#scene from malcolm in the middle

[everybodyloveshippos]

Catti-brie and Artemis. hello

[number1milfloislover]

[the-pea-and-the-sun]

"check out what theyre doing in that movie and then tell me ur not gay" awesome line tbh

[sprqpointintern]

rip to jackie's face...

[michaelgecko]

Acies dealing with their huge crush on Diavolo

Continues below

[babygirl-diaz]

Buck: I once tried to mail myself to Australia Ravi: Oh yeah? How did you like it there? Eddie: You actually think he was able to mail himself to Australia? Ravi: Stranger things have happened. Eddie: Like WHAT?

[chicafinal]

im not saying content warnings on streaming platforms are useless (i am) but its silly that they slap a 'substance abuse' tag on things from 'sitcom character smokes weed' to 'character on a movie literally overdoses and dies on screen'. anyways imdb and doesthedogdie are better resources

[la-cocotte-de-paris]

Made awkward eye contact w a student while I was on the bus and she was walking and looking up as the bus passed sksksk

[reddeadvoid]

Don’t worry, Arthur would never get mad at Tilly. He knew it was John the whole time (she still got the $10)

(Content lifted from that Malcolm in the Middle scene)

[gonzo-rella]

Headcanons: Being the Nonbinary Wilkerson Sibling

MASTERLIST | AO3 | KO-FI

Pride Month 2024 #8

Relationship(s): The Wilkerson Family x nonbinary!Wilkerson!reader (platonic/familial)

Warnings: Coming out scene(s). Hal isn't completely accepting at first, but he's not outright transphobic. And, Ida is her typical self and is transphobic (but nothing is said explicitly). I've tried to make the reader's AGAB ambiguous, but apologies if anything's slipped through the cracks. (Let me know if I need to add any)

(A/N: I have no idea why it's taken me so long to write for Malcolm in the Middle. It's one of my favourite shows and I love these characters so much. I've got an idea for a MitM fic where the reader is Malcolm's best friend and when Malcolm goes away for college the reader befriends and starts dating Reese, so let me know if you'd be interested in reading that, or if you have any other requests you'd like me to write. I'm kind of obsessed with and fascinated by Lois and Francis, so there's a lot of Lois and Francis stuff in this. I'd love to write a follow up/companion piece to this fic, so if you've got any ideas for that, or if you'd like for me to come up with something myself, let me know.)

The first person in your family that you come out to is Jamie.

He can’t talk, or comprehend your words.

So, you get the benefits of finally admitting this thing that’s been weighing on you without it having any true consequence.

You’re babysitting him one day, when everyone else is out, and you say to him:

“Hey, Jamie. I know you have no idea what I’m saying but if I don’t say it soon I’m going to explode.”

He just looks at you blankly.

“I’m nonbinary. So, I’m not a boy like you, and I’m not a girl like mom.”

All you’re met with is another blank stare.

“Yeah, I must be going pretty insane if I’m trying to explain this in a way you’ll understand.”

The next logical choice is Francis.

After all, he’s far away and you don’t see him often, so you don’t have to live with him if he ends up rejecting you.

Not that you expect that from him, as your cool brother who respects pretty much everything that goes against tradition.

You call him one day, when you miraculously get the house to yourself.

“Francis, I need to tell you something.”

“You’re not calling me from jail, are you?”

“No.”

“Then, what is it?”

“I… I’m nonbinary.”

“The thing where you’re not really a boy or a girl?”

“Yeah, that.”

“How’d mom and dad take that one?”

“That’s the thing. I haven’t told them yet. Or Reese, Malcolm or Dewey.”

“So, I’m the first in the family to know?”

“After Jamie, if he counts.”

“Man, I can’t wait to shove that one in mom’s face.”

“Can you keep this to yourself? Until I’ve told them. I mean, you can tell Piama if you want.”

“Of course. I’ve kept worse secrets than this. Not that this is bad.”

“Thanks, Francis.”

“No problem. And, congrats. I think that’s what I’m supposed to say.”

“Uh, thanks, I guess. So… you’re okay with it?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Do you think everyone else will be okay with it?”

“If they’re not, they’ll probably come around. But, if they don’t, give me a call, alright?”

He paused, before speaking again.

“Do you like grandma?”

“Ida? Not really. Why?”

“Well, I think that she’d probably have a heart attack if you told her. So… do with that information what you will.”

You tell your family within the next month.

You choose to tell them when you’re having dinner one night.

If a fight breaks out, you figure it won’t be too different to your normal dinners.

Hal looks ever so slightly terrified.

Lois, for once, is at a loss for words, which scares you more than her yelling.

Reese is confused.

Malcolm and Dewey look surprised, albeit not overly shocked.

“What does that mean?” Reese questioned.

“It means…” Malcolm pauses as he looks at you, not sure how to refer to you yet. “You’re not a girl or a boy, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But, you’re a-”

You cut Reese off.

“That’s not how I feel. And… I hope that you can all accept that, or try to accept that.”

Your eyes dart around everyone at the table, then you bite your lip and avert your gaze.

“So… do you think you guys can accept that?”

“Sweetheart-” Hal begins hesitantly, but Lois interrupts him.

“How long have you felt this way?”

Her voice is the most uncertain you’ve ever heard it be.

