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unproduciblesmackdown · 2 years ago

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truly like at any time in any story different elements will be prioritized or somewhat sacrificed for the success of another element / a weakness in one regard could be regarded as a worthwhile tradeoff or otherwise largely beside the point, and billions is so About its themes of like these continual conflicts between people and the ways they can wield power and the reasons that they do so. and characterization isn't prioritized ahead of that, and certainly sometimes it has to be that a strong or even particularly distinct sense of [a character] is weakened/sacrificed for the sake of Conflict Plot, but even as i'm aware that it's being here for the "wrong" reason to be here for characters in their own right, it's like, i think still certainly the theoretical ideal is for less of noticeable casting [characterization] aside and sometimes by "noticeable" it's also certainly like cmon and was that even worth it. and i mean, plenty of people Watch Billions Wrong. all the fans who think the show to them is "isn't axe cool." like, the answer is: no. and the show was never actually Just About Him As Some Character b/c, of course in the end no character is here to get like, an ideal emotional conclusion as their eventual resolution as beloved characters, the only resolution out here is how someone is either driven out or chooses to leave Because Of The Continual Conflict theme.

but anyways this is about further and hopefully all the more in depth / accurate words about how it's like "good god rian is thus far such a failure at having created a character" lmfao it is egregious. hypothetically if they just so happened to switch gears in season 7 and seem to actually create that sense of a distinct individual whose presence matters for being that distinct individual, great i guess. thanks for the season and a half of Not That, and that despite holding out for the end of season 6, it's now like, i cannot muster any investment in whatever this is, save for how we as the audience can be provided character material from taylor instead through any of these interactions. it's unfortunately similar to my arc back in season 4 of a trial period re: assessing wendy's character material with an effort to care, finding it all over the place and wendy's pretty terrible to people in general and obviously taylor in particular often enough, relevant here, which like godspeed i mean but not in a Fun To Dislike way even, and to me she's also not that fun to like, and then i'm most interested when her interactions w/taylor give us more material / information about them, so. ya hate to have those similarities.

anyways, i think a litmus test of feeling out how strongly there is A Sense of Character in material is whether it feels like what people are doing, or more especially, Saying, couldn't be swapped over to another character. like whether it feels like what someone has said couldn't have instead been said by someone else / feels recognizable and feels like it lends relevance to that particular character's presence in the specific scene or like, entire work. and that can just be like, Voice, but just more generally it's ofc like, overall personality, what we understand about this character's tendencies and motivations. and by and large with rian even when she's Doing Something it's her providing plot exposition / an impetus for taylor's subplot, and wherein especially in the business realm of like "oh btw here's a business opportunity that the tmc subplot will be centered around this episodeeee" that's rarely that Character Based. any given employee could provide it, and it's only become Less characterful when rian is the only employee with dialogue who's not winston, such that [idk? quant stuff?] is no longer a reason for rian (or winston) to be the particular person to pitch whatever business move. unspecified undialogued beloved tmc employee todd (i made that up) could be the one behind any and every episode's business plan. even if you believe rian gets a lot of them b/c she's just so talented (which, despite what billions creators say, i'm never thinking abt how amazingly smart everyone on the show must be, and this never interferes w/my understanding of what's going on. and i don't think we are operating from the same ideas re: Intelligence anyways (such as, a quantifiable metric that can be meaningfully compared as superior/inferior between individuals, even if you modify this concept like "well there are many different kinds :)" im sure this will come up again) that theoretical talent doesn't seem to be relevant to her as a character. other employees are also talented and get to pitch things to their boss. taylor does not seem to decide rian is [so literally them] on such a basis alone.

which. i mean we'll surely come back to it later too, but that rian's material in 5x05 through 5x07 was most Quant Duo and was prior to the entire thing that now seems to be her main thing, namely, taylor deciding she's [so literally them], and was As or More distinctly characterful than anything since, when she was also Supposedly getting more [mere plot device / character who doesn't yet truly matter] treatment and merely getting scenes about a dynamic with winston, which were interactions that did serve to elevate her personality. and then in 5x08, being annoyed with taylor also certainly elevates her personality, somewhat true in the "okay, brewing conflict ig" thread since, but where rian then changing her mind completely like haha well alright, if you're projecting, i guess i Will be all in on this job i plan to walk out of soon and be chill about having nothing going on outside work such that i may as well not leave the office and we'd better hope that each other's company is all the social enrichment we could possibly need, end remote work, time to get back to the office or how will we ever go for a walk or have a chitchat….anyways. all her interactions accepting her status as taylor's mirror / continuing that dynamic have much more by and large seemed to diminish / tamp down / opposite of elevate: lower her character. this could be at all on purpose, but it's not enjoyable in [rian's character material]'s own right. it's also not exactly fun and likable that most (or arguably all) of rian's interactions with winston are using and bullying him, but it's again more elevated and actually distinct at all. i'll be frustrated if it never goes anywhere like "being commented on, questioned, criticized, analyzed in the material itself" b/c it'll be pretty hollow otherwise, but it's still the most characterful thing she's got going on imo

already wearied by writing this out lmfao it's just not enjoyable. this funeral dirge. it's Not That Characterful when even in season 6 when taylor has two dialogue capable employees, anything rian puts forth could be pitched by winston, like it could've been sara, or even mafee sometimes, or todd from offscreen. winston not being allowed to operate even as The Default Quant seems more about the not so distinct character trait that rian is simply not winston, who is [autistic character] with it, and the writing is such that that means he's not allowed to even exposit when we can help it, and even "well, it's mathy?" can go to rian now. the gesture at "oh uh winston's thing is The Ruthless Capitalism Counterpoints" is unconvincing re His character when that's never been relevant before, or since, and indeed it seems like rian's just riffing making up some shit based on the very little info she has about him, b/c what she really cares about is it'd be funny to keep him around and antagonize him, and the only person who needs convincing of this is wendy, who also knows nothing about winston, and likewise also only cares about negatively judging his je ne sais quoi and making up shit about that b/c she can. even a gesture at "ohh rian's just so Insightful with True Understanding(tm) versus winston" is not really supported when mase carb exists b/c winston was the one person telling taylor to go for the oil divestment plan when this wasn't even merely about saying "yes the math alone tells me i can reassure you" and if he'd also been like "yeah fuck any ethics re divestment when we can make more money" he could've agreed with sara questioning it or quitting over it. he's also a markedly insightful character, like how he's also markedly Not aggressive or egotistical despite instead interpreting him otherwise….more about this later too possibly lol. it's Insightful even as quant kid 2 to know the only thing axe cap has going for it is taylor; to at all successfully adapt his approach For taylor after a very limited and skewed interaction w/them; to realize That's Something You'd Pitch An Investor; to suspect front running / other interference (wherein even if he didn't send an email, seems like The Problem may be not knowing if he'd be listened to and the Solution more encouragement/support, instead of being smacked down all the harder for sharing that he was in fact suspicious); to be the one person with a winning fight night bet; to understand why taylor's acting a particular way b/c of how they feel whether to support them or criticize them accurately enough that they even listen; that in general he seems to Get taylor as much or even more than the people they have relationships with that we get to see, or really, Anyone else; that he's even ahead of the curve on liking rian despite also being bothered by her as a potential replacement. i don't think his Actual Insightfulness is a complete accident on the writing's part, nor are characters maybe not nonzero times meant to be cluelessly wrong about winston, but. you could give him more of an arc or let him speak more ever. and that grievance aside, again, the fact that rian gets to be The Quant Who Talks / Exposits / Is Talked To so much more than winston is like, he Could be doing this, he's just banished for autistacity really, which does not make this So Characterful for rian.

