#anyway i hate lumon all of my friends hate lumon

[bean-spring]

Mark and Helly can fuck all they want on company time and he won't get fired because he's Lumon's little meow meow but oh if the gay older men touch foreheads it's suddenly "an unsanctioned erotic entanglement" and they NEED to get fired

[maximsdeadwife]

Antidote

Mark S x gn!reader — 1.5k words

∘₊✧ Summary: Mark likes Petey/Petey's gone/you're here/you like Mark/Mark likes you/Mark still likes Petey a bit. It's not that complicated.

∘₊✧ A/N: innie Mark is just sooooo. Title inspired by Gaga's Disease which is such a Mark song.

∘₊✧ Content/warnings: nsfw, reader's gender and parts not mentioned, reader replaced Petey so is in Helly's shoes, thoughts of, discussion and allusion to Mark x Petey, hinted alcohol on Mark's tongue, making out, coming in pants (kinda handjob but it doesn't quite get that far before it's over so also kinda premature), it's in a Lumon severed floor corridor so not really private.

∘₊✧─────────────────────✧₊∘

‘You talk about Petey a lot. Do you miss him?’ you interrupted Mark. You were curious enough, but mostly craving his attention on you instead.

After a thoughtful beat he answered, ‘Every day,’ with a flashy smile and that fake singsong employer voice you hated, but when you looked across at him you saw a wet sheen in his eyes that looked a little like the one he sported on arrival in the mornings, red eyed and sniffling as he stepped into MDR.

He’d been allergic to the elevators, Petey had said. You knew that not because you’d ever met Petey, but because you liked to spend time around Mark, and Mark seemed to have little else to talk about but his absent best friend. You simply took any opportunity to get a few moments alone with him, and in honesty, you’d listen to anything he had to say.

‘It’s ok,’ you reassured, averting your gaze to offer him a slightly more private moment, ‘if you want to, y’know, really talk about him, it can stay between us. None of the bullshit – real feelings.’

With a careful glance back at Mark, you saw his bottom lip quiver and his eyes focussed ahead on the stark white, piquing your curiosity more than ever.

‘Thank you.’ He answered almost silently, swallowing the words, too frightened to speak in case it brought on actual tears.

‘Did you… alright, did you have feelings for him? Hell, are we even allowed to have those kinds of feelings here?’

Mark bit his lips together. His steps slowed. 

‘He was my- my best friend,’ he heaved. It was different to the other times he’d said it, you thought; it carried more meaning. ‘And sometimes I think…’ he trailed off. 

The words he didn’t say rang in your ears.

‘You don’t have to answer me, it’s okay,’ you added hastily, ‘and anyway, I shouldn’t have pried.’

‘No, no, I appreciate your interest. I- well, actually, I’ve been having feelings for-’ he smiled again. A real smile this time, a quiet one. To himself. It was bashful and incredibly cute, and it made you beam inwardly. ‘Nevermind.’

Your heart skipped. Where Mark had sobered, you’d turned lightheaded. ‘Let’s just keep walking, okay?’

He nodded, and you continued through the maze of corridors. It only took a few more steps for him to resume the endless stream of anecdotes about his best friend;

You know, there was this one time… 

Petey always used to say… 

He liked it when I would… 

We were alone in MDR once, Petey and I, and…

‘Mark,’ you tried softly when he’d come to the end of one such tale – a story in which they’d clearly been flirting outrageously, and how you were the only person down here that picked up on it you’d never know. God, you’d love to meet Petey.

‘Mark-’ you persisted when he didn’t respond, lost in his thoughts. You stopped in your tracks and turned to him. He lifted his head and as he parted his lips to speak, you lunged forward.

‘Yea-huhgh-’ 

First was the familiar taste of Lumon coffee, and then a hint of something else, something you’d never tasted before. Well, your innie hadn’t anyway. Beneath all that though, he tasted like Mark, and where you thought kissing him would satisfy your desire it seemed to only ignite it. 

You pulled back panting, his breath just as fast and hot against your cheek. His lithe body trembled where it was pinned between yours and the wall you’d slammed him into.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to- is this ok?’ you breathed.

