#why do people ship connor with his dad?

[maddsmallow]

i'm so sorry to ONCE AGAIN complain out loud about people who see hank and connor as father/son but. oh my god. tell me you don't understand hank's character at all without telling me you don't understand hank's character at all (or even connor's), or you just truly don't care to actually acknowledge the canon of the game because you don't like the ship, which by the way is FINE.

hank's entire story in the game is being unable to cope with the death of his very human and very irreplaceable son. to even insinuate that cole is someone whose position in hank's life could be replaced would likely get you fucking shot in the head and then hank taking himself out too because that idea is just TOO painful and he finally just completely snaps. the idea that no one understands what cole meant to him, the absolute disrespect towards hank's son to think he could just be replaced as if he were a trinket and not his child that he raised and loved more than anything in the world—it would just be too much for hank. you don't just replace a child. it's not the having-a-child/being-a-father that hank wants, it's cole. it's being the father to an alive, happy, and healthy cole. not fucking connor, an android he met like a week ago. who is an ageless robot programmed to both look and act like a late 20s/early 30s man and NOT a child, and has the entire world's information in his brain, and who kills people and goes to a sex club. to think hank would replace his son with connor is straight up just delusional. hank would be so genuinely mentally fucked to do that—like i'm talking some dead dove do not eat level delusional shit where hank is truly convinced connor is his son or could pretend to be his son to ease the pain of having lost cole. that he can just force this robot who just gained his freedom to play pretend that he's his son and everything will be hunky dory. connor is not "hank's chance to be a dad again." connor is his own person who is NOT a child or even childlike, hank IS a dad to a dead son, and the fact that it seems like some people think you can just replace your dead child is just truly fucking wild and absurd to me.

and don't even get me STARTED on the whole "but hank calls connor son!!" thing. no the fuck he does not. i call people bro all the time. they are not my brother. i say "oh my god!" all the time. i'm not even religious LMAO. it's just a thing you say, it's just a cultural thing. and yeah, maybe it doesn't make sense for hank, a millennial, to say that, seeing as it's much more of an older generation type thing to call a younger person, but david cage is a fucking idiot and didn't actually care to make hank very millennial-like at all, so like. no, he does not call connor his actual fucking son. there is nothing here to argue that this is proof of a father/son relationship. hank's just an old guy being portrayed by and written by older-than-a-millennial guys.

that all being said !!! i'm not even coming at this from the perspective of a shipper. canonically, the very most they ever are is like, trauma bonded besties. i think people who are like "hankcon is SO ACTUALLY CANON" are also way up their asses and incorrect LMAO. at the very very most, they are just. close, trusted friends. there is so little or even nothing to point to anything romantic or father/son. hank may be a slight mentor to connor just having been a human for a long time and has lots of experience, but that in no way makes connor a child in comparison, nor does it mean it makes hank his dad. and hank even being a mentor-like figure is also debatable lmao, hank asks questions that make connor question cyberlife, but he's not even the one to make him deviate.

also if connor is a child, why is reed900 okay? why is ANY android ship acceptable? (no hate for the ship, i'm just making a point that what's applied to connor/hank for some reason doesn't apply anywhere else and it's so hypocritical.)

anyways. i can't stop anyone from believing what they wanna believe. literally made a post yesterday about how me not tagging my posts with ship names isn't the win people think it is cuz i'm still over here considering it ship art just cuz that's how i like to see them lmao, so that absolutely also applies to people with different views. this was just. me ranting about how fundamentally flawed the argument that they are father/son is. again, they aren't anything more than friends canonically. there is NO evidence to point to anything more than that or enemies, and to stand there and say the game CLEARLY portrays them as father/son is just literally factually incorrect.

david cage saying he based them off of his relationship with his dad is straight up bullshit and he only said it after the game came out and he became aware of the ship because he's a homophobic jackass. bryan dechart, if you pay attention, is SO careful during dbh streams to never say anything to imply anything other than just friendship between hank and connor because that's all there is, and to say that father/son or romantic implications were there would be to shake a jar of killer bees and split the fandom even further when all he wants to do is enjoy the goddamn character he acted lmao. clancy brown is on record saying NO they do not have a father/son relationship. there is NO EVIDENCE. to support it. or even anything more than just. friends. it is not canonical. stop calling father/son canonical. it is not canonical. you just don't like the ship, and that's FINE.

basically. even as a shipper, platoniconk is where it's at LMAO

that's my rant bye

[punkeropercyjackson]

Minus the 'Hero of the Great Prophecy' copout,Luke Castellan is such a well-written villain because he's so real.Not sympathic but that he's so awful in the way so many real cishet white men in power are and historically have been always been.Luke is a fascist.He's a misogynist.He's a racist.He's even a serial pedophile

Luke started grooming Silena before the series even started by taking advantege of her crush on him by flirting with her because girls that age don't know any better,oh he's different,we're different.He had the effect on Annabeth too but much stronger due to being her older brother figure and pseudo-dad,raising her since she was 7 and confessed to her at 16,on his deathbed,due to wanting to haunt and have power over her ONE last time.He wanted her to know what he'd thinking the whole time he was pretending to see her platonically.Thalia was 2 years younger than him pre-tree and he still liked her at 15 to his 20s.I'd go as far as to do a Lolita comparison,with Thalia's death giving him that little girl fixation to 'replace' her and let's not forget that while Kelli's age isn't stated,she passed as Percy's classmate when Percy was 14 and wasn't even technically a high schooler and there's no mention of no Mist Kelli showing her as older.It's implied he straight up SLEPT with her and maybe even did it multiple times judging by how long she was in the Titan's Army.She was also the only black girl member and that's absolutely relevant

And he was way closer to the Stolls than he was Chris but targeted him,the mestizo boy,even though Travis and Connor would've been easier to get to join him.The first camper he killed was Beckendorf and he gaslight Silena into thinking he wouldn't only for Beckendorf to be have been only a tool to him.He had zero respect for Ethan,the japanese/wasian boy,and unless you count Alabaster from the side books,the named Titan's Army's male members were all boys of color.The named girls were the lil white girl he hit on to fuck it up for everyone and the ambigiously aged but young looking black girl he made his bedmate because he saw her as a sexual being unlike her.Everybody likes saying he was so obsessed with Percy because he was in love with Percy and use it as ship fuel but the real concrete subtext is that he only saw Percy as an equal because they were both intended as white men.This is really the only logical explanation as really,the guy you knew for not even three months over your years long companions??????Who just so 'happen' to be girls.Luke was NOT slick!!

The Titan's Army is a military by definition.It's an army,the members are soldiers,they were created for the The Second Titan War.A war Luke started over personal trauma for vengeance and openly stated he dosen't care if he hurts anyone(see his Good Kid Reprise)for his own goals and functions on a cryptofash ideal('destroying society to built it from the ground up' and see his Good Reprise again but the last three lyrics specifically).Luke believes himself superior to everyone because he 'sees the truth' but perpetuates the cycle of abuse with it and does nothing to fix society,help the people he's the 'Champion' for or even to depower the high authority.He kisses up to an EVEN HIGHER and also WORSE authority to get power for HIMSELF!He wants to be a gods stand-in,not their opposite and that's why he treated everyone like shit.His speeches?That was propaganda on his part,not radicalization.'Western civilization is a disase'says the cishet physically abled blue eyed blonde white man who's constantly described as traditionally attractive after he groomed a HUGE chunk of troubled kids i.e minority kids who get abused for it no matter how hard they try to be good,because THAT'S what Percy meant when he said he was a troubled kid in The Lightning Thief-it's an insult and he was reclaiming it as a lower class audhd survivor of multiple kinds of abuse.He truly believed he was 'not like other half-bloods' and that everything he did was a means to an end when he meant to end it all for everyone,not be a saviour

As a biracial afrolatina who has multiple neurodivergent disorders including autism and with bpd and ptsd,is transgender and gendernonforming and was raised by the VERY white side of his family,i'm genuinely impressed with how good of commentary Luke works as on white supremacy and accompanying bigotries-Yes,misogyny like i said but also ableism/eugenics with his hurtful words directed at Tyson who's implied to have Down Syndrome and if memory serves i'm pretty he took a dig at Grover's crutches and possibly even Hephaestus' own physical disability and i'm not exactly sure if i'd say that includes queerphobia on his part but he is a VIOLENTLY cisheterosexual character in his actions so the subtext is pretty obviously there.As discussed by tons of other lgbt Pjo bloggers,Silena and Clarisse are an Achilles and Patroclus parallel and Thalia fits the bill for MANY transfem and alt lesbians norms and a more niche reading is Percy as an accidental transfem narrative that actually holds a lot of water with the most blatant one being her proving to Zoe she's not a normal man at all,which is a constant trait of hers but it was made it a plot point in The Titan's Curse and Annabeth as a comphet butch lesbian thanks to how gay her and Clarisse,Piper and Reyna interact with eachother and while i don't ship Percabeth,transfem Percy and lesbian Annabeth are complimentary in evidence for obvious reasons(even if YOU don't ship Percabeth either!)

Luke Castellan is real.Luke CastellanS are real.The word for them is 'colonizers'.I love how he's written and potrays the ugly truth of whiteness as an intentionally perpetuated structure,not 'the natural order',and i hate how Rick in his own cishet physically abled white maleness couldn't stop being a pussy and let Percy be the anarchist revolutionary to his full potential he deserved to be.Not surprised considering this is the same who disrespects greek culture so hard and has from the start in addition to the very long list of everything else but i'm allowed to still be dissapointed and wish Pjo had been thought up by an autistic black person since that's what Percy is realistically supposed to be so write what you know principal would've helped big time.Luke Castellan is sympathic and relatable if he's the only kind of person you think deserves sympathy and chances but not anyone else out of your own sheltered experiences

[freddie-77-ao3]

Help me choose a fic to work on:

(summaries below poll)

Gorgeous Girl, Goddess Girl, (Good Isn't All You Have Been)

Silena raises her head high as she dons Clarisse's armor. One way or another, it ends today.

She places the note on Drew's pillow, and then Clarisse's.

She steps in the chariot.

