#this causes a little conflict in her relationship with nate

[nikkiruncks]

Headcanon time!

Even when she gets past her commitment issues, Betsy still doesn’t believe in marriage nor does she want to be a mother, because she doesn’t want to settle down nor does she think that marriage is needed for a relationship to last forever.

Leia: What do even you have against marriage?

Betsy: Nothing. I just think that being with someone forever doesn’t require having a ring on your finger.

[carriehobbs]

OTP asks - 14, 17, 25, please! - 🥰 (~agentnatesewell)

Ty so much for asking!! You didn't mention which pairing, but since I mainly talk about Nate and Alina, I figured you meant for them

Questions from here. Sticking the answers under a readmore because it got a bit long!

14. How do their personalities compliment each other? How do they clash?

I think there's a kind of kindness and optimism that underpins both Nate and Alina's personalities in terms of how they interact with people and the world around them that really compliments each other. They both react to others first with kindness and compassion and they both have this shared curiosity for and love of the world around them (Nate's stemming from his love of humanity, and Alina's out of an innate desire to learn and understand everything. Her highest skill stat is science/technology and her second is people/psychology, so she's driven by a desire to learn and understand not just the world around her but the people in it). When it comes to their work with the Agency, they are very often on the same page. I think that, for Nate and Alina, they got to have this profound experience of meeting someone new and realizing that they see the world the same kind of way that you do (in terms of sharing ideals and values).

In terms of their clashing personalities, the most obvious one is that Alina loves science and technology and Nate is a technophobe, though this doesn't really cause conflict as much as it does gentle teasing.

Weirdly enough, I think the part of them that clashes the most (and certainly that causes the most tension in their relationship) is another similarity that they share. Despite the fact that both Nate and Alina are generally pretty easy to get along with, they both can be incredibly stubborn and they both have these "hot topics" that they just won't budge on (see: Nate and Adam fighting at the crime scene in Book 3 over whether or not to tell Addie’s parents information, or Nate and the detective’s argument in Book 3 over the detective’s involvement in the fight with the trappers). If they feel the same way about this "hot topic", then things work great (ex. both of them would want to reassure Addie's parents in Book 3), but if those "hot topics" contradict each other? Good luck lol (ex. their fight about the trappers in Book 3. Nate's "hot topic" is Alina's safety, whereas Alina's "hot topic" is people interfering with her doing her job. For Nate to be happy that Alina is safe, Alina has to be stopped from doing her job; for Alina to do her job, she has to be unsafe).

17. Who's more likely to pull the other in by the waist and kiss them passionately?

This one’s a little tricker to answer than I expected, lol. Earlier in the relationship, I think it’s Nate, but later in the relationship, I think it’s more equal between them. Alina is really almost shy in the early days of her relationship with Nate (there’s a lot of worry about coming on too strong or Nate not really liking her as much as she likes him or him thinking she’s weird) and that doesn’t lend itself well to big, passionate gestures like that. As they both settle into their relationship, Alina gets more comfortable with initiating romantic gestures (from as chaste to hand-holding to as enthusiastic as a passionate kiss) and expressing her desires (especially her desire for him). By the end of Book 3, I think they're half-and-half on who initiates kisses (passionate or otherwise).

25. Do they have any hobbies they share?

Nate and Alina are both huge readers! Alina developed a love of reading when she was a lonely kid as a form of escapism (both emotionally and physically, as it would get her out of her house and into Wayhaven’s public library) and will read pretty much anything she can get her hands on, but she has kind of a soft spot for non-fiction. I like to think they have lots of comfy, casual reading dates in the Warehouse’s library where they’re all cuddled up together on a couch with a blanket across their laps and their books.

[iwouldntstopforaredlight]

Okay so I have another (much smaller) (and much less concrete) Ted Lasso opinion that no one asked for … this time looking into episode 2x07 and the theme of masking. Specifically:

The nodding waterbird imagery

Rebecca + Ted’s limited interaction  

Warning in advance if this one is a little rambly, its late but I just wanted to get it out of my head while it still sort of made sense to me. 

Here is goes: now the waterbird theory doesn’t really impact too much, it’s more just an appreciation for the writers really looking to ensure that everything matters in this show. 

So what we’re seeing as the series progresses is that Ted has a fairly strong emotional mask. He uses constant optimism to conceal emotions he does not want to feel/express/acknowledge. When Ted enters Dr. Sharons office in 2x07 his emotional mask is back firmly in place (unlike the previous night). He’s jovial, rambling, and deflecting. We can clearly see that this is a very different Ted to the one that we saw and the end of the previous episode. To the audience is feels conflicting: this is the Ted that we’re most used to, but this is not the Ted that we expect to see, we know something is wrong and there is a little frustration that the show is once again hiding it from us. 

After the nervous show he puts on, when he sits down at Dr. Sharons desk, he taps the water bird and watches it nod, and he nods along with it. He mirrors the actions of the waterbird. Now this is interesting as the action he is undertaking is essentially purposeless except for show. There isn’t any water in front of the waterbird, its actions are never going to result in anything but an eventual slowing and tiring of the birds actions. But still Ted taps it, and he mirrors its actions. Yet the waterbird slows—as does his rambling. His mask is cracking. He is tiring. The waterbird stops completely and Ted is laid bare, with not persona or pointless chitchat to keep him in movement, and he storms out of the room. He can’t bare to stop yet, he can’t bare to be still.

The second time Ted enters Dr. Sharon’s office is much the same; the waterbird continuing to represent his mask within the therapy session and his true emotions come out as he looses momentum in keeping up his persona. By the time he storms out again, the mask is fully dropped, and the waterbird has long since been still.

So when in the final session he enters the therapy room stops the waterbird already in motion, his deliberate actions to stop it’s movements, to let it be still, acts as an acknowledgement that he truly is finally ready to stop and fully engage with the therapy. His mirroring has stopped. 

Now why did I bring this up?

Well 1. (And this is the main reason) I just think it’s neat. I think the way they’ve symbolically set up so many moments and images in this show, and taken the time to really care, is fantastic and so enjoyable to watch.

And 2. Because I think it plays into the theme of the episode, and why I think we were withheld a scene as the audience

When you take a step back and look, the entire episode can be seen to be about the masks characters use, how these and left on or removed, and the impact of these actions. 

With Nate, he masks his pride, hurt, and anger, which he then unloads onto Collin and then Will. Keeley masks her relationship issues from Roy, which causes her to unload and explode at him, despite both of their positive intentions. Yet while these two comparisons have similar overarching themes, their execution is couldn’t be more different. 

It is true that both these characters (Nate and Keeley) have negative interactions with other characters during the episode due to emotions they repress, however while Nate is forgiven, he does not actually express the true reason he was angry, and so he continues to take out his suppressed emotions on others in the team. Keeley on the other hand clearly expresses why she is angry. She makes her feelings known, and so the forgiveness from Roy to her is genuine and lasting. 

The positive impact of clearly expressing your emotions and true feelings is then pushed forward again through the interaction of Higgins and Coach Beard. As, despite being warned off, Higgin’s heartfelt confession to Coach Beard concerning his true feelings towards Jane is met with gratitude and positive emotion. A second positive example of not ‘bottling’ up emotions. 

And then there were two. Rebecca is shown to be masking her true self through her interactions on the ‘bantr’ app, unwilling to let the person on the other end (who we know is Sam) truly know or see her. Ted is shown to be masking his true emotions, and attempting to shy away from the struggles he is having. Yet neither of these masks are shown to be fully removed or their impacts fully resolved within this episode. 

Now, despite his harsh conversation with Dr. Sharron, we don’t see much of a negative personal fall out from Ted’s masking of emotions, and we don’t see Ted—usually our touchstone for the correction handling of a situation—make these same positive un-masking steps fully within this episode. 

In fact in his first scene after his first therapy session we are instead treated to a coaching session where he emphasises importance of the team ‘masking’ their exhaustion … a little playful in the moment, but thematically relevant when view in context with the entire episode. Ted, then again, twice more throughout the episode deliberately makes cases for masking emotions. When talking to the diamond dogs about Coach Beard’s situation with Jane, he advises against interfering, indicating that in this situation it’s better to conceal true feelings, than to confront Coach Beard. This sentiment is then repeated in the boot room when Ted is talking to Keeley about her relationship issues with Roy. Once again he is a firm advocate for ‘bottling’ it up, and pushing it down. 

While it is a significant scene between to the two characters, this episode can’t be mentioned without acknowledging the strange lack of one-on-one interaction between Ted and Rebecca. We as the audience know that she chased after him after the match, and we know that she also called him to check in with him, yet we don’t see any of the follow through scenes that we would expect to see from this type of leading storytelling. So if the whole episode is about masking … would it not be reasonable to think that maybe an interaction was masked from the audience?  

We see Ted storm out of his first therapy session, and when next he comes in he is irritable from the first second he sits down. Now. I do think this can almost be explained away by his dislike of therapy BUT this show does like to themes and then follow through. When Higgins is confronting Coach Beard about his relationship, Rebecca is also watching in the parking lot. She is there to visually see the positive impact that confrontation can do when you believe something is wrong with somebody you care about. 

Yet in the next scene Rebecca and Ted are in together, they barely even acknowledge each others presence, let alone have an emotional talk. When Rebecca walks in to the boot room we can see Ted try to make eye contact with her, and then we can also see him look at the ground dejectedly when Rebecca doesn’t look back. Similarly further on in the conversation when Ted makes a joke about ‘bottling’ up emotions (‘like pickles’) Rebecca laughs, but her facial expressions seem tight and slightly irritated before the camera angle cuts. And she again doesn’t look Ted’s way. So what do I think happened? 

Well Ted and Rebecca’s emotional presentation is very different in this scene. Ted seems regretful and sad while Rebecca seems deliberately distant and a little subdued (towards Ted). We know from previous character arcs in the series that Rebecca struggles to put herself out into the world emotionally, and (as we saw with Higgins) reacts with cool distance when she feels rejected. So why is Rebecca acting as though Ted rejected her? Why is Ted acting as though he deserves the cold shoulder. Why is he doubling down on the ‘bottling’ up emotions rhetoric? 

I think this show is aiming to explore the pressure that repressing emotions puts on all relationships in your life, and what the handling of these masks looks like when both positive and when negative. So I think the show kept a scene from us, because, for a show that aims to make us feel above all else, is there a better way to make us feel and appreciate the anger or shock of realising you thought you knew what was happening to someone, to feel assured that they’re telling you everything you need to know, only to have that belief ripped out from under you and turned on its head.

[homeformyheart]

no feelings - mason x f!detective (twc)

author’s note: my original intention was to do a post-bakery, heartbreak moment for mason and I started this before the demo updated, but needed to change it since and hopefully it still works. I have no idea if I’ll do a part 2, my original plans don’t spark joy atm, and I was tired of seeing this in my WIPs xD. very minor book 3 spoilers (allusions but no specific mentions). enjoy! *thank you @silma-words for giving this a read-through all those months ago when i was stuck and to @narrativefoiltrope for the parentheses suggestion!

copyright: all characters, except my oc detective, are owned by mishka jenkins @seraphinitegames. series/pairing: the wayhaven chronicles – mason x f!detective (ria knight) rating/warnings: 16+; swearing, angst word count: 1.7k summary: ria wants to end things with mason before she catches feelings for someone who won’t return them. mason isn’t sure what he wants but knows he doesn’t want to give up what they have.

no feelings

mason just stared at the door to ria’s office, the shades obscuring the sight of her but he could still hear the sound of her heartbeat. solid and steady, like her.

he didn’t know why he said what he did. he just knew that she was hurt, even though she pretended not to be. and even though he wanted to talk to her, he didn’t know what he wanted to say.

it didn’t matter though, seeing as how she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk to him anytime soon.

but he couldn’t bring himself to walk away.

he knocked, hesitantly. once. twice.

“come in,” a voice called out, loud to his senses, vibrating ever so slightly.

he opened the door and paused in the doorway, eyes searching hers for permission.

her head rose from where it had been resting on her arms, fists clenching once she noticed him. she lowered her hands to her lap, but mason had no doubt that her knuckles were white.

“what do you want?” she asked, her features stitching together a mask of indifference.

but he could see the truth in her light blue eyes. it was his special skill after all, being able to read people and get the truth from them.

a skill he tried to avoid using with ria as much as possible for some reason.

when did that happen?

even now, as he was holding her gaze, he knew he wasn’t trying to read her. but he could still sense that something was off. and he wanted, no needed, to figure out what it was.

the silence between them grew as ria’s gaze shifted. she looked expectantly at him. “well? if you don’t have anything new to report on the case, you should leave. i have a lot of work to do.”

he shook his head, a force of habit. he really didn’t know what to say.

she glanced away, eyes flitting across the posters and papers pinned to the wall next to her desk, but mason could see the gears turning in her mind. when she turned back to look at him, the pain from before was replaced by a newfound intensity that slammed into him and sent a prickly, but still pleasant, tingle across his chest and down his arms.

a knowing smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as her eyes appraised him, and not unlike the first time they flirted, the motion sent something warm and soothing down south. as her eyes met his again, the warmth turned into a simmering heat and he took a step forward, her darkened irises drawing him in.

he raised an eyebrow at her. while he was no stranger to the constant attraction between them, which pushed and pulled like the tides but always met each other at dusk and dawn, it didn’t seem like the time.

for once, he wanted to talk.

“look, about what i said before,” he started, folding his arms across his chest.

ria made her way around her desk until she was standing in front of him. “you were right. you made it clear that you were only interested in fun, and i agreed,” she shrugged, tapping her fingers lightly on his chest.

his brow furrowed. while he did say something to that affect, it wasn’t what he wanted.

“that’s all this is and all it’s going to be, so i’ll see you later at my apartment?” ria asked pointedly, her lip curling into a smirk.

a frustrated rumble crouched low in the back of his throat. “i never said that this is all it’s going to be,” he snapped, flinching at the volume of his own voice.

ria didn’t move a muscle. her light blue eyes had darkened to a cloudy grey, only a few shades lighter than his own.

