#the parallels in this relationship the extremes

[gairfowl]

The second thing the Davechella playlist has made me realise is how many parallels there are between Crozier and Little.

Both of them are men who have risen far in their Navy careers (captain and First Lieutenant) despite not being from the 'typical' background for an officer: Crozier is the son of a lawyer, Little's father was a ship's purser. They're both middle-class, rather than well-connected aristocrats.

Both characters struggle with depression and anger. Crozier's is overt. After Franklin's death he has the privilege, if you can call it that, to not suffer immediate consequences if he lets it become visible - until it reaches the breaking point where even he is horrified by his own actions and realises he needs to do something about it.

Little, the second-in-command, isn't able to let his feelings show. By the standards of his time period, the standards he is holding himself to, he is failing every time he allows himself to heave a sigh or to show up in front of Crozier looking defeated and careworn. As per Dave K's comments and the themes of the Davechella playlist, Little is extremely frustrated with having to bear so much responsibility with comparatively little reward, but can't do anything about it.

Both characters are hurt by the structures of imperialism and masculinity they are constrained by, but also aren't able to see that or break free from it - ultimately, they both believe that the way things are are the only way things can be. Both of them retain a core of hope that if everyone does their duty that things will turn out alright in the end.

There's strong father-son themes to their relationship, in my opinion, but specifically the common experience of a son growing up and realising the father he saw as a role model is a flawed and disappointing individual who let him down when he should have protected him. Part of Little's tragedy is that he never quite lets go of his hope that Crozier will step up and be the leader or father that he wants him to be; in the end, his only reward is that Crozier, who never gave him the support or praise he needed, is at least there with him when he dies.

[randomfoggytiger]

The Truth Is Out There: David Duchovny, Collaborator and Vancouver Captive

1995 David Duchovny was grimly resigned to five unexpected, grueling years in Vancouver. (Thankfully for philes-- and his pocketbook-- he stuck around and contributed heavily to the series, including the idea which connected Mulder's family to the Conspiracy.) He was also very chatty and very complainy; and, even then, tended to gravitate to lower-stakes projects that put little pressure on him (acting is, after all, something he wanted, even then, to remain "fun".)

Previous parts of Brian Lowry's Book 1 here, here, and here. Transcripts below will be fonted in italics.

BITS FROM THE BOOK

Before the [first] season began, Fox officials were clearly more effusive in praising "Brisco County" and its star, Bruce Campbell, than The X-Files. In that regard, when Grushow commented that he’d “eat my desk” if Campbell didn’t become a star, Duchovny’s competitive spirit was piqued, feeling like The X-Files was being dismissed and slighted. Carter remembers Duchovny returning from an event where Grushow made those comments and joking about serving him the condiments for that meal. The attitude, Duchovny says, was that Fox was touting the other show and treating their entry as an afterthought-- as if it were “and oh yeah, there’s this other little show called The X-Files.” 

The net effect, in fact, turned out to benefit the show on virtually every level-- creating, as Duchovny puts it, “a unique mythology for television.” The complex alien abduction/government conspiracy story that was concocted to explain Anderson’s brief hiatus actually solidified the Mulder-Scully bond, striking an extremely responsive chord with the show’s hard-core fans. As Duchovny points out, there were also parallels between Scully’s abduction and that of Mulder’s sister, giving their relationship even more emotional resonance. 

…One of those regularly contributing ideas [to the second season] is Duchovny, who’s become personally close with Carter (the two are occasional squash partners) and has shared story credit with him on certain episodes. 

The producer has no qualms about letting his star in on that process. “He’s got good ideas for the show,” notes Carter. “Why not use them?” As for Duchovny, he says that once it became apparent the show would be around for a while, he had an interest as an actor in making his character as interesting as possible to play. 

As for Duchovny, the actor had little enthusiasm about doing a television series at the time-- his feature career having taken a promising turn with "Kalifornia", which cast him opposite Brad Pitt. The X-Files turned out to be the only pilot script his manager decided to send him that year. “I read it, and I thought it was a really good story and that UFOs would get boring after three or four episodes,” Duchovny recalls. ‘I thought I could go to Vancouver for a month and get paid, and then go on and do my next movie.” 

“I love it!” Bowman proclaims as the scene ends, watching the shot through a monitor and lauding his star as “One-take Duchovny.” 

…Bowman has to deal with five actors (Anderson, Duchovny, and Gunmen Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood, and Braidwood) in a relatively confined space, so the staging will be critical. After Bowman aligns them one way, Duchovny suggests an alternative in handling the shot, and various configurations are tried. As they begin rehearsing, everyone still seems a bit punchy, and the mood is light. Haglund keeps wanting to call a Nazi scientist “Kempler” instead of “Klemper”, and Duchovny has a hard time not laughing each time Braidwood (who comes up roughly to the actor’s chin) approaches him, with Frohike supposed to act relieved to see Mulder alive after the events that closed the second season. “Did you ever see the 'Star Trek; where Spock thought that Kirk died?” Duchovny tells him with his trademark deadpan delivery. ‘That’s what you want to be doing.” 

IN HIS OWN WORDS

…By virtue of starring in “The X-Files”, Duchovny also seems destine to have a shot at major feature-film stardom, but again, not via the precise route anyone assumed he’d follow. …Duchovny felt he was on his way and as a result had serious doubts about doing a television series. “It’s like a horse race,” he observes, enjoying a relaxed moment, clad in work shirt, boots, and jeans outside his trailer on “The X-Files” set in Vancouver. “You’ve got fifteen guys who are going to be ‘the next big thing,’ and three of those guys are going to finish.

“I was making a living,” he notes. “It seemed like I would get my shot at some point.”

Duchovny was willing to wait for his chance. He’d done some interesting features, and thanks to the vagaries of Hollywood, he knew a hit movie-- any hit movie-- would move him up to the next echelon of actors. “I always had an abiding belief that things would work out for me,” he says. “I didn’t know how. And then my manager, who was agreeing with me in that I didn’t want to do any television, sent me the script for ‘The X-Files’ because she thought it was a really good script. She read all the pilots, and that was the only one she sent me.” 

Duchovny remembers thinking he could do the pilot-- getting paid to spend a month or so in Vancouver-- and then be off to his next feature. In the midst of another 12- or 14-hour day, he can only shrug at the irony, adding with a sly grin, “It didn’t really work out that way.” 