You can’t bring yourself to look up at her.

“Uh, a while.”

“And, you’re sure about it?”

“Do I have to be?”

“No.”

“Well, I am. Mostly.”

“Okay. Then, tell us what to do and we’ll do it.”

Surprised, you nervously tell your family what pronouns to use, and anything else they need to know.

It feels like such a relief.

Over the next few days, you overhear Reese asking Malcolm questions, but they’re both keeping their voices down so that you can’t make out what they’re saying (but you can infer the questions are about you).

Malcolm and Dewey adjust to the change the quickest.

Lois adjusts pretty quickly, too, no doubt because she’s that stubborn and determined not to slip up.

(Part of you wonders if she’s worried that getting it wrong or do anything to make you feel like you’re not accepted by her or the rest of the family will push you away like Francis)

Reese is trying his best, but he gets it wrong half the time, so Malcolm will make sure to correct him.

You notice that, at first, Hal avoids using pronouns for you as much as possible (and your name, if you asked for them to use a new one), and he has that look where he looks like he’s about to keel over and die, or like he’s having some kind of allergic reaction.

But, as time goes on, and with Lois and Malcolm’s insistence, he will try, and he will realise that all that matters is showing you that he loves you no matter what.

You find that Lois will fight for you in whatever way she can.

She overhears some judgemental mothers in the neighbourhood talking crap about you?

She will give them a piece of her mind.

If you’re still at school, and you want your teachers to use your pronouns (and your new name if you have one), then she will march down to the school and speak to the principal.

Your brothers will stand up for you, too.

Francis has told you to call him if anyone gives you a hard time.

If anyone’s a jerk to you, Reese will either punch them in the face or threaten them.

Malcolm will argue with anyone who gives you a hard time.

Dewey will secretly enact calculated revenge against anyone who upsets you, but will deny it when asked.

When Ida finds out about you, she will show up unannounced, storm into the house and start berating you and Lois.

Malcolm calls Francis, and it isn’t long before he turns up, too.

(Everyone knows that Francis will never turn down the opportunity to argue with someone, especially Lois or Ida)

It brings Francis and Lois together in a rare moment of solidarity, and they will spend hours upon hours in a screaming match with her.

(Somewhere along the line, you get the impression that they’ve all forgotten that the argument started with you at the centre)

Eventually, they’ll manage to get Ida to leave.

You’ll get up in the middle of the night to grab a drink and a snack, and you’ll find Lois sitting at the kitchen table, her head in her hands.

“Hey, Mom? I really appreciate you sticking up for me, but I always knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I can take people being assholes to me. You don’t have to keep standing up for me.”

She looks up at you, her exhaustion evident, but she’s still able to keep herself together, somehow.

“Honey, the world’s a cruel place, and it beats this family down enough without adding that gender stuff onto it. But, if that’s who you are, I’m not letting you face this alone. What kind of a mother would I be if I didn’t fight tooth and nail for you to be able to exist like everyone else?”

[jemgirl86]

Maybe it’s because I have had longstanding and transparent disdain for TFATWS, but I don’t get a lot of the criticisms for BNW. Shoot, maybe I really am grading on a curve, but imo BNW is a solid B if we’re grading against all MCU products.

Listen…

Would I have liked Cap villains? Yes. Would it have been awesome to get a Riley flashback and a little discussion of the parallels of Sam & Riley and Sam & Joaquin? Absolutely. Would I have loved to see some more of Sarah and the boys and maybe even get an in depth Gideon shoutout? Of course.

But, look, I followed enough of the production and saw enough rumors that I had already assumed that wasn’t happening. And, since I am not only a member of, but am also the President of The Malcolm Spellman Haters Club, I was holding my breath and expecting the worst when I first sat down in my theater, but guess what?

The movie was not the worst. As a matter of fact, it was good. It was a good action movie in general, and a good Captain America movie, specifically. And, most important of all, it consistently respected Sam, something TFATWS failed to do on numerous occasions.

Do you know how many times I’ve rewatched TFATWS? ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. I only pull up specific scenes when I need to reference something, but I cannot sit through the entirety of that thing again when most of it plays like a humiliation ritual for my favorite character.

Now, by comparison, I’ve already seen BNW twice.

Sam was respected in BNW. He was a skilled fighter, a skilled negotiator, a great leader. He was clever, and badass, and compassionate. He was awesome.

He was everything a hero should be. He was everything Sam Wilson has always been.

Look, put your beef with the plot of the film aside. We all already knew going into it that it wasn’t going to be the plot Sam or his fans would get in a perfect world. We’re probably never going to have social worker Sam, living in Harlem, fighting Cap specific villains. And we all know it, so is it really fair to judge the movie over things we knew from jump were not going to be in the movie? IMO it isn’t.

I have to look at the final product and judge it that way - how the Sam Wilson character was treated and handled within the setting TPTB dropped him in.

And when I do that, I’m satisfied.

He wasn’t a “magical negro,” he was a hero trying to save his friend and a lot of other people. He wasn’t constantly being bullied and disrespected by his co-worker, his wannabe co-worker, and damn near every other character around him. Instead, he was loved and respected by his inner circle, and respected by practically everyone he encountered. He wasn’t written as incompetent, his phone wasn’t going off in the middle of missions 🙄. No, he was an excellent strategist, incredibly clever, and a great fighter. He was compassionate, even to his enemies.