“you didn’t have to, sunshine. i’m saying it. so am i seeing you later or not?” she asked, the glare on her face reminding him of the daggers she had hidden under her jacket sleeves.

an uncomfortable itch started in his belly and he subconsciously scratched at the fabric of his shirt, blunt nails digging in harder before he realized the itch was under his skin.

and it was spreading. traveling up toward his chest and out before making its way down his arms. leaving behind a tiny, circular weight in his stomach that he didn’t care for.

he could recognize it for what it was, a form of conflict. swirling counter-clockwise as a hurricane does when it approaches shore. but he didn’t understand why it was there.

what he did understand is that if she wanted to see him, he wanted to see her.

he gave her a slow nod. “i’ll see you later,” he said, hesitating for a brief second with his hand on the doorknob.

he glanced back at her and said softly, “sweetheart.”

~ against her better judgment, ria met mason’s gaze before he left, the murmured pet name on his lips seeming to glide through the air and hit her in the chest. her body slumped back against the desk as he left, energy draining out of her and leaving behind the tempestuous grey look now seared in her mind. his words left an uncomfortable lump in her throat, and she hoped no one else came into her office.

she looked at the clock, a feeble attempt to fast-forward to the end of the day, only for her shoulders to sag at the realization that she basically still had eight hours to go. despite the tension in their earlier conversation and the uncomfortable moments they’ve had since breakfast, ria wasn’t mad at mason.

even though she had stormed out while trying to blink back tears and then he stormed away from her after finding out about bobby, she didn’t blame him.

no, the only person she was fucking pissed off at was herself.

it wasn’t supposed to get this far.

she wasn’t good with feelings. it was always easier to push away any uncomfortable thoughts or emotions by keeping her body physically distracted, preferably with either a partner in the gym or a partner in her bed.

learning how to box and working her way through all the various martial art forms gave her focus after quitting ballet.

(though it did little to quell the feelings of inadequacy caused by things completely out of her control.)

teaching herself how to use knives and rook’s family dagger was a welcome distraction after she was forced to abandon her aspirations to join the army.

(though digging through rook’s old stuff in the attic in desperate protest – to find anything that would tell her he would’ve supported her – only drowned her in the loss.)

flirting and sleeping with every person who showed interest in her and seemed even an inch better than bobby fucking marks.

(though every little fling, whether a one-night stand or a string of awkward first dates, only added supporting evidence to the story she told herself that no one would stick around for her.)

and it was supposed to be the same with mason.

no strings. no baggage. no goddamn feelings.

ria gripped the edge of her desk with her hands until her knuckles turned white. she already broke her first rule of dating: don’t catch feelings.

you can’t get hurt if there aren’t feelings involved, she reminded herself of the mantra that got her out of several attempts at relationships after breaking up with bobby.

but she could still implement her second rule.

~ instead of heading back to the warehouse right away, mason wandered toward the trees bordering the station that offered a shady respite from the scorching sun against his sensitive skin.

the heat was only going to get worse, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave just yet. even in the dark shade of the trees around him, the sun burned against his skin almost as if it were bare. he winced, not even wanting to think about how much worse it might feel if he wasn’t at least wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

they still needed to work together.

he pushed the seemingly random thought out of his mind as quickly as it had appeared, his body reacting viscerally in disagreement to the sentiment.

this wasn’t about maintaining a working relationship with ria.

this was bigger than that.

at least, he assumed, though he wasn’t exactly sure why.

he lit a cigarette, trying to distract from how his shirt is quickly becoming an incubator for the heat. smoke curled upward as he leaned his head back against the trunk of a tree.

he was always in it for the fun. it made traveling around and the downtime between missions more bearable.

he didn’t really care for hobbies and interests the way nate and felix did. and he could only take a beating from adam every so often.

having fun, especially with humans – who were so easy to rile up and even easier to read – made the endless time pass in a way that felt normal. for him anyway.

learning all the different ways he could elicit sounds from them. figuring out how quickly he could make them peak. knowing exactly what to do to leave them wanting more.

he took a long drag of the cigarette, closing his eyes and wishing the burn in his lungs would linger a little longer. it numbed the burn on the outside of his body.

but no feelings. that always took the fun out of things.

that was the rule.

and ria was fun, there was no denying that. maybe even the most fun he’s had in a very long time.

she knew his rule. hell, it was her rule too.

it was the perfect situation for him.

maybe he didn’t want to lose out on such an ideal situation. or mess up the team dynamic.

he dumped the cigarette butt onto the floor and put out the embers with his shoe.

whatever it was, he knew he wasn’t ready for things with her to end.

* * * * * taglist: @kelseaaa; @kat-tia801; @anotherbeingsworld; @babycracker; @writer-ish; @gloynporslen; @sosolenoo; @alyssalauren; @wayhavenots; @pearlsandsteel; @gingerbreton; @takemyopenheart; @mevnraels;

[korra-the-red-lion]

Conflict.

Here’s a super random fic I wrote for Legends of Tomorrow! The pairing is Astra x Behrad x Spooner. This literally comes from me and my friend @sapphictv saying that Astra has two hands haha. I hope you enjoy!

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Astra, former queen of hell, badass sorcerer-in-training, killer of men and women alike, was very frustrated that she was unable to come up with a solution to this problem on hand. And what, you might be asking yourself, is that problem exactly?

In fact, it was two problems.

The first problem came in the form of Behrad Tarazi. The idiotic stoner who took nearly as long as his insipid sister in the shower slowly worked his way into her life with his charming smile and easy out look on life. Not mention, he looked damned fine in a suit. Astra would never admit it out loud, but she probably would have jumped him that day hadn’t she had amazing self-control. After her slip up of showing a sliver of interest in him that time, he only took that as a means of encouragement, something Astra would have never done intentionally.

The next problem was that of Esperanza “Spooner” Cruz. The frustrating little gremlin first sparked something inside of her when she was the first to support her after she had been tricked by that bastard Crowley. Then of course there was that hug they shared during the Galactic Bowling Match. Astra found herself constantly amused by the tiny woman’s feisty nature and even meaner tongue, unless it was directed at her of course. Even then, however, caused something warm to stir inside her chest at the thought of being the center of focus for Spooner.

So, needless to say, Astra was very angry. And nobody liked when Astra was angry.

So far, she had broken the coffee pot, told Nate to stop talking about Indiana Jones, punched the wall (though that had been an accident, mostly), and set fire to Gary (that had been intentional). Right now, she was seething alone in her room as she flipped through her books to see if there was a spell to help her remove her feelings for the two idiots on board the Waverider.

“Ugh, there’s nothing here!” she raged as she threw the book across the room.

Ava poked her head into the room with a small frown on her face. “Uh…hey, Astra? Is there something that’s bothering you? You just seem to be in a mood today.”

Astra rolled her eyes with an annoyed sigh. “Why would you think that? I’m obviously fine.”

“Hm, okay.” Ava took one look around the room when she noticed the spell book near her feet. She picked it up and took a quick look through it as Astra grabbed another one to get angry about. “’A spell to help you get rid of human emotions. Warning, side effect may include death,’” Ava read aloud. “What’s this about?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” sneered Astra.

Ava frowned again as she nodded. “Right. Are you sure there’s nothing bothering you?”

Astra was just about to tell Ava to do something very vulgar when she sighed in defeat. “Promise you won’t tell anyone?”

Ava crossed her fingers over her heart.

Astra fell back into her pillows with a dramatic huff. “I believe that I may have…developed a crush on Behrad.”

“Oh that’s-”

“And Spooner,” Astra cut in.

Ava’s eyebrows shot up into her hair line. “Oh. OH. Okay, wow. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“How did this happen?” Astra grabbed a pillow and buried her face in it. “I’m suppose to be the bitch on board, and now I’ve been reduced to a wallowing puddle of misery.”

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing, Astra,” said Ava. “Maybe you could talk to them about it?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Oookay,” Ava twisted her mouth as she thought what to suggest next. Seeing as her only real relationship came in the form of one Sara Lance, she probably wasn’t the best person to help with this. However, Ava was a thinker, and she figured that there was a logical solution to Astra’s problem. When the idea popped into her head, Ava couldn’t believe how intelligent she was.

“I have an idea,” she said with a grin.

“Does it involve killing both of them and pretending that these feelings never existed?” Astra asked, with one eye peeking out from under the pillow.

“Even better.”

Astra doubted that there was something better than murder, but she decided to go along with it for now.

God, how she was probably going to regret this.

XXX

Astra decided that she was going to kill Ava once this was all done.

Her idiotic master idea was awful. Ava figured that if one of them made the move first, then that would be the one she should date. Simple enough, except in involved them being dumped in Star City to go on a ‘mission’ that Ava created specifically for them. When Zari got word that her brother was leaving without her, she got all annoyed and followed after them, so already the plan was falling apart. Oh, and she brought Sara with her.

Just kill her now.

Spooner scowled as she kicked an empty can away from the trio. “Why are we here again? I don’t sense any aliens nearby. Are we sure Ava got the details right?”

Behrad gave her an easy smile as he pulled out a joint. “Dude, just trust in Ava. She hasn’t really led us astray yet. Besides, it’s nice to get away from the Waverider every now and then.”

Spooner rolled her eyes. “I was enjoying my evening, but whatever. I’m going to grab something to drink,” she indicated the convenience store with a jerk of her head. “Y’all want something?”

Astra realized that this was her chance to be alone with either of them, but since it seemed Behrad was more concerned with his weed at the moment, it meant that she had a better shot with Spooner. With a heavy swallow of her pride, Astra flashed a smile at Spooner.

“I’ll go with you.”

Spooner shrugged but didn’t argue, so the two women walked into the brightly lit germ palace together. It took nearly all her willpower to not sneer nor gag at the sight of the pimply teenager behind the counter. His eyes most certainly went to look at her breasts, and Astra started to raise her hand to turn him inside out when Spooner grabbed it, interlocking their fingers together. Astra’s mind went blank as she started at their hands as her heart thumped uncomfortably in her chest.

“Please don’t try and kill the child,” said Spooner softly as she led them over to the cold shelves. “We’re here for a mission, remember? Besides, teenage boys are stupid, so it’s not worth getting all upset about.”

Astra had barely listened to a word she had said, as she was too focused on the hands. Were hands always this warm? Were you always able to feel a pulse in someone’s hand? Was her hand sweaty?! A million other thoughts zoomed through her head like a NASCAR. It wasn’t until Spooner snapped her fingers in her face that Astra joined reality again.

“Sorry?” she asked with a couple blinks of her eyes.

Spooner’s mouth quirked upwards in amusement as she pointed to the doors. “I asked what drink you wanted, carino?”

Astra didn’t speak a lick of Spanish, so she wasn’t sure what that last part was supposed to mean. Although she was curious, she didn’t ask. Instead, she reached for the can of iced tea silently. Spooner watched her with a thoughtful look on her face as she grabbed her own can of Coca Cola. She grabbed something at random for Behrad and together they went to the counter. The pimply monstrosity rung everything up and told the price with an obnoxious voice crack. Astra spared a glance at Spooner to see if it was okay to at least turn him into an opossum or something, but a quick shake of the head told her no. How disappointing.

It wasn’t until they left the store that Astra realized that they were still holding hands. She felt a surge of panic as they approached Behrad, but luckily Spooner left got just as they got there. She handed him the can of Dr. Pepper, which he took gratefully.

Over the comms Astra could hear Sara saying, “No, she hasn’t made a move yet. I’m getting really bored of waiting.” Stupid Sara.

Behrad cracked up the sugary drink with a gleeful look on his face. “Thanks Spoons! How’d you know Dr. P was my go-to soda?”

Spooner rolled her eyes, but her smile gave away her amusement. “Because I’ve lived with you for awhile now, dumbass.”

Astra watched this exchange with interest. Suddenly she was nervous. What if the two of them liked each? What if this was all for nothing? What if in her own self-absorption, she never realized the two of them had romantic feelings for each other? Now Astra was upset. She disguised her sigh of unhappiness with a grunt as she stalked further ahead. She could hear the two of them talking behind her, but she chose to ignore it.

Eventually, they made it to the area where Ava was going to send Gary to attack. Astra sat down moodily as Spooner did a perimeter search for safety. Behrad sat down next to her and nudge her with his shoulder.

“What’s eating you, Astra?” he asked kindly.

Astra glanced at him, which was a mistake. He looked so gorgeous under the streetlight. She turned away, disgusted by the blush she could feel on her face as she mumbled, “Nothing.”

“Doesn’t sound like nothing.” Behrad scratched at his chin thoughtfully. “But I’m not going to push you to talk about. I just think you should know that I’m always here if you need a shoulder to lean on.”

Oh, how tempting was the offer to rest her head on his broad shoulders. Astra wished with everything in her heart that she could do that. She settled for a nod of acknowledgement instead. She frowned in thought as she turned to him.

“Behrad, can I ask you something, actually?”

Behrad had his can of soda halfway to his lips when he nodded. “Go for it.”

Astra wished her heart wasn’t racing as quickly as it was. Her throat felt dry as she asked, “Is there anyone on the Waverider that you have a crush on?”

The look on his face matched that of a deer in headlights. Slowly, he nodded as he looked her way. “Yeah, I do. But don’t tell Zari, okay? She’ll never let me live it down.”

Astra nodded. “Can I ask who it is?”

Behrad looked nervous as he ran a hand through his hair. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before finally settling on a nod. As he worked on the courage to tell her who it was, Astra could feel the blood pounding in her ears as her hands shook with anticipation. But just before the words could come out, there was a shout of surprise as Spooner ran over.

“Guys, the trouble is here!”

Dammit, thought Astra angrily. She thought that she had a couple more minutes before the arrival of that buffoon. With a huff, she stood to her feet to help get rid of the nuisance when she saw with wide eyes that a large grotesque demon stood in front of them. This was not part of the plan. It turned its fiery red eyes in her direction and bellowed.

“ASTRA, I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!!”

Now, Astra had done a lot of really terrible things while she was the queen of hell. It’s not like she remembered every single one. That was the case with ugly over there. She didn’t recognize him at all, but he clearly knew who she was.

Spooner pulled out a massive ray gun and fire several bullets at the beast. Behrad hopped into action by activating his totem and blasting sharp gusts of wind. Astra wasted no time in shouting out an incantation, summoning an army of shadow monsters to fight under her command.

While it wasn’t easy, eventually the demon got sent back to hell. Astra felt very wobbly on her feet as the draining effect of magic took a hold of her. The last thing she was aware of was the two of them calling her name as she crashed to the ground.

XXX

When Astra came to, she was lying in the med bay. That wasn’t too surprising. What was surprising was her two guests.