…Prone to introspection as he is, however, Duchovny feels the weight of the expectations riding on him and wears the mantle of stardom uneasily, having found that sudden celebrity is not without its drawbacks on a personal level. 

…”Year one was just about survival-- am I physically going to survive? It’s what I imagine those triathletes feel: When you first start competing you just want to finish, then eventually you start wanting to get a good time. 

“There were many days the first year when I would just go home and think, ‘I can’t do it. I can’t go back to work anymore.’”

Although that situation didn’t ease much in terms of shooting requirements during the second season-- particularly with costar Gillian Anderson’s pregnancy compelling Duchovny to shoulder more responsibility for a time-- the actor found the show’s creative direction alone lightening the burden. “Last year I just think the work was so much better. That was kind of inspiring,” he says. 

Ever a tough critic, Duchovny felt there were some good episodes the first year and enjoyed doing something that was different from most primetime television shows. As for his contribution, he says he was “occasionally kind of happy with my work.” 

By contrast, in the second season, he believes, “we really became the best show on television,” saying he’s grateful that the series survived so its performers, writers and directors had the opportunity to mature together. The third season will be more of the same, he predicts, with trademark sarcasm, “before we slide back into mediocrity.” 

…Stardom does have some advantages, in that Duchovny has been able to add his stamp to the show creatively, providing story ideas and helping contribute to “The X-Files” mythology….

…Part of Duchovny’s goal has been to flesh out the character of Fox Mulder-- which, he points out, was understandably vague when the show began-- in order to make the part more enticing for him as a performer. “It’s definitely been exciting, just something added to my experience, in terms of being able to guide the destiny of the character,” he explains. “Because the character had no destiny. Like any TV show, you’re forced to eventually create a history for the character that it never had.” 

Once “The X-Files” had survived the initial Nielsen weeding-out process and he and Carter realized the show was going to be around for a while, Duchovny offers, “it became important to me as an actor to make that history as interesting as I could.” 

The second-season finale, entitled “Anasazi,” and revelations about Mulder’s family played out in the two opening episodes of the third season, offer such mythic highlights, exploring Mulder’s character and family history, down to his father’s role in alien experimentation. Those episodes also shed light on the abduction of Mulder’s sister, Samantha, which figured prominently in the character’s motivation….

Those episodes, he maintains, couple with earlier story arcs have “created a unique mythology for television in the character, and I’m really proud of that fact-- that I was conscious enough to say to Chris, ‘Look, I have some ideas, I want to be involved with the creation of this myth.’” 

Duchovny contends that Anderson’s pregnancy and brief absence unwittingly contributed to that emotional resonance. Having Mulder search for her echoed the loss he felt in losing his sister, while Scully’s abduction gave her an experience to draw upon-- all of which, in Duchovny’s eyes, provided “raw material to use in the future.” 

According to the actor, the depth of those episodes stands above “a kind of formula that we were drifting into the middle of last year” with stand-alone installments dealing with whatever monsters and/or paranormal phenomena the writers could dream up….

Now the show can go back and forth, delving into its mythology, then pulling back to do more standard and self-contained episodes. “The intensity’s too much, and it can get melodramatic,” Duchovny says regarding the need to break up the mythology segments, adding that the producers have achieved a “nice balance now” between the two. 

Seemingly as much of a perfectionist as Carter, Duchovny acknowledges that he occasionally bristles when he’s presented with a deluge of gobbledygook dialogue-- those sequences where Mulder launches into remarkably detailed explanations about some event or series of events from the past. “At first it was almost impossible-- it’s kind of a muscular thing,” he says. “You try and make it interesting from an acting point of view…. [But] sometimes it’s just like you memorize… and spit it out.” 

…Duchovny can be equally blunt in elaborating on his views regarding fame…. “Celebrity’s no fun,” he says flatly. 

“There’s really nothing nice about it. Celebrity is being known. It’s no fun to be known. I imagine it’s fun to be known for something good that you did, or for something noteworthy, but unfortunately the kind of celebrity television brings is monochromatic.”

…”I understand that it’s part of the territory,” he allows, “but sometimes it’s hard to be amused when you’re just trying to live your life and you don’t feel like people snickering or pointing. In this culture that we live in, everybody wants celebrity, everybody wants to be famous. If I’m going to be famous, I’d rather be famous ‘for’ something.” With a shrug of resignation, he adds, “I don’t think I have a choice at this point.” 

Duchovny’s comfort level with fame remains low. Asked the worst part about life under the microscope, he simply says, “It doesn’t leave you room to make mistakes, to do something stupid. Everything becomes kind of calculated in the worst way. You’ll have an impulse and you’ll go, ‘Can I do that? Is anybody watching me?’ It’s like being Catholic,” he quips. 

Not that Duchovny would trade in his ‘The X-Files’ experience. Far from it. “This is wonderful, and it affords me economic security” while hopefully creating the opportunity, he says, to do interesting feature-film work either after the series completes its run or during the hiatus period….

The travails of fame notwithstanding, things have certainly worked out, if not perfectly…. After all, how many people get to bring their dog to work with them? Duchovny’s pet, Blue, a well-behaved mutt with some border collie in her, is almost constantly at his side and less apt to complain than her master. “She gets excited to go in the car every morning-- much more excited than I do,” Duchovny says. “This is like her pack.” 

…Born August 7, Duchovny was so quiet growing up in Manhattan that his brother Danny, who is four years his senior, used to enjoy telling his friends David was “retarded….”

Duchovny admits to being shy as a youth, seldom dating during high school. His parents divorced when he was 11, and Duchovny has said in interviews those events may have contributed to both his drive to succeed academically and his personality, which at times can be construed as a bit standoffish…. 

In 1987, just short of gaining his Ph.D. at Yale in English (his dissertation topic was “Magic and Technology in Contemporary Poetry and Prose”), Duchovny began to truly pursue acting….

“It was never really a decision I made,” Duchovny says in hindsight. “I was doing both of them at once”-- teaching while working on his Ph.D. and acting-- “and I guess I just realized that I didn’t want to be a professor.” 

According to Duchovny, “Red Shoe Diaries” proved pivotal, allowing him to exhibit a different side of what he could do. In addition, he began to feel more comfortable as an actor, describing “The Rapture” as “a difficult experience” and “Twin Peaks” as an oddity. After appearing in low-budget films that put little pressure on him, “Red Shoe Diaries” also offered him his first leading role. “To see that I could do that was very important,” he suggests. 

