#I’m so will graham like genuinely you have no idea

[puppydoggraham]

Thinking about how Will Graham views his anger as righteous which of course extends to Hannibal. A lot of his anger in s2 is over the fact that he finally trusted someone only for that person to betray him but it’s more than that. It’s more than just what Hannibal did to him. What he’s truly deeply angry about is that Hannibal knows his dark nature and not only knows it, but wants him to embrace the very nature he’s desperately trying to suppress.

He’s supposed to be the one that’s perceptive. He’s the one who is supposed to see it all while remaining unknown and unseen. And yet Hannibal recognizes what kind of person he has as soon as they meet. It’s not supposed to be that way. He hates that Hannibal is the one person he can’t hide from. Who will always see through the facade he puts on for others who buy into it. That’s why when Hannibal essentially tells him in s3 that he hasn’t changed, he’s fuming. If just Hannibal can believe he’s changed, maybe he himself can believe it too.

But he doesn’t. And deep down Will knows that’s just what it is too: a facade. Hating Hannibal is really just him hating himself at the end of the day. He takes a lot of his displaced anger out on him. He has these violent murder fantasies about Hannibal that symbolically can be read as him trying to kill off this part of himself. He can’t kill them off. Suppression only works for so long. The fantasies only grow stronger.

It’s only when he gives in at last during TWOTL. When he stops supressimg who he is. When he stops hating himself for it and overthinking about the act of violence. When he allows himself indulgence. This is when he experiences being at peace with himself possibly for the first time ever. At last, the internal battle that rages on inside him calms. The voices in his head go quiet. Even though this is brief, he knows that what he and Hannibal experienced on that cliff is a moment of peace in a lifetime of unrest. He doesn’t take it for granted, which is why he says what he does. When he stops fighting Hannibal, giving into the violence and also his touch as they embrace, it represents that he stops fighting with himself too. And isn’t that the most beautiful thing in the world?

[babymockers]

I was going through my drafts the other day when I found this, written in the peak of my Graham Coxon obsession, a couple of years ago. Since it's so long, I had to cut this story into two parts (I was very creative 🙄).

I don’t know why I’m sharing this, but enjoy!

"I can’t see what you see in me"

Graham Coxon x female reader.

Prompt: Graham was having a really hard time with himself during a photoshoot and you had a great idea to cheer him up. Heavily inspired by Blair and Serena stealing Eleanor Waldorf's clothing line clothes on Gossip Girl (s1, e4).

Place/time: during the late 90's.

Reader description: reader is a French model trying to make herself a name in the industry, while being reduced to be in her boyfriend's shadow.

Fluff.

Part 1.

Graham was alone.

He was sitting on his stupid chair, drinking tea from his stupid cup, feeling even more stupid than he did before.

Now, for the amateur eye, he didn't seem that much alone. He was surrounded by people: make up artists, stylists, cameras, all that stuff. But he was, in fact, alone. Alone and bored.

Also, it was a terribly cold winter and a storm was probably coming at any time while they were stuck there working outdoors in a park.

So he was falling asleep on his stupid chair. Again.

Suddenly, he heard an excited voice calling his name, a voice that he knew a little too well from the person that he loved the most.

"Graham!" you shouted and he quicky turned his body towards the direction of the sound, standing up. You ran onto his arms and hugged him tightly making him almost lost balance. Even though he was surprised, his arms reached out for your body instinctively.

Still in his arms, you took his face with your soft hands and placed a sweet kiss onto his lips, him melting at the touch.

Alex, sitting next to that romantic scene, looked at you with genuine curiosity, trying to make something of your face. Wondering if you two have met before.

The truth was: you haven't. It may have sounded strange considering that in the past couple of months, you had been omnipresent-like to the Blur guys. Your name was always there, filling not only the empty spaces of the rehearsals but filling Graham's mind completely. You were present whole-heartedly in Graham's dreamy smiles and little giggles that came out of nowhere and in every new song that came with a dumb look of im-so-in-love. Present in the purple-ish marks on Graham's neck or like a stolen kiss from his plumped lips. Present in Damon's laugh every time he made fun of his best friend's infatuation but secretely holding an enormous respect for you that made him feel almost rotten to jealousy. "He doesn't need me anymore. He's got Y/N now. She'll take care of him" Damon used to say. But he didn't meant it. Not really.

You were great, the best one Graham ever had. The other ones were either boring or pretentious cunts, in the singer's own words. But he couldn't help to feel overprotective towards his best friend and he would be lying if he said he didn't feel a bit jealous of the fact that Graham was so in love with you.

Damon loved attention. And Graham's attention was like crack because it was hard to make him interested in someone for real.

And the other times, you were there in body and soul, sitting in a corner taking pictures of whatever you founded interesting enough or simply hanging out.

So it was really weird for Alex to not have met you yet. Sure he heard the name, but Graham had been smart enough to make Alex and you not cross any paths. He knew Alex too well to trust him.

Dave chuckled and wolf-whistled, making Graham's cheeks turn red and he separated his lips from yours, unable to hide the big smile plastered on his face.

He never had anyone loving him like you do. So intense and passionate, so caring and gentle like a little child, rushing into his arms and calling his name for the whole town to hear it. Making him feel special, wanted. You could have anyone but, and here's the big but, you wanted him. And proudly so, as you always said.

"W-what are you doing here? I thought you weren't in England" He asked in confusion.

Your smile turned into a frown "And I thought you'd be happy to see me...”

"No, no. Please don't get me wrong. I'm just confused. I mean..." He started to panic.

You cut him off with a big smile "I'm joking, Gra. Turns out i don't have to work this couple of days because the collection got ruined by the rain and the photoshoot had to be rescheduled. The CEO was so angry, you should've seen him. He treated us very badly and that left me feeling sick to my stomach. So I remembered you were having a photoshoot here and I took the plane and well... I got an impulse. It's okay, right? I won't bother you. Just here for moral support" You said in a rush. "Oh, hi Dave". Dave waved his hand. Then you turned to Alex "I believe we haven't met yet. I'm Y/ N". You offered him your hand. "Alex, right? Heard lots of things about you".

He took your hand and gently placed a kiss on it "Good things I hope. So you're the famous Y/N". He turned to Dave but shot a quick look towards Graham, who was eyeing carefully at the exchange that was occurring in front of him, looking quite uneasy. "I must say I never expected that our little Graham was shagging such a pretty bird. Where are you from, Love? You've got a lovely accent". Graham tensed.

The awkwardness of the situation was only intensified by him pointing out your accent. You knew Alex didn't mean any harm, but that didn't sooth the rage in Graham's throat.

You've been officially named "Graham Coxon's New French Girlfriend" by the media and while you've told Graham so many times that it was a honor to be his girlfriend, he knew you were more than that stupid title. After all, you had a career of your own. You coincidentally met him at an event and now you've been living together in England for almost a year. But it just sort of happened. It wasn't your problem the media became obsessed with you.

And also you really wanted to get rid of the accent.

You opened your mouth to say something but before anything came out, Graham spoke in a condescending tone:

"She's french, Alex. You should know since you seem to get along so well with the french gals".

"Well... Alex begun.

"Where's Damon? I thought this was a group photoshoot" you interrumpted him trying to distract the tension away.

As if summoned, Damon appeared with a lopsided grin, always in his very own world. He kissed your cheek in a scandalous way and put his arm around Graham, although his best triend didn't even look at him. He was too busy shooting Alex with his gaze.

"Graham, it's fucking cold out here, put something on, mate. Jesus, you look like you're going to kill someone and I'm not in the "hiding a corpse" mood" Damon said completely oblivious to the fact that he was the one wearing only a suit and Graham was wearing a big jacket. Classic Damon. Then, he continued: "Well, the photographer, that bastard, just said he needed both of us, Alex, in front of the camera 'cause, I quote him: "Alex could make the suit work 'cause he's a good looking fella". I told him he could kiss my ass or my face, whatever. I quite fancy him. But not like I fancy you, Graham" He said battling his lashes, kissing Graham's temple. "You look sexy when you're angry. Love it".

Alex rolled his eyes, tired, and grinned at Graham

"Don't be mad at me, you twat. I was joking". Then he said to you: "Nice meeting ya, doll".

"Careful there, Alex. He's not playing around when Y/N is involved. Quite jealous he is" Damon laughed before the two of them started walking towards the photographer, who was already waiting for them. Damon rushed onto him, giving him a kiss on the cheeks.

You laughed at his childish behavior.

Dave patted Graham's shoulders and excused himself before making his way towards the improvised trailer the team managed to put together.

Graham lit up another cigarette letting the nicotine calm his burning insides and peered over the working crew to see Damon and Alex both wearing 1930's suits and posing as camera flashes exploded in their faces. He sat in a little bench, you by his side: "They look great. I didn't look as great as them".

You took his hand in yours. "You okay?"

"What is it like?" He said after a moment of silence, not looking at you but somehow giving you all his attention. "To be a model, you know. To have all of those people looking at you and telling you to make faces or something".

"Well, it's definitely not as fun as it may look. I used to think that it would be easy, that you only needed to be pretty and you'd be fine. But it's exhausting, actually". You smiled sadly "I often think l'd be better behind the cameras, being the one taking pictures”.

"You took some lovely pictures the other day..."

You smiled. "And how's it like being a rockstar?".

"Don't let Damon hear you say that. He says Blur's not a rock band. I say Blur's whatever the fuck Blur wants to be". He laughed humorless.

"And what does Blur want to be?" You asked.

"I'm not quite sure. Probably not a rock band".

You both laughed.

You moved your body closer to him. "And what does Graham wants to be?"

"I don't know. He certainly would prefer staying in bed cuddled up with you. Take me away from this big bad world and agree to marry me". He said while he leaned back on the bench, resting his head on your lap and putting your hand on his head, practically forcing you to stroke his hair.

You giggled "Mmm... You just made that up?" He nodded. “It sounded like a song". You said while he looked up at you with a sly smile. You leaned in and kissed his forehead as you started: "Alex..."

He interrupted you: "Alex is a bastard, you should know that. He's far up his arse and thinks he's got the right to do anything 'cause he's sexy or whatever. It doesn't sit right with me sometimes. Let's forget about him". You nodded.

A couple of minutes went by with none of you talking and you thought he was falling asleep. You loved watching him sleep. It was like all the darkness there inside of him left his body and he was finally at peace with himself. Then he broke the silence: "Do you find him a handsome bloke?"

You struggled, trying to find the right words "He's alright. Big egos aren't really my thing, though. I think you're way more handsome than him".

He frowned "You can't possibly think that. It doesn't take too much to see that Alex and Damon are more attractive than me. I'm awkward and too self conscious. They're the handsome ones. They could "sell the product". And I-I-I'm not, you see? I don't sell the product. I’d probably won't look half as great as them in those ridiculous 1930's suits. I don't sell what Blur wants to be. Fuck, I don't even sell myself. I'm just here...”

You took his hand in yours, leaving a kiss in it "I think you're all those things you said about them. You're there being yourself with all your flaws and strenghts. And I think that's beautiful about you. You don't need to sell the product because there's no product at all. You're Graham Coxon, not the guitarist or the guy from Blur. You're the person and you're the most attractive to me because you feel and you love in a way that none of them do". You looked at his eyes intensely. "And you also look quite sexy when you're jealous, Damon's right, I must say”. You added, trying to relieve the tension on his shoulders.

He gasped, pretending to be offended "I wasn't jealous".

"Sure you weren't" You said mockingly causing him to laugh.

