#my favourite turkish show hands down

[filmnoiress]

favourite books you read this year? least favourite?

this got so long lol

favourites:

the blood of gods by conn iggulden: this author is very hit or miss for me but thankfully this was a hit! conn iggulden is never better than when he's writing about a sickly little guy <3 he takes historical liberties but he explains where and why in his author's note so i don't really have a problem with it

the facemaker by lindsay fitzharris: lindsay's back and covering even more fascinating surgical history! this time the story of dr harold gillies' groundbreaking work in wwi

the escape artists by neal bascomb: world war i! prison break! really well written! what more could i want!

also augustus by anthony everitt, agent josephine by damien lewis, the race for timbuktu by frank t kryza, moscow nights by nigel cliff, tommy douglas by vincent lam

romantic outlaws by charlotte gordon! such an incredible book i couldn't put it down. mary wollstonecraft and mary shelley were both such fascinating women. every single man in their lives was a demon

rick mcintyre's alpha wolves of yellowstone series: ahh what an incredible series. dynastic drama romance betrayal tragedy family grrm WISHES he could write anything as good as this saga. every single book made me cryyy😭favourites were probably the first two but they're all great

bonfire the chestnut gentleman by susan raby-dunne: i thought this was a really charming book told from the pov of a horse in the first world war, the horse basically has the voice of a stuffy old english gentleman which was so cute

no man's land by wendy moore: such a good book about a military hospital from the first world war (shocker) run entirely by women

through a window and in the shadow of man by jane goodall: i's jane goodall's chimps it's my entire life of course i was going to love these

armadale by wilkie collins: WOOO my man wilkie off the SHITS this book is WILD you know you're in for a wild ride when 35 pages in there are five characters with the exact same name

the confidence men by margalit fox: absolutely bonkers true story of two first world war pows who escape a turkish prison camp by pretending to b psychics. insane

shadow of a doubt by diane negra: really liked this analysis of the movie! i didn't agree with all of her arguments but

crossing hitler by benjamin carter hett: great biography of hans litten makes a great companion piece to babylon berlin

last train to memphis by peter guralnick: this really was an excellent first half of a biography. elvis' life moved so quickly and he became a star so young that it's kind of no wonder he basically lost his mind later on and it's only amazing he held it together as long as he did

dust by arthur slade: this one was for a younger audience but i think it holds up for adults! horror set on the canadian plains during the great depression! what more could i want!

the troop by nick cutter: this was sooo disgusting gooey wet body horror <3 loved it

edit: something wicked this way comes by ray bradbury how could i have forgotten this one! what a great companion piece to carnivale!

as many liars by douglas smith: absolutely insane true story of how the pc party of manitoba installed puppet candidates in several ridings to split the ndp vote in the 1995 provincial election! literally insane that i had never heard of this before. remember you can never trust the conservative party!

carnivale and the american grotesque: wonderful collection of essays about the show, great companion piece, you can really tell the authors love the show

the time traveller's guide to regency britain by ian mortimer: ahh what a lovely informative book. it really felt like the author was taking your hand and leading you on a guided tour of regency britain

wounded by emily mayhew: actually the last book i read that i loved this year, i'm doing this out of order, but yes i loved this! each chapter focuses on a different person on the journey of the wounded in the first world war at least for the british, starting at the front and ending in the hospital

flowers for algernon by daniel keyes: saving this book for last because no book has affected me like this yet. book of the year for me

least favourites:

the sleepwalkers and children of wrath by paul grossman: i was just so disappointed in these because i found both of these really well written in the beginning but by the third act they just go completely off the rails :( novels set in the weimar republic be good challenge

the great stink by clare clark: idk where to put this one. i really didn't think this was a good book and i didn't like how it was written but then there was a twist literally on the very last page that gagged me completely so idk.

the man who walked backward by ben montgomery: ugh i had so many problems with this book and its subject don't get me started. actually do the title and intro make it seem like our subject is a sort of quirky but lovable idiosyncratic person who took a different approach to surviving the great depression and it made all the difference :) when the book makes clear he literally just decided to abandon his wife and kids-as the sole breadwinner of the family-in the middle of the great depression to go walk around backwards??? we read about his wife sending him letters on the road begging him to send money back to his family but he never did and his response was always to chide her for not thinking of his expenses and how hard he's working...but he was looking for advertising for his reverse walking stunt the entire time so clearly he was hoping for money from this. you couldn't have sent any back to your family? then it turns out he might have been smuggling drugs the entire time???

the devil's playground by craig russell: mr russell i loved your last book what is this. this wasn't scary, the characters were flat, iou could see the twist coming a mile away (compare that to the devil aspect when i had NO idea it was coming), and such a waste of a great setting (1920s hollywood silent horror film set!!!)

1794 by niklas natt och dag: listen i remember how gross and indulgent and misanthropic the first book was. but this book is so ridiculously over the top about it (like that female character who literally exists just to be tortured b the author). and at least the first book was about a compelling case and had Thee character in cecil winge. no one is comparing in this one. such a disappointing sequel

the wasteland b w. scott poole: ugh. this book has such an awesome premise (exploring how wwi influenced horror cinema!) but it's so bad. the author has the weirdest gaps in his research, each chapter is supposed to be about its own subject but they all blend together, and as much as he reiterates his thesis statement on literally every single page he never actually delves into what that statement means or is clear on what the thesis is! are you saying the first world war influenced horror films just in the decades immediately following it or all horror to come? but actually i'm not too mad at this book bc reading it was frustrating but it also just became a very productive exercise on what not to do. i absolutely could have done better

the house of whispers by laura purcell: another disappointing follow up to the silent companions from purcell. this wasn't scar, there was no dread, it was so slow, so many random aspects that never came together, unlikable characters. smh

shadows on the mountain by erin hunter: me when i read a book by the warrior cats lady and she does her weird warrior cats thing: :O no one @ me ik this is for kids i just wanted to read a novel about apes :( there's no need to add all this weird mythology literally the animal behaviour is mythology enough

#asks

[mcloren]

top 5 f1 fics 🏎🏎 (or if you've already answered this top 5 non-f1 fics)

truly do not know what is or isnt in the spirit of this game so i'll do both! this took SO long. also i've tried my best to tag people's accounts if i know them, but if i've missed anything pls let me know so i can edit it :)

favourite f1 fics:

slow show by ambiguouspace -- the first f1 fic i read! so delightful and fun and lovely!!

myth of devotion series by @prettydangrotten & @rosyjuly -- i'm so hooked on this series and it makes me SO sad but i love it so much. i'm checking every day to see if there's an update it's so so good

keystrokes by @ladyeggplant -- i went on my ao3 history to see how many times ive reread it and honestly the number was like. significantly higher than 60, ao3 needs to get rid of that feature immediately it is deeply embarrassing. a perfect fic. i think about daniel getting his tie stuck in a printer so much

striving for goodness while the cruel men win by @misonikomi -- this is one of the best fics i've ever read and hands down the best rule 63 fic i've ever read. lewis is so beautifully written

good to you by @catofthecanals289 -- incredible, enlightening, occasionally i will reread from the party where max speaks to sylvie again just to get sad! normal stuff!

favourite non-f1 fics:

Good News (is on the way) by derryere (Merlin/Arthur)-- possibly the best fic i have ever read. it is incredible. no magic modern au that is so so perfect and has such a like. beautiful ending that is so perfect for the merlin and arthur they wrote

I'll explain everything to the geese by napricot (Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson) -- one of the funniest fics i've ever read. sam gets jealous and so he pretends to have a superpower: talking to birds. and then he ends up actually being able to talk to birds. ridiculous and hilarious and lovely.

By Brave Assent by awkwardsorta (Dele/Eric Dier) -- apologies to my football oomfs but they were It :( rip dele he's not dead he's just playing in the turkish league. tb to the world cup when they were like. ridiculously and unbearably gay every time they were together. dele pulling eric out from the entire team after he scored the winning penalty so he could hug him on his own :( giving eric a shirt so he didn't have to do the postgame interview shirtless and trying to actually dress eric :( no one did it like them

Dying to Return by StormDancer (Merlin/Arthur) -- another merthur fic i'm sorry i love them :( this is so good and lovely :( merlin's cool as fuck in this too

depending how you feel about baseball by theundiagnosable (Kyle Dubas/William Nylander) -- i am an absolute sucker for both amnesia fic and also pairings that really play up the power dynamics aspect and this does both SO well. theundiagnosable a genius of our time etc etc. also one of the few hockey rpf fics i still reread

#asks #fic rec

[alaricmacdonald]

processing speeds.

It’s always woman who breathe the most life into me, who ignite the fires of imagination, of consideration, of appreciation, of instigation, of reflection, of purification, of annihilation. 

The spark which lights the inferno does not truly belong to her but I give to her myself with silent sleight of hand for I might barely know her or know her not at all. These flutterings of trepidation can engulf me before the woman has revealed herself by any word or interaction, before the slightest hint. It makes sense to me then that it is not woman themselves that have this effect as there would yet to be any revelation of the selve and they stand as an effigy for what I can see as the infinite.

I’ve tried at times to subdue this interest or find another totem out of social concern. Man likes woman has lead to all sorts of tremor and anguish for me personally and many others. But could I live with myself if I were to turn my back on such a powerful resource for the sake of a calmer personal perception? No, in such cold days (years, decades) one must take the will to live wherever its warmth can be felt.

 I’m sitting outside a deli and cafe not too far from my house which I’ve never sat out front of before, I don’t often sit outside cafes at all and I only now broach that border because of, you guessed it, a woman. A woman who is not now sitting next to me or even working here for me to steal glances at while I write, the only staff are who I’m guessing own the place, an ageing Turkish couple. Nothing there for me. 

This woman I mention, I crossed paths with just outside this cafe a few hours earlier. It wasn’t just that it was a woman, or a beautiful woman at that, this was a woman to which I did share an interaction, my favourite of interactions. We smiled at each other, passed for a few steps and on reflection of the feeling felt, I turned back, a look over the shoulder and I see her, watch her also turn by the shoulder and we share a second glance, the smile remained on both our faces, this second smile carried the infinite, infinite possibilities, infinite regrets If like me you refuse the call, the warmth, and fail to chase her down the street and introduce myself (yourself).

Refusal is the wrong word. I’d say the problem lies in the speed at which I process the situation, a process which isn’t just a realisation that it’s time to act, the process is realising this and then fighting for it, wrestling it from the hands of a preconceived interpretation of my actions as I run down the street after her, that brief bright light she saw me in, the sun hitting my face aided by the blissful mood she was in fades into a grey terror as she hears footsteps running toward her from behind, “Hey lady!” Haha. That’s a fantasy much more poisonous than the love based infinite felt prior, one is stifling, the other lives in action. It’s the experience of these feelings that show me or echo to me that I still have work to be done, that I still have progress to be made in my mastery of spontaneity. So I sit here now outside the cafe, in part hopping that she may pass by again, a classic redemption story but maybe more realistically out of respect and penance for the gaps in my character and the will to improve. I think she had a red word tattooed on her neck, the left side, I’ll still keep an eye out.

Beyond story, myth making, does the cosmic also have a taste for the redemption arc? These moments that require action come at the least expected times. That’s not new information but how does one prepare? Ah, I have the answer and here we tie into photography. 

Every moment is sacred.