I’m rambling now, and I don’t even know quite how to phrase it, but…

The MCU was never going to give us comic accurate Sam Wilson, but they did give us comic Sam’s essence. They gave us his personality and skills. They gave us a good man, and it was a good movie with great acting, and it really just feels like a lot of these complaints I’m seeing are a reach, especially considering that we all know how the MCU works and we all knew what this movie was going to entail before it was even released.

You didn’t like it? That’s your prerogative. But when you’re criticizing it, at least make sure your criticisms make sense within the context of the MCU and how Sam has previously been written.

[hazelnut-u-out]

Do you think about the whole Rick Prime thing? Did it kinda feel anticlimactic???

Yeeahhhhhh, but... I think that's the point!

At first, I was a little bit disappointed with how they handled the arc. I really thought Prime was going to be the Big Bad! Having the whole climax of C-137's arc with Prime as a mid-season episode felt oddly... dismissive? It was like it wasn't even a major event.

After sitting on this for a bit, I think I actually love how they've handled it. I think this is the first time I've really seen the show take something that perfectly fills a 'Television Run' format (i.e. big events at the ends of the seasons for cliffhangers, and so on) and subvert those expectations into something more like 'Real Life.' In my opinion, a lot of the show is shown as how characters involved view the events, especially in terms of tonality. That's why so much of the show fits these media formulas-- Rick views his life as a show.

I often refer to the majority of the show as 'Rick's Director's Cut' because we get events skewed from his warped perception of his own actions. (You can even think of 'Morty's Mindblowers' as Rick literally editing footage into a better story.) Of course, we see why he's sympathetic. As the viewer, we understand why he's doing what he's doing, even if we don't agree with it. He views himself as the 'sitcom dad'-- comically fucked up and abusive, but secretly caring. Rick believes that he's got just enough heart for his actions to be excusable, forgetting that the people he hides his intentions from aren't getting the 'full picture' like the viewer is. From Morty's perspective, Rick does these things for no reason-- unless you count not liking, caring about, or valuing Morty. Of course, we know that's not the case, but Morty doesn't. His family doesn't.

The Prime arc is fascinating to me because of the contrast between how Rick viewed it versus how it happened from the perspective of the viewer. Rick went into the Prime arc thinking it would be a massive, badass epic where the underdog comes out on top and the audience is satisfied with the conclusion. As the audience, this is probably the first time we haven't really been able to click with that, you know? It was unsatisfying, even for Rick, and now he's sort of saddled with, 'Oh, shit. This is real life. What comes next?'

Sure, they're little guys on our television screens. To them, though... that's real life. Real life is messy. Real life is unsatisfying. Real life is disappointing, the editing is sloppy, arcs aren't linear, and dysfunction and substance abuse aren't silly character traits.

The whole point is: What happens now?

In real life, what happens after your abusive parent passes away or you finally get revenge on the person who tore your life apart? In real life, what happens after you beat the shit out of the guy who assaulted you? Or after your dad apologizes for walking out on you?

There's actually a Malcolm in the Middle scene reminiscent of this concept. Francis was blamed by Lois from the time he was born for ruining their relationship. Throughout the entire series, his arcs deal with their broken relationship. When she finally apologizes, the pinnacle of his hopes and dreams-- the only thing keeping him alive, it doesn't help. It doesn't fix the years of psychological abuse he suffered, or the fact that he's as broken as he is because of her failure as a parent.

Another great example is in Adventure Time, when Finn thinks he's ripped Martin's arm off for causing him to lose his own. The revenge doesn't help. (Sorry, not digging for a link to the scene lmao.)

Those things aren't satisfying on their own. The fantasies and daydreams we barter through aren't feasible cures. That's real life. What happens afterward is what you do next. That can be a tough pill to swallow. There's no quick 'fix-all' for everything that's fucked you up. What helps? Hard work. Dedication. Time. Therapy. Grief. Acceptance.

Rick never really worked through the grieving process, you know?

There was Denial and Anger:

And where he got stuck... Bargaining:

After Prime's death? Depression:

Four decades later, we're finally on the cusp of Acceptance.

That's what that look into the hole was. That's what putting up Morty's picture was. That's what choosing to walk away was.

Acceptance.

In conclusion of my long-winded rant, I liked the Prime arc. Fits nicely into the season after the finality of 'Fear No Mort.'

Well done, writers.

Thanks for asking! <3

[sunny44]

I’m home

Pairing: Mason Mount x mom!reader

Warnings: none, just cute stuff

Summary: Mason comes home for his girls after being away for a while.

I had been away for a month now, I had a few games in a row and a lot of training.

And now I was coming home missing my wife and my daughter.

Sophie Isabel Mount was the sweetest little girl of all, she was daddy's little girl for sure.

Y/n and I have been dating for four years, after two years of relationship we found out that she was pregnant.

At first it was terrifying, we were certainly not prepared for it.

It was something that we wanted eventually but not at the time it happened.

The first few days it was strange, Y/n did the pharmacy test and it was the only result we had at the time, so until we actually went and saw the ultrasound it was like it wasn't real.

