#like. the inception isn’t I HATE having to be a woman it’s. I want to be good at being a woman but everyone says I’m bad at it.

[tiktaalic]

It’s interesting too bc from what I remember. It’s been awhile. But I’m fairly sure in the books brienne isn’t butch she’s just like. Homeschooled. Vs brienne in the show who is butch AND homeschooled AND straight

#not that there’s anything wrong with that. #and even w this component the books say a lot more about gender etc #brienne is brienne forever but I do have a softer spot for 19 year old who is forcibly ejected out of womanhood not bc she’s a tomboy but #because she’s Trying to be a girl and everyone is flunking her on it. #like. the inception isn’t I HATE having to be a woman it’s. I want to be good at being a woman but everyone says I’m bad at it. #so I guess I’ll try being a man? but people say I’m bad at that too :( but at least I get to protect the innocent #etxt

[himboskywalker]

SPEAKING of omegaverse Tag I’ve been wanting to ask you what it is about a/b/o that you like so much and are especially drawn to?im very picky for my a/b/o and you somehow always get it exactly right so I’m curious what you look for in your omegaverse content?

Oof this is a complicated question for me actually lol Keep in mind I’ve literally been reading a/b/o since it’s origin in the Supernatural fandom on LIVEJOURNAL. I read the first a/b/o fic,I was in the fandom space and on the forums when it emerged,so I have quite literally followed along with it since it’s inception,and have kept tabs on its various evolutions through the years and through the different fandoms I’ve been in.

Originally it was much more about the animal characteristics and what I was seeing was very coded into werewolf verses or other creature societies very similar. What drew me in originally was a lot of those animal instincts of dominance and submission,especially with the alpha biting to enforce submission. As everyone on here knows I really really like biting,it’s kind of intrinsically tied in with my views of eroticism,so anything that heavily features biting kink will have my full attention. It’s why I love vampire content so much,or a lot of creature content.

I also have a really strong sense of smell,and in the more creature focused a/b/o fics,and then in Teen Wolf when a/b/o was interwoven with werewolves,scent played a big part in their characteristics. I really really like scent based stuff,in real life the way a partner smells is a large part of my attraction to them,it’s usually one of the first things I notice. For a lot of people,even if they don’t realize it,scent and pheromones play an important role in attraction. I love universes where this is played up,and scents become,not just a more blatant form of attraction,but also a vehicle for characterization and even communication. In a lot of next generation a/b/o the scent component has veered away from the wolf stuff in the OG omegaverse,but it’s something I hold onto and love. Like the force in Star Wars,it offers an opportunity to me as a writer to explore an alternative form of communication and recognition between characters.

At its core a/b/o is a really fun way for me to explore dom/sub dynamics too and in fact the dom/sub universes you see in fanfic now stemmed from omegaverse. There’s something about these sexual preferences being instinctual in these verses that made my own exploration for these wants and preferences somehow safer for me to accept when I was younger. And being able to read stories where a submissive male partner isn’t mocked for wanting these things while also being able to be a strong and independent person helped me realize a lot of things about myself that I always found confusing.

And on that note when done right I thing a/b/o is a wonderfully subversive and unique way to explore gender and gender roles. When I wrote conceal me what I am it was intrinsically interwoven with trans and nonbinary themes and was a very safe way for me parse through my own emotions of how I perceive myself and how the world perceives me. In all,exploring a submissive male character with certain cis female sexual characteristics has been a decade long process of coming to terms with my own gender-fluid ness,and being very comfortable with it,when I think without certain fictional avenues,I would have had a much harder time wrapping my head around it and how I perceive myself.

I think maybe what you see in my a/b/o writing,and what others have seen in it,is my dislike for feminizing male characters that I use as a vehicle for gender and sexual exploitation. This is no hate in any way to writers who do,there’s nothing wrong with it,but it’s something I always found personally distressing without being able to articulate why. More recently I’ve been able to identify that I find being feminized distressing,even though I identify as a woman some of the time.And so I find reading a male character being feminized as distressing because of my own life and raising. I like a/b/o as a means to look into the other,into the liminal inbetween and the hard to identify and parse outside of the rigid gender structures society has given us. So when I go into an a/b/o story with a wanting for that exploration and then it’s a projection of typical heteronormative gender ideals onto a not typical heteronormative dynamic,I find it upsetting. So in my own writing I avoid that at all cost. Again this is not a judgement of anyone who creates or engages with content that does embrace that,I don’t view it as a moral failing in any way,it’s simply something I don’t like and so something I specifically try to circumnavigate in my own art. Or when I do explore the intervening of male and female and other,it’s in a way I understand and perceive the world,and so is a comforting navigation of things I myself am unsure about or don’t quite understand.

It doesn’t have to be this deep. All a/b/o doesn’t have to be a societal deconstruction of gender and sexuality and queer coding. Sometimes it’s as simple as mmmm inherent attraction because of instincts sexy. It can also be mmmm character smells good BITE BITE BITE. It’s what you make it and what you find meaning and/or pleasure from. There’s thousands of interpretations of a/b/o because it’s a wonderful vehicle for exploration of many things. This is just my own relationship with it.

#anons #fanfic stuff #a/b/o verse #a/b/o dynamics #a/b/o mention #blacklist for squick #tag times #long post #gender #gender issues

[growtiredofpublicvulnerability]

thinking about how we dont have any real movie stars anymore… miles teller jennifer lawrence and probably a few others from that group were positioned for it but it just didn’t happen. except for Jennifer Lawrence but like barely. I really really hope Jonathan majors becomes a movie star he’s one of the best actors working rn in the whole industry and he can do it all 🫰🏿🤷🏿 jessica chastain SHOULD be a movie star but i just dont feel like she quite is. Love her though. viola davis should be a movie star and she would be if you pieces of shit had gone to see widows (2018) still one of the best movies ever. John boyega and daisy ridley should have been the ones whose careers took off after star wars but ig adam driver and oscar isaac werent complete newcomers so they saw the most of the star wars bump though john boyega is doing well still and has had a couple of really good years (daisy ridley idk what shes up to but the amount of harassment she and the rest of the cast besides adam driver got online bc people hated the character she played was unreal so i can see why she would want a break). And speaking of star wars lupita nyongo not being a movie star pisses me off to no end that woman is an ACTRESS!!!!! wait I’m conceiving in my mind a movie starring lupita nyongo and jonathan majors and obviously it’s a romcom thriller similar to inception and another of my favorite movies catws.

[thisaintascenereviews]

Nikki Lane - Denim & Diamonds

Country music, by all definitions, has been a man’s genre. Dominated by men since its inception, especially its popularity, country music today is slowly coming around to the idea of women being more prevalent in the genre. Let me rephrase that — women subverting expectations for what a “woman’s country album” should sound like. Because country music is rooted in conservatism, a lot of women in country music feel as though they need to play to that stereotype of a conservative woman that only cares about God, her family, and her husband. There was that song from the last decade called “God Made Girls” that epitomizes that perfectly, but there have been a lot of women have wanted to step out of that box. Sure, women like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton have already done that for years, but they are also beloved artists in their own right, it’s this new generation of “bro-country” that dominated the charts for the last decade that has dictated how women are seen in the genre. At the same time, there were artists like Kacey Musgraves, who really wait against the status quo, or Maren Morris, who stood up for women’s rights and LGBTQ rights, especially when country is not the most progressive genre.

One of the most interesting women in country right now, and she has been for the last decade is Nikki Lane. I haven’t listened to any of her music since 2017, when her last album Highway Queen came out, but I remember really enjoyed it. Lane was an outlaw country singer that subverted expectations for what she should sound like, and her newest LP, Denim & Diamonds, does that, too. I’ve been on a slight country kick, and the new record just happened to come out right when I was getting into a few things, so I figured I’d check it out. She isn’t the most popular artist, but she’s got a following in the indie and alt-country scenes, and for good reason. This LP shows people why she is a force to be reckoned with, even if it does stumble slightly along the way, but it picks itself back up like nothing happened. One thing I really like about this album is its sound, as Lane isn’t your standard country artists, thanks to her taking elements of blues, rock, soul, folk, and country, among other things. The album is very diverse sonically, and it’s great, because the album is only 33 minutes long. It’s a very fast listen, but each song sounds different. One song has a blues feel, whereas another one has more of a folksy feel to it. She isn’t straight forward country, which I like, but she’s more on the Americana side of things.

The lyrics on this record are also something I really enjoy about this album, even if they’re admittedly nothing special, but it’s the content that makes it interesting. The song “Born Tough,” for example is a song about how she was, well, born tough, and all the ways she showcases that. It’s kind of a badass moment, but a song like “Try Harder” is more or less a song that’s got a message of encouragement behind it, or the song “Live / Love,” which is about doing the right thing, as well as living your life with a sense of love, versus being angry and hateful. I wouldn’t say any of these lyrics are new or revolutionary thoughts, but the way they’re written is interesting. The lyrics are still rather enjoyable, but I wouldn’t say they’re anything to write home about, per se.

If I had any complaints about this album, however, and I don’t have a lot, or they’re not that huge, it’s mainly that her voice just has never done much for me. She has a smokier tone to it, and because of that, she has a more limited range. She does have some range, but she isn’t a powerhouse vocalist. She doesn’t need to be, either, but I’ve just never been crazy about her voice, although she is good, don’t get me wrong. She’s not a bad singer at all. Otherwise, I do really enjoy this record, despite its lyrics not being super interesting in spots (they’re well-written, but nothing unique), and her voice not having a lot of range, but it’s a quick, catchy, and badass kind of album that has a diverse sound to it. I haven’t listened to a lot of country in the last few years, but if you’re in the mood for something relatively solid that will get the job done, check this album out. Denim & Diamonds is certainly worth hearing, even if it might not necessarily be one of my favorite albums of the year.

#Nikki lane #country #folk #Americana #denim & diamonds #rock #blues #new west records

[emotionalcadaver]

Part 16: Because You'll Be Together

Fandom: Inception

Pairing: Robert Fischer x OC

Summary: Alice helps with the planning of the inception.

Word Count: 3,306 

Notes: No warnings this time.

Masterlists: Main • Series • Fic

Previous Part • Next Part

Chapter 2: Catharsis

She arrived at the warehouse with Eames in the late afternoon, both of them a little frazzled from the plane ride. Well, she was a little frazzled. Eames would probably be more or less incapacitated until tomorrow. But she’d wanted to see where they would be working and say hello to everyone, and he’d agreed to tag along.

She suspected that he just wanted to see Arthur, but she didn’t mention it. 

“Well, look who’s here,” Arthur beamed when he saw her, coming forward to pull her into a hug. “Glad you decided to join us, Al.”

“Yeah,” she smiled sheepishly, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “Good to see you, Arthur.”

“Uh, this,” he gestured with a sweeping arm to a woman only an inch or two taller than Alice, with curious eyes and dark hair. “Is Ariadne. The new architect.”

“Hi,” Alice smiled at her, shaking her hand warmly.

“Hello,” Ariadne had a soft voice, glancing at her shyly.

“Look at that, the three As, together at last,” Eames said. Arthur shot him a puzzled look.

“Jetlag,” Alice explained in a whisper.

“I hope that nickname isn’t gonna stick,” Arthur mumbled. 

“Just for that it is!” Eames shouted from where he’d gone to set his bag down. Alice snickered, stretching up on her toes, she craned her head around a mess of vials and tubes in the corner.

“Hi, Yusuf.”

He poked his head up from under a shelf. “Oh! Hello, Alice,” he waved to her. She turned back to Arthur.

“Where’s Cobb?”

He jerked his head towards a back room. “Brooding. You gonna say hi?”

“After I shout at him for a little while.”

Arthur cracked a smile. “Don’t be too rough. He didn’t know Robert was the mark until after he’d accepted the job.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she set her bag down and began to make her way towards the room Arthur had gestured towards. Banging her knuckles against it, she waited until she heard a grunt of acknowledgment before wrenching it open and stepping inside.

He was just standing at a table, staring at the spinning top, not moving at all as it spun and spun. Neither of them said anything, until it had toppled to a stop and he snatched it up. 

“Hello, Dom.”

“Alice,” he looked up, face twitching into a sad attempt at a smile. “Eames actually convinced you to come.”

She slammed the door shut with the heel of her shoe, stalked towards him, then stopped. If she got any closer, she might strangle him.

“What are you doing?” she asked, voice trembling with rage. Cobb sighed.

“Look, I didn’t know it was Fischer when I said yes–”

“You shouldn’t have said yes the second that inception was mentioned!” she shook her head. “Of all the people here…”

He hung his head. “I have to get home, Alice.”

A sound of frustration left her lips as she began to pace, back and forth steadily across the room, shaking her head. Cobb watched her.

“Why’d you come back, Alice?”

“Because I know that you’re going to try this with or without me. And with me, at least Robert has some chance of not coming out of this a fucking vegetable.”

“I would never do anything to endanger Robert, I know how much he means to you–”

“You already are endangering him,” she snapped. “This mission inherently endangers him, so don’t give me that shit.”

Cobb looked her up and down. “You swear more than when I last saw you.”  

“Yeah, well, it’s been a stressful fucking year.”

“Maurice’s failing health has made things difficult, I imagine.”

Scoffing, she slumped backwards against the table, her hands bracing against it. “Like things weren’t difficult enough already,” she muttered.

“He can’t break free, can he?”

Alice jammed her eyes shut, both grateful and hating her former mentor’s power to so easily read her. “No,” she admitted. “He wants to, but he can’t bring himself to.”

“Maurice fucked him up good.”

“It’s not just Maurice, it’s the entire company. It’s like a massive cancer, destroying everything in its path. And everyday, I watch it chip a little more away from him,” she wiped at her nose. “Everyday, he turns a little more into his father. I see it. He sees it. He talks all the time about getting away. About not wanting to be like Maurice. But he just…can’t bring himself to do it,” she wondered if this was what Cobb had felt like, with Mal, when they were trapped in limbo. Trying to break free from her shattered reality but not able to fully do it. She ran a hand tiredly down her face. No. She wouldn’t be like Cobb. And Robert sure as hell wouldn’t end up like Mal. Not if she had anything to say about it.

“So that’s why you came? To help him break free?” Cobb had walked around the table to stand beside her with a sigh. Alice looked at him gravely.

“I have conditions.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Precautions will be taken, to ensure the idea won’t spread or follow him afterwards, like it did with Mal. Eames and I will be in charge of actually implanting it.”

“Why Eames?”

“Because given your track record I trust him with this more than I trust you.”

Cobb frowned. “Harsh,” he gave her a humorless smile. “But fair.”

“Cobb…I understand that you want to get back to your children, but Robert’s safety has to be my priority here.”

“He won’t be in any danger.”

“Point still stands.”

“I understand.”

“Cobb,” she still didn’t feel like he did. “Promise me, that you won’t let anything happen to him.”

Cobb looked at her steadily. “I promise.”