and as inspired this post, rian helping taylor with anti axe conspiracies at the end of season 5 also doesn't feel like other tmc characters couldn't have been swapped in. we know wendy doesn't take winston seriously, and maybe for some reason she'd be suspicious of winston claiming whatever like moral qualms about taylor's supposed goings on, but i think that very very easily could've instead been winston simply supposedly letting something slip, and wendy immediately believing he's so Stupid as to do something like that, and not questioning it at all; she'd come up with Any [ascribing any negative quality to winston] on the spot to explain anything and not question it. winston, who also has no more loyalty to axe than rian does and probably already has more to taylor, is a great secret weapon for how Ignored he is, wherein it's really like, i don't even think if winston Had been the one who helped such that wendy even Realized after the fact and flipped him off b/c she's pissed whenever she realizes violating hipaa and enabling axe backfired, that she or anyone else would ever pay more attention to winston or believe him more capable or even theoretically valuable than they already do (not). i can say that, sure, maybe at this point after mafee's ditching the tmc niche b/c he just wants to hang out with dollar bill so bad, and is about to ditch taylor entirely b/c he just wants to hang out with dollar bill so bad and what's the point without axe's magic what reason could i possibly have for staying, and just previously fucked over tmc b/c axe said so without even bothering to tell taylor himself asap. but then truly there's also lauren here who like, if they don't trust her enough as their gf to at least not tell on them if they shared that plan with her, probably they could've just broken up sooner. wendy certainly regards lauren as capable and worth paying attention to, lauren is certainly capable of helping as employee and cohort here. the fact it's easier to believe that yeah, rian might for real instead choose to tell on taylor, does not then make this feel so "yep makes sense why rian's the character getting this role / moving the plot in this way." and the fact that taylor's material is commented on b/c they air their thoughts/feelings by whatever they're telling rian as mentorish advice is not really about rian being peak characterful there either, as though only she could've gone :I Uh Ok abt taylor saying whatever at any point.

even rian's input in turn is just all over the place when like, despite that one nyt guy's insistence she's not Taylor's Conscience or something when one week she's criticizing like "wow but dick move though, even if it's successful business" and another she's criticizing them like "yeah it's a dick move but it's the successful business one, so do that." and it remains puzzling where these Conflicts are even going, only for it to shake out like oh i guess ever since rian went "sure i was saying you're the boss and i'm the employee and i'll have a personal life, but now i'm like, fuck that personal life lol whatever" in 5x08 because uhhh, she also then expected the boss vs employee thing to go away too and be regarded as a peer? you were only promoted so much, despite taylor regarding her as and saying she is [so literally them], like, fresh out of undergrad and a bit offbeat out here and talented was not what made taylor thee most Very Characterful out here / not what distinguishes and defines them, even if ofc it's relevant….don't know if taylor Had taken the fall in the end of s5 that tmc would be fine with rian suddenly left helming it, compared to taylor doing so for axe cap a season into their introduction. i don't even know why we should believe rian's going to stick around indefinitely at the end of s6, or even if we're supposed to think she is, when last we heard she's willing to have no life outside work but also plans to just walk out and leave once she reaches some relatively low personal finance goal. and that's how you know there's some strong characterization: as so frequently seems to be the case with rian, at best it feels like i'm just kind of guessing at various motivations that Could be meant to explain why she wouldn't have already left. and also by now it's like, i don't have the motivation myself to care to Try to understand her anymore lol

and of course there's The Egregious Nightmare where like yeah yknow if there was one thing about rian i really felt makes her feel like a distinct character, it's: Being A Woman. there's no reason to think prince, who feels entitled to access to a woman's body at any time as a way to obtain his own sexual gratification, would have had any further qualifications to his quest there. "mpc employee" is also relevant there, but the only reason that particularly narrows it down is b/c you only have so many women there who have dialogue, woops. being twentysomething is also relevant to how prince is shit and telling us, as if we didn't already know, that his only conclusion can be his downfall, b/c he's a [central man]. in turn, if rian's just looking for convenient casual sex, the only thing making prince most convenient is you don't even have to leave at any point about it even if probably that would've been a mitigatingly better idea. even if you assume rian would've only had sex with a man, universal taylorsexuality aside, that really does Not narrow it down that much here, even if he needs to also have the capacity for dialogue. unless rian's paul revere line out of nowhere is supposed to be her announcing "i like em twenty, thirty, or two hundred fifty years older than me," and that's also supposed to be character relevant, like, gross. why not victor? ben? pretty make or break in that ep for rian's dynamic with winston to even Potentially include anything genuine, and if she hooked up with him for convenience and after they've spent the whole ep in duo mode and been meeting up outside work, that would have made a world of sense, but apparently if you think so you forget that he's too autistic to not be a sexual nonentity, cue the contrast in how rian reacts to taylor's expressed interest vs winston's back in the day. though i wouldn't necessarily say that her using winston for her benefit in a half dozen ways couldn't extend to casual sex, though even if that was mutually understood to be the sole purpose of such interactions, i can't imagine that this rian who will, in fact, also react to her dropped interest in their Shared interest by deciding that it's hers now, winston's input must have no value compared to her superior ideas, and furthermore she should hurt him with that and punish him for thinking he too gets to walk up to coworkers at a party and say anything, could be trusted to not turn on him likewise even if they get a few rounds out of it. or worse, but that's a whole other, if related, what if

getting distracted now pissed off as well at the seemingly increasingly likelihood they've dumped winston's character for the No Particular Reason they always could have done so, so glad for all the reassurance that dollar bill is back more prominently, and axe, oh and rian as bizarrely turning out to also be a prominent workplace bully consciously similar to the boss, but with a bit of a different style to that

anyways again it's like, what would have changed if we just hear that prince used some unnamed undialogued employee woman for sex? he could've talked with andy about it all the same even without our previously knowing or knowing exactly whom. you can even have an extra implied to conveniently entirely drop a glass for more Noticeability, but out of frame lmao. we don't even Need to have been shown nearly as much re its being rian for no reason, even if you assume that Dialogue is necessary or whatever, we could have only been informed about it later through taylor's being informed. and it's time to segue more overtly into: Political Lens On Abuse. is it that we could only go "well that's just normal and okay" unless we had dialogue from the woman that it's shit, actually, or rather, that it's a woman we supposedly already care about or something, and if it was some Unknown Woman we'd be like oh well she probably brought it upon herself / it's not a big deal if we can't get this dialogue of her like "wow this sucks." or really, being Shown her initial distress at the not actual recontextualization of things. wherein it's like, what does it actually do to just Present [tfw negative experiences where it's relevant a character is a woman]? what is it if, in Real Life or in Media, we think we have to externally See someone's freshest pain to potentially judge it as Real and Legitimate? meanwhile i Suppose it could be relevant to rian's apparent actually emergent character trait as "unusually clueless???" that for some reason she's like well time to proactively take responsibility for all this, like she took responsibility for taylor's feelings, and yet also both a) at all aware of the relevance of power differences such that this mere escalation of prince as [significantly older ceo you work for fairly public figure with political aspirations] which was already the case is obviously a problem to her, and for some reason she thinks being given hush money would serve to….give her more power in this situation (???) but also b) is Again apparently just taken off guard that prince does not regard nor treat her as a peer, so i can't even believe that this is simply rian kind of in denial about / trying to obscure or make up for her lack of power here kind of a whole tangent but it also overlaps with how rian Very Much does not feel like a character here when all that's relevant about her is "a young woman," in that also being so graced with getting to see any of rian pursuing [i'm dead set on hooking up with the worst person possible, which we have every reason to believe rian could and would be aware of but Apparently Not, with no particular appeal unless she's only after men who are also significantly older than her, and not even for the access to their potential power/resources] and then her dialogue about how "wow this sucks but i'll just take care of things then b/c it was on me lbr" also feels like effective "reassurance" from the material that prince didn't sexually assault her?? to the point that like, rian's own approach here of drugging someone she intends to have sex with is even now making it like, well that is….potentially to her advantage, you know, even when it's stimulants, and even when the person knows that's what's going on. again not…………..Great re: like. what ifs about like well i'm sure it's plausible Canonest Rian could see winston as a convenient source of casual sex, but. it'd then seem like sheer close shave luck if he wasn't hurt by such an arrangement, or again, simply the Approach of one

ugh anyways it's like. i'm not like surprised if the show thinks it's relevant to try to tell us "well prince wouldn't rape someone, but" but like, is it Actually. why "reassure" us that that didn't happen, why even give us anything beyond what rian says about it, even if she's still saying oh it was My Fault if anything? again, what prince expresses through words and actions (like also blaming andy for not being there instead, if she has a problem with it) that he feels entitled to Some woman's body for the purposes of his sexual gratification, anytime anywhere, Ever, At All. this does not at all conflict with someone who'd sexually assualt someone. he Also blames rian by expressing the idea that power is Deserved, thus a power imbalance is also a matter of intrinsic superiority and inferiority, entitlement and blame. sexual assault and just the less [there is precise and/or particularly established language for this] realm of behavior and attitudes that harm and use people re: sex is not all characterized by "was the potentially wronged party kicking and screaming? the whole time? as hard as possible? what about some tactical maneuver that could've been employed at the perfect moment? were they faking that ever? playing it up?" etc etc etc etc wherein even when supposedly we all agree sexual assault is wrong and bad, going Not That Bad(tm) and Victim Blaming about abuse is just like so "normal" lmao and i don't even just mean in the ways people think are Obviously victim blaming or minimalizing/denying.