Then he went silent again.

He sighed "I just can't see what you see in me".

You looked at him. The tenderness in his factions. His big brown eyes full of the melancholic feeling that consumed him daily.

You just knew he was more than enough. You knew since the first time you met him. He was incapable of holding your gaze yet somehow he managed to got you blushing all night. He didn't knew a single word of French yet you understood him so well. You communicated through your souls. Words were unnecessary.

Graham, so fragile and so broken. Yet, he put together the broken pieces of yourself, the ones left bruised. Now you were glowing, sparkling.

You wanted to do the same for him.

.

Part 2 here

[sayruq]

Did you see the article that says that Joe is furious with Sophie and that her and Taylor aren’t even friends because Joe took Sophie to a Taylor concert and it wasn’t comped aka he had to pay for the tickets lmaoo. The funny thing is: 1) Sophie has been a fan of Taylor for years and she literally went to a Taylor concert during the 1989 tour during filming for X Men Apocalypse with James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult, there’s a picture of them all meeting Taylor! This is pre-Joe! 2) This whole concert thing has to be OLD because if they went to her current tour there would 100% be pictures of them there. There aren’t any. The only tour she had between this one and the 1989 one was the Reputation tour one, which was AGES ago. Like, years before the pandemic. He’s complaining about having to buy concert tickets YEARS AGO 😭 (i do do want to add that there’s no sighting of then ever attending a Rep tour either, but since it was a long time ago maybe they managed to be unnoticed. Even though swifties would absolutely notice one of her ex boyfriends being at the concert. But okay) 3) Since this alleged concert, Sophie and Taylor have been on the Graham Norton Show together and seemed to get along well, Sophie posted about Taylor’s Fearless re-recording, Taylor sent them a handmade blanket when Willa was born, they went to see her perform at SNL and went to the after party. I’m not saying that they have been secretly besties, but they have clearly been friendly over the years and we have no idea how much they have talked privately. I don’t doubt that the PR aspect wasn’t looked at when they decided to hang out, but i genuinely do think that they are currently friends and I do hope she will make an appearance in one of her music videos or something. I’m also pretty sure that Sophie will go to one of the London shows next year, for free 🫢

oh he's so pathetic and it's not looking good for him that he has been responding to everything sophie says and does

[stylecouncil]

the people need your verdict: were hemingway and fitzgerald lovers?

do I think they were ever physically lovers? I really have no idea/its improbable that it went on too long if it went on at all and what the extent of it would have been, esp considering how weird fitzgerald was about sex to begin with (read sheilah grahams memoir. which I really do think stems from some sort of abuse, esp when you consider certain pretty telling statements about catholicism/the one intense relationship we know he had with a priest as a young man). both were also so publicly defensive about homosexuality (esp fitzgerald, probably out of necessity of being so outwardly feminine, although you see a real complex view/fixation on it in his actual writing) that it would be unlikely real evidence of this would survive whether it happened or not. zelda certainly seemed to think they had an inappropriate relationship in her eyes, but it’s hard to quantify exactly what that means esp when you combine it with the deterioration of her mental state.

the two of them immensely disliked each other, of which there could be multiple explanations for and might simply come down to hemingways misogyny and cold hearted clinging away from “feminine” showing of emotion or what he said it was, the belief fitzgerald was wasting his talent by remaining married to her/trying to get her help/remaining in their whirlwind of a relationship, but tended to look like this 👇 and was frequently very nasty

in terms of their emotional relationship I certainly think it was intense and scott seemed to value hemingway far more than he valued him (the constant references to him in something like the crack up, the tales of showing up to his house drunk in the middle of the night, the talking about him incessantly to mutual friends etc) but that being said hemingway also seemed to be fixated on scott in some sort of one-sided battle, like he was constantly trying to prove himself the better/not “like” scott ie not as feminine and, in his eyes, pathetic as scott. it seems like there was obviously something within scott that scared hemingway to death. this fixation even carries over to his writing (see: the snows of kilimanjaro, im which fitzgerald is essentially made the poster child for the weak man, a man who may as well already be dead, letting women rule his life, published shortly after fitzgerald released the crack up essays and the ensuing fall out/one of my favorite letters from fitzgerald to hemingway). the fact that fitzgerald seemed to genuinely admire women seemed to be a real sore spot between the two, especially where it concerned zelda. either way, in between their disagreements and the eventual dissolution of their relationship, there were obvious signs of real closeness in their letters

and there seems to be real deliberation in the way hemingway writes about fitzgerald in a moveable feast. like he wants to cause harm, but then also keeps pulling back, (there are a few great essays I’ve read that go into what hemingway left in vs took out of a movable feast regarding fitzgerald, I have a few posts on here that reference them) also don’t get me started on the weird probably false and just meant to make fitzgerald look bad, but nevertheless strangely homoerotic scene he writes into the book about fitzgerald showing him his dick. (It’s a whole thing, also fits right into the theme of hemingway’s need to reassure his own masculinity by using fitzgerald as a scapegoat for his own insecurities).

long story short, I think the two both had some complicated feelings for eachother, a lot things related to fitzgerald are particularly sad/telling

I would say that fitzgerald was in love with hemingway but I’m not sure he knew exactly how to process those feelings/would even admit that to himself so it’s hard to actually fully say that was the case. how hemingway felt is even harder to pin down because he was even less likely to admit something like this to himself. its clear that he almost viewed fitzgerald as a woman and simultaneously treated him in the same derogatory style he tended to reserve for women, and seemed to be interchangeably disgusted by him and as equally fixated on him and with as much admiration as fitzgerald had for him (see: his description of fitzgerald in a movable feast I think all of this comes across even in that concise paragraph). so um what am I trying to get at here.

yeah kind of.

[denimbex1986]

'The British director on the power of crying and how he crafted his heartbreaking new film, All of Us Strangers.

Andrew Haigh is a veteran of film and television, having directed projects including Weekend, 45 Years, Looking and The North Water. His work is defined by an expert eye for detail and profound sensitivity – in All of Us Strangers, he excavates familial and queer trauma to create a powerful, tender, ghostly romance, starring Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell.

LWLies: Every person I’ve spoken to about All of Us Strangers has had quite an intense emotional reaction to it. How aware of that potential are you when you’re making a film?

Haigh: It’s funny, because I used to get emotional writing the script, and then making a film, there are moments when you feel the emotion that’s coming back at you. I’m a pretty emotional person, I’m constantly crying. But then when I watched the assembly that Jonathan [Alberts, editor] had done, I was a wreck. And I know that he’d been a wreck editing it.

The more you work on a film, for months and months, you aren’t sure. You wonder if you’ve got rid of the emotion within the piece, if you’ve ruined it. When the film was finished, I hoped that people would have a reaction to it, and that it would feel like a genuine emotional reaction rather than a manipulative one.

I wanted to unpick the pain that we all carry around, in the hope that at the end, there is some catharsis. I find crying so cathartic. Every time I cry my eyes I feel so much better. I remember when Jonathan was cutting the dailies, and it was just one of the scenes about halfway through, of Harry and Adam in bed talking. I came in and Jonathan was just in floods. I said, “What’s the matter?!” It wasn’t a big emotional scene but he was a wreck.

I think that’s representative of how grief works, too. Sometimes it’s the small things that set you off, and it’s not always the things that make sense. 

It’s always the little things, and it’s the same whether it’s grief or anything in your past. I think grief is not always just about someone you’ve lost, it’s about things that you’ve lost. It’s time that you’ve lost, it’s relationships that you’ve lost, it’s love affairs that you’ve lost. Our whole lives are essentially dealing with time moving on and us losing things. I wanted the film to be about that – so the mother is just as upset that she has lost the time with her son because those things are so fragile. I’m a pretty melancholic person, and so I often think about all of those little moments in life that have been so important and are now just distant memories. They are essentially ghosts.

It’s strange, I’m currently going through a lot of video footage from when I was a kid, so I’m having a very similar experience. It brings up so many strange emotions, excavating the past. Thinking about the people that aren’t in your life now.

Yeah – and the emotion that you have for someone once they are gone, whether that’s because they’ve died or they’re just not in your life..that emotion is still there. It’s strange how that works. Fear doesn’t last the same way. No other emotion does. But love is always there. Somehow it’s both a little bit cheesy and kind of magical at the same time. Love is the thing that remains.

Were you familiar with Taichi Yamada’s novel Strangers before you were approached about the project?

No, I hadn’t heard of it – Graham [Broadbent] and Sarah [Harvey], the producers, sent it to me. They knew me, and they asked what I was interested in doing, so I said “I’m kind of interested in doing some kind of ghost story.’ Even though this isn’t that exactly. But they sent me this very traditional ghost story, and the thing that I loved was this idea in the novel of meeting your parents again. I thought that was a fascinating way to start looking into love, grief, parental responsibility, all of those things. I very quickly knew I wanted to make the love affair between two men, and I didn’t want the ghosts in the story to be malevolent, in the way they sort of are in the book.

I felt like, Oh God, I can finally talk about queerness and family in a way that I think is very complicated, and do it within a way that these two things can be interconnected and wound up together. I feel like that is a thing about being queer. It is complicated within a family dynamic. It’s getting better every day, although not for everyone. But it was certainly so complicated for me, growing up.

I’m interested to know how much you thought about the connection between All of Us Strangers and your previous work, particularly 45 Years and Weekend, because there are overlapping themes. 

Yeah, and I don’t mind it being sort of repeating, because I think my interests are always my interests. So the things I’m trying to articulate, I’m often going back on myself to try and find new ways to express something I’ve looked at before. I quite like that idea. But my biggest concern, actually, in the beginning, was that people were going to think this film is just Weekend with Ghosts. But even though I don’t think the film is that, everything that you do is always in relationship to what you’ve done before. For me anyway. It’s like picking up a conversation, there’s something that you’ve already sort of talked about, but you realise you want to talk about a little bit more, and in a slightly different way.

You’ve talked a little bit about bringing your own personal experience into the film. How do you find that process of weaving your own personal experience into an adaptation?

Yes, I felt like I had to. For some reason, I felt like I didn’t want to make the film unless it was personal. There was stuff I wanted to talk about in terms of queerness and how I feel about family and its complications, what it can mean to be a child and a parent. I wrote a lot during the pandemic – I kind of threw myself into trying to make it feel as close to something I understood as possible while making sure it wasn’t autobiographical. So there’s lots of me in it, but there’s also lots of me that isn’t in it. When I gave the script to people, they’d said “I feel like you’ve written this about me. I feel like you’ve told my life story.” Whether it’s about the loss of parents or the separation from family, or whether it’s about queerness…they’re taking something from it. And that was always what I hoped that it would feel like. It’s personal to me, but I want it to feel personal to everyone.

You have such a wonderfully curated collection of 80s music in All of Us Strangers. Was this directly plucked from your own experience?

Oh yeah, those choices were definitely personal. I love The Pet Shop Boys, I’ve loved them from their first album onwards back in 1985, and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. If you open the vinyl now, it’s so gay! You pull out this bit of paper, and they’re wearing like leather underwear and you’re like “How did this exist in 1983?” Those songs were so important to me. But pop music in general is a way for especially repressed British people to express themselves – the old pop songs especially expressed the things that we can’t say in very blatant terms. I think weirdly my politics was forged by pop music. I listen to a Housemartins song now, and I can tell they’re a bunch of socialists, you can feel it. Everything was passionate in those days, especially in pop music.

The film begins with a sunrise and ends with a night sky which lingers, and I loved that parallel. How early did you have that ending in your head?

