#this is how they get their first waystar connections

[thefabelmans2022]

just found out frank from succession was the back half of snuffleupagus on sesame street. delightful information.

[scarletttries]

How Succession Characters would react to getting you pregnant...

Pairings: Kendall Roy x Reader, Roman Roy x Reader, Tom Wambsgans x Reader, Greg Hirsch x Reader, Lucas Mattson x Reader, Stewy Hosseini x Reader

Author's note: Thank you for this fun request! Here is a little bit of thoughts on how a bunch of the Succession characters would react to finding out their partner (the reader) is pregnant ☺️

Kendall Roy

This man has had the importance of succession literally bred into him. His struggles with infertility and trying to be the kind of father he wishes he could be have taken a toll on poor Kendall, making him feel like he'll never have the family he's always wished for. That starts to ease when the two of you get together, slowly coming around to the idea that maybe he doesn't need anything else as long as he has you. But when your period is late, expect Kendall to notice, always keeping track of your body in the back of his mind in a way he just can't help but obsess over. He daren't say anything, certain that in the next week it will turn out to be nothing, his body once again failing to deliver him what he craves so much.

A few days later when you bring him lunch at the office he's all but pushed that hopeful thought out of his head until you present him a carefully wrapped box, inside of which sit a dozen positive pregnancy tests. He's in complete disbelief at first, eyes welling up and repeatedly asking if you're sure, and more uncomfortably for him, if it's definitely his. Once you've suitably convinced him of both of those facts, you'll get full, smiling, happy Kendall, scooping you into his arms and telling you exactly how 'fucking excited he is' loud enough that by 2pm that day everyone in the Waystar office has heard the news.

While you're pregnant Kendall can't stop telling everyone that the two of you are expecting, overflowing with pride and joy and love for your growing family. He's the kind of person to fly in the best midwife/doula/doctor in the world to make sure everything goes exactly to plan, making sure you don't have to lift a finger for the whole nine months. He'd also be an absolute menace for not being able to keep his hands off you, the way you glow as you start showing driving his little brain insane, wanting more than anything to just put baby after baby inside you.

Finally when the baby comes expect Kendall to be there. Yes he'll have a few wobbles and won't be perfect, the reality of his experience of fatherhood making him doubt he'll do anything good enough for this baby, but every time he sees the two of you, he knows he needs to step up and do whatever it takes for his little family, now that he finally has what he's been dreaming of.

Roman Roy

It's taken a long time for Roman just to get comfortable being intimate with you, a slow but not unpleasant journey that the two of you have been on since he first fell embarrassingly hard for you while working at Waystar. Given the months of longing looks and lingering touches it took to get to your first kiss, you never really thought about needing to use protection with Roman, until one particularly special night he finally wanted to try 'the whole thing' with you, surprised and delighted at how perfect it felt take make love to someone he truly cared for, allowing himself to be vulnerable in every way with you. As if wanting to make up for lost time, that night would lead to a real Honeymoon phase of Roman not being able to keep his hands off you, desperate to feel that incredible connection again and again.

You can hardly feel too surprised as the nurse confirms your suspicion, a follow up appointment made and a heavy piece of news on your shoulders as you ride silently in the town-car back to yours and Roman's home. He's his usual ball of emphatic energy as you step through the door, bounding up to you before stopping in his tracks at the clear weight on your chest. The words spill out before you can overthink it, watching carefully as you watch him process it all, slinking down to the floor and sitting cross-legged in silence as he contemplates. Roman had never planned to have a child, not ever expecting to find someone like you to share his life with, and he didn't exactly have the best relationship with the concept of fatherhood, a chill running down his spine at the thought of Logan ever laying a hand on his kid. Then a realisation began to calm him; that he was nothing like his father. And while he wouldn't be perfect, his immature brain sure to make mistakes along the way, he knew he would always make his child feel safe, something he wished someone had done for him all those years ago. So then he'd smile, and pull you down to the floor with him, and laugh his teary-eyed hyena laugh, and wrap you in his arms, protecting all three of you for the next chapter of your lives.

It's safe to say his family would be extremely surprised by the announcement, particularly Logan, who'd rejoice in a way that made Roman feel even more sure that he'd never be that kind of cruel, manipulative father that only wanted his children for what they could do for him. Throughout the pregnancy Roman would be up and down, jubilant and terrified, proud and ashamed, the whole thing trudging up more than its fair share of childhood trauma. But when it comes down to it, he'll be there to step up, immediately swearing to do whatever it takes to make sure your little one never feels the way he spent his life feeling.

Tom Wambsgans

Despite all the venom and acid that burned him in his first marriage (this one's for you team Tomshiv divorce), Tom is peak fatherhood material. You only have to look at the intensely caring way he talks about Mondale, the bizarre energy he's put into raising Greg, and of course, his absolute undying affections for you, to know this man would coddle a child like no one's business. You wouldn't even be scared to tell him, the news unplanned but certainly not unpleasant, the way this man fucks like a freight train clearly no match for the average condom.

You'd make an event of it, ordering balloons and cake and flowers to your shared duplex, so when he got home to a sea of congratulations there would be no doubt. A midwest man through and through, if you weren't already married he'd buy you a ring the very next day, the floods of happy tears stopping long enough to let him pick a perfect diamond. He'd spend half the week on the phone telling everyone he knows, so excited to grow your little family, and be the kind of man he'd been raised to be. He's definitely type to read an unhelpful number of articles to make sure he's doing everything he can 'to serve you and your growing child during this strenuous time', calling his mother to fly across the states to help out as you get closer to your due date. This man already has a short-list of the best preschools in New York by the time your bundle of joy comes in the world, ready to be a present father and husband, even if it means for once his career has to take a backseat.

Greg Hirsch

You had worked very very hard to make it crystal clear to Greg that whatever happened between the two of you was strictly on a casual basis, not wanting to get drawn into his complex family dynamics, or end up the centre of ATN news story. Despite his clear infatuation he had agreed, following every boundary and rule you set out to the best of his slightly clueless abilities. So when you triple checked the calendar and realised what had happened, you couldn't help but lock yourself in the Waystar women's bathroom and scream enough curses to make Kendall Roy blush. After deciding this was something you wanted, you'd finally let Greg buy you dinner, surprised by the calibre of restaurant he picked for what was really just a first date.

When you tell him the news, and make it clear you don't expect anything from him, you'd be pleasantly surprised by how loudly and excitedly he proclaims "that he loves kids!" earning a few uncomfortable looks from the tables around you. He'd be stressed and feel unprepared for sure, but he wanted more of a relationship with you and this was going to put that on the cards for him, plus he'd always wanted a family of his own so he couldn't wait to tell 'Uncle Tom and Great Grandpa Ewen' the news.

Realistically he'd be quite a useless partner, buying you your favourite sushi without realising you can't have it, and wanting to throw a party in your favourite bar to celebrate, forgetting you can't drink, but the thought would always be there. And if you need anything done, he's ready and waiting, even if he needs the clearest possible instructions and will end up having to call you for more information anyway. No matter how much trouble it gets him in with work/Tom he'd be at every appointment, proud to have a reason to pull himself together and excited to be a grown up, if it means being one by your side. Once you have your baby, he'd 100% bring them into the office, showing them around Waystar and being shocked at anyone implying its not appropriate to bring your baby to work, having Tom back him that it's important for all the Roy family to be there together.

