#Archibald Hopper

[kazoosandfannypacks]

well maybe it's not about how you end things. maybe it's about how you live them archie + beige for @kmomof4

send me a favorite OUaT character and a color and I'll make you a moodboard

[hjbirthdaywishes]

February 12, 2024

Happy 60 Birthday to Raphael Sbarge.

[wipbigbang]

WIP BIG BANG SIGN-UPS ARE LIVE!

The 2024 round of WIP Big Bang is now open for sign-ups! Any fandom is welcome, as long as the fic is 500 completed so far and will be at least 7,500 words upon its finishing. Signing up is easy: just fill out the form linked below after you read the FAQ and take a look at the schedule.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Cary Grant (The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, Charade)—just the peak of old-school Hollywood sexuality. The glam, the suits, the gentle wit, the acrobatics, those eyes that always looked like they knew exactly what movie they were in and were laughing at the joke...

Vincent Price (Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, House on Haunted Hill, The Masque of the Red Death)—svelte, stylish, horrifying, beautiful, wickedly funny, camp and gorgeous and evil. he was an art connoisseur who advocated passionately indigenous art, he was an actual literal gourmet cook, he was so liberal he got greylisted during the mccarthy era for being too rad, he's my favorite muppets guest of all time

This is round 4 of the bracket. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage man.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Vincent Price propaganda:

Submitted: this fancam

Submitted: this entire Tumblr page

Cary Grant propaganda:

"My Golden Age of Hollywood professor, who was very outwardly gay himself, put it this way: Even though Grant's sexuality was kind of an open secret in Hollywood, the public couldn't know in any real way. But anybody could see that there was a queerness about him, so he was casted for roles where he physically embodies his masculinity in a non-explicit but queer way. Bringing Up Baby is famous for the scene where Grant wears a frilly robe (pictured below, but what people don't always realise is that he plays kind of an awkward nerd in that movie. He's a hot awkward scientist in a grand robe!!! Hot!!! In The Philadelphia Story, one of my famous movies of all time, he plays C. K. Dexter Haven, a rich, sarcastic, supposedly abusive guy. And yet, what we see is this laid back, dandy-ish figure, who absolutely does not feel threatened when a woman he supposedly loves (Katharine Hepburn) starts having feelings for, and hooks up with another guy (James Stewart). He lets a drunk Stewart into his office and helps him get his job back! Obviously that is the script and not the actor, but the whole film, and that scene in particular, shows him having this very queer attitude of openness toward Hepburn and Stewart, which is only amplified by the casting of Grant and his portrayal of the character. Anyway, this is not an essay arguing for The Philadelphia Story to be considered a queer film, all I will say is: he's super hot in it."

The link to the above mentioned frilly robe scene from Bringing Up Baby: "I just went gay all of a sudden!"

last minute cary grant propaganda: the last few paragraphs of that new vanity fair article about him and randolph scott that just came out 2 days ago on cary's birthday where he calls it "gravity collapse" and "love at first sight" and says their souls touched and and and i'm actually sharing this mostly because it makes me emotional but also because a vote for archibald is a vote for love. this is my message. apologies for sounding mildly insane.

[louierecs]

— ୨୧₊˚ fic rec masterlist

The Walking Dead;

Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Glenn Rhee, Abraham Ford, Negan Smith, Shane Walsh, Carl Grimes

Call Of Duty;

Johnathan Price, Simon 'Ghost' Riley, John 'Soap' MacTavish, Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick, Alex Keller, Alejandro Vargas, Rodolfo Parra, Phillip Graves, Keegan P. Russ, Makarov

Criminal Minds;

Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Luke Alvez

911;

Bobby Nash, Evan 'Buck' Buckley, Eddie Diaz

Outer banks;

Rafe Cameron, JJ Maybank, John B, Pope Heyward

Sons of Anarchy;

Jackson 'Jax' Teller, Filip 'Chibs' Telford, Juan Carlos 'Juice' Ortiz, Alexander 'Tig' Trager, Happy Lowman, Opie Winston

Triple Frontier;

Santiago 'Pope' Garcia, Francisco 'Catfish' Morales, Will Miller, Ben Miller

The Bear;

Carmen Berzatto, Michael Berzatto, Richie Jerimovich, Luca

Marvel;

Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, Deadpool, Wolverine, Frank Castle

Marauders;

Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, poly!marauders

Harry Potter, golden era;

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Cedric Diggory

Slytherin Boys;

Tom Riddle, Mattheo Riddle, Theodore Nott, Lorenzo Berkshire, Regulus Black

Youtube;

Harry Lewis, Tobi Brown, Simon Minter, Niko Omilana, Sharky, Aj Shabeel, ChrisMD, Willne, Calfreezy, TheBurntChip, George Clarkey

Other Characters One;