I think it was there from the beginning if I’m honest – but I’m also aware that the ending won’t work for everybody. For me, it’s like I needed the ending to transcend a sense of reality. When I was a kid growing up I genuinely thought that I would never be able to find love. I couldn’t even see spending my life with another man as a possibility. And I wanted in the end to make love have this almost cosmic importance. Like the idea that love is so fundamentally important and enormous. Someone said something to me that I hadn’t quite realised – stars die billions of years ago, and the light is still there millions of years later. It’s like we said before; love is this thing that can be long gone, but it’s still there. And you can find it again. And again. And again. It’s always there.'

[youreobsessedwithtoomanyfandoms]

Don't Let Me Go (Part 3)

Words: 1660

Warnings: language, talk of alcohol/alcohol consumption, regret, Leon being a dick but for a kinda good reason, people may be mad at reader cause of what she does but whatever idc this is my fucking story, maybe ooc characters and probably bad writing

Resident Evil Masterlist Main Masterlist Join My Taglist

This also was originally written for my OC Tiffany (Whose info on her/original story will eventually be available on this account @imnotobsessedwfictionalchracters )

Leon and Hunnigan are PROBABLY OOC (as I suck at not being able to keep them from being OOC)

Actually find it fucking insane how long this thing is all together

This is it in multi-part form: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

This is it in one part form

Reader and Leon are partners with their job (have been since 2004/2005) and is insinuated to be around the same height as Leon

Not Proof-read and I think it can be seen every once and a while (I know you can see where my brain couldn't function how to write the scene so I just guessed and hoped for the best)

Can be read as its own story or as a sequel to You’re About To Lose The Best Damn Thing You’ve Ever Had

Losely has themes from the songs Never Say Never by The Fray, No Surprises by Radiohead, Afterglow by Taylor Swift, and Look After You by The Fray

Anywho, enjoy

Love Z <3

March 9th of 2009

Y/N's POV

Beeping. That was all she could hear. Her entire body was sore, feeling like she had been dropped from the top of a building. After a few moments of trying, she finally was able to open her eyes. But she instantly regretted it as the bright fluorescents welcomed her. She groaned as they tried to adjust to the brightness. She looked around and suddenly realized that she was in a hospital. That was the reason for the beeping as she realized how hooked up she was. 

Her throat felt dry and like something had been pulled from there. She moved her head to the side and let out a shocked gasp when she saw who was by her. She thought she had been dreaming. That the fever she knew she had from the infection that she knew had happened from the terrible keep of her cut had made her imagine he was there. That he had been the one to save her. 

She felt her hand move to reach out to him, but she dropped it when she heard the sound of the door opening. A lady, probably around her grams’s age, walked in. She had a soft smile on her face when she looked at Y/N and walked closer to her. Y/N watched as the lady began fiddling with one of the bags that she assumed was liquids to keep her from getting dehydrated. 

“You’re very lucky that boy got to you when he did.” The lady turned to her, “He’s a keeper, that one. He hasn’t left this hospital except for the one time me and another nurse forced him to get a hotel and sleep properly.”

“He’s just my partner--no, wait, he...I don’t know.” It hurt to speak, it felt like she hadn’t used her voice in years.

The lady raised a brow, “I doubt whatever he did will last long. You’ve been here a week and he’s had chances to go back to DC, but he’s stayed here.”

“Where is here? And what day is it?”

“You’re in Vancouver, it’s March 9th. Do you know the year?”

“2009?”

“Good, who’s your President?”

She genuinely had no idea. Graham had ended his Presidency a few months ago and she still had to learn the new guy's name. Only did she know the Vice-President. “I haven’t learned his name yet, but the Vice-President is Adam Benford, he used to be the CIA Director.”

“Hm, I guess that works.” The nurse chuckled, “You sure know a lot about him.”

She looked at Leon, “Yeah...the two of them are friends.”

“I should have expected that. Well sweetheart, we have you on a morphine drip to--”

“I-I can’t have morphine in large doses. It affects me worse than dilaudid.”

The lady took a look at her file and sighed, “Well I be damned, the nurse who did this completely ignored that it says no morphine.” She looked at Y/N, “I’m going let the head nurse know and we’ll get you switched onto, dilaudid you said? It works with no issue

“Yeah, every time it’s worked in the past it's been with no issues.”

“Alright.” She wrote something down, “I’ll be back in a few.”

Y/N nodded as that lady walked out of the room. Her eyes went back to Leon, who was still asleep in the chair, but she noticed how one of his hands was sitting on top of the bed, like he had been holding hers while she was out.  She gently took it in hers and brushed her thumb over the top. She wondered if Hunnigan ever found a loophole for them to work. If she ever found a way that she could use to show Leon they could have worked.

She watched as he stirred, his eyes slowly opening and blinking to adjust to the bright lights. He groaned before looking at her and she watched as he straightened up and took her hand in his own. She watched as his usual emotionless face turned to one full of emotions.

She gave him a soft smile, “Hey Lee.”

He moved the chair to be closer before he ran a hand over her, moving hair from her face. “Hey beauti--Y/N/N.”

She moved her hand to go back to rubbing the top of his, “You can call me beautiful. You got me out of there after all.”

“You scared me, y’know? I thought I had lost you there and I wouldn’t be able to tell you how sorry I--”

“Don’t, please. Just...just don’t. I don’t want to think about that. You’re here, that's what matters. That shows that you really care, even if you can be annoying about showing it.”

He gave a small smile, “Yeah, but I really am sorry for not...talking to you. It was fucking Stacey who walked in and he threatened to expose us. I just didn’t want your life to get fucked over.”

“Why would mine?”

He sighed, “Hunnigan said that unfortunately, STRATCOM would rather lose you than me. So if they had found out, they would have displaced you. Put you in another department or place you with one of the other offices. But we wouldn’t be able to see each other anymore.”

“And you were scared I would argue and say it was nothing.”

“Yep.”

She looked over to the other side, “I hate when you’re right.”

She heard him chuckle, “It’s a rare feat, but one that can happen.” She looked back at him and smiled, but the smile fell as she began to think. “What’s wrong?”

“Why did you call for a new partner?”

He let out a big sigh, “Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle seeing your broken face everyday. Be right by you, pretending to be a supportive friend while you move on.”

She scoffed, “Yeah, me moving on would’ve taken a lot. Trust me. I even asked Hunnigan to find loopholes in the rules for us to be together.” She sighed, “I guess she never found one cause she never told me.”

He laughed awkwardly and she raised an eyebrow, “Well...that’s not necessarily true.”

“What?”

“She found the loophole after you went dark.”

“And she told you?”

“So I might have come in drunk one day, felt bad because I did that because I drove drunk, and asked her to drive me back to my apartment. It was like I could hear you in my head getting mad, not because I showed up drunk, but because I drove drunk. So while she was taking me to my place, I might have spilt that I fucking hated what I did to you and wished that there was some fucking way for us to work and she might have told me the way it could. The small loophole that you asked her to go looking for.”

“What is it?”

“A lifetime commitment that we both said we weren’t ready for.”

“Kids?”

He snorted, “No. Not that.” He moved and dug in his pocket before handing her a small dark blue velvet box. She felt her heart in her throat. “Yeah...that’s the commitment.”

She opened the box to see the ring. It was simple, not over the top. Two diamonds with a sapphire in the middle on a silver band. She let out a shaky breath before looking at him, “When did you get this?”

“Um...a while ago actually. Last summer, I believe.”

She laughed slightly, “That was why you asked me what my ring size was.”

He laughed as well, “Yeah, I expected you to catch on.”

“But...that was before we talked about marriage.” She looked at him, “That was why you asked me, wasn’t it?”

He shrugged, “I realized that I would rather have a possible answer than make you uncomfortable.”

She smiled and for some reason, she leaned over to him and kissed his lips softly. “Why don’t you ask me now.”

“What?”

Her voice was soft, “Just ask that four word question.” She brushed some hair out of his face, “My answer won’t be dependent on it being the only way for us to be together and work together.”

He smiled, “Y/F/N, will you marry me?”

She smiled, “Yes.” She kissed him again, “Y’know, I would have said yes if you had asked me at Christmas.”

“Really?”

She nodded, “Mhm, that was around the time that I realized that even though marriage is a big commitment and we both have our issues with commitment, I was sure I would be able to fully stay with you. Was it partly because you’re the only guy I’ve ever been with that can handle me when my brain can’t function so I just shut down? Possibly. But it also had to do with the fact I can’t see myself with anyone else but you and every time I imagine a future, you’re always there.”

Now it was his turn to brush hair from her face, “So we could have avoided these past few months if I had just looked at the handbook for a loophole?”

She nodded, “Yep. But that doesn’t make me love you any less.”

He laughed, “Good.”

She closed the box and handed it back to him, “Hold onto it for me until we head back to DC.”

He took it and placed it back in his pocket, “I love you, you know that right?”

“I questioned it for a while, but yes, now I do.”

He laughed, “Good.”

They were silent for a few minutes until she looked him dead in the eye, “Can you promise me one thing, Leon?”

“What is it?”

“Never let me go, please? Promise me if you ever start to get insecure with anything in our relationship that you will tell me and we work on it.”

He smiled and kissed the top of her hand, “I promise.”

She smiled, “Good.”

[grahamcarmen]

Little rant but I saw a semi recent post about how RedCrackle is weird cause Carmen mentioned how she sees Graham as a big brother and that shipping them is weird cause if the brother/sister dynamic and I’m like……. Why are people still arguing if it’s okay to ship TWO NON RELATED ADULTS 😭 almost been three years since the show ended and peope still think redcrackle is like Reylo or like pro ships😭😭😭 I could literally write a page on why RedCrackle is the ship that makes the most sense out of the show but I digress

Ok

A) if you ever mind *-* I would like to hear why you like red crackle ! I like hearing why other people like them :3

B)...yeah ok I'm ...always beyond frustrated that this still is a thing.

And I try not to touch on it too much because other people have already mentioned why that its not SooOoo weird to consider them romantically :/. and I like them kissing endgame so that usually all I have to say about it most of the time.

Most people don't. I really do.

And I've Reblogged from people who already said 🤨? For me . [Including nodding my head at a couple people who waaay back in s1 !who didn't even ship RC! react like "oh ok siblingless behavior" to comments like that+ arguments that usually *he's like a brother* can be used as a "we are close" statement for the moment when those feeling actually might change ex: see pam from the office]

But like if you don't like even a wiff of that type of connection implication happening with your ships? It squicks ya out that happening in ANY point of the dynamic ? Toeachandallthat

However repeating the 2 cents today. ITS A CANON THING THAT CARMEN WAS PUT IN A SITUATION WHERE GRAY LOOKS HER UP AND DOWN AND THINKS SHES ATTRACTIVE AND ASKS HER OUT ON A DATE AND SHE ALMOST GOES. ITS NOT A FANON THING. ITS LITERALLY AN EPISODE.

They are not related!! Hence. "Like" a brother. Not brother. And him acting friendly to her for a year doesn't make them related. [💀dude...a single year?]

And both of those times are an acknowledgment of what their Past dynamic was before

A) he was revealed to have completely different values than her [but she still has hope for him even tho looking up to him is over]

B) the possibility of reconciliation was presented as a possibly romantic one.

" before he was crackle he was gray and gray was like a big brother to me, I thought I lost him for good but this could be...i don't know... some sort of do over., a second chance?"

