#also roman. and also shiv. but kendall is the most troubling to me at the moment

[bisexualnaomipierce]

me when kendall is stuck in the cycle of abuse

[cato616]

THE TRANSFER (pt. 1)

succession x fem! reader

im so excited to do this one!! like i said before it's more general targeted (kendall, roman, shiv,,)

summary: You have been recruited at waystar mysteriously, no records of you, but no questions were asked tho; but how? who are you? You're part of the FBI that has been sent to get done an under cover assignment at the much troubled entertainment company, and to do that means getting close to the Roy family, starting with Logan's kids; kendall, shiv and roman. Good luck with that.

content: nothing more than business and cop-ish crossover talk

"Are you nervous?" Asked your superior as you were both sitting facing each other inside their office, having a last briefing before letting you go into where the beast was hiding. "honestly? no, Logan roy is pretty rough I hear, but come on, there's an obvious take here, I'm an agent ma'am, I don't think I should be nervous, should I?" You asked her with a curious tone but feeling a little cocky at the same time, and they chuckle. "no, I don't think you should be nervous, however, the whole thing about this, is that you should seem like you are." She stood up as she straightened her arm to shake your hand to then dismiss you, you shake their hand. "I think so too." as you smirk showing off your confidence. "good luck, agent... the other agent will have you escorted with all the equipment you'll get to need from now on, so, farewell."

You gave a last greeting to your superior to then get out of the office to have the other agent waiting for you outside, with some instructions.

"good morning agent n/y." You would think everyone in here would wear the basic fbi jumper and clothing but at the criminal investigation division, the majority wears the suit and tie, with a badge of course, including yourself. "follow me." The agent ordered, you complied and followed him to a car, to drop you off where you will be living in the next few weeks, maybe months, depending how well you'll do your job. "this is how it will go." You were both sitting at the back of the car, with another agent driving the car; he's about to get your instructions given. "back at the trunk you have a luggage, inside, new clothes, plain corporate clothing, then, badge... you'll want to keep that on the low, probably have to keep it somewhere safe, and as for the safety, your gun, it is also a command that you'd keep it safe with your badge, if things go sideways... and one last thing, this phone." He gives it to you. "oh really nice this is" you replied with a sarcastic voice. "it is an old phone, but, untraceable, objectively to make the calls... it has a direct line to the commission and the office, that's all you need, good luck."

He dropped you off at a hotel, basically on the other side of the block, where Waystar was. You got to your room, started organizing what was inside your luggage. Clothes were fine, badge and gun inside a safe. You were having everything in order when suddenly you get a call from the phone you were given, you answered it, and you hear the voice of your superior on the other side. "hope your accommodating well at your new place agent." You hear them smiling. "this is better than expected I'd say." your voice was very, disciplinary you could say. "well I wanted to make the first call myself to double check before you start your work." You accidentally nodded first, but then answered. "absolutely." you replied. "Waystar has a lot of delicate information as we discussed, you'll have to look for old records, since they won't have anything on a hard drive, and for that you'd need access to most of it at the building, so we had to do some arrangements about that, making you transfer as a low profile corporate assistant, low enough to keep you off the grid, high enough to let the investigation proceed... somewhere with the clothing you'll find your own key card to enter the facility and start your day, tomorrow." Everything you heard, you heard it already, since it was a double check, except for the key card, but found it as where it was supposed to be. "I do have a question." You wanted to ask something practically off mission. "you may ask." Your superior politely responded. "why not raid Waystar? and not infiltrate like I'm doing, make it quick as possible." There was only silence on the other side. "... not yet, at least, agent... sleep well tonight, you start tomorrow." You understood their input without having to make another question about it. They hung up the call, and you were standing there, all quiet, thinking about your mission, your loneliness you will have to experience for the next few weeks you hope, nothing more than you, and an old phone to contact the only people you know.

aw man, why do I do this to myself.

After a long well slept night, you wake up with a sunny day, and that's at least the first good thing to start up your day pretending you're just an innocent transfer. You dressed up with what you had, and before leaving, checked the safe one last time, you locked it, and left the hotel.

