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jxtina-86 · 2 days

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Control

Part of the Roman/Katherine series - this follows on a few months after the The Request where these two decided to level-up their escapades.

Two things inspired this. This promo which makes my brain short-circuit every time I see it and this GIF series. Especially the first one. Jesus Christ. Anyway - credit to the owner (and @thesamoanqueen for finding that first one MONTHS ago when I first had this idea).

Oh and I spent way too much time hunting around for a certain item that features in this and reading the reviews - my search history is beyond rescue at this point.

Warning: Sexual content/descriptions

Rating: MA

Comments/reblogs/likes all welcome!

****

Katherine rolls her neck slowly, easing the tension that's built up from sitting still for too long. Stretching her arms up briefly, she drops her hands to her face and pushes her glasses up to rub her eyes.

Letting the frames fall back into place, she blinks at the screen. She clocks the time in the corner and knows she should shut her laptop down and come back to it in the morning with fresh eyes. But yet…

Her brow furrows as she re-reads the last few paragraphs. She knows it's a bad habit - she should leave it alone, let the words sit and breathe a little longer before she edits, but in moments of frustration, such as this one, she can't help herself.

Her finger hovers over the delete button for a second before she shakes her head and retracts her hand. Spinning slowly away from the desk, she once again pushes her glasses up onto her head. Closing her eyes, she slowly pieces together fragments of the intended scene in her head.

His hands, one gliding down her body, fingers tugging… the other cupping her face, turning it to his.

His body pressed against her back, firm, strong. She melts into his embrace, her body loose and willing as his fingers slip between her legs.

Her thighs open, welcoming him and she relishes in the groan that vibrates through him as he teases the exposed and sensitive skin.

A loud buzz.

No. That's not right.

Her eyes flicker open and she sees her phone lit up. She already knows it's him before she even spots the name.

Back at the hotel x

She swipes to reply but he sends through another message before she finishes.

You better be in bed, baby girl. It’s late x

Busted, she grins at the screen as she taps out a reply.

I'm working x

Go to bed x

Make me x

She chews her lip, waiting as she sees that he’s typing. There’s a brief pause and then…

She grins as both her face and his flashes up on the screen - a new photo she took the last time they were together in the back of a cab on the way back from a bar. The smirk on his face and her wide eyes give away the fact that his hand, not seen in the photo, was sliding over her thigh and between her legs as she’d taken the snap.

Her skin tingles at the memory, but Katherine still leans back in her chair in mock defiance as she answers the video call. Yet the second she sees him, her resolve begins to crumble - even she would admit that was inevitable.

Roman is standing in a hotel bathroom, in a pair of grey joggers that are slung deliciously low on his hips. Katherine physically has to suppress a whimper, her eyes unsure of where to look as she takes in his chest, abs, arms, face, the faint imprint of his dick against the grey material.

Roman smirks, leaning forward to tower over the phone he has propped on the vanity.

“See something you like?”

“Always,” she replies, not missing a beat.

“You should be in bed. It’s nearly midnight there, baby girl.”

“I know. But I was mid-flow.”

“Bullshit,” he chuckles. “You wouldn’t have replied if you were.”

Katherine pouts in response.

“Bed,” he tells her. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Will you?” She tries not to sound too hopeful.

Roman scrapes a hand across his face. “This was your idea, baby girl.”

She pouts. “I didn’t realise a four-week stint was on the cards.”

“Yeah, about that…”

“No, Ro…”

“Someone dropped the ball, my schedule got fucked. I swear to God, I gave ‘em fuckin’ hell.” His brown eyes stare at her pleading through the screen.

“So when are you back?”

“Saturday.”

“So three extra days?”

“Yeah…” he exhales slowly. “I’m sorry, Kat.”

She forces a smile. “It’s okay. Shit happens.”

“I’m gonna make it up to you. Dinner on Saturday. I’ll take you to that fancy sushi place you’ve been telling me about.”

“It’s booked up for weeks, I tried.”

“Good job you got yourself a man with contacts then.”

“How-”

“Uh-huh, I got contacts, that’s all you need to know.”

She smiles. “Okay, okay. Thank you. I can’t wait.”

“For you, anything.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Anything?”

A deep laugh echoes through the screen. “Oh, you really are trying it on tonight, baby girl.”

“Four weeks, Ro,” Katherine whines, unashamed of how much of a brat it makes her sound.

He shakes his head. “Firstly, this was your idea. I’m just playing my part. And secondly, it’s only a few more days. Plus,” his voices drops an octave. “You’re doing so well.”

A shiver curls down her spine. “Yeah?”

He nods slowly, his head rocking to the side as he eyes her. “You can hang on a few more days.”

She knows he’s right - it was her idea.

And she also knows that if she does default on this agreement, there’s no real consequence. He��d only take it further if she asked him to.

But the way he embodies the character she demands of him - a man in charge of her pleasure - makes her feel that she owes it to him to carry out her part.

She didn’t quite imagine it would end up like this - what had started as the occasional teasing play had quickly evolved. The sex had been pretty fucking wild before she’d made the request. Now it was off the charts.

Now she could only cum with his permission and more crucially, only in his physical presence.

In past travel stints, they’d survived on phone sex, purring down the phone at each other, listening to each other’s breathless moans, slick fists and fingers and the occasional gentle hum of a toy.

Now he’d pull her back from the brink, even from miles away with just one solitary word she finds she can’t ignore. Stop.

It had been equal parts delicious and torturous. Katherine had countdowns set on her phone for each trip away, waiting for his return. But even then, he’d take his sweet time, watching her writhe in frustration until he relents and tells her ‘now’.

But four weeks. Four weeks was not the plan. And nor was an additional three days.

He interrupts her thoughts. “Did a package arrive today?”

She blinks. “Huh? Oh. Yeah.”

“Go open it for me.”

She does as she’s told - the spell is wound too tightly to refuse him anything at this stage - and heads for kitchen. “Why’d they send it here?”

“I asked them too. Knew you’d be in to take it and saves me getting a redelivery or going to the depot.”

She nods, placing the phone against a mug on the counter before finding a knife to slice open the box. “What is it?” she asks as she peels back the flaps of the box.

He smirks. “You’ll see.”

“What’s with the mystery?” Katherine grumbles lightly as she rifles through the packing paper that fills the box. Her hand finds a smaller box - two in fact. She tugs the first free and casts Roman a curious look. “A new phone?”

“For you.”

“Why-”

“Find anything else?”

“Yeah, I-” she stops as she pulls out the other box and sees the image on the front. She raises an eyebrow. Looking back at the phone, she sees the wicked smile playing across Roman’s face. “You’re a bastard, you know that right?”

“What?” He winks. “Can’t I treat you, baby girl?”

“This,” she taps the box. “This is not a treat. This is a torture device.”

“Don’t be too hasty,” he smirks. “Read the box.”

She scans the blurb and then looks back up at him. “Oh…”

“Not such a bastard after all, right?”

“Perhaps,” she throws him a wink. “But Ro… it says it needs a Bluetooth connection to set up and link to more than one phone.”

“Two steps ahead of you, baby girl.” Grinning, he tugs a phone from his pocket and flashes it at the screen.

“You planned this?”

“Well, I didn’t quite plan not being with you to try it out together but actually, this works just as well…”

Katherine can feel her heart starting to pound as she opens the box and the vibrator slides into her hand. “Pretty,” she tells him with a grin.

“Turn the phone on. Passcode is your birthday.”

She does as she’s told and when the phone boots up, she clicks on the solitary app on the homescreen. A second later, she jumps as the vibrator starts to hum in her hand and she looks up to see Roman grinning at her. He twists his hand to show her the app opened on his second phone too, his thumb on the screen sliding slowly up. As he does, the vibrations gradually increase and Katherine feels her breath catch in her throat.

“All in my control,” Roman murmurs, his dark eyes meeting hers through the screen.

She nods, almost hypnotised.

“I’m gonna take care of you, baby girl.”

“You… you are?” Katherine feels a tremor down her spine at the thought.

“Only if you do exactly what I tell you.”

“I will.”

“Good girl.” A whimper escapes her before she can stop it and he scrapes a hand over his face and down his neck with a deep chuckle. “One day I’m gonna see if I can just make you cum by saying that over and over again…”

“That,” she breathes shakily. “Would be one hell of a dangerous talent.”

“More dangerous than this?” His thumb is back on the app and the vibrator jolts once again in her hand. “Bed, baby girl.”

She doesn’t need telling twice. She eagerly gathers the three devices in her hands and makes her way to the bedroom. Propping up her main phone against the lamp on the bedside table, she awaits his next instruction.

“Strip. Slowly.”

Taking a step back so he can see her fully, she hooks her fingers into the waistband of her tight shorts. Turning away from the screen, she wriggles her hips as she slides the material over her ass before slowly bending forward.

She hears a sharp intake of breath from behind her and glances over her shoulder. Roman’s eyes are dark with lust and his tongue slips out to wet his lips briefly as his head tilts to one side. “Keep going,” he breathes.

With a grin, she edges the shorts down her legs before she slowly straightens. Turning back to face him, she crosses her arms to grab the hem of her shirt before pulling it up and over her head. Cool air hits her breasts and she cups them, her thumbs brushing over her bare nipples.

“Fuck,” Roman groans. “Keep going.”

She shakes her head. “Show me first.”

“Show you what?” he says, taking a step back and dropping his gaze down for a second. He drops a hand to the waistband of his sweatpants and tugs them an inch further south but not far enough.

“Show me what’s mine,” Katherine whines softly.

“What’s yours, huh?” He glances up, his hand letting go of the waistband and dropping instead to palm his dick through the material. “You’re gonna be in a whole world of trouble when I get home.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Missed those sweet fuckin’ lips on my dick,” he groans. “Fuck, keep touching your tits baby girl.”

