#i'll probably post more about jenny another time but for now this is it

[minnieokok]

like father like daughter

decided to try a different way to do the line art. do i think i'm gonna try it again? ahhhhhhhhh maybe

[woso-dreamzzz]

Leaving VII

Alexia Putellas x Teen!Reader

Summary: Olympic chaos with your sister

Y/NPutellas.S has started a live video. Click to join!

"-Got two backpacks," You're saying as Alexia clicks on your video," I think one of them might become my racket bag because the one I'm using right now is falling apart."

You shove the bags away, glancing around the space as you drag more towards you.

"There's a toiletry bag as well which is full of stuff I probably won't even use."

You pause as you scroll through the comments.

"What sport am I competing in? Oh, I'm doing tennis...Who will be the hardest to play against? Iga, always. I train with her most of the time and I think I've only beaten her a few matches this year. She's scary. Coco always gives me a good competition too. I think she text me a few hours ago but I haven't answered just yet."

You go back to showing off your haul.

You're very complimentary of all of the shoes but you seem confused as to why you've been given so many socks.

Alexia takes a screenshot of a weird face you make while trying on the bucket hat and hastily makes it her profile picture.

"I'm not a fan of the opening skirt," You tell your followers," It's not really my style. I'll wear it because I have to but...What's that? My sister's here?"

You crowd a bit closer to your phone, brows furrowed as you scroll up looking for Alexia's comments.

She feels triumphant at the look of horror on your face when you see her profile picture.

"Alexia!" You shriek," Change it back! My eyes aren't even open! Ale, please!"

Alexia does not change it back and you swear under your breath at her.

"I'm telling Mama!"

Alexia Putellas: Go ahead, you little snitch

"I'm not a snitch!"

Alexia Putellas: Yes, you are

"Don't listen to her guys! She's such a liar!"

You've always been more active on social media than Alexia and fans eat up any content you post on your TikTok. Most of your fans are just people that watch tennis but you've gone viral overnight when you posted a video of you and Iga reuniting at the Olympic Village.

Suddenly, everyone wants content from you and you're posting more than you ever have before.

A lot of it still centres around your tennis, out on the practice courts with the rest of team Spain but there's more domestic things like you retaping your racket grip and showing off everything in the Olympic Village.

Something in Alexia snaps when you make a video complaining about how uncomfortable your cardboard bed is. Suddenly, she's stitching your video.

Her camera pans across her normal hotel bed and ends with her giving a thumbs up to the camera with a smug grin on her face.

Her own fans go crazy over her posting something outside of sponsorships and it's strange to see that some people don't even know who you are.

woso.alexia.engen: Who was the first person in the video???? -> captainklittle: Alexia's little sister! She's representing Spain for tennis!

A second stitch appears hours later, piggybacking off a video of you complaining about your lack of AC. There's no sound apart from the very deliberate flick of Alexia's own AC switch.

It seems every complaint you post, Alexia finds a way to show off how much better she has it in a hotel outside of Paris.

You decide, perhaps a little pettily, to show off what she's missing.

"Hi, guys!" You say," I know a lot of people were wondering about pin trading so I thought I would bring you along for the ride! I've already got a Poland one from Iga and a US one from Coco but I've been wanting a Team GB one and I'm also meeting up with Paolini so she can give me an Italy one."

It's another live video and thank god there's a break in training, so Alexia can jump onto it again.

Jenni and Misa crowd around her at the same time, curious as to what's going on with you.

"I was talking to Carlos at breakfast and he was telling me that the coaches have ordered us all mattress toppers because the beds have started to affect how we're performing."

Alexia Putellas: Sucks to be you, doesn't it?

"Alexia, I swear to god if you keep bullying me then I'm telling Mama and she'll fly out to whoop your ass!"

Alexia Putellas: 🤪

"And Jenni I knew that it's you that just sent that because Alexia doesn't understand emojis."

"Fuck," Jenni mutters.

"Wait, give me the phone. I'll fix it," Misa says.

Alexia Putellas: Who's Jenni?

"Misa, I know that's you as well. Stop trying to cover for each other and I'll tell Mama and she'll whoop all of you."

Alexia doesn't get her phone back for the rest of your live but she does get a strongly worded text from Eli after it's over to grow up and not let her friends bully you.

Alexia calls you a snitch.

You remind her that she should stop bullying you.

"Look who it is!" Jenni cajoles as you come running out of the village to crash into Alexia," Baby Putellas!"

But you're not really listening to her as Alexia presses her forehead against yours, whispering fast Catalan to you as you giggle.

"Aw..." Misa continues where Jenni left off," Look at them! Two sisters! Reunited!"

You and Alexia push each other away, turning your back and pretending that you weren't hugging just a few moments ago.

You turn back to her quickly, hand out. "Can I have your pins?"

"What? No! They're mine!"

"You're not even in the Village! You can't use them!"

"Yes I can!" Alexia splutters out," I've been trading them!"

"Yeah? With who?"

"Jenni!"

"Liar! You've got the same pins! Come on, Ale. Give them over!"

"I will...for a price."

As Alexia lays out her terms, you bring everyone up to your room.

Jenni and Misa split off briefly to check out the dining hall but Alexia comes straight up with you.

"It's actually cardboard," She says, poking at your bed frame.

"Yeah? Do you think we were all lying about that? It's proper cardboard. You can draw on it if you want."

A smile splits your sister's face open.

"Never mind. I don't want you drawing on my bed."

Alexia pokes it. "Do you think it's true? That two people can't get on it at the same time?"

You shrug, rummaging through your bedside table. "I don't know. Why?"

You never get your answer though.

Arms are around your waist suddenly and you're being hauled backwards as Alexia slams herself onto your bed, dragging you back with her.

You may not get an answer but Alexia certainly does because the moment the two of you land, there's an almighty ripping noise and your bed goes to ground very quickly.

"Oops," You sister says.

"Alexia!"

"Sorry?"

"You don't sound very sorry at all."

"Yeah...You're right. I'm not sorry in the slightest. Hey! Stop hitting me!"

"You're lucky I'm not beating you with my rackets!"

"Hey. Hey! It's fine! You can get a new bed."

"Jenni and Misa are going to take the piss out of me! How could you do this, Ale?"

As annoying as your sister is, she at least has the decency to push the blame off onto her friends as you both hastily raise your bed up again and wait for Jenni and Misa to arrive.

They seem to have the same idea as Alexia, jumping onto your bed without so much of a greeting.

But, as planned, the bed collapses under them and the shock of their faces is enough for Alexia breaking your bed to be worth it. Their faces are even funnier as they head downstairs to ask for a new one for you.

Behind your back, Alexia passes you a handful of pins.

JenniHermoso10 has started a live video. Click to join!

"Forward! Forward!"

"I am going forward!"

"More forward! When I say forward, it doesn't mean shuffle! It means walk forward! You're a person not a pigeon!"

"And here we have Olympic football player Alexia Putellas and Olympic tennis player y/n Putellas, attempting to climb onto the rings," Jenni narrates from behind the camera.

"It's not going well," Misa says, as Alexia nearly throws you from your spot on her shoulders," Alexia is clearly struggling."

"I'm not struggling!" Alexia insists, yelping as you twist her hair in your hands.

"Forward!

"This is as forward as I can get!"

"That's such bullshit! Move closer!"

"I can't!"

"You can!"

"I don't think they're ever going to make it," Jenni says," It's like they can't-"

"Stop! Ale, stop! Left a bit. No! Too left. Right again. Left! Right! Left!"

"Left, right, forward, back," Alexia mutters," Make up your mind."

"Left and...got it...Wait! Don't let go!"

You haul yourself from your sister's shoulders onto the centre ring, positioning yourself perched on the sliver of the yellow ring that enters the black one.

"Alright," Alexia says," Give me a hand."

"What? No! You'll pull me off!"

"Give me your hand!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

She braces herself on the lower rings and grabs your hand, pulling herself into the centre ring before you can even shove her off.

"Oh," She says," That was pretty easy." Alexia grins at you but the smile drops from her face when she notices the pensive look you're wearing. "What is it?"

"I've just realised," You laugh in disbelief," When Mama said she wanted a picture of us and the rings. I think she meant in front of them. Not in them."

"Oh."

[butchtwelfthdoctor]

i got peer reviewed on this post by @pikechris (sorry for the tag hope you dont mind) but still had way more thoughts hehe anyways i was gonna leave tags but it got pretty long sooo those tags and the rest of my Thoughts under the cut cos damn this did get really really long

i looked in the replies of that post & people you're not getting it he didnt kiss rory with romantic feeling behind rory was just there and eleven got excited about something else and rory visibly looks weirded out afterwards. it was practically eleven kissing as stimming. like when he kissed jenny. it wasnt out of romantic feelings at all he knows madame vastra would kill him & he isnt interested he was just happy to be able to move after the crimson horror thingy. kissing rory was also played as a joke it was a funny haha yknow. i also dont remember eleven kissing the james corden character but like whatever i cant imagine that being meaningful in any way either.

