#I still want Nate back dammit
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I need Will Patton to guest on Leverage Redemption, but he’s too good to portray one of the one-note generic villains Redemption has been serving up so far. He should be either a Joe Biden figure who can’t be touched no matter what he says or does or allows to happen to good decent people, or a Robin Hood figure the team lets go because he’s better than the government or the two-tiered justice system at this point.
#leverage#leverage redemption#will patton#noah wyle#beth riesgraf#aldis hodge#christian kane#Dean Devlin#I still want Nate back dammit#eliot spencer#parker#alec hardison#sophie devereaux#Gina Bellman#I mean some of those season one and two villains were eye-rolling embarrassing they literally belonged in eighties Saturday cartoons
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ok this was a big episode in terms of non-football plots so wow let’s unpack it all with my…
TED LASSO 3.08 THOUGHTS
before I get out my coherent thoughts lemme just add in a quick: TED WITH THE GREEN MATCHBOX DIWKEIWIRKWKR like shitting screaming crying biting my nails throwing up crashing my car into a ditch THE IMPLICATIONS
KEELEY MY BELOVED I’M SO SORRY YOU ARE GOING THROUGH THIS NOOOOO
I’m actually kind of glad that the richmond guys didn’t understand the weight of it at first but then grew to understand and be respectful of it especially after learning about keeley being one of the victims. from my experience, it takes knowing a female friend who experienced something for men to truly understand the female perspective on it which is sad but true so I was really happy to see they all came around
ISAAC FOUND OUT ABOUT COLIN OH MY GOD Y’ALL WHAT how dare they not conclude that storyline my anxiety is skyrocketing
oh roy…. roy roy roy I know you’re still in a very insecure state when it comes to keeley but that was soooo the wrong question to ask
but on another note, making the QUEER GIRLFRIEND the most intolerant perspective on this feminist issue was not the right move at all. the red flags from jack have been so utterly unnecessary and of all the relationships they could have chosen to make toxic, the ONE wlw one was not a good choice. there was enough there to break them up without making her completely disrespect keeley. I’m profoundly disappointed by the writers on this front.
nate and jade are officially exclusive!! and nate was actually happy to see ted and henry!! my little heart is exploding omg like our boy is slowly coming back to the surface I know he can find it in him to stick it to rupert and mend things with ted in some capacity <3
LOL HENRY COMPLETELY IGNORING JAKE WHEN JUMPING IN THE CAB my man knows who his dad is iktr
also Trent is a diamond dog!!! yay!!! woof woof!!
I have… no idea wth they’re doing with keeley… like is she going to get back together with jamie after seeing him display the accountability she so desperately wanted from him in season 1? is she going to get back together with roy once he fixes his shit? is she gonna stay with jack? be single? a secret fifth option? who fucking knows. but also. it is a bad thing that there are only 4 episodes left and the vision for one of their TWO female leads is unclear. they need to stop fumbling the bag with my girl dammit!
#abby liveblogs#ted lasso#ted lasso spoilers#keeley jones#roy kent#jamie tartt#tedbecca#nate shelley
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Leverage Log: The Girls Night Out Job
Ok, i get we're trying to seperate the boys from the girls so we can have 2 gender-locked episodes... But dont tell me that "have you ever seen a robot bleed out" would not get Parker hyped. She's verry much into violence and weirdness.
Assuming that this is a "both episodes happen on the same night", then Nate's comment about Bonanno showing up for their cardgame could be interesting. (I'd like the cast to actually interact with their designated Jim Gordon-type)
Parker still doesnt understand properly that "she's Alice", "we've been doing brunch" "and we're proud of you" "its not hard, there are forks" 10/10, no notes.
"you know that thing where you fix me?" Wow Parker, thats... bad, like self-image wise. You are not broken.
Peggy is catering a party at the venezealan consulate... God dammit, her date is a thief/conartist/other criminal isnt he. He's gonna either steal something or assasinate a politician. im sorry Peggy.
Hardison does a face-ID. Good news is simple: He's a burglar not a murderer! OMG Parkers cat-wants-to-hear-my-voice lie was fantastic. She's gotten so good at Grifting. (Sophie should be proud)
Sophie and Tara's debate around the right method of investigating a hotelroom is interupted by 2 goons, who imediatly have a disagreement on the right way to investigate a hotelroom.
And Peggy thinks Alice stole her date. (in her defence, she kind of did.)
I definitly think he instantly realised something was wrong when the door he knew was locked just "fell" open.
Lovely little moment as she goes back to meet with Peggy, when the thief reminds us that Parker is a person who, even back in Episode 1 of Season 1, was deserving of a "The" in front of the name.
OMG Mattingly is a suave-ass slipster. I was about to complain "why wouldnt you just make a copy of the data and sell it twice" but turns out he DID!
I like Himbo Arsene Lupin, he's nice.
Peggy with the frying pan. Imagine being an assassin hired by a government to bomb an entire gala full of various dignitaries, and somehow losing, not to Parker and Sophie, but to Parker's normal friend.
Hardison getting extremely frustrated at all the pictures of Parker's handsome date he's sent. only to be realise "oh thats a bomb". The simple solution: Dont be there when it goes off.
I like the idea that Himbothief is gonna take a page out of Team Leverage's book in the future. The idea that Team Leverage's influence is spreading through others is nice.
Sophie's horror at having been given an alias as boring and mundane as a "Marge".
Good episode. Now lets watch the other side of the story.
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Leverage Ep 12 >:3
Pre-show:
WE MADE IT TO THE FINALE
TOOK ME MONTHS BUT WE’RE HERE 🔥🔥🔥🔥
can’t think only react
So excited
Reaction:
Oooooh synopsis are you telling me we’re gonna heist the ✨insurance company✨ hehehehe
shit wait we’re starting there?????
OH SHIT
ok ok soooooo Nate is drunk (maybe???? possibly???? most likely????), he almost shot a dude (past boss????), past boss offered shrimp and Nate just went “I do like shrimp”
Bro?????? Is this a flashback????
They don’t give a time or date tho….keeping it mysterious for plot reasons I guess (<- is grumbling about it)
WAIT
SOPHIE
SOPHIE IS HERE
YIU MOTHERFUCKER
LEVERAGE YOU DIDNT
HOW DARE YOU NATE DONT YELL AT SOPHIE
they staged an intervention whilst giving him heist of his dreams 🤧 like a “hey, broski, your drinking problem sucks…..wanna get at the man who ruined you?”
ELIOT WITH GLASSES YES
ohhhhhh so this is why it’s called the 1st David Job
“While you are well-versed in dead guy art, I am not” I love you so much Alec 💕💕💕💕💕💕
Oooooh pretty art
Ummmmm sketchy basement????
omfg the vases 👀👀👀👀👀
Bro just let him take a photo????? Rookie mistake
Awwwwww let Parker play with the little naked man 🥰
Lmao Sophie does not need you to tell her how to heist a guy, Nate 🤭 so silly, maybe if you drank some water—
Oh ho! You calling the pope a heathen 😂 in front of an alleged Vatican archivist 😂 you got balls man
Mag????? THE EX WIFE?????
WHAT
WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE?????? Girlie why are you in a party hosted by the ceo of the company that killed your son??????
Parker is meeeeeeeeeeee
SOPHIE 😂😂😂😂
Oh dear…..Maggie what are you doing????
SOPHIE 😂😂😂😂😂😂
It’s what….15 minutes???? jfc
Alec turned the fucking statue 💀💀💀💀💀
“Breakfast jambalaya” well now I’m hungry
YEEEEE MY PARKER/ALEC HEART
awwwwwwww he wants to talk about it 🥺🥺🥺 I’m ok T^T totally
ELIOT 💀💀💀 YOU DID NOT
Love my chaotic, smart Parker 🥰
ok, so, question: they mention that Nate’s ex-wife meets him to talk about when the priest got attacked in the Miracle Job, but now it’s like the team never met her before???? sorry it’s been awhile but I’m a little confused. Shouldn’t Sophie already know what she looks like???? Bc she made the “she’s pretty” comment here like idk sorry I’m might be overthinking this?
Lmaooooooo SOPHIE
ELIOT IS DONE LMAOOOOO
Parker don’t throw the David!!!!!
?????
Ok does the ex-wife care as in she wants to get back together or care as in “we used to love each other and while it isn’t the same now I still care for you like an old friend cares”? bc I really want option 2
Eliot why would you bring up the ex-wife again????
Sophie……girlie what are you doing???? She looks so excited and idk whether to be concerned or not
Oooooooh parents are talking
Lmao that door does not help at all, plus it has windows???? The trio’s still there this is not a private combo lol
oh shit she doesn’t know 🫢
Nate/Sophie 🥺🥺🥺🥺 why are they so soft stop it
Fuck up the company please 🙏🏻
TEXACO?????
Wait bro what’s the new plan???
Alec lmao 😂 bringing out the pen, making the pilot panic
you not a fan of heights 👀 ironic
ALEC 💀💀💀
“FAA! he’s a hardass” 😂😂😂😂
ALECCCCC WTF
BRO THE PILOTS ARE STILL THERE
My thoughts on what the pilot’s are thinking: “fucking FAA….stupid new regulations….wait, why is he putting that on his head??? What’s with that briefcase???? Who is he talking to???? What’s with the statue????….fucking FAA…”
Ah fuck it’s option 1….dammit
YEAH NATE PUNCH HIS ASS
OH SHIT
WHO WAS THAT GET THAT CAMERA AWAY
And of course this is just halfway
YES ELIOT WAIT FUCK
WHOMST
WAIT ALEC BB NOOOO HES JUST A MAN LEAVE MY MAN ALONE
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE??????
PARKER FUCK
LEAVE HIM ALONNNNNE
WHAT DID THEY DO TO MY BOY
FUCKUNG CROWLEY LOOKING DUDE BETTER NOT HARM PARKER
YES ELIOT FUCK HIM UP BREAK HIS KNEES
“I’ll come alone” fucking liar >:(
Sophie…….no girlie……..
Sterling please don’t hurt my Nate/Sophie please…..dont 🥺
He’s keeping Parker???? You bitch
Fuck 🫠 so stressed rn
Please tell me this episode isn’t over 🫠🫠🫠🫠
Ok ok not over 🥺 but still stressed
Nooooooooo Sophie/Nate please!!!!! You can’t hurt each other 🤧🤧🤧🤧 it’s not allowed!
Lmao you put it on the the edge of the roof, very classy girlie
ALEC!!!! BABY T^T
Parker should kill him, for funsies
Eliot should kill all of the lackies, for funsies as well • Hahaaaaaa so stressed
Girlie don’t you dare jump
GIRLIE WHAT
FUCK THEM ALLL UPPPPPP BOYS
I mean….they could cut the line????
