#this was brilliant op I had to draw this

[creativesplat]

I had to

[itspileofgoodthings]

Porfiry telling Raskolnikov that at least he was honest and in one bound took the furthest leap to put his theory to the test of actual action——

[vanessamooney]

The Age of Us pt. 1 - Draco x Reader

Prompt: Glimpses into your lives through the years

Pairing: Draco x Slytherin!Reader

Part 2

Part 3 coming soon!

In First Year you're a ball of glimmering potential. You're staring wide eyed at the brilliant castle before you from the boat house and on the walk up a little Draco is trailing behind you, holding up your robes to prevent them from dragging in the mud. You don't even notice the sweet gesture as you spend the climb up rambling to him about how excited you are to begin learning about magic, bouncy as ever with a smile wider than he's ever been able to draw out from you. Not even his mother's white peacocks at Malfoy Manor brought out such a smile from you, nor the time years ago when you two rolled down the hill on your family's estate, covered in twigs and wrestling in a pile of dried leaves, giggly as ever.

╺╺╺╺╺╺╺

Draco watches proudly as his girl is sorted into Slytherin house, and he welcomes you with a radiant smirk as you trot over to the house table and seat yourself right next to him. He watches eagerly as Potter and that blasted orange haired Weasley boy are called out next, moping methodically along to the sorting hat, watching them with a glare he reserved for the mud-bloods his father would point out on trips to Diagon Alley. He hopes Potter will be sorted into Slytherin, after all, 'connections are key' Lucius would say and who better a connection than the chosen one?

'Oh Draco,' You tut, 'look at the sky!' you're in awe at the ceiling which you've only just noticed, the enchantments were executed so gracefully if you hadn't of read Hogwarts, A History before the year began you would've had no clue the great hall ever had a roof. 

He looked at you with the same dirty expression sculpted on his face that he had given Potter through the ceremony, stuck like cement, but when he noticed your doughy lips parted in wonder, he reached over and with a nimble finger, he closed your mouth for you, leaving you blushing a tomato red. 

╺╺╺╺╺╺╺

'Up! Up! Up!' 

You're standing over your broom, watching the other kids stand in organised lines across from you in the fields, succeeding with calling their brooms to them. Draco had succeeded on the first try, of course, and you're embarrassed to be one of the last people whose brooms have still not so much moved from their original position.

He catches your eye and gives you a sympathetic look, crossing his lips into a firm line. The broom in his hand is tossed carelessly to the ground and he makes a leap towards you, his hands reaching to tenderly adjust your arm in another position. 

Draco had received lessons over the Summer and was already worrying his mother as he hastily flew around the Manor windows on the shiny Nimbus Lucius insisted he needed. You watched him on warm Spring afternoons with your feet firmly planted on the ground in the grassy meadows as he perfected his flying, your hands busy with knitting because 'a little girl like yourself needn't fly,' as your mother had so often reminded you when you dared to ask.

'There, try with your hands like that, and say it firmly,' Your best friend instructed you, watching your worried eyes and flushed cheeks.

'I don't know Draco, maybe I just can't fly,' you confess, worried that really was the possibility. 

'Just try,' he furrowed his brows, 'for me?' 

You shakily nod your head, the last one on the field now without a complying broom. The Longbottom boy had now been escorted to the hospital wing by Madam Hooch and you hoped such a thing wouldn't happen to you but Draco seemed to read your mind when he notices your wandering eyes.

'Just look at me, look at my eyes, Y/N,' he began, rubbing your shoulders 'Don't focus on anything else,' 

You gulped, staring into him with an openess you reserved only for him 'Up!' 

The broom snaps into your hand and you squeal in excitement, throwing it away as quickly as it flys to you and embracing Draco in a hug so tight he could barely breathe. 

You don't notice the glares the two of you received from Potter and his gang, but Draco does, giving them an equally dirty look before marching over to the remembrall that had rolled over and snatching it right off the ground.

 ╺╺╺╺╺╺╺

 There was a troll on the loose in the castle and you've been escorted back to the Slytherin dorms by the Head boy and girl. Everyone had gone up into their respective dormitories in fear of being taken by the ghastly monster but you had tugged on Draco's sleeves with puppy dog eyes and begged him to stay in the common room and play a game of friendly wizard's chess with you.

He sighs and rolls his blue eyes to the back of his skull but reluctantly agrees and you sit warm by the fire on a bear hide rug. The chess board is nestled between the two of you and Draco instinctively goes to grab the white King but you start to sulk.

'Oh Draco, please, can I be white this time?' you beg, looking up at him with the biggest and glassiest eyes you could possibly muster. How could he say no? 

'Ugh, you just want to be white because you want to use the Wayward Queen opening, you always use that one,' he retaliates, pressing the white King into your little hands.

'Do not!'

'Do too!'

'Do not!'

'Do too!'

You blow him a raspberry and make your first move. Pawn to E4. 

'Ah hah!' He exclaims, pointing an accusing finger at you with a light scowl brushed on his features, tussling his air with his other hand in frustration. 'You're doing it! You're doing the same opening!' 

You give him a ghastly stare and with a swing of your arm you knock over all of the chess pieces, huffing and puffing as they spread fallen all over the board.

'Fine! Stay down here and get eaten by the troll then!' You hiss at him, and run up to your dorm room to scream into your pillow.

 ╺╺╺╺╺╺╺

You're sitting in the first potions class of the year, listening to Professor Snape lecture Harry about not listening after watching him methodically take notes on the Professor's wise words from a couple rows away. You weren't able to get a seat next to Draco at the front of the class and you silently thanked this luck, having boasted about how much you've studied all Summer in preparations for potions and knowing Draco had not read even a single passage. 

You sat next to a bushy haired Gryffindor girl called Lavender who weary looked in a mirror and you smirked as you watched Draco's ivory head listening to Snape assign the first task ever: brewing a common poison antidote. When Snape announces the winning pair will receive 5 points each to their respective houses your eyes twinkle with anticipation.

You leave your partner behind to gather the ingredients for the potion: Bezoar, mistletoe berries and a unicorn horn. You bump into Draco in front of the ingredient cupboard, and beam at him proudly. 

'I read about this potion in the potions book,' you smile sweetly up at him, purposefully brushing against him as you shove to grab the vials. 'It should be a piece of pie,' you laugh accusingly, standing as tall as your short legs allow you to. 

'Good luck,' Draco laughs vacantly, handing you a unicorn horn from the top shelf you couldn't reach. His fingers brush against yours and you scoff, heading back to your cauldron.

Lavender is sat twirling the knife on its tip on the chopping board as if she'd never seen the utensil before and in the time you were gone had managed to spill water just about everywhere, wetting your parchment and bleeding the ink of the potion recipe.

'My goodness,' You exclaim, rushing to take away the knife and wipe up the water, 'have you two left hands?' 

You watch the potion brew and bubble as it cooks, anxiously tracking the time with an hourglass. When the final grains of sands trickle through the narrowed passage, you hastily reach for the unicorn horn you powdered earlier and your heart sinks when you see your partner already poised over the cauldron, a pinch of the precious powder between her fingertips. She carefully sprinkles it into the cauldron and you watch in horror as a noxious cloud of black smoke billows forth and envelops you both in char.

'How many pinches did you put in?' You scream, wiping the soot from your eyes. 

'Two,' Lavender whimpers, eyes stinging from the cloud. 

'It was meant to be ONE!' 

Everyone in the class is now giggling at your misfortunes and Professor Snape has now come over to see what all the commotion is about. 

'You two better clean that up right now,' Snape chastised in his nasally voice, condemning you to blush in shame beneath the soot on your cheeks.

As Snape made his rounds, meticulously examining the colors of each potion, his scrutiny lingered noticeably longer on Draco's cauldron. The pungent aroma that emanated from Draco's concoction filled the classroom, matching the textbook's description exactly, causing you to wince involuntarily.

'Malfoy, Zabini, 10 points to Slytherin,' Snape announces. 

Draco's triumphant gaze locks onto you as he revels in his perceived victory in the silent competition between the two of you. With a mocking laugh, he directs his attention to your soot-streaked face, his expression one of haughty satisfaction as he proudly asserts his well-deserved win with a piercing stare.

 ╺╺╺╺╺╺╺

Eyes drifting over to Pansy Parkinson you can't help but notice she is staring at your best friend, and you don't like it. You're in Charms class with Professor Flitwick and you're sitting a few seats down from Draco who is stuffed in-between his minions and looking increasingly annoyed from the class introduction Flitwick is moping on about. Pansy has painted on herself an innocent expression she only wore around Draco and you wished you could shake her until the ribbons came undone and her mask fell off.

Despite her Pureblooded nature and family status, you couldn't rid the feeling of unease whenever she was around and sharing a dorm with her turned to be nothing short of a Lovecratian nightmare. There was something about her that set your teeth on edge. You wanted to pry off her veil and examine her flaws beneath a microsope; you wanted to disect her and unravel the intricacies that made you burn with an inextinguishable fire.

You gaped at her when she cheered on Draco who had quickly succeeded in levitating his feather, leaning over the desk so far you thought she would topple right over and end head first in the middle of the classroom, bouncing on her horribly cut bob upside down and out of the classroom window and into the grounds. You imagined it so vividly you started to chuckle to yourself and didn't even realise Draco had been beckoning you with the usual smirk you loved across the desk. 

