#even if jane would argue otherwise

[pastafossa]

Entirely, absolutely, totally coincidentally, I thought ya’ll might like to get a sneak peak randomly for no reason hear Ciro’s First Five Rules of Criminality

Children are off limits at every level.

Harm to innocent bystanders is forbidden, especially when it comes to those deemed particularly vulnerable or newsworthy: animals, the elderly, women, and children. Carelessness that leads to collateral damage will be swiftly punished, and intentional harm will earn you a death sentence.

The majority of criminal activities must be pre-approved. Some, like SA and animal cruelty, are never sanctioned and carry a death sentence if the violator is caught. Other crimes like robbery, murder, fraud, and selling of stolen merchandise are strictly controlled.  

Respect the communities within which you operate - keep your space clean, provide assistance when needed, and be polite. Those communities are the ones who’ll be left to speak to police long after you’re gone.

Protect your family.

Anyway these totally have no bearing on how Ciro’s going to feel when he opens that door and sees Jane beat to shit, what? That’s ridiculous, I just felt like dropping these.

who put those italics up there pfft

[perfectsunlight]

[04] NEW BEST FRIEND

warnings: none

AUGUST 2028

jane ivory kim rarely got upset. but when she did, it was always for a good reason.

“i’m not going.” the teenager shook her head in disbelief. jieun sighed sympathetically, knowing she had no control in the current matter, but still wanting nothing more than for her granddaughter to be happy.

“jane,” jieun said softly as she gently reached and put a hand on the other girl’s knee. “it’s what your mother wants.”

cat-like eyes flashed with frustration and almost utter annoyance. “but she doesn’t even know what i want. she barely knows anything about my life. all my friends are going to apgujeong high school, and she wants to ship me off to some snobby all-girls school?”

jieun knew that the only thing to cause the docile girl to become irate was her mother.

her heart ached at the truth in her granddaughter’s words. she didn’t entirely support jennie’s decision, but she knew that she had no say in it otherwise. “i know, sweetheart. but your mother thinks this school will offer you the best opportunities.”

ivory clenched her fists, her knuckles turning the same shade of her name. “opportunities for what? to be alone? to be around girls who don’t care about anything but money? if that woman likes it so much, she should go herself.”

the older woman’s shoulders deflated. recently, the teenager had been referring to her mother as anything but her mother. as inherently rude as it was, jieun couldn’t argue against jane’s choice.

“it’s an international school, maybe it'll be good for you to meet some new people.” jieun suggested, trying to find a positive note. ivory’s shoulders slumped forward, knowing she couldn’t argue with her grandmother for something that wasn’t in her control.

“are the uniforms pretty at least?” 

—

jieun descended from the stairs to see her granddaughter tightening her necktie. the uniforms were very elegant, and the older woman couldn’t help but smile. “you look very intelligent.” ivory shifted her gaze from the living room mirror to her grandmother. she shot the woman a playful eye roll before adjusting her blazer. it was navy blue, tailored to fit perfectly and adorned with the school's emblem on the left breast pocket. the white blouse beneath was buttoned up neatly, the collar peeking out just above the blazer’s lapel. her pleated skirt, also navy blue, fell just above her knees, paired with white socks and polished black shoes.

she tugged at the hem of her skirt, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles. “at least it’s comfortable,” she remarked, trying to find a silver lining.

jieun smiled, stepping closer to adjust a stray strand of hair behind ivory’s ear. “you look beautiful, sweetheart. you’ll do great.”

the teenager gave a small nod, glancing back at her reflection. the uniform was indeed elegant and gave her a polished appearance, but it also felt like a costume she had to wear to fit into a role she didn’t choose.

with a deep breath, she picked up her school bag, its weight a reminder of the day ahead. “i guess i better get going,” she said, her voice wavering slightly.

jieun’s eyes softened with understanding. “are you sure you don’t want your mother to give you a ride?” jane quickly shook her head with a smile. the only reason the older woman asked was because she and jennie were going to paris for fashion week. 

and although a ride to school would be nice, jane felt that keeping her pride was the better option.

“enjoy your vacation, grandma.”

—

the walk to school was only 20 minutes, but each step felt like an eternity. however, upon approaching the school’s front gates, it was evident that the world she was stepping into was one she’d never truly been in.

sure, her family had money. but jane liked normal things. she liked her normal friends and her normal life without the pressure of her mother’s status. as she walked through the pristine, manicured grounds of her new school, she felt a pang of longing for the simplicity she had left behind.

inside the main hall, echoes of footsteps and snippets of conversation bounced off the walls. some spoke of their parent’s cars, others mentioned their latest vacation, and some were simply taking pictures with their friends. 

the brunette almost bumped into a few girls who were clearly rushing to get to their classes. she narrowly avoided collision, but still knew that she’d have to keep her eyes up because it still was the first day.

her classes went by slowly, and even though jane didn’t speak more than four words in the past four hours, she was already sick of it here. lunch time was her chance to finally have a moment to herself. she scanned the dining hall, glancing at the obvious cliques at each table.

naturally, she decided to check the bathroom to see if it was empty. 

unfortunately, she was met with a group of girls taking photos and the smell of cigarettes. one of the taller girls looked over at jane with a confused look. “do you need something?” she asked while her friends whispered to each other. 

“who the hell is that?”

ivory opened her mouth to say something in return, however she knew better than to entertain such antics. she quickly bowed and mumbled an apology before quickly leaving.

she was making her way to check outside when suddenly, a girl hurrying in the opposite direction collided with her, causing jane to stumble backward. the girl's water bottle slipped from her hand and splashed across jane's chest.

“sorry!” the girl exclaimed while still running in the opposite direction. the younger girl sighed, trying to maintain her composure despite the cold water seeping through her uniform. “seriously,” she muttered, though her tone betrayed a hint of frustration. she wiped at the damp spots on her blazer with her sleeve, trying to salvage what she could.

she could hear the small snickers of her peers around her, but the idol’s daughter decided to simply ignore it. jane wandered outside, rubbing the back of her neck and taking a seat on the steps to the entrance.

the sun warmed her face, providing a brief respite from the cool dampness of her uniform. she closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

footsteps approached, and jane opened her eyes to see a taller girl with a kind smile standing in front of her. she had a gentle demeanor, her eyes curious yet empathetic.

“rough day?” the girl asked, sitting down beside jane on the steps without waiting for an invitation.

jane managed a small smile, appreciating the small conversation. “you could say that,” she replied, glancing down at her slightly damp blazer.

the taller girl’s eyes twinkled with curiosity. “new here?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. jane simply nodded, feeling a sense of relief at this new friendly demeanor. “yeah, just started today,” she admitted, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

the ravenette nodded understandingly. “well, welcome to the academy,” she said warmly. “there’s good things here, i promise.”

jane chuckled softly, appreciating this attempt to lighten the mood. “good to know,” she replied. the stranger turned to rummage through her bag before handing jane some tissues. “here, this might help.”

jane accepted the tissues with a grateful smile, touched by the thoughtful gesture. she dabbed at the remaining damp spots on her blazer, feeling a bit more composed now. the sun overhead cast a warm glow, and the quiet chatter of students around them created a soothing backdrop.

“thank you,” jane said sincerely, meeting her eyes. “you really didn't have to do that.”

the other girl waved off her gratitude with a smile. “it's no problem at all. we've all been there, right?”

ivory nodded, feeling a sense of camaraderie with the girl despite just meeting her. “yeah, i guess so,” she admitted, realizing she felt more at ease talking to her than she had with most people at the academy so far.

“so, where are you from?” the other girl asked, curiosity evident in her voice.

jane hesitated for a moment, unsure how much to share. she had always been cautious about revealing too much, especially about her background.

“seoul,” jane replied finally, deciding to keep it vague. “what about you?”

the stranger smiled, seemingly content with the answer. “same. what program are you in?”

“music.” ivory smiled as she watched the other girl’s face light up. “really? me too! we’ll definitely have classes together then.”

“oh i almost forgot,” the stranger continued before she rummaged through her bag again. she pulled out a roll of kimbap. “here, you must be hungry. don’t worry, i made extra.” 

jane’s smile widened at the sight of the food. she took it gratefully, mentally reminding herself to pack her own snacks next time. “thank you. i’ll bring you something tomorrow.”

the taller girl grinned warmly as jane accepted the roll of kimbap, her eyes crinkling with genuine friendliness. “you're welcome! i hope you like it,” she said cheerfully, clearly pleased to have made a small gesture of kindness.

jane nodded appreciatively, unwrapping the food and taking a bite. the flavors of the seasoned rice, vegetables, and savory filling were comforting and satisfying. “mmm, this is really good,” she complimented, impressed by her new friend’s culinary skills.

the other girl beamed at the praise. “i'm glad you think so! i'll definitely look forward to what you bring tomorrow,” she replied, her tone light and friendly.

after finishing lunch, jane glanced at the stranger with a grateful smile. “thanks again for the food and for being so nice to me. it means a lot,” she admitted softly, touched by this stranger’s kindness.

the ravenette waved off her gratitude with a gentle laugh. “of course! it's nice to have someone new to talk to,” she said warmly. “oh, i should’ve asked for your name.”

jane chuckled and stuck her hand out for the other girl to take. she had a feeling this would be the start of a genuine friendship.

“i’m jane, nice to meet you.” the girl  took her hand and shook it firmly, eyes still beaming with excitement. she also felt like she was about to make a new best friend.

“eunchae. hong eunchae.”

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OPEN! COMMENT BELOW THE MASTERLIST TO BE ADDED

[koalas-koalas-everywhere]

You know what? I'll say it. I cannot understand what on earth made Patrick attracted to Kristina.

And this isn't (just) because I personally find her irritating. It's that, of the attractive qualities she does have, they are not the kind of traits that would appeal to Jane.

I mean. She's him.

