#btw the play is Henry IV

[izzibeeb]

I AM GOING TO SEE A PLAY TODAY ‼️‼️‼️

[chompe-diem]

holy shit episode 39 is so toxic

[sterlingarcher23]

An endless summer skateboarding & a seashell lamp

If you didn't notice, they told us what Max is doing in her head right now in the coma.

She covers her "The Endless Summer" poster with her head in S2 and completely in 4. (There's a lot going on behind Max's head)

Note how the sea shell lamp is only on when Max is with El.

Proxys

Oh, and we had that scene in which William, sorry, Billy says "You know what happens if you lie to me." ... Yeah. He did. Break her skateboard. I mean Vecna did. Her. - the Dear Billy poster says "No more lies. No more hiding" and Vecna/Edward using Billy's appearance.

Seriously. They spoon feed us everything.

Interesting how they use other characters to foreshadow and be proxys of others. Like Henderson means Son of Henry, Eddie = Edward/Vecna who plays him in the game. William is possessed... I mean Will, I mean Billy. And some lines from Robin are proxy lines for El. - Like "I wanted her to look at me..." but someone is in the way. (El is misinterpreting her own feelings. And then there's this "I love her and I can't lose her again" and it's Max looking embarrassed)

If you want to stop One

But I digress. Now, speaking of this scene. El IS the only One to stop One (remember Owens: You are One of the good Ones). That's been foreshadowed in the very first scene in which she sees Max.

Max is circling and wouldn't have stopped, Mike tried, if El hadn't stopped her in a manner of speaking. Brenner told us how to stop One.

In order to stop One, you need to fly, you need to be consumed and Max "Can't stop".

This One is circling endlessly like Terry Ives in her mind and this is likely the connection with the rainbow sequence in the lab scene and the zooming effect.

In the skateboard scene from Season 2 the Zoomer is mentioned the first time. Twice.

Told you. - Zoomer.

Spoon fed. - Taking the wheel, like taking control.

And circling, spinning is totally an ElMax theme.

The sea shell lamp scenes also form a pattern with it off when Max is alone, broken, haunted and hunted by abusers like William/Vecna and on when she's with El.

There's another scene coming to complete this pattern with the lamp on in Season 5 (even if that lamp is probably created in the mind.)

Sea shells btw have a lot of meanings:

"Seashells are often associated with love and fertility. In some cases, the seashell can be seen as symbolic of female genitalia. Medieval Christian traditions associate seashells with pilgrims.

In some new age traditions, seashells are used to symbolize the unconscious and are associated with emotions. Thanks to their connection to the sea and water, they are also evocative of peace and tranquility." Kitty Jackson - Quote from this article about Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

Sea shell lamp on = love & femininity. Wonder Woman. Um, that's, how would Will phrase it: "Something something...on the nose"

Red Skittle btw is Strawberry.

Taste (consume) the rainbow....

😉 (sorry for the Starship Troopers joke)

[douglas-rain]

Happy Birthday to Douglas Rain!

Today would have been the 96th birthday of Canadian actor Douglas Rain, born 9 May 1928.

[Pictured: A press photo of DR for the 1958 season of the Stratford Festival of Canada, where he could be seen performing the role of Prince Hal (no, not that one) in Henry IV, Part One and the Young Shepherd in The Winter's Tale.]

Of course, Douglas Rain is mostly remembered these days for providing the voice of HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I'd like to invite you all to join me today and take a little tour through the rest of his work, a selection of which I have managed to track down over the past few months. We've got documentaries, radio dramas, TV movies and of course stage plays!

It's a very incomplete collection (one day I will raid the CBC and find out where they're hiding all the radio work DR has done, mark my words), but it currently includes highlights such as

King Henry V from the Shakespeare play of the same name, who spends most of the runtime going through every emotion known to man (and a few more we had never seen before)

Dunstan Ramsay, the protagonist of Fifth Business and the human embodiment of the phrase "sure, why not?"

Orgon from Tartuffe, who is just. The dumbest bitch you've ever seen

That moment from the narration for The Man Who Skied Down Everest where, after an hour and fifteen minutes of calm and soothing monologue, DR suddenly starts mumbling and I Have Never Been More Scared In My Life

And many more!

[Pictured: DR in the 1966 TV broadcast production of Henry V, the 1968 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (both with the Stratford Festival) and the 1969 London production of Hadrian VII.]

Btw if you've seen his birthday listed as 13 March anywhere, ignore it. Here's the article I wrote detailing my descent into madness trying to figure out which date is the real one, but the tl;dr is that it's 9 May according to writer and former NFB producer Gerry Flahive, who emailed Mr Rain's ex-wife Martha Henry about it in 2018. Anyway.

[fideidefenswhore]

What if Anne Boleyn had lived to see Mary come to the throne? Do you see Mary doing everything she can to get rid of her? Would Anne suffer from the same fate as Thomas Cramner?

Mm, that's a popular AU to be sure, but I think the political realities would have been rather more complex in such a counterfactual.

First, I'd have to ask the circumstances of them both surviving and Mary coming to the throne-- has Henry had his marriage with Anne annulled, with her being exiled from court? Or has Anne been Queen throughout the remainder of his reign? Has she had a son? Has there been any alteration or reversal to the Act of Succession (1534)? Has there been any alteration or reversal to the Act that declared Anne regent for her children, should Henry die? Have all her child/ren died, or has Elizabeth merely been married abroad (ie, is she currently living at the French court, wed to whichever prince or duke)? Does Mary have a husband, and if so, who is he, and what wealth and power and claims (to the English throne, or others, or merely title) does he have?

Assuming the second, and assuming Mary, as a sole femme, has a successful coup regardless (so, perhaps Anne attempts to assume regency with Elizabeth but is overthrown), again, the political realities are going to be complex. Edward VI's death happening in such secrecy and him altering the succession to make Jane Grey his heir without the approval of Parliament were circumstances that were to her advantage; all bolstered the rhetoric and justification of her coup, accession, and reign (based on the Act of Succession of 1543, even though she reversed her illegitimacy therein). The Marian myth was that John Dudley, out of pure ambition and greed, usurped the royal prerogative (of both HVIII and Edward VI) and forged an altered succession to place his daughter-in-law on the throne (and, as you mentioned, Cranmer as well).

