#Admiral Igor

[definesanity]

Round One Bluff

Food for thee; @the-blossica-fan, @ihaveforgortoomany & @hammerbonk.

You a gambling person?

No. >Yes.

Hah. Not surprising.

You've sat down at the table, and you can see the players there. That older gent is keeping a perfect poker face, familiar with this game; that lady is looking back and forth between you all and her cards, having not played in years; and that other one… well, they're smiling, happy that they're in for a third round already.

Tell me more about the man. Tell me more about the lady. >Tell me more about the 'other one'.

You know 'em. They've sat at this table twice before: once with three Texans, and the time before that was with that French girl and American guy back in San Francisco.

They're looking at their cards, smiling. Looks like they got a good hand.

>They could be bluffing.

Smart. They could be, even with how bad a round one bluff could be. But their eyes tell a different tale.

When they look at the lady, you can see pity in their eyes. As if they know her hand is awful. As for when they look at the man, there is a narrowing of their eyes, as if they know he holds all of the cards.

You, though? They just smile pleasantly. They think of you as a friend, someone they could trust, if only slightly.

Now, eyes on your cards, new gal; see if your hand is enough to match the rest of them.

>Complete.

[wildsunscorpion]

It's a crime how this beautiful man doesn't get talked about on this site. And I mean when I search "admiral igor reverse 1999" it yields literally nothing lmao. So let's yap about him, shall we.

The plot twist was so unexpected. It's probably just me, but by unexpected I mean I didn't believe it until I saw the phrase "the end" on the screen lmao. That's either because (a) I was too distracted by my intense attraction for this goddamn 2D character to give the story my full focus, or (b) the game just didn't give enough of a background on him for me to be able to predict his actions. And you know what? I think the latter is valid for a number of reasons.

Apart from the controversy surrounding the setting's inspiration for the chapter, my only other gripe with it was that the story felt a little rushed. And for a character like Igor, who's now become a major player in the story, that's super unfair. He didn't have as much introduction as he deserved, because I tell you those trails in chapters 6 and 7 weren't enough to fully unpack that whopping baggage he had. I guess the fact that you didn't really know much about his past other than how he's lost and grieved a lot of people was good enough to steer you away from thinking about his motivations. But Enigma also experienced loss and grief, but he had a sister who fought for the same cause and his fury towards Manus is too great to make him defect. But maybe that's just me heartbroken from Igor's betrayal *sobs*

Even if chapter 8's major themes were betrayal and loyalty, the whole story just felt all over the place, because somehow they also wanted to inject how poverty and being on the margin of society ultimately affect those decisions, but it's just really sloppily done. Or the pacing was just too fast and there was just too much happening all at once. Also not a fan of how they used water to go to places, like, it makes sense but it felt too much like the head writer just moving the characters' literal pawn pieces from one spot to another. Sotheby being eaten by a big fish was funny but kinda random. The plot thread of Duncan being Mr. Karson just came and went. Igor's betrayal was a little unwarranted, I think a little foreshadowing would have made more impact. And Anjo being an exploited succubus is another plot thread that felt kind of detached from the story's overall theme of betrayal and loyalty.

This kind of veered into a little rant, but I'm just a little upset that my fave mysterious emotionally constipated guy had to be in probably the least liked main story chapter in the game. It sucks.

[b-lossm]

After the first kiss

[arcane women hcs about your first kiss modern au! :P]

fem reader! [based on the faye webster song]

Vi

•It was her turn to plan the your third date, and since you have a deep relationship with music she decided to take you to the biggest record shop within reach

•okay that was a lie she drove out an hour to make sure you'd enjoy the two story shop

• the whole time she takes sneaky pictures of you, paying off a trustful worker to take polaroid's of you two, holding albums over your faces [double fantasy by john Lennon and such]

•Yes the worker was very surprised when a very masculine girl paid her 20 dollars and basically subtly demanded her to take polaroid's of her and her girlfriend but you two are so cute and 20 dollars is 20 dollars.

•the kiss didn't happen in that picture though, it happened in a nice little hidden corner of the store where you could play whichever vinyl you choose

•you chose Charm by Clairo because you didn't wanna ruin the moment with a rant about the symbolism in IGOR

•While Terrapin played in the background she leans into your side on the beanbag, chuckling about how around her you seem much shyer then anyone else she sees you with

•It then just... happened, you looked away while giggling she clocked you and then she softly scooted her face in closer and when you looked back, she was two-three inches away from your face, looking at your lips

•She then silently checks in on you twice to make sure you are okay with this, then leans in and softly kisses you, tasting your cherry lip balm you put on, that mixed with your slightly sweet lip gloss

•Afterwards she giggles on how you shy away from her and then pulls you close, Juna is playing now

•You tell her this song reminds you of her, and she tells you that Second Nature reminds her of you

•Suprsingly you lean in this time

•on the way home you can see notifications popping up from her sister reading "seriously??? shes your wife now?? your deep in lmaooo"

Caitlyn Kiramman

•She takes you to an Botanical Garden, makes sure that she brings you comfortable shoes because she knows your cute little sandals wouldn't last the walk she's made dozens of times before to admire the work and life around her

•She smiles as you excitedly gush about how beautiful everything is and how everything is so in harmony with each other

•Like Vi she makes sure to take plenty pictures of you

•She makes sure to take time to talk about the life and flowers you see around you, sitting with you and holding an umbrella for you so you can sketch in peace

•As you draw she explains how her and her mother used to come here growing up, how her mother never seemed as tense as she was at home when they where here together, how she was even having...fun?? epically when her dad was around.

•she peers over your sketchbook and realize your orchid drawings remind her of something LMAOOOOOO

•When you two start walking again she makes sure that your not tired or anything, sneaking a bit of your favorite small gummies in so you can keep your energy up

•Once lunch rolls around she tells you she got special seating for you two in a gazebo near a pond, where her family used to sit

•as you two get to the gazebo she insists she sits next too you, her reasoning is that she doesn't want to have a table between you two when you could be closer

•as you finish up eating you ask her what her favorite part was so far and she starts to ramble on about how she really admired you and how you looked surounded by plants, all of them being just the right color that complmented you

•She also rambled on about how your passionate about your art hobby that you wouldn't let the fact that you where on a date stop you from doodling

•Contrary to popular belief you actually didn't shut her up with a kiss, she turned over because she couldn't face you while saying all these things and realized that you where looking down so that your happy tears didn't mess up your makeup

•She then dabbed your tears away and giggled about how she didn't care about how you looked, she only cared about you

•She then leaned in and checked in and made sure that it was okay to kiss you, and then you did.

•Afterwards on the drive home she requested that the driver took you two straight to her place

•she snuck you in

•she was just so happy and grateful for you that she wanted you to sleep over [no you didn't sleep together like that]

•her mom did eventually walk in and quietly scolded her about bringing you here in secret, but eventually left and gave up about getting her to wake you up

•secretly you where awake the whole time, smiling softly about how she was defending you

Mel Medarda

•To feed into her creative side that she dismissed too often, you took her to a small art studio that hosts date nights.

•Because of her status you did have to rent out the place, but you didn't mind because she insisted on paying for this mystery place

•You also didn't mind because renting out the place meant you two got to do both painting and sculpting yay

•When it comes time to paint Mel sits down beside you and starts to tell you stories of her childhood as she paints

•her piece is beautiful, its a scene of the Piltover docs during around midday when everybody is out and about

•its clear that you and her have creative differences but you think that's a good thing, that you could teach her that its okay for everything to not be perfect,

•You can also see that she can teach you too be more intentional with your design, how to think and put immense emotion into your work more often then you do now.