Pansy looked at him eagerly, daydreaming about her name dancing on Draco's tongue rather than yours and she blushed a million shades of red when she realised she was drooling slightly from the corner of her mouth. You shot her a look of disdain, features twisting haughty from her sopping desperation. She knew that you had won - as did you -knowing it was your name on his lips, not hers. 

╺╺╺╺╺╺╺

'Potter,' You're seething through your teeth, acknowledging his dreadful existence as you and Draco pass him on the way to the Quidditch fields. You're dressed head to toe in green, showing support for your house. Draco's Slytherin scarf is wrapped securely around your neck, flowing behind you in the wind and you delight in his scent. You can't help but watch Harry in pure disgust, not because you hate him by proxy, but because Draco should be seeker, not him and it wasn't fair.

'Rosier,' He starts back, his eyes narrowing to a squint at the two of you for an instant before he hurries back to the safety of the rest of the Gryffindor team. Malfoy smirks at you proudly, leading you to the Slytherin seating area with a gentle hand on the small of your back, luxuriating in seeing his scarf around your neck.

And when all of Hogwarts watches Harry reveal he has caught the golden snitch, you feel nauseous and you can only think back to all of the nights you spent comforting Draco when he found out Harry had made the team. You scowl, your fingers sliding down to find Draco's beneath the bench and you squeeze them hard. It should've been him.

╺╺╺╺╺╺╺

You wake up in a panicked sweat, the hair on your face sticking on your damp skin. You feel tears sliding down your plump cheeks and you reach up to wipe them away but they won't stop. Nightmares invaded your dreams, mercilessly rocking you awake in a sea of no hope. When you look around your sleeping quarters, you see strange figures in the form of your wardrobe, capes draped across armchairs and coat stands twice your height. Your dormmates are sleeping peacefully In their own beds, their light puffs of air comforting you - but it wasn't enough. You needed Draco. 

Gulping, you manage to place your wobbly feet on the floorboards and wrap a Slytherin blanket around your tiny figure, tip-toeing out of the room without causing anyone else to lose sleep. You left the girls a silent prayer for their safety and you snuck down the stairs.

The common room was now empty in the middle of the night, the hot fire still roaring its song to warm the unforgiving dungeons the Slytherin house called home but you couldn't shake the uneasy feeling of being watched by prying eyes and you squeaked with the floorboards, rushing up the stairs opposite and straight to Draco's dorm. 

You padded on the door softly with care to not wake the wrong occupant. You whispered his name more times than you could count, counting instead the hot tears that flew to the ground from your leaky eyes. When the door opens revealing a half-asleep Draco he knows right away to open his arms and hold you tight, and that is exactly what he did. That night he inhales your sweet scent and whispers sweet nothings into your ear, lulling the bad dreams away.

╺╺╺╺╺╺╺

Snow topples from the sky and for the first time in your life you're happy about it. Christmas break came and went all too soon and now in front of you lies the vast whiteness of Winter. She covers Hogwarts in a thick blanket and you sink in it's softness, snow filling your boots and socks. 

'Ah!', you jump around from the chill, pausing Draco is his steps as he's foraging for a stick to finish the snowman the two of you had spent all afternoon building. He lets out a hearty chuckle directed at you when you point to your boots, mouthing 'wet' and pouting with your pillowy lips. 

He is stifling a laugh as he goes back to searching for the perfect twig and you don't feel content at this reaction. Without a single further thought, your gloves pawed into the sheath around you and formed a perfectly round globe of snow. You eyed your target meticulously, catching the eyes of Blaise and Pansy in the process and before Pansy could warn her precious Draco, you've already belted the snowball at him and watched as it exploded into dust on his back. 

Draco whips back to see you howling in laughter, bracing yourself with your hands clutching your thighs, the pom of your beanie shaking erratically. He frowns, glancing over to his friends who shrug their shoulders at him, and while Blaise sends a cheeky smile, Pansy is mouthing your name and pointing to you crudely.

'Hey!' he yells, abandoning the stick he spent oh so long looking for and creating his own balls of destruction. He was going to make you regret this.

That afternoon you all walked back to the castle covered in snow and ice, hair wet and lips pink but you silently wished the day would have never ended and you replayed it over and over in your head that night, cackling silently when the image of Draco's scowl turned into a mischievous grin and it all lingered in your mind.

[kellyvela]

How is Joan? Is it considered successful or not?

I think it is a success.

Comments on Twitter are vastly positive. You can read some here:

The first episode won over the BBC show airing at the same time.

The papers and magazine reviews are vastly positive as well, and even the ones that are negative, about the script for example, praise Sophie's acting despite their critics.

The Daily Mail gave it 5 stars:

Collider praises Sophie with these words:

Given that the real Joan Hannington's reputation was the talk of the time, with her even being nicknamed "The Godmother," this series' mission seems to be showing an alternate side to the woman who made headlines. What was she like when not in the middle of a scheme? The TV drama is able to deliver on this by relying on a compelling performance from Turner. The actress, who has played minor roles in projects like the X-Men franchise and Netflix's Do Revenge, successfully explores multiple facets of her character in this series. Turner captures Joan's vulnerability when it comes to proving herself to social services, her motherly instincts whenever she is granted the right to visit her daughter, and her cleverness when it comes to pulling off high-risk heists.

Turner's level of dedication to the part shines throughout the entire plot of Joan, showing that she is more than capable of embracing any genre, from an action-packed Marvel production to a noir drama like this. If it weren't for the emotions she conveys onscreen beyond her lines, Joan wouldn't successfully have showcased its lead's underlying motivation of fulfilling her dream of being in a picture-perfect family. Although her actions consequently draw her away from her goal, we can believe that Joan becomes immersed in the crime world for a deeper reason.

[...] Yet, the production does function as a testament of Turner's ability to take on meaty lead roles, and the character's stunning wardrobe will surely make you wish you could steal it.

~~~

The Times gave it 4 stars:

Turner’s main achievement in this role is making the multilayered Hannington real, human and believable, not just a one-note “rough diamond with a heart”. Turner is famous for her role as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, but this performance is surely a career-best.

You could absolutely believe that Joan was a loving mother of a little girl and quite a hard-faced criminal. You could believe she was a woman used and abused by men, but also willing to make victims of others (wealthy “others”). That she was poor and vulnerable, but also had rhino-hide resilience.

[...] But Turner steals every scene with a magnetic performance, such as when the pervy jewellery shop manager tried it on with her and she cleverly swerved him by pretending she had “the painters in’’, or when she swallowed loose diamonds on impulse and she later retrieved them in the bathroom with the help of, er, a sieve. Let’s not dwell too long on the mechanics of that.

~~~

More from the Sunday Times:

~~~

More praise to Sophie:

As for Turner, I could watch her forever. In part, it’s her face: the cheekbones that make you think of bone-handled knives. Whether from Etam or Harrods, the clobber suits her. And boy, she can act. Hannington was a notorious shape-shifter – a brilliant impersonator – and Turner has a way with voices, layering poshness on top of light cockney just thinly enough for the audience to feel nervous, jeopardy trailing her character like Dior Poison.

She looks to me like she’s having the time of her life, and who can blame her? What a jewel of a role: a diamond as big as the Ritz.

~~~

From The Guardian:

Sophie Turner is spectacular as notorious real-life jewel thief Joan Hannington in this slick 80s-set drama. The six-parter starts with devoted mother Joan reluctantly giving her daughter up to social services after underworld bosses come for her abusive husband. Determined to get her kid back, she uses her glamour, charm and sharp mind to build a new life – starting with taking a job in a jeweller’s that specialises in diamonds.

~~~

From Radio Times, read the last part about Sophie:

~~~

More positive comments:

~~~

From Tatler Magazine:

~~~

From New Zeland Magazine Flicks:

~~~

And the list continues . . . .

[ghost-proofbaby]

oh, what a wonderful feeling (eddie munson x reader)

when you have a bad day with your chronic pain, eddie is prepared to take care of you.

→ warnings: none! pure, soft, good old-fashioned fluff <3

→ wc: 1.8k+

→ a/n: just some absolute softness with eddie taking care of reader with chronic pain, for my love @big-ope-vibes. divider by @firefly-graphics. title is inspired by the song "the man in me" by bob dylan, and i highly recommend listening to it as you read. <3

Eddie knows something is off the moment he walks through the front door. 

Usually, you’d greet him with a brilliant smile and open arms. The two of you had it down to a science these days; he’d get off work at the local auto shop around five, and be home by six, you already waiting by the door as you bounced on the balls of your feet and prepared to exchange gossip of each other’s day. A glass of wine in your hand, a beer in his. He’d tell you all about the shitty customers of his day, ranging from the old man who thought he knew more about his car than Eddie (he didn’t) to the woman who had thrown a full-fledged tantrum when all of her obnoxious flirting didn’t come to fruition (he still charged full price). You’d catch him up on your office’s latest gossip, about the manager who was trying to seduce his scandalously young receptionist or the ongoing war of who was stealing Mavis’ lunch out of the communal fridge (it was the newest intern. It’s always the newest intern).

It was so mundane, so simple, and yet managed to be his favorite part of every day. 

Except today. Today, he’d gotten home on time, even five minutes earlier than normal, and there was no sign of you or your glowing smile. 

“Babe?” he calls out, toeing off his work boots, grunting when he has to accept defeat and lean down to untie the laces. 

No answer.

“Baby?” he draws out the last vowel, glancing around the dark living room for any sign of you. The couch was empty, a soft throw blanket draped over the back of it. A mug of coffee from this morning was left to grow chilled on the dining table. 

Finally, though his ears have to strain, he hears you softly call out, “In here.” 

He heads straight for where your voice had echoed from, down the hall and into the bedroom. All the lights were off, and he made no move to turn a single one on. He already knew the layout of your shared apartment by heart, every creaking floorboard and every leaky faucet. 

The moment he sees you laying in bed, face down into the pillow, a weight lifts from his shoulders. A warmth spreads over him, comfort swaddling him just like the first time he’d laid eyes on you. 

It didn’t feel like he’d come home until he saw you. 

“You okay, bub?” he asks gently. He notes the way the bed is still made, the comforter only ruffled from where your body dips into the mattress. The subtle shake of your head nearly breaks his heart. “What’s up, buttercup?” 

He’s overdoing it on the nicknames, and for good reason – the muffled laugh that you release into the pillow you’ve buried your face into. It’s a symphony of gold to him. 

“You’re so stupid,” you mumble, and he has to lean in as he crouches down beside the bed to hear you clearly, “‘S my back.” 

The worrisome furrow between his brows smoothes out, his features falling slowly as he breathes out, both in empathy and relief, “Your back?” 

There were good days and bad days when it came to your body and chronic pain. When the two of you first began dating, it had worried him to no end. He had nearly smothered you with an abundance of doting. But time and practice had finally equipped him to be better prepared for the bad days, knowing what to do when the pain reared its nasty head without driving you insane. 

You finally turn your face, cheeks squished as you reveal your eyes to him. Big and glowing, even as they squint in pain, “Yeah. It’s killing me. I can’t even walk, it’s so bad.” 

“Have you taken anything?” He's poised and ready to leap up, to retrieve whatever painkillers you’ve filled the medicine cabinet with. But when you nod, he relaxes, crossing his arms and resting them on the edge of the bed before mirroring the smush of your face as his cheek presses into his forearm. 

“Four Advil. They haven’t done shit,” a frown settles into the corners of your mouth. 

He widens his eyes dramatically, mocking your pout, “Wow, that’s a lot of Advils.” 

“Don’t patronize me,” you groan, freeing an arm to throw it out into his direction, attempting to aim a slap to his forehead. He dodges it easily.

“I’m sorry,” he laughs out, dodging a second attempted slap, “I’m sorry! Sheesh, for someone in pain, you’re in a fighting mood.” 

He finally stands and grimaces at his own knees popping with the movement, cursing his own aching joints at the ripe age of twenty five, before he settles to sit on the edge of the bed. 

You must truly be feeling awful, because you don’t even scold him for doing so in his dirty work clothes. 

“What can I do?” he asks, bringing a tentative hand to rest on your shoulders, feeling the tension even between layers of blankets and clothing. 

You manage the smallest of shrugs, an ever-permanent wince gracing your features more roughly now. 

“I just want it to…. To stop,” you grit out in irritation, “I’ve barely gotten any work done today, and it’s just gotten worse and worse. It’s shooting down my leg now, down my… down my… that one nerve, you know? The stoic nerve or whatever they call it.” 

“Sciatic,” he corrects with a hushed chuckle. 

“Right, sciatic. Anyways, I can’t walk, and I can hardly stand to sit up. And it was my one day off. I was supposed to do the dishes, and then the laundry, and then… and then walk Gertrude’s dogs….and…” you trail off your rambles as your body slowly relaxes. As you’d been speaking, his hand had moved in soothing patterns over your shoulder before traveling down the path of your spine, applying just the right amount of pressure that he’d learned wouldn’t inflict any more unnecessary pain. Instead, it would simply soothe you, as it is right now. 

“I’m sure Gertrude can walk her own mutts,” he muses of your elderly neighbor as you sigh out deeply, “And I can handle doing the dishes and laundry. I’m a big boy.” 

“You couldn’t even tie your own shoes this morning,” you remind him in a teasing tone with a corner of your mouth still hidden in the plush pillow. 

“Unfair,” he whines, his hand finally reaching your lower back, taking more precautions in where and how he rubs circles, “I was still half asleep, and you offered.” 

“You were only half asleep because you ignored your alarm, and I had to kick your ass out of bed.”

“I was tired. Sue me. Also, I had a very comfortable pillow - or should I say pillows?” he references to your chest, leaning himself down to press a sloppy kiss to your cheek as you twist to finally face him fully. 

You’re still smiling through the whine that hitches in your throat from the movement, jokingly wiping away his kiss as you shake your head, “Are you still in your work clothes?”

There it is. The scowl and the tilt of your nose he had been anticipating, clearly displeased in his filthy state even as your eyes spell out your adoration for him. 

“You’re cute when you try to be angry with me,” he grins like a young boy, features lighting up with a youth only you could draw from him. He leaves no room for protest as he stands from the bed and claps his hands, “Alright, here’s how the night’s going to go - I’m going to go order your favorite takeout, and pour you a glass of your favorite wine. And then, you’re going to take a bath-” you open your mouth, a squeak of protest falling off your lips, but he simply holds up a finger and shakes his head, “Nope. Hot bath, wine, dinner. I know you probably haven’t eaten today, have you?” 

Your silence is all the answer he needs. 

His grin softens, and he fights back the urge to trail a ginger finger over your cheekbone, not wanting to risk getting any of the residual oil and dirty on his hands across your face, “I’ll be right back.” 

“Wait!” you finally call out, sitting up quickly and nearly doubling over, “At least take a shower first. I’ll order the food.” 

“You will not order the food. I’ll do it and then shower, but you better not lift a damn finger while I do, baby. I’ll kick your ass, I mean it.” 

“Not if I kick yours first.” 

His chest blooms with love for you, the terribly stubborn beauty with a wicked sense of humor that has managed to keep him on his toes the last several years.

You’re a pain in the ass, but you’re his pain in the ass – he doesn’t care how cliche that is. 

You both follow through on your promises; he showers, and you don’t lift a finger. By the time he’s running a scalding bath, getting it hot enough it would burn him but somehow comforts you, the food has arrived. 

The night goes exactly as he had said it would. You sink in the bathtub and your skin is already flushing pink as he returns with a glass of wine for you in hand, the other holding a plate stacked high with your favorite food. He sits on the floor beside the tub as the two of you sit in silence at first, content with passing the plate back and forth before he tries to feed you your bites, which leads to snarky remarks and playful banter until he drops a piece of food into the bath. It has you screeching about how gross it is, but he can only cackle as he fishes it out, nearly knocking over your glass of wine, which leads to more scolding from you. You’re not mad, though, or even irritated in the slightest. He knows by the cracks in your voice and how hard you have to bite your lip to hold back your own laughter.  He knows by the way you press a kiss to his forehead after he shakes his still-damp curls out in your direction, if for nothing else than to pester you. 

And when the wine and food has been finished, when the bath has run cold and you’ve finally gotten each other up to date on the day’s latest gossip, he has a warm towel freshly fluffed in the dryer awaiting you. He insists on another back rub, this one more thorough as he lays you on the bed and carefully straddles you, peppering in kisses this time along with the working of his nimble hands. A trail of love notes written across your skin in his breath, in his murmurs of affection and his whispers of devotion. 

You’re his favorite part of his day, even on the bad ones. 

You’re a stubborn pain in the ass, but my God is he glad that you’re his stubborn pain in the ass.

[beheadable]

So. The rundown, and an explanation on why I kinda look not great in the photos lol

Long ass post warning

So, we get to the con, we're getting our barrings, wondering where the actor guests are and end up happening upon them in the back l've been vaguely nauseous all day. I see him and try so desperately not to dig my nails into my mom's hand after catching a glimpse of him. Nerves, excitement, little bit of awe because beautiful man hahah

Anyway, maybe three people in line counting us, we wait a second it gets to us and he's like "hey, l'm sorry I gotta do photo ops in like ten minutes I don’t want to rush you guys. But it’ll be like ten fifteen minutes and you guys can come back?” and mom and I are like no worries! He’s so courteous about it and it actually really eased my nerves a little