In retaliation to this slight disgust in myself and inaction, As I dragged myself back to the cafe, the scene of the cosmic crime, I passed a house with a girl sitting outside on the steps, she looked as if she were in her early 20’s, red streaks in her hair, loose jeans with rips at the knees. She smiled at me too, this time I did stop, and I did turn back, turn back I need to add because once the information has traveled through my eyeballs, bounced around the frontal lobe and the computation is complete, I’m already a few houses down the street. I turn back thinking I could say a few kind words and take her picture there on those steps. As I do, a man is bringing some construction supplies up her stairs and speaks to her, another man, maybe some kind of moving van guy is there at the bottom of those steps and speaks to her too. I couldn’t stand at the bottom of the stairs and wait my turn, not that I couldn’t manage that situation but being that this instance of me turning back was in retaliation to my lack of spontaneity earlier, this small addition of time turned the feeling of spontaneity into the feeling of manufacture.

Answering my question from a few lines back about processing speeds and preparation, you put yourself into it for long enough, regularly enough, you get the flow state. This is what I need to push for. Exercise the instinct. Less time sitting at the computer. Walk the street, smile at others and maybe you too will spark a fire and help fill 6 pages in someones notebook.

[save-the-sky]

do i love that scene or do i LOVE that scene

#did you know there are websites that make gifs for you #or am i just too old for technology #nvmd i love kiralik ask #my favourite turkish show hands down #just look at my babies #kiralik ask #kiralık aşk #elcin sangu #Elçin Sangu #baris arduc #barış arduç #defne x ömer #defne topal #omer iplikci #kiralik ask heals my soul #turkish shows #dizi #my gifs

[dragon-kazansky]

Stuck with you | Helmut Zemo

Requested by @cherry-season I've changed it up a little, but it's still based off your request :)

This is a lengthy one, sit back and enjoy.

This was less than ideal. One moment you're chasing Flag Smashers through an otherwise abandoned building, then you're trapped in a room with the Baron Helmut Zemo.

The only way this could be any worse is if you were stuck in a room with Walker instead. You could guarantee that man wouldn't be leaving alive if that was the case.

Still, Zemo wasn't exactly your favourite person on the planet either.

The solid steel door had slammed shut behind you. You were unable to get it open, fearing it only opened from the other side. You're not sure exactly what kind of building this was, but it had clearly not been used in some time. Things were falling apart or rusting over.

"You can keep trying, little bird, but it won't open."

You take a deep breath, trying not to say anything snarky to him. You did not need his sass today.

"Well, I'm sorry, Zemo, but you're stuck with me unless we do something."

"I'm not complaining."

"I suppose you're used to being locked in a room." You turn away from the door and look around the room, not yet feeling up to actually acknowledging his presents by looking at him.

"Yes, but this time I have lovely company. I am at an advantage."

"Yeah right," you say, sarcasm dropping with every letter.

You want to sit down, but you do not want to touch the musty floor. You take to leaning against the wall with your arms crossed, finally looking at the only other human in the room.

"At least in a cell you have furniture."

"To an extent."

"Still, it's better than this horrid and dark room. Plus, something smells funky in here and it isn't me."

"Course not, you smell lovely," he grins at you.

"OK..."

Helmut, realising there isn't much to do other than talk to you, removed his coat and goes to lay it out on the floor, figuring you would be more comfortable sitting on it than anywhere else. However, he stops when call out.

"What are you doing? You'll ruin it!" You take the coat out of his hands and hold it close to you.

"Concerned about my coat?"

"What? No! It's just... it's a nice coat... probably expensive too. You'll ruin it if you put it on the floor."

"What do you suggest we do then?"

"I don't know, but let's not sacrifice perfection." You brush the coat down with your hand as you drape it over your other arm.

Zemo chuckles as looks around the room. It isn't a massive space, but there's very little in it, making it look quite roomy. He walks over to the opposite side and brushes along the ground sigh foot, deeming it worthy enough to sit on. You see him sitting with his back against the wall, looking up at you.

"Do you really want to be sitting there?" You ask, feeling kind of bad he would ruin his clothes like that. Who knows what kind of filth is in here.

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

You sigh softly as you walk over to where he is.

"You're braver than I am, then."

"I don't know, you're rather brave," he doesn't sound like he's teasing you. He doesn't look like it either.

"If you say so."

Zemo gazes up at you. You can't read his expression, which feels a little unsettling.

"Put the coat on."

"Sorry?" You frown.

"Don't be, put it on."

You look at the coat still draped over your arm. Why did he want you to put it on?

"Why?"

"If you trust me just once in your life, let this be that once. Put the coat on, little bird."

You unfold the coat and put it on. It doesn't fit all that well, but it's warm. You look at him, unimpressed.

"Is this what you wanted?"

Zemo grins as he holds open his arms and gestures you over with his fingers. You look at him suspiciously.

"Zemo, what are you doing?"

"Come here. Unless you want to stand until who knows when. We could be in here quite some time, and since you won't sit on the floor, there is only one place for you to sit."

"You have to be joking."

He shakes his head and gestures you close with his fingers again.

"You're going be insufferable after this." You shimmy over and get down, taking a seat on his lap.

Zemo uses his arms to support you, but you're too busy gathering the coat and making sure it doesn't touch the floor. He chuckles in your ear as you purposely turn your head away from him as you shuffle in his lap, trying to get comfortable.

"Better?"

"Sure..." You're too embarrassed to look at him.

Helmut gives you a little squeeze, tugging you closer to his torso. This time when he chuckles, you feel the vibration of it rumble through his chest. He moves his head so it's buried in the crook of your neck.

"What are you doing?"

"Tormenting you. I have you in my grasp, I'm not going to waste this opportunity to mess with you."

"Is that all this is? An opportunity to mess with me because Sam and Bucky aren't here?" You shake him from your shoudler and glare at him.

"Or perhaps I'm just seizing the opportunity to have you all to myself?"

"I don't understand you..." Your gaze flickers between his beautiful brown eyes.

"Would you like to?" He grins at you.

"I don't know... but I suppose it will help pass the time. Where shall we start?"

"Check the inside pocket." He nods toward the coat around you. You follow his instruction and search the inside the pocket. You feel something small. Grabbing it, you pull it out and hold it up.

You look at Zemo unimpressed.

"I already know you like Turkish Delights. You made that clear." You look at it.

"They were my son's favourite."

"Yeah, I remember you saying," you mutter.

"That one is for you."

You think him quietly and open it, eating it. You look at him.

"I thought you were going to tell me more about you," you say, licking the powder from your fingers.

"I'm starting slow."

"Zemo, you can be honest with me. I'm pretty sure I know all of the awful things you've done. Nothing will surprise me. Plus, I'm already sitting on you, so if you're worried about what I think, I don't think you have to worry."

There's a cheeky smile on his face.

"Are you always this honest and modest?"

"Only when I want to be." You wink at him. You only realise what you've done after you see that mischievous glint return to his eyes.

"I see. I would very much like you to be honest with me."

"What makes you think I haven't been?" You tilt your head curiously at him.

"If you hated me as much as you tried to make it seem, I doubt you would actually be sitting here on my lap, eating my sweets, and giving me the time of day."

He's right.

"Then, I'll be more honest with you staring now. I don't hate you, Zemo. Not really. Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy about what you did to my friends, or the fact you brain washed Bucky and bombed a building and blamed it on him. You're an awful person."

Zemo nods softly.

"But, right here, right this minute, I'll pretend for a moment that none of that matters. Just let me see the man you are here and now." You look at him with a tiny smile, wanting to see the person he was in the moment.

"Well, so far, I'm the man who has let you put on his coat and eat his sweets. If I had access to a kitchen, I would make you a drink and we would sit and chat in a more comfortable spot."

You chuckle softly, you find yourself reaching for one of his hands, taking it in your own. He lets you, watching you do so.

"What else?" You ask, keeping your voice soft. You like the atmosphere you have created.

"I am the man who will look after you for as long as it takes your friends to find us. I shall be the best company I can be right now, if you'll continue to let me." He meets yours eyes, feeling the way you place your fingers between his.

"Not like I have much choice." You grin cheekily.

"I'll take it." He closes his fingers over your hand, letting you settle your entwined hands on your lap.

"When we get back to the house... maybe we could have that drink?"

You feel his breath fanning across you face. He feels all the more closer now as you look at him.

"If you would like that, I won't deny you the pleasure of my company," he smirks.

"I have to say, your company is nice."

Your noses are almost touching. You're really not sure how you find yourself to be in a position where you would even consider getting any closer to him.

"You changed your tune rather quickly, haven't you?"

"Seems so."

His eyes flicker to your lips. Oh, the temptation is strong.

"Maybe we should see how things go." You're whispering now.

"I can wait."

"I won't make you wait too long, after all, you're on borrowed time." Now you're looking at his lips.

"The bitter truth."

"Just means we have to make the most of it. Show me the Zemo I see before me. It won't change the fact they'll send you straight back to prison, but it might make us friends." You stare into his seemingly lost gaze. There's something about the way he's looking at you that you can't read, but he does look lost.

"My free little bird." He whispers.

"Trapped in the cage that is you." You let go of his hand to wipe the tear from his cheek.

He hadn't even realised.

Suddenly, you hear voice from the other side of the door. You hate to do it, but you part yourself from Zemo and stand up, dusting yourself off despite the fact you weren't all that dirty.

The door takes a couple of big tugs, but the boys get it open.

Zemo gathers himself as he gets up from the must old floor, patting down his pants as he stands beside you.

"We were looking for you two," Bucky says, coming over to you.

"We got trapped."

"Why are you wearing his coat?" Bucky looked you up and down.

"I was cold. Zemo was being a gentleman." You cross your arms.

Bucky eyes the Baron suspiciously.

Zemo shrugs and places a hand on your back gently.

"Shall we leave this horrible little place now?" He asks you.

You nod and walk out with him. You walk a little closer to him than you had before, and he notices it. His arm settles around you as you both leave the building together.

It's strange how such a small incident could bring you closer to someone you never expected to. You look at Zemo and smile. You'll make the most of the time you have left with him.

@ajeff855 @moonstuffsteve @sky-writes-stuff @lieutenantn

#tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #helmut zemo x reader #zemo #helmut zemo #zemo x reader #marvel

[breitzbachbea]

Ask game for hws turkey!👀✨

Thank you two, amber and @needcake!

Ah yes, that old Turkish chestnut.

Send me a character and I'll give you a list

Favourite thing about them: I honestly love how intense he is. He's so eager and full of energy and devotion. It's fun to write people who love stuff, you know? As well as hate. Any strong emotion can be cathartic and I see myself in intense people (as strange as that sounds).

Least favourite thing about them: Oof, good question, I try not to think as much in terms of "good and bad" but interesting. I do think he can be quite an entitled prick at times, too, which is not a trait I vibe with in him.

Favorite line: Sad that my Hetalia Mangas aren't at hand, but I also wouldn't know if anything about his canon appearance sticks out. However, do have this line of dialogue from sadlygrove's İstanbul, which is seared into my brain (like many lines from sadlygrove's fics):

[Context: Greece asks: "Do you think there's anyone as pathetic as us?"]

"I ain't ever asked. We've had seven hundred years to love and fight one another. 's too much."

BrOTP: Oh, good question. Obviously I'd die for him and Dilan in my "Like Father Like Son" AU, but I am less well-versed in canon. I think he, Greece and Egypt also make a great friend trio.

OTP: My dear, my buddy, my pal, I would not have aph Turkey brainrot if it wasn't for TurGre. Listen. Listen. I'd lay my life down for him and Herakles, I will sip their tragedy up and yearn for a happy ending I know may be impossible until they lay my cold dead body into the ground. Reading İstanbul made me realize 4 years of emotional baggage I had never taken the time to deal with & I swear I've had a soulmelt with the Turk in that moment. I just ... I just love TurGre so much, in all of its complicated colours.

NOTP: I don't really have a nOTP with him, but I'll be real - I only care about him and Japan in a platonic manner. Zero interest in that ship, to be honest.

