#Sonja is a little lead-handed

[bippityboppity69]

Sinbad/Sonja-Not What I Thought

This is for @sofieartz ! Some Sinbad/Sonja! You know I think I understand the pairing now 👀

“Ow!”

Sonja gave a stern look to Sinbad. “Stop moving. It won’t stop bleeding otherwise.”

“Easy-“ Sinbad hissed from gritted teeth. “-For the one without the hook wound to say!”

“You whine like a child. They don’t hurt that bad.”

“Excuse me?!” He exclaimed, glaring at her. “Last I checked, getting a giant hook through the shoulder is extremely painful!”

Hissing as she applied more pressure to the wound. Oh how he wished it was Merlin instead of Sonja, but no~ Apparently, Merlin had to accompany the hamsters and Nara to go herb and firewood collecting. Which left him in the lead handed care of the Whispers Leader. Wincing as she squeezed his arm.

“Are you trying to cut off my circulation?!”

“It’s called putting pressure on the wound to stop bleeding.” She told him, voice annoyed.

“Yeah to stop the bleeding, not cutting all the blood flow to my arm off!”

A cold stare was all Sonja gave him. An expression of disinterest resting on her face. As if she was dealing with an annoying insect. Maybe that’s how she viewed him. It made sense since she was part of the Carmines.

An awkward silence fell over the two.

“…were they okay?”

“What?”

“The… women from Brineville.” Sonja spoke, eyes focused on the bandage. “Were they all safe? Any injuries?”

Sinbad blinked, confused and surprised about her question. Was she worried? Why was Sonja of all people asking? Eyes narrowed in suspension as he stayed silent.

“I am being honest with my concern.” Sonja told him. “They have suffered long enough from Tesio. I do not wish for that suffering to continue.”

She was truly worried about his moms? No one else had asked him that. A confliction of emotions began to take place inside. Should he say anything? He was worried about a few of the women who were injured. But to admit that to Sonja, daughter of the man who had tormented his family for so long?

“…We’ll be fine.” He spoke after a moment.

A sigh left Sonja, Sinbad looking over to see her frown. Was she upset at his response? Watching as she grabbed another strip of fabric. Flinching as she touched the wound, red showing through the cloth.

“I understand…” She spoke, glancing at his face. “…I wish to establish peace with Brineville. I cannot undo the damage that Tesio did. However, I can ensure it does not continue to.”

Still not trusting her, Sinbad glanced at her face. Pausing as he saw the sorrowful expression she wore. She was being truthful. It would be nice to get some supplies. A few women did get injured.

“Some medicine would be good.” Sinbad mumbled, not looking at her. “Clean bandages too."

“I will ensure they get it.” Sonja promised.

Sinbad couldn’t help but stare at her, a faint smile appearing. That would be good for the villagers. He hoped that they would accept it. Maybe if he brought it in instead of Sonja?

“I’ll accompany you. They probably won’t accept it if you turn up alone.”

“I would appreciate that.” She spoke. “Also I want to invite them to testify in Tesio’s trail. They were his biggest victims.”

“…That will take some convincing. They haven’t stepped foot in Rustport since that day.”

He could already hear what they would say. Already seeing the surprise in their eyes that would turn to sternness. Brow furrowed as her hands planted on her hips.

“Really? The first woman you bring home?”

The thought made him snicker, a pang of homesickness going through him. He missed Brineville right now. Eyes darting to Sonja, did she miss Rustport right now too? Maybe she missed the Carmine Whispers like he did his moms.

“Why do you want to help us so much?” He finally asked. “You could just have treated us like Tesio did, brushed us away. Yet, you don’t. Why?”

Startled as Sonja sat up straight, a look of determination on her face. Face flushing as she moved closer to him. Hazel staring into intense green. The scent of Turkish rose and sandalwood circled him.

“There has been too much pain for too long.” Grabbing his hand as she brought it up to her forehead. Pressing the back of his hand against her as she spoke. “I promise as long as I live that Brineville will be protected by the Carmine Whispers. I will fix the wrongs that have been done.”

“I- uh, yes that would be good.” He swiftly said.

Heart pounding in his chest as he felt the warmth of her hands. He was suffering from blood loss. That was why he felt his cheeks burn under her gaze. He was going delirious.

“And we could always use a skilled captain like yourself.”

Yep, he was hallucinating, there was no other explanation. Sonja had just given him, him, a compliment. That was a compliment right? Yeah, she said he was skilled!

“I-I’m, I mean of course I am!” He chirped. “I’m Sinbad after all!”

It was a defense mechanism. Fall back on an air of confidence and bravo. Flashing a quick grin, facade nearly breaking as Sonja did something unexpected.

She gave a chuckle.

His brain was short-circuiting. Stunned as she turned her head to the side with a smile. A part of his brain whispered about how nice her laugh sounded. Also about the dimple in her left cheek.

“Usually I would doubt such claims, but after seeing what you can do. I don’t doubt your skills.”

“You know, she’s… not bad company to have.” Sinbad thought. Ignoring the fluttering in his stomach as he looked around the cave. “Not what I thought she was. Maybe sh-“

Wincing as his arm throbbed, “Gah! Stop squeezing so hard!”

“My apologies.”

[tomfoolies]

selfshiptober: tomja edition days 3-5

still going strong!!!! this is proving to be definitely a fun but also surprisingly challenging exercise :P hope y'all like these as well!!!

3. embrace

She never shies away from connecting with him physically. A supporting hand on his shoulder or his arm if they're in an enviroment too professional for anything else. A quick pat on his cheek when she's feeling playful, or a more tender brush of her knuckles when she wants to look at him a little longer. Arms wrapping around his middle, smushing her cheek against his chest while she mutters expletives after a long day.

Sitting close together may lead to her playing with the short hair at the nape of his neck — his weak spot, and she knows it, both delighted and smug when she sees the effect it has on him. When she's monologuing, on a rant or a ramble about something, if she's not gesturing expressively with her hands she might take one of his to hold. Just to have something to do while she talks.

In these small bids for connection hide a constant, often subtle wanting that's quiet when quickly observed, but he never misses it. Not that he would want to; instead he greedily takes every touch she gives, taken over by all-encompassing relief and tenderness whenever their bodies touch.

4. fog

The day has dragged on. Sonja feels a headache coming on, and the thought of having to leave work and return to her empty (save for Juno) disorganized apartment, where a litany of chores expects her, brings forth a sense of unease.

She stares into the monitor. The email inbox slash calendar aggressively stares back. Tomorrow's schedule is looking painfully booked. She wants to sink into the carpeted floor and not exist for a few weeks, maybe a couple of months. Using up her PTOs has never sounded more appealing.

In the midst of her distress she sees a familiar figure in the corner of her vision. She directers her gaze and recognises the person immediately. Tom, walking by the cubicles.

It takes her a second to realize he's looking right back at her, another one to understand he's waving at her. Smiling, but not in that forced, strained way when he's trying to dissolve a particularly awkward situation — but rather a proper, delighted smile. She waves back, returning his smile, happy to have caught him, even just for the briefest of moments. It's been a few days since they last talked, but they've both been busy. She needs to find him tomorrow and ask if he's got time for one of their unofficial little briefings so they can—

It hits her then, just as he disappears into the hallway with a nod, as if he's heard her thoughts.

A flash of clarity; a realization. It comes to her like fever breaking in the night, waking up to a new reality. Right there in front of her this entire time, but only just now becoming corporeal.

5. all dressed up 

The bedroom is dark, painted in hues of deep blue from the wide open and familiar view of the New York’s skyline, one where buildings upon buildings make a night sky of their own, little windows of light scattered around as if stars part of a constellation.  A single stripe of yellow light from the en suite where she undoes herself brings in warmth, contentment from knowing she's near.

He’s still in his suit, lounging on their bed. Finally in a moment of quiet after a long day and an even longer night. But he's too tired to think about any of it — everything flows away, his mind at ease for once. He closes his eyes, knowing she's going to take her time, so he might as well…

She emerges from the bathroom after a while, the light behind her making her contrasted, a sharp shadow.

"Your turn," she says, yawns for emphasis before disappearing into the walk-in closet. When she returns in her sleepwear and he still hasn't moved, she huffs. "Tom. I want to sleep. C'mon."

Soft half-snores come from where he lies. Fallen asleep.

[writingsofwesteros]

Slutty Robyn strolling into Maegors chambers, him sitting there in candle light, sitting naked propped up against the pillows.

She is leading a flustered Sonja in front of her, kissing the pretty things neck and shoulders as she goes.

"Look at your husband, sweet thing", robyn purrs to sonja. "look at all of him, soon we'll get that delicious cock inside your even more delicious little pussy"

Maegor chuckles from his spot. "If you will stay this slow, my patience might come to it's end"

"I am sorry, my husband", sonja whimpers gaze dropping.

"Isn't she the sweetest?" robyn giggles.

Robyn slapped Sonja's bare arse as she gasped out. The shy girl stumbling forward before she was soon crawling onto the bed.

"Hmm, what a view..." Maegor purred; his larger hands brushing over her bare body; palming at her bouncing breast without care. Sonja's eyes could only widen as she whimpered.

[coolcattime]

👀

So, I’ve been looking through my notes for different AUs because as it turns out I have a lot (and half the ones I open turn out to be about OCs, which I could ramble about, but not right now). So I wanna ramble for a little bit about my Mianite Blades in the Dark AU, which I have written a one shot for (and have a second one on my list of things to write), but I have no idea when I’ll actually get around to writing more of.

So I’ve talked previously about the Ianitees in this AU (here and here), mostly because that gang was important for the set up of the oneshot, but I haven’t talked about the full plot I actually wanted to go through.

So, Sonja has learnt that Capsize is alive, despite her death having been widely accepted, and that Jordan has gotten himself possessed by a demon. Once their reunion has had time to sink in, Wag joins the ladies to start presenting the actual full situation with what’s possessing Jordan: The Shadows - a demon whose true name has been lost to time but has been kept trapped inside the Shadow Diamond jewels. The arcane seals were beginning to fail, typically not the biggest deal as people with occult power like Wag will just strengthen the seal before it can break out and possess anyone and the whole thing will be fine for another hundred years. Unfortunately Capsize and Jordan touched the pieces, allowing the demon to fully break the seal and possess Jordan (due to Capsize’s demonbane’s charm protecting her).