‘Yes,’ he answered at once.

You pushed your fingers into his thick, neatly combed hair. As you reached up, your hips pressed into his and his eyes fluttered shut. You rolled your hips and watched as he gasped. ‘I don’t know why I did that but it felt good and I don’t want to stop. Do you?’

‘Absolutely not,’ Mark confirmed, eyes wide again.

‘Did you, um… did you do this with…Pete-’

‘Kiss me again? Please?’

You didn’t need to be asked twice. Your lips pressed back onto his, hard, and he shifted against you, one of your thighs slipping easily between his; you could feel your arousal throbbing against it. He whimpered into the kiss this time, and you expected it to turn feverish, but it remained slow and soft. Itt felt natural this way.

‘Okay?’ you breathed against his lips.

‘Mhm. Don’t stop,’ he mumbled back. His shaky hands explored a little, one massaging lazily at your lower back as the other held you close.

You placed a reassuring hand at his shoulder, dragging down his jacket and slipping inside, feeling the warmth of his body radiate through his shirt, fingers instinctively tugging at the fabric. The hem pulled loose where it had been tucked neatly into the waistband of his trousers and god, he was squirming now.

‘Please,’ he begged through a heavy breath. 

So needy, just like you’d imagined he’d be all those times you found yourself gazing at him over the desk divider, his beautiful profile far more interesting than the data you existed to refine. If only the numbers were quite as thrilling as Mark, you’d have had more perks than Dylan by now.

You gasped into Mark’s mouth when your fingers curled under the hem of his shirt and made contact with the gentle curve of his belly. It was oddly comforting to touch him here, and thrillingly intimate. 

His hips pushed forward and you dropped your hand to cup over the crotch of his pants, the thick fabric already sticky with precum. 

‘How do you like it?’ you breathed between peppered little kisses; you couldn’t tear yourself away long enough to speak otherwise. 

‘I… I-ohh-ngh-’ he trailed off as you stroked his length slow and steady, and his body dropped back against the wall in complete surrender.

‘That’s ok,’ you whispered, ‘we’ll figure it out.’

Mark gave a hungry nod, a thick strand of hair falling loose over his forehead. 

What you asked next was a gamble. It would either pay off spectacularly or ruin the moment in an instant.

From the way Mark described Petey, he sounded just as handsome as you found Mark. The mental image of the two of them making out in secret, writhing against one another while shooting banter between gasps and little moans wasn’t a bad one.

You could almost hear them at it; Mark whining, ‘Oh, f-fuck, Petey-’ — Petey panting, ‘Doesn’t your outie get any Mark? This is record time even for you.’ — Mark growling, laboured, ‘My outie would eat your outie for breakfast.’ — Petey laughing, ‘Prove it,’ as Mark’s eyes flutter shut.

It was just too good. And so you gave in. ‘Is this how Petey did it?’

A loud cry slipped out of Mark’s mouth in place of words, and you felt his body slump as his knees buckled.

You sealed your lips back over his, tongues sliding languidly together, and his whole body shuddered, fingertips driving into your waist, hips stuttering. The blissful kiss broke abruptly, followed by a sharp gasp and a delicious warmth spreading over your palm, staining the front of his pants.

‘Oh… oh god…’ he panted, head dropping to the crook of your neck.

‘That’s it. It’s okay,’ you whispered, stroking at his hair with your free hand.

‘No, I-’

‘Shh, you did so good for me.’

Feeling a burst of something fluttering in his gut, he nodded weakly and pushed himself up. It was the same sensation he felt when Petey would tell him he did good. 

He was a flushed, breathless mess, hair falling over his darkly glittering eyes and pink in the face. You got to work straightening him up, almost lovingly pushing his hair back into place, tightening his tie, tucking his shirt in.

Mark felt his eyes turning hot again. He wasn’t sure why. It felt different to when he felt sad about Petey being gone. It felt different to stepping out of the elevator. It actually felt kind of nice, so he gave in, letting a tear trickle down his cheek.

