#the fact that Jamie is just living in the house of the man he very nearly killed??

[rdr2gifs]

Each time Arthur has helped someone without expecting payment (that I can remember) because I’ve seen some weird takes circling around about how Arthur only cares about money/doesn’t help people (yet again)

He helped a city photographer take pictures and acted as his protector because he liked him

He helped a doctor retrieve a stolen wagon full of medicine, he wasn’t even asked to do so, he did it out of his own good will

He wanted to make an old cranky man happy and proposed finding his lost trinkets for him

He helped Deborah MacGuiness find dinosaur bones out of curiosity. He didn’t receive any financial reward for it. Just a few trinkets and he was satisfied

He risked his life for Marko Dragic’s experiments (his main motivation in this mission was again, curiosity)

He rescued a boy being held hostage by the gunsmith in Rhodes

He rescued people from being trafficked and gave them a large sum of money (he could’ve kept it for himself) for a better life

He helped Mr. White and Mr. Black gain freedom and even helped them again after they got themselves into trouble

He rescued Charles Chatenay on at least 3 different occasions

He instantly hurried to retrieve Sister Calderon’s cross even though he has never met her before

In his first encounter with Marjorie and Bertram, he helps to calm Bertram down and is understanding even though Bertram gave him trouble. He even puts the bartender in his place after he speaks about Bertram in a degrading manner

He agreed to help a man get rid of nigh folk occupying his property and after he payed him with only a rat pelt, Arthur didn’t get angry and still asked him if he’d be really fine on his own after knowing he wouldn’t be able to pay

He let a homeless man hug him and listened to what he has to say

He helped to save Jamie from becoming a cult member and stopped him from taking his life

He helped a boy look for his lost dog

He saved an injured man’s life after driving him to a doctor

He helped a woman get rid of a body after she claimed she had to kill the man in self-defence

He donated to the poor and even to build a shelter for war-veterans

He taught Charlotte how to survive on her own

He tried to save a crazed village out of his own good will

He helped a war veteran retrieve his prosthetic leg and helped him hunt

He helped a man look for his lost friend in the snowy mountains

He helped Rain’s Fall retrieve sacred items important to his people

He helped to retrieve stolen medical supplies for the Wapiti tripe

He saved Captain Monroe’s life after hearing he was in danger

He helped Beau and Penelope escape from their terrible families

He has saved many hunters from getting mauled, given many ladies a ride home, saved people from dying of poisoning, helped gather herbs, helped a lost New Yorker find his way to the town, helped save many people’s lives (lady being held hostage in her own house in Lemoyne, folk getting tortured by The Murfees or Lemoyne Raiders etc.)

Let’s not forget the fact that Arthur is a provider for over 20 people. He cannot be running around and risking his life for free for everyone he meets. He needs money. Even so, he has helped all the people above for no reward and out of his own free will. When I see someone say that Arthur is only motivated by money and never helps people otherwise, I just instantly assume they stormed through the story and didn’t pay any attention. The encounters listed above make up the majority of chance encounters/side quests and in almost all of them he is helping people. 80% of these are also pre-diagnosis.

He has a hard time accepting any compliments or gratitude for his good deeds and always downplays himself. Even in the main story he is never thinking about himself and he always puts others first.

���You did not ask for anything, you only gave”

The encounters where he does require payment pale in comparison to those in which he doesn’t, and even so they are very justified as they are often dangerous, time consuming or straight up ridiculous. It’s weird to assume Arthur only helps people for money when he doesn’t want to deliver love letters, interview dangerous people and sneak into heavily guarded properties for free.

[berrieluv]

hold me, love me, touch me, be the first who ever did. a short blurb about james potter being boyfriend material.

It goes without saying that James Potter is definitely the best boyfriend, person, friend there was.

He cared so deeply for you and made you feel so loved all the time, you really couldn't complain, not for once has he ever make you feel unrequited.

And for someone who spent most of its life thinking loving them was hard, James Potter was quite the gift. There was something about his way, maybe it was his personality or the professing love he felt for you that made him act that way, whatever it was, you don't think of changing it for a mere second.

For summer break, James invited you to his house – more like his mansion –, it would be fun. Remus and Sirius would catch you there a few weeks later so you had plenty of time to get to know his parents better, and the alone time you would spend together. You were looking forward to it.

Except for the nights. You knew your nights were odd, no one really had this routine for it, you got to lower it down, your mom and dad always making sure it was fine.

"James?" You murmured in the middle of the night. You tried to push your needs as much as you could but it was getting imposible. James was facing the opposite side of you, one of his legs was on top of your body but it allowed you to sit "Jamie..."

"Mmh?"

"Did you closed the door?"

"S'closed, baby. See?" He said, extending his arms to the bedroom door.

"The principal door"

"I didn't. M'sure someone else did, s'fine"

James had a really thick accent, and he spoke too fast very often. In a daily and normal basis it was hard to keep the track of what he was saying, now sleeping it was even harder"

"What if no one did?" You asked, looking at his curls falling on his forehead, his pretty face illuminated by the peaks of moonlight entering through the window "Can we check?"

"I'm sure someone did, baby. There's many people living here"

"What if someones breaks in?"

"That won't happen baby"

You played with your fingers for a few seconds, you trusted James. He lived in a nice neighborhood. Entering was hard and the people around seemed nice enough to not go through their neighbors.

But still. You. Needed. To. Check.

"Can we go check?"

"Can you go back to sleep?"

He answered back with a smile, trying to push you to the mattress but your eyes were fixated to the door, thinking. You won't be able to sleep if you don't go and check that. You know it.

"Jamie..." He responded with a sleepy 'Mmh' before you said something else "Please, can we go check?"

"Alright" He said, taking the blankets off and revealing his naked torso. You knew he liked to sleep like that, in fact, those pajama pants were too many clothes for his liking – and yours too –, but you were at his parents' house, you should show respect "Hand"

You take James' hand and let him help you out of the bed, he waits for you to put on your slippers and starts walking to the stairs.

The big brown, beautiful principal door is standing right in front of you, closed. James stands at the edge of the stairs and waits for you to see it, not counting on you wanting to go and really check if its closed.

Still, he walks down with you, still holding hands and yawning.

"See?" He says when your hand meets the locker and check that it's locked. "Back to sleep now, baby"

But you were already downstairs. And the oven was just too close to go back to the room. "What about the oven?"

"The oven is in the kitchen"

You frown; "Is it off?"

"Of course it is"

You say nothing, but the eager look in your eyes directing to the kitchen makes James sigh and start walking with you.

Even if you could see the oven off you still kneeled a bit in front of it, just watching it. James couldn't be more confused, but what could he say? If checking the oven and the door would make his girl happy, count him in.

"Is off"

He smiles "See, baby? No harm as long as you're with your man"

And you smile back. Because what kind of guy would drag himself off bed and walk downstairs at 2:30 in the morning to just check if the door was closed.

When you exit the kitchen, the principal door is looking at you again, and suddenly you can't remember if you did a good inspection in there. Your body and James' is already four stairs up, but you had to check it.

You let go of James hand for the first time since you got out of bed and run to the door, check the look again and smile to yourself now that is locked.

"S'alright. We checked good the first time"

"Thank you"

You murmur and he just smiles and kisses your forehead.

After that day, James Potter goes through the whole house, holding hands with you, checking if everything is in order to go to sleep. Of course there's time you need to double check in the middle of the night, often he would try to help you to control it, but sometimes you really need to double check.

[thewritingofspencerrose]

Little Lady Masterlist

Maggie's Trevor

age twenty

"Hello? Is this the right Trevor? Maggie's Trevor?"

"Uh, yeah?" Is Trevor's unsure response, hearing the voice of a woman that is very much not his best friend.

"My names Emma, I'm a friend of Mags, we're nursing students together," The girl explains, "We're at this TKE party right now and she's drunk off her ass. I asked who I should call and she said you were the man," She continues to explain, the music loud in the background, making it hard for her to be heard. "So... can you come get her?"

Oh. This girl doesn't know he lives on the West Coast.

"Uh, I live in California actually," Trevor explains, uncomfortable in that fact that he can't get to Maggie.

"Oh shit, I knew her boyfriend lived far away, but I thought like, an hour," Is the girls response, flustering the boy on the other end.

"Oh, I'm not her boyfriend, we've just been friends for years," He corrects, knowing there's fresh color on his cheeks, even in the dark of his room.

"Ha, just friends my ass Trevor," Is the girl's bold response, Maggie's voice floating into the background. "You must not know how she talks about you," Emma continues.

"Oh?"

"Is that Trevy?!" Maggie can be heard screaming on the other side, drunker than he's ever heard her.

"Mags? Is that you sweetheart?" Trev asks, her giggling in response.

"Trevy, come give me a hug!"