You weren't feeling nervous, you were doing your job as an fbi agent, you could feel scared from time to time, but nervous like that? never. You were arriving to the floor you were requested to first enter. The elevator's door opened, and slowly got into the world of madness. this is oddly nice tho. You caught what it appeared to be an assistant going out of an office, having a tablet on her hand, that's the only thing that made you think, she's the one I gotta talk to. You walked towards her, you targeted her like as the main object of the mission, like a fucking robocop; however your face changed right away as soon as you started to get her attention.

"Hey!" Warmly greeted her with a fake smile as you tapped her shoulder from behind. She turned around, disoriented with your presence and impression. "who are you-" You cut her off, answering her almost instantly. "yes I suppose I'm new here... where...?" You looked around trying to seem clueless, but wearing that fake smile still. "oh! yeah... I got sent over some of your information today." As she looked on her tablet. "follow me." You followed the lady, to an empty office, with the big windows providing the best view you have ever seen of the city. "Mr roy should be here shortly." Mr. roy? which one...? The assistant closed the door of the office while you were standing there, without a clue of what was about to happen. Meanwhile, this empty office has a lot of paper lying around, for you to start digging. You walked over some shelves, lot of binders with different dates. You were almost about to grab one... suddenly that Mr. Roy finally came in, you didn't jump since you're an specialist at not jump? however this is your first undercover mission, at least you didn't ruin it on day one.

"oh... roman roy." It was roman who came in, looking very professional, suits and a big office in solitude, checks out I guess?. "What... were you doing over there, you're looking very suspicious..." shit. what? what do I say?. "So sorry I was... uh checking out, the pictures! over there." you had to improvise that and luckily, those pictures were right next to the binders, if not, you wouldn't have come up with that. Roman stayed put, staring at you, and out of the blue, a slight giggle came out, and then burst into a quiet laugh. "you should've seen your face, you look so tense, please don't shit yourself, we have a bathroom for that." As he continued to walk over his desk. oh now i remembered what they told me about him. "oh no need to sit actually, you can just stand up." He was making this impossible for you not to kill the man you just met, but it was important to seem welcoming for this people. You were waiting for him to say something, give you some information, instructions, anything; he was just sitting on his chair, with both legs on top of the desk, feeling like a king, a bit cocky. All he did was to check you out, eyes going from head to ass. You could say something, but deep down you knew how significantly more powerful you were over him, and something about how little and incompetent he is next to you, made you not care about his sneaky eyes.

"Roman! dude, what are you doing." You hear another voice from behind, it was the other Mr Roy who just entered the office and yelled at roman. "get out of my office." it's his office?? You looked over roman, how he played you into thinking he was the Mr Roy you were expecting. "yeah sorry about that, I didn't know you were supposed to be here, but I think it was funny... do you think it was funny, Ken?" Kendall seemed overly annoyed by him. "just get out rome." He would open the door for him. "honestly I was getting into something over here... but I can, come back? yeah?" He shrugged when asking while looking at you, but it was more of an rhetorical question, and then left the room.

"Very sorry about that, my brother-" You stopped kendall from talking any longer, wasn't his fault. "no worries, it's all good." He would smile at you, relived you wouldn't tell him off; showed his hand pointing to your chair, to make you sit, and so did he. "So, this is simple, I heard you were positioned as general assistant here... for basic stuff, that you will get to know them soon enough." Lets you know what kind of job, however, he was taken back a little bit, as if something was out of please, looking over your file, reading every line. "but... I don't know how have called yo-" You interrupted him once again, but this time, you were almost getting busted. "may I ask, how general are we talking about?" As you lean over to make the impression you were interested on his answer. "...yes! you'll hear about, me, roman, probably Tom Wambsgans from ATN downstairs, our sister Shiv Roy, and last but not least, the man, the one and only, my father... I'd say that's pretty general." You looked like you've found gold, it was fantastic. "great!" You zoned back in, stopped the creepy smile you were having when thinking how easily he was letting you access to everything... perfect, very clever from my superior. "You wanna know the others? before starting freshen up tomorrow." Dude couldn't make it more easier for you. "absolutely." You both stood up, ready to give you a tour of the place.