‘Well, you’ll do,’ you said, dusting down his shoulders and softly wiping away that one solitary tear with your thumb. ‘The stain on your pants is a bit of a giveaway, though, can’t do much about that.’

‘I don’t care,’ he beamed.

You smiled back and took his hand, stalling for a moment to just look at him before pulling him with you back to MDR. The walk was silent and blissful. His fingers clasped tight around yours.

‘Wait, did I answer your question?’ Mark smirked before you turned the final corner to your shared office.

‘The one about how Petey did it? Oh, I think so,’ you smirked back, pleased with yourself and hopeful you helped Mark work through his loss, and even just a little bit.

‘Actually, Petey could be a little rough,’ he reflected.

‘You like it rough?’ You raised an eyebrow.

Mark leant in and ghosted his lips against yours. ‘I like it however you want to do it. More importantly, I wanna find out how you like it.’

[boycarofchilladelphia]

One thing I love about severance is how strongly it advocates for the concept of "people are complicated". Our main protagonist's outies? They do really crappy things. Like, don't get me wrong, Mark Scout is framed with sympathy because of Gemma, but that doesn't really excuse him from being a douche to that anti-severance kid and, perhaps more importantly, to his date. Not to mention his kind of reactive indifference to possible trauma for his innie. And Helena's just trash.

Or at least they seem like they are, but then things change as we get more context; Mark takes in Petey on pretty much Petey's word alone, and even goes to his funeral to mourn a friend he never had. He also is so devoted to Gemma that he jumps on the experimental brain surgery train, and as he's having (very legitimate) doubts, he's all in when someone insults his dead-not-dead wife and brings him back to her.

And Helena; oh, Helena. Other people have said it better than I can, but this whole "I'm a product of the system, I benefit from the system, but it still harms me terribly" idea that's going on is brilliant. She hates her innie; she wants so badly to have what her innie has. She resorts to what she knows to get it: trickery. But then that fails and she's so desperate to get that back she tries to flirt with Mark at the restaurant, trying to leverage her power and family to impress him because that's what she knows to do. And she fails miserably. She's the worst person you know, and she uses the worst means to get it, but she's never fulfilled by it because she can't be.

And then we see the innies, and we love them. Mark S and Helly R are just new children learning about bad and good in the world, and once they recognize the bad that's being meted out to them, they are purely and rightfully enraged. But they keep getting manipulated by the metaphorical "adults" of the show because these adults know that humans are complicated and that they can exploit that (Dylan's whole visitation arc being an incredible example of this).

But also now in season 2 even the manipulators are getting backstory and sympathy; it's being shown how they are almost just as manipulated as the innies, just in more mature and frankly, worse ways. Milkshake (affectionate) was the smiling, manipulative face of Lumen's severance floor; he's being racially degraded and unfairly targeted by other Lumon employees. Ms. Huang is the new Milkshake; she's literally a child being exploited through an "internship", and she is also threatened to have the company leveraged against her by Milkshake. Harmony Cobel: like, her entire life is her and those around her being manipulated by Lumon?? Even Helena, the big bad of Lumon, who through no fault of her own lost control to her innie, and Lumon's response? Fetid moppet.

Basically I went into season two with this "don't trust anyone in Lumon, they're always going to be evil" mindset, and while that's a good guiding principle, the humanity of even the "evil" was thrown at me in ways I never expected. So in summary, every person is a by-product of their choices, their backgrounds, and their circumstances, and that's okay. And they may do bad things and they may do good things and they may do things for reasons that are way more complicated than just "I'm a good/bad person."

Except Burt and Gemma, they are my babygirls (extremely affectionate) and they must be protected at all cost because they're just too good.

Anyway, long rant, probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense Future thoughts I might muse on include:

-the only villains not given sympathetic backstories? Rich powerful men. And I think that's intentional and perfect.

-Ricken either needs to grow up or get lost.

-more answers deserve to get hit over the head with blunt objects; I hope this trend continues

[an-orca-on-a-stroll]

Severance season 2 ep 2 thoughts/theories under cut

long post!