Worse than that, she's him making what in hindsight he sees as some of the worst mistakes of his life, and that's even before she pulls the Red John stunt. He consistently talks about his era of defrauding people and pretending to be a psychic with shame — it's left such a sour impression on him that "there's not such thing as psychics" became a catchphrase for him, since he feels compelled to always clarify that when asked if he's one. He also becomes downright hostile to people who believe in them — though mostly when they try to insist that he has a gift and he's just in denial... oh! like Kristina did!

Jane wants someone better than him. As in, morally. He said as much in his video for Erica Flynn, but, more than that, we see it in all his other choices/romantic interests — Angela, Lisbon, Sophie Miller. (From there, and this is one aspect of my "Lisbon is Jane's second Sophie Miller" thesis, you could even extrapolate a little more and say that he likes people who save him, but let's stick to facts for now.) Even if you wanted to argue that they're not so good, or that he likes at least one of them because her flaws make them equal, I think his view of them is marked by admiration for the ways in which they're more noble or stronger than him.

The only thing I can imagine he finds attractive in Kristina is that they're intellectual equals — in every way. They're not just both very smart, their intelligence manifests in the same way, to the point that they chose the same profession in which to scam people with it and were led to the point of helping the police, as Jane said, just to keep the thrill alive.

I know that the most popular result in that one poll was that, though she wasn't a psychic, she at least believed she was, but, to be honest, though I voted that option too, I'm not so convinced now. More to the point: Jane doesn't believe that. He thinks she's faking it. And I don't blame him — she makes her "gift" out to be such a sacred thing, says she can't lie about what Brava says, but this is the second time she's let Jane abuse one of her seances to catch a perp. So most of his interactions with her are about getting her to admit it. Catching her in the trick.

Maybe that's the point, though. She's an intellectual equal who presents a challenge. You could say that she can scratch two itches in one for Jane — to figure her out and to start to move one from Angela. If anything, the... little appeal I can see her otherwise presenting to him makes sense in this regard. I think we all agree that the reason he and Lisbon don't get together until the later seasons is that he just won't be emotionally available for a committed romantic relationship until RJ dies. In this sense, pursuing Kristina makes sense — he could get some sort of solace from her, without suffering long-term consequences from it, since he wouldn't have had a future with her anyway.

But even that's a bit hard to swallow when you take into account that Kristina is pretty much making a mockery of everything Jane went through, including learning to regret tricking people for its own sake. Again, seeing this from his perspective, which is that she's faking the psychic thing — he'd have to think that she's looking at a man whose wife and daughter were killed for pretending to be a psychic and... well, doing everything she does. Every single thing about her would be offensive in this situation.

I don't know, man. The best I can some up with is that he's really eager to start to move on for some reason all of a sudden, and she's the first person who interests him without fascinating him so he'd have to deal with long-term consequences for their involvement.

*I suppose you could argue that, later on, he'll also feel a spark towards Erica Flynn (an honest one, I believe, which is why I'm counting it and not the widow form Ladies in Red). I wonder how much of it isn't Kristina Reprised — someone he knew he didn't have a future with, in this case, because she was a criminal and a user, and for the same reason he didn't need to fear the consequences of getting near. Erica had too much self-preservation where Kristina had too much pride.

[dancingacrossthemilkyway]

Make a drabble for my time travel au pls

It shouldn’t be so difficult to keep up an act, but Jon never was much of an actor to begin with.

In a perfect world, he could blame the slip-ups that almost reveal they’re dating on someone else. Martin, for instance, given he is the other half of this particular equation. However Martin does a significantly better job at keeping everything under wraps - something that shouldn’t be a surprise after everything they’ve gone through. No, his fault is being slightly too aloof at times these days or when he’s blunter than he ought to be, compared to how he was a matter of weeks ago. Still, Tim and Sasha simply worry over him, concerned that something has happened in his personal life to upset him. When he delivers Jon tea and occasionally shuts the door behind him, they assume he’s in trouble again, none the wiser about the kiss he places on Jon’s forehead or the casual way they chat with him leaning against Jon’s desk. 

Jon, however. He’s not as subtle as he’d like. It’s been a point of contention with himself for over a decade that he more or less wears his heart on his sleeve, despite every attempt otherwise. It certainly doesn’t help that he can’t lie to save his life. 

All of this means he generally goes out of his way to avoid Martin because he’s well aware of the fact that he cannot control how softly he looks at him. 

So far, it’s been a successful strategy. Sasha assumes he’s kicked up his dislike of Martin a notch and hasn’t thought too much further into it; Tim’s spent much of his time preparing to comfort Martin after Jon inevitably does something to upset him. This does nothing, unfortunately, to save them when he’s forced to be in the room with all three of them to prepare for the inevitable arrival of Jane Prentiss. 

There is nothing to worry about, he tells himself as he gathers the pertinent statements along with a list of reasons they should be preparing that hopefully won’t trigger suspicion. I simply won’t look at him, or speak to him, or even acknowledge that he exists. It is an absolutely reasonable plan, one that he’s confident he can stick to. 

“...hey boss,” Tim starts about halfway through Jon’s explanation of why he believes Prentiss is inhabiting the tunnels underneath the Institute. “Is there a reason you’ve been avoiding looking at Martin the past 30 minutes?”

Jon startles visibly at the question, clutching his pen tighter. He clears his throat and glances at the table, setting down the pen in favor of picking up his papers and organizing them. “He has yet to ask any relevant questions. I don’t see why I should focus my attention on him.”

“It’s just that, you know, you’ve glanced at both Sasha and me several times by now. Doing the whole-” Tim wiggles his fingers at his eyes with an easy grin, “-eye contact thing to make sure we’re listening and understanding. But not Martin.”

“Yeah, actually, Tim’s right.” Sasha sits up in her chair and leans forward, placing her elbows on her desk and frowning at him. “You’ve been treating him like he doesn’t exist lately, Jon. That’s not okay.”

“Well, I-” Shit. Jon swallows, stumbling over his words in his attempt to come up with some sort of believable excuse. “Martin, he - that is, I simply-”

A long-suffering sigh comes from Martin’s desk. “Guys, it’s okay. Jon doesn’t have to like me.” As usual, Martin comes to his rescue right before he makes an even bigger mess of things. “What matters is that we do the job, right?”

“There’s plenty of studies out there that show it’s important that people who work closely together need to have the ability to get along if they’re going to be successful,” Sasha argues with a shake of her head. “The workplace environment can become toxic really fast otherwise.”

“Toxic?” Jon furrows his brows, offended at the implications. “Maybe I don’t talk to Martin much, but I would hardly call that toxic.”

“What about the way you berate him when he doesn’t do his ‘due diligence’?” Tim cuts in. “That’s toxic behavior if I’ve ever seen it.”

“Or the way that you not only give him the easiest tasks but tell him you’re doing so because that way he can’t mess things up?” Sasha tilts her head to the side, one brow raised in a challenge. “Or how you-”

Jon raises his hands in supplication and sighs. “Alright, alright, I get it. I need to be more pleasant to Martin. Now if that’s all, I’d very much like to get back to how we’re going to handle Ja-”

“No, no, you’re not getting off that easily.” Tim exchanges a look with Sasha, then, one that becomes far more mischievous than he likes. “You need to apologize.”

“What?” Both Jon and Martin respond in unison, eyes meeting for the briefest of moments before looking at Tim and Sasha in varying states of dismay. 

“He really doesn’t need to do that.” Martin leans forward and fervently shakes his head when the others look at him. “It’s, it’s fine, guys, okay? Just drop it.”

Is this how they all viewed him, back then? Jon’s brows furrow and his lips tilt down into a frown as he leans his palms onto the spare desk in front of him. He knew he’d treated Martin poorly, of course he did; he’d have to be either very stupid or very oblivious to not. “No, no,” he says in a softer and far more exhausted tone than he usually uses (mostly for the purpose of keeping up the ruse). “They’re… they’re right. I never have properly apologized for the way I treated you, Martin.”

Martin, for his part, freezes much like a deer caught in headlights. “I - uh. Jon, this maybe isn’t the time?” 

For the first time since walking into the assistant’s area, Jon looks straight at Martin. It’s probably a mistake, one he’s not entirely certain they’ll recover from because he can feel the way his expression softens even as Martin’s shifts to a visible panic. “There’s never going to be a ‘right time,’ I don’t think. I’m sorry, Martin. I truly am. I will do better from here on out.”

The silence that follows is loud, lasting what feels like an eternity before being cut through with a low whistle. “That was a lot more genuine than I expected,” Tim says, gaze flicking between the two with a growing curiosity. “Hey, have you two ever considered-”

“That’ll be quite enough of that, thank you,” Jon interrupts, breaking eye contact with Martin and shuffling his papers unnecessarily. “Back to the topic at hand-”

[twilight-at-midnight]

Crazy Girls

Pairing: Jane x (female) reader

Warnings: None

Requested: Yes

Request: @urdeadpoet123

Prompts: 11, 13, 14, 16, and 22, with Jane, also 8, 9, 10, 15, and 18, with Riley.

***

“Don’t talk to me like that!” Jane snarls at you, taken you by surprise.

Jane had never once raised her voice at you, though it may have happened once or twice before, she would normally never do that. Even if the two of you getting into an arguments, you try avoiding these things but Jane presses forward sometimes a little aggressively. Of course, she never means it, all of it has come from the heat of the moment.

“Not cool, (Y/n)!!! It’s not cool at all!!!”

Jane had taken you along with her on tasks and the recent current one had gone wrong.

Right now, Jane was getting after you like a child would when getting caught swiping a cookie from the jar that was out of reach. It was an accident really, you noticed that Jane was having trouble and tried helping her out of it. Which was what nearly got you killed after stepping in front of Jane, the result being you getting hurt. Jane was pissed as on the other hand, you would do anything for her, even if it costs your life. Jane lets out an angry huff, she wasn’t mad at you in particular, just of your actions.

“Hey! I just saved your life!”

Jane only glared at you before saying anything about the situation.

“I can banish you, you know?”

“I’ve seen you do worse, you know?” you shoot back at her.

“You’ll wanna stop right there if you want to see tomorrow.”

That got you extremely quiet.

You couldn’t believe the cruel words Jane, your mate, had just said to you.