She does as he requests, her fingers gently circling her hardening nipples and she’s rewarded almost instantly. She bites her lip, her head rocking to the side as he pushes his sweatpants down and kicks them away. It still takes her breath away every time she sees him naked - every part of him is chiselled and toned to perfection and she can’t quite believe her luck that she gets to explore every part of him.

She watches, transfixed as he takes his hard dick in his hand and pumps it slowly. She closes her eyes briefly and remembers the last time they were together - on her knees in front of him, hands loose on those deliciously thick and taut thighs of his. She’d gazed up at him, her brain still foggy from the intense orgasm he’d bestowed on her moments before, her mouth open as he fisted his dick with one hand, the other wrapped in her hair.

“Get on the bed,” his voice cuts through her thoughts and it takes her a second to remember where she is.

She steps forward and readjusts the phone on the bedside table, making sure he can see her and she can see him.

“What were you thinking about?” he prompts as she settles back against the pillows.

“Our last time together,” she sighs. “I’ve thought about that night every fucking night since.”

He grins. “Me too.”

“And the morning after…”

“That too,” he agrees.

It had been equal parts rough, messy, fast, slow, tender, loving. He’d pushed and pulled her body in ways that left her unsure which way she was lying, facing, standing. He’d growled in her ear commands to wait, stop, cum, knees, open wide. And then he’d scooped her up, carried her to where she lay now, and cocooned her in his arms until she fell asleep.

The following morning, every movement was slow and gentle - he’d adorned every inch of her with soft, warm kisses, making his way down beneath the sheets and made slow, lazy love to her, his body pressed firmly against hers, his hands cupping her face to kiss her as her legs at wrapped around his waist.

“Stop,” Roman murmurs and Katherine realises her hand is on her stomach. She feels her cheeks flush as she blinks at the camera.

“I…”

“You’re forgetting something.” He lifts the spare phone into view. “I’m in control, remember?”

She nods, reaching for the toy before taking a shaky breath of anticipation. A second later, it begins to hum softly in her palm.

“Squeeze them tits for me again,” he tells her and she notes the soft rasp in his voice already.

She obliges him, her free hand palming her breasts for a moment, awaiting his next instruction.

“Pinch your nipples for me.”

She gazes at the screen, feeling the haze starting to cloud her mind. He’s leaning against the vanity again, one hand out of sight that she knows is back fisting his dick and her mouth waters at the thought.

“Now with the toy.”

The vibrations hum through her body as she glides the toy across her breasts before circling one nipple and then the other, making both impossibly long and taut. All that’s missing is his hot mouth and tongue on them and she tells him so, drawing a shaky ‘fuck’ from him before he resumes control.

Literally.

The vibrations kick up a notch and Katherine’s back arches in response as she continues to drag the toy over the sensitive skin of her breasts. She lets the toy slide down to her ribs for a second, finding the spot that makes her squirm from any touch, her head flooded with the memory of Roman discovering it for the first time and practically latching onto it until she begged him stop through squeals.

“Uh-huh,” he corrects her and she returns the focus to her breasts once again. “Better. But I need to know…”

“Know what?” she manages to get out as she swirls the tip of the vibrator around one nipple again and again.

“How fuckin’ wet you are.”

She lets her free hand drag over her stomach slowly, her legs spreading. She can feel how wet she is already - the combination of the situation, the toy, him, her imagination all make it inevitable. She lets her fingers caress her inner thighs for a second before she slides two fingers across her wet slit.

“So wet,” she tells him with a groan.

“Show me…”

She pushes her two fingers inside herself briefly, letting out a moan as she does. She pumps them slowly, once, twice before she holds her hand aloft to show the glistening mess.

“Taste yourself.”

She bites her lip for a second, holding his gaze before she rubs the tips of her fingers across her bottom lip and then swirls her tongue around them. She grins at the screen, watching Roman’s eyes clouding with lust and wonderment.

“I taste good,” she murmurs.

“I know,” he rasps. “I’m gonna eat that pussy up all fuckin’ night when I get home, I swear. You’ll be beggin’ me to stop.”

“Never,” she promises. “You between my thighs, why the hell would I tell you to stop.”

“My favourite place, baby girl. And you might not be telling me to stop, but I sure as hell have to hold you still to get you good.”

“That just makes me wetter,” she teases. “I miss you, Ro.”

“I miss you too, Kat,” he says softly. “I had a whole other plan for this tonight.”

“Yeah? Tell me…”

“I was gonna drag that damn toy over your entire body. Real slow too - I wanted to hear all those breathy moans you give me when I’m teasin’ you.” The rasp is back in his voice and Katherine can feel her skin start to prickle in anticipation once again. “Do it, baby girl. Do what I’m saying.”

She lets out a soft moan as she moves the toy down her body at last.

“All the way,” he encourages. “That’s it… across your stomach, tease them thighs for me…”

Katherine’s eyes close as her back arches as the vibrations near her core. She’s not sure how she’s going to last beyond a minute when this toy is inside her.

“Slow,” Roman’s voice echoes beside her. “Spread those legs for me.”

“Ro…” she whines.

“Almost,” he promises as she bites her lip as the vibrations relent for a second. “Tease your pussy for me, talk to me…”

“Fuck, Ro…” her voice catching in her throat as she runs the toys over her wet entrance. “Like when you tease me with your dick, making me beg for it…”

“Just like that, baby girl.”

“Or when you spit and blow on my clit,” she gasps, her back arching at the thought. “And then you wrap your… your arms around my waist so I can’t escape… Ro…”

“Keep going…” The vibrations kick in again for a split second, just as she drags the toy over her clit and she yelps in shock. His chuckle fills her mind and she doesn’t need to open her eyes to see the wicked grin on his face.

“I… I need it,” she gasps.

“Keep teasing,” he tells her. “You know how I love to make my dick nice and wet with your juice before I fuck you… Do exactly that…”

His breath hitches and her eyes flick open to see that he’s moved - no longer in the hotel bathroom, he’s on the bed, the phone angled so that whilst she can’t see his face, she can see the length of his body. She groans as she sees his hand, slowly pumping his dick, his thumb swiping over the tip with every other stroke.

“Kat…” he breathes. “You listening to me?”

“Yeah,” she moans.

“Push it inside you.”

She gasps as she does. It’s the first time he’s let her put a toy inside her for four weeks and even though the toy is far smaller than what she’s used to, it feels impossibly big. Her back arches as she slowly pushes it deeper inside herself, her breath ragged at the sensation.

Rocking her head to the side, Katherine glances at the screen. Roman has moved again so she can see his face. His dark eyes glint wickedly at her as with one hand he still grips his thick cock and the other flicks the vibrations up a notch. Her whole body starts to hum and she lets out a strangled whimper.

“Do not,” he half-growls slowly. “Cum. Not until I tell you.”

“Ro…” she gasps. “Please…”

The vibrations stop and she’s left panting and squirming whilst he chuckles at her from a thousand miles away. “Too much, huh?”

“You…”

He grins. “I’m going easy on you, baby girl. This is nothing compared to Saturday…”

Katherine can feel her brain start to short-circuit. “What… what about Saturday?”

“That’s for me to know.”

She groans in frustration and then gasps again as the vibrations start again. Her hands grip the sheets tightly, twisting them around her fists as she tries to anchor herself to the bed.

“Breathe,” he tells her and she lets out a shaky breath in response, unable to stop herself from doing anything he says.

Through hazy eyes, she gazes at him through the screen, watching his hand grip his dick firmly and his abs tense. His head rolls back for a second and she wonders what he’s thinking.

“Tell me,” she moans.

“Tell you what?” he replies throatily.

“What you’re thinking about.”

“You. Always you, baby girl. You grinding on me, sliding up and down my dick.”

She nods, her eyes closing. “Your hands on my tits… then up to my neck and pulling me down to kiss you… Flipping me over onto my back, pushing my…” she gasps as the thought swirls around her head. “My legs up over your shoulders so you… you can go deeper… Ah, fuck…”

“That’s it,” he groans. “Wrapping my arms around your legs so they don’t fall and fuckin’ you hard and deep…”

“Twisting me over,” Katherine’s mind is overdrive now, snippets of past encounters flashing before her. “Pulling my hips up, pushing my head down so you can fuck me even harder…”

She’s not sure how she’s getting the words out. Her body is on edge, the toy throbbing inside her, pulsating even and every part of her is tingling. Her mind races on, imagining Roman pulling out of her with a growl and flipping her back over, his mouth on hers for a second before he slides down her body and wraps her legs around his head. What a combination that would be, his tongue and mouth on her clit whilst the toy hums inside her.

“It’s like you read my mind,” she hears him groan and only then does she realise that thought has spilt out of her mouth.

“I just…” she whimpers softly as she feels blood rushing to her ears. “Ro…”

“Not yet…” The hum of the toy inside her ebbs slightly and she tries to steady her breathing to slow down the surge of pleasure rattling through her.

“Please…” she chokes out.

“Soon,” he promises. “I got you, baby girl. I promise.”

Fixated on the screen, she watches as his leg twitches and she knows he’s close. “I wish I was there, Ro…” she starts, watching his head roll back onto the pillows. “My hand where yours is right now. My mouth too, running my tongue up and down your dick, taking you all the fucking way…”

“Shit… Kat…”

“Keep going,” she tells him, enjoying the thrill of telling him what to do for once. “You gripping my head, pulling me back and telling me to open wide so you can cum on my tongue…”

“Kat…” he growls, his eyes closing tightly as he gasps and she watches enthralled as he cums, his fist pumping himself dry as she moans at the sight.

“Ro…”

His chest rises and falls as he sinks back against the pillows for a second and then she squeals as the vibrator jolts back to life inside her.

“I got a request,” he murmurs.

“Yeah?” Katherine manages to get out, her body tense with anticipation as her back arches yet again.

