#kate plays persona

[zenmai--jikake--no--komoriuta]

finally...... 12/25 in P3R..........

I hope he still says the line, obvs there's no romance link to trigger it here but I hope it got included nonetheless-- time to grind for Thanatos before the 31st!

[bi-writes]

If you have time I am kindly asking for Simon and the teams POV on the arranged marriage fic!! Like why they put that ad out! I also think they’re silly for doing the whole ceremony in their gear 👉👈

the arrangement prequel

it wasn't much of a choice. ghost knew this was coming, knew this might happen--disciplinary action from the increasingly...unorthodox ways he was coming back from an op.

one too many times, a capture or kill became looking for the pieces of their target scattered across the field. an accident on the way back to interrogation--he doesn't know how his blade ended up embedded in their mark's throat. he misfired his gun--it's too bad it went straight through that prisoner's forehead.

disobeying without saying no. taking matters into his own hands without exactly defying the rules. ghost had been walking along the boundary line for a long while, and he knew eventually someone would realize the risks he was taking.

it was kate's idea. ghost needed something to chew on, something to satiate the hunger in his bones. a companionship, is what she tells price, but even he knew that was a stretch. anything given to ghost would surely be shredded apart on impact. anything that belongs to him ends up tucked underneath layers of shadows, not to be seen again.

but ghost is the best at what he does. all kate needs is for him to fucking listen once in a while.

when they ride back in the humvee, ghost is fiddling with the chamber of his pistol when price speaks up.

"got somethin' new," he says, looking into the rearview mirror. the sergeants shuffle a little closer to hear him. "new program between CIA and SAS. pilot program, not...exactly routine. but they'd like one of you lot to be the first to participate."

"what is it?"

price clears his throat, "the legality is a grey area. but both parties need to be willing."

"spit it out, cap'n."

"an arrangement of sorts," he says finally. "it's...not a secret 's hard to keep a bird with the things we do...always away, hard to reach. but you're the best at what you do, and i think if you take it seriously, it could be good for one of ya."

soap snorts. "cap'n, ye wanna play matchmaker with us? see if we're worthy of little bonnie spies?"

price snorts, rolling his eyes, "i need you to set an example, is what i need. i need one of you to step forward."

ghost looks up when he says that. his eyes flicker, and he looks at his captain, who keeps his eyes on the road as he drives. he hears what price doesn't say. this is your punishment, he imagines. and you will take it and not say a word, like the lieutenant that you are.

in the dark of his room later that evening, he opens the file with your name typed across the front. CONFIDENTIAL it reads, and he flips the manila folder to spread your profile out onto the desk.

you're smiling in the first photo. it's a headshot, from high school maybe, from college, a pretty photo of you beaming at a camera with a nice background. he eyes your height, weight, measurements, the skills they've identified and the answers to your questions about why you want to participate in the program.

Q: What kind of partner are you looking for? A: Resistant. Unmovable. Loyal.

Q: Why do you want to participate in this program? A: I'm tired of being disappointed.

Q: What are some of the qualities you possess you would like your partner to know about you? A: I'm not afraid of what I don't know.

short answers, straight to the point. affirmative and honest, with no room for interpretation. ghost doesn't need interpretation; he knows what it is you're saying.

when he looks back at your picture, he brings it closer, narrowing his eyes as he studies you. the smile you wear, while beautiful, isn't real. it's a persona, a ruse, a costume that you wear to put the outside world at ease. you understand that a smile makes you agreeable, but he knows, somehow he knows, that there must be a tick that you feel that no one is able to quiet, an anger and a lilt to the soft voice you must speak in that carries the weight of your defiance and your disappointment with everything the world is that you thought it wouldn't be.

ghost isn't told that the program is a lie. you aren't an operative for the CIA, you aren't some kind of spy in need of company. when he reads the rest of your file, he is amused because he knows the rest is made-up bullshit that doesn't apply to you. you are as civilian as they come, but with how well you lie, he wonders if you should be recruited just for that.

with just a little training, he thinks perhaps you might be everything your country needs and more. a little blood wouldn't scare you.

it's weeks later when ghost eyes the date on his calendar. he has marked it with an X, black marker haphazardly traced there to indicate the day. he told price he doesn't want bells and whistles--no music, no men, no party. an unmarked room and his bride is all that is necessary.

he steps outside to smoke a cigarette. he sucks on it gently, blowing it out to the side, and he eyes the car that pulls onto base carefully. when price steps out of the drivers' seat, ghost stubs out the cigarette and turns the corner. he catches a glimpse of a lace veil before he disappears.

and when he steps into the room hours later, your back to him, he can't help the way his pupils dilate and the way his body goes rigid with rage. there you are, standing there, in white silk and lace, your back to him but the picture of elegance and the presence of something honestly deserving.

it is only when he lifts the veil off of your face and sees those eyes that he understands what you are, what you wear.

a façade, a beautiful mask of your own, to cover up the ugly you hold on the inside.

he smiles under the mask when you kiss him over the fabric. because fuck, yes...he doesn't care where you have come from. he doesn't care that they lied about who you are, that they didn't tell him the truth, that in all honesty, they have given you to die and you don't know it--he doesn't care because it worked, at least for him. the finest flesh he has ever set his eyes on. he cannot wait to brand you for what you are worth.

if they meant to punish him for the crimes he has committed, he is sorry. because you are his reward, and there is no hell to pay.

[romancearc]

i respect the writers in bridgerton for never faltering from their feminist narratives and how the characters' ages play into their relationship, despite any other shortfalls in the story.

as much as I hated how it happened, Penelope needed to tell Colin that he will never understand her plight as a woman. it was really important that Penelope stood up for herself in the bug ball, unlike in the books where Colin takes center stage.

what drives this home further are scenes where everyone speculates on who LW could be, some people still assume her to be a man. a complete feminine persona, gossip considered as mostly a womanly habit and STILL people think it could be a man because 'no woman could have a work of body this successful'. ew.

I also respect the writers for not depending on toxic romantic tropes and letting polin sort things out without any 'angry sex'. bros, as appealing as it sounds, when you're having an argument as severe as what polin were having- being intimate with each other while they had so many unresolved issues with each other would've been DISASTROUS. they needed to meet midway through. that can only happen through communication and maybe negotiating emotionally. which they did. for two idiots in their early 20s they did pretty well actually.

kanthony looks more mature because they ARE more mature. Kate was already 26 when she met Anthony. Kanthony's conflict was to stop being the certified adults all the time and let go of their inhibitions whereas Polin's was to be mature, look past each other's mistakes, not make rash decisions anymore and be. considerate. these are two completely different stories.

this is why bridgerton is such an interesting show. every story won't be everybody's cup of tea. but I truly hope eventually when the crowd calms down people come around to this season and acknowledge that the plot was pretty solid. not passionate like saphne, not always bickering like kanthony but an honest yet flawed interpretation of young love-messy, heightened emotions, dramatic yet sweet and lovely.

