#i feel confident about my choice for roy and very not confident about my choice(s) for keeley

[thetarttfuldickhead]

do you have any thoughts about the perfume/cologne/deodorant of Roy or Keeley?

Oh, Keeley’s hard, because I think she’d know a lot more about perfumes than I do, and have a far better idea of what is fashionable or not. Then again, I can also see Keeley saying fuck off to fashionable and just go with whatever floats her boat. She’s sure to have a collection of scents for different occasions, selecting what suits her mood and outfit, even if she might have a few favourites that she wears more often than others.

Generally, I’d say she leans towards very feminine and sweet scents, preferably floral and/or fruity ones, rather than very fresh or very aromatic or woody ones. Amber florals, mostly, I’m thinking, or maybe a fruity gourmand.

I’d love to say Twilly D’Hermes Eau Poivrée, because I think the aesthetic of the little bottle with a bowler hat and a colourful scarf is very much up Keeley’s alley, and I do like the symbolism of the cute packaging hiding something surprisingly spicy and strong. Unfortunately, I just can’t square the actual smell with Keeley, especially since the dry down turns rather mature (read: old-fashioned). She might pick up the Eau Ginger, for the odd occasion when she wants to go all out on the sweet candied ginger, baked goods quietly having it out with a flower bouquet. It’s rarely her first choice, though.

I can see (smell) her in Valentino Donna Born in Roma, especially when she’s gearing up for a night out or day about town. There is a woodiness to it that always gives it a hint of smoke, but there’s lot of sweet floral notes as well, and vanilla. It’s pink too, so it’d go nicely with her everything. But maybe this is something she would have primarily worn a couple of years ago, back when we first met her on the show. These days, and especially when she’s at the office or doing business, I think Gucci Guilty pour femme would be a solid choice: it’s a little less in your face, still very sweet and floral but with a hint of citrus freshness to it that makes it lighter, and a quiet undercurrent of spice that lends it a certain air of elegance and (fashionable) maturity. It’s also supposed to be for “women who are truly liberated. A modern declaration of self-expression and fearlessness” and while that’s obviously marketing bullshit it’s also very fitting for Keeley, right? It’s not her party perfume, but yeah, quite possibly her everyday office choice.

For a classic, she might turn to Coco Mademoiselle, as might we all in times of trouble. When she’s feeling the need for something a little less sweet and more purely floral (and woody), the EdT Euphoria Blossom by Calvin Klein might do (if she can get hold of it, it’s no longer produced and I’m very bitter about it), or maybe something from the Gucci Flora Gorgerous line.

Roy is far easier: it is my very learned and expert opinion that he’s recently been rocking Ralph’s Club by (you guessed it) Ralph Lauren.

It’s not a hugely original scent, perhaps, but it is very likeable and not at all boring. It’s got a freshness to it, a little sweet velvety floral layer that turns the aromatic wood into something more than just your average masculine scent. It’s sleek and casually elegant with a nice (if not extremely surprising) twist to it, and smelling it I can smell Roy. I don’t think he’d want anything too out there, but if he bothers getting a perfume at all, he still wants it to be nice and somewhat fashionable (even if he’d hate to admit it) and not just out and out traditional musky spice and wood and leather. The freshness also makes it something suitable for a well-groomed athlete even if it’s very much not a sport scent. Can be worn to any occasion, too, which I think Roy would appreciate – one bottle of perfume is plenty, thank you.

Also, it comes in a all black bottle, so yeah. My main concern is that I’m not sure that Roy would care to be part of any club of Ralph’s, but I have decided that he’ll suck it up. At least he’ll be smelling nice while sulking about it.

[scarletttries]

Roman Roy x Age-Gap! Reader Headcanons:

Pairing: Roman Roy (Succession) x Reader

Word Count: 2k (warning: mention of Logany child abuse)

Author’s Note: Oh Roman Roy, you're really making me fall in love with your sad little face and your slightly softening heart this season. Thank you for this request, please enjoy these thoughts about Roman Roy with a younger, but still very much legal adult, reader. Also please fill my inbox with Kendall and Roman requests because I am thinking about little else! 😊

Update! Part two here 😀

- Roman Roy has always felt simultaneously like he's never really grown up, and that he was never allowed to be a child. Growing up as the youngest son of Logan Roy he wasn't allowed the chance to make the silly mistakes of childhood folly. Logan had been through that before and frankly he needed Roman to be a serious adult from the moment he could comprehend his father's disapproving glare. Naturally this was an impossible ask of a small, sensitive boy, and led to blows to back of the head when tears threatened to stain the silk shirt he'd been so uncomfortably forced into for another endless press event where he stood like a prop, just desperate not to get in any more trouble or let his dad down worse than he already had.

- As Roman entered adulthood he began to be left out of all the rooms where serious people met and talked about things he could never quite get right; he's wasn't self-interested enough, he didn't have those killer instincts, he couldn't rid his head of the thoughts of how many people would be affected by the company's every move. As Logan and Kendall started to tire of his quippy comments, relegating him to waiting outside for busy work, he could feel himself struggling to meet the thresholds of adulthood that Ken seemed to have carried with him for as long as Roman could remember. This dichotomy of boy and man left Roman feeling like he was never quite comfortable with his age, unsure what lense to see that number through. And then he met you.

- Getting a job at Waystar may have left you feeling a little morally uncomfortable, but you reminded yourself that ten years experience there and you'd be able to get any job in any industry you like, while also being able to pay for your own place. So you pushed that feeling down each day as you entered that office full of rich old white men. Given you'd actually had to earn your place there, rather than just knowing someone, it wasn't long until your work ethic, intelligence and ingenuity had you climbing the corporate ladder in your department and getting you noticed by some of the much higher-ups. Naturally they tried to just take credit for your work, but when the day came that Logan actually asked for an explanation of a report you'd produced, Frank had no choice but to put you in a room with the big boss face-to-face.

- You'd heard nothing but bad things about Logan Roy and as he stared at you in pure contempt while you answered his questions, wondering why his time was being wasted with this young thing from the bullpen, it took all your resolve to hold your nerve, giving short answers and trying not to give him anything to hold over you. Every so often you'd let your eyes flick over his shoulder to the man standing behind him, ten years older than you but pulling at the sleeves of his shirt like a little kid as he watched you face the interrogation, outwardly seeming far more nervous about the situation than you did. After fifteen minutes of watching you hold your head high and speak so confidently about your work, Roman was staring at you unashamedly in a mix of awe, intrigue and disbelief. Despite the age gap you seemed to have all the facets of a self-assured adult that he felt he'd never quite unlocked, while exuding the joyful exuberance of youth he'd never been allowed. He needed to know more about you, so when Logan shouted at Gerri to 'throw you in a dress and bring to this week's investor mixers' he could feel his heart pounding in his chest at the sheer hope and possibility of the answers you might hold.

- You weren't thrilled to spend your evenings surrounded by colleagues, stood to attention in case anyone needed a question answering, but you didn't hate the full railing of designer evening wear that had been sent to your apartment for the occasion. You found yourself trying to blend into the shadows of a corner, unsure of your place in this room and this crowd, wondering if any of the food on display was actually for eating, or if that would be seen as a massive faux pas. Luckily Roman had been keeping an interested eye on you all evening; who you'd spoken to, what you'd been dressed in, the frankly adorable face you'd pulled when Frank handed you a Whiskey twice your age and you took a very unwilling sip, feigning appreciation before slinking away to stick your tongue out at the burning taste. And finally he built up the nerve to approach you now that you were alone, trying to approach casually by picking up a grape from the ornate platter beside you, only to take a bite, realise it was plastic and having to hand it mortified to a waiter that had watched the whole thing from your side. He could feel the blood burning in his cheeks as he watched you try and stifle a laugh, both mortified that you already knew he was a fool and pleased that he'd been able to bring a smile to your face this evening.

"Yeah yeah fuck you." He laughed as he stopped just in front of you, all the words he'd planned to share failing him now that he was close enough to see the beauty in your sincere smile as you shook your head,

"Really I should thank you, now I'm one step closer to figuring out what's actually edible here." You replied with a warmth that almost made Roman recoil, so used to the icy chill he usually received from those around him.

"Well certainly not that whiskey." He nodded to the short crystal glass you'd been trying to put down since Frank handed it to you, tone sarcastic but without the cutting edge he was usually one to deliver. "Why is that the one thing these old fucks actually like to be their own age?" As you laughed again Roman felt a little victorious, he had set himself a pretty low bar but he was confident he was going to be the highlight of your evening.

- As you spent the next week being dragged to different events, you'd always find Roman slinking to your side before the night was through, as if you'd always been old friends, just counting down the hours of everyone else's company. You'd counter his one-liners and then ask him where he'd rather be on a Friday night and make him realise he didn't really know any other kind of night. So when you'd list off your weekend plans, and hobbies and interests, and tell him stories about your friends that had his hyena laugh echoing across the otherwise solemn room, he'd start to realise just how much he was missing out on, and how much he wanted to explore that with you as his guide.

- It stopped being enough, just finding you on odd evenings. Roman would start finding your desk at Waystar, pretending to just be wandering through a junior office coincidentally. He'd glance at his wrist, ignoring the fact he'd forgotten to put on a watch this morning, and comment that as 'technically kind of your boss' he needed to make sure his best employees were actually taking a lunch break, and also were you hungry? Sometimes during the day he'd just melt onto the floor beside your desk, chatting about nothing as you tried your best to type and pay him the attention he so desperately craved. He'd start having all of his meetings in the rooms on your floor so he could wave at you as he walked past the huge glass windows keeping your team contained, an apt metaphor for the walls up inside him he was worried you'd never cross.

- Poor insecure Roman, he'd really try and force himself to ask you out, but ultimately he'd be so afraid of the potential backlash of rejection, that it would be up to you to finally ask if he wanted to grab a drink after work, one Friday when he'd been particularly clingy. You'd take him to a fun, casual bar and watch his eye's light up at people playing darts or ordering fried food and generally the nice, relaxed atmosphere where he didn't feel he had to be the smartest person in the room. Occasionally a friend of yours would walk in a wave and ask how you were doing, and you'd introduce Roman as your friend with no shame or regret and he'd say something funny and get the same rush of pride at making you laugh that he did the first time, and he'd feel like maybe the more time he spent getting to know you, the better he could see himself, still young at heart but not the kid he once was. His lost childhood and misspent youth given a second chance as you offered to see him again next weekend.