We walk around! We go back, he’s there and there’s one person there so I’m like okay! Great! I’m not the first one walkin’ up! So we wait a second I’m trying to get my shit together so I can speak coherently and somewhat confidently and not end up quiet like usual, it’s awful sometimes. Anyway! I do great! Normal human I don’t sound weird or however like an alien I feel (I cannot express how much I am not built to do shit like this). I gave him the drawing first thing and through it all was a blur but mom said he called it brilliant twice <3 I don’t doubt my skills but it is still, vulnerable. This one was never intended to be seen by him nor literally gifted to him, I poured a lot of reverence into it I probably wouldn’t have otherwise if I did it with the knowledge that he WOULD see it (difference between, ‘I want this to look nice because he’s going to see it’ and ‘I’m drawing beautiful man for myself :]’)

It’s photo time, I hand mom my bag and the lady at the table (most if not all the actor’s tables had a convention employee with them) took like ten photos. I initially tried to keep a respectful distance because like, I don’t know, I’m not gonna go in for a full side hug or whatever but immediately I get squeezed right into him. Good god. Not to be weird or crazy or whatever whatever but I will never forget how that felt. Or he feels. Or any of that. Yes he is as boney and solid as I imagined <3 but just that like ‘you’re real, and sweet’ is what’s getting me. and. Well, mom said it first but it is true with how firm of a squeeze I got, my future boyfriend has a touch to live up to 😤 (I do wish I was mostly joking, but I’m mostly serious). Truly, I scrunched up in surprise and it took a minute to even fully comprehend the fact I’ve been fully tucked into his shoulder. Gonna feel that hand on my arm forever! Not a bad squeeze! The perfect squeeze, to me .

He is genuinely so so lovely and I’m so glad I actually did this. And shoutout to my mom for being the reason I’m here. And for confirming afterwards to me that I did, in fact, not come off as nervous and excited as I actually was and that I handled it well (I was still clearly very happy to be here, obviously, just, chill about it) (I do not think I will handle any situation well ever)

I’m not proofreading any of this tonight I want to go finish typing up my. Journal. Before I pass out. But. I’m happy! I still have two more days, and I’m chill, excited to continue to have a great time with my mom and enjoy my first weekend away from the grandparents in. Two months

Art I gave him……. I do love this one a lot. And!! In lieu of a ‘proper’ autograph (that was an accident but I truly don’t care) the 31 quote I am going to get tattooed on my arm as soon as I can <3 another reason I kinda had to gift him some art of mine… something of ‘me’ to give to him in return of something of his (handwriting) that will end up on me

I’ll cry about this at some point. I wanted to earlier but I was still at the con and I am such an ugly crier it’s awful. Honestly still surprised how emotional this all made me

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

05/17-18/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Nathan Foad; Kristian Nairn; SaveOFMD Crew; Int'l Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, Intersexphobia, Biphobia; Uproar; Fan Spotlight; Mermay; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika

Hey crew, sorry yesterday and today have been busy ones for me, so we're doing a joint day again. Hope you're all doing well the beginning of this weekend!

== Rhys Darby ==

Rhys just getting to be his goofy self, which we love so much.

Source: Rhys Darby's Tiktok

== Nathan Foad ==

Nathan out for a boat ride with his co-stars of Love's Labours Lost. They had their last showing recently, and there are lots of dedications out there to Nathan and this wonderful cast! Gratz Nathan! Can't wait to see what you do next!

Source: Nathan Foad's IG Story Wow Nathan's been busy!! Greta Gerwig will be available on Vimeo on May 31st!

Source: Marybeth Barone's Instagram ALSO I've been meaning to post this for days, but I'm finally getting around to it. Have you seen the ADHD Short Film Nathan was in?

Source: Nathan Foad's IG Stories Days ago

== Kristian Nairn ==

Kristian's joined the list! Kristian, Con, Nathan, and Vico will all be at Galaxy Con in Raleigh NC July 25-28, 2024! Ticket here.

Source: Kristian Nairn's IG

The latest episode of Kristian's podcast Spektrum is OUT NOW! You can find links to listen on his Linktree!

Source: Kristian Nairn's IG

== Rosy Maple Moth Pie ==

Hey lovelies! Did you miss out on Samba's baking class? Good news! You can access it now on the Momentus website! You can also access the recipes here.

== Int'l Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, Intersexphobia, Biphobia ==

Our dear friends over at These Thems posted a tribute to Int'l Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, Intersexphobia, Biphobia. It was yesterday-- sorry for the delay. To learn more about this day, you can visit UNFPA

Source: These Thems Instagram

== Save OFMD Crew ==

Pride month is approaching and Save OFMD Crewmates would love your feedback on how you'd like to help show Max, other streamers, the media, and the world that we NeverLeft! Fill out their survey here.

Source: Save OFMD Crewmates Tumblr

== Uproar ==

Still havent gotten to see Uproar? It's available on Amazon to Rent and Buy! Uproar on Amazon

Source: Blue Fox Entertainment's IG Stories

== Articles ==

So I thought I posted this back on the 16th with the trends but I guess not! So here's that article, you all have probably already seen it, but if not here you are:

‘Our Flag Means Death’ fans launch #DontStreamOnMax campaign, want David Zaslav fired

Robert Reich: How To Make $50 Million A Year While Your Corporation Goes Down The Tubes – OpEd

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Cast Cards =

Today's Cast Card is for the brilliant composer Mark Mothersbaugh! Thank you @melvisik and to the tumblr requester for including this fantastic guys work!

= OFMD Colouring Pages =

More colouring pages from @patchworkpiratebear. I feel like we need a bound book once these are complete. There's just so many fun ones.

Source: Patchwork Pirate Bear's Tumblr

= MerMay =

Can I just say that I am loving seeing how everyone's Art has developed over the past month? It's really cool to see slight changes in style/included details! You all are just so dang talented! <3

= SpencerDoesArt =

More catch up mermay prompts from our darilng crewmate SpencerDoesArtt over on Instagram, they've got some really cool stuff please check them out if you have an IG!

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= Snejpowa =

@snejpowa Love you have been just stepping it up with all these gorgeous Mermay prompts. Calypso is stunning~~

Day 17: Have you ever been sketched? / Day 18: Calypso's Birthday

= ErosTheArtist =

More prompts from @erostheartist - I am loving the colour contrast on these, they're so pretty <3 Day 13: Roads to Moscow Day 16: Kraken

= Blueberreads =

Eeeeee I didn't know I needed little pixel Ed drawings, but now that I have them I love them so much. I went them as stickers for my water bottle or something. Look at the little Ed-Gull. I'm dying @blueberreads these are so adorable.

Day 17: Have you ever been sketched? / Day 18: Calypso's Birthday

== Love Notes ==

Hey Lovelies <3 I hope you're having a wonderful start to your weekend (or mid weekend, wherever you are).

Tonight I'd like you to take a few moments to repeat after me, okay? It won't take long.

"I am beautiful"

"I am kind"

"I am loving"

"I am worthy"

"I am a force to be reckoned with"

"I deserve rest"

"I deserve love"

"I am enough"

You are all those things. It's easy to forget sometimes how hard we work and how far we've come. You are so many wonderful things lovelies. Remember to tell yourself that once in a while. You deserve recognition from others, but also from yourself. You are so brilliant, and you continue to surprise and delight us all every day. Rest well <3 A few more love notes from some lovely folks on instagram, feel free to visit them below :)

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A post shared by Darra ✨ Baltimore Artist & Branding Design (@deardarlingdesignstudio)

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A post shared by iulia bochis (@iuliastration)

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Tonight's theme is just goofy headwear I guess. Now we know how Rhys keeps his hair so silky smooth.

Gifs Courtesy of some of the most darling folks: @fandomsmeantheworldtome and @meluli

[diavolo-is-babygirl]

Diavolo x Levi Short Fic: Comfort and Warmth

Levi gives Diavolo some much needed comfort while they’re playing an adventure game.

The glow of holiday lights filled Leviathan’s room, casting soft shades of green and red over the shelves lined with his treasured collectibles. Outside, Devildom’s world lay in its usual dark gloom, but inside Levi’s haven, it was cozy, full of warmth and festive cheer. In the center of it all, Diavolo sat beside Levi on the couch, controller in hand, his brows furrowed in concentration as they navigated their characters through a dense, enchanted forest in the co-op adventure game Levi had chosen.

Diavolo had been distant lately, haunted by stress and insecurities, and Levi had noticed. He’d invited Diavolo to come by under the pretense of playing his new game together, hoping it might bring a smile to his face, even if just for a little while. But when their characters faced a particularly difficult boss fight, Diavolo’s focus wavered, his fingers slipping over the controls. “I… I’m not very good at this, am I?” he murmured, his voice carrying a hint of defeat. “I should be better, stronger… more capable.” He let out a heavy sigh, his gaze dropping to the controller.

“Even here, I feel like I can’t keep up.”

Levi paused the game, turning to look at Diavolo, his heart aching at the vulnerability etched across his friend’s face. In all his time knowing Diavolo, he’d rarely seen him so visibly shaken, so burdened by self-doubt. “Hey… that’s not true.” Levi’s voice was soft, a hint of earnestness peeking through his usual shyness. “Everyone has times when they feel like they’re not enough. Even the greatest heroes struggle, you know? You’re no different.”

Diavolo met Levi’s gaze, his amber eyes full of something soft, like he hadn’t expected that understanding from someone who usually kept to himself. “You think so?”

Levi gave a small, reassuring smile. “Yeah, of course. Besides, you’re doing amazing! This game isn’t easy, but look at how far we’ve gotten. And…” he paused, glancing around the room, his face flushing slightly. “You’re here, with me. That… means something, doesn’t it?”

The faint twinkle of Christmas lights cast a gentle glow over Diavolo’s face, illuminating the faint lines of worry that slowly eased at Levi’s words. He looked down at their characters, poised together on the screen, standing side-by-side in the dark, pixelated forest. “You’re right,” Diavolo said, his voice steadying, as if drawing strength from Levi’s quiet encouragement. “Thank you, Levi. I sometimes feel… like I’m not allowed to have moments like this, to struggle.” He chuckled softly, his voice warm. “But here, in this room, with you and the lights and the game, it’s… easier to believe that it’s okay to be myself.”

Levi’s cheeks turned pink, but he swallowed back his nerves, his voice soft but unwavering. “You don’t have to be perfect, Diavolo. Just be yourself. I… like you best that way.”