Wag goes on to explain that the easiest way to get the demon out of Jordan without either killing him or them all having to fight a demon that full strength, is to redo the original sealing ritual, for which they’ll need to collect every single one of the jewellery pieces without alerting possessed!Jordan to either the fact they’re collecting them or that Capsize is actually alive. Sonja asks why they need to track them down at all, given that Ianite should have all the pieces but the ring that Wag has and a pair of earrings (that she saw Jordan wearing) in her private collection. Wag says they had assumed so too, but that pieces of the collection have been sold through some of the city’s shadier methods, to buyers far richer than himself.

So, with very few leads on where exactly to start, Capsize suggests that they need a bigger crew. Sonja assumes she means getting someone from Ianite’s crew into the know, but Capsize shakes her head, there’s too much of a risk of being caught by the demon and it just running off with Jordan’s body. They need someone connected enough in the criminal world of the city to get them leads, but also someone who won’t rat out that Capsize is alive and will believe them about Jordan not being Jordan.

Enter Tom: the right-hand of one of the other two major gangs in the city, Jordan’s sometime’s maybe boyfriend, and a good friend of Capsize despite their opposing gangs. Tom is a Slide, known for his two methods of criminal activity either being subtle social manipulations or extremely loud heists typically involving explosions. For the past month, he’s noticed odd changes in Jordan. At first he’d attributed it to watching Capsize die, but he slowly started to think that something was completely and utterly wrong with how seemingly callous he’s become. When he’s summoned by Wag, he thinks the invitation is odd, but still visits the man, surprised but overwhelmingly happy to see Capsize alive. They catch him up to speed on the situation and he agrees to help them, and also says he’ll gather some makeup and clothes so Capsize can go around the city without her survival being made clear.

Then the story is a bunch of heists with a slowly growing crew. I don’t have too many ideas for heists, except for one taking place at a charity ball/auctions run by Spark (who had “miraculously recovered” one of the Shadow Diamond pieces and is auctioning it off with permission of the original owners), where they need to publicly steal the jewel both without being caught and without Spark (or any other members of Ianite’s crew at the venue) realising that Capsize is alive.

[tilbageidanmark]

MOVIES I WATCHED THIS WEEK (#189):

Starting with some re-visits ♻️: That Obscure Object of Desire was Luis Buñuel last erotic film. Old businessman Fernando Rey falls in love and becomes mortally infatuated with a young flamenco dancer, who leads him astray. It's a story of uncontrollable obsession, and a dysfunctional power struggle between them. On the one hand, it's a straight-forward tale of murky motivations, told in a masterful, fluid style. On the other, there are little nuggets of dissonant surrealism: There's some old man carrying a burlap sack, going in and out of scenes without explanations. Or, Conchita, the elusive tease, is played interchangeably by two different actresses, Etc.

🍿

RIP, Gena Rowlands X 2 - (Incredible photo Above).

🍿 "You, banana, you..."

A Woman Under the Influence, hers and husband Guy Woodhouse's most acclaimed work together. A painful tour into the mind of a lonely housewife whose behavior is just a bit eccentric, and who maybe suffers from a bi-polar disorder. Peter Falk, her simple construction worker husband, loves her, but lacks the skills to deal with her, and her existential anguish eventually turns into a nervous breakdown. The general understanding of mental health in 1975 wasn't kind to 'differently-behaved' women, so no wonder she was misdiagnosed, committed and underwent electroshock therapy. A powerful performance that was hard to watch.

🍿 After this early clip of the taxi shoot-out, I also had to see Gloria. One of John Cassavetes' more commercial attempts, it was a strange neo-Noir bland of 'Running from the mob' action thriller, and Gena Rowlands as a bad-ass ex-girlfriend of Tanzinni the mafioso. The backstage of Late-70's NYC is fascinating to observe.

🍿

2 Bizarre Buck Henry-related shorts:

🍿 Buck Henry had an amazing career. In 'Gloria', he's playing the mob accountant whose killing jump starts the plot. I only discovered Kiss Kiss Fingerbang (2015) because it was the 85-year old Buck Henry's very last (cameo) role, and I only watched it because of the unusually-provocative name. But this erotic story about a girlfriend who likes it 'that way', was just plain stupid. [*Female Director*]

🍿 I miss Sonia Henie was a strange 'Yugoslav New Wave' diversion from 1971. Eight directors, including Dušan Makavejev, Frederick Wiseman (!), Paul Morrissey, Miloš Forman and Buck Henry were each tasked with coming up overnight with short avant-garde segments. Each was to be less than three minutes of film footage inside a bedroom with static shots that contains the phrase 'I Miss Sonja Henie'. The results were, as expected, experimentally-weird. The best part actually was the ending clip of the fabulous Norwegian ice skater dancing to the tune of 'The Blue Danube'. Still it was worth watching. (This is my second film by Slovenian Carpo Godina).

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Close - The sad story of two 13 year old boys who love each other, but break up their friendship when their new classmates call them a "couple". Incredibly sensitive acting by the two boys. A subtle story, where nobody's able to express themselves in words, and in spite of the obvious affection that everybody has, nobody tells anybody 'I love you'. There are two themes that repeat: The flower fields, and the long bike rides home. And the breaking point, when one of the boys learns that tragedy struck, is at 44:00 min. in - exactly one hour before the end of the movie. 10/10. Re-watch ♻️.

Extra: Found a good video essay about the inability to communicate in the movie.

🍿

2 with Alice Lowe:

🍿 "Make Sanford Great Again!"...

I've watched Hot Fuzz a dozen times or more in the last few years, but it's never enough. Everything I felt and wrote about it before is still 100% accurate. So now I notice new, tiny details. F. ex. how cute is "Tina", the Supermarché announcer - "Mr. Skinner to the manager's office. Mr. Skinner to the manager's office." But really, every single actor here is absolutely perfect. The bloopers. I can't wait for Edgar Wright's 2 new films. 10/10. Another re-watch ♻️.

🍿 In Innocence (2019) Alice Lowe stars as a policewoman investigating a suspicious falling death, but except of the fact that it's a facility for patients with Downs Syndrome, and the main actor is one, it's doesn't stand out.

🍿

2 more with 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes:

🍿 Big boys is a surprising coming of age story with a different twist. A shy, overweight 14-year-old boy, who's both ordinary and self-conscious, falls for his cousin's older boyfriend, while on a camping trip in Lake Arrowhead. It's told in a careful, hesitant, nearly European tone. Awkward and heart-felt, sweet and wholesome. 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes. 8/10.

🍿 I could only watch Àma Gloria in the original French-Portuguese without subtitles, so I missed some of its subtext. Still it was powerfully sad and deeply moving. A 6-year-old girl, who lost her mother to cancer, is being taken care of by her Creole nanny. The nanny must return to her native Cape Verde, and the girl is allowed to come and visit her. The little girl who plays the part is truly incredible in the role. The trailer. 9/10.

It's another of the sub-genre of 'Domestic Workers' ('Roma', 'The second mother', 'The maid', 'Oli Ilo', 'Lina from Lima', 'The chambermaid', so many others.) [*Female Director*]

🍿

Ali Abbasi was born in Iran, and moved to Denmark about 15 years ago.

Holy spider is his grim police procedural based on a true story of an Iranian serial killer. It's like Fincher's 'Zodiac', except that the location is the dirty, primitive and oppressive "Holy city" of Mashhad. The killer is a family man but also a fanatical religious nut, who takes on a mission to cleanse his city of poor, drug-addicted prostitutes. The murders are chillingly ugly, but the rest of the story is captivating. 8/10.

While waiting for his anticipated Trump biography 'The Apprentice', I am going to watch the 2 other features he directed, 'Shelley' and 'Border'.

🍿

Let's Go with Pancho Villa (1936) was long considered to be one of the 'greatest Mexican films of all times'. It's a different anti-authoritarian and epic view of the 1910 Revolution. But it didn't speak to me. ¡VIVA MÉXICO!

🍿  

"The flower had not had a fair chance to bloom in the garden of life. The worm of poverty had entered the folded bud and spoiled it..."

Shoes (1916), my 2nd by silent pioneer Lois Weber (after ‘Suspense’). A poor young working girl, struggling to support her family on her meager salary, desperately needs a new pair of shoes, as her only pair literally fall apart. In desperation she 'sells her body', just to survive. A strong feminist message in a sad, realist settings. It was added to the 'National Firm Registry'. [*Female Director*]

🍿  

4 more from the 'Miu Miu Women's Tales' Series:

🍿 "The men are coming! Cover up, everyone! Cover up!" My first film from Saudi Arabian, The Wedding Singer’s Daughter (2018) by Haifaa Al-Mansour, one of the first female filmmakers from over there. Set in 1980, separated from the men, a group of female guests prepare the music and dance for a fancy wedding. Lovely.

🍿 Brigitte (2019), the only Lynne Ramsay film I haven't seen before. It's not the best of the bunch, but still fabulously artistic. A documentary portrait of portrait photographer Brigitte Lacombe in her rustic, cavernous photo studio.

🍿 Le Donne della Vucciria (2013), by my favorite Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass ("Marcia Roy"), and featuring my favorite Lebanese actress Lubna Azabal. An impressionistic Mediterranean mood piece about a dressmaker and a puppet-master, a group of singers down at the Piazza, a Vespa ride by the promenade when the morning comes. 8/10.

🍿 Shangri-La, a poetic confession of forbidden love between a Filipina woman and her white farmhand lover, (who's disguised as a catholic priest). Set up during the Depression, when such relationships were illegal. So-so. [*4 Female Directors*]

🍿

Timor's show (2016) is an interesting Israeli documentary. Timor is a 37-year-old naive emigrant from Russia, who works as a lowly dishwasher. In Baku he studied music at the academy, and he has a lovely baritone voice. But then he decides to put up a recital in a real concert hall, where for the first time in his life, he will sing in front of an audience some of his favorite arias. [*Female Director*]

🍿

2 horrible stinkers:

🍿 "Good luck, shithead"... First watch: Stupid B-monster survivor film Tremors (1990). I did finish it, but with difficulties. Why was it so awful, when all it wanted was to copy Jaws-5 but with Sand Worms instead? 1/10.

🍿 "Who wants some head?"

I can't believe that by now I've seen two movies with John Cena (The first one was 'Barbie'). What is wrong with me?!