•when its time to sculpt she's a little lost, the clay wont exactly bend to her will

•you show her how to control its form and how to turn it from a lump of earth into something more beautiful then that

•You guys end up making cute little matching keychains of something that reminds you of each other

•when cleaning up in their sinks she opens up and tells you that she was always worried about embracing her creative side her mother ushered her to hide

•in the spur of the moment you lean in for a quick peck and insist that she should paint more often

•you become a blushing puddle when you realize what you did and she chuckles confidently and leans in for a real kiss

•afterwards you head to your house to enjoy some much needed romcoms after what happened

•jokingly you suggest going paintballing after watching 10 things I hate about you, and surprisingly she agrees

•You smile, realizing that after the fourth date she's finally starting to really loosen up around you

Sevika

•Sevika takes you camping, she wanted to show off her strong suit, providing.

•She takes you to this campground away from the deserts and cityscape your used to, making sure that the Wifi is horrible so she can have you all to herself for a couple of days

•She makes sure to download your favorite playlists on her phone to make sure you still had your music though

•She also makes sure to cut and handle firewood because she knows how much you hate the feeling of raw bark and how your scared to get splinters

•Aside from worrying about animals getting into your things, Leaving your campsite is actually pretty nice

•The place she took you too has a creek running down it and she smiles as you gather small rocks and quartz pieces to take back to the campsite

•She teaches you how to skip rocks and does that thing where she holds your hand and shoulder while standing behind you to guide you

•While out on your little walk you see two deer, you make sure to be quiet as you approach but eventually they notice you and run away

•Since she's big and strong and intimidating, she automatically assumes its her fault but you reassure you that its just their natural instinct

•When you go back to your campsite Sevika teaches you how to make a spear out of a fallen tree branch you found [its extremely dull and wont hurt anyone though]

•at night you two cuddle near the fire, her big dramatic cloak keeping the two of you warm as she tells you stories of how she used to come out here after spending summers on her grandparents farm [farmer Sevika truther in the houseee]

•In her focus she talks about how she saw a pretty girl around her age here, she kind of looked like you, waaait

•yes it was infact you, you remember coming here and hating it because it was too cold

•You giggle and look away while mentioning how you two must be soulmates if you met all those years ago

•She then leans in for a kiss when you turn back and says that she doesn't joke about that kind of stuff

•Afterwards she looks away and lets out a huff, realizing, shit I'm down bad if I'm agreeing with this stupid shit

•You giggle at her obvious embarrassment and insist that its okay that you kissed

•That night she kissed all over your face because you where homesick, when asked about it she'll swear it never happened

•That night you realized that you didn't have too feel homesick around her anymore.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An: I hope you guys like this :P I hope I did Cait, Mel, and Sevika some justice because I never wrote for them before

I do plan on making these fics on their own :))

music i listened to while writing

Vi: Charm by Clairo [specifically Juna, Second Nature, Terrapin]

Cait: Blonde, Frank Ocean [specifically Ivy and Skyline To]

Mel: I THINK, Tyler, The Creator

Sevika: Kiss me, Sixpence non the richer

Song inspo for the title is: After The First Kiss, by Faye Webster

[lafiametta]

Just saw Anora and got so obsessed w Igor its not funny i need to see more posts about him 😭😭😭😭

Igor’s on such a journey and I love it.

Can you imagine: it’s your birthday and you get a call from the Armenian guy you work for to pick him up at a baptism so you both can check on his boss’s boss’s rich-ass useless son and see if he has or has not married a prostitute. You understand the job — look tough, provide a little muscle if the situation calls for it — and once it’s done you can go return your grandmother’s car from where you borrowed it and visit with her for an hour or so before maybe heading out for a lowkey night to celebrate.

Instead, the rich-ass useless son runs away and you end up having to make sure the girl he married — who takes great offense to being called a prostitute, by the way — doesn’t take off too, and because she won’t stop throwing things and hitting you in the face and screaming you don’t know what else to do except restrain her with a phone cord.

And then she bites you and breaks the Armenian’s nose even as you’ve got her in a hold on top of you.

It’s not exactly what Igor had in mind for the day, is all I’m saying.

As an audience, we also get our expectations turned on their head: Igor, who at first just seems like your standard Slavic hired goon, turns out to have a heart of gold, or at least a soft spot just big enough for a beautiful, foul-mouthed erotic dancer with an impressive left hook. (Although he’s no slouch either, considering how he wields that aluminum bat.) There’s something about her that he really likes, even from the beginning, and you can see him looking out for her and trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to make up for what he did to her back at the house.

I think he admires her brashness, and the way she’s determined to fight for the Cinderella dream that a life with Ivan promised her. In both the courtroom scene and on the tarmac with Ivan’s mother he secretly smiles as he listens to her argue and threaten, even against people far wealthier and more powerful.

(There also seems to be a class element, at least where her conflict with the Zakharovs are concerned. Igor probably doesn’t love the fact that he’s employed by these rich assholes and Ani saying that she’s going to take half their money has him silently cheering her on, because, yeah, fuck them. And when Galina Zakharov winks at him after threatening Ani’s whole existence, he has to look away in shame, because he still works for them, and they think that means they own him.)

I’d love to know when he decides to steal the ring from Toros. Maybe at some point on the plane, after he can see that part of her has given up. It’s a brilliant display of rebellion, made even better by the fact that he waits until the very last minute to give it to her. (Would we have heard all that shit about “hunchback weirdos” and “rape eyes” if he had surprised her with it the first moment they were alone? But Igor is secure enough to take all her insults, and probably likes the fact that she feels safe enough to keep roasting him again and again. “Touché, motherfucker?” she says, and all he can do is giggle.)

Which brings us to the car scene.

The ring is an act of atonement, something to make up for what she’s been through over the past two days — some of which he knows he’s responsible for — and one last fuck you to the family that humiliated her. Igor thinks he’s evening the score before he says goodbye, not realizing that Ani sees it as a gesture she needs to pay back to keep feeling like she’s in control. So she gives him what she thinks he wants — what all men want from her.

Igor’s an adaptive, street-smart guy, but he wasn’t prepared for what she ends up doing. He doesn’t resist, though, taking initiative only once she’s fully on top of him and then just to take her face in his hands. Does some part of him know this is transactional? Does some part of him want it to be real the way Ani wanted Ivan to be real? He wants to pretend at least, and tries to kiss her, only for Ani it’s too real, too much, and she’ll fight to make it stop, like she fights for so many things in her life. But the emotions bubble up anyway, and even through the haze of sex Igor can see she’s in pain, so he pulls her in close and lets her cry, steady and silent as the sobs wrack her body like waves.

It’s a scene that neatly mirrors the one from the living room — him holding her as she’s on top of him — now cast as an expression of vulnerability and care rather than fear and aggression. He’s always been strong enough to hold her, but it’s only at the very end that Ani is willing to be held.

[maxillness]

🇩🇪 || Soft Launch || Hamilton!Driver!Reader x Retired!NR6

Summary: The second Red Bull driver soft launches her boyfriend

Warnings: Not much besides a little fighting between reader and Lewis

A/N: First time doing a smau, so any feedback is appreciated

Liked by lewishamilton and 973,782 others

ynhamilton Nothing like spending the summer break with the boyfriend and his kids

lewishamilton I'm sorry??

user The fact she's just igored lewis 😭

danielricciardo You're cheating on me? ☹️

maxverstappen1 Ha.

redbullracing We've told you to be nice, Max

user Red Bull's admin needs a raise

charles_leclerc Why's no one asking who he is?

ynhamilton 🤫

charles_leclerc Now you're just being mean

Liked by danielricciardo and 974,729 others

ynhamilton You don't realise how much stuff you have until you move, but I got breakfast in bed, so that's good 😋

danielricciardo Girl, spill the goods, who's this lucky man?

ynhamilton Nice try, badger

danielricciardo Worth a shot

lewishamilton I won't speak to you until you tell me who he is

ynhamilton Dramatic

mercedesamgf1 Tell me so i can rub it in Lewis' face?

ynhamilton Are there more muffins?

mercedesamgf1 I think so

ynhamilton You got yourself a deal

georgerussell63 Not fair

Tagged nicorosberg

Liked by nicorosberg, greentech_festival and 973,983 others

ynhamilton went to @/greentechfestival and met my biggest fan 💪

nicorosberg Pleasure to meet you ma'am

ynhamilton Dumbass

danielricciardo Doesn't seem to be a lot of people there 🤔

ynhamilton Stayed late 😉

user Suspicious...