1. So as I theorized last week, here's the confirmation everything that mr Milkshake told the innies was, indeed, 100% bullshit. It's been 3 days, not 5 months, and also:

this is false bc we know now that Mark didn't want to return, instead it was Milchick who worked very hard to convince him.

This is also false, they were fired and then re-hired after Mark S' outburst.

This is fake as well (this one was very obvious tbh). So I think it's safe to assume that anything else Milchick told the innies should be taken with a huge grain of salt at best, personally I don't believe a single word, especially his claim that there are no more cameras.

2. MS COBEL IS BACKKKKK MY BEAUTIFUL QUEEN WITH SO MANY DISORDERS. Her scenes were very interesting. She was offered a promotion yet was not happy about it. I had my suspicions before but this basically confirms that she doesn't really care about her career at Lumon, she specifically wants to be in the severed floor, so when they promoted her, and as a result removed her from the severed floor, she was not happy. Though of course they didn't give her the option to refuse. I think she's right and that Lumon is scared of her, for some reason they don't want her in the severed floor anymore. Much to think about. I think there is some fuckery similar to the Gemma situation going on with either her (supposedly dead?) husband and/or child. This to me is confirmed by something i bring up in my next point

3. I love that we see outie Mark genuinely furious for the first time ever, it's definitely the most "non-sadness-adjacent" emotions he's ever shown.

I mean think about this guy. His wife dies, he falls apart from grief and can't put himself together, loses his job, then he gets another job that is weird and everybody hates this for him but he does it anyway until after two years it feels like maybe, maybe he might be ready to start moving on.

Then he meets his (alleged) coworker who tells him they're best friends and pulls him into a big conspiracy about Lumon, shortly after said colleague dies in very suspicious circumstances, then he's a witness and accessory to murder (of the head of security of his workplace, no less), then his innie unexpectedly comes out for 40 minutes and wow, nobody told him that could happen except for the fine print in what I'm certain was like, a hundreds page long contract considering how controversial his job is. And his innie says some very unsettling shit about the work he's been doing for the past 2 years, but he is physically unable to remember all this fucked up stuff despite being in the middle of it 8 hrs a day for 2 years. Then his innie claims that his wife, whose dead body he saw with his own eyes, is actually alive. And oh his weird apparently well-meaning neighbor was actually his boss this whole time, stealing his dead wife's things, keeping him under surveillance and repeatedly invading his privacy and trust.

I'm not surprised Mark's first reaction was wanting to get away, he was probably in shock and denial bc that is a lot to take in. He tentatively returns bc, like Cobel said, he does get swayed easily, but I think deep down he knows something fucked up is happening at Lumon (read the paragraph above again for points) but I think he becomes fully convinced something's up with Gemma after his encounter with Cobel. Cobel's reaction is interesting to say the least.

she does this like. Pained sigh, then silence for a WEIRDLY long time, and she looks like she might start crying??? am I imagining this. Like she looks genuinely in pain. Then she screeches, almost runs Mark over, and runs away? I really think Cobel's in a similar position as Mark and something is going on at Lumon with someone she cares about, this is why she's so obsessed with Mark and Gemma specifically

4. Irving's outie is so damn cool. Like there's something about the way he acts?? That makes him so cool, his actor is really good at showing the difference between his two selves.

This line his hilarious considering what actually made innie Irving want to rebel, instead of his outie's weird subliminal messages. Anyway who is he talking to? Whoever is is, they clearly don't want to speak with Irving though.

5. ALSO?

I have no idea what the fuck is going on. WHY does Burt know where Irving lives? Did innie Irving tell him that when they met? Did they even meet?? When we see innie Irving again at Lumon for the first time he's banging against the elevator like he was banging on Burt's door, did they even see each other? If they didn't meet, again how does Burt know where Irving lives? Burt's name was circled in the map outie Irving had, did they already meet in the past? Maybe Irving was trying to convince other severed employees that Lumon is evil? Nothing makes sense but the curiosity is killing me

6. During the sequence of Mark going in and out of work, taking the elevator every day, there's the odd day out where the elevator turns black, like it did in ep 1 from innie Mark perspective. The timing also checks out, it's the day Mark rebelled because he wanted his team back and they threatened to fire him.