- Once you open the affectionate floodgates Roman would be the clingiest koala you can imagine. He'd rarely be as direct as holding your hand, especially not in public, conscious of looking just like his father with a younger woman on his arm. But in the privacy of your little apartment, the one Roman fell in love with the moment he saw it, he'd take a slightly threadbare throw and toss it over the both of you as he all but crumbled into your lap when he wanted to talk about something he thought would make you run. Opening up about his father's wrath and his warped view of himself, glancing up periodically to check you hadn't ran away and left him behind, finding softness in your eyes instead of disappointment and sinking even more deeply into you.

- Roman would think you are an absolute fucking genius for everything you've done for yourself. Worked hard to be the best at your job? Genius. Manage your own bills and do your own laundry? Genius. Carry a water bottle around and make him drink some when he has a headache and somehow he feels better than he has in years? Genius.

- Roman would follow you to hell and back, but you'll have to forcibly remove him from your apartment when you want to go outside. He's never been somewhere that actually felt like home, every soft furnishing and mismatched bowl making him want to haunt your halls forever. If you ever make him a home cooked meal, he'll act like it's not a big deal, but honestly he's crying inside that anyone would go through the effort for him, and that he was the person they chose to be around. Cut to him going thrifting with you to buy five new dishes for you to cook in next time, plus anything else you like.

- Occasionally you'll successfully get him outside for a hike, or a walk, or even a day at a museum or arcade; and Roman will go full toddler on you. Pointing at everything excitedly, running around and shrieking, making sure he was your undivided attention and dragging you by the hand to look at everything. By the time you're home you're ready to collapse, only to notice Roman surreptitiously placing a little souvenir somewhere on your shelf, sneakily bought from a gift shop while you were in the bathroom, before pretending he has no idea how it got there.

- Roman is so enraptured by the incredible, rounded human-being that you are, that eventually some of your self-belief would start to rub off on him, making him feel more sure of himself than he ever has before. Thinking less about the approval of others (except you, he still desperately wants that), feeling confident in his ideas, and no longer feeling like he's stuck in Peter Pan mode - despite falling for someone ten years his junior, Roman would finally feel like he was becoming the man he was always supposed to be, thanks to you.

Let me know if you want a part two of this!

[submissiveking99]

TEEN TITANS

Starfire/ Koriand'r (Heroine)

Starfire. Princess Koriand'r is a Tamaranian warrior, and one of the key members of the Teen Titans. Plucky and excitable, she is powered by sun light and is always happy to help

Blackfire/ Komand'r (Villainess/Neutral)

Blackfire. Princess Komand'r is Kori's big sister. In some interactions she is a heartless bitch, in others she was willing to make harsh choices that destroy her. She is a dangerous femme fetale and a mighty warrior

Raven, sometimes known as Rachel Roth (Heroine)

Raven. Daughter of the demon Trigon, she fights to keep him sealed in hell and help others that she can. Moody big titty goth girl

Jinx (Villainess)

A supervillainess with powerful magic that effects probability, effecting luck around her so she gets the best outcome imaginable for her and her alone. A very cunning and playful woman

Terra/ Tara Markov (Villainess/Anti-Heroine)

Terra is the princess of Markovia, but she ran away when her powers began to awaken. Her geomancy abilities being uncontrollable at her age. Taken in by Deathstroke, she was trained ... And let's just say that Deathstroke is veeeeeery creepy

Ravager/ Rose Wilson (Anti-Heroine)

Rose Wilson is the daughter of Slade Wilson, Deathstroke the Terminator, and for a while... she basically worshipped him completely. She would do anything for his approval. Not helped by the fact he drugged her to make her more obediant and to heighten her natural abilities so her training would be more effective. Leading to her carving out her own eye to be more like her dad

She is a skilled warrior with the ability to see a few seconds into the future, a devastating ability when given to a skilled warrior. She is a bit brash, rude and arrogant... but also very sassy and playful.

Artemis/ Artemis Cook (Heroine)

Artemis is the daughter of a Golden Age Super Villainess known as the Tigress, as well as the villain known as Sportsmaster. She works hard to be the best hero she can, not to clear her family name but to just do the good she can. ... Even if she is a complete bitch at times. She can also be playful and teasing.

Cheshire/ Jade Nguyen (Villainess/Neurtral)

Cheshire is a long running enemy of the Teen Titans, later the Titans. She even fell in love and had a child with one of their members, Roy Harper (AKA Speedy AKA Red Arrow AKA Arsenal). She deeply cares about her daughter Lian.

But... Cheshire refuses to give up her assassin ways. Even her feelings for Roy were mostly lust. She is a thrill seeker who enjoys killing, fighting and enjoying herself. She is a violent criminal, and she revels in it.

Donna Troy/ Troia/ Wonder Girl I

I do not have the DAYS needed to TRY and explain Donna Troy's backstory

So... my version is simple. She is a magic clone of Diana made when Wonder Woman was a teenager to give her a friend, Diana being the only child on Themyscira. She was kidnapped by an enemy of Hippolyta, who thought she was Diana, and put into stasis for years.

A valued member of the Titans, their leader when Dick is not arround.

Wonder Girl II/ Cassandra "Cassie" Sandsmark

Born from Zeus having an affair

Is anyone surprised he did that?

She has some incredible powers and is a founding member of Young Justice, and their very leader, having had romances with both Conner Kent Superboy and Tim Drake when he was Robin.

(Dark) SuperGirl/ Kara Jor-El

(Info about Kryptonite Part 1, Info about Kryptonite Part 2)

Supergirl. Kara Jor-El. She is Superman's cousin with all his powers. Free spirited and confident, fun loving but has some grumpy phases. I prefer to write her with a Black K twist (look at the above links for more info)

SuperBitch/ Connie Kent

(Info about Kryptonite Part 1, Info about Kryptonite Part 2)

A genderbent version of Conner Kent/SuperBoy. She is a tough badass punk of a girl, so chose her hero name to be SuperBitch as a way to show how tough she is

She is a clone of Superman and Lex Luthor, yes essentially making her their daughter. She was made to replace Superman if he ever died, taking his place. But she escaped and ended up living her own life. As a founding member of Young Justice, as a hero, as a Titan, and as a member of the Super Family.

Miss Martian/ M'gann M'orzz/ Megan Morse (Heroine)

Megan is a White Martian, opne of the few survivors of the Martian Civil War between the Green and White Martians. She takes the form of a Green Martian, and particular a green skinned woman, to better blend into humanity and help them accept her better. She is a very cheerful and gentle woman, eager to make friends and enjoy life as much as she can

Mary Marvel (Heroine)

Mary Marvel, AKA Mary Batson. Shares the powers of the Wizard Shazam with her brother Billy. She is a young, confident woman always ready to have fun.... And sometimes the power of the Egyptian gods take place instead of the normal Greek gods. Hahaha

Hawk & Dove/ Holly & Dawn Granger (Heroine)

Dawn and Holly are twin sisters from Britan. Dawn uses the power of Dove, granted to her by the Lords of Order. While Holly uses the powers of Hawk, the Lords of Chaos granting her these powers. The two can only transform when they sense danger with a cry of their hero name. Dawn is much more gentle and methodical, while Holly is agressive and rude. Dawn a bringer of calm and peace while Holly brings war and battle.

Duela Dent/ Joker's Daughter/ Harlequin (Villainess/Anti-Heroine/Neutral)

Duela's backstory, I use the Pre-New 52 version

Total Muses: 15

[miss-atena]

I saw your writing requests and can I request Vil x Idia?

I always have to push my rarepair lmao

No rarepair is safe from us >:))

I love rarepairs, they've always been my faves on fandoms cof cof Floy'Nya cof cof

Ya didn't really gave me a prompt to work for, so hope you don't mind some general headcanons of them! If you ever want more, or something specific of them, you can request it away!

Cw:

Vil Schoenheit x Idia Shroud

No one at first believed or understood just HOW those two got together.

I mean, THE Vil Schoenheit, a famous model and actor, with a huge fan base and with products stamped by his face dating Idia? The nerd otaku dude who doesn't leave his room, like, ever?

Some were even concerned if Vil was under some form of course or potion effect, which he responded by an offended gasp.

"Do you think so lowly of me that I would ever fall for a curse like that? Dear Seven, you really underestimate me and Idia, don't you?"

The way they got together is... A rather uncommon one. Idia found Vil doing an advertisement for a game he really liked, and he got a tiny celebrity crush.

Ortho insisted Idia shoot his shot, because the chances of a parasocial relationship becoming unhealthy to someone are higher when there are no sort of communication between parties.

Idia went through the toughest boss fight in his life, which was pressing the send button. That felt like such a normie problem, he almost gave up... Until Ortho pressed for him. Great. This action will affect the main game forever.

Vil was... Low key endeared by the message. It was bold and talked in a lingo he isn't used to seeing. He felt generous enough to give some time to this gloomy samurai person.

They didn't even realized they were so close together until Ortho went thanking Vil for making his big brother so happy.

Cue to Idia's door being kicked open and Idia cowering in his chair almost crying in fear as Vil scolded him about not going to talk to him directly.

They became an odd pair after that. Vil makes sure Idia gets his needs taken, including touching some grass (much to his dismay).

And Idia teaches Vil about technology methods to make his career better. (He doesn't mention about the Vil x reader fanfic tab on his tablet though)

Vil found it obvious how Idia was head over heels for him, but he felt oddly calm about this. It didn't feel like other people crushing on him, where he needed to step on eggshells to maintain this pristine image.

Idia seemed to find him "having max charisma and appearance stats" even when he was a total mess, in his eyes.

It was a new thing for him, letting himself show his "uglier" side to someone, and not being the perfect Vil Schoenheit. And Idia seemed to not care in the slightest, although he did get flustered a lot whenever Vil shared a picture with his hair down. Vil learned from Idia's ling that that was "simp behaviour".

Idia... He never had so much attention from someone so different in his life. And for once, it didn't scare him. Actually, when Vil complimented him for showing up to class, he felt oddly proud and confident.

Ofc Vil was the one to confess first. I mean, Idia was going through the 19th mental breakdown over how to confess at that point, and Ortho was NOT a reliable source of advice on the matter.

Ortho is their biggest supporter, and says that Vil needs to take good care of his big brother, since he is very fragile and also very scared.

Rook was actually very supportive of Vil's choice. He is the biggest Vil fan, but he puts his dear Roi du poison's happiness over his. And to be fair... Their dynamic is enticing. It's unique. A beautiful form of art on itself!

Others were very much confused but grew used to it.

