#I think that’s the correct episode .. idk

[caruliaa]

staff still hasn't given me polls, what should i do?

🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪 their moms 69%

🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪 their dads 31%

grace image os i get to look at her

[meyerlansky]

#hboww2rewatch timestamp roulette: MASTERS OF THE AIR, PART THREE ↳ what the hell is a "reserve command pilot"?

[jtl07]

Vacation

oooh anon this works well with a little noodle i had recently for a coworkers/office au!

the sun is out, her hair looks great, the weather is perfect for her new outfit, she feels good, she looks good - but the one person she wants to look at her isn't here.

"Beatrice is out today," Lilith had said from across the table, not even looking away from her computer screen, "maybe you'll get some actual work done while she's gone."

Ava had rolled her eyes and accidentally tipped over Lilith's jar of pens as she'd passed by her desk but even that hadn't been satisfying as she'd stepped outside of the office by herself.

she isn't mad - really, she's glad that Beatrice was taking time off. ever since Ava had started at the company at the beginning of the year, she hadn't once seen Beatrice take a day off from work. sure there were appointments here and there, but Ava saw see her at least once a day everyday, on her way to grab a snack from the pantry, or offer to get some coffee, or ask Beatrice to look over a document that had nothing to do with her department.

Lilith always rolls her eyes when Ava comes by but the thing is, yeah people say all the time to "reach out anytime!" but Beatrice is different. when Beatrice had been assigned as her 'onboarding buddy' for her first month on the job, Ava had learned that a) Beatrice knew everything there was to know about the company and b) she actually means it when she says to come to her for anything. no matter what Ava has for her, no matter the time of day, Beatrice has never turned her away - at most has had Ava wait as she finishes an email or come back if she's on her way to a meeting, but she always, always makes time for Ava. so excuse her for feeling off for not being able to see her favorite person.

Ava huffs, pouts to herself, then decides fuck it, she has no meetings, nothing urgent this afternoon: she's taking gonna take a long lunch. so she heads for a park a couple blocks from the office, the one Beatrice had pointed out during her first week and she finds the fountain Beatrice had mentioned with that small smile that had made Ava a little breathless and a lot enamored.

she can tell why Beatrice likes this park - it's a lot like her, Ava thinks as she eats her sandwich. it's quiet but full of all sorts of beautiful things if one looks closely enough, waits long enough - the birds hiding in the trees, the sparkles in the fountain, the soothing summer breeze. she can imagine Beatrice sitting at one of the benches, maybe reading a book, or a cup of tea, or in a soft hoodie and red eyes -

Ava blinks. realizes she's not imagining things at all.

she swallows down the last of her sandwich, watches Beatrice carefully. there's a heaviness about her, a weight on her shoulders and yet she doesn't seem truly there - eyes distant and unseeing, or maybe seeing something that isn't there.

and Ava gets it. she gets needing to be alone and it feels like she's intruding, sitting here, seeing Beatrice like this. she gathers up her things as quickly and quietly as she can, turns to leave -

- and trips over the bench she'd just stood up from, introducing her face to the grass.

"excuse me, are you alright?"

Ava groans because of course Beatrice would help; of course she'd have to see her like this.

"yep, I'm good. just bruised the ol' ego."

"Ava?"

she groans again, rolls over, squints into the sun - realizes, fuck, there goes her perfect outfit - and smiles to hopefully ease the concern on Beatrice's face. "hey Bea." she gets to her feet with Beatrice's help, brushes off the worst of the dirt, holds back her sigh at the grass stain on her pants. "so uh, I thought you were on vacation."

Beatrice purses her lips together and shrugs. "not really. I just - it's easier, to just take this day off."

Ava racks her brain for all the facts and trivia she's learned about Beatrice over the past few months, but nothing comes up in connection to this particular date. "okay," she says, still watching carefully. "do you - do you want me to pretend I didn't see you?"

something bewildered passes over Beatrice's face and Ava just - keeps going. "I can if you want - because you're supposed to be on PTO and all, like, I don't know, do we need to sync our alibis like on those detective mystery shows or something?"

Beatrice raises an eyebrow; Ava tries not to swoon. "you think I'm taking time off to commit a murder?"

"shh, we're in public, you don't know who might be listening!" Ava flaps her arms as if to wave away any spying ears.

Beatrice stares at her for a moment then softens; laughs. "you're ridiculous."

"and you haven't denied it," Ava says pointedly. "but nah, you're probably the red herring character, like you're helping the victim's family by doing something not exactly totally legal but you give the investigators a really important clue that helps them find the asshole murderer, so technically you're a hero in the end."