user Is it just me, or does her boyfriend kinda look like Nico?

user WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING

Tagged ynhamilton

Liked by ynhamilton and 2,784,025 other

nicorosberg Remind me to never test drive with her again

ynhamilton Why so rude? I was a good passenger princess

nicorosberg Yeah, AFTER you made me buy you coffee

ynhamilton I'm just a girl 😋

user Haven't yn and Nico spend a little too much time together recently?

danielricciardo Way too much

ynhamilton I'll break up with you

danielricciardo Girl, you cheated on me

Tagged nicorosberg

Liked by nicorosberg and 973,794 others

ynhamilton I'm pretty sure he was high

nicorosberg I was not high, tf?

ynhamilton Whatever you say, princess

user Context for the first picture?

ynhamilton Turns out, it's very easy to bribe kids to bully their father

user Girl... 💀

user It's kinds sus that Nico's always the first one to like her photos, no?

user He's a simp, you can see it in the interviews

ynhamilton He's just a girl ✨🎀

Tagged lewishamilton, mercedesamgf1, silverstonecircuit

Liked by mercedesamgf1 and 975,783 others

ynhamilton How to get your brother to talk to you without telling him who your boyfriend is, no glue, no borax?

danielricciardo Tell me who he is so i can tell him

ynhamilton You really are stupid

georgerussell Kick him in the nuts and threatened him

ynhamilton You're kinda scaring me, George

mercedesamgf1 I'll talk to him

ynhamilton Thank you, baby 😘

Tagged redbullracing, maxverstappen1, nicorosberg, danielricciardo

LIked by nicorosberg, redbullracing and 976,873 others

ynhamilton Couldn't have won today without my bestfriends beside me... and daniel of course

danielricciardo ...

maxverstappen1 I'm just more important. Ha.

redbullracing Max.

nicorosberg Congrats, schatzi 🏆

user suspicious 🤔

Tagged nicorosberg

Liked by nicorosberg and 978,983 others

ynhamilton Don't mind me, just admiring the beauty of my boyfriend... pleasetalktomeagainlewis

lewishamilton I was gonna talk to you again when i read the caption, then I saw the pictures, and I said fuck no

ynhamilton Bitch please, you're just jealous

mercedesamgf1 He's crying in a corner

nicorosberg I thought we agreed to make it official on our anniversary next month??

ynhamilton You know i'm impatience

danielricciardo Why am i not surprised...?

jensonbutton Because it's... obvious? Have you seen him when he talks about her?

nicorosberg Mean.

jensonbutton Simp

user I FUCKING KNEW IT

user Mami y papi

user When's the wedding??

ynhamilton Don't get ahead of yourself darling

[olvanne]

When Igor tells her the car was his grandmother’s, she sees someone who is, and has been, kind to her - unlike most of the men in her life: the men at the club, the ones who use and take. Ivan, with his deception and abandonment. Toros, speaking of her like she was nothing. The henchmen, treating her like property. Galina, though she’s not a man, and her demeaning dismissals.

She feels some sort of sadness in that moment, but also, and more strongly, gratitude. She doesn’t transactionally repay him for the ring, but wants to genuinely thank him. She uses the only thing she’s been made to believe she has to offer - her beauty, her body, her sexuality - to thank him.

(This turning point occurs when he mentions that the car was his grandmother’s. Earlier, we see interactions that highlight how the men she’s met disregard their family. The client in the beginning that hopes his family doesn’t find out he’s with her, and her friend talks about a client who compares her to his 18-year-old daughter; Ivan marrying a “hooker” just to piss his family off. When Ivan mentions meeting her family, Anora only mentions her mother and sister—no mention of her father.

Perhaps Igor is just too poor to have afforded his own car. But the way he said it was his grandmother’s, you sense the affection he holds for his grandmothers and that he misses her. These interactions contrast with Igor, who isn’t like the others. His gentleness stands out, and Anora recognizes it. She admires this about him deeply. So she doesn’t just want to thank him (although this is the main reason); she also wants to do something for someone whose gentleness and kindness she deeply appreciates.)

But when Igor tries to kiss her, something shifts. He doesn’t just want to enjoy some sex with a pretty woman. In that moment, Anora sees someone who truly wants her, someone who feels something for her. Whether that something is genuine care, a recognition of what she’s been forced to endure, or sorrow at the humiliation and pain she has suffered. Maybe, from the kiss, there’s something else too—maybe he feels for her in a way that’s deeper, something close to tenderness.

After everything, after the relentless sexualization and dehumanization—not just in the past day by Ivan, the family, the family’s henchmen, but throughout her entire career—having someone who sees her as more than that, who cares, who sees her pain and feel sorry for her - is overwhelming. She breaks down.

But in that breaking, there’s also something else—comfort. The safety to let herself unravel, to let her emotions spill out, to exist beyond the role she has always been forced to play. Not to smile, not to move and speak seductively, but to cry. To finally express the hopelessness and pain in her soul in front of someone who isn’t expecting her to perform.

- my own interpretation of the ending

[caapsart]

are you kidding me with that ani & her gopnik illustration!! so cool dude. i’d love to see more Anora art from you. love love love your style <3

sure! many thanks for requesting!

how about igor politely taking pics of anora because obviously she needs a content for her insta? and her pics are giving so much serving cunt energy he becomes vocal about it?

“admiration cursing can be heard in a distance”

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: The Classical Period

The Classical Period of music - an era that lasted from approximately 1730 to 1820, although variations on it extended well into the middle of the 19th century.

Classical period composers and performers came from Europe, but it did not take long for the music to find its way to European colonies around the globe.

Many composers and musicians were based in the Austrian capital of Vienna, which was the musical center of Europe during the time period.

Musicologists and casual music fans use the general term "classical music" to describe the work of composers ranging from J.S. Bach to Igor Stravinsky to Philip Glass. The Classical period, though, is a specific era in music history that spanned much of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Characteristics of Classical Period Music

Important forms of the Classical period include the string quartet, opera (including opera buffa and opera seria), trio sonata, symphony (traditionally written in sonata form), string quartet, and solo concertos for a variety of instruments. These musical forms have several elements in common.

Simplicity: Compared to the Baroque period music that preceded it, Classical period music places greater emphasis on simplicity, tonal harmony, single-line melodies, and enlarged ensembles. Unlike the extravagant melodies and ornamentations of high Baroque music, the new style of music framed somewhat simple melodies and buttressed them with large ensembles. Melodies could be appropriated from folk music and arranged to produce musical development with various modulations in tonality, tempo, and dynamics. This trend would only expand during the Romantic period, which followed the Classical era.

Classicism: The beginning and middle of the eighteenth century showed a surge in a stylistic movement known as Classicism, whose adherents revered Classical antiquity, including the works of early fifth-century Greek artists and the architecture of Classical Greece. Admiration for the art of Classical antiquity manifested in the musical taste of the eighteenth-century Classical era. The standard musical forms that dominated the musical compositions of the Classical period aimed to embrace order, simplicity, strength, and a celebration of humanity—all of which aligned with a reverence for Classical Greece.

Increased accessibility: During the Classical period, many composers still worked in the courts of aristocrats, but public concerts were commonplace throughout Europe, which allowed members of the middle classes to partake in the musical forms. This made Classical era music somewhat more egalitarian than much of Baroque music, which was often presented as chamber music exclusively for upper-class audiences.

Instruments of the Classical Period

During the Classical period in music history, the piano overtook the harpsichord and organ as the primary keyboard instrument. Other musical instruments prominently featured in the new musical style included:

violin

viola

cello

double bass

flute

clarinet

oboe

bassoon

French horn

trumpet

trombone

timpani

Composers of the Classical Period

Vienna was the epicenter of European Classical music, and the composers who worked out of Vienna were sometimes referred to as members of the Viennese school.