"Mags I'm in Cali-"

"No no, come give me a hug, I miss you," The brunette mumbles, choking up.

Waving at Jamie across from him for his phone, Trevor types in Jack's number, letting it ring.

"I miss you too Mags, but you know I'm in Anaheim."

"Trev? What the hell man do you know what time it is over here?" Jack's exhausted voice grumbles through the phone that's up to his other ear.

Muting his own while Maggie is distracted, mumbling things to the friend who called, Trevor turns his attention to the other twin.

"Dude, Mags friend called me to pick her up and clearly I can't do that. You need to get your ass up and go pick up your sister."

You could hear Jack wake up just by the sound of his voice. "Do you know where she is?"

"Maggie, where are you again? Do you know the name of the bar?" Trevor switches over, Jamie trying not to laugh at the back and forth.

"TKE! My friend's brother is a brother!" She exclaims, Trevor relaying that info to her twin, said boy hanging up with a quick "I'm on my way" and leaving Trevor to distract Maggie.

"That sounds fun, how're you feeling?"

"Like I miss you," Is Mag's response once more, the alcohol taking away any filter the already openly flirtatious girl might have had. "You being in Anaheim sucks. You should move in with Jack and I."

"Baby, I play for the Anaheim Ducks, you know I can't do that from Jersey."

"Trev! We're 20 years old! How dare you settle down, and with someone other than me, no less," The girl nearly cries, leaving the loud environment she was once in in favor of quiet. "

"Maggie baby, what are you talking about? I live with Jamie?" It's moments like these he wishes they were dating, that he had gotten up the courage already to ask her out. Maybe this past summer at the lake house, maybe a few years ago when the boys gave him permission.

"Yeah, Jamie boy is taking my man!" She protests, the words echoing through the speaker function that Trevor had just activated, making the Canadian laugh.

"Your man?" Trev can't help but ask, a smirk on his face at the expression.

"You'd be my man if you'd ask me out already, I know you have my brother's permission," The girl admits, Trevor's face dropping at the admission.

"You- you what?"

"Oh! Trevor you won't believe it! Jacky is here! Jacky, say hi to Trev!" A near squeal unfurls, Jack's voice being the next thing a still confused Trevor hears.

"Z, hey, I'm going to get her home, she'll be feeling this tomorrow."

And at first he nods, realizing a moment later what he had done and responding, saying a quick goodbye just as Jack had done earlier.

When he looks up, Jamie is there, laptop turned in Trevor's direction and brows through the roof. "So, this is the first flight to Newark for tomorrow."

"What?"

"Dude," Jamie can't help the judgement in his voice. "Grow a pair and go get the girl."

[lunar-years]

I am having so many Roy Kent thoughts this morning. Like, just how deeply lonely has that man been, for a very long time probably but especially the past year? He doesn't seem to have...friends? Like, sure, he has his fellow coaches, and he has Jamie. But it's not exactly like Ted's been in the correct headspace for most of the season to be pal-ing around with Roy in his free time, and Beard is friends with everyone and I expect has a million and one social commitments at all times, dictated first and foremost by Jane. We get the sense in the Chelsea episode of the sort of easy rep Roy had with the staff and community there, but also that he's cut himself off largely from all those good parts of his former life; clean break since the day he left. So by now, Roy's social life is fully just work and his 10 yr old niece...and eventually, Jamie Tartt.

Before he started training with Jamie, though, I fully think Roy was isolated and depressed as all hell, probably much more than he realized or ever acknowledged. Yes, he had the Club, and sometimes Phoebe in the evenings, but the rest of the time? Come home alone to his empty house that wasn't anything like Keeley's, and try to read his book, and make his dinner. Maybe watch some footie on the telly. Yoga once a week, if he's even still going, but in a way even that's lost its charm, because it's not like he can tell the mums anything, they don't even know who he really is! Try not to think too hard about how much he misses Keeley. Rinse & repeat. And the cycle becomes so unbearable that god, does he welcome training Jamie.

But even training Jamie, at first, is just...a way to extend work, isn't it? Work, work, work so he doesn't have to think about anything else, or linger on his own encroaching loneliness with the world. We don't see him and Jamie do anything but train until Amsterdam, which is the start of the breakthrough, and then until the very end of the season. Because Roy very stringently doesn't let Jamie into other parts of his life, even though he maybe (definitely) wants to. Jamie is part of work, not part of his personal life, and he forces himself to keep those rigid boxes up even after they've begun to bleed through. It's Jamie who has to push through them, slowly force his way in past Roy's defenses. And it's a good thing Jamie is a persistent little fucker, or Roy would well and truly have had no one.

And the whole time this is happening, Roy is forced to live with the fact that he's brought this all upon himself. He left Chelsea. He left Keeley. He's cut himself off from nearly every good thing in his life, and the worst part of all is, he can't stop doing it, even knowing it's made him miserable! even knowing he can't go on like this! He still can't bring himself to consciously allow Jamie fully into his life even as he increasingly relies on Jamie and their time together to keep him afloat. They're together all of the time, but for a long while, Roy won't even call him his friend.

Just...god, Roy is the most insane blender of fierce love and arrogance and protectiveness and repression and rage and self-hatred and self-sabotage and isolation and, and!! all the things he won't allow himself to have and all the people he won't allow to love him!! We wasted so much time on Shandy and Zava this season when we should have been cracking Roy Kent's skull open like a nut and examining every inch of his brain, me thinks.

[presidentdisastraofgallifrey]

I’m just playing around with my headcanons because I like lists, but. The Doctor lies, right? Like, a lot. Especially about his age (the fact that this is mostly because it’s hard to keep track of details across 41 (?) seasons, a handful of movies, and hundreds each of audio dramas and books is not relevant here). I’ve always gone with he must have been very young still as One to make the math remotely work. And he was, relatively. I still like the idea that he only looked old because of a failed experiment. But what if he wasn’t that young and just never factored his non-renegade years in (when he did any factoring at all).

That would make his age:

Pre-renegade: a few thousand, maybe? I mean, he had to be an adult which takes a couple hundred and why shouldn’t he have had a relatively settled life he never fit into? Married the Master, maybe. Left because they got divorced and he was pouting. If you ignore the audios they don’t see each other again until he’s regenerated twice. Is Susan related to him? This is Shrodinger’s time lord biology. Maybe she is the child of his child. Maybe she is his very young house cousin who wanted to run away too. Maybe she’s just a kid he took in because she needed to leave. Take your pick. (Does a few thousand work with my later regeneration standards? No. But maybe this isn’t his first body and he got so used to not counting Before he miscounted that too idk).

One: a few centuries? Presumably they wandered around for a while before settling on Earth, and if you add a few gaps between companions he could have been off by himself for a bit. It does make sense he was still relatively young when his body gave out, though.

Two: I like the idea that he was only in this body for a few decades. Makes the execution more traumatic. Plus, I like him spending almost this whole life with Jamie.

Fugitive: A full spy career, which has to have been like a full career in other areas. I’m sure there was a contract. So let’s call it 900 years because I like making vague references and think I’m funny. Also yes I choose to believe she existed between his execution and him waking up on Earth.

Three: a few centuries again. I think he spent a few, though not many, more years at unit than the seasons would suggest. And then afterwards Sarah was in some ways different from a regular companion because (1) she wasn’t stuck with him and (2) she kept up her job. So he definitely went on tons of adventures, both after Jo but before her and during Sarah’s era.

Four: many centuries. Not only do I think there are large gaps between each of his companions, but seasons 16-17 spanned centuries and season 18 really should have been a few years because as it was it seemed like Romana and Adric hardly got to know each other at all.

Five: idk, a couple hundred? I just started his era.

Six: some number in the low hundreds.

Seven: some number in the low hundreds.

Eight: I have actually changed my mind and decided he should be one of the longest-lived. Maybe he gets 1,000 before having to give himself up to war.

War: It is still literally impossible to know how much time actually passed because of constantly changing timey wimey stuff. He lived for thousands of years and also only a few decades.

Nine: Like a year. He got himself killed as fast as possible. Romana would be impressed.

Ten: Many hundreds of years, with gaps between companions and that long stretch alone at the end. About the same as Four.

Eleven: The first and only time he lives a normal regeneration length. He is an Old Man. Let’s call it 1500.

Twelve: Several hundred but not all THAT ridiculously long. We don’t count the confession dial because he was remade each time.

Thirteen: Barely a century :( no that’s not fair. Let’s say 200 because she takes some off screen recovery time from prison and leaves the fam alone more often than we see.

Fourteen: less than 200, choosing to regenerate when the last of Rose’s grandkids die of old age. But it felt very long to him.

Fifteen: No way to know this yet but since he didn’t show up the second he regenerated let’s say he saw the universe solo for a bit, enjoying being able to enjoy things again, so he’s been around for a few decades now.