In his customary manner, Duchovny would probably be the first to say the schedule associated with producing “The X-Files” is grueling and at times frustrating, but his faith in and commitment to the series’s quality pushes him along, much as he might like to grumble about the tongue-twisting dialogue and exhausting pace. As he puts it, in characteristically understated fashion, “It’s hard work to make a bad show, too.”

TRIVIA

[Duchovny meeting his girlfriend]: He was shopping for a suit (his first in many years), and asked Perrey Reeves, who had come in to shop for lingerie, which suit he should choose-- the gray one or the blue one? She told him to buy both. 

“Ice”: The Arctic-bound entry featuring a gruesome space-worm, which Duchovny has dubbed “the first really rocking episode.” David Duchovny’s own border collie, Blue, is the daughter of the dog featured in this episode. 

“The Jersey Devil”: The X-Files is filmed in Vancouver, so Mulder was not really in Atlantic City casinos. Instead, Duchovny was filmed in front of a blue-screen and stock casino footage was matted in later-- considerably cheaper than a location shoot in New Jersey would have cost. 

“Fire”: The famous “black silk boxer shorts” scene was originally a “Jockey underwear” scene….

“Genderbender”: During filming of the crime scene at the beginning of Act One, Mitch Kosterman (Det. Horton) flubbed his lines and said “chum chippy” instead of “some chippy.” For the rest of the shoot, David Duchovny joshed him about that line.  

“Miracle Man”: In an interview David Duchovny once said that he would consider Mulder Jewish until told otherwise.

“Darkness Falls”: Shooting in the forest near Vancouver, production was delayed frequently and made more difficult by heavy rains. “It was miserable,” Carter recalls, noting that the actors were soaking wet much of the time…. One saving grace was the casting of Jason Beghe…. A childhood friend of David Duchovny’s, Beghe had prodded him to pursue acting…. Having him on hand (at Duchovny’s suggestion) helped lighten the mood around the set, making the shoot something of a reunion and thus less of an ordeal for the cast. 

“One Breath”: The episode also lightly pokes fun at the show’s fans on the Internet, with one of the Lone Gunmen telling Mulder he should join them Friday in “hopping on the Internet to nitpick the scientific inaccuracies of Earth 2.” 

“Firewalker”: Gordon saw Trepkos’s obsession and the toll it exacted upon him in terms of losing someone he loved as a means of exploring the darker side of Mulder’s commitment to his search. “The natural endpoint of this quest for the truth is madness,” he notes, suggesting that Mulder’s decision to let Trepkos go at the end represents the bond in that respect between Mulder and Trepkos-- their shared ‘Heart of Darkness’. 

“Paper Clip”: …[Carter] also points to the mythic elements in Mulder being told that he has in a sense become his father-- one reason Duchovny has likened the narrative course of these three episodes to another trilogy, “Star Wars”, with a touch of “Sophie’s Choice”, perhaps, thrown in for good measure. 

BONUS

An excerpt from Brian Lowry’s second book “Trust No One: The Official Third Season Guide to The X-Files": 

Never one to settle for success, Duchovny-- who continues to play an active role in the series’s creative direction, working in concert with Carter and co-executive producer Howard Gordon on certain episodes-- is pleased with the third season but looks forward to expanding the show’s emotional range even further. Referring to one of the early second-season episodes, he notes, “I think when we did ‘Duane Barry’ the show became a really great show, and we maintained that level for a while, but we haven’t gone beyond it. I’m waiting to go beyond it. We won’t go beyond it technically, but we will go beyond it in terms of character, introducing a personal life of some kind. I think it’s inevitable. You have to do it.”

When it’s pointed out that the show’s most fervent loyalists, as well as Carter himself, have been especially vocal about not wanting to see Mulder and Scully romantically involved with anyone but each other, Duchovny simply shrugs and says the nuances he refers to don’t necessarily have to involved ‘romance’. “Give Mulder a friend. Give him a squash partner,” he suggests. “It’s got to happen. I really don’t care what anybody thinks we should or shouldn’t do.” Anderson remains more sanguine regarding such matters, though she indicates some interest as well in stretching the characters while understanding that such an evolution must occur within the show’s parameters. 

CONCLUSION

It's darkly comedic that Mr. Duchovny signed onto a (wildly successful) show thinking it would fail, only to be effectively held hostage for ten months out of twelve, 12- to 14-hours a day in a place that was completely opposite to the Cali weather he wished to sun bake in.

Also: props to him for contributing to the "domestication" of the show (more on that in future parts.) It's mind boggling just how much he contributed to The X-Files (and how much effort he put into later seasons together, despite his absence-- post here.)

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[melodyofthevoid]

So,that new animatic huh? One the one hand I get why Willow and the rest of the crew would would be extremely wary of Mariza after realising the true extend of her powers but on the other, considering that this is after dismemberment , I feel that they turn on her a bit too quickly considering that she saved Delta's life, especially considering that her powers haven't really acted out at all in the animatic.

So did something happen between the events of dismemberment and now that already put them on edge and the events at the temple were the last drop, or are they really just that distrustful of her despite her rescue mission?

Really liking the few things we've seen of Willow so far in the story, seems she really cares about Delta and the crew and that makes her lash out at any perceived threat (maybe trying to overcompensate a bit for her past too). Might be reading a bit too much into it but she she seemed really shaken by Delta coming to Mariza's defence and walking off with her.

I do remember one of your earliest stories ("a different ship a different crew" I think?) where Willow seemed much more sympathetic to Mariza's plight though. Is that supposed to take place latter down the line when she's earned a bit of her trust, or is that so old that their relationship has been changed to be colder in general? What do the too think of each other during the story?

(Sorry for the length of the ask but I really missed these ocean idiots)

Great question! So one of the consequences of the piecemeal nature of OI is that sometimes we make things and then decide later "ehhhhhh what if this instead".

Initially when I wrote "A different ship a different crew", we hadn't come up with the idea that Willow used to know Heather yet, and some of the order of events were still in question (hell a few are even now).

A more recent element that I've really liked is the parallels in a weird way between Heather and Mariza, in that they're both fairly ambitious people who've fucked with things they should not have. Willow clocked that not long after meeting Mariza fully, and the reminder of Heather more directly with the Dismemberment Song incident does little to put her at ease.

Mariza's clearly bad news, but unfortunately they do kinda owe her. These are Willow's closest people, she's worried. The presence of gods? It's a lot.