Javier Pena, Steve Murphy, Joel Miller, Marcus Acacius, Benny Cross, Agent Whiskey, Eggsy Unwin, Jim Hopper, Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Arthur Morgan, Joel Miller (game version)

Other Characters Two;

Carl Gallagher, Lip Gallagher, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, John Winchester, Oscar 'Spooky' Diaz, Cesar Diaz, Nick Amaro, Sonny Carisi, Joshua 'Scud' Fromeyer, Griff, Sam Rossi, Nate Archibald, Diego Hargreeves

More Recs of my top characters;

Daryl Dixon, Simon Riley, Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Rafe Cameron and more Rafe, Carmen Berzatto, Frank Castle, Logan Howlett, Wade Wilson

⋆˚࿔ layout credit to @ruewrote 𝜗𝜚˚⋆

[his-lost-one]

i have so much anger towards the blue fairy on behalf of so many characters.

here’s a little non-complete list of the characters whose lives she messed with (in no particular order):

tinkerbell: tinkerbell committed the grave sin of trying to help regina (who was not yet evil at this point in time) and blue punished her for that because of the bad people regina was surrounded with. and sure maybe tink shouldn’t have stolen the fairy dust to help, but like she didn’t even take much and we’ve seen how big the bags are that they have of it, i doubt that made any real difference. and yet blue took away tink’s wings for breaking a rule while trying to help an abuse victim oof

regina: at the time that blue refused to let tinkerbell help her, regina was an abuse victim who had never actually hurt anyone (yet). but because of her mother and rumple trying to manipulate her, blue didn’t think she was worthy of being saved. HELLO?? (also if she had allowed tink to help regina, they might not have had such a falling out and maybe tink would’ve kept trying and maybe she’d have succeeded- do you know how many lives that could’ve saved??????)

fiona: objectively, it was stupid to tell fiona that rumple is destined to be a savior, of course she would want to protect her kid. yes, fiona did go too far with the whole shears of destiny thing, but honestly we have no reason to believe that fiona would’ve actually been dangerous to anyone if she hadn’t been banished. she just wanted to protect her son

malcolm/pan: if blue hadn’t lied to him about why fiona was gone, he never would’ve despised rumple as much as he did. and it stands to argue, he might not even have ended up abandoning rumple. his life could’ve gone completely differently tbh

rumple: blue caused him to grow up without parents who would have stayed around if she hadn’t interfered, blue is the reason he ended up separated from baelfire (because of the bean)

baelfire: is blue hadn’t given him that bean with the promise of basically everything he was yearning for, he wouldn’t have ended up in the land without magic where pan’s shadow got him and then he wouldn’t have been stuck against his will for like 200 years on neverland

emma swan: if blue hadn’t lied about the closet’s capacity, then emma could’ve gone through with her mother and she wouldn’t have the trauma of her time in the system and from feeling abandoned all her life

pinocchio: if blue hadn’t lied about the closet’s capacity he wouldn’t have been tasked to take care of a NEWBORN at age 7 and he wouldn’t have been separated for his father during most of his formative years

gepetto/marco: i know he partially brought this on himself by making blue lie, but if she hadn’t done that, then he never would’ve been separated from his son for 28 years

nova: blue stopped her from being happy with dreamy

grumpy: ffs blue is the reason his name went from DREAMY to GRUMPY. like?????

and honorable mention:

archibald hopper: i KNOW i know i know he wanted to be cricket but like. c’mon. this is insane. she turned him into a bug. she came to fulfill his wish when he hadn’t even said it out loud, just thought it- which is fine i guess, but that also means that she could have helped at any point earlier before innocent people had to die?? because there is NO way this guy never once thought “i wish i could be free of my parents” when that’s his whole personality at that point like BLUE HELLO?????

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Fall Edit Bingo!

Here we go again, bingo sheet with the goal of posting one fall edit per day – each OC corresponds to a number in my notes (didn't include them in the card this time bc I didn't like how it looked) and I will be using a number generator to determine the order of edits!

Wish me luck!

Angel Dearly

Rhys Astor

Pandora Black

Kennedy Quinlan

Willow Dell

Hollis Everdeen

Cordelia Archibald

Santiago Lodge

Aemma Velaryon

Jeremy St James

Mya Jalali

Davey Brown Collins

Carlys Tully

Clara Waldorf

Sam Gleason

Dorrie Gale

Vicki St James

Arielle Peralta

Betty Fabray

Allie St James

Kyla Keller

Colton Cartwright

Celeste Nichols

Campbell Hotchner

Cole Manning

Sidney Hopper

Kirsty Gilmore

Charles Gilmore

Charley Peralta

Honey La Bouff

[laytonnpcbracket]

Welcome to the Layton NPC Showdown!

This is a bracket to determine which of the many memorable NPCs from across the Professor Layton games are the greatest.