“Saturday. My flight gets in at 5. I’ll be at yours by 7. You better be ready.”

“I will be,” she promises.

“Wear those heels that I like. The black ones. And that dress that makes your ass look amazing.”

“Done,” she groans. “Anything else?”

“The toy.”

“What… what about it?” Her breathing is getting more laboured as she twists on the bed.

“I want you to have it in you already.”

“Ro… no…”

“Oh yes, baby girl. I’m gonna tease you all fuckin’ night. I want my dessert nice and wet after dinner,” he chuckles.

She can picture it now: sat in a dark corner of the restaurant, one of his hands casually resting on her thigh whilst with the other he sends powerful vibes quite literally her way. She can see herself gripping the table, trying to compose herself as he grins wickedly and then leans towards her and whispers dirty thoughts into her ear.

“I told ya I was gonna eat your pussy up when I got back. I just wanna make sure it’s perfect for when I do…”

“Fuck… Ro…”

He chuckles. “Take my sweet time with you till you’re a fuckin’ mess. Squeeze and pinch your tits as I do, make you taste yourself on my fingers, fuck you with that damn toy until you scream my name, baby girl…”

She’s on the edge, right there, waiting for that word, begging him to say it.

“Then I’m gonna fuck you slowly… Pull all the way out and then push back in inch by inch so you feel every single part of my dick buried inside you…”

“Ro…”

“Tell you what a good fuckin girl you are…”

Her eyes roll back as she balances on the edge, her breath caught in her chest, the vibrations too much now. There’s no way back, even if she tries, she’s right there and she’s going to…

“Cum.”

She falls, with a gasp that echoes around her head. His name tumbles from her as every inch of her body erupts with force and she feels herself twisting and writhing without shame before him.

Her head throbs as she comes down from the high and she tenderly unclenches her fists from the sheets.

“You okay?” Roman’s voice cuts through as always, pulling her back. “Talk to me, Kat.”

“Yeah,” she murmurs, her eyes still squeezed shut as she grounds herself back in the here and now.

“Hey,” he murmurs. “Look at me.”

She twists her head towards the phone and opens her eyes slowly. His face fills the screen, his eyes wide and full of concern like they always are after moments like these.

“That was amazing,” she reassures him as she reaches down between her legs to remove the toy. Her own eyes widen as she feels how wet she still is. “Jesus, Ro… I think you made me…”

He laughs. “Just imagine what I can make you do on Saturday.” He tucks his arm beneath his head and not for the first time tonight, she wishes he was there next to her, wrapping his big arms around her.

“You’re serious about what you said, aren’t you?” She picks up the phone, bringing it closer to her as if that will make a difference to the distance between them.

“Deadly serious.” He eyes her for a second. “But only if you’re up for it.”

She chews her lip. “I am…”

“You don’t seem sure.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

Despite the space he offers her, she can’t find the words. Not the right ones anyway. She can’t tell if it’s the post-orgasm haze or something else, but she can’t put into words the disconnected thoughts running through her head.

She can feel him watching her, so she smiles to reassure him.

“Tell me,” he murmurs. “Or… Can I tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“If you’re worried that I see you differently because of all this shit we do together… You best believe that ain’t true.”

She stares at him in disbelief. How…

“I do this for you because I wanna make you happy, baby girl. You wanted to explore it, I was right there with you. But that doesn’t change how I see you. It’s just a tiny part of what we do together. I think you gave me an opportunity to tap into something too and I like it. But I like you more.”

She blinks. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Read my mind.”

He grins. “I know you, baby girl. Inside out. Literally,” he winks and she feels her cheeks flush. “But seriously, Kat. I’m not here just for this. This is just a bonus. At the end of the day… I just want you.”

Her heart flips. They’ve skirted around this for months - she’s bitten her tongue far too often not wanting to ruin it in case he was just looking for a casual fuck.

“I just want you too,” she hears herself whisper and his eyes light up at the words.

“I’m still doing what I promised you earlier on Saturday,” he tells her. “But on Sunday morning, I’m gonna show you exactly how much more you mean to me than just that.”

“You always do,” she says softly.

“What do you mean?”

“You do that already. Whenever we have nasty sex, the next time you’re treat me like glass.”

Now it’s his turn to blush and he runs his hand over his face with a grin. “See? I can’t hide it.”

“Hide what?”

“I’ll tell you Sunday.”

But she already knows.

Fin x

So... votes for a follow-up? Wanna see how Saturday unfolds...? Or Sunday...?

#roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns smut #roman reigns #roman reigns imagine #romanreigns #wwe fanfiction #wwe fic

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go-to-two · 4 months

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what do u think are tracy’s weaknesses and strengths as an actress? i’m asking this cause i wanna try and have a better eye for this type of thing, i love tracy so much and i think that makes it very hard to evaluate her as an actress, for me without any technical knowledge she’s just amazing :)

I'm not sure I'm the best person to come to for a better eye 😂

Like singing, dancing, or any other performing art, I have no technical training. I can only base this on my own preferences and what I think worked vs. may not have worked as much.

In regards to Tracy, I think she's their best dramatic actor. All of the characters have been able to have big explosive moments before and they've all been been solid, but to me she is just so strong with the subtle emotional beats. It's in her eyes. They almost glaze over when she's shutting down (7x18 in Voight's office or 9x04 after the panic attack) or really change shape in a moment when she needs to look vulnerable (end of 5x18, 8x11, or 8x16). I just think her strength is in her subtley and the ease with which she can display or switch emotions in what could otherwise be easily over-acted moments. She's also a convincing crier, which helps.

That said, the times I have felt like I didn't love the delivery as much is when she has to be explosive mad. One scene that comes to mind is in 9x04. She returns from finding the bodies in the water and is yelling at the suspect in the interrogation room. Something about soda. She has a tendency to tighten her jaw and lips when she's delivering a really angry line- and sure, people tense up when they're mad. To me, that makes the words almost come out as stiff and growl-y (which I've also noticed in other CPD actors). I would want to see a looser delivery in angry lines, if that makes sense, to allow for more fluctuations in tone as the words come out. Maybe that would be ill advised, I don't know. But I'd want to see the difference.

#anon ask #this is a longer answer and i'm not editing #we're embracing typos today

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sarah-cam · 8 months

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Why do you hate Jeremiah so much/think Conrad is the better brother? Btw this isn't trolling, I'm genuinely curious for your opinion! 😊

oh boy this is a loaded question 😂 i am purely a watcher of the show, i have not read the books — and honestly, jenny han has literally said that the show is how she would write the story today vs over ten years ago when the books came out, so take with that what you will (also here's jelly vs bonrad)

i want to start this off by just saying i don't HATE jeremiah (i know i say that i do a lot but that's mostly just me being funny and i won't apologize for that 💅🏼) and while i honestly don't like him right now, i don't think he's a bad person and lbr all of these characters could benefit from some self-improvement via therapy. i'm also going to refrain from labeling any characters/relationships as "toxic" or "abusive" because frankly i think people (usually tiktok girlies that are clearly chronically online) overuse and misuse the term so that it's lost all meaning, and i'm not a psychiatrist 🤷🏻‍♀️ this is simply my interpretation and analysis of a tv show that i enjoy watching

if you love jeremiah, all power to ya!! i'm not going to tell you that you need "professional help" or to "reevaluate yourself" (like some people love to tell random strangers on the internet). these are fictional characters — they are quite literally not real and if you like some, cool. if you don't like some, cool. if you disagree with my interpretations, cool!! i genuinely do not care as long as you mind your business and stay in your lane

i'm going to say right off the bat that the biggest reason i prefer conrad is simply that i gravitate towards that kind of character, i don't know why but it's just a common theme among my faves

going into season two, i was/am team conrad but i honestly loved jeremiah!! that quickly changed and honestly when i rewatched season one, i saw the same behaviors and didn't like him as much. also, none of my criticism of jeremiah is meant to say that conrad is perfect and has never done anything wrong (even though he IS perfect and has NEVER done anything wrong 😜)

most of the issues i have with jeremiah all come back to one thing: his feelings of inadequacy and jealousy when it comes to conrad

manipulative: when he sees belly and conrad about to kiss, he sabotages it with the fireworks, then tries to play it off as an accident and like he didn't see them when conrad mentions it. at this point, he knows that belly has always had a crush on conrad but now he knows to a degree that it's reciprocated. he then proceeds to go out of his way to sabotage them, like when he goes to nicole and gets her to invite conrad to that music festival (which, also not cool to play nicole like that), though i will admit that conrad self-sabotaging ruining things with belly had nothing to do with jeremiah

guilt-tripping: this sort of goes hand-in-hand with being manipulative. on MULTIPLE occasions, he purposefully makes belly feel uncomfortable and guilty for simply being happy with conrad. some examples:

thanksgiving — she drops conrad's hand after jere stares at them from across the table, they separate and she intentionally steps away from conrad when jere walks into the room, he tells conrad to "warn him" when belly is literally just going to be there

road trip to brown — he is passive aggressive in the car ("we don't talk about you"), he gives her the biggest eye roll/side-eye when trusky mentions conrad being depressed over the break up, he makes her feel terrible about "not being there for him" even though he was literally the one ignoring her when she said she had been reaching out multiple times. i understand that they are best friends and he was also struggling, there's no doubt about that, but she is ONE PERSON (who is also struggling, mind you) and OF COURSE she is going to be there for her BOYFRIEND

everything since then — multiple times throughout the rest of the season, he gives belly dirty looks any time she merely breathes in the direction of conrad, he interrupts them anytime they're talking (like in the party store) with a nasty look/tone, he goes to belly after her fight with laurel to be "supportive" and then shuts her down when she tries to talk about her feelings simply because she brings up conrad (which was very relevant to the conversation so like??), he gives belly a dirty look when conrad GIVES HER A SWEATSHIRT BECAUSE SHE WAS CHILLY. she is immediately uncomfortable and self-conscious of her actions every single time, even when SHE'S NOT EVEN DATING CONRAD ANYMORE and none of the interactions were explicitly "romantic"

