#angels friends cabale

[todaleyart]

[0alix0]

everyone separately under the cut

[late-to-the-party-81]

One of the guys

AN: Yet another ask that's been a long time in the answering. My new year's resolution is to be quicker with these things! Hope you like some baffled Bucky, Em.

Unbeta'd ramblings

Masterlist

Relationship: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: Approx 700

CW: None - it's Fluff

“So, if you really want to compare the Mark 3 and the Mark 4, you gotta look at the injectors, because more efficient fuel transference means more horsepower…”

Your friend Rory was chatting to Bucky about his favourite subject. Cars. Bucky was trying not to let his eyes glaze over.

“Do you think we ought to rescue him?” You leant over, and stage-whispered into Kate’s ear. The dark-haired archer covered her giggle with her hand, but both of you caught Bucky’s slight side glance toward where you were both sitting, enjoying your cocktails. 

You’d decided to hold a cook-out for your birthday so there was a mix of all of your old friends, and all of the new friends you’d made through Bucky.

Growing up you’d had more male friends than female, a cabal of honorary brothers, so you’d always known that when you finally settled down your boys would have to at least partially haze your chosen partner, and then once accepted he would be absorbed into their group, whether he wanted to be or not.

‘Love me, love my bros.’

When you’d first introduced them to Bucky they’d been sceptical. You couldn’t blame them. Firstly, he was actually the only boyfriend you’d made ‘run the gauntlet’ so they knew you were serious. Secondly, it was James ‘Bucky’ Barnes. A man born in 1917, held hostage, tortured and brainwashed into committing heinous crimes for decades, before breaking free, becoming a fugitive, and then, finally being deprogrammed and pardoned. There was a lot to unpack there.

However, it seemed that he’d passed whatever test they’d put him through, because as soon as they’d arrived today, Rory, Jerome, Lee and the others stumbling out of an SUV, they’d practically kidnapped Bucky away from you and the rest of the Avengers.

And bless your guys, it was sweet. They wanted to include Bucky in all of their conversations about cars, computers, hockey and football. He could join in, obviously. He wasn’t completely clueless about those topics, but having grown up in the Great Depression, those sorts of things hadn’t been the focus of his youth. A different time, a different place.

“I saw a flying car once.”

“Bro! Really?” Rory stopped his rambling at Bucky’s statement and you felt the smile creep over your lips.

“Yeah, the 1944 World Expo. Howard Stark was showing off the car of the future. It was shiny and red. Oh I wanted a car like that, so bad, even if the prototype had a few bugs.  Still pissed when I found out that neither Howard or Tony had been able to make it a reality.”

“So this Expo was full of, like, futuristic shit?”

You watched them over your sunglasses, the boys all leaning in now, hanging on Bucky’s every word.

“Well, for 1944 it was definitely futuristic. But if you really want to talk futuristic, you gotta know about some of the tech they have in Wakanda.”

For emphasis, Bucky straightened out his left arm, wiggling his fingers and your friend’s mouths all dropped open as they watched the plates shift and heard the servos whir.

“You gotta tell us about Wakanda, man.” Jerome pushed himself slightly forward. “I can’t believe you’re tight with the royal family. Is Princess Shuri as hot in real life?”

Uh-oh. You winced internally. Bucky just raised an eyebrow, before speaking again.

“You know how you guys feel about Angel-face over there? About how if I’d disrespected her you’d all try to take me apart? Well that’s how I feel about Shuri. So you wanna ask me another question?”

Jerome had the good grace to look embarrassed and suddenly find a burning interest in his shoes. There was an awkward silence for a moment, before Lee leant forward.

“They’ve got some kind of Mag-lev trains haven’t they? Faster than the Japanese ones?”

You let out the breath you’d hadn’t even realised you’d been holding, as Bucky’s mouth broke into a broad grin. 

“Anyone got a pen and paper. I’m gonna need to do some visual aids for you chumps.”

They all broke out into peels of laughter and you turned back to Kate.

“Scratch that. I think he’s gonna be just fine.”

Taglist: @christywantspizza @jobean12-blog @bucky-bucky-bucky-bucky @tuiccim @sidepartskinnyjeans @maladaptivexxdaydreaming @krissy25 @bodeckersdiamonddoll @goldylions @ohsymphony @luxeavenger @wheezy-stucky @doasyoudesireandlive @seitmai @poppunksnowwhite

[diaphanouso]

✨ Fic Masterlist ✨

Last Updated: July 4, 2024

Hello! 💞 Below is a list of all my fics, completed and in progress. Each listing is formatted as follows:

Title ※ Word Count ※ Status ※ Rating ※ Relationship/Character(s) ※ Brief Description/Summary

Unless otherwise noted:

The works below live on Ao3.

"Explicit" rating is for smut 🌶️

Baldur's Gate 3

To Have and Behold ※ (2,293 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ Rolan/F!Tav (Ruby) ※ Ruby shares a fantasy of hers with Rolan. They decide to try it out, and Rolan finds he's really into it. A companion piece to In Full View.

In Full View ※ (1,000 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ Rolan/F!Tav (Ruby) ※ Ruby indulges in front of a (mostly) silent audience.

To Burn in Desire's Name ※ WIP ※ Rolan/F!Tav (Ruby) ※ Series in progress centering on Rolan and my Selunite Cleric Tav, Ruby. Snippets I've posted on Tumblr so far:

A Compliment and a Kiss ※ Spice level: 🥛 (none) ※ Rolan receives a very nice message from Tav — so nice, it reminds him of the night she bestowed upon him a platonic kiss on the cheek that was surely nothing more than a friendly gesture.

Rolan With His Books ※ Spice level: 🥛 (none) ※ Rolan spends some quality time with his books just before some weird/spooky shit happens.

He Needs to be Touched, Y'all 😭 ※ Spice level: 🌶️※ When a tame fantasy about Tav is enough to send Rolan over the edge...

Emergency Use of Thunderwave ※ Spice level: 🌶️🌶️ ※ Rolan goes farther in his fantasies about Tav than ever before. Features a tailjob and the singular terror of a family member walking in on you.

Angels' Fury ※ (3,614 words) ※ Complete ※ Mature ※ Shadowheart & Tav; Shadowheart & Astarion ※ Tav and co. make their way to a confrontation with Orin the Red, but they get waylaid by an unexpected foe.

Dispel Darkness ※ (5,210 words) ※ Complete (for now) ※ Explicit ※ Halsin/Female OC ※ A Ranger returns from the Underdark feeling unlike herself; she runs into an old friend who's more than willing to show her there's still good in this world. (Please see my A/N re: the Underdark!)

The Shape of Water (2017)

Lonely Gods ※ (2,344 words) ※ Complete ※ Mature ※ The Asset/Elisa Esposito ※ A former god ruminates on his past, and the nature of love and reverence. (This has some of the writing I'm most proud of ❤️)

Mass Effect

Vox Spiritus ※ (69,929 words) ※ WIP ※ Mature ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ (Humanity-as-client race AU) Shepard, a cabal squad leader, joins the first human-turian mission in an attempt to catch Saren following a tragedy on Eden Prime.

One (1) New Message ※ (5,011 words) ※ WIP ※ Mature ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ (AU swap) Garrus falls asleep in his apartment one night, only to wake up on an unfamiliar ship, in a life he doesn't recognize... and face to face with a ghost.

Acts of Amity ※ (5,322 words) ※ WIP ※ Explicit ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian/Nihlus Kryik ※ Garrus and Shepard's fantasies about their hot friend Nihlus become reality.

Acts of Temperance ※ (7,297 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ Garrus suffers and is more in love than ever; featuring my headcanon that "meditative edging" is very much a thing for turians.

Acts of Service ※ (7,635 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ Garrus is a good boy in love; affectionate talon/nail grooming as turian headcanon.

Flare ※ (10,886 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ Shepard and Garrus would both like a repeat of the night before the Omega 4 Relay, but they're too busy saving the galaxy and being dumb quiet about their feelings... until a cosmic force decides to have a say in that.

Ship of Theseus ※ (22,894 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ (The first smut I ever wrote! 🎉) Feeling like a ghost haunting a body she doesn't trust, Shepard desperately wants to prove she can be more than the weapon Cerberus intended her to be, to make this body at least feel like it's hers. Luckily, she has a friend who's willing to help.

Moon in Your Mouth ※ (4,377 words) ※ Complete ※ Teen ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ (Post-Synthesis grief/angst) For Garrus, rebuilding the galaxy without Shepard feels impossible. He's lost her twice now, and he's certain he'll never recover. But one day, he hears a familiar voice coming from his visor…

One in Ten Thousand ※ (5,526 words) ※ Complete ※ Teen ※ FShakarian ※ A very mogwai  space hamster Xmas.