“Jane!” you finally mustered out.

“Keep your voice down! You’re going to make a scene!”

“Excuse me, I have to go make a scene!” you mocked.

Which is what really happens, you run off as Jane stood there, not looking back until you were completely out of sight.

Jane wasn’t going to let you get away from this. At this point, both you and Jane started arguing after finding you. The both of you know that the scene wasn’t going to happen, and for your sakes, that was probably one of the best decisions to have made, to allow it not to come around any further than it needs to be. You were looking for something to eat when you hear a voice behind you. Turning around, you come face to face with Alec, he a had a look on his face that said he had something to say or some questions. Still feeling upset from the argument, you did your best to remain calm as you greeted him.

“What can I do for you?”

“Do you want to tell me what that was about?”

You couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed knowing he had heard your argument with Jane, but that didn’t last long once you have given a response.

“Listen, I’m sorry you had to hear that. As you know, I’m still just getting used to the idea of being mated to Jane, however, I’m not going to go back and apologize for something that I’m not wrong about.”

“What would you be wrong about?”

“The task took a wrong turn and I stepped in front of her, helping her out and not to mention saving her life. Instead of being appreciative about it, she took it as something I’ve done wrong.”

“You had try telling her otherwise?”

“Yes, of course..”

As you were about to go on to say more, a sudden flash had caught your attention. Knowing it was Jane, you almost feel upset all over again and decided to be a pest against Jane for the moment.

“Did you see that? You saw that, right? Someone here?”

Alec was obviously quite amused by your childish game there, and Jane looked agitated by it.

She stood in front of you as you smirked while continuing the game.

“Oh, it’s you.”

Before you could speak another word, you grimaced as Jane roughly takes hold of your hand and pulls you behind her back to her room.

“I think we need to discuss this, (Y/n).”

“What’s there to be discussed about?”

“A lot.”

You stop yourself from scoffing and rolling your eyes as she continues.

“It’s not that I’m grateful for you saving my life, but you have to understand that I could have lost you.”

Those words struck you like no other, this was really the first time Jane was showing how much you meant to her and not only that, you were given a taste of her point of view all at once.

You can’t recall on the last time you have felt so delighted about something in your life. Jane truly loved you, and with you still being human made it uneasy for her to put her worries to ease. Slowly and carefully did Jane step forward and pull you into her embrace as you allowed it.

“I can’t lose you.”

“Than turn me.”

Your command had taken Jane off guard, so much so that she had to pull away and study you closely. As she does so, the look on your face only told her that you were being dead serious before pulling you back into her.

“Are you sure? I was going to wait until you were ready, (Y/n).” she nearly whispered your name.

If losing your humanity meant spending forever with your mate, you were more than willing to give it all up for her. Lose it all for her, the one you loved most.

“Yes..”

Jane nods and takes you to be placed on the bed before hovering over you.

With her now just inches away from you, Jane leans and whispers in your ear, sending shivers down your spine.

“It’s going to hurt, but I’ll be with you through all of it.” she promises and you nod in response as she plants a few kisses before officially biting you.

You want to scream as the burning sensation of her venom courses through your veins, but you can’t.

You wanted yo reach for her to have something to hold onto, but you can’t. This process has you paralyzed until a few days later when you wake up from it. Jane may be a tough cookie towards you at times, but the love you have for each other is real, and that’s all that mattered to you both.

The bright future ahead of you.

***

Requests: open

@twilight-at-midnight

Characters:

• Edward

• Carlisle

• Jasper

• Emmett

• Benjamin

• Jacob

• Vladimir

• Stefan

• Aro

• Marcus

• Caius

• Alec

• Jane

• Bella

• Alice

• Rosalie

• Victoria

• Riley.

• Bella

[lorifragolina]

Wish upon a star

The second fill for the green bingo card of @harringrovesummerbingo! I combined it with the weekly prompt "Using Tongue" for @aug-kissed.

Lately I feel a little difficult writing smut or explicit sex but I hope you can forgive me!

Title: Wish upon a star

Square & Prompt: C3 "Nude beach"

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 2393

Major Tags: semi-public sex, nude beach, public nudity

Summary: Yes, Steve is now at peace with his sexuality, and Billy is twenty years old, hot and free. And he is teasing him. An innocent walk to see the shooting stars, in a nudist beach… what can happen?

Read on AO3

Billy Hargrove emerged from the sea foam from the ocean, and Steve Harrington thought he fucking wanted that man. 

Billy ruffled sensually the water from his hair, and looked at him sticking his tongue with a wicked smile, after dropping on the towel at his side, on his stomach, and sunbathing until dry. Steve took a hem of his own towel and covered his crotch, embarrassed, trying not to glue his eyes on Billy’s back and in the curve of his buttchecks under the obscenely low waist of his trunks.

Max wanted to visit Billy that summer, and convinced Steve to go with them; Steve always wanted to see the coast with a motorhome, so they rented one at the airport and went to collect Billy to go and have an adventure. Steve wasn’t prepared for the effect that Billy made on him, two years after he left Hawkins to return to San Diego.

“You can’t just let go of your flock, I see,” muttered Billy, seeing Max, Lucas, Jane and Will coming out the vehicle, and Steve blushed. 

“They can drive the motorhome if they want,” argued Steve.

“Not on my watch,” scoffed Billy climbing in the passenger side. 

Steve spent a minute looking at his profile, sharp as even, with the blonde curls naturally bleached and his face lightly red and peeled.

“Hey, do you want a picture? It lasts more,” mocked Billy, and then: “Go,” when Steve SI snapped out of it and looked bothered at him.

It wasn’t easy for Steve;  twenty years old Billy was even hotter than eighteen years old Billy, he seemed less a tough guy and more relaxed, he smiled more and… well, Steve had made peace with his bi self and now he looked at Billy with different eyes. He even smelled hot. 

He gulped dry and started the car. Billy gave him directions for the beaches and the sites he wanted to show them, and they passed the first day in and out the water, chasing the waves with rented surf and eating ice cream; Billy seemed to tease him, but it was the same old Billy that made fun of him as usual, and Steve tried to cool down, otherwise the trip would been a terrible pain. 

At night, they opened all the lodgings and there was a little fuss for where everyone wanted to sleep. 

Billy gave Lucas a dirty look when Max claimed the double bed in the bottom of the van, but he didn’t say anything. His sister was almost an adult and he couldn’t prevent them from doing anything with violence, he had to be smart.

“I can lend you some protection if you want,” he said coldly, patting Lucas’ shoulder with a fake smile. 

“Oh God, gross,” exclaimed Max, and so Billy made sure they wouldn’t do anything when he was present. 

He smiles slyly to Steve, who had followed all the conversation, and made him blush and look away.

“I think we have to sleep in the bunks,” murmured Steve.

“Not me, I’ll sleep outside on the beach chair”.

He opened the chair in the patio, where a fresh wind was blowing, tempting compared with the hot air inside.

“There are two,” blinked Billy, and again Steve blushed. 

Billy was definitely joking with him and Steve was sure he was reading all the situation wrong, due to his altered perception; it was obvious that Billy wasn’t teasing him and that Billy didn’t even thought about it, he was a healthy, straight boy who was enjoying a holiday with his friends and who would start hunting girls at the first change.

Billy sat in the chair spreading his legs and lit a cig; he looked at Steve under the feeble light of the patio,covered by little flies, and smiled, blowing the smoke to him.

“You smoke?” He lent the cig, it was a normal cig but Steve took it, dragging Billy’s flavor along with the nicotine.

“I have something stronger, if you feel adventurous,” continued Billy.

Steve returned the cig and pursed his lips. 

“Another time, maybe… I’m tired”.

Billy scoffed and finished the cig, then turned on his side, looking at him with a hand under his chin.

Steve arranged his chair to lay down and closed his eyes.

“A pity…” he whispered, and Steve, who was already falling asleep, was’n sure. “I know some ways to keep you awake”.

And there they were. The kids - although Steve couldn’t call them kids anymore, they were almost legally adults and Lucas and Will were already taller than him- were enjoying the beaches and the ocean, Billy was surfing and teasing him, and he was sitting in the sand covering his boner because he didn’t want to get arrested there.

Billy turned on his back and Steve almost jumped saying the glimpse on his pierced nipple, that he didn’t notice the day before because he tried not to stare. 

He had a sigh of surprise and tried to look away, but it got worse: Billy had a sensual piercing on his navel too, sensually resting on his happy trail that now Steve couldn't avoid to follow. Billy moved and arranged his trunks on his crotch, then stared at Steve.

“What, princess?” He mocked him. He tore off the towel from his crotch and laughed loudly. “Well, don’t worry, it’s full of pretty girls, it’s normal”.

Steve blushed, lowering his eyes and staring unwillingly at the piercing.

“Oh,” Billy followed his bouncing eyes. “Those”.

He fidget with the nipple piercing. “Do you like it? You know, it makes things a lot more… sensitive…” he whispered, enjoying Steve's embarrassment. He stuck again his tongue and Steve lowered his eyes.

“I bet…” he murmured, and the opportune arrival of the kids saved him from more inconveniences. 

He tried to wash his stupid thoughts away, under the cold shower, but Billy came under the one at his side and kept moving his trunks to wash himself under it, and Steve couldn’t stop his heart from jumping out of his chest.

But Billy was straight and was only joking as when they were in high school, right? Come on, Steve, he thought, you had a million showers together, and naked, and you never had nothing to hide…

Well he had something to hide in that right moment, something hard, but he was sure Billy wasn’t teasing him in that way? Right?

He took his time under the cold water to rinse his hair, and Billy got bored of mocking him and went away. When he finished he found Billy sat on the rock wall waiting for him; he saw that he crossed his eyes with a tall, brown haired guy with a board and he smiled to him, then blinked, and the other blinked to Billy too, going away; Billy licked his lips looking at the boy’s ass and squirming, without noticing Steve. 

Steve cleared his throat, absolutely distraught. The guy was hot as fuck, and he was indubitably a man, that meant… 

He tried to stop his heart. Even if he was wrong about Billy’s preference, how could he fancy him with those Greek gods available at his fingertips?

