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heniareth · 3 years

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I was really curious about what your opinions on the DAO companions are :) I know we have talked about some, but I'd love to hear more and about the others as well :D I hope it's ok to pose this as an ask :)

Sure! That sounds like a ton of fun. This might be a long one tho. Mind you, this is not the finished version of the answer. I'd like to link stuff and add a cut, but rn that's not possible. I'll update it when I can.

Edit: I have updated it ^^

Let's go alphabetically bc why not.

Alistair:

Sweet guy. So sweet. There was a moment when I was hard pressed chosing between him and Zevran (alas, Zevran won). Also, he's weirdly tall according to the wiki? How did I not notice that before?

Let's get a bit more serious now, Alistair is a great guy. The only reason he's not the hero of the story is because he doesn't want to. He has all the qualities of a leader: he's good at dealing with conflict (as evident with the conversation with the mage at the beginning. He gets where he wants to get without antagonizing the mage, but without allowing him to trample all over him). He's a solid tactitian and knows how to make allies (he suggests to use the Grey Warden treaties, after all). I bet if he was in the leadership position, he'd even not bicker with Morrigan. His moral code is pretty tight; some might say too tight, but I think it's less about the moral code and more about learning to judge people by their actions, not by the labels they fit into (Morrigan is a proud apostate and therefore bad. Wynne is a humble circle mage and therefore good). He also has a bit of a black-and-white way of seeing the world. I empathize a lot with Alistair, especially with his experience with the Chantry and his subsequent reluctance to deal with it. I really wish I had gotten to know more about concrete experiences he had during his training as templar, but he seems reluctant to talk about it (gee, I wonder why).

Since I've only played the game once, I haven't really picked up on Arl Eamon's abuse towards him, which apparently exists (Isolde, however... I mean, even if he were Eamon's illegitimate son, he's a kid, ma'am, he didn't exactly get to chose his parents. So that's so not okay). Alistair's way of speaking about them both, however, is either sign that he has not come within a hundred miles of acknowledging how much it hurt him, or that he's already gone through the whole process and has decided to forgive them. The latter shows a very strong character; yes, he relies on the approval and leadership of others, he has his issues, but he's already started working on them.

That being said, irl Alistair would be like a little brother to me. I'd tease him relentlessly (all in good fun and I promise to stop if it makes him uncomfortable, but he's just so teasable). I still wish the videogame gave him the chance to take important decisions for himself. But that, of course, would somewhat defeat the point of the game.

Leliana:

Another sweet, sweet person. Her singing voice is amazing. Her belief in the Maker inspires me (I'm a religious person and seeing religious characters represented in a positive light is Very Cool. It's also sometimes a source of discomfort, because the Church has done a lot of very messed up stuff and positive representation can sometimes veer into apologetics for things that should not be excused, but that's a whole other can of worms. The bottom line is that religious characters sometimes work for me and other times don't and Leliana works for me very much bc she's an outsider inside the Chantry).

Leliana is best friend material, tbh. I'd love to get to know her irl, discuss theology and philosophy and maybe even politics? She makes mistakes and has prejudices, but, tbh, so do I. And I do get the feeling that she tries her best to learn. From the times she intervenes in a conversation between the Warden and an NPC, she shows herself to be compassionate and open to the needs of others. What I get from her character is that she genuinely wants to help, which is something that I adore of her. I suspect that she sometimes has a hard time deciding wether she's a good person or not. She has killed and seduced and worked for a morally dubious person, and she doesn't show the same nonchalance about it as Zevran (though they both do discuss their line of work in very... professional terms). This is, however, more of a headcanon than actual factual canon.

I also very much enjoy her girly side, like her interest in shoes and dresses. She's one badass woman who also looses her cool about the latest fashions in Val Royeaux. I like that. Between her and Alistair, a non human noble Warden has as good a help to navigate the Fereldan court as they're going to get. Leliana is also, I can't forget that, clever and insightful. It'd be easy to write her off as the innocent chantry girl, but she's so much more than that. Her kindness is paired with foresight, I think. She knows that taking on the trouble to help now can go a long way in the future. I just have a lot of respect for her.

Loghain:

This one's gonna be short bc I didn't recruit him. He's an amazing villain and would probably be a great Warden as well. He reminds me of Denerhor from LOTR; once a hero/stewart of his people, ambition and desperation have driven them both down a terrible path. I have also only little idea about his past. People say he lost a lot, and I believe it wholeheartedly; it doesn't excuse the fact that he plunged the country into a civil war in the middle of a Blight. I don't have a lot of sympathy for short-sighted politicians. I wish he hadn't made himself regent. That's what I take away from his character.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention that really impressed me was his death. I had Alistair duel him (that was a rough duel), and then it kinda just jumped to a cutscene of my Warden nodding and Alistair executing him. That didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to kill Loghain, and less so in front of Anora. But what impressed me was that Loghain just accepted it. That takes a whole lot of guts. Compare that to Howe's death, and how he screams out that he deserved (more, probably, or anything but death) and it's crystal clear who the more noble of the two is. Loghain strikes me as very lawful neutral, and any neutral alignment has the particularity that it can be dragged towards good or bad, sometimes without the characters noticing it (which is interesting from a DnD perspective; neutral is often concieved of as just as stable as good or evil, but that may not be true. But that's a different post). Anyway, Loghain's death was impactful.

Morrigan:

I could kick myself for not maxing out her approval in the first play-through. I got to enjoy a bit of her friendship by the end of it and boy was even that little bit worth it. Friendship with Morrigan is something that is hard-won. It's all the more precious because of that.

Morrigan is full of paradoxes, I think. She's incredibly wise in some ways, yet also very short-sighted (”just kill them, don't solve their problems”. Morrigan, dear, I'm not going to gain a lot of allies if I kill everybody who poses a problem to me). She is so intelligent, but emotionally... not so. She knows so much about some things, and very little about the next. She's incredibly wilful and knows what she wants, but follows Flemeth's orders all the time through. She hungers for power and independence, yet craves closeness, but won't allow herself to have it. She asks you to prove yourself to her and is extremely critical of your actions, I think, because she's afraid. She bites the hand that feeds her because it might hit her next.

Like with Eamon, I haven't managed to catch the undercurrent of abuse that seems to permeate Flemeth's relationship with Morrigan. Except there are signs, because there must be something Morrigan is scared of and who has instilled all that rage in her, and that's Flemeth. Also, she clearly hates/does not care about her and wants her dead (unless killing Flemeth was part of Flemeth's plan as well? Hm.)

Morrigan is that one person who you are nice to, continuously, because nobody else is. And suddenly she becomes less cold. And then friendly. And suddenly you're asking yourself why everybody hates her, because she's a really good friend! I just wish the other companions came to a similar conclusion, especially Alistair and Wynne.

Oghren:

They did this man dirty. He has such great lines and I'm convinced he was a great person before Branka disappeared. He has that dwarven warrior spirit, and while he looks like Gimli, some of his most impactful lines remind me of Dwalin or even Thorin Oakenshield himself. He could be so noble had he gotten some character development, damnit!

Oghren as he is written is somewhat disgusting. I hate the lechering comments and the drunkenness. And still, I don't hate him because of those amazing lines he has when he's actually sober. It's frustrating and I'll give him that character development myself if the game won't. I strongly associate the song Whiskey Lullaby with him, bc that's how he would have ended up if the Warden hadn't taken him along (warning: the song talks about suicide and alcoholism). Like I said, they could have done such cool things with his character. As he is written now... it's just sad. Moments of lucidity drowned in alcohol and creepy jokes. As you can see, I don't blame the character for either. The alcoholism happens all too often irl. The creepy jokes... I put that one on the writers' tab.

I actually think Oghren could have been a great mentor figure (I know, I shock myself as well sometimes). Next to the Grey Wardens, the ones who know most about fighting darkspawn are the dwarves because they have to deal with them constantly. Especially a warrior caste dwarf like Oghren could have brought a lot of that invaluable knowledge to the team, especially since there are no Grey Wardens in Ferelden but two extremely green recruits. Next, you get the chance to give Oghren the command of the teammates you leave behind in the battle of Denerim with the reason that he has lead men into battle before. Where did that suddenly come from? Oghren should have been right up there telling my Warden that they were doing this wrong, that they needed more food (and booze) and a confident leader to keep the armies they've called together going. Oghren should have been able to tell my civilian city elf who got recruited into the Grey Wardens a six months ago how one leads an army. How one presents oneself to inspire confidence, how one doesn't crack under the pressure, how one gets the leaders of said armies (some who hate each others guts i.e. Dalish elves and humans) to work together. And, last but not least, Oghren could have had a great story about grief. This is a man who has lost most of what made him (and what he hasn't lost he's spilling down the drain with every mug of ale). This is a man who, if you take him into the Deep Roads, has to see what his wife did to his family, how his wife got absolutely obsessed, and can be forced to kill said wife or watch her die. All Wardens loose their home and families at the start of the story. It would really have rounded the whole narrative out if the Warden and Oghren could have recognised their grief in each other and hashed it out somehow. Such as it is, Oghren is a depressed drunkard and there is nothing we can do about that. I find that frustrating.

Rascal (a.k.a. Dog):

Best boy. 100/10. I wish we had gotten to see the reaction of the different origins to the mabari (because elves probably have a whole different experience with them from mages or humans. And dwarves just... I think they straight up have none? XD). Other than that, no complaints. The name Rascal was the one I gave my dog because you have to be a right rascal to survive what he did and play the pranks he plays. Smartest breed in the world indeed.

Shale:

Shale is one of those characters that I recruited rather late in the game, so I haven't had the chance to explore their personality and worldview, really. I didn't even get to take them to the Deep Roads (this will be ammended in playthrough nr. 2). As such, I don't have particularly strong opinions on them (or her? The wiki refers to Shale as 'it', but that sounds weird). But, because I know so little about Shale, I have a lot of questions. First, what were they like before they were a golem? Shayle, as she was called then, was the best warrior of her time if I remember correctly. Why did she become a golem? Was it to be able to eternally protect her people? Was the sarcasm the golem Shale exhibits also part of the dwarven warrior Shayle or did that come later (if for thirty years you have nobody to talk to but yourself, you better be entertaining. And I can imagine how it could make somebody terribly jaded as well).

Next, how attached is Shale to their golem form, exactly? According to the banter, they infinitely prefer it to a squishy fleshy form. If that is the case, however, why go to Tevinter to try and become a squishy dwarf again? It's not like that process could be reversed if they wanted to become a golem again; if Shale survives to the end of the game, the Anvil of the Void is destroyed and Caridin is dead. Was the whole spiel about their indestructible form a façade? It might have been, but not because Shale actually disliked their form. I think it would have more to do with the loss of their memories and with the very invasive experiments and alterations of Shale's body made by the mage Wilhelm. The loss of memories means that Shale is unable to remember life as a fleshy creature. They might be deflecting by pretending that they didn't care for that experience anyway because of the superiority of their golem form. The modifications made to their form by Wilhelm would have alienated them from their body. In light of this, it's significant that Shale asks the Warden to decorate their form with crystals.

All of this is, of course, pure speculation. I may have easily missed or forgotten details that would disprove the above thoughts. All in all, I like Shale and I hope we meet them again in DA4 (given that it's mostly set in Tevinter). It's a liking from a respectful distance, because Shale is tall and made out of rock and also way more experienced than I will ever be (they are literally the oldest member of the Warden's little Blight fighting squad).

Sten:

Sten is another person I'd keep a respectful distance from physically. That seems to be the what he would prefer, at least. I've enjoyed his character a lot, especially because he seems pretty clear-cut at first, but slowly lets the nuance of his person show (gruff and stoic, but then he has an eye for art, a sweet tooth and he likes cute animals). It's also very interesting that there's no moment when you learn "the truth" about him the way you do with Zevran or Leliana. There's no big reveal about his life under the Qun before coming to Ferelden. He says he was sent to monitor the Blight, but honestly? If neither Ferelden nor Orlais knew there was a Blight, how could the Qunari know? I think he's lying, and he takes his secrets back with him when he leaves Ferelden. And yet I think I know him enough to say that a Warden who has become friends with him has nothing to fear from Sten.

One thing I find very interesting about Sten is how he thinks. His conversation about how women can't be soldiers has been analysed a lot on this page I think. He seems to be arguing based on a different paradigma than the one the Warden has. He also seems to have a very clear-cut view of the world. What is fascinating to me is that, when arguing with the Warden and learning about their culture, he is not necessarily becoming more lax about his worldview. I think it's more likely that he is expanding his paradigma, the structure of thought through which he understands the world. I don't think that he is now convinced that women can be warriors as well. I think he rather understands that, in Ferelden, the relationship between occupation and gender is different than under the Qun. Which of the two he thinks is more right or more agreeable, I have no idea. I'm also not very interested in that. But I find it fascinating how he always seems to be looking on quietly, gathering data, classifying it and trying to fit it into his understanding of how the world works. I wouldn't be surprised at all if his original party was a scouting party to see how vulnerable Ferelden was at that moment to outside forces. One thing I don't understand with all of this is why he urges the Warden to meet the Blight head on. No smart soldier would suggest that, except if they are foolishly proud (and Sten doesn't seem like that kind of guy tbh). I get that the Warden takes way longer to gather allies than expected because they first have to solve all of their allies' problems. But surely Sten sees the need to have allies? Is he just that impatient? Does he have a death wish (à la, I lost my sword and am without honour, better to die sooner than later and in glorious battle)? Was he his group's previous commander and is he now having trouble following somebody else's orders? Or maybe it's his way to make sure the Warden knows what they are doing? To push them into becoming the self-assured commander their allies will need once they're all gathered? I really don't know. I like the last option best, however.

For me, Sten is my fellow, more experienced soldier. Like Alistair, he can potentially be the Warden's brother in arms, but he's definitely the older brother here. He probably doesn't take kindly to tearful confessions of how hard everything is, but I feel like he's otherwise a solid rock to lean on. I feel like the Warden can trust him to do what is necessary and count on him no matter what, especially after they get his sword back. His devotion from that point on is honestly so powerful.

Wynne:

Wynne was such a support for my Warden (except with the whole conversation about love vs. duty and that she may have to choose between Zevran and ending the Blight and that she should therefore break up with him. Wynne had a point. Astala was so not willing to sacrifice her relationship with Zevran. But the whole conversation came at a point where she was already so disillusioned that she blew up in Wynne's face (”can i please just have one (1) nice thing????”)). But all in all, Wynne is great.

