#←main seasons covered but there is also a bit of last life

[tillydouspart]

new animatic! desert duo - me and my husband

[mickyschumacher]

[BREAKFAST IN BED!]

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: the racing season is finally over and lando is more than excited to have you all to himself. or in which lando prefers his breakfast in bed with you as the main course.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: 18+ (minor dni), breastplay, grinding(?), teasing, oral sex/eating out/cunnilingus, fingering, pure moments of fluff because bf!lando is the sweetest, discussion of lando mentally struggling at the start

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: bf!lando norris x fem!reader

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 2k+

𝐀/𝐍: i promised a post before the end of the year and it happens to coincide with a holiday of giving ;) merry christmas and happy hanukkah to those who celebrate it! and happy new year! // as usual poorly proof-read ♡︎ (sorry if it's shitty, i haven't written a full-piece in a while)

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

The season was over. Finally.

Not to be offensive or anything but you had been waiting for this moment for what, this year, felt like forever.

Yes, it was action packed–largely due to the fact that a certain RedBull wasn't winning every race. Yes, McLaren had whipped up the fastest car on the grid to shake things up. And yes, the same team had clinched their ninth World Constructor's Championship.

And while that made you absolutely over the moon, all you had wanted was for some peace and quiet on a random Wednesday morning so you could (maybe creepily) ogle your handsome boyfriend.

Was that too much to ask for?

It had been a tough season for Lando and naturally, as you promised from the very start of your friendship alone–that you would stick by his side no matter what–you had also been through the thick of it.

Convincing Lando to not look at the comments after every session or race had been difficult. You tried your best to remove any negativity that clouded his mind. Some days it worked and some days it didn't.

But that was life. And that was then.

Now you were wide awake at some odd time in the morning, laying comfortably on your stomach with your head turned towards Lando. There was about one degree of separation between the both of you, allowing you to carefully observe him.

Lando was never an early bird. If he was, it would be by some miracle or your upper arm strength pulling him from the sheets. A small smile crept onto your face. You had been friends for years now and together for even shorter. Yet you still couldn't believe that the sleepy bird next to you was yours entirely.

His dark tousled and recently cut curls, the stress lines on his forehead you were always aching to smooth out and comfort with the pad of your thumb, his "perfectly normal sized ears" that you definitely never made fun of, his lovely lashes you were jealous of, and the soft pink lips you couldn't decide whether to touch or kiss.... all yours.

Behind all the stupidity, humour, and claimed 'indifference' Lando sported on camera and with others, you always knew his heart. It was open for everyone and had more than enough love to go around. You were in love with the biggest sap you had ever known.

And on top of all of that, he made it out of that car to you... alive... every goddamn time.

You were luckier than you could ever imagine.

"How long are you going to stare at me, love?" Lando's voice queried, thick with the rasp of the morning and the events of last night.

You slightly widened your eyes, watching him open those beautiful baby blues and land on you. An flustered flush of heat wavered up your skin. You bit your lip before slipping beneath the covers, feeling the warmth envelope your skin entirely. You started with a muttered curse.

"How long have you even been awake, Lan? That's so embarrassing," you chided with a muffled tone.

Unbeknownst to you, Lando couldn't help but grin at your sudden shy demeanour. It was hard for anyone to imagine you as shy but he had seen every side of you. How enjoyable it was that even after all these years, he could tease you and see how flustered you could get. If he had met you when you were kids, this is exactly how he imagined you'd be.

He stretched out his taut arm, grabbing you by the waist. His skin swarmed with heat as he felt your bare waist under your shirt as he pulled you over him. He moved your knees so you straddled him.

He pressed his lips to prevent a full blown smile at what he was seeing.

Your hair was fully covering your face, head down and hands hovering over to hide the tinges of pink and red on your skin.

"Baby... come on, love. Show me your face," Lando encouraged, nudging your hair lightly with the side of his finger. "Come on, baby."

You groaned, lifting your head, feeling all your tresses go back. You blankly stared at your boyfriend with burning cheeks. "I hate you," you mumbled, giving him a small glare.

Lando snorted, putting his hands firmly on your waist. His fingers edged up behind the hem of your shirt, rubbing small circles into your bare skin. "You love me. Someone who hates me wouldn't stare at me so lovingly."

"I–" You tried to open your mouth to retaliate but to no avail as you quickly came to the realisation that he was indeed correct. As Lando usually was with these things.

"Fine. You got me," you sighed admittedly, "I just missed waking up next to you in the morning. Is that such a horrible crime?" You dramatically asked, tease heavy in your voice.

In any other situation, Lando would've narrowed his eyes at your teasing but all he could do was gaze softly at you. You weren't able to travel with him all the time and he wasn't able to spend every day with you. You both knew that. And while it sucked, you had both gotten used to it, cherishing when you were together.

But this year... Lando had spent every living second wishing you were next to him. He wanted you to tell him your god awful jokes. To look at him from across the room and take his entire breath, mind, whatever, away. To drop the fake smiles and rest in your arms with all the time in the world.

"No," Lando whispered, warm eyes travelling over your face, trying to find anything new to memorise. Anything he had missed since seeing you. "That isn't a crime. If it was, I'd be guilty as charged."

Your breath hitched while a small shiver trickled down your body as Lando pushed back a lock of hair behind your ear. You chewed down on your lip before breaking into a smile gently. "I love you, Lando Norris. Forever," you murmured, placing a brief kiss onto his lips.

Lando stared at you hard, far more awake than he had ever been. He lifted his head slowly, holding you close to him. And without a second thought, he brought his lips to yours.

This kiss was different from the others you had shared. Perhaps it was the atmosphere or context that accounted for that different but the need, the love, the softness and the brutal passion was poured into every fibre of your being

Your hands curled around the back of his neck, pulling him tighter while your nose glided against his as Lando only just begun ravaging your mouth. He sucked on your lips with a small nibble here and there, relishing the muffled moans passing your lips.

His own hands continued to travel the path of your body he had committed to memory. He knew as he traversed your heated back exactly where the dark freckles he had come to love were.

Your soft moans became more audible and pleasing to Lando's ears as he curled his lips to your neck, leaving the sloppily yet controlled path of possessive kisses down base of your skin. He could feel your pulse against his skin and God, he wanted to burn it into his brain and save it.

"Lando," you gasped as you felt a sudden jerk underneath you, feeding into the pooling wetness between your thighs. Your teeth sunk into your pillowy bottom lip, your hips automatically responded by grinding down onto Lando's bulge.

"Ah, fuck," Lando cursed, feeling his cock throb in his underwear. His eyes fluttered shut, hands immediately returning to your hips to continue the stimulating pleasure.

You were driving him crazy.

Both of your skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat as you felt Lando's clothed cock rut into your poorly covered pussy. You rocked your hips harder into him, feeling a slight jolt against your clit. "Oh, fuck, Lando," you moaned his name in his ear, fingers curling into his skin.

Lando opened his eyes, drawing back to capture your face. Your dazed eyes, glowing skin, panting lips, the way your hips bowed towards him... he had missed you. So. Fucking. Much.

"I want breakfast," Lando blurted with a slight gasp as the pleasure rocked through his body.

You stopped moving your hips, body shuddering from the halt. You raised a brow at the sudden desire but shrugged it off considering you were way past breakfast hours and you were only human. "Okay," you responded, about to move off of Lando to head to the kitchen.

Lando reached over, hand pulling your body back towards him, rolling your body so he hovered over you between your legs. "Where are you going?" he tutted, "Breakfast is right here."

You seemed to lose the ability to speak with Lando's hand kneading the flesh of your thighs, implying exactly what he wanted. You breathlessly watched his head move over your body. His tongue lapped at your skin, travelling to any bare patch he could find as though he wanted to feast on you. His warmth made your core tingle as you arched into his touch.

You were positively going to lose your mind.

His hands slid under your shirt, burning your skin until he could fill his palms with your breasts. "Oh baby," Lando moaned, fingers teasing your soft mounds. "I love your tits so fucking much."

A choked cry broke through your lips upon hearing his confession, fingers brushing against your hardened nipple almost painfully slowly. No matter how many times he said it, it set you alight.

"Lando," you moaned loudly, hoping he could read and hear the sound that beckoned him towards your aching core.

He paused, allowing you to take in the heavenly sight of Lando's bare chest, decorated only by the necklace you had gotten him on his birthday last year. In turn, his gaze was only focused on your core.

You tested your lung capacity, taking in a sharp inhale as he pressed his knuckles against your panties, purposely pushing harder against on the ball of your clit. You faltered at the smile sprawling on his face, your hips jolting forward and mouth unable to contain a desperate yelp.

Lando was every inch as desperate as you were, taking no time to waste. His fingers hooked onto your panties and removed them in one swift motion, leaving you bare from the waist down.

Your stomach churned at the sight of Lando nestling his head into your inner thigh, his once light blue eyes now dark and heavy with desire as he inhaled the scent of you. The moan escaping his lips made you shiver.

You were sure you were dripping. You could feel the slick trail down your pussy, glistening in a patient wait to be touched just like you were.

Your eyes fell back to Lando who groaned your name. "I promise to God, I'm going to make you cum so hard that breakfast in bed will be the only option you have," he stated so surely against your skin as his fingers slid from the seam of your entrance to your clit, bundling all your wetness onto his hand.

Oh god.

"Lando, please," you begged shamelessly, legs aching to clench together to relieve the pain of being untouched.

Your legs trembled around Lando's head, his hot breath nearing your pussy while his mouth drew closer. You watched him take you in for the last time before his lips firmly sealed over your aching clit.

The burst of pleasure cut through your body so sharply. Your cry of joy echoed in the late morning, hips bucking against his mouth.

Lando's hands travelled to the outside of your thighs, grasp tightening to keep them spread open on his shoulders. "Keep them open, baby," he ground out.

It took everything in your power to keep your legs from collapsing, particularly as he made his point with another hard to suck to your clit, but you body seemed to follow his command. His mouth returned your wet folds, tongue swirling around every crevice before coming back to the most sensitive part of you, turning you into absolute mush.

Your hands had found their way to those mop of curls you cherished so much, legs trying to conform around Lando's shoulder to welcome any better angle of pleasure.

Your gasp at the sudden dismissal of his mouth was short lived, any chance to complain gone as his fingers pushed into your slick folds, stretching your clenching muscles out.

"Fuck yourself on those pretty little fingers for me, baby. I need you ready for me," Lando encouraged breathlessly as something feral inside of him emerged.

His fingers stroked your swollen walls from the inside, ensuring you felt every inch of them along the sensitive front wall of your pussy while his tongue glazed over every puffy slick fold like you were golden honey.

Lando watched in torture as he pushed his fingers in and out of your walls, your body jerking forward at the sheer pleasure. "That's it, baby," he continued to praise you.

"Doing so well for me, hmm?" He asked, a gleam of your wetness coating his lips. Moving his free hand down your thigh, he gathered your flesh in his fingers before reaching the small bundle of nerves, thumb going in small firm circles.

You were beginning to feel numb. A cold yet hot tightness coiling within your core, waiting to be unleashed. "Lando," you gasped, struggling to keep your head up, "fuck, I–I think I'm going to cum."

"Yes, baby," Lando coaxed, fingers speeding up with every action they had entailed, "Cum for me, please. Keep your eyes open. Look at me, love."

You fought the urge to squeeze your eyes shut, forcing your eyes to travel to those familiar baby blues. All the trillion nerves in your body felt like entangled knots tied by Lando's tongue while his fingers found the sweetest spot of your pussy and held to you that pinnacle.

Your teeth sunk into your bottom lip while Lando held your gaze, tongue sliding, curving up, and pushing in and out of every crevice. Your pussy finally succumbed to the hard pressure, clenching muscles squeezing hard at the sharp pinch of pain.

The pain was explosive, searing, and all-consuming.

You cried.

You cried so loudly you were sure your neighbours would be complaining any minute now.

It didn't matter. Not when the pleasure shooting through you was disproportionately and literally blowing you out of this world as though it had been seated and waiting to be released since the dawn of time itself. Your hips bucked and stuttered while you squirmed and writhed against the bed, the fabric of your shirt sticking to your sweaty skin.

Lando's mouth had never left you through your orgasm, tongue still deep in your folds, savouring all the convulses, shudders, and clenches of your body.

Even better yet, he had watched every second of you falling apart.

And it absolutely drove him crazy.

Lando's hand rushed to catch your falling body, holding you up as a small wave of exhaustion crashed into you. You stared at Lando shiftless, still seeing the faint image of floating stars across his face.

Oh my god.

Lando had broken you with his tongue.

You watched Lando lick his fingers clean as you slowly removed your legs from his shoulders. You lifted your head, pressing a long kiss onto his lips.

Lando grinned, cradling his arms around your body as he pushed you both into the bed yet again. He pushed back your slightly greased hair, caressing your cheek gently. "You okay?"

His query made you feel soft all over. You smiled into his hands and nodded. "Perfect," you chirped, hands hanging over his neck.

"So... breakfast in bed?" Lando offered knowingly as he massaged your thighs gently. You were not walking to that kitchen.

You furrowed your brows. "What about my breakfast?"

Lando wanted to question you but as his eyes followed your gaze, the answer became as clear as the aching bulge underneath his boxers.

"Oh."

© 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐘𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑

[finelinevogue]

under wraps

summary - you and andrew are on a talk show together & you are also in a secret relationship

word count - +1k

pairing - andrew garfield x actress!reader

🍿• 🍿• 🍿• 🍿• 🍿• 🍿• 🍿• 🍿• 🍿• 🍿• 🍿

“Andrew, have you ever met Y/N?”

“I-um - yes! Briefly.”

“Where?”

Well that was a long question that would have to be answered with a lot of lies.

Going on chat shows where you and Andrew were both on at the same time were rare, but when it did happen it was very difficult to keep your relationship a kept secret.

You and Andrew had been dating for 7 months now and were doing well to keep it under wraps - which you both wanted to keep that way for as long as possible - but going on live chat shows was always a risk.

You’d both set up all your fake stories ages ago so that when you got asked questions like he’d just been asked, it would be okay.

“I believe - this is going to sound so douchey to say - but I believe it was at Paul McCartney’s birthday party last year?” Andrew looked to you for confirmation.

It was even harder to keep everything under-wraps on this chat show as you’d been placed next to each other on the chat sofa.

It was nice to be sat next to your boyfriend.

He smelt great and he was an immense comfort to you - as he is clearly a huge, global, mega-star whereas you are best-known for your role as a main character on a well-known British TV show.

It’s always a little nervy being sat next to the big names in the leagues, but Andrew always had a way of being the bridge and bringing everyone together.

“Oooh la-di-daaa!” Graham Norton - the host - teased. “Paul McCartney! You have gone up in the world.”

The audience and the rest of the celebrity guests laughed - including Florence Pugh, who was here to promote her new movie that also starred Andrew, Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, who were here to promote their new movie.

“Paul was also there.” Andrew pointed out, to which Paul nodded along.

“And Pedro?” Graham prompted.

“Oh, Paul McCartney doesn’t know who I am.” He said, which got a laugh from the audience. Once the audience had died down he spoke again, “But, Madonna however….”

After people had quietened down, Graham returned to asking questions.

“Y/N. You’ve got your new series of ‘The Lovely Life’ coming out.” Graham said.

Andrew started clapping immediately, prompting other people to start clapping with him and giving you a cheer or two.