So, in these altered circumstances, Mary's task would be near impossible. How could her propagandists argue that Anne had done the same, when all she had done was adhere to Acts of Parliament which were very well-known by the people? What would the justification be for her arrest in this scenario, much less execution? Historically, after his arrest, Mary petitioned the Pope at the time to have Cranmer excommunicated (likely, she didn't want to have any parallels with her father drawn in the case of the execution of Bishop/Cardinal Fisher) before his execution. In this, she succeeded, and being thus excommunicated, Cranmer was no longer Archbishop of Canterbury upon his day of execution. I would imagine that she would attempt the same in this counterfactual with AB and Cranmer both, and whether she was successful in securing their excommunications might then inform her actions.

Edit: Tbh, what I conceptualize for this scenario would be more like a succession/civil war for the throne with two female claimants (so, Mary and Elizabeth/Anne’s regency), similar in nature to that of Princess Juana vs Princess Isabella in the 1470s (it would be … very difficult for Mary to argue Elizabeth wasn’t Henry’s child had these Acts of Parliament remained and Anne herself remained Queen, though, as Isabella did for Juana re: Henry IV of Castile, since she didn’t really manage to do that even in the aftermath of Anne’s adultery accusations, and she certainly tried) and I think it’d be a toss-up as to who would emerge the victor. Reason being, as I was just reminded of answering another ask, Anne was the greatest landowner among all the Tudor consorts. Mary I was also a great landowner by the time Edward VI died, because the council was at pains to ‘buy her goodwill’… this backfired, though, because it strengthened her base of power (Jeri L. McIntosh has done some fantastic work in this subject, btw), and played a huge part in why her coup succeeded. Simply put, landowning was power, was wealth. That’s probably what it would come down to, had she been granted as many lands during the beginning of the regency council for Elizabeth or whatever son AB might have had.

Another thing that would tip the scales would be if Mary received foreign aid via Imperial forces, but given Charles V never supplied any in 1553…

And again, excommunication, although Elizabeth or whatever son probably wasn’t going to be excommunicated as a minor (just like Edward VI wasn’t), maybe Anne might have been? This could also be a factor in whether or not Mary received foreign aid from any Catholic powers. Although, yk, HVIII and Elizabeth I both were excommunicated and yet they were never ousted from their thrones.

Anyway! Something to think about . Thanks for the intriguing question ☺️

[mimicofmodes]

Before he married Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, King George III set his sights on marrying Lady Sarah Lennox, the daughter of Charles Lennox, the 2nd Duke of Richmond. Lord Bute, the King's advisor, reportedly vetoed the engagement. Why was Lord Bute against Lady Lennox as a royal bride?

So, the first thing to mention is that it was fairly normal to be against a monarch marrying a subject, particularly in England. This was rare in post-conquest English history, and would be mainly associated with some not-great periods/events - Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, which played into the civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, and of course most of the wives of Henry VIII and their sad fates. The proper thing for a monarch or even an heir to do was to marry someone else considered royalty in order to strengthen an international alliance and to prevent an imbalance of power in the aristocracy.

Another aspect of the situation was influence. As a young man of about 20 with little experience, George depended greatly on his mother (the dowager Princess of Wales who would never get to be queen herself, whose only hope of being in any kind of power was through her son) and Lord Bute (formerly George's tutor, definitely close to the princess, possibly her lover). If George was married to and infatuated with Lady Sarah Lennox, he would obviously listen to her above all others. A dutiful international match, on the other hand, could eventually produce companionate love but was unlikely to rupture George's interest in listening to those around him. This was particularly a concern because her brother-in-law was Henry Fox, a Whig politician and so Bute's opponent - as a queen consort with her husband's ear, she could have funneled information and opinions from Fox directly to the king, and Fox did promote the match for this reason.

However, we need to be careful in assuming a grand passion and broken hearts. Sources differ on the extent to which George was fixed on Lady Sarah - some say that he was forcibly detached from her by Bute's manipulation, others that he understood the problems with marrying a subject very well himself and would never have done it. We have an account of George making statements implying that he wanted to make Sarah his queen and her turning him down as directly as politeness and subjecthood allowed (ie, by not saying anything) ... from Henry Fox's memoir of the period, not exactly neutral, but at the same time it suggests that a major bar to the marriage was that she simply did not entertain the king's affections.

The 1837 memoir of Sarah's son, Captain Napier, likewise passes down accounts that George liked her and tested the waters but was shut down at first by her own refusal to engage; then after Sarah broke her leg and George had an opportunity to be kind to her rather than just flirtatious, she did accept a second offer of marriage (Napier says), but ...

Then came all the arts and intrigues of courtiers, of clashing interests, of politicians and ministers; then arose the pride and fears of family, then envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness reared their secret heads while they openly bedecked themselves in smiles and flattery.

Bute et al., of course. Still, according to Napier's recounting of what his mother told him, she was not in love with the king, and in the end she was more upset about the way he never let on that he was secretly contracting a marriage with Charlotte until it was officially announced, letting her think they were still engaged, than she was about actually not getting married to him. Supposedly she was also more upset about her pet squirrel's death around the same time. (Fox agrees with that, btw.)

