#once tried to play a remember game with Miranda and Miranda was like definitely not

[neos-schlond-poofa]

rl donna beneviento hcs

because @scuba-gragas (your acc is NOT linking for some reason) freaked out over one of my edit captions and im like. why not share more sad stuff about donna! and also silly stuff in here too.

AND NO IM NOT PUTTING "ATTEMPTED BEFORE" IN HERE THIS IS NOT SOME SAD SOME RANDOM

repeating this from the edit but due to her tendency to remember numerous timelines, donna has even more of a SEVERE fear of being abandoned by mc and lacks a lot of self confidence in the relationship. she remembers mc being happy with the others, what if they did a better job than her? what if mc goes to them? or perhaps, what if the loop occurs and mc goes to someone else, and donna sees them just act happier? was she easily replacable?

however, sometimes donna DOES express her relationship anxieties and mc always does help out; its not all torment for donna, dont worry. as time goes on she always tries to be more open with mc about her feelings

okay back to sad. i imagine this happens to everyone but in their own way, but donna is a sleep hugger. so when she wakes up the day after the loop, shes hugging a pillow instead of mc and she just sits there for a bit. sometimes, she doesnt really get it, other times, she instantly knows what happened. she hates the feeling of waking up that morning and thinking she has someone in her arms, only to have an empty spot in her bed.

really good at claw machines. when angie was younger, she loved going to the arcade, and so donna mastered the art of claw machines to get angie a bunch of prizes (and sometimes herself).

invested in noise cancelling headphones / earbuds once she got with mc. she wears them a lot everywhere and even went to her first concert with them, it helps her not be overstimulated.

she hates herself for this, but part of her prays that mc stays with miranda after she has to wipe belas memories. she cant stand the thought of hurting her niece again in another loop.

would probably get a sims addiction, but specifically making sims.

plays relaxing video game soundtracks in the store (dani, angie, and mc often update the playlists)

she sells those fake flowers on april fools that shoot water at peoples faces.

loves to watch operas and ballets.

im struggling with wording this but like. when donna realizes the loop has occured she always just takes a bunch of time to prepare herself for whatever is going to happen, but ESPECIALLY knowing she has to murder someone for angie again. shes basically doomed to do this forever until mc gets with miranda; and i KNOW angie sometimes isnt a doll but. lets forget about that!! i just imagine shes always a doll anyways, it makes more sense that way, and either way, a loop where angie is fully human is just a temporary break for one of donna's many problems.

ethel cain stan

hates hospital shows for MANY reasons. she doesnt like seeing the hospitals first of all, she doesnt like seeing when the people die, and she hates the medical inconsistencies.

in loops where bela and mc have a family (sigh), she can't help but literally try to keep her distance. they won't have their family for long, and she cant bear to tell them that (although bela is most definitely aware) or even get attached to their baby, she doesn't want to lose someone close again (although bela does not catch onto this; she tries to get donna involved as opposed to alcina)

owns a typewriter

constantly has a tab of solitaire open on her laptop.

theres a picture of markiplier hidden in her room and she doesnt know it. angie hid it there and has been waiting for donna to find it. thing is? she hid it before the loop started. so it is permanently there for every loop.

always has really cutesy and simplistic halloween costumes she wears in her flower shop for the holiday. her favorite costume is a bee.

loves build-a-bear. it obviously takes her some time to get ready to go there (she often plans out their least busy times), but she loves to make her own plushes for her collection and buy them new clothes. eventually takes mc there for a date and they adopt a bear together.

but outside of that? she really hates getting new ones there during the loops. she gets really attached to them and she hates knowing they're only there for a short time.

kanoodle master.

hates the smell of nail polish

great hugger, even if she doesn't give them out that often.

owns a bunch of retro game consoles and likes to collect them, although she doesn't get much time to play them.

hates the bee movie; angie loves it

while mc obviously does open her eyes, donna still struggles with the concept of even trying to get better because she knows its all just going to loop. yes, she will work on things and they will improve, but certain things will revert back to normal after the loop anyways.

once tried to dance in the rain for fun and ended up getting a cold instead.

alright i think thats it... i might share more in the future but i tried to balance this with silly and sad.

#resident lover #donna beneviento

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

Fifteen things I noted about CR2E81 “From Door to Door” and the Talks Machina about it :

For this episode's ad, to repeat one of my favorite jokes of the wonderful show Arrested Development : Sam blued himself. Later he returns, without makeup, but with the foundation that he tried to remove with acid (?!!!), and the other's comments are : "It looks like you got really drunk on a transatlantic flight, and then puked in that airplane toilet", or "It looks like you're just coming from Electric Daisy Carnival" (I had to look that up), or "You look like you just came out of the birth canal"

Oh, so that's why the Happy Fun Ball is called the Archmages' Bane ! The golems that are guarding this place are just programmed to attack magic users, and have a cone of anti-magic imbued in them. That plus the fact that the group was separated made me worried !

I love the Happy Fun Ball. Ok they're risking their lives, but the succession of different rooms is awesome. They're running but you can see the cast is having so much fun at discoverin this thing. The part in the Arcane Armory where Caduceus and Nott were shooting the arcane canons like kids in a video game arcade ? Come on !

Matt's disdain for Stunning Strike while Marisha's happy and flaunting it : extremely funny, extremely cute.

They're playing hide and seek with this golem, and Caduceus and Jester are turning him off and on again. I love it.

I feel like this

is the opposite of that time in Campaign 1 where Taliesin made a "uncannily good crow noises" according to the JUDGING captions.

They found a golden circlet, Jester wants to try it on immediately. Caleb : "But what if it gives you a curse, and gives you four extra eyes ?" Jester : "What if it makes me look like a princess ?" Beau : "Both are kind of hot sounding." Mmmmmm ma'am, are you aware that you are flirting ??

What would Caduceus be with a 19 intelligence, really ? I feel like Taliesin was joking but also right : Caduceus' force is his wisdom, not his intelligence. I think Nott was also a strong contender for the circlet, but I'm so happy it went to Beau, who can be even more of a secret giant nerd !

Allura really is the mom of both Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein.

My bet is, Halas was trying by every possible way, to cheat death. As Miranda Priestly would say "Try cheating death as a wizard ? Groundbreaking."

They spend 5 minutes of this Talks episode talking about Clippy, the most annoying thing that only the people born before 2000 remember, and I love them so much. (but seriously though I remember Clippy, and yeah I agree with them)

The best part of the episode ? is without question the creepy doll that is on the couch, and start singing creepily because Marisha touches it, and Travis freaks out, because no one knew it was going to do this.

Marisha confirms (thanks, Dani, for asking !) that Beau and Reani definitely slept together because in Marisha's words : "why would I ever just make out ??!"

I think Travis and Marisha on Talks might be my favorite duo. And Brian is once again right, everybody thinks they're high (might just be they're exhausted from work, might just be that also).

Travis, about TravelerCon happening at a volcano : "IT'S A FUCKING CULT, MAN !! IT'S HAPPENING IN A VOLCANO ! EVERYBODY'S GONNA DIE !!"

#my thoughts #critical role #cr campaign 2 #CR2E81

[pinkblosmx]

One day when Miranda and her s/o have tea with Alcina and the girls:

Mother Miranda: *whispers to Y/N* Is the brunette one Cassandra?

Y/N: *is surprised and whispers* How did you remember- *looks at Cassandra, Bela and Daniela who have name tags on them. Whispers disappointedly* Oh

#mother miranda definitely does not care to remember their names #she calls them fly and then the colour of their hair #alcina as a joke said maybe they should get name tags for when Miranda comes round #they actually thought it was a good idea #so now they wear name tags so they get called by their name #although Miranda’s s/o actually cares and tries their best to remember the girls names #once tried to play a remember game with Miranda and Miranda was like definitely not #cassandra dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #bela dimitrescu #mother miranda #mother miranda x reader

[theladyismyshepard]

I love your characterizations of the daughters and all of your imagines they are fantastic! i was wondering would it be okay to request an imagine where the reader says to the daughters like during an argument or something,“you wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid!” and they all react to her in different ways? plz take ur time with the imagines and don’t feel pressured/rushed as ik writing should be something that is fun and not feel like a chore, thank you for all the content you have written so far :)

@frustratinglyinquisitive also maybe this could double as your #28 prompt? 🥺👉👈

Why Does Everyone Wanna Kiss Me So Bad?

The sunset was shining bright enough to sting and obscure eyesight, but that didn’t stop you from staring up into the pink and orange hues. Every time you blinked, the phantom flash of the sun still danced along your eyelids, leaving a glare across your vision. You weren’t even bothered by it, not when this numbness had clung itself to you, leaving you idle and just there. You flexed your fingers, and it rattled the chains locked around your wrists, bringing you back to where you were.

The boxed confinement you were trapped in felt more of a cage rather than the carriage bumping along the rocky trail that led you to your new prison — yes, Castle Dimitrescu sounded to be just another form of punishment, though you were uncertain as to why you were to be moved from Heisenberg’s watch to Lady Dimitrescu’s estate. You could hardly call it a step up from the twisted games he forced you to play within his factory.

You were sure you were on borrowed time and it was nearly time to collect, and you were certain that time had come when the four Lords surrounded you with Mother Miranda playing the head of the beast, leaving you cowering on the floor. The familiar iron hammer and the stench of billowing cigar smoke was on your right.

Standing next to him was quite possibly one of the ugliest... things you’d ever seen. A cloak hid a majority of his body, but you had the suspicion that the misshaped person next to Heisenberg wasn’t entirely human... you got that vibe from everyone in the room. Especially the weird doll that couldn’t seem to reign in its excitement as it bounced in the veiled woman’s lap seated next to Mother Miranda.

There was nothing human about the golden eyes that peered into yours from under the brim of a wide hat. They seemed calculating, curious, if not a tad bit confused as they surveyed your weak form. You looked away, unable to handle the weight of the woman’s gaze, and that was how you caught Mother Miranda’s bright eyes cutting into you from behind her bird-like mask.

“Oh, how I have been waiting to meet you, little one.” her voice demanded respect, but all you could do was gawk. “You are a stubborn thing, I’ve heard.”

Her gaze slowly crept over to Heisenberg as she said it, and you couldn’t help but feel a tremor of fright at his angered snarl, his arms crossed petulantly. It was true, you had endured many weeks at the hands of the leather-clad man, and while he did his worst, you refused to succumb to his torture, though for how much longer, you couldn’t say.

“I cannot fathom what keeps you here, but there is nothing special about the common human.” said Mother Miranda, and the mounting irritation was crystal clear. “You might have one looking like a dog chasing its own tail, but let us see how you fare in Castle Dimitrescu.”

You could immediately tell who dwelled there with the way the woman wearing white was smiling like the cat who ate the canary. She was completely predatory and was feeding off of Heisenberg’s disgrace and fury, and between the two, you weren’t sure who the best option was, not when her eyes turned to you and she looked like she knew exactly what she wanted to do with you.

“Do not worry, Mother Miranda,” the woman promised, already moving to stand, and the way she towered over you had your neck craned straight upward. “It’s been some time since my daughters had a plaything.”

That comment alone had the other occupants of the room guffawing and whistling. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the prospect of her daughters getting their hands on you, even Heisenberg had his eyebrows arched in surprise. Who the hell are these girls? Mother Miranda seemed to know and that was all that mattered.

“You are about to see what real monsters are.”

And that was how you found yourself roughly chained up inside the carriage that guided you to Castle Dimitrescu. You weren’t entirely sure why it was such a slap in the face to Heisenberg, but he seemed rather indignant as he loaded you up, spitting insults through the whole process.

You couldn’t say for sure how long you had been traveling, but it was enough to have all of your joints achey and your ass numb by the time it was all said and done. Hell, it was long enough to feel the temperature drop as you trekked back around the mountains that stood between the factory and the castle. Though that wasn’t to say that you were in any big rush to get there. In fact, your heart dropped when the carriage came to an abrupt halt.

Panic gripped at your heart, and it felt as though fingers squeezed tightly around it. It left you motionless where you sat, wide eyes glued to the door that you were shoved in through. You could hear Heisenberg muttering and rustling as he approached, but aside from that, you couldn’t hear the distinct clanking of his iron hammer. He had such little faith in your survival skills that he didn’t even bother with arming himself to release you. Not that he needed to... You’ve seen what he can become, and you’ve seen what he houses in his factory. He’d kill you dead in a few seconds flat if you tried anything.

But at this point, what did you have to lose? Mother Miranda made it very clear that you were to be eliminated at the hands of these daughters, so did it really matter if you died at the doorstep or in the dungeon? You might have accepted death, but that didn’t mean you wouldn’t put up a last fight out of pure stubbornness. So that was how you had every intention of kicking forcefully at the door once it began creeping open to have him stumble back, possibly cracking him straight in the nose in the process, but that didn’t go as planned right off the bat.

Not when the door was nearly ripped right off the hinges in the haste to open, leaving you jarred, mouth hanging. The sunlight was now faded and replaced by the beams of the moon, but it was a bright night, leaving you capable of seeing that this was definitely not Heisenberg. And neither was she... or her. Uh oh.

“Mother! She’s here!” squealed the redheaded girl closest to you, clapping happily.

“Thank you for the gift, Mother,” said the brunette, her smirk not reaching her dead eyes.

“We will not disappoint you.” promised the blonde, her eyes observing your every move like a hawk.

“Have fun, daughters, but do remember that this one comes special from Mother Miranda, so do not forget to thank her.” their mother instructed, as if you weren’t there.

“Thank you, Mother Miranda,” all three said in unison before three different pairs of hands grabbed whichever part of you that they could.

Heisenberg clicked his tongue from where he leaned against the side of the carriage. He had an arm crossed while the other brought a cigar nestled between two fingers to his lips. You couldn’t read his eyes from behind his circular sunglasses, but you could read the entertainment in his toothy smile before he took a drag. When he blew it out into your direction, his satisfied grin spread again.

“Now, you have fun now, too, ya hear?” He mocked, chuckling as he turned on his heel, mounted the carriage, and prompted the horses to carry him off into the night.

“We’re gonna have lots of fun.” giggled the redhead, her smile the widest of the daughters as she tugged at your arm, dragging you along the pathway towards the castle.

“Not if I get to her first,” the brunette chimed in, her own grip on your other wrist tightening and pulling, almost like she was trying you get you away from the other.

“Who said either of you get the first turn?” the blonde interrupted, frown etched into her face as she tangled her fingers into the collar of your shirt.

“Enough,” drawled Lady Dimitrescu, voice barely more than a bored mumble, but it still had the daughters zipping their lips. “Bela, you are the oldest, and less likely to break her before your other sisters get a turn, so you may have the first turn.”

The blonde grinned brightly while the other two scowled but saying nothing in front of their mother. Your eyes couldn’t decide where to stay as you glanced between all four women as they finally led you through the entrance of the castle. You noticed that the temperature didn’t really increase from taking shelter, the walls giving off their own chill to substitute for the lack of outside wind.

You didn’t even have time to marvel at the interior before Bela was tugging at you with renewed eagerness. You caught the slight growl from the brunette’s direction, but one glare from the Lady and it ceased. What the hell was really going on here? You never had time to process anything before sister after sister said something that left you reeling.

“Aww, her heart’s racing!” announced the redhead, her eyes wide and unblinking as they stared at your chest. “Please let me-”

“Daniela, no,” snapped Lady Dimitrescu sternly, her frown lines on display. “You will be last, and that’s that.”

Daniela’s face twitched in her attempt to bite her tongue to prevent her argument from bursting forth. It didn’t stop her from turning and giving the brunette a glare however. You gasped when her body dissolved into a swarm of bugs before your very eyes. They dispersed and flew this way and that, and you honestly don’t know why it still shocked you when the brunette followed the same exit style. A nose pressed against the side of your neck and you jolted so hard that you nearly broke free of the hand that was now caressing your shoulder.

“Such a jittery, little thing,” whispered Bela so quietly that her following inhale was louder. “Though I hardly smell the sweet scent of terror... Is this one broken, mother?”

You couldn’t help it, you had to chuckle at the complete honesty in Bela’s question. Your lack of fright baffled this girl almost as much as she baffled you altogether, and suddenly you were staring each other down. Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously as she cut her gaze up and down your body. Even Lady Dimitrescu arched a finely sculpted brow at you, seeming more interested now than she did among the other Lords.

“Mother Miranda assures there is nothing special about this one.” said Lady Dimitrescu.

“Why do you not fear me?” demanded Bela, almost sounding offended, her grip on your shoulder tightening. “Your heart is pounding but you aren’t oozing that smell that I like!”

“It’s kinda hard to fear death when you don’t even care about living anymore.” You deadpanned without much feeling, your eyes finding the ground more interesting. “Heisenberg rid me of everything that made me who I used to be.”

“And just who were you before my dear uncle dug his claws into you?” pressed Bela, and you refrained yourself from showing any outward reaction to their connection. You swallowed as you looked her dead in the eye now.