“Hey Harrington, it seems you see a ghost”. The piercing glimpsed in the sunset. 

“No…” Steve blinked, and combed back his hair with his fingers. “Let’s go?”

That night they slept again in the beach chairs, and they shared a joint looking at the stars. They heard laughs and chats from inside and everything seemed peaceful and clear.

“Have you ever seen a shooting star, Harrington?”

“No, not really”.

“Did you know you can make a wish when you see one?”

Billy’s words lingered in the air, while Steve dragged slowly the joint and blew the smoke in Billy’s direction. He smiled, relaxed and bold.

“I didn’t know. And you?” He passed the joint to Billy again.

“Well…” Billy blew the smoke in little perfect circles. “Once I had a boyfriend who liked looking at shooting stars. But I always ended up doggy when we went to see them, so no, I never see one,” he smiled mischievously, spreading his legs a little more.

Steve was a little dumb for the smoke, so his low parts catched Billy’s words before his brain. He popped a half boner and gasped when he realized.

“Your… boyfriend?” He gasped 

“Yeah…” said Billy slowly, looking at him. “Problems?”

“No… no,” stuttered Steve, frightened by the glimpse in Billy’s eyes.

“Good,” he whispered, putting a hand on Steve’s tight, casually. “I have a surprise in mind for you”.

Steve jumped at the touch and stood up suddenly. “I… ehm… Fuck, it’s… it’s hot, isnt’ it? I… I need water,” he entered the van for a glass of fresh water. 

Billy snickered and lied down on the chair. When Steve returned with his glass of water, he had turned his back and didn’t say anything else.

Billy acted normal the next morning, drinking the hot coffee they prepared on the stove. He blinked at Steve just once, and talked to him with his usual mocking tone, so Steve convinced himself that all last night had been a stoned moment and nothing else. But while Steve was driving, he slipped  a hand on his leg again. 

“I want to show you something where we are going,” he whispered, and Steve muttered something.

“Haven’t you come here for some adventure?” Continued Billy, bending on his ear. Steve could calm down only when they parked near a desert beach. 

The kids ran to the water in the afternoon, but Steve waited a moment, enjoying the panorama and the open sky.

“Hey princess,” Billy threw a towel to him. “Ready for the adventure?”

Steve shook his head, but Billy stretched a hand to help him stand up.

“Where are we going?” Steve asked after a few minutes, craving to take Billy’s hand again. 

“It’s one of my favorite places,” he only said, and kept guiding him for a path of sand and pebbles. 

They came to a wooden fence surrounded by a patch of trees. 

“Here, this is one of my favorite beaches”.

Billy left the towel in the sand and took his shirt off. 

Steve looked at him, confused, and Billy giggled when he started to take his trunk off and Steve gasped.

He pointed to a sign: “Naturist beach”, and giggled again at Steve’s surprise.

“What? Are you embarrassed? We can go away if you want”.

“No… no”, he stubbornly took his shirt off, followed by the bathsuit. 

The beach was empty and Billy took his hand again, to guide him on an isolated dune where they could see all the beach and the ocean. Steve walked trying desperately not to stare at Billy’s bottom. 

They put the towels down and Steve discreetly covered himself.

Billy looked at him and smiled, oddly shy, then lowered his eyes. “I hope I didn’t read the signal wrong,” he said, caressing Steve’s arm with the back of his hand. He licked his lips.

“I… hope I didn’t send wrong signals,” answered Steve, without logic, and Billy scoffed. 

“Can I?” He touched the towel that was covering Steve. He nodded, shivering. 

Billy smiled, uncovering Steve’s boner, and Steve blushed when Billy tilted his finger in his inner thigh. He raised a hand to touch Billy’s face. 

Billy pierced his fingers in his delicate flesh and Steve moaned, grabbing his face in return and closing his eyes.

Billy kissed him and Steve moaned filthy at the touch of his tongue, then fell on his back taking Billy over him, rocking their waist together and whining more, finally relieved and relaxed. 

“Shit,” Billy smiled leaning on his arm. “I was fucking wanted it since you descendend that stupid plane”.

“”Me too,” laughed Steve.

“Come on,” Billy lent his hand to him, “Let’s go in the water”, he dragged Steve and they ran together, completely naked and excited, in the water. 

Billy pulled him and they kissed again between the waves, with the light of the sunset, and Steve thought that he was about to lose his mind.

The moon raised and they lay down on the beach under its light again, kissing and touching, and Steve fidgeted with the nipple piercing until Billy screamed. 

“Look! A shooting star!” Steve pointed at the sky, but Billy was kneeling between his legs and looked at him with a bothered face. 

“Well I’m always on my knees when they pass,” he pouted, biting Steve’s skin. 

“Shut up,” he shoved his dick again in Billy’s mouth. “Be a good boy and I’ll let you make a wish”. Billy whined, touching himself, and sucked a little more, taking him on the edge, then left him unsatisfied.

“Can I make one now?” 

Steve emerged from the beginning of his climax.

“Does it imply me coming inside you?” He groveled.

Billy nodded. “Rail me,” he jerked himself. “Even if I won’t see a shooting star”.

Steve lay down and grabbed his hips, making him turn his back to him.

Billy smiled and straddled him, giving him a complete vision on his hungry hole. 

“Fuck me, baby,” he begged, and Steve almost came in his own hands. He pushed inside Billy, making him scream, and grabbed his hair to arch his neck and adjust the angle. 

He thrusted inside Billy once, twice, three times. 

“Baby, I’m close…” he moaned, trying to hold back. 

“Christ,” Billy whined, bouncing on Steve’s legs. Steve pulled more his hair, so he was facing the sky while Steve was fucking him. 

He jerked himself, and he felt close too.

“I’m close, baby, please, please come inside me, please, please,” he begged, feeling his dick melting in his own hand. 

“Oh yes, baby, fuck,” Steve shoved his dick in his guts once more and came, feeling Billy’s orgasm all around his cock.

“Look! Look!” Screamed Billy, still coming. “There’s one! There’s one!” He pointed to the tail of the shooting star. 

“Did you make a wish?” Asked Steve sweetly, helping him descend from his legs.

Billy nodded. “Do you want to know?”

“If you say it doesn’t come true”.

“I’m pretty sure it would come true anyway. I wish you would keep coming inside me all night long”.

Steve smiled. 

“Ok then. Let’s make it”.

[willemdafinky]

I have completed Spider-Man 2 twice now and I have very conflicting feelings on the game’s story, mostly towards its Venom/Symbiote storyline. On my first playthrough my problem was how little screen time and characterization Venom had in the story despite all the build up and prioritizing him over anything else and while I still have a problem with that aspect of the story, upon my second playthrough I realized that my real biggest issue with the narrative is Peter’s time in the black suit and being corrupted by the Symbiote. I felt it was rushed and forced but I didn’t have any deeper and meaningful critiques of it…that is until I looked back on other adaptations of the Black Suit storyline and a review of Spider-Man 2 by Youtuber Dorito God which I recommend watching that made it click as to why Peter and the Black Suit doesn’t work.

Insomniac's Peter Parker is the nicest version of the character.

An aspect of Peter Parker that I feel has been downplayed in many adaptations is that he was, at many points, a jerk. He had an incredibly short temper, tends to be cocky for the worst, and outright selfish at points. This does not inherently mean he was unlikable, I actually believe this makes him more interesting and even sympathetic. His negative traits aren’t there just because but are present of numerous factors, most of them because of his double life as Spider-Man. The sheer responsibility that is required of being Spider-Man would naturally cause high level of stress which as we all know can easily lead into losing your cool: not to mention other elements such as J Jonah Jameson’s constant slander of his name which influenced his public perception amongst New York, the grief and guilt of losing loved ones such as Uncle Ben, his struggles of keeping good relationships due to wanting to keep his identity a secret out of fear of his loved ones getting hurt, and how this all started when he was 16 it is completely understandable that Peter can be frankly a jerk.

I don’t think Peter Parker’s defining characteristic is a jerkass who underneath is a good person but I feel that his jerkiness is an important factor of the character that doesn’t get much attention in adaptations outside of Peter B Parker in the Spider-Verse movies. That being said, I would be arguing in bad faith if I said this has been completely left out of Spider-Man adaptations: Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man duology, and even the MCU have this aspect of Peter’s personality intact. In the Raimi Trilogy Peter is shown to be a very flawed boyfriend to Mary Jane with Spider-Man 3 being the most prominent example where he just doesn’t understand Mary Jane’s own struggles and subconsciously brushes them off not just because of his own struggles but also from the outright celebration he is getting from New York as Spider-Man. The Amazing Spider-Man duology gave Peter a new motivation for becoming Spider-Man as originally purely being revenge only to later take up the role of hero, not to mention also breaking a dying man’s promise of staying away from Gwen. The MCU had Peter initially refuse to help Norman and the other inter dimensional visitors despite the fact that it was his fault they were brought to the MCU and it’s only because of Aunt May that he does try to help.

Now, I have to ask a question: can you honestly name a scene with Insomniac’s Peter where he has any of these traits? I genuinely can’t think of one. Spider-Man 2 tries with the boss fight against Scream where while under the Symbiote, Mary Jane tells Peter how much he made her feel like she was nothing more than emotional support for his struggles while not doing anything for her and I don’t think that lines up with how Peter was written in the game. Peter is very supportive of Mary Jane throughout the story for her job and does listen to her when she vents about it so this interaction where the story suggests otherwise in the Scream boss fight doesn’t work for me. Peter in these games is just a really nice guy, does this mean he doesn’t have moments where he crosses his limit? No of course not, the climax against Otto disproves but that’s more of an example of the “pissing off the good guy is a bad move” trope than Peter’s more abrasive side. I don’t think this inherently means that Insomniac Peter is a bad character, I very much liked him in the first game and Miles Morales after and one of my other favorite versions of the character is the one from the 90s cartoon who is also a kinder interpretation of Peter Parker. So what is my problem?