[charles-leclerizz]

PORSCHE F1 TEAM

Precision Performance, Driven by Innovation

The roots of this prestigious car company date back to the early 20th century, when Ferdinand Porsche created the renowned company for automobiles in 1931. With a plentiful background of enginery exploration and innovation, Porsche has always willed itself to be associated with perfection, performance and precision. In the upcoming 2025 season of Formula One, Porsche has entered the race with a bold vision set to redefine the standard of excellence on the track. With cutting-edge technology, talent of the stars to the pursuit of vigilance, Porsche F1 Teams aim to re-write the triumph and legacy of Formula 1 history.

Sponsors :

Porsche boasts many sponsors on a universal scale, but notable names include:

‐ Hugo Boss ━ Plays a large part in designing the team's racing apparel and merch.

‐ Bose ━ Leading audio equipment manufacturer, could not only provide brand apparel but also help enhance team communication

‐ Adidas ━ For merchandising and casual team sports wear

‐ Rolex ━ A key sponsor that provides gold members with limited edition pieces created for/by the team

‐ Shell [shared with legacy team, Ferrari] ━ Provides fuel and lubricants for the team.

‐ Emirates ━ Major airline, provides commercial air trips for the team members and manufactures private jet's for important participants [drivers, team principal, CEO etc.]

‐ Sabyasachi ━ Provides sponsorship and media advertising

‐ Mahindra ━ Partnered with Porsche design and engine customisation

‐ Royal Enfield ━ Brand deals and apparel in India

‐ Amrapali jewels ━ sponsorship support along with more exclusive pieces for the team

‐ Forest essentials ━ An Indian focussed skincare brand, appealing to the more casual viewers of the sport along with media and sponsorship duties.

Team principal :

Katherine "Kate" Anderson

Katherine Anderson, also known as Kate originated from Manchester, United Kingdom. Growing up in a motorsport passionate family dynamic, her passion was sparked early on as she decided to pursue automobile and engine engineering from Oxford University. Her continued studies in Business and Advertising allowed her to pioneer women in motorsport events and lead to her being picked for the prestigious Porsche F1 team, being entrusted to bring the brand to success.

Kate is known for her dynamic leadership persona and innovative approach to management in general. She empowers her employees and colleagues under her command and fosters a friendly environment, creating excelling team performance on and off the track.

She is known to be a friendly face around the paddock, creating humorous situations and playing pranks on other personal around her. She is a natural-borne leader and commands to power and tenacity in pursuit for perfection, positive change and is a personality for inspiration to all female driver generations all around.

Drivers :

1 . Aisha Patel. 🪷

2 . Pierre Gasly. 🥐

honourary tags [for special pookies] : @disneyprincemuke, @weekendlusting, @woozarts, @mellowarcadefun, @paintedbypoetry, @33-81, @kazuha-pista-badam

[tornadeoqueen]

Really have been in such a bad funk lately so fuck it, here is a list of things about Twisters that I love in no particular order:

that scene where Tyler and Kate are explaining how a tornado forms and the scene cuts between the two of them so it’s like a seamless line of dialogue/they are so in sync each other. Taking about weather with the same reverence that’s soulmatism.

“Ohkay uniform. Wrinkle free shirt. Crisp hat!”

That the wranglers and storm par crew cross paths so often they know each others names enough to rib at each other (and wranglers having the time of their lives competing against them)

When that one storm par guy yells “chase it!” because he’s secretly a Tyler Owen’s fan

Tyler’s truck driving across a field towards the first tornado looking like a cross between Mater from Cars and a horse galloping like yeehaw “it’s like the Wild West out here!” They saw the opportunity and they took it

That his truck is red!!!! And I know people are tempted to be like “he inherited Bill’s truck” but let’s not forget Bill’s truck got eaten by an EF5 and I don’t think it made it out like Tyler’s did

KATE’S BARRELS (never not over KATES’S BARRELS)

I wanna know more about Dani and Dexter’s friendship. Dexter being all “there’s a name for that there’s a name for that” and Dani’s like “just enjoy it, man!” I just know they balance each other out

“We’re driving into a tornado for gods sakes”

The way Tyler is immediately smitten and recognises how smart Kate is and like that’s why he likes her so much?? Like yeah she’s pretty but she’s pretty BRILLIANT You can tell he’s just like “wow I have met my match”

Kate giving it back to him and not falling for his charm so easily - there’s a fire/cheekiness in there

When Tyler’s heart of gold/the real Tyler starts to show away from the cameras and it’s just Kate and Tyler testing Kate’s theories but Tyler is still 100% himself like his persona is not all bravado he still wants to send things up in rockets and drive into tornadoes like that’s just who he is and when it’s away from the cameras it’s kind of dorky dude

Frankenstein playing in the cinema in El Reno and Doctor Frankenstein yelling “it’s alive!” Right before the wall of the cinema is ripped off

Also while I’m on that, that the wall that gets ripped away is the wall with the screen, making the storm outside in some sense the movie wow I just thought about that. Art imitating life or whatever the ultimate 4D experience (reminds me of sound and light shows ok I’m digressing)

“She’s your story, Ben.”

Hanging out and sitting on the truck having lunch and staring at clouds I need 1000x fics about this

When they rustle the team together to get Kate’s theories in motion with the whole team and everyone is immediately on board and defers to Kate as to why they need a trailer ect

Addy: “you’re no fun since you got hit by lightning” I WANT THE STORY

The Tornado Wrangler belt buckle 😭

Ok this list is getting long but anyway the movie isn’t perfect but it’s fun and I’m glad it makes me happy in this way

[genrockstar]

Cold Fronts & Warm Hearts | 2

summary: Jake "Hangman" Seresin never expected to find himself captivated by anyone, much less the daughter of the legendary Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. But when an unexpected encounter with her challenges everything he thought he knew about love and loyalty, Hangman finds himself in a situation more complex than any dogfight.

warnings: none

pairing: jake seresin x oc

authors note: just imagine rooster and jake are actually besties...

@djs8891

The next morning, Jake "Hangman" Seresin stood on the tarmac, squinting against the bright San Diego sun. The roar of jet engines and the organized chaos of the naval base surrounded him, but his mind was still on last night. Kate Kazansky had walked into his life like a storm, unsettling the calm, collected persona he had so carefully cultivated. He was used to challenges in the sky, but this—whatever was happening between them—was something different altogether.

"Seresin, you coming?" Rooster called, motioning toward the jets lined up for the day's exercises.

Jake nodded, pulling himself back to the present. "Yeah, just thinking about my next win," he shot back with a grin, masking any sign of distraction.

As they prepped for the day's flight drills, Jake found himself scanning the crowd, searching for any sign of Kate. It was foolish, he knew. This wasn't some romantic getaway—it was the Navy, and she had her own career, her own responsibilities. But even as he strapped into the cockpit of his F/A-18, her words from the night before echoed in his head.

You hide behind that cocky grin of yours because it's easier than letting people in.

