#anyway I loved jacob all around this episode lol

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

JACOB KNOWS JACOB KNOWS JACOB KNOWS JACOB KNOWS JACOB KNOWS

[savagewildnerness]

25 and 33!

Thank you for the asks!

25: Fave season and why?

This is actually a very difficult answer for me! Both as I don't hugely prefer one season over the other and as my experience of watching each season was really different!

I adored Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles from a child and teen and was excited to hear the show was being made... but I am also always equally terrified when any thing I love is adapted.

Sidenote: I saw a play on stage - a production of Amadeus a few years ago, a film I'd watched obsessively as a child... and I was initially excited it was going to happen and booked (1) ticket... but when it got close I felt like "I don't want to go! I'm not excited anymore because what if I hate it and then I not only hate it but it ruins my memory of the film I loved?!" Anyway, I saw the play and adored it so much I ended up seeing it like 40 times or something, LOL... I still wish I had a time machine to experience that play live again now. They incorporated live musicians (not dead ones hahahahaha) on stage too and OH MY, HOW I FELT THE MUSIC ALONGSIDE THE EXQUISITE ACTING. Oh, how I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed even watching it for the 35th time!!! I share to compare...

So, with IWTV - I knew it was happening, but I didn't follow production of the show and I didn't follow when it aired in the US. Every so often I kept thinking *When is this show coming to my country, because I *do* want to watch it* and eventually it arrived in Autumn 2023...

But even then, I went into it, thinking "Maybe I'll hate it." My predominant feeling before watching was FEAR. Not excitement or curiosity. Fear.

Then, Lestat watched Louis as Louis pulled a blade and put it to Paul's throat and in that INSTANT I felt "THERE IS MY LESTAT!". I didn't even think it. I felt it in my blood and bones and soul. And what with wondrous Jacob too, I was sold. Like ugh - the church at the end of episode 1. The music. Oh MY! But I was way past the era of the initial online excitement or chat around the show. I just binged the whole series till episode 5. I actually then found episode 5 incredibly difficult... and it was worse because by episode 4 into 5 I had fallen so in love with the show and, since it wasn't too long ago, I can clearly remember myself sitting, watching episode 5 and getting to the end of it and thinking. Oh. It is RUINED. I do not even want to watch any more. And it was a few days before I could bring myself to watch the rest of the series.

Of course, I watched the rest of the series. But I actually needed to rewatch the whole series then one time, after a few week's break before I could truly enjoy episodes 6 and 7 in full. I really did find episode 5 in S1 that hard.

So, with S2 I'm obviously here with you all, utterly addicted! I watched in a very different way - able to discuss episodes afterwards and immediately process things with this wonderful community!

Hmm... I would say that I like both seasons relatively similarly, but for different reasons:

S1 - I think overall, the resonance of it as a whole works better for me, and obviously the delicious chemistry of Sam and Jacob; Lestat and Louis and the Romance of Louis' immortal turning, bookended with the Gothic Romance of Lestat's murder is Shakespearean exquisite beauty to be. And Lestat's speech on the balcony, speaking Anne Rice's words... I just adore it SO much. Like UGH. My heart - with Lestat knowing Louis plans to kill him, but not truly believing he will until the second it happens, because he could never do such to Louis and surely Louis can't either... but then of course he must and Lestat's acceptance of it as an act of love and mercy from Louis. Vibrate my soul!!

S2 - I just love the poetry of S2. The poetic writing in episode 1 and the music in E1 - the way S2 began was just so beautiful to me. I cried a lot more during S2, often as I found DreamStat unbearably moving and/or poignant (either in and of himself or in his relevance to and what he expressed from Louis... and in E1, towards Claudia.). The You & Me scene - scenes like this where there is such exquisite acting taking place without even the need for words to articulate it. Lestat's letter; when Dreamstat vanishes. Assad's Armand also often made me cry. In the Louvre! The ache at the heart of Armand wherein he has so much love to give truly, yet doesn't understand how to be loved or how to love and so this pure love instead twists into the most terrible, terrifying thing, like a knotted tree! Also S2E5. S2E5!!! OMG what perfect TV! And I adore in an abstract sense how utterly Anne Riceean that episode is, despite being mainly created for TV, with not that many of Anne's actual words in! (And I adore Jacob doing takedown of Lestat using Anne's words, especially that they used the bit that truly would wound Lestat most from the books - when he calls Lestat's playing emotionless!!!!!)

So in terms of emotion, I would give S2 the edge. In terms of overall arc, I would definitely say S1. I'm going to say it: I know a lot of people loved E7 & 8 the most in S2 and as you can tell by my 100-plus gifs, I adored the Loustat reunion... but The Trial didn't fully work for me. Which isn't a negative comment. It isn't that I didn't like it. There's just so much I don't understand about it. Which is fine - Louis doesn't understand the trial in IWTV... yet there is more feeling to The Trial in the book of IWTV from what he sees in Lestat - things he hasn't described before... Whereas here - I don't understand fully why or how Lestat is in Paris; how much is his own free will (before and after the trial); I don't fully understand Armand's feelings and motivations and desires. I don't understand what, if anything has gone on between Armand and Lestat. I don't fully understand Lestat and Armand's feelings or motivations or drives and so then it is hard to fully feel from it all. I also thought we'd get a lot more answers regarding memory with all the memory is a monster hints and it felt like all that was opening up in S2E5 only to... just not really happen much more or go anywhere big enough for me after that...?!

Yeah... a super-long answer to this question, in which I didn't really answer the question...

What do you all think/feel? I'm curious!

33: Any hobbies?

Well I guess I use music in my work, so we can't call it a hobby, but I have never done any personally creative thing with music and do not in any way consider myself a musician, so I do love to try to be creative musically, alone, as a hobby if I can drag myself from the pit of *you are an awful human who ought not exist* I obviously love film and TV and I love going to the theatre. I love to read. I used to be a dancer, aged 3-18. I really miss that. I don't dance now. I did ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, Romanian, modern and Scottish dancing!

I actually think there is something to be said for doing hobbies you are terrible at though! Then you can try to find the joy in a thing as you did when you were a child, with zero expectation, as you still have the skill level of a child too! I did like to draw as a little child (only till age 8-ish and that's where my skill-level ended) but I always hated painting, even in school. I was scared of paint and how you can't control it! Sometimes, now though, I find it fun to paint. There's no expectation as it isn't something I can do. But I really recommend to anyone to try a hobby you're terrible at - it can be freeing.

Pretty embarrassing to share this when there are so many actual INCREDIBLE artists on Tumblr (I am in awe of you all), but I'll share it in order to truly show you I cannot art and also to say - do these things - it can be the truest escape. Like, if I try to create music, I know enough to know how terrible what I am doing is. But I know I am terrible at art and that is FINE! It's just for fun!

Say hello to my wee ghost in the sky friend! This was actually inspired by the film A Ghost Story. Actually, you know, Daniel Hart is the creative involved in Interview with the Vampire whose work I have known the longest! I first heard (& ADORED!) his music in the film Ain't Them Bodies Saints.

Anyway, that's more than anyone ever wanted to read on these two questions, I'm sure!!!

[khaleesiofalicante]

I'M LOVING THIS SEASON OF IWTV SO MUCH OMG! There's so much mystery and I have so many question (which in my opinion is the best).

Somehow I just noticed in the last episode that Louis never told Lestat he loves him. Like. It's so crazy bc ofcourse he loves him! But also wow that's so fucking cruel. They're together for 30 years and he didn't say 'I love you' once. It made think a lot about how there's a difference between knowing/feeling you're loved and being told 'I love you'. It made me view THAT (cloud gift) scene in a completely different way. I'm not saying I'm okay with Lestat's actions but I definitely understand how much that must hurt.

And yes the new Claudia is SOOOOO good. I have to admit I don't care about her storyline as much tho. I kinda miss her love/hate relationship with Lestat.

What do you think about Louis and Armand btw? It was okay at first but the more we see them together, the weirder I feel. Also Jacob called it a 'rebound that lasted 70/80 years' which is so fucking funny lol.

I cannot wait to see Lestat (the real one, not dreamstat) again. He just... has a way about him. And I miss it.

Anyway tell me how you're liking the season so far!

Claudia/Lestat beef is truly missed. I know Louis misses it too 😔

Also, I agree! I'd even go so far as to say that maybe Louis never said ily to Lestat because his feelings were stronger and therefore they scared him more.

I hate Armand so much and I don't trust that lil bitch for one second. I REALLY need to know what actually happened between him and Lestat. I've not read the books so I have no idea what's going to happen.

The only real MVP in the story is Daniel omg. He's somehow the only one with the brain cell around here.

I just finished the 4th ep and so far it's really good. I don't know where we are going and can't wait for Lestant to come back and fuck some shit up.

I also like Santiago 👀

My fave scene was the flashback with Lestat and Armand. Lestat was like "fuck your rules and fuck you" lol and he was just minding his own business and being a theatre gay and this dude fucked it all up???? ALSO I LOVE SAM REID'S ACTING WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE IS NOT FRENCH I AM SHOOKETH.

Also Louis and Lestat give me Mavid inspo (for obvious reasons) and I love me some cunty David 🥰

[gezellig-writes]

I posted 352 times in 2022

That's 65 more posts than 2021!

4 posts created (1%)

348 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@renegadepack

@howlonghaveyoubeenseventeen

@musingsofvenus

@the-most-pathetic-edge-marquis

@theclearwaters

I tagged 180 of my posts in 2022

Only 49% of my posts had no tags

#bella swan - 29 posts

#jacob black - 27 posts

#leah clearwater - 21 posts

#twilight vibes - 9 posts

#charlie swan - 8 posts

#billy black - 8 posts

#paul lahote - 6 posts

#the pack - 5 posts

#edward cullen - 5 posts

#sam uley - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#but also that the increased cell replication and repair that is their enhanced healing could also leave them vulnerable to other things

My Top Posts in 2022:

#4

🌹

Now though, with the rumors of giant wolves in the woods going strong for months and only confirmed by the events of the morning, their hand had been played.

for every "🌹" received in my inbox I'll post one random sentence of a random WIP I'm currently writing

1 note - Posted October 25, 2022

#3

This has been sitting in my drafts for ages, and I finally got around to finishing it. Many, many, many thanks to @forksgothic for being a phenomenal beta-reader/editor

Basically a continuation of my not-quite a rewrite/extra to canon of twilight where the pack isn't essentially on their own, but loved and supported by their parents and the elders of La Push. Wherein Billy has a somewhat difficult conversation with his younger sister about his nephew Colin

2 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

#2

I want to dump all the characters in your ask box (I may do this anyway), but I’ll settle for Embry Call 👁👄👁

Oh go ahead and dump everyone lol. But, on to my best boy, Embry

Do I like them: Absolutely. I've always been most interested in the pack and their dynamics (like the rest of tumblr), but I was really drawn initially to the friendship between embry/quil/jacob, or what little of it we saw in the series

5 Good Qualities: (a lot of this is coming from those genius lists @blackpack did on little known tidbits from the books)

He's very observant, being the one to bring up to Jacob that Sam meets with the tribal council, among other things

He's quite loyal to his friends and family

and his mom- he's very aware of the gossip about her when she first moved to town, and what still lingers to some extent. I could go more into how I see their relationship, but for a good while, they were all the other had, and having to keep the secret from her really hurt

I also see him as quite smart, wanting to go to college to study history and/or folklore and is the one that fights the hardest against the pack having to drop out of school or whatever they end up doing

He's quite easygoing and doesn't seem to hold a grudge for long if at all

He puts up with Quil and Jacob and their shenanigans

3 Bad Qualities: (tbh this took a lot longer than I thought)

honestly, the fact he stayed with Sam's pack as long as he did- for as long as he and Jake have been friends I'm surprised it took him until after Bella had the baby to leave

he never tells his mom?? I am drifting far into my own headcanon territory, but if they're close, he should have let her know what was going on and that he's not in some rebellious phase- he had the okay from Sam to do so. Even if she isn't Quileute she does have the right to know at least some of what's going on

he makes too many bets for his own good- where is this money coming from??