A quiet smile bloomed on Diavolo’s face, a gentle, unguarded happiness lighting his eyes. He let out a contented sigh, leaning just a bit closer to Levi. “Thank you, Levi. Truly.”

Without a word, Levi resumed the game, and their characters began their journey again. The tension in the room had shifted, replaced by something warmer, softer, as they navigated together through the magical, wintery landscapes. The game world came alive in brilliant hues of green and gold, reflecting the colors of the holiday lights around them. They fought battles side by side, defeated bosses together, and slowly, Diavolo’s laughter filled the room, ringing out with genuine joy as they shared victory after victory.

And when the final boss fell, Levi leaned into Diavolo’s shoulder, the warmth of their shared accomplishment—and something unspoken—filling the quiet between them. Diavolo looked down at him, his gaze soft, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Thank you, Levi. You’ve given me more than you know.”

Levi’s lips curved into a shy smile, and, for once, he didn’t shy away. Instead, he let himself bask in the moment, the comfort of Diavolo beside him and the quiet magic of Christmas lights casting their soft glow.

[sseniita]

hello op, I adore the villain you've created in the medical malpractice piece. their energy, their quips, their motivations, their dynamic with the hero. it's brilliant and perfect and please, please do write more about them. "firework" now has permanently changed my mind. maybe a continuation or maybe another one-shot if you're interested? it's great stuff

omg thank u sm,, i was proud of it! and ofc! i didn't have a story laid out for them but im always happy to revisit my works (maybe even w/ suggestions wink wink nudge nudge) !! sorry for the late update, i may be silent but trust, i am lurking

medical malpractice: healing boredom

The villain hadn't expected for this to go on for this long, but the little hero was resilient. If the villain didn't know any better, he'd think the hero was getting as much as a kick out of this as he was. His thoughts took over his mind, only snapping out of it when he heard the squeak from the hero and the flinch away from his healing hands.

"Ouch." Hero cradled their newly healed fingers to their chest.

"Oh, so sorry, firework. I was distracted." The hero returned their hand and the villain got to work on their thumb. Maybe snapping each of their fingers last night was overkill they thought- he shouldn't be giving himself this much work. Each heal was a meticulous and fragile process; it took more power than messing with a frontal lobe or blocking an artery. The villain cursed silently as he moved to the hero's other hand.

"I didn't know you could do that." The villain hummed in confusion, asking for elaboration with a raised eyebrow. "Hurt."

The hero was smarter than the villain thought, but apparently also vulnerable to charm. They dismissed things when disguised as a joke or flirtatious comment. Which explains why the villain now spent their Tuesday and Thursday afternoons playing footsies with the Hero under oval tables at meetings. He had had many close calls.

"Mmm. Everyone can hurt someone, Hero." He responded, focused on the hero's untrimmed cuticles.

"Yes, but I didn't think you could do it physically, with your powers."

"Well, healing involves pain, does it not?"

"You don't make it hurt."

"Ah, you've never been healed by someone as talented as me is all."

The hero chuckled. "So it's a skill thing?"

"Of course. A bad nurse would draw blood during a vaccination," He smiled up at the hero, healing the hero's pinky without breaking eye contact. "but you wouldn't feel a thing with a practiced nurse"

The hero's eyes widened at the realization their pinky had been healed. They wiggled each finger that only an hour earlier had turned purple and gone limp.

"Oh, you are good. Thank you, Nurse." They said, impressed, batting their eyelashes and smiling at their fully functioning fingers. The villain stared at the clock, ticking towards 9 PM and letting him know it had taken almost an hour to heal the hero's fingers. Never breaking fingers again, he thought.

"You're all set. Anything else you needed from me?" The hero leaned back against their arms on the examination table, leisurely displaying themselves in their ripped suit with half lidded eyes. They crossed their legs and tilted their head to the side.

What are you playing at, Firework?

"Well, I don't know. I hate that our little meetings run so short."

"They're very frequent." The villain shrugged.

The hero rubbed over the tissue on the examination table, making an infuriating crackling noise. They continued at it while speaking. "I have a kink in my neck."

"I'm a doctor, not a masseuse, Firework." The villain said, turning his back toward the hero, distracting himself from the noise of Hero's fidgeting by organizing paperwork and folders at his desk.

The hero had been at this game the past few visits. Coming up with excuses and making up stories about them and the villain that he knew didn't happen. Last week the hero had said the villain threw them against a brick wall and broke their arm. The villain had certainly not done that.

He was starting to get annoyed at how peculiar the hero actually was. They blabbered non-stop while he took x-rays, they became very sweaty very fast, and they had acquired a staring problem when he inspected them. He assumed the fighting had finally gotten to them. It always does.

"Well, could you maybe at least look at it?" The villain sighed, mourning the fun he had had the past months. Was the joy of fighting the hero really worth the effort of healing them over and over again?

He turned to the hero, a red and sweaty mess, and moved his hands up their neck, getting close to inspect under their hair, to know exactly where to press. If they were lucky, they'd hit pressure point and the hero would drop dead.

The hero wouldn't stay still, squirming under him and leaning their head back. Their hand reached for his elbow and a light tug had made an effort to make them face each other. Noses just inches away from each other. The villain was about to ask what was wrong before he noticed the hero's glance to his lips.

Oh.

The villain was pleasantly surprised at the hero's delusion about their relationship, but that was neither here nor there. He smiled softly at the hero, taking complete control and kissing them even softer on the lips. He liked being a few steps ahead of them. The villain knew the hero had no self control and so was prepared when they grabbed onto the lapel of his lab coat and pushed him on top of them, deepening the kiss as they went.

The hero was very different in this state. Grasping onto the villain to save their life, throwing the stethoscope around his neck to the floor. Hero was in bliss, and the villain decided to keep going along. After the villain's coat was on the floor but before the hero could reach for the villain's belt, the pair was distracted by a knock on the frosted door.

"Shoot." The hero hissed, finally regaining themself, sitting up and diving for the villain's coat on the floor. Sorry they mouthed before yelling towards the door.

"Justaminute!"

"Hurry up in there!" A voice called from the other side.

The hero was red in the face as they fixed their suit, struggling with the zipper the villain had started pulling down. The villain smirked, taking the liberty of zipping it up the rest of the way, his cold hands earning a flinch from the hero. They turned back towards him, before the hero opened their mouth the villain hushed them.

"I'll come see you later, okay Firework?" Their head tilted, their eyes lustful, and their hands right at his sides, exactly where the hero didn't want them. All the hero could utter out was a pathetic Ok, biting their lip to hide their gushing smile before rushing out of the office, only mouthing a bye halfway down the hall.

The villain watched them leave. They didn't mind the 6 or so heroes awaiting treatment. They had begun to regret their choice, chalking it up to a waste of time and effort. All they had wanted from the hero was the occasional fight to get out of boring afternoons lazing around the mayor's office- that had gotten stale. But this could work too. Oh, this could definitely work too, he thought with a dreamy smile. As he gestured for his next client to come in, he knew it would be a messy healing job- he found himself a tad bit distracted.

Healing his boredom would hurt, it just wouldn't hurt him. If he played his cards right, the hero wouldn't even notice their own destruction. After all, he was a very talented doctor.

[moralesmilesanhour]

after seeing the Star Wars x atsv drawing I think it would be cool if you wrote miles x reader but Star Wars themed. :) if you can. Maybe they like play fight with lightsabers even though that probs wouldn’t end well

star wars au!miles x reader

A/N: warning. i do not know how sword fights of any kind work...but i don't think the star wars films do either lmao so bare with me please <3 also Miles is a bit more...rambunctious? in this one than I usually write him? so enjoy that maybe

(he may also be a little OP here ngl JUST A LITTLE but I still feel like this is at least somewhat in-character).

semi-inspired by that training scene between anakin and obi-wan!

"I almost had it!"

Miles' voice echoed as he paced around the now-empty training room. You leaned against a wall, watching him with an amused grin. "I swear, bro, Pav tripped me 'cuz he knew I was about to beat him."

"I'm a little more concerned that you let a rookie catch you lackin' like that," you laughed. "He's been here, what, like six months?"

Miles spun around to face you with his arms crossed, though there was no malice in his expression. "And you been here what, three years? But I still whoop yo' ass every time we duel."

You tilted your head. "Is that a challenge, Morales?"

That tell-tale grin spread across his features - the same one that made an appearance whenever he was the only youngling in the classroom with his hand raised.

"I dunno, Y/N. Is it?"

You got off the wall and stepped slowly toward the center of the room.

Unhooking the hilt of your lightsaber from your belt, you replied, "I needed a little dummy practice."

The saber hummed to life as soon as you toggled the switch, its blade glowing a brilliant blue as you began to circle your opponent.

Miles did the same, only he tossed the hilt in his hand like a drumstick first, flipping the switch using the Force instead for added showmanship before getting into position. His blade shone a vital green.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

He lunged into action as soon as the words left his mouth, swinging with gusto. His lightsaber crashed against yours, already having been raised in defense. You pushed him a couple feet away with a grunt.

"Miles, you're too-"

Before you could finish your sentence, Miles began swinging wildly with rapid rotations of his arm, and you were parrying several attacks on either side of you. Just as he was about to deliver a finishing blow, you got down and slid across the smooth floor beneath his arm to create more distance, and leapt to your feet once more.

"You're too aggressive," you said breathlessly as he began to circle you this time. "You're gonna tire yourself out, lose stamina. Lose accuracy, too."

Miles snorted.