Beatrice sighs, heavy and curling into hoodie, into herself. "I'm nothing of the sort, Ava."

Ava leans into her for just a moment, just close enough to bump shoulders. "yeah you are, Bea. you're a hero to me."

there's disbelief in Beatrice's eyes so Ava keeps her gaze as steady as she can, thinks: i know what you are. thinks: i believe it even if you can't yet.

Beatrice looks away. Ava waits, watches as her fingers play with the hem of her hoodie, listens as she takes a deep breath, feels something shift when Beatrice meets her gaze once more. "you know I -" a flash of white as teeth sink momentarily into her bottom lip; Ava again tries not to swoon - "I don't think I'm familiar with those shows," Beatrice says.

it's hesitant and indirect but Ava knows an offer, recognizes a heroic effort when she sees it. "do you wanna watch some episodes together?"

"you don't have to go back to work?" Beatrice asks but Ava is already typing out a message on her phone.

"nope. and Cam just said I'm good to take the rest of the day so I'm all yours." Ava pockets her phone just as she realizes her word choice; decides to just lean into it and waggles her eyebrows for good measure.

she's rewarded with another laugh and the faintest pink across Beatrice's cheeks. Beatrice looks away again, looks back and smiles. "thank you, Ava."

and because she can't help herself, and because she wants Beatrice to know she means it, Ava reaches out to take her hand. "anytime, Bea."

[cerealbishh]

"When we head out to Whitefish, there won't be any turning back."

[bumblingbabooshka]

-Remembers how T’Pring looked as she watched Spock & Chapel vanish into the bathroom together after seeing them kiss on the bridge (which she knew was for a mission and didn’t hold against them but perhaps she could sense something there since they do have feelings for one another), maybe attempting to calm herself and her suspicions as she’s left alone again (and later finds she’s been left out entirely this whole time) and how she doesn’t know that Spock almost told Chapel he loved her then and there, with T’Pring in the other room waiting, and how Amanda and Sevet both think she could have more confidence in herself and how T’Pring thought that she and Spock were in this together (her holding his hand, subtly letting him know to pour slower so the tea flowers would bloom correctly, a whispered ‘well done’, the ritual is over mother) and how mere hours after she expresses to Spock how she feels: Like he doesn’t trust her, like he doesn’t care to include her in his life, how she’s trying her best to show him that she will accept him wholly, how she wants to be his partner instead of an adversary or an obstacle, after all this he’s found Chapel within the hour and is kissing her.-

[hows-itgoagain]

i remember when i first watched the episode where sakamoto’s introduced i for SURE thought he and gin would be a popular ship bc like. just Look at how he behaves with gin (albeit those scenes were in the past) but as i continued watching the show it occurred to me how he kinda does not act like that anymore and i was like. Oh. I Guess Not 😔 so needless to say i did not expect that to be a popular ship but regardless that episode had got to be peak content for sakagin shippers

[dawnleaf37]

in honor of the tpot short with the failed debuters (assumedly) being announced soon heres my tierlist of all the tpot debuters most favorite to least

tags for longer opinions :3

[dontwanderoff]

unironically i think a glass of wine and chat with my dad outside with some random sports match i don't care about on the telly is better for my mental health than literally anything else in my life is

[syn4k]

i miss the copper king so bad man

[soullessjack]

Okay, you HAVE to talk to me about what you found out about Sam's DVD stuff now.

well, for the first one: Red Sonja is a comic book series about a warrior woman who’s essentially the original “chainmail-bikini clad female warrior” archetype and was inspired by Red Sonya from The Shadow Of The Vulture

To be as brief as possible, both Sonja and Sonya are redheaded female warrior archetypes. Sonja’s more of a tomboy/swashbuckler type, but Sonya herself is the original “chainmail-bikini clad female warrior” to kickstart the entire archetype. IK I linked them both for your own reading but Sonya’s backstory is just so insane to me, both in general and in the sense that this is some of Jack’s first formative medias :

“Red Sonja lives with her family in a humble house in the Western Hyrkanian steppes. When she is 21, a group of mercenaries kills her family and burns down their house. Sonja attempts to defend herself, but cannot lift her brother's sword. She is raped by the leader of the group. Answering her cry for revenge, the red goddess Scáthach appears to her and gives her incredible fighting skills, on the condition that she never lie with a man unless he defeats her in fair combat.”