Spooner and Behrad were both sitting next to the bed/resting spot/pod/whatever the hell you wanted to call this thing. Behrad was sleeping, his head lolled to the side as drool trailed down onto his shoulder. Spooner had been cleaning her knife when she realized that Astra woke up. She stomped on Behrad’s foot and instantly reached for her hand.

“Astra, are you feeling okay?” she asked tenderly.

Astra nodded, because she was pretty sure her voice wasn’t going to work at the moment.

Relief flooded both their eyes as Behrad scooted his chair closer. “Man, I’m so glad to hear that. The way you used magic was so badass, but when you feel I totally freaked out.”

Astra’s eyes flickered between the two of them and the conflict she felt instantly came back full throttle. How was she ever going to chose between the two of them? There was just no possible way. Astra in this very moment decided that she was going to never date either of them and just life the rest of her life out miserably.

She gently pulled her hand out of Spooner’s. Astra stared at the wall, not looking at either of them. Spooner and Behrad shared a look before Spooner poked Astra in the face. Hard.

“Ow!” Her hand went for her cheek. “What the hell was that for?”

“What’s going on?” Spooner’s tone left no room for argument.

“Nothin-” the look on both of their face shut her up.

“You can’t lie forever, Astra,” said Behrad calmly. “We aren’t leaving this room until you tell us what’s up.”

“I refuse,” she sneered.

“You made me do this,” said Spooner seriously. “Gideon, play ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ please.”

“As you wish, Ms. Cruz,” said Gideon’s voice over the intercoms. The Bonnie Taylor classic started blasting in the med bay. Worst of all, the two of them started to sing along to the torture. Astra only lasted 30 seconds before she begged them to stop, promising to tell them what they wanted to hear. The music shut off, leaving only heavy silence in its wake.

Astra clutched the arms of the chair and sent a prayer to her mother as she worked up her courage. “I…I like both of you.”

Behrad beamed. “Aw, I like both of you too!”

“Not like that!” snapped Astra. She sucked in a deep breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. I meant I like both of you in a romantic way. Ava had planned this meeting so I could decide which one I wanted to date, but I now realize that it impossible. I’m sorry for putting us in danger.”

Astra was afraid to even look over, but she forced herself to do so. Spooner was watching her with a thoughtful expression while Behrad was still smiling. Astra was confused as to why he was until he reached for her other hand and grabbed Spooner’s too.

“Well, I know it’s a big commitment, but I’d be do down if all three of us dated,” he said cheerfully.

“HUH?” Astra was beyond confused. When she grew up, couples were just that: a couple. How did a relationship between three people even work? Was Behrad high?

But when Spooner gave an easy shrug and said, “I’d be willing to try if y’all are,” Astra was at a complete loss.

“Is…is that even allowed?” she hated how quiet her voice was.

“Yeah,” Behrad grinned. “I mean, polyamory is a thing, after all. If we all put in the work and promise to be honest with each other, I don’t see why we can’t make it work.”

Astra started at the two people who she adored more than nearly anything in the world in shock. They both were willing to do that for her? She leaned over and kissed Spooner first, not at all surprised to discover that her lips were chapped and dried. When she kissed Behrad, his lips were moister and softer. While both kisses were different on her lips, the excited jolt she felt from both of them was the same. Astra couldn’t believe her luck. She even giggled when the two of them kissed in front her.

Was this what love really felt like? Astra wasn’t entirely sure, and even though she was very nervous about it still, she was ready to see where this went.

[pleasejustfuckinghugme]

Forever

episode one pt. one (word count: 928)

jacobs!oc x fezco

warnings: mentions of abuse and attempted rape, crude language

none of these characters are my own except for my oc

i saw a fic where the italics were rue’s narration so i stole that idea. credits to whoever came up with that. please send good vibes because i am new and have no clue what i’m doing lol

Nancy’s relationship with her brother was complicated. They didn’t talk often. If you were to ask their friends the two simply avoided each other at all costs. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence in the Jacobs’ household; Nate and his father got along just fine, and most likely said about two words to each other a week. But when the twins did talk to each other, if you were in the room, you had a front row ticket to a UFC match. Growing up among the same people for eighteen years of your life allows you to learn a couple of things, and I know that all the times that Nate, Nancy , and their father spent with each other, tiptoeing around secret romances and conflicting morals was never going to get a happy ending. At some point, the thinning ice that the Jacobs family treaded on was bound to break.

The cool breeze was refreshing as Nancy rode her bike down the slick, black pavement. Her hair flew behind her, still tangled and sticking up on the back of her scalp, and the dark circles under her eyes were in stark contrast to her bright green orbs. The wind was nipping at her skin, and it caused her nose to turn a light shade of pink.

Up ahead, a tiny gas station peaked from over the trees, and her heart began to beat just a little faster in her chest. Maybe she shouldn’t have come; this really was not a good idea. But she knew what Aaron was like when he didn’t get his drugs, and she refused to let herself deal with his bullshit during her final weekend before school started back up. Now she was here, at the renowned gas station, to buy drugs. Not how she thought her Saturday morning would go.

When she skidded to a stop in front of the store, she noticed a man sitting in the garage. He hadn’t seen her, his eyes focused on the phone in his hand. Taking her headphones out of her ears, she wandered over to him. Her hands were damp, and she rubbed the sweat off on her oversized t-shirt.

“Hey,” she croaked, before clearing her throat. “Fezco, right?” She glanced over to him but still trained her eyes on her fingers which fumbled with the hem of her shirt. He looked up at her, cool blue eyes tracing down her frame. This caused her to become even more self conscious; in her haste to get out of the house, she hadn’t even brushed her hair, and she still wore her pajamas.

“Yeah,” he replied coolly. His eyes locked on hers when she finally looked at him again. “What d’ya need, kid?”

“I’m, uh, looking for Ashtray?” she replied.

“He in da back over there.” Fezco pointed into the small gas station over by the drinks. As Nancy turned around to leave, his voice stopped her. “What ya need to see him for?”

This question caused her eyebrows to furrow as she turned to face him again. Why else would she be needing to see the ten year old except for some weed or whatever? When their pupils met, the man cocked up an eyebrow, clearly amused by the shocked expression on her face.

“Kid you ain’t in trouble I was jus’ wonderin’,” he said. “I ain’t ever seen you buyin’ drugs before. Jus’ Nate.”

Nancy rolled her eyes at that. Nate wasn’t exactly addicted to drugs like Aaron, but he was still a douche about every other week when he didn’t get his dose of weed. She knew that he would most likely throw a hissy fit if he knew she was at the station buying drugs, so she quickly mumbled to Fez, “Hey, please don't tell him I was here.”

The man laughed, eyes never leaving her figure.

His amused demeanor caused Nancy to shift uncomfortably on her feet. She could feel her cheeks starting to heat up, and she held her head down trying to hide it from him.

“Look, um,” she stuttered out. Her hands dug down into her pockets, and she fumbled out a crumpled up sticky note. She opened it up and handed it to him. “My other brother just wants me to get this stuff for him. I really don’t know what any of it means.”

Fezco stood up and shuffled over to her, taking the note. He nodded his head, looking up at her again. “Lemme get this stuff for ya, stay there.”

About five minutes later he came back out of the building, holding a plastic grocery bag in his hands. “Here ya go. Ya got da money for it?”

“Oh shit, yeah,” Nancy handed it over to him and apologized.

“Nah, you good, kid,” he reassured.

They looked at each other for a moment, and Nancy could feel her heart racing in her chest from his eyes gazing straight into hers. She knew that he was very handsome, he held a soft look on his face at all times which complemented his baby blue eyes. Rue talked about him quite often, and from what Nancy had heard, he was a sweet guy. Drugs were just his way of surviving after dropping out of high school. She gave him a soft smile, blood rushing to her cheeks when he returned it.

“Thank you, for this,” she held up the bag. “You saved my ass.”

He snorted, “No problem. I’ll see ya around?”

“Yeah,” she smiled at him again, hopping on top of her bike and riding away.

[lavenderek]

Why do you hate Ian?? When i was a kid I LOVED What A Girl Wants. I had such a crush on Ian :(

i am happy to go off thank you for this opportunity, long post under the cut

in case somebody wants to read this but doesn’t know what “what a girl wants” is, it’s a movie from the early 2000′s starring amanda bynes as Daphne. 

she grew up in new york with a single mom, Libby. she has an estranged father played by colin firth, Henry, who doesn’t know daphne exists. libby is a singer who works weddings a lot. 

libby and henry were star-crossed lovers, basically. henry is an english aristocrat with political aspirations, and his family believed marrying libby, who is living her stevie nicks fantasy, would damage his career; so they got her alone and convinced her henry changed his mind and didn’t want her. libby left, not yet knowing she was pregnant, and then spent 17 years pining for him. 

daphne has spent her whole life romanticizing the idea of her father coming to get her, so after she graduates high school she chooses to fly out to england and surprise him. when she gets there she is disappointed to find that he is engaged to a woman who has a daughter about daphne’s age, but tries to make it work anyway. 

daphne is clumsy and very casual, so hijinks ensue. henry’s fiancee and future stepdaughter are evil and conniving. 

daphne is rejected and bullied by the fiancee and stepdaughter and she struggles trying to fit in with aristocratic society, so ultimately she leaves. henry is upset about this because he learned to love her, and subsequently he discovers she was being mistreated. he breaks up with the fiancee and flies out to america to surprise daphne. daphne gets into oxford u somehow and they all live happily ever after. 

the first person daphne meets and gets to know in the movie is a local musician named Ian, who tells her she was born to stand out. he has minimal effect on the plot, like, i could write him out in two minutes, but god forbid we have a teen movie without a romance in it. they’re immediately attracted to each other and he proceeds to be a very bad boyfriend that the audience is supposed to find morally upstanding and charming. 

this post is about how it did not work and i don’t like him. 

The Superficial Shit: I’m Not About It

i’m immune to motorcycle boys. motorcycles are impractical and loud. get a muffler. i think if you buy a motorcycle you have to sign a contract promising to idle on your motorcycle for ten minutes every morning at 6:30 so that everyone in the neighborhood knows you have a motorcycle. so i don’t care that ian is A Bad Boy. 

i’m also immune to english accents. it’s just like, an accent. it’s fine. i’m supposed to find everything he does inherently charming because he has an accent and he sings, but i don’t, so, try a little harder.

like, i’m also not impressed by sporty types, but i still accepted “a cinderella story” because austin had a character progression and i could see why sam found him attractive. 

ian has no character progression. he starts out confident and independent and he ends up confident and independent. he remains happily working class with a more or less successful band the entire movie. nothing daphne does affects him negatively except that one time she fucks up and blows off a concert he wanted to go to. 

so as a result i’m not invested in anything he does. the only interesting thing he does is first building up daphne’s confidence and then getting mad and tearing it back down when she’s doing something he doesn’t personally find important, which is the next thing. 

The Worst Boyfriend: Why Am I Not The Center Of Your Universe?

here are the first three pieces of information ian learns about daphne:

her mom is a musician 

she is american 

she is here to find and get to know her politician father, Lord Dashwood

he’s very supportive of this endeavor, right up until it gets difficult. he’s like, “you came all this way, he’s your dad, you should definitely meet him.” 

she publicly fucks up a couple major society events and then is like, “hey, i’m putting my dad’s career in jeopardy, so in order to stay and get to know him this summer i’m gonna prioritize these events a little more.”

and ian is immediately like, “you’ve changed,” and dumps her lmfao

her lifelong drive to find and get to know her dad is one of the first things he learns about her. why does he think it’s so stupid? why am i supposed to care about his opinion? 

daphne, probably: this thing is important to me. ian, probably: ok, that’s fine.  daphne, probably: woof, in order to keep up with this thing i have to try a little harder.  ian, probably: hm. actually, this is unimportant.  daphne, probably: i’m going to do it anyway.  ian, probably: what? didn’t you hear me? i just said it was unimportant. why aren’t you quitting immediately? my opinion should be your primary concern. you know what? i’m done.

i had the same problem with nate from “the devil wears prada.” i will never understand the idea of seeing someone you apparently care deeply about very stressed out trying to accomplish a goal, and being mad that they’re not super fun and interesting right then. sometimes a person you care about is going through something. let her vent and buy her some ice cream. 

if your partner stops being supportive and understanding the second your life gets stressful or complicated, that’s kind of a red flag. the real test of a relationship is when you have to support each other and maintain your bond even when you’re trying to get something done, or even when you’re having a rough time and you’re in a bad mood. 

ian fails this test because he’s weirdly judgmental about it all.

Attitude Stinks

before the change ian hates, daphne is late to things, she dresses casually for formal events, she gets into a screaming physical altercation with someone at a party, and because she was acting out a lot at a ball she’s blamed for the destruction of a prized, historical piece of architecture. all of these cause scandals that embarrass henry and make him look bad in tabloids. he is in the middle of a campaign for a political position, so this is bad. 

after the change, daphne reaches out to her debutante grandmother for guidance and starts wearing socially acceptable clothing, goes to events where she is expected, and is quiet and respectful at an event where she’s supposed to meet the queen of england. this is all very successful for henry. people go up to him and tell him daphne’s great, and she somehow ends up in a tabloid that talks about how great she is lmfao. 

all of this takes a lot of effort from daphne, though. she’s stressed out. while this works out for henry, it isn’t working for daphne. she’s doing all this so that she can be accepted by her father’s family, but the fiancee and stepdaughter don’t want her around, and henry is passive throughout all this. he doesn’t know she’s actively being bullied, but he’s also letting his fiancee direct him away from daphne. so daphne ultimately leaves. 

here’s where ian comes in. ian tells her a story toward the beginning of the movie about how his mother was also an aristocrat. he tells her she was rejected by society because of classism towards ian’s father. this is framed as a demonstration of ian’s values. the fact that his mother rejected being a debutante is a source of pride for ian. 

but the problem is that this is just because ian likes the choice she made. he’s not proud that his mother took control of her life and made her own decision. he’s proud that his mother rebelled. you know this because he sums up the story with this line -

daphne: what happened to your parents?  ian: they’re as poor as church mice and the happiest people i know. 

