#sorry if the last one is unnecessarily convoluted and long. they have history of failing to be friends. to me

[lautity]

1, 4, 5, 11, 15, 16, 17, 23 with lautity/holyphone for the otp ask game :3 (no pressure to do all of these btw, i'm just really curious to hear other people's opinions on them since i dont see to many lautity shippers in the wild </3)

Ask game

HEHE its totally okay you could have sent me the whole book.....im so obsessed with them rn its not even funny. i <3 my niche ship nobody else thinks about. and im so sorry for how long this is...stuck it under a cut for safety

also note many of these answers are in the context of my silly fic/AU  but u do not have to read it to understand i included context where necessary. mostly i think abt them in terms of my AU but i think most of these are canon applicable as well

1. Who most initiates PDA?

Funny question for these two. Steph is by far more comfortable with PDA and treats it very casually, but she would probably have to slow down and match Grace's pace while she's still adjusting to being visibly in a queer relationship (especially in Hatchetfield/where she risks bumping into family or people from her congregation).

I think Grace is extremely affectionate though and once she's more comfortable (or just living somewhere she's less well known) she would probably initiate at least as much as Steph, if not more. I think she would get into the habit of hand-holding every time they're outside at some point and it would just be muscle memory to grab Steph's hand when they're walking side by side.

4. How did they first meet?

In Slow they met in middle school! Grace joined in 7th grade after attending a religious primary school, Steph failed 7th grade (too many skipped classes) and was taking it for the second time when Grace got there. They don't really interact significantly until a year or two later, but they're in the same homeroom pretty much every year in school, so they're always aware of each other in passing.

5. What is their love language?

I think for Grace the thing that makes her feel most comforted is probably physical touch, but the 'above and beyond' thing for her (and what she holds as a sign of the utmost commitment, at least on her part) is quality time. She's really punctual because she feels it's the best way to show that she cares and wants to be there + she's pedantic about attending her friend's events to show her support. She's also clingy in a 'following Steph around the house' way, she just loves to have company and another person around. Especially if that person is her girlfriend (someone who wants her around. She has not experienced much of this </3)

Steph probably appreciates words of affirmation quite a lot, especially if they're well thought-out. Also enjoys quality time (though she does need Some alone time) and is usually cool without fancy going-out stuff. Prefers casual, appreciates when people make time for her and enjoys the attention of being alone with someone. I think physical touch and being touchy is like breathing to her, just second nature with her friends and especially her partner. Throwing herself across laps and using people as pillows, always bumping shoulders. Stuff like that. it's very casual to her and it's a language for her in that it's how she says 'I feel safe and comfortable around you".

11. Which member is more physically affectionate?

I sort of already talked about this LOL but I think Grace is more intentionally affectionate and is more likely to initiate cuddling or kissing (once they get over the Afraid To Initiate bit of very newly-out Grace). But obviously Steph is always just touching her anyways, often unconsciously (initially this makes Grace's head explode. but she figures it out eventually) so while everything Grace does is thought out Steph is just always being touchy without realizing it because of how relaxed/comfortable she is. I think they're pretty equally matched on like volume but Grace does initiate more Big acts of affection

15. Who is more likely to make an impulsive decision and who is the voice of reason?

Steph has ADHD (to me.) and bad impulse control so she tends to be very spontaneous. I think a lot of the time she'll do things on a whim, even if they're risky, and say whatever comes to her mind. Grace is good at talking her into more safe activities and derailing her when she's feeling righteous and wants to pick a fight with someone twice her size over an insult to one of her friends.

Grace tends to be really unpredictable and impulsive when she's emotional at all and Steph gradually gets better at handling this and calming her down as they're together for longer. Not so much a voice of reason as a source of comfort for her.

Steph is the one online shopping and showing Grace her phone every 5 minutes just for her to go "no, we don't need another one" LOL

16. Who stays up way too late and who tries to drag them to bed?

Steph and her fuckass sleep schedule from parties and arguing online vs Grace, who has never stayed up past midnight, wakes up at 6:30 AM on weekends, makes her bed every morning, never snoozes an alarm... I think even when Grace drags Steph to bed "on time" (still an hour later than she'd like) Steph is just not a morning person and loves getting to sleep in and wake up slowly. Grace eventually learns to appreciate being cozy in bed for a little bit longer, but she never really stops waking up earlier than Steph and getting tons of things done before she even stirs.