Random headcanon: Trying to think one of my own here ... Oh! He loves terrible Turkish Pop Music. Like, not even the iconic and overplayed stuff, he is into whatever the Turkish pop equivalent of Schlager is. Bottom of the barrel for anyone who isn't drunk/half-deaf, but he just thinks it's the most fun in the world. Bit of a guilty pleasure, though, he doesn't show it in front of other nations.

Unpopular Opinion: I don't even know what constitutes popular opinion. He's not a himbo. He's brash, he's loud, he's impulsive but he's not dumb. Turkey has an immensely sophisticated history and its people are very clever in every day life. He's not stupid, he's just lacking a bit in the "getting along with other people" department at times.

Song I associate with them: I've recently been thinking a bit about Empires/How this Imperial attitude carries over into my "Like Father Like Son" AU, so I've been thinking of him (& others) while listening to "Wolves" by Sam Tinnesz ft. Silverberg.

In the context of TurGre, my favourite song from Turkey's perspective is My Heart by Twin Wild. It captures him so perfectly, in his intensity and devotion; the lust he has for life.

Favorite picture of them: Toughie! I like most of the canon and fanart I see of him, but here's a top 3

1. This official art from the latest Hetalia volume. As soon as this thing is out in Germany and I get my hands on it, I will do nothing but stare all damn day at this page. Look at how nice and handsome and friendly and yet still rogueish he looks. I need to kiss him on the mouth.

2. This commission I got by @/captkirkland. I may be biased because he is also surrounded by his found family from my "Like Father Like Son" AU here, but I simply love how Turkish he looks.

3. This portrait my friend C0FFINATED over at twitter did of him two years ago. It should be illegal to be this beautiful. The nose. The eyes. The eyebrows. Such a strong face.

#beareplies #amber #needcake #aph #hetalia #hws #aph turkey #hws turkey #Turkey is such a fascinating country I cannot wait to learn even more culturally #my research for The Amulet was heavily political and mostly politics from the Republic not the Empire #and Sadık is sadly just my fucking type. he's a bastard with a big grin wild hair and a buff body #like every single time!!! Every single time it's cunts! the fuckboys! the worst type of man!!!! #that's what I get for thinking with my pussy!!!!!

[espieviolet99]

Kozik Fic

Treated myself to a Kozik fic - glad I had the focus to write it

She'd gotten up long before Kozik, as she usually does. And Addie was traipsing around the kitchen, thinking of what she could do this year for Christmas. She began baking in the early hours, to try and bake up an assortment to see what people would think. There were cinnamon batches, orange batches, mint batches and she even tried her hand at making some mince pies. She was so proud that she grabbed on of the regular chocolate chip cookies, that was still warm, and wandered into their shared bedroom, and crawled onto the bed and waved the cookie up his nose.

"Hey, baby." She whispered, as he began to stir. "Hm?" He groggily sounded, before the smell hit him. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and inhaled the cookie. And a mumbled string of noises came from him. "I'm sorry, what?"

Suddenly, more awake, he grabbed ahold of Adela, making her squeal, and he rolled them over. She giggled as he finished chewing and swallowed, before pressing his lips sloppily against hers.

"Whoa, wait." She chuckled, pushing him back. "But I want you." He rasped, making her whimper. "Yes, and I want you - but I don't want to accidentally eat milk chocolate, Herman." She spoke. He groaned, and brought his hand to his mouth to rub it and lick it off. "You're an animal." "Oh, I'll show you animal." He growled, diving back down to continue kissing her. "You liked that then?" She panted, as he removed her shirt. "Best wake up ever." He breathed, lowering himself to kiss her breasts. "There's more. In different flavours." She gasped. "I wanna taste you first." "Oh, god."

------

Kozik followed her to the kitchen an hour later, and chuckled when he saw the various batches around the kitchen. Then he caught sight of the mince pies and realised what she was doing. He shook his head as he took a pinch of flour and poked her nose.

"Oh, for fuck sake." She sighed, amusedly. "Bit early for christmas isn't it?" "I'm just playing with some cookie ideas - see what you guys all think." She shrugged. "Well, I think these are gonna go down a treat - I'm gonna need my own private batch." Kozik spoke, mouthful of mince pie. "Oh, Addie. You got a gift." "Yeah? Just, don't eat too many." She smiled. "So, there's some cinnamon, orange and mint ones so far. What else is a christmassy flavour?" "Food?" "You are less than helpful, Koz." "Feed me and I'm happy." He grinned, pulling her to his chest, finishing his mince pie. "I noticed." "You do gingerbread?" "Ooh, I will add that to my list." Adela jumped, heading to her notebook, writing it down. "I love gingerbread. I'll make some me friendly gingerbread." "Are you telling me you've made all this and you can't eat it?" "Yeah. Mostly." "You should definitely make some stuff you can eat." "I'm going to make some coconut ice, or try. Maybe I should try and make some turkish delight." She grinned, shaking a little from excitement. "You like turkish delight?" "Yeeee. Rose is one of my favourite flavours. And scents." "I'll have to remember that." He spoke, picking her up in his arms to give her a kiss. "You can try one more cookie before I take the rest to the clubhouse. I've got a cooking hyperfixation today, so I'm cooking dinner tonight." "Aw, baby." He groaned, hoisting her legs around him and pressing her into the wall. "We got any frosting?" "No!" She laughed. "Absolutely, not." "Aw, but baby, it'll still get eaten." "You are too cheeky, Herman." "You say there was cinnamon?" He grinned. "Yes, those ones. I'm gonna box the rest." "Not yet you aren't." He spoke, leaning over with her still in his arms. "What are you doing?" She asked, slowly. Kozik broke the cookie and dropped some on her breast. "Koz!"

He chuckled as he buried his face in her chest and hunted for bits of cookie.

#herman kozik #adela writes #sons of anarchy #SAMCRO

[pufferfishdude]

Red Dwarf: Season 3 Episode 3

Another venture into live-action and a TV show! This one’s a favourite series of mine, the British cult sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf. Dave Lister, a lazy, curry-addicted slob, works on the space mining ship Red Dwarf in the future, and is sent into suspended animation for smuggling a pregnant cat onboard. A radiation leak wipes out the rest of the crew, leaving Lister in stasis for 3 million years until the radiation dies down. Thankfully, he’s not alone: there’s Rimmer, a hologram of his cowardly and anal-retentive dead bunkmate; Cat, the vain and stylish humanoid descendant of Lister’s cat; Kryten a nice cleaning-obsessed mechanoid who learns what it means to be human, and Holly the ship’s good-natured but senile computer.

In Season 3′s episode ‘Bodyswap’, there’s a procedure by which a person’s mind can be stored on a chip and allow for a holographic mind to be swapped in. Lister’s body is briefly used when the holographic copy of a dead Red Dwarf crew member’s mind is required. Rimmer, who’s now spent two years as a soft-light hologram and thus can’t touch anything (outside of the bunk), manipulates Lister. He points out how Lister’s diet of curries, beer and smoking combined with no exercise is starting to show, that he’s getting “porky” and has “more gut than a Turkish shop window”. It’s just down to his eating habits, but also his metabolism and age. As Rimmer explains:

“You’ve reached that age, Listy. When you’re younger, you can eat what you like, drink what you like, and still climb into your 28 inch trousers and zip them closed. Then you reach that age, 24, 25, your muscles give up, then wave a little white flag and suddenly without warning, you’re a fat bastard.”

Despite Lister’s defense that he’s not fat, just “hunky”, he realises Rimmer’s point and thoughtfully strokes his noticeable stomach. He’s persuades with the promise of a swap - Rimmer gets Lister’s body into shape for a couple of weeks while Lister himself is in Rimmer’s hologram body. And so they trade places.

Unfortunately, Rimmer becomes overwhelmed with being able to touch, smell and taste now that he has a physical body again, and proceeds to indulge himself with a vast quantity of food, drink and cigars. He has ordered a huge meal consisting of a lightly-poached Mimian bladder fish, four dozen oysters, duck’s feet in abalone sauce, a roast suckling pig stuffed with chestnuts and truffles and a mountain of mashed potato with a pint of cream and a full pound of butter, with gravy and wine on the side. In no time at all, he messily dives into it, giving into long-sought gluttony as he grunts, guzzles and gobbles up, sending his face into the mashed potato and pouring gravy over himself. 

Obviously, Lister’s not happy about any this, and worse so when during a weigh-in shows that his body’s put on two stone (28 pounds). When they swap back, Lister feels the effects of Rimmer’s hedonism, saying “You’ve given me breasts. There is a distinct cleavage there!”. He weighs himself and can’t believe the results. Rimmer tries to say his weight’s average for his height, only for Lister to say, “it would be average for my height if I happened to be a pregnant hippo”. And finally he’s shocked by the state of his stomach, looking considerably fuller and rounder as he sits down and lays it bare, his hands feeling its newly stretched out girth, disgracefully comparing himself to a Superbowl blimp.

This is the best we see of how much his body’s put on in over a week. His actor Craig Charles at this point was actually quite slim, so what were looking at here is pushing his gut out big time to show off the drastic results.

Rimmer hijacks Lister’s body and flees, intending to stuff himself and do whatever he likes, but soon Lister and the rest of the gang catch up with him and they’re back in their right bodies. Due to all the extra weight put on, Lister’s forced at the end to have a very slim meal for the next six months - a lettuce leaf and grated carrot.

As a final gag, turns out Rimmer’s bodyswapped with the Cat while he was asleep, much to Cat’s hate. Rimmer-as-Cat walks in with a plate full of Yorkshire puddings, mashed potatoes, sausages and sauce, and immediately eats it ravenously, promising it’s just for one day...maybe a bit longer.

Considering what my next Red Dwarf post while cover, this ending gag surprisingly feels like foreshadowing. ;)

#red dwarf #live action #television show #male expansion #weight gain #fat #eating #round belly #gluttony

[starchildarden]

YES HELLO time to ramble abt SAYER :] for the ask meme, 8, 11, 17, 29, 33 & 35?

tumblr user electricshoop THANK YOU FOR MY LIFE oh my goodness

8. Favourite piece of random worldbuilding / lore Adam threw into an episode without ever explaining or elaborating

I don’t know that I’d say it was never elaborated on, but okay okayokay, the parallel door dimension? The Almost Cottage? The blood-red willows???? The shambling figure????? They can’t cut the camera feed to it no matter how much they try????? Help??? Mr. Adam Bash that is terrifying sir please respond???? i listened to it alone at work in an empty building and when i tell you i Did Not Get Any Sleep

11. Best character (main or minor; artificial or human) to share brunch with

I want to say my besties FUTURE and SAYER so so bad but I can’t honestly say they wouldn’t just make the whole thing a little bit uncomfortable? FUTURE’s gonna say something that makes me a little nauseous because it thinks it’s funny and SAYER just kind of. Feels like it’s staring condemningly even though it has far better things to do than watch a hapless human eat a crepe.

So my official answer for this is Evan Brady, because he has that tired, genial vibe to him and we could definitely just sip coffee in companionable silence while he reads over lab notes. 10/10 feel that my guy Brady would suffer begrudgingly through me showing him all the memes in the backlog that I like to inflict on people. gr8 guy, cool guy, my favorite science guy

17. Roadtrip with all the main characters! Who do you hand the aux cord to, who gets to drive, who brings the snacks, who’s responsible for navigating?

aux cord goes to FUTURE, because it Will choose a polarizing genre extreme. We will be swinging wildly back and forth between hyperpop and hardbass and Turkish rap like a temperamental pendulum and it will be fun. some linkin park at times of course it is still at That Point and so am i

SPEAKER gets to navigate! it is excellent at getting down to business and won’t meander through a very long soliloquy when you ask what exit to get off on (coughSAYERcough). my buddy here isn’t just a glorified clerk or hotel concierge, it is the only thing getting us where we’re going so smoothly and it doesn’t need the GPS to know which route is the most effective!