playing the victim: again, goes hand-in-hand with my previous points. not only did he know that belly has always had a crush on conrad, but he literally watched them almost kiss. then the next night, he tells belly he likes her and they kiss. then when she later tells him that she kissed conrad, he acts like he had no idea that she liked conrad and was completely deceived (this is not me saying that belly didn't do him dirty — she did!! and i DO truly feel bad for him, but they weren't dating and he knew full well that she was rejected by conrad immediately before they proceeded to get together) and throws the fact that his "mom has cancer" in her face to make her feel like a bad person. i get that he was upset, rightfully so, but that was still messed up. conrad also did NOTHING WRONG here!! he had no idea that jeremiah liked belly or that they kissed when he kissed her, was not angry when belly told him about kissing jere, asked her who she wanted to be with, and then respected her decision to not date in order to spare jere's feelings. jeremiah acting all pissy towards conrad was not deserved. i understand him being annoyed when conrad asked him for his blessing, but if he truly cared about them, he would want them to be happy together instead of spending the next few months pouting and ignoring them

jealousy: all of this comes back to the fact that he is extremely jealous of conrad. having an older sister, i get it — i sympathize with always being compared, feeling like they're better at everything, and trying to live up to that. he feels like conrad is better at everything and is everyone's first choice (which... he is 😬) but like... that's a YOU problem. conrad didn't do anything to him!!

the conrad of it all: he constantly talks shit about conrad and doesn't even try to understand where he's coming from, which i understand to an extent because he is justifiably hurt, but calling conrad the selfish one is literally LAUGHABLE. even though he may have been misguided, everything conrad did was to try to protect jeremiah from pain. he has had an immense amount of pressure put on him by his father (and others) to be the perfect one that is always looking out for and protecting the younger ones. he suffered in silence for months after finding out about susannah's cancer/adam cheating, both to give susannah the last perfect summer she wanted and to protect jere from everything. same thing with the house — he thought that he could handle it by himself and that it would be protecting the rest of them to do it by himself. he had to deal with all of the guilt of not being able to be there for susannah as much as he wanted because of college, and he literally had a panic attack at the thought of leaving jeremiah to go to stanford. jeremiah constantly bringing up that belly and conrad broke up (when it's none of his damn business and he even admitted he didn't know what happened between them) ESPECIALLY in regard to conrad not being around when susannah was sick because HE WAS AT SCHOOL and "always with belly" is so fucked up. everyone was struggling and doing their best, including jeremiah, and that was just not cool. belly's actions ("not being there for jeremiah") are not conrad's fault.

because of his jealousy towards literally every single thing conrad says or does, he doesn't care that belly makes conrad happy (and vice versa), he gives absolutely zero consideration to conrad's feelings when deciding to go after belly (also neither does belly but that's a whole other post). conrad has now apologized to both belly and jeremiah on multiple occasions and started doing some serious self-reflection. jeremiah has not apologized ONCE for the shit he’s said and done.

i have said it before and i stand by it: conrad wants belly to be happy while jeremiah only wants belly to be happy if it's with him

(and no, his conversation with conrad in the finale doesn't change my mind because i simply didn't believe him)

IN CONCLUSION, people are entitled to their wrong opinions but conrad fisher remains superior now and forever and he deserves so much better and no i don't take questions or criticism because i'm right

#answered #anon #tsitp meta #the summer i turned pretty #anti jelly #anti jeremiah fisher #this got so long and would've been longer if i went on about conrad but i cut myself off #also i'm joking about the questions/criticism #i will gladly talk about this with people if they're nice but honestly neither of us are ever gonna change our minds 😂#the jelly vs bonrad analysis is coming but will prob take until tomorrow lol #this isn’t even touching on his cringeworthy narration #that’ll be in the jelly/bonrad analysis #alright an edit to this is that yes i actually do hate jeremiah 🫶🏼

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camsthisky · 1 year

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For the Extravaganza: "Ladies love a man who's good with kids" from the third list down on your post. It'd be cool if you did something with Dick in the 17-21 age range!

I am still trying to figure out Robin!Jason's voice, and this was a perfect chance to practice!

“Alfred!” says Dick before Jason can get in a word of hello. “How the heck am I supposed to take care of a baby?!”

Jason blinks incredulously and tightens his grip on the manor phone he’d just picked up after its incessant ringing had started to annoy him. “Why do you have a baby?”

“Jason?” Dick asks. “Where’s Alfred?”

“Not here,” Jason says. “Again, Dickface, why do you have a baby?”

“Not important.”

Jason takes the cordless phone and sits up on the kitchen counter by the window, peering out into the late afternoon to see if he can spot Alfred pulling up in the driveway. “Kinda sounds important.”

“I need Alfred,” Dick says again. There’s a wailing sound, and yep. That’s a baby. DIck sighs in frustration. “Crap.”

“Been crying a lot?” Jason wonders.

“Yeah,” Dick says, and he sounds resigned to the fact that he’s not going to get Alfred. Jason’s the only one home right now, after all. It’s him or nothing. “I can’t get her to calm down.”

“Maybe she’s hungry.”

“I already tried feeding her.” Dick makes a shushing noise that does absolutely nothing to stop the crying. “I’ve tried everything I can think of. Her diaper is clean, she doesn’t want to eat, she won’t go down for a nap, and she keeps throwing away her pacifier. I have no idea what to do.”

It’s the first time Jason has ever heard Dick sound so lost. In the entire year he’s been living with Bruce, the times he’s seen or talked to Dick, the man has always seemed so self-assured.

It kind of throws Jason for a loop. Enough for him to start wracking his own brains for a solution. “Uh. Maybe she misses her mom? Or dad? Or whoever usually takes care of her.”

Dick is silent for a moment, before quietly, he says, “Maybe.”

“Are you babysitting?” Jason pushes. “Because a distraction might be the best option, if her mom isn’t available right now.”

“It’s my neighbor’s kid,” Dick finally says. “I heard her crying through the wall this morning, and when I went to go check it out, her mom was passed out in the kitchen. She’s at the hospital right now, and her partner is five hours away at the earliest. I’m all she’s got right now.”

Jason swallows past the sudden lump in his throat. “Bummer.”

Dick huffs an unamused laugh. “Yeah. Bummer.”

“Maybe I can head over there and help?” Jason offers.

It’s not like this would be the first time he’s ever watched kids before. He used to babysit his downstairs neighbors’ twin terrors for a while before his mom died.

There’s another uptick in crying on the other line, and Dick’s voice is muffled as he talks to the baby softly. After a minute the crying decreases in volume.

“Yeah,” Dick says. “If you want to, that’d be great. It’d be good to have another hand until her other mom gets here.”

“Okay,” Jason says. “Alfred should be back soon. I’ll ask him to drop me off.”

“Thanks, Jason,” says Dick. “I know I’m not around the manor a lot, but I still appreciate this. And I would come running if you ever asked me to.”

Jason shifts uncomfortably. “Yeah, well. Ladies love a man who's good with kids, right? I’m only doing this for practice. And for the baby, because you’re hopeless.”

Dick laughs, for the first time the entire call, sounding somewhat like himself. “I guess I am, yeah. Thanks, Jay. I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye, Dickhead.”

Jason hangs up to Dick’s uptick in laughter, and tries to pretend he isn’t as red in the face as he feels.

He jumps off the counter and starts to pack up his homework. Hopefully, Alfred will be here soon, and Jason can get to helping out his older brother. That’s what family does, right?

#cam answers #danddamage #dick grayson celebration extravaganza #camryn writes #i'm posting the shorter ones first while i work on the longer ones #longer fics mean longer time to edit #dc #jason todd #dick grayson

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leofrith · 23 days

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you're going to make me relapse (as a bucky stan). why are your edits so high quality AND devastating. what are you trying to do to me. we MADE IT OUT

when the clock strikes midnight we go cold turkey!!!!

#sorryy :)))#i do miss making edits though i miss ittttt #too bad i no longer have the time or motivation to make a graphic that's only gonna get 4 reblogs 647 likes #thank god i'm not ACTUALLY tempted to watch the movie right now or we might have a real problem on our hands hahahahahahhahahahaaaaa #answer #flintmcgraw

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quietborderline · 6 months

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Tagged by @kikiroo and since I ignored you completely the last time you tagged me in one of these sort of games, it's only fair I answer now! Not tagging anyone but please always say I did if you want. <3

Last song: Hotel California - The Eagles

Last movie: Music and Lyrics. Which is slightly embarrassing because I'm 99% sure this same movie came up in another game that you had tagged me in lmao. But see, while most people watch horror movies in October I watch horror movies all year long, so in October I watch my favorite romcoms/etc. to balance the vibes. 😂

Currently watching: The new Goosebumps show on Hulu

Other stuff I watched this year: TV/series only? Ted Lasso, Good Omens S2, My Liberation Notes... probably other stuff I am forgetting, but I honestly don't watch that much TV stuff these days.

Shows I dropped/didn’t finish: A whole shit ton. 😇

Currently reading: Stuff for class. Nothing exciting lol.

Currently listening to: "Who Am I?" from Annie 2014.

(This playlist is quite random haha)

Currently working on: Life decisions, and also my Ersatz fic series. <3

#tag games #thank you #<3 #I am just realizing you answered the 'other stuff' question with movies and stuff you have rewatched and that kinda thing #which would make my list quite a bit longer but I'm too lazy to edit the post and add to it now oh well lol

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kscribbs · 7 months

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For the fanfic asks: 😅, 😈, 🤡, 🍦, 💖 and 🤲🏼 (plz 🥹)

TYSM for the Qs, Dani! 🥰

What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

Soooo many, omg. I've been writing since I was around twelve/thirteen? And some of those early works -- oof. 😅 Up until a few years ago my first ever fic was still available to read on ff.net. It was... charmingly bad.