But really, the only reason I watched the new "near future dystopian" Jackpot is because it was made by Paul Feig, who directed 'A simple Favor', my all-time favorite Anna Kendrick guilty pleasure. However, this one-note "action-comedy" was spectacularly dreadful. I hated myself for watching it. 1/10.

And now I read that 'Favor 2' is already filmed, and everybody of the original cast, including 'Darren' to 'Detective Summerville' are repeating their roles, and that fills me with dread. I hate sequels!

🍿  

4 short westerns by Michael Brian Rawlins:

🍿 Michael Brian Rawlins specializes in writing, directing and starring in light Western shorts (?). His The Dentist (2020) is the better one. Here he plays a traveling broke dentist being held up by a highway robber with an infected tooth. A perfect meeting.

🍿 The Deputy (2017) is more of a one big action scene, told in modern style.

🍿 In Two outlaws, a marshal forces two outlaws to play Russian Roulette against each other. It ends when they are both hanged by their neck, while Lakmé 'Flower Duet' is playing in the background.

🍿 Rivals too is in a similar vain, a romanticized vision of kids playing 'cowboys'. The whole thing is like a clean Disneyfied tourist version of what a modern western should be.

None of these though is as good as The Gunslinger!

🍿  

The Fleischer Brothers X 3:

🍿 Dizzy Dishes (1930), the very first cartoon with an appearance by Betty Boop. Primitive line drawings, still trying to figure out that new media.

🍿 Any Rags (1932) about a garbage man, collecting anything he can, then selling it.

🍿 Hold it (1938) is one of the Fleischer Studio's 'Color Classics' early use of Technicolor in animation. A bunch of cats against one sleeping dog.

🍿

3 by Illustrator Nate Milton:

🍿 Viewfinder (2023), an excellent impression of precise memory packs of what it meant to be a teenager in the 90's.

🍿 In Eli (2020), a boy is being interrogated at the City of Providence Psychiatric Hospital as to why he's there. The answer has to do with magical raccoons, meteor craters, government secret facilities, music and the evolution of all matter. 8/10.

🍿 Tank (2012), a simply-drawn story of a boy who finds a giant salamander. One of his 9 Vimeo Staff Awards film winners.

His shorts are also pretty dope. F. Ex. this 1986 interview with Miles Davis...

🍿

3 More Shorts:

🍿 To scale: Time was made by a couple of friends to demonstrate how long is it since the Big Bang. They constructed a 4.3 miles stretch of lights in the Mojave Desert, and our civilization is the last few inches...

🍿 Casino Moon (2012), my first by the other-other-other Coppola, Gia Coppola. A cute Vegas roulette dealer falls for a young loser at her table. What does she finds in him, is hard to see, but then I can't stand members of the Schwartzman clan myself (Except of mamma, Taila Shire, of course). Gambling cliches + Wong Kar-wai vibes. Not bad. [*Female Director*]

🍿 Cockatoo v human: Who will win? The opening-rubbish-bins arms race between cockatoos and humans. From the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds.

🍿

Throw-back to the Adora Art project:  

Buñuel Adora.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here).

[voidandradiance]

what about ‘salt’ or ‘wet’ ?

bingo there we go here's a scrapped home home fic

"Your hands are wet," Jordan informs him quietly, because Sonja is leading the way up to the house, because Tucker is shoving Tom fondly and telling him to wipe his damn boots off on the mat, because neither of them really know what to say other than the obvious. Andor laughs at him anyway, a little giddy and a little dizzy and a hell of a lot overwhelmed. "I was trying to do dishes," he says, like that matters at all. Jordan snorts at it, though, and shoves his hair out of his eyes. It's not very effective. Andor just keeps talking, for some reason, because he can and Jordan's here and- "There's pie, by the way. In the oven. Which probably needs to not be in the oven, actually-" It's Jordan's turn to laugh, in some strangled way that makes Andor think that there is probably someone who needs to be murdered on his brother's behalf. He doesn't give voice to it, because that would be batshit insane, but he very much would like to let Sonja and Tucker at whoever caused that broken note. "Cool," Jordan says, and immediately scoffs at himself, shakes his head. "Sorry. Um. Gods."

[ruknowhere]

Praise Song for the Day

A Poem for Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration

Each day we go about our business,

walking past each other, catching each other’s

eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is

noise and bramble, thorn and din, each

one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning

a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,

repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,

with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,

with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky.

A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words

spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,

words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark

the will of some one and then others, who said

I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.

We need to find a place where we are safe.

We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,

who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built

brick by brick the glittering edifices

they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,

the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,

others by first do no harm or take no more

than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,

love that casts a widening pool of light,

love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,

any thing can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

- Elizabeth Alexander.

.

.

The Cache

Behind the house in a field

there's a metal box I buried

full of childhood treasure, a map

of my secret place, a few lead pennies

from 1943.

The rest I've forgotten,

forgotten even the exact spot

I covered with moss and loam.

Now I'm back and twenty years

have made so little difference

I suspect they never happened,

this face in the mirror

aged with pencil and putty.

I suspect even

the box has moved as a mole would move

to a new place long ago.

-Dan Gerber

.

.

Three Deer in Oquossoc

East will take me back. I drive

west. I wend between snowbanks,

until the road delivers me

to a sleeping boat launch.

They stand on the frozen ramp;

watch me with coats that are

better than mine. Ice houses

and snowmobiles edge the distance.

I have to turn around, I say

to them, I went the wrong

way. They stamp and chuff.

No, they tell me, this is the way.

-Sonja Johanson

.

.

Moonflowers

Tonight at dusk we linger by the fence

around the garden, watching the wound husks

of moonflowers unclench themselves slowly,

almost too slow for us to see their moving—

you notice only when you look away

and back, until the bloom decides,

or seems to decide, the tease is over,

and throws its petals backward like a sail

in wind, a suddenness about this as though

it screams, almost the way a newborn screams

at pain and want and cold, and I still hear

that cry in the shout across the garden

to say another flower is about to break.

I go to where my daughter stands, flowers

strung along the vine like Christmas lights,

one not yet lit. We praise the world by making

others see what we see. So now she points and feels

what must be pride when the bloom unlocks itself

from itself. And then she turns to look at me.

-James Davis May

.

[shouldaspunastory]

The Muses: Orana

A former slave, Orana is rescued by Garrett Hawke's clan while they were tracking her then-mistress Hadriana. The crew later helping to train and mold her into a talented duelist. While a traumatic past leads her to be more cautious around strangers, Orana is at her core a nurturer, and fiercely driven to succeed as Inquisitor after surviving the Conclave in order to protect and mend a war-torn Thedas for those she loves.

[World State Two]

Game decisions/deviations

Prologue: Uncomfortable with receiving so much attention and her title. Devout Andrastian. Declares Inquisition's purpose to stop Corypheus and restore Order.

In Hushed Whispers: Went to Redcliffe, allied with the mages

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts: Celene dies, Briala rules through Gaspard

Here Lies the Abyss: Wardens rebuilt, Stroud left in Fade

What Pride Had Wrought: Morrigan drinks from the Well of Sorrows

Divine: Leliana (Softened)

Companions & Advisors

Blackwall: (neutral) Blackwall freed & committed to Wardens

Cassandra: (friends) Helped find book of secrets, encouraged her to rebuild the Seekers, convinced Varric to write a new chapter

Cole: (friends) Cole became more human

Cullen: (lovers) Encouraged him to stay off Lyrium

Varric: (best friends) Found the source of Red Lyrium, convinced him to write next chapter of Swords & Shields for Cassandra

Dorian: (best friend) Stayed with Inquisition, reconciled with father

The Iron Bull: (friends) Saved the Chargers, Tal-Vashoth

Josephine: (friendly) Did favors for the Du Paraquettes

Leliana: (friendly) Softened

Sera: (friends) Sera killed Harmond

Solas: (friendly) Freed friend

Vivienne: (mild rivalry) Found lost Circle books

Basic Information

Full name: Orana Pronouns: She/Her Nicknames: Kit Title: Herald of Andraste, Inquisitor Occupation: Former Slave, Inquisitor Date of Birth: Unknown, choses to celebrate it the 4th of Kingsway- the anniversary of Hawke rescuing her from Hadriana and freeing her. She is 19 in Act II of (DA2), 23 at the start of DA:I. Orientation: Demisexual Libido: Moderate, sometimes hampered by feelings of disphoria Religion: Andrastian Threat level: 9/10. As a former slave, and elf, Orana is used to and practiced at being invisible. Since gaining her freedom she's picked up several languages and honed her skills as a duelist making her a formidable opponent. Underestimating her may just be the last thing you ever do. Hope she attacks with her blades- a quick death, or your own secrets may come back to destroy you.

Physical Information

Face claim: Antonia Thomas (younger), Ruth Negga (Older) Height: 5 ft, 5 in Eye color: Green Hair color + style: auburn, loosely tied back out of her face, or pulled up in intricate braiding and a bun Dominant hand: Right Distinguishing features: prominent freckles, broken nose, facial scar, slave tattoo Accent + intensity: Tevinter, moderate Tattoos: Slave marking tattoo on the bottom of her left foot to indicate her being property of Hadriana Scar(s): small scar in the middle of her forehead, network of scars across her back from nine-tails, some scars from being forcibly castrated Piercing(s): At one time had many piercings for ornamentation to display Hadriana's wealth and influence- nose, four for each ear- but most have since grown shut after she her then-mistress sold much of her possessions to buy passage to Kirkwall. They would have to be re-pierced for her to wear any such jewelry. Glasses: No

Background Information

Hometown: Seheron Current residence: Orana splits her time between visiting the Amell Estate in Kirkwall to visit Garrett and her Brother, the Pavus Estate in Minrathous, and Skyhold Language(s): Trade Tongue, Tevene, Antivan, King's Tongue, Orlesian Social class: lower class, honorary member of upper-class mostly because of her title as Herald of Andraste/Inquisitor Education: very little, at least in any formal setting. Garrett & Sonja Hawke taught her to read and write in the King's Tongue, Orana then took it upon herself to learn to do so in all the other languages she was familiar with Parents: Deceased Siblings: Fenris (brother), Varania (Sister), Garrett Hawke (brother-in-law), Sonja Hawke (Sister-in-law) Adopted?: Orana is an honorary member of the Hawke family, and House Pavus

Personality Information

Jung type: ISFJ, "The Defender"/"Nurturer" Archetype: The Defender Enneatype: The Skeptic Moral alignment: Chaotic Good Temperament: Prudent Angered by: Slavery/slavers, oppression Intelligence type: Intrapersonal Neurodivergence(s): N/A At risk: Slave roots means that occasionally slavers may be bold enough to think they can put her back in chains. Her status as a transgender woman puts her at risk with intolerant individuals/groups and religious zealots.