Y/n by the time she saw the ultrasound immediately started to cry, I was still ecstatic and it didn't really hit me until that same day, but was in the middle of the night.

I was rolling around in bed unable to sleep, I spent most of the night imagining myself being a father, how my sister always told me that I would be a great father, especially if it was a girl.

The good thing about my sister having Summer was that I could practice changing diapers and get more or less a sense of what it would be like.

And that's where I burst in tears, Y/n woke up scared by the fact that I was crying at three in the morning and that's where I told her it was because we were having a baby.

As soon as I opened the door to the house, I took off my sneakers and changing to my flip-flops and putting my training things on the floor.

“I'm home” I said out loud and then I heard fast footsteps running through the house.

“Daddy” she screams and I bent down to her height taking her in my arms “I missed you”.

“ I missed you too sweetheart”.

“You took a long time to come back”.

“I know baby, sorry for that” she hugs me tight.

“I don’t want you away never again.” She says.

“I know baby and I’m sorry for that, your going everywhere with me now. I’m putting you in my suitcase.” She starts laughing.

“And what about mommy?”

“We can bring mommy with us.”

“Ok then.” She says and kiss my nose with her nose “Can we go to the park with Malcolm?”

That is the name of the golden retriever we gave her when she was a baby, they are best friends.

“Yes we can, where's mommy?”

“She is outside, we are bathing the flowers.

Sophie and Y/n had a garden in the back of the house where they took care of the flowers, there were many flowers and even some vegetables.

It was one of the activities my girlfriend does with our daughter, she made a whole schedule of activities for the week to develop her creativity, and also because it is one of the few things that keeps her mind off from thinking too much about me since when I am away she cries a lot because she misses me.

“Let's go see mommy then" I took her in my lap and we went to the back.

And there she was, barefoot on the grass, wearing a loose flowered dress and some waves in her brown hair.

“Hi love” she dropped the hose on the ground and came to me “I missed you so much”.

“I missed you too” I kissed her.

“Ew” I laughed with my lips still close to hers.

“Ew what, young lady” I said, patting her belly “Let's finish helping mommy to bath the plants and then we can go to the park and walk with Malcolm.

“And then pizzaaaaaa”. We shouted in celebration and went to bath the plant.

And I was more than happy to be home.

Bonus scene!

Masonmount instagram post

Liked by @Debbiemount, @Y/nmount, @Reecejames and others 817208

Tagged: Y/nmount

Masonmount there’s nothing better than coming back home and seeing my girls bathing their flowers 🌸

@Y/nmount you should bath the flowers with us next time

@Masonmount I need a baby boy to play football with me, what do you say?

@Y/nmount maybe yes, maybe not

@Debbiemount oh I love those cute faces

@Y/nmount we love you too granny debs

@reecejames you have to bring her to training

@masonmount I won’t because she forgets about daddy when she sees her football uncles

@lovelymase we love baby mount so much, they both look very cute

[petercapaldi-press]

INTERVIEW

Exploring new avenues

2007

Peter Capaldi is best known for playing ferocious spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the BBC political comedy The Thick of It, but now he is turning his hand to another kind of humour - a farce on stage. He tells Nick Smurthwaite about Absurdia

[transcript under the cut]

For most actors, no matter how talented or versatile, the onset of middle age normally brings with it typecasting and the death of professional adventure. For Peter Capaldi, it has brought him the role of a lifetime.

His dazzling portrayal of Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed, apoplectic spin doctor in Armando Iannucci's political sitcom The Thick of It, has raised Capaldi's game in a way he didn't think was possible in his mid-forties.

"I'd got to the stage where I was doing nice parts in Midsomer Murders and Waking the Dead," he explains, "but nobody was asking me to do anything different or difficult.

"The whole process of making The Thick of It was completely different from anything I'd experienced before. I suddenly found myself in a working environment where everything was dangerous and scary."

In most TV drama or comedy, the position of the camera determines the blocking of the scenes. In The Thick of It there is no blocking, the cameramen simply follow the actors around.

"We don't rehearse, so nobody really gets the hang of what's going on, giving it that chaotic feel. We can go off in a different direction both physically and verbally; which is both tough and incredibly liberating. We've done takes of 45 minutes long."

Capaldi suspects Iannucci deliberately creates a "pressurised, neurotic, wrong-footing atmosphere" to keep the actors on their toes and help them become their characters.

Does he find Tucker's rage and bile easy to access? "Easier than I thought," he smiles. "I think it must have something to do with my age, but obviously it is my job as an actor to bring it all to the boil. It would be boring if he was shouting at people all the time, so I try to make him cunning, to give him quieter, pressure cooker moments. I prefer it when he is hatching some mad Machiavellian strategy to extricate himself from another impossible situation.

"I can't praise the writers too highly. The actors all found it difficult to improvise at first, because the scripts were so brilliant. Also, if you're going to improvise, it has to be funny and in character, otherwise it doesn't work. But the adrenaline carries you along. It's a powerhouse once we get going.

Coincidentally, only four years before The Thick of It arrived on the scene, Capaldi was involved with another New Labour satire, Feelgood, by Alastair Beaton, in which Henry Goodman played a Tucker-like spin doctor, clearly modelled on Alastair Campbell, while Capaldi was his cowering speech writer.