IMO it makes more sense for them to have more suspicions of Mariza over the course of the story given the circumstances lmao.

[the-unexplained-council]

A-Z Fluff Headcanons; Morning Frost

Legends of Avantris; Once Upon A Witchlight

(prompts by me)

Summary: Fluffy relationship headcanons about what it would be like to date Morning Frost from Once Upon A Witchlight, a DnD campaign hosted by Legends of Avantris.

CW: ED mentions (L for Love Language)

Word Count: 6.7k

-~-~-~-

A—ctivites: What would they prefer doing with you? What do they like doing?

• Frost would love to read with you reading alongside him, or even just parallel playing alongside him, or just in the same room. He would love for you to lay your head in his lap as he has a book in one hand, the other gently caressing your head in a silent way of saying ‘I enjoy your presence, thank you for being here with me.’

• He isn’t just closeted indoors, he’d love to explore areas with you as well. He’d prefer if it had something to do with initiating his skills to keep his mind working, but he’s fine if not. He’d take you around the carnival, show you the games and events. He’d also love to just walk around town with you, window shop, read some fliers, anything of the sort. He prefers to stay with you and to keep his mind busy, he doesn’t quite enjoy activities where you’re not doing anything at all. He feels trapped that way, whether he’d admit it or not. It reminds him of the Order.

B—enevolence: How would they show kindness towards you? What would they do for you?

• He’s always including you in things, adding your thoughts into consideration whether in the group setting or just you both alone. He will show you initiative, expressing to you that he cares about your expressions and concerns. He’s also there for you to vent to no matter what, he’s a wonderful listener and can give great advice when you want it.

• Expect a lot of check-ins. If he notices you’re acting slightly out of place he’s already clocked it, immediately and privately asking what is wrong and if you are okay. If you seem upset, he trailing behind the group and gently asking in a low voice so the others don’t hear. He would never put you in the spotlight like that, but he does want to address the issue immediately to resolve your emotions.

C—omfort: How would they go about comforting you? How would they grasp being comforted? How do they handle comfort in general?

• He is the word of wisdom, even in the word of comfort. He will listen to your expressions if you choose to speak to him, and would ask you if you’d like advice. If you do, he’d give you the best advice he can for the situation. He will always preface if he understands personally or does not, always expressing that you should never feel inclined to listen, but he is always going to give you his thoughts and his logic of what to do or what should be done. There is a good chance he may just say “I will admit, I do not understand how you feel in this certain situation, though I do want to properly understand through your eyes so I can better support you in some way.” He is always going to be 100% upfront with you with these sorts of things.

• If you don’t want to talk to him, he will never force you. He will instead ask if you’d like a distraction from things, or if you’d like time for yourself or just a moment of silence with him. If all you need is to cry, he’s holding you into his chest and gently massaging circles into your back and holding your head. If you need to scream he’s got a pillow or folded blankets. He’s there to support in other ways.

• As for comforting Frost, I honestly don’t think you’d really ever tell that he’d need it. If he’s upset, you’ll only be able to tell if he’s being outright passive aggressive, crying, or swearing. By then, he’s extremely at the limit of his emotions. He’d prefer being alone at that point, he doesn’t want people to see him that way. He feels uncomfortable, unnatural? He feels worse when someone coddles him in those moments, so if you do want to comfort him in those moments it’s most likely going to be if he asks. Otherwise, helping at a distance would be the best course of action. In some cases, gentle scratches behind his ears may work to relax and ease him as well, but only if you guys are already laying down.

D—ates: How would they go about dates with you? What are their preferred dates? What would they not like as dates?

• He honestly isn’t a really big date person, believe it or not. He never really thinks much about them, but when he does he prefers something related to your common activities. He wants very personal, non-public dates with you. You guys can do one of those dates where you both start an art piece and swap with each other every 5 minutes for 30 minutes to add to each other's works, or sculpt the same thing from clay together. Playing games together, swapping things with each other, things like that are his jam.

• He’d also love to have a picnic under the stars with you. The both of you could make the food together, or Frost could ask Kremy to prepare the food for the both of you instead. While under the stars, he’d love to info dump about it to you if you’d like to listen. He just wants really intimate moments with you, and when there’s other people around he doesn’t feel like either of you are truly yourselves.

• I don’t think there are any dates he’d inherently refuse to go on or would hate, but he’d be uncomfortable going on a date that is fancy or uptight. He would feel like there is too much pressure for the both of you, you both wouldn’t be yourselves, and he doesn’t like that.

E—ffort: How much effort would they put into your relationship? How would they show their efforts?

• He’s putting everything he can into this effort. There’s something you both need to work together on? He’s on it for solutions. You need more support from him? More work load from him? He’s on it, he’ll balance it and make it all work. You need him to relax, back off for a bit? Aye, he’s on it. He is going to make sure this relationship is balanced, that there will be absolutely no foul play of the sort in any instance. He’s putting in his all.

• Even if it’s nonverbal from you, he’s going to pick up most of the cues. If he doesn’t pick a cue up, he’ll observe the situation more thoroughly next time. He’s going to reseal those cracks that form with a proper foundation, or at least try his best to.

• Keep in mind the poor tabaxi would unconsciously keep a work load on his back with this. He’ll get so wrapped up in the cracks he might forget about other things of the relationship, at least at first. He has hidden anxieties, and they like to roam in those secret cracks that form. Remind him he’s doing great, that he can relax and not be so tense with the situation. It’s a two way street, you both have to meet and work it all out. Remind him he’s not alone, because he will forget.

F—ight: How would they go about fights with you? How would they handle them? How would they resolve them if at all?

• Frost is a very calm and reasonable person, I really don’t think you would actually argue with him other than a minor disagreement that gets resolved rather quickly. Frost always wants to get to the solution and find the paths of resolution. I don’t see him really starting anything either, it would most likely be something that starts over very minor things from either misinformation or confusion. However, it also depends on how you do about arguments as well.

• If his partner is even headed like himself, it would easily be talked through and communicated. The argument would be over sitting the hour, the both of you talking about solutions to the issue or even discussing how to resolve it in the future.

• If Frost’s partner is rather argumentative, it could go two ways. Frost would stay level headed, trying to explain in a way that would diffuse the situation while also adding his side of it all. If the partner is also stubborn with arguments, he’s going to get irritated. He will never get mad by any means, but getting irritated he might get a bit more short with you and a lot more direct to get it over with.