Twenty-One Seconds ※ (15,511 words) ※ Complete ※ Mature ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ A post-Destroy Xmas Carol.

Growing Pains ※ (3,381 words) ※ Complete ※ Teen ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ Grunt starts losing his baby teeth.

Happy Little Trees ※ (6,310 words) ※ Complete ※ Teen ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian ※ (Garrus discovers Bob Ross) Shepard gets Garrus a paint set. Garrus is grateful, but he finds that embarking on his new hobby provides more than simple wish-fulfillment.

Deeper Understanding ※ (2,426 words) ※ Complete ※ General Audiences ※ EDI & Legion ※ EDI and Legion catch a movie while visiting the Citadel.

Lead Me Home ※ (2,038 words) ※ Complete ※ Mature ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian/Tali'Zorah nar Rayya ※ The night before the beacon, the end, a beginning.

Stay ※ (14,292 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ Samara/Nihlus Kryik ※ While hunting down her daughter, Samara witnesses a Spectre killing an innocent. The Spectre flees into the wilderness, and the pursuit ends up being more than either of them bargained for. Or: how that "cat-and-mouse" encounter between Samara and Nihlus went down.

Decompression ※ (1,635 words) ※ Complete ※ Mature ※ Nihlus Kryik/Dr. Chloe Michel ※ Dr. Michel runs into a handsome, injured turian who refuses her help, but it's not the last time they meet (the first fic with this pairing on Ao3! 🎉).

Longing Makes a Thief ※ (17,711 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ Kasumi Goto/Rolan Quarn ※ While trapped in a mansion together, Kasumi and Rolan Quarn get to know each other; creative use of 3D printer.

Star Pupil ※ (4,366 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ FShep/Kasumi/Conrad ※ Shepard and Kasumi are very mean to Conrad Verner and he loves it.

Breathe With Me ※ (6,948 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ F!Shepard/Thane Krios ※ Shepard and Thane spend some time recuperating after the Reaper War.

Sweet Tides ※ (4,333 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ F!Shepard/Hanar OCs ※ When Shepard is cordially invited to take part in a hanar ritual, she’s honored in a way she doesn’t expect but is totally into. Features tentacle sex and a hot Elder hanar with a deep voice (no, it's hotter than you'd expect).

Shelter From Storms Within ※ (8,297 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ Liara T'Soni/Feron ※ Even after taking on the mantle of Shadow Broker, there are still some things Liara is uncertain about. But how much she cares for Feron? That may be the only thing Liara is sure of. Features drell memories and asari mind meld used for sexual purposes.

The Becoming ※ (4,605 words) ※ Complete ※ Explicit ※ Prothean OCs ※ Stranded in a system with a broken relay, Karvok and Pavor make a home on Erinle, having escaped the Reaper threat; explicit rating is for gore/body horror.

Agony of Creation ※ (1,417 words) ※ Complete ※ Mature ※ Morinth/Male OC ※ From the second she laid eyes on him, Morinth knew he was hers. Or: Morinth brings home her prey.

Mass Effect Drabbles

Godless ※ (100 words) ※ Mature ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian

Memories ※ (100 words) ※ General Audiences ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian

Concussion ※ (100 words) ※ Teen ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian

Come Back Alive ※ (100 words) ※ Teen ※ F!Shepard/Garrus Vakarian

Seashells ※ (100 words) ※ General Audiences ※ Mordin

The Taming of Time ※ (200 words) ※ Mature ※ F!Shepard/Nihlus Kryik

[uovoc]

2022 media consumption year in review

God tier

Matthew Swift series and Magicals Anonymous duology by Kate Griffin (reread). London sorcerer is raised from the dead and accidentally gets fused to the blue electric angels of the telephone lines along the way. Luscious prose, best urban magic I've ever read, and wickedly funny sense of humor.

Kane and Feels - podcast. Paranormal investigators go around London poking the mystic forces with a sharp stick. Surreal. Funny. Moderately comprehensible. There's nothing else quite like it. Someone described it as "the anti-TMA: you cannot form any theories about it no matter how hard you try."

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (reread) - two time travelers, defined as people stuck in time loops of their own lives, attempt to unravel the mystery of their existence. Suspenseful and beautifully constructed piece of nonlinear storytelling.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (reread) - Rose tastes people's emotions in food. Her brother disappears into thin air. Their parents are fine. Surreal and haunting pearl of a story.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - after a family tragedy, the surviving Blackwoods live in isolation from the village. A little Piranesi-ish subverted horror: the sense there's a secret at the heart of the world, and the secret is both joyful and terrible.

Our Flag Means Death - the crangst-filled pirate show that it seemed like the internet lost its mind over, for good reason.

Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space - Bee travels between the island and fishbowl space working temp jobs with Puppycat, until their pasts catch up with them. Dreamy, bittersweet, and gorgeous. Season finale was a banger.

Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald (reread). Nature essays on humans and birds. Quiet, luminous, and filled with love of place. Faves were "The Human Flock", "High Rise", "Eulogy", and "What Animals Taught Me"

Natsume's Book of Friends (anime) - Technically about boy who can see youkai, learning how to navigate the world of human relationships. But really about masking, healing from trauma, and learning to trust.

Decent entertainment

The Deep by Rivers Solomon with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes

Encanto (2021) - movie

The Witcher, season 2 - show

What We Do in the Shadows - seasons 1-3, got bored afterwards

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (reread)

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Touch by Claire North (reread)

Sing - movie

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (reread)

The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren

Moon Knight - show, season 1

Moon Knight comics - 2011, 2014, 2016, 2021

The Batman (2022)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts (reread)

The Bad Guys (2022)

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (reread)

The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North

Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard (reread): Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, Johannes Cabal the Detective, Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute, The Brothers Cabal, and The Fall of the House of Cabal

The Owl House season 2

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (reread)

Strider by Beverly Cleary (reread)

Loki - show, season 1

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

Paprika (2006) dir. Satoshi Kon (rewatch)

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar (reread)

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

Supernatural - seasons 1 – 6, selected episodes

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman - comics (reread)

The Sandman - show, season 1

Microcosmic God: The complete short stories of Theodore Sturgeon, volume II by Theodore Sturgeon

Various Dick King-Smith books (reread): The Merman, Harry's Mad, and Harriet's Hare

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Girl From the Other Side - anime

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

The Farewell (2019) dir. Lulu Wang

Horatio Lyle series by Catherine Webb: The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle, The Obsidian Dagger, The Doomsday Machine, and The Dream Thief

Mononoke (2007) dir. Kenji Nakamura - anime

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson. Fave: "The Beautiful Stranger"

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. Faves: "Like Mother Used to Make" and "Flower Garden"

Legend of Nezha (哪吒传奇) - the 2003 cartoon

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Lucie Babbidge's House by Sylvia Cassedy

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Pinocchio (2022) - dir. Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

You Suck by Christopher Moore

Bite Me by Christopher Moore

Disliked and usually DNF

Guardian (cdrama)

The Gameshouse by Claire North

Kim's Convenience - show

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

Victoriocity - podcast

Sporadic Phantoms - podcast

Guardians of Childhood series by William Joyce - okay I finished it out of loyalty but it was no rotg that's for sure

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Keep Your Hands off Eizouken - anime

Arcane - show

The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender

Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender

The Color Master by Aimee Bender

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

Megan's Island by Willo Davis Roberts (reread)

First Light by Rebecca Stead

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

To Your Eternity - anime

Bloomability by Sharon Creech

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) dir. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Malevolent - podcast

Midnight Burger - podcast

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

Carter & Lovecraft by Jonathan L. Howard

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

M.E. and Morton by Sylvia Cassedy

Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme

Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson

The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

The Stench of Adventure (podcast)

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Assorted nonfiction

Songs of the Gorilla Nation by Dawn Prince-Hughes

The Organized Mind by Daniel J Levitin - nothing new except for the part about using your spatial memory to hack organization.

The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker - how to organize social gatherings for meaningful and memorable experiences

Rust: the Longest War by Jonathan Waldman - investigative journalism book about corrosion, the hazard it presents to physical infrastructure, and how we mitigate it

Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8 by Naoki Higashida

Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life by Yiyun Li - DNF

The One-Minute Manager: The World's Most Popular Management Method by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson - techniques for one-minute goal setting, one-minute praisings, and one-minute reprimands

The Chinese Language: Its History and Current Usage by Daniel Kane. Good concise history of the development of written Mandarin Chinese and the underlying structure of the characters.