GAMES INCLUDED: Every game except LBMR. Eternal Diva characters are also not included here.

WHAT COUNTS AS AN NPC?: Anyone who doesn't have a puzzle animation. Characters excluded are Layton, Luke, Flora, Clive, Emmy, Randall, Aurora, Des, Espella, Phoenix, Maya, Katrielle, Ernest, Sherl, Hastings, and Emiliana.

WILL THERE BE NOMINATIONS?: Nope! Every NPC will be included.

WHAT ABOUT THE LAYTONMOBILE/MOLENTARY EXPRESS?: No vehicles. Not characters.

WHAT ABOUT THE PUZZLE LADS/LASSES?: I only plan on including characters that we can speak to in-game, so no Puzzle Lads or Lasses. Sorry to the people who like them 😔

WHICH CHARACTERS ARE INCLUDED, THEN?: Anyone who isn't an exception listed above that is in the profiles of the game! A full list is enclosed below.

WHEN WILL THE TOURNAMENT START?: More information forthcoming on that! I have to seed the bracket first :)

WHY IS NAIYA YOUR ICON?: In my opinion, she's one of the more underrated NPCs of the series. I'll probably cycle through some of the ones I have available to me right now.

WHAT CRITERIA SHOULD I VOTE ON?: Whatever makes you happy :)

ARE ALTER EGOS SEPERATE CHARACTERS?: No. For instance, Ratman is not included because his secret identity is in the tournament.

US OR UK NAMES?: I will try to make available as many names for the NPCs as possible! Which includes their Japanese names and as many names in the localizations as I am able to obtain from the wiki and my own sources. I'll probably reliably have the English (both versions where applicable), Japanese, and French names for every character when I do the bracket rounds. The list below however is entirely in English.

And now for a list of the entries! I didn't check all of these for inconsistencies, but I attempted to ascertain that I used the US versions. Some of them might be UK versions though because that's the version of the game I have (specifically Diabolical Box NPCs and Last Specter NPCs -- I know some of their US names but not all).

Franco

Stachenscarfen

Ingrid

Percy

Marco

Ramon

Matthew

Lady Dahlia Reinhold

Gordon Reinhold

Simon Reinhold

Claudia

Beatrice

Deke

Agnes

Pauly

Crouton

Flick

Rodney

Chelmey

Lucy

Zappone

Gerard

Jarvis

Adrea

Pavel

Crumm

Prosciutto

Archibald

Sylvain

Martha

Giuseppe

Augustus Reinhold

Granny Riddleton

Don Paolo

Bruno

Andrew Schrader

Anton Herzen

Katia Anderson

Sophia

Mr. Anderson

Beluga

Sammy Thunder

Macaroon

Chester

Babette

Tom

Ilyana

Geoff

Garland

Nigel

Jacques

Barton

Grousley

Steve

Capone

Mitzi

Lili

Sally

Marjorie

Conrad

Karla

Romie

Dorothea

Clabber

Oscar

Nick

Gabe

Balsa

Wurtzer

Lopez

Laurel

Parcelle

Lulu

Albert

Madeline

Remy

Angus

Kostya

Dylan

Joseph

Rory

Lila

Damon

Felix

Niles

Duke

Hopper

Olson

Derby

Dawson

Joanie

Krantz

Grinko

Marina

Opal

Ray

Gregorio

Narice

Gertie

Hamster

Precious

Winston

Claire

Dimitri Allen

Bill Hawks

Spring

Cogg

Dean Delmona

Shipley

Puzzlette

Beasley

Parrot

Subject 3

Bostro

Family Goon

Lockjaw

Splinters

Marzano

Layman

Fisheye

Silky

Shmelmey

Shmarton

Ward

Smith

Florence

Vito

Art

Niklaus

Anita

Alfie

Hazel (UF)

Adeline

Max

Becky

Margaret

Pallard

Dupree

Natalia

Harold

Horace

Hardy

Cuthbert

Segal

Catanova

Rosetta

Colby

Rudolph

Misha

Dylan

Viv

Pepper

Checker

Avogadro

Maya (UF)

Myrtle

Belle

Graham

Slate

Ernest (UF)