All of that works out to (very roughly and not counting War at all)…oh. About 10,000, actually. Which according to my (totally made up) regeneration math makes him approximately middle aged. Which is ridiculous, 10,000 is probably their entire lifespan, but making a species that lives for thousands of years in the first place is ridiculous so they brought it on themselves

I also like the idea that the Doctor and the Master were literally married, and the Master has spent millennia now trying to get back with their ex while the Doctor is like I ADORE YOU BUT WE CAN’T TALK UNTIL YOU STOP MURDERING PEOPLE (except for Five, whose opinion on the matter is you murdered ME, you bastard, I want a second divorce)

[pfhwrittes]

💚💚👋

At least quarterly, I'm reminded that I really should learn to pick locks... how do you feel about lock picking, P?

Please rate the 141 members (and whichever other COD peeps you'd like to include) from best to worst lockpickers. I'd rate them as follows:

1. Soap

2. Ghost

3. Price

4. Gaz

hiya 💚💚!

i LOVE watching the lockpick guy on tiktok that doesn't so much pick the locks but smashes them together so they spring open!

i do think it's an oddly helpful skill but for the three (3) occasions i've been locked in/out of places i've needed to be out/in, i've never picked the lock. (i have climbed onto a flat roof and shimmied in through an upstairs window, taken hinges off a door, and taken an entire door handle apart though!)

as for best to worst lockpickers i'm gonna say it goes: 1. ghost 2. soap 3. gaz 4. price

let me explain under the cut for you!

so i headcanon ghost to have come from a dead rough, working class, council house background. and i headcanon his dad to be a petty thief with multiple ABH charges and drunk and disorderly charges. if there was one thing simon could count on, it was the fact that his dad was constantly in and out of prison throughout his young life.

(and listen, i'm working class. i live in a council house so i'm not saying that everyone who is working class or lives in a council house is a thief or a criminal or anything like that - in fact we're unfairly portrayed that way and stigmatised because so many of us are living below the poverty line on the state benefits/universal credit system and classism is a nasty thing that has very strong roots still.)

what i am saying is that ghost learned to pick locks at 13 because his dad was breathing down his neck. riley sr. definitely didn't give a shit about using young simon for his own ends because in his head if simon got caught, charged, and sentenced he'd have a far more lenient time of it than riley sr. would. (if you've ever watched brassic or ted lasso, i very much think simon's dad is like vinnie's dad (from brassic) or jamie's dad (from ted lasso)) as a result, simon learned to pick locks young and kept the skill fresh because it does come in useful for his job.

so we know that soap canonically locked an MP in his vehicle. yes, we could assume that soap knocked the MP unconscious, took the keys to unlock the vehicle, stuffed the MP in the vehicle, and then locked them in. HOWEVER i think it's much more fun to imagine soap hitting the MP, being a little bit buzzed off his rage and the adrenaline, breaking into the car and stuffing the MP in there and then disabling the central locking system so the car is stuck locked up.

soap's got the necessary dexterity for lockpicking (c'mon, he's the explosives guy!) AND he's got the patience to do it (an impatient sniper is a bad sniper), i just think ghost is ever so slightly better because he learned to lockpick younger and has used the skills more often than soap.

gaz is third because it hurts my heart to have gaz be bad at anything. i like to think that ghost was the one to teach gaz to lockpick. perhaps over the course of a few dreary evenings on base when gaz wasn't up for going to the pub with soap and price was bogged down with paperwork. he was probably mindlessly flicking through the channels on the telly in the rec room when ghost dumped a locked padlock and a set of picks on gaz's lap (nailing him in the balls in the process) and told gaz to crack the lock (when gaz's eyes finally stopped watering and he could breathe without wanting to hork up a lung, ghost was a surprisingly patient teacher).

gaz has got a rough idea of what to do thanks to ghost's lessons but honestly it's more likely that he'll charm his way behind a locked door, or failing that, find a way around the obstacle/clear the area like we saw in recon by fire.

price is the worst at lockpicking. yes, he has the skill. no, he doesn't have the patience. give that man a demolition bar, he'll show you how to "lockpick".

[oh-surprise-its-me]

The proposal tm

They’ve been living together for over a year. Dating for two. Known each other for almost 5.

Roy knows how much he loves Jamie. He wants to marry him.

Roy decides to lie. He tells Jamie he’s going to be at an overnight conference. He gets Beard to pretend along with it.

Roy goes to Georgie’s house. He’s planning on marrying Jamie no matter what she says. He just wants her to know, she deserves to know after everything with Jamie’s dad. Georgie needs to know Roy will never be that.

She laughs when he asks her. She hugs him and kisses his head in a way he’s never had. “Roy of course you can marry Jamie. You already take such good care of my baby go ahead and marry him.”

-

When Roy gets home the next morning he’s planning, he’s thinking a fancy dinner, maybe private rooftop. But then he walks into their bedroom.

Jamie is curled around a pillow. Hair going everywhere. He looks soft in a way Roy knows he actually is. Bare skin twisting around sheets, bite marks on his hips faded but there.

Roy knows. He knows he needs to ask right now. Can’t go any longer without seeing a ring on Jamie’s finger.

He walks over and touches Jamie’s back. He gets a small noise out of Jamie, who rolls onto his back blinking up at Roy. He perks up, he wakes up fast these days. “You’re home!”

Jamie sits up. He kisses Roy. He’s a bit puzzled by Roy pulling away and not sliding into bed with Jamie.

Roy spins something in hand. “Not how I planned this but you look so perfect here that I couldn’t not.”

Jamie tilts his head. He’s not exactly sure where this is going.

“Jamie I’ve loved you for years and I’ll love you for more. You’re the best thing I’ve ever had. You’re brilliant, kind, fun, and a fabulous person.” Jamie is crying now. He’s figuring out what Roy is doing. “I’d be the happiest person in the world, no, the universe, if you’d marry me?”

They are both crying at this point.

“God Roy of course I’ll marry you. I love you so much.”

Roy let’s put a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He thought he knew what Jamie would answer but to hear it is something else.

Jamie pulls Roy into a bruising kiss. When they finally part Roy hands him the box. It’s a fairly simple ring, gold and some diamonds. Jamie gasps. “Roy I love it. Oh my god. Oh my god!”

Jamie hops out of bed. He digs through a drawer. He skids back in front of Roy. Roy very diligently ignores the fact that Jamie is mostly naked except for the boxers. “You gave me a ring now it’s time for yours.”

Roy blinks. “Mine?” Jamie nods, he hands the box over. “Got it last month you just beat me to it.”

There’s a laugh and then a gasp. “Oh Jamie, I love it.”

“Here put mine on me and I’ll do yours.”

Roy slides the ring onto Jamie’s finger. God he gets to marry this man. Jamie slides the ring onto Roy. He’s never dreamed something so perfect.

Roy grabs him and falls back onto the bed. They kiss for a long time and then link their hands together. The rings look fabulous together.

They look fabulous together.

Together forever.

[scoatneyhall]

Okay, Ted Lasso pals. I really just need to put this one out into the universe. This is in the Britpick primer @belmottetower made already, but I certainly don't assume everyone reads that. I need people to know that "flat" is not British slang for someone's "home" or "place." It is SPECIFICALLY slang for "apartment," as in, a "block of flats."

I am saying this because I seen a lot - like a LOT - of use of the word "flat" recently in fic. At first I wondered whether it was people just for some reason imagining that the characters, generally Roy and Jamie, are actually living in flats, as in, misinterpreting what kind of homes they would be living in as very wealthy footballers, despite having seen Jamie's house several times on the show and knowing what Roy's must be like due to his wealth and neighbourhood. But then sometimes when describing the layout of the home or the action, of stairs being involved, of people coming and going from the door or whatever, it really still seemed to be a house, and it made me wonder if in fact some non-British writers are just getting the slang wrong? That they think "flat" is slang for someone's home, like "pad" or the very British term "gaff," as opposed to a specific type of building?

So this is a judgement-free PSA to let you know that this is not the case. Flat means apartment and ONLY apartment, and characters like Roy and Jamie are not living in apartments in the canon of the show.

(Footballers sometimes do live in apartments. A few of the Man City players are buying huge penthouse flats in some of the inner city high security Manchester high rises, and it's possible that Jamie owns a fancy flat like that in Manchester. But Richmond is not an area of London filled with luxury high rises.)

In the show, Nate lives in a flat within a block of flats. Ted lives in a flat above a shop. Jamie and Keeley live in houses. We have seen their exteriors (Jamie's season 3 house is the same one he had in season 1.) Colin lives in a house. Phoebe and Roy's sister live in a house. Rebecca lives in a large terrace house opposite Richmond Green. Given that we see Roy's street in the Christmas episode, we can be very sure that his place is also a large terrace house of a similar style to the ones they knock on doors of. Roy grew up in a block of council flats - he points to it in 2.05 - whereas Jamie grew up in a council terrace house.

