic gossipy bitches and i love that for them.

normally i think ms. jenn’s reactions are over the top but after seeing the shit show that just occurred 2 mins before... i think her reaction is very valid because oh god.

continuing with the theme of friendship dynamics we haven’t seen a lot of but we absolutely need more of, ashlyn and ricky!! that scene was so sweet and wholesome. i’m so so so glad the writers didn’t fall into the trap of making characters take sides after a break up. i just feel like it’s been done a million times before. but seeing ashlyn being so genuine when checking up in ricky made me so happy. the caswells remain being the superior characters (including gina obvs)

ms. jenn and mr. mazzarra are cute don’t get me wrong but they should’ve spent more time developing that relationship instead giving ms. jenn like 3 random love interests and that’s all i’ll say on that.

i love imagining what characters are saying when they’re just ad libbing. like what could ej, gina, ricky and red be talking about before carlos shows up to start the scene?? my guess is they’re all gushing about how amazing ash is and no i don’t take criticisms on that.

alright i’ll say it. the seblos drama is weak at best. they didn’t spend enough time developing it and kind of pushed it to the background so when it was one of the main focuses of the episode it was kind of like ok?? HOWEVER i did love the resolution to it and the deeper look into their individual characters. (i’ll talk more about this later)

carlos calling ms. jenn mother and everyone immediately knowing who he was talking about sent me omfg. but also who the fuck let these high schoolers try to figure out this transformation scene by themselves?? they collectively have 2 brain cells and they just bounce around between the 9 of them depending on the scene. but playful sleepover competition!! also gina nudging ej when he goes a little too ej 1.0 was everything.

i hate lily and i love sassy red. that’s all.

(im going to talk about the boys/girls sleepovers like they’re each one continuous scene respectively because it’s way easier than switching back and forth)

fun new friendship dynamics!! the boys!! sebbie and the girls! iconic. i know that the show is meant to be in a mockumentary style so we only see parts of the characters lives but i would give my left arm to see the boys getting closer and becoming friends. this is also the first scene where i really noticed ricky’s shirt. ricky is queer disney are just cowards. i’m not a big ricky/ ej shipper but the pretty boy had me feeling some type of way. carlos being worried about seb and their relationship and then red being like well this is why. bc he’s got a spy on the inside was peak friendship. but seriously disney?? just say gay. it’s not a bad word. now imma freak out about PORTWELL OMFG I WAS ALREADY FREAKING OUT DURING THIS SCENE SO YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW WELL I WAS DOING LATER ON. but ej just being like im not ready to put myself out there because of nini i don’t wanna get rejected... again. my heart went out to him. you can really see how much he’s grown as a person. but sure ej y’all are “buddies” also him saying the one thing i’m proud of from my time with nini was letting her go and ricky’s reaction to that hurt me to my core.

alright let’s talk about the girls and seb. first off i love that they’re actually working and the boys are doing fuck all LOL. seb actually talking about how he feels?? good for him. i hate that he thinks that carlos is only with him because there’s limited options but at least he’s talking about it. a moment of silence for ash’s scissor bucket (i won’t make a gay joke. i won’t make a gay joke. i won’t-) anyways... i really thought that maybe ash would know about portwell but it’s fucking EVERYONE. like y’all are that perceptive about other peoples relationships but not your own?? that’s why all y’all have relationship drama. gina not wanting to put herself out there because she’s afraid of getting hurt?? ouch. gina thinking ej is just being nice?? ouch but also gina, sis?? what. also nini reacting that way to the chocolates is so out of pocket. like 1) y’all aren’t dating anymore so what’s got you so pressed? 2) gina made it clear that they weren’t actually from ricky 3) nini you know they had some sort of chemistry before you and ricky got back together so this really shouldn’t be that surprising.

anyways the scene with ricky and carlos broke me. the decision for ricky to not show nini the song was so mature. despite wanting to get her back, he KNOWS that that would only drag her back and that’s not fair to her and he knows it. but his awareness of seblos’s relationship and wanting to help carlos work things out with seb was so wholesome and so sweet and is kind of a big moment of character development for him this season. like he was generally very selfish this season (again i’m a ricky apologist til the day i die but he was so selfish) and seeing him take the focus away from his problems to help carlos out was so sweet. also i need more ricky/carlos friendship moments.

kourt talking about howie learning her love language?? bitch you mean espionage?? i mean me too but that’s so fucking funny

ALRIGHT THIS IS THE PARAGRAPH WHERE I SCREAM ABOUT PORTWELL!!! i am so so so so happy right now about this. the fact that ej asked about risotto but for real was so satisfying and was blatantly like him saying i know we faked being in a relationship but what about it not being fake and omfg that’s so amazing. also gina being skeptical and asking if ash put him up to it and him saying not that i know of?? THE PARALLELS?? also gina this whole season has been talking about signs and finding reasons to stay, finding signs to know if someone is right for her and you can literally see the moment she realizes she said the same thing about the duke sweatshirt to jack. SHE KNOWS THIS IS HER SIGN and that’s so special to me. also ej’s nervous laugh after she says yes?? omfg. let’s look at ej’s character. historically he’s confident, cocky and generally puts on this facade of having his shit together but gina makes him nervous (in a good way). he doesn’t feel like he has to pretend to be confident around her. he’s showing her that he’s just as nervous as she is about this and that is just *chefs kiss* honestly not to be an andi mack stan but ej’s little nervous chuckle and ok after she says yes sounds like he’s letting out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding which seriously parallels tj after the tyrus confession. i’m just saying. ALSO GINA’S LITTLE EXCITED WALK BACK TO THE GROUP AHHHHHH

the seblos song?? i have no notes. it was incredible. frankie killed that shit. it was such a good song. so sweet. so wholesome. also ricky and carlos’s hug was so fucking meaningful to both of them and you can tell. ricky was absolutely beaming because he helped the two of them and it feels like a little bit of season 1 ricky shining through.

WHO THE FUCK LET A BUNCH OF HIGH SCHOOLERS RIG A KID IN THE AIR COMPLETELY UNSUPERVISED?? of course ricky fucking fell. that group shares 2 brain cells. obviously some dumb shit was going to happen

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts spoilers #seblos #portwell #rini #brenn’s hsmtmts shitpost

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

aight SO

i finished ep 12 and i've talked about it with a friend, and now i've also taken a look into the tarlos tag to get a sense of what people are saying. i think i'm ready to break this down.

so there are a few big questions about That Scene and the following tarlos interactions. i'll just work through them one at a time. buckle in, this is gonna get long. now without further ado...

1) Was TK lashing out at Carlos at the firehouse in character?

Short answer: yes and no.

Long answer: we've seen TK get physical and even violent before. He literally sought out a bar fight in s1. He nearly got into a fist fight with Judd, too. And did you see the way he was hurling darts after that, when he and Carlos were on their date? This boy is not a stranger to getting physical. There are, however, a few major differences between those scenes and this one with Carlos.

One. The bar fight was premeditated, while his fight with Carlos was not. Why is this important? Because it means that TK has shown some measure of restraint in the past. He managed to stay present during what I would call the 'trigger' of the bar fight episode, and saved his physical response for a later time.

Two. His altercation with Judd, on the other hand, was not premeditated. The difference, then, is that Judd was also ready to get physical at the time. With the scene with Carlos, Carlos was trying to remain calm and impartial for most of it, and attempted to de-escalate when TK got violent. The whole thing was driven by TK.

Three. In none of the scenes we've seen before of TK getting violent has his dad's health or safety been threatened. TK's dad is a HUGE part of his life, and he has a LOT of emotional trauma surrounding his relationship with his dad. He's TERRIFIED of losing Owen, because he's nearly lost him so many times before. TK has some MAJOR anxiety about losing people, to the point where he refused to let Carlos into his heart at the beginning of s1. There's also the fact that TK has gone through a lot of trauma in not a lot of time. Even if the show wants us to believe the kidnapping is over, I'm willing to bet that the after-effects are still hitting. For both TK AND Carlos, honestly.

There are also two other lines to consider when we're talking TK's characterization: first, in the episode when Gwyn moves out, and we see her and TK talking, she then calls Owen who asks if TK 'flew off the handle' (i believe that was the wording, correct me if I'm wrong). This is important because we have two people who are VERY close to TK talking about how he reacts to things, the crux of which is that TK gets reactionary. He has high emotional responses and says (or does) things that he doesn't necessarily mean.

