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verysium · 6 months

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if you had to associate a city from the world w any bllk character of your liking which cities with who and why? sorry for the odd question lmao it just crossed my mind. love ur works btw!💗

i love unconventional questions like these cus then i have to really think hard to come up with a good answer. i will admit i am slightly biased because i feel that the current teams they play for already represent them well, so some of these might be a repeat. also i am not that well-travelled (wish i could if i had the money), so i'm merely going off the reputed description of each city.

rin would be paris. i know it sounds unoriginal, but pxg rin has already grown 10x prettier than he was during the u-20 arc, so something in that city air must be doing him right. also i feel like he just dresses like a stereotypical european lol. the winter coat and scarf combo plus the perpetual scowl on his face. he probably walks super quickly down the metro too. i have this fic in the drafts where rin and reader meet up at his shitty parisian apartment and eat hotpot and smoke cigs on a random sidewalk in winter. rin is also high class. it just comes naturally to him. like if u ever take a walk near place charles de gaulle (the arc de triomphe area), there's this quiet luxury that is prominent in the fancy hotels and brand stores that make up the vicinity. even better if u go during christmas time because they have these intricately detailed light fixtures. i remember seeing this one cartier store with a giant glittering jaguar on the front. not to mention their swarovski christmas tree. rin's like that. i feel like in a few years once he goes fully professional, the media would go wild over his poise and refined grace. he just has that subtly enticing aura, like a silent glamour.

sae would be madrid. not just because it's canon but also because i feel like the city is just the polar opposite of him. madrid is one of the hottest cities in europe, and sae's just perpetually cold. even in the literal sense, i feel like he would have cold hands and feet too. if u see those wes anderson style travel commercials of madrid, it's always some variation of pastel houses, sunshine, and bikini beaches. that is exactly what sae is not like. i also chose this for...*ahem* spoiler reasons in my upcoming fic chapter which i'm not going to delve too much into. but the gist is that the contrast is why sae fits so well in madrid and also why it's a bit tragic to see how drastically he has to change in order to adapt to a new environment. if not spain, i feel like he'd still end up somewhere with a large coastline because of how fundamental the sea is to him throughout his childhood. it's sort of his safe space. if i had the choice to assign two cities, i'd also include his hometown of kamakura since he seems like the type to be secretly sentimental. i picture sae as someone who values his roots even though he constantly says he has bigger and better places to be. like he would tell everyone that he was born in the wrong country but then proceed to sigh melodramatically whenever he actually misses home.

kaiser is a weird mix of munich, new york, and las vegas. i chose munich largely because of his german roots. i also picture him as bavarian. new york and las vegas are mostly attributed to the duality of his character. when we first see kaiser, he's this figure of flamboyance. his entrance was hands-down the most theatrically dramatic one, and there are theatre motifs throughout his dialogue (eg. roles on a stage, rejecting yoichi's script/play). i feel like this would fit well with the extravagant nightlife las vegas is known for and, of course, broadway in NYC. furthermore, kaiser is this prime example of clawing your way to the top. he seems charismatic and welcoming at first, but then we see his internal motives and well...it's something. he is cutthroat when it comes to competition, and he's not afraid of using others in his ascent to the top. i mean...he literally holds people by the hair as if they're mere objects. that seems pretty ruthless and machiavellian to me. i doubt he even humanizes any of his rivals; rather, he views them as opponents to his ideology. there's also a reason why they say if you make it in new york, you can make it anywhere. there's a highly individualistic mindset, and if you really want something, the resources are there for you to achieve it. kaiser is like that in the sense he is willing to put his all into getting something he desires, even up to an obsessive degree.

yukimiya is london. like u know what taylor swift said about the english? that's yukimiya for you. he treats his mother right, sleeps 8 hours a day, and said his first love was when his friend's 16-year-old sister kissed him on the forehead. he cannot be any more perfect. not to mention he's a literal model. like hello? IMG is calling.

shidou is somewhere in ohio. i'm not going to elaborate. the man's just weird.

isagi is somewhere rural. idk why but he strikes me as a country boy. probably helps his parents on the rice farm and bikes long distances to school. i found a lot of parallels between him and hinata shoyo from haikyu mostly because they're both from a smaller, lesser known neighborhood, have a pretty ordinary childhood, and become inspired by this influential role model. my secondary reason is just that isagi doesn't seem like he'd even be familiar with the urban landscape. he's lived his life in humble origins, so i think there might be some culture shock once he actually gets to the city. like...boy was genuinely amazed when he entered that blue lock facility. never seen so much high-end equipment and technology in his life.

ego lives in a sewer. i cannot tell u his precise location just that he probably hasn't washed his hair in 45 days and is still surviving off processed ramen noodles. please pray for him.

barou is los angeles and if not socal, then he's from the bay area. i took one good look at his artificially dyed red hair and the answer was clear. he is not immune to trends guys. it's almost embarrassing. furthermore, i think the general silicon valley area is known to be hardworking, and that encapsulates barou pretty well. he is disciplined to the core, and he knows that success is not going to come to him without him actively trying to reach it. he's also...(let's be real guys)...just a teensy weensy bit arrogant. he calls himself a king, as in a literal monarch. and he says this in the most serious tone too. now he rightfully earned that title, but it doesn't erase the secondhand cringe i felt from reading that dialogue LOL.

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daincrediblegg · 3 months

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THE LONG AWAITED LADY TERROR BIO

Full name: Genevieve Sinclair

DOB: February 12th, 1816 Baptism: April 16th, 1816 Birthplace: London, England Eyes: Brown Hair: Dark Brown Sexual Orientation: Queer Disposition: Enigmatic. In some circumstances quiet, thoughtful, introverted, in others, charming, charismatic and even boisterous Build: Full-figured, somewhat corpulent.

Genevieve “Lady Terror” Sinclair was born to Captain Charles Sinclair, a 2nd generation French/Italian immigrant who rose to captaincy during the napoleonic wars, and his lawful wife Ms. Marie Sinclair (nee. Bennet) after his return to London. Though he would never receive medals or great honor for the commencement of battle during the wars, he was recognized by the Royal Navy for his rescue efforts in recovering several stranded crews from the wrecks of many naval battles that commenced in French-controlled waters. Several years after his daughter was born, Charles found his funds running short to support his wife and child, and elected to take up the merchant’s trade to deliver and receive goods from the Americas and Russia, forming good relationships with the Hudson Bay Company and other exporters to be recognized as a business partner in full.

Sinclair’s childhood was mostly spent just outside of London in the family’s country manor. She spent much of her childhood happily as the only child that the couple would come to bear. Under both her parent’s tutelage she would learn much not just on the ways of being a proper lady, but also she was extremely well read in literature from around the world, philosophy, and studied in sciences as well. But her passions were especially prominent in her own writing, and the illustrations that would accompany them- a talent that she would pursue for the rest of her life and a constant comfort especially in her years leading up to her womanhood.

As she began to enter womanhood, her parent’s relationship, and her relations to them in turn, became strained. With her father often away, and left at home with only her mother to care for her as consequence, resentment brewed between them for Charles, but also in turn did Marie’s resentments implode upon the young woman, as her mother took to drinking and contradicting public endless praise for a talented daughter with endless private slander of the burden of raising her alone and increasing difficulties that she would face as a woman too intelligent for her lot in life, and how important it was also that she secure herself through marriage as she did. The unsavory dynamic between mother and daughter escalated until in her early twenties, Charles, on a return trip to England, found his daughter so deep in distress that she was to afeared to leave her room, prone to fits of being unable to sleep, distress from her mother’s private demeanor and admonishments and being given laudanum for these anxieties. Charles, knowing this to be unlike his daughter and heartbroken by her deep distress, discovered in turn that on top of her increased drinking and horrific spending habits while he was away, uncovered that she had also been unfaithful during his absence. He attempted a divorce from her in 1834 but nothing much ever came of it. Instead, Charles retained the custody of his daughter and brought her with him as he purchased a separate townhouse in London for themselves and summarily brought the young woman with him on all subsequent ventures, as she had once done in her youth for a time, but her mother had put an end to.

Over the course of the next eight years, Sinclair would span half the globe with her father while he conducted trade in its many corners. In that time, she learned much in the art of navigation, and was considered the most competent among the crew of her father’s ship-aptly named The Demeter- in this regard. Learning much and her skill also for reading charts and also re-drawing them for better navigational accuracy would have earned her any competent place on any given naval ship as a ship’s master- if not captain herself. The crew of the Demeter had been far warmer to her presence than might have been any other kind of crew one could encounter, but nonetheless took some time to warm up to the bright young woman they now had aboard. Nevertheless, Sinclair’s sharp thinking and suggestions managed to curtail many near misses, with no men lost during her tenure on the Demeter. But along with her skills in navigation also came a keen sense of business by proxy of her father’s business, and therefore became savvy in such dealings. It was always well regarded that much of her multiple talents served her well, and the culmination of these talents rose to great promise when word began to spread upon their arrival back in London after a long winter strait in Russian waters that another expedition to find the elusive Northwest Passage was underway. To secure a name for herself, with greater promise for her own self security (as her father, now in his 70’s, began to make preparations for her to inherit his entire estate and affairs upon his death, and she, wanting to be a part of such an adventure undertaken alone, put her name forward in the lots of ice masters that were to be considered for the expedition. Whilst her entry was highly unusual on account of her being a woman, she was considered highly for a secondary position as a junior in which she would assist her more tenured counterparts on Erebus and Terror with charting the unmapped territory and in navigation through the icy waters of the Arctic. It was not so much for her clear and unrivaled skill that she was eventually chosen, but moreso for her connections with merchants in the area for whom trade would be promising, and a navigator experienced in taking the route would be of great use to them once the passage had been charted. Though this fact continued to aggrieve her greatly throughout the expedition, her ability to take part in such a venture at all and as she was greatly overshadowed it, and accepted the position with gusto. However, as she would come to grapple with the incomprehensible horrors that awaited her in the arctic, she would come to regret what excitement she had once had to be a part of an exploratory mission such as this, and at the same time, consider it to be one of the best decisions she had ever made.

In her personal life, Sinclair by all was considered an odd sort of girl. Her outspoken nature earned her disdain amongst good society men and women that she encountered, but amongst the oddest lots in life she always seemed to find friends. One person in particular- author of ill repute Edgar Allan Poe had been a singularly constant companion to her and had been since their childhoods, as he attended a boarding school very near to the family home where they lived as his adoptive parents-Frances and John Allan- conducted their affairs in London. It was rumored once that there were wishes on behalf of each party to marry, but nothing came of it as time and miles parted them in their teenaged years, though up until her disappearance they remained very close friends. It is through this friend that Sinclair became acquainted with some of the other literati of the day (though Poe had burned many bridges with his scathing reviews of his peers works, a point of which Sinclair herself admired, Sinclair did not garner such a reputation herself), including the likes of Charles Dickens and Walt Whitman. In any and all such circles, she was always warmly regarded, if not well liked.

In affairs of the heart, however, Sinclair would never find herself so rich in either opportunity or prospect. Even though as a sole heiress she had been viewed as a desirable match for many gentlemen and many certainly took a chance at pursuing her in her youth, Sinclair never failed to turn them all down eventually. By her twentieth year it seemed the offers of marriage fell to the wayside both in light of her reputation and her sheer absence from such scenes where opportunity to meet potential suitors was presented, and she never took as much interest in finding a husband before spinsterhood approached her as many other ladies she had known were. Instead, she focused her efforts on making her life her own, and surpassing great obstacles in order to achieve her own independence whilst also not compromising her emotional well being.

#lady terror #egg's oc's #oc bio #here just take it JUST TAKE IT #MIGHT EDIT THIS LATER #also I started a body base last night to do an outfit breakdown... so keep an eye out for that #no accompanying photos rn but i know there's that sim I made in the tags somewhere #the terror oc

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brainrotallthewaydown1312 · 8 months

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I just got a poll about bi himbos on my feed and the first option, who is winning in a landslide, is Jake Peralta. and like I get it. believe me I get it. but y'all seem to forget he is a cop. that is literally like his whole thing.

I almost kept scrolling, but I also recently saw fanart of the 99 at a pride parade and a babygirl edit of Terry. so I think it's time for a reminder.

ACAB includes fictional tools of copaganda.

even when

they are fun

they are likeable

they are narratively interesting

they are nuanced

they are looking to fix the system

they are kind people

they are relatable

they are flawed

the writers know they are a bastard

this is because they are still cogs in a bastardized system. all cops are bastards because they are traitors to their class, to their communities, and when they are any kind of minority they are traitors to their identities. by working as a cop they perpetuate systematic cycles of violence and oppression. even if they have reasons like "I want to fix the system from inside" or "I was helped by a cop once and want to do that" or "I genuinely want to help people who are struggling" there are other, better ways to accomplish all of those that do not involve being a cop. even that middle one. there are many forms of community resource positions you can take.