She has a lot of flaws. She was very marked by her life in the Cricle and, for all her age, she has little experience living outside of it. She is also a conformist despite her strong moral core. In a way, her ability to find peace with her lot in life impresses me deeply because it speaks to a lot of strength of character. Sadly, however, strength can be ill applied and used to suppress. I think she has convinced herself that the Chantry is right under (almost) all circumstances to be able to rationalize the life that mages live. She's had her son taken away from her as a baby and an apprentice killed. Her reaction seems to have been to convince herself that this was right, or for the greater good (and now I'm thinking about the Guardian's question at the temple of Andraste's Ashes; are you wise or do you just repeat what others have told you? The answer is not as clear-cut as it might be). This is why she is so irritated by Zevran and Morrigan. By aligning herself with the Chantry, she is, in her eyes, good. Zevran and Morrigan are not; they do not conform to Chantry morality and they defend themselves tooth and nails against somebody who would try and convert them. This is something Wynne never allowed herself to do; she always did the "right" thing and it has cost her so much. I'm not saying she was right (it would probably have done her some good to rebel from time to time, and to trust her own gut instinct more), but in light of this, it hardly surprises me that she's so judgamental. She has to be, or she would be forced to confront all the evil she has not fought against all those years and all the hurt that has been caused to her by the very institution she protects (and thank God she only tries to argue and can appreciate it when people have found a good life outside of her comfort zone. If she tried to convince by force or, for example, drag her former apprentice back to the Circle... boy oh boy that would get ugly). If you think about it, Wynne really is a good example for what happens if you live by a philosophy of always choosing the lesser evil.

Something that I keep forgetting over her grandmotherly and dignified character is how damn powerful she is. She has escaped the carnage at Ostagar; HOW!? She protected those mage apprentices in the Circle tower for God knows how long. In the battle of Denerim, she wades through an army and comes out alive on the other side. The wiki lists her age at 40, I think, but that doesn't make a lick of sense unless 75 years of age are the Fereldan equivalent to 100. This lady, about whom people make grandmother jokes, did all that. It's impressive.

Zevran:

You know, I would really love to know what Wynne thinks about the events at Kirkwall in DA2. It might be a disaster for her, or it might pave the way for one last bit of character development. She certainly didn't want to return to the Circle after fighting the Blight. That may be an indicator of some change in her stance on the Circle of Magi.

Edit: I forgot that she is what the Circle considers a literal abomination! Holy cow, how could I forget that?? Anyway, her conversation about what being an abomination means is so... heartbreaking, actually. It's so tentative. So careful. "Am I an abomination? Am I the same thing that has killed my students? The same thing as Uldred? Am I lost and damned? Did I invite this spirit in? Is this my fault?" Like wow, Wynne is going through something huge right there. I love it. I have to continue playing the game to see what it ends up as, but it's fascinating and such a huge thing that she allows the Warden in on that.

Ah, Zevran, my beloved (he has stolen my heart so much it's not even funny anymore). He's funny, he's charming, he's so so loyal and it breaks my heart. Zevran is the one about whom I've read most meta: these three wonderful posts for instance, as well as this one about his possible lack of scars, and this one about his lack of freedom. All of these have influenced my opinion of him and they are great reads.

I have talked about Zevran with you before, so I'll just skip to the new stuff. I have come to conclusion that Zevran is an artist at heart. This is totally not biased by the fact that I also do art, but hear me out. One of his preferred gifts are bars of silver and gold. While those have the obvious utility of basically functioning as money (they can be sold to any silversmith or goldsmith and their value is pretty stable through time and in different countries), there's also this from his codex: "Zevran shows an affinity for the finer things in life—hardly surprising for an Antivan Crow—but his appreciation can be more poetic than he lets on. A simple bar of refined silver or gold, uncomplicated by a craftsman's hammer, is elegantly valuable." Tell me that is not an artist's eye that sees that gold and sees the beauty in it. Then, there's also the meta about Zevran the Seducer which I linked above and link here again. It talks specifically about how he lets himself enjoy the target and be seen in his enjoyment. Tell me that is not an artist's eye that beholds the beauty of something he is set out to destroy. Even his talk about his assassinations show this. He talks about it as an art, the way somebody would talk about the brutal intervention in stone that produces a sculpture. Yes, it's a rationalization of the act of killing and yes killing is still wrong. But he doesn't go on about it on a moral tangent the way Alistair or Wynne would (”this person was bad, killing them was necessary”) or even through the argument of survival like Morrigan would (”it was either them or me and it sure as Hell wasn't going to be me”). He talks about the pleasure of a job well done, of the satisfaction of striking the precise point and executing a plan to the perfection so as to minimize chances of discovery and to make a clean death possible. And pleasure in seeing and in doing, this I firmly believe, is absolutely fundamental for an artist.

My favourite part about my Warden and Zevran as a pairing is that Zevran precisely brings out that ability to take your pleasures as they come and to really savour them. Fighting the Blight is tough; it's so important to find good things amidst the chaos to stay sane. If Astala saves Zevran from himself by offering him a place to stay and a purpose, Zevran saves Astala from herself by keeping her from running herself into the ground trying to save the world.

There are some things I don't like about Zev. The incessant flirting, for example, sometimes makes me uncomfortable (it becomes enjoyable for me once the Warden and him are in a relationship, but before that? Nah, no thanks). I wish he would also leave the other female characters alone (and there's so many more shameless comments of his aimed at Morrigan, Leliana or Wynne than at Alistair or maybe even Sten).

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And that's my take on the Origins companions (this was rather long. Whew ^^' I hope it was still readable and that you enjoyed it!!) Thank you so much for the ask!! It's been a joy thinking about this. I was worrying at first that the less prominent companions like Sten or Shale wouldn't get as much content but... well XD

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theyrealllegends · 5 years

Text

Careful (Roger Taylor x Reader)

Chapter Summary: First, your parents come to visit you unexpectedly. Then, suddenly Queen is being signed and you meet Jim “Miami” Beach who offers you an internship. In the middle of all the craziness, you’re still moving in with Rog and Fred, giving you some time to spend with them - and especially with Roger in the last night in your old apartment.

Author’s Note: Miami owns my heart. I love that guy and I’m so glad he agreed to be their manager later. This one is a long one, i don’t know what happened tbh and there’s a lot going on, i know, but I tried to include some fluffly Rog and Tiff scenes, too. Hope you enjoy it!

Words: ~3.6k

Warning: at one point, Rog is high and eventually gets sick, some language i guess

Chapter 6

Previous Parts

Your parents came to visit you without letting you know. That was a problem for various reasons: a part of your room was already in boxes and even though your mom was happy for you, your dad clenched his jaw while noting that he didn’t get the chance to approve your new flat. Also, they arrived at around ten in the morning and you had found them in front of a locked door when you had returned from your run, having to leave them in the kitchen alone while you took a shower - which above all wasn’t completely dirty but also nowhere as clean as you would’ve liked it to be. And lastly, Roger went out and had yet to return. It hurt you that he started to go out for drinks again, even though there was nothing that would’ve given you the power to tell him not to, or even gave you the right to be jealous really. Also, he had the kindness and the manners not to bring girls to your place again, so you could still get yourself to believe he was only getting wasted with his boys, crashing at their places, or wherever.

When you joined your parents, dressed and looking somewhat decent your mom had made tea and cleaned the entire room, already.

“Mom!”, you whined. “You shouldn’t have! That’s definitely my job in my flat!”

“I don’t think you got it dirty in the first place”, your dad said and you forced yourself to shrug it off.

“Roger and I clean it every week and that would’ve been today.” That wasn’t entirely a lie, you just weren’t really telling them that most times, you ended up cleaning the flat.

“He sounded like a good person on the phone”, your dad continued and your blood turned cold. You knew the tune in his voice and it was one you really didn’t like: he was testing you.

“He’s great. Becoming a biologist and one of his friends is an astro-physician.” Brian would laugh if you told him that actually managed to impress your dad, you were sure.

“He could’ve opened the door, at least”, your dad mumbled after the surprise faded from his face.

“I don’t know if he’s home, he’s a busy guy”, you kept acting innocent. That worked for the next forty-five minutes that you spend sweating - one because your dad kept quizzing you about everything he could think of: your exams, if you had applied for internships, when you were supposed to get your degree and your new flat, your running; second because you were scared Roger would come home and you’d have to explain his state to your parents. However, hearing him enter the apartment relieved you because you could use him as an excuse to get away from your dad’s investigating gaze for a second. “I’m gonna warn Roger that you are here”, you excused yourself before rushing out of the kitchen, making sure to close the door behind you.

“Oh, hey, Tiff”, Roger said from his room’s door. He looked back at you and the relieve you’d felt left you that second. You shoved him in his room and closed his door as well.

“My parents are here and you’re high!”

“No, I’m not, you’re just blurry”, he said, grinning to himself before your words must’ve gotten to the clear part of his thoughts because his back straitened.

“Your parents?”

“Yes”, you grumbled and crossed your arms in front of your chest.

“Shit”, Roger mumbled, before running his hands through his hair and blinking at you from his incredibly red eyes. “Okay, will they buy it if you tell them I was at the gym? I’d have at least an excuse to take a shower then.”

“That’s-“ you said, realising that was a way better idea than anything you could’ve come up with really. “I guess, they will.”

“Good”, he nodded, stumbling to his extremely stuffed chest of drawers. None of them were completely closed because fabric kept looking out of all of them and on top there was a lot of tangled jewellery and random bits and bops. Roger even fought to get one of the drawers open and you approached him slowly.

“What are you looking for?”

“Eye-drops”, he mumbled. “You want me to call Brian? He’s good at impressing parents.”

“I told my dad you knew someone becoming an astro-physician, already.”

“Don’t tell him, that motherfucker’s gonna get off like crazy”, or whatever he said, you didn’t really understand his furious ramble while he searched under some boxers, ended up with some condoms in his hands that made him raise an eyebrow before he threw them on his bed and finally turned to you, eyedrops in hand. “I got this, Tiffy, I promise I won’t embarrass you”, he said and you were surprised that he even cared - and that he sounded honest. You were about to nod as Roger’s face turned pale. “Hang on and do yourself a favour, don’t look at me”, he tried to warn you while furiously looking around.

“No you’re not!”, you wanted to stop him but Roger was already at his window, leaning out and - “Oh my god, Roger!”, you mumbled, torn apart between feeling sorry and worried while also annoyed.

“Fuck, Tiff, ‘M sorry, I don’t know what I’m doing these days."

“I can tell, Rog. Just take that shower and then join us if you want.”

He looked amazing, to your surprise, when he did. His hair was a little wet, still but yours had been too so you didn’t judge. He wore black Jeans and apart from the fact that they were extremely tight-fitting they were perfectly fine and normal. He had paired them with a grey shirt and one of his jackets - the less outrageous one, though. It was dark-green suede with silver buttons and you smiled because you liked it.

“Nice to meet you, sir, I’m Roger Taylor”, he introduced himself to your dad before smiling at your mom. “Ma’am.”

“Bloody hell”, Roger said as your parents finally left. They had taken you for lunch, giving him a break from them but they asked him to join your conversation again, when it was tea-time. “I thought your dad would tore me into pieces.”

“Why would he?”

“I don’t know, I sometimes get a bit maniacal, thinking everyone knows I’m stoned and shit”, he mumbled, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

“They didn’t suspect that, Rog, otherwise my dad would’ve said something. I mean, I knew you were and I didn’t even notice it myself anymore.”

“I’m glad then, I was giving my best to act normal.”

“You didn’t act like you at all but you acted like my dad wanted you, too.”

“What do you mean?” Of course he had to ask and of course you blushed.

“Don’t get me wrong, I really like how you are but today, you didn’t swear and you didn’t roll your eyes or picked a fight or teased, or anything and that’s what he likes - someone quiet that doesn’t get me into trouble.”

“I’d never”, he said immediately. “Not on purpose, at least”, he then had to add, making you giggle.

“Thank you for not calling the cops on me.”

“I thought about it”, you teased him. “But my dad was enough of a punishment, I guess.”

“Those are your words, Tiffy”, Roger laughed. “Should we go to the store and get some white wine? To celebrate I made it through this day alive?”

*-*-*-*-*-*

Freddie had invited you to his birthday and Roger took you, Brian and Deaky to his parents’ house. It wasn’t completely out of generosity but Roger had strolled through every second hand shop there must’ve been in London until eventually he’d found a used but still strong-going TV that wouldn’t rip a whole in your wallets - since you directly agreed to join in on the present that would also benefit your new living room. And of course Freddie hugged you until there wasn’t a steady blood stream to your legs anymore, before he kissed your cheeks. “You two are the best!”, he told you and Roger before hugging him, even though Roger didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as Freddie did. He introduced you to his parents and his sister who was younger than you and looked proud to even be around you and the guys. Mary’s parents where their as well and soon, the table was in wild discussions about Freddie’s childhood photos which he obviously didn’t enjoy. To a point where he started singing “Happy Birthday” to himself, calling him “Mister Mercury” what made you smile before you noticed that it left his dad upset. However, that argument didn’t last long, either, since it was interrupted by the phone ringing. Freddie’s sister picked it up, only to turn to him, wide eyed.

“They’re requesting Mister Mercury to talk to them because they want to sign Queen under their label.” Not to mention that it freaked the guys out like crazy but Roger still caught you off guard by kissing your cheek in joy.

*-*-*-*-*-*

They even took you to sign their contracts with John Reid even though you tried to talk yourself out of it like crazy.

“I told you they’d provide you with lawyers”, you mumbled to Roger before shaking the hand of Jim Beach.

“That’s my lawyer Tiffany”, Freddie said, making you blush.

“I’ll be one day but you can literally be sued for saying that right now”, you told him, making Jim laugh.

“You’ll be a great lawyer, young lady, I can feel that.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I want you to call him Miami”, Freddie told you and your eyes widened.

“You can’t - “

“Jim Beach, that’s freaking boring.”

“He doesn’t mean to offend you”, you quickly told Jim.

“I’m fine, Ms Abberforth, don’t worry.”

“Now, if we’re ready for your signatures?”, John got the boys’ attention again. They all nodded calmly even though you could tell how excited they still were. John was pale as a wall, Brian kept tugging on his white sleeves and Roger was fumbling with his belt-buckle nonstop.

“You know, I’m always looking for interns”, Jim told you after handing them the necessary paperwork. “And since you’re friends with the band already, I think we’d both profit from working together.”

“I’d love to, Sir, thank you!”, you replied, smiling luckily.

“Please”, he said, patting your shoulder grinning. “Call me Miami.”

*-*-*-*-*-*

After that, time went by in what felt like the blink of an eye. You were on holiday from your classes maybe but you didn’t manage to join your parents in their little house at the Côte d’Azur anyway. It made your dad proud though, because what occupied your time was your work for Miami. He’d taken you to curt already, gave you old files to go through that were truly interesting and he even let you go through client’s requests to compare your ideas with his own. The best times though were when he took you to the studio to see the boys perform when he had a reason to - even though you were sure sometimes he was just as excited to hear them as you.