• After an argument, no matter how heated it was, he’ll always apologize for acting out of line, even if he wasn’t at all. It’s ingrained into him that he is the person who should be blamed and at fault due to the Order. It is a habit he can not break no matter what, he was conditioned to be the peace while also staying strong and stern with his beliefs.

G—entle: How gentle are they with you mentally, physically and emotionally? How do they show these things?

• He’s so careful and gentle with you, though not that you’ll shatter like glass and you’re in a fragile type of way, more like a one of a kind sentimental piece he wants to last forever. If his partner is on the more fragile side, he’ll calculate his words and expressions when it comes to comfort or even expressing negative news of any kind. He doesn’t look down on you in anyway, and he wants to express that he doesn’t and doesn’t want to make you feel like he would. He won’t baby you and infantilize you, he won’t treat you like you’re this steel wall unneeding of attention.

• Frost is very particular with making sure comfort and safety is first for you. Being in the order for so long, he was conditioned from the beginning that he must be a steel wall at all times, and it honestly ruined him. He doesn’t wish that on you, or anyone, ever in his life. He is scared he will make you feel this way, make you feel like a shape of clay to be mended some sort of way.

• When he holds you, it’s always going to be full of tender respect. He will only ever touch you in reasonable places, never once lingering where he shouldn’t. His touch is like he’s holding a pillow he cherishes, it’s very soft and makes you want to melt in his paws. He wants to give you everything he didn’t have as a child.

H—onesty: How honest are they with you? Do they hide things from you? What do they hide?

•He’s the most honest person you’ll ever meet. If you ask him something, he’ll tell you right away. If something happened that he thinks you should know right away, he’s already on it. If he doesn’t want to tell you for whatever reason, he will express that he doesn’t want to for a reason he’d vaguely explain and then ask if you’d really like the truth or if you’d like him to keep it. He isn’t going to lie that he doesn’t want to tell you, why would he? He may have secrets, but the only secrets he’d only really avoid are ones he views as traumatic.

• Secrets about his past and what he went through to become a sorcerer are things he’d prefer not to say, as well as ones about the event of Episode 46. He’ll tell you anything you want to know, and if he honestly doesn’t know he’ll say that. He has no reason to hide anything from you.

I—Love You: How would the first “I Love You” come from them? Would they say it first? How would they react when you tell them that you love them?

• There are three ways this could happen. As a set personal rule of his, he will refuse to say ‘I love you’ first. He finds the phrase really intimate, and he holds it to the highest importance and is very seldom using this phrase. He thinks it’s disrespectful to use it like throwing candy out during a parade, if you’re saying it all of the time it starts to lose its meaning. ‘I love you’ is something he saves for when he knows you are his person 100%, that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. He doesn’t even say it to his friends, and he doesn’t even say it after you guys cuddles or kiss. And ‘I Iove you’ can take years to get out of him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you, he just wants to save it for the perfect time to express he loves you properly for the first time. And if he does say it first, it’s definitely a minimum of a year, a maximum of 2. This is only if both of you are waiting to say it.

• If you say it first, he’ll be slightly weary depending on how early in you use it. If you start to use it immediately he’ll express how he feels about the phrase and request you to wait a little longer before saying it. He really wouldn’t want the phrase to lose its meaning. However, if it takes you a few months (a minimum of 4 depending on the circumstances) and you tell him you love him, he will most likely say it back after.

• Now, lastly, if he was in a forced confession ordeal he’s going to hesitate and be very fearful, not wanting to scare you away or even disrespect you. He isn’t immune to peer pressure, and if he’s pushed into saying ‘I love you’ earlier than on his own terms, he’s going to make sure he makes the moment as sentimental as he can. He wants to expressed that he does genuinely love you by explaining his reasoning right after he tells you. Imagine Gricko teasing him and (in a friendly ‘help my anxious friend’ manner) ushering him to tell you, that sort of thing.

J—ealousy: How would they express their jealousy? How would they handle their jealousy? How would they approach you with it?

• Frost would be very quiet and at a distance. It takes a lot for Frost to become jealous, but when he is jealous of someone flirting with his partner or gifting you gifts that aren’t from him, etc, he’ll never direct that jealousy to you negatively, it will always be towards the other person. His eyes will be fixated in a hunters look towards said person, tail swaying in aggressive and agitated flicks, body stiff and unmoving. He won’t let you see it, though. The only thing you’d see would be the flicks of his tail side to side.

• Frost can shake off jealousy fairly quickly when you are in his arms again. He’ll shake off the stress with the fluff of his tail and groom your head a few times as a stress relief. He will never outright say he is jealous, or that he is jealous of someone around you, and even if he does attempt to keep it hidden, he won’t hide it very well. You’ll see the subtle hunter’s look in his eyes as he looks at you, much softer when they look at you though still there. You’ll see the fluff of his cheeks, neck and tail from the stress. You’ll see the slight stiffness of his shoulders, more relaxed than when he looked at the cause of jealousy. You calm him.

• He gets this way mostly because of his time in the Order. He isn’t insecure, it’s just the matter of being challenged by someone else in an attempt. Frost is jealous of the fact that they can express verbal affection, they have something he doesn’t, and it may win your favor. As much as he trusts you, he is always jealous of the fact they are better at something than he is, especially towards his lover.

K—iss: How would they like to kiss? What is their “style?” How do they react to kisses? How do they treat kisses?

• He’s very savory and sweet with his kisses. He’s not very big on PDA, it’s just something he doesn’t do very often. A kiss in public would be a peck on the head or cheek, very soft and gentle. Kisses are also very intimate for him, while he doesn’t mind them being littered about, he still thinks they are very intimate and sentimental. He doesn’t mind very quick pecks in public, but that’s all there is to kisses in that area.

• In private, on the other hand, it is very different. He’s drunk on lovingly lipped kisses, melting into your lips whenever he has them. Kiss him on the lips and he’s looking up at you like a love sick kitten. It’s one of the only times you’ll see how big his pupils grow like a cat with yarn. It’s a physical way of ‘I love you’ to him. He’ll go nuts if you hold each other and kiss a long lip filled kiss, but only the lips. Any other types of kisses on the mouth aren’t very common with him, he believes there are certain kisses for certain moments. If you’re laying down for the night (in private, so like an inn for just the two of you) and you kiss him once, expect about 30 minutes of sleepy off and on kisses together.

