Hi Clari! How do you think touya-nii would react to reader disobeying him about going out without his permission or after he said she couldnt go out with her friends and then he sees her at a party or at a bar? Would his response be different in the early stages of "dating" and later on??

oooh anon these are really interesting questions, especially the last one!!!

tw: stepcest, incredibly toxic relationship

okay so yes, his response would definitely differ depending on the stage and evolution of their relationship. in the beginning, since he’s still in the process of manipulating her, his response would be more mind game-esque. he wouldn’t blow up at her or outright scold her for fear of scaring her off or erasing all of the progress he’s made with her; he’s been working so hard, drawing her further and further between his claws, he isn’t about to just mess it up (besides, this could be a fun little experiment, to gauge how she reacts, he thinks). instead, he’d play on how disappointed he is in her, how niichan only told her she couldn’t go because he cares about her—she did have an early morning lecture the next day, and she knows how dangerous it is for pretty little girls to be out on their own without their big brothers, doesn’t she?—and he’s just so upset she disobeyed him, so upset that she didn’t stop for even a single second to consider why niichan had said no, too bad and selfish to bother thinking about it at all. honestly, he’s hurt; he thought she was a good girl, his good girl, but he guesses he thought wrong, since actions always speak louder than words.

this would be extremely effective. she would break down into tears, crying and begging and pleading for his forgiveness, desperate to be back in his favour, desperate to be his favourite. touya would wield this against her, hard. he’d play it up for days, relishing in her suffering, in her grovelling, continuously pushing further and further, inch by glorious inch, slow and steady, just to see how much more he can squeeze out from her—and she swears sometimes she catches a flicker of amusement in his eyes, or a tug of mirth at the corners of his lips, but she blinks, and it’s gone. this would be her punishment: marinating in his immense disappointment until he’s decided she’s sufficiently learned her lesson and won’t dare to disobey him again.

honestly, reader would know better by a later date in their relationship to ever do such a thing; she knows touya way too well, knows how fucking furious he’d be, knows that he’d be downright seething if she pulled such a stunt. on top of this, the above method would work so well on her because, as i’ve said before, she thrives on his praise and approval, she thrives on being good, and by this stage it’s all she ever wants to be: his good, perfect, obedient little baby sister, finding all of her purpose and value in those hard-earned titles.

but for arguments sake, let’s say she hypothetically does disobey even though she knows the type of hefty punishment that will inevitably be waiting for her the very moment she returns home. oh god, would she ever be in extremely deep trouble the second she stepped through that door and into their flat. he’d be waiting for her, of course, calm and collected the way he usually is when he’s genuinely enraged, the only clue feeling anything at all being the sapphire boiling in his eyes—gaze scalding hot, swallowing pinprick pupils. in this case and by this stage, her punishment would lean more on the physical side of things and it would pretty much end up being a rendition of beautiful when the damage is done, with him using either extreme overstimulation or extreme orgasm denial as his primary method of punishment, the mental torture merely a garnish on top.

she would still receive a dense lecture after this as well, but instead of it being full of touya’s mental tricks and games, it would just be full of him being possessive and angry and brutally honest, and he definitely would not stop until she’s a shivering, snivelling mess, until she’s sobbing so hard she can’t even speak, brain so stupid with grief and regret that the only words she can manage to knot together at all being ‘niichan’ and ‘m’sorry!’.

how did u choose your username?

oh, this is a fun one!! i think i considered being swordtold at first, for that very ancient myth vibe of the sword being this narrative tool for adventure and structure and physical time, the parable being passed down through the centuries until it meddles into modern day rhetoric and ideology – a kind of fantastical tool, a spark of magic, of possibility.

i like the arc of the story of a place being physical / having it be held by time and hand alike, wearing with the years and having it become something different to each holder, each reader, each experience fantastical and individual.

having that kind of physicality to it; swordheld is the action of taking up and holding the sword yourself, choosing your own narrative, leading your own story. self-identity has always been something i struggle with (a novel concept i know, i know), so it felt right for this blog, since most of my older blogs before this one have been just me silently reblogging and never really posting anything myself, and i wanted this to be the change to that.