Everything about that do over is slightly romantic tinged and carmen KNOWS. And her eyes still light up ala 🥺

AAAAAAAANd for good measure she slips up and apologizes to GRAY for standing him up on the date with soft smile which im inclined to think is as genuine as the grimace when he reminds her that GRAY didn't ask her out. Graham did.

I'm not gonna pretend she fell right then and there but the possibility does not disgust her. She even flirts a bit back.

Thats not what hinders her.

vile having him does.

💀like idk why its so hard to accept the fact of some people liking that it might change because the original dynamic already HAS changed and if they even want to be friends later they need to parse out a lot of stuff. Its like not as simple as this is what they were and always should be. Even after literally everything that has happened.

And even the show makes carmen acknowledge that in the Himalayas when she doesn't get her [ skip ahead ]. Its more complicated than that. The people and emotions involved are more complicated than that.

And Hey ! HI! Gray does end the series with romantic feelings for her just not really the confidence that she would want to see him again.

So like...don't ship them idc but like the idea of romance in the carmen/gray dynamic was a show thing, they're both adults , not related , KNOW what they were to each other and have peeked at what they MIGHT be while bringing it up TWICE [ at the himalayas/ and a flashback when she's regaining her memories] so 🤷‍♀️ like idk why the surprise that some people hope it does go in that direction

[atopvisenyashill]

What other projects have you watched with got and hotd actors and how do you like their performance outside of got/hotd?

I’ve watched probably….most of Matt Smith’s filmography on account of watching Doctor Who in high school and falling in love with him. I think he’s incredibly talented and charismatic and genuinely perfect casting as Daemon. I had also seen Paddy Considine in that movie Pride altho I didn’t recognize him as Viserys lmao but i adore that movie, you should watch if you haven’t seen it, it’s about the Lesbians And Gays Support The Miners movement and I definitely cried watching it aksjdjd. I also watched all of bates motel as it was airing which olivia is in (and also the sound of metal, which she and riz ahmed are amazing in, and also riz steven and chadwick were robbed that year smh). olivia and matt are actually The Reason i started hotd lol i didn’t intend to watch it but then i was like oh…..but……….i love them aksjsjs.

I have technically seen Rhys in several things but he’s Fine. I am still mad about him having zero chemistry with Lucy Liu in Elementary and ruining an entire season by having negative rizz. why am i supposed to believe that man is like some great love of watson’s life when they don’t even look like they like each other. rhys count your fuckijg days. i’ve also seen graham mactavish in a number of things, the first being Outlander and he was like, one of the best antagonist characters in the show, was both excited and devastated when his character died hah he has one of my favorite lines in the show which is “the idea of grinding your corn does tickle me” 💀💀😂😂

For the main show, I had seen Charles Dance in Phantom (he’s really good even tho it’s a more romantic take on the story but that’s fine i still love it!!!), Lena, Peter, & Mark in like Most Of Their Filmographies bc i was already a fan of them, who hasn’t seen at least five Sean Bean deaths, and I’d seen a few Alexander Siddig, Ciaran Hinds, Iain Glenn, & Indira Varma in a bunch of stuff too and loved them - Kingdom of Heaven & Syriana & DS9, Persuasion & The Terror, Resident Evil, Kama Sutra.

I’ve seen Gwendoline, Elyes (he was Rakharo, rip to an icon), Thomas Brodie, Sophie, Maisie, Kit, Richard, Jason (Momoa), Michelle, and Tobias in a bunch of other stuff since I started the show. I think Gwendoline is incredibly talented, as are Sophie and Maisie. Richard imo usually needs a good script to shine - like Rocketman? amazing. Eternals? Meh - and Kit is uh. Sometimes he has good chemistry with other actors. I paid real money to see him in Pompeii and my sibling holds a grudge against me to this day for that one aksjd. Jason Momoa has a tendency to just play different versions of himself but the movie Red Road Redemption is real good, it’s about MMIW & his acting abilities really shine, I’d love to see him in more serious or more romantic roles and less action roles. I cannot praise Tobias Menzies more highly, hes in Outlander, The Terror, and the Crown and he’s just sublime in all of them and you’d never know it by the way they wrote Edmure. OH SHIT also obviously Jacob Artist in IWTV is amazinnnnnnng EGOT INCOMING and Nathalie Emmanuel was REALLY FUN in The Invitation!!!

Probably my favorite of everyone is Peter Dinklage tho, he’s very serious & choosy with his roles bc he doesn’t want to play a stereotype and it’s made his filmography just *muah* like it’s so interesting and varied and he puts his whole heart into every role however goofy or serious it is. i love him, i want him to be the romantic lead in more stuff bc i’m a romantic and also like, a pervert and he’s so handsome aksksk.

Also Ciaran Hinds & Amanda Root Persuasion >>>>>>>>>>> Those Other Two

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

All right, all right, all right! I’m a day late because I was out last night again, but I’m home now, let’s do this! Thoughts on Taskmaster s15e02, written as I watch it:

- I didn’t mention this last week, but Ivo Graham with a beard is unsettling. I mean, people can do what they like with their appearance and all, but that one may not be the best idea.

- Right, I haven’t seen any of the prize tasks except the first one, but if no one besides Kiell brought in anything that requires us to look at feet, then Kiell needs to win this task. I am genuinely not enjoying Kiell bringing in an excuse to have the cameras focus on both a picture of a foot and Alex’s actual foot, give him five points for achieving weirdness and make it go away.

- Greg is, annoyingly, correct to say that Mae’s object isn’t weird, it’s just your reflection that’s weird. I say “annoyingly” because Mae really eagerly trying to sell people on someone they’ve come up with is... genuinely, I’ve had crushes on Taskmaster contestants before but never to the extent that I’ve had my current problem, where I have difficulty writing about the episode without mentioning it every 5-10 sentences. I’ll try to stop.

- I am 100% behind the levels to which Ivo is taking his argument. Getting into the wording of the task – it’s supposed to be “whenever you look at it”, so needing to look at it for ten minutes like Mae’s mirror shouldn’t count. Explaining that he has practice of looking at it all the time and weirdness occurs every time, and Kiell can’t say the same because he designed the foot glove just for this task. This guy has watched all his friends play Taskmaster, studied their strategies, has his social standing riding on his performance in a way that I’m going to guess, say, Frankie Boyle, does not. This is high-level Taskmaster here, well done, Ivo. I still can’t wait to see you get bullied in the team tasks, but well done.

- Aaawwwwwww. Awwwwww. A Rhod Gilbert reference. A Rhod Gilbert reference in something that was filmed while he was receiving treatment for advanced cancer (I mean, I assume he still is, but he’s also filming TV things again and looks to be recovering, and I’m not sure that was the case as of last summer). Awwwww. Jenny’s thing doesn’t really work for the reasons Ivo pointed out, it doesn’t feel weird “every time you look at it” because that only works if you stare at it for ages, but anyway, lovely little Rhod Gilbert reference. Also, love that they’re saving Frankie Boyle for last on the “thing that makes you feel weird” task. What have you got, Frankie?

- I knew Frankie wouldn’t let me down with this. Obviously he went historical. Yeah, medieval paintings of cats are weirder than feet. He needs to win.

- I’d have swapped Kiell and Frankie, but otherwise agree with the harsh but fair scoring. I like rewarding Ivo’s intricate arguments by giving him two more points than both the people who finished below him.

-

I don’t know what this means, but I’m guessing it might be that they’ve brought in a concept from Taskmaster NZ, when they had each contestant film a small part of an action movie, and then put it all together later to make one movie. Which I guess was originally a Taskmaster UK concept, from season 10 when they filmed the detective thing with each person playing a different part, and then with Richard Herring playing every part. It’s a concept I like, so I hope they are in fact going to film them each playing some music and then put it together.

-

Jesus Fucking Christ. Okay I’m done. I won’t bring it up anymore. I promise.

- Oh shit, Horne Section. Ohhhhh, I see. The great band that was separated wasn’t the Taskmaster contestants, playing stuff alone and then going back together. It’s the Horne Section. Cool.

- The task didn’t say anything about “most [adjective] [noun] wins”, so that means it’s a two-parter. They may still have to fit these together somehow. Also, the task said it must be “less than thirty seconds long”, which is weird, because normally Alex Horne is right with me in correcting people every time they say “less” when they should say “fewer”. You let this one slip, Horne.

- They were correct to give Frankie the percussion instruments. I like Kiell’s attitude. Ivo briefly thinking “I”, “V”, and “O” might be music notes was quite funny. Really enjoying Jenny’s unnecessarily exuberant and surprisingly low-pitched singing. Mae, do we really need to bring more feet into this episode? Have we not already had enough feet in this episode?

- I didn’t really know what to expect from Frankie Boyle on Taskmaster, but if I’d absolutely had to try to guess, I’d have pretty much said this:

- I promise this isn’t another gratuitous screenshot of how attractive Mae Martin is; I just wanted to capture the look of utter shock on their face when Alex handed them the extra card.

The sense of betrayal from Alex. The underlying disappointment in themself for not seeing this coming. The whiplash in going from relaxing because the task is over to ramping the tension right back up, 0-100 in half a second, a reminder that you have to be always on your guard in this show. There’s Taskmaster summed up in one screenshot.

- Ah, the twist is that they have to play along. It’s not really a music task, it’s an arts and crafts task! That’s fun.

- I mean, some of those instruments are easier to copy than others. Frankie probably got an unfair advantage there, the drums have to be the easiest to copy. But I don’t mind, because I want to watch Frankie Boyle play makeshift drums.

- I think they undervalued Jenny Eclair’s trumpet miming in the studio chat. That was good. I could believe that was her playing if I didn’t look too hard at the instrument. She looks like she should be dramatically playing a trumpet in a club somewhere.

- Frankie’s miming was not remotely in time to the music, but he looked like he was having so much fun out there. Someone needs to gif that. I might need to gif that later. I want a moving image of Frankie Boyle playing the drums and having a great time.

- 

“I see your Diverse Stripes, Nish. And sure it was impressive, but you made one crucial mistake: not wearing sunglasses.”

- 

Incredible screenshot.

- Some really interesting camera decisions in the filming of Ivo. I’m not sure I needed that under-his-legs-looking-up angle on those loose shorts. But A+ for effort on the contestant’s part, as I’ve quickly come to expect from him.

- 1) Mae Martin making a joke about “Mae-stro” and then immediately trying to take it back - “I don’t want to lose points from Mae-stro”: solid Taskmaster play, I like the level of paranoia that Taskmaster instills in its most competitive contestants. Mae Martin about to play an instrument with their foot: not ideal. Not... not something I would like on my computer screen, thank you.

- I think Mae was the best one so far at miming in time to the music. Not bad arts and crafts work either. Good attention to detail. Thankfully minimal foot involvement.

- Well, Kiell was definitely the worst at the arts and crafts potion, there have to be more accurate ways to create a facsimile keyboard than to just put a bunch of books in a row. Also, he just repeated the grammatically incorrect task over and over, causing me to have to say “fewer” at my screening increasingly annoyed voices.

On the other hand, he may win for the person who had the best time out there:

Again, I’m just really enjoying Kiell’s whole vibe. Competitive, but not as overt about it as Mae or Ivo. Getting fully into everything, to an exaggerated degree. Picking at things and not letting them go, like the thing about the musician’s age.

- Whoa. That was ridiculously generous scoring and I don’t think I see Greg’s logic with any of it, but fun task all the same.

- Yes! Team task! I’ve been looking forward to these so much.

