#becoming cary grant

[thehitchcockbrunette]

This is a very strange love affair.

Notorious (1946)

[merchantphoto]

favorite first-watches of August 2024

1. Death Becomes Her (1992) (dir. Robert Zemeckis)

2. A Woman Under the Influence (1974) (dir. John Cassavetes)

3. Penny Serenade (1941) (dir. George Stevens)

4. Trap (2024) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

5. Cool Runnings (1993) (dir. John Turteltaub)

[julsredesigned]

Oh Cary Grant...

So long before Madonna became the queen of reinvention...there was a boy from Bristol who grew up in poverty and lack, with no one that really cared if he lived or died. That boy used his sad circumstances as a spring board to become maybe the most iconic movie star of his time. Definitely one of the highest paid and in demand.

That boy was Archie Leach and he created a character named Cary Grant.

Upon learning about the biopic about him...I paid the $9 BritBox subscription fee and fired up the snacks for a full on binge.

Totally.

Worth.

It.

Wow.

No, I'm not that old but I do have an old soul and hey--even though he's gone, he was really handsome.

***Jason Isaacs plays Cary Grant and he is fantastic. Truly. Buuuuut...it's still a little hard to side with Lucius Malfoy. Which is actually a huge compliment that he created such an iconic character. I think I would have just really like to have seen someone that maybe naturally looked a little more like him. They did a great job making Isaacs look like him, he's just got that gaze sometimes that makes me feel the way I did all those years ago sitting in that theater watching him terrify the shoes off of me in Harry Potter. Cary Grant was charming and winning and lovable and gorgeous and charismatic--among other things...so feeling fear at anything about him was surely not meant.

I could go on and on but the jist of why I'm writing about this today is this:

Cary Grant toward the end of his life started doing one man shows, a sort of q and a sesh about his life.

When asked about how he created his characters, he responded that he did it just like he created his most successful character...Cary Grant.

Cary Grant is a lie.

Cary Grant is fiction.

He was the alter ego of Archie Leach, a boy from Bristol that was abused, unwanted and mistreated.

Archie assigned all the things he could dream of onto Cary...even the name. And he manifested them all.

That got me thinking.

I can help anyone but myself. Seriously.

The worst friend can text me that they have a headache and I trip over myself to make them tea and suggest things that might help, come over and nurse them yet my life is in shambles and I do nothing.

Archie Leach was the origin story of the star, the success, the amazing avatar...Cary Grant.

Wow.

Could this sad pathetic Juls be the origin story for the amazing XXX (whatever my Cary Grant name is)?

Maybe I need an avatar.

Screw what everyone around here thinks. Screw every single person that doesn't agree. I'm so effing sick of caring about everyone else's opinion.

It's never too late.

Always keep in mind that Kris Jenner was nearly broke at 50.

Seriously.

She had to move out of her home because they couldn't pay the mortgage...now...she's just the most successful thing in existence.

Let's put a nail in the shitty origin story.

Let's create an avatar today.

Let's assign all the good things we can think of to it.

Let's be the happiest version of ourselves possible.

[keepthemacramesecret]

i keep trying to start messing with malevolent character designs and then accidentally falling down research dives for several days to a week.

for instance today i skimmed a full years worth of movie magazines from 1934

[midnightcowboy1969]

I can’t stop thinking about this post I saw years ago that was someone whining about men becoming feminine or whatever and they were like “men are not like the good old days” and with this text was a photo of Cary Grant in a suit. We all know Cary Grant but I don’t think they or the people liking the post did.

[sarazanmai]

Especially for 1944 Arsenic and Old Lace is INSANE. Its feral. Two kind old maids are serial killers with a higher body count than Norman Bates, Cary Grant is on the edge of insanity, Peter Lorre is there, it has a sub plot concerning a man who thinks he's Theodore Roosevelt and becomes catatonic if he tries being someone else, they couldn't get Boris Karloff to reprise his role in the play so they made a guy up to look like Boris Karloff and shot all his scenes like a horror movie, it opens with a fist fight at a Dodgers game and it has nothing to do with the plot. 10/10 masterpiece.

[kquil]

JAMES POTTER | KISS CAM PART 2

SUM. : even though yours and james's relationship is public, his jealous streak continues

G. : fluff ; modern au ; ice hockey player james ; girlfriend reader ; viral sports couple ; fans love you together ; protective james ; jealous james ; you're his ; he's yours ; everyone should know this by now ; heated kiss

LENGTH : 1.9k

PART 1

NOT PROOFREAD OR EDITED

Now that your relationship with James was made public, he’s been more open to showing how much he adores you on the rink. You never miss any of his games and he makes a point of visiting your side of the rink during opening warm ups for a kiss through the glass. It’s the same one you gave him when your relationship first became public, where you kiss your fingers and press them against the glass where his lips are directly behind. Being the goof ball he is, James makes a show of puckering his lips and making a kiss sound every single time and, although you feel incredibly embarrassed by it, you just fall even harder for him each time. Your rising fans and shippers are very much the same over your relationship, so supportive and ‘oooo’-ing and ‘ahhh’-ing behind you from every interaction. 

During every intermission as well, James would come over to interact with you through the glass, whether to draw a heart on the divider or just wanting to get your attention with his puppy-love eyes. And all exchanges always end the same way, by James getting pulled away from the back of his collar by his teammates. 

It’s pretty obvious how in love the two of you were with each other and you’ve become a viral sports couple in the media. The fans adore your dynamic, dubbing James the cheeky loverboy and you the shy sweetheart, which were pretty accurate titles. Their support and love for your relationship made you wonder why you both were so worried about becoming public in the first place, granted there were a few bad eggs here and there but the majority accepted your relationship and you couldn’t be happier. However, you do wonder whether the reason why your relationship became public added to that positive reception or not. 

The moment James came over and claimed you as ‘his girl’, it went viral on social media. Many people reported on the incident, made multiple edits of it and some even scoured through videos of past games James played in to try and spot you in the crowd, just to speculate on how long you’ve been together. With all of that, the two of you quickly overtook some of the current famous celebrity couples in popularity. It was quite a romantic way of announcing your relationship, especially when James had the reputation of being the playful goofball of the team through interviews and such; seeing him get aggressive outside of the sport was surprising.