“We’ll have to meet with Karen at three but you can have lunch before”, he told you, before holding the studio’s door open for you. You almost jumped as you were greeted by all your friends screaming LIAR on top of their lungs, hearing Jim chuckle behind you.

The new studio was even more impressive than the old one they were recording in but this one almost let you smell all the fame it had given people like the Beatles or Elton John - whose music you really grew to like. When your eyes fell on Roger, it wiped every other thought from your brain. Your surrounding was gone, you just saw him, deeply into his playing and the singing he had to do, his hair stuck to his head in sweat and his chest was only halfway covered by his completely unbuttoned white shirt. It took you a second to catch your breath before you moved over to the black couch you usually sat on when Jim just came here to enjoy hearing them play.

“Can you get them out of there for a second?”, he asked the sound engineer like he didn’t want only that today. “I have a surprise for them.”

“What is it?”, you asked immediately, getting up again and looking at him wide eyed in shock that he didn’t tell you.

“I didn’t want your interests conflicted between them and this. I only found out last night myself and I didn’t want to risk to wake you up.”

“Jim, you know you can literally always call me.”

“And risk having a sleep deprived drummer? I wouldn’t want that”, Roger teased you from the recording booth’s door before walking over and quickly kissing your cheek. “You’re looking fab, babe”, he whispered into you ear, making you laugh a little. You were looking far more formal than him, in a dark grey blazer, matching skirt and black heels.

“You too, rockstar.”

“Miami, dear”, Freddie interrupted. “What is it?”

“John send Tiff and I-“

“I have no idea what’s going on”, you whispered to Roger, his hand on the small of your back and his hot breath stroking over your neck from time to time.

“- to invite you guys for dinner tonight since he’d like to discuss the details of your first tour.” He lifted his hands to underline his excitement but he was met with silence.

“We’re going on tour”, Freddie was the first one to whisper and Roger was the first one to move again, literally jumping on his friends.

“We’re going on tour you bitches!” He turned to you as soon as they’d let him go, picking you up and spinning you around. “We’re going on tour Tiffy, what the fuck?!”

“I’m so proud of you!”, you told him, beaming and with a heartbeat of probably 400. And then, right then and there, in the middle of the studio with all your friends - and your boss - watching, his lips were on yours. It was a two, maybe three seconds long kiss but it didn’t fail to make your knees turn to jelly but you caught Deaky staring at you in surprise while Freddie was literally squeaking.

“Someone wants to be our flower boy”, Roger told you grinning, his arm still wrapped around your waist and one of your hands on his chest.

“I got nothing to argue that right now”, you said, feeling his chuckle vibrate under his skin.

“Happens to the best of us”, Jim said making you giggle.

*-*-*-*-*-*

The next thing you knew was your move. You were incredibly tired and almost fell asleep in your clothes when you came home from work Friday night. You’d still have to wake up at nine to bring all your boxes to the new place since it would be the first of the month. Your furniture had been picked up already last night, giving you enough time to deep clean your old flat and supposed to be delivered to the new flat in a few hours and so you only slept on the mattress you had left - which was one, forcing you and Roger to sleep together - and later you could only change into the last set of fresh clothes you’d kept unboxed.

He got home after you, as always since the band’s contract and he just fell on the improvised bed next to you. The both of you hadn’t been home much so it was kind of weird that you finally had some time together - and to sleep in the same bed, actually - while being tired to the bone.

“Hi babe”, he’d said after a moment and you cuddled into him tightly because the empty room felt cold.

“Hey Rockstar”, you mumbled into his skin and you felt goosebumps spreading on his chest. The heater still worked that day but would be turned off by midnight which you weren’t ready for. Your fingers moved into Roger’s hair without you making the conscious decision you felt like but he still moaned and moved close to you, his fingers playing with the end of your pj-shirt. You felt heat built up inside of you and suddenly all you wanted was to kiss him. The thought started innocent but the urge it made you feel made your breath shaky and your heartbeat quicken: you wanted Roger. However, this was one of the things that didn’t change - maybe being surrounded by the people in Miami’s office and Roger’s friends becoming your friends too had made you blush less and talk a little more, be a little more confident. But you still wouldn’t want to make the first move with Roger since you didn’t know if he felt the same. The only thing you knew was that he was what other people would consider their best friend for you and that you wanted everything but to scare him off. While you still thought about feeling his lips on yours Roger was fighting his very own battle, suddenly very aware of his super tight fitting leather pants and how close you still were to him, how long he hadn’t had the time to properly release the pressure of desire filling up his whole body. He moved his fingers upwards, only a few centimetres under your shirt feeling your soft, warm skin on his and it made you let out a sweet little noice he wished he’d never forget. Your fingers moved over his skin as well, creeping under the fabric of his shirt on his shoulder where he’d sometimes also put his hand without any obvious reason but it seemed to be a soft spot on him. Feeling your touch there made him want to clear his throat or just already move on top of you to kiss the living hell out of you. Roger knew that your boundaries were shifting a little, he loved seeing you get a bit more open with everyone including himself but he knew he’d still overstep a border if he continued touching you like that.

Your alarm wasn’t packed yet and it woke you up at nine, turning Roger into a grumpy mess. You started making tea and roasted some bagels before you quickly got ready and then tiptoed to where Roger was still sleeping, kneeling down next to his mattress to softly run your fingers through his hair before he woke up.

“What’s up, Tiffy?”, he mumbled, leaning into your touch.

“We have to start moving the boxes before the furniture arrives and we have to turn in the keys to this place”, you replied whispering at his grumble before he forced himself to sit up to hug you. You laughed a little before you pulled the two of you up to have the breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen. After that, you moved the last boxes that were still in the apartment into Roger’s car. On the first trip, you also picked up your news keys that made you beam in excitement which didn’t even fade as you had to do three more trips, going up to the second floor, carrying boxes down to the car and then up again.

Until you were done and sat in your new apartment in the middle of what felt like a thousand boxes. Freddie came back from getting Roger, Mary, you and himself some Chinese takeout and surprised the three of you with two bottles of champagne.

“On this glorious place”, he said, raising his cup - it was fun to see really, you and Freddie drinking out of cups, Roger had a jar while Mary was the only one that had a real glass while you all sat on the floor but none of you could’ve cared less. Freddie had been playing Elton John records since he found his record player in one of the boxes and you decided that he should keep them playing until the last one of you surrendered with unpacking that day. Your room was still a gigantic mess, you wardrobe and bed still being a selection of wood. It still wasn’t as bad as you’d feared but you didn’t really know how to build them again. So you spend some time putting your stuff back on your desk the way you needed it but then you had to go to ask Roger for help who was surrounded by his clothes, trying the impossible to squeeze most of them on the one rack he’d already built up. His drawers were still in the state of your wardrobe but at least he had his bed set up and you knew he was able to work with his cordless screwdriver. However for a moment you got caught up staring at him, only in dark-grey sweats and no shirt, humming Elton John while putting his colourful jackets back on their hangers.

“Rooooog”, you said in the sweetest voice you could master. He turned to you, smiling and wiping his hair out of his face.

“What is it, babe?”

“Can you help me rebuilt my wardrobe and my bed?”

“Sure. But right now, can we call it a day and you’re crashing here?”, he suggested, coming over to spin you around on your shoulders to start massaging them.

“Hmm”, you let out, leaning into his chest. “I can if you don’t mind.”

“Of course I do that’s why I’ve done it so many times before”, he replied sarcastically, making you giggle.

“And would you lent me a shirt? I didn’t find my PJs yet.”

“Always, love.”

Tags:

@discodeakyy @crazyweirdocalledfriday @blondecarfucker

#roger taylor #roger taylor x reader #roger taylor x you #roger taylor fluff #roger taylor fanfic #ben hardy #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy x you #ben hardy fluff #ben hardy fanfic #queen #queen fanfic #bohemian rhapsody #borhap #borhap fanfic #fanfiction

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msbeccieboo · 5 years

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Arrow 7x06 character brain dump

Wherein I attempt to collate my thoughts on the characters, in approximate order of the number of fucks I give about them at this point haha!

Felicity

Where to start? Our Queen is KILLING it (almost literally for a minute there...phew!) this season and this episode continues to impress, damn she is taking everything down this year and I am living for it! She is still managing to straddle being the light-emitting cupcake with bad bitch burning the world to the ground in that perfect Felicity way she has about her. I was so impressed with her approach to the Anatoly situation; he is a wanted criminal and Bratva Pakhan...he can look out for himself just fine DIGGLE *through gritted teeth*! She got the job done, Anatoly came out relatively unscathed (after she had already rescued him btw), and she still took the time to check up on him. She is taking on the world to protect William and free Oliver and will do whatever it takes to do so and I love that. I am still surprisingly really enjoying her working with BS, cos let’s face it, her other ‘friends’ are shit this year. Felicity is arguably the most forgiving person in this show due to her enormous heart and capacity for empathy that few seem to share at the minute, so if BS stands any chance of ‘redemption’, Felicity will be leading the charge. Would she have pulled the trigger on Diaz? Not sure. Do I wish she had? Oooooh it would have been interesting!! And her face when she hears Oliver is being released??? The relief, the happiness, the tear...uggghh Emily is so so good this year!! I could go on and on about how awesome Felicity was this episode, but I won’t cos wow this is gonna be a long one haha!

Bonus mention for Future Felicity...the fern!!...Oliver’s (tennis)balls!!...sending Will to Lian Yu to get Roy to shoot Oliver’s (tennis)balls??....Slight overkill for a dead woman. 100% sure she is still alive in the future timeline! Oh and NOT EVIL...duh, it’s Felicity!!

Oliver

I LOVED Oliver’s conversations with BS in this episode (who knew that would ever be a thing I'd enjoy?!). Much as I am enjoying BS this year, it’s still hilarious to see the shade (finally) directed at Fake Laurel. Oliver tells her she’s not E1 Laurel, she’s not a real lawyer, she’s responsible to Diaz being loose...STAY AWAY FROM MY WIFE!! Much as we all know Felicity can take care of herself, especially this year, I will never tire of Protective!Oliver, he loves her soooo much! I think he’s in for a shock when he’s released (released in more ways than one hopefully 😉😉), as to the new dynamics outside, and the fierce new wife he now has! I am super interested to see Oliver’s take on criminals and the justice system once he is out...he has developed a real empathy for the inmates over the last few episodes, and he looked so pleased, and dare I add grateful, at the investigation into the facility that BS arranged and how it would benefit the people still in Slabside.

In other news, this week Detective Queen investigates a murder and rats out the wrong inmate...oh STAN!! We been knew!

Flash Forward Oliver...where is he?? Is he ‘dead’ too? I think they could be trying to let us think this too, as no-one is asking about him AT ALL, and Felicity supposedly went dark? Maybe they’re up teaching together in the big vigilante school in the sky....suuuure!

Black Siren

I think Boss Beth has achieved the unthinkable this year and made me care about, and actually be interested in Black Siren! I don’t want to hate characters for the sake of hating them, but Laurel (and BS) was truly unlikeable and horribly written under MG’s watch. She will never be my favourite, but look at her in third place as to characters I wanted to write about after this episode (Diggle who?)! I wasn’t really on board with the redemption arc they seem to be crafting for her; I thought previously that she played far better as a campy villain-type....however, they are handling her so well this season that I find myself rooting for her more often than I am shouting at the TV at her! She had the best breakthrough near the end of the episode when she told Oliver that she isn’t their LL, and isn’t trying to be E1 LL anymore, she is doing this for herself, but I guess that doesn’t mean her motives are entirely self-serving or not for the greater good. She wants to try and be a ‘hero’, but keeps reverting back to old ways...so let her be the new Malcolm, I’m cool with that!

I think the biggest reason I’m enjoying BS is her relationship with Felicity...write a strong connection to Felicity and people will pay attention; she’s the heart of the show for most of us. Is BS best mates with Felicity now? No, but she is the only one who has been there for her consistently this whole season because they have a common goal of taking down the Lizard; Felicity to protect her family and save the city, and BS as revenge for last season and to avenge Quentin...and that puts her on my good list. Once Lizard Boy is out of the picture (clearly it isn’t over, we saw the trailer for next week), who knows what their relationship will be like, but I’m betting Felicity won’t just forget about people who are ultimately trying to do good, despite their past (Oliver anyone?!)

Now I need to stop gushing about BS cos it goes against everything I once believed in....

Diggle

Diggle doesn’t get a gif; he doesn’t deserve one. I’m getting to a point whereby I will stop caring at all about him; I’m sure (I hope) that the writers are intentionally writing him this way as part of his story arc or some crap but seriously, it’s not working...STOP IT! Dig, it seems, struggles with keeping women in boxes (not like Anatoly was this episode)...Felicity and Lyla are pure and good and heaven forbid they should ever cross the line he has drawn for them. Enough, this is the man who killed his own brother to keep his family safe, who followed and encouraged Oliver in nearly all of his less than brilliant decisions over the years, but Felicity asks for some not-entirely-squeaky-clean help and it’s game over??...fuck off! He actually had the audacity in this episode to say that Felicity cut him out? He is not of sound mind, or of this Earth, for sure lol!

I love John Diggle, I want him back please.

Anatoly

Oh Uncle Anatoly! I think we’ve seen the last of him for the foreseeable future now haven’t we? His parting gift of (rather happily) likening Felicity to Bratva!Oliver, and handing her a gun to kill Diaz with was....sweet??...in his own special way!

Future people

I loved Roy and Dinah lamenting over how old they were haha! Future Will continues to be Felicity’s biggest fan, even though she ‘abandoned’ him. Thea is totally dead isn’t she?

NTA

Rene didn’t feature too much this week...I don’t mind that, I like him this year in small doses, and he continues (ish) to be one of the few people there for Felicity this year. He has a total hard-on for the new GA still which is cute.

Dinah seems to have softened a bit with regards to Felicity and BS, and I awwwed at her stopping BS from killing the judge and kind of calling her a hero (even though she killed Vince..still a bit odd tbh).

I could literally list every extra rando inmate in with Oliver, thugs that beat up Anatoly, the box Anatoly was locked in, Lizard, Lizard’s socks...before I get to the lack of shits given about Curtis. They missed his bday....bitch please!! And then he tries to take credit for everyone working together at the end....errr no, that was what Felicity was trying to do since 7x01, only you all bailed on her, dickhead!

Sorry to end on a rant, but I really did enjoy this episode....really really!!

#arrow spoilers #arrow season 7 #arrow 7x06 #beccie's brain

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whoareurl · 6 years

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Blood Drive - YOI

hey all!! this is my giveaway fic for @mypoorfaves who gave me this really awesome prompt about viktor fainting after he has blood taken and tbh i loved writing this but i’m hiding it under the cut bc it’s vanilla so i might post it on ao3 too bc i’m vain and want attention lmao. anyway here it is!!!!!!