- and because his entire conflict in the movie is that daphne makes a different decision. 

ian’s mom chose her husband over her parents and the life they wanted for her. daphne is choosing the family she’s been wanting her whole life over a guy she’s known for like, a month. ian is the biggest whiner about it. he storms out on her. she runs into him at an event and asks to talk to him, and he tells her no. he only forgives her when she quits and goes back to america. 

there are a lot of dudes like this out there. he loves a strong, unique woman, as long as she fits seamlessly into his life and makes decisions he tells her to. yawn. 

Makes No Sense: Why Are You Here?

ian is somehow ubiquitous in debutante society. he and his little band are hired to play at every ball daphne goes to. why??

a huge plot point is a moment where daphne attends a terribly boring coming out ball for a pair of very meek, shy twins. daphne delights the twins by going out of her way to liven up the party. she convinces ian to play loud rock music and encourages everyone at the ball to dance. the bass is too loud, though, and somehow causes an antique chandelier to fall. this is a big scandal. 

the whole thing that’s emphasized during this scene is that daphne is shaking up the scene and that this music is unorthodox and unwanted at these high society type functions. 

which all begs the question of why these people keep hiring a local rock band for these events. he’s playing at at least one other ball later on in the movie. the music they play doesn’t really fit in with the tone of the events, which are the kind of affairs you’d wear a tiara to. these are very formal events. why are we hiring ian and his band, and where did you guys even find him?? 

in the scene where daphne gets into a fight with somebody, she’s at a fancy outdoor event, the kind of place you’d wear a tea length dress and a big hat. ian is also there, working in the parking lot as a parking lot guy. 

daphne’s thrilled, but she does ask why he’s there. he’s basically like, “i have lots of jobs.” for somebody who hates deb society so much, he does take a lot of jobs at deb events. why don’t you work in a restaurant or something? does that offend your punk rock whiner sensibilities? 

also, he’s boring and i think daphne should go for somebody who makes her laugh. 

Has Spiked Hair

lots of gel, no other info needed. wash your hair. very sculpted hair makes people seem less down to earth. it’s not relatable. 

I Will Fix It

so ian doesn’t help with the plot at all. the only time he helps daphne is in the chandelier scene. the rest of the time he’s just there to date her and talk to her a lot about how cool it is to stand out and not fit in. 

his role in the movie is to cause more tension and place more pressure on daphne. he behaves like she’s making a moral choice, when really she’s making a behavioral choice. 

i think using him to vocalize her conflict is a mistake because it’s framed as Stand Out vs. Assimilate, when that has nothing to do with daphne’s motivation. 

daphne’s Want is to be with her dad, and her Need is to be accepted and wanted. as a result, ian rejecting her because he doesn’t like the choices she’s making comes across as entitled and cruel lmao. it’s directly antithetical to daphne’s journey. she never once says anything about loving standing out. 

here are the ways i think this could be fixed: 

if you want it to be a moral thing, make it a moral thing. 

give ian a best friend who is gay, and after daphne decides to fit in with society, she won’t be seen with the gay friend anymore. or after daphne decides to fit in, have her be super judgmental of people who aren’t succeeding as much as she is. then when she decides she’s fed up, have her stand up for them. 

that would make ian being mad about her “changing” make sense. and we, the audience, would be like, “yeah, this is misguided and goes against what daphne believes.” 

not breaking things or yelling at a royal event isn’t a moral stance. why are you so pressed. get a hobby 

if you want her thing to be standing out, make it standing out. 

standing out isn’t a conflict in the whole movie. henry’s flaw is being passive. daphne’s flaw is being embarrassing at parties because she’s clumsy and she likes to meet new people and dance and stuff. libby has no flaw except that she was a victim of classism. 

the twins at the party are dowdy and shy, and daphne gives them a makeover off screen lmao. ian is single, and daphne dates him. 

so make standing out the recurring issue. make daphne super obsessed with fitting in. in the very beginning, she runs into a girl she knows at a wedding. the girl is kind of privileged and successful, and daphne reveals that she’s a free spirit who doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life. instead, make her hedge and hem and haw and try to make herself seem more successful to the girl. make her Want to be fancy and part of her dad’s high society life, but her Need to “be herself.” 

maybe the twins are secretly super weird and quirky, and they’re depressed trying to fit in; and their big moment revealing being cool now at the garden party is them wearing loud patterns and dancing when the music starts playing. maybe ian is super funny and goofy and the parties suck until he and daphne trick the singer into leaving the stage, and ian jumps onstage and plays a fun song. 

make libby have been rejected because she always started talking politics at henry’s parties and she’s kind of radical. 

maybe daphne: hey, i’m sorry, but you can’t come with me to the party next week anymore. maybe ian: what? how come, i rented a tux for this. maybe daphne: sorry. i’m trying to behave.  maybe ian: haha what does that mean? you’re not trying to fit in with all those stuffy losers, are you?  maybe daphne: no, i’m trying not to ruin things for my dad. it was a big deal when you were super messy at the garden party.  maybe ian: wow. i seem to recall you being “messy” right along with me. sorry for embarrassing you.  maybe daphne: ian, don’t take it personally. we can still hang out sometimes, i just can’t go places with you.  maybe ian: no, thanks. 

i don’t prefer this, because i’m an introvert and people who think someone they don’t personally find interesting are fundamentally worse, are boring and annoying. i wouldn’t find this story relatable or compelling at all. i’m 9000 years old and i’m like, “what if you guys respected each other and participated in society, though?” i wouldn’t enjoy this story. but at least it would make sense why ian’s bothered by daphne not “standing out.”

i think the entire reason this movie was made is that trailer moment from the boat scene where ian’s like, “i don’t understand why you want to fit in, when you were born to stand out!” so that’s how you can keep that dumbass line. 

make ian have an arc himself. 

in the movie, ian is initially helpful and gives some backstory, and then partway through the movie he gets mad at her and breaks up with her. he forgives her at the same time as henry realizes daphne’s unhappy, right at the end. 

instead, make ian become helpful as the movie progresses. 

so first of all, take the scene toward the beginning where he’s in the boat allegedly showing her how to practice being poised, and he tells her about his mom being a disowned deb. move this scene to the beginning of the third act. 

next, make it so that ian was rejected by his grandparents. maybe ian at some point also defied his mom to seek out estranged family; but where daphne’s dad let her stay, ian’s grandparents insulted him and told him they didn’t want him around. they called him illegitimate and a mistake. so when daphne chooses to try to conform, ian is reacting to those feelings rather than projecting his own feelings of personal superiority. 

and finally, make daphne try to fit in much sooner, but make her super bad at it. my roommates and i watched this movie the other night and one of them made the very good point that daphne’s grandmother and father sit her down and are like, “there is a certain way you’re supposed to behave,” but they don’t tell her how to do that. 

so let’s actually keep that part. maybe daphne overcorrects. she knows she’s fucking up, so she believes she shouldn’t be doing anything fun or interesting or making conversation with anyone. this isn’t great. her charm is in how friendly, fun-loving, and proactive she is. she does what she wants and people find it refreshing. make people start to be like, “wow, lord dashwood’s daughter is kind of weird and stiff. it’s clear she isn’t used to places like this, what a rube.” 

now we get to the third act, and the boat scene. in the boat, ian tells her about his family, and apologizes and offers to try and help her, if this is what she wants. now ian is playing more of an active role, and he’s contributing to her life in a positive way. 

because as it is, he does nothing that i couldn’t get rid of very easily. so...

get rid of ian. 

here are the effects ian currently has on the plot: 

daphne riding away on the back of a motorcycle makes henry worry about her, and he realizes he’s developing paternal feelings toward her. he calls libby and libby affirms and empathizes with those feelings. 

ian is in the band at the party where the chandelier is destroyed. 

ian talks a lot about how daphne’s supposed to stand out. 

ian stresses daphne out, which sort of artificially raises the stakes. 

ian shows up right at the end to reward daphne for existing. 

especially because ian’s criticisms are so disconnected from daphne’s motivations, nothing he does is particularly helpful to the plot in a way that he couldn’t be replaced. 

daphne has a tattoo in the movie, and when henry sees it, he’s sort of like, wow, she’s kind of a wild child, she reminds me of me when i was young. instead of a motorcycle boyfriend, make daphne get the tattoo in london. henry calls libby like, “she just got a tattoo!” and libby is like, “i remember you holding my hand while i got my first tattoo.” 

maybe the live band takes a break, and daphne sneaks up and hooks up the speakers to her ipod or something, and she plays super loud music herself. 

i already talked about how pointless this is. also, we don’t need a greek chorus telling us what’s going on. show, don’t tell. 

daphne is already stressed. those motivations can come from inside daphne.

why would henry seek out daphne’s ex-boyfriend and fly him out to new york to impose on daphne and her mom? this is so weird. go home. 

ian is replaceable. to the left, to the left. 

[storiesbyjes2g]

Genetics & Story Summary

Genetics

Even though we all know Melany looks nothing like Kameron, she doesn’t look exactly like Brytani either. Like, most of the time, I don’t feel like I’m looking at a younger Brytani. But they look so much alike I can’t tell what the differences are. Last night I decided to find out how they are different. I found Brytani in another save and aged her down. I aged Kameron down and took off his beard and skin details so we can really see him. I also took away Mel’s details even though they don’t change her much. I made a picture with them all side-by-side to compare.

How about I never really realized Melany had a dimpled chin! And, how cool is it to learn Kameron gave it to her! (I feel like she should write a song about him called Dimpled Chin lol) I’m guessing her cheeks come from him because Noemi also has high, cute chubby cheeks as well. Mel’s face seems to be a little longer than Brytani’s, also compliments of Kameron, but I knew that one already. There is something about their eyes though. I can’t really tell what it is, but they are not the same. Are Brytani’s wider or something?

As far as skin tone goes, Mel is right in the middle, a shade darker than Brytani and a shade lighter than Kameron. I still think it’s funny how EA measures what is light and dark, but we won’t get into that in this post...or maybe ever lol.

Story Summary

This may get long, so I’ll put it under the cut.

Recently I welcomed my new followers and told you about my story. I appreciate everyone who has hopped on for the ride! 😘 So many of you have joined in on this silly little legacy drama, and I don’t want anyone to be lost. I’m going to catch you up so you know who everyone is and what’s going on because I don’t expect you to go back to the beginning, although it doesn’t take very long. I did that a few months ago. It was fun!

Ok! So you’ve met Melany and her parents. Kameron started this whole thing as my guy to save Strangerville. Afterward, I figured I would continue playing with him and give him a much deserved good life. He had the world famous celebrity aspiration, so he started hanging out in DSV and rubbing shoulders with celebrities. That’s how he met Brytani Cho and thus creating our dear, sweet Melany. But, Brytani is not about that relationship life, and things fizzled after he attempted to propose to her.

It didn’t take long for her to leave. Bye Felicia.

Kameron and Melany left Strangerville for a new life in Oasis Springs. He joined the intelligence branch of the military and moved up the ranks. It was tough being a single dad, but he made it work.

Brytani was hyper-focused on her career and made very little time for Melany, and Kameron held that against her. Needless to say, their relationship was never the same, and co-parenting was no walk in the park. Melany, however, attempted to make the best of her mother’s visits, though she wished she visited more often.

Eventually Kameron moved on completely and began dating. He had a few flings and a few dates, but when he met Nadia, he was like a moth to flame.

They messed around a lot, and it didn’t take long for him to ask her to be his girlfriend. They dated for a while before he asked her to move in. He needed to see how things would work with her and Melany. It delighted Kameron to see how well they took to each other. I mean, Melany was an exceptional kid. Who wouldn’t love her? Nadia did and took her role in Kameron and Melany’s lives very seriously once she understood the family dynamics.

Nadia’s pregnancy and the engagement happened around the same time. They had a son named Nathaniel Courtney Pierson, whom they call Nate. Life was very busy with a new baby, new house, and new city (Willow Creek). Once life settled down a little, they were married in Sulani.

It should be noted that Melany began playing the violin at a young age. Kameron took her to El Selvadorada once, and it rained almost the whole time. She was going through a loud phase and picked up the violin; she loved it. She completed all 5 child aspirations which gave her a boost at learning adult skills. By the time she was a teenager, she had maxed the violin skill and had written her first song! She also started a SimTube channel. Between her two celebrity parents and the videos, she was a 4 star celebrity by her teen birthday.

Teen life for Melany was pretty average—aside from the celebrity madness. She had a group of friends she loved. She was on top of her studies and made A’s. She didn’t give her parents any trouble.The only complaint she has was with her mother. Brytani retired and came around more often, but still not often enough. By this time, Melany’s little sister, Noemi Amiah Pierson, was born, and she saw what she missed by not having two parents in the same house. Nadia was an excellent step-mother. Melany didn’t want for anything, and she loved and appreciated her. But she had a mother. Why couldn’t Brytani be like Nadia? Was something wrong with her? Did Brytani love her at all? She was secretly jealous of her young siblings, and those feelings ate away at her. She became withdrawn, cried a lot and made angry videos, but it didn’t help. Brytani was still a deadbeat mom. Melany expressed her frustrations once, but Brytani couldn’t make her feel better. She wasn’t the motherly type and thought Melany would be fine with Nadia not realizing the girl just needed her mom.

Things got slightly better in their relationship, but this would always be a thing between them. Even now, long after Brytani’s death, Melany still feels conflicted about their relationship.

The Piersons moved to Sulani. Melany aged up and went to Britechester University to study Fine Arts. She stayed in the dorms her first semester and had two roommates. That’s how she met her current best friend, Dr. Anissa Thurston. She studied biology and felt a connection with Melany immediately. Being a popular celebrity, Anissa knew everyone would be all over her and act weird. She just saw a fellow freshman nervous about being in a new place and hoping everything would be ok and made it her business to befriend Melany. Little did she know their shared Bailey Kay fandom would create a near indestructible bond.

Like any overprotective father, Kameron struggled with Melany going to college. He wanted her to stay at home for the first semester. And, as one could imagine, he was not ready for boys. Luckily, he made a friend in an elderly gentleman named Myron Churchill. He never had an older friend who could advise him from experience—a father figure. Mr. Churchill’s friendship became precious to him and helped a great deal.

Melany met Nick Wilkinson at a party. She felt uncomfortable about the outfit her friend made her wear on top of everyone looking at and whispering about her being a celebrity and all. Nick approached her and started a conversation. He made her feel better and was terribly cute. All they did was talk, but he definitely left an impression on her.