“Someone who would have the common sense to know just how dangerous you are.” You answered, and her brow furrowed.

“Who are you now?” She questioned quietly, her eyes softening a bit under the chandelier light. All you could do was shrug, you had no concrete answer for her, yet you knew you had to supply something.

“Someone who thinks that being abducted by three beautiful women isn’t exactly the worst case scenario,” you chuckled mirthlessly, the bitter smile on your face cutting into your cheeks almost painfully.

Bela stared at you almost dumbfounded before she had to look at her mother, almost as if to double check that she indeed heard correctly before she burst into a fit of giggles. Lady Dimitrescu didn’t even meet her eye, she was too busy staring into your soul. Only when your eyes fell to your feet did you hear her heels clicking away up the winding staircase.

“Remember what she’s here for, dear,” she drawled, never turning back, and leaving you alone with Bela.

“If you’re gonna kill me, just get it over with.” You spat, attempting to sound brave rather than defeated.

Bela’s smile was almost animalistic with the way blood smeared across her lips and stained her teeth, and you couldn’t help but to feel like the prey when she took slow, deliberate steps around you.

“Oh, no, where is the fun in that?” Bela countered, reaching out to graze over whatever part she could touch as she continued to stalk around you in circles, taking you all in. “You are my pet now.”

“I thought I was a plaything.” You couldn’t help but throw back into her face, and you were surprised when Bela merely cocked her head instead of getting angered by your outburst.

“Mother Miranda might not find anything special about you, but call me fascinated.” said Bela, stopping in front of you, her fingertips caressing your throat. “You belong to me now.”

“Us,” corrected a sudden voice behind you, and the haze that was settling over you in Bela’s presence was lifted when you jerked forward.

You tried to whirl around on your heel out of reflex to back away, but Bela’s fingers dipped from your throat to grip at the collar of your shirt to keep you still and facing her. You flinched away from the sudden hand that tangled in the bottom of your hair, pulling your head back until it was resting against a shoulder. Brown hair cascaded down into your eyes.

“Mother Miranda gave her to all of us.” corrected the brunette, the edge in her voice making it like steel.

“Cassandra’s right,” sang Daniela in a sing song voice, and it had a shiver running down your spine, which prompted a round of wild giggling. “Did you like that, pet?”

“If we’re being technical,” Bela piped up with an eye roll, trying to pull you closer and failing when both Daniela and Cassandra tightened their own grips on you. “Mother Miranda gave her to us to tear apart, so she wasn’t meant for anyone.”

“Buuuuuuut?” You interrupted, hoping to add a touch of humor to your case.

Daniela giggled and Bela shook her head in mild amusement, but you found that Cassandra was the more difficult one to crack. She didn’t offer a single facial expression as her eyes surveyed every inch of your body, and you couldn’t tell if she was appreciating the view or if she was sizing up which part of you she wanted to rip off and take for herself.

These three women spoke so callously and so nonchalant right in front of you. These three women were what Mother Miranda referred to as “monsters” compared to the actual beasts you had seen lurking within Heisenberg’s factory. These three women were spattered in blood that you somehow knew wasn’t theirs, and they wouldn’t stop touching you. Hm.

“Aren’t you funny,” Cassandra said nearly monotonous, but her smirk was on full display, and you cursed the light, fluttering feel of your chest.

“I try,” you whispered, afraid that speaking any louder would be taken as a threat to these crazed women, but you did look her in the eye to gauge her reaction.

“Can we keep this one, Bela, please?” whined Daniela, pouting at the blonde.

“I don’t think mother would allow it though.” Bela worried, finally releasing her hold on your shirt, and that had Cassandra and Daniela pulling you closer (and almost apart).

“She is ours to do as we please, we’d kill her if she tried anything.” snapped Cassandra, looking like the whole situation was stupid to her.

“Obviously she will not try to escape!” insisted Daniela, nodding her head furiously towards who you were guessing was the older sister, before turning to you. “Right?”

Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela were all looking at you expectantly, and you couldn’t help but feel warm under the spotlight. You could practically see the thoughts flicking through Bela’s calculating eyes. Cassandra was cool and reserved as her eyes gave nothing away, but her wicked smirk showed she wanted something from you, whatever that might be. Daniela’s eyes were intense as they bored into you, and her smile was almost unhinged, and honestly who were you to break it?

“I could never say no to three pretty girls.” You flirted, wagging your eyebrow to each sister, and the response was immediate.

Bela’s mouth parted in a silent gasp before she latched onto the front of your shirt again and started giggling. Cassandra looked entirely predatory now as her eyes flashed and her smirk showed all of her teeth, her own chuckles slipping out. Daniela, who was curled around your arm the whole time, had stars in her eyes at your answer and she smiled widely, throwing her own cackling into the mix, and suddenly it was a symphony.

“I want her first,” pleaded Daniela, eyes never leaving you.

“Mother said it’s my turn with the pet!” said Bela, tugging at you again.

“Why should we get her after she’s been used?” Cassandra argued, her arm now wrapped around you from behind.

“I won’t break her!” snapped Bela, her pulling useless when it was a deadlock between three pairs of hands.

“I don’t care!” cried Daniela, one arm curled around yours and her other hand reaching up to grab your opposite shoulder, locking you in. “I want her!”

You swallowed past your suddenly dry throat. The three sisters were not only talking about a possibility of keeping you around, but it sounded as though they were fighting over you. Your cheeks were aflame as you averted your eyes.

“Look who’s bashful all of a sudden,” jested Cassandra, both her hands falling to your hips. “Where’s all that talk now?”

“I can smell you blushing.” Daniela interjected, sniffing aloud and moaning. “You smell so good... we need to make you blush often.”

“Are we sure we can hide this from mother?” Bela asked one last time, almost like she was seeking permission from her younger sisters now. Daniela and Cassandra shrugged.

“We’ll just have to find out, now won’t we?” You pressed, looking to solidify your place among them... you’d take the position of “pet” over the one of “food” any day.

“Brave little thing,” Cassandra cooed, her fingers rubbing circles on your hips. “I need you with me.”

“Dammit I said it’s my turn!” snarled Bela, finally poking and prying at her sisters fingers locked around you.

“Just because you’re the oldest-!”

“You’re damn right I’m the oldest, and I-”

“You look so stupid,” spat Cassandra petulantly, having enough with going nowhere in the argument, and you could see that this was about to get old quick if you didn’t ease some of the tension.

“You all wanna kiss me so bad it makes you all look stupid.” You sucked your teeth between your lips when it grew deadly silent.

Bela had a crease between her brow as she stared at you in shock, uncertain if she heard you right. Cassandra was a blank slate as she absorbed you taking her insult and turning it back around on her as well. Daniela was wide eyed as she gaped at you for a full five seconds before she snorted and her megawatt smile lit up her entire face.

“I won’t let them get rid of you.” Daniela promised, and you couldn’t recall the last time that she blinked.

“Okay, okay,” sighed Bela, glaring at her sister. “We’re all going to keep her.”

“I hope I don’t break you.” chuckled Cassandra, and coupled with her breath so close to your ear, it had warmth flaring in the pit of your stomach.

“Don’t get bashful on me, now,” you smirked back, relishing in the giggles that surrounded you.

“Come along, plaything,” quipped Bela, winking at you as she dragged you along, the sisters following along with her this time. “We’ve got to show you your new home.”

Wild giggling echoed throughout the castle, and it was becoming your new favorite tune.

#bela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #lady alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu's daughters #resident evil 8 #resident evil village #lady dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu’s daughters x reader #alcina dimitrescu

[donnabenevientosimpingzone]

Donna and Angie’s relationship with the Dimitrescu daughters Headcannons

OVERALL

- Each daughter has a specific buzzing sound and Donna is able to tell them immediately- Angie is only capable of pinpointing Daniela’s without fail.

- Bela is the quietest and has a smooth sound. Cassandra is more staccato like and almost erratic. Daniela you don’t so much as hear her as you more feel her thump against you like a drunken fly against a window.

- Donna is the absolute fave! All the daughters just adore her.

- Donna acts like a bit of a lowkey therapist for the three of them. Angie is there as a destruction buddy request.

- Nicknames! The girls will listen to Donna if she ever uses their full names because then they know the doll maker is done with their bullshit.

- Love being in the library with Donna and Angie- Donna because she’s got good book recommendations and will read aloud while Angie will be the one to go to for screaming about headcannons and alternate scenarios.

- Flowers everywhere- flower crowns are worn until they wilt and fall off- flowers woven into braids- Alcina knows you follow a trail of petals to find her daughters.

- Lots of hair brushing and styling.

- Cuddles? Cuddles. They all sleep together when they can- mostly all the girls curled around Donna, maybe one on top, and Angie pressed between her and Daniela.

- Actually quite mild on the flirting, it becomes teasing instead. Of course Angie fights back.

DONNA

Bela

- By far the calmest one, joins in to have tea (or her case, wine) in the courtyard early mornings or late nights for silent company and relaxation.

- Takes sewing lessons.

- Probably read an encyclopedia about flowers because of Donna.

- Silent reading together while cuddling? Yes.

- Actually tries to impress and earn praise from Donna- not as much as her mother of course.

- Teaches Donna how to play the piano.

- Thinks Donna’s scent is sweet.

- Probably has a flower nickname based on that for her too.

- Gardens together with Donna in the courtyard, continues tending to it too.

- Nonfiction bookworms, will go off about history together and talk about how great it’ll be to visit far away lands.

- The most excited when Donna makes new clothes.

Cassandra

- Cassandra vents to Donna a lot- usually about small stuff like how a hunt didn’t go well- but has on occasion vented about more serious issues.

- Donna fixes Cassandra’s clothes the most surprisingly, probably because she’s the one who’s most likely to rip and tear them during a hunt.

- Sometimes Cassandra will ask Donna to use her illusion powers for hunting practice when she’s utterly bored.

- Thinks Donna smells absolutely delicious and teases her all the time about it.

- Sings for Donna, will never admit that lullabies are her fave to sing.

- The most protective over Donna.

- Has on occasion taught Donna how to use a weapon for self defense purposes of course.

- Drops her tsun and ego a little, enough that she’ll accept a compliment from Donna without making it sound egotistic.

- Very grateful that Donna remembers how she likes her clothes “hunting ready”.

- Donna has a little medical knowledge that Cassandra finds absol-tively posi-lutely delightful to learn about- for torture of course (but don’t tell Donna that).

- Has one of Donna’s dolls in her private room and speaks to it sometimes.

- Loves getting animal plushies!

Daniela

- Bookworms, they’re spending hours together in the library reading and writing and arguing and sharing-

- Donna helps Daniela with her delusions by creating illusions. Both parties know the risk and have talked about it beforehand.

- The most possessive over Donna.

- They write bad poetry together.

- Absolutely the most clingy, Donna feeds her physical affection and she does it back.

- The most excited whenever Donna brings gifts- clothes, plushies, dolls- anything.

- Has her entire private room decorated with them.

- Oddly enough, the least likely to flirt with Donna.

- But she’s oddly a great dancer and will dance with Donna.

ANGIE

Bela

- Joins Angie’s daily tea parties.

- Is the one taking away the knife from Angie.

- Uses Angie as an excuse to go chaotic but never admits that.

- Enjoys teaching Angie about history, specifically historical heroes and gods, and answering all the wild questions the doll has.

- Angie tends to make random flower crowns from the garden that Bela tends in the courtyard.

- The best assistant for helping Bela pick grapes for the winery.

Cassandra

- Hunting buddy!

- Is the one giving the knife to Angie.

- Games of chase all the time, and hide and seek. It’s an excuse to help hone her hunting skills.

- Angie is the most physically demanding with Cassandra- will clamber up her dress or poke her with sticks and chuck rocks to get her attention.

- Complicated love language- will stop in the hallway to yell insults at each other as a show of affection.

- It confuses everyone else.

- Cassandra is definitely the one that teaches Angie curse words.

Daniela

- In the name of Mother Miranda do NOT leave these two unsupervised together in a room.

- Is the one to encourage the usage of the knife and join in with her own.

- They’ll geek out over books- headcannons, how the storylines could be different, OCs, etc.

- They chase each other around the castle so much-

- Just follow the trail of broken vases.

- Or the excessive amount of giggling-

- Impulsive morons- once they get an idea, they’ll do it without second thought.

- Have sled across the roofs of the Dimitrescu castle, clambered up the wall, swung from the chandelier, set fire to multiple buildings-

- If any of y’all have seen the movie Alpha and Omega then you know the log sledding through the forest scene and that’s definitely something they do at any opportunity.

- KEEP GUITARS AND VIOLINS AWAY

That’s all for this post since it’s getting so long but feel free to add on!<3

#resident evil #resident evil village #donna beneviento #angie the doll #daniela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #bela dimitrescu #headcannons

[aeipcthys]

╰ ❛   💉 — › miranda otto. cis-female. she/her.  ╯ have  you  met  celeste white  yet  ?  this fifty year old  taurus  has  been  living  in the seattle  area  for  one month.  she  makes  a  living  as  head of general surgery, which  is best suited for their cunning,  protective,  egotistical,  and stubborn personality. dream a little dream of me by doris day  is  one of  their  favorite  songs.

trigger warnings: abuse, alcoholism, misogyny, adultery, age difference, divorce, estranged parents

full character page here

BASIC INFORMATION

Full Name: celeste adella white

Nickname(s): you’ll call her celeste and like it

Age: 50

Date of Birth: april 30, 1970

Hometown: manchester, england

Current Location: seattle, washington

Ethnicity: white (english, german) 

Nationality: english

Gender: cisgender female

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Orientation: queen of the sapphics, but pansexual (believes sexuality is fluid) 

Status: divorced, single

Religion: agnostic

Political Affiliation: liberal leaning

Occupation: head of general surgery (specializes in minimally invasive & robotic surgeries)

Living Arrangements: lives alone and will not tell you where she lives but you can bet it’s bougie af

Language(s) Spoken: english, german

Accent: english

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Face Claim: miranda otto

Hair Color: red

Eye Color: green

Height: 5'5

Weight: 128 lbs

Build: slim

Tattoos: nope.

Piercings: ears

Clothing Style: bougie most of the time 

Usual Expression: pursed lips, scowl, something that says...I’m disappointed 

Distinguishing Characteristics: her smile, when you get to see it

HEALTH

Physical Ailments: none.

Neurological Conditions: n/a

Allergies: none.

Sleeping Habits: she sleeps on her freaking back like HOW people do that, i’ll never know, but the gal does

Eating Habits: she’ll eat whatever ends up in front of her 

Exercise Habits: she’s up every day at 4 or 5 am to do something physical 

Emotional Stability: i don’t know her

Sociability: very skeptical of people, often judgemental, but she can be kind and hold a conversation at times; she’s used to people wanting to talk to her

Body Temperature: runs cold yet often wears outfits she’ll definitely be cold in

Addictions: none.

Drug Use: not really (still stress smokes sometimes it’s not great)

Alcohol Use: oh yes...oh yes. she’s that person that has a bottle of really nice scotch in her bottom desk drawer with two empty glasses. 

PERSONALITY

Label: tbd

Positive Traits: cunning, protective, fierce, poised, skilled, brilliant

Negative Traits: egotistical, stubborn, judgmental, competitive, cold, closed-off

Fears: fears are for wimps 

Hobbies: who has the time for hobbies 

Habits: drinking, writing people off, holding grudges :) 

FAVOURITES

Weather: give her a brisk day

Colour: any deep red

Music: something classic, on a record player preferably 

Movies: old movies

Sport: tennis

Beverage: scotch, black coffee

Food: tbd

Animal: cats and only cats 

FAMILY

Father: oscar white

Mother: lucille white

Sibling(s): annabelle white

Children: bella peterman

Exes: clifford hughes (ex-husband #1), daniel peterman (ex-husband #2), lilith baxter (on again, off again girlfriend)

Pet(s): prince the black cat

Family’s Financial Status: wealthy

EXTRA

Zodiac Sign: taurus

MBTI: entj

Anything Else:

BIO

tl;dr: abusive father, quiet mother, distant sister; two failed marriages; daughter who hates her; VERY accomplished surgeon (studying under Ellis Grey for a bit), then doing her own research; particularly influential in the field of minimally invasive and robotic surgeries (well-known award winner); fucked lilith 

Celeste White was born to Oscar and Lucille White in Manchester, England. She was born a few years before her sister, Annabelle. The four lived in a large house, Celeste’s father being the beneficiary of her late grandfather’s successful business. Of course, Oscar couldn’t manage anything, let alone a successful company. 

Their house was a cold place to grow up. (TW alcoholism, abuse) Celeste’s father was constantly drinking, and when he wasn’t drinking, he was screaming at someone to get him more to drink. Her mother was a quiet woman, constantly living under the thumb of her father. He was most definitely abusive, although he mostly kept that out of their eyes. But Celeste knew, and she grew to resent her mother for what she saw as weakness. Annabelle tried to pretend it wasn’t happening at all. 