Favorite Episode/Moment: This scene from Eclipse

Otp: Quil/Embry for sure because a) I’m a sucker for friends to lovers, but b) it’s a great replacement for the claire imprint situation which has always squicked me out

Brotp: Embry/Quil/Jacob obviously

Ot3: I don’t know if I have an OT3 for Embry? Maybe Embry/Quil/Jacob, if I was forced to choose, but it still doesn't feel right

notp: I'm not particularly fond of Embry/Bella, but really don't like Embry/any vampire-though I don't even know if those fics exist (like I know Rosalie/Leah exists and I’m baffled by it)

best quote: I had to flip through New Moon, and I had totally forgotten about this gem-

"Well, the wolf's out of the bag now." Embry sighed. "Way to go, Jake." (New Moon, pg 328, Family)

headcanon: he's a fancy dancer and has been going on the powwow trail with his mom quite literally his entire life (Tiffany is a somewhat well known fancy shawl dancer) and the entire pack+ adjacent crew saved up for ages and surprised him with new regalia after he grew out of his old set post-growth spurt

6 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

If you haven’t done so, please do yourself a favor and read @theclearwaters Between Who You Are and Who You Could Be

18 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[sungbeam]

⭐️

request a director's cut mayhaps 😗

HELLO ANON !! thank u sm for sending in a lil gold star ^_^

i have selected this section from party people!:

context: i believe this is chapter four? and basically kevs taken cob to the skz frat party and they bump into yn and co there lol

my thoughts!: so basically, we start off w a reference to episode two where kevin calls out to yn and that's what the "déjà vu" part is haha i think you'll find that a lot of the shouting of names comes from kevin in this series 😅😅 that's just how i imagine him to be yk

ANYWAYS this episode is actually the MAIN inspiration for the entire fic 💀 like i had the idea for this episode/scene in particular and then ig u can say i built the rest of the fic around it LOL the inspo was from one of my older cousins who told me once how she knew this guy who like saw her as one of those innocent goody-two-shoe types? but then he bumped into her at a party playing beer pong and was shook,,, or something like that lol

but u can see that that's what the main concept of this scene is, and from that story, i thought, "wouldn't it be cool to have someone to go parties with? like a party partner?" and thus, party people was born !!

skfnksjfkdn we,,,,,, , should probably not talk about the line "He wondered if he was seeing things when your eyes followed his hands' movements" 🤡🤡 me and my love for hands—

and regarding whether or not i think jacob is good at beer pong, YES a firm fkn yes cuz that's low-key attractive, and wouldn't it be really funny if i made it so he wasn't a party person but was ironically good at all things stereotypical party ? 😭😭

anyways, thanks for reading if u made it this far !! ilyy

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Hey there! I only started watching Casualty this year and was wondering if you have any Jacob episodes to rec? He's such a great character and so well portrayed. As a side note, I know I shouldn't laugh but not Max telling Dylan there was no head injury or amnesia before getting his head smashed into a wall soon after lol 😭. Also, still laughing at sarcasm pour homme. Dylan really does get the best one liners and Will B always delivers them so perfectly.

Hi, fellow Jacob fan! :) Congratulations on your great taste in characters.

Sadly, I only started watching Casualty consistently in 2020, as I was an on and off kind of viewer for a while, and I haven't had the chance to go back and watch more of Jacob's old storylines yet the way I have with, say, Dylan. So I don't have a ton of eps to suggest for him.

The two that instantly came to my mind when I saw this are S35E28, and S36E02 "Same Old, Same Old". Both are focused heavily on the coercive control storyline with Tina, though (S35E28 revolves entirely around it!), and while they are very, very good, they do not shy away from the subject at all and are very potentially upsetting/triggering, so I'd say to be careful with them. S36E07 "Broken", the resolution to the Tina storyline, is also very good, though, again, potentially upsetting. (It's the introduction of Sah, as well, so you might find that interesting to see!)

I also enjoyed the storyline with him helping a man named Nate in 2020. It's sort of a prologue to the Tina storyline - she makes her first appearance in this story - but it's also great by itself. Those eps are S34E34, S34E38, and S34E39.

I remember some of the storyline with his mum being very good too, though that was in 2018/2019 when I wasn't watching consistently so I didn't see the whole thing. It was in series 33 - hopefully there's someone out there who remembers the ep numbers better than I do!

So yeah, those are the ones that came to my mind. If anyone else in the Casualty fandom has any more suggestions, feel free to let me know. I, for one, would be interested.

As for Max, yeah, I felt so bad for him having to assure Dylan he hadn't had a head injury and then getting his head hurt like 20 minutes later anyway - ouch! And he was already feeling bad enough, so falling into the wall must have hurt a lot. 😩 Just typing this makes me want to give him a hug.

And Dylan's one-liners are always so good, I love him so much.

[hekateinhell]

Lestat next episode “she’s poisoning you against me”…..He beat Louis nearly to death and dropped him from the gotdamn sky, he poisoned himself. Nice to know though that Lestat considers it to be the equivalent of throwing a dish and doesn’t see what the big deal is. Lestat’s dumb but not this stupid. Not sure what the writers are trying to do here because even after seeing Louis’ broken and mangled body he doesn’t even blink and the preview makes it sound as though he doesn’t even feel real remorse. Lestat’s a vicious little gremlin but you get the sense he truly loves Louis and Claudia and would never actually truly harm them, he wants them to stay so badly and I think even he would know that something like this is a point of no return. This Lestat has no love for Claudia and is just obsessed with Louis in the worst way possible. I’m sad cause I love the characters, I love the actors and this all just felt so OOC. Also, people saying Lestat’s actions are just as bad as when Claudia tries to kill Lestat 🥲

Sorry I know you don’t watch the show but I had to vent lol

Actually I do, because I'm a fucking masochist. I AM done after today though.

I wanted to like it! Genuinely, I wanted to be proven wrong and I wanted to be having a good time along with three-fourths of fandom! Every week I would watch with my friends and wonder what's wrong with me, what am I not getting? I WANTED TO HAVE FUN TOO GODDAMN IT.

Didn't help that you got outright bullied for expressing the slightest bit of criticism around here lmao maybe that's what gave the impression that I don't watch it, since I did not have anything nice to say at all. I tried making my own tag so people could just block THAT and I wouldn't be raining on anyone's parade, but it doesn't stop those who are committed to creeping on your page (hi babes) so ANYWAY

I mean... I AGREE. And I never saw Lestat in Samstat, and given how he swung in like Homelander in Episode 1, I just felt... but then also like... I DIDN'T WANT THIS!!! I still haven't regained full coherency as you can see, I'm gonna need 3-5 business days at least.

Because Lestat did never and Lestat would never. I've said it many times with great affection: Lestat's an idiot but he ain't stupid.

This quote has been going around today, and I've been carrying it too to comfort my Loustat friends because the girlies are hurting in a bad, bad way (and tbh so am I):

Yet I couldn't hurt him. I couldn't even conceive of carrying out such awful, cowardly threats. I could never have brought harm to Claudia. Ah, to make something out of nothing, yes. To throw up the pieces to see how they will fall, yes. But vengeance. Ah, arid awful distasteful vengeance. What is it to me? ~ Lestat, TotBT

I can't envision AMC Hannibal/Homelander-Lestat as either IWTV-Lestat or TVL-onward Lestat. Plain and simple--it is an OC. They all are.

Even if AMC retcons it by the next episode, I just don't see any editorial justification for that to have happened on-screen without content warnings (yeah, I'm not going to let this one go). 

We talk about exposition and the art of a narrative a lot and not to sound ignorant but... RJ, BRUH. I don't blame the actors! Actors don't make the decisions on set and Sam, Jacob, and Bailey killed it with what they were given. And I have given them their props since day one.

IDK I'm sorry for anyone who got hurt today, honestly! The Doctor prescribes reading your favourite hurt/comfort fics and scrolling through your emotional support fan artists. ♥️

[emachinescat]

Okay, I’m supposed to be grading papers, but I have to say this really quickly (and I am in no way trying to stir up trouble or create conflict, but I just really need to get this off my chest).  I have seen a lot of negativity on Twitter and Tumblr toward MacGyver and Mac’s character in general.  And it’s really getting me down.  

Of course, people have the right to say what they want wherever they want, but so much negativity toward my favorite show is disheartening for sure.  Especially since we’re in that delicate time when a show is up in the air for cancellation or renewal.  But anyway.

Here are a couple of thoughts (you could call them counterpoints, but I’m not arguing with anyone, and not addressing anyone in particular, just the barrage of negativity I’ve been noticing in general) that I have on the matter:

Regarding the Mac/Desi vs. Mac/Riley situation.  I feel like I’m back in the heyday of Twilight with Team Edward and Team Jacob.  It’s sad to see a fandom so divided.  I’m Team Riley myself, but I also like Desi as a character despite her flaws (because everyone has flaws).  I just don’t think she’s right for Mac.  However, who Mac ends up with isn’t why I started watching the show, and I’m not going to stop watching it no matter who he ends up with.  And if it is a make it or break it deal for some people, there’s nothing wrong with that.  But the bickering, the snide comments, the accusations... We all love this show, right?  Can’t we agree on that one thing, even if we don’t agree on the finer details?

Regarding the inconsistency.  Yes, there has been a ton of inconsistency, especially this season, with tone, characters, plot, and relationships.  But please don’t forget that this show just went through two major upheavals.  First, George Eads left, and with what a beloved character he played, it’s no wonder they’re struggling to regain their footing.  For the most part, I think they’ve done a great job with that.  And second, Covid and everything with L*nkov.  Like, this season is a literal mish-mash of episodes from different showrunners, one decidedly more progressive than the other.  I just wish we could give the new showrunners and the show in general a bit of a break, and a lot of grace.  I honestly think it’s pretty admirable that they’ve struggled so ardently through all of the change and hardship and are still producing a show that tons of people still love and enjoy.