Brytani died, and Melany withdrew from school for the rest of the year. Nick called to see how she was and to express his condolences, and that’s how their friendship began. He was a huge movie buff and studying drama at Foxbury Institute to become an actor. He also was a huge nerd and avid gamer. Melany is also a gamer as Kameron was a gamer geek and raised her on video games and sci-fi. They were “friends” for a long time before he asked her out. After dancing around each other for so long, it didn’t take long for them to begin an official relationship.

They graduated, and Melany goes back home to Sulani to figure out the rest of her life. At this point she had written and licensed 7 songs and had a few small performances. She loved performing but wasn’t sure if she wanted to be a full blown artist like her idol, Bailey Kay. Also, up until this point she had only been a musician. Few know this, but Melany is also a singer. She keeps it private, but the girl is talented. Despite this talent, she never considered being a singer or writing lyrics to her songs. But sometimes she hears words in her head. They repeat themselves and won’t go away, so she began writing them down. After having this experience a few times, she felt her music life changing and needed professional advice and reached out to Bailey Kay (after much coaxing from friends and family) who gave her some wise words.

Eventually, Melany decided to live in Brytani’s mansion in Willow Creek which she inherited. The thought of living there used to give her pause, but she wanted to be closer to Nick and her friends because traveling from Sulani to San Myshuno and Del Sol Valley was getting to be too much. Besides, she was a grown woman now and needed to get on with her life. Also, she felt like she caused the problems Kameron and Nadia had briefly in their marriage. She invited Anissa to live there as her roommate because she didn’t want to live alone and wasn’t ready to have Nick move in yet. But, soon after, he approached her about the idea and she agreed it was an excellent idea.

That’s pretty much where we are now. Melany and Nick are living their best lives together. Nick is a dynamic actor and getting more popular by the day. Anissa finally got a job as a doctor and is looking forward to dating since getting over the breakup...that Melany caused. Yikes. We’ll hear from her about that soon, so I won’t steal her thunder, but I will say it almost ruined their friendship!

I hope this was helpful for the newcomers and nostalgic for the OGs. If you have questions along the way, just ask! 

[not-sewell]

How often do they cuddle/engage in PDA, what are their favorite things to do together, who’s more protective, and who's more likely to convince the other to come back to sleep in the morning for Mona x Nate pls :3

i was expecting you to drop by, ask me at least one difficult question. :3

answering questions from the — ship questions list. ask away!

context: Mona and Nate have not begun to date yet. 

this wasn’t my original plan for them but a discussion with @agentnatesewell kind of led me to modify the route i was taking with the romance. 

Mona’s romance with Bobby started off too fast and got really intense, and she still carries hurt from the relationship. that has made her cautious, and even though she trusts Nate with not breaking her heart, there’s still the hurt that holds her back a bit. well that, and she doesn’t want to mess it up with him.

so obviously, the answers to most of these questions are set in a time where i have finally frustrated myself enough to let the two kiss.

anyway, here goes!

How often do they cuddle/engage in PDA?

well, Mona and Nate would engage in PDA but they may not be very in-your-face about it. they'd have a lot of moments of casual physical intimacy: the way they’d always touch each other by the way of holding hands, having an arm wrapped around the other’s waist, placing a casual peck on the other’s cheek or against the other’s forehead/temple or maybe on the nose, sneaking a quick kiss, the like. so yeah, they'd be pretty "appropriate" when it comes to PDA. but i like to think they'd cuddle a lot when they're alone.

What are their favourite things to do together?

look this is a pair of nerds we're talking about, so reading is definitely up there: maybe they'd read the same book as they cuddle on the couch in the Warehouse library, or they'd read out poems to each other while in bed together, or it's just casually reading their own books in each other's company. 

then there's cooking. Nate is a great cook – Sera even confirmed it iirc – but Mona is pretty decent at it too. she likes to cook whenever the opportunity presents itself; it's almost meditative to her. so, they may make it a point to cook together at least one meal in a week. it may not always be a spread but it's more about the time they'd spend in each other's company.

deeper into their relationship, i feel they'd also enjoy drawing a bath for the two at the end of a particularly stressful day and spending time together there. it may not entail anything sexual as such, but it's more about the unwinding factor that settling in a nice warm bath comes with.

Who’s more protective?

i'm almost tempted to say Nate. Nate, we know, seems to have a saviour complex that causes him to get extremely protective of someone and even throw themself headfirst into a dangerous situation with close to no regard for their personal safety if it meant that they save that person. but Mona does, too. it's something that not only brings them together because they kinda get it but it's also a point of conflict because they're so protective of the other they keep rushing to save them too. so yeah, they're pretty much equally protective of each other and well, it raises a bit of a conundrum.

Who's more likely to convince the other to come back to sleep in the morning?

oh, definitely Nate. he can really be very persuasive when he wants to be so. but it'd also be mostly because Mona's almost always ready to get out of bed and get going about her day. she may gently release herself from Nate's firm, yet gentle grasp as she places a soft kiss on his forehead and wishes him good morning. and Nate absolutely wouldn't mind such a start to his day – until he gets greedy for a bit more time with her in bed. which is when he shoots her a smile she absolutely wouldn't want to miss and asks her to stay a while longer. the time may then be spent staring at each other, just taking in each other's presence in comfortable silence, or exchanging lazy kisses, or just a few more minutes of cuddling until the sharp sound of the detective's final alarm pops the little bubble they'd built for themselves.

[mediaevalmusereads]

A Duke in Disguise. By Cat Sebastian. New York: Avon Books, 2019.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, Regency Impostors #2

Summary: One reluctant heir

If anyone else had asked for his help publishing a naughty novel, Ash would have had the sense to say no. But he’s never been able to deny Verity Plum. Now he has his hands full illustrating a book and trying his damnedest not to fall in love with his best friend. The last thing he needs is to discover he’s a duke’s lost heir. Without a family or a proper education, he’s had to fight for his place in the world, and the idea of it—and Verity—being taken away from him chills him to the bone. One radical bookseller All Verity wants is to keep her brother out of prison, her business afloat, and her hands off Ash. Lately it seems she’s not getting anything she wants. She knows from bitter experience that she isn’t cut out for romance, but the more time she spends with Ash, the more she wonders if maybe she’s been wrong about herself. One disaster waiting to happen Ash has a month before his identity is exposed, and he plans to spend it with Verity. As they explore their long-buried passion, it becomes harder for Ash to face the music. Can Verity accept who Ash must become or will he turn away the only woman he’s ever loved?

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: sexual content, epileptic seizures, mentions of domestic violence and childhood neglect

I picked up this book because I was really excited about the premise. A bisexual female heroine? Who runs a print shop? That prints racy and borderline seditious books? And has a friends-to-lovers arc with the hero? Sounds like a dream! While there were definitely some things that I loved, I definitely wish there was more work put into making the plot more angsty or high-stakes. Personally, I found the main conflict to be shallow, as the tension was not in the matter of the hero's hidden identity (which was resolved relatively quickly and without much drama), but in the protagonists' feelings and principles. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but in the case of this book, it seems like most of the conflict could have been resolved with a good sit-down-and-talk. I prefer my conflicts to be a little more external - such as social class being a barrier - so that the drama feels a bit more out of the protagonists' control. Thus, I can only give this book 3 stars. I liked it, I just wished there was *more*. Writing: Sebastian's prose is pretty much what one might expect in a romance novel. It's straight-forward and doesn't involve a lot of rhetorical flourishes, which allows the plot to move along quickly and clearly. I don't have a lot to say other than that, and I don't mean it as an insult. The prose does its job, and I didn't have any trouble imagining what was going on. Plot: It's perhaps misleading to say that this book is entirely about the hero's hidden identity. The matter of Ash's parentage and title doesn't start in earnest until some 130 pages into the novel, and before that, we mainly follow Verity as she tries to save her brother from being arrested. In my opinion, these two plots could have paralleled one another much better; Verity and her brother are radicals in that they support equal rights between the sexes and social classes, so I think the matter of Ash being a duke could have been a significantly more threatening strain on his relationship with the Plums. As it stands, it felt like Verity's brother was easily disposed of within the first 100 pages or so, and the matter of sedition and politics didn't play a major role in the plot involving Ash's parentage, making it feel like filler. I would have much rather seen more drama, such as Ash's new family not wanting him to associate with the Plums, having the Plums' politics threaten Ash's court case, etc. That way, Ash would have had to make more difficult choices regarding whether or not he wanted to claim his title. Once we got into Ash's conflict, I do think Sebastian did some things well. I liked that Ash was accepting his place out of concern for his aunt's safety rather from any sense of familial duty or desire to be rich. The tension between blood vs found families was a good one, though I think more pressure could have been put on class issues. I also think Sebastian could have crafted her overall narrative a little better, as I didn't exactly feel like the story was suspenseful or the scenes built on one another. Aside from brief moments, it felt like plot points were happening at random and I didn't really have a sense of where the story was going. I would have liked to see, for example, instances of Ash gathering evidence for his case or Verity's advice column mirroring what she was going through - something that gives us a clearer arc and entwines the printing/sedition storyline with the hidden identity/duke storyline (rather than seemingly have one happen after the other). Characters: Verity, our heroine, is a bisexual woman who is afraid of showing weakness or asking for help. She runs her family's bookshop and prints a number of different things, from raunchy novels to a (weekly? monthly?) paper containing essays and advice. Aside from her bookishness, I liked that Verity was flawed; she was stubborn and stuck to her beliefs even when they caused conflict with the people around her, which felt real and multi-faceted. I also liked that she was direct when asking for what she wanted from Ash, and that she was committed to retaining her independence as a woman and printer. The one thing I didn't like about her was that, at times, she seemed to have a not-like-other-girls attitude. She would often turn her nose up at things women did that she considered frivolous or profess to not understand why people acted in certain ways (despite some of those actions being societal norms). Ash, our hero, was also a refreshing character. Aside from being epileptic, he is very kind and caring, and he respects Verity's boundaries without being gruff and broody. I prefer these types of men in my romances because I like heroes who are emotional and vulnerable without being violent or abusive beforehand. Supporting characters were hit or miss, but on the whole, most of them were complex and interesting. Nate, Verity's brother, is idealistic and stubborn, so he was a nice compliment to Verity's character. Portia, Verity's former lover, was perhaps my favorite; despite being Verity's ex, she was kind and supportive, putting their friendship over romantic feelings when it was clear that Verity needed someone to lean on. The rest felt more or less like archetypes (such as Ash's uncle) or characters used solely for plot reasons (Ash's aunt, Lady Caroline). Amelia, Portia's daughter, could have been interesting, but her plot line doesn't really enhance the main story. Romance: Verity and Ash have a friends-to-lovers arc that, in my opinion, doesn't have enough drama or angst. This isn't to say I want more violence or petty conflict; rather, I would have liked to see the couple contend with external forces that put pressure on their relationship, such as social class. While class is certainly an issue, it doesn't seem like a great threat to the HEA ending, as everyone around Ash approves of the idea of marriage to Verity. As a result, the drama in this book was mainly driven by the characters' inability to talk about their feelings, and even when they do, the romance doesn't evolve or grow that much. There aren't really many milestones, such as them opening up about some past trauma (which I guess wouldn't be an issue, if they'd been best friends for so long) or navigating a crisis together (which they kind of do, but also don't). Everything is resolved when Verity and Ash just decide to get over their reasons for not being together, which to me felt cheap. TL;DR: A Duke in Disguise provides some much needed queer and neurodivergent representation to the romance genre, but relies on a shallow plot without much angst or drama. While I did appreciate the focus on female independence throughout the novel, I also wish the characters had been made to contend with more external forces that threatened their relationship and that the romance had grown and evolved a little more.

[avadmortain]

TWCasks: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, please! (~agentnatesewell)

thank you so much for the asks mar! 💕

10. Did Murphy bite your detective at the end of Book 1?

- no oh my god surprisingly, he didn’t?!? which is funny because i fucked up just about everything else in my playthrough - murphy got away, sanja died, falk joined the rogues; the fact that murphy didn’t bite alex was the one thing i got write lmao. 

but honestly, the part of me that ADORES the hurt/comfort trope was kinda sad about that because i just wanted to see nate tenderly trace the marks he left on her neck/wrist and just hold her tight you know?! 🥺imma definitely try to get bitten in my next playthrough lmaoo. 

20. Did Falk sign the treaty with the Agency? Did he side with the rogue supernaturals? 

-oops i kinda already answered this but yeah- he joined the rogues. but he didn’t attack alex so he still ended things peacefully. alsoooo, was he FLIRTING?!?!? wtf wtf i wanted to see where that was going im so curious i really hope he makes a reappearance. also, mans got a good fashion sense ill give him that 😌

30. Has your detective gotten closer with Rebecca as the books went on? 

-she has! in the beginning i chose the option where their relationship is very tense & horrible due to her constant absences. but its very very clear that rebecca loves alex so much and truly cares about her and honestly my heart breaks every time the ever-stoic rebecca looses her cool at the thought of loosing her daughter. also omg that scene were she gave A the DMB and was willing to risk her career for her daughter OH GOD.

so yeah over time alex could see how much her mom cared and while she still has a few walls up when it comes to her mom, she’s willing to try again. i remember the scene where nate tried to tell her how much her mom cares about and she kinda snapped at him and told him to not tell her how to handle her family so its kinda nice to see how far their relationship has come. 

40. Do you have a TWC themed blog?

-HAHAHA you know i do ;) ghdjsjss its funny cause i never thought i would make a sideblog but here we are lmaoo im really happy i made it though everyone in this fandom has been amazing so far ❤️

50. Any HCs about Wayhaven (the town itself)?

- oh i have a hc where the town has weekly town meetings in which the town selectsman who basically lives & breathes wayhaven & is weirdly patriachral about the town drones on about all the useless trivia that took place in the town that week. also in these town meetings, people who have conflicts with another are supposed to come out to the front and hash it out with one another with the town selectsman acting as the judge while the rest kinda become the jury. also the issues are almost always so trivial and nonsensical like stealing someone’s parking spot lol. 

- oh oh also since its such a small town, they obviously dont have a proper cinema hall but they have this little makeshift movie theatre with only one movie option per week and instead of comfy sofas there are chairs and you can only buy one bag of popcorn because there has to be enough for everyone. oooo ooo and its a very popular date spot for the teens of wayhaven so i can see alex bringing nate back there for a date and i can imagine the movie being some historical fiction and nate is super interested but alex couldnt care less and keeps distracting him with kisses and he reallly doesnt mind lmaoo.