Vices & Habits

Smokes? No Drinks? Yes, but not in excess Drugs? No Violent? Very when her freedom or friends threatened Self-Destructive? No. Because of her origins and being transgender, Orana is an incredibly cautious and careful individual. Habits: Eavesdropping- developed as a survival mechanism while she was a slave, it's pretty much instinct at this point. Hobbies: Gardening, cooking, sewing Likes: Flowers (Crystal Grace is her favorite), pretty dresses, reading, hearing/collecting stories, spring rains Dislikes: the Game (but is exceedingly good at it), drawing too much attention to herself, being misgendered

Miscellaneous Information

Zodiac: Eluvia Vice: Wrath, secretive Virtue: Patience Element: Earth & water Mythological creature: Brownie Animal: Foxes Mutation: Anchor on left hand

[sloshed-cinema]

Moloch (2022)

Dutch school plays just hit different. Where American schools in some parts of the country are pushing for abstinence-only and other backwards policies regarding handling of the birds and the bees, the annual pageant commemorating the take on local myth figure Feike doesn’t beat around the bush in the least, having little girls in leotards hold a balloon-egg aloft as other in sperm outfits run about them, the backdrop a uterine ruddy pink. While this moment makes audience and parent alike snicker, it signals the start of one of the better exposition scenes in recent memory. Visiting researcher Sonja reads aloud a local myth to her associate Jonas in their tent as the tale is enacted onstage in town. It’s the best damn production and set design I’ve seen for a kids’ play, leaning heavily into shadow and painted flame. But in this it takes on almost the aesthetic of a woodblock print, making this fairy tale more vivid. The little girl portraying Feike and marked with the symbol of Moloch has braces, showing that this story is indelible through the generations, its importance still handed down by oral tradition. Even the lead-up to the play feels like the movie is perking up, an ambitious tracking shot following the little girl Hanna around backstage before settling out with the audience. Even on a small scale, things can be cinematic.

Perhaps this is a reminder that movies are best when they can identify and lean into their strengths. Moloch follows a cursed family, the matriarch of each generation always meeting a bloody fate and the adult daughter of the most recent iteration trying to fight that. When it comes to horror, the film struggles out the gate, leaning into jump scares which are difficult to earn as well as computer graphics that look… less than impressive. Yet elsewhere, we get atmospheric sequences swathed in mist and uncertainty, granting a dread to proceedings. The film could have used a bit more sequences like patriarch Roelof’s flashlit pursuit of unknown trespassers through the forest as they trigger his jingling tripwires and a touch less people being startled by someone’s reflection. It’s a matter of personal taste to a degree, but there’s a definite assuredness to the more subtle scenes that isn’t as present during moments with a loud bang as someone appears unexpectedly in frame. The climax attempts to meld the two together to similar effect: Bull-masked cultists? Yes. Spoopy ghost? Nope. All the same, a feel-bad conclusion is usually something I can get behind, and the film manages to close on a note which feels jarring but not frustrating. It would appear Jonas has a lot to think about regarding his research.

THE RULES

PICK ONE

Select either FEIKE or MOLOCH and sip when that figure is named.

SIP

Jump scare noise.

Someone drinks liqueur.

The cold is mentioned.

BIG DRINK

Betriek fudges translating for her parents.

Betriek has headphones in a scene.

[thatmcgwords]

For most of us, happiness is predetermined by how society sees it. An average person is supposed to want riches, a great spouse and kids, authority, a life free of challenges, as this should imply fulfillment and ultimately lead to excitement. When we fail to obtain these things, we might experience failure, regret, and worthlessness. There are even specific authors that promote this kind of view: “Achieve! Otherwise, you are nothing.”

“Most people follow this happiness logic, hoping to have well-rounded lives, but it isn’t enough. For instance, if two people get married, others might judge them for not having kids right away. When they eventually have their firstborn, sympathetic strangers enquire whether another baby is underway. Now the happy couple has two kids. But curious people begin to wonder if they have a car. As long as we keep following someone else’s idea of happiness, these questions will be hurting us. The irony is that by achieving, we will not get fulfillment as expected for long. Those that have attained such a feat are left in uncertainty.”

“It is evident now there are two types of love: the first brings more excitement, and at this healthy attraction level, love brings couples close. The second type is not very exciting, but it produces a result such as birthing kids and having a long and endurable relationship, which is of more essence.”

When we first fall in love, if we are lucky, we experience what researchers call passionate love, but over the years, this type of love usually turns into companionate love. ~ Sonja Lyubomirsky

“Most people experience difficulties in the relationship with spouses — these range from decisions on making babies to the location to settle. When two people cannot agree on things underlying their partnership, they may want to opt-out. However, this may lead one to concur that there can be no joy when the partnership fails. It should be preserved at any cost. A good partnership with your spouse will unleash the better part of you, and on the other hand, a stormy partnership will release the ugliest one.”

“Did you know? In happily married couples, ratios of positive and negative emotions regarding their emotional and verbal interaction is approximately 5:1, while love-crossed couples’ ratio is smaller than 1:1.”

A “wealthy person can afford a house of choice, desired meals, a partner in several businesses, and cater to all those related/dependent on them. Psychologists, however, discovered that riches provide a particular type of happiness. The rich mainly report they are happy in general. Nevertheless, when asked about moment to moment feelings of joy, sadness, hatred, they will hardly agree that they were satisfied. The cause is not far-fetched – riches.”

Money makes us happier if it keeps us from being poor. ~ Sonja Lyubomirsky

“Experts in diverse areas have discussed the connection between affluence and joy. They concluded that it's like two-way traffic where fun can bring fortunes and vice-versa. Those with enormous pleasure are more likely to make more riches. The insufficient basic life needs, such as adequate shelter, meals, and clothing, make us appreciate wealth better than when we have these in abundance. It then follows that an increase in wealth makes the penury experience great joy, which wealthy people are not capable of.”

“As wealth increases, the pleasure it brings, such as a good living, several businesses, choice-life, wither. The harmful effects of the distress later displace the right things. We find ourselves fighting to maintain the income, experiencing the tension of the investment risk, and jumping into the struggle to attain a higher position or social status. More often than not, the wealthy do not appreciate the good feelings that come with certain minimal excitement, the little things of life.

More so, this is why rich folks get lost in the tension and pressure of maintaining wealth and will not enjoy the good they have accumulated, unlike the average person whose pay rise calls for celebration no matter how small the growth is.”

“We can make all the plans in the world and try to build our lives around them. However, making a plan does not mean successfully implementing it. Many of us think that the joy of achieving certain feats such as becoming a millionaire or billionaire, acquiring the house of our dreams, going on exotic vacations will be tremendous. When we succeed in achieving all these, we feel happy. Yet, this happiness does not last forever. Human nature always has us craving for more. Thus, the effect of attaining the desired things wanes. What if there is nothing left to wish for?”

If money isn’t making us happy, it’s likely because we are spending it to keep up with the neighbors, validate our wealth, or flaunt our looks, power, and status. ~ Sonja Lyubomirsky

“Another cause of these great feelings' fast waning is that such tremendous accomplishments bring with them specific changes to our lives. For example, these include moving to a different place, change in an individual's usual activities, or getting whole more responsibilities. The truth is that there will always be stress attached to the attainment of extraordinary feats, and it can sometimes be severe as one may end up in therapy, experiencing a change in feelings.”

Finally, wealth does bring incredible joy, as you might be able to afford yourself the life of your dreams. You enjoy this earned privilege, but with time, you get addicted to it. Wishing for more, you secretly want to feel the initial excitement. However, that is not possible. We need to make peace with that.

“Medical practitioners try their best to put forward such news so it does not leave the patient hopeless, knowing that such events can turn the lives of many around negatively.

Nevertheless, we are yet to understand that we still have control of our lives in such situations. We are the ones to determine what our lives will look like in the future and also what happens in the present no matter the situation. This simple knowledge can be life-transforming. When such news surfaces, we decide our fate. When one keeps a steady gaze on specific aspects of life, these aspects grow while the others that receive little or no attention fades away.”

“How we focus on life determines how life happens right before us. At times, time seems to be racing, and at other times, the globe remains still. The fact is we cannot keep a steady focus on different things at the same time, and this is nature’s way of keeping us mentally stable. Our choice, consciously or unconsciously, is to pick what we want to dwell on. This choice later grows and becomes part of us, while other aspects fade away. It has been discovered that Schizophrenia occurs due to a person’s lack of ability to select what reactions to concentrate on and the ones to discard.

Did you know? Peculiar to the condition of Schizophrenia is the brain's inability to separate relevant stimuli from irrelevant ones.”

Replay happy moments, analyze unhappy ones, learn from them. ~ Sonja Lyubomirsky

“We tend to concentrate on things that others think would be beneficial for us. Thus, society commands us to wish for more money, better looks, eternal youth, and a perfect family life. Ironically, many people give in to the pressure and set goals they might not even want to have in the first place. Another crucial factor that commands our distorted view of happiness is fear. We are afraid of getting older, our health gradually weakening, and contracting terminal illness we won’t be able to cope with.

First of all, we should always choose what is best for us. Growing up, many of us learn what to want from our parents. They are usually also the ones planning our lives for us. Even if you managed to get into this comfy trap where everything is decided for you, doubt! Question the goals you attained “by default.” Secondly, fear is not your enemy. It is a powerful mechanism that signals whatever is going wrong with your life. Use it, don’t run away from it.

The different turn of life from what we expect leaves us miserable. Admitting the lies that many believe to be a source of joy is hugely destructive to our souls, leading to dread and uncertainty build-up. Ending life by oneself, which seems to be the height of misery, is possible when one does not understand how to cope with the ultimate despair or loss, leading to the disappearance of all hope in life.

Try this

Think about whether you have any goals for the near future. It can be 1 or 5 years; the time span does not matter that much. Try to come up with at least one realistic goal you have. Now, let’s analyze it. Ask yourself these questions:

• How long have I wanted to do/ get/ be this?

• Why do I want this?

