#Time to see what kind of a cook Vance REALLY is

[pushing500]

The Cult has spoken!! Vance is coming to Loyalty's Meander. Hooray!

Very nice, very nice. The muttonchops are a strong choice, I like it.

I can never decide if Vasso is aware that he's the world's most unintimidating teeny-tiny cult leader or if he just hasn't registered that he's short because he's used to being around Laursen, who is stupid tall, which makes everybody look short in comparison.

This suits him better, anyway.

Rick's Fiends and The Defilers arrived at the same time as a very unfortunate trade caravan, so the three of them got into a massive fight in one corner of the map far away from our colony. In fact, only poor Cecil the housekeeper cat was injured when he took a stray bullet to the leg.

That brings us to colonist number fourteen, I believe! Wow! Welcome to the colony, Vance. We hope you enjoy your stay.

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Bonus diagram of Gracie's Stupid Brain Function after I'd finished all these drawings and sat back to register what I'd done:

[thebeast-dennis-etcetera]

Let Me Help

If you could only use one word to describe your husband, it would be, stubborn. Whether you tried paying for dinner or driving his truck, he wouldn’t budge on his decision and it was like pulling teeth to convince him otherwise. In your current case, he had come down with a cold and refused to accept any kind of care. It’s like if he pretended he wasn’t sick, it would just magically disappear.

It had apparently even affected his work as you received texts from both Tony and even Vance that he was grumpier than usual, snapping orders and having unrealistic expectations for case leads. You figured if Jethro wanted to be a stubborn mule then let him. Because now you also had to deal with your 8 year old son showing the same symptoms of sickness.

The nurse had called you, explaining that he was complaining about his head and runny nose so you picked him up early and stopped at the grocery store for supplies before heading home.

Multitasking, you prepared what you needed for some homemade chicken noodle soup and got a hot bath started for him, adding some tea tree oil, hoping the steam would help with his congestion. Once he was all set in the tub, you left the door open so you could hear him and continued chopping vegetables in the kitchen. He was in the phase where he really valued his privacy and you helping him take a bath was always shot down, followed by I’m a big boy now mom as he would stand there in his Lego shirt and bear slippers.

The sound of the front door opening and keys being thrown on the little table nearby, signaled that Jethro was home early. He didn’t say a word but said plenty as he trudged over to the couch and fell face first into it. You couldn’t help but smile at his theatrics and continued your cooking.

“Vance send you home early?”

“Mm-hm.”

He rolled onto his back and let out a long sigh, rubbing his temples to relieve some of the headache he told you he didn’t have. Once all your ingredients were prepped and cooking in the pan, you poured the broth in and let it sit in a simmer before heading to the bathroom in search of aspirin, being sure to cover your eyes so your son didn’t yell at you.

Your husband was still laying on the couch when you came over with a glass of water and some aspirin.

“Take these. I’m making some soup as well,” you offered.

He sat up and took the offerings with a grateful grunt.

“Mommy! I’m done!”

You gave Jethro a kiss on the head before tending to your son again.

————

The soup was a hit with both boys, each having 2 servings and now they sat on the couch under a big thick blanket as you handed them each a capful of medicine.

“I don’t wanna,” your son refused, pulling his brows together in discontent and crossing his arms in extra emphasis.

“I don’t wanna do it either bud but it’ll make us feel better. Ready? On three.”

You watched as they swallowed the tart syrup and made the same exact face, causing you to laugh. They handed you over the empty caps and you brought them into the kitchen to wash them. Just then, the microwave went off, telling you the popcorn was ready.

Pouring it into a big bowl, you took your spot in between them on the couch. They each rested their heads against your shoulder and took turns taking pieces of popcorn while the movie played.

“How’s your head my love?” you asked Jethro, running your hand through his hair, massaging into his scalp and temple.

“Mm. Good.”

You then turned to your little boy and brushed his dirty blonde hair from his face as you could already see his blue eyes getting sleepy.

It was a rare opportunity you got to be able to take care of Jethro and your son at the same time. And as much as it was a bit trying at times with both of their stubborn yet needy ways, you wouldn’t trade it for anything.

[antiscorbutic]

welcome to my polar explorers sideblog !

books n things ive read / some thoughts etc (updated frequently)

> Endurance - Caroline Alexander

what I started with. v good read imo pretty succinct and flows nicely. not too hero-worshippy iirc, nice pictures

> The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard

I read (listened to) the audiobook narrated by Simon Vance and really liked it! tbh I wasn't super deep in to all this when I started it and was kind of shocked at how readable it was. my favorite part is birdie's letter about the land crabs.

also in general it's really nice to get an actual pov account -- the secondary books are lovely for helping muddle through sources and stuff but I get annoyed with how much time is spent on the Famous bits and not the unglorious monotony, which i love hearing about. I gotta read some actual diaries

> Madhouse at the End of the Earth - julian sancton

JESUS I did not know anything about the belgica going in AND I'd just watched aliens (1986) and WHY are there narrative parallels this shouldn't be real??? also amundsen is a real freak (<- value neutral)

> Endurance (2024)

uhhh sorry kids I hated this. I know it's based on the guys book but like the parallel heroic narrative thing was so icky to me. also the AI voices were giving "we didn't want to pay voice actors" and!!! fucking pointless to end it when you find the ship I want to know about the ship!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to watch a doc about the ship not about some people who found the ship. tragic for me

> Shackleton (2002) - TV miniseries with Kenneth Branagh

actually loved this. there was clearly so much attention and care put in to little historical details and even with all the silly dramatic Kenneth monologues i really enjoyed it

> The Great White Silence (1924) - Herbert Ponting

fucking WILD that as a card carrying member of the attention-span-ruined tiktok generation that as soon as I found this I was GLUED to the screen for the full like 2.5 hours or however long it is. seriously jumpscared by the cat's racial slur of a name (as ever) but honestly it's a good reminder of the colonial context we're in here so I kind of appreciate it. anyway absolutely mind boggling to see this early footage of the adelie penguins etc when I grew up watching them in planet earth and have always kind of taken their existence for granted. and I think the telling of the actual polar journey was pretty touching for being obviously like the same 15 seconds of footage of a miniature

> Endurance - Alfred Lansing

eh I didn't need to read both this and the caroline alexander book. it was fine. I always wish they'd spend more time on the elephant island castaways and less time on the small boat journey. I get that that's the like, famous impressive part, but I'm here to be reminded of the horror that it is to be alive day after day and I think more time should be spent on that monotony. also he didn't talk about the post-expedition AT ALL and I need my little "where they are after the reality TV series ended" title cards

> Amundsen (2019)

didn't finish it. too much back-at-home drama not enough being on the ice

> The Last Place on Earth (1985)

I haven't read the scott v amundsen book it's based on but jesus whoever wrote that must have fucking hated scott. I'm not saying they're wrong necessarily I'm no expert i AM saying hes wrong fuck this guy!!!! but holy shit did scott look like an incompetent asshole even compared with all the other incompetent assholes. needed more screen time of young hugh grant as cherry

> basically any bbc special about explorers

PLEASE correct me if I'm missing anything but lord I stg every one of these is the worst pro imperialism hero worship bullshit of all time. "james cook was a really nice guy actually" are you fucking kidding me

> empire of ice and stone - buddy levy

this is my first arctic account and I have. a lot of thoughts and feelings about the way arctic expeditions interact w indigenous people that I don't want to get into here. truly baffled by the number of polar bears they interacted with. also fuck stefansson so much like okay fine you left the ship but go find it again??? fucking rescue them?????

> in the kingdom of ice - Hampton sides

okay this might be my favorite modern account I've read. I love how much context is provided ... like I have Thoughts and Feelings about John Muir but his diaries being included and GOD Emma's letters being interspersed was fucking devastating. definitely the most emotional I've gotten. and all the interludes to explain the geography of a region and what its called now or in russian and even all of the many chapters about bennett added so much for me. AND giving full accounts of each group after they split the party without one getting only briefly summarized in favor of the other but also without making the timeline confusing???? -- I say this all even though hampton committed what to me is the cardinal sin of these books: skipping time that's "boring". a whole year of monotony??? julian sancton only you understand me

> labyrinth of ice - buddy levy

augh. OUAGHE. oughe!!!! I am devastated. good book :(

> alone on the ice - david roberts

not my favorite .... the author is clearly bitter that mawson is not as famous and heroic to history as someone like shackleton. also I really think he should have stuck to a linear narrative structure instead of jumping around. zero mention of possible cannibalism

not historical but overlaps / scratched a similar itch:

> outlaw ocean - ian urbina

modern investigative journalism on lawlessness on the high seas. fucking hard to read because it's largely about like, human trafficking. even the "light" stories are still rough. really, really good read though and i liked hearing about recent trawling and whaling in the south and thinking about it in relation to historical whaling etc

> frozen planet (2011)

I mean I'm a huge sucker for any attenborough nature doc esp the planet earth extended universe but this was also specifically produced around the 100th anniversary of amundsen & scott reaching the pole and I love to think about the boys seeing the penguins and seals etc for the first time .... wonderful stuff

> the thing 1982

I think I'm probably the last person to watch this one so I don't think I can add much commentary but as someone who has seen approx. 3 horror movies and two were alien and aliens I did not think it was as scary as it could have been. I do like a horrible Beast though so maybe that's on me

currently in progress!!!!!!!!!

> Erebus - Michael Palin <- I have the ebook instead of the audiobook so I'm making my way through it slowly :-)

> ice ghosts - Paul watson

other things I have out from the library but haven't started:

> eight bears - Gloria dickie (not directly relevant but highly recommended to me)

> late Victorian holocausts - Mike Davis <- a little too academic for me to parse easily but Mike ily and I think it's healthy to read about other things happening around the same era

> left hand of darkness

> against the ice - Ejnar mikkelsen

> to the edges of the earth - Edward larson

^ huge s/o to @jesslovesboats's sad boat books lists btw for helping me find more sad boat books that my library has audiobooks of <3 (im very much an audiobook guy so while I'm frothing to read more diaries and shit I have a hard time with it. yet another tragedy for me personally)

[yourreddancer]

Resistance HQ Bulletin 9, 11/20/24

From Meidas Touch

Ron Filipkowski

… Trump is reportedly set to appoint Ross Vought as his Budget Director. So his Border Czar wrote the section on Project 2025 on the border, his FCC nominee wrote the section on Project 2025 on the FCC, and his Budget Director wrote the section on Project 2025 about the budget. But Trump said in the campaign he has no connection to Project 2025 and doesn’t know any of the people involved.

… Surprising criticism from Rand Paul on Trump’s announced plan to declare a national emergency in order to use the military to round up and deport migrants. “I think it’s a terrible image. That’s not what we use our military for. We never have. I will not support an emergency to put the Army into our cities.”

… The updated popular vote count according to Cook Political is now Trump - 49.89%, Harris - 48.24%. Trump’s lead continues to shrink.

… JD Vance said today that the Senate just needs to confirm every Trump nominee with no questions asked since Trump “just won a major electoral victory.”

… Thom Tillis said that Republicans citing recess appointments of previous presidents like Obama is a much different situation than what Trump wants to do because none of those were Cabinet-level positions: “Not for a Cabinet-level position. That should be absolutely off the table. And quite honestly, any serious candidate .. I would have to really wonder if they would want it or be willing to accept that under a recess appointment.”

… Tommy Tuberville suggested to Steve Bannon though that they are cooking up some kind of plan to ram Trump appointments through after the new Senate is sworn in early Jan and before Trump takes office. Unclear how this would happen if a few Republican Senators refuse to vote to adjourn, but we know that Trump and his henchmen are constantly searching for ways to justify ignoring the Constitution and all established norms.