You first went down to the ATN division, where you found Tom and roman talking to each other. "hey guys, im making this quick, this is our new assistant, she'll be working for some of us." Kendall introduces you as you were impatiently looking over Roman and Tom, waiting for a response, but roman took the shotgun on that. "we meet again, nice to meet you." He stretched his hand out, for you to shake it, while having his eyes pierced, fixed on you. "y-yes, it's nice to meet you too." Tom cut him off to shake your hand as well, and wow he's tall. Roman was a tiny bit annoyed by Tom's doing. "you don't want to shake that hand, he just jerked off himself." Your eyes widened open while having an uncomfortable smile. Tom laughs nervously. "Oh roman, he's just being an asshole..." He looked over him, a bit raged up, but nicely looked back at you. "so what is that you assist?... coffee?.." Kendall was about to answer that but you replied first. "everything you need." Smiled mischievously. "well that's nice, it's nice to have you." Kindly said Tom. "well that was it, I'll leave you be, let's go y/n." As soon as roman heard your name, instantly stared back at you, honestly it was driving you insane.

"We're now heading to the big office... you know, my dad looks scary but he's all tender on the inside... so don't feel on edge, it's all good." You start observing Kendall, and if you learned something over the years interrogating people, you know when someone is lying...

You were getting closer to the office, you were behind kendall, haven't got the whole view in front of you, until he moved to the left when both of you came in, to then present you. "hey dad, do you got a minute? this is-" "not now!" Logan roy was in front of you, and he just yelled at his son on your presence; you knew he was a difficult man, yet it did make you staggered. "hey kendall, come..." Shiv roy appeared from behind, oh my god does everyone in this family pops up like that? Kendall seemed interested to know what was going on in there, with Logan shaken up, and the rest of his team looking very uptight, running around, corner to corner. Shiv took you out of the office to have a word. "now it may be not a good time." Kendall was perplexed. "what- why? what do you mean?" Shiv looked over Kendall's shoulder to see you from behind. "who is that?" Kendall took a step back, to stand next to you. "she'll be working for us, I was just showing her around for today, I had a break, so... she will assist you too." You smile at her very warmly. "oh, that's great, I guess... uhh, so anyway I was telling you-" Shiv's voice got lower, notifying Kendall the situation. "Dad and the gang are trying to solve an issue, about... some accusations." Your ears suddenly started to work ten times better than before, you had their full attention. "and are they... fixable?" Kendall asked in a coded way. "I think so, it's all very new, so we haven't played out a strategy yet-... where's our assistant?" Kendall and Shiv looked around as if a wizard just vanished out of thin air. "must've gone to bathroom?... I mean, they don't usually tell us what they do..." Shiv doubtedly agreed with Kendall.

After all, Kendall was right, you did go to the bathroom, but not to use it. You took out of your purse your work phone, and made a call. "agent y/n, number 472... I have recent information to notify the inspector..."

[twinge-of-cosmicangst]

I only just fucking realised that Tom and Greg’s place at ATN is in the hands of Kendall and Roman (at least for now) Kendall said he liked Tom but I didn’t actually think he meant it. I don’t think Roman and Kendall actually hate Greg, I honestly think they’re just indifferent to him at this point and don’t dislike him enough to fire him out of spite, also Kendall might think it better to keep him close just in case he has anymore cruises documents. Honestly if Shiv had been the one of “the two” I think Greg might’ve been in some actual trouble because she seems to have the most contempt for him (thats not just my tomgreg shipper goggles talking, she said “Don’t touch me” with such venom) Ken and Rome have more reason to take issue with Tom as he actively worked against them, so maybe Shiv persuades them to keep Tom on? If she hadn’t been pregnant maybe she would’ve left him to rot, after all he attempted to ruin her career, so why shouldn’t she do the same to him, but perhaps as she’s pregnant and it appears she plans to keep it, maybe she thinks It’ll be to fucked up to actively try to ruin the life of the father of her child, and if she creates a ongoing war between them, they could end up creating the most fucked up Roy yet, some evidence that Shiv doesn’t want Tom to end up completely fucked is when she said “You need to be carful” to him in the mid season trailer.

[flintsdragon]

*To the tune of the atreides chant from DUNE* Argestes! Argestes! Argestes!

This gets overshadowed by some killer episodes at the end of season 2, but if i had to pick a single episode of Succession that’s my favorite, it would probably be this one.