That was Capaldi's last foray on to the London stage, clearly not his natural habitat. Now he is returning in Absurdia, a trio of one-act comedies at the Donmar Warehouse, consisting of two old ones by NF Simpson and a new one by Michael Frayn. Why bother, I ask, when his work in TV is going so well?

"You do it for the challenge, the stretch," he replies. "Generally in TV, you are employed to do what you are known for doing best. Here I'm doing things I've never done before, a lot of mime and movement. The Frayn play is about staging a farce in the middle of the desert, generated entirely in the imaginations of the two characters, with no props. I've never done mime before, so it remains to be seen if it works."

A former art student who cites the Pythons as a major influence, Capaldi has dabbled rather successfully in 'absurdia' of his own. Twelve years ago, he picked up an Oscar in the Best Short Film category for Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life, with Richard E. Grant as Kafka, which Capaldi wrote and directed. Once nominated, he suddenly found himself propelled into an alien world of Hollywood development deals and heavy duty schmoozing.

"The truth is, I went to Hollywood after the film was nominated and didn't know what to do when I got there," he says. "I was an actor, not a director, so it was all very strange and scary. The money men were hardly going to give me $80 million to play with, because they could see I wasn't anywhere near experienced enough."

He did, however, manage to sell a feature-length screenplay even before the Oscars took place. But the fact that he wasn't interested in becoming a director of blockbusters cramped his style as a bright young hopeful. He just wanted somebody to give him half a million to go away and do his own thing.

"I went to art school, so my whole creative ethos is about expressing myself in images. I didn't make a little film in order to make bigger ones. I just like the idea of making little films in which i can express myself."

For some years now he has been trying to get his third project as writer-director off the ground (the second, Strictly Sinatra, was a disappointment). It is called The Great Pretender and it has four parts for Ewan McGregor. While Capaldi doesn't see any problem persuading his fellow Scot to do it - he says he is already committed 100% - there are money problems to sort out.

"I know it will be really easy to make and we're all ready to go," he says wistfully. "But the problem with making your own films is that you end up spending all your time trying to blag the money. I'm really not interested in that side of it at all, but unfortunately I have to do it in order to get the thing made. I loved Kafka, looking through the camera and seeing this little world we were creating take shape, but I don't think it will ever be like that again because of the size and nature of the project and the number of friends I had working on it."

Taking his cue from the style of The Thick of It, Capaldi has written what he describes as a "pseudo documentary" biography of a fictional celebrity for TV which he hopes will go into production later this year.

While he is proactive when it comes to writing and generating his own projects, Capaldi the actor is content to sit back and wait for the phone to ring. "I don't know any actors who decide what roles they want to play and then go chasing after them," he says, when I suggest that The Thick of It might have given him more clout to pick and choose his roles. "My knowledge of the theatre isn't broad enough to be able to say, I'd like to play such and such a role.

"I agreed to do Absurdia because I liked the material and I'm a great admirer of Douglas Hodge, the director. You have to be nuts about the play you're doing because the theatre pays so badly and it takes up six months of your life.

"The worse thing is going into a job where, two weeks into rehearsals, you realise the director you thought was wonderful is crap. You're stuck with a sadistic egomaniac, you realise the whole thing is going to be a disaster, and there is nothing you can do about it."

He doesn't say so, but I get the strong impression he doesn't have those Tuckeresque feelings about Hodge and Absurdia.

Absurdia is playing at the Donmar Warehouse until September 8

[stilliwait]

So I'm writing a Varric x Fem!Hawke fanfic...

I'm REALLY struggling to figure out a title for it though. It's going to be long, spanning from Hawke's childhood all the way to post-Trespasser. I have a rough outline of how I want it to go, but a title is tricky. SO I'm posting the beginning of the story here to see if I can get some inspo from ya'll. It's like the first 1/3rd of chapter one, though I'm open to cutting it here if anyone thinks this would be a good stopping point. I haven't published anything I've written in the better part of a decade, and I'm rusty.

Things to note pre-reading:

I've rewritten the canon slightly. Marian Hawke is a twin to Garrett Hawke, and they shoulder the burden of Champion together. The children all grew up in Kirkwall before Bethany's magic manifested and they had to run for Ferelden. Bethany and Carver both survive the trip back to Kirkwall.

Marian and Varric will, obviously, end up together, but it's a slow-ish burn. Still deciding how I want the story to flesh out in terms of timing on some of the scenes I've written, but they'll probably get together in secret pre-Deep Roads.

Varric's nickname for Marian is Rosie because she's thorny on the outside (with sarcasm) but soft on the inside. Rosie is when she's being a jackass, Rosebud for when she's showing her sweet and vulnerable side, which is rare.

Okay, thank you and happy reading! I will be posting this to AO3 eventually, but not without a title.

The Hawke children were always told magic ran in their family. With a mage for a father and a mother who’s ancestry held many mages as well, it wasn’t a surprise when one of their children was born with magic, though their father always joked that it ‘had to be the youngest’.

Maybe magic ran in their family, but Marian thought twins must too.  How else could someone explain two sets to the same parents?  First came herself and Garrett, older than her by two minutes.  They split the burden of being the eldest child, with Garrett shouldering the brunt of the family burden, and Marian housing all the guilt.  As they got older, she joked he had sucked all the energy from their mother, and that was why he sprang up over six feet tall, and she barely made it past five.  They both had a penchant for recklessness, though Marian was the first to point out flaws in a plan - ever cautious - while Garrett liked to run head-first and ask questions later.