∗ ∗ ∗ 

They gathered in a small circle of chairs around the room. Cobb had newspaper clippings and photographs splayed out over the desk. Alice raised an eyebrow as she looked it all over.

“Thorough. You know you could have just called me, right? I’d have been able to tell you most of this.”

Cobb shrugged. “I wasn’t as convinced as Eames was that you’d say yes.”

“Ye of little faith,” she spun around her chair, grinning at Eames where he was sitting next to her. She continued to swing back and forth lazily in the chair as they began to bounce ideas off of each other. 

“I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time. We all yearn for reconciliation. For catharsis,” Cobb was saying, tapping the table. “We need Robert Fischer to have a positive emotional reaction to all this.”

“Alright, well try this: um…‘my father accepts that I want to create for myself, not follow in his footsteps,” Eames suggested. Cobb nodded.

“That might work.”

Alice shot Eames a triumphant look. They’d had lots of time to brainstorm together on the plane trip from Sydney.

“‘Might?’ I think we need to do a little better than ‘might,’” Arthur grumbled. 

“Thank you for your contribution, Arthur,” Eames bristled. Alice rolled her eyes. Like kids on the playground, those two. Pulling each other’s hair so the other would notice them. 

“It’ll work,” she said as the two continued to bicker, taking a sip from her coffee. Cobb glanced at her and she shrugged. “I know him better than anyone,” a pinprick of sadness struck her. “All he’s ever wanted is for his dad to love him.”    

∗ ∗ ∗ 

The planning was going well. Her narratives for each level were coming along nicely, and everyone was working well together. Ariadne had fit into the group seamlessly, and Alice liked her. They spent a significant amount of time in the dream space during their planning, and she often kept an eye on the little architect, playing around with the landscape of buildings in the background while the rest of them paced around the streets she’d already constructed and talked. She’d picked up on it fast.

The only one who was a bit of a problem was Saito. He’d made his distrust of Alice clear, and refused to speak a single word to her after their first introduction. Alice couldn’t exactly say that the feeling was unreturned. It wasn’t like he’d hired Cobb out of the kindness of his heart to help Robert wrestle himself free from a company intent on sucking the very soul out of him. He just wanted his company to win. 

But, Cobb must have said something to convince him she was trustworthy, because he permitted her to stay, despite his clear misgivings. 

She was leaning against a table in Yusuf’s makeshift lab next to Eames, watching with growing amusement as he tested out the sedative he’d been designing. Specifically that the inner ear customization he’d included in it worked, so that a kick would actually wake them up. 

Neither of them could hide their snickers as Yusuf tipped over the chair Arthur was sleeping in. Arthur shot awake while he was in free-fall, arms flailing as he landed on the group with a thump.

“Glad you both are enjoying yourselves,” he glared up at them. She and Eames just grinned at him innocently. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

It was later than she usually stayed, but she’d wanted to wrap up her work on the second layer before going back to her hotel room. Her stupid, cold, empty hotel room. It had surprised her how homesick she’d become, considering how often she and Robert traveled.

She was probably just missing him. 

Yawning and stretching in her chair, she flicked off the little lamp at the corner of her desk, pulling off her reading glasses and rubbing her eyes while she tucked them into a case that went into her purse.

Standing, she spotted another light on in the warehouse. Head cocking, she approached Ariadne’s work station lazily to find her hunched over in her chair, fiddling with a pen. 

“You know, if you made a big enough of a fuss, you could probably get Cobb to pay you overtime,” Alice smiled good naturedly, hopping up to sit on the table next to her. Ariadne started, giving her a nervous smile. 

“I’m not working on sketches or anything.”

“Then what’re you doing?”

She sighed. “I’m trying to pick out a totem. Arthur said I needed one.”

“Hm,” Alice tilted her head as she tugged her hair out of the bun she’d put it in while she was working. “Any ideas?”

Ariadne sighed again. “Not really.” 

“You don’t have anything that you keep on yourself at all times?”

“Nothing unique enough.”

“Well, sometimes you have to find an object, and then make your own modifications to it to make it unique,” she watched Ariadne frown. “It can be difficult,” she comforted.

“What’s yours?”

“It’s, uh, this,” reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the little silver pocket watch, holding it up. “I have the time set to run a specific way, so all I have to do is check it.”

“I see.”

“It’ll come to you,” she tucked the watch back away. “Sometimes the totem choses you just as much as you chose it.”

“Yeah,” Ariadne rubbed a hand across her face. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” jumping off the table, Alice tugged the strap of her purse up higher on her shoulder. “I’m going back to the hotel. Don’t forget to lock up when you leave.”

“I won’t.”

She got only a few steps before Ariadne called after her.

“Hey, Alice?”

Spinning on her heel, she looked at Ariadne quizzically. She was biting at her lip. 

“Cobb stays late. Sometimes with Yusuf. Sometimes by himself. Says he’s running experiments, but…”

“You’ll get used to Cobb’s eccentricities,” she said, but still cocked her head. Considering everything that had happened, the idea of Cobb running experiments made her nervous. “Any idea what they’re about?”

Ariadne shook her head. “I thought you might know.”

“Mm,” her foot tapped against the floor anxiously. “I’ll ask him about it,” when she looked back at Ariadne, she saw the same worry she carried reflected in her eyes. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Sure.”  

∗ ∗ ∗ 

She just about flew across the room at the sound of her phone buzzing, snatching it up and holding it to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweetheart.”

A wide smile bloomed unconsciously across her face at the sound of his voice. “Hi.”

“How are things going?”

“Good, actually. It shouldn’t be long before I’ll be able to come back home,” she plopped down on the bed. “Any updates?”

“Nothing noteworthy,” he sighed, sounding tired. “How are your friends?”

“Everyone’s good. The new architect is sweet. I like her,” she stretched out on top of the comforter, staring up at the ceiling as she talked. “It’s been good to see everyone.”

“I bet. Maybe when this is all over I can finally meet some of them.”

“I think they’d like that. How’s work?”

“Ugh.”

She couldn’t help the soft laugh at his grunt of disdain. “Alright, I won’t ask.”

“No, it’s fine. Just…you know,” Robert huffed. “The cats miss you. Spooky keeps waiting by the front door like she expects you to come home.”

Her heart twisted a little at the mental image. “Aw, I miss them too. They’ve been keeping you good company though, right?”

“Oh, yeah. They’ve officially stolen your spot in the bed. I think you may have to fight them in order to get it back.”

She laughed. “What time is it over there?”

“Uhhh,” she heard him shifting as he probably checked his watch. “Almost eight in the morning. You?” 

“Almost midnight. I was just about to get in bed when you called.”

“Mm. I’ll let you go so you can sleep, then.”

“Yeah,” the mattress shifted under her when she sat up. “Listen, I mean it. I’ll be home soon.”

“Okay. Just keep me updated.”

“Will do,” she worried at her bottom lip. “I really miss you.”

“I miss you too, sweetheart.”

She was half tempted to curl around the phone, not wanting to let the sound of his voice go yet.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Of course. Sleep well.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The line went dead and she sighed in soft longing. She loved her friends, and it was wonderful to get the chance to actually spend more time with them. But Robert was her person; always had been, and ever since they’d gotten together they’d been practically attached at the hip. It was hard being so far away from him for so long.

Setting the phone aside on the bedside table, she wriggled underneath the comforter and flicked off the light, curling up. It felt strange to sleep alone. She’d grown accustomed to the weight of him beside her, the warm heaviness of his arm around her waist. More often she used his chest as a pillow more than her actual pillow, and the soft sound of his snores lulled her better than any sort of sleep medication ever could. It felt foreign to sleep alone. Lonely and cold. 

She didn’t sleep very well that night. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Ari says you’ve been working late most nights,” she brought it up to him as casually as she knew how, while they were going over the narratives she’d written. 

“I have.”

“She said you’re running experiments.”

Cobb shot her a pointed look. “Nothing like…like what happened.”

“Yeah, but something’s wrong. And it’s not just worry for your kids,” she leaned closer.

“It’s nothing.”

Alice rolled her eyes, grabbing her coffee and taking a large gulp. “Don’t pull that shit with me. I know you too well,” kicking the other chair out towards him, she nodded at it. Cobb looked for a moment like he was considering just booking it away from her, but then he huffed and slouched down into the chair, expression a little like that of a child brought into the principal’s office for doing something bad.

“Arthur says that there have been some problems on some jobs you two’ve been on,” she hugged the paper coffee cup to her chest. “That Mal’s been showing up and sabotaging things.”

“It’s under control.”

“He said she shot him.”

“Goddammit, Arthur,” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “Look, I have it under control. I’m taking precautions…it’ll be fine.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t–”

“I’m not sitting this out, Alice,” he said sternly. “With Ariadne designing the mazes and me not knowing the designs, there’s no way even if Mal comes in she would be able to get to us.”

“Okay.”

He seemed surprised that she gave in so easily, leaning back in his chair. She just looked him up and down for a while, taking in the tired, stressed appearance. So unlike the man who had hired her so many years ago.

“Is it a relief? Whenever you see her?”

“When it’s just us in the dream, she seems more herself. But when there are others…” he shook his head. “I don’t recognize her.”

“I’m sorry,” she remembered what a comfort Robert’s projection had been to her, during the time that they’d been apart. And he wasn’t even dead.

Cobb just shrugged, helplessly.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Oh, shit,” the realization came to her suddenly. Oh. Oh. Cobb was going to be so mad at her. “Hey, Yusuf?”

He peeked his head out from behind a tower of vials. “Yes?”

“So, uh, ha ha. Funny story. Before you all came to me about this, I may have trained Robert’s subconscious to defend itself from extraction.”

Yusuf took off his glasses and stared at her. He leaned back for a moment, deep in thought, and then shrugged.

“I doubt with sedation it will be much of a problem.”

“You sure? His projections will be militarized.”

Yusuf shook his head. “The sedation typically helps keep the projections a bit more…docile. They’ll still attack if provoked enough, but they’re slower about it.”

“Okay, then. I guess we don’t have to worry about that then,” she nodded, relieved.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

It was the last day before her scheduled flight back to Sydney, and she was gathered with Cobb and Eames, ironing out the final details of the plan.

“He hasn’t got any surgery scheduled, no dental, nothing,” Eames grumbled. 

“Wasn’t he supposed to have a knee operation?” Cobb asked. 

“No,” Alice shook her head. 

“Nothing. Nothing that’ll put him under for anywhere we need. We need at least a good ten hours,” Eames muttered. 

“Sydney to Los Angeles,” Saito pipped up from where he’d been staring stoically out the window. “One of the longest flights in the world. He makes it every two weeks.”

“That’s right,” Alice nodded. Eames stared at her.

“Really? Every two weeks?”

She nodded again. “It’s grueling.”

“He must be flying private,” Cobb mused.

“Not if there were unexpected maintenance with his plane,” Saito tilted his head. 

“It’d have to be a seven-forty-seven,” Arthur was approaching them with Ariadne in tow.

“Why’s that?” Cobb asked.

“Because in a seven-forty-seven the pilot’s up top and the first class cabin’s in the nose. So no one would walk through. But you’d have to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant.”

“I bought the airline,” Saito announced. They all stared at him. He stuttered. “It seemed…neater.”

Cobb nodded, smiling. “It looks like we have our ten hours,” he began to jog down the stairs.

“I’ll make sure that he gets on the same plane as you,” Alice said softly to Eames. 

“When’s your flight out tomorrow?”

“Early.”

“What will you tell him?”

She shrugged. “As much as he wants to know,” she scratched at her nose. “I’ll call you when Maurice is dead. If the doctors are to be believed, it won’t be long now.”

He patted her shoulder comfortingly. “This’ll work.”

She gave him a wobbly smile in return. 

Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

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#robert fischer #robert fischer x oc #inception #alice emerson #alice emerson x robert fischer #my ocs #my fanfiction #because you'll be together

[littlemisspascal]

Ezra’s Journal Entries #1-3

Fandom: Prospect / Pedro Pascal

Pairing: Ezra x Female!Reader

Word Count: 1,269

Summary: You and I were made from the same star, you said with such conviction it stole the breath from my lungs, bound to each other for eternity by the Currents of the universe. 

Warnings: angsty fluff, Ezra’s dealing with the aftermath of the Green, language, 1st person POV (Ezra), dialogue in italics because that’s just how I chose to do it, no beta so all mistakes are mine

Author Note: I know I said Death and Angel would come out next, but I got such a inspiration high and the words came out so quickly I just told myself screw it and decided to share what I have. If anyone thinks this is a series worth pursuing, let me know. If you don’t, well, just be gentle please 💖

Cross-posted on AO3

Entries #4-6

Look for additional notes at the bottom.

My name is Ezra. 

I have my mama to thank for that. Time has erased her face from my memory, but her voice is ingrained into the tissue of my brain the same way these words are inked on this parchment. She was a bonafide believer that the meaning of a child’s name influenced the course of their destiny. When I was no taller than the height of her waist I learned my own name’s denotation: help.

It’s just a tick too ironic, isn’t it? To be destined to help others when I can’t help my own self. I gave the Green far too little credit. It didn’t just pilfer my arm to satisfy its ravenousness, it greedily stole my sense of purpose too. 

Every night I thank the deities you didn’t accompany me there. If the Green had taken you...

I know how worried you are about me, little love of mine. When I look at you, I find you already looking back, a sweet smile gracing your lips even as concern burns in your eyes as an eternal flame. From day one you’ve always been looking at me, seeing every disgraced flaw and scar—even the invisible ones carved into the darkest edges of my soul. Kevva knows I’ve never been capable of concealing anything from you, but fuck if I don’t wish I could sometimes.

You’re asleep now as I write this, tucked against my side in the vacant space my arm once occupied, drooling on my shirt. I love you so much it hurts. A black hole in my chest perpetually aching to be filled by your presence. And as we venture once more into the starry sea, our ship gliding past the imaginary wings of Noctua, I find myself recalling a theory you once told me many cycles ago about humans being made in the womb with stardust infused in their bones, linking them to the universe. You and I were made from the same star, you said with such conviction it stole the breath from my lungs, bound to each other for eternity by the Currents of the universe. 

And it’s undoubtedly selfish, but all I could think of in that tender moment beyond kissing you was how I didn’t want an eternity spent together with our cosmic bodies intertwined. 

I want longer.

Soon after we awoke and each consumed a slice of bush bread bought during our recent docking at Kamrea, you fiddled with the channels on the ship’s radio, hoping to hear news from your homeworld but cursing when you only heard static. Then, without an ounce of forewarning, music burst out with an almighty scream through the speakers at full volume, flooding the whole compartment with a woman’s warbling. It was the same crusted Vayok song that merc Inumon blared in my ears during my last night on the Green, every note an individual needle piercing my skull, impossible to ignore.