You know, normally when I say what contestants I’d like on a team together, I just pick pairs of people and hope they’re with each other, either on their own or in three. But in this case, I really like that Frankie and Ivo are specifically the team of two. No one for Frankie to pawn off the task of interacting with Ivo on, no one for Ivo to hide behind, no one to dilute the extraordinary amounts of awkward tension that I imagine occur when you put together two people who are so very, very different.

And on the other side, obviously I’m looking forward to the clash of Charlotte Ritchie’s husbands, and to two highly competitive contestants who will hype up each other’s competitive natures all in the midst of Jenny Eclair’s cloud of chaos.

I’m writing this before seeing any of this task, just to have a record of what I’m expecting going in. Expectations are high. I think Ivo might get eaten alive.

- I always look forward to that moment in the first team task, when the contestants see their teammates for the first time. As far as those moments go, this one’s pretty good:

- Oh my God. It’s perfect. Thank you, Taskmaster, this is exactly what I wanted.

I’m trying to picture the meeting where they divided up the teams. I hope they weren’t forced to do this by schedules or whatever, I hope all the contestants had availability on all potential days, just because it’s funnier if the Taskmaster people planned this. “Guys. Guys. Let’s put the incredibly posh English private school boy with Frankie Boyle. We have to, right? We can’t waste that opportunity.” Their decision to film and edit this entrance like a horror movie makes it so clear that they knew exactly what they were doing.

I mean, these two are rivalling Joe Thomas and Sian Gibson for most awkward initial meeting. But Joe and Sian eventually settled into their own sort of weird, awkward chemistry. I feel like Frankie and Ivo can keep up this level of non-meshing, actively clashing, energies all season. At least all day, as they film the team tasks. 

- 

One of Charlotte Ritchie’s husbands standing on tip-toes to hug Charlotte Ritchie’s other husband, while the trailblazing first woman to ever win a Perrier Award looks on. Thanks, Taskmaster. What a good day for feminism.

-  

Incredible. You can’t script that level of awkward. I’m so glad they didn’t try to edit around the less-than-slick television of Ivo talking over Frankie’s one-sentence potato anecdote to say hello to Alex.

Normally when I get screenshots of Ivo I carefully time it so I can get him when his eyes are open, which is rarely. But I think in this case, catching him in his usual state, which is with his eyes closed (seriously, I did not notice how true this was until I made that video last year with all these contestants, and struggled to find clips of Ivo where he was both moving around the stage/set and has his eyes open, he mostly just stands still with his eyes closed) captures the atmosphere better.

- Oh cool, two season 2 references. Obviously a potato next to the red green that can’t be touched is invoking Joe Wilkinson. And a bridge for a potato is invoking Debajo De La Mesa.

- I think from now on, my entire blog may just turn into a repository for screenshots of Frankie Boyle and Ivo Graham together.

- Yeah, this is all I actually want out of a television show.

- 

You’re close, Ivo, but not quite - you’re wrong about it being an either/or. What we want is for one team to be the first thing and the other team to be the second thing, so they can be contrasted in ways that make each one more amusing when set against the other, and can occasionally be edited together in a montage designed to make the differences hilariously clear. And I know I haven’t even seen the first team task yet, but I think this season might out-do all previous ones in that way.

- Are we going to keep up the joke all season where Frankie Boyle is like Ivo Graham’s father who didn’t love him? Because I’m on board with that.

- This post is pretty screenshot heavy, there are just so many images I like.

Oh Jenny, trailblazing veteran comedian though you are, your experience clearly doesn’t extend to understand the dire consequences that can occur when a tiny bit of your shoe touches the red green, and you don’t immediately acknowledge the mistake and start over, this time doing it properly. You don’t want to hide that shit, Jenny. They’ll catch it on camera and then it’ll be worse. Mae knows. Mae’s clearly seen that episode. Mae is not here to fuck around with that sort of thing.

I do really like Mae’s particular brand of competitiveness, which is coming out in Ivo too. The kind where you want to win so much that you’re ridiculously careful about making sure you’ve followed every tiny instruction and accounted for every little thing because you can’t stand the thought of fucking up on a pointless mistake. But then because you’ve been so careful, you hold everyone else to the same standard, expect them to also have meticulously gotten everything right, and call it out if you see them get away with slacking on that, because if you bothered to get it all right then they should have to as well. And yes, at some point in that sentence it became clear that by “you”, I mean “me”, that’s how I live my life and it’s maladaptive at times. But it’s also how Mae Martin and Ivo Graham are playing Taskmaster, and I love seeing it.

- Love how much effort they put into the barrel bridge before realizing they can just use duct tape and poles. Also:

Brilliant. I really hope this screenshot embodies what this team will be like all season, with the two competitive contestants carefully managing a tricky solution to the task, and Jenny dancing and singing on the sidelines for moral support.

- Mae Martin: Stop the clock, I think.

Kiell Smith-Bynoe: I think we could go higher.

Mae Martin: No, I’m scared.

Yep, that’s the kind of so-competitive-you-come-back-around-to-being-cautious I’m talking about. Also, I’m scared too Mae. This is genuinely tense, don’t fuck it up.

- 

No! Careful! I mean, I love the symbolism of the early female comedian from back before they invented more than like four women in comedy, assisting the young(er) queer comedian who’s existing in a world created by the previous generation of feminist trailblazers. But also, I’m worried about all the little things that can go wrong here. I know Mae is meticulous, but how carefully his Jenny watching her shoes’ proximity to the red green?

- After I wrote that last point, I hit “play” on the video again, they raised it even higher, some of the tape started stretching, and without consciously meaning to, I started saying: “No, stop the clock, stop the clock!” out loud, to my laptop screen. At the same time, heard my voice joined by Mae Martin’s:

I get you, Mae. I get you. Do you want to be, like, best friends, or something? You’re not looking for a wife, are you, if Charlotte Ritchie’s off somewhere else?

- Oh God. That was tense. They did it. Well done all around, everyone. Competence on Taskmaster, who would have expected that?

- Ivo. Honey. What are you. What are you doing?

The board isn’t part of it, buddy. What are you doing?

...I knew I was looking forward to seeing Ivo Graham fall apart merely from being in the presence of Frankie Boyle, but I don’t think I expected it to engender quite so much of my current reaction, which is wanting to protect him like a child. Go build the bridge, Ivo.

- There’s a lot of competition in this category, but I think this might be my favourite screenshot of this whole episode so far:

- And it was beaten for that spot a split second after I posted it:

- I don’t know why since there’s been so much other good stuff, but my hardest laugh of this episode so far has come from Ivo Graham going in the house to try to find something that’ll actually work, and Frankie Boyle marches predatorily after him to suggest that they roll the potato in a tube.

- Oh shit. You know what, I was making fun of Frankie’s tube idea, but credit where it’s due, I stand correct. That worked really well.

- 

Greg knows what’s up. Greg’s the one saying the quote in that caption, but from the grin on his face, Alex is also aware that they’ve struck fucking gold with that pairing.

- 

At the end of the season I want to collect all these Frankie/Ivo screenshots (I just remembered that I said last week I’m going to call them “Franko”, I’ll have to start that next week), rank them by awkwardness, and put them in a collage.

- 

And as we come down from the 18 different types of tension at play in the previous task, now we’re in the lab, setting shit on fire. Awesome.

- So it’s the season 8 little finger task, but with a breath instead. Okay. I’m on board.

- Jenny Eclair wants to resuscitate a dying animal. I admire the ambition.

- I think Mae and Kiell’s idea for this probably what I’d do. See if you can set off a chain reaction by blowing on something small. But I think I’d go smaller scale than this - I’m now thinking of the season six task when they tried to extinguish a candle by blowing through a pipe that size, and it didn’t go too well.

- Mae Martin kissing a marble and ordering it not to fuck up: yes, that’s the level of competitiveness we want out of Taskmaster.

- Kiell, you have to put the ball a little way into the pipe before you blow on it, so it’s already going in the right direction. It isn’t lighter than air.

- Again, the level of intensity:

We’re all very attracted to hot queer people who get disproportionately intense about stuff, right? That’s not just me?

- Holy shit, Mae’s worked! I didn’t think it was going to, I thought they put the xylophone too far away. But of course they must have tested it, they’re not messing around.

- Well, didn’t think Kiell’s would work either, so I was right one out of the two times. Also, I don’t think he started that one with a breath. I think he just dropped it down the tube.

- Oh good, marble runs are the smart way to go, but I’d have been disappointed if they’d put fire in the intro and then no one brought fire into the actual task. I’m learning that we can count on Jenny for that sort of thing. Wouldn’t it be fun if it became a running joke throughout the season that Jenny’s thing is setting shit on fire? 

- Holy hell. I thought Jenny was going to light a candle in the caravan and then put it out, but she is now actually lighting the curtains on fire. I’ve said before that Taskmaster NZ is fun because it has more lax health and safety standards that Taskmaster UK (I’m not... I mean, politically and just morally I’m aware that health and safety and other regulations are a good thing, sometimes my taste in comedy does not perfectly line up with my actual beliefs, like how funny I think it is to watch Ivo Graham get bullied on a panel show), but that’s taking quite a risk in this one.

- 

New hardest laugh of the episode. If I hadn’t paused the video to write this, I’d have had to pause it anyway to laugh. Brilliant. No notes.

- So, I’ve been taking these one at a time and only focusing on Jenny so far, but what the fuck is Frankie doing?

Is that... is that someone who doesn’t work for the show? Is that just a guy? It’s been mentioned a couple of times before that the Taskmaster house is near a golf course - in season six, when the contestants had to get back to the house, they were asking people for directions “to the golf course”. And in season 7 when they had to throw things over the fence, they talked about seeing people playing golf in the distance. But I thought that was, you know, the distance. Presumably they don’t just have golfers that close to the house while they’re filming.

- 

Holy fuck. Holy fuck. That was incredibly funny. I still don’t understand why that guy was there, it doesn’t matter. Frankie Boyle fucking with a golfer and then folding over in silent giggles like a child playing a door-knocking prank, but it isn’t a child, it’s Frankie Boyle with a golfer, possibly his least favourite type of person after privately educated posh English boys - fucking hell that’s funny. I’d watch a whole show of just Frankie doing that.

-

True, but perhaps not the best way to ingratiate yourself with the hosts of this show, or least with one of them, and that reminds me, Alex, please cast your buddy John Robins on here someday.

- Alex just told us that the garden “backs onto a golf course”, so I guess they’re a lot closer to it than I’d thought.

-

Seriously, fucking commission that. I’d watch it, and I’m not alone. Raise your hand if you’d watch an entire show of Frankie Boyle blowing whistles in inappropriate places.

- Well, I got so into Ivo’s task attempt that I haven’t even catalogued it (which is probably fine, I definitely did not need to screenshot nearly as much of this episode as I did), and at the end, it at least came close to matching Frankie’s attempt in my hardest laugh of the episode. Oh, that was a beautiful disaster. Trying the radio first, getting rejected. Then getting rejected by Greg. Then by Ed Gamble. Apologizing for breaking glasses and then failing to break glasses. Failing to break glasses, how hard can that be? I thought he was going to do creepily sexy breathing down the phone at Ed, but instead for some reason he really intensely sort of breathily shouted.

Oh yes, Ivo. It feels like one point. But it was a heroic failure.

And to be fair, Kiell’s breath wasn’t even what moved the ball. Ivo did move the basketball with his breath. If you say Ivo’s “one breath” was the last one he took, since that’s the one that actually moved the ball, then that probably took place after Ed Gamble hung up. So he didn’t even annoy Ed with that one, and the glasses didn’t break. But he did move a ball. More, technically, than Kiell did.

