#wolf hall season 2

[air-mechanical]

New Norfolk and Gardiner! And Harriet Walter as Maggie Pole, she was great as Margaret Beaufort in The Spanish Princess.

When I first read the description under Henry's image, I thought they were trying to do something clever by combining VIII and villian. But they weren't aha.

Images from

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13267017/amp/Wolf-Hall-Mirror-Light-LOOK-Damian-Lewis-returns-Henry-VIII-alongside-Thomas-Brodie-Sangster-curtains-Ann-Boleyn-new-BBC-adaptation.html

[teashh]

So I just binged Maxton hall and as a certified opinionated person- I have opinions. First let me start off by saying; this series is reminiscent of 2000s elite school tv. And I'm here to eat that shit up. But what this show does better than those series is this:

Each character is multilayered. Who starts off as the alleged mean girl (Lydia) is smart, intelligent, calm and quiet and understands the nuances of the relationships around her. James is a huge red flag but his red flag is his possessiveness and aggression. He has been nothing but a sweetheart to the people he loves and cares for which makes it easy to sympathise with him.

It does the studious girl trope really well. It doesn't go the "I'm not like other girls" route. In fact, most students have been very supportive and uplifting of each other. The hate we see toward Ruby is class difference rather than a gendered one.

And our previous Ruby Bell is a likeable character. She is strong. Opinionated. Doesn't back down from a challenge. And she knows what she wants and she goes for it. Not once have her priorities taken a backseat when she finds love. Which is such a cool thing to see. I was so scared she'd be another Elena Gilbert- helpless, self absorbed and what not. But she's actually caring and has self respect. Which is mwah.

Then we have our very own loser of the year, James Beaufort. He's protective of his people. But he definitely has some red flags he needs to work on. But he acknowledges when he's wrong. And we like that because a lot of red flags in series don't. Plus he's such a simp for Ruby Bell and we love to see it. Bro isn't ashamed to transfer quails and catch them AND make his friends work as well if his lady needs it.

Lastly if I had a nickel for every strawberry blonde character named Lydia who seems like the mean girl but is sweet smart and caring and VERY VERY intelligent; I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. (I'm looking at you Lydia Martin)

My favourite new look is James Beaufort in love. Bro looks like a puppy and I'm here for it. We need more loser men honestly.

[longwuzhere]

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Easter Eggs

Welcome to the penultimate episode of My Adventures with Superman! Very sad that the season is ending next week but we still got the comic in the next 4 months! Hell yeah!!!!

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 5 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 10 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

Spoilers if you haven't seen the episode

Starting things off, we see Clark, still trapped by Brainiac live a life on "Krypton" with his "family" and we see him feed a Sun Eater.

In the comics, the Sun Eater makes its first appearance in Adventure Comics #305 (1963) where Mon-El, disguised as Marvel Boy is trying to get in the Legion of Superheroes team and in order for him to pass and be accepted, one of their test was to stop a Sun Eater and Mon-El was able to successfully drive it away from a sun.

The scene that this is homaging is similar to what happened in All-Star Superman #2 (2006) [<- highly recommend everyone read it btw] where Superman feeds a Sun Eater that he has in the Fortress of Solitude, a miniature sun that he created as seen in the page below (W: Grant Morrison P: Frank Quitely, I&C: Jamie Grant, L: Phil Balsman).

In the comics most of the time Sun Eaters are depicted as nebulous black hole-esque things, other times its a creature, but the closest MAwS's Sun Eater design is based on is the Sun Eater from the Supergirl CW tv show.

Next we see "Lara", invoke Rao's name after seeing Clark feed the Sun Eater a miniature sun.

So for those who do not know, Krypton's red sun is named after Rao, Krypton's sun god.

Rao, the red sun of Krypton, makes its first appearance in Superman #141 (1960) [W: Jerry Siegel, P: Wayne Boring, I: Stan Kaye] where Superman investigates a strange planet that turns out to be a creature and as Superman chases after it, he hits the time barrier and flies back to before Krypton's explosion.