i've always had trouble wranging my social anxiety, esp. on the internet, and previously thought that keeping my words to myself helped keep the timeline cleaner, in a way, no messy thoughts for others to sort through, especially ones i believed no one would want to read anyway? but it never felt right, keeping myself apart from it all, esp. not in the way i so avidly enjoyed reading others' posts and additions, keeping their words close to my heart.

i wanted it to reflect that this was a space i was holding for myself? and i'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but this - this i think i got right. i love being here, on this blog, and the joy that it brings me. everyone else enjoying it too has been a wild ride that i never expected, and still surprises me, one that brings a little extra thrill to my heart whenever i think about it.

i had other urls that i liked, but i didn't want this blog to be tied directly to any of my fandom/story interests, since i wanted it to really just be a sort of archive of artistic inspiration and resource, like a little library or museum. i use them now as lil sideblogs of more niche interests now, which is rather lovely.

it hasn't always felt like it fit perfectly, the way that i'd like, but for some reason i can't think of really wanting to change it anytime soon. it feels mythic yet modern in a way that feels like puzzle pieces finally slotting into their place, something my own and inspirational to me, like a lantern i'm holding to make my way by. my own kind of light, if that makes sense – a star i know by name.

Do thoma and reader ever get naughty without lord ayato knowing? 👀 What would he do if he found out??

yes, they do!!! ayato has given thoma clearance to fool around with reader whenever he or they want to—ayato is gone for such long hours every day, and he knows his poor baby has necessities that must be met, being as clingy and needy as they are (his poor, precious, pathetic little thing <3), and who better to provide those necessities than thoma?

ayato is a jealous and possessive person when it comes to his sweet lil baby, but these emotions do not apply to thoma; not when he places such extensive and extreme trust in thoma, not when he knows thoma’s loyalty to him has no bounds, thoma being more of an extension of ayato at this point than his own separate entity; consolidated, controlled. ayato would prefer that thoma at least give him a heads up when his two favourite people are about to get naughty—or, even better, call him so he can listen, or record it so he can watch later; when he returns home from work and would prefer his baby get their full rest, or when he has a moment or two of solitude to himself between meetings (/murders) and assessments and shippings—but asking for permission isn’t exactly a requirement. ayato knows that these things just happen sometimes, sudden and spontaneous; a spark that transpires before either of them can even comprehend the situation, so stark and severe and suasive that neither has a second to think about anything at all, bodies moving on pure, urgent instinct.

but it’s okay. thoma always gives his boss the rundown of the event in excruciating detail, and ayato is quite adept at using his imagination when the situation calls for it <3

THIS WILL KILL ME, AND THEN I CAN STOP TRYING TO UNDERSTAND.

Ever think. About how Uncle Ben, Robbie, perhaps even his parents, almost Aunt May, how all of them died (or got close to dying) in some way fighting for what they believed in? Is that noble? Or is it just cruel? Is there honor in not breaking that cycle, following that path down the road to some assured demise, or are you being stupid? At the least, there has to be some sanctity, comfort, in knowing how it will end. Teeth bared, you will not go down easy, but you will go.

Of course! Aren't these questions not at the center of peter’s story? His world kicks down at everything and everyone. Having beliefs to fight for and to keep you alive are what gets you killed. They’re all executed, Ben and Urich and Robbie. They go where they’re not wanted and get specifically targeted & killed because of it. The comic starts off telling the audience if you’re too loud, if you believe in something better, you’re not going to make it through the night. It starts off with Urich telling Pete to keep his head down, your anger will be the death of you, and Urich is right. But he himself changes later, believes too strongly in something better, and is killed because of that.

The question: is it noble? Is it cruel? Yes. The universe is set up in a positive feedback loop. To be noble is to stand up for what’s right. To be noble is to place a target on your back and to accept that your time has already started running out. But to lose your life or to lose a loved one will always be cruel. It’s cruel and it’s not right, so you need to make a stand.

Is it stupid to essentially walk head first into a loaded gun? I feel like the comic asks this question in Eyes Without a Face. It ends with hopelessness, MJ saying things will get better and Peter disagreeing, saying it’ll only get worse. Peter is aware of that feedback loop; he loses everyone because of who they represent and who they fight for. Sure there are decent people, he says, but it’s the decent people who look the other way and allow cruelties to keep unfolding so they can remain alive. That in itself answers the question, I think. Being decent isn’t being good. Letting horrors occur so you won’t die doesn’t seem honorable. But sometimes I suppose the question then leads to: is honor more important than necessity? Is it wrong to want to live?