- Wow, the scoring is all over the place here. I feel like Greg took on board accusations of being too generous at other times, and might be overcorrecting. But then he was weirdly generous in the music task.

Anyway, scoring aside, that was a great bit of chat following that task. Ivo and Kiell sniping at each other to continue the animosity developed in the last week’s prize task. Mae trying to remind people of their nice little bing. Greg saying he can’t give five points for “putting off a golfer”. Frankie Boyle, of all people, accusing him of being jaded. Alex correcting Greg’s scoring (and being right - Kiell should definitely not have beaten Jenny or even Ivo) and Greg acquiescing. There seemed to be a bit of distance in the studio in last week’s episode, but they’re getting into it now.

- Love Ivo covering hi smouth in shock at the sight of that scoreboard:

I don’t imagine this will happen much, but it is fun to see Frankie Boyle at the top of a Taskmaster board.

- Ah, the old Taskmaster classic: arts and crafts with visual and material-based restrictions. A classic for a reason.

- Ivo not just looking under his table, but spinning it around to see the whole thing:

That is a man who has seen Taskmaster before, and has just watched his own potato bridge task, possibly being reminded of previous potato bridge tasks, and what lessons they’ve taught us. Debajo De La Mesa. And it worked out this time, there were scissors.

- I think how very fucking pleased with himself Kiell looked after coming up with his idea summarizes his whole vibe in quite a fun way.

- As the second one to complete the task, Frankie looks... less pleased with himself, in a way that also summarizes his vibe.

- Kiell, you fucking idiot! Just say it’s a caterpillar and you’d be fine! It looks more like a caterpillar than a snake anyway! Frankie’s not going to be at the top of the scoreboard often, don’t take this episode away from him!

- Yeah, Greg’s right, Mae’s was good. It should have won for not just being tape on a board. But I think that scoring was mostly right.

- Oh God, that was fucking good. The whole episode, so good. I thought last week’s was a good opener, but the quality here has escalated as they’ve settled into it. Also, this post got a little out of hand, I’m going to need to make fewer screenshots and comments next time because stopping it so often means this whole thing took me about four hours (though I did also stop and do laundry and make lunch). But fuck it, I have nothing else to do on this holiday Friday, and that was great.

[thecomedyhour01]

i’m gonna start a comedy career. i’ll start in public “comedy night” type events in pubs and then once i’ve made a name for myself locally begin to branch out, get myself out there a bit. people start talking to their friends and family about this “ComedyHour” kid, “really funny guy” they’ll say. Next thing you know, i’m being invited to actual comedy clubs as a performer: sure maybe not as the headliner mind you, not yet anyway, but nevertheless i’m still the guy people go home talking about. “hilarious” they’ll say, “they were a riot!” soon i’m always the headliner, and even sooner i’m invited to the BIG comedy club’s. At this point i’m meeting and mingling with the big names. I talk loud and laugh louder, people remember my face and when they see me they think “oh my god it’s this guy! i love this guy!” I’m now one of the big names. i begin getting asked onto shows, you know the ones: 8 out of ten cats, taskmaster; you know, THOSE types of shows. i’m everyone’s favourite guest, the most viewed episodes are one’s with me on. Finally I’ve reached the top, i’m invited onto a late night talk show, probably one of the best places for a single person to get all the limelight to talk about anything they want. Jimmy Fallon, Graham Norton, anyone really would do. at this point, i’m so universally liked that this is the most viewed episode of these shows… Ever. record breaking numbers for my show of choice. i’m the headline for that nights show, the idea of having me just come on and say… anything! it’s enough to draw people from all over the world. it’s show night. i’m behind stage as the host calls my name. take a deep breath as i walk on. the crowd cheers as they see me, men and women crying tears of joy. i sit down and the audience calms down. the host lets me begin the discussion…and i just begin to rant like a complete lunatic.

“the moon is made of rhubarb and custard”

“the government spy on us through our toothbrushes”

“The name ‘American Football’ makes complete sense despite minimal Foot on Ball action!”

I’d say anything to show I’d lost it!

At first people laugh as they think it’s another of my wacky japes… but as the dust settles and the millions of people watching begin to realise i seem genuinely believe these things they begin to become upset, panic even! “Oh no! what’s wrong with them!” the host will try and keep order but i’ll start angrily cussing him out. security will be called on me. as they drag me out i’ll begin speaking gibberish,as if possessed. i’ll be mentally evaluated - they’ll say i’ve gone insane. i’ll be institutionalised. meanwhile there’ll be riots on the outside, so much violence and blood, children weeping, families pulling each other apart! i was meant to be the best of us, the person who everyone could rely on to make the day a little brighter; without me, everything just seems so bleak. as the years go by i wont say a word, wont show any signs of improving. the world will begin to forget about me, about the power i had over people. 30 years since the incident, i overhear a conversation outside my padded cell. “Who’s this?” says an unfamiliar voice.

The world has forgotten about me. I smile. This was my plan all along. To have the world hang on my every word, then cause people to tear each other apart, and disappear without a trace. Because the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he never existed.

[praxeus-13]

Hey how are you today. I hope you're well. May I please request a part 3 of kiss from a rose/ rose petals on the floor.

Everlasting Rose

(Part 1 | Part 2)

Pairing: Dh!Master x Reader

Word Count: 2100

Summary: Final part to this series, follows on from previous part

Warnings: none

For: anon

A/N: Sorry this took so long, I got covid 😞. Luckily it’s not too bad, but I’m still a bit out of it. Anyway, I hope you like this! (Also my requests are open again)

You were disoriented when you woke up, your brain desperately trying to piece together the information. Firstly, you knew you weren’t in your room on The Doctor’s TARDIS, nor in your flat. Secondly, you definitely remembered going to an abandoned museum with The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz. However you were no longer in the museum, and your friends weren’t with you.

Groggily, you pushed yourself up to take in more of your surroundings. You had been sleeping on a plush purple sofa, and someone had placed a matching blanket over your sleeping form. Then as you looked around more, memories started to push themselves to the surface. Memories of the dusty room, a man in the shadows, a mirror.

The Master.

As though he could read your mind, the man himself walked into the room, a tray in his hand with mugs of tea and snacks. He caught your eye, and looked a little startled before schooling himself into a more relaxed posture again. You were still sleepy and trying to piece together everything that had happened in your mind, so you didn’t say anything. The Master placed the tray down on a nearby table and walked over to you, crouching down in front of you once he got to the sofa.

“Did you sleep alright?”

Well, that definitely hadn’t been what you expected him to say. Taken aback you nodded on autopilot.

“Are you hungry? Or thirsty?” Strangely, he seemed to be showing genuine curiosity.

“Uhhh, I’m mostly confused and disoriented.”

The Master chuckled at that, reaching out a hand to cup your face, which you automatically leaned into.

“You’re on my TARDIS. I used a short range teleport to get you out of the museum, and then I took you here. Currently we’re in the Time Vortex.” He supplied helpfully.

“You were- You were who I danced with that night in Italy. The one who gave me the rose.” You didn’t pose this as a question, you already knew the answer.

“I was.”

“Why am I here?”

“That night, I was meant to kill you, but then I saw you standing in that garden and all I wanted to do was hold you. There’s something between us - I know you feel it too. I won’t force you into anything, I just took you here to keep you safe.” His voice was gentle, and he was stroking your face with his thumb.

Surprisingly, you felt safe. Still, there was a logical part of your mind that knew The Master couldn’t be trusted - at least not yet.

Again, you questioned whether The Master could read your mind, “Look, just give me two weeks, if you don’t want to stay after that then I’ll drop you back on Earth.”

Hesitantly, you agreed, hoping you wouldn’t end up regretting it.

——

The past two weeks had gone surprisingly well. The Master had taken you all over the universe, much like The Doctor did, but somehow you had enjoyed the adventures even more. No longer did you have to worry about getting into some sort of trouble if you didn’t want to. It was nice to be able to relax on planets, to properly experience what they had to offer.

Your company was nice too, which had definitely thrown you off at first. However, The Master had proved himself, ensuring you never got harmed and he listened to you more often than not.

One of your favourite adventures had been to Panunerth, a planet that was best described as a winter wonderland. You’d loved it, walking around wrapped up warm, but not warm enough to completely keep the cold out. The Master had lead you on a nature walk, which had gone well for the first part, then you had had the brilliant idea to throw a snowball at him. From there the two of you had a full on snowball fight. By the end of it you were chilled to the bone, so The Master had lead you back on the path towards a local town.

On the way you were shivering, so The Master had pulled you into his side as though it were the most natural thing in the world, and to you it felt as though it was. The town itself was magical, fairy lights and bunting were hung all along the streets, and there was a dusting of snow on every surface. The Master had pulled you into a little picturesque café, and ordered a hot beverage to help you warm up.

By the time you’d gotten back to the TARDIS it was late evening on Panunerth, the sun in its final stages of setting. You stood in the doorway to the TARDIS, simply admiring the view, The Master stood behind you doing the same. You were almost too caught up in your awe to notice the rose that appeared at your side, held out in one of The Master’s hands.

Cautiously, you reached out for the rose as The Master handed it to you. As you inspected the rose, twirling it around slowly in your hands, you couldn’t help but long for the original. The one that had been left behind on The Doctor’s TARDIS.

“What’s wrong, love?” The Master asked as he came to stand next to you, concern in his voice and on his face.

“This is perfect, I just- sorry it’s stupid.” You felt ridiculous, here he was giving you everything you could ask for, and yet you still asked for more?

To your surprise, The Master reached out and gently guided your face to look at his. “It’s not, I want to make this perfect for you, tell me how I can.”

“It’s not that big a deal I just- I miss the rose that you gave me. I kept it in a vase on my room in The Doctor’s TARDIS, I’d look at it every night before I went to sleep and every morning when I woke up. It just meant a lot to me.”

The Master looked at you with a mix of guilt and love, pulling you into his embrace. Neither of you needed to say anything more after that, opting to stay in that moment with each other. Eventually you’d started to shiver again, even with The Master’s arms wrapped around you, and the two of you headed inside.

Something had changed that night, though neither of you dared to admit it aloud. All of your adventures after that had felt that little bit more romantic, and though you could barely believe it you found yourself falling in love with The Master.

——

At the end of the two weeks you barely even hesitated to say yes when he asked if you wanted to stay with him. He’d laughed at you slightly, surprised at how quickly you’d said yes. Then the two of you sat there for a moment before The Master leant in and kissed you. Surprised, you had let out a squeak, though you soon melted into the kiss.

He was softer than you’d imagined, though there was still a roughness in the way he cradled you - as though he was worried you would disappear any moment.

Your relationship had only grown from their, your adventures turning into dates and romantic getaways (though there was still the occasional heist). Everything had been going amazingly, which is why you should have known to keep an eye out for danger.

The Master lead you out of the TARDIS onto a space shuttle somewhere in the far future. He’d landed you on one of the leisure decks, and started to tell you all about the different facilities they offered, though a ‘universally famous’ restaurant sounded the most intriguing. Luckily, The Master had already made a reservation, and the two of you had a lovely time together. You loved his company, loved spending time with him, so much so that you rarely thought about your previous life anymore.

However, this didn’t mean that you had completely forgotten it. After the two of you left the restaurant, you decided to simply go for a walk around the ship, though you stopped short when you spotted a blue box in the distance. It was unmistakably The Doctor’s TARDIS, the one you had travelled in many months ago, and it made you feel a strange mix of hope and dread. The Master had spotted it as well, scanning the area for any sign of your old friends.