The original draft of ML has its moments too, I'll admit. Things that I am SO glad I changed/re-structured.

Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Mayyybbeeee. >:) I knew what I was doing when I went straight from the scrying cliffhanger into a twelve year time-skip. I was a little worried about it being TOO jarring, in all honesty. Twelve years is a long time, after all. But hopefully that isn't the case!

There are a few scenes coming up in ML that I think may fall into this category, also.

What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

(Excerpt from the lil' Christmassy one shot I mentioned a while back. Set several months prior to the events of ML):

What's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

The Forgiven is pretty sweet! But ofc, the themes are somewhat... intense. Same goes for ML. I think the latter takes the cake in terms of sweetness, however. Given the romantic tones, later on. Not to mention all the familial fluff! Something something Winter/Jack/Blaise hug on the steps of Frost Manor... (There is an overabundance of hugs, which makes me, personally, very happy!)

What made you start writing?

Honestly? A desire to escape reality. I know that sounds a bit gloomy, but it's the truth. Whenever life got just a little too stressful/intense my natural inclination was to withdraw to the written word/the multiple fantasy worlds existing inside my head. I found it therapeutic! And continue to do so.

Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

For the longest time I couldn't decide which snip to include. Two stood out to me, and in the end I just said "fuck it, I'll post both", lmao. I dunno when I'm going to be able to get the next chapter of ML up (soon, hopefully, but life happens!) and I've been looking for an opportunity to share some write-y stuff. I think it's safe to say that I've plumbed the depths of that opportunity here -- apologies! 😂

(Lengthy -- and ever-so-slightly spoiler-y -- excerpts from ML under the cut!)

‘Is that really necessary, lady?’

‘Every detail counts, Council Member Cupid. Even that which might seem negligible on the face of it can lead to deeper truths. In any case, when you opened the door, Dr. Miller, there was no one there?’

‘No. No one.’

‘You didn’t even see a silhouette? A retreating shadow?’

‘…I’m sorry, no.’

‘No matter. How heavy would you say the footsteps were?’

Lucy frowned. She’d never thought of that before.

‘Fairly heavy,’ she answered, after several seconds. ‘Heavier than Jack’s, now that I think about it.’

‘Oh, well, thank you,’ Jack said, sounding rather flattered. ‘My secret is jazz-ice-size. Like jazzercise, but on skates. Very trimming.’

Ms Delaney noted this down. (The footsteps thing, not the “jazz-ice-size”). ‘You then stepped out into the corridor, and saw… what, exactly?’

Lucy described the detonator, the explosion, the retreat into what she now knew to be her mindscape. Coming to and finding the tunnel all-but collapsed.

‘Hm. And you were trapped there… how long, would you say? Before your brother — Charlie, is it? Yes, Charlie — came to your aid?’

Lucy’s knee was bouncing anxiously now, her palms clammy inside her gloves. She could feel her heart-rate beginning to climb, as she was plunged back into the darkness and claustrophobia of that night. Into the feeling of complete hopelessness, and the stomach-turning reality that she might die like that — frightened and in pain, struggling for breath. Somehow the memory still had the capacity to wound her, even after all these years, its remnants buried in the folds of her mind like broken glass beneath a shallow layer of earth.

‘F— ahem. Four hours, I think.’

Beside her, Scott released a slow breath. Lucy didn’t dare look at him, or any of the other Council Members. She disliked the sympathy and guilt mentions of the attack tended to garner. People suffered far worse, after all.

‘Give-give or take,’ she added, when the silence stretched on. ‘It’s all a bit of a blur now. Charlie just had this… sense, that something was wrong. And when he tried to call and I didn’t answer, he came looking. Took me to the hospital. I was fine.’

The image of her brother’s panic-stricken face swam, unbidden, to the forefront of her mind. Having managed to dislodge the worst of the wreckage he’d eventually shimmied his way through a narrow ingress to the place where Lucy’d lain — half-conscious and terrified.

‘Shh, it’s all right,’ he’d murmured, pulling her to his chest, one hand questing through her hair for the source of the blood she hadn’t felt trickling down the side of her face. ‘I’ve got you. You’re safe now, Squirt. I won’t let anything happen to you…’

Only then had Lucy allowed herself a moment of frailty, collapsing against him in a fit of muffled sobs. Which had turned to panicked gasps, which had turned to—

She cleared her throat, banishing the memory hastily.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jack’s long fingers twitch in her direction, and for the briefest of moments she thought he intended to take her hand beneath the table. …But no. He curled them into a tight fist at his side.

---

The room was dim, the muted glow of early morning falling across the walls like a running watercolour.

‘Look sharp, Frost,' Melusine whispered, dropping a copy of the New York Times onto his lap. ‘The two of you made the front page.’

After some difficulty Jack succeeded in freeing his arm (which was now decidedly numb) from where it had been wedged between Lucy and the sofa cushions, taking enormous care not to jostle her too much. Her hair — still a little curly from the humidity of the tunnel — slipped over her face, the light from Widener's Orb threading through it like pale fingers.

Doing his utmost to appear unmoved as she nestled further into his chest, and not at all like he was turning to slush on the inside, he picked up the newspaper, straightening it with a flourish. Sure enough, there, on the cover, was what looked like a bystander’s photograph of the spectacle in Times Square.

Jack grimaced, his gaze moving from the fifteen-foot wall of ice, to the ten-or-more car pile-up, to the startled faces of his and Lucy’s likenesses, and back again.

He swore under his breath.

‘It’s not the only one, I’m afraid,’ said Melusine, leaning forward to turn the page. ‘There’s a special feature. Look.’

He was greeted by two images: One of the mangled subway car, twisted and smouldering where it lay lengthways across the tracks, and a close-up of he and Lucy running hand-in-hand through the urgent press of commuters/NYPD officers, Lucy shooting a jet of scarlet light (an immobilising jinx, it looked like) over her shoulder.

“Senseless Social Media Stunt or Signs of the Supernatural? You Decide,” the headline read, in large, spidery typography.

“Do sorcerers live among us? How about superheroes? Or, indeed, supervillains? The answer might surprise you!

"Yesterday afternoon Manhattanites bore witness to a rather unusual -- and highly destructive -- chain of events, involving a nameless man (40s?) and woman (30s?), as well as a mysterious cloaked individual, who were captured from multiple angles using what appear to be magical wands/staffs (yes, really!) to wreak havoc in Bryant Park Station on W 42nd. As well as summoning ice and snow from thin air in the middle of Times Square! Elsa who?"

‘Shit,’ Jack said softly, rubbing his chin. ‘That’s… definitely not ideal.’

‘Mm.’

‘...They might’ve at least captured my good side.'

‘Is that really the thing to be focusing on right now, Jack? You don't think there might be more pressing issues at hand?'

#thanks again for the Qs!! ☺️☺️#anyone reading pls feel free to send more in! Although ofc no pressure!#I know it often takes me awhile to answer (I'm sorry!) but they are rather a lot of fun to do :D #(in this case the delay was bc the first snip was much longer and needed significant editing #and then I realised tht it contained a HUGE spoiler and cut it in half lol #so I needn't have poured over it for so long but AH WELL)#writing #ask box games #ML #Miller's Law #tsc #the Santa Clause #Jack Frost #Lucy Miller #adult!Lucy Miller #out of context those excerpts are going to make v little sense but I kind of like that 😂

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andnatiabrosca · 1 year

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hey! from the new ask game, 6, 14, 27 for Nat and Mal (and/or anyone else you'd like)! :3

[[question source]]

6. What would they think of each other's combat skills/techniques?

Not directly about skills, but about classes: Nat is a little jealous of Mal being a sword-and-shield warrior. They have similar backgrounds and worked in similar positions in the Carta, but Nat always needed to be able to hide or scrounge up new weapons, and it's a lot harder to steal sword and shield than little daggers and knives.

Malachite's never been very fast or light on her feet, so she's pretty impressed with all of the rogue skills, especially stealth and whirlwind - style techniques. She thinks Nat spends too much time tight with opponents, though.

Nat doesn't think as highly of Malachite's skills, and also would be absolutely FURIOUS with Malachite for taking the Templar specialization. Malachite can just wade into the fray, holler, and let people wail on her, and complete what she needs to in the battle. That's not skill, Nat thinks.

(Actually, fun timing on this because I'm just learning that Mal should just waltz into the middle of a fight and take over. I'm so used to running Nat, who can't body all the damage from a dragon for 4+ minutes of a fight. Also, just took the Templar spec for Malachite, not because it's the best for her - I think that would have been Champion - but because she is terrified of the Breach and of Cassandra/The Inquisition, and is hoping by playing into the Chantry she might gain favor & power over the rifts.)

27. What would their fears on the graves in the fade during Here Lies the Abyss be?

I'm not certain why right now - might get to think & expand later but _ (also I don't remember how the graves were specifically marked. been a minute)

Nat: Devotion

Malachite: Irrelevance

(And Freebies:)

Mar: Hunger

Miri: Power

14. If they'd been in each other's places, would they have made the same or different choices? And who would they have romanced, if anyone?

This one is Hard. It's going to be Long and lots of Rambly Thoughts, so it's last. With the implementation of 'shorten long posts' I no longer really use read-mores unless for fics. Sorry if that's a bother.

Let's look at Malachite Cadash, Grey Warden and Hero of Fereldan. I'm going to assume the timelines are still the same, they just get picked up at different times (and I'm using my adjusted timeline for years, because that's the one they live in).

She's 19, brand painted on her face to run some work down in Orzammar, when she gets caught up by the guards and rescued - conscripted - by Duncan. The specifics don't really matter here. She's from the surface; she understands surface politics well enough, and she didn't have her family pushing her to join the Wardens. Maybe her family doesn't even know.