there's also this question of like….is it also supposed to be some kind of Win here to have rian, again understood merely as A Woman, to pursue sex? or to even want to have sex? and/or is that also supposed to Reassure us about prince being But Not That Bad b/c again, unless someone was the Perfect Victim (who never exists and certainly never can be "proven") and in the Most distress putting up the Most physical fight at every single moment, well then nothing Too bad can have happened, right. like, the power imbalance here is what's relevant, how is rian's theoretical epic agency relevant? Are we supposed to go "yeah i mean that's kinda on her! should've known better!" and blame her a lil for prince's choices, thus taking responsibility off of him? if we are, that's like….this is just fundamental logic employed to justify abuse lol. the idea also that nobody's agency can be limited Unless They Let It, i.e., if they were negatively impacted by a power imbalance, actually that's an individual failing of theirs, thus proving they deserved it, really. backed up by what prince says that's just "yeah this is pretty much on you, should've known better" and that he can do what he wants because he can and he Does deserve his power relative to other people. that people think it's inherently Demeaning to even refer to someone's role in an experience as that of the victim, again because oh you're inferior if something could be done to you, because you Let it, it was your fault, you deserve it. that people who acknowledge that, in the context/framework of experiences relevant to them, they're victims / have less power, are supposedly Bringing It Upon Themselves with that attitude. and need to bootstraps effort and Act Correctly their way to being someone who doesn't deserve harm or abuse or the idea they're inherently inferior as that justification for that harm, abuse, that taking what you want from them. whereas the person wielding their power is the one Beset, Benevolent, Attacked, Hurt, Threatened here, of course, b/c the perpetual justification has to work such that They're correspondingly perpetually wronged. even owning up to one's superior power doesn't conflict with that when it's supposedly this great burden they take up for everyone else's own good, and Someone's gotta wield it, and you're the one messing everything up you see, so that's why they have to keep being in charge of you and insulated from your trying to ruin their life going "that was kind of a shitty thing, huh" such that you'd even dare imply the blame was Shared.

meanwhile again epic "this is….maybe at all supposed to be self contradictory, right" moments to consider in that, in dollar bill's absence, nobody is bullying coworkers like rian is, namely, winston ofc, and she can finally realize like wow prince is shit? like, if you registered someone being shitty To Winston as someone still being shitty, you had a front row preview a long time ago actually, but since that's what you set up by doing it yourself….like Again that rian is disagreeing with and negatively assessing and setting herself apart as at odds with the idea that someone deserves power b/c they're better than you and thus should pretty much do whatever they want. while she has always, and will presumably continue so long as he's there, to understand that she has more power than winston (who she's introduced to when (a) like everyone else, she could negatively judge him immediately in that [wow just like irl re: he's autistic] way and (b) both bosses come over like hiii riannn bestiieeee ugh god winston would you just die already) and thoughtlessly use that for the sake of enjoying the immediate rewards of exercising power, like affirming your superiority, she couldn't get away with hurting someone if she didn't have some elevated status over them, she not only has the fact that winston will pull punches and try to roll with things himself b/c he likes her, but always had and continues to have those reasons that like, people afford her a more elevated social status b/c she's more "correct"/Deserving than winston is, their boss personally likes and professionally prefers rian, all their mega boss singled winston out as the one person he'd ignore and insult in the episode where he's trying to ingratiate himself to absolutely everyone else out here (again, see how often someone whose True Intentions / approach simply analyzed accurately would result in their being (actually warrantedly) judged negatively, will project whatever exact thing they're up to on to the people they're doing it to. people claiming i could have possibly hurt them make Me the real victim here at their mercy. i'm constantly under threat/attack from the people around me as i only think of other ppl's motivations/feelings/thoughts in terms of how they could possibly threaten my idea of myself as perfect and superior. winston deflecting my complaints about taylor and literally saying TAYLOR MASON CAPITAL with his chest had better stop sucking up to me as i tell this other employee i'd be dtf apparently that i'm already impressed with the loyalty and then trip over myself trying to get taylor to accept me as i was just complaining about them to their employees for some reason)

anyways, she uses him for various things, there she is in that very episode, displaying how she reacts to discerning romantic advances when she apparently thinks well of the person (again, another What Characterization moment when not only does rian's character seem more closed off for interaction with taylor (even if on purpose, not that conducive to "of course i'd be in love with you" type of dynamic) and not only has rian, up until her immediately previous appearance in 6x08, fundamentally misunderstood how taylor thinks of her / their dynamic with her, but also taylor and rian have rarely if ever seemed to have a single interaction that one of both of them didn't seem to be fairly miserable about) to the point that they deserve her active efforts to help them feel okay about it, apparently. that, because she's no longer interested in whatever she was getting from talking abt their shared media interest with winston, she now tells herself that winston's input has no value. that even when she just wants to use him as A Listener, he can't respond without her only interest in acknowledging said responses to be using it as setup for insults or otherwise diminishing / demeaning him. she clearly hurts him on purpose, for no other reason than she wants to, can, and seems to more outright enjoy it half the time, and while she's capable of being antagonistic/critical/sarcastic to or about other people, it's different with winston. she Will behave in this way, but only with winston, who Just So Happens to be the one person she Can treat this way: not because her values prevent her from knowingly hurting anyone over and over anytime for like a couple of years, Except for winston for actually no particular reason, but because out of anyone here, she has access to him and she can get away with treating him like that, he does not have the social power/status to stop it, no one will intervene with Their power/status as a fortunate stopgap, he doesn't have the power of numbers when either other people agree with bullying him, or accept the rules enough that they agree everyone's on their own / any given person simply has to learn how to do the correct shit to successfully become unbullied / stop deserving it / bringing it upon themself. was holding out for the potential that rian and winston's dynamic could be or become more reciprocal and genuine, but it's unilateral, on her terms, she's taking what she wants from him, she Can do this to him, she Can ignore him when he's expressing he's hurt and/or what He wants, she evidently does not truly have the principled stance that no one, including her, should operate that way, so she does. it's not fundamentally different from prince's shit, even if it's Not As Bad(tm), like how based on principle and general approach there's nothing truly drawing some line between prince feeling entitled to sex from women and the exercise of that entitlement through sexual assault, even if it's Not As Bad(tm) if someone who was taken advantage of also wanted to have sex or even initiated anything, and any "well but it could've been worse" or ideas like "well but they could've deserved it / brought it upon themself less" is beside the point, the point being that fundamental approach of entitlement as made possible by the exercise of power. what's Worse is beside the point of whether it's unacceptable and harmful in a fundamental way no matter what, it can always be imagined to be not that bad, or at least it wasn't worse, or if someone could be imagined to be more unimpeachibly deserving, or if someone's willing to perhaps just slightly mitigate what they do as a supposed, probably temporary concession while, again, not fundamentally changing the situation.

deeply wretched if it turns out that in the end rian's most consistent character trait is how plausible it seems now that she could get along well enough with dollar bill, the other standout workplace bully about to make a triumphant return, even though he operates more generally and rian hasn't exactly ever had a chance to be regularly loosed around other employees besides winston right next to her vs lauren and mafee in other areas and sara not even here anymore….and this kind of "she has the same principles but just executes that Workplace Bullying with a different style, while being similar enough to the boss to be judged as incorrect" similarity to bill being able to do whatever tf he wants out here while others are blamed for what bill does to them could sure be a Deliberate Billions Commentary choice. but it's still like, rest in fucking pieces if this is truly rian's strongest character trait