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold - essays on the American landscape and conservation ethics ca. 1950. Neat from a historical standpoint, but nothing to write home about these days. Which kinda is the point I guess.

Oregon Salmon: Essays on the State of the Fish At the Turn of the Millennium, ed. Oregon Trout

Caring for your Parents by Hugh Delehanty and Eleanor Ginzler

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks - DNF

The Grid by Gretchen Bakke - history of how the physical and regulatory infrastructure of the American power grid was developed, and how it needs to be reimagined for the future.

Wildlife Wars : The life and times of a fish and game warden by Terry Grosz. Tales from his career as a California game warden catching poachers.

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. DNF. author's writing voice was supremely annoying

Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Nash, 3rd ed (1982) (reread) - history of Americans' changing attitudes towards nature and definitions of wilderness. A classic banger.

Black, Brown, Bruised: How racialized STEM education stifles innovation by Ebony Omotola McGee - good summary of what the successful programs for STEM students of color are doing right, everything else is the same old same old

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb. Account of the experience of going through therapy while working as a therapist. Excellent look at how we construct our personal narratives, and how to change them.

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Gremmy, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. Strategies for having effective high-stakes conversations and managing your emotions. Good stuff.

Engineering and Social Justice by Donna Riley. Pretty entry-level, but it's a good bibliography for further reading.

Send in the Idiots by Kamran Nazeer

Why Are We Yelling? The art of productive disagreement by Buster Benson - DNF. disliked his writing style.

[danco110]

“Ugh…Oh…I always wondered why humans like alcohol so much. Now I know.”

The young angel groaned in her bunk, and raised a feathery wing to shield her eyes from the midday light streaming in from the open window. Another armored seraph flew in through said window, skidding to a stop in the otherwise deserted barracks. The new arrival held her sword in one hand and gestured to the groggy angel with the other.

“Rosette!” cried the standing angel. “It’s the Cabal. The others are already in the air, but the demons have…are you…were you still sleeping?”

The hungover angel sat up in her bunk. “I was, Matilda, until you burst in, at least. Remember how some of the human soldiers invited me to the tavern last night?”

The other angel gave her friend an aghast expression. “You didn’t…did you?”

“I did,” Rosette groaned, quickly growing defensive. “But, what’s wrong with having a few drinks with the troops? We were just celebrating yet another victory against those Cabal. As per usual.”

“We need you out there with us!” snapped the more dutiful angel.

Rosette arched an eyebrow at her friend. “Do you? Really? I mean, you‘re taking a break coming back here to get me, right? You could get back out there, too. And hey, I’m sure angels get over…what did the soldiers call it- hangovers! I’m sure I’ll be out there in a bit. Just…give me a minute. You go ahead.”

Matilda gave an offended scoff. “Well, I…I will! Prove to you what a real Serra Angel should be! What do you think of that?”

“Okay…”

Matilda waited expectantly for a more substantial reply. When none came, she growled in irritation, and finally flew from the barracks window, again making Rosette the only angel in the barracks. The hungover angel nodded to herself, and lay back down before rolling over to face away from the window once more. She curled up, and spread her wings to form a downy shield around her.

“She’ll be fine,” Rosette muttered grumpily.

[drakor127]

Straight friend groups are like: *blonde girl* *chad* *the funny one* *kyle* *brunette girl* *frat boy*

Gay friend groups are like:

*nihilistic crow*

*purple cat girl with a temper*

*mage who is just done with shit*

*exterminator with a degree in drag*

*two idols with homicidal tendencies*

*cat boy mobster*

*shark*

*the fun uncle crimelord*

*the homicidal Ice cream*

*the former rich girl with a shovel*

*the baseball playing virus*

*the dragon*

*cabal of food bandits*

*angel of death*

*three Epithets and an android*

*an empress goth*

*two shinigami*

*a moon girl and her moth sister.*

[cocktailsfairytales]

🖤 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 🖤

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬 (The KORT Series Book 3) by Brandy Hynes is now LIVE! Don't miss this all new dark, romantic suspense!

1-click Tracing Scars today! Free in KU! https://geni.us/tracingscars

Start the series with Burning Ivy #1! FREE IN KU!

https://geni.us/BurningIvy

What to expect:

🖤Mafia/Secret Society

🌙Jealous/Possessive hero

🖤Action/ Suspense

🌙 Brother’s best friend

🖤 One bed

🌙 Trauma/grief healing

🖤 Mutual pining

🌙 Found family

🖤 Touch her and 💀

🌙 Forbidden/Secret relationship

🖤 Morally Gray MMC and FMC

🌙Pierced MMC

Blurb:

Live. Leap. Pretend. Forget.

Drowning in darkness. Sentenced to silence.

Fields and rain. Cathedral to cage.

Crunch. Squeak. Blood.

TY

She’s my never. My fortress. My moon.

Rena Noire—the one I’m not allowed to touch.

As a Cabal leader with a sordid past, hell is all I’ve ever had to offer.

So, I’ve kept my distance from the menacing angel.

But the sand is blowing everywhere, the line growing fainter.

And as danger closes in, all I see is her.

My forbidden. My compass. The forever I’ll burn for.

But it all comes back to one wrong choice.

RENA

As the youngest Noire sibling and heiress of our hospitality empire, I’m destined to be the heart, but never the head.

A princess locked in a bell tower.

That would be fine if Tytan Reynolds would storm my castle, but he’s determined to stay on his side of the moat.

My far-fetched fantasy and my brothers’ friend.

But when my world topples upside down, I glimpse the heat in his gaze.

I run. He chases.

He wants to shield. I belong to the dark.

Once we jump, the abyss with my tortured sailor is nothing like I expected.

Bound and gagged. Bullets of freedom. Time is ticking.

Nothing left to lose.

*This is the third book in The KORT Series. Significant character growth, world building, and events occur in the first two novels, so books should be read in order for the best experience. Start with book one, Burning Ivy.

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213076047-tracing-scars

Find more books from Brandy Hynes: https://www.brandyhynes.com

[elusivecurrent]

(Radio 4am)

Radio 4am riding humid myst windows rolling down tropical fronds the low bass sound slow and gentle heavens tires catch the ground

To roses falling sound petals weep like a high drama

Laugh now cry hater sad now cry later

Bipolar mania soothes the màrijuàna sweet earthy dankness moisture o plant of sacred flower your scent is like a beauties spread eagle folds of divine power

Neon pink haze in myst the lights pass like flooded sexual kissed

"Weed is from the earth!"

Street light looms the dark figures gliding as we roll past bass abiding past a friends apartment phone poles hiding sacred manuscripts of cabals of night choruses presiding

Metal bands punk strands a sharp spike of coca lighting

The mind on fire

"Dude was that a fucking ufo sighting?"

Passed out black leather couches skin on skin death in somnus dont fear the blue reaper in feather light ominous

Liquor bottles an game consoles screen lighting a glow of sticker throttled crts and game fighting buttons smashed but no wrong righting show of thicker blood running dividing

In this sleep we rest the tombs from our infighting

Brother, sister, know me well familiarity hides a locked cell of hearts traumatic tear

running depth of guardian angels near

In this neighborhood we dwell

Were family at least 

As far as we can tell

[nothingunrealistic]

review roundup: billions 7x10 “enemies list”

a strong entry in the streak of underwhelming even-numbered episodes this season! what did reviewers think?

New York Times: ‘Billions’ Season 7, Episode 10: Mutually Assured Destruction

To borrow some terminology from professional wrestling, an art form much beloved by the traders and lawyers of “Billions” (to say nothing of the show’s writers), Mike Prince is a monster heel champion. He is a bad guy at the top of the heap, gold around his waist and his last defeat a distant memory. Seemingly impervious to attack, Prince steamrolls every babyface contender who comes his way. He is an effective villain because he has been booked to be unstoppable — all to better set up the moment when he is stopped. This week’s episode of “Billions” is that moment. And the babyface responsible for handing Prince his first real setback? Bobby Axelrod.

hmm well i seem to remember prince experiencing a real setback about five episodes ago at someone else’s hands. maybe it’s just me!

(U2’s “Beautiful Day” cuts off so hard the moment Axe appears that your brain will supply the needle-scratch sound effect.)

fantastic description. it really did feel like that.

With Taylor by his side and Chuck pestering him to come through with his promised aid in the anti-Prince efforts, Axe tries and fails to extricate Wendy through financial means. It isn’t until he takes Taylor’s advice to come up with a play no other Wall Street brain could see coming that he succeeds.

once again taylor is the most competent non-axe person on team kill prince extended edition!

But the behemoth has been staggered for the first time in a long time, and Axe is now back in the United States and free to plot with Chuck, Wendy, Wags and Ira.

is that the whole list?