Anna Cordero was a teacher and Understands snacks. She knows the best kinds of snacks because elementary school children are always very hungry, and because being a teacher means that you Learn the healthy, sustainable, portable foods or you perish on the job. Anna brings almonds and pretzels and low-sugar juice and those cool cheese cracker things and it rocks and she rocks

bc it’s funny to me i think SAYER should be the driver, because i feel that it has Had Its Day backseat driving and judging others. my contractual best friend in the whole wide world could use a bit more direct responsibility. it’s in the car with us and it is very observant so I wouldn’t worry about careless driving except for the part about it being a disembodied voice with no hands most of the time but we will figure something out

29. How do you deal with SAYER endlessly rambling at you about how imperfect, inefficient and overly emotional you are?

the real question is how does SAYER deal with me endlessly going “cheers i’ll drink to that bro” every time he brings up my inefficient and emotionally rampant flaws. look, man, i know i have a ton of Feelings and i know i have the focus of a dead goldfish but joke’s on You, i have come to terms with it and i improve at my own pace and now you must come to terms with being my best FRIEND

33. In the parallel universe in which we get that happy ending where SAYER and Hale end up only somewhat grudgingly living together and learning how to be happy and care for themselves and each other - what do they call the stray cat that keeps showing up at their doorstep?

the answer feels like it should be “theseus” but SAYER would be acutely aware that it’s a misnomer even if it was intended to invoke the parable, because the ship wasn’t named theseus and that’s the focus of the problem? maybe “timber” as a nod to how they replaced the rotting planks?

hale is very. not adamant or zingy with the names so it might just end up being called cat which makes me laugh

35. Tell me about any crossover and/or AU you’d like to write/read.

WARFRAME okay everything i’ve ever been into has a warframe crossover living rent free in my head

okay so massive warframe spoilers? maybe? but WF and SAYER already have a ton of common threads

→ they are both In Space, as a freebie → they handle the concept of Identity, especially as respects the body you inhabit. if you spent your whole life in a construct, only to wake up in your body, which one is you? → warframe is at its core about how empathy and compassion and mutual seething anger can bring two parties together and form an iron bond okay, like to quote the game (spoilers), it’s about seeing into an ugly, broken thing and taking away its pain and FRANKLY i want to get FUTURE in a room with a savvy Tenno and see what kind of emotional catharsis can happen → (SPOILER) transference transference transference jacob hale is a low-level tenno already with the amount of mind-jumping he has done → the WF equivalent of the AI is actually more akin to the probes in nature tbh!! plus? what’s more human, a thoroughly shackled cephalon, or an AI endowed with a full range of emotion? → did OCEAN experience some kind of space madness?? like the kind brought about by travelling uncharted subspace??? when it experienced Null as it describes, sterile, is it like being touched by the Void in WF? → quite a bit of my future silhouette is based off of my valkyr bc she too has been harmed inside and is very, very angry and ready to rip things apart → i have SO many thoughts abt this okay i have SO many i love sayer and i love warframe and i would love to squish em into a single thing if i had the spoons

#sayer podcast #sayer ai #ocean ai #future ai #speaker ai #evan brady #anna cordero #warframe #asked and answered! #electricshoop #this was a ton of fun! i'll shoot some back atcha rn!! :D

[the-albums-album]

#860 - “System of a Down” by System of a Down

YEAR: 1998

GENRE: Alternative Metal / Nu Metal

THE ALBUM: “this album is designed to show fear, anger, desperation, disgust, and so many other different ways to be ‘not happy with the current state of affairs’.”

THE ARTWORK: “The cover is as confrontational as the album, with it’s cut-and-stick image of a grasping hand, each muscle tightened to breaking point.”

LISTEN TO: “Suggestions”

Full review under the cut!

...tuptuptuptupTUPTUPTUPTUPTUPTUPTUPTUP HAVE YOU GOT A FEW SECONDS TO TALK ABOUT SYSTEM OF A DOWN?

Okay, so I think this is the first album so far that I have a strong opinion about before doing this whole review thing, and oh boy is it a good one! I’ve said before that metal is probably one of my favourite genres to listen to (with some exceptions), and this is one of the albums that really brought that side out of me. I will endeavour not to let it cloud my judgment too much, but that’s just a warning of what’s to come!

The Album…

The self-titled debut album from System of a Down is, to put it mildly, a BANGER. Serj Tankian’s varied vocals, backed up by three other players that can deliver the same fury on his level, means that every song feels like a different facet of their emotions. And their emotions are angry - this album is designed to show fear, anger, desperation, disgust, and so many other different ways to be ‘not happy with the current state of affairs’. Tankian’s voice can vary from extremely clean takes of one lines to unintelligible screaming fury in the next, and it works! The musicianship is very straightforward, and slightly simplistic at points, but it works in the context of getting the feeling of each song across.

The album itself is deliberately confrontational - even though they do not consider themselves “A Political Band”, many of their songs revolve around their strong feelings towards the government (‘War?’, ‘P.L.U.C.K.’), organised religion (‘War?’ again), but also anyone who is willing to complacently sit back and allow suffering of others (‘Mind’, ‘Soil’). Even the more laid back songs on the albums seem to be taking aim at one system or another - and let me tell you, this does not fade out in their later albums… A particular point has to be made about finishing the album with ‘P.L.U.C.K.’, a song aimed squarely at the Turkish and American governments for not recognising the Armenian genocide - the sheer fury involved makes it an amazing showstopper, even without taking in the full force of the lyrics.

One of the parts of this album I really like is that the band are willing to almost try anything and everything, throwing every style and technique they fancy at the wall and seeing what will stick. The mood whiplash between ‘Sugar’ and ‘Spiders’ sticks out as one that may be a misstep to some, but to others can feel like the breath of fresh air needed before getting right back into the grittiness of the second half of the album.

Overall, I’m sure you’ve realised by now I’m recommending this album - it’s not my favourite SoaD album (Toxicity stills holds a special place in my heart), but it's a hell of an album and a fantastic debut.

The Artwork...

You’ve noticed by now that I tend to call out albums on their artwork giving a sense of false advertising to their contents - and this is one I’d hold up as exactly what I’m looking for - it doesn’t have to be flashy, overthought or decked with symbolism, as long as it fits the music held within. The cover is as confrontational as the album, with it’s cut-and-stick image of a grasping hand, each muscle tightened to breaking point. It’s an album cover that stands out from the crowd by being so disdainful of the ‘norm’ when it comes to album covers in general - and metal covers in specific - by not putting a name, a title or any overt reference to the contents. If you are grabbed by the cover (pun unintended), you’ll appreciate what’s inside.

The cover works on its own, but when you find out where the image actually comes from (as I did when researching this), it adds a whole new level of meaning - it’s originally from a poster by the KPD (Communist party of Germany) in 1928, protesting the inequality of the state at the time. The original had text saying “A hand has 5 fingers! With these 5 grab the enemy!”, symbolising that if individually weak members of the country banded together, their strength would be enough to fight back against the power. This feeling flows through all of System of a Down’s work, a feeling of questioning and standing up to those who would deny you.

#system of a down #self-titled #alternative #metal #nu metal #music #album #review #art #sharpie #redraw #myart #J recommends #Youtube

[vampiresuns]

Cassano Arianamenzi | The First Of The Cassano

picrew credit

Cassano Arianamenzi: The clever Court Archivist who would become Consul

I have mentioned in a couple of places, but particularly in this post, that the Cassano (and the Radošević-Cassano by extension) aren’t nobles, and they only ended up with the Consulship through a scheme, and no one quite knows how they did it.

Well, that’s not entirely true. This is Cassano Arianamenzi, the woman who would change the history of the Vesuvian Consulship forever.

Name: Cassano Gizem Arianamenzi.

Meaning of the name: ‘Cassano’ is the name of a series of towns, while ‘Gizem’ means ‘mystery’ in Turkish.

Nicknames: Cas, Ari, Arianamenzi

Family: She is the eldest of five children, and the daughter of a Philosopher who earned a Court Position as a scholar (Father) and an artisan who made instruments (Mother). They had her while fairly young so she was raised by her grandparents and great aunts for a portion of her life. This never brought her problems with her parents, who were very present, but taught her the importance of community. The Arianamenzi all raised their children that way and lived in a multi-generational household.

They lived in the edge between Goldgrave and Centre City. They were never particularly well off, though they had enough. All of her siblings studied through apprenticeships, and she did so on a scholarship on the account of being the daughter of her father. She often said rich people and aristocrats mistake education for class (for a reason), but once they learnt you had had an education without being like them, they suddenly praised you through romanticising your position in life, thinking anyone who wasn’t like them must’ve starved to be able to spell their names, because naturally everyone who wasn’t like them was stupid.

Clearly, these people got on her nerves.

Their siblings were: Riparte (she/her), Flavius (they/she), Eziz (he/him) and Nora (he him).

Favourite Food: Spicy Mussel stew.

Favourite Drink: Kvass

Favourite Flower: Cherry Blossoms

Birthday: September 7th

Age: 37 for the relevant events in her timeline, but she was born 377 years before the events of the game.

Zodiac: Virgo sun, Aquarius Moon, Aries Rising

Patron Arcana: The Devil (always reversed) and the Page of Pentacles

Devil, Reserved: freedom, release, restoring control.

Upright: ambition, desire, diligence; Reversed: lack of commitment, greediness, laziness

 Pronouns: She/Her

Languages Spoken: Vesuvian (common tongue and old dialect),Firentian, Prakran, Galbradan Bulani.

Magic: Language magic and language manipulation — she can tell the intention and honesty of people through their words, both spoken and written. She is able to perform different kinds of incantation, manipulate glyphs, and temporary and limited alteration of the world around her through words.

Being a ‘language manipulator’ is one of the few magical traits the Cassano possess. She wasn’t the first language manipulator in her family, and the Arianamenzi don’t know who was, nor they care. It skips generations, however.

There’s a couple of them between her and the current generation of the R-C, but the last language manipulators of the Cassano have been Vitale Cassano, Consul of Vesuvia, Aelius Anatole Radošević and Artemisia Cassano.

Familiar: A mongoose (Egyptian mongoose) called Pearl.

Song: Centuries, Fall Out Boy

The Poison Plot of The Vesuvian Court & Facts about Cas Arianamenzi.

Cassano began working as an archivist, handling the paperwork of the Court and the Consul, when she was 27. By the time she was 33 she was working directly with the Consul, though she mostly worked in the archives department, and the old Palace’s library. A year after she landed the position the Poison Plot began.

In the span of three years, three Consuls and two temporary placeholders were poisoned in the Vesuvian Court, as well as five other officials and a diplomatic envoy.

Cassano had began putting the pieces together on her own, mostly thanks to her magic and her job as an archivist, but she was able to win a new perspective on this when the Count of the time, a magician named Sibona, began venting to her, trying to escape both the Vesuvian summer and late spring heat, and her Court.

After the last of murdered Consuls was poisoned, Sibona, who had already figured out Cassano was also a magician, asked her why didn’t she solve it. If she did, Sibona would make her the Consul.

Cassano declined originally, telling she had no Courtly aspirations nor wished to end up dead, but eventually agreed. Count Sibona realised she knew more about politics than what she gave away, and decided to trust her gut about her.