Regarding Mac himself.  I’ve seen quite a few posts criticizing him for becoming unreliable or a bad friend, or accusing him of no longer being the nice person he was at the beginning of the show.  I wholeheartedly disagree.  Has he made some mistakes?  Absolutely.  But mistakes are what make us human.  Also, growing, learning, and reacting to the changes in our world around us makes us human.  If, five seasons in, after searching for, finding, hating, loving, then losing his absentee father, losing people like Zoe and Nasha, finding out his mom and aunt were a part of a terrorist organization, losing his aunt, and then losing Jack, he were still the same person as he was at the beginning of the show, I would be shocked and honestly disappointed.  Yes, Mac fell out a bit with Bozer and made some questionable decisions.  Yes, he has lied some to Desi.  But he realizes his mistakes and desperately has tried to remedy them/reconnect with those he loves.  He even comes to the realization that he has been so wrapped up in his own losses that he has lost sight of some of the most important things/people in his life.  And that, again, shows humanity and growth.  I actually love Mac’s character more now than ever before.

And finally, there’s a lot of speculation and bitterness and frustration surrounding leaked stills and episode descriptions.  However, even though I have become quite invested in MacRiley, I am not going to let the future episodes that I haven’t seen dictate how I view the show now.  We know the writers haven’t always made the best decisions.  But they’ve given us some great moments too.  Also, we know all too well that episode descriptions, stills, and sneak peeks can be very deceiving.  I’m not saying that people shouldn’t freak out about things like this, especially if they are internally freaking out.  I’m just saying this is my personal approach, because I worry about enough stuff in my real life.  I don’t think I can afford to worry about a show as well lol.  

Again, none of this is said in anger or in hate or even criticism.  It’s more so said because it’s been on my chest all day, and I needed to get it out.  If you disagree with my approaches, that’s totally fine.  I’m just trying to scroll past negativity so that I can more fully enjoy the show I love. :)

Okay, back to work for me.  I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

[dinopopduck]

Ezekiel Only Being Unaffected By Certain Kinds of Magic

Let’s just start with me saying this isn’t exactly a new theory. It’s the demigod thing, and it’s a fairly popular one. If you haven’t heard of this headcannon, I put as much as I can find here. If you have, I found a bunch of new stuff that I haven’t seen anyone else mention, so reading this isn’t a complete waste of your time, I hope.

I tried to keep this from becoming wordy, but it got really long anyway, because there was a lot to talk about here.

Ezekiel being unaffected by magic is sort of an ongoing thing in the show. He is influenced by it much of the time, such as by Santa’s Hat, Pan’s Flute, Prospero’s spell, lycanthropy, etc. When it comes to the stuff he was seemingly completely immune to, there is one link that connects them all.

Apple of Discord: Everybody knows this one. The Apple is a Greek artifact, meant to turn you into the worst version of yourself, and Ezekiel was only one completely unaffected. It’s blamed on “he’s already the worst version of himself” or whatever.

Zeus Lightning Bolt: the episode where Ezekiel ends up decked out in Greek armor, and is sent to pick up Zeus’ Lightning Bolt, which was freaking out and zapping everywhere. He picks it up just fine, and he’s then able to hand it off to Flynn. It may have been purely because of the Greek armor he was wearing, but Flynn did not seem so sure about that working.

Cindy’s Love Potion: Ezekiel is able to be near the potion without becoming obsessed with Cindy. At first, it’s blamed on him being obsessed with himself, then later Jacob tells Ezekiel that he was already in love with Cindy. It was an obsession, not a love, potion you literally spent the episode proving that blah blah, he didn’t even recognize her at first blah blah, anyway, I have a better reason.

There are two Greek mentions in this episode. First, the potion project itself is called Project Aphrodite, a Greek goddess. Second, the sunflowers; when asked, Jenkins mentions how sunflowers are a Greek symbol of unrequited love. In addition, “love” potions may have originated in Greece, or at the very least, were common enough to have multiple sites claim that, lol. At the end of the season, where each librarian uses their gifts to turn Apep mortal, this greek potion is what Ezekiel ends up using.

See a pattern here? Everything that he was completely unaffected by was Greek in some way. So, he has an immunity to these kinds of artifacts, but why? I vote demigod.

Anyway, moving on.

Here’s some magic he could have been immune to, or could not have been. Its pretty debatable.

Fortuna: Technically a Roman Goddess, but the show does acknowledge how similar they are to Greek Gods. He may have been affected by the spell, but broke out of it pretty quick. Some think he may not been affected at all; slot machines aren’t exactly fair, especially in a casino that exists to cheat completely. As for Ezekiel getting so upset over losing, what he says, “Not the guy that loses, I’m the guy that wins” sounds very similar to what he was saying in Point of Salvation, but that’s a whole nother topic.

Alternately, he was affected and this point shouldn’t be here. I don’t know, I’m not the writers.

Libris Fabula: He was a little bit affected, just far less than the others, as he acted pretty much the same. He did get a barely noticeable clothing change, became luckier than normal, and was just able to cast a spell for some reason? Speaking out that spell, it froze the guy, and a certain Greek God does have the ability to put people to sleep. Not really the same thing, but worth thinking about. Maybe. More on that later.

Most people think he was immune, but he could have just been similar enough to the character he was portraying that he didn’t need to change a whole lot.

These ones are barely worth mentioning, because have other reasonable (though I guess your definition of reasonable may be different from mine) explanations, but you could see them as magic immunity as well:

Silver Screen: Ezekiel gets into character the least, while Cassandra and Jacob are out singing and calling people by their character names. Maybe less affected, maybe just a spoilsport. Probably the last one.

Point of Salvation: Was the only one able to remember previous loops. Since they were in a video game, it’s explained that since he was the first through the door, he became the player while everyone else became NPCs. I mean, sure.

Christmas Thief: Saint of Thieves only used his truth telly power on Ezekiel’s mother, not him. Ezekiel did not feel obligated to say anything. Could just be that the guy wasn’t talking to Ezekiel. Or, earlier in that episode Ezekiel tells his mother he doesn’t steal anymore (at least for anything other than the Library, I assume, cause he still kinda does) and therefor that made him immune to the spell, since it only works on thieves.

Image of an Image: Both Cassandra and Ezekiel got their pictures taken, and Cassandra was the only one affected by the transfer spell. However, Ezekiel wasn’t one of the “chosen ones” because he snuck in, and jumped in front of the camera while Eve (one of the “chosen ones”, who was later able to be affected) turned away. Either that, or he just didn’t have time to feel the effect, since his picture was taken after Cassandra’s, and Eve’s was placed in manually.

That’s all the possible instances of magic immunity I could think of.

Next, we have some other stuff that is relevant to this point, but wasn’t necessarily artifact/magic immunity.

Prophecy Cube: Created by the Oracle of Delphi, who is from Greek mythology. This isn’t about whether Ezekiel was affected by something, as he was still able to use the prophecy glass/get stuck in the cube. Rather, it’s about the Zeus Challenge in the cube. They probably would have died in there, but luckily, Ezekiel had just happened to steal, and keep on him, the exact thing they needed to get through– a bunch of golden coins, and a prophecy that ensures at least one coin can’t be destroyed. Luck? Prophecy? Divine Intervention? Plot convenience? Okay its probably the last one but STILL

Also, Ezekiel getting pissed at Zeus.

Zeus’s Bolt (again?): There is a promo image I think for season 4? that has each of the Librarians holding their tools. Jacob had his axe, Cassandra had a notebook, Flynn had Excalibur, all normal, except for Eve and Ezekiel. Eve had this big staff thing I didn’t recognize, and Ezekiel had Zeus’ Bolt for some reason?

Lightning, just, in general: If there is wild electricity in an episode, Ezekiel is probably around.

Examples:

City of Light: Gets shocked and knocked backwards into Jacob by a very electrified fence, gets up right afterwards and is fine.

Broken Staff: The Zeus Bolt thing, you get it.

Image of an Image: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob. Jacob was not really fine. He lived, though.

Point of Salvation: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob part 2 Electric Boogaloo, but this time on purpose. He was not fine. He died. But don’t worry, he lived.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Mentioned a little bit above, Ezekiel, Jacob, and a student get stuck in the Zeus Challenge, and Ezekiel uses some coins he just so happened to steal recently. Throwing them on tiles shows whether or not lightning will strike if it was stepped on. Seriously, why is it ALWAYS Jacob?

The Dark Secret: Ezekiel is the one sent to wrap a cord around a lightning rod constantly being struck by lighting. “Why am I bloody doing this”, he asks? I mean, Zeus probably isn’t going to kill his descendent(?), right?

Werewolves: Have you heard of the Lycaon of Arcadia? It’s a Greek myth. Basically, this dude named Lycaon wants to test how smart and all-knowing Zeus is. To do so, he kills his own son, cooks him, and serves him to Zeus to see if he notices, ya know, no biggie. Zeus was like “wtf man” and brings the son back to life, and turns Lycaon into, you guessed it, a wolf. So, Zeus creates a werewolf of sorts, maybe one of the firsts. In Fangs of Death, Ezekiel just so happens to be the one (main) character to be turned into werewolf. So, if he was a descendant of Zeus, imagine how big of a “fuck you” that was to the god. That all being said, Ezekiel was turned by an Egyptian god, so that might not have been intentional. Also, they may have just been avoiding turning Jacob, because there is already a werewolf named Jacob and they didn't want another Twilight reference in that episode.

Family/Name: Ezekiel is adopted, and his adoptive mother mentions how she took him in off the streets. Because of that, we don’t know who his birth parents are, and whether or not he, or anyone else, knows is unknown. Soooo, we can take some creative liberties as to who his parents might have been.

As for his name, it carries some religious connotations. It should be remembered though, the meanings I’m talking about here are Biblical, not Greek, so again, might mean nothing for this argument. “Ezekiel” is “God’s Strength” or “God will Strengthen”. Jones might also be something like “God is gracious” or “God has favored”, thought different sites say different things. However, I’m pretty sure the name Jones came from his adoptive mother, and apparently Jones is a common last name in Australia. His first name is more relevant, because all of his siblings have themed names; Mercy, Charity, and Honor. So, either his mom named him differently because she knew something we don’t, or he already had the name before she adopted him. Either way, this probably means absolutely nothing. But what are we here for? To analyze a dead show like an English teacher analyzes the color of curtains in an 100 year old text. If it wasn’t for all the other stuff, I probably wouldn’t think about this too much.

Okay. So Greek stuff, lightning, and Zeus himself come up a LOT when it comes to this guy. So is Ezekiel the son of Zeus? Possibly, but a more popular theory is that he’s Zeus’ grandson. Because Zeus’ son just so happens to be Hermes; god of things such as luck, travel, money, trade, and most importantly, thieves. Oh, and animal husbandry/shepherds and sleep, I don’t know how much those apply but I will try.

Time for some comparisons, honestly most of these don’t even need to be explained so I’ll keep it short-ish, cause this shit has gotten way too long already.

Luck: Ezekiel, especially in the first season, likes to rely on luck, and tends to be very lucky in general. Examples where this is mentioned include Fables of Doom and Apple of Discord. “Smarter to be lucky then lucky to be smart!”

Travel: We can assume that he ended up traveling in his previous job (that being heists all over the world) fairly often, even before the Library. Becoming a Librarian with a teleporting door increased that of course.

Money: Steals very high-value items to sell. Also apparently likes to take money from his coworker’s wallets. And probably everyone else’s.