Celeste hated her father from a young age, always challenging him. He was a bastard (her words), and she let him know it. His reactions were often volatile. He wasn’t afraid to push around his kids, pull them by their hair, or hit them when provoked enough. And verbally he was a nightmare. He never paid it much mind after an altercation, but Celeste remembered everything. Especially how he would pit Celeste and Annabelle against each other. It prevented them from growing close as sisters. 

Celeste left the family at age 17, heading to the University of Oxford to begin her education. It was there she completed a six-year medicine program, and then she continued on in London for a few years to perfect her craft. During her schooling, Celeste met Clifford. She was barely 19 years old when she agreed to marry him. (TW age difference, misogyny, abuse) Clifford was 31 when he married Celeste, and their initial romance quickly curtailed into a mess of a marriage. They fought constantly. He threw countless insults at her. His hatred of women became clear. Celeste was doing very well in her school, excelling in her medical studies, but Clifford was failing in his business ventures at every turn. He began to drink and became quite the son of a bitch (her words). Their marriage ended with both of them engaging in a volatile fight. She divorced him once her training was done, deciding to move to the states the first moment she could. 

Celeste was 26 when she moved to the U.S., securing a job at Mass General Hospital. Celeste wasn’t overly crazy about the states, but she found working at the hospital to be enlightening. She started working under Ellis Grey. She was a hard woman to be around, but Celeste adamantly enjoyed learning from the other woman. She worked with her as she eventually won her a second Harper Avery award. Feeling inspired by the woman’s influence, Celeste began to engage in research of her own.

Celeste was 29 when she met Daniel Peterman. Daniel was a professor of medicine, and Celeste was enamored with his kindness and warmth. They were dating about 6 months when Celeste found out she was pregnant. She’d never wanted children. She even considered not having the child, but it turned out she was too far along to consider such choices. 

Celeste had to halt her research to give birth to her daughter, Bella. Looking at the tiny baby in her arms, Celeste really did fall in love. Possibly for the first time ever. She and Daniel were married soon after. 

Being in the U.S. soon became tiresome, so Daniel and Bella moved with Celeste back to London where she began to, once again, engage in her research. Celeste wrote numerous papers, many notable to her peers. She was becoming a very well-known surgeon, but her time away from Daniel and Bella was waring on them. Daniel would become more and more irritated that Celeste was more married to her work than him. He began to have numerous affairs outside of their marriage. To get back at him, Celeste did the same. Their marriage became more about the battle than their lives together. Bella was often caught in the middle of it all, but her Dad was more present in her life. Although Celeste tried, Bella began to openly favor Daniel.

Celeste and Daniel finally started their divorce proceedings when she was 39 years old. Bella was barely 10. Their divorce was bitter and angry. They fought over every scrap, including Bella. Celeste was able to maintain shared custody, but that wasn’t really the way it ended up playing out. Bella fought her at every turn, always wanting to go back to her father when she was with Celeste. For years they were at odds. Celeste loved Bella deeply, but she also loved her work. As Bella became a teenager, she eventually just stopped fighting and let Bella choose. Bella, of course, chose her father.

Celeste fell into her work, possibly producing even some of her best. She expanded her specialty to include minimally invasive and robotic surgeries. Celeste single-handedly changed the game with her research, becoming the face for minimally invasive techniques and robotics in surgery. When she was 45 years old, Celeste was awarded the Lister Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons of England (and countless other awards throughout her career). 

She even tried her hand at teaching. Although she was not always the easiest person to learn from, Celeste found herself quite taken by Kassandra. They formed a bond during their time working together, and while she’d never fully admit it, Celeste enjoys mentoring the girl. One of her soft spots.

Celeste never had the desire to marry again, and she wasn’t concerned with love of any kind. Just loving. Her sexuality was something she always felt encouraged to explore. Although she’d only ever married men, there were women and other folks she’d had affairs with over the years. She much preferred women, if she was being honest. 

Celeste met Lilith Baxter through her work and found the woman to be seductive and sensuous. They were on and off again, but Celeste quite enjoyed when they were on. They weren’t a perfect duo...two dominating personalities never were, but Celeste did think about Lilith. More often than she should. 

It occurred to Celeste as she was turning 50 that she had accomplished a lot, but retirement was nowhere close to where she wanted to be. Upon hearing of the opening in Seattle, Celeste decided to once again venture to the states. She asked Bella to move with her, but her daughter ignored the offer. They barely speak these days, which breaks Celeste’s heart. Celeste has won a lot of awards, but she would love to secure the Harper Avery.

PLOTS

y’all know me open to anything

we love a mentee or research assistant, perhaps an enemy to loath, a connection from someone who used to work with her (either abroad or in the u.s. in the past), a connection with one of her ex-husbands, and of course sexy times

#traumaintro #if only hell didn't feel like home ( celeste white. ) #hey #tw abuse #tw alcoholism #tw divorce #( character intro. )

[supernaturalee]

Then & Now: Part 1 - Gwilym Lee x Reader

Pairings: Past!Gwilym Lee x Reader, Platonic!Joe Mazzello x Reader 

Warnings: Swearing, Drunk! Joe, and hypothetical talk of swallowing razor blades and drug free root canals. 

Word count: 3.2k 

Summary: It has been nearly ten years since Y/N had last stepped foot in London and made a promise to herself to never return. Yet, here she is back again for two weeks with her best friend in tow. After being left the apartment of her late mother. The same one where she had her heart taken and broken into two by the blue-eyed boy across the hall. When a mistaken knock is answered, blue eyes come flooding back into her life and suddenly two weeks seems like a lifetime.

Author’s Note: So this will be my first piece on this site after years of lurking and second guessing my abilities as a writer. However, thanks to some amazing people: @gwilyoubemine​ and @slutforbritdick​ who gave me the confidence to post this, here we are! I hope you all enjoy. 

______________________________________________________________

Y/N huffed as she struggled to lift her carry-on luggage into the overhead bin above the row of seats. 

“Being short isn’t fair.” She muttered under her breath as she tried with the uneven bag and the fact that her arms were cursed with what Joe called, ‘T-rex shortness.’ He was her best friend, they had been inseparable since the moment they bonded over the fact they both thought the Yankees were the greatest sports team to ever exist and that even if someone was lactose intolerant they would still eat cheese cause, come on, who wouldn’t.  He rolled his eyes as he took the bag from her hands and put it in the overhead bin with ease. He took his own bag and placed it next to hers, as he shut the overhead bin he look down upon on the woman. 

“There you go munkin.” He said. His brows lifted with his smirk, Y/N wanted to wipe it off his face with a reminder that he would be missing a few key Yankees games in the future if he continued with her nickname which she pretended to hate but in reality truly loved. Unless someone else called her that which was not how it would go. 

“Call me munkin again, and there will be two bloody stumps where your ankles used to meet your feet.” She smiled as she moved into the seat against the window on the plane. She looked out the window at the gloomy sky over her home city of New York. It was like the city did not want her to go either. She was only going to London because she had to sort out her Auntie Amelia’s apartment (or flat depending on who you asked) that had been left to her after her mother had passed about a  year and a half ago. It was finally time to get it worked out as her own work had settled back down and she felt somewhat emotional capable enough to do it.

She had convinced Joe to go with her because she needed the emotional and humorous support that he offered her. In his payment for cleaning the place and his support, Y/N had taken part of her small inheritance and purchased her best friend a ticket as a gift. Her way of showing him who had been there for her through both of her parents’ deaths that he indeed meant the whole world to her.  She made herself comfortable in the seat as Joe sent a few final texts to his own mother and to check his work email. Something both of them had promised not to do once the plane left American airspace. 

Y/N sat silent on the plane two hours after takeoff. Joe had his attention on the  movie playing on the screen in front of him. Some horrible ripoff of the ripoff  of the classic science fiction film about scientists taking things to far and bringing back monsters. Y/N thought the movies were hot garbage, Joe loved them. Her eyes moved from her best friend to the window to her left looking out of the pinkish-yellow clouds as they had flown above the gloom. With the sunsetting behind them, the plane continued its trek. In that moment of serenity with only the sounds of the breathing of the other passengers and the soft whirring of the engines, she thought of her mother. Her mother was the most beautiful woman Y/N had ever seen. Not only in looks but in the ways she treated others with respect, kindness, and compassion. Y/N could remember when her father would just look at her mother and be quiet for a few moments something that was hard to do for the native New Yorker. He would just smile and say, “How in the hell did I get that incredible woman to fall for me?”  Everyday for nearly thirty years he would say that, even on the day he passed it was still the same smile and the same words. It was one of the few reasons that when her mother passed on, Y/N knew that her mother and father were together again. It gave her a sort of peace and allowed her healing to begin. 

Her mother’s passing eighteen months ago was the reason she was on this plane. Heading back to the place where she had experienced her first heartbreak, where she had lost her first love, and the place where she promised herself  to never return. It had been nearly ten years since she had been to London. Nearly ten years since she walked into the university dorm, youthful and giddy, to surprise the boy she thought was her true love. Only to find him, no. She would not think of this moment. Him, him with his blue eyes like...no, no, no. He would not invade her thoughts, he would not ensnare her heart again. This trip was for her mother, about closing a chapter, this trip was about her family. It was not about him. It would never be about him again. 

Y/N let out a long breath and put on her headphones. A few swipes and clicks, and the voices returned. Filling her head with their true crime facts mixed with the comedy of the sisters who inform their listeners about terrible crimes and mysteries. You know, perfect plane listening material. She drew the blind down over the window and closed her eyes. She drifted off to a light sleep after about twenty minutes. Four hours later, after a relatively calm customs process and a slightly less calm taxi ride down the M4 which Y/N did not miss. Thought the train would have been quicker, Joe had been drawn in by what he called “the fanciest fucking taxis,” he had ever seen.  The two Americans stood in her Aunt Amelia’s two bedroom apartment. 

“Holy shit. This place is nicer than the shoebox you live in now.” Joe said dropping his duffel bags onto the floor. Dust kicking up from being disturbed. 

“Thanks. I think it was pre-war but then partly destroyed during the Blitz. But that could have just been my Aunt Amelia stretching the truth. No one has been here since my mom was here two years ago. There is no food but I think there may be some old wine and definitely some cleaning supplies.”  She moved from the entryway towards the kitchen. 

“Wait...cleaning supplies?” Joe asked. 

“I know we just got here and we’re tired. But nothing like acclimating our bodies to the time change with some heavy duty cleaning.”  She smiled at him. He pouted, leaning against the counter as she moved to look in a pantry. 

“Yeah but I don’t wanna. Remember you sold this trip to me as a vacation. ‘How would two weeks in Sunny London sound Joe?’ “ He says mimicking her voice as best he could. Y/N laughed.  “I was to play the role of the supportive best friend and you were basically allowing us two weeks in a beautiful London apartment with touristy things in mind.” He said removing his Yankees cap and running his fingers through his hair. 

Y/N looked up at him, her mouth a flat line before the edges of her lips curled up into a smile.

  “I know I promised you a vacation, which this will be once we clean. And the faster we clean, the faster we go to one of the greatest pubs in all the land.” She held up a rag for him to grab almost as a symbol of the promise she was now making him. He took it before laughing. 

“Alright, alright. How far is this pub?” He pulled off his jacket moving back to his bags and tossing it down with his cap. 

“Oh sweet, sweet, Joe that is the beauty of London, it is literally right at the corner of this block.” Y/N smiled wide as she pulled her hair back into a messy bun, tossing her coat onto her suitcase. She moved back to the pantry pulling out the bin of still good cleaning supplies and the two got to work. 

______________________________________________________________

A few hours later, after scrubbing the apartment from top to bottom. Getting clean sheets on the beds, cobwebs from the corners, and cleaning up what felt like forty years of dust. The two New Yorkers sat at a high top table at the pub on the corner. Y/N had moved to the bar, ordering two pints of lager before carrying them back to the table. She put down their beers and looked curiously at her friend. Joe was staring at his thumb. 

“What are you doing?” She asked after taking a sip of her beer. 

“I think I have lost all feeling in my left thumb nail from cleaning.” He said looking at Y/N. She couldn’t help but start laughing at him. He smiled, “What! It's true. I have no feeling in my left thumb nail.”

“Joe, sweet boy, you really never have any feeling in your left thumb nail.” She laughed again as he joined in. 

“I guess I’m tired.” He says before taking a sip of beer. The two sat there and continued to drink in silence for a moment. “So this is pub, can you believe we’re in London? Not at the Four Faced Liar in the West Village?” He laughed, as Y/N nodded. 

“Can you believe I am not playing your fake girlfriend to avoid that horrible woman from flirting with you again?” She said as Joe huffed. 

“Hook up with the resident bar fly once and you never live it down!” Y/N laughed as she wiped her forehead. “I didn’t know she was going to be crazy and try to steal my socks to add to her Joe-centric collection. Who the hell does that? Who steals a man’s socks!?” He says exasperated. 

“The crazy women you like to date.” Y/N said. “Though Miranda wasn’t too bad. I liked her. She brought the best bottles of wine for dinner.”

“Oh I know you liked Miranda but if we are talking about exes the other liked.  We could talk about the Lydia the florist for you or Andrew, he was the fire eater and bartender if I remember correctly. Why not talk about the blue eyed devil? You could tell me about him then.”

“No. I would rather swallow razor blades. I would rather see the Boston Red Sox win a world series” Y/N said putting the stopper in that conversation. Joe gasped. 

“You don’t mean that! Take it back! Take it back from the air!” He says. Y/N put up her right hand and imagined pulling the words from the air.  “Never say that again!” He said before the two burst into laughter.

 “Let’s just figure out some of the stuff we want to do while we are here.” She said.

They moved on from exes to experiences. Talking about the things they wanted to do on their vacation. Y/N had a few places she had to go to honor her mother and father. London is the place where her parents had met. An American Air force admin assigned here, and the young British writer he had fallen for. She let out a long breath. 

Joe wanted to see the Tower of London and Wembley. He wanted to see where rock gods had played their greatest shows, Y/N had quickly agreed to that one as when drunk ‘We are the champions’ was the duo’s anthem. Y/N wanted to see one show on the West End and compare it to the American counterpart she had seen weeks earlier. Y/N worked for a website writing articles about experiences around New York. She had told her editor that she would come up with some article ideas while across the pond. 

 The conversation moved onto the Yankees. They talked about this year was going to be the year that they went to the World Series and won, they talked like this every year.  After some food and a few more rounds, the tab was paid and the two somewhat drunk Americans slowly and carefully walked back towards the apartment building. 

Y/N spotted them first, a tall man whose face she never saw and a perky blonde woman who seemed to have her lips attached to the tall man. His neck, his cheek, his ear lobe, his lips, you name a place and she kissed it.   As the young lust filled couple headed up the steps and into the old apartment building, Y/N turned around to locate Joe who had been walking next to her. When her eyes finally focused she saw him talking to a lamp post very animatedly about something to do with popcorn and Kurt Russell. At least that is what she thought he was saying her vision was a bit blurred. 

“Joeeeeeeeee….” She let out a laugh before moving to him. 

“Y/N Shh! I’m talking to you, you don’t have to yell. By the way did you get taller or did I get shorter? Have I shrunk?!” He asked before laughing. Y/N laughed again before taking his hand. She pulled him towards the building slowly and somewhat unstable. It was like the blind leading the blind over a narrow mountain pass.

“Honey, that’s a lamp post. I’m at least like three inches shorter then it. Come on, let’s get you to bed.” 

“Oh! Well, I guess beer and jet lag don’t mix.” He smiles, following her. Y/N got him carefully up the stairs and into the building. As she leaned Joe against the wall, she fumbled around her bag for the keys. She could already the giggling from the doorway across the hall and the sound of the bed moving from people jumping onto it. She found her keys and unlocked the door. She moved Joe inside and to one of the bedrooms. Y/N sat him on the bed as she removed his sneakers. 

“Thanks munkin. You are my best friend you know that.” 

“I know, I know, and you are my bestest best friend. Now get some sleep.” She turned the light off, closing the door behind her as Joe was already asleep. Moving to her own room, she stumbled and shushed herself. She kicked off her shoes, took off her bag and coat before laying in the bed. She stared at the gray ceiling as she worked on getting undressed. Kicking out of her jeans and pulling her bra off through the sleeve of her shirt, she was finally completely comfortable, before she knew it  she was out like a light. 

In the morning as the chimes of Big Ben could be heard, Joe turned over in his bed. As some sunlight flooded into the bedroom. He groaned, kicking the blanket off him and onto the floor. Y/N leaned in the doorway of the bedroom after Joe moved from the bathroom, rubbing his temples. 

“Mornin’.” She smirked as she drawn from a coffee cup. Another one in her hands. 