Stewy Hosseini

Coming from the happiest family in the Succession universe, Stewy's often thought about having a family of his own, but his lifestyle of late nights and kissing boys on Molly means it's not something that he's ever really applied himself to pursuing. So when the two of you start dating he takes it seriously; he can tell he could have a real future with you, the type of warm, intelligent, kind person he's always wanted to find and settle down with. It wouldn't be long until you were introduced to his parents, watching over his nieces and nephews together and giving Stewy no choice but to pray you'll be the mother of his children. He'd want to go through the traditional order of things, getting married and building a home together before you started to grow your family, but when a happy night of too much rose in the hot tub on his balcony leads to a positive pregnancy test, he'd be absolutely elated. He'd call in every favour he was owed across the city to get your dream wedding together within a month, dragging you round viewings of townhouses with little gardens he immediately describes as 'perfect for the little one.'

Stewy would still respect your independence though, making his hopes and preferences known, but ultimately letting you call all the shots, just a helping hand and credit card to make whatever you're dreaming of come true. He's less protective than some of the others, but only because he knows you're tough as nails now and always, not wanting you to feels smothered and wrapped in bubble-wrap, still making sweet plans for just the two of you before and after the baby comes. Stewy would be such a happy and excited father, truly just a joy to be around.

Lukas Mattson (warning: darker themes, reader discretion advised)

Even just being seduced by Mattson would feel a little bit unsettling; uncertain of exactly how much of what he said he really meant, and what was all just charm and bravado that seemed to effortlessly ooze out of him. So when he insists that you don't need protection, or says he'll pull out but always does it a moment too late, you don't realise what he's up to until it's too late. You see from the moment Lucas met you, he knew you had to be his, and the easiest way to tie your lives together forever is to get you pregnant.

He'd pretend to be shocked by the news, like he hadn't worked night and day to baby-trap you, asking you sincerely if you want to keep it, and telling you you'd want for absolutely nothing if you just let him look after the two of you. He says it so sweetly, so sincerely, hovering his shaking hand just shy of your stomach and looking down at you with nothing but awestruck affection in his eyes that you can't help but fall for him, this image of devotion exactly what you want for your future. And as you say you want to keep it, and have your family with him, he'll fall to his knees and tear up, his whole life feeling like it lead to this moment, a child to make the best future he can for.

He'll throw himself into his work for a lot of your pregnancy, a new perspective on his work with AI, tinkering with the latest baby tech to make sure you two have everything you could possibly want to help you with this stage of your lives. You'll grow slightly more used to his intensity as he points it in a helpful direction, worshipping the ground you walk on and trying desperately to make everything as good as it can be for your little family.

[tomwambsgans]

succession + plane motif

paralleling with the show's ship/ocean motif, which mostly encompasses tom&greg and how the company is held together via interpersonal relationships, it's the more technical inner workings of waystar - including the ultimately pragmatic relationship that is tom and shiv - that get the plane metaphor. the most surface-level allusion to draw, of course, is the notion of technical advancement, wealth, and power. ocean travel has been a thing since early hominids and holds a spot in basically every culture out there, meanwhile traversing the skies is brand new in the scheme of things. there's little precedent for what we can do now. it's faster, it's sleeker, it's... more dangerous. it's a whole goddamn house all the way up in the sky. it's innately elite, being physically as up there as it gets. therefore when it fails, you fall all the way down. which is also why, whereas the "ship sinking" results only being useless in the water or devolving into amoeba, in fact surviving at the bottom of the ocean... the plane's failure leads to certain, unambiguous death. (UNLESS you are supremely well-equipped - though "golden parachute" is irl corporate lingo.) we get repeated connections between air travel and death from the very first episode, for not just logan's literal death but ewan's fear of it, for tom and shiv's marriage, and for everyone's potential corporate failure. ironically, the one way that logan and his company do stake themselves in the 21st century... is the one way that they shouldn't. it's not the future, it's just unnatural.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

hi! you give great advice. i wanted to ask, if you're writing a long piece (eg novella, novel), how much of an outline, plot-wise, do you think is needed before diving into the first draft? and if you have any advice on creating the first draft when you have some characters, a broad 'vibe' but not much in the way of concrete plot (like, What Actually Happens), i'd be super grateful, thank you!

How much outlining you do is totally your personal preference. I don't really outline because I write very fast and my first draft essentially is me working out live what I want the outline of the second draft to be.

As for your central question here - I mean your plot should come from your characters, right? What do these people want, and why don't they have it? What can they do to get it? Who or what will try to stop them? What will be the repercussions of their actions?

Characters who drive stories should have something they want, and something they need. Kendall from Succession wants to be CEO of Waystar; he needs to stop trying to become his father, and embrace the people he loves as a reason to live. Those two things, separately and in combination, drive everything he does in the story. Sometimes one is ascendant over the other; sometimes it seems possible that he might get both. Ultimately, because Succession is a tragedy, he gets neither.

Don't try to overcomplicate this stuff. The simpler you can state the wants vs needs of your characters, the stronger the story will be. Ellen Ripley wants to escape the aliens: she needs to confront them. Han Solo wants to get rich without being tied down; he needs to find a family and a cause to give his life meaning. Gollum wants the ring; he needs to find his way back to humanity and connection. Elizabeth Bennet wants to find a husband who won't drag her down; she needs to get over herself, and admit she can be wrong.

Sometimes what a character wants and needs are in direct contradiction (sometimes we want things that are bad for us). Sometimes they go hand-in-hand. Figuring out how to reconcile the two shapes your character's inner journey. The easier that is, the less inner conflict a character will have. That's fine, too, like don't get the impression that I'm saying that more inner conflict is inherently better. It depends on the story you're trying to tell. Alien is not a weaker story because Ellen Ripley's want and need are highly compatible (by confronting the aliens, she does escape them). Ellen Ripley doesn't need a ton of inner conflict. She's dealing with enough outer conflict to keep the story going. But even Ripley's want/need aren't the same, and her transition from fleeing to fighting the aliens is still what shapes the story.

The point is that your characters want something, and they need something, and at the beginning of the story, they have neither. The story starts when they start trying to change that, and it ends when they succeed or fail.

[lookingupatthesamemoon]

CORPORATE CONNECTION - a lore guide

a VERY long-winded lore guide to the ship of Kendall Roy and Gogh, my Succession self-insert :3 !!!

cw: substance use

(SUCCESSION SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT !!!)

meet Gogh, my Succession self-insert !!! she’s a mid-20s actuary working for Waystar Royco (well, at least until s3). she begins her business relationship with the company working for an insurance company that has close ties to Waystar, but after a year or so, Waystar makes her an offer to join their own risk management team – they need the new blood.

by the start of season one, Gogh has been working directly for Waystar for about eight months. she only ever sees Kendall once a month at meetings – and that’s being generous. she can’t really deny that she’s attracted to him, but she keeps it under wraps considering he’s essentially one step away from being her boss. it isn’t until Tom’s bachelor party (s1e8) that we properly see them interact. Gogh happens to be at Rhomboid with her own group of friends, and runs into Kendall shortly after he has a stressful conversation with Stewy and Sandy. they get to talking, and very soon after they take Ketamine together, ending up lazily making out in a corner as the night goes on. she sees him at the office a few days later and they have a more proper conversation about what had happened between them. Kendall floats the idea of Gogh accompanying him to Shiv’s wedding, but she declines.

as we head into season two, Gogh hasn’t seen much of Kendall since before the wedding. this is, of course, because he was sent to rehab after committing manslaughter in the midst of his sister’s wedding. she sees his news appearance (s2e1) and attempts to reach out to him, but can’t get through. she assumes that whatever the hell they had going on previously meant nothing to him, as he continues to brush her off when he sees her at the office. finally, around s2e3, she gets a call from Kendall. he tells her he’s been having a “really tough time,” but he wants to take her out. she accuses him of using her as a distraction, but he swears that’s not his intention. he just feels like she’s one of few people in his life that won’t give him any bullshit. he thinks he can learn to trust her. he wants to. she takes this to heart, agreeing to give him a more serious shot. during the whole safe room fiasco (s2e4), they start to realize just how much they’re growing to care for each other.

despite this, Kendall still has a bad habit of putting the company above Gogh in any given situation. for instance, he still hooks up with Naomi Pierce (s2e5). this upsets Gogh greatly, obviously, as she thought she and Kendall were starting something serious. he brushes her off when they argue about it, making the excuse that he only did it to help his dad in the PGN deal. in an attempt to make up for this blunder, Kendall invites Gogh to Argestes. she almost declines, worrying that the PGN deal will fall through if she’s there, but Kendall assures her that the deal is already fucked, so she agrees. this is the first time the two are seen together by Logan, and frankly, he’s not enthused.