Before getting into the plot and the character moments i wanna say that a major reason i feel compelled to rewatch Argestes is that I’ve always really enjoyed the aesthetics of this episode. I realize its kind of weird because it doesn’t have the flashiest outfits or the most stunning visuals, but the fact that everyone’s basically wearing the same clothes and living on a college campus is really fun to me. it makes it feel like gossip girl or something, where the Roy’s can turn a corner at any moment and be met with an enemy or a bestie (or a disgruntled lover)

No offense to Connor or Willa (whom i love, and are completely absent from this ep), but the strongest element of this episode is that you get a glimpse of nearly every single relationship dynamic on the show: Tom/shiv, Gerri/Roman, Kendall/Stewy, Tom/Greg, etc. and on top of that we see (most of) the Roy siblings interacting in a public way we’ve never seen before. I could rewatch their “condemn and move on” talk a million times and never be bored of it because of the way Kendall and Shiv present these polished, agreeable versions of themselves and Roman essentially appears lifeless, barely contributing and waiting for the whole thing to end. It says a lot about their characters, and the actors all play that scene beautifully.

Of course, there is the scene after the talk which ends with Logan hitting Roman and Kendall and Shiv rushing to his side. Everyone’s behavior indicates that this isn’t by any means the first time this has happened, and Roman downplaying the moment speaks volumes about the abuse he has suffered and the ways he has learned to cope with it.

Speaking of seeing characters in a new light, the end of the episode where Logan is banging on Nan’s car after she fires Rhea and calls off the deal is iconic because you can just tell that he hasn’t felt this powerless in his entire adult life. It’s also striking because as audience members we know he makes his kids feel this way basically every day of their lives.

On a much lighter note, another subplot centers around what Tom and Greg are going to title Tom’s presentation, and the result is my favorite joke of the entire series. They believe that “we’re listening” and “we hear you” could get them in trouble so they decide to call the talk “we here for you”. Iconic, brilliant, perfect nonsense. Five stars no notes

[thistle-and-thorn]

🍓, 🍊 & 🍑 please. x

🍓 What’s a fic you’ve written you feel is underrated?

my apocalypse series? i love this series. every single story in this is so important to me and granted i write for a small, dying ship but they also never have attracted a big audience and i just. i love them!!!

🍊 Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more? (They’re so interesting! But maybe you have trouble pinning them down, or keep getting distracted by another blorbo…)

okay, lannister sibling dynamics. i care about them so much but cersei and jaime are always ghosts in my fics and this is terribly unfair to them and their totally fucked-up-ness. i think about it constantly. and then i do nothing about it.

🍑 If you could make a connection between your favorite character and another work you care about (whether a crossover/fusion or a wonderfully “pretentious” literary reference) what would it be? How would it work?

okay. i need you to sit down and listen to me. roman roy as Teiresias. i don't know if you watched succession. but my theory is that the series finale like (spoken by roman) "we are not real people" does two things. it acknowledges that a. this is a fake show not happening in real life and b. they have never grown into identites beyond themselves. each roy sibling is enacting a different variety of tragedy. this means that they all are complicated, enacting different types of harm, playing out different tropes and references all simultaneously to each other. they can't connect because they are existing in separate doomed narratives.

kendall roy is pretending to be hamlet...being hamlet is easier. hamlet is self-righteous, innocent until he kills polonious, self-indulgent, self-destructive. he is the hero of his own story. this is an easier reality to face than the fact that kendall is just some guy. kendall isn't hamlet...he's just an average prick who killed a kid. and shiv does not allow him to finish the fantasy, does not give him a dramatic conclusion. he is haunted by a ghost--not of his father, but of the person who he killed. he thinks he's shakespearean but he's actually russian tragedy where you don't get to escape you just have to LIVE WITH WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. secondly, shiv is living out an ibsen play. dollhouse, yes, but also ghosts...which is all about inherited curses. the literal curse of being a woman, of sexual sin and indiscretion.

BUT ROMAN. ROMAN feels decidedly greek to me. roman's fate is always decided by people who are bigger and stronger than he is, it's pre-determined. "why couldn't it be me?" because you're a mortal amongst gods baby girl. his struggle and tragedy is about a loss of faith and the consequences of faith more than anything. i think a lot about aprohdite and helen's interactions in the illiad where helen, on the surface-level, makes choices but is compelled by aphrodite, implying that her consent is compromised. HELLO ROMAN FIRING GERRI ROMAN EXISTING ROMAN DOING WHATEVER

he's also the most plainly queer to me. I read an article once about the iliad about how women tend to serve as memory-keepers. roman is this to me. he remembers things about their childhood that the others have softened or forgotten (i.e. the dog cage, being the most prominent example). he mourns and weeps for his lost father. so he's living in a greek tragedy but he's not serving in a male role. you know who else existed as a different gender for a time.