You blushed slightly as you took note of the celebrities clapping for you, inching ever so closer to Andrew to try and hide the endearment.

“Brilliant show.” Andrew commented - as if he doesn’t tell you that every day you go to work and every other day of your life.

“Thanks.” You smile, giving him a few extra words of kindness with your eyes as you look at him lovingly.

“But it’s not really a show about lovely life, is it Y/N?” Graham asked.

“No, no it’s not.” You sighed.

“Have you seen it, Pedro?” Graham asked.

Pedro pushed his glasses up his nose a little and focuses his body to face you as he speaks, “No. I apologise, but no I haven’t.”

“That’s okay.” You smiled at him, feeling no untowards him.

Some of the audience gasp.

“Oh no.” Florence laughed.

“What? What did I just say?” Pedro looked alarmed, sending you into a giggling fit.

“You’ve just burned the hearts of the UK. Cancel culture will be coming for you.” Paul answered for his friend, patting him in the shoulder solemnly, making everyone laugh and you shake your head at how overdramatic it was.

“No, no!” You shook your head, not wanting to upset Pedro or anything even though it was all in jest.

“How dare you!” Andrew bellowed beside you, also sticking up for you and your programme as a joke.

You leaned back on the sofa, covering your face with your hands as you tried to let the couch swallow you whole.

Once everyone had calmed down again Graham returned to asking questions.

“Y/N, do you want to tell us a little bit about this new season?” He asked.

You crossed a leg over the other, making sure your flowy dress didn’t flash anyone as you did.

“I’m not sure how much I can say, but my character - Ruby - does not catch a break this season! She is back with her ex-boyfriend Jake but there’s also, maybe, potentially, someone new too. Obviously she still is in a lot of trouble from last season so we get to see a lot of that story brought over into this season too.”

“Do we find out if Ruby did kill her dad?” Florence asked, on the edge of her seat.

“To that I will say… The answer has already been revealed.”

That caused the audience and the celebrities to gasp. You giggled as you watched their faces - Andrew’s in particular because he’s constantly asking you questions like that but never gets an answer.

Andrew is super passionate about the work that you do and is constantly encouraging you to try new things and different types of acting. You wouldn’t be as confident as you were today had it not been for Andrew showing you how amazing you really are.

“I have no idea whether this show is streamed in America–.” Pedro said.

“It’s not.” Andrew cut in.

“Well then I will just have to stay in England for longer to binge your show, Y/N. I’m hooked already!”

“Thank you.” You smiled kindly.

“Now, Andrew and Florence. Your new movie is coming out in January, am I right?” Graham asked.

“Yes. January the first.” Florence answered.

“I’ve always wanted to know whether as actors you find it difficult to do intimate scenes with one another - ‘cause I imagine they’re quite intense but it’s also not someone you’ve built an intimate connection with let’s say.”

“Well Florence and I were lucky in that we really trusted one another and felt safe with each other in that space, so I don’t think either one of us felt uncomfortable, right?” Andrew answered, prompting Florence for a response.

“Yeah and I think also there’s an element of knowing in the back of your mind that this is a piece of work that we’ve committed to, and we want to do it well. We have to look convincing to do the job well, which then helps make the acting look more convincing as well.” Florence answered.

“Well you’re very good actors because from the trailer alone you look like you’re a fully committed couple.” Graham laughed, causing other people to agree.

“We’re in a platonic relationship in real life.” Andrew grabbed Florence’s hand to gesture their friendship bond.

You smiled as you watched them.

At the beginning of your relationship, it had been a little difficult to adjust to dating someone who is so high profile in comparison to you. Now, you’re feeling more and more confident within yourself and your own worth each day which makes seeing on-screen chemistry with Andrew’s co-stars easier.

Yours and Andrew’s relationship was - just like any other relationship - built on a pillar of trust and you were very fortunate that you had a lot of trust for each other because you respected each other.

“Well your chemistry is very convincing.” Graham said.

“That’s because we’re great actors.” Florence smiled - earning a cheer from the audience.

No amount of Graham’s meddling would cause Andrew’s gaze to shift from yours.

Once people had settled back down you noticed Andrew’s hand sitting on the chair next to his thigh.

You convincingly, pretend to tuck a hand under your own thigh, pretending like it was a comfort thing, and ever so slightly reached out your pinky finger to touch Andrew’s.

He clearly was on the same wavelength as you because you felt his pinky finger stretching too.

The comfort alone when your pinky fingers grazed each other was warm and lovely. You tried your best to not let your reaction visibly show, but it was hard not to slightly smile or blush when Andrew made you feel so much. So so much.

[sleepyeepyp3rson]

wwe/pro fighters!141 x announcer!reader

John Price, former two-time Wold Champion, the Bear of the Ring, back from retirement. Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, a newcomer, moving on up to the big leagues. The Golden Boy of London. John "Soap" MacTavish, the Street Fight Champion, the half of the most menacing duo in WWE history. And "Ghost," the Shadow of the Ring, who won last seasons duo Championship with Soap.

an: i JUST got into wwe, so sorry for any inaccuracies! correct me, it's always fun to learn more :3 also also! my first full fic 😭😭 got SO SCARED posting this so sorry if it low key sucks, if it doesn't, i have plans for a second one + shoutout to my awsome beta reader (my best friend)

(masterlist, 2)

Recently, one of the announcers retired after a long career, and WWE scrambled to find a suitable replacement that wouldn't cause an uproar in the dedicated fanbase.

They chose you. A person with an impressive resume and a quick wit, willing to be accidentally trampled if need be. And the best part for the company? The fans love you, some even making compilations and edits of you. Of the few moments you get shown on camera at least. (The wrestlers are the main event.) And the wrestlers seem to like you just fine. Better than the refs and each other, at least. The 141 seem to like you the most, though.

Price, just coming back from a short retirement, was the first match you narrated. You loved him growing up, the finishing moves, the walkout song (Thunderstruck AC/DC,) everything. He put the attitude in the Attitude Era, the main event, the headliner. Then he retired.

You cried during his final show. Being one of the live announcers for his comeback now is huge for you.

He walked out on the ring, fought like hell, and at one point he slung his opponent over the net and the guy crashed into your table. Admittedly it was a little frightening, but seeing John Price drag the guy kicking and screaming back into the ring by his hair was enough of a reward. And the gruff "Sorry, dove," he said to you certainly didn't make anything worse.

But you thought that was it for the nicknames.

Until Gaz. Every match he has, whenever he has the mic, he's referencing you at least once, with an added "Love" or "Sunshine" to it. That alone gave you a thousand more followers on your Instagram, but the post he made on Twitter? At least ten thousand. And it wasn't anything major, but being the "Golden Boy" comes with certain privileges, and he uses them well. You start researching him after that, and he hasn't done that for any other announcer.

Soap and Ghost’s first team-up of the season has them against the men they stole the Duo Champions titles from. Graves and Makarov. Match made in Hell, the two of them. They can't stand each other, but they hate the 141 boys enough to justify a team-up.

During the match, Soap broke Makarov's arm. Maybe he just forgot it wasn't his usual rules, or maybe it was the reference he made to you during the pre-fight trash-talk session. Either way, Ghost had his back, as always, and covered for him by throwing the rest of the match as the script told them to. Either way, they were disqualified.

And you? You're having the time of your life. The fights are right up by your face, the adrenaline rush right there, and this time you actually get to chase it.

Maybe you're egging them on a bit. Grinning like mad during Price's first match, responding to Gaz's tweet and comments with nothing short of glowing praise, giving colorful commentary during Soap and Ghost’s fight. But who can blame you, really? For liking your job, for entertaining people.

Maybe that's why this match, the grand match between Task Force 141 and The Shadows is packed. You entertain people just as much as the wrestlers.

The lights flash, Thunderstruck plays, the 141 boys walk out. Then here comes Graves for a rematch against the ones who broke his arm, complete with his entourage behind him. Surprisingly the whole broken arm thing fits the storyline well, after some panicking from the writers and producers.

"Your boy broke my arm." Graves starts, grin sharp, canines poking out. Grinning despite the red-hot pain in his arm.

"We do what we have to. Keep your mouth shut next time, aye?" It's a measured response from Price, but the headbutt Soap does as soon as the sentence settles is definitely not.

"Grab your popcorn people, the world's Street Fight Champion Soap is jumping right into the fight!" And there's your voice, over the speakers. Sounding thrilled.

The fans both cheer and jeer and Ghost’s chant is started up, a steady thump, thump, of boots on the floor of the stadium.

The fight starts without much else, men thrown and chairs cracked over heads. With the disadvantage Graves has, it's clear who will win, but the play-by-play is still fun to give.

"Oh! And Graves has got Soap on the ropes, can he break his hold- and Ghost runs up behind him, always on his six, yanking Graves away! This is the Champion duo ladies and gentlemen."

And maybe it's distracting the boys a little. Maybe Johnny puffs up a little when you point out his title, maybe Ghost looks over at the booth for a little too long. Just maybe. And just maybe that gives the Shadows an opening for a takedown move or two. And just maybe, the 141 loses twice in a row.

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

I've had this thought swirling in the back of my head for a while, but it's finally congealed enough that I think I can make a coherent pitch, which is: I think RWBY's problems with the more vitriolic part of its fanbase partially stems from the fact that RWBY is a deconstruction that doesn't advertise it's a deconstruction.

RWBY's status as a deconstruction is pretty textbook. It takes apart standard fantasy, shounen, and anime tropes in order to analyze them and their deeper meaning and then reassembles them in new and interesting ways for the plot/characters/series. Thing is, it never says that outright in promotional material, which can lead to later outrage in fans.

See, unless their way of discovering new shows is to close their eyes and stab their finger at random, most people tend to choose series to watch/read based on expectations. Maybe a friend said they'll like it because it has [insert thing], maybe they read the summary and were intrigued, maybe they thought the poster/cover art was cool, whatever. These small pieces of information are generally enough for people to make a snap-judgment of the style and genre of the series, which they can then gauge against their personal tastes and decide whether or not they want to try.

Most of the time, this works just fine. Well-written deconstructions also generally give the viewers some warning/buildup before they take a hard swerve. See Madoka Magica: the magical girl paradigm is shaded by the possibility of death as soon as we're introduced to it, then there's an onscreen death with blood, and then a few episodes later we eventually realize the Faustian bargain of it all. Even innocent viewers who stumbled into watching it, unaware of the show's reputation, would go "Oh, wait, this is not going in the direction magical girl shows usually go" by a third of the way through.

The thing is, with RWBY, this does not happen unless you're paying a lot of attention and/or looking for it. And neither the cover art nor the summary nor, I believe, the fanbase gives a lot of warning about the swerves ahead.

In fact, RWBY initially bills itself as a pretty standard shounen anime. The main protagonist is hinted to have Special Powers and gets into the Magic Monster-Hunting School in the first episode, and the first two-and-a-half seasons are taken up by her and her friends' superhero-esque slice-of-life shenanigans as they thwart robberies and terrorist attacks and gear up for a tournament arc against the looming background of a larger conspiracy.

Then in the last half of the third season the villains' entire Rube Goldberg machine of a scheme snaps into completion and the plot twists so hard the entire genre takes a hard right. If you're used to character analysis and common anime tropes, this is not completely a surprise -up until this point, RWBY's character arcs and plot have been subtly traveling in non-traditional directions that hint of greater flexibility in genre treatment ahead- but if you're not... well.

Thing is, people watching RWBY up until this point have signed up for pretty standard shounen and they've been getting it, but the third season's ending smashes that all to bits. From then on out in RWBY, it's like they ordered fries and suddenly got a hamburger. It might be delicious; but it's not what they asked for, what they wanted, or what they paid for, and they are, justifiably, displeased.

So when the reasonable people either adjusted their expectations or sighed, shook their heads, and clicked back out (perhaps with a grumble and a scowl), the unreasonable people dug their heels in and began insisting that everybody was Getting The Show/Character Wrong and that CRWBY is ruining it, because the fact that RWBY's method of deconstruction is to put standard tropes in a blender and then arrange what's left in deceptive patterns means that said unreasonable viewers can scan the bare surface and argue that all the stereotypical stuff is clearly still under there, somewhere.

So they're continually trying to drag RWBY back to the tracks of a typical shounen anime series (it's closest relative), which creates a dissonance between the show they're watching and the show they think they're watching. They're trying to turn the hamburger back into fries, basically, except that doesn't work and just frustrates everyone involved, because you're trying to make RWBY into something that it's not. Hence, this attitude probably starting/fueling some of the more contentious statements in the fandom, i.e.:

"Ironwood was right the whole time" (in most action movies and shounen anime, allied military leaders are trustworthy beyond reproach)

"Adam's character was wasted" (we all know how much shounen loves their powerful warrior antiheroes)

"Ruby and the others are in the wrong about [insert thing]/or for doing [insert thing], and this is bad writing!" (shounen protagonists don't usually make more than One Very Big Mistake over the course of their entire careers, which is usually fixed/overcome/redeemed via an appropriately rigorous training arc)

And to be clear, there's nothing wrong with shounen tropes or shounen anime. They're wonderful storytelling devices in their own way and their own time: but if you want standard by-the-book shounen without any new and interesting concoctions, then RWBY is definitely not the show for you. And most people don't find that out until it's too late.

[totallyboatless]

The main thing sitting in my gut that hurts from these episodes isn't that Ed and Stede "break up" (they're obviously going to be fine). It's that Ed and Stede don't get the soft, touchy, post-first-time honeymoon vibes. They do a bit with Ed bringing Stede breakfast in bed and going on a date, but there's distance between them, literal and metaphorical. There are episodes in early season one where they touch more than they touched in episode 7.

And when I first watched it last night I was worried it was just a pacing issue, but now I'm settling more into the thought that it's very purposeful staging to give us the sense something is off from the start. There's still so much space between them to cross. Finally sleeping together didn't fix it.

Because this isn't how this scene was supposed to happen. They were supposed to be able to take it slow and have a beautiful, tender first time. And then yet another person appears to make them feel, once again, that they can't be safe. They don't have time. It's now or never.

We're back to rushing and whims. How can you not, after you just saw the love of your life tortured? When you were tortured? (Also the killing someone thing but Stede is unhinged, I don't think that's what got to him lol). And to be clear I mean this for both of them, Ed also gave back into feelings of needing to rush. He regretted it, understandably, but he also fell into that trap.

I hope we get a scene at some point (probably not this season bc oooof 30 minutes left?? That's it??? There's too much to cover???) where they get to take their time with each other, to wake up slow with no literal or metaphorical space between them. To spend a morning holding hands and feeling like they have all the time in the world.

[butterflydm]

Wheel of Time 3x02 Deep Dive (show spoilers)

Time for our Elayne episode! I didn't know going into it that it would be an Elayne episode, though I did suspect we would get more of an emphasis on her because we were introducing her family, but we got even more than I was hoping for. My dearest darling light of my life! <3

Spoilers through 3x03. This also has spoilers for the promo posters (if that counts as a spoiler). I am going to try to get out the posts for 3x03 sometime before the new episode comes out, but no promises.

I'm not going to try to unknow the big 3x03 reveal, lol. Gaebril is Rahvin and Rahvin is Gaebril.