This is music to the ears of a killer like Victor, and he happily swipes a strong idea from the timid Tuk to burnish his own chances. By contrast, Rian, disgusted by how Prince duped her and Wendy, rejects the job when Philip all but hands it to her.

nope, that’s the wrong order! philip offers rian the partnership and she declines, then she witnesses victor stealing tuk’s idea, then she finds out that prince tricked her and wendy re: mental. important to get the chronology right when you’re tying cause and effect to it!

Ironically, it’s a pep talk from Victor, who tells her she is afraid of her own killer nature, that persuades her to just walk right in and demand the partnership. Her self-confidence convinces Philip she’s right for it, after all.

who’s gonna point out that rian has been preying on the weaker animals from the day she arrived? (god i hope it’s winston.)

It’s too bad, really. Just when it seemed like the likable Rian might extricate herself from Mike Prince’s moral morass, perhaps even joining the fight against him, she joins his brain trust. Or is that precisely the idea? Could she be the insider Chuck’s cabal needs, now that Wendy, Wags and Taylor have all been frozen out?

i don’t think rian is in prince’s brain trust *or* a mole therein. i think she’s just wandering around bouncing off of everyone she interacts with and will go down with the prince capital ship if she doesn’t make a new move.

The use of Slayer’s “Angel of Death” as the episode’s climactic needle drop made my metalhead night. I like how Bobby Axelrod has his own trademark musical genre on this show.

sean and i can never really be friends because he loves axelrod’s shitty metal bands but hates the eagles. also, i must wonder about the semiotics of heralding axe’s triumphant return with a song about josef mengele after comparing prince to hitler all season.

In a revealing moment, Kate tells Chuck’s new up-and-comer, Amanda, why she ultimately left the Southern District for the greener pastures of Prince Capital: Unlike Chuck, Prince is honest about who and what he is. So does that mean this Kate, the new Kate, is being honest about who and what she is? Yikes. If you want evidence that learning Chuck’s methods can make you a monster, Kate is exhibit A.

and also recall that “he pretends to be good but he actually sucks” was the number one criticism of prince all through seasons 5-6! sacker claiming prince doesn’t hide who he is? laughable!

“Whimsy has a half life, and you’ve reached it,” Philip tells Rian regarding her general vibe of wisecrackery. I prefer the Rian who laughs off the insult to the one who winds up taking it into consideration.

don’t we all.

We get a price tag for how much Taylor stands to lose if Prince makes good on his threats: $650 million. That is a price Taylor is willing to pay, which tells Axe an awful lot.

and it reminds me why i love taylor so so so much.

A common criticism of “Billions” is that its constant pop-culture references can seem forced. This time around, that’s the idea, as Prince bobbles two separate Quentin Tarantino references during the standoffs with Bobby that begin and end the show. Axe goes so far as to point this out — sure, it’s the show hanging a lampshade on what is either a tic or a signature, but it makes sense.

this isn’t the first time someone’s been criticized or otherwise analyzed for the choice and manner of a pop culture reference. they were pretty overt about it this time, though.

Mike Prince’s Bobby Axelrod impression: not half bad!

mentions of prince’s axe impression: 1. contrast sean’s assessment of taylor’s impression of oscar (or more precisely, asia kate dillon’s impression of mike birbiglia) in 5x06 as “spot on.”

Vulture: Billions Recap: Welcome Home, Bobby

three stars! i see sarene stands closer to my position than to the imdb rating.

Bobby Axelrod just doesn’t work as a supporting character. With two episodes left in Billions, Axe has finally returned Stateside after an almost two-season absence, but good God, getting him here was harder than pulling an abscessed tooth. And that was just this episode alone!

so true! they should have left him out entirely 🥰

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m conflicted by the Axe homecoming. On the one hand, Billions is infinitely better whenever Damian Lewis is onscreen. That is an undeniable fact.

no, that’s an easily deniable opinion. i’m denying it right now.

Even now, with Axe firmly aligned with Team Wendy-Chuck-Wags-Taylor, I’m still scratching my head over why the four of them needed him so badly. Chuck giving Axe the “Thank God you’re here” cliché? Insert eye-roll emoji. At this point, I’m not impressed with how Billions turned Wendy into a damsel in distress needing to be rescued by Sir Axelrod. And it will take a lot more than Axe showing up in a Slayer T-shirt for me to feel confident that he’ll ultimately topple Mike Prince. Axe’s big save of the episode — screwing with Prince’s dainty ego to keep Wendy out of prison — isn’t going to set Prince back for long. While I get why we had to wait until the end of “Enemies List” for Axe’s surprise New York reveal, these kinds of narrative setups sometimes make Billions tedious. Did it have to take the entire episode for Axe to devise a workable plan? Of course not, but what’s a drama without tension?

yeah, this gets at the heart of what i disliked about this episode. so much of it was devoted to team kill prince extended edition sitting around going “well we can’t do anything without axe and we can’t get axe. sucks for us” and assorted rian-centric subplotting. was it really only axe who could have thought of “use derek against prince and use kai huang liu to get derek”? couldn’t we have spent more time on taylor going off to see axe, one of the few interesting and successful moves made toward taking down prince in this whole episode, and a little less on wendy going “oh no i’m in trouble because i tried to run away from killing prince and didn’t realize i was stepping into one of his traps which wouldn’t even exist if i hadn’t tried to run away. well i guess i’m screwed, carry on without me”?

Speak of the devil (or is she?), the next scene has Kate ordering Wendy and Wags to comply with the new leadership structure at Michael Prince Capital (where it’s publicly announced that they’re on staff, albeit stripped of all authority). I’m suspicious of her behavior here because while her character isn’t warm and fuzzy, she’s not an Über-bitch, either. Please tell me she’s a double agent for someone in the government. She’s too smart not to have a long game. Also curious is Kate’s recruitment of Chuck’s SDNY colleague Amanda Torre at a “Women in Criminal Law” breakfast. She hints that Amanda could take over for her at MPC when she runs for Congress … along with planting a seed of doubt about Chuck and his so-called good intentions.

hm. i haven’t taken “sacker is secretly a double agent!” seriously from damianista, and i still don’t believe in it, but its proposal by someone who actually has an editor forces me to consider it a little more seriously. i don’t think the way she dealt with wendy & wags was really out of character — it’s reminiscent of how she talked to taylor & philip about the dissolution of tmc in the season premiere, and i don’t recall anyone saying that seemed off — but i do wonder what the point of this setup with sacker and amanda, which it seems will continue into 7x11, is going to be. surely it isn’t just “we snipe at each other about how we would never work for the other person’s boss (again) and then go about our business.” (and more broadly i’ve wondered about the point of amanda being introduced at all; it seems her connection with sacker is the answer.) but sacker pitching amanda on taking over her job once she runs for congress doesn’t seem like the move for someone trying to take down prince, unless that’s how she intends to get someone still affiliated with sdny into the building without making prince too suspicious.

Another character who’s been unfairly stuck with the short end of the stick all season is Taylor Mason. It feels like Billions doesn’t know what to do with them. Unfortunately, sending them off to Haddon Hall wasn’t the answer either. Taylor is officially out at MPC, so they show up at Axe’s doorstep, having left their $650 million portfolio behind and determined to “take that fucker down before he rises any higher.” While it’s nice to see Axe and Taylor bonding again, their attempts to figure out how exactly Prince has ensnared Wendy and how they can circumvent his communication blockade didn’t lead to any breakthroughs.

the real dirty secret of this season of billions is that if taylor were leading the charge to take down prince, and was as competent in that role as they are in their actual supporting role, he’d be dead by now. and billions doesn’t know what to do with them because the writers decided that wendy Had to shine this season, and also that axe Had to come back and help save the day, and didn’t see the contradiction in forcing wendy to lead team kill prince while ensuring that she’d never be able to succeed on her own.

Now that Wendy is officially the CEO of Mental, she has full access to the company’s financial data, and the books look a little sketchy. So she has Rian help her do a deeper dive into Mental’s financials. You’ve heard of boy math and girl math, right? Well, Rian says Mental has been doing “Enron math.”

what is it about rian that makes people write the worst things i’ve ever had to read?

During an encrypted FaceTime, Wendy pleads with Axe to return to the U.S. — not for her sake, but for democracy’s sake. (Would someone please explain why Bobby Axelrod is suddenly Captain America?)

if you’re breaking out a marvel reference, i’ll respond by paraphrasing another: he wants to save america so he can go back to being one of the idiots who lives in it.