Great composers of the Viennese school included Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, and Ludwig van Beethoven, all of whom are foundational to the Classical period of music (although Beethoven's later works are commonly linked to the Romantic era).

Other famous composers of the period included Johann Christian Bach, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Antonio Salieri, and Muzio Clementi.

Classical era music followed the late Baroque period of music.

It maintained many styles of the Baroque tradition but placed new emphasis on elegance and simplicity (as opposed to Baroque music’s grandiosity and complexity) in both choral music and instrumental music.

It was followed by the Romantic period.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[bettsfic]

How did you feel about anora? 👀 I absolutely loved it but there's so many haters, especially on Tumblr, to where I felt like I watched a completely different film from them. I'm really glad I watched it before the majority got to it because I feel like seeing all those takes first would have really ruined it for me.

i loved it. as soon as i've sent this next revision of my novel off for feedback i'm going to finish my first kiss fic, which will be CUTE and FLUFFY and not EMOTIONALLY HARROWING i swear.

when i first watched anora, i noticed a lot of comparisons between it and my own writing (in terms of character, plot, aesthetic), so i can kind of get a sense why people don't like it based on the same reasons people don't vibe with my writing. namely, the extremely wide tonal range. many people are made uncomfortable by stories that bounce around between comedy and tragedy and realism and surrealism and absurdism. not to mention that the sex scenes are not heightened into eroticism, they're just like any other scene, except the characters are naked. people generally like for sex scenes to be bookmarked by a tonal shift into "this is a special and important scene." that is, if they can handle sex scenes at all. not to mention ani doesn't feel any shame about her profession. that's just not a conflict she has. a lot of people want sex work stories to have an element of shame in them. thankfully sean baker was like, nah.

to me, anora is a very asexual movie. i have an entire short story collection about asexual sex stories, and that collection didn't sell i think because a lot of people aren't ready for asexual sex, and don't even know that's what they're looking at. anora is a movie where sex is ultimately meaningless as sex -- it's only a vehicle for character and conflict. for ani, sex and money and self-worth are all tangled up together, and that's what creates the conflict. not to mention, it's a funny movie but the sex and sex work isn't what we're laughing at.

i would argue she's not physically attracted to vanya; she, like many women who probably never got to be kids, romanticizes boyishness, playfulness and whimsy and freedom from consequences. i feel like she's not driven to be with vanya as much as she is to live his life, to become like him. their sex isn't intimate or intense; it's playful and even fairly innocent. at one point she even says to him, if you go slow it feels better/you'll last longer (i forget the exact line), because vanya is only ever chasing the most intense pleasure, even if it's extremely short-lived, because he knows he has an infinite supply of it.

meanwhile in the back half of the movie, we get to witness ani from igor's perspective. we're not watching ani watching vanya; we're watching igor watching ani and becoming enamored with her the same way she became enamored with vanya. the only difference is that i think igor admires and even adores ani for who she is. unlike everyone else, ani isn't putting on a show for him, in fact she pushes him away repeatedly. he's seeing her real colors.

and that last scene is what elevated the film for me from "wow i really loved this" to "holy SHIT." the whole movie, ani is so tough and strong. and that's a front but it's also carefully measured. she never gives any of her emotions off to other people. or rather, her battles. she fights all of them on her own all the time and doesn't trust anyone else to fight with her.

so when she sees igor's interest, she refuses to take the offer as its presented, with earnestness and respect. instead of giving in, she fights it by going, yeah yeah i see you think you like me but i promise you only want to fuck me, so to push him away even further she goes to have sex with him. but she won't kiss him, because that's what'll give her away. and then she breaks down and lets him comfort her, and we see this whole movie isn't about how strong ani is, but how lonely and lost she is. she's a woman who's never known love without concession, who's never known freedom or girlhood, who's never trusted anyone to have her best interests at heart.

anora is a story that's about sex but not about attraction. it's a story about a woman but it's not about the strength of womanhood. it's a story that's laugh-out-loud funny in equal measure to its profound tragedy.

i don't know all the discourse and i'm not really interested to see the reasons for hating it, but my bet is that some viewers were made very uncomfortable by this film and can't fully articulate why, but instead of sitting with that discomfort they reject it and label it a bad movie for whatever reasons they manage to rationalize.

i get it, there are some people who just dislike this movie. i get why someone would watch it and go "this isn't for me" because i get why people read my writing and go "this isn't for me." but i also think any criticism based on lofty ideals of "should" and "should not" might just be rejecting something they don't really understand.

[detective-pancake]

Quick rant about Akiren, because I see many different interpretations of him (some I agree with, some I don't) but one that I don't see very often is this.

Yes, he loves his friends and cares for them. But imagine this- his home life was very uneventful, and considering how his family doesn't bother to reach out after his arrest, I'd imagine they see him as a lost cause. They gave up, or his worth is conditional. They love him conditionally. Being raised like that affects you as a person, and I like to imagine that after Igor told him that he now has to fill the role of a hero preventing ruin, and his bonds with people give him the strength he needs to do so, he embraces it. He embraces feeling important and valued, being admired, being the protagonist. Suddenly he has the world on his shoulders, and these people look up to him and admire and love him for it. Every dialogue response he chooses is his own thoughts, but he chooses what gives him more points. What people want to hear. He helps people so they look up to him, because he loves the attention and filling the role of the hero.

Especially since he's not very expressive, and he's nominated as the leader just because he fills the role the best. He embraces attention but he rejects vulnerability. It really feels like he cares for the image of a leader. It takes him a long time to see his role as anything other than the hero he loves being. I would say around Futaba's palace is when he starts to truly care for the Thieves, which is why by the Casino arc he chooses to protect their identities and risk his lives for them. He does eventually come to care for them, but he's supposed to be a leader. He's important suddenly. Playing the leader is selfish, but as the same time, as the leader he doesn't GET to be selfish. Playing the hero means he has to be empathetic, and that's where the selfishness lies. The intentions. Only once he risks his life for them does his true heroism shine. It's not about people relying on him, it's about him protecting them.

It's even better because after Futaba's palace when he fully starts to care, Morgana leaves and their decision to save Morgana is purely because they value their team. Morgana is his friend, so they must protect him. It's not a prerequisite of heroism to put aside their goals for Morgana.

And this interpretation makes 2/2 even more interesting, because he's given the opportunity to get the one thing he wished for. He can make the selfish choice. Doing so would give up not only his hero role, but also would betray and abandon everyone he cares about. 2/2 is like a checkpoint where he remembers how the Thieves formed and how at some point, his priorities shifted from being the protagonist and hero admired by all, to wanting to protect the people close to him. He has to reconcile with why. He has to think "It's not about me being selfish for once by taking Maruki's deal, it's about the fact that I care for these people and I don't want to hurt and betray them."

So yeah, I love this interpretation of Akiren Kurumiya and I would love to see more of this, please and thank you.

[cobaltperun]

Lost (22) - So Far Away

Tara Carpenter x female Reader

Summary: To anyone on the outside, and to Tara’s friends, you were Tara’s fierce protector, the MMA fighter who’d take anyone on for Tara. The Guard Dog, as Amber called you. You had no idea you’d have to protect her from people who claimed they loved her. It didn’t matter. As long as you and Tara had one another there was nothing you wouldn’t be able to survive.

Story warnings: Scream violence, family issues, trauma, angst, certain sensitive topics

Word count: 4.5k

Story masterlist / First part / Previous part / Next part

-I have so much to say but you're so far away-

The room he sat in was the last place he’d associate with the woman who owned this apartment. The walls were hidden behind shelves, filled to the brim with books. Books in English, Russian and German, he guessed, ranging from classics to modern literature, from massive encyclopedia to magazines, and there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere near them. The last time he saw the woman she was fifteen and so stuck in her martial arts training he doubted she ever touched a book. Perhaps he was, as a twelve-year-old in awe of her, simply mistaken. The room had a vintage feel to it, with heavy table in the middle of it, and two tall armchairs on each side. The chandelier above him didn’t seem like it was often used, instead it was there more for aesthetics, instead, he believed the lamp on the table was used for reading during the nights. The woman lived alone, after a brief marriage that ended in a divorce, and he didn’t really know the details of her relationship.