OH in the same way that nardole having a crush on twelve (canon btw nardole practically says as much is played as a joke. like with the post i mention above, like thats played as a joke because can you imagine the cool very beautiful twelfth doctor having romantic or sexual feelings towards nardole, who is literally, as missy puts it, comic relief? i dont think that its queer is a part of that but idk it might be.

but in any case. the doctor hasnt kissed or been kissed by a man with romantic intent onscreen since 2005. we COULD have had a thirteen and yaz kiss but we didnt which is i think why? people forget? about them? doctor was confimred queer she had lesbian attraction but nothing really. happened about it. so yeah. also apparently a lot of people didnt watch thirteen like cmonnnnnnnnnnn it really isnt as bad as people make it out to be.

twelve kissed missy who was probably the only person he would have kissed at that point. he's horrified when she kisses him before he knows who she is but then the very next episode he kisses her in a... if not exactly romantic a very emotionally charged way. and she knows that. we dont see them kiss again even as their relationship grows more and more romantically inclined (which i actually support any amount of canon thoschei conventional romance would probably be. bad and kill the appeal immediately) because like i said. she turns every dead body on earth into a cyberman then lies about where gallifrey is then fakes her own death then tries to get the doctor to kill clara then he leaves her on skaro iirc then he is supposed to kill her but doesnt and instead locks her in a vault for ~70 years but its okay cos they have takeaway food in there together sometimes. and then world enough and time / the doctor falls happens which i cant even start talking about or i'll never stop & thirteen was 1) aroace and 2) too emotionally repressed to even get close to kissing Anyone, let alone the master after all the timeless child stuff, even though she probably?? wanted to kiss yaz?? a bit??? at least?? yaz wanted to kiss her but there was too much emotional repression going on on both sides but mainly the doctor Which Brings Me To My Point.

Fifteen is the most, shall we say, flirty doctor we've had for a while, and Ncuti is also the first openly queer actor to play the doctor on tv, and while of course everyone on tumblr is Very familiar with all of the ways the doctor is queer (and neurodivergent) without any need for the show to specifically say so, it is really really great that a) the doctor is played by a gay actor b) there are more queer characters and c) we got an actual episode where The Doctor Is Gay With A Man. especially after the. somewhat odd. way yaz & thirteen's relationship was dealt with at the end of thirteen's run, which even though was a queer relationship was like....... not really. shown. they just talked about it. and had icecream. okayyy i guesssssssssss

BUt NOW fifteen gets an entire episode where his mutual attraction to another male character (assuming the doctor is actually a man, pretty sure i read somewhere Ncuti was he/they-ing the doctor but he might have meant the doctor in general, not just fifteen) is a Main Focus of the episode. its the main tension, the main drama, the main interest - you pretty much know from the 'okay we'll teleport the chuldur away' that thats whats going to happen, and i for one went 'oh my god rouge is going to get teleported' from the moment the doctor fixed it to carry six. the Main Focus is now their flirting, their dynamic, the way Those Two Interact, their almost kiss (which the doctor was so ready to duck out of as soon at the thing beeped, but you can tell by the look on rouge's face that he's for sure trying that again later). the doctor showing actual episode-arc spanning romantic interest in a character, let alone a specifically queer one... that doesnt happen a lot.

(the girl in the fireplace has a lot of superficial similarities, though you could also argue that madame de pompadour was far more romantically into ten than he was into her. thirteen's characteristically very awkward attempt at flirting towards yaz in the sea devils special didnt have nearly as much focus on it)

but really the point is the doctor was kissed! for the first time on tv in ten years!!!! and it was a queer kiss!! and that romance was The Major Part of the episode!! the doctor doctorwho was gay kissing a man on out television screens after a genuinely quite good build up!!!!!!!!!!! it would of of course be amazing if rouge makes another appearance (i think he will, most likely in a later season instead of the next 2 eps), and even better if we had a longer arc of that romance, but we got it!!! actual canonical queer romance for the doctor!! their first canon kiss in like at least a couple hundred years of their life, and while i am an aspec doctor who believer there are 100% time when he feels attraction and this was for sure one if them. and it was really beautiful & emotional & the flirting was fun & rouge was a good character & their dynamic was really good and yay!!!!

[panelshowsource]

random thoughts dump of the week bc none of this deserves its own post

coming down from a smol john kearns kick and really enjoyed it, guy has a ridiculously sweet presence and i really like his voice. it also brings me great joy his previous career was working in museums and as a tour guide. i would like that life, i think (i worked at universal orlando for a little bit in 2013 and was always super jealous of the vip tour guides lol). he mentioned on one of his rhlstps that despite winning arguably the biggest (british) comedy awards there are, he never released a standup special or dvd, and he kinda wants to keep it that way so he has something special between him and his live audience — and that really made me sad face. like, my guy, what about those of us who can't see you bc won't leave that damn island. (also ed gamble's new tour having no nyc date felt personal...) in another episode, he talked a little about, in great part due to social media, people want comedians they can know everything about, get the whole look of; comedians who are the same people onstage as off. he's not like that and doesn't really like the idea of that. i think there's a lot to say about that subject but i'll just leave it for now...

speaking of touring ed byrne next week!!! and jimmy and alan carr coming up!! what a fun time :')

speaking of rhlstp and ed, one thing that occurred to me and i thought was quite funny upon listening to his recent episode is that both richard and ed have that self-aware side of them that admits to bitterness, professional jealousy, annoyance with critics/haters, believing they're not as successful as they deserve to be, etc. while it can come off whiney here and there, it's not too obnoxious or anything, i just found it amusing they had this (often concealed or private) quality in common. i might even put jenny eclair in that camp (others too but that's a discourse i don't really wanna start lmao)

if another youtuber, following amelia dimoldenberg (and munya? does he count?), had to go on taskmaster i would probably vote for ollie kendal off of jolly. in my mind he and alex would be genuinely good friends outside of the show

man i miss the horne section podcast so bad

honestly, i'm a little surprised david mitchell doesn't have a podcast. he loves radio, it's not too demanding of a gig, and he's got tons of interests that could make engaging premises for podcasts... i'm sure someone has floated this to him before, so i need the reason why he said no. maybe he was busy with his book. would love a history pod fr

does anyone else ever remember when david mitchell was in rick and morty and just sit back and go O_O also when he was on graham norton with hillary clinton like lmaooo i just love the idea of the booking agents for that show being like "we're having fucking hillary clinton on who can we bring for comic relief who is a household name but not problematic but intelligent but actually funny" i mean they hit the jackpot of course but it cracks me up that that's his brand

did david ever watch succession? rob def did but i need more about it from both of them

sometimes i think about when david accepted his bafta for peep show and the music that was playing while he walked to the stage was "sex on fire" by kings of leon hahahahaha like what who was djing that night fr

where did charlie brooker go

speaking of back in the day — and i do mean back, like 15+ years ago — and my main panel show obsession was buzzcocks, there were a few non-comedians who would come on panel shows who were properly fucking funny, like martin freeman and josh groban, and i'd always pray they'd eventually come on again. and i think at the time the person at the top of my list was professor green. how random is that TT he was just always up for laugh and just so likable. i also LOVED the song "just good to be green" with lily allen in like 2010 lmaooo this really ages me :)

been really enjoying some old angus deayton-hosted stuff, like old hignfy and wilty. i got into panel shows after he'd stepped out of the spotlight, but i remember being crushed when i found out about his scandal. i also remember stephen fry standing up for him and chastising paul & ian publicly after That Episode of hignfy — which absolutely blew my mind, even though stephen has always said what he thinks — and i agreed with him and am not sure even today if i fully forgave paul & ian for how they treated angus. ik he's still here and there, but i wonder if we'll ever see him in any properly notable capacity again

just watched the latest hignfy actually and jack dee pheww he's ageing very nicely let me just say it and pheww emmanuel sonubi please and thank you. also, paul's outfit was quite nice. an enjoyment of the eyes indeed

i've been making a lot of typos in my gifs lately for literally no reason other than not proofreading my rushing and it's embarrazzing i'm gonna do better

speaking of gifs i have NOTHING!!! in my drafts folder. nothing. no content. nothing is made. nothing in the queue. [sigh] sounds like tonight we be bustin it out huh. idk about other gifmakers (i actually don't follow any other panel show blogs, but this isn't necessarily a panel show blog thing, just a regular original content thing) but i don't usually make gifs throughout the week — instead, like, marathon gif like two times a week and build up 10–20 drafts to post throughout the week. if you gif every single day or to keep up with all of the new content, it starts to become a chore, which is never fun :(

speaking of which i probably won't gif outsiders too much because people don't seem to care too much about it + the webrips are just...so ugly in gif form, even at 1080p! it's a dave thing fr, taskmaster used to be the same way -_-

okay here we go into gif mode btw i got some of your requests and will def make them!!

[cynicalclassicist]

Musings on Chibnall Sontarans

I've decided that it might be fun to try writing down some Doctor Who thoughts rather than just musing on them to myself. I freely admit that it's a tad rambling and I might diverge on the topic a bit but this is just me putting some thoughts down.

But the only way I'll ever get any better at writing posts like this is to write them.

Some thoughts on the Sontarans that I mused around.

I think that I prefer Chibnall's take on the Sontarans the most.

A recurring criticism that I saw of the Sontarans during Moffat's era was that they were being played for laughs too much. To be fair, the Sontarans don't really appear in force during much of his era. It's mainly just Strax, who is framed as a comedy Sontaran. It gets bit more complex when you see that when he first appeared there was a bit less of that comic tone, but after he joined Vastra and Jenny he was largely there to be the comic relief in the trio.