… Trump raged on Truth Social that his amazing nominees are being criticized: “This is what the Radical Left Lunatics do to people. They dirty them up, they destroy them, and then they spit them out.”

(EVERY RETHUGLIKKKON ACCUSATION IS A CONFESSION)

… ABC has obtained Venmo and PayPal records showing payments of $10,000 from Matt Gaetz to two women he allegedly paid for sex. One was a minor at the time. Maybe he was just donating to their tuition out of the kindness of his heart.

… Tim Burchett responded to the House Ethics report on Gaetz getting hacked: “Can someone hack the Epstein files for American to see?” Careful what you wish for.

… Lindsey Graham met with Gaetz today in his office. Lindsey told CNN: “I fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true. I urge my Senate colleagues not to join the lynch mob.”

… Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez was asked if Gaetz would make a good AG: “It doesn't matter what I think, the president-elect of the United States thinks that he'll make a good AG. I’m not a fan of Matt Gaetz. I wasn’t a fan of his when he was here. I think he was a disruptive force when he was in the House. But Trump has faith in him.” Hell of a ringing endorsement.

… Democratic Rep. Sean Casten introduced a privileged resolution to release the Ethics Report on Gaetz to force Republican House members to vote on whether to keep it concealed, per Punchbowl news. They only need a few Republican votes.

… Meanwhile, the Senate made a formal request for the House Ethics report on Gaetz to be turned over to them so they can do their job properly.

… But the Ethics Committee voted along party lines with Republicans voting to keep the Gaetz report secret and Democrats voting to release it. After Republican Chair Michael Guest told the press that the full committee “agreed” not to release the report, Dem Rep Susan Wild flamed him, saying that was a complete lie, they all agreed not to discuss the vote, but since Guest lied about what happened she felt compelled to disclose it was a straight party-line vote.

… But GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden told CNN after that he would vote to release the Gaetz report if it was brought to the floor for a vote. So that’s one.

… Trump rolled out a new product line today - Trump Guitars. He is selling an electric Trump Guitar on is website for $1,500 and an acoustic Trump Guitar for $1,250. They have an American flag with Trump’s face on them. He is also offering signed guitars for $10,000 and promises that they will arrive before Christmas if you order now.

…

The website for the Trump guitars does NOT say where they are made, so you know what that means.

… Nikki Haley trashed Tulsi Gabbard today: “She said that Trump turned the US into Saudi Arabia’s prostitute. This is going to be the future head of our National Intelligence? She tried to cut our annual defense budget. Tulsi Gabbard defended Iran. She went to Syria for a photo op with Assad while he was massacring his own people. She said he was skeptical he was behind it. This is disgusting. Everything she said about it was Russian talking points. Every bit of it. That was Russian propaganda.”

… More from Haley: “After Russian invaded Ukraine, she blamed NATO. The Russians and the Chinese played her talking points on Russian and Chinese TV. She’s defended Russia, Syria, Iran and China. DNI is not a place for a Russian-Chinese-Iranian-Syrian sympathizer.”

…

… Attorneys for former GA elections workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss filed a motion today in court seeking to have Rudy Giulianiheld in contempt of court for continuing to repeat the same false statements about them in recent media interviews that he was found liable for.

… Comcast announced it will create a separate spinoff media company that will package MSNBC, Bravo, CNBC, SyFy, and USA Network together under the new umbrella. Most industry analysts are saying they are doing this with the intent to sell them.

… WaPo reported losing $77 million this year, and that was before 250,000 people canceled their subscriptions after Jeff Bezos pulled the plug on the planned Harris endorsement.

… Alex Jones has filed lawsuit against the Sandy Hook families and The Onion, alleging that the sale and acquisition in the bankruptcy proceeding violated acceptable rules and practices for blind bidding.

The Onion’s offer was reportedly $7 million.

[x-manson-annotated]

X-Manson Annotated - Chapter Three - Part 2 - DOUG RAMSEY, ANGELICA JONES, AND VANCE ASTROVIK.

In this chapter we'll talk briefly about Doug Ramsey, known to comics readers as the beloved husband of Bei the Blood Moon. As usual, if you're here, you'll find the usual warnings in the pinned post.

I've thought about how weird this comment was for a while. But then when i posted it to r/menwritingwomen, a user pointed this out to me:

This actually makes so much sense and recontextualizes the entire fic for me. It makes me read these bracketed asides as the narration of Kitty watching it.

Marie-Ange Ramsey is Marie-Ange Colbert. Also known as Tarot. She's a member of the Hellions and has the mutant power to make things on tarot cards come to life. Feels real weird in this au, but whatever

we now transition to the Astroviks. Here we get a few more details of worldbuilding. The Avengers exist and have Firestar and "Vance Astro/Justice/Whatever his alias is" as members.

The Avengers existing is really bothering me for some reason about this fic. It seems to really drive the "The Avengers don't do mutant things" angle in a different way.

That's not a cult thing, Scott's just incredibly autistic, Vance, you prick.

Oh dougie.

I think McCoy being here contradicts Hank's testimony at the beginning. I think around this time was a period where he wouldn't have been present at the school (according to him).

Xavier's preoccupation is curious. What is he thinking about in this moment to draw away his attention? Perhaps who is he thinking about? Maybe who he's controlling? All of these things?

I don't think it was Xavier trying to get into his mind, I think it was David Haller.

I'm not sure what to make of these innate psychic defenses. I don't think Doug has that, usually.

Because there isn't anything in the house, the whole goddamn thing has been hollowed out.

Staff:

Jean Grey

Scott Summers

Logan

Hank McCoy

"The Irish Guy" (Sean Cassidy)

"The Russian Guy" (Piotr Rasputin)

Students:

(Piotr's Sister) Illyana Rasputina (this is unconfirmed if she is his actual sister)

Sam Guthrie

"Psyche" (Dani Moonstar)

Visitors:

Doug

Vance

Angelica

David.

Poor Gabrielle.

Gabby and Doug: The horror and the tragedy is immense, we don't know how we're going to cope with what's happened to us.

Vance and Angie: Golly gee, this is just super! That autistic fella let Vance drive a Rolls!

He was trying to communicate to her.

Dani just repeating that she's happy to be there sounds incredibly upsetting. How much of that was coerced through the usual means of abuse and how much of it was her brain being cooked by psychic powers?

Is Vance jealous of a guy he knew when they were teens?

Is the throne the equivalent of CEREBRO?

I don't know why, but this whole setup is reminding me of how the tables are arranged in the Harry Potter movies. Especially the first one.

The arrangement is odd. Xavier feels like he would be at the dead center large seat, but he isn't?

You're a fucking idiot, Angie.

That isn't vegetarian, Vance. You goddamn moron. It's people. It's people, Vance.

Angie continues to be the dumbest motherfucker in the room. This is after the fact and she hasn't put together that the voice speaking to her was David Lehnsherr and not the voice of the virgin mary.

See. David figured out what kind of fucked shit was happening and was trying to warn them.

I think...I think at this point, Bobby is dead. I think this would have been right around the time and this is before they recruited more people. So, I think that at the most we're seeing David catch a glace at someone's thoughts and he knows that they killed bobby and dumped his body in the lake.

[2000sangel]

Hello, it is 1 am as I am sending this but I was hoping for a matchup!

I would like a romantic matchup please

My name is Vance, He/They, Bi

I have a very quiet but bold personality which means being reflective and observant, able to consider the long-term ramifications of actions. I participate in Theatre, golf and play guitar, I like drawing, writing, being outside, history, the "old fashioned" way of doing things like cooking ect, the color green, traveling, forest. I dislike arguments, how the internet has made people act, being rude in general. I am a very hyper person, I am quiet when you meet me but warm up quickly if you treat me like a person. I do not have a type.

I hope this works and I hope you have an amazing Day/Night!

- Vance 💚

Hi Vance! You submitted your matchup request twice, I simply went with the first one you sent, hope that’s okay!

I match you with...

 Husk!

You didn’t give me a lot of information so I had to go mostly by vibes; with that said though, I think Husk is a good match, because he shares some of your personality traits. You’re both observant, you pay close attention to detail and you’re quick to notice changes in the behaviour of other people, and you tend to be more on the quiet side at first though you’re not afraid to speak your mind.

You’ll be quick to warm up to Husk because he’s genuine and he honestly likes you, which means he’ll let you express yourself around him.

You might have a couple arguments with Husk, but he's good at finding a way to amend things in a quick manner.

He loves your hobbies; he’s an old man...I see him being interested in golf out of all things. It’s a somewhat relaxing activity and you two can talk about this and that while you practice it.

Absolutely enjoys theatre as well! I’m not sure what kind of theatre we’re talking about, but surprise him with a date there to see a magic show and he’ll have the time of his life. He’ll be smiling the whole time and will even be able to explain to you some of the simple tricks they do on stage.

He appreciates your love for travelling and will tell you all about his travels when he was alive. It’s really fascinating to listen to his stories late at night, while everyone else at the Hotel is sleeping soundly, the bar illuminated by a dim light and with a drink you can take a sip of once in a while in front of you. You’ll be too enchanted by his stories at some point, forgetting about both the drink and the hours passing by.

Your habit of doing things the old fashioned way is very attractive to him, though he might not tell you directly. He’ll watch you with a fond smile instead, gently swaying his tail when you look his way.

You two will have little concerts where you play the guitar and he plays the saxophone; these instruments make for magical, old-timey melodies, everyone else at the Hotel will be charmed by them.

Husk loves your art, whether it comes in the form of drawing or writing. When it comes to your drawings, he’ll definitely want to hang them around the bar as decoration. If you let him, you’ll definitely find him staring at them sometimes out of pure admiration for your skills.

[elllteo]

🎹 🙌 🍀sends u these for whichever oc u wanna do!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAHOO LETS SEE

🎹 : Do they have any hobbies?

Matteo - He writes his own music and also plays a few instruments! He wanted to go into music production for college, but that never worked out. He also really likes to write - he writes buffy the vampire fics, and many of them are self insert or smutty LMAO. He'd get into x-files too once someone showed it to him :)

Ellis - He does embroidery! His mother taught him and he's really into it. He also watches trashy soap operas - and he draws, but most people don't know it and wont get a chance to see it. He's very good - he would've done something more arts or sports related if his father hadn't pushed him towards being a detective u_u

Blake - He cooks (if you consider his chefly abominations cooking). He doodles. He games like a gamer. He causes fights on purpose. But more than anything. He likes to take pictures :)

Vance - Classical music enjoyer and also Hyperpop enjoyer. Hobby wise....he works. gfkjshdf He's worse than Ellis.

Julia - Walks...she likes to wander a lot, but in doing so, she often gets lost. fgkjshdflgk They've had to track her down a few times before her phone battery died. Dangerous game she plays.

🙌 : How many siblings do they have?

Matteo & Blake - Siblings!! Except they have like 5 more half siblings they don't know about and probably never meet!!! Thanks mystery-dad! :D

Here's them being stupid little rat-creature-babies when they're supposed to be in BED

Ellis & Erin - They're the only siblings they have. And also really the only close family left, either. Sadge :(

Travis - He has two sisters who are twins...I still need to make them tho so shhhh FGFKLSJHDF

Vance - An only child if you don't count...whatever she is. Or the ones before.

Julia - Her mother and fathers least favorite only child.

🍀 : What inspired this oc?

Okay this is a fun question bc I drop the Matteo lore every chance I get bc its so funny to me. Ferret inspired little man. But the truth is, the others...all came about because the world Matteo resides in, needed them?

LIKE GFJKSHGFL He is the sun around which the ocs I have created rotate even if they don't really ever interact, bc through him I start thinking about gaps in the world or things that would be fun to add. He's the filter and everyone who appears is condensed little nuggets of an idea.