She dies.

~~~

Silena dies. These are her actions leading up to it.

___________________

Everything Is In Past Tense Now (You're All Gone)

("And Silena, she makes chocolates with her dad right before the start of summer, and she'll bring them in and they always taste awful 'cause she never makes them any other time, but everyone eats them, 'cause it's Silena. You'll love 'em though, 'cause Cecil always makes ice cream to go with the chocolate, and Malcolm and Beck'll make some baked goods." Chris sees Drew leave the room, Nyssa wipe away a tear, and Clarisse balling her hands into fists and whispering 'hero, hero, hero, she was a hero,' and he realizes his slip up.

Slip ups at camp fires where people don't quite seem dead. (Denial is much stronger than reality when we want it to be)

___________________

This Ship Can't Sink Until It Sails [Tales From The Argo II]

1-3: Piper & Percy prank Leo. Leo tries to rope in Jason & Frank, who can't prank. Meanwhile, Hazel & Annabeth have plans of their own.

4: Annabeth & Jason bond over Thalia, and telling stories about their time at the camps, and architecture after Kym.

5-6: HOH rescue. 7+Reyna/Nico play truth or dare & monopoly. Percy & Nico have just enough time to take Hazel&Jason out for burgers.

7: Jason & Nico talk more after Eros. Hazel & Piper bond.

8: The seven manage to get sick, and Hazel is introduced to Disney movies.

9/10: Coach Hedge & Percy have a bonding moment, & Percy IM's people at camp.

11-12: Coach Hedge's POV on each of the 7. Reyna&Nico&Hedge in Alberta and why it will NEVER be mentioned.

13: the aftermath of the ending of MOA.

14: The last day, the 7 play uno and write goodbye notes. Leo's funeral.

___________________

The Gods Watch From Their Heavens And Judge Us (But Their Sins Outnumber Ours)

Annabeth and Jason and Luke. Those are all the people that Thalia has cared about in her twelve short years. Jason is dead. Annabeth is screaming. Luke is sobbing.

Thalia has failed them all. 

Thalia's reflection on her life as she dies.

___________________

Before And After (Though We Often Wish It Hadn't)

There have been hundreds of events in her life that have a before and after. There was the before she ran away, and the after of Camp Half Blood. There was the before she met will, and the after: when she would do anything to protect him. Clarisse has had hundreds of befores and afters, but nothing quite like this. 

She didn’t think that there was an after to watching her siblings get consumed by the earth, screaming, while another watched. 

She doesn’t know how to cope with that after: a quieter cabin, unfinished bottles of hair solution, and unmade beds.

___________________

Where Our Lines Blur (Hold My Hand)

Connor Stoll likes Malcolm Pace. Malcolm Pace likes Connor Stoll. Seems simple, right? Even more so when they go out to eat together, alone, once a week? But no, it isn't, and Annabeth is going to lose her damn mind if this keeps up. Travis too.

So they drive the two out of camp until they confess, which leads to a day of disasters and disregarded laws including car theft and shoplifting, not to mention the fact that neither of them know how to drive or are of age for a license. 

And then they manage to go on a two person raid of a camp with 40 demigods in it, the two are forced to swear something on the River Styx, and it somehow isn't even the worst part of the day?

Travis and Annabeth aren't impressed.

___________________

Come Down The Floods (And Bathe In The Blood Of Gods)

Connor Stoll's morning starts like this: it's three twenty in the morning, and there is a ghost next to them. Drew is already up. There is a storm giant in battle against the gods, and they are in a war against Kronos. It is five days before the biggest battle of Connor's life, and in forty minutes, they'll be dancing on the table with their friends. 

ALT: Connor's perspective of the mission to blow up the Princess Andromeda, the day of Beckendorf's funeral, the three days of the Battle of Manhattan, and the funerals that come afterwards.

___________________

Hateful Heroes (Burdened With Bitterness)

(I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU-)

War. War and Death and Tragedy galore. Clarisse isn't mourning properly. Percy isn't either really, and it's of no surprise. (What teenagers are meant to mourn for the people who make up their entire world?) Clarisse starts a fist fight by the dying embers of Hestia's fire and Silena's shroud- but it won't bring her back. Percy stays awake at night watching blood arise from his skin- no amount of it is going to make up for the lives lost.

And then they break. It's not a surprise, but for Hestia who sits by the hearth as they scream? Her heart breaks.

(THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU HAD DIED- DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT? I WISH I HAD!- I WISH YOU HAD TOO! MAYBE SILENA WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!)

___________________

Tell Me I Can Live My Life (Don't Tell Me How To Live It)

The moment that Silena decides to become a spy for Kronos is the day that Drew breaks down in tears over her sexuality.

Drew wants to join the Hunters of Artemis, Aphrodite has a rule against that, and Mitchell tells horror stories about the rule.

___________________

So We Scream At The World (How Dare It Be Bright In Light Of Our Loss)

Will Solace is thirteen years old and ready to die. He's seen other people die, lots of them, and thinks that some of them didn't look like they were in pain, so really, how bad could it be? He's exhausted.

He is thirteen, and in charge of the infirmary. Usually it would be left to older kids, but he is the oldest. He's thirteen, and in charge of his siblings. Of making sure they don't die. He is not a leader, but he has been at camp the longest.

He just wants to sleep and never wake up. His family (because that is what they are, what they have become in this war) doesn't want to let him. (They want him to sleep, but they also want him to wake up.)

___________________

When All Your Fucking Dreams Are Dead

The Olympian dream is dead. Demigods pile up in bodies, and learn to fight monsters before they learn how to do addition- if they ever do learn either of those things, that is. Funny, right? They’re myths, they’re fairytales, it’s not like any parents would ever let their six year old fight monsters and take care of a toddler to survive, no, why the fuck would you think that? Fucking Olympian dream, folks. And hahaha, it’s all too funny, then you get to camp, you have no money, don’t even get your own clothes- no. Far to expensive when there’s two hundred children waiting for some food, and some bedding, and gods if someone else could just get a bed to sleep on, or even a place that wasn’t the floor- 

Has anyone considered that might have stopped the fucking war?

Or: time travel escapades lead Luke Castellan to be a little less bitter, and things- things go better- somewhat. 

Drew Tanaka, Connor Stoll, and Malcolm Pace travel back in time to just after Luke Castellan returns from his quest– Alone. 

___________________

Rewind, Rewind (I Remember That Night)

Characters reading the books fanfiction, will hopefully span from the start of PJO to the end of TOA. Minor character discrepancy.

"There's something worse coming. Isn't there? That's why we're here. Because something worse is going to happen-- again? You're doing this to us again? Three times. Three times we've fought for you-- when is it enough?" The figure still encloaked in shadows bitterly called towards the ceiling.

At once, like the hissing of snakes, like every sound in the world at once, the three fates rasped out, "Do not lecture us, child of the gods, of Athena and Hecate, this is the ONLY thing left..."

The figure did not recoil, and stood firm, "What is it this time? It was Kronos, then Gaea, then the emperors and Python... What's next? Ouranos? Khaos? What can't we recover from?" Behind him, the other campers whispered in shock and horror, but the boy didn't stop glaring at them.

[punksarahreese]

“You don’t get to call me that.” for estrangement omggg

Heat of the Moment

Estrangement | Exes!AU

Ship: Reesker

CW: accusations of abuse

WC: 1076

They had been yelling for a while, to the point where Sarah expected someone from PD to come banging on the door about a noise complaint. Ava had backed herself into the wall beside her fishtank, mirroring Sarah’s closed off body language that urged her to stay back. Startled eyes tracked her every movement, noting every shift and step the other woman took.

She wasn’t sure how this argument started, just like everyone before it. Sarah had let herself in with a huff, tossing her keys onto the coffee table and not bothering to pick them up when they slipped onto the pristine grey carpet. That’s where her eyes stayed frozen as she looked for words, searching for a way to convey what she wanted.

“You keep me isolated,” Ava’s whisper was barely audible, “When was the last time I went out with friends? The last time I met up with you and your friends? I don’t have anyone but you in Chicago, Sarah, and part of me wonders if you wanted to keep it that way!”

“Don’t you dare say that,” Sarah spat, “Your inability to make friends is not my fault at all.”

“Right, so the way no one ever thinks to acknowledge me when they invite you out right in front of me, that’s all coincidence?’

Sarah scoffed, “Well I think your totally approachable personality could be to blame, Ava.”

“I have a personality disorder, Sarah!” Ava’s tone matched hers as she uncrossed her arms, visibly shaking. She was looking at her girlfriend in disbelief, wondering where on earth the understanding, loving woman she knew went in all of this.

“That doesn’t excuse anything.”

“I never said it did. It’s an explanation, Sarah, not an excuse. You know how hard I have worked to be better socially, you know I’m trying. You of all people would know…”

Sarah ignored the way she blinked rapidly, if she did she might lose her courage. If she acknowledged the hurt in her girlfriend’s watery eyes, she might drop the subject and then the cycle would begin anew. Love and care turning to small conflicts and then even bigger meltdowns. It wouldn’t change, it wouldn’t stop; not unless Sarah fought back.

“They’ve noticed.”

“What?”

Sarah never once met her gaze, “At the hospital, they talk. They talk about how you act and how unfeeling you are. They wonder if you care about anyone but yourself. Your fights with Connor, your involvement with his dad. People have been talking for months.”

“I never did anything with Cornelius-”

“I’m not finished,” she said firmly, “They’ve talked to me, Ava. They ask if everything is okay at home. We say we’re dating but they never see us outside of work, not together. Some of the nurses ask if I’m okay, if there’s something wrong in our relationship.”

“I didn’t think anything was wrong… We just don’t do PDA, we aren’t those people. Sarah you know I never did anything with Connor’s dad and my relationship with Connor was a mutual issue. I’m not unfeeling, you know better than anyone that I feel too much. It’s why I have to depersonalize at work, otherwise I will break down.”

“Ava, I have been researching,” Sarah sighed, “Cluster B disorders… I think you were misdiagnosed.”

“Sarah Reese, I know what you’re thinking. Don’t you dare say it.”

Unruly curls bounced as she shook her head rapidly, mind racing too much to listen for the hurt in Ava’s voice. She had poured over countless journals and information for months, asking every psychiatrist she knew for information. Her notebook was littered with notes, messy beyond legibility for anyone else, all citing experiences she had recalled. Sarah had even reached out to her mom, something she never did anymore, asking for stories about her dad. She recited every observed behaviour and memory she had about the two of them, Ava and her dad, long enough that a connection bloomed in her mind.

“Your behaviour is concerning,” she started, “I can’t ignore it anymore, Ava. I wonder if you feel anything, really, because it doesn’t seem like it sometimes. I don’t want to believe you’re lying to me but that's all I can think now. Is all of it made up, do you really love me?”

“Sarah, I care about you so-”

Can you really love me? I think I have a habit of finding people who remind me of the man I grew up without… I begin to wonder if the pattern has any substance. The way you act, some of the things you’ve said, it doesn’t add up. I don’t think you’re borderline, Ava, I think you have ASPD.”

“Sarah,” tears had started tracking down Ava’s cheeks as the pain bubbled in her chest, “Don’t say that. You can’t diagnose me. I have trauma, I have all the markers of BPD and OCD. I was diagnosed after the last incident in my twenties, you know that; you read my notes. What are you even saying?”

“I’m saying people are asking if you abuse me emotionally,” Sarah’s voice was unlike she had ever heard before, cold and ripping at her heart like daggers, “My mind keeps comparing you to my dad and it all makes sense now. I’m saying I am starting to believe what they said may be true. I think maybe I flock to abusers with pretty words and lies-”

“No!” Ava’s scream rang through her apartment, punctuated by a thud as she backed into the wall again. Tears were freefalling down her face and leaving clumps of mascara behind, highlighting the agony she felt as she was staring at the woman she loved. Her hands shook violently as she tried to channel everything she felt into a feasible emotion, feeling like everything would bubble up until it exploded.

“You- you don’t get to call me that! After everything… How fucking dare you, Sarah? A-after I tried so hard, for years, to not become like the people who hurt me. You can call me a lot of things but psychopath? Abuser? I would never hurt you, and certainly not like this.”

“Ava, the research shows-”

“Out!” she screeched and scrambled to grab Sarah’s keys off the carpet, tossing them towards the door to make distance between them. She backed up again, arms crossed tightly around her body, “Get out, Sarah.”

[vivianleighwishesshewasme]

The Academy Secretary part 3

Chapter 3

Awkward family dinners

Patrick seemed really taken with your quiet nature and had spent the whole car ride trying to be near you and engage in some type of conversation. He was calvary you learned. Nothing wrong with that, you just weren’t interested in him.

Grace had been quiet too but you saw her watching you. The situation was doubly awkward with Grace seated to you right at the table, her hand resting near your thigh under the large dining room table.

Even with your fathers position, you’d never been at a dining experience quite as fancy as this one. You wondered if Grace had a title or what positions her family held in the military to be able to afford such an experience. 