(from this point on in my own canon, anything that happens between Kendall and Naomi in the series is actually happening between Kendall and Gogh or is not happening at all).

after the events of s2e7, Gogh gets a phone call. Kendall finally tells her about the events of Shiv’s wedding, how he accidentally killed a young waiter while trying to score cocaine. he feels like he can’t tell anybody about what happened, and the few people he feels like he can refuse to listen. but Gogh listens. not only does she listen, but she offers her support and sticks by his side. it’s clear as day now to Kendall that he needs to keep her in his life. 

from this point on, the two are practically inseparable – perhaps to an unhealthy degree. they attend Willa’s play together. Gogh accompanies Kendall to Logan’s birthday event (s2e8) and cheers him on during L to the OG. she’s at the court during the hearing in s2e9 – she feels very uneasy about it, but she’s there for Kendall. they become attached at the hip, but the court date definitely puts a pit in her stomach.

she puts this in the back of her mind though after the events of the season two finale. he invites her onto the family yacht for the weekend for emotional support, but she ends up leaving on day two due to pressure from Logan – she suggests Kendall join her, but he insists on staying until the weekend is over. by this point, Kendall’s position at the company is in jeopardy, his father ready to throw him under the bus as a sacrificial lamb. he doesn’t speak to her between her leaving the yacht and his television appearance, during which he speaks out against his father. she watches live from her apartment as it plays out, her jaw dropping as he makes his statements. it’s the bravest thing she’s seen him do in all the time she’s known him. he gives her a call later that day, offering her a position on his own personal business team - not a particularly involved one, but rather a guarantee that she's on his side. of course, she accepts, immediately resigning from her position with Waystar.

as we head into season three, Gogh is firmly on team Kendall (because of course she is). she doesn’t see him until late in the evening, the night after his legendary press appearance, when he invites her over to his little hiding spot – his ex-wife’s apartment. it’s awkward to say the least. Gogh doesn’t love the idea of making this their meeting spot, but she’s cordial, of course. her interactions with Rava are clumsy. she realizes, too, that she’s not 100% sold on the rest of Kendall’s team. she doesn’t work well with Greg, and she gets a bad vibe from Comfry… she sticks by Kendall’s side, but wonders why his siblings are so hesitant to join his side.

she accompanies Kendall to the CPWJ event (s3e3), as well as the afterparty that he throws at Greg’s(?) apartment. she’s by his side comforting him after Shiv’s letter regarding his wellbeing goes public. at this point, she distances herself even further from the rest of the Roy family, recognizing their effects on him are only becoming more negative. she is also in the audience at the shareholder meeting in s3e5. anywhere Kendall goes, Gogh tends to follow. he spends much of his time at her apartment throughout the season, his own place constantly being swarmed by news outlets, paparazzi, and various groups of protesters. 

throughout s3, Gogh finds herself very conflicted on how she views Kendall. she cares about him, deeply, and she’s proud of everything he’s doing – well, almost everything. but at the same time, she can tell he’s not doing well. she struggles to find a good balance between supporting him and trying to keep him in check. she knows it’s not her job to do so, of course, but she still feels compelled to try. they argue off-and-on about his drug use and his work addiction among other things, ultimately getting nowhere.

of course, things start crashing down for Kendall at his 40th birthday bash. Gogh helps him plan the party, despite being a bit concerned about the excess of it all. as the night progresses, Kendall goes from being on top of the world to being down on the concrete of his balcony. he begins to realize that no one in attendance actually cares. it’s just another rich asshole’s birthday party that people are using for clout, and the only people around besides Gogh that care are his kids, whose gift to him gets lost in the shuffle. his siblings offer him nothing but a buyout offer and a card that says five words: “cash out and fuck off.” he’s lost any leverage he may have had over Waystar. he breaks down, asking Gogh to take him home. on their way out, Roman and Shiv have to get in one last punch – literally.

soon after, the two of them travel out to Tuscany for Kendall’s mother’s wedding. during the trip, Kendall seriously considers the buyout offered to him at his birthday party, and sits down to discuss it with his father. the conversation shakes him for the remainder of the trip, and he almost drunkenly drowns himself in his pool before Gogh pulls him out. she encourages him to attend a sort of “intervention” with his siblings, and while he does go, he remains defensive. at the wedding, Kendall finally admits to his siblings that he was at fault for the death of the waiter at Shiv’s wedding back in season one, tearfully seeking solace in them – but less than a minute later, the three get an urgent call, causing them all to team up against their father, just as Kendall was trying to do weeks prior.

as season three comes to a close, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv all find themselves shut out of Waystar. in the months leading up to season four, the three continue to work together as their own team – and Gogh remains a part of it. she’s not fully in the business, but Kendall bounces ideas off of her here and there, and their relationship continues, more peacefully than it ever had before. she allows herself to get closer to Shiv and Roman again, noticing that things finally seem copacetic. Kendall is finally sober, he’s in therapy, and he finally has the relationship with his siblings that she thinks he needs.

Gogh accompanies Kendall to Connor’s wedding (s4e3), during which Logan passes away, on a plane on his way to a business negotiation. she’s sadder than she expected she would be hearing this news – she had always hated Logan, but seeing the way the news was affecting Kendall made her feel especially awful. in the wake of their father’s death, Kendall and his siblings have a lot to deal with, which means Gogh does too.

at Logan’s wake, Gogh follows Kendall closely, supporting him through the crowd of empty condolences, but gives him space with his siblings. she knows they have to discuss the future of Waystar, and that they’ll jump into these talks as soon as possible. Frankly, she isn’t sure she wants to be involved with the company all that closely. of course, the biggest fish to fry is the GoJo deal.

after the discovery of Logan’s letter, in which he seemingly suggests Kendall take over as CEO of Waystar, Kendall immediately talks with Gogh. she’s hesitant to encourage him in either direction, seeing as his emotional stability has once again come into question after his father’s passing. she wonders, out loud, if going back to Waystar will actually do him any good, but tells him that the decision is entirely his. by the time the wake is over, Kendall and Roman have been named co-CEOs – Ken and Gogh are on top of the world, despite some of Gogh’s concerns. she helps him move his things back into his office (among other things 😇). she feels almost sick being back inside Waystar headquarters, but pushes it down for Kendall’s sake.

of course, being involved with the new CEO of one of the largest media conglomerates in the country has its perks, including but not limited to expensive gifts, fancy dinners, and private flights. Gogh accompanies Kendall to Norway for the GoJo retreat as the siblings prepare to make their deal with Matsson. as far as Gogh knows, the plan is for the deal to go through, for a large portion of Waystar to be sold – so imagine her surprise when things begin to unravel, and Kendall purposefully attempts to torpedo the deal. his attempts fail, of course, but he refuses to give up, desperate to keep the title of CEO.