-ok ok im rambling now but i hc that my detective alex might have a slight caffeine addiction (like me lmao) and haley tries to lecture her on it and sometimes doesn’t give her coffee cause its like her fourth mug of the day lmao but then alex begs and pouts and she just relents hahahaa

(also yes most of these were inspired by gilmore girls cause stars hollow reminds me of wayhaven minus the murders and the vampires lol) 

from this ask!

[scrapyardboyfriends]

What I want for all of the characters on the show right now (A mostly comprehensive list)

Aaron - Post spiral, give him Seb. Let him be a single dad. Give him a new friend (a new character, Billy, Vic/Matty/Amy) Have him either get a new partner at the scrapyard or get rid of it altogether and buy into the garage so he can interact with people again from time to time. Also...overalls. 

Liv - Get her away from Aaron. Let her mix with the teens again. Especially the Gabby/Leanna/Jacob crowd. Explore her epilepsy in that setting. Explore her asexuality more. I’d love to see her realize she might have a thing for a girl. 

Chas - Cheat on Paddy. Get out of that character suffocating relationship. Get her spark back. 

Paddy - Break up with Chas. Take a holiday? Stick to scenes with Marlon?

Bear - LEAVE - He serves no purpose. Even less so now that Faith has gone too. He’s just dead weight and his and Paddy’s relationship is not interesting in any way. 

Eric - I’d like to see the B&B more. I miss when we used to see him there with Val all the time. 

David - I’d like to see him stay single for a while. Take more of an interest in Jacob and keep being a dad to Theo. Could have new parent stories with Vic or Chaddy (**shudder I know).

Leyla - I’d like to see her get to do more at Take a Vow, get to plan Sam and Lydia’s big village wedding and more. I would definitely be up for her and Liam if they want to go there. 

Jacob - I’d like to see him actually continue to mention that he’s getting counseling and see some of the effects of that. If they don’t go with Liam and Leyla, I think he and Leanna properly together could be nice. 

Liam - Keep being the amazingly fabulous person that he is. I’m sad we lost Bernice, but I do think he and Leyla really could work if they wanted to go there. 

Leanna - I’d like to see her keep up her friendship with Gabby even though their parents aren’t together anymore. I’d be open to seeing her and Jacob actually date if their parents aren’t going to.

Gabby - I’d love to see Gabby get a bigger story. Let her start being a bit more adult. I’d like to see her get a job in the village. She could go back to working at the B&B but we actually see it. I’d love to see her get a real love interest or a big issue story. Rosie has proven she can handle bigger material with the Ashley stuff, so I’d like to see her get to do that again. 

Diane - I’d love to see more of the B&B again in general. I miss it. I’d keep her to the comedy stuff. Let her interact with Eric more and Liam too. Maybe a few heart to hearts with Aaron since she’s the only one who will listen to him apparently. 

Wendy - LEAVE - I really don’t know what purpose she serves once she eventually realizes Lee was a rapist and Vic wasn’t lying. I just want Vic to be free of these people and I don’t see what Wendy brings to the village and Vic shouldn’t have to forgive her for all of the harassment and the stalking and she shouldn’t have to accept her into Harry’s life. Just let Wendy go Emma Barton and babynap Harry and be done with it. 

Luke - LEAVE - I don’t really have a problem with Luke but I’d rather Vic just get a fresh start away from all of Lee’s family. If he did stay though, I guess he could be a candidate for being Aaron’s friend as long as they built that up in a more natural way rather than him just happening to be there when he’s getting chucked out of clubs. 

Victoria - Needs a fresh start for her and Harry. I think Vic is a character that needs to be rested for a while. She had a big year last year and I think she could just enjoy being a mum and juggling that with work and supporting her friends. I think in the second half of the year, perhaps they could explore her trying to date again. I just wouldn’t have it be Luke.

Matty - I know he just moved back to the farm, but I need him to move right back out again. Matty needs to have his own story, not just be stuck on Moira duty. I really really want to see them explore a relationship story for Matty again. 

Amy - Since they’re obviously never going to give her any consequences for Frank’s death, I’d sort of just like to see her keep being a supportive friend for the time being. I think she’s good in that role. Or, and we’d have to see how it worked out chemistry wise, they could have Amy try and help Matty find a girlfriend and end up falling for him instead. 

Kerry - Keep using her in small doses only. Her and Mandy make a fun comedy duo in the salon but they need to be kept at a minimum to appreciate them. 

Cain - I’d like to see him have a thing with Cara again perhaps. If he’s ever going to get back with Moira, they need to take their time with it and really properly build it back up and make it stick this time. 

Moira - Let her lose the farm for the love of god so a new family can move in. She needs a massive shake up as a character because she’s just going in circles. She needs off the farm and back in the mix of the village. I have considered the idea of her buying Charity out of the pub with the farm sale money. She could fight with Chas as they work out how to run the pub together. Give them both their spark back and that could pave the way for her and Cain to work things out if they want to go that way. She’d just have to learn to not drink the place dry first. 

Nate - LEAVE - I want Cara to stay but Nate still seems pretty useless to me. I just don’t think Cain ever needed another kid in the picture. I don’t see what it does for him as a character. I don’t see why he should have to forgive Nate for what he did. So...what’s the point. Plus Pete is leaving so he won’t have him to help on the farm anyway. Mostly, I want him to facilitate Cara staying and then get run over by his own tractor or something. 

Cara - I’ve liked her so far in the three episodes we’ve gotten of her. I’d be up for her staying for a bit and sorting Nate out or pushing him in front of that tractor and maybe having a thing with Cain or anyone else she wants to. 

Charity - I’d love to see her get out of the pub and get back to using her business skills. I’d love to see some real conflict between her and Vanessa that lasts more than a week and a half. But if they’re going to ever get married, just let them get married and then let them have conflict or something. I’d love to see her continue to pay attention to Noah. 

Vanessa - Again, conflict for her and Charity. Could be interesting to finally get her mum to come to the village. She could come for the wedding, cause some friction between her and Charity. I’d like them to continue her friendships with Rhona and Moira. She’s good in friend mode. 

Noah - I think they’ve been doing well with Noah lately. I would like to see him and Charity work on their relationship more. I’d like to maybe see him mixing it up with the older teens again too. Maybe a crush on a girl. 

Sarah - Same as Noah, I’ve liked what they’ve been doing with her lately. And I’d just keep her hanging out with the rest of the teens. 

Ryan - LEAVE?? - I hate to say that because obviously having a disable character on the show is a good thing but he just never should have been Charity’s son. She didn’t need another kid and they haven’t done nearly enough with that relationship to make it worthwhile. They barely let him interact with his siblings. All he does is show up for occasional tech help. And he’s only up at Home Farm to facilitate Graham murder stuff so just like...do something with him or let him go. 

Kim - Keep her interacting with the rest of the village. It’s the best version of her. I’d love to see her properly fall for someone and have real feelings rather than it all feeling like a manipulation. 

Jamie - Keep him and Andrea separated. Let him keep this backbone he’s developed. I’d like to see him repair his relationship with Rhona post Graham because I did like it at the start. I think he and Belle could be good together. 

Andrea - LEAVE??? - She’s another one who they either need to do something with or let her go. She might be the one to kill Graham and leave that way, who knows. If she’s going to stay, she needs to move into the village and get out of Home Farm and away from Jamie and make her own life. Get a proper friend, find someone new etc. 

Rhona - Rhona probably needs a post Graham break. Then I’d just like to see her repair all of her relationships with everyone she’s hurt. As far a romance for her goes, I did consider her and Marlon getting back together. Although as things currently stand...that’s gonna take awhile. 

Al - If they’re going to put him with Kim, I want real feelings. Mostly, I want them to let him be a real villain. The show needs a villain and the Al that first showed up in the village had that potential. 

Ellis - LEAVE - Damnit Asan! I loved Ellis but New!Ellis just doesn’t work. I don’t know if he could if they actually gave him screen time and his own story but as it is now, I just want to ship him back to Dubai. 

Billy - I really like Billy right now. I love that they’re keeping his relationship with Marlon going. I like him and Dawn. They could probably use some real conflict at some point too but so far, I like them as they are. If Al was going to go full villain, that could also provide some good material for him. He is a candidate for a friend for Aaron too. I know how he was introduced and that they never really resolved that between them but there’s always the chance for them to have a proper conversation about it and move on. I think they could be good for each other in the long run. Aaron is lost without Robert and Billy no longer has a proper Ellis, so it could work potentially. 

Dawn - As I said, I like her and Billy together. I think they need to make a decision with Lucas once and for all. If she’s going to get him back, I think it could provide good material for her and Billy, dealing with having a little kid to parent. 

Harriet - Zzzzzzzzzzzz - Is it time for a new vicar yet? Mostly, I think she needs to stick to the village events and the background snark because whenever she gets a real story, it’s just so dull. 

Will - much the same as Harriet. He could stay or go, I wouldn’t care. He’s fine as village color I guess. 

Marlon - He’s great as he is, serving up snark and food from the Woolpack kitchen. I love him playing support to everyone, he always elevates whatever scene he’s in. I’d love to see him get a love interest that is going to stick around for a while. Both he and April need that stability. If they can get past the Graham of it all, he and Rhona have always worked well together. So...maybe?

Zak - I assume Zak is off because of the actor needing the break. I hope Steve Halliwell is doing okay. Before Lisa got killed off, I always thought it would have been an interesting story for Zak to get killed off but for now he can just be if he ends up coming back. 

Belle - I’d like to see her get more to do at the vets and I’d be up for her and Jamie. 

Sam and Lydia - LET THEM GET MARRIED!!!! A big, crazy Sam and Lydia wedding is all I want. Also would like to see Lydia continue to deal with the Huntingtons stuff and her family.

Mandy - Like Kerry, she’s best in small doses. I like her up with the rest of the Dingles though. She is fun. I wouldn’t mind it if she stuck around a bit longer. 

Vinny - I still don’t have a clue what’s going on with Vinny and who his parents are and if that will ever be relevant. If it’s going to be, I wish they’d just get it over with already. Other than that, if he’s staying, I’d like to see him actually leave Wishing Well and make friends with some of the other teens in the village. 

Bob - Stick to bar work and stay the hell away from Wendy. 

Brenda - Keep being you. I’d like to see them properly do something with her and Doug though because I forget they’re actually supposed to be together most of the time. 

Doug - Let him plan a garden show or something insane like that. 

Rodney - SMALL DOSES

Nicola and Jimmy - Keep being the legends you are. I want to see Jimmy get properly absolved for all of the Arthur/Archie stuff. I want to see so much more of Councilor Nicola. I’d like to see Jimmy take someone new on at the Haulage firm and maybe just sigh all the time that they’re not Robert because he was better. 

Laurel and Jai - I want to see them stay together. I think they work well together. They just need to get through this Graham mess in tact and sort out their kids’ problems. I’d like to see them continue to blend their families though, maybe living together eventually. I’d also like to see Jai have some success in business. Either at the outdoor pursuits place or starting his own thing again. 

Priya - LET HER BE A SHARMA AGAIN. Let’s forget Rakesh ever existed. GET HER A STORYLINE!!! GIVE HER A NEW LOVE INTEREST! Literally anything. 

Rishi and Manpreet - I want to see his chocolate business grow some more. And for them to just keep being as they are. 

Pearl - I MISS PEARL! I hope she’s okay. Any Pearl we can get is good. 

Dan - Small Doses, stick to the background. 

Pete - Please need to leave to go tend to your one remaining brother because his girlfriend got hit by a bus…

Tracy - Let Tracy find some business success again. I really liked her trying to start her own business. Or if Andrea goes, let her go work at Take a Vow with Leyla. Let her find love again too. 

New Characters I want

A new family at Butler’s Farm - let them be a big family with multiple generations. They decimated the Bartons and the show needs another bigger family coming in all together to balance out all of the Dingles. 

A new gay male character in his 20s to take the pressure off of Aaron needing to be in a relationship. I think it would be nice if they were friends though. Let the new guy have some crazy relationships of his own. Could be part of the new family.

Teen lesbian. Could be part of the new family too. I think it’d be nice to explore coming out or already being out for the younger generation. Also could be an interesting potential love interest for Liv. 

[xsecretblastsx]

1x09 - Blair Waldorf must pie!

Once again this took way longer than I wanted to. I guess it has a lot to do that this part of S1 is full of episodes that I loved and also are kind of important so I just feel that I have to be really in the mood to watch them with my full attention. 

Anyway, enough about me, here’s the recap for this one after the break. 

Thoughts I had while watching the episode

Loving the flashback of Serena in her wild days and Blair looking after her.

This flashback kind of messes up the timeline though. Because we’re told Serena was gone for a year, but that’s clearly not the case here.

Dan get’s to be Serena’s knight in shiny armor, great. To bad for him she was wasted.

How long ago was it that Blair’s dad been gone? Probs like quite a few months and he hasn’t come to visit her?

I mean I get that Dan is pissed with his mom, but that guilt comment was harsh

Harold Waldorf’s pumpkin pie, I don’t know if anyone has read as much fanfic as I have but this pie, is quite the celebrity.

The oh so casual mention that Blair takes Lexapro :/

Serena trying (and failing) to be casual when asking what Chuck’s doing today.

I think this is the first time that Serena (and later Nate) point out that Chuck and Blair are friends, considering they all were, this must mean that they were somehow closer friends.

This fight is such a clear example of how Blair and Serena go from besties to enemies in 5 seconds flat. 

This one though is kind of funny to me in the way Serena’s like “I won’t judge” and then does exactly that.

Somehow Blair I don’t believe you when you say you don’t like Chuck’s natural musk, just a hunch.

I kind of feel Serena’s way of aproaching this topic was not the best, though to be fair Blair’s also really hard to approach. 

Lilly how much I missed you last episode

Seeing Llily, Eric and Serena in Chinatown is giving me life for some reason

So by thanksgiving sophomore year Blair was already in recovery from her ED, she was really young when she started then.

Wow, “not this one Harold, we have to go together” this line implies so much and I can’t believe I never noticed before

Blair sending Nate to deal with Serena it’s interesting, because I wouldn’t imagine her being naive enough to not noticed Nate’s interest in Serena, granted she trusted them, but still

 I love Dorota, always there for Blair, always loyal.

The mood at Nate’s thanksgiving dinner is so misserable.