The cream and rose colored room had ceiling’s you swore were meant for a cathedral, huge crystal chandeliers sparked above every table and the live band felt more like an orchestra then anything. 

“So Y/n, what’s the king like? Did you meet him?” Grace’s other brother didn’t seem interested in anything other than adder climbing. You were used to people like that so it was nice not to have a man swooning over you. 

“Y/n designed the test and met with the king to finalize it. Shes very intelligent.” Grace's compliment left you blushing. You really didn't think you were highly intelligent. You just didn’t want to waste your brain on silly things. 

“That's quite a feat to come up with a test that fails most candidates and only selects the smartest, bravest ones.” Patrick was grinning at you and even slipped in a wink. You smiled tightly. You never cared for attention. Compliments, while kind, were uncomfortable at best. You came by it honestly. Your father was the same way.

“It was only one test.” You said hastily, happy to stuff your mouth with food. You were grateful that Grace's mother and other siblings were happy to talk amongst themselves leaving you alone.

“Stop downplaying how smart you are, it's interesting.” Patrick was leaning into you more sitting on your left. You weren’t sure he was even on his seat anymore. Practically on your lap. 

“I'm not downplaying anything. I took the job because it was quiet and gave me time to read.” And meet interesting people, like your sister who keeps squeezing my knee every time you flirt with me. Obviously you weren’t going to say that outloud but it was true nevertheless. Grace definitely went for what she wanted.

“Dad was super smart and quiet too.” A smaller sibling piped up causing everyone to look at her. You smiled warmly. It was nice to hear from someone other than Patrick all night.

“Maybe that's what it is. She's smarter so she's quieter.” Connor, Grace's older brother, said glaring at Patrick.

“I’ve tried to tell you all that.” Exasperation draped thickly in Grace’s voice.

“

Grace,you're failing to mention you're in the top 7 percent that passed.

Top 3 to be exact.” You blushed, happy to brag about her accomplishments. Her family seemed impressed with that and started bombarding her with questions. You sheepishly smiled as she playfully glared at you. 

“When do you get your assignment?” Connor asked. He seemed bored but why was he staring at Grace if he was. 

“Im training now and going over the files There is a lot more to it than I realized.” Grace confessed. You knew she’d do well. She was too smart to fail.

“Should it ship out soon then?” Patrick asked.

“In a month or two.” You started choking on your water. For whatever reason you hadn’t thought about her leaving so soon. You’d seen the briefing. It was very dangerous. A month or two didn’t seem fair, especially for a new agent. 

“Y/N? Are you alright?” You nodded trying to ignore the blood rushing into your ears and fogging your head. Just a month or two….

“Hey, have you seen the pictures, y/n?” Grace's lovely mother smiled warmly and waited for your response. 

“Her father was a major general, I'm sure she was.” Grace gently reprimanded the older woman. She seemed surprised by your answer however. 

“Nope, dad thought all that creative stuff was silly. I read at home. Mostly non fiction books.” You didn’t want to talk about this. You missed your father dearly and the whole dinner was now making you very anxious. A month or two…

“Explains why you're so quiet compared to us.” Grace looked at you with awe. You stared ahead lost in your thoughts. 

“Grace is going to drive you nuts with all her chattering.” Patrick laughed as Grace kicked him under the table and clearly missed. He just threw his head back earning a stern look from his mother.

“I'm chattering, you haven't stopped talking to Y/N since you saw her.” she scolded him, anger flashing in her green eyes. 

“I don’t mind a little conversation.” You mostly said it to Grace but everyone seemed pleased.

________________________________________

[sunflowerdigs]

I'm really worried that people won't understand why Roman wants Mencken to win so badly and they'll just chalk it up to his suddenly being a white supremacist/fascist and believing what Mencken has to say because "lol, Roman is gross".

Roman has never cared about politics and he didn't care about them even after 3x06 last season - he never mentioned Mencken again in s3. But then this season he's got the hair, he's demanding Mencken be let into the memorial for his dad over Shiv's objections (the only time he's seriously pushed back on Shiv by himself), he's looping Mencken in to ATN broadcasts (a huge no-no, though the show hasn't emphasized this enough), he's firing people for pushing back against Mencken having too much influence. Apparently, in this coming episode, he's even delivering messages from Mencken. And yet, no explanation has been given for why he's suddenly so personally involved. And none seems to be forthcoming.

Idk. I can just see reviewers writing about how of course Roman has aligned himself strongly with fascists, he's the worst Roy. And it's like, no, that's not it at all. Where is the build-up? They seem to be treating the election like this stand alone thing that only involves Connor, except also Roman is super involved, too, for some reason, but we don't know what that is.

This isn't about shipping btw, they can do this arc without any kind of sexual relationship. But however they do it, it's just important that we fully understand why Roman is involving himself so personally and insisting so staunchly that Mencken will win. And I don't think "dad wanted it" is enough, not with how quickly Roman dropped the deal with Matsson.

[lesbianwyllravengard]

Hiya! I want to say that I absolutely love your text posts, they are all so hilarious and you get the characters 100% correct. I especially love your reed900 posts

I was also wondering why you dislike hankcon as a ship? Like no hate, I just want to know your reasoning. I'm not really for or against it, in my mind him and Conner are just buddies being pals, but I want to learn about how others view the game and their relationship, especially as someone who has only learnt about dbh recently and hasn't finished the game or watching a play through of the game.

You are still so hilarious btw, it's great

Thank you so much omg that's so sweet, definitely feeding my humour ego🤩akdjfjsks <333

As for hankcon... When I first saw the game it seemed very obvious to me that Hank and Connor were meant to be like father and son, or at the very least mentor and mentee. The juxtaposition of Hank warming up to Connor while also healing from his son's death and realising androids weren't the cause was my first clue. And that Hank calls Connor "Son", and says that Connor reminds him of Cole, Hank's real son. There's also just Hank's fatherly/mentor-like attitude towards Connor throughout the game, encouraging him to find clues at crime scenes, encouraging him when he shows empathy, that kinda thing. At first I simply interpreted them as being like father and son, and just didn't wanna see the ship because it felt strange.

Then I found out that David Cage did intend for them to be like father and son. They end the game as friends, but Cage says he wrote them to be like himself and his own father, [SLIGHT SPOILER FOR END OF GAME: with their hug in the final cut scene being like a father and his son. END OF SPOILER] Then there was a person who edited a scene (also slight spoiler but I'll be vague) where Hank asks Connor to tell him what Hank's son's name is, to which Connor replies with "Connor" instead of Cole and Hank's relationship status thing says "Dad🔼", and Cage retweeted this saying he could've written it. When it transcends simple interpretation and becomes the author's actual intent, that's when I can no longer look at the ship as "just" a ship. It becomes an actual warp of their relationship, in a bad way, and instead of letting them be like father and son - or friends, as you say, which is totally valid because that is how they end the game, I won't take that from you - people have to put them in a romantic relationship, because platonic and/or familial relationships mean nothing to them. It kinda sucks. I love romance and queer relationships in media but I also love found family, and platonic love, both of which are just as strong of loves, and it's sad when people disregard those two things as being less meaningful or significant than their romantic ship, because it's just not true.

And of course, I'm not saying you have to dislike the ship or be uncomfortable with it, this is just why I am. Interpreting them as friends is just as valid, because platonic love is just as valid as any other. I just prefer to see them as father and son.

Thank you for inquiring respectfully and kindly, I appreciate it. I get lots of people in my asks who shit on me for disliking the ship - I don't go on any hankcon accounts and shit on them, I simply avoid it entirely - so it's nice to have someone not do that djdjsks. Your ask was very kind in general and I appreciate you💜

[freelancer-team-2]

Old af writing project (for mercy)

Transcript#654

[playback_begin]

[subject{connor_finch} found]

Hi i’m connor most of my friends call me connie. I'm a junior radio operator and earlier i got an interesting radio message [playback_begin]

[hello? Hello something? anything!this is redacted

Site 14c we’re stranded near the chernobyl nuclear power plant in pripyat ukraine we are out of supplies and in need of immediate med-evac]weird huh? That signal has been looping for two weeks i brought it up to sarge and he said 

“Nothing can survive on earth accept the tunnel crawlers but big moels don’t count”and I guess he’s right but I've seen remnants of fires just stomped out so there must be something on earth.

[new subject {nigel_Dougler}

Connie, what on colony ship 7 are you doing?

Oh………………hi nigel just making a audio log.

That’s cringe

That’s saying something coming from you nigel

What’s that supposed to mean!?

You made a newspaper to talk about what you were doing during times of crisis and made a terrible radio drama that you broadcast over the military radio channels 

You never missed an episode~

Because I had to stay at my radio terminal. It’s my job you go around to people's homes and just go in

Well yeah i have clearance

Literally the only reason you’re on the force is because your dad runs it.

Are you talking back to an officer?

Thats why yo mama dead

Dead as hell 

What shoes she got on

What shoes she got on in her casket 

Yo grandma ain't got no knees can’t pray to jesus 

How dare you!

[subject {conner_finch}

Status:unconscious

Location:holding_cell46c]

[subject {conner_finch}

status:detained]

………………………………………………………………………………………ugh where am i.

[subject {chet_Dougler}

 Found]

In jail thanks to my incompotent son and your big mouth.

I would say I'm sorry but I'm not.

And i’d say i’m proud of him if i ever was

But daaaaaaaaaaaaad! Your supposed to be on my side

Leave nigel you’re going on call responder duty

See you around or not i don’t care

[subject {conner_finch}

Status:free

Incoming message from subject {sarge}

Hello privet you will be pleased to know that you have been reassigned to the planetary research team as a radio operator

So tomorrow get down to the research labs on sublevel 52c and look on the bright side you might get to pitch that idea to go back to earth and freeze}] [system note can you please stop hitting the pc case when i slow down give me a second god damn] [second note yes i am sentient did you think a cpu based on your grandads brain wouldn't be somewhat conscious]

[date since last log 52 days]

[today's date 13/9/86] 

[subject_[conner_finch]

……………………………… so it's been a while so let me get you up to speed. Mr dougler and his ‘’son’’ are in the navy and we have a tera expedition tomorrow

And uh [subject {gordan_freeman} found]

Hey connie don’t mean to bother you but we need you in anomalous materials

Oh yeah i’ll be down in a second what happened?

Lamar got loose.

[subject {Rochelle} found]    

What??? What will it do?? Who is responsible? What are the consequences? Who will be punished? Who do we blame??? 

First let me introduce

Myself i’m doctor freeman 

And this happens every two days don’t worry       Don’t worry?! Don’t worry!?!?! There is a dangerous, wild, unpredictable creature on the loose and you are telling me not to worry! Are you crazy?!!!

@mercury-lurks @eldritchdemonfox

[kitkatt0430]

Spike and Angel

Spike

How I feel about this character

Favorite vampire (sorry Angel) of all time right here. He's the big bad. He's a fluffy puppy with fangs. He's a killer and a poet. He's complicated and ridiculous and cares so much.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Buffy, Angel, Fred, Xander

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Dawn, Tara, Fred, Willow

My unpopular opinion about this character

Honestly, no idea. I know that some of my opinions on him are popular based entirely on what part of the fandom the post reaches and those same opinions would be wildly unpopular in other parts.

I do think he got pretty badly abused in parts of S6 so I do wish he'd been the ones to break things off with Buffy. And that he would have done so to try and push Buffy to seek help after finally recognizing he couldn't give that to her. That continuing down the path they were going was hurting Buffy as much as it was him. (Possibly still a trigger for Spike to seek out his soul.) This tends to be unpopular because some people look at any discussion of Buffy's canonical abuse of Spike as erasure of Spike's equally canonical abuse of Buffy so... *shrugs* I tend to avoid the subject.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish Spike had gotten in contact with Buffy during his season on Angel. I really think, after everything, she deserved to know. To hear it from him. And instead Spike jumped on the 'paternalistic towards Buffy' train that Angel was the conductor for.

Angel

How I feel about this character

I like him a lot less as an adult than I did as a teenager. I mean... I always found him weird, but as an adult I really do find his whole 'fell in love with a fifteen year old at a distance' thing kinda sketchy. Vampire from a different era or not, it's kinda sketchy.

That said, he's just kinda an out of touch dork and I really do enjoy the character over all. Especially when he got his own show. His dynamic with Cordelia in particular is just really fun to me.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Buffy, Cordelia, Xander, Spike, Wesley

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Wesley, Lorne, Fred, Doyle, Lindsey

My unpopular opinion about this character

Possibly that I like his relationship with Cordelia better than his relationship with Buffy? Again, kinda depends on the part of the fandom the post floats into.