Gogh watches, concerned, as Kendall becomes more frantic. he seemingly enters a manic state, and Gogh worries he’s back on cocaine despite his claims of sobriety. she watches nervously as he makes his Living+ pitch at Investor Day (s4e6), sticking the landing far better than she expects him to. things are shockingly going his way. still, Gogh worries the bough might soon break, especially with Election Day on its way. she attempts to talk with him about his friendship with Stewy as well, believing it to be a bad influence, but Kendall refuses to engage.

Gogh spends most of the following night on Kendall’s arm at his tailgate party (s4e7). things are mostly looking up at this point. granted, Gogh doesn’t know every single detail of the business moves Kendall and Roman are making, but as long as Kendall is in a good position, so is she. she’s known, to some capacity, the types of people that Kendall has been working with during his short time as CEO, but this is her first time having to interact with any of those types face to face – and she does not like seeing Kendall schmooze fascists and their friends. she starts wondering if this is all worth it. if Kendall really is the kind of person he likes to think that he wants to be. does he even know what he wants to be? Gogh has her doubts. nevertheless, she grins and bears it for his sake.

she stays as far as humanly possible from the Waystar offices on Election night. she watches the number come in at home, anxiously awaiting each network to call it. she never watches ATN, but she has her eye on them tonight. Kendall calls her during the Milwaukee debate, hoping to get her perspective with her statistical skills, and she, like Darwin, agrees that Jimenez would have taken most of the lost votes. she’s terrified, thinking about the party the night before, that Kendall and his siblings might not make the right call, despite Kendall reassuring her.

of course, by the time Kendall returns to her apartment, ATN has called the race for Mencken – and the worst part of all, of course, is that Kendall played a part in this. he and Gogh get into a huge argument about this, resulting in Gogh threatening to leave him. she can’t stand to watch him put his father’s business in front of his own morals over and over again. she wants so badly to believe that he’s a good person, with all this other shit in the way, but she can’t overlook the part he’s played in this election.

still, she attends Logan’s funeral the following morning. she doesn’t ride in with Kendall, so she’s unaware of the unsavory conversations he had with both Rava (his ex-wife) and Jess (his assistant) on his own way there. she acknowledges him there, of course, but remains closer to the back during the service, feeling the need to keep her distance. she ends up sitting near Jess, actually, and as she listens to Shiv’s speech about Logan, hearing her say “he was hard on women,” she and Jess share a look of understanding. Kendall was following in his father’s footsteps whether he realized it or not. he was becoming hard on women, too. he was becoming selfish and over-absorbed by the business. as Gogh observes the interactions in the crowd between Logan’s own mistresses, she starts to feel as though she’s become part of a pattern. Kendall, in a relationship with one of his underlings (well, at least when they started dating), was no better than his father having an affair with his own assistant. she feels sick. still, she catches Kendall at the end of the service, and shares a moment with him before they head separately to the burial. she hopes to talk with him again, but he’s busy discussing the business with Hugo, so she silently heads home.

Kendall ends up staying the night at Gogh’s apartment yet again – she’s almost mad at herself for even letting him in, but she can’t help but empathize with him. he’s going through a lot, and she knows it, because she’s been by his side for almost all of it. she becomes so anxious, though, that she can’t stay in bed with him. he notices this, and gets up, joining her in the kitchen for a much needed conversation. Gogh talks him through what she felt at the funeral, and finally, she admits that she can’t stay with him. he tries to fight this, to keep her, but she holds her ground. she lets him sleep there, in her bed while she stays on the couch. he’s gone without a trace the next morning.

of course, Gogh knows today is the big day. as far as she knows, Kendall has the numbers to block the GoJo deal, effectively remaining the CEO of Waystar until he either retires or dies. at this point, she figures he’s ready for it. as his father would have put it, he’s become a killer, finally proving he could handle the position better than his siblings. he deserves it, she thinks to herself. but then she sees the news. GoJo has officially purchased Waystar, and has named Tom the new CEO. her stomach drops. she attempts to call Kendall, but he doesn’t pick up. she tries again in the morning. still no answer. she tries to call Connor, just to see if he knows anything, but to no avail. finally, she decides to search for him herself. praying he isn’t dead, she walks through the city for hours, eventually finding him sitting in Battery Park, looking unwell as ever. as soon as he sees her, he breaks down. he realizes, in some way, he still has her love – if he didn’t, she wouldn’t have been the one to find him. over the course of their relationship, Kendall was always Gogh’s greatest weakness. she sighs to herself, holding him against her chest, as she ponders giving him another chance – after all, she doesn’t know any better.

(divider by @/thecutestgrotto, moodboard by me :3)

[cato616]

PREDICTABLE FEELING (part four)

kendall roy x fem reader

note: sorry i haven't been posting!! I've been kinda busy with uni and some other stuff

summary: it's the day where kendall finds out about your transfer to, not his dad, not shiv, but his brother roman; oh the many emotions that will build up once he finds out about this decision of yours.

parts: pt.1 // pt.2 // pt.3

content/warning: angst?/ fluff, degrading from roman? jealousy

You knew what effects it would have on kendall, being now the assistant of roman, in this case, knowing his history, he's not the type of person you would want to work with; kinda gross, pretty mean to his employees, actually that's pretty much everyone in the Roy family, but doesn't empathize that much like the rest, although he does from time to time, and oh, he has a type, but mostly has it for everyone he works with. Those are a few reasons why kendall will find this infuriating.

It's the next morning, and you're sleeping still; it was a long night of course. In your sleep, you were dreaming about being alone, in an abandoned city, no one in sight, full of green and large buildings surrounding you, nothing but yourself out there, until, you turn around and there it was kendall, kissing a mysterious woman behind you, so you tried to avoid it and started running, and as you may know, running in a dream, not really easy; may I also add, you were half naked, the dream was turning into a nightmare almost, kendall and the mysterious woman started to laugh at you, and you couldn't escape even when you had a whole city you could run around to. In conclusion, insecurity: check.

There was tho, an unfamiliar sound in that dream, like buzzing; The sound turned out to be from your phone, your eyes open, and immediately tried to grab the cellphone thinking it was an alarm, however, it wasn't an alarm, it was someone calling you; you rub your eyes, attempting to get your sight straight, you got out of bed, cleared your throat, and answered the call. "yes... who's this?" It was an unknown number. "wakey wakey dummy... uuh sorry I think I shouldn't talk to you like that from now on." You stand up from your bed, it made you react, it was roman on the other side. "I'm calling from an unknown number because someone tried to kill me and-" Roman starts chuckling, you weren't that amused with his attempted joke, as he tries to stop to compose himself so that he could continue talking to you. "sorry, I think this new decision of yours, made my life a little more interesting, this call by the way it's from my driver's phone, I forgot mine at my office-" Everything from last night were a bit of a blur. "wait- sorry, what... decision?" You didn't want to look unprofessional but you had to ask anyway. "I'm pretty sure it's you working for me? don't you remember?" You froze, as you connected those blurry fragments from when you were about to go to sleep, writing that email to roman. "right! yeah sorry, I just woke up, I remember." You did recall writing roman addressing your needs to transfer, of course, all because of kendall; that you do remember, he even appeared in your dream. "...sure, so I'll be there at my office shortly, you should be there too." You didn't know if you were crazy or if roman's voice was sounding mischievous, as if he was planning an evil scheme, but again, you were the one planning the whole thing.

Walking your way to Waystar, you kept thinking if this was the right call, was this revenge? trying to hurt kendall? or just to avoid him? The only thing you know is that it came over you just like that, last night; so, if deciding in a matter of second the need to be away from kendall, must be because of something.