Lily, Allison’s and Rufus faces are priceless. Let the drama begin!

“Oh the blond you stalk at school” really they told us and we didn’t listen!!!

Not that didn’t earned herself the harsh comment but, “he didn’t left us, he left you” kind of made me feel bad for Eleanor

Forget it, she was really insentive, and Blair’s face when she grabbed that pie is just heartbreaking.

I can’t believe I forgot about her throwing up incident after that dinner with Nate in the pilot... like wow.

Do you need to go with her? sorry Allison

This dinner is hilariously akward. Sorry Jenny, but I don’t think that song was about your mom.

This is one of my favorite Serante scenes, it’s so them.

Honestly this show needed more flashblacks. I love knowing more about their friendship pre series.

Nate thinking of calling Blair and then Serena, and realizing he can’t is the first time I think he truly gets how he really messed it up

It’s so weird now to see Blai’rs bathroom with the door conecting it to the other room.

Allison calling her character in a play Milly in reference to Lily sheds a bit of ligh in Dan’s abbilities in naming characters. 

The captain reached rock bottom, poor Nate. 

I wonder though if Anne was the one with the money, and yet Nate’s last name is prestigious, does that mean The Captain family had lost their money at some point and the only thing that remain was their last name?

I should have mentioned it before but Blair looks incredibly pretty this episode, and the dress is one of my all time favorites.

“But we’re not related” give it time Dan, give it time

Hi Cedric.

“Only a woman that had satisfied her sexual appetite in her youth could have married some of your step fathers” auch

And so Rufly ends... for now

Eleanor talking about the divorce paper and how she feels and how she acted because of it, reminded of a certain scene in S5. Blair’s truly her mother daughter.

The end of that flashback felt so much like this is why they say ignorance is Bliss. Except for Serena things are better for her now.

The New York setting makes this show even more awsome, that shot with the Bridge and the Manhattan skyline in the background while Dan’s family is having a merry old time is gorgeous.

So this episode was so good, it gave a lot of background information and added much more depth to some of the main characters, particularly Blair. But also Nate. I was really suprised by the amount of stuff I didn’t remember about this particular episode, so in that sense this feel like this is the episode I’ve enjoyed the most during my rewatch.

Having a flashback was easily the best part of this episode in the sense that it gives us a clear idea of how things were before the series and how disaster was brewing just beneath the surface. What a diference a year makes.The previous thanksgiving was at the height of Serena’s wild days, and it’s sad to see how her life was pretty much a never ending haze of parties and alcohol, she may be acting goofy but it’s an empty happiness and it let’s you feeling like this is the only way she can deal with her life. And always looking after her is Blair.

The Blair of a year before seems really happy, she’s on the road of recovery from her eating disorder, her parents are together, her mother is showing actually some concern for her, and Nate is still a loving boyfriend. And yet in many ways this is all a lie. Her parent’s marriage is just a charade, Eleanor’s comment asking Harold not to go after Roman, is so telling and it makes me wonder how long did Eleanor knew her husband was gay? that must have been such a burden for her, and it’s probably the reason why she was so focused in her work and wanted everything else to be perfect, in some ways it also explains her treating of Blair, wrong as it was.

Also the timing of this makes me kind of mad at Harold, he’s always comes across as the nice good parent, but this episode makes it really obvius how much his absence hurt Blair. Think about it. When the show starts it’s established that a few months before Harold had left his wife and the country in favor for a life in Paris with another man. So considering that november the previous year (only a year before the current episode)  is the first time Harold hears about Roman this means he decided to leave his family for a guy he had just meth a few months before, I guess he must have really fallen in love and really quickly, and I understand his need to live a free life, but what a shock it must have been for Blair and how unloved she must have felt that his father was leaving her in New York with a mother that was incredibly hard on her, for a guy he just met. And this at a time when she was still recovering.

There’s also the Nate-Serena-Blair issue. At some poing after Thanksgiving, the Shepperd Wedding happened, which means like I mentioned before that Serena was gone less than a year, and the way Blair encouraged Nate to help her with Serena means that even if she may have suspect Nate’s interest in Serena she still believed that Nate did love her and that Serena would never do that to her and therefore she wasn’t worried about it. Blair doesn’t trust easily and in this case she did and it end ups with her being betrayed, and yet it was a long time coming. Just as I mentioned in previous recaps that there was lowkey something to Blair and Chuck’s friendship, the same can be said about Nate and Serena, I don’t like to mention at least not much future events in these recaps but really compare this scene of Nate and Serena goofing around in the bathroom with any of their scenes in the second half of S3 and they’re really similar, same vibe and chemistry. Nate and Blair goodbye at the end of the flashback even if he gaves her a kiss and calls her sweetheart, seems so lacking in comparison to his previous moment with Serena, and yet Blair smiles and it’s really happy about her life.

So all of this shows how much she had been hurting at the start of the show, her father gone, her best friend gone and a distant boyfriend who by this point couldn’t hide his interest in Serena coming across by how afected he was by her absence, and when the show starts it gets even worse. All the flashbacks of Blair dealing with food and even throwing up once when she was trying to forgive Nate his infidelity show us the depth of her problems and suffering and helps us to understand her so much more and feel for her. And in her moment of weakness she calls Serena, the fight at the star of the episode was a way of letting us know that in some ways Blair hasn’t let go completely of her betreyal and yet how easily their dissagrements go out of the picture the moment they really need each other, is such a deep friendhip, and yet how conflicting it must be for Blair to love and need so much a person who in many ways is a reminder of how things have gone wrong in the last year.

That is the crux about their friendship, they’re both there for each other when it really matters but it’s undenaible that they have hurt each other deeply, even without meaning too, Serena is a the root of some of Blair self steem issues, is not her fault but it has done Blair incredibly damage, at the same time Blair may be always there for Serena looking after her, but she’s frequently incredible cruel with her at times without a real reason beyond a missplaced sense of hurting her too, which causes scenes like their fight this episode where Serena tries to be a friend, becomes a little judgy and Blair overreacts and Serena understandably fights back... it’s a really complex relationship, and one of the aspects of the show that make’s it stand out. 

Lastly, this episode is a good reminder of how ultimetly Ruflly and Derena can’t really function at the same time without it being weird for everyone involved, it also establishes the similitudes between both relationships, a warning of how things could end for Dan and Serena if they’re not careful, and this is only the start. Nate’s storyline this episode was super sad, last episode had him standing up to his parents, this one finally gets him to have some honest conversations with them, and while it hurts is nice to see him finally get to that moment. It’s a moment of real growth for him. It also gives some interesting background to his family history, about how Anne’s family (the Vanderbilts) are the real force behind his family life, the house, his father job... everything was given by the Vanderbilts. It makes me wonder a lot about the Captain’s family, and his history with Anne: did the captain came from a family with a prestigious  Last name but that had lost their money at some point?, or was he an upstart? I can’t see snobish Anne falling in love with a nobody, but who nows. 

Also, not that noticible at this point of the show beyond the paralles between Dan & Serena and Rufus and Lily, but in the last two episode some scenes of Eleanor and the captain had reminded me of future scenes and situations and Nate and Blair having similar reactions. Anyway I love this episode, the then and now, and how much more there is to these characters. 

Random bits:

This is the first direct mention of Blair having an eating dissorder (not sure though, this is why I wanted to be faster with these recaps, so I don’t forget details)

Dorota’s wearing a themed apron, how cute

First mention of the Snowflake Ball, I like consistency hahaha.

Nate’s house look lovely, not sure if these are the real interiors of the house, probably not, but I did read somewhere the house used to be on rental? can’t remember.

There was a picture behind Jenny while they were having dinner of a kid wearing a suit, I know the cast used some actual photos of the cast as kids, so I don’t know if the kid is Penn but god the kid is so cute.

I’m not a New Yorker, but that place where Dan and his family are playing it’s really changed now isn’t it? There’s this guy called Action Kid in youtube and he was amazing videos about New York, and of this location in particular if my memory serves me right. 

And because we rarely got to see Serena in her wild days, I feel I should end this post with just that. 

[vandergeld]

                  hey  everyone welcome BACK to my blog  ,  hi  , how  are  ya ?   i’m   RUZZY   (  or  ru  ,  rudy  idk  if thats too  much  lmAO  )  &  i  have  not  been  apart  of  a  group  in  84  years ............  that  graphic  is  so  extra  but  i  was  bored  &  first  impressions  are  everything  ,  ANYWHO  this  is  my  mans WARNER  played  by  my  mans  GRAYSON DOLAN  ,  who  lacks  f’n  resources  so  i  gotta  work  some  magic  w/  all  these  gifs  on  tumblr  lmao  so  any  gif  icons  are  noT  mine  for  the  most  part  they’ll  be  taken  from  gifs  alr  created  (  s/o  2  the  fly  hunnies  that  made  ‘em  )  anyway  ya’ll  don’t  really  care  abt  me  lmao  soooooo here’s warner ! PLS  feel  free  to  hmu ANYTIME  for  the  plots  &  things  of  that  nature  u  could  lit  never  bother  me  idc ,  my  discord  is  𝐫𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐲𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐳𝐢#1643 if  u  everrr need  to  get  ahold  of  me  when  im  not  on  tumblr  !

         𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍, cismale, he/his. → look out, there’s 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐃. you know, the 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘  year old 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 of 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐀𝐃𝐀 𝐌𝐔. you know, i overheard someone say that they were 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄, 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 , 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆  and 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐃. but that’s just rumours. fresh new pairs of air jordan 1's, the roar of a crowd in a stadium, and lost weekends come to mind when i think of them. what about you? [ ruzzy, he/him, 18, est ]

TW : CANCER MENTION  ,  SMOKING  MENTION  .

//   »    GENERAL      :

FULL NAME   :   warner     evangelino   alexander       vandergeld       (   inspired by the antagonists of white chicks lmaooo   )     .

HOMETOWN  : new  york  city  ,  new york  .

NICKNAMES   :   dumbass   .

AGE   :   twenty  .

BIRTHDAY   :   october twenty-first   .

ZODIAC   :   libra   .

GENDER   :   male   .

PRONOUNS   :   he      &      him   .

NATIONALITY   :   american   .

ETHNICITY   :   german  ,   italian  ,  irish   .

LABEL(S)   :   the   golden boy   ,   the   lothario   ,   the   jock   .

TROPE(S)  :  chick magnet  ,  hormone-addled teenager  ,  unwitting pawn  , upper class twit  ,

OCCUPATION   :  college student  &  collegiate football player  & full time frat bro  .

FRAT : beta lambada mu  .

MAJOR   :   environmental science  .

POS  : charming  ,  charismatic  ,  brave  ,  athetic ,  dedicated  ,   eco-friendly  ,  high-moral compass  ,  book smart  ,  kind  ,  energetic  ,  optimistic  , loyal (  most of the time  ) ,  respectful  ,   well-rounded  ,  level-headed  , ambitious  ,  debonair  ,  life of the paty  .

NEG   :  compulsive  ,  easily-influenced  ,  dimwitted  , hypersexualized  ,  problematic  ,  addictive  , rebellious  ,  bemused  ,  defensive  ,  clingy  ,  hopeless-romatic  ,  overly-competitive  ,  envious .

INSP  : nate archibald  (  gossip girl  )  

//   »    PAST      :

          warner   was  born  &  raised  in  the  city  that  never sleeps  and    is  the  product  of  evangeline   moretti-vandergeld  , an   intelligent   american-italian  socialite  turned   environmental   politician  ,   and  captain  william   vandergeld  ,  a  former   navy   captain  ,   and  now   a   shareholder   in   some   boring   fortune   500   company   that   allowed   his   wife   and   son   to   live   an   affluent  ,   and   privileged   life  . his   mother  however  ,   was   the   real deal  ,   often   using   their   sum   of   wealth   to   donate   to   multiple   charities  ,  organizations  , etc, she was  dedicated  to  keeping  new  york  city  (  and  all  who  lived there  )  clean  and  safe   , and  she instilled  those  same  values  onto  her  son.

          some people are born lucky  ,  and others  ,  lucky  to  be  born  .   warner  was  the  first  option  .  his childhood  was  nothing  short  of  happiness  ,  and  happiest  days  were  with  his  mother  ,  for  as  long  as he  could  remember  ,  any happy  moment  in  his childhood  was  faded  right  into  her.

          things  took  a  drastic  change  his freshman  year  of  (  private  obvy lmao  )  high-school   .   warner’s  mother  was  diagnosed  with  breast  cancer  ,  and  little  to  his  knowledge  ,  it wasn’t  looking  pretty  from  the  start  .  she was  frequently  in  and  out  of the hospital  for  a  few  months  at  a  time  and  it  was  not  looking  good  on  any  fronts  .  one  day  when  she  went  to  the  hospital  it seemed  like  she  never  left  ,  maybe  she  didn’t  ,  those  days  were  a blur  for  warner  to  be  honest  .  watching  his  mother  lose  life  , every  single  day  was  not  a task  he  was  up  for  .

          by  then  it  was  just  warner  and  his  father  ,  they  were  all  they  had  in  the big  city  . (  when  he  wasn’t  always  away  on business  )  warner  grew  up  in   that  big  luxy  town  house  all  by  himself  ,  with  the  company  of  loyal  maids  ,  chefs  ,   and  nannies  of course  .  but  in  high  school  , the  more  he  really submerged  himself  into  it  ,  it  was  a  crazy  world  &  he  loved  it  .  whilst  getting  demands  from  his  father  in  tokyo  to  attend  those  boring  sailing  classes  ,  warner  instead  headed  out  to  their  beach  house  in  the  hamptons  for  an  early  20  rager  .

       warner  undoubtedly knew  the  power  he  possessed  ,   big  man  on  campus  type  &  it felt  good  , until  about towards  the  end  of his  junior  year  he  was  honestly  all   partied   out  ,  but  of  course reputation  is   everything  ,  in  order  to  keep  up  thats  when  he  picked  up  the   real  ugly  habits  ,  that  were  of  course  fun  .  smoking  numerous  amounts  of  marijuana  ,  various  girls  in  -  and  -  out  every other  day  was  a  feeling  like  no  other  ,   he  knew  it  was  wrong  ,  he  knew  his  mom  would  be  ashamed  ,  him  doing  all these  things  and  not carrying  on  her  legacy  in  some  way .  but  he  couldn’t  help  himself  in a  all  honesty   ,   and   no  doubt  some  of  that  transitioned  over  in  college .