An odd pair, sure, but who said love couldn't be odd?

Their favorite pastime together is casual dates at Idia's room. Where Idia geeks about how this super rare character he summoned had such OP skills that his team two shot the boss, all awhile Vil paints his nails so they have matching colours.

Don't ask Idia why he is showing up to class so much, or he will run away and hide in his room. He is trying! He even wore his uniform 2 times this week!!

They are so silly, I think I got carried away lol. Hope you enjoy this!!

Have a great day/night!

[beebeetheclown]

Therapy With Kendall

I don't know. I've had these headcanons written out on my laptop for a while now and thought I wanted to share this little mini headcanon series I have?? I feel as I don't write enough "soft" things lmao. So here are these, I kind of made it so you can either imagine yourself as his therapist or for you to just read what it would look like for him. Idk idk haha..

Head Canon 1 (Kendall's first session):

“So, are we ready to start?” Kendall Roy asks, sitting on the couch of the therapy office. 

“Yes. I think the more important thing to ask is.. Are you ready for us to start?”

“Yeah, I think so.” 

“Okay, good. Now my first question is simple. Why are you here in my office today Kendall? What is it that is bothering you, what do you need to get out of your chest?”

He lets out a small sigh, “I just wanted to let someone know the truth about me and my family. You see, there’s a lot of articles and reporters out there that publish things about us, and most of it… isn’t correct. I just want someone to understand so I can also understand it myself.”

“I see. And this bothers you, yes? People saying incorrect things and publishing them out to the world?”

“It does. I know that’s a silly thing to say coming from someone like me, someone who’s in the public eye, someone whose family practically owns the media. But the truth matters, to me at least.”

“So truth and honesty is a big thing for you. What about your siblings? Your father? Is truth a big thing for them?”

“Well, I can’t speak for my father, but… my siblings… well, I don’t know. I’ve always tried very hard to be honest. To tell the truth. My brother Roman and my sister Shiv, they… see things differently.”

“Explain that to me, Kendall. How do they see things differently?”

He thinks for a moment, then speaks. “I think the biggest difference is that they care about the business, our family business that is. I care about it too, but when they’re talking about what’s best for the company, I’m talking about what’s right for the company. We… we see things from different points of view. They care about the company, I care about the truth and what’s right.”

“I see. So you care about doing what’s right rather than what’s best. That is rather interesting Kendall. And be honest with me here, do you think you are a better choice over your siblings with this thought in mind? Do you think you fit better to take the CEO job when your father gives it up?

He hesitates before speaking, “Honestly, I do.”

“Mhm, interesting. And why’s that, other than you feel as if you know what’s right for the company? Why else do you feel you fit best to be the new CEO?”

He thinks for a minute, “Well, I think I have a lot of what it takes to get the job done. My father’s been teaching me since I was a boy, he promised it to me even. I know the business well, and I know how to make… hard decisions. When you’re faced with a problem in the real world, sometimes there’s no room for sentimentality. You have to do what needs to be done, and that’s something I know how to do. I know how to separate business from my emotions, something that my siblings… don’t seem to understand.” 

“And do you tell other people about this? Or do you keep this to yourself?”

“Well, I do make a case to my father that I am the best choice, but that’s about it. As for Roman and Shiv… I’ve tried to talk to them, but they don’t really listen. The more I talk, the angrier they get. So I usually just… keep quiet most times.”

“Do they think you are maybe being a little… narcissistic when talking about it?”

“Oh, maybe. That’s certainly one way to look at it. But, if I really am the best choice, which I truly believe I am, is it really narcissism to acknowledge that? There’s nothing wrong with having a little self-confidence, right?”

“Of course there’s nothing wrong with it Kendall. I’ll tell you this, as your therapist, I am on your side of things here. You speak your truth and others seem to become jealous of that, so they tend to bring you down to bring themselves up, does that sound about right to you?”

He nods, “Yes, you could say it’s like that. Some people do not like to hear the truth because it forces them to look inward and acknowledge their own flaws. So… what they do is attack the person telling them what they don’t want to hear even though it is the truth. It’s a basic human coping mechanism.”

“You have a way with words, you know that Kendall?”

He smiles a little, “Is that a backhanded compliment? Because it sounds like a backhanded compliment.”

“No no, I just wanted to tell you is all.”

He continues to smile and chuckles a little, “Thank you? I mean… thank you, but… I’m not entirely sure if you’re making fun of me or not.”

“I’m not making fun of you. You are just making this more interesting for me to listen to.”

“Oh. okay. Good. I’m sorry. I just…” He laughs a little in embarrassment, “you have no idea how stressful my life has been recently. It’s hard to trust that anyone is actually on my side, and not just pretending to be.”

“Mm. And when did these problems with trust start?”

He takes a breath in, “Not too long ago actually. Probably around when my sister began to date this smart businessman. He was proud of her I guess for choosing him and favorited her over me. I have spent every day since then trying to prove that it’s the wrong choice… and that I am the one who is supposed to be taking over. It’s been very… stressful. He says the last part a little quieter, almost like he didn’t really want to say it out loud. 

“It sounds to me that your father changes his mind a lot. Does he change his mind often? Pick different children to favour often?”

He nods his head slowly, “Yes, he does. He’s always been that way. When Connor, the eldest, was born, it was always going to be him but I soon came into his life after and that’s when he favoured me more. After a while, he lost confidence in me. Then it was my brother Roman. After he saw Roman in action, he decided that his favourite was Shiv. Now, it’s like he's unsure anymore. He picks and chooses differently day by day.”

“This must be very hard on you, your father constantly picking and choosing. I’m guessing this triggers those trust issues of yours?”

“Yes, it is. It’s very hard not to feel like I’m in this… never ending competition with my own siblings. There’s always someone trying to favor with my father, someone trying to get ahead. And it doesn’t help when I see my own father… never thinking I’m good enough.”

“I know how you feel, Kendall. I feel similar, maybe not to that extent, but I’m a middle child as well. Seeing my older sister be better and more successful than me made me feel not good enough no matter how hard I tried. It’s just important for yourself to feel good about your own self and then you can grow from there.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. I… I have a lot of work to do to on myself, to be honest. I need to be more confident and just… truly feel better about myself and stop doubting things.” 

“Well, I think that concludes our appointment today Kendall. You’re still interested in a follow-up appointment with me next week?”

“Yes, I could do that. It will be good for me I suppose.”

“Yeah, I think so too. And hey, until I see you again, I want you to focus on what we’ve talked about. Try and feel good about yourself okay? Try the best you can alright?” 

He smiles softly, “Yeah, sure. Thank you again for this.”

“Anytime Kendall, see you next week. Oh and here, have one of my business cards, it has my number on it. Just text me if you need anything before I see you next okay?”

“Okay.” He replies with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes: Yeah, I'm weird like that and write about therapy sessions, what about it?😎

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 17 Review: Not Getting Along

I liked this episode a lot! A lot happened with a lot of foreshadowing to come for future episodes. There’s a lot Wattrel development as well as Roy and Fuecoco too! I think that having this episode centered Fuecoco and Wattrel was good! I like seeing Pokemon get their time to shine!

The conflict between Wattrel and Fuecoco was briefly shown last episode, so this episode decided to show that the conflict persists. I actually like that these two don’t get along. In the previous anime, we always see Pokemon caught by Ash and his friends getting along with each other instantly after capture, so to see that Wattrel hasn’t gotten along with Fuecoco three episodes after its capture is nice to see. It shows that not everything will work out well in the beginning and that some conflicts take time to be resolved. Wattrel’s issues with Fuecoco is that it invades its personal space a lot. Wattrel likes having its own space. An issue I have with this is that no one realized that Wattrel didn’t like Fuecoco invading its personal space, which was why it got mad at it. Everything gets resolved at the end and Wattrel even joins in on Roy and Fuecoco’s singing. Hopefully, their bond will deepen after this episode.

While the episode revolves around both Pokemon, I feel like it’s more of a Wattrel-focused episode as previous episodes already established Fuecoco as a character. This episode was needed to establish Wattrel more. Wattrel is a bit stubborn and still cannot fly well.  The main antagonist of this episode was the turbulence, giving the literary conflict of man vs nature in effect here. Wattrel’s inability to fly well caused it to struggle a bit, but with the help of Roy, it gained confidence to use the wind to generate electricity and destroy the large branch coming their way. My gripe with this portion of the episode was that the adults clearly told everyone to come inside for shelter but Roy did not move despite being told to do so. I just feel like the way this was executed was a bit weird, but since it was beneficial for Wattrel, I can let it slide just this once.

The battle between Roy’s team and Captain Pikachu was nice to see. I like that the first battle was a disaster due to Fuecoco and Wattrel’s inability to get along, but after the encounter with the turbulence and noting that Wattrel’s electricity gets stronger in the wind, the second battle actually goes a lot better once Roy gets the idea to stack the two Pokemon onto his head for Wattrel to get a higher altitude to generate electricity for Spark. While Roy didn’t win the battle, he, at least, blew off Cap’s hat off of his head. That’s an achievement! I know that if Roy keeps trying, he’ll defeat Captain Pikachu one day!

In regards to other characters, Liko is now a bit shy towards Dot after learning her true identity. She’s even nervous when she and Roy come into Dot’s room for the very first time! Dot is also caring in this episode as she’s the one giving advice to Roy and then watching them from afar to check up on him. It shows that Dot is growing and that the development she got last episode wasn’t one note. The writers are doing a good job with making characterization consistent.

There’s a lot of foreshadowing in this episode. The first one is Orla asking Liko if she is thinking about wanting a new Pokemon. Liko has never thought about getting a second Pokemon until Orla brought it up. Seeing how Roy, Fuecoco and Wattrel are getting along, she’s all for the idea of getting a second Pokemon. There’s a special trailer for the Galar arc that shows that Liko’s second Pokemon is hinted to be Hattena. I was thinking that it would be Galarian Ponyta, but Hattena was my second choice if the former wasn’t going to happen. This will definitely give Liko more development in future episodes. The second foreshadowing is Roy mentioning how Captain Pikachu looked as if it was flying during their battle. This is going to be addressed next episode as it is dedicated to how Friede and Cap met and how the Rising Volt Tacklers came to be. I’m honestly excited for next week’s episode as it is an origin story; I really like origin stories!

One last thing I like to note is that Roy actually uses his Rotom Phone to see what move Wattrel was using. The fact that the characters are relying on their technology and not correctly  guessing what move a Pokemon used is something I liked seeing. In the previous anime, they only use the Pokedex to look up Pokemon entries, so to see a character like Roy use his technological device for advice is a nice touch to the changes in the Pokemon world and how reflective it is to our world.