This flashback is everything that I was hoping for! We heard that there was limited shooting in a castle made up with Andoran banners and that the actresses for Morgase and Elaida were spotted there, so I suspected something like this was coming, but the content of it was so good and contained some very interesting surprises (that I will mostly talk about in the other post haha).

The main focus of this scene as we're starting out is Elayne -- we meet Morgase cradling her stomach, and she's pregnant with Elayne (confirmed when she mentions being pregnant with a daughter). We can see the long red-gold hair and her empty great serpent ring, which tells us that Morgase left the Tower without becoming full Aes Sedai. The last time we met someone like this, it was Lady Amalisa back in the first season, Lord Angelmar's sister.

It is VERY interesting to me that Morgase is so certain that she's pregnant with a daughter. Did Elaida tell her that? We do learn in 3x03 that Elaida is a Seer, though we don't learn the details in the show, I don't think (though I haven't rewatched 3x03 yet, so maybe we learn more than I'm recalling right now!)

It is very interesting to compare Morgase's more pared-down look as a brand-new Queen to what she wears when she's been settled into power for a couple of decades. But also, we do see here that Andoran fashion is pretty modest. The one granddaughter is scandalously baring her shoulders and arms, but everyone else is pretty covered up.

"I told you this day would come, your Majesty." And we meet Elaida, who can tell the future in some capacity. Standing by Morgase, perhaps an equal part of this victory, having helped Morgase come to victory against her rival claimants to the throne.

We meet Morgase's sons - one old enough to run to her and say "Mama" and the other still needing to be held by his nursemaid. They did a good job showing us this part of Morgase first, before we get to the part of her that was ruthless enough to win a crown. We see that she loves her children, we see her happiness with them. Taking a moment to kiss both Galad and Gawyn on the forehead before she turns to settle onto the throne.

And we see the three rival claimants -- an older woman with gray in her hair and her granddaughter, perhaps. A young girl. And a woman around Morgase's own age or a bit younger, who is still wearing a breastplate.

I still really love the detail that the Lions are lionesses. It makes so much sense and it's so great!

Red and white and gold are the predominant colors that we see on display here -- and it looks like they may (stressing 'may') be Morgase's own colors in the show, as we see that the houses each seem to have their own colors -- yellow and black, red and black, and green and silver. Maybe the gold is always there -- the throne is gold -- but the red and white is House Trakand? It's not quite like that in the books, from what I recall, but it does feel pretty striking here. otoh, the checkerboard tiling of the floor is red and white, so that may just be Andor's colors, like I believe is true in the books.

I'm going to ignore what I may or may not remember about the colors in the books and focus on the show. Red is a hugely prominent color here, and we learn that Elaida Sedai is of the Red Ajah.

Despite this, Elayne does not seem to show any particular sympathies towards the Red Ajah perspective. It's interesting to me that we didn't get any real interaction between Elayne and Elaida in this episode (I wonder if she was planning to talk to Elayne at some point, but then lost her chance when Nynaeve & Elayne snuck out in 3x03). Instead Elaida's attention was firmly focused on Siuan and Morgase.

I wonder if Siuan's frequent visits to Caemlyn, per what we hear in the show, plus Elayne being allowed to spend summers at the White Tower, were ways Siuan was trying to use to make sure that Elaida wouldn't have too tight a hold onto the Andoran Daughter-Heir? Make sure that Elayne was exposed to Ajahs outside of the Red Ajah?

If that was her plan, it appears to have worked. Elayne has no evident lean towards the Red Ajah at all and, in fact, showed a remarkable willingness to help and support a male channeler (yes, he's the Dragon Reborn, but that doesn't seem to matter too much to a lot of the Red Sisters).

"But that war is over now, because I won it."

Morgase feeling the need to emotionally twist the knife here, when she's planning to kill them off anyway in just a couple of minutes, is a fascinating look into who she is a person. I mentioned this on a gifset that I reblogged of this moment, but I adore this bit of characterization so much. In the books, we just kinda get a vague "oh you know, regrettable things were done in the last Succession War" but no details. But this is a woman who chose to wade into a field of blood either because she wanted to be queen that badly or because she believed she deserved it that badly. Of course her hands are drenched in blood, and I am very glad that the show did not flinch away from that.

Elayne, who was sheltered and protected and indulged as the precious only heir to the throne, has never experienced the things that Morgase experienced, never made the choices that Morgase has made. And Morgase has likely actively shielded her from some of those choices, or framed them in the best light possible. This is her darling heir who must be protected above all else.

And we really needed this moment to give real teeth to Morgase's threat at the end of the episode. We need to know that she's not afraid to get her hands bloody for the sake of her legacy in order for us to believe that Siuan is in genuine danger as soon as Elayne disappears from the White Tower at the end of 3x03. This is not a woman who will be happy to hear that the Amyrlin has managed to lose her daughter a second time.

The three houses that swear to Morgase here (and lose the Heads of their Houses) are House Baryn, House Anshar, and House Caeren.

And the big significant thing here is that it isn't House Trakand soldiers who kill the Heads of the Houses -- it's the male members of their own House (Lady Baryn says, "Brother?" in horror when she realizes what's happening). Morgase went to them before this, told them the plan, got them to agree, and got them not to snitch. The member of House Caeren who stabs his grandmother (maybe) even tries to help her when she goes to kneel in fealty. Moments before he kills her.

And the boys' nursemaid (I know her name but I don't think it shows up on screen anywhere lol) covers their eyes before the murdering happens.

Not a single one of Morgase's people flinch at this. They were prepared.

(the look of relief on Grandma Caeren's face turning to horrified realization once Morgase says 'but' here is perfect and heartbreaking.)

It's after her rivals are permanently taken out of the picture that Morgase is crowned by her Aes Sedai adviser, who also clearly was anticipating what just happened and even dismissively is like, well, let's get on with this now that we're done with that bit of business.

What a great opening.

And going from that to our darling Elayne, giving us more context on her past, and also shining a light of contrast on the advice she gave Rand (peaceful transfer of power is always preferable to destruction) vs what her mother did when she took power.

Elayne does a little bit of spying here! She spots Verin and Leane arguing. Verin is arguing that they need to trust some more people while Leane focuses on how many Black Ajah Sisters were revealed, and doesn't want to trust another person outside their small circle.

Then the trumpets play, and we learn that Queen Morgase has arrived at the White Tower.

The amount of ceremony that Morgase insists on! I mean, you can understand why Siuan also feels the need to push back against that and make her wait a bit for her entrance. It's all about the public power play.

Littering the floor with flower petals that the novices will need to sweep up later, and they are all decked out in their fanciest. This is Queen Morgase looking to make sure that the weight of her throne is being felt by everyone watching.

The order of precedence is, of course, paramount in cases of royalty. They go from least to most importance (in terms of the throne), and so we have:

Lord Galad of House Trakand

Lord Gawyn of House Trakand, First Prince of the Sword

Lord... (please hold while the Compulsion is buffering) Gaebril, Prince-consort of the Queen

(said by Leane with seething hatred) Elaida Sedai of the Red Ajah, advisor to the Queen

By the Grace of the Light, Queen of Andor, Defender of the Realm, Protector of the People, High Seat of House Trakand, Queen Morgase

The full history of the family is not given to us, but it is implied that the younger brother is the one who is the First Prince of the Sword, which is interesting to note, because the older brother does not appear to have a fancy title.

Rahvin making Siuan simper like that for him is genuinely so awful to watch when you know what's happening. I do love his robe though. That's amazing. This Rahvin is so much more insidiously awful than the Rahvin in the books, who was just more straight-forward as an abuser. Much like Lanfear, depth and nuance was brought to him, both in the writing and in the performance (which is excellent).

When Elaida enters, she notices the repair work done on one of the columns -- so enough time has passed that they've been able to fix up the Hall to look... mostly good as new. And they do have the One Power to help them.

"And what time of day are they kidnapped?"

Literally, I laughed out loud. Morgase is genuinely funny in how biting she can be. I enjoy her a lot.

After Morgase and Siuan posture at each other, we get the confirmation here that the Andoran royal family has their own official quarters in the Tower (so that's where Elayne was staying when she was here before). It's a pretty tense confrontation, where both Siuan dresses down a sitting queen and, while Morgase backs down slightly, she then also goes on the attack, pointing out that Siuan may be called 'Mother' as her title but she is not actually a mother and does not understand Morgase's feelings about her daughter.

I love the music in the "Rand & co travel to the Waste" scenes so much. I'm pretty sure it's Rand's theme, yeah? Gorgeous music.

lol Aviendha cracks me up too. Between Morgase and Aviendha, we have had so much hilarious judgement happening on the screen this episode. Everyone looks very cute in their traveling gear. Rand looks particularly hot, very nice fit on him.

This is such an awkward roadtrip, bless.

You have Egwene and Rand, who have Not Talked about their relationship status and who maybe had sex on that last night in the Inn before a mirror manifestation of Rand attempted to strangle Egwene, but maybe not, but definitely haven't been having sex while cuddling on the side of the road within earshot of three other people. You have Moiraine and Lan, who are having a private disagreement on exactly how ruthless is too ruthless, and who think that Rand should be going somewhere completely different than the place he's currently going. And you have Aviendha, the only Aiel here, saddled with three wetlanders and a man who should act Aiel but acts like a wetlander instead.

Perrin's roadtrip home is much less awkward, bless.

I love the effects for when the Waygate is being opened by Ogier key instead of channeling. It's beautiful!

We get a reminder of Perrin's tracking abilities, we get a little bit of lore on the Longing (Ogier die if they're away from home too long), we get given a reason to be suspicious of Alanna and Maksim later on (Loial says only Darkfriends go through the Ways without an Ogier, which is a call back to Liandrin kidnapping the girls in s2). Short scene that accomplished quite a bit and has gorgeous scenery to boot!

Next comes Elayne's reunion with her brothers! And her... 'reunion' with Gaebril. The pause with Elayne is even longer than the ones with Siuan & Leane, likely because Elayne needs more layers of Compulsion woven in, since Gaebril is supposed to be part of her household. And we see Rahvin echoing what Elayne would want out of a stepfather -- he's indulgent with her but honest; he shares her annoyance over Galad's stuffiness. Show!Rahvin is really very much that "what women actually want" meme, which makes him even scarier than he is in the books.

We see that Elayne has a close and teasing relationship with Gawyn and a stiffer and more formal relationship with Galad, who is also the one who is clearly designated as Mommy's Rule Enforcer. Though Elayne is clearly much closer to Gawyn, she's more mildly annoyed and stifled by Galad than anything else, I think. But I do suspect that Galad and his rule enforcing has definitely shaped a lot of the way that Elayne lets loose when she doesn't have a Rule Enforcer around.

"Morgase, let all of her ducklings out of her sight at once?"

Obviously, this is Rahvin talking, but the decision that Morgase made (to not let Galad and Gawyn join Elayne in Tar Valon) predates his intrusion into Morgase's life, so that was all her choice and I think this reasoning probably does apply - Morgase was nervous about all of her kids being away from her at the same time, so chose to keep home the ones that didn't absolutely need to leave.

"You know nothing of the world. It makes you vulnerable."

While Galad delivers this... poorly (he and Moiraine went to the same school of not being able to read the room), the actual content of what he's saying -- that Morgase's overprotectiveness might done more harm than good has theoretical merit. Theoretical. Of course, we've actually seen Elayne facing adversity and seen that she was able to handle it quite well. Galad sees what he wants to see when he looks at Elayne, I think, and not actually Elayne (oh, hey, it's like we're talking about Rand's character themes all over again!).

He wants a little sister to protect -- he actually tries to do that over and over in these two episodes. He tries to do it to Nynaeve and Min, neither of whom need it any more than Elayne needs it. Elayne grew up when Galad wasn't paying attention and he hasn't adjusted. I'm pretty sure when he looks at her, he's seeing preteen Elayne with dirt on her knees from climbing the garden walls without permission.

And Galad's personality is so overpowering that Gawyn kinda drifts along with him, making jokes and being the Fun Brother for Elayne.

Ryma! I was so glad that the subtitles told me her name because if you change someone's hairstyle I will not recognize them (see: my bafflement over Elayne-notElayne in the teaser trailer, who was definitely actually Elayne but with a different hairstyle and eyeliner).

I really like that Ryma is the person who is leading this effort to help Mat, and we can see Nynaeve still looking at her at a mentor figure, one less complicated and dangerous than Liandrin. Ryma wasn't captive for too long before the Seanchan were driven off, I don't think (I think it might have only been a day or so) but we can see from how she talks about mental injuries lingering that she is still taking time to emotionally heal herself, without Basan.

"Healing him? I won't lie, Wisdom. I fear we may as well be trying to bring him back from the dead."

Basically a fancy way of saying that she believes that it's impossible. She doesn't think whatever's happening with Mat is something that can be healed.

"The alliance between Andor and the White Tower is the axis upon which which peace in the Westlands exists."

*stares off into the distance*

Ah, yeah. Not gonna be great when Elayne goes missing again after 3x03. That's gonna be real bad. Especially since Siuan promises Morgase here that Elayne is safer in the White Tower than anywhere else in the world.

The question is also brought up in this scene how much of the posturing between Morgase and Siuan is real and how much was done for the public eye -- Siuan mentioning that they both know how they need to behave in public. This is where some of Siuan's posturing about Liandrin sits too, where she was explaining things for the Sitters in the Hall - Siuan herself isn't actually shocked that Liandrin *would dare* but she is emphasizing that point to her audience of Sitters and (presumably, if four Sitters hadn't revealed themselves as Black Ajah) likely planning to roll that into her big pitch about how they need to change their way of handling the Dragon to be less about "control" and more about "partnership", thus mending the gap between herself and Moiraine's handling of Rand. But there were many more Black Ajah Sitters than Siuan had ever dreamed possible.

This scene between Elayne and Morgase is so good. How Elayne does revert to being a bit younger in her mom's presence, the way that we see Morgase relax in a way that we haven't seen before now, because this is her precious baby girl, and how much of a lead she's willing to give Elayne before she does pull back on it. The little moment when Elayne says "Mum" instead of "Mother" when she can tell that she's hurt Morgase's feelings, and how Morgase overpowers the conversation after that and simply Tells Elayne How It Will Be and reminds her of Where Her Duty Lies (and this is something that Elayne very much feels the weight of, as she touched on this subject with both Aviendha and Rand in 3x01, though that was regarding Rand's duties and not her own).

"I want to stay, Mother. I want to be an Aes Sedai." "Oh, love. I wish I could give you all the things you want."

Elayne sounds so much younger here, especially when you compare it to how she was talking to Rand during 3x01. She can see the future that she pictured for herself disappearing without a trace as she's pushed back inside Caemlyn's safe and suffocating walls.

Snapshot: Rand and Egwene, still not talking to each other about their relationship.

Egwene is thinking about her Accepted Test, almost certainly, as she touches her Accepted ring and watches Rand and Lan spar. In this scene, we see both Moiraine trying to get Egwene to confide in her, and Lan trying to get Rand to confide in him. They both fail.

It does remind me of how Moiraine was able to reach out in Egwene in 1x02 but none of the boys (especially not Rand). She sees something in Egwene, some reminder of perhaps herself. Maybe Siuan. She sees the determination and the drive. And she tries to get Egwene to see that the two of them are aligned but Egwene isn't reaching back out to her.

Lan trying to get Rand to talk about his feelings is very lovely to see and even though it didn't work, we do hear later from Rand that he appreciates Lan's willingness to listen to him.