Then came their younger siblings; Carver and Bethany.  Carver seemed to house all the middle child issues - brash, quick to anger, always trying to one-up Garrett with his competitiveness.  He was also the best at calming their mother when any fights happened, and his devotion to his own twin was unparalleled.  Bethany was born sunshine incarnate, and Carver did his best to protect his little sister from the horrors of the world. They all did. Bethany was the perfect youngest child, all smiles and joy and fun.  She could charm a Qunari if she tried hard enough, and she gave her kindness like a gift to everyone around her.  Marian wished she was more like her.

That’s how they survived fleeing Kirkwall as children; Bethany’s kindness.  Marian had grown up in the Amell estate with her siblings, and parents.  The story she was told by Leandra was thus:

Her grandparents were angry - Code for utterly pissed according to Garrett - that their mother had thrown away her engagement to Guillaume de Launcet, a Comte’s son no less, to be with a Circle Mage.  They were furious when they found out Gamlen had helped the couple be together out of love for his sister and her happiness.  Eventually, when Leandra wrote to them letting them know she was with child, they welcomed her home, their father Malcolm in tow.

Marian’s earliest childhood memories were of the estate.  Her grandparents doted on herself and Garrett with unabashed affection, and she remembered them even acting warm to her father.  Her grandmother Bethann would make cookies with her in the kitchen, smearing flour on the both of them as they laughed, and the cook would shake her head at them and pretend the cookies were delicious before secretly swapping them for an edible batch.  Her grandfather Ariside spent hours with her and Garrett in the library, teaching the twins to read and telling them stories of dragons and heroes and true love’s kiss. Her mother was happy to live in society, and her father did well for himself, working for her grandfather and hiding from the Templars.

When Bethany and Carver came along, it seemed that joy would continue.  “Two sets of twins!” her grandmother would exclaim to anyone they met.  “How did we get so lucky?!”  Despite the five-year age gap between them, Marian and Garrett adored their younger siblings, teaching them to walk and talk, and sneak treats whenever they were left to their own devices.  When the younger twins were toddlers, and she and Garrett were nearly ten, their grandfather started teaching them about martial weapons, just to pass the time and give their unending energy a healthy outlet.  He was pleased when they both threw themselves into it, spending hours sparring with wooden daggers, and even more thrilled when Marian showed promise in archery, his favorite pastime.

But with all joy comes strife, and the Hawke family was no different.  Bethany was six when her magic manifested, to the horror and shock of her grandparents.  Malcolm was heartbroken for his daughter.  There were only two choices for the family of a mage too young to control their power: Turn her in to The Circle, or go into hiding.  The Hawkes chose the latter, unable to part from their daughter.

Marian remembered leaving her grandparents home in the night, with tears down her face and her twin’s hand in hers, a promise from their grandparents that this was not forever, and they could come home soon.  That was the first time Garrett came up with a secret code, just for the two of them.  In the hold of the ship they boarded to Ferelden, he silently squeezed her hand three times, a stoic look on his young face, a silent I love you to his sister.  It was a promise between the siblings that they would survive this and come out okay on the other side.

They ran for months before finally settling on the outskirts of Lothering, a small but solid home waiting for them. Marian never thought to ask how they were able to secure such a place so close to a village, but as she got older she assumed her grandparents may have had something to do with it. It just made her miss them more.

Their father started tutoring Bethany, and Carver became jealous at how much time Malcolm devoted to the young mage.  Marian and Garrett did their best to distract him, dragging him to the local Chantry and asking the Templars and soldiers to teach them how to fight.  Carver was nine when he first held a shield, and the elder twins couldn’t have been prouder. He was a fighter like them, and the three of them sparred regularly, practicing the knowledge the villagers gave them.  As the years wore on, the militia became more and more impressed with them, and started to give the three ideas of joining the army.

When the children grew into teenagers, the Templars started to take notice of their little family, particularly their youngest daughter.  Marian did her best to distract the young men with her wit, charm, and no small amount of flirting. While Bethany never knew exactly why the Templars never took her in, Garrett quickly figured out what his sister was doing and was horrified.  He threatened several of the men within an inch of their lives, and they left the family alone.  Bethany started spending more time in the Chantry, much to their mother’s chagrin and anxiety, and she befriended the Sisters and Brothers of the church.  Her sweet voice singing the chant and her sparkling eyes when they read religious stories made her endearing, and if anyone noticed there was something special about her, they said nothing.

For a time, the family knew peace in their little village. But peace did not last for Hawkes for long.

When the family’s fourteenth summer in Lothering ended, so too did Malcolm Hawke’s life.