While there were minor hiccups that I didn’t particularly like, I still enjoyed the brunt of this episode. I hope to see more Pokemon-centered episodes in the future. What did you think about Wattrel and Fuecoco’s conflict? Did you like how it was resolved? Are you all ready for what the Galar arc will bring to the table? Let me know your thoughts!

[ratquesadilla]

waste my time (chapter 3)

pairing: stewy hosseini x oc

word count: 1183

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43040553/chapters/123230932

a one night stand with endless consequences.

chapter 2 - series masterlist - full masterlist

----

stewy (last name still unknown) was jaw dropping-ly beautiful. underneath all the cockiness and confidence was a man who could pass as a gods mortal form if he lived in ancient greece. the golden light of the lamp standing tall next to the couch lay over him like a blanket of sun. he basked in it, letting it wash over him and find its way into every crevice of his body. his head was rested on the arm of the couch, his mouth slightly open. a stubble was forming, it wouldn’t be long before a graze from his chin would leave a slight mark. 

i peeled myself away from him, leaving his arms empty and eliciting a small plea for me to return to his orbit. the mugs from earlier were still untouched on top of the coffee table and our clothes on a pile at the edge of the carpet. “stewy.” i said, shaking his shoulder slightly to bring him back to consciousness. “you can’t sleep on the couch its bad for your back.” he responded with a hum and i grabbed his hand, pulling him up slightly and leading him to the room at the end of the hall. he mumbled something, no doubt trying to get me to leave him on the couch instead of ripping him from his slumber. 

we slowly inched towards the glow of the candles in my room and eventually eased into bed. he defaulted to his usual position on his back, with one arm at his side and the other by his head. almost inviting me to curl into the space between his chest and his triceps. i hesitated, wondering if this was a habit or a conscious choice he was making for me, and he noticed. “i’m not sure youre in a position to get insecure in front of me,” he joked. “considering i’ve been inside you and i’ve met your family.”

“you’ve met, kendall.” i quipped back, “there are so many more roys for you to immerse yourself in.”

“you think i haven’t met roman and shiv?” he said, bringing his hand to his chest as if i’d just offended his mother.

“well i assumed shiv would have told me about the incredibly handsome man in our house if you ever came over.”

“maybe it slipped her mind.” he shrugged and brought his hands to my hips, pulling me into the bed. “how come i’ve never seen you around then?”

“boarding school.” i said as he brought his hand down from behind his head and rested it on top of mine. “my father thought it would be a good idea to turn me into an impressionable young woman before i entered society.” 

“i promise i wont tell him but i’m not so sure it worked.”

“need i remind you that you are a guest in my house.” i joked.

“youre beautiful.” he whispered as he pulled the duvet over our shoulders.

“keep talking like that and i may start to think you’re trying to seduce me.”

“maybe i am,” he chuckled before planting a kiss at the base of my neck and drifting to sleep. 

——

by the time i’d made it out the door to my first class, i’d learned three things about stewy hosseini.

first, he was an early riser.

second, he was a business major. 

and third, he was a very good cook.

the third reveal was a surprise to me, considering most old money boys had no idea how to wash their clothes; let alone cook and entire meal by themselves. 

i was pleasantly woken up to the smell of eggs and toast, and even more surprised by the ethereal man in my kitchen. he stood leaning over the stove, showered in sunlight. his stubble was becoming more visible and the trail from his naval to his boxers was almost gawking at me. 

breakfast was quick and surprisingly domestic, co-existing with someone. the feeling was foreign to me, my family wasn’t a breakfast together everyday family. we were barely a “together” family. i wanted to grasp onto it and never let go, but the sinking feeling that all of this would fall apart in a second crept up on me and ruined the moment. 

“do you do this with all the girls you fuck or is it just me?” i questioned, an accidental hint of cynicism in my voice. 

“does it matter?” he replied, immediately playing defense. probably catching onto the venom in my words. 

“i wanted to do something nice so i did something nice.”

“god i don’t know how ken lives with you all the time i’d kill myself” i said as i began packing up my things. “i need to get to class and i don’t want a stranger in my apartment while i’m not there, get changed quick.”

“is that all i am? a stranger”

“yup, you may know my brother but you don’t know me.” i shot back before quickly ushering him out the door.

he shouted a quick “text me!” mere seconds before the door slammed in his face. 

i let out a deep breath before mentally berating myself for being such a bitch. old habits die hard i guess. 

historically, i wasn’t the most stable person. almost all of my relationships (if you could even call them that) ended with me panicking and cutting off the relationships head with a guillotine. if i went to a therapist i’d probably get the “your parents divorce combined with your father shipping you off to boarding school as to not have to deal with you is the root of your commitment and attachment issues” speech that id gotten a million times from connor. 

part of me wanted to turn around, rip that door open, and engulf stewy in a kiss with enough passion to split the earth in half, and the other half wanted to get out of this building before he decided to do just that. 

as undignified as it was, i ended up slinking out of my apartment through the fire escape. i couldn’t risk stewy seeing me and trying to charm me. god knows i would fall for it. 

as soon as i was in the car i texted eleanor, she’d seen me act out this exact routine with too many guys and would know exactly how to keep my mind from spinning me out of control. it’s not like i wanted to date stewy, but the pit in my stomach that formed once i realized that might be what he wanted was growing by the minute. 

“hey siri?” i said, siris blue/purple bubble popping up at the bottom of my cars control panel. “google how to fuck-zone your fuckbuddy that may or may not want to date you?”

“i’m sorry, i’m not sure i understand.” she chirped back. 

“of course you wouldn’t understand.” i huffed out. “virtual assistants don’t have to deal with clingy, touch obsessed boys.” 

god this was annoying, i thought as i sped out of the parking garage and towards campus, absolutely dreading what the future would hold.

[siobhans-roy]

What did you think of the Ted Lasso finale? It was very emotional but everyone in my dash right now seems to have strong opinions about it, either good or bad, and I was wondering what your opinion since you haven't really said.

it had a lot of issues but i guess i feel mostly positive about it (and the whole season in gerenal). i think the more i rewatch nitpick it the more i'll find those loose treads, and there were definitely choices i didn't like, but overall i never felt the ethos of the show was really compromised???

my main issue with this season was time-management and pacing. back when it was still airing, during the fist half of the season, i kept feeling like they were wasting precious screentime on new, under-developed side characters, but also kept hoping it would all tie itself together in the end. there were also a lot of misleads i didn't really understand. looking back, it’s not that they were wasting time, it’s that a lot should just have been cut. the episodes were very long. i think maybe they were worried about balancing the comedy and the drama, but they excelled at that in the previous seasons in a way that didn’t seem organic in s3… but in terms of the actual main character arcs i’m not that mad, personally. i understand that, considering where s2 left things, a lot of us were expecting a more “confrontational” season (nate and ted, rebecca and rupert, jamie and his dad, even roy and keeley) with more tension filled scenes that would end up driving the narrative forward by way of friction. i’m sure that would have been satisfying in it’s own way, and yet there’s something about their refusal to be antagonist, the softness of coming into yourself and your role and your worth on your own, with just the right push…. i mean that’s the whole ethos of ted lasso right there.

like. it’s the general message of “love people for who they are and forgive them for who they aren’t”, but it’s also “i give you a job, the life part is up to you”. the entire spirit of the Lasso Way is that it’s just the initial domino that sets off the effect. there’s no guidelines, other leading with his heart and creating a support system that harnesses people’s talents. ted doesn’t drag people kicking and screaming into being a better version of themselves, but it’s just that much easier to do when you know you’ve got someone in your corner. which after two years culminates in a final season that, in my opinion, is all about finally having the confidence to shed negative self-thoughts, motivators and coping mechanisms, even if some storylines were certainly clearer and more well-executed than others: roy sheds self-doubt and petty hang-ups and manages to step into his leadership role more confidently. colin breaks free from his fear of not being accepted by his peers by coming out to them. keeley relinquishes some of her internalized shame, inferiority-complex and the stigma of her public image, being able to conciliate it with being a taken seriously as a business woman. rebecca let’s go of her hatred of rupert, jamie of his hatred of his dad, and nate of his self-hatred. and ted finally unshackles from his incapacitating fear of abandonment and of not being a good father to his son.

but, i think when it comes down to it ted himself was almost more cathalist than character for the narrative/message. he comes into these people's lives and he changes it forever, but it's not really his home, "it was never really about him". and i can understand people disliking this, finding it a bit cruel. i think i do as well, a little. but what u gonna do abt it 🤷🏻‍♀️ i'm choosing to not let it take away from the actual spirit

[oreganosbaby]

Thinking about the cis girl Succverse again and how Shiv is in this interesting position since she gets to have the most sexual autonomy of her sisters, with Kendall being pigeonholed as the pseudo-mom and Roman as the baby girl, and yet Shiv is also the most defeminized, which would probably be a blow to her relative social currency. It's definitely not like she can be anything resembling "butch", and despite her instinct to be a player I think she'd get initially presumed to be too mannish to be attractive a lot. Or rather, men probably wouldn't want to admit being attracted to her because it would feel too emasculating.

imo, this is practically canon. i always thought shiv's sexuality to be atypical for a fictional female character but, very realistic nonetheless. in canon, shiv is physically attractive enough as a woman despite her doing the bare minimum to be above avg in looks. like, she clearly doesn't care about fashion or anything that much but, she knows not to dress in a way that's significantly unfashionable. being a rich, good looking person who comes across as confident goes a long way despite her lackluster social skills. although she's seemingly bad at flirting, she's straightforward enough that she can get what she wants. in my experience, a lot of men actually really like when women are straightforward and blunt so, i think it works out for her in that way. i mean, she doesn't fully respect any of the men she fucked within the show because y'know, they're submissive. they're probably not the type to be that embarrassed by being attracted to her. i mean, tom thinks getting ANY is something to write home about because he didn't get that being sexually submissive is shameful. not everyone was raised by the roy family's spartan code. ironically, she’d assume every guy who WAS ashamed to be attracted to her were assholes.

in her encounters, she's the actor and the other person (from what we've seen, men) is the object: tom's a meat puppet, nate's a dog and that actor... self explanatory. this means shiv is socially fucking them, not the other way around because that's the sort of dynamic established between she and her sexual partner despite the fact that she's physically getting fucked. in most, but not all, contexts, she puts less importance on the gendered anatomy simply because it's inconvenient for her to think about it. to her, her gender doesn't matter and it's the other people who treat her differently for it that are in the wrong. she won't let them stop her and she'll take what she wants when she wants it (as long as she admits to herself she wants it). letting the uh, haters (misogynists) hold her back is like surrendering and that's not what she does. i mean, honestly, she's kind of a bull like that.