I want to reiterate. I get the thing with Jake Peralta. putting the copaganda aside for a moment, he is a goofball. he is very effectively coded both as bi and as having adhd. he definitely does fit into the chaos bi himbo archetype that is popular for good reason. he is a nuanced character who is always looking for ways to do the right thing. his mistakes are shown and he (usually) is able to recognise them and apologise. he is relatable to many people and charismatic to even more.

but he is still a cop. everyone on that show is either a cop or actively supporting cops, unless they are an antagonist. including Doug Judy, a career criminal who is self described best friends with jake.

and I cannot shame anyone for their enjoyment of Brooklyn 99. the comedy is well written, the characters all have interesting arcs, and it is unique in its genre for a few reasons. I myself watched most of the early seasons when I was in high school and enjoyed the well structured queer coding and the way it discussed the diversity in the precinct instead of shying away from it (put a pin in that for a second) For full disclosure, I have also watched and found enjoyment in the full run of Criminal Minds. and Bones. one of my alltime favorite shows is Eureka which is not only full of copaganda (as its premise) but it has a multi season arc for an autistic character that is important to the plot where his mother (a main character) is desperately trying to cure him a la Autism Speaks. there is not shame in having consumed or enjoyed media with harmful things. but you have to do so with nuance. and you cannot let yourself forget.

returning to the diversity and representation in b99. it is genuinely insidious to normalize members of the communities most historically effected by police brutality and targeted by discriminatory policy as "good cops." yes the writing around these characters is good. and I would argue that in other aspects there is good representation in that show. while the black and POC representation and discussion is also an important related issue, and arguably the more disturbing aspect of this, it is not my place to comment on so I will stick to the queer rep.

Rosa is written in a way that is respectful and is relatable to many bi people. Holt has a nuanced backstory that is not shied away from and his relationship and identity are always respected. Jake is very effectively coded as bi but hasn't realized or accepted yet. and as an autistic person with ADHD, Jake, Holt, Amy, Charles, and Rosa are all well coded and respectfully written neurodiverse characters. and it is difficult to find queer or neurodiverse representation like that. I fully understand that.

but they are cops. queer people (and neurodiverse people) have historically been major targets for cops. we are more likely to die at the hands of a cop than our cishet peers. we are more likely to be hospitalized by them. we are more likely to be arrested on no charge. we are more likely to be set up for things we didn't do. we are more likely to have the book thrown at us when we are innocent and minding our own business. normalizing that cops we deal with can be members of our community our community is legitimately dangerous. LGBT cops are not part of the queer community. they are traitors to their community.

drawing the b99 or any cop real or fictional at pride is horrifying. cops have no place at pride. even off duty. pride is not a party. it is a protest. against cops. it isn't a march for general rights. it is a protest against physical and legal brutality against queer people. it is a memorial to the Stonewall Riot, a response to an act of police brutality against trans women in a queer space. that is why it happens in June. so we do not forget.

b99 is written to make us sympathetic to the emotional nuance and physical danger of being a cop. and for some of y'all that is working. even if you don't think it is. because you are willing to babygirl Terry. you coddle Jakes constant corruption. you will go on at length about the trials holt has faced forgetting that they are because he chose to become part of the system that oppresses him.

there is psychological nuance as to why members of oppressed minorities become cops. of course there is. but there should not be social nuance. all cops are bastards. even fictional cops. even your uncle. because they are participating in and perpetuating a violent bastardized system.

yes, this includes Jake and the rest of the b99. it includes Spencer Reid from criminal minds. it includes Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan from bones. it includes Sheriff Jack Carter from eureka. Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durand from gravity falls. Olivia Benson from Law and Order. James Gordon from the DC universe. Ranger Walker from Walker Texas Ranger. RoboCop. Rick Grimes from the Walking Dead. chief wiggam from the Simpsons. Joe Swanson from family guy. Inspector Lastraude from every iteration of Sherlock Holmes. arguably Sherlock himself for how often he cooperates with the police. Inspector Gadget. David tennant's broadchurch roll. and every other fictional cop you can think of.

all of them. even the kind ones. even the black ones. and the queer ones. and the disabled ones. even the ones where the media knows they are a bastard. even when they are there to be the butt of the joke. they are all bastards.

and you can watch them. you can read about them. you can even write about them. you can enjoy their media. but you cannot let yourself forget that they are a cop. and that all cops are bastards. because of you forget about one cop being a bastard, that leaves room to sympathize with other cops. and as we all know, even a cop with personal empathy for you is still a cop who will act with violence and corruption without a second thought. and if you forget that in the wrong moment in real life, you or someone else can and will get hurt. physically hurt. mentally hurt. legally hurt. all of the above. sympathy for cops gets minorities killed.

never let yourself forget that.

all cops are bastards.

#brooklyn 99 #fictional cops #all cops are bastards #acab #copaganda #propaganda #jake peralta #jake peralta bi #police violence #police brutality #pride #queer #queer pride #cops in fiction #representation #queer representation

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charleslebatman · 11 months

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The perception that Alex would be a better fit at Ferrari is such a bad take. What suggests he’d be any more complacent taking a back seat to Charles? He’s just as great a driver as Carlos which is close enough to Charles to challenge since he struggles being consistent. He’d challenge to be the #1 driver just as much as Carlos and he’s much more charismatic and universally liked.

At no point do I see Alex taking Charles' seat. It wouldn't make any sense.

As I said, the problem since Binotto left is Carlos. He doesn't follow instructions, screwing up Charles' quali laps (not just once, but several times and on several drivers). He's getting angrier and angrier.

Carlos lost his place at the last GP because, unlike Charles, he can't handle track limits. Ferrari values its image more than other teams. Removing Charles would be suicidal for them. Charles has talent, but is literally being sabotaged.

Carlos has the right set-up, but not the talent. So his only way out is to sabotage and get annoyed with his team-mate, since he no longer has a manager to fully support him, unlike what Binotto had to do internally.

Alex is doing incredible things in this Williams, I've seen it for a while. Unlike some others. And the two personalities of Charles and Alex would work wonders, I think. Ferrari isn't ready to let go of Charles, and it's clear that things have been very complicated since Carlos arrived. So, apart from removing Carlos and replacing him with someone who would work better with the Ferrari spirit. I don't see any long-term solutions.

I remember what we used to say when Carlos and Max were teammates. It was an almost unbearable competitive spirit and very electric friction. Even if they seemed to get along outside. Except that this was Toro Rosso, they weren't playing for the championship. Here, it's Ferrari and clearly things aren't going well. The clash will come in the end, and Ferrari will have to set things straight once and for all.

#f1 #charles leclerc #scuderia ferrari #ferrari #formula one #alex albon

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danwhobrowses · 2 years

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The Sandman - Quickfire Thoughts

So after a series of sporadic binges between Netflix tussles I've finished The Sandman. Having gone into the adaptation of Gaiman's comic fairly blind I had barely any expectations, but here's what I thought of it

Spoilers for the show of course, you were warned

As much as I don't want to invoke the wrath of Gaiman - who also frequents the tumblr - negative points for not fitting Enter Sandman in the entire show.

A strange observation but, is it me but ever since Game of Thrones Charles Dance seems to only do small or low-screentime roles now; Godzilla King of the Monsters, Dracula Untold and now Sandman, he's great but because he's great it's curious that he doesn't do many long-term roles

Dream's casting was great, and props to Tom Sturridge for carrying an aura of menace and power in the first episode while butt naked

One of the very few things I knew of The Sandman comics was ol' toothy eyes, The Corinthian, and boy howdy was Boyd Holbrook fantastic, he's one of the five characters, including Sturridge as Dream, I feel dominates every scene they're in, he's a great charismatic but manipulative villain

The Gregory stuff made me sad, the show did have a fair amount of moments where it's meant to be sad and uncomfortable, but at the same time I don't want to be that sad or that uncomfortable

Liked the river scene, it's super artsy and dark. I wish we had more of that from this series, stuff like in this gif where Dream is as chilling as any nightmare he created, would've liked to see more of the Fates too

I do love some Jenna Coleman, been a fan all the way back since she debuted on Emmerdale, but, it didn't feel like her role in her episode was enough to necessitate the Constantine nod. Jenna could've been a regular sorcerer, or even an immortal Johanna. I dunno I think I just kinda hoped to see Matt Ryan reprise as John, especially since DC is killing the Arrowverse. Maybe DC didn't wanna play ball or Neil has S2 plans for her, but we needed more of Jenna to establish Johanna.

Speaking of potential Season 2, Hell. The Hell Episode was great, mainly because of standout no.3: Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer. Tom Ellis' Lucifer series wasn't something I quite got into, I heard rumblings of it ending dumbly, but Christie's Lucifer is amazingly sinister but in a quiet way, they know who they are so they don't need to threaten, but there is that twinge of sadness and longing that Dream exploits in their Oldest Game

Though 'anti-life' felt like a cheat, I did like the Oldest Game. The wink nudge of Lucifer picking a direwolf but then, by my interpretation, Morpheus choosing hope to corner Lucifer into submitting rather than become something that would diminish their own hope. Matthew the raven gets props as well for giving Morpheus the inspirational pep talk

24/7 was one of those cases where it was a great episode but one I was greatly uncomfortable with, sometimes my own fault like forgetting that Bette's son is in college. But this does explore why John Dee's views on a perfect world is twisted and the Ruby is not safe in his hands, I did feel especially bad for Bette

Oh, John Dee is no.4, David Thewlis man. As much as Dee was unnerving, apathetic, and calculating, Thewlis did a great job in showing the childlike innocence that had been contorted by his sheltered life and manipulation, there is poetic irony that he wants a world of honesty but consistently deceives himself.

Episode 6 was perhaps my favourite, among my comic knowledge was the presentation of Death in Gaiman's story as a joyful punk rock girl who is full of life, Kirby Howell-Baptiste did a great job. I did of course feel extra sad when she approached the cradle, instant thoughts of 'no, not the baby!' in my mind, I don't know enough of her character to wonder if she still feels burdened by the abruptness of some people dying but there can be time for that later

What made it my favourite though was the Hob storyline, it was just nice and wholesome really and it explored more of Morpheus' ever-shrinking distance from humanity

The Vortex storyline I wasn't as sold on as the 'Morpheus reclaims his powers' storyline, it was still good but it did sit in the real world more than the fantasy

I enjoyed the whole house of people and Lyta, and how they all supported Rose in her search for her brother, plus the connection with Unity to merge the storylines together

Probably what made me not so connected to the Vortex storyline in spite of it having the Corinthian be the main villain is the nature of the Vortex, we're told very little about its nature and the 'I don't know' answer does feel weak, she is powerful just because

Morpheus also seems to take two steps back on his character development too, to go from Death telling him that they are not better than humans, should learn to take people's help and him accepting that he and Hob are friends to 'I will use this Vortex, a threat to the dreaming and waking world entirely just to bait some rogue nightmares' and also dismiss Gault's suggestion that even nightmares can change and want did feel like he was undoing his own work

Didn't quite like the Rumpelstiltskin vibe he was giving out with saying he'd come for Lyta's baby too, there could've been at least a bit more compassion or explanation, instead it served as a 'misunderstanding' trope to distance Rose from Morpheus

The ending was solid, albeit one which could've used a bit more explanation. Desire was a character we saw so little of - much like Cain and Abel, whose dynamic reminded me of Hilda and Zelda in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - and even though we have them outright tell Despair that they are the mastermind of Morpheus' imprisonment and the Vortex arc, we don't actually see any of their actions, just an off-comment by Unity that clocks Morpheus in on the deception.

I feel like, while Gaiman may've intended to keep the audience out of loop, it may've served better to see Desire perform at least one action that guided the plot around, even if it was just to twirl a fake mustache, and explain how they intended to use the Vortex to be Morpheus' undoing, since there seems to be rules for not killing an endless' kin not established in the series (that I recall anyway) was the plan, but since I don't understand what that would lead to it's hard to understand the threat.

Overall I liked it, going in mainly blind I do have my questions but we had a great cast all doing really well, and I want to see more of it, so it laid some strong groundwork we can hopefully build towards.

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practically-an-x-man · 11 months

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Charles Xavier, Jack Dalton and Kyle Spencer for the character ask!

ooh thank you! let's see here...

First Impression:

Charles: I grew up on the original X-Men movies, so I saw him as a very cool-headed and mature leader for the X-Men, and a good fit to lead the team in difficult situations

Jack: I thought he was funny, and I liked his relationship with Mac. And being big on 70's and 80's rock, I liked his taste in music

Kyle: HOT. Like holy shit. And majorly unappreciated.

Impression Now:

Charles: I still think he makes for a good leader, but after becoming more well-versed in the world of X-Men I can also see how he's headstrong, stubborn, and a little holier-than-thou at times. Though honestly, I appreciate being able to see those flaws. It proves he's a well-rounded and imperfect character.

Jack: My opinion hasn't changed that much, but I definitely have a greater appreciation for his relationship with Mac. He really acts as a wonderful father figure and their relationship is integral to the show. I love the later seasons but they're not quite the same.