She wasn’t wrong. Cassano was able to solve the plot and restructure some of the Court functioning, including the basic functioning of the Consulship as related to the City and working with a seven people integrated council (which you can read about here).

One of the reasons she was able to solve it was because Aristocrats dismissed her for not being one of them. Court Archivists and Court Staff were seen as invisible and she took advantage of it, as she did of her magic.

The Palazzo, however, wasn’t endowed to her. It belonged to the one of the murdered Consul’s who had no open succession. Whether Sibona let her get away with manipulating who it would pass to, or she never realised, Cassano didn’t know, but given how her magic worked, it was extremely hard to prove she had forged anything to begin with.

That Consul didn’t really use the building. Up to her, the Consuls lived in the Palace with the Count. She refused this because she couldn’t leave her family alone. Her family and friends were also the reason why she tried to procure the Palazzo in the first place. It was less about the status symbol and more about “these goddamn Aristocrats have entire empty buildings and for what, for fucking what.” She was able to safely house her entire extended family along with more than one friend.

She is the entire reason why the Cassano have the tradition of having the Palazzo opened to the people — the Arianamenzi realised that with this building, they could now help their community in an even bigger scale. While she “inherited” (aka took as a squatter) the Palazzo with everything in it, most of the collections have been donations from friends. The space is supposed to be communally kept. A lot of the paintings in it, and some of the oldest murals are there because she gave the opportunity to friends of her family by commissioning them, so she could show rich people their work.

They did try to poison her. She was able to anticipate it through her scheming and was, in fact, waiting for it, to the point she contacted one of her friends, an alchemist who was an expert in poisons from South End, to help her with a preventive antidote.

Most of it was to show Aristocrats what a little fraternity between people can do.

She firmly believed she had more in common with people in the street than the rest of the Court. A lot of what she believed and how she carried herself as the Consul is the origin of a lot of ways to be that the Radošević-Cassano as a family now have. She is also responsible for the saying “nothing mortal can kill a Cassano” (because the poison didn’t kill her).

When asked about how rulers should be, this was her reply: “A ruler shouldn’t be feared, nor loved. A ruler should be competent. Discussions of punishment or morality only detract a ruler from their one true command: to do their goddamned job.”

Count Sibona liked her because she thought Cas was weird.

It wasn’t Cassano who came up with the Consul ascension ceremony, it was Count Sibona who most likely came up with it to be a shit about Cassano taking an entire Palazzo without asking.

Her wife’s name was Caterina.

Because I believe Arcanaverse rapiers to be an invention of at least 150 years after she was alive, her sword was not a rapier. She learnt while she was studying and apprenticing under a scholar because she was bored.

She wrote two books in her lifetime: a book about political philosophy, and a book in the old Vesuvian Dialect about the origins, secrets and magic of Vesuvia. It is not, however, a history book. Instead is mostly about language magic and Cassano’s own theories about how to interject with the magic of the Canals if needed. It also has the knowledge passed down from Count to Count, because the Consul has always been supposed to be privy of it, because the Consul has always been supposed to rule in absence or incapacitation of the Count or their heirs.

This book has never left the hands of the Cassano family, except for a brief period during the life of Vitale Cassano (Anatole’s great great grandfather). In the Janiverse (@apprenticealec​‘s and my Arcanaverses combined) the book is stolen by the Scholars of the Sea Palace, but Amparo Mediavilla, wife of Vitale intercepts the middle man before it’s too late. In my regular Arcanaverse, it is taken for similar reasons, and Amparo still retrieves it.

Count Sibona also described her as a mongoose with the skin of a woman.

Her name became a surname with her brother Nora (the youngest), who takes after her as the Consul for around ten years before a niece replaces him. Nora introduced himself as “Nora, Brother of Cassano” which got constricted to Nora Cassano. Kin of Cassano was also very normal to refer to both her family and friends by Aristocrats so it stuck

#the arcana #the arcana oc #the arcana worldbuilding #my writing #cassano arianamenzi #the radosevic-cassano

[imshatteredbutnotbroken]

The wonderful world of Desiree Nguyen: A character analysis

This is a season three, episode 14-18 character analysis of everyone’s favourite MacGyver protector, Desiree “Desi” Nguyen. (Or, A.K.A, my attempt at sounding much more intelligent than I am.) If people want to read more, I’ll cover the rest of the seasons.

Now, I won’t always sound unbiased in my feelings towards Desiree, but I am going to really try my best to be. And, like I said, I am attempting to sound much more intelligent than I am, so if I miss anything or sound incredibly stupid, feel free to correct me.

There are spoilers, so if you haven’t seen season three, I recommend skipping this analysis.

It’s important to note that this is not a commentary on Levy Tran herself, and that it’s only about her character (EXTREME EMPHASIS ON CHARACTER).

There is also a Tl;dr at the end of each episode summary starting from episode 15.

Let’s begin.

Desiree (hereby known as Desi) was first mentioned by (actual) fan favourite, Jack Dalton, in season 3 episode 14, Father+ Bride + Betrayal. He first mentioned her in a conversation with Mac during the wedding:

Jack: “Matty let me handpick my replacement to watch your back.  I think you’re really gonna like her. Or, kill her. One of the two.”

Mac: “That’s oddly specific. Should I be worried?”

Jack: “No, man. You’ll meet her soon enough. And, trust me, there’s nobody I’d trust more than this woman to watch your back. She is really good. Well, other than me, obviously.”  

Now, there’s not much to go on, but we do get some hints. She’s tough, she’s a badass, and Jack likes and trusts her. So, Desi’s initial set up isn’t so bad. We love Jack, and if Desi comes at Jack’s recommendation, we know she can be trusted to watch everyone’s backs. Like I said, we’re off to a good start.  

It’s also important to note: Jack specifically says “there’s nobody I’d trust more than this woman to watch your back.” Does this really happen only a season later? Honestly? It’s debatable. But, we’ll get there when we get there.

Season three, episode 15:  K9 + Smugglers + New Recruit

Desi is initially introduced — through Mac — as advertised: a tough badass who will take her job as the team’s protector seriously. While she admits to Mac that she will hate her job as their bodyguard, she is doing it because she owes Jack. What she owes him exactly, we’re still not sure. It could be anything from repaying Jack for a chocolate bar to repaying a debt to him after Jack saved someone’s life. Who the hell knows?

In the war room, at her second meeting with Mac, Riley, Bozer, Leanna (remember her?! Why couldn’t you leave well enough alone, T.V. show?!), and Matty, Desi reemphasizes that their safety is her top priority. Like I said, Desi (in her initial intro) is a tough badass who takes her job seriously.

On the mission, Cody, (our story of the week’s gun sniffing dog) immediately finds two guns on Desi’s person. She really is like Jack in that respect! But, we soon find out she doesn’t like them (she’s really not like Jack that way!), telling Mac she only carries it because she has to, will only pull a gun when necessary, and that she’d “rather put bad guys in an interrogation room than the morgue.” Another special exception that allows her to pull a gun is against “anyone who hurts animals.”

While Mac and Riley notice Desi isn’t the warmest, Riley acknowledges that Desi is well-accomplished. She was one of the first women to graduate from Ranger school, was part of a special ops team made up of SAS, Delta, and the CIA, and, apparently, “has more awards than Michael Phelps.” So, Desi is no slouch. She also impresses everyone even more when she parkours up several shipping containers to get a better view for the op they’re on. Desi proves herself again during a fight scene by single-handedly taking out several guys with guns (and gets shot in the process, her bulletproof vest stopping every bullet). Let’s add bravery to the list of qualities Desi has shown in just over 10 minutes.

Later, she talks to Riley, who emphasizes their group’s need for Desi to be reliable (and this is interesting because Desi’s reliability is questioned in episode 21 this season). Riley found out Desi went AWOL while she was in Afghanistan, and Riley wants to know why. As Desi explains, one of the Afghani civilians she was working with was kidnapped, and she went to find him. Which Desi successfully did. As she tells the story, Desi becomes emotional, showing that she does have a heart and a vulnerable side, and you can tell she is speaking sincerely. Desi is also adamant that she would to do it again. This is an interesting contrast to her behaviour during the Codex storyline, but we’ll get there.

Desi doesn’t much like Mac’s fly by the seat of his pants behaviour because she was trained to always have plan and she can’t work spontaneously. We also learn Desi is knowledgeable about some sort of technology having to with RFID chips that I can’t personally understand, and that she went to the University of Michigan.

At the end of the episode, Desi makes an appearance at Mac’s house, saying Jack made her promise to go. She leaves as quickly as came though, not wanting to get too close to everyone…in case she has to bury them. Which, I understand, but morbid, jeez. It’s also kind of odd when you think about it because Desi is the group’s protector and is responsible for their safety. But, on the other hand, she can’t fix every situation, and there may be a time when one of them gets killed on a mission. So, while I understand Desi’s hesitation, I am not entirely a fan of it. And, this behaviour is even odder considering Desi goes on to date Mac at the end of the season. I guess Mac really did break down her walls (and that’s something I didn’t notice until writing this).

Overall, we’ve learned a lot about Desi. She’s tough, yet cold, smart, athletic, reliable (supposedly), likes a plan, and hates guns and animal abusers. Seeing her introduced this way (and introduced well) is interesting because I know future storylines and have seen how much Desi has changed as a character. She was always somewhat cold, but she initially had an adamance, confidence, and determination to do what is right. Knowing how the Codex storyline in particular goes down, the way Desi changes is interesting, to say the least.

Tl;dr: As Desi is introduced, the audience learns that she takes her job as the team’s bodyguard seriously, and owes Jack for some (still unknown) reason, and that’s really why Desi is there. We also learn she hates guns and animal abusers, is brave, athletic, reliable (supposedly), and well-accomplished. She also doesn’t want to get too close to the rest of the team in case she has to bury them, so she leaves the Phoenix’s group hangout session as quickly as she joined.

Season three, episode 16: Lidar + Rogues + Duty

At the beginning of this episode, Desi is ‘familiarizing’ herself with the lab and ‘helping’ Bozer with Sparky (really, she’s flipping through a magazine and complaining about the music Bozer is playing while he works). She says she’s lending moral support, though, so, whatever works, I guess. Anyway, Bozer asks for her help with running diagnostic tests on Sparky, and Desi agrees. But, her help is a riddle that sends the robot on an endless loop for the rest of the episode. I do like her shit disturber behaviour, though, so I’ll give Desi that.

For the main operation, Desi and Mac are on a recovery mission in Azerbaijan to bring back one of Mac’s friend’s bodies. His friend, Robert Reese, was on a covert flying mission when his plane crashed, and Mac and Desi are the only ones who can get the body.

While looking for the wreckage, Desi notices that Mac is distracted. She asks him what’s going on, and he explains why he’s distracted. And, knowing that Mac feels responsible for what happened to Reese, Desi asks Mac to tell her about his friend. After Mac does, she gets angry with him and tells Mac to compartmentalize, seemingly a turn around from being caring like she was in the previous episode. But, I understand where she’s coming from because Desi and Mac have to stay focused, or else, like she says, “Matty will be sending a team to recover us.” Fair, because if Mac lets his emotions get the best of him — while he and Desi are in a country they’re not supposed to be in — he could get into a situation he can’t get out of.  

Later, we learn that Desi speaks Turkish (what can’t this girl do?!) as some of the Azerbaijani military arrive at the wreckage site. After escaping and driving away, Desi notices a parachute in the trees, indicating it’s possible Reese isn’t dead. Mac is hopeful that his friend is alive, while Desi is more logical, saying, “there are a lot of reasons why the Azerbaijani military would grab a dead U.S. pilot.” They spot footprints of U.S. Army issued boots, so their mission goes from recovery to search and rescue.