And when he briefly reverts back to his normal self in The Name of the Doctor it is effective, before he... gets disintegrated or erased, I'm never quite certain which.

But then you have scenes in The Time of the Doctor where the Sontarans don't seem to realise how an invisibility shield works and are there for a one-off joke.

The Sontarans don't really show up much under Peter Capaldi, Strax turning up in the first episode which is about it.

You may wonder why. Did they not fit Moffat's tone of more reflective and experimental takes with 12?

The boring answer for why the Sontarans didn't turn up much with 12 is... they just didn't. It's not really like the Daleks and to a slightly lesser extent the Cybermen, where it's sort of expected that each Doctor meets them.

The Sontarans were often seen as the third of the villain races in Doctor Who, behind the Daleks and Cybermen. But now they've been sort of eclipsed by the Weeping Angels. You can see that in how in The Time of the Doctor promo it had Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Silents... something something joke about not remembering them. And that Hell Bent had in the catacombs a Dalek (that I headcanon was left over from The Apocalypse Element), a Cyberman and a Weeping Angel.

And likely Moffat didn't really feel that there was much more to do with the Paternoster Gang. I didn't object to them not turning up again in 12's era and I don't object now.

The Sontarans in Pond Life were a bit more traditional in that they're menacing, Pond Life being the piece Chris Chibnall wrote... which leads back to the original point.

The Sontarans in Flux are presented in a much less comical light. This is probably the most effective that they've been on-screen since... The Invasion of Time, where they came close to conquering Gallifrey. But in Flux they are shown massacring their way through 19th century British soldiers, having inserted themselves into history and conquered a large portion of the world. In the same ep they've easily conquered modern-day Earth. Then later that series they conquer Earth quickly again, having engineered a plan across decades with another alien to weaken Earth's defences.

I would say that you do see some of the flaws in Doctor Who: Flux from what I've said here, in that there are two invasions of modern-day Earth by the Sontarans this series, apparently un-connected, as it's not clear if the Grand Serpent helped in their War of the Sontarans invasion. I know that Flux was cobbled together in very difficult circumstances, and it does kind of show that the scripts have had to be forced a bit so they all sort of fit together, with the odd ending which seems to forget that most of the Universe was destroyed. I hope that we get something like a Writer's Tale one day or even adaptations of the original plans, like Big Finish has done for some Classic stories. Maybe novelisations? Anyway...

Along with invading Earth, the Sontarans trick the Daleks and the Cybermen, who they often play second fiddle to, into being destroyed by the Flux and come very close to becoming the main power of the Universe.

Though the Sontarans have often been seen as rather comical thugs, with full-on attacks we do see that they can be cunning. Flux does make them worthy of their status as one of the Universe's top warrior races.

Now I don't think that the Sontarans need to be too serious. You can still play them for laughs in their belligerent nature. Their whole Imperialism is always subject to mockery. The Time Warrior starts with Commander Linx annexing the Earth. You get touches of that throughout. Commander Skaak tells the Doctor that they are invading during the Crimea War as they wanted to ride a horse... That image of a Sontaran on a horse is brilliant. And of course, a Sontaran getting addicted to chocolate.

I kind of like some more attention being drawn to the alien biology of Sontarans, with details like them easily getting a sweet tooth and the detail about them having trouble on Earth so needing to refuel every 27 hours. You might argue that this is the sort of weakness that would have been brought up earlier, that it would have worked as a weakness for another alien race, and that the Sontarans already have that probic vent weakness. Yes. But DW being in new stuff after decades is... meh, it happens. Though it's odd that Svild still goes through this sleep when he doesn't have access to the ship. Maybe he has supplies?

A scene which feels symbolic of the move to more brutal Sontarans over the bumbling Strax happens in War of the Sontarans. Svild feels more Strax-like, even while he is imprisoned boasting about defeating human scum. When he goes back to the Sontaran base he is told by his superior that he is a disgrace and killed.

I would hardly say that this is a personal attack on Moffat's way of doing the Sontarans. The mentality of presuming that different writers are attacking each other like they are rival politicians I find to be very reductive and needlessly provocative. It does feel though like a reminder that Strax and the way he acts is not typical of the Sontarans. It's as if Strax is being killed but it's not Strax, as to kill Strax here would be a bit much.

There is also a much nastier feel to the Sontarans. We are used to Strax talking about killing human scum and off-screen he apparently killed numerous horses, but we don't see him doing that. We know that it's his usual boistering. But the Sontarans in Flux do show that it's not just talk.

In their first scene in The Halloween Apocalypse a Sontaran tells another how disgusting they look, a meaner kind of humour. The Sontarans seem to revel in how nasty they are. They mockingly tell human captives to keep their last words to themselves before killing them. They even massacre all the Lupari save for Karvanista (that is done a bit quickly I agree). They trick the Daleks and the Cybermen into a trap.

I have noticed that Chibnall seems to prefer writing nastier villains, which you see with Solomon (it counts as he wrote the episode), Tzim-Sha, the Reconnaissance Dalek, the Spy Master, Ashad, Tecteun, Swarm... this deserves it's own essay. All I'll say here is that the world is showing so many real-life monsters it doesn't seem too implausible to depict characters revelling in their evil.

It is worth noting, as I am fond of doing, that there is a sort of Russian element to the Sontarans. In a way they seem a metaphor for the likes of Putin. After all, they take the place of Russia in a changed timeline. Then resorting to a long-scale infiltration of Earth's defences, including defunding UNIT, obviously alludes to Brexit and the weakening of British defences. Probably why the Master and the other top villains of the Whoniverse assemble around Russia in The Power of the Doctor... but that's another story. That needs its' own essay too.

And their leader rides a horse.

The Sontarans are opportunists here, not planning the Flux but certainly taking advantage of it. What the Flux is... well, it can be interpreted in various ways. It could just be a general worry of complete annihilation. The main villains in this series, the Ravagers, are basically Gods of Nihilism, believing in simply the destruction of everything and seeing it as a duty to bring about inevitability. Kind of like the Anti-Logopolitans... or an Anti-Monitor, if you're going DC comics. And that story had the villains taking advantage of the trouble to try taking control of the remaining Earths...

Unfortunately, some of the dialogue does lean into unfortunate territory. "If the Flux is destroying the universe, if planets and stars are being wiped out, there will be displaced creatures who need a home. Somewhere to take over." It does sound like it is leaning towards the great replacement, the scaremongering that people like Douglas Murray snarl about, of how European culture will be replaced. I don't think that was the intent, aliens whose planet has been destroyed invading Earth is very standard sci-fi, from War of the Worlds to a lot of Doctor Who. It's probably just unfortunate phrasing. Reminds me of Lawrence Miles going at Mark Gatiss over The Unquiet Dead having aliens pretending to be vulnerable then invading in force. Could that be argued as more problematic? I won't debate that here. The other showrunners have done their show of problematic stuff and comments but that doesn't really make it any better and if I go on about this then it looks like I'm excusing it.

Of course, if we're talking about Doctor Who writers going great replacement that's probably more Gareth Roberts, considering he writes in Douglas Murray's shitshow The Spectator now. And Strax was based on a concept he had... but moving on as he's a sore spot for many Doctor Who fans because of how clearly he rejects the mentality of the show.

It did occur to me that if the Sontarans were travelling back in time to invade human history in a big sweeping universe-threatening adventure which involves multiple Doctors, that sort of makes Flux the closest thing to a live-action adaptation of Doctor Who Legacy, a fun little game which ran from 2013-2019, as Tiny Rebel did not want to renew the license with the BBC. I suppose that Chibnall gets the blame for that as seeing the complaints over the lack of Christmas specials has demonstrated to me that lots of people don't seem to entirely understand how much power the showrunner has.

Moving back... maybe even the design of the Sontarans seems to hark back to their earlier nature. As opposed to the sleeker, more realistic look of the Sontarans from The Sontaran Stratagem onwards, these Sontarans are more Classic in design. The blue armour and smooth skin is replaced by the black armour and rocky look of the Classic series. From what I've seen (but that's my circle so not sure how representative it is) a lot of fans actually prefer this design.

To quote a site that I found recently...

"I don't know that I'm a huge fan of the new Sontaran design - Commander Skaak kept reminding me of George C. Scott - but I do like that it was a deliberate nod back to the initial Sontaran mask as designed for 'The Time Warrior,' with the hairs and pock marked skin. Kevin Lindsay, the actor who played Linx in that story and who received a shout out in this episode's script, suffered from heart trouble, and that initial mask caused him a lot of breathing problems. So much so that when they brought the supposed 'clone' of Linx back the following season they'd had to re-make the mask for the sake of his health, and they used that opportunity to clean up the look a lot, removing the hairs and giving the skin a much smoother complexion. That was the general Sontaran aesthetic they used thereafter, and I like the nod to the original concept." (https://www.douxreviews.com/2021/11/doctor-who-flux-chapter-two-war-of.html)

They even have a Sontaran in The Halloween Apocalypse stick his tongue out!

For the sake of completion I may as well show how it changed from Commander Linx to Commander Styre.