There isn’t a follow up to Eyes Without a Face even though it sets up so much. Peter is staring this question right in the face. How do you keep fighting when it will only get you killed? How can you believe in anything? The world is full of decent people who look the other way, of awful people who create terror, of good people who get slaughtered. Why fight? Why be the spider-man? The next volume had so much it could have grappled with. Does Pete continue to get more ruthless? Kill all the wrongdoers in his path? How does straying from Aunt May's declaration that she can't live in a world where people kill each other like animals impact him? He's walking on a dangerous ledge. If you're not ruthless, corruption will save those in power. If you're too ruthless, its an easy path towards having people fear you just as much as they fear those you fight against. "Kill people like animals" and you've estranged yourself from the last family member you have. Have mercy and watch those that family member die. There is no easy way out! You're losing yourself no matter which way you step.

On a personal, character level, I think you're right. I feel like this fire in him that was lit by his late family and his mentors and the people he loved along the way isn't something he wants to give up, despite his horrific odds of making it out okay in the end. Its a way to connect with them, knowing that a piece of them can still live on, even if just through him. And in a world in such turmoil and uncertainty, it has to be a comfort to know that yeah, this is the life laid out for me. He will go down just like ben parker, just like ben urich, just like robbie robertson.

But his story is a tragedy in every way, isn't it. Funny how an impending death is a part of what connects him to his deceased loved ones, when the spider god is there right beyond the veil waiting to bring him back the moment he's been snuffed out. I wonder how he'll take that.

Hi! I'm loving HIUH but I just have one question - what is the timeline for Laurent's life, particularly his life with his uncle? In your previous post you said something about how Laurent only lived in poverty for around a year when he took the uncle to court, so he was around 20/21, also when he first met Damen? Did he continue to live with the uncle, minus when he was forcibly locked away? With that being said, does that mean he only intervened and stood up to his uncle through legal means when he met Nicaise, but not for any other previous boy? Was he *at the mercy* of the uncle when Auguste was away at college, or did Auguste die before then, because I think one of the flashbacks mentioned Laurent vaguely telling his brother about Damen, which would mean Auguste was alive when Laurent was in squalor, but I could be misremembering that. This is more than one question haha but the central theme is just the timeline of Laurent's life before Damen I guess lol. I also tried really hard to keep saying 'his/the uncle' instead of the long list of other names he'd deserve to be called. Again, I love HIUH and your characterisation, storyline and angst are amazing - thank you :)

hello, friend. i'm sorry for the long wait. as a disclaimer: a year and a half ago someone asked me a similar question and i admitted without (too much) shame that math is not my thing. therefore, in my head, it made sense that lamen dated for four years. . . but then nicaise's age wasn't adding up to many readers, and that's when i realized they should have been dating for closer to SIX years instead of four. having said this, PLEASE ignore that mistake lmao. this is a rough timeline of laurent's life, where i FIXED the age issue (it is NOT fixed in the story bc i. . . have a life and haven't had time yet): - 12 years old: Aleron and Hennike die. - 12 years old-13 years old: Laurent and Auguste live together. See: Laurent's comment about his year with Auguste -> "It was just me and Auguste for a whole year. It was the best year." - 13 years old: Auguste dies. Uncle becomes Laurent's guardian. - 13 years old-15.5 years old: Uncle. - 16 years old: Laurent is institutionalized. Laurent comes back. Nicaise is living with them now. See: Laurent's explanations to Damen in a flashback -> Laurent crossed his legs. “I spent some time away. At sixteen.” He’s looking down at his plate, his hair a blonde curtain. “When I came back home, Nicaise was there. It wasn’t the best time for… I wasn’t the best.” - 16 years old-18 years old: Laurent gains Nicaise's trust, tries through many different routes and strategies to get Nicaise taken away/his uncle punished but, ultimately, they all fail. - 18 years old: Laurent moves out slash runs away with a plan to finally put his uncle in jail. He gets cut off monetarily. - 18 years old-20 years old*: Legal battle + Laurent meets Damen. - 20 years old-26 years old: Lamen date. - 26 years old: Laurent breaks up with Damen.