Now Rao the Kryptonian God, makes his first appearance in Superman: The Last God of Krypton #1 (1999) [W: Walter Simonson P,I,&C: Greg and Tim Hildebrandt (yes Greg and Tim Hildebrandt who designed the original UK Star Wars poster from 1977), L: Ken Lopez] where Cythonna, Kryptonian goddess of ice, emerges from her banishment and sees that Krypton is no more. She goes after the last Kryptonian, take a wild guess who, to kill the last of Rao's descendants . We see Rao in the comic where Superman and Lois go to the Fortress of Solitude to see what Cythonna's history was before Krypton's destruction.

The episode's title is a reference to Gurren Lagann (<-Great anime if you're a Studio Trigger fan) where it is a quote from Kamina who says "Your drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens." Appropriate title considering what Clark and Lois does to free Clark from Brainiac's control.

We see that Lois is still under the Black Mercy's, well, mercy and I talked more about it here.

In the Black Mercy's dream world for Clark, we see that Lois has been captured by "Jor-El" and we see Clark and Lois meet up again, however both do not have memories of each other. Clark mentions that he's always in the Hall of Science where they keep the alien species, like the Sun Eater we saw before, working as a scientist.

The first instance of the "Hall of Science" was in Brave and the Bold #28 (1960) the first appearance of the Justice League where Starro was attacking Science City, and thus the Hall of Science. The Hall of Science's association doesn't come up until Secret Origins #1 (2014)

[W: Greg Pak, P: Lee Weeks, I: Lee Weeks, Sandra Hope, C: Dave McCaig, L: John J. Hill] where we see a retelling of Superman's origins. where scientist, Jor-El was trying to warn about the planet's explosion, but the Hall of Science expelled him for his alarmist warnings thinking nothing of it. Guess how that turned out for the planet. Very cool thing to have Clark be a scientist on this fake Krypton just like his father in the comics.

Back in MAwS IRL, one of the OMACs destroys the spaceship that was carrying Lois, Jimmy, Kara, Mallah, and the Brain and when Kara, Jimmy and Lois crash land, they get arrested by Waller and Taskforce X. Lucky for Jimmy that he was live streaming and this caught Perry's attention and he, the Daily Planet, and Vicky Vale were able to stall Taskforce X so Steve Lombard can sneak behind the Taskforce X prison carrier and break the trio out.

Steve's van has wolves howling at the moon painted on its exterior kinda invokes the three wolf moon shirt (designed by Antonia Neshev) vibes.

Later when the trio are in Steve's van, we see a blink and you miss it easter egg where apparently Steve went to Jump City Community College.

Jump City is a reference to the city that the Teen Titans from the 2000 cartoon are located in. So hey we got a Victor Stone and a city where one iteration the Teen Titans were in, so the Teen Titans are possible in the MAwS universe!

Jimmy's speech to Kara kinda gives off that "you choose who you want to be" quote vibes from Iron Giant, appropriate considering the Iron Giant is a Superman fan. Good movie too highly recommend checking that movie out too.

Back on "Krypton", Clark and Lois were able to get their memories back after so many groundhog day moments for Lois and we see this cool AF moment for her paying back how Clark protected her when they were attacked in the forest by the OMACs in episode 6 of season 1.

This scene specifically^

As Brainiac loses control over Clark thanks to Lois, Brainiac puts on anti-Kryptonite armor for him and his robots thanks to Lex using his Metallos that are now powered by Kryptonite (I talk more about Metallo here). Brainiac hacks into the Metallos and prepares to fire on Earth with an Archer beam from Kandor.

The Archer Beam, well technically the weapon itself makes its first appearance in Superman: The World of New Krypton #2 (2009) [W: Greg Rucka, James Robinson, P&I: Pete Woods, C: Brad Anderson, L: Steve Wands], where the Archer Rifle was developed as a weapon to stop rogue Kryptonians as the rifle blasts red sun to depower them for 30 minutes so they can be apprehended.

And finally, after Kara blocks the first Archer beam with her body, Clark comes in to stop the second and gets a new outfit.

