sergeantwoods

[sergeantwoods]

the one game i could watch because of timezones. i cried.

sooo we play the blues tonight

we can beat them

right?

[sergeantwoods]

[sergeantwoods]

He's so pretty....

[sergeantwoods]

i've been listening to jeff marek's podcast here and there and he recently talked about a 'newer' tactic players are using to score on goalies. they're aiming for what is being dubbed "the triangle." yes, it's still considered "five-hole," but they are deliberately honing in on this specific area within the five-hole. it's apparently very, very difficult for goalies to stop.

image for reference:

during the shootout against calgary on march 12, this is exactly where petey put his shot on wolf. see video here:

and it's also where huberdeau was able to get one past lanks. see pic here:

once you know what it looks like, you'll keep noticing it. and when broadcasters say a player put it "five-hole," you'll feel smart and know that *technically* it was the triangle, not just five-hole.

[sergeantwoods]

his greedy ass

[sergeantwoods]

oh lord. i forgot tumblr existed. my my. i forgot cod existed lmao anyways i was looking back at my old writing and i found some dope ass nikprice soooo here u go

—-

he doesn’t know what drew them together.

a small; simple ripple, causing a much larger wave, cascading down on them.

he supposes that will do, for now.

—

the first time they met, there wasn’t much time for introduction.

heaving, shuddering breaths, obnoxious gunfire, too much yelling and pain to realise, oh.

oh.

and when they had the time to acknowledge each other, it was over pained laughs, reassuring words, and too cold air nipping at their cheeks. at their words.

wasn’t much of a conversation; pain overcoming senses, and out like a light switch, he was. no time for a warning.

just with a bang.

bang.

————

next time they met, it was with a stilted greeting.

they hadn’t met on their own accords, just over work, as comrades, as pilot and lieutenant.

they didn’t know each other. just from a near-death encounter that was quick enough to not share any words of.

a small mission. to work together.

to get to know each other.

and, oh.

oh.

what a lovely person, he came to realise. not riddled with guilt, or shame. just love, confidence, happiness.

he could’ve been jealous. pitiful.

but all he felt was adoration.

he never knew he could feel that during the midsts of war.

that love; a fickle thing, could blossom in the thick of war. in these trying times, that something as delicate, as beautiful as love, could form from shared laughs over small fires in the depth of the night.

seeing each other making it out missions, unscathed, and the feeling of pure joy with being around him.

he didn’t know someone could feel such happiness associated with a single person.

it made him ache.

———

he laughed over the messed up english, over the frustrated words uttered in russian.

yet, a small smile always lit up his face.

his perfect, beautiful face.

can something; someone, be so beautiful?

it’s not fair.

the way he wants to reach out, grab his wrist. just hold his hand. he doesn’t know how to explain it. watch as the golden sunlight catches his sleeping, peaceful face while he rests.

the way the gunfire around them light his brown eyes into a beautiful orange, glistening with mad happiness.

and oh.

oh.

———

he watches the man as he sits at the plastic table comfortably. a coffee in his hand, legs splayed out in front of him. eyes closed, allowing his other senses to deepen in the morning light.

here the lieutenant watches, from the other side of the table.

he wants to brush his finger across the fair skin of his face, wants to let him know how much he loves.

his heart aches in an angry longing.

he lets it ache, just for now, in this moment, as he watches the one he wants, in the dewy light of dawn.

———

all good things come to an end.

anyone like him would know that.

he can’t stop himself from sobering at the thought.

so, here he stands, on the rough tarmac. his boot cladden feet scratch against the ground. a nervous buzz thrums throughout his body.

they’re waiting to see off the chimera.

it takes a few more minutes, a heavy weight beginning to lay on his chest, making his breath stutter a few times.

when they finally arrive, he can’t see him.

he sets his jaw.

that’s ok. not everything works out.

but you never got to say goodbye.

the lieutenant watches as his captain converses with an officer.

then he sees him.

his eyes were dark.

his shoulders drooped, as if some invisible force was weighing down on his shoulders.

a wave of sympathy hits the lieutenant.

the man didn’t deserve to look so sad, so defeated.

but, he watched as the pilot slowly looks up, and meets his eyes.

relief and joy replaces the sullen look casted upon his face.

the lieutenant watched as the taller man strutted towards him, the usual confident sheen now back.