There weren’t many people who intimidated him. Sidney Prescott did, with her refusal to be defeated by one of the Ghostfaces despite already being past her prime. Samantha Carpenter did as well, her brutality against Richie Kirsch and his father a year later was frightening. His cousin frightened him even more.

Anya Golubeva lost her title when she fought against you, but she regained it right away and considering you were forced to retire, she reigned supreme for the next three years, until she went and retired, now, at thirty-seven, she was still a formidable fighter. She would be the counter to you, a fighter that spent even more time training, a fighter that nearly defeated you, because that match could have gone either way. Thomas made a mistake, he made you angry, he got cocky, she wouldn’t, because she knew exactly what you were capable of.

“So, cousin, what brings you to me?” Anya walked through the door, holding a tray with two cups of coffee. “This far from home?” she sat down, at ease in her home, at ease because there truly wasn’t much that could hurt her.

Cousins… Yet he was nothing like her. Despite his admiration for her, Igor wasn’t a good fighter, he had no talent for martial arts, or sports in general, he didn’t have the dedication needed to overcome the lack of talent either. No, he wasn’t the best fighter, but he had other skills, he was a good hunter, resilient, good with knife and various guns, and, if he could say so himself, he was conventionally good looking, dark hair and blue eyes, in good shape. He could have been so many things, he could have had so many different interests, but in his youth he, much like Richie Kirsch and Amber Freeman, and many before and after them, developed a fascination with Stab franchise, and, more importantly, with Ghostface.

“I,” he hunched a bit, making himself seem smaller, trying to remind Anya of how he was as a child. She used to protect him when they were really young, before his parents moved and he had to transfer to another school, he hoped she would still have that instinct to protect her family. “got into trouble,” he spoke slowly, regretfully, just for a moment glancing up to meet her eyes and then immediately looking down. “With a cult, and now I don’t know how to get out,” there, he said it. He also believed he was an acceptable actor, capable of fooling people.

He heard Anya lowering her cup and leaning forward. “What cult?” she sounded more concerned than anything. Family was always important to her. That was why he was certain he could get her to help him and the cult. If she believed she was doing it to save him then he had a chance to convince her.

Instead of telling her anything, he pulled out the mask with a bear painted on the side. His Ghostface mask.

“Ghostface?” her eyes widened as she watched the mask. “Why? You’re neither young nor stupid?” she demanded, so forcefully he genuinely flinched at her tone.

“I didn’t realize they were serious, I swear! I thought they’d stop after Richie and Amber got killed, but they didn’t! At that point it was too late to back out, they knew me, they’d kill me!” he exclaimed, frantically grabbing the mask and shoving it back into his bag. He moved as if he was about to leave, as if he gave up on her.

“Fine, fine, settle down,” Anya calmed down first, and now she once again looked more concerned than anything else. That got him to sit back down, and he had to cover his face, pretending to clutch his head in desperation to hide the small smirk he couldn’t suppress. “What changed now?”

He dropped his hands, his expression the perfect mask of desperation. “If you can help me get rid of one person I can walk away,” knowing how it sounded he quickly raised his hands. “No one will know it was us! Please, it’s either her or me!”

She remained silent, and he just hoped this would work out, that Anya would be willing to at least hold you back enough for someone to finish you off if she didn’t want to actually kill you.

“Who is it?” she asked after several long, dreadful minutes.

“Y/N L/N,” Igor said, and her eyes narrowed. For a moment he feared she’d reject him, but instead, she nodded. Perhaps the sting of loss caused resentment toward you. Or perhaps it didn’t matter who it was, as long as she thought she was doing it to protect a member of her family.

~X~

No one knew where you were.

No one knew where you were.

No one knew where you were.

Those words repeated in Tara’s mind as she stared at the wall in front of her. She didn’t say a single word since Danny gave in and told her what he knew.

Sam being involved shook her, but somehow she decided she would deal with that later, you on the other hand… You were gone. No one knew if you were alive, or if you were hurt, or who had you. No, that was obvious. Ghostface had you. She barely registered a glass of milk and a plate filled with pancakes being set down on the coffee table next to her. They smelled nice, but the smell only reminded her of you not being by her side.

“Tara, you need to eat, for your baby if not for yourself,” Danny crouched next to her, likely trying to get her to look at him. And she did, for a brief moment she did look at him, and she saw the apology in his eyes.

Pancakes. Of course he went with that. It didn’t take long for anyone to find out how often you made them for Tara. They were her comfort meal, a meal she didn’t feel bad to ask for while you were kids, the first meal you made after you two got together, and then again and again, every time exactly how Tara loved them.

Danny knew how to cook, definitely better than Sam, but not as well as you did. You did work as a cook back in Woodsboro for almost two and a half years, so it wasn’t really fair to compare him with you. She still nodded, picking up the plate and began eating more out of obligation to your child than anything else. She barely ate two pancakes when her phone buzzed, signaling she got a message.

Tara frowned and saw it was a photo, and then her eyes widened, and she dropped her fork, and she had no idea how she didn’t immediately throw up the pancakes she managed to eat. “Danny!” she yelled, making him run back into the living room.

“What?!” he frantically looked around for an intruder, but Tara just got up and showed him the message she got. It was a photo, of a muscular woman whose face was covered by a Ghostface mask tied to a chair. “Is that Y/N?” his voice wavered a bit, as he spoke what went through Tara’s head when she saw the photo.

A moment later an address popped up and Tara grabbed her jacket ready to leave right then and there, consequences be damned she’d get to you. She needed to see you. She needed to be with you.

She needed to help you.

“Wait, we need to call Kirby,” Danny grasped Tara’s forearm just firmly enough to keep her from leaving.

“I need to get to Y/N!” she shouted, yanking her arm away from him.

“We don’t know when the photo was taken! It’s an obvious trap, Tara!” he argued back, this time choosing to step between her and the doors.

“I don’t care, she might be there!” she knew she was being unreasonable, that you’d berate her if you knew she was willing to just walk into such an obvious trap, but she knew you’d do the exact same thing. No, not only that. If the positions were switched, you would have went to Kirby demanding information so you could start looking for Tara. Even if it meant rushing into whatever location Kirby managed to connect with the cult.

Luckily, Danny understood her by now. “We’ll go, okay? But we need to call Kirby first, in case we need a back-up,” she could work with that.

So, she sent the photo to Kirby as Danny set up a Zoom call and while they waited for Kirby to join it, Tara just looked at the photo.

Finally, Kirby joined them. “Hey, Tara, Danny. Tara, I’m sorry we kept these things from you,” Kirby opened with that, but Tara shook her head, there’d be time for that conversation later. She could complain and be annoyed later, once you were back by her side, once she could make up for the time the two of you spent separated, then she could deal with her friends keeping her in the dark.

“Can you do anything?” Danny asked.

“Not much, but the address does match a warehouse near the harbor,” she said, sharing her screen and showing the map as well as some photos of the warehouse. It was old, clearly not in use anymore and abandoned until the cult decided to start using it.

“It’s not Y/N,” Tara suddenly declared. “It’s not her, I know it isn’t her,” she knew it, even if three weeks passed, this wasn’t you. Ghostface would taunt her with your face, or at least show a scar so she wouldn’t have any way to doubt it was you. And the woman wasn’t as muscular as you, she was muscular, no doubt about that, but not as much as you. So, no, it wasn’t you.

She was still going to walk right into that warehouse, because there was a chance someone there knew where you were, and she’d never forgive herself if she let this opportunity go. If she had to go alone, she would,

“Tara, listen to me, you’re pregnant, don’t get both of you killed by being reckless,” Kirby told her, but Tara was already getting up.

“Either come and help, or don’t do anything, but I’m not waiting here for someone to tell me what’s going on. You’ve already proven you won’t tell me anything anyway,” she snapped, glaring back at the screen before putting her jacket on and grabbing the biggest knife Danny had.