Then the second one is BeastMaster/BM2,

which is basically a story about a last surviving tribesman named Dar who can magically communicate with animals and forms a found family of other last survivors on his own quest to find Kyra, his lost lover. there’s more meat and themes to this series than the Sonja one, especially in the sense of how these medias could have influenced Jack or any of his personality:

“The general story arc of the series is that the world is changing, civilization is advancing, technology is gaining ground slowly, the old orders of magic and sorcery are fading, and the world is threatened by the supernatural being Balcifer, the Dark One, played by Jeremy Callaghan. Dar is the son of King Eldar, who was destroyed by Balcifer. To defeat Balcifer Dar must locate and reunite his family, who have been turned into animals to hide them from Balcifer, in the Crystal Arc.”

(I’m sure there’s no parallels to be made whatsoever between Jack and a main hero who’s personally tied to a dark supernatural threat with the name ending in –LCIFER).

It’s also stated that despite being an action show, BM did come to have more pacifist/naturalist tones overall (probably a good indicator as to what influences Jack’s good-boy routine).

Honestly, with this knowledge in mind now, my biggest takeaway is just how much more relatable Jack’s own experience is to mine, as a formerly sheltered child whose influential medias were largely distanced from the mainstream. I can’t seem to think of a way to apply Red Sonja as an influence on Jack, so I’ll toss the ring to you if you have something!

[arttheclown]

twicord isn’t a bad ship people are just mean ):

[unproduciblesmackdown]

fascinating lens on taylor's goings on in s6 there re: Romance. epic win that they have rian turn them down but i'm also really not sure why they did. oh you know, rian who's always defined by being so prudent [montage of actually pretty much everything seemingly defining rian has been pretty anti prudent] like ok w/e

but we start out with taylor Particularly Unmotivated By Work and instead watching a The Bachelor beach proposal which involves extasis through this Reality(tm) pastiche of romance. i am assuming. wherein the journey Ends with this transcendent all-consuming joy upon the realization of said Romance for one contestant. then when their somehow still bestie mafee (relevant tangents about how all taylor's relationships seem to involve their having an approach where they have low standards like "well but i guess this is all i can get / expect" including that they can't even necessarily expect shit they like/enjoy/are at all supported by, while readily accepting whatever blame/reproach from others) is like "gee but are you really happy" they're apparently inspired to pursue happiness by pursuing romance. which they seem to consider is possible only through rian, intriguing here when the entire basis of their dynamic seems to be [trapped in work hell together] like boy we have nothing outside our jobs? i sure hope we can be Everything to each other then :) and how it's even more baffling that rian is completely unbaffled by this development when you might operate on some assumptions like "you should have ever seemed to enjoy any interactions you've ever had" to consider choosing more vulnerability and more time / effort spent on this relationship, and "you also don't need to have Found Fault with someone / otherwise have some grievances or dislike of them to not want to date them" especially if rian's apparent sense of responsibility for taylor's theoretical negative feelings about rejection supposedly doesn't involve thinking about any power dynamics, she just feels the need to repeatedly reassure them she'd actually Love to date or have sex but she's just so set on not dating through work, b/c of the complications, that she's never considered not having casual sex with bosses and also never mentioned this stance to turn down winston nor done anything but revel in how he might feel about even being rejected as a conversational partner. too prudent to mention it. certainly also a relevant matter that it Need Not Be Explained to anyone that winston for one is excluded as a potential Romantic partner for pretty much everyone i guess. whilest as this potential mirror to taylor, he's not only considering specifically rian w/"we're similar; let's hang out; i'd like to have sex maybe even" (though winston's sexuality, like his communicative capacities, is also simply Not Allowed) but also seems to be like "i guess this is all i can get / expect" or hanging on for a long time to the possibility of Otherwise at his own expense or taking blame / whatever pretty egregious treatment like. taylor being willing to talk to wendy still is akin to winston still being willing to talk to rian. though maybe that's changed by the end of s6; it'd be very warranted after the pretty make or break [rian & winston Share An Interest; hang out outside work about it] moment there and also after Everything Else on its own, just like how it'd be very warranted if taylor expecting Nothing Better from wendy could turn into their hardly being willing to interact

anyways, sure is fortunate for taylor (or is it???) that Work becomes more enriching for them suddenly, and through someone with whom they have this promising personal dynamic with, a Peer with whom, in fact, they do both seem to find reward in interacting with each other / want and choose to do so, imagine, while [reiterating for emphasis]: they are both finding reward in interacting and feeling Complementary rather than only seeing exactly themself in each other, while having this respect for each other and flexibility and knowing they don't Have to work together, and may not always be doing so.