Kyle: There's a lot more dimension to his character than the show wants to focus on! Before his death, he's a genuinely kind, goodhearted, and charismatic person. And I'm incredibly annoyed at what they did with him after his death, using him as a plaything for Zoe and Madison when he's clearly uncomfortable with... well, all of it. Man deserved better.

Favorite Moment

Charles: I'm partial to X-Men: Apocalypse myself, and I really like his mind-battle with Apocalypse towards the end and how it leads into Jean Grey embracing her powers. Plus, I love the scene in First Class when they're rounding up all the team.

Jack: in the episode where they go to Chernobyl, Jack starts complaining about the radiation and makes jokes that they'll all develop superpowers. In particular he turns to Mac and goes, "Mac, you'll develop telekinesis. You're practically Professor X already" (and Mac looks confused but you can SEE Lucas trying not to crack a smile). Laughed. Out. Loud. It might be my favorite joke in the whole show.

Kyle: He doesn't get that many moments of his own since he's unfortunately just used to complicate the relationship between Zoe and Madison, but I like the flashback to the tattoo shop and how he realizes he's been put back together. It takes a really heartwarming scene of him goofing off with his frat brothers and turns it into something genuinely horrifying and heartbreaking, and really shows us more of Kyle's view on what's been done to him.

Idea for a Story:

Charles: So obviously we get a lot of origin stories for the other X-Men (Children of the Atom baby!!) but I think it would be neat to get a little more detail in his early days of his mutation, before he grew comfortable with it. I'm sure there's a comic out there that does this, but I haven't stumbled across it yet.

Jack: I get that George Eads had to leave the show and that was how they closed out his plotline, but I'd really like to see Jack's perspective on his time overseas, away from the rest of the team.

Kyle: Uh... Heartstrings.

Unpopular Opinion:

Charles: he doesn't know when to step back. He pushes his students so hard in accepting and managing their mutations, and it usually does help, but it's a very forceful tactic that contributes to as many problems as it does solutions. He's not a perfect leader and shouldn't be treated as such, that's the essence of his character.

Jack: he's really not appreciated the way he should be. He works well as the comic relief, but he's a lot more than just that. He's a great father figure to both Mac and Riley, and his presence really holds the team together. No Jack Dalton slander in this house, thank you.

Kyle: his relationship with Zoe is NOT wholesome. She blew it out of proportion after one night of flirting, and it results in her dragging him around and treating him as less than human most of the time after he comes back. She acts like he exists only to love her, and when it becomes too much to handle, she avoids the problem rather than helping him. He deserves so much better than her.

Favorite Relationship:

Charles: Cherik all the way babyyyy. Though I also really like his long-standing friendship with Hank, it's a really important dynamic that's present in every iteration of the team.

Jack: I really liked the dynamic he has with Riley, actually. He steps in as a father figure and supports her even through her conflicts with her own father, and really shows her the unconditional love and support that she didn't get in her childhood.

Kyle: pass. I like him as a character but he doesn't have any canon relationships that I like, he's treated as an object by everyone around him. This is the main thing I tried to remedy in Heartstrings, giving him a relationship that was genuinely built on mutual respect and care.

Favorite Headcanon:

Charles: does Cherik count as a headcanon? it's basically canon. Aside from that, I hc that he gets chronic migraines from suppressing the presence of so many other minds. This is most prevalent when there are a lot of students at the X-Mansion, since there are so many thoughts to wrangle, but he cares too much about them to make a fuss over it.

Jack: he's learned a thing or two from Mac. He can't quite piece it together on the fly fast enough to use it in the field, but his house is a spectacle of redneck engineering.

Kyle: he tried out for wrestling in high school but dropped out before the season was over because he was afraid of hurting someone. I feel like it just makes his post-death anger and violence issues more heartbreaking, since he tries so hard to be gentle in his first life.

Send me a character

#thank you!!! this was fun :D #my friends!!!#answered asks #ask game #charles xavier #jack dalton #kyle spencer

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we-pay-for-everything · 2 years

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Charles Gunn... The Myth, The Legend, The Best of Us All

AKA: 5 things we can learn from Charles Gunn.

5. “I was cool before I met you all”, aka “Love yourself.”

I’m finally finishing this series. I didn’t know what to do, but I saw this scene from Waiting in the Wings making the rounds and I wanted to use this quote.

Gunn is endearingly unpretentious. He’s genuine, honest, direct. One of the many reasons why season 5 was a terrible idea was because of what they did to Gunn. Had Gunn ever truly been that insecure about himself? It felt like the writers were preying on the fact that he was a black man who fit all the stereotypes - he was uneducated, poor, had a former gang; naturally, all he wanted to be was a rich, white man, so he became a lawyer. That was a great disservice to his character. I don’t think Gunn ever expressed a desire to be an evil lawyer of all things. (I’m sure Wesley is to blame though, because he had power over Fred, so Gunn felt jealous. The reason why Gunn and Fred didn’t work out was because Gunn was too “vanilla” and not on Fred’s “level”. The whole thing with Frunn was rigged in Wesley’s favor.)

On the bright side, after Fred’s death he finally accepted himself, but I still don’t like that storyline. I want to write about post-season 4/5 Gunn.

There’s a sort of duality that the Angel characters had. Angel had his Angelus side, of course, but Angel himself had a lot of darkness; Wesley had a lot of darkness too, and that was hinted at from the beginning; Fred was both sweet and crazy; Lorne was nice and lovable, but always secretive and somewhat unreliable; and Cordelia... for a while she was as straightforward as Gunn.

Gunn didn’t exactly have a hidden side. His trauma with his sister and his past were known, he was well-adjusted and not likely to come undone like Fred or Wesley, all of his “darkness” was as transparent as his “light”. He embraced both his past and his present. He had skeletons in his closet, of course (he sold his soul for a truck), and shame and regrets, but that was just part of him.

The beauty of Gunn is that he was normal. There is always a “normal” character, and that character is often rather underappreciated. Gunn isn’t normal because he’s uninteresting, shallow, or average. He’s normal because his behavior and personality are consistent and balanced, because he speaks and carries himself more like a normal person would. He’s unrealistically brave, good, strong, funny, charismatic, attractive, etc. But he’s wholesome and approachable. Liking a character because they are normal often feels like a backhanded compliment, but why should it be? It’s the normal characters that have the power to inspire us, normal people, to do better; their real flaws or unsavory traits can help us self-reflect and become more understanding and compassionate of each other’s shortcomings.

Gunn is a great character, and J. August Richards did a lot of heavy lifting to make Gunn so tridimensional and complete.

I believe Gunn is inspiring. He’s realistic yet hopeful. He knows how to enjoy life when there isn’t much to enjoy. He knows how to let go of his past regrets and failures to move forward. He’s funny, polite, helpful, kind, always. He’s smart too. And he’s so consistent. People change, but why do we seem to change for the worst? We become bitter, less forgiving - or too forgiving to the point we forget to respect ourselves. But Gunn was never bitter and callous. He accepted that which he didn’t understand and focused only on what he could do. He believed he could only do so much and nothing more. He was just himself, a tiny speck in the universe, and he enjoyed it as much as he could.

He was so cool. Charles Gunn, you will always be cool. I wish to see the world the way he did. He embodied Angel’s message of hope. A core aspect of Angel’s messaging was that we do have the chance to make the world better, but we’re fighting a losing battle - the world will never truly improve in our life time, if ever, and there’s very little we can do about it - however, even if our efforts are in vain, they are not worthless. And Gunn always believed that. He always believed there was something he could do and that his actions mattered. And through everything he was just... himself. You can only truly be yourself if you know who you are and accept that person. The idea of Gunn being “himself” may seem separate from my point about him being “normal” and “whole” but it’s not. You can only be yourself, singular. Our many facets make up a whole, but we spend our entire lives trying to chip away at the bad bits and keep them separate from the rest. It’s impossible.

We must be our own best friends. I’m not saying this to be cheesy. I’m saying it because I need to hear it. I don’t know how to accomplish that. I don’t even believe I deserve it. But I want to be myself - as I deeply value my own identity - and stop trying to hold on to a past version of me I thought was normal. So, I need to be more like Gunn. I need to forgive and forget, to live with all of me. Gunn had many problems, and I’m not at all trying to paint him as the poster boy for self-love, but I believe he knew how to live with himself better than anyone else on that show - better even than Cordelia who sometimes just lived in denial. I admire that. He’s beautifully human. Only humans can see the world as it truly is, and the people in it, and still choose to cherish and protect it.

#ats #charles gunn #the charles gunn meta series #finished at last #I have no more unfinished business here #I'm proud of myself #I know it's meaningless but I should be proud anyway!

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twinclownsoflotuspiers · 2 years

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KaeLuc: Pillow (fight) | fluff (i think), childhood friends, canon compliant

For @just-gals-being-pals-but-gay

Kaeya took pride in the fact that he wasn’t someone who lost his composure so easily. Suave, charismatic as the cavalry captain and efficient no matter how much Amber seemed to bitch about his methods (he got his work done, thank you very much) - there were few who actually ever saw any outright display of explosive or uncontrolled emotions from the man.

There was one man who knew the more emotional sides of him, had seen him at his most vulnerable but....well. That man was way more tightlipped than even him so Kaeya doubted Mondstadt would have a sudden deluge of embarrassing secrets being swept around about the cavalry captain’s less graceful habits. Why, said man refused to even recall a childhood spent together much less think of petty forms of payback like this! Hah! Hah--

The point was, Kaeya rarely ever lost his composure. He certainly never retaliated with childish outbursts when something struck him as unfair. Kaeya was good at compartmentalizing. Kaeya didn’t let his anger control him.

Which is why, he watched just as astonished as the bartender standing before himself who held onto blackened and tattered remnants of the Baron Bunny he’d flung only a few minutes prior in rigid stillness. Angel’s Share was deathly quiet - even Charles’ familiar clinking around with the wine glasses from the extra room behind the bar counter stopped ringing out.

Kaeya never let his emotions control him. Kaeya wasn’t one to indulge in sudden outbursts of anger. Kaeya had flung the Baron Bunny Amber had given him in a request to patch up a few tears on its fabric at Diluc in a moment’s fit of anger.

Of course, seeing he was an excellent Pyro user himself, Diluc hadn’t sustained a single scratch and had shielded his face from the Baron Bunny’s blast at the nick of the moment. He’d also somehow absorbed in the flames so none of the precious wines in the cabinet were harmed. Regardless, the wild mane of red hair framing his face were singed and smoking - the smell extremely foul. Slight bits of his eyebrows were burnt off and the sight struck Kaeya as suddenly so comical, his anger got replaced by a loud “pfft” that left his lips.

Diluc’s stunned expression morphed even as Kaeya nearly toppled off the stool laughing. “Sir Kaeya, what is so funny about nearly ruining all my precious wine?! I would’ve made you pay for every single bottle and you’ve got enough on your tab already!”

“Sorry, sorry! I’m just....hahahahaha! This is the first time I’m seeing a Pyro user being affected with fire,” it had been a while since Kaeya had had a good excuse to guffaw out loud and Diluc’s soot stained face with the singed eyebrows was just what he needed. He couldn’t help teasing. “Well, I certainly think Master Diluc was in a bit of a need for a haircut so don’t you think I did you a bit of a favour?”

Maybe he should’ve worried about actually incurring the bartender’s wrath but to the surprise of everyone present, Diluc let merely let out a frustrated sigh before tossing Baron Bunny’s sad remains at Kaeya and picked up a rag to try and wipe off some of the soot staining the counter’s pristine top. His formerly tensed shoulders looked a little more relaxed, Kaeya noted in some wonderment. “A favor my foot. Isn’t it common knowledge to not toss around explosives in a tavern of all places? What has suddenly gotten into Sir Kaeya? You are usually not this careless.”

Kaeya paused and tried to see if there was something more underlying the question. Maybe it was wishful thinking - things weren’t the same after all. He pressed an elbow against the countertop and rested his face on his palm, grinning. “Oh, who knows, Master Diluc. Perhaps this poor man here is going through withdrawal symptoms because you’ve held him back from Death After Noon for too long.”

Kaeya couldn’t really explain it either - anger outbursts really were rare. He’d been feeling under the weather mood wise that day and even the sight of grape juice and a firm no which he was usually used to were enough to set him off. Human moods were such strange things. Perhaps it was the failure in one of the team quests that day against some greater Abyss beings. Perhaps the sight of injured comrades reminded him of his own helplessness - Kaeya didn’t really know. He was forced out of his thoughts when the heavy damp rag hit him square on his face.

“Perhaps you can compensate by wiping the counter and I’ll consider giving you a glass of something weaker. Death After Noon is out of stock,” Diluc deadpanned and Kaeya rolled his eyes once before picking up the rag. A small thoughtful smile pulled at the corner of his lips.

Strange how only one man was capable of drawing out any and every locked emotions from himself so easily. It had always been like this, hadn’t it?

____________________

“I am not weak! I can look after myself!”

“But Kaeya, that’s not what I meant!”