Reality deserted me, leaving me to sink to the depths of the abyss within my mind where all I could see was Cee’s pale, disturbed expression as she looked to me for guidance. I remembered how my tongue felt clumsy in my mouth as I tried my damnedest to negotiate our transport, thinking if I could just piece together the right sequence of words, if I could just get their lingering eyes off of her, then maybe, maybe we’d have a chance at salvation. 

The memories coalesced, overlapping and blurring and mixing out of order. Each one was drenched in spilt blood.

Then your pinky wrapped around mine. The touch was soft yet firm, the action childlike in its innocence. It was such a jarring contradiction to my mind’s violent narrative, my consciousness was hurtled back into the living quarters of our ship as a result. You didn’t say anything when you saw I returned to you. Instead, you swallowed down the questions lodged in your throat and led me by our entwined fingers back to our bed.

There’s a plant back home called a dandelion, you told me with my head resting in your lap, a far better comfort than any pillow could provide me. It’s the only plant in the galaxy you can see the sun, the moon and the stars when you look at it. That’s not why it’s my favorite though.

I asked how it had won your heart’s favor if not due to its resemblance to the celestial bodies, then immediately found myself mesmerized by the smile that lit up your face as you peered down at me. My chest cavity tightened as I was filled with the profound longing to be able to suspend time, if only so I could stretch this moment to match the length of our separation, if only so I could erase the old and replace it with the beautiful new.

Dandelions grant wishes, babe. Anything you wish for with your whole heart, it will be yours to have.

I told you I wouldn’t wish for anything—nothing else in the galaxy could compare to the prettiest, wisest soul I’d ever encountered in all my years traversing it. You saw right through that lie with the same confident ease you see through all my masks and diversions, but—for the second time in the span of an hour—you held your tongue.

This journal’s as good a place as any to admit the honest truth. So here it is: I wish with the entirety of my bloody, beating heart I could be the man you deserve, little love of mine. 

When you read, whether it be a book or the flight manual, you have the precious habit of mouthing the words. I don’t think you have the faintest notion you’re even doing it, which makes it all the more endearing to watch.

My brother had a similar habit, always nose deep in the yellowing pages of classic literature, except he had a proclivity to spoil the plot when he talked in his sleep. I remember there was one particular novel he returned to often, sometimes reading from beginning to end, other times seeking out specific segments he’d underlined in bold, black pen. It was a rather dreary tale about war and rivalry and the process of determining one’s own identity. I became so exasperated with my brother’s obsession I considered shredding it on more than one occasion, only to immediately hate myself for entertaining the thought.

It was only after his death—twelve whole cycles, in fact—that I summoned up the will to open the front cover. Seeing his name scribbled in the corner, cursive and neat and so utterly him, nearly had me tearing the book in half, overcome with a vicious rage I had never known prior nor have I encountered since. But by the almighty grace of Kevva I reigned it in, chaining it to the agony and fear imprisoned within the confines of my rib cage, and turned the page.

There was one segment underlined not once, but three times, nearly bleeding ink onto the page behind it. When I close my eyes, the words are tattooed on the backs of my eyelids, as haunting as they are comforting.

So the more things remained the same, the more they changed after all. Nothing endures. Not love, not a tree, not even a death by violence.

The author lived and died centuries before my brother’s inception, that is an inarguable fact. 

But I know those words were written for him all the same. 

Notes: 

There is an actual theory humans are made of stardust ✨

The Sater within Prospect mention the Currents as being responsible for bringing Ezra and Cee to them, so I imagine them as similar to the Fates/Moirai in Greek mythology.

Noctua is a real life, extinct constellation that is Latin for owl. I thought within this Prospect universe it could exist as a type of landmark or coordinate. Plus I love owls 🦉

Crusted is a term from Prospect Ezra uses. Equivalent of damn. I think there’s something funny about how they use creamy as a positive adjective and crusted as negative.

Vayok is the alien language Inumon speaks within the movie, so I decided to write the song she blares as being sung in the same language

Bush bread is referenced in a deleted scene by Ezra, but a google search revealed to me it’s also a real life type of bread too

In the same deleted scene Ezra references that he has a brother. I haven’t decided his name yet/if he will have one

The book and quote Ezra refers to in #3 is John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. One of the few required reading books I liked back in high school.

The quote about dandelions being the sun, moon and stars is based on the legend of how dandelions came into existence. I always thought it was beautiful.

Series Taglist: @insomniamamma

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#ezra #ezra prospect #Prospect #ezra x reader #ezra x you #pedro pascal #pedro pascal character fanfiction #ezra's journal #prospect fanfiction #ezra fanfic #my fic #my writing #pedrostories

[iamanartichoke]

... All right, let’s do this. 

Under the cut bc there’s SO MANY images, and I’m sorry, and I know the cut is worthless to mobile users but, well, here we are. Please don’t unfollow me for this post specifically. 

^^ I can’t decide if this woman holding the Tesseract is impressive or not bc, I mean, she’s wearing a glove - but, Red Skull probably was, too? Also the TVA are obviously not humans, so “impressive” may be generous. On the other hand, “only beings of enormous power” can wield the Tesseract/infinity stones, so. 

Loki looks pissed. 

“I know what this place is.” I like this, bc it provides us with some narrative evidence that Loki has always known much more about the universe and How Things Work than anyone cared to realize. Loki’s always known what’s going on; that he isn’t ignorant to the existence or inner functions of the TVA feels in-character. 

Inception! 

Lokiception! 

Why does every shot of the TVA’s headquarters look like the inside of a poorly-lit DMV? Though I guess it fits with the “timelessness” of it all as, after all, time ceases to exist or have meaning once you enter the DMV. 

But I digress. 

I’ve already remarked on the “I’m smart” comment, but I do like this shot. 

I really love what Loki’s hair is doing here, I don’t even care. For better or for worse, his hair’s doing it’s own all-natural thing and I dig it. Let it move, let it dance, let it fall into his face and obscure his features as fanfic has allowed so many times. 

I’m not a fan of the exaggerated jump or “wtf” expression along with “this is absurd” but THIS moment? Classic Loki. He looks 500% done and we’re only 51 seconds in. Also, I refuse to believe that stack of papers is everything Loki’s ever said. I know we all complained about the “you love to talk” line but, I mean, certainly he’s said more than approximately the total sum of Ulysses in his 1000 years of existence. 

Here’s what I want to know: 

1. How does Loki taking the Tesseract result in so many new timeline branches? Surely he’s only responsible for one new timeline? I really, really hope they address that this is all the Avengers’ fault. 

2. What timeline is WandaVision and TFatWS taking place in? The main one, I presume? How do we know it’s not one of these alternate ones? 

3. Which timeline is Agents of SHIELD in and will they be addressed? Bc they got up to all kinds of Time Shenanigans in seasons 5, 6, and 7 to the point where I’m pretty sure they split off into their own universe (which is why they weren’t affected by the Snap or that whole thing, or so I’ve heard). If Loki crosses paths with Coulson & crew, I may pee my pants.

4. So where does Jessica Jo - ah, forget it, I’m not even going to ask. 

I wonder what it is about this “unique Loki perspective” that Mobius is interested in recruiting. (Incidentally, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Owen Wilson in, like, a real role - wherein he’s not playing some version of Owen Wilson, that is. He’s got a costume and everything here. Fun to see!) 

This is a bamf shot, okay. The way it’s framed is pretty intimidating. 

“You listen well, brother -” 

“I’m listening.” 

^^ I figured out what kind of energy this moment has, lmao. 

“It’s adorable that you think you can manipulate me.” I mean, do I even have to comment? I am here for narratively validating the “Loki is ten steps ahead” (heh, and I quote) canon. Here’s another place where I feel like Tom was involved, since I’m pretty sure that somewhere, he’s literally said “Loki’s always ten steps ahead of everyone else.” 

That said, I’m not crazy about the delivery of this line; the over-confident tone of it smacks of “here’s someone about to get knocked the fuck off their pedestal” and I’m not here for that. 

That said, these next scenes - 

- not only show Loki with the upper hand but, also, it’s clear that Loki goes rogue at some point, possibly early on, and I do like that. Drag me if you will, but I want to see Loki scheming and being manipulative, in his own interests. 

I think that Loki being the protagonist will allow them to portray his manipulation in a way that the audience is on his side. I don’t think that the TVA is being framed as the “reliable narrator” through which the audience should view Loki, or “good guys” at all; I think that maybe they’re not evil, but there’s probably a lot of morally-grey shenanigans and goings-on. 

I also think Loki is capable of outwitting them; Loki, being ten steps ahead, has probably figured out something that the TVA has not even thought of yet, so he’s going to fix things his own way, according to his own plan. And I want to see that, because I think that this will give the narrative room to really explore both how Loki thinks and what he does when his plans go awry (as I’m sure they’re bound to do); like, how will he fix it and still remain on top in the end?

So, I mean, I’m pretty intrigued (and still cautiously optimistic). 

Lots of action shots happening, I won’t add even more images to this post, but this magic is still giving me life. 

What is this, a food court? (Speaking of which , what’s up with all the action in the mall earlier?) 

“I’ve studied almost every moment of your life” 

(^^ Missed opportunity)

“and you’ve literally stabbed people in the back like 50 times.” 

Receipts or it didn’t happen, and that’s all I’m gonna say about that line right now. 

Thanks, I hate it. This is all wrong, this whole thing - just awful, scrap it, toss it out. Tom, I love you, but this was the wrong delivery and an all-around bad acting decision. It’s too over-the-top, too earnestly “well I never!”, too comical (as in, feels like it belongs in a comic with a speech bubble as opposed to funny). 

Once more, with feeling. From the top! 

I like that we get to see Loki doing a wardrobe change, as I don’t think we’ve gotten to see that before. He always just shows up in a new outfit or illusions one on. 

That’s one ugly ass outfit, but you make it look passable, Loki. You’re beautiful, in case no one’s told you that today. 

The remaining shots are very visually pleasing and action-y and I dig them, except the volcano one (stop posing with your arms outstretched every five seconds, Loki, it’s kinda cringe. In the above still, it works; in front of a volcano, it’s just tonally off. I say this with love, don’t @ me). 

Overall, I think I maintain my 7/10 rating. I think that the trailer hints at a lot of potential in the story that I will enjoy seeing, and I think that the nature of it being a trailer means that it’s a little tonally hyperbolic (this is kinda the format for Disney shit; show the flashy bits, the funny (”funny”) bits, to draw in the casual viewer. Save the story bits for the show. (Case in point: there’s a lot of great material in TFatWS that happened just before or after the one-liners shown in the trailer.) 

So, yes. Sorry this is such a mammoth post, I just needed to explode my feels. If you think the trailer’s awesome, kudos and I love you. If you’re disappointed and upset, I’m sorry and I love you. If you’re hovering in the middle, still in cautiously optimistic territory, pull up a seat and have some popcorn with me. 

That is all. 

#loki on the small screen #long post #image heavy post #loki pokey artichokey #mood gif #i honestly don't know if i should tag spoilers? #i don't think a trailer counts as spoilers personally #but ymmv so #loki series spoilers

[the-sound-of-her-wings]

I Am Not Starfire, And That's Okay

I recently read I Am Not Starfire and I had lots of thoughts, which are under the cut. It is spoiler-heavy and an analysis of the main character, who I find to be a charming, flawed, and incredibly human character.

Mandy is a fascinating character and a great look at a teenage girl who feels ostracized by the people around her and who feels disconnected from her parent. Mandy is by no means flawless, and that's what makes her very interesting. It also makes her relatable.

Mandy starts by talking about how she's noticeably different from her mom, being the "Anti-Starfire". She's a regular kid, can't fly, and doesn't own a swimsuit, while her mom is a superhero, can fly, and always wears bikinis.

On page 11 she mentions "her mom hasn't liked how I looked since I was twelve. She wears less than a yard of fabric every day, yet somehow, I'm the one who's dressing weird". While I understand people who call this slut-shaming, and I'm inclined to agree, but I think it's a little more nuanced than that. The next page reads, "My friend Lincoln convinced me this is the cultural divide that happens between family generations born in different countries or universes. His parents were born in Vietnam." This tells me that the authors intended to point out the difference in dress more as another difference between Starfire and Mandy, and less as a reason to blatantly slut-shame Starfire. I think there's absolutely a conversation to be had about why the authors decided to use this language instead of conveying the point differently. I also think it speaks to how Starfire has more or less been sexualized from inception, and how people look down upon her character because of that. In the context of this book, though, it's one of Mandy's character flaws that I think fits her both as a character and reflects what I've seen from actual teenage girls. Our society coaches us to view women who dress a certain way as less than women who don't and unlearning that takes time and effort. I don't think this comment about her mom should have been put in there by the authors, but I do think it fits in with the values American society in particular teaches about women.

Page 15, 16, and 17 all point to a far more complicated state of existence than Mandy points out within the first few pages. For one thing, Mandy has to deal with people who love her mother and only want to use her to get information about her mom and the other teen titans. This is shown by the "Titan groupies" who ask her to tell Starfire what they say about her. Another thing she has to deal with is the expectation to be a superhero and have powers like her mom, and the questions about who her dad might be. She gains her first real friend, Lincoln, because he tells the people asking about her parentage that they are assholes.

It is revealed that Mandy has a crush on Claire after she gets assigned a group project with her. Mandy is in denial over the crush. She thinks about the fact she's meeting Mandy at the end of the day throughout the rest of the school day, causing her to explode something in Chemistry Class. I find this to be highly relatable and gives her character a softer side to the edginess she desperately tries to portray herself as.

While talking about the project with Claire, it is revealed that Mandy ran out of her SATs and didn't complete them. While Mandy tries to paint this as a cool badass moment, the way the comic artist portrays the scene makes me think Mandy had an anxiety attack. Mandy didn't run out of her SAT because she's some kind of alternative badass who doesn't need to take them. Mandy ran out because she got overwhelmed by the sounds of people chewing and the pressure of the test. While she frames it differently, it's clear to me that Mandy is avoiding taking the SAT again because she doesn't want that to happen again.

When Claire invites her to hang out with her friends, Mandy gets treated like she isn't there, or as some kind of unwanted outsider. The topics they discuss seem to be specifically made to make Mandy uncomfortable, like mentioning how stretchy jeans are only made for fat people, and asking if aliens don't go to college. Jaded by this, Mandy makes up that aliens actually have to go through this huge blood right and battle to the death, but tells Claire's two friends she was joking before leaving. This tells me that Mandy deflects her pain by using humor to cope and has no issue clowning on people who are trying to belittle her for being an alien.

Starfire tries to bring up going to college after this, and Mandy just flees to her room. She hasn't told her mom she didn't take the SAT yet or that she isn't going to college. She feels distant from her mom, which is explained further through a montage of birthdays where she never got her powers. Her mom expects a lot from her, and Mandy thinks Starfire is disappointed about her lack of powers.