• Now, since he’s a tabaxi, we have to include grooming, cmon. Grooming his partner is more or less an indirect kiss to him. He’ll wake up in the morning with a tired sandpaper tongue in your hair to stimulate his understimulated mind, or calm himself for the night to get ready for bed. He loves grooming your hair, or even your shoulders as you both cudde. It’s another intimate, yet very multiple meaning, type of ‘I love you.’ Expect to be groomed in the mornings and nights at the very least, even if it’s very small kitten kisses.

L—ove Language: What is their preferred love language with you? What love languages would work best with them?

• He is a large acts of service type of guy, as well as a big listener. He’s observant all of the time, he’s always listening to little things you spew out no matter the situation. Sometimes you don’t even need to say anything, he’s noticed something and has made a mental note of it already. He will perform tasks to cheer you up, make some things easier, along those lines. He wouldn’t mind cuddles, though he isn’t very big on it either.

• He’ll make you breakfast in the mornings after he meditates when he has the supplies, making sure to have a balanced nutritional serving to start the day. If you have issues with eating, especially with portions and limitations of food, he’s clocked it. He’ll very cautiously make sure you eat enough calories for the morning, even if he has to hide what he makes inside of it all.

• If he notices you’re low on something, you’ll find the tabaxi gifting it to you within the next few days. If he notices there’s something on your mind bothering you, he’s getting something to express your issues or just getting/doing something to cheer you up. He notices, even if he won’t straight up say it. He’s going to do anything at all to show you he cares for you.

M—emories: What memories would they cherish with you the most? How well would they remember things about you?

• He likes to think a lot about the more sentimental memories between him and his friends, but especially with his lover. He will cherish your dates, your talks, your learning experiences, but when it comes to sentimental values he’s all over it. If you made him a gift for him to keep on him always, he’ll remember the delivery and the meaning behind it and keep it on him. He’ll remember little subtle things that you yourself might not even notice about yourself. He’ll see how your eyes light up in certain situations, he’ll see how your shoulders slouch when you’re disappointed. He’s already filing it away in his head.

• When the confession happens, it is his favorite memory for quite a while. He’ll think about it, your reaction to it and the actions that come afterward. If an engagement is involved, that’s immediately his next favorite. There will of course be your firsts for everything, and he loves those milestones. He’ll cherish the milestones internally for the rest of his life with you. First kiss, first cuddle, first date, things like that. He’s a very analytical person, I wouldn’t see why he wouldn’t cherish these moments.

N—icknames: What type of nicknames would they call you? How would they treat the nicknames you give them? How important are nicknames to them?

• His nicknames will be mostly more formal, as in ‘my love’, ‘my dear’ and anything else along those lines. It’s more intimate sounding, more polite. It slips off of his tongue to address you daily, it’s officially your title to everyone around you. He will have some other nicknames for when the both of you are alone, more personal ones. He has little names for you that reflect your personality, your favorite things, your little mannerisms. It’s something much more relaxed than the formal names he often gives you, something more personable. Only the two of you will know if these names, he will only sulumly use it and will avoid wearing down its importance (which in his eyes is using it constantly).

• Nicknames are titles to him, and they are important to him in the aspect that it gives you a sort of personal trust with one another. You are his love, he is yours. He loves being given nicknames by you (as long as it isn’t outright an insult) and even if it sounds a little silly, he was given that name by you. He may request not to use MF, but he secretly kind of likes it as stupid as it is. Just use it behind a closed door, he might allow it../hj

O—bviousness: How obvious was it for you to notice they liked you? How obvious is it now for other people know if you’re together or not?

• You never knew. You never would have suspected it. He hides it so well, no matter how close you both end up being as friends, you will never actually tell he ends up falling for you. No one in the group except for Gricko would know, maybe even Kremy. They’d only notice through how his eyes soften for you just slightly when your back is turned, how his tail sways in full content out of your sight, how his voice very slightly raises in tone. Very, very small things that can easily be missed if you aren’t looking. Even if you do notice how he does more things for you, it would never come off as a romantic crush on you.

• He would observe you, watch and try to see if he can figure out if you like him back. He’s very cautious, he’s anxious and aware that he might misinterpret any signals and confess when you weren’t interested at all, he'd ruin your friendship. He’s very, very cautious of you and how you view him. If he doesn’t want you to know, you’re not knowing. The only way either of you would end up together is if you confess first, or if Gricko helps Frost out to confess to you.

• In other words, he could be crushing on you any time between months to years and you may never know.

P—ersistance: How persistent are they with the relationship? Are they proactive in the relationship to keep it fueling?

• He’s going to be very persistent to make sure the relationship is working and healthy. He’ll be consistent with his affection with you, having one-on-one moments with you, making sure you feel cared for and loved by him, etc. If there is something that needs recalibrated in the relationship he’s on it, if he needs to seesaw the responsibilities of the relationship for a bit when you don’t feel as motivated some days, or vice versa, he is always going to be persistent on making sure it is never one-sided.

• I feel like Frost would always make sure to have some plans already pre-meditated to try to fix solutions quicker. He wants to prepare for these things, basically. If he isn’t prepared, he’ll make sure to compensate and handle it accordingly.

Q—uest: If you were being challenged in the relationship, how would they take it? How would they work through it with you?

• Frost is always challenged by a lot of life situations, so this would be nothing short of just another day. However, despite his outward appearance to not be bothered, internally he’s going to feel so much more pressure and worry over these challenges. He cares for you, he loves you, he doesn’t want these challenges to scare you away or make you feel unwell in any sort of way. He wants to fix and solve these challenges as quickly and efficiently as possible, but the worry is still going to be there.

• If the challenge is external, his first priority is you. He’ll want to talk to you about it, come to an agreement on how to work forward together. He wants to tell you his reasonings and hear your own, he wants to make sure that before anything is set in stone when moving forward that you are content, or at least comfortable with the option chosen. He will never combat something like that without you, unless he absolutely has to.

• If the challenge is within the relationship, he wants to work it out with you. He wants to fix anything he can, work with you and work on himself if need be. He doesn’t want to lose the relationship with you no matter what it is. Talking first, and if that doesn’t work, he’ll probably work behind the scenes to fix whatever the issue is. Tinker about and experiment with it, in a way.

R—espect: How much respect do they show you through the relationship? How do you show it? What does respect mean to them from you?