"You sure it's me who needs stamina?"

He punctuated the sentence with a quick spin of his blade before attacking again. But this time, you ducked and it sliced empty air.

Once on the ground, you tried shooting out a leg and swinging it, but you were not as quick as Pavitr. Miles hopped over it with ease.

"Worth a shot," you grunted as you got rose up again and parried another attack.

"Oh, you think you funny, now?"

While he was distracted, you stepped forward and swung with all your might, knocking Miles' lightsaber out of his hand and sending it flying to the other side of the room. He promptly lost his balance and fell backward. When he remained there, nearly out of breath, you smiled triumphantly.

"Yup."

The smile soon fell from your face when you realized that Miles did not say 'yield'.

"Well I'm about to be hilarious."

He kicked his leg in a circle just as you had, forcing you to stay on defense and back away. This gave him ample time to get back on his feet.

You raised your arm in an attempt to attack, but Miles grabbed your wrist and stopped it mid-air. Like a ballroom dance, he used it to spin around and elbowed you in the lower back with enough force to shove you, but not enough for it to hurt. Caught by surprise, you couldn't turn to face him in time.

Your lightsaber was ripped out of your hand by the Force. Miles caught it, and suddenly your own blade was at your neck before you could blink.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, Y/N."

His warm breath hit your ear as he spoke. There was a smile in his words, reassuring you that he meant no real harm.

He deactivated the weapon, and pressed the hilt back into your palm. You turned to face him, thoroughly impressed.

"Shit, Morales, why can't you do that in training? They probably would've moved you up a level already!"

No longer in battle mode, Miles sheepishly scratched the nape of his neck. "I dunno, might get into trouble for that one."

"You're still too aggressive, though," you remarked, re-attaching the hilt of your lightsaber to your belt. "No defense whatsoever."

Miles rolled his eyes and started to make his way towards the training room's entrance with you following close behind.

"Yeah, yeah, you're just sayin' that 'cuz you lost!"

"I won until you decided to play dirty! Not very Jedi-like of you, Morales."

"Tell me about what Jedi do and don't do when you can lift a plate off the table."

"...Touche."

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on a less-spooky-than-anticipated-but-more-powerful-than-anticipated Brilliant Minds that I think a lot of people (including the real armed forces) could learn a lot from

seeing a little bit of everyone's lives (and obligatory fanservice shirtless Jacob)

so we're directly following up last episode's discovery

that's a hell of a way to see what a patient sees

shouldn't this have been the Halloween episode

why do I feel like that's Chekhov's pregnancy

and Dana continues to be relatable

thank fork they didn't kiss there

a little more fuel for my theory that Wolf's flashbacks might be more than they seem

that's it pair the potential lovebirds together

whoa those are some serious horror-movie drawings

another flashback, looks like his dad might have had the same thing

dude's starting to sound like the guy from last night's Tracker

Dana and Van dynamic-duo-ing please don't let it be romantic

of course Nichols was in the military

ok was this black ops

never mind, artillery

sound-based CTE wonder if that was a real issue

finally canonicity of gayness and the gun range scene everyone was hyped about

Carol being the Paige to Wolf's Walter minus the romance bit

the worst possible way to break the news

cue Wolf saving the patient again by being the medical equivalent of a hostage negotiator

and weird Russian lady could actually be useful

Jacob, people who say they're fine aren't

coming clean to calmer Steve about both the diagnosis and the dad

Wolf fights the VA and makes me cry

John Doe's message appears to have triggered Wolf (and the flashback was intriguing with the dad's paranoia extending into an atypical form of messiah complex (seeing his kid that way instead of himself), intriguing implications and also I think the dad reads a lot of thrillers)

is Jacob freaking high on something (also it's not just an age or black or ego thing but something about the way he talks really does remind me of Troy Barnes)

ok so what does that mean for any budding relationship

Dana outed Van but that's a good thing??

fighting ghosts with math, hey whatever works

BCI, when did this go from zero to Eureka and Nichols is probably thinking Wolf's out of his Vulcan mind ;)

Looks like we are getting a Halloweenier episode for Halloween week and it looks epic!!!

[booksteaandtoomuchtv]

Galaxy Con 2023: Colin O'Donoghue

My experience at Galaxy Con 2023 in Raleigh, which will be entirely Colin O'Donoghue-focused since meeting him was the only reason I dragged my entire family to Raleigh for the hottest and most humid weekend of our year.

We arrived at Colin's booth at 10 on Saturday and secured the second position in his autograph line. Someone asked the Galaxy Con volunteer when Colin would arrive, but she hadn't met him or talked to him yet. She just noted that his photo ops were scheduled for 12:15 and some of the talent did not arrive until their photo op time. A few of us got nervous about which queue we should remain in as time ticked by ever so slowly.

I got to chat with some lovely Colin fans and their spouses while my kiddos grew tired of waiting. After about an hour and fifteen minutes, the kiddos had it and were taken to a children's museum with their cousins by my spouse. As his luck would have it, that is when Colin arrived. Around 11:25, Colin's agent arrives at the booth and sets up the booth with Hook photos (like the one below) and discusses the flow with the Galaxy Con Volunteer. At this point, Colin's queue is three or four rows deep in front of the booth, wraps around the corner, snakes around to a larger aisle and seems to be rivalling the "headliners" that Galaxy Con heavily advertised.

Colin arrives, following quickly behind his agent and weaving through the crowd. He looks a bit overwhelmed and fairly exhausted. When he approaches there is a mix of awe and cheers and clapping, but as he settles and everyone realises that he is there, a louder cheer follows. It makes him bush. It endears him to you even further.

As he settles in, still absorbing his queue and saying apologies directed to no one in particular because he had a late flight, he looks to the Galaxy Con volunteer that will be working with him and flashes a brilliant smile, greets her warmly, and introduces himself to her. She jokes that everyone is jealous of her and has been trying to trade her jobs.

His face is complete and honest confusion when he asks her why. And, she has the fun task of explaining to Colin that he is Colin. His face turns a deeper red as he settles into his chair to start his long day of signing autographs and making memories for each person he speaks to that day.

Colin clearly takes that part of the con very seriously. He gives every fan his full attention, listening intently, graciously accepting gifts, greeting them and chatting with them so that each person is allowed their moment with him. Again, you cannot help but find yourself more endeared with him as you watch him consciously make an effort to make every single encounter special.

When I handed him the picture my daughter drew of him as Hook last year to sign, he listened so kindly to the whole story. When I was finished, he asked if he could draw her a hook when he signed. It struck me as such an incredibly sweet question. (Of course, I said "Absolutely. You can do whatever you want! She'll LOVE it.") Then, I got a selfie with him...well, after my shaking hands remembered how to operate the camera on my phone.

Photo Ops

The photo ops were incredibly quick. You got just a few seconds with him as they hurried everyone along. In that time, the time to walk up to him, look at the camera and smile, he still put forth the effort to greet and thank everyone as they passed through. It was just lovely to see the extraordinary amount of effort Colin put in to make every moment that you get with him meaningful. It is so striking against the backdrop of a convention that was clearly focused on getting as many people through as possible to capitalise on profits.

Colin Panel and Q&A

Colin's panel fills up quickly. Six minutes before the panel is slated to begin, the room is standing room only. With the SAG strike ongoing, the rules are set forth that we cannot discuss that thing he was in with the thing on his hand but we can discuss stage productions and animated series he has been in.

When Colin walks out to the stage, he is very clearly shocked at how full the room is for his panel.

The moderator starts the conversation with pretty standard questions and some general background - when did you get into acting, etc. We learn that Colin has over thirty guitars, one owned by Ringo, and an amp that Rory Gallagher (his hero, btw) used while he toured. He also dismissed the title of "musician" that the moderator used a few times, saying he was no longer a musician. When asked what his perfect day would be, he gave the answer spending time with his kids since his career means that there are periods that he goes without seeing them for a while. And while the answer is undoubtedly sweet, it also broke my heart for him.

Then, they opened the floor for questions so long as you avoided BTS questions about that thing he did with the thing on his hand. There were times that he danced around exact shows or roles and he was genuinely terrified of saying something that would get him in trouble. The moderator was very, very good at guiding him or the questions to protect him from misstepping.

Over the course of the panel, Colin may have revealed that he enjoys cooking. He stated that one of his favourite holiday traditions is cooking the Christmas Dinner (there is turkey, Brussel sprouts, Christmas pudding, amongst other things) and he likes to add a bit of prosciutto and thyme to his pineapple pizza. He has tried jellyfish- "It was weird." And, he likes pistachio and real vanilla ice cream. He must have been starving at this point (his panel was over lunch), because they gave him a blue sour candy and a green sour treat for answering that he'd be Batman if he were a superhero from comic books and the Joker if he were a supervillain and he clearly disliked the candy and still ate the second one just moments later. He didn't like it any better.

He was interesting enough to hold a two-year-old and a four-year-old captive for the entire duration of his panel. They loved seeing "Captain Hook with a Hand" in person and Caden said "Caden Hello" to him almost audibly when I made it to the microphone to ask my question. The little smile that Colin gave my kiddos when they reached the mic was the sweetest and most wonderful thing.

Quick replay:

He likes sour and salty things, crisps are one of his favourite foods.

Yes, he would support his kids if they wanted to go into the film industry. He would want to ensure they really wanted to do it though.

He is always touched to know his work has touched people or gotten them through difficult times. He loves that the show with the thing has brought people together and created a community for so many of them.