Later, Mandy invites Claire over to her house to complete the project they are working on. The Titans are still there when Claire arrives, but she seems to ignore them, as they leave shortly after. Mandy and Claire bond as they continue the project. Mandy reveals to the reader that she's never had a girlfriend, except for one time at sleep-away camp where she kind of dated a girl for four weeks. She didn't tell her who her mom was because she was tired of living in the shadow of a superhero. But the relationship ended because Mandy had lied about who her mom was, and the girl she was dating didn't understand why she would lie. I think this really shows just how much Mandy actually wants to be a normal girl like everyone else, to the extent that she'd lie about who her mom was. Her edgy demeanor at school and around town where her mom is known to be her mom is a defense mechanism to having lived under the shadow of a superhero her entire life.

When it's revealed that Claire took a photo with the Titans at Mandy's house, Mandy is understandable heartbroken, and furious. She thought she had been making a real connection with Claire, but this photo makes her think she's been used, again. Claire seems genuinely baffled by Mandy's reaction to this, thinking little of it. But to Mandy, it is a breach of trust from someone she thought cared about her. I think her angry reaction to Claire makes sense because of this, even if it might have been disproportionate to the offense.

On top of this, Starfire has discovered that Mandy walked out of the SAT and doesn't plan to go to college. After a heated conversation, she runs away, but her mom finds her. And then Blackfire finds her. Turns out the fake story she told Claire's friends earlier in the story was actually true, even though Mandy didn't know it.

Since Claire actually cares about Mandy, she tracks down Lincoln who explains to her why Mandy reacted badly, and that she should probably apologize for taking the photo. Claire also admits that one of the friends from earlier, Deb, actually dared her to take the photo. Claire is a good person at heart, but this action shows that she can still be influenced to do something that would hurt another person. And while she might not have known it would hurt Mandy, Deb probably did.

Starfire and Blackfire fight since Mandy has no powers, but Starfire gets injured causing Mandy to realize just how much she loves and cares about her mom, even though they don't see eye to eye on most things. This finally unlocks her powers, as she's let go of most of the resentment she's held against her mom. She even gets asked for an autograph by someone in the audience after the battle.

The story ends with Mandy training her powers, studying for the SAT, and reconciling with Claire, sharing a kiss, and becoming girlfriends.

I've seen a lot of discourse that frames Mandy as being "not like other girls". I don't believe this framing actually fits Mandy very well. The only girl Mandy ever says she is not like explicitly is her mom. She is the only woman she compares herself too, and the only person who she seems to have a lot of resentment for, aside from people who use her to get to Starfire. Additionally, Mandy falls for someone who is what a stereotypical, normal popular girl is often portrayed as. She's preppy, wears makeup, gets good grades, has friends, and runs a fairly popular Instagram account. If Mandy was extremely into the "Not like other girls" rhetoric, she would've made fun of Claire for all those things. Instead, she admires her for them. Mandy is fat, has acne/freckles, dresses goth, and wears a nose ring. If this is the reason people are identifying her as a "Not like other girls" girl, then they don't understand that trope. Simply dressing differently from your peers, being fat, and hating your mom does not make her the "not like other girls" trope. It actually makes her like other, real-life girls who dress and act similarly, because that's who they are, not because they somehow think they are better than other women.

I'd also make the argument that, fundamentally, Mandy IS different from other girls on the account of having a superhero mother and potentially a superhero father. Her life is completely altered by Starfire's existence as her mom and is likely only relatable to the children of other superheroes and celebrities. She is not like other girls because of her mom, and that still doesn't make her someone who falls in line with the conception of being "not like other girls".

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope others do too. I read Mandy as a flawed character who was trying to figure out how to exist outside the Shadow of her mom- and eventually succeeds, by learning to embrace her mom. I would've preferred if Mandy had a slightly darker skin tone, as her features seem black-coded to me and Starfire is also often black-coded. Otherwise, I do think this was one of the best DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults I've read, alongside Teen Titans: Beast Boy and Teen Titans: Raven.

#i am not starfire #mandy koriand'r #mandy anders #i am not starfire spoilers #starfire

[variousqueerthings]

Tom Hardy Movies rated least to most queer

I made a list of some Tom Hardy movies and I rated them based on my own, non-specific criteria about what makes a movie queer. Results below the cut.

(Some films not included, because I haven’t watched them yet, because Mr Hardy’s only in them for a few minutes, because the subject matter doesn’t lend itself to this list, or because I just don’t want’em here. TV series also not included. The list is organised into both groups and ratings, because I’m doing The Most.)

Movies are divided into four groups and rated from 0 – 10 on the Queer-Scale, scroll down to the bottom if you want the ratings without the commentary.

Disclaimer: This list is subjective. Don’t come at me because I didn’t rate Inception higher, Nolan himself is as queer as cargo shorts. 

1. This movie would make more sense if it were queer

If this movie were queer it… might not become a perfect film all of a sudden, but it’d make a hell of a lot more sense than what’s actually going on. With an occasional dose of “are the cis-straights okay?”

This Means War (2012): So Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are ostensibly both in love with Reese Witherspoon, but say “I love you” to each other pretty much constantly throughout the movie and their friendship is often presented as a domestic partnership. Cool, cool, cooool.

Queer Rating: 2 out of 10. This movie hate-crimed me by having Tom Hardy literally spell out his relationship with Chris Pine, only for the script to then have him say… “can you imagine all that… but with a woman…” Later on the movie explicitly denies polyamory is possible. Fuck this film.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012): Batman movies should always be queer. Mr. Hardy’s the only one who acceptably camps it up, despite Nolan’s best attempts to make him “acceptably gruff.” No matter what you do, Bane is a massive daddy in a mask and thanks to Mr Hardy’s honestly iconic fucking speech pattern in this film, it goes from pretty atrociously straight to just queer enough to imagine a future where Robert Pattinson plays batman and maybe adopts a bunch of kids.

(the only truly decent mask in this franchise tbh)

Queer Rating: 3 out of 10. Mr Hardy’s back is the one that’s actually broken carrying any semblance of fun in this overly long movie all on his own.

Lawless (2012): Wow, this really was the year of the not-queer-enough, wasn’t it? Look, it’s “based on a real story,” but it’s also a movie and movies don’t need to stick to the truth, and this one certainly doesn’t. Was the guy queer in real life? I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter, what matters is that it’s just kind of an eh movie and maybe being queer would add something to it. One of those “but why make someone queer? because it’s always more interesting to do so,” movies.

Queer Rating: 3 out of 10. It’s just not queer. But Tom Hardy wears cardigans and described his character as a “mother figure,” which adds an interesting dynamic to him.

2. Actually Queer but in a homophobic way

Tom Hardy plays a canonically queer character, yaaay. The whole movie contains a strange sense of the director being too not-queer to actually engage with that and everything around him is almost aggressively straight, noooo.

RocknRolla (2008): Honestly this movie has the funniest coming out scene ever + that familiar undertone of “all these manly men secretly want to fuck each other” is only heightened by one of them actually being gay and in love with his best friend. It’s such a fucking… it’s such a movie. Personally I find Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Thandie Newton, and, of course, Tom Hardy to be really hot in it, so that’s a plus. There’s a scene in which Strong’s character teaches another gangster how to do a proper backhand. It’s really gay of him. Also slow-dancing at a gay club. Butler’s character needs to get himself together, you really don’t think 2008 Tom Hardy is hot? Mate.

(left to right: functional queer, disaster queer, distinguished queer)

Queer Rating: 6 out of 10, for having an actual gay character who is played by Tom Hardy doing a sexy phonecall voice to another guy, but then there’s that feeling you can’t shake that the whole movie is vaguely uncomfortable about it, like a family member awkwardly patting you on the shoulder after they found out you were queer second-hand, but they’ve still got 50 years of bias to unlearn. Also Thandie Newton is killed, fuck that noise. 

Legend (2015): If I had a nickle for the amount of times Tom Hardy’s played a gay gangster, I’d have two nickles. Which isn’t a lot, but weird that it happened twice (looks at Peaky Blinders and thinks it ought to be three times). I’ve watched Legend three times and every time it just… loses me. And because this is a biased list, I’ll only specifically mention that it fails to make Ron’s queerness anything but a way for him to shock others. Gangsters could be gay? Gasp! On the upside Tom Hardy has so much sexual tension with everyone in this movie, including himself (why would you do that? Asks Ron, bemused. Because I can’t kill you, no matter how much I fucking want to, hisses a blood-soaked Reggie right into his ear. It’s hot).

Queer rating: 5 out of 10 because the film is just not very queer for a movie with several queer men in it.

3. Straight as a forced family dinner

It’s straight.

Locke (2013): He’s a married man who had an affair and trying to deal with the fallout of it. This isn’t a spoiler for most of the movie, it’s a pretty neat movie where we look at Tom Hardy having a bit of a mental breakdown and taking lots of phonecalls (my personal hell). Is it queer? Not in the slightest.

Queer Rating: 2 out of 10 for Hardy’s face being in almost every shot.

The Revenant (2015): Yeah, yeah, DeCaprio’s and Hardy’s characters are obsessed with each other, yeah it’s a man’s world where the only women are dead wife, kidnapped sexually assaulted native princess, or background whore, yeah, they fight each other and there’s a ton of grunting, but also… I just fucking don’t like this movie. The thin line where a storyline like this one becomes queer might be crossed for others, but not for me. Fuck these guys and their stupid  bear fights.

Queer rating: 3 out of 10 for it being about dirty men in the middle of nowhere (but you could just watch Brokeback Mountain or The Lighthouse or God’s Own Country or any Mad Max, or, or, or…)

4. Queer? Queer. Queer? … Queer…

The plots, aesthetics and/or characters played by Tom Hardy lend themselves to a queer reading, even if there is no overt intention towards queerness. Often this is because of a deliberate lack of heterosexual and/or cisgender writing, which in this day and age is still pretty uncommon not to include within a plot.

Inception (2010): Okay, I don’t even need to write about the added “darling,” or the “go to sleep Mr Eames.” I don’t need to go on about the absolutely bonkers amount of fanfiction written for Eames and Arthur, based on a few minutes of film and a boatload of chemistry. It’s queer.

Queer Rating: 7 out of 10, because the actual plot of the film isn’t very queer, but between the Arthur/Eames dynamic and Elliot Page, Nolan was really given a gift he didn’t deserve.

Warrior (2011): Okay, so first off, this might be my favourite Tom Hardy film, at least some part of my brain is fixated on it at almost all times and I’m considering watching it for the third time in two weeks. I don’t only consider it queer based on Mr. Hardy’s character, although he has no romantic or sexual interest and could be read as aroace, but because of the themes, especially those surrounding said character, who is coded as a caregiver to women and through close emotional connections to men. It’s got possibly unintentional deconstructions of masculinity and two men (brothers) who need to forgive each other and can only do so through the catharsis of violence. It speaks to me as a transmasc with several cis brothers, struggling with my own masculinity. It’s not at all written for me, but I find myself all over it. I could talk about this movie forever.

Queer Rating: 8 out of 10. I’m not allowed to say any more or I’ll never stop writing about it. I love you Tommy…

The Drop (2014): Bob’s lack of sexual and/or romantic interest in Naomi is so strange to her that she doesn’t know what he would want from her otherwise. Bob really just wants to raise a dog with her (and also forgiveness for past sins). Bob is such a rare ace and possibly aro coded character, it really throws me every time I watch this film how obvious it is. Bonus points for also being autistic-coded and not in the stereotypical ways.

(Tom Hardy’s most challenging role: pretending he doesn’t know dogs)

Queer Rating: 9 out of 10 because it’s so fucking rare to see ace and aro coded characters that aren’t, you know…. serial killers. Also Tom Hardy adopts a puppy and has a very cute, kinda lispy voice. How often does Tom Hardy play softer men like this?

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): Very deliberately no sexual or romantic writing included in Max’s and Furiosa’s relationship. Sure, there’s not a lot of time for that in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, but it was also done with a purpose! “It was always going to be two warriors on par, starting off with very little respect for each other and ending up with a massive respect for each other.” - Charlize Theron. “So of course they meet, of course there’s a relationship, an unspoken understanding. A recognition.” - Tom Hardy.

Queer Rating: 9 out of 10. It’s not just the characters, but the world and it’s apocalyptic BDSM leather scene, the questions it asks about sustainability and about people as tools, and the found family. It’s about overcoming violence through multiple kinds of love. And it’s about watching a guy playing flame-thrower guitar. What could be queerer?

Venom (2018): Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same… No, but Eddie is queer. The only question is whether the sequel will acknowledge that aspect or not, but even if not. Even if it manages to straightly bypass the reality of a symbiotic relationship with a genderless? genderfluid? being from another world that is linked to you down to your very cells and understands you more intimately than any other person possibly could… even if all that: Eddie is queer. Venom and Eddie are in a relationship. Any relationship Eddie ever enters into will automatically become a thrupple. He makes out with Venom in the movie! Eddie is queer.

(aw yeah that tongue is going down his throat)

Queer Rating: 9.5 out of 10, because it’s still coded by the creators in the language of bromance (hey, bro, is it gay if we’re physically and emotionally closer than any other people on earth?), but the movie is so, so camp and Mr Hardy’s acting choices are beautiful – the screaming? The lispy soft voice and lack of taking up space? The lobster tank? The only people who don’t know how queer this is are the people making it apparently. Fingers crossed for that sequel!

Hon. mentions:

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002): Star Trek – even at it’s worst (especially at its worst?) – is camp af + Hardy is a straight-up baby in this film.

Bronson (2008): It’s about a real person who’s still alive, so I won’t comment on the actual man. However the film seems to code the character Bronson along an ace line and also has genderqueering Vaudeville. Someone let Tom Hardy do more of whatever was going on in those stage-bits.

(this right here: this the good shit)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): Another ensemble piece not massively about Hardy’s character, but it’s a movie that centers around queerness in a strange, depressing way. Tom Hardy’s character isn’t queer. Colin Firth and Mark Strong are though. The book makes me cry.

Peaky Blinders (2013-): Because it’s a TV series I left it out. There’s a lot of straight nonsense going on there, but Alfie Solomens is gay. There’s nothing in the series that disputes that and plenty that lends itself to the reading.

Dunkirk (2017): Tom Hardy plays an RAF pilot in a deep emotional connection with the other main RAF pilot. That’s immediately gay. However he’s not in the movie much because of the way it’s constructed, so I left it off.

Queer Ratings (least to most)

No queer to be found here traveller:

This Means War: 2 out of 10 - illegal movie, Tom Hardy swore he wouldn’t do another rom-com after

Locke: 2 out of 10 - straight Welshman and his straight problems. He pretty though

Lawless: 3 out of 10 - cardigan-Hardy being a mother-hen, but very straight for all that

The Dark Knight Rises: 3 out of 10 - a superhero movie that doesn’t deserve Mr Hardy’s camp talents (unlike Venom)

The Revenant: 3 out of 10 - doesn’t give me what I want out of a movie full of dirty, bearded men

Queer but we deserve more:

Legend: 5 out of 10 - timid homosexuality, considering the source material. 