It didn’t help that, on one of your spontaneous dates with James was clipped by Sirius and sent circulating everywhere online. 

James had asked for access to the rink so he could practice some moves in his free time and you tagged along with lunch whilst Sirius and Remus came for company and fun. Soon enough, it turned into you and James just having fun on the ice. You’re a clumsy, first-born fawn on skates but James was always there to steady you with his sturdy frame and strong arms so you had more fun skating than you typically would on your own. The two of you were giggling and joking about, just being the sweet couple that were and being so incredibly cute that Sirius couldn’t find it in himself to tease you two about it. Instead, Sirius merely captured the moment James lifted you in his arms - the typical princess cary - and took you for a lap around the ice on video and posted it on his instagram story. There was no audio to overshadow the laughter you and James shared before you cupped his cheek and kissed him deeply. The lighting, the moment and the chemistry between you two couldn’t be denied and you went viral again. It was a lot of attention, mostly good but some bad too. 

Trust Sirius to give the fans what they want, seeing as how you and James still try to stay private about your relationship on social media. It wasn’t too much of an issue though since he always asked before posting anything, this particular post though, was the only exception. 

Nevertheless, you couldn’t be happier because, now, you can freely support your hard working boyfriend without having to hide under baggy hoodies. Sometimes you dressed up in a cute dress, sometimes you dressed down into one of James’s spare jerseys, proudly showcasing his name and number. It’s a secret but he loves it most when you wear his jersey. It’s also a secret that you wear his jersey whenever you want him to take you home early with no plans of leaving the bed for the night and most of the following morning. He treats you so well. 

In this particular game, you had made something special for James to wish him more luck and comfort. It wasn’t much but you wanted him to have something that’ll remind him you were always close by. You also wanted to give him a real good luck kiss before the pre-game warm ups started. James had expressed to you the night before that his nerves were more sensitive than usual because the team they were up against were quite formidable. He knew it, his team knew it and the fans knew it so the seats were packed for the game tonight - it was nerve-wracking. Tonight would be the perfect time to give him the gift.    

On the way to the locker rooms behind the rink, you were a little unsure of which changing room James was in because you wanted this to be a surprise and didn’t ask for any further information. 

“Oh, hello there,” A man with a black and yellow jersey greets you as he walks out the locker room door you were contemplating knocking on or not, previously unsure of which team was in which but immediately went warm in the cheeks upon realising the mix up, “how did you get down here, pretty lady?” he flirts, making your breath stutter. It didn’t feel right for any other guy to address you so endearingly if they weren’t your James.

“I’m so sorry,” you quickly regain yourself and clutch your small present in your hand, “I mistook which locker room to go to,”

“No worries,” he leans down in an effort to level with your height and meet your eyes more directly, “but I am a little disappointed that you aren’t here to see m-” he’s cut off when you catch a glimpse of James over his shoulder and run the distance to his figure outside the locker room further down the hall. 

“James!” you run into his arms with a grin, completely forgetting the man you had just encountered, who was now in a silent death-stare exchange with your boyfriend. Running up to him, you miss James muttering something under his breath, eyeing the figure past your own. 

“Number five…”

“Look James, I made this for you,” you present the gift, “for good luck,” the excitement in your voice gradually fades with the influence of your bashfulness. 

James kept the opposing player, who had not left yet, in his peripheral as he turned his attention to the soft face towel you were offering him. His heart swells when, in the corner, he spots neat stitches of yours and his initials surrounded by cutely embroidered hearts. You’re really so cute, he can’t fathom how he ever got so lucky. His heart softens further when he takes in your timid but adorable form, looking up at him with curious eyes, gauging his reaction. 

“Thank you, sweetheart,” James says, his voice purring more than usual. He has full confidence that despite the opposing player displaying clear interest in you, never leaving and still eyeing up your form, James knows that you will always be his and him, you. Your focused eyes solely trained on him, your sweet smile only for him to see and your cute way of dressing only for him to undress later, it’s all for him and it’s all he needs to know that you are his forever, “I love it,”

“Reall-” he cuts off your excitement by pressing his lips against yours, throwing your gift to rest on his shoulder so he can have both his hands free to trace your silhouette down to your cute butt and give a possessive squeeze. Like clockwork, you squeal into his lips and give perfect access for his tongue to ravish yours. It’s a very heated and possessive display. James wants everyone who sees you two to know that he’s the only one who can have you like this and you’re the only one who can make him like this.  

Lost in each other, time quickly passes and when you two eventually pull away, the other player is gone. Good riddance, James scoffs in his head, his telling smirk giving away his thoughts. You could see it all. Being his girlfriend, you knew exactly why James behaved like that but you weren’t complaining; you got one hell of a kiss out of it and there was no violence, nobody was hurt. What he needed was for you to anchor him. And you did, by gently taking your gifted face towel off his shoulder and pressing it to the perimeter of his face. 

No words needed to be spoken, James could see it all in your eyes. You knew him too well to let his actions slip past like that, however, knowing that your response was only to reassure him with a tender touch and loving actions rather than berate him, his love for you grew even more. He loves you so much. Soft and with a comforting ache in his chest, James hugs you and lifts you off the floor. He tucks his face into your neck and whispers his apology into your skin.  

“I’m sorry…I didn’t hurt you did I?” he asks, face still nuzzling your neck as you bury your own into his unruly, dark curls. 

“You didn’t hurt me, Jamie…”

“Good…I’m sorry for being so forceful and…possessive,” still in his arms and with your feet off the floor, he gives you a small squeeze.

“...I love you,” was your only reply; your own way of forgiving him.

“God…” James sighs dreamily, pulling back to and press a tender kiss onto your lips, “I love you more,”

You giggle and kiss him again, “I love you most,”

“Impossible,”

When the game finally started that night and you had properly kissed your boyfriend ‘good luck’, James became a prominent instigator on the ice. His plays were more violent and aggressive, especially to a particular player wearing the number five. It was pretty bad and you were getting worried, not just for James but for the other team’s number five. 