This post is not aimed at you if you've intentionally written something like Jamie moving into a security building for safety reasons or something. I have this situation coming up in a fic myself. This is not about splitting hairs of whether it would or wouldn't be possible or in character for them to live in a flat. It is solely and literally only for the purpose of flagging the fact that "flat" is not generic slang for "home," for the people that may have thought it was and used the word flat when they were picturing and intending the characters to be in a house. This is probably a very annoying post but if this helps even one person it's worth it.

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

I

Leo or fifth house films or TV shows🌟💋👩🏽‍🎤💃🏼👑🦁♌️

Here are some Leo films on TV shows starting with the Wizard of Oz. We have Dorothy Garrett who lives on a farm with her grandparents and family and friends. She has her best friend Toto which is her dog. Then she goes on a journey of self discovery along the yellow brick Road where she meets like unlikely friends, the scarecrow who’s going to see the Wizard of Oz for a brain. The tin man who’s going to see him for a heart And the lion who’s going to see him for some courage when they get there they have on the journey they go through many trials and tribulations which stop them almost getting to their destination but as they get there they realise they had these things all along, and that they were brave, something that they needs to realise, without being arrogant in any sort of way, but ones who are lacking the confidence is which many Leo do is a perfect film for self discovery. It’s very sad truth behind this film also in real life and the life of Judy Garland.

As Leo relates to celebrity culture and being a celebrity and being part of royalty, we love a good bio pic here I have put Ray in the life of Ray Charles gave through his early music career and his affairs with numerous women, and the fact that he was a blind junkie it is an amazing film and Jamie Foxx does Ray Charles justice and he sounds just like him in this film it’s every day dream of like popstar of a celebrity and the ups and downs of being a celebrity. Also I’m being a drug addict in those times where he was blind, and literally injecting himself with heroin. next we have American beauty. The narrator played by the man I will not name is going for a midlife crisis as he rates the film he says in a year from now I’ll be dead. It is about a man go through a midlife car in a suburban town where he meets the new neighbours and start making dope and building his body up. He falls in love with his daughters best friend who is the same age as his daughter, his wife becomes bored with his Waze and upset with her own dissatisfaction in life and has an affair herself, but it’s all about keeping up appearances keeping up the Joneses, which I feel is very Leo like when all of them are actually miserable and they also have their daughter Jane who can’t stand her dad isn’t embarrassed by him and the fact that he fancies her friend she falls in love with an unlikely person. The next door neighbour who is very deep and sells drugs to her. Dad but they make this bond. Best friend makes her feel really ugly and pretends that she’s had sex with all these men until she reveals to Leicester that she’s actually a virgin when they’re about to have sex.

Next we have Dreamgirls, which is based on the Supremes. It has Beyoncé Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy and more. It follows the life of a group who are very like the Supremes in the 1960s and how they raised the fame and how Effie character played by Jennifer Hudson is like the Florence ballad of the group and how Beyoncé who is like Diana Ross is the Diana Ross of the group, and they switch roles of Dina singing lead from Effie who is a better thing clearly they go through affairs in this film, drug addiction and overdoses going on the road. The life of music starts and back in the day Motown Detroit. It’s also an amazing musical and my favourite musical. Eddie Murphy plays a little Richard like character, and does it extremely well justice. Lost and not by any means least is American psycho played by , Christian Bale, who plays Patrick Bateman, a stockbroker on Wall Street in the 1980s, who lives a very private debaucher life, he works in a office with men of the same characteristics as him, but not so animalistic, but they’re all very disgusting in their own different ways. He becomes a mass murderer, but when questioned about it later in the film, when he tells his lawyer everything and then he goes to view his own flat. He is told that he hasn’t done anything into please leave. It is a great psychological thriller. It is very violent though if you’re not interested in that side of it there is a lot of narcissism in this film, which Leo we do have bucket loads of.

[denimbex1986]

'When Andrew Haigh was shooting his new film, All of Us Strangers, in his parents’ old house in Croydon, something strange began to happen. “I started getting eczema again, and I’d not had eczema since I was a kid,” says the director, who is now 50. “It was coming up in the exact same places. I thought, ‘What the fuck is happening to me?’ I feel there is a sense that your body remembers trauma. Somehow things get almost embedded in your DNA, and they find ways to leak out.”

In All of Us Strangers, this leakage happens to Adam, a 46-year-old gay man exquisitely played by Andrew Scott. He’s a blocked, depressed screenwriter whose parents died in a car crash when he was 12, and who lives in a mysteriously empty tower block in London. One night after a fire alarm, a younger man called Harry, played by Paul Mescal, drunkenly comes to his door. Although Adam initially rejects him, the pair later embark on the love affair he has always yearned for – and Mescal and Scott are explosively convincing as a couple. “Casting is like running a dating agency,” says Haigh. “I have to be careful to pick the people who will be good together.” When Adam decides to return to the house he grew up in, he discovers that his mum and dad – played by Jamie Bell and Claire Foy – are still living there, the same age they were when they died, in a perpetual 1987.

The film – which won best film and best director at the British Independent Film awards in December – somehow blends a love story, a ghost story, and a time-flipped coming-of-age narrative. The result is a masterful exploration of loneliness and grief, the relationship between children and their parents, and a demonstration of the fact that time, far from healing, can bring childhood trauma rearing up stronger than ever in middle age. But it’s also a tender, aching expression of the insatiable human need for love and connection, which Haigh depicts as being so powerful that it can annihilate the border between life and death. “All the people in the film are longing for something – to be understood, to be known,” Haigh says.

All of Us Strangers is a “very free” adaptation of a Japanese novel called Strangers by Taichi Yamada (who died last month aged 89), which the film-maker wrote during the pandemic while living in Los Angeles. “There’s a pandemic emotion at the heart of it,” he says. “We all spent a lot of time staring out of the window, didn’t we?” Sitting in a Soho hotel suite, Haigh – whose previous films include Weekend and 45 Years, and who also made the TV series Looking and The North Water – was keen to make the film “as personal as I could. It’s about someone having a reunion with their own past so it made sense that I had to do the same thing. As I was writing about the home Adam goes back to, I started thinking about my own childhood home, and when we were talking about where to shoot I thought, ‘I’ll just go down and see if it’s still there.’ I couldn’t remember where it was on the street because I left there when I was nine or 10” – when his parents divorced – “but I had the photo that Adam lifts up in the film, with Claire Foy put in instead of my mum.”

Haigh found the house and the owner agreed to let him film there. “It was a strange choice, emotionally, because I knew it wouldn’t be the easiest place to be. But I wanted the film to have a certain honesty and vulnerability, to feel grounded in some kind of reality. The only way was to make it my own reality, as a way to make it specific in the hope that it would speak to all those details of life that end up feeling universal.”

The reality he’s talking about is that of a middle-aged gay man who was a young teenager at the end of the 80s, when the Aids crisis unleashed a wave of savage homophobia (a survey in 1987 discovered that 75% of the UK thought homosexuality was “always” or “mostly” wrong). “I wanted it to be very specific about a certain generation of gay person, which was our generation,” Haigh says when I tell him I’m also gay, and a year younger than him. “It wasn’t an easy time. Growing up, I felt, ‘If I’m going to become a gay person I’m not going to have a future, and the only other alternative is not to be gay’ – which of course you can’t not be. So I wanted to tell that story.”

All of Us Strangers depicts someone struggling with the lasting effects of a childhood disfigured not only by bereavement, but also by prejudice and hatred. “There’s a generation of queer people grieving for the childhood they never had,” Haigh says. “I think there’s a sense of nostalgia for something we never got, because we were so tormented. It feels close to grief. It dissipates, but it’s always there. It’s like a knot in your stomach.”

Much of All of Us Strangers’ emotional power comes from the brutally repressed Adam attempting to dispel his feelings of shame and isolation in order to be seen and loved for the person he truly is. To this end, he takes the opportunity, denied to him by their death, to come out to his mum and dad, separately. His mum is shocked – “Isn’t it a very lonely life?” – and worried about Aids. His dad, not unkindly, says: “We always knew you were a bit tutti-frutti.” Says Haigh: “The coming-out scenes are about the importance of being known. It’s very hard to move through life if you feel you’re not understood. And if you’re not understood, you feel you’re alone.”

Adam asks his father why he would never come into his room to comfort him when he was crying after being bullied at school – something else Haigh suffered. “I was about nine, and the kids around me knew something was different about me before I really did,” he says. “So you’re like, ‘I don’t understand why you’re calling me these names.’ But they could feel it somehow. When my mum saw the film, she was like, ‘Is this what happened to you?’ And I was like, ‘Yes.’ If you’re a queer kid, you don’t want to tell your parents you’re being bullied, because they’re going to think you’re different, and that’s the last thing you want. It’s the hardest thing, sometimes, about being queer within a family – you’re not like your parents and you have a secret.”