From a letter by Lady Sarah Lennox to her friend, Lady Susan Fox Strangeways (best name), July 1761:

To begin to astonish you as much as I was, I must tell you that the --- is going to be married to a Princess of Mecklenburg, & that I am sure of it. There is a Council to morrow on purpose, the orders for it are urgent, & important business; does not your chollar rise at hearing this; but you think I daresay that I have been doing some terrible thing to deserve it, for you won't be easily brought to change so totaly your opinion of any person; but I assure you I have not. I have been very often since I wrote last, but tho' nothing was said, he always took pains to shew me some prefference by talking twice, and mighty kind speeches and looks; even last Thursday, the day after the orders were come out, the hipocrite had the face to come up & speak to me with all the good humour in the world, & seemed to want to speak to me but was afraid. There is something so astonishing in this that I can hardly believe, but yet Mr Fox knows it to be true; I cannot help wishing to morrow over, tho' I can expect nothing from it. He must have sent to this woman before you went out of town; then what business had he to begin again? In short, his behaviour is that of a man who has neither sense, good nature, nor honesty. I shall go Thursday sennight; I shall take care to shew that I am not mortified to anybody, but if it is true that one can vex anybody with a reserved, cold manner, he shall have it, I promise him. Now as to what I think about it as to myself, excepting this little revenge, I have almost forgiven him; luckily for me I did not love him, & only liked him, nor did the title weigh anything with me; so little at least, that my disappointment did not affect my spirits above one hour or two I believe. I did not cry, I assure you, which I believe you will, as I know you were more set upon it than I. The thing I am most angry at is looking so like a fool, as I shall for having gone so often for nothing, but I don't much care; if he was to change his mind again (which can't be tho') & not give me a very good reason for his conduct, I would not have him, for if he is so weak as to be govern'd by everybody, I shall have but a bad time of it.

This is followed a week later by an account of how she was freezing cold to him when he spoke to her at court, and her desire to be asked to be train-bearer at the coronation because "it's the best way of seeing the Coronation".

As for asking her to be a bridesmaid, Fox suggests that it would have "seem'd affected" to neglect her: she was enough of a fixture among the unmarried, high-ranking women at court that she merited being asked, and if he hadn't asked her after dumping her it would have looked like a very deliberate snub. Both Fox and Napier agree that she took it very mildly and wasn't bitter about appearing as bridesmaid rather than bride, and Napier says that while Charlotte was very gracious about it, George stared at Sarah through the ceremony. Sarah's letters explain that she thought turning down the offer might have opened her up to gossip - "I was always of the opinion that the less fuss or talk there is of it the better." (Her sister Caroline was very much against her accepting, and they fought about it; Sarah was pretty angry to overhear Caroline complaining about it to a friend outside the family and asked Susan, who was also against it, to keep her opinions to herself because she was sick of being criticized over the decision.) It was after the ceremony that Sarah was mistaken for Charlotte by John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmoreland, who was 75 at the time, hadn't been to court since Queen Anne's time as he was a Jacobite, and could barely see - since she was first bridesmaid, she was at the head of the line and was dressed very richly, so it wasn't so strange for him to make the mistake. Napier attributes her correction to embarrassment rather than fear of Charlotte.

You can find the primary sources I referred to reprinted together in the early twentieth century, which is very handy. It's interesting to read Fox's and Napier's recounting of events for posterity, which strongly uphold Sarah's virtue and wisdom, and compare them to Sarah's actual letters, which show a real human personality so much more strongly. Unfortunately, the letters skip from August to October in 1761, so we can't read Sarah's own description of the wedding and coronation, which took place in September!

(reposted from AskHistorians)

[severedegg]

Idk if you've ever been asked this before I apologize if you have but do you have a favorite fnaf game

i do i do!!! i think and no i havent been asked, youre all goods EoDD

hereesss a thing i did for your question hehe <3 its a tough call between a few of them fnaf 2, i really like how many there are and how the (of the time) new designs looked, bonnie is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes. withered bonnie my beloved <33 mangle my beloved <33 just so many cool/interesting animatronics yaknow? puppet is included in that with how it wasnt like a 'regular' animatronic sister location is also very good to me we got some actual voicelines from some of the animatronics which was awesome!!!! and i like how shiny and new they look im also a sucker for the cheeks funtime freddy and funtime foxy are so good to me, and the custom night, i like yendo a fair amount for some reason so thats also a plus love hate with bonnie becoming a hand puppet, it adds a lot to funtime freddy but also my guy has been shrunken :o((( UCN and fnaf sim go hand in hand to me mainly because all im really thinking about is the rockstar animatronics and the mediocre melodies (more specifically, rockstar bonnie and happy frog, they are two more of my favourites) individually though, fnaf sim had some good lore to give, i like the mini games and i like henrys speech at the end, sometimes it makes me cry a bit lefty is also very interesting with what its purpose was UCN i really like because of the voicelines <33333333 auuuhghghghgh the voicelines <333333 i love quoting them and i love seeing them (mostly) all together <3 i really wish every character was in it though :o((( i can understand why some were cut out sorta but its still sad :o(((((( security breach!!! is also a contender theres soooooooooo many problems with it but i love their designs and personalities so much <3333 AND BONNIE AND FREDDY. are. ahem. i love them your honour. i love making up how it actually is in my brain rather than sticking to what they actually gave us cause what they gave us was so half baked unfortunately GIVE ARTISTS TIME TO COMPLETE THEIR CRAFT!!!!!!!!! and PAY THEM WELL SO THEY CAN DO A GOOD JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!! but yea, a lot of missed potential, the dlc was fun but still similar issues monty was blamed btw, thats my view, his ass is innocent an honourable mention is fnaf 4 again, the minigames between each night offer lore which i think is very cool, also nightmare balloon boy exists in the dlc and thanks to that, he was in UCN and got some rad voicelines that i like :o))) rabid, feral little thing also just the suspense n things, i like the vibe n that youre just a lil guy runnin around tehe one thing to note is ive only barely played fnaf 1 and fnaf 3, the rest ive only watched playthroughs of bc scary and i have no money lmao if i had to give a hard answer on which one is my favourite i think id have to go withh... sister location because i feel like itd be most rewatchable and replayable for me (if i were able to play the games) enough different things happen that it doesnt feel monotonous and its just interesting and as i said with funtime freddy and funtime foxy, they are really good characters, though mainly elevated by their voices but thats the case for basically all the animatronics hehe but for sillies cause i just love understanding the animatronics as characters id say UCN

[iworshipsappho]

I don't know about your OC but I want to know so for the OC's pride asks, 21. Free ramble card wee