Berta

Minnie

Paige

Raleigh

Beacon

Mark

Rosa

Grosky

Keats

Clark Triton

Brenda Triton

Arianna Barde

Tony Barde

Doland Noble

Levin Jakes

Loosha

Toppy

Crow

Marilyn

Roddy

Scraps

Tweeds

Wren

Socket

Louis

Badger

Aldus

Charlie

Jasmine

Bucky

Fische

Beth

Mido

Clarence

Joe

Molly

Marion

Browne

Hugo

Dominica

Paddy

Brock

Aunt Taffy

Shackwell

Greppe

Goosey

Mimi

Hans Jakes

Maggie

Yamada

Sean

Olga

Finch

Sebastian

Cornelius

Chappy

Hannah

Mick

Colby

Monica

Thomas

Nate

Ewan

Chief Engineer

Naiya

Chippe

Bram

Ghent

Nordic

Gilbert

Roland Layton

Lucille Layton

Henry Ledore

Angela Ledore

Alphonse Dalston

Leonard Bloom

Sheffield

Billson

Mrs Ascot

Pascal

Guy

Lapushka

Gustav

Gonzales

Drake

Tyrone

Sterling

Mordy

Collette

Maurice

Juggles

Puck

Yukkles

Murphy

Cookie

Tanya

Firth

Madelaine

Stumble

Artie

Michelle

Nils

Frankie

Conner

Humbert

Policeman (MM)

Yuming

Esther

Lionel

Doug

Mr. Collins

Leon Bronev

Raymond

Prima

Harald

Donna

Mascha

Georg

Mackintosh

Solveig

Erik

Hazel (AL)

Igor

Sonya

Moos

Larisa

Karpin

Boris

Dariya

Pavlova

Carmichael

Amelie Chelmey

Policeman (AL)

Tommy

Morel

Chestnut

Amanita

Blewitt

Chanterelle

Button

Lepidella

Bud

Javier

Benny

Miranda

Martine

Barbara

Ruby

Scarlett

Flint

Old Red

Jesse

Derringer

Julien

Romilda

Sheppard

Piet

Felicia

Rik

Beatrix

Umid

Banu

Dana

Temir

Mehri

Nassir

Adler

Robin

Macaw

Plover

Grouse

Gannet

Swift

Carmine Accidenti

Olivia Aldente

Allan

Bardly

Zacharias Barnham

Newton Belduke

Birdly

Boistrum

Cecil

Cinderellia

Constantine

Cracker

Cutter

Darklaw

Dewey

Dzibilchaltunchunchucmil

Patty Eclaire

Eve (cat)

Flynch

Foxy

Jean Greyerl

Hoot

Judge

Kira

Knight Captain

Knightle

Lottalance

Lyewood

Lettie Mailer

Balmung

Mary

Muffet

Muggs

Ridelle Mystere

Nozey

Petal

Petter

Ms Primstone

Emeer Punchenbaug

Robbs

Old Rootie

Rouge

Servius

Shakey

Johnny Smiles

Snowy

Storyteller

Tuggit

Price

Wordsmith

Pipper Lowonida

Phineas Barnone

Madame Doublée

Liza Wight

Grant Sloans

Cesar Chance

Mustafa Fulhold

Hans Lipski

Aleks Lipski

Maverick D. Rector

Seymore Fraymes

The Major

Eddie Torre

Hayes

Maid

Wooooster

Bianca Teller

Security Guard

Shadee

Taboras Lloyd

Douglas Dert

Ratboy

Mo Heecan

Mrs Slow the Tailor

Midas Pullman

Declan Swabber

Abel Seamon

Felicity Hastings

Gene Ohm

Billy Kidd

Royall Britannias

Clover Pryce

PC Beate

DC Booker

Waiter

Séan Butchin

Bo Bells

Hessie Tate

Benjy

Bess

Keane Fisher

Bob Bracket

Stripey

Patch

Cat

Yapper

Gudrun Weldon

[pollgirlie]

[richtw28]

Whitney Museum Visit Part 1

4 things I liked

The first painting I saw was the Rockwell Kent, The Trapper. This is one of my favorite paintings because I love how all the colors blend together. I like the different shades of blue.

The second painting I liked was Archibald John Motley, Jr., Gettin’ Religion. I liked this photo because of the amount of people gathered together and each person has different characteristic.

The Labyrinth made by Robert Vickrey is another art piece that stood out to me. I love the maze in the picture. On each wall in the maze it has a different piece of artwork done to it.

The fourth artwork I liked was The Rose by Jay Defeo. I liked the texture of the paint. It really amazed me that the artwork weighed 1500 pounds!

4 things I didnt like

Perkins Youngboy Dos Passos by Josephine Hopper Bequest was a decent piece art work. It seemed pretty basic to me.

The second artwork I didnt like was by Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst. This was a AI generated photo. To me it looked very authentic to me.

The third piece I disliked was The Dark Figure by Federico Castellon. This artwork had me guessing what the theme was. It was difficult to interpret.

The fourth piece of painting I disliked what was EVENING AT CARL INN by Chiura Obata. It had nice greens of shade but it seemed very basic.