Then there's another line that I think is important. This is the one in the crossover episode, when TK tells Buck that he's 'done a lot worse than steal a fire truck'. This one is important because it's TK talking about HIMSELF. We don't have any context for this or what it means, necessarily, but I'm willing to bet from context that he wasn't just talking about ODing.

So with all this in mind... do I think TK was in character? Do I really think TK would do this? Well... it makes sense in the context of TK's story and his arcs and all the scenes we've seen him in so far. But, at the same time, I would definitely have done it differently. It's a thing like... it's not a WRONG answer, but then again, was it really right, either?

2) Was Carlos's reaction to TK lashing out in character?

Short answer: yeah, I think so*.

*though if they don't expand on it I'm gonna have a problem.

Long answer: Carlos, at this point in the story, is dealing with two things that I think impact his emotional landscape a HELL of a lot.

One. His past and his family. He grew up with a man who seems emotionally distant, and it has only VERY RECENTLY started to get better. He felt INCREDIBLY alienated after he came out, and then when he became a cop and he was dealing with his father's silent disapproval. He is always searching for approval and, most likely, affection as well. What this means is that he feels like he constantly needs to prove himself, and bases his self worth on how OTHER people react. If someone reacts badly, that's a mark against himself.

"But Kay," you say, "What about the scene where he made dinner for TK and TK walked out? Carlos didn't blame himself then!"

Which is an interesting point! Carlos didn't put the onus on himself in that scene, he turned it back on TK, calling him 'crazy'. I think that was a secondary coping mechanism, to be honest. He knew he couldn't deal with feeling like he was the one who was wrong AGAIN so he twisted the situation around in his head until it was TK who was 'being crazy'. I've talked about that scene in depth before so I won't do it again, but Carlos's reaction is, I think, indicative of having felt rejection before and trying to protect himself.

Which brings me to number two. The fact that he's nearly lost TK several times already. This plays a HUGE role in how Carlos acts, especially with TK. Carlos has wanted TK LITERALLY from day 1, and since then he's nearly lost him how many times??? Enough, at least, that I'm fairly certain he's now holding on too tight, even when it comes back and hurts him. He just... he seems to have this mentality that if he's in he's ALL in, and he's not allowed to back away or put any distance between them, or else he'll lose TK for real.

Because we've seen TK pull back and get some distance before. We saw TK take a night away after their fight about the farmer's market. Maybe not with the best communication, but TK was angry and he needed space, so he left. When he did that, however, Carlos was convinced that they were breaking up. Like, CONVINCED. You cannot tell me that Carlos didn't think the worst in that moment.

Now why is THIS important? Easy. Because Carlos and TK may be moving forward in their relationship, but they are at a point right now where they react to things in fundamentally different ways. TK kind of bounces between becoming reactionary and going distant (again, we saw this in s2ep8 very clearly), while Carlos has reached a point where he kind of doubles down on holding tightly to TK even when he maybe shouldn't.

Basically, when you boil all this down, Carlos is DESPERATELY trying not to rock the boat, with his parents OR with TK, because he's scared of everything coming apart. And I think that makes sense with this episode.

The problem, then, is that this is a coping mechanism. The narrative has set it up as such. Which means that he's going to have to address it at some point. If he doesn't, I will be FUCKING PISSED, believe you me.

3) Did the narrative address that scene with respect, dignity, and nuance?

Short answer: I DON'T THINK SO.

Long answer: TK is human. He's a recovering addict. He's had problems with feeling numb in the past (that line about how everything is gray), which, I think, makes his feelings just THAT MUCH BIGGER when he does have them. So clearly, he's going to make mistakes. The question then is, was this particular mistake something he's learned from, or was it just used for the drama?

I have two reasons to believe it was the latter rather than the former.

One. Judd's reaction. Judd telling Carlos to get out of the firehouse after TK hit him, as if Carlos was the bad guy in that situation, was dramatic as hell. TK and Carlos are pitted against each other in that moment, and instead of mediating, Judd picked a side. Which is, ironically enough, the first thing that I think was NOT in character in that scene.

Judd, we know, is a bit of a hot-head, but he's also very empathetic. Judd was shown trying to mediate between Billy and Owen the last time the two of them had an episode together, because he understood both sides of the story and he cared for both of them. Why do I think it should have been the same this time? Well, because he loves TK and Carlos BOTH. They were both in the group hug at the hospital after the Ryder's car crash. It wasn't like Carlos stayed back, okay--JUDD CARES FOR BOTH OF THEM. And I think, at that point, that Judd would have seen the fact that TK was spinning out and Carlos was trying to stay objective and known that he needed to de-escalate. It would have been SO EASY to have that line be "Okay, okay, both of you step back and take a breather." He could EASILY have mediated. But he didn't. And that was a specific choice that leans more toward drama than anything else.

Which brings me to number two. The fact that they don't talk about it on screen. We had a hand-wavey 'we agreed no apologies' and a hot and heavy make-out scene instead. The writers wanted the drama of the two of them being in bed together while the fire started, and in order to do that they sacrificed the screen time it would have taken to actually have them have a conversation. Because, again, it would have been SO EASY to write them actually talking about it. They've done it before! After their fight about the farmer's market and Carlos's parents, the two of them have a WONDERFUL conversation. Why then and not now? Well, to make the fire more dramatic, to up the stakes one more time.

So no. I don't think there was any respect. I don't think there was any nuance. TK made a mistake, because he's human and he has some problems with emotional regulation, but there were little to no repercussions for it where there really should have been. There was no respect coming from the firefam for Carlos, either. There were no apologies, or further comments, or anything. And honestly... this season has done a lot toward making me feel like they don't give a shit about violence. Judd hitting that kid in the bear trap in the wild fire episode, Judd hitting the drunk driver who drove him off the road, Judd punching Billy when he thought he was framing Owen, and now TK hitting Carlos... all with no repercussions or apologies or even discussions about them... it's not a good look.

And there you have it. The writing makes sense. It does. But it's also really clear that the writers' priorities have changed. I really, honestly feel like the show has lost something since season 1. There's been a massive tonal shift, and I don't like it. The fact that we keep having Event after Event with no reprieve, have sacrificed conversations and interpersonal relationships for Drama, and have started killing and maiming characters with wild abandon, sometimes with seemingly no reason... it's all just a Lot. I have enjoyed watching season 2, but it's not sticking the same way as season 1 did. I'm not letting myself get attached to characters at this point because clearly we're not in a found family show anymore. I don't care about them the same way I did before. I can’t bring myself to do it when it’s becoming clear that we’re not going to slow down and actually process anything anytime soon.

#liveblogging 911 lone star #911 lone star #tarlos #meta #i'm salty give me a minute #my tab crashed and i lost the last of the edits i did on this post plus all the formatting rip #if you think something should be italisized just do it in your head

[fuckyeahscootmcnairy]

Scoot McNairy On Lightening Up In HBO Max’s ‘Love Life’ And The Making Of A Great ‘Narcos: Mexico’ Scene

By Kimberly Ricci

The first few times I interviewed Scoot McNairy, I got a little aggressive with rampant questions about his righteous mustaches. In my defense, these discussions of facial hair often lightened the mood as we discussed his recent heavy roles on True Detective‘s third season and the most recent round of Narcos: Mexico. Scoot’s always a good sport about answering the most bizarre of inquiries, but for his latest project — an HBO Max dramedy, Love Life, starring Anna Kendrick — no such lightening was required.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that there isn’t a mustache present with this Scoot project. There is one, although it’s not as plentiful as those that he sported in the above two projects and Godless. So, the Halt and Catch Fire actor was off the hook (this time) for any facial hair talk. Fortunately, he’s still gracious enough to discuss this latest role (a wealthy entrepreneur and slightly older man who plays a key role in helping Kendrick’s character develop) with us, including how much of a relief it is to step into the shoes of a less-stressed-out character. I also wished to discuss the latest Narcos: Mexico season finale, which ended with a fantastic, fictionalized, and quiet confrontation between his DEA agent character, Walt Breslin, and the drug lord (portrayed by Diego Luna) that he put behind bars, and Scoot was game for that, too.

Love Life is a nice piece of an escapism. Would you characterize it as a romantic comedy or dramedy?