Haigh came out to his parents in his mid-20s. His father now has dementia, and went into a care home during the making of All of Us Strangers. Visiting him one weekend, the film-maker discovered his dad no longer remembered his son was gay. “He was like, ‘Are you married? Have you got a wife?’ I’ve been out to my dad for a very long time and he’s been beautifully accepting, and it had completely gone from his mind. I found myself suddenly having the same fear I had when I was in my 20s, of having to come out to him again. And I realised I couldn’t do it because I didn’t want to upset him. But in the end he was quiet for a while and then he said, ‘Well, as long as you have found love.’ It felt like such a beautiful thing for my dad to say. He just understood what was the important thing, and in so many ways it spoke so much to what the film is about. And then I had to come down again and shoot that scene with Jamie and Andrew in my old lounge, so it was emotionally complicated.”

The film also draws on Haigh’s relationship with his own children, who are 10 and 12. “They don’t live with me full-time, but when I’m with them and I’m their parent, I’m always worried. Am I doing the right thing? Am I saying the right thing? Am I helping them? As I’ve got older I’ve realised you don’t need a parent to give advice, necessarily. You don’t need them to solve things because sometimes you can only solve it yourself.”

Beyond fulfilling the needs of a child, there is something about being a queer parent that makes one wonder how you and your children will fit into broader society. “It’s like, ‘Are we different?” Haigh asks. “Do we have a new way of being? Do we have a different way that our families can exist, because we don’t have a model? I know a lot of queer people who have kids and they’re all trying to navigate that. Are we trying to be like our parents were to us, or are we trying to be something else?”

All of Us Strangers is particularly acute in its use of 80s hits such as The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Johnny Come Home by Fine Young Cannibals and Build by the Housemartins, all of which Adam listens to while mulling over his childhood, and which then becomes part of the supernatural world he visits (he and his parents joyfully put up festive decorations to Pet Shop Boys’ Always on my Mind, Christmas No 1 in 1987). To young gay boys denied role models – especially when section 28 made it illegal for schools and local authorities to offer positive representations of homosexuality – and who were too terrified to disclose our queerness to our dads, gay pop stars like Neil Tennant and Holly Johnson, and also gentle straight frontmen such as Roland Gift and Paul Heaton, were the only people who seemed to point the way to how we might be able to live as grown men.

“Paul Heaton and Roland Gift aren’t queer artists, but they so spoke to me,” Haigh agrees. “I’m sure my political viewpoints are based on listening to the Housemartins” – who were avowedly socialist at the time of the Thatcher government. “Pop music was so important – it gave me hope as a kid. I used to sing The Power of Love to myself in my bedroom, not really understanding anything about myself at that point, but knowing that it was longing for something, and believing that something could be possible. When I put this song in the film, I was thinking that my childhood self would have been so amazed that I’m doing what I’m doing now – able to tell a story about queerness for other people to see, and not be terrified.”

“I never dreamed that I would get to be / The creature that I always meant to be,” as Pet Shop Boys put it in Being Boring? “Don’t!” Haigh says, who is a diehard fan. “I can’t even listen to that line – it makes me want to burst into tears.”

As he comes out to her, Adam explains to his mother that things are much better for gay people now, and his relationship with Harry, a northerner in his 20s, allows Haigh to explore the personal effects of those changes – and whether they have really gone as far as one might think. For instance, Harry identifies as queer, and when Adam says he uses the term gay, Harry tells him the word was a ubiquitous insult when he was at school: “Your haircut’s gay. Your schoolbag’s gay.” Harry says his family are relaxed about his sexuality, but their focus is on his heterosexual siblings and their children, not the tache-wearing, whisky-swigging black sheep of the family.

Is Haigh saying that to be gay is to be alienated? “I don’t think so,” he says. “I know a lot of young gay people who do not feel alienation. I imagine some of them will watch this film and be like, ‘Why are they all complaining? There’s nothing to moan about, life is absolutely fine.’ But I also know people close to me, younger than me, who’ve found it very difficult. So I don’t want to pretend that everything is all great either. But also, it’s important to me that both characters are not lonely because they’re gay – they are lonely because the world has made them feel different. Harry has moved to London, which can be a very alienating place. There are lots of reasons why you can slip gently into aloneness and if you cannot find something to get you out of that, you can stop caring about yourself, which is Harry’s problem.”

Like Weekend, All of Us Strangers is frank about drug use. In a moment of gay inter-generational misunderstanding, Harry gives Adam white powder on a key, which Adam lustily sniffs thinking it’s cocaine – but it’s ketamine. “To pretend that drug use isn’t part of the gay scene is just an absolute lie,” Haigh says. “I think I’ve always tried not to glorify drug-taking, but to be honest – drugs can feel wonderful and also make you feel paranoid and afraid and alone. You can slip away, you can lose your grounding. I’m certainly not saying that everyone should go out and take drugs!”

As its narcotic, dreamlike feel sets in, All of Us Strangers increasingly wrongfoots the audience. “I saw the film as a spiral, and it kept getting woozier and stranger,” Haigh says. Adam starts to get feverish, which is unexplained in the film, though Haigh points out that it happens after his mother mentions Aids. “I think all of us gay men of that generation know that every time we had a bit of a sweat if we were having sex with other people, we were suddenly terrified that we were going to have HIV,” Haigh says. “A swollen gland was not just a swollen gland. I wanted to have that trickling under the surface, that Aids is another fear that Adam has buried. I’m telling a ghost story – what are the things that haunt him?”

The film’s more surreal moments include a trippy, time-warping scene set to Blur’s Death of a Party and filmed at gay pub the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, where Haigh used to go to the club night Duckie; and a setpiece in which the adult Adam, wearing his childhood pyjamas, gets in bed between his parents. “However old you are, you feel like a kid,” Haigh believes. “You can’t escape that feeling of wanting to be with your parents again and have them look after you. I loved the idea that these pyjamas didn’t fit, because we want to go back to our childhood, but of course it doesn’t fit.”

Towards the end of the film, Adam’s parents take him to a deserted diner in the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon, Haigh’s childhood haunt (“at Fairfield Hall next door I saw Bucks Fizz, which was the first concert I went to, which may be the gayest thing anybody’s ever done”). In this tacky, mundane setting, something painfully bittersweet occurs. Then there’s the film’s conclusion, which can either be read as romantic and hopeful, or a vision of overwhelming sadness. “More than anything, I wanted you to leave the cinema and have the film continue on within you,” Haigh says. “45 Years was the same, and even Weekend.”

This month, the LA Times named All of Us Strangers as the best film of 2023; at the New York film festival, the critic Mark Harris said the cinema was awash. The consensus so far appears to be not only that it is a masterpiece, but a profoundly moving one. Haigh is relieved: “When you make something personal, you’re putting it out into the world, and if the world turns round and says, ‘I don’t like that and I don’t care about it’, you can’t help but think, ‘OK, you basically don’t care about me.’”

Although the film has a particular, queer point of view, he believes its universal themes make it accessible to everyone. “All of us are children, a lot of us are parents, a lot of us are in a relationship or not finding love. Look, I want 15-year-olds to see this movie, not just people our age. If I had seen this film when I was 15, it would probably have made a big difference to me.”'

[renee-writer]

Frank Chapter 75

AO3

She is out giving Wee Frank some fresh air when she sees them pull up. The fact they are Redcoats has her drawing him close to her side. Then she sees him.  Never in her life did she expect to see him again. Completely flustered, she places her son behind her back and lowers her head praying he won’t recognize her.

 

“You, kitchen winch, I have an appointment with your Laird.”

 

“Aye. He be in his office.”

 

He rolls his eyes. “As I have never been to this place, how would I know where it is? You will escort me.”

 

“Biggest pardon sir, but I have my son and … I will see that someone else…”

 

Wee Frank picks that particular moment to pop his head out. He has his father’s face but his hair has gone blonde, thank the Saints.

 

“Very well then,” She breathes out in relief taken her child’s hand. Then he gives her a second look, “Wait don’t I know you?”

 

“Good sir, I cannot see how. I live and work here.”

 

He lets it go but follows her with a frown as he and his men lead the horses in.

 

She breaths easier once she  hands off the guests to Murtagh. She takes her son in her arms and hurries away.

 

“Who was that?” Black Jack asks his escort.

 

“Mistress Wolverton and her son Wee Frank.”

 

“Mistress, she is married then?”

 

“Widowed.” He gives the man a stern look. The man isn’t a stranger to him, though he prays he doesn’t recall their other encounter. The fact he is kin to the late Mr. Wolverton is obvious. They are still trying to find a suitable match for Laoghaire. It isn’t him though. There is something quite unsettling about him.