You finally get to roman's office, he greets you first. "oh hey hey, come on in, quick." He didn't even let you speak for that matter, he was also very quiet, and quickly closed the door behind as soon as you stepped in. "so?... sorry, i really do wanna ask, how did he take it? did he start punching into walls or talked like an idiot... I am hurt, what you did wasn't cool, it wasn't, I didn't like it-" Roman was mimicking kendall in a mockingly way, as you stood still in front of him, analysing the situation. "... don't know why he's so direct and serious when confronting someone, he's a weird guy I must say, my poor brother." You zone back in. "hold on... what do you mean? I didn't tell him anything." Roman eyes lit up with excitement but he's brows showed confusion. "what do you mean you didn't tell him? he doesn't actually knows you're not his assistant anymore? that's- I feel like that's mean, was it supposed to be mean? or you just forgot?" Roman hit you with a hundred questions at a time, you back off a little bit. "all i can say, is that it was personal, and for even that reason, I decided to transfer, to you." Roman mockingly gasps as if he has heard the most interesting gossip. "I guess I misjudged you after all." You could read his face and whole body as he leaned closer, and his pupils dilated, that he was, flirting? It was surprising, but for some reason, you didn't want to stop him. You were hurt enough from yesterday to know you shouldn't let yourself hide crawled inside a cacoon; no, you let it flow. And because of that, roman seemed a bit stunned with your attitude, which it was, not stopping him. "mhm... weird you didn't fall back... you must really be touch deprived." holy shit. That's all you could think of.

As this weird tension was building up, someone stormed in the office, it was Kendall, you didn't think you would see him this early. You pushed yourself away from roman right after he walked in, you were on edge, mouth sealed, with eyes wide open. "roman what the hell it's this text you-" Kendall looked up, and sees you, he becomes speechless. He tries to slowly get closer to you, to say hi, and to talk; but you back away with your head bent down. Roman steps in the middle. "sorry bro, she's not yours anymore, I am in charge here." Kendall felt really jumbled with roman's cocky statement. "wha- what do you mean? is this what the text was about... hey, y/n what's happening here?" His eyes were looking at you when asking to you, but you were looking down the whole time. "yeah... it seems she's not answering to you, only to me." Roman shrugs, he's enjoying this. "you're gonna need to leave we have work to do, do you mind?" Roman slightly pushes kendall out of the room, as kendall tries to stay inside, couldn't take his eyes off of you, waiting for the slightest info to come from you. When roman got him to the door, he tells him to look at him, as he quietly speaks. "it wasn't my decision here, sorry to disappoint you, but it looks like someone preferred better quality time..."

Kendall frowns, his whole face is pure sadness, however, you didn't know, that his heart shattered a little bit, on the outside, on the inside tho, big time. His mind kept circulating back to last night, if he was crushed then, imagine this right moment. He began to feel in denial, of everything he was going through, he didn't need to be heartbroken, but here we are. Roman was waiving at him from behind the glass, as kendall felt pressured to leave, but again, hasn't taken his eyes off of you, hoping you two could lock eyes at any moment. For you, it wasn't revenge anymore, it was hurtful, for both of you, but, you have made your decision, it was too late to back up. Right before kendall left, he stopped staring from the other side of the glass, as he felt low-spirited, walking down the other way, with much less energy. "wasn't it too much?..." You asked roman feeling really guilty. Roman still watching his brother leaving that floor. "uuh- probably... can't believe he still gets sad like that." Roman did felt bad about it, but still kept on teasing his brother. He turns to you and focuses back again. "so, long story short, mostly it's just calls and coffee, I have other people who does more important stuff like that." Hopefully you didn't just downgrade your payment.

You were all day following around roman, and thankfully, he was easy on you, you thought it would be worse, but your mind wasn't at all calm, since yesterday. As for today, you've been distracting yourself a lot. "hellooo... come back- is your battery dead or something... hey!" Roman claps right in front of your face; you jumped and came out of trance. "sorry... I heard you, and yes, I've made that call this morning, she said said they would be glad to meet and make arrangements." Roman smirks, feels like a winner. "great... stay here, I've gotta do something else." You had no idea was roman was talking about, but it didn't sound too important, so you didn't care and stayed put, scrolling through your phone. At one point something catches your eye, you looked sideways, where the bathroom where, at the end of the hall; it was kendall going inside. It triggered you seeing him, you panicked, the dilemma was holding you back, gripping onto your pants, determinating which angle should you stand on; the obvious one, talk to him about this situation, maybe an apology... or avoid any sense of drama and move on. He was so close for you to make amends, just walking down the hall. Roman didn't come back yet, so you impulsively react, and decided to stand up, go straight to that bathroom.

Strong walk, really determined, looking straight to that door like if it were a matador and you the bull, about to face all kind of confrontation you're not comfortable with. However, as soon as you get to the men's bathroom door, you stopped walking, you start to get nervous, almost hyperventilating, this talk, not really your style, yours would be, not talking. But there you were, about to face him. You took two deep short breaths, look over the two sides of the hall, monitoring if anyone were witnessing, all clear, so you entered, slowly, trying not to make a sound. You walked in, silently, examined the restroom, lowered your torso enough to see how many feet there were inside, scanning each cubicle. There was only one, and you knew it was him. Only you and him in there. You hear a zip from his zipper, then opened the door of his cubicle, you jumped and hide behind one of those.

You didn't know why you were hiding in the first place, you were already inside, and he was going to see you there anyways, so, while he was washing his hands, you reveal yourself. Time to not make this awkward.

"hey, ken..." Kendall jumped, clearly thought he was completely alone in there. "jesus, you fucking scared me..." He laid back, zoned back in. "what- are you doing here?" you moved closer to him without saying a word, neither did he. You could spot some shine in his eyes the closer you got. "I wanted to talk about yesterday..." Kendall frowned for just a second, like an instant reaction. You try to get yourself together, to let out those words you had in your mind, avoiding his looks, while kendall was gazing at you. "it was all... probably a mistake, it happened all very quickly... so that's why I decided to-" Kendall puts his hand on top of yours, that was already resting on top of the sinks countertop, that's when you finally lock eyes with him. "in my opinion... it wasn't a mistake, I know that you tend to be insecure about this, I know who you are... but, you deserve to have some fun now and then... sorry I couldn't give that to you."

Something about that speech he probably had prepared down to tell you, made you vulnerable, and made you realized that perhaps he was right, it wasn't wrong. He looked a little bit embarrassed, thinking you may agree with him, but you tho, were making full straight eye contact, contemplating him whole. While making eyes at him the full time, you slowly moved your hand to grab his, making a slight strong grip. It was a non-verbal gesture, very much your style, to let him know that you forgave him, and wanted to have that fun he was talking about. Kendall glanced over your hands, and then back to you, he understood what you were trying to say. It was with him

[shit-before-the-shovel]

ok, things are about to get really bad

at first i thought roman would never actually follow up with gerri's firing since logan is dead right? right??

but now i realize that what gerri is saying in this teaser trailer for season 4:

...isn't about roman's items. it's about, as roman put it, “logan being unhappy with how long it took for you to settle with the DOJ” (lol) and “you can go legal if you want but we're gonna stuff your mouth with so much gold--”.

and here's gerri saying, fuck you, i will sue and i will go public (i don't believe she will, i don't even believe she has a choice tbh, she'll get murderdered by the whole company if she does so cos nothing's fair in the world of waystar, is it).

but what's fucking with me the most is, yesterday someone posted about roman feeling guilty about “killing dad” and becoming this closed off robot of a person and i have to agree? we see it in the promo for 4x04:

i don't think he's fucking with her just for the fun of it here. i think he's genuinely thinking that this is what he has to do but he's really awkward about it, because it's not coming from a professional or objective point of view. it's coming from hurt about logan's death and gerri's betrayal for the lack of a better word.