I haven’t seen the project as of yet, but after reading and talking with [showrunner] Sam Boyd, it feels like it’s more of a dramedy, and also a sort-of slice-of-life over the course of ten years, well, basically a decade.

Even though it’s not 100% cheery, this role’s definitely more lighthearted than anything you’ve done lately. Did that feel like taking a load off?

You know, it was a lot of fun. I started in this business twenty years ago, and for the first ten years, mostly what I did was comedy, and I haven’t been able to do that in eight or nine years. So, I was really looking to try and find something to do, comedic-wise, and Sam had this project that I really liked. So yeah, I really enjoy doing comedy or dark comedy, so this was really fun to step back into that — a lighter role.

Whenever I think about artists switching up genres and entering different phases, I think of an old Ethan Hawke interview, where he expressed his surprise at how shooting horror movies was a lot more silly and less terrifying than he expected. Was making a romantic comedy the same or different than you expected?

That’s a really great question, but you know, it just felt familiar. Comedy is something that I’m somewhat uncomfortable with but obviously very, very scared of and stuff, and it’s also about challenging yourself with something that you haven’t really done in a long time and something you really enjoy doing. And also just moving around, switching it up, and trying not to get pigeonholed into a sort-of genre, just to stretch your wings, I guess.

I don’t know if you’re aware, but one of the Love Life promo shots zeroes in on your character, Bradley, with a martini. You’re playing a character who drinks martinis!

Yeah! He’s a New Yorker, really into art and very motivated and ambitious. That being said, there’s also a lighter side to the character. I just hadn’t done comedy in so long, so I was really itching to do it. And Anna Kendrick is genius, and incredible at what she does, and I was really looking to work with her on something that was comedic and in her wheelhouse. She’s incredible in this, and it’s such an amazing project for her and role for her, so I was really excited to just be a part of that.

And the writing feels realistic and without too much reliance upon clichés.

Sam Boyd, the creator, he’s a really really smart guy. He was incredibly great to work with and collaborative and all that, but he wrote an incredible story. Really heartfelt and funny and sad at times, so I think it should be a really fun, wild ride.

Do you have a favorite romantic comedy?

Some of the older ones like When Harry Met Sally and Richard Linklater’s earlier stuff, including Before Sunrise. I loved those movies and the big, broad comedies like the Will Ferrell stuff.

Producer Paul Feig’s helming of Bridesmaids might bring a lot of curious eyes to this project. There are some similarities.

Yeah, definitely, I hope so. It’s really special and unique and also brings us back to movies like Reality Bites. It’s kind-of like a version of that for the newer generation.

That newer generation has been embracing romcoms on Netflix. Do you have any take on why those movies are doing so well there?

I don’t, to be honest, I didn’t know that. But as of right now, in the position where people are in quarantine, romcoms are movies that make you feel good, so maybe we’re seeing a lot of that just because of the times we’re going through.

Talking about your Love Life character any more would lead to spoilers, so do you mind if I ask you about the Narcos: Mexico season finale?

Nope. You mean the one we last finished?

Yes, and specifically, the conversation between Walt Breslin and Félix Gallardo. I’ve been comparing it to other great confrontations like Pacino and De Niro in Heat and FX’s Justified ending.

Wow.

Did you draw inspiration from any movies or TV shows, or was it solely about those two characters to you?

Oh, I was terrified to do that scene, to be honest to you. A lot of what you’re seeing is just terror, but I know that there’s always, in these sort-of male-driven shows, there’s always this reference back to Heat. You know, Carlo Bernard, one of the creators of the show, he worked with Michael Mann and actually worked on Heat, so we’re always throwing that around and stuff, so yeah, in so many ways, it’s going to resemble that scene. But I don’t speak Spanish, and that whole scene was in Spanish. It was a long one, so I am very glad to hear you say that it turned out so great because it was a very nervous one for me.

Aren’t you a Texas native? I grew up in Oklahoma, and Spanish wasn’t required but strongly encouraged. I can’t imagine going into that scene dry.

I learned a little bit in the time that I had, but even as a kid, I never picked up much Spanish living in Texas.

So when you think about Walt and Félix, do you sense any admiration there as well as contempt? Or was I reading too much into that?

Oh for sure! You develop, in law enforcement, when you’re going after a case for X amount of time, I’m sure you develop a relationship with that person, and you know so much about them that there is a sense of admiration and respect when you’ve kind-of got your guy. The very thing I think about that scene is that, like, there’s this idea that Walt got his guy, and he’s won. And throughout that scene, he [realizes] that’s he’s only created a worse problem. And I love the sort-of dynamics that shift in that scene. And him going through what is to come because of what [he’s] done. Like, [he] didn’t do anything but cause a worse problem.

And on a personal level, Walt didn’t even get the closure that he wanted.

Yeah, neither one of them. It feels like they both lost.

Have you heard anything about another season?

No, I would gladly be open to doing more. I had a wonderful time on the show and loved working with the crew down there and all the people on the show, executives and Netflix. It was a dream job, so I would happily jump back down there.

The first three episodes of ‘Love Life’ premiere on May 27 with the launch of HBO Max.

[x]

#Scoot McNairy #Love Life #HBO Max #Narcos: Mexico #True Detective #interview #Bradley Field #by aline

[descendantswiki]

ok. descendants wings au! i am incredibly passionate about wings aus, so this is really, really long.

mal has dragon wings, obvs, but they change from black to purple when she uses magic. so when her eyes turn green or she casts a spell, her wings turn a vibrant shade of purple.

mal’s wings are always well taken care of by evie. despite having blue, feathered wings, evie learned everything there was to know about how to take care of different wing types, mostly because the other core four do NOT take care of their wings. 

evie doesn’t typically think of her wings as functional, she uses them more for aesthetics and beauty, but she is a formidable flier, second only to mal. she and mal race sometimes after they go to auradon.

jay has bat/dragon-like wings, similar to mal’s. his are tougher though, and have some faint scars. they are red with yellow accents. he doesn’t use a ton of caution when he flies, but his wings are very sturdy and it’s no problem for him to carry others when he flies.

carlos’s wings are probably the smallest of the core four, and were the most fragile. he has fairy/pixie/insect-like wings, but he braced them with metal after coming to auradon. he’s fast while flying, and much prefers flying to running.

audrey has pink feathered wings, just like everyone would expect of her. however, the ends of her wings are a light shade of brown. like evie, she takes meticulous care of her wings, and doesn’t often fly with them.

ben doesn’t have wings, which is pretty rare. he doesn’t mind not having wings either, he feels like it helps him be more understanding. though he does think flying is really awesome.

chad has golden brown feathered wings, and he thinks of them as a mark of his status as a royal, despite the fact that anyone can be born with any type of wing.

jane has fairy wings. they’re a light blue, and not flashy. she wishes she could change them to be more elegant, big, and more beautiful. however, her wings are perfectly functional, and can reflect light into rainbows when she flies.

doug has small, dark brown feathered wings. he doesn’t ever try to match his outfit, color or style wise, with his wings. he doesn’t usually use them either. he doesn’t think much of having wings, and finds much more enjoyment in learning about wings in theory and not in practice.

lonnie has dragon wings, fierce and multi-colored in different light. she is a master of aerial  sword fighting and combat, and spends a lot of time flying and practicing cool flying maneuvers. like jay, she finds it easy to carry someone while she flies.

uma has dark teal fin-like wings that double as fins to help her swim underwater. they have a webbed looking quality, and are waterproof. she rarely flies, mostly using the aquatic properties of her wings. her wings look pristine from far away, but up close you can see faint scarring.

harry has bat/dragon-like wings, with curved metal hooks protruding from the joints. his wings are a dark, almost black red. they are waterproof, but they don’t do him any good in the water. his wings are tough and have some old injuries.

gil, much like ben, is wingless. he couldn’t care less, though. wings are important on the isle, but everyone knows that plenty of people are strong without them, and gil runs with uma’s crew.

dizzy’s wings are small and feathered, and all sorts of crazy colors. she dyes and styles her wings for fun, and sometimes she trims important feathers, so her wings aren’t always functional. when they are though, dizzy likes to fly to high places and look out at auradon.

auradon values wings, but respects those without, especially since king ben came to power. however, royals are expected to have feathered wings, and to take good care of them.

on the isle, wings are just another way for people to be strong. they aren’t taken as a sign of strength on their own, but many powerful villains and villain kids use their wings to gain power.

most wings aren’t related to magic. some wings are more connected to being able to use magic than other’s, like those from peter pan’s stories. on the isle, those people tend to find it harder to fly, but not impossible. in auradon, those wings, (like jane’s), can often enhance their owners magic, or perform magical tricks of their own.

wing injuries are much more common on the isle. wings infused with magic will heal faster and without assistance, except for on the isle. wing care in general is much better in auradon.

wild wing colors are also more common on the isle, mostly due to dyeing. any wing color is possible anywhere, though.

i know this is super long, i will do the d3 characters after the movie comes out. idk if i’ll ever do the actual villains and heroes? depends ig. and i do want to do the book exclusive characters and the wicked world characters, maybe in a separate post. anyways! this is just what i whipped up on my thoughts about a descendants wings au, feel free to ask for more headcanons, or specific headcanons, or any other questions! i love wings aus so much!!! and literally feel free to draw or write anything about these, it would make me so happy, just please credit my idea! 