“Shit! Tara, wait!” she heard Danny running after her, but she didn’t slow down, she just glanced back, saw that he also had a knife and smiled appreciatively at him. “Well,” he shrugged. “I can’t let you go alone,” he said.

~X~

The warehouse was abandoned a long time ago, the windows were broken, glass was everywhere, and there was a lot of dust. So much, in fact, that Tara coughed a few times when they stepped inside. There were a few exits, through the windows, though that would likely be very painful unless they could open the window before jumping through. The doors they just came through and there were two sets of stairs leading to the first floor, that might give them a chance to maneuver if needed.

“There’s nothing here,” Danny said as the two of them looked around, for clues, for any sign of presence, for anything really. All they saw was the chair the person on the photo was tied to. The fact that the chair was whole was just another proof to Tara that you weren’t on the photo. If you were, and if you were untied, you would have fought back, and that chair would have been at least damaged if not in pieces and stained with blood of your captors.

They heard them before they saw them. The boots stepping on the shattered glass, steps indicating there were at least two people with them. Tara pulled her knife out and turned around, pointing it toward Ghostfaces.

“Where is Y/N?” she demanded, for the first time coming face to face with the redesigned Ghostface, the robes were the same, the mask was almost the same. These two had animals painted on the side of the mask. One had a bull, the other and elephant. A way to differentiate each other now that there were so many of them. At least the entire cult didn’t come to greet her.

And Sam somehow got involved with them. For how long? Why didn’t Sam just come to her? She’d get those answers eventually, she needed to focus on here and now.

The one with a bull just tilted his head to the side, as if feigning confusion. The two remained silent, slowly approaching her and Danny.

“We’d rather avoid a fight, just tell the lady what she wants to know,” Danny warned them, stepping in front of Tara and she had to admit, he did look imposing, even with two Ghostfaces coming closer and closer.

One of them lunged forward, aiming to stab Danny, but he clashed his own knife against the Ghostface’s blade and closed the distance to land a good punch to the side of Ghostface’s head. Tara’s eyes widened slightly, she knew you and Danny often sparred, but she didn’t realize Danny could hold his own outside of sparring. And he was proving he could hold his own, as he went for the neck with his knife, after all, they needed just one Ghostface alive.

But he stopped, his hand shaking as if he just realized what he was about to do. Tara jumped in, ready to finish the job he clearly couldn’t while the Ghostface was still dazed from the punch. She managed to stab the Ghostface’s chest and stomach, before the other could step in. She pulled away, knowing better than to stay in one place for long as the other Ghostface, the one with the bull painted on the mask pulled his partner back and engaged Danny in combat.

Danny deflected and dodged several stabs, but he struggled to find another opening to land a hit himself. Finally, he got an opportunity to kick the Ghostface away just as the one Tara stabbed was getting ready to jump back in.

“Run!” Danny exclaimed, ushering Tara toward the stairs. They were out in the open, and there was a good chance someone else was in the building with them, so staying in the middle of an open space wasn’t the best option for them. Not right now. And… a small part of both of them, hoped that maybe, just maybe, you were held here despite not being on the photo.

Tara took off, running for the stairs with Danny right behind her as the Ghostface duo chased after them. Though risky, the moment Ghostface duo began climbing up the stairs, Danny abruptly stopped and slammed body first into one of them, sending them down the stairs and just barely managing to stay on his feet. He grunted though, and Tara could see the handle of the knife sticking from his side.

“Shit!” she exclaimed and stopped, ready to go back down for him.

“Keep going!” he began running again, pushing through the pain and Tara could see the determination in his eyes. “I’m going to yell at Sam when she comes back. If she was here we could have easily taken these two,” he complained jokingly, mostly to reassure Tara.

Tara nodded, seeing through him, but still appreciating the gesture.

They reached the top of the stairs and realized every door was locked. The only way out was back down, and the Ghostface duo split to cover each side of the stairs.

Tara looked at Danny and then looked toward the Ghostface she stabbed. She’d handle that one. So, they waited as the Ghostface duo began slowly climbing toward them, they stood, back to back, ready to fight the two.

And it ended so quickly Tara barely registered what was happening. Danny took initiative, attacking the one with bull on the mask. He ducked under the blade, grabbed the Ghostface’s leg and pushed him down to the ground, grappling the way you usually did when you were in a rush. This time he didn’t hesitate, and stabbed his knife through the Ghostface’s chest several times.

Tara on the other hand clashed her knife against Ghostface’s, she stepped to the side, slicing quickly and managing to cut through the robe, but not through the flesh of Ghostface’s arm. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Ghostface swinging his arm toward her head and just barely managed to grab and stop it from hitting her. Thinking fast she lifted her leg, kicking Ghostface between the legs. Ghostface grunted, but didn’t fall to his knees, instead he tried to stab her again.

Tara dodged the blade, but hit the wall and in her daze she couldn’t move out of the way. She could only put her arms between her attacker and her stomach. The knife never came though, as a gasp came from Ghostface in front of her. She opened her eyes and saw a knife sticking out of the Ghostface’s neck, courtesy of Danny. Both Ghostfaces were dead, both killed by Danny.

“Damn,” he took a step back, letting the dead Ghostface fall to the ground. “Guess we’ll have to find clues some other way,” he said making Tara nod.

“Thanks, let’s get out of here,” she wasn’t any closer to finding you, but two enemies were dead.

Danny nodded and the two of them began walking to the doors, carefully watching for any movement.

A loud sound pierced the silence, pierced right through the illusion of safety and Tara’s eyes widened when she saw blood staining Danny’s shirt. She watched in horror as he looked down, shakily touching the red spot just below his chest that was growing larger with every second. “Danny!” Tara cried out, somehow managing to catch him before he fell to the ground. There was too much blood, as hard as she tried, as much as she pressed her palms against the wound, she couldn’t stop the bleeding and his breathing was getting shallow. “Stay awake, you hear me! Come on, you need to yell at Sam for leaving, remember?”

He chuckled a bit at that. “I’ll leave that to you,” he said and moved her hands away. “They hit my liver,” the blood, the bullet going through it, the stab wound, Tara just sat back, tears streaming down her face. There was nothing she could do. Even if she could call an ambulance, they likely wouldn’t make it in time.

Not that it mattered. Footsteps came from behind her, and she turned around just in time to see three Ghostfaces approaching her. Three marks, bear, fish, and monkey, and the one with bear on the mask was carrying the gun. He was the one who shot Danny, she was sure of that. No… he may have pulled the trigger, but Tara was the one who brought them there, she was the one responsible for putting them in danger.

“Don’t resist, or else,” that voice, the same voice she heard when Amber first attacked her, the same voice that so often haunted her nightmares, she heard it again and this time… instead of pointing a knife at her, the monster pointed a gun at her stomach. “I heard you played a game like this once, only there isn’t an MMA fighter to save you,” Tara narrowed her eyes, but didn’t move. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t risk it, not when there was nothing she could do to save him.

The Ghostface holding the gun motioned toward her and Danny.

“Let her leave,” Danny demanded with what little strength her had left as he tried to sit up.

“I don’t think so,” one of the other two Ghostfaces said as one grabbed Tara’s arms and pulled them behind her back. She heard the click of handcuffs, felt the cold metal around her wrists and knew there was absolutely nothing she could do.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she knew it was over, she knew exactly what would happen next, she still flinched when she heard Danny yelping as he was slammed back onto the ground and then she heard the knife slicing through his neck.

“There, just like Samantha cut Richie’s throat,” one of them said and Tara dared to look at him, dead, with blood pooling around his body. His eyes that once held so much love for her sister now stared forward, lifeless.

~X~

She knew she should have assigned someone to watch over Tara, and now she was gone and Danny was dead. Kirby sat with her head between her hands and photos laid on her table. The Ghostface she was sure was Sam, the tied-up woman she was sure was you, even if Tara denied it, and painted masks, and other photos she had painted a picture she couldn’t understand.