No one was quite sure what the illness was that took him, but it was quick, and it was devastating.  Leandra was broken at the loss of her beloved husband, and could hardly get out of bed.  Bethany cried for days after his pyre was burned, scared of being the lone mage of the family.  Carver retreated into himself, anger and guilt plaguing his features.  He barked at anyone who tried to talk to him besides his twin for weeks before settling into a resigned state.  Marian and Garrett both mourned quietly, taking care of their family in lieu of talking about (or even acknowledging) their feelings on the matter.  They kept the family fed, kept their mother from caving in on herself, kept Carver from starting too many fights in town.  Slowly, they pieced together their small lives, and Leandra began talking about returning to Kirkwall when they were able.  Surely if Malcolm could hide from Templars in plain sight, Bethany could too? None of her children agreed though, for their grandparents had long passed away, and the idea of returning to their ancestral home without the people that made it so was too painful so close to their father’s passing.

Life went on. A new sister joined the local Chantry, her lilting Orleasian accent so different and beautiful, and it was a big deal in such a small village.  Marian gravitated towards the girl, both for her sweet personality and her red hair, so similar to her own they could be siblings. Leliana was a breath of fresh air in the family’s life, and they often went to town to spend time with her, though she and Marian quickly became fast friends.  They would talk about the world around them, the Maker (Marian was skeptical and they had many kind-hearted debates), and even mage rights, though the latter was tip-toed around.  Marian knew her friend was observant, and it didn’t surprise her when Leliana made the occasional comment about Bethany.  But the secret was kept, and a strong friendship forged.

The girls would practice archery together, a surprising delight for Marian.  She hadn’t had anyone to shoot with since her grandfather in Kirkwall, and getting to learn how someone else pulled a bowstring and aimed the barrel was a welcome distraction from the stress of her day-to-day life.  Garrett would occasionally join in, Bethany even less so, and both were far inferior in skill to the red-headed girls.  They would laugh good naturedly, and Marian tried to help her brother improve where she could, but he was hopeless with anything that wasn’t a blade.  Carver continued to practice swords and shields with the local militia, and she caught him staring longingly at her friend more than once. If Leli noticed, she did not let on, but Marian kept an eye on his crush. She would kill her brother if he ruined the one friendship she had outside her family.

Three years passed, and the two sets of twins fell into their proverbial roles in the family.  Marian was the caretaker, making sure they had enough to eat and their home was relatively clean. Bethany was the peace keeper, smoothing over any fights and tiffs they had and charming the village into forgetting her potentially magical aura.  And the boys continued to hone their martial skills, until one day news of a potential Blight reached their ears.  Garrett and Carver were conscripted in the army, with Marian staying behind to protect their mother and sister.  She would never admit it, but the idea of war made her stomach churn.  Killing animals for food or bandits to protect her family was one thing, but monsters?  She wasn’t so sure she could keep her sanity in the face of darkspawn.

The day before her brothers left, Marian pulled her twin aside.  She and Garrett rarely tried to push their family into doing what they wanted, but in the face of a Blight desperate times called for desperate measures.  The evening found the siblings on the roof, laying back to look at the stars as they spoke.

“How hard do you think it’ll be to keep Carver alive on a battlefield?” Garrett asked, trying to spot the constellations their father had taught them.

“The most hard-headed man alive? I give you ten minutes before he tries to run at an ogre,” Marian drawled, lifting his hand to point to Tenebrium, their favourite set of stars.  It laid out above them in the shape of a great owl, though Marian always argued it more closely resembled a hawk.  “Do try to keep him from running head-first into danger, won’t you?”

Garrett shook his head at his sister, a smirk perched on his lips. “That’s like asking me to keep him from nailing Bethany’s braid to the bed posts.” They both snickered at countless memories of Carver doing just that, and Bethany shooting ice at his feet in retaliation.  When the laughter died down, a serious silence stretched between them, and Marian felt her brother lace his fingers through hers.

“What do we do if the Blight comes here?” she asked quietly.  She’d tried to bring it up before, but Garrett couldn’t be swayed.

“It’s not going to come here,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not even sure this is a real Blight, no one’s even seen a dragon yet!” He had a pout on his face, like not seeing a dragon was somehow a personal offense to him, and Marian’s hand twitched to smack him, resisting only because he was leaving early the next morning.

“Garrett, I’m serious! We need a plan! Where do we meet up if something happens? I know you’re stupidly confident, but we’re Hawkes.” Her voice was quieter now, a little sadness peeking through.  “Shit seems to find us wherever we go.  I don’t want to be separated from you just because we didn’t discuss something.”  She felt Garrett shift beside her, and turned her head to face his, taking in his somber expression.

“I don’t know Mare, honestly.  Where could we go if a Blight was truly upon us? Denerim, I suppose, though I hear it smells like shit.” He still had a teasing lilt in his voice, and she tried not to huff that he wasn’t taking her seriously.

“Fine, don’t help me plan. All it’ll mean is you’ll be scrambling to find us when the world falls apart,” she sniped, annoyed.  Garrett reached over and ruffled her hair with his free hand, getting a squawk in return as she slapped his hands away.

“You worry too much, little sister.  Nothing bad is going to happen to us or our precious little village. Just breathe, spend time with your Chantry friend, and try not to get into any trouble while we’re gone. We’ll be back before you know it.” He was grinning at her, his tongue slightly sticking out between his teeth.  Marian pinched his side in retaliation, earning a yelp from him.  She tried to stay annoyed, but it was hard to be mad at her other half.  Mostly she was nervous. They’d never been apart for more than a few days, and the idea of him being gone for weeks with only Carver for company terrified her, both for his safety and sanity.