• God, he has so much respect for you. He respects you in everything you say and do, if you’re dating him there’s no doubt about it. He’s respectful of every boundary you have, of every decision you make. He’s supporting you and respecting you as a person. He will never utter a negative connotation of you, and he will never let anyone talk about you that way either to your face or behind your back.

• He holds you to the highest regard, almost just barely higher than himself in some instances. He is thankful for you. Respect is given, however you have earned more respect as time goes on. Respect is very much conditioned into him from the Order, and he doesn’t let it go very often. He believes everyone should have respect, but you deserve so much more in his eyes.

S—afe: What would they do to ensure your safety with them? What would they do to make sure you feel safe with them as a person?

• Frost is, of course, a very observant person. When in new, potentially dangerous, areas he is always watching. His ears are swiveling, he makes sure you’re beside him and/or in sight of him. If you want to stay in his arms he will keep an arm around you, maybe even his tail. If you want to ‘hide’ so to speak, he’ll let you have his robe to be enveloped in. If you voice that you feel unsafe, he’ll fix it immediately. Don't want to go into that forest? He’ll find a way around. Don’t feel comfortable in this inn? No problem, you guys can find another one or camp outside the town outskirts. Don’t like the person scurrying around? He’ll fix that.

• When it comes to combat, he will constantly be monitoring where you are and your status. He will tell you in your mind where you should move to so that you are out of range, and if he finds a weak point in a particularly strong opponent. If you get injured he’ll find his way to you, guard you with his body and get you to safety if possible. He trusts your ability to decipher the danger of a situation, but just in case, he’ll always be right by your side. Pull you back with his paw or tail, teleport you away, anything at all. He would do anything to protect you, blow up as many minds as he can.

T—rust: Do they trust you in the relationship? Do they feel nervous or completely relaxed in the relationship?

• He knows you very well if he’s going to date you, and he is very comfortable with himself and his insecurities. He trusts you and it never crosses his mind at all if you might be cheating. You’re out at a bar and talking to a guy other than Frost? He watches the situation to make sure you’re comfortable and safe, but doesn’t eavesdrop or look over. He knows you’ll make the right choice, he doesn’t have any doubts about it.

• If you both are talking about a topic and someone tries to say you may be lying, he never would consider the fact that you might. He trusts your words and that you would tell him, if not anyone else, the truth of any situation or knowledge. He isn’t blind sighted by any means, but he puts his trust into you for practically everything once the both of you are a couple. He trusts you with his robe, his personally impactful belongings, all of it. He doesn’t do that with just anyone by any means.

• If this trust is broken once, however, it will never be repaired again.

U—topia: What is their perfect dream/future like and where do you play a part in it?

• Frost’s main dream is to, at the bare minimum, have you and at least Gricko and Hootsie by his side no matter where he does. He doesn’t have a solid end goal in his life, he doesn’t think about having a house of his own or a secure job. If he has to, he will, but he’s a very ‘go where the wind takes me’ type of person in the sense that he has never really had the habit of security no matter where he was, not that he remembers anyways. He’d love to have all of his friends, though he is prepared if there is a split in the group. He just wants you and Gricko and Hootsie. I feel like he really wouldn’t care where you all end up, he won’t complain either way, though he’d be much happier still traveling and digesting knowledge from around Avantris. But there is 100% a defined want he has thought about and looks forward to in his future, and it’s kittens/kids. He would like 2 children preferably, with him remembering to be an only child he felt rather lonely because of it, he wouldn’t want that for his kids. However, if he can’t have kids in his lifetime he’s already accepted it.

• If you decide to settle down, he’ll happily work with you to find a place to live. He’ll do some quests on the side, find a main secure job at a library or educational placement. Or, if available, he’d love to stay in the circus setting. Kids would be easier in this setting.

• If you decide to continue with your travels, Frost would be just as compliant. He’s used to this traveling, there’s nothing he’d change about it. It’s been your life for so long already, why change anything about it? Kids wouldn’t be impossible in this route, though Frost wouldn’t want to bring kids around if the living or situations were unsafe or unhappy.

• Basically, either choice has sacrifice to him, there isn’t a single desired future/utopia in his mind that fits his every want. As long as he has you, in the simplest terms, he’ll be fine.

V—alue: How much do they value the relationship? How important is it to them?

• He believed this relationship is one of, if not the most, important relationship he’s ever had. Despite his relationships with his friends, ex-flings, or even his parents or master, your relationship is the most impactful and important. He is giving you his all, his vulnerable person and his iron will.

• He believes that this relationship has so much to give, in not only a cooperative sense, but also a life-learning experience. He adores you, he loves you, even as indirectly affectionate as he is. If something happened to this relationship, he will 100% be a different person if it was broken in anyway.

W—ish: What is something they wish could happen when it comes to your relationship? Why?

• I believe the one thing he would wish for in the relationship is to be more affectionate. He sees these couples show each other affection and care and love, he wants to do that with you. He wants you to feel loved and cared for, he wants you to never doubt his love for you. He feels as though because he isn’t as affectionate in an open setting, you will feel as if he’s hiding you or doesn’t love you. That’s not the truth, he just doesn’t know how it is properly supposed to be done, at least in his mind. He is indirectly worried about the whole situation, that something will happen in some way if he is open with his relationship to you around strangers.

• Other than that, he’s very content. He never asks for much for anything, so I can’t imagine him wishing for much in a relationship that he works and cooperates with his partner with all of the time. Any wishes of relationship improvement is talked and worked through.

X—tra: Freebie!

• Despite not being very affectionate outside of closed doors.. behind closed doors he’s such a kitten when he wants to be. He’s holding you when you’re both laying down for the night, he’s nuzzling his cheeks into you and holding your middle as you work on something. He twists his tail around your leg or waist when he can. He is happily expressing his care and attention to you once you two are completely alone behind closed doors.

• Are you cold? He’s your new heat source. Have a headache? He’ll hide your face into his chest and purr, run his paw over your hair and groom it down. Have a bad day? He’ll help you relax and wrap all around you.

• When he’s in a particularly more playful mood, expect him to roll over on you or against you. Have you ever seen a tiger do those plop rub things? Yeah that’s him. He lets his cat instincts unfurl with you when that security is kept. Be prepared for Frost to look up at you with those big tiger eyes as a silent plea to let his cat instincts loose to show his love for you. And if he has a ball of yarn? Oh boy, be prepared for a lot of Frost pounces.