He is afraid of absolutely nothing. No fears. Except for panels, which he thinks is obvious by what he said during the panel.

He would be a black labrador x retriever cross. His character from that one thing with the leather thing would have a black labrador cross. If he had a pet mythical creature it would be Cyberus, the three-headed dog, the Hell hound. All three of the heads would be black labrador cross and it would be extremely friendly.

His mum gave him the best life advice that he has ever had. You should put 100% into everything that you do and you should always be kind.

He would be Douxie out of all his characters since Douxie has magic. "Who doesn't want to be a wizard?"

He likes to read everything, especially a good mystery like Stephen King. His favourite fantasy novel is Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Star Wars is his favourite film.

As a child, his favourite show was the original Ghostbuster cartoons (he had all the action figures) and Duck Tales (his kids love the reboot).

He hates the beard. But, he does have a new role and he is working on something new.

He does like to do prep work. On the one that he only had three days to prepare, he'd read the book. So, that helped him prepare. He doesn't have to prepare too much for accents because he loves accents and talks to himself in different accents all the time. (And, he did as a kid.) He thinks American comes to him easily because he consumed so much American television while growing up. He was particularly proud that a couple from Oklahoma told him his accent in the thing he only had three days to prepare for was a good Oklahoma accent.

He trusts writers have written the best ending for the shows they are writing. (This was specifically about the Tales of Arcadia series, but he answered generally and specifically.) He said it was valid to disagree with the ending or to dislike because everyone thinks things should end a certain way and that is as valid as the actual ending. He thinks that endings are particularly difficult because people don't actually like when things end.

He isn't a prankster but his friend out there in the world, Josh Dallas, is a prankster. He had a fart machine in a fictional forest that he would set off at opportune times.

NO! (playfully), he is not friends with anyone from that one thing he did. He did see Gen and Josh when he was in LA in January and keeps in close touch with Sean.

He supports Manchester United.

His scent as a candle would be pina colada.

He got to use his Irish accent in Luck and he did heighten it a bit, really leaning into it where he could. In the animation booth, you have to almost overact and overdo it so they can animate it well.

His favourite city that he has worked in/travelled to is Vancouver. It is too far away from his home, but it is where his kids were born and he loved his time there. It felt like home, but his family and real home were too far away.

He got accepted into university for special effects and such. He'd probably have ended up doing that if he wasn't acting.

And, when I asked what song he would play he was to have theme music that played in his life every time he entered a room...he told us about the time he would play INXS' "Need You Tonight" and strut out and do a very fun hip wiggle that is more effective with the leather and eyeliner. (But, he sampled it for us and it was still effective. :) )

I will treasure these memories and this experience. Thanks to all the hard work Colin put into this weekend and to his willingness to spend a weekend being entirely too hot and sweaty with us in Raleigh.

[daddymus-mamatron]

8, 22, 39, 41 and 50 for the fic ask

What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

I Will Not Bow with D-16

I don't want to change the world I just want to leave it colder Light the fuse and burn it up Take the path that leads to nowhere All is lost again But I'm not giving in I will not bow, I will not break I will shut the world away

I could copy the whole song it just SCREAMS d-16

22. Who is your favorite character in [insert fic] and why?

Pharma in Take me back to Eden HE'S SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN fjsdhfjlksdhjflhdsf

39 Is any aspect of your writing process inspired by other writers or people? If so, who? Mhhhh…. Not really?? I never stick to one style, I just like using big words that means perfectly what I want. I'll give that to English, it has some specific ass words lmao

41 Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.” Beyond The Rust Sea honestly anything by @littlenyao is brilliant, Electroliminal inspired me to draw buildings and inside spaces many many times. My sketch book has a few pages full of doodles from that fic.

It was so hard picking ONE there's so many amazing author in this fandom. Shout out to @heliopauseentertainments Course of Treatment because I re-read this fic at least once a week. UwU

50 Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about! I wanna talk about the MegOP!! Shots, I can't fucking believe you didn't realize M was flirting with OP, that ask fucking blew my mind it was so funny. I wanna tease something mhhh OH!! I know!! ULTIMATE TEASE

“RATTY!! SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH OPTIMUS!!!” The speedster grabbed the first gurney he could reach and rushed back to the waiting room. He would rather no-one - Ratty especially - have to drag Optimus’ unconscious frame anywhere. His conjux’s back was not what it had been and the Prime was, without a doubt, heavy. A finger pointed to the gurney as Drift looked at Optimus with worry-filled optics. “Please listen to me and lie down. We wouldn’t want to make Ratty -” screams could be heard from the medbay, and Drift cycled his optics with aggravation. “ - or Megatron worry about you, now, would we?” “OPTIMUS!” In the medbay, Megatron was struggling free from the connectors as he tried to get up, terror crushing his spark at the thought that he had somehow infected Optimus.

It's the start of the chapter too lmao. Nice

thanks for the ask I sent you a long ass one xD

[catierambles]

prequel to this with what tf "she" did

They were pinned down behind cover, one of the Sergeants' holding his shoulder as he took a bullet before they got to relative safety. Any attempt at return fire resulted in a hail of bullets that chipped away at their safety.

Syverson had been worried about their newbie when shit hit the fan. She was young, green, didn't have the experience the others had and as far as he knew, this was her first op under the Berets. He didn't want to have to deal with panic...but he didn't have to. She was calm, resolute, her breathing controlled and her expression serious but not tense. He obviously wasn't going to check, but he would bet money that her heart rate was steady as well. This girl knew impossible situations and knew how to keep her head in them.

"Captain," She said, "One pocket to the left, one to the right, and one straight ahead. Yeah?"

"That's right." He said, somewhat impressed that she was able to gauge layouts through the chaos.

"We can't draw this out, give them time to call in a fourth to cut off our retreat. We need to end this now." She said.

"Any suggestions?" He asked, "I'm all ears."

"Stay calm and stay down." She said, and suddenly darted out from behind cover, bullets striking the areas behind and around her before she was able to find safety behind a half crumbled wall.

"Get back here!" He yelled after her.

"Stay down!" She called back and he could see only a silver of her on the other side of the wall. There was an odd shimmer, a brilliant purple glow as a circle edged with sigils rose up around her. Another shimmer, a barrier snapping over her and she turning into the open. Bullets struck her, but were stopped in mid air. She wasn't in her uniform anymore, but a set of odd dark robes, a gnarled long staff with a glowing gem in her hand.

Keeping forward, she raised the staff and pulled it back sharply, an explosion rocking the air, making the ground shake, and he turned, see the building just ahead explode into flames. She turned to the left, repeating the gesture and that building exploded as well. A turn to the right and another explosion as what looked like a massive fireball slammed into the top of the building, annihilating it. She held the staff out in front of her for a moment, but it was quiet. Raising her hand in the air, she snapped her fingers, her dark robes becoming white, the gnarled staff becoming elegant and she returned to them going over to the Sergeant who was watching her with wide eyes.

"I need to check the severity of your wound, okay?" She asked, her voice carrying an accent it hadn't before and he couldn't place it. The Sergeant nodded and she laid the staff down on the ground, kneeling by him and pulling him forward gently, feeling along his back. "The bullet went clear through, there's an exit wound. Hold still, this is will make it feel better." He relaxed again and she held her hand over entry wound. A pure white light emanated from her palm, sinking into him and making him gasp. "Breathe. Keep breathing." He nodded, taking in deep, steady breaths.

"It's warm." He said and the corner of her lips perked up almost imperceptibly. The glow faded and she sat back on her calves.

"How does it feel?" She asked.

"It feels--" He moved his arm, rotating it at the shoulder. "Great. Better than, good as new. I need to..." He took off his vest, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it aside. Blood still stained his skin, but it was unbroken and unmarred. "It's gone. It's completely gone."

"I've healed worse injuries." She said and stood. Another snap of her fingers and she was back in her uniform, the staff vanishing. "Let's get the hell out of here, yeah?" The accent was gone and she rested her arms on the butt of her rifle.

[threewaysdivided]

🦈and 🦋 for the ask game?

(Fanfic Writer Ask Game)

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

Back when I was writing Arc I of Deathly Weapons, I used to say Robin but, now that I've moved to writing the whole Team more, I think that wooden spoon of dubious honour has passed to Conner.

The thing that makes Conner challenging for me to work with is that he just doesn't have as much starting material as the others. We shall set aside the unrelated YJ Comics, where Kon is a very different character with a very strong and distinct personality. He's a bit of a blank, which makes perfect sense in-universe because he's very new. He only has about 6 months of lived experience by the finale and that means he hasn't had time to build up the layers of in-universe history and memories that can be mined for nuance, call-backs, behavioral tics and personality foibles yet. Which is tricky for a writer like me, since I like to lean into that nitty-gritty granularity of canonically-supported character specifics to help distinguish everyone.

Deathly Weapons also takes place at a point where Conner's still in the process of growing from an archetype into a fully-realised individual, and something that makes it extra tricky is that his starting archetype is "Strong, Silent and Broody". Where other Literally-Born-Yesterday characters might be written as childishly talkative/ curious/ naive about the world, Superboy tends to be taciturn with a dash of impatient directness. He's not antisocial but he is socially inexperienced - he often participates by silently observing unless he has questions/ observations, and he tends to withdraw into himself when processing emotions (unless he loses his temper). That's a challenge to integrate into a written medium because it could be in-character for him to go a whole group-conversation without saying or doing anything, but if I don't do something to depict him then he starts to fade out of the story.