there's more to touch on but i've been at this for hours and i'm annoyed enough at billions for one day. honorary addendum about "seemed like something that wags is going impromptu dad mode but that never went beyond that ep." also hardly think i agree with rian's ideas about relationships expressed in that episode but that's beside any of these points and i really don't know why it comes up lmfao, also doesn't seem to go beyond that ep. does rian have a problem with stimulants use, will That come up, who knows. is her job now to hang around until prince's downfall (even if it's through some similar, but different, situation). or be available for taylor to tell the audience how they feel about some aspect of their life / themself by what they say to rian as Advice or Feedback. bkopps saying she's supposed to be a "major player" like when has she driven a plot besides being a woman available to prince. that winston, peripheral, disposable though he is, is Also pretty much always a plot device than someone Getting plots as a character, but he gets to feel like More of a character b/c he exists to add flair and the lack of a need to bear these Continual Drama Conflicts plots means he's not being pulled around by that as much. what winston does is contradicted by what other people say about him, but what rian does is contradicted by what other people say about her And what She says, like, great. everything about her seems Relative and just getting the real brunt of [billions sacrifices Character for the convenience of plot] or where rian was pushed into prominence with nothing more to do but be taylor enrichment until philip shows up to be more prominent and better taylor enrichment, like, extremely worthy to provide that lmao but it's like, is "similar to taylor" what distinguishes her? not the strongest, and not that distinguishing out here, and at this rate wendy may as well have been like "i'll mentor you" for as much as rian has in common with her. there's just like, nothing here lmao. bullying winston is her strongest most consistent motivation that's not contradicted by anything else except her thinking she's above that while wendyesquely unaware that she clearly is not, will only realize it if someone Besides the person she's wronged confronts her with it plainly, and who would do that on winston's behalf? and then probably get right back to it soon enough anyways. the fact that the most pertinent things rian seems to have going on is [billions misogyny moments, oops only so many women around here and whether this material that's inherently written around a central man, even to criticize him, is also written around insulating him from coming across as "That Bad"] and [abuse is super relevant to billions but does it always realize it] and [does billions realize what it's asserting an autistic person deserves here (abuse)] and all that's left is taylor projecting on her, which is great, taylor please tell us more about what you think about yourself or i guess that you notice work doesn't bring you ebullient joy like on the bachelor, you figure romance is the only path for that, and you figure you can only date someone proximate and acceptable enough through work….but it's again not really about the character projected upon, except that i guess she takes taylor seriously enough to accept this, which is also not that exceptional around here

anyways speaking of shell games where you lift the cup and there's nothing there, a season and a half in and there's nothing much more gained re: rian being a character except that it Could be interesting if some of that beloved conflict came from rian bullying winston, but no one's putting themself in conflict with it which is why rian can keep effortlessly doing it on a whim, and i'm sure that even if winston managed to get some kind of foothold beyond "clearly express that he's hurt by this" so as to create any consequence for rian, that'll be about how he's wronging her and suddenly everyone recognizes something out of line and dives in to immediately rectify the situation and what all, brilliant i'm sure, nothing unrealistic about how it's normal and chill to gang up on the autistic coworker in whatever ways but if they react to that hostility in turn in any way that causes problems for anyone, That's the issue. gotta preserve the existing power structure, that's so true for winston that he's not even allowed to speak without being resented. also like irl. again, sooo epic if they've written him out here while we're keeping rian around indefinitely to uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh idk but isn't she so acceptably normal and deserving. if billions doesn't come through with philip and taylor material what is the fucking point

(p.s. in copy/pasting this i noticed i suggested i'd come back around to Billions' Idea Of Smartness, in that suddenly characters have this flexibility re: acknowledging it or even conceptualizing it in any positive way when other people call winston a genius but only when ultimately questioning / contradicting this. or how i'm sure this could be considered some kind of "hmm questioning and criticizing what we value....what if someone must be smart i guess if they're really good at this one thing BUT they're sooo aggressive and annoying??????" like yes, that is a super common reaction to autistic people, as well as just asserting that same sentiment in supposedly more sympathetic ways like "oh autistic ppl just don't have that social/emotional intelligence :) just don't have the skills there that allistic ppl do :)" like get out of here w/that. wherein, similarly, if they boot winston off without ever having any Textual confrontation w/character's perspective or treatment towards him, i wouldn't count that as any critical analysis exercised with regards to how characters Or writers have thought about winston, certainly not successfully, can't even go "well but we the writers didn't say that it was Correct" like, except you kinda nonzero times did lmao, this is kind of your "this Is how to treat autistic people" commentary. and i don't even know that it'll be a Problem for rian's character that she agrees, even if winston is banished and she has to find someone new to bully, if she can. it would be one thing like, was waiting until all season 6 material was out like, well sure maybe rian's mean and unlikable, but there could still be this sense of A Character that makes this fun to follow. Except: No.)

#winston billions #long post ///#rape mention ///#just come through with the taylip; it's Been the taylor mason vehicle the entire time so #wouldn't say that Anyone gets just like incredibly strong never contradictory never sacrificed for convenience characterization #but jesus christ is rian's a fumbled mess of [there's nothing here]#with the like. readily insulting in several ways approach to ''hmm how do we say prince is shit actually; as a surprise'#f as always to short haired stuff atop desked quant quasirivalry rian. seemed like she could be a character; winston wasn't simply being #tormented by her on a whim w/no recourse even if it was heading there.#as annoying as it'll be if/when confirmed winston's written out it's like. if this is all you could do w/that character and then get rid of #him then i don't think you were otherwise going to have been sooo close to writing something thoughtful or substantial for the character #such that he even gets one of those tiny quaternary character subplots or anything. thank you for nothing except for those of you whom i #can thank for everything and more

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jheselbraum · 28 days ago

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Birth of a Nation revitalized the KKK in America and is perhaps the only piece of "irredeemable media" I can think of that's actually like. You know, a story, and I don't know of anything else off the top of my head that had that kind of lasting, palpably harmful impact that isn't like, direct state mandated propaganda like Mein Kampf. In 1915 the KKK was effectively dead, they'd slowly dissolved around the 1870s (particularly after the introduction of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871) and Birth of a Nation led to the most notorious American terrorist group reforming. As far as I'm concerned, DW Griffith has actual blood on his hands, for murders committed at the very least through the 40s (they disbanded temporarily in 1944 after America's most effective violent crime task force, the IRS, got involved, though it could be argued he's only responsible for murders committed by the KKK through the 20s, as membership declined rapidly after that once people saw that being part of a terrorist organization wasn't like how it was in the movie).

And like, look I generally don't think the word "irredeemable" can really be applied to art in any form, but there is something viscerally reprehensible about Birth of a Nation that makes us not want to watch it. Like it (arguably) pioneered a lot of film techniques but that's more of the science side of film than the art side, I'm completely certain that people would have figured out that contrasting long shots with close-ups made movies more interesting if Birth of a Nation was left on the cutting room floor. (In fact, several of the techniques 'pioneered' by Birth of a Nation were actually from earlier films, it's just that DW Griffith was more popular and his films are the ones that were remembered). But like we don't screen this movie publicly, we don't like it, we don't like the what DW Griffith had to say. Birth of a Nation just... repels people away from it. Its in person screenings are relegated to a few film classes and maybe some klan meetings, though I'm certain there are some racists on 4chan who've downloaded a copy. If you ask normal people to pick one movie to stop existing, there's no way out of it you have to pick one, chances are they'll pick Birth of a Nation, assuming they've even heard of it (my first exposure to it was in high school, some people might not get to it until college, or even later, that's just kind of what happens with something like this. It's not like you can learn about something through cultural osmosis when the culture is trying like hell to osmosis that thing out of itself). It's an acceptable loss.

Meanwhile, from what I've read, I'd say the decision to use A Serbian Film alongside Birth of a Nation is actually a reasonable one, not because of the graphic nature of it's content, but rather its themes and message and how flat it can feel because of who's saying it (DISCLAIMER: I haven't watched it, I'm not going to watch it, take this with a grain of salt). It's about a man who's forced to commit horrific crimes to survive (economically, though he may be directly threatened with death I'm not sure, he's doing it as a job basically). If you'll recall, Serbia committed genocide during the Bosnian War in the 90s, the targets being primarily Bosniaks but also including anyone in Bosnia and Herzegovina that wasn't Serbian.

The director of the film, Srđan Spasojević, had this to say when asked if the acts depicted in the film were related in any way to crimes committed during the Yugoslav Wars:

A Serbian Film does not touch upon war themes, but in a metaphorical way deals with the consequences of post-war society and a man that is exploited to the extreme in the name of securing the survival of his family.

Additionally, he described the film as "a diary of our own molestation by the Serbian government ... It's about the monolithic power of leaders who hypnotize you to do things you don't want to do. You have to feel the violence to know what it's about."

A Serbian Film is an exploitation film that's apparently considered one of the most disturbing of all time, but the film is not a snuff film as many people have claimed. A snuff film is the filming of actual gruesome crimes like murder, torture, and rape, committed for the purpose of selling the resulting film and making money. It's not "a movie that depicts gruesome crimes like murder, torture, and rape through the use of special or practical effects."