//   »    AES   :

          lost weekends partying  ,  chicken  wings  &  french  fries  ,  air  jordan  1′s  ,  gucci  guilty  cologne  ,  friday  night  lights  ,  clouds  of  smoke  &  red  eyes  ,  diamond  encrusted  jewelry  glistening  under  bright  lights  in  a  dark  room  ,  nike  sweatsuits  ,  game  winning  moves  ,  new  york  city  at  night  ,  hamptons  in  the  summer  ,  spring  break  in  miami  ,  impulsive decisions  .

//   »    TL;DR   :

(  and  some  stuff  i  probably  missed  oops  )  warner  is  a  conflicted  mama’s   boy  who  knows  half  the  shit  he does  is  wrong  but  can’t  stop  .  after  his  mothers passing  he had  an absent father  who seemed  to  always  be  away  on  business  ,  only  in  town  for  a  month  or  two  ,  missing  his sons’ multiple  feats   to  keep  himself  distracted  from  the  fact  that  his  wife  was  no  longer  with  them. created  immense daddy  issues  for  warner  ,  especially  since  he  was  a  standout  football  star  &  2x   stage  champ in  high  school  ,  and is  currently  playing  collegiality  for  the  irish ,  with  dreams  of  making  it  in  the  nfl  cause  screw  his  dad  he  don’t  wanna  go   2  the  navy   ,   or  work  for  dat  company # not  gonna  happen .  warner  took  great  advantage  of  wealth  &  his  fathers  absence  ,  but  he’s  lowkey  partied  out  in  college  ,  or  so  he likes  to  say  but  he fakes  it ‘till  he  makes  it bc  he  doesn’t  his  brothers  to think  he’s  lame . HE’S  LIVING  FOR  EVERYBODY  BUT  HIM  BASICALLY .

//   »    HEADCANONS    :

warner  is  on  a  football  scholarship  majoring  in  environmental  science  bc  although  he  most  likely  won’t  do  shit  w/  da  degree its  for  mommy  .

he can EASILY  be  manipulated  or  taken  advantage  of  ,  he’s  book  smart  but lowkey  dumber  than  a  fucking  box  of  rocks 

immastonerbyyoungthug.mp3  .  occasionally ,  but  ,  more  so  than  that  ?  he  always  manages  to  flush  out  his  system  in  time  if  needed  be  ,  but  he  loves  2  roll  up  #  stress relief 

a  BEAST  on  that  field  (  student  athlete  meme  here  )

has  all  the  canon  gray  tattoos  bc  fuck  what  dad  thinks  .  he  wears  a solid  16 inch gold  chain  ,  and  another  of  the same  length with  his  moms’  name  on  it  , never  fucking  takes  it  off  ,  showers  with  it  cause  he  can  .

ok  ........  he  rich  ,  but  like  not  i  can  do  whatever  i  want  rich  ???  he  may  not  ever  have  to  work  a  day  in  his   life  ,  but  he  don’t  got  the pull  u  think  he  does  w/  his  dumb  ass  u  probably  couldn’t  even  tell  he’s  got  money  with  his  minimalist  fashion  sense  .

he  has  a  higher  moral  compass  than  most  of  his  frat  bros  ,  but  the  stupid  shit  he does  ,  u most  likely  won’t  even  be  able  to tell  ,  he’s  definitely  a  serial  romeo  and  a  heartbreaker  ,  one  compliment  ?  he’s  ready  to  drop  his  pants  &  fall  in  love  w/   u  .

HE DUMB  ,  but  like  he  can  talk  his  way  into  &  out  of  anything  ,  most  of  the  time  ,  batting  those  big  brown  eyes  &  a  million  dollar  smile  has  saved  his  ass  on  multiple  occasions  .

//   »    WANTED CONNECTIONS   :

EX-GIRLFRIEND :  i’m  thinking  his  first  &  only  “  serious  “  relationship  while  in  college  .  were  going  pretty  steady  until  he  cheated  on  her  (  hmm wc  on  who  he  cheated  on  her w/ ??  ) ,  she  never  found  out  but  that  guilt  ate warner TF UP  so  he  cut  things  off  with  her  via  text  message  and blocked  her  number  ,  ignores  her  any  chance  he  gets  ‘till  this  day  ,  cause  he  doesn’t  have  any  balls  and  cannot  face  his  fears  .

FRAT BROS  : lowkey  what  i’m  MOST  excited  for  asdfgh  like  whoever  is  in  beta  lambada mu  hit  me  the  fuck UP so  we  can  discuss  dynamics  ,  roomates  ,  allat  .

FOOTBALL TEAM  : same  for  above  ,  he’s  lowkey  cocky  &  got  sly  comments  when  he’s  on  the  field  ,  he constantly  humbles  himself  but  can’t  helps  it  ,  he is  hot  shit  and  he  knows  it  , how does  his  team  feel  ab  that  ??  w/  his  defensive  ass  !

GOOD-LUCK CHARM  :  prolly  a  girl  (  bonus  points  if  a  cheerleader  ???  im  not  picky  tho  i promise  if  ur  muse  don’t  shake  poms  idc  )  it  happened  out  the  blue  ,  they  screamed  his  name  while  the  team  was  walking  out  for  a  game  ,  and  she  called  that  he’d  get  3  td’s  and  thats  exactly  what  he  did  now  they  joke  ab  it  and  shit  (  maybe  a  goodluck  kiss b4  games  bc  its  warner lolol  ) idk  i  came  up  wit  it  on the  spot but  i love  it.

//   »    MISC   :

i’m a dumbass  &  this  got  way  longer  than  i  expected  but  if  u  made  it   all  the  way  thru  ily . 

[meda-carter]

Hi all! I’m Hayley, 20, pronouns are she/her and I’m from the CST timezone! I’m so excited to share my broken baby girl with you all! I’ve been writing Meda for a super long time and she’s very special to me, so I really hope you guys like her! 

💀  * [ kaya scodelario + cis female + she/her ] —— have you met andromeda ‘meda’ carter? they are a twenty-three year old junior currently studying criminal justice. they live on keating house, and word around campus is that this leo is brave + intelligent, as well as judgmental + condescending . i wonder if they’ll make it out alive. notes scribbled in the margins of books, rain pelting a glass window, head held high with shaking knees.  [ ooc: hayley. 20. she/her & cst. ]

Background (tw death, death in childbirth)

Born the second child and only daughter of two seasoned CIA agents, Meda’s life began with tragedy. Her mother died from complications in childbirth and lived only long enough to give her daughter a name. Her father, now a widower, doted on the child his wife had given her life to bring into the world, and often neglected her older brother Nate, who he had never quite been able to bond with. This led to long-standing resentment from Nate that would last and worsen for the rest of their childhoods and into their adulthood. When their father was killed on a mission gone wrong when she was five, Meda and Nate spent most of their childhood shuffled from foster home to foster home. With no stability and a brother who couldn’t stand her, Meda found that her acceptance into Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a boarding school for gifted girls, was a god-send. It It was there that she was able to make lifelong friends and excel without the resentment of her brother weighing down on her every moment, discovering a passion for criminology and criminalistics. It was her excellent performance at such an elite school that earned her a scholarship to Holloway University. After graduation, Meda plans to pursue a career in law enforcement, having a strong desire to protect those she could and seek justice for the ones she could not.

Personality

i. Loving. When Meda loves, she does so with every fiber of her being. There is absolutely nothing she won’t do for the people she cares about. She gets attached and empathizes with people very easily. When she lets you into her heart, you’re there to stay and the devotion she’ll show to you will be all-consuming. Because of this, she does not deal with loss and grief well. The loss of a loved one or a friendship can leave her devastated to the point of agony. However, she’s decided a long time ago that it’s better to love someone for a short time and lose them than to never have loved them at all. To Meda, the main point of existence is to love; not just romantic love, but familial love, platonic love, love of humanity, love of country and so on. Her downfall is likely to be caused by an excess of love.

ii. Understanding. Meda has an uncanny ability to understand other people’s emotions and to understand how their experiences shape the way they are as people. This has made her a rather good advice-giver, as she can often help people make sense of their own emotions and inner conflicts better than they can themselves. This awareness of people does not always extend to her understanding of herself.

iii.  Stubborn. Meda is someone who firmly believes in her own mind and convictions. Getting her to admit she’s wrong is like pulling teeth. She has a firm moral compass and has an almost absolute sense of right and wrong. This may seem somewhat contradictory to her understanding nature, but although she can understand why people may feel the way they do in certain situations, she tends to have very strong opinions on how they should act in that situation. This has led Meda to have little patience for other people’s mistakes, especially when those mistakes cause other people to get hurt. Because of this, she can come across as condescending and judgmental at times.

iv. Intelligent. Meda has always been praised and prided herself on her sharp mind. She retains information easily, and has excellent problem-solving skills. She also has a silver tongue and is exceptional at knowing the right thing to say in any given situation, whether it be what to say to comfort a friend to how to charm someone into giving her the information she needs.  She gets a sort of high out of solving a puzzle or mystery, and nothing gives her greater satisfaction than outsmarting someone. Ironically, this can lead to her taking rather stupid risks when she feels that she has to prove herself right about something.

v. Proud. Meda has a very realistic view of her competency and ability; she’s not someone that would ever be accused of too much modesty. She doesn’t like to be bested in any area, and takes any perceived failures very seriously. She’s not easily manipulated in general, but making a challenge to her abilities is probably the best way to coax her into doing something.

vi. Passionate. Meda exudes passion in every area of her life, whether it be towards her friends and family, her career or her hobbies. She doesn’t do anything without caring deeply about it. When she decides that something needs to be done, she absolutely will not stop until she has seen it through, and will exhaust herself until she has considered and followed through on every option. She is especially passionate about justice, and she often has a short fuse in situations where the issues of right and wrong come up. Her temper, once unleashed, is a scalding and frightful thing to behold.

Wanted Connections

Ride-or-die friends: The people she would do anything for; the first real stable and non-toxic figures in her life

Rivals: People she just happens to butt heads with, due to a clash of personalities or something else, these two just don’t get along

Love Interests: Meda has hella abandonment issues and so has never really had a long-lasting relationship, so this would be new and interesting territory for her

Old Hook-Ups: Can have ended on good terms or bad, these are the people that she’s tried the romantic thing with in the past, usually just casually, that haven’t worked out for some reason. 

Anything else you can think of: I’m terrible with coming up with wanted connections, so if you have any ideas, feel free to message me and let me know! So looking forward to writing with all of you!

[fallout-snippets]

For one reason or another Father decides it is a good idea to create a Gen 3 Syth version of Nate/Nora. how does the Sole Survivor and Romanced companions react? (Feel free to add the reactions of other companions such as X6 + Valentine if you feel like it)

(ill pretend that Sole rejected Fathers offer to take over the Institute and he has created a synth based on them for his successor. The intent is not to replace Sole but just to make sure that his “genes” remain in the Institute if needed, he probably assumes they wont last long above anyway)

Cait become super paranoid and probably starts to doubt the real Sole really is the real Sole. Needs a lot of convincing and probably keeps an eye on them for a while after. Doesn’t trust Father or the synth at all, wants to hunt them down and destroy them.

Curie knows it’s a bad thing but doesn’t understand why it has to be. Sole is a wonderful person, if there’s two of them now, how can that be bad? Knows what the Institute has done and of course doesn’t trust or like them but also can’t forget that they’re the reason she has a body. Really wishes they used their science for good, would love to go there despite its reputation. Feels very confused about thinking that her Sole might not be the Real Sole, doesn’t like thinking about it.

Danse is absolutely furious and disgusted. Thinks it’s the worst thing that can possibly happen, but stays by Soles side as they did by his. Doesn’t trust for one second that Father and the synth intend to keep to themselves, firmly believes it’s a ploy to destroy Soles reputation. Does keep his eyes on Sole, just in case, but never lets them doubt themselves as he did. Knows what it does to you emotionally.

Hancock is outraged on Soles behalf, swears up a storm and tells Father and the synth they won’t get away with it. He’s a little spooked that it’s so easy for them to turn everything upside down and it doesn’t sit right with him that Sole might just be pretending to be Sole, either to destroy their person and reputation or to get close to Goodneighbor and destroy that. Doesn’t change much between them though, as long as they behave as they always have and do the right thing.

MacCready gets chilled to the bone with the implication that Sole might not be Sole. Like Cait he needs a lot of convincing before he can relax around them. Eventually understands that he just has to take their word for it and like Hancock, treats them the same as long as they act the same. Will be stressed out until the Institute is dealt with though, because then he’ll know that even if Sole is the synth the Institute won’t be puppeteering them.

Nick doesn’t like the idea that the Institute has a stand-in for Sole, but refuses to let Sole feel like any less of who they are. Even if they end up replaced it’s not like they can run wild, people will stop them from going too far. He’s a synth himself but they’ve always made him feel like an individual and he wants to return that favor. Promises they’ll defeat the Institute and get rid of the threat.

Piper is terrified. Knows how far the Institute reaches and where they stick their pawns but to do that to Sole? Fathers own parent? It’s sickening. She feels even less for the Institute and is more determined to destroy them. As for Sole, she just doesn’t know how to doubt them. They’ve done so much it feels wrong to doubt them and even if they end up being a synth, what can she actually do about it? She’s a little more reserved but she stands by them, no matter what.

Preston is horrified, feels for Sole who has to endure the conflict in emotion. It never wavers his faith in them though, doesn’t think Sole can be really replaced. They’re too much of a public figure and too many people know them too well for the Institute to pull it off. Stands by them completely and unequivocally.

X6-88 doesn’t really see the purpose of creating a synth version of Sole since the whole Institute already knows they rejected the position. It’ll only cause conflict among the senior members who want to run the place and if it’s really to contain the genes then there was no need to announce it. Sees how negatively Sole has reacted and thinks himself it was pretty tasteless to do it. Loses some more faith in Father and becomes more loyal to Sole.

Gage isn’t completely up to speed on the whole Institute business but doesn’t understand how Sole can watch a copy of themselves and not immediately kill it. Isn’t too afraid of the replacement issue, where he comes from everyone gets replaced eventually. Just not literally with a copy of yourself. Doesn’t change much in their relationship, he’s confident he’d notice if it wasn’t the Real Sole. Doesn’t mind the idea of having two Soles though.