That's an entirely different scenario.

Even in her 30s, Malachite is much more fear-driven than Nat, and much less driven to save everyone. She won't be making decisions based on compassion. She'll make her decisions based on what will take the least time and have the greatest effect. She's a surfacer, and that will change her decisions as well.

Best guesses? She'd kill Connor, likely kill Zathrian, and maybe recruit Loghain - depending on how scared she was and how much she trusted Alistair's abilities.

I'm not sure who she would romance - she romances Josie because Josie gives her something outside of her own fear to pin onto (if we're looking only at the characters thematically). Maybe Leliana, to be honest. At 19, she would probably take the dream at face value, and be able to be swayed to Andrastianism and thus not clash with Leli like she does in Inquisition, when she is resolute in the Stone.

And what about Nat Brosca, Herald of Andraste and Inquisitor?

She's 33. Something changed in her life that she lived this long. She would never have gone topside without Rica, and I don't think she could have hung on even until Endrin was born. So, let's say Rica's sponsor falls through. Their position in the Carta is tenuous at best at the start of the origin; it dissolves as soon as Bhelen backs out. They run.

Nat's still wrapped up in the Carta; she doesn't know another way to live. She can end up at the Conclave as Cadash normally does - or as part of another mercenary group. She has very little family to care for, compared to her own life. We can say Rica has a kid, a family. Nat's missing her Gwina - who is her driving force at this point in her own timeline. If she never leaves Rica and the Carta, Nat never gets to grow. Also, if she never carries children she never fulfills her cultural understanding as "woman" and would probably actually be a "man" (or another dwarven gender - lore theory is in the works). I'm still gonna use she/her here for Nat.

So, we're looking at a person who is centered around duty, who believes she needs to try to save everyone, but has been shown over and over again that she is not capable of it. She's dangerous, angry, stubborn, and has just been handed the most powerful object and title in the world.

Where Malachite tempers her decisions, trusts people to make their own decisions, and is always trying to play both sides as Inquisitor, Nat goes full despot. That's really what it is. She wants to save everyone and now she can.

She certainly doesn't try to disband the Inquisition. She probably goes for Cass as Divine, because Cass seems the most controllable. I'd wager she banishes the Wardens, and destroys every other army she gets the chance to (in the middle of a DAI playthru right now and don't remember exactly what choices). Her choice between Mages and Templars would be decided by her reading of Cullen and Solas. I wouldn't expect her to have interacted with mages much, and she would lean towards the controlling aspect of the Templars, but would be swayable either way.

In romances, Nat looks for lifelines - reasons to stay alive - and connection. She won't broker any attempts or feelings of being converted. Once she starts to heal, she looks for people who challenge her and have her back.

What would Nat, burned and damaged and controlling look for? Fight.

She would never feel satisfied with someone who wouldn't fight back to her, even if she thought she wanted someone to submit to her will. She wouldn't be able to stand Solas because he doesn't understand the fight, as evidenced by banter with Varric. I think Blackwall would anger her, but she wouldn't know why. Sera wouldn't be able to fight the way Nat wants, but would get herself punched in the face with a badly-timed prank.

I hesitate to say Nat would romance anyone, actually. The only options I could really see (of companions + advisors) would be hardened!Leliana or Iron Bull. She and Bull wouldn't be romantic, but they'd have good fun. Nat and Leliana would be crossing paths at their most destructive, but most compatible. It would be explosive but somewhat successful.

#birch answers #layalu #thank you!! it's taken a couple days to become real again and I'm still not quite there but!#can answer asks now and am planning on editing that nat fic for posting #oc: nat brosca #oc: malachite cadash #this is SO LONG because the q 14 became a really interesting thought exercise #I'm gonna tag it to find later and maybe write out #birch write this #yes Nat's writeup is much longer IN MY DEFENSE I first played Nat in 2017 and I JUST STARTED Malachite in December #haven't even finished mal's first playthru. she's not quite real yet

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waterfallofspace · 6 months

Text

little might delete later poll~ honestly feeling a bit nervous to even ask this-

so as I've said a little bit, I'm not super sensitive, not a lot of inducing/allergies that work, so generally I stick to character wavs since it's scripted and I can use a lot of takes to edit it, buuutttt~ recently I've been enjoying a little more.... voice work~ and so I was curious if anyone would be interested in a sort of- heavier on the talk, voice heavy type of thing?~

(feel free to leave comments/hit up my inbox too if there's anything specific, or to ignore this altogheter >-<)

#waterfallpolls #honestly im just like- i've been told a lot that my voice is- good??#like... i've done a bunch of uh... non snz related voices~#and i've usually been told they're fairly nice #and so i was curious if there's a way i can use that here??? just since like #snz comes harder to me- much as I hate that fact ToT unfortunately it's just not something that comes easily #so it takes me a longer time to make wavs since they aren't something i can make quickly #but also ive just been thinking abou twavs that are JUST ME recently but-#idk it feels scarier??? or like- as if... no one would want that???#especially since unless it's heavily edited i won't really have anything rapid or fit like #so it would be more voice things or pretty edited~#i'm rambling in these tags im just honestly scared with this poll so im gonna #just throw it out there and let whoever sees it answer or ignore! whatever you want!

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inkblackorchid · 7 months

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With the next one of Aki’s stories being a long one, is it something you are planning on finishing before you start publishing chapters, or publishing as you go along? Just curious what your approach is for the longer fics

Ok so as I've said on tumblr (and I think maybe also in the author's notes on ao3?? I forget) before, I at the very least want to finish the first portion of this fic before I start uploading anything. (That portion's end being marked by a particular duel.) From the way my outline is looking right now, that means I'd probably write until chapter 5 or more before I might consider publishing a chapter (there are currently a total of 14 chapters planned). And as of right now, I'm about to finish the first draft of chapter 3.

...But. But. See, the thing is, this fic, due to being extremely plot-heavy, needs to be super tightly written. Like, this thing needs to work. And all the duels in it (yes, multiple) really need to hit the mark, or else this story loses some of its emotional impact. In other words, I'll definitely be extra thorough when it comes to editing this one, too. So at least where this particular fic is concerned, I'm kinda shying away from the "publish as I go along"-approach, because there are too many moving parts here and I want this to be as coherent as possible. So it's a bit of a tossup atm. If I feel confident enough in how fast I'm progressing with the story by the time that first portion is written out, I may start publishing before all the chapters are done. But if there's a chance that I might deviate from the outline later in a way that would require me to go back to a previous chapter to add some setup there? I'll hold off and wait until at the very least the first draft of the whole story is done.

As far as longer fics in general go, though, I'm always more the type who likes to write a bit in advance before publishing. Even with To Be of Use, which had little to no plot and was the only work I've genuinely published as the chapters got done so far, I didn't feel entirely happy throwing the chapters out as I had them. I'm a huge fan of setup and payoff, and callbacks, and foreshadowing, etc. and the thing is, even if you're a very practiced writer, as soon as you're writing a plot-heavy story, you'll encounter moments where you come up with an important thing you want to happen a little later in the story than you meant to, and suddenly need to go back to actually set that up, because you didn't in the first draft of an earlier chapter. (At least this is my experience, your mileage may vary, writing styles differ, etc.) So to write the best thing I can, I usually like to give myself the time to write the entire first draft, then revise that first draft, then do the final edit of each chapter just before publishing it. (This was also my modus operandi for basically all my 5Ds fics prior to Fields of Arcadia. Even if I didn't have the entire story edited and polished yet, the first draft was always complete before I ever started publishing. It's only now that my backlog of pre-written first drafts has caught up to me and I'm forced to keep y'all waiting as I prepare the next big thing completely from scratch in real time.)

#yugioh 5ds #fic writing updates #current wip #probably a longer answer than you expected but I figured I may as well put it out there for anyone else who might be curious too #for the folks who want to know how I'm progressing and so on #the thing is I'm certainly a perfectionist to a degree when writing #so that definitely bleeds into how meticulously I prepare stories before uploading them #as far as the upcoming fic is concerned however #I may either go back and edit and start publishing once I've completed chapter 5 at the earliest #or I may hold off and complete a whole first draft as usual #it very much depends on how I feel after chapter 5 is done #ask the orchid #orchid rambles #thanks for asking hope the wait isn't annoying you too much!

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spookyclooky · 2 years

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your tags about stancy!!! big yes! you spoke my mind and you should say it louder for the people in the back who refuse to listen!

THANK YOU!! I feel like I’m pulling teeth trying to get people to listen to me. Like, they simply DON’T WORK!! Like, sure, they were cute at first but they are just not meant for each other, I can’t stress that enough. I could honestly write a 20 page research paper on the reasons why their relationship was doomed to fail from the start

#anti stancy #rant post #thank you for the ask!#ceriseheaven #stranger things #so happy someone agrees #I'm in the middle of editing a longer post that's not in the tags to sort of expand on what I was saying lol #spooky mail time #spooky answers

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shyspider · 1 year

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Hey! Bookclub here! Meant to send this a bit ago but we lost our minds over that last chapter, it was like Christmas came early! I got all tender and mushy when they admitted how the felt to each other and am eager to see when swipes gets in on it.

Glad you liked it. I'm just happy we're finally here.

Next chapter is coming this friday, and will be all business as I try my best to push the limits on what you readers can take.

Later this month is when we'll see Sideswipe's brand of romance and the kind of relationship he offers.

And then we're looking at a spicy start to 2023.