and then gerri's like:

she sees right through him and she knows what this is about and quite tragically she tells him that logan has his paws all over them, even in his death. you cannot win. he'll wash all of you away in a sense. now, do i agree with her? not sure, i guess we'll have to see.

and then we go to gerri completely losing her shit like never before:

these three words are filled with so much meaning in the context of their relationship that i'm getting light headed even thinking about it.

in a way this is the first time their connection is acknowledged openly and seriously. knowing gerri's personality she would never go off on someone like this in a professional setting. now, if this was shiv or even logan saying this, yes, she'd get angry, but she wouldn't be like this with any of them. so her saying we're over is her acknowledging that they were more than colleagues, they were more than mentor/mentee.

now, it's pointless to define their relationship, because as we've seen in kieran and j's interviews, even the actors are confused about it. they try to make sense of it but always come up short. so let's just call it a connection.

so, gerri saying we're over in the promo really tells us that roman just will keep fucking up because he's hurt. and she's gonna have none of it, because she's hurt too. and i don't think they can come back from this.

an interviewer asked j is gerri in a place that she would have chosen for her to end up by the end of the season? does it feel like an ending that’s suitable for the journey that she’s been on? and j answers:

i know the actors can't reveal anything and in a normal world j's answer doesn't mean anything much, but this isn't a normal world, this is war and j replying with “it makes sense” not “yes” makes me absolutely feral. she could've gone with “yes”. but she went with “it makes sense”. those two are completely different things.

anyway,

[nakedmonkey]

Your pinned post says you’re taking requests for succession wlw soooo… morning sex headcanons for shivlina, if you’re down?

I've been DYING to write this since you sent it, so thank you!

When Shiv first starts spending the night, she makes it a point to specify that it's just convenient

Karolina doesn't ask how it's convenient, considering her home adds at least 20 minutes to Shiv's commute into Waystar, but she'd rather chew off her own arm than willingly get into any kind of argument with Shiv Roy

If Karolina had to describe Shiv as anything, it would be competitive and voracious, more than a little selfish, too, but that's a given

What happens when two ambitious vers queens hook up is...well, what you'd expect, because Shiv is always out to prove she's in charge, and Karolina knows better, so more often than not, she lets her have that

Karolina can't complain too much about Shiv's ego when Shiv's so quick to bury her head between Karolina's legs if she ever happens to be up first

She's surprisingly eager to make Karolina come as many times as possible and Karolina has long wondered if Shiv is suppressing something

She can't imagine Tom knowing the first thing about aptly pleasuring a woman like Shiv, but she's not about to bring that up lest a genuine human connection ruins things

Plus, there's no room for unsuspecting husbands in her mind when she's got Shiv pinned to her mattress and three fingers sheathed inside her

It's the only way to get her to shut up sometimes

Because Shiv likes to taunt Karolina, goad her into saying cruel, disgusting things, and sure, Karolina can play that game as well as Shiv, but she only has so much time in the mornings and sometimes a girl just needs to get off quickly before tackling the kind of bullshit she has to tackle on a daily basis

Karolina would describe their whole thing as casual

On more than one occasion, Shiv has called it "female solidarity"

Neither would describe it as familiar, which is why Shiv often leaves while Karolina's in the shower, or after a quick fuck in Karolina's kitchen

And Karolina shudders at the thought of anything resembling a serious entanglement with any member of the Roy family, which is why she doesn't say anything about Shiv's sudden departures

They'd both rather die by paper cuts than acknowledge when Karolina begins waking up to soft lips on her shoulder, or greedy hands on her body, now paired with the smell of freshly brewed coffee

In the end, Shiv's too damaged and Karolina's too clever for anything more than convenience, and what's convenient when Shiv clings too tightly to Karolina, or Karolina starts to enjoy Shiv's company more than it's smart to, is to fuck any funny ideas out of their system before someone makes the mistake of caring

[tomfoolies]

Ooh how about 1-6 for the general section?? 😈 - @isabelinlove

wooooo thank you bestieeee !! i was hoping you’d ask me a bunch of questions 😈 i’m very happy to deliver <3333 @isabelinlove

1. Who initiated the relationship, and how did it go?

> tom did! after finally breaking up, he just showed up at my office at the end of the day, said he’s all done with shiv and that he wants us to be together. like grown ups should be, no sneaking around to find empty conference rooms or ”late nights at work” as an excuse to spend time together at my place. he wanted a real relationship with me.

i was taken aback and very surprised. i knew how much he valued his position and the power that came from being the partner of a roy so him breaking up felt almost like a love confession, so i felt very honored and a little bit terrified. but i was very happy, too; i’d been very casual about us so far and didn’t want to make it seem like that big of a deal if he’d decided to never separate, but at that point i couldn’t hide my excitement. and i didn’t need to, he needed my overjoyed reaction to affirm that the choice he made was the right one.

as for who initiated the affair that started it all… i think it was him, he thinks it was me 😝

2. Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like?

> we did go on dates in our affair era, took some sneaky overnight trips together and went to expensive dinner dates but once we started to date for real i took him to my favourite bookstore and we picked out books for each other :3 super cliche but we were both feeling kind of sappy and we knew enough about one another that a basic dinner date felt kind of redundant. and it was nice to be out in public without having to worry getting caught.

3. What was their first kiss like?

> the very first one happened after a meeting of some sort, the tension between us had been building for a while and there'd been a few almost kisses but we'd always been interrupted. in a bold move i asked him to come to my office and we walked there in total silence, both of us knowing exactly what would happen next. once the door closed... we POUNCED. very intense and thrilling.

second first kiss was right after the Break Up Confession, initiated by me. i just got up from my desk, walked over to him and went for it. just as intense as the first one but full of relief and excitement instead!!

4. Were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?

> does tom’s healthiest relationship count?? we really weren’t each other’s first anything, but i like to think i’d bring him back down to earth a little bit and remind him of what it’s like to be a normal person in a balanced reciprocal relationship lmaoo. getting him away from the waystar and roy family drama…

5. What’s their height difference? Age difference?

> had to look up his height for this… he’s 6'3" and i’m 5’5”.... a VERY NICE height difference if you ask me, PHEW. and as for the ages, my s/is in mid thirties to make my position (HR executive) in the firm more realistic soooo i’d say around 12 years? he is 46 i think?

6. What’s their relationship with each other’s families?

> since he’s an only child (i assume???) his parents would be glad to have someone else to dote on too. they’d also be very happy he’s with me now instead of being connected to the roy family, they did not like the BAD INFLUENCE they were being on his BABY BOY. so we’d visit them pretty often for the holidays etc. meanwhile my folks are in finland so i doubt they’d meet much. but they’d like him well enough for the few times they met since he’s weird but rich and we have a good time together. (and because of the finnish heritage i've headcanoned him to have lol)

i’m gonna count the roys into this because waystar IS ONE BIG FAMILY and because i want to!!!! i truly despise logan (it’s mutual), don’t know how to feel about kendall, vibe with roman and shiv is pretty cold and hostile towards me (understandably lol, i don’t like her either). none of them would like me that much, but i think roman would grow to like me the most over time (because of the double dates we'd go on LMAO). greg’s also a buddy of mine but i’m not sure if i can trust him so i’m very guarded with him. connor and i would also get along well later down the line i think. 