Half time comes and James is seen getting a visible talk down from the coach, there was tension in the air but the excitement for the game still too precedence, shaking the air with an infectious vibration. Before the game starts its second half, James makes a quick visit to your front seat for his usual kiss past the glass. This time, however, he wasn’t being a goofball and worried you but his tense figure visibly relaxed after the pseudo kiss, much to your relief. The second half of the game, he wasn’t as violent but became the top scorer, earning point after point after point.

Suffice to say, James’s team was the clear winner and you had much to celebrate his victory on the ice in the bedroom.  

NAVI.

A/N : this was one of my unexpectedly really popular timestamps, thank you all for the support! hopefully you darlings like this addition just as much as the first. i've taken the liberty of adding additional tags who expressed their interest in the first timestamp if you lovelies don't mind

TAGLIST : @fredweasleysjumper @ghostgardn @melinajenkins @astonishment; @until-i-found-you @goodoldfashionedluvergirl @tiensmamains @celestcies @loveltdoveval @inlovewithremusjohnlupin @calums-betch @futurecorps3 @hihihi1112 @simpingforthe80s @diputy @taytaylala12 @its-sappho-biotch @hiya-itsamber @arctvrvs @lilmaymayy @callisto00 @crying-on-the-floor @yrluvjane @neeezza101

[cressidagrey]

Don't wait for the Sky to Clear - Thesan x PeregrynCaptain!Lover x FourthArcheron!Sister

Summary:

The Fourth Archeron sister makes herself a life in the Dawn Court. 

Warnings:

DEFINETLY NSFW. SERIOUSLY. THIS HAS NO PLOT.

Notes:

I...I have no idea where this came from. It popped into my head fully formed a few weeks ago...and this is the result. There is probbaly never going to be a second story in this universe, but it's...interesting, so you'll get it.

(thanks to @tsunami-of-tears for the super pretty dividers!)

“They are nearly as beautiful as you.”

Carys’ lips quirked up in a smile at these words. 

Said in that lazy drawl that she had become so used to over the last few months…her husband. 

Well, one of them at least. 

She let go of the flower petals she had fondled gently, beautiful, colourful tulips, dotted everywhere around the Dawn Court. 

“Flatterer,” Carys said lightly but took his hand as he held it out for her. 

She gained her feet and turned towards him, towards brilliant brown eyes, towards these beautiful white feathered wings that stretched vastly behind his back. Ardin quirked his lips at her.

“Just telling the truth,” Ardin quipped. “Finished with your flowers for the day?” He asked her and she hummed in agreement…pulling deep inside her for that kernel of power she had. 

The flower grew underneath her hands a few inches more. She smiled to herself. 

She didn’t have the power of death…or of the future. This was all the cauldron had decided to give her. She was quite sure that it had been its revenge for Nesta taking more than she should have. 

Carys should probably consider herself lucky that she hadn’t ended up with horns or something like that. 

Letting flowers grow…It was a nice party trick, she supposed. 

It was more useful on the potato fields further away from the Palace than it ever could be in little fields of tulips right here…but she would gladly take it nonetheless.

Granted, it had taken her months to master even that, but it was…it was something. It was all she could do and that suited her just fine.  

“Yes,” Carys agreed and Ardin leaned down to pick up her basket, in which she had kept the flower she had cut for the day, snatching it up and then offering her his arm…as graceful as any human courtier she had ever met had been. 

Sometimes…sometimes she missed it. Being human. 

Carys never voiced that aloud, because she knew that…there weren’t many people that would understand. And the ones that did understand… her sisters…well, that relationship was fraught with tension on a good day. 

Carys couldn’t even fault them. Especially not Feyre…Carys had managed to kick loose a diplomatic incident when she had left the Night Court. 

But she hadn’t been able to stay any longer. Not after…She had been half hysterical with fear. Fear of her sister’s mate of all people, after what happened to Nesta…after they had had enough of her drinking and…other things… and had…pretty much imprisoned her in the House of Wind.

Elain seemingly hadn’t thought about what that could mean for her or Carys…but Carys had thought about it. Carys had realised at that exact moment that if she didn’t do what her sister thought was the right thing to do…she would be the next one kept as a prisoner and the whole thing would be called an intervention. 

Nesta had needed an intervention after the kind of self-destructive behaviour she had indulged in, but the way they had gone about it…it had made Carys terrified. 

And so she had run. 

She had half a mind to take Elain with her but she knew her sister…Elain, most of all…most of all would do whatever she needed to be comfortable and taken care of. 

Elain could be surprisingly cutthroat if need be.

Carys, second oldest after Nesta…the one that had spent years keeping the household running while living in that bedraggled little shed, that had absolutely no talent at archery to be quite frank, but could haul the laundry and cut the wood and stack a fire…that could babysit some of the villagers kids and make sure that they weren’t outright going to starve…that tried to plant potatoes on the tiny plot of land they had and had only been successful half the time…who had mended and hemmed and done anything she could to at least earn her keep. 

Carys, who was considered the ugliest of the sister, to stoutly build, not pretty enough…who even her mother had considered unmarriageable, because who would want an ugly wife with no talents other than maybe cooking and sometimes planting vegetables…

If her mother could see her now…she would be horrified.

“You know, I would prefer it if you called me something else rather than flatterer,” Ardin quipped, pulling her out of her thoughts. 

“Consort?” She suggested drily. That’s what she had heard some people in the palace start to call Ardin, who hated it with a passion. 

But what else to call the husband of a High Lord? Prythian had never had that problem before. Or even a High Lord that had taken not one but two spouses. 

(Probably the one outright shocking thing Thesan had ever done in his life.)

Even when the law in the Dawn Court had been on their side…already changed centuries ago to make it possible for everybody to take as many spouses of any sex as anybody desired, as long as all parties did this of their own free will and were above the age of consent…

 Ardin had drily explained to her that in the ranks of the Peregryn, it wasn’t uncommon for a female to have more than one lover. Or even two. Some had a whole harem of sorts. 