Now the specific thing that Moiraine brings up here is what Siuan brought up in 3x01 and that Egwene's Test brought up -- that Rand might go mad and hurt her. The idea of Rand going mad and hurting the people he loves is a reoccurring theme. It's the whole reason that he asked Moiraine to lie to his friends and pretend to them that he was dead. It was the fear haunting his steps every day in Cairhien. And now it's the fear haunting Egwene too. And she doesn't feel like she can share this fear with anyone -- she can't share it with Rand, because she doesn't want him to feel like she's afraid of him. And she doesn't trust Moiraine enough to share it with her, because she's worried anything she tells Moiraine might get used as a weapon against Rand. Much like Rand has placed the idea of trust within people from the Two Rivers, so has Egwene, I think.

It seems very lonely to me.

I really like the prophecy discussion that we get here, where Aviendha tells us a little bit more about how Aiel prophecies about the Car'a'carn are more nuanced than wetlander prophecies about the Dragon Reborn. And Moiraine is definitely interested to find out more about these prophecies, since she is being swept along by Rand regardless and she wants to have something solid underneath her feet.

It is funny to hear Aviendha calling wetlander prophecies "clean" after Rand spent multiple scenes in 3x01 complaining about how unclear they were and how many contradictions they seemed to have.

The landscape is so gorgeous. I'm glad they get to shoot on location. And the place where the Two Rivers is set is just beautiful.

Perrin has finally come home, only to find that home changed while he was gone. He's not the only one who changed.

Whitecloaks have come to the Two Rivers.

Hmm, so no sign of Fain yet in the Two Rivers in either 3x02 or 3x03, but he was definitely done up in Whitecloak gear in the group enemies poster, so that's interesting.

We also haven't seen or heard anything about the dagger yet this season. Both Fain and the dagger are MIA.

Are they MIA in the same place?

We get another little confirmation here that the EF5 have been writing back regularly to the Two Rivers (Perrin was also doing this last season when he was on the road hunting the Horn) -- or at least Egwene and Perrin have.

Morgase talking to Elaida for the local gossip among the other Reds, but just as Elayne wouldn't tell Morgase any details about the recent attack, none of the Reds have been talking to Elaida. Of course, it was 'Sealed to the Hall' and it sounds like Siuan has been trying to make sure it stays that way. Cleaning things up as quickly as possible and issuing orders that this is "internal Tower business" and that no one is to talk about it. Siuan is in damage-control mode and I wish I could say that I think it'll get better but I also know that the Daughter-Heir of Andor is going to disappear from under her nose a second time at the end of 3x03 so...

"There is a real fear among the Sitters, which is uncommon."

Oof, yeah. Several of them recently died and they can't talk about why or what happened. The stress levels must be through the roof. There's word that there was "a Darkfriend" in the Tower, but not that there were at least five that the Sitters would know about, and not who it was.

Siuan, Leane, and Verin trying to figure out how to keep doing damage control with Elaida around, with Siuan banking on the fact that she's Morgase's advisor and will be leaving with Morgase. Leane is the one cautioning that they shouldn't be trusting more people and, this time, it seems like she's talking about Min, who Verin and Siuan are trusting to give them information about people via her viewings. It sounds like it was Verin who found her in Cairhien and brought her back to the Tower?

I am really glad that the show went with Min pretending to be a servant instead of the route that the books take in this plotline. Yeah, we learn that Verin has been having Min pose as a servant to try to get an idea of what might happen in the future.

"I've been seeing dead Aes Sedai. Dead Warders, here, at the Tower."

Min guesses that some kind of battle must happen here in the future (because her viewings are always about the future). At least nine dead Aes Sedai, she tells Siuan, Leane, and Verin here. We don't see her having any viewings of these three specifically -- the show has been more sparing with her viewings than the books generally were, which I think is a good choice.

Overturned bottles on the floor in Mat's room. He's still drinking a lot -- trying to drink and flirt his problems away. Today, he is flirting with a novice of the White Tower named Clara. We get another hint that Mat is down with group sex that includes men, when he's still game about being with Clara once he thinks there are potentially "andoran princes" about to be involved in the days' events, but of course it's only Clara's friend inviting her to go ogle Galad & Gawyn with her.

I do think is this partly the show's more sexually unrepressed vibe, but this is the third time Mat's implied he's down to be with multiple partners at a time -- there's the "if you think she's up for it" in s1 when he temporarily thinks (or pretends to think) that Rand is talking about them both having sex with Dana; there's him trying to flirt heavily with Bain & Chaid (being aware that they probably come as a set); and then there's his "the more the merrier" vibe here when he thinks that Clara has invited friends.

So knowing that Elayne has been summering here, and the novices excitedly announcing that ~the Andoran princes are here~, I don't think this the first time that Gawyn & Galad have put on a show for the ladies in the Tower (would not be surprised if they both had their sexual awakenings here, in fact, as it seems that their big show-off fights have a tendency to lead to them getting a partner for the night). We see novices, Accepted, and some Aes Sedai and servants, all watching the show.

Min briefly shows up and spots Mat, then quickly takes a swing of her drink and exits (is she not ready to talk to him yet?). It seems at first that she was about to settle in and watch the show but after she sees Mat on the far side of the courtyard, she leaves pretty quickly.

Elayne and Mat are the only two people not enraptured by the show -- Mat is officially no longer the most interesting man in the White Tower, and Elayne is being So Brave about how her brothers are embarrassing her by showing off so that they can hook up with some of the women here. Nynaeve is enjoying the show but doesn't think much of the brothers as people (and we get a nice little bit of banter between her and Elayne about it). Mat and Elayne's faces during this scene are my favorite part about it, lol, though I don't mind the acrobatic sparring around.

It is interesting to me that Galad looks around for the reactions from the crowd before he goes for the sword at the end. Is he deciding whether or not to try to extend the match? Assessing if he and Gawyn have already put in enough of a show to secure themselves bedpartners for the night? It's just an interesting beat for me.

"My family never turns up anywhere without each one of them having 12 plots and plans they're hatching. And that's just what you can see on the surface."

Elayne is definitely having a moment of melancholy here, though it doesn't last too long. Thinking about how her mother is insisting that she leave the Tower, but maybe also thinking about whether or not she does the same sorts of things that her family does.

"You are the only two in the Tower I can be absolutely sure are not Black Ajah."

Siuan including Elayne in this play here is so incredibly dangerous of her. I wonder if she was assuming that Nynaeve wouldn't be able to keep it a secret, or if she figured that Nynaeve would need help. But Elayne is, as Liandrin said "a complication".

Her political importance means that including her in things like this is potentially very very dangerous, and the consequences of Siuan's choice here is going to lead to Elayne disappearing from the White Tower (again), and this time Elaida, Gawyn, and Galad are all on the scene to 'witness' her disappearance (as it were). We've been warned several times in these first three episodes how important the alliance between the White Tower and Andor is, and how key Elayne is to that alliance, so Siuan is taking a desperate gamble here.

I understand it, because the threat of the Black Ajah is that grave. Siuan learned that four Sitters of the Hall were all Black Ajah. She may or may not know about Jeaine and Chesmal as well (since it sounds like Alanna disappeared with Ihvon directly after the battle) but has probably guessed about them, since they abruptly vanished from the Tower. Even Leane and Verin must come under her suspicion now, since she had her moment last season when she doubted even Moiraine. But Nynaeve and Elayne both helped Rand in Falme. Elayne saved Rand's life, and Nynaeve is from Rand's village.

She's taking what she can get, in other words. But it is a dangerous gamble, especially since she doesn't tell the girls "when I say 'investigate', I mean get information that you then give to me, which I will then follow up on; please do not sneak away from the city to investigate on your own". She may be assuming that Elayne will intuitively understand this (and Elayne may assume that her talk with Morgase at the end of this episode also covers her in the event of her second disappearance from the Tower but I, ah, really have my doubts about that).

Elayne worrying about Nynaeve being involved because of her block preventing her from using the Power on command, awww. <3

Confirmed here that Liandrin is the strongest of the Sisters who went with the Black Ajah group, which is probably another reason why the others worked so hard to keep her alive (in addition to her being their main contact with Lanfear). Siuan also points out that Nynaeve could have been targeted for a kill during that fight in the Hall and yet she wasn't, so we have some additional set-up here about how Nynaeve and Liandrin's complicated relationship might come into play later in the season.

"And why should we trust you?" "That's exactly how I want you to think."

You may regret this attitude, Siuan, after Nynaeve and Elayne disappear from the Tower without telling you where they're going! (and since Amico and Joiya are both lying their asses off about Liandrin's destination, further questioning of them won't help)

After Nynaeve and Elayne speak alone, Elayne speculates that part of the reason that Siuan brought her into this, specifically, was to try to prevent her from being back to Caemlyn with Queen Morgase. We get a minor breaking moment between Elayne and Nynaeve here, when Elayne disappoints Nynaeve by choosing her duty to Andor over her duty to help in the fight against the Black Ajah. "I should have known better than to..." just after telling Elayne that she was the only person that Nynaeve would trust to help her with this. Heartbreaking!

And so we lead into Elayne struggling between her two duties, and how she can reconcile them both.

Back in the Two Rivers, Perrin is getting the update on the Trolloc situation (bad) and the Whitecloak situation (also bad). The word that the Whitecloaks are spreading is that he killed Daddy Bornhald in Falme and that he's a Darkfriend. They're offering 100 pieces of gold for anyone related to him, and so Bran, Tam, and Abell have smuggled all of the Aybaras out of the Two Rivers for the time being, so now we have a reason in place for why we won't see those actors.

Alanna and Maksim are so emotionally-stripped down and joyless, compared to how they used to behave. It's heartbreaking. They do appreciate Bain & Chiad's takes on the situation, though.

Perrin and Loial try to ask Alanna and Maksim some questions about how they got here (she deflects) and how Alanna got injured (Trollocs).

This is when Perrin makes his decision that he should turn himself into the Whitecloaks in order to get them to stop harassing the Two Rivers people, and he confesses to Marin al'Vere that he did kill Daddy Bornhald in Falme.

So far, after a brief but unknown time-skip between episodes, this episode has all been covering a single day and now night has fallen on that same day.

Okay, now it is time to get into Lanfear messing around with Egwene's and Rand's dreams. *crackles knuckles*

So I absolutely remembered that the show made a point of illustrating to us that Lanfear was screwing with their dreams at the same time, but I didn't remember that the reveal was the very first time that Randfear see each other again after parting ways in s2.

Episode one makes a point of having Lanfear only have scenes with Moiraine and we only have one reference to the fact that she's prodding Rand in his dreams (and it's because Rand actually told Moiraine about her doing it! another show of trust and vulnerability from Rand to Moiraine that I don't know if she gave enough weight to). And now that Randfear do finally have a scene together, the show deliberately intercuts it with Lanfear actively torturing Egwene with memories of her time as a damane with Renna.

We learned in 3x01 that Egwene has been having these dreams every single night for the past month (and Rand has probably been having Lanfear bugging him about Tear every night too).

So. Let's add up what Lanfear has been up to:

torturing Egwene every night

working on trying to get Rand to go to Tear to get Callandor

(probably) having Liandrin steal objects of power from the 13th Depository, the most important being (as we learn in 3x03) part of a male a'dam that can be used to collar the Dragon (and that is certainly what Liandrin believes its purpose to be)

(probably) tried to have Siuan kidnapped

attacked Mat, Perrin, & Rand in an attempt to scare Rand's friends away from him because she believes his friends are holding him back

So, you know. I'm not feeling too much like she wants to turn away from the Shadow. No matter what she tries to tell Rand.

There are a couple of items on there that aren't 100% confirmed, but since Lanfear did poach Liandrin from Ishamael last season, it seems pretty likely that she's the one giving Liandrin her orders right now.

The fact that Lanfear can mess around in two people's dreams at the same time is pretty scary!

The way that TAR Lanfear is copying Egwene's hairstyle is made so obvious by them matching the shot of Egwene cuddling in Rand's arms (IRL) to Lanfear cuddling in Rand's arms (TAR).

Things I will note: Rand and Lanfear are both fully-clothed (if perhaps in sleepwear) during this scene.

The place where Lanfear has the two of them meeting up is in Rand's room in Cairhien, where she used to have sex with him as Selene - and, honestly, it's no wonder that Selene is on Rand's mind with Lanfear doing her best to remind him of their times together every single night.

Rand talks about how (during the times he was with Selene) he thought that this room was the only view that he'd have for the rest of his life (due to going mad and dying young, presumably).

Rand talks about how he thought the rest of his life was going to be here in Cairhien - "In this room." I am pretty sure that Lanfear just mentally inserted "with you" into his words there even though he didn't actually say it.

The big Lanfear & Egwene parallel - living in the past. Both Lanfear and Egwene are trying to hold onto relationships that have reached their natural endings. First Lanfear was trying to push and prod Rand into being LTT for her, and now she's trying to go back to when she was Selene for him, and he was her obedient rent boy (this time did not actually exist for Rand & Selene, which is part of what makes me doubt her accounts of her time with LTT as well. We still have not seen the two of them interacting in the Age of Legends -- we've only seen LTT with Latra and with Ishamael). Similarly, it is a habit of Egwene's to cling to the reliable safety of her relationship with Rand when she's been faced with trauma (but that safety is an illusion).

Rand has Lanfear's number and she does not have his. When she muses that them together in this room "might have been a nice life", Rand counters that it wouldn't have been big for her (correct) and she says that it wouldn't have been big enough for him either (incorrect). All her boasting about how well she knows him, but the show has made a point of showing us Rand's actual dreams about his life, and they involve quiet domesticity. And even Lews Therin was doing everything that he was doing for the sake of creating a safer world for his kid (oh, wow, surprise LTT & Morgase parallels!). That's what we learned in the 1x08 cold open when LTT was talking to Latra.

Lanfear's words about ~knowing Rand best~ and being the ~only one who cares about him as a person~ really only hold water if none of the Two Rivers people are around, so she must be absolutely pissed that Egwene is still here, after all the work she went to in 3x01 to try to instill some terror of Rand into the girl. I imagine that anger is part of what is driving the way she treats Egwene in her nightmares.

"You're heading to the Aiel Waste? What happened to Tear and Callandor? It's harder to protect you from the Forsaken if you don't tell me what you're doing. What you're thinking."

He doesn't breathe a word of his intentions in the Waste to Lanfear here, only responds to her point about him making it harder to protect him from the Forsaken if she doesn't know where he is by saying that going somewhere unexpected will help protect him from the Forsaken.

"There are Darkfriends everywhere." Rand is definitely thinking about that, I promise you, Lanfear! But, yeah, Rand was offering Moiraine more emotional vulnerability than he's giving to Lanfear here.

I am honestly baffled that some people got "Rand has been having sex with Lanfear for the past month" out of these scenes. They keep all their clothes on. Rand gives her no information at any point that she doesn't already know. She's the one who takes his hands and places them on her body, and he pulls away and warns her against insulting Egwene.

She is also doing her best over in Egwene's dreams to drive up Egwene's fears of being overpowered and controlled.

"Someday, [Egwene's] going to see you as you really are, you know. The way I see you. All that darkness raging beneath that farm-boy smile."