HEY ABHIIIII I LOVE YOU FOR DOING THIS HELL FUCKING YEAHHHH

ok so uhm ceres first i suppose. i talk about her a lot bc im quite honestly obsessed with her and have been for a while, as is my right. anyways so uhm i started like thinking about ceres when i started getting into dnd so shes very dnd based even tho i havent really played any ttrpg. they are an earth genasi that loves woodwrking and foxes. moss used to be an ex-royal but got cast out/left for reasons i am yet to know of. so he lives in solitude bc they dont really do people (she's aroace and genderfluid btw!!) so uhm like ive said, they love woodworking, stone carving like in pebbles and shit. AND OH THE NAME!!!!! I love talking about ceres's nameeee ehhehehehe so like greek mythology and space are 2 of my biggest interests ever right. so ceres is the roman name of demeter bc i always knew i wanted ceres to have smth to do with nature and ceres is also the closest dwarf planet to our sun!!!! its in the asterid belt between mars and jupiter!!!! heheh SO YEAH THATS THE ORIGIN OF THEIR NAME AND I LOVEEE ITTT

moving on to yazhini!!!! so yazhini is basically a borderline self insert into a rwrb au that ive created primarily in my head. i havent written out much but i love her so much already!!!! so she grew up in south india, chennai to be more specific. moved to new york for college met alex yada yada. shes a lesbian btw. WOOOO LESBIANS!!!! she has wavy-curly hair and being in a place away from home made her love the indian part of her way more than she did before!! they love the colour green and try to incorporate it into every outfit. so basically the idea of this au is uhm yazh and alex go to india to attend a wedding of yazhini's cousin. and they meet henry there bc he's accompanying shaan bc the groom is shaan's relative or whatever. no royals, no one is famous i just need my boys in TN and also i love yazhini and i think its really healthy that i make an oc to let myself love my culture ykn

so yeag!!!! :33

💜

[cloudcountry]

Hey auburn!! Mind giving me some comments on each path? Btw if I choose one can I always go back and play another route?

HI RENREN!!!! I WOULD BE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU MY OPINION ON THESE SILLIES <3

napoleon is kind of the face of ikevamp,,,, hes like malleus in a way. hes the obvious pick for yoru first route (except you should totally be DIFFERENT or not idk do what feels right!!) hes nice C:

mozart is fucking gorgeous but hes such a DICK. he gets better in his route though yk? the prickly but soft kind ^^

leonardo is so dad coded in that hes weird and falls asleep all the time. i dont really know much about him ^^;

arthur (affectionately called doyle by me nd dove because we hate him <3) is weird NEXT!!

I WOULD FIGHT THE UNIVERSE FOR VINCENT VAN GOGH. he is an ANGEL. we do NOT deserve this man and if anyone hurts him i would start a RIOT. if he hugged me all of my problems would be solved and i would never complain again.

theo calls you dog <3 what a man!! hes pretty gruff and idk much about him either LMAO

DAZAI IS SO WEIRD??? AND I MEAN THAT IN A NICE WAY.,.,,. BUT ALSO A ??????? WAY???? he enters the mansion through windows and his route is super angsty

isaac is my babygirl and the only one that matters. i love him. i wish to hold him tenderly and kiss him every morning and night. im gonna put a ring on that finger just you watch. he's a bumbling fool of a nerd and i adore him. he doesnt know how to emotion </3

i dont know anything about jean oopsie

SHAKESPEAREE'S ROUTE IS SO GOOD SO FAR GAH I FEEL LIKE. IM BIASED THOUGH BC IVE BEEN FIXATED ON SHAKESPEARE MY ENTIRE LIFE I HAVE A PROBLEM!!! THE PROSE MAKES ME SWOON!!! (thank u dove for pointing it out LMAO)

comte is nice C: hes a sugar daddy

sebastian is funny bc he ends up getting really attached to the mc and at the end of isaac's route he straight up tries to bribe them to stay WHICH MIGHT NOT MAKE SENSE NOW BUT YK ITLL MAKE SENSE LATER.

vlad has a fox named marshmallow nd likes strawberries nd likes to garden. hes also an antagonist for some reason.

faust scares me but yk henry adores him so im sure hes lovely!!

CHARLES IS SO FUCKING CUTE I WANT TO HUG HIM SO BAD. PLEASE. HES LIKE A LITTLE PUPPY DOG. his route is getting released on august 19th if youre curious!!

I HOPE THIS HELPED ^^ GO WITH YORU GUT!! WHOMEVER INTRIGUES YOU IS THE EONE YOU SHOULD GO FOR!!!

[boysbellyrubs]

hello, here’s two new oc’s i conjured up in the depths of my mind. just a little story to introduce them ig. Nikau is pronounced Nee-ko btw. 

---

“Uh Mr King, what is the issue? Normally you breeze through this scene.” 

The director’s voice cut through Alistair's head like a knife. He knew he was acting differently, his stomach was literally turning itself inside out. The organ was swollen and extremely upset, gurgling with undigested breakfast and bringing up bubbly belches into his cast mates face. No one seemed to notice his distress however, which made him feel just a little pissed. 

“Sorry, off-day today.” His voice wobbled and he tried to get back into the scene. They were rehearsing King Henry IV and he was playing Henry’s eldest son Henry (coincidentally). He felt more like the King though as he was dying in this scene. He felt like the corpse kneeling beside the throne. 

He tried to continue his lines but his words got caught in his throat as the imminent doom of throwing up settled upon him. His stomach grumbled viciously and he felt himself collapse inwards involuntarily. His scene partner looked down at him, his eyebrows creasing a little. Good god, now his stomach was loud enough for other people to hear. 

The director was once again yelling at him, but he wasn’t listening. His jaw was tingling and every cell in his body was telling him to get off the bloody stage before he threw up everywhere. However, being an actor, he steadied himself and pushed himself through his lines. 

He felt the colour draining from his face, and his hands shook violently as he held the crown. Fuck, he felt sick. 

Alistair swallowed, “Father, thou shant-” He stopped, a burp bringing up a small amount of bile into his mouth. The crown faltered in his hands, itching to clutch at his angry belly. He squeezed his eyes shut as a groan fell from his lips. 

“Alistair? Are you okay?” His scene partner asked, a hand hesitantly touching his shaking ones. 