[cakebatteronabrickwall]

Horrible terrifying feeling roman is going to try and kill himself and the results will be left ambiguous. Kieran clearly had hopes for another season but at the same time I can’t think why they’d include those shots of him and pills, reference the seatbelt ‘strangling’ him, call himself John Lennon. One of the biggest reasons I suspect this ending is the finale for CEO is fully Kendall vs Shiv and I don’t see Roman fitting into that storyline. So how does he fit into the ‘miraculous’ ‘stunning’ finale? I’d hate to see his character just fizzle out and quit the industry while Sarah and Jeremy have the big battle for successor scenes

I'm not gonna dismiss any finale predictions, though I have talked a little bit about why I don't think suicide theory holds up regarding any of the characters. Those reference, idk, like I get connecting those dots but-- the John Lennon thing is very off hand, the pills are a Logan relict he carries (carried?) around (and they haven't come up again since episode 5, I didn't see them in the bathroom when he practiced his speech, I think?) and the seatbelt was anxiety related.

What I will say is that I agree that it is gonna be Shiv v Ken, the point being that Roman is trapped inbetween like in the season 1 vote. He'll definetly be at the vote, fucking things up (the scene where Kendall attacks him is still coming) and the whole seaside retreat or whatever is also happening.

I've been so successful at not posting any predictions because I hate being wrong, but anon, I'm gonna break my rule: There's a part of me that could actually see Roman on the outside of Waystar by the end of this in a very bittersweet way of getting out but being seperate from his siblings, which is especially devastating for this character.

About the actors thinking there could have been another season- first of all, if I were an actor on this show I would also not want to lose that job, lol. But more importantly, a scenario that essentially repositions Roman's character as on the outside is a really appealing set-up for another season, I think? It would be to me.

"Stunning" could refer to all kinds of things. All succession finales are stunning. My best guess is that it is a combination of season best acting and (my hopes) the siblings talking about certain things. That's actually my ideal ending- them talking, like, I'll fuck you over, I'll kill you tomorrow, but right now look at the sunset ot whatever. I don't know, it's the romantic in me, whoops.

[ghostwav64]

2024

Lowkey starting to think getting laid off was one of the best things to ever happen to me. Like it's been hard and I've cried a ton because this shit sucks and job hunting and getting rejected at interviews is hard as hell.

BUT, on the good days I'm making art, connecting more deeply with my friends, reading for fun again, making my way through Baldur's Gate 3 and getting TOUGH SHIT done.

It's reminded me how capable I am, I think being stuck in a shitty job for a long time can be really bad for your confidence and I am feeling like such a badass bitch lately. 2023, I made a lot of progress as an artist, in 2024 I'm going to make even MORE progress as an artist. Here's what some art stuff looks like for me this year:

January 26th- Exquisite Corpse dropping on Spotify, Tidal,Apple, Music,Waystar Royco Music app and more

January 31st- secret project #1 (and more in the future)

February 2nd- show at Parachigo in Fargo,ND

February 28th- as of now unannounced show in Fargo,ND End of February or March- Holiday Malaise (Short Film)

I'm also getting close to done with my next EP Crybaby on Fire. It's my best work yet imo, and I've learned a ton in the process of making it and I'm excited to share with you all when it's ready.

Once that's wrapped up I'm going to get back to work on my first album which I'm excited to finally announce will be called

The Blue Rose Tapes

It's an album that is a Twin Peaks inspired transition journey/ghost story nightmare.

An insanely talented friend of mine made the sickest fucking cover art for it check her stuff out on insta but I won't share it until the album is in a more final state, you should check out the artist's work on insta in the meantime:https://www.instagram.com/rkgcollage/, she makes the coolest collages and writes some incredible poetry and is one of my best friends in the entire world.

I feel ready, reenergized and ready to get back to working on the album after making this EP, I have a better understanding of my creation process and feel like I'll be able to take the lessons I learned there to help with the album, and I feel like I have a better idea of what the bigger vision for the album is so I can take a new approach to making it. Can't wait to share more on this in the future, I'll be posting updates and snippets along the way on all my socials.

2024 is going to be hard, but I'm going to survive, and not only am I gonna survive, I am going to live it fully, I am going to keep following my heart and my dreams, I did a lot more of that in 2023 and even though 2023 almost broke me a few times I still felt happier than I have in a very very very very long time.

This year,

I'M GONNA SPEND MORE TIME WITH PEOPLE I LOVE!!!!

I'M GOING TO REMEBER THAT:

I HAVE A SOUL!

I AM A HUMAN BEING AND I HAVE WORTH!

JUST FOR BEING HERE!

A JOB DOES NOT DEFINE ME AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I'M HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DOING HARD THINGS IS WORTH IT!

THIS YEAR I WILL ONLY BE PRAISING DALE AND RAISING HELL!

IT'S GONNA BE A DANCE PARTY AT LAURA PALMER'S ALL YEAR LONG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPwxCESKxeM&ab_channel=ghost_texture

[thinkatoryprocess]

All right, so here are all of the fic prompts that I could scrape up/remember. If I'm missing anything, let me know. It'll be nice to have a reference post. See below!

Romewilla - Roman and Willa meet at a party, hit it off, and decide to work together as a creative team. Eventually the chemistry is too much to resist. Dead Kendall AU - In which Kendall actually dies in the pool, and everyone tries to cope. Naomi realizes shortly after his death that she's two months pregnant. We see Rava take Naomi in and Roman and Stewy connect as they try to grieve, and separately a story set in the future with Kendall's teenage daughter with Naomi unraveling the real story behind her father's passing. Roman/Stewy Vampire AU - In which Logan is a vampire hunter who primarily keeps Roman at his side as his backup and sometimes literal punching bag. Stewy is a fairly old vampire, and Roman meets him for the first time only to catch himself more intrigued and amused than he should be; the problem is it isn't the first time at all, and Roman's memories cannot be trusted to tell him what he's been through or what he's missed as years have gone by. Roman pulls back from Logan as he realizes how deeply Logan has used and abused not just his body but his mind. Roman/Eduard "Run" AU - In which, during their brief friendship and connection, Roman and Eduard agreed to reconnect at a specific time and place the moment one texted the other the word "Run." Roman catches this text after his dad agrees to sell Waystar to GoJo, and lives up to his commitment to meet an Eduard who's a shade different than he was expecting. They travel together, away from all responsibilities and expectations, but not without complications. Kendall and his two boyfriends, Stewy and Lukas - Or, the throuple fic. Stewy has been in love with Kendall pretty much his whole life. Lukas, however, has been talking to Kendall a lot since the GoJo deal began, late night connections that eventually tilt towards the sexual. Stewy finds out, tries to earn Kendall's heart in a deeply pathetic but sweet way, and just winds up having sex with him again. Eventually… Kendall has two boyfriends, and everyone is chill. Roman/priest!Mencken Fleabag AU - If you haven't seen Fleabag, don't walk, run. It's amazing and if you like my shit you will adore it, it's absolutely my vibe. That said, concept here is pretty straightforward: Roman's a snarky, weird mess of a person, and meets the priest who's going to officiate Tom and Shiv's wedding. The problem is the priest is aggressively hot and over the course of their friendship (he volunteers for a church event, what is WRONG with him) the priest also clearly wants to fuck him no matter how much they talk around it. Eventually the chemistry explodes. Roman/Mencken pro dom AU - This is also fairly straightforward. Total AU where Mencken is a professional dom who Roman is convinced to attend due to struggling to find someone to fit that outlet who he can trust to be discreet. There are clear professional boundaries. Of course no one would cross them. Of course. (Thinking Romewilla as a sidedish for this one - Roman's girlfriend to the world, who he does genuinely care for and would be aware of what's going on. Eventual polyam.) Tabitha/Roman get married AU - I'm not sure how much more to say about this, but, hey, this would be fun to tease out, what can I say. Roman/Stewy LA AU Roman and Stewy genuinely connect in New York when he's visiting Kendall for a birthday. The problem is that Roman has to fly back to LA, so the whole thing should by all rights be pretty short-lived, but even thousands of miles apart neither of them can let it go. (You know how these things go.) I may be missing something, let me know. Anyway, typing everything out made me think a lot about each of these. I'll be looking back at this. Talk to me about any of this if you want.