Well, Carys wasn’t going to start that. Two were more than enough as far as she was concerned, thank you very much.                                                                                                                               

“Thanks but I prefer commander of the troops,” Ardin gave back and she smiled at him. 

“The right hand that speaks with the High Lord’s voice and commands in his stead?” She suggested and he just sighed. 

“Cauldron, Thesan came up with it, didn’t he?” Ardin asked and Carys just smiled, saying nothing. “You know, he likes reading poetry and pretends like we don’t know.” 

They did both know about their High Lord's penchant for that…about the sweet little nothings that were whispered in their ears…and the surprisingly filthy things he spewed when he was in the right mood…she loved everything that talented tongue said or did. 

“Husband?” Carys suggested next and he grinned at her, pressing her hand. 

“You could just call me by my name.”

“Ardin, then,” she agreed. 

“Though, of course, you could call me your cauldron-given gift whenever I please you enough to scream my…” she jabbed her elbow in his ribs, smiling apologetically to a long-suffering servant that crossed their path on their way up to their rooms. 

“Not here,” she hissed to Ardin between her teeth. 

“And here I thought we had ruined you so thoroughly that you don’t care anymore,” Ardin quipped. Her shoulders hunched. 

“Humans don’t talk about…that,” she said, her voice quiet. Her cheeks were reddening on their own accord.

She couldn’t help it.  

It wasn’t that she was…ashamed of her husbands. 

She wasn’t. 

But she also knew that if she was still human…this would have never happened. She would have never, never been the one that…She would have never…never taken two husbands. 

There wouldn’t ever have been pleasure like this in her marriage bed. It would have been duty, not love. 

And still…there was a part of her that wanted to keep it to herself. All of it. That didn’t think that anybody had a right to talk about it other than the three of them when they were alone. That thought that…

“I am sorry,” Ardin apologised to her, as he opened the door to their rooms. “I shouldn’t have teased you like that.” He sounded properly contrite now. 

“I should be over it,” Carys responded quietly. 

Overall the human ideas of propriety and modesty and what she shouldn’t do…she shouldn’t blush beet red whenever one of her husbands kissed her outside of the privacy of their rooms. She should be…

She should be able to give them…

“No, you shouldn’t be,” Ardin disagreed, grimacing. “This isn’t…” he stopped his own sentence, as they both heard the slow sound of water filling the bathtub and without a word, they changed direction…her basket of flowers forgotten on a console table.

The bathing chamber was…utterly fae…with a pool worked into the ground that was more than big enough for all three of them. Actually, they had taught Carys to swim in the same. It was more than big enough for that too. 

Thesan was there, lounging relaxed against one of the stone walls, one eye blinking open lazily as he took in the two of them entering. 

A smile appeared on his face, like the sun rising over the horizon and she swallowed at how lovely he looked. 

“There you are,” he greeted them. “I had dinner laid out on the balcony for late.”

“He’s the romantic one,” Ardin whispered playfully and she couldn’t help but smile at her husband as he watched her, dark eyes turning heated, as she started to remove her clothing. 

Ardin helped her after a moment, unlacing the back of her bodice… It was easy enough to slip out of the layers of light, gossamer soft fabric that swathed her body…to pull out the hair comb that held back her reddish brown waves…

She had given up on modesty with the two of them a long time ago. 

And so when she walked into the pool and crossed it to perch herself next to her husband so that she could press a soft kiss against Thesan’s lips…she smiled. 

“Good Evening,” he greeted her as she pulled back, a hand coming up to cup her cheek.  “Did you have a good time?” Thesan asked her. 

“Yes,” Carys agreed. “I gardened a little bit…fed the fish…fixed that shirt that Ardin ripped off you a few days ago…” she quipped with some amusement. “And you?”

“Sat through a meeting about property taxes,” Thesan answered with a hum, as she carded her hand through his damp hair. His dark eyes closed and she shifted, making herself more comfortable, perched on his thigh. 

“You like taxes,” she said softly. He did. It fascinated her that the actual reigning part of being a High Lord, of taxes and making decisions for his court…that was something that Thesan excelled at. He knew all of it by heart too…what was the highest selling export from the Dawn Court, what didn’t sell at all, what they needed from Day or Night or Summer and Autumn…or even Winter and Spring. 

He knew all of that, and he spent many late evenings sitting on his desk, working through his correspondence and doing exactly that. 

Carys left him to him. She wasn’t ready to dabble in politics. And quite frankly, she didn’t think she had any right to it either. 

She had only been in Dawn Court for what felt like a blink of the eyes for most faes, a footnote as far as the history was concerned. And she didn’t think she had any right to rule over faes that were far older and more experienced than she was. 

“It was actually quite interesting,” Thesan agreed with her. 

If she wanted to know something, Thesan was eager to explain it to her, to answer all her questions, but Carys herself kept her own political involvement to the walls of this palace, dealing with servants and cooks and laundry maids and whoever else they hired. 

This was what she had been raised to do, this was what she was good at…and when she got to use the math she had once learned as the daughter of the Prince of Merchant to calculate the expenditures of the palace and cut the fat so to speak…then she was more than happy to do that and spent the rest of her time growing medicinal herbs and do her best to earn her keep.

She left it to Thesan’s sister to deal with the nobility and some of the simpering ladies who treated her like a novelty…who stared at a cauldron-made female with fear and acquiescence. 

Carys had no plans to rule with fear. 

“And you, Ardin?” Thesan asked, closing their little circle of asking each other about their day.

“Oh, the usual. Dealt with some unrest, made somebody regret ever having been born…was an idiot.”

“Tell me something new,” Thesan gave back drily. “What did you do?” He wondered. One hand gently came up to card through her hair, gently making her lay back in the water so that he could wet her hair. 

“Ardin, you don’t…” she protested, but Ardin cut her off. 

“I teased Carys and I owe her an apology.”

“You don’t,” she protested feebly, as Thesan started to work soap throughout her hair, lathering it up, long skilled fingers, against her scalp. She nearly moaned from that alone. 