Kaeya didn’t like getting angry at Diluc. They were friends, weren’t they? It wasn’t right to fight as friends and especially not with the boy who’d done so much for him. Regardless, Diluc’s insistence on looking after Kaeya, hovering around him like some crystal fly except much more annoying and protecting him all the time got suffocating. Kaeya didn’t want to depend on the other boy so much all the time but Diluc didn’t get it.

(Having someone insist on protecting him all the time was also scary but Kaeya didn’t know if he wanted to look further into that one)

“I don’t think you’re weak!” Diluc still insisted, his little bright face so earnest. “I know I got my Vision early but I don’t think that makes me better! Someday, you will too! I just want to protect you still because--”

“Shut up!”

The rest of Diluc’s words were smothered out and Kaeya looked horrified at his own self when he realized he’d thrown a pillow at his friend’s face hard enough that Diluc had stumbled backwards and fallen on his behind. “Diluc! I’m--”

Diluc let out a small groan and pulled off the pillow. His already wild hair ruffled in all directions and in addition had some of the pillow’s fluff and feathers stuck decorating the bright red strands. Coupled with the bewildered expression on his face, the whole scene struck him as so comical that Kaeya suddenly found himself clutching his belly and yelling in laughter.

“Wh-why are you laughing?!” Diluc’s little face heated up in embarrassment and he grabbed the pillow in retaliation to rush at the other boy. “You’ll pay for this!”

Loud screams and childish laughter rang out as the pillow fight commenced, their little squabble forgotten. Even a rushing Adelinde and her reprimands couldn’t stop the two boys from catching each other’s eyes and chuckling.

________________

Kaeya recalled that night all too well. He smiled to himself as the soft “thunk” of wine glass rang out when the Diluc of now placed it in front of him with a quiet “Dandelion Wine” grumbled under his breath.

Many things were different, but even as Kaeya took sips and fixed his eyes on the back profile of Diluc working on something, he felt both fondness and melancholy rise up in his chest on the fact that some things were also the same. “I should extend my apologies for this evening, Master Diluc. Allow me to repay you somehow. Should I trim the singed hair for you? I’m not half bad a hair dresser, if I say so myself.”

“No thank you,” Diluc’s refusal was immediate. “I am quite satisfied with my looks already. I can visit my usual dresser just fine.”

“Aw, not fair,” Kaeya chuckled. The anger and distress was far away. This one man was a special man. “Then how do I repay you, pray tell?”

“Promising me not to set my tavern on fire would suffice.”

“A lunch outing to Good Hunter’s it is then! Done!”

“That is not what I meant--”

Kaeya was known for keeping up a cool head and calm demeanor. Cavalry Captain Kaeya was known for his air of mystery and suaveness. In all of these things, perhaps Diluc was ever the only exception.

END

#kaeya alberich #diluc ragnvindr #kaeluc #genshin impact #tumblr fic #mido flash fic friday #my first genshin fic #one baron bunny was hurt in the making of this fic #rip baron bunny #kaeya better repay amber too

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bsaka7 · 2 years

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Oh my god all of them but for different reasons/ cult behaviours.

Daniel could temporarily become a hippie but would secretly be cheating the cult lifestyle and they’d kick him out

Pierre idk gives me cult vibes and really believes it he’s probably dating the charismatic leader and they wear matching linen outfits

Lando = pyramid scheme (not a cult but it just fits so well so there we go)

Lewis would start a revolution

George’s cult is being rich country British

Charles wouldn’t even realise he’s in a cult he’d just be being so nice and kind to everyone and they’d keep asking him to help and he just wouldn’t know how to say no

There are more but cba to think on it. The only two not in a cult off the top of my head are Alex (he’s just too down to earth and sensible) and seb (questioning own beliefs and morals and behaviours , he could definitely be part of something but then he would start to disagree and leave)

THE LINEN OUTFITS THE PYRAMID SCHEME GEORGE BEING IN A CULT JUST BASED ON RICH PERSON IDENTITY THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS ASK THATS NOT #SCHOLARSHIP

#Ask #Ok this is really gonna prompt me to make a fic project tag #I guess I'll just do.#why is it so hard to think of one #au22 #Cuz it rhymes I guess???#And I feel weird making definitive statements what if it changes #If it's a folk au and ends up a rock au. what THEN

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meova101 · 2 years

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WIP Amnesty

Cult!AU, Charles as the cult leader and Seb as the journalist trying to get his story down without being taken in by him. I’d imagined this as a bunch of interviews comprising the story but then realized I’m not that good at writing dialogue lol. I know I already got gifted a great fic about this with a sex cult but I’m still daydreaming of a “normal” cult too so here it is xD

Also, this entire idea was inspired by SKYND’s Jim Jones, so that’s the vibe I keep envisioning.

An excerpt:

‘Are you recording this?’

‘I could be, if you want.’

Sebastian closes his notebook, fishes the tape recorder out of his bag.

‘No, it’s better if you don’t.’ There’s a smile playing around the corners of Charles Leclerc’s mouth. It doesn’t reach his eyes. It would have creeped Sebastian out more if it had.

He slips the recorder back out of sight, sits back up and opens his notebook.

‘So, where to start…’

It doesn’t seem like Leclerc is feeling particularly talkative, which is fine. This isn’t his first rodeo.

‘Only twenty three and already the de facto leader of (Ferrari-ology, idk man). You seem to be working hard on reforming the group. Can you tell me how you decided that this was what you were wanting to do?’

Leclerc looks at his nails, runs a hand through his hair. His nails are the one part of him that doesn’t look impeccable, bitten to the quick. Sebastian scribbles down a quick note, leans back in his chair.

‘I didn’t decide. There was no other way. Someone had to lead the horse back to water and, well, I knew from a very young age that that was me.’

#f1wipamnesty #sebchal #i know this is probably a weird au but skljlsg idk it's so compelling #charles is so charismatic he would fit so well #seb is so curious so it'd fit that vibe perfect too #fic stuff #meo shouting into the void

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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Having asked your thoughts on designing Frankenstein's daemon, might I now ask your thoughts on bringing Count Dracula from the written word into illustration? (I'm definitely in favour of the 'Hairy Old Mountain Man of Horror pretending he's people' look from the original novel; one of the small tests too many Draculas fail to pass is an absolutely tragic lack of the Evil Beard and/or Wicked Moustache explicitly described by Mr Stoker).

Unlike with Frankenstein, where I think the design needs to be painstakingly thought out in order to achieve the best balance of the creature's traits for horror and tragedy alike, I think with Dracula you can actually just take an approach of "whatever works". Because as I mentioned before, I think much of the appeal and longevity of Dracula is how the character's both a layered villain as well as a shapeshifting narrative force that can be tailored to whatever you want to do with. Granted, there are bad or dissappointing Dracula designs, of course there are, but in regards to the leeway you get for reinterpretation, you get a lot more of it with Dracula than with other literary icons.

Like with Frankenstein, I'm gonna bring up how I'd tackle a less grim, more comedy-centric Dracula first, one that's less a force of horror and more of a charismatic villain, and I think to that end I definitely agree that people are sleeping a lot on the hairy old man barely-passing-off-as-humanoid of the original story. Despite very much loving these performers, I'm actually not a fan of takes that mold Dracula too closely to people who've portrayed him, like Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, partially because I think it's a waste of an opportunity to create your own Dracula design. Since I can't draw (yet), I'll do what I usually do and make a board of images to try and convey some of my thoughts on one way I'd design Dracula.

(Pictured: Kiwi's design for Dracula, Hotel Transylvania concept art, Nandor, Castlevania Dracula, Charles Dance in Dracula Untold, Vladislav, a Transylvanian rug)

I used the images in my other Dracula post and I’ll post it here again because I absolutely adore @kiwibyrd's designs for Dracula and it's main heroes, in particular I love the way it strikes a good balance at making sure Dracula looks distinctly separate from the humans, but not too much that he couldn't conceivably operate in society as just a harmless old man. I also adore the mustache and bushy eyebrows and pointy ears and I think these three are wonderful features to keep on any Dracula design. I'm also very partial to the Hotel Transylvania concept art, even if it makes me incredibly depressed to look at all the great designs they had for Dracula that they threw in the trash because they somehow decided making him look like Adam Sandler was the idea to go with.

I deeply adore What We Do In The Shadows, both the movie and the show, and Jemaine Clement's Vladislav is one of my favorite (maybe even my actual favorite) on-screen Draculas. But I also enjoy Nandor just as much, and I think it's really great that as a character he's completely different from Vlad while also being ostensibly a take on Dracula, and in particular I bring up his Jersey look because "Dracula in common clothing" is a criminally underrated concept for a joke.

As a character, I'm very partial to comedy takes on Dracula that play him up as a decadent aristocratic supervillain, the kind that can get away with talking in third person. I also have this idea for a version of Dracula who dresses ostentatiously in finely-broidered Romanian or Transylvanian patterns, maybe even wearing a rug as a cape, claiming that he's carrying the legacy of his people on his back. And of course he's lying, he's not Vlad Tepes and he's not even Romanian, he is just a parasite pretending to have a history to be proud of, but good luck getting him to admit that. And finally, I'd like this version to be played by Charles Dance, and I consider it a tremendous crime against humanity that he has yet to play Dracula proper even despite being in a film with the character's name on the title.

So that's kinda how I would design a take on Dracula for something more comedic or more based around him as this guest character and personality on-set. Now, if we're talking a more serious version, I think the possibilities increase, and I won't be getting into all of them because I may prefer to keep them to myself, but I'll elaborate a few ideas.

For example, the edition of Dracula I personally own comes with these really scratchy, really creepy B&W illustrations related to the story, that I can't find scanned online so I'm uploading them here so you can look at. They don't necessarily depict the scenes but rather some of the story's moments, like Van Helsing staking Lucy, Renfield in a straightjacket, Dracula as a coachman, and they are more focused on conveying the horror of the concepts at play.

Dracula never looks the same way in any of the illustrations, in fact you kinda have to piece him out of them by trying to find teeth or capes or eyes or bat-features to see where he's hiding this time. In the first, it's the half-man half-bat, in the 2nd, he's the shrieking bat silhouette next to Renfield, and in the latter, he's the gaping jaws and eerily humanoid eyes in the wolf. The effect to me almost feels like if you were to look at a bunch of tv static and then see a humanoid shape form for a split second before everything went back to normal, something like you'd get from Slender Man or other modern creepypastas, and I’ve argued before that Dracula’s form of horror is a very modern one.

In terms of illustrations of Dracula that keep up the original traits while still pulling off horror, I definitely have to hand it to the one at the left of the image above, drawn by regourso on Deviantart (account deleted at present). Going back to Castlevania’s many takes on Dracula, two in particular that stick out to me would be Castlevania: Judgment’s armored dress Dracula, who’s got this great twisted heart/rose motif going on in his outfit, and Dracula’s final form in SOTN where he just sits in his throne and his cape twists into all these monsters, particularly how it’s depicted by witnesstheabsurd’s depiction.

I’m not particularly a fan of how Dracula’s “final form” in these games is usually just some big demon, and part of what I like about his final form in SOTN instead is that, while it’s not a particularly challenging final boss, I do find it interesting the idea of us never actually getting to see what Dracula’s true final form looks like, only an ever-shifting pitch-black torrent of teeth and claws and bloody veins pouring out because that’s ultimately what Dracula is and brings to the world.

On the flip-side of the rotten old monster, we have the charming seductor Dracula, and while I’m really not a fan of how various adaptations have convinced people that “the point” of Dracula is that he’s a seductive force and an allegory for Victorian xenophobia and I’m reeeally even less of a fan of adaptations that make Dracula some misunderstood tragic hero (and I think I’ve made rather violently clear my feelings on interpretations that play up a romance between him and Mina), that the seductive force part exists is impossible to deny, so conversely, while on one hand we can have Dracula as the gargantuan whirlwind of predatory violence, we can also go for Dracula as the tantalizing lover.

I’ve seen a lot of opinions proclaiming Frank Langella as the best Dracula because he was the best at actually being seductive while still playing Dracula, although I haven’t yet seen his performances. If I had to point at one picture I look at and do buy for a second the idea of Dracula as a romantic character, it would be that particular still of Raul Julia in the left of the above image. And it’s strange for me to think of Raul Julia as attractive because I mainly associate him with his brilliant comedy performance of M.Bison (I know it’s far from the highlight of his career but, look, I grew up with Street Fighter, I can’t help it) but those eyes are definitely looking pretty convincing to me, if nothing else.

And I’ve included this still of Sebastian Stan in the right because, during a conversation between me, @krinsbez and @jcogginsa about who could be a good fit for Dracula, jcog suggested Sebastian Stan, partially because he’s Romanian, and I’ve learned recently that Stan was actually interested in playing the character in Blumhouse’s upcoming remake. And you’d think I’d hate this idea considering how much I don’t care for tragic anti-hero Draculas, but who says that’s what he’d have to play?

Do you have any idea how much actors, who are traditionally known for heroic or supporting roles, usually LOVE it when you give them a chance to cut loose as the main villain?