 

“Captain Randall, thank you for coming by.” Colum stands, flanked by Dougal and Ned.

 

“An invitation I couldn’t refuse. It isn’t often I am invited into a Scottish keep.”

 

Laoghaire runs to the bedchamber of Mistress Fraser.

 

“Forgive my intrusion.” Hastily said.

 

“It is alright.” Claire has just fed Arabella and changed her clod. The baby, a week old now, lays sleeping beside her.

 

“Baby.” Wee Frank spots her.

 

“Aye darling. She is quite wee. Look but no touch.”

 

Claire smiles. The lass is becoming an excellent mam.

 

“Did you come to see her?”

 

“Nae, not that she isn’t beautiful. I needed a place to hide out while he is here.”

 

A frown as she sits farther up. “Who?”

 

A quick look to her son before she moves closer to her. She whispers. “His real father.”

 

“Aye. We have a spot of business to discuss.”  Colum takes his seat and all follow, all but Dougal, who stands behind his Laird.

 

“Well, I am intrigued.”

 

“You have a price on my nephew ‘s head. I want it removed.”

 

“Do you now? Why should I do that?”

 

“So this isn’t sent to your superiors.” Ned hands Colum the petition he made up. Black Jack takes it and reads over it. Then again.

 

“None of this can be proven.” 

 

“We have witnesses, both Scottish and English.” Ned calmly replies.

 

“His father is…” her hand goes to her mouth. It makes sense though. The resemblance would be perfect, “a Redcoat Captain?”

 

“Aye. I dinna think he recalls me but… do you ken why he is here?”

 

“I do. Business with Colum.” The reason Jamie is in hiding at the Proctor and Mistress Duncan house with the other children.

 

“Do you think it will be long?”

 

“No. He should take his departure by the days end. If I would have known, I would have warned you.”

 

“He didn’t seem to pay much mind to Wee Frank.”

 

“Good.”

 

 

“If I say I will haul James Fraser away if you send this out?”

 

“He cannot be made to leave the keep by compulsion unless there is evidence of a crime, unless the Laird turns him over.” Ned explains.

 

“It is simple. Sign this statement, removing any charges against him, removing the price and this petition will never see the outside of this room.” Colum adds.

 

As much as he wants another chance to play with the striped back bloke, he is a realist and knows when he has been bested. He signs the document.

 

Walking out, he recalls where he knew the winch from. A quick mind does the math. Stopping right outside the walls, he turns.

 

“Captain?” one of the others asks.

 

“I am not leaving here without my son.”

[syncrgistic]

(TW // injury mention)

(   WOO  DO  HWAN.  CIS - MAN.  HE / HIM.   )   ⸺   Ꮺ  ⋆   greetings,  buffalos !   walking  around  campus,  sporting  his  letterman  jacket  we’ve  spotted  JAMES  "JAE"  CHOI,   a  THIRTY - TWO  year  old  who  contributes  to  our  thriving  community  as  a  GENERAL  TRAINER  +  HANDYPERSON.   according  to  our  intel,  he’s  been  around  the  sanctuary  for  TWELVE  YEARS  and  what  we  know  about  him,  aside  from  the  fact  that  he  DOES  agree  with  the  decision  to  close  the  gates,  is  that  what  he  lacks  in  book  smarts,  jae  makes  up  in  street  smarts  and  people  skills  ( he  may  not  be  able  to  do  complicated  mathematic  equations  but  he  can  talk  his  way  out  of  anything );   jae  loves  cars  and  his  nissan  skyline  is  his  prized  possession.   it's  pretty  beat  up  as  a  result  of  the  outbreak  but  that  doesn't  stop  him  from  working  on  it  even  if  most  people  think  it's  a  piece  of  junk;   he  has  a  slight  limp  due  to  a  severe  acl  injury.   doesn’t  that  make  him  fantastic ?   we  think  it  does,  and  that’s  why  we  appreciate  him  so  much,  grateful  for  what  he  gives  to  our  community.  

stats

full name: james jaehyun choi

nicknames: jae, jamie, jj

date of birth: 25th march 1992

age: thirty two

gender & pronouns: cis man & he/him

education: high school diploma

occupation: general trainer & handyperson

hometown: seattle, washington

language(s): english, korean

faceclaim: woo do hwan

personality

positive traits: funny, adaptive, playful, spontaneous, extroverted

negative traits: dim, judgemental, quick tempered, irresponsible, absent-minded

mbti: esfp ⎯ the entertainer

enneagram: 7w6 ⎯ the pathfinder

moral alignment: chaotic neutral

temperament: sanguine

zodiac sign: aries sun, aquarius moon, leo rising

character parallels: jason mendoza (the good place), jesus foster (the fosters), joey tribbiani, jason street (friday night lights), andy dywer (parks and rec), troy barnes (community), dean winchester (supernatural)

bio

(tw: injury mention, hospital mention, allusions to depression, alcohol mention)

youngest of the choi family, but the eldest and only son, jaehyun was born into high expectations before he even came out of the womb. the weight of the family name rested on his shoulders, the vice man of the house if anything were to happen to his father. he was his parent's pride and joy. it was just a shame that he couldn't quite live up to the life they had paved for him. there were only two options for jae, take over the family restaurant or become a doctor/lawyer/successful business owner. except jae didn't want any of those things. he wasn't particularly good at anything either like his sisters were. he was just very average at school, barely scraping in some of his subjects but one thing he was good at was sports.

unbeknownst to his parents, jae traded piano lessons for football practice instead, forging permission slips and shoving his jersey at the back of his wardrobe but there was only so long he could hide his secret from them. he didn't have the heart to tell them that he was barely scraping by school either. but then came college applications and the schools that his parents wanted him to apply to were way out of his league with his grades even with a miracle. luckily, his football coach thought jae could have a chance at getting into college on a football scholarship, but that meant that he also had to break the news about his extracurricular activities. they were furious at first but they couldn't stay mad at him if it meant a full ride college scholarship. there was still a chance for him to become something.

except nothing interested him. all jae wanted to do was play football, box or work on cars. he must have switched his majors at least 3 times before settling on something that he thought would be easy and low effort. he couldn't lie, he still struggled but being one of the star football players had its perks, such as getting other people to do his assignments for him or getting an extension from professors because he didn't have time due to his "gruelling" practice schedule. looking back, he let the reputation get to his head, like he was untouchable, treating people like they were beneath him.

it all came crashing down in a split second. third degree acl tear. surgery. you won't be able to play pro football again. jae wasn't sure what hurt more ⎯ his injury or the fact that he wouldn't be able to play like he did again. when he was sat in that hospital bed, looking at the lone balloon and obligatory "get well soon" flowers from his team, he started to regret all his life decisions. maybe he should have listened to his parents when they told his that football wasn't forever and he had to think about the future. maybe he shouldn't have been so cocky, treated people so badly.

the recovery months were probably the hardest ⎯ learning to walk again, not being able to do things by himself, and worse of all, having to see his teammates prepare for the next season without him. for months he felt like he had no purpose in life. his future was looking bleak with no sports career, nor promising professional career. he'd sit in his room, making mixes on his dj deck and watching practice, critiquing them play like he was a commentator on espn. something must have worked because the coach offered him a deputy coach position, soon to become full-time when he retires. it wasn't quite the same as being on the field but it was as close as he could get and he took it without hesitation.

soon after though, the virus happened and his plans were derailed once again. jae found himself in the same position as before, unsure of what his role was in all of this, spending his days drinking beer in his room and gaming, hoping that it'll blow over soon. 12 years later and he's found himself in a trainer position and helping around as the group's handyman.

tldr: a himbo, fail-son, former athlete who had a life-changing injury that changed his whole outlook on life and is trying to find his purpose.

[alexsfictionaddiction]

Review: The Back Up Man by Phoebe Luckhurst

I know that Phoebe Luckhurst’s debut novel The Lock In was very popular a couple of years ago and although I haven’t read it, it is on the list. However, I was approved for her new release on NetGalley and thought I’d give it a go before her debut.

Anya is in her final year of her 20s but she has unexpectedly found herself single, homeless and jobless. The only spare room for her is at her cousin Claire’s house but she and Claire have never really got along and Anya has never liked Claire’s creepy fiance Richard. Soon, she has a babysitting job for two 11-year-old twins who love tormenting her but what Anya really wants is to cook for a living. While going through a pile of things from her teen years, Anya finds a contract that she made with her high school boyfriend Euan. If both of them were single at 30, they’d find each other and get married. But she hasn’t seen Euan for years and she has no idea where he is now. Then she gets a text from an old friend called Jamie and he’s looking for Euan too.