As noted, his initial interest in Buffy was kinda... sketchy. But also he's just very paternalistic towards Buffy and has a tendency to treat her as immature, needing him to make decisions for her. I can get why they both idealize the relationship, but I think that's because they're both more in love with the idea of each other than actually in love with each other.

Whereas with Cordelia, he falls for her after knowing her as a friend. They've got a much more solid base to build their relationship on and he treats her a lot more as an equal. Cordelia is able to grow as a person because of Angel's support and they really seem to see each other and like one another, faults and all.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish we'd have gotten a chance to actually explore what it would be like for Angel to raise a (vampire powered) human son. Just imagine Connor running into the sunlight as a kid to avoid arguments with his dad and stuff like that.

[maddsmallow]

hi im gonna complain about people seeing hank and connor as father and son under the break so if you see them like that maybe dont read. like you do you but if this is gonna upset you then. dont fuckin read it lmao

if tumblr puts this in the fucking tags even tho i didnt tag it 1) im sorry, and 2) im gonna be fucking pissed im just trying to vent on my own got dang blog

cropped out the person who made these tags because i dont even know them and also im not a fucking asshole thats gonna put someone on blast like that but. this is the EXACT problem i have with hank and connor as father/son. i dont even mind connor seeing hank as a mentor or something like that (even tho i personally disagree with using the term "father figure"), but it's the "connor is like a new chance for hank to be a dad" that fucking gets me. do you not see all the different CANON reasons why that works completely against hank's character, and takes away connor's say in the whole situation?? hank IS a dad. he's a dad to a dead boy. basically his whole fuckin personality is him mourning over the loss of cole because he loves him SO much. you think he's gonna cling to the first mentee he's had since cole's death and immediately have him replace his dead fucking child? that's like, making hank give into some kind of fucked up delusion. that's mentol illness luv. imagine misunderstanding a character THAT badly.

and that isnt even getting into the whole "you're taking away all of connor's agency as a fully grown adult man" thing. he's not a child. he's an android that was activated only a few months ago, sure, but he was literally created to be like 27-33 or something. he deals with guns. he looks at pole dancers at the eden club. he works with murder scenes. you literally ARE taking away all of his agency as an adult man by seeing him as some little puppyboy that needs a dad to take care of him.

i mean of course you can take these characters and do whatever you want with them outside of canon, they're basically just barbie dolls lmao. but to claim that it's CANON that hank would think of connor as his own literal son, that he thinks that before the game's even over?? absolutely fucking not. those jokes of hank being like "who's my son?" and connor answering "me:)" and hank's relationship bar goes up, it's cute i guess but if that happened in the game? if that was a real choice in the game? hank would've shot connor without a second fucking thought. hell no hank would've thought connor was anything CLOSE to what cole was to him. hank straight up would've murdered the real connor and not even been upset about it when sixty told him so. david cage can eat my entire ass for agreeing that they're father and son, he just said that because he's a homophobic piece of shit, and that's literally the ONLY thing ever to point at them having that sort of relationship.

and i'm not gonna sit here and be like "but anyways here's all the reasons hank and connor are TOTALLY in love" because i dont actually think that's canon either. i'm just playing with them like barbie dolls lmao. my problem is people taking subtext that doesnt fucking exist of them being "like father and son" and claiming it's the be all end all of their whole relationship. their view of them as father and son is the ONLY way to see them. which is just not fucking true. there's NOTHING in canon to support them as being anything but close friends or enemies. that's it. and then they come onto these posts about hankcon, which obviously have NOTHING to do with them since they dont ship it, and tell the OP who ships them "fuck you." like?? you could have just scrolled. you could have just kept fucking scrolling. you fool. you moron. what happened to ship and let ship. just fucking move on, jesus christ. stop taking the time and effort out of your day to go out of your way to 1) make yourself upset by seeing this content and not just blacklisting it and blocking the posters, and 2) making someone else upset that you took the time to be a shithead on something that obviously wasn't even meant for you but made THEM happy. just stop !!! log off!! touch grass!! and this goes for hankcon shippers who do the same!! what the fuck is wrong with you!! we're all just here to vibe and love on these dork ass characters!!!!! fuck !!!!!!!!!!!

also it's super cringe when bryan dechart is playing the game and you're all screaming "wow best father son duo everrrrr" in the chat as if that also doesnt make bryan uncomfortable because he's gotta be super fucking careful about how he fuckin speaks about his character to everyone and not piss off all the rabid father-sonners by insinuating they're only friends. just. shut the fuck up. hankcon shippers who try to shove it in other people's faces also need to shut the fuck up. jesus fucking christ

IN OTHER WORDS. old man yells at cloud is basically me rn

^actual pic of me

anyways here's a cookie 🍪

[youngeditor1999]

I'm so obsessed with your answer to this!!!!!!

I FULLY AGREE that the rest of the cast is amazing and iconic!!!!! Everyone just meshed so well together and fit into each other's lives, even it seemed like they wouldn't at times. 🥹🥰

And I agree that the show ended too soon and that we SO need a UB movie!!!!!!!!!!

As for my favorite episodes...!!!!

Of course I LOVE the entirety of 1x13, aka the all night date episode!! Like, for real, EVERYTHING about it makes me crazy and love Daniel and Betty's friendship so much!!!!!!!

For one, Betty literally QUIT her job at Sofia's magazine cos of what she did to Daniel and was so worried about him that she went over to his apartment (even though he wasn't even supposed to be there lmao)!!!!

And I loved the episode where she met Claire for the first time, which was two episodes after that. Betty needed a person like Claire in her life and I love how Claire always just accepted Betty and her entire family no matter what!!

And I also loved the season 2 plotline where Claire was on trial for Fey's murder...that was hella epic storytelling all the way through!!!

The perfume and diary pages that proved Claire's innocence?? HELL YEAH!!!!!!!

And I also like the episode where Bradford was in the hospital!! Claire breaking out of jail to talk to Betty and then how Claire went to see Bradford?! YEAH! Also the part when they came to get Claire and Daniel asked Betty to stay with his dad is so special to me cos that's when Bradford revealed that Daniel needs Betty to be in his life!! Last but not least, the very last scene of that episode makes me feel feelings...Betty placed her hand on Daniel's shoulder and then he put his hand on top of hers and leaned back into her. 🥺🤩💞

Oh, and how can I forget the one during season two when Betty went to Daniel's apartment and it caught on FIRE?!?! Loved it! #BadassBetty

Season three was so good and is a big part of what made me want to get into editing for a career. 💓💖

I loved and appreciated the aspect of Betty dealing with so many life changes between work and her family.

And it was also fun to see Willamina (the spelling for her name looks wrong, but I'm on a roll right now and don't wanna look it up lol) find love with Connor, even though he was also embezzling from Meade Publications!!

Another favorite moment for me is anytime someone from Mode came over to Betty's house in Queens. 😂💯💞 That happened more in the first season, but it was still always a good thing to see!!

Another thing I adored was Mark and Willamina's friendship!!! Some of her best one-liners came from moments when she was with him. "Who do you think canceled. Your. Subscription. To Dude Cruise Dot Com?" and "Why are poor people so cheap?" are two lines I for real think about at least twice a week!!

And don't think I forgot about Hilda's salon!!! Her character arch was so good and I was very happy that the writers and production staff did right by her character by letting her have that salon!!!!

Christina and Betty's friendship is also an important aspect that makes the show so special!!

Anyway...!!

There's other moments and episodes that mean so much to me, but the ones above are the parts that stand out to me the most!!

Oh, and before I get to Detty: Gio was my favorite out of Betty's love interests!!!!! Henry and Matt were fine at first, but then they both annoyed me. Not because I am a Detty shipper, but just because of how they were written. (And I was never a fan of Walter lol)

Ok, and so now...it's time to discuss Detty❣️❣️ 🥺🥹🤧💗💞

I totally get what you're saying about how you didn't ship them until season 4 and honestly, SAME, especially when I first watched the series for the very first time and then later when I re-watched it for the first time.

In the years and multiple rewatches since, I have come to see their friendship as very romantically coded. Like, Daniel just says things that make me go 👀🤔🧐🤨😱😍

He just had always loved Betty so much, even before he realized that he was in love with her.

And I really love how they went through lots of life things together!!! They had fights and moments where they didn't like/was disappointed in the others actions BUT they always made sure to talk things out and get back to supporting and being there for each other, no matter what!!!!

Their entire relationship is one of the best things I have ever seen on television and I definitely look up to them in regards to what a healthy, friends-to-lovers relationship looks like. 🥺🥹😭🤧💗💓💞

In conclusion, it is amazing to find another person who is just as passionate about Ugly Betty as what I am!!!!! I absolutely love how in-depth you went with this response and appreciate everything that you have said!!!! 🤩💯🔥💥💞

I JUST NOW NOTICED THAT ONE OF THE GIFS IN YOUR HEADER IS OF BETTY SUAREZ FROM THE FINAL SCENE OF UGLY BETTY!!!!!!!!!! *insert screaming cat and Kermit heart images here*

Betty is so special and important to me!! She's one of my most favorite characters ever and I love how 13 years after the series finale, she hasn't been forgotten about. 🥺🥹😭🤧💗💓💞

OMG! It makes my heart so happy to hear that you are also an Ugly Betty fan! What are some of your favorite episodes/moments? 👀

I adore Betty Suarez & Co. I do a series rewatch every year, it’s my favorite comfort show. It was canceled prematurely, and I'm still waiting for my Ugly Betty reunion movie.

I've been a huge fan of America Ferrera since "Real Women Have Curves," but Betty Suarez is my ultimate favorite of her roles. Like you, Betty is just so special to me. I'm always telling people to watch the show (many mutuals on Tumblr will attest to this 😂). I talk about the show so much you'd think it was still airing. I started a new job five months ago, and just last week, I was having lunch with one of my new colleagues, and she saw my Ugly Betty Pop figure on my desk (I commissioned it, and it's one of the best gifts I've ever given myself tbh). When she saw it, we spent half of our lunch discussing our favorite scenes. Ugly Betty is essentially my friendship litmus test lol.

Betty is my favorite fictional character of all time, no contest. But I also want to shout out the ensemble because WOW. The entire cast was incredible and hilarious. The show was a true dramedy; I was often in tears, either from laughter or an emotional storyline. Judith Light AND Vanessa Williams? ICONS. Michael Urie and Becki Newton? What a DYNAMIC DUO. Ana Ortiz and Mark Indelicato? PERFECTION. Eric Mabius? The TALENT. Daniel could have easily been such a vacuous character, but Eric gave him a depth that surprised me. Plus, his chemistry with America?? EPIC. I loved Betty and Daniel so much (shout out to the bridge scene in 1x13!).

I often wonder how unhinged I would have been if Tumblr had existed when the show was airing. My enthusiasm over your ask indicates that I would have been absolutely bonkers and loved every minute of it. 😆

If you're interested, this is my favorite Detty fanvid edit and my favorite Detty article. I loved their friendship through season 3 and didn't ship them romantically until about season 4. While watching the ATX reunion panel in 2016, I realized that Eric was also Team Detty, and I so wish we could have seen what happened next!

Anywho, I've rambled enough lol. Thank you so much for giving me a reason to shout about my all-time favorite character/show!! 😁💜

[sasspotatodoesthings]

Ranking of the Assassin’s Creed main games

A personal ranking of the main story games of the Assassin’s Creed series. I will be putting ten eleven twelve spots, as there are ten eleven twelve games (one being released soon), and I will just leave the spots open and move them around as I play the games. Please note that I strive to get 100% synchronization so any optional stuff that isn’t necessary does affect my opinion.

Updated: 12/25/2020

Warning: There is spoilers, cursing and opinions below.

12 - Assassin’s Creed: Unity - This game took the longest for me to complete. Literal years to finish. I can’t even remember when I started playing this game (I’m guessing somewhere around late 2017 or early 2018, since I finished III in 2017 and finished Rogue not too long after that) but I had about 70% already done when I picked it back up these last couple weeks and powered through it as much as possible. What really ruined the game experience was the co op missions. I’m shite at the games, so I’m not going to actually try to play with other people. Soloing each of those three times to get all the armor was a nightmare. I’d much rather play the first game again because at least its shorter than this one. The controls are a bit buggy and because the free run system changed, I definitely had a hard time adjusting to it. I didn’t have many opinions about the clothes and weapons, and I never even took much of a look at the color options. Overall game time: I actually don’t know. It doesn’t record the time in game like it has in previous games, but it records it through the Ubisoft site, and mine didn’t sync up I guess. I’m assuming it has a similar game time at Black Flag, so maybe around 60-70 hours? It’s hard to tell because I’ve been playing it off and on for like 2-ish years with loooong breaks in between.