Vance exists because he needed a Boss. In needing a Boss, Vance's storyline also very nicely added up to being a catalist.

Julia exists because the plot needed a hook. Because of that, she's developed into something more, and my wife and I are actually in the middle of reworking her purpose to better fit agency into her whole situation.

Others came about for similar reasons - what is this story missing, and who can I fit into it to help fill it out?

From there idk. I just take elements that feel like the right "vibe" from the mental library in my brain and fiddle with it until it looks/feels right....it's not often a very directly-inspired-take??? Moreso I'm not often entirely aware of the influences going into the oc, bc I do it based on vibes KJKJGHSLKDJF

I hope that helps bc I don't really have direct inspiration for other ocs!!!

Vance looks like slender man I guess but that's more an unintentional side effect of him being Wrong and arriving at the same kind of place. Divergent evolution or something??? LMAO

[hopefulstarfire]

For this meme: Dream for Maddox, Run for Nana, Spring for Iris and Proof for Kat?

Ahdhsjfhd SORRY IT TOOK ME A DAY BUT THANK YOU FOR THESE!!!

dream: does your OC have a driving dream or goal? what is it? how far would they go to achieve it?

Maddoxs big dream is to give his daughters the best lives possible. He wants to get his own property out on the lake outside of Domino City, get to watch them grow with Rishid and live the rest of his life happily.

But, his dream for the longest time was cooking. After the magician dream fizzled out, cooking became his life's passion. He wanted to maybe open his own restaurant, but he knew for sure he wanted to publish his own cookbook. He had even been taking culinary classes in college. Then Paige left him with one month old twins and he knew what he needed to do was provide for them the best he could. His dreams were put on the backburner and he focused on his girls and dedicating himself to the family company.

Vance and Chelsea are still trying to encourage him. They want to see him happy, and they want to see him go for his dreams. But Rishid might be the person that coaxes him back to where he wanted to go to begin with.

I genuinely think he starts just random cooking tiktoks and then Rishid encourages him every time and he starts getting more and more views. Rishids there to make him coffee and give him shoulder rubs when he finally starts to write, or help make sure the girls can give him some quiet time so he can focus on the book. He's the one that points out to Maddox he always tells him that whatever he wants to do in the world, whatever he wants to experience, to take it by the horns and go for it; he'll tell Maddox the exact same.

run: what’s one relationship or experience your OC has mixed feelings about? are they good at finding joy in sad things, or vice versa?

One word: Yami.

Nana cares about the Pharaoh. Of course she does; he's a part of her brother she loves dearly, how could she not care about him? She wants to see him get better, to grow and become himself, wholly, fully and unashamedly. When he inevitably moves onto the afterlife, she cries because she's going to miss him and he really impacted all of their lives; he was just as important to them.

But, that's not to say her feelings towards him weren't complicated; they very much were. We have to look at it from her perspective; her little brother -- sweet, kind hearted, would never hurt a fly Yugi -- is being possessed by a 5,000 year old ghost solely focused on winning and making that a big part of his identity, and has been either a) sending people into mental breakdowns or b) murdering them as he saw fit. That's fucking terrifying!

And let's not forget what she saw both when Kaiba and Yugi/Yami Duel in Duelist Kingdom and she saw how much what Yami tried to do broke Yugi. And let's not forget how Yami fucking played the Seal of Orichalcos in his first Duel with Raphael and it cost them Yugis soul. They didn't fully understand how the Orichalcos worked; she genuinely could have lost her brother forever without any way to get him back, for all she knew!

Yamis arc is learning how to be a better man because of Yugi. And Nana is glad to see it happen and she's proud of Yugi for doing so; but those complicated feelings for Yami, even as they repair the relationship, is still going to be there.

Nana also is someone who finds joy in the sadness. She always makes sure everyone knows its okay to sit there with your sorrows, to sit there with negative emotions and let yourself feel them because that's healthy. But she's also just the literal Sunbeam of the group; even in the darkest times, she still fights to find the light.

spring: what does your OC miss most? will they ever be reunited? how would they feel about that?

Mental stability. The first 5 years of her life where she didn't feel like she had to protect and take care of everyone. Her sanity.

It's Alister. At the end of the day, after everything that happened, it's still Alister. Iris thinks about him every day after their Duel, worried if he's okay wherever he is. Is he healing? Is he safe? Is he with people that can help him? Is he dead in a ditch somewhere?

By all means, she knows she should hate him. She shouldn't want anything to do with him. But she saw that pain in his eyes during their Duel. She's seen him at his most vulnerable even before that. She feels like something in their relationship had to be real and even if it wasn't for him, it was for her.

She wants to talk to him. Get closure. Maybe rebuild, if that's in the cards for them but if not then it would be enough for her to know he was getting help and had people to rely on. That he wouldn't be alone.

When they do reunite post series and start rebuilding, there's nothing but patience. They both know they're having to pick the pieces back up, of both themselves, each other and their relationship. But they put it back together, bit by bit, it just takes that little bit of patience and a whole lot of stubbornness.

proof: what is your OC looking forward to? what best moments in their life are yet to come?

Kat looks forward to what the next chapter of her life will hold. She knows that, good and bad, every little memory she can make will matter.

Post Series, she's very much struggling with depression, especially in those first few weeks after. But she will inevitably have the brighter days; reuniting with her father and cousins, the birth of her son, the start of a new relationship, tournaments, the release of Synchro Summoning and inevitably taking over I2.

Because yes she's the VP but she's also the heiress. Whenever Max decides he's going to step down, she will take over the company and it's going to flourish in her leadership.

She also ends up really looking forward to a joint venture with KaibaCorp; a children's hospital in memoriam to Cecelia. Because she carries her sister with her everywhere, knowing she's watching on in pride.

[kismetharborapps]

name: Arlo Contreras

faceclaim: Tommy Martinez

gender & pronouns: Cis-Man & He/Him

age: 31 

birthday: March 30th, 1993

place of birth: Kismet Harbor, Oregon

occupation: receptionist at Best Care Animal Hospital

neighborhood: Above Whisker Haven (Cresthill Meadows)

time since arriving in kismet harbor: Returned October 2024

filling a wanted connection?: --

biography: 

Arlo was born to two young parents - an eighteen and nineteen year old - who were not anywhere near ready to be parents themselves. What should've been an easy solution to place their baby boy in foster care instead ended their parenthood journey dramatically when a DUI and neglect charge were placed on both parents one night after drinking underage. Arlo was thankfully only six months old, yet what he didn't know was that his world was about to change forever. It was from that moment on that he would realize just how much the foster care system would grow to mean to him.

He was a caring kid, always doing his best to fit in and behave as expected; he couldn't help it that following rules was hard for him. He was always very respectful, doing what was asked of him yet his mind left him curious; he was a kid that asked a lot of questions. He wanted to know, wanted to be aware and a lot of times that would begin the labels of him being 'unruly'. Sure, he didn't understand it, but, his need for adventure and spontaneity would raise red flags with foster homes which would give up on Arlo before he really even began to prove the kind of kid he was.

This continued, traveling between foster home to foster home for years on end. In and out, switched between, all while he'd see other's getting adopted left and right. Though, at eight years old Arlo was taken in by Patricia Newman, the one person that never gave up on him. She was a lot older than a lot of the places that Arlo had been placed, but for the first time in his childhood he felt like he was home.

She began teaching him some of the primary skills that he'd later need in life - cooking, baking, cleaning (deep cleaning, not just spot cleaning, laundry techniques, lawn care and even how to make small stitches in clothing to repair holes. It was truly the first time in his life he felt he could truly be himself; and definitely the first time that he'd ever felt he belonged.

He lived with Patricia for six years, really looking up, admiring the person she'd taught him to be. It was the last Christmas that the two spent together that Arlo received his first ever camera - one that used film - and his passion for photography really began to unfold. He began using his photography skill to capture as much as he could; events, people, places. It was truly a vision of life through his eyes.

He'd been out capturing some scenes the day after Christmas, making his way home just before curfew; yet as he turned the corner, his home in view he was greeted by flashing lights instead. A heart attack he'd later learn took his home away from him. All he'd been allowed to pack were the clothes from his closet and the camera in his hand. His home being ripped away from him. He returned to the group home that night, where he'd live until he aged out just four years later.

While returning to the group home hadn't been ideal, it had been with the help of Arlo's best friends that helped push him through those tough years. He'd met Vance Jones and Solana Ortiz when they were all children; he'd known them for much longer than he'd ever been without them and they'd truly given Arlo the sense of friendship that he needed, especially once he returned to the group home. They'd been his rock in hard times, the ones he confided in when he needed them the most. They were the ones he laughed with the most; truly the best friends a kid like him could ask for.

It was during their high school years that things began to get more complicated for him. A childhood crush had turned into something serious, and despite the fact Arlo had never told either Lana or Vance his feelings for the female of the trio, Arlo knew from the time they were children that he would've done anything for her. She was determined, smart, ambitious, all the things that Arlo never was. And then there was Vance, also determined and sure of himself, giving Arlo more of an indication that he couldn’t make Lana as happy as she deserved, and it was during a dance their freshman year of high school that gave him the go ahead to lead her to Vance. It didn’t take long for them to fall in love and despite the pit in his stomach every time he thought about it; Arlo knew he’d made the right decision. 

Despite the fact that Arlo was barely making good enough grades to pass, he found himself moving throughout high school like it was nothing; test after test failed but still being passed on - whether it was due to perseverance, pity or what - he moved on, only being called into any sort of meeting his senior year of high school. It was then that he was told that he needed to repeat a year to graduate, or he could be placed in a more fast paced school - one that could help him get all the credits he would need - and graduate with his class. So, Arlo transferred schools his senior year of high school and left his friends behind. Little did he know this would be the start of his first bought of independence. 

After graduation, Arlo began his travels. He’d stay within the states at first - he couldn’t miss out on his two best friends wedding after all - doing whatever he could to make some money while trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. He traveled Europe for awhile, taking photos, selling the photos for cash, anything he could to support himself. From there he traveled to Japan where he began working closely with children, foster kids and orphans a passion of his that he hadn’t realized at the time. 

He lived in Japan for several years, doing his best to keep in contact with the friends he’d left behind. That had worked out great for him until he dropped his phone in the water, using that time to begin to write more letters, something else he’d grown passionate in. Though, the restlessness in him came through and he moved yet again, this time to Ghana where he began working on passion projects, mostly things like rebuilding and redoing homes for orphans. 

Arlo has now moved back to Kismet Harbor after his travels came to a halt, ending in Africa. His time spent traveling was not something he took for granted, yet the idea of returning home to a place that once meant so much to him is not something he’d ever have expected. He does a lot of volunteer work, teaches a master class on outdoor survival at Worthy of Hope, volunteers regularly at Next Gen, is a receptionist at Best Care Animal Hospital, and is doing his best to resettle in Kismet Harbor.  Little does he know he’s about to be reunited with his best friend from high school - Solana Ortiz - while also getting the biggest shock of his life. 

other: you already know.

pets: rottweiler/pit bull mix named Howie.

town activities: art of photography, compassionate friends, hands on kismet harbor, shelfie squad (volunteer)

draw of luck: yes toss him in there!

[beehindblueeyes]

Hi! I have a random question, are there any general headcanons that are shared by the fan base that you like or dislike with the Shadow Boys?