Usually, Viktor doesn’t mind being in front of the cameras. Usually, he’s camera-ready. But, then again, he usually isn’t about to have a needle stabbed into his arm and a pint of his blood forcibly taken from him. Despite what Yuuri says, he doesn’t think he’s exaggerating. He doesn’t like needles, never has. He remembers getting a meningitis vaccine when he was 21 only because Yakov had threatened something Viktor didn’t think proper to repeat in English.

At least Yuuri was with him. It made the whole thing a little more bearable. Despite feeling like his insides might actually consume themselves in fear, Viktor wasn’t about to pull out now. It was a charity event and, quite aside from not wanting to look bad, it was for a cause very dear to his husband’s heart.

Yuuri had told him with a soft, quiet voice about a boy he’d met during his junior years who had been saved by a blood transfusion to treat his anaemia. It was the only reason he’d been able to keep skating.

“I didn’t know him very well,” Yuuri had confessed. “He didn’t continue to seniors. But he helped me calm down once before the JGP and I want to do this for him.”

Viktor isn’t about to let Yuuri down.

So, here he is. Sitting in a blood donation clinic in Geneva with Yuuri on his left and Chris on his right. Yurio is on Yuuri’s other side and is pointedly not looking at either of them. Across the room, Phichit is giggling with Leo and Guang Hong and taking completely unsubtle pictures of Viktor and Yuuri. Viktor hears his phone buzz faintly in his jacket and deduces that they must be sending him photos of his terrified face with ridiculous snapchat filters.

“Doing okay?” Yuuri asks quietly in Russian.

Viktor looks over and attempts a smile. “Nervous,” is all he says, trying to keep his lips from moving too much. The entire reason they’re even speaking Russian is so nobody will be able to read their lips later.

Yuuri reaches out and offers his hand. With a more genuine smile this time, Viktor slides his hand into Yuuri’s and squeezes. It’s not comfortable but Viktor doesn’t plan to let go until this whole thing is over.

“I’ll be right here,” Yuuri assures him.

Phichit is making kissy faces across the room at them and Viktor feels a small semblance of calm come over him. If nothing else, his love for Yuuri is one thing he’s completely comfortable with in front of a camera.

The nurse who has been bustling around Yuuri finally has his equipment prepared and takes a seat next to him. Viktor has to look away as he inserts the needle and, in doing so, catches Chris’s eye. His friend offers him one of his less seductive smiles. Being in Geneva, Chris is garnering quite a lot of attention. He is, after all, their heart of their national skating pride. Chris, of course, takes this in his stride.

“It’s been too long since you were in Geneva, Vitya,” says Chris woefully in French. “I’ve missed having a challenging drinking partner.”

Viktor rolls his eyes fondly. “I’ve never found you to be much of a challenge,” he shoots back, making Chris laugh heartily.

“You wound me,” he says, putting his free hand (which isn’t connected to a needle) on his chest.

Viktor is grateful for Chris - their usual mildly flirtatious communication is helping take his mind off the inevitable violation which is to come.

(Yuuri might be right. He might be a tad dramatic.)

“It’s not as bad as you think,” Chris says softly in Russian before switching back to French without ever once changing his expression. “You should bring that gorgeous husband of yours round for dinner tonight.”

“Well, we were thinking of visiting Stephane since he is, of course, my favourite Swiss skater,” Viktor teases, adding his thanks in Russian.

Chris, deciding he is too hurt by Viktor’s comments to answer them directly, leans forward slightly to appeal to Yuuri in English. “Yuuri, darling, your husband is quite the dreadful heartbreaker.”

Yuuri, who Viktor notices has now finished being prodded and is sitting calmly squeezing a stress ball to help the blood flow, offers Chris an innocent smile. “Was I naive to assume that marriage would discourage your advances, Christophe?”

At the use of his full name, Chris fans himself with his free hand. “Goodness, what have I done to deserve such formality? You know how I feel about formality, Yuuri.”

Once upon a time, Yuuri might have been flustered into silence. Now, he’s endlessly familiar with Chris’s flirtations and simply rolls his eyes. “If you’re looking for a threesome, Chris, all you have to do is ask.”

Viktor nearly chokes on his own tongue and Chris practically dissolves into laughter.

“You picked a fiesty one, Vitya,” he says in French.

Viktor is about to respond when a nurse wheels her trolley over and offers him a smile.

“Hello, Monsieur Nikiforov. I am Elena. Let me see your arm,” she says in heavily accented English.

Viktor feels himself shaking as he extends his places his right arm on the armrest and takes a deep, slow breath.

“Do not worry,” says Elena kindly. “It will only pinch.”

“He speaks French, if you can stand the accent,” says Chris helpfully in French, offering Viktor a smirk. “He’s a Russian who learned from a Frenchman.”

Elena smiles, switching to French as she says, “I’m sure your French is lovely.”

“It’s one of my favourites to speak,” Viktor says, managing to keep his voice relatively steady and tries not to watch as she prepares her equipment.

“You speak Russian, French, and English fluently?” she asks conversationally.

Viktor swallows. “Yes. And I’m learning Japanese.”

She raises her eyebrows, looking impressed as she ties a band around Viktor’s upper arm. It hurts and Viktor tries to swallow his panic as she starts prodding gently at the inside of his elbow.

“You’re learning for your husband?” She asks, nodding over towards Yuuri. Viktor shoots Yuuri a smile. It’s clear his husband is only following roughly half of the conversation and Viktor feels bad for leaving him out but he also wants Elena to be able to communicate in a language in which she’s fluent.

“Hai,” Viktor says softly and Yuuri smiles fondly, rubbing his thumb over the back of Viktor’s hand. He doesn’t need to translate for Elena; his tone says it all.

“How long have you been married?” Elena asks, clearly trying to keep him distracted.

“Um,” he says, feeling the panic rise in his chest as she unwraps a fresh needle. He closes his eyes and squeezes Yuuri’s hand tighter. “Almost a year.”

“Are you planning anything for your anniversary?” She asks and Viktor feels a sharp pinch and it’s in.

He takes a deep breath. Okay. This could be worse. It’s horrible and he can feel it and the panic is settling almost restrictively in his chest but it’s okay.

“It’s okay,” Yuuri whispers in Russian. “Remember when you broke your ankle on that double axel in juniors? This can’t be worse than that.”

Despite the fear, Viktor looks over at Yuuri fondly. “You really were my biggest fan, weren’t you?”

Yuuri doesn’t flush. “Am,” he corrects. “Am your biggest fan.”

From behind Yuuri, Yurio sits forward and makes a vomiting noise before promptly slumping back against the chair again. Viktor’s laugh is strained but it’s genuine.

“Alright,” says Elena, apparently finished. “If you start to feel sick at any point, I want you to let me know. It happens all the time so don’t be embarrassed about it.” She turns to Yuuri and switches back to English. “How are you feeling, Mr Katsuki?”

Yuuri smiles. “Fine, thank you. And it’s still just Yuuri.”

Elena nods but doesn’t correct herself and gives Viktor a pointed look. “If you feel sick, tell me.”

And then she takes her trolley over to Leo.

Viktor keeps his eyes on Yuuri and tries not to think about it. Does he feel sick? Or is he just anxious? Well, now he’s anxious that he might be feeling sick. And it doesn’t help that the damn cameras are still staring him down. The clinic had required that they remain to one side of the room and out of the way and Viktor is endlessly thankful for small mercies.

“How do you think Makkachin would feel about another dog?” Yuuri asks and it takes Viktor completely by surprise.

“Not sure,” he answers somewhat breathlessly. “I’ve never asked her.”

Yuuri nods. Viktor fiddles with Yuuri’s wedding ring with his pinky.

“I think it’s a good idea though,” he adds after a moment. “Can’t have too many dogs, right?”

Viktor feels a slight twinge in his arm and gasps softly. He wants to cry. This is an entirely awful experience and he wants it to be over.

“I don’t like this,” he says in Russian, no longer trying to keep the distress out of his voice. It’s all he can do to keep himself looking calm for the cameras.

Yuuri doesn’t even blink. “Do you want to stop?” He asks and there’s no accusation or disappointment in his tone but Viktor reads those emotions into his voice anyway. He shakes his head.

“We’ve started now,” he says. “It’ll be over soon, right?”

Squeezing his hand again, Yuuri says gently, “It will. And I’ll stay right here. But remember you can stop whenever you want.”

Viktor nods.

“Are you feeling sick?” Yuuri asks, concerned.

“No,” Viktor mumbles, closing his eyes. He tries to hyperfocus on the feeling of Yuuri’s hand in his. It’s warm and solid and soft. If Viktor concentrates, he can feel every single point of connection, can trace the outline of Yuuri’s fingers as they fold round his own.

“You’re doing really well,” Yuuri says earnestly and Viktor feels the corners of his lips twitch into an involuntary smile. Yuuri is so good to him, he thinks.

In the end, it isn’t actually that bad. Yuuri says soft things in a mix of Russian and Japanese and Viktor hums and nods and plays with Yuuri’s slender fingers and tries to relax into his seat. For a moment, he feels a little...off. But it passes and Elena, who has just finished securing a sticky bandage to Yuuri’s inner elbow, returns to inspect his progress. She seems pleased.

“Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” She says with a smile and Viktor gives her a slight shake of his head. She looks closely at him. “You look a little pale. Are you feeling okay?”

Viktor is thankful that Chris finished donating ages ago so he doesn’t have to endure snarky comments about his snow-climate complexion. “I’m alright,” he tells her. And he is.

Until he tries to stand up and the world tilts quite dramatically sideways. He reaches for Yuuri.

And then. Well, he isn’t sure what happens next. But then his head is settled comfortably in Yuuri’s lap and Yuuri’s delicate fingers are running gently through his hair which feels gross from the nervous sweats he’d experienced an hour ago. Viktor wants to tell him to wait until he’s had a shower but he also doesn’t want Yuuri to stop.

“It’s alright, Vitya,” Yuuri’s voice says warmly. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Viktor stares up at Yuuri who looks somewhat blurry. He wonders briefly if he’s supposed to be wearing glasses but then remembers that Yuuri is the one who wears them. Is this what Yuuri sees when he’s skating? How does he avoid the barriers?

“Can you sit up for me, love?” Yuuri asks and Viktor tries his best but he probably couldn’t have managed it without Yuuri’s strong, guiding arms. Have Yuuri’s biceps always been this...firm?

Viktor rests his head on Yuuri’s shoulder and sighs. His entire body feels tingly and he feels like he’s floating just outside of himself. Not to mention his stomach is tying itself in knots. His arms shake where they try to support him but Yuuri’s body is a rock, keeping him anchored.

Elena hands Yuuri a carton of apple juice and Viktor watches with rapt fascination while Yuuri expertly releases the attached straw from its plastic wrapping with one hand and pierces the foil on top of the carton, keeping his other arm wrapped firmly round his husband’s waist. Somewhat dazedly, Viktor wonders if this is why damsels are always in distress. Having Yuuri take charge of things so smoothly is just about the most attractive thing Viktor has ever seen and Viktor tells him so in Russian. Well, he tries to tell him. But it comes out mumbled and half in French and Yuuri just kisses his forehead indulgently.

“Small sips,” Yuuri says as he holds the juicebox so that the straw just touches Viktor’s lips.

The sweet taste makes Viktor feel a little more real. He can feel the ground solidifying beneath him as the chill floods through his chest and travels down into his stomach. After a moment, he lifts a shaky hand to take the juicebox from Yuuri but he doesn’t make any other moves to support himself independently. Yuuri doesn’t seem to mind. His now free hand comes to rest softly on Viktor’s thigh.

For a moment, everything is bliss. And then the realisation of what just happened comes crashing down on Viktor and he feels his face turn a brilliant shade of scarlet. He buries his face in Yuuri’s shoulder and groans.

“This is so embarrassing,” he says mournfully.

Yuuri shushes him kindly and Elena says, “You have no reason to be embarrassed. This happens a lot.”

Her words do give Viktor a little reassurance but he can’t help thinking that most people don’t faint in front of a full camera crew and end up with gifs of themselves collapsing on the internet forever. Knowing the speed of the online world, Viktor wouldn’t be surprised if those gifs were already circulating on tumblr. He groans again.

“Vitya,” Yuuri coaxes, nudging his shoulder slightly to get Viktor to show his face. “Finish your juice. There’s still half left.”

Reluctantly, Viktor takes another few sips of his juicebox and is somewhat frustrated that he enjoys the taste of it when he’s doing his best to feel embarrassed and miserable. He feels Yuuri’s lips against his hair and the soft, warm huffs of Yuuri’s breath ruffling the strands of his fringe and he thinks that maybe this isn’t the absolute worst thing in the world.

It’s going to take a while to repair his image, though. He takes a moment to mourn that before he finishes his juice forcefully so that it makes a pointed gurgling noise to prove to Yuuri that it’s finished.

True to their word, Elena and Yuuri help him unsteadily to his feet and he’s soon settled in a plastic chair with Yurio on one side and Chris on the other. Yuuri crouches down in front of him and smiles.

“Feeling a bit better?” He asks kindly.

Viktor doesn’t get a chance to answer before Yurio butts in. “Is it true you fainted? I mean, you actually fainted?”

It takes Viktor a moment to register Yurio’s strange accent but Yuuri seems to be on it far faster than he is because he says, “Shove off, Malfoy,” and Chris lets out a snort.

“For real, though,” Chris says. “Are you okay? Nothing damaged?”

Viktor sighs. “Only my pride.”

“You needed taking down a peg,” says Chris matter-of-factly and Viktor aims a lethargic punch at his leg.

Yuuri catches his hand as he brings it back and kisses it gently and Viktor thinks he can see every single star right there in his eyes. “I’m so proud of you,” he says earnestly.

And Viktor thinks that maybe it’s okay after all. Because Yuuri is proud of him. And that’s enough.

#acefic #acefic yoi

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years

Text

Skam France S2.2 reaction

they managed to make one of my most disliked parts somewhat less bad

slow clap for Skam France?

some very heated opinions below, be aware!

Episode 2

For real, some very negative opinions are coming, and it’s not my intention to make anyone feel like garbage about something they like. If you’re a fan of Noorhelm/Marles, maybe don’t read.

Clip 1 - Manon and Emma in class

I like Emma a lot more this season. I didn’t feel like the actress quite carried the really vulnerable moments, but she’s exhibiting more personality with her take on S2 Party Eva.