“You know, I think I’d prefer an evening in front of the library fireplace.” The Master hummed in agreement and started to lead you back to his TARDIS.

Truthfully, you did miss your friends, but you also knew that you’d prefer to avoid the hurt a reunion would bring. The two of you were walking hand-in-hand, and you couldn’t stop your grip from tightening. Unfortunately, as you rounded the final corner you saw the four of them stood in front of The Master’s TARDIS. However much you wanted to run in the opposite direction, you knew you couldn’t.

When your friends spotted you they hurried over. You hated the way your heart sped up from nerves, though you were comforted by The Master’s thumb rubbing the back of your hand.

“Let her go.” The Doctor demanded as she stood in front of the two of you.

The Master, easily slipping into an his cocky yet sinister act, bowed his head and held up your conjoined hands, giving a dramatic show of letting go. You felt a pang of disappointment, missing his warm touch.

“She’s free to do as she wishes.”

The two of you knew this, and now your friends did as well. For a tense moment, none of you moved or spoke, everyone waiting for someone else to make a move.

The Doctor held out her hand to you, “Come on, let’s get back to the TARDIS.”

You didn’t reach out to take her hand, instead you shook your head and moved towards The Master slightly. You heard one of your friends let out a small gasp.

“Before you start throwing accusations around, I’m not hypnotised. The Master gave me a choice, and I chose to stay with him.” You told them sincerely.

The Doctor’s eyes flickered between the two of you, and you could see her brain ticking away - trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

“Why?” You knew that she must be able to figure it out, she just needed verbal confirmation.

“I love him.” It was so easy to say, purely because of how genuine a statement it was.

You were focused on The Doctor’s reaction, she seemed angry and sad, though mostly it seemed that she was resigned to the fact. You knew that she would have seen this coming, even if she didn’t want it to be true, she’s had time to adjust. On the other hand, Graham, Ryan and Yaz had not.

“How? How can you love the bloke who tried to kill us?” Yaz queried, distressed at your statement.

“Yeah, are you 100% sure he’s not brainwashing or hypnotising you?” Graham backed her up, just as frustrated.

Ryan, meanwhile, seemed to be contemplating the information. He’d always been more insightful than he let on, no doubt a trait he’d picked up from his grandmother.

The Master took your hand again, and you turned to smile at him. “You won’t understand, but that’s okay, I’m happy with him.”

Yaz looked as though she was about to let out another protest, but The Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s go, fam.”

Neither Ryan nor Yaz looked as though they wanted to follow her, nevertheless as she moved around the you and The Master they followed, walking back to their TARDIS. Graham followed last, turning towards you and offering a small smile.

“See you around.”

You smiled back, not knowing what to say, he seemed to understand you feelings anyway as he gave you a nod before continuing onwards. You stood and watched your friends walk away until they were out of your view, and though you hated to admit it you felt as though a giant weight had been lifted off of your shoulders.

“Back to the TARDIS then?” The Master queried with a soft smile that you couldn’t help but return.

The two of you walked the final few steps, though you paused right outside the door, looking back at the empty hallway one last time.

“By the way, I love you too.” The Master said, causing you to whip your head around to face him.

Grinning like a madman, you snaked your hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Despite loosing your friends, you couldn’t have been happier and you knew that you’d made the right choice.

Breaking apart, The Master gazed at you with love, before reaching behind him to open the door to his TARDIS.

“Come on my love, adventures await.”

[mngwa5]

LiS characters at an Commander/EDH Table Headcanon

A/N: This was originally supposed to be a “What MTG color identity would the LiS 1 characters be?” And then I sat down and went “Lmoa no, this is idea way funnier.” and besides parts of that original HC will inevitably bleed through here. I guess really the only fanon “changes” here would be that I’ll be mentioning cards from FAR past 2013 so ig do whatever mental gymnastics you need to do there. Oh, and we’re supposing that any of the characters could afford to splurge on multiple commander decks. 

Max Caulfield 

you wouldn’t think it because of how genuinely she just appreciates shuffling up, sitting down, and spending time with the other Blackwell nerds, but Max can and will optimize her decks to a fault. 

It’s less about “competitive viability” and more because she just appreciates brewing highly interactive spell-slinger stuff. 

Has a pet Narset extra turns deck. You cannot convince me otherwise. When it pops off, she definitely excitedly texts Chloe about being “a time master in AND out of game”.

The only person on Earth I would smile at and encourage after I hear the phrase “I cast Expropriate for free. Responses?” 

One of those “I’m addicted to R/U please God help me break out of this archetype” people but is somehow adorkable about it 

Will target you if she picks up even the slightest hint that you’re about to Cyclonic Rift and not just because you’re... you know... casting Cyclonic Rift.

Chloe Price

Very much loves jank. Something about the “isle of broken toys” triumphing against whatever monstrosity everyone else brought really appeals to her. 

Loves the idea of certain archetypes, but as long as a given list guarantees that she’s playing lots of cards and doing lots of things on her turns, she’ll mainly just build whatever she thinks is cool. 

As a result, Chloe has run Yuriko and Beckett Brass decks in the past. 

“Come on Max, did you really think I’d pass up being able to beat you all with pirates? You already know I'm ALL over that. Ninjas are hella awesome too.” 

It doesn’t hurt that Yuriko can wipe the floor with everyone if they aren’t careful.

Doesn’t gravitate towards a specific color or color combo but plays aggressively in whatever flavor she finds appealing. 

And I do mean AGGRESSIVELY. Chloe loves the serotonin rush of slapping a ton of guys down and then turning them all sideways even if it leaves her open to dying in the next few turns. 

Even if she doesn’t take things super seriously, she will definitely high-key target you in the next game if you fucked her over in the previous one. 

Kate Marsh

Kate took some convincing that Magic wasn’t some weird ritual since her parents almost certainly forbade her from even learning about it as a kid and filled her head with satanic panic BS.

Once she actually sat in on a game or two (and after Max showed her Rin and Seri), she was able to set her compunctions aside and will show up to game night when her schedule allows.

in the same way Chloe builds what she thinks is cool, Kate definitely builds what she thinks is cute. (*cough* Kwain *cough*)

The first deck she built on her own was almost certainly Jinnie Fay go-wide.

Will cry inside (and honestly maybe a few tears escape on the outside.) if you board wipe. Not because her board presence is gone and she’ll need to rebuild but because you just killed Molly, Holly, Taylor, and every other token she’d given a loving name. 

Warren Graham

Is THAT combo player. An absolute menace. What else were you expecting?

Maybe it’s just my bias against Warren showing here, but he’s definitely the kind of guy who goes “Oops! I win!” out of nowhere after just playing solitaire in the background for 5-6 turns to set up. 

Still keeps some lower power stuff around in case people get too upset about it though.

Much like Chloe, doesn’t really have a preferred color combo. Unlike Chloe, he builds whatever he can optimize to a disgusting degree. 

Usually wins game 1 pretty easily unless Max stops him but going into game 2 understands that he’s consigned himself to playing archenemy for the rest of the night. 

His pet card is probably fuckin’ mana drain or panharmonicon or some shit idk.

Tune in next time for my thesis on why Victoria would play Queen Marchesa jk.

 ... unless.

[k-s-morgan]

“He’s telling Hannibal that he has nowhere to run anymore because he sees himself for who he is and he can no longer deny it.” I love this line. Do you think Will secretly resents Hannibal for being the only person who understands him or does he accept it?

I think it thrills and scares Will. From the start, he was drawn to Hannibal exactly because of this understanding: he’s used to people not liking and not accepting him, and that’s why he’s hostile to Hannibal at first. 

Will’s first conversation with Hannibal speaks volumes about who he is because Hannibal senses it seconds after meeting him.

Hannibal: Do you have trouble with taste?

Will: My thoughts are often not tasty.

Hannibal: Nor mine. No effective barriers.

Will: I make forts.

This exchange has Will confess that his thoughts are often dark and that he dislikes it. To hold this darkness at bay, he literally builds forts around it, not letting it spread to other parts of his mind.

Hannibal: Your values and decency are present yet shocked at your associations, appalled at your dreams. No forts in the bone arena of your skull for things you love.

Hannibal almost directly calls Will out on his struggle with his inner darkness. He’s saying that he sees it, that he knows it’s there, in Will, in his mind, and Will is very disturbed by this — because Hannibal is right. The script even explicitly backs it up:

Hannibal has just described Will Graham to a letter.

Will is immediately wary and hostile, and he ends the conversation with snappy,

Will: Please don’t psychoanalyze me. You won’t like me when I’m psychoanalyzed.

Will assumes that Hannibal is a typical psychiatrist who wants to dissect him, so he says that once it happens, Hannibal won’t like what he finds (darkness and ugliness Will carries inside).

His hostility to Hannibal lasts up until the moment when Hannibal acknowledges him as a predator and shows approval of it. Hannibal tries to subtly tell him that it’s all right to be who he is, hinting that they are the same.

Hannibal: You and I are just alike. Problem free. Nothing about us to feel horrible about.

He’s obviously talking about their darkness, but Will doesn’t react, so Hannibal continues. He tells him that Jack views him as a fragile tea cup, and Will genuinely laughs, amused by this (which is also very telling). Then Hannibal says:

Hannibal: [I see you as the] mongoose I want under the house when the snakes slither by.

Will grows quiet after this, and then his interactions with Hannibal become much more relaxed. Will takes him to search the property and even bothers to explain how they reached their conclusions and what they are about to do. Him grumbling, “What are you smiling at?” shows a much higher level of familiarity they now share. Something in Hannibal’s words made Will open up a bit, and everything indicates that it’s the acknowledgement of his predatory nature that played its part in it.

After Will killed Hobbs, Jack becomes worried about him. He makes Will go visit Hannibal for one-time evaluation. Will is naturally not fond of the idea, but he and Hannibal have a pretty personal talk. Hannibal ends it with an even more explicit hint at Will’s own darkness:

Hannibal: And Will… the mirrors in your mind can reflect the best of yourself, not the worst of someone else.

Hannibal is talking about Will’s personal brand of violence again. He’s trying to tell him that it’s fine to be a murderer in every way he can, that Will’s darkness might be the best part of him. He also gives him a fake official approval to work in the field, showing that Will can trust him. But their obligatory session ends and Will leaves — only to return after he tries to kill Stammets and misses. 

This is another big step. The way Hannibal speaks and encourages him made Will go back to him on his own volition, and his reliance on Hannibal grows set in stone after their next conversation.  

Will: I liked killing Hobbs.

Hannibal is pleased to receive the confirmation of what he sensed in Will. Seeing that Will is terrified about his own confession, he comforts him.

Hannibal: Killing must feel good to God, too. He does it all the time, and are we not created in his image?

Every sane person would have run for the hills after hearing this. Hannibal literally justifies the fact that Will liked murder by drawing a parallel with God. That’s such a narcissistic, serial killer thing to do, and yet Will welcomes it with open arms. He’s happy to find someone who doesn’t think he’s a monster — he’s relieved to be able to finally discuss his darkest impulses freely. This is the reason why Will started coming back to see Hannibal on a constant basis, to Jack’s surprise.

The resentment comes later, when Will learns that Hannibal is a killer who set him up. This tarnished the closeness between them in his mind. It’s also an unpleasant reminder that he’s not normal, after all, because the only person to understand and accept him is a murderer. Will is afraid of what it says about him; he’s afraid of what it means that he wants to be with Hannibal regardless of everything and that he misses his company.