#Bookclub Anon #📚 anon #When Metal Bends #Twintail lovers will have to wait a little longer I'm afraid #super sorry #my editing schedule has been thrown by one thing after another #I have vaca in January I'm hoping to take advantage of #And I'm going to squeeze posting TT between these two spicy WMB chaps #And of course the spice is optional for those who don't like that sort of content #Shyspider answers

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sidewalk-scrawls · 2 years

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i actually couldn't decide which prompt to choose, i was torn between some of them. if you'd prefer to write for “you deserve to be taken care of.” or “you look like you could use a hug.”, please take this as a modification of the request. i don't know if this helps or complicates things more lol!

| original ask: “take as long as you need to. ” izzy x lucius 👀

I wasn't having much luck getting the voices to land in your initial request, so thanks for sending along these other options! I might still write your first ask up later (I do have a premise for it!), but both of these options definitely felt easier to me. So here we go... “you deserve to be taken care of" featuring Izzy x Lucius =) (Also feel free to send an ask if you enjoyed it! I’d love to know that you saw it)

---

Lucius didn’t take his role as the Revenge’s social glue lightly, so when Izzy returned to the ship after a raid and slipped below decks, not even stopping to claim anything, well, Lucius immediately decided to follow him.

The door to Izzy’s room was already shut, so he raised his hand to knock before pausing, first clenched in midair. Did he really want to start a talk with Izzy of all people? Before he’d even finished the thought, he knocked anyway.

“Go away,” Izzy grumbled.

“I just wanted to check and see if you wanted anything from the raid! You disappeared so quickly.”

“Fuck off, Spriggs.”

“Okay, I’m coming in!” Lucius said, brightly. It wasn’t like he was going to get an invitation. He gave Izzy a second, relishing the muffled cursing that came through the door, and then threw open the door. He gave a cheerful, “Hello!” before he glanced around the room and his eyes caught up with his mouth.

Izzy was sitting on his cot, shirtless, hand pressed to a piece of cloth over his stomach, and he did not… look great. His skin looked pallid and flat, a thin sheen of sweat across his brow.

“Are you… alright?”

“I’m fine,” Izzy growled. “Can you just get out?”

Lucius glanced down at the hand on Izzy’s stomach. “Are you injured?”

“Wow, so even the whimsical Spriggs can notice things!” Izzy says, rolling his eyes. “I thought you were too busy playing make believe to notice anything.”

Well. Izzy would have to try a bit harder than that if he wanted to get under Lucius’s skin. “I really am whimsical, aren’t I?” Lucius said, giving Izzy a mocking bow. “But also, don’t be a dick. I just wanted to check that you were alright.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re clearly not. Let me help.”

“Fuck off.”

“Izzy.”

They sat in a silent battle of the wills, Lucius waiting for the crack in Izzy’s face when he realized Lucius had no intention to leave. He was pretty sure Izzy was trying the same game, but Lucius was pretty confident that he could win this one.

And then.

“It’s really not that bad,” Izzy sighed. “They barely even got me, someone just caught me across the stomach when I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Let me see,” Lucius said.

“Oh yeah, like the scribe is better at triaging a wound than I am.”

“Let me see,” Lucius repeated.

“Fine,” Izzy spat, pulling away the cloth that he had pressed over his stomach.

Oh, that was. A lot of blood. No wonder Izzy looked pale. Lucius stepped closer to the cot and dropped to the floor to take a closer look. Izzy was right, it didn’t look particularly deep, a shallow gash that stretched from the left side of his ribs down to a spot above his right hip. It was a long gash, though, one that required pressure to prevent too much blood loss, but not one that was likely to cause anything deadly as long as it was kept clean and covered. Speaking of…

“Have you cleaned it yet?”

“Does it look like I cleaned it yet?” Izzy spat.

“Okay,” Lucius said, “let me help.” He glanced around the room, looking for some alcohol he could use as disinfectant.

“I don’t need your help.”

“Maybe not,” Lucius said, “but you deserve it. You deserve to be taken care of.”

Lucius didn’t notice the heavy silence that had fallen over the room at his words, not until he grabbed a bottle of alcohol from Izzy’s desk, and turned around to see Izzy, nearly frozen where he sat on the cot. He was working his lips, clearly searching for something to say.

And well, Lucius was many things, but he was not impatient -- He could wait.

As the silence lengthened, Izzy eventually spoke. “What do you mean I deserve it?”

Lucius raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Why would I deserve your help?”

“You’re part of this crew, aren’t you?”

“I’m part of Blackbeard’s crew.”

“We both know that there hasn’t been a difference between the crews in a while.”

“Speak for yourself.”

“So what… you snuck down here, so you could lick your injuries like some kind of cat, and then hide your injuries from the crew? Why?”

“Injuries are a weakness, Spriggs,” said Izzy, and wow, that was more honest of an answer than Lucius was expecting. And from the look on Izzy’s face, it was more honest of an answer than he had planned to give. “Don’t tell the crew about this.”

Lucius nodded. “I won’t,” he stepped closer to Izzy, taking the cloth that he still had clenched in his fist. He knelt down next to him, so that he could start wiping away the blood. He also poured a generous amount of alcohol over the wound -- It had to burn, but Izzy barely reacted, sitting frozen under his touch.

“You know,” Lucius said, “if you told the rest of the crew, they wouldn’t like… use your injury against you or anything. They’d just be concerned for you.”

“The fuck they would. The crew hates me.”

“No, we don’t!” Lucius paused as Izzy gave him a disbelieving look. “Okay, maybe we hate you a little,” he amended. “But we don’t hate, hate you. We haven’t tried to kill you recently, have we? Not since Stede has been back!”

That actually got a small chuckle out of Izzy. Lucius marveled at the sound of it -- He didn’t think he’d ever heard Izzy laugh in a way that wasn’t bitter.

“Okay, Spriggs, I’ll give you that one.”

Izzy’s face was more open than Lucius had ever seen it, and he would swear Izzy was leaning into his touch as he cleaned his wound. Maybe the burn of alcohol wasn’t so bad after all? Or maybe that was just the point.

“How did you even get hurt anyway?” Lucius asked. “You’re the best sword fighter of all of us.”

“It’s this stupid toe,” Izzy said, voice softer than Lucius had expected. “Still off-balance since it happened. And the sudden pain there, it’s almost like the pain of losing it all again.”

“I get that,” Lucius said. “My finger still hurts like that sometimes.”

Izzy looked surprised by that admission, but then he hummed in acknowledgment, waiting for Lucius to finish cleaning his wound. Lucius was almost sorry to pull away the cloth.

“Okay,” Lucius said. “Bandage next.”

This process was quicker -- Lucius just needed to wind the cloth tight around Izzy’s midsection, and then tie it tight. Izzy could’ve done it himself, of course, but it was easier with Lucius’s help. It was still pretty difficult for Lucius to understand why Izzy was so intent on refusing to ask for help -- Sure, Izzy had said he didn’t want anyone to be aware of a weakness, but not even Fang? Not even Ivan? He was pretty sure Izzy would trust Ed with knowledge of his injury, but then, Izzy probably considered that request an imposition. How does someone make it so long on a crew where they refused to rely on anyone? Lucius supposed that was a question for another day.

When the bandage was secured, Lucius gave another glance to Izzy’s face. His expression was still surprisingly open, and well, maybe it was worth seeing if that tenderness could extend past injury. So Lucius decided to risk it.

He reached a careful hand across to Izzy’s, settling his fingers against the bones of Izzy’s wrist. For a moment, Izzy stiffened, but then he exhaled and relaxed into the touch. Lucius rubbed his thumb in gentle circles over Izzy’s inner wrist.

“Listen,” Lucius said. “If you want, I could… stay for a bit.”

There was a moment where Izzy seemed to consider it. Like this was a thing that he wanted to pursue. And looking at Izzy’s face, well… Lucius was intrigued that he could inspire this response in Izzy just through gentle touches. Touches to his hands, no less. He wondered what other touches would be like. He wanted to pull Izzy toward him, to let Izzy rest his head on his chest. He wanted to run his fingers through his hair and to kiss the hollow of his throat.

But before Izzy could answer, a call echoed through the ship. “Izzy, I need your help with this!” Blackbeard called.

Izzy’s expression changed immediately, locking into place. He pulled on his shirt in a way that Lucius thought had to pull at his stomach, and within seconds, he was at the door. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” he said, glancing back at Lucius with hardened eyes. But then, for a moment, his expression changed. “But thank you.”

Before Lucius could decide what to answer, Izzy had spun around and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

#this is longer than i intended so i'm putting most of it under a read more lol #honestly this is long enough that i might also post it on ao3 if people like it #(maybe with another round of light editing)#i don't normally post prompts but this is literally 1500 words LOL #ANYWAY this is why it took me awhile to answer this ask #i also find these voices kinda challenging to write in so it's been fun to mess around with them!#going to have to write more ofmd fic clearly #ofmd #ask #fic prompts

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rosewheresheshouldntbe · 14 days

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🔮 Submission & Request Guidelines ☀️

Feel free to ask me questions about any of these rules or just in general!

If I am uncomfortable or don't like your idea or submission for whatever reason, I'm allowed to decide not publish it & I do not have to disclose my reasons for deciding that or even blocking you.

Credit me "RoseMultiverse" (alternatively my main @r0semultiverse) or this blog if you repost to other sites.

Spicy submissions & requests are allowed of Rose Lalonde (post-scratch AKA Alpha Rose) & the Beyond Canon versions of Rose. Have an age/age range in your bio or pinned post to interact with those spicy posts specifically. Block the "homestuck nsft" tag if you aren't of adult age or just don't want to see it. I’ll censor submissions or requests as I see fit because I'm not trying to lose any of my blogs or their visibility.

Things like Rose being on Homestuck pages she isn't normally on are allowed along with adding clones of her onto pages she's already on. A clone of Rose or a different instance of her isn't suppose to be on that page with the other instance of Rose; so, it counts as her not being where she's supposed to be.

Cross fandom posting is also completely allowed, put any version of Rose wherever you want & send it in or make a request!

Please properly source or credit as necessary in your submissions using sprite rips, background images, etc. No uploading stolen SWs content & slapping her on there, that should be obvious, but I figure I should put that clearly in text.