They cut the scene with the two girls asking Noora if Jonas had a girlfriend and if he were dating Eva, so the vibe is kind of different. With that context it seems like Noora wants to gently nudge him Eva into moving on because she suspects Jonas is moving on. This has some of that but it also feels less urgent, because Manon doesn’t have quite the same reason to be concerned for Emma’s feelings in that moment.

I do like Emma’s bit about being kidnapped by that prostitution ring in Taken, that’s funny.

Clip 2 - Yann the Man

Charles’ text about seeing Manon even though she was trying to hide - WHY. Why would they add this shit? Do they not get how uncomfortable this makes girls feel? Manon goes to school with this guy so there is nothing she can do to completely avoid him. He is not only just checking her out, but he’s making sure she’s aware of it. Let’s be clear: she wanted to hide from him, and he made sure she knew that he noticed she was trying to hide, and he made sure she knew that it didn’t work.

Look, I know that many Noorhelm fans also hate William’s behavior at the beginning of S2 and only warmed up to him as the season progressed. For me it’s that this opening behavior is so bad, such a textbook example of male entitlement in action, that it’s hard for me to ever get past it. I just have very few fucks to give about men who prioritize their boner feels over women’s boundaries.

Lucas, Sarah, and Ingrid here are like when Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown started sucking face and Harry and Parvati Patil had that shared moment of “God, our friends are getting on our nerves.”

I super love French Ingrid. I love her being bored and annoyed by Lucas and Sarah, and then her flustered reaction to Yann was great.

So what I’m taking away from Daphne’s reaction is that Manon and Emma probably told the whole girl squad about what they saw on Lucas’ phone. Not cool.

AND NOW a breakdown of Yann’s power walk. This scene annoyed me, because they did not put in the work of setting it up. This is Skam France’s worst quality; it copies the events at surface level without understanding why they are there or how they got there in the first place. At least this is a smaller humorous moment and not something dramatically important, even though it is relevant in terms of Emma’s character this season.

Let’s go over how the two shows set up this scene. Skam plants the setup during last Friday’s scene at Noora’s. The girls get to talking about sex, it’s a frank conversation. Vilde wants to know if the others have ever experienced a guy going down on them, because she thinks (hopes) William may do it to her. Eva jokes that no Norwegian guys will go down on girls, telling us in an indirect way about this aspect of her relationship with Jonas. This part of the scene is so comedic and light-hearted that on first viewing, you might not assume that it’s not anything except banter, a fun conversation that Noora has no part in and serves as a contrast to her anxiety over William’s attempts to contact her and Vilde’s continued interest in William. At the start of the next episode, we have a clip with Noora at her locker and being approached by two unknown girls who clearly catch her off guard, too, and want to know whether Jonas has a girlfriend. This random encounter leads her to prod about Jonas from Eva and subtly push her in the direction of moving on, as she suspects that Jonas may no longer be single. Then we get The Clip. As Vilde makes conversation with Ingrid, Eva notices girls’ heads turning in one direction, whispering and giggling. She follows their gaze. They’re looking at Jonas. She wants to know why, and she gets the answer about Jonas going down on a third year. Vilde looks confused, then starts to ask Eva about what she said on Friday, but Noora shakes her head as we get Eva’s stunned reaction. Jonas comes up to them and we get an iconic quote.

Skam France sets it up like this: Sarah tells us that Yann is the big man of campus, we see him walking and girls reacting, we get the explanation about Yann going down on the third-year, Emma seems a bit upset, he goes up to the girl squad and drops his line.

We don’t get the setup of “French guys not going down on girls” so there’s no impact of Yann being THE man, THE one true cunnilingus hero (and I have no idea what’s the general attitude of French men toward going down on women but I mean, you could spin this as “teenage boys are all about their own pleasure and don’t eat out girls” no matter what country you’re in) (except lol it ain’t gonna work in Skam Italia, thanks Giovanni!) - like I can understand in-universe why the girls might be impressed but from an audience POV, we’re not given any means of comparison to understand just why this is such a big deal

We don’t get that earlier line from Emma in particular so there’s no impact of understanding how upset she might be about this - not just that Yann is hooking up with other girls, but that he’s doing something with them that he apparently never did with her

There’s no additional moment of realization, “oh, so THAT’S why those random girls suddenly wanted to know if Yann is single,” a Brick Joke to use a TVTropes phrase, because they cut that scene

Even within the scene itself, it’s not built up? Like in OG we see girls reacting to Jonas and Eva picking up on it before we land the punchline. This one just tells you off the bat that Yann did a Thing, look at him (this bothers me less than the omission of the other stuff but in combination with it, it’s another symptom)

Is any of this a crime? No. Could people still find the Yann scene funny? Sure. But if this were my show, and I had to cut some things that didn’t fit into the episodes? I would question whether this scene was as effective without the buildup. I would question whether it was necessary. If I had to get across Emma’s moment of hurt, that likely inspires her to start hooking up with dudes from social media, I would consider whether it could be written in another way.

TBH I know I’m sounding nitpicky, but honestly this is why I enjoy overanalyzing the remakes. I felt like I learned something about setup and punchlines from observing the two scenes, and I appreciate how deftly Julie managed to make an extended oral sex joke pack some emotional punch.

I did like the music break from when he was walking to the exposition, and that was an admittedly great line from Yann about being hungry.

Clip 3 - Daphne loves lesbians

Daphne was sitting apart from the other girls at the beginning of the scene seeming very disconnected, hmmm.

Also Emma is not using Tinder in this version, she’s using Instagram and seems a bit firm that she isn’t using Tinder, so I wonder what the significance of that was. Maybe because Tinder is an app used for dating, and she doesn’t want to seem like she’s trying too much to move on, whereas Instagram is a more generic app with other purposes and hey, if a guy happens to message you, why not just roll with it, right?

And Emma immediately says no fake plans, like she just immediately calls it, though Manon fakes them anyway.

Does anyone else think that Alex’s sexuality is being handled really strangely, and by strangely I mean not at all? Because from what I recall, in canon we really just that comment about her hooking up with the girl named Clara and wanting to see Daphne’s topless pics. Her bisexuality was confirmed by the actress, outside of the show. This scene would’ve been a perfect time to address Alex’s sexuality directly, especially because Daphne is the kind of clueless character who would say something boneheaded that would require some education. When Daphne asks Manon whether she’s a lesbian, why not have her mention something like, “It’s OK if you like girls, so does Alex,” or even make a misguided comment about how Alex and Manon could pair off? Or have Alex make some kind of joke related to the discussion? Like this is genuinely weird to me not to acknowledge it at all in this context, when Daphne is even saying that their laughter makes it an unsafe environment for Manon to come out, but there’s also a bi girl sitting right there, participating in the laughter? It feels like another example of them just not thinking through the script that much.

This is why I’m skeptical about how they’ll handle the bit with Daphne and Emma making out, as seen in the trailer. Because again, they have a girl in the group who actually is supposed to be bisexual and who has apparently hooked up with girls, and yet we don’t hear much about it except in passing, but if we get these two supposedly straight girls making out because they’re drunk … that’s not a great look? What I’m worried is that they’ll play it completely like the original show because they’re just following the script and not thinking about it, while ignoring that they’ve changed a character’s sexuality and it might be relevant.

They cut the bit with Jamilla and her crew, so maybe they won’t play a role this season. I guess if they ever get to season four, they’re really going to have to rewrite the story because the bus plot will not make sense. But it’s kind of a bummer, I hope they find another way to include those girls. I think Skam France could improve on the original in how much they used the hijab squad in the show.

Manon, what was your objective in coming on to Daphne like that? You just have to get in her personal space. MMMMkay girl.

OK I laughed my ass off at Daphne posting a “love is love” image immediately after this clip.

God, I really wish we had Daphne for season three.

Clip 4 - The date

It only took me two whole episodes to figure out who Mika reminds me of: Ben Whishaw. Which is super obvious now that I recognize it.

Mickael’s DRAMAAAAAA is up there with P-Chris’ iconic version. Manon’s imitation is also good.

Mickael is smart negotiating for a birthday gift even if it didn’t quite work. I like his style.

Manon doesn’t wipe off her lipstick (like Noora did) which maybe is supposed to signify that she’s attracted to Charles, or maybe that she’s less concerned with how she presents to him. She does seem to be more confident when she squares off with him verbally.

I know the part in the car with The Weeknd is Iconique but I thought this version was fine and worked about as well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is one of my most hated parts of the original show, so let’s see how they did.

Disregarding the context of how he got her on this date, that’s a nice setup with the chairs on the rooftop (which I’m guessing he dragged up there himself).

Actually ... you know what, there’s a lot of uncomfortable stuff about this part that I didn’t even realize previously because it’s presented so cinematically. (Assume that when I refer to Charles here, I also mean William because it’s more or less the same writing.) One thing I’ve never really considered until now is that if Charles (or any guy) pressured me into this date, didn’t accept my rejection, said that saying no will just make him want me more ... I would be fucking afraid if I finally went with him on a date and he took me to an isolated area. Now I didn’t think about that at first because this is a very beautiful scene from an aesthetic point of view! There is some gorgeous cinematography in both this scene and the original version. And he gives her something to drink and it’s cute because he remembered she doesn’t drink alcohol, so he made cocoa, cocoa is a drink that brings to mind warm, cozy feelings! Awww!

But take this out of the pretty TV context: in real life, a guy who has made it clear he doesn’t take no for an answer and who takes me to a nice secluded area and gives me a drink he made himself? Would raise serious alarms. I would have this feeling of dread in my stomach. And I don’t think you can disregard this train of thought or call it unfair or over-the-top, because guess what, Noora (Manon too by the looks of it) is potentially drugged later in the season when someone gives her a drink (I don’t remember if they ever confirmed if she was drugged or if she just got very drunk and blacked out, but we’re definitely supposed to think it’s a possibility). We do have a sexual assault storyline later on, with this very same character. It is completely reasonable to consider these dynamics especially in light of the season’s larger themes and topics.

I am being 100% serious ... what reason does Manon have to think that Charles is not capable of date rape at this point? Think about it, consider it from her POV where she doesn’t know what’s going to happen later in this season, just analyze what she knows in this moment. So far he’s had sex with her friend and then ignored her and cruelly put her down, and he’s pursued her despite her rejecting him, he’s openly said that he doesn’t take her “no” seriously, he’s sent her messages that make clear he’s noticed she’s tried to hide from him and he doesn’t care, he’s cornered her into this date. Other than the fact that Charles is our designated male lead, why should Manon trust him? Why should we? The only reason is because we know we’re watching a TV show, we know that this is the scene where we start to build up to our characters getting together later. Charles is handsome, Charles will be The Love Interest, therefore Charles is going to be a good guy. If Charles was some gross, unattractive, obnoxious dude who would clearly not end up with our heroine, how would this scene feel?

The jab at Twilight is hilarious and accurate. They are Bella and Edward.

“Why did you get into my car?” You fucking know why, dude.

This shit about him not pressuring her to go out with her is wrong. Yes. He did. Him just saying he didn’t doesn’t make it true. If just saying stuff made it true I’m going to go around calling myself Julie Andem and telling people I’m working on Skam Season 5: The Adventures of Dr. Skrulle and Her Wife, The Danish Receptionist.

In original Skam Noora did tell Vilde that there was nothing going on with her and William before this point, I don’t think Manon did. So I guess Manon could have done that. But Charles has put her in a complicated place. Manon asked him to apologize to Daphne. He did so on the condition that Manon go on a date with him. At this point Manon can’t tell Daphne she’s going out with Charles without having to explain why, which means nullifying the apology in the first place. And Manon is trying to avoid him but he won’t let it happen, and he’s shown that he’s willing to use Daphne to get to her.

All right, here’s why I fucking hate this scene: this is a prime opportunity for William/Charles to show some humility and character growth about what happened with Vilde/Daphne, and he doesn’t. Not once during this conversation does he express regret for how he handled the Vilde/Daphne situation. Not once does he express remorse or consideration for her feelings. Instead he offers several excuses about why what he did was justified, which happen to be about benefiting himself. So basically his apology was hollow and only about getting this date with Noora/Manon. Yes, it is early in the season and his character should be able to grow in future episodes, but I don’t recall William ever changing his tune on this topic, specifically.

And tbh what's irritating is that this is framed like William/Charles has some reasonable points, and no, he doesn’t, literally every excuse he offers can be easily torn down. Noora/Manon can be judgmental, for sure, they can assess people incorrectly, but in this scene, they are completely right in their criticisms of what happened.

“Being nice to someone you want to get rid of doesn’t work ... I’ve been clear with her.” So did he ever try ... telling her outright ... you know, BEFORE they have sex, “hey, I’m not looking for a relationship.” Oh wait, the girl might not want to have sex with him then. Or even explaining it in direct but not malicious words afterwards? From what I remember, he basically just ghosted her until she confronted him and he tore her down. He doesn’t have to promise her anything, but he also owes her some basic respect. And he knew he was doing something cruel. Remember when he walked by Daphne and the girls in the schoolyard and he made a point of establishing eye contact, then looking away?

“I’m not responsible” for harming Daphne’s self-image - oh shut up. If I went up to a random person on the street and told them they were ugly, I probably wouldn’t break their spirits forever and ever. But I probably would play on any insecurities they had. I would possibly create new insecurities that weren’t there. And I would possibly make them feel like garbage. So yes, I have to take some responsibility for the fallout.

And lmao, what bothers me is that yeah, actually we do see how cruel comments can affect one’s self-image over and over throughout the show. We see it with Vilde and Daphne, how this made them feel like they weren’t pretty enough and influenced their disordered eating. We saw it with Noora, how her shitty previous boyfriend also messed up her self-image and caused her to get sick. We saw it with Isak, how casual homophobia and comments about gay people around him influenced how he saw himself and made it difficult to call himself gay. We saw it with Sana, how she was bullied at her old school for being Muslim, how Islamophobia affected her and shaped her, how desperate she was to prove herself because people were judging her on all sides. It’s fine if William/Charles is meant to be wrong. What bugs me is that the way this is presented, makes it seem like he’s supposed to be right.

“I’m not letting her think there are chances when there aren’t” - aren’t you texting Daphne and inviting her to things? He absolutely knows how Daphne is going to respond to this. If he was so desperate to use one of the girls as a go-between for him and Manon, he could easily get Emma’s number from his pal Alex. But no, he is going through Daphne deliberately, because he knows she’ll be an enthusiastic messenger. And he knows she’s going to get hopeful. He literally says that she’s into him again!

Characters can be flawed, characters don’t need to always say the right words. But William never had a turnaround where he acknowledged that his courtship of Noora or his treatment of Vilde was wrong, outside of that apology that he apparently didn’t mean, when these were things that he really, really needed to address in terms of his development. I fear that they’ll do the same with Charles since this remake is so close.