TIERESIAS

he's not a hero, he's not the main character. he often observes the outside, telling the truth, predicting the failures of those around him. oh my god??? he's more participatory than a chorus...and his actions have critical ramifications on the plot and yet he's not the hero, his purpose is to contrast and comment on the action of the tragic protagonist (kendall) TIERESIAS IS THAT YOU

there's also just like. Moments. kendall goes for roman's eyes in the fight scene. you know what happened to tieresias. he was blinded for insolence to the gods. tieresias dies by drinking poisoned water. oh my god? like a martini. WE LEAVE ROMAN DRINKING. THIS IS WHERE THIS PART OF HIS LIFE DIES.

find me constantly here.

anyway, hi how are you how is your night going.

[various-things]

This is a little retrospective on things I made in 2023

Fic and video edits (mostly the latter, not counting clip compilations). Because slow progress is progress and it's nice to look at it all together. Putting this under a readmore since it's going to be long.

Video edits:

January: Julian x Garak: I Wanna Be Yours (Star Trek: DS9) This was a very simple edit I made in like a day (most complex edits take me a very long time; I'm a slow editor). The song doesn't fit my headcanon for them very strongly but it was fun, I'm just gonna quote part of what what I said in the description on YT "I really enjoy moments in my edits/making edits that focus on where characters get to kind of exist in contexts/settings/we can spend some time as a viewer in the moment with them." March: A lot of these I was working on wellll before March, the two succession vids are based on S3 stuff. Kendall Roy: Elijah (Succession) (mind the content warnings on this one) I actually think this is one of the best edits I've ever made and I'm quite proud of it overall. I would have liked to have done a better job of balancing the audio of Kendall's dialogue but otherwise I'm really pleased with it. Julian x Garak: Stay Soft (Star Trek: DS9) First finished more-complex garashir edit! I'm overall pretty happy with it. ✨🪩 pain 🪩 ✨ Roman Roy: The Metronome (Succession) (mind the content warnings) Quite happy with this one as well. I think a big reason that I tend to like my Succession edits so much (I think they're probably my best work) is just how good the cinematography of the show is and how much I vibe with it. April: Julian x Garak: Plans (Star Trek: DS9) (mind the cws) Bloc Party <3 Quoting how I described it in the tumblr post "I’ve got like a lot of thoughts about it but it’s broadly about like… violence and sacrifice and what people are capable of, ways people misunderstand Julian, and Garak and Julian’s friendship." I missed a frame of a following shot at one point, alas, but this was a fun very-dense with dialogue and lyrics one. June:

Tom x Shiv: Heat Lightning (Succession) More Mitski! (I have two other DS9 Mitski WIPs also) Like the quote above where I mention characters existing in contexts and settings, this really feels like a peak of me doing that for me, it's mostly them sitting/lying down/standing quietly and not being happy. Also did some juxtaposition against shots without people in it. Quite pleased with it.

August: Shax fancam (Good Omens) I did this in Final cut and Oh the effort into making those transitions happen. Here's the version on tiktok but I uh... the captions did not turn out well but they are synced to the audio. Aziraphale x Crowley: De Selby (1) (Good Omens) I made this one quite quickly as well, in under 2 days I think. Overall pretty happy with it except for the fact that I had a lot of trouble with the audio levels and I think re: overall structure of the edit that it lost some of its oomph towards the end, but I don't really know what I would have done differently with the latter. Some of the transitions in this were fairly complex and I'm mostly happy with them. The YouTube version unfortunately is pretty... artifact-y? November: I got Capcut sometime in the fall. Everything from here on out that I've posted this year has been made in that. Still vastly prefer Final Cut if I don't need fancy transitions, but harddrives and needing to update things etc. I'm also not putting anything else on YouTube until I finish my brightness edits. These two juxtaposition-y popular tiktok sound edits. (1) (2) (Star Trek: DS9) Quark bottom edit (18+) (Star Trek: DS9) - Very pleased with this. December: All of these were made pretty quickly (by my standards). a garashir edit to "Atlantis" by Seafret (Star Trek: DS9) Mostly made this out of wanting to finish something and the cuts feel a bit too fast for me but hey the act of creation! a short murder-y Garak phonk edit to BRODYAGA FUNK by Eternxlkz Mostly pleased with this. Still getting the hang of various transition things. a garashir edit to Placebo's "Running up that Hill" the text animation is kind of a mess (even on the version without the lyrics the captions are too big—I'm still figuring out caption size stuff re: what to choose) which is a shame, but I do like some of the clip timings (though some others don't quite work for me and I would have liked the cuts to have been a bit smoother in some places) and also hey made and finished something