The new suit doesn't have the red trunks anymore and that kinda makes you think of the New 52 suit that Superman wore during the DC universe reboot in 2011 (Final page of Justice League #1 (2011) [W: Geoff John, P: Jim Lee, I: Scott Williams, C: Alex Sinclair, L: Patrick Brosseau]). Ngl not a fan of this new look for MAwS Superman. The red trunks helps break up the large areas of blue, plus symbolically it helps tie back to his origins on Earth with Ma Kent being the one to give him the trunks. Also I do not like the yellow outline S-Shield, it makes me think of the new 2025 Superman movie S-Shield, which irks me when movies try to influence the source comics, when it should be the other way around *death glares at the MCU*. Really hope we get the red trunks again by the end of the season or at least in season 3.

Anyways come back next week for the final episode of My Adventures with Superman season 2 and then in August and the following 3 months for issues 3-6 of the comics too!

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 5 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 10 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

[queershakespeare]

thomas cromwell is not your poor little meow meow he's your poor little woof woof get it righ

[the-merry-rose]

I think Thomas definitely saw Rafe as his son from the moment he took the boy in at Austin Friars 🥲🩷

Same! Actually, I didn't think of it until this minute, but I feel like there is something in Cromwell's willingness to take in young men and treat them like family versus Henry's stubborn obsession with a genetic heir?

[eleanoroliphant]

i mean obviously wolf hall (season 1) wasn’t fun and games but tmatl really makes you look back and appreciate the humour in it with some nostalgia. norfolk and gardiner were somewhat funny, or at least their banter with cromwell was. henry was appropriately unhinged but there was almost a tenderness to it. even thomas more, which mantel so obviously detested, would show up with a cute rabbit every now and then and make you smile for a second. tmatl can’t *not* be somber, i knew and expected it, but it’s so sad.

i think this reasoning explains why the tudors remained enjoyable, like yes every season featured the fall of at least one major character but there was the rise of someone else at the same time and every character had at least one endearing trait that made you enjoy seeing them succeed. here, really, it’s just cromwell and his household that you get to genuinely like. and this isn’t a dig at mantel! it’s a pov narrative and you can’t do it differently, really. i’m just highlighting the difference between the two things.

[humanpurposes]

Watching Wolf Hall season 2 and remembering what it feels like to be insane over medieval court politics and tension EEEEE

[gablehood]

Wolf Hall + Tumblr Posts (2/2)

[towyns]

if jonathan pryce is back at wolsey they better bring claire foy as anne back, clear your schedule bestie

[elizabethan-memes]

Cromwell's portrait by Holbein hung in Cromwell's own parlour, apparently, and now I want a Tudor drama where Thomas cromwell is sitting in front of his portrait rather like this:

[lis5664]

These books are some of my favorite of all time. Going very, very slowly through my re-read of The Mirror and the Light right now because I don't know when I'll be ready to face the last 40 pages again.

congrats to wolf hall/tmatl for being the first form of media that allows audiences and characters in-universe to unapologetically & seriously mourn thomas cromwell.

for his death to be less of a "ha ha ha, you deserved it" and more of a "this is a horrible thing being done to a man, and it's not pleasant to see".

like we know his death is wrong, it makes us sad.

we haven't had that before.

[macrolit]

The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

NYT Article.

*************

Q: How many of the 100 have you read? Q: Which ones did you love/hate? Q: What's missing?

Here's the full list.

100. Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson 99. How to Be Both, Ali Smith 98. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett 97. Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward 96. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman 95. Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel 94. On Beauty, Zadie Smith 93. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel 92. The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrante 91. The Human Stain, Philip Roth 90. The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen 89. The Return, Hisham Matar 88. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 87. Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters 86. Frederick Douglass, David W. Blight 85. Pastoralia, George Saunders 84. The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee 83. When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamin Labutat 82. Hurricane Season, Fernanda Melchor 81. Pulphead, John Jeremiah Sullivan 80. The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante 79. A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin 78. Septology, Jon Fosse 77. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones 76. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin 75. Exit West, Mohsin Hamid 74. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout 73. The Passage of Power, Robert Caro 72. Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich 71. The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen 70. All Aunt Hagar's Children, Edward P. Jones 69. The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander 68. The Friend, Sigrid Nunez 67. Far From the Tree, Andrew Solomon 66. We the Animals, Justin Torres 65. The Plot Against America, Philip Roth 64. The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai 63. Veronica, Mary Gaitskill 62. 10:04, Ben Lerner 61. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver 60. Heavy, Kiese Laymon 59. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides 58. Stay True, Hua Hsu 57. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich 56. The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner 55. The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright 54. Tenth of December, George Saunders 53. Runaway, Alice Munro 52. Train Dreams, Denis Johnson 51. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson 50. Trust, Hernan Diaz 49. The Vegetarian, Han Kang 48. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi 47. A Mercy, Toni Morrison 46. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt 45. The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson 44. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin 43. Postwar, Tony Judt 42. A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James 41. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan 40. H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald 39. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan 38. The Savage Detectives, Roberto Balano 37. The Years, Annie Ernaux 36. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates 35. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel 34. Citizen, Claudia Rankine 33. Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward 32. The Lines of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst 31. White Teeth, Zadie Smith 30. Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward 29. The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt 28. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell 27. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 26. Atonement, Ian McEwan 25. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 24. The Overstory, Richard Powers 23. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro 22. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo 21. Evicted, Matthew Desmond 20. Erasure, Percival Everett 19. Say Nothing, Patrick Radden Keefe 18. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders 17. The Sellout, Paul Beatty 16. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon 15. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee 14. Outline, Rachel Cusk 13. The Road, Cormac McCarthy 12. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion 11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz 10. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson 9. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro 8. Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald 7. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead 6. 2666, Roberto Bolano 5. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen 4. The Known World, Edward P. Jones 3. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel 2. The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson 1. My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante

[catherinesboleyn]

Wolf Hall season 2 costumes and headpieces

episode one

[whirlybirbs]

BEYOND THE VOID — !

1. THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

( MASTERPOST   |   AO3  |    SPOTIFY ) summary: torn from time yet again, it's thursday. six months pass. while you grapple with a newfound uncanny ability to premeditate, loki grapples with the fact he's slipping back into his old self without you. enter brad wolfe. now playing:  a whole lots gonna change by weyes blood word count: 3.3k pairing: loki / f!reader, established in from the void, with love tags: enemies to friends to lovers, soulmates, we-are-in-love-in-the-future but how did that even happen, angst & comfort, redemption arc, lots of time travel, loki season 2 (2020) spoilers a/n: finally, they return in "beyond the void". i can't thank everyone enough for the unending enthusiasm for this little project of mine. it's fitting to have the first chapter release with an eclipse. this is for all of you :) the beautiful gif for this chapter is from this set by @tomshiddles.

"Okay."

"Okay."

There's a long stretch of silence between Darcy Lewis and Jane Foster. 

In the liminal stretch of the apartment building's hall, there's little sound except the loud drone of some horribly, desperately sad song beyond the door of Unit 1131. The two women share a long look with one another, and then Darcy gestures urgently to the door.

"Go ahead," she nudges her colleague. 

"What?" Jane asks in a harsh whisper, "No, you knock." 

"You were the one that said we needed to do an intervention—" Darcy argues back in an equally low tone.

"Oh, so now this is on me?" Jane fires back, "She's our friend—"

"Our friend who has been babbling nonsense about things that have not happened and has been seriously obsessing with that Low-key dude—" Darcy rushes out, bringing her face closer to Jane's, "I don't even know what we're walking into here!"

Jane inhales. She pinches her brow. With a long rub of her face, she exhales. Then, she knocks.

She gives Darcy a 'happy?' look before stepping back and crossing her arms.

Almost immediately, the music stops. There's the sound of a shuffle. A meow. And then, the door opens only wide enough that one exhausted eye can peak through the chained gap.

"Heeeeeeeeeey, girl!" Darcy chides, waggling her hands in the air, "Surprise!"

On the other side of the door, your heart clenches. 

It feels a little bit like a cruel joke, y'know?