Based on the quick read-through of the Wikipedia article I did, it seems like most of what the film is trying to say is through the lens of the aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars, or at least that's how the audience largely interpreted it. The script writer, Aleksandar Radivojević, said this about the process of securing funding for the film and the state of the Serbian film industry in general.

you had this EU arts council funded production using Serbia for EU's political agitprop agenda of 'promoting tolerance and reconciliation in the post-war Balkans' by boosting sappy local projects of no aesthetic value whose sole reason for receiving EU financing was their respective authors' willingness to amplify the EU-approved message, i.e. to express 'Serb contrition over what happened in the Yugoslav Wars' via essentially making victim porn, showing small miserable Serb people who are struggling mightily while nevertheless simultaneously 'doing their part in search of collective redemption' by being extremely remorseful

Now, I'm a white American who does not experience racism of any kind, let alone the violently dehumanizing prejudice necessary to convince a group of people to commit an ethnic cleansing, but if my people had been the victims of a genocide, and I heard someone from the group of people that committed that genocide complain about media depicting his people's remorse, and saw that that guy also wrote a movie where the plot is a man is forced to commit gruesome rapes, and again, my people were gruesomely raped as a part of that guy's country's plan to wipe my people from existence, I'd be fucking pissed. Like again, I haven't seen A Serbian Film, and Radivojević wasn't the only person in the writer's room, so maybe in practice it reads less as "our government was controlling us we did nothing wrong" and more "our government is controlling us and we're monsters for listening." And we can argue the merits of the latter another time, but at least the latter acknowledges that genocide doesn't happen in a vacuum because some schmucks at the top said so, that the people bear as much responsibility as their government.

Now, is A Serbian Film actually trying to say anything about the Yugoslav Wars at all? I don't know. I haven't seen it. Maybe it isn't about the Bosnian genocide at all. But then what is it saying about Serbia? Serbian actor Dragan Bjelogrlić said this about the film and its director, a year after its release:

I have a problem with A Serbian Film. Its director in particular. I've got a serious problem with this boy whose father got wealthy during the 1990s—nothing against making money, but I know how money was made [in Serbia] during the '90s—and then pays for his son's education abroad and eventually the kid comes back to Serbia to film his view of the country using his dad's money and even calls the whole thing A Serbian Film. To me that's a metaphor for something unacceptable. The second generation comes back to the country and using the money that had been robbed from the people of Serbia, smears the very same people by portraying them as the worst scum of the earth.

OP was right, it's fucking insane that this site only uses words like irredeemable media to talk about cartoons for children. Like, no, Steven Universe or The Owl House or My Hero Academia or whatever TV-Y7 cartoon you're hyper focused on that week isn't irredeemable media. Your bar for even discussing it as a possibility is "did this story's public existence revitalize a terrorist organization and lead to several murders," a qualification which A Serbian Film, despite its content, themes, and possible interpretations, does not meet. It's offensive, and disturbing, it possibly excuses genocide, but as far as I've read, no one has gotten physically hurt because it exists.

A Serbian Film is more violently graphic than Birth of a Nation. Birth of a Nation did more to physically harm real people than A Serbian Film ever could.

It's fucking wild that the above reaction to A Serbian Film mentions next to nothing about what it's trying to say, how well it works, who's saying it and in what context, but focuses purely on the graphic and violent scenes depicted in the film. It's probably why they slapped Salo on at the end even though a cursory glance through Wikipedia (I don't care enough to read thoroughly on the plot and themes you get the point graphic exploitation films aren't inherently evil for depicting murder or rape or whatever I don't want to read about more graphic shit it's not something I personally enjoy doing) reveals that that film is strictly antifascist, though several actors were actually injured during filming. Notably, the director of Salo, Pier Paolo Pasolini, was gruesomely abducted, tortured, and murdered in 1975 shortly before Salo's release at the Paris Film Festival. He was openly gay, and a Marxist, and while his death was initially contributed to one Giuseppe Pelosi (17 at the time of the murder) after he confessed, he later retracted his confession claiming that he made it under the threat of violence to his family (which unfortunately tracks, Americans may recall the more recent case of Amanda Knox, who was arrested in 2007 for the murder of her friend and forced by Italian police to confess to a crime she didn't commit and was later exonerated from). The case was reopened after Giuseppe's retraction in 2005 and other evidence that had come to light, and as of 2023 the Italian authorities are looking at the far right group Banda della Magliana as possible suspects. While I agree that "I hear it's kind of. nasty" is frankly an understatement when attempting to discuss the graphic content of Salo, and really fucking hilarious in the context of trying to argue that Salo shouldn't exist at all, I don't know that that's really a fair criticism to make, considering the other two examples are if not directly far right (using the term because of the changing political landscape between 1915 and 2010, like I can't really call Birth of a Nation fascist because it was made before fascism was a fully congealed political ideology, even if it upholds the ideology of fascism) then at least debatably so. As previously established, the actual content of the film, as in, the acts depicted, don't immediately make a work reprehensible. Remember, A Serbian Film is more graphic and disturbing to watch than Birth of a Nation, but Birth of a Nation is worse than A Serbian Film.

Tldr; op is right, and the person whose tags have been drowned is exactly the kind of person op was talking about

'Irredeemable media' is such a funny concept to me because it's never used for stuff like Birth of a Nation or A Serbian Film. It's always The Owl House or My Hero Academia because these people only watch things for children and can't stand any conflict more complex than Super Mario Brothers.

#i could go on about birth of a nation and its effect on american history #i dont think that if the film was never made then racism would be solved forever or anything #i dont even know for sure if the kkk would've never reformed if it hadnt been made #and even though i think we should treat it the way germany treats the swastika its still like #important to talk about it you know #its important that people know what it is and what it did #sometimes modern callbacks to that film fall a little flat #like the 2016 birth of a nation which was about nat turner #i remember the title causing some confusion cause like #a lot of the time people will get movie titles before they get a plot summary so #people thought they were remaking birth of a nation for a little bit #that part in hamilton where theyre like ''im taking my time watching the afterbirth of a nation'' works better #its a good callback that makes it clear that i think its burr or the ensemble or maybe both #that theyre not just talking about the constitution but theyre also talking about all the other shit #like the three fifths compromise and the slave trade act #iirc the off Broadway version talks about slavery like they're not afraid to bring it up but #in the actual finished musical this is one of the few instances where the cast isnt making direct eye contact with the audience #and saying ''slavery was bad'' and unlike some other parts in the show where #it kinda feels like theyre glossing over it #specifically with Jefferson as I dont believe claims that Hamilton owned slaves were substantiated until after the musical was written #like historians suspected he did but nothing concrete was found until 2020 #not to say that what was known about hamiltons involvement in the slave trade wasnt minimized #but the afterbirth of a nation line is very effective #slaps hood its good writing #cw rape mention

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aceteling · 3 months ago

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Got period. Got a case of racing thoughts

Can't sleep

#am i actually doing anything right #i cant even draw lately my wrist hurts yet im not writing anytning substantial for my phd #feels bad man i need something i need a break??? but probably from my family lol #oh to create would give me elation to feel once again some inspiration #domi talks #at least me and sandy are rping like crazy #i hope thay wont change

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ladyshinga · 2 years ago

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starting a new company, Autistic Auditors, where we send blunt autistic people to check up on things like companies to stand there and be like "actually that thing the CEO said made no sense, elaborate" and pushing them to actually explain their dodgy corporate language that avoids accountability and reliability. Just really grind them down with repeated "why" and "but what does that mean" and writing down the answers in clear and obvious language.

IDK I'm just sick of hearing how Business Bros talk and how many people are suckers for it. I want blunt people standing there going "hey, that guy didn't actually SAY anything, he just strung together a bunch of nonsense corporate words to make you think 'ooo profit' but there's nothing substantial here"

We would do the same to politicians.

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mydearchoso · 8 months ago

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300 notes?!? thank you all so much 🥹

sukuna who's about to go insane after a long day, needing to feel you.

sukuna who start's taking off your lounge wear. shirt first, before leaning in to kiss you as his hands go to the hem on your waist.

sukuna who starts pulling your shorts down before they get stuck over your hips, groaning in frustration.

sukuna who is fighting every urge to rip them off as he asks, "how'd you get these damned things on, brat?"

sukuna who is about at his wits end as they finally slide down, underwear in tow.

sukuna who all but moans in relief as they do, relishing in the sight before him. of course only after he victoriously flings his now most hated pair of shorts across the house. never wishing to see them again.

#★tiff.reblogs★#ik to some that may not be a whole lot but TEW ME???? TEW ME THAT IS THE WHOLE WORLD #what if i throw up... i didn't even write anything worthwhile just sukuna experiencing the worst curse in his lifetime... tight waistbands #maybe #as a treat #i will actually write it out (NO PROMISES IT WOULD BE GOOD OR LIKE... VERY SUBSTANTIAL SO TO SPEAK. IT WOULD ALSO PROBABLY TAKE ME FOREVER.#but maybe.)#also i could finally fix the 'hem' part that's been bothering me sm every time i get notics #I MEANT WAISTBAND!!