Eliot you good??? Are his ribs still broke?????
Ok so episode is close to ending….everything seems well…but this is a 2-parter????
“Shouldn’t we call the police?” “You’re fired” said it like a true villain to his henchman 😎
ALEC BRO BADASS BUT STILL THE HQ????
Lmaooooo talking shit, piglet?
OHHHHHHHHH THE SHOT IS JUST LIKE THE PILOT!!!!! THEY’RE DIUNG A PARALLEL OF HOW THEY MET WHEN THEY WERE BARELY A TEAM AND NOW PRESENT TIME WHERE THEY ARE A FAMILY OH MY GOD!!!!
EVEN THE SCATTER WAS LIKE THE PILOT AHHHHHHHHHH
Final Thoughts:
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Ted Lasso 3.11 live blog Part 4
REBECCA RECEIVED A STRONGLY WORDED TEXT FROM NORA TO STOP USING HER PRIVATE JET. Good on you, Nora.
What the hell has happened to KENNETH? HE'S ALL DRESSED UP NICELY AND COHERENT?
Lol... love the running gag that Jade disappears as Nate tries to point her out as his girlfriend... Poor boy.
Jamie's also a poor boy, having some kind of breakdown here & all the things Keeley is saying is not helping at all.
What's the film because it looks familiar... And it's NOT Wizard of Oz.
There's REBECCA sitting next to TED! (How the hell did anyone thinks she was Michelle?)
Dani is very happy Roy & Keeley are (kinda) back together.
Yes, it's a Nora Ephron film! I think the tedbecca fandom called it.
It's You've Got Mail? YOU'VE GOT MAIL! FINALLY... IT'S ALL GONE META.
And all the players are crying. I am too (inside).
Oh, Sam... don't look there please. Dammit.
HIGGINS!
Jamie appears to be the only one (aside from Rebecca & Ted) that isn't affected. Okay, uh... Keeley's asleep.
Sleepless in Seattle is the far superior film according to Ted. Okay, we might get that kind of ending. I'm good with it.
And... Jamie's on the move. Roy & Keeley are on pursuit. They don't pursue very well. At least, Keeley doesn't. There's a house... is it his mum's place? His mother is very young looking in this light... BUT YAY! Also, uh... they a bit too close, yeah? (physically) Too close for me, anyways.
As expected... having her boyfriend working with her... a little too much for Jade.
Yes, why is Nate the only person thinking about salty nuts in a bar to make people drink more? Um... Because it's been the norm since the 80s at least? Also... he clearly needs to come up with ideas FOR A FOOTBALL TEAM.
Ah, Jamie's problem is he hasn't got anything to fight against now? Not his Dad, not Roy, not even his former self.
And... that's the kids' room that Roy & Keeley were in in the trailer. THE POSTER OF ROY ON HIS WALL! AND A POSTER OF KEELEY TOO! lol
"You're not lost. You're just not sure which direction you're going in yet.” TBH, I feel like that’s a metaphor for the whole of Season 3.
Ah, so Roy & Keeley aren’t exactly together... But Roy wants more. And they might've got it immediately if Jamie hadn't walked in... to his own room.
Oh, that Keeley advert gag just keeps going...
And Ted... still funny about his mom's presence, even if she's not with him right now.
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AC for Adam and Ant coz it feels fitting
I hate how easily this came to me for the LT, anyway! This is for "Staring at each other’s lips for a moment before moving closer, as if drawn together by some unseen force," from this kissing prompt. Hope you enjoy!
In Ant’s defense, he genuinely hadn’t meant for this to happen.
A late night stakeout because of a potentially roaming supernatural should have been easy this time around–the supernatural just seemed to be passing through the area, spooking the locals without being an actual threat, and it had seemed logical enough to Ant that as the town’s detective he would keep eyes on it until it left Wayhaven. He would keep his distance, monitor the thing, and make sure it eventually left without anyone discovering it or being hurt.
A step up from the man who had initially taken the job because nothing ever seemed to happen in Wayhaven. He was trying not to think about it.
He’d even meant to do the stakeout alone; the supernatural was a low threat, and Unit Bravo had been run ragged recently with all of the back to back incidents in town. Ant had thought he’d do the nice thing for once, take something on himself and give Unit Bravo the break they clearly needed. Maybe they were immortal vampires with super strength and speed and heightened stamina, but even they had started to look worn down in recent days.
As the saying said, though. The best laid plans of mice and men.
“Not that I don’t appreciate the fact you can’t stay away from me,” Ant sighed as he lowered his binoculars, “but I really wasn’t kidding when I said I could handle tonight myself.”
“You know my orders.” Adam didn’t shift to look at him, but Ant could feel the blonde’s eyes on him all the same; he refused to be the one to look first. He’d tried to be good for once dammit, he hadn’t meant for this to happen. He’d taken specific steps to try and avoid it, even.
“You know I’m a grown man with an adult job.”
Adam huffed beside him, though from the sound alone Ant couldn’t tell if it was a muffled sound of annoyance or an attempt to stifle a chuckle. It was always a fifty fifty chance, with Adam, and he didn’t dare look to confirm it. It was bad enough the other man already insisted on standing so close to him.
Yes, Ant could have stepped away.
Yes, he was ignoring that right now. It was easier to blame this situation on Adam.
“If you didn’t want me here, you could have taken Nate,” Adam said, and the words were far softer than they had any right to be. “He volunteered to join you before I did.”
The mention of Nate made Ant’s chest twist uncomfortably; a common reaction these days, that weird mix of pain and pleasure. He lifted his binoculars to his eyes again instead, to buy himself some time as he tried to bury the sensation. “This supernatural hasn’t been a threat to anyone. I could handle it myself. I wanted to do you guys a favor.”
Adam sighed beside him, now. “You know we can’t leave you alone, even if…” He paused, and Ant shifted slightly to peek at him out of the corner of his eye. Now the team leader was the one looking away from him, as if struggling to find the words. “Even if I appreciate the sentiment,” he finished.
Ant chuckled. “You don’t have to sound so strained saying it.”
The vampire huffed again, and this time it was definitely annoyed; Ant had to swallow the urge to laugh again. “I’m not strained.”
“Not used to complimenting someone for trying to be nice, I take it?”
“I gave you that compliment with no issues, detective.”
“There was a pause. A pretty decent one. Just saying.”
Ant was still watching the supernatural as he spoke, absently shifting his binoculars more comfortably on his neck, but he felt when Adam looked at him now; felt the subtle thrill that always ran over his skin when those green eyes found his, or followed his form in general. He hadn’t expected Adam to be the one to look first, and it had him taking a moment to inhale deeply.
Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit.
Adam didn’t say anything for a moment; there was no request for Ant to look at him, no plea, no demand. He was simply content with watching Ant watch the town, and somehow that just made Ant even more on edge than if their eyes met in this moment. Finally, after what seemed like both an eternity and a second, the blonde chuckled.
Adam had a wonderful laugh. It was unfair that it was just one other thing the detective was rapidly learning he maybe loved about the man.
“I just like to consider my words with you, detective.”
The words were soft again–too soft, almost bordering on tender, and Ant finally stopped fiddling with his binoculars, finally gave in to the inevitable. He hadn’t meant for this to happen, but here they both were. Maybe this was just how it was always going to be with them.
He shifted and turned his head, meeting Adam’s gaze, and he couldn’t help the smile even if he tried. “What, afraid you’ll break my heart the way you broke my desk?”
It was light, teasing, but it came out wrong–just as soft as Adam before, a little husky. The words immediately made Adam’s eyes drop to his lips, and Ant swallowed at the movement.
He should have pulled away now. He knew that. Should have taken a step back, created some distance between them, because Adam was already way too close and now he seemed even closer, since the moment their eyes had met. If he couldn’t do it, he should have said something; he was certain a single sound from him would have made Adam back off immediately, given his track record.
Ant didn’t say something. He didn’t pull away.
They were so close now.
They were so–
Nate flashed through Ant’s mind then, suddenly, painfully; the baffled look on his face when Ant had gently but firmly turned down his offer to patrol with him, the way his brown eyes had dimmed. Ant couldn’t say if it was the same thought for Adam, but from the pained look that crossed the other man’s face he had the sneaking suspicion that for once they were on the same page.
They were so close.
Adam took a shaking breath, then pulled away, turning to focus his gaze once more on the town. Ant let him, taking a moment to close his eyes and compose himself before he opened them and picked up his binoculars again.
They had a supernatural to watch.
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✨Find the Word✨
I was tagged by @juls-writes for the words: spark, sigh, step, creak, morning
I'll be tagging: @mjjune, @legiomiam, @juls-writes, @pinespittinink, and @sentfromwolves
For the words: thought, move, because, center, past
Snippets are from Siege of Berthingtonn
✨SPARK✨
Mica thought about suggesting the Potion again, but there was no way Nate was fit to do anything. She bit back on her grumbling. She’d specially-made the couple a few and was eager to give them out. Since the Potion had a two-week shelf life, the bottles had to remain contained in her portal bag. Anything put in the portal bag was effectively held in stasis until taken back out, thus negating the whole “shelf-life” thing. But then there was the fact that no one knew she had a portal bag because they were such prized items, so Mica had to keep skirting around subjects pertaining to it. Like her stash of Potions.
She’d started making a bit of extra cash on the side for those once Janna, another waitress at the Tom, learned Mica would special-brew them for her and charge the same as the apothecary. Mica was delighted to help in exchange for the coin. So far, she’d made Janna half a dozen.
Mica waved goodbye and exited Nate and Paul’s room. Paul was probably downstairs doing morning chores. Or evening chores. Or chores for whatever time of day it was. As she made her way down the stairs, she noted that the Tom wasn’t very busy, and it was daylight outside. So, it was either the lull before lunch, or the lull after lunch. Time had little meaning to Mica.
She stopped at the bar next, where the bartender and owner of the bar, Mama Cass, was cleaning the countertop. Mama was a pretty-much-solidly human woman who was past the prime of life but continued living out of sheer willpower and her spark of magic. She was kind and generous, but also meant business.
She looked up as Mica approached. Mica pulled a couple of vials out of her bag and handed them to Mama. Mica earned her keep at the Tom by creating additives for the alcoholic beverages. The most popular one was to alleviate hangovers. Currently, she was trying to get that to not taste like anything. Her current prototype had replaced the ginger with minty flavor, which wasn’t acceptable for most drinks. So it was still a work in progress.
.