RocknRolla: 6 out of 10 - hey bro, is it gay if we kill the only female lead in our massive ensemble cast

The queerest of Hardy’s:

Inception: 7 out of 10 - Elliot Page and JGL kissing was an all-around terrible choice that made no sense, we know the truth, Nolan

Warrior: 8 out of 10 - I’m still crying, Edgerton’s crying, Hardy’s crying, we’re all crying, and I think that’s really emotionally healthy and queer of us

Mad Max: Fury Road: 9 out of 10 - non-romantic love in the time of BDSM post-apocalyptic wastelands is something that can actually be so personal

The Drop: 9 out of 10 - “Fucking punk. Go out to dinner dressed like you're still in you living room! You wear those big hippity-hoppity clown shoes! You speak to women terribly! You treat them despicably! You hurt harmless dogs that can't defend themselves! I'm tired of you man. I'm tired of you. You embarrass me!”

Venom: 9.5 out of 10 - Sometimes a relationship is an anxious reporter, the sentient goo inhabiting his body, his kinda-ex-girlfriend and her new doctor boyfriend, and I think that’s beautiful

#tom hardy #mad max: fury road #venom 2018 #inception #rocknrolla #warrior 2011 #legend 2015 #the drop 2014 #the revenant #the dark knight rises #lawless 2012 #locke #this means war

[onlyanidala]

onlyanidala fic archive

These are fics with titles E-I.

A-D     J-P     Q-T     U-Z

searchable desktop version available here

more anidala fics can also be found in our fic tag!

the link for each fic can be found by clicking the title!

Title: edges of the world Author: glompcat Status: WIP/Unupdated Rating: T Summary:  Leia Organa finds herself stuck in a strange alternate/parallel universe where the Empire never came to exist. Meanwhile, trying to navigate a galaxy ruled by the Sith weren’t exactly the Jedi Trials Leia Skywalker had expected. Or: Leia from a universe where Anakin never fell and canon Leia switch places. Now the two of them - and everyone else around them - have to deal with the consequences of their dimensional swap.

Title: eros turannos Author: emerald-leaves Status: complete Rating: R Summary:  Love the Tyrant. Oderint dum metuant- Let them hate as long as they fear. AU set in time around the Clone Wars. Note: This fic has unfortunately been removed from Fanfiction.net. However, a PDF is available upon request. 

Title: the exchange Author: misslearn Status: WIP Rating: T Summary: The Daughter has a bad day and it irrevocably changes the fate of the galaxy, twice over. Or: ROTS Obi-Wan and Anakin are swapped with their younger, TPM, selves. It changes things, in both parallels.

Title: five weddings and a funeral Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  Padmé's feeling gloomy about her perpetual singleness, but everything changes when she meets an attractive stranger at her sister's wedding.

Title: flat tire Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: G Summary: Who knew something as simple as getting a flat tire could change the entire course of your life?

Title: for a moment Author: shelivesfree Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  And, just for a moment, all the worries and concerns that troubled the young couple cease to exist. Fade away to just this. Husband and wife. Asleep. Dreaming of the sweet little life they will soon bring into the world and into their hearts.

Title: for a sith to love a jedi Author: silverdaye Status: WIP Rating: R Summary:  Jedi Knight Padmé Amidala, the Heroine with No Fear, has crash landed on a moon after a starship fight with Darth Vader. Now the two enemies are stuck on a strange moon with strange rocks that prevents them from accessing the Force. They form an uneasy truce to leave the other alone. Yet after Vader sees Amidala bathing, she keeps coming back to him and he can't keep his mind off of her.

Title: for you, i’ll risk it all Author: estrangedlestrange Status: complete Rating: G Summary:  Darth Vader was certain he had killed Padmé Amidala on Mustafar, but when a rebel broadcast reveals she is alive, he will stop at nothing to free her from what he assumes is captivity. Former Senator Padmé Amidala was certain her husband had been killed on Mustafar, but after seeing Vader across the room during a mission, she is sure that she had been lied to. Knowing the truth, she seeks out her husband, either to bring him back to the light or kill him, which ever was necessary.

Title: friendly competition Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  Playing Quidditch is awfully difficult when you’re in love with the rival Seeker. Snapshots of Anakin and Padmé’s 7 years at Hogwarts.

Title: fruits of malice Author: therealthing Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  In an alternate universe, Anakin Skywalker was taken from his mother at the age of four. He was raised as Darth Vader in a loveless, brutal environment. His life takes an interesting turn when he has an encounter with a certain senator from Naboo.

Title: future imperfect Author: therealthing Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  A time travel story in which Anakin Skywalker is sent to the future to witness the consequences of his actions.

Title: fundamental force carriers Author: tanarill Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  The Sith Lord Darth Vader lived his life. He probably didn't live it well, but he lived it as well as he knew how. At the end there, he'd even managed to woman up and kill Sidious. But he was dying, and at peace with the past. The past wasn't at peace with him.

Title: getting home to you Author: irnan Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  Anakin always said it was Padme's fault, but he was the one who spotted that broom closet. Fluff.

Title: the girl from harvard Author: shelivesfree Status: complete Rating: M Summary:  Absence makes the heart grow fonder. It also makes it grow more paranoid. Padme is in her last year of Harvard. Anakin has just started at the University of Chicago. Though they won't admit it, their long-distance relationship is taking it's heavy toll. Will their love prevail or will the distance prove too much for both of them?

Title: give me a signal Author: stranestelle Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  When Padmé Amidala is unable to contact Coruscant while negotiating a loan on Scipio, the Senate suspects trouble, and sends Anakin Skywalker to go check on her. Of course, the resourceful senator isn’t really in any trouble – don't flatter yourself, Rush Clovis – but there’s definitely some brewing.

Title: hand in my hand and we promise to never let go Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: M Summary:  Anakin Skywalker was sent to build an elite Jedi team to help end the ten-year Clone Wars. Jedi Knight Naberrie trains hard to be selected and grows closer to the Jedi Master in the process. But with Jedi falling every day in battle, is it safe to follow your heart? Or will war take what's most precious to Padme?

Title: the hardest path Author:  catiiasofia & misschrisdaae Status: complete Rating: G Summary:  Padmé does what she has to for her family. Series: Three Paths Not Followed

Title: heart of a sith Author: therealthing Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  Fourteen years have passed since the inception of the Empire. Darth Vader has been asked to go to Alderaan for an unusual reason, one that Vader soon discovers will change his life forever.

Title: heirs of light and darkness Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: R Summary:  After escaping the Jedi purge two years ago made him the most wanted fugitive in the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker has at last been captured by the Empire. He expects to be killed, but Lady Padmé Amidala, the imperial heir, has other ideas.

Title: heretic pride Author: fialleril Status: WIP/Unupdated Rating: G Summary:  Like most Republic citizens, the Naberries have never spent much time thinking about the Jedi. But that changes with the birth of their daughter Ilaré. (Or, the AU where the third Naberrie daughter is a Jedi, Padmé offers Naboo as a sanctuary for runaway slaves, Shmi is a conductor on the Tatooine freedom trail, and Anakin jump starts a reformation. Or maybe a heresy. It all depends on your point of view.)

Title: hidden Author: disco shop girl Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  Anakin is woken from his dream before it can warn him of his fate. Without that fear hanging over him he feels a disturbance in the force, and chooses to leave before it can manifest itself.

Title:  high above the clouds, my love for you is eternal Author: rogue darth skywalker Status: WIP/Unupdated Rating: M Summary:  Modern Aviation AU. Anakin is a pilot, Padme is a flight attendant. When they meet for the first time he is captivated by her. But much to his surprise she has a young son. This is a story about how bonds are broken, how families are made, and how sacrifice is sometimes necessary to get people where they are meant to be.

Title: hold me in your arms and i’m home Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: M Summary:  It's the ten year reunion for students from Coruscant high and more importantly, a long awaited reunion for two former lovers.

Title: home Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: G Summary:  In which "Darth Vader" is no more than Anakin's playtime alter ego (happy Skywalker family AU)

Title: hypnotic takin’ over me Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: R Summary:  "By the Force… Just how many times had he seen her like this in his dreams? How many times had he run his fingers over her skin? Filled his hands with her perfect backside? Yet, when he was, by some mercy or a cruel joke, granted true sight of her, he was oblivious."

Title: i do take two Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  Thirty years after their clandestine wedding on Naboo, Anakin and Padmé decide to finally do the proper wedding ceremony they never got to have, with all their friends and family present.

Title: i know your type Author: shelivesfree Status: complete Rating: M Summary:  "Am I dead?" It slips out, accidentally. She turns her head towards me, a confused look on her face and tips her head. "Excuse me?" Flashing her an impish grin, I lean casually against the wall. "I must have died and gone to heaven, because you look like an angel." The look she gives me is far from impressed. "Do you use that with all the girls, or am I just lucky?"

Title: i wish i could rewrite the stars Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: G Summary:  Suddenly, forever felt like something that could be real. They could make it real, the two of them together and out of nowhere, tears stung at Anakin's eyes. It just meant so much. Padme loving him too was the stuff of his dreams; something he'd only just dared to believe was possible. But she did.

Title: if blood be the price Author: cadesama Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  Anakin promised to free all the slaves and it is a promise he intends to keep. Struck by visions of a slave uprising on Tatooine, he runs away to join the fight. Five years later, it his new alliance of former slave worlds that the Republic fears, rather than a Separatist threat. Enlisted to negotiate a peace treaty, Senator Amidala is dispatched to find Anakin, alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, who only wishes to bring his former Padawan home.

Title: imperial obligations Author: skywalkersamidala Status: complete Rating: R Summary:  Padmé's advisors suggest that she get rid of Vader and make a politically advantageous marriage. The Empress is less than pleased. One-shot.Series: The Empress and Her Sith Lord.

Title: in his very soul Author:  catiiasofia & misschrisdaae Status: complete Rating: R Summary:  Ten years ago, the effort to liberate Naboo from Trade Federation control failed. Chancellor Palpatine managed to rescue the young Queen Amidala and two of her handmaidens, formally adopting her as his own. The new father and daughter quickly manipulated the Senate into granting him emergency powers and creating the Grand Army of the Republic, letting the Clone Wars begin. Now, assassins are coming for Padmé Palpatine, and her father has entrusted her safety to his mysterious enforcer, Darth Vader. While neither bodyguard nor charge is happy about this arrangement, there is an attraction they cannot ignore.

Title: in search of absolution Author: rogue darth skywalker Status: complete Rating: G Summary:  Padme bit her lip as she placed one last post-it that had the name 'Shmi Skywalker' written on it. She didn't speak. She knew he needed a moment to think - to process what she was silently asking him. 'Are you ready to accept her forgiveness'"She'd want to come to her only son's wedding," She said. He shook his head, "I don't think so. After everything…"

Title: in the past Author: silverdaye Status: WIP Rating: T Summary:  It's been two months after Bespin, and Luke Skywalker is trying to come to terms with the events that happened there. During a dogfight with Darth Vader, both of their fighters crash. When they recover, they both find themselves on Coruscant at the end of the Clone Wars. Vader still aims to claim his son, but Luke has been taken to the Jedi Temple where he meets Anakin Skywalker.

Title: it’s a dangerous love affair Author: gemma Status: complete Rating: M Summary:  Lies, masks, blood and sex. The criminal underworld will swallow you up and spit you out again. One wants revenge and the other wants peace. Can their affair bring the downfall of the two biggest gangs of the underworld?

Title: it’s like deja vu all over again Author: shadowsong26 Status: complete Rating: M Summary:  Three days ago, Padme Amidala closed her eyes for the last time in a sterile white room on an asteroid at the edge of nowhere. Three days ago, she opened them again on a sleek, chrome starship, watching Dorme putting on the finishing touches to Corde's headdress, her own weighted braids a comforting blanket on her back. Padme decides to change things, decides she can save Anakin (and the Galaxy) this time. Except, as time passes, she starts to realize things aren't happening exactly the way she remembers...

Title: (it’s not so bad) being dead like me Author: estrangedlestrange Status: complete Rating: T Summary:  Recently deceased Anakin Skywalker (killed in an taco truck explosion) finds himself not in the after life but recruited as the newest member of the undead, he’s become a grim reaper. He’s told that it’s his destiny but really he thinks it’s just rotten luck. Rotten except for the fact that one of his fellow reapers is Padmé Amidala, the most beautiful woman Anakin’s has seen, dead or alive. As he struggles to come to grips with his death and his new role in the universe, Anakin finds that taking souls isn’t the easiest job out there, he also finds himself falling in love. One-shot.

#anidala #fic rec #anidala fic recs #onlyanidala fic recs #star wars #sw #fanfic #sw fanfic

[fred-george-fic]

In the Middle Pt. 5

Cedric x Reader & George x Reader (Eventually)

A/N: Thank you so so much for all of the support! I love making this series and am glad to share it with all of you. (George’s face in the Weasley twins gif is for sure how he looks when he sees you).

Summary: It’s time for the Yule Ball & Christmas!

Pairing(s): Cedric x Reader & George x Reader (eventually)

Word Count: 2.5k

Masterlist: ~Part 1~Part 2~Part 3~Part 4~

Warnings: none! (italics= letter or note) Y/F/I= your first initial

The Yule Ball

A few weeks later, Professor McGonagall has gathered everyone from Gryffindor and separated everyone with boys on one side and girls on the other. 

“The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since its inception. On Christmas night we and our guests gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity. I expect you all to be on your best behavior, because the Yule Ball is first and foremost a dance.” McGonagall began scanning the room as the girls begin to chat excitedly while the boys instantly groan.

Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell instantly start chatting happily to you about the dance. “And you’re going to get to go with Cedric Diggory!” Angelina said excitedly.

“You’re assuming he’s going to ask me.” You laugh.

“Of course he is! He’s your boyfriend after all.” Katie says. “I just hope someone will ask me.”

“Of course someone will.” You reassure her.

 “Silence!” McGonagall says, instantly quieting the room. “The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you in the course of a single evening, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling bumbling band of baboons.”

You see George whisper something to Fred for both of them to start saying “Babbling Bumbling Band of Baboons” at each other, and begin to quietly laugh.

“-Mr. Weasley. Will you join me please?” McGonagall continues. You notice Ron getting up from his seat, looking absolutely mortified. You make eye contact with George, who mid-laugh stops and takes in a deep breath of air. You stare at each other for a moment before Fred grabs his attention. They begin mock dancing and whisper something to Harry.

“Everyone come together! Boys on your feet!” McGonagall shouts, all the girls get up, but the boys just sit there and look embarrassed. Neville Longbottom gets up and asks Ginny to dance with him. The two of them begin dancing next to McGonagall and Ron. “I will start taking away house points!” McGonagall threatens, prompting the rest of the boys to start asking partners.