He keyed the comms as his jet roared to life. "All right, boys and girls, let's get this show on the road."

Up in the air, the familiar rush of adrenaline and the pull of gravity pushed every other thought out of his head. Here, in the sky, was where he was in control. Here, he didn’t have to worry about emotions or vulnerabilities. Up here, it was all about instinct, skill, and focus.

But even with his usual sharp focus, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that Kate had gotten under his skin in a way no one else ever had.

Later that afternoon, Jake was heading toward the officer’s locker room when he caught sight of Kate walking out of the command center. She was dressed in crisp Navy fatigues, her hair pulled back in a no-nonsense bun, and even though she wasn’t in flight gear, she exuded the same confidence that had intrigued him the night before.

Their eyes met, and for a split second, Jake considered turning away—walking the other direction and keeping things simple. But simplicity had never been his style.

“Kate,” he called, jogging over to her. “Fancy seeing you here.”

She smiled, but there was a touch of amusement in her eyes. “I work here, Jake. It’s not that surprising.”

He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. “Right. Still, didn’t expect to see you outside the officer’s club so soon.”

Kate crossed her arms, her expression playful. “Why? Afraid of a rematch?”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “Rematch? I wasn’t aware we had a competition going.”

She took a step closer, her voice dropping just a little. “Everything’s a competition with you, isn’t it?”

The challenge in her voice sparked something in Jake. He wasn’t sure if she was talking about last night’s conversation or something deeper, but either way, he was ready to play along.

“Maybe,” he admitted. “But you should know, I don’t lose.”

Kate’s eyes gleamed, and she gave a small laugh. “We’ll see about that.”

Before he could respond, her phone buzzed. She glanced at it, her expression shifting slightly as she read the message.

“I’ve got to go,” she said, slipping the phone back into her pocket. “Duty calls.”

“Right,” Jake nodded, trying to ignore the twinge of disappointment. “Catch you later?”

Kate gave him a smile that was as much of a promise as it was a challenge. “You know where to find me.”

As she walked away, Jake stood there for a moment, watching her go. He wasn’t used to being the one left hanging, but something about Kate Kazansky kept pulling him back. She was more than just Iceman’s daughter—she was his equal in every sense, and that terrified him as much as it excited him.

That evening, Jake found himself back at the officer’s club, nursing a beer and replaying his last conversation with Kate in his head. Rooster and Phoenix were nearby, laughing about something from the day’s drills, but Jake’s mind was elsewhere.

“Hey, man,” Rooster said, sliding into the seat next to him. “You good? You’ve been off your game today.”

Jake shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. “I’m fine. Just... thinking.”

Rooster raised an eyebrow. “Thinking? That doesn’t sound like you. Usually, you’re all action, no reflection.”

“Yeah, well,” Jake said, swirling the beer in his glass, “things change.”

Rooster’s expression softened, and he leaned back in his chair. “This about that woman you were talking to last night?”

Jake shot him a look. “You spying on me, Bradshaw?”

Rooster grinned, holding up his hands. “Relax, man. Just noticed you looked... invested, which is weird for you.”

Jake sighed, running a hand through his hair. “She’s... different. And I don’t know what to do with that.”

“Different how?” Phoenix chimed in, having overheard the conversation.

“She doesn’t play by anyone’s rules. Not even mine,” Jake said, almost to himself. “And she’s Iceman’s daughter, so... yeah.”

Rooster let out a low whistle. “Kazansky’s kid? Man, you don’t mess with that.”

Jake looked down at his drink, conflicted. He knew getting involved with Kate was dangerous—not just for his career, but for the walls he had built around himself. She was someone who could challenge him, push him in ways no one else had.

But walking away wasn’t an option anymore.

Before he could think too much about it, his phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.

Kate: Meet me at the docks tonight. Midnight.

Jake’s pulse quickened, the thrill of the unknown sparking through him. He finished his beer, stood up, and grabbed his jacket.

“Where are you going?” Rooster asked, eyeing him curiously.

Jake smirked, the old swagger creeping back. “I’ve got a midnight rendezvous.”

The docks were quiet, save for the gentle lapping of water against the boats. Jake spotted Kate standing at the end of one pier, her figure silhouetted against the moonlit sky. She looked calm, but there was an intensity in the way she stood, waiting for him.

He approached, the sound of his boots echoing on the wooden planks. “What’s this about?”

Kate turned, her face illuminated by the soft glow of the moon. “I needed to get away from all the expectations. The uniforms, the protocol. Everything.”

Jake stopped a few feet away, studying her. “So, you call me?”

She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You’re the only one who doesn’t treat me like I’m... special because of who my father is.”

Jake crossed his arms, leaning against a post. “You’re not just Iceman’s daughter, Kate. I think you know that.”

Kate’s gaze met his, and for a moment, the tension between them hung heavy in the air. “Maybe that’s what I needed to hear.”

Jake took a step closer, his voice low. “So what now?”

Kate’s eyes flickered with something unspoken. “Now we figure out if we’re both willing to break the rules.”

Jake’s breath hitched. He was no stranger to risks, but this? This was something different. Something far more dangerous.

But as he looked into her eyes, he realized he wasn’t about to back down.

Not now. Not ever.

[the-sinful-voice-witch]

I love JAYSTEPH, hear me out! 🙌:

The Robin who died by the fans and the Robin that resurrected by the fans... Is so poetic yet some people is against it, but I just fell in love with them and I want to support this ship after I was finally able to let go Timsteph and I know theres people who will be Timsteph forever and others that strongly dislike Jaysteph but I think there's more people that are just simply unconvinced so I have nothing to lose if I play business woman and try to sell this potential romance to them, it deserves a chance! Let's see the arguments against it that didn't convince me first:

Steph becoming Barbara 2.0... (what a bat-list she had: Dick, Jason, Tim in a video game and fucking Batman 💀 got her pregnant once, but I didn't disliked it when she was briefly with Luke fox) But the only options for Steph that are bat family members aside Tim are Cassandra and Jason because... Dick, Damian, Duke, Luke, Kate, Barbara 😂? Eh NOPE. And even if Barbara and Jason had a thing once it was doomed from the beginning, Babs and Jay only had in common being Joker victims and Babs follows 100% Batman's ideals (while Steph mindset allows her to understand better Jason's point). Also I think Jason idealized her, it felt like they weren't on the same "level"(Timsteph has the same problem, Steph used to kinda idealize Tim too),but with JaySteph feels different, I think they would see each other as equals, the vibes I get are that they could relate to each other better. Not to mention that if they start a relationship now it won't be the same as another Robin-Batgirl attempt, remember that when it was with Babs it was described as a long term crush he had on her (like Dick) while with Steph not only she was also a Robin (that went through a similar struggle as him), first she was Spoiler, her own independent vigilante persona (with a background Jason could totally relate with) that was 100% unrelated to Batman before she even became a Batgirl (a heroine that was independent from Batman but was inspired on him unlike The Spoiler) and currently she uses both Spoiler and Batgirl titles, in anycase this would be another Robin-Batgirl situation if it was with Damian, because Steph was Damian's Batgirl (they even reminded Dick his olds days with Babs) but he was 10 and she was 18 so obviously NOPE. The relationship would start NOW as their current selves by realizing mutually how much they understand each other better than anyone, they aren't joined by the Joker they would be drawn because of their personalities and the struggles they had with their own families and the rejection they suffered from the BAT-family (at different times but the struggle is the same). This is something neither Tim or Babs can fully understand.