He shook his head, clamping his lips shut with all the force he could muster. He was about to throw up all over this stage. 

His stomach heaved, flipping over itself and twisting around his abdomen. It felt like waves crashing onto the shore, except the shore was his mouth and the waves were chunks of food and acid. The upset rumbling forced him to drop the crown into his cast mates lap and slap a hand over his mouth. He rocked forward on his knee, a forceful gag ripping up his throat. 

His body went on autopilot and he found himself backstage curled over a bin. His body didn’t give him any chance to breathe before waves of sick came pouring out of him. It splattered into the bin and he staggered with the force of his heaves. Each one tore up his throat and he grabbed at his stomach, whimpering at the pain. 

As he threw up, the people around him left him alone. All except one. A warm hand landed on his back and spoke soothing words into his ear, 

“That’s it, my love. Get it all up.” Nikau, his boyfriend, was behind him. The one person in the entire world who could make him feel just a little better. 

“Nikau, it hurts.” Alistair groaned, knees buckling. Nikau caught him around his middle, soothing his palm against his turbulent belly. 

“I know,” He kissed the back of Alistair’s head, “But you’re gonna be okay. I’ll get you home.” 

With Nikau’s hand rubbing across his stomach and the words ringing in his head, Alistair kept vomiting until there was nothing inside him left. The dry heaves were loud, but a tiny sip of water and gentle kiss to the cheek calmed them down. 

He felt himself being pulled down into his boyfriend's embrace, leaning up against the wall and away from prying eyes. Alistair dropped his full weight into Nikau, allowing his sickness to catch up with him. 

Nikau’s hands touched all across his body, understanding that the touch helped Alistair relax immensely. He rubbed up and down his arms, his thighs, his chest and felt his forehead, “A fever, baby. I’m sorry you’re sick.” He kissed his hair again, tightening his grip on Alistair. 

Alistair moaned, head flopping onto Nikau’s shoulder. His body ached and the humiliation was setting in. He hoped they had just moved on to another scene. Closing his eyes he revelled in the touch of his boyfriend, soothing his every worry. 

His belly rumbled again, still very much upset. He moaned, arching his stomach into Nikau’s hand, “Hurts.” He grumbled. The offending organ emphasised his protest, grumbling again and churning up more acid. 

Nikau shushed him, softly cupping Alistair's belly with one hand and rubbing it softly with the other. He cradled it gently and gave it all the love it deserved. Alistair’s eyes fluttered shut, knowing Nikau would take care of him. 

“Where do you think you got this bug from?” 

Alistair shrugged, exhaustion now taking priority, “Some fucking idiot who came to class sick probably. Spreading their disease.” 

Nikau didn’t point out the clear hypocrisy, only soothing his clearly very sick boyfriend. It seemed Alistair was nearly falling asleep, and Nikau did not want to have to carry him to the car so he reluctantly got him to stand. It was a bit of a mission, what with Alistair’s legs wobbling like a baby giraffe. 

Nikau apologised to the director and gathered his and Alistair's bags and scripts. Thank god it wasn’t a dress rehearsal.

--- 

short and sweet :) 

[perryisle]

🚆 📎 💡 🌌 💢

answers below cut!!!

🚆 TRAIN - what is their answer to the trolley problem?

vinny kind of wouldn’t care how many people the trolley hits at first bc like. he never knew them Personally or anything so they don’t really matter to him. but one part of him would want the trolley to go on five people because “it would be funny” and another part of him would want the trolley to hit one person because less people get killed and he’s a lot more considerate about not hurting Actual Human Beings than demons (he doesn’t really show others that side of him though + he doesn’t really think about Bein Nice to people for most of the story)

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact.

vinny can kind of sort of play the bass!! i imagine he hasn’t really played it since high school and is considering playing it again For Fun (a guy needs more hobbies yknow)

💡 LIGHTBULB - is your oc a planner? do they write down every small detail or just wing it?

doing this with three characters!!!

lance plans a lot and i imagine he has a pretty good memory so he just Knows when to do stuff and what to do without any tools (like notes or whatever). also he has a lot of backup plans when things go wrong

mae tries her best to plan (she frequently sets reminders n crap) but usually she forgets what to do or decides to not do what she originally had planned earlier

vinny does not think at all he just does whatever

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

ive had the idea of lance for a very long time (since crit dmg’s early development in 2021) and the first thing ive decided about him was that he was some dude that used to be associated with ENDS and wore a yellow scarf (bc haha funny primary color things)

some major inspo for him includes henry from no more heroes, fifteen from katana zero (kz is a very good game btw go play it if you’re interested), and aki from chainsaw man. as for design inspo mr. doppelganger from travis strikes again contributed a lot to his design (ESPECIALLY with the scarf + long coat combo and his heterochromia)

💢 ANGER - what are some habits they have that will take some getting used to?

wow these answers are becoming very vinny-centric!! anyways i don’t know if this would count as a habit but vinny really has to get used to bein fuckin nice to people for once. like come on dude you’re like protecting people now you really don’t need to be assholes to em yknow!! i imagine most of his character arc involves taking his job more seriously and learning how to be more comfortable with showing kindness to others. at the end of his arc hes still VERY into beating up demons but he mostly does it for his friends and the people that live in turnstyle yknow (at the VERY least he’s still snarky and has that edgy anti hero attitude but more nice in the end)

[r4gg3dy4ndy]

more brain soup-y ideas but they arent just about henry and they are nsfw

by the way - if you guys want me to write one of these shoot me an ask and ill make it. same with the other post btw

thinking about ghost billy just the parameters of that

I mean not really my thing but public sex would be so easy yk like lets say you are in like a bathroom stall or smthn and you guys are just… fucking but no-one can see or hear him but you ughehruhg

UHGURHRGHH hear me out on this but like possession?????? Him controlling your body or smthn????? AUGH WHAT IF HE DOES THAT AND UR LIKE DATING STEVE OR SMTHN AND HE TAKES OVER YOUR BODY AND YOUR LIKE…. HELPLESS TO STOP HIM???? TELL ME THATS NOT HOT RIGHT?????? LOOK ME IN THE EYES AND TELL ME ITS NOT. 