“lieutenant,” came the cheeky greeting of the man, and he felt enamored. a sense of pride filled himself, at being able to capture the pilots attention.

“nikolai.”

his reply was quieter, and what meant to sound happy and glad, came out as raw and sorrowful.

nik’s response to the tone was immediate.

his lips pursed, a shaky breath inhaled through his nose, chest quivering.

and his heart ached.

not for a reason he’d prefer.

unexpected arms wrapped around his torso, and a head dropped down on his shoulder. he startled.

“i’m going to miss you, john,” was all that nik said.

john wrapped his arms around nik in return, and sense of relief, a sense of comfort, a sense of home was all that he felt.

he was embarrassed to feel tears welling in his eyes.

because, fuck, he didn’t want to leave.

he squeezed nik, and he tricked himself to believe that the taller man might’ve squeezed back.

——

they kept in contact.

phones were too hard to use to get in touch with each other, so letters were what they used.

pieces of parchment with quickly scrawled words was the way to keep intact.

to show their love.

——

[sergeantwoods]

Okay. So.

It’s no secret that I’ve been eagerly anticipating season 2 of The Night Agent so I made the very adult decision to take a vacation day from work and binge watch the whole thing in one day. And I have some thoughts.

Obviously spoilers lay ahead so please be aware of that before you continue reading if that’s something you care about. There might also be some swearing.

It’s not often we see a Netflix show get to season 2 and more importantly, have a season 2 that either lives up to or exceeds season 1 but I think The Night Agent is one of them. Season 2 is SUCH an experience, one that I was desperately worried about before it aired, and one that I am so happy I got to participate in now that it’s done. I was worried that the show would forget the events of season 1, that Rose would play a less integral role, that the show’s bigger and better storylines would be overdone, that they would play America as the hero when dealing with plot lines regarding international relations - none of those fears came true.

Though the showrunners were in uncharted territory having no other Matthew Quirk novels to adapt, they did a fantastic job in creating a new situation that felt similarly dire and equally as convoluted as the events of season 1. And the events of the previous season are directly referenced, and Rose continued to be integral, and the bigger and better storylines were handled well, in my opinion at least.

The overarching result of the events of season 2 however, has to be… tragedy. So many different characters have their lives upended, affected, or changed and it’s all just tragic. The character of Noor, an outstanding addition to the show, risking everything to get her family into a better situation only to lose her brother, traumatize her mother, and receive a cheque from a smiling bureaucrat for her efforts. Warren’s son Ethan, having to go through the betrayal of a friend (David), meeting his estranged father, getting so much conflicting information about his dad, only to lose him and be traumatized forever. Rose, desperately wanting a normal life but unable to fully process her grief and trauma because the only person she fully trusts left her and isn’t coming back. Even Alice’s family and the way they had to deal with their broken hearts when she took the Night Action job and stopped keeping in contact with them.

And finally… Peter.

Peter, who is a good man and wants to do the right thing but keeps getting into situations where the right choice has consequences. Who desperately wanted to clear his father’s name only to learn that it was all true and then have to make the same choices to save the one person he loves. The soul crushing tragedy of the scene with Peter and the broker in the rail car as he taunts Peter with the knowledge that by making the choices he did, he will become his father and follow in his footsteps. The absolute fucking agony on Peter’s face.

And then the tragedy of Peter telling Rose to forget him, because he knows that he cannot keep her safe and she will be used against him even though she means “everything” to him. 😭😭😭😭

My poor shipper heart.

Although I, and I suspect a lot of people, would have loved to see a happier ending for Peter and Rose, I will say that this one felt true to the story they were trying to tell. I can think of other ways this could have gone to get them that ending which I will definitely be exploring in fanfic but I can see why this choice was made. That scene in the hotel broke my fucking heart. Again, the absolute agony on Peter’s face.