I actually asked @dalesramblingsblog about this comedy stuff recently and got a response. Yeh, Sontarans have always had a comic edge. https://dalesramblingsblog.tumblr.com/post/733709232342499328/if-were-going-on-the-making-affectionate-digs-at

Maybe this whole post is a waste of time... Anyway, it's kind of fun writing these. I should do more. I might quibble on some details but it's honestly nicer saying how I liked something in Doctor Who.

[cf56]

Thoughts on the new trailer

Just want to cover some interesting things I saw in the trailer. Sorry, no Pinky and the Brain stuff. I like them, but you all know I'm interested in the Warners first and foremost. I'm sure a lot of this stuff has already been covered in leaks, making my speculation look silly to those that have seen them, but I haven't seen them and will not be mentioning them for the rest of the post. If you have seen the leaks, please don't say anything about them when interacting with this post. I've already heard more than I wanted to.

He calls them kids!

The strange trend continues.

An episode about them being locked in and escaping the tower!! I don't know if I can handle it. It looks like Nora was demoted from CEO and has now taken Ralph's place as guard, which seems to have led to security actually becoming competent and successfully being able to contain the Warners. All their fun furniture and stuff has been taken as well, so it looks like a real prison. Look at the scratch marks on the walls 🥺

I already made a post about this. One other idea I've had since is that the Teeniacs are like another set of Warners altogether, basically teenaged versions of the Warners who show up and befriend the regular Warners.

Looks like a football episode where the Warners are players and Ralph is the coach. Could be fun.

Looks like they're focusing a lot on the Warners being pursued and trying to escape this season. Ralph goes back to being the guard at some point.

Over one frame, Wakko just kind of dematerializes into streaks followed by Yakko looking at him, concerned. I know it's most likely an animation thing meant to show him zooming off to the side, but if you go to the trailer and watch it frame-by-frame, it's weird. It also happens while the Warners are talking like they're in danger, saying they still have more episodes to star in. Something I'll be keeping my eye on.

This is either from "The Island of Dr. Warnereau" or "Planet Warner". I would guess the former. The Island of Doctor Moreau is a book about a mad scientist experimenting with creating human-animal hybrid creatures. Maybe this episode could cover more about the origins of the Warners or what exact species they're made of? Also, have you noticed the reboot has a weird obsession with bats? The screenshot with Coach Ralph above also has them, as well as that double date in season 1. Dot appears to be a bat in this screenshot. Wakko is a dog, which makes sense, and I have no idea what Yakko's supposed to be. He has both long fangs and weird antenna things? Looks like an alien more than anything.

Credit to Jenny Butler for pointing this out on Twitter. This person has Dot's flower, hairline, and skirt. It could be a human version of her, but I kind of never thought the show would ever do an official humanized version of the Warners, since that would unnecessarily give them a canon race. This could be Teeniacs- Dot as a real, human teen. If the Warners become teen influencers, it could also just be a random teen girl/popstar who has adopted Dot's fashion style.

Update: See here

And then there's this... thing. This is probably from "The Island of Dr. Warnereau" as well. Either that, or an intro gag.

Finally, I want to talk briefly about the interesting portion of the press release.

"the Warner siblings must battle their way out of a video game"

Probably referring to "Ready Warner One." Could match the screenshots of goth Dot fighting vampires or something.

"learn the secrets of being a teen influencer"

Probably, but not necessarily, referring to "Teeniacs." See my other post on "Teeniacs" for more of my thoughts on this (the one linked above).

"and escape a mad scientist's island"

Definitely "The Island of Dr. Warnereau." Does make you wonder who the mad scientist is. I would say either The Brain or Scratchansniff.

"all while finding time to teach us about the threat of global warming!"

No idea. Could be "Planet Warner."

There was no mention of Slappy in the press release or the trailer. I feel like, if she was in this season, they would reveal her in promotional materials to build hype. I could be wrong, but I'm still skeptical at this point that the return is actually happening, or that it's anything other than a fairly short cameo.

[theglasscat]

20 Questions for Writers

Tagged by @jennyandvastraflint

I love these things because I love talking about fan-fic

1. How many works do you have on A03?

I have 45.

2. What is your A03 word count?

162, 874. Jesus only that?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Doctor Who but specifically The Paternoster Gange sub-fandom, Oz books, Steven Universe, The Owl House, The Dark Crystal extended universe. In high school I was really into Hellboy II.

4. What are your top 5 fics by Kudos?

1. In the Night We Trust ~ It was a week out from Eda's Requiem and I'm from SU fandom so I was shocked that there was yet to be smut about the two pining grown ass adults and apparently other fans felt this way too.

2. I Thought Maybe We Would Kiss Tonight ~ This one is also horny and about the same characters so the Kudos tracks.

3. Words - My Vastra/Jenny soulmate au. Good. I'm proud of this one.

4. Blankets ~ This one??? The first time I tried to write using my senses.

5. Courting Miss Flint ~ THIS ONE??? I had a crush on a friend in college and didn't know how to act on it. This story about violently anxious women is never going to be finished.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Sometimes, if there's enough to reply to. "Nice work!" I'll forget about probably even though I appreciate it, however "I like how you blah blah blah" will get something from me because I love talking process.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uuuuhhhh. Of the ones I like, We Speak Our Vows and Sorry Whispers which is the Tavronica wedding fic.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Blackberry Stone will be I just need to finish it I swear I will finish it

8. Do you get hate on fics?

If I have I am not aware of it. At the time of my life when it would have hurt me the most I was oblivious to it and now it's just like "whatever, I'm not in charge of other people's feelings". On a side note this morning I realized I react to the word "cringe" in much the same vein as those tiktoks about Americans unable to take British gangsters with any seriousness.

9. Do you write smut? If so which kind?

Yes but I don't post as much as I'd like. I don't like to post smut for the sake of it even if I love when others do. I need it to be in character and have something to say about the characters.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest crossover you've ever written?

In general I despise reading crossovers. I will almost always skip unless I really like the author or I'm desperate for more of a character or rare pair.

By most insane do you mean meticulous like my Gentleman Jack/Doctor Who crossover "Never Meet Your Heroes" in which BBC's singular blue waistcoat for leading Victorian lesbians gets referenced?

Or least likely to crossover as in Wonder Woman 2017 and Pat Gang fic in which Etta gets some sword advice from some local spinsters on the eve of The Great War. It's called "Protect it With Your Life".

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, but I wouldn't be surprised if my work has been farmed to sit in the belly of some great AI beast somewhere.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware of. If it has I can't think of the example at the moment.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but I feel if I did I would just tweak the co-author's grammar and characterization and do nothing else. I take so long to write my own fic, I couldn't be accountable to handle another's work in a timely fashion.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

AU Dorzma. The rest are tardigrades being subjected to various violent science experiments.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Vastra/Jenny laundromat AU. I'm better at Victorian commentary than contemporary commentary.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Sensory writing. Keeping things in character.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Starting with a plot instead of a feeling

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't do this really but I'm a fan of using the << >>

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Coin toss for the original Oz books or Syfy's Tin Man (2007) when I was 13. Both were Scarecrow/Patchwork Girl.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I Keep My Hands, 'Til You Come Into the Water ~ Missing Tavra and Onica and Tae scenes from J.M. Lee's The Dark Crystal Flames of Resistance which is so hyper specific but this is the one I like the most. It came out as I envisioned and wanted it with hardly any typos.

Tagging: @jeejyboard @ragdoll-ren @leiathewarrior @spaceuber @nabatute and anyone else who'd like to do this and of course you don't have to if you don't want to.

[asksoldieron]

SO-24: Whatever Happened to Poor John?

If there's a lot of engagement on this, this post is liable to get real long, beware before you expand.

No art, but I am working on it and I will add it retroactively. The eyes are letting me draw, just real slow.

Welcome to the Engagement Lounge, for La Goualante du Pauvre John (253|24) an instalment! Short comments can go in the replies, but there's a 475 character limit. Longer ones will need a reblog. Remember to @asksoldieron if you're reblogging someone else's reblog, so I can see it too!

Woo! We just got back from a 2 night stay on a houseboat, it was definitely trying to kill us (I'll do a post on the main blog later, I have so many scary pictures), and we loved it anyway. So I'm distracted, but I did manage to unwind a little. No wifi, only phones! But I think I got pretty much everything formatted OK before we left. We'll see!

Now it's time to back up and see what happened to John after he smacked into the Elysium Inn's glass door and escaped into the wild! His friends picked him up and they're ready to do more terrorism together! ...Well, maybe in a little bit. They all need a break to unwind, too, but they're not gonna get it. Jenny will put her big brother back together as best she can, but she's going to be a little irritated with Erik and Co. and everyone else who allowed him to break down that badly.

And we end on a cliffhanger! The "real spy" is suddenly revealed! Unfortunately, that'll be all you get for about two months, unless I can put something cool together for our birthday in April. It's doubtful.

The spouse and I are about to have the most stressful two months of the year (probably... hopefully). He's got to prep for his CPA exam, which is 8+ hours of testing over multiple days. They will require him to do two practice cases a week, timed, the longest of which will take 5 hours. We expect adding that much fake accountant business on top of his actual job and everything else we gotta do will fry his brain. And there's the added stress that the test costs thousands of dollars. If the unlikely happens and he fails this time, taking it again will hurt. We can swing it, but it'll hurt.