if i said i would fuck hopper what would you guys think of me

hey look listen i get it maybe not the most conventionally attractive stranger things character but listen

i feel he could be really sweet and loving when he wants to be yk maybe like just sweet soft sex i would make the pleading face emoji like perfect recreation watch me

augh uauuughhghrr but like also angry mean sex w/hopper?????? losing my damn mind im tellin ya yk

aurugurhrrggg like imagine he had like a really long day or smthn and he comes home and just takes his frustration out on you but like after sweet aftercare and hrehriueherrj

OR maybe hes like in russia and you are being held there too and maybe you like get in a fight with your old cellmate or something [hypothetically - it doesnt look like they have cellmates but for the sake of me bloody imagine will ya youve got the brain for a reason] and they like transfer you in with hopper and whatnot and i mean hes obviously pent up [with stress not sure about the balls idk how they work help] and shit during russia fucking duh right and i mean you seem so sweet being sent there for a silly silly reason [being gay and or trans or like wrongfully incriminated] and he just needs something to get some of that stress some of that anger out on and well you get where im going 😉

sorry about having another thing about him but this is a different circumstance i swear anyways domming billy

look im not the worlds most dominant guy look at me but ive got my times yk i could be if i wanted yk and maybe just like oh idk tying him up and teasing him relentlessly yk simple things 

or or or once again tie him up mostly because i highkey doubt he would be willing to sub like maybe in concept he would but when it happens hes pissed but then just like… treating him really nice like really softly? just being really soft to him i think he would physically melt tbh

like just kissing him all over and just being really soft to him so that he knows hes safe and loved just being like a service top or whatever and just showing him you care and just just just

do you see where im going do you see what im saying

on another note maybe like really rough domming him without tying him up

im sorry im listening to this audio that deadass sounds exacttlyy like him its scary and its just like his character and im dead laying in my bed whoops

but like seriously just like absolutely commandeering him making him obey n shit like you might be fighting for your life but you are also winning 

like it might take some persuasion some fighting for dominance but once you win lordy lord

aughhh he would be on his knees for you and after a while he would start secretly enjoying himself

like duh hes gonna be a brat but fuck once you tame him its wild im tellin ya

some of the stuff in my brain rn im not sure if i should write down lmaoaooarhrhar

not really part of this but i think hed cry during sex

uhh eddie just uuhhyehreuhre him <3

uhh eddie after like a dm session and hes still in character you can see what im starting at here

like hes still all commandeering n shit and he just kinda expects you to obey and yk normally you would but you feel like playing a bit yk a tad of cat and mouse never hurt anybody right

well at least not in the moment but the day after sure

im getting ahead of myself tho

so anyways he starts commanding you yk pushing you around and you decide to not just listen and obey blindly

you play coy n shit and he is just not having it yk

the party were all being a bitch collectively earlier too so hes already a little pissed off yk right

and i mean you didnt know you thought “oh there he goes again my silly ol boyfriend what if i messed around with him a bit wouldnt that be fun”

yeah noooo

no yeah noooo

i mean yeah, it was fun but now you have rope burn all over your body, bruises, bite marks, a bit of blood, and your [insert reproductive organ of your choice as well as hole here] was entirely sore + you could barely walk

uh uh uh uh fuck he survived uhh uhhhh but hes a vampire UHMM UH UHHHMMM

LOOK I SWEAR IM FUCKING RIGHT OK VAMPIRES ARE SEXY AS FUCK BRO

like you think hes dead yk your all sad and hiding in your house from the rift deadass right in the street to your house and one night as your sleeping he comes out of that rift and breaks into your house just watching over you as you sleep

these were unfinished and i kept em all in a google doc so expect more than one of these btw also i wrote these to send to a friend so if they dont sound like me normally then sorry

[iamnmbr3]

Hi, i'm curious about how do you got into shakespeare and co. ? Can you recomment something to read for a starter? Furthermore i wish you have a nice day 😊

thanks for waiting for me to answer. I've been super busy. and this ask made me SO happy. So I actually read some Shakespeare in high school and while I found them interesting, Macbeth was the only one that strongly resonated with me (and still one of my favorites). Later I got to see it on stage and also saw a production of Julius Caesar on stage. And omg it was so much more vibrant. I got back into Shakespeare recently after watching the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus (streaming free here https://www.schooltube.com/media/Coriolanus+%7C+Donmar+Warehouse+%7C+National+Theatre+at+Home/1_i4iwz5ix) and then basically binging a whole bunch of other plays and various adaptations of those plays. I highly highly recommend that production btw. 

I personally think the plays are more fun to watch than to read. I mean, reading them is basically like reading the script for a movie. Shakespeare never meant anyone to read his plays. They are much more engaging and also easier to understand when you see them performed. (That said of course you can get a lot out of reading them too).

I've found that understanding Shakespearean English is hard at first but your ear adjusts. Just like listening to a foreign language gets easier. And while the language in Shakespeare is challenging, if you already speak English then learning to understand it is WAYYYY easier than learning a new language. So instead of thinking of it like hard English think of it as a really easy foreign language. Sure there are some differences but you can pick it up relatively fast. Versus the years it would take to learn a new language well.

What plays you will like most really vary from person to person. I think the easiest stories to understand are the ones you can get engrossed in. I also think sometimes the comedies are harder to understand since sometimes the jokes reference things that you need to know a lot about the culture and history of the time they were written to get. (I mean. Think how specific to a certain context a lot of talk shows are).

The globe theater has a streaming service (https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/watch/) where you can watch a bunch of their plays online. I really love the henriad, which is a series of 4 plays that follow several generations of characters in the monarchy and it's kinda like game of thrones minus the dragons (I mean GoT was actually based on the same history so it's not surprising). The plays are Richard II, Henry IV pt 1, Henry IV pt 2 and Henry V. The Globe Theater productions (esp Henry IV pt 1 and Henry V) are amazing and their take on Prince Hal/Henry V is PERFECT. I also love their production of Macbeth. You always read a synopsis before watching so it makes more sense. 