How much time you got? Shekskskka

I’m not aware of to to many headcanons that are shared by the fandom. Most that are shared(that I’ve seen) are X reader related and I’ve already expressed it’s not really my deal. One’s that aren’t, that I’ve seen generally shared- I’m unfortunately not a fan of for the most part

Scaredy-cat Finney (honorary shadow boy)

Literally loathe this one. Not only does it babify him but it also actively goes against what we see of him in the movie? He’s a pretty fucking brave kid from what he faces at school and in the basement. How it takes him till the very last minute to fully break down and cry. “Tough kids” like Vance and Robin broke down like everyone else.

momma’s boy Vance

I have a complicated relationship with this one. I think he did have a good relationship with his Mom but the way people use it to? Basically ignore how he acts/who he is I’m not quite a fan of. I agree he has a softer side, we all do. But to strip away that anger? No. (Not to mention saying mommas boy has a negative connotation but I don’t think people realise?)

Pretty boy

Speaking of not realising the meaning behind phrases. Not a fan on this being used in ships, mainly brance. It was a insult!! It’s a very 2020s thing to use pretty in relation to a guy. But this is a me thing- I’m very time period oriented (like as a joke or huff moment sure but as a compliment/flirt? Not necessarily idk)

Two kinds of boys sort of bad

*cough*Reddie treatment *cough* I just… the way the fandom treats the boys a lot of the time doesn’t sit right with me. Like people have never met 13 year old boys before- they’re the most annoying people you met in your life and it’s just not coming across. They’re heavily babified by the fandom. Uber soft, Uber cry baby or clingy or gentle. I’m - im not a fan. God if anything they should be trying to hard to seem tough (Vance and robin demonstrate this. They are tough but they also heavily put on a act- mainly Vance) and then when people do make them “bad boy” it’s sort of missing the point/idea behind it. Idk people don’t right them like a bunch of young boys. It’s messy and not as marketable I guess

Sunshine/sunshine protector

See above.

Hyper modern ones

Like those headcanons that feel like they’re for a modern au but the Op doesn’t specify. I’ve already said but this is a personal thing as I really like time period and staying to it when it comes to my own work.

Ones I like-

I don’t want this post to be all negative or seem like I’m tearing peoples opinions apart so here’s a few I absolutely love.

Griffin is a menace

It makes me laugh I like it. I like the idea of him being the weird kid that ate paste or bit a kid over a game one time. (Arson and actual law breaking is a bit to far but I love weird kid griffin)

Finney was the one to braid Gwens hair

It’s just cute! I can imagine their dad getting frustrated and calling Finn in to try one morning before school not long after their mom died and Finn nails it. He did it ever since

The pinball machine is out of order after Vance’s death

Sad and makes me think. I like it as a symbolic thing like it just so happens to break down more so it on purpose but the idea of the shop keeper having quarters waiting for the next game never to happen 🥲

The grabber can’t cook. (Bonus)

[inkdemon666]

Hello people on Tumblr! I'm new person on Tumblr so if i did something wrong while posting please let me know in the comments in not rude way. Please don't judge me 😭. My blog will be about whatever catches my fancy and i won't probably be stick to one fandom.

So i've just recently seen the black phone and it was hella amazing. So, let me introduce you my freshly cooked AU.

In my AU, the ghost boys (or casper crew, shadow kids whatever are you calling i will call them the ghost boys ok) didn't die. The Grabber kept their body's as a trophys frozen in an ice. So they were in some kind of hibernation which caused that they left their bodys for a while (i know it doesn't make any sense but if you don't like it don't read it 🙃 no hate pls). So when Finney gets out of the basement the police and doctors discover that there are five frozen kids in the basement and takes them to the hospital (including Finney).

It will maybe be like a story but i don't really know how long will i keep it up.

Just enjoy 😊

TW: GORE (maybe), MENTION OF ABUSE

*PART ONE*

Finney was sitting in the car of their dad when someone patted his shoulder. It was a doctor.

,,Hey kid. I know you want to go home but you must come with us. We gotta make sure you're okay."

Finney nodded and stepped out of the car. His younger sister Gwen asked the doctor:

,,Can i come to see him in the hospital?"

The doctor said:

,,Of course sweetheart. But we must take him with us now and run some tests to see if he's really okay."

,,Alright."

Finney stepped out of the car when he heard policeman yelling:

,,All of you come here! We need some help!"

Finney was concerned so he stopped for a moment.

,,We got a pulse! Hurry! Take him to the hospital!"

,,What are they talking about?" thought Finney. Then he saw something really shocking. It was Robin. On a stretcher.

,,Robin?!"

Finney started running towards Robin to make sure he is not dreaming.

Someone grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

,,Woah there kiddo, easy. Don't worry your friend is in good care. We can drive you both in the same wagon."

Then he took Finney inside an ambulance car.

,,You sit here okay. It may be kinda tight since you're and your are not the only ones we found."

Finney was beyond shock.

,,Not the only ones?!"

Then they laded Robin inside as well. Finney couldn't believe his own eyes. How is that even possible? He saw Robin's ghost, he heard him through the phone!

,,Another one."

,,Another?" thought Finney. Then he saw how they laded in Bruce's body. Finney didn't know what was going on, but he was happy that at least those two were alive. He studied Robin's body. Finney was absolutely horrified when he studied closer. Robin had so many bruises all over his body that it was impossible to count them all. He had a blood on his neck and arms as also face. His hair had blood in them also. Finney was lost of words.

,,Another one!"

,,Another one?!" ran throught Finneys mind.

When he saw who they laded in this time he was shocked. Vance. Vance Hopper. But, how can it be?

,,Here he comes!"

They laded Billy in as well. Finney was getting feeling that this is dream more and more.

,,The last one!"

Then he saw Griffin. He studied all of them. Bruce had a nasty scar through his right eye. Vance had visibly broken nose. Billy had a scar on his left cheek as well. And Griffin throat was sliced through. But he wasn't bleeding and still had pulse. How? But they all had something in common: bruises all over the body, and stab wounds.

,,Robin?!" Finney recognized that voice. Robin's uncle.

,,Mr. Arellano?"

,,Finney? Is that you? Oh thank God you're okay."

The doctor asked: ,,You are a family of one those boys sir?"

,,Yes."

,,Then you can come inside."

,,Thank you."

Robin's uncle stepped in.

,,Robin!" He cuddled Robin's head in his and held his forehead against Robin's forehead.

,,Thank goodnes!"

Then Finney heard some other, but also familiar voice.

,,Bruce? Where is he?" There was Bruce's family. His mother, father, and his younger sister, Amy. They were speaking with the doctor.

,,I'm sorry, i'm afraid only one of you can go. We don't have that much space."

,,Can i go mom?" Amy pleaded.

,,Please?"

,,Of course you can sweetheart. Take good care of him."

,,I will."

Then Amy stepped in the car and yelled immediatly: ,,Big brother!" And hugged him. Amy reminded Finney so much of Gwen. And he imagined himself in Bruce's pozition. Amy started to cry.

,,I missed you so much!"

Then there was another voice

,,Let me in! That's my son!"

Then a man stepped in the car. Finney didn't recognized him at first, but he discovered it when they eyes met. Those blue eyes ... same blue as eyes that Vance has.

,,Vance!" the man sat next to stretcher where Vance was lying. He put his hand on his forehead and whispered:

,,My boy..." a river of tears started to flow.

,,Where? Where is he?" another voice, also belonged to a man.

,,There? Thank you."

And Finney saw a tall man step in the car. This was sure on the first sight. Billy's dad.

,,Billy?!"

He hugged him and kissed him on thr forehead.

,,Griffin? Griffin?!"

The last voice belonged to woman. She stepped in and in an instant sat next to Griffin. She hugged him and started to sob.

,,My baby!"

Finney couldn't help but wonder, how it is like to see your child like this. Then the car started to move. And they were heading to the hospital.

Ugh finaly done! Part 2 coming soon. Hope you like it.

[thatfanficstuff]

Feelings - Tony DiNozzo

Pairing: Tony DiNozzo x reader

Warnings: canon typical violence and situations, language.

A/N: 3500 words. Way longer than I’d intended. First time writing Tony x reader. Hope you like it. 

***

Gibbs had his rules for a reason. You didn’t ask about those reasons. It was hard enough just remembering the damn rules without worrying about the back story that went with them. There was a rule for just about anything: dealing with attorneys, putting family first, not annoying Gibbs. There was even that one rule about not dating your co-workers that you were dying to know the origins of but were in no way brave enough to ask.

Unfortunately, there was no rule about falling in love with your co-worker. Sometimes you wondered if there was, if you could have avoided all this. I mean, you were so careful about following the rules to the point that Tony often made fun of you for having them memorized. If you were honest with yourself, you knew it wouldn’t have mattered. Hadn’t you tried everything you could think of to keep your heart from falling for his hazel eyes and lazy smile?  

He was a player. But that didn’t stop your gaze from following him as he headed to the elevator and his latest date.

You reminded yourself he never took anything seriously even while you laughed at his latest prank.

He talked about movies way too much. It was obsessive really. That didn’t stop you from watching every film he mentioned, a bowl of popcorn in your lap and an empty space beside you on the couch.

Maybe that was the problem. Perhaps you were just lonely. Maybe—

“Y/N,” Tony’s voice pulled you from your thoughts and you realized you’d been staring at the same piece of paper on your desk for the last half hour. Shit.

You glanced up, eyebrows raised in question. “Yeah?”

His brow was furrowed and his gaze was filled with concern. “You okay?”

Your cheeks heated and you turned back to the papers on your desk. “I’m fine.”

Tony huffed. “If there is one thing I know, it’s that a woman is never fine when she says she is. So, what’s going on?”

You shook your head. “It’s nothing, Tony.”

The next thing you knew, he was right beside you, perched on the corner of your desk. If Gibbs and McGee were here you wouldn’t have to deal with this. McGee would tell him to leave you alone and Gibbs would smack the back of his head. They both respected your privacy. Your need to not share every aspect of your life. Why couldn’t you have fallen for one of them?

 As you leaned back in your chair, you ran your gaze over him until you met his eyes. “Can I help you with something, DiNozzo?”

“It’s never nothing, Y/N. You’re always zoning out lately. Something’s bothering you.”

“I just didn’t sleep well. It’s not a big deal. Everyone has off days, today’s one of mine.”

He hummed as he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “Normally I’d give you that, but this has been going on for weeks. So, what is it? Money? Are you sick? Have a fight with Abby?”

You just leaned back in your chair and kept your eyes on the man sitting on your desk like he owned it. He continued to list topics, pausing between each one to gage your reaction.

Suddenly, his brows shot up as he frowned. “Is it a guy?” The tone of his voice said that it couldn’t possibly be the right answer. It would have been so easy to fool him, but you couldn’t stop your eyes from moving away from him, afraid he’d see everything you were too afraid to say.

“It is!” There was an undertone to his voice you couldn’t quite place.

You ignored it, and him, to turn your attention back to the paperwork on your desk.

“I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“There’s nothing to say, Tony. Now can I please get back to work? I really don’t want Gibbs chewing my ass again.” You were far enough behind on your paperwork that Vance had said something to your boss. That had earned you a head slap and an admonishment about you knowing better.

Tony grabbed the pen from your hand and dropped it on the desk. “Come on. You know Gibbs doesn’t care about paperwork. He’s just passing along the ass chewing he got from Vance. Quit avoiding the question. Is this why you’ve been skipping out on our dinners?”

You sighed. Tony liked to eat and you liked to cook so you’d started inviting him over once a week. Lately you’d feigned other plans to keep from having to spend an evening concealing your feelings. “Actually, yes.”

“Nice. You start getting laid and leave me to starve.” He moved back over to his desk with a scowl on his face. “I thought I meant more to you than that.”

His affronted tone had you rolling your eyes. “I didn’t say anything about getting laid. And you’re hardly starving.”

“Tell that to my scale. I’ve lost five pounds since you quit feeding me.”

His disgruntled tone bothered you. “Are you okay, Tony?”

He shook his head but said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just miss your cooking is all.”