It looks like his current employer has his back, though. The capitalist exploitation is different up here! A promotion to a better-paying position that will qualify for the experience he needs to be a full CPA (he needs 2.5 years) is in the works. If he gets it, he can stay with them, and they'll pick up his school costs. His dream job is still doing actual, meaningful work for a nonprofit of some kind, but he can hack this one for another 2.5 years if necessary. As long as we can still afford food and housing! I think we can. The whole immigration thing seems a bit backed up, but when we're allowed to own property, we can afford a floating house like that houseboat we stayed at. Not exactly like it, dear god no, but similar. That may be what our future holds.

But we gotta make it to June, first! I have no idea what my internet life will look like or how often you'll see me, but I'll try to get some stuff done. Hopefully, I can come back with another six, illustrated, as soon as the stress abates. Thank you for your patience until then!

[Back to Site?]

[juniperhillpatient]

The Boiling Rock Part 1 Re-Watch

Ohhh this is SUCH a fun episode. So fucking fun. Ok, full disclosure this is another tipsy re-watch post, I won't lie, I'm drinking a margarita. Basically, this episode is about how Sokka & Zuko have a socially awkward dynamic with a mix of genuine care & a complex history, making for a funny & cute friendship & how Suki & Sokka have a strong romantic love & Zuko & Suki get along & work well together instantly & they should totally be a throuple right? No? Okay, well, this episode at the very least did say Zukki (Zukkai? Sukkako?) rights & I'm standing by that.

Anyway. Real talk. Sokka's determination to attempt to rescue his father even knowing that it may be a doomed mission is heartbreaking. He's done making plans that fail. He just misses his dad & hates leaving him behind after spending so much time separated from him. I love how Zuko dramatically waited up for Sokka. And I loved their awkward little conversation while they rode the war balloon. I've written before that it really hurts my heart that Zuko doesn't even consider Azula for a second when Sokka asks about people that Zuko left behind & yeah, I think about that every time I watch. Zuko "didn't want to get Mai involved" but didn't care at all about ratting out Azula. I didn't mention this in my DOBS re-watch post because I wanted to focus on Zuko's amazing moment of standing up to his father. And I seriously don't like it when people use Zuko's ignorance about Azula's position to bash Zuko. I'm not doing that. He is absolutely not being coldhearted or cruel, he just....doesn't understand the position Azula is in at ALL. I just think it's SAD. The fire siblings are so fucking tragic...

Anyway.

See - if I start talking about the fire siblings that's ALL I'll end up talking about lol - I have to talk about other stuff.

anyway. I really loved the scene between Sokka & Zuko when they're discussing the absence of Hakoda at the prison. Zuko is trying so hard to emulate Iroh, even though he doesn't really understand Iroh's proverbs at ALL, he knows his uncle loves him & that Iroh is very smart & he's TRYING so hard to be like that & I just...Ooh, I'm getting all emo. Anyway. "Take a bite out of the silver sandwich."

Sokka & Suki's reunion was SO good. I cracked up at Sokka trying to do a callback to their previous reunion & Suki flipping him on his back before the two actually got a cute reunion.

And then Sokka immediately had his bisexual awakening!

[id: Zuko breathing fire. end id]

I loved Sokka's very smart escape plan based on his engineering ingenuity.

But what I loved even more? What really just had me going insane?

THIS FUCKING SCENE ---

Sokka: [Standing.] Is that supposed to make me feel better? [Sokka moves away.]

Zuko: Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again ...

Sokka: Seriously, not helping.

Zuko: [Grabs Sokka's shoulder.] You have to try every time. You can't quit because you're afraid you might fail.

Chit Sang: [Standing by the cooler boat.] Hey, if you two are done cuddling, can we get a move on?

Sokka: No. I'm staying. You guys go. [To Suki.] You've been here long enough.

Suki: I'm not leaving without you, Sokka.

Zuko: I'm staying, too.

[id: jenny slater "and I was like: *screams*" meme. end id]

HELLLOOOOOO

Ok, that's really all I have for now. Sokka, Zuko, & Suki each get +1000 iconic behavior points for this episode. That is all for now besties

[rikkami]

Whoa didnt think id do this ever, personal, venting about life, relationships and shit.

So uhh.. My girlfriend broke up with me. Funny how I made blog posts about her a few weeks ago and now we are here. The few past months I had noticed she wasnt as interested in me as she previously was and we had our share of issues (not fighting or arguing but like, she had a hard time reciprocating my feelings sometimes.) and turns out, she's a lesbian. Another one of my girlfriends turns out to not like men, it was funny the first 2 times but the 4th time it just hurts. Extra cherry on top, I came out as a woman to her slightly over a month or so, obviously I still am male presenting so its understandable that if you dont like men or feel any attracting to them the same goes for me, but uhh, something about that hurt even more. She truly was someone I could trust and talk to about everything, my best friend ever since I had a harder time keeping in touch with my highschool friends. We did talk about life and everything, nothing will probably break our friendship unless its me fucking something up again (it has happened before with other people). We made a promise to each other that if it gets too hard to be with her for me I'll tell her and if at anypoint during my transition she starts being into me again, she will tell that to me, that we would keep everything out in the open, but theres no reason for us to commit to what 4+ years of nothing. We'll continue cuddling when watching movies because we both like human touch etc, I just hope it isnt too much for me. And deep in my heart I really hope its just the physical part of me that she couldnt fall in love with and at somepoint we can return to how we initially felt. But going down that path is not I want to put myself on again, I know how it goes already. But I truly do feel lost because despite being in another relationship of 7 years before her, I dont think I've felt this much attraction since I was in love with a long time highschool friend of mine, and thats more than 8 years ago. Theres like only 3 people who might read this, so at the sametime I guess its my way of telling whats been down with my ass since I really dont do that ever. I still havent started transitioning, trying to get in contact with my doctor has been a fucking hassle, but my legs are epilated and im smooth as fuck boy. I'm any/all, always has been, because finnish language doesnt have gendered pronouns i dont care. New name will be a finnish variation of Rika-Lily Jenny Riikka coming from my mothers name (its a long story but she doesnt use that name) Lilja has an even more personal meaning that would take even longer to explain, but also apparently its the Yuri flower (i did not know) so uhh this ex teased me about that and we had a good laugh. oh and the boring part, Jerry, Jenny, its too easy.

[osanostra]

GGRB S2 forecast

I'm returning to Tumblr for another season of GGRB disaster!!! Yay!! As I did last year, I've prepared some S2+ predictions for ya 🤭

S2 bets:

⬜️ Audrey fells for Max ⬜️ Two of throuple start sneaking around ⬜️ Someone from the throuple becomes a third wheel and they break up with a fight ⬜️ Julien and Obie back together (?? granted that Julien has this new boyfriend and Obie has cut screen time) ⬜️ GG is taken down for at least a while ⬜️ Kate Keller goes evil ⬜️ Zoya pulls out Jenny Humphrey and tries to become a queen of Constance ⬜️ Georgina Sparks is in only 1-2 episodes ⬜️ Georgina helps Kate run GG and makes it hell

After the trailer and the fact that directors did change a lot, I'm not sure in anything, but I will go on with things I took from S1.

Below you can read a short notice with how I see the characters and the show's direction. While I was rewatching the series I was making notes to later form my post into a structured form. So if you guys are interested in why I think the way I do, you can always ask. I'll gladly rant about the slightest pairing moments.

AKI x MAX x AUDREY

My bet is on Audrey and Max ending up together. She was the throuple initiator, she's the one who talks to him more, and they have a lot of subtle moments that puzzle into a realistic slow pairing development.

I honestly don't get any pairing potential from Aki and Max. It's not even Evan Mock's fault, yes, he can't make such a performance like Emily Lind of Thomas Doerthy and he's a newbie actor, but he's still a sweetie pie. It's the writing.

He had all the juicy moments with Max in the first episodes, and even they were too fast and sort of "intentional" for me. Later, Aki and Max were complete bros. Like, sure, they were helping each other, but in a friendly way. In casual conversations, Max seemed mostly talking to Audrey and turning to Aki just in case. Aki seemed not so interested in the throuple, and he never took initiative.

For me, it looks like that. Aki and Audrey are together for so long that they are more of a family and friends than lovers. Now, Audrey is subtly in love with Max but doesn't want to admit it and pretends the throuple is what she really wants. Aki doesn't really need a throuple, but he's a newly discovered bi, so he doesn’t mind; he plays in a throuple mostly for Audrey. I suppose Max has feelings for Audrey as well, but I suspect the writers will start developing and show them later.

JULIEN x OBIE x ZOYA

Their line was written with less care than the throuple one, so I can say less.

I don't see Julien and Obie together. They have feelings and chemistry right now, mostly from Julien, but I do think their main purpose will be to overcome them. Like with Audrey and Aki, their relationship is finished, and though it may be painful, they need to overcome it. I see them as a good example of exes to friends dynamic.

I do think Obie and Zoya will end up as an endgame. I got little chemistry from them in the later episodes, because they basically didn’t talk to each other, but they were truly adorable together. Obie was his better self, and Zoya was charming back then. If they took a break to grow personally and get their own character development, and then get back, they would be a power couple.