I don’t think this overly nice version of Peter Parker works with the Black Suit story. Ever since the 90s cartoon, every version of the Black Suit story has the Symbiote amplifies Peter’s more negatives traits (most notably his temper) and we’ve established that Peter doesn’t have of any these traits so seeing him lash out at other characters and being more aggressive feels extremely out of character and not in the way that I think the writers intended.

Okay so, the amplification of negative emotions doesn’t work but maybe they went through a different approach. Maybe in this version the Symbiote instead brings out the host’s intrusive thoughts and inner frustrations, like they did with Mary Jane. The story suggests this: first in the Spider-Men fight where Peter hints that he has a sense of insecurity in his role as Spider-Man because of how good Miles is in the role, that he might not be needed anymore and how the Symbiote is the only way he could keep and be greater. Second when Miles and Martin Li go into Peter’s subconscious it is outward stated that Peter supposedly may secretly want to kill his foes just so he could end the cycle, which the Symbiote feeds on. This all sounds great, what’s the problem?

Neither of these are even hinted at beforehand. Peter never shows any resentment towards Miles, not helped by how little screen presence Miles has in the story but that’s its own can of worms, and there is nothing to suggest that Peter even entertained the idea of defeating his rogues gallery permanently. So there is nothing in this story that gives any reason as to why Peter acts the way he does while under the Symbiote. Now this might sound weird for me to say since “isn’t that what the Symbiote does” but hear me out:

Harry does not act anywhere similar to Peter when he is using the Symbiote. His personality is the same which gives the idea that perhaps in this continuity the Symbiote might not have the same negative energy it does in most adaptations and is more like in the original comics where its only negative thing is that it takes control over the host while they’re asleep. But I don’t think that was ever the intention, it always felt like that the Symbiote is supposed to be what it usually is in most adaptations. So why was Peter affected by it but Harry wasn't?

There’s also the problem that Peter himself never has the big moment of realizing what the Symbiote is doing to him, he doesn’t have his own self reflection. Compare to other adaptations:

•The 90s cartoon: He almost kills Shocker after the latter had already given up and even after he stops, the Symbiote still tries to kill Shocker.

•Spider-Man 3: Him slapping Mary Jane is the moment where Peter finally sees that he had changed for the worst.

•The Spectacular Spider-Man: Getting called out by Flash Thompson for how he’s been treating his friend is what plants the doubts in Peter’s head that something might be wrong with the Symbiote which only gets confirmed when it tries to convince him that they don’t need anyone.

In Spider-Man 2, we don’t get that. I don’t consider Miles telling Peter that the Symbiote is changing him to be a moment of self realization, it doesn’t work for me. I never got the idea that in this game Peter did something so awful, an action that he wouldn’t act out doing, that would break him free from the hold the Symbiote hivemind has on him and to be better. I don’t get that.

Combine all that and you have what has ended up being one of my least favorite versions of the Black Suit storyline, even more than Spider-Man 3. Note that I hate Spider-Man 3, it’s my least favorite of the Spider-Man movies not counting the Sonyverse movies, but with that I can see how it could work with that version of Peter. Spider-Man 2’s version of the story doesn’t work fundamentally to me because of their Peter unless you change Peter’s characterization, the narrative or how the Symbiote works.

[bohemian-nights]

Finished watching “House of The Dragon” for the first time a few weeks age and for the most part I really enjoyed it. But then then I started involving myself in fandom discussions ….is it weird that I thought it was weird how many people shipped Daemon and Rhaneyra? I would like to point out that I’ve not read Fire&Blood yet so maybe their relationship is different/better in the books but.....show wise I haven’t really seen anything to make me want anything they have (in their romantic relationship that is) for myself. Then the fact that he’s her Uncle has always rubbed me the wrong way. Of course people can ship what they want and I’m not trying to shame them or anything like that but it’s just a little weird to me.

I’ve been on the internet for a long while now so of course I know that fictional and real world incest exists and that there are different literatures that have incestuous relationships but for the most part (from what I’ve seen) either the book/show/movie paints it in a bad way or the actual fandom itself points out that it’s weird and unhealthy because it’s incest. I think “House Of The Dragon” may be the first show I’ve seen to do otherwise. Maybe I haven’t been properly “desensitized” to it since this is the first time I’ve ever really had an interest in anything by or based off of George R. R. Martin’s work. So tell me are the relationship(s) different in the books? Better? Worse?

It is very odd and no their relationship isn’t described as any better/romantic in Fire & Blood. In fact you could make the argument that it’s worse considering 1/2 of the passages that Dumbnyra stans argue show Daemon and Rhaenyra’s “love” are when she’s underage🙃

She’s like 8 here and Daemon is in his 20s:

Oh so romantic. Daemon loves his niece so much except gasp he took away his affection once he knew that she was going to be made his brothers heir and not himself:

He comes back though when he realizes he can be closer to the throne if he compromises her and forces daddies hand. Being groomed and having your rep ruined is the stuff of Jane Austen novels😍 She’s 14 here and Daemon is 30:

Does it get better when Rhaenyra is finally legal? Nope.

Here they marry six months after both their spouses die which they claim is “romantic,” but it really reads more like a quickie wedding cause Rhaenyra got pregnant(and if they were really f*cking while Laena is alive why didn’t her dumba** get pregnant with Daemon’s silver haired child to throw off the scent that her children aren’t Laenor’s and why didn’t Daemon get her pregnant if he couldn’t stand to be apart from her and wanted to “protect” her🙃):

They also try to argue that Daemon(after disobeying his wife and queen's orders to save the actual woman he loved) died for Rhaenyra cause he’s taking out her greatest threat:

Even though her greatest threat is Daeron who has an army in addition to a dragon:

Keep in mind this was even before Ulf and Hugh betray Rhaenyra which may or may not have been in that letter, but Daemon for sure knows the greatest threat to Rhaenyra’s safety/reign is Daeron and not Aemond. Aemond was the minor leagues and getting himself “killed” to take him out did little to help Rhaenyra out. She’s most certainly be in dead water after he’s dead because she’d no longer have the dragons needed to win. They’d technically be tied at first, but one of her dragonriders is a child who’d easily be killed. It becomes a 2:3 fight and yeah Addam (bless him cause he actually should’ve left her behind) and Rhaenyra are going down.

And Rhaenyra even considers his abandoning her and saving Nettles an act of betrayal:

They try to use the book to support their ship, but if you read there is nothing romantic about this ship.

Very few prior to this show were hardcore Dumbnyra stans. In fact, most people said Laena was Daemon's greatest love(as a Nettles girl I don’t agree with this), but they screwed her and their relationship over on the show after they race-bent her.

Dumbnyra stans for whatever reason watched the show and thought a man grooming his underage niece (they call the scene where he’s giving her a necklace at 14 romantic) because he wanted to be closer to the throne/his bro was the hottest thing since sliced bread so they’ve said and done any and everything to support their delusions.

Dumbnyra only has the fanbase it does because it’s the only “real romantic pairing” with two white leads on the show thus far. They don’t really care about incest(although it’s a bonus to some of the extremely mentally ill members of their cult) they just like that they are two blonde haired white people. Plus this ship kinda has a built in fanbase(Jonerys, another another dry incest ship. They've not met in the books yet, but it's probably hearing that way if George ever finishes the books🙃).

A great deal of the shippers who do ship Dumbnyra do so because they thought for whatever reason Dumbnyra on HOTD would be Jonerys 2.0 done right since their last ship ended like this😊:

Honestly Dumbnyra shippers set themselves up for failure cause Dumbnyra was never supposed to be this epic romance that they made it out to be in their delusional little heads(a man giving his 14 year old niece jewelry isn’t the romantic serve they think it is and abandoning her in a brothel sure as hell isn’t hot. Those are literally the “best moments” of their ship on screen unless you want to count that beach scene🤣).

Which is why they gloated over Laena being screwed over (and still are obsessed with her despite the fact that she suffered from biased writing), tried to say that older!Dumbnyra have “mature chemistry” when two rocks have more chemistry than they do, why they started spazzing out after choke gate(which up until that point 90% still acted like this ship was the sh*t), and why anytime you bring up Nettles they have a panic attack and pretend like she won’t be on the show 🤣 It’s a sight to see.

I wouldn’t rag on them so much if they weren’t proven to be racist morons, but alas they seemingly can’t help targeting Black characters and Black fans(besides the ones who tap dance for them) with harassment so at this point f*ck 99% of them 🤷🏽‍♀️

[lokiinmediasideblog]

It's just me or Loki stans tend not to care about female character's much? One thing I've noticed about Loki-centric blogs is that some of them have side blorbos, but always male blorbos. They only care about female characters when they have some canon connection to Loki so they can talk about him through talking about her, and only when the connection in question is platonic (Verity, Frigga...). When Loki has a canonically romantic/sexual connection with a woman (Amora, Sylvie, Lorelei, etc) they either demonize her or erase the romantic factor to make them into ~mean queer besties~ like he's her gay bff. There's a difference between disliking het (valid) and erasing the canon dynamic of his relationships with women because the thought of their canon bi fave liking icky women makes them uncomfortable. Face it, Loki fandom: your fave likes boobs and coochie, stop pretending otherwise. You don't have to personally ship het to recognize that some women canonically turn him on and/or matter to him romantically.

I don't think it's unique to Loki stans. It's a misogyny problem that is both based on the biases within fandom and those of the writers. The Loki fandom is far from being the only one that targets a woman love interest so viciously (*cough* ST fandom, I've also heard other Marvel ships are like that too). And I definitely do get annoyed when Loki's bisexuality gets erased because they don't deem the female characters worthy. And yea, they'll always try to make it platonic with women characters. The "these two characters with little shared background that kissed are siblings" shit is so fucking annoying. It's fine if it's not your cup of tea,but pretending they have "sibling energy" is weird.

Writing biases:

S2 gave very little exploration to the female characters. And most Marvel female characters have little depth. Like just look at the Thor movies, we don't know much about Sif (personality is the woman warrior), Frigga(personality is mom), and Jane is just there as love interest for Thor. Valkyrie's interesting but her name isn't given in Ragnarok, and I heard she got sidelined in TLAT, the movie I refuse to watch. Sylvie had decent focus in S1 but was sidelined in S2 and relegated to product placement.