[kazoosandfannypacks]

summary: when sworn academic rivals Belle French and August Booth are put in the same group for a presentation, things get out of hand— not in the predictable arguing or usual banter, but instead in Belle and August spitefully asking each other out on a date.

word count: 6K words (five chapters, all uploaded at once)

a/n: i started this one a while back but finally came around, polished it up, and got it finished for you guys! I wanna warn you going into this that it is horribly out of character, especially since most of my beauty and the puppet fics are very soft, and this one is a bit... crunchier? edgier? anyways, it's great and we love it. shoutout to the loyal and spectacular @kanerallels for betaing!

taglist: @kanerallels  @accidental-spice  @poptart-cat-78  @booksteaandtoomuchtv  @silver-the-phoenix  {if you’d like to be added to or removed from my Beauty and the Puppet taglist, let me know!}

the first chapter is here, but you can read the full story on ao3!

Calling Bluffs- Chapter 1:  the group assignment that doesn't go as planned

 If you'd asked August who he'd pick as his partners for this group assignment, he wouldn't've picked the class clown and his academic rival.

 If you'd asked Belle to pick her partners, she wouldn't've picked Will— she'd made that mistake before— and she certainly wouldn't've picked the only other student in class whose intellect came close to hers— not nearly her equal, if course, but pretentious enough you wouldn't know the difference.

 If you'd asked Will who he'd pick as his partners, he'd've been smart enough not to say the two smartest students in class— the only people on campus stubborn enough to push him to do some of the work himself.

 And yet, when Professor Heller announced the team assignments in class last Monday, he put August, Belle, and Will in the same group.

 And so, Belle found herself in her dorm room with Will and August, sitting around their textbooks and a bag of chips, trying to work on a presentation about classic American Literature.

 "So, what were everyone's ideas for this presentation?" Belle asked.

 "Oh?" August said, "you're actually going to condescend to such lowly individuals as anyone-who's-not-you and actually listen to our input?"

 "I don't know," Belle rolled her eyes, having already failed at starting this project as professionally as possible, "are you going to share intelligent input?"

 "More intelligent than some people here," August glared at Will.

 "For your information," Will rushed to his own defense, "I actually do have an idea."

 Belle knew Will too well than to suspect this would be a good idea.

 "Let's hear it," August said.

 "Our report's on great American writers, right?"

 "Classic American writers," August corrected.

 "Exactly!" Will said, "and who's a more classic writer than famous songwriter Rick Astley? I suggest we start our presentation with…"

 Belle cut him off before he could finish vocalizing his stupidity. "We're not rickrolling our classmates."

 "You didn't even let me finish!" Will said.

 "But was she wrong in her assumption?" August asked.

 "What's that got to do with anything?" Will asked, "Literature is all about conveying emotion, and it's hard to put to words that emotion you feel when an inconspicuous link leads to Never Gonna Give You Up."

 "We're not gonna rickroll the rest of the class," August said.

 "Yeah," Belle agreed with August for the first time that semester, "some of us actually care about our grades."

 "A little too much," August said.

 "For the sake of diplomacy I'll ignore that hypocrisy," Belle said, trying as she may not to get into one of those petty academic feuds they so often partook in, "did you have any ideas that won't fail us immediately, August?"

 "As a matter of fact, I do," he said, "we pick an author, each of us writing a synopsis about a different aspect about them- such as recurring themes, personal lives and how it affected their literature, or effects on their works in the academic community- and then compile our findings, using the same template for the PowerPoint so it looks like we actually worked together on the project."

 "An unexpectedly great idea," Belle said.

 "I'm down for it," Will said, "how about I create the PowerPoint while you guys work on the boring stuff?"

 "I don't think so," August said, "in a group project, everyone brings something to the table- something more than throwing a PowerPoint together. What exactly do you bring to this group?"

 "For one thing," Will said, taking a few chips from the bag in front of them, "Doritos."

 "You'll have to try harder than that," August said, "we won't do your work for you."

 "August," Belle said, leaning closer and motioning for him to do the same, speaking in hushed tones so Will wouldn't be as likely to hear, "do you really want to be graded based on how Mr. Astley's biggest fan over here writes a report?"

 They watched Will stack six Doritos on top of each other and shove the whole stack in his mouth at once.

 "He's trying to take advantage of my intellect and your stubborn persistence not to appear imperfect," August said.

 "Will has a special set of gifts," Belle explained, "and one of them is graphic design. He can make our PowerPoint look so professional that no one will notice how pretentious you sound while you're presenting."

 "And to cover up for whatever your intellect may be lacking," August clapped back, then turned to Will, "I think we can make that work- just promise me you won't troll the rest of the class."

 "What if I find a way to thematically tie it into our selected author's themes and narratives?" Will asked.

 "Deal," Belle rolled her eyes again.

 "No deal!" August said, appalled.

 "You wanted him to do research," Belle said, "and he'll do best if he's researching something he's passionate about."

 "And next he'll be comparing The Gifts of the Magi to tortilla chips."

 "I care about more than just tortilla chips," Will scoffed, "there's potato chips too. But believe it or not, I am capable of getting us an A on this assignment."

 "You'd better be,' August said.