I’d want Sebastian Stan to put all of his charm, all of his talent, all of his good looks and etc, into playing the absolute most vicious, bloodthirsty and irredeemable Dracula put on screen. Someone who is exceedingly, eerily good at being a lovable protagonist, who’s all smiles and charming eyes and politeness mannerisms and maybe even a funny accent, and then it isn't as funny when he's flying through your window intent on kidnapping babies to feed to his brides, except he may take a moment or two to do so because he's feeling pretty hungry himself right now.

Now, admittedly this is kind of a lot to juggle in regards to a single character, which is why my answer for questions like these inevitably has to be “depends on what I’m going for”. That being said, if I was going to try and cast someone who I think could both look the part of Dracula, as well as respectively, play “cartoon aristocrat” Dracula, “mercurial embodiment of evil” Dracula, as well as realistically be an attractive, even seductive performer who can charm viewers even as the character descends into horrible villainy, and juggle these performances even?

I think I’d have to go with Mads Mikkelsen. Not specifically because of Hannibal (I actually haven’t watched it yet), although it’s definitely a factor, the thing that actually made me pick him specifically is, other than his looks, his voice, his reputation for playing sinister characters, the fact that he loves the role and wants to play it, or how many people are deeply in love with this man, or that people already joke that he looks like a vampire, was watching him in Another Round, and specifically that glorious final scene where he’s just dancing to his heart’s content and just, moving with such spring in his step and such joyful vitality even though he’s past his mid-fifties, and that was the moment where, in regards to how much you all love this man, I went

And now I am going to add “casting Mads Mikkelsen as a dancing Dracula” to The List of Reasons Why I Became a Filmmaker.

#replies tag #dracula #horror tag #bram stoker #charles dance #sebastian stan #mads mikkelsen #castlevania #raul julia #wwdits #what we do in the shadows #vladislav #nandor

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thedeadhandofseldon · 3 years

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The Anti-Mercer Effect

On the Accessibility of D&D, Why Unprepared Casters is so Fun, and Why Haley Whipjack is possibly the greatest DM of our generation.

(Apologies to my mutuals who aren’t in this fandom for the length of this, but as you all know I have never in my life shut up about anything so… we’ll call it even for the number of posts about Destiel I see every day.

To fellow UC fans - I haven’t listened to arc 4 yet, I started drafting this in early August, and I promise I will write a nice post about how great Gus the Bard is once I get the chance to listen to more of his DMing).

Structure - Or, “This is not the finale, there will be more podding cast”

So, first of all, let’s just talk about how Unprepared Casters works. Because it’s kind of unusual! Most of the other big-name D&D podcasts favor this long, grand arcs; UC has about 10 hours of podcast per each arc. And that’s a major strength in a lot of ways: it makes it really accessible to new listeners, because you can just start with the current arc and understand what’s going on!

And by starting new arcs every six or seven episodes, they can explore lots of ways to play D&D! Classic dungeon delve arc! Heist arc! Epic heroes save the world arc! Sportsball arc! They can touch on all sorts of things!

And while I’m talking about that: Dragons in Dungeons, the first arc, makes it incredibly accessible as a show - because it lets the unfamiliar listener get a sense of what D&D actually is. (It’s about telling stories and making your friends feel heroic and laugh and cry, for the record). If I had to pick a way to introduce someone to the game without actually playing it with them, that arc would definitely be it.

And I’d be remise not to note one very important thing: Haley Whipjack and Gus the Bard are just very funny, very charismatic people. Look. Episode 0s tend to be about 50%(?) those two just talking to each other about their own podcast. It shouldn’t work. And yet it DOES, its one of my favorite parts, because Haley and Gus are just cool.

And a side note that doesn’t fit anywhere else: I throw my soul at him! I throw a scone at him - that’s it, that’s the vibe. The whole podcast alternates between laughing with your friends and brooding alone in a dark tavern corner - but the laughs never forced and the dark corner is never too dark for too long.

Whipjack the Great - Or, the DM is Also a Player!

I think Haley Whipjack is one of the greatest Dungeon Masters alive. The plots and characters! The mechanical shenanigans! The descriptions!

Actually, let’s start there: with the descriptions. (Both Haley and Gus do this really fucking well). As we know, Episode 0 of each arc sees the DM reading a description - of a small town, or the Up North, or the recent history of a great party. And Haley always strikes this tricky balance - one I think a lot of us who DM struggle with - between giving too much description and worldbuilding, and not telling us anything at all. She describes people and events in just enough detail to imagine them, but never so much they seem static and unreal - just clear enough to envision, but with enough vagueness left to let your imagination begin to run wild.

While I’m thinking about arc 3’s party, let’s talk about a really bold move she made in that arc: letting the players have ongoing control of their history. Loser Lars! She didn’t try to spell out every detail of this high-level party’s history, or restrict their past to only what she decided to allow - she gave them the broad outlines, and let them embellish it. And that made for a much more alive story than any attempt to create it by herself would have - but I think it takes a lot of courage to let your players have that agency. Most Dungeon Masters (myself included) tend to struggle with being control freaks.

And the plots! Yeah, arc one is built of classic tropes - but she actually uses them, she doesn’t get caught up in subverting everything or laughing at the cliches. And it’s fun! In arc 3, there really isn’t a straight line for the players to follow, either - which makes the game much more interesting and much trickier to run. And her NPCs are fantastic and I will talk about them in the next section.

Above all, though, I think what is really impressive is how Haley balances mechanics, and rules as written, with the narrative and rule of cool - and puts both rules and story in the service of playing a fun game. And the secret to that? She’s the DM, but the DM is a player, and the DM is clearly having fun. Hope Lovejoy mechanically shouldn’t get that spellslot back, but she does, and it’s fun. The changeling merchant in Thymore doesn’t really make some Grand Artistic Narrative better, but wow is it fun. And she never tries to force it one way or the other - the story might be more dramatic if Annie didn’t manage to banish the demon from the vault, but it’s a lot cooler and a lot more fun for the players if Annie gets to be a badass instead - and the rules and the dice say that Annie managed it.

Settings feel like places, NPCs feel like people, and the narrative plot feels like a real villainous plot.

Anyway. I could go on about the various ways in which Whipjack is awesome for quite a while - she’s right, first place in D&D is when your friends laugh and super first place is when they cry - but I’m going to stop here and just. Make another post about it some other time. For now, for the record I hold her opinions about the game in higher esteem than I do several official sourcebooks; that is all.

Characters - Or, Bombyx Mori Is Not an Asshole, And That Matters

Okay, I said I would talk about characters! And I will!

Just a general place to start: the party! All of the first three parties are interesting to me, because they all care about each other. Not even necessarily in a Found Family Trope sort of way, though often that too. But they generally aren’t assholes to each other. The players create characters that actually work together, that are interesting; even when there’s internal divisions like SK-73 v. Sir Mr. Person, they aren’t just unpleasant and antagonistic all the time. Listening to the podcast, we’re “with” these people for a couple hours - and it isn’t unpleasant. That matters a lot. (To take a counter-example: I love Critical Role, but the episode when Vox Machina pranked Scanlan after he died and was resurrected wasn’t fun to listen to, it was just uncomfortable and angering and vaguely cruel).

All of the PCs are amazing, and the players in each arc did a great job. If you disagree with me about that, well, you have the right to be incorrect and I am sorry for your loss. Annie Wintersummer, for one example: tragic and sad and I want to give her a hug, but also Fuck Yeah Wintersummer, and also her familiar Charles the Owl is the cutest and funniest and I love him. And we understand what’s going on with Annie, she isn’t some infinite pool of hidden depths because this arc is 7 episodes and we don’t have time for that, but she also has enough complexity to be interesting. Same with Fey Moss: yeah, a lot of her is a silly pun about fame that carries into how she behaves, but a lot of how she behaves is also down to some good classic half-elven angst about parenthood and wanting to be known and seen and important. (Side note: if your half-elf character doesn’t have angst, well, that’s impressive and also I don’t think I believe you).

There are multiple lesbian cat-people in a 4-person party and they both have requited romantic interests who aren’t each other. This is the future liberals want and I am glad for it.

Sir Mister Person, the human fighter! Thavius, the edge lord! Even when a character is “simple,” they’re interesting, because of how they’re played as people and not action-figures. And that matters a lot.

In the same way: the NPCs. There really aren’t a lot of them! And some of them come from Patreon submissions, so uh good work gang, you’re part of the awesomeness and I’m proud of you! The point being, the NPCs work because enough of them are interesting to matter. It’s not just a servant who opens Count Michael’s door, it’s a character with a name (Oleandra!) and a personality and history. They’re interesting. Penny Lovejoy didn’t need to be interesting, the merchant outside the Laughing Mausoleum didn’t need to be interesting, but they ARE! And Haley and Gus EXCEL at making the NPCs matter, not just to the story but to us as viewers. I agree with Sir Mister Person, actually, I would die for the princesses of the kingdom. I actually care about Gem Lovejoy of all people - that wouldn’t happen in an ordinary campaign! That’s the thing that makes Unprepared Casters spectacular - and, frankly, it’s especially impressive because D&D does not tend to be good at making a lot of interesting compared to a lot of other sorts of stories.

And, just as an exemplar of all this: Bombyx Mori. Immortal, reincarnating(?), and described as the incarnation of the player’s ADHD. I expected to hate Bombyx, because as the mom friend both in and out of my friend-group’s campaigns, the chaos-causer is always exhausting to me. And yeah, Bombyx causes problems on purpose! But! She is not an asshole.

And that’s important. Bombyx goes and sits with the queen and comforts her. Bombyx gives Annie emotional support. Bombyx isn’t just a vehicle to jerk around the DM and other players; Bombyx really is a character we can care about. To compare with another case - in the first couple episodes of The Adventure Zone, the PCs are just dicks. Funny, but dicks. Bombyx holds out an arm “covered in larva” to shake with a count, and robs him of magical items, but she also cares about her friends and other people! She uses a powerful magical gem to save her fertilizer guy from death! Yeah, Bombyx is ridiculous, but she’s not just an asshole the party has to keep around for plot reasons; you can see why her party would keep her around. And one layer of meta up, she’s the perfect example of how to make a chaotic character like that while still being fun for everyone you’re playing with, which is often not the case. And I love her.

The Anti-Mercer Effect - Or, “I think we proved it can be fun, you can have a good time with your friends. And it doesn’t have to be scary, you can just work with what you know”

The Mercer Effect basically constitutes this: Matthew Mercer, Dungeon Master of Critical Role, is incredible (as are all of his players). They’re all professional story-tellers in a way, remember, and so Critical Role treats D&D like a narrative art-form, and it’s inspiring. Seeing that on Critical Role sets impossible standards - and people go into their own home games imagining that their campaigns will be like Critical Role, and the burden of that expectation tends to fall disproportionately on the DM. And the end result, I think, of the Mercer Effect is that we get discouraged or intimidated, because our game isn’t “as good as” theirs. (And I should note - Matt certainly doesn’t want that to be our reaction).

So the Anti-Mercer Effect is two things: it’s D&D treated like a game, and it’s inspiring but not intimidating. And Unprepared Casters manages both of those really freaking well. Because they play it like a game! A UC arc looks just like a good campaign in anyone’s home game. They have the vibes of 20-somethings and college students playing D&D for fun because that’s who they are (as a 20-something college student who plays a lot of D&D, watching it felt like watching my friends play an especially good campaign). They’re trying to tell a good story, sure, and they always do. But first and foremost, they’re trying to have fun, and it shows, and I love the UC cast for it.

And that’s the other half of it: it’s inspiring! It’s approachable; you can see that Haley and Gus put plenty of work into preparing the game but it also doesn’t make you feel like you need hundreds of pages of worldbuilding to run a game. Sometimes a cleric makes Haley cry and she gives them back a spell-slot from their deity! That’s fantastic! It’s just inspiring - listening to this over the summer, when my last campaign had fallen apart under the strain of graduation, is why I decided to plan and run my new one!

That quote from Haley Whipjack that I used as the title for this section? That’s the whole core of this idea, and really, I think, the core of the podcast.

The Mercer Effect is when you go “that’s really cool, I could never do that.” But Unprepared Casters makes you look at D&D and go “wow, that looks really fun. I bet I can do that!” And I love the show for it.

And I bet a lot of you do too.

#unprepared casters #bombyx mori #haley whipjack #long post #this is really rough but I don't have time to keep working on it and it's already a month later than intended

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thetypologymodel-archived · 3 years

Note

Hey! Could you please type the characters of the secret history? Thank you.

oh, well. why not. most of this is pure speculation. i've never had such a hard time typing characters. is it richard or is it me? we're going in decreasing order of how sure i am of their type.