♟SIGH♟
Cael moved a bishop. “Check.”
Thea sighed and moved a knight to block it. “They’re targeting her specifically,” she said. “Trying to kill her in her backyard.”
“And?” Cael asked. He moved a pawn seemingly inconsequentially. She captured it before it could take her bishop. “You can’t make any sort of announcement. Or even track down any and everyone who’s decided she’s a decent target. She’s not yours to protect. Check.”
“Damn,” Thea swore. He’d moved a knight in when she wasn’t paying attention. She repositioned her queen.
The two of them sat at the table in their bedroom. The doors to the balcony were open, letting in the cool night air. The thin curtains blew gently in the breeze. The second night of Independence Week was coming to a close. Thea could only barely hear distant celebrations in the streets below.
.
🔍STEP🔍
“All of this because I’m the one that saw Ms. Edgewing at the Gate?” Lodgepool asked as he and Kanjo went out Berthingtonn’s Main Gate to South Town.
Kanjo had acquired the list of places Rinnie had reportedly been at from the person coordinating the teams. He knew which places had already been checked and thus where he would need to begin his search. After he checked one specific place off first.
“That’s the short of it, yeah,” Kanjo said. “Lose some of that motivation in your step, by the way. You’ve been an Embassy Marine for too long.”
To his credit, Lodgepool rolled his eyes. “Only the last eight years,” he said.
Kanjo chuckled. “I can’t very well be doing this by myself. And you made such a stink about insisting it was her I decided I wanted that level of commitment to this mission.”
“Dammit, I hate it when being an overachiever kicks me in the ass,” Lodgepool said.
.
🤫CREAK🤫
Killian led the squads to the center of the school complex. They stuck to the walls, not wanting to expose themselves in the open courtyard. The swings on the swing set creaked eerily in between the sounds of gunfire. It became unfortunately clear the maps on the wall had been drawn to be easy to look at, not to scale. If they’d been to scale, they’d’ve reached the stairs sooner.
The crack of a rifle bullet as it struck the wall less than an inch from Adler’s nose and peppered his face with plaster flakes reminded him that no plan, no matter how well or hastily conceived, ever survived contact with the enemy. Adler’s body threw itself backwards of its own accord and out of the line of fire of a Nid who’d fired at point-blank range with a sniper rifle.
The Nids already had control over the courtyard. If the joint-Berthan-and-Perinathian troops tried to enter it, they’d be out in the open.
“We can’t turn back,” Killian said. “They’ll have us surrounded.”
Vasily threw a grenade into the courtyard. It turned into a firefight after that.
.
🔆MORNING🔆
The weight of her failures over the past several hours—she assumed it was hours—felt like a crushing weight on her chest.
What time is it, Miera? Thea asked.
Nearly eight in the morning, on the thirteenth.
Thea’s mostly numb face approximated a grimace. No wonder the Council is unhappy. I slept through the eclipse.
Cael entered the tent. He looked like he hadn’t slept in hours.
#tag game#find the word#my writing#siege of berthingtonn#mica#mama cass#thea#cael#kanjo#timothi#killian#nathaniel#miera
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Thursday
I'm back! Gotta update the bike blog because I hate when other blogs suddenly drop off and die. Haven't been biking much lately so nothing to report, but trying to get back on the bike now.
Things I did that I haven't posted:
August 2023 biked around Portland, ME and mid-coast Maine
March 2024 biked to Hakone in Saratoga
Adopted the Mamachari, which was found abandoned in front of the apt building. Fixed the rear flat and now it's my work bike. It has no controls for its electric assist, but it has a rear rack and a front basket, so I just use it as a very heavy (unstealable) single-speed bike when I need to transport plants and such things. It is not easy to ride any grade over 3%. On every other terrain it is fine.
Today we are back in Queens doing a casual ride. Strava here. It was very hot today.
First we went on 20th Ave towards our bagel spot, but Nate went too far and passed it and by then we were at ConEd and we were like let's keep going I don't care about bagels right now. Then my chain fell off right as we got into Astoria Park (at 20th). We biked through AP and then of course we had to ride to Socrates Sculpture Park (it was closed at that time), then doubled back to get on the Triboro Bridge entrance (rode behind a stinky schoolbus for part of that), finally got on the bridge, then crossed to Manhattan via Ward's Island Bridge, which was VERY gross and trashy :(. I would once again like to reiterate how I have previously failed to bike this bridge due to steepness, and this is very much a thing of the past. HA HA!!!!!
After that we went downtown via 2nd Ave and I hated it because too many mopeds, ebikes, potholes, they were repaving from E49th to like E42nd ugh, and too many peds not paying attention who had to be yelled at LOL. We went all the way to Katz's because Nate wanted a pastrami (at 8am). Then I got angry about being in that neighborhood (too hectic!) so we biked across Houston and went on the WSH to eat the sandwich.
Sitting and eating pickles and pastrami looking at New Jersey
Little Island aka Diva Cup Park
Then we kept biking up WSH and went past 125th! Which I've rarely done (the few times documented on this blog for sure)! And I stopped to learn about the Little Red Lighthouse. Nate missed it because he was busy climbing the steep part that comes right after that. We both had to dismount at the next steep part immediately following that.
Then we kept biking and saw that pillar thing that I used to have a photo of on this blog until TinyPic shut down:
Then we kept going until the path led us to this place, and we biked along it until it dead-ended. We also tried to go the other way but it was another dead end. We saw a groundhog! It was moseying along next to the path. I tried to take a photo but it ran away.
What seems to be the end of the WSH bike path?
We got off the WSH bike path, went on Dyckman, then Harlem River Drive (where we saw volcano-mulched trees!!!!), then stopped at Holcombe Rucker Park, and wiggled our way over to the Bronx. My chain fell off for the second time while going towards the Madison Ave Bridge.
After that, finally got back onto Randall's Island where I tried to blast up the ramp up to the bridge. Just checked my Strava and I am literally 1 second slower than my PR and I HATE it!!! wtf!!!! So close to beating it. I knew I could've kept accelerating, too. Dammit.
Then stopped at Lidl for snacks before going home. I had a Zoom interview. (It didn't go that well but who cares.)
After that, we went back outside (Strava here) to go to Kickstand Bicycles and buy pedals/get my chain and potentially chainring replaced. Riding down 2nd Ave for the second time today, yuck! Still too many mopeds. My chain fell off 11 blocks away from destination. Ben and Andrea remembered us and also said the chain would be fine if I just tensioned it by pulling the wheel back. I still bought a bunch of shit from them in case I need it in the future and because I like to patronize their shop. So now I have a spare chainring and chain. I'll bring the cog and tools I have in SF next time I'm here and make the upgrade. Oh and I also bought a front brake :( Yes I am here to admit defeat because it's supposed to rain this weekend and I am not trying to die if my skids or footbrake fails in unfamiliar territory.
Then rode back home; stopped at Athens Park, another must-visit fave.
Who knew this was an actual gift from Greece to Mayor Giuliani (I guess anyone who bothered to read the plaque. It's a good gift.)
Also couldn't resist attempting 75th St Pop but I was 2 seconds slower than my PR! Ugh I will try again.
Anyway we logged a bunch of miles today and I am not that tired but it was very hot today (which only sucks if you stop moving) and I am very sticky from being sweaty and accumulating dust.
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Watch "P!nk & Nate Ruess Just Give Me A Reason Live YouTube" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/5B57t_IGZwE
She was pretty cute about it he said somebody cares I know you do he says nobody takes my grandma remember I told you that and he said you're getting shot once a day. say it to himself over and over emphatically. Then realize something it's a man and it's full of grown man as far as our students go but as a giant because he is one he's still about an eight year old child he can be very very insistent. He wants his grandma back too and his mom and dad you should see how he is about it. He says there's a squash you Billy z. He was astounded at the language and then he heard himself say it when I'm talking to him he's telling himself do not go through with it do not touch her you don't need her and now Lily is the devil and doesn't really really good double of her it's amazing she looks just like her and sounds like her so we don't want her to be kidnapped either but we don't want great grandma to be kidnapped in this little boy is going nuts on this a****** and said the whole world is going to be down on you you kidnapped one woman I'm so sick of that crap happened so pink came out to me and said I'm something to do with crap but that's okay cuz he's saying don't do it and the whole world will be on you I said I'm lighting up for him he doesn't want that he wants me to be free driving is John Deere tractor Little couple storms and people can't get around and someone has to stand in to keep the peace to fool the boy so I started talking I said I don't have any time for him and what would you want and need so the security for us she said the security force and switch them out if they change in my grand nephew said the different clans too and then to be thinking people so she said good we did all that and he's still after her and all of us see it and he says itself they're going to know what's going on 100%. It's just said why is that so I said he's demanding that we have the other clans. There's some troublemakers and they should be hired but most of them are decent and I did hire them all and she did to do this duty there's a few good reasons and I called it a few Good Men program and I see how he takes it. So we're going after them he says these lines to her you're a pretty hot grandma she says back you're pretty hot grandson you stay away from me boy yes I can't wait to grow up either dammit well that's weird. So I parked in the conversation a few times I got to tell you something we're going to wear with this piece of s*** and his voice sucks and she didn't say anything about her sucking him not sucking he sounds like a girl it's very strange I'm not really sure why it sounds like a woman it's a lot of his songs he sounds like a girl singing anyways he said a lot of loss in his life can't seem to hold on to any woman those get hurt we don't want her near him it's too dangerous and his men are nuts
Mac daddy I'm putting warrants out on them now and on this idiots here they're too stupid to be near him I see why
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I want a Leverage/Stargate crossover in which Parker, Hardison, Eliot, and Sophie all know about Stargate and all think they are the only ones who know.
Eliot is easy. He worked for them. He's been off world and has seen aliens up close. He doesn't want that danger anywhere near his team and, if they knew aliens were real, they would seek them out.
Parker, pre-Leverage, was once going to steal from a goa'uld. She's hidden away and safe, but sees the goa'uld change hosts or similar. It is one of the few times she walked away without her score. She still stole something, just not what she had gone for. She also neatly accepted that mind controlling snake monsters are real and that made her much more accepting of the impossible and, weirdly, less afraid in general. Nothing beats a mind controlling snake monster.
Hardison hacked his way into the mountain base while setting up in Portland. He didn't go in deep; he was just looking for something cute and Santa related for Parker. Instead, he found a mission report some idiot had sent in via email. The report had video. Brutal video. He watched. Three times. And then bought himself a new computer solely to hack deeper and figure out if what he saw was real or fake. It was real. He was thrilled--space ships and aliens were real! He was terrified--space ships and aliens were real and not very friendly. He wanted no part of that.