“Fucking hell. What time is it?” He moved his fingers to rub the sides of the bridge of his nose. 

“About 9 am.” She held out his coffee for him. He took it eagerly, taking a tentative sip. He relaxed instantly as the caffeinated beverage slid down his throat. 

“Ugh gross. Morning.” He groaned. “Thanks for the coffee. How long have you been awake?” 

“About an hour and a half, I took a shower, put on clothes and went for coffee. It allowed me to see the neighborhood again.” Y/N took another sip of her coffee. Joe groaned again as he sat back down on the bed. 

“How in the hell are you functioning? You drank just as much as me.” He asked her. 

“Oh I’m not really. This is all a facade.” She chuckled, sitting beside him. She pushed

back her hair from her face. Her own head pounding like a soft drum beat as she waited for the aspirin to kick in. “We do need some groceries. I know it's only two weeks but we need some food in this place.” Joe nodded. 

“Can I shower first? I smell like I bathed in a barrel of beer.” 

“Yeah.” She sniffed him. “You smell like my last landlord so yeah, take a shower.” She laughed moving off his bed. She moved to the couch, looking out the front window.  She had missed this city, missed the morning traffic which sounded differently than New York’s. She missed the views from this very window. She missed the connection that she felt here, that connection to her parents. Yet, he was here somewhere. Hopefully out there married and happy, even if she didn’t like him, she wished for his happiness as long as she did not need to see him. 

While Joe showered, Y/N got engrossed in her phone. Checking social media and watching some Youtube, she barely heard the knock at her door. When it happened again after a few moments, she put down her phone.

“Babe! Did I leave my bra?” A voice said through the oak door. “It was pink and lacy, I don’t want to lose that one, its my favorite.” She moved to the door, opening it. There stood the same perky young blonde woman from the night before. Y/N offered a small smile. 

“Don’t think you left it here.” The blonde laughed though Y/N would admit the blonde was gorgeous. 

“Sorry dearie wrong door!” She turned on her high heeled foot, and knocked on the door across the hall. Y/N had turned to go inside when the door across the hall opened up, you know this would be a good chance to see her new neighbor. She watched for a moment as the man held out the blonde’s bra. Y/N looked up at his face and the striking blue eyes looking down at the blonde, a smile on his lips. She knew those eyes anywhere, she knew that stupid gorgeous face anywhere. It may have been ten years but she wasn’t stupid. She knew the man standing there, for he was the man that broke her heart. 

“Y/N?” He had said as he looked back at her. It had been nearly ten years since he had seen her face. Time had been good to her but it had also been very good to him. She grit her teeth as they started to chatter from angry. She turned back into the flat and slammed the door behind her so hard the wall shook. So much for being happy for him. 

“Fucking stupid fucking England.” Y/N repeated to herself as she moved and sat on the couch. There was no way in hell that she was going to stay here for two weeks while Gwilym fucking Lee lived across the hall from her. She would rather swim in bloody water with sharks, she would rather get a root canal with no novocain, she would rather be anywhere with any of her exes but here. In his blue eyes, she had seen the hurt she felt all that time long ago and it scared the hell out of her. Even under that she had seen the ember of love that she once held for him laid under all the bullshit. “Fucking England.” 

#gwilym lee x reader #joe mazello x reader #gwilym lee #joe mazzello #ben hardy #rami malek #bohemian rhapsody #ben hardy x reader #Queen #borhap #then & now #tnn #gwilym x reader #gwilym lee imagines #borhap x reader

[ask-shakespearehigh]

in true highschooler fashion i must know.... who are the weebs and the gamers of the cast

Aster’s Kids

(( [name]*= has responded/been mentioned/is set, but has not appeared in design))

Macbeth

Macbeth— no, he did homestuck but he doesn’t really do games and has seen one (1) anime, bc of Banquo (it was FMA:B)

Lady— she’s “too pretty to know what that (anime) is”

Banquo— he’s like. Casually anime. FMA and FMA:B, Yu Yu Hakusho, he had an Inuyasha phase briefly, and he’s big into Pokemon. He doesn’t do much console or PC gaming, but he has a DS and he plays Pokemon games, Stardew Valley (if that’s on DS???), and Animal Crossing (he likes. Chill task based games)

Macduff— will play smash and Mario Kart at parties and is decent

Duncan— nah

Malcolm— dumb shoujo anime/manga is his secret guilty pleasure

Donalbain— he plays indie games. He got Very into Undertale. He likes Bastion, One Hand Clapping, and Cave Story.

Twelfth Night

Viola— their family owns a Wii and she fucking kills it at Wii Sports. Also Mario Kart. She’d be better at Smash if she didn’t insist on always playing as Kirby.

Sebastian— same as Viola.

Antonio— he’s played overwatch. That’s about it though

Duke— he’s seen a few anime, mostly via Netflix surfing. He actually really likes Ouran.

Olivia— nah

Malvolio— nah

Taming of the Shrew

Kate— nah

Bianca— nah

Petruchio— he feels like he plays some sorta FPS

Julius Caesar

Julius— nah

Calpurnia— animal crossing sometimes

Cassius— yes he’s anime but it’s a secret and he will Never admit it

Brutus— he’s anime and Will admit it but no one has ever asked

Octavius — he plays fortnite but he hates that he does so

The Tempest

Miranda— fire emblem baybee

Caliban*

Prospero*

Much Ado About Nothing

Beatrice— probably but idk what

Benedick— same

Borachio

Others

Antony— Smash and Mario Kart at parties and stuff. Got very hyped about Dream Daddy, it was ironic at first but then.

Cleopatra— same as Lady.

Star’s Kids

Hamlet

Hamlet (Tristson) - no. Watches horatio and ophelia instead of playing bc he has “better things to do”

Ophelia (Elskerson) - beats her brothers ass in smash. Mains peach and isabelle. Has played stardew valley. Also mario kart

Horatio (Venson) - plays smash w ophelia and sometimes w yorick. Mains fox and ness. Surprisingly good at mario kart.

Laertes (Elskerson) - has gotten his ass beat in smash. Mains ganondorf and bowser but he sucks at it lol. Aggressively hype abt wii games for no reason

Yorick - hes baby but he has played smash.

Fortinbras - hes too busy studying

Rosencrantz* - yeah both but i dont rlly care abt them sorry :(

Guildenstern* - “”

Gertrude* - no

Claudius* - no

Hamlet’s Dad* - no

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo (Montague) - YES the montacrew has game nights (smash, mario kart, just dance) Benny made him watch ouran and his favorite is tamaki

Juliet (Capulet) - has played mario kart w tybalt but isnt rlly a gamer girl. She likes shoujo anime a Lot and loves cardcaptor sakura

Mercutio (Prince) - KING OF JUST DANCE!!!!!!! KING. Owned a sasuke body pillow on a dare from romeo in middle school. Benny got rid of it. Has seen princess jellyfish

Benvolio (Montague) - shounen stan for the most part. Fairy tail, naruto, dragonball etc. watches slice of life to make fun of it for being cliche. Cried really hard at the nina tucker episode of fma:b

Tybalt (Capulet) - i feel like….he plays overwatch….and mains hanzo

Paris (Bellarico) - has seen episodes of bnha and sailor moon but isnt an avid anime fan. Thinks the 90’s anime aesthetic is sweet

Escalus (Prince) - owned a gamecube growing up and loves pokemon. Slides references to them in his homework like a NERD.

Rosaline*

Othello

Othello (Cuore) - mario kart and smash (doesnt main anyone he likes trying out every character but thinks big mac is fun even tho hes not rlly good at the game) he likes pokemon but doesnt play the games. Watched the anime growing up.

Desdemona (Di’Bianca) - “”””fake”””” gamer girl energy but she’s already tracer AND widowmaker. Good luck stopping her. Sipped a grande low-fat whip caramel macchiato while watching the E3 stream.

Iago (Ilmale) - HE LIKES SONIC UNIRONICALLY BC HE GREW UP W IT. He’s seen some classic shounen anime like bleach and tried bnha. Liked bakugou.

(Michael) Cassio - played persona. Catches himself singing Last Surprise under his breath. Thinks akira kurusu is really hot. Hes right. Has yet to try anime but hes interested

Roderigo (Ingenuo) - i wanna say hes played like dating sims? But not gross creepy ones i mean like from indie artists. Undertale fucked him up real bad.

Emilia (Ilmale) - she likes women she hopped on revolutionary girl utena and keeps searching for wlw anime. Bloom into you got her messed up rn

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Puck (Robin Goodfellow) - runs a gaming channel on youtube and watches a Lot of anime. Definitely has a lot of merch

Oberon (Kingsman) - anime and game nights at his house! Owns dream daddy for the gay rights.

Titania (Queensland) - realized she was gay after watching sailor moon and the “””cousins”””. Pretty good at video games. Has the persona dancing star night game for seemingly no reason (its for ann)

Peaseblossom - LOVED princess tutu and never shuts up about it. Plays the hall om mig amv all the time

Moth - sings anime ops randomly for no reason. Mains the cute characters on smash

Cobweb - married tharja in fates for the goth rights. Mains bayonetta.

Mustardseed - MINECRAFT.

Hermia - puella magica madoka girl. LOVES the magical girl aesthetic. Started sewing bows onto her dresses

Lysander - the designated gamer of the 4. Immediately attaches to pretty boys in animes. Claimed he was a “bishounen” himself when he was like 14 and the rest havent let him live it down.

Helena - likes mystery/horror anime like baccano and tokyo ghoul

Demetrius - action shounen stan. Owns an akatsuki cloak

Nick Bottom* - watches hentai

Puck’s Dad 1 (Puck based) - pokemon champion fire red

Puck’s Dad 2 (Oberon based) - pokemon champion leaf green

Love’s Labor’s Lost

Ferdinand - started playing volleyball bc he likes haikyuu. didnt think hed get this far

Birone - thinks fma:b is the peak of anime and hes right.

Longaville - likes the boxing anime (cant remember what its called) and smash (mains ryu)

Dumaine - hes the video of the drunk guy making all of the noises in the crash bandicoot game

Princess - she Is revolutionary girl utena

Rosalina - won’t ever admit it but does watch some anime from time to time.

Katherine - hibiki girls euphonium stan even tho she doesnt play an instrument

Maria - got tricked into playing fortnite once. Plays minecraft on peaceful and is rlly excited about bees being in the game

Others

William Shakespeare - “anne whats a waifu”

Anne Shakespeare - has a pkmn card collection. Loves sylveon

#shakespeare #mod star #mod aster #UGHHHHHH #all

[singledarkshade]

Sapphire And Steel

Part Nine Waking the next morning Rip opened his eyes to find the two women he’d spent the night with curled around him. Both were still sleeping, beautiful and he wondered if maybe he was still asleep. Being careful not to wake them, Rip slid out of bed. Miranda and Gideon simply rolled over cuddling together in the warm space he’d left.

Pulling on his jeans and t-shirt, he headed downstairs to the kitchen. It was still raining heavily, which meant he could put off deciding what he had to do now, for a while at least.

Looking through the cupboards and fridge he found coffee along with plenty of food. Making himself some coffee, Rip set about cooking breakfast.

“Well,” Miranda’s voice made him turn to see her walking into the kitchen wearing a red silken robe, “I didn’t expect this.”

Rip turned and shrugged, “Hope you don’t mind but I thought we’d all be hungry.”

“No, I like it,” she moved closer to him, “I’ve never had anyone make me breakfast before.”

“Gideon doesn’t cook?” Rip asked, handing her a mug of coffee.

Miranda chuckled, “Gideon’s idea of home cooking is taking it out of the box it was delivered in and putting it on a plate.”

Rip chuckled softly, “I’m beginning to understand you a little better.”

“Good,” she glanced out the window, “It’s still raining.”

He nodded, leaning in to catch her lips with his. Miranda placed her coffee down and wrapped her arms around him. Within seconds Rip had her pressed against the counter, undoing her robe and sliding into her once more as Miranda sighed happily.

  “I’m beginning to feel left out,” Gideon teased as she walked into the kitchen finding Miranda retying her robe and Rip rebuttoning his jeans.

“Just a little pre-breakfast exercise to work up an appetite,” Miranda assured her, giving Gideon a kiss.

Gideon laughed, “I thought last night worked up plenty of appetite.”

Rip turned back to the counter and continued making breakfast smiling to himself.

“Before it stops raining,” Miranda said as he placed a plate in front of each of them, “We need to decide what to do now.”

Taking a quick drink of his coffee, Rip asked, “What was your plan for that?”

“Plan?” Miranda laughed, “Rip, our plan was to see if we could persuade you to sleep with us. We weren’t supposed to care about you, weren’t supposed to feel a bond.”

Rip grimaced, “I know.”

Silence filled the room for several minutes while they all ate. A phone buzzing broke the silence and Rip sighed pulling out his phone.

“Captain Wallace,” Rip greeted the woman on the other end of the call as he put it on speaker phone motioning them to stay silent.

“Is everything alright?” Wallace asked, “I’ve been trying to reach you all night?”

“I’m fine,” Rip replied, “Unfortunately our thieves aren’t here. They found the tracker in the shoe. I’ve spent most of the night trapped in one of the rooms, they somehow blocked the signal and I have finally managed to get myself out.”

Gideon nodded letting him know that was easy enough for her to set up.

Wallace sighed, “The road is still flooded so it might be a while before we can get anyone up to you. At least three hours.”

“Not a problem,” Rip told her, “I’ve still got to go through the house since I was trapped for most of the night.”

“I’ll give you a call when I have someone on their way to you,” Wallace said before hanging up.

  Rip hung up his phone and took a deep breath, “Okay, I don’t want this to end but I’m a cop and I can’t not be.”

Miranda nodded, “We wouldn’t want you not to be.”

“Then you can’t steal anything in my jurisdiction anymore,” Rip told them, “If we want this to continue then I can’t also be chasing you.”

Gideon pouted slightly, “That was half the fun.”

Miranda laughed.

“Maybe for you two,” Rip replied, before he leaned over and kissed Gideon quickly making her move closer.

“Not just now,” Miranda intercepted the other woman, “We need to make sure that everything Rip said happened looks as though it did.”

Rolling her eyes Gideon nodded.

“Alright,” Miranda took charge, “I will clean up in here. You two go upstairs and make it look as though you trapped Rip.”

Rip motioned Gideon to take the lead.

“Make sure you finish fixing everything before you decide to have any fun,” Miranda called after them.

  Gideon checked her work before turning to the man standing watching her, “And no one will be able to tell that you lied.”

Rip smiled at her, “You truly are brilliant.”

“We all have gifts,” Gideon shrugged.

“That was Druce talking,” Rip said softly.

She started playing with a pendant around her neck and Rip stepped closer trying to see it better.

“It was a present from Miranda,” Gideon explained, showing him the small silver infinity symbol with a tiny sapphire in the centre, “The first thing she stole for me not long after I was recruited.”

“Can I ask?”

Sadness filled Gideon’s eyes, “My parents were killed in a car crash when I was fourteen. I was thrown into foster care where Druce’s recruit found me.”

“When did you meet Miranda?”

A shy sweet smile touched Gideon’s lips, “The second day I was in the base. She came back from a job and was there when I met Druce for the first time. He told her to show me the ropes and I was her responsibility.”

“I remember that,” Rip mused softly.

“Miranda hasn’t stopped looking after me,” Gideon smiled some more, “She got me the necklace as a gift because I was missing my parents. She was always there for me.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “Druce tried to use me as a gift for one of his partners once,” she shuddered at the memory before smiling slightly, “Miranda was there before he could touch me and it was the moment I realised I was in love with her.”

Gently Rip pushed her hair back and stroked her cheek, “You’re both lucky to have found one another.”

Leaning into his hand, Gideon nodded, “And to find you.”

Stroking his thumb across her lips, Rip moved closer and gently kissed her. Gideon wrapped her arms around him pulling him close.

“How about a shower?” she murmured softly, “Miranda isn’t a fan of shower sex, but I enjoy it.”

Rip chuckled, pressing a few kisses to her neck, “A shower sounds good.”

She grinned and took his hand pulling him along with her.

  Miranda mused as she finished the dishes, she knew Gideon was having some more fun with their detective and she didn’t begrudge them a little more time together.

She hadn’t expected this, it was meant to be a game, a challenge to corrupt the cop chasing them. To seduce and have some fun with him.

But that was before she realised who he was. Before she learned what kind of person he had become.

Rip was the antithesis of the man they had worked for since they were children, he had lived in that world, under the same influence they had and found a way out. He’d become someone who upheld and believed in the law which Miranda found to be incredible.

She and Gideon loved one another, even when they invited a third person into their bed it never felt like this. Miranda could tell that Rip was falling for them, if he hadn’t already while Gideon had been enamoured with him from the beginning. Miranda had tried not to, but she was falling hard for Rip as well.

What was worse, Miranda knew she had to be the clear-headed one and she didn’t want to be. She wanted more nights like last night, more time lost in the arms of her two lovers.