Mac and Desi are led to a small town after hearing about sightings of an injured man wearing a flight suit. There, they figure out which building Reese is hiding in. Mac and Desi find him alive but with a broken clavicle. And, while Mac provides Reese with first aid, Desi becomes all business. But, in her defence, they’re in danger, so it’s not weird Desi reacts this way.

After escaping and another mission change (this time to stopping rogue CIA agents and recovering chemical weapons), Mac improvises a plan that goes awry and has Desi and Reese held at gunpoint by the agents. Desi has to stall while Mac tries to save them and, as she talks, she uses the info Mac told her about Reese, proving Desi listened to Mac. So, while we thought Desi was being callous, she actually showed that she sincerely cared about what Mac had to say.

Later, Desi meets with Bozer to make up for sending Sparky into an endless loop. Maybe she truly feels bad, or maybe she’s doing it selfishly because she’s new. Either way, it’s hard to tell because we’re not in Desi’s head. But, I’ll give it to her because I really think Desi knows she messed up and she wants to fix it. She tells Bozer the answer to the riddle and Sparky is able to break the loop.

We are still learning about Desi, but we get so much info in the small details. My favourite part about her this episode was her shit disturbing. We also learn she speaks Turkish, prefers to be all business when she’s on a mission, and pays attention to what’s going on around her. Desi is actually quite deep in this season, and she shows that she cares about people and robots alike.

Tl;dr: At the beginning of the episode, Desi is ‘helping’ Bozer while he works on Sparky the robot. She sends Sparky on an endless loop after telling him a riddle he can’t figure out, annoying Bozer.

Desi and Mac have the main operation, which was initially a body recovery mission for one of Mac’s friends, Robert Reese. She gets Mac to open up about Reese, and then immediately tells him to compartmentalize so they can get through the mission alive.

They find Reese alive, and their mission changes to stopping rogue CIA agents and recovering chemical weapons. At the chemical weapons site, Desi and Reese are held up at gunpoint by the agents, and Desi is forced to stall while Mac saves them. She uses the story Mac told her about Reese earlier in the episode, proving she paid attention to what Mac said.

At the end of the episode, Desi goes to Bozer to help fix Sparky. She tells him the answer to the riddle, getting Sparky out of his loop, and showing Desi cares about those around her.

Season three, episode 17: Seeds + Permafrost + Feather

This episode opens with Mac and Desi in bed together. But, it’s not what you think. It’s for a mission and part of Mac’s plan to escape from the people chasing them. Desi is annoyed by the plan (because she had to get undressed) and she argues with Mac. He tries to convince her it was their best option — until the bad guys return and hold Desi and Mac up at gunpoint. I can see why she would be annoyed with Mac, but is fighting during a mission necessary? Somehow, they escape, and we can move on.

Mac, Riley, and Desi have to travel to the international seed vault in Greenland because an employee is missing. Since Mac’s dad, James (also known as Oversight), was involved in the vault’s development and planning, he’s the person to call when something goes wrong. But, James has other business, so the mission falls to Mac, Riley, and Desi.

In the vault, thanks to a comment Desi made about the employee disappearing into the mountain (causing Mac to do his Mac thing), the trio discovers an access tunnel someone dug to get into the (extremely secure) vault. And, whoever dug that tunnel killed Karl, the missing employee, in the process. There is also a possibility of seeds being stolen.  

So, Mac, Riley, and Desi use Karl’s cell phone, which he had on him, to figure out the path he took and identify which seeds may have been stolen. Mac and Desi, who plays the murderer, recreate the fight, and they’re having a ball doing it. They fight, and Desi gives Mac all she’s got. She’s not subtle or gentle, but she gets the job done. Soon, they figure out which box (one of North Korea’s) the thief rifled through, and which seeds were taken (a rare form of a pea plant).

Desi explores the access tunnel and finds a room that is scattered in schematics, seed reports, and drilling equipment. From there, Mac figures out that the pea seeds are an ingredient in making a toxin, and that the seeds can be weaponized and used to create as much of the toxin as desired. Riley discovers their thief has been making monthly payments to a flower shop in Brussels, so a plane ride it is for Mac, Riley, and Desi.

On the plane, Mac calls Bozer so Mac can find out what’s going on with James. But, after hanging up, Mac slams his phone down and Desi comments on his annoyance and asks Mac about it. He says it’s the mission, but Desi isn’t buying it. When Riley mentions it’s about Mac’s dad, Desi says that Oversight seemed distracted. And, while she admits it’s not her business to know what’s going with Mac’s dad, Desi tells Mac it is his business.

The three of them go on a chase that takes them from a cemetery in Brussels to a park in the Czech Republic. The man they are running after, named Jules, wants revenge on a crime boss named Passer for killing Jules’ wife and child after Jules testified in court. At the park, Riley and Desi fight Passer’s men while Mac starts to talk Jules (who is holding Passer up at gunpoint) down. Eventually, Jules relents, and he is arrested. Mac, Riley, and Desi recover the stolen seeds and avoid an international incident with North Korea.

Desi has more of a background role in this episode because the episode focuses on Mac and his dad. But, her fighting skills, knowledge (she helped explain the seed vault to Riley and the audience), and empathy shine through. This is particularly true when she encourages Mac to figure out what is going on with his dad. This side of Desi is nice to see because while she’s tough, she is sincere in her efforts to help others.

Tl;dr: Desi is in the background this episode, but, she displays her intelligence, empathy, and fighting skills. She also encourages Mac to figure out what is going on with his dad, saying that it’s not her business to know what is going on with her boss, but it is Mac’s.

Season three, episode 18: Murdoc + Helman + Hit

This episode opens with Nicolas Helman’s return. And he gets to work immediately by murdering an FBI interrogator in a karaoke bar. How this happened, Mac, Riley, Matty, Bozer, and Oversight aren’t sure because the last time they saw him, Helman was dead — or, so they thought — because Matty had his coffin exhumed and it was empty. Since the Phoenix is responsible for Helman, they have to figure out his next move so they can capture him.

Mac, Bozer, and Desi are with Oversight this episode. Their mission? To speak with our favourite psychopath Murdoc who is still at the Phoenix Black Site. Desi gets the Helman story explained to her, but it doesn’t seem like she entirely believes how serious dealing with Murdoc is because she asks Mac, “What kind of monster are you keeping down here? Indominus Rex? King Kong? That kid from The Omen? These questions also reveal another detail about Desi that could easily be overlooked: She likes horror and monster movies. Anyway, upon meeting Murdoc, Desi seems to get it because she has a face similar to McKayla Maroney’s unimpressed face plastered on (and, really, who can blame her?). But, Mac, Bozer, Desi, and Oversight need Murdoc’s help, so they press on.

There’s a quick scene with Bozer and Desi observing Mac and Oversight questioning Murdoc. Desi acknowledges they weren’t kidding about Murdoc and notes that James is just as much of an enigma because he’s still exerting himself, despite the toll doing so takes. Bozer thinks Desi is talking about the effects having cancer has on Oversight himself, but Desi immediately corrects Bozer and says “I meant on Mac.” So, again, there’s that compassion for others Desi has displayed since her introduction.

After getting more information from Murdoc about Helman’s possible whereabouts (because Helman has killed again), Mac, Desi, and Oversight jump into action to find Helman. They, and a Phoenix tac team, storm an apartment building with Desi leading the way with a gun. They leave Bozer behind with Murdoc (which, rude). Anyway, the team starts going up to the apartment, but before they can really make their way, James starts having trouble physically. Mac, worried about his father, tells him he doesn’t need to go upstairs, but Oversight insists. Desi encourages Mac to be open and honest with his dad, but Mac says Oversight is fine. Desi tells Mac not saying anything to his father shouldn’t be an emotional decision because lives hang in the balance. She also says she’s worried about Mac, and tells him to not get distracted. This attitude harkens back to episode 16 when Desi was worried about Mac’s emotions getting in the way of their mission. So, I understand where she’s coming from and why she’s concerned.

Skipping ahead, Mac, Desi, and James go on a road trip because Riley and Matty discovered Helman had the transportation route for an FBI transport truck moving someone who is supposed to testify in a trial against his former employees. While waiting for the FBI truck, they see another (unknown) vehicle approaching. Concerned it may be Helman and that it could have explosives in it, Mac, Desi, and Oversight have to stop the vehicle. James tries to take matters into his own hands by borrowing a tac team member’s rife, but he’s having trouble steadying himself, and Desi notices. Oversight is eventually able to get his bearings and shoots out the van’s tires. While they stop the vehicle, it turns out to be a distraction so Helman could get into the Phoenix Black Site. Desi figures out that the FBI murders and attack on the transport truck were all a ruse so Helman could kill Murdoc.  

Later, they realize Murdoc’s entire plan was a jailbreak so Mac and Oversight go on a car chase to capture Murdoc while Desi flies in a helicopter overhead (side note, I’m not really sure why Desi is there because it doesn’t seem like she needs to be. She doesn’t do anything in this scene other than fly overhead and worry about Mac). James and Mac do their thing and figure out a way to stop Murdoc’s truck. But, with Desi’s words in the back of his mind (probably), Mac tells his dad he shouldn’t be the one to stop the truck. Oversight agrees, and Mac does his thing. You can see as he tries to overtake the truck, everyone (including Desi) is concerned. Eventually succeeding in stopping and capturing Murdoc, there’s a shot shown of Desi’s relief.

At the end of the episode, Desi says she suggested security upgrades for the black site so no one can escape or attack the site again. This reflects her security knowledge because the Phoenix trusted her enough to give her the task. Again, Desi isn’t so useless and demonstrates her intelligence.  

Throughout the episode, Desi shows she cares about other people, especially since she’s worried about the effect Oversight’s need to keep going has on Mac. She also encourages Mac to be honest with his father. And this is a thread that is shown throughout these episodes. Which leads to the following questions: What happened to that particular characteristic? Where did Desi’s empathy and compassion go?  

Tl;dr: Desi’s character development takes somewhat of a backseat this episode because it mostly focuses on Mac and Oversight (again). Still, throughout their mission, Desi encourages Mac to be open and honest with his father and tell Oversight his concerns. This, again, demonstrates her empathy and her concerns for others. Mac is eventually able (probably with Desi’s words in the back of his mind) to be honest with Oversight and take over in order to do the physical labour required on the mission.

Lastly, Desi suggests security upgrades for the Phoenix Black Site that held Murdoc so that no one can break in or out again. This demonstrates her intelligence, and leads to the following question: What happened to her intelligence and compassion and empathy for others?

We learn so much about Desi in just four episodes. From her bravery and boldness, to enjoyment of monster and horror movies, she isn’t so one-note. The biggest thread is her compassion and concern for others. She wants to help people and ensure they’re safe, and Desi is adamant and determined about it. She continually displays this characteristic, especially when it comes to Mac and ensuring his feelings don’t get the best of him while they’re on a mission.

During season three, Desi is written well! She’s introduced to us based on the trust a fan favourite has with the audience and she never deviates from that. She also displays many characteristics that actually make her interesting. She’s smart, athletic, brave, and bold. So, I have to ask (again): WHAT HAPPENED?! Where did go so wrong and why?

If you want more of my character analysis, let me know! I procrastinated way too long on this, so if it seems like episode 18 is disjointed from the rest, I apologize. I had fun with this, and I feel like I like and understand Desi a little more (at least for season three).

#Macgyver #Desi Nguyen #Desiree Nguyen #Character analysis #I got really bored. Can you tell?