17. Who fell in love first?

Hehe. Grace fell first, Steph fell harder/faster. Grace had like... this steadily building crush she didn't know was a crush. I think it probably started when they were in a group project together and Steph kept bumping their knees together under the table. She called them friends once and Grace pretty much did the entire project to please her. And even once Steph started ignoring her in class again she remained unusually fixated on her salvation and helping her. Around Abstinence Camp (summer before sophomore year/10th grade) Steph catches on to the fact that Grace genuinely wants to help her and tries to be nicer. They get more hostile again when Steph is outed as bisexual and Grace discovers what gay people are and that she isn't supposed to like them (but she can save them!). At the point where NPMD begins (around the beginning of their senior year) Steph has not had a non-religious interaction with Grace in over a year, and she is extremely sick of it.

(Slow is an everyone lives AU that has Max sleep with Grace before most of the events of NPMD, and the Waylon prank is both revenge and blackmail so she can force him to 'admit' to lying about it, hopefully preserving her reputations + preventing it from getting back to her parents. Everyone else is in on it for the same reasons as canon, and only Steph knows that Grace slept with Max at the point of the prank)

After finding out about Grace and Max, Steph just starts kind of pitying her because she knows how vicious gossip of this nature is and how cruel people are. So she's like okay, this girl really needs a friend, I can do that for now + being friends with Steph Lauter does give you some level of social standing which she figures she can lend to Grace for awhile. And Grace is still sort of annoying at first. But seeing her passionate + happy during the prank, orchestrating everything, awakens some really long-buried feelings about the weird girl in her homeroom who always tried too hard to relate every book to God, and who had come over to her house and described every research note to Steph while she assembled their poster by herself; Steph had SpongeBob reruns playing (which Grace was apparently not allowed to watch, so she sat with her back to the television) and was mostly tuning her out. They got 100% on their poster, and Steph stopped talking to Grace when her friends started to comment on it.

She feels bad for treating Grace that way + she is genuinely letting herself know this person for the first time and finding that she likes her. Like. Genuinely finds her smart and funny and interesting. She's sort of insane under duress, but it's endearing. But Steph does not pursue people, people come to her, so she sort of brushes it into the back of her mind, because there is no world in which Grace Chasity realizes her obvious queerness before she's 30.

Once she knows Grace likes her shes giggling and kicking her feet and extremely extremely excited about everything but she is trying So Hard to be normal and not rush her. She's sort of flattered about being Grace's first girl(friend?) and really really wants to give her a good experience and treat her well (the way she wishes her first partner had treated her). She is very happy and the only thing she really wishes is that Grace would apologize less and trust her a little more.

[drunklander]

Submission:

Why Roger MacKenzie is the Worst an Analysis:

It all begins way back when in episode three of season four. I am going to give Roger the benefit of the doubt and ignore the fact he flew across the ocean to see a girl that maintained about 0.3 seconds of conversation with him in which she rolled her eyes like five consecutive times. Let us not forget he popped up for Christmas without actually being invited which is creepy in of itself. At this point, Roger was saved by the grace of his Scottish charm and lost puppy façade. An illusion which will dissipate the moment he is allowed to open his mouth for more than two consecutive seconds because everything that comes out of it is complete garbage. Oh, Roger. I had faith in you, I really did.

Do not get me wrong, I wanted to like him. I wanted to like him so badly I almost ended up making excuses for him because… Are you not supposed to like a male romantic lead? Disliking him as much as I do feels so counterintuitive, but he makes it so damn easy.

Back to episode three of season four. I will never forget the image of Brianna sitting on the floor half naked, hugging herself, and telling Roger that the situation “is perfect.” Oof, I try to put myself in her shoes and how embarrassing and awkward it might have felt. How off putting it is and how it almost borders a rejection. Regardless, let us say that Roger’s intentions were not to hurt her; he still took absolutely no regard of her feelings. This is something he systematically does, putting himself at the center of every situation with no afterthought of how the person by his side might interpret things. Roger’s character demands empathy but extends none. In fact, he is so narcissistically woven in his own delusions, that I do not think he is capable of seeing Brianna as a living, breathing human with thought and emotions of her own. Roger’s character does everything in its power to erase Brianna’s narrative. Sounds familiar? Aye, to me too. History repeats itself.