• Was it me who thought it was a good idea to do/ get/ be this?

• How will I benefit from it?

• How likely is it to make me happy?

You can do the same with something you regret in the past.”

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[askadvancewars]

2014

MoonStar88 answers a very important question: “is it possible to ship a couple based solely on their metaphorical importance in a music video”

It’s a song that I love and love to make art for but brings to mind a lot of different ideas.

The song reminds me of Max/Nell 

The singer reminds me of Sasha

the music video itself, ESPECIALLY the couple through ages parts, makes me want to draw a LOT of characters but especially these two

although it runs into a little problem

if you go far enough through this blog, you’ll see some pictures of COs as kids (the ones who aren’t kids already that is)

it’s mostly due to the headcanons and ideas about them, but it’s also partly because of the song

Javier is described by Kindle as ‘middle-aged’, and like Grimm and Kanbei, Javier describes himself as a veteran (in Spanish) so it seems likely he’s the oldest of the Green Earth COs. The three other COs seem to be peers so I think of them as around the same age range.

“Hold up, Jess is 18?! Where did you get that info?”

From my butt.

It’s was the Drake post that reminded me.

I don’t think anyone’s age is stated in the games aside from general terms–Andy is a kid; Lash is a little girl; Colin is as green as can be; Javier is middle-aged; Sensei thinks 80 is young; Von Bolt is ancient–but there was one Japanese website that listed the ages of AW1–only AW1–COs.

If I remember correctly:

Andy - 12 Sonja - 14 Drake-15 Sami - 16 Eagle - 17 Max - 20 Grit - 20 Nell - 20 (it’s listed unknown but that’s, haha, some joke about Nell being age conscious. If Max and Grit are 20, so is she) Kanbei - 36 Olaf - 63 Sturm - unknown Copy Andy - 1

It seems weird that only characters from the first game have ages. And I don’t know where OP got that info. I’m thinking the most likely source is a guidebook (Advisor's Note: After several years I finally found a source! ) but I don’t remember reading anything about it.

If I’d hazard a guess, if the ages were found in some guidebook but never referenced again in the future games? They might’ve just slowly dropped it as the games went on and become just a bit more serious (I don’t think they ever said the words 'Wars World’ in Dual Strike, which surprised me playing AW2). 

Although, AW1 and AW2 were released as one game in Japan, 2004, so if they released guidebook for the games, why just the ages for the one game and not the sequel?

So, I’m not sure where the site got the AW1 ages or how canon that info is. AW2 and AW:DS got profiles of their own in the site but had no ages. Also, I remember flavor text stufff like Grit saying his hits/likes are Catherine/Nell, Sasha’s hits/likes Colin and Flak’s hit is women. It’s obvious stuff/implied but it’s never directly stated in canon profiles. So, I don’t know where those info come from.

STILL if I’d TRY to fit Jess’ age with the given AW1 info, she’d be around Eagle’s age but younger than Grit and Max soooo 18 seemed like a nice number.

Jake would be 17; Rachel 18; Sasha 16; Colin 10; Javier 38 (is that middle-aged? He’d be around Kanbei’s age in any case); Grimm 40, Sensei–old. Lash 13, no clue on the rest of Black Hole. Flak could be 20 to mirror Max but I don’t see Hawke as 17 unless he’s like huge and a genius, but. On the other hand, accepting the AW1 ages and generally the games themselves puts kids and teenagers as already leading and managing armies, so suspension of disbelief.

Again, no basis, and I just assumed the obviously-not-kids-but-young COs were like in their late teens to their 20s while playing Dual Strike.

 #JAVIER WOULD STILL BE A LOT OLDER THAN JESS HMM HMM NOW WATCH ME AS I DRAW THEM BOTH AS KIDS THE SAME AGE ANYWAY

[writingsofwesteros]

Brandon and Sonja's kissing leading one night to his hands finding her hips and lower. Sonja suddenly, for the first Time ever, shaky in his arms. Little frightened.

"I have-they Said-" she babbles not daring to Look at him.

"who said and what My love?" Brandon asks cupping her face. Sonja finally looking at him.

"the maids, they said you would- you would split me in half" she whimpers. Brandons eyes softening. Kissing her head , gently pulling her against his chest and rocking from side to side.

"Sonja. I know your septas and maids have taught you...minimal things. And I might say, it's better they haven't given you More advice because god forbid they can't give any beneficial ones" he mutters. "But I promise you, only thing My hands, My mouth, My cock..." He lists kissing her temple down to her cheek with each word "Will bring you, is pleasure. First times can be uncomfortable But If anything is painful, and you won't like it, I stop. Is that clear?"

Sonja nods calming down. "Is it...is it bad I-i have dreamt of of you?" She asks flushing red.

Brandon can't help but smirk.

(septas need showing a good time, sorry not sorry)

"Hmm, do you want to tell me about this dream?" He whispered up to her whilst slowly moving between her legs. His larger hands brushing up the dress as Sonja's head fell back.

A shaking sigh escaped her whilst her cheeks flushed red once more

[coolcattime]

Home and Free: Chapter Two - No Matter What

Characters: Captain Capsize, Sonja Firefox, Skipper Redbeard, Jordan Captainsparklez, Tucker Jericho, Tom Syndicate, Martha the Mystic, Mot Screziato, Alyssa Countybat, Waglington, Farmer Steve, Prince Andor, Jeriah, Lady Ianite (mentioned)

Relationship: Captain Capsize/Sonja Firefox, Captain Capsize/Jordan Captainsparklez (onesided)

AO3 Link

Full Story Tag

Capsize found herself fixated on the current page of her book that she was holding in one hand as she walked, having flicked directly to her favourite part. She couldn’t quite describe to anyone else why particularly this part so close to the beginning of the story was her favourite, why this part that had lingered in her mind even when she wasn’t reading it. Of course, not many people actually cared to ask, but Redbeard had when she had described the story to him. He’d asked why, of all the adventure, the travelling, and the combat, within the story, things that she longed to be back in her own life, her favourite part was the comparatively mundane meeting between the two lead characters.

Now, to be clear, he had said it in such a tone that it was clear that he was joking, and it was not the sort of thing he would’ve said if she had at all been sensitive to such jokes. Yet it had given her a slight pause. Not due to questioning her own opinion, but rather the exact tugging feeling the scene gave her being hard to describe. There was something about the first meeting of the two women, who by the end of the story would trust each other above all else and would be so deeply in love, that just swirled in her head. One a princess in disguise, one just an ordinary woman, with no reason for their lives to intertwine but a single decision binding them together. How could she not look at that moment in fascination? Obviously, there were more exciting moments in the story, but none she thought so much over as this point.

Even now, rereading over the words of the two locking eyes for the first time she just wanted to stop moving and completely lose herself in the pages. Though she resisted that urge, if only because she’d have all the time in the world to do so once the day was over. She wanted to say once she was home, but she needed to do the final checks over everything that would be going to the market. And she would want to spend a little time with her brother before he left for a few weeks. Obviously, that would take over most of the rest of her day, but she didn’t exactly have any plans for her near month of alone time. She’d have plenty of time to lose himself in the fictional world soon enough.

“Capsize!” She came to a sudden stop upon hearing that voice somehow in front of her. She cursed the fact that he wasn’t behind her, that she couldn’t just keep walking, pretending she didn’t hear him. No, that was quite difficult to do with him blocking her path. So, she looked up with as polite a smile as she could muster, hoping she would not be stuck talking to him for too long. There, unfortunately, stood Jordan, his usual hunting outfit on, with Tucker right next to him. She was unsurprised to see the other champion with him, as she rarely saw the two apart, though she was a little baffled to see them both panting slightly. Jordan typically tried to look a little more dignified at the beginning of a conversation with her. She attributed it to the two having been hunting, as the two still had birds hanging from their belts so clearly they were not long done with the activity. This spared them the embarrassment of her knowing they had sprinted through a side street to end up in front of her.

“Jordan, Tucker. A lovely morning isn’t it,” She said, giving a half-hearted attempt to turn whatever this was into just small talk. While she could deal with Tucker alone, every conversation with Jordan was draining and always went on far too long for her liking. While most days that would simply be an annoyance, she really didn’t have the time today for whatever he had planned. Jordan smiled, happily oblivious to Capsize truly not being in the mood for him. In fact, neither of the men read the annoyance coming off her, perhaps as it was the typical emotion she felt when Jordan was around, and it was hence being read as neutral.

“It is, and it’s turning into a lovely afternoon, so I was wondering if you might join me for lunch. We could go to the tavern, look at my hunting trophies. You know, like, a date,” He said, using all the charm that typically worked on people in town. He thought it was surely the perfect plan for properly wooing her prior to his proposal. A nice meal with a gift at the end, that was the type of thing women talked about wanting. He’d need to figure out the gift on the fly, but he’d be sure they’d be flowers or something shiny he could grab. Or maybe Tucker could find something while they were eating, he always had his back like that.

“Unfortunately, I’m busy. I’ve got a lot to do, you know, final stock checks, seeing my brother before he’s gone for nearly three weeks,” She said, a little more briskly than she typically would in the hope that they might get the point that she was busy. She wasn’t in the mood for whatever Jordan thought passed for a date. She already spent far more time with the man than she wanted. Unfortunately, neither man moved from her path, because apparently what she had to do today wasn’t at all important. She considered just pushing past them, but people were watching so she resisted, despite how much she wanted to.

“I’m sure he can wait a little longer,” Jordan said, more than a little confused as to why she’d prefer to spend the day with her brother than him. Sure, he didn’t have anything to worry about as the man certainly wasn’t competition, but surely, he was a better person to spend the afternoon with than Redbeard. She saw him all the time, why choose him over a lunch date when she was always so busy? Of course, Capsize was not actually busy nearly as much as she told Jordan. While she had work to do, she spent far too much of everyday with nothing to do. It was just that she found doing nothing more appealing than spending time with Jordan. She couldn’t actually say that to his face, so blatantly insulting a man who was far more popular than herself who also unfortunately happened to be Ianite’s champion would frankly be a terrible idea. That wasn’t to say it was completely out of the question, just that it would need to be at a moment when she had truly stopped caring.