Trade: The aforementioned high-value pieces he steals are traded/sold for money. In Christmas Thief, we find out he kept none of the money or items, giving it away to others who needed it. That kinda fits this category, I think.

Thieves: I really don’t need to explain this. Unless you haven’t seen the show.

Animal Husbandry/Shepherds?: Basically the care of animals. Um, well he doesn’t keep cows or anything, but he has a tendency to “adopt” magical creatures that need help. Stumpy, Nessie Jr., maybe Frankenstein’s Monster as well?

Sleep: I mentioned earlier how Ezekiel froze a guy (not really in an icy way, just couldn’t move) by hitting him with his coin. Hermes is able to send people to sleep with his Caduceus (the snake wand thing). Yeah, it’s not really the same thing, though you could consider being frozen a kind of sleep. He could have just been lucky enough to find a magical coin, and lucky enough to figure out how to use it at the exact right time without even knowing what it did. It’s a stretch either way, really, and was never explained in the episode at all. Yeah, I can't find anything else that fits.

Hermes is considered to be a thief and trickster, and a lot of the things he is god of are Ezekiel’s main occupations. With all those similarities to Hermes, frequent events related to lightning and Zeus related things, and immunity to Greek artifacts, we can conclude that he is perhaps the son of Hermes, taking after his father in abilities and getting visits from grandpa.

Alternatively, his somehow IS Hermes, but I doubt that. He’d probably be way more powerful. He was also able to see the future with Prophecy Glass, which Jenkins claims is impossible for immortals to do (although in that case he was talking about a Prophecy Cube, but close enough). It’s more likely that he is a demigod.

Okay, that is all I can think of that is relevant. I binged the series about two months ago, and have been thinking about this theory. I went ahead and re-watched the episodes that I mentioned in more detail, as well as parts of others that I remebered. The reason I bring this up is because I may have missed things. I did not rewatch a majority of the episodes, more that I looked at a list of episodes on wikipedia and tried to remember what happened in them, watching clips and episodes if I needed to.

The show was cancelled, so we’ll probably never get a confirmation as to who Ezekiels’ birth parents were, and as such, you can’t prove me wrong! That being said, if I got any facts incorrect in this, please tell me so I can fix it. I’m not well versed on Greek Mythology, in fact I know basically nothing, and did the research as I went along. So again, there could be more. This is just what I found in like, less than a day of searching.

Join me next time on “How is Cassandra magical, where’d she get it from? Also, were we ever gonna meet her parents?” And “In the first episode of season 3, Jacob is just able to hit a heavy punching bag of its chain, across the room, at bullet speed, just because of a shift of his wrist, and later in that episode do the same thing to Apep, and it’s just…never addressed or spoken about again? Like wtf man?”

I'm probably not doing that

If you managed to get through all of this, thank you, and I hope this wasn’t too painful to read.

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Abbott Elementary Episode 4: Smoking!! I lowkey forgot Abbott aired last night till I saw a clip of it on YouTube earlier, I believe lol. I watched it earlier today and did not liveblog it, but I'm here to talk about it a bit now!

Not much though, because it's late and I had a show tonight, and more tomorrow and Saturday lol.

The fact that they were discouraging substances while all actively using substances is hilarious xDDD It's not where I was expecting that to go lol! Idk what I was expecting, but not that xD

I'm glad it really talked about how broken the system is. I hope that kid doesn't get suspended <3.

Also the jokes the kids made about their vices were wild 💀. That dust bowl was out of control XDD Iconic all around though lol

I'm glad Jacob decided to give up vaping lol, good for him :') <3. Out of all of them his was honestly the most actually harmful lol.

Even though I don't love the detail that he vapes (mostly because you'd think being against it would be one of his many liberal policies lol), I really love that it brought back that smoking comment from the pilot!! Also I can totally spin this into a vices from deep anxiety thing which is lovely lol. Also the air bit was hilarious xD

Anyway they're all idiots but I do love them all lol <33

Also Janine was wild with that teacher lol 💀. I do think there were some things she was right about (like. the literal education parts lol) but dang girl xD love that the sub did not care at all lol

Unrelated but I love Jacob immediately blaming Morton for the smoking lol xD

Anyway seeing them all being chill at the end was great xD. Like Barbara trying the oil, Jacob quitting, etc lol. Good for them :).

This episode caught me off guard a bit, especially since I don't use substances, but I kinda like that, once again! This season is really throwing me off my game in the best way possible - we all need to be made uncomfortable sometimes to learn stuff :). This episode it wasn't too much, because I don't disrespect anyone who uses drugs (of the safe kind), but since I don't it's still a view into the other side.

Also Gregory's was so him xD. Honestly all of them lol - Janine's makes so much sense in hindsight (also Gregory's comment to her about like "Did you smoke last night" 💀 XDD iconic lol), Melissa's (and her smoking background - which by the way, the comments about that were funny too lol) made sense, Barbara's was- yeah xD, her lol, we basically already knew about Ava xD. And of course Jacob's is a callback lol! And it does kinda make sense for him, even if I thought he would know. I mean hey, we do things we know are bad all the time lol, and nobody can resist everything. Also I think I'm in partial denial because I don't want him to have gone through what it puts you through lol xD. Anyway, they were all super accurate :D.

I loved this episode!! I thought it was really great and I'm so excited for the next one :D. I am also utterly terrified :). Help me please :'). The title and description are scaring me and I swear to goodness they better be a mislead. I think they probably are but still xD.

Don't break them up please I need them lol

Also I'll just pretend it never happened anyway xD

Oh dang I probably won't be able to see that episode live either- eh we'll deal with that later.

So yeah! I loved the episode :D. I thought it was really great and super interesting :). I'm excited for the next one!

This has been my review for. . .

Abbott Elementary, Season 3, Episode 4: Smoking

It was really good :)). I'm really excited to see the next one but y'all I am so scared lol.

I'll be back next week for my review of. . .

Abbott Elementary, Season 3, Episode 5: Breakup

See you guys then!!!

[coffeeteaitsallfine]

ok.... it’s Vampire Boyfriend, Live Free or TwiHard time

(disclaimer i dont actually really talk about S6x05 live free or twihard, it just sounded catchy)

No, Castiel is not the archetypical vampire boyfriend but he is a very Edward vampire boyfriend-- Seasons 6 - 8 in nice little arc. No, he is not lustful (just in subtext). S6-8 (& a lil before that) Cas is heavily the outcast. He is not impure traditionally (until he gets those leviathans!! sick ahaha sera!!!!!fightme) but he does have a crack in his chassis. Cas doesn’t think about sex the way humans do but it’s not really about that. Human feelings let alone feelings for humans are sinful (hellooo nephillims being abominations) they’re just “mud-monkeys.” To the angels, Castiel’s love for humans is worth giving him lobotomies over and over. Falling in love with one is the worst sin (“the very touch of you corrupts [Castiel]”). He is thus outcasted! (this was all written pre-s12 so go with it)

Now, in twilight the sex subtext isn’t subtext, it’s repressed because this is a good little Christian novel of course. Edward the vampire is constantly repressing his thirst and they’re only able to be together with ease once they’re on equal footing. I’ve reread it just this year. It’s repressed and not just in Eclipse when he won’t have sex with her. Bella CLEARLY has a sex dream and Edward knows about it but they don’t talk about it. Anyway, the text is the whole “I’m a killer bella” not blood drinking though. He is repressing that so it’s under control. NO no Edward is a danger magnet literally just crushing her with strength or luring other people to kill her. Castiel’s violence pre-s6 anyway is framed as holy and because heaven commanded it, but the slaughtering of angels for no good reason? unforgiveable. Cas doesn’t tempt dean in any lustful way but just the fact that he’s Gay and in love is already too obvious subtext as it is thanks to S4-5, bringing sex appeal or tempting imagery here would be too obvious or overdoing it i guess and works for us so it doen’t come off as predatory I don’t think. Meanwhile for the proxy Meg Castiel is the pizza man. (whereas s9′s answer to that is...nah he’s the babysitter apparently lol ? lets not read into it). Note as I’m editing: Eve literally eve is a character is S6? I forgot this but oh my god make it stop.

Then in S7 Cas is all “I deserved to die” because he killed a lot of angels and bad people as Godstiel (hello eddie boy’s serial killer murder streak if you didn’t pick up on this yet). Then, obviously, he is not even deserving of LOVE he’ll just hurt everything and everyone around and probably dean too. Cue the early S8 New Moon subplot culminating in fallen angels because we all know the third ingredient for the spell that would expel angels from societyheaven and lock the door behind them, was an angel falling love with a human. At the same time, his angel grace is taken away from him, making him a human no longer “pure” or without sin in the eyes of heaven like adam. the first to fall causing all the angels to fall with him.

Now this doesn’t quite work the same way for dean from dean’s perspective cause why would it. He’s not the Laura/Lucy to Castiel’s Carmilla/Dracula. (This makes Benny’s placement in Purgatory for the love triangle (literally) so in contrast like Benny IS this story’s Jacob) He’s not scandalized by the prospect of falling love. He’s got complicated emotions & thoughts is scared to for vulnerability reasons plus his own sexuality issues but I beg you to see that as separate and not over think it-- Twilight is very repressed, Dean is extremely repressed, poor Cas. But! Dean feels completely “pure” in purgatory & wants nothing more than to find the angel the entire time. He is Bella Swan thinking the killer/monster is an Angel (see: Twilight Ch. 23 “The Angel”), the only angel. All the other angels (vampires) are evil dicks but not my angel :) Mine is powerful, strong, psychic, and sexy. he’s beautiful and perfect and will never love me the way i love him unless we are the same species, equals if you will. 

Castiel is the vampire boyfriend, but not in the old, traditional way rather in the inevitably “modern” (2000s--early 2010s) take, where the vampire isn’t preying upon your sexual purity but the wholesome family ideal (ie lisa/ben, raking those leaves, the cookouts ah yes how american)....ehh yikes sera gamble? s6 reeks of homophobia thanks, thanks a lot. Except well, also, dean doesn’t really want that life not entirely. Neither did bella either tbh until the end but lets not get into that, except twilight is the “wholesome” ending, the opposite in every way to traditionally evil (lol ykwim...) vampires. The show eventually moves into a middle space, a synthesis of horror and home-- where it should’ve ended as we all know. Anyway, while writing this I remembered the beginning of Season 6, when the modern version of the vampire boyfriend arc kicks in, was also when they had the episode “Live Free or TwiHard.” Is this coincidence? probably, maybe, idk. I started this post just wanting to make casward parallels cause it sounded right and I’m a deancas/bellaedward truther for the Jokes, a Good Time, and the hot takes. 

except no, with Carver finishing up S8 (bookending the arc nicely with the two gay truckers being soulmates), Benny is the old world would be tragic vampire boyfriend and they couldn’t last! Sorry benny it’s been real. Castiel is the modern twilight vampire boyfriend, without predatory vibes and since religion is more of a plot device than a theme, less Mormonism and heteronormativity. Plus this reading is just sexy and cool and I like to have fun 

[mikasuxxx]

gimme more head canons about Ana & Jackie and their Seed spawn pls

Absolutely!