His phone rang before you could respond. After a quick conversation, he hopped to his feet. “Johnson hasn’t showed up at home. Gibbs wants us to try his mom’s place while they sit on the apartment.”

***

Despite your suspect’s mother claiming she hadn’t seen her son in months, it was your experience that people tended to run home when scared. You hoped that’s precisely what this suspect had done as you were more than ready to close the case.

Tony parked along the curb at the end of the driveway so no one could pull out while you two were otherwise occupied. He took the front while you went around the back. He gave you a moment to let you get into position before knocking on the door. As you listened to the hum of him talking to someone, you kept your weapon trained on the back door. A moment later, the unmistakable feeling of a gun pressed against the back of your head. Shit. You should have done more than your cursory examination of the backyard.

“Easy there, sweetheart. Hands up.”

You did as instructed, and he yanked your weapon from your hand. “Phillip Johnson, I presume.”

“That’s me. Give me the keys to the car.”

“What car?”

He slammed the side of the gun into the back of your head. Not hard enough to knock you out but hard enough to give you an instant headache. “Don’t play stupid.”

“I don’t have the keys. I didn’t drive.” You forced the words through teeth gritted in pain.

He stepped up behind you to pat down your pockets. “Fuck,” he growled when he discovered you were telling the truth.

“Look, just go. It’s not like I can shoot you as you run away, you have my weapon.” You wanted to diffuse the situation, to try to control the fallout from your fuck up. He was angry and armed and was the type to start shooting people if he felt trapped.

“So you can scream for help before I get two blocks away? I don’t think so.” He pushed you toward the back door. “In you go.”

You gave a brief thought to yelling for Tony but kind of liked your brains where they were. Johnson had already killed once, what was to keep him from killing again? He shoved you through the house causing you to stumble more than once. You could hear Tony still arguing with the mother at the front door. Johnson stepped up behind you and pinned you against his chest with a thick arm, the gun now shoved against your temple. He walked you into view of the front door though you couldn’t see anything as his mother blocked the opening.

“Look, Mrs. Johnson, while I appreciate your position, the fact remains that we have a warrant for your son’s arrest. You’re gonna need to let me in to make sure he’s not here or we’ll come in anyway and won’t be nearly as nice about it. I’ve already called backup. They’re on the way.” Tony was using the placating tone he always used when trying to convince a suspect or a witness that he was harmless and reasonable.

“You come in and your friend dies,” Johnson yelled.

His mother was pulled from the doorway and onto the front porch behind Tony who had his gun drawn and aimed in almost the same moment. His eyes were glued to the weapon pressed to your head. His face lost what little color it had. “Let her go, Phil. You don’t want to do this.”

“Oh, but I do.” He moved forward and slammed the door in Tony’s face. He shoved you and put some space between the two of you. “Close the blinds and the curtains,” he ordered. When you dared to look at him, he waved the gun as if to bring your attention to it. Like you could forget for a minute the situation you were in. Your eyes flicked down, spotting your sidearm tucked into his waist band.

Your brain worked through scenarios even as you did as he’d ordered. As you closed the last blind you caught a glimpse of Gibbs stepping from his vehicle. Your team would get you out of here. They had to.

***

It had been almost two hours. Once you’d secured the house to his satisfaction, Johnson had used your own cuffs to restrain you. Fortunately, he was an idiot and left your hands in front instead of placing them behind your back so you’d have less mobility. He was using your phone to talk to Gibbs periodically. He’d put the calls on speaker and you could tell Gibbs’ patience was wearing thin. You’d tried to talk to him during the first call and Phillips backhanded you with the gun still in hand. The whole right side of your face felt tight and sore. Asshole.

“What the hell is taking so long?” he muttered as he peered through a gap in the blinds. He glanced over at you. “Call him.”

You reached forward and pressed the button to call Gibbs and put it on speaker. “Gibbs,” he answered.

“Where’s my money and my car?”

“I told you it was going to take some time. If you want to forget about the money, you can leave right now. I’ll even give you a police escort out of town. Just let your hostage go.” You could hear the anger simmering in his voice.

“You have thirty minutes or I start sending her out in pieces.” He slammed his finger down on the disconnect.

“Well, that was monumentally fucking stupid.” So was pissing off the man with the gun but you were running out of time. You’d been waiting for an opening, but thus far hadn’t found one. It was time to make one of your own.

He shoved the barrel of the gun against the temple on the sore side of your face and you winced. Fucker. “What did you say?”

“You just confirmed that you have no problem hurting me. And you put a timeline on it. They’ll try to take you out now.”

Uncertainty flashed on his face and he glanced toward the windows.

“You were smart covering the windows, but they’ll be getting ready to send in a tactical team now. They’re probably already out front.”

After a second of indecision, he moved away from you to peek through the gap between the blind and the window. His gaze kept darting back to you. “I don’t see anything.”

You shook your head. “They’ll be prepping further down the street so it’s harder for you to see.” You gestured to one of the other windows. One that would put him close to you with his back turned while he tried to get a view of his impending doom.

As he moved to the new viewpoint, you leaned forward, shifting your legs so you could get to your feet quickly. The moment his attention was elsewhere, you launched yourself at him. He grunted as he slammed against the wall and window.

“Bitch!” He tried to turn, to get the gun up, but you didn’t give him even a single moment to recover. You couldn’t or that would be the end of you. Instead, you shifted your weight to come at him from a different angle. You drove him toward the ground, grabbing your gun from his waistband as you went.

The impact knocked the weapon from his hand. You pushed yourself to your feet and aimed your weapon. Johnson didn’t even notice as he scrambled for his own gun. You fired a round into the floor by his head and he froze instantly. “Give me a reason.”

He rolled over, hands raised in front of him. Your phone began to ring but you kept your attention, and your gun, on Johnson. “Couch,” you instructed.

The call had barely had time to go to voicemail before it began ringing again. If you didn’t answer it soon, things would get a hell of a lot more chaotic. Still, you waited until Johnson sat on the couch to move over and grab the other gun from the floor. You laid it on the table beside you.

Your phone started another cycle of ringing and you heard Gibbs on the bullhorn. “Answer the phone or we’re coming in.”

You answered the call on speaker phone, needing to keep your hands free for your gun. “You can come in, but I’m going to be real pissed if someone shoots me.”

A sigh of relief was the immediate answer.

“Johnson has been disarmed. I’m the one that fired the shot. See you in a second.”

It wasn’t even a breath later that the front door opened and people swarmed around you. You kept your weapon trained on Johnson even as he was pulled to his feet and placed in cuffs. A hand settled on top of yours and you followed the length of the arm to find Gibbs standing next to you. “We’ve got him. You can stand down, Agent.” His jaw tightened as he took in the injury to your face. His eyes found yours and softened. “Give me the gun, Y/N.”

You nodded and loosened your grip so he could take the weapon from you.

“DiNozzo, get her out of here,” he ordered.

You turned to your other side to find Tony. The smile he gave you was strained, but it was good to see it just the same. “Hey.”

His smile widened, became a little more genuine. “Hey.” He unlocked the cuffs and took them off before tossing them to Gibbs. He wrapped an arm around your shoulders to steer you out the door and you relaxed against him, content to simply be in his presence after the last couple of hours.

“You scared the shit out of me,” he said as he led you to a waiting ambulance. “Let’s not do this ever again, okay?”

“But I was so looking forward to making it a weekly thing.” You sat so your feet dangled out of the back of the ambulance while the medic looked you over. Tony stood silently, arms crossed over his chest as he watched them work. You grit your teeth and flinched as they pressed against bruised skin checking for broken bones. You cursed outright when they found the bump on the back of your head.

“It wouldn’t hurt to have this checked at the hospital to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”

You waved him away. “I’m good. Promise.”

“Y/N/N, maybe you should—” Tony interjected but you cut him off.

“I just want to go home, Tony.”

He looked uncertain.

“Please.”

He thought a moment more before saying, “Yeah. Okay.”

Your shoulders sagged in relief and you took the hand he offered you. Once you were on your feet, he stayed close but released your hand. Instead, he settled his at the base of your spine to steer you through the scene until you stood in front of your boss.

“They clear you?” Gibbs asked, looking between you and Tony.

“Sure did, boss,” Tony answered for you, sounding entirely too upbeat. You resisted the urge to smack him in the stomach.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes but nodded just the same. “All right. Take her home. I’ll see you both in the morning for debriefing.”

***

Tony was unusually quiet on the way home, which was fine since you didn’t really feel like talking. After the third time you caught him looking at you, you turned your attention out the window. It wasn’t until he parked the car that you focused enough to realize he hadn’t taken you to your home at all. You followed the familiar path to his apartment.

“Have a seat,” he instructed once you’d made it inside. He disappeared into the kitchen while you made yourself comfortable on his couch. When he emerged, he held a beer in one hand and a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel in the other. He placed the beer on the table beside you and handed you the makeshift icepack. You held it to the side of your face, flinching at the contact.

“Thanks.”

He nodded absently and began to pace the floor. Your gaze followed him for a couple of minutes before you interrupted. “What is it, Tony?”

He turned to you, his eyes wide. His gaze darted down then back up and he licked his lips. He pulled something from his pocket and set it on the table. It took you a moment to realize it was your phone. He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and pink dusted his cheeks. “I should have given that to you earlier. You probably want to call this boyfriend I knew nothing about. But if you could wait a minute, there’s something I need to say first.”

“Only if you sit. The pacing’s driving me nuts.”

He grinned at that and sat on his coffee table. He was close enough your knees touched. You resisted the urge to press closer. When several minutes passed without him saying anything you spoke up. “Tony—”

“No. I’m sorry. I’m getting to it. I just usually don’t do this sort of thing.”

“Talk?”

“Cute, but no.” He licked his lips again. “Look, I lied to you.”

You frowned as you tried to follow what he was trying to tell you.

He sighed. “When we were talking about this guy and all those canceled dinners and you asked if I was okay. I said yes when that was the furthest thing from the truth. In my defense, I thought I would be okay. I mean, if he makes you happy, that’s what’s important, right?”

He pushed to his feet before you could respond and started pacing the floor again. “But then you had to go and get yourself held hostage. When I saw you with that gun to your head, I knew I’d never be okay again if something happened to you. If I lost you before I ever had a chance to tell you.” He stopped pacing and turned to face you. “I’m crazy about you, Y/N/N. I have been pretty much from the moment Gibbs introduced you to the team.”

You blinked as you tried to process the fact that Tony DiNozzo had just admitted to having feelings. For you.

“Right, well, that’s done. I’ll just go see what I have for dinner.” He fled to the kitchen before you could stop him.

Rather than calling him back, you followed him. You stepped into the doorway to find him leaning on the counter with his back to you and his head bowed. Your heart ached at that thought that he’d apparently been pining after you as much as you had him. “It was you.”

He looked over his shoulder. His brow furrowed as he met your gaze. “What?”

“The guy that I cancelled all the dinners for? That was you.”

He turned to give you his full attention. “That doesn’t make any sense, Y/N/N.”

You shrugged. “Well, see, I would have dinner with you. We’d watch a movie together. Maybe have a few drinks and I could fool my heart into thinking that maybe, just maybe we could have more. Then a few nights later I’d watch you hurry to the elevator so you wouldn’t be late for a date.” You closed the distance between you but didn’t touch him. Not yet. “My heart couldn’t take me playing pretend anymore. It hurt too much. So, I started making excuses.”

“And I was doing the same thing, only I was making dates, hoping someone could make me forget about you.”

“How’d that work out for you, DiNozzo?”

He rested a hand along the uninjured side of your face and ran his thumb across your cheek. “Not great. How about you, Y/L/N? Did you manage to get over me?”

“Not even close.”