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ticklishfiend · 2 months ago

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Distracted

Lee!Viktor x Ler!Jayce

Word Count : 4761

Summary : Jayce can’t stop thinking about what it’d be like to tickle Viktor. When they get tipsy together one night, he doesn’t have to imagine anymore.

a/n : i love them. sm. also, two things: 1) this is lowkey an out of character fic but i realized that it’s kinda hard to write a tkl fic with lee!viktor and it not be a lil ooc so bear with me LMAO, and 2) i said i was working on a lee!jayce fic, and i still am, but it’s a little longer and more thought out than this one so again. BEAR WITH ME! okok love yall hope u enjoy

this is a tickle fic! not nsfw, but don’t like don’t read 😝

…

It’d be so easy. Almost too easy. Viktor would kill him for it, probably yell at him for 45 minutes for breaking his concentration with something so stupid and childish. But it would be worth it just to hear the cute sound Viktor would make when Jayce finally dug his fingers in sides, crawling up to his ribs and playing them like a piano, maybe even drill his thumbs into his hips just to hear him cry–

“What about this one?”

Viktor’s voice broke through his concentration, and Jayce nearly jumped. The slim man looked over his shoulder at Jayce, bringing his arm down from the top of the black board. Viktor has been writing near the top of it for a few minutes now, working on an equation as he mumbled under his breath. His arm had been outstretched over his head so he could reach, and with his whole side exposed like that, his ribs and underarms were on beautiful display for Jayce to stare and daydream.

It was nothing short of a miracle that Jayce had only been thinking those thoughts instead of acting on them, with the way his fingers itched and curled into the leg of his pants just looking at Viktor like that.

Shit, he should probably focus now. Jayce did a quick once over of the equation, making sure he’d have something of substance to say in response. “Uh, yeah it–it looks fine.” Ah yes, a very substantial addition, Jayce Talis. ‘Idiot.’

Viktor quirked a brow. “Just…fine?”

“Yeah I mean it’s…” Jayce cleared his throat, looking over it once again and finally taking in what Viktor was actually doing. “I don’t see anything wrong with it. And once we get it fitted into our earlier calculations, it should be ready to rock-and-roll.” Jayce cringed internally, ‘Oh my god shut up.’

Viktor still looked suspicious, as Jayce rarely seemed caught off guard like that. He turned back to the blackboard, “Well I think it could still use some touch-ups. You should come and help me, my brain is frying from staring at it for too long.”

Jayce swallowed. Dammit. He’d been perfectly content to watch from behind, it was easier to hide his self-made fluster at that angle. But…right fucking next to him? Where it’d be even easier to reach out, pinch a bottom rib, make Viktor squirm and laugh and—

“Jayce. Any day now would be preferable,” Viktor deadpanned, not even sparing a glance as he continued to look at his equation.

“Right, right,” Jayce hopped to Viktor’s side, really trying not to be any sort of distraction in his state. Now next to Viktor, watching through his peripheral, he saw Viktor once again reach up and make a few scribbles with chalk. Above his head. Exposed.

Jayce bit the inside of his cheek, snatching a piece of chalk himself just to have something to hold onto. Why was this hitting him so hard right now? Usually, moods like this were so much easier to suppress, easier to forget about when he finally got himself lost in their work. But right now, their work was more mundane, small touch-ups on calculations they’d been meaning to get to for ages. It had been a very dull day in terms of their work, but inside Jayce’s head, a boring work day meant more time to think about Viktor.

Whether Viktor was…sensitive. Ticklish. What kind of laugh he’d have. Would he giggle? Voice light and breathy, gently squirming and batting at Jayce’s hands while his face flushed at the feeling. Or would he cackle? His body shaking through the force of his laughter, having to clutch onto his own stomach like his reactions were being ripped from him. Maybe he’d beg Jayce to stop, maybe he’d be laughing so hard he’d be unable to even form words around his giggling, maybe he’d wail—

“Jayce, are you quite alright?” Viktor asked, his brow pinched in suspicion as he gave Jayce the one-over. “You’ve been…very distracted today. Not that I don’t appreciate the reprieve from your usual yapping, but your behavior does seem a bit unusual this evening.”

Viktor had taken to leaning against the board instead now, which was a lot easier on Jayce’s overwhelmed mind to take in.

“Sorry, sorry. Just got a lot on my mind, I guess,” Jayce gave his nothing-answer and turned back to the board to make a few marks, hoping Viktor would brush it off like he normally does. Or at least, like he used to do.

He’d been more inquisitive of Jayce lately, actually asking personal questions and even answering some of Jayce’s own. They’d gotten to know each other a lot better because of it, which was great, but it was also coming to bite Jayce in the ass right now since Viktor was able to notice that something was so off with him.

Viktor turned toward the lab’s window, his gaze on the moon shining bright through the glass. There was no telling when it had gotten dark outside, they both tended to very purposefully not look at the clock when they were at work.

Jayce heard him sigh. “It’s late,” Viktor droned, rubbing a tired hand down his face. “I wouldn’t mind taking a break if you’re also interested?”

Jayce’s brows raised in surprise, a little smirk curling at the corner of his mouth. “You’re asking me if we can take a break? Where’s my partner and what have you done with him?”

Viktor gave a small blink-and-you-miss-it grin, “He’s off drowning himself in a river. His brain turned to mush after staring at one equation for nearly 3 hours.” He grabbed his cane that had been leaning against the board, before pointing a finger at himself, “New Viktor, however, just remembered the alcohol he stored in the kitchen months ago for dull days like this. And he’s inviting you to share a drink.” Viktor poked Jayce in the chest, before turning toward the kitchen.

Jayce smiled brightly. “New Viktor’s got some good ideas.”

—

They ended up drinking just a bit more than either had expected to. They weren’t drunk, per se, but their combined buzz had them talking a lot more open than usual. Their conversations felt so easy tonight, and Jayce was starting to wonder why they didn’t drink together more often.

“And the next thing I knew, I had a kitten stuffed down my shirt and a crazy lady passed out on the floor behind me,” Viktor chuckled around the rim of his glass, taking a small sip before continuing, “Little moments like that make me glad I got out of the Undercity when I did.”

Jayce snickered openly, clutching at his glass through the laughter. “I don’t know Vik, that sounds like a great time to me.”

“That’s just because you're a Piltie with minimal Undercity experience. Trust me, a kitten down my shirt was the least of my worries.”

Jayce’s laughter simmered, but his grin never left. He gestured with his glass, “So, what’d you do with it? The kitten.”

Viktor shrugged. “I carried it in my shirt all the way home. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving it with that woman, even at my young age,” He said, before giving a little chuckle at the new memory. “Actually, it was hell getting it back home. I didn’t take it out of the shirt because, before she collapsed, she said she had guys that’d be after me for it. I was naive to believe anyone would recognize the kitten on my walk, but I was young so I’ll give myself that grace.”

Viktor shook his head through a smile, taking another small sip. “But my god, if that thing didn’t tickle me the entire walk home. I must’ve looked insane. Some–hehe–some crippled kid with a lump in his chest, giggling to himself, ” Viktor couldn’t hold back his own snickers at the thought, but of course still scolded Jayce nonetheless. “Stop laughing, this was serious to me at the time.”

When that word, that one word he’d been thinking of all day, rolled out of Viktors mouth, Jayce felt his heart leap. His skin nearly prickled. And now he’s tipsy, and there was no way he could hold back on making sure they stayed on that topic for as long as he could hold it. “So what I’m hearing is, Boy Genius is too ticklish to handle a little kitten in his shirt.”

Viktor rolled his eyes. “I was a child. And I doubt you’d fare any better in that circumstance, even at your grown age.”

Jayce held his hands in surrender. “I never said I’d do any better. But it sounds like you think you aren’t ticklish anymore, which I think is total bullshit.” Jayce couldn’t hold back his smirk if he tried. “Actually, now that I think about it, you’ve just given me a way to get whatever I want in the lab. Maybe I should thank you?”

Viktor pointed at Jayce with the hand he held his glass, a small bit spilling onto the couch between them. “If you dare try something like that, I’ll go back and convince the counselors to have you arrested again.”

Jayce laughed, “Arrested for what? Tickling you?”

The corner of Viktor’s mouth twitched upward, “For a hate crime. You can’t just take advantage of a cripple like that and get away with it.” Viktor claimed teasingly, before growing suspicious of Jayce’s wandering glare. He was staring hard at the glass Viktor held between them, a little smirk on his face. “What? What are you looking at?”