“He could, but I’d prefer not to keep him waiting. So, if you’ll excuse me,” She said, her tone authoritative enough that Tucker moved out of the way without thinking. This gained him two different reactions, with Capsize smiling briefly at him as she was about to proceed with her day, and Jordan staring daggers. He could only give an embarrassed shrug in response to his friend. However, there wasn’t any time for reprimanding him, Capsize was about to make her escape. So, as she took the steps directly past Jordan, he grabbed the object in her closest hand to him. As the book was pulled from her hand, she turned back with barely concealed annoyance. “Give me my book back, Jordan.”

“I’m just looking,” He said in response, with a tone far too playfully for her liking. As he flicked through the pages, he treated the book with little care, just making her all the more desperate to grab it back. However, he just took her attempted grabs with a smile. She was agile, far more than he had expected when he first met her, but in a situation where she needed to take something from him, she was rather on the backfoot. After all, she needed to keep one hand on her cane, especially with the amount he was moving, and thus only had one hand to actually attempt to take the book back with. So, whenever her hand came close, Jordan simply turned 90 degrees on his heel, and it was as if she was never close in the first place.

Tucker, and indeed a few of the older onlookers who were not jealous of the attention Capsize received from Jordan, laughed at the apparent flirting. To them, Capsize’s frustration towards the man was feigned, a way of covering her feelings for the man. Because surely, she did have feelings for him, who didn’t? However, in reality her annoyance and frustration were not feigned in the slightest. In fact, she considered the only positive of her current situation to be that he hadn’t grabbed her cane as he had on a couple of prior occasions, when he had apparently forgotten that it wasn’t a fashion accessory. How everyone found him so charming was utterly beyond her.

“Do you really read all this? All these words, no pictures. It doesn’t seem very you.”

“What on earth do you mean?” She said, mildly exasperated, but much more confused. Of everything she had heard about her reading, the idea that it didn’t suit her had never once come up. And while she doubted that she was about to have some revelation about herself based on his opinions, she was morbidly curious. What impression did he actually have of her?

“Well, it wasn’t all that long ago that you couldn’t even spell my name,” He said with a laugh as Capsize resisted the urge to punch him. If she could choose the moment in her life that she regretted the most, it would be giving him that rose. She had just wanted him to go away, had thought that getting his name wrong might convince him that she didn’t like him, and gods had that gone wrong. Tucker, for what it was worth, saw Capsize’s anger. He did not, however, understand fully why she was angry.

“He’s joking,” Tucker said, with an exaggerated laugh as he took a hold of Jordan’s shoulders. He pulled him close, feigning a hug to whisper into his ear hurriedly. “She’s really sensitive about that, maybe don’t make jokes that make her want to leave.”

“Oh, yeah totally joking,” He said, batting Tucker away from him. He didn’t understand why she was so sensitive about this. She did spell his name wrong on the gift tag so why shouldn’t he bring it up? It was funny. But he didn’t want her to leave in a huff as she so often did, so he quickly came up with something else to say. “Obviously, I actually mean that you’re one of Lady Ianite’s favoured. So, you should be focusing on things important to her, like me.”

He leaned closer to her, hoping that was a good enough correction. Capsize became once again confused. What exactly did he mean by ‘like me’? That she should be spending more time training to shoot, like how he spent most of his days? Or, goddess forbid, that she should be spending more time focusing on him? As he came even closer, she realised, to her own unhappiness, that he definitely meant the latter. She had never wanted to leave a situation more in her life. Thankfully, there was one upside to his close position to her, combined with his attempted flirting making him forget what was keeping her here.

“I think I’ll stick with reading, but thanks for the suggestion,” She said as she managed to tug the book from his grip, batting his arm gently away with her cane as he tried to grab it back. He frowned, completely lost for what he was meant to do as she was turning away. Should he have brought a gift to start with? That probably would’ve made her more likely to hang around for a bit, wouldn’t it? In reality, no, but in his limited understanding of her, he had no way of knowing that. He looked towards Tucker for some help, the other man not really wanting to interject again. After all, this should really be a conversation between the lovebirds, but Capsize was leaving. So, he had to say something.

“Come on Cap, Redbeard can wait an hour.”

“No, he really can’t.”

“He must be able to. It’s eleven in the morning, he can’t be drunk already,” Tucker said, with a slight laugh. Jordan laughed too, unable to hold back. Capsize froze, turning back to look at them slowly. She took a shaky breath as she tried not to react, to turn back on her route and ignore them, but their laughter. Gods, how could she ignore them laughing like that.

“Don’t talk about my brother like that!” She so often heard people talk about Redbeard, and it was always frustrating. They treated like he was some incompetent drunk, a notion which would possibly be less infuriating to her if she hadn’t once also joked about such a thing. But that had been a joke between siblings, something said once in a while in good humour, not everyday relentlessly. She knew her brother wasn’t a genius, but he wasn’t nearly as stupid as people acted like he was. However, what she understood even less than the whispers, was how people could say such things to her face and expect her to be okay with it. Jordan, for once, did actually recognise the annoyance on her features.

“Yeah, don’t talk about her brother like that!” He said, elbowing Tucker a little too hard in an attempt to cover that he had also been laughing. Capsize was less than entertained. Frankly, she’d had enough of the two’s theatrics for one day.

“I’m going to help my brother because I want to help him, not because he’s some drunk idiot that can’t be left--!”

She was cut off by the noise of an explosion from her house, her eyes flying wide. She turned around, quickly rushing up the path as the two men began laughing uncontrollably. Neither tried to stop her this time, far too lost in the hilarity of the situation.

“It’s like he can hear her,” Jordan said as he managed to control his laughter enough to get out a sentence. He honestly had no idea how Redbeard survived when he went out of town without Capsize, but at least he could always be relied on to provide a few laughs. However, laughs could only distract him so much. He looked at Tucker. “I don’t get it though. Why didn’t she want to have lunch?”

“Well, she never said that. She said she needed to get back to her brother. But she also said he’ll be gone tomorrow, so…”

“Tucker you genius! There’s no way she’ll say no then!”

🌹 🌹 🌹

Redbeard lay on the floor wondering what he’d managed to do wrong for a box to blow up in his face. Dishevelled as ever, ginger hair had fallen in front of mismatched eyes as he stared up at the ceiling. Everything had been going so normally. One moment he’d been quite normally doing the stock check, the next that lockbox had spit an explosion in his face that knocked him flat. Is that really what Capsize meant when she called the thing temperamental? Just when he thought he understood the sort of things his sister was capable of. To be perfectly honest, he didn’t know a lot of what his sister did with the antiques she restored, though she would sometimes explain when he found her sitting surrounded with parts apparently to fix the tiniest fault. She always insisted that it wasn’t much different from the larger pieces he worked on. He, however, had never had a chair blow up in his face because someone years ago had decided it needed a defence mechanism.

“Red! Are you alright?” Capsize’s voice came in a hurried yell as she flung the cellar doors open. The natural light flooding in reminded him to move rather than continuing to lay prone. Thankfully, he didn’t feel injured, the explosion having apparently been loud and shocking rather than actually dangerous. Not that Capsize had any way of knowing that as she rushed down the stairs, only knowing her brother’s penchant for getting himself into danger from seeming just terrible luck. Hearing the speed of her footsteps, he realised how panicked she must be, and that he should probably assure her he was okay.

“Yeah, I’m good,” He called back as he properly got to his feet, pushing his hair back so he could properly see. He smiled sheepishly as Capsize came into view, seeing her visibly relax upon seeing him unharmed. That was good, he wasn’t completely sure he was uninjured, so her relief was as good a confirmation as any. Capsize chastised herself a little, of course she shouldn’t have expected the worst, but it was only natural to worry after hearing such a sound. She sighed slightly as she saw the lockbox, knowing that it must’ve been the cause of the noise. Something so small just had to be the cause of so much trouble.

“I thought I fixed it,” She said, mildly annoyed that it was no longer inert. She picked it up from the floor, cautiously as she knew that it may well just explode again. It didn’t, which she was both thankful for and frankly annoyed at the object’s inconsistency. As she set it down on her worktable, she looked over it, letting out a small huff as she saw a glyph that she had been so sure that she had deactivated glowing dimly. What on earth did that one do? How did she get it to turn off the first time? Gods, she hated dealing with magic. “I’m not going to be able to reset it again. We’re going to have to keep a hold of it.”

“I could still try and sell it,” Redbeard said, peering over at the thing. He knew himself well enough to know that he could sell a box that might explode in someone’s face, it probably wouldn’t even be that hard. It wasn’t necessary, they avoided needing any one market trip to be successful to continue living or even to buy their next set of junk objects to restore. However, he wasn’t sure if leaving stock behind that was technically sellable was a great idea, especially when he didn’t particularly want to keep that thing.

“We can’t sell something that keeps exploding in our face. I’ll just need to spend another season trying to work on this stupid thing,” She said, beyond annoyed at the object. Restorations were a bit like a puzzle, typically fun to figure out and a good distraction when she needed one, but quick to become frustrating if they didn’t work the way they really ought to. The lockbox had been a fun puzzle at first, figuring out how to reset the code and have it stop trying to explode at every simple touch. But in the first few weeks she’d had the thing in her possession, the glyphs she’d been sure she had deactivated had started glowing again. She didn’t want to admit defeat, but when it happened at least once a week even when she was completely sure that she had actually done it successfully. Magic just wasn’t something she understood well or could easily figure out. Though, of course, she likely would not be so frustrated if it were not for her general frustrations gathered throughout the day, which Redbeard could tell as his sister slumped into a nearby chair, resting her forehead in her hands. He would hope that anyone could.

“Are you alright, Ize?” He asked, dragging another chair over to sit opposite to her.

“I’m fine, I think the idea of not having anyone to talk to for the next few weeks is getting to me a little,” She said, attempting to ignore the gossip and the encounter with the champions that were still sitting in her mind. Redbeard smiled gently. Jeriah typically didn’t leave town, and it just happened that the first time he did it coincided with one of Redbeard’s trips to market. It had obviously been playing on Capsize’s mind with just how lonely she felt in this town other than those two.

“Well, I mean, Jordan and Tucker talk to you, don’t they?” He said, not expecting the groan that almost immediately escaped from her. He knew that she didn’t always get along with the champions, but she typically didn’t have such a reaction to them merely being mentioned.