#pirate posting #descendants #wings au #long post #like super long shdkfjs #evie #jay #carlos de vil #audrey #ben #jane #jane's wings said gay rights #doug #lonnie #uma #harry hook #gil #dizzy tremaine #this is written stream of conciousness style lmao so feel free to ask for clarity

[saiilorstars]

Dhalloweek Day 2: The Ghosts of Auradon Prep

*** This is part of DearDescendants’ Writing Week. ***

Day 2 Prompt: Ghost

Rating: General audience; minor cursing

{The following OC is of my creation, everything else is part of the Descendants/Disney world.}

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Elle chewed on the pink eraser of her pencil. The history essay on Avalor’s 1960 silver rush was exceptionally boring. But this wasn’t a homework assignment she could skip since it was given to her by her mother’s appointed tutor. She had to turn this in by tomorrow. 

“Man, that looks incredibly hard,” she heard a stranger’s voice say.

When Elle looked up, the pencil eraser in her mouth dropped to the table. A see-through boy had just casually walked by her table -- sorry, floated by the table. Elle blinked then rubbed her eyes just to make sure she wasn’t seeing anything. But there was the boy again, just floating like nothing.

“Wait a minute!” Elle jumped out of her seat, quickly collected her books and ran up to the see-through boy. “Are you a ghost!?”

The boy grinned and nodded his head, his shaggy ginger hair falling over his eyes for a second. “Yeah! Hey Elle!” 

It was then that Elle realized the boy was another Auradon student -- Merida’s son Mehcad -- and fellow friend. “What the hell happened to you!? You didn’t die, did you!?”

Mehcad laughed. “No! It’s actually pretty funny!”

Elle didn’t think it would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Mal and Evie were both looking through their respective spellbooks when Elle flung their dorm room open. “Why is Mehcad a frikin ghost!?”

Mal pursed her lips and looked at Evie, who sat on her bed. The blue-haired girl sat up with a finger in the air. “Yeah, that would be my bad.”

Elle raised an eyebrow. “What!?”

“Uh, guys? We’ve got a problem.” Carlos’ head poked his head through the bedroom’s wall. 

Elle yelped.

Then Jay’s head poked through the wall right next to Carlos. “Yeah, we can’t eat anything!”

Elle screamed. “Please tell me that Ben isn’t a ghost!?”

“Nah,” Mal snorted. “He had the good sense to say ‘no’ when we asked.”

Elle let her bookbag fall to the floor. She was about to say something but instead let herself think for a moment. After a minute or so, she brought a hand to her cheek. “Okay, so, just out of curiosity, what was supposed to happen here? Like, what was the intended goal here?”

“Well,” Evie swung her legs to one side of her bed, “I was just practicing from grimoire and I found this spell that was supposed to make the guys invisible.”

“Wh-wh-why would that ever be a good idea?” Elle looked at Mal, highly suspicious this was more of Mal’s idea than Evie. It just made sense.

“Because the guys are idiots and were into the idea,” Mal answered then gestured at the nodding Carlos and Jay behind Elle.

“Yeah, we thought it’d be cool to mess with people,” Jay smirked.

“And how that work out for you, genius?” Elle shook her head.

“Pretty well, except that I can’t eat anything!” Jay put his hands over his stomach for emphasis.

“And how did Mehcad get roped into this?”

“Oh, he was the first one to agree,” Carlos laughed. “Now we’re the three ghost musketeers!” He put a fist in the air, prompting Jay to do the same.

“And now I see why Ben wasn’t into this,” Elle turned to Mal and Evie. 

“Because he’s kinda lame?” Jay offered.

“Or because he’s the smartest one out of you idiots.”

Jay scrunched his face. “No, I think it was the first one.”

“Relax,” Mal got up from her bed and walked up to Elle. “We’ve got this.”

“I really don’t think you do,” Elle shook her head.

“I’m working on it!” promised Evie who then raised her grimoire from her bed. “I just have to find the right counterspell!”

“Before or after the Halloween party tonight?” 

“Halloween party?” Evie panicked at the reminder. How could she forget the Halloween party that Audrey was hosting tonight!? “Oh my God, we gotta figure it out now!”

“Good luck with that,” Elle decided to leave before she was sucked into whatever more nonsense her friends would conjure up. She left the room and went in search of her boyfriend just to make sure he wasn’t a ghost like the others.

She felt a monumental relief upon seeing Ben at his desk -- very much not see through -- working like he usually was. 

“Oh thank God!” she laughed.

Ben looked up from his pile of papers with an expression akin to confusion. “You know sometimes you do just say ‘hello’, right?”

Elle rolled her eyes. “I’m just glad you’re not a ghost right now.”

“Oh, that,” Ben laughed. “Yeah, Evie asked -- so nicely -- but I had to say ‘no’.”

“I’m really glad you did,” Elle sat on the edge of his desk. “Because now Auradon Prep has 3 ghosts running amok.” And as if listening to her, they heard Chad’s distinct scream from a distance. “I think Jay found Chad.”

~ 0 ~ 0~0~0~

“Okay, I’ve searched all day through this--” Evie waved her grimoire not so gently, “--and I think I got the spell to fix this mess. We just have to find the guys.”

Mal hopped off her bed. “Great. Just follow the screams of people we’ll be sure to find them.”

Evie rolled her eyes and led the way out of the dorm. They did manage to find the boys at the center of attention from a huge crowd of students, right where they often had lunch.

“Is this the entire school?” Evie looked at Mal in concern. 

“Yup,” Mal nodded her head. “Scuse me!” she started exclaiming as she pushed her way through while dragging Evie behind her. “Scuse me! Official business here!”

“There you are!” they heard Elle’s call as soon as they got the middle of the crowd. There stood Elle and Ben, both looking a bit irritated.

Jay, Carlos and Mehcad were all cracking jokes with the students enthralled with their ghostly situation.

“Uh, what’s going on?” Evie continued looking around, but no one was paying them any attention.

“They all love the ghosts,” Elle gestured to the crowd near Jay who were cracking up at whatever Jay said.

“Hey guys, can we make them normal again?” Ben asked, not looking too pleased with the situation. “I feel like this might get a little crazy if we let it keep going.”

“Yeah,” Evie agreed. She still had to practice her magic, that’s for sure. She opened her grimoire to the bookmarked page and began to read off the spell. However this spell seemed a little more complicated than what they would usually find in Mal's spellbook. It wasn't even in English, for starters. But just like Mal's spellbook, there was a crack of magic smoke after the spell was read.

And once the smoke cleared up, there was an interesting fact about the students.

Everyone had turned into ghosts.

"Cooooool," Jay, Carlos and Mehcad collectively said in awe once they realized they were now surrounded by more ghosts.

"Thanks Evie!" Jay called to the panicked blue-haired girl.

"That's not what I meant to do!"

"But I gotta admit it's a little cool," Mal turned her see-through palms over with a smirk.

"And it's about to get a little crazy," Ben concluded. He wasn't that surprised. 

"I make a dashing ghost, don't I?" they heard Chad's voice somewhere amongst the crowd.

"What we do now?" Elle looked at herself then the others. They were all see-through messes. 

"How about a scare-a-thon?" Carlos' suggestion led to several confused stares. 

"A what-a-thon?" Audrey was the one to respond first. 