She rattles off a bunch of Billions plotlines to help Axe better understand Prince’s willingness to throw friends and loved ones under the bus to serve his own needs. When she gets to The One Where Prince Hands Over the Son of a Business Partner for Expedience and The One Where Prince “Let a Climber He’s Trying to Rescue for His Wife Get Taken by the Fucking Chinese for Self-Preservation,” Axe’s eyes light up.

they were really going hard on calling back to prior episodes here! and not at all on considering whether it was Only Axe who could come up with an according scheme.

At a flashy campaign gala at Lincoln Center, Prince and his entourage arrive to the strains of U2’s “Beautiful Day.” Just in time for Axe, clad in the most Axe uniform ever (a Slayer T-shirt and leather jacket), to perform a human record scratch in front of an ashen-faced Prince.

yet another fantastic description.

Axe has the best plus-one ever for the evening: Derek, as in Andy’s climbing lover/the guy Prince had captured by the Chinese government.

since sarene has repeated axe’s description of derek as his plus-one, let me put forward my suggestion that they should fuck.

Derek is more than willing to book himself onto every cable-news program and spill every depraved detail about Mike and Andy Prince’s very, very open marriage. Again, Prince shrugs it off. That is until Axe aims his words squarely at “President Cuck”: Voters don’t pick the guy who “can’t satisfy his own wife.” (I mean, they do, but Axe is on a roll here.)

lol and lmao. the other dirty secret of this season of billions is that they want us to believe “guy who’s never held office before can run for president as an independent and feasibly win” and “guy who’s had extramarital sexual relationships, and whose wife has as well, can’t possibly be elected president” at the same time, and the historical record shows the exact inverse of that.

Sorry, Corey Stoll, but you’re no Paul Giamatti doing Jeffrey DeMunn-as-Senior. That Damian Lewis–as-Axe impression fell flatter than a pancake (eater).

mentions of prince’s axe impression: 2. mentions of chuck’s chuck senior impression: 1. mentions of taylor’s oscar impression: 0, sadly.

Prince wanting U2 to play “Until the End of the World” at his gala was a poetic choice. (The Achtung Baby tune is a fictional conversation between Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot.)

i looked up the lyrics, so let me add some detail: it’s a fictional conversation between jesus christ and judas iscariot that makes them sound like ex-lovers. wonder what prince likes about that!

Throughout the episode, I wondered if Showtime scored the band for a cameo like they did with Metallica in season one. But as soon as I heard the album track of “Beautiful Day” (as opposed to a live version), I knew Bono wasn’t showing up.

i wondered the same thing!

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Damianista): Billions on Showtime, Episode 10: Enemies List

Back in New York, Prince is getting ready to make an announcement about the recent significant structural changes at MPC. Knowing that several employees (read “former Axe Cappers”) will come to Wendy and Wags crying after the announcement, Kate tells Wendy and Wags that, for their own sake, they should comply and act like they fully support Prince’s decisions.

in this case, it couldn’t be anyone other than former axe cappers, seeing as the only people who have been hired since prince took over are 1) sacker, who was present for wendy & wags & taylor being strung up in private, 2) philip, ditto, and 3) dollar bill, a former axe capper. hard to believe prince capital is thriving when he has so few employees who aren’t holdovers from when he showed up. or so few employees, period.

As both plans are now gone, Taylor steps up and takes us all back to Alpha Cup Charity Poker Tournament at Edison Ballroom in Season 2 Episode 3 Optimal Play. “A bad motherfucker once told me hate is nature’s most perfect energy source. Endlessly renewable.” That bad motherfucker needs to sit down and listen to the hate. Fair enough!

and i went so crazy about it!

In Chuck’s mind, Wendy, Taylor and Axe all being unaccounted for attests to the abilities of the enemy  they are confronting. Prince is ruthless. Wags thinks Taylor may have bailed out like Colonel Markinson in A Few Good Men but he cannot be more wrong.

i finally looked up this comparison and. uh. colonel markinson “bailed out” via suicide. that doesn’t seem to be what wags means to imply, or what chuck takes from it, but geez.

Honestly, I have also been thinking that Bradford might join the alliance against Prince, especially after his facial expression in Episode 4 Hurricane Rosie when he hears Prince promise to his Taiwanese business partner trade privileges once he becomes the POTUS. But now that Bradford is talking about being filter/buffer/protector to Prince like Kelly and Mattis were to 45, and Haldeman and Ehrlichman were to 37, I am not that sure about his motivations. And is it me or Prince is a bit like 37 because Nixon also had an enemies list of his own and he loved bugging the offices of his opponents:)

it’s not just you, since wendy explicitly compared prince to nixon on the grounds of having an enemies list. but yes, i’ve never expected luke to join team kill prince because he’s only here for prince and for the power he could get from joining prince in the white house.

So Wags takes the necessary risk and tells them all. Still, he adds, there is a level beyond that, a veil, beyond which  even he cannot see. And it is my pleasure to share the job ad Wags has for the person they need to do this. “Need the instincts of a truffle hound mixed with a Daniel Negreanu-like ability to think 9 moves ahead, mixed with the cold and steady hand of a sniper a la Barry Pepper in (Saving Private) Ryan. The full package.” There is only one man, ladies and gentlemen, that fits the description.

doesn’t mean there’s only one person that fits the description!

Food for Thought: I keep going back to Wendy telling Wags at the end of Episode 4 Hurricane Rosie that they have to do it like in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. I love the book and the original movie in which 12 people coordinate to murder a man who hurt so many people in the past. And since every word and reference used in Billions has a purpose, I believe it will be an alliance  of 12 that will collectively coordinate to take down Prince in the series finale.

i think the validity of this theory expired when prince found out about the assassination attempt before the alliance even reached 6 people, but sure, let’s see where we’re at now.

So let us count: Wendy, Wags, Taylor, Chuck, Ira, and Axe. Six. I am positive that Kate is not the soulless woman she portrays this season, she is just playing the long game, and she will be part of  the alliance who takes down Prince. I also think that Kate approaching Amanda at the Women in Criminal Panel they were panelists on together could be a subtle, but effective way of reaching out to Chuck. Seven. And then we have Philip who is not a big fan of Prince since he screwed Prof. Ruloff in Episode 7 DMV. Eight. More importantly, one of the dozen murderers in Murder on the Orient Express is the victim’s right-hand man! So, ladies and gentlemen, I put my money on Scooter to join the alliance against Prince. Scooter’s face spoke volumes when Prince came to his office to say he could not allow him to conduct the NY Philharmonic in Episode 4 Hurricane Rosie. I am positive this is not the first time Prince disappointed Scooter. I am also thinking about Dr. Mayer. Why did she let everyone go to take Wendy as a patient? Out of her big heart? And if she is reporting to someone, who is that? Prince or Scooter? My hunch would be Scooter since Prince has not confronted Wendy about what she said to Dr. Mayer. Scooter may have found out about Wendy’s plan early on from Dr. Mayer and may have been playing along. And I am sure Wendy knows about it all. With Scooter, we have nine We are three people short. I believe one of those may be Andy. She knows Prince better than anyone and that the rescue mission could go wrong only if Prince wanted it to go wrong. Ten. Then we have Bradford. He has been witnessing what kind of man Prince is for a while, and when he realizes that Prince would not let him be the filter/buffer/protector, he may join the ranks of the opposition. Eleven. And, ladies and gentlemen, I believe the last member of the alliance will be Rian. While she was considering to leave the company, once she sees the trap Prince has set up for Wendy, she returns to the office and accepts Philip’s offer to take one of the new partnership slots. I think Rian will play a critical role in the downfall of Prince. And Prince leaving his fingerprints on her tablet in Episode 9 Game Theory Optimal may come in handy soon!

sigh. okay. here’s my analysis:

wendy, wags, taylor, chuck, axe, and ira are givens, barring a shocking last-minute betrayal from one or more of them. 6.

senior and allerd were both tangentially involved in the plot this episode and last, so we have to rule them in. 8.

i still don’t expect sacker to join team kill prince. if she is trying to take him down, which i don’t think she is, i expect it to be for her own ends rather than The Good Of The Country. however, i would ultimately expect amanda to work against prince. 9.

philip is still a wild card because of the question of whether he really signed that waiver and because he now possesses chekhov’s signoff power which has yet to be used. if he’s prince’s man to the end, none of that serves any purpose. 10.

i’m not sure andy will be involved any further, but derek is already involved. 11.

i don’t expect luke to change sides. scooter is a maybe, but leaning toward no.

let’s look outside mpc. winston is around and will be back for 7x11 for purposes & with motivations unknown. mafee will surely come back at some point, and he’d never take prince’s side in this.

now let’s look inside mpc, where the prince cappers’ loyalties are about to be tested. ben & tuk may quit, but would they go over to axe? would rian give up on her partnership slot to fight against prince? what about dollar bill & victor?

shut up about prince’s fingerprints! shut up about prince’s fingerprints!