What is supposed to be a romantic moment, in my eyes, turns into a cringe-fest. Really, Roger, you could not have thought of better timing to present your stupid bracelet? I will not even begin to wonder how long Roger has fantasized about Brianna during their separation. It seems to me that he simply projects an idea of Brianna onto her, expecting her to uphold this impossible standard, and when she indeed fails, he gaslights her into feeling bad about it. This, my friends, is the epitome of a toxic relationship. So, Roger created this fantasy (or delusion) of a proposal to a twenty-year-old girl that would pass well. Once Brianna shattered this fantasy, as is expected given that she is A TWENTY-YEAR-OLD INEXPERIENCED GIRL, Roger, as a defense mechanism, begins to shame her. Brianna did not even state that she was not interested in marrying him ever, just not now. But for Roger, it is all about: “I want you to say yes.” The ‘I want…’ narrative is the driving force behind his character. As I said, everything is always about him. I am sure all of you have watched the episode and there is no need to repeat the atrocious UNWARRANTED slut shaming that occurs there. Honestly, it reminded me of those guys on Tinder that are like “wow you are so beautiful” and once they feel rejected it turns into “fuck you bitch I never wanted you anyways.” All Roger had to do was tip his fedora and be done with it. BUT IT DOESN’T END HERE. Wow, you know? I thought he would learn a thing or two from this. But no, apparently growth is an impossibility for Roger MacKenzie. So, we proceed to episode eight of season four AKA the episode that had no silver lining except for Claire’s badass surgical abilities. Roger zooms in out of nowhere (a-la Steve Rogers style in Endgame, another atrocious storyline that involves men appearing where they are not welcome and robbing women of their voice) to scorn Brianna once again. “What do you mean you didn’t know where we stood?” Uh… Because there was nothing abnormal or worthy apologizing for after your last conversation? Wow, Roger, you really are that fucking stupid, huh? Blah, blah, blah, stupid conversation, then Roger decides to manhandle her unnecessarily because… Why the fuck not? That really gets Brianna hot and heavy, and let me pause here to say something I think is absolutely important. I love Brianna Fraser. I think that everything dislikeable in her character stems from the way she behaves when it pertains to Roger. I think she turns a blind eye, constantly lets things slide, and that her grand romance with Roger is written poorly. It is so unpersuasive that it makes Brianna feel so out of character when she accepts him back time and time again. I sincerely do not see how, why, or when she fell in love with his sorry ass. Brianna Fraser is one of those character that have the potential of being outstanding but are done very dirty for the sake of providing a narrative to a half-assed male character that nobody likes anyways. Anywhoo, let us return to Brianna and Roger getting down to business (EW). So, Brianna needs to remind Roger of his own convoluted, archaic ideals. The same ideals which made them fight THE FIRST TIME AROUND. I mean, those ideals were SO important that he felt the need to shame her the way he did. Are they not important now or is Roger just doing the convenient thing of thinking with his genitals? But of course, now that he had a lightbulb moment he has to backtrack; God forbid they sleep together unmarried as if he were not ready to do it ten seconds ago. Oof, the hypocrisy runs deep in this one huh folks? Brianna ends up finding out that Roger kept the truth from her about her parents’ death in order to keep her happy for the sake of marrying her. So once again, Brianna is reduced to a trophy that he needs to win – actually, I never thought he saw her as anything else. I wholeheartedly believe that Roger does not love Brianna, he loves the idea of himself with Brianna. They fight, he leaves her like a pussy bitch because she told him so and Brianna gets raped by Stephen Bonnet. So far so good? Now, I wish Brianna was at the epicenter of her own damned rape arc. I wish that the voice of female survivors was not erased once more for the sake of elevating the pathetic self-scorn of an unworthy male character. Do you want to know the moment I hate the most about season four? It is Roger’s stupid “I am an idiot” sermon. He had such a good shot at redeeming himself there, at admitting that he messed up, at accepting that he is at fault for everything that has happened to him thus far. That was too much to expect, now, wasn’t it? Instead he goes on raving and moping about love, and how he is an idiot that always returns though nobody ever asked him to, yada, yada. Again, all Roger can possible conceive are his own feelings. See, Roger is not wrong, he is an idiot, but for completely different reasons. Needless to say, he gets rescued and discovers the truth. And what is the truth? That his handfast wife was viciously attacked and is hurting? No, God forbid we focus on Brianna’s feelings for a moment. No, it is all about the fact that the rapist was Bonnet and that he might be the father of the child. That is what matters, right? The fact that another man put his dick in my woman, and not the fact that a woman has been forced to engage in coitus against her will. It is all about ownership. So, of course, Roger hesitates to come back. Of course, he is the one having the hardest time to deal with it, because he always has the hardest time to deal with everything. Oh, poor Roger. This is not about Brianna’s decision to keep the child because of the possibility that he might be Roger’s. This is not about Brianna’s ambivalence towards her attack because it took something from her, but also gave her something so beautiful. This is not about Brianna’s trauma, its aftereffects, and how it re-shaped her world. This is all about Roger. It has always ever been about Roger. Brianna is not a character in her own right, she is simply a plot device (you guessed it right) for Roger. The best thing this show can do is have him fall off a cliff and never come back. The only reason I will watch season 5 is to see Marsali and Fergus because they are the real MVP’s of this show. 

OOF.

_________________________

Fucking. Preach.

(#FuckYeahTeamFersali)