*i said, in a different ask, that the legal battle lasted roughly close to a year. in the og draft it was like a year and a half, but honestly, it's anywhere between 1.5 to 2 years. sue me. i dont' know how to do numbers, okay?

Girl you are gradually becoming my favorite account for Motorcycle racing so I need to vent a little here.

So I watch Moto3 more now because friends say it’s the most entertaining category, plus lots of Turkish people can be passionate on Instagram talking about Oncu, so Imma like “ok what’s with him then”. There I discovered Dani Holgado. He’s fast and he looks like a model and all that stuff so I did my research, only to discover the boy just turned 18 this year, quite smol and everyone seems to love hugging him so I was like “Awwww” 🥹. Then I come to invest his Instagram and girl, what’s up with him and his sister???? Like I love my lil bro to pieces but I will rather die than giving him that much affection, now I can’t stop thinking about that, helppp 😭

Let's all pay our respects to anon who has just discovered Holgado's sister o7

riddle me this batman…. what would be your answers to 55 and 62…

riddler………….. ok 😈

55. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics?  Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

i like the word….. squirrelly, bc it makes me laugh to imagine. 🐿️ andie says i like to use “the [x] of you” a lot, which rude if true. 💀

62. In [insert fic], is there a deleted scene/idea you wish you could have included?  Why did it get cut?

hmmmmm… not really to be honest!!! maybe i’d do each fic differently, if i was starting them over, but everything i wanted i included at the time. 🥹 and i think with ideas if you end up like, being sad about not making it work in a current fic, you have to remember that there will always and always be fics in the future where they will do even better. 😌

please do NOT change and grow as a person. KEEP shitting on rob mcelhenney for any and all reasons

thank u anon i will <3

what kind of house do you think gregstophe lives in? like are they more inclined to live in a penthouse in a dense city like area or do they stay in places like south park but with bigger homes? i know you mentioned gregory having an infinity pool at one point so I'm curious to know if you'd had a specific home style in mind

i will be perfectly honest anon, i do not have a solid idea in mind for what their home would look like! it shifts constantly to me, mostly bc i don’t have a solid idea for where/if they would permanently settle? like, in concepts where they have a kid i imagine them moving back to south park bc i like imagining all of my faves being parents together. but i also love imaging them as mercenaries and in situations like that, i don’t know if they’d ever have a permanent residence (or more like they’d have many small ones).

however if i had to think of them in one location forever, i definitely think they’d have a house in a neighborhood. probably somewhere a little remote or private but not too far from the city (like south park lol). if they have a house, they’d probably also have Normal Jobs™️ and would need to be able to commute to them but i feel like Christophe would not like living in the city the older he gets. like, he’d like the anonymity of it but really hate the lack of nature/dirt and population density. Gregory would probably also really like having a house that can be all his own. i imagine him to be the type to really like home decor.

i’m thinking a two floor house, but one floor being the basement so on the surface it looks like just a one floor house. kitchen, living room, office, bathroom, and bedroom all on the first floor, basement would have Gregory’s infinity pool and wine cellar for Christophe (maybe also a spare bedroom or a general hang out area for guests? I’ve never had an infinity pool or wine cellar in my house, idk how much space those take up). they’d also have a garage but they wouldn’t keep their car(s) in there. that’d be Christophe’s workshop for woodworking. both the front and backyard would have a lot of gardens and plants, but the backyard would also have a patio area so that Gregory can host guests when the weather is nice.

while i have just dreamed up this entire house, i do stick by what i said at the start, which is that i’m not entirely sure if this is where they’d live. if they lived in a house, i think it would be something like that, but they could also just be travelling constantly! either concept makes sense to me.

hello, love your work! fully understand this might be spoilers but i'm curious re. adam's motivations for dating charlie: in the AD chapter where he dumps charlie he thinks of something along the lines of charlie being a pawn in a psychological game he was playing against niall, whereas in ch 14 when ronan confronts him there's this idea of like. he's chosen to date charlie because he won't let himself have ronan, he refuses to take ronan away from his family when he eventually cuts off niall for good (and of course ch 13 ending with adam making the decision to date charlie, after a deeply threatening interaction with niall... but one where niall hasn't figured out the full extent of how close ronan has gotten to adam...). we also know from ronan's early AD chapter narrations that niall eventually met charlie, and was not very nice to him, so this clearly wasn't a decision meant to placate niall (and in fact perhaps the very opposite -- adam wanted to piss niall off even further?? but why??) anyway all that to say, what the heck is my boy trying to accomplish here. because the way i see it, dating charlie didn't make anything easier for adam wrt his interactions with niall, and if anything it probably tipped niall off even more about what the vibe was between adam and ronan... like did adam just do something stupid and then in that AD chapter he called it "psychological warfare" or whatever to justify his own stupidity in retrospect? i'm sending this during my smoke break at work btw