I have a funny theory that Zoya and Julien may dump Obie completely. As we remember, Zoya is Dan Humphrey, Julien is Serena Van Der Woodsen, and Obie is probably Nate Archibald from the OG GG. Dan ended up with Serena, and Nate ended on his own, and I can expect something like this from the sisters. To not have constant fights over a boy, they give up on the boy! But that's for the final season, and it suggests Obie to have a downward character development

[rachelminetti]

september 2021 music!

it’s september 2022, i dug through the archives to post this before i type up this year’s september playlist. a lot has stayed the same, 2021 set the tone for the next few septembers, it seems.

everything is less intense, more settled in. great month of music for me, a lot of stereolab, autocollants, and homelife. very gentle, not necessarily subtle. i'm fully engulfed in this subgenre of twee - anything that's soft, a little dreamy, blue-tinted and slightly sedative. maybe this is rooted in nostalgia, for a time i only vaguely remember, yet crave without means to an end.

i know it's 7 days into october, but my music hasn't shifted quite yet and i put too much effort into these playlists to leave them without an audience. but first i'll list some of my favorite songs from last month, songs that still haven't been worn out, some that might make it into a favorites playlist. and then i will get into the smaller playlists i made to keep things organized, group genres/moods together, force a little cohesion into the mix. (i obviously did not get around to this. the playlists are made though! and can be found here: i learned a lot of good things this afternoon, still here?, too fast?, watch your step!, brain replaced by something, supreme nothing)

songs!

op hop detonation - stereolab

cobra and phases group play voltage in the milky night... // 1999

there is not a bad stereolab song. they are a group of utter consistency, everything just works, hits where it needs to. this song works well on a loop, like going down a factory line. maybe playing in an orange monochrome suburban bathroom that hasn't been updated since the 70s, maybe taking a moped down a twisting side street.

afterglow - pine*am

pull the rabbit ears // 2005

this song/album brought me to a days long deep dive into discogs and rateyourmusic, mostly while sitting up at the reference desk at the library, copy and pasting links into an email i'd send to myself at the end of the hour. it introduced me to picopop, shibuya-kei, brought me further onto this side of twee pop. this song feels like something, unnamed. the theremin (probably, maybe) is haunting, clear. i'll probably try to find a used CD sometime soon.

nothing at all - the autocollants

why couldn't things just stay the same // 1999

this album has given me so much, i could listen to it everyday, every drive to and from work. this isn't a stationary song, it's very much in motion, i must be going somewhere, moving along somehow. i'm sad about nothing at all.

on a rampant multi-tab google search at the circ desk at the library, i found a website that i will most definitely spend countless hours on in the future, TweeNet. a goddamn dream come true. this makes me want to plan another radio show, bless the columbia airwaves with this eternal tenderness.

est - greenscreen

greenscreen // 2019

can't find anything about this band/musician/group/whatever. kind of reminds me of boothe's gentle absurdity (though they're album is no longer available in my country? i miss eggs are 0's) (2022 update: bought the mp3 on bandcamp, all is well). this song is mesmerizing, a little hypnotizing, a little bit cryptic. definitely mysterious, but i'll keep it that way. i learned a lot of good things this afternoon.

one we kiss - jenny mae

there's a bar around the corner...assholes // 1995

god i love this song. maybe i was a college radio dj in the 90s in some alternate timeline or something. this just sounds like wusc on any given tuesday, tucked into the mundane.

east side glory - marnie stern

the chronicles of marnia // 2013

looking forward to continuing to gradually make my way through marnie stern's discography, though i'm saddened that this was her final album (for now maybe?).

[somersetmummy]

(A/N): This fic takes place immediately following book 1 chapter 11 (after being rescued by Sam from Sofia's closet). Not going to lie, I originally posted this monster fic (7000+ words) on Wattpad as a whole (my first fic, I didn’t know better!) so I’ve taken the opportunity to re-write and condense but thought it read better as two parts. 

Series/Pairing: The Nanny Affair (M!Sam Dalton x MC Katie Hide) 

Original characters - all property of PB: Katie Hide (MC), Sam Dalton, Mason & Mickey Dalton, Jenny Blake, Robin Flores (Part Two only)

New characters: (Present in Part Two) Serena-Rose Warren, Tessa Finch, Lucinda Hansen 

Rating/Content warning: 18+ Light sexual language

Word Count: 1880

Summary: Driving home together, Nanny Katie Hide and her boss Sam Dalton get a little hot and steamy after she receives an offer of a night out with the girls. 

Find Part Two here.

Part One -

The companionable silence within the car provides a stark contrast to the chaos of rush hour on the streets outside. Sam leisurely meanders through the traffic seemingly taking care not to rush the journey, enjoying a rare opportunity for the two of them to steal a fleeting moment to themselves. With their fingers laced together resting on his thigh, as his other commands control of the steering wheel, she steals a lingering glance in his direction relishing in the flutters which catch in her stomach as he notices her watching him. His lips curl into a comfortable smile in reply of her unspoken affection and it takes all his might to keep his eyes on the road.  

In the footwell below her feet the distant hum of a phone, neglected in her bag, buzzing faintly to itself punctuates the quiet once again, as it has been for the last ten minutes. Tired of being ignored, the buzzing transforms into a piercing ring causing its owner to startle and refocus. Untangling her fingers from Sam's she reaches down to collect it, her frustration at being interrupted quickly forgotten when she sees her friend's name on the home screen.  

"Finally!! So you are alive!" Jenny squeals down the phone without restraint.  The smirk on Sam's face is unmissable as he recognises the shrill voice on the other end of the phone. Katie returns his glance with an eye roll of her own as she braces herself for an interrogation.

"Ok, ok I get it, I'm here now. What's up?"

"You need to ask that gorgeous boss of yours to give you Friday night off, we're taking you out and I won't take no for an answer! It's about time we had a girls night, we've barely seen you since you've been living it up with that sex god."

Katie winces hoping Sam hadn't heard that last bit, subtlety was never Jenny's strong suit. She knows she doesn't need to consider her answer, just thinking of how much she's missed her friends the last few months sparks a pang of guilt deep in heart. A night free from the drama of fiancés, stolen glances and torturous longing sounds perfect.

"That actually sounds great Jen, I'll try my best to come. Aren't we pushing it to get a spot at any of the good places though if we're leaving it this late..."

Jenny scoffs, feigning disbelief that Katie would think she didn’t already have a master plan. If she wasn’t her best friend she’d feel a little insulted.

"You don't think I'm already all over that?! And I mean literally, I've got Josh on the case for us and I definitely got all over that!" 

The smugness in her voice carries her words and Katie can't help but giggle as she pictures how her unabashedly forward friend would've convinced her current flavour of the month Joshua Demarco, to use his connections to get them access to the hottest new bar in town. She'd no doubt that while a few flutters of eyelashes and some kind words would have sufficed, it was more likely that Jen would have insisted on giving him something more in return. And that something would most definitely not have been PG. 

As the more outgoing and vocal half of their partnership, Jenny has always had a way of charming everybody she meets, her connection with people is effortless, something which Katie finds both admirable and terrifying. 

While some could argue that Katie too could charm and impress people effortlessly, she is undoubtedly more comfortable in the background, observing and understanding how things work before weighing in. She notices the details, picking up on key points of conversation, getting to know people on a personal level and drawing on their connections to help assert herself. Jen needed to be visible at all times, she was like the sun, drawing people in to her warmth and reflecting her own energy back at them in return. 

"I'll leave it with you then Jen, just text me with the details and I'll see if I can make it. And I don't mean the steamy details of you and Josh, you can save those to share with me over cocktails!" Sam's intensely brooding gaze falls upon her, no doubt trying to glue together the pieces of conversation he'd just overheard. She turns to him realising he probably already suspects there’s a further story to be told. They’d not yet shared much about their lives beyond the penthouse but he’d heard enough to know that she could be easily influenced by her impulsive friend. 

"Jen I'd better go, speak soon."

Returning the phone to the depths of her bag, she catches Sam's eye, his expression warm but curious, clearly waiting for her to elaborate.

"Would you mind if I took the night off on Friday? Jen's asked if I can meet her and some friends, we haven't seen each other for ages...."

Unsure where the feeling comes from, the urge to say more rushes over her like a wave crashing on the shore. It’s the same as the feeling of nervousness she had that night a few weeks ago at the diner, almost like first date nerves. Perhaps, she realises,  they’ve resurfaced because her whole life has been tangled with his for the last few months, she's not really sure how to break out of it and step back into her own, or whether he'll let her. 

"Obviously I'll make sure I get the boys dinner sorted, the place tidy, laundry done and get them to bed before I head out....and I won't stay out late, I wouldn't want to cause any disruption....unless you've got any pressing work or meetings which means you'll be home late... I can cancel, I know it's short notice..."

"Woah, who are you, Cinderella?!"

The mirth in his tone instantly relaxes her as she realises he's only teasing. While attempting, and failing, to look defiant her nose inevitably crinkles, unable to contain the laughter bubbling to the surface at the silliness of her outburst. He leans over gently resting his hand on her knee to placate her, stroking her delicate skin with his thumb.

"Of course you should go out with your friends."

"Really?"

"Definitely." He continues, "as much as I would love to keep you to myself I know that you have a life of your own to live too and you, more than anyone, deserve to go out and enjoy yourself."