 There was silence for a moment as Belle picked up her textbook.

 "Which author would you guys like to write about?" Belle asked, "Hawthorne, Poe, Hemingway…"

 "Samuel Clemens?" August suggested.

 "Everyone is going to do an assignment on Samuel Clemens," Belle said, "that's the most basic answer you could've chosen."

 "You suggested Edgar Alan Poe, and you think Samuel Clemens was a basic suggestion?" August asked, "any self-proclaimed academic would come up with that one."

 "O'Henry then?" Belle asked.

 "Fine by me," August said, "I'll work on the themes and analysis if you wanna study his personal life."

 "So you think the personal life is the easy part, then?" Belle asked.

 "Pardon my display of chivalry," August said, "I simply thought you'd enjoy digging into people's history. Which part of the report would you prefer to give?"

 "Personal life is fine," Belle said, "I wrote about his themes back in high school and want to give myself a challenge this time."

 "And I'll put together the PowerPoint based on what you find," Will said.

 "Meet back here next week to compare findings?" Belle asked.

 "Fine by me," August said.

 "But you guys are bringing chips to the table next week," Will said.

 "Gladly," August said.

 As they began to pack up their supplies, Belle's roommate, Ruby walked in.

 "Hey, Ruby," Belle said.

 "Working on your Classic American Literature project?"

 "Just finished deliberating about it," Belle said, as Ruby sat down at her desk.

 "My group finally settled on an author," Ruby said, "we're gonna present on O'Henry."

 The others all sighed.

 "I told you that was a basic choice," August snapped at Belle.

 "You said Poe was basic," Belle said, curtly, "and that O'Henry would be fine."

 "Let's just do Hawthorne instead."

 "May as well," Belle said.

 "Doesn't matter to me." Will said.

 "Oh, hey, Belle," Ruby said, pulling out her phone, "don't forget to take out the trash."

 "Take out the trash?" Belle asked. Tired of trying her best to be civil, she turned to August, "fine then, wanna go out sometime?"

 It was a cheap shot, but she had to take it.

 "I suppose I have to say yes," August stood up, "it's my turn to take out the trash as well. Tomorrow at six?"

 "Sounds like a date," Belle crossed her arms.

 It wasn't until after the guys left that Belle turned to Ruby and asked, "what just happened?"

 "I think you just got yourself a date," Ruby said, not even looking up from her phone.

 "We were only arguing with each other," Belle explained, "it's a thing, ya know?"

 "Arguing, flirting," Ruby said, "it's all the same thing the way you two do it."

 "You don't," Belle laughed, "you don't think there's anything between August and I, do you?"

 "You mean besides chemistry, tension, and half the campus shipping you?" Ruby asked, "not at all."

 "The rest of our peers think there's something between August and I?" Belle asked.

 "Some of the teachers do too."

 "The same August who refutes everything I say in every class we have together?"

 "He's obsessed with you," Ruby said.

 "Obsessed with hating me," Belle said, "I can't stand him."

 "Yeah," Ruby smiled, "he 'can't stand' you either. That's why he asked you out."

 "We can't carry on a civil conversation," Belle said, "he's a pretentious know-it-all who's always trying to one up me. Why do you think he asked me out as a joke after I asked him? He can't stand being second to me. Knowing him, he'll probably show up at our door with a bouquet of cheap flowers tomorrow night, just to spite me."

 "How is that spiteful?" Ruby asked.

 "Trying to get me to back down from fake asking him out," Belle said, "I'll just have to be one step ahead."

 "How's that?" Ruby asked, "getting all ready for a date, just in case he does show up?"

 "Exactly," Belle said.

 Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes.

read the full story on ao3!

[hjbirthdaywishes]

February 12, 2023

Happy 59 Birthday to Raphael Sbarge. 

[wipbigbang]

WIP Big Bang 2023 Round Starting April 1st!

What is the WIP Big Bang? Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your fanfic drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!

Please read our FAQ/check out our schedule for more details.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Michael Redgrave (The Lady Vanishes)—my beautiful bisexual hot linguist geek dandy nerd. I'm specifically nominating him for "The Lady Vanishes," but how can you not love him in this—it's a strikingly modern performance, not a whiff of old school macho masculinity; he starts the movie as a bit of a cad, thoughtless and self-absorbed, but the second our heroine's in trouble he's attentive, he's helpful, he's running around speaking languages and helping her with international spycraft shenanigans and just being so funny and warm and JOYOUS. (and again. he is SO bisexual. see the picture [attached below]). he's hot in the debate club twink kinda way and i've never wanted to smooch an idiot more