Because she's the one doing the fucking, she's actually good and correct still. like, she can't be a whore because that would make her dad a whore and he isn't because they both fuck. kendall (succession's ur-whore) and roman get fucked. when you want to get fucked, you need to ask someone to give it to you. when you want to fuck, you take what you want. i feel like the way the show frames her drives this home. i have literally ever seen shiv as being "slutty." the only time she dresses in a way that might be construed as this is around the end when she was wearing those midmarket tight dresses but, that's because she was getting weirdly desperate as the dynamics between she and tom as well as she and her father were shifting out of her favour and then there's the whole thing with her mom marrying peter onion. needless to say, shiv was going through it and it showed in some questionable fashion choices. other than that, she never really dresses to seduce because she just isn't seductive. she just fuckin takes nate's hand and shoves it down her pants. she doesn't feel compelled to be flirtatious in the way roman or even kendall (who is less good at it but i think he gets pity fucked a lot lol) seemingly does.

whatever bad relationship shiv might've had pre-Tom, i assume the dynamic was something like he made her feel like she was in control to manipulate her into getting what he wanted. i think in that case, it would be easy for him to make her feel bad about being independent, doing things for herself or being not as openly emotional as most people. there's a lot of like, seemingly "nice" guys who do that and i think, if tom is anything to go by, she likes "nice" guys with a bit of a mean streak so they're sweet to her but, aren't so nice that she'll feel like the asshole in comparison.

[sanfielle]

5, 8, 17 for a character of your choice; 38 for at least 5 prolegomenon characters, and 44 for tryxie

a grab bag.... hmm.... world is my oyster...!! i tihnk for the first 3 ill random gen soemone. smile. ok i got sa!ytk so ill do this i guess forrrrr dusty? the protag. the killer.

5. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

pretty mcuh a handful of useful stuff. defintiely has a swiss army knife, a pack of gum, a spare band-aid... his wallet with like 3 diff identities on drivers licenses or smth. he ususally likes to be prepared for stuff ykwim.

8. Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?

LOL he is a former hitman...!! i havent really thoufht about his past hits though. i think maybe his first was jsut some random person in debt to whoever hired him... thats probsbly usually what these things are about after all.

17. What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?

in my head dusty used to have thsi old firetruck that he loved so much adn carried around everywhere. and it barely works because its so aged and the plastics all brittle adn the paints faded but it was so important to him. his son has it now

ok gd. prolegomenon time. lets see...

38. Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?

REMOVE THE PROBLEM:

yua. in her head tehre are no problems or threats that cant be overcome so she will throw herself with gusto at things, though strategically... she wont just do this blindly. she knwos everything has a soft spot though.

cherry. mew cannot conceptualize the fact taht there are threats and problems mew cannot solve by mewself, or at all even with friends' help. mew is unkillable. mew is unstoppable. mew is cherry freakin' thaxton. etc.

sofie. everythinf in the world can be solved by being annoying enough and a little luck. aslo now that bud can explode stuff bud is like Well ill just fucking blow it up? and buds right. most stuff can be solved by blwoing it up. bud IS the threat in this scenario...

dina. dina is similar to yua inthe way that itll back off to approach things strategically adn see what other avenues can be taken, though it also isnt scared to get a little dirty in there. it will take advatnage of every tool at its disposal to do wahtever has to be done.

diego. unmovable object, once it's mind is latched onto soemthing it will not let go until the roadblock is removed or it is bascislly dead. its a very stubborn person who works at something until stuff goes its way.

rhett. hes like diego but worse in every way. there is only one problem/threat on earth wehre he conceded and removed hismelf and his brother from it but ithink if he were ever faced with that same issue today he would beat it to death with a rock.

aldrich. everything in the world is a puzzle to them and they have the key in their head, ifthey can just think it through. sure it will take a few tries adn some failrue but at the end of the day theywill unlock the key factor to make it work. or theyll die. either or

REMOVE THEMSELF:

roy. he is a pretty straightforward kind of guy who can recognize when hes in over his head. also wehn faced with an issue he cant handle he usually just has a little upset about it.

jesse. theyre like water in the way taht theyll always take the path of least resistance, mostly becasue they dont like to be challenged in a lot of ways (isnt life challenging enough!?)...

amada. she gets overwhelmed easy and isnt very confident in herself and her ability to tackle stuff. if she has friends by her side MAYBE its a different story but mostly... she will just back down when stuff gets too hard.

isa. it kind of depends on the issue becasue if its something they feel can be handled wiht minimal issue/harm, theyll do it, but generally most thinfs cannot be handled this way lol. if stuff looks a little too big for them to chew theyll back off as far as they ccan.

julio. he doesnt like to cause any sort of fuss over stuff, so if he cant handle something (esp by himself), hell just walk away and try something esle. theres always anotehr safer/easier avenue to take!

reed: i mean theyll TRY. theyll chew on it and think it through but generally theyd prefer to go around stuff if possible. tehy dont really like to pushthemself to overcome anything or whatever, they think thats an easy road to hurting yourself....

OK. that waseverything i cared to say. whatever. tryxie.

44. How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?

i think... tryxie is a very deeply self obsessed persson. it doesnt say 'love you!' very easiky this is thekind of thing resevred for wehn it thinks it will never see this person again or soemthign onthat level of importance. even for family and stuff. its said that only once before when not meaning itt and it ledto so much drama taht it has vowed never to say that without meaning it ever again. normal guy x

oc questions!

[filmrelicsworld]

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani: Friendship is Eternal, Love Changes

Since the movie closes with a scene on New Year's Eve, it has become my go-to movie for the holiday. From the moment I first watched it, it has made me happy, and even today, on gloomy days with a lot of snow outside, it comforts me. Indeed, I enjoy a low-key celebration, and the companions in this movie create just the right amount of ambience to make the day when the clock strikes twelve and another year goes by unforgettable.

In brief:

When Naina sees Aditi, an old friend from school, in the past, she finds out that she and her pals are going on a mountain hike. Naina makes the snap choice to join the expedition as well, not realizing that it will permanently alter her. Eight years later, old acquaintances reunite, and a wedding is scheduled for the near future.

Somehow, since he came up with the concept for Brahmastra, Ayan Mukherji's skill at writing women has decreased. Once upon a time, there was a certain assurance in the way he penned them, and they stood on par with the movie heroes, not merely relegated to the heroine role but endowed with fully realised personalities and nuance.

While it occasionally employs clichés, the movie is nonetheless a competent entertainment with plenty of commercial flair. It's also a great movie to watch if you're interested in Bollywood or Hindi cinema because it includes everything a family entertainer should have—dance, romance, and songs.

The film is a passable entertainment piece with a lot of commercial flare, despite the fact that it uses clichés from time to time. For those who enjoy Bollywood or Hindi cinema, this film is highly recommended as it has all the elements of a family-friendly film, such as romance, dancing, and musical numbers.

The Artist, the Dreamer, the Alcoholic and Gambler, and the Nerd. The movie examines these clichés, demonstrating how things evolve over time and how, although we may have known some individuals to be of certain kinds in the past, they are actually complex individuals with a darker side.

Deepika Padukone plays the nerdy medical student Naina Talwar, a woman on a quest who yearns for more out of life. She embodies the archetypal "gorgeous woman wearing adorable clothes and glasses." It follows her path from being an introverted person to a contented heroine who gradually breaks out of her shell. She is quiet and reserved in the first part of the story and confident as hell in the second, yet she still harbors the insecurities of a bashful young woman. She incorporates these commonplace facts into the fantastical world we are viewing, making her world seem believable.

Kabir "Bunny" Thapar, played by Ranbir Kapoor, is endearing and fantastic. He presents that dreamer from the upper middle class who doesn't have to consider his privilege too carefully on television. His dance prowess is on full display here as well. Even though I have very mixed feelings about Ranbir because of his recent work, which leans dangerously towards misogyny, I can always watch this movie again since I find him to be a charming character.

He just takes up the area he needs on screen because there are three other characters with their own arcs, so he doesn't overtake the frame. The screenplay ensures that he has enough room to play both the charmer and the quiet moments of focus while still keeping the other characters in the movie front and centre.

In her role as the artistic and rebellious Aditi "Adi" Mehra, Kalki Koechlin is simply amazing on screen. She brilliantly portrays how she fantasises about love while feigning strength. We recognize Aditya Roy Kapur as Avinash "Avi" Shiv Arora as the friend who consistently gets into trouble and has a dark side because we want to help him get on their feet but are unable to do so.

The late Farooq Shaikh, who plays Bunny's father, is a supporting character who gives a beautiful and moving performance. He uses so little to accomplish so much. Evelyn Sharma plays the incredibly naive and flirtatious adversary of Naina, Lara. She does a great job at bringing humor. In the second part of the film, Kunaal Roy Kapur, who plays a delightful character, also infuses the films with such amazing comedy.

All things considered, this is a decent rom-com and an enjoyable movie to see again for some nostalgia. Bollywood encompasses all one could ever wish and much more. There's something so endearing about it that someone will always identify with one of the characters. The songs are catchy and endearing. That truly is a modern classic!

[canlan46]

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[lonelyasawhisper]

A Day at the Races Is A Self-Made Masterpiece

Wesley Strick, Circus, 31 January 1977

IT WAS SOME WEEKS BACK, and Europe's biggest rock band had four months' studio time behind them, and two weeks ahead. "It feels like we've been working forever," Freddie sighs, "and I'll be glad to see the end of it. I think we all will, although everything's been going fine. We've even got release dates set up," he adds, optimistically.

Later, sitting comfortably on the finished product, Queen's animated lead singer takes time out to talk about the carefully delayed album. A Day At The Races (Asylum), Queen's fifth, is the band's first self-produced record. "We finally got that organized," Freddie nods, to explain the absence of veteran Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker: "We just felt that, for this one, we needed a bit of a change. We were quite confident in doing it ourselves. The other albums we really co-produced, actually we always took a very keen interest."