From innie Mark's perspective in ep1, he goes "up" the elevator, his eyes kinda roll back like he's having a seizure, then first the elevator turns black, then the screen.

Then the elevator dings, we see a closeup of Mark's eye for some reason,

and he's back on the regular severed floor.

From outie Mark's perspective, he goes down the elevator, and at first it's the transition we see everytime Mark goes up or down the regular elevator.

Then the elevator dings. At this point Mark's eyes roll back, the background fades to black,

Then the elevator dings again, and we see a closeup of his eye

then the black elevator in a distorted perspective, which then morphs into the regular elevator.

Then the elevator dings again, and the doors open to the regular exit.

This pretty much confirms Mark was in the testing floors that day. The same weird sequence with the black elevator as with ep1, plus the three dings of the elevator mean that during that day, Mark got into the elevator three times. Usually, both innie and outie hear the elevator two times during the sequence where they go up and down for a single day. One when they get to the severed floor, and another when they go back up (I checked with scenes from s2e1, and season 1 as well) Which means both the outie and the innie hear and remember the elevator dings, presumably bc the sound plays at the exact same moment they switch, or maybe it's just a cue to help us, the audience (but if not this has fascinating implications that the memories at the exact time of switching are retained by both innie and outie).

Anyway the fact that there are 3 dings means Mark stopped at another floor before going back up. And Mark stayed there until 9:15 pm that day !! We see the clock when he goes back up for the day after this sequence

(Well, I assume it's pm and not am, based on the fact that there are no other indicators from Mark's perspective that his day was odd, if he came out of work the next day at 9am I think they would have shown us Mark's reaction to this. He also tells good night to Judd, the security guard, in a very tired tone, and Judd seems sort of surprised, but I'm choosing to interpret as him being surprised at Mark coming out of work 4 hours late and not the morning after.)

6. HELENA MY BELOVED. Listen, I love Helly, I really do, and I've decided I love Helena as well. I wasn't sure before since we almost never see her directly, but honestly, ever since her "You're not a person" speech (which is one of my favorite scenes in the series) I knew she had something seriously fucked up going on with her and what can I say, I'm predictable, I eat that shit up. Love me a woman with so many disorders. Now that we have an episode with a lot of her perspective... man.

The way she just fucking. Smiles serenely after his father only says TWO (2) incredibly cruel words to her after the incident. Where her body was basically taken out of her control without her consent, which I can only imagine how scary that is (again, for all the outies it must have been very unsettling) And this happened at such a crucial moment, but it wasn't Helena's fault, it was Helly's (techically, arguably, Helly obviously had her reasons and we love her) And it's so fucked up compared on how her father treated her (Helly) in the season finale

He seems like a loving father, but then Helena fucks up, and he calls her a "fetid moppet"? My god, the implications. Does this mean that Helena only has the love of her family, her father, if she meets his expectations? And the instant she doesn't, her father treats her like that? So she grew up in this kind of environment where affection is not unconditional, where she has to hide her emotions, and always be the perfect heir, who can never make mistakes and who lives for her company.

For her company she became severed, and she wanted to keep at it at any cost, even when it was obvious her innie was miserable. Bc I think Helena always pushed herself to the limit all her life, so maybe she thought her innie also had to suck it up, bc Helena doesn't get to choose her life, so Helly doesn't either?

This shot!! Imagine how horrifying this had to be. She went into work and woke up hanging from the ceiling bc her other self tried to kill her. And she still went back to work afterwards. She still pushed on bc failure was not an option. That's so messed up

I wonder what exactly she thinks of Helly, if she really considers her not a person or if she said that just to get her to do what she wanted her to. But I think Helena's feelings changed after viewing the footage of her innie, and she's actually somewhat "jealous" of her now. Because Helly gets to be herself, genuinely, without a mask, she gets to have real friends who like her (does Helena have friends? maybe with Natalie, but are they really friends or is it just because Helena is the boss? Does she have other friends?) she gets to be bold and loud, and finds love, maybe, while not even "being a person".