That being said, there are a few things in this scene that I preferred to the original:

One of the dumb things William says is that “if you see if from his side” Vilde is the one who pursued him, she approached him and wanted to sleep with him,. This is the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard. William is not obligated to sleep with every girl who comes on to him. He and Vilde had a consensual sexual encounter, Vilde did not trip and fall on his dick, and he was participating in her flirtations and contacting her. Take some responsibility for your role in this, dude. This bit of blame-deflecting is thankfully missing from this scene, sparing me that particular headache.

Charles’ actor has more emotional range than William’s and I felt like he maybe did feel a bit less assured in his position, whereas William felt pretty smug about it the whole way through.

Manon seems less stumped by Charles’ comments than Noora did. Not that Noora needed to have all the answers all the time, but it always saddened me that William’s BS excuses were what had her tongue-tied. Also her turning his sad anecdote into sarcasm about the homeless was good.

When Manon says she’ll walk home, Charles doesn’t push her and says it’s fine. That seems counter to chivalry, but it’s at least him respecting something she wanted, even if it might just be because he was busy with his fight drama.

The music throughout the clip was good, but the music at the end got too DRAMAAAAAAAAA for my liking.

General Comments:

I’m going to be honest, I think the actor playing Charles has more charisma than William, so on a superficial level I’m engaged more during the Manon/Charles scenes, and like I said above, I think it benefited his character in the date scene. But there are some ways I think this might make his character seem worse, for instance when telling Daphne she wasn’t good enough, it felt a lot more deliberately mean whereas William seemed so checked out of the whole thing that it was less like he wanted to twist the knife. So we’ll see how he fares at some later parts of the season.

Tangent but I love the girls texting about Jane the Virgin. Also that Manon references Pedro Almodóvar and Emma’s like “we don’t have the same reference pool,” that legit made me laugh.

This had a lot of negative remarks, lol. Probably this will be as negative as it gets, tbh. That one scene just makes me angry.

I’m not French so I apologize if I misinterpret, and feel free to correct me.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading!

#skamfr reactions

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haltandcatchfiretothemax · 7 years

Text

It's cool cos we're like, adventurers: Cameron and Donna go about things differently than they normally would in "Adventure", or, a H&CF recap

The fifth episode of Halt and Catch Fire is named for a computer game that everyone (or, a good portion of the Cardiff staff) gets sucked into; in the end, the coders who cheated/re-coded (?) their way through the game are the only ones who get to keep their jobs. It is Peak Halt and Catch Fire Metaphor, in this case for an episode where our main characters are initiating or escalating a different sort of game, and finding out what kind of players they are. J*e toys with his father (and also Bos, who only has one scene in this ep?), unwilling and also not really able to see him, and vacillates between behaving as obnoxiously as his father does and trying to be a better, kinder type of executive. Gordon steps out of his hardware geek comfort zone and attempts to wine and dine his father-in-law and Japanese executives, and it works out in the end, but just barely, and because he begs for help. Ultimately, both seem to recognize their limits.

Donna gets very little screen time in this episode, and most of it is with Hunt, of all people (RosaDiazEyeroll DOT GIF). Her parents are all over this episode, though they interact more with Gordon, and the way Donna gets eclipsed feels significant. When we do see her she's making French toast for her father's birthday, or making peach pies for her parents' barbeque. Ever the perfect wife, she even buys her father a putter and tells him it's from Gordon. All of this elaborately sets up Gordon's arc, in which he decides his p.c. is worth asking his douche of a father-in-law for a round of golf so he can ask him to set up a meeting executives from a Japanese tech company.

By contrast, Donna's scenes with Hunt are one-on-one, with no major professional stakes. Echoing J*e's evil boss act, Hunt yells at Donna for not submitting the right report, and then after she explains that the report is under a supplemental report, he snaps at her for not putting the report he wanted on top. Let that sink in -- Hunt yelled at Donna because he's so entitled and incompetent that he couldn't shuffle through a stack of papers; again, how is he her boss? (LOL jk I know how, it starts with a 'p' and ends with 'atriarchy') -- but later he calls her at home to talk about it, just after Donna has hung up on a drunk Gordon who's panicking about offending the Japanese executives. (Which sounds mean, but anyone who's been paying attention can see where Donna would be tired of having to endlessly listen to and reassure Gordon.) Hunt compliments her work and her efforts, and then he apologizes for taking his frustration out on her. They have a weird conversation about 'peach pie' (…..), and because Donna is so starved for halfway decent conversation with a vaguely grown up, emotionally responsible person, she gets out and ~plays her electric piano~ that night. Which sounds funny and like a cheesy, too on the nose metaphor, but this is one of the first times we see Donna by herself, not doing some kind of domestic labor, and it's when she starts to lean into and enjoy the tension between her and Hunt.

It seems like Cameron is always doing what Donna wishes she could do (as in, what Donna wishes she could do professionally, not in terms of 'piano playing'…), and this episode is no different. Cameron spends most of "Adventure" assertively claiming credit for her work, arguing with coworkers, and figuring out how to get herself promoted. She comes back from a business trip (which she understandably worries was another of J*e's set ups, even without really knowing what happened in the previous episode) to an office full of new people and a short lecture on how corporate and tech culture don't accommodate anxious introverts who'd rather do all the coding on their own so that they don't have to try to communicate with other human beings. She goes directly from the lecture to The Kill Room where Gordon and his team are coming up with the most ridiculously cliche geek culture names for her code. "Excuse me? I wrote the BIOS. I name it. Lovelace." After she reminds them that Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer ever, they test the BIOS and it turns on. They pop champagne and congratulate themselves; Cameron skulks out without a word before they can offer her some, though she probably would've had to demand that from them, too, to get any.

In the following scenes Cameron struggles to adjust to having a new boss, fellow coders, and, as America's Next Top Model Host Tyra Banks might put it, not being the prettiest girl at school anymore. Meaning, Cameron isn't the only young misfit software writer at the office anymore, and it's both inconvenient and genuinely emotionally challenging for her. The writers and Mackenzie Davis quietly add considerable depth to an already compelling character here, addressing and unpacking a lot of gripes that unsympathetic viewers continue to have about Cameron. We see her interact successfully, if awkwardly with Lev and especially Yo-yo, who invites her to a group hang, and she hesitates; so yeah, she's anti-social, but she's also scared, and seems like she really isn't used to people not judging or looking down on her.

She interacts far less successfully with her new boss, and yeah, she doesn't respond well to authority -- but with how both the boss and J*e treat her ("no need to get your panties in a wad"; "If I've given you the impression that because of this thing we've got going on that you're entitled to special treatment…") , she frankly has good reason to not trust them. (And yeah, I'm gonna be That Bitch and point out that neither of them would have spoken to a male employee that way.) And yes, Cameron in an entitled young white woman (though lets be real, no one would be calling a white boy genius entitled), but she also is apparently qualified, it's just that she has to be unattractively forward about showing it. File under: Before You Write Cameron Howe Off As An Unlikeable Brat.

Of course all of this sets up Cameron's unexpected meeting with J*e Sr., which is surprisingly satisfying despite being miserable and uncomfortable. We see a retread of the pilot scene where J*e figured out that the way to get to her is to paternally and warmly praise her work; Cameron is characteristically ~sassy~ with J*e Sr. until he tells her, "When my guys came back to New York they couldn't stop talking about this prodigy named Cameron Howe!" She's skeptical, and then he says, "They said you're the modern Ada Lovelace." Boom. In the next scene they're having drinks. It's going fine and Cameron is adorably geeking out over how J*e Sr. worked with Grace Hopper until he figures out that Cameron's father was killed in action while serving as a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam. Anyone who's lost a parent who actually took care of them feels Cameron's reaction. She excuses herself, and J*e Sr. smiles unctuously. Because of course he’s been playing her.

Cameron figures it out though, and it results in her eventual triumph. Or well, she mostly figures it out -- she uses her very real grief to act all wounded and emotional and pump J*e Sr. for more information, before calling him out on trying to manipulate her into convincing J*e to see him. I'm pretty sure J*e Sr. was trying to poach her because it would hurt J*e, and that Cameron is still underestimating just how comfortable they are with turning people into pawns. She gets what she needs, though, and the following day she uses her rarely seen practical knowledge to dazzle J*e into giving her her boss' job; in effect, she figures out the (corporate bro) code, and rewrites it into her promotion. Cameron is slowly learning what someone like Donna already knows about corporate structures and dealing with male upper management. Now they just gotta figure out how to not sublimate their ambitions into pesky crushes on the upper management!

Stray bytes:

I love how all we see of Cameron's business trip is her spending Cardiff's money on hotel amenities. #incharacter I still have weird feelings about her not knowing what a concierge is, though

The opening montage is brutal though, did you see J*e trying to put on his shoe? Reminder that yes, he's an out of control abuser, but that J*e was the victim of p*lice violence/brutality. The beating he got in the previous episode was no joke.

J*e, who lied his way into a company, forced it do his bidding, and nearly destroyed it, calling Cameron 'entitled': L M A O

Today in "Oh my G-D Gordon STFU": "I'm not the one screwing Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" You're not in a position to judge anyone's sanity OR sex life, GORDON, also just accept that Cameron is WAY OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE AND WOULD NEVER DATE YOU

How do we feel about how the show portrays the Japanese executives? Total Orientalist-type nightmare, or am I being overly-critical?

The storyline with the Japanese and their apparently strict corporate etiquette is very Mad Men, which is fine with me, tbh

"Donna was right, you're all hat and no cattle!" Speaking of which, Gordon is officially Halt's Pete Campbell/white dude who has ridiculous sounding outbursts, right? ("Hell's bells, Trudy!" "Not great, Bob!" "It's a shameful, SHAMEFUL DAY!")

As much as Gordon annoys me, his in-laws are terrible to him. Like, Susan really believed the putter was from Gordon? Gary thought Gordon wanted to spend time with him?! W T F. RICH WH*TE PEOPLE ARE SO WEIRD.

Compare Cameron's 'I name the BIOS' with Donna's facetious, "Don't you mean Susan Fairchild?"

According to the internet, a helicopter crew chief's primary job is to maintain the helicopter itself. Cameron's dad was basically a helicopter mechanic, which makes so much sense, if anyone needs me I will be tearing up over the idea of Cameron coping with her grief by taking apart computers as a kid

"You're both disgusting." Cameron Howe, Computer Programmer, Game Designer, and Misandrist

Steve, on Cameron: "She's got a real attitude problem." #THATSMYGIRL

The scene near the end where J*e seems to quietly panic at the idea of Cameron meeting his father. This…is textbook childhood abuse stuff. Just saying.

I'm just gonna say it, ICYMI: petition to make 'playing her electric keyboard' a common euphemism for female masturbation

‘It’s cool cos we’re like, adventures’: Be Your Own Pet, also fronted by a bratty, skinny, Southern bleached blonde known for heckling her own openers actually wrote a song called “Adventurers” back in 2006. How weird is that?!

#new season starts in 2 days and the world is exploding but i'm all 'let me keep recapping tho'#again no cut for accessibility #cameron howe #donna clark #donna emerson #the h&cf rewatch #halt and catch fire s1 #1x05 #adventure #halt and catch fire to the max originals!#hacf to the max original recaps

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kristallioness · 7 years

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"North and South: Part Two" - a review

My copy of "North and South: Part Two" arrived last week and I reread it. Now, I'm gonna write down my thoughts and opinion as a contrast to some of the critique I've already seen.

First off, I'd like to point out that I've already established how I feel about Sokka and Katara considering Malina as their stepmother dad's new girlfriend, Aang and Katara naming their daughter Kya, as well as Hakoda and Katara's heartfelt conversation over here (I'm forever glad I managed to see this before the rest because I loved it so much and could analyze it to pieces without focusing on the mess that goes down later). Plus, a few other things here and in the description of this mournful drawing.

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Let me start with the way Katara acts towards Malina. Since they met, Katara has felt offended by Malina and the way she (unintentionally) insults her culture. Katara comes from a culture that's always had a rather simple, freer, more gender-equal lifestyle, nothing fancy, strict or patriarchal like in the north. Because of this, she and the southerners as a whole are considered to be lower class, even less competent or intelligent, if you will. Hence the idea that they might not be ready to handle the extracting and shipping of the oil that rightfully belongs to them (as it's found under their land). Offering to build a fancy palace, saying the taste of their food is "off", that their tribe needs lifting up, leaving the impression that they're just stupid snow rats who can be easily manipulated or used - I for one can clearly see why Katara is offended and damn right she should be (I'm most likely gonna protect her a lot in this discussion, so be prepared).

After her conversation with her dad, Katara feels a bit more reassured that Malina truly is trying to help them. It's very important that it was her father who helped her come to this point. Hakoda has known Malina for a longer period of time, so it's logical that Katara eventually believes him when he comforts her that she's not up to anything nefarious. I mean.. it's Hakoda and Katara, father and daughter - she trusts her father, there's no doubt about that. And he certainly helped along by letting her see things from his point of view, plus making the connection with how she feels about Aang was lovely.

So Katara lightens up and sort of understands that Malina is still learning their ways, that maybe she shouldn't be so hostile towards her and instead give her a chance (or much rather, the benefit of a doubt - I'll come back to this soon). But just then, Malina reveals what their initial plans were. Here's something that's worth noting - Katara wouldn't have jumped up on that stage to protect Malina (and Maliq) if there hadn't been a tiny part of her that still believed she was telling the truth and didn't want any harm to the southerners. Yes, Aang did say that they didn't deserve to die and hoped that Katara would go protect them while he dealt with the soldiers, which definitely was the main reason she slid to the rescue. But at that moment, I believe her feelings about Malina were so mixed due to the betrayal that she didn't realize this yet (and I hope she will in the third part).

Finally, I reach the part that has the most parallels to certain scenes, even episodes from the original series. Where have we seen the same events play out? When was the last time Katara used to hate somebody because he was their biggest enemy, then let her guard down when he sympathized with her, which ended up with him turning his back on her, her loved one (almost) getting killed and her having to heal them back to health (not to mention the emotional pain she had to live through)? That's right - with Zuko. When they were trapped in the Crystal Catacombs.

In the end, Katara is acting towards Malina just like she acted towards Zuko, justifiably. Whenever she lets someone she doesn't completely trust too close, the people she loves almost get killed or hurt as a result because that person ends up betraying her. Katara is vicious and overprotective by claiming that Malina doesn't deserve to say goodbye to her dad. Don't tell me I'm the only one who doesn't blame her. I wouldn't want someone like that anywhere near my dad (or loved ones) either, especially after everything that's happened. This is an amazing parallel to the death threat she gave to Zuko after he'd joined their group. She's letting them know that she doesn't trust them and wants them nowhere near her family. This raises the question of how will Malina regain Katara's trust, which is one of the most intriguing aspects I hope to see getting a solution in the third part. Because Katara can hold a grudge.