Speaking of the source material, I am not joking when I say many of the female character's characterizations in the comics before maybe the 2010s were nothing but "wanting to fuck Thor." Also, BW was a prime example of Whedon's "empowering" brand of sexualized strong female character and took forever to get her movie after getting unceremoniously fridged.

Granted, I have not kept up-to-date with Marvel movies because I am only interested in Loki and I find a lot of characters annoying, in case the shitty writing conventions for female characters have improved.

Fandom biases:

Fandom can't stomach anything other than saccharine sweetness as a personality for women, especially when they interact with a popular male character. It has been shown that in real life, women are more likely to be seen as rude or bitches for more tame behavior than men.

People claiming that Mobius was "compassionate" for blaming Loki for his mother's death and locking him in a time loop where he's beaten repeatedly, while Sylvie calling him a "clown" was "abusive".

This is interesting and one of the many examples against "abusive women are given a pass" because the "victim" in question is the same Tumblr sexyman, but the woman's non-abusive behavior that makes sense in-context is scrutinized ridiculously and Loki was not hurt physically by it, while Mobius "gave him therapy".

No one can even argue it's because Loki is the Tumblr fandom fave rather than pure fucking misogyny because actual harm to Loki gets passed as being for his own good by a rather vocal portion of fans when it's a man doing it. You'd think the fandom would have lost their shit over one of the OG Tumblr Sexymen being mistreated. But nah. (And yes, I forgave Mobius for risking his skin for Loki in S2, lol. He more than made up for it.).

Also, Sylvie RIGHTFULLY called Mobius out for putting his head in the dirt like a fucking ostrich, and the fandom threw a fit and babied him.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for wasting food?

I try to be responsible with my food planning. I don’t buy more perishable food than I need for 2 weeks so it won’t go bad, I recycle my trash, and I plan to use everything I put in my pantry. But I’m not food insecure, and I’m not so Catholic that I need to punish myself for the sin of food waste. If, for example, I drop a slice of carrot on a dirty floor, it goes in the trash and not in my pot. If a dish burns or is otherwise totally inedible, I don’t force myself to eat garbage. I don’t eat expired food. Basically, I don’t see who I’m rescuing by scraping stray grains of rice out of the pot.

My friend Jane (30F) is not like me. She never wastes any food. She keeps a spreadsheet with expiration dates for the ingredients in her pantry and has a monthly meal plan. I’m sure she ran someone’s household when she was alive. But Jane also makes it a point to eat stuff I consider sketchy, like meat that’s fallen on a bloodstained floor or sauces past their expiration date. If it passes the smell check, she’ll eat it. If her dishes turn out wrong, she’ll eat them anyway. Down to the scraps on the plate.

I admire her dedication and work ethic a lot, but I couldn’t adopt her lifestyle. Our jobs are stressful, and I don’t want to spend my limited free time and lifespan on housekeeping or eating stuff I hate for the moral high ground. This wasn’t a problem until we moved in together.

We head separate divisions of our boss’ company, many of which are being systematically raided and destroyed by a group of 5 plucky adventurers. He ordered us to temporarily move into a safehouse to guard a treasure vault while he restructures the company. As a result, Jane and I share the kitchen, storage area, and dungeon. She asked me to write an inventory and monthly meal plan for my stuff, but at the moment I don’t have the spoons. My free time now is spent on leveling up my personal security and looking for more low profile kingdoms to abscond to. I don’t even know if I’ll still be here next month.

I gave Jane a guesstimate of the stuff I brought with me and told her she was free to use anything in the common area, but she wasn’t happy with it. Last night, she was mad because a packet of experimental mint seeds on my side of the storage room fell into the flour we were using to feed the prisoners. One of them mutated into a plant hybrid that ate another one and broke out. They weren’t important work-wise, but she said it was wasteful because they were an emergency food supply. She argued that if I’d catalogued the mint seeds and used them in a timely manner, we could’ve avoided this. I apologized and fixed the dungeon, but she asked me to hunt down the plant hybrid so we can eat it. I’m not eating that, and I don’t want a reputation as the sort of demon that has personal beef with its victims. In fact, I applaud the guy (assuming he maintains his sentience) for his luck.

Jane says that I’m irresponsible and that people like me are the reason the human population and our ecosystem are going to shit. She says I’m TA for only caring about sustainability until it inconveniences me. I care, but it’s not something I prioritize over my life and health. I also think it’s unfair of her to ask me to live by her values. For me, eating mystery meat and scraping stray rice grains out of the pot would be meaningless and performative.

AITA?

[edgepunk]

Yeah, your post about the issues with the plot are basically what I thought too once I had time to think about it beyond the initial excitement. I like the base plot and the moments we got, but it needed more time, especially down time between big events that are incorporated into the main story rather than optional side missions, and the third act in particular felt rushed and like there were missing scenes that should have been there or plots and characters that got dropped?

For example, it was weird enough that Peter maybe only had the symbiote for two days, but then Harry immediately gets the symbiote himself and turns into Venom like an hour or two after Peter removed it? And you would think that even if Peter was too frantic to call, Connors would have called him to discuss their failed plan to destroy the symbiote that has now lead to a city-wide infestation, but he never does and when he does, it's about something unrelated, and even that gets brushed aside for more big set pieces. The meteorite thing was also weird bc it didn't really seem to do more than Venom was already doing without it.

And the Norman moment was weird bc it felt like they suddenly remembered that in other works, Peter and Harry have tension partly over Norman's favouritism, but there was no real build up to that here where Norman has only ever been a good father to Harry, so we get an out of context misunderstanding to rush Harry turning on Peter over that? If they were going for Harry feeling like his father had given up on him and was moving onto Peter already, that needed to be clearer.

Re: Mary Jane, I think she only asks Peter if he remembers last night, and when he doesn't, they never bring it up again, not even during the Scream fight, I think? Otherwise, they only argue about her article and Miles later says he almost killed here during the Peter boss fight, but it absolutely should have been a breaking point of how the suit has to go right now.

Agreed!! Have nothing else to add, you nailed how I feel about the game and how the major plot beats were handled.

Also MJ - SO weird that they've never talked about it. It must've been a terrifying experience for MJ to be almost killed by her own boyfriend who was adamant on keeping her safe for so many years. It didn't need to be a cutscene that turns into full-on therapy session, but just...a short conversation. Something. Anything. It's so bizarre that the tunnel scene (which was amazing and terrifying) got brushed off so quickly without any lasting consequences. I mean, MJ grabbed her stun gun, but idk it felt so anti-climactic

Again, it felt like they were rushing to get to the next big plot point.

[beardedmrbean]

R. Kelly’s sex-crime conviction and 20-year sentence in Chicago’s federal court will stand, an appeals court ruled Friday in a blistering opinion.

“For years, Robert Sylvester Kelly abused underage girls. By employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet, he long evaded consequences. In recent years, though, those crimes caught up with him at last,” Judge Amy St. Eve of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrote in the terse, 14-page ruling.

“But Kelly — interposing a statute-of-limitations defense — thinks he delayed the charges long enough to elude them entirely. The statute says otherwise, so we affirm his conviction.”

The appellate court also denied Kelly’s request for resentencing, saying they had no grounds to second-guess the 20-year prison term U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber handed down.

“An even-handed jury found Kelly guilty, acquitting him on several charges even after viewing those abhorrent tapes,” the appellate ruling states. “No statute of limitations saves him, and the resulting sentence was procedurally proper and — especially under these appalling circumstances — substantively fair.”

Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, told the Tribune Friday that they were still weighing whether to request a rehearing before the full 7th Circuit panel — a move that is rarely granted.

Meanwhile, Bonjean says she plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court on the statute of limitations issue, which centers on whether a new law passed after the underlying crimes in Kelly’s case should have been applied.

“We believe that is an appropriate issue for review by the Supreme Court,” Bonjean said.

Kelly, 57, is serving his time at a medium-security facility in Butner, North Carolina. His current release date is Dec. 21, 2045, when he’d be a couple weeks shy of his 79th birthday, federal prison records show.

Bonjean said she just spoke to Kelly on Thursday and that he remained “optimistic” about his remaining appeals.

“He understands that this is a process, that the fight is not over and he’s optimistic that the truth will eventually prevail,” she said.

A federal jury in Chicago convicted Kelly in 2022 on child pornography charges for explicit videos he made of himself and his then 14-year-old goddaughter, “Jane.” Kelly was also found guilty of inappropriate sexual relations with Jane and two other teenage girls, “Pauline” and “Nia.” The jury acquitted Kelly on separate charges of conspiring to rig his prior Cook County child pornography trial.

Kelly abused the three girls in the 1990s, when the law allowed prosecutors to bring such charges until the victims turned 25. Congress in 2003 expanded the statute of limitations up until the victim’s death, but on appeal Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean argued lawmakers never intended that amendment to apply retroactively. Prosecutors could not have brought these charges any later than 2009, she said.

Kelly is also appealing his conviction in a separate federal case out of New York, where a jury found him guilty of broad racketeering charges. He was sentenced to 30 years in the case; most of his prison term for the Chicago conviction is to be served concurrently.

During arguments in February on the Chicago case, St. Eve seemed skeptical, noting that no federal circuit has yet sided with Bonjean’s position.

Prosecutors argued that Congress expanded the statute of limitations long before it otherwise would have expired for Jane, Nia and Pauline. That’s a deadline extension, not a retroactive application of the law, they argued.

Case law overwhelmingly rejects Kelly’s claims, the appellate court ruled in Friday’s order.

“(It) is not unconstitutional to apply a newer statute of limitations to old conduct when the defendant was subject to prosecution at the time of the change, as Kelly was in 2003,” the ruling states.

The higher court also shot down Kelly’s argument that the counts involving Jane, including the child pornography charges, should have been tried separately from the rest.