All that wishing, begging, clawing to go home and — well... you are. You're home. You've been home. For six months, you've been home in New York City. You're back in that little studio apartment, with Sigurd, with your research, with your doctorate. 

ALL I WANT  TO DO IS  GO HOME.

You try your best to give both Darcy and Jane a smile, but it comes out mangled and exhausted and not quite right. You've been crying. Sort of par for the course these days.

"Oh, uh... Hi guys."

Sigurd meows.

"You got a sec?" Jane asks, raising a folder in her hands, "We, uh... Erik gave us some new anomaly data to look over and we figured... you're the one for the job! Y'know? It's... kinda... your thing... have you been crying?"

Your eyes dart between them both. You wet your lips.

"No. Nooo, no. It's..." your mouth hangs open as you search for a reason, "...Allergies."

There's a beat of embarrassing silence, and then Darcy moves fast as lightning. She wriggles her arm through the gap and unlocks the chain — almost as if this is definitely something she's mastered before — before pushing her way through the doorway of your apartment. Jane follows close behind, and Sigard squawks as he scurries away from underfoot. 

The infiltration is almost immediately regretted because... woah. 

Like, big woah.

Darcy has seen crazy. Like, she has an Uncle on her Dad's side who is totally in on the whole "they're coming for our thoughts" thing and does not leave the house without at least six layers of Great Value tinfoil stuffed under his baseball cap. She knows crazy. She works for Erik Selvig. 

But this?

This is, like, soooooo above her pay grade. 

Jane's jaw is slack. The folder is immediately forgotten on the kitchen island in favor of the wall-to-wall documentation of... whatever the hell this was. 

LOKI MISSING? in the center of it all, with string and equations and runes and news articles and tabloid pages. There's an alarming amount of photos of the God in question pinned up beside ramblings on... Time? And... Quantum mechanics...? 

There's another loooooong stretch of silence. And then, Darcy and Jane both turn slowly to look at you pressed against the door.

You swallow.

Your face is set in horror.

"It's not what it looks like—"

"Uh, dude, it totally is what it looks like—" Darcy starts, stepping closer to the board and pointing a black, manicured finger at a paparazzi photo of Loki being carted off from the now-Avengers Tower, "What's with all the Loki paraphernalia?! Need I post a lil' throwback Thursday to when he tried to kill us all?"

IT'S THURSDAY AGAIN.

You wince. "You wouldn't understand—"

Then, it happens.

The same thing you've experienced dozens upon dozens of times these last six months happens again: A rush of chatter in your mind, a cacophony of whispers that claw at your thoughts and flood them with has-beens and will-be's. A million things all at once, a little bit of everything from all of time, and then— one thread. One thread that stands out against them all. 

"Jane, don't."

Across the room, Jane's fingers pause on the contact number for that pretty S.H.I.E.L.D. agent they've met once or twice now — the one who is managing the Asgardian anomaly cases. With Loki missing, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been desperate to track him down. If this is a lead... If you know where he is...

Jane's face freezes.

Her brows knit.

Your face is split in panic. "I know you think calling Agent Hill is the right thing to do, but—"

"...How did you know I was...?" Jane's voice falls off, her eyes searching your face.

Your voice splinters as you step forward. "If you call Agent Hill, she is going to section our entire division within the week. Thor will be exiled from Earth on conspiracy four days later. We will sit in a cell for five years until they decide we have nothing to do with Loki's disappearance from Asgard."

Darcy's eyes bounce between you and Jane.

"Why are you saying all that like you know it's going to happen?" Jane asks slowly, putting her phone down and closing the gap between you. "Doc, what's going on?"

Your eyes flicker with fear. 

And then exhaustion. The walls you've built to keep this away from the others crumble with one worried look from Darcy, and you crumple against the kitchen counter. 

Your voice is far away.

"It all started that Thursday."

You thought it would be better now that someone knows. 

Truth be told it might be more trouble than it's worth if not to soothe the burden of secrecy — because Darcy keeps treating you like a Magic 8 Ball that, when shaken, is going to spit out readings on the future. 

It isn't that easy. I mean, if it was, you would have definitely done everything in your power to avoid the commute traffic this morning. 