So… yeah. Just, tragedy all around with this season.

I do want to mention a few things that I really appreciated about the new episodes. First, that Rose continued to not be a damsel in distress but rather continuously came to Peter’s aid and helped him out, much as she did in the first season. Second, the character of Javad was INCREDIBLY acted by Keon Alexander and made for an excellent villain, even if not the ultimate one. Holy shit, watching the shifts from romantic interest to quiet, seething menace on his face and in his demeanour throughout the show were so compelling. Third, all the scenes between characters at the Iranian mission. I was really worried this storyline would feel rushed but instead we got so many sweet moments between characters such as Haleh and Noor and an insight into their relationships.

Some specific moments I loved:

- Noor wearing her friend’s headscarf to the event at the mission

- Haleh warning Noor that Javad knew she was at the UN even though it could have cost her her job

- The ambassador’s handling of how to get Javad out of the mission, such a stroke of brilliance

- Rose’s conversation with Catherine where she told her off for talking about her aunt and uncle because she didn’t know them

- Peter holding doors open for Rose even when they were trying to get away from gunmen

- Peter immediately crawling into bed with Rose when she was having a nightmare

- Basically ever scene with Peter and Rose

- the fight scenes, they felt incredibly realistic and used a lot of elements from around the scene

- Peter and Rose’s silent communication regarding shooting Markus, it was so awesome to see them in sync like that

- Rose’s speech to Tomăs regarding the chemical weapons, she was able to get through to him even without any type of training because she is awesome

- Peter’s immediate confidence in Rose when Catherine asked “who knew she could do that?” Fuck, that was an awesome moment

- Peter and Noor’s conversation on the steps of the UN where she understood why he did what he did and accepted his apology by holding out her hand. The number of times Peter did and tried to apologize to Noor for her brother because he wants to do the right thing

Despite how much I loved the new season, I do have a few lingering questions and complaints that I also wanted to write out in case anyone else is struggling with them:

- How did the broker know to contact Rose at the beginning of the season if Peter’s name and involvement in Camp David were scrubbed?

- that President Travers wasn’t in more episodes. I really, really appreciated the way she stood up for Peter in front of Catherine at the beginning and wish there could have been some follow through later on in the season

- it feels like Rose and the doctor could have maybe thought of knockout gas a little earlier? I understand why the show did what they did for the plot but it didn’t ring quite true that they would both make so many cannisters of KX without trying something to get out of there

- Soloman’s speech to Peter as he was taking him to meet the broker regarding the one agent of theirs Peter killed in Bangkok. How they all attended his funeral and he had 40-some people who loved him. Dude, YOU killed Peter’s partner!! That whole speech just felt off.

- the character of Catherine. Things improved towards the end of the season but I really didn’t like the character at the beginning and especially didn’t like the way she spoke about Peter. It isn’t his fault that they sent him in without a lot of training and it was her job to make sure he was ready

- Peter’s tattoos being gone. I understand why it makes sense that a spy cannot have very identifiable tattoos but come on. I think we can all agree that Gabe’s tattoos are incredibly hot and we should be able to see them

So, those are my thoughts. I’m sure I’ll have more once the dust settles from watching all the episodes in one day but for now, I hope you enjoy the new season as much as I did.

[sergeantwoods]

[sergeantwoods]

What if we gave Case glowy eyes and teefs?

[sergeantwoods]

i cant look at lazar the same anymore after i killed him

Four years since Cold War released

4K: https://deviantart.com/guigz1/art/Four-years-since-Cold-War-released-1121792255…

Tagging: @efingart / @efingcod , @adlerboi , @loafaethernaut , @alysaurous

[sergeantwoods]

yes

Yall have NO idea how much more space for exploration there is in the shut up soap trope

[sergeantwoods]

Trying to get pictures of Bell and Case is fucking impossible. Pls let the sillies take a picture outside of a car

[sergeantwoods]

— what happened to the other test subjects?

— don't ask.

[sergeantwoods]

Here a drawing of Bayan from Black ops 6

[sergeantwoods]

they r the worsttttt