She deflected from her worries, ever the Hawke. “Stop calling me little sister Garrett, you’re two minutes older. It barely counts.”  She poked at him again, but he caught her hand in his and held it tightly. Three squeezes.

“I love you too, you prat,” she teased, and the two fell into companionable silence, watching the stars above them.

[thealogie]

q&a report q&a report (late but better than never) q&a report i didn't catch quiiiite everything in detail but i did my very best

we got: dt ros watt (malcolm) jatinder singh randhawa (porter) cal macaninch (banquo) casper knopf (fleance, the kid actor) alasdair macrae (musician, murderer) annie grace (gentlewoman, musician) and i think? kathleen macinnes (singer)

the last three people all shuffled in a bit apart from each other after the round of everyone introducing themselves by name and character was already over so i'm not sure i caught them all accurately. i'll refer to people by first names

during the introduction round i think casper started introducing himself and got kid applause so the audience ended up giving every single person a sped up little round of applause like a cute lil call and response rhythm between introduction - applause of very specific short length which was kind of funny. the cast joined in for each others as well and everyone made funny faces while applauding.

most questions were asked by the moderator

question: What did you think about the production when they first heard about it? cal was confused but intrigued. a lot of "not sure how it was going to work or feel like". when david and cush got on it the binaural audio wasn't yet firmly part of the concept but he was intrigued by the approach through trauma and how that affects the macbeths' relationship.

question: Wow was it for them with the binaural audio knowing the experience is different for the audience? what do they think? dt: we don't quite now how it comes together. the sounds are all cued off us actors, not the other way around. all i know is without Laura we would be fucked! (Laura = live sound mixing person) ros: we never quite know how it sounds for the audience, we were able to put on headphones and experience scenes we're not in in rehearsal, but i want to watch the whole thing! the cue speakers have some stripped down sounds and music that are relevant for the actors. but the audio choices enabled us to create intimacy jatinder: i think it makes the audience better able to relate to mental health struggles and trauma, giving what happens in the characters heads into your heads and relate it to your own experience. i think everyone here in the room has some of their own experiences with mental health and… voices in their head

question to the musicians: how does your work add to the concept and experience? kathleen (i think mostly, but the other musicians might also have weighed in): music enables us to place the text in a very Scottish place, but without getting in the way of the text. The headphones make it possible that it mixes with all the layers, balancing between music, sounds and lines is possible thanks to the technology. you can have loudly, energetically played music but then mix it at a level where it doesn't interfere with lines, when usually you would have to play quietly to let the text come through, which creates a different atmosphere. kathleen: i was advised to sing when nobody is speaking and turn that to humming when somebody is. so it was also very useful to have the glass box and always see what is happening on stage.

question about the porter scene: how did that come to pass, especially making a more modern version out of it? jatinder: decided together with max to just play it and see where it goes, starting with improvisation and then fleshing it out. there was an interest in finding a modern equivalent to the original jokes that audiences would perceive in a similar way as audiences back then would have related to the original jokes. the scene purposefully takes a bit of the intensity out - basically an emotional intermission in the middle of this really intense and dark journey. but my job was also in the end of the scene to bring the audience back into it.

question to david: What makes you come back to the big parts? dt: Well, Max had a good idea and I like Max. I liked the idea of the themes of PTSD and child loss and I like the donmar warehouse. i performed here 20 years ago, which is remarkable because i'm in my mid twenties right now! (laughs all around). there's something a bit magical about this space and doing an olympic event of a part like this one in this intimate of a space.

audience member question to Casper (kid): What is your favorite bit of the play? casper: my favorite bits are the murdering… or the attempt to murder. (laughs all around) But no, seriously. I like scenes where I'm not being killed and I'm having a conversation with someone that's not about death. different cast member (not sure who): -Is- there even a scene like that? (everyone laughs) dt, turning to Casper kind of conspiratorially: My favorite bit every night is the audience's reaction to your neck getting broken. (raised eyebrows, nodding to the audience with a wide grin) That's always something.

audience member question: Do you notice the audience being different in any way with the headphones compared to your experiences in other plays? different cast members answer in bits and pieces (sometimes i have a vague memory who it was…) ros: with the headphones sometimes people are louder, sometimes i feel like you are more connected and zoned in on us! maybe because you don't have the opportunity to talk to your neighbor maybe… somebody else: i feel like it's very quiet and there is somehow less coughing than usual. (laughs around) i don't know why that is!!

audience member question: What other productions of macbeth influenced this one: [here be the the answer part with david's ian mckellen impression, see the other post] musicians (i think annie): we came straight, literally no break, from the RSC's macbeth production so we really had to empty our brains. there was no break in between, but the music is very different and Max's vision also very different, so we really had to unlearn parts

audience member question: The physical theatre stuff, the witch swarm, how did that come about? ros: We really tried to think more of what would be a physical representation of the voices in somebody's head. Everybody in Macbeth's life is watching, taunting, staring at him. It was always more about the intention of the movement, what these voices want to do to him and less what the movement itself is.

THANK YOU for transcribing all of this. I love getting an explanation for what the swarm of witches were meant to represent! It really did feel like a dance/feeling more than a literal scene and it’s fun to know that was sort of the intent. (Also the neck snapping bit - I also loved the audience’s reaction to that every night.)