(spoliers)

richard papen—infp//4w3 rat. he's deeply introspective, deeply pretentious. a romantic. melancholic. grossly overestimates is observational skills, when, in fact, he doesn't know shit most of the time. on the rare occasion that he does—like when he finally realizes henry and the others killed a man—it's pure ne reasoning. he's intuitively connecting the dots.

it's like 600 pages of what he feels, how he feels. richard wouldn't know objectivity if it slapped him in the face. also, he has poor organizational skills—he sucks at his job (but at least he knows it). he chooses valiantly freeze to death, just because he doesn't want to call his friends—or anyone—to help him out.

bunny corcoran — esfp//8w7 bunny has no tact, no cunning, no idea what to do with all the information he has. instead, he just uses them childishly to get reactions out of the others and blackmail them into throwing money at him. he's a battering ram. he successfully bullies everyone in doing what he wants, even before he knew they killed a man. he knows exactly how to hurt them, how to bulldoze them to get what he wants. he's so straight-forward in his demands. it's all about his short-term amusement. period.

henry winter—intx//5w4 henry is—difficult. he seems undoubtedly like an intj. but. it's his relationship with bunny. and it's confusing. bunny is a bully and henry—just gives him what he wants. this is their dynamic. bunny makes demands, henry relents. and it's important to note this is before bunny finds out about the bacchanal. his passivity screams inferior fe stumbling around people not knowing what to do so just doing what they want. te-fi users usually have a better grasp on how to deal with things like this; they're blunt, almost brutal at times, because of te's rational ruthlessness. they would never be this complacent, especially when it comes to things like money. it poses a larger question: does henry even have te? henry refused to take the SATs because they made no logical sense to him. he was a high-school drop-out with no prospects until julian took him in. but what's striking is, he doesn't give a shit. all he wants to do is study the classics. even when he decides to kill bunny, he first comes up with this insanely elaborate plan of poisoning him that's infeasible. and it takes an inferior te user like richard to tell it would never work. and that, along with everything else screams intp. henry doesn't know people went on the moon because it doesn't fit into his logical framework of how the world works. it's not a set of symbolic ideals like ni-doms, it's a rigid structure of being based on the greeks and romans. he throws a bacchanal because that's what people did back then, so why shouldn't they?

but none of this is really convincing enough to provide a definite typing. most of it could—no, is— enneagram influence, so it's hard to differentiate. if someone wants to present an analysis for him, please do.

julian morrow—enfj julian wants to impact the way his students think with his high-minded ideals. he's charming, charismatic, god-like, and they worship him for it. he speaks in abstract, pretentious sayings. he's poetic, eloquent, and insightful. all the time. literally, all the time.

even the people who don't like him—the college authorities—begrudgingly respect him, but more importantly, have no control over him. julian's always unfailingly polite, personable, and always has a gentle touch when dealing with people. he's so courteous as he dismisses richard when he seeks him out.

charles maculay he's definitely an fe user. could be an fe dom. henry leaves him in charge of dealing with the police, presumably because he's the most persuasive and convincing of them all. and, well, they didn't go to prison. so, clearly he was successful.

francis abernathy everyone likes to type him as infp, but isfp seems much more likely.

camilla maculay camilla is not even a person. she solely exists as a romanticized ideal of a person. but all things considered, she could be an isfp.

#mbti #myers briggs #cognitive functions #the secret history #tsh #donna tartt #enneagram #enneagram 8 #enneagram 5 #enneagram 4 #4w3 #5w4 #8w7 #mbti: the secret history #mbti: infp #mbti: esfp #ask

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deja-you · 4 years

Text

times new roman | episode four

t. jefferson x reader

summary: Y/n needs a date. Thomas would be more than happy to oblige.

trailer | previous | next

Groaning, Y/n slapped her phone onto the kitchen counter face down. She was in no mood to deal with Charles, Jefferson, or anyone else who felt the need to reply to her I-want-a-boyfriend Twitter ad. It was a joke. Mostly. Unless one of the Hollywood Chrises wanted to message her. Then it was real. But neither Hemsworth or Pine had found their way into her DMs, so it was just a joke.

The handle on the apartment door jiggled and Y/n edged closer to the wooden block where the knives were kept (this was New York, you could never be too careful). She quietly released a sigh of relief when the door opened and it was just Peggy rushing in to their shared apartment. Peggy looked like she had ran all the way back: her curly hair was in a mess of a ponytail, her makeup looked a little sweaty, and she was slightly out of breath.

“Alright. Y/n, tell me everything.”

Y/n was a little taken aback by Peggy’s urgency. “Whoa, there. You haven’t even set down your purse yet. This addiction to gossip is getting a little out of hand.”

Peggy only rolled her eyes. “I didn’t run all this way to hear you lecture me, Y/n. Just tell me what’s going on with you and Daddy Jefferson.”

If Y/n had been drinking something at that moment, she would’ve had a spit-take.

“What did you just say?!”

“You heard me.”

Y/n made a face. “Please never ever say that again.”

“I’m just teasin’. That is, unless you’re into that kind of thing. Jefferson is older, isn’t he?” Peggy pointed out.

“Margarita Schuyler, I swear--”

“But I guess you’ve always had a good relationship with your dad, and daddy kinks are usually reserved for girls with daddy issues, right?” She continued.

“I don’t think it works quite like that.”

Peggy rolled her eyes. “I’m getting off-topic, aren’t I? Anyway, tell me everything that’s happened between you and Jefferson.”

“There’s not much to tell.” Y/n shrugged.

“Not much to tell, other than the extremely flirtatious tweets you two have been exchanging?”

“I wouldn’t call it extremely flirtatious. Look, we’ve just been messaging back and forth since I tweeted about wanting a boyfriend -- which was a joke, by the way. I ran into him at dad’s office earlier, but nothing happened.”

“You ran into him today?” Peggy nearly squealed in excitement. “I wouldn’t call that nothing. So how did it happen? Did your eyes meet across a crowded room like in some cheesy Hallmark movie?”

“No. Charles was bothering me, so he let me hang out in his office until dad had finished up a meeting.”

“And?”

Y/n narrowed her eyes. “And what?”

“Well did anything happen?”

“Nothing happened.”

“So you’re telling me,” Peggy said, “that you exchange flirty tweets and then end up alone in an office with Mr. I’m-hotter-than-than-the-sun Jefferson, and nothing happened?”

Y/n couldn’t help but laugh at Peggy’s dramatics. “Nothing happened, Pegs. Sorry to disappoint.”

“I am disappointed. But it’s okay. You’ll see Jefferson at the company gala again. The two of you will fall in love, get married, have the most adorable children, and I’ll get to be fun aunt Peggy!”

“Whoa, there. Don’t you think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself? We barely know each other,” Y/n protested.

“I don’t know why you’re fighting this. You and Jefferson have chemistry. And besides, if I haven’t mentioned it before, he’s so very attractive.”

“You’ve mentioned it. In fact, you can’t stop mentioning it. Don’t get your hopes up, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Peggy waved her off and apparently ignored her last statement. “Whatever you want to keep telling yourself. Anyway, what do you want for dinner? I’m craving some Thai food.”

“Please remind me why I woke up early on my day-off to go get coffee with you?”

Peggy rolled her eyes and held open the door to her favorite coffee shop, it had been a couple days since Y/n’s run in with Jefferson. “Y/n, babe, every day is your day-off when you’re the heiress to George Washington’s fortune. You don’t even need to work a day in your life.”

“But I’m going to work because I want to. I didn’t go through four years of college just to live off my family fortune,” Y/n grumbled, but any prior grumpiness seemed to melt away when the smell of freshly poured coffee beans hit her nose.

“Oh right, forgot you actually want to make the world a better place or whatever,” Peggy rolled her eyes and proceeded to order two coffees at the counter.

“Is trying to make the world a better place a bad thing, now?”

Peggy glanced at Y/n and considered it for a second. “No, I suppose not. A little cliché and unoriginal, but I wouldn’t consider it a bad thing.”

“Whatever. Find us a seat, okay? I’ll grab our drinks when they’re ready.”

Y/n waited in the corner of the cafe between the wall and the counter, absentmindedly tapping her foot along to the beat of some catchy Jack Johnson song that Y/n was 90% sure was featured in a Curious George film. The drinks were ready before the song ended, and Y/n offered the barista a quiet ‘thank you’ as she took the cups over to where Peggy had found seats.

The coffee was still hot and would’ve surely burned Y/n if she had spilled it on herself, which she nearly did when she saw who was sitting across from Peggy.

Peggy sat with her ankles crossed and a grin on her face while she casually carried on a conversation with the one and only Thomas Jefferson. He wore a more casual outfit today, dark pants, a tucked white shirt (which of course, fit him perfectly), and a black coat that looked like it costed more than two months of Y/n’s rent -- and that was saying something, seeing as Y/n lived in New York City.

Neither Jefferson nor Peggy had noticed her approach them, and for a second Y/n considered bolting out the cafe door and finding somewhere to hide. But Y/n Washington was an adult, running away from her problems wasn’t a solution. Right?

“Oh, good. I was about to come find you,” Peggy said, acknowledging Y/n’s presence.

Y/n silently cursed her indecision and forced a polite smile onto her face. “Here’s your coffee, Pegs. I wasn’t aware we were meeting Mr. Jefferson here.”

Thomas had a smug smile on his face that gave Y/n a strange feeling in her gut (it wasn’t butterflies, Y/n refused to believe it was butterflies), and raised one of his eyebrows. “Aw, angel, you don’t sound too happy to see me.”

“It’s just that I didn’t realize you’d added ‘stalking your boss’s daughter’ to your list of hobbies,” Y/n shrugged, regaining her composure.

Thomas chuckled a little and shook his head. “What? I’m not allowed to stop in to my favorite coffee shop now?”

And as if to prove his point, Thomas sent a charming grin and a wave to the barista working at the counter. She grinned, a little too wide for Y/n’s liking, and happily waved back. Y/n rolled her eyes.

“Relax, Y/n,” Peggy urged. “I invited Thomas to come sit with us. We were just talking about what a small world it is.”

“Too small for my liking.” Y/n eyed Thomas warily and finally took the vacant seat between Peggy and Thomas. She glanced at Peggy, processing what her friend had just said. “Since when do you call him Thomas?”

“Most people call me Thomas, angel. You’re the only one who insists on callin’ me Mr. Jefferson. Even after I gave you other options.” Thomas sent Y/n a playful wink.

Peggy lifted her coffee to her lips to hide the smile she wore watching the scene unfold. Y/n opened her mouth to say something, then abruptly closed her mouth. She could feel her face heating up, and hopefully Thomas couldn’t tell how flustered he made her, but the wolfish grin on his face told her otherwise.

Thomas watched her for a moment, then let his gaze fall on Peggy. “Of course, I can leave now if y’all want. I don’t mind.”

Peggy was urgently shaking her head before Y/n could say anything. “No, no, stay! Y/n doesn’t mind.”

Y/n sent Peggy a look that very clearly read ‘yes, I do mind.’

“That’s swell,” Jefferson grinned.

“Who even uses the word ‘swell’ anymore?” Y/n crossed her arms.

“Y/n! Don’t be--”

Peggy was interrupted when her phone began buzzing on the table. She apologized briefly to both Jefferson and Y/n before stepping outside to take the call. Now it was just Y/n and Jefferson sitting at a table together in a cafe.

“So,” Y/n started after a minute or two of silence. “Nice weather we’re having.” She cringed at how awkward she sounded, but Jefferson seemed to find her amusing.

“Nice weather? Angel, have you even been outside today? It’s freezing.”

She scowled. “I was just trying to make polite conversation, okay?”

“You’re not very good at that, are you?” He chuckled. “You sure you’re George Washington’s daughter? You weren’t adopted or anything?”

“No, he didn’t adopt me. I guess the charismatic genes weren’t passed on,” Y/n sighed.

“Y/n, Thomas.” Peggy had returned from her phone call and started picking up her purse and jacket. “I’m so sorry, but a friend called. I have to go. But you two should stay as long as you like.” She sent a wink in Y/n’s direction that Thomas almost definitely saw.

And so Peggy left, leaving Y/n with her archenemy. Well, maybe archenemy was too strong. But still. Y/n sighed and took a long sip of her drink.

“You’re not leavin’?”

Y/n’s eyes met Thomas’s deep brown ones over the top of her cup. “Did you want me to leave?”

“No, no. ‘Course not. I just thought once Peggy left you wouldn’t stay long after,” Thomas explained.

She only shrugged. “I’ve got nothing better to do today.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying my company, then.”

“Hey, I never said I was enjoying your company. Merely putting up with you.”

“Is that it?”

“That’s it,” she nodded. Thomas glanced down at his watch and Y/n raised an eyebrow. “Do you have somewhere to be?”

“Surprisingly, I have nothing scheduled today.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing,” he confirmed. “And you said you’re not doing anything today?”

Y/n pursed her lips then nodded. “It’s my day off. Getting coffee with Peggy was my big plan for the day.”

“Then do you want to do something with me?”

The question struck her like a bolt of lightning. Y/n didn’t have any plans for the day, and she was looking for something fun to do... but this was Thomas Jefferson. The Thomas Jefferson who worked for her father and who was shamelessly arrogant. The Thomas Jefferson who she had mentally called her archenemy only moments ago. So she should’ve just said no. But then there was some part of her that did want to do something with him.

“Do I want to do something with you?” Y/n repeated, cocking her head to the side. “Like a date?”