There were some glimpses of observational comedy in this book and I was so sad that they didn’t fully land and that they were so few and far between. I can tell that the author could have made this into a rom-com but instead, it was the  opposite. Not a comedy and not even really quite a romance.

Sometimes Anya was really relatable and her relationship with her mum felt very true. She is a little afraid of her mother despite her mum not really being all that overbearing or scary to an outsider. It’s that fear of disappointment and disapproval that I think many daughters feel at some point. 

Anya is passionate about cooking and whipping up new experiments in the kitchen. It’s clear that this is what she should be doing and she starts a catering business during the book. I am incredibly sad about the fact that this whole strand of the story was just abandoned. Yes, she is still cooking at the end but she had events booked that I was expecting to attend and then the book just ended. The twins’ birthday party and the dog birthday could have made some really lovely, potentially funny scenes but we didn’t get to see them which is tragic.

Anya’s reflections on her school days and her relationship with Euan felt very authentic to what teen first love is like. It is very delicate, magical and all-encompassing. However, I knew that she and Euan wouldn’t work out in one way or another. It would have all been a bit too fairytale-esque if they had, so I’m glad that wasn’t the ending we got. Instead, we got no ending at all and I’m not sure whether that’s better.

The Back Up Man is a very strange one to review. It wasn’t a pain to get through but it was very flat and took me longer than a contemporary usually takes me. I can’t really work out why so many things weren’t tied up at the end and why so many things that felt like they were going to be significant were just left at the side of the road. The presence of Aimee and the twins feels pointless, the drama with Claire and Richard was an anti-climax and even the search for Euan, which the title suggests is the main plot point all came to absolutely nothing. However, somehow I did enjoy certain parts of it. So, it’s a three star read but it is undeniably very forgettable and unsatisfactory.

[gobubyourself]

Ironically  enough , Logan  had  a  certain  DISTASTE  for  people  who  killed  for  a  living.  It  didn't  seem  much  like  a  moral  use  of  skills.  But  he  was  no  stranger  to  nuance.  And  he  was  no  stranger  to  the  sorted  past  everyone  in  Bucky's  family  had  been  through.  They  didn't  kill  for  MONEY.  They  kllled  when  they  needed  to.  When  they  needed  to  protect  those  that  would  be  hurt  otherwise ... And  it  was  almost  ALWAYS  HYDRA  related.

Regardless  of  the  fact  that  they  were  killing , Logan  could  HARDLY  count  the  ones  they  killed  to  be  human.  Not  with  some  of  the  shit  they  had  done  to  not  only  the  Barnes  family , but  countless  others.  All  of  that  aside ... He  also  KNEW  them.  He'd  known  Bucky  and  Steve  back  in  the  war.  And  Natasha , there  wasn't  a  person  in  the  world  who  could  really  understand  what  had  brought  her  to  become  the  woman  she  was  now.  CONNECTION , that  had  been  what  made  him  look  at  them  differently  than  he  might  with  anyone  else.

He'd  been  sipping  at  a  cup  of  COFFEE  when  Bucky  approached  the  table.  Logan  had  smelled  him  when  he  walked  in  though.  He  learned  the  scents  that  people  that  were  important  to  him  had.  Bucky's  had  been  interesting  for  Logan.  Back  in  the  war ... He  had  picked  up  on  on  scent , where  as  after  the  YEARS  between  seeing  one  another , and  the  events  that  had  transpired  in  that  time , caused  a  shift  in  the  normal  scent  that  had  once  accompanied  the  man.  There  were  similarities  though.  Things  you  couldn't  completely  wipe  away.

Putting  the  mug  down , he  swallowed  the  dark  liquid , offering  a  slight  clearing  of  his  voice  as  the  other  brunette  sat  down , coming  into  his  view.  He  glanced  at  the  menu  for  a  moment ... Even  though  he  knew  FULL  WELL  what  they  were  ordering.  They  talked  about  it  the  last  time  they  had  one  of  these  meet  ups.

" May  as  well ... We  only  promised  ourselves  we  would  next  time. "    Neither  of  them  were  very  good  at  small  talk.  But  in  Logan's  opinion.  And  he  was  sure  in  Bucky's  opinion  as  well ... This  was  the  farthest  from  small  talk.    " I  brought  that  list  of  safehouses  we  went  to.  Coordinates  are  written  down  for  ya. "

While  Logan  spoke , he  went  for  his  own  backpack  he  had  come  in  with.  Containing  a  school  paper  that  Anya , Jamie , and  Jen  had  each  turned  in.  They  were  in  his  History  class.  Actually  some  of  the  brightest  minds  in  that  class  actually.  Before  handing  over  the  coordinates  to  the  safe  houses , he  made  sure  Bucky  got  the  good  stuff  to  Bucky  FIRST.    " For  kids  who  were  force  fed  bullshit  history , they're  all  real  smart  kids.  Makin  friends  to ... If  not  reluctantly. "    That  last  bit  had  been  directed  toward  Anya.  He'd  noticed  her  reluctance  to  talk  to  much  of  anyone , but  once  she  was  hounded  long  enough  to  actually  open  up ... You  could  see  the  traces  of  a  kid  that  just  wanted  to  belong.

@gobubyourself

The choice to send the kids away AT ALL hadn't been one that he'd made lightly. No matter how many times the former assassin told himself that he was doing this for the sake of the twins' safety, the LOOKS on the kids faces every time he made eye-contact with them after telling them the news...the sight RIPPED HIS HEART OUT OF HIS CHEST.

On top of the emotional recoil that the decision brought on for the entire family, there was also the general DISTRUST that Bucky held for any form of INSTITUTION that specialized in ENHANCED CHILDREN.

As much as Bucky could genuinely say that he was GRATEFUL to the Professor for being able and willing to assist their family in this MAJOR WAY...the entire idea would have been a NONSTARTER had it not been for the presence of LOGAN HOWLETT.

He and Steve had known the man back during the war, they had fought alongside one another on more than one occasion. Both of them had seen FIRSTHAND just what kind of values Logan held and there was more than a little bit of MUTUAL RESPECT AND UNDERSTANDING between the three of them based on shared life experience alone. Logan even understood what it was to be displaced from his time, his case being even MORE SEVERE than Steve and Bucky's.

That bond that had flourished in the HELLS OF WAR hadn't dampened since then, and Bucky had put all of his faith in what Logan had been telling them. It was a level of trust that Bucky had only ever offered his CLOSEST LOVED ONES. The Wolverine had really solidified his place on that list by having been able to help protect the twins.

He arrived outside the diner on a motorcycle, his backpack SECURELY on his back which contained various files on the search for NATASHA, along with a couple of gifts for the kids. That was something that he and Steve always tried to consider in the gaps that they were absent from the twins' lives, as well as Jen's. This time around, he brought a VINTAGE POLAROID CAMERA for Jamie, a case of DUTCHESS for Anya, and a new pack of playing cards for Jen since they had learned that Jamie was teaching her various card tricks last time in their CATCHING UP.

Bucky dismounted the bike and utilized the kickstand before heading into the diner. He took a deep breath, allowing himself the momentary comfort of the scents that surrounded him, as he looked to their usual meeting spot in order to search for LOGAN. Once he found the man he'd been looking for, a soft smile tugged at his lips and he made his way over to the table and took his backpack off first, placing it on the chair next to him that was closest to the wall before, scooting out his own chair and taking a seat.

"Good t' see ya, Logan," he spoke earnestly, "...as always. We gonna order the house special this time around?" It was the closest that he could really get to CASUAL CONVERSATION to start their meeting, and he knew it was PATHETIC, but it was still an attempt.

[joekeeryswife]

“get out!” - J.Q

REQUESTED ON TUMBLR! hello loves, how’s everyone’s day been? i got my hair cut and i actually love it 😳 anyway, there’s probably a lot of mistakes so sorry but enjoy <3

you and Joseph had been married for four years and you had a three year old daughter, Belle. you'd been with Joseph for six years altogether and they had been the best six years of your life. the fact that you were able to bring a beautiful baby into the world with the most amazing man filled your heart with so much love. watching the two of them together melted your heart every time. seeing Belle's eyes light up every time she saw Joseph.