Sophie conned her way into a dinner with military officials. It wasn't even for a job. She was just bored and wanted to test out her skills. (Part of her also wanted to get caught. Part of her post-Nate was a bit self-destructive). She found a man fuming and lent a listening ear. With a bit of alcohol and a lot of pretending to know more than he did, she learned about the Stargate program. She locked that knowledge up deep, ready to wield it if ever needed.
And then, one day in New Orleans, SGC comes knocking for Eliot. It is one of the times that Hardison is home with them. Eliot is cooking and Hardison and Parker are teasing him in the kitchen. Harry is out. Breanna is working to undo a virus Hardison created for her as a challenge.
Then, say, Cameron Mitchell walks in. Eliot glances over from where he's cooking at the stove and says, "No. Turn around. Walk away."
Hardison has gone still. He remembers Cameron's face from the reports he read and watched. "How do you know Eliot?" he asks.
"We used to work together."
Hardison turns to Eliot, eyes wide. "Eliot?"
"Better question," Eliot says, turning off the heat. "How do you know Mitchell here?"
"Someone has to keep an eye on what the government is doing," Hardison vamps, part of him still hoping to end this conversation without Parker learning about the spaceships and aliens.
"Dammit Hardison."
By this time, Parker has hopped off the counter and walked up to Cameron to get a better read on him. She also nicks his wallet and firearm. "Catch," she calls to Eliot as she tosses the firearm to him.
"Parker!" Eliot chastises as he snatches the gun. "Don't throw firearms."
She shrugs. "I knew you'd catch it."
This is the first time Cameron has looked wrongfooted this entire time. "What?"
"Cameron Mitchell," Parker reads from his ID. "Airforce."
Cameron swipes it back from her. Parker lets him. As she turns, she catches Breanna's eye and gestures to her ear.
Breanna pulls out of the code she was working on and starts looking for any foreign frequencies to find out who is talking to Mitchell.
Sophie, who has been watching quietly this entire time and noting Cameron's military standing, takes into account his actual division and the ways Eliot and Hardison are acting and clearly talking around something. She decides to make a gamble.
"Does this have anything to do with the Stargate program?"
Eliot, Hardison, and Cameron all freeze and look at her.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," Cameron says, "But how do you know about the Stargate program."
Sophie offers him a beatific smile. "People do talk--" she pauses and gives him a searching look "--commander is it? Interesting that the commander himself came to talk." She turns to Eliot. "This might be important."
Cameron spins to Eliot. "Did you tell her?"
Eliot crosses his arms. "I've not said anything."
Parker raises her hand. "What's the Stargate Program?
Hardison is the first to speak up. "It is a secret program that deals with threats from space."
"Like aliens?" Breanna asks, continuing to hack into Cameron's comms. She's surprised by the layers of protection.
"Yes."
"Okay," Breanna mutters. "Cool. So aliens are real."
Parker raises her hand again.
"You don't need to raise your hand, Parker," Eliot mutters into his hand.
"Are any of these aliens mind controlling snake monsters who like Egyptian antiquities?"
Now every eye is on her.
"Yes," Cameron says, stretching the word out. "How?"
Parker just hops back up onto the counter. "I stole from one."
"Did she just say she stole from one?" A woman's voice plays from Breanna's corner.
"So I've hacked their comms," Breanna says.
Cameron nearly growls in frustration. This was not how this was supposed to go.
"Why don't you invite the rest of your team in?" Sophie says. "Eliot, will we have enough food?"
Eliot rolls his eyes and turns back to the stove. He turns the heat back on and gives his dish a stir. "I was making enough for leftovers. We'll be fine."
"Who are you people?" Cameron asks. "I mean, I've read your files, but--"
"Oh, how did you like those?" Hardison asks. "Beauties, aren't they?"
"You forged your records?" Cameron asks, his tone flat.
Sophie touches his elbow and guides him to a seat. "When you've taken over a small country, darling, paperwork is child's play."
Cameron looks at her, sees she isn't lying, and laughs. "Okay. Fine." He calls his team in. They'll have dinner. And then they'll discuss saving the world.
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I’ve already talked about a Leverage crossover where the Hargreeves are conmen but I'm. losing it thinking about. a Leverage AU where the Leverage team sees these kids on tv, and they just go. oh shit, that’s just fucking wrong. (I know the timelines don’t match up but let’s pretend the umbrella kids were born a little later, or that Leverage takes place a little earlier, or something like that. I don’t know.)
But these fucking umbrella kids show up on TV, and at first none of them are paying much attention. Not right away. They’re busy running cons, and none of them except Hardison watch TV for fun very often.
So they’ve all heard bits and pieces about this Umbrella thing, and aren’t quite sure what to make of it. Superhumans, huh? Eliot mutters at one point. Whatever. Our lives are already so goddamn weird.
But eventually they catch a broadcast while they’re home in between cases. it’s playing in the background while they’re enjoying a meal together at the brewery.
The Umbrella Academy saves the day yet again! the broadcaster declares cheerily. We go now to a statement at the Louvre from their leader, Sir Reginald Hargreeves.
It’s just novel enough to catch their attention--being who they are, they all perk up at the word Louvre--and it gets them half-watching as they chat over breakfast.
It’s Parker that sees it first. She’s Parker, so what catches her attention is actually not the fact that one of them is covered in blood, nor is it the fact that their father is calling them by numbers instead of names. It’s the way that they stand, tense and upright. It’s the way that the one covered in blood is trembling minutely, so fine that it’s almost imperceptible. But she notices. And she notices the way that the one to the bloodied boy’s left--the fifth one in line--leans over ever-so-subtly when their father is looking away. Whispers something with the barest movement of his lips. And then, after a moment of hesitation, he links hands with his shaking brother, twining their fingers together. Parker knows that whisper, knows what this is. She used to do that with her brother. Used to hold Nick’s hand, just like that, when their fosters were scaring him, trying to provide comfort even despite the fear of being caught.
It’s not long before the others follow her gaze. She’s stopped engaging in the conversation entirely, is just staring at the television with a death glare, nose wrinkled.
“Parker, baby,” Hardison says. “That’s your angry face.”
“I’m angry,” she says, and doesn’t elaborate.
“Got it,” Hardison takes it in stride, as he always does.
Eliot’s frowning at the TV. Unlike Parker, his eye does jump to the most obvious thing first. To the boy, no older than eleven or twelve probably, drenched head to toe with blood. There’s no rips in his clothing; Eliot’s pretty sure the blood isn’t his. He’s standing up straight, but his shoulders are slightly hunched. Like he’s injured. Broken ribs, maybe? And he’s been taught to hide them too. He’s also not the only one with that too-stiff posture. These kids aren’t standing up straight. They’re standing at attention. Number One, their father calls one of them, and what are those? Fucking callsigns?
Sophie and Nate are watching too. Their faces are carefully blank. They aren’t happy, Parker’s pretty sure, but they’re trying not to react.
“What the hell?” Hardison says slowly. He’s the last one to catch on, though only by a very narrow margin. He lacks Sophie and Nate’s cynicism, and the years of personal experience Parker and Eliot have, but he’s still too smart to not figure it out almost immediately. And he is first one to abandon the stunned stillness that’s fallen over the rest of them, pulling his laptop out of his bag, already quickly tapping away at the keys.
“This ain’t right,” Eliot says, voice a growl in his chest. “This is--this is--it’s televised child abuse.”
Sophie makes a quiet noise of agreement then. “It is,” she says, quietly disgusted. “Those poor children.”
Nate is still staring at the screen, lips pressed flat.
“This Reginald guy looks rich,” Parker says. Then: “Can we kill him?”
Eliot chokes on his drink.
“How is this even legal?” Sophie asks. She sounds curious, though not particularly surprised by the grievous violation of child protection laws before her. “It’s so...blatant.”
“Sir Reginald Hargreeves,” Hardison says, no longer typing. “He is--oh shit.” And the typing resumes, faster and a little more panicked than before.
“Hardison?” Nate prods after a moment, giving Hardison a sidelong glance.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s all good,” Hardison says. “The INTERPOL files on this guy are locked up tight though. Almost tripped their security system there. I didn’t, of course, but--”
“You couldn’t get in?” Eliot says, smirking.
“Yet,” Hardison says. “Dammit, man, it’s been less than five minutes. Give me a couple hours and that thing is mincemeat. Metaphorically speaking, of course. But I do see what’s going on here and,” he clicks his tongue, shaking his head in disappointment. “Y’all, this is hinky.”
“Yes, I think we got that,” Nate says. The corner of his lip twitches up.
“Yeah, yeah,” Hardison says. “This guy has got friends everywhere. No one knows how he got the kids, but it looks like he technically bought them--”
“He what?” Sophie sounds like she’s been suckerpunched. Parker can’t think of the last time she heard Sophie sound so shocked.
“Oh yeah. You think that’s bad? The numbers aren’t code names The numbers are their name names. Like, legally. I just found an article that said he ordered them by how useful he thinks they are, but judging by the adoption papers it was actually in the order he, uh,” Hardison coughs, “acquired them.”
Eliot is swaying where he stands. “Common tactic. He’s pitting them against one another so they’ll be easier to control. It undermines the self worth of the ones lower on the scale and makes the ones that are higher up feel obligated to do what he wants. Son of a bitch.”
“...And it looks like he leveraged their powers as excuse to gain exemptions from child protection laws,” Hardison continues like he hasn’t been interrupted. “Claimed their abilities meant they don’t need the same safeguards.”
“That’s bullshit!” Eliot sounds thunderous.
“I know, buddy,” Hardison reaches over blindly, waving his hand around vaguely until he finds Eliot’s shoulder. He gives it a comforting squeeze. “I didn’t write it.”
Eliot heaves in a shuddering breath. “That’s just--”
“Evil,” Sophie finishes.
“I’m inclined to agree,” Nate says. He’s not watching the TV anymore. He’s staring off into the middle distance, arms crossed over his chest.
“Oh!” Parker perks up. All the grief and distress that had been brewing on her face vanishes like storm clouds parting for the sun. “Nate! Nate, are you scheming? You look like you’re scheming.”
Nate makes a noncommittal grunt. “It would be dangerous.”
“They’re in danger,” Sophie says softly, jerking her head in the television’s direction.
Eliot’s long-since gotten to his feet. He’s pacing, and that’s how Parker knows he’s furious. When Eliot is too angry to stand it, he has to move, has to find some way to handle the rage roiling under his skin. Usually he cooks, chopping vegetables with furious aplomb. And when he can’t cook, he paces.