Entertainment Weekly: Billions recap

kyle did not do a recap of this episode. can’t say i’m too broken up about that.

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Gingersnap): The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 7 Episode 10, “Enemies List”

Gingersnap Oh my gosh, you guys! This episode was the best episode of Billions season seven, and dare I say, one of the best episodes of the entire series.

go rate it ten stars on imdb, why don’t you?

Preet Bharara vs Donald Trump Vibes – Chuck and Prince. Chuck pretends to handle the Kai Huang Liu situation for Prince by releasing the NFT scammer to the Taiwanese authorities as a gesture of good faith in hopes Prince won’t fire him upon his 1600 Pennsylvania Ave residency. That way Prince won’t have to look duplicitous in pardoning the son of his business associate while President of the United States. This mirrors the notion of Bharara’s SDNY ousting after refusing to submit his resignation as part of the 2017 dismissal of U.S. attorneys when Trump was president. Chuck is being proactive.

not everything is about trump! and billions already alluded to the ousting of US attorneys after the 2017 inauguration by having chuck being one of the few US attorneys who hung on after the 2017 inauguration until he was fired at the end of season 3! if anything, this is reflecting that earlier plot point!

Axelrod Defined – Wags sums it up perfectly. Instincts of a truffle hound + next level poker player + a cold-hearted but steady-handed sniper. Yep, that’s our Bobby Axelrod.

axe wasn’t even the best poker player at haddon hall this episode!

When the Protégé Counsels the Mentor Award – Taylor. Taylor reminds Axe that even Icahn, Buffet and Ackman could strategize the needed moves, then Taylor brought it back full circle to season 2, episode 3 ‘Optimal Play‘ by re-quoting back to Axe his own advice, “A bad motherfucker once told me ‘Hate is nature’s most perfect energy source. Endlessly renewable.’ Lean into that feeling. Because what this is going to take is one hate-fueled bad motherfucker.”

they gave that advice to their own protégé first and now they’re giving it back to their former mentor! the real full circle!

Thanos The Mad Titan – Prince.

PLEASE get some other source material to reference.

Damianista […] Perfect Job Ad – Wags Wags’ description of the person the alliance needs for their operation against Prince to be successful would make the perfect job ad! “Need the instincts of a truffle hound mixed with a Daniel Negreanu-like ability to think 9 moves ahead, mixed with the cold and steady hand of a sniper a la Barry Pepper in (Saving Private) Ryan. The full package.” It is perfect because there is only one person that fits the description!

[EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER]

Lady Trader […] The Dr. Spock Award: I have likened Taylor to Mr. Spock, the logical Vulcan several times “From the Trader’s Desk”, but this week they get the Dr. Spock award for helping Axe with Gordie.  I’m sure Taylor will combine the two Spocks and give Gordie very good logical advice.

i think you’re overestimating taylor’s skill as a child psychologist. (you also don’t understand spock, but that’s an issue for another time.)

TheTailThatWagsTheDog The So-Close to Being There Award – Goes to me. I was supposed to be in that scene outside Lincoln Center. They had put out a general casting call for extras and I had applied and been accepted to be in it. I was all set to go to New York and Lincoln Center. I was going to be in a scene with Damian Lewis and Corey Stoll!  This was going to be SO FRICKIN’ AWESOME!  And then the day before I was supposed to go up to NYC I got this email

DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!

this email is strengthening my suspicion that the gala scene was supposed to be longer and got cut down from what it was. my other piece of proof for that: this clip seemingly showing andy and ayles on set for that scene, though they did not appear in the episode.

Lost Souls Award (tie) – Sacker and Philip. Sacker is just plain flat-out obnoxious to Wendy and Wags, and Philip looks like a corporate zombie when talking to the traders (especially Rian and Tuk). Can either one of them save their soul in these last two episodes? How can Sacker think any of this is ok knowing how Prince has bent and broken the law this season? How can Philip stand to do Prince’s bidding knowing what Prince did to his mentor? One of them has to show some kind of backbone here, don’t they? That would be awful if they stayed this particular course.

i mean, this is the “giving in to the lure of money and power at the cost of your moral compass” show, but yes, i do expect one of them (philip) to ultimately switch sides.

LOL Award – Prince asking for loyalty from his traders. Didn’t he try to (and is continuing to try to) spy on his own workers. Why exactly would they show fealty to him? Is he that delusional? Don’t answer that.

well he has all their money, so how could they possibly be disloyal to him??? (lol. lmao.)

Best Musical Reference – In The Air Tonight – Phil Collins – why is it that when someone references this song, the only thing they talk about is that drum fill? I wonder if Phil is perturbed by that, that this really good song of his is basically only known for a 10-second drum fill?

ben didn’t only talk about the drum fill — the reason he brought it up was to quote one of the verses in reference to his suspicions about the organizational changes. (and the drum fill bangs.)

I’m Sorry But He Doesn’t Belong Award – Tuk. I know he’s a really sweet guy, but does anyone believe that he would be employed by a mercenaries group of traders and dealers the likes of which Prince would hire? I don’t. He doesn’t fit – never really did. Rudy fit better than Tuk did. Sorry – just calling it like I see it.

rudy was incompetent. tuk has actually made some successful plays. and prince has barely hired anyone since he took over, so it’s not like he can afford to lose tuk at this juncture.

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis (Lady Trader): “From the Trader’s Desk” Don’t Kick the Hornet’s Nest! Billions S7E10 “Enemies List”

turns out lady trader posted a standard recap of this episode after all!

Before I get into the Axe/Prince cage match, I want to address and explain some financial questions I got on X (formerly known as Twitter) and then go into some observations. A few readers wanted to know why at the end of the episode, Prince tells Scooter, Kate, and Philip to go to all cash and clear the portfolio of every position. He is doing this because now that he knows his enemies are circling, it will be much harder for them to hurt him financially if the fund is in all cash. No companies that they can buy out, no insider trading claims, etc. However, there are several downsides to this strategy. Prince Capital just sold all the fund’s holdings in foreign investments and in fully invested in US-based assets. Going to all cash in such a short turnaround time would cause people to ask, “What does he know that we don’t?” and “Why is he getting out of American investments?” For someone running for President of the United States, bailing on the country you want to lead is not a good look. Also, the selling of all those assets at once would cause enormous market fluctuations. Prince Capital has billions of dollars of assets under management – you don’t just unwind that number of stocks, bonds, and private equity investments without causing havoc to the markets. Additionally, you are not going to continue to be the best performing fund on the Street if you are all cash. You can place your money in high yielding bonds and treasuries, but you are still not going to get nearly the kind of returns you would if you were fully invested; I also don’t think your clients will be willing to pay a 2/20 fee for cash positions. They are paying for active management, not fixed income. Finally, you have a staff of traders, analysts, and portfolio managers – what are they supposed to do all day if they can’t trade?

certainly all relevant points! i believe someone specifically mentioned in 7x11 that it would be hard to justify a 2 and 20 fee for cash, though i can’t recall who. though by the end of 7x11 it’s hard to assert that prince Has a staff of traders, analysts, and portfolio managers.

Last week in my own Q&A, I asked why Rian didn’t know Mental was controlled by Prince through a shell company. Well, this week we know why – it was a set up by Prince the whole time. The financials both Wendy and Rian saw were fake. They were numbers that Prince wanted both to see in order for the offer to be tempting enough for Wendy, and to be endorsed by Rian. How could this happen? Mental is a private company, which means there is less public information published about it. If it were a public company, it would be required to file various reports to the SEC, like 10-K and 10-Q reports that would state the company’s balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow. It would be much harder to fake the numbers on a public company. No doubt it has been done (like Rian states about Enron) but I do think Rian would have been able to spot it.

that does explain that. and taylor mentioned that it was a private company before wendy and rian looked at the numbers again.

This got me thinking: who was the one who told Wendy to open her folder of job offers? Wasn’t that Dr. Mayer? I have been suspect of Mayer’s intentions from the beginning and this strange coincidence just makes me question her motives even more. She seemed a little bit too pleased when Wendy signed that contract in her office.

dr. mayer did encourage wendy to look at her job offers, but wendy had already begun doing so by that point.

I’m hoping that Rian is stepping into the partnership role to be a saboteur from the inside. She has had a front row seat to see what kind of person Prince is and I can’t believe she is suddenly motivated just by money. The pep talk from Wendy probably put her on the path to doing what is right.

having seen 7x11: lol. lmao.