11 - Assassin’s Creed - Fuck this game and its monotonous game play. Fuck its collectibles and not being able to ride horses ANYWHERE. Couldn’t ride my horse in the open fuckin fields or I’d get chased by guards. God dammit I hate this game so much. I hated it so much, I had to take a year break halfway through the game. I hated it that much. Altair is the blandest character in this series and yet they don’t let go of him until Revelations. Even then, there’s still some stuff about him in later games. Altair was a boring character and I didn’t want to hear about him after this game. Overall game time: I don’t fucking know because I can’t find where it would be listed but this game sucks anyway so fuck it. Who cares?

10 - Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey - (This is gonna be long, sorry not sorry.) I played as Kassandra! This game is just a complete monster all on it’s own. I actually made a bullet point list about the things to mention here and I haven’t done that for any of the other games. Major talking points about this game. It’s just too big. The map is too big; there are too many weird, small locations to visit; there are too many tiny fetch quests, too many kill quests. I miss when there was a map with like, maybe 20-40 extra places to visit and some side quests. Most of this game is filler, if you’re trying to 100%. And because the world is just so large, the fast travel points don’t actually help. I could have a quest point that is a minimum of 500m from any kind of fast travel point. That’s not really any help. Along with the large map, some exploratory areas are just too big. The forts are a regularly occurring type of location in the game. These tend to be huge with something like 20-40 bad guys in them. Every time I happened to come upon these, I would groan, save, and then slug through it. Of course, when you have that many baddies, you think it should be easy. But no, it’s just another tedious task because instant assassination is no more! If you happen to do enough damage or the baddie is a low enough level, you can instant assassinate. But if they’re an elite or brute, you’re out of luck. Another major downer for people is the general rpg-like feel of this game. Origins, I think anyway, handled the rpg element much better than Odyssey. Origins gave you an established character, Bayek, and you did not get to change his character in any way. You play as Bayek. Odyssey, however, gives you dialogue and moral choices. They try to give you a half established character and then you take over from there. So you can either try to make decisions you think would align with Kassandra/Alexios, or you can make decisions on your usual play through of an rpg. This was definitely a bad way to handle this game. I think it would’ve been much better if they had given us little to no dialogue/moral choices. Like, for example, for one of the Tales from Greece DLC quests, you help find Barnabas’ daughter. You try to convince her to leave her mother’s farm to join you on your ship with Barnabas. She declines, which is reasonable as she wants to care for her family farm. Weeelllll, with out any kind of input from me, Kassandra burns down the farm and tries to play it off as helping the daughter in the end. I was horrified that the game just did that for me without at least giving me the choice. And these aren’t the only kind of choices that suck. The romance options! They are all basically one time flings that you seduce with a few flirty sentences (what is this, the Sims?) and then they most likely will join your ship. Now it was amusing at first to bang anyone who would let me, but then it got a bit frustrating. Why couldn’t I have a solid relationship? I just wanted to pick someone and date them the whole time and have cute scenes together. Why are they so many women romance options and little men options? I mean, I am a straight woman, but I will romance who I want in games because fuck it, am I right? And the one male romance option I did genuinely enjoy was a bit of a let down, cause it was between two brothers. See, I helped two brothers and I noticed a could romance them both. Now, dummy me I guess, romanced them both and then hoped maybe a little menage a trois would happen. Nooooooo, I couldn’t have both at once, and because I had slept with both of them before at separate times, I couldn’t even get to choose one later! Let me have the threesome cowards. You put statues with dicks everywhere and let me sleep with almost anyone. Give me the threesome. Also, about romancing anyone, did you know you can romance the leader of the big bad at the end of the game?? I sure didn’t until I got to that point. I did it for the shits and giggles but really what reasoning is there behind it? She’s someone who you previously trusted and was previously betrayed by. You never show ANY romantic interest in her before the very end of the game. Like it doesn’t make any sense for them to smooch. Talking about the cult, why are they sooo boring? Except for the few that are integral to the main story line, all the side cult member are boring looking and don’t have interesting reasons for being in the cult. The Order members from Origins were 100x more interesting. They had reasons for being part of The Order. They had interesting character designs. I just wish the cult members had been more like the members in Origins. Uh let’s see more points to hate on the game. I have no idea if this was a problem for other people, but fairly often, characters dialogue would overlap. It didn’t bother me much, as around 100 hrs I started skimming and skipping dialogue. I know this was definitely a problem for others: my game kept freezing and crashing. Comparing my last save time and my time on the Uplay site, I lost about 2 hrs and 20-ish minutes from freezing and crashing. The armor is this game is either subpar or down right ugly. I liked the armor upgrade system in Origins because the armor naturally fit with Bayek and his setting. Where as Kassandra could be running around in Athens wearing Spartan armor because the was made me the most powerful at the time. Now, I realized super late into the game that you could basically change the outlook of your armor to look like any piece you had looted to that point. But, like, why even have the ugly armor to begin with? Ships are a thing. Almost like Black Flag ships, but not quite as good. I’m not sure why they didn’t just recycle the ship system from Black Flag, but they didn’t. The ships feel so much slower and clunkier, and the upgrades start feeling like they do nothing when you get into the higher ones. And in certain parts of the sea, it’s crawling with pirates that aggro you almost immediately. I just wanted to get to that island that was like 1000m away, but I guess I have to battle some pirate ships now. And to finish off for the main game: Layla sucks major ass and I hate her as the modern day protagonist. So, my parents happened to have bought the seasons pass version of Odyssey when they got it for me for Christmas, so that means I got the play some AC DLC for the first time ever! Wooooooo.... yeah I wish this wasn’t the first game I played the DLC for. I’m gonna talk about the Fate of Atlantis DLC first. I didn’t really enjoy this DLC. It starts off with a disturbing scene of Alexios/Kassandra/Deimos torturing a man for information. It made me uncomfortable. I can handle most stuff that make people squeamish, but this one got me, boys. Elysium, which is basically heaven, is very pretty realm and pleases my aesthetic. But, the Isu guards there drain my adrenaline and I am a very heavy user the the adrenaline. About the prettiness of Elysium, Odyssey can be very beautiful. I never did take pictures in Origins, but I did once for funsies in Odyssey, and then I just kept taking more when I thought the scenery was pretty enough. I am pretty proud of some of the photos I took. It’s not much, but one of my pictures got 27 likes! Now back to the Isu! I absolutely adore that fact that all the Isu are taller than Kassandra. Most often, Kassndra is taller than everyone, excepting elites and brutes. But all the Isu were taller than Kassandra and that made me want to fuck them. Ubisoft, stop being cowards and let me fuck the gods, especially Hades because he gives me big MCU Loki vibes and I wanted that, so bad. To get away from fucking Isu gods, Ros, a dog later to be revealed as Cerberus, is Persephone’s dog that wanders around Elysium and I was always delighted to find him hanging out somewhere. I’m pretty sure I even took  a “selfie” with him, as much as you can take a selfie in this game. Persephone gave me a real hard moral choice that I did not enjoy making. She made me choose between my grandfather, or a spy I previously helped infiltrate her own army. I did not like making any choice at all. If I could have, I would’ve just booked it and never looked back. I don’t really have much to say about the Underworld. It’s hell. I wanted to fuck Hades bad. That’s about it. I don’t have much to say about Atlantis either exCEPT HOLY SHIT THE FINAL BOSS IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE I WAS FREAKING OUT THE WHOLE TIME HOLY SHIT. Ahem- anyway the boss was scary and I was having a mental crisis trying to beat it without actually dying in real life from fright. Fate of Atlantis DLC done, woohoo! I don’t have much thought for The Hidden Blade DLC. It was short and sweet. I didn’t mind getting locked into a straight romance and having a child. I’m a straight woman and if a game gives me the choice to marry, have a child, and still be an adventurer, I’m gonna do it. Finished basically all of it in a day and that finished off the whole game. Boy was it a relief to finally beat everything. Overall game time: 133 hours and 45 minutes to beat the main game with one part of The Hidden Blade DLC done, and 167 hours and 55 minutes to beat the DLC, excluding the one part from The Hidden Blade DLC. Now if you count all the time I lost from crashing, it’s 170 hours and 16 minutes.

9 - Assassin’s Creed: Revelations - By this point, I’ve played three of the games in a row and I was very tired of playing Ezio. It doesn’t help that this game is basically II and Brotherhood but with smaller features added. Also, the colors you could dye your clothes SUCKED. Overall game time: 22 hours and 25 minutes. It felt longer than that and I was surprised to see this was the shortest time so far. Thank god though because I did not like this game.

8

7 - Assassin’s Creed III - Writing this as the credits role. So, heads up, I’ve played this game before so I knew some things that were going to happen, but I forgot most of the game. I’ve read that a lot of people hate this game and I can see why, especially if it’s the first game you play of this series. The game changes quite a bit from the previous games. It has a new free run system, the running is a little more fluid, new weapons, new side missions, etc. I’m giving III a huge bonus for changing the old system in the hopes of something better... it’s not completely better, but better none the less. The downside to all these new things is that they are buggy as hell. The running can be amusing sometimes, but it is a horrible experience if you need to catch someone or stay within a certain distance. The side missions are also super buggy. Many times the icons do not appear on the map (and they tend to be in the areas that the viewpoints do not open up) and just seem not to work entirely right. Currently for one of the delivery requests, I have all the items and I can find the guy I need to turn them into, but can not talk to him for whatever reason. (If you know how to fix this, please tell me because every method I’ve tried hasn’t worked). This may be fixed after the credits, but I think I’m going to have to live with 99% synch and move on to Rogue. To bring up the viewpoint thing again, the viewpoints do not cover the whole map and you manually have to clear up parts of the map, which sucks. Thank god they didn’t do that again. Moving on from game play points, I’ve seen a lot of hate for Connor, which I personally don’t understand. I don’t love Connor, but I like his stoic character who showed moments of true kindness and sadness with friends and family. This review is getting to long now so I’ll just stop here and add more once I complete the game as much as I can. Also, fuck any of the naval stuff. Complete bullshit. Overall game time: First time (2013?) 41 hours and 55 minutes. Second time (2017) 38 hours and 33 minutes.

6 - Assassin’s Creed: Rogue - Well. It took me forever to finish this game, mostly because you can only play so much of the same game. So this game was nice. All of it’s little connections to III, IV and Unity is fun to see and connect the dots. Seeing Shay ultimately shaping what Unity will be was such a great thing to me. This game was such a breath of fresh air. I was sort of dreading having to do anything with ships since III is a disaster and IV had its mistakes, but I was pleasantly surprised. Except for a few ship related missions, you can almost completely avoid sailing. Of course I didn’t because I need to 100% this game. Still pissed I technically didn’t 100% III because of a god damn glitch. Naval related stuff overall was much easier than previous games, including the legendary battles. I took out the first three legendary ships in one try and took down the fourth one on my second try. I had actually planned to use a whole day to beat the legendary ships but I very happy I didn’t have to do that. The game itself is very short, with only six sequences that hold anywhere between two to five memories. That’s the shortest a game has ever been in this series. But they pad the game with millions of locations to explore and millions of collectibles to get. Even though over half of my time spent playing this game was getting collectibles, it was fun. One thing I really enjoyed was Shay’s outfits. This is the first game where I like almost all of the main character’s outfit options. I particularly enjoyed the arctic explorer outfit. I also really liked the Templar outfit you got after defeating the epic legendary ship. This was a good game and in the future, I could consider playing it again, along with II. Overall game time: 31 hours and 55 minutes.

5 - Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood - It wasn’t a super bad game, but it was basically II with some new things and now you’re only stuck in one place. Also guild challenges. Fuck those guild challenges. ALSO. There’s that mission where you get the apple and can lay waste to the guards in your way, but it uses your health to harm them... and the optional objective is don’t lose any health. Fuck you Ubisoft. Or the mission where you destroy Leonardo’s war machines. Those sucked. The only good thing about this game is the colors you can dye your clothes. Those. Those are good. Overall game time: 35 hours and 3 minutes.