You don't know why it happens. Or how. You have a theory it has something to do with Alioth, but... without any sort of control, there's no way of knowing. All you know is that in those moments, you're presented with a weave of potential sequences. And in those moments, you can choose to act. Or not. 

So far, acting seems to be the best course of action. 

But, yea, no. No fortune-cookie-level stuff. No crystal ball, no tarot cards. Just... weird time-whispers. And a migraine that seems to never go away. And dreams. Really vivid dreams. Dreams that happen? And dreams that don't.

If it was a horoscope sort of thing, maybe you wouldn't have missed your morning bus after waiting in line at that coffee shop three blocks down. They always make your coffee a little too bitter, but the girl behind the counter is an NYU grad student you recognized from a mechanical engineering lecture you sat in on three months ago. You've got a soft spot for her. She's always nice to that guy in the baseball cap who seems unhoused. 

You hope it all works out for her in the end. 

But, Christ this coffee is bitter. 

You buzz into Stark Labs at 9:37 am, and you're setting your stuff down at R&D by 9:43 am. 

Bruce Banner looks up briefly from his work to slide you a welcoming smile. You return it gently as you settle down on your stool and reacclimate yourself to last week's work. 

Mondays, man.

Tony is, as always, later than anyone else. His entrance is followed by the usual boisterous chatter meant as a morale booster. More often than not it's a genius-level comedy routine built on absolutely torturing Dr. Banner. You opt, more often than not, to refuse to enable the bad behavior. 

Any laughter is buried deep into these readings from the Tesseract. 

And so this has been home for the last four months. 

Avengers Tower. R&D. Erik Selvig's Research Team. Theoretical Physics and Quantum Mechanics. Day in, day out.

No TVA, no TemPads, no Sylvie, no Mobius, no Capybaras. 

...No Loki.

But, plenty of whispers. 

It rocks you out of your focus, iced latte halfway to your lips as you're rooted in this little pocket of voices and threads and whisps of time. There's a thousand, then a hundred, then one. 

Your voice is soft.

"Bruce, try the equation again."

From across the room, Tony's voice dies down and Bruce's eyes rise to meet yours. He points to himself, with a questioning raise of the brows.

You nod, then continue to take a sip of your coffee.

And so Bruce does. Wordlessly. And, after a minute, he looks up with a grin.

"So it was right."

"Woulda never known if Iron Dick over here didn't shut up for one second."

Tony's grin is bigger than Bruce's as he meanders over to your lab table and throws an arm around your shoulder. He squeezes you gently. You avoid his eye contact — and in doing so, you miss the momentary grace of concern. 

(Tony has known you for a few months now. He knows you adequately enough to gauge that your triple-shot espresso should have been a sextuple. The bags beneath your eyes are dark. There's an edge there. Something jumpy. You're exhausted.)

"Now, that was mean."

"You're torturing him," you fire back lightly, non-the-wiser to his scrutiny. 

"It's called exposure therapy—" Tony croons, leaning back and thumbing through some of the notes on your desk. You allow it. 

Good. Still sharp. Still better than anyone else at what you do. 

"Exposure to workplace terrorism?" You rib back with one cocked brow, "No offense, Bruce, but I like you better not green. Okay, Tony?"

"None taken!" Dr. Banner calls lightly from across the room. He's working on the second part of that equation now. 

"Sure, sure, alright, Doc," Tony heads your words, raising both hands and stepping back, "I guess someone hates fun."

"Absolutely," you say blankly, chewing your straw; you point at him, "No laughter."

"None," Tony waggles a finger.

"Not a peep," you remark causally as you spin in your stool and snag your pen from the drawer behind you. 

"Any news on the other green guy we hate?" Bruce asks slowly, eyes bouncing between you and Stark. 

Your blood goes a little cold. Just like always. It's hard not to react — especially when that other green guy is all you think about day and night.

WHEN YOU LOSE HIM YOU WILL DO ANYTHING TO GET HIM BACK. 

You wordlessly shake your head. You shrug. Bruce turns to Stark. Tony is hunched over his bench. His words are a bit muffled by the soldering project he's turned his attention to. 