I am thinking about what Siuan said to Nynaeve in this episode about Liandrin. She didn't kill you. Think about how you can exploit that weakness. Rand knows that he's Lanfear's weakness.

I do think that Rand is still physically attracted to Lanfear (there is one moment where he leans in towards her) but I don't think he's particularly happy about that and there really is no indication in this scene that he and Lanfear have actually acted on that attraction in the past month, only that she is trying to manipulate him to getting to the point where he will break and finally give her what she wants.

So. That's my opinion on that.

And, though I saw some reviewers treat this as a joke, Rand explicitly calls what he's experiencing "nightmares" when he's trying to comfort Egwene after they both wake up from their Lanfear-invaded dreams. "I have nightmares too. Remembering things I've done." The things that Lanfear sees as fond reminders of their time in Cairhien are uglier reminders to Rand of how he didn't see that there was a literal Forsaken in his bed.

But before Egwene wakes up for real, she does manage to wrench herself away from her Lanfear nightmare and briefly meets Bair, who tells her "You do not belong here" and then presumably told Rhuarc about the strange girl who was wandering around in her dreams last night (hence them finding Rand's group the next day).

But yeah, Rand is Egwene's safety blanket for her nightmares (which means, ironically, that the very thing that Lanfear is doing to attempt to drive Egwene away from Rand is actually making Egwene cling to Rand even more tightly).

For once, Mat isn't being haunted by the voices of his last lives, but instead is being haunted by the very living voices of Galad and Gawyn having sex on the rooms on either side of him. A knock on the door gives him hope and he gets extremely excited about potentially being able to make fun noises of his own with a friend for the night... and is let down when it ends up being Min,

I... I am not entirely sure how to parse Mat and Min's conversation. I will share it with all of you so that you can tell me your thoughts on it.

So. Mat and Min do not talk about Rand here. At all. Never comes up. Doesn't come up in their 3x03 discussions either, from what I can recall.

Rand was the central issue at the core of the breakdown in their friendship last season. Rand got stabbed, Min saw that it was going to happen, and this was the central main issue around Mat's entire emotional journey of the second half of s2. But neither of them bring up Rand at all here.

What's up with that?

I can't tell if the show wants us to notice that (I certainly did) or if the show wants us to breeze past that and pretend that Rand wasn't at the core of Mat & Min's scenes last season. Thoughts? I feel like, as a Cauthor shipper who was unexpectedly surprised by how much Rand-Mat emotional importance was put into Mat's storyline last season, I may not be objective enough to understand what the show is trying to tell me. Does the avoidance of Rand's name feel like an obvious elephant in the room to more casual viewers?

Okay, moving on from the topic they avoided to what they actually talk about.

So we start the Mat & Min scene with a reminder that They Do Not Find Each Other Attractive. She finds his bare chest repelling and he tells her that it wasn't meant for her anyway.

Mat is snippy and annoyed at her, and she also seems fairly frustrated and annoyed. He demands to know why she's here and when she says "Siuan wants to see you," he gets kinda smug over the fact that, yep, this was not about her coming to potentially mend their friendship but instead about her acting as someone else's messenger. Better Siuan than Liandrin, but still acting on someone else's orders.

(we also briefly have a moment for the show to let us know that Galad and Gawyn are not virgins)

"I know you're upset with me for how things went the last time we saw each other but-" "Yes, you could say that I'm still a bit upset about how you sold me out to the Forsaken!"

Just... a glaring absence of Rand's name.

"I'm trying to apologize!" Min protests which... I mean, her working for Verin/Siuan is probably her way of attempting to make up for working for Liandrin, but how is Mat supposed to parse that as an apology when this is the first time you've spoken with him? Anyway, after Mat points out that she didn't actually apologize, she does say "I'm sorry."

I do love everything we get here with Elayne. Her trying on the crown and looking at herself in it envisioning the future. And thinking about what Nynaeve said, no doubt.

Her conversation with Gaebril/Rahvin is very useful and illustrative (unfortunately for him as well as for us!). He seems to be encouraging her to go home with Morgase, though, with his mentions of there being unrest and potential uncertainty about her position as Daughter-Heir, so hopefully that means that he's not happy about her decision to stay at the White Tower (and then disappear completely).

So the things that Rahvin knows about Elayne: that she wants someone who will relax and drink with her and tell her the truth about the important things. That she's thinking about the crown, and trying it on. He definitely picked up on her annoyance towards Galad right away.

Siuan and Mat's scene here is very cute and good. She handles him pretty well, leading him to come to the inevitable conclusion that he has maybe been handling things wrong when it comes to the Horn of Valere and all the boasting that he's been doing.

We do also get Mat's formal name dropped here for the first time in the show -- Matrim Cauthon. It's used here in a cute way. Mat tries very hard to be proper in front of Siuan, the way he thinks that he should act in front of someone so important.

Elayne's scene with Morgase here, where she stands up for herself and tells her mother that she is going to stay in the Tower and that she will forge her own path instead of trying to follow in her mother's footsteps... also very good, and a very nice conclusion to the little character arc that she had in this episode, and it feels like this really cements her as having actively chosen to be part of the group (since she really just stumbled into it by accident in s2). Now it's her choice.

The only part of this scene that makes me nervous is that the 3x03 reveal of Rahvin makes me very concerned that every word Elayne said here to her mother has now been repeated to Rahvin. That would mean that Rahvin now potentially has his eye on Elayne as someone strongwilled enough to stand up to her mother and invested enough in the fight against the Shadow that she healed the Dragon Reborn in Falme. Those two things could definitely make Rahvin more interested in Elayne, which is not great!

More Andoran lore -- in the cold open, we learned that the Queen had died and there was a Succession War. Now we learn the other half of why the queen's death caused a succession -- because her heir had "disappeared without trace and was never heard from again. There never was a Queen Tigraine".

Morgase is gonna be really unhappy when she learns that Elayne has disappeared again! Really, really unhappy!

"I healed the Dragon Reborn as he clung to life."

I am imagining Morgase (under Compulsion) recounting these words to Rahvin and am very nervous about that! But it's a fantastic scene for Elayne and Morgase.

But Elayne also makes it very clear here that her plans are to become Aes Sedai, so Rahvin is (presumably) going to be just as surprised as everyone else when she's suddenly gone from the White Tower after 3x03.

"For Andor's sake or for Siuan's?" "For mine. I will go through the Arches tonight. I will root out the Shadow in this Tower. And I will become the first Aes Sedai queen."

And we have more parallels between Rand and Elayne's plots here, as Elayne tells her mother that there's no going back to being sheltered safe at home (though Elayne does soften this by reminding her mother that her eventual destination is to be Andor's queen, and to return home to Andor, but in this specific moment in time, they are being paralleled), just as Rand can't go back home to safety either.

"Safety is a luxury this world no longer affords us," is just a fancier way of saying what Rand said in 3x01 - "Safe's not possible anymore".

So after seeing Rand express zero actual information on what he was thinking or feeling to Lanfear in their shared dream, Rand actually does take steps to go speak with Moiraine, who is actually the person that Rand has been showing the most willingness to be emotionally intimate and vulnerable with this season, despite Moiraine not always being great at offering that back. Because Moiraine already knows the worst of it -- that he was sleeping with Lanfear for months -- and she was still able to tell him in 2x07 that she trusted him.

(of course, he doesn't know that she's been making deals with Lanfear behind his back)

Moiraine is grappling with how little control she has over Rand, and asks Rand why he's training with Lan, and Rand's answer is very telling. "He listens" and the sword is "something I can control". Those are two very important things for Rand right now -- control over himself and wanting someone to trust. (he isn't actually confiding much in Lan right now that we've seen, but he appreciates that the option exists)

And it's Moiraine that Rand shares his feelings about the One Power with, not Egwene and not Lanfear. That he's not afraid of the power but that it's the longing and the thirst mixed in with the poison that gets to him. This is a really good moment between the two of them. And I really love how One Power and the corruption mingle in the weaves when Rand is channeling. And the Power also looks so intimate when Rand uses it (from the very beginning, it's like the Power wants to cling to him).

Morgase leaving Galad and Gawyn behind seems to be a step that Siuan was expecting.

Leaving Elaida behind is shocking for Siuan, because it means that Andor no longer has an active Aes Sedai advisor, breaking a thousand-year old tradition (and we know that Siuan thinks of Elaida as a troublemaker).

And Morgase makes it clear that Elaida being left behind is a threat.

"If anything happens to Elayne, and I mean anything, the next time I come to these Shining Walls, I will have my army at my back."

So, you know. I'm sure it'll be fine that Elayne disappears from the Tower at the end of 3x03! Nothing bad will happen at all!

Ahhh, we get Rand's new theme again! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

And our first glimpse of the Three-Fold Land!

The Aiel come to greet the group (to Aviendha's surprise) and Egwene recognizes the woman from her dream.

"He will take us back home... and he will destroy us."

Very excited about that. <3

[lovelettersforthedamned]

He’s Mine (For Tonight)

✰ older!tasm!peter parker x f!reader

✰ word count: 0.9k

✰ summary: a date night after work??? with the man you love?? yes, please.

✰ warnings: mentions of alcohol, mention of a bruise, a few kisses, mushy gushy fluff, peter is a gentleman but also a downright fool for the reader.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

main m.list ⋆ peter parker m.list

⋆ gif by @josshelps

The first few weeks of June brought that humid air that came along with living in the city. Brighter colors seemed to make their way out of the depths of people’s closets while the last bit of leaves sprouted on the trees. With the music playing along in your earbuds, you observe the little things of the changing of seasons. 

You wipe the moisture off your forehead as you’re now aware of how harsh the sun is; the perspiring drink in your hand becomes a mirror image of you. 

The rhythmic beat of the music stops suddenly as Peter’s name appears on the screen. Smiling to yourself, you answer the call, “Hey, Petey.” You know he hates that name, so he isn’t surprised when he hears your smile through the phone as you use the nickname you tease him with. 

“Hey, bug,” he starts, as he leans back in his office chair, his fingers raking through his hair, “do you have any plans tonight?” Peter checks his watch, his work day soon ending as the clock strikes four-thirty. 

You’re turning onto your apartment's street when you think about the coming hours, before shaking your head as if Peter was standing in front of you. You giggle to yourself at the mistake, “I have to let the neighbor's dog out, but either way…there’s nothing,” you reach your front door and push it open, the air conditioning hitting your face, “why? What are you thinking?” Unplugging your phone from your earbuds, you toss your phone onto the kitchen counter and put your boyfriend on speaker. 

“I was thinking of going to that jazz bar over in the East Village,” he pauses as he thinks of the streets, “over on Thirteenth and First Ave.” Peter’s voice echoes throughout the space as you start to change into comfortable clothes. 

Turning your head to hear him better, you can tell he’s walking home now, “Yeah, I’m up for it.” Your voice is raised a bit to make sure he can hear you. “Will your nightly activities interrupt our date night?” 

He huffs a chuckle, “I think the city can give me one night out to spend with my gorgeous girl.” A warmth falls on your cheeks as you smile to yourself. Peter’s always found little ways to make you feel loved, including his way with words. 

Slipping on your slippers, you open the door again to check on your neighbor's dog, your phone pressed to your ear, “I’ll be waiting for you.” A playful tone rings through your voice and makes its way to Peter, causing him to grin. You end the call with your usual ‘I love you’s, and continue to the apartment next door. 

After finishing up with the tiny brown Dachshund, you catch Peter entering your shared apartment. You rush to him and greet him with a kiss, “Welcome home, handsome.” He leans down to give you a quick peck before holding the door open for you. 

✰✰✰✰

By the time you two made it to the bar, it was well past six, and the place was crowded. The red light casts a deep hue onto your skin, something Peter can’t help but notice. You lead him through the crowd, hand in hand, as you find a table near the side of the stage. Peter pulls out your chair for you before you sit, the view of groups of people fills the room with life. 

As you scan the room, Peter can’t help but stare at you. He’s always known you were effortlessly beautiful, ever since the day he met you: but looking at you now, it confirms it. With the sound of the brass instruments playing in the background, he’s awakened from his daze. 

Reaching across the small table, you hold his hand, rubbing your thumb along his slightly bruised knuckles, “You’re the best, do you know that?” 

Now it was his turn for a blush to spread across his cheeks, the red lights covering them, “Shouldn’t I be telling you that?” 

“Maybe,” you look into his eyes, “I just feel like you need to hear it more.” He brings your hand up to his mouth before placing a gentle kiss on the skin on the back of your hand. You were about to say how much you loved him, until a waitress interrupted the both of you, asking for your drink orders. 

You’re both a little surprised as you begin to tell the woman what you want and after she leaves, you look back at Peter and giggle. It felt like you were both teenagers again, getting caught holding hands at the movie theater. With Peter, he still gave you those butterflies that you swore were only for kids. 

For the rest of the night, you two were always within arm's distance. And on the walk home with a few drinks in, the two of you laughed the entire way. You joke that you probably look crazy to onlookers ahead, to which Peter says that he doesn’t care. 

As long as Peter was by your side, you knew everything would be alright, even if his nightly activities made it hard to have him to yourself tonight selfishly. 

⋆ author's note: hi you great and gorgeous people. long time no see! it's been a while, but i think im back? thank you guys for the support during my hiatus!! you're the best. ok, ily bye!!

[irrealisms]

Hey so I want to get into lifesteal. I don’t exactly feel like watching hundreds of hours of vods. I did also watch one of the three hour long summaries by one of the members but most of it went right over my head. At this point I’m mainly interested in watching pangi’s and clown’s pov. Could you catch me up with the lore and maybe recommend a few vods?

absolutely!!! the first thing i'll say is that lifesteal is sort of like hermitcraft or the life series (if you're familiar with those), in that it has multiple seasons, each of which is on a different server and comes with new teams/plotlines/builds/etc., although they do sometimes reference past seasons. so if you want to only watch some seasons and not others, that's an option! both pangi and clown joined in s2 and are still members today in s6; clown is imo most famous for his s3, which is where clownzy comes from.