“No. Well, yes, they talk to me, but only about things Jordan wants to know about. He doesn’t care about me, he cares about what I can tell him about Ianite,” She saw him raise an eyebrow, which almost made her sigh again. She knew he wasn’t disbelieving her, or at least he wouldn’t describe it like that. It was just unfortunate that Redbeard didlike Jordan and Tucker, and for some reason he never had them belittle him to his face like he did her. She didn’t exactly want to bring up her latest conversation with the two, but she did wonder what he’d made of the two knowing how they’d blatantly insult him. She wasn’t going to do that though. It’d just make both of them feel bad. So, she tried her best to instead smile to convince him that she felt fine. “I mean, I’ll be fine really. I’ve just been lost in my own thoughts a bit, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary.”

“You aren’t acting like normal,” Redbeard tried to be gentle as it wasn’t particularly often that Capsize actually wanted to talk about her frustrations. He was aware that she had quite a few with their current living situation, but she tended to push her negative feelings down and refuse to talk about them, leaving him to pretend everything was fine when it so clearly wasn’t. Pretending wasn’t all that hard. He could act the way he always had, acting as if he didn’t notice what people thought about him and how his sister was retreating inwards. But what bothered him was he wasn’t sure if she had gotten better or worse over time as, unlike her physical injury, it was a lot harder to notice if she was faking being fine.

“It’s been a normal day. Normal enough that it shouldn’t… that I shouldn’t…” She struggled to come up with how she should be reacting. As, while she was sure it was unreasonable to feel so upset about the gossip given how it was a daily occurrence and she really should be used to it by now, it hardly felt like something she could be neutral on. She heard so much said about herself whenever she went outside that she couldn’t just ignore all of it. It all kept scratching at her mind and making her question herself. Though it wasn’t until now, in this moment of quiet alone with her brother, that she actually voiced the question forced from this lingering uncertainty. “Red, am I odd?”

“What? No, of course, not!” He said quickly, in disbelief that she would ever need to ask such a thing. He was so used to her confidence, to her complaints about the town being her boredom, that the question had come as a shock, like he got a bucket of ice water dumped over him. His sister odd? That was a ridiculous idea. Yet her voice was so unsure, as if she could be swayed into believing such a thing.

It took a lot to maintain his composure. As much as he wanted to grab her by the shoulders and force into her head that anyone who would say such a thing was an idiot, that wouldn’t exactly be productive and there was little point expressing such anger when it was only her here. So, he took a moment, before continuing to speak as calmly as he could.

“Where did you even get an idea like that?”

“It’s all people ever seem to say,” She said, attempting to recall if anyone, bar Jeriah and Redbeard, really seemed to have any other opinion of her. Even Jordan, who continuously tried to get her on side, had decided to comment on thinking that reading didn’t suit her. Sure, that might have just been to try and get her to focus on him, but it was still just another person saying how weird they found something about her. Every day, over and over, she heard how she was strange, how she didn’t fit in. And that, in turn, had led to her beginning to question if maybe she had always been an outcast, that she simply didn’t notice how strange she really was because previously she was always on the move.

“Yeah… They do that with me as well,” He said with a frown. It was undeniable that the siblings didn’t match the town’s idea of normal. He knew everyone saw him as a drunk, admittedly it was not something he even tried to dispel the idea of, but that didn’t mean he appreciated the comments. However, there was also one thing that had been constant no matter how bad all the comments got. “But I also recall someone telling me not to listen to what they have to say.”

“I… I really thought it would stop. Or maybe we’d leave,” She hadn’t expected this situation to last years. She honestly thought it would maybe last a few months and they’d been off again, travelling as they always had. But life hadn’t lived up to her expectations. She’d been more injured than she initially thought, recovery was slower, and leaving a permanent home, even just for another one, would be an expensive process that would require months of planning. And the longer she had been stuck here, the more it seemed like she might never leave this town, the harder it had become to follow her own advice. She could no longer just ignore the gossip like she originally had. She couldn’t even pretend it was just one or two people saying such things. It was everyone. So, over time, a quiet voice had begun to stir, that perhaps there was some truth to the words. “But it’s been two years. Two years of being here and existing and living this life and… and I still don’t even kind of fit in.”

“Do you really want to fit in?” Redbeard asked. He already knew the answer, or at least he hoped he did, but still the question was gently prodding. She looked up, very aware of what he was doing. However, that knowledge didn’t stop it from kick-starting her thoughts, dragging them away from the loathing they had been spiralling into. Seeing the smallest signs of his sister’s unhappiness disappearing, he smiled a little. He could do this. He could get her out of this falter of confidence. “Okay, so maybe you’re the odd one out here, but that doesn’t make you worse than them. Take my word Ize, you’re better than the lot of them.”

He gently poked her, trying to see if she would crack a smile. She did, a small one, which was a relief to see because he truly meant what he had said. Obviously, he wouldn’t say it to anyone else, he wasn’t looking to cause arguments, but he felt the people of the town to be rather, well, closed minded. While they had been excited about him and Capsize moving into town, it had been apparent rather quickly that they didn’t really understand that people might like travelling. Others who, like him, had to occasionally travel to make money treated it like an undesirable experience and assumed he felt the same without any evidence. No one considered that Capsize could have any desire to leave, seemingly unable to understand that she could be discontent living here.

“You are too, you know. You’re better than this town,” She said, her confidence coming back with each word. Redbeard almost laughed. Of course, she couldn’t just let him cheer her up, she needed to remind him of his own worth too. But to Capsize it made so much sense. He kept her sane in this place. She couldn’t thank him enough for that. And maybe she was still annoyed about Tucker’s comment earlier, upset that no one in this town treated him with any respect, but why shouldn’t she be annoyed about that? He was her brother and he deserved respect. “I’d be lost here without you. Really, I think I would’ve lost it by now. So don’t even think of changing, alright.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” He said with a laugh. Her last sentence was also her promising herself not to change, to not give into her negative thoughts. Neither of them were going to change for this place. Redbeard didn’t have any real desire to, and he wasn’t going to let Capsize waver when them both being here was all because of— He flinched a little as he caught a thought before it fully finished, as he knew precisely what it was going to be. He couldn’t keep thinking like that, keep dwelling on the past that when the way he worded it always just annoyed Capsize. Not when he’d just cheered her up. So instead of thinking back, he decided instead to look towards the future. “I mean we’ve come this far without changing. Why would we change in the last few months?”

“Don’t get my hopes up,” She said with a laugh before looking at her brother to not see his usual signs of joking. He looked, for once in his life, completely serious. Which didn’t make sense because he had to be joking. Yet he didn’t laugh or smirk or for even a moment show a sign that he might not be genuine. Her eyes widened as it actually sunk in that he wasn’t joking. But how could he possibly…?

“I’ve had a couple of conversations at the last market, working out the exact cost of moving us out of here. Obviously, I know this place was recommended by Lady Ianite and that she said she wanted you here for a—”

“How long? How long until we could leave?”

“If both this market and the next one are as good as the last few, we could be out of here in spring.”

“I…” Capsize found herself speechless. It sounded too good to be true. Sure, it was still half a year away and rested on a pretty big maybe, but it was also the closest they’d been the whole time to leaving this town. She wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip out of her grasp. She grabbed the lockbox back, it thankfully not exploding despite her enthusiastic movement. Her heart was beating wildly, her excitement barely contained, as she spoke again. “I am going to fix this stupid thing before you’ve packed everything else onto the cart and you need to leave. This is going to be the most successful market you’ve ever done. And… and we’re going to get out of this damn town.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Redbeard laughed, but he certainly didn’t lack confidence. Capsize was not the sort to have false convictions, if she said something it was because she believed it. And right now, she believed her words more than anything she had ever said. They were going to get out of this town. Even if they didn’t do as quickly as theoretically possible, they were going to get out of here soon enough, she was sure of it. The two of them together, in the life they were meant to have.

He really had gotten her anyway from her negative thoughts. And, as she began to busy herself with finding the vague notes she had made when being tempted to smash apart the lockbox the first time, she made the mental note to thank him for that later. She never told him enough how much she appreciated him, how sure she was that she couldn’t have survived here without him. But there was plenty of time for that. While he was away, she’d put something together for him. She didn’t exactly have the best resources in this town, but she’d be able to figure out something, she certainly had the time. It’ll be nice for him to come back to a surprise. Though knowing his luck, she’d set up such a thing and then he’d never see it.

She laughed at the thought. She’d just have to set it up in such a way that he’d need to not return to town to not see it. Then even her brother couldn't be so unlucky. After all, the two of them had always been together, and even if he left for a short amount of time, he always came back. They always had each other, no matter what.

[tornsurvivors]

@wcrstarter​​     (  𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 )  

Blistering red slowly bled into the edges of her vision. Clarity was being obscured by a devouring anger.  She felt ill to her stomach as disbelief sank like lead in it and tightened around her throat like a chain being pulled on with a sinister intention. All this time, ALL THIS TIME---! The beginning of that peaceful life they had started in that quaint cottage away from civilization, save for a village miles away... it was too good to be true. She should’ve known. God, she should’ve known better. The mere thought of it nearly makes her bark out a scornful laugh, and she would have... had she glanced away from the sickening sight in front of her. Instead, her muscles quiver and coil tightly. Her hands balled into fists so tightly her knuckles turned white. Teeth grinding as she clenched her jaw. A deep thrumming began within her body-- the virus was harmonizing with her rage and there wasn’t a damned thing she could do to resist it by this point.

Not when her darkened gaze continued to burn holes into the stone wall and the proof of the darkness that swept over the village adorned the wall like it was meant to be there. Umbrella’s accursed logo painted on it. Around it, in the four corners sat the symbols of four different Houses of this little village. 

The deafening snap of her self-restraint echoed in her head and a burst of unnatural energy flowed with the bone-shattering punch against the center of the painting. With it came a shout filled with unbridled fury and her aura reeked of the supernatural -- or rather in her own words, curse... it’s power was rolling off her figure in glee as it fed onto her rage. Voices were already chanting in the back of her head, imploring her to feed it more. 

Unfortunately for it, the pain that jolted through her entire arm from the impact of her fist against the wall -- leaving a small crater in the center of the Umbrella logo -- was enough for her to reel herself back. Sonja’s presence nearby was more than enough to keep her anchored as well and she exhaled roughly, eyes slamming shut as she turned away from the wall. 

“They’re everywhere.” She hissed out, “And they’re not going to stop till the entire world burns.” 