Jackie

When Jackie found out that she was pregnant with Jake's kid, she was absolutely terrified

She locked herself in the bathroom for a while, and was having a panick attack, trying to process the fact that she is pregnant.

She was not ready to be a mom. She wanted to wait until her and Jacob's relationship was fully stable.

She didn't tell him, because she was worried about how he would react, but was also worried about him as a whole.

Jackie seen what Jacob is capable of, and she'd be lying if she said that the idea of him being a father worries her.

She was going to hold off on telling him for a few weeks until she felt ready. But she started showing strong symptoms, having morning sickness most mornings, nausea, headaches, and hell, Jacob even noticed that her moods switched very often and she started having cravings.

Then it became unavoidable when he questioned her about it, and she ended up coming clean, not being able to look him in the eye for more than a few seconds.

but oh boy was he happy. He was so happy, he hugged her so tight and started laughing, kissing her face all over, something extremely unusual for him. But nonetheless, she was relieved

He loved seeing her walking around carrying his baby. But she hated being pregnant since most of her clothes started getting too small for her, and her cravings got more intense. But she was also experiencing more contractions and back pains that had her bed bound for hours

Overall those 9 months were very rocky and hard on both Jaqueline and Jacob. They had their ups and downs, and had lots of arguments that even ended up with them sleeping in separate beds.

But they made up eventually, like always. And before they even knew it, their baby was born

You know how i said Jackie is small? yeah...Well that wasnt something she considered when she was having a baby with a man thrice her size was

The baby comes out chunky, and somewhere around 8-10 lbs. It was a boy, and he had obnoxiously bright red tufts of hair that resembled his dads. Jacob was definitely proud.

Jacob would hold his baby boy and look down at him with the most happy and proud look you've ever seen– not even his brothers saw him this happy before.

Their son sleeps in a small crib right next to their bed because 1. jacob is overprotective over his spawn 2. so its easier for jackie to take care of him when he starts crying in the middle of the night.

Jacob's nightmares/ night terrors lessen by a lot after his son is born. He actually does get some sleep sometimes. But when he doesn't, it's mostly because of the baby, rather than his PTSD.

He wouldn't let anyone outside his family see his soft side because "it makes him weak", but really he just wants to bond with his family in peace

Whenever Jackie is too busy or sick to take care of the baby, Jacob brings takes care of him for the day. He even brings him to meetings with him

Okay but like can you imagine Jacob doing one of his PowerPoint slides while holding his baby in one arm?? And maybe even has his little carrier thing on the floor next to his chair in case he gets sleepy??

he even lowers his voice while talking so he won't wake him up

Jacob is actually pretty excited to introduce his baby to his siblings.

Joseph is so happy with the baby, he holds him with a smile. He loves how he resembles Jacob so much, and he even thinks that he is a gift from god. Faith absolutely adores the baby, and she even brough him some new plushies and clothes. John also brings stuff for the baby (stuff that he may or may have not stolen from the Ryes) And when he holds the baby he feels happiness and joy, but isn't showing it much. spoiler: this is the moment John gets baby fever

But anyway, Jacqueline and Jacob do live pretty peacefully with their baby for a while. Jacob, for the first time in what seems like years, can finally settle down and be happy

Anastasia

You know how i said john got baby fever from seeing Jacob's baby? He suggests it to Ana, and she agrees

She wanted to wait a bit until everything was settled in term of getting her work sorted out when EG finally takes over Hope County

except she ended up getting pregnant, on accident, a bit earlier than anticipated (The seeds really don't know what a condom is huh)

It was a surprise, not unwelcome, but a surprise to say the least

To say that John was happy was an understatement, he was absolutely joyful, so much so that he couldn't even process the news Ana just told him. He ended up having a very delayed reaction

"John, you oka-"

"HOLY FUCK WE'RE HAVING A BABY?!!?"

In short, John couldn't get his hands off her, and kept smooching her and hugging her close for the rest of the day.

Ana and John agreed to keep it a secret from everyone else until they found the right time for it

But John being John couldn't contain his excitment, and he may have ended up telling a few of his men. Which promptly ended with the whole county finding out that the youngest seed and his wife were expecting

His siblings were very happy with the news, though they didn't like that everyone else in the county found out before they did.

Joseph is now fully convinced that god blessing his family for all their suffering.

During the pregnancy, John continues to spoil Ana despite her telling him not to spend too much of their money on her, but rather on the baby and the project. That was ignored though.

lol Ana ended up looking like Mrs Puff in that sponegbob episode where Mr. Krabs spoiled tf out of her

John absolutely goes all out for the baby. He sticks the ultrasound pictures on the fridge, even the earliest ones where the baby still looks very teeny tiny. basically makes a big deal out of it every time

He may or may have not thrown a huge, very decorated gender reveal party for the baby (which may or may have not started a small fire and burned some poor farmers' crops. Thanks John)

Like Jacob and Jackie, they find out that they're having a boy as well.

The baby shower is even more exaggerated. There's lots of cake and decorations, and gifts, and John even films it so they could look back at it in the future with their son.

He contantly zooms in on his family members and points at them, talking about them as if he's talking to his kid

"Thats your uncle Jacob there, He could be a jackass sometimes but he means well" and jacob just gives him a "don't start" look

"This is your aunt Faith, she's nice, but not really though." Faith initially smiles at first but her smile disappears very quickly

"Your uncle Joseph here loves you so much, and he can't wait to see you. We're all excited to see you" And Joseph smiles and waves at the camera

Months pass, and the baby is here!

John demands to be with Ana when she goes into labor so he could assist and comfort her. She holds his hand pretty tight though, almost breaking it

Thankfully, the baby was surprisingly small, and the labor was less painful compared to Jackie's. Still fucking painful though.

John straight up cried when he saw and held his son for the first time. Ana was laughing, but also cried with him. So they were both looking down at the baby and crying tears of joy. Just a wholesome family moment

John is actually a very good dad. He takes care of the kid, holds him when he's fussing, plays with him, and hands him to Ana whenever he thinks he's hungry

One night she woke up to the sound of the baby crying, only to go and find John already in the baby's room, carrying him and rocking him around. Made her heart melt to say the least

John and Jacob's kids definitely play together on the weekends when they're a little bit older. And because of that Jacob and John actually get to see each other more. They definitely brought the whole family together even closer 💕

But yeah, that was too long. I got too invested lol. Thanks for the ask @scungilliwoman

[galvanizedfriend]

Fic: Speed Dating

KC Bingo 2020 by @klaroline-events

The prompt is: Losing a Bet

This is fluff inspired by an episode of House. I have no idea how successful this first endeavor into unknown territory was, but @itsnotacrimetoloveyou assured me it’s good and also confirmed that it is, indeed, fluff! Also, thank you for beta’ing this and for laughing at all the jokes! lol

I hope you guys enjoy it! :) Reblogs and comments are very much welcome!

______________________

There is something fundamentally wrong, Caroline thinks, in pitying the white, rich, genetically blessed art gallery owner she lives with. It feels like a waste of empathy. Klaus has the whole world at his feet. Wherever he goes, doors open, red carpets roll out, champagne bottles pop left and right. Which makes his brooding and scowling and antisocial behavior all the more inexplicable.

He isn't always like that, truth be told. When Caroline first moved in, Klaus was out and about all the time. Opening nights, exhibitions, soirées, premieres, parties - you name it. There were weeks when Caroline would barely see him. If he wasn’t at some event, then he was at the gallery, if not at the gallery, then locked up in his studio. As far as she knew, he was pretty much living the dream.

"He's never there," Rebekah said when she pitched the idea of rooming with her brother to Caroline. She used to share an apartment with Elena, but her friend had decided to take the next step with her dumbass of a boyfriend and since it was her name on the lease, Caroline was the one having to find a new place. Her money was short and so were her options. "Nik has this huge apartment all to himself and no one to really watch over it. All the plants I give him die within a week. He could use a roommate, honestly, and you'd be perfect."

"Is he looking for a roommate, though?"

"Not yet. He will be, when I tell him to."

"Rebekah -"

"Just come and see the place, ok? It's worth it."

It made no sense that a guy with his lifestyle and bank account would want to share an apartment with a complete stranger, and Caroline had the very strong feeling the idea never even so much as crossed his mind. Judging by the spirited spat she overheard between the two siblings while she waited outside, it was exactly the case. On her request, Rebekah went in first to talk to him; Caroline would only follow if he agreed to it. She didn't want to see the apartment of someone who wasn't looking for a roommate. She was about to sneak out through the stairs and pretend she'd never been there when Rebekah wrapped a hand around her arm and pulled her into the apartment. Before she could even manifest her exasperation, her snake of a friend walked out and locked the door behind her, leaving the two of them there to stare at one another in complete astonishment.

"I think we've been set up," she said, affecting an awkward smile.

"Rebekah has never learned the meaning boundaries, I'm afraid," he said, not nearly as fiery as he'd sounded a moment before while arguing with his sister.

"Look, this was not my idea, ok? I was just looking for a place, and Rebekah said — You know what, doesn't matter. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Klaus looked at her — really looked at her — assessing her with such sharpness it stole the wind off her chest. Mikaelsons... they're an intense bunch.

"Since you're here," he said after a moment. "Can I offer you a drink for your trouble?"

He opened a bottle of wine that cost more than Caroline's previous rent and gestured for her to make herself comfortable on the giant leather couch in his living room. He wanted to know what she did for a living, how she knew his sister, why she was on the market for an apartment, what kind of place she had in mind, what her routine was like. It was all obvious questions you'd expect from a prospective roommate, but it never felt as though she was being interviewed. Conversation simply flowed, such an easy back-and-forth she didn't realize what was happening until it was hours later and Rebekah was back with a few shopping bags in her hands and a triumphant smile on her face.

"So, when do you move in?" she asked.

"Whenever she sees fit," Klaus replied, albeit glaring at his sister.

"Wait– what?" Caroline blinked, eyes cutting from one sibling to the other. "What do you mean?"

"A spoiled brat though my sister may be, she does have a point. This apartment could use another soul. If you feel so inclined, you can bring your things whenever it is convenient. The guest bedroom is furnished, but I can put it all in storage if you'd rather have your own set. There's also plenty of room for your personal things in the common areas, you can make it more to your liking. All I ask is that you don't replace the art on the walls. I rather fancy them."

Caroline's mouth moved wordlessly for a long time. "You... I thought you didn't want a roommate."

He shrugged nonchalantly, pouring himself another glass of wine. "I'm known to be rather volatile."

"But I can't �� I mean, we didn't even discuss rent and expenses. I'm a med student, I can't afford this place."

"Nonsense. It's mine." Caroline drew the breath in for a righteous protest, and he added, "We can share the bills, if you insist."

And, well. It's not how Caroline likes to do business, way too sudden, with none of the meticulous in-depth analysis she usually applies to absolutely everything, from buying dish sets to choosing a new hairstyle. Moving in with someone she didn’t know at all seemed like way too big a deal for her to simply skip those vital steps. She didn't even compile her pros and cons list. But…

The neighborhood was fantastic, the type where she'd never afford to live in as a student, it was so conveniently close to school, and Elena was pestering the hell out of her to move out so Damon could move in. She'd been to four apartments already: two were incredibly dirty — which told her everything she needed to know about the people living there; another had a single bathroom shared between four people, and the last had a creepy guy across the hall. The floor to ceiling windows alone in Klaus' living room would've sold her the place, and paying next to nothing? It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The conversation with him had been rather nice, if she was honest, and he was Rebekah's brother, so if anything went crazy, she knew exactly who to call.