Miranda sighed, knowing what she had to do.

She just hated it.

  Gideon appeared in the kitchen, her long hair damp while she looked decidedly happy with herself.

“Where’s Rip?” Miranda asked.

“Making it look as though he’s searched the house,” Gideon replied with a shrug.

Miranda smiled asking, “Did you enjoy your shower?”

Gideon smirked, “Completely. I could get used to having one like that every morning.”

Sliding her hand into Gideon’s, Miranda sighed, “You know it’s not going to happen.”

“I know,” Gideon squeezed her hand, “He has to go back to his life, but we managed to get into his home when he was chasing us without problems. It will be easier sneaking in when he knows we’re coming.”

Miranda nodded, “I suppose you’re right, but we have to remove the cameras.”

Gideon pouted slightly, “But watching Rip is my favourite show.”

Shaking her head, Miranda noted, “We’ll find you something else.”

Rolling her eyes Gideon sighed, “Fine, I have plenty of footage to rewatch.”

“What do you have to rewatch?” Rip asked as he appeared in the doorway.

Miranda chuckled as Gideon looked away innocence covering her face.

“Okay,” Miranda said with a sigh, “We have a small confession…”

                                  *********************************************

  Rip greeted Captain Wallace with a slight nod as he walked into the station with the team who had come to pick him up.

“Well, Detective,” she said, “You may not have caught them, but you have definitely come closer than any of the others who have been chasing them.”

“Thank you,” he said, “That makes being stuck in a room all night almost worth it.”

Wallace chuckled, “Well, according to my team we retrieved a lot of the stolen jewellery, even if we missed our thieves.”

“At least I had some luck,” Rip replied.

She chuckled and patted his shoulder comfortingly, “They also found this that I think is for you.”

Rip took the small notecard she handed him and frowned.

Pity you missed us,

Next time you want to borrow our shoes,

Just ask.

Sapphire & Steel

As always it had the silver and blue lip prints and he sighed, “I’ll add it to my collection.”

“Captain Singh and I have spoken this morning. My people will go over everything and pass you our findings,” Wallace told him, before adding, “You also have two days off.”

Rip thanked her and spoke with the detective who was taking the lead on the case for a few moments before he left to go home.

  Walking into his home, Rip dropped onto the couch to sit relieved to be back and a little bemused. It felt as if the night before, and that morning, hadn’t happened. It felt like it had all been an incredibly vivid dream.

“Hey, you’re back,” Sara appeared from her room, “How did things go?”

Rip shrugged, “I managed to get closer than any other cop but…”

“But they got away again,” Sara commiserated. She sat beside him and squeezed his arm before asking, “Any more racy pictures.”

Rip gave her an irritated grimace.

She patted his leg, “Okay, I have to go to work. Don’t spend all night brooding. At least go out for a while.”

“Goodnight, Sara.”

With a smile she grabbed her jacket and left him alone again.

Once the door was closed, Rip pulled out his phone and flipped through the photos of Miranda and Gideon that he had. His mind going over the night he’d spent with them.

Before they left the house the three of them agreed that in one month they would meet up in Star City for a night. If things worked then they would find a way to continue their meet-ups.

A beep from his phone cut into Rip’s thoughts and he frowned confused to see an email had arrived titled, ‘To Our Detective’.

Reading it, Rip felt completely stupid knowing he could never reveal what had happened as his career would be over.

Tossing the phone on the couch Rip headed to have a shower, resolving to forget all about the two women who had manipulated him.

  ‘To Our Detective,

The time we spent together was wonderful, never believe otherwise but we can’t in good conscience continue this. You are an amazing detective, and a kind generous man who we would never want to hurt.

Know that we will never forget our time with you, but we need to end this now before it becomes too hard to let you go.

All our love,

Gideon and Miranda.’

                                  *********************************************

  The alarms in the prison sounded as he slid into the driver’s seat of the car that had been left waiting for him.

He hadn’t stopped thinking about what that cop had said about his boy.

And he had an idea how to get the information he wanted, he just had to find his girls.

Starting the car, Zamen Druce began to drive.

#fic #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #gideon #miranda coburn #timeship #hunterburn #burnship #alternate universe #jewel thieves

[ts-2020-olympics]

EPISODE 1 - “My Legs Were Not Qwoperating” - Kathy (Part 2)

no. jk here.

So, it’s morning. I look around at our camp, and see everyone is at work. Karen is painting their flag and using safety scissors to cut out Monty’s head, Kevin is chanting to himself in the corner, Stoner’s been asleep so we buried him in the sand up to his neck and then sculpted a sand castle around him. Tommy is just trying to make eye contact with anyone he can and so I’m...avoiding that. I’d say we are solid but that’s probably not the truth, and so that kind of stinks. I’m hoping the newbies really fuck up, and I know that’s harsh but...that’s showbiz, babe!! Speaking of newbies I still haven’t talked to a few of them.  Emma like zoomed away the first day and I’ve given up on talking to her. Hope she goes first. That’s all I got for now, going to eat breakfast I will continue this rant later.

my truth is that i haven’t played an org game in so long i forgot i was playing and then remembered an hour ago and tried to do this wack qwop game hsksksj! my legs were not qwoperating 

I see there's an arena going on! I might go there first if the rest of the team is okay with it - gives me a chance to scope things out and get a feel for the area. I'm excited!

WE WON THE FUCKING CHALLEEEENGE AAAAA NOT ONLY DID WE WIN BUT WE KILLT IT WE SCORED 12 AND EVERYONE ELSE GOT LIKE 8 AND 5 OHMYGOOOD IM NOT GONNA BE FIRST OUT YALL IM SHAKING I CANT BELIEVE GSJDKDVDSNDBWSKHSD okAy okay so thank god bc my tribe has like no drama so our vote would’ve been really difficult and that gives me more time to think about my possible advantage and the possible bonds here. 

so while I am safe I still have to game a little bit and talk to the people I’ve been talking with who are going to tribal like Sammy and Jordan, funny enough who are on the same tribe.... maybe I can get them to protect each other..... hm

Well we lost because of technicalities, I choose to blame that. This tribe is apparently extremely quiet to each other, so the fact that I messaged everyone hello this morning, nearly 48 hours after the start, I am SOMEHOW one of the best social players here. Challenges are generally my strength, we got last in QWOP, so backup is social game in a social ORG. I can be in some danger here, but I think I have a TRusuT sclusTER to keep myself here. As is necessary. I don't care who goes, I have a preference, but I don't really want to set a goal right now. Flexibility is key.

I'm literally PISSED. I'm fuming right now, like wtf? OK so I haven't confessed anything yet because my tribe has been SO quiet. I've honestly talked a lot more to some of the people from ONE WORLD than I have from some of the people from my own tribe... and I'm not crazy okay? It's NOT my fault. I put in effort with these people... But some of these people are just DRY! Drier than the Sahara Desert! Drier than my chappy ass lips! They can't hold a conversation, and that's obnoxious. I'm not going to respond to you if your message has literally nothing in it worth responding to, that's why most of my messages will either have a follow-up question, or something actually of substance to comment on/reply to... YOU SHOULD DO THE SAME SO WE CAN ACTUALLY SPEAK AND MAINTAIN A CONSISTENT DIALOGUE!!!!!!! But NOOOOOOO, my tribe decides to not speak... MOVING ON! The only people I've had good conversations with really are Juls and Em, and lo and behold, Em does lit rally nothing in this challenge, which sucks because I'm afraid that may put a target on her back. But I'm not sure, I definitely will vote with her and I think Juls will too. I'll move onto that later but I wanna talk about why I'm fucking LIVID RIGHT NOW. I literally made SO many suggestions on how we could tweak who does what in this challenge, or what we do on certain parts. Now I'm going to admit a TINY bit of fault here, in that I didn't say my suggestions on the tribe flag. There are some things I think we could've done to make it better, but I love Juls, and everyone had already told her it was great, so I didn't wanna make her feel that I didn't like it or was over criticizing. So I didn't say anything. That was my bad. BUT EVERYTHING ELSE, LUV? I said We should guess lower than 610... Now granted my even 600 guess still would've been too low to win, BUT AT LEAST IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN OVERBOARD! HMPPHH!!!!! Or maybe we could've compromised on 605 if people hadnt IGNORED ME!!!! IDK!??!?!?! Further than that, I asked for different tweaking on the chant and nobody gave any suggestions. I'm not saying we would've won or anything had I taken the lead or that I was doing everything the right way,  obviously I wasn't since my chant got 3rd, but what I'm saying is once it became obvious the challenge was going to be about group participation and suggestion, our tribe needed to unify. Everyone in the tribe needed to have a clearer vision and talk to eachother and actually put in the EFFORT that this stuff requires. Which I'm admitting my own error, in not doing that with the flag. But our tribe was just so quiet and silent before now, which sent me down a paranoid spiral, that I was super fucking worried about my place in the tribe or where things were heading. Now I realize I'm in a good position on the tribe for sure, it's just that our tribe is STRUGGLING. ON THE (Mr.) BRIGHTSIDE!!! We lost by a tiebreaker guess, and only by 4 points.... and I'm pretty close with Juls, and it seems like a target will probably fall pretty easily onto Billy. He had the worst QWOP score, described himself as arrogant in his own intro, and just seems.. critical of others. He gives off a strange vibe. If it's not him, I'm pretty sure it'd end up being Jacob or Em. I feel that me and Juls are safe which is all that I can hope for on a tribe this freaking tiny, I instantly connected with Juls over our love of anime, the fact her name is the same as Euphoria Jules, and other stuff. As far as One World goes, I honestly keep forgetting it exists. I haven't reached out to too many of the others but have talked back to those who talk to me and it's been generally decent. I get along well with other Jacob, the not pie one. Caeleb I already know from before this and so I feel like we'd def work together, and I get good vibes from a lot of these people like Eve, Nicole, Ben, etc. Honestly I'm just so frustrated right now because things have been quiet and nervous and I'm PARANOID, and my tribe was so close to winning but fucked it up over minor things we could've tweaked had we just tried a little harder and communicated a little more. ugh, this SUCKS. now my first legacy in Tumblr Survivor is a mediocre chant (i honestly really like it and i put a LOT OF THOUGHT INTO IT OKAY....) and a trip to tribal council *Sobs* Here's hoping things take a positive turn from here...? It could always be the Bronze before my Gold! ~Hamfisted olympics metaphor~

Love my tribe a lot! However, i still feel on the outside somewhat tho.... Idk this is a lot for me I just hope we win until a swap or whatever its called ahh

Alright, Darcy back here with yet another confessional!   Here is a little update since I last posted confessional, mainly the biggest difference is now I have an ally formed with Ben.   At least, I made a deal with Ben yesterday proposing just the generic looking after one another ordeal, then going to give it some time and maybe question Beck about forming an alliance, since I've been connecting with her even more past bit, but don't want to go too fast and end up asking half my tribe right away to work with me, as I don't want to be seen as playing hard out the gate and make myself a target.   Meanwhile, I decided to give the Olympic Village searching a shot, but alas was no luck in the cafeteria cabinets, so will just have to try my luck again in the future rounds.   Thinking of searching either the South or North end of Village next round, but we shall see.   Anyways, I'm glad my tribe won Immunity, so don't have to go to tribal this round, and this Olympic Arena twist sounds great, essentially one person from each tribe goes to the Arena, I believe for the immune tribes just 1 person is selected to go to the Arena, and for the losing tribes, the two voted out go to arena, where the winner of the voted out people come back in the game, and loser is out of the game for good.   Think I read that all right, but maybe won't hurt to give it another read to double check.   For now though, I shall go, so will see you all with my next confessional.

Fuck having to go to tribal first. I don’t like having to send someone home when I don’t even really know who I’m playing with yet. 

Seems like Billy pulling the "I don't want to make any moves" to me was surprisingly bullshit. Who would've thunk. I think everyone is fine with voting out Billy here, I didn't really want to initially, but yeah, uh no. I could be in danger, but if everyone is honest here, I should be fine. Fingers crossed. "I'm either going to be first boot or win" - Pia Miranda

So, the first tribal is in a bit and we were almost sent there but managed to pull through in the tiebreaker! I hope that opens some of my tribemates eyes (lets be real, just Stoner who hasn’t been doing much of anything!) Being in One World but none of the newbies talking to me is still wild to me, half of them still haven’t even accepted my contact request. Yet they’re plenty active in the chat, so what gives? Anyway, I hope it’s just that they are intimidated by the very fact that I am beauty, and grace, and Miss United States. I hope we can win the next round, hopefully first or second place so we don’t have a close call again. We are trying to get Chris to go to the Arena so he can get us that 20% but he hasn’t answered so...what gives? On the alliance front I’m good with Kevin and Karen tribewise , the bigger picture is Kevin, Jacob and Sammy want to align and then we will have a bigger alliance that includes Beck, Juls and Eve. Eventually I might wanna break off and align with Jules and Eve, but having bigger targets around is essential. Anyway that’s all I got for now. I should start making video confessionals AS THINGS ARE HAPPENING. Ya know? Anyway toodles for now see ya next round. OH, and I’m hoping Jules and Jacob are safe this tribal :( love them and hope we can work together going forward. 

Hiiii, arena results are about to come in so I'm just gonna drop a quickie confessional before that happens. I don't honestly remember how much I talked about the strategy and gameplay that was going on, so I'll give you a quick rebriefing of that. I'm really close with Juls. Em I like, but I want more out of her. Jacob is quiet, but inoffensive. Billy, I actually like him, but there are certain things about him that just.. Rub me (and others) a strange way and that's why we voted him out because certain things he did just didn't quite gel with the rest of the team. If he does return from the arena though, it's possibly I may vouch for him over Jacob because Jacob... HE JUST NEEDS TO TALK!!! But idk. One world still SUCKS and is dragging me through the MUD because nobody wants to do cross-tribe talking me included but that gets me paranoid as FUCK, luv. About the live tribal, it was fun! My camera angle was awkward and I was soo nervous though, but I think I was still able to hold it together relatively well, act normal, and give semi-decent answers. Will definitely be improving my live tribal performance for next time so I can be a bad ass bitch on call, it's GOING to happen... dskfdsf. I love Emma on call/video sooooo much, But on text she's kind of dry. Maybe I need to ask her if I can call her sometime, but I haven't done a call for a game like this in a looong time. I'm a bit nervous about that. But yeah. I'm looking forward to the game... The first tribal just makes everything real, and you realize, oh shit, we're playing Survivor. And I forgot how thrilling it was to play in a live, video environment like that, it just grips you and it feels so much more intense than when wiki results are just posted in chat and you don't have to deal with physically seeing the person you're voting out, talking to them with your actual voice, etc. All that stuff just makes the experience that much more realistic and it's so intense and fun. I'm ready to get this game on (Btw fuck the arena twist)

hey guys im really loving this game so far... keep up the good work!

i didn’t appreciate the attitude billy gave me whenever i tried to help the team out but! i’m willing to get over it because he is a nice guy. i feel fairly comfortable with my team and i’m just hoping we can avoid another tribal! 

Hello! I can not believe I'm back for a 6th time on Tumblr Survivor this is so crazy! Especially for an Olympic season because I vowed to myself that I would never do a season again that was more than 20 people after being in Japan. Now that I'm back I'm ready to play, I haven't really came into this season with a strategy but if I did it would have changed because this is a One World season and now with the arena twist I'm sweating. One World makes the season super social (probably one of my least favorite twists) it's very easy for this season to let pre-mades and majorities take over just like that and let underdogs like me in this season to get taken out especially taken out early. So I have been social not only with me but a few people on different tribes but not too much. I don't want to seem like I'm playing too hard but I wanna build relationships before swaps happen so that people choose to ally with me (A WINNER) over a newbie or a returnee who hasn't won because I already have a big target on my back. With how the tribe divisions are it gives the newbies the biggest advantage with 15 newbies compared to 5 winners and 5 non-winner returnees, which isn't bad in a Fan vs. Favorite season because the ratio is even with returnees and newbies. However, now that I'm in the minority and also labeled a WINNER, I have to do damage control to lower my target but most importantly integrate with other people which is hard because I'm not the best social player and I know that's my weakness but I still have to attempt. In terms of my own tribe I'm closest to Kevin, when I talk to him we have a good conversation I probably already irritate him but I think out of everyone I can put my trust in him the most compared to everyone else. I think having one good ally is how I want to approach this season due to the arena twist I don't want to come across as running the tribe especially the winners tribe incase we do go to tribal because if I vote in the majority and that person stays they are immune and will be mad and spill the beans about the tribe, and I want that person to be the least mad at me so the focus is not on me. So having overall good vibes and 1 strong connection is a good strategy for the long term game. It might put me at risk for being voted out in the short term but I want to play the long-term game. Preferably if it is up to me I'd want Nicole to be the next closest to Kevin and myself without myself having to make an official deal with Nicole so I'm not seen as the ringleader. Kevin says he wants Stoner to be the first one voted out on our tribe but honestly I rather it be Karen. Stoner has the reputation keeps his target bigger than the rest and I think Karen has the better chance of flipping on the winners and succeeding than Stoner does. So my target is Karen if we do lose. I also believe that there may be an alliance with Nicole, Kevin, and Karen which I hope is not an actual alliance because that's bad news for me. I hope we don't go to tribal because I don't wanna go to a tribal with only 5 people. Wish me luck!