His eyes widened and he slowly shook his head. “No. No, not like a date. Just two people doing the same thing at the same time. Not a date.”

“What activity were you thinking?” Y/n couldn’t believe she was considering this.

“Let’s go to Coney Island.”

“Coney Island?” She laughed but when he didn’t join her, her expression turned serious. “You’re not joking, are you? We can’t just go to Coney Island. You said it yourself, it’s cold out.”

“So bring a coat. C’mon, angel, I know you’re not the type, but it could be fun. Be spontaneous, just this once.” His smile was all too comfortable and his eyes twinkled with mischief.

“I’m not the type?” Y/n tried not to show how offended she was, but failed miserably. Is that really what he thought of her? That she was some kind of boring prude? Oh, how wrong was he. “Y’know what? Okay. Let’s go.”

Thomas perked up. “Did I hear you right? You really want to go?”

“You’re that surprised? Let’s go before I change my mind, Jefferson. But it’s not a date.”

He smiled. “It’s not a date.”

A/N: let me know if I forgot to add you to the tags or if you want to be added

tags: @fangirling-central @dannighost @ateliefloresdaprimavera @justahappylilblog @fanfic-addict-98 @a-hopeless-fan @and-claudia @nicolemelton @youtxbemusic @reidcult @eirenism @fantasy-of-fiction @iamsuperconfusedallthetime-dead @a-midwinter-night-dream-86 @rycbar-221b @bethanymccauley

#hamilton x reader #hamilton #hamilton imagine #lafayette x reader #hamilton fanfiction #lafayette imagine #daveed diggs #marquis de lafayette #daveed diggs x reader #thomas jefferson x reader #thomasjefferson #thomas jefferson #TNR

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bubbleweirdo · 3 years

Text

Alegría

Chapter: 5/?

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Summary: A wild night for Joy.

Words: 2.917

Main relationship: Javier Escuella/OC

Other relationships: Charles Smith/OC, Arthur Morgan/OC

Characters: Van der Linde gang

Author's note: Hi, I'm back... For now, at least lmao

While trying to write chapter 6 I realized I never posted chapter 5 and that... maybe... it was time to do it................. Anyways, hope y'all find it enjoyable!

The same day she and Javier returned from the stage robbery, Dutch arrived at night with a boy riding behind him. Joy was on duty when The Count appeared with the two men on top of him. After greeting her, Dutch took him to the entrance of the camp, where they both dismounted. She followed them with her eyes curiously, but immediately focused back on her task. However she could hear from where she was how Dutch presented him to the others: Leonard Summers -“But you can call me Lenny!”-.

The next day after lunch, Dutch called her to his tent, where the newcomer was too.

“Miss Joy, would you be so kind as to take Mr. Summers into town? And by the way help him choose a good mount, I know you have an eye for it.” He asked with a charismatic smile.

“Sure, why not?” She replied looking at the guy. “Let’s go?”

“Uh, sure, let’s go.” He said with a kind smile.

Joy walked over to where the horses were grazing looking for Berry, who was rubbing her head against the body of Old Belle, Karen's mare. Before guiding her to the beginning of the road, she walked over to the Nokota and patted her on the neck. Once there she mounted and held out her hand to Lenny, which helped him up.

They trotted through the grove that led to the main road and headed for the town.

“And what has Dutch seen in you, Mr. Summers?”

“He saw me running away from bounty hunters and helped me avoid them. After that we talked, and well, here I am I guess.”

“Sounds like Dutch.” She chuckled.

“I’m very grateful. Since I was fifteen I’ve been alone, running from one place to another.”

“How old are you now?”

“Eighteen.”

Joy turned her head and looked at him, incredulous. It had seemed to her that he was at least twenty, like Sean or Mary-Beth.

“What?! That young?! I thought you were older.”

Lenny laughed out loud.

“That flatters me.”

“Now I feel like I'm babysitting.” She said playfully.

“That’s rude Miss Joy!” She burst out laughing and kept teasing him along the way. He was complaining but seemed to be having fun too. They arrived at the town stable and asked the stable keeper to show them his horses for sale. After taking a look at each one, Joy selected two: a grey Kentucky Saddler and a palomino Mustang.

“These babies are in great shape and look pretty sweet.” She said, stroking the face of the first. “I think you could use a horse like that, affable.”

He watched them both thoughtfully.

“I think I will keep this one.” He decided, pointing to the Mustang. The man nodded and while he went to look for the mare's documents his assistant began to prepare her to saddle and bridle her. When he returned, she was ready and Joy paid the corresponding amount while Lenny kept the papers.

“What are you gonna call her?” She asked once they were out.

“Maggie, I think.”

“Suits her. As sweet as her.” She smiled.

“Will you accompany me to the general store? I want to buy chewing tobacco. Then we can have a drink. He said walking towards the establishment.

“Okay!” The two of them entered the store and while Lenny picked up the box, Joy peered through the products. A fishing rod caught her attention. It looked consistent and was definitely in a better condition than the one Tommy used. He didn't complain about it but many times when she accompanied him to fish she could see how the reel wasn’t working exactly as it should. She remembered that it would be his birthday soon, maybe she could give him one. She had enough money to afford some of the more expensive ones but she didn't have much idea of which one would fit her brother better so she decided that she would ask Javier to accompany her when she went to buy it, he had more idea about that.

Lenny paid and they both headed for the saloon. There were quite a few people and a man played a happy tune on the piano. They ordered their drinks and sat at a table to talk.

“So you like horses?” He asked her, drinking from his glass.

“Yeah. My family used to have quite a few, we would sell them at Valentine's and Strawberry's stables, but when my parents passed away I couldn't deal with so many anymore so we just kept Berry. What do you like?”

“Reading, I guess. A lot of things can be learned.” Joy rested her chin on her hand.

“I envy you. I know how to read but it’s so boring…”

“That's because you haven't found one that you like.”

“Maybe. My mother started buying me romance novels when I was twelve and let me tell you, they were tedious. At first they were fine but when I grew up I realized that they were just absurd fantasies.”

“I heard they’re quite corny.” He commented.

“They are.” She huffed. “I suppose I am resentful because they put an idea in your head about what love is that in the end doesn’t match reality...” She took a drink from her whiskey.

“Hadn’t thought of that. Not that I have read any.” Lenny said with a shrug.

They continued talking for another couple of hours, they had gotten along well. Then Joy realized that a girl who was leaning against the wall behind Lenny kept looking at him. She was young, perhaps of his age, and had her brown hair half tied. It was clear from her gaze that she wasn’t exclusively interested in the money she could get out of him. She probably hadn't tried anything because Joy was there. She leaned across the table to whisper to him.

“Pssst. Pretty girl interested in you behind you.” He looked at her confused.

“What?”

“Good luck.” She rose from her seat and raised her voice enough that the girl could hear her well. “Sorry boy, I'm not interested in you, you're too young for me.” She sighed theatrically and walked away to the bar under the stunned gaze of her new friend. Out of the corner of her eye she could see how the girl sat in the seat that she had just left and began to talk to Lenny. He was nervous but she seemed to like that. After a while they both got up and went upstairs. Joy smiled to herself.

A man stood beside her at the bar. He was tall, because of how his clothes adapted to his body, he didn't seem very muscular, but neither was he untrained. His short black hair was slicked back but some strands fell on his forehead.

“Hello Miss.” He greeted her, fixing his green eyes on hers. Joy raised an eyebrow, amused. He was handsome.

“Hello Mister.”

“Can I invite you to a drink?”

“Sure. A whiskey for both of us.” She asked the waiter.

“I see that you have good taste.”

“So it seems.” She said raising the glass to her mouth without breaking eye contact.

“What would you say if after this you and I go somewhere else?” He asked doing the same. Joy almost choked on the question. Trying not to laugh, she replied.

“You are very direct, aren’t you?”

“I don't have time for games.” He said winking at her and shortening the space between them.

Normally going so fast would have been a reason to reject him, but it had been a long time since she had relationships and honestly? That man was very attractive. She drained the glass in one gulp and set it on the bar.

“Alright.” She agreed, walking out the back door of the saloon. There was nobody there. She turned to look at the man but he put her against the wall and kissed her passionately. She gasped when their tongues began to play with each other. He continued to kiss her neck, as he unbuttoned the buttons of her shirt and lifted the chemise, revealing her freckled breasts. He grabbed one eagerly and twisted her nipple, causing a moan in her. He pulled down her pants and bloomers and brought his mouth to her crotch. Joy sighed, anticipating the contact, but what she felt was... discomfort. The stranger used his tongue at full speed at her entrance, causing more discomfort than pleasure. She cursed in her mind, she had to stop him but she didn't want the meeting to end.

“Didn't you say you didn't have time for games? Fuck me!” She said between mock gasps.

“How rude. What do you say?” he replied, continuing whatever he was doing down there.

“Please! Please…!” -Please stop.-

“Well then…” He got up, quickly pulled down his pants, lifted Joy by the legs, and inserted his member into her. She welcomed him willingly, clutching at his shoulders as he rammed her faster and faster. The man, between grunts, pulled out to come. When he caught his breath, he lowered her to the ground and began putting on his clothes.

Joy followed suit, somewhat disappointed but not entirely dissatisfied. She wished she had an orgasm, but she had missed the feeling of being full of someone and had enjoyed it.

“It was good.” He commented.

“Yeah. Lucky that no one was here.” He smiled.

“Well, I’m leaving. Miss…” He said goodbye with two fingers to his forehead. She replied the same, amused and went back inside the establishment.

After an hour chatting with the bartender, she checked that Lenny was still with the girl -she asked her coworkers and also put her ear to the door of the room they were in to make sure- and decided that she wasn’t going to wait any longer for him, who knew when they would finish. Before riding Berry and heading back to camp, she stroked Maggie's neck. She couldn't help it, if she had a horse nearby she needed to pet them.

When she arrived Javier was on duty.

“Who’s there?”

“The joy of the house.” She answered dismounting.

“How come you are so late? And hadn't you go out with the newbie?”

“Oh, don’t worry, we went drinking and then we parted to have our own fun. And it seems he was having a greeeeeeat time.” She giggled and winked at him. Javier cleared his throat, uncomfortable. Weird. Normally he would joke back. Maybe he didn't like Lenny? “Anyway I was wondering if these days you could come with me to choose a fishing rod for Tommy, his birthday will be soon.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thank you!”

Once at camp Joy changed her clothes, putting on her nightgown and loosening her two braids to collect her hair back into one only. Going to her bedroll, she noticed that her brother was still awake.

“How come you're not asleep yet?” She asked lying down facing him.

“I was worried you weren't coming back.” Joy smiled bitterly.

“I'm sorry I worried you.”

“I know you can defend yourself but... I'm afraid something like what happened at home will happen again.” Tommy confessed, his eyes watered.

“Oh, Tommy, my boy…” She kissed his face and when she pulled away she started stroking his hair. “I love you, you know that, right?” He nodded.

“Me too.” Joy smiled.

“How about I sing you a lullaby to sleep?” He nodded again. She cleared her throat and started:

“Hush, little baby, don't say a word,

Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

And if that mockingbird don't sing,

Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

And if that diamond ring turns brass,

Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass.

And if that looking glass gets broke,

Mama's gonna buy you a billy goat,

And if that billy goat get cross,

Mama's gonna buy you a rocking horse.

And if that rocking horse turns over,

Mama's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.

And if that dog named Rover won't bark,

Mama's gonna buy you a horse and a cart.

And if that horse and cart fall down,

You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town…”

And they both fell asleep.

Four days had passed and on the last one it had rained. Far from being uncomfortable, Joy had appreciated it. It was a hot summer and as soon as the first drops hit the ground they were very well received. The next day had stopped raining, but the smell of damp earth was still there, the ground covered in puddles. That's where the game started for her. After finishing all her tasks Joy looked for Tommy. He was behind the camp with Jack, drawing strokes on the ground with a stick.

She sneaked up from behind making a silent gesture to Strauss, who was sitting on a log doing the math and could see Joy's intentions perfectly. He only looked at her for a moment with a polite smile and turned his attention back to his work, ignoring her.

When she was close enough she flexed her knees and jumped into a puddle without any regard, splashing at Tommy and Jack.

“Hey!” the older boy yelled, falling forward in shock. Jack started to laugh and plunged into the puddle, jumping over and over. Tommy pounced on her and they started a fight, splashing and pushing each other.

“Stop! What are you doing?” Abigail exclaimed, hurrying over to them. Tommy stopped dead in his tracks and jumped up, straightening up.

“I’m sorry Miss Roberts.” He apologized, embarrassed. Beside him Jack had stopped jumping.

“Oh, come on Abby, we’re just having fun.” Joy said pouting.

“Y’all are getting dirty and that’s just more work for later!”

“Come on Abby!”

Abigail looked at her impassively. She sighed.

“Okay, help me up.”

As soon as she held out her hand Joy pulled her and dragged her along, staining her with mud.

“Joy Collins, you are…!” She screeched before splashing her. Joy laughed and Abigail followed suit, never stopping her attacks. Realizing that his mother had joined the party, Jack allowed himself to keep jumping and Tommy joined him.