Fic

Tuscany and New York (Succession) - [fic abandoned/not to be completed] Started this one and then chose not to finish it. However, one thing I was really enthused by was seeing part of an argument I wrote have a big parallel with what ended up in a scene on the actual show in S4. Felt very affirming re: my understanding of the characters.

with hope in your hands (Star Trek: DS9 [WIP] This is a fic I started as part of ectogeo's Garashir Wedding Registry. It's kind of a (mostly) Julian POV of the events in the continuity where ASIT/The Nexus/The Calling happened but it's also a reflection on some of Julian's closer relationships and where things related to marriage/possibilities of marriage came up within some of that. I'm currently almost done with chapter 4. 1: (Star Trek: DS9)

I think my lack of titles here and this standalone fic's place within a series probably has affected how likely folks are to read it but it's a short fic that is mostly Garak on the Defiant after it leaves Cardassia in Second Skin. Initially put most of this on tumblr but then properly put it on ao3.

2/3 ficlets for the rare pare ficlet game hellostuffedtiger made: Garak/Sloan, Julian/Picard

[myplasticadversary]

Can I ask, where’s Rava in the CGKU? I feel like they’d be interesting as a lesbian relationship that Kendall was ultimately not strong enough to continue pursuing due to pressure from Logan but I am curious how their dynamic would change if Rava was a cis man, though I have trouble picturing it since I feel that Rava’s displacement from the family only makes as much sense when she is a woman but idk that could be small minded on my part

Right, I've been flip-flopping a lot on this because I generally think lesbian Kenstewy + guy Rava works better than lesbian Kenrava + het Kenstewy, in the sense of not having to change much narratively about their relationships. I can see girl Kendall having a flirty on-off thing with guy Stewy a la Shivnate, but I don't feel like Stewy would be interested in settling down with her or that they'd have that same kind of bond. And then with Rava I think she's just too much of a normal level-headed person to stick by girl Kendall for so long without any familial obligations.

I imagine guy Rava as sort of an anti-Tom with maybe a little bit of Willa too, in how he tries encouraging her to move on from her toxic family that diminishes her and find her own fulfillment. Logan would try and angle for "acquiring" him as an asset to Waystar, and I'm torn on whether I think Kendall would like Rava seeing through him and standing his ground or if she'd want him to be closer to the family so they have more reason to keep her around. Ultimately though I think she prefers a partner who doesn't suck-up or compete with her for her dad's attention, feeling more special and chosen that way.

I've also been debating on her having kids and if they're biologically hers, because I do think she would see her main worth to Logan as her ability to get pregnant and "carry on the bloodline" (since Roman can't fuck and Shiv doesn't want to be reduced to her womanhood), and she's a overall a chronically empty person who wants to have purpose, which she'd likely channel most into being a wife and mother along with her numerous hobbies and pursuits. If she was infertile I think she'd be pretty extra depressed about that (and it just occurred to me that maybe she and Shiv could be a little like Princess Carolyn and Diane from Bojack in that respect!), but it probably wouldn't stop her from having kids anyway even if they'll never be accepted as "real".

[pynkhues]

With Connor being an adult with the golden trio were kids, did he know about Logan hitting them (or at least Roman)? Thought about Connor being a good big bro because he took the boys camping then remembered the physical abuse that occurred when he was old enough to at least try to intervene and couldn't decide what I thought. I get that he was also a victim so it just made me all round sad

I suspect he would have known, anon, yes, especially given the fact Shiv brought it up so casually in 2.01 in front of everyone and nobody at the table so much as blinked.

It's a really complicated situation generally, because the show's made pretty clear that Connor isn't disentangled from Logan's abuse himself, even as a 55 year old man. Yes, he has agency and can make his own choices, but he's still financially dependent on his father, and Logan having such enormous social and political power gives him this sort of crushing weight that no one, least of all his children, can ever entirely escape.