 “But I do,” Ardin disagreed. “I know that you like your modesty and your privacy and I knowingly violated both. I should not have done that.” 

“What did you say?” Thesan asked calmly, ever the mediator. Staying neutral in any conflict until he knew both sides. 

“Though, of course, you could call me your cauldron-given gift whenever I please you enough to scream my name,” Ardin repeated. “In earshot of one of the servants. I was out of line.” 

“I think that’s a bit harsh,” Carys protested. “The only one who overheard you was one sole servant. And you apologised for it! It’s not your fault that I am…unable to…properly acclimate.” The words were difficult to get out. 

Thesan’s hands stilled. 

“Is that what you think you are doing?” He asked her evenly. 

“I do my best, but…this isn’t the world into which I was born. Where I grew up,” she said softly, biting her lip. “Don’t get me wrong I love the Dawn Court but it’s not…”

It wasn’t home.

Not really. 

Home was the Human Lands and she had been ripped away from that. 

“You never talk about…being human,” Adirn said, as he crossed the pool. 

His wings stretched and then rippled as they were prone to be doing when they got wet. Chances were he would need to shake them out multiple until the feathers would be mostly dry again. 

(At least his annual moulting season was a few months off…the last one had been something. Adirn had been uncomfortable for days while Thesan and her had painstakingly plucked out every last loose feather from his wings.)

“I don’t…Nobody would…nobody would understand,“ Carys whispered. 

Not Thesan, born as the High Lord's heir…not Adirn, born into a tight-knit family, right in the midst of the Dawn Court…Adirn who had learned to fly as he learned to walk…Thesan who was so magical that it glowed on his skin… 

Neither of them were human in the slightest, from the feathers of Adirn’s wings to the pointed tips of Thesan’s ears. 

“We may not understand, but we would listen,” Thesan said quietly, just as Adirn reached out to touch her hands and she intertwined their fingers. 

Thesan’s hands smoothed over her hair and then down her shoulders, as she closed her eyes. 

They would. She didn’t doubt that for one moment. 

“I miss my ears,” she finally blurted out. 

Her ears. Her lovely, rounded ears. Her lovely, human ears. 

Her ears. 

“You miss your ears?” Thesan asked, quietly. She was surprised that it wasn’t Adirn, surprised that…

“I liked my human ears. They were small…they were…well formed. Nobody ever found something to criticise on them, like with the rest of my body,” Carys whispered. “I liked my ears,” she repeated with a sob the tears coming from nowhere. “And now they are…”

“They are beautiful,” Adirn said quietly, one hand coming up to trace the shell of her ear, the arch, the tip…

“They don’t feel like mine,” Carys whispered. “I look at my body and it doesn’t feel like my own sometimes.”

It was…it had grown lush with curves and had become so perfect…too perfect. 

She could no longer count her ribs as she had been able to after the worst of winters…could no longer see the hollows of her cheeks…

“It is yours, all of it is yours,” Adirn said, his hands sliding down carefully…over her chin and her neck and her shoulder. “Yours to do with as you please.”

She knew that. She did know that…but sometimes…a lot of the time…

It didn’t feel like hers.

“I am sorry,” Adirn apologised softly and she shook her head.

“You couldn’t have known that,” Carys assured him softly. A soft sigh left her mouth. 

It was just…

She wiped away a stubborn tear that escaped her and then Adirn pressed a kiss against her cheek and she breathed in the scent of lavender and warmth that clung to him. She tipped forward, leaning her head against his golden brown skin. 

“Want me to make it up to you?” He offered, his voice gravelly and she snorted because she knew exactly what he offered. Though to be honest…the idea of forgetting anything but her husbands…of letting them wring every drop of pleasure from her body…that wasn’t abhorrent. The exact opposite to be honest. 

“If you do all your apologising with your cock, we’ll have a problem, Adirn,” Thesan said drily and she couldn’t help but snort with laughter. 

“Only for you two,” Adirn hit back quickly. “What do you think, love? Whatever you want.”

She knew he was serious about it. There was seemingly nothing that he wasn’t willing to try at least once, nothing that he wasn’t happy to do if it meant that he got to touch her. 

She thought about it for a moment…anything she wanted. 

But the one thing she wanted most of all was to feel like she belonged with them, to them. That they took so much from her that she couldn’t even think about her lost humanity anymore. 

“Tell me what you want,” he coaxed her, and she swallowed. 

“I am spoiled for choice,” Carys responded and Thesan chuckled. 

“Want me to narrow it down?” he whispered, warm hands slipping over her hips and she considered it for a moment. 

“No,” she said with a sigh, closing her eyes. “I want your mouth,” she whispered softly, not daring to look at him. “Will you…” she could feel the blush work its way over her cheeks even now. 

“Are you offering me a feast for my taking, love?” Adirn asked her lowly, not teasing her at all. 

She shivered, the outright question enough to send the arousal that had been lowly thrumming through her into overdrive. 

“Yes,” she managed to nod. “I…And I want Thesan inside me while you do it.”

She wasn’t even sure where that had suddenly come from. But as she blurted it out, Thesan lowly groaned behind her, his hands on her hips tightening.

 “I am quite sure that would be a treat for us as well,” Thesan whispered into her ear…but it was the trembling.

One thick finger parted her folds suddenly and she whimpered at the sudden contact, at that knowing touch…“Already wet and ready for us, love?” Adirn asked her, drawing one finger up and finding her clit nearly thoughtlessly…she could swear she could nearly feel another gush of wetness leaving her…

“Always,” she managed to get out, her knees trembling and Thesan caught her easily, chuckling. 

Carys let him pull her into his arms…keeping her eyes closed and just…basking for a moment in their undivided attention on her…in their gentle touches and sweet kisses being pressed to every inch of her damp skin…

She felt Thesan’s magic drift over her skin and she couldn’t help the shiver that it brought out…“I’ll never get used to your magic,” she whispered…he just chuckled. 

“It can be quite useful,” he whispered… and as she weakly blinked open her eyes, she could see how just one push of his magic had reconfigured that massive pool so that there was a comfortable ledge for Thesan to sit on…wide enough that he could lean back against an incline…water still just so lapping at him. 