Anon… you are incredible. Not only this incredible literary analysis (with citations!), but YOU SENT THIS DURING YOUR SMOKE BREAK AT WORK. Wow! I’ll address your very cool question step by step while keeping certain things vague because of spoilers.

So, first of all: Adam would never perfectly conform to Niall’s expectations of him. That’s just not who he is. In canon, going to Aglionby at all is an act of defiance against his parents; he hides paystubs from his job to save up for university. In canon, he also bucks against Gansey’s (earnest!) attempts to help him because he fears Gansey owning him. With that canonical context, let’s investigate the interaction that instigated Adam to ask Charlie out.

Niall made a (playful! oblique! wink-wink-nudge-nudge!) threat on Adam’s life. Adam always knew Niall was capable of awful things, but learning about his involvement in Lily Wenwick’s murder brought it surging forward. This threat is centered around Niall’s discomfort with Adam and Ronan’s growing closeness — he mentions that he knows Adam and Ronan went back to the cemetery together, and Adam internally panics because he never told Niall he was going there. Adam doesn’t know what Ronan might’ve let slip, but he knows for a fact he never told Niall where he was going (and is also reasonably certain Ronan, a fan of technical truths, wouldn’t tell Niall the whole story even if he let pieces of it slip).

Niall suggests that “the work” (Adam) doesn’t belong in the Barns (with Ronan). He tells Adam to “fix it” — aka, distance himself from Ronan.

How does Adam do this?

By dating Charlie. A guy. Effectively coming out as bisexual.

Dating another guy is one part of Adam’s defiance towards Niall. Technically doing what Niall wants (an attempt at distancing himself from Ronan) while fucking with Niall (dating a guy. dating a guy. dating a guy.). This is just like when Adam buys the Creeper; in the end, it’s still Niall’s money that’s passed around, but it indicates subtle defiance. Yes, dating Charlie probably ultimately tipped Niall off, but that’s something we as outside viewers understand with the benefit of hindsight. At the time, it really pissed off Ronan and that was what Adam was trying to accomplish.

You also have to also understand that Niall and Adam share their own particular language and that Adam is an unreliable narrator. Niall does like that Adam resists his totalizing attempts at control. This might not be fully obvious from Adam or Ronan’s positionality, but he enjoys how fiendishly clever Adam is. On the flipside, you could argue some part of Adam did want Niall to understand him, to accept him, to see him — even if he didn’t himself realize that’s what he wanted and used the guise of “psychological warfare” to tidy these complicated feelings up into a box in the corner of his mind.

[ Concorde — Chapter 14: HAT TRICK. ]

Not me using the wayback machine to try to find your old panic fics (yikesssss for that fandom) 💀

In all seriousness though, much respect to you for taking charge over YOUR work. People can be so gross sometimes. Like why plagiarize when you can just leave a nice comment for the author saying you love their work??

pretty crazy how this ask is acknowledging that it's my work and my decision and I should be able to take ownership of it while simultaneously saying that you went actively against those wishes to try and use other means to find said work after I took it down.

it's almost like you're saying "not me being disrespectful lmao! sorry abt everyone else who is also disrespectful!! they suck."

Pot meet kettle.

hi lovely love got a couple of questions abt nothing happens <3

so first, at what age does james realize he's in love with regulus?

abt sirius does he actually see james and regulus relationship as brotherly or is he just trying to convince himself of that bc the alternative is too messy to even think about?

in case he actually sees it at brotherly at what point does he go "yeah this two are in love with each other"?

by the end of it and, knowing how toxic they can be with each other and others is anyone actively supporting their relationship? if yes then who?