[hanna-kin]

Gåsmamman season 2 - the Ek family

I thought I'd do a separate post about each of the members of the family and their archs. All in all think they have good archs. Nina gets alot of focus and her siblings are a little more in the background but not forgotten or disregarded. I like the way the writers have continued to build on them and their actions make sense but what happens to them this season affection the direction of their future arch. I really appreciate that because it's what I like the most of Gåsmamman.

Gustav

Let's start with Gustav. He's left his girlfriend Shelia in Sydney so all he wants to do is go back so he can smoke weed with her. He's taken a big role in the family and Sonja has stopped treating him as her child and relies way too heavily on him to, on the one hand cover up for her and the lies she tells Nina and Linus and on the other hand, burdens him with taking responsibility when she is not there. His sister is struggling with her mental health and his little brother is traumatised and his mother is either absent or unloading everything onto him. Not great. Him being there when they found Niklas is just the ultimate NO

I find it interesting how this sets up the rest of the story for Gustav and his arch in the coming seasons and his growing resentment of Sonja and to some extent the rest of his family. He's sacrificed alot for them. In the beginning he doesn't do much but be Sonja's support person and taking care of Linus while witching Nina rebel and act like a dick. Since Sonja is more and more absent it falls on him to take care of Linus.

His coping mechanisms are not great but compared to Nina they are not as visible so of course Sonja won't notice, Nina has her own problems and Linus is a child.

It's ironic that Gustav asks Sonja if anyone ever asks her how she is because noone asks him that either. Maybe Shelia does when they have Skype sex.

Gustav's storyline is pretty much in the background until the very end but it's still very significant because it sets the beginning of his terrible relationship to Sonja. He worries about her, covers for her and has to deal with everything she puts her kids through but he's not allowed to freak out or break down because Linus relies on him. Let's not mention him having to watch his little brother point a gun to his own head. I love Linus and Gustav's relationship and it's definitely a favourite aspect of the show. I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's just organic and lovely and I love how they interact and how protective Gustav is.

I like Gustav's arch and his character in this season even if it is in the background. We see him meet Juana though and they also share their love for weed, an amazing foundation for their future relationship. But mostly it just sets a great foundation for season 3 where he makes some dodgy decisions including hairstyle choices.

I don't really understand the point of Gustav being kidnapped. Ot feels like they just wanted something for him to do. If it actually led to something I'd be fine with it but he was basically drugged and assaulted but it only served Sonja's plot. It was never adressed again how it affected him. The hospital scene was nice though. With the siblings. It just feels lazy how it didn't lead to anything for him. That I didn't like.

Nina

Nina, Nina, Nina.

I can't stand her this season. It always makes me feel bad considering the reasons she's acting the way she does and I try to be understandable of her situation but omg. She's the worst. She's only cares about herself and it's so obvious. She puts her whole family at risk the first thing she does and refuses to listen to anyone. She just does whatever she wants without a single thought about how it affects everyone else She's like a three year old who can't be told no. The first half of the season is unbearable. But the second half becomes better.

I also think she tends to be a little stereotypical in her charcterisation. It's like struggling artsy teenage girl bingo sometimes where you can just thick off every box. It becomes too much at points.

She has her spiral, moving out, working at Rose, drinking too much and eventually overdosing at the news of Niklad death and Zac dumping her. And it's not her fault. But still I struggle to sympathise with her so something is not right. I fail to feel sorry for her. I just get annoyed. I'm not sure why. I'm usually not like that.

What I do like though is her being admitted to a clinic and spending time there. Even if it’s not that kind of show they still made an effort with it which I like. I like that they gave her time to heal and it felt natural. It wasn't a overnight change but they also showed her making progress. I love Klara and her together and I like how her and Sonja's relationship developed

It was very rocky and shaky at the beginning but I feel like it had such a nice development and in the end they were kindof on good terms. I like how they did that. On the other hand we barely saw anything from her relationship with her brothers. She was very absent and did her own thing but I like the bits they threw in, their arguments the phonecalls that they missed her, her calling Linus on his birthday and of course them being with her at the hospital and at the clinic. Little things like that made the whole difference and kept their relationship alive. Love that.

So while i really disliked her for alot of this season i think she had the best arch and in the following seasons I just love her.

Finally i have to adress two things. Her and Barry and her and Zac.

Barry and Nina =spectacular. Love it. Love how sassy she is. Love his soft spot for her. Love him saving her. Love their weird friendship. Bonus for Sonja looking horrified with Nina kissing his cheek but then leaning that Barry saved her.

Zac and Nina = very inappropriate. Creepy. But also not bad. It needs to be addressed though how much older he is and that she was a minor, yikes. But their relationship grew to something better and I do like them together now. I just can't get over the beginning of the relationship.

Linus

Linus role in this season is not the biggest but he's still there and they have not forgotten about what he went through. Well Sonja has forgotten. Why is he not in therapy? I guess one kid in therapy is enough for Sonja. It's clear that Sonja is unable to take care of him properly. She's all over the place with her lies to protect them but all it does is making Linus very anxious. He obviously doesn't trust her because of her lies. He reacts very badly when they have to move and it seems like he doesn't cope well with change.

He aslo doesn't really go to Sonja for comfort. He calls her after the thing at school and leaves a sad voice mail. But then can't open up to her later. There’s just so much going on in their lives and there's little room for him to get the help he needs. The focus is on Nina and the people trying to kill Sonja every day. He gets pushed to the side a lot. And it's easy to overlook his problems when Sonja's and Nina's are so much more prominent and acute.

I still thinks he deserves better. Especially from Sonja. Him and Gustav seem to be left on their own alot and it helps their bond grow tighter but it is sad how absent Sonja is.

Sonja gets more and more neglectful as the season progressed and she even forgets his birthday which is a bit 👀 for a child his age it's an ultimate betrayal. We see how it clearly upsets him and along with everything else that happens including the police arresting Sonja in the middle of the night, having to face Lukas again and losing Niklas he's doing fairly well I'd say. But just like with Gustav it clearly sets the foundation for the upcoming seasons where his and Sonja's relationship continues to unravel.

The most heartbreaking part of his plot is when he confronts Lukas. It breaks my heart every time. And just like previously it's Gustav who is left picking up the pieces. As much as I love Gustav and Linus together it's sad that they have to rely on eachother because Sonja is busy playing gangster.

What I love about Linus is that he has a gentleness about him. He's a sweet kid. He's vulnerable. He needs stability but he's been born into the wrong family for that. It's such a stark contrast to John and Kasper and I'm so happy Linud at least has that friendship. I think John is very good for Linus.

Sonja

I'm going to touch briefly on Sonja even if she is the main.

She's trying so hard to keep her family safe and together but she's just awful at it. She lies but it only leads her family to grow angry with her. She's under a lot of pressure with the whole witness thing and I don't blame her for her decision to lie. She thought it was the only way to protect herself and her family but ultimately it only led to more trouble.

Even if i find her annoying at times and frown upon her decision i very much like how they are keeping her real. She's not made for this life, she has trauma, she gets scared when someone tries to kill her, she's worried about her kids and she tries. I will never understand people being mad about flawed characters. Sonja is so realistic so even if I can hate her at points she's so well made and so is her arch.

The whole season is a just trauma trauma trauma for her. She just can't be a mother and cleaning up from all the events that happens and she constantly gets into more and more trouble. She's just a trouble magnet.

I like her and John together. I think he was such an important person for her and their family. I also like her and Lukas and of course her and Kattis. Their friendship is everything. It's also nice to see her interact with Nikas and them being siblings and loving eachother but clearly being on the same page at all.

Sonja finding Niklas dead body is so heartbreaking. And then finding out Anders was about it. Oh lord. She's been dealt a shitty hand for sure.

Don't like Sonja as a person but I like her arch and what they did with her. Everything makes sense, why she's acting like this and where she goes from there.

That I love and the same applies for all of them.

What do you think? Who's your favourite character or storyline?

[dwellerinroots]

Tagged by: @dirty-bosmer These are so neat, thank you..! c:

• Do you play an instrument?

Used to play the violin, used to play the piano. I still think I've got the hands to do the latter, it'd be nice; but one day I'd love to become a master of the vuvuzela.

• Favourite book characters?

Questions like this are like pulling your own teeth and make no mistake. Since @dirty-bosmer, who tagged me, chose the luggage, I'll add Rincewind because a person who is unquestionably a coward and kind of a failure trying his best is important. (Little me would've gone Red Sonja with no hesitation and less chill.) Possibly Shriek from the very known novel the Dungeon Volume 2.

• What’s your star sign?

Virgo! ♍

• Favourite colour schemes?

Earth-tones. I like green in dark and light shades, blacks and stormy greys, all the shades of soil. Occasionally, add some river blues and cloudy whites, and we're done! Oh, and naturally - the brass of a talon in mid-flight. (Classical antiquity colour schemes as well, really...)

• Naps or long sleep?

I stare in my void-eyes, sworn to Vaerminerinmenrnin. I cannot remember the last time I have 'long slept.' What is 'long sleep.' It sounds lovely, but bewitching. I would like one 'long sleep' please.

• What languages do you speak?

Just the two, English and the one that sounds like Sussian.

• Dreams/aspirations?

Short-term, to lead by example and have certain offline friends and family understand that there are things they can do to make their lives better. Longer term to decouple them from the constant incorrect information that is in their life. Short-term personal, I'd like to travel a bit more and see friends who I've had to leave behind. Long-term personal... Creative efforts, also love, also sleep. I mean, there's not much else, is there...

• Long hair or Short Hair?

Short hair on me because otherwise my entire head becomes an orb of hair. I love both on other people, but think long hair is cooler because too much swords & sandals pulp fantasy instantly makes me think long hair... cool...

• Tea or coffee?

Is this even a question, I'm in the land I am now, it's coffee, dark nectar of the gods. I do like taking tea, don't get me wrong, but it's like a pleasantry, whereas the flavour of dark coffee is the absolute best. Just fantastic.

• Bring a book character to life or go into a fictional world?

Another tough one, for me... I'll go weird, but not too weird, then. I can't recall if it was called Diadem or the Diadem series, but there was a young adult fiction series that had crystals/gems == magic power, but really I just liked the shiny stone descriptions. Shiny rock, good. What, you say, staring, sounds like you could pick something more adventurous sure, but right now I just want magic minerals.

Tagging: Since I just pushed one of this, this one is open - please feel free to join in if you want, and if you're not interested, or want to do it at a later date, go right ahead with that, too! They're very fun though, so you're welcome around any time..!