His smile was radiant.

“Hey, DiNozzo.”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“Kiss me already.”

[statelies]

(   *  💀  /  jessie mei li, questioning, she/they )  —  is that emmeline vance i just saw rushing down the corridor? i hear they’re a twenty year old hufflepuff, returning for their sixth school year, but their friends would tell you that they are industrious & compassionate as well as blunt & graceless. if you want to know more about them, i guess i could tell you that they’re muggleborn, and from what i hear, they’re currently allying with the order. when our divination professor looks into their crystal ball, they see: falling asleep studying over open books, split open pomegranates, working under flickering candlelight, casual intimacy between friends, a kitchen full of laughter.

CHARACTER INSPIRATION: Izzie Stevens (Grey’s Anatomy), Callie Torres (Grey’s Anatomy) (+ Sara Ramirez, the they/she icon we all deserve), Kara Danvers (Supergirl), Charles Boyle (Brooklyn 99), Alina Starkov (Shadow and Bone), Janet (Not a Girl) (The Good Place), Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds).

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Implied Racism.

LINKS: Pinterest. Playlist (Coming Soon).

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒

I N T R O

full name ➵ Emmeline Huan Vance

nicknames ➵ Emmy; Emma; Line; Em; Melly; Melsy; Vance; Hurricane

pronouns ➵ she/they/her/them

birthdate / age ➵ October 24th, 1959, 09:47 am / 20 years old

birthplace ➵ Brighton, East Sussex

childhood home ➵ Unknown home in Brighton, East Sussex — 162 Orchard Croft, Harlow, Essex

current residence ➵ Hogwarts, Scotland

religion ➵ agnostic; paternal grandparents were Methodist ( Protestant ) while maternal grandparents were also Christian

occupation ➵ full - time student at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

P H Y S I C A L

height ➵ 5 feet, 2 inches / 157.5 cm

weight ➵ 48 kg / 106lb

body type ➵ hourglass shaped figure

hair ➵ dark brown, bordering on black; soft and wavy

eye color ➵ dark brown

dominant hand ➵ right

FC ➵ Jessie Mei Li

voice ➵ Jessie Mei Li

special characteristics ➵

small waist

has a birthmark on her right ankle that looks like an apple

pierced septum

smells of ➵

lavender hand lotion

pomegranate

cardamom, jasmine and orange blossom perfume

E M O T I O N A L

zodiac ➵ scorpio sun (x); sagittarius rising; cancer moon

MBTI ➵ ISFJ (“The Defender”)

positive traits ➵ industrious; compassionate; generous; warmhearted; benevolent; selfless; observant; honest; personable; kind.

negative traits ➵ blunt; graceless; meticulous; well-meaning; impatient; internalizes feelings; oversensitive; tactless; overbearing; clumsy.

likes ➵ Pumpkin pasties; duelling club; laughter; the rush of incoming patients; cooking for friends; Ballycastle Bats; Diagon Alley; being barefoot at the beach; roadtrips; apple juice; hugs from friends; nicknames; vanilla candles; the heat of a boiling cauldron; Sugar Quills; warm sweaters; pizza; pomegranate seeds; cheek kisses; taking photographs; finishing essays early; coffee with milk and two sugars; Queen; Aston Villa; cats

dislikes ➵ spam (the food); apparition; the Daily Prophet; starless nights; Kenmare Kestrels; karaoke; losing bets; skinned knees; snakes; pigeons; the colour fuschia (it’s too bright); ticking clocks; banana flavouring; funerals; Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans; Celestina Warbeck; mayonnaise; blue M&Ms; her lao ye; the word mudblood; leprechauns; fans of Kenmare Kestrels; losing football matches; witch Halloween costumes; rugby

amortentia ➵

birthday cake

fresh mint

old books

orange blossom

M A G I C

blood status ➵ muggleborn

wand ➵ Aspen, dragon heartstring core, 8 inches, hard

wand-quality aspen wood is white and fine-grained, and highly prized by all wand-makers for its stylish resemblance to ivory and its usually outstanding charmwork. The proper owner of the aspen wand is often an accomplished duellist, or destined to be so, for the aspen wand is one of those particularly suited to martial magic. An infamous and secretive eighteenth-century duelling club, which called itself The Silver Spears, was reputed to admit only those who owned aspen wands. In my experience, aspen wand owners are generally strong-minded and determined, more likely than most to be attracted by quests and new orders; this is a wand for revolutionaries.

patronus ➵ Hippo

E D U C A T I O N

Hogwarts class ➵ Hufflepuff, 1981

extracurriculars ➵

Hufflepuff Prefect / September 1979 - June 1981

Herbology Club & Greenhouse Keepers / September 1977 - June 1981

Toothill Duelling Club / September 1979 - June 1981

Wenlock Study Club / September 1979 - June 1981

courses & exams ➵

Ancient Runes - O

Astronomy - E

Charms - O

Defense Against the Dark Arts - O

Herbology - O

History of Magic - O

Muggle Studies - O

Potions - O

Transfiguration - O

Care of Magical Creatures - E

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

health ➵

walnut allergy

hayfever

pets ➵

Jíngyi; the long-eared owl

Shu; the white cat

handwriting ➵ Abuget

F A M I L Y

Deirdre (née Wilkinson) Vance ➵ paternal grandmother; retired nurse; deceased May. 1980

Edward Vance ➵ grandfather; retired soldier and miner; deceased Jan. 1980

Xiulan Wong ( Wong Xiulan ) ➵ maternal grandmother (lao lao); homeschooled; housewife; alive

Da Wong ( Wong Da ) ➵ maternal grandfather (lao ye); homeschooled; shop-owner; alive

Dr. Cillian Vance ➵ father; worked for/with the Red Cross UK (and the Hong Kong Red Cross); alive

Mei (née Wong) Vance ➵ mother; teaching assistant; alive

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌

emmeline had always known they were different. at first, it was because of her skin, the way she looked and spoke and could never find anyone to play with on the playground, her chinese middle name and her lao lao being the one to pick her up from school every morning. she would cry to her mother at night, cling to her arms like they were the port keeping her safe from the storm, and listen to her father sing, voice warm and tender as she drifted to sleep, but she never got the answers for why she was treated differently — never got answers for why she was the only non-white child in her school, never got answers for why they hated her so much, hated her existence. but she weathered through primary school, finding her footing in secondary school with her only friend, aisha, who never cared that she was different, that sometimes she could do things that nobody else seemed able to do, that she’d been encouraged to always tell the truth, nothing but the truth, that sometimes she’d say things that hurt, things that stung even though she never meant for them to.

for a while, the feeling of being wholly different faded, or at least, emmeline didn’t notice it quite so prominently anymore, and then suddenly it appeared again — but this time it had been because she didn’t know if she always felt like a girl. not a girl in the traditional sense, anyway, not some days. she liked dresses and fancy heeled shoes and tiaras, but found herself equally at home in plaid shirts and her father’s way-too-big suit jacket and kicking around a football, and for a half-asian barely a teenage… person (she’s still working on it), suspended constantly between two identities, it confused them (even though they’re perfectly aware now that those things are superficial, but the feeling still remains). the only person they ever talked to about it back then was aisha — their lifeline, their best friend, the one their parents reluctantly approved of because they had been so lonely for so long. while aisha was crushing on boys, sweaty and loud and just this side of too teasing, and starting to wear makeup and changing herself, emmeline was trying to find where she fit in, trying to understand who she was, who she is, why they feel so different.

in the midst of all that, emmeline’s letter to hogwarts came. just another difference for emmeline to feel, the knowledge that they have magic was unexpected and tore her family in two. the family she loved - her mother, her father, her lao lao and lao ye, and granny and pops - all had differing opinions on whether or not to accept it, whether or not to send them to school and deal with the fact, up front, that emmeline was, and always would be, special. in the end, emmeline’s pops snuck her out, following instructions from a professor mcgonagall, to find diagon alley, the place where emmeline suddenly felt she fit in. she could feel the magic in the air, could feel it almost crackling in the space around her, almost inviting her in. of course, it took some time — a little too much time, really — to buy everything she needed, and when she cried into her ice cream on the way home, overwhelmed and tired and feeling so many things, he was the one who held her all the way home. 

he and their granny were the only ones there to send them off the hogwarts that first year, their parents reluctant to accept anything so unnatural about their child, but emmeline hardly cared at the time (even though it hit them later that night and they sobbed into their pillow), too excited to remember to even wave, too excited to remember to cry because she was leaving behind the only friend she’d ever truly known, and when they saw hogwarts, that castle appearing, they just knew. they were home. she knows, after years and years of being torn between two identities on so many different fronts, that people aren’y happy she’s here, happy she has magic, happy she calls this place her home away from home, that she laughs loud at the hufflepuff table and wears yellow and black face paint for quidditch matches and tried out for the muggle football team, but there’s nothing they can say to change who she is, her pride in the blood flowing through her veins, in the magic at her fingertips. emmeline’s always known they’re different, but having magic, being home at hogwarts, is the first time she’s ever felt proud to be so.

[party-gilmore]

About your “Eliot views his body as just another tool for the people he serves” post. I do believe Flores teaches him after Moreau. But what about Toby and his cooking. Eliot says "I was out of the service and working for my 2nd PMC doing wetwork". When he walked into Toby's kitchen and instead of killing him stayed for three months. Something pretty amazing must have happened between them. I can't believe he went straight back to wetwork. And how he then ended up with Moreau is a mystery to me.

I think Toby was a very important stepping stone.

Eliot's still fairly fresh out of the official service, and he's not quite doing one on one's yet - he's still working with military contractor, still sort of "in the service" even if it's not a national military. He's still young, still looking for where he fits, still trying to belong to somewhere, still measuring his worth by his skill.

I think Toby laid some very essential groundwork for what Eliot would need when he's actually ready to leave, but he's not quite there yet. I think his time with Toby was absolutely a formative moment, but he just... didn't have the self-awareness or judgment he needed to understand how to use what he learned - not just cooking, but everything else - at the time yet.

You gotta figure, he left that house and headed for the military as soon as he was able. Let's say an average of four years obligated active duty for a first enlistment, so that's from 18 to 22. Who's knows how early Vance/Special Forces took him on, so we can add a little time to that, but that's IF he ended his first tour normally. Like, if some Seriois Shit didn't go down and he was put on leave or something because tbh I could see some of those special missions ending in a firey blaze of clusterfuck - successful, but not necessarily above board. It's also likely he could've been just straight up poached from the army by his first PMC. So 24 maybe, coming out of that. It's hard to find easy data on PMC's, but considering they're private companies that would be competitively hiring, it's not unlikely they may have a job turnover rate between them - particularly if his 2nd PMC did the same thing as the first: recognized his talent, made him an offer, poached him within his first year or two.

So we're talking... 24ish, 25... 26 TOPS.

That is a BABY.

He's young, he's floundering, bouncing around from national loyalty to private work (and what happened there? the usual sort of disillusionment with the kind shit your country's pulling? something deeper?).

And honestly? We see how much validation and support means to Eliot even into his mid-thirties (if we're going by the characters being roughly the same age as their actors). How much he looks for someone to lead him, for him to follow.

I think that was particularly difficult for him a decade earlier, with the judgement center of his brain still forming, likely already twisted around and damaged by the way the military trains people to be pliant cogs in the machine.

It was natural for him to latch onto Toby, and everything he learned there absolutely stuck with him, but I'm not surprised that he then went and latched right on to the next person to offer him a place at their side. He's bouncing around and looking for direction and work and to be of use to someone, and for as much as he loved Toby and his time with him his still young and restless and once again out of work-

(because he failed not only to kill his target, but then remained AWOL for all that time he was with Toby. OH AND ALSO? TOBY? BUDDY? COULD YOU, UH. COULS YOU EXPLAIN EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS YOU WRRE UP TO THAG MADE A PMC WANT YOU DEAD?!?!)