(if you don't want to watch hundreds of hours of vods but don't mind watching like a hundred hours of edited videos i also have playlists of all the edited videos buuuuuut i assume that you do not want to do that either lol. i'll link the playlists of Just clown and Just pangi povs though bc those should b shorter!)

the good news is that clown doesn't really stream and does make edited videos, and pangi is also pretty good at making edited videos. the bad news is that pangi streams a lot. the other good news is that i love Talking About Lifesteal.

uhhhh first off. some edited-video playlists:

clownpierce s2 (11 videos, 2.5 hours)

pangi s2 (2 videos, 15 minutes)

clownpierce s3 (9 videos, 3.5 hours)

pangi s3 (5 videos, 45 minutes)

clownpierce s4 (3 videos, 1 hour)

pangi s4 (10 videos, 2 hours; has some videos not by pangi if they are relevant to pangi's story)

clownpierce s5 (7 videos, 3 hours)

pangi s5 (2 videos, 30 minutes)

[there are no clownpierce videos for s6]

pangi s6 (16 videos, 2.5 hours)

general overviews of the seasons and whether/how much i recommend them:

i quite like clownpierce's s2; it's kinda old and a bit messy, it's from when he and lifesteal really blew up as youtubers, and also from when he was cracked at crystal pvp. he's very involved in the ~main plot, between the M.O.B. (clown's team) and the Poggies (parrot's team). he gets some delightful monologues and fun moments. if you have derangements about Content and Narrative within mcyt the way i do i definitely recommend his s2. pangi ... only joins halfway through s2 and doesn't really do much lol

clownpierce's s3 is REALLY good. there is a reason that clownzy is the #1 lifesteal ship on ao3, and it's because of clown and branzy's s3. i personally prefer branzy pov of s3 tbh but clown pov is also quite good! evil clown runs casino, falls in love, does a lot of scamming and murder. very good imo. pangi's s3 is good but kind of forgettable imo, although it (especially the last video) is good as leadup for...

pangi's s4! once again i REALLY like pangi's s4. (not to brag but you can spot me in the twitch chat of one of his videos.) he gets very involved in the plot this season; he starts shit with the NPPP, clownpierce, and team awesome, in that order, and has a deeply messy relationship with princezam, including "princezam literally flying to the netherlands and using pangi's minecraft account to give pangi's hearts to his enemies", "princezam pretending to be on pangi's side when pangi declares himself king only to actually be double-agenting", and "pangi traps a suicidal princezam in bedrock". love those guys. and pangi's s2-3 (but ESPECIALLY the princezam empire) sets up their friendship a bit more if you end up interested in them! you can skip the valentines date & escape room if you are primarily watching for major plot events, they're very filler-y, but they're a fun time and they were pangi videos from s4 so

clown's s4 is. fine? it's got one video of "this event is also covered in the pangi playlist" (shades vs clown duel) and two videos that are fun for clown but pretty disconnected from The Rest Of The Server. that said if s3 got you invested in clownzy you should check out I Trapped Him In Minecraft's Safest Base. clown basically did not log on for most of s4 and it shows ToT

pangi's s5 is another. it's fine? it's really really short. it is literally two videos. one of my favorite s5 streams that never went anywhere or got made into a video is related to pangi but it, uh, never went anywhere or got made into a video lol. tl;dr: he and zam are teammates this season! for real this time and they aren't going to have a big dramatic breakup!!! this lasts...about half the season until they have a big dramatic breakup (not shown in the youtube videos, which are all set before that). he also got involved in some Dragon Egg Shenanigans and started some shit with subz early-season but nothing huge.

clown gets more involved again in s5! he's not quite as involved as he was in s2-3 but he is There for a lot of stuff: he makes the PMC with Minutetech, Leowook, and Sort Of Branzy, doesn't log on for a while, logs back on to help with the scavenger hunt during void arc (aka "do our scavenger hunt or else we turn all of spawn into void"), and then betrays the PMC for end-of-server. there's some good stuff in there imo.

pangi's s6 is ... mostly just Silly Bits rather than Getting Involved, both in videos and vods. that said it might be worth watching some of it as a realm viewer bc it's the origin of his current bits--eg the therapy thing is a lifesteal s6 original!

in terms of character stuff about the two of them:

with clown there are a couple things i want to talk about. the main thing everyone talks about is clownzy, and i'd also like to talk about the broader phenomenon that creates clownzy, which is that clown really loves having a Little Guy: someone who's kind of pathetic and bad at pvp, so that clown can Protect Them and be a little threatening to them and even more threatening to their enemies. the other thing i want to talk about is actually not clownzy-related? clown likes (and is quite good at!) playing evil menacing villains, but he's in many ways a believer in politeness and fair play; he's a very gracious loser, to the point where lifestealers have said before that they feel kinda bad when they win against him, and he tends to strongly favor fair fights over traps or exploits. which is interesting to me! uhhhh another thing that's interesting is that (as is the case with many/most lifestealers) his videos tend to editorialize; his s3 especially stands out to me for this, for a few moments but one that stands out to me is that when mr. cube successfully rigs the casino against him he just cuts this out of his video even though he's got the moments right before and right after it in his video.

with pangi something that sticks out to me is .... well first of all i could talk about his relationship with zam for aaaaaaages. there's a thing there of. he and zam are quite close ooc, and so zam tends to take him for granted as an ally, even when zam treats him quite poorly and doesn't prioritize him? this was most obvious in s4 but i would say even in s5 when they teamed up again uhhhhhh zam does very much (a) find another team that zam ends up much closer with (b) plan to spawnkill pangi. but pangi's still very much in a position where his strongest/closest relationship is usually zam. there's also a thing where he's currently known as a Silly Lighthearted Bits guy and not someone who gets seriously involved in the LoreTM and i think sometimes people forget that this wasn't always true? but even in s4 when he was much more involved in things there's some level of disconnect; in late s4 there was a lot of "major developments happen while pangi's asleep, the next day zam catches pangi up on everything that happened". and i would also argue that all of this is v related to pangi being european time zone and lifesteal being overwhelmingly american. it's harder for pangi to form strong bonds or get super involved in things when people are just... not online at the same time as him.

uhhhh also if u just want to jump in w s6 u can do that. pangi hasn't had any Big Lore this season you can just start watching him. go for it. clown doesn't really stream it bc he hates us but he hasn't done much in s6 so far so if he starts doing stuff, again, you won't be missing things, u can just jump in

i was going to talk more about the lore for each season beyond whether i recommend it, since you mostly wanted me to give summaries that catch you up, buuuuuut this post is already absurdly long. most of my favorite pangi vods either got made into videos or i mostly enjoy them for other characters (e.g. there are at least three pangi s4 vods i really like because zam is being incredibly suicidal in them lol) BUT. have the princezam-pangi divorce vod from s5 in which zam tries to spawnkill pangi bc zam needs hearts and pangi gets away and then they argue for like an hour. this is the aforementioned stream that never got made into a video. i know it is a zam pov stream but i really like it for pangi as well :3

if you prefer vods to edited videos and want me to recommend a few others that did make it to videos, or if you want a more in-depth summary of any of the seasons: just send another ask and i will happily yap more!!! this is kinda all over the place bc i'm sick rn but i will do my best. i am torn between "i hope this wasn't too long" and "i am worried it should have been significantly longer in order to actually answer your questions abt lore instead of just linking videos" lol but ! as i said feel free to just, send another ask, u have no idea how excited i was to get this ask, i love talking about lifesteal ^w^

[acewritesfics]

Never Stopped Loving You | Tommy Shelby

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Reader

Request: From anon

Warnings: Swearing. Mentions of war, heartbreak, jealousy (?), a tiny little bit of Grace bashing but just so you know this is based between season 1 & 2 (more towards season 2) so readers dislike towards Grace is after her betrayal not her death

Word Count: 2,276

Tommy Shelby Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Y/N watches from the other side of the Garrison as Tommy sits across from a woman, a pretty brunette she hasn't bothered learning the name of. She didn't hate the woman; she didn't even know her but she did pity her. In fact, she pitied any woman that came across Thomas Shelby. All but one. Grace didn't deserve her pity.   

It's a business meeting, she knows that. Polly informed her yesterday during her visit to her home. She doesn’t know why Polly told her or why she cared to remember it. After the day she had going over last minute details for her sister's wedding, she wanted a drink before she went dancing with some friends and she'd been hoping to catch up with John to see if him and Esme needed any thing as they await the arrival of their new baby.  

After ordering another drink, she looks back to her former lover and his new potential business partner and takes the woman in. There's no denying she's pretty but she can also see the way she's looking at him. It was the same way they all eventually look at him. Yes, she pities all but one woman that comes across him.  

Thomas Shelby always had a certain charm about him. It wasn't just those stunningly beautiful blue eyes, high cheek bones, the scatter of freckles that covers his face, how impeccable he dresses, or the smooth tone of his voice that has the ladies enraptured by him. Even before the war, he knew how to get what he wanted, his main weapon being that silver tongue of his.   

"Does he know that you're here?" She hears Polly say from beside her as she joins her at the bar. Polly orders herself a drink before she turns to face her, leaning against the bar.  

"Would it matter if he did?" she answers with her own rhetorical question.  

"You know nothing gets past him," Polly reminds her, picking up her drink off the bar and takes a drink.  

"I did," she also reminds Polly.  

Y/N had been one of those pitiful women who found herself under Tommy's spell. But back then they were just kids. Two fools who thought that not even a war could separate them. How foolish they were.   

Before the war, it was good. Tommy smiled and laughed more, he was more loving and kinder to himself and those around him. He didn't have blood on his hands or a distant look in his eyes. His eyes sparkled with the good kind of mischief, a love for life and hopes and dreams that didn't include violence and him becoming a man to be feared of. He was a sweet man with a beautiful soul and so much like his mother. She'd fallen completely in love with him and when he proposed a month before war was declared, she didn't hesitate to say yes.   

During the war, when he would come home for breaks, she could see and feel him putting up walls and becoming distant with her. The light in his eyes was slowly fading. He was less kind, less loving and less like the Tommy she'd fallen in love with. But she still loved him so much that she would stay beside him and be there for when he needed her.  

But by the time the war was over, Tommy was but of a shell of his former self. Eventually the couple parted ways with Tommy acting as though their break up had no affect on him while her heart completely shattered into a million pieces.  

Y/N couldn't stay in Small Heath after that. She moved to London for a year before coming back when she got a job offer from the Small Heath school only to witness Tommy fall in love and open up to another woman who would only end up betraying him. It was six months ago, she moved to Bristol to help her brother take care of his sick wife and three children. But now she's back again, not able to stay away from her home town. This time it isn't permanent. Her younger sister is getting married tomorrow, and she couldn't miss it, no matter how much it hurts to be back in the city that brought her so much joy and heartache.   

"He's a fool for ever letting that happen," Polly says, letting her bitterness over their break up be known even though it's been a few years.  

"We were both fools for thinking we'd make it through anything," she finishes her drink and places the empty glass on the bar top as she stands up from the stool she's sitting on.   

"You know he's still got it," Polly says stopping her in her tracks as she begins to walk away from the woman who is like an aunt to her. "I watched him take it to the cut. He contemplated throwing it away but he couldn't bring himself to do it."  

"Maybe he wants to use it for the next woman who falls under his spell," she says keeping her back to the older woman and leaves the Garrison.  

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Miss!” an elderly gentleman exclaims, handing Y/N a beautiful rose as she walks down the street to the store the next day. She’d forgotten about the silly day in the midst of rushing around to get things sorted for her sister’s big day, which just so happened to be today of all things.  

Looking at the man and seeing his large smile, she couldn’t bring herself to disappoint the man. She takes the rose and smells it. “Thank you, sir. You’ve just made my day so much better.”   

“Do you not have a valentine?” he asks her. “A pretty lady like yourself should have all the men falling to her feet.”  

“Well, to be honest, even if there were I would still choose none of them,” she admits.   

“Whoever broke your heart, he’s a right fool,” the man says.   

“Oh, you have no idea,” she chuckles.   

“If I wasn’t married to me Mrs., I would be your valentine.”  

“Your wife is a lucky woman,” Y/N smiles.  

“I’m the lucky the one,” he admits. “I’ll let you get on your way. You looked to be in a rush.”  

“Thank you for the rose,” she thanks him and says goodbye as she carries on her way.  

Entering the store, she grabs what she needs to, pays and heads back to her sister’s home, smiling the whole way.   

“Where have you been?!” her sister shouts as she walks through the door. “I have to be ready and at the church in an hour. Where did you get that?”   

Y/N’s eyes follow her sister’s gaze to the rose in her hand. “A lovely old man gave it to me.”  

“Are you into older men now?” her sister teases. “I guess all the men your age are married now. What’s better than a rich widowed old man?”  

“I’ll have you know, he was being nice,” Y/N frowns at her sister. In her time away from Birmingham, she’d forgotten her younger sister could be mean. “Clearly something you know nothing about.”  

“I can be nice. So nice in fact, I've invited the only man you’ll ever love to the wedding.”   

Y/N wants nothing more than to smack the smug smirk of her sister’s face but decides to play ignorant instead. “And who would that be?”  

“Don’t play daft, dear sister,” she laughs shaking her head as she gets into her wedding dress with the seamstresses help. “Tommy, of course.”  

“Well, don’t be too disappointed if he doesn’t show up," she says causing her sister to roll her eyes. 

Tommy surprised Y/N. He'd come to the wedding. She could feel his eyes boring into her through out the ceremony. Keeping her eyes on the bride and groom, she tried to ignore it. Even now as she dances with her new brother-in-law, she can feel her former lovers eyes on her and as he stands behind her, his cologne invades her senses. It's the same cologne that she'd bought him for his last birthday they spent together. 

"Mind if I cut in, mate?" His smooth voice reaches her ears as he asks Paul. Her body stiffens, her heart dropping into her stomach as her plans to ignore him and his overwhelming presence is dashed. 

"Of course, Mr. Shelby," he smiles and steps away from her. She goes to stop him, only for Tommy to take his place.  

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice that you are back?" he asks, his arm moving around her waist as she takes one of her hands into his.  

She hesitantly places her hand on his shoulders as they start to dance, "I was hoping you would be too busy to notice. You seemed rather busy last night." 

He had seen her in the garrison the night before. If he hadn't been in the middle of a business meeting he would have gone after her when she left. Instead he decided last minute to accept the invitation to her sister's wedding, hoping he to get a moment with her. 

"I saw you," he admits. "I was hoping you would stay long enough so I could speak to you." 

"Is that why you're here?" she asks him, still knowing him better than anyone else. 

"I had to see you some way," he tells her. 

"There's nothing that needs to be said between us, Thomas," she removes his hands from her and steps back from him. Tommy was her first love. He was her only love and as much as she tried to move on from him, she couldn't. She leaves the dance floor and grabs her purse before leaving the venue without saying goodbye to anyone.  

Instead of walking back to her mother's house, where she's been staying for the past week, she finds herself down at the Cut, under the bridge her and Tommy would sneak under when they first started their relationship.  

As many of the happier memories with Tommy flood, her eyes begin to sting from the tears forming in them. The young couple had many happy memories with each other and they far outweighed the bad. Closing her eyes she remembers the way his lips felt against hers, the way his fingers would lightly trace circles on her skin when his hands slipped under her shirt and how tightly he would hold her against him as if he were afraid she would leave him.  

Her eyes shoot open as she hears footsteps coming towards her, quickly wiping away her tears she tries to make her exit when the person comes into view. It's Tommy.  

She finds her feet no longer want to work as she freezes on the spot. He looks just as surprised to see her. After a moment of just staring at each other, YN decides to speak.  

"You were right about us needing to talk," she begins. "I've been wanting to say this for a while and you are going to listen and not say anything until I am done." 

Tommy goes to interrupt her, opening his mouth to say something when she holds up her hand, stopping him.  

"I love you, Tom, more than I've loved anyone," she tells him. "When we ended our relationship you we're supposed to fight for it. But you just stood there, a blank look on your face, saying nothing at all while my heart broke into a million pieces. You were supposed to fight for me, fight for us. Instead you fell in love with another woman who broke your heart and-" 

"I love you too," Tommy says cutting her off as he steps closer to her. "You're the only woman I've ever loved. Grace didn't break my heart because it was already broken from the war and letting you go. She was only a distraction to stop myself from going after you. You deserved better than me and who I became. I wanted to give you the world, promise you things would get better, be the man who deserved you. I didn’t want to pull you into the mess I created. I loved you to much for that. You’re so innocent and good and I’m nothing but a bad man who does bad things." 

“Not all of us are angels, Tom,” she says.  

“But you are,” he tells her.  

“Well then, I’m an angel who’s fallen in love with the devil.” 