They're like "siblings". Ha! NOPE. Strongly disagree. They aren't related biologically or legally and Steph isn't even in Bruce care like Duke, she is basically... " Your kid's best friend who eats your fridge food" and with the issue about her dating Tim's brother, some people who pulls the sibling card are completely fine with Steph being with Cassandra... So dating Tim's brother is not ok but is ok to date his sister? 🤨 And bringing back the first argument the only ones I see as Steph's 100% sibling figures are: Barbara who is the big sister figure and acts like one and Damian who is indisputably his annoying little brother but why is Jason seen as her brother? Because of the banter? That doesn't immediately make you a sibling, you know friends to lovers and rivals to lovers and enemies to lovers also have banter right?

Their respective most popular ships in the past: for Tim I already made a post about it and Artemis... I totally understand Jason 🥵😍, between her and Ravager I prefer her because Rose seems to be more like a very good friend with very sexy benefits but with Artemis there's more emotional connection... But my issue with her is the immortality factor (i mean the fact that she won't die of old age, she being hundreds of years old I don't care) and that Artemis deep down has too much "independent" Vibes, I mean that I don't see her wanting the long term relationship, she can't have it anyway because of her immortality. And there was the problem that it was perceived as another Amazon-bat attempt in a "trinity"(with bizarro) and as much as some people liked wonderbat (not me, it was a bit awkward) in the end it doesn't work well (look at Damian and WonderGirl Cassie in DCeased).

Some sort of fantasy about an "age gap", this one is ridiculous. Some people believe that Jason is super old for Stephanie... Well in that case Stephanie was way super old for Tim too 🙄, I'll just get to the point: Jason died at 15 and only lasted dead 6 months, Tim became Robin at 13 and Stephanie is one year older than Tim, they met when he was 14 and she was 15 so... Do the math, is being one year older than her TOO OLD??🤡 one year and half maybe? If we count the 6 month dead. I mean I know he sometimes looks older because of the way they draw him, like a huge muscle chunk and sometimes he has a beard (ajj I hate beards). And yes, I know they changed their ages currently but at much he is only TWO years older than her and she is over 18 or 19 so... Like I said the age gap argument is a fairy tale.

"They never or barely interacted before", just what kind of argument is this?🤡Do you want Steph to only be attached forever to the Batgirls and Tim or just be alone? Jason has been more allowed than her to interact with other people, how unfair but the point is... they'll have to start someday don't they!? Or just because they barely interacted in the past it means they can't interact more in the future? Is really that unbelievable that they could start hanging out more often and bonding? Is that weird? Have you never suddenly talked with someone you know but you barely interacted before and realized you had more in common with them than you thought? That's something extremely normal to happen! I don't see how it would be out of place with Jason and Steph 🤷‍♀️.

Now let's see how this ship started and it's potential:

The ship existed before they actually met, people already shipped the possibility: the two failed dead Robins and (yes I'm counting Steph as dead because her dead was meant to be permanent), but they never met before the new 52 reboot and when it actually happened... It was a classic not very relevant banter, the second time he was impressed with her with how she dealt with the Scarecrow and after that there was barely interaction... But then we got these exactly interactions that made me ship them very hard, passionately and strongly in Task Force Z:

ok, I'm an anime consumer, this kind of tiny details affect me very seriously, when you are used to see relationships in comics where the couple simply jump to sexy time right away and suck face hard and fall in love or feel attracted instantly we forget about the little things that makes us blush with yearning... you know, the moment something changes in how you see someone even if you still didn't noticed it and you just feel funny and don't know why. In this comic panels the relationship is not romantic and hasn't even begin being romantic, they aren't in love or are feeling attraction yet and that still remains to be seen but what is happening here is a change, is a start! Is the beginning and they way he reacts to her really get me fangirl squealing LOOK AT HIS FACE!!! Specially when she touches his wounded cheek... You can't convince me that this guy isn't touch starved and not so used to receive affectionate touching 😭, suddenly after a big beating he received Kindness from someone unexpected but that we all know... relates to him better than anyone in the bat-family but the best part is that she isn't there to just pamper him a little she just decided to have a nicer approach to him, she gave him coffee, she treated his face wound and she gave him a talk of tough love, she doesn't take his side 100% but she let's him know she is still a friend and then the last pages of the issue:

She was the only one who wanted to say goodbye because once again she understands him and because of that she is more tolerant and forgiving towards his actions than the others while still not being dumb and knowing he still is up to trouble and again... The little touches always get me, the way she caresses his hand with the plane ticket gets me screaming more than their hug 😭😭😭 ah this is also their first hug! And I'm kinda pissed because the height is WRONG! Jason is taller than her! It shouldn't look like she is hugging Tim😒.

All right now my official points about why I love this potential relationship:

This is very important, this needs to be a SLOW BURN, I know jaystephers, I know you want kisses and hot moments but NOPE, that can't happen anytime soon, first we need a lot of little details and little touches, emotional conversations that don't end in kissing but in hugging, a lot of little meaningful looks and gestures, we need the rest of the fans that are not convinced, to get used to see them together interacting but not specifically obviously romantically, it has to be wholesome but we can't jump and shove the ship down people's throats, that's a turn off. Keep in mind that usually DC writers write love like a switch on and off, look at what they did with Nightwing! Just how many true loves has he had? A lot of bullcrap text about how much he is in love and obsessed with every new girl and not to mention Tim (let's hope he sticks to his NPC cardboard walking bisexuality proof boyfriend and stops fooling around with Steph, our girl deserves better). A new love that has hit hard has to be believable, the potential with their personalities gives for a lot to work with: Jason is a tough bad moody broody boy who is actually very emotional and sensitive and so affection starved he fell into Damian trap when he hugged him, Jason just melted into the hug (before he got hit with a taser, Damian you little shit...) and thats where Stephanie comes, Steph is someone completely open, eager, sweet, foward and unapologetic with her affections and here Mister pride and prejudice lover Jason has a romantic side. Jaystephers I'm serious, this can't be rushed, absolutely not and I'm being insistent because I came from reading an insane amount of jaysteph fanfics that almost all of them end up being porn with plot, I mean really good plot and also very skilled written porn... but still! "BONK" 🔨 go to horny jail! That can't happen in the comics 😂😂. With a slow burn unconvinced people will have enough time to process just how good is this ship. Simply it has to become a Romantic friendship before a potential romance and then an actual romance.