For the first so many months, the Klaus-is-never-home story was very true. After a while he started inviting her to tag along to some of his events, which she did in a few occasions, especially after he learned she could not say no to puppy eyes. "These people will bore me to death, love, please, save me." Klaus can be such a dramatic baby. The parties were great and the vernissages fancy as hell, but she didn't complain. Going out with him was fun. They got along well, the booze was always A level and Klaus enjoyed taking his time to explain stuff to her. Living with him, she got to learn more about artistic movements than in all her life before. It's more interesting than she ever gave it credit. Or Klaus made it seem so, anyway. The accent kind of goes a long way.

What Caroline came to learn about him after a few months, however, was that not everything was rainbows and unicorns for Klaus as it seemed at first glance. Nothing threw him off quite like his family. He only ever spoke about Rebekah, the only sibling who lived closed by and stopped for visits, even more so than usual after Caroline moved in. She did overhear him on the phone with Elijah a few times, too. The other three, though, Freya, Finn and Kol, Caroline only knew about through Rebekah.

"Nik doesn't get along with our siblings," Rebekah told her when she asked why he never spoke of the rest of the family. "I don't blame him. I don't know what mother nature was thinking when it gathered us all under the same genetic code, we're far too screwed up to be all in the same Thanksgiving dinner."

That was an understatement, in Caroline's opinion. Whenever Klaus went back to England to visit his parents and the rest of his siblings —- something he avoided like the plague but was apparently forced to do — he came back sullen and with a temper from hell. His sour moods could last for weeks. He'd stay locked up in his bedroom or at the studio for days on end, making Caroline slightly guilty for thinking she was the thing keeping him from circulating around his own place.

"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped at her once when she suggested she could move out if he'd changed his mind. "If you move out, I will hunt you down and drag you back here."

It was perhaps slightly too aggressive an answer to be sweet, but Caroline gathers that was Klaus' way of saying he didn't want her to go.

She stayed and learned how to navigate the storms caused by his occasional family reunions. Let him do his thing, don't ask about his parents, offer him food from time to time. They make do. But it still bothers her to no end. Like right now.

It's been a month since he came back from London, more upset than necessarily angry, and he has barely set foot out of the apartment. He stays in his sweatpants and ink-stained Marc Jacobs shirts all day, wavering between having too much coffee and too much whiskey. He hasn't even been painting, which points to an all-time low.

When she walks out of her room all dressed up, putting on her earrings, he's sitting in front of the television, flipping through channels nonstop. His eyes are so unfocused she doubts he even knows what he's doing, his finger just pressing the button mindlessly.

Caroline checks her wristwatch and sighs. Bonnie is gonna be furious if she's late, but Klaus sitting on his ass like that is a waste of a perfectly fine eligible bachelor.

"What are you doing tonight?" she asks.

"Watching a movie," he says flatly after a moment, the information that he'd been spoken to taking a second to register in his brain.

"You mean porn."

He turns his face to her, eyebrows lazily arched. "If you want specifics. I'd ask you to join me, but people are already talking."

She gives him a look and then bends forward, fixing the straps of her high-heeled sandals. "Don't you get tired?"

"Who gets tired of porn?"

"Of watching porn?" He just shrugs. "Men," she puffs out with an eye roll. "Come out with me tonight. I'm going speed dating."

"That's so very boomer of you. It reeks of despair."

"It's old school, so what?" she counters, checking herself out on the antique floor length mirror. She turns to one side, then the other, tosses her hair back. "Is this cleavage too slutty? I don't want to look too slutty."

"What are you aiming for? Moderately promiscuous?"

She turns to him. "I want to say hot but with class, not I have nicknames for my boobs."

He snorts. "You look stunning, sweetheart," he says, his eyes lingering perhaps a bit too long on her décolletage.

"Thanks," she says, crossing her arms in front of her chest, suddenly self-conscious. "Back to the subject."

He sighs, turning back to the television. "Haven't they invented an app for that?"

"I'm tired of apps. It's cold, photos are almost never consistent with the truth and when you ask for a real-time one, all you get is dick pics."

"I hate to disappoint, but you're fooling yourself if you think men won't lie to your face, too."

"You can't blame me for wanting to stay hopeful that men aren't all as cynical as you. I'd have to give up sex forever if I thought that."

Klaus' lips quirk into a lopsided grin. "Well, I wish you good luck on your endeavor."

"I think you need to meet somebody, too," she insists. "You're turning into a couch potato, Klaus."

"I refute that."

"When was the last time you had a date?"

"I don't do dates."

Caroline rolls her eyes again. She has never seen him with the same girl twice, and very few have actually made it to his apartment. Mostly, he's the one who spends the night, not the other way around. He laughed at her face when she tried to tell him he didn't have to worry about bringing friends over on her account. "That's sweet, love, but I don't bring people over unless I have no other option."

"Why not?"

"Because when they know where I live it's harder to get rid of them. Besides, it's such a bore when they decide not to leave in the morning. Women can be rather spiteful."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You are so full of crap. Typical. Sweet-talk women into sleeping with you and then call them crazy when they expect a minimum of respect in return."

"I respect them fine; I just don't want to have breakfast."

"Because that is such a commitment."

"It's far more than I'm willing to commit, yes."

"We have breakfast all the time. What, am I special?"

He simply smiled, the annoying dimples he uses to lure women into bed cutting into his cheeks.

"Fine," she says, stomping her foot. "Your last one-night stand?"

"Should I be flattered you're keeping such close tabs on my life?"

"See? You're becoming this insufferable creature that I can barely tolerate that answers everything with sarcasm. Soon enough, I'm gonna have to move out and I don't want to because I like this apartment."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Come out with me. This way you get to meet twenty somebodies at once."

"Is that why you're going?"

"Last two dates I had were exclusive two hours of complete disaster I will never get back. At least this way I speed up the process of elimination."

"Over five-minute conversations," he derides.

"Five minutes is more than enough time. If they can't impress me or at the very least make me intrigued, then they're definitely not worth a second date."

"You make it sound oh-so-alluring. Like a meat market."

"Klaus," she says, slowly, planting herself between him and the random Discovery Channel show on the TV. "It's dozens of women literally just waiting to be hit on. Your odds at a happy ending are much better than if stay home and watch porn."

He regards for a beat and then sighs in defeat. "How can I say no when you make me out to be a wanker if I refute your argument?"

 x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 "You brought a date?!" Bonnie cries out with indignation when Caroline arrives at the bar with Klaus on tow.

She considered giving her friend a heads up that he'd be tagging along, but she knows what Bonnie would say. She has been saying it for a while, any opportunity she gets. Just make a move already, Caroline! Fuck the guy's brains out and get over it or stop talking about Klaus all the goddamn time.

The fact she's brought him out to meet other people should probably tell Bonnie that she does not want to bang her roommate. Not that she wouldn't, because Klaus is obviously, you know... Alluring. Annoying, sure, prone to mood swings, but also witty and smart and refined and incredibly attentive when it comes to her, not to mention the whole exterior package thing. But they live together, she's friends with his sister, and it would be a totally stupid idea to ruin it with casual sex. Caroline sweeps the whole tension under the rug and keeps Klaus firmly on the realm of healthy, platonic friendship. But Bonnie would've found a way to claim otherwise if she'd said he was coming.

"He's not a date," she counters. "He's a dater."

Bonnie gives Klaus a pointed look. "Blink once if you were coerced into being here."

Klaus makes an effort of blinking, and Caroline gapes in protest. "I did not coerce you. Our couch has a permanent imprint of Klaus' ass. He needed to dive back into the pool. I'm just being helpful."

"I'm here for the drinks, mostly," he offers.

"Well, you just ruined these poor men's lives," Bonnie says, bobbing her head towards the line of guys standing around them, waiting for the thing to start.

She hadn't really noticed, but they're all staring at them. Not at her, or at Bonnie, but at Klaus, with looks that go from mildly concerned to openly hostile.

"Tough luck," she says with a light shrug. "Look on the bright side. They're gonna be forced to bring out their A game."

"Ahh," Bonnie says, smiling at last. "I see your plan now. That’s actually smart."

"What the bloody hell are you two babbling about?" Klaus asks.

Caroline cocks him a disbelieved eyebrow. "Seriously? You can't tell?"

"Look around, Klaus," Bonnie says. "All the girls are checking you out."

"Not uncommon," he replies matter-of-factly.

"And the guys are shooting daggers at you," Caroline adds.

He purses his lips. "Also not uncommon."

"Exactly. This is competition."

"It's not a beauty pageant, love."

"Life is a beauty pageant," she retorts solemnly.

"Let's put it this way," Bonnie cuts in. "Little girls who kiss frogs expect them to turn into you."

Klaus puffs out a laugh. "Why, thank you, Bonnie, for the rather flattering image. But I don't think I'm that good looking."

"Now you're just playing dumb, which is not sexy, by the way."

He turns to Caroline, cocking his eyebrows in doubt. "Yes, you are, Klaus." A sly smirk breaks onto his lips, and she realizes he'd just set her up into singing his praise. Before he can follow up with a snarky and probably inappropriate remark, she slaps his arm lightly. "Oh, shut up."

"I bet you'll walk out of here with everyone's phone numbers," Bonnie says.

"Except for ours, of course," Caroline adds.

"Why not yours?" he asks, somewhat offended.

"You already have my number."

"Not in this context."

"Yes, because I already know you and all the nasty little bits of your personality. These women, on the other hand, don't."

"So you're attributing every relationship I've ever had to my looks?"

"I thought you didn't do relationships."

"Not normally."

"Well, not the whole relationship," she muses. "Just the beginning."

"The rest are the dimples," Bonnie remarks with a serious nod.

Klaus shakes his head despondently. "And here I was thinking women aren't as vain as men."

Caroline turns to him, putting her hand out. "Wanna bet? You can't tell anyone you're a trust fund kid who runs an art gallery. You're unemployed. Don't pay attention to everything they say, pretend to be distracted. And lose the accent. One hundred bucks says you walk out of here with at least… Twenty names. And I'm being conservative."

Klaus narrows his eyes at her. "You brought me out here to get laid and now you want me to jeopardize my chances?"

"On the contraire. I'm saying you can make yourself out to be as interested as you really are, and still get laid."

He finally takes her hand on a firm shake. "You're on."

A gong rings and they all turn to see a woman with a bright smile beckoning them all to approach. "Ladies and gentlemen," she starts. "The fun is about to start. Ladies, please, take your seats. There's a table for each of you. When I strike this gong, each man should sit at the first table they've been assigned to. When I strike it again, date's over, move on to the next."

"Wish me good luck, then," Klaus tells her as they turn around to order a drink from the bar before moving to their respective spots.