He gave her a smile as he handed her over to Adirn, making himself comfortable, his thick, long cock jutting out from his frame…He was ready for her, not a question about it. 

Adirn helped her sit on his lap, her back to his front and it only took a second before she could feel the thick, blunt head of Thesan’s cock at her entrance, her body shuddering and yielding near immediately. 

“Just relax,” Adirn coaxed her, holding her in place, just the tip teasing her entrance, even as she already wriggled…. “You know how this goes.”

She took a deep breath, her body going pliant and Adirn let her slide down, her body having no choice but to make room for Thesan’s length. 

She fluttered around his cock, against the heat of him so deep inside her…

Carys couldn’t help herself as she ground down as much as she could, feet grabbling for purchase against slick stone as Thesan’s arms slipped around her frame and immobilised her… completely. 

“Shush,” Adirn said with some amusement. “Be patient.” 

she blinked open her eyes, just as Thesan forced his legs between hers… stretching her not only from within but stretching her legs as wide as they went…

Like a butterfly pinned for viewing pleasure. 

And gods, clearly Adirn enjoyed that view, as dark eyes slid heatedly over her body, over her heaving breasts to her lewdly stretched cunt…her clit peeking out, swollen and wet…impaled deeply onto a cock and still wanting more. More. More. 

“I want to come.”

“Greedy, love,” Adirn clucked his tongue but made himself comfortable…kneeling in the shallow water and giving her a smirk as he was near enough to her wet, stretched pussy that she could hear his hot breath against her overheated flesh. “You already have a cock inside you and it’s still not enough?”

She knew that she was blushing furiously. 

“Get to your apologies.” Carys hadn’t yet mastered that haughty tone of voice. It turned breathy at the end. 

Adirn chuckled again, and then without a forewarning…he buried his face against her pussy, her whole body shaking, a whimper leaving her throat. 

“He does much better if you give him orders,” Thesan said nearly thoughtfully, biting back a groan as her body unwillingly convulsed around his length buried inside her…trembling. “Maybe you should give all of them.“

Adirn lifted up, opening his mouth in protest, but Thesan cut him off. 

“Get back to your apologies, Ardin. Our wife deserves them,” he pointed out reasonably and then cursed as Carys felt Adirn probe where they were joined, throwing her head back into a whine. 

By the cauldron, he was going to fucking kill her with pleasure. 

Thesan cursed and she managed a breathless laugh and Adirn redoubled his efforts. 

By now…By now he knew exactly what to do. It took him an embarrassingly short amount of time to throw her headfirst into her first trembling orgasm, her body clamping down around Thesan’s cock, him groaning, his arms tightening around her body as he buried his face into her neck. 

But Adirn wasn’t done. 

Not at all. 

He was set on absolutely taking her apart. 

And quite frankly…she loved every minute of it. Loved every minute of her heart thumpin in her chest, the pleasure lapping at every nerve ending…loved the feeling of his mouth pressed against her, her tongue licking inside her…loved the bitten-down groans from Thesan behind her, the way his cock twitched deep within her, the walls of her cunt clenchning and unclening without her doing anything, long since having forgotten the use of any of her muscles…

And she couldn’t think about anything but the pleasure her husbands wrought from her. 

 “I love being your wife,” she gasped out, somehow between moans and whimpers, her back arching against Thesan, who nearly seemed to shake against her, the hot length of his inside her stretching her, filling her…Gods, she loved it. 

.“You do excel at it,” Thesan told her, his voice wrecked…A hoarse shout broke out of her throat as Adirn did cauldron knew what to her body, her toes curling with mind-numbing pleasure…White hot and blinding. 

She actually blacked out. Adirn honest to gods managed to make her faint. 

When Carys weakly blinked open her eyes moments later, Thesan was softening inside her, the warmth of his release painting her insides…Adirn was cupping her face, Thesan peppering kisses to her cheeks. 

“Am I forgiven?” Adirn asked her, his voice light on purpose. 

“What did you do again?” she managed to bring out, her voice hoarse. 

Thesan laughed gently behind her, shifting to pull out of her and she moaned, feeling the soreness between her legs, as he moved her off him gently. 

She would never get used to the sheer size of them. 

Just a moment late, a warm hand gently cupped her and Carys whimpered at the trickle of magic, a warm kiss…taking apart any discomfort. 

“Can’t have you be sore tomorrow, can we?” he asked her, a bashful smile on his face and she sighed…in complete and utter happiness. 

“You are so good to me,” she said softly, reaching out to cup the bag of Adirn’s head, pulling him into a kiss. 

He tasted like her and like Thesan and she loved everything about it. 

[pennyserenade]

we ought to make more actors be acrobats before they become actors because it really did wonders for cary grant and burt lancaster

[hotvintagepoll]

I will be submitting a lot of Cary Grant propaganda if he continues to lose but for now please have a meme

(In reference The Talk of the Town in which they could have ended it with ambiguous polyamory if they hadn't been cowards, and of course The Philadelphia Story, same deal. I think The Talk of the Town has been slept on in terms of propaganda material and I urge anyone who can to find it and watch it.)

I also see a lot of reference to his time with the acrobats, but very few examples of him using those skills in his movies, so here is a video of all of his stunts from Holiday (Hopefully that link works) Those skills helped him become a great physical comedian, as he could tumble, fall and slip with control.

and one more picture for good measure

Cary Grant vs Vincent Price

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Evelyn Preer

Evelyn Preer (née Jarvis; July 26, 1896 – November 17, 1932), was an African American pioneering screen and stage actress, and jazz and blues singer in Hollywood during the late-1910s through the early 1930s. Preer was known within the Black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."

She was the first Black actress to earn celebrity and popularity. She appeared in ground-breaking films and stage productions, such as the first play by a black playwright to be produced on Broadway, and the first New York–style production with a black cast in California in 1928, in a revival of a play adapted from Somerset Maugham's Rain.