They have come a long way on their personalities, currently they aren't the same as they were before so if they started now it wouldn't be like the chaotic kind of toxic mess that it was Timsteph, because at that time they were insecure and irrational teenagers, honestly the writers messed them up a lot and I guess there's still a risk a new writer will fuck them up too but I'd like to think that if some writer goes for it they really have to like this ship and will try not to make it a complete toxic or cringy or a messed up disaster, if a writer chooses to do it I want to think is because they saw how much in common they have, how much their personalities are compatible, how good they would work together and how much they can relate to each other. What I mean is that there is a background where they can start even though they were never that close before and is all starting now, there is a lot of material to work! They don't have to make up things they only have to let it flow naturally, just put them together in a room and let them interact. I mean, right now he is a grumpy bad boy and Steph is a perky ballbuster, let's see how that goes.

The potential Romanticism of this couple is something really underrated, the two failures as Robins that walked on the same path, they own to have yet the "talk" About their respectives deaths and the subject about how Steph failed as a Robin because of being a reminder of Jason, they should talk about had him not died he would have been the one meeting her instead of Tim and wonder how things would have been then... They should team up more often and strengthen their bond, the need to build a romantic friendship, a dynamic that could drive us crazy and by the time they start flirting is going to be the BEST!! Just remember how Steph flirts shamelessly on duty 🤭🤭 but with Tim it was a bit boring, he always turns her down because he is such a good serious soldier 😑 and gets mad but with Jason? Unless he is specifically grumpy about something he would totally flirt back and totally flirt in front of villains while fighting until the villains can't take it anymore and just ask to be knocked out 😂😂😂 and also the chance to piss off Tim is just too good, I need to see it 😂😂😂. I mean, one I love about most Jaysteph fanfics is that Tim is always fucking pissed and grossed out about Jason dating Steph but normally is never about jealousy he is just overprotective (but casually they also add a jealous Damian who can't help but criticize Steph's taste in men 😂😂, I think is canon that he had a bit of a platonic crush on her when they met).

They have a lot of similarities but they aren't exactly the same, the things they have in common actually was used as an argument against it saying that just like with Babs he only had in common being a joker's victim, people thinks "dying" Is the only thing he has in common with Steph and they are very wrong: They both are members of Gotham's lowest class, both had drug addict mothers and criminal fathers, also Jason's real mom betrayed him and sold him out to the Joker and Stephanie's dad orchestrated a kidnapping of her and in the new 52 he kidnapped her and her killed her (even if he didn't meant to) and had to get revived by Lazarus pit goo, the way they died was also caused by the same stubborn need of proving themselves to Batman, doing something extremely reckless, also I have to point out that Steph has been compared to Dick, Barbara, Tim and Jason but it was her similarities with Jason what doomed her before DC decided to revive her, the writers did a messed up job with the principal reasons Batman rejected her so adamantly at some point but the principal one was that she reminded him of Jason and ironically he trying to prevent her from getting the same fate was what drove her to act and ending up like Jason and they both were officially the first black sheeps of the bat-family. But even with all that their personalities are both opposites and complimentary, I mean that despite having a similar trauma, when Steph came "back from the death" (The first "death") she became more positive and hopeful than before, she used to be more cynical and angry and unlike Jason whose resurrection was just as traumatic as his death and was not in his right mind, Steph returned to Gotham to once again try to belong and be a proper vigilante, she wanted to keep trying and do the right thing and fight to be accepted unlike Jason who at first he only wanted revenge. Steph can understand where he is coming from and be more indulgent to him than the rest of the family but at the same time she would stop him from going too far, she has the bravery to fight off trauma like the fear toxin and the will to never give up, so I see how she would never give up on Jason.

And don't you dare give me crap about this ship being absurd or something because this is not even the most out of the blue couple DC has ever done! I already mentioned Tim and Barbara🤬, Batman and Barbara💀 but also Raven and Damian 😒, Damian and wonder girl Cassie 😐Batman and wonder woman😒, Superman and wonder woman😐, green lantern Jonh and hawkegirl🥰, Superboy and miss martian😍, Lego Batman and Lego Barbara🤪, Martian Manhunter and Rose Wilson😶, beast boy and Rose Wilson🤯 (married and with a daughter), Jason and fucking Taliah (damians mother) had sex with him 💀(I hope he had at least 18) Dick and Helena Wayne 💀, Dick and Zatanna😑, Batman and Zatanna🙄, Jason and Starfire🙅‍♀️ and recently Jimmy Olsen and Supergirl 🤔 so.... Really? Jaysteph is so out of the blue and weird that should never happen? 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 I'm not even asking to make it happen in the main canon! Most of these ships didn't happen in the main canon, who cares about the main canon? THE MAIN CANON KILLED ALFRED (you committed a blaspheme DC) and also the main canon destroyed Jon Kent childhood by aging him up 🤬🤬, this is why the main canon is not important anymore, this is why alternative universe and independent comics are more popular, like Supersons, Family Wayne adventures or the teen Titans series drawn by Piccolo... So is asking for too much to have Jaysteph somewhere? An animated show? An alternative universe comic? A fucking webtoon?? There's not a good convincing reason to not give a chance to these couple! Let them have a chance!! 😣😣😣😭😭🙏🙏🙏

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Our Flag Means Death Costume Designer Breaks Down Season 2's Punk-Pirate Looks

Gypsy Taylor explains the surprising historical details that influenced the 'rule-bending' comedy's costumes

Rhys Darby, Our Flag Means Death (Nicola Dove/Max)

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Our Flag Means Death.]

Packing a ton of plot twists and emotional upheaval into a tightly paced eight episodes, Our Flag Means Death just concluded its tumultuous second season. Season 2 ends on a heartwarming note, with Ed "Blackbeard" Teach (Taika Waititi) and Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) settling down to open an inn together. This gives fans a satisfying happily-ever-after if the show ends here — although showrunner David Jenkins intentionally left things open for a potential third and final season, teasing a team-up between Stede, Blackbeard, and pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao (Ruibo Qian).

Along the way, Our Flag Means Death continued to deliver its unique brand of historical storytelling, offering a chaotic mash-up of 18th century sources and modern themes. Working in tandem with theatrical visual effects and a soundtrack featuring Kate Bush and Nina Simone, costumes play a key role.

To cap off the season, TV Guide spoke with costume designer Gypsy Taylor. Among other topics, we discussed Stede and Blackbeard's evolving wardrobe, the historical research behind characters like Zheng Yi Sao, and Taylor's favorite unsung costuming details among the supporting cast.

This season there's a lot of journey to the costumes. Characters are experimenting with self-expression. I'd like to talk first about Stede, who starts as a caricature of a foppish aristocrat, but looks a lot more practical this season. What was the vision for that look?

Gypsy Taylor: The story is that he's lost everything. Blackbeard's gone on a heartbroken rampage and he's destroyed everything that looks like Stede on the ship — which would include that wonderful wardrobe. You know, like how you'd throw your boyfriend's clothes in a box out the window.