Joseph had gotten very very famous after the new series of Stranger Things aired and you'd never been prouder of him. he'd been doing many interviews with Jamie and the rest of the cast, many of them involving travel so he was away quite a lot, meaning it was just you and Belle. you didn't mind it, you got to bond with your beautiful daughter. he'd finally come home after a few weeks of travelling and was faced with more online interviews which stressed him out.

even with him being home, he definitely did not spend time with Belle even though he promised her he would. this had made you a lot more annoyed then you already were. he was practically neglecting Belle. the day would consist of him getting up and ready, then going to a few interviews before heading out somewhere. Belle missed her dad and would try talk to him but he always shrugged her off, leaving her with a pouted expression on her face, a face she would pull when she was sad.

it was a Saturday morning, Joseph had just finished a few interviews and was sat on the sofa, chatting to his agent about a few upcoming projects. "yeah mate that sounds amazing" you heard Joseph say from the kitchen. Belle had come in earlier to show you a drawing she had done of which she described was you, Joseph and her at the park when in all honesty it looked like a bunch of scribbles, but nevertheless she had put the time and effort into making the beautiful drawing.

you'd told her to wait until Joseph finished his interview before showing him. Belle noticed he wasn't in his office anymore so she thought it would be the perfect time to finally show her daddy the beautiful drawing she did of her mum and dad, her two favourite people. she waddled into the living room, not seeing Joseph on the phone. she ran to him, the drawing in hand as she stopped in front of him, explaining the drawing as best she could.

"not now Belle" he said, pushing her off of his leg which she was holding onto. she almost lost her balance before she started explaining the drawing again. "this is mama and then next to mama is you" she said, putting the painting in his face by accident. "one second Jason" Joseph said to his agent before muting his side of the phone call. "Belle, can you not see i'm in the middle of something? i'm trying to talk to someone very important and you are distracting me.  i don't care about your stupid drawing, go to your mum or go to your room now, i mean it" he shouted at her. like really shouted at her. he pushed the drawing out of his face, accidentally ripping it in the process. this was when she lost her footing, she fell on the floor as he shouted.

his voice echoed through the house at how loud he was. he watched her, angry expression on his face, as her bottom lip quivered and then her eyes filling with tears. you'd never ever heard him shout like that to anyone, let alone his own daughter. you heard the loud sobs coming from your daughter and that was it. you wiped your hands on the tea towel next to you and walked into the living room, seeing Belle on the floor, drawing ripped and the salty tears falling down her cheeks. you looked at him go back to his phone call, not even acknowledging Belle who was still sobbing on the floor.

as soon as she saw you, she got up off the floor and ran toward you. arms raised as she sobbed, you picked her up and held her close, you walked towards Joseph, picking up the two pieces of paper that were scattered around the floor. no one would ever speak to your daughter like that. no one. you didn't care who it was and you weren't going to let Joseph get away with it. "how dare you. i don't know who you think you are speaking to my daughter like that but i won't allow it. she's done nothing but be nice to you after you've neglected her for months and the one time she finally wants to talk to you, you shout in her face? she's three years old Joseph and i'm sorry but you're acting like an arsehole." you said, voice slightly raised as you heard Belle's sobs increase.

Joseph stared at you stunned. you'd never not been in his corner, you always defended him but not this time. he'd never seen you look so furious. "i don't know what's wrong with you at the minute but you are not the Joseph i married" you said, hand now on Belle's head as sobs raked through her small body. "get out!" you said, looking him right in the eyes so he knew you meant it. "i'll call you back Jason" he said, ending the phone call quickly, obviously embarrassed that he'd been shouted at by you in front of his boss.

"what? all i did was tell her to leave-" he started, looking at a sobbing Belle in your arms. "you didn't tell her you screamed at her and ripped the drawing that she spent all day making for you! now don't make me force you to leave, get out!" you said, he sucked in a breath, guilty eyes meeting yours. he nodded and let his head fall, his eyes looking at the floor as he walked away from the two of you, leaving your house which was still filled with the ugly sobs coming from Belle.

you sat down on the sofa with her in your arms, holding her close as she cried. she sniffled and looked up at you. you shot her a sympathetic smile before wiping the salty tears that rested on her cheeks. "daddy not love me" she said, sounding heartbroken. your heart ached when you heard those words. "he does love you sweetheart. i don't know what's wrong with him but he'll come around i promise" you said, stroking her cheek comfortingly. "he said my drawing was stupid and it ripped" she said, looking at the drawing beside you, seeing the two pieces of paper all crumpled and ripped.

"i know baby but it wasn't stupid, your drawing was absolutely beautiful. i can see you being a artist or something" you said, tickling her side hoping to make her laugh, it did. she giggled slightly when you tickled her which made you smile. "come on bug, let's give you a bath" you said seeing the time in the wall being late, just before she would usually have dinner. you put Belle on the floor and walked with her hand in hand to the bathroom. you ran her a bath and put some bubbles in there with her rubber duck toys.

you bathed Belle and then got her dressed into her pyjamas before cooking dinner for you and her, leaving a plate in the microwave for Joseph. you hated seeing your daughter upset after the incident but he had no right to talk to her like that. she only wanted to show him her family drawing and he shouted. at around 8pm, you put Belle to bed. she was tired from the crying and hearing her sobs earlier broke your heart. you had no idea where Joseph was and in all honesty you didn't care.

he had no right to speak to anyone like that and the fact that the first time you'd heard him shout was to your daughter. you went to bed, angry. you were glad Joseph had gone out, leaving you to calm down your daughter. you fell asleep, no Joseph next to you. yeah you were glad Joseph had went out but you hated going to bed on an argument. you woke up at around 2:30am to someone getting into bed with you. you turned your head to the side to see a crying Joseph and a sleeping Belle laying on his chest.

you laid there and listened to him whisper to her as she slept. "i'm so sorry Bels. i didn't mean to shout at you i promise. i’ve been so stressed and i shouldn’t of taken it out on you.” he whispered, sniffling after he finished. “i swear i’m gonna change. and your drawing was so beautiful and i’m sorry for ripping it, i didn’t mean to. i wish i took the time to look at your drawing and tell you how talented you are” he carried on, kissing her on the temple before resting his head on hers. he had hot tears rolling down his face as he held her close, feeling stupid for shouting at her.

after a few minutes of hearing his sniffles, he got back out of bed and walked to Belle’s room, undoubtedly to put her back in bed. once he came back, you pulled him into your chest, sobs racking through his body. he put his arms around you and you let your hand run through his hair, trying to calm him down. “i’m so sorry y/n. i didn’t mean to shout at her-” he sobbed, making you pull him closer.

“don’t be silly. we know you’re stressed love. just don’t do it again, she was really upset” you said in a soft tone, a lot different from the one earlier. he shook his head and looked up from your chest and spoke up. “no never. never again. i felt bad as soon as i saw her in your arms. i didn’t even realise how bad i shouted” he said, sounding genuine. you nodded and pulled him back into your hold. you knew he didn’t mean to do it and you were happy he understood he was wrong and you knew in future he would never treat anyone like that again.

[gotham-ruaidh]

06x03 "Temperance" - initial thoughts

I continue to be amazed at the quality of the writing this season. And the performances, too. Just stellar work.

So much happened in this episode. I'll be writing more about some parts later this week (particularly the very pivotal Fergus scenes).

Here are my notes/reactions from my first viewing:

- Henri-Christian - such a sweet bairn. He has so many people to love and care for him. Though of course this drives a huge wedge between the Frasers and many settlers on the Ridge...

- Jamie just casually mentioning his own hand surgery to Tom. Interesting how series!Jamie has full use of his hand - and says as much to Tom - while we know that book!Jamie never regained proper use of his fourth finger, following the surgery

- the fact that Jamie just so casually mentions his hand surgery, tells us just how far he's come from that very dark moment in his life

- OMG THE VROOMS!

- MARSALI'S SPINNING WHEEL, COURTESY OF BREE!! (anyone else get Disney!Sleeping Beauty vibes from the spinning wheel?)

- Jamie praying with Tom during his surgery. The little glances Jamie exchanges with Claire, too. They are SUCH a team and they say SO MUCH without using the words

- Um why is Ian flirting with Malva?? this is no good

- Malva casually mentioning to Ian that her mother was burned as a witch. The same fate that could have befallen Claire, had Jamie not intervened...

- Jamie with the little boys. He is such a laird. And he loves his bairns - and his grandbairns - so so so much.

- In 01x12 "Lallybroch", Jamie says to Claire - "I wanted to fill this house with our children." Well - finally on Fraser's Ridge, his wish comes true. My heart soars and sings for him, for their family

- Emmy-caliber performances for Cesar and Lauren, seriously. Fergus and Marsali love each other so damn much, but they're struggling so hard

- Claire having visions. Not good. Don't go for the ether, bb. Don't do it...oh good, Tom saves the day

- Haha Claire talking to Adso as if he's human...in the earshot of the man who thinks she's a witch...

- Oh no Jamie and Malva oh no. No no no no

- Quarter Day! Well this time it's Fergus who's drunk, instead of Jamie...

- Did anyone else notice that the Quarter Day background music, is the same song that was played in the Great Hall scenes at Leoch, back in Season 1??

- Oh shit Tom coming to defend the Frasers! What world are we living in??

- "This is filth. I thought better of you." Oh snap. Tom hasn't changed.

- Jamie wears his kilt again - in Season 1-2 style!!!

- Boston Tea Party!! Oh no, war is really coming now...