"It was all very amicable," drummer Roger Taylor is quick to explain. "Roy's been in and out of the country. He's heard some rough mixes. Who knows? Maybe he'll be back producing the next one! It's been tremendous pressure recording this album." Mercury, meanwhile, is quite happy with Queen's first attempt at studio self-sufficiency. "I think it turned out for the better," he insists. "Taking more responsibility has been good for us. Roy's been great, but it's a progression, really – another step in our career. We simply felt that it was now or never."

Queen fiends needn't despair, however. "There are definitely different sounds and a few surprises on the album" Freddie promises, "but we've still maintained the basic Queen sound." A Day At The Races features four songs from Mercury, four from guitar-phenomenon Brian May, and one each from Taylor and bassist John Deacon. "I feel this time that we've got quite a few strong singles," says Freddie. "It was a very hard choice, to be honest. Picking the first single is a matter of taste. We settled on 'Somebody To Love' to start things rolling. It's one of my tracks," Mercury adds, modestly.

"'Somebody To Love' is Aretha Franklin-influenced," Taylor says. "Freddie's very much into that. We tried to keep the track in a loose, gospel-type feel. I think it's the loosest track we've ever done."

"It's new, it's slightly different," Freddie agrees "but it still sounds like the Queen that used to be. A Day At The Races is definitely a follow-up to A Night At The Opera. Hence the title. We learned a lot from A Night At The Opera about studio technique." "This time out we missed Roy's cheerfulness," Taylor says. "He contributed a lot technically, and we've capitalized on it."

Each time we go into the studios, it gets that much more difficult," Freddie explains, "because we're trying to progress, to write songs that sound different from the past. The first album is easy, because you've always got a lot in your head that you're anxious to put down. As the albums go by, you think, 'They'll say I'm repeating a formula.' I'm very conscious of that."

Taylor confirms their constant testing: "We took a break in the midst of it to play three gigs. It was great to get away from the studio for a bit, and it was great playing live, again-that's a much more immediate satisfaction."

"It was difficult trying to maintain the Queen idiom," Mercury elaborates, "and, at the same time, come up with songs that were different and more interesting." Freddie Mercury offers his own track-by-track rundown on Races:

"We start off with a track from Brian called 'Tie Your Mother Down' which we've recently put in the live act. In fact, we played it at Hyde Park before we recorded it. I was able to come to grips with the song in front of an audience before I had to cut the vocal. Being a very raucous track, it worked well for me.

" 'You Take My Breath Away' is a slow ballad with a new twist. That's another track I did at Hyde Park, with just me on the piano. It was very nerve-wracking playing all by myself in front of 200,000 people. I didn't think my voice would come through," Freddie jokes, half-serious, "It's a very emotional, laid-back number.

" 'Long Away' is a twelve-string thing written by Brian...very interesting harmonies.

" 'The Millionaire Waltz' is quite outlandish, really. It's the kind of track I like to put on every album," Freddie teases. "Something way outside Queen's format."

"It's comparable to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'," Roger Taylor explains, "in the sense that it's an arranged, intricate number. There are several time-signature changes," the drummer adds, "'though not quite so many vocal overdubs."

"Brian has orchestrated it fully with guitars," Freddie says, "like he's never done before. He goes from tubas to piccolos to cellos. It's taken weeks. Brian's very finicky. Anyway, this track is something that Queen has never done before-a Strauss waltz!

" 'You And I' is John Deacon's track. It's very John Deacon, with more raucous guitars. After I'd done the vocals, John put all these guitars in, and the mood has changed. I think it's his strongest song to date."

Unlike the concept-ized Queen II with its Side White and Side Black, A Day At The Races plays, in Freddie's words, "as a unit. Side Two opens with 'Somebody To Love,' the single. We're not going to settle for less than Number One in America. We were a bit disappointed in 'Rhapsody'." Disappointed? "I suppose we're spoiled," Freddie concedes, light-hearted. " 'Rhapsody' was a strong song, and a mammoth hit on Continent. This time, we won't be second best.

"'White Man' is the B side. It's Brian's song, a very bluesy track. Gave me the opportunity to do raucous vocals. I think it'll be a great stage number.

"'Good Old-Fashioned Loverboy' is one of my vaudeville numbers. I always do a vaudeville track, 'though 'Loverboy' is more straightforward than 'Seaside Rendezvous', for instance. It's quite simple piano-vocals with a catchy beat; the album needs it to sort of ease off.

"'Drowse' is a very interesting song of Roger's. Roger is very rock and roll. It's got great slide guitar from Brian and Roger's done octave vocals. It's a very hummable tune, actually, I sing it all the time.

"The album ends with a Japanese thing, a track from Brian called 'Teo Torriatte,' which means 'let us cling together.' It's a very emotional track, one of his best. Brian plays harmonium and some lovely guitar. It's a nice song to close the side."

To graphically emphasize Races' connection with its predecessor, the new LP features inverse-Opera artwork, a black motif with a subtly revised insignia. Freddie envisions a repackaged re-release of the two albums "at some future date. But we'll have to get out of this Marx Brothers thing sooner or later."

Pre-package or not, Roger Taylor considers the new album a distinct improvement over A Night At The Opera. "The new songs are stronger," he asserts, "and the playing is quite possibly better. The writing's better, too."

For Taylor, A Day At The Races represents "a step ahead of our previous work. We tried to avoid over complication, sterility-we tried to get a more basic feel in."

Is Queen living down its reputation for studio fussiness? "Not at all," Taylor answers, "I think it's good to be fussy. You might as well make it as good as you can if you've got all the studio devices at your command. As long as the end result isn't clinical; as long as you maintain the feel of the music."

If Mercury and May have loosened up in the studio, they've failed to tighten up their legendary recording budget. Endless vocal and guitar overdubs account for the five-month sessions and staggering expense. "I'm afraid this one cost as much as the last one," Taylor admits, chagrined.

According to the British press, A Night At The Opera came in at forty thousand pounds.

Freddie Mercury, drained and despairing after months of painstaking overdubs, has a bright idea. "I really feel that, on the next album, we're going to get it orchestrated by an orchestra," he says. "I think we've really done as much as we can with guitars."

Does Brian concur? "I think he does," Freddie chuckles. "We always did it ourselves, and it was rewarding. But now, we've done it, and it's time to move on." Is Queen still staunchly opposed to synthesizers? "We've built up a terrible aversion to them," Freddie concedes, "but you never know. To me, Brian always sounds better than a synthesizer."

Finally, does Queen reign supreme in the U.K.?

"That's an awkward question," Roger laughs. "I'm thinking about it." Roger's synapses silently arrange the electrical impulses of two words: Led and Zeppelin. "Yes, I suppose we are," he concludes. "It feels good in terms of radio response and fan letters, that sort of thing. In the studio, nothing feels quite real. You lose contact with things on the street. We don't see much daylight at all."

Beginning mid-January, the band should be seeing plenty of daylight. "I've just been handed a list of tour dates," Freddie says, "and, oh my god, it's going to be two-and-a-half months in the States. I'm just hoping my voice will hold out."

Will the ultra-theatrical Queen mount its American onslaught with a whole new show? "A whole new show?" Freddie chuckles. "Bloody hell yes!"

Retrieved from rocksbackpages.com

[bigskydreaming]

Brain topic du jour is reflecting on the frankly weird as fuck pattern in Dick’s life where....he barely ever experiences losses one at a time. Most of the loss he’s experienced in his life is compounded by him losing multiple people and other elements of stability all at the exact same time.

1) When his parents died, in some continuities this is coupled with him losing his extended family of his aunt and cousin as well, with his uncle left comatose and on life support for years before he eventually died as well. Even in continuities without Richard, Karla and John, the loss of Dick’s parents is compounded by the additional loss of his circus family in the sense that he was taken away from them by the state and their constant reassuring presences in his life were no longer comforts he was able to rely on.

2) When Jason died, Dick didn’t just lose his brother, as the tragedy was compounded by Bruce’s reaction. I’ll never be able to gloss over the effects of NTT #55, personally, because I think its too key to Dick’s entire characterization and the specific direction his character took in the years that followed this, to like....disregard that Bruce however unintentionally, while lost in his own grief, added to Dick’s own sense of loss for Jason in probably the worst way possible. As by kicking Dick out and telling him to leave his keys, Dick - having no way to know or guess that they’d ever reconcile, just like he never actually went back to the circus being a regular presence for him - to Dick, this was in essence the equivalent of his childhood tragedy all over again. Losing not just one family member, but his whole family in one sweep, and all the comforts and stability offered by a home he was forced to leave. Even Dick’s contact with Alfred was minimal for awhile, because why would the guy who basically JUST saw history repeat itself and was like, well I know how THIS tends to play out.....why would he think that if Alfred felt forced to actually choose between his loyalties to Bruce and Dick respectively, that Alfred would pick Dick over the man he’d known and raised from childhood himself?

3) Titans Hunt. I know I harp on this one a lot, but you can’t deny that it fits the pattern. Dick didn’t just lose one friend and teammate.....he lost Joey, he lost a good four or five lesser known Titans who nevertheless were people he viewed as directly HIS responsibility to keep safe. With these tragedies compounded by the fact that though comics played out a lot more slowburn and extended stories over years back then, like.....the aftermath of Titans Hunt was still everpresent and directly died into Dick’s reactions and emotions during the Mirage storyline and everything that happened with the failed wedding and his breakup with Kory AND the fact that he was literally forced off the team he’d basically founded, by the government agency that took over the team and appointed Roy as its leader in his stead.

3) Graduation Day. The second time the Titans disbanded it was again not due to a singular loss, because Dick didn’t just lose Donna at this point, but also Lilith died in the exact same story and though Lilith is criminally underused, like, she’s also one of Dick’s oldest friends. She was literally the first Titan to join after the original five. This then led into the Outsiders era, where Dick was shown to still be reeling from the losses of this story for an extended period of time, and in a fun parallel to the Titans Hunt aftermath, Dick was also ousted from his leadership of THIS team by essentially a vote of no confidence by his teammates (and uh, Bruce too, literally).

4) The Blockbuster arc. Where Dick’s emotional state was due to a continued string of multiple losses. He lost his apartment building and almost every one of the neighbors he’d built a community out of, as we’d been shown him actively involving himself in their lives and vice versa for YEARS before this point. Then he lost his circus, his childhood home, burned to the ground and with dozens of deaths - both spectators and actual performers Dick had known and loved as a child. Then he lost his relationship with Barbara, his sense of self-security and autonomy to Tarantula, he lost another teen vigilante who died in his colors, the mantle HE’D created, when Stephanie was believed dead in War Games, and it all culminated in losing the city he’d invested himself in as his CHOSEN home, the place he dedicated himself to protecting, when Chemo blew it up.