It feels pretty believable to me that Connor wouldn't step in, especially given Logan's emotional abuse is insidious, encompassing and, most importantly, normalised, while the physical abuse is signalled to have been infrequent (and both Brian and Kieran have said so in interviews too), and Connor wouldn't always have been around to see the ins and outs of it between college and adult life, and you've got an environment where intervening isn't necessarily a clear path. I mean, gosh, even adding to that, I think Connor's depicted as the most conflict adverse of the Roy's and even as a bit of a peacekeeper, which further complicates how he'd likely respond in a situation that turned violent.

In a lot of ways, your ask has made me think a lot about how during Kendall's intervention in 3.09, Connor's direct request of Kendall wasn't that he get help like Shiv's and Roman's was (although I do think that's what he wanted too, of course), it was that Kendall stop going after their father. A part of that's obviously tied to wanting Logan in a surer place so that he can try and use him as political leverage, but I think it also indicates the way Connor thinks when it comes to the family and how to avoid their father's abuse.

I think in Connor's mind, standing up to their father causes more pain, more distress, more trouble and more pathways to abuse, whereas disarming, rolling over, letting Logan have his way is what keeps everything secure and safe and 'loving'. If you fall in line, Dad takes care of you, and you don't get hurt, and the more I've thought about it, the more I've thought that Connor making that direct request of Kendall was likely the way Connor thought the situation - including Kendall's issues - would resolve.

If Kendall stopped trying to kill Dad, Dad would inevitably forgive him and bring him back into the fold, and then things would be better. After all, to Connor, Kendall at his most vulnerable has always been after these attempted coups when their father shut him out - the failed vote of no confidence and Kendall's relapse in 1.07, the failed bearhug and the scene at Shiv's wedding reception in 1.10, and then the press conference and - - well, the whole of s3.

I think there's probably a part of Connor that associates Kendall's issues as stemming from being kicked out of the nest and not able to survive the fall, and that he thinks telling his brother to stop - to stay in the nest - is the way everything gets better and the way Kendall stays safe.

In that sense, I think stepping in probably doesn't even occur to Connor (after all, it's likely no one did it for him), and that he focused when they were kids on picking up the pieces and telling them to stop and to behave. To listen to Dad and be good and not question him or talk back, and that that, to him, was his own way of trying to protect them, his own way of trying to teach them a type of survivalism that's kept him going. He wanted to keep them safe, and I doubt he was even aware that it was in a way that ultimately made him complicit in their abuse.

[mermaidsirennikita]

do you have any head canons on the roy kids childhood?

Yes for sure!  I think more teenhood than anything else, but this is what I’ve got.

I think that Connor was probably fairly close to his mother, who was, yes, most likely mentally ill–but also probably pushed semi-purposefully to some pretty dark places by Logan.  I tend to feel like Caroline was a domino effect kind of second wife–Logan was fucking her while married to Connor’s mother.  I feel like Connor was alienated from his father because he was a part of the starter marriage and the “defective” wife.  His mom probably leaned on him a lot and that warped him a little too; being her emotional crutch.  We now know she was most likely institutionalized, but I don’t know if she’s still alive?  Or if she perhaps killed herself?  That would be… very dark for Roman to offhandedly joke about, but it is Succession.  Imo, Connor was probably kind of distant from his younger siblings and the fact that their mother and in turn they essentially supplanted his family is always going to be a pain point.

Connor probably didn’t go to boarding school as young as the trio, because I don’t think Logan had QUITE made it to where is today when Connor was a kid…  Imo his marriage to Caroline was probably a transition into that.  So Connor probably went to boarding school in like, middle-high school, while the younger three went from a very young age and were raised by nannies.  Connor was probably like, a rich drug dealer type kid and MAAAAYBE like dealt his mom’s prescription meds along with some herbal shit.  Which, come to think of it, is probably some of the first shit Kendall tried.

Roman probably tried drugs in middle/high school but never got that hardcore into it because Kendall’s got enough years on him where I think the issues were already starting to show…  Like, I’ve known people who became addicts in their early teens and are still addicts into their 40s, and I tend to feel like Kendall is probably that kind of person.  Imo, his coke habit was definitely crystallized during like, summer vacations and shit like that.  Also, not sure if it’s been defined exactly how long he and Stewy have known each other, but if they knew each other in boarding school, they definitely did that “just two straight bros jerking each other off” thing… a few times. 