Evelyn Jarvis was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 26, 1896. After her father, Frank, died prematurely, she moved with her mother, Blanche, and her three other siblings to Chicago, Illinois. She completed grammar school and high school in Chicago. Her early experiences in vaudeville and "street preaching" with her mother are what jump-started her acting career. Preer married Frank Preer on January 16, 1915, in Chicago.

At the age of 23, Preer's first film role was in Oscar Micheaux's 1919 debut film The Homesteader, in which she played Orlean. Preer was promoted by Micheaux as his leading actress with a steady tour of personal appearances and a publicity campaign, she was one of the first African American women to become a star to the black community. She also acted in Micheaux's Within Our Gates (1920), in which she plays Sylvia Landry, a teacher who needs to raise money to save her school. Still from the 1919 Oscar Micheaux film Within Our Gates.

In 1920, Preer joined The Lafayette Players a theatrical stock company in Chicago that was founded in 1915 by Anita Bush, a pioneering stage and film actress known as “The Little Mother of Black Drama". Bush and her troupe toured the US to bring legitimate theatre to black audiences at a time when theaters were racially segregated by law in the South, and often by custom in the North and the interest of vaudeville was fading. The Lafayette Players brought drama to black audiences, which caused it to flourish until its end during the Great Depression.

She continued her career by starring in 19 films. Micheaux developed many of his subsequent films to showcase Preer's versatility. These included The Brute (1920), The Gunsaulus Mystery (1921), Deceit (1923), Birthright (1924), The Devil’s Disciple (1926), The Conjure Woman (1926) and The Spider's Web (1926). Preer had her talkie debut in the race musical Georgia Rose (1930). In 1931, she performed with Sylvia Sidney in the film Ladies of the Big House. Her final film performance was as Lola, a prostitute, in Josef von Sternberg's 1932 film Blonde Venus, with Cary Grant and Marlene Dietrich. Preer was lauded by both the black and white press for her ability to continually succeed in ever more challenging roles, "...her roles ran the gamut from villain to heroine an attribute that many black actresses who worked in Hollywood cinema history did not have the privilege or luxury to enjoy." Only her film by Micheaux and three shorts survive. She was known for refusing to play roles that she believed demeaned African Americans.

By the mid-1920s, Preer began garnering attention from the white press, and she began to appear in crossover films and stage parts. In 1923, she acted in the Ethiopian Art Theatre's production of The Chip Woman's Fortune by Willis Richardson. This was the first dramatic play by an African-American playwright to be produced on Broadway, and it lasted two weeks. She met her second husband, Edward Thompson, when they were both acting with the Lafayette Players in Chicago. They married February 4, 1924, in Williamson County, Tennessee. In 1926, Preer appeared on Broadway in David Belasco’s production of Lulu Belle. Preer supported and understudied Lenore Ulric in the leading role of Edward Sheldon's drama of a Harlem prostitute. She garnered acclaim in Sadie Thompson in a West Coast revival of Somerset Maugham’s play about a fallen woman.

She rejoined the Lafayette Players for that production in their first show in Los Angeles at the Lincoln Center. Under the leadership of Robert Levy, Preer and her colleagues performed in the first New York–style play featuring black players to be produced in California. That year, she also appeared in Rain, a play adapted from Maugham's short story by the same name.

Preer also sang in cabaret and musical theater where she was occasionally backed by such diverse musicians as Duke Ellington and Red Nichols early in their careers. Preer was regarded by many as the greatest actress of her time.

Developing post-childbirth complications, Preer died of pneumonia on November 17, 1932, in Los Angeles at the age of 36. Her husband continued as a popular leading man and "heavy" in numerous race films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and died in 1960.

Their daughter Edeve Thompson converted to Catholicism as a teenager. She later entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana, where she became known as Sister Francesca Thompson, O.S.F., and became an academic, teaching at both Marian University in Indiana and Fordham University in New York City.

Still from the 1919 Oscar Micheaux film Within Our Gates.

[jerrylewis-thekid]

Who would have thought that, in the golden age of Hollywood, even a simple kiss could become a challenge of wits between directors and censors? Yet that's exactly how it is. From 1934 to 1967, the Hays Code imposed strict rules on what could be shown in films, especially when it came to romantic scenes. Excessive kissing, defined as "luscious", was considered dangerous for the public and should be avoided. Even passionate scenes could be introduced only if strictly necessary for the plot. Imagine: a kiss could not last more than three meters of film, only a few seconds. Directors, screenwriters and producers therefore found themselves having to deal with these restrictions. Alfred Hitchcock, ever the master of the art of cinematic deception, found a brilliant way to circumvent censorship. In 1946's "Notorious," he had Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman kiss, alternating their kisses with conversations, intense gazes and small gestures such as gentle ear bites. In this way, he managed to create a long sequence lasting almost three minutes in which the kiss, although fragmented, maintained all its intensity. The trick worked: the censors couldn't object, as no single shot of the kiss lasted more than three seconds. And so, while on the screen the actors seemed to abandon themselves to a moment of pure passion, behind the scenes a game of cunning took place between creativity and censorship.

How did those two get away with it during McCarthyism and with the Hays Code in effect??

[steelbluehome]

Out Magazine, June/July 2009

Hot List: Sebastian Stan

By Bill Keith

May 17, 2009

It's just as well you get over Sebastian Stan's sexuality right off the bat. Yes, the actor with a striking resemblance to a young Brad Pitt and the onscreen bearing of Cary Grant on a particularly unpleasant day is, in fact, straight. That doesn't mean his show is any less worth tuning in to.

Putting an updated twist on the biblical tale of David, Kings tells the story of King Silas (played by Deadwood's Ian McShane), the ruler of a fictional kingdom that looks alarmingly like midtown Manhattan. Stan plays his apparent playboy son, prone to late-night drug and booze binges and extravagant shopping sprees. In the show's premiere, NBC made a very clear and promising political statement when King Silas confronted Jack for the first time about his closeted sexuality: 'What you do at night with your boys after your show of skirt-chasing is a disgrace. If you were my second son, I wouldn't care, but for a king it's not possible'. You cannot be what God made you, not if you mean to take my place.'