"You know, a scare-a-thon? A scaring contest."

"Ooooh, I like that idea," Mal pointed at Carlos, growing more excited by the minute.

"Who would we even scare?" Lonnie called. "We're all ghosts now."

"The adults!" Jay exclaimed. "We could go through all of Auradon prep and scare the crap out of the professors and bonus if you get Fairy Godmother!"

"Won't we just get into trouble?" Jane looked fearful at the prospect.

"We're already in trouble," Evie sighed as she looked down at the ground where her fallen grimoire was. She could no longer hold it since she was a ghost. "Might as well have some fun before we go down."

"We could go in teams of two and whoever wins…" Mal quickly ransacked her mind for a proper prize, "...one free spell from either my spellbook or Evie's grimoire!"

"Mal, using the spells is what got us into this problem in the first place," Ben reminded but Mal waved him off.

"Oh, loosen up your majesty. It's Halloween fest, remember? You're the one who said Auradon prep prides on its week-long Halloween fest."

"I mean... she's kinda right," Elle shrugged. "We can be a team." She grabbed Ben's hand and smirked. "And we'll win."

"No you won't," Jay laughed. "We will." He made a gesture between himself and Carlos.

"Dream on. We'll be winning this," Mal interlocked arms with Evie. "And when we win," she exchanged glances with Evie, "We get to decide what goes up for the Haunted House tomorrow."

"What?" frowned Audrey. She was in charge of planning most of the Halloween events this week. 

"Well we don't need free spells since they're our spells," Evie reminded. "Only fair we get another prize."

"Oh it's so on!" Lonnie exclaimed and reached for Mehcad's arm. "We're winning this thing!"

"No, we are," Audrey grabbed Jane and pulled her to her side. She was not letting anyone near her Halloween plans. 

"I don't need a team," Chad declared, not that many people were listening to him. "I can do this solo and still win."

"Okay!" Mal clapped her hands together to get them back on track. "We get until midnight or until Fairy Godmother figures out a way to return us back to normal. Whoever scares the most adults wins. Ready?"

"Yeah!" the crowd cheered, but Jay's voice seemed to go just a bit over theirs.

"GO!"

Each team scattered from the spot to go search for their victims. Sure it was a death sentence, but it was going to be fun while it lasted.

But one question would remain until midnight: who would win?

#dhalloweek #deardescendants #descendants #mal #evie grimhilde #jay #carlos #audrey #prince ben #lonnie #jane #chad charming #auradon #halloween prompt

[imogengotdrunk]

DRUNK DBH SPAM TIME

Time for some Captain Allen and OC shit that I’ve written after drinking a lot of gin, let’s do this – under the cut though because there’s a lot.

Might write this as a full story one day, might not. What matters is that I’ve been thinking about Daddy Allen a lot (and that’s Daddy as in Daddy, not Daddy as in father, kids) and he needs more love and I shouldn’t drink so much and go near my laptop, whoop whoop

David Allen Or as we know and love him: “Captain Allen”

43 years old (Born Dec 2, 1994)

Family:

His mother is Donna Allen-Winters, and she’s a fun-loving and free-spirited artist (possible ties to Carl Manfred; they have at least met before). His father is Hiroshi Allen. He was a stern and uptight police commissioner in the DPD, and has been retired for over ten years.

Hiroshi and Donna divorced when Allen was 16 and his younger brother was 11. They are extremely different people, and while Allen suspects that they did love each other at one time, their differences began to clash in their later years and their marriage gradually stopped being happy.

His younger brother is called Matthew (Matty) Allen, and he is currently 38 years old. He’s the stereotypical little brother; cheeky, troublesome and light-hearted, whereas Allen’s always been the more serious one. Matty’s a sports coach at a university, has a dog called Janet, and is in a very happy relationship with his long-term girlfriend.

Matty and Allen are on great terms, and go for runs together twice a week.

Random facts:

- Allen broke his leg when he was fifteen, after pulling Matty out of the road and saving him from a passing car. As a result, he still has knee problems in adulthood, sometimes debilitating if he doesn’t rest it properly (which he frequently doesn’t).

- He’s a clean-freak; every room in his house is pristine, apart from his bedroom which is in total disarray – he needs neatness where he works, but not necessarily when he sleeps, so the mess just piles up in that one room.

- He was also in a relationship with a woman called Sophia for several years, but they separated after she began talking about marriage and children. Allen knows from experience that a job like his (and his father’s) leaves little time for children, and the idea of marriage was something he realised he wasn’t comfortable with at all. It also made him realise that he was not in love with Sophia, although he did care for her. Their relationship was built more for the sake of having a relationship, rather than on a genuine, loving connection.

Sophia understood and respected his feelings, but they’ve never been on great terms since. Allen doesn’t regret the breakup, but he does regret continuing the relationship for so long whilst knowing that he had no desire to move forward into marriage or starting a family. He’s very much a career man, and he needs someone who understands that and doesn’t expect it to change.

- Allen and Jeffery Fowler are good friends, and they meet up to complain about the people under their respective command from time to time. Gavin Reed is a very popular topic in these instances.

- Allen and Hank were never that close, but Allen was genuinely shaken up when he heard about Cole’s death. And after the revolution, he’s happy to hear that Hank’s getting back into shape and taking his job at the DPD seriously again.

- He also kept tabs on Connor after the incident at the Phillips’ penthouse. There was something about him that Allen wasn’t comfortable with and he didn’t want to let Connor slip completely off his radar. After he finds out that Connor’s been accepted full-time into the DPD, he makes an effort to be civil with him, but he’s still not entirely comfortable around him. And he still can’t pinpoint exactly why.

- Allen likes Tina Chen a lot, and thinks she’s one of the most capable officers in the DPD.

- He’s bisexual, and it’s something that his ex was never 100% comfortable with.

- He doesn’t drink.

Personality:

Allen’s level-headed, but socially awkward when talking about anything that isn’t work. He’s terrible at telling jokes, but good at telling stories. He’s very compassionate, but also very work-focused and he likes routine, and he finds it difficult to relax or sleep after a high-risk job.

Likes and dislikes:

Children like him; animals don’t, and Allen doesn’t particularly like either. But he does have an artificial fish called Greyson – a present from his mother from when he graduated to the force, and Allen grows to like him mainly because he doesn’t have to remember to feed him.

He also hates coffee, tea or anything with caffeine. He’s a smoothie man, the nerd.

He likes nature documentaries, James Cameron movies and Korean food.

_____________________

MY OC

FN700 android “Finn”

Mid-twenties in appearance (Made in 2037)

About Finn:

Originally a retail service android, Finn is a ‘lightweight’ model designed for fast, city-wide deliveries. In a random instance of bad luck, he was intercepted by a drug dealer called Manuel Shipmen in early 2038, and his memory was wiped. He was reprogrammed, and became Shipman’s personal android; used to deliver illegal goods to his clients.

Like Carlos Ortiz, Shipman physically beats and abuses the androids in his care, which gradually causes Finn to deviate. A few weeks after the android rebellion, Finn manages to fight Shipman off and escape, damaged but alive.

How he and Allen met:

The DPD hear about the attack, having been tracking down Shipman’s operations for several months, and Captain Allen’s team go in search of Finn in the hopes of using him as a witness against Shipman.

They find him in an abandoned outlet store after talking to some shop owners near the docks. He’s injured and shaken up, but he agrees to be escorted to the DPD after being reassured that they return him to Shipman. When Allen doesn’t feel comfortable leaving Finn in protection at the DPD, he offers to let him stay at his home.

It’s awkward at first, but they gradually become closer, and Allen warms up to his company and accepts that he’s missed having someone around when he’s not at work.

Personality:

Finn is shy, but incredibly funny with a very blunt sense of humour (he makes Allen laugh a lot). He’s curious, but naïve and far too trusting (and therefore vulnerable to manipulation). He’s restless and bounces his leg a lot when he sits down (Allen suspects it’s a nervous tick from working for Shipman, and the only way to stop it is to gently put a hand on the back of his neck).

He’s also fascinated by fish (he loves Greyson, and Allen seriously doesn’t get it because?? Greyson is a fucking fish?? and doesn’t do anything but float around all day. But Finn’s fascination is kind of adorable so he doesn’t give it too much thought).