Sweeping his hand into her own, she gracefully brings it to her lips, tickling featherlight kisses along his knuckles.

"Thank you....but I don't know that you'd really want me to let my hair down if you knew how our girls nights usually play out..."

A wicked smile casts on her lips as she looks at him from under her long eyelashes, she continues to caress his hand, her lips teasing his skin with every word. He struggles to keep his eyes on the road, his mind racing with the many possible indiscretions which he imagines could take place on girls night, especially with Jenny at the helm. The visions in his mind entrance him and he can't decide whether he wishes he was part of them, or that she wasn't.

"I see, a bit of an every man for himself situation is it?!" 

He pulls her hand over to his lap where he secures it on his thigh under his own. His hope that by keeping his hand on hers he can keep her grounded to him before losing her to the inhibitions of the impending night out.

"Let's just say it'll be a hot mess of short skirts, high heels, cocktails and getting sweaty on the dance floor."

Realising that the car has come to a stop at a red light she turns to Sam looking him straight in the eye as she slides her hand brazenly up his thigh. She can feel his pants straining to contain what's growing within them while his chest visibly rises and falls more rapidly, struggling to control the pulsing hunger running through him. 

"But don't worry, we usually only break a few hearts".

Unable to restrain himself any longer, he launches across the centre console, holding her head in his hands and devouring her mouth with his hungry wet lips. She lets herself fall deeply into his kiss, smiling against him as she thinks to herself that she should ask for time off more often.

The light turns to green and then red again, disgruntled drivers behind sounding their horns in annoyance as the immaculate silver Audi blocks their path, but neither occupant notices as they loose themselves in one another.

Her gentle hands press against Sam's muscular chest, marvelling in the ripples beneath her fingers, before sliding them up into his hair pulling him deeper into the kiss. He keeps one hand firmly at the back of her neck, anchoring her to him while the other roams down the curves of her body, his thumb tweaking a now erect nipple before grasping at her hip.

Intruding on their entanglement, the sound of the in-car phone system echoes around the plush detailing of the car, with 'Home' appearing on the display. Breaking apart in surprise, they finally catch a breath. Sam rests his forehead intimately against hers as he gives the voice command to answer the call and Mason's innocent voice pours out of the speakers.

"Hey dad, are you gonna be home soon? We're staaarving." It's impossible for Katie not to break into a smile as she thinks about the boys at home with Carter, no doubt teaching him all sorts of tricks which she'd never let them get away with. Sam notices her thoughtful smile and matches it with his own as their minds work as one imaging the same scene. Their eyes once again meet as they resign themselves to the intimate moment being lost, instead committing it to memory to recall again when the urge to immerse themselves in thoughts of each other inevitably come to call.

"Yeah buddy, I've just picked up Katie and we're heading home now."

The smile in Mason's voice is evident as his tone becomes more upbeat. 

"Oh great, Katie's with you?...Hey Katie!"

"We missed you today, why'd you have to spend the day with Suck...I mean with Sofia anyways?!" Mickey interrupts, his fear of missing out pushing him to insert himself in the conversation.

Sam and Katie stifle their giggles at Mickey's slip of the tongue, aware of the microphone above their heads. Sam places a soft kiss on Katie's forehead before pulling away begrudgingly as she in turn adjusts her position, smoothing over her now crumpled skirt. 

"Hi boys, I missed you too. I was just helping her with some grown up work stuff, definitely not as fun as a day with you monkeys though.”

Much to the relief of the drivers behind them, Sam's already breezing through the now green light towards the penthouse, this time with more urgency as the sky above begins to melt into dusk.  

"How about your dad and I pick up some pizza on our way back...."

Without even a moments hesitation the twins excited voices burst through the speakers once again.

"Score!"

Tag List:  @shewillreadyou @txemrn @silma-words @thefrenchiemama @secretaryunpaid @sfb123 @fanjessfic

[jack-andthestalk]

Our Son, Chapter 4, Foundations.

By the time myself and Willie were up and showered the following morning Jamie's jeep was gone from outside his cottage. Good! I thought I would just ignore him for the rest of my time here, we could resume our contactless parenting as soon as I got back to Boston. Willie and I wandered down to the main house for breakfast, checking over plans with Jenny for her imminent big day and catching up properly with Ellen. It was soothing to be in their company, no matter what had happened with Jamie and I, the women in his family had loved me unconditionally, which for me with no real family to speak of assides from Lamb well it was very much reciprocated and appreciated !

As the morning wore on, Ellen and I moved out to her garden to do some weeding and choose the flowers for Jenny's wedding bouquet, Willie came to help 'Gwanny' but really causing more destruction than anything else, digging up flowers and turning the watering can upside down drenching himself in the process, I was just finished pruning Ellen's rosebush when I felt a shadow looming over me.

I didn't turn to see who it was, I heard Ellen say "Ach Jamie, there ye are mo Graidh will ye clip that top rose for me there, Claire and myself are too bitty to reach it". He didn't respond but suddenly I felt his big body reach above my head and clip the rose Ellen was speaking off. He was right behind me now, I could feel his breath on my back, "what have ye planned then Jamie?", Ellen enquired. "Ye have a look of purpose about ye" I heard him exhale. "I was thinking we could go for a ride Claire", he said ignoring Ellen's question. His voice sounded gruff and hoarse as if it hadn't been used much.                                              

I dug my hands into the clay below the rose bush, wishing I could sink into it and disappear altogether. I felt completely exposed by our argument the evening before, I couldn't bring myself to turn and look at him, instead I just answered "il get Willie a dry jumper and he will be ready to go with you" I made to stand from my knees, "I dinna mean Willie, I thought just you and I would go, Mam will be fine with willie?" He obviously had looked at Ellen for approval as she was nodding vehemently at me saying "oh aye, me and Willie are due to start making some scones, are we not Willie?"

I swallowed the lump threatening to build in my throat. Why the hell was I such an emotional mess, I didn't want Ellen's sympathy, she must know about how Jamie felt about Willie's conception. I was mentally spent from it all. "no thank you Jamie, I want to finish these plants for your mother and...", A hand gently rose from behind me and rested on my shoulder, "Please Claire." A plea.

Ellen was watching the two of us curiously now, what she had first thought was as a simple invitation to go horse riding, was now apparently something else completely. She took another look at Jamie and seemingly made up her mind. " Go Claire", she said softly, "the plants will bide", a simple tilt in her head and a pleading look in her eyes, told me she was asking not telling me to go.

I turned to look at Jamie, his blue hooded eyes, watching me intently to see what I would do. "fine", I said with resignation, " I'll need to wash my hands".

Once we got to the stables, Jamie began mounting a horse he referred to as 'Donas', I looked around wondering why he wasn't saddling a horse up for me when he stretched out his arm indicating for me to mount Donas with him. I didn't move to join him but merely looked at him sceptically, "where is my horse?",  "Its easier if ye ride with me".

I hissed back,"don't be ridiculous I am perfectly capable..." he gave me a grave look, "i dinna say ye were not capable but we have a bit of ground to cover and it will make it easier as ye are not familiar with the route". He outstretched his arm again, his eyes met mine for a second, please. "Fine", I murmured and took his hand. I settled myself between his legs but did not allow my body to rest against his, leaving a polite distance between us. He just wrapped his arm around my stomach and hoisted me into his body, "Ye will nay be too comfortable if ya ride like that, rest against me, aye". 

“Where are we going?” I asked sometime later, I was lulled by the heat of his body and his strong arm wrapped around me, his other arm managing the reigns easily, the muscles in his arms twisting and turning, guiding Donas.

“I have something in mind I wanna show ye” he said gruffly. With that he used his strong thighs to squeeze Donas down a grassy pathway I had not been before.

We were riding for well near an hour, my little knowledge of the Fraser lands told me we were near coming to the border of those lands, or what I remember to be the border. All of a sudden Jamie turned Donas and we trotted through a small clearing of trees before mounting a hill, once at the top Jamie stopped Donas tied him to a post on a fence and said we would walk from there.

I could see it almost immediately, it was the a half built house, little more than the foundations but all internal walls were well on the way to show the outline of each room, whoever was building it had started to clad the external wall with the most beautiful natural stone that I knew to be very similar to the stone used on the tower in Lallybroch.

Jamie turned to me and put his hand out to help me down the hill, he turned to look at me, as I carefully traced my hand over the beautiful stone fronting the house, "the stone is it from the main house?", "Aye, its from the tower, it was a wall that had crumbled and I kept the stone for this", he said pointing at the house, "Its beautiful Jamie, are you doing all the work yourself?", he looked pleased at this, "Aye, when I can..I usually spend the weekends doing it..there is nay rush as such..I hope to have the roof on before winter though and then I can start thinking about windows and such".

I nodded, "well give me the tour then!" Jamie looked so pleased with my interest, my heart nearly burst looking at him. He took great time in walking me through each room and why he had chosen its position, for the light or a view. When he was finished I turned to him and said "its lovely Jamie, I hope you have many years of happiness in it". He looked at me bewildered, "its nay for me Claire...Its for Willie!"

"for Willie?" I asked incredulously.