Oh just for the record - my nonexistent passport to the magical kingdom of Narnia for a fic that raises the point when bringing up Tim’s losses in the Red Robin era, that like.....ALL of the above happened at literally the EXACT SAME TIME as all Tim’s referenced losses occurred. Obviously Steph meant more to Tim than Dick on a personal level, but I also included her largely as an anchor point to the timeline, to show how that death, and not long after that Jack Drake’s and then Superboy’s.... occurred right smack in the middle of one of the absolute WORST periods of Dick’s life. To be clear, I don’t intend this to suggest that no actually, Dick had it harder than Tim - nah. 

No thank you. Hard pass. I hate that sort of thing even in support of my own faves over other characters. No, instead the thing I’d love to see explored more is just in light of the SPECIFIC angle fics take here - that Dick’s actions while Bruce was lost in time showed an obliviousness to everything Tim had lost lately - for literally ANYONE to bring up or introduce into the timeline here an awareness of everything Dick had lost AT THE EXACT SAME TIME PERIOD. To establish that actually, Dick didn’t just ‘not understand what it was like’ - rather, its more accurate to say that nobody in universe around this time ever shows an awareness of Dick’s own losses and says oh wait, that doesn’t track then. 

Because obviously, with this stuff put in proper perspective, Dick understands VERY VERY WELL the exact thing we’re accusing him of not understanding by being oblivious to Tim’s losses that he’s not actually oblivious to because he tries to talk to Tim about them all the time, while meanwhile its everyone else who has absolutely mum to say about the fact that Dick’s emotional state is compromised to hell and back at this point, not JUST because of losing Bruce, but also because *gestures wildly* literally ALL OF THE ABOVE in the exact same time frame Tim’s extended losses happened in.

And okay I am going to indulge in slight tiny itty bitty pettiness and point out my ire that so many fics set during this time tend to recite listicles of Tim’s losses, with Steph, Kon and Jack Drake at the very top of said list....while paying no attention whatsoever to the fact that STEPH WAS LITERALLY BACK BY THE TIME THE RED ROBIN SERIES HAPPENED. She’s LITERALLY a person Dick sends to check up on Tim after Tim turns Dick away when he tries himself. How are you gonna stress the impact Steph’s loss has on Tim when you’re not even acknowledging STEPH’S RIGHT HERE IN THE EXACT SPECIFIC CANON STORY YOU’RE CITING??? I just. afhioskhflafhlafhklfahlfa. 

And not to put too fine a point on it, but you know who ELSE was also back at the same time? CONNOR. Superboy LITERALLY was already back to life by the time the Red Robin series even began. Like, the issue where a resurrected Kon and Cassie (Wonder Girl) have a heart to heart about the fact that Tim and Cassie ‘connected’ during his absence and Connor stresses that this doesn’t bother him or make him feel negatively towards either of them at all, because hello, he was literally dead at the time, why would he mind that two of the people he loves most in the world sought comfort in each other? Yeah, that issue? Literally came out BEFORE Tim even became Red Robin.

I MEAN. I’m just saying, when people constantly take shots at Dick’s choices during this period because of how much Tim had lost before Bruce already, in order to shift focus away from the fact that Dick lost Bruce every bit as much as Tim did......and you repeatedly emphasize the SAME three names as the focal point of Tim’s losses while paying no acknowledgment whatsoever to everything Dick lost at the exact same time Tim lost these three.....it quickly becomes kiiiiiiinda relevant in my opinion THAT TWO OF THE THREE NAMES CONSTANTLY MENTIONED AS BEING TIM’S LOSSES ARE NO LONGER EVEN LOST BY THE TIME THE SUBJECT COMES UP. Again, I’m just saying! Pettily, mind you! I am aware of the pettiness, I just beg awareness of like *again gesticulates wildly at all of the above* ALL THAT!

LOL.

But I digress.

5) When Bruce was believed dead while he was lost in the timestream. Again, Dick didn’t just lose the father who had been the only parent in his life for almost TWICE as long as his first parents......this was coupled with the loss of numerous other sources of stability in Dick’s life. There’s the matter of his personal sense of identity and self-expression....Dick FOUGHT against becoming Batman, trying to handle Gotham in Bruce’s absence as Nightwing for as long as he could, because he knew being Batman was very much NOT going to be good for him. He put so much of himself into building his identity as Nightwing, establishing himself in that role, that self-image, that yes, I maintain it was an actual LOSS for Dick, to feel like he had no choice but to give that up and everything it meant to him and his own life, in order to essentially live Bruce’s life for him in his absence. 

Because it wasn’t just being Batman that Dick was struggling with at this time....he also had to act as the patriarch to the Wayne family, essentially raise Bruce’s ten year old son, step into Bruce’s old role in Wayne Enterprises, all while getting no acknowledgment for any of this, for literally LIVING his father’s life instead of the life Dick had worked so hard to build for HIMSELF....because of course Dick’s actions and struggles couldn’t even be advertised beyond the family and close friends, because the whole point of him doing all this was so that nobody else even realized that Bruce wasn’t really there anymore. Dick didn’t just assume Bruce’s responsibilities. Dick assumed Bruce’s life, so thoroughly that most people didn’t even put together that Bruce was ‘dead,’ between Dick handling Bruce’s actual roles and responsibilities while Hush made public appearances as him. 

Like, when you’re living someone else’s life so completely that nobody can tell they’re even gone....how on earth does that leave any time or space for you to have ANY kind of life of your OWN, y’know? Not to mention the fact that like in so many times previously....all this meant that Dick couldn’t even afford to let his grief for his own losses show, because he wasn’t supposed to be grieving any losses in the first place, that was the whole point of the con!

Additionally, couple this with the fact that throughout this time period, Dick didn’t have Tim to lean on at all, because it was never that Dick kicked Tim out or neglected him or didn’t care....he’d actively stressed how much he needed Tim, because the partner Tim was convinced Dick chose ‘over’ him - Dick was the first one to admit back then that he DIDN’T trust Damian yet, couldn’t afford to, because he was all too aware that Damian didn’t give a fuck about him yet and couldn’t be guaranteed to step in to have Dick’s back - because that required mutual trust that Dick literally just hadn’t had time to build yet. And add to THAT the fact that during this time, Jason was actively antagonizing the family and Dick in particular at every turn, trying to bring them all down and basically write over what all of them saw as Bruce’s legacy with Jason’s own version of what he thought that should look like.

Also also, take into account that unlike how often we see fanon depict Dick as just too stubborn or proud to ask for help, there’s the fact that he actually had very few avenues TO ask for help! As already established, he DID ask Tim for help. Not like Jason was an option at this time, and Dick’s friends weren’t actually just sitting waiting in the wings and groaning about the fact that Dick was trying to do all of this solo....nah, they kinda had their own problems, which Dick was all too aware of?

Like the fact that in the wake of Final Crisis, it wasn’t just Bruce that was believed lost. Many other key Leaguers like Martian Manhunter were dead or lost, with others struggling to fill the gaps left in their absence. Cry For Justice happened right after Final Crisis too....that story where Lian was murdered? So it wasn’t like Dick was remotely going to try leaning on Roy when Roy had just lost his freaking DAUGHTER and very much wasn’t handling it well (and not to overshadow Roy’s loss at ALL, but please let’s not act like Dick - who had literally been the person to put a baby Lian in Roy’s arms for the first time and had known that girl for pretty much her entire life - like, it shouldn’t be used to detract from Roy’s loss at all, but it shouldn’t have to, to just acknowledge that Lian’s loss right at this exact time was painful as fuck to Dick, who’d loved his niece like crazy.)

The pattern of compounding, concurrent losses in Dick’s life. I’m just saying. Its there.

And it extends into the New 52 as well, where Forever Evil came right on the heels of Dick losing his circus in THIS continuity to the Joker, just as a way to hurt him in Death of A Family. And with the aftermath of Forever Evil and Dick’s own literal death, being like....the complete loss of Dick’s entire life, even though he was revived quickly. That didn’t mean he got to live HIS life though, since Dick Grayson was believed dead and he was told had to remain so, so its like fuck whatever he actually wanted to do as he went about on the Spyral mission aka something that pinched his own sense of morality and personal agenda at every turn and was kinda the last thing a therapist would recommend for a trauma recovery period, lol. And like, for all the focus that was paid to how Dick’s family were hurt because they believed they’d lost him when he was actually alive, let’s not forget that for all intents and purposes, Dick DID lose his family in the wake of his resurrection because he was flat out told over and over that due to what ‘he’d LET happen to him’ he was an ACTIVE danger to them, and thus wasn’t allowed by Bruce to contact any of them or lean on them to any degree, until Bruce got amnesia and stopped blocking Dick’s pleas to return home by just not being there to pick up the secret phone line at all. 

(And omg, the obliviousness that just EMANATES off the hot takes that Dick had a ‘choice’ in all this and he still CHOSE to do what Bruce told him....like. LOLOL, stop being pissy about me bringing up the term abuse apologism when its literal victim blaming to paint the guy who had to be beaten into ‘agreeing’ to the Spyral mission in the immediate wake of the trauma of DYING, all while his father vocally blamed him for his own suffering and the ‘threat’ he now posed to his family, keying directly into the guilt complex Bruce knows damn well is at the core of most of Dick’s motivations.....fucking please. There’s no choice in all that. That’s active emotional, mental and physical abuse aimed at directly manipulating Dick’s actions, delivered by the guy who knows Dick best in the world and whose approval - particularly when Dick is at absolute rock bottom aka Current Location - matters more to Dick than just about anything because his sense of self-worth has more in common with dog shit than actual dog shit does. Or something. Idk. That analogy got away from me. But like. You get it.)

BUT. I. DIE. GRESS. (I guess).

Aaaaaaanyway, so yeah! That repeating pattern throughout Dick’s life of ‘loss? What loss (singular)? My losses only come in groups, lolol, fuuuuuun’ - mmmm. Yeah. So that’s what’s on MY brain right now. Thoughts?

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 2x6 thoughts

I felt like the physical embodiment of a series of iconic reaction GIFs while watching this episode. I felt like Higgins gagging on air and right and wrong choices. As an invested, non-casual Ted Lasso viewer, I feel quite absorbed in the experience of every episode, but I’m not usually a LOUD non-casual Ted Lasso viewer. At one point last night, I shouted “This is the wackiest show ever made!” at @bristler, and that doesn’t even sound like something I would say. And by “wacky” I just meant “all the emotions are happening at once.”