Jayce clicked his tongue, “Hold on, can I just—” He interrupted himself reaching his hand towards the glass, and Viktor was so caught off guard by the action (and a little slower to thinking now, thanks to their couple of drinks) that he let Jayce take the glass from him without any protest.

Jayce took one long swig of the drink, sighing hard as he set it down on the table next to them.

Viktor’s brow furrowed hard. “What the hell was that?!”

“That was me getting your glass out of the way,” Jayce’s smile was wide and his eyes alight with mischief, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “So I could test out a little theory.”

Viktor’s mind was working slow, but not that slow.

“Oh nonono , Jayce—Jayce, whatever you are thinking, stop thinking it.”

“Why?” Jayce wiggled his fingers as he scooted closer to Viktor, who cornered himself against the arm of the couch. “Nervous you’ll get caught lying?”

“Absolutely not,” Viktor said, “But I cannot promise you won’t get hit.”

“Ohoh that is a price I am more than willing to pay,” Jayce chuckled, before darting a hand out to sneak a quick pinch to Viktor’s side. The reaction was immediate. His partner choked on a sound in the back of his throat as he arched away from the fingers.

“Jayce I swear on everything—”

“C’mon, I never get to see you laugh. If it hurts, I’ll stop?” Jayce offered, and Viktor would appreciate the kind thoughtfulness of that statement had he not been too busy trying to push Jayce’s hands away from his torso. Unfortunately, the nervous smile on Viktor’s face during the entire tussle really took away any bite he tried to muster in his words.

“If it hurts, I’ll k-kill you,” Viktor’s voice wavered on the word as Jayce pushed a hand through and pinched his rib, latching on tight but not yet actually tickling. He just…held it there.

Viktor gripped onto the wrist at his ribs, pushing and pulling and trying everything to avoid his own humiliating downfall. He was already struggling to keep anticipatory giggles at bay, and Jayce was beaming at the reaction.

“You ready?”

“No, nonono, Jayce—”

“Three.”

“I’ll throw all your patents into the river!”

“Twoooooo.”

“Consider all your hard work a gross, soggy mush!”

“One!”

“Jayce, no-! aUgchk—n-nohohoho!”

Jayce finally put his fingers to work, gently pinching at that bottom rib incessantly. Viktor did exactly what Jayce thought he would. He giggled hard, arching in a way that curled his body around Jayce’s hand, and slapped at his wrist like it’d do anything to push him off.

“Y-You—You idiohohot-!” Viktor’s words faded seamlessly into another bout of laughter as Jayce brought his other hand around to squeeze nicely at Viktor’s side. Viktor squirmed in his hold, and Jayce thought he was going to melt.

Viktor looked so cute like this. Flushed from alcohol and laughter, smiling wide and desperate, squirming in Jayce’s hold like his every touch was causing a new reaction. Just cute cute cute.

“Nohot cute you freheak!” Viktor said around his giggles, making Jayce flush himself. Did I say that out loud?

Well. Might as well double down, right? “Only thing to make this any cuter would be a kitten popping outta your shirt, huh?”

Viktor visibly blushed a tinge darker, “Okahay okahay! Stohop! I cahaha-ahahah!” He couldn’t even finish his sentences. Jayce was hooked.

But he was also merciful. At his command, Jayce declawed from Viktor’s ribcage and hovered above as he watched Viktor pant and come down from his giggle fit. When Viktor caught his eye (and that doting look he got when Viktor did just about anything these days), he shoved Jayce’s face away playfully with an all too smiley groan. “I hope you got what you needed from that study, because you are never gonna try that again.”

Jayce snickered, leaning back to his spot on the couch. “Oh yeah? Says who?”

“Says the guy who’ll stick a cane up your ass if you try it,” Viktor leaned against his own respective arm of the couch.

Jayce grinned back. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

—

Hooked couldn’t begin to describe the feeling. Jayce was enthralled. Enamoured. He couldn’t stop thinking about that night, brief as it may have been. He didn’t want to go overboard with Viktor, of course, the man was weird about touch as it is. Jayce was lucky he’d been able to get his hands on him at all. But that hardly mattered. Because Jayce got to hear what Viktor sounded like when he felt ticklish, and now that he knows that sound, it might as well be on a record scratch repeat in his brain at all times.

Jayce’s leg shook anxiously under the desk. He wasn’t nervous, more just…unfocused, at the moment. Yes, partly from all of that, but mainly from the chaos of notes and blueprints and paperwork littered in front of him. That boring night must’ve just been the calm before the storm, because once they were able to get all those equations pieced together, the workload became fucking endless.

And of course Jayce loves their work, all the passion and hours they both devote to creating what is essentially their whole future. It’s a beautiful thing what happens in their lab. Astonishing. Awe-inspiring.

…and also ridiculously stressful.

Jayce must’ve been working for nearly 24 hours at this point. His legs felt like lead, and his shoulders ached from the past few hours of leaning over this desk and working working working. He couldn’t count the amount of times he’s had to stretch his hand out from all the notes he’s written.

He’s fucking exhausted.

And what’s worse? Jayce knows that Viktor’s somehow been awake for even longer than him.

Jayce cleared his throat. “So uh…it’s gettin’ late, Vik. Wanna call it a night?”

Viktor was hunched over his own desk, goggles on as he meticulously worked over their project. Jayce knew if those goggles were off, he’d be able to see Viktor’s eyes trying their damndest not to slip shut from exhaustion. “Not now. This needs a few touch-ups.”

“And it can’t wait til tomorrow because…?”

“Because if I break my concentration, I may forget where I was in my progress by tomorrow,” Viktor said, before waving Jayce off. “Go, get some rest. You deserve it.”

“And you don’t?” Jayce could hear his voice get defensive, on Viktor’s behalf no less. The guy never gave himself a break, it was nothing short of a miracle that he’d been the one to suggest their break just two weeks ago. Jayce sighed, “I miss ‘New Viktor.’”

At that, Viktor paused. Lifting his goggles to his forehead and throwing Jayce an incredulous look. “Seriously, Jayce?”

Jayce pouted with a shrug, leaning against the back of his chair. “Yeah. New Viktor would’ve had a drink with me hours ago and then gone to bed at an appropriate time,” Jayce grinned. He gave an exaggerated, almost theatre-like sigh, “I guess this Viktor just isn’t as fun.”

Viktor pursed his lips at Jayce, clearly holding back a little smile at the banter. “I’m plenty of fun. This is fun,” he pointed to the contraption on his desk he’d been fiddling with.

But Jayce stayed with the bit, humming dreamily. “Ohh, New Viktor, how I miss him. He drank with me. We shared funny stories and laughed together,” Jayce smirked, getting a fun little idea. “Yeah, I remember him laughing a lot that night, actually. And it wasn’t just from the jokes he was telling.”

Viktor scoffed a half-laugh, shaking his head. “You sound sleep-deprived.”

“Noooo, my head’s pretty clear right now, actually. I remember it so clearly. Gah, New Viktor was such a riot,” Jayce sat his elbow against the desk and propped his head against his hand, giving Viktor the cheekiest grin. “He even let me tickle him. Can you believe that?”

“I did not let you do anything, don’t go twisting the narrative,” Viktor pointed at Jayce, his face losing the battle against the smile he’s been fighting. “You probably have 100 pounds on me, you practically assaulted a disabled man against his will.”

Jayce ignored him. “If I remember correctly–”

“You don’t remember a thing.”

“-he was very ticklish, even though he tried denying it at first. How silly is that? If you deny it, you know someone’s just gonna try it out and prove you wrong anyway,” Jayce said, before humming in fake contemplation, squinting and tilting his head. “Huh. Are you ticklish, Viktor?”

Viktor tapped his finger against the desk in a steady rhythm, now avoiding eye contact with Jayce. “You are ridiculous. We are grown, and I need to work.”

“Actually, you need to stop working and go to bed,” Jayce stood from his seat and walked to Viktor’s desk (who still refused to meet his gaze), leaning an arm against the top and towering over Viktor. From the new angle, he could see a little blush over Viktor’s face and ears, how he was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling anymore. Cute. “You gonna do that, or am I gonna have to answer my own question since you avoided it.”

Viktor glanced at Jayce with a side-eye. “You know the answer. And you’re being childish. If I wish to work, you cannot force me to stop.”

“Actually,” Jayce grinned, before hooking his fingers under Viktor’s arms (which were so conveniently sat atop the desk, leaving his underarms open and exposed) and digging in, getting an immediate reaction from Viktor who flung his back against the chair and choked down a laugh with the funniest sound. “I think I totally can.”