Cary Grant (The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, Charade)—My Golden Age of Hollywood professor, who was very outwardly gay himself, put it this way: Even though Grant's sexuality was kind of an open secret in Hollywood, the public couldn't know in any real way. But anybody could see that there was a queerness about him, so he was casted for roles where he physically embodies his masculinity in a non-explicit but queer way. Bringing Up Baby is famous for the scene where Grant wears a frilly robe (pictured below, but what people don't always realise is that he plays kind of an awkward nerd in that movie. He's a hot awkward scientist in a grand robe!!! Hot!!! In The Philadelphia Story, one of my famous movies of all time, he plays C. K. Dexter Haven, a rich, sarcastic, supposedly abusive guy. And yet, what we see is this laid back, dandy-ish figure, who absolutely does not feel threatened when a woman he supposedly loves (Katharine Hepburn) starts having feelings for, and hooks up with another guy (James Stewart). He lets a drunk Stewart into his office and helps him get his job back! Obviously that is the script and not the actor, but the whole film, and that scene in particular, shows him having this very queer attitude of openness toward Hepburn and Stewart, which is only amplified by the casting of Grant and his portrayal of the character. Anyway, this is not an essay arguing for The Philadelphia Story to be considered a queer film, all I will say is: he's super hot in it.

This is round 3 of the bracket. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage man.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Michael Redgrave propaganda:

"BISEXUAL."

"It feels unjust to submit the entirety of The Lady Vanishes as propaganda, so I'd just like to very politely point everyone to 56:30 of this link, where we get a very nice view of Michael Redgrave's ass I MEAN his lilting, fine-tuned twinkish beauty"

Cary Grant propaganda:

The link to the above mentioned frilly robe scene from Bringing Up Baby: "I just went gay all of a sudden!"

last minute cary grant propaganda: the last few paragraphs of that new vanity fair article about him and randolph scott that just came out 2 days ago on cary's birthday where he calls it "gravity collapse" and "love at first sight" and says their souls touched and and and i'm actually sharing this mostly because it makes me emotional but also because a vote for archibald is a vote for love. this is my message. apologies for sounding mildly insane.

[elanorjane]

Screw The Roses, Send Me The Thorns (Pt. 1)

Gift for @kelyon for @rumbellesecretsanta

Prompt: Mutually horny at family event 

A/N: This is fiction, not reality, the romance is compressed into a very short time period. Remember: safe, sane, and consensual, friends. 

These people were only Gold’s family in the loosest sense of the word. 

Regina insisted on holding these mock “family” holiday gatherings every season. He’d rather be at home, with a bourbon, in his library. Or in his shop tallying his ledgers. Better company, either way. 

But Regina Mills, by a twisted set of events, was the adoptive mother of his biological grandson. A child Bae, and himself, did not know existed until fairly recently. His son had only recently reentered his life after decades of estrangement. Gold came to these little gatherings as a favor to Bae. It was one of the olive branches he could muster in their still fragile relationship. Unfortunately, rebuilding a relationship with his son included regularly coming in contact with the whole damn town. 

This performative family was not for him. And the "family" seemed to grow every year, much to his dismay. First Emma, his grandson’s biological mother. Then her parents, the Nolans, David and his equally insufferably sunny wife Mary Margaret. Then Regina and her idiotic sister, Zelena. In a display of her status as Mayor, Regina now expanded these events to now include Storybrooke’s most influential, at least by Regina’s standards, citizenry. Beside the “family”, their gathering now included Jefferson, her stylist and decorator, Sydney Glass, her counsel, Dr. Archibald Hopper, town shrink, and a handful of other rotating characters, depending on Regina’s mood. If he wanted to be with this many people he'd spend more time at Granny's. 

It was not lost on Gold how tragically ironic it was that the town’s feared pariah was now lousy with family. His eyes roamed up and down the long dinner table, a stark black and white decor that matched the rest of the stately manor. In a nod to the season, blood red poinsettias were sprinkled here and there to dramatic effect. He recognized everyone at the table, of course. He made it his business, both literally and figuratively, to know everyone in town. But he also made certain that none of them knew him, not really. Occasionally his and the mayor’s business desires lined up and they worked in tandem when it suited Gold. David Nolan acted like they were friends every time he saw him, much to Gold’s bewilderment. And he continued his campaign to regain the trust of Bae, or Neal, as everyone else at the table called him. 

Bae sat near the head of the table with Henry and Emma, with Regina at the head looking smugly down her line of descent. Honestly, she was worse than some men and their obsession with progeny and the continuation of their line of succession. Dr. Hopper would have something to say about that, he was sure. 

Gold sat further down the table, by choice. He didn’t need to exercise his power in this sham hierarchy. He knew who really reigned over the town, and it wasn’t the person in possession of the official title. But while Regina’s objective was to protect her power, Gold’s was to protect himself and his family, his real family. And he did that through maintaining control and influence. His desire was to protect himself and Bae. Anything, or anyone, else was meaningless.  