Likes and dislikes:

Finn doesn’t like dogs or confined spaces (again, courtesy of working for Shipman, who had guard dogs and kept any androids he had in very small and bare rooms).

He likes movie soundtracks like Amelie and Guardians of the Galaxy, and taking long baths – Allen had to ask if androids were waterproof and it was the first time he made Finn smile (it was a pity smile. Finn actually thought it was the dumbest question he’d ever heard, but he appreciated the concern all the same).

He also likes yoga because it relieves stress, and wearing Allen’s jumpers, which are far too big for him.

And yes, like a lot of Allen-lovers out there, Finn probably develops a daddy kink.

Because why the fuck not, Daddy Allen is hot.

#ho ho ho #why do I drink #detroit become human #dbh #captain allen #my ocs #headcanon #mine #i dunno man #I have a lot of ideas and feelings when I have gin #sue me #maybe there will be more #in the future #maybe

[deathdesu]

character: D i o

BUT OF COURSE…. thanks for asking! 

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

If I hadn’t been made aware that the art book calls him an ikemen type, I would have had no idea he was supposed to be hot. I can see how he is (pretty eyes, a tall blonde, a strong voice) but the circus clothes are pretty bad, braids objectively bad even though I kinda like them in a viking-y way, and the curves in his lips always made me think he looked a bit like a frog or maybe a cat.  Doesn’t stop me from drawing sexy art of him tho lol. 

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

Good now I can publicly explain why I made him Gryffindor on my recent chart. First of all I think it would be really pigeonholing him to put him in Slytherin. “There are dark wizards in every house” as they say. In Dio ending, he tells Phi and Sigma that he’s like a superhero - and in Japanese, the word he used was “seigi no mikata” aka Ally of Justice, showing that he would view himself the way a Gryffindor does. He’s far more brash than he is ever cunning and he’s ruled by his emotions a lot of the time. It simply looks off since he’s a cultist who’s worshipping a Slytherin. As such, Peter Pettigrew is a really good example of the type of Gryffindor Dio is.   

best quality: He’s the most quotable character in the game by a country mile, and his presence in the various routes is just as bombastic. (pun intended.) Dio ending itself is incredibly memorable just for the sheer surprise of his backstory. Who would ever expect that the circus guy dropping F-bombs all the time was a religious nut? Just imagine this guy having a quiet boring church life most of the time and then really cutting loose for his infiltration projects. No wonder he did a swear so many times. He’s hilarious.  worst quality:  I’m kinkshaming his planet fetish- ok that’s jokey, but do I really have to spell it out? What an asshole. There really isn’t anything that you could say is Low Even For Him, he’ll do it all ship them with: Well the most popular pairing for him is Dio/Luna, which is a pairing that I get and that I accept. It’s not ideal for me though, I’m more inclined to think Luna deserves better. My favorite person to ship Dio with requires some finagling to get around the crossover timelines, but it’s Dio/Mira. They’re about even in terms of being terrible so they’d deserve to put up with each other, they’ve both got connections to Brother which could put them in contact or at least be fun and mysterious, and I know for a fact they’d find each other entertaining. Dio is a lot like Eric but worse (so while this isn’t my opinion necessarily, anyone that thinks Eric deserves better than Mira, this ship could also be for you, I recommend Carlos/Eric as a side for your Dio/Mira) …Meanwhile Dio is attracted to “feisty women” perhaps someone who is like Alice but worse. As a note, I definitely think Dio would be attracted to Alice but also I would never ship Dio/Alice, why would you when Alice/Clover is right there. Plus they have a more direct reason not to bang when he or another Myrmidon may have killed her father, yikes.  There are other parallels between them, like making animal metaphors, wearing red and dying of asphyxiation in a pod (like two peas!! Romantic!!!!!!) but this section is already embarrassingly 3x times longer than the others so just trust me that they’re a good match and let’s move on. The direction this ship goes could be all sorts of things depending on how it was set up in the first place… I’d probably be happy with anything? Something like a hatemance would be tasty, though when I RP or draw it, I do tend to make it more positive, piranhas schooling together or whatever. It’s good shipping for if you’re more interested in exploring their villainy than rehabilitation, though I firmly believe they both would be capable of reaching the latter with just eachother as well, it would just take some time and positioning. Maybe copious use of Mira’s willingness to challenge her own beliefs to inspire change in Dio’s zealot approach, or another way, Dio wanting to become better when Mira may not be able to understand his feelings otherwise. 

brotp them with: I think Dio just needs to outsource to ZTD entirely because Carlos would be the nice respectful Gryffindor senpai he never knew he wanted. Like I just think way too much of him in this kind of crossover terms because of my main ship for him. However in canon, hmm. Luna would still be very, very good for him even if it wasn’t necessarily romantic. I also see him trying to bro it up with Sigma and I actually have no problem with that. Like Dio, Sigma and Phi all becoming weird friends after Dio tourguided them around the moon in his ending would be highly legit.  …I also have this RP bromance of Lenga’s Dio with my 707 from Mystic Messenger that works out because guess who already has life experience with a crazy cultist bro. needs to stay away from: NO ONE. SOONER OR LATER, EVERYBODY PUTS UP WITH DIO. I don’t make the rules

misc. thoughts:    no, I’ve already said too much

#zero escape #VLR spoilers #Mystic messenger spoilers #ask meme #Dio

[thefeministherald]

The 2018 Sundance Film Festival has passed, and a quiet year for deals and buzz led some to speculate films focused on people of color and women were the reason for fewer acquisitions. “Who are these movies for?” griped an influential distributor to Variety. On Twitter, “Blindspotting” producer Keith Calder perfectly summed up the fallacy in that question: “White male privilege is thinking a movie that doesn’t appeal to you is a movie that doesn’t appeal to anyone. If you are a film executive attending Sundance… at least have the class and self-respect to not anonymously trash those movies in the press.” (“Blindspotting” eventually sold to Lionsgate at the end of the festival.)

The anonymous buyer’s comments — and Calder’s subsequent rebuke — highlight underlying growing pains for a festival angling for more diverse programming, but lacking sufficient voices to champion such work.

Hollywood is an industry dominated by white men, and so’s the media, but the ethos of this year’s Sundance programming was clear: We are the outsiders, the unsung, the uncelebrated, and the marginalized. “The Tale,” “Damsel,” “Sorry to Bother You,” “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” “Blindspotting,” “Monsters and Men” and “Monster” all centered on socially conscious messages. This year more than any other, I saw films that spoke to me on a deeply personal level. I found characters I recognized and identified with, rather than de facto representations. I did not have to choose between the white female characters or the black male characters that did not fully speak to me as a black woman.

I wasn’t inundated with a host of films that capitalized on black pain. “Precious,” a Sundance 2009 breakout, was a brilliant film — but words cannot express my joy leaving the theater last year after the quirky and carefree “The Incredible Jessica James,” one of the few movies in the 2017 lineup to have that effect. This year, I saw myself equally responsive to the female companionship of “Skate Kitchen,” and the ferocious satire of race relations in “Sorry To Bother You.”

As I (and other people of color) celebrated this year’s films and reveled in this watershed moment, I found it disquieting to hear industry colleagues and fellow critics complain that they didn’t “get” it. It was comical to hear people who live for Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogyremaining lukewarm on “Blindspotting.” Carlos Lopez Estrada‘s stylized buddy comedy clearly draws from Wright’s work; in fact, if Wright were born black and grew up in the Bay Area, he would probably have made something a lot like “Blindspotting.” Furthermore, people who loved Spike Jonze’s “Being John Malkovich” or Michel Gondry’s Eternal “Sunshine of The Spotless Mind” dismissed Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You” as “scattershot” or “too weird,” even though Riley channeled their surrealist storytelling methods for an all-too-timely story.

I was especially astonished to witness the backlash to “The Tale.” The movie’s central drama revolves around a disturbingly accurate scene of sexual abuse. Fandango journalist Alicia Malone confided that she overheard two men deriding the movie minutes after the premiere, with one admitting, “I didn’t need to see that.” Another added, “Why would you want to put that out there?”

I’m sure any sexual assault survivor — including Jennifer Fox, the film’s director — would argue that such discomfort is precisely why the movie needed to be made. Another column posted midway through the festival lamented, “Where are all the masterpieces?” There are actually several answers.