“They’re fucking child soldiers,” he says. “I can’t--” he cuts himself off with a furious shake of the head. I can’t believe, he was about to say, Parker thinks, but he had to stop because that’s not true. Eliot knows better than anyone what the government--what the world does to people they find useful, whether its skill or power that makes them so.
“Y’all are behind,” Hardison says in sing-song. “I’m already trying to burn this motherfucker down.”
“Hardison, do not tip our hand,” Nate says, snapping into his leader-voice automatically. Parker grins. He’s already got a plan, then. She knew all that reluctance was just for show. Sophie laughs, as clear and bright as the ringing of a bell, and even Eliot perks up.
Hardison grumbles, closing his laptop and stuffing it back in his messenger bag.
Nate is grinning a little too, though it’s that angry smile he gets sometimes when Parker knows he’s thinking about hurting bad people. She understands. She's wearing hers too right now. Nate glances them all over, and for all the malice dripping off the knife’s edge of that smile, his eyes are soft. Maybe even a little proud.
“Fine. Fine. You guys win,” Nate says, lifting his hands in defeat. He’s putting on a show of being beleaguered, but Parker can hear the sparking anger in his voice, and oh, how could she have forgotten? Sophie is so gently righteous, Hardison so achingly distressed, and Eliot so full of fire and fury that she almost didn’t notice Nate’s seething wrath, nearly forgot that Nate looks at every injured child in need of help and thinks of Sam. “Everyone, get your things. Hardison, get us some plane tickets. Let’s go steal some children.”
“Okay, okay. I ain’t complaining cause, like, fuck that guy,” Hardison says, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “But stealing children? Could you have made us sound anymore like kidnappers?”
“Hardison!”
“I’m just saying.”
#tua#the umbrella academy#leverage#my writing#this is kind of garbage but i cant stop thinking about it!!!
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Ok can I have more of that modern fantasy coffee shop au? That was MARVELOUS
(This is of course in the same universe as the other Bridgeport Brew Café fic.)
Eliot was eyeing the cat in the back room with suspicion. Sophie looked rather delighted, Nate was ignoring it even when it climbed right up onto the table in front of him, and Hardison had taken one look at it and went 'NOPE' before going back out to the front.
"Why did you steal a cat, Parker?" Eliot asked, because apparently nobody else was going to.
"That lady with the annoying kid asked me to," Parker said, rolling a little ball with a bell in it across the table towards the cat. It seemed more interested in crawling into Nate's lap, though. Nate was still resolutely ignoring it, reading - or pretending to read- the paper.
"The one we made pay full price?" Eliot asked. That lady had barely been allowed across the threshold. The building had fought him on it a little before settling. The only reason she had been able to come in was because Eliot wasn't one to refuse a child anything, not even the bratty ones, and this one looked hungry. He’d looked like he could use a chocolate chip cookie laced with a little bit of empathy.
"Yeah!" Parker said. "She'd heard about us by eavesdropping on her housekeeper, and she wanted me to steal her neighbour's cat for her kid. The neighbour wasn't taking care of it properly, like at all. Look at how skinny it is!"
"So she's coming to pick up the cat later?" Eliot asked. The cat had managed to worm its way past Nate's newspaper, over his arm, and was gingerly climbing off the table and into his lap. Nate hadn’t moved a muscle.
"Oh, no," Parker said. "The kid was a brat who was already planning to cut off Kitty's whiskers. So she's staying here. Isn't that right, Kitty?"
"Dammit, Parker," Eliot sighed, even though his mind was already reeling with possible gourmet cat food recipes, little magic tweaks that would make her tolerable for Hardison's allergies, would get her health back to where it needed to be, would make her understand she was safe and loved now.
On Nate's lap, the cat began to purr.
#leverage#HardisonxParkerxEliot#magic coffeeshop au#magic au#coffeeshop au#fanfic#eliot spencer#parker#nate ford#nate you're not going to win this battle of the wills#(nate is 100% that dad who doesn't want a pet and then a week later is coddling it)#(except he still pretends not to care for it if anyone's watching)#I wrote a thing#kitchenwitch eliot my beloved#how does Parker know what the kid is planning? magic duh#she can tell exactly who deserves to have something stolen for them or from them#even if her parameters are a little off
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📓📓📓
does 3 emojis mean 3 answers??? well, give a mouse a cookie....give a liz a prompt....
okay 1: another jenate fic idea the death of WVDB. nate's grandfather passes, and so he's called back to NY for the funeral. it's basically jenny being nate's rock through vbd family nonsense, because nate knows what he wants and the kind of person he wants to be and that does not compute with anne and his grandmother. like, there's a will reading, and nate ends up being promised a huge sum BUT with stipulations, like, there's funding to set up his own nonprofit as well as set him up comfortably -- but only if he's married. and he's like "fuck that" and walks away from it. another nuggets I've thought about over this idea: dair being Old Marrieds; blair still being favored by lots of vdbs but like anytime she interacts with any of them she's like "have you met my husband Dan???"; jenny & blair playing Nate's self-appointed emotional guardians; jenny being so glamorous and put together that all the vbds are like "whaaaa?"; and there's actually a couple cousins nate keeps in touch with and they LOVE her. oh, and nate joking that he doesn't need his grandfather's will because "Jen's gonna be richer than me in 5 years anyway"
2: a big little lies au!!!! okay so like, jenny is shailene woodley, blair is nicole kidman, serena is reese witherspoon, vanessa is zoe kravitz. kinda want serena and vanessa to just be wives and drop that jealousy subplot idk. and blair is locked in her abusive marriage with chip wiskers, and she thinks she's keeping it hidden from her son henry, but he starts first grade bullying a kid in his class, but jenny's son gets blamed for it, since they just moved to town. (who would be laura dern tho?! penelope?) serena adopts jenny as her new best friend, and so her best friend blair does by proxy (lady friendships!!!!) and all the tension comes to a head when it's revealed that jenny's assaulter is blair's husband, a fight breaks out, and chuck ends up dead at the bottom of the stairs. and all the women band together in solidarity (lady friendships!!!!) oh and jenny and blair heal fall in love and raise their boys together <333 maybe they open a boutique together. the challenge with doing anything with the humphrey sibs Going Through Some Shit, is: where the hell is the other one??? my answer for this au is that Dan is living his Happily Ever After with his son Milo and his husband Nate and they all fret over Jenny from a distance, because she wants to make her own way, dammit.
and 3: a pop musician's au. born entirely out of my obsessive listening of carly rae jepsen's The Loneliest Time, because, it's a Blair album. full of dair anthems. it'd be kiiiiinda sorta like the 90s music au by audrina, but not because I'd want to do something different if I only had the time, but that's the vibe: Blair is a pop princess, Dan an indies guy, and ✨ROMANCE✨
(also the vibe would be like one of my favorite GOT fics Dangerous Woman, but this time I would pick the music)
they fall in love, fall apart, etc. etc. and there'd be other characters too. Serena in a music au could ONLY be Kesha, and she and Dan are exes-turned-besties and sometimes they write stuff together.
Dan's ride or dies are Jenny and Vanessa, and they each have their own thing going but they still write and perform together. boygenius. they're boygenius. (obvi Vanessa is Lucy Daucus, Jenny is Julien Baker, and Dan is Phoebe).
oh, and Carter Baizen is an actor and he and Dan meet through Serena and they date before the grand Dair Reconciliation.
and endgame dair & serenessa. bc I'm me.
#ty stars love <333#asks#insistonyourcupofstars#gg au#srsly the album the loneliest time belongs to blair waldorf
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The Conspiracy Job
I made a post about the “Eliot’s semi-famous identities” conspiracy here and @what---i-dated-a wanted a fic, which got my muse going. So, here it is, and also on AO3
An amazing version of the same concept by @copperbadge was linked in the notes and I recommend you all read that too! The Job Interview Job
The Conspiracy Job
“Oh, not again!”
The others, busy drawing up plans for their latest con, looked over at Hardison.
“What is it?” Sophie asked.
He brought his display up on the large screen at the front of the room.
“Someone’s just searched a bunch of Eliot’s old aliases, all at the same time.”
Parker frowned as she looked at the screen. “That doesn’t sound good.”
Eliot was on his feet immediately, concern clear on his face.
“Who is it? CIA? FBI? KGB? Mossad?”
“Give me a second,” Hardison said. “No, I don’t think so. They’re not being flagged on any databases. Someone’s just googling them.”
Eliot relaxed slightly and rolled his eyes. “It’s not those damn conspiracy forums, is it? I thought you got rid of those.”
“I did! They haven’t posted anything, they’re just looking. Oh, they’re here in Portland.”
Eliot tensed again at that, but Hardison shook his head.
“Relax, man. It’s a family house; a couple of dentists and a fifteen year old. If they post anything I’ll take it down, nothing to worry about.”
On the other side of Portland, Julia stepped into her friend Marcie’s bedroom and her eyes widened as she took in the scene before her. Marcie was connecting red threads between grainy, printed-out images on her corkboard and empty bottles of Gatorade littered the desk.
“You have to cool it with this, dude.”
Marcie turned to face her, her hair a mess and her eyes red from lack of sleep, and Julia sighed.
“You look like freaking Charlie Kelly!”
“There’s something here, Jules. I’m sure of it.”
“It’s a couple of athletes and a singer who happen to look similar. It’s hardly the scoop of the century.”
“Look similar? Look similar? Julia, they are completely identical! There are exactly three possibilities.” She held up three fingers in her friend’s face as she counted them off. “Triplets, clones or one ridiculously talented guy.”
“Okaaay, and which one do you think it is?”
“I don’t know,” Marcie answered, turning back to her board. “Triplets? Why would they have different names and hide it? One guy? He’d have to be able to sing and play guitar, baseball and hockey. Why wouldn’t you own up to having that kind of talent? Why go to different places with different names? Clones? I’m leaning clones.”
“Clones? Come on, Marcie.”
“It’s the most logical explanation.”
“You think someone cloned a human being just to create a one-hit-wonder country singer and some short lived athletes?”
Marcie shrugged. “It could be a trial run or an experiment or something. And you remember that anything I ever said on the forums would mysteriously vanish? I went to look after Jacques Labert turned up and every single forum post was gone! Every one! Doesn’t that sound like a government conspiracy to you?”
“It’s weird,” Julia admitted. “But I think you might be taking this a little too far. If the government were making clones, why would they let them get famous so people could discover it?”
“But they weren’t that famous. Think about it, what were the chances that someone would connect them? There were only ever a couple of us posting on the forums. If I hadn’t happened to be visiting my uncle in Palmerston when Roy Chappell was playing and then gone to Saddle and Spurs for my birthday, I’d never have known.”