Whew it has been one round and i've fucked up so much its not even funny. its a little funny. anyways i start this game on a tribe of 5, i allign with connor who ive never played a game with and find some similar common ground, and with jacob who seems chill. we lose the first challenge sucks and all hell breaks loose, long story short fuck sammy. I'm trying to work my way back in caeleb and jacobs good graces. its gonna be a rocky road, but its one i've driven before

#zestypowerfuluniqueflavorfulhealthy #confessionals

[callboxkat]

Quiet (part 10)

Author’s note: Are you ready for the angst?

Warnings: selective mutism, college, food mention, misunderstandings, panic attack

Word count: 1164

Masterpost!

It was Friday evening, the second weekend in September. The evening before, Virgil and his new friends had spent the night playing board games. Virgil had been unsurprised to learn that Logan was almost unbelievably good at Scrabble. He kept playing words that the others would claim weren’t real, only for their friend to pull up its definition on his phone.

Tonight, even though they had hung out so recently, another movie night was scheduled.

“It’s tradition!” Patton had said in response to Virgil’s questioning look, his eyes pleading. “You can’t break tradition!”

Virgil, of course, had relented. So here he was, waiting outside the library where Patton always picked him up. He checked his phone for the time, and when he looked back up, he saw Patton’s headlights coming up the street. As the car pulled over at the side of the road, Virgil gave the driver a small salute as a greeting. He shouldered his backpack and approached as Patton opened up the car door.

One obligatory hug later (which Virgil pretended to not like as much as he did), they were heading towards Roman’s house.

…

The movies picked out for that night were Moana, The Little Mermaid, and Snow White. Virgil thought that that was a lot of Disney, but to tell the truth, he was more of a Disney fan than he usually let on.

Roman was there of course (in his usual prince outfit), as were Logan and Patton. Joan and Talyn came too, but they could only stay for the first movie.

They waited to order food until they started the second movie, since Talyn and Joan had already eaten. After bidding their goodbyes to the two nonbinary pals, Roman turned to the others for an important discussion.

“Pizza again?” Roman asked.

“Roman, how many times must I tell you, pizza is not a healthy meal! We should get something with more nutritional value!”

“Well, if you don’t want pizza, you don’t have to eat any,” Roman pointed out. Logan was conspicuously silent. As much as he complained about the unhealthiness of eating a lot of pizza, the others all knew that he secretly loved it. After a long silence, in which Roman grinned at a slightly uncomfortable Logan, Roman picked up his cell phone and dialed the number of the pizza place.

They watched the second movie, munching happily on pizza. Virgil had a glass of tea, as did Logan, Roman had root beer, and Patton had a glass of water.

The movie was still playing when they finished off the pizzas. Logan and Patton both got out their wallets, as usual, and took out a few bills to help pay Roman back for the food.

“Hey, V,” Roman said. Virgil was painfully reminded that he still had yet to tell the others his actual name, but the more time that passed, the more daunting the idea of doing so became. Roman continued, “Why don’t you chip in? Patton said you’ve got a job now, plus we’ve been picking up the tab for a few weeks now, so….”

Virgil froze.

He had already eaten the pizza. He couldn’t take that back. But even with his new job, he just didn’t have the money to help pay. All the money he’d earned so far had gone to paying for textbooks and tuition. He barely had anything left for himself; in fact, he had a grand total of $3.26 in his wallet. He knew because he had checked that morning.

Everyone was looking at him expectantly. Virgil’s chest felt tight, his pulse pounding in his ears, his jaw locked shut even as he tried to say something, anything, to break the horrible silence.

Roman was clearly getting annoyed. Logan looked somewhere between impatient and confused. Patton was glancing between all of them, tapping the tips of his fingers together silently.

It certainly didn’t help that Virgil’s expression, he knew, was all but blank, probably making them think he was just denying their request by not bothering to respond.

“What?” Roman said after a while. “It’s only a few dollars! It’s not like I’m asking you to pay for the whole thing, or all the pizza you ate at other movie nights.”

“Roman,” Patton began, “he doesn’t t—”

“He can talk, Patton! I’ve heard him! You’ve heard him! He just doesn’t because he thinks he’s better than us! And now he’s here, taking advantage of the free food and movies, all because you think he’s some delicate little flower. Just because he had a panic attack when you first met doesn’t make him a good person.”

“Maybe he forgot his wallet!”

“Roman, I will happily pay for V’s—,” Logan cut in, only for Roman to interrupt.

“That’s another thing! We don’t even know his name!”

Virgil’s breath was coming too fast, and he was starting to get lightheaded. The others continued to argue, but their words began to warp until Virgil couldn’t understand. He couldn’t breathe.

He had to get out, had to get out, he had to get out of here—!

“Where are you going?” Roman’s face loomed in front of him. Virgil must have stood up. He didn’t remember.

Virgil opened his mouth, but all that came out was a puff of air. Confusion briefly flashed through Roman’s expression, before being replaced with annoyance once again. Annoyance that changed suddenly to anger as the glass of tea Virgil had apparently still been holding fell out of his numbing hand, spilling all over the junior’s pristine, white prince costume.

Roman was livid. He was yelling, barely two inches from Virgil’s face.

Virgil snapped out of it and pushed past Roman, feeling like he was only half there, and walked outside the house. Patton and Logan were trying to help Roman with the tea staining the floor and his clothes, and didn’t immediately follow.

As soon as Virgil got out of the others’ sight, it was like the dam broke.

Hot tears streaked down his face, and his breath started coming in great, whooping gasps that didn’t seem to bring any oxygen to his desperate lungs. Virgil sprinted down the dark street, desperate to get away, get away, get away. He didn’t know which way he was going, but he followed the dark street, then ducked into an alley because even the street lamps were Too. Much.

Quite suddenly, Virgil was on the ground, asphalt stinging his knees and hands as he fell. He was overwhelmed by dizziness, and he still couldn’t catch his breath. His flight had, of course, only made things that much worse. There was something, something that could help, that breathing exercise Patton had shown him, but Virgil couldn’t focus enough to remember what it was.

I can’t breathe! Virgil wanted to scream, but all he did was collapse on his side, barely aware of it as his senses failed him. The world stretched, thinning impossibly, until it all faded to nothing.

Tag list: @patton-loves-coloring @starryfirefliesbloggo @purplesoul-at-hogwarts  @lotusthatexists @lizaelsparrow @awesomelissawho @amuthefunperson @bunny222  @astraastro @momolinia @hamilin-manuel-miranda @goldenkiddos @afilhadehades-blog @virgeofselfdestruction @theresneverenoughfandoms @iris-sanders-athena @syndianites

#oh boy #so angsty #Thomas Sanders #sanders sides #Logan Sanders #Patton Sanders #Roman Sanders #Virgil Sanders #quiet fic #ts fanfic #Sanders sides fan fiction #fanfiction

[kinetic-elaboration]

May 6: Too Many Circle Thoughts

So I think the reason The Circle (s1) got into my head and is now going to be living there for a bit is that it’s just so damn wholesome, and I didn’t watch it for its assumed wholesomeness (I watched it because I thought it would be dumb and mindless) but that’s where we are. It was cheesy and it often tried too hard, and it talked up a big game of ~strategy and ~drama and judging books by covers blah blah blah but what it really proved to me was that people on average actually do want to like each other and be liked on a genuine level and will form friendships over rivalries whenever possible. It’s an encouraging lesson.

I have a variety of theories as to why it turned out like that, one of which is that the game is not really a social media competition and it doesn’t actually mirror real social media at all. Thus the lessons/assumptions of social media are not relevant to it. People aren’t becoming popular by appealing to the largest mass audience possible, as irl influencers do; they’re forming alliances, friendships, and partnerships in a supremely limited environment: only 7 other people at a time. Very little of importance happens, especially after the first day, in the realm of status updates, photos, new posts, likes, etc. It’s all about group and private chats. In other words, social media really may reward shallowness and superficiality, but on the show, people are rewarded for how they talk to other human beings. I do think there was an emphasis on the overly happy, overly positive genre of writing that social media has definitely spawned, and some of that was a little fake--as you can tell from also seeing people talk just to themselves alone--but tbh I actually think more of it was genuine than not. The language, or the code they were using, was that cheery, upbeat, bright, optimistic, over the top, emoji and hashtag strewn dialect of online speak, but the sentiments were real underneath a lot of the time, and that was rather heartwarming to me.

My other and more specific theory, though, was that it was Shubham. He might not have been the winner, but he was the center of the show; he made the season what it was and defined the tone and the unspoken set of rules that essentially governed who was eliminated and when. By which I mean, despite all the big talk about strategy and gameplay, on average, the players rewarded people who were genuine, and penalized those who were too blatantly playing the game. I think the reason they did this was Shubham.

This is obviously a generalization and not every blocking precisely fit the pattern. But I think it’s broadly true, especially if you differentiate ‘blatantly playing the game’ from ‘is a catfish.’ You can use your real photos and still have everything out of your mouth be, if not a lie, a calculated statement to get you to a certain place. And you can be using someone else’s photos and acting just as if they were your own--like Sean, for example, for the 12 hours she decided to catfish.

Antonio was one of the Players I thought was most blatantly playing the game; I can’t remember him saying anything that wasn’t for the purpose of gaining something. Yes, everyone thought to some extent about what their statements or interactions meant, but he seemed to have no other motives. Similarly, Karyn/Mercedeze was a catfish, but she was also a strategy player. She lasted a little longer than Antonio because she was a little bit more real, and she had a real friendship with Chris, but you could tell from her monologue outside of the chat that she was in strategy mode all the time. It didn’t serve her well. Adam was a catfish who only lasted as long as he did because he spoke as some kinda version of himself with the guys--even having only watched the season once, I suspect that he was saved by his male friendships, not his creepy flirting. Four of the five finalists were not only not catfish, but they were people who had pretty consistently just said whatever they thought was right, not what they thought would be the most effective strategy-move at all times.

So obviously there are some exceptions to the pattern, but imo, not strong enough to break the theory. Alana hardly counts as anything because she was eliminated based on almost nothing. They all barely knew each other at this point. If anything, I think what doomed her was Sammie being an influencer, and her ill-conceived “skinny bitches chat.” Sammie didn’t like that, and with so little other evidence to go on... there she went. Miranda I think was just a casualty of bad luck and, to some extent, the handicap of all later additions: that everyone else knew each other better than they knew her. Similarly, Bill was 100% a casualty of his timing. Coming in with another player, and leaving with another player, while having almost no time to distinguish himself from the superficially extremely similar Bro, Adam, was his undoing.

Rebecca to me is apparently the biggest wrench in the theory but actually, I think she proves it. She is a catfish who made it to final five. BUT.

First, I could argue she was more genuine than she seemed but tbh I have no idea; I still can’t figure out if Seaburn is an amazing liar or if he really is that shy/sweet and just only felt comfortable behaving that way in the game if he wore a female face. Or something in between. Like Karyn, he made some contradictory statements about his persona, strategy, and rationale.

So I won’t argue that.

I do think that Seaburn had two big things going for him as Rebecca; first, that her sweet/shy/nice persona was exactly the sort of thing that most of the players, coming in good faith, wanted to believe in and were drawn to; and second, her incredibly strategic alliance with Shubham, which came to her rescue especially when the first advantage broke down. Rebecca was a pretty consistent third ranking and I think that general popularity was a product of the shy persona. She wasn’t most people’s favorite-favorite, but they did like her. BUT, when people started doubting it--when her odd statements started adding up, and people like Ed, with no loyalty, voiced doubts that let other people feel safe at the very least talking amongst themselves--it all would have broken down but for that Shubham alliance. It was too well known that Rebecca was his girl (”sister” lmao ok; funny how that word didn’t come up until she started flirting with actually-kind-of-grew-on-me-in-retrospect catfish-Adam). And in fact when Joey had the decision to make between her and Sean, he chose Sean to get rid of specifically, actively, and admittedly, because his bro Shubham would be upset if he blocked Rebecca. And like, part of that was strategic because he didn’t want to break an alliance with a betrayal (not know that at that point it barely mattered anymore) but I think a lot of it was straight up friendship too. He didn’t want to hurt someone he cared about. I felt bad for Sean and I could understand her deep betrayal, but if it had somehow weirdly worked out that it was her or Shubham, I don’t think she would have thought twice about the deeper meaning of Joey’s decision, because it would be so clearly straightforward, and this was essentially the same, just in equation form. Ultimately, she was blocked because she came onto the game way too late to form any alliance that could compete with the relationships among the OGs and that’s that. I’m sure she couldn’t see it at the time, but it’s really to her credit that she would have probably made top 5 but for that Rebecca/Shubham/Joey triangle, because Joey speaking for himself, would not have picked Rebecca over her.

Anyway, so you see Shubham directly influencing the makeup of the top 5 and, somewhat ironically given his own value system and dislike of catfsh, directly facilitating the the original catfish’s entrance into the finale, but imo he was also behind the whole general ambience of the group, the greatest influencer, pun intended, on the value system that everyone roughly adhered to throughout the show. I’m not saying that Joey, Sammie, Chris, and the rest were complete blank slates, and maybe it would have turned out the same otherwise just based on general casting. But my theory is that some people were coming in with no other thought than strategy, and Shubham was coming in with an express mission to Be Himself with as little artifice as possible, but most people were somewhere in the middle: playing as themselves, trying to be likable, trying to make good decisions for themselves as Players, but also wanting to make friends, to be nice, to be personable because people like pleasant interactions with other people, not just because Nice People Win Popularity Contests. I mean the reason being nice is a good strategy move in a popularity contest is that people don’t want to be around others who are mean!! It’s not arbitrary!

I think Chris would have been the absolute same no matter what--frankly, even more than Shubham (who did have a strategic mind himself, and not only in that he had something to prove or a thesis to test), I think he was playing as his genuine, real self, without recourse to strategy, 98% of the time. But Sammie, Joey? I don’t know. I think they, and some of the later players too, would have behaved differently if the overall mood of the game were different.

I think what happened is that Shubham being ranked eighth was the real turning point in the game. Because he was so sure that meant he was going home--that his hypothesis was just wrong at its core--so he said things honestly and sadly simply because he had nothing to lose. That triggered honest, genuine, good hearted sympathy from these, I really believe, basically good hearted people, and the ones who reached out to him then both earned his loyalty, and came to genuinely like him. Thus, a cycle: the good feelings he engendered put him at the top again and again, and his loyalty to his core people redounded to their benefit again and again. People were not ranking him high to be strategic, though. Toward the end, they actively admitted that they were ranking him too high for their own good! They were ranking him high because they honestly thought he deserved it.

There are a variety of values the group collectively could have chosen in making their rankings: pure selfishness (penalizing anyone they thought could hurt them, or sabotaging people they thought others would like--though if everyone takes this strategy, it would soon devolve to chaos); attractiveness; personal connection; personal favor. But they seemed to pick being genuine, not necessarily in a (non) catfish sense, but in an interpersonal sense. Genuine friend versus strategic player. I think that’s because being genuine was Shubham’s most cherished value, and he made this very and explicitly clear, and everyone, or nearly everyone, aligned themselves to that both because he was (/they’d made him) so popular, and because they genuinely liked him and were won over by him and agreed with him.

Not that this kid invented thinking honesty was a virtue lol. I just really felt like it was a revelation of over-thinking that he defined the whole game.

But he didn’t win lol. Of all the players, I think Joey probably did deserve the title most. I think Chris deserved the money most, though, which was my only thing.

Well, that and.. Joey is my favorite himbo and I think he was for real. But every now and then he had moments that made me almost go galaxy-brain in wondering if this was the biggest con: not just axing Miranda and Sean directly after flirting with them, or thinking Antonio was fake, but piling on with accusations against Mercedeze and Rebecca, things like that.

That said, he was one of the premiere narrating-to-my-room contestants, and that monologue, which had no strategic value, was... 100% certified himbo. So, good for him.

#the year 2021 #2021: fandom thoughts

[stillthewordgirl]

LOT fic: Time & Tide (prologue)

In 1985, a Time Master grabs young Lisa Snart for the Refuge...but there's no way she's going anywhere without her brother.

And years later, when Miranda and Jonas die and the Time Council refuses to do anything, Rip Hunter turns to his oldest friend… 

It occurred to me, while I was writing chapter 3 of "Secret Santa," that if the Time Masters took unwanted kids like young Michael the cut-purse to become future Time Masters--then in another time and place, they could have taken the Snart siblings for the same purpose.