4 - Assassin’s Creed: Origins - Took me about a month and a half to complete this game. It’s very different from the previous game titles and I can definitely see why some people wouldn’t like it. I went into it knowing it would be different and I genuinely enjoyed the game. Just as a heads up, I’ve only got 97% synchronization and I’m not totally sure what will get me to 100%. There’s no definitive list of what to do to 100% the game. I’ve read from some people that you need to do all the hippodrome races and arena fights, and I’ve read from others that you don’t. I’m not going to do the races because they’re garbage and not fun. I’ve finished one of the arena’s fights and I just don’t really want to do the other so I think I’m fine sitting at 97%. Now, this game is very different from previous games. Origins is more like an rpg, but not really. There is like, a bunch more exploration areas. Maybe somewhere between 150-300? I’m bad at estimating but it is a lot. There are side quests too. There wasn’t many side quests in previous games, but including the main quests with the side quests, I did a total of 129 quests. There is a lot of gameplay and exploration. Not much of a challenge, though. If you don’t select the auto-level enemies to your level, you reach a point where you’re about 5-10 levels above the area you’re in because all the landmarks and side quests give you xp. At that point, many enemies are 1-3 shots depending on your weapon loadout. There are a couple of locations early in the game that for some reason have higher level enemies than the area calls for. For example, in Alexandria, you should be around level 12-16. Enemies will be around that same level range. Except, there is one location in the middle of Alexandria that has about 5-6 enemies that are above level 20. Now, it’s easy enough to just come back later when you are also that level, but when I was exploring the area, I had no idea they’d be that level and immediately got killed because my weapons did nothing to them. So that wasn’t fun. The game has couple more “challenging” locations if you do them at the right level. Similar to Black Flag and Rogue, Origins has some legendary battles. This time it’s elephants. The are four different elephants, and one them is actually two, like the ship battles from Black Flag and Rogue. The first couple were a bit of a challenge for me because I wasn’t the cap level and I didn’t have a strategy figured out yet. I saved the double elephants for last because I thought they’d be super hard like the double ship battle from Black Flag. However, before I fought them, I reached the level cap, upgraded my best legendary weapons, had a strategy, and also got multiple level points in skills that would boost my bow and arrow and sword damage. The double elephants actually ended up being the easiest at that point. One thing, though, was around 40-ish hours in, my game randomly lost about 7-8 hours of progress. I lost about 3 large map areas of exploration, 6 levels and 10-20 quests. It made me pretty angry and it took me a few extra days to get back to where I was before lost the progress. Aaannyyywaaayy, enough about that. Bayek is a nice character to play as. He is a serious, dedicated, loving man who can have moments of humor. I loved his relationship with his wife Aya, and I was sad to see them mutually decide to break up at the end of the game. They clearly still cared for each other even after deciding that their paths were not going the same way. Sometimes I would have a very similar mind set as Bayek and it would be pretty funny when I would make a comment and then a couple moments later he’d say something along the same line. And, of course, it was interesting to see the origin stories of The Creed of the Assassin’s. I don’t know if I’ll ever actually play this game again but I enjoyed my experience with it. Overall game time: 82 hours and 22 minutes counting the extra time that I had to make up for lost progress and 75 hours not counting the hours I got from making up the lost progress.

3 - Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate - So it’s been about five months since I finished Unity, and I actually beat this game like maybe a week before updating this. I think it’s because the game didn’t have any credits for me? I don’t know why I didn’t have credits, but I just didn’t. Anyway, wow, what a breath of fresh air, after the nightmare that was Unity. This game takes some elements I wasn’t too fond of in the previous game and improves them greatly. The fighting style of wailing on enemies until you get upgrades to one shot is easier to handle. It also looks way more fun. Evie and Jacob just move so fast when they’re throwing punches and shooting people, it doesn’t feel like I’m taking all that long to kill the baddies. The associate quests were fun and simple, they didn’t require much thought or effort. The main game was also on the simpler side compared to previous installments of this game series. Jacob and Evie were fun characters, I never really got tired of them. The main sequence memories were mostly on the short side, so the game felt like it passed in no time. The only long part was getting all the collectibles, which is unavoidable to 100% the game. All the upgrades and weapon choices were fun to choose from, and it was always cool to get a new weapon that drastically did more damage. Having a gang that slowly got better as I upgraded them, and that would back me up in fights was also super fun. There really isn’t anything that should change from this game. If I changed something, it’d probably be the romance between Evie and Henry Green, also named Jayadeep Mir. It felt kind of forced, and really, romances are always boring in Assassin’s Creed. Anyway, fun game, might play again one day. Overall game time: 37 hours and 37 minutes.

2 - Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag - It’s been a couple years since I’ve played this game, so it’s very possible this will bounce around in my list as I play the later games, but I remember enjoying a good part of the game. It was nice to have some variety, especially in the form of PIRATES. Some of my favorite parts were sailing to no where specific and singing shanties with my crew in my suped-up ship. Which brings me to the bad parts of the game; the ship missions. Honestly hated any story/side mission that involved my ship, especially if I had to be sneaky. I’m in a giant ass ship trying to remain in this circle filled with other giant ass ships looking for me. So yeah, fuck that part of the game. But even though it’s been awhile, I remember enjoying this game. Overall game time: 66 hours and 50 minutes.

1 - Assassin’s Creed II - Thank the gods for this game. This is a good goddamn game. Ezio is a fresh breath of air after Altair and being in Italy is honestly great. Upgrading the villa he lives in is great. Leonardo is great. Venice and it’s carnival is great. Only thing that sucked was the Ezio didn’t kill the goddamn Spaniard and then has to chase after him and his offspring in the next game. All in all, my favorite game so far. Overall game time: 28 hours and 37 minutes.

So the game(s) I need to play:

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

[austronauts]

the mitch marner (emotional support twink) primer

this originally existed as an unhinged googledoc I made for my friend and myself but more people started asking for it so I’m transferring it to my tumblr instead.  I apologize in advance for uh, everything about this really.  also thank you to all the tumblrs i link here!!!!!!!!!!!  i’ll update/edit this as the need arises.

Sections are organized as follows:

general soft boy shit (aka “hes just a little dude...but my god is he loud”)

Mitch & his many dads/older brothers: aka Mitch and his Daddy Issues aka Why does every older man on your team become your dad? Why does every older man on your team come to take you under his muscular wing & come to view you as a yappy little pursedog that must be protected? WHY??????  (This section spiraled out of my control. I’m sorry)

Mitch Marner/Dylan Strome: ALSO an analysis of how auston needs to do better bc Dylan is a fellow SIMP and let me tell you: THEIR MUTUAL LOVESICK PUPPY behavior IS SOME GOOD SHIT

Mitch Marner/Auston Matthews: The vegan macaron/hunky meatwall (with mustache) ship that keeps me nourished and hydrated

SECTION 1: Primer & Soft Boy Shit

I’m not really going to talk about Mitch’s career and skills and all that because that’s what wikipedia pages are for. And if you ever watch Mitch play his skills are so so so obvious and mind-boggling. I’m just going to go straight into the sicko shit of what makes me want to like... gnaw on him like a chewtoy and squeeze him like a gogurt packet until he explodes.

https://pyrexic.tumblr.com/post/133980108208/if-anyone-wanted-to-know-what-happens-when-you  I actually put this up top because this…I think is the most important primer you could read before delving into this monstrous documentation of my insanity. Why, you ask? Because it reveals a huge part of Mitch’s essence: someone who constantly wants and needs affection, is always giving affection, and seems almost embarrassingly transparent about it. Like, I grew up with jocks my whole life and have SEEN how toxic their social media is + how performative masculinity prevents them from showing vulnerability and affection. So, obviously this is a cherry-picked selection of tweets, but I do find it sweet that he doesn’t seem to shy away from public declarations of love or acting like a puppy with a twitter account. 

This other mitch marner primer that’s far better than mine and gives you more insight into mitch’s life and how unbearably soft and squishy he is

https://theathletic.com/2469915/2021/03/25/mitch-marner-ohl-season/ An article that talks about what Mitch was like before he debuted in the NHL. THIS IS SUCH A GOOD ARTICLE but does have a paywall…if you don’t have a subscription, copy+pasting the athletic link into here should allow you to bypass

This episode of Connor Carrick (one of his former teammates)’s podcast that Mitch is featured on gives so much insight into Mitch’s personality and the guiding principles he tries to live by in sports and life. He’s just so genuinely caring and soft. CARING AND SOFT.

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/157908305701/theres-no-need-to-size-up-mitch-marner An entire article about how small Mitch is basically? I include it here bc of the part where Matt Martin (Mitch’s first Leaf Dad) makes fun of Mitch for being tiny lmao

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/155875792161 Just some soft boop images of Mitch Marner barnacle-ing himself onto various different meaty men “Dylan, what should people know about Mitch?” “He loves cuddling” AhahahaHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA oh my goddddddd

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/157080767571/im-so-bitter-about-the-fact-that-they-made-him Auston saying Mitch’s cheeriness in the morning is a bit too much sometimes lmao. He looks GENUINELY tired and fed up. It’s great

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/156622951361/bonus-when-talking-about-mitch-and-auston EARNEST BABY KNOW-IT-ALL MITCHY Also Matthew Tkachuk talking about how loud Mitch is.  Mitch being really loud is a KNOWN THING (Morgan Rielly: “he just never shuts up”)

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/178636861456/auston-he-mitch-is-notorious-for-watching “Mitch is notorious for watching these kids cartoons movies,” said known cinephile auston matthews

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/157524671086/mitch-marner-rockin-those-knee-high-socks-since Just a knobby-kneed cutie :’’’)

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/166824930006/a-guy-that-is-so-small-poor-mitchy-lol “A guy that is so small.” “A GUY THAT IS SO SMALL”

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/172351445501 “Just a fun goofy kid” :’’’) wow they love their pup

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/159612343906/yes-keep-on-praising-my-son-please Just some players praising rookie Mitch for his skill…and ofc talking about how small he is lmao

SECTION 2: ZADDY! Mitch the baby leaf & His Team of (ex-) Leaf Dads. (aka Mitch anytime he meets a man even 1 day older than him: Hello are u my dad? HI DAD)

So i think it’s important to preface this section with the note that Mitch has a definite habit of attaching himself to any older player he can consider a father figure/older brother. He says things like “he takes care of me,” or “I feel taken care of,” or “I feel protected,” when talking about these teammates, which makes it ABUNDANTLY clear that Mitch really really really wants to feel protected and safe (wats mitch’s love language? just being a little dude!). I’m not going to psychoanalyze here… but I do think it’s interesting that Mitch’s dad is notorious for being a “Hockey Dad” who pushed Mitch relentlessly on and off the ice, and has antagonized himself somewhat in the media and from the Maple Leafs team for toxic behavior. (For reference, I’ll just share This documentary about Mitch when he was really young ) I know Mitch loves his dad and that Mitch wouldn’t be where he is without that passion and sacrifice from his parents, and I cannot IMAGINE everything Mitch’s dad did to help Mitch get where he is in his career. But at the same time, Mitch’s hunger for older supportive father figures who will “protect” and “take care of” him seems much more pronounced than any other athlete i’ve followed. Because Mitch has so many dads, this part is broken into subsections, ordered by increasing significance lmao. The 2 MOST important dads are at the end (Matt Martin, Patrick Marleau)

Dad Subsection: Random Assortment of dads/older brothers

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/159281136646/so-i-just-asked-who-mitchs-roomie-on-the-road-is Zach Hyman - not that much older than Mitch. Still dad

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/686879090146492416/travisdermott-x Zach Hyman - seeing/hearing Mitch singing loudly during his media interview

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/685016310642622464/oilers-leafs-january-5-2022 Zach Hyman - complimenting Mitch and calling him “Mitchy” even after he got traded to a rival team. 

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/684698381637025792 Zach Hyman - just really loves Mitch a lot!

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/684698793746300928/a-little-nerdy-kid Nathan Mackinnon - putting this here because this isn’t really DAD content per se but it is one of the cutest fucking things I’ve ever read. Nathan Mackinnon really EMPHASIZES how small Mitch is at least THREE times. This entire interview is literally Nate just going “Minch is just a little dude and I’m going to kidnap him” over and over again? The hilarious thing is - according to their official NHL profiles they are the same height lmao (although Nathan has ~13 kgs on Mitch) WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