“Mmm aye, well I ken he lives in Boston” he looked at me earnestly “and no matter what ye think of me Sassenach, I would never interfere with that”. He kicked stones forming the foundation, “but when he gets older and feels like maybe spending a bit of time here or having a place to bring his own family, I want it to have made it for him .., somewhere he can come.”

 "Jamie", I said in almost a whisper,  "its such a wonderful thing to do, Willie is so lucky", I realised he was still looking at me intently, "I have no brought anyone up here asides you, Mam and Da", he smiled then and said " I brought Willie up once, and he told me he would prefer a treehouse". We both laughed at that. "C'mere he said there is one more thing I wanna show ye", he led me to the back of the house where there was the foundations of another dwelling, much smaller, perhaps a garage I thought. It had the outlines of three rooms, and one tiny room, which was either a closet or maybe a washroom. I noticed on the blocks that were lying ready to use in centre of the dwelling, sprayed in some sort of paint was the words 'CB bedroom' and 'CB Kicthen', I supposed they were to identify where the various blocks were to be used. I looked at Jamie curiously "this is rather big for a garage?", he shook his head "its no a garage" a smirk forming on his lips, "its a granny flat" he said proudly.

Confusion written all over my face, he nodded in my direction and said "for you Sassenach", I shook my head as if to say I don't follow, he turned away to fiddle with a piece sticking out of one of the half built walls. "I ken that if Willie comes home from Boston either with a wife and kids or just for College, he will want you to come too aye, at the very least at holidays and such? so I thought it best to have yer own, so ye wouldna be on top of the other". My mouth was hanging open agape, "ye will always a place here Claire", he said softly. I literally was lost for words "Jamie I don't know what to say, I..I..".

He smiled pleased that he had left me speechless, "ye dinna need to say anything, I hadna planned on showing ye it until it was finished but after last night...weel I wanted to explain to ya", Jesus was I going to cry again? " Claire, what I said last night came out all wrong..I ken the truth of how Willie came to be" he looked into my eyes and they were so soft I could have drowned happily in them, memories of our night together written on his face, "I was worried that someone who didna ken, or didna know us!", 'Us', "would someday tell Willie that he was only the result of a one night thing, which in practice may be true", he smiled ruefully, "But we ken you and I, that there is more to it than that, Aye?"

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yes" I said weakly, he continued "So when Da talks flippantly like that, I get worried that he will say something in front of Willie and he will no ken the truth from us, so he will get the wrong idea".

He moved to an arms reach in front of me and tentatively touched the back of my hand, "I couldna ask for a better mother either Claire, I hope ya ken that?", his eyes searched mine to see if I believed him.

"Yes, thank you Jamie", My eyes were filled with tears but I was determined he would not see me cry again.

We eventually made our way back to the stables on Donas, the atmosphere was lighter between us, we were joking and happy to be in each others company. It was so long since I had seen this side of Jamie, probably the last time I was here, before we had the strains of co parenting affecting our relationship. Jamie was pointing out various landmarks on the Fraser lands, when he slowed Donas and pointed to a cave hidden up high on a hill, "do ye remember that cave Sassenach?", A knowing smile formed on my lips but I added rather noncommittally, "yes something familiar about it alright"

He stopped Donas and rested his chin on my shoulder, the act was so intimate, my heart started beating madly in my chest, I hoped he didn't notice. Even though there was no one around us for miles, he bent down and whispered into my ear "that's where ye pinned me down and kissed me for the first time, aye?" was he flirting? 

I snorted "I did not pin you down", you Mr Fraser, made up an excuse that you had lost something in that cave and made me go with you to find it, when you got me there, you put your foot out tripping me up and YOU then pinned me to the ground"

I could feel his chest vibrating behind me, "Aye weel" he said lightly, "ye clearly enjoyed yerself cause I see ye have no forgotten one single detail Sassenach".

I reached back to slap his thigh.

By the time we reached the paddocks I was fully resting my body on Jamie, his arm strong around my middle holding me there. In the distance I could see the figurate of a woman leaning against the paddock fence, looking out at the direction we were coming. I could tell she was smallish with long blonde hair.

"Who is that at the paddock Jamie?"

He hesitated in answering, sighing first, "Eh..that'll be Laoghaire, Sassenach".

[roland-mary]

Ok, this is the second time I wrote this post and then lost the entire thing. I'm about to throw my MacBook out the window! Also, why oh why, doesn't Tumblr somehow chronologically compile all the reblog so you can comment on everybody's, because everybody's responses have been so great!! I love this!

I only knew about the Outlander books before the show because I have a high school friend who is obsessed, and has been since we were in high school (20 years ago 😭). She even studied abroad in Edinburgh and named her daughter Claire! I'm actually happy I didn't cave and read them earlier (she always insisted I'd LOVE them) because then I'd have lost more years of my life to this world 😂 I was also able to plow through all the books without the agony of waiting.

I definitely agree that the casting of this show is nothing short of magical, as many of you have said. Whether they fit my mental image, or have become my mental image, everybody is so amazing and meshes so well that it doesn't matter (with one very small exception I'll explain later).

Dougal, for example, was so brilliantly embodied by Graham that I now can't imagine anybody else. Same for Murtagh. Still no word on Duncan Innes, so I hope we're right on what most are speculating...though it's a little hard to imagine them together :)

@lulu-tan79 Bree has also become my favorite character after Jamie and Claire. I love that she's always outwardly strong but has such emotional intelligence. I just read the scene in The Fiery Cross, where she's comforting Claire after her penicillin killed a patient, and Claire's description of Bree's sensitivity made me cry. I'm so excited to see her out of the 60's and watch her transformation. I hope her storyline allows us to see more of a sharpness. Sophie is just so feminine and so far we haven't seen another side.

@annalisedemoodboards , I totally agree with everything you said about Young Ian! John Bell is one who is not at all my mental image of Young Ian, but my mind very happily just has Book Ian and Show Ian. He was really great this season in playing Young Ian as totally hapless. I do have a little trouble picturing his transformation and seeing Ian become a bit more hard and capable, but In Outlander Casting I Trust.

I think Ed Speelers is a great fit for Bennett, who I imagined as handsome and cold as ice. He's not as blonde, but I can get over that! I'm excited to see his story line play out on TV.

Maria Doyle Kennedy is brilliantly cast as Jocasta. I'm really curious to see whether they give her Mackenzie hair or just keep her more natural as she is. I'm assuming they'll go wig (trying not to cringe...they can probably pull that one off successfully).

The ONE character we've seen so far, who is so different than my mental image that I find it jarring is...Fiona 😂 Her role is small so far, but later on (spoiler alert), I just don't see the spirit that Fiona has. It's almost as if they grabbed any Scottish actress and said, "you'll do." Obviously there are physical differences to DG's description, but she also just does not do it for me. Am I alone on this ??

Oh, and one more who I had never mentioned is Laura Donnelly. I think she's brilliant as Jenny and physically has become my Book Jenny, though initially she was different. I don't see Mackenzie eyes when I look at her, but it doesn't matter any more. Her accent has always struck me as a bit odd too, almost like she were not Scottish. It's probably a regional thing. This clueless American has no idea!

Once again, I love this discussion and everybody's comments. My first go at this had more tags, but I just don't have the energy or time to do it again! Ughhhh. Next time I'm going to save drafts frequently!!

Who do you picture?

Book readers and book re-readers, who do you picture when you’re reading the books? (Pause to add that I just typed a loooong post and accidentally hit escape and it’s gone, gone, gone. Sigh. Here goes again!)

I’d read the books before the show was cast, but my mental image of Claire and Jamie quickly evolved to be Cait and Sam. Same for Frank/Black Jack and Geillis. I can’t even really picture who I saw them as before, which is odd.

My mental images of Bree and Roger are a bit fuzzier. For one, we haven’t seen them as much on screen, and not in all their incarnations as characters.

*I’m so totally over people overreacting to physical differences from the book characters.* For me, I think it’s just a difference of who I see when I’m watching vs. who I see when I’m reading, and whether those are the same. My brain very easily reconciles the fact that Cait doesn’t have “whiskey eyes” and neither does my Book Claire. I just read those lines and my mind moves right on past. My picture of Roger is totally different though. It’s as if he’s re-cast in my book imagination. When I’m reading, I suppose I see him as Diana wrote - darker and with a bit more of an edge to his looks. Maybe my mind just likes imagining really sexy men 😂 (side note: hubby is dark and sexy…I have a type…can’t help it!). Rik works for my “Oxford Roger” much better than my “Fraser’s Ridge Roger.” Could have just been how they styled him. I wasn’t a fan of the beard. Again, this doesn’t bother me…I just have two Rogers.

As for Bree, I think I have two of them too. My Book Bree is slightly more commanding and sharper looking, but I can’t say she’s very different from Sophie. I also think it’s amazing when I see Sophie next to Sam and Cait and think that she really does somehow look like their child…it’s a really good blend! Yessss (that’s supposed to sound resigned), I wish she were a *little* taller, but what can you do? The BTS pictures of her are really beautiful and she looks perfect.

I’d pretty much written this to the lovely @youmissher-terribly and then realized I should post it. Practicing what I preach about wanting to be excited for the show and about the books, rather than all the fandom drama.

I’m just about to finish rereading The Fiery Cross and am in full on Fraser’s Ridge mode, not to mention the fact that Drums of Autumn is one of my very favorites. Squeeee!