While I was writing my opinion about Katara and Malina's relationship, I realized that Jet would actually be a rather good parallel besides Zuko, too. But since she didn't dislike him at first and everything else went pretty much in a similar pattern, I chose to leave him out for now. Plus, Zuko and Malina's betrayals sort of go deeper.

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Moving on, I'm gonna speak about another one of my favourite parts - Aang and Katara's reunion. Starting with the impression like Aang's arrival seems to be too well timed. I don't believe this to be the case (because then we could say that things are too well timed throughout the series), even though it does give such an impression. During the events of "Smoke and Shadow", it took them a couple of days to solve the mystery. We should add the hours or days Aang needed to travel from Ba Sing Se to the Fire Nation capital, then to the Southern Water Tribe. It's a long journey, so it's highly likely that Aang would've made a pit stop on some island or in a village along the way. Sokka and Katara had to walk to the train station, take it to the Outer Wall, then reach the shores of the Earth Kingdom (probably on foot), find a boat that'd take them to the Southern Water Tribe (maybe even switch boats if it wasn't heading home directly) - all of which would've taken a few days too, plus the two days they actually managed to spend at home. I find that Aang's arrival at the Southern Water Tribe isn't as random as we'd think, it seems to be quite realistic.

Enough of that, it was just something that someone pointed out and it kind of irked me, so I wanted to present my arguments. Onto the sweetest part where my favourite young lovers reunite and hug each other. Let me just say - it was beautiful! I loved that Aang asked for permission to kiss her first. I've recently learned that it's such a sweet and polite thing to do, especially if you're not sure whether your partner is okay with it (something I've put to the back of my mind when I eventually have a boyfriend/ develop a crush on someone and am not sure whether he's okay with it/ knows about my feelings). And what's most important - when Katara said that maybe not now, Aang respected her choice and didn't kiss her. Also, they were holding hands practically the entire time and that was so adorable! I love the way this heartwarming scene ends, with the loving way Katara looks at her dad - I had the most beautiful father-daughter feels.. I still do (with every moment the two share tbh).

Let's continue with some other small tidbits I found to be rather lovely, starting with Sokka. I remember how I burst out laughing when he began riding and eventually crashed that forklift at Satoru's factory - his enthusiasm about the machine is so funny. Besides that, Sokka claiming Malina is his dad's new girlfriend had me with such a Jinora-like vibe, where she told the Equalists to stay away from her dad's ex-girlfriend. And speaking of Malina, I have to admit that she really is a beautiful woman. Also, did you notice Momo blushing after he finds a plush version of himself in the pile of prizes Toph's carrying and hugs it? So cute!

There's also a mysterious matter, namely what is up with those two little southern waterbender girls? They're from Katara's tribe, right? Pakku said they were hiding deep in the mainland, in a village that wasn't visible from the shores, which is probably why they survived throughout those hundred years of war (the Fire Nation didn't search for waterbenders so far away). I know I've heard that the small village where Katara and Sokka lived at the beginning of the series wasn't the only one in the South Pole.. but this is intriguing. Katara has always been the last southern waterbender, but this would mean that she isn't anymore (plus, her daughter Kya wouldn't be the only southern waterbender besides her many years later), which is unbelievable, yet great news. What I don't seem to understand is the reason why those two don't wanna share their waterbending with anyone else but themselves. Does it have something to do with the war and having to hide their abilities in order to protect their village (like Haru was forbidden to earthbend)? I'd really like to see an explanation for this and I'm hoping this subplot in the third part will end with Katara and Pakku teaching the little girls together while Aang observes them proudly (or joins them to teach, too), just like Katara watched him teach the air acolytes at the end of "The Promise".

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Onto more serious matters from now on, like the way Katara's worried why it'd be a good thing to have so many machines in every part of their lives. To understand this better and be aware of what I'm talking about, I specifically reread "The Rift" (and shed tears since I didn't even remember half of the story, which had one of the most bittersweet as well as beautiful plots) to see how everybody reacted there. I can see why, she reacted the same way - what if there's an accident with the oil rigs inside the factory and the machinery fails? How will that affect their environment, her home? They saw what'd happened to the river near Satoru's factory, Katara even supported Aang that they shouldn't have built the refinery there. To add to this, after there were three major earthquakes, each stronger than the last one, they witnessed what happened - one of those machines broke, a secret mine collapsed, with them getting trapped underneath it, and a lot of people suffered from various injuries. Katara's afraid that something similar might happen, which explains why she's unsure about all of this, because she's seen the negative effects.

Which brings me to an argument that I've seen and really bothers me - Katara is out of character. I totally have to disagree with this (considering everything I talked about before as well). Katara wasn't really excited like Sokka when Satoru gave them a tour around the Earthern Fire Refinery either. She's acting rather similarly to Aang (hence her flashback in the end of the first part) - this is her home that's been rebuilt (her sacred place). Nothing seems familiar to the round igloos and uneven paths between them like it used to be (in her dream) - it's in orderly fashion, angular, straight, more like the buildings in the Northern Water Tribe. This unfamiliarity is what bothers her - she'd like the image of her tribe to reflect what it used to look like, not how their sister tribe looks like. This doesn't feel like home to her, which is hard to accept, and that's the problem. I just don't get it, why does this seem so weird for some people? It's completely natural to feel this way.

One more thing to continue with the idea like Katara isn't quite herself here. She's never thought of nonbenders as not equal - this is true. There are several examples from the series to back this up, which helps make sense. When Sokka was downhearted because he felt like the regular guy in their group, it was Katara who comforted him because she knew very well that he was an irreplaceable asset to their team and capable of so much more as a nonbender. Katara was completely defenceless against Mai and Ty Lee three times during their battles. The point is that she's seen what nonbenders can do using their own special skills.

And now I reach Maliq, the boasting arrogant northerner, who can't see beyond his own innovative plans. He blatantly believes that the citizens of the Southern Water Tribe are a bunch of morons who don't know anything, not to mention how to live in a civilized way. Simple country folk, like Toph once joked.. Being a nonbender, he sort of has this need to prove himself - because he's more educated (having gone to Ba Sing Se University after all), he thinks he's smarter and better than the southerners and has the right to decide what to do with their resources, how to organize their life. But these are his greatest faults, which ultimately turn against him.

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Now I can talk about Gilak and his extremist views. First off, he accuses the northerners for hiding behind their snowy barriers to stay safe while the southerners had to sacrifice blood just to survive. Gilak is playing with our emotions, but it won't work on me (nor Katara). I can easily counter his accusation with a simple question - what were they supposed to do? Take a long risky trip down to the south, to the other side of the world, abandon their homes and leave their tribe even more defenceless with no guarantee of returning safely, avoid dozens of Fire Navy ships and hopefully not get captured, or worse? No. This is where the Northern Water Tribe did the reasonable and right thing - deciding not to send their already small number of warriors into certain death. We could say that the south shares the blame for not sending anyone up north to help them (neither side knew what condition their sister tribe was in!), but I won't. Since the Southern Water Tribe was raided more often, after the last raid, they couldn't just sit by and do nothing anymore. Yes, I believe them leaving to fight in the war was influenced by Hakoda's personal loss as well.

So I've nullified one point Gilak's using to win us over. Secondly, he believes that the northerners living in the south have to be wiped out or driven out of there because they're not a part of their tribe (or culture) and have to pay for their actions. Because the Southern Water Tribe is in danger of losing its identity by being forced to become a colony of the Northern Tribe. Is this.. xenophobia? When I read the description in English and Estonian, it sure sounds like what I'm trying to say in one word. This is where Gilak's crossing the line again - it's immoral to kill someone just because of their ethnicity. These are the reasons why Katara doesn't support him either, remaining a neutral party (which gives him a reason to attempt to kill her, or Aang, since she was the one who stopped him, foiling his plans to take Malina and Maliq, even Hakoda out of the picture).

I'm gonna take a sudden leap to the end of the second part so I could provide a real-life example. The last things Sokka and Katara say to each other before leaving their Gran Gran's igloo actually show that they're both correct. It's a new era where the nations cannot remain separate anymore, a parallel to "The Promise" where the Fire Nation colonies elected governments of mixed nations, so they do need to get with the times. But.. without forgetting who they are, a parallel to Aang deciding to begin teaching the air acolytes about the ways of the air nomads instead of keeping that knowledge to himself. That's what the southerners should do - teach the northerners their culture and ways of life, if they want to become a part of their tribe and settle there.

All of this is very similar to what's happening in the real world, in my country, too, which is why I can relate. Estonia (along with many other countries) is facing a similar problem with the refugees (and other immigrants of foreign cultures). Our President talked about this in her speech on our Independence Day this Friday, urging us to be more tolerant without forgetting our identity (which I believe is the right thing to do). Populists (the EKRE party in our Parliament) are spreading hate and toying with our emotions to get us to support them by claiming that we shouldn't support the refugees (only a select few have terrorist ties or committed terrorist attacks) because they are the threat and we are superior, preserving our culture is the most important thing that matters. Honestly, this attitude drives me mad and makes me sick at the same time. And it's the exact same rhetoric of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen and other populists here in Europe. They take their views too far, exactly like Gilak has, and become extremists. I just wanna scream some sense into them and their supporters (that refugees and foreigners are simple, normal people like us) and kick their pathetic butts out of politics. I was already so frustrated with this situation that I actually wrote my feelings down through Katara's eyes in a fanfic called "Seeking refuge" last year. I'm ashamed to see how such idiotic politicians keep winning people over, all over the world. But that only fuels my anger and passion to keep fighting against their nonsense and fake news with intelligence, awareness and traditional media that speaks the truth.

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Okay, I wanted to show how I can connect these events with real-life events. Enough ranting, let's focus on some stuff that happens during the fighting. For instance, I'd been trying to figure out the meaning behind Thod's story by reading it several times, especially since I felt like it wasn't put in there randomly and it must've been foreshadowing something. But I didn't fully get it until I'd read the second part. Thod turning out to be a chi blocker made him seem even creepier and more terrifying - Katara's face says it all after she's attacked. I'm glad he underestimated her, which provided her with an opportunity to detain him in that ice by waterbending using only her feet. Proof that Katara is one of the best waterbenders in the world.

Plus, those two kids, who also turned out to be chi blockers in training, are really annoying and I hope they get what's coming to them (thank you for not letting them escape, Aang!). Some of Gilak's troops are actually kind of stupid - let's grab the Avatar's hands, then he can't bend (I think you might've forgotten his legs, dumbbells)! This sounds like I'm hinting that the southerners really do tend to be less intelligent than the northerners - no, this isn't my intention. I'm trying to point out that, other than being nonbenders, his army has weaknesses (or is weak, Sokka beat those two guys with his boomerang so easily). And speaking of revenge, I'd like to praise Toph for getting those three construction "artists" for beating up Katara. Those jerks totally deserved it, that blow to the back must've been pretty strong and dangerous for her. A few pages forward and there's another powerful parallel I'd like to bring up here - Hakoda saying he believes that people can change is exactly what Iroh said, not to mention they're both referring to Zuko.

Like I stated in the very beginning, I've summed up my feelings about Hakoda getting stabbed in the description of my drawing. What I didn't mention though is that every time I read Malina and Katara's screams, I can hear them so loud and clear in my head that it's heartbreaking. Seeing that blood on Hakoda's coat makes my stomach churn, even drawing that crimson in the midst of all those blue tones was a sharp contrast. And Katara's genuine reaction when he finally wakes up.. can I just cry forever together with her?

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My expectations for the third part? I haven't really thought about those, though some ideas did come up within my discussion, so I guess those are the ones. The Southern Water Tribe must remain a colony in some acceptable way, because that's what we see during Korra's time. We know Hakoda will remain chief (most likely, hopefully until he passes away) and Sokka will be his successor at some point. I'd like the third part to offer some clarity to some extent, and see in what conditions do the two tribes come to an agreement.

In conclusion, this discussion became way longer than I'd originally wanted.. I spent hours trying to figure out how to get my point across, that I didn't use the wrong words which might give the wrong idea and that I didn't forget anything important I wanted to mention. Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading my opinion! It's my first thorough review I've written for any of the Avatar comic trilogies, so I hope you liked it!

Btw, Caroline (@thecaroliner), to answer your question of where is Bato? With everything that's going on, I think he would've gotten in the way of the plot, so that might be the main reason why he was left out. Or who knows, maybe we'll see him in the third part?

#personal #shards of Kristal #North and South

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survivorsolomonislands · 7 years

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Episode 2 “#NewQueenInTown” - Lily

hey hoes so ill do my first impressions or w/e chrissa- kween! i was hoping she'd stay awhile but u know when someone wants to be elimed then u gotta! dana- idk ha!hevjkbev i dont remember a dana in any of these so! idk how she plays so yikes but i wouldnt be surprised if shes close w the other newer people lexo- im love her! im hoping we can do #that for callie tru matt- i played a game with him once and he voted me out so :/ but i think we can work well together tbh mitchell- hes malaysia and thats all i know, im not sure how he played in malaysia and lowkey the only times i ever interacted with him he kinda annoyed me gtg monty- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh i love monty, i know he will be one of my closest allies for sure! i cant wait to slay w him linus- hes from winnipeg and he seems sneaky to me and hes a newer school player so he could be close w the others ryan tiddie palmer - i love my dadt sdhvbdfv but also im a little wary of him bc i have a feeling he would love to vote me out but as of rn i need him so, we'll see zak- i voted him out in palau and thats all i got kjehfvbjr i didnt even kno they played a game before anyway hes also part of the potential new school alliance

also heres the vote tea, basically mine and lexis names were being thrown around and i was like??? we aint even do anything so then we started throwing zaks and linus name around. anyway me and mont were freaking out bc we needed 2 more people to get majority and vote zak and save me and lex, so we recruit chrissa and we make an alliance chat w ha. we call and talk about who we can pull in and such. so come the next mornin i start talkin to matt who said he was down for voting zak. honestly i trust matt he seems more trustworthy than other people plus i dont think he knows a lot of the tribe members tru so if i keep him close then my alliance should be good tru. anyway i talk to lexi to figure stuff out, and i talk to zakriah and basically tell him that im willing to vote lexi next round or w/e, mind u this is after chrissa anounces that she wants to be voted out, and well hopefully by telling him this i can gain his trust a little and get some tea from ha. also zak knows that me mont and lexi were targetting him??? honestly idk who couldve told him unless it was chrissa??? no one else shouldve known tru, anyway so i get the tea from that mitchell is the one who told him that he heard my name being thrown around and kjefbv like i dont wanna confrontational or anything but i went to mitchell and asked him about it and he was "like honestly it was like a grapevine thing tbh like nobody was like "...how bout karen" it was more of "i've heard Karen"" LIKE??????????????????????????????? REALLY BITCH THAT DONT ANSWER MY QUESTION. grapevine my ass, like thats what zak told me too, like !!!!!!!!! just tell me bc if u dont then im gonna assume that ur ass is the one started the whole "i heard" thing nnnnn anyway!!!! im just relieved that chrissa is asking to be voted out bc this couldve been way more stressful aaaaaahhhhh honslee i was scared this was all a ploy to throw votes but i genuinely believe ha and i love chrissa too much to ever disrespect her wishes so :/ bye bye chrissa we hardly knew ye!