"None. According to Thor he just up and poofed. He was in the middle of atoning before the Buckingham of Asgard and... just warped on out."

So you've heard.

"Hill has been working every lead she can but... the Asgardians are a little touchy-feely on the whole 'earthlings in the domain of the Gods' thing."

"Understandable," you mutter absently.

Tony sits up. "Only time will tell."

...Indeed.

Home.

Unit 1131. 

Lonely.

It wasn't before all this... It was full to the brim with contentment. It was comfort, it was bliss. It was indulgent mornings slept beneath the covers and bright music in the kitchen. Cheap wine from the liquor shop on the corner and homemade meals. It was "I finally made it". 

Now, it's none of that.

Because he's out there — and you know that you don't belong here anymore.

You drop your bag by the door. 

Your boots follow in a trail. 

Sigurd mews expectantly, and you scoop him wordlessly into your arms as you weave through the chaos of papers and books. Your carpet is hidden beneath a layer of obsession masquerading as research.

But, there's one thing that pulls you back in each time.

It's that photo. 

The one Darcy had pointed at earlier.

Loki is being carted off from the now-Avengers Tower. He's looking back at something, and his expression is broken.

It's you.

You know he's pleading with Thor at that moment through a muzzle, desperate to call your name. He's looking at you, being whisked away by S.H.I.E.L.D. as they clear the area, and your voice is silenced by grief. 

You wish you had called out to him then — told him you'd find him again. 

Regret is a hell of a thing.

Grief, too. 

How do you mourn something you never really had? Not here, not in this timeline. 

So you stand there, in the dim lights of your apartment, staring at the photo. And you cry. Just like every night, for the last six months.

In your desk, that magical little daisy made of grass waits.

If they find Sylvie, they find you.

That's the mission.

Mobius M. Mobius thinks it's funny — back then, man if only he would have known that lil' hunch of his was right. Maybe a part of him did. And... Now? Things are different. I mean, everything is different. The TVA is different. 

Loki is different.

They say to be loved is to be changed an' all that. 

The first thing out of Loki's mouth was your name when Mobius finally saw him again — and then a word vomit of panic, induced by the death of He Who Remains and... time-slippage as OB called it. Lotsa moving parts. Lots to keep track of. But, ultimately, they're in a better spot than they were yesterday. 

1.) Loki is no longer falling through the metaphorical cracks in time. 

2.) Mobius did not get toasted alive when standing before The Loom.

3.) He never, ever, ever has to do that again.

And now!

They're in London. 

1977, huh. Zaniac. 

If they find Sylvie, they find you.

...Unless you find him first.

Loki isn't exactly thrilled. 

No, Loki knows better than to get his hopes up. Sylvie isn't here. He already told Mobius that. It's too safe. It's a damned movie premiere. There are no radiation burns, no falling stars, and no rampant gunfire. It's too quiet. 

It's a movie premiere and you're out there, somewhere, alone. You're... you're lost. He can't protect you here. He can't protect anything. You... You're all he has and you're gone. 

And he's here, wasting his damn time. 

Brad Wolfe is about to waste more of his time. 

Loki's gaze is sharp. His strides are long, and as they approach the fray, the God stands amongst the tallest of guests. He cuts a mean profile. It's times like these that Mobius remembers he is a God.

(It's times like these that Mobius can also see the ever-increasing edge in his partner-in-time. It's a little... worrisome. But understandable. I mean, rip a God's soulmate from his hands and see what happens, right?)

"So, he's an actor now?" Loki comments off-handedly, his irritation grating his heartstrings in a way that reminds him of who he was before all this. He hates it. But, he's angry. He will get you back. Without you...

Without you, he doesn't know what he'll do.

"Or he's undercover."

As they weave, Loki's brows knot in distrust. "Looks pretty real to me."

It smells like cigarettes and perfume, and the flashbulbs bite sharply into Loki's peripherals. The raven-haired trickster winces, tucking his hands into his slacks. 

On the red carpet, X-5 moves from interview to interview. Occasionally his laughter rises above the clamor. Each time, Loki's nostrils flare and he rolls his eyes. 

