#c: gambit

[harusuki]

TIMESTAMP ROULETTE

x-men '97 season 1 episode 5: remember it

[powertold]

@billyclubsandcards asked: 1 m/m from gambit tbh

after a successful mission, lawrence was used to isolating himself from everyone else. too much pent up energy. this however was another way to pass the time and get that frustration out. gambit was resting against the best and x-23 was holding his own shaft by the base. “that's it, keep it open for me.” he lowered his body, sinking his shaft further into the other's mouth, and let out a rough grunt. maybe this was a better release. “you're good at that.” he pulled his member out and looked down at gambit. “stick your time out.” 

[stolligaseptember]

lazar really said but bitch your longing to is palpable

[d-r-a-c--a-r-y-s]

Laurent of Vere

Ink and watercolor on paper

2019

[agliniocht]

‘No. I’m the last. My line ends with me.’

[immortalmuses]

Wolverine, Deadpool, Gambit - by Jerome Opeña

[marvelforged]

X-Men Art by Emiko Iwasaki

[stromuprisahat]

Laurent’s vocabulary [in Akielon] hit its limits when it came to military terms and manoeuvres, but Damen filled in the gaps. It was of course no surprise to find that Laurent had a well-stocked armoury of elegant phrases and bitchy remarks, but could not talk in detail about anything sensible.

Prince's Gambit- Chapter 9 (C. S. Pacat)

[snarkformysanity]

Review: Captive Prince (Series)

Okay, I've finally finished the lot! And... much like with my review of the first book, I was pleasantly surprised overall. The second and third books are an improvement on the first, with the second probably being my favourite one not just because it's purple I swear. I think overall I'll give the series a B-. I want to give it a B, because there's really some goods things here which I enjoyed, but I do have some gripes which I'll go into below. Well, one gripe, really, but it's a big one. This review is not spoiler-free, so... you've been warned.

The plot of the series overall is fairly straightforward - our protagonist, Damen, Prince of Akielos, is captured by his half-brother during a coup and sent to the nation of Vere to be a slave for its crown prince, Laurent. The two hate each other, initially, but gradually become allies of necessity and develop a grudging respect, which blossoms into something more. While this is happening, they're trying to outmaneuver Laurent's uncle, the Regent of Vere, at various political machinations (which are surprisingly decent, for YA/NA), culminating in their making a play to win both their countries back.

I must say, the pacing throughout the series was very good. Nothing really felt like filler, which is always nice, and despite the relatively short length of each book, a lot manages to happen. I very much enjoyed the dynamic between our leads as it evolved and developed - they have legitimate grievances with each other, but at the same time, the series manages to build their relationship off a sense of actual growing admiration for each other (rather than just "he's hot", like in many other books I've had the misfortune to read). Like they're actually observing each other's personality traits. Very refreshing. And they do have some legitimately cute moments.

About my only gripe with the plot/pacing is that the ending felt a little... abrupt. I mean, I get why - their plans for the future which were alluded to (uniting Akielos/Vere) would take a smiiiidge longer than a chapter or two to resolve, but even so. We could have at least gotten Damen to the physician, surely. The man was stabbed ffs. I mean, we're told he'll be fine, but still.

I also didn't really mind the worldbuilding (with the caveats that I discussed in my review of book one regarding how it handles its darker topics). It's not an especially huge or deep world, but there's enough details to make the story work and make the world feel real enough. It draws very heavily on Ancient Greece and Late-Medieval France for Akielos and Vere, respectively, but does some unique and interesting things with them.

Honestly, apart from the book one caveats I mentioned (which, admittedly, are toned down a bit in the subsequent books), my single biggest gripe with the series is probably just the technical quality of the writing. Sure, it's better than, say, Twilight or Fifty Shades, but that's really not a high bar to clear. The prose is very, very basic, and sometimes suffers from awkward phrasing or odd, disconnected dialogue segues and such. More than once I legitimately had no idea what the characters were talking about, because they spoke only in weird allusions that just did not seem to be connected to anything that was going on.