And then the idea wouldn't go away. It demanded to be written. So, here's a prologue to what's shaping up to be another multichapter AU epic. ;) What's another WIP among friends, right?

Please note that this will have CaptainCanary in later chapters ('cause it's me). Many thanks to @larielromeniel for the beta. Can also be read here at AO3 or here at FF.net.

It was, like so many other things, Lewis' fault.

Lisa hadn't been so loud, really. She'd just forgotten herself, in excitement over some game she'd been playing with the new doll she'd gotten for Christmas (Len having scraped together enough to hit a sale at the five-and-dime) and her voice had gotten just a little shrill, as the voices of small girls are wont to do. She was only 5, after all.

Lewis, nursing a hangover and planning another doomed-to-failure heist, had snapped. He'd roared into the room, grabbing her by the arm (Len would later find bruises in the shape of his fingertips there) and dragged her to the door, where he'd shoved her out into the January cold in only her pink leggings and My Little Pony sweatshirt, nothing on her feet but slipper socks, too shocked to even scream.

Leonard, who'd been trying to study for a science test, ("Whaddaya doing that for? Not like they're going to give a dummy like you a diploma anyway," Lewis had scoffed) had just started in from the kitchen when he'd seen the scene unfold in front of him. Thinking fast, he'd grabbed both their coats from the kitchen chairs, and darted out the door after her, ducking the blow Lewis aimed his way.

The door slammed shut behind him. He'd heard the lock shoot home.

Lisa had just stared at him, her big blue eyes filling with tears even as she started to shiver. Len, refusing to think of just how bad this could get, had bundled her into her coat, cursing himself for not snatching her boots. After a moment's thought, he'd pulled off his own shoes and made her step into them, glad for once that they were really too small, lacing them up as tight as he could.

Then he'd stubbornly grabbed Lewis' work boots from the back step and pulled them on. He'd get smacked for the theft, no doubt, but time enough to worry about that when they got back inside. It was cold out, tonight, the coldest night they'd had so far, and he knew he had to get them under cover, especially Lisa.

He liked the cold, himself. He'd be OK, he decided with all the false bravado a stubborn 13-year-old boy can muster. He just had to get his sister to safety.

The garage wasn't heated and wouldn't do much good. The neighbors either ignored the Snart kids as much as possible or were the bleeding-heart sort who'd call CPS if they were given a reason. While he'd do that to get Lisa safe and warm as a last resort, Len had heard too many horror stories about foster care and was far too cynical at this point to believe otherwise. Plus, if they were returned to Lewis after that, there'd be hell to pay.

Lisa, shivering despite the coat, wouldn't make it far, but there was a convenience store at the end of the street. With any luck, the friendly young clerk would be working, the one who didn't mind two kids loitering around to keep warm and who occasionally even gave Lisa penny candy—and not the jerk who'd called the cops on Len before (he hadn't even taken anything!) or the motherly sort who seemed to think he was a danger to the little girl so tightly clutching his hand.

All they needed was some luck and some time. Eventually, Lewis would leave, or pass out, and Len could take them back home, pop the lock (at least his father had taught one thing that was useful), and tuck Lisa into bed. Lewis probably wouldn't even remember.

His luck wasn't the greatest. But that's the only idea he had, right then.

In one timeline, the store might have been closed due to a power outage. They might have died out there, all of Leonard's resourcefulness failing in the face of the deadly temperatures, falling snow, and neighborly apathy.

In another, the friendly clerk might have been working, might have turned a blind eye to the kids huddled at the store's one table, maybe even turned up the heat a little and pushed a few "damaged" bags of chips their way.

In yet another, maybe one of the other two clerks called the police. Maybe they recognized the Snart kids. Maybe one held a grudge against Lewis Snart, and decided to hang his oldest kid with his very first misdemeanor charge, a charge that would soon be compounded by one of Lewis' heists gone wrong and land the boy in juvie at the ripe old age of 14.

Just maybe.

But in this one, a nondescript man returning from a simple mission in 1985 Central City sees the small brown-haired girl wearing her brother's shoes while that same brother, standing in boots nearly up to his knees, studies the interior of the store through the iced-over windows.

There's a half-healed bruise on her cheek, and she's skinny and underfed in a way the man understands all too well, from a part of his personal history that's been nearly forgotten. He hesitates only a moment, then nods to himself, detouring toward the child, a ghostly figure appearing out of the snow to loom over her.

Lisa Snart doesn't see him until it's too late.

He snatches her expertly, one arm around her middle, the other clamped over her mouth. No need to use the knock-out device, he figures. No one will see him in this snow, and all he really has to do is get her back to the ship. Then he can double-check her role in the timeline, make sure they're in the clear.

But there's a lot he doesn't know about this little girl. And the important thing, at the moment, is this: Her brother taught her to fight dirty.

Lisa's eyes go wide, but she's only startled for a second. Then, she chomps down on the man's hand with vigor, following the bite with a determined backward kick to his kneecap. It connects and, while it doesn't hurt that much, combined with the bite it's enough for him to lose his grip.

Lisa sucks in a breath and screams.

"Lenny!" she wailed. "Lenny! Nooooo! My bruh-bruh-brother!"

The older boy's head whips around instantly, a look of horror overtaking his thin features, and stumbling in the snow, he charges toward them. The man, cursing, takes a step back…and slips as Lisa kicks at his knee again. Dipping his hand into his pocket, he pulls out a device, tries to thumb it into what he, in his own mind, calls the "dazzle" setting—one made to distract its target just long enough for a hasty escape.

Maybe it's because Lisa kicks him a third time, still shrieking although there's no one else around to hear her. Maybe it's his own subconscious as he looks into the boy's panicked face. Or maybe it's fate taking a hand.

But for whatever reason, the device slides right into the "knockout" setting.

The kid looks right into it as it flashes…and pitches face-first into the snow, lying still, snowflakes immediately starting to scatter over his dark, curly hair, burying him where he lies.

The girl tries to howl again, but the man has his hand back over her mouth again, and muttering to himself, uses the device on her next. She sags immediately in his arms, letting him catch his breath and figure out what, in the Vanishing Point's name, to do next.

If he leaves the boy in his threadbare coat and too-big boots here in the snow, the child will almost certainly die. And the man has no way to tell where he fits in the timeline, if this is the next mayor of Central City or just a petty thief. And truth be told, the way the little one had cried for her brother had touched even his weathered old heart.

There's only one logical thing to do.

He grabs the skinny teenager, too.

"The regulations provide for taking unwanted children to train up as protégé Time Masters," he says mulishly an indeterminate amount of time later. "And these two were definitely unwanted."

"One child!" The other man in the room with him whips around, anger in his eyes before he smooths his expression. "Taking siblings raises the chances that someone will notice…"

"By the time I had them back to my ship, they'd already vanished from the timeline," the man retorts. "No one cared, no one bothered to look for them…"

He's interrupted by the third man in the room, who takes an ingratiating tone. "But you have no idea what lay in store for them before that."

The first man shrugs, narrowing his eyes. He's never liked the leader of the Time Council, nor his chief lackey. This is just solidifying the matter.

"Taking one and not the other here would have caused more trouble," he says coolly. "The brother might have been blamed…"

"What do we care? This…"

"He stays."

At that definitive statement, all three Time Masters turn to stare at the tall woman who's standing nearby, facing the windows. Her eyes are fixed on the gangly teenager who's watching his small sister run across the lawn of the Refuge in the sun. The girl had bounced back from her "kidnapping" with the resilience of the young, especially since this place was warm and comfortable, and her stomach was full of good food for the first time in a while.

And her brother, after all, was there besides her.

"But…"

"Madam Xavier…"

"He stays." Mary Xavier turns on them, her eyes implacable, her demeanor cool. "This one is special. "

Druce stares at her another moment, then shakes his head. "He's too old. He'll remember too much of his former life. Won't be malleable."

"Of course, you'd have a problem with that," the first man retorts, anger entering his tone. "I…"

But Mary holds up her hand, interrupting them again. "One of the rights I have as the caretaker of the Refuge is the right of refusal, balanced by the right of acceptance," she says simply. "And I say he says."

The leader of the Time Council draws himself up to match her. "Then we can put back the girl." Druce's eyes are cold. "One at a time. That is the rule."

Mary shakes her head dismissively. "The girl stays too. They're stronger together."

"She's an attachment."

"And you know how I feel about that, Zaman Druce." Mary Xavier turns away, dismissing the leader of the Time Council as if he were still a haughty boy in the Refuge. "They stay. Both of them."

Druce blusters and Druce threatens. And in the end, Druce leaves.

So does the nondescript man. But he, for one, saunters out of the Refuge with a smirk on his face, whistling an off-key tune, snitching a cookie from the kitchen just as he had as a boy.

He pauses for just a moment before getting back in his time ship. "Good luck, kid," he mutters. "Give 'em hell."

Leonard and Lisa Snart will never see him again.

"Leonard."

The kid in question doesn't jump at his name. He'd seen the woman coming, out of the corner of his eye, and tensed just a little, prepared for whatever she was going to say or do to him. Lisa may think this place is wonderful, the answer to a small girl's prayers, but he's far more cynical, far less willing to trust.

(Even if their kidnapper had brought them here on a ship like something out of Star Wars. Len had tried very hard not to look impressed when he'd woken up.)

Mary, who'd purposefully let herself be heard and seen to avoid startling her skeptical newcomer, sighs to herself as his expression closes off. But after a moment, she smiles a little.

"Leonard," she repeats gently. "Come with me. I have someone I'd like you to meet."

The boy's eyes dart to where his sister is running after her new playmates, under the watchful eye of one of the older children. She'd cast off the chains of her past far better than he, although Mary knows from long experience that some of those issues will still be there, ready to cause problems at the most unexpected times.

"She's fine," Mary tells him. "She's safe here. I promise you that." She pauses. "Far safer than she would be at your…former home."

She nods as he sees him digest her last sentence. "Come with me."

This time, he does.

They walk slowly through the old house, the woman slowing her steps on purpose to allow the boy to look around, to see the genuine contentedness on the faces of the other children they pass. She can understand his caution, can understand it very well considering some of the backgrounds her charges come from. But the sooner he settles in, the more ready he'll be for the trials to come, and all the things he needs to learn.

Finally, after a slow circuit through the house and a trip up a flight of stairs, they enter a room that's comfortable, sunny and lined with bookshelves. She sees Leonard's eyes light up at the sight—followed by immediate caution as his gaze falls on the other boy in the room, one just about his age, who hastily puts down his book and bounds to his feet at the sight of them.

The other boy, nearly as thin as Leonard and a few inches taller, has a sharp face and a shock of brown hair. His eyes are bright and intelligent as he approaches them curiously, and Mary puts a hand on Leonard's shoulder, feeling the hesitation there. He's not someone, she thinks, that's ever had many friends. Too much the outsider, too much the pariah.

Well, perhaps that will change.

"Leonard, this is Michael, my foster son. Michael, this is Leonard—who will also be my foster son. I think…" She smiles for a moment, eyes turned inward, then shakes her head. "I think that you have a lot in common."

The boys stare at each other a moment, a shared background of caution and distrust of their peers (and adults) uniting them.

Then Michael, who's at least had the benefit of years of affection at the Refuge, sticks his hand out. And after another moment, smiles.

Leonard, after a moment's consideration, reaches out too, and shakes it.

And smiles, very tentatively, back.

#time & tide #legends of tomorrow #snart siblings #leonard snart #lisa snart #captain canary #in the future

[heavyasafeather]

Losing my head, circling the drain

What's the latest youtube channel you've discovered and binge-watched? Don't think I've discovered any lately.

What's one thing that makes your shoulders hurt?   Literally, life.

Does it snow where you live? Not in my specific part of town, but I do go to Pine Valley often, where it does [even though, I don't remember if it did this winter]

Do you think your hair looks better long or short? I prefer short, but I get hesitant about cutting it.

Do you look best with or without bangs?   I feel like it depends; the last time I had bangs, I didn't really like how it turned out, but I've had bangs in the past where I really liked how they looked.

What stereotype would you say you fit the most? I think I spent a lot of my earlier years trying to NOT fit any stereotype [at least when it came to being Filipino], that I have no idea who I am these days.

Do you enjoy editing photos on your phone? Not really.  I don't even like post-processing photos I take on my camera.

What's your favorite thing to do on your phone?   I guess listening to music.

Which season do you wish would last longer?   I think I'm fine with how they are.

Do you like the name Eliana?   Eh, it's okay.

Do you know anyone named Claire? Veronica? Cescily? Marcella? Miranda? Not like, personally.

Haw many outdoor birthday parties have you had? Like *for* me? Maybe none.

How much taller or shorter are you than your mom?   I think she has an inch on me.

Who is your favorite sibling? Only child.

Do you have neat handwriting? Not even.

Do you enjoy journaling?   Not really.  I feel stupid enough blogging, or thinking about when I'd post my daily life on xanga or myspace even--I just think I have anything really interesting to say.

What is your most recent new favorite food you've discovered? I haven't discovered any new foods recently.

Do you like sushi?   You know, most I'll really ever eat [and enjoy] are crunchy rolls.  I used to eat like philly rolls until the texture started to make me feel weird.  Though, I had sushi with an old coworker once, and she had ordered like a tuna nigiri I think--that was doable.

Have you ever tried seaweed? Hell yeah.

How often do you wash your hair?   You know, I normally do everyday.  Since being at home, it'll probably just be like every other day now.

Do you have an actual pig-shaped piggy bank?   I had one, I don't know where it is right now.  I don't think I actually used it to hold coins or anything.

Would you rather hike a mountain or dive into the sea?   Well, given that I hate hiking, and I can't swim... I'd probably want to be more on a mountain and go camping, but I don't care about hiking.

Would you rather grow wings or a tail? Wings would probably look less gross.

Which Barbie doll was your favorite? Hah... I had a few.  I can remember one in particular that had this like blue-green outfit, but I don't remember if she was called anything.  I also had a Selena doll, and Anastasia.  [I had so many, it's embarrassing thinking about it]

Do you prefer cheetah or zebra print? chevron or polka dots? paisleys or plaid? stripes or stars? Neither; I kind of like both, depending...; plaid; stripes?

Do you like your natural hair color? Yeah, sure

What is your natural hair color?   It's more of a really dark brown, but black basically.

Did you dream of becoming famous as a kid? Not necessarily.

What show did you want to be on? I wanted to be part of the audience on Whose Line.

Have you ever been to a gynecologist? Not lately, thankfully.

Do you use the Bitmoji app on your phone? NO.

Name three games that you are good at.   Yeah--I'm not.

What was your favorite board game as a kid? I really only remember playing Candyland.

If you were a Lisa Frank character, who would you be? They had names?

Do you get on facebook every day? --

What is your Instagram screenname? csmcfisticuffs.

Do you remember the very first episode of Spongebob when it first came out? I don't remember like watching it when it like aired, but I definitely remember the episode.

Did you watch the Kids Choice Awards when you were a kid?   Not really.

What was your favorite girl group when you were growing up? I don't think I had one.

Would you ever consider naming a child after a family member?   Closest I'd go is maybe my grandma(s).  Though, funny enough, I do like names of some of my aunties, but I wouldn't say I'd name my kid after them specifically.

List three names that sound similar to your name.   Samantha... Madeline, according to that one time at Starbucks. I can't think of another.

List three spelling of your name that you are glad you don't have. lol Are there any variations of Amanda?  I mean, I knew once, a friend (whose name is already uniquely spelled) had her mom write out my name as Amandaugh or something close.

What were you almost named?   If I was a boy I would have been Jonathan Roger.  My grandma wnated me to be a Vanessa.

What is your name (first and middle)? Amanda Jo.

Do you like your name?   I guess so.

What are your top three favorite girl's names? boy names? I like Emma and Grace.  Possibly Victoria. David, Robin... James? [GEORGE?!]

List 10 more girls' names you like. List 10 boys' names you like. Gosh, I don't have that many.

List 10 names you think would be good for a pet. I'd like names that don't make sense, like giving it another animal as a name.  Like Moose for a dog.  Or something dumb like carrot.  I found a site that listed "Beef Supreme" and that just might beat all.

Do you have memories that still make you cry? Oh, plenty; but I'm not about to go and think about what those are.

What is something you always wanted to do that your parents never let you? Probably pierce my ears or something or the sort.  Which is more embarrassing because I'm almost 30, and I'm afraid to fucking have my parents disown me.

Do you have any symptoms of COVID-19 right now? I don't think so.

Have you made your own mask to help prevent the spread of the virus?   I work in a medical office... we had a few spare ones.

Do you know anyone who has the virus? Allegedly.

What was the last grocery store you shopped at?   Ralph's.  Like last week.

Name three countries you would like to visit. Japan, Irelend, Austria.

What does your name mean? "Worth of love." I have no idea what Jo mean.