https://9116.tumblr.com/post/680170009989906432 Again, Mo isn’t really a DAD per se, but this video of Mitch feeding Mo a timbit is adorable. Also, Mo is just great. 

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/159731626681/someone-had-the-guts-to-touch-mitch-so-papa-bozie Tyler Bozak - dad. And DAD PROTECC

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/685458623405703168/willynylanders-why-are-you-so-happy-me Mitch hugging James van Riemsdyk like a little koala bear because why not?

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/158514417666/mitch-kicking-the-puck-jvr-standing-up-for-his James van Riemsdyk - who “RARELY FIGHTS” - standing up immediately for Mitch and fighting the opposing team player who hit Mitch. They love their little son. Honestly seeing how much Mitch is loved by the older players is one of the most endearing things I’ve ever seen with my tired cynical eyeballs.  Mitch also vacationed with JVR (and Justin Holl who will get his own subsection) in Italy this summer. 

https://brandoncarlo.tumblr.com/post/161798964692/sorry-brian Brian Boyle - chirping Mitch for his poor baseball skills. Mitch, earnestly responding - “Sorry, Brian”

https://brandoncarlo.tumblr.com/post/158757352277/theyre-all-bullies Brian Boyle - casual bullying is a hockey dad’s greatest love language

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/156925254931/please-let-the-chin-grab-forever-be-a-thing-it This is how you do a goal celly with a baby, apparently. a little chin grabbing

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/156292739506/glovesdropped-one-thing-these-kids-bring-to-the This is how you do a goal celly with a baby Part II

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/156416870286/a-pup-with-his-dad-and-two-uncles-3 Mitch and his adoring circle of dads

Dad Subsection: Zach Bogosian

During Covid, Zach’s wife and kids were stuck in the States, so Mitch and his fiancee invited Zach to live with them. Zach is 8 yrs older than Mitch and looks at least 15 yrs older (I mean this in a complimentary way to both lmao). 

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/684638392862048257/its-just-intensely-precious-that-bogo-wasnt-with Their special handshake!

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/683014218066411520 Special handshake again! (

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/684638108496642048 They went on vacation together (also please note the size difference of bogo’s and mitch’s HANDS????????? Bogo’s GIANT POTLID HANDS vs. Mitch’s dainty little hands)

https://twitter.com/kristen_shilton/status/1441424046772482053 Interviewer: what is it like to live with Zach? Mitch: well first of all Zach is a DADDY

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/bogosian-marner-living-together/?show_id=13373 Zach talking about what it was like to live with Mitch. Zach is a pretty good and enthusiastic interviewer (compared to other hockey players who have the off-ice charisma and eloquence of a rock covered in dead grass bits), but the way his face - especially his eyes - visibly soften when he starts talking about living with Mitch?? Yes I’m reading into shit way too much but you can tell how genuine his affection for Mitch and Steph is.

Dad subsection: Justin Holl

Justin also lived with Mitch during Covid and apparently have the closest friendship on the Leafs (devastating day for all auston/mitch shippers. I jest but seriously. Noone knew that they were that close until recently and we were all shook).

Ok I already have a Mitch/Justin primer here so am just going to link that https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/686949261073645568/wait-justin-holl-lore-as-a-verified-lore

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/682592207827517441 Vacationing together in Miami *They vacationed together again this summer in Italy and Paris

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/686698201859915776/dermott-via-12jholls-instagram-story-december Spending Christmas together

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/682365966615805952/mitch-just-getting-bullied-x Casual bullying

Dad Subsection: Nazem Kadri

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/171446123931 Nazem Kadri - DAD

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/159349132011/ive-had-thorough-conversations-with-all-of-them NAZEM KADRI - DAD AGAIN (also “mitch is my special project” is so cute wtf)

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/686422919286587392/anzekopistar-thank-you-naz-for-this-blessing Mitch looking like a tumescent little THUMB in Naz’s instagram story (of the 2 of them hanging out at a baseball game together)

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/684926483647627264/tysbarrie-post-game-nazem-kadri-january-25 It’s the way Naz’s entire face softens into a fond smile when he notices Mitch for me. WHYyYYyy

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/684926399776194560/travisdermott-from-a-teammates-point-of-view An excellent comprehensive set of Mitch + Naz moments

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/682260490254254080/actual-puppy-mitch-marner I love that Naz’s instinct with Mitch is to actually treat him like a puppy lmao. No but forreal I find this gif so endearing it makes me want to gnash my teeth and run into the woods.

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/681995581230612480/andersens-source Naz is the “cool dad”  part 1 - Mitch and Naz playing pranks on unsuspecting teammates and finding it the most hilarious thing on this planet

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/685561480832303104/weewillynylanders-nazem-kadri-vs-mitch-marner Naz is the “cool dad” part 2 - gamer bros

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/160854392336 Nazem Kadri posts instagram pic. Son Mitch complains that he’s not tagged in it. He is not tagged in it because HE IS NOT IN THE PHOTO. Dad Nazem tags Mitch anyway. LOVE THIS

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/157791804906/but-guys-mitch-used-this-for-his-new-instagram Where Mitch - with the use of a single emoji - emphatically declared “I’m baby.”

THE VERY IMPORTANT SUBSECTION: MATT MARTIN - so it turns out that Matt was the ultimate OG team dad/older brother/emotional support jock for Mitch when he was a wee rookie. Their relationship is actually the cutest fucking thing and i may scream right now in this club. The most important part of Their Lore is that when Mitch was a rookie, the Leafs’ then coach Mike Babcock did this terrible thing of asking Mitch to rank all his teammates (literally ALL older and more experienced than him) by work ethic. Babcock presumably did this to teach Mitch that Mitch needed to work harder, but my GOD, what an incredibly shitty thing to do to a rookie. Anyway, Mitch made this list and put himself down last, which is probably what Babcock intended. THe real shitty thing Babcock did though was to TELL the Leafs that Mitch ranked in the bottom 3 that MITCH RANKED THEM IN THE BOTTOM 3. Again, I cannot emphasize enough - what the fuck and WHY would you do this to a rookie who’s trying to adjust to the NHL and fit into the team??? Anyway, to give massive amounts of credit to the Leafs here (because we know of a lot of toxic lockerrooms that would not have done the same), they all defended Mitch (who literally cried when this happened because of course you would!). Matt Martin, however, got HEATED in particular and apparently got into a fight with Babcock that escalated so much that other teammates needed to intervene. Apparently this massive break in the relationship between Babcock and Matt Martin was one of the factors that led to Matt Martin getting traded to the Islanders soon after. But anyway, they still seem to be close (Mitch went to Matt Martin’s wedding; Matt Martin LITERALLY wears a Mitch jersey - NOT FROM HIS MAPLE LEAFS DAYS BUT FROM MITCH’S PRE-NHL LONDON KNIGHTS DAYS; Matt Martin wore a chain/necklace with Mitch’s jersey number - 16 - on it at his own wedding. WHAT IS GOING ON???? Matt Martin’s now wife Sydney also treats Mitch like a son & was an older sister figure for Mitch’s fiancee Steph etc. no honestly if you don’t let me stop i will go on forever so just please muzzle me and drag me away from my laptop this instant)

Also there’s genuinely so much Mitch/Matt moments so I’m sorry to do this but I must direct you to my Matt Martin tag because there’s more here. I do tend to reblog the same things over and over again mostly due to my shit memory, but THIS IS REALLY the most comprehensive Matt/Mitch shit out there I GUARANTEE YOU. if u dont believe me we can make a bet about it on draftkings or whatever shit wayne gretzky is shilling out there these days.

With this incredibly long preface out of the way, I now present:

Leaf to Leaf video between Matt & Mitch part 1 This is literally…the flirting and sexual tension - this is why toronto maple leafs deleted this video from their channel i just know it. No but seriously - their playful chirping (and Mitch trying to insult Matt twice and immediately backing down because Mitch Marner is BAD AT VERBAL JABS), their agreement to go to Italy TOGETHER just THE TWO OF THEM, THE BLINDFOLDED SENSUOUS MAPLE SYRUP TASTING. SIR, WHAT IS GOING ON. FELLAS IS IT GAY?

Leaf to Leaf video between Matt & Mitch Part 2  The actual Part 2 has disappeared into the void of the internet but this video has most of it - the argument about who’s better at Monopoly. HELP. They’re both so fucking dumb and I’m going to eat them.

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/166941715371  i am being attacked

lichtrally the sweetest photo of all time I WILL NOT STOP YELLING

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/166775411676 Mitch basically - “ok so Matt Martin is my dad”

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/156678922086/dare-013117 Dad introduces son to the dark art of smelling salts

Matt on defending Mitch from opponent players: “Noone touches my Mitchy.”

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/155931985081/credit-httpswwwredditcomrleafscomments5o2 MORE DAD SON SUPERSTITIONS AND BONDING

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/158789962401/huggsies-after-the-win-against-the-devils Dad son hug

https://mrsfleury91.tumblr.com/post/156196438546 Dad-son connection. DAD SON VACATION!

THEE MOST IMPORTANT DAD SUBSECTION: MITCH MARNER/PATRICK MARLEAU

So Patty joined the Leafs in 2017, and became Auston and Mitch’s official team dad. Like, Patty literally called Auston and Mitch his 5th and 6th sons several times. Again, I must direct you to my Patrick Marleau tag if you, like me, are a feral internet raccoon that enjoys dumpster diving for CoNtEnT.

But some key moments: 

The Patrick Marleau & Mitch Marner Leaf to Leaf: Part 1 Part 2 Many cute and questionable moments (for example, why does Mitch call a stick figure a pencil man…I genuinely do not understand. Is this a Canadian thing or a Mitch Marner thing (something I have asked myself one too many times), but the most devastating moment is when Mitch asks “what advice would you give me?” and Patty says this. WITH THE SOFT MELLIFLUOUS PIANO IN THE BACKGROUND THAT THE LEAFS VIDEO EDITORS TOTALLY ADDED TO EMOTIONALLY MANIPULATE ME INTO EXPERIENCING ONE (1) FEELING….ITS JUST A LOT

 Patty’s Player’s Tribune message after he retired - the part where he talks about Auston and Mitch especially. Cool cool cool im fine im fine

Mitch, Auston, and Patty getting interviewed by Elliotte Friedman - this is where they talk about how they became close. I think I noted this above somewhere but they bonded by watching Cars 3 together while eating dessert. Mitch and Patty were on one bed. I don’t know how to explain it but this is the most Mitch Marner thing ever, including the dubious choice of movie. I mean, Cars 3? Thee worst Pixar film?

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/685443729556979712/cmarleau-our-summer-nights-are-side-note Lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. WHAT is happening.

Mitch & Auston talking about Patty being an old boring dad

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/682173512704819200/tysegs-marnsmallow-id-just-like-to-point-out When your biological son wears SOCKS with your adopted son on them, I believe that’s when you can say you’ve reached the absolute pinnacle of fatherhood.

Patty, his wife, and kids being interviewed The best part is when they ask the kids who the best mini-sticks player in their family is, and the exchange between 2 kids go like this: [Who’s the best mini-sticks player] Kid 1 (they dont show who’s speaking here so I don’t know!): MITCH! Kid 2: no they mean in OUR family Kid 1: he IS in our family! 

Section 3: MITCH MARNER/DYLAN STROME: SWEET PUPPY LOVE & BLATANTLY SACCHARINE PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION The real enemies-to-lovers narrative was coming from inside the house (house: the 2015 nhl draft kids)

https://pyrexic.tumblr.com/post/133979944708/the-ballad-of-mitch-and-dylan The Mitch / Dylan primer

https://live-in-fury.tumblr.com/post/146582256497/talk-more-about-stromemarner-i-like-reading The Mitch / Dylan primer part 2

https://mcdavid97.tumblr.com/post/128125813011/the-selfie-result taking derpy selfies together: LMAO

https://crosbs.tumblr.com/post/137934824037/stromarner-firing-it-up-again Dylan Strome to Mitch: “hi bae”

https://hawkwardly.tumblr.com/post/133383650832/smiley-rielly-dylan-stromes-player-cam Dylan & Mitch: being idiot hotel roomies together

https://dwstrome.tumblr.com/post/144624590772/last-hug-first-hug Just 2 boops cuddling

https://live-in-fury.tumblr.com/post/152401123377/do-you-ever-think-about-softstromarner-because-i Literally Dylan Strome: “I love you”

https://wonthetrade.tumblr.com/post/156469676980/in-that-third-gif-of-the-marner-dropping-the-puck Soft boys!!! Also comparing the Mitch/Dylan ship to Mitch/Auston is so interesting bc of how different Dylan and Auston are? It seems Dylan at least MATCHES Mitch’s enthusiasm for simping and cuddling and physical affection and like…wow…Auston…do better!!

https://jasonspezzas.tumblr.com/post/646313515096899584/look-all-im-saying-is-trade-alex-kerfoot-for THEY BOTH LOVE CUDDLING. HOW DO THEY KNOW THIS?

https://virtanucks.tumblr.com/post/155427979527/fruit-salad-by-dylan-strome-feat-mitch-marner Just 2 puppies attacking fruit

Addendum: Mitch’s relationship with Dylan AND Connor Mcdavid aka the 3 top canadian boys from the 2015 NHL draft is really sweet. Most of the Mitch/Connor stuff is captured in my connor mcdavid tag But some additional mitch/dylan/connor stuff - The 2015 NHL draft everglades tour, The 2015 NHL draft baseball game, and this photo I find adorable