[loverllyhurtswithoutyou]

SFW ALPHABET HEAD CANON

Find all my writings, Masterlist and more on my dedicated page @itwasrealtome

Andreas Sarah Gallagher

OC from Heart and Isles

Rizzoli and Isles fanfiction

A/N: Hello there! To anyone reading this, know that this is the first time I've worked on an Alphabet SFW, so please be kind. So, this is about Andreas —Andy — Gallagher, the main character of a Rizzoli and Isles fanfiction I'm working on. Note that the story’s title may change. Feel free to share your thoughts about Andy :)

A is for Affection: How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?

Andy likes to keep her privacy. It means that no matter how close she wants to be to Maura, she will keep a minimum distance in all public places in order to protect their private lives. However, around loved ones and friends — such as her best friend or Jane’s family — Andy almost always has some kind of physical contact with Maura, whether it’s a hand on her thigh, the small of her back, or her hand. I think her main way of expressing her affection is through touch, although sometimes she will choose to simply offer Maura a little something, help her out with something or simply make time for her.

B is for Best friend: What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?

As a best friend, Andy is always willing to drop everything just to be there. She knows the importance of a healthy friendship and takes her role very seriously. Therefore, although her work is extremely demanding, she will always make sure to have time for her loved ones. Her friendship with Pierce began years ago when they both trained to be firefighters. Over time, they’ve become somewhat like siblings, and hardly ever do you see one without the other. All of her relationships spring more or less from her work environment, i.e. her best friend or Maura.

C is for Cuddles: Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?

Andy actually loves to cuddle. Behind her tough-girl mask, she’s in fact a person with a very big heart who’s tired of having to settle for her best friend’s hugs. She loves the way Maura snuggles up to her on the couch after a long day or the way their bodies mingle during the night. Sometimes, she’s the one who needs to be cuddled. In these cases, she finds comfort against Maura’s body, her arms around her waist, her head in the hollow of her neck.

D if for Domestic: Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?

Had life not decided otherwise, Andy would have settled down for good. Before the accident, she had what she had always wanted, the job of her dreams, a home, and a fiancée. She no longer knows if she’s ready to repeat this journey. Still, maybe Maura will be able to change her mind. Andy’s pretty good at keeping things neat and tidy. Her motto is — minimalism, — she travels light. Everything that doesn’t belong in her apartment is removed.

E is for Ending: If they had to break up with their s/o, how would they do it? Why would they do it?

Andy hasn’t been involved with anyone for a while since the accident. Whenever she has to end her so-called flings, she sticks to clear and direct words. One might argue she’s deadly cold, but that’s only because she doesn’t want to get attached. If she has to break up with someone she really likes and has been with for a while, it’s more complicated. She relies on her best friend’s advice, seeking to put some distance between herself and her S/O, before confronting the person, eyes filled with tears and hands shaking. I believe the main reason she would do it is fear. She’s not willing to relive the pain of the past and therefore deprives herself of happiness. But then again, there are several other factors that might lead her to end a relationship.

F is for Fiancé(e): How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?

Andy has known this feeling of commitment before. She’s been there. Until Maura, it wasn’t even something she considered possible — at least not anymore. She needs time — lots of time — to admit that maybe, she has thought about it. A part of her wants to give it a try, if she had to choose who to spend her life with, it would be Maura, inevitably.

G is for Gentle: How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?

Rare are the ones who are familiar with the softest side of her. Both physically and emotionally, Andy guards this part of herself and only shares it with those closest to her. Pierce was the first to break through her shell. Though his son also benefits from such attention, Maura’s the one enjoying it the most. Andy always makes sure to take care of the doctor — whatever she needs, the firefighter provides.

H is for Hugs: Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?

She doesn’t like hugging everyone, instead preferring a good handshake — especially with strangers or those she barely knows. Now, when it comes to Pierce, they tend not to hug very often — only when one of them feels the need to. With Maura, it’s different. She likes to hug her when she’s making herself tea, wrapping her arms around her waist and resting her chin on the doctor’s shoulder. She loves the way their bodies collide together after one of them’s life has been put on the line. When they’re together, they often happily bury themselves in each other’s arms.

I is for "I love you": How do they say the L-word? When do they say the L-word?

She thinks about it for a while, not daring to take a step and not even knowing how. One morning it just slips out of her mouth. Looking for her pager, she disturbs Maura who’s getting ready in the bathroom, planting a quick kiss on her lips as the device begins to ring in her hand. Not until she reaches the station will she realize what she said.

J is for Jealousy: How jealous do they get? What do they do when they're jealous?

Andy was never really the jealous type. Still, she has her moments. Being in a relationship with a very well-known woman such as Maura has its inconveniences. It’s not uncommon for the doctor to be flirted with — right and left — by men and women. Her insecurities grow when she feels an emotional connection is present between the person and Maura.

K is for Kisses: What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?

Andy is what you might call a kiss stealer. One long kiss just makes her crave for more — she often pecks Maura’s lips over and over again, eager for more. She’s a rather good kisser, always soft, gentle and sensual. Kissing her loved ones on their forehead or temple is her thing. She loves the way Maura kisses her knuckles whenever she’s comforting her.

L is for Little ones: How are they around children?

After the accident, Andy promised herself she’d stick to being the cool aunt. With Eden, it’s easy. She has known him since he was born, taught him the basics of her favorites sports and showed him around the firehouse. It’s also a child she can give back to his father as soon as she gets tired. Andy loves kids, she just doesn’t always know how to deal with them.

M is for Morning: How are mornings spent with them?

Mornings can be tough as a firefighter. They often mean the end of a 24-hour shift and with so little sleep, it’s with half-closed eyes that Andy finds the comfort of her bed. No matter how long she’s been doing this job, she’s still moody on those kinds of mornings. Andy enjoys following her regular routine before each 24-hour shift. That means waking up at the crack of dawn to go for a run, taking a cold shower and feeding herself a protein smoothy. Anything goes wrong — her whole day will be awfully dreadful. She loves Sundays and off days. Then she has time to be lazy, sleeping in and cuddling with Maura.

N is for Night: How are nights spent with them?

Andy knows that her schedule doesn't always match up with Maura's. Every chance she gets, she takes the opportunity to spend time with her or their loved ones. The Dirty Robber becomes over time their safe place — date nights, nights out with friends or parties. When both have the opportunity to be home at night, evenings include the two of them curled up on the couch, glasses of wine in hand, files or books in view. They both need a break and know how to remind each other of that.

O is for Open: When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?

Andy has a LOT to explain. But I feel like Maura does too. They both had complicated childhoods and experienced their quota of traumas in adult life. Andy won’t talk about it —whether it’s about her childhood, her former life or her work related traumas— she won’t say anything, not if the subject doesn’t come up. But when it does though, she’s brutally honest, trying to hide her emotions with a joke or two and a half-hearted smile.

P is for Patience - how easily angered are they?

Andy is pretty patient. She was born to be a leader, she knows when and how to lead her people. It's unusual for her to lose her temper. Due to her childhood, she knows how to handle difficult situations and wait for the right moment. However, she has absolutely no patience when it comes to people hurting her loved ones. Anyone who dares to mess with Maura or any member of Andy’s family will have to face the consequences.

Q is for Quizzes: How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing? Or do they kind of forget everything?

Andy is the kind of person who remembers everything. She’s good at memorizing details about her loved ones, especially Maura. She spent hours studying the doctor's face and how each emotion affects it. Her hands have been over the curves of Maura’s body so many times that Andy would be willing to retrace them blindfolded. While she occasionally forgets things that have been said to her, Andy tends to swallow every word that comes out of Maura’s mouth, so she rarely forgets anything.

R is for Remember: What is their favorite moment in your relationship?

Andy’s favorite moment in her relationship with Maura is their first kiss. The way they both gave in to the urge without worrying about the following day. The firefighter hadn't craved a woman's kiss as much as she did at that moment since losing her ex-fiancé.

S is for Security: How (over)protective are they? how would they protect you? how would they like to be protected?

Andy will never stop fighting to protect her loved ones. In fact, it’s part of her job. If you imagine that Andy would run into a burning building or throw herself in front of a bullet to save Maura, well, you are right. If she has the opportunity to save the woman she loves this time, then she will not hesitate.

T is for Try: How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, and everyday tasks?

Andy’s a busy woman. Saving Boston citizens and putting out fires is no easy task, but that doesn’t mean she won’t take the time to spend quality time with Maura. She does her best every day to prove to the doctor that her heart still belongs to her — visit her at work with her favorite treat, buy her favorite flowers/plants on her way home, or even throw surprise parties for her birthday/some other success in her career.

U is for Ugly: What would be some bad habits of theirs?

Andy tends to click her pen repeatedly. She also has a bad habit of biting her lips and playing with her keys when she is nervous.

V is for Vanity: How concerned are they with their looks?

Andy isn’t too concerned about her looks, but she has a healthy lifestyle and knows how to make an effort when necessary. On a daily basis, she switches between uniforms, sportswear, and casual wear. She doesn’t try to look good but still does. It’s a ‘natural thing’ as Dimitri loves to put it.

W is for Whole: Would they feel incomplete without you?

Andy is a person in her own right. She learned long ago that she doesn’t need anyone to survive. Sure, the absence will create a feeling of incompleteness, but it is nothing compared to what she has already experienced. However, she believes that to live to the fullest, she needs all the pieces of her puzzle.

X is for Xtra: (A) Random headcanon(s) for them

Andy grew up playing many different sports. She loves keeping up with soccer, hockey, and baseball games, whether it’s on TV or the radio. The best thing according to her remains to experience the game live. She’ll end up dragging Maura to a soccer game, even if it means spending half of it explaining the rules to her.

Y is for Yuck: What are some things they wouldn't like, either in general or in a partner

Some sort of violence, whether psychological or physical.

Z is for Zzz: what are some sleep habits of theirs?

Recall three positive moments of the day, as advised by the station’s psychologist.

[evilwickedme]

Who's your favorite BatFamily member?