Shiv was never really into drugs as a teen, it’s never been her thing.  I feel like she was actually a very conventional rich little princess daddy’s girl type basically up until she went to college and hurtled into a years-long granola phase that is only somewhat tempered by the time we meet her in the pilot.  I think she probably wore a ton Caroline Kennedy-esque looks.  She focused on her language classes, rebelling in subtle rich girl type of ways–like sneaking her boyfriends into the school dormitories.  She probably did some weirdly rebellious fucked up shit, like fucking her boyfriend on the couch when “no one was home”, but really she knew that at least one of her brothers was down the hall, JUST to get Logan’s attention???  But in terms of outward appearances, she was a princess.  She’s never gotten along with her mom, really, and the knockdown dragout fight shit started when she was like… 10.  

Obviously, they were all desperate for their father’s love and also hated that they were desperate for their father’s love.  But to outside eyes, they probably came off as typically preppy asshole rich kids.  They all wore a fuck ton of Ray-Bans.  Connor would share his cigarettes with Kendall and Roman when they were like… way too young.  Think 10-12-ish.  But there weren’t that many ways for him to bond with them, because he was always a little separate.  I do think he really loves them deep down, but he’s not able to express that in a way, there’s this wall there.

The brothers definitely ganged up on Shiv, and based off their behavior around Tom it was probably in really weird ways, like… high-fiving the dudes who’d come to pick her up for prom, saying snarky shit when she wore short skirts.  Basically nobody knew how to drive, of course (that came later, and like, apparently it wasn’t that successful).  They were all aware of when Logan would fuck the nanny or Shiv’s horseback instructor, and they would often go out to the pool house and pass a joint around to avoid Logan and Caroline’s fighting.  (And for that matter, Shiv and Roman both knew waaaaay before either of their parents that Kendall’s coke addiction had progressed to like, nosebleeds during math class bad.  But they didn’t say anything, just gave him shit about it.)  Most likely, there were occasions when Roman got in trouble by running his mouth.  Kendall (and occasionally MAYBE Connor) would never actually beat anyone up for him, but he’d either pay the person who Roman was in trouble with off or pay someone else to beat him up.

Kendall was definitely in a garage band of some kind.  (But as we know now HE REALLY WANTED TO BE A RAPPER.)  They all had to learn an instrument, but all of them sucked at it.  I feel like Roman probably did some really weird needy sibling with separation anxiety (from being put in a dog crate) things that he got a lot of shit for?  Like he probably would sleepwalk… And then Kendall or Shiv would wake up and he’d be like, asleep on top of them.  Not in a sexual way, he’d just be like… asleep…  But he’d be like 13 SO IT WAS KINDA WEIRD.

Kendall and Shiv are two sides of the same coin, imo, so they were hypercompetitive for a while until she started to break off from the family business endgame and he started to be be obsessive about it.  They probably compared test scores from a young age.  But they also have a way of communicating while barely speaking and exchanging minor visual cues.  Like, I think each of the siblings, especially the trio, have this with each other on some level but imo you take Kendall and Shiv and it’s very different from like, the “oh they love each other deep down” bond that Kendall and Roman have.  It’s definitely this sense of them both wanting Logan’s love so badly and both having a drive to succeed–like I’ve said before, they’re his top dog children battling it out for who’s gonna be the alpha and who’s gonna be the beta.  While Roman and Connor’s issues are very different.  So while I feel like Roman was probably already covering for Kendall’s damage from a young age and noticing it, and Shiv was someone he could have weirdly honest moments with where they said nothing and then hated each other the next day.  Like oh let’s sit at the pool together and quietly soak up the misery of never being good enough for Dad and maybe you squeeze my hand for a second but then tomorrow we’re gonna be back to competing intensely.

Also, there were definitely perverse “contests”.  Like, Roman stretched the million dollar home run thing because he’s Roman, but Logan would definitely do shit like “last one there is WALKING HOME” and “the one who eats the most ice cream without throwing up gets to go to work with me tomorrow”.  Connor bowed out of this shit fairly early?  But he’d also secretly wish that he could get in on it without looking weirder than he already did.

And finally: Connor Roy was interested in politics from a young age.