-so his time with Toby got filed away in a little box to cherish whenever Eliot had the luxury again, and he hopped right into the arms of the next PMC, or perhaps back to Vance who offered the prodigal son a warm return and another tour of duty after failing on his own, or even perhaps tries something new amd starts working on a more personal one on one basis with a certain financier...

Anyways Eliot's whole timeline makes me foam at the mouth and I know Dohn Dogers likes it that way because it leaves room for interpretation and fic but fuck would I really like some answers on this one.

[starryfreckles]

Flavie and Ayumi Live (26 mai 2020 on YouTube francetv slash) 

Translation/Summary -

(I apologise in advance for the typos. i didnt really read this over tbh)

Interviewer: Where are you at the moment?

Flav: I’m at home, in my room

Ayumi: I’m at my country house in my room. [Her friend joined her there when deconfinement happen and now they’re living their best life. There’s sun and everything is good]

Flav is chilling “la vida loca” she says

Is it not too frustrating to live this 6th season in confinement and SKAM France has a reputation of having very involved fans and with the screenings?

A: Yes, its very frustrating but then again it’s something that I haven’t really lived the projections with the fans so I dont know what it does. But just the feedback of social media is incredible. Its a good preview at what can happen in a live screening.

F: Yea I agree. It is frustrating but seeing everyone on social media is kind of reassuring and comforting and like Ayumi said, we dont know that [the screenings] so its not that frustrating.

what kind of reactions have you guys had on social media?

[flav and ayumi arguing who goes first. Its the cutest thing ever. Flav always wants ayumi to go first]

A: Just love and positivity. On my end is really incredible. I thank everyone. It’s really just incredible.

F: Its so wonderful. At night, I really try to read all the dms on instagram and even if I cant respond to everyone, know that I read everything and I translate everything that isn’t in French. If I  were to reply to everyone, it would take a long time so that’s not possible. I dont speak all the languages of the world so I copy and paste is translate to understand.

-video cuts out-

I: we were talking about fan reactions so let’s continue. Have you gotten any that made you surprised, laugh, smile, made you emotional, etc?

A: what is beautiful is that ive gotten many messages from girls and boys who said that they had similar a similar relationship to Lola and Maya in the sense that one helps the other more because of addiction problems. And that’s always nice to hear that they just wanted to thank skam for writing and portraying this kind of story. And of course the reaction of la mif. It’s true the character Jo has been loved by fans. She is so funny and so great and she’s [actress who plays jo, louise] really like that in real life. Like literally from A to Z

Flav agrees.

A: “Louise just played Louise” and it’s just so funny. And everyone online says they want to be friends with jo becuase she made this joke pr did that but she’s really like that.

F: she’s always joking

A: and she just comes up with stuff on the spot

I: we really just can’t wait to see La Mif reunite and see how they are in real life because they are just awesome on screen.

Flav and ayumi agree

I: Maya’s arrival to the season that was a little intense, let’s not lie, is like a ray of light. What does that do to you for having that role of the character who brings light and wonder? (This is kinda hard to translate)

A: its incredible to bring that kind of message, like you said, this light. She is totally this kind of girl that I would love to be friend with. It’s hard to explain. It’s just so beautiful. Maybe flav has something to say.

F: it’s true that you and La Mif brought a light for everyone. Even me when I see my family and close ones they say that they are so funny and new and that they felt my pain [as lola] even if its a show and its feels weird to see you like that because you’re close to us but seeing them [lola + la mif] is a good mix. And ayumi you bring so much like when your face lights up when Lola comes up the stairs its incredible.

A: its a chemical reaction. Its incredible. But flav I saw you on screen and everything that you brought, what David saw. And we lived it but for us it seems natural and on screen and rediscovered the characters and the chemistry at the same time as everyone else.

Flav and Ayumi saying that they havent seen the whole thing before hand and are constantly check their phone for new clips. They have the notifications for the YouTube channel.

F: we at least have the hours for the clips AT LEASTT and thankfully

A: which flav sent me because I didnt have them and she left me panicked for 2 weeks and then she finally sent them over.

F: its great. They’re on my fridge and I cross off each day with my parents and we are one it. My dad everyday is like there’s a clip. So funny.

I: Just so we’re on the same page, there’s a clip today right?

I: [fan question] what do you love the most and the least in the character you play?

A: flav please start

F: I love her “who the fuck are you talking to me like that” and her fuck you attitude. I love that she shows off that nothing moves her but deep down not really, like everyone I guess. I love that about her and she’s so natural. I love her, I really love her. Something negative. That’s hard.

I: you are a very happy, bubbly person. Is there not her depressed, dark side that bothers you?

F: well lola is just full of emotions where we’re going to see everything. But really what I dont like is her fashion sense.

A: im dead. But I was going to say the same thing

F: maya’s fashion sense? You are crazy. And also girl it’s your clothes they used as costumes

A: no no but people have made edits with you know the big pink coat or my outfit at the supermarket and its there that I realised how ridiculous even if they not really.

F: well I think theyre great. Love the pink coat

A: ill send it to you with fedex. I dont have it but ill send it to you.

F: when we were doing costume fittings I told the costume designer that it was simple and that I would be stealing all of these looks. Im going to take a suitcase, im going to take ayumi’s clothes, put them in my suitcase and go back to Vance with them. And I took nothing from lola by the way. She just doesn’t have a style. She doesn’t neglect herself but its her I dont care attitude, again.

A; I love maya’s engagement and her will towards everything and everyone. Shes a teenager but that’s beautiful to be engaged in many causes. She just really wants everyone, her friends, to be well and happy. But otherwise things I dont like outside of her clothes I dont know. Clothes is like the best answer

F: you forgot about her makeup. The makeup artist did her eyeliner and dots under the eyes and I was there like do the same thing with me!

A: that is really the best thing in all of humanity. It was so cool.

F: honestly. The makeup artist gave everything on you but on me she went in the morning like poof poof ‘well that’s it honey, there’s nothing else I can do for you’

A: you forgot the drama hair!

F: oh my god. She would pour oils and everything you want on my head. “You could like cook French fries”

A: flavie says that but you know she can wear whatever she wants and still look good

F: awe I love you

I: Did the age difference between you hinder your ability to be friends?

A: no not at all. What do you think flav?

F: not at all. Im just the baby of the group, im the youngest but we all so dumb together that we don’t realise

A: exactly. We all act like we’re 7

F: all of us together is horrible. The whole mif. Intolerable.

I: how was youre guy’s first meet?

F: ok let me tell you from my point of view because its quite funny.

A: she was so annoying. She looked at me all weird. she was not cool No that’s not true at all. She was adorable. Trop cute

F: I arrive to the production offices and im with David signing contracts and he says don’t move I have a surprise. And im like oh no what has he brought me a croissant or something and he brings back ayumi. So we start talking for like 10 minutes and I did not who she was actually. And I was like who tf is this. I did not know. And im one point im like so she’s the one who plays Maya? It was so funny. It was cool. And then he brought Maxence

A: from my point of view, flavie was so shy and locked off. And I knew who she was and I was honoured and thrill. She was so small and closed off. But honestly NOT AT ALL. i quickly understood the next day that flavie is a bomb! You understand ?

F: at first maybe you were like “I just want to protect this little thing.”

I: so what was the first scene that you guys filmed together?

Ayumi makes it clear that it’s a scene that hasn’t been released yet. And Flavie can’t remember what it is.

A: flav, you are putting our whole relationship in question!

F: I just dont know!

A: ok but the second scene we did together was the scene of Saturday morning after the first urban party

F: OHHH you right! I remember now!

I: but that’s a great scene that fans loved because of the chemistry and people loved it. How did you create that complexity? Was it the writing or did you try to meet up on your own?

F: honestly, not that much because the problem is that I live in Vance. We really tried to see each other but trains made it difficult to see each other just us two, but it still worked somehow. We worked a lot with David but not so much just us too and yet we still manage to create something really strong and powerful.

A: in between scenes we also just talked all the freaking time. And by the time David said action, it was like we just finishing our conversation in the scene.

F: every morning we were always happy to see each other and we didn’t see each other that much but that honestly wasn’t a problem at all.

I: in the YouTube comments, everyone is slightly making fun of flavie for living so “far”

A: [also starts making fun of flavie] oh yea yea basically 45 minutes.

F: BY TRAIN! By car its like 2 hours and a half, so sorry.

A: you don’t even have a driver license! So you have to take the train!

F: alright I almost have my drivers license! Soon supposedly! And don’t worry ill come pick you up in my ride!

Ayumi makes more fun of Flavie for her hours of driving and her basically driving illegally (in France you can only drive at 18 and flav is 17)

I: what was the most difficult scene to film for you?

F: well im not gonna answer. I can’t answer

A: honestly I dont have any. Oh wait yes yes yes! I just remembered. Flav you do know! It’s the scene where I tell you that ive missed you.

F: oh right! You were sick right!

A: yea I had shrimp for lunch. Bad shrimp and in the scene im in process of dying. I have never been in more pain and discomfort.

F: and I was like why is she angry at me? What did I do?

A: and flav is like are you okay and thank god you were there flav because she was telling me breathe and take it slow. It was the difficult

F: for me the most difficult that we’ve seen is was hard because of weather conditions. It was so cold on the whole set but it was the one where we were around the fire and jo sees eliott for the first time, the first urbex party. We were getting fire embers in our eyes so we were all crying and complaining. It was awful. Louise was actually crying so so hard.

A: it was so funny. Louise was actually crying and was joking at the same time whilst crying. We were laughing so hard.

The say that night was still a lot of fun and then they all went to Quentin’s apartment [actor who plays sekou] and the ambiance on set is better than on screen. It was a lot of fun

A: la mif always has a great time, messing around

F: David would say “FOCUS FOCUS”

I: it was mid November, and we all know skam france shooting is very intense and fast. So David was like a police officers. We cant wait to see the behind the scenes. David in the comments says thank you to all the extras who were there until 4am

F:  oh yea honestly. Thank you– just thank you

A: oh yea flav thanks for that. Its great.

I: we know there’s a clip today with a reunion. And fans are expecting a kiss. Are we getting that moment today?

(Silence)

A: listen if there is a kiss, it will happen at a perfect moment

I: there is a lot of pressure on this kiss becuase there are so many people from the LGBTQ+ community who are saying that this kind of relationship is rarely seen on screen. Do you feel the need to do good?

F: its so well written and directed that we do want to do really well. Ok your turn

A: the want to do good, of crows but its already something we want to do. We are not forcing ourselves, because its already there.

They say that its sad for the time being that they have to continue to fight for rights in the LGBTQ community and Ayumi says that with SKAM its all going to change. They always get lovely messages thanking them.

They talk about the ship name and how fans have decided that is going to be Mayla. Ayumi is happy that its Mayla. Flav wanted Loyla. Ayumi says it was their first “fight” and they weren’t agreeing. Even la mif voted on the ship. It was heavily debated.

I: Are we right to have so much faith in Mayla or are you going to break our hearts?

F: for that you’ll have to keep watching

A: well said flav

F: l’amour gange toujours

I: what is next for you two?

F: not much. Im seeing friends at a distant. Stay safe. I was starting to miss my social life. Not going out too much because I really dont want to get “this vicious/awful thing” so yea “la vida loca”

F: project wise everything is on pause but im on a good path. Crossing my fingers. If it happens it happens. Its destiny

A: its destiny. Same thing. There was a movie that stopped before quarantine and won’t start again but there are castings. Until filming starts again, we are all waiting.