(You do have to pay for the streaming service but the price is pretty reasonable compared to the cost of a theater ticket. Esp given you get access to a whole bunch of performances. So it’s a good way to get a flavor of the experience of performances for a lot less cost. and of course it’s much more accessible since you can watch from anywhere. and you can pause it etc if you need to)

The Digital Theater streaming service has Royal Shakespeare Company plays (https://www.digitaltheatre.com). The RSC production of Hamlet with Paapa Essiedu is THE version of Hamlet for me. It's just. SO good. There's also a FABULOUS RSC production of Caesar on there that is super good and which I highly recommend.

And of course, any of these plays can be read instead if you want. You can usually find the texts for free online. Or at your local library.

(You do have to pay for the streaming service but the price is pretty reasonable compared to the cost of a theater ticket. Esp given you get access to a whole bunch of performances. And it goes to support the theater which is a good cause.) 

[sweetmisschesire]

I was watching the Earthbound series on youtube, and remembered Mother 3 (my favorite)

My mind was then wandered to fnaf

And now ive made a weird and sad au

SPOILERS FOR MOTHER 3!

You’ve been warned

William is flint, and not a murderer, no children murdered by him whatsoever

But still not the best dad given what happens later in the game 

Mrs.afton (clara?) is hinawa

Elizabeth is her own character

Cc is lucas

And mike is claus

While coming back from their visit in the mountains, they are attacked by the mecha drago

Only this time, both Mrs. Afton and Elizabeth die 

Flint goes into a rage and after getting out of jail with the help of mike he goes to their graves

Cc confesses Michael went off to fight the drago on his own

Having been left behind because Michael didn’t want someone as young as cc fighting a drago 

Of course he never makes it back despite Henry and william going to get him, and william spins years, going out, looking for him, leaving cc to raise himself

No idea on boney, maybe make him a foxy look a like?

Of course, you have the whole thing with fassad, the happy boxes, and the chimeras

But there are children who have “ disappeared”

Supposedly because of the chimeras

In reality, as you find out from the chimera lab and as cc pulls needles, they were taken by the pigmasks

Even later finding out that they all had PSI capabilities, but none of them had the ability to pull the needles

Except for the masked man

Charlie is kumatora btw, and maybe sammy as duster? (I have no other idea)

As cc pulls the needles he sees the missing children briefly, warning him that he isn’t ready yet

He is very confused, thinking they’re talking about the needles despite him pulling it just fine

 Cassidy makes multiple appearances, and she is more blunt about her warnings

She makes one last appearance before being taken to New Pork city, though she still foloows like the other children

Just kind of, not really seen or heard

They face the robot porkys, william shows up, go down and face the real porky who traps himself for eternity in that capsule

And then go to face the masked man

 who they now know course is Michael

The fight happens like in game, but with all the children, especially mrs afton and lizzie trying to get through to mike

The fight ends when Mike comes to his senses enough to throw lightning at cc so the Franklin badge will reflect it back at him 

Cc pulls the needle and they go home and give mike and the other children proper burials

Some details

The missing children died, because they were failed attempts at making chimeras that could pull the needles

Cassidy of course is the most bitter, and isn’t sure what to think of Mike

Both because he’s older, and because he seems to be obeying Porky

Keep in mind, the children had no idea what was being done to them and why

It was only after basically haunting the chimera lab long enough, and listening in on conversations that they are able to figure out what was attempted on them, and that Mike was unfortunately successful

So now they kind of haunt him, like his sister and mother and try to wake him up, with no success till the end

Now they also fuck with the pigmasks and especially fassad when they can

And like I said, Cassidy is the most angry about this

Seeing how far this porky is willing to go to play this fucked up game of his

So it’s why she tries so hard to warn CC that he needs to be ready, and how he’s not

Cause by observing him, she can tell he’s not going to be able to handle this news

Thats all i got for now

[douglas-rain]

Top Five Douglas Rain Recommendations From Yours Truly

You want to see more of Douglas Rain, but you're not sure where to start? Well, do I have the thing for you! As the internet's most preeminent Douglas Rain expert (except for Gerry Flahive I guess, but he's kind of slow at answering emails and more focused on other stuff these days. If he wants to reclaim the title, he can meet me in the parking lot <3), I've made you a handy little list of some of my personal favourite performances by DR that I think you should see and/or hear!

And by 'little' I mean 'I got way too into this, so it's pretty long now'. I put it under a cut; you're welcome.

In the interest of fairness, I've chosen one performance from each of his fields of work (namely: ON STAGE, RADIO WORK, DOCUMENTARY NARRATION, TELEVISION and FILM). Please know, however, that I can give reviews of basically everything in the masterpost, so if you're interested in hearing about any of them, feel free to shoot me an ask!

Without further ado, let's get into it...

-

ON STAGE: Henry V (1966)

Okay, this one's teeeechnically a TV movie, but it's adapted from Stratford's staged production, so I'm counting it. It's also a rare treat in that we get to see DR in colour! (Everybody say THANK YOU to David Rain, his son, for bullying the Festival into restoring this production and adding it to their online catalogue. I owe him my life.)

This is one of Shakespeare's histories, part of the Henriad (aka the collection of plays about the accomplishments of various English kings). Henry V, the main guy in this one, is actually the crowned version of Prince Hal from both parts of Henry IV, a role that DR had played previously at Stratford, so this is a fun bit of character continuity for him! The play centres around the king's invasion of France, with a lot of ruminating on hope and despair and duty and bravery. Harry - as he is affectionately referred to on occasion - is really going through it, and DR portrays him with such emotional intensity. He's proud, he's fierce, he's clever, he's a BITCH and I like him SO MUCH.

The book has been edited down slightly to fit into a two hour runtime for television, but beyond a few... very funny jumpcuts, it's not really noticeable at all. And while the sets are kept mostly simple, the costumes are gorgeous. I went in not expecting much (a mistake I keep making when approaching Shakespeare plays, for some reason lol), and was thoroughly entertained the whole way through!

It also contains the transcendentally funny line, "Tennis balls, my liege!" because Shakespeare was the most hysterical motherfucker on planet Earth. It makes sense in context, I promise.