"You won't need it, buddy."

 x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 "Hello, sweetheart," Klaus says pleasantly as he slides into the seat across from her.

Caroline lets out a weary exhale. "Hi, number..." she reads the tag on his chest. "26. What do you prefer, a weekend on the mountains or long walks on the beach?"

"Mountain, easy. Too much sand on the beach, it gets in all sorts of awkward places."

Caroline snorts into her martini. "That's actually the best answer I've had to this question so far. Or to any question, really." She raises her glass on a toast. "How's it going?"

He purses his lips. "I've had to answer that question unironically more than once, so I'd say not stellar."

"I'm sorry," she says around a chuckle.

"You don't look sorry."

"Because I'm not, really. It would be unfair for me to suffer alone. Seen anyone you like, at least?"

The smile on his face turns mysterious. "There's one so far."

"Just one?"

"It's hard to speed date when you're pretending to be slow, uninteresting and American, to be honest."

"You could just tell them the truth. That you were dragged here by a friend who took pity on you sitting around, watching porn all day. That would sure scare some of them away. Although some would probably ask what kind of porn."

"What about you?"

"I don't want to know what kind of porn you watch."

He rolls her eyes at her. "I mean, how's your night going?"

"Oh, you know," she shrugs with a lot less enthusiasm than she'd expected to have by this point in the evening. "A couple of contenders, I guess."

"Oh?"

"Still early."

"Forgive me for pointing it out, but you don't seem particularly excited."

She puffs out in frustration. "Every time I tell them I'm a Med student, they ask what kind of doctor I want to be, and when I say oncologist, they start listing every member of their family who's ever died of cancer. What am I supposed to say after a guy tells me his mother died of breast cancer? I'm sorry, would you like to talk about it?" Caroline glares when he erupts into laughter. "Not funny."

"I'm sorry, it's just that sounds like an awfully interesting conversation."

"Why is dating so hard? Am I too picky? Is it wanting a meet-cute too much? To wake up one day and ta-dam, the guy is there, right in front of me."

Something about Klaus' eyes soften just then. "If only it were that easy," he says, an almost wistful tone to his voice that gives Caroline pause.

Before she can dwell on it further, however, the gong sounds and it's time to move on.

"Here I go, then," he says in his American accent.

When her next prospect sits down, she's laughing at Klaus greeting the woman on the next table with a Hey, babe.

 x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 "Here's to making the 1% 100 dollars poorer," Caroline says, raising her shot in the air before knocking it back.

"Cheers, I suppose," Klaus says dully, sipping from his bourbon.

"Oh, come on!" She bumps her shoulder against his as they sit side by side by the bar. "Don't look so gloomy. That's literally a pile of women in front of you," she says, nodding her head towards the cards sitting on the counter. "How many again?"

"Twenty nine," he grumbles.

"Twenty nine out of 40! That's more phone numbers than most guys will get in a year. Be proud."

"Of my deep cobalt eyes or my sultry lips? Yes, I heard both tonight."

Now it's Caroline's turn to explode into laughter while he just shakes his head helplessly.

"You don't have to be ashamed of your genetics, Klaus," she says. "It's not your fault some women are awkward flirters."

"Tell that to my stepfather." His tone visibly changes as he mentions Mikael, the dark clouds coming back to hover above his head.

Before it can get any worse, Caroline prods on. "So. How many of them are you going to call?"

"None."

"None?!" she gapes. "That's at least a month of guaranteed sex. A month where you won't have to watch porn, you can actually perform porn."

"Alright, you're making me sound like a deranged pervert," he objects. "I do not watch that much porn. That was one time and it is not my fault you lack proper etiquette when walking into someone else's bedroom."

Caroline chuckles. She did walk in without knocking, but, in her defense, it was 3 o'clock. What kind of person watches porn in the middle of the afternoon? She was blushing furiously for weeks before she decided to start teasing him instead as a way to diffuse the guilt. Luckily, he hadn't actually been doing... Anything. Although she did notice the suspicious volume in his pants. It was... Interesting.

"It's nice to make fun of you, though," she says. "That was the closest to a blush I've ever seen on your face."

"Whatever makes you happy, love."

"Seriously, though. Why are you not calling any of them?"

"These women think I'm one step away from being a caveman. It says more about them than it says about me that they're willing to give me their phone numbers."

She scoffs. "Don't be such a snob. They came here to get laid, too. You can't tell me you didn't like any of them."

"Well, there was one. But she didn't slip me her phone number."

Caroline' eyebrows crinkle together. "Really? That's kinda hard to believe."

"I guess your theory was flawed, after all."

"But it has been proved nonetheless. Which reminds me..." She lifts a hand, asking for another round. "I'm gonna drink all your money."

"My whole life has been a lie," Klaus says contemplatively. "I thought I had an enthralling personality, an interesting aura, that my wittiness made me charming, and now I find out I'm nothing but a pretty face."

"To be honest, you're also an endless pit of money." Klaus gives her a side eye, knocking back his drink. Caroline scrunches up her face in mock-pity. "Oh, boo-hoo. It's so hard to be handsome. Why are you so upset about that?"

"It's different when that is all you are. I've been deluding myself."

"Who said that's all you are?" Klaus turns to her with a pointed look. "No, that's not what I said. I said women would want to date you after five minutes because you're pretty, not that pretty is all you are." When he sighs, asking for another drink, still obviously unconvinced, she continues. "Look. My first real boyfriend was a total douchebag. He came across as funny and charming and thoughtful, but it was an act. He saw something he wanted and he knew he had to act a certain way to get it, because even at 17, I liked to think I had standards, even though I clearly didn't."

"Are you saying I'm also manipulative?"

"I'm saying, figuring out who people really are takes time. It takes twice as long if they're trying to impress you. You can take from this that all your relationships have been superficial and physical only, or you can believe that people came for the appeal and stayed for the content."

"Except no one has stayed. My temper seems to have a rather short expiration date, it drives people away. Just ask my brother." He punctuates his sentence with a wan smile, and Caroline understands, at last, that this is all somehow related to his family again.

She suddenly finds herself desperately at loss for what to say. Rebekah would offer something outrageous and mildly offensive that would still hit the nail on the head. Caroline just wanted him to have some fun, but instead she ended up pushing him right back to his bad place.

She considers apologizing, saying it was just teasing and she never really meant it, but what she winds up saying, however, is, "I'm still here, aren't I?"

Klaus looks up at her, a mix of surprise and something else she can't identify flickering through his eyes.

"Is that how you rationalize your relationships?" he asks.

She huffs out a little laugh. "I don't think that highly of myself. I'm a tall, long-legged blonde. That ticks some boxes, but it hardly makes me irresistible."

"I beg to differ, love. You're an exquisite beauty."

Caroline laughs a little, thinking he's obviously saying that just to be nice, but then she catches the look in his eyes, that intensity that always seems to rattle something deep inside of her. There's not a hint of condescension about him.

"I... Well..." she stammers, her cheeks burning hot. "Thank you."

"But that's not all you are. You're also strong, fierce, full of light. Anyone who fails to see what's underneath your stunning exterior is a fool." Caroline freezes under his stare, something almost reverent in the way he says it, a spark lighting up his face for maybe the first time in a month. It sends Caroline's pulse racing. She's suddenly very much aware of how close they are, the air around them simmering with energy, releasing a fresh batch of butterflies in her stomach. The room is a dozen degrees hotter than a second before, and Caroline doesn't know what to do, what not to do, thinks maybe she's had enough to drink already because her sense of reason is getting all fuzzy.

And then Klaus says, "I heard that on PornTube," and the tension eases off of her as the two of them crack up laughing together.

[cecilyneville]

the spanish princess ep 2:

once more unto the breach, my fellow clowns

jsyk, i am skipping a lot of scenes bc i have far better things to do with my time (even under stay-at-home orders), and i cannot for the life of me watch the maggie pole/thomas more scenes. like what is the point of keeping maggie around, she is so boring. andrew buchan what were you THINKING signing up for this 

reggie pole looks like a weird cross bw ben whishaw and sam riley

ok i take back what i said about laura carmichael last week - she’s a damn sight more talented than you-know-who. maggie still boring as hell tho

i can’t wait for the catherine/lina friendship blow-up...it’s coming & lina deserves so much better

oveido’s speech about childbirth and war...you been reading the mirror & the light dude?

THE GLOVE FROM ANNE OF BRITTANY!!!

james iv: i have done nothing wrong, ever, in my life / me: i know this and i love you

as someone with a catherine of aragon icon i just want to say that i really cannot stand tsp’s catherine, she has no redeeming qualities. ef keeps trying to make her likeable by asking oviedo to stay and letting meg keep james’ body but none of it actually gels with her behaviour

[dramatic militaristic music] really just sums up the lameness of this soundtrack

margaret’s prophetic dreams! i wish they’d included the part about her queen’s jewels turning to widow’s pearls

ANGUS DOUGLAS. ANGUS DOUGLAS. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, EMMA FROST

god he’s not even hot what’s the POINT. angus is supposed to be a hot dumbass fool who is just like “hey margaret i know you’re mourning your husband and have just given birth to his posthumous son and are trying to rule the country but are you dtf yet”. what did i do to deserve an ugly angus

i don’t get why they don’t also have meg pregnant at flodden. given that catherine is presumably going to lash out with jealousy at lina, mary, bessie - literally anyone who has given birth to a living son - i think it would have been a good choice, as well as drawing direct parallels between the two women

meg’s costumes are my fave. the colour palette suits georgie and her red riding cap is v cute

catherine’s clown shoes slapping on the floor as she storms off to war

like...it’s supposed to be such a moving scene and i’m just like wow she is literally the biggest moron to have ever lived

oh now she’s going into the enemy tent. honestly can james just kill her on the spot and then the rest of the show can be about margaret in scotland and mary & brandon in france

“he’s fighting for gold from king louis” shock horror! has catherine never heard of the auld alliance or???

like, i know they’re not actually wearing kilts, but the tartan is still stupidly ahistorical - we get it, they’re scottish! 

love how catherine’s trying to do all this shit to rouse support, meanwhile in twp all elizabeth had to say was “do it for me” and all the lords were like yeah sure we love you lizzie

just in case the childbirth/war analogy wasn’t clear enough, we fucking get it emma

i’m not even going to comment about catherine physically fighting and actually killing people, this is the dumbest thing i have ever seen

meg saying james was her “best friend” would be lovely if there had been literally anything demonstrating that. georgie’s performance here is so good though. emotion! actual emotion!

so...catherine rode all the way back to london still covered in blood from the battle...once again i have no comment

also no comment on a very pregnant catherine looking wistfully on at a bird in a cage. i want to die

i know i’ve been going on about how good ruairi o’connor is - and he’s good - but i feel as if he’s a little miscast? idk, he’s just not rowdy enough for me to believe him as henry viii. his appearance and manner is very similar to jacob collins-levy though, which i appreciate

not nearly enough mary this episode imo

still stan the hell out of bessie blount. the strawberry-blonde hair! the rosebud mouth! the eoy vibes!!! (no i am not trying to suggest henry has an oedipal complex, that’s for d*vid st*rkey to do lol)

i hate that all these more interesting characters spend the whole time praising catherine for behaving like an absolute clod

emma frost has no idea how pregnancy and childbirth work (remember rosa’s miscarriage in s1?)

anyway, here’s hoping next ep will have some fun margaret in scotland scenes (lowering the portcullis at edinburgh castle...i can only dream) 

[lonelier-version-of-you]

So... that was a tense two episodes of Casualty, wasn’t it?!