“Sorry to Bother You” is a satirical masterpiece that addresses our age of racial confusion. In “Sorry to Bother You,” Lakeith Stanfield’s character uses his “white voice” for career advancement, and it’s a laser-focused dagger into the heart of modern-day racial identity politics. And I would dub “Blindspotting” a near-perfect political musical without melody, but with a undeniable beat. When leads Collin (Daveed Diggs) and Miles (Rafael Casal) break into freestyle rap conversations, they’re woven into the plot as seamlessly as musical numbers, with Collin’s freestyle breakdown of institutionalized racism sustaining the movie’s themes.

However, while Sundance can program these breakthroughs, it hasn’t done the same for its audience. The festival’s moviegoers are largely comprised of white, well-to-do industry insiders, critics from major publications, and a few dedicated freelancers and cinephiles who can afford the costly trek to Park City. (Then there are the Utah locals.) I’m blessed to work for a major outlet, and my sisters at BlackGirlNerds.com were supported by private sponsorship to add our voice to the conversation. To be fair, the festival has always worked to promote female filmmakers, filmmakers of color, and marginalized voices, but even a casual observer would argue that this year was different.

Behind the numbers lies a hidden truth: Sundance can shake up its programming, but that’s not enough to stimulate broader conversations about a more inclusive film community. The festival made a visible effort to increase the diversity of the lineup; insiders called it “a down year,” “a political statement”, or, worse yet, “boring.” Two of the highest-dollar acquisitions — “Assassination Nation,” which sold to Neon for $10 million, and the brilliantly divisive “Sorry To Bother You,” which was acquired by Annapurna — both featured women and people of color in fresh takes on genre filmmaking.

However, the films had very few critics of color commenting on them, a long-running problem in film criticism. The predominately minority films “Blindspotting” (90%) and “Sorry to Bother You” (83%) are rated fresh on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer, but critics of color comprise only 25% of the total reviews submitted. How might the averages of these films shift if the critic demographics reflected the general audience?

This year saw more critics of color in Park City, but as Shadow and Act’s Aramide A. Tinubu pointed out, the turnout was far from sufficient. “The representation of the Black press is abysmal,” she wrote. “Black press simply isn’t as valued in the entertainment space. Though we are constantly writing about and trying to get through the door to speak with artists of color, our phone calls and emails often go unanswered.”

As the festival director for Blackgirlnerds.com, I can confirm that the struggle is real—even more so when a person of color is not featured in the main cast. If Sundance 2018 is the tip of the spear, the follow-through must include gender and racial parity in film criticism and access to match. The conversation around films in the “Park City bubble” is as meaningful as the films themselves. As “Sorry to Bother You” star Tessa Thompson pointed out during the film’s panel at the MACRO lounge: “There is a real responsibility to make sure that the people who get to talk about our work also look like us—the gatekeepers cannot all be white cis males.”

A monolithic voice in film criticism can also negatively impact the box office. Films like “Get Out” and “Wonder Woman” show how representation can drive ticket sales. Conversely, if an audience is not provided new stories that inspire a trip to the theater, box office numbers will continue to decline. Quiet buzz around films at Sundance could depress expectations for distribution, and some of the more visionary films from the festival may fail to gather an audience. Providing racial and gender parity in the conversation can help foster these new filmmakers. Each group provides a unique perspective, and the film community should reflect that if we want to accurately evaluate new storytellers.

#sundance #sundance film festival #sundance festival 2018 #film #film studios #film distribution #film criticism #bias #sexism #women in film #film festival #diversity #representation #feminism #gender bias

[ruffoverthinksthings]

Can you please try the Core 4 in your vice/virtue assessment?

Iapologize for the delay.

Itried to answer this some time back, and already had all myjustifications written out in my head when I made the chart and theoriginal post, but sadly, I didn’t have the energy to write themdown, and I’d already forgotten them, so now I had to think back,debate, and put it them into words all over again, along withremembering what specific scenarios or logical assumptions wouldqualify them for a Vice or a Virtue.

Withoutfurther ado, the Rotten Four’s Vices and Virtues:

TheRotten Four are an interesting case as their “Vices” are largelyattributed to blatant misinformation, abuse, and the twisted valuesystem of the Isle. None of these “Vices” are considered badthings, and are actually admired traits, only discouraged when itstarts to personally affect you, such as Jay getting so greedy thathe starts stealing from Jafar’s stock along with everyone else’spockets.

However,I will still consider them all to be guilty of these Vices becauseignorance does not excuse you from the consequences of your actions,and more so, the Rotten Four KNEW outright that they were being“Evil.”

Mal

Gluttony- Desire for Excess.

More,more, and more, it’s never enough, and never will be for Mal—ormore specifically, Maleficent. Bythe time of the Isleof the Lost (book),she’s the princess of the prison, top dog among her peers, fearedand respected by all to the point where anyonewho knows better willnot mess with her, and even those that don’t have second thoughts.

Butit’s still not enough, as she constantly seeks to get more power, amore fearsome reputation, more evil deedsunder her belt, even if it’s only inthe hopes of impressingher mother.

Wrath- Desire for Harm.

Youcould make the case for her trapping Evie in Cruella’s closet inthe Isle of the Lost (book) as the penultimate exampleof Mal’s Wrath, but I think that her behaviour towards Audrey inthe beginning of the movie is much better.

Withthe former, she was being coerced and forced into pulling amean-spirited prank as part of her education in Dragon Hall; she hasgreat, understandable motivation to want to pass this class with theheads of her enemies set up proudly on the ramparts.

Withthe latter, there’s really no good reason for her to pissoff Audrey, nothing to gain but the satisfaction of having earned herire, and more to lose with an enemy that could potentially sabotagetheir plans to steal the wand.

Envy- Desire for Other’s Belongings.

Malliterally being green-eyed aside, one of her first acts in TheIsle of the Lost (book) is to banish Evie and the Evil Queen fromthe Isle at large because she didn’t invite her to her 6thbirthday party, and she was jealous of all the attention and thepresents Evie was receiving.

Herhabit of pickpocketing and stealing (though not to the extent of Jay)is also a sign of this.

Pride- Desire for Attention.

Mal’sPride stems largely from Maleficent’s transactional parentingstyle, where love is only parceled out as soon as you prove yourself“worthy” of it. This is a problem in itself, and crosses into therealm of Pride when all of Mal’s truly cruel actions like trappingEvie in Cruella’s trap-laden closet was her way of permanentlycementing herself as the “Evilest of them All, next to Maleficent.”

Plus,when you make graffiti in such an iconic and easily recognizablestyle that you’ll immediately know who made it just from a glance,and put it all over every surface you can as your supply of spraypaint allows, it’s safe to say that you probably really wantto put your name out there.

Diligence- Being Steadfast in Work.

Malis mentioned as frequently passing over perfectly goodif not exceptional ideasfor her Ultimate Prank for Dragon Hall, and goes to great pains andincredible lengths tomake her schemes work, such as arranging the giant wildpartyin Cruella’s mansion (though admittedly most of the actual legworkwas onCarlos).

Thataside, she is a verydeterminedgirl who won’t stop until the job is done—be that trying to stealthe Fairy Godmother’s wand, stopping Maleficent from taking overAuradon,or all the numerous other “Let’s Save/Doom The World!” ploysshegets roped into.

Allthat pressure to constantly achieve and dobetter, especially without any meaningful reward or evenacknowledgment like a pat on the head would drive most people to justgive up, and declare honest,hard work intoanythinganinherently futile and painful endeavour.

ButnotwithMal.

Carlos

Diligence- Being Steadfast in Work.

Thoughthis might have stemmed largely from him being turned into Cruella’spersonal slave, and it being in his best interest to get work donewell and when Cruella said he should have, Carlos is still shown tobe a very hard and eager worker.

Youcan see this with his personal projects in the Isle of the Lost(book), where despite being constantly overworked,underappreciated, abused, and malnourished, he still finds time andmotivation to tinker with his personal projects, build himself a lab,and go through the inevitable break-downs, unexpected failures, andjust flat-out “will not start” prototypes before you get anactually working invention.

Beforeyou ask, yes, I do realize that there is also the looming threat ofMal, Evie, and Jay calling him out for being lazy and not helpingwith the “steal the wand” ploy, but as they’re all friends, Idoubt they would be as harsh and as great of a “motivator” as hismother is.

Patience- Being Peaceful in Goal.