I: it’s funny, everything something is said, it gets translated in the comments in five or six languages. Have you taken something from your character and have you left them something?

A: her joy to live at everything. And give her my body to just exist

F: what I took, well nothing. I gave her 7kg more. Well actually I took from her 7kg. That’s it!

I: who forgets their lines the most?

F: ME! But you too kinda. You just talk SOOO fast you start to stutter

A: I talk too fast and then I stutter and it was so cold that that doesn’t help. So in front of flavie, she really made fun of me.

F: I didnt always forget but sometimes when its really long I forgot.

[corinnesamuels]

Guarding the Gates, Chapter 9: Discretion is Such a Valuable Tool

Shoutout to the AMAZING @the-dream-team for creating this for me! Gives the fic a lil razzle dazzle, don’t you think?

A good old patronus soul mate trope to get the blood flowing, Remus has a hard time, and Lily and Sirius confront old friends.

In the weeks following James and Miranda’s breakup, there had been speculation amongst the gang about what that meant for Lily and James. For the two people in question, however, there was no indication that anything would be changing. They laughed at the same jokes, and the time they spent in person still had the same cadence. They were  friends , and the two of them reinforced that dynamic whenever asked. Secretly— irritatingly —Lily reinforced it with herself every time she saw that lopsided grin, which seemed to be making more and more of an appearance lately. 

It was as if the breakup had broken a dam inside of him, and now he joked more and laughed with less reservation. The glint in his eye that appeared when he was contemplating mischief had reappeared. Every day he became more and more like the version of him she’d once known. Sirius had made similar observations, saying how great it was to have his friend back at full force. 

Lily had loved getting reacquainted with James when she returned to England, but to see those parts of his personality return warmed her from the inside. He seemed happier, more free. Lily loved the way it looked on him. Except for when she didn’t. This more robust version of an adult James was a lot for Lily to take in. His personality was simply overwhelming some days, not because he was being obnoxious, but because it was almost impossible not to be drawn to him. It threatened to disrupt the precarious balance that her emotions currently maintained. Lily couldn’t risk disrupting that balance, so she made it a point to carry on the same life she had been living, and her occasional recreational dalliances helped a great deal.

Except for when they didn’t. Like today, when Lily realized that she’s going to have to let go of Terry.

It’s a shame, really. He’s a nice bloke and gets the job done well enough. But Lily has noticed that he seems to be straying from their original arrangement. He usually either left first thing in the morning after their liaisons or stayed just long enough to make and wolf down a quick breakfast. Lily had appreciated it because, as her friends love to point out, she’s terrible at cooking.

But lately, he’s attempted, thrice now, to stay into the afternoon. While Lily doesn’t want to be rude or harsh, this just isn’t what they signed up for. Especially not on a day when she is already running a little late to an Order meeting. He jokingly asks why she seems like she’s in a rush and hints at not believing that she really had somewhere to be. 

It takes everything she has to remain calm.

“Nothing about our arrangement requires me to share my daily schedule.” She’d said at close to noon that day as she hastily put on her shoes. She waved her wand toward his belongings, and they began hurtling at him faster than she’d intended due to her irritation, but he’d gotten the hint after that. 

When she arrives at the meeting a few minutes late, she waves off Marlene and Dorcas’ concerns with a “don’t ask” and a resigned rise and fall of her hand before jumping into the agenda.

The Order of the Phoenix functions well. Dumbledore has instituted a complex but subtle system for meeting locations, dates, and times and spends early meetings going over spells and skills that might be useful for the days ahead. Dumbledore picked most of them because they had excelled during their time at Hogwarts, but certain forms of magic were usually beyond what even the brightest seventh years managed before their time at school ended.

And so, they found themselves assessing the talents of the group and ways to maximize them. It was a well-known fact that The Marauders were good at stealth due to their ability to cause mischief as students. So Dumbledore tasked them and the Aurors of the group with assisting the rest in learning advanced magic related to stealth and concealment. “You lot must not have been too good at being stealthy if you got caught so often.” Dorcas quips during one meeting. The four men looked at each other and grinned. 

“Meadowes,” Sirius tuts. “We very rarely got caught on accident, love.”

“You can’t be legendary if no one knows your story.” James chimes in with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Sometimes you have to let yourself get caught for the greater good.”

“The most legendary thing about the two of you is your detention records.” Marlene smirks, looking over to Lily before rolling her eyes. 

“Was that supposed to contradict what I said?” James asks with a laugh. Remus does his best to cover up a laugh of his own.

Lily, Marlene, Caradoc Dearborn, and Elphias Doge led the group in potions making. In addition to maximizing stores for members to have available to them, Dumbledore also had them work on potions whose brewing processes made Lily feel as if she’d run a marathon once completed.

Little by little, Lily began learning the strengths of various members of the Order of the Phoenix. Most everyone in the group was an accomplished dueler, particularly the Prewett twins and Edgar Bones. People like Hestia Jones, Sturgis Podmore, and Emmeline Vance were able to navigate Ministry circles to subtly gather information that employees were too afraid to say around Mad-Eye Moody, Frank, and Alice. But nothing surprised Lily more than discovering that the slovenly thief Mundungus Fletcher was a member of the group  because  of the fact that he was a thief.

“Dung was dead helpful while we were in school.” Peter says in Mundungus’ defense after one meeting. Lily, Marlene, and Dorcas let their eyes travel from Peter to his friends with raised eyebrows, waiting for confirmation.

“Let’s not go into the details, Peter. They aren’t necessary at this juncture.” Sirius cuts in. When Lily’s face still holds traces of mild judgment, Sirius rolls his eyes. “Oh, don’t look like that, Red, you were a spy. Surely you saw worse than a thief.”

Lily had, of course, seen much worse. “Yes. Usually, the kind that were sober while on the job.” 

“It’s helpful to have someone in a group who can acquire…things of questionable origin.” Remus says diplomatically. “Especially information.”

“Yeah, it makes sense for Sturgis, Hestia, and Emmeline to do reconnaissance at the Ministry.” James replies. “But they can’t very well walk through Knockturn Alley and ask pointed questions without looking suspicious, can they?”

“How do we know that he’ll even remember what he learns from poking around in Knockturn?” Lily asks skeptically as she watches Mundungus falling asleep in his chair. “Surely you don’t think he’s going to go sober?” 

The gang takes a moment to observe Mundungus with her. It is a valid question they hadn’t considered.

“Pensieve, probably.” Sirius says finally. 

“Ah.” The others hum and nod in agreement before going back to their tasks.

In one particular meeting, Dumbledore decides to cover communication methods between members.

“I am sure you will find that we need ways to communicate with each other that owls and the Floo won’t be able to accommodate.” He says. “You may need to send a message quickly, and with the way Lord Voldemort’s ranks are growing, we may soon find the Floo Network being monitored surreptitiously. Muggles have a delightful invention called the ‘telephone.’ You pick up a receiver and can be in conversation with an old friend in mere seconds.”

Lily and Dorcas exchange grins, thinking of the summers they spent in the muggle world, on the phone with Mary, giggling like the schoolgirls they once were.

“It inspired me to create something similar,” Dumbledore continues, “and after perfecting it, I am ready to teach it to each of you. How many of you are familiar with the Patronus Charm?”

Various sounds of mild shock reverberate across the room as members of the Order exchange confused looks with each other. “Sir, I’m sure most of us have heard of it, but from my understanding, Patronuses don’t talk, do they?” Lily asks, voicing the confusion of the group.

“Not until recently.” Dumbledore replies. “As I said, I’ve perfected the method.”

A shocked James lets out a huff of air before catching Lily’s eye. She knows that his thoughts echo her own.  How in the fuck was Dumbledore so good at magic? Who would even think to take that charm and make it twice as useful and three times as difficult?  Lily shakes her head and lets out an exhale of her own, and he grins at her. 

It takes more effort than it should have for her to pull her eyes away from that grin.

“There are fully-trained Aurors who can’t even pull off a corporeal Patronus.” Frank says from the back of the room. “And you’re saying that you’ve amended it in some way?”

“I am.” Dumbledore says patiently, as if the people in front of him aren’t intimidated and shocked by the idea of performing this level of magic.

“Stop gawking and get a move on.” Moody growls from his section of the room. “Being afraid of a charm isn’t going to help you learn it.” He mumbles about the lack of gumption witches and wizards show nowadays.

At this, and with looks of slight trepidation over their shoulders toward Moody, the members of the Order of the Phoenix began working on casting the Patronus charm. Lily, who had always been adept at Charms, was able to produce a slight mist by the end of the session. Frank, Alice, and Moody could already produce non-corporeal Patronuses and worked on getting them to take shape before they left to return to the Ministry.

“Duty calls.” Alice says with a wave as they leave. 

Lily is still working on producing more mist when she sees James frustratedly struggling to produce even that. She smirks at him as she lets her mist float into his line of sight. “And to think you used to say you were better at Charms than I was.”

James cuts his eyes at her, irritated at not being able to gloat at the moment. “I used to say I was  just as good  as you at Charms, Evans. And I am.”

“We’ll see.” She says with a shrug before turning back to her Patronus. 

James rolls his eyes. “Professor Dumbledore, what transfiguration-related spells do you have for us?” 

“Grow up.” Lily retorts.

“Get a room.” Sirius grumbles with an eye roll of his own. Marlene laughs from her place next to him. 

“If they start acting like they did in sixth and seventh year, I’m going to bring up the idea of shoving them in a broom closet again.” Marlene says.

“And this time, we’ll actually do it.” Sirius replies dryly.

Lily’s words lit a fire in James that he hadn’t felt since playing Quidditch before his mother died. He always had thrived on competition. So after the Order meeting, he goes to three different bookstores and buys all the books he can find on the theory behind casting Patronuses. Sirius scoffs at this initially, but he, Remus, and Peter soon end up joining James in the sitting room of the manor, pouring through books and pages. They hadn’t made this much of an attempt to learn something from a textbook since James, Sirius, and Peter became animagi. And while the others may just want to learn because Dumbledore requested it, James is not only determined to produce a corporeal Patronus, but to produce one before Lily does.

To his frustration, Lily just barely beats him. 

They had been reviewing the spell at the beginning of an Order meeting, and they’d both been producing dense mists, just starting to take shape before dissipating. James closes his eyes, calms his nerves, and takes a deep breath to regroup before attempting the spell again, but before he can focus on his happy thought, he hears her excitement across the room. Knowing that it could only signal one thing, he curses under his breath before turning to see the inevitable.

He curses again, audibly and disbelievingly this time, when he sees the Patronus ambling across the room. Four legs, hooves, ears upright. In his shock, he doesn’t realize the strange looks he’d gotten from the people standing closest to him.

“Are you alright, James?” Peter asks.

But James is back in time, recalling a passage he’d read in one of his books while feverishly trying to pin down the charm—the one he and Sirius had joked about before ultimately ignoring it and going back to working out the incantation. 

  There is a belief amongst wizards that similar Patronuses are shaped by deep feelings one may have for another. Indeed, many agree that witches and wizards with the same or similar Patronuses may even be soulmates.

  James doesn’t answer Peter as he watches Lily’s doe move about the room and returns to her. She looks at it fondly and drifts her fingers along its silvery glow before it bows and disappears. He notices that Lily still has that look about her that she’d had when she was introduced to new magic in school—reverence mixed with the pride of accomplishing something new. He can’t help but grin at her across the room, nodding his head in salute as she smiles back and shrugs one shoulder before hugging Dorcas happily. It reminds James of all those days he used to watch her in classes…when they’d joke during their rounds…how she’d hugged him and smiled in a way that lit up the room after Gryffindor had won the quidditch cup during their last year…

He’d known it would work this time before he even recited the incantation. “Expecto Patronum!"

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