Stede was on his boat heading to the island at the end of Season 1, just wearing this one outfit. We see him in a filthy version, he's been living in it for two or three months. Rhys [Darby] was a little bit disappointed because he was like, "Do I get to wear any rings?" And I was like, "No! You've lost them all!" Then as the season starts to go on, he starts stealing some other pirate clothes and he starts to get really sexy and come into his own gorgeous pirate self.

And he gets that cursed suit.

Taylor: The cursed suit was so much fun! That's the first time in months that he's seen something beautiful like what he used to own. It's on this Spanish ship, so we went with a dandy matador look. Rhys put the calico version of that on in the fitting room and instantly embodied this character. He was flicking the tails and spinning around and he stood up straighter and his butt clenched… It was magic to watch.

I love that dandy side of him. There's a lot going on in terms of gender presentation with the main guys. They're both trying to escape toxic masculinity, but Stede's also chasing this idea of being a badass, and then Ed is doing the opposite because he abandons his leathers. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that, and how Ed is for half the season wearing things like sackcloth and linen.

Taylor: The leather is very constraining, and it's very much his persona of Blackbeard. To lose all of that means he's lost his toughness, and that exterior that's sort of like armor. So we went straight for the opposite end and just put him in a rice sack that he'd made into a jumpsuit. The idea behind it was that Wee John had sewn it because he'd started to learn to sew and knit — the concept being that there [were] rice sacks below the decks, which was very common in pirate ships.

Once Buttons turns into a seagull, his clothes were left behind on the ship. So Blackbeard takes those linen clothes, and he's like, "This feels right, this is kind of light."

I don't know if you're able to speculate about Season 3, but given the symbolism of Ed's leathers, do you think we've seen the end of that outfit, or is it going to stick around?

Taylor: I can't say anything to Season 3, but I do know that in the finale the leathers magically come back. I had a conversation with [showrunner] David Jenkins because he says, "Well, we have to end the show with him wearing his Blackbeard leathers, that's what we all know of him." And I was like, "How the hell has he gotten them?" You know he's thrown them off the boat, into the ocean, never to be seen again. And David just turned to me and went, "He's Blackbeard, he can do anything." I thought that was pretty funny.

Taika Waititi, Our Flag Means Death (Nicola Dove/Max)

That's exactly the kind of fairy-tale logic the show thrives on.

Taylor: We often refer to it as Looney Tunes. It's not exactly historically correct. Funny sh-- happens and we all sort of took on that Looney Tunes theory of like, episodes change and something appears and then it doesn't.

The good thing with costume and pirates is that the way they get their outfits is they just steal them. So whatever we came up with, I was like, "Oh well, they run into a French ship and they've stolen a great leather jacket." Costume elements could appear based on that rule that pirates steal anything.

I'd love to hear a bit about the crew's looks. The show does a really good job of illustrating their personalities, but this season a lot of them also have this makeover where they start out wearing Blackbeard's goth/punk outfits, then change into something more comfortable.

Taylor: Characters like Izzy and Fang were already established in the Blackbeard gang, so we didn't change them too much. With Fang I added extra sperm whale teeth and extra studs. I got rid of his shirt and we covered him in tattoos. Time had passed and he'd evolved a bit. Izzy was very classic, so we didn't need to change him at all. He was pretty adamant not to be evolved as the other guys had been.

Frenchie and Jim, which are the biggest transformations we see, they've spent months at sea with Blackbeard, who is a tyrant. He's made them wear head-to-toe black, and they've had to piece together outfits from around the ship. So Jim is covered in all these ropes to make them look tougher, and their belt is a giant fish hook. Frenchie's an artist, and he's stolen a beautiful leather jacket — he's brought the little flag element into the back of his jacket with some embellishment. Then Archie just looks like she's picked out of a crowd of pirates from the Republic of Pirates.

As far as the other characters go, we continued on from Season 1 and just kept their same outfits, but three months later. They were stuck on an island, so I gave Wee John a little necklace that he'd tied out of old rings that he'd found. And we gave Olu some shells and pieces that they could've crafted on the island.

Once we see them all go to Zheng's ship, I wanted to keep elements of the Zheng uniform. So you see with Black Pete, he kept the shirt but ripped off the sleeves and got some new pants, and Roach kept the pants. It starts to become like a mesh of all the little adventures that they've gone through, or the trauma that they've gone through.

Our Flag Means Death (Nicola Dove/Max)

I love the contrast you mentioned between Izzy and the others. All the other characters are having fun experimenting with their looks, and Izzy is so static. Do you think he's more sure of his identity?

Taylor: Definitely sure of his identity, you nailed it there. He's also very sentimental, like he's got his mother's ring around his little scarf. You know his glove on his hand, he wanted to keep it on that hand and I was like, "Shall we add some studs to it?" And he was like, "No no, keep it as it is." He's just very much about routine and rules and sentimentality.

Even for Calypso's party, I was like, "How far do we wanna go?" Everybody's dressing up and covering themselves in flowers. Once we learned that he was singing La Vie En Rose I was like, "I think we should keep it classic." Just put a little rose here, and Wee John's done your makeup, and you'll look classic and beautiful.

This show has a really fun relationship with historical accuracy. I was interested to read that you do a lot of historical research, maybe more than other members of the creative team. How do you decide which characters should look more historical and which ones are more anachronistic?

Taylor: I always started with the historical first. I actually didn't know much about Captain Zheng, so I got really into the history of pirates. I would always start there, with that 18th century historical moodboard of the paintings that were done of them, or the etchings. Then I'd add our rule-bending concept, which was to make everything a bit more rock 'n' roll and a bit more streets of New York in the '80s.

I was able to push completely out of the historical, and put things like safety pins and screen-printing and bleach. You know, zips and studs, and all these things that are very 20th century costume elements, but on an 18th century silhouette.

Is Zheng based on a specific 18th century outfit?

Taylor: There's one really specific [etching], she's wearing those Chinese pants. I looked at a lot of 18th century Chinese work uniforms as well, I looked at one from a collection from a museum. We copied that exact neckline of an 18th century Chinese smock. The same with the shoes. I looked at some workers' shoes from the 18th century, and they had those kind of black ballet flats with a woven bottom and little white socks.

I was using beautiful Chinese silks and Japanese embroidery techniques that were used in the 18th century, and sort of mish-mashing it all together because she would travel the Silk Road through Egypt and Morocco, and collect all these fabrics.

Same with Anne Bonny. Again, there's some etchings of the real Anne Bonny — quite a famous one with her gun and her pants. I was like, "Oh yeah, I wanna start there and then I wanna sex her up a lot," because her and her girlfriend have a really great S&M relationship, really sadistic. I wanted to bring that fetish element into her. That's where the corset came from. We based that on an 18th century corset, but made it leather because it was more pirate-y.

The twist on her was that David Jenkins came to me and said, "This episode is basically Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" And I was like, "Great, I love that movie!" So I went home and watched that movie, and noticed that Elizabeth Taylor has this beautiful necklace and this patterned blouse. I was like, "Let's recreate this pattern on Elizabeth Taylor's blouse," which is set in the early 1960s. So we recreated it and then made an 18th century blouse.