They had made quite a fuss, and an authoritative hawk took them out of the game.

“Miss Collins, Miss Roberts, set an example for your children and clean yourselves immediately! We are a gang of outlaws, not one of savages.”

They both nodded and Grimshaw walked away to speak to Pearson. Abigail tapped Joy on the shoulder in a friendly way and stood up.

“Come on, we have to clean us up.”

They took spare clothes and soap and approached the river, moving away from the camp a little to have privacy. They cleaned themselves thoroughly and helped the children to do it as well. When they were done, the boys ran out to grab a plate of stew.

"Be careful!" Abigail warned them. She turned to Joy. "I must admit that I had a good time."

She smiled.

"That was the plan! We all need a moment of fun sooner or later."

"You’re right. Being a mother is difficult and even more so if there isn't..." She stopped and sighed.

“I understand.” She put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “If you need anything you know I’m here.” Abigail nodded and put her hand over hers before leaving.

“So mud fights, how mature.” Daniela said sarcastically.

“Yes, you should try, it's fun.” Joy replied with a smile, rolling her eyes.

“I pass. I prefer to see them. I liked how you fooled Abigail.”

Joy laughed. She picked up a plate of stew and sat next to her. Laughter drew her attention from the main fire. Javier was telling one of his adventures to Jenny. Since that conversation they had in the cabin, the two of them spent more time together. They had always been close but now they were almost inseparable. Joy supposed that he had decided to turn the page on his love from Mexico and start something with her. She was envious of how well they got along. She also wanted a relationship like that and she had long since given up hope with Mary-Beth, you could tell she only had eyes for men.

She sighed and Daniela giggled.

“What?”

“No, nothing…” She replied with a certain sarcasm. Joy eyed her suspiciously, but decided to let it go.

They continued talking quietly until Javier's voice caught their attention. He was still sitting by the main fire, Jenny was gone and he was singing in spanish.

“What do the lyrics say? Sounds sad.” Joy asked Daniela curiously.

“Oh, it is. He sings it once in a while. Talks about a man who feels betrayed by the woman he loves because she’s in love with another man.”

It wasn't difficult for Joy to understand why he sang that song. It wasn't so easy to get rid of those feelings even though he was now with someone else, she supposed.

“Sometimes I would like to know what his songs say.”

Daniela giggled again.

“Seriously, what's wrong with you?”

“Nothing, nothing... If you want to know what they say, I can teach you spanish.”

“Would you really do that?”

“Uhuh, why not?”

“Because right now you’re the most suspicious person I've ever seen.”

Daniela laughed out loud.

“Calm down bonita, I'm serious.” she held out her hand.

“Mm…” She looked into her eyes before shaking her hand. “Alright…”

“It’s settled then.”

#Javier Escuella/OC #Javier Escuella/Reader #Charles Smith/OC #Arthur Morgan/OC #Javier Escuella x OC #Javier Escuella x Reader #Red Dead Redemption 2 #Fanfic #My writing

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lady-plantagenet · 4 years

Text

What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 1: CamelNOT

[Lively Music Plays]

I shit you not... that’s what it said in the CCs.

Tower of London (?)

*Catherine looks at the array of crowns like a museum curator and the proceeds to strut down the halls*

Wolsey: *gives her this strange look which is a mixture between damn girl and the eagle is my spirit animal.

Then Catherine gets fake detained and taken to Henry in what must be a strange variation of the whole Robin Hood/Maid Marian roleplay they historically engaged in.

... did she just call his erhm manhood his kingship? Well that’s original, I’ll give them that. Also funny how Bessie Blount initially looks on in fright... don’t worry girl that will be you soon.

———————————————————————

*the four ladies have a brunch friendship moment together*

I see Blount is among them... I see they are setting her up as Catherine’s friend in order to play up the whole betrayal.

Alright. Jokes aside, I realised how much I’ve played myself. I was inspired by @melusineloriginale ‘s sporks (which if all this TSP episode posts got you in the mood for PG show mockery I urge you to check out here - you’ll thank me later). In truth, Henry VIII’s early reign is a bit too late from my main area of focus for me to make intelligent jokes.

I’ll content myself with just bullet-pointing random thoughts that came into my head, and if some intelligent thought gets through, well that would be the pinnacle. In any case I’ll aim to not parrot some of the stuff that’s already been said, repetition can get annoying.

This image embodies this post, but maybe not the show. I’ve noticed those Starz productions get better by the end.

First Scenes:

- The recap just reminded me how much I will miss Margaret Beaufort in the coming episodes. I know her portrayal was innacurate but Harriet Walter just made everything better.

- They are making such a big deal out of this whole ‘we were crowned together, we rule together’ thing in this episode - it makes no sense. Catherine was an influential Queen but she was definitely no more than a consort and never saw herself as more.

- Ruairi’s new haircut is pleasing to my eyes.

- When she says ‘Abuelo’ it’s super adorable awww

The Ferdinand and Charles V scene:

- Bessie Blount looks so much like Ursula Pole lmao. Also they totally got the Pole children’s birth order wrong and UGH WHERE IS GEOFFREY POLE???

- I like Mary Tudor’s actress and her facial expressions. However, this whole polyglot image they are representing is innacurate. I am fairly certain she knew no spanish and I recall reading a contemporary account which said that she was not very learned.

- I’m pretty sure it would be considered bad luck to prematurely crown your son ‘Henry IX’ while you’re still alive.

- I actually like the whole Grape motif in this episode. It’s probably the smartest thing they’ve come up with so far for this episode. I know a lot of you will be all like ‘there’s no record of Ferdinand being abusive’ but this choice sort of makes sense when you recall Joanna’s treatment. Also I appreciate them for not being tacky and showing flashbacks of more overt abuse eg physical. The sugared grape is also fairly symbolic (the sugar is like a gilding, the grape easily crushable)

- OMG the guy from Garrow’s law is playing Thomas More!

- AND PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME IM NOT SEEING THINGS? Margaret Pole x Thomas More is happening?? Please god that is a historical crackship I am getting behind. Yes. This is what I’m most invested about.

Margaret Tudor and Scotland Scene:

- The whole ironic cutaway to Margaret being all depressed after Charles Brandon’s statement about her charming Scottish king is such a cliché movie technique.

- If this were a more artsy film I would think the whole setup resembling a stereotypical middle-class family breakfast was done on purpose for humorous effects or to create a link with the past. But here I don’t have as much trust in the producers. I think they just failed to capture the time period accurately.

- The modernisms continue: ‘Negassi please stop playing’ idk, there just something so modern about this for some reason ahaha

- Also again, I’m getting tired of all this ‘Catherine is basically queen herself’, ‘Catherine is a political genius’, ‘Catherine Catherine Catherine’ ugh. I don’t think the producers understand that Henry VIII was a very autocratic and traditional ruler. He didn’t make any show of joint-rulership (correct me if I’m wrong).

- The teeth thing is funny, smart and I liked it.

Back to Westminster:

- I like Ferdinand’s actor!

- Also Catherine’s response to ‘who are you loyal to?’ was not that smart. I feel like the producers wanted us to be impressed. What if Spain and England’s interests conflict, ey??

The Joust:

- I care too much for the whole Margaret Pole plotline. I’m so invested.

- I could watch a series of More and Pole just exchanging lines. I love the actors too and this is my hope for this series. The whole frustrated parents is SO CUTE.

- I didn’t know More tutored Reggie, I would be curious to know more.

- The way compton says groom to queen’s stool is freaking hilarious. He looks like a pervert.

- Henry Pole is a darling and must be protected at all costs.

- Oh Christ oh Christ that eyeball shot was just... good job on the special effects guys. Don’t know what the point of that choice was.

- I found the whole armour mentions after interesting, it looked so set up as a PR campaign because Stafford speaking about the armour just sounded like a statement agreed on beforehand ‘should have worn the same’ and the Catherine with ‘steel in the bones’ and Ferdinand’s impressed face (it was him playing them?)

- Am I giving this show too much credit?

- Also whats up with “God save the Queen?”

War Counsel:

- Henry VIII’s actor is quite charismatic in this scene. It’s almost as if Catherine is the hothead and Henry the wise one that speaks less but more significantly. It almost feels like they gender-swapped them.

The Bedchamber:

- Did Catherine breastfeed the baby? I thought it was Anne Boleyn. Doubtful... I’m tired of the trope of ‘you’re a good woman if you insist on breastfeeding the child yourself despite social conventions’. For a feminist show, the writers seem very attached to some 1950s perceptions of motherhood.

- I feel like the age difference between Catherine and Henry is well conveyed.

Scotland Again:

- ‘All the sheep were pregnant’ 👀 oh touché Margaret. oh my. Did she just?

- I know they are playing out this disenfranchised Margaret arc to reinforce how great Catherine and Henry are (cheap technique) and to build up to her involvement in Flodden (innacurate historically but I know what the show will do). But I will say this: the humour is pretty good in the Scottish scenes! But I know it’s unintentionally so... (I highly doubt they wanted us to laugh at Margaret hitting James or calling Alexander a pig).

Westminster and the baby chamber:

- What’s are those red splotches on the babies face??

- Oh that shot of Margaret and silent Reginald :((( it makes me sad.

- And now the Poles are at church! I just love the look of them.

- That scene of Maggie and Catherine was needed, as we didn’t get the best friends vibe much in this episode. The whole thing looked a bit pagan though, but it was nice :)

The whole Ferdinand’s betrayal segment:

- The grape motif again was fitting, him snapping the fruit right before she gets to it even despite her knowing what he’s like and what he’ll do, was a good parrallel.

- I’m tired of hearing of this ‘Camelot’. Even in the novel, Camelot was Catherine and Arthur’s dream and... can we just live it up with Arthur?

- Ursula Pole’s, Bessie Blount’s and Mary Boleyn’s actresses look way too similar.

- I fail to see why Catherine thinks she’s turning into her father... she doesn’t strike me as much of a game-player or subtle two-facer.

- I’m intrigued what will happen with Oviedo and Lina... I feel like they won’t stay in England long.

- He was made knight bannaret... nice... but why does he thank Catherine publicly for this? It was in Henry’s gift that he was made a commoner Knight.. if this transpired irl Henry would have been gravely insulter.

Catherine’s Dead Baby and thereafter:

- Guys. In all seriousness, I don’t think the TV series is trying to imply that Catherine killed the baby with her negligence. I mean, they are so bent on us liking her they wouldn’t do that. It would be a bit too ballsy anyway. Remember the red splotches I mentioned earlier? Could those have been a sign that he was already ill but no one noticed/was in denial?

- The pebbles in hands would have had more emotional payoff if it had been established earlier if you know what I mean. Basically, this episode is too fast and entire arcs begin and end within it which extinguished any build-up.

- Oh man Henry is so sweet in this, how will they build him up as the tyrant he was historically if they keep this up?

Scotland Again:

- I must admit, I don’t like all those nicknames they keep using. But somehow James calling Margaret ‘Meg’ is nice and seems fitting.

- What’s a hermana sister?

England Last Mourning Scenes:

- YOU DID NOT BUILD CAMELOT ughhh

- Why is Catherine giving the speech and not Henry?? It turns out Catherine was more emotional historically then the whole perception of ‘perfect queen of stone’ to which some people hold her. However, I doubt it would have been proper of her to give a speech in such a emotional manner.

Conclusion:

6.5/10

Some of the dialogue was stilted, the costumes are confused as to which era they’re supposed to be (aesthetically distracting) and many other characterisation issues.

I don’t have high hopes for this series in terms of cinematography or art but I sure as hell expect it will be entertaining. So far, everything is just getting set up and I find some aspects promising. As you can tell I am truly excited over how the Margaret Pole plotline. I am also interested in how Henry will be portrayed, with Catherine being so OTT and pushy this episode Im starting to Stan him more. In this show he appears sensitive and serene and kinda... adorable. Kind of like a little brother hanging onto his sister’s skirts.

But in a way that is a disservice to the real historical figure which would not tolerate such a representation. I am very irritated by this whole ‘joint-rulers’ thing which is just sooo innacurate. These STARZ shows have an obsession with showing women turn into men for the purposes of feminism - I see.

Catherine overpowers Henry too often and it sometimes feels like he’s HER consort. Of course, the feminism in this show is schizophrenic as we get the overemphasis of Catherine as a 1950s motherly ideal with the whole breastfeeding angle (“you’re better than other noble woman who would find this beneath them”, “they’re not as motherly as you”).

So the relationship dynamic between Henry and Catherine is a bit off at the moment, but oh well.

Mary Tudor is a bit distracting with her dark hair but I find the actress extremely endearing and promising. I know there will be emphasis on her storyline too and I hope they’ll not be clichéd with it.

#the spanish princess #the spanish princess 2 #lady plantagenet's series reviews #not my best #but I've been ill for most of the week and wanted to get this out before episode 2 comes tommorow #feel free to send me an ask if you you have anything to say #I'd love to see if anyone else thought some of the same things

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