Things like Rose wearing a hijab, being different skin tones, or even a different gender identity don’t count. Things like Rose wearing a hazmat suit or a fur suit do count! Also feel free to tag this blog in any posts you feel like would belong here! It’s anything not seen in source canon (within the rules of this post obviously).

Fanart & drawings are also allowed via submissions or maybe I'll even answer requests with doodles at times.

It's okay if the edits and/or art you send in aren't "perfect."

If you don't specify which version of Rose, I will choose to edit and/or draw whichever one I want at the time of seeing the request.

Sometimes I may make act or role-play like Rose in response to your submissions just for fun, but don't expect that as a default for every post.

#rosewheresheshouldntbe #originals #reblogs #rose answers #As of making this post; I'm using a very old phone so don't expect gif or animation edits but you can absolutely submit those #I'll update & edit this post over time as I see fit.#I also on off may not have my own computer at times; but that's because life transitional period right now & things are hectic #I don't plan on closing submissions or asks by the way #spicy variety of postings may take longer; especially when I don't have computer access because I have an old iOS & old phone & tumblr #won't allow older devices to access community labels & again I'm not trying to catch flags; please feel free to send stuff though #don't delete it just because it takes me a while to respond or publish stuff; I'll get around to it when I get around to it #I'll think of some kind of tag system for organizational purposes later; I stayed up way too late making this blog lol #lets' put Rose Lalonde in some situations; it'll be fun & silly #I'm now gonna be able to experience the homestuck gimmick blogs of it's hay day maybe; I'm excited!

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sophiamcdougall · 4 months

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You're a reasonably informed person on the internet. You've experienced things like no longer being able to get files off an old storage device, media you've downloaded suddenly going poof, sites and forums with troves full of people's thoughts and ideas vanishing forever. You've heard of cybercrime. You've read articles about lost media. You have at least a basic understanding that digital data is vulnerable, is what I'm saying. I'm guessing that you're also aware that history is, you know... important? And that it's an ongoing study, requiring ... data about how people live? And that it's not just about stanning celebrities that happen to be dead? Congratulations, you are significantly better-informed than the British government! So they're currently like "Oh hai can we destroy all these historical documents pls? To save money? Because we'll digitise them first so it's fine! That'll be easy, cheap and reliable -- right? These wills from the 1850s will totally be fine for another 170 years as a PNG or whatever, yeah? We didn't need to do an impact assesment about this because it's clearly win-win! We'd keep the physical wills of Famous People™ though because Famous People™ actually matter, unlike you plebs. We don't think there are any equalities implications about this, either! Also the only examples of Famous People™ we can think of are all white and rich, only one is a woman and she got famous because of the guy she married. Kisses!"

Yes, this is the same Government that's like "Oh no removing a statue of slave trader is erasing history :(" You have, however, until 23 February 2024 to politely inquire of them what the fuck they are smoking. And they will have to publish a summary of the responses they receive. And it will look kind of bad if the feedback is well-argued, informative and overwhelmingly negative and they go ahead and do it anyway. I currently edit documents including responses to consultations like (but significantly less insane) than this one. Responses do actually matter. I would particularly encourage British people/people based in the UK to do this, but as far as I can see it doesn't say you have to be either. If you are, say, a historian or an archivist, or someone who specialises in digital data do say so and draw on your expertise in your answers. This isn't a question of filling out a form. You have to manually compose an email answering the 12 questions in the consultation paper at the link above. I'll put my own answers under the fold. Note -- I never know if I'm being too rude in these sorts of things. You probably shouldn't be ruder than I have been.

Please do not copy and paste any of this: that would defeat the purpose. This isn't a petition, they need to see a range of individual responses. But it may give you a jumping-off point.

Question 1: Should the current law providing for the inspection of wills be preserved?

Yes. Our ability to understand our shared past is a fundamental aspect of our heritage. It is not possible for any authority to know in advance what future insights they are supporting or impeding by their treatment of material evidence. Safeguarding the historical record for future generations should be considered an extremely important duty.

Question 2: Are there any reforms you would suggest to the current law enabling wills to be inspected?

No.

Question 3: Are there any reasons why the High Court should store original paper will documents on a permanent basis, as opposed to just retaining a digitised copy of that material?

Yes. I am amazed that the recent cyber attack on the British Library, which has effectively paralysed it completely, not been sufficient to answer this question for you. I also refer you to the fate of the Domesday Project. Digital storage is useful and can help more people access information; however, it is also inherently fragile. Malice, accident, or eventual inevitable obsolescence not merely might occur, but absolutely should be expected. It is ludicrously naive and reflects a truly unpardonable ignorance to assume that information preserved only in digital form is somehow inviolable and safe, or that a physical document once digitised, never need be digitised again..At absolute minimum, it should be understood as certain that at least some of any digital-only archive will eventually be permanently lost. It is not remotely implausible that all of it would be. Preserving the physical documents provides a crucial failsafe. It also allows any errors in reproduction -- also inevitable-- to be, eventually, seen and corrected. Note that maintaining, upgrading and replacing digital infrastructure is not free, easy or reliable. Over the long term, risks to the data concerned can only accumulate.

"Unlike the methods for preserving analog documents that have been honed over millennia, there is no deep precedence to look to regarding the management of digital records. As such, the processing, long-term storage, and distribution potential of archival digital data are highly unresolved issues. [..] the more digital data is migrated, translated, and re-compressed into new formats, the more room there is for information to be lost, be it at the microbit-level of preservation. Any failure to contend with the instability of digital storage mediums, hardware obsolescence, and software obsolescence thus meets a terminal end—the definitive loss of information. The common belief that digital data is safe so long as it is backed up according to the 3-2-1 rule (3 copies on 2 different formats with 1 copy saved off site) belies the fact that it is fundamentally unclear how long digital information can or will remain intact. What is certain is that its unique vulnerabilities do become more pertinent with age." -- James Boyda, On Loss in the 21st Century: Digital Decay and the Archive, Introduction.

Question 4: Do you agree that after a certain time original paper documents (from 1858 onwards) may be destroyed (other than for famous individuals)? Are there any alternatives, involving the public or private sector, you can suggest to their being destroyed?

Absolutely not. And I would have hoped we were past the "great man" theory of history. Firstly, you do not know which figures will still be considered "famous" in the future and which currently obscure individuals may deserve and eventually receive greater attention. I note that of the three figures you mention here as notable enough to have their wills preserved, all are white, the majority are male (the one woman having achieved fame through marriage) and all were wealthy at the time of their death. Any such approach will certainly cull evidence of the lives of women, people of colour and the poor from the historical record, and send a clear message about whose lives you consider worth remembering.

Secondly, the famous and successsful are only a small part of our history. Understanding the realities that shaped our past and continue to mould our present requires evidence of the lives of so-called "ordinary people"!

Did you even speak to any historians before coming up with this idea?

Entrusting the documents to the private sector would be similarly disastrous. What happens when a private company goes bust or decides that preserving this material is no longer profitable? What reasonable person, confronted with our crumbling privatised water infrastructure, would willingly consign any part of our heritage to a similar fate?

Question 5: Do you agree that there is equivalence between paper and digital copies of wills so that the ECA 2000 can be used?

No. And it raises serious questions about the skill and knowledge base within HMCTS and the government that the very basic concepts of data loss and the digital dark age appear to be unknown to you. I also refer you to the Domesday Project.

Question 6: Are there any other matters directly related to the retention of digital or paper wills that are not covered by the proposed exercise of the powers in the ECA 2000 that you consider are necessary?

Destroying the physical documents will always be an unforgivable dereliction of legal and moral duty.

Question 7: If the Government pursues preserving permanently only a digital copy of a will document, should it seek to reform the primary legislation by introducing a Bill or do so under the ECA 2000?

Destroying the physical documents will always be an unforgivable dereliction of legal and moral duty.

Question 8: If the Government moves to digital only copies of original will documents, what do you think the retention period for the original paper wills should be? Please give reasons and state what you believe the minimum retention period should be and whether you consider the Government’s suggestion of 25 years to be reasonable.

There is no good version of this plan. The physical documents should be preserved.

Question 9: Do you agree with the principle that wills of famous people should be preserved in the original paper form for historic interest?

This question betrays deep ignorance of what "historic interest" actually is. The study of history is not simply glorified celebrity gossip. If anything, the physical wills of currently famous people could be considered more expendable as it is likely that their contents are so widely diffused as to be relatively "safe", whereas the wills of so-called "ordinary people" will, especially in aggregate, provide insights that have not yet been explored.

Question 10: Do you have any initial suggestions on the criteria which should be adopted for identifying famous/historic figures whose original paper will document should be preserved permanently?

Abandon this entire lamentable plan. As previously discussed, you do not and cannot know who will be considered "famous" in the future, and fame is a profoundly flawed criterion of historical significance.

Question 11: Do you agree that the Probate Registries should only permanently retain wills and codicils from the documents submitted in support of a probate application? Please explain, if setting out the case for retention of any other documents.

No, all the documents should be preserved indefinitely.

Question 12: Do you agree that we have correctly identified the range and extent of the equalities impacts under each of these proposals set out in this consultation? Please give reasons and supply evidence of further equalities impacts as appropriate.

No. You appear to have neglected equalities impacts entirely. As discussed, in your drive to prioritise "famous people", your plan will certainly prioritise the white, wealthy and mostly the male, as your "Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin and Princess Diana" examples amply indicate. This plan will create a two-tier system where evidence of the lives of the privileged is carefully preserved while information regarding people of colour, women, the working class and other disadvantaged groups is disproportionately abandoned to digital decay and eventual loss. Current and future historians from, or specialising in the history of minority groups will be especially impoverished by this.

#ukpol #uk politics #fuck the tories #lost media #data loss #cultural vandalism

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