“Tara is right, this isn’t Y/N,” Gale Weathers being there definitely wasn’t helping.

“How are you so sure?” Kirby demanded. They couldn’t see any scars to confirm if it was really you, but there weren’t as many women as muscular as you.

“It’s not her style. If she even suspected this photo would reach Tara she would have given them hell,” Gale gave her a cheeky, though small smile. “Besides, if someone can recognize Y/N underneath all this it would be Tara.”

Kirby had to agree with that. While she wasn’t there when Richie and Amber did their killings, she was very much aware of what you did for Tara, and while she never got to see you actually hurting someone, she did get to see how protective of the younger Carpenter you were. She had the front seats experience when you came into a bar her and Sam were at once to confront Sam. It was civil, but she could feel the tension, the barely restrained anger on both sides.

It was baffling, really, watching you and Sam argue, after years of seeing the two of you getting along. Sam was never as happy as she was at your and Tara’s wedding, and she more than once expressed how much she appreciated your protectiveness over Tara. And then it was like someone snapped their fingers and the relationship fell apart along with Sam.

And now no one knew where you were, Tara was captured, Danny was dead, Chad, Mindy and Anika couldn’t come, or they would not only be in danger but would be able to kiss their careers goodbye and Sam was… likely a Ghostface. How did it all fall apart like this?

Knocking on the door brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up just as Sidney walked in. “Since when does Ghostface try to blow up cars?” she demanded, distraught, filled with panic and almost desperately looking for answers.

“What?” Gale asked, just as puzzled by the question as Kirby.

Sidney slumped into one of the chairs and leaned her head back as she dug her fingers into her hair. “He called me, said I’ll never see my family again. I managed to call Mark and get him, and my children get out of the car. Less than a minute later the car exploded,” she explained, stunning Kirby and Gale. Fury burnt in her eyes and Kirby was reminded of how formidable Sidney was. “I need to get this fucker before he harms my family.”

Gale approached her and placed a hand on Sidney’s shoulder. “We’ll get them Sid,” she promised and caught Sidney up with the situation. From suspecting Sam, to your situation, to Tara being captured and Danny being killed.

“I want Tara alive as much as you two, but how do we know she was just kidnapped? Why would they keep her alive?” Sidney asked and Kirby would be lying if she said that thought didn’t cross her mind when she first realized Tara wasn’t at the warehouse. Gale was the one that reassured her.

“It’s not their style, to take someone and kill them somewhere else, even if this Ghostface doesn’t operate the way we’re used to,” Gale told Sidney the same thing she told Kirby.

Kirby sighed, frankly, even if she agreed now that Tara was alive she still wasn’t entirely sure what the actual reason she wasn’t killed was, but she had her suspicions. “It’s either Y/N, or Sam that they are afraid of,” that was the core reason. “I don’t think they’ll kill Tara just yet.”

“If Tara is alive, they can blackmail one or both of them, if they kill Tara, those two won’t let that go,” Gale agreed and took the photo of Ghostface with dog mark. “Guard dog,” how ironic.

“Even if Sam joined them, she’d turn on them if they hurt Tara,” Sidney agreed, now seeing the logic. “We need to find Y/N.”

And that was the plan, because even if they couldn’t count on Sam being sane enough to help them, they could count on you. Especially when you learn that Tara was captured.

Kirby’s phone rang and all three of them nearly jumped out of their skin, but Kirby relaxed when she saw the name of one of her colleagues. “Yes?”

“Special Agent Reed, we identified the number the message came from. It belongs to Samantha Carpenter,” there was no doubt anymore.

Sam was Ghostface, there was no longer any doubt about that in Kirby’s mind. And either she sent the message to Tara, or someone was using her phone.

There was a chance that Sam was too far gone.

Story masterlist / First part / Previous part / Next part

[looooochie]

Boyfriend headcanons | seleccion sub-17

summary: just them being cute asf

warnings: fluff, headcanons

(here are some headcanons of them to kill u with cuteness :) )

- raul jimenez

─ whenever he holds you in his arms, and you trace the tattoos on his arm, he constantly get the the thought to get your name tatted on him

- hector fort

─ when he plays video games, and like, a cute thing comes up, hector always thinks of you

- daniel munoz

─ one thing about him, whenever you go shopping, he always insists on carrying your stuff for you, like  he won't let you carry ANYTHING around him, even the smallest things

- jon martin

─ he kind of gets scared and isn't sure if he wanted to get a tattoo or not. so he asks you if he should but you have to go with him to prove it

- pau cubarsi

─ pau takes notes on his phone on what your favorite things are so, next time if he goes anywhere, he can look at it so he won't forget anything about you

pau prim

─ if you ever prank pau or like do something he thinks is pretty childish, he know how to get his way. he either pranks you back, or just smothers you with kisses until you say not to prank him again

- pablo lopez

─ he really hates being called 'pablito' by other people, because it makes him feel small . but, he only likes it when you call him 'pablito', like you're the only one who's allowed to call him that

- roberto martin

─ whenever you tease him or make him feel flustered, he waits when you least expect it, only to tease you back

- marc guiu

─ whenever marc goes to play for his national team, he gets extremely nervous, because he doesn't want his team to get eliminated out of any tournament their in . you always reassure him that he can get far and he's super happy about that

- juan hernandez

─ he sometimes gets made fun of for being short and you really don't like it when someone does that . so you're around him like all the time so you can make sure he won't be called 'short' . but, he's extremely grateful for you being with him

peio huestamendia

─ when you guys cuddle, peio really likes to be the little spoon . I mean, he doesn't really mind being the big spoon, but he likes your arms around him

- igor oyono

─ if igor sometimes makes you kinda mad at him, he regrets it almost every time . he will even cry just for you to forgive him, but you do eventually

fran arbol

─ sometimes you go to his matches and admire his goalkeeper skills . sometimes he struggles and asks you if he needs any improvement, you always tell him that's it's okay, and he sometimes does improve though

- izan merino

─ if you ever come to his city to play against whatever team you're going against, he always comes in your jersey, just to show a little support

- andres cuenca

─ the first time he lifted up his hair, you told him that his face is fine and he's beautiful, bangs or no bangs . because he always had an insecurity that he had a big forehead, so he often just tied his hair into a small ponytail when he sees you

- marc bernal

─ when he wakes up first, he tries to wake you up and you always tell him "5 more minutes Marc.." . so he always mentions that he made your favorite breakfast just to wake you up . sometimes he did, sometimes, he did.. not

- oscar mesa

─ oscar is most of the time a cold-blooded person and doesn't show much emotion to things . but when you come to madrid for your el clasico match, he cries . he was the definition of 'crybaby', and he treats you like he hadn't seen you in years . it was shocking, but you love it

- quim junyent

─ on the other hand, quim really likes it when you ruffle his hair, it's very soft and fluffy and it makes him feel special

- daniel yanez

─ sometimes he stresses out because apparently his shirts go 'missing' . but when daniel realized that you keep some of them, he didn't ask for them back, he lets you keep them

- paulo iago

─ whenever he sees you play against his female team of real madrid, he wants to support you by wearing your jersey, but he's afraid that he'll be a traitor to his team . so like, whenever he doesn't go out, he wears it, when nobody's looking

- marcos gonzalez

─ he's the type of person to get really scared whenever you aren't around him . so that's why, whenever you two are in the same bed, he uses hand to to search around for your body and pull you close to him

(their instas just incase: rauljimenezz, hctorfortt, danielmunoznavas_, jonmartin.4, paucubarsi, pauprim_06, ppabblo_, robertomartin_10, marcguiu9, juanht10, peiohuesta_, igoroyono_, fran_arbol, izan4_mr, andres_cuenca4, marcbernal_, oscarmesap17, quimjunyent, danielyb7, paulo.iago10, marcglezz_)

[morggard]

Which ocs do or may have large army of admirers in lore... asking for science

Sorry for the late answering I thought I might illustrate it, but ig text format it is;

First of all of course it's Kaíl, bro was literally a country leader, and before he became one, he was already more popular among people than the actual leader