Gold looked at his drink, using his long fingers to twist the apéritif against the white tablecloth. Inane chatter created a tiresome buzz around him. Worse than that, he was bored. And when he was bored, he was left to his own devices to amuse himself. His eyes swept up and down the table again. Little pleasure to be had at this table. He knew he had to keep his sharp tongue in check for Bae. This gathering was meaningless to him, but important to his son. If he says something biting and Bae gives him one of those disappointed looks…he couldn’t stand the further disconnection. Gold fingered the ring on his hand, restless. Under the table his good leg bounced. Hired waiters reached at each guest’s right, removing the appetizers in readiness for the main course. Only a quarter of the way through the meal and his restraint struggled to find a release valve. 

“Screw the roses, send me the thorns.” 

A low-pitched accent had him glancing up. The newest addition to the “family” met his eyes. And what eyes. Big, round blue orbs twinkled at him. Miss French, the town librarian. Well, she will be if she ever got that mess of a library up and running. The eyes and the voice were in contrast to her innocent cherub face. Her eyes said she’d read some books in the restricted section. Her voice suggested she’d like to try some of the things she’d read. She was staring at him, as if she’d expected to get his attention with her comment.  

She was seated diagonally from him, next to Gaston LeGume. The librarian and the pet shelter caretaker. How quaint. They sat at the end of the table because that’s where Regina sat the newest, least politically savvy of the gathering. But as members of the community running town services under Regina’s purview, they warranted an invitation. Regina wanted to either impress them or put fear in them. The librarian, he noted, looked neither. 

LeGume was chattering away next to her, but Gold didn’t hear a word he said. Her remark was obviously in response to something LeGume had said, but the librarian kept regarded Gold across the table. Like she was challenging him to enter the conversation. Gold raised an eyebrow at her. She raised one right back. The insolent little creature.

The phrase that piqued his interest was one he hadn’t heard in a long, long time. She was too young to know the classic guide to sadomasochism, subtitled “The Romance and Sexual Sorcery of Sadomasochism.” Considering sadomasochism as “sexual magic” had always resonated with him. It was delicate, like he imagined a spell would be. It required the precise blend of trust, fantasy, and sensuality. Get it just right and SM could be intensely erotic and deeply intimate. Many many years ago he was active in that community. He hadn’t dipped back in in a number of years. Mostly because he couldn’t find the right partner to join him in the dark, to make the formula complete. It was always off, somehow, despite his efforts. The frustration over not being able to conjure the correct spell forced him to abandon SM and he’d begun to suspect the incomplete desire would haunt him for the rest of his life. 

Still, the contradictions of Miss French raised his suspicions. 

“Read any good books lately, Miss French?” He interrupted LeGume’s blathering, who blinked and gaped at him like a fish. 

Miss French didn’t seem to mind his rudeness. In fact she settled more comfortably back in her chair. 

“In fact I have, Mr. Gold.” It was the most words they’d exchanged since she arrived in town months ago. “It’s one I’d never considered until recently, but based on positive recommendations I finally tried it out. The Story of O. Have you ever read it, Mr. Gold?” She was all politeness.

He couldn’t help the tick in the corner of his mouth. “It’s an old favorite. I haven’t had reason to revisit it in some time. Are you finding it,” he let the word hang in the air, “satisfying?” 

“Oh yes.” She didn’t even blush. “Like any good book, it’s…” she mimicked his speech, “arousing some new ideas in me.” 

He sat back in his own seat, no longer bored. “Glad to hear it. You may have inspired me to pick it up again.”

“I have it on my bedside table if you need a refresher.” She broke eye contact to look up and politely thanked the waiter on her left as the main course dishes were placed on the table. 

“What book are you talking about?” Mary Margaret chimed in. She was on the other side of Belle and caught part of their exchange. “My book club is always looking for recommendations.” 

Gold looked down to hide his smirk. The idea of virginal Mary Margaret reading the erotic novel by Pauline Réage was laughable. But he looked at Belle to see how she’d handle it, positive she’d regret her recklessness and flush with embarrassment. 

“The Story of O,” Belle repeated for the benefit of the table, matching his challenging stare. “A French novel from 1954.”   

The title was met with silence. 

“Oh,” Mary Margaret said. “I’ve never heard of that one. I’ll have to look it up.” 

He knew it was more polite, empty words. Nobody at this table would look up the book. For one, Regina made them put their phones in a bowl on their way in. (He kept his. He knew how to act civilized at a dinner table.). Second, he'd be surprised if anyone in this town knew how to read. From what he could tell they seem to spend the majority of the time running around like idiots.

With much pomp and circumstance the main course, a turkey, was placed in the middle of the table. The legs were crossed and tied over the bird’s cavity with kitchen twine.

“Don't things look so much more delectable all trussed up?” Belle chirped across from him.

~tbc~

[unrealitybymeg]

dear future character

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