I was so happy to see Axe and Taylor working together again. From the first time Taylor stepped into the offices of Axe Capital (when they were back in CT) we knew they brought something different to the firm, but more importantly was a good partner with Axe.

we did not know that from the first time taylor stepped into the offices of axe capital, because they were an intern there for three months before we or axe ever met them. but points for mentioning taylor!

When Axe was forbidden from trading back in S3, who did he put in charge of Axe Cap? Taylor. They did temporarily become enemies in S4 (which was all Axe’s doing), but they both realize they bring out the best in each other.

that enmity really began in season 3 and extended into season 5. i don’t think you can say they bring out the best in each other, full stop, and leave it there.

Before I continue, I can’t wait to see exactly how Chuck got Axe to be allowed back in the United States. He got Andolov back by saying he was using Andolov as an expert witness in by commodity fraud case in the oil industry. Is Axe going to be a witness against Prince? And where is Bryan Connerty? I do not believe that the request to Kate to get his law license back was put out there for no reason. I could totally see Bryan being legal counsel for Axe Global when all of this is said and done. He will finally become a lion!

having seen 7x11: i doubt any of this will be relevant 👍

Getting Prince to back down from possibly putting Wendy in jail for 35 years by using Andy’s “friend” Derek is genius.

come on now. we’re all adults here. you can use a term for derek that clearly indicates he and andy were sleeping together, rather than winking and nudging and using air quotes about it.

[thrythlind]

Urban Fantasy/Horror Game

Okay, I went over one of these ideas earlier here. This game idea is a bit different.

In this case, you're going to be following one particular character's story as she gathers friends and allies to fight a growing threat.

The procedural generation here is meant more to apply to the nature of the threat and other supernatural elements the character faces.

Prologue

You will start with creating your character by choosing the following:

Origin

Occupation

Location

So you could be like a City Dweller Drifter and have the story start at a Rural Town and a Bus Stop.

There would be an introductory sequence with your character and then you'd encounter the first monster and have to escape it, not yet being able to fight it.

This first enemy would be something from the following sort of personal threat type of enemies.

slasher killer

cryptid

ghost

cult/swarm

And after escaping it, which is a basic tutorial on the tactical gameplay and the fact that sometimes there are fights you have to run from. The goal would be to get your character out along with as many bystanders as possible.

This would go into a tutorial on the investigative and social aspects, narratively finding the characters are stuck in the threatened area somehow. Looking into the history of the monster to try to find a weakness and also establishing a field base.

And eventually you would find a weakness and be able to put down this monster... only to discover that it is only a symptom of a much larger problem.

Chapter 1

This would get into the location map where the character can start investigating nearby places for signs of trouble and choosing different rumors to investigate. Some of these rumors are unrelated supernatural issues, others are part of the bigger problem, and at least two will lead to changes to the character.

My idea is that the character up to this point will only have had access to general skill pools but at this point they can start getting some more unique builds.

The chapter won't finish until they have picked up two different traits, after which the chapter transition mission will be filtered in.

So, what will happen is at the end of one mission the character will be changed in someway... acquiring a trait like:

Hero

Hunter

Survivor

Occultist

Witch

Vampire

Werewolf

Ghost

Demon

Eldritch

Angel

Or so on. And with the acquisition of this trait a new skill pool/tree opens up for the character to draw from on leveling up. Eventually they will get two such traits... and yes this can be the same trait twice. Different trait combinations would unlock different skill pools.

Vampire+Vampire would open up different options from Vampire+Witch or Vampire+Spider. For example.

The missions themselves would play out similar to the Prologue. Find a monster or monsters, avoid or escape them until you can uncover their secret weakness. Or you might find they are a kind of monster you've dealt with in the past.

This chapter would also introduce the aspect of building a long term base to go to between missions to build up your team, level up, unlock more options. Basically the X-Com ant-farm in some ways. Ideally there'd be options to the base. A extensive static base like the X-Com base would have some advantages, a mobile thing like the Supernatural Impala and motels would have others.

This would also likely be where the character first encounters factions that may be allies or enemies or just neutral. These would possibly be also procedurally generated.

For example, one play through might have an evil cabal of vampires and in the next there might be a vampire group that is more friendly to humanity. Similar with religious witch hunter groups or eldritch cults.

Chapter 2 - 5

From this point, the story would go towards dealing with supernatural factions and trying to track down hints on the threat so that it can be stopped. Gameplay would be similar, investigation, fight, base building. This isn't much different from most games.

However, the key point here

The Procedural Generation

The generation here would be in the interactions and the monsters.

Instead of having set enemy groups, you'd have the monsters and factions created by procedural generation.

This would start with the over-arching threat which would start with deciding

why is this a threat

what flavor of threat is it

how does it act

So you could have a difference between an unthinking event that's just coming vs an attempt by eldritch forces to crack open the way into our world vs a mad scientist and his disciples warping things.

This would determine some of the basic enemies to start with, possibly with bosses and unique sorts created by the production of different missions.

The active part of this would be the use of tags and this would also act as a safety feature.

For example, you could mark a particular element as "snake" and assign it as a core element of this threat group. In which case every enemy of that group would have some sort snake-like element but flavored by other traits to form individual monsters.

In this way you could have an extensive list of Veils and Lines such that, for instance, a person could go into the settings and choose to rule out any element that includes "gore" or "spider" if that particular concept will ruin their fun.

You could even push it further for example, pull up spider and make more granular choices such as individually approving or barring:

player powers

player visuals

enemy names

enemy powers

enemy visuals

environmental webs

environmental spiders

For example, if a person says yes to player powers but no to player visuals, then if they pick up the "Spider" trait it will be more like Spider-Man and they'll stay looking more human rather than becoming something like a drider.

If a person said yes to enemy powers but no to enemy visuals or names then they might find something that does wall-crawling or webcasting, but it won't look like a spider or be called a spider.

If a person said yes to environmental webs but no to spiders, then webs will appear on maps but scuttling background spiders won't. etc.

Character Transformations

So, similar to the level up options of Wildermyth, you'd have a list of options on level up for your character. In this case, I'd have each power have a potential change to your character's paper doll.

For example, if "Talons" showed up due to you having vampire, demon, werewolf, or similar trait where claws are appropriate and you started to accept it, then your character's paper doll to the side would show how that would change their look. And using tags, there'd be different appearances.

IE: the Talons power might be the same regardless, but Werewolf talons are going to have a different look from Vampire Talons.

The player would be able to select but not confirm their powers and watch how it would make their character change in appearance. If both the character's traits provide access to a level up option then they might be given an option to pick a visual.

And if you think the traits like Hero or Scholar wouldn't go into this... well, this can be done by altering the sort of gear carried, posture, or musculature. A power called "Grit" for example, might have a character's posture become more firm and defiant. Other powers might have a grenade belt or something appear on the paper doll.

Legacy Elements

In Wildermyth the legacy elements are in the characters that pass from one chapter to the next that can appear in other stories.

In this game, with more of a focus on a single character each time, the legacy will be in adding new places to the world map and in growing out the bestiary of monsters and enemy factions.

In this case, over time, each player would have their own unique world map that seems to grow over time. Possibly different runs appear in wildly different places around the map, especially possible if there's a lot of different tilesets with a plethora of cultural influences. so there might be vast dark areas on the map that slowly get filled in over time.

And if they found one enemy group or monster type strange or annoying, they can delete it from their legacy just as you can remove a legacy hero from Wildermyth.

Also, after the end of a run your character and their allies become a new faction that can appear later to work with new characters.

Or even in this way, when a character is choosing starting locations instead of naming a general idea like "bus stop" or "farm" or "warehouse" they can name a particular town that has entered the legacy. Perhaps some interesting small town that was the focus of an unrelated mission from an earlier run.

Also, it may be possible for the game to pull a faction from the legacy to serve as the new over-arching threat. Perhaps there was a mission you did in one run with some zombies that wasn't related to the major threat but it entered the legacy, the next run picks that faction and fills it out into something greater to serve as an over-arching plot... and when the player's run starts with a side-monster they vaguely remember it creates some unity in the world.

Art Style

Where the art style of Wildermyth is very much a cartoony style reminiscent of medieval woodcuts, I feel like this game would be more in the vein of horror comics. Semi realistic.

I'd also think some manipulation of UI or mild fourth wall breaks might be appropriate to the horror feeling, but that's been done a lot and may risk an eye roll response rather than shock.