He also had some of his most unhinged followers shaving their heads imitating his haircut; this haircut was banned in this country after he retired

Next one is obviously Igor, he wasn't successful as a singer back in the 1890-s, but when he came back after war and other stuff he had going on, he started gaining popularity somewhere around 1920-s as a composer and music producer and remained popular in 1940-s as well, bro was able to remain relevant for so long bc basically he was ahead of his time in all of his eras;

Not only he was popular because he was some genius musician but also bc despite of his mental problems bro somehow was able to create some alluring mysterious personality that attracted ppl so yeah he had a lot of admirers;

The girlies Dafne and Lotta, former members of Igor's music band also were popular pop stars comparable to Lana del Rey I think;

Kaíl's wife Adalind also had shit ton of fans of her work and admirers; Because of being popular she had a lot of problems figuring out her love life since every man who tried to get close to her wasn't interested in her as a woman but wanted her money or to be in her films;

Bertha had shit ton of men falling for her from her university years till basically her death in her 40-s, I think the second image is telling enough lmao;

She used to be an aggressive sad child, but started developing some wild outgoing personality somewhere in high school, lately she was kinda bitchy but friendly at the same time so it was easy for her to surround herself with some friends everywhere she was placed;

From my other settings I think Alexander had the most fans canonically cause he was a micro celebrity model and dancer in his 20-s, and even when he left this luxurious glam world and started working at the office he still was surrounded by ppl who wanted him;

In addition to his extremely friendly, chatty and flirtatious personality bro was also tall white and had a head full of hair in his late 30-s - early 40-s so ppl forgave him even when he did some Randy Marshall level cringe stuff lol

Idk why you needed to know this and you probably don't want to know anymore but yeah

[hellishchrissy]

I wanted to ask, what are some things Anora loves or finds attractive about Igor and I guess vice versa. I’m mainly interested in understanding Anora’s perspective because in the movie it can be hard to read her thoughts on him. These can be physical and non physical traits. Also I love love love your ao3 fanfic, it’s so detailed and wonderfully written. Can’t wait for chapter 5!!!

hi!!

speaking strictly of their relationship throughout the movie, it's obvious that in the beginning ani doesn't like igor -- course she doesn't. she thinks he's just as bad as toros or garnik. but throughout the movie, it becomes clear that she starts to trust him more and more. i think the things ani starts to feel attracted to are things like

the fact that igor just looks out for her in a way that ivan never did. he holds open doors for her, carries a scarf for her in case she gets cold and lights her cigarettes. little things that she rejects first, usually with a mean comment and an insult. but eventually, she starts to accept the gesture: i think it starts with her taking the scarf, even if it is with contempt. after that, she accepts the drink from him in the private jet, takes the cigarette he lights for her, accepts the ring he stole back for her.

also igor's steadiness. he's consistent, and he's just always there. behind her shoulder, looking out for her, keeping an eye out.

igor is incredibly patient. he clearly tries to connect with her, tries to apologize for how their first meeting went, but he also respects it when ani shuts his attempts down. he’s patient and consistent with his attempts to get to know her, actually bothering to take his time with her.

for igor i think he just generally admires anora's strong personality, her ability to stand up for herself. and i do believe a lot of that is based on the fact that he sees himself in anora -- they come from similar backgrounds and have been exploited by wealthier people. he admires that despite that, ani has the guts to call ivan "a pussy" and yell at his mother, threaten to sue the family and even yells at garnik when he tries to touch her at the courthouse. just all around a guy who admires the hell out of anora's strength and ability to hold her own.

[socoolinmypajamas]

Full disclosure: I am not here to debate whether he is a bad written character or not, I just want to point out a few interesting things I noticed about him, particularly all that ramble about The Horse of Troy and...

...Sophia.

Hear me out: the "trying to end bloodshed with bloodshed" IS stupid and made more sence in Sophia's story, because she used the powers given to her by Arcana to stop the attack on Apeiron. Igor, at first glance, doesn't make any sense. If you are preaching your loyalty to Zeno, to your comrades in arms and how much you want to end conflict, Why betraying Zeno and killing your own men? Why treating your adopted children as disposable pawns? Why deflecting to the people you have been trying to stop all this time?

My answer: because he sees himself as incapable to stop Arcana, and thus, a disgrace to Zeno.

"Betrayal" and "Obedience": Igor saw Arcana survive a FREAKING VACUUM BOMB EXPLOSION and then went through an insurrection IN HIS OWN BASE. If he was already a control freak trying to live for Zeno's honor, that pushed him to a new limit. After that, he simply can't stand having anything less than 100% obedience if whatever plan he's cooking has any chance to succeed. But he doesn't just need full loyalty from his men, he also need absolute trust from the Manus. He needs to have as much control of the situation as possible which is hinted by adopting the children of fallen soldiers to indoctrinate them, refusing to make his men wear the masks, killing his human soldiers so the Manus trust him, forcing the more loyal soldiers on his unit to dispose those he deems as less loyal to prove that his most loyals soldiers ARE INDEED his most loyal soldiers, etc.

But again, WHY deflecting to the Manus? We are entering speculation territory but I do have some bases to substain my theory.

The Horse of Troy: one of the most known allegories for betrayal. However, the more you think about it, it seems... Odd, for this particular situation. If it's about betraying Zeno then... It makes no sense. The Horse of Troy is about a ruse in which the greek managed to get inside the city of Troy with a fake gift in order to destroy it from the inside. Does that mean Igor's plan is deflecting to Manus to betray them later?

Not necessarily? BUT it may lead to that.

Let's go back to Sophia.

Remember how she THINKS she is an obstacle for the righteous to defeat? How a lot of what she says implies that she follows Arcana because she is fine with being destroyed if it means for the integers to bring back the order that irrational numbers cause? And that if they can't, that's also fine because she, as an irrational number, SHOULD be causing chaos anyways? Like, she is so hung up with the ways of Apeiron that as long as her actions line up with that view she is willing to keep going all the way towards the bitter end, because she's too scared to face a reality she feels absolutely powerless against.

Igor's actions may indicate he also has that same mentality: a failure of an admiral who NEEDS to clean the stain his actions and self perceived inadequacy caused to Zeno, even at the cost of his own honor, life, legacy and whatever blood he has to spill along the way. And something the story uses to make us think about that possibility is Moldir's behavior: no matter how much she avoids trying to cover her own indecision and fears of "not being enough to protect everything she cherishes" with absolute loyalty in something above her, she still love and want to protect Lopera, even if it means hurting her. Just like Sophia did to 37. Igor tries to cut ties with anything that could prevent his path towards the abyss, but Moldir can't. No matter how much Igor tries to become a traitor so everything that happened under his command stops being Zeno's fault and becomes HIS fault, he can't 100% control people's action and emotions. Igor and his group aren't IN the Horse of Troy but ARE the Horse of Troy in the shape of an "insurrected army offering the remains of Arcana" to the Manus. If there's one greek soldier in that horse, albeit yet unknowingly, that could be Moldir.

Oh, and one more thing.

Remember all those hints about Sophia being turkish? Guess where the city of Troy used to be.

[adini-nikolaevna]

“Prince Igor was nicknamed “The Kid” because of his fun-loving disposition… I must say that his best quality was his deep devotion to animals. Horses were his favorite, and his troika was generally considered the best in St. Petersburg... He was tall and broad-shouldered, like most great princes, with finely defined eyebrows and full lips. I admired his hands… The last time I saw Igor was during the revolution… he came up to me and said: “Lydia! I will have to ask you to persuade Lord Lonsdale to give me a position as his groom.” At the time when he said this, I thought it was a joke, but it later turned out that Igor was serious, and that he really needed the job, and felt that his only chance to get it was to put his love for animals into practice. My conscience often reproached me then, and I regret that instead of lending a helping hand, I left him in this terrible struggle, because the Bolsheviks first deprived him of everything; his worldly goods and, not being satisfied with this, then took his life."

- Lydia Kyasht on Prince Igor Konstantinovich of Russia