Okay, thoughts on ‘Blinded’ first (I’m so glad the episodes have titles again now lol):

This episode alone did SO MUCH to humanise Stevie. After several months of just wandering around doing panto villain glares at people, Elinor Lawless finally got given some meaty material tonight, and she absolutely smashed it. I didn’t realise just how talented she is until now.

Stevie just completely breaking down and freaking out because she didn’t know how to comprehend the fact that she’d made the same mistake as Ethan, that anyone could make that mistake, was just a BRILLIANT bit of writing. If we’d gotten more stuff like that sooner and less of the bizarre “idk Stevie is evil and wants revenge and we don’t know what else to do with her” stuff, maybe this storyline would have been better.

I did have to laugh at Stevie being like “Ethan is incompetent and I’m going to go to Hanssen about it” though lol. Going to an incompetent CEO, who has a history of covering up for incompetent doctors (which is why he’s an incompetent CEO in the first place - well, part of why, another part is the whole “hiring a man who turned out to be a literal murderer and ignoring any warnings about him being up to no good, all because he fancied him” stuff), to deal with an incompetent doctor... I don’t think that would accomplish as much as you think it would, pal.

Jacob’s stepped down from being Clinical Nurse Manager. End of an era. I say “era”, he wasn’t even CNM for that long, but I don’t care. I hope this is the beginning of a longer journey for him, and they don’t just do some aftermath for a couple of weeks then drop it - that would do a disservice to the subject matter. (I think they might be going the PTSD route? ...Is there a single character on Casualty who doesn’t have PTSD at this point? Not that it’s unrealistic, considering the stuff the characters on this show go through...) Charles Venn was absolutely excellent in his scenes, too, as per usual.

(Also, it was blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, but I loved that moment with Dylan trying to be supportive of Jacob. I think he probably handled things best when it came to being sympathetic and careful without ending up being patronising. I still want to know if Casualty are putting enough continuity effort in as to be writing Dylan’s reactions to Jacob’s trauma the way they have on purpose, i.e. taking into account that Dylan himself is an abuse survivor and grew up witnessing the domestic violence from his dad to his mum. At the very least, you can see Dylan’s backstory has been informing William Beck’s portrayal of those scenes.)

Paul The Suspicious Receptionist is back. Does anyone care about him? I seriously already forgot he was back until I was in the middle of typing this. I don’t even remember his last name. Does he have a last name, have they even told us his last name? I wouldn’t know, he’s just that bland. Go away, Paul The Suspicious Receptionist.

Edit: there was so much going on in tonight’s episodes that I only just realised I didn’t mention the patient storyline. It was very powerful and sad material in theory, but kind of ruined by the whole “the good cop vs. the bad cop” drama. That was unnecessary; I felt it kind of took away from the tragedy of the young man’s death when the scenes started becoming all about how “brave” and “courageous” the old white cop was for getting the other cop in trouble for it.

And now for my thoughts on ‘Two Minutes’:

This was a tense episode indeed, even if I wish Casualty would stop doing the thing where they have mentally ill patients get violent with the staff. It’s not like it’s a thing that never happens, of course. But if we’re going to have patients attacking staff on a semi-regular basis (seriously, why does it seem to happen so much on this show), surely some of them are just going to be violent because they’re violent?

Anyway, speaking of mental illness, tonight made me think Stevie isn’t all that well herself. They certainly seemed to be implying that. Who knows if they’ll actually address it in future though.

I assume Ethan is gonna survive. George Rainsford has still been hanging about Cardiff, isn’t he? Which implies he’s still filming.

Anyway, speaking of George Rainsford... I’m afraid I have to say he didn’t pull these scenes off very well. The quality of his acting varies, and this was one night I thought he wasn’t that great. He tried, but I don’t think those sort of... big, dramatic, shouty scenes are his thing? He tends to do much better in quieter scenes, I feel.

Also, Ethan talking Stevie down by just recapping the shit life the writers have given him was unintentionally funny.

And Stevie did indeed debate whether to save Ethan then decide she had to. Congrats to everyone who predicted that lmao.

I presume this means the revenge storyline is gonna just be over soon. What on Earth was the point of it, then? Why introduce Stevie with a storyline like this? It’s not exactly going to make viewers warm to her, is it?

Elsewhere, poor Rash is getting into more and more trouble with the gang. I just want to wrap him up in a blanket and protect him from the world. He’s so nice and lovely and compassionate and it’s being used against him and it breaks my heart. (Even if I have to admit I couldn’t take it very seriously when the gang members threatened Rash’s dad with... a twig.)

And Dylan is an environmental activist now, I guess, lol. Honestly, I kind of enjoyed those scenes. The climate change/recycling stuff was much less preachy than Holby’s episode this week was, and it gave us some good laughs, first with David overthinking recycling bins, then with Robyn’s posters.

Although I’m not a fan of how Faith suddenly seems to be showing interest in Dylan again. He deserves so much better.

(Also, I have a Twitter mutual who keeps joking about Dylan not being able to stand properly, and tonight you could really see what they meant lol. God I love this man and his awkward body language.)

[barnesandrogersfanfics]

Rose Coloured Glasses - Part 9

A/N: Bit of a shorter chapter to move us along!

Thank you to everyone who is liking/sharing this fic it means so much! ILY 💕

"Frank.... what are you doing here?"

"I really needed to see you, to explain about earlier"

"Nows not a great time"

"Please? I feel awful"

"Cant this wait until tomorrow? Im about to have dinner...." a phone ringing from the living room made me look over my shoulder and Frank was trying to look around me.

"You already have company?" He asked looking surprised that i wasn't alone.

"I..."

Just as i was about to answer Andy came walking out now wearing his suit jacket and coat and Frank scoffed shaking his head as if everything in the world made sense now.

"Hey, i gotta go pick up Jacob" he said to me before looking at Frank and the two exchanging their usual greeting "thanks for locking up tonight i owe you" he patted some keys in his pocket "see you in the morning?"

"Of course"

"Okay, goodnight"

"Goodnight" he smiled at me as moved around Frank and headed to his car, i couldn't help but notice how much he turned back to look at me.

"Guess i know why you wouldn't invite me in..."

"What?"

"You sleeping with him?"

"No! God Frank we're not all like you jumping bed to bed! He came to pick up the office keys" i lied about why Andy was really there.

"Sorry, guess i got a little jealous"

I couldn't help but laugh at Franks words, he was the one sleeping with other people and his saying he got jealous??

"Its not funny....."

"It kinda is considering your the one who decided to slut it around town"

"I..... please can we talk inside?"

A pizza delivery vehicle parked up and young boy came rushing over to hand over my pizza.

"Thank you" i smiled passing him the money and taking the pizza, the boy smiled and was soon back in his car driving away.

"You hungry?" I offered still unsure if this was a good idea but i was starving and Frank didn't show any sign of leaving.

"Sure, i could eat" he nodded following me inside.

Frank made himself at home quickly and i had to admit it was nice to have him around again....I had missed him. But i had to remember he would never be the guy to commit to just one person and i didn't want to think about him with other women when he wasn't with me.

"So i guess we should talk about the other morning?"

"Not really, it was pretty obvious what was going on Frank. Im not stupid" i scoffed.

"I didnt mean for it to happen.... i was more than happy with what we had going on" he motioned between the two of us "we were great together, we had fun right?"

"Im not saying we didn't have fun, i was enjoying what we had" i told him honestly "really enjoying it! But seeing you with that woman....."

"Look i only hooked up with her because i was pissed you couldn't make it.... i had far too much to drink and one thing lead to another...."

"Wow..... you were pissed at me?? I told you why i couldn't make it. Its not like i just couldn't be bothered! You try dealing with hundreds of questions about a dead kid all day and then feel up to partying! i was exhausted! I told you id reschedule its not like id never go meet your friends"

"Im sorry okay, can't we just put this behind us and carry on...?"

"I cant Frank i'm sorry. Seeing you with that woman made me realise i'm not okay with the casual dating thing. The thought that when your not with me your probably fucking some other woman..... i can't do it"

"But you knew what this was..."

"And i thought i could deal with that" i shrugged "i need someone i trust not to hurt me. I need that commitment..."

"And you think your gonna get that from Andy Barber?"

"What?? This isn't about him! Why do you keep bringing Andy up?"

"Incase your forgetting sweetheart, Andy is married. He cant give you what you need either"

"I think you should go, this conversation isn't going anywhere. You cant give me what i need.... your scared to commit to one person and thats what i need. Im sorry Frank, i loved our time together i really did".

"I can try....."

"Its not what you want" i shook my head "you'd get bored with me in no time and then you'd go find someone else"

"You don't know that" he looked at me with sad eyes but shook his head because he knew i was right.

"We can still be friends but thats all i can give you right now. Maybe in the future if you ever decide to settle down things might be different"

"Well i know where to come if that ever happens" he chuckled "but yeah id like us to be friends still..." he reached out and pulled me into his arms holding me tight, he buried his face in my neck and pressed a kiss under my ear.

"I should go" he finally said standing up grabbing his jacket from the chair "thanks for the pizza".

"We should do it again, we can watch a movie and hang out"

"Sounds great sweetheart" he pressed a quick kiss to my forehead and then he left without a word.

After throwing out the empty pizza box i settled on the sofa with a fresh beer. A new episode of The Walking Dead was about to start when my phone lit up with a message. I looked and saw Andy's name, my heart started racing and i suddenly felt very nervous!

Andy: Hey, everything okay there with Frank?

I couldn't help but laugh a little and shake my head.

Y/N: You checking up on me? Lol

Andy: No? Lol

Andy: Kinda..... i know you two were close

Y/N:  Nothings going on i promise, he stayed for some pizza while we talked things through and then he left.

Andy: Good. I hated leaving you like  that.

Andy: are you okay about what happened with us?

Y/N: didn't i seem okay about it then? Lol i thought it was pretty obvious that i was into it.

Andy: just checking lol i'm a bit rusty at all this.....

Y/N: its all good i promise :)

Y/N: What are you up to anyway?

Andy: looking over Patz's file trying to find something.... anything that might help. Im not getting anything but a headache.

Y/N: You should go get some sleep, have a look at it again tomorrow with fresh eyes.  I could meet you at the office and go over it with you?

Andy: yeah? You wouldn't mind?

Y/N: Not at all

Andy: Okay, i think i'll take your advise and pack up for the night. I'll see you in the morning?

Y/N: Yeah, i'll bring the good coffee ;) Goodnight Andy xx

Andy: Your the best! Goodnight Y/N xx

Little did i know the shit storm that was about to hit tomorrow, this was  definitely the calm before the storm!

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Rose Coloured Glasses taglist: @readermia @princess-evans-addict @jennmurawski13 @matsumama @ex-bloodjunkie @kaithezaftig @rynabarnesrogers @rainbowkisses31