but most to the point it sure is something that the season starts off with taylor being dissatisfied with their work situation and responding by not being at work and instead watching people be overjoyed about their (also, relevantly, Peak Normal Correct Cishet) romance, though they don't outright claim to straightforwardly enjoy this. then they Do outright claim to us repeatedly, if ever begrudgingly, that everything rian does is worthy &/or sympathetic (and totally comprehensible and consistent so as to believably retain any sense of Character....) while every time they interact, it's a business meeting and one or both of them is unhappy about some part of it. but then once taylor's asked to think about their happiness Beyond Work they apparently are simply motivated to go ask someone out, and it may as well be rian For Lack Of A Better Option really, but then there's the wrench of "for some reason rian is unsurprised and not at all put off by this, or even just somewhat confused" and "for some reason rian's like 'sorry but no. fr im soooo sorry'" with these perspectives of [happiness Outside Work = romance] and [someone deemed Objectively Worthy = you'd of course at least consider romance, or else you must think actually they're Unworthy in some way, or have some more general Reason you'd reject others categorically in just the same way] (rian rejecting winston for unworthiness so much that she doesn't even need to bother actually telling him as much; rejecting taylor for [i don't date through work] with followups to reassure them it's Not the unworthiness) (that on and off paper winston & taylor have no reason to not be kissing but i think we can assume that won't happen, b/c billions itself may also assume we understand that [winston is unworthy] is just true. &/or that anyone Worthy understands as much)

so hoping that taylor has Some kind of enriching lasting relationship with philip, truly, which was the hopes for winston and rian but the updated hope is his enriching lasting disengagement with rian, f

[coredrill]

headsup warning to you guys. i think ep18 of back arrow made me insane

[haribojam]

Since there’s no screenshots of Dottie, I’ll fill in that role since nobody would

[szczylpierdolony]

im out of therapy <3

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

okay unhinged essay about ragatha probably #1 idk i don't think this is all of my thoughts but here's what i could actually put down

i think the most surprising thing for me Personally is getting a lot of my interpretations of ragatha correct ? like . the thing that almost destroyed my motivation for this blog is the fear that my unhinged overanalyzation of her mannerisms in the pilot were Wrong - i actually thought about canceling everything when i was off from canon - but now ... yeah i'm not doing that

i guess it's just that we had so little of her in the first episode that i thought i was Manifesting her issues but Nope she really is this much of a Loser

first of all ! i suspected that she has low self-esteem but Goodness Gracious !! i didn't expect it to be Actually almost non-existent ?? like i thought i was Exaggerating for this blog but no , no person with a normal amount of self-esteem would Warp an incident so much in their head that they somehow believe something going wrong is Their Fault .

like she's so focused on pomni the entire episode because she Genuinely believes that the fiasco in the first day was her fault ( even though IT WASN'T , but she's really that used to quickly blaming herself ) and wants to make it up to her . but of course pomni is still adjusting and is Overwhelmed by everything ( which is understandable ) so she's not really in the mood for ragatha's bullshit

but with how ragatha reacts and what she subsequently tells kinger - she read those more as ' i do not like you ' than ' i am too fatigued to care about anything right now ' which is such a Large leap , but considering she was the one who Apologized to pomni for giving her a stressful first day ( which was COMPLETELY out of her control , ) it makes sense that she assumes that pomni has something against her - which was not helped by how none of ragatha's attempts of starting a friendship were reciprocated

i do understand why she would Think it's her fault - as pomni's a newcomer and More Stress is the last thing she needs , especially in her first day - but ' oh she doesn't like me ' is still Such a hasty conclusion that someone who already ... Doesn't Like Themself would jump to .

of course i can't not talk about the potential history between her and kinger . through their dialogue you can tell that ragatha's one of those people that took a batshit long time to truly adjust to the circus - which has a lot of interesting implications . with how she seems to understand the process of finding an exit in episode 1 , it explains a lot . my girl was so Not well when she entered the circus .

honestly it's just nice seeing that ragatha at least has Some support despite her being the one who holds everything together - it makes the ending impactful in my opinion ; they do really care for each other and will be saddened if one of them is gone .

also of course she asked if everyone's alright despite having a cleaver to the head ...

something that also has been nagging me for a long time is how much she always gets the short end of the stick . like , literally every time she's on screen , she Has To Get Harmed in some way . i would brush this off as slapstick when her official pin doesn't have her HAVING A KNIFE TO THE CHEST ???

Maybe it's just slapstick . maybe with her having parallels to kaufmo considering how he's said to be a goofy toxic positivity type guy like ragatha and is the one that has abstracted thus far is just a coincidence and doesn't speak levels to what might become inevitable as the series goes on ,