Both Fred and George approach you quickly. You think for a moment, and whisper in Fred’s ear. “Go ask Angelina.” He nods his head, understanding what you’re doing and begins dancing with her. 

“Care to dance, Y/N? Or are you going to send me off into the arms of another woman as well?” He asks putting out his arms.

You quickly take them and begin dancing together. “Not quite. Although, if you need someone to ask to the ball, Katie Bell is worried no one will ask her. Fred had expressed to me his interest in Angelina in quidditch, so I thought I’d give him a nudge.” You smile, looking over at Fred and Angelina laughing together. “You however, have never told me of any interest in specific girls.”

“Well, I guess I really haven’t had any.” He looks at you, for a moment too long. Then he quickly looks over at Katie who is dancing with Lee. “Maybe I’ll ask Katie though. She’s always been nice in quidditch. Plus, she’s friends with Angelina, which would make it easier.”

“I think she’s a nice choice.” You smile and continue dancing. George wasn’t the most experienced dancer, but you both had a lot of fun laughing while you did it together.

“You all are dismissed for today!” McGonagall shouted, allowing all the students to leave.

Fred and George met back up and began chatting about asking girls to the ball. George looked back at you, “Are you coming, Y/N?”

“Sorry, I am supposed to meet up with Cedric. But, I’ll meet you for dinner?” You wave at them as they walk away, letting out a small sigh.

Once you were out of earshot, Fred and George began a conversation, unknown to you. “I’m going to ask Angelina to the dance.” Fred says. “Are you going to ask someone, George?”

George looks back in the direction you went and sighs. “Yeah, Katie Bell.”

“But, you want to ask Y/N? But, she’s with Cedric and that would be completely out of line?” Fred looks at his twin with a frown. George just nodded his head not wanting to continue this conversation.

 ------- 

You found Cedric coming out of the same type of meeting, down the corridor a bit. Once he saw you, he said goodbye to his friends and began walking towards you. “Hello, love.” He says wrapping you into a tight hug.

You wrap your arms around him and look up. “Did you have to dance too?” You asked, looking at him.

“Yeah, with Hannah Abbot. Professor Sprout wasn’t much for showing us how, so we sort of just figured it out ourselves.” He laughed, planting a kiss on your forehead. “I wanted to talk to you about the ball actually?”

“Come to tell me you want to ask someone else?”

“Well-“ He thinks for a moment, looking away from you. You start to back up from him, but he catches you. “I’m kidding!” He begins laughing, pulling you towards him.

“Ced!” You attempt to wiggle out of his arms, but he’s holding you firmly.

“Y/N, would you do me the honor of attending the Yule Ball with a Triwizard champion?” He asks with a huge smile on his face. 

“Oh, is Harry looking for a date?” You tease, joining in on his laughter. “Cedric, I would love to go to the ball with you.” He grabs onto you tightly, pulling you close and kissing you deeply. Once he pulls away, you both smile.

“Ready for Herbology?” You ask holding your hand out for him. He grabs it kissing you quickly, and heading off in the direction of the Greenhouse.

--------

During the next week, you were sitting in study hall next to Fred and George. You watch as Fred scribbles out a note a passes it to Ron:

             Get a move on or all the good ones will have gone

 Ron looks at Fred and mouths, “Who’re you going with, then?”

Fred holds up one finger, crumples up a piece of paper and throws it at Angelina, who turns her head slowly and glares. Fred points at her, then himself and makes a dancing motion. Angelina smiles and nods her head causing him to wink at Ron. He turns to Hermione and says “So, Hermione, you’re a girl?”

“Well spotted.” She says continuing writing her notes.

“It’s one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl, it’s just sad.” You see Harry’s eyes get wide as the words come out of Ron’s mouth.

Hermione instantly looks up, glaring at him. “I won’t be going alone because, believe it or not, someone’s asked me!” She whispers loudly, grabbing her notebook, handing it to Professor Snape and running out.

“You’ve really done it this time, Ron.” You said, handing your book to Snape and following her out. You head towards the Gryffindor common room and notice Hermione sitting inside on the couch. “Don’t listen to him, Hermione.” You say wrapping your arm around her.

“He’s just so infuriating!” She slams her book down on the table. “If he was really so concerned, he should’ve just asked me himself!”

“If only boys were smart enough to think like that.” You said with a small laugh. “Who’s your date?” 

“Promise not to tell?” She looks at you.

“Promise.” You put a cross over your heart.

“Victor Krum.” She blushes heavily.

“Victor Krum! I knew he’s been eyeing you ever since he got here!” You excitedly hug her. Suddenly, George and Fred walk in with Ron and Harry in tow. As soon as Hermione sees Ron she excuses herself and heads up to her dormitory.

“George asked Katie to the ball!” Fred shouts as he plops down on the couch next to you.

“He did?” You look over at George who is visibly embarrassed about the entire situation.

“And she said yes.” Harry adds in, taking a seat nearby.

“Congratulations, George!” You cheer, but once you make eye contact with him you notice that he isn’t smiling. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m great.” He says but there’s no recognizable emotion in his face. Before you can protest, he begins to walk upstairs. You look over at Fred and he just shrugs and follows up after him.

 -----

The morning of December 25th was usually your favorite. Typically, you would spend it at the Burrow with the Weasley family. But, since the Yule Ball was this year, everyone was spending the holidays at Hogwarts. However, when mail came in the morning, there was a specific gift for each Weasley kid, Harry, and you. You opened the package carefully, reading the note Molly left inside.

 Y/N,

       Happy Christmas! I talked with your mother yesterday, you will be    accompanying the boys and Ginny here again for the Summer if you would like.

 With Love,

           Molly Weasley

 You open your gift, revealing a blue jumper with a large yellow Y/F/I on the front, which matched Fred and George’s. Your face broke into a wide smile as you slipped it over your head, putting it on. You see the boys and Ginny following suit.

“I’ve never seen someone so happy to be putting on a Weasley jumper.” Ron says looking down at his with a grimace.

“Did mom send you a letter?” George asks picking up the piece of paper on the table.

“Your parents aren’t coming back again?” Fred asks reading the paper over George’s shoulder.

“Did you two really think my mother would stop traveling with her husband long enough to acknowledge that she has a child?” You look at both of them and shrug. “He hates magic anyways and we’ll be seventeen by that time, meaning we can use magic outside of school.”

George nods his head in understanding. “You can use magic around our house all you want.” You smile at him and begin to start eating breakfast. 

-------

After breakfast, you spend some time in the common room with Hermione studying together before getting ready for the ball. You both begin to get ready together, helping each other along the way. You change into a light blue sheer dress that has flowers embroidered on it. As the light hits it, there’s a faint shimmer. You also put your hair in a half-up half-down style. You look over at Hermione, who’s wearing a beautiful ombre pink ruffled dress.

“Wow, Hermione! You look amazing!” You say admiring her dress.

“Me? Look at you!” She motions to your dress. “Cedric is going to be speechless.” You smile at her and the two of you begin walking towards the Great Hall together.

As you begin walking down the steps with Hermione, you notice everyone left in the hall way is looking at you both. You make eye contact with George, who stares at you for a long moment before offering you a small wave. You give it back to him and scan the hall until your eyes land on Cedric. He was in the middle of a conversation, but immediately stopped the moment he saw you. Victor approaches first, offering his arm to Hermione, who smiles and takes it. Cedric is close behind, offering you his arm, which you kindly take.

“You look absolutely stunning.” He says walking towards the doors to the Great Hall.

You blush slightly, looking over at Cedric. “You are incredibly handsome tonight yourself.” You kiss him on the cheek as Professor McGonagall starts putting you in the correct order. You and Cedric are third in line, behind Hermione and Victor but in front of Harry and Cho.

As you walk into the hall, everyone begins clapping loudly. Cedric leans towards you, “I seriously cannot get over how gorgeous you are.” He smiles at you as you take the dance floor together.

The song begins causing you to forget about all the people staring at you. In this moment, it’s just you and Cedric enjoying a dance together, everything else just seems to fade away. Cedric’s smile continues as you two dance together. For the first time since Cedric put his name in the Goblet of Fire, you’re not worried about the tournament. At this moment, you were enjoying a dance with a boy like any normal witch could do. As the song ended, you noticed that others had joined the champions on the dance floor. You curtsy to Cedric and he offers you a bow. Instantly, the Weird Sisters start playing “Do the Hippogriff”, igniting cheers from the crowd followed by more dancing.

 -------

As the night continued on, you and Cedric continued to dance together. Eventually, he went off to get a drink and you found the Weasley twins sitting on two chairs having a conversation. “Excuse me boys? It seems you’re missing your third part member?” You try to make your voice sound different to try and confuse them.

“Yeah, well she-“ George began before looking up at you. “Y/N?”

“Well, don’t you two look sophisticated.” You say with a wide grin, taking a seat next to George.

“We clean up good, don’t we?” Fred slightly fixed his dress robes and smirked at you.

“Where are Katie and Angelina?” You ask, noticing the two boys didn’t have their dates.

“They’re getting snacks.” George said pointing towards the Great Hall doors. He looks back at you, staring at you for a moment. “You look great, Y/N.” George says, trying to seem nonchalant. 

Fred nods in agreement. “Yeah, it looks like all three of us know how to clean up!”

You laugh and as you look back at the doors you notice Cedric walking back in. “Well, goodnight boys. I’ll see you tomorrow.” You wave at them and head back towards Cedric.

Once your back is turned, George throws his head in his hands. “She looks bloody gorgeous, Fred!”

“Well, you better pull it together, mate. Katie and Angelina are coming back.” Fred says watching their dates return. “Welcome back, ladies.”

You reach Cedric and he wraps you into a warm embrace. “I wish this night could last forever.”

“Me too. How about one more dance? A slow one?” You ask.

“I would be delighted.” He grabs your hand leading you to the dance floor for the final dance of the evening. You sway to the music together, kissing him softly as the song ends. His face immediately forming into a wide smile.

Cedric walks you back to your common room, kissing you again before saying goodbye and walking back to his own common room. You slide inside the door, noticing a few stragglers who either didn’t attend the ball or had recently come back. You look around to see if George and Fred are around, but when you see they aren’t you head up to your dorm. You change your clothes, putting your Christmas jumper back on and crawl into bed.

-------

Tag List:

@stardewsnail @imheadintothemountains​

If you would like to be added/removed from the tag list, comment, ask or message me and let me know!

#harry potter #harry potter imagine #the weasley twins #george weasley x reader #cedric diggory x reader #george weasley imagines #cedric diggory imagines #the goblet of fire #cedric diggory #george weasley #the yule ball

[butmakeitgayblog]

maam we’re all down bad for demon lexa of course we want a sneak peek

Ok but be kind because it's still rough 👉🏻👈🏻

Snippet of Demon au Ch. 6

//////////

"God help me," Clarke sighed as she turned back toward the stairs, flippantly making peace with the inkling that she'd somehow just signed her own sexual death warrant. "I'm going home."

"Hang on there, gorgeous. Even if you're not gonna stay, I still really don't like the thought of you riding the train at…," Lexa's voice trailed off as she reached over to turn her alarm clock around, "twelve-thirty at night."

Clarke's eyes widened as she halted and wheeled around to look out the window at the far end of the room, truly registering the thickness of the dark that had descended outside. "We've been fucking for eight hours?!"

Lexa shot her a lazy smirk and shrugged. "Technically only five, if you don't count travel time and our little nap… Like I said, you're very talented with your hands. And I think we both had a little bit of… pent up energy to get out."

Sucking in a lungful of the smoky scent that mixed with the twang of arousal that lingered in the air, Clarke thought over the evening again. The glimpses of a blood-orange sunset serving as a backdrop to rose colored lips, the heavy hang of angry looking clouds rolling at the periphery of swirling green. She thought of thunderous moans and lightning sparked orgasms. But for the life of her, Clarke couldn't think of how so much time had slipped through her fingers.

"You really could stay," Lexa said, breaking Clarke out of her reverie. "Just to sleep, I promise."

"No," Clarke sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "I'd still need to go home and shower and all that… Damnit."

"But I don't want you taking the train in this weather. Or this late.."

"The trains aren't running anymore anyway," she pointed out, letting her hands fall to her sides with a slap. "It's fine. I'll just call a ride."

Clarke watched as Lexa's jaw twitched, visibly biting back an argument as she stayed silent, then nodded. 

Awkward and not sure of exactly what to do with her hands, Clarke gave a tight-lipped smile as she bid a soft 'Night, Lex' and moved to start down the stairs--

"Clarke."

Turning at the sound of her name, Clarke's eyes fell to the woman lounging in her bed, the sinews of porcelain skin practically glowing against the midnight plumes of black.

Lexa's hand rose from her side, her index finger curling twice in a beckoning motion. Clarke felt powerless against the pull of such a siren's call, her feet moving her away from the staircase and back toward the bed. 

She swayed as she reached her, swallowing at the dryness clinging to her throat as she bent down at Lexa's silent urging, her hands coming to rest at either side of Lexa's hips. 

Fingers laced through the wispy hair at Clarke's neck, Lexa's hand holding her in a light grip and guiding her down. Clarke let herself fall into the kiss, mouth opening at the coaxing of a velvet slick tongue. 

The kiss was all shades of glitter and lust-drunk gold, every touch and heady lick, Lexa deepening her movements from the very first touch of their lips. The feel of it shot through her as she yielded to Lexa's gentle intensity, fists and toes curling as she kissed Clarke deeper. It was sensual, and far too filthy than any 'goodnight' kiss had any right to be.

Final moan rumbled through Lexa's chest as she finally pulled back, leaving Clarke entirely breathless and panting above her.

"Goodnight," Lexa whispered, that goddamn smirk finding its way back to swollen lips as she settled back into the pillows. 

Clarke groaned, smooshing one more angry kiss to full lips before pushing up and stomping back toward the stairs. "Fuck, I hate you sometimes."

"Mhm. Text me when you get home."

"Yeah, yeah," Clarke said, tossing a half-hearted scowl over her shoulder as she started her way down. "You just… remember our deal. Discreet."

"Of course, gorgeous," Lexa smiled with a demure wag of her fingers. "Nothing but discreet."

/////

Lexa is a fucking liar. 

A filthy one at that. 

The tentative truce to keep things private completely shot to hell within barely twelve hours of its inception.

And really, Clarke knew how naive it had been to think the woman would actually keep her hands to herself. 

But standing in the breakroom, mouth shouting muffled exaltations of panted sin into the palm of Lexa's hand as the other worked between her legs, she truly hadn't anticipated that this was the method Lexa would've chosen to break her resolve. 

"You gotta be quiet, gorgeous," Lexa hummed with a lick to Clarke's ear. "Don't want anyone to hear us, do we?"

Clarke could feel the stretch of Lexa's smile as two fingers fucked her in lazy strokes, the maddening lack of urgency to her thrusts causing Clarke to nearly collapse in the arms wrapped around her from behind.