Viktor squirmed, his good leg digging its heel into the ground as his arms shook against their spot glued tight to his sides. His head was ducked down to hide his face, but he kept making these choked off little sounds like he was trying his hardest not to laugh (even though they both knew how ticklish he was, it was such a useless battle that Jayce’s heart burned in adoration).

“Viktorrrrr,” Jayce sung, his fingertips travelling just a tinge lower to Viktor’s upper ribs, and that’s what did the scientist in. Viktor let out a laugh that sounded like it surprised even himself, before tittering helplessly and falling into a giggle fit he couldn’t fight if he tried.

“Nohoho! Not again, Jahahayce–!” Viktor shook his head against his laughter, slapping at Jayce’s arm as deeper belly laughs started escaping him. Jayce could almost hear in Viktor’s laughter how he started to feel the helplessness take over, how he couldn’t get out of this if he tried. “Why?!”

“Because I care about you. You need sleep even more than I do, Vik, and you aren’t gonna do it unless I make you,” Jayce said, like he wasn’t tearing Viktor apart beneath him, like Viktor wasn’t coming undone under his fingers and squirming like a worm on a hook.

Viktor laughed harder at his words, “Cruel!”

Jayce couldn’t help but snicker himself. “Cruel? I’m helping you here. Just tell me you’re gonna go to bed and this is all over!”

Viktor shook his head, “Let me work! Evil fucking–ggahahaha shihit!” He lost his words as Jayce found his lower ribs right above his sides, Viktor’s hands grasping onto Jayce’s wrists like a lifeline.

“You are so stubborn,” Jayce chuckled. “I can go all night, y’know. You aren’t winning this.”

“Jdi do píči!” Viktor cursed in his native tongue around his giggles, and Jayce felt himself blush at the sound. Oh, Viktor’s gonna be the death of him.

“Gonna assume none of those words were ‘Yes, Jayce! Of course I’ll go get some well-deserved rest, thank you for helping me!’ Would I be right?”

Viktor didn’t respond, only laughing harder as Jayce slipped his fingers back up into his armpits. His head was thrown back now, and Jayce could see his Adam's apple bobbing through this laughter. His cheeks were flushed, eyes shut tight from the smile searing his face, and god the crinkles his eyes were making just made Jayce’s brain glitch. “C’mon, Vik. I know this is tiring you out.”

“You don’t know shit!” Viktor cackled, clearly confident he could withstand this. Well, at least before Jayce slipped one hand out and started tickling the side of Viktor’s neck and ear. Viktor seemed to stumble over his own laughter, his brain fuzzing around the new sensation as he slipped in and out of belly-laughter and high-pitched giggling. The side of his head slammed against his shoulder to block the sensation, but Jayce’s fingers were already at work, scribbling and scraping against those horribly sensitive spots that Viktor clearly couldn’t stand, if his incessant cursing in another language wasn’t enough to prove it.

“Oh? This a good spot?” Jayce teased, now bringing his other hand into the mix on Viktor’s other side. Viktor’s shoulders completely hunched up, his body so overwhelmed he didn’t know what to do with himself. He doubled over, clutching one arm over his aching belly while the other continued its useless slapping at Jayce’s arm. Jayce chuckled, “What? Does this tickle or something?”

“F-Fucker!” Viktor’s voice wavered, high-pitched and bubbly, before he finally resigned to his fate. “Okay! Okahahay! Bed–! I'll sleheheep!”

“Okaaay, I’ll trust you this time,” Jayce grinned. He stopped the wiggling of his fingers, but poised the tips of his indexes right at the curve of Viktor’s ear. It was a threat, and one that made Viktor titter and squirm and pull at Jayce’s wrists uselessly. “But next time I catch you without sleep for nearly two days like this, I’m not going easy on you.”

Finally, Jayce pulled his hands away, and Viktor slumped against the back of the chair with an exhausted sigh. “Have I ever told you how much I don’t like you.”

Jayce snickered, “Yeah. And I didn’t believe you then either.”

Viktor grinned, wiping a hand down his face. “I knew you’d do that eventually. I couldn’t expect you to find out something like that and not use it against me at some point,” He stood up on wobbly knees, and Jayce quickly handed him the cane that had fallen on the ground during Viktor’s squirming. “Just didn’t expect you to be so cruel about it.”

“Hey I wasn’t cruel–”

“Oh? You weren’t? Torturing a disabled man when he’s running off no sleep for over 48 hours isn’t what you’d call cruel?” Viktor teased, gathering things off his desk to bring home in his bag.

“Torture?” Jayce’s voice tilted up his grin. “You never even told me to stop.”

Viktor’s hands fumbled and he dropped a few pens. Jayce laughed as he bent down to retrieve them, their hands brushing as he gave them back. Viktor looked like a pouty cat, lips thin in a tight line with squinted eyes. Best of all, his ears were burning.

“It's a little hard to speak when you’re being forced to laugh.”

“But not hard enough you can’t slip in a few curses, right?”

Viktor had no rebuttal to that, merely scoffing like he had no clue what Jayce was talking about as he tossed his bag over his shoulder. “Goodnight, Jayce.”

Jayce watched as Viktor walked toward the door, completely satisfied with himself. He did it. And…it didn’t seem like Viktor even minded that much. In fact…hm. Maybe he’s reading too much into it. There’s no way Viktor liked it as much as Jayce. That’d be crazy.

“And um…” Viktor had the lab door pushed halfway open, stopping himself with his back turned to Jayce as he spoke. “Thank you.”

Jayce just could not help himself. “For tickling you?”

Viktor laughed at Jayce’s gall, “For making me get rest, you bastard,” He glanced over his shoulder to Jayce, who looked over the moon at Viktor’s honesty. “I know I need this, despite how I fight against it. So…though your methods are horrible, and undignified, and childish and stupid, and really show how odd your personality is—”

“Let’s get to thanks, yeah?”

Viktor smiled as he turned back around from Jayce. “...Thank you for looking out for me. I do appreciate the care.”

Jayce wanted to hug Viktor so tight their bodies melded together. Instead, he said, “Anytime. You know that.”

—

Viktor fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Jayce was right, as much as he hated to admit it. He’d lied when he said it was only two days without sleep. It was probably closer to four. Jayce just didn’t know that because the last time Viktor went home, he’d taken some of their projects and papers with him to work on in his own personal study.

So yes. His rest was needed, or whatever. And he did sleep really, really good. Almost 14 hours completely uninterrupted as he snoozed warm and cozy under the covers.

Only problem was…his mind ran a little rampant in his sleep that night. The events of the night before, with Jayce, and Jayce’s hands, and Jayce’s fingers, and Jayce teasing him so close to his ear he could feel his skin prickle with Jayce’s breath on his neck. All those thoughts that made his belly warm and fluttery were what he fell asleep to that night.

Which led to some…interesting dreams to think about when he woke up that morning.

“Does it tickle worse here? Orrrr here?”

“Jahahayce! No plehehease!”

“Answer the question, Vik. Your thighs or your hips?”

Jayce’s fingers were pressed deep into both spots, one hand tickling deep into his thigh first, before pausing so his other hand could wreak a similar havoc against Viktor’s hip. The feeling was overwhelming, and Viktor squirmed hard against the weight of Jayce pressed on top of him on the lab couch. Viktor was fully pinned under Jayce, unable to move and only allowed to squirm because Jayce thought it looked pretty when he did it.

“Hihips! Jayce, hips, plehehease!” Viktor wailed, and when Jayce paused, Viktor inhaled like he hadn’t had a good breath in years. His breath was labored, shaky, laced with leftover giggling from Jayce’s attack.

And Jayce just looked down at him like Viktor hung the moon that lit their lab through the window.

“I love your laugh.”

Viktor squirmed at the praise, shoving Jayce’s face. “Stop.”

“That’s the first time you told me to stop. What, am I embarrassing you?”

“Stop!” Viktor whined, shoving both hands over Jayce’s eyes so he couldn’t look at him in this flustered state.

But Jayce only chuckled, grabbing Viktor’s wrists and hoisting them up over his head to pin them against the arm of the couch.

“But you like it, don’t you?”

Viktor woke up with a jolt, his eyes wide and breath uneven.

Shit. Was he actually into this? What the fuck did Jayce do to him.

...

hope u enjoyed! pls consider reblogging if you did <3

#tickle fic #arcane tickle #arcane tickling #jayvik tickling #tickle community #tickling #my fic

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