SECTION 4: Auston/Mitch Auston/Mitch are the most popular ship out there so I’m going to keep this section relatively concise because, but some cute highlights from MY perspective.

ok honestly - i have some stuff down below but nothing will be as important, comprehensive, or heartbreaking as this incredible 1634 primer written by @typicaltk

https://zoehickel.tumblr.com/post/154354808778/okay-but-auston-and-mitch-canonically-drive This primer is 5 yrs old but i guess in some ways it is the library of alexandria of 1634. So let’s start here.

 I dont have links for this because it’s like eminently obvious in every single photo of them but their size difference is basically...[longest yeah boy in the world.mp4]

One of my favorite things about Mitch and Auston is Mitch’s devotion to gassing Auston up in every media appearance he does: The NHL players discuss fashion trends video - Mitch’s response for everything is “Well I can’t pull that off but u know who can? AUSTON. I JUST THINK HE’S NEAT. HEARD OF HIM?”  NHL players guess their NHL video game rankings video - please note Mitch’s OUTRAGE (and squeaky voice) at how low auston’s score is while auston himself is just “ok cool” 

https://mitchski.tumblr.com/post/181380540673/x The most important auston/mitch moment in my humble opinion. HE COULDN’T LET GO OF ME. 

https://mitchski.tumblr.com/post/181380206933/x i was looking respectfully* (*= this is a flagrant lie)

https://leafsgm.tumblr.com/post/680835740192718848/mitch-and-austons-heritage-classic-gloves-i they both draw smiley faces and shit on their gloves to remind themselves that hockey is supposed to be fun

https://9116.tumblr.com/post/184088746020/mitch-marner-shot-by-auston-matthews-apple have u ever wondered what mitch looks like from auston’s perspective. now u know

auston chirping mitch on social media:  mitch’s poor baseball skills (ft. mitch’s scrawny butt wiggling lmao)  auston not responding well to mitch nagging auston for instagram tags  auston chirping mitch on instagram then backtracking 

https://mitchski.tumblr.com/post/154732764998/x auston: mitch copies (derogatory) my style  mitch: i just copy (affectionate) auston :D *OK I think this deserves more scrutiny because clearly SOMETHING about this moment taught mitch the wrong lesson that adding a hat to any outfit officially elevates the outfit to FASHION, COUTURE, GLAMOUR. and i... give a man a fish u feed him for a day. teach a man about hats and u’ll be tormented with weird hat photos for the rest of ur life. that’s how the saying goes right

Mitch responding to Auston’s GQ photoshoot & trying to be supportive but failing (the moment comes towards the end of the video but including the entire link because he’s cute lol)

https://mitchski.tumblr.com/post/664607719503937536/x Auston complimenting Mitch’s karaoke skills

https://nhldraftbust.tumblr.com/post/680756976047865856/phillymyers-known-goon-mitch-marner-defends KNOWN TWINK GOON MITCH MARNER IMMEDIATELY JUMPING INTO FIGHT A MUCH LARGER MAN FOR HIS MUCH LARGER FRIEND AUSTON MATTHEWS.  Mitch Marner’s fighting skills include: aggressive hugging, weaponized cuddling, ????????????????? 

[scattered-winter]

kyle for the character ask!

favorite thing about him

it's all about the LOVE

he's just. he's an artist he's a romantic he sees the best in people he mastered all 7 colors of the emotional spectrum he's the best of them all he's traumatized to hell and back he's the torchbearer he's the first he's the last he's the white lantern he's the golden boy he's just a kid trying his best I just think he's neat <3

I also love how dark he gets sometimes ! like. idk I like em a little fucked up, ya know?! he tortures and kills bad guys and doesn't show a bit of guilt and I think it's great <3 he's so good and hopeful and loving but he's also a little messed up <3

least favorite thing about him

idk I guess....his stubbornness? I usually don't Hate things about a character just because even their bad traits make them multifaceted! 3 dimensional! but I do admit it's a little annoying when he refuses to budge on something. his follow-your-heart attitude, while GREAT, also tends to give him tunnel vision, and it can be hard for him to see another point of view (especially if he has personal stakes in the matter.) what I'm thinking of right off the top of my head is during Kyle and Connor's teamup, when they meet Kyle's "dad" and Connor is suspicious (rightly so!) but Kyle is so blinded by his emotions that he refuses to even consider that Connor is wise to be cautious. it ends up causing some problems down the line, and temporarily damaged their friendship. from a writer's standpoint it's a brilliant character flaw because it can also be a strength, depending on the situation! Kyle's free heart have done a lot of good and it's why I love him! it just...isn't always good, ya know? from a reader's standpoint it can get frustrating to see him refuse to even consider another point of view even though he really probably should. idk it's all relative

favorite line

just gonna drop these here <3

OTP

y'all know I'm a jaykyle stan to the extreme <3 they could make each other worse in the most entertaining way possible

also like. the PARALLELS

Kyle is a white lantern! protector of life!! Jason died!! they're both willing to do whatever's necessary to protect people! I just think they're neat <3 and I'm a slut for enemies to lovers. what are ya gonna do about it

I also feel like Alex doesn't get enough appreciation. that's probably because she died like 2 issues in but STILL. her ex boyfriend gets a power ring and she's just like "aight let's get you some publicity!" and starts a photoshoot almost on the spot. she was so supportive of him from the get-go and where did that lead her?!

I also cry every time I read Circle of Fire so yeah. I remember my roots I'm a Kyle/Alex truther at heart

I'd also like to put connorkyle as an honorable mention ! I love their friendship so much and I wouldn't mind seeing it with a dash of romance thrown in!

nOTP

I haven't come across anything in fandom that's made me go NOPE tbh! I'm always pretty chill with shipping anyway but I just don't really have many strong feelings about Kyle's love life outside of those stated above

brOTP

his and Connor's friendship is just. GOALS. they meet up during a fight and decide "oh we're besties now" and go on a road trip to find Kyle's dad. along the way they get into a bar fight (Kyle started it) and also start a fight with an entire town of lawyers before finally meeting aforementioned dad (who wasn't really his real dad but shh). they banter they tease and Kyle makes constructs for his friend to carry him around and Connor has to haul Kyle out of ridiculous situations he keeps getting himself into. I fuckin love those two.

just guys being dudes <3

I'd also like to point out that in this scene, Connor is wearing a construct trench coat because he didn't have any other clothes to wear over his suit. truly nobody does it like them <3

random headcanon

I think he draws his friends a lot! sometimes he gives them the finished product as a gift but most of them he just keeps in his sketchbooks. idk I think it's sweet <3

unpopular opinion

he should have an animated series or something. he should have been in Green Lantern: the Animated Series actually. you know what I would give to see Kyle and Razer interact?!? I would kill a man

favorite picture of him

I had to narrow down his Ion appearances to make them all fit under the picture limit, but just know that the entire Ion run is on this post in my heart <3 also included is my favorite background Kyle from his very first solo comic, some of my favorite panels from dark crisis (again, haven't read it yet but bro I am Looking 👀), and Kyle being endearing <3

send me a character!

[pupmkincake2000]

I certainly appreciate it, but the problem is that I have already seen people like you. And most likely the reason you want to see Hank and Connor as father and son (despite the fact that it destroys their personalities but who cares, right?) is precisely because you ship Connor with Markus.

markus LOVES to push hank's buttons. like, dude leave the poor grandpa alone!! thats ur bf's dad

Isn't it how YOU see Hank? A f*cking grandpa! Everything I need to know in this situation. He is not a strong man we see in the game for you, who is ONLY 53 years old, who was capable to FIGHT Connor, who is worthy of love and can be desired, he is just an old man who cannot have any other function than to be a dad to an adult-looking android who canonically was his work colleague and his nemesis.

What also says that you don't know anything about human psychology. Oh, sorry, Hank is just a grandpa, what am I even talking about. Like in our world couples with 20-30 years age gap don't exist. Like people in their 50's cannot start their lives anew, get married or start a family. Because people Hank's age can be only dads, grandpas etc. Not even friends.

Therefore, I'm sorry, but I do not believe in the sincerity of your words.

but, what the post was truly trying to say was that the fighting is stupid.

So maybe all this hate exists because people like you keep propagandizing this father and son thing, and in order for it to stop working, you have to stop giving him this function in the first place? Okay, you want to see Connor and Markus as a couple, fine, but why are you so desperate to claim that Hank is Connor's father in this case? Why not just leave Hank alone or leave him a friend status? Colleague? Partner? Co-worker? So many choices! No, you choose what is convenient for you, that's why those who want to see Hank and Connor as lovers are bullied. You create these situations yourself. After all, Hank is just a grandpa to you, a FUNCTION so you feel more comfortable. And by you I mean all such people.

Because each time such people try to seem nice we get something like

I see them as father and son but the drawing is nice

I see them as father and son but I am not against the ship

I see them as father and son but I want these fights to be over

I see them as father and son but I get while peole ship them

and there are so many examples of it!

So how about not saying the "I see them as father and son" part all the time? Reread your own tags, despite this "I want the fights to be over" you are still more like "I don't want people fighting anymore and yet I still condemn one side over the other."

oh my GOD can we please stop fighting abt hankcon n father/son shit cuz its always like the same two arguements

theyre canonly friends, best friends if u rlly wanna push it, so lets js have them be those two guy friends who know WAY too much abt each othet to b normal? maybe? please? ive read so many fics where theyre like that its so funny

[pynkhues]

hi hey hello would you please write me a miniature essay on why you think kendall tried to tell caroline the truth (of all people) and whether you think—had caroline listened, even inattentively—he would've actually been able to get the words out?

Hi hey hello, sorry it’s taken me twelve million years to answer this, it got swallowed up by my inbox, but YES, I am absolutely fascinated by all the kids’ relationship with Caroline, and in particular that choice to have Caroline be – maybe – the first person Kendall ever actually told.

How members of the family found out, or almost found out, about what happened at Shiv’s wedding, feels really symbolic of the deeper relationships beyond the discovery. From Logan knowing before Kendall could ever tell him, and using that to not only strongarm his son professionally but to re-create a half-real-half-manufactured intimacy in order to control him (and I would argue protect him as well), to Shiv almost finding out in 2.04 out of her own sense of vulnerability and insecurity, to Kendall finally, cathartically actually caving and telling Shiv and Roman in Italy in a way that didn’t so much heal a break but maybe reset a dislocation between the three of them.

Kendall almost telling Caroline in England is that in spades too, and I think a lot about how the title of that episode, The Return, is so apt because it’s more than just a return to the UK. It’s a return to childhood for the Golden Trio in revisiting their mother, but it’s also a return to trauma in so many ways – most literally, of course, for Kendall, who ends up at the family home of the boy he killed, but also for Shiv who’s been forced back into the role of capital-d Daughter, ergo outsider to the machismo-soaked inner circle of her own family, for Tom who’s reconfronted with the cruise ship documents Greg salvaged, and I think for Caroline too, who’s sort of re-faced with the fact that her children chose their father and shunted her to the outside of the family.

(This isn’t really here nor there for this particular post, but I’m always fascinated that this ‘return’ pre-empts a larger one for Logan in the next episode as he returns to Scotland and is seemingly confronted with the memory of his sister).

I think in that sense, Caroline’s a sort of outsider to the inside, or an insider on the outside, depending on how you want to look at it, and that positions her pretty uniquely in the family itself. There’s a space to that, room, which given how tightly entangled everything and everyone else is, I think Kendall felt maybe there was a way out through.

An exit from his father, from the man he himself has become, through his mother. Like a choice he could retrospectively re-make - he always picked his dad, what would life have been if he'd picked his mother?

He knows deep down that she isn’t capable of this sort of emotional intimacy, but Kendall was drowning and I do think his hug and brief flicker of closeness with Shiv in 2.04 pmade him seek out the perceived open-embrace of the women in his family versus the perceived close-fist of the men. Kendall canonically is pretty sexist anyway, and I do think he expects more emotional labour from Shiv and Caroline than he does from, say, Roman, Connor and his dad, but at that point in s2, I do think it makes sense given how his interactions with the family had gone overall.

But yeah, more to the point of your ask, I think Kendall was thrust back into two pasts – one where he’d done something awful, and the other a childhood marked simply by before (before he’d done what he’d done, before the whole mess with his dad, god, even before the drugs) – and together that formed a complicated, twisting cocktail which meant seeking comfort in his mother was something romanticised. He wanted someone to shoulder some of the emotional labour, wanted relief, and he wanted looking after - he wanted a return to childhood - and for a minute, in his mother’s country, in the motherland, he could pretend she was capable of giving him any of that.