She mumbled Lexa's name in a holy cry of desperation. Hips followed her buck for twitching buck as Clarke yanked the hand away from her mouth to hiss out her prayers for mercy. 

"Lexa, please. I can't--"

A chuckle vibrated against the skin of her neck, teeth followed by tongue giving way to hotly whispered words.

"Aww. What's the matter, Clarke?" Lexa asked, the click of the 'k' feeling like a punch to the gut. "I thought you said I could touch you when we're alone."

"Godammit," Clarke grunted as she reached back and laced a hand through wild curls to yank her closer. "You know this isn't what I meant."

"No?"

Clarke's thighs shook and breath caught as Lexa thrust as far as she could go, her fingers bending in a wicked hook before pulling out completely. A groan died in her throat as two fingers pressed over the swell of her clit and rolled in tight circles. 

Lexa's breath came in pants as she rested her forehead against Clarke's temple, her free hand sliding up the length of Clarke's waist to massage her breast through her blouse. "Are you sure?... Because I think you're liking this."

"I think you could come just from the thought of it. Sweet, little Clarke, getting fucked in the breakroom." The gritty sound of Lexa's voice had her whimpering, the words and visions playing through her head catapulting toward the edge. "God, can you imagine?... Someone walking in while I'm inside you? Seeing you right as you fall apart for me."

"Oh fuck yes--" 

Voice high-pitched and straining as images crashed through her mind, Clarke flung herself into the surge of her orgasm as the world exploded around her, gripping the fistful of brunette tighter and pulling Lexa into a sloppy kiss. She could barely hold the pieces of herself together as they each struggled to swallow the hallowed sounds of her pleasure. 

Arms flexed and held her close as she slowly came down, her lips detaching with a satisfied sigh as her bones turned soft and spent. The cradle of Lexa's shoulder caught her head as it lulled back, a delirious sort of chuckle rumbling up from deep within her chest at the euphoric feel of it allo. Their bodies rocked in a lazy sway as the final echoes of release coursed through Clarke's veins, the soothing pattern of Lexa's kisses along the column of her throat helping Clarke find her way back down to Earth. 

"I am gonna kick your ass for that…" Clarke murmured, eyes closed and face still turned toward the heavens. "Just as soon as I can feel my legs again."

/////////

Ok. All I have left to write is the end portion (which is smut because I apparently have a problem) and then it's off to the beta 😘

#anon #demon!lexa #sneak peek #clexa

[stealingpotatoes]

The World As It Should(’ve) Be(en)

(feat. some illustrations with no consistent style that were all done in under ten minutes)

I know I’m not the only one who thought Delilah’s “The World As It Should Be” could have been a lot cooler.., so get this: what if there was another mission to dh2

(trust me it's a cool idea -- if you can’t be bothered to read, just look at the pictures) 

So EVERYTHING is the same up until the bit where you go into the portal. You roll up to Death To The Empress thinking that's the last mission... but no! You go in the portal and it gives you your end of mission stats! and you're like ?? wait what i thought i was about to go kill Delilah?

The ACTUAL final mission (and actual Delilah take-out mission) takes place in a Much Better version of The World As It Should Be. 

The final mission starts and you land exactly at the port where you start Death To The Empress, but everything is different about Dunwall. everything’s completely off and wack;  it's sunny, the streets are bright, everyone looks happy! there are flowers everywhere! It's super aesthetic and pretty. The clothing’s also different from the rest of the game. 

You walk through the same streets you walked through in the mission you just did, and there aren't wolfhounds and ppl patrolling the streets, it's not in ruin, it all looks very nice! (you land at the docks for parallels/ to make it very obvious what's changed, not because it makes sense). People are talking; they're happy! there are no guards about at all so you can walk freely and see it all, explore around this world. And the people are talking about how great empress delilah is, mainly. 

And as you go through, you find notes, books, and dialogue etc that hints to an entirely different past; in the first parts of dunwall, you find that delilah has been empress for like 26 years! not just a month and a half. The story pieces together as you go along, and you work out that this is a world where Delilah was never thrown out and her father's false promises were fulfilled. This is her world as it should be. 

But things keep happening to remind you that it isn't real; perhaps the sky sometimes turns to the Void, with whales floating above you, and things will somtimes momentarily look like a painting of Delilah's, not detailed reality. People’s speech repeats and loops too often. Creepiest of all, people randomly turn to stone, then back out, as if it never happened. If you put the corrupted rune in earlier, there might be more glitches than if you didn't. the glitches get more pronounced/ more obvious as you get closer and everything starts to feel a little too perfect, more and more as you go on. Everything becomes more uncomfortable. (And if you kill people in the world, nobody reacts at all. They just let you do it)

Plus, overall it feels like a very childish city? as if this might all be a little girl's dollhouse, not a real place. 

You make your way to the Tower, where you find that there’s a party going on. A really nice party -- puts Lady Boyle’s Last Party to shame. Dunwall Tower again looks super nice and aesthetic. The outfits are again really nice but again rather childish. 

A cool glitch here would be the partygoers keep stopping and just looking dead at you w no transition or anything. One second they’re talking, the next everyone at the party is staring straight at you. Then suddenly they’re talking again, as if that never happened. Also a lot of the partygoers faces repeat too often, reminding you that this is a simulation. 

In the tower/ closer to the tower, you find more history stuff, but it's more intimate/ detailed i guess? ONE VERY NOTABLE THING YOU FIND is letters from Jessamine (!!!) who is very much alive but is just -- and has always been -- the imperial princess!!!!!!!

The letters mention stuff that shows she and delilah are close. jessamine is in this and not suffering bc it's delilah's childish, perfect world! where nothing went wrong and jess is still her sister and del doesn't hate jess! (this is to kind of push it in your face that Del is Like You i guess, but also that smthn smthn she's still thinking like a little girl bc this all stems off childhood trauma etc)

Tho as people, not the player character, Emily & Corvo are ignored in the world as it should be/ there's no mention of jessamine's family bc this is delilah's world and she's not thinking abt other people. 

At the party, you see a woman who you discover is Delilah's mother, alive and well -- which again pushes the whole "this is delilah's perfect world". She talks to you a bit, talks about delilah. Makes you see a different side of her (but you can't be sure it's real; this is Delilah’s perfect, adoring world). She says she ought to go somewhere else. Things keep glitching, whales phase through the walls (it’s super cool). 

You continue through the party, when suddenly you see a woman in a dark dress. She stands out from the rest of the party, in their bright colours, and it’s pretty hard to miss her. This woman is none other than Lady Jessamine Kaldwin, your dead mother or secret wife (whose, bear in mind, soul you let go 2 missions ago). Her outfit is similar to the one in Delilah’s childhood painting of her, childishness of Delilah’s world repeated. 

The fact Jessamine is here makes Delilah almost more relatable (especially seeing as you just spoke to her lost loved one, her mother). It makes you understand her more because you know the protag wants more than anything to have a world where Jess lives. It helps you to understand why Delilah made this more. Actually, this whole mission is sort of "uhuhuh delilah is actually sympathetic" BUT you can still very much interpret it as her lying to you, because this is a manipulation of reality -- what's to say she isn't still lying?

Anyway, you can go up and talk to Jessamine (the game sort of encourages you to talk to her). But she doesn’t recognise you. Emily and Corvo don’t exist in Delilah’s false world, so Jessamine has never known you. It’s very painful for the protag (you can hear it in their dialogue), because their loved one is alive, but she doesn’t know you. You have dialogue options to try to convince her it’s you/ she knows you, but they don’t work. 

While Jessamine doesn’t recognise you, she does say she’d certainly like to spend more time with you. She tries to convince you to stay here, more or less (yes, Inception is one of my favourite movies, what about it?) But the protag says they have a mission/ that they need to see Delilah.    

Jessamine will offer to take you to Delilah, which results in a conversation -- will get to that later. The other option is keep winding through the party and to the throne room yourself. 

Either way, you get to the throne room, where you find Delilah. Again direct parallel. Same pose as before, but this time, her throne room isn't dark and covered in murderous vines, it's bright and full of adoring people/ partygoers (it’s a sort of parallel to the start of the game too, especially if you walk in with Jessamine).

 Delilah doesn’t quite know you’re here. She has a vague idea of who you are, but she doesn’t hate you at all. Breanna is by Delilah’s side, no matter what you did in the Conservatory. However, you don’t see any of the other Coup Crew members there -- this highlights how they were just tools to her, not people she cared for.

So you have three (yes, three — this is where things get even more fun) options here. Lethal, non-lethal, and the option I’ll get to later. 

Lethal is straightforward. You kill Delilah however (nobody stops you), and the entire world begins to collapse in on itself/ break apart and very disruptively becomes the Void again. This maybe ends with you having to fight/ assassinate some Delilah copies in the near empty void/ something more similar to the World As It Should Be as we see in game.

Non-lethal is easier if you placed the corrupted rune on the throne in DTTE, but you can still do it otherwise. It would of course be something to do with trapping Delilah in the World -- somehow cutting off the exit before you go so she can’t escape, should she realise this isn’t reality. 

If you pick either of these ways, you go through the portal again and return to the depressing and dark Dunwall, your Dunwall, and free your family member. (Or take the throne if you’re in super high chaos, I guess). All goes the same. 

Now, the third option. The third option is to stay in the false world. It’s to stay with Jessamine, in this perfect Dunwall. To get this option, you talk to Delilah after Jess takes you to her (though you can still talk to her without Jess guiding you, Jess’ll appear). 

Of course, you have the option to talk to Delilah and say this is all crazy, it’s not real, and proceed to do the former two options. But you also have the option to say you understand her or something, and she more or less offers for you to stay. 

When you first express interest in staying, the Outsider suddenly appears. He’s there to try to convince you that you need to get rid of Delilah, and that your other family member is frozen in stone back in the real Dunwall. But then what Delilah does, absolute madlad, is make a copy of your family member, but how they looked in DH1, not now (idk HOW, but she does it -- she is god in this part of the Void so she just can). Delilah wants you to stay, especially if you’re Marked. Jessamine also tries to convince you to remain here, and she’s harder to ignore. 

You again have the option to reject Delilah’s reality (you get a lot of options to do this), but if you choose to ignore the Outsider, you say something about him “wanting to keep power for himself”, just a lot of insulting really (being about as nice as he was to you, maybe.)e’ll disappear again, unable to stay in Delilah’s part of the Void. And you can stay with your unbroken family, with Jessamine who is alive. And not return to the real world, where you don’t know if your family member will be able to be revived from stone. 

(Seeing as Delilah was in Jess’ heart, perhaps she’s able to make a Jess who is almost the same as the Jess you knew)  

The third ending plays on the themes of “emily/ corvo has been ignoring the suffering in the Empire”. This is the ultimate way you can ignore it all. You can choose to completely and utterly ignore the now in ruin empire that you walked through earlier, and ignore all the people you promised to help along the way and everything you learnt. Or, you can show you’ve changed since the start, and go back to harsh reality. It won’t be nice, but you can’t ignore your people’s suffering again. Imo it gives the character more of an arc, rather than only having the option to return to the throne. 

But yeah, if you pick the third ending, the Outsider of course does his speech. He tells you how the Empire has falled to chaos, fallen to civil war, as everyone vys for the throne and its power. He tells you how your allies fare. And then you see Empress Delilah on her throne in the false world (you see a few glitches to remind you it’s fake). But then you see the protagonist and their family together. It’s a really cute family moment, and aside from the protagonist being the wrong age compared to their family (you’ve got adult Em with dh1 Corvojess, or dh2 Corvo with Jess and 10yo Emily). There are no glitches bc the protag would be ignoring them.  Everything seems entirely perfect. 

Anyways! I hope you liked this! Don’t get me wrong, I love Dishonored 2, it’s one of my favourite games. I just think the World As It Should Be was a sort of missed oppurtunity for something VERY cool. 

#dishonored 2 #dishonored #delilah copperspoon #emily kaldwin #corvo attano #Jessamine kaldwin

[hiriajuu-suffering]

Reasons I believe in Polyamory

I’ll preface this by saying I’m not attractive enough to be able to have more than a single partner at once, but there is a reason for that, and really, the thesis of this wall of text below: heteronormative relationship standards in every culture have always been, and will continue to always be, more about possession than love in a post-imperialistic world.

Personally, I’m a huge proponent of engendered sexuality variance to the tone of males have a constant slow drip of libido and a female’s sex drive hits them like a freight train once a month (in mammalian bioepigenetics, this makes sense). I’m inclined to infer, because I’m not idyllically normatively attractive, only a fraction of a percentage of women will be attracted to me 24-27 days of any given month. As a cisgendered man who is regrettably straight, having the least attractive genoethnic identity intersection (South Asian Muslim) in Western culture, I’m never actually presented with the choices to act on a poly mindset (in fact, I would be ridiculed for it because people think it aligns with some other gross tribal stereotype when it couldn’t be further from the truth). In retrospect, I have everything to gain from interpreting the main benefit of an intimate relationship as ownership like heteronormative culture generally does yet I still think disavowing poly as a legitimate personal choice is immoral.

I know saying monogamous relationships are more about possession than love will offend lots of people, so before you throw hate at me for your emotionally defensive skepticism, hear me out. An unflinching, unyielding love is seen as the highest parameter in any type of romance. So why is it cheating is so much of a bigger problem than a dry spell specifically? Is it because it’s legitimately a breach of trust, or is it more about “if I can’t have you, no one can”? More importantly, does it go a step further and say “if I don’t want you, no one should”? To me, any sort of dry spell (whether physically, emotionally, mentally) signifies a much larger breach of trust than simply having been shared because it shows said commitment in the relationship was not unflinching, not unyielding. The monogamous lens looks at others like: I want to have the best partner, not just so that I’m happy, but no one else can receive the specific happiness I get. Doesn’t that whole mindset come off as brutish? Just me? Well, maybe your pitchforks will start coming down when you realize monogamy is a function of toxic patriarchy on both feminine and masculine ends.

There are bioevolutionary reasons for toxic femininity to value the possession aspect of a relationship over its substantive “quality of life” components, the birth-giving gender in any animalistic specie always had to be beheld to a provider they reproduce with. Does it not then represent a sense of feminine fragility when a single mother immediately demands a long-term relationship and nothing else? If I’m to believe said woman is capable of genuine lust in her system, having a child shouldn’t evaporate all carnal desires completely and, therefore, should leave room for compromise. Said stance also indicates she made some sort of error in judgment of her chosen reproductive mate and feels entitled another man ought remedy her strife even though, evolutionarily speaking, he has nothing to gain from helping to rear offspring not of his kin. Harsh, to be sure, but it does show in the obnoxiousness of the connotation of becoming a stepdad being a positive one and becoming a stepmom assumes the motivation of some gain in status (wealth, fame, power, etc.) which I would argue is negative. Where does toxic masculinity come into play? Desire for possession on the part of a male promotes the viability and exclusivity of his own children with his most desirable partner. While that’s damn near nowhere as compelling, it has to be stated because there are always two benefactors to patriarchy. Patriarchy is not a zero sum game, patriarchy seeks to concentrate all familial social benefits in the monogamously-driven, heteronormative genus, away from those who deviate from the ideal picture of stereotypical gender roles. The ill effects of patriarchal standards exist in every human civilization, but the ontological root to the specific brand of patriarchy that oppresses all genders today was spread by a culture that uniquely preached monogamy.