(if it isnt too spoilerish to tell ofc) byebyeee

hi darling!! and omg okay i love talking about nothing happens, so i'll answer to the best of my ability <3 and ofc only if it doesn't mean giving away spoilers <333

james realises he's in love with reg when he's in his 20s!!! yes, it takes him quite a while, nothing happens IS a slow burn in that way

sirius does see it as brotherly the first few years, even if there are certain behaviours of james he . is kinda wary of . like most of the time he believes james is being another overprotective older brother and that he's just a more affectionate person but he isn't dumb and he notices some things that make him go ?????

he's a bit in denial tho, bc even when it's undeniable that there's . something else going on . it looks too messy to get involved, and besides, james and reg look so happy.. sirius knows it's wrong but he thinks that as long as he doesn't actually Find Out, as long as he doesn't really See anything . then it's fine

he does end up knowing all about it and i think it's safe to say he is not happy. it's not a fun time for anyone tbh

and he goes "yeah this two are in love with each other" when reg turns 18 maybe??? he just . doesn't say anything about it for a while

and that last one is definitely a bit too spoilerish babe sorry </3 but i can tell u that . yeah some ppl are rooting for them but . many others aren't . you'll see!!

I love hearing your thoughts relating judaism to Noir Peter, it's really cool!!!

!!! Thank you so much!! I’m actually super relieved to know that. I’m glad u like it :,,]

Jewish Peter isn’t an uncommon headcanon at all but I still get cold feet about posting about it in decent depth. I feel like a lot of religious discussion can make some people wary, but I find religion really fascinating and a great way to apply further context to things, so I like to post about it anyway lol. And I figured someone might like it as much as I do, so here we are!!

i love the idea about puppet elementary i think its so silly !!! but i felt sad after thinking ab the propellor and mt vesuvius n all

how do the kids cope with the chop chop chop and the scream scream scream? :( or do they not experience that in this au?

-🐊

I don't think that happens in the AU!! it's sort of like Muppet Babies: same characters you know and love, Different setting. So thankfully the Propeller hasn't had a traumatizing experience, but I bet he's probably a little clumsy. Kids' motor skills are still in development, so I wouldn't be surprised if that manifested as him accidentally giving someone a whack now and then.

As for Mt. Vesuvius, it may be that he's currently in a dormant period? And he's certainly not as big as he is normally, since volcanoes usually Do grow by erupting, or from new magma coming up from the mantle. If someone knows more about volcanoes and wants to chip in, please do! I just think he would know it'll happen, but can't do much to control it, and finds it embarrassing u__u like acne...

HI! I just finished a rewatch of Veep, and im curious what you thought about how they ended it? selina becoming potus and being completely alone & Gary scapegoating etc. Also wondering if the writers changed mid way through? upon my 2nd watch i noticed it get quite fan-servicey and honestly like stupid, in the place of being sooo clever and original in the beginning (not abt succession IM SORRY)

omg are you KIDDING ME do not be sorry!!! i know this blog is on succession lockdown rn but typically it is truly jack of all trades and i am always always down to talk about veep. soooooo many thoughts fr you have come to the right fucking place

(under the cut cuz i don't wanna take up the entire dash w my veep ramblings lmao)

you are so right on all counts!!! great catch on the writers -- the wonderful creator/showrunner armando iannucci had to leave veep after season 4 because constantly flying back and forth between london (his home) and baltimore (where they shot) just wasn't logistically feasible anymore. thus, iannucci was replaced by a new showrunner -- david mandel, my arch enemy, who i would murder in cold blood if i could -- starting with season 5.

season 5 is, in my opinion, still a pretty great season; the first half or so is definitely up there with s1-4 to me! but the more comfortable mandel became holding the reins, the more he 'made it his own' and strayed from iannucci's formula and characterizations (which were originally pretty consistent in the transition period of early s5), the worse the show got, until finally we find ourselves with the absolute abomination that is season 7. so, if you haven't guessed, i am... not fond of the final two seasons, especially season 7. while it's not like GoT-level show-ruining, it's pretty damn bad, so long as you were invested in the characters. obviously the humor becomes waaaay more shock-value and cliche, everything gets very over-the-top and almost becomes a parody of itself, etc, but even then for a lot of people it's still funny and worth watching. unfortunately it is not my cup of tea for two reasons:

1) i loooove the iannucci style humor and the further the plotlines/characterizations/etc got from reality, the less the satire worked for me. i just don't think mandel handled trump administration era very well and it just... wasn't very funny, especially not compared to the other seasons. i talk about this some in this response to an ask from a while ago, if you wanna see me be very civil about it, lmao.