Her eyes widened as a horrifying thought occurred to her . “Then Jacques Labert turned up in my city! What if I’m the connection?”
She swung back to the board and began to write her own name. Julia grabbed her hand.
“Marcie! You’re not the center of a government conspiracy! Besides, who’s this fourth guy again?” She asked, tapping one of the photos in the corner. “You didn’t have anything to do with him, did you?”
“No,” Marcie conceded. “And I told you about him, remember? He’s an animal rights activist who was on the news in San Lorenzo a couple of years ago, talking about dog fights in the Presidential Palace. And he’s Canadian. That’s why it’s so exciting that, after almost two years of nothing new, Jacques Labert, Canadian hockey player, suddenly appears. Was the guy on the news Jacques Labert? If there really is more than one of them in the first place!”
Julia grimaced, increasingly worried about Marcie’s obsession with this wild conspiracy. “He was on the news where?”
“San Lorenzo. It’s this tiny European country. Here look.” Marcie sat at her desk, tapped the name into Google and turned her laptop towards Julia.
Julia scrolled through a few pictures of the idyllic Mediterranean island, then stopped suddenly and pointed at one of them.
“Wait, who’s that?”
“Oh, that’s Rebecca Ibañez. It’s a tragic story,” Marcie explained, as she clicked on the link and showed her some clearer pictures. “A couple of years ago, the same time maybe-Jacques Labert was there, there was an election and her fiancé won. But, just as the results were announced, supporters of the former president tried to assassinate him and Rebecca stepped in front and took the bullet for him.”
“She was assassinated?”
“Yes, isn’t it awful?”
Julia shook her head. “She can’t have been.”
“What?”
“She’s my brother Zachary’s acting teacher.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I went to see his play last week and I met her. Her name’s Sophie Devereaux and she’s definitely not dead.”
Marcie looked at her in amazement, a grin breaking out across her face . “And she was in San Lorenzo at the same time as Jacques-Roy-Kenneth! There might be even more to this than I thought!”
Julia, almost as invested as Marcie now that her brother’s odd director was mixed up in this, pulled up a chair and looked on excitedly as her friend brought up another google search.
Back at the Brewpub, the crew were working out the kinks in their plan while waiting for any sign of the internet sleuth trying to share their ideas about Eliot’s multiple identities.
When the computer pinged again, they all turned to see which of his aliases had been flagged this time, only for their eyes to widen in horror as the search term flashed on the screen.
“Rebecca Ibañez” “Sophie Devereaux”
Sophie gave a gasp that almost turned into a choke. “Wha- wha- what?”
Eliot turned to Hardison, furious. “Oh sure, just dentists and a teenager! Fix. This.”
“I’m trying!” Hardison said. “I can’t find any connections to anything. They look clean.”
“Then look harder!”
Wait, I have something. It’s the kid’s computer.”
“Who’s the kid?” Nate asked.
Hardison pulled up a Facebook page. “Marcie Taylor. She’s a sophomore. She used to post on those stupid Eliot forums that I had to take down every week after Memphis. It was pretty harmless, but I’ve no idea why she’s suddenly looking at Sophie’s aliases.”
He scrolled down the page looking for any kind of hint, when Sophie called out to him to stop.
“Who’s that with her? She looks familiar.”
A few more clicks and Hardison had a name.
“Julia Gutmann. She’s in the same class.”
Gutmann?” Sophie groaned. “I know why she’s familiar. That’s Zachary’s little sister.”
“Zachary? Your acting student Zachary?” Nate asked disbelievingly.
“Yes, she came to our play last week.”
Nate shook his head. “I told you to use an alias at that theater.”
“But I wanted to do this as me,” Sophie protested.
Eliot turned back to Hardison. “So, let me get this straight. The aliases and digital trail that you set up to be uncrackable by international governmental organizations are about to be blown apart by a couple of high schoolers?”
Hardison glowered at him. “They’re only looking at old aliases and they were all burnt when we had to leave Boston anyway. It’s not that bad.”
“Sophie’s still using Sophie,” Eliot argued, nearly yelling now. “And I was only just Jacques Labert and in this city. Now they’ve tied me and her together. How did they even do that? That’s way more than some fifteen year old girls should be able to accomplish on Google.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t panic. They were looking at photos of San Lorenzo. That’s how they found a picture of Sophie."
Sophie glared at him.
"Hey!" he protested. "You're the one who jumped in front of the cameras! I can't control the entire internet you know, and I think the people of San Lorenzo would have noticed if every image of their martyred heroine suddenly vanished.
“It’s just bad luck that Julia had met you. But why were they looking at…” Hardison groaned. “They found that video of Eliot and the puppy somehow.”
“Why didn’t you take that down?” Eliot snapped.
“It’s a thirty second feature on the news from two years ago in a country smaller than Iceland! It wasn’t my top priority!”
“Dammit, Hardison!”
“So, our cover’s going to get blown by kids?” Parker asked, incredulously.
“No,” Nate insisted. “Well, maybe. But we can manage this. Hardison, don't let them post anything. Sophie, call Zachary. Let’s go steal ourselves some silence.”
#leverage#eliot spencer#the eliot conspiracy#alec hardison#parker#sophie devereaux#nate ford#leverage fic#my fic#this is basically crackfic#purely dumb but hopefully entertaining
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Leverage Redemption Pros/Cons List
Okay! Now that I've finally finished watching the first half of Leverage: Redemption, I thought I'd kind of sum up my overall impression. Sort of a pro/con list, except a little more just loosely structured rambles on each bullet point rather than a simple list.
This got way out of hand from what I expected so I'm going to put it all under a cut. If you want the actual bulletpoint list, here it is:
PROS
References
Continuity
Nate
Representation
Themes
New Characters
General Vibe
CONS
'Maker and Fixer'
Episode Twins
Sophie's Stagefright
Thiefsome
You might notice the pros list is longer, and that's because I do love the show! I really like most of what it does, and my gripes are fewer in number and mostly smaller in size. But they do exist and I felt like talking about them as well as the stuff I loved.
PROS
References
There is clearly so much love and respect for the original show here. Quite aside from the general situation, there's a lot of references to individual episodes or character traits from the first show. For example, Parker's comments on disliking clowns, liking puppets, disliking horses, stabbing vs. tasing people. The tasing was an ongoing thing in the original, the stabbing happened once (S1) but was referenced later in the original show, the clown thing only had a few mentions scattered across the entire original show. The puppet thing was mentioned once in S5, and the horses thing in particular was only brought up in S1 once. But they didn't miss the chance to put the nod to it in there; in fact with those alone we see a good mix of common/ongoing jokes and smaller details.
We got "dammit Hardison" and "it's a very distinctive..." but also Eliot and Parker arguing about him catering a mob wedding, and Eliot being delighted by lemon as a secret ingredient in a dish in that same episode (another reference to the mob episode). Hardison and Eliot banter about "plan M", an ongoing joke starting from the very first episode of the original show. We see Sophie bring up Hardison's accent in the Ice Job, Parker also makes reference to an early episode when describing "backlash effect" to Breanna, in an episode that also references her brother slightly if you look for it.
Heck, the last episode of these first eight makes a big deal out of nearly reproducing the iconic opening lines of the original show with Fake Nate's "we provide... an advantage." And I mean, all the "let's go steal a ___" with Harry being confused about how to use them.
Some of the lines are more obviously references to the original show, but they strike a decent balance with smaller or unspoken stuff as well, and also mix in some references between the team to events we the audience have never seen. If someone was coming into this show for the first time, they wouldn't get all the easter egg joy but most of the references would stand on their own as dialogue anyway. In general, I think they struck a good balance of restating needed context for new viewers while still having enough standalone good lines and more-fun-if-you-get-it callbacks.
Continuity
Similar to the last point, but slightly different. The characters' development from the original to now is shown so well. I'm not going to go on about this too long, but the writers clearly didn't want to let the original characters stagnate during the offscreen years. There was a lot of real thought put into how they would change or not.
It's really written well. We can see just how cohesive a team Parker, Hardison, and Eliot became. We get a sense of how they've spent their time, and there's plenty of evidence that they remained incredibly close with Sophie and Nate until this past year. The way everyone defers to Parker is different from the original show and clearly demonstrates how she's been well established as the leader for years now - they show this well even as Parker is stepping back to let Sophie take point in these episodes. Eventually that is actually called out by Sophie in the eighth episode, so we might see more mastermind Parker in the back half of the show, maybe. But even with her leading, it's clear how collaborative the team has become, with everyone bouncing ideas off one another and adding their input freely. Sometimes they even get so caught up they leave the newbies completely in the dust. But for the most part we get a good sense of how the Parker/Hardison/Eliot team worked with her having final say on plans but the others discussing everything together. A little bit more collaborative than it was with Nate at the helm.
Meanwhile Sophie has built a home and is deeply attached to it. She and Nate really did retire, at least for the most part, and she was living her happy ending until he died. She's out of practice but still as skilled as ever, and we're shown how much her grief has changed her and how concerned the others are for her.
There's a lot of emphasis on how they all look after one another and the found family is clearer than ever. Sophie even calls Hardison "his father's son" - clearly referring to Nate.
Nate
Speaking of Nate! They handled his loss so, so well. His story was the most complete at the end of the last show, and just from a narrative point, losing him makes the most sense of all the characters. But the way he dies and his impact on the show and the characters continues. It's very respectful to who he was - who he truly was.
Nate was someone they all loved, but he was a deeply flawed individual. Sophie talks about how he burned too hot, but at least he burned - possibly implying to me that his drinking was related to his death. In any case, there's no mystery to it. We don't know how he died but that's not what's most important about his death. This isn't a quest for revenge or anything... it's just a study of grief and trying to heal.
Back to who he really was real quick - the show doesn't eulogize him as better than he was. They're honest about him. From the first episode's toast they raise in his memory, to the final episode where Sophie and Eliot are deeply confused by Fake Nate singing his praises, the team knows who he was. They don't erase his flaws... but at the same time he was so clearly theirs. He was family, he was the man they trusted and loved and followed into incredibly dangerous situations, and whose loss they all still feel deeply.
That said, the show doesn't harp on this point. They reference him, but they don't overwhelm new viewers with a constant barrage of Nate talk. It always serves a purpose, primarily for Sophie's storyline of moving through her grief. Anyway, @robinasnyder said all of this way better than me here, so go read that as well.
Representation
Or should I say, Jewish Hardison, Autistic Parker, Queer Breanna!