[sirtommyholland]

Van Life || Tom Holland x female!reader 

Me: has like 5 unfinished works in drafts

Also me: lemme just write this brand new thing

A/N: DAD!TOM EVERYONE! This is inspired by a real life family! IG: MayaVanLife They are a Turkish family and they've now been on a world tour for a year to make their daughter’s dreams come true! The 3 van pictures above all belong to them. They have a youtube channel by the same name too!

Word Count: 1.5k  

It all started with a 6 year old girl's dream.

When you and Tom met, 15 years ago, you immediately bonded over your shared love of travelling, and went all over the world together for years, even lived in different countries. When your daughter Siena was born, it was no shock to anyone that she inherited that love of yours. Obviously you were the ones that raised her that way- her first trip outside the country was when she was just 3 months old, to Netherlands. She loved going to new places, she loved falling asleep to the rumbling of your car, waking up in a different country. She was a dreamer. And her biggest dream yet came in a trip to Italy.

You were in a park, sitting on a picnic blanket together, enjoying the afternoon sun. Siena was quick to notice the camper vans parked around the place. Ever the social butterfly, she wanted to meet the people that lived in them. After seeing the vans-turned-homes and people travelling the world in them, she was quick to decide that “I want a van, too!”

For you and Tom, no dream was too unrealistic to accomplish. Your daughter was your everything, and your sole purpose in life was to make her happy. Of course you had long conversations about it, saying it wouldn’t be easy, explaining the difficulties like not having a bathroom and everything, but she was ready to accept all of it. Then it became the sole topic of your pillow talks with Tom. “Can we actually do it?” “Is it too crazy?” “What if we get stranded in a far away country?” “Her school?” “What if she gets sick?” “Can we live without a bathroom?” After lots of evaluations, and seeing this wasn’t a passing dream for her, you started researching. Because who were you to deny her this adventure when you were the ones who raised her that way? You bought a van- a bright orange one- and started the painful yet satisfying process of converting it into your new home. After getting lots of help from both of your friends, and his brothers, your home was ready to hit the road. 

You started small, first travelling around the country to see how it would be, if you could do it or not. When it seemed that Siena was more than okay with living in this cramped space, you turned your route to Finland. It was Siena’s biggest dream to see the Aurora Borealis, and the look of awe on her face when she saw them for real for the first time, already made all of this worth it. 

You went all over Europe, camping in different places for days, and Sienna loved every minute of it. She made friends everywhere she went, getting to know other travelers like you. She was home-schooled (van-schooled as she liked to call it) and loved studying on the mountains, or on the beach instead of her boring room back in your house. It was nearing a year on your world tour, and you couldn’t be happier.

------

You woke up with a small grunt, stretching your body as much as you could while being wrapped up in Tom’s arms. You yawned, and settled back into him as you opened your eyes, trying to get used to the brightness of the morning. You felt his arms tighten around you, a telltale sign that he was waking up as well. You smiled and turned around in his arms, facing him.

“Morning love,” he spoke against your hair, morning voice low and croaked. 

“Morning,” you whispered against his chest, hands going around his back to hug him closer. 

You laid there wrapped up in each other for a bit, enjoying the quiet morning and your daughters quiet breathing. Then you slowly sat up to rest your back against the wall, pulling him up with you. He leaned over the bed to wake Siena up, pressing kisses to her hair, making her groan. 

“Let her sleep,” you laughed, as she rubbed her eyes, she was not a morning person at all. “Or she can sleep with me. Come here baby” you reached for her, she giggled as she sleepily climbed over to your bed, settling in your arms. You cuddled her to your chest, leaving big kisses on her hair.

“You can go now.” you said to Tom between kisses, settling back into the pillows with your daughter. 

“Okay, thanks.” he laughed, getting up from the bed to wash his face and get changed. “I’m going for a run, then we can have breakfast when we get back?” 

“Kay.” you smiled. He came over to give you a goodbye kiss, and Siena, and left with a slam of the sliding door.

You laid your daughter next to you, and started reading your book until Tom came back. Siena woke up again thirty minutes later, for good this time, smiling at you through half open eyes. 

“Morning baby” you kiss her hair, marking your spot and closing the book. 

“Morning mummy,” she practically laid on top of you, hugging you tightly. 

“Wanna do some stretches with me?” you ask her, making her nod enthusiastically. She sat in front of you, crossing her legs like you, and you showed her some moves to do with you, going through your morning routine together.

After a while the door slid open and Tom’s head peaked in, looking to see what you’re up to.

“Tommy’s here!” you cheered with Siena, and he smiled as he saw you doing stretches.

“Here, let me open the back door for you,” he said, and walked over to the back of the van. As he opened the double doors in the back, the gorgeous view of green Montenegro mountains came into view, along with Tom, your personal favourite view.

“Hey.” you grinned, leaning in to steal a kiss.

“I want a kiss too!” Siena whined, leaning over to her dad.

“Oh, you’ll get more than a kiss!” Tom grabbed her from the bed before she could do anything, and threw her over his shoulder as he spun around making her shriek and kick her legs in joy.

You watched them with a smile, wondering how in the world your life was so perfect right now. Tom stopped spinning and brought her down to hold her normally. Siena thought he was going to put her down to the ground, and was quick to remind him that “Daddy, I don’t have shoes!”, pointing to her bare feet.

“Then you’ll have to hold tight, hm?” he kissed her shoulder, her arms and legs wrapping around him tightly.

“Okay, can you bring back my daughter so we can have breakfast, please?”

“Nope” he says, hugging her tighter as he swayed in place, “She’s mine now.”

“But I’m hungry!” she whined.

“Traitor” he pouted, but still walked around to the side door so to bring her inside.

As Tom made scrambled eggs and toast, you and Siena set up your folding table and chairs outside, taking advantage of the nice weather. You handed her the plates and glasses from the van and she carried them to the table. After a nice breakfast and cleaning up, you decided to pack up and hit the road, so you could arrive your destination earlier.

One of your favourite things about the van was that it had two passenger seats, so all three of you could sit in the front while you were driving. You drove for a few hours, playing your roadtrip playlist, then Tom took over after a quick lunch break. An hour after lunch, Siena was getting quite sleepy, so she went to the back to lay down, leaving you and Tom alone. You quickly scooted over to take Siena’s place, sitting close to him. He took your hand and raised it to his lips to leave a gentle kiss across your knuckles.

“We haven’t been alone for a while.”

“Yeah.” you sighed. “I miss sex.”

He snorted. While you loved living in your tiny home and travelling the world with your daughter, lack of a private space meant lack of a private time.

“It’s been a while since stayed at a motel. We can find one tonight?” he asked hopefully, biting his lip.

You leaned over the dashboard to plant a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll meet you there. I’ll be the one laying in bed naked.”

He laughed, the eye-crinkling one that you loved more than anything, and intertwined your fingers as he kept driving. You watched him, looking at the way his sunglasses were sitting on his nose, how the sun was painting his hair with gold, how his strong hand was gripping the steering wheel, and decided that your life couldn’t be better than it was right now.  

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Ahh sorry for the lame ending😥 Please don't forget to comment/reblog/like if you enjoyed it, and check out @MayaVanLife on insta! Stay safe everyone!💕

MASTERLIST

#tom holland x reader #tom holland one shot #tom holland imagine #tom holland blurb #fluff #camper van #van life #dad!tom holland #tom holland daughter

[emwritesfootball]

Birthday Gifts | Ozan Kabak

Summary: It’s Ozan’s birthday and his children are excited to give him gifts.

A/N: I don’t normally write children but this idea was too cute to pass up.

Word Count: 786

Warnings: children, very light innuendo

Turkish Key Baba - Dad Anne - Mum Minnoş - nickname for daughter; literally ‘adorable’ Aşkitom - my sweet love Sebebim - my reason

- - -

You’d been trying for weeks to help your little ones pick out gifts for ‘Baba’s Birthday’, and so far you’d had a few interesting outcomes. Zeki, your four-year-old son, had picked out what he’d deemed the ‘perfect gift’ but wouldn’t let you see what it was until you’d got to the checkout queue. You’d barely been able to contain your laughter when you saw what he’d picked out, but you just nodded and paid the cashier who couldn’t stop smiling at you and your little toddlers.

Your three-year-old daughter Ayla insisted that she didn’t need to buy anything and you played along, curious as to what she had in mind to give her dad. When she wasn’t looking, you bought a tie you knew Ozan would like, planning to gift it in her name just in case Ayla really didn’t have anything to give her dad on his birthday.

On Ozan’s birthday, you woke the kids up early, letting them help you prepare breakfast in bed. “Do you have your gifts?” You asked, grabbing the tray you’d put all the food on. You called out for Aslan, the Chow the first to run into the bedroom.

“İyi ki doğdun!” You said, a bright smile on your face as you greeted your sleepy husband. Happy birthday!

He sat up, rubbing his eyes. His smile widened when he saw the feast before him, Aslan jumping up on the bed to give him kisses. “You didn’t have to do all this,” he said, pulling you into him for a kiss.

“Of course I did - it’s your first birthday in a long time that we’ve gotten to celebrate it together.”

“Baba!” Ayla yelled, breathless as she ran into the room with Zeki on her heels. Aslan jumped down off the bed and over to your kids, barking excitedly.

“Do you want your presents now?” Zeki asked, his eyes wide.

Ozan laughed, nodding. “Sure!”

The two kids broke out into grins, hopping onto the bed with their gifts. You’d helped Zeki wrap his a few days ago, but Ayla was still being secretive about hers. Zeki went first, holding out the lumpy package. Ozan took it, shaking it and putting on a show for his son. “Is it...another puppy?” He asked, making Zeki laugh and shake his head.

“Hayır baba!” No, dad!

“Well, then I wonder what it could be.” Ozan unwrapped it, trying not to laugh. It was a football, but one of the smallest sizes for children.

“You said you wanted a new football,” Zeki explained, his eyes lighting up. “Is it okay, Baba?”

Ozan leaned over, ruffling his son’s dark hair. “It’s perfect. Do you want to play later?”

Zeki’s eyes lit up and he nodded excitedly.

Ozan turned his attention to Ayla who looked like she might cry. “What’s wrong, Minnoş?”

“I forgot your gift in my room,” she said quietly, hopping off the bed and racing to her bedroom. When she returned, she had her hands behind her back, struggling a little. She held out her hands to Ozan, looking up at him with wide eyes. “For you, Baba.”

“For me?” Ozan’s face softened as he took her favourite stuffie from her outstretched hands. “Minnoş, I can’t take this. What if you miss it and get sad?”

“You can take it with you when you leave us and then it’ll be like...like we are there, too,” she said, climbing back up onto the bed and into Ozan’s arms.

“That’s so sweet of you - thank you,” Ozan whispered, kissing the top of her head.

You couldn’t help the tears that started to form in your eyes at your daughter’s thoughtfulness. Suddenly all her secretiveness and nervousness made sense and you couldn’t help but grow prouder of her.

“Anne, do you have any gifts for Baba?” Zeki asked, bringing you out of your own head.

You went to the side table, opening the drawer to produce the wrapped tie and handed it to Ozan. “The rest of your gift will come later,” you whispered, brushing a kiss across his cheek with the promise of more. His parents were set to watch the kids that evening while the two of you went out to dinner and you had plans.

You, Ozan and the kids spent the rest of the morning in bed eating food and enjoying the day. Later in the afternoon, Ozan opened his new football and kicked it around with Zeki while Ayla watched and occasionally participated.

“Thank you, Aşkitom,” Ozan whispered later that night when the two of you were cuddled up in bed. “I had the best day today.”

“Anything for you, Sebebim,” you replied, kissing him softly. “Seni seviyorum.” I love you.

#my writing: ozan kabak

[misunderstoodnotevil]

I’ve often wondered if this place is haunted. It ought to be.