“And the devil just so happens to love her back,” he adds, his arms moving around her waist to pull her closer. 

This time she lets him, no longer wanting to get as far away from his as possible. “We still have a lot to work through.” 

“We’ll work through it all because I’m not going to let you go again,” he tells her. “I made that mistake once. I don’t plan on making it again. I’m going to make it up to you.” 

“And you can start by kissing me like you use to under this bridge,” a small hint of a smile appears on her lips. “And then we can go from there.” 

Tommy smiles, cupping her face and plants his lips on hers, kissing her softly as though he’s resting the waters. When she doesn’t reconsider, he kisses her harder and holds her tighter like he’s afraid she’ll leave him again. He ends the kiss leaving his lips only an inch from hers as he tells her, “I never stopped loving you.” 

“I never stopped stopped loving you too,” she replies, pressing her lips back to his. 

[ashkabbom]

Flowers - Kimetsu No Yaiba

A/n: This is not set in the canon Demon Slayer universe, it's a modern AU (I think that's the name). English is not my first language, so sorry if something is wrong and correct me, because I used the translator alot.

→Obanai Iguro x Reader

Summary/Synopsis: Obanai buys you flowers.

Notes: I didn't specify gender, so it's up to you what gender you choose.

Obanai was returning from a flower shop with flowers. Flowers that left him enchanted every time he looked at them, just as he was when he saw you.

He was going to visit again the person he liked, the person he loved. Obanai visited you every month, whenever he could.

Along with the flowers he carried a letter, a letter from which he obtained deep feelings even though it only had simple words in it. Feelings more beautiful than he felt worthy of having and receiving one day.

It's been 5 years since you met, the strangest and happiest 5 years of your life. Both for you and Obanai.

Your eyes were like the most addictive of drugs, your skin the most perfect, your smile sweeter than sugar, your hair the loveliest and softest, the most beautiful flower in the garden they lived in, the most special among the people he had ever known... It was the rarest and most beautiful of jewels in a costume jewelry store.

Analogies that are a bit weird, confusing, and even cliché and cheesy? Maybe. He wasn't sure how to express himself properly, but none of the comparisons, none of the words would be able to help him tell you what you were like to him. The simplest and most comprehensive of words was Love.

He loved you, but it was you who taught him and showed him what love really was. From simple things to the most complicated.

As he walks to where he would meet you, a memory crosses his mind...

→December 28, 20XX – 1:47 PM

Obanai was walking towards a coffee shop that wasn't too far from his house. The main objective being to buy a hot chocolate and four cupcakes, two cupcakes for himself and two for Sanemi, guaranteeing the "treat" of the week for him and his friend. Something he bought every weekend after a tiring week, this time was no different.

Entering the cafeteria, something weekly, placing your order and paying for what you bought, being able to leave the bakery right after.

Leaving the cafeteria, Obanai is greeted with cold air.

It was winter in the city where he lived, and he could see snow on the sidewalks and white smoke coming out of some people's mouths.

Winter wasn't a bad season, you know? It was really nice to be able to have something hot and stay warm under the covers, it was comfortable and relaxing.

But there is also the bad part.

The cold itself wasn't the best thing when you got out of the shower, out of the house, or after washing the dishes. The snow also got in the way at times, the ice made you slip and it was annoying to have to get it off. Winter definitely has its downsides, but that's true of any season. Right? There's always a downside, he supposes.

He starts walking towards his house while drinking his hot chocolate with the straw under the mask he was wearing. The warmth of the chocolate permeating his entire body, leaving him more relaxed and with a small smile on his face beneath the mask.

"Oh? Obanai, what a coincidence to find you here!"

Obanai's eyes widen slightly and he turns his face to see who the person who spoke the voice was, although he already suspected who it was because he recognized the person's voice.

It was you, who by the way, was leaving a... Flower shop?

""What are you doing today? I thought you would stay home in this cold weather and ask Sanemi to leave the house and buy something." You say with a smile on your face and a tone of curiosity in your voice.

"Last week sucked, he deserves a break, so I decided to buy us some stuff." He answers sincerely while mumbling a little about the last week.

"What a cool friend you are, huh? I wish Giyuu would also take this initiative on cold days." You sigh and laugh, deciding to tease Obanai a little for his somewhat harsh nature with others but a little softer with his closest friends "But it's good to see that you're a good friend! It doesn't even sound like you"

"Ha. ha. ha. What about you? Shouldn't you be inside in weather like this?" Obanai sounded sarcastic, but it was a valid question and one with some concern. "You'll get sick if you keep being such a dumb head. Your brother has legs and arms too."

"And you're very smart" You roll your eyes at his words. "Anyway! I just came to pick up some flowers at the flower shop.. And I grabbed a hot chocolate at the coffee shop earlier."

Obanai had noticed the flowers, but he had gotten so lost in the conversation that he hadn't noticed the bag hanging from his arm with an empty cup of hot chocolate in it.

"Flowers? I didn't know you liked flowers." The curiosity and interest in his voice was noticeable.

"I really like flowers, this one is my favorite flower" You tell Obanai about your favorite flower with enthusiasm for the interest he had shown. "It's a special flower to me I think, although there's not much reason."

"Special flower..." Obanai's eyes softened a little, something that didn't go unnoticed by you.

"Well... Taking advantage of the fact that you're here and in a good mood..." The boy already imagined what would come next, after all, he knew you wanted something when you started a sentence like that.

"Spit it out. You want me to share one of the cupcakes with you, don't you?" He decides to speak up now, before this conversation goes on too long.

"Well, do we have cupcakes for today? What a surprise! But I can't ignore the bakery bag." Obanai starts walking and you follow right beside him. "I'm going to assume that was a yes then!"

From start to finish it was a silent walk with the two of you sharing a chocolate cupcake with strawberry filling, but it was by no means uncomfortable. The silence between them was a most comfortable and relaxing conversation.

Each other's presence was enough to make the silence pleasant. Having you softly humming a tune to some song that was stuck in your head and Obanai sipping his hot chocolate while enjoying the melody being recited.

It was a few minutes of walking, minutes that seemed to last longer than normal, but that is not a complaint.

Obanai was happy.

"Oops, I guess this is where we part ways." He hears your voice say.

"We've already arrived here at-.." Obanai stops himself when he realizes that he was in his own world and didn't pay much attention to the path "Well, it's right here.."

"Here, for you." You take one of the flowers you carried with you and hand it to him. "Thank you for sharing the cupcake and for accompanying me today, Obanai."

"Thank you for the flower.. I think.. And it's okay, we took similar paths anyway" Obanai says as he holds the flower a little surprised "I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate and I couldn't handle eating two cupcakes by myself anyway.."

You raise your eyebrow in doubt, but soon smile as warm as the summer sun.

"I'll confess that I wasn't really expecting you to share the cupcake, it was unexpected, but I loved it!" You say sincerely. Before going on your way you give Obanai a kiss on the cheek and start walking towards where you lived "Thank you Obanai! See you on Monday!"

He stands still for a few seconds before starting to walk towards his own house again. The blush on his face not going away.

"..What a cupcake can do..." Obanai's cheeks turn red.

Along the way the silence was loud, but it was no longer as relaxing as before.

Not even hot chocolate could take away the cold he felt when you left.

→Returning to now

He didn't realize he had reached his destination as the memory flashed through his head, making him relive that day.

As he entered the place where he would meet you that day, he sighed deeply.

It was summer, the breeze warm on your face as he walked towards you.

He stopped in front of a grave and placed the flowers right above it.

Not even summer, a hot season, could drive away the cold he feels since you left.

Still stopping by the flower shop on the weekends, hoping that one day you'll walk through the door with a smile as beautiful as the flowers you loved the most.

[writeblood]

What type of tumblr user Hogwarts Legacy characters would be

Note, I haven’t actually been part of tumblr culture since the 2010s

Sebastian

cursed memes, infodumping on extremely niche topics, and extremely tumblr style humour.

The guy who knows precisely how to respond to someone saying ‘I like your shoelaces’.

He’s never watched Supernatural in his life but read up on all 25 seasons when the superhell penultimate season finale hit.

Gets into drama with anon asks.

political takes that are usually decent and anti-capitalist, except for one opinion that got him canceled

Sebastian once spent a night accidentally reblogging NSFW content to his main blog instead of his side one so now 50% of his fetishes have been exposed.

Every photo and video he posts/reblogs, he adds a description caption so Ominis can also be subjected to his taste in memes.

Ominis

primarily text and music based, but will occasionally have videos of nature or architecture.

A lot of quotes from angsty classical literature and MCR.

His tagging is methodical and precise.

He has a huge following because one time he posted a photo of himself (taken by Sebastian) and it went viral.

Has his asks turned off and follows less than 30 blogs.

Someone once posted an expose on him, calling him a trust fund kid, but since it was mostly screenshots without description captions he never came across it.

Anne

she has one tumblr that all her friends follow her on and one secret tumblr that’s the dark side, depression, venting diary kind of stuff.

When the site went through another round of content moderation, she deleted it.

she also accidentally deleted her main blog oops...

Her normal tumblr is skateboard trick videos, small fandom media, and a mish-mesh of whatever catches her interest for the month.

She really likes the elaborate, artsy makeup looks even though she herself rarely wears it.

reblogs posts related to chronic illness and eye related disability

Her humour is ‘just girly things: waking up covered in blood’

Poppy

sooo many cute animal videos.

Has a very cutesy layout with an animal cursor.

Some people hate her blog because it has an autoplay music widget playing MARINA/Olivia Rodrigo.

She has anon asks turned off but will respond to account asks.

Occasionally reblogs a vegan/animal activist post.

She has a few close friends and will not hesitate to reblog their posts with encouraging comments.

Natsai

on the multi-lingual side of tumblr– english, french, and swahili

Lots of funny personal anecdote stories

Reblogs feminist posts that either deal with actionable things (protesting, community organising, safety) or talking about feminist public figures

Reblogs black hair tutorial/pics with the mindset that she’ll try it out but never does.

martial arts videos but the realistic ones

Likes a lot of special effects art in movies/tv shows so if you follow her with SFW filters turned off, you might see some fake blood.

Amit

studyblr, langblr, and a little bit of geeky stuff

okay, it's a lot. He's a fan of non-DC, non-Marvel comic and Star Trek

will write a 900 word breakdown of that one specific scene and its symbolism

too ashamed to openly admit he reads fanfic but reblogs a lot of posts from accounts who do

Imelda

1 post complaining about the complexities of using tumblr

3 posts related to women's football (soccer for americans)

1 personal video of her scoring the winning goal for her team

1 post and response to clowning on Garreth

'last posted 1 year ago'

MC

I’m using my OC Anesidora Fig from Shadow consumes the Sun (link in profile)

Used to have one of those semi-anonymous blogs where it’s filled with aesthetic photo compilations (light and dark academia, romanticising living in old cities, tea and coffee photoshoots despite not liking the drinks), but then she went ‘lets be mutuals, Ominis :)’ and realised…

So she panic nuked her blog and started over.

Now it’s full of studyblr, tagamemnon gossip over dead ancient roman poets, and love/romantic poems/excerpts.

english and french language included

went viral when she posted a class project video where she edited how to train your dragon but the dragon was replaced with her pet reptile a la "Jurassic Park but with a Cat" (OwlKitty)

When she starts to fancy Ominis, her reblogged love quotes start to focus more and more on his specific attributes

Since the texts she reblogs don’t have crass language or kinks, she thinks it’s entirely SFW. However, Ominis has learnt not to open her blog when he’s not alone or someone will ask him why he’s red in the face.

Her asks are open but she ignores them 90% of the time.

[lily-s-world]

Julie and the Phantoms vs. Julie e os Fantasmas

I had recently been practicing my Portuguese and listening to music in that language, which lead me to the soundtrack of Julie e os Fantasmas. The original Brazilian version of the show. Funny how music works, because the more I listened to the songs the more I remembered about the show. Which is why I decided to make a list about the main differences between the shows.

First, the Brazilian cast and the name of their counterparts so you know who am I referring to:

Side note before we start, their music is also pretty cool. My favorite one is Essa noite somos um so (Tonight we are one).  You can find it on Spotify:

The Brazilian show lasted 1 season with 26 episodes, which were divided in two parts from 2011 to 2012. However, the show was always planned with one season only, so it had a proper closure.

In the original version, Julie isn’t dealing with the loss of her mother. Her mother is alive but decided to take a job far away from them, which leads to Julie resenting her because she feels that her mother doesn’t care about them and only shows when it is convenient for her. This makes Julie feel invisible across her life.

Both shows revolve around music and how much Julie loves it. Julie (BR) suffers from stage panic, one of the reasons she had never sing in front of people. The phantoms help her with this. Also, her preferred instrument is the guitar.

The phantoms had a more tragic death on the BR version. They were trying to replicate The Beatles’ Abbey Road cover, but where hit by a truck and died instantly. One member was alive, but he retired from the music industry after the accident. They had been dead for over 30 years and were trapped on a vinyl record instead of a CD.  

The phantoms don’t have their instruments like the new version. After they help Julie with her stage panic, she buys them new instruments and decides to form the band.

The name of the band on the show is Os Insólitos (The Unusuals). They play in different venues and parties across the season. Unlike the new version, they sing the same songs repeatedly across the episodes. There are some special episodes where they reveal a new song.

The Julies share basically the same personality on both shows. Martim and Reggie are also really similar, being a flirt and a little bit clueless. Felix is way more anxious and fearful than Alex, he was scared of ghosts since he was a kid and being turned into one didn’t help with that. Daniel and Luke are probably the ones with different personalities, while Luke is this cutie that falls for Julie almost immediately; Daniel is egocentric and cold at the beginning of the show. It takes a long time for him to warm up to Julie and is resentful against the world for what happened to them. He had a lot of character development during the season.

Pedro (Carlos) and Bia (Flynn) learn about the ghost right after Julie does. Pedro and Martim develop a friendship based on pranks and jokes.

Julie, Pedro and Bia are the only ones that can actually see the phantoms. Whenever they play in the band, they hide behind masks and keep the idea as a mystery to attract followers.

Julie and Thalita (Carrie) were also friends when they were younger. The reason their friendship didn’t lasted, was because Julie realized that Thalita was a bully that picked up on other girls. Julie cut out all communication with her, which Thalita didn’t took well and continued to antagonize her until they were teens.

The main difference is that Caleb doesn’t exist in this original version, there is an agent of the Ghost Police that looks for the boys because he is convinced they escaped the rules of death. They should have crossed over, but never did. There also some kind of ghostbuster that is looking for them.

 At the end of the first part of the season, the boy say goodbye to Julie because they are planning to cross over; however it is later revealed that the ghostbuster capture them. They manage to escape and return with Julie.

Daniel develops feelings for Julie in the second part of the season, Julie also starts liking him, but she also likes Nicolas who had been her crush for years. Nicolas and Julie start spending more time together after he broke up with Thalita, and he develops feelings for Julie. At the end of the show Julie ends up choosing Nicolas, because she had liked him longer and he makes this grand gesture for her at school. She has a talk with Daniel about what they feel, and they both decide to still be friends and continue with the band.

Some fun facts: The show was sponsored by Monster High, so you can see a lot of merchandise in the show; Julie even dresses up as Frankie Stein for a Halloween party. The show was super popular, earning nominations for Kids Awards in LATAM.