Driver Minnie and Rachel House Our Flag Means Death (Nicola Dove/Max)

I feel like this season the villains are the most historically accurate. There's this contrast: Ned Low and Prince Ricky have a formal look, like with the British naval uniforms, and then the good guys have this anarchic vibe.

Taylor: Yeah, I never really wanted to mess with the uniforms. That was actually a really fun one to get historically correct. We had the proper frock coats and the heavy wools, and the heavy brocade. Ned Low and Ricky were very much straight out of an 18th century historical book. But then with Ricky, I gave him the one black lace Madonna-meets-Michael Jackson glove, just to mess with it a little bit.

With Ned Low, once we had his beautiful Paganini-inspired 18th century suit on, David Jenkins was like, "I just picture him being silver." We painted his suit silver, and then art department and props came up with a silver violin, and makeup put these silver teeth in. So he's instantly turned into a rock star.

Finally, are there any little details that you'd like to highlight for viewers?

Taylor: One of the background characters that I love the most is one of these pirates when Stede is the maitre d' at Spanish Jackie's. His first encounter with a customer is this horrible swearing pirate. I'd been listening to a pirate podcast that morning on the way to work, and I was learning all about how many rats were on board. I was like, "I reckon that pirate should just have a whole jacket made out of rats." That's what you'd do with all the dead rats, right? You'd have a little fur bolero.

I asked one of my team members to make me like a hundred little fur rats. She'd hand-sewn all the tails and little feet and ears. Then we built this vest and they covered it in blood and dirt, and made it all like wet rats that had been living at sea for a hundred years.

That's the kind of thing you might see a fan wearing at a convention, a really specific background character.

Taylor: God, I hope so. You'd have to get in real close to see there's actually little tails all over the whole thing.

I'm trying to think of another really sweet thing. That whole Silk Road thing was really interesting to me. I found this museum piece of a necklace that was all these little leather satchels that collected little pieces along their travels. We started making this beautiful piece, and we ended up giving it to Auntie. It's these little trinkets from Japan and Egypt and Morocco; she wears all her souvenirs around her neck close to her heart. There's a lot of little things like that where we go into great detail and I give a little backstory, but maybe no one will ever notice. Or they might! You never know!

Our Flag Means Death Season 2 is now streaming on Max.

Source: TV Guide

[maevelin]

"The stag was dead but at least it came to the party. "

It is quite chilling if you think the parallel.

Party = society / getting approval by submitting to your fate by the rules of others.

Dead stag = conforming to society. Becoming an ornament. Dying to survive.

Penelope choosing debling was pretty much her giving up on her dreams and settling down so she would suffer the least in the society who has been rejecting her. Penelope had to forgo and kill parts of herself in order to join the party because she had no other alternatives. A loveless marriage in favor of security. Compromise on the deepest level. So killing her spirit and conforming to the same society she exposes in her column was her becoming the dead stag. An apt analogy. And given by the bullet she had to take aka debling. That would gain the favor of her mother and what society had to offer to a woman. Getting out of the herd meant societal death. Becoming the dead stag meant giving in to society and paying the price for initially not wanting to.

In the same way Colin re-entered society looking smug but forgoing the sensitive parts of himself so to fit in. He felt lonely, he wore a facade. He removed thw connections who allowed him to be himself. He too had to become the dead stag to join in. To become the kind of man society would approve. Society would embrace.

And in the end...This is why debling could never work for penelope. This is why this new persona could never work for colin. Because both of them want to live and thrive.

P.s: Siri play Rise by Kate perry ❤️

[zenmai--jikake--no--komoriuta]

finally got around to finishing P3R after like 2 weeks of stalling and I'm ugly sobbing, hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH and I was apprehensive that the remake wouldn't do the ending justice but it did in its own way, fuck that never gets any less sad I LOVE IT and that juiced up Kimi no Kioku with the violins got me again aaaaaa,,,, ,

overall I think the remake had an equal amount of points that were better and worse than previous versions of the game, but it was still fantastic to finally get the HD glowup it deserved and to get to revisit the characters and setting I fell in love with a decade ago......... as always I'm so sad it's over! but I think that's the hallmark of a good game really, it sticks with you and makes you wistful for like a solid week or more afterwards, and every time you come back to it it hits just as hard as the first playthrough... looking forward to returning for a NG+ run when they eventually drop The Answer DLC, and checking out what magic the pc modders get up to in terms of a FeMC route reconstruction someday!

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

What are your thoughts on the rumour that perhaps Meghan was pregnant but wore padding to bait the British press/people into questioning the authenticity of the pregnancy?

I have never been pregnant so don’t have a first hand grasp on postpartum body etc. I was looking at a B&W picture of her holding her second child (from the Netflix piece) and she has a fuller shape.

Tin hat for a moment, if this were true, would she be waiting for the British press to report on the ‘fake’ pregnancy just to prove she was pregnant and solidify her victim status?

Please note, this is a hypothetical question about the rumour of padding when pregnant and Meghan’s possible thought process and apparent need to be the ultimate victim.

I think it's a valid rumor. After all, it's understood that a lot of women in Hollywood/influencer circles pad their bellies to help them get deals and attention so I expected Meghan to pad, especially if her bump didn't look anything like the classic baby bump. I mean, if the Kardashians padded their bellies to help with their clothing brands, then chances are pretty good Meghan would've padded too.

I've always believed that Meghan padded her belly to look appear more pregnant than she actually was. My sense is that she thought she'd look pregnant right away and when that didn't happen, she padded her belly, and then overdid it (and kept overdoing it) with the padding once she actually did start showing.

Getting to your question about whether Meghan wanted the British press to report that she was faking the pregnancy. Her pregnancy with Lili wasn't public so we can put that pregnancy aside and focus specifically on the pregnancy with Archie. And given her behavior during pregnancy - all the coat-flicking and bump-groping and "new young mother" messaging - I don't think her goal was to have the press report she was faking pregnancy to play the victim. I think her goal was to develop some kind of "Mommy Meghan" persona for the branding and identification as quickly as she could. (Like how Diana was branded as the People's Princess and Kate the Children's Princess.) Was she going after Kate's 'Children's Princess' honor? Was she trying to establish her own "Mommies' Princess" title, championing feminism and motherhood? I'm not sure.

The other thing is that if she was trying to bait the press, I don't think the press would've taken it. They know they couldn't/can't accuse her of faking pregnancy unless they had irrefutable incontrovertible solid-than-concrete rock-hard proof because it's the Line of Succession and whiffing it would've gotten them fired before the ink finished drying.

(I've said this before here but I go back and forth between whether Meghan carried or she used a surrogate. I lean towards surrogacy, but sometimes I see photos that make me switch back to 'she was actually pregnant and really carried them'.)