Series 1, episode 5

Previous episodes 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 

I will start by saying this may be my favourite episode so far. The manipulation, oh boy, it has reached new levels. Ms. O'Brien's middle name has to be that; manipulation. She may be the best thing in the episode.

The subplot of the flower show brings us into the mindset of the bootlicker and while Violet is not exactly tired of having such people around her, she's shown to be magnanimous and surrender her own prize to Mr. Molesley. But whose bloom was actually the best? We'll never know...

Mrs. Patmore has cataracts, there are some funny scenes about it and then we see Carson being a good hearted boss to her. 

Right now, I wonder if something had happened between Mr. Patrick and Ms. O'Brien. God forbid someone speaks for the Titanic.

Sybil continues her quest to help Gwen find a job. They have a little adventure that could have been avoided had she trusted the stalk... sorry, I meant Branson. (The budget was low and Leech was not in the episode though). The job interview was unsuccessful, but we saw Sybil being good hearted and a rebel all on her own. Go girl

Daisy is still itchy aka traumatised after watching the transfer of Pamuk's dead body and everyone (and their dog) has noticed. Mary's in trouble. 

Robert gets a letter from his sister. Mary's in double trouble. 

Of course, like other people in this house, she can't keep her mouth shut for appearances sake. The letter, as we learn later on, is bad news. Her reputation is in tatters. Hmmm I wonder who's responsible for that. Wait, Thomas sent a letter to a friend of his, "Lady Mary was no better than she ought to be." The friend is a valet of a gossiper who clearly spread the news around London.

Now, the interesting part is "you won't tell, will you? I'm in enough trouble as it" and once again we see he acts first and thinks later. It doesn't really cross his mind the consequences of his actions.

As opposed to Ms. O'Brien, whose thoughts are precise and she’s thinking well ahead of the results if the acts succeed. 

Thomas steals the wine. If anyone wondered in the last episode who the thief was, we found him here. Bates catches him in the act. Of course it was Bates!

So, when he tells Sarah Bates saw him nicking a bottle of whine, she starts having thoughts about it and makes him think he has to do something about it. She manipulates his fear expertly.

Thomas on the other hand is certain Bates will tell Carson when "he's feeling spiteful". Why does Thomas think so? Is it projection? Is it the way he's been treated all his life? The certain is that this is what he believes. Bates will tell the truth to Carson, eventually. In the meantime, in the next episode, Bates says clearly to Anna that he doesn't plan to say anything to Carson because he doesn't want anyone to lose his job. Not even Thomas.

Thomas acts under false pretenses.

And I think it's safe to assume (as safe as is to assume) that Ms. O'Brien is behind his certainty. 

Back to Mary,

Her parents claim she has to get married. Since Matthew is out of the question, there's a new gentleman, Strallan, in the picture. Robert doesn't like him. He's the same age as him and dull.

Matthew doesn't like Edith the way Edith would like him to like her (Hint; he likes Mary). He makes it absolutely clear to his mother. He says as such to Mary as well. It makes me question Matthew pov as well. Why does he do it? Matthew is not stupid. He has seen how the sister behave towards the other. His affections for Mary though clouds his judgement. Of course, Mary turns around and says so to Edith.

And Mary uses it against Edith.*

And O'Brien uses it against everyone.

Because the master mind is Ms. O'Brien.

She starts with Daisy, and what she knows about Mary and Pamuk.

She continues with Cora in a superb scene. Cora says her daughters are all grown up and they need their own establishments.

"No one ever warns you about bringing up daughters. You think it’s going to be like Little Women. Instead, they’re at each other’s throats from dawn till dusk."

Now, besides the fact this is something Sarah is going to use, there is a certain insensitivity from Cora's side to say that to her maid when said maid has no children. We don't know if it was a decision willingly made, or if O'Brien just didn't have the chance to get married and have children of her own. Or even if she wanted to have kids.

Which brings Sarah to Edith, manipulating her insecurities that have caused her to dislike her older sister, using Daisy's story.

And as it happens, Mary shows Edith she can have any man she wants, whenever she wants him, may that be Matthew or Strallan (whom Edith likes after realizing Matthew doesn’t want her. Like Edith’s heart has clearly many leaves ready to be shared), followed by listening to her mother and Mary talking about her. 

 You mustn’t be unkind to Edith. She has fewer advantages than you.

 Fewer? She has none at all.

(Between you & me, Mary had it coming!)

So Edith sends the letter to his Excellency the Turkish (Ottoman) Ambassador in London.

Thomas and O'Brien betrayed themselves with their behaviour to Anna and Bates who in turn, turn the tables on them.

 The bastard’s hidden it in my room or yours.

 Why did I ever listen to you in the first place?

Bates hasn't hidden it in their rooms, but he’s made them believe it. It's interesting again, how O'Brien blames the fiasco on Thomas. 

*  Everyone is sorry for Edith. Bates and Anna are sorry for her. Anna thinks she was in love in Patrick who was engaged with a Mary who didn't really want him, but she would have married him because he was the heir.

We can compare the stealing of food by Carson in the first episodes to give to his old friend who was blackmailing him and Thomas stealing the wine.

Carson is remorseful, he doesn't do it because he wants to, narratively-wise he also gets a background that justifies his actions. The audience gets to see it's an act he despises and also gets to see why he does it. 

Thomas? The audience sees him stealing wine. Why? To what purpose? We have no idea. No explanation given. None whatsoever. And it's because it's not thought. I don't know, they could have been seen drinking it with O'Brien in the roof, for all I care. Give the audience a reason as to why he steals the wine. Have Sarah asking him why she did he steal it? 

The problem is there is no actual reason for Thomas to steal wine. And it’s never used again other than seeing how he doesn’t deserve to work in the Abbey. 

I hate the wine stealing for this reason.

Interesting quotes from the episode:

Thomas: I’ve often wondered if this place is haunted. It ought to be.

Sarah:  Of the spirits of maids and footmen who died in slavery?

Bates: I always feel a bit sorry for Lady Edith.

 Anna: Me, too. Although I don’t know why, when you think what she’s got and what we haven’t.

Bates: Perhaps Mr Patrick did love her [Edith] back, he just couldn’t say it.

Sometimes we’re not at liberty to speak. Sometimes it wouldn’t be right.

Mary: Kemal? My lover. Kemal Pamuk.

Robert: She thinks, if you put a toy down, it will still be sitting there when you want to play with it again.

#Downton Abbey #Thomas Barrow #DA watching #long post #NotEvilTexts

[onlycags]

Söz yüzüğü (The Promise Ring)

Çaglar preparing something cute and sweet for you on valentine's day when you two are gonna be together, throughout the day he keeps trying to find a window of opportunity to give your gift, at the same time you think he forgot or doesn't care, at the end of the day you're slightly annoyed and sad, so instead of staying the night you decide to go home... 🤭

Word Count: 1,051

- - -

Çağlar was excited to spend Valentine’s Day with you, meticulously planning out every detail for the day, not expecting the entire day to go horribly wrong. 

Traffic had been horrible on the way to his place, so you were late through no fault of your own. Çağlar was stressed, though, because you’d messaged him almost an half an hour before you arrived that you were on your way but he hadn’t heard from you until you showed up at his door. You were usually diligent in texting him when you were running late, but this time it had just slipped your mind. 

“I was so worried,” he murmured in Turkish, pulling you into him for a tight hug when you walked through the door. 

“Sorry, Sevdam,” you replied, taking his face in your hands and giving him a kiss. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“It’s okay. I just have lots of things planned for us today and I thought for a moment that you wouldn’t show up.”

“Of course I’d come - today’s just been hectic, is all.”

It was your first Valentine’s Day with Çağlar and you weren’t expecting it to be this awkward. You were overwhelmed by how much thought and planning he’d put into this, but something seemed to be missing and you couldn’t figure out what it was. Çağlar looked anxious and on-edge, and for a moment the thought of him breaking up with you crossed your mind. 

All throughout dinner he fidgeted, stumbling over his words and making lame small-talk. It felt like your first date all over again, except this time it wasn’t cute or adorable. When he accidentally dropped your dessert all over you as he tried to set it down on the table, you’d had enough.

“I’m just...gonna go,” you said, not making eye contact with him as you tried to wipe the chocolate out of your  dress as best you could.

“You can stay here and change into some of my clothes and we can wash your dress right now.” Çağlar tried to bargain, but you just shook your head.

“No, Çağlar, I think  it’s best if I just go home.”

Çağlar let you go without another word, and you cried the whole way home. You weren’t sure who you were more upset with: Çağlar, for being weird and awkward tonight, or yourself for leaving without any explanation.

You weren’t going to jump to any crazy conclusions and assume the relationship was over or anything, but there was definitely a part of you that was questioning a few things. You and Çağlar had been together for almost nine months, and up until now, everything had been going well. 

When you got back to your place, you immediately tended to your dress, hoping it wasn’t ruined. You drew yourself a warm bath, putting in one of the scented bath bombs that Çağlar had gotten you for Christmas, sighing as you relaxed in the water. By the time you got out of the bath, you’d mostly forgotten about the disastrous dinner...until you heard a knock at the door.

“Çağlar?” You asked, confused when you opened the door. “What are you doing here?”

“Can I come in?” He looked apologetic and upset, and your heart broke for him.

You nodded, opening the door a bit wider so he could come in. You took a moment to study him: his hair was disheveled and his pressed shirt was now wrinkled; his normally-confident demeanor now deflated. “What’s wrong?” It was your turn to be worried now. You wanted to reach out and touch him or find some way to soothe him somehow, but right now you weren’t sure what to do.

“I’m so sorry about tonight,” he said, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. “I was so nervous and flustered because it was our first Valentine’s Day together and I wanted it to be special, but I messed it all up.” He took a step toward you but paused, giving you an awkward smile before stepping back. 

“You weren’t awkward or weird because you didn’t get me anything...or,” you paused, not wanting to ask the second part of the question but knowing you had to, “or because you wanted to break up with me, were you?”

“No! Of course not!” His eyes went wide as he shook his head quickly. “I was nervous because I got you a very special gift and I couldn’t find the right time to give it to you.”

Your heart started to race. “Oh, Çağlar. I’m sorry I left before you could give it to me.”

“It’s okay,” he said, his expression softening. He finally stepped towards you, fishing a small box out of his jacket.

For a brief moment, you thought he was going to get down on one knee and propose, but he didn’t and you breathed a sigh of relief. 

“I know we’ve only been together ten months, but they’ve been the best ten months of my life.” Çağlar popped open the box and you gasped when you saw the ring inside. “I’m not asking you to marry me just yet, but I do want you to promise to be mine forever...or, at least until we actually get engaged.”

You studied the ring, a beautiful rose-gold with a setting filled with your favourite stones. The band was thick, and you could tell that something was carved inside the band.

“So, what do you say?” Çağlar asked when you hadn’t said anything for a few seconds. “Will you be mine?”

“Evet,” you whispered, tears filling your eyes as you nodded and flung yourself into his arms. “Tabikide.” Yes, of course. “What does it say?” You asked, watching as Çağlar pulled the ring out of the box.

“It’s got our initials, the day we met, and ‘sen seviyorum’.”

“Sen seviyorum,” you whispered, trying to process the words. They were two words you’d been feeling for a long time, even going so far as to learn the pronunciation so you could say them to him, but you hadn’t found the perfect time. “You...you love me?”

“Tabikide.” Çağlar nodded, his smile growing. “Do you love me, too?”

“Yes.” You nodded, your smile matching his as you dragged him down for a kiss. “Sen seviyorum, Çağlar.”

#soyuncu saturday requests #valentine's day 2021