Imagine how that has to feel, but maybe it's easier to take it out on Helly, instead of accepting that the way she grew up is fucked up. I'm full into speculation territory, I can't wait to see how this evolves. In the meantime, I DO think that Helena went to the severed floor, and she's herself, not Helly. Now that we've seen Helena in ep2, compared to how this "Helly" acts in ep1... it's really similar. "Helly" just looks kind of subdued, less bold, less angry. She lies about her experience outside, she kind of "pushed" her relationship with Mark, etc ...

Plus in the last scene of ep2, we see the MDR gang go down the elevator, one by one. For all of them we hear the elevator ding, but NOT for Helena. Which might be a cue for us that she didn't switch with Helly. Can't wait to find out more but in the meantime. Helena did nothing wrong. I mean yes she did all that (being the heir of an evil fucked up company) but also I love her so I forgive her.

7. It's just very interesting thinking about the innies and outies as a nature vs nurture kinda problem. Innie Dylan being funny and confident while his outie is anxious and stressed. Irving being all cool outside vs how his innie is, plus his anti/pro Lumon difference between innie and outie, bc he needs to give meaning to his actions. And it manifests in such different ways, although innie Irving still decided to rebel in the end. Helena vs Helly, two very strong-willed people but Helena gives it all for her company and familiy, while Helly fights against the system. And Mark, who I still haven't figured out bc I think Mark himself hasn't figured himself out either.

8. Last point, but why do they want Mark back so badly? At first I thought it was because he's the only one whose innie came out where there were clearly other witnesses (besides Helly), so they wanted to make sure he was still loyal to Lumon. But then they said this

They need Mark specifically to complete Cold Harbor (hinted in the previous episode to be Gemma's file) Why? Why does Mark have to do it? What about the previous files, they couldn't all have had connections to the other members of MDR, so why is this different? Or is Mark just that good of a refiner in general, and they just really really need Gemma's file completed? Why is Gemma specifically so important? Much to think about. Can't wait for the next episode !!

[dexbian]

Youuuuu should talk about 🌐!!! Idk if I’ll ever get to watching her source but I love its vibes,, nd im sure she adores you too!

helly….. helly r. from the hit show severance….. my lady, my love, my everything, my sweetie pie, I LOVE HER.

okay so i haven’t finished severance, im still on season 1 but im almost done with it. i’m just focused on other things (barry… dexter new blood) BUUUUUT trust i’ll finish it just for her. anyways.

where do i even start umm. she replaces petey after he gets fired. so that’s awesome. and as soon as she gets there she’s like I HATE MY JOB IM GONNA QUIT and then the stairs won’t let her leave. and then she tries to escape or send a message to her outie but lumon is like no…

i’m trying to be as spoiler free ok give me a break. anyways, she’s kinda the only one that brings up how shady the company is and it’s why they should make an effort to escape. and so she kinda stops actively trying to plot an escape <- she’s secretly scheming in her head.

helly is determined to quit her job and i think helena should allow her to quit her job because she deserves everything in the world and i love her. and also we should be allowed to have workplace relationships with each other but lumon is homophobic so all we can do is press our foreheads against each other. i should be allowed to flirt with her and make her blush honestly.

au where helly is allowed to live as her own person (because helena told her she’s not a person and i CRIED) and we adopt a cat because i think helly is a cat person. get her an orange cat so they can be best friends and i take pictures. and then we get marriedWHO SAID THAT.

anyways i’m gonna talk about my s/i a little. my s/i <- who does not have a name but i automatically wanna default to drew, also works with helly. and while helly HATES her job, my s/i (innie) LOVES their job. they’re so happy to be there and now there’s a new face in the severed floor. and now you seem them pull down the wall to speak to helly, and wish her good morning, and ask if she wants some coffee, or wants something from the vending machine. and helly can’t figure out why they like it there so much but they kinda brighten her day and makes the job more bearable.