Granted, Hardison's religion isn't quite explicitly stated to be Jewish so much as he mentions that his "Nana runs a multi-denominational household", but nonetheless. He gets the shows big thesis statement moment, he gets a beautiful speech about redemption that is the emotional cornerstone of that episode and probably Harry's entire arc throughout the show. And while I'm not Jewish myself, most of what I've seen from Jewish fans is saying that Hardison's words here were excellent representation of their beliefs. (@featherquillpen does a great job in that meta of contextualizing this with his depiction in the original show as well.)
Autistic Parker, however, is shown pretty dang blatantly. She already was very much coded as autistic in the original show, but the reboot has if anything gone further. She sees a child psychologist because she likes using puppets to represent emotions, she stims, she uses cue cards and pre-written scripts for social interactions, there's mention of possible texture sensitivity and her clothes are generally more loose and comfortable. She's gotten better at performing empathy and understanding how people typically work, but it's specifically described as something she learned how to do and she views her brain as being different from ones that work that way (same link). Again, not autistic myself but from what I've seen autistic fans find a lot to relate to in her portrayal. And best of all, this well-rounded and respectful depiction does not show any of these qualities as a lack on her part. There's no more of those kinda ableist comments or "what's wrong with you" jokes that were in the original show. Parker is the way she is, and that allows her to do things differently. She's loved for who she is, and any effort made to fit in is more just to know how so that she can use it to her advantage when she wants to on the job - for her convenience, not others' comfort.
Speaking of loved for who you are.... okay, again, queer Breanna isn't confirmed onscreen yet, and I don't count Word of God as true canon. But I can definitely believe we're building there. Breanna dresses in a very GNC way, and just her dialogue and, I dunno, vibes seem very queer to me. She has a beautiful speech in the Card Game Job about not belonging or being accepted and specifically mentions "the way they love" as one of those things that made her feel like she didn't belong. And that scene is given so much weight and respect. (Not to mention other hints throughout the episode about how much finding her own space meant to her.) Also, the whole theme of feeling rejected and the key for her to begin really flourishing is acceptance for who she is, not any desire for her to be anyone else, is made into another big moment. Yeah, textually that moment is about her feeling like she has to fill Hardison's shoes and worrying about her past, but the themes are there, man.
Themes
I talked a bit about this yesterday, so I'm mostly just going to link to that post, but... this series so far is doing a really good job in my opinion of giving people arcs and having some good themes. Namely the redemption one, from Hardison's speech (which I'm gonna talk a little more about in the next point), and this overall theme of growing up and looking to the future (from above the linked post).
New Characters
Harry and Breanna are fantastic characters. I was kind of worried about Harry being a replacement Nate, but... he really isn't. Sure, he's the older white guy who has an angsty past but it's in a very different way and his personality and relationships with the rest of the crew are correspondingly different. I think the dynamic of a very friendly, cheerful, kind, but still bad guy (as @soundsfaebutokay points out) is a great one to show, and he's got a really cool arc I think of learning to be a better person, and truly understanding Hardison's point about redemption being a process not a goal. His role on the team also has some interesting applications and drawbacks, as @allegorymetaphor talked about. I've kind of grown to think that the show is gradually building up to an eventual Sophie/Harry romance a ways down the line, and I'm actually here for it. Regardless, his relationships with everyone are really interesting.
As for Breanna, first of all and most importantly I love her. Secondly, I think she's got a really interesting story. She's a link to Hardison's past, and provides a really interesting perspective for us as someone younger who has grown up a) looking up to Leverage and b) in a bleaker and more hopeless world. Breanna's not an optimist, and she's not someone who was self-sufficient and unconcerned with the rest of the world at the start, like everyone else. She believes that the world sucks and she wants it to be better, but she doesn't know how to make that happen. She outright says she's desperate and that's why she's working with Leverage. At the same time, Breanna is pretty down on herself and wants to prove herself but gets easily shaken by mistakes or being scolded, which is a stark contrast to Hardison's general self-confidence. There are several times when she starts to have an idea then hesitates to share it, or expects her emotions to be dismissed, or gets really disheartened when she's corrected or rejected, or dwells on her mistakes, or when she is accepted or praised she usually takes a surprised beat and is shy about it (she almost always looks down and away from the person, and her smile is often small or startled). Breanna looks up to the team so much (Parker especially, then probably Eliot) and she wants to prove herself. It's going to be so good to see her grow.
General Vibe
A brief note, but it seems a fitting one to end on. The show keeps it's overall tone and feeling from the original show. The fun, the competency porn, the bad guys and clever plans and happy endings. It's got differences for sure, but the characters are recognizably themselves and the show as a whole is recognizably still Leverage. For the most part they just got the feeling right, and it's really nice.
CONS (no, not that kind)
'Maker and Fixer'
So when I started writing this meta earlier today, I was actually a lot more annoyed by the lack of unique 'maker' skills being shown by Breanna. Basically the only time she tries to use a drone, the very thing she introduced herself as being good at, it breaks instantly. I was concerned about her being relegated into just doing what Hardison did, instead of bringing her own stuff to the table. But the seventh episode eased some of those fears, and the meta I just wrote for someone else asking about Breanna's 'maker' skills as shown this season made me realize there's more nuance than that. I'd still like to have seen more of that from her, but for now the fact that we don't see a lot of 'maker' from her so far seems more like a character decision based in Breanna's insecurities.
Harry definitely gets more 'inside man' usage. His knowledge as a 'fixer' comes in handy several times. Nonetheless, I'm really curious if there are any bigger ways to use it, aside from him just adding in some exposition/insight from time to time. I'm not even entirely sure how much more they can pull from this premise in terms of relevant skills, but I hope there's more and I'd like to see it. Maybe a con built more around him playing a longer role playing his old self, like they tried in the Tower Job? Maybe it's more a matter of him needed distance from that part of his past, being unable to face it without lashing out - in that case it could be a good character growth moment possibly for him to succeed in being Scummy Lawyer again down the line? I dunno.
Episode Twins
This was something small that kind of bothered me a little earlier in the season. It's kind of the negative side to the references, I guess? And I'm not even sure how much it annoys me really, but I just kinda noticed and felt sort of weird about it.
Rollin' on the River has a lot of references/callbacks to the The Wedding Job.
The Tower Job has a lot of references/callbacks to The White Rabbit Job.
The Paranormal Hacktivity Job has a lot of references/callbacks to the Future Job.
I guess I was getting a little concerned that there would be a 'match this episode' situation where almost every new Redemption episode is very reminiscent of an old one. I love the callbacks, but I don't want to see a lack of creativity in this new show, and this worried me for a minute. Especially when it was combined with all three of those episodes dealing with housing issues of some kind. Now, that's a huge concern for a lot of people, and each episode has its own take on a different problem within that huge umbrella, but it still got me worried about a lack of variety in topics/cases.
The rest of the episodes failing to line up so neatly in my head with older episodes helped a lot to ease this one, though. Still, this is my complaining section so I figured I'd express my concerns as they were at the time. Even if I no longer really worry about it much.
Sophie's Stagefright
Yeah, I know this is just a small moment in a single episode, but it annoyed me! Eliot made a bit of a face at Sophie going onstage, but I thought it was just him being annoyed at the general situation. However, they started out with her being awful up there until she realized the poem was relevant to the con - at which point her reading got so much better.
This felt like a complete betrayal of Sophie's beautiful moment at the end of the original show where she got over her trouble with regular acting and played Lady Macbeth beautifully in front of a full theater of audience members. This was part of the con, but only in the sense that it gave her an alibi/place to hide, and I always interpreted it as her genuinely getting over her stagefright problems. It felt like such a beautiful place to end her arc for that show, especially after all her time spent directing.
Now, her difficulty onstage in the Card Game Job was brief and at the very beginning of being up on stage. @rinahale suggested to me that maybe it was a deliberate tactic to draw the guy's attention, and the later skill was simply her shifting focus to make the sonnet easier for Breanna to listen to and interpret, but he seemed more enraptured when she was doing well than otherwise in my opinion and it just doesn't quite sit well with me. My other theory was that maybe she just hasn't been up on stage in a long time, and much like she complaining about being rusty at grifting before the team pushed her into trying, she got nervous for a moment at the very beginning. The problem there is that I think she'd definitely still get involved in theater even when she and Nate were retired. I guess she could've quit after he died, and a year might be long enough to make her doubt herself again, but... still.
I just resent that they even left it ambiguous at all. Sophie's skills should be solid on stage at this point in my opinion.
Thiefsome
...And now we come to my main complaint. This is, by far, the biggest issue I have with the show.
I feel like I should put a disclaimer here that I had my doubts from the beginning about the thiefsome becoming canon onscreen. I thought the famous "the OT3 is safe" tweet could easily just mean that they are all still alive and well, or all still working together, without giving us confirmation of a romantic relationship. Despite this, the general fandom expectations/hopes really got to me, especially with the whole "lock/pick/key" thing. I tried to temper my expectations again when the character descriptions came out and only mentioned Hardison loving Parker, not Eliot, but I still got my hopes up.
The thing is, I was disappointed pretty quickly.
The very first episode told me that in all likelihood we would never see Hardison and Parker and Eliot together in a romantic sense. Oh, there was so much coding. So much hinting. So much in the way of conversations that were about Parker/Hardison's relationship but then Eliot kept getting brought into them. They were portrayed as a unit of three.
But then there was this.
I love all of those scenes of Parker and Hardison being intimate and loving and comfortable with one another and their relationship. I really do. But it didn't escape my notice that there's nothing of the sort with Eliot. If they wanted a canon onscreen thiefsome, it would by far make the most sense to just have it established from the start. But there aren't any scenes where Eliot shares the same kind of physical closeness with either of them like they do each other. Parker and Hardison kiss; he doesn't kiss anyone. They have several clearly romantic conversations when alone; he gets important conversations with both but the sense of it being romantic isn't there.
Establishing Eliot as part of the relationship after Hardison is gone just... doesn't make any sense. It would be more likely to confuse new viewers, to make them wonder if Parker is cheating on Hardison with Eliot, or if they have a Y shaped relationship rather that a triangle. It would be so much clumsier.
Still, up until the Double-Edged-Sword Job I believed the writers might keep it at this level of 'plausible hinting but not quite saying'. There's a lot of great stuff with all of them, and I never expecting making out or whatever anyway; a cheek-kiss was about the height of my hopes to be honest. I mostly just hoped for outright confirmation and, failing that, I was happy enough to have the many hints and implications.