2) i love amy brookheimer. this is the main reason, honestly, because holy mother of fuck i have never seen a character so systematically ruined and torn down, especially not in a plotline the showrunner calls 'empowering.' i've written about this a lot already, actually, if you want to take a gander -- i'm so insane about this exact thing that i have literally written an entire essay on it that was published in a film/tv journal so if you want an amy character analysis/amy-centered denunciation of s7 that is unfortunately and inexplicably formatted in weirdly skinny columns (they did the formatting/photos, not me, lmao), there ya go. if u want more reading here's another late season criticism post about amy (and one about dan to boot) from other accounts that i've reblogged and shit.

what i liked about veep was how it balanced reality and satire, humanity and cynicism. but the later seasons dove into the cynical, satirical deep end and ended up no more meaningful than, like, just a bunch of 30 minute long SNL skits mocking trump. what made it interesting and good was the fact that it felt so real, and the humor came from the absurdity of knowing all of this could actually happen, and the fact that somehow we ended up rooting for these characters that are so blatantly despicable. but we did root for them -- if not to be president, to at least have lives that we'd follow and be invested in, to continue to have relationships with one another. the relationships were at the core of the show -- gary and selina, selina and amy, amy and dan, etc etc etc -- and while the satire and humor were what drew you in, the dynamics between the characters were what made you keep watching, and also what made the satire and humor all that much more poignant and funny! but. then came david mandel. and the rest, as they say, is history.

i really wonder how iannucci would've ended the show. i think very differently, lol. i don't think it would've become a blatant morality tale of Evil Person Does Evil Things To Succeed = Pyrrhic Empty Victory. i don't think selina would've been potus or that gary would've ended up in JAIL (which like looking at it objectively is crazy from the veep plotlines of early seasons which were, like, about which ice cream flavors to choose -- i miss the mundanity of it all!!!), i don't think jonah would've become trump on steroids or amy a miserable kerryanne conway or dan a sexaholic sleazeball. i don't know where it would've ended up, but god, anywhere but where it did, seriously. every time i watch an early episode it just feels soooo incredibly different from where the show ended up in literally every sense and it's just so sad!!! ugh. veep 1-4 and half of 5 i miss u armando iannucci please come back

Ok but seeing as she's a princess now shouldn't she have had like loads of stuff by that point? Like way too much luggage to carry?

🤷‍♀️

see idk if anya sees any of that as 'hers' to take. i can't give any definitive answers since i wasn't in the writing room asdlhkfj but i think she decided she could live without all of that, that's kind of the whole point. she chooses to Not be a princess and decides she'd rather have a life as a commoner with dmitry, literally leaving behind all the wealth and material luxuries she could have otherwise, thus rewriting the fairytale ending she was 'supposed' to have. so even if 'the room was bare' i think we're supposed to have a little suspension of disbelief here. she needs her hands to be free so she can kiss her young man 😤

which is why i said it's either just a mistake in writing to say the room was bare or there's a gap left from something that was cut before broadway. or the line was just a throwaway line to show she really wasn't coming back. maybe dmitry has the suitcase instead of anya because there needed to be enough suspense for him to wonder if she was just here to say goodbye. but i don't think anya would have taken any of her 'anastasia' belongings with her regardless. she doesn't really want to be anastasia. she just wanted to know she had a family who loved her at one point, and she got that closure.

and it's also symbolic of her leaving the Baggage of Her Past behind too. she breaks the cycle (of violence, of hierarchy, of class), her hardships and scars and ptsd won't stop her from living a happy life, she doesn't harbor any anger or hate for what happened to her or her family, she doesn't feel obligated to be the person she used to be before. so that's why it's important that she's Literally not carrying any baggage when she crosses the bridge. it's her return to anonymity!

and dmitry picking up the suitcase? that's him literally carrying her baggage with her, saying her hardships and struggles aren't too heavy, and her family (his father was sent to the labor camp by orders of the tsar, so her father is technically responsible for his father's death) doesn't change how he feels about her, thus breaking the cycle again as well.

so even if it is a throwaway line or a continuity issue, it's important that anya isn't carrying anything during the finale.