It's when he reaches the end of the line that Mobius moves in. 

"Will there be a Zaniac Two?" 

The look on Brad's face says enough for Mobius to know there's more going on here than just an undercover bit. Brad's laugh, as equally pained as his smile, just cements the fact. 

"Mobius! Woah!" A clap on the shoulder, a big hug. "I used to work with this guy!"

Still a show. Still a weasel trying to survive on his little slice of time. 

"We're going to need to catch up," he begins, backing up slowly, "You know, why don't we chat after the show?"

"How about now, maybe?" Mobius counters just as Brad turns on his heel and comes face to face with Loki. 

The God sneers.

"Woah. Okay, ha, whole gangs here!" he chirps, "Isn't that... great? Wow. I mean, you look — you look great, Loki."

"Why thank you, Brad."

Brad's eyes are manic, and he's searching the crowd quickly — no doubt looking for an exit. Then, they catch something. When Brad claps his hands together and pats them on both Loki and Mobius' shoulders, the two TVA agents pause.

"Everything alright?" Loki asks, head tilting in faux concern.

"Everything is great, actually, because when I was here," he begins, words quick and anxious as he tries to weave some sort of story, "I met a mutual friend!"

"Sylvie?" Mobius asks tightly.

"No, no, uh, better—"

Loki's jaw tightens. Enough of this. "We have some mutual friends back at the TVA who would like a word, as well—"

"Doc!" calls Brad after finally finding her in the sea of people, turning on his heel and calling out over his shoulder, "I got people I need you to meet!"

And just like that, it's like Loki's whole world splits wide open again.

In the fray of photographers and journalists, in the fray of drinks and the haze of smoke, there's you. You're smiling at Brad, positively beaming. You're bright as a star and Gods, there's no one in the room when you step forward with a laugh.

Your dress is green. Your hair is different.

There's a beauty mark on your left cheek. His version of you has a scar that lies there. A mistimed gift from Sylvie before their period on Lamentis. 

"Doc, these are some of my friends from work," Brad points, his hand falling along your waist in a way that makes Loki's blood boil; the ex-TVA Hunter leans close to your cheek, "They're the real deal."

You laugh into your drink, then extend your hand to Mobius. He's trying his best to hide his growing dread. "It's a pleasure."

Mobius takes it and shakes it gently. "And how do you have the pleasure of knowing our starlet, Brad?"

Damn it. He's losing Loki in real time here.

"Doc here did all the practical effects on set for Zaniac," Brad's eyes connect with Loki's — but the God is focused on only you... Her. Until Wolfe digs in with a low murmur meant to do just what it does, "She's a real wiz with her hands."

The God's face snaps. He will kill Brad, he decides. But, then this other-you moves to offer her hand and he can't help but melt. 

His fingers are trembling when he touches her skin. 

"Have we met before?" comes the soft lilt of her voice — this Variant's eyes are brown. They search Loki's face for a shred of recognition but all that's there between the two of them is raw attraction. A law of time and space unhindered by meddling hands. No matter where, no matter when, you will find one another.

Loki's mouth is dry. Your lipstick shade is a dark rogue. He thinks about that kiss back in the Void. He's stuck there, with your hand in his, when Brad bolts.

Her face contorts in confusion. She pulls away. But, Loki lingers. 

He has to... He...

He needs you back. 

Now. 

[cinemaocd]

The ghost of Thomas More is right there in the tower...They are roommates. No flashback required. He never left.

The only minor bad thing about Wolf Hall s2 is that my man Thomas More isn't getting a Wolsey like flashback. What Cromwell needs is clearly another burden as he goes through what's left of his life.

[wolfhalledits]

˙✧˖°📷 ༘ ⋆｡˚ First-look pictures for Wolf Hall Season 2

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell | Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Rafe Sadler | Harriet Walter as Lady Margaret Pole | Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII | Harry Melling as Thomas Wriothesley | Lilit Lesser as Princess Mary | Charlie Rowe as Gregory Cromwell | Timothy Spall as the Duke of Norfolk and Alex Jennings as Stephen Gardiner | Kate Phillips as Jane Seymour — x