Taking an immediate stance on whether homosexuality is a choice, the show quickly established that it wasn't interested in telling a one-dimensional coming-out story. 'Is it really a big deal for a network to have a gay character anymore?' Stan asks. 'The question is whether or not Jack can be an influential political figure by being who he is.' And at the advice of the show's creator, Michael Green, he turned to an interesting source to gain a greater understanding of where gays stand in the political arena.

'He advised me to watch Keith Olbermann's response to the passing of California's Prop 8. I'd never really seen him before, but to hear him speak so passionately about understanding it as a pure human thing, even though it wasn't something he was brought up to think, was awesome,' he says. 'And thinking about that as it relates to my character, who becomes more secure and stops thinking that he has to be the prototypical leader he was taught to be as a child, was very moving.' Michael Arden (who was adorable in 2004's Bare: A Pop Opera and as Kate Hudson's assistant in this year's Bride Wars) plays Prince Jack's long-suffering boyfriend and eventual guardian angel.

This isn't the first time Stan has played the rich, entitled asshole. The prep school'reared 25-year-old has mastered the art of channeling his inner James Spader in movies like this spring's The Education of Charlie Banks and on the CW's Gossip Girl, where he plays scene-stealing Chuck Bass's archnemesis, Carter Baizen. Before becoming a literally royal asshole on Kings, he stole away Leighton Meester's Blair Waldorf and took her to her darkest depths. He's stolen Meester's heart offscreen too. Though the engagement rumors are false, he couldn't be happier: 'I'm an extremely lucky person, absolutely! I think she's just amazing!' he gushes.

[citizenscreen]

One of the late Rudyard Kipling's most famous ballads, "Gunga Din", now is in the process of becoming a movie. This shows one of the action scenes during a battle between British soldiers and Thugs in the Tantrapur Village. Abner Biberman, leader of the outlaws, goes down and out as that right fist of Cary Grant, a British sergeant-major in the film, connects. (Original Caption)

[rdng1230]

what movies would tommy make them watch for movie night? in your correct opinion <3

GAH I WAS LITERALLY BUSY READING YOUR FIC. the "Tommy was Buck's first crush as a kid and now here he is" one, Not even joking I've already sent it to people on three different continents. I owe you my life.

Anywho!!!! God I am so hyper specific about how I pick out movies depending on the day/vibe/etc and I feel like Tommy would be similar (but he'd be about 10000% more chill about it than me, I am a goddamn tyrant) Hmmmmmm ok Here's a very random assortment of movies I think he'd suggest and the attached circumstances that would lead him to suggest it.

Just in general, I think Mr. "The world started the day I was born" is going to still have a giant list of pre 90's films he's not gotten to yet and Tommy makes it his goddamn mission in life to show Evan what he's been missing. I tried to avoid the movies that Buck would've probably already gotten to like The Princess Bride, Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, the Breakfast Club, etc. I wanted ones that would be like the number 4 on the top 3 must watch list of whatever category.

I already wrote a scene in my fic of this but Tommy loves Moonstruck and they watch it after a nice night in with Italian food from Tommy's Nonna.

Chim is downright offended when he finds out Buck and Tommy watched Lethal Weapon without him, but ummm.... it was probably better he wasn't there.

Ok picture this, its a hot day, maybe a little cloudy. Tommy and Buck are in the mood for something sappy. Buck keeps telling Tommy they have got to start knocking some things off the 'Audrey Hepburn' list, but neither of them are feeling very '50's. Buck's wrist is busted from an overly risky move at work and Tommy gets an evil glint in his eye. They end up watching Always (Which is about pilots during wild fire season, the main pilot pulls something too risky and dies, and he ends up in the afterlife where his ghost mentor is played by Audrey Hepburn) the whole time Buck's getting teary and he keeps saying "Oh I hate you" to Tommy as sad moments in the movie happen. He squeezes Tommy's hand, a silent promise that he'll be more careful (and that Tommy better be careful at work too because he'd kill him again if ghost Tommy behaved the way the ghost protagonist did in the movie.) Smoke Gets In Your Eyes gets put on their wedding playlist.

I can't remember if I wrote this down somewhere or if I just thought about it a lot but Buck really takes to the Nick and Nora movies from the 30's and Buck is so endeared by Tommy's phoney transatlantic accent. it become's a running joke with them and the first time Buck responds with his own equally dorky accent Tommy has to physically bite down from saying I love you because its way too soon and he doesn't want to freak him out.

This is cheating a little because this movies only like 10 years old but They find out they both love the Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It's one of the movies that inspired Buck to go out and become something, and he watched it a lot, particularly during his cowboy era. Tommy loves it because its a movie about being brave enough to let yourself grow. Buck makes a lot of "Major Tom" jokes afterwards.

Buck loves Sleepless in Seattle (one of the one's he had knocked off the classics list), but he's never seen An Affair to Remember because the clips in Sleepless always made it look way sadder than it actually was. Tommy's like "Ok it is sad at some parts but just trust me" Tommy realizes he's created a monster with Buck's Cary Grant crush.

Oh also Tommy loves the Holiday as well as Love Actually and they make it a double feature every year in mid December (although Tommy does put it on year round) as a side note, I also watch Love Actually way too much and eventually I will write a fic defending that movie and going into angsty details about the soundtrack using Tommy to voice all of my thoughts, apologies in advance.

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

In order to make this bracket work nicely, we need one less person. So....

The one with the least votes after 24 hours will be voted off the bracket. We repeat, the least votes. Vote for who you want to stay, not who you want to go.

Propaganda under the cut:

Tom Pullings:

“have you seem the james d’arcy depiction? come on.”

Jonathan Strange:

“Incredibly weird. Somehow both a wifeguy and ignores his wife to get back at his former mentor. Eats a dead rat to become insane. Panics when the French attack unexpectedly so he moves Brussels to America. Also he is ginger and has a big nose <3” admin side note: the casting for the live action apparently didn't keep his ginger-ness

Anthony Trumbull:

"Portrayed by Cary Grant!"

William Laurence

“The man rode a dragon and treated it as a person (character is important!”