But he works through these fears and faces another conflict: that of what he actually means to Hannibal. (Spoiler - he means everything.)   

[fallinallincurls]

concept spending nate's cup day with him and that being the first time you meet graham, kathy and sarah 💗💘🦋💕

okay first off, the video and pictures of nate hugging his parents on the ice after winning the cup had me SOBBING so this is already such a sweet idea.

nate’s cup day is finally here and although he couldn’t have been more excited to bring the prized possession back to his hometown, you are feeling an overwhelming sense of nerves.

because after all the celebration and parade, you’re meeting his family for the first time.

it’s not a big deal really. you’ve talked to them over the phone before and nate never stops talking about them, but meeting them three most important people in his life on arguably the one of the biggest day of his life brings a lot of pressure.

“babe? you ready?” nate asks, snapping you out of your thoughts. you nod before taking his hand and stepping up into the bed of the pickup truck. the cup is shining under the summer sun and nate doesn’t hesitate to pick the trophy up. you lean in to kiss him, hoping that action portrays all the happiness and pride you have in your heart for him.

the parade goes perfectly. the streets were packed with people excited to see the cup and nate. you smiled and waved next to your boyfriend, even taking a chance to hold the cup yourself which nate absolutely loved.

it wasn’t until you’re hopping down from the truck that your nerves return in full force. you don’t have much time to process anything either because nate whispers a few encouraging words in your ear that help and then his family is right in front of you.

after they each exchange many long and loving hugs with nathan, he pulls you into his side to properly introduce you.

“mom, dad, sarah, this is y/n. my girlfriend.” nate says, cheeks turning pink with blush.

“we know her name, nathan, don’t be silly.” kathy teases him before opening her arms and pulling you into a comforting hug. “oh, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” she murmurs, a smile evident in her voice. “he’s a handful, isn’t he?”

“mom!” nate exclaims, trying to suppress his laugh. but he can see you’ve relaxed already and are enjoying the moment so he’ll take the relentless teasing.

“only sometimes.” you agree with a giggle. graham is next to hug you, tight and secure, and tells you how happy he is to welcome you to the family and that he’s glad nate found someone like you. your heart is warm with love and you wonder why you were so nervous about meeting them.

sarah squeezes you in an embrace that nate almost scolds her for, that’s what brothers do, but when she pulls away, she’s grinning. “we’re going to be best friends. i just know it. and mom’s right, if you can put up with him, you’ll fit right in here.”

“thank you,” you murmur, overwhelmed with emotions. you have gained a whole other family in the matter of minutes and you can tell what nathan gets from each of them. “i’m so happy today was the day we got to meet.” you smile, leaning into nate’s side again. he wraps an adorable around your waist and kisses the top of your head.

“we’re so glad nate finally brought you home. and with the cup! we couldn’t ask for much else.” graham laughs but each word is genuine.

after talking for a few moments and agreeing to get some lunch together, nate pulls you away from the small group to kiss you.

“i told you that they would love you! now you just have to meet sid. then that’s it.” nate smiles, brushing a piece of hair back from your face. you can’t help but chuckle, hugging him for a moment before rushing to catch up with his family. your family now too.

[thistle-and-thorn]

What are your thoughts on the historical and current relationship between christianity and royalty?

Thank you for this, honey!!! I am open for business on all royalty-related inquiries!

I think it’s really interesting…so, I’m going to stick with England because that’s the topic of the day. Also, I’m on my phone so forgive typos 😭

Throughout the vast majority of European history, there has been a tension between the church and the state for power. These tensions have played out in a lot of medieval and early modern conflicts….which was the topic of my research in college. Sometimes these relationships became violent in unexpected ways such as the murder of Thomas Becket and had long-reaching impacts as I think could be argued in the case of the legal and social cover-up clerical abuse in the Catholic Church. In England, of course, because the state essentially took control of the Church in the 1530s, this relationship has historically been very muddled with the Head of State (the monarch) and the Head of the Church being nominally the same thing. (An interesting side not is that under Elizabeth I, there is a lot of legalistic wording around what the title actually is…monarchs are governors of the church not heads of the church because this whole arrangement is not exactly…Biblical. Because Biblically, the Head of the Church is my man Jesus Christ himself.)

In the 21st century, this governorship, like a lot of the roles of British monarch, is largely ceremonial in that the monarch no longer decides policy but it still has real implications for the relationship between the Church and the State—the Prime Minister recommends church leaders which have to be approved by the monarch, the Prime Minister has spiritual advisors specifically giving advice on the operation of the Church of England. So, the current relationship of the Crown and the Church is very integrated.

I think we can also interrogate a little bit like…when there is talk about abolishing the monarchy, how challenging that is because of relationships like these. Or maybe not challenging…but how many policies and processes would need to change. I think it’s interesting to speculate on…if the monarchy ever went away, what that would do to the legitimacy and character of a national church (and to snowball, how that would impact the broader global Anglican community). Additionally, it makes me think how the decolonization process in a place like Scotland, for example, would also have to be a faith-based decolonization because while the King or Queen of England doesn’t hold a leadership role in the Church of Scotland…they do still play a role in appointing the parliamentary representative of Scotland’s national church.

So this is the macro-question of the current relationship. In terms of the personal relationship of the current members to their faith, it’s interesting. Elizabeth II was well-known for being a person with a real true faith practice and genuinely held beliefs in God and the Church. She had a long friendship with evangelist, Billy Graham (check out the Crown episode on their relationship; it’s fascinating!!!). I think there’s something to be said about her relationship to faith and her relationship to what she perceived as her duty. The argument for why royalty exists (in Europe) has always had a relationship to the idea of ordination. This has different shadings at different times and eras and is really indicative of the monarch’s context oftentimes …you have the principle of the divine right of kings under the Stuarts in the 17th century, for example, during a period of upheaval where the Crown was Fighting for Its Life™️ and you have the personal religious identification of monarchs such Elizabeth I making her targets for terrorism while also forming her own sometimes prosecutorial policies now…in a time of a significantly more neutered monarchy (in terms of policy power) and there was a queen who, I think it could be argued, saw her role as Queen as part of her duty to live out the mandates of a Godly and Christ-like life.

Now, in the reign of a Charles III, what does that look like? As the Governor of the Church, what does his own relationship to faith sort of say about royalty’s relationship to the Church? I mean…I don’t know that much about Charles’ personal faith. It’s not as well-documented as his mother’s or I’m not as aware of it. But he does sort of represent what a modern Anglican looks like…he’s a divorced man in a blended family. And I don’t make that out to make him sound amazing or brave or groundbreaking, he’s still, um, a member of the Royal family lol. But it really is a neutral statement of fact that his aunt was not allowed to marry a divorced man and his great-uncle had to abdicate to marry a Nazi divorcee and it is a marker of how the Church has changed from allowing divorced couples to marry in the church just since 2002 (I believe?) to allowing a divorced man to hold a significant, if still ceremonial, position within it.

I think the question is…why should we care about these people’s faiths or relationship to religion? And like, this is the question of a lot of my academic and creative life. People’s relationship to their spirituality is one of the most mysterious and intimate things about them. But it still has huge impacts on what happens in our world, because each individual’s relationship is critical in shaping their worldview or actions. And in a world of that is definitely not post-religion, trying to parse what that relationship is, can grant a significant part of understanding what forms the institutions around us and what makes powerful people—because monarchs, no matter how ceremonial, still have an enormous amount of power with the potential to claim more—tick.

[adanseydivorce]

went through your karen tag recently and omg how does it feel to have the most correct takes. i genuinely don't understand people who claim to like karen but then also want her to have ended up with gr*h*m. like he sucks so bad and personally i got the impression that they toned it down in the show but in the book the way he acts about her abortion is absolutely disgusting like. just throw out the whole man at this point. "she'll realise she wants to be a mother" fuck off and die.

thank youu for appreciating my takes 😌Yeah I do think his character is generally flattened/not as fleshed out in the show compared to the book also you don’t get monologues from every character in the show like you do in the book his internal monologue at points is like so… yikes.. to me. Literally positions himself as a victim for Karen not reciprocating his love for her and not wanting the life he wants for them, the whole bitter “women always seem to come out on top (unlike poor disenfranchised beta males like me)” thing like it was giving meninist energy at times. And then like you said everything about his reaction to her abortion is just awful and you read in the book how awful it made Karen feel and the dehumanizing element of how he ended up viewing her.. like I honestly don’t get why people downplay how bad it was whether in their minds or when talking about the ship. Especially since tjr has her flaws in terms of feminism and so does djats, but I do actually think their storyline was meant to showcase a more realistic/dangerous side to a type of romance you see portrayed a lot with a self-possessed woman who wants to be non-monongomous and free and not marry or have children, and a guy who is like a white Knight to her and convinces her she actually wants those things/needs to change to his idea of womanhood. I’m glad this story never went there and took the “love conquers all” approach, and that it was shown as something that would inevitably implode. (Which is why I find it very hilarious that there are people who read the book and go “the moral of the story is that because Daisy and Billy are framed as not being able to work as a functional relationship rn / are as dysfunctional and messy as they are they should not be shipped romantically” and then go “Karen and Graham are so wholesome and perfect wish they got their happy ending :(((“ like those are both flawed relationships where love that was there (from Graham to Karen which she did not reciprocate in the book, between Billy and Daisy who both explicitly admit that they were in love with each other reiterating both those points because some takes I’ve seen um,,) didn’t out way problems that were there. You can ship it or not based on what’s compelling to you (for me toxic twin flames mutually pining and sublimating through their art >>>> whatever that is any day of the week). 

I also don’t really understand how people can love Karen and love them and definitely not how they can want the ship to be her endgame… I’m not going to say something as extreme as that they can’r genuinely like her while liking it, I mean I ship my favs with trash men all the time and I tend to have my reasons that I’m cognizant of for why the dynamic appeals to me. But these people definitely enjoy her character in a very different way than I do / have very different priorities than mine regarding her and I do find myself side eyeing more than a little bit. Nice guy pursuer ships tend to attract the most insufferable people to go hard for them (show! Eddie x Camila is another example of this, and I think there’s a similar tendency to be over sympathetic to Graham and show! Eddie for not getting to *win*. Which on it’s own annoying, but especially if I’m seeing someone express that this is how they feel but then call Daisy pathetic for her feelings for Billy I am BITING. Especially because, pathetic how??? Billy is obsessed with her 😭) 

I can’t bring myself to be particularly upset that Graham’s *feelings* were given less air time in the show than in the book, regardless of effects on the story or losing certain scenes. I think the specific line they had him say in the show (literally telling her she will be alone forever because she doesn’t want to have kids / have the type of white picket fence life he wants fuck off!) struck a lot of people as more obviously terrible than his response in the book but like… his response - and his whole mentality around it - in the book is terrible! I think some of the various crit about the show making certain characters worse is because the chars in the show aren’t able to justify/narrativize their actions and motivations and everything to the audience in the same way, and that effecting how people perceive them, more than the characters actually acting/being worse than they’re written to be in the book and this is an example to me, and I kind of judge people a little for having so much sympathy for Graham in the book or show (like your favs are your favs, but I’ve yet to see someone who loves his character be appropriately critical of him not saying they don’t exist I just haven’t seen it. and those types of fans are rarer for chars in his archetypes, you see more of people wanting to call them pure and unproblematic cinnamon rolls. And like I said same goes for how people tend to perceive him and Karen as the “unproblematic couple”).