But then Marshal Maria Shipp came along. And I don't really have anything against her as a character - in fact, I think she has interesting story potential and will definitely come back. But the episode framed her fight with Eliot as a sexyfight TM, much like his fight with Mikel back in the day. And then his flirting with her rode the line a little of "he's playing her for the con" and "he's genuinely flirting." The scene where he tells her his real name is particularly iffy, but actually was the one that convinced me he was playing her. Because he seems to be watching her really closely, and to be very concerned about her figuring out who he really is. I am very aware though that I'm doing a lot of work to interpret it the way I want. On surface appearance, Eliot's just flirting with an attractive woman, like he did on the last show. And that's probably the intention, too.
But the real nail in the coffin for me was when Sophie compared herself and Nate to Eliot and Maria. That was a genuine scene, not the continuation of the teasing from before. And Sophie is the one whose insight into people is always, always trustworthy. She is family to the thiefsome. For this to make any sense, either Eliot/Parker/Hardison isn't a thing, or they are and Sophie doesn't know - and I can't imagine why in the hell she wouldn't know.
Any argument to make them still canon leaves me unsatisfied. If she knows and they haven't admitted it to her - why wouldn't they, after all this time? Why would she not have picked up on it even without an outright announcement? Some people suggested they wouldn't admit it because they thought Nate would be weird about it, but that doesn't seem any more in character to me than the other possibilities. In fact, the only option that doesn't go against my understanding of these people and their observational abilities/the close relationship they share.... is that the thiefsome is not a thing.
And furthermore, the implication of this conversation - especially the way it ended, with Eliot stomping off looking embarrassed while Sophie smiled knowingly - is that Eliot will get into another relationship onscreen. Maybe not a full-blown romantic relationship. But the Maria Shipp tension is going to be resolved somehow, and at this point I'm half-expecting a hook-up simply because of Sophie's reaction and how much I trust her judgement of such things. Even if she's letting her grief cloud her usual perceptiveness... it feels iffy.
It just kinda feels like I wasn't even allowed to keep my "interpret these hints/maybe they are" thiefsome that I expected after the first couple episodes convinced me we wouldn't get outright confirmation. (I mean, I will anyway, and I love the hints and allusions regardless.) And while I'm definitely not the kind of fan who is dependent on canon for my ships, and still enjoy all their interactions/will keep right on headcanoning them all in a relationship, it's just.... a bummer.
Feels like a real cop-out. Like the hints of Breanna being queer are enough to meet their quota and they won't try anything 'risky' like a poly relationship. I dunno. It's annoying.
.
That's the end of the list! Again, overall I love the new show a lot and have few complaints.
#leverage#leverage redemption#leverage spoilers#leverage meta#my meta#this turned into a BIG ol ramble#i planned to write like a couple of sentences for each point but noooo
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A Nate Jacobs Blurb part 2
A/N: Here it is! The long awaited part 2 I’ve had so many of you ask for lol. I want to mention before reading that the opening scene takes place after an hour or two into the party scene and kinda just opens up on a random scene. I didn’t feel like there was any real need to make this super long as I only wrote the most definitive moment for these characters to carry the storyline along.
I hope to continue this story as I do have many ideas but anything I post will probably just continue to be written as installments such as this and the one previous to it, as I don’t want it to be my main line of work. I’m always coming up with new ideas and I don’t like simply having one on the forefront as it places to much pressure on writing.
Regardless I hope you enjoy!
a disclaimer: If you have seen the show Euphoria you know what the character Nate Jacobs is like and what he’s done. This is not me condoning the actions of this character--in fact, I urge you to view him as the bad guy he is when reading this. That’s how I wrote it, that’s what I wanted to portray because I’ve yet to write a character as such. Though his actions may not come off as terrible when reading this remember who he is written as and try and read it in that way.
WARNINGS: alluded sexual assault, foul language
The crystalize haze taking over her entire perception of reality right now was almost near blinding to what was happening. The alcohol and whatever that asshole had slipped into her drink had truly and officially taken its toll on her physical being, her vision and balance being hit the worst. Her body laid skewed across the pile of blankets and sheets, having little to no strength to even shuffle through them and find her way up.
She couldn’t determine though if that was solely for the obvious roofie or also from the shock of watching Nate barge into the room—practically snapping the door off it’s hinges, and ripping Chris from atop of her before (with a speed she had never witnessed in her life) wrestling him out the door and down the hallway.
Through it all though and the now busted open door she was able to make out the figures of everyone still filling the living room from her placement on the guest bed, the energy to move no longer permitted in her body but simply her eyes which watched with as much intent as they could muster up.
There was yelling, screaming, and a series of other loud noises, all echoing back to her a million times louder than they probably actually were. Figures moved in flashes and the lights burned into her skull as they danced across the catastrophe spilling all over Elias’ parents’ living room wood. Her hands were on her temples before she could even feel them, body making the intent of covering her ears to attempt to silence all the overstimulation.
Bleary eyed she breathed a deep sigh and tried to find herself, but that moment being ripped away as another set of yelling broke out, the shrills emitted from Nate himself.
He was in the dead center of it all, hands (from what she could tell) wrapped around the throat of Chris Daniel’s as he looked to be throwing him to the floor. Followed by more commotion, a body hitting the floor—it looked to give the tall brunette new access to whomever’s torso, as he barreled his foot into it repeatedly.
If only she wasn’t swimming her own vision, her own thoughts, maybe then she could truly make it all out. But the way that pill made her skin ripple over her bones and her own brain pound its way out of her skull was too much, focus was lost on her.
Before she even had a choice to say or do otherwise her eyes slipped closed and she sunk into the abyss of her body again.
Though she was nearing unconsciousness her ears pricked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. They were distinctively heavy and almost mismatched—like the person was stumbling over their own two feet.
Crossing the carpet until they were near her own body she could hear mumbling above her.
“God dammit.”
Even in her current state she could recognize that voice, the one that belonged to the person who was just moments ago beating the life out of someone. Nate.
“Look at you.” He whispered.
The feelings of hands along the sides of her hips heightened her senses for a split second, a whine rolling from the back of her lips as to protest.
“Shh shh shh, it’s okay it’s okay.” The fingertips grasped at the length of her dress and slowly they pulled it back down-- the whole movement now familiar to a piece of her memory somewhere in the back of her mind, “You’re okay I promise.”
There was a brush of her hair out of her face, the touch cascading down her face to her shoulders where she could make little notice of her sleeves being pulled back up.
Within seconds the same arms were now wrapped around her form and she was being lifted from the bed. The rocking of her motionless figure was the only distinctive thing she was able to recognize before sleep finally took her under in one vast swoop of both of her eyes shutting close. —————————
(POV SWITCH)
Swaying gently back and forth on his feet Nate turned the hall into her bedroom, careful to watch her head as he shuffled through the door.
The memories of their infamous night flooded back to him instantly, but now as he carried her unconscious body to her bed, he was able to take in the details surrounding them. Her room was a light shade of blue, decorated with huge posters starring various artists and movie stars.
It triggered a memory from a month or so ago. Sat around a lunch table only one over from her own he could vividly remember overhearing her and April Denavive discussing that Timothée Chalamet kid and how Y/N had such an affinity for him.
”He was so incredible in Little Women, I swear I’d give anything to just hold his hand or something.” Nate from his seat could see that her rambles caused April to snort into her fruit cup, the red head shaking her head at her friend.
”God Y/N you’re such a virgin.”
She made sure to swat at April’s arm, poking her finger into her side for sure measure, ”Oh fuck off.”
April laughed aloud once more as she pushed back before managing to maneuver her arms around her friend, squeezing her in a tight embrace before pressing kisses to her cheeks.
”No no no, it’s cute!” She gushed, “It’s cute how much you want to fuck that French boy but can’t work up the nerve to say it.”
”April! God--He’s American his dad is just French--oh you know what never mind I hate you.” “N-Nate?”
Returning back to reality Nate was almost startled at the sound of another voice, completely forgetting where he was for a moment. Drawing his eyes downward he found himself back in Y/N’s room, still hovering over her side.
“Shh,” he cooed, fingers tangling in the ends of her hair as he brushed them off of her forehead, admiring the array of glitter from her eyeshadow decorating her skin. It made her shine even brighter than how he always saw her. “You’re safe now..sleep.”
She rustled amongst her blankets, nose curling and eyebrows furrowing as she struggled, a huff following.
“What’s wrong?” He questioned, instantly taking notice of her discomfort. She whined innocently, sitting herself up with her eyes still wired shut and began to tug at the sleeves of her dress.
“Itchy,” She breathed another huff as she tore at the seems, “Need it...off.”
Nate’s entire demeanor shifted. He watched her meticulously as she pulled at the material until it was up and over her chest—but the poor drunk girl seemed to lose all momentum as her arms suddenly dropped, the dress now a mess sagging off of her neck.
Another shrill moan echoed from Y/N, not having the energy to pull the rest of the dress off and expressing her frustrations. Nate waved her off.
“Shush, I’ve got it.” Reaching forward he pulled the rest of the dress up and off of her figure, careful to not get her earrings or hair caught, before tossing it to the side just shy of her hamper he noticed upon entrance into her room.
A deep, noticeable breath expelled from her lungs before she fell back amongst the pillows, body now severely bare to Nate—the only thing keeping her covered being her bra with a pair of matching panties around her hips.
It was pink, the bra, lace yet exuded softness with its subtle tone of color and petite bow in the middle to add a touch of innocence. Her underwear resonated in the same way; they were different than Nate had pictured when his fingers grasped at them earlier that night. He was expecting something more revealing as was common with most girls at parties like that, or in high school in general. But they weren’t—they were form fitting, far from raunchy and bore a soft pink hue like her bra, which was different than the deep red he once imagined.
And it all looked so right on her.
Y/N had seemed to finally settle in her sheets, sleep overtaking her whole figure as she noticeably sank deeper into the mattress. Nate took that as his moment to breathe in, truly, the sight before him.
His eyes nearly followed her every move with adamancy, in an effort to note every singular detail possibly manufactured by her sleeping frame that he could then later remember at his pleasing.
“You are so,” his fingers traced down the length of her arm, watching as the touch triggered a wave of goosebumps even as she was unconscious; He smiled, “Perfect.”
Drawing back he grasped at the blanket before tugging it up and over her body, covering her up to her chest. Tucking in the sides of the cover to her skin he rustled them until he deemed her absolutely comfortable and then took his place at the flank of her bed once more.
“And you are all mine.” -------------------------
A/N: Hope you enjoyed, send requests for more if you liked!
#nate jacobs#nate jacobs x reader#euphoria#nate jacobs imagine#I literally didn’t proof read this at all so I apologize in advance lmao
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