• But of course, imagine all of this with that neutral monotone look. It makes it 10x funnier, but he just can’t emote facially except for an occasional smile, so imagine Frost playing and pouncing on yarn with the most “-_-“ face known to man. This is partially a coping mechanism for him, partially him fucking around because he usually can’t.

Y—earning: How do they react to you being gone? How do they cope with being away from you? How would they treat you when you come back?

• With all honesty, I believe Frost would be relatively fine being without you for a few weeks. He’d feel how his arms are empty every night you’re away and not sleep as well as he would with you there, though he wouldn’t start to miss you and want you back until maybe 5 days in. After that, he’d start to progress with how much he misses you, wanting nothing but to groom you in the mornings and nights and hold you close. He understands you’re away for a reason, and he won’t outright complain or make a fuss about it. The others will definitely notice, though.

• Frost doesn’t realize just how drunk on your love he is until you’re gone for a week or more. It’s his ritual to hold you at night and groom your hair or give you little kisses, it’s his ritual to wrap his tail end around your leg as you stand beside him while the both of you tag behind the group, it’s his ritual to hold your pinkie as you walk together. He catches himself expecting you in his arms every morning after a few days, and ends up disappointed without you.

• He definitely acts fine and his life is unbothered relatively, though after maybe a week and a half he wants you back already. 2 weeks feels like a month to him without you there, just come back!! The others definitely noticed him being slightly more irritable than usual without you there, whether the tabaxi noticed or not. They 100% noticed how his tail stutters at the mention of your name when you’ve been gone, and they noticed how the tabaxi’s golden eyes have sunken in from improper sleep.

• “I’m fine, {y/n} will return in no time.. Gricko don’t touch that, it’s {y/n}’s. Don’t touch {y/n}’s stuff. It’s yours? It smells like {y/n}, leave it be for now.” Usually he wouldn’t care, but when you’re gone he just wants to smell your things, have your scent so it’s like you’re still beside him.

• Expect a ton of nuzzles, happy tiger chuffs, cuddles, grooms, and kisses as soon as you get back. He’s rather impatient, wanting to scoop you up and carry you off to have a moment with you. He wants to make up what was lost while you were away.

• The Order conditioned him not to be dependent on a person, never be weak in the absence of the person you admire or desire. He insists it didn’t affect him, though it really did. He’ll want to tear up walls for you, waiting for you to come back all while he tells himself that he doesn’t care that you’re gone. He’s very contradicting about this very simple thing, but it’s just one of those minor things the tabaxi can’t shake despite his intelligence and self awareness.

Z—eal: What would they do to the extent of your relationship? Is there anything they would sacrifice the relationship for?

• He would do anything he needs to. He’ll put a lot of patience and time into this relationship, even if it takes a long time. He’d fight for it, figuratively and literally, and do anything to keep the bond strong and unwavering. He’s never had anything to sacrifice for himself, though if there is something that he’d struggle to sacrifice are his friends. They mean so much to him, but you mean a lot to him too. If he had to pick between one or the other, it would be almost impossible for him to truly pick unless he was forcibly pulled to one. Either choice he’d have incredible guilt, he’d never fully be happy after a situation like that. If it came to the chance that he had to pick, he just wouldn’t, and that is one of the times you’d see him give up on trying to solve a solution. In other words, he’d do anything at all for you and this relationship.

[meredithbeckham]

i will meet you on another planet if the plans change

be on your own way, daughter.

[alxastrx]

When you're one of the most selfish mc who only saves people because it's part of a job you never wanted and did not get to chose or you would've died, who took your co-workers' morals and ideals because you didn't have any and desperately wanted to fit in somewhere, be it with the heroes or the villains, who's activelly haunted by one the most tragic past to have been created and suffer from a psychosis so bad (dare I say schizophrenia) that even your enemies acknowledged that you are mentally ill and objectively flawed in your judgement, never hesitated to try to kill anyone and has the most egoistic reason to be a good person but the fandom still thinks you're just a kind crybaby "I don't know what a gun is" homosexual twink.

[diddlesnap]

joniss for the soul

[ashpkat]

in my idealized version of the books (the Good timeline), jericho and constantine’s relationship is not the one aaron and calls relationship parallels — it’s constantine and joseph. in this essay i will *gets taken out by cassandra clare’s snipers*

[panncakes]

stuck thinking about when day gets crowded and overwhelmed on his birthday he calls out to gee of all people there to remove him from the situation; and how when day tells her he wants to be alone she makes sure he knows she wants to understand him and he can talk to her (not to help him or to fix things for him; simply to understand him) and when day reaffirms a boundary she accepts this and doesn't press further. he's her friend and she cares for him but he's still an adult and she has no problem treating him as such and i think that at the moment she is the only one from day's past who is actively able to do so

[sebbyisland]

akanematic.mp4 (youtube link)

[liesonthefloordramatically]

I need to write weirder relationships and weirder intimacy

[y-rhywbeth2]

Something-something: parallels; trauma bonding with your horrific parent-figure deity; something about being stolen from your family and left to rot in deliberately engineered misery (or believe you were) so that you'd be grateful to your kidnapper when they swoop in and "save" you from it*; Sceleritas taking Durge to the temple and Viconia taking Jenevelle; god I love Durge/Shadowheart, platonically and romantically; *endless incoherent overemotional screaming*

*I seem to recall that EA Shadowheart had the urchin background and was led to believe that she was abandoned or an orphan or something, and I'm keeping that in my headcanons for the released game.

Astarion is probably judging them in the background during this conversation, because somehow he alone has the clearest view and understanding of abuse in this fucking party. Everybody else is nodding along with him while failing to grasp the nature of their own abuse.

All of you go to therapy.

[autumnalwalker]

A thought that’s been stuck in my head lately: Can two relationships be literary foils for one another the same way two characters can be?

[empyreasheart]

i feel like theres a lot of argument over who soras most important person is - kairi or riku - and it kind of stumps me because i think the point is that BOTH of them are equally important to him. sure, depending on how you intepret it they can be important in different ways, but that doesnt make one less than the other. the games might as well be titled "sora loves riku and kairi so freaking much" because hes not shy about it

[aspacewar]

The amount of House x Wilson content tumblr feeds me is making me want to rewatch House MD

[emailsicansend]

back on my bullshit of saying sam && tara mirror sidney && tatum more than they mirror sidney && gale