[dramaturgical-sense]

i think shiv is someone who wants verbal reassurance and praise when she’s done something well, but unfortunately bc of the roys being the way that they are she (a) finds it hard to ask for that type of validation, and (b) no else is willing to/knows how to give her that type of validation. the closest she gets is from tom, who despite being well-meaning, always messes it up.

we first see this in saferoom when tom tries to be encouraging about shiv coming in for her first day at waystar, talking about how exciting it is. shiv plays it cool, calling it a “fact finder” but we know how much this means to her - finally being taken seriously by logan and having the chance to step up as ceo. it is a big deal, and one she hasn’t been able to share with anyone else, so tom providing this validation is very meaningful. and then he promptly ruins it by giving the completely insane response of “It's like you and your dad have finally admitted how much you're into each other (...) and now you can not this, but now you can bang.”

another great example of this is after the shareholder meeting, when shiv secures the deal with sandi. tom calls her a superstar, shiv looks delighted, he runs up to her and picks her up ....and then immediately ruins it by talking about his plans to babytrap her. 

obviously their marriage is complicated and tom has been hurt by shiv in other ways. but there’s something to be said about tom sexualising shiv’s career advancements. it really speaks to such a disconnect in their marraige that tom struggles to connect with her in a way that she finds meaningful, and that she can’t ever bring herself to actually ask for that validation.

[tomwambsgans]

the inherent sweetness and romance imbued in tomgreg scenes when they're in nature or even just outside... the cold october air of that baseball field where they first meet, looking both so incredibly normal compared to the majority of what follows... the earnestness and connection on the morning of tom's wedding, the first truly selfless act that we see from greg, risking everything out of pure care for tom... in hunting, tom expressing how much he's missed him, and greg trusting him, and it may have been cut from the final episode but i'll protect you... the insane domesticity of how they bicker about greg's sandmite bites in dundee... the glimpses of some alternate timeline's yacht romance one episode later... the tag-team effort in norway, the mushroom-picking we didn't get to see but which is so fucking vivid upon mention anyway...... like the moment you take these guys out of the corporate habitat, the pristine white walls and the washed-out lighting and screens and all that shit and put them in front of some trees, get the wind blowing in their hair... like i feel we're meant to see that as where they really should be, or at the very least that when they're as far as they can get from waystar's environment that everything is suddenly okay. corporate/indoors is stifling and nature is healing.

[girljeremystrong]

Ramble inbound, your tags made me think :) personally I love how cold rava can be towards ken. I really enjoy that aspect of her character, IMO it tells us everything we need to know about the progression of their relationship up to when we first meet them. I would think her coldness is a direct result of Kendall being an almost entirely absent father & husband for years upon years, one who makes no genuine effort to meaningfully reach out & connect to her or his kids, who instead tries to develop closeness by centering his life & asking her to play the role he envisions for her as Wife Of The Waystar Royco CEO. She clearly has underlying love for him, I do think she just can’t let go of her fondness for him, but he chooses work over family 100% of the time (always in the Kendall Roy: CEO Of Waystar mindset, and never the mindset of Kendall Roy: Husband And Father) and she’s just tired of fighting upstream with him. Cos let’s be honest Kenny is very stubborn and doesn’t take no for an answer when he’s decided what he wants. He has this pattern with his other flings too, that girl he whisked away from the play for example; the way he was always brushing off the consequences she’d face from jumping out of her life and into his, because he thinks he could patch it all up with his money and influence and it’d all be fine. As if the material cost is the problem and not his self centered relationship style. He doesn’t make an effort to truly invest in his partners’ personal lives/priorities/interests outside of the context of the Roy familial corporate structure, because that’s the only environment in which he has any practice connecting with people. He has 0 normal family experience to draw on so he really can’t leave the Roy headspace and connect with his family as a human person. Obviously it’s Logan’s fault that ken has a hard time fostering stable relationships outside of the context of the corporate world, as business IS love to Logan. I think this is why his closest relationships are with people already in the belly of the corporate world (stewi, naomi), and why he doesn’t really Get why she doesn’t want to be with him even if he becomes The Man. This is one of many ways he’s inherited Logan’s worldview. He treats his family much less abrasively than his father (at least until the end when he goes Full Loge and aggressively threatens to sever custody in an attempt to keep his life from crumbling), but even accounting for the extra kindness it’s still the same fundamental way Logan treated his family; narcissistically. Poison drips through innit. So TLDR I think rava’s coldness is justified, from the perspective of a long-embittered ex wife, left to be their children’s sole parent while their father focused exclusively on his work life and the enmeshed family relationships within. Ok that’s all my thoughts hope you enjoy. ^_^

wow this is very eloquent and very well said. fundamentally i agree with everything you said (and you said it very well) especially the point you made about him being way too immersed in the corporate world and being too focused on his role as the man at the top and it's true that he's treated rava like crap and he's been a horrible father BUT consider this: i love him!!!!!

he's my sopping little wet rat who grew up in a very unstable environment with a man who was borderline abusive to him and his siblings while at the same time being promised he was gonna be just like him when he grew up only to be disappointed and castigated time and time again and of course it's on him to learn and grow and be a better man and father than logan but at the same time he was made to think that he had to be this strong cynical unaffected man so that he could be like his father from his childhood and that's difficult!!!! and once more he's a fictional character and i love him!!!!!

of course rava is allowed to be cold and tough towards him and i understand she must have been let down so so many times and she must be so worried about their kids but so many times he went to her for some assurance and she's just always been so stern!!!! i wish my boy could have heard a "good job" from a person he clearly still values in his life

[mspenelopelane]

Do you think Kendall coment to Jess about PGN in Africa was racist?

This is a good question—and this moment speaks to something I’ve considered for a while now. I do think it was a racist moment. Kendall has grown up in a world where people look much like him. I think it’s accurate to assume he would be filled with unconscious bias. It’s also accurate to assume that Waystar Royco does not have a robust DEI program so that moments like this could be avoided.

I also think that he’s given himself a pat on the back for having a woman of color as his executive assistant—how it might make him different from his father, more progressive. Part of “I’d watch that” was almost like him implicitly asking her what he’s asked other women in his life “do you think I can do it”, wondering if he’s capable, what move should he make, if he’s worthy—if he’s pure enough. “I’d watch that—does that make me a good person?”

But then he still must grapple with his own biases. For instance, the “try harder” line directed toward Lisa Arthur. That line in particular was brought up during the conversation of women of color on Succession and how kendall tended to surround himself with them during season 3.

We see in this season 4 moment an example of unconscious tokenism. He starts with mentioning international news, jess says she’d watch it, he gets more specific and chooses an entire continent with 54 countries and hundreds of cultures and languages. I suppose we could ask “why did he choose Africa first when probing Jess about what she would watch?” While he does list a handful of different regions, I can’t help but think he sees Africa as a monolith. “Like, everyday, what’s happening in Africa?” (And Roman’s reaction here silently calls out the ridiculousness of the line.) To immediately connect her with the continent of Africa is reductive and simplistic. But also, to consider: he’s struggling to come up with good ideas in this session and kind of ends up stepping into a biased place.

That being said, I think Kendall also generally recognizes the “Africa as the home of emerging markets” and would want to capitalize on that, and he’s also brainstorming ideas about how to reinvigorate a legacy media company—thinking outside the box, except he’s telling on himself: envisioning shows about “African” news is new (to him) because they hadn’t ever considered something like that before; he’s only recognizing the importance now because it can be monetized. Classic colonialist mindset.