This episode was absolutely great and I knew that every single Rebecca Welton feeling I have would intensify because of this episode and that is exactly what happened.

This is me bravely writing down my episode thoughts after only one viewing (just like last week) and a bad night of sleep! Copious spoilers and emotions ahead...

This show goes all in on hats! A lot of bad hats for giving bad relationship advice and making bad decisions! Feel like you’re gonna do something correctly? Just put on a bad hat, that’ll snap you right out of it. Just had a revelation that you are almost certainly in an abusive relationship? Your girlfriend is hiding in the parking lot with a terrible hat for you! (I love this show.)

Dark forest dark forest dark forest dark forest.

I truly, truly, truly do not mean this to sound judgmental of any other fan, but it’s taking everything in my power not to just type “dark forest” in the comments of every person who is outraged that LDN152 is not Ted.

Gonna get my initial thoughts on the Sam=LDN152 reveal out of the way. I honestly like this choice.

First, I like this choice because of who LDN152 isn’t. I think about how awful it would be if she’d matched with Rupert and realized she’d been manipulated by him and charmed by him all over again, and how, when she gets the same reveal the audience already has, she would end up retraumatized by having been charmed and taken in by Rupert all over again. I think about her matching with Nate (if he’d redownloaded the app) and the inadequacy of her assertiveness advice and how Nate is one of the only non-Rupert characters who’s used sexist language against her and how Nate’s insecurities would be like water trying to co-exist with the oil of Rebecca’s insecurities. Nate and Rebecca are fond of each other and seem to want to be in each other’s lives, but a romantic squishing together via dating app would set them both back lightyears. I think about her matching with Ted, a man currently on a parallel-to-Rebecca trek through a very painfully dark forest, a man swinging wildly between performative attempted wit and utter panic. A man she trusts with her professional and personal challenges. [Her challenging mother comes to town and Keeley and Ted are the people she wants with her at lunch.] Ted and Rebecca, with all their current limitations, and with all the ways the forest obscures the view, are trying to be there for each other in their real, non-romantic comedy versions of their lives, and the discomfort of matching on an app seems like the kind of thing that would make them rear back from each other instead of bringing them even closer together. It is not time. It is so profoundly not time that I would have been furious if the writers had continued the “maybe it’s Ted?” line of thought for another second longer than they did.

Second, I like this choice because of who Sam is. I know. He’s not an appropriate match for her. The power dynamics are all messed up and their ages are all wrong. But this does introduce a potentially interesting parallel between Rupert and his younger women and the scrutiny Rebecca would risk herself and Sam experiencing if she goes for it. Rebecca seems to have tried to put away her Rupert-related trauma, but the specter of Rupert is lurking, and I do see that being a good person making an ethically complicated decision with another good person is very different from being an abuser setting out to take advantage of multiple people...but there are parallels she might have to reckon with. Also, Sam is a kind person with a strong ethical center and a well-documented interest in Rebecca. He and Ted helped each other feel more at home in London during a time of deeply missing other homes, and Sam has internalized a lot of Ted’s ways of living in a way that might genuinely appeal to Rebecca even if she doesn’t fully realize why. The writers on this show don’t write messes for the sake of drama. They write messes because life is painful and complicated and also very funny. I’d be shocked if, however this Bantr thing plays out, it isn’t painful and complicated and also funny.

(I am already a little worried that whatever happens next is going to activate some very ironic fan reactions given this is a show whose thesis statement is about withholding judgment. This fear is based not on Ted Lasso-specific knowledge but on unfortunate patterns of fandom, but...you can fear the impact of racist, sexist, and ageist tropes on two beloved characters without embodying those tropes as a viewer. You can watch characters make decisions that could subject them to harmful scrutiny without performing that harm yourself.)

Ted Lasso is a fictional character who tweeted about the joy of eating out (you know...at the Crown and Anchor) the day before 2x6 launched and during 2x6 Rebecca invited him to eat out at the Crown and Anchor. (I love this show.) I am so, so, so fond of all the little lunch-y things in this episode. Ted can’t bring Henry his lunch because he’s “at work” aka living in London. Ted and Beard surprise each other with secret sandwiches on Fridays. Rebecca is overwhelmed by her mother’s visit (her mother’s performance of a harmful pattern) and wants Keeley and Ted there. The scene at the Crown and Anchor, as painful as all the divorce/separation feelings were, was also so homey and lovely in terms of these characters being friends, being at home in a place despite the very not-at-home feelings emanating from Deborah. The Bake-Off viewing! Ted being the designated driver (probably a good thing on this particular day)! Rebecca feeling discomfort but not shutting down! Also cute British pub feelings. Evidence that Rebecca has talked to her mom about Ted! About personal things about Ted!

Naaaaaaate. His bursts of confidence and insight. The pain and insecurity and anger almost literally bubbling under the surface.

I cannot say enough good things about Higgins. He’s grown so much, and his decision to be honest with Beard regarding his concerns about Jane was absolutely impeccably done. Many, many trusted people in Higgins’ life told him not to do it. They are all good people, and they were all wrong. Sometimes one human being’s honesty makes the difference for someone who is struggling, and that’s exactly what happened here. Beard truly heard Higgins. And of course he didn’t immediately break things off with Jane. But he heard Higgins, and when Jane showed up Beard’s face looked different than it ever has, and Higgins words are with him as he walks off into the night with Jane and that might save him. And Rebecca witnessed it.

And I’m so glad she witnessed Higgins’ choice in the midst of this very difficult experience of a) trying to find Ted because she knows he’s in pain and being unable to and b) watching her mother repeat a pattern that Rebecca herself was able to break. It taught me so much about Rebecca. The way she was punished (and described the experience using the language of punishment) for having an honest reaction to her mother’s decision to leave her father the first time. The way she was taught that love is conditional, that love and reconciliation are things you can purchase with gifts. The way her mother uses the language of self-help without internalizing what it would take to heal, and probably has little use for actual therapy. The way her mother drinks alcohol as a way to feel free.

I don’t even know how to think, much less write, about everything with Roy’s coaching and his image and how Ted feels about it and all the fatherhood things Jamie brings up and all the fatherhood things Ted is missing w/r/t Nate and everyone except for Rebecca taking at face value (or willfully deciding to take at face value) the idea that Ted’s panic attack is actually just him needing to go barf up a fish pie. Ted hugging his backpack in Sharon’s office. Rebecca trying to find him, and Sharon being the one who does. The words “I wanna make an appointment” being the words that conclude the episode at the exact midpoint of the planned-for show. Halfway through the middle season. The moment Ted realizes he’s never going to be okay if he doesn’t give therapy a try.

I also can’t say enough good things about the moment with the team and Sharon, the way she agrees to one drink, the way it’s clear that she adores them all. Sharon is exacting and professional without being cold and calculating, and everything she does in this episode is such a gorgeous model of assertiveness, patience, and moderation...three things Ted struggles with the most.

What a dark forest. What an excellent group of humans.

[keeley-jones]

Nate’s choice to publicise Ted’s panic attacks is interesting also in terms of what he didn’t publicise. He knows a lot about the team. He could upset Jamie - his former bully - by going public about his dad, or get the team into trouble with Beard having been high during a match once. But he chooses to go for a very personal attack against Ted, whom he perceives as having abandoned him.

I also thought it was interesting that he only chose to leak Ted's secret to the press.

Don't get me wrong, Nate telling Trent Crimm about Roy not reading the scouting reports, Beard accidentally being on mushrooms, and/or Higgins missing the time window to get the player from Brazil would all be shitty, but choosing to leak Ted's mental health struggles is a whole new type of low.

I think Nate just felt more personally hurt by Ted. With Jamie, he started off as being a bully to Nate, but by 1x04 (thanks to my man Roy Kent taking a stand), Jamie, Isaac, and Colin never mess with Nate again. Isaac and Colin are even supportive of him during 1x07 when Nate roasts the team. Anyway, in season 2 Jamie doesn't do anything to personally hurt Nate, and since he's one of the team's star players, Nate knew it was a fight he wouldn't win, which is the same reason he chose to single out Colin instead of Jamie, Isaac, or any of his former tormentors; those guys are confident in themselves and their abilities and are the team's best players and in Isacc's case, the team captain, while Colin isn't. (Plus, since Nate also has a poor relationship with his father, I think what happened in the Man City locker room resonated with him on some level. Even though Nate's father isn't physically abusive, he also focuses on Nate's flaws and is dismissive to him.)

Back to Ted: Nate said it himself. Ted made him feel like he was 'the most important person in the world' and Nate felt abandoned by him. This comes from Nate's deep-seeded resentment towards himself and his damaging need to constantly be validated by others. When Ted was no longer giving him daily praise and checking up on him as much, due to both his anxiety worsening and his perception that Nate was fine in his new role, Nate bottled up his feelings before lashing out. He felt like Ted didn't care about him anymore, which we the audience know isn't true.

On the one hand, I see where Nate's coming from. Ted was definitely more distant this season, and he was disconnected from what was happening in the locker room/with Nate a lot more than in season 1. But after Nate found out why Ted had been so distant in 2x08, instead of taking that information and applying it to a heart-to-heart with Ted where he told Ted how he's been feeling, Nate took it to the press instead. I don't care how abandoned Nate felt, you NEVER leak someone's mental health struggles to the public. That's so beyond cruel. As someone with anxiety who also gets panic attacks, I can't even imagine how much my heart would break if that happened to me, especially due to one of my friends/coworkers being the one to leak it.

Ted is one of the most understanding people on the planet. He forgave Rebecca for all her sabotage instantly in 1x09, giving us one of the best scenes of the whole show. If Nate would've just talked to Ted about how he felt, you know Ted would take it to heart and work on it. At the same time, Nate's issues run deeper than this. He needs Dr. Sharon, or at least therapy of any kind, desperately. While as an adult you do need friends/people to check in with you, you don't need 24/7 praise and admiration and someone's constant attention. Roy doesn't, Beard doesn't, Sam doesn't, Dani doesn't, Keeley doesn't, etc. While it's nice to get compliments and get built up by the people in your life, if that's the only way you can connect with others is through them praising you/giving you their undivided attention constantly, that isn't healthy.

While I'm of the belief that he'll get a redemption arc in season 3, it's gonna be a long, bumpy road for him. I have no doubt Nick Mohammed will continue to serve Emmy-award worthy performances each episode! My Nick Mohammed Emmy Campaign is already in full swing for 2022, and everyone is free to join!

(Sorry for this novel-length answer lol.)