[laresearchette]

Saturday, January 21, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT: BAD BEHIND BARS: JODI ARIAS (Premiering on January 28 on Lifetime Canada at 8:00pm) LOVE & MARRIAGE: D.C.  (TBD - OWN Canada)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CRAVE TV MR. MAGOO (Season 1) THE POWER OF WE: A SESAME STREET SPECIAL REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER (Season 21, Episode 1) SEE US COMING TOGETHER: A SESAME STREET SPECIAL

NHL HOCKEY (SN) 2:00pm: Hockey Day in Canada (CBC/SN) 3:00pm: Lightning vs. Flames (CBC/SN) 7:00pm: Leafs vs. Habs (City/SN1/SNWest) 7:00pm: Jets vs. Sens (CBC/APTN/SN) 10:00pm: Oilers vs. Canucks

NFL FOOTBALL (CTV) 4:30pm: Jaguars vs. Chiefs (CTV) 8:00pm: Giants vs. Eagles

NBA BASKETBALL (TSN4/TSN5) 5:00pm: Celtics vs. Raptors (TSN2) 7:30pm: Bucks vs. Cavaliers

AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS (TSN) 7:00pm: Round of 16

THE WEDDING VEIL JOURNEY (W Network) 8:00pm:  Tracy and Nick agree to set aside work to make time for a long overdue honeymoon to Greece. However, they soon find themselves confronting life choices when they get stranded on a secluded island.

SHE WENT MISSING (Lifetime Canada) 8:00pm:  A reporter's long-dormant stalker reemerges when she returns to her hometown to investigative the disappearance of her childhood best friend.

MONSTERS OF THE WILD: CREEPY CRAWLERS (Nat Geo Canada) 8:00pm:  A look at nature's world of cunning assassins, strange parenting and nautical oddballs.

SHADOWLAND (History Canada) 9:00pm/10:30pm (SERIES PREMIERE): A woman who falls down the rabbit hole faces 20 years in prison for her alleged role in the January 6 riots; a couple splits from their friends and families over their belief that a shadowy cabal secretly runs the world.  In Episode Two, an anti-vaccine influencer procures a large following when he pushes a dangerous fake "cure" for COVID-19; a famous pastor, labeled a threat to democracy, faces possible consequences for his actions.

HEART OF THE MANOR (Super Channel House & Home) 8:00pm:  On the eve of her sister's wedding, Real Estate agent Lisa Bentron finds herself in competition with handsome developer Matthew Wallace when he wants to buy her family's historic estate. But could he hold the key to Liz's heart?

AMBULANCE (Crave) 9:00pm: A decorated veteran teams up with his adoptive brother to steal $32 million from a Los Angeles bank. However, when their getaway goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate thieves hijack an ambulance that's carrying a wounded cop and an EMT worker.

THE KING'S DAUGHTER (Starz Canada) 9:00pm: Hoping to achieve immortality, King Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan) captures a mermaid and steals her life force, but a discovery by his illegitimate daughter threatens to ruin the king's plans.

STANLEYVILLE (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm:  A bored office worker abandons her old life and joins an enigmatic competition to win a car. Locked in a room with four strangers, she goes through a series of challenges led by an intriguing host named Homunculus.

[tomorrowedblog]

Friday Releases for January 13

Friday is the busiest day of the week for new releases, so we've decided to collect them all in one place. Friday Releases for January 13 include A Man Called Otto, Plane, Skinamarink, and more.

A Man Called Otto

A Man Called Otto, the new movie from Marc Forster, is out today.

Based on the #1 New York Times bestseller “A Man Called Ove,” A Man Called Otto tells the story of Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks), a grump who no longer sees purpose in his life following the loss of his wife. Otto is ready to end it all, but his plans are interrupted when a lively young family moves in next door, and he meets his match in quick-witted Marisol. She challenges him to see life differently, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world around. A heartwarming and funny story about love, loss, and life, A Man Called Otto shows that family can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places.

Plane

Plane, the new movie from Jean-François Richet, is out today.

In the white-knuckle action movie PLANE, pilot Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) saves his passengers from a lightning strike by making a risky landing on a war-torn island - only to find that surviving the landing was just the beginning. When most of the passengers are taken hostage by dangerous rebels, the only person Torrance can count on for help is Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), an accused murderer who was being transported by the FBI. In order to rescue the passengers, Torrance will need Gaspare’s help, and will learn there’s more to Gaspare than meets the eye.

Skinamarink

Skinamarink, the new movie from Kyle Edward Ball, is out today.

Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.

House Party

House Party, the new movie from Calmatic, is out today.

Aspiring club promoters and best buds Damon (Tosin Cole) and Kevin (Jacob Latimore) are barely keeping things together. Out of money, down on their luck and about to lose the roofs over their heads—and freshly fired from their low-lift jobs as house cleaners—the pair needs a huge windfall to make their problems go away.

In a ‘what the hell?’ move, they decide to host the party of the year at an exclusive mansion, the site of their last cleaning job, which just happens to belong to none other than LeBron James. No permission? No problem. What could go wrong?

The Devil Conspiracy

The Devil Conspiracy, the new movie from Nathan Frankowski, is out today.

A powerful biotech company has breakthrough technology allowing them to clone history’s most influential people with just a few fragments of DNA. Behind this company is a cabal of Satanists that steals the shroud of Christ putting them in possession of Jesus’ DNA. The clone will serve as the ultimate offering to the devil. Archangel Michael comes to earth and will stop at nothing to end the devil’s conspiracy.

The Price We Pay

The Price We Pay, the new movie from Ryûhei Kitamura, is out today.

After an intense holdup at a pawnshop, Grace is taken hostage by the thieves. Forced to take refuge at a remote farmhouse late at night, they discover a secret dungeon with evidence of sadistic violence—and when “Grandfather” comes home, all hell breaks loose. Can Grace muster the courage to escape the gut-wrenching fates that befall her criminal companions?

The Drop

The Drop, the new movie from Sarah Adina Smith, is out today.

Lex (Anna Konkle) and Mani (Jermaine Fowler) are a happily married young couple, running their dream artisanal bakery in Los Angeles and excited about starting a family together. A trip to a tropical island resort for a friend’s destination wedding, coinciding with Lex’s ovulation cycle, feels like the perfect opportunity to conceive. But good vibes and high hopes are cut short when, shortly after their arrival to paradise, Lex accidentally drops her friend’s (Aparna Nancherla) baby in front of all their friends. Paradise becomes purgatory for our couple as recriminations, passive-aggression and old wounds begin to permeate the island reunion and throw Mani and Lex’s future into deep uncertainty.

Sick

Sick, the new movie from John Hyams, is out today.

As the pandemic steadily brings the world to a halt, Parker and her best friend Miri decide to quarantine at the family lake house alone—or so they think.

Hunters S2

The second season of Hunters, the TV series from David Weil, is out today.

One more run and everything that they have done will have been worth it.

Your Honor S2

The second season of Your Honor, the TV series from Peter Moffat, is out today.

Bryan Cranston stars as a New Orleans judge who is forced to confront his own deepest convictions when his son is involved in a hit and run that embroils an organized crime family. As a storm of vengeance, lies and deceit threatens to engulf the entire city, Michael Desiato faces a series of increasingly impossible choices and discovers just how far an honest man will go to save his son’s life.

Sky Rojo S3

The third season of Sky Rojo, the TV series from Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, is out today.

After escaping with four million euros from their pimp, Coral (Verónica Sánchez), Wendy (Lali Espósito) and Gina (Yany Prado) begin to look forward to the possibility of a new life in a remote fishing village. Far from Romeo (Asier Etxeandia) and Moisés’ (Miguel Ángel Silvestre) need for revenge. When, one peaceful day of sea fishing, far away from all the pain they suffered, they see the two hitmen appear again on the horizon, on the high seas, they understand at a glance that their victory is only a partial triumph. You can resurrect. You can change your life, but you cannot forget where you came from. Because the day you do, the past appears again at your door.

Servant S4

The fourth season of Servant, the TV series from Tony Basgallop, is out today.

The final reckoning begins.

One Piece Odyssey

One Piece Odyssey, the new game from ILCA and Bandai Namco Entertainment, is out today.

The famed pirate, Monkey.D.Luffy, better known as Straw Hat Luffy, and his Straw Hat Crew, are sailing across the New World in search of the next island and the next adventure that awaits them.

But during their voyage they are caught in a storm and shipwrecked. They find themselves washed up on a lush tropical island surrounded by constantly raging storms...

Separated from his crew, Luffy sets off on a grand, new adventure to find his friends and escape the island!

[0alix0]

gay demons

[deathsdoodles]

Old angels friends doodle from 2020!

[aminator3000]

crush crush crush crush crush crush

author: @mugenovmi