[melo-bees]

Snowy Escape

Summary: in which you and Coriolanus get away from the stress of the Capitol

Warnings: none! Just some good ol’ tooth rotting fluff!

A/N: sorry this took so long to get out! But I really enjoyed writing this!

The holidays were a busy time in the Capitol. Everyone decorated their houses extravagantly for each holiday, the streets were lit with Christmas lights and equally bright faces. It was a wonderful time really. Main Street was lit up for the approaching winter holidays. Shops with windows were adorned with Christmas trees and strings of ornaments.

Citizens wrapped up in overly warm coats waddled about the city with cheery rosy-cheeked grins. Holiday spirit was flowing through the entirety of the Capitol. It truly was magical.

But with holiday buzz strict deadlines also came. Especially for the President of Panem. Coriolanus Snow had been fond of the winter months and holidays when he was younger. Before the war the Snows used to decorate his family’s penthouse to be the most festive home on the block. They threw Christmas and New Year’s parties each year. And the gifts he received as a child were wonderful. After the war, though, the holidays were a cruel reminder of what he had lost. He no longer had a big family to celebrate with. Coriolanus’ cousin and grandmother were too poor to afford presents each year. They could no longer throw parties because of the constant risk someone would discover how poor the Snows truly were. So by his teenage years he had simply stopped celebrating the holidays all together. That was until he met *you*. You had always been full of light and love from the moment he met you, that’s one of the reasons he quickly married you. He couldn’t bear to lose such a bright life in his life. Then, during the holidays your spirits grew tenfold. Your first few Christmas’ together were magical. You had quite the obsession with decking out the manor with the most extraordinary decorations. In fact, there was a tree in almost every room. Coriolanus loved spending these moments with you but they became fewer and far between once he became President.

Your husband was swamped with work. Coriolanus barely left his desk. He hadn’t even let you in to decorate his office because he thought it would be too distracting and just couldn’t have that. This made your heart ache for your husband, you thought you had healed his perspective on the holidays. Now he sat shut up in his office each holiday.

After decorating one of the last rooms in the house you approached his office. You had enough of his attitude towards the holidays. You hated seeing him cooped up in a cold room by himself. So you brought up the issue with Coriolanus. Eventually, after a bit of talking he had come up with the idea of buying a nice cabin on the snowy outskirts of the Capitol.

It had been several years since the purchase of the cabin and you adored every moment you had spent there over the holidays. Now that it was the holiday season again, the two of you had packed your things for your annual two week getaway.

The drive up to the cabin was just as magical as spending time in it. The streets were covered with a canopy of snow-topped trees. Evergreen trees acted as protection from the busy Capitol life. You couldn’t take your eyes off the window. Your husband chuckled beside you.

“You know dear, you seem so fascinated by the woods, I might just have to leave you to the trees and take the cabin to myself.”

You turned to him with a cheery smile, a smile that always made his expression soften.

“You’d get lonely in the cabin all by yourself,” you said simply. Coriolanus smiled fondly back to you. He put an arm around your shoulder as the car ride continued.

“I suppose there’s some truth to that, sweetheart.” He pressed a kiss to the top of your head. You curled up next to him in the car, the drive was a peaceful one and you were grateful that you were lucky enough to spend this time with him.

The snow filled drive only took about two hours. It was late afternoon by the time you arrived at the cabin.

The cabin itself was beautiful and extravagant. It more of a log mansion than a cabin but Coriolanus wouldn’t settle for anything smaller. The front of the cabin had humongous windows facing the snowy woods. There was a steep driveway up to the front door which was being a pain to get up to at the moment. The driver hadn’t been able to pull the car all the way up and stopped in front of the driveway. Coriolanus grumbled under his breath beside you. You place a delicate hand on his shoulder and smiled. His expression relaxed.

“It’s alright, dear. We don’t have much to bring in anyways. The driveway is only a few feet long we’ll just bring everything up with us,” you suggested. Miraculously Coriolanus agreed to this plan. He made sure you were bundled up in your long winter coat before leaving the car. He even made you pull a pair of gloves and a hat on from one of the bags. You thought he was being silly until you stepped outside. The cold immediately nipped at your nose. A cold chill ran through your body. Coriolanus stepped out of the car and walked over to you. He wrapped an arm around your waist and met your eyes.

“You can go inside if you’d like. I can grab everything we need.” He tapped his fingers on his waist anxiously. Coriolanus hated seeing you in any sort of discomfort. You shook your head with a bright smile.

“I’m alright! We’ll just be quick about getting everything inside.”

Coriolanus looked you over with a slightly worried expression. He didn’t want you to get too cold. But after a moment or two he nodded and pressed his warm lips to your cold cheek.

“Alright dove, let’s grab our luggage and go inside.”

It only took about 3 trips to move all of your belongings from the car to inside the cabin. The cabin itself was chilly on the inside as well. You shivered and hugged your arms around yourself. Coriolanus noticed this and shed his coat, draping it around your shoulders with a quick kiss to your temple.

“Come sit on the couch, my love. I’ll get a fire going. You’ll be warm in no time,” he said as he gently looped his arm around yours and led you to sit on the plush velvet couch. You curled up in his coat and watched Coriolanus place wooden logs in the fireplace. It was different to see him doing so domestic. Usually the two of you would call for some kind of servant to light a fire but you didn’t have those luxuries here. You didn’t mind, though. In fact you found it endearing. Coriolanus struck a match and threw it into the fireplace, setting the logs ablaze slowly. He gently blew on the flame to coax the fire. After a minute or two a fairly healthy flame grew in the hearth. He stepped back and found his place beside you on the couch. Coriolanus wrapped a strong arm around you and his shoulders relaxed noticeably.

“Hello, sweetheart.” He whispered. He moved a gentle hand to tuck a stray piece of hair behind your ear. The gesture made your heart flutter as always.

“Hi, Coryo.” You whispered back to him, the nickname falling off your tongue effortlessly. Coriolanus smiled at his as well and nuzzled his semi-cold nose into your hair. You shivered with a light giggle and he enveloped you in his arms. He held you to his chest with a tight squeeze. You rested your head against his broad shoulders.

“I’ve missed you.” He whispered into your hairline. You tilted your head up to look at him through your eyelashes. You spoke teasingly and rubbed his chest.

“Well, I hope you missed me a lot because you’re going to be bound to me for the next two weeks. You might go insane.”

That brought a smile to his face and he nuzzled his nose against your hairline again. He chuckled and murmured.

“You drive me insane anyways.” This earned him a playful smack to the chest and you shook your head.

“Oh hush.”

The two of you stayed wrapped up in each other for a good few minutes. That’s until you turned your head to see the lonely Christmas tree standing tall in the living room. The two of you had just decided to leave it up all year long so safe the hassle of having to put it down before leaving the cabin. Although, the other decorations were missing. The cabin almost felt lonely.

Coriolanus must have noticed how you looked around and he tilted his head.

“Should we put the decorations now, love?”

Within a few hours the cabin was already more festive than it had ever been. (You couldn’t stop yourself from purchasing more decorations in the city before your arrival). The mantle and fireplace were decorated with stockings and faux holly covered in snow. The grand windows in the cabin were trimmed with the same snowy holly. Lights were wrapped around banisters tastefully and the tree was halfway done with being decorated. An old record was playing the background. Coriolanus had mentioned it was from before the war or something like that. You hung ornaments on the tree meticulously and swayed to the music. Coriolanus was working on the other side of the tree. Or at least that’s what you thought until a pair of warm hands landed on your waist. Warm lips found your shoulder. A light laugh left your mouth and you peeked over your shoulder. Coriolanus was standing over you and swaying a little. He reached for an ornament in your hand and set it to the side. You laughed again and raised an eyebrow.

“I was going to put that on the tree. You know, where it belongs?”

He hummed and shook his head. Coriolanus’ gentle hands turned you towards him. He pulled you away from the tree and to the center of the living room.

“Take a break for a moment, darling.” He said gently. He reached up and smoothed your hair back. You smiled and raised your eyebrows, your eyes meeting his icy blue ones. There was a playful glint in his eye.

“Take a break and do what?” You asked with a small hum.

“Dance, my darling. Dance.” He said quietly. He placed a hand on your hip and squeezed the hand he was already holding. You smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder in return and swayed with him. Coriolanus hummed to the music and pressed his forehead against yours. He closed his eyes and you closed yours in return.

“What’s this song called?” You asked softly.

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside, I believe. It sounds quite old doesn’t it?” He said and then went back to humming. You let out a light giggle and listened to his voice. You loved moments like this with him. These calm peaceful moments were the highlight of your life and you held them dearly to your heart. Moments like these made you fall in love with him all over again. He must have been thinking the same thing because he pressed a soft kiss to your cheek and muttered a soft ‘I love you’. He didn’t need to say the actual words for you to know though. You felt it in his touch. You saw it in his gaze and in his gentle smiles. Even so, you whispered back.

“I love you too.”

[stressedbisexualtm]

[< - LOTS OF WORDS - >]

trafficblr, hear me out on this:

We've all seen the idea that the life series are seasons, right? I normally see it like this: third life - winter, last life - spring, double life - summer, limited life - fall/autumn. But I think of it more like this: third life - fall, last life - winter, double life - spring, limited life - summer. Listen:

I think it would be more interesting (and true to the series) if third life was fall. The main reason people say third life is winter is of course because of the "RED WINTER IS COMING!" line, but the truth is, red winter was on its way. Red winter was coming, but first comes fall. People are more tight-knit in third life, always staying true to their real, solid, established alliance, and we see this all the way until the end of the series. It reminds me of fall, but I can't explain how. I feel like the visuals of the season match up, with the lighter greens and browns that cover most of the server, the stone of the Crastle and Dogwarts, and the tans and yellows of the desert. People are getting nervous, scared, and towards the end, more bloodthirsty than before. As the final battle of dogwarts begins, you can see the first snows of a very, very painful winter. Grian, being the winner, shares some of these traits. He's quick to judge and slow to make allies, unsure of who might betray who next. He does keep his closest ally with him until the very end, where they decide theyre going to win together no matter what. Grian, at the end, is tired of the nervousness and painful loyalty that comes with autumn. He is ready for winter to begin.

And so we move on to last life. Here, at last, is our red winter. Death is rampant and vicious here, our first red name appearing in only episode 2. Everyone is cold this season- when you're red, you're out. There are no true alliances or friends, though people tend to fall into patterns when they need to. The reds are much more bloodthirsty this season, being unable to contain themselves around anyone else (though we see our one or two exceptions). So by the time the canary falls, this season's fate is sealed in a bloodbath. No one who has made it this far is arguing that winter this year is red. This season was much more muted visually, the world being covered in dark greens, browns, and greys, as well as the snow covering a decent portion of the map (again, playing into the winter theme). Scott started the series warm, and while he never did get that bitter edge winter has, he was certainly ready to grow outward again into spring.

Double life. A brand new season, full of hope and expectancy, though that fades as time goes on (like things that only bloom in spring). It's new, it's exciting, and for some, it's full of love (as spring is typically seen). Things get intense, but there's always this air of excited mystery. Everyone has played at least one game before, so they know what to expect. Or they think they do, because at every turn there is something new. Secret soulmates? Why not! Leaving your soulmate and choosing someone else? Wonderful! FISHING A WARDEN TO DEATH?! Well, anything for the content.... Pearl, to me, also fits her season. She starts out excited to meet her soulmate, albeit a bit nervous, but she's turned away almost immediately. And, well, who could blame her if she cried? (After all, 'april showers bring may flowers', or whatever it was) She picks herself back up (a plant budding after its flower falls off) and makes it alone. She makes it to summer. And if, in the end, she learned how to plant her seeds, who was going to stop her?

And, well, limited life. Alliances, while having establishing members, are flimsy and easily remade. Everyone is wild, and spontaneous, and most people aren't really gunning to win anymore. There are go-getters, and nobody likes losing (they'd like winning even less..), but no one is playing as seriously as they were before. Everyone has played at least 2 games by now, most have played 3, and this time around dying doesn't even cost you a whole life! It only costs you 30 minutes, which out of 24 hours? Basically nothing until you hit red. Alliances shift with the wind, and not everyone is quite playing by the rules. In the end, Martyn wins. Martyn is... a wild card. He could be like summer, if he wanted to. He could be like spring, or fall, or winter. He's a traveler, a shifter, a knight, anything he needs to be. And if that doesn't go with the fluidity and changeability of this season, then I don't know who else could have won.

[numberonetacostan]

Thinking about the general public's opinion on ii, with how reality shows irl have a bit of a reputation for being not as real as they make themselves out to be, if the same is true for ii do the general public think of things like Taco's reveal in the s1 finale as a scripted plot twist or their visit to meeple in the last episode as some sort of tie-in? Hell the whole show could be seen as advertising for Meeple with how many Meeple products are in it and such Meeple seems like they were a pretty big company who too a bad hit in sales after 4 because of the whole shimmer thing making Mephone4 better than the others, albeit making the ceo of the company the main villain would be seen as odd, could just as well as be seen as something against Meeple, pretty sure had Cobs' made that new season it would have portrayed his company a lot better.

But yeah they could view it as another reality show that's all predetermined for drama and such, they've seen the contestants come back from what would probably kill a regular object so they probably didn't think much of the fight to the death and with things like Taco having been acting during s1 or Mic quitting being seen as plot points, I'm not exactly sure when the cameras were on and when they were off so I'm not sure if the audience would get to hear the "See, MePhone didn't just make the show. He made you." line or any of the stuff in hotel Oj (are there cameras there in the first place or is that somewhere they could just not be on TV for once idk)

Hi there!!!^^ Welcome, and thank you for your submission!!! :) ii from the perspective of the outside world is interesting to think about, and something I hope we'll get more on in the future!!!

First of all, I think it would be really interesting if the general public thought that Taco's betrayal was scripted, considering how much love she gets in the real ii random when her betrayal isn't. It would be neat if she was a super popular and beloved character in the outer world of ii like she is in our world, and that could have even neater impacts on her if she leaves the island. A bunch of other objects thinking one of the worst moments of her life was super dramatic and cool? Someone calling her their "blorbo"- which she does not know the meaning of? Absolutely fascinating.

As for the Meeple stuff being thought of as a tie-in by the general public, I absolutely see it. Although he's lying, Cobs specifically says that the fights are staged promotions to the contestants! I'm sure he'd say the same to anyone who raised concerns. And as for people potentially finding it odd for Cobs to be portrayed as the villain? Well, we see in The Future Is So Yesterday that the general public thinks he's shady, yeah? Him being the villain here would not only be a way to play off those suspicions as something out of a goofy reality show, but also cover up evidence of his wrongdoings. People searching up Cobs' misdeeds would get led to what he'd done in ii, in which he could easily say he was playing a character and it wasn't real. However, yes, Cobs' season would basically have been one big Meeple ad. Boo ads!!!!

The audience did not hear the "he made you" reveal or any of the stuff in the hotel, but regardless it's still a tad hard to judge whether or not ii would be viewed as likely scripted in-universe because we simply don't know a lot about the outer universe. Aliens could be well-documented, or a bizarre occurrence on ii. Cobs does mention the show being rather unbelievable, so it's tempting to take his word at that and likely that he is telling the truth here, that the things on the show are comparatively wild, but it's better to take his words with a grain of salt than not because he's like. The worst.