Are you proud to be an American? (if applicable) Currently? I don't know.

What countries have you visited? I have never been out of country.

Do you have any regrets? Yeah, sure.

Do you ever wish you had someone to hug?   I mean, I have people to hug--but with the current state of things, I don't think we can.

What color are the slippers you wore last? Blue.

Do you ever sleep on your bedroom floor?   No.  I barely have space to walk on it.

[meggannn]

more for lydia (of course): 21, 24, 45, 49

i am the worst person for taking like a day to respond to this omg

21)   Best Friend(s)?

it’s hard to categorize her best “friends” because for a while she doesn’t really consider them friends, she considers them “acquaintances she has varying degrees of closeness and unique relationships with” while not realizing that like… that is the definition of a friend? lmao (like for example, she only really let herself think of garrus and tali as ‘friends’ instead of ‘crewmembers i’m fond and protective of’ until the shore leave after the battle of the citadel. though while she was close with her me1 crew, i do think me2 is the first time she realizes she’s allowed to think of her team as friends too.

me1: kaidan and ashley at least in the beginning. by the end of the game i think she’s closer to tali as well

me2: at first, garrus and kasumi, and later when they join, tali and samara. i say this with like, knowing she has fondness for all of her crew

me3: garrus and, after renewing their relationship, ashley

24)   Do they have a love/hate relationship with any of them?

not with any of those mentioned above, though i think her relationships with miranda and jack in 2 are a little… not adversarial, but shepard is wary of them as much as she likes them. miranda for obvious reasons, and jack because she genuinely likes her after a while but being around her for so long is a bit of a drain on her energy, since she kind of reminds her of the kids from her old gangs. zaeed she definitely has a love/hate relationship with in 2, in that she appreciates his talks and advice but doesn’t appreciate his attitude and volatile unpredictability.

45)   Do they use social media?

lmfao I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS ABOUT SHEPARD ON SOCIAL MEDIA OKAY YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE ASKED ME THIS, it’s not that she’s very tech savvy (though there’s some proficiency with hacking) just growing up as a teenager on earth who stole/resold a lot of omnitools and translators and laptops, she had very few other pasttimes when cash wasn’t coming in. i think she was really into social media during ict training with other candidates, as a way of bonding and non-physical de-stressing. and she obviously knows a lot of online slang and shitty corners of the internet from her teenage days. in the alliance she goes through periods of activity followed by periods of forgetting about the internet at all, like when she’s on missions.

by me1, she’s established enough that i think she’s convinced herself a commander shouldn’t post on social media, that’s not appropriate, blah blah. so for a while she’s mostly quiet with only occasional funny but nonoffensive comments on things like pop culture or whatever. then after the battle of the citadel she gets a huuuuge influx of followers, and she’s like ??? cause she doesn’t use her space twitter much, so she kinda posts once like "hey thanks for the support, look out for my album coming out next spring” and everybody loves it, until she starts talking about the reapers publicly and preparing for war, then everybody’s like “god shut up i thought you were cool” so she gets angry when it becomes apparent that most people just want a figurehead, not her to actually say anything, but she can’t go back to making jokes and pretending things are normal, so she stops posting altogether. maybe like, once or twice more about something irrelevant, and then three weeks later she’s dead. (and then her crew like garrus and tali in particular waste so much time on the internet looking at her online profiles, rereading her last posts, hunting through years worth of her feed far back enough to see she was a different person once, both of them in mourning but garrus denying it)

and then me2 happens, and she’s obviously not thinking about social media for a while. when she does, it’s like maybe midway through the game, like maybe on illium kasumi drags her out to dinner cause she found authentic thai in the markets, and shepard’s just content enough to think “this is the kind of meal you post a picture about and share on social media” and she considers it before remembering oh yeah i was dead……. is my account even still there? how weird would it be to suddenly post out of nowhere again? i know the rumor is i was just under cover, but would it help or hurt the war to treat this like normal? and she basically overanalyzes and decides not to say anything at all. (in reality i think after she died her account was given the space equivalent of a twitter verification, like Yes This Was The Real Shepard’s Account, Tweets Might Be Recorded, which she only discovers after she logs in on a whim back on the ship). i don’t think she breaks this social media fast until she either uses it one day because she 1) completely forgets she was avoiding it, like she just wakes up randomly and types “i had the weirdest fuckin dream let me tell yall about it” because she’s still half asleep and convinces herself it’s a good idea, then goes back to sleep and wakes up to a million notifications like “i KNEW YOU WERE BACK!!” and “SOMEONE HACKED SHEPARD’S ACCOUNT THAT’S DISGRACEFUL” and she’s like oh boy. OR 2) she gets so heated over something stupid (that is definitely about human pop culture) that she completely forgets/doesnt give a rat’s ass anymore about maintaining silence online. like “I JUST HEARD SPACE BEYONCE WASN’T NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY LAST YEAR. WHAT THE FUCK?” after the collector base, she feels a little more freedom to be funny and has the time to engage and post about pop culture again, so she gains some attention back for that

by me3, coming out of alliance-imposed isolation, i think she takes back to the internet whenever she can, for better or worse, but because most of the news she swallows is so awful, she tries to be positive and reach out to people who @ her, like she doesn’t want to lie to them, but she tries to signal boost official evacuation and relocation efforts and stuff. when the alliance starts gaining allies, there’s a little bit of expectation for her to use her accounts as a political “so honored the turian hierarchy is joining us” blah blah kind of tweet, so she’s kind of like…. well people deserve to know we’ve made an accord, but i’m gonna do it my way, and she essentially starts sharing all the stuff that’s happening on the citadel that might get easily lost in translation, like

“i can confirm councilor udina was just killed by spectre williams after a standoff on the presidum, after he threatened the life of another councilor. we have confirmed that he was compromised by cerberus after his participation in a failed coup. please see the official statement for more details. the death of a high profile politician is always a shock, but to those feeling betrayed, i want every human and alien to be reminded that spectres are chosen to protect the galaxy from both foreign and internal threats. ashley williams takes her role seriously, as do i, and her actions saved lives yesterday. in light of the recent citadel attack, the alliance would also like me to encourage people to remain vigilant against cerberus cyberwarfare and contact with reaper tech. stay safe, everyone.”

just like, very honest, frank statements or clarifications that might not otherwise get out there, with an emphasis on trying to keep morale as high as reasonably possible. it’s not classified info, but she wants people to stay informed, like she wants people across the galaxy being bombarded who think they’ve been abandoned to know that she’s still fighting for them everywhere she can. even though she’s feeling really dejected and pessimistic sometimes i think she’s determined to make other people believe they can win even when she isn’t sure herself.

post-war (AHHA YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE AFTER ME3, DIDNT YOU) as soon as she can travel, she kind of shoves her way into politics via reconstruction efforts despite her unstable health because she’s terrified everything will just go back to normal and the underprivileged people in slums and terminus colonies will be ignored. i think she keeps up the informative trend of letting people know what’s going on, like explaining what this or that emergency bill that was just passed by the council means, ‘cause she’s still new to politics and honesty all this dense language would’ve definitely confused her too. eventually as things start getting more settled she feels less guilty posting about how her day’s going. and then at one point, there is definitely a collective internet freakout when shepard acknowledges/makes a joke about one of the memes about her, and she’s like “what, you guys think i never go online or something?? i was a teenager once, i know how the internet works!” (she actually doesn’t spend that much time in forums or the like, she just learned about the meme from garrus and vega.)

(and then at some point post-war garrus, who used to have a dumbass video game let’s play account that gained a ton of popularity after me1 when shepard found out about it and asked to play turian call of duty with him on it (the vid was entitled “i play turian call of duty with commander shepard (my co)” and was mostly just them horsing around and then it went viral, but he took it down after she died and then purged the whole account/his entire online presence when he went to omega. but anyway a while post-war garrus comes to her like “hey you remember that video we made” “i remember the jokes about it” “well uh, i just managed to fix this old console i found at a flea market, do you want to do it again? yknow just kill time and lift people’s spirits?” so he makes a new account and introduces her to a lot of other games, she’s good at space overwatch but then when she gets cocky he makes her play like turian dark souls or some shit, and they record and post it online for kicks too)

fuck, i still have one more question left to answer???? i spent a fucking lifetime writing up this, I TOLD YOU ASKING ME QUESTIONS ABOUT LYDIA WAS A MISTAKE

49)   Would they consider themselves as a good person, bad person, or morally grey?

mostly i dont think she lets herself think about whether she’s a “good” person because emotionally, and morally, she doesn’t feel much different than she was when she was committing crimes for a living (though she knows logically she’s grown a lot, she convinced herself back then that she was justified in doing bad things by just trying to survive, which is… not entirely too different from now). anyway she still feels like she’s trying to make up for who she used to be, like she wants to put more good into the world than the harm she once contributed to, or failing that, she can at least remove as much of the evil in the galaxy as she can. (i keep forgetting to clarify, she didn’t just do petty theft and break-ins and lookouts and illegal reselling, she was occasionally a debt collector and beat people near to the point of death with biotics, and she hated it but it was mostly out of sympathy that she insisted on going instead of another gangster because if it were anyone else she knows they might’ve dismembered or tortured the person too.)

god i still haven’t answered your question. ive been writing for a full hour, keely. the long and short of it is that i think she’s morally gray. i call her paragade for a reason. she tries really hard to be a good person to make up for who she was (who she “had” to be), so she fights to save every life she can, but against enemies that show no remorse or whatnot, some of her old habits of ruthlessness and reluctance to forgive die hard. 

ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT MY OCS IF YOU FEEL LIKE SCROLLING PAST MORE LONG PARAGRAPHS ON YOUR DASH, YO

#lydia shepard #keelificent

[daleisgreat]

Batman: Dark Knight Rises

I picked up the BluRay for today’s film, 2012’s Batman: Dark Knight Rises (trailer), shortly after it hit video way back in 2012. I have neglected it to the backlog for so long because by the time I saw it in theaters I overdid it on the caped crusader’s films and needed a break. I say this because to get hyped for director Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film I watched the four Batman films from Burton & Shumacher in the weeks leading up to Dark Knight Rises and our local theater was doing a release day special to watch all three of the Christopher Nolan Batman films in a row which a friend and I did after I got done helping him move earlier in the day. It made for a long day, and while it was an unforgettable experience, it was still spending nearly half a day in the theater and I kind of associated the Nolan films with that memory for a period of time and so I needed a break from them for a bit. Nolan was riding high after the critical and commercial success of his previous two Batman films, so expectations were through the roof for Dark Knight Rises. This picks up in the aftermath of The Dark Knight’s ending where Batman indirectly killed a rogue Harvey Dent, but him and Commissioner Gordon decided to cover-up Dent’s darker half and celebrate Dent as a fallen hero that Gotham needed to absolve its crime dilemma. It is now eight years later and both Batman and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) have disappeared from the public eye. The first act helps establish a new evil is on the rise going by Bane (Tom Hardy), who quickly accumulates power and establishes a base in Gotham’s sewers that prompts Wayne and Batman both to return to Gotham and meet his biggest foe yet.

Dark Knight Rises introduces a few other new players to Nolan’s films with the biggest standout being anti-hero master thief, Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman (Anne Hathaway). This was my first major exposure to her and she is flawless as Batman’s off-and-on ally. Officer Blake (Joseph-Gordon Levitt) is an up-and-comer for Gotham PD, and is one of the more proactive members of the force to react to the Bane threat and quickly gains trust from both Batman and Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman). Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) is trying to become a player in Gotham by establishing a future clean energy source. Upon this re-watch I was flabbergasted I completely forgot about Detective Foley (Matthew Modine) who is an incompetent cop who wants to bust Batman. It would be criminal if they were absent, but Nolan knew it would not be a Batman film from him without the returning affable Batman allies in tech-man Luscious Fox (Morgan Freeman) and his loyal butler Alfred (Michael Caine). I loved the first two acts of Dark Knight Rises. Nolan does a great job at establishing the new characters with Selina taking advantage of her stealth and cunning to keep me guessing which side she is really on and Bane gradually amassing resources and power to become a legitimate threat to Gotham. I loved how it plays off the consequences from the aftermath of The Dark Knight in a big way to set up the present-day Gotham. There is a fine balance of action and exposition sequences that constantly kept me glued in for the next big set-piece sequence. There is the nice gradual build in pacing in the first two hours when there is this sudden shift into overdrive I was never fully able to settle in with to the film’s detriment.

A nice side-effect from holding off nearly eight years to re-watch Dark Knight Rises is that I recall some negative press from critics on how Nolan’s trilogy wrapped up and I wanted to distance myself from it to go into this again with a fresh set of eyes. The chief criticism I recall was there being not a lot of fans for the voice used for Bane. The Elephant Man-esque voice has been the butt of many Internet jokes in the years since. I will admit, it does not sound all that menacing, but it grew on me throughout the film and that combined with Tom Hardy’s excellent use of body language resulted in it not coming off as a hindrance all these years later. A qualm I vaguely remembered is that even though Dark Knight Rises is two hours and forty-five minutes long, it flies by because it tries to crunch in about four hours’ worth of cinema into that timeframe. This is not knew from Nolan, and as a matter of fact he is usually pretty good at this type of filmmaking and making longer films breeze by with his brisk cinematography in mind-benders like Inception and The Prestige. However, I do not know whether if it was due to a poor script, clashes with corporate officials, budget or filming restraints, but something happened with the filmmaking here that results in many ‘straighten-your-tie’ moments. Minor-yet-pivotal points of the plot happened in a blink-of-an-eye, and there were several points where I found myself rewinding to pick up on some of these little details. This mostly breaks down in the final act where a lot happens in terms of events and time passing by. Bane pulls off a power grab at a football game in a big trailer-pleasing moment (featuring one completely unaware of his surroundings Heinz Ward) while Batman is banished to a mysterious pit. A lot of time goes by while Gotham succumbs to martial law, but the way it all plays out seems haphazard and confusing to keep up with. It felt like Nolan was told he had a half hour to forty-five minutes of cuts to make to keep the film under three hours and he chose the all-important final act to take the brunt of the cuts.

The last stretch of action also comes off clumsy and rushed. It requires a lot of suspension of disbelief where the seemingly unstoppable Bane established in the first three quarters of the film all of a sudden comes off as easy pickings for Batman and Catwoman. I get the whole ‘Batman does not kill’ edict from DC comics, but this once again leads to Nolan having to find another way for Batman to indirectly kill off a major villain for the third film in a row, but it comes off incredibly weak on-screen. Finally, there are convenient lines of dialogue thrown out for Batman somehow surviving a severe stabbing and escaping a six mile nuclear bomb blast radius…..sorry Bats, but I simply could not buy it. The BluRay has a bonus disc that has nearly three hour of bonus features on it. Far and away the marquee extra is The Batmobile. It is an hour long, in-depth look at the history of the Batmobile from its humble beginnings in the comics and early TV serials, until it started to really pop in the Adam West 60s TV show and evolved into the elaborate designs from the last several movies from Burton, Shumacher and Nolan. They interviewed designers of the cars from nearly all eras, have a great showcase of all the Batmobiles next to each other at a vintage drive-in and it wraps up with a touching tribute by bringing the Batmobile to a children’s hospital. Definitely do not skip past The Batmobile.

The rest of the extras are divided up into three areas: Ending the Knight, Gotham’s Reckoning and Reflections. Ending the Knight is comprised of about a dozen smaller features mostly highlighting an individual action sequence or set-piece moment and how the production team pulled it off. Gotham’s Reckoning is character profiles of Batman, Bane and Catwoman and is where we see the most interview time of Bale, Hardy and Hathaway. Reflections is only a couple quick features touching on the crews memories from making three films together and putting a bow on their trilogy. I am a sucker for these, and a lot of these are well made and do not come off as quasi-trailers like a lot of other shorter, thrown together behind-the-scenes pieces on other home video releases. From this two hour lot of extras I would say the half hour of character profiles and the Gameday feature detailing the football game bomb sequence stood out to me the most. A superb collection of extra features all around; I would have been bummed with the lack of a Nolan commentary, but he is featured prominently throughout these extra feature interviews so much that it more than makes up for it. I know it sounds like I bagged on a lot of the film, but it is mostly the last act of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises where things fall apart. Again, this is purely speculation on my part, but it mostly boils down to feeling like Nolan being told he had to cut a half hour out of the film and he decided to sacrifice a good chunk of the last act. The strong first two acts combine to make this a quality comic book movie and despite being a couple notches down from Nolan’s previous two Batman films, I would still rank it in the top third of comic book movies all things considered. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hercules: Reborn Hitman Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Major League Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Pulp Fiction The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

#random movie #batman #dark knight rises #dark knight #Christopher Nolan #Christian Bale #anne hathaway #Tom Hardy #Michael Caine #morgan freeman #gary oldman #Matthew Modine #marion cotillard #joseph-gordon levitt #batmobile #DC comics