Part of that is finding stuff for him to do, which is also tricky because of his power-set. Physically, Conner is a super-strong damage-resistant close-quarters brawler (with some secondary reconnaissance abilities thanks to his super-senses): i.e. a tank build. The problem is, super-strong tanks are well-suited for the strategic niche of threat management and demolitions, but Deathly Weapons leans hard into the more spy/investigative type of mission storytelling - conditions where open combat and large-scale destruction are undesirable. If your stealth-squad is routinely toppling buildings or drawing the kind of heavy fire that it helps to have a tank "pulling aggro" for, then something is probably going wrong. It makes it hard to find a balance because the more competent the Team is at being a black-ops unit, the more they avoid the kinds of combat scenarios that play to Conner's unique strengths. Which, again, means I have to keep a closer eye on him during field-work scenes to make sure he doesn't fade out of the story or end up saddled with endless grunt jobs just to give him something to do.

I like Superboy a lot, and I hope I've got enough planned to pay him his dues in DW, but it is a challenge to balance a character who is interesting in non-verbal ways and best suited to open combat in a written-medium stealth story where he's not the central focus. He's a gem who takes a bit more work to foil for this setting.

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

Wally. Wall-meister. Wall-man. Mister Meep-Meep. World's dumbest smart person and most brilliant fool. A boy who admired his uncle so much he reversed-engineered a chemical formula and blew himself up with it to get superpowers.

100% Wally is the most fun character for me to write. He has a really entertaining narrative "voice" and it's one I can find quite easily, even in early drafts (possibly because - as someone who was also a teenage STEM-idiot - I read a lot of his sixteen-year-old bullsh*t as being similar to my own tweens-to-twenties bullsh*t.)

I've called Wally my "free entertainment" character before, because whenever I need to add levity to a scene I just drop Wally in there, let his leash out a little and leave him to amuse himself. He's a lot like Sokka from ATLA: the way he talks, thinks and engages with his environment and other characters is naturally endearing and charming to me. So many of my favorite incidental lines from the published and planned Deathly Weapons chapters are just descriptions of Wally doing, saying or thinking something:

"So?" Kid Flash seemed amused by the idea, "Throw in a couple of glares and hang him off a roof as usual. Problem solved."

Wally made a disgusted noise and was promptly ignored.

“Wasn’t he tied to a table?” “Yeah, and?” the speedster gave a magnificent shrug.  “He still is.”

“Nope.  Guy was out of it.  Besides,” Kid Flash shrugged the item on experimentally, colour eye-watering against his stealth-suit, “you know me: moves like a shadow.” The archer and the detective shared a look. “Sure thing, mister ‘ninja-boyfriend’.” He shot a wink her way.  “You know it.”

Wally put on his best skeptical face.

He so didn’t want to do this. Well, okay, that wasn’t true.  Part of him didn’t want to do this.  Another - louder, guiltier - part very insistently did.  The rest… mostly just wanted to find a hole to curl up and feel stupid in for a while.

The stupid-hole was looking better and better.

Wally, meanwhile, had returned with a long-handled spoon.  He twirled it in a hand, sizing the plate up with a speculative look.

“Souveni-” “No.” “Oh come on, look at the little guy!”

The thing I like about my favourite iterations of Wally is that he's an earnestly good person. When you peel back the layers of insecurity and class-clownery and teenage nonsense he's someone who cares... and sometimes his flaws come from caring too much about the wrong things. He doesn't always come off looking the best (especially in DW's Flashpoints-Equilbrium set, where we're going to be unpacking some of his roughest character traits) but to me he's someone who genuinely wants to do right by people, even if he puts his foot in things a lot along the way.

He's also just... really funny about it.

Thanks for playing!

[denimbex1986]

"Oh man, that would be an absolute nightmare for me to sit beside the man you're supposed to be portraying. I, I don't know, I mean, I think we investigated and interrogated the man and I think it's up to the audience to kind of decide and to judge or not what they, what they think of, of him. You know, the film asks a lot of big questions I think and that's what's - that's what good films should do I think, but they don't give too many answers, so thankfully I will never have to ask Robert Oppenheimer."

"...I remember it was - for a screen test, there was a very high production value, like we had a full set and we shot on film and you know it was the, the crew and I was in the Val Kilmer suit, I remember every one of us that auditioned was in the Val Kilmer suit. But I just remember he was brilliant with, with actors, and that's one of his, you know, key talents is he's amazing with actors; he gives the most succinct, precise notes that can kind of change your performance. And, and I remember we got on - I remember we got on and we've you know, we connected in some way and it's, it's kept going for twenty years."

"It's very interesting yeah, it's kind of an iconic clip isn't it? The thing that struck me a lot watching a lot of those videos because there's, there's an awful lot of footage of him giving lectures and that's one of the rare, kind of candid, interviews, but I found throughout a lot of it, he's quite performative in a lot of those interviews and particularly in the lectures. And while that was very useful for one aspect of his character, it wasn't entirely useful for me in terms of the sort of day-to-day man in his day-to-day life. I don't think - I think that you can feel the history and the kind of, the weight when he says that; you could see it in his face and in his eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah; yeah - it's an incredible clip."

"Well I, I, I, I think that - that's a very good question - I think you know you, you move beyond the fact that he is Christopher Nolan, one of the greatest directors in the world, and you know, you've become friends so you, you feel very safe in the working environment, to try stuff and to make a fool of yourself and to, to go deep and to have a laugh and, and we worked really, really closely on it. And I suppose those twenty years of experience of - have led to that level of trust and to that level of shorthand, and also I'm kind of older and I've had a lot of experience. I remember being on those Batman sets and just being overwhelmed; it was - I was like a kid in a candy store, it was, it was kind of staggering, whereas now I suppose I'm; I've had the experience and I'm a lot more focused, I hope."

"I feel I knew instantly; I feel I knew when I read this script, and then when you're on the set, it's just monumental - you just feel this film will have a monumental presence not only now but in your life ahead; you just know it and it's an ethereal thing that you can't place exactly what it's about. Of course the subject matter is incredibly impactful and will haunt people -"

"I think it's the subject matter, and, and when you see a director that's that locked in, kind of at the height of their powers - the only thing in my career; this movie felt the most to me like when I made, made Saving Private Ryan early on in my career...But no the, the - when you match somebody of that kind of virtuosic skill level with a story that - I think like, you know, Spielberg or Nolan, Jim Cameron; or one of those, one of those directors with a story that is worthy of their considerable gifts."

"I mean I didn't, I didn't draw this connection between them necessarily. I think what, what, what Groves and, and what they were doing with the Manhattan Project was, you know, as to, to your point about the most important thing in the history of the world, I think they knew that. You know, they knew that it had the potential to end the war, they thought - the scientists thought - perhaps in retrospect naively, and Oppenheimer was maybe naive thinking that it had the, the potential to end all war, right - well if we invent this, well obviously nobody would ever be stupid enough to, to, you know, to stockpile them and, you know, so there would never be a war again. But, but, yeah, I, I - it's just kind of, I, I always think about trying to put myself in the, in the, in, in the headspace of the people who were living at that time, and I'm always kind of blown away with what people were grappling with whether it's, you know, you know a guy in the 101st Airborne or whether it's somebody trying to, trying to coordinate the construction of an, of an atomic bomb - what was at stake for those guys and how silly, and how silly our lives look in comparison."

"Well John is like the ultimate pragmatist in my life which I adore like, I feel like John is like the call in the night for a lot of people, you know what I mean? He just kind of fixes stuff and he'll just say it - he's so great like I'll, I'll express I don't know, something I'm worried about and he'll listen to the whole thing and he'll go: "Okay, you ready for some thoughts?" And I'm like: "Yeah", and then he'll just lay it out. Now he will admittedly say he's not good at dealing with his own concerns, but he's the best therapist for everyone else. So I can't think of anything specifically, but we have been laughing recently about some advice that this amazing photographer I just worked with - we were talking about what advice would you want to give people nowadays - and I said: "I don't really know." And he goes: "Do you know what I wanna say to people sometimes? Because I just wanna say: "Just get it!" It's like the best, because you could apply it to so many things; guys; just get it, okay? It's time for you to get life - just get it. So I think that's my advice."

"...I think, I, without naming any particular movies, that sometimes you find yourself in a movie that you know perhaps might not be what you hoped it would be and you're still making it. And I remember - halfway through production and you've still got months to go and you've taken your family somewhere you know, and they're - you've inconvenienced them, and I remember my wife pulling me up because I was, I, I fell into a depression about like: 'What have I done?' and she just said: "We're here now", you know? And it was like it's really, I - I do think and I, and I do pride myself, in a large part because of her, at being a professional actor and what being a professional actor means is you go and you do the 15-hour day and give it absolutely everything, even in what you know is going to be, you know, a losing effort and that's hard. And, and, and, and if you can do that with, with, with the best possible attitude then you're, then you're a pro and, and she really helped me with that."