Youcould argue that Carlos isn’t a fighter in the first place andwould get himself creamed in a straight up fist-fight, but not havinga hope in hell of actually winning never stopped anyone from saying“Fight me!” and following through.

(Justask a bartender about their favourite one-sided bar brawls.)

Youcould also argue that Cruella has made it so thatback-talking, getting angry, and making return threats is a VERY badidea indeed, but I would also like to point out that some bulliesthat lash out at others and get pissed off at the most innocuous andimagined of slights do that because they can’t actually fight theirtormentors, so they do what they wish they could do to them onothers.

Carloshas never been shown to take a violent or aggressive solution to muchof anything, except for the Tourney field and his clearlyfriendly rough-housing with Jay. It’s VERY impressive thatsomeone who has been tormented, abused, and picked-on like him canjust go on and show civility and kindness towards others, instead ofdishing out the same hand he’d been given as a misguided form of“karmic retribution” towards the world.

Alot of abused kids like Mal don’t just stop being mean as soon asyou take them out of the abusive environment; there are NUMEROUSscars and maladaptive habits that take years to heal and deprogram,if they’re not permanent.

Kindness- Being Good towards All Life.

Inthe Isle of the Lost (book),despite having absolutely nothing to gain from it, he gives Evie ahand in escaping his mother’s bear-trap ridden fur-closet. Shedoesn’t have anything to give him, nor does he ask for anything; hejust saw another victim like him in need of help, and he offered it.

Thisisn’t really that strange to us, but please remember that the Islehas a strictly “Every one for themselves, but also for just me!”and “I’ve got mine, now fuck off!” philosophy drilledinto all of their heads.

Evie

Lust- Desire for Pleasure.

Mydefinition doesn’t define this as purely desire for sexualpleasure, but with a LOT less PG-13 and all over realistic portrayalof Descendants, I wouldn’t put it past Evie to have slept aroundquite a lot, using and abusing boys for her own pleasure and selfishbenefit, and of course, getting access to all their luxuries and nicethings (relative to the Isle) using (what she assumes to be) hergreatest and only asset that matters.

(Orof you want to get specific, assets.)

Also,aside from wanting to impress her mother, the entire motivation ofher being a throne grabber (the Auradonian version of a “golddigger”) is for her to live a comfortable, carefree life with ahandsome, rich prince with a big castle that answers all of herneeds, which frees her up for all of her wants.

Envy- Desire for Other’s Belongings.

Greed- Desire for Things.

Gluttony- Desire for Excess.

Allthree are related to Lust, in that it ties in with her being a thronegrabber, and explicitly desiring and having been implied to do allmanner of unsavoury things to get more than her fair share fromothers.

“Rottento the Core’s” “schemer” and “heart-breaker” lines fromEvie’s section could allude to her charming and manipulating peopleinto getting what she wants, and most probably past the point whereshe’d already satisfied her needs, and is purely in the realm ofwants and luxury.

Shefalls into both Greed and Envy because this could be somethingimmaterial like influence, and/or having boys (and sometimes girls)head over heels for her past the point where she could or would wantto have a serious, healthy relationship with any of them; to materialthings, like someone’s jewelry, quality (again, relative to theIsle) goods and food, or someone else’s boyfriend, stolen justbecause she wanted to prove that she could.

Pride- Desire for Attention.

Eviehas long past the point of “having healthy self-confidence” withher primadonna attitude.

Thoughnot nearly as bad as Audrey can get (which is really sayingsomething), she still can get very selfish and self-centered like inWicked World where she complains that everyone else piling theirproblems onto Mal is distracting from her addressing the mostimportant issues of all, that makes everything else pale incomparison:

Evie’s.

Shealso tends to act like a stereotypical princess in that she thinksshe’s inherently better, prettier, and more competent than everyoneelse. She’s getting better after the first movie, but bad habitsdon’t die that easily.

Diligence- Being Steadfast in Work.

Shecooks, she cleans, she sows, she does your homework for you—Eviecouldn’t have learned all of these domestic skills and gotten herincredible in cosmetics, sewing, and alchemy without a LOT of hoursof dedicated practice, and more failures than successes.

LikeCarlos, you can attribute this to her mother making it a very badidea to be lazy (with their needs, anyway), but as Wicked Worldshows, she was willing to put in enough effort and reality-bendingprowess to make cupcakes that have every single element in theperiodic table.

Thisis particularly impressive when you realize a lot of these willEXPLODE, produce poisonous gas if you put them together, or outrightkill Evie from exposure.

Patience- Being Peaceful in Goal.

LikeCarlos, Evie has never been shown to get violent or that aggressiveand brutal towards others. I wouldn’t put it past her to be one ofthe Isle’s best roasters, with every VK having suffered a brutalburn from her at least once, but she doesn’t seem like the kind ofperson that just flat-out insults and destroys people’s sense ofself-worth for shits and giggles.

Youcould even excuse this behaviour somewhat as it was a necessarydefense mechanism to survive on the Isle.

Kindness- Being Good towards All Life.

Relatedto Carlos own entry, Evie sacrificing one of her pillows (a HIGHLYvalued commodity when the stock sleeping quarters is a cold, damp,hard floor) to repay him for saving her from Cruella’s closet isvery telling and impressive, given that the default Isle response tothis would be “see how much more kindness you can milk from himbefore he turns you down.”

Iwouldn’t be surprised if that’s how Evie treated most people thathad been good to her in the past, to be fair, unlike Carlos, theyprobably had their own ulterior motives, too.

Jay

Lust- Desire for Pleasure.

Jayhas been shown have the same carpe diem attitude of Aladdin,just taking every day as it comes, doing whatever he needs tosurvive, but without the generosity and the goodwill towards others,so whenever he does come across something good, it’s purely for hisenjoyment.

Hisconstant flirting with pretty much everyone is also a hint of one ofhis primary pickpocketing tactics—distract them with his sexy, sexyself—a history of (unhealthy, to be clear) casual flings andrelationships like Evie, or both, as I wouldn’t be surprised if hisexes complain that he stole their hearts and their wallets.

Gluttony- Desire for Excess.

Greed- Desire for Things.

Thoughit’s more apparent with Greed, in that he has his wandering eyes onvaluables, electronics, and other precious goods, Jay also showssigns of Gluttony how he keeps on stealing despite alreadyhaving a healthy and productive outlet for all that energy inTourney.

Stealinghas already stopped being a way for him to survive, and it seemsclear that all the Rotten Four have stopped trying to impress or earnthe love of their heartless parents; at this point, it just seemspurely for the thrill of it, and/or his still being unsatisfied withall the good things that have been given to him.

Wrath- Desire for Harm.

He’snever shown to actually physically fight his fellow VKs, and theworst he does to Chad is to get in his way and look intimidating, butit’s not that far of a stretch to assume that someone as bulky andlarge as him has gotten into much more than his fare share offights.

Ifit’s not for his stealing and them noticing before he’s out ofsight, then it’s when someone weaker or on his level has somethinghe wants and discretely pilfering it isn’t an option (along with“fair trade” not really being a thing on the Isle), or him takingoffense to something or someone, before taking the low-road into aback-alley, or just taking them on right there and then.

Sometimes,it might have even just been because he was bored, or REALLY neededto punch someone, period.

Envy- Desire for Other’s Belongings.

Necessityand Jafar’s abusive use of him as a shop employee more than a son,it’s not hard to imagine that a lot of Jay’s thefts were doneafter he saw someone with something very nice that he didn’t have,or wanted more of.

Pride- Desire for Attention.

Jayconstantly displays an over-inflated sense of self-confidence withhow he shamelessly flirts with everyone, and seems genuinelysurprised that someone WOULDN’T be attracted or respond positivelyto his words and actions.

He’snot as much of a narcissist as Chad is, but again, not hard toimagine that a more realistic and less PG portrayal of Jay would havehim showboating and being more arrogant than he already, constantlytalking about how awesome, handsome, and intelligent he is in spiteof the reality.

Diligence- Being Steadfast in Work.

Thoughthe work may be inherently illegal, you can’t say Jay doesn’thave impeccable work ethic, single-handedly keeping hisfather’s junk shop in business for all this time in spite of thelack of due compensation and acknowledgment for his deed.

There’s also theinfamous scene in the first movie where he dumps a giant armload ofstolen phones, tablets, and laptops for the group to use.