Probably one of the most noticeable (and frequently-occurring) examples of this was with the use of pronouns (or lack thereof). And sure, it can be hard to be clear about who's doing what when 99% of the cast is male, and thus you're stuck using "he" all the time. But, if you find yourself using a character's name six times in a single (short-ish) paragraph, you need to go back and reword something.

When he returned, Damen let Laurent towel him down, with the sweet, unanticipated attentiveness that was also part of the way Laurent behaved in bed. He sipped from the shallow cup that Laurent provided, and poured water for Laurent in turn, which Laurent didn't seem to expect. Laurent sat awkwardly upright on the bedding.

Seriously. At least two of those "Laurents" could easily have been pronouns, and I'd even settle for an epithet like "the other man" just to break it up a bit. It's awkward and clunky. Pretty much any time I found myself pulled out of the narrative, it was generally because of the writing itself. It wasn't constant, but it was often enough to be annoying.

In the acknowledgements section at the end of the last book, I noticed that this series apparently started life as a web serial which, honestly, goes a long way to explaining both this and the sex-obsessed nature of the first book in particular. And, again, honestly, I'm surprised the rest of it hung together so well. Authors who made their names on the web have a bit of a reputation in this sphere, after all (Cassandra Clare. Sarah J. Maas. E. L. James. You get the idea). There was clearly a lot of love and care put into things like the plotting, the characters and their dynamic, and the setting - it honestly makes me excited to see what C. S. Pacat will do going forward, as they improve their technical skills in writing.

But, yes, it is the writing which drops it from a B to a B-. It's just really hard to justify rating it higher with the kind of clunkiness that crops up regularly throughout it. But, apart from that, and the YMMV nature of the series as discussed in my review of the first book, it's a solid series, in my opinion. It's entertaining. I was invested in the story and characters. And it holds together well.

[thegatheringdust]

attempted to draw my vision of damen. dare i try laurent next? (click for better resolution)

[mia-nina-lilly]

Damen and Laurent being Lamen

The fact is that the behavior of a king should serve as a model for all his subjects, and both Damen and Laurent are not only aware of this, but also, when apart, strictly adhere to this rule. However, the fact is also that Damen and Laurent, when together, forget even the slightest decorum. It is not uncommon for Laurent to lick Damen's cheeks at the Council table, it is not uncommon for Damen to put Laurent in a headlock in public, it is not uncommon for Laurent to knock Damen's crown off while tousling his curls, it is not uncommon for Damen to kiss Laurent's palms without any pretense, and definitely it is not uncommon for these two to passionately kiss in front of anyone - which dispels any rumors about their alliance being false.

Ps.: And it's definitely not uncommon to see them putting flowers on each other's heads.

[harusuki]

TIMESTAMP ROULETTE

x-men '97 season 1 episode 1: to me, my x-men

[hashiruchan]

Some chibis of my pookies

Maybe I'll make stickers <3

Now I want to make more chibis lol I need one of Hector and Juste

[stolligaseptember]

this is the most transparent lie laurent's ever told, because charcy wasn't even a THING when they made love for the first time

[lamenweek]

Hey hey hey!

How are you all?

I hope you are all doing well! ❤️

Lamen Week will start in less than a month (I'm really sorry for posting so late about this, but life is a bit of a mess right now...)

Lamen Week Rules :

The week will run from the 21st to the 28th of June 2024.

The prompts are:

Day 1. Summer Palace

Day 2. Soulmates!AU

Day 3. Rooftop/Balcony Kiss

Day 4. Family

Day 5. ANGST

Day 6. Nightmares

Day 7. Scars

Day 8. “It was one kingdom, once”

You can create any kind of content! Fanfics, fanarts, edits, headcanons, cosplay, tiktoks whatever your imagination suggests you, everything is welcome.

Remember whatever Social media or platform you'll publish things in, use the hashtags #Lamen Week and #Lamen Week 2024 and if you will use tumblr remember to tag the blog. I’ll be very happy to reblog all your creations!

You can write in every language you feel more comfortable writing in.

You can post following your own time zone, no particular time zone to follow.

If you have any questions, just ask me, I'll be here to answer!

Last but not least, HAVE FUN!

[iholli]

haha man that's so weird we all had that same fever dream last week right !! I'm so glad nothing bad happened to him and he was back this week 🥰