Not much has happened so far. We won the first challenge, which is awesome, and kinda gives me this fire to keep winning just so that we can keep beating the vets. It's kind of fun to be the underdogs (considering we all have much less experience than the vets) and to win. As long as we don't get a flash challenge, I'm not too worried about how well we do. Or at least, how well I do. I just don't want to be the person with the lowest score. Anyways, on day 2 or something Lily messages me and says we should be in an alliance, since we knew each other from a chat. So I said sure, and she gives me an idol clue she found! Holy shit! Lucky for her, I don't have any other alliances, otherwise I could so easily just play her. I don't have any plans to though - she seems very trusting and kind and I respect that. I just have to be careful it doesn't get me in trouble as long as we're aligned. So I go to search for the idol, with the clue she gave me in mind, and somehow end up finding the exact same clue she did. Hopefully we don't make the same mistake again next round.

https://youtu.be/hCcal7QtHWY

OMG okay so first off... Daisy comes to me saying she likes Jacob. Okay. Perfect. He's my ride or die anyways, so now we have a mutual ally we can lean on, and she says she wants to be in an alliance. Cool. Even better. Let's officialize this shit.

So Daisy makes the chat, and she says "alright Johnny and Jacob, let's add Willow and Luca" and I'm internally freaking out with Jacob on the side here, and Jacob and I are losing it in PMs and we're like "I think that wouldn't be the BEST idea, just because adding people late can make them think that they're going to be 4th and 5th" So Daisy is going to stick with us three being a f3.

Little does Daisy know that Willow wanted a four person alliance with me and Jacob already, and it didn't include Daisy, so it'll be easy for Willow to think she's on the in, and same for Daisy, which can be GREAT for later.

All I know is I'm going to have to do a little educating to Daisy on how to play this game, and making an alliance with three people and then adding two people LATE is no beuno sweetheart... Thank God Jacob and I prevented that one. At least we know we're in a core for now, and we can start picking off the weaker rookies............... or maybe we go after someone who looks like they can be smarter, and an independent player. Maybe Aro for example? Let's see what happens after immunity (giggle)

So after Chrissa announced she wanted to be voted out, Karen and I were able to talk to each other for the first time this game. I pushed that I didn't want to target her if it wasnt out of hate, and targeting each other based on lack of communication could be easily fixed - after all, what's better than an unlikely duo? I'm in two right now if I'm not being played: as far as I know Linus wants to work with me to get out Karen, and Mitchell also thinks that's what I want. However, I want me an ally in Karen, and Lexi or Mo's gotta go next.

Something terrible happened to me irl yesterday and Im in a bad headspace right now. I really dont feel like talking to anyone besides Luca and Johnny(whos actually pretty cool) so I cant wait to get to the swap. I tried connecting with Kaya a bit but she doesn't seem to like me very much. I have a terrible migraine and everything kinda sucks right now but I'll fight through it. I can't wait for the time when I eventually look back on this confessional and cringe at the angst lmao

I low-key hope I get taken out of this challenge early so I don’t have to sit around all night doing it, but the only way that’d be able to happen is everyone just went after me to start the challenge, and no one knows I’m good at live challenges except Chrissa, and she’s bye bye

Aw Dana assigned me to shoot my fuckbuddy aromal in the first round of the IC :( like the opposite of the hunger games up in here :(

This paintball challenge is so fucking FUN! Like, it's so cool to keep on my toes and constantly be dodging/shooting paintballs. It's like my own sort of little endurance challenge. I just have to be sure I don't miss any dodges... That's why I changed the conversation notification settings to notify me every time my name is said. :P But it's fun, anyway. And if I lose, I can blame my team and use the machete I got. >:3c

So... let's play catch up!

Chrissa got voted out unanimously like she ASKED TO. It sucked bc I liked Chrissa but she was a lil strategically problematic so... whatevs. BUT then Karen starts being like "oh would you have voted for me? where'd my name come from?" and being kind of aggressive about it so... that turned me off. Honestly yeah I would've voted your ass out, you ignored me and continue to do so lol, but after that? I'm set. I think my allegiance with Dana is solidified by my complaining to her about Karen, and honestly? I see her as my #2 in this game.

Matt, the other option for my #2, also tells me he's ready to make a move against the Karen/Monty/Lexi coalition when we next go to Tribal Council. We're slaying this challenge so that won't be tonight, but when it does, Karen's ass is grass if I've got anything to say about it!!

Karen and Lexi still make minimal effort to talk with me. Pretty much nobody has been 1-on-1 talking with me throughout this whole 3-hour-long-so-far challenge which is also kind of ridiculous but??? What are you gonna do. I'm still sick so hopefully when I recover I'll start schmoozing like I usually do and stop oozing like I don't wanna do.

also fuk u mangrove swamp

RETWEET IF YOU ARE ON TEAM LA NEEDS TO GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP.

This challenge is murdering me. 4.5 hrs left SO.

So, I quit during the paintball challenge. I was the last person left on my tribe and I just couldn't see myself pulling off a win, not against five people - I did manage to get one out on my own but it seemed very doubtful I could have gotten them all. I'm not sure how I feel about throwing it like that, I probably could have faked it and just posted a shoot at the 6 mark which might have been better for my game, cause I'm not sure how that will effect how the vets see me from this point on, or if my tribe finds out and gets mad at me for it, but Y'ALL SHOULD BE HAPPY I DIDN'T MAKE US SUFFER THROUGH ANOTHER FOUR HOURS OF THAT @ VETS. I hate giving up/losing but at the same time, this is only the second challenge of the game. If this has been an individual immunity challenge, damn right I would have stuck it out but it's still early on and I think this vote will be pretty straight forward. IF I manage to get voted out I'll feel so stupid for throwing it but as of right now I trust my alliance and feel safe. (famous last words)

So now Star wants to talk to me...... Tooo little too late bud. You've been talking to the least amount of people this whole game, you didn't even help with the immunity challenge, and now you're coming to me all worried about the vote? Sorry you're in this situation, but you made your own bed, and now you have to lay in it.

On a different note, I was talking to Jacob, and we were thinking that two of us should throw our votes onto someone else, just in case of an idol play, but honestly, I don't wanna be that paranoid freak always worrying about an idol, but I also don't wanna a repeat of the last tumblr survivor I played in, where I got idol'd out of the game, so I'm trying to be careful. I might talk to Daisy about it, but I don't want to come off as paranoid, so it'll be an interesting talk if I choose to have it...

(Slightly later)

OMG LILY JUST TOLD ME SHE HAS THE IDOL I'M SCREAMING!! Now I don't have to worry about a fucking idol play. Not only that, but she tells me that I'm the only person in the game that knows about the idol, which is huge for me because it means that she trusts me the most, and this can be a relationship outside of Jacob, Daisy, Willow and Luca, so this is really good. I am going to focus on forming a broship with Aro too, just to have that connection, but I think that I'm starting to become very trusted in the tribe, which is good.

I know my struggle is going to be when we switch tribes, and just hoping that the luck of the draw doesn't put me onto a tribe with bad numbers, but even if I do, I think I'll be able to charm my way out of it. The fact that I want to vote out most of these people, and they still continue to prove to me that they trust me the most is CRAZY, but Lily is definitely going to be a tool I'm going to utilize in the game for a long long time, and I hope she and her idol make it deep enough in the game to benefit me.

Sorry... rambling. My struggle now is whether or not to tell Jacob. I don't want to lose his trust later in the game by him finding out about this idol, and him knowing that I knew about it. I think I'm going to tell him about it later tonight, and I hope that he'll be thrilled, but he isn't even going to be back for day change... At least now I know that I don't have to worry about the idol, especially because I doubt there are more than one idols out there, from my specific tribe, so definitively, it's bye bye Star time :(

Jesus.... Karen and I survived that round.. In what world is that actually realistic? But we did and thankfully with little issues like messy thrown votes or Chrissa playing an idol on herself after misting us all. I was really nervous that it was all an actual trap because I have seen it happen before and boy is it terrifying but bless her heart for being true to us all.

The challenge was one that I have won before so I was not too nervous about the whole workings of the challenge but I was nervous about how long the challenge would go. I was so tired yesterday for some reason and I do not know if I could have lasted until 2 am with very little break. I would have tried my best of course so I could make sure Karen and I were safe but there is only so much a single person can do which L.A. ended up proving. The Veterans won the challenge THANK GOD and so we do not have to worry about one of us being voted out bless. Right now I would def consider Karen my final 2 because we do share the common homie of Callie and I do my best to trust Callie's judgement most of the time (the other times... I just can not defer from what god wants). My only issue is that Karen has a lot of friends on this tribe that I fear she might pick over me such as Monty and that makes me a bit scared of her but right now we sort of need each other in terms that we are both the most threatening ones on our tribe at the moment so if she gets rid of me, she does not have many people to hide behind and I have been known to be a very good meat shield for those that take advantage of it so here is to praying she is actually my final 2.

Okay I love my tribe now. Seriously though I was only disliking them because I was too mentally checked out to socialize. They're all really sweet people and omg it was all i could do to stop them from pronouncing Zaks name wrong lmao during the challenge. Even though I outta be pissed that more than half of us got eliminated for breaking simple rules, I loved that they were cheery about it.

For the vote ahead, it should be a smooth 9-1 against Star. He hasn't been too active thus far and everybody seems to be on board.

https://youtu.be/RpyYL7gVQEE

LAST ROUND VOTING: A SUMMARY We get back to camp after being beaten in the immunity challenge and things devolve into chaos. Mitchell starts whispering "Lexi" and then shouting "WHO SAID THAT! I HEARD YOU! lexi.... WHO WAS THAT!!!!" Lexi and RTP climbed into the shelter and started singing songs together, waiting for other people to join. Matt sat himself on a rock and just kinda sat there...waiting.... Zak was running around, talking to each and every person saying he heard something different to everyone, calling every guy Miss and every girl Qween. Karen was sitting trying to have sensible discussions, and Mitchell and Zak saw this and started freaking out. Mitchell kept his calm and kept whispering lexi... but Zak thought he said Karen and started freaking out. Meanwhile, I'm running around screaming at people that Zak is dead weight and Linus is a rat, but nobody is really listening to me. Meanwhile, Linus disappeared into the woods to maybe go try on some wigs or some shit, and Dana is off talking to anything that moves, with various degrees of success. In the middle of camp is Chrissa, just sitting. Me, Karen, Zak, and Mitchell are all screaming about who should go, and she silently raises her hand and says four words. "I. I will go." Everyone stopped and just kinda looked at her, and then started screaming. Not words, just incoherent noises, and that never stopped until Chrissa's torch was snuffed by Isaac

real confessional for this round: So, this has been a pretty chill round. As a tribe, our number one priority was winning immunity. I staying longer than a few people, until I had to go swim. I still need to talk to Dana, Lexi, and RTP this round to keep those connections alive, but other than that, my social game is less shitty than in the past! So, overall, this is not looking terrible for me!

IS DAISY FUCKING KIDDING ME?!? Daisy, girl, we spoke about this. Adding people to alliance chats can only cause problems. Making a brand new chat is the way that it has to be. I can't be closely tied with someone who is actually that oblivious to how this game goes. It's like telling someone that there's a three person alliance, and we just want them to be fourth on the ladder. THAT'S NOT HOW THIS WORKS. Luckily for me, it's someone as ditzy as Lily is, and it's someone who doesn't really talk to a lot of people, and she's someone who has an idol, and now Daisy and I were both told by Lily, which is why Daisy added her.

One thing that Lily and Daisy aren't aware of is that Jacob knows about the idol too, and that's because I told him, so with Jacob in the loop, and me being the one who told me, is PRIME. I need to be the barrier of communication between all of them, and right now I think I'm doing a steady job. One thing I need to work on is my relationship with Allie and LA, because they're two SMART girls, who I haven't been spending much time talking to, so I might work on that later today, even though I've spoken briefly about the vote to both of them, I need MORE!

Well after the mess with Chrissa we were lucky enough to win, and I think the challenge was a good bonding experience for the tribe. Now I'm kind of in the middle right now I like my alliance a lot but I think I could work with Karen and Lex in the future so I'm nervous about alienating them and I'm like back and forth back and forth like a metronome or some dumb swingy shit. So lemme just cross my fingers we don't have to go to tribal, and that somebody I know will get this damn idol ay dios bio

We lost the immunity challenge earlier. I'm super disappointed but I doubt I'm in any trouble at tribal council. I kinda messed up by posting early, lost my head and this probably was a factor in our tribe losing. On their tribe, only three people messed up.

But challenge aside, I feel I'm pretty safe for the time being here. I like Jacob, Willow, LA, Johnny and Allie and I think I'm getting along with Aromal too. Really the only people who I haven't really been talking with are Star (who's getting evicted today), Daisy and Lily.

I should probably talk more with the other two. All that said, this game is phenomenal. You can never know if you're really safe.

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!! I FOUND THE FUCKING IDOL AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA But like... wow. I find the idol clue on my very first search, and then on my second search, I find the idol itself. When will your fave... #newqueenintown

We won! Updates game wise so I'm just utr1 instead of inv.

1. Zak is still a self righteous prick, but he's also smart enough to just flat out target me rn, so idk.

2. Matt is easy to talk game with, he's seeming a bit paranoid though.

3. Dana and Ryan, still love em both.

4. Mitchell is everyone's best friend, hillarious dude. That also sadly means he is the biggest threat in the game. Of course, right now I want to work with threats, but eventually he will be scary.

5. Karen is still my target.

6. Gotta try and make Lexi and Monty not flip at a swap.

7. Linus is the best, he's probably the front runner to win right now.

Okay so I keep forgetting about confessionals oops. But I'm going to my first tribal council ever tonight and I'm a little nervous. I feel like this vote tonight should be pretty simple because everyone in the tribe wants to vote out Star, but I'm worried that he might have an idol or something since 9/10 people in our tribe looked for the idol yesterday. Also I'm still a little bit irritated at myself from the challenge yesterday because it said 7:05 on my computer when I pressed send but it was still 7:04 on the skype clock or whatever Idk

#thequeenstaysqueen

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