Polygamy, in a historical sense, was a testament to the more status a person of the provider gender could achieve, the more their genetics would proliferate. Many cultures globally practiced this, the issue is, the ones that didn’t were the ones who, often violently, “conquered” the ones that did. Christian fundamentalism is in every fiber of international morality, whether the nation in question believes in Christianity or not is often irrelevant. Monogamy is enforced, anything outside of that is deemed as necessarily being deviant (whether choosing to be alone or choosing more connections than a monocule). Fetishization of the step relation is eluding to this deviance in a not-so-subtle way because it’s something where its allure is derived from its forbiddenness moreso than its convenience, every one of these scenarios has a subtext of implicit gain, not loss, in engagement. Meaning, the idea is planted because a hot person is there not because a person in general is there and can satiate an urge. Tl;dr - we believe polyamory is a morally negative act because the Holy Roman Empire did and every nation that spawned from it spread, imparted, and coerced that ideal on every culture it came into contact with. Before the Holy Roman Empire, no historical documents made distinctions to behest multiple lovers as desanctifying of life itself, not even the coalescing of nations that made up the Holy Roman Empire before its inception.

We are now in an era when women have access to full reproductive control, yet we still see men lust more than women, e.g. archetypal lesbian tendencies versus archetypal gay male tendencies. Do we not question why this is the case? All lifeforms are hardwired with a desire to survive and reproduce, so why does that drive not reach equity when risk does? There are two answers, and it could even be both: women are only socially conditioned to have sex via patriarchal pressures and don’t have as much inherent desire to reproduce OR sex is a means-to-an-end to exclusively possess a desired provider, whatever said person provides. If said person has a trait valuable enough to want to possess, is it not self-contrived to keep that quality to oneself, not share it with the world where it can provide more utility? Heteronormative relationships, in a sense, are anti-altruistic at their very core. As facetious as this sounds, either of these trains of thought are validated by men being more willing to engage in polyamory than women, not because men are somehow any less loyal than women. On its own, I feel this line of reasoning is enough to justify a vehement disgust of polyamory as immoral, but I want to conclude on the most pivotal facet to this conversation and not just heavily imply monogamy encroachment on moral turpitude is problematic at best.

As I mentioned a few times, I am likely to be a spoke on a polycule, not a member with multiple connections. Exclusive possession is something I probably stand more to gain from than any woman, logically and realistically, given the current social climate and general global beauty standards. My advocacy of polyamory stems from me accepting I may not be enough to be the full extent of happiness my romantic interest desires. That doesn’t even come from a place of insecurity, it comes from a place knowing I could never be perfect even if its pursuit is a righteous cause. I see real insecurity as a fear of loss when the rules of engagement you put into place were exclusivity: you don’t want your partner looking at anyone else because it’s disadvantageous to you, meaning you’re not fixated on their best interest and looking at relationships in said manner is deliberately selfish. To me, the best frame of reference to morality in interpersonal social connections is altruism. Yeah, self-love is important and knowing your own boundaries is beneficial but everyone else’s boundaries don’t have to match yours. I’m not anti-monogamist, really. I’m more anti-polyamorist discontent.

Not having thought this deeply isn’t an excuse, either.

#personal #polyamory #polyamourous #polyandry #polycule #polyam life #polyam relationship #polyamourus pride #polyam tag #polyamorous #polyamoury #polyamorus

[nemesis729]

I would love, love, love to read your full thoughts ❤

Okay, *cracks fingers*, sit tight because this may be a beast to type out and it may take a few more rereads and some block quotes for me to do a full in-depth analysis. Translation: I’m going to try to do a full-on essay with this because there’s a lot to unpack.

Really, it all boils down to one thing. Billy has a lot to learn. That’s basically been my thought since Reader called it quits at the gala. 

Since the inception of the arrangement, Billy kept the reader at arms’ length. The Reader was aware enough (due to her childhood, most likely) that Billy would run for the hills if anything resembling emotions and relationships were to enter the equation. So, of course, she decided to settle for what he could give her. Okay, yeah, it’s amazing sex but, after a while, it can leave a person cold if there’s little to no emotion involved. In any case, after the wake-up call, Reader decides that she wants more than the scraps and isn’t willing to settle for what he’s giving her. When she ends it with Billy, he’s completely blind-sided because, all of a sudden, without him noticing, Reader is showing that she isn’t as biddable as he expected her to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if, at the gala, he expected her to fall in line when he had her up against a column. 

Anyway, I digress. If anything, because Reader was easy-going in his eyes and he didn’t care enough to observe her during the almost-year of their arrangement, I shouldn’t be surprised that he didn’t understand why she ended things. Seriously, you can’t just pay attention to what’s being said. You also have to pay attention to what’s not being said. 

That’s kind of what I wanted to rant about for chapters 1 through 3. This essentially sums up Billy’s thoughts on the reader:

Up until last Saturday, you had barely been a blip on his radar. Sure you guys were fuck buddies and he liked your easygoing personality, but the thing he appreciated most about you was that you were low maintenance. You didn’t demand anything from him emotionally and that meant he didn’t have to put in any effort into the relationship.

This, in itself, is very telling. For me, it brings home the idea that the arrangement mostly benefitted Billy. Since we, as the audience, know that Reader felt more for Billy than he did for her, we’re left thinking, “wow, what a douchebag,” about him. Like, seriously, during those months they were together, he didn’t make little observations about the reader? No filing away about what her preferences are? Her tics? 

If you were someone he cared about he may have gone over to check on you or made more of an effort to get in touch but, really, he couldn’t be bothered.

That basically summed up the first arc of Reader and Billy’s relationship, such as it was. And, when she decided that enough was enough and she deserved something more substantial, all of a sudden, she’s interesting and now he wants her. 

At this point, I want to say that the tables have turned. Except, I can’t. Maybe. Possibly. Before, Reader suffered in silence about her feelings where she stood in Billy’s life because she was self-aware and able to read the room with regards to Billy. She knew him enough that any discussion about the future and commitments were a no-go for him. Now, when Reader doesn’t want anything to do with him, Billy wants her. As I previously pointed out in my last reply, does he want her for her or is it a point of pride because she was the one that ended it first and not him?

It’s, as the kids say, pretty sus.

Anyhoo, the latest installment of “A Woman Scorned.” What a doozy. The chapter had everything from tension, UST, and protective best friends. 

Davina is the best friend we all wish we had and what we aspire to be. I love how protective she is over the reader. I also enjoyed how judgmental she was at Billy’s lack of knowledge about reader. Here are my favorite scenes:

“Billy Russo.”

Davina ignored his hand, lifting her eyebrow. “I don’t like you.”

“Clearly.”

“And I don’t like that you’re messing around with my friend.”

Billy stood up straight, concerned. “Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. She texted me and told me she couldn’t make it. If I didn’t have to host this thing, I’d be at her place right now. I think she’s a bit freaked out.”

He placed his drink back on the bar. “I’ll go over and see her.”

“What do you want with her?”

This time he couldn’t hide his annoyance. “Enough with the third degree. I’m just going to check up on her. Unless you want her to be alone right now?”

Davina’s eyes narrowed. She was gauging him carefully to see whether he could be trusted or not. At first he had no idea which decision she landed on, but the eventual resignation gave her away. “Let her know I’ll come by tomorrow.”

“Y/N’s not the type to admit when something’s wrong. With her, it’s like pulling teeth.”

“But she has a tell. When she’s upset, she buys shoes.”

“You’ve been sleeping with her for months and you don’t know what she likes?”

As much as Davina would love to keep Billy from Reader, she knows something happened and she knows a familiar face might help Reader in some way or another. Judging by the resignation, she probably wouldn’t be surprised if reader fell into bed with Billy while she’s vulnerable.

Anyhoo, I said it once and I’ll say it again. Billy has a lot to learn.

It was obvious Davina hated him, which made him wonder if that’s why you’d decided to cut him off so suddenly. He filed the question away in his brain, making a mental note to find out the answer from you at some point.

Read the room, Billy! For someone so smart, he has the emotional awareness of a rock. Maybe he’s thinking with the wrong head? That’s something to consider.

During that time when Billy visited reader, his takeaway should be paying attention to what the reader isn’t saying as well as what she is. At the gala, he pointed out that the reader is closed off. That should’ve given him some sign that there’s something more going on.  

He cocked his eyebrow. “Maybe it’s just you I need to learn more about.”

“I think it’s a little late for that.”

Right now, if we’re heading towards the official end of the relationship (and, in the reader’s eyes, we are), this is the epitome of “too little, too late”.

“It’s never too late.” His eyes were suddenly intense, in a way you were only used to seeing when he was angry or turned on. “Maybe you can show up at my place one night, wearing that robe, your favourite heels and nothing else.”

Billy is pretty optimistic that they will still be together. Enough said.

“No. You don’t know what I like.”

He leaned forward, eyes seductively drifting down to your lips. “I have a pretty good idea of what gets you off.”

“Yeah, but what gets me off and what I like might be two different things.”

Billy, I like you but you really need to pay attention and take notes! Of course he would be observant on what gets reader off but has he ever observed her in a non-sexual but intimate way? Somehow, I doubt it. 

“You grew up rich, didn’t you?” he taunted, drumming his fingers on the table.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because only someone who has money would say it doesn’t matter.”

You laughed, chugging the remainder of your wine. If he only knew. “Sure, Billy.”

The fact that she doesn’t say anything more about her family should speak volumes. See the other receipts:

“You have a lot of pictures up,” he remarked. “But there isn’t a single one of you with your family. There’s no sign of them in your apartment.”

“I’m not close to my family.”

“So you and the fam don’t get along?” he probed.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Billy,” you whined, taking a sip of your drink. “I don’t want to talk about my family.”

The reader’s childhood is next-level levels of messed up. If her father was like that, I can only imagine how her mother is. And since she doesn’t have pictures of any of her family, I can say that her mother wasn’t Mrs. Brady. 

One thing I can say about Billy is that at least he didn’t take advantage of reader while she was vulnerable. 

Billy’s jaw was clenched with anger but you told yourself it wasn’t because of you. He was simply pissed Anvil’s competitor was still more successful despite their negligence.

Whether he knows it or not, he cares about her. Knowing the reader, she thinks that he’s more upset on behalf of Anvil as a form of self-preservation. If she were more secure about what they are to each other, she would know that he’s angry because she was in danger. Unfortunately, because she realized that she probably won’t be more to Billy than a bedwarmer, it’s dangerous for her to think that way. 

Still, I have to admit that I liked how he just hugged her. Whether it was in comfort or to lead to something more...that’s going to be a problem in the next chapter. But, in that moment, he sensed Reader needing comfort and did something about it. That might be a smidgeon of growth right there.

Okay, wow, that was way longer than I thought. So, here are my final thoughts:

Billy’s an asshole but he’s our asshole and we love him. Even when he’s earnestly pursuing Reader, he’s still an ass. Reader is more guarded than ever because of the suppressed feelings she had for Billy combined with seeing him with Madani and her insecurities. It’s a horrible trifecta. 

It doesn’t help that Billy’s pursuing her and attempting to woo her when all she wants is distance. He definitely has his work cut out for him because Reader isn’t going to make this easy. Aside from her childhood, she already had a sample of “fuckboy” Billy. She’s familiar with that version of him. And she wants more than a fuckboy. She wants more than that and she knows that Billy can’t give her that more. Naturally, she’s going to keep him at arms and legs length.  

This constant push and pull is highly entertaining and I can’t wait to read more. I’m sorry this review was way too long and rambling but I couldn’t stop once I got going. I hope I wasn’t being too hard on Billy. I feel like I am. (I probably am.)

Love! 

#nemesis responds #queen-haq #a woman scorned #answered asks

[atnoctum-archived]

'ship bias' for dina shepard, jack, morinth, and ashley! :3c

5 ships I have a bias for for my muse( s )!  /  always accepting!

Jacqueline Nought - 1 ) okay, so like? clearly commander shepard is a solid candidate. especially one who challenges and messes with her. sure, at first she’ll have to gauge if it’s legit or not, but people like nate, in particular, kinda bring out that playful, more innocent fun side of her, and i like that.  2 ) miranda, for more obvious reasons. jack is all for that spicy, love-hate type of relationship, as am i... ( secretly, okay. shhhh. ) 3 ) this may seem odd, but. . .  mr vega? i can see him digging a chick like that, and jack being like ‘ okay, show me what you got, big guy’. them talking shop about tats and whatnot. anyway, yeah. . . it’s crossed my mind once or twice.        that’s all i have for jack right now, though. 

Dina Shepard -  1 )  vakarian. especially because of their renegade relationship, i feel they get along perfectly, like two peas in a pod; “ there’s no shepard without vakarian”, and i’ve thought this way since the series’ inception. they will always be my ultimate ship.  2 )  thane. i mean, he’s an attractive reptile man with a sexy voice, and dina would take an automatic liking to him. he’s a mixture of deadly and poetic, poetic justice, really. she digs his style and finesse. 3 ) massani. the ship that should have been because he’s another huge renegade ship for dina. she’s intrigued by him, his leadership skills, and she likes a man who knows how to handle a gun, or 50. he’s got huge cajones and isn’t afraid to back talk her. that’s good enough for her. lmao. 4 ) jack what should have been a thing, but bioware is lesphobic for some reason. okay, but the moment she talks to shep about going pirate with her, did the :chin hand: really, though. it should happen because they’d be a great chaotic match and could take on everyone without worry or care. just a couple of hot gals fucking shit up and making out? sign me the fuck up. 5 ) lastly.... aria. do i really need to explain? i just want dina to call her ‘t-boss’ and it fly over her head. 

Morinth - you know, i’d say dina as well, but like.... we know how that would go, so. i’ll ship morinth with some form of happiness. lmfao.

Ashley Williams - 1 ) alenko. i think i kinda had an idea of them ever since her sister on the vid mentioned he was cute, and ash sorta looked flushed. like, she probably would have gone for it if shep wasn’t interested. i do think they have a lot in common, though, and could totally see it building into something serious. 2 ) vega. their relationship going from lust to something more intruiges me. i think ash is too much woman for james, but honestly, that’s exactly what attracts him to her and vice verse. shep would totally try to push them together, too.

#thank you so much for sending hehec: #i havent thought too hard about ashley though...but those are my main ones atm #i'm basing this off of renegade though. ofc #my paragon shep elaine would be sorta different.. #ANSWERED.