Can be found on Stratfest@Home, the online streaming service of the Stratford Festival (there's a 7-day free trial period if you sign up). You may also check my masterpost of performances for a possible alternative, but shhh.

-

RADIO WORK: Fifth Business (1980)

I love this one; it's literally so fucking funny. This radio play is a dramatisation of the 1970 novel of the same name by Robertson Davies. Fifth Business recounts the life story of Dunstable "Dunstan" Ramsay, from his boyhood in an idyllic (on the surface only) Canadian village to his experiences in the First World War, his career as a teacher and all the loves and complications he runs into, and the formative experiences peppering his life where he's never quite the main character. He is instead 'fifth business' - neither hero nor villain, but still integral to resolving the play's plot. Ramsay is clever, sarcastic and a goddamn weirdo who's obsessed with saints for non-religious reasons. He dodged a snowball as a kid and the consequences of that haunt him throughout the entire book.

The radio drama features a whole cast of actors, including of course DR as the protagonist (who also narrates everything btw), doing an absolutely delightful job. Fellow Stratford actress Martha Henry, who also happened to be his wife at the time, is in it too!

The entire drama is delightful, honestly. I liveblogged my experience listening to it for the first time, and man there is some wild shit happening in this novel. The entire things is about three and a half hours, but it really doesn't feel that long.

Can be found (in eight parts) on YouTube or on Archive.org. (Or in a junkbox on a sidewalk in Toronto. I'm still baffled by that.)

-

DOCUMENTARY NARRATION: Universe (1960)

A classic. Documentaries make up a sizeable chunk of the masterpost (thanks to the NFB website and archive channels on YouTube), so there were more options in this category than in any of the others. But I decided to go with this particular gem of a documentary.

It's about - who would have guessed - the universe, featuring the most advanced scientific knowledge of planets and stars at the time. The special effects are also quite impressive - if you move around Space Odyssey circles, you may have heard that the visuals of this documentary were a major inspiration for 2001. Also, DR's narration in Universe is what brought him to Stanley Kubrick's attention. You can probably guess how that ended. (Gerry Flahive has some articles about the whole thing if you don't.)

Anyway, Universe is a beautiful and meditative look at our galaxy and the many things it contains, and DR's narration is absolutely lovely. It clocks in at just under half an hour, so not that big of a time commitment either.

Can be found on YouTube or on the NFB website.

-

TELEVISION: William Lyon Mackenzie: A Friend To His Country (1961)

It's so hard to find old Canadian TV shows anywhere online and I'm forever bitter about it. Our options here are incredibly limited as a result, so you're just going to have to accept that I'm recommending you a historical short film from 1961, alright? This is as difficult for me as it is for you.

Unsurprisingly, this movie is about William Lyon Mackenzie, who was... *checks Wikipedia* "a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician." Yes, DR is doing a Scottish accent in this role. Yes, I adore it. I know very little about Canadian history, so I can't exactly speak to the film's accuracy, but I found it charming and DR is doing a very good job. Most of the half hour runtime is spent on Mackenzie's various political struggles (some sort of failed revolution, I gather, followed by exile in the United States and some jailtime) and him trying to protect his family. His wife is played by Canadian actress Kate Reid in this movie, which I personally find very funny for... reasons. IYKYK.

Can be found on YouTube or on the NFB website.

-

FILM: OEDIPUS REX (1957)

I'm sort of cheating again, but the only other options in this category that I have access to are the two Space Odyssey movies, and they seemed like too basic of a choice. So have some more drama instead! This is also a filmed version of one of Stratford's plays, but released in theatres this time.

Oedipus Rex is a breezy 87 minutes and adapts the English translation by Yeats of the classic Greek tragedy by Sophocles, with a little added prologue to set the scene. It was directed by Tyrone Guthrie, who you might remember as the Big Man from The Stratford Adventure. Or from the fact that he was a pretty famous theatre guy. If you need a refresher on your Greek myths: Oedipus was the guy who was prophesised to kill his father and marry his mother. He got done dirty by Freud somewhere down the line.

DR plays the role of the Messenger, a minor part who recounts some of the most famous plot points of the tragedy of Oedipus, which they couldn't show onscreen/onstage. Granted, he's only in this one for like five minutes, but he really rocks up to crash the party wearing the coolest outfit in the entire show. And yes, everyone in this production is wearing Greek theatre masks, so you can't see his face. You get to hear his voice though - and watch his captivating body language!

Can be found on YouTube. Or you can probably buy it on DVD if you really want to; idk, I'm not the boss of you. (I've also clipped his scene if you really, really don't want to watch the whole play. I get it's a big ask. Really beautiful production though, seriously!)

[stevenrogered]

omg i'm currently reading the flatshare and that's literally the reason i asked you this question !!! leon and tiffy are adorable ! and i had no idea they adapted it in a miniseries (have you seen it ? is it good ?)

i also love kanej (i read the soc books because of you btw)

in my teens i loved heather and cooper (from the heather wells series by meg cabot) and katniss and peeta

i only read beach read by emily henry (great nemesis to friends to lovers) and i loved her style so i'm definitely gonna read her other books

as for recs, i would recommend the dead romantics by ashley poston (it was a little sad (as it deals with grief) but beautiful) and hunting and gathering by anna gavalda (this is a french book and i'm french so i cannot vouch for the english translation's accuracy)

omg really? what a coincidence! and i have seen it, its very cute. tiffy is actually played by jessica brown findlay which was a little annoying bc she definitely isnt the body type of book tiffy, but if you take it for what it is, its very sweet. i think you'd like it

also these are my absolute favorite types of messages, when people say that they've read/watched something because of me- it makes me so happy im glad you love kanej as much as i do <3

its funny you mentioned katniss/peeta bc this was literally a hunger games blog way back when! (ive been on this website longer than i care to admit lmao)

and i have the dead romantics on my kindle! i bought it a few months ago but i havent gotten a chance to read it yet. i havent heard of hunting and gathering, but ill definitely check it out- looks like we have the same taste in books! :)