Oh my God thank you for asking it's this asshole

Jason Todd's tag on this blog is literally "Jason Todd my beloved" I could not be less subtle about it. This man is everything I've thought about since like, late July

Now you didn't ask WHY I love this man but I will explain anyway. Starting with the fact that as a villain, he outsmarted Batman. On his first try. He planned meticulously and was ruthless in his execution (both of the plan and of, y'know, people) and he SUCCEEDED. If it weren't for that basic human element of not being able to convince Bruce to kill his murderer, he'd have outright fucking won. And let's be real here - Jason is so fucking right. Joker, in the actual DCU, is a villain on par with the worst of them. He's a mass murderer and mass traumatizer who's been proven to be incapable of change (this is partially bc of the way he is represented as chaos, similar to a force of nature, and partially for convenience's sake). The Joker SHOULD die. Preferably with a crowbar.

But I love this fucked up dude even when he's not a villain, although that's my favorite version of him, easy. DC is trying real hard to retcon his run as Robin to make hin "the violent Robin", but we all know that's not true. "Robin is magic", etc, but more importantly the few cases where he is violent are all so clearly coming FROM THE SAME SENSE OF JUSTICE THAT LED HIM TO BECOME RED HOOD. Although he might put on airs to pretend otherwise, at his core he is so empathetic, especially towards children.

Also look how scrungly he looks as Robin 🥹

This is why I'm so obsessed with the fact that he likes reading, specifically Jane Austen. Because it's easy to like reading in general. I work in a bookstore, and all kinds of people walk in, wanting to read the latest thriller or wanting a recommendation for a beach read. People who haven't read in years want something to start out with and people who read every book the week after it comes out wanting our latest releases. But reading Jane Austen means having to employ that same sense of empathy. Austen wants us to feel for her characters, to laugh with them and grieve with them and treat them with respect but also acknowledge when they fucked up. She's funny, and uses irony extremely well. I'm not saying anything new here, I'm just stating the information necessary for my thesis, which is that Jason is capable of all of the above. He feels things incredibly deeply, and for someone with his life style, that verges on weakness.

I also enjoy him as an adult member of the batfamily and in theory as an antihero, although I'm currently still on n52 RHatO and we all know how "good" that comic is. I think he challenges the characters around him by genuinely having a point of view and personal philosophy that's very different from the main Batfam's, but still understandable, worth considering, and sometimes even more correct than the main Batfam's (I would argue that neither position is incorrect within the universe's framework, real life morals aside). I just find that type of character fascinating - a true foil.

Also, he's hot

[jomiddlemarch]

Turn and face the strange changes

“What you have to understand is, I have two lodestones, Ted and David Bowie, and at any given moment, it’s hard to say which is better suited to a world infested with zombies,” Beard said quite conversationally, as if they were making small talk at a small sort of place, like the produce section of a bodega or the snacks table at a PTA meeting, if Lauren’s descriptions of the latter venue were held to be accurate. “Also, I’m an ex-con.”

“Also?” Grace said.

“Ex-con?” Joel said. He narrowed his eyes, but Grace could tell that Beard’s disclosure was something Joel considered as a possible asset as much as a strike against the man.

“Who’s David Bowie? Is he related to Ted?” Ellie asked. She’d been hanging out at the other end of the mess hall, around the resurrected foosball table, which was why they’d started having what Grace would have called an “adult conversation” but now all bets were off.

“Oh, you sweet summer child,” Beard said.

“She didn’t know Linda Ronstadt either,” Joel offered.

“To be fair, there’s a good chance Ellie wouldn’t have known either without cordyceps or Fedra,” Grace said.

“I’m here, you don’t have to talk about me in the third person like I’m not,” Ellie said.

“Sorry,” Grace replied. Neither of the men appeared to be bothered by her remark.

“Whatever,” Ellie said and walked away, more a lope than a stalk, which was likely motivated more by Ellie sighting Araceli and Meg than by Grace’s apology, but Grace wasn’t about to argue with the relative lack of teen vitriol. She knew Ellie’s intermittent snappish retorts about inconsequential things were a good sign, that it meant she was having something that resembled a normal adolescence, but it could be exhausting and certainly Grace herself would never have been allowed to speak to her parents or any elder relative the way Ellie did.

“I’m only alive because of Ted,” Beard said. “I wouldn’t have left England except for him, but Jane and I weren’t speaking and he was so damn worried about Henry—”

“His boy,” Joel said. He didn’t mention Jane because he wouldn’t have wanted to be asked about Tess, Grace thought. Or maybe it was because Grace was sitting next to him, his arm draped across the back of her chair, and as often as not, she slept in one of his tee-shirts, while Jane was beyond any reach, any sea rendered uncrossable, even if she’d escaped infection and survived the aftermath. It was easier to talk about Henry, with Ellie laughing across the room with her friends.

“We didn’t find him,” Beard said. “Been looking for years. Jackson’s a breather for us, if you will.”

“Ted won’t give up hope,” Grace said.

“No. He has. He humors me, so we keep searching. We spent a few weeks with a Shakespeare rep troupe outside Chicago because we’d heard they had a young kid with them, but turned out to be a girl,” Beard said. “I would have made a fetching Mustardseed, but they were pretty invested in Hamlet. At least it wasn’t Lear, for Ted’s sake.”

“Why do you do it?” Grace asked.

“Because Ted won’t make it otherwise,” Joel said surprising Grace. Beard nodded and suddenly looked old and a little wise. Grace really hoped he wasn’t going to pivot and tell them how to make toilet wine. Have a little faith, dead-Lauren said. She had a soft spot for Beard, largely because of his willingness to read every Maeve Binchy in the Jackson library, alternating with their far more meager collection of Neo-Platonists.

“Ted’s broken,” Beard said, his lisp more pronounced, as if he were speaking some truth that required his purest voice to utter. “If he doesn’t have someone to push him and coax him and hell, coach him to keep going, he’ll stop. Lie down and die. He won’t ever let a friend down, so if I say we should keep looking, that there’s still a chance to find Henry, he won’t argue. He goes along and I go along and it’s something like a life. Sometimes it’s just the two of us and sometimes we find some people like yourselves to rest a while with.”

“How long do you plan to stay?” Joel asked. It was a good question and he asked it in a way that made Grace wonder about his own plans. Whether Jackson was home or Ellie or the three of them. Whether Jackson was a refuge or a pit-stop.

There was always the question of Ellie’s arm, about the potential she held within her, and what it would take to release it. At least, it was a question for Grace. She was pretty sure Joel had answered it for himself, in a way he could never risk altering.

“The truth is, of course, that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time,” Beard said. Once upon a time, this man had coached a professional sport team. It boggled the mind.

“Bowie,” Joel said. Beard smiled as broadly as Grace had ever seen him.

“But really, how long?” Grace pressed.

“Well, you don’t serve regular English tea in your coffee-house,” Beard began.

“No one can get it anymore,” Grace said. Protested? Was she trying to encourage them? Are you? dead-Lauren said. They’re a pair of odd ducks but then, that’s all that’s left.

Joel said nothing, stone-faced as he was wont to be when something mattered too much or not at all.

“You mistake me, milady,” Beard replied. “It’s a point in your favor. Ted hates English tea. Won’t drink the stuff to save his life, which has never actually been a situation we’ve found ourselves in, but I’m still confident of the outcome. He’s less offended by the herbal tisanes and the chicory and he likes the cider. You’re short on mulling spices but who isn’t these days?”

“Who indeed?” Joel said, playing it straight, making Beard laugh.

“I knew you had it in you, friend,” Beard said. “You can call me Willis, but don’t let it get around. There’s an urban legend I’m trying to nurture about being called Beard since I was born—”

“How can you start an urban legend these days?” Grace asked.

“With impunity. Fedra helps,” Beard answered.

“How?” Joel said.

“They told so many lies, people’ll believe anything, especially if it’s inconsequential and reminds them of when the world wasn’t this version of shithole hellscape,” Beard said. “We all do our part.”

For @tessa-quayle​ who wanted more of my zany/cracky Ted Lasso x The Lasso of Us crossover AU but with Coach Beard as a featured player

[fideidefenswhore]

"She had found it difficult to make the transition from a mistress with the upper hand to the submissive wife that Henry, a conventional husband, now expected her to be, and her tantrums sorely tried him, driving him to seek solace in other beds"

Interesting quote and a common sentiment, so let’s unpack this:

we know henry also had mistresses while married to c/oa, but...

w/eir et al insist she was the perfect wife, that she never argued with him (the latter of which is not even true, we have contemporary observation otherwise, even before the GM, but accepting the premise for the sake of argument)

so... was it in response to ' tantrums' or was it just henry and a pattern already established?

bcus in the very limited way they acknowledge her upset (which is generally just limited to the elevation of his mistress' son)

the infidelity is offensive but not the central point of the anger, not enough to risk loss of influence to fight against it 

it is not written about as a 'tantrum' (nor should it be, i’m merely pointing out the double standard), it is the noble, righteous purpose of her wanting to preserve her rights and that of her daughter

these incidents don’t receive the same treatment even though their context is similar, bcus...at least two of henry's mistresses while he was married to anne were supporters of her opponent (mary, also a threat to her daughter’s status)

so... was it 'tantrums' or was she also not going down without a fight because she viewed them as risking her and elizabeth's security ?

but it doesn't get the same treatment.

and the anne hastings thing with catherine does seem more personal but i digress , it is definitely not spoken of as a 'tantrum' either (nor should it be, again, i’m just pointing out the different language that tends to be used, and the blame cast upon anne & not her predecessor)

what i find really gross here is the implication and double negative inherent within

henry would not have taken mistresses while married to anne if she had more submissive, calmer

dignified even

but catherine was the perfect wife and model of queenly dignity and never said a harsh word to or against him

so... interesting to imply to avoid this she should have been 'more like catherine ' (again, whatever that means) when...it also happened to catherine?

we have a disrespectful comment but no actual record (altho it was a very short space of time) of henry taking mistresses while married to jane s/eymour

but no one says shit like coa should have been more like JS

yet i have seen people argue JS was emulating catherine and that's why he didn't cheat on her..... while forgetting he did cheat on catherine??