[mspenelopefeatherington]

I love this season because of how awkward literally every single character is. Penelope is a disaster when she is not hiding behind whistledown, Colin is putting on a fake persona that is okay at being in society but the second he drops it and is himself he breaks every social rule and is just an actual unhinged mess, Francesca just keeps running away from social interactions and wants to play piano plus John and her literally just sit near eachother, Elosie is failing miserably and trying to fit in with her pears or her family like she used to and her feelings about both Penelope and Cressida keep changing from day to day, everyone thinks Lord Debling is weird if he wasnt so rich, the Mondrichs are caught between worlds and figuring out how to act and keep changing their minds, the Featherington sisters + husbands are the definition of awkward but I love them, Benedict is accidently leading girls on and then trying to avoid them, and Antony and Kate just want to have sex all the time even when they should be doing their jobs or socializing. At least the adults are playing their usual games with some confidence.

I just love how unhinged everyone is this time around. No more confident banter and prized dimonds, just people.

[bridgertonbabe]

Bridgerton Group Chat AU - The Darkest Timeline

As a thank you to both @silverhallow and @holybatgirlz for writing hilarious pieces inspired by the Group Chat AU, I have written this entirely ludicrous and outlandishly batshit drabble for the series. This is an extremely over the top and completely far-reaching out of the realm of reality insight into what might happen in the darkest of timelines of this AU if the Bridgertons were to ever truly take a game night way way way too far.

Entirely based and inspired by this clip from Community following the events of study group's own chaotic game night:

"To Phil." Simon slurred as he raised his half-drunken bottle of vodka. "May he rest in Phil."

There was a pause as he processed what he had just said before he snorted and cackled, and then proceeded to pour out some of his vodka onto the floor by his chair.

"Simon, don't you think you've have enough?" Kate remarked with a wrinkled brow of concern as she watched her inebriated brother-in-law across from her.

"Of you." Simon instantly threw back.

Kate gasped from the offence made against her as Simon knocked back another mouthful from his bottle, all the while maintaining a pointed resentment-filled glare at her as he drank.

"Guys, I've been thinking about that night over and over." Penelope piped up. "One thing has become clear; this is the darkest most terrible timeline."

"Enough with the timeline crap, Pen!" Kate exclaimed.

Though she had endured the most amount of years faithfully attending Bridgerton game nights and knowing full well all the horrors that were bound to unravel and occur, ever since that night Penelope had well and truly cracked. She hadn't cried nor grieved nor shown any ounce of emotion since that fateful night, instead her brain had rewired itself (as a form of coping mechanism) to narrow in on the semantics of that evening as she obsessively tried to think up every alternate timeline that might have occurred had she interfered at numerous points of that night. Every time the rest of the spouses had seen her since all she had been capable of speaking of were alternative trajectories stemming from that night as well as fervently mentioning the odds and probabilities of the events playing out the way in which they infamously had.

"Phil had a heart attack and dropped down dead!" Kate hysterically reminded Penelope. "Simon's a drunk, Lucy's locked in a mental ward because her guilt drove her insane, Michael lost an arm in the fire," - she gestured to Michael sat beside her, who in turn emotionlessly (his merry persona now long gone) gestured with his only arm to where his other arm should have been - "Gareth lost his larynx because for some dumb reason he tried to destroy a flaming troll doll by eating it-"

"Clearly you don't understand anything about defeating trolls." Gareth's electrolarynx-powered voice interjected.

"Our spouses are all either dead or in prison, our children all got taken away by social services, and now the doctors have pronounced Sophie's practically brain-dead and that it's up to us whether to pull the plug on her!"

The last five remaining spouses all looked to the bed they were sitting around where Sophie lay comatose amongst a sea of tubes and wires keeping her alive, the beeping of her heart rate monitor and the machine pumping oxygen into her filling the momentary silence in the room.

"Life has gone to hell, Penelope! This is real!" Kate cried with the despairing hope of trying to get her sister-in-law to touch back in with reality. "Look at us! Look at me!"

"Kate." Michael uttered in a low voice, unable to look at her. "You put one wash-away blue streak in your hair - and I lost an arm." he stated in as tempered and controlled a voice as he could muster, as he finally turned to look her in the eye.

"Exactly." Kate nodded back at him. "Life got dark."

"And all because Michael rolled a one." Penelope said.

"Oh I love how this is all my fault somehow." Michael replied, his voice inflected with growing exasperation.

"It's mine." Penelope shook her head dismissively. "I've run through that night over and over in my head and I keep coming back to one thought; I should have caught the die and not let you roll it. That's the exact moment I've pinpointed all of the chain of events from that night stemming from. I failed to do that and we all suffered for it. But I'm going to make it all up to you."

Penelope then put down the pair of scissors she had been using and picked up the black pieces of felt she had been fixatedly working on since they had convened in Sophie's hospital room. She then distributed each of the pieces to her remaining fellow spouses, each of them receiving them with curious expressions.

"What is this?" Michael deadpanned after examining the cut out black felt piece he had just been handed.

"Of all the timelines this is clearly the darkest which is why I propose we commit to being evil." Penelope explained matter-of-factly. "I've made us all black goatees out of felt, I suggest you put them on until you're able to grow your own." she advised in all seriousness.

While Michael turned the fake goatee over in his hand, his eyes narrowing in on it with every passing second, Simon simply slipped the goatee onto the neck of his bottle before swigging from it once more.

"From now on, I am Evil Penelope." Penelope declared after putting on her fake goatee. "We are the Evil League of Bridgerton Spouses and we have but one evil goal; return somehow to the prime timeline - the one that I stopped you from rolling that die - then we destroy the good versions of ourselves and we claim our proper lives."

Kate and Michael looked at Penelope blankly before their attention was drawn to Simon whimpering across from them as he looked to Sophie's lifeless figure.

"It should have been me." Simon wept. "I should have been the one who got hit simultaneously by the firetruck and ambulance from both sides... I'm so jealous!" he cried out and waved his bottle about, spilling some of the contents over Sophie's bedding.

"Simon, don't say that!" Kate spluttered. "Everything about that night was godawful and should never have happened in the first place-"

"The darkest timeline." Penelope breathed under her breath in reiteration.

"-and there was nothing we could have done to save poor Sophie!"

"Evil Pen; as Evil Michael am I allowed to pull fewer punches with everyone?" Michael addressed his obsessive sister-in-law in a low voice brimming with a deep resentment that none of the other in-laws picked up on.

"Certainly." Penelope nodded.

"I hate you!" Michael exploded. "I hate you all! I hate the stupid fucking family we all married into! I hate your stupid sci-fi crap!" he barked at Penelope. "I hate you for standing back and letting the rest of us foolishly marry in one by one so you weren't alone being married into that wretched family of monsters!" he shot at Simon, who shrugged uncaringly and carried on necking back his vodka. "I hate your stupid fucking electrolarynx!"

"Rude." Gareth's robotic voice retorted.

"But I hate you most of fucking all!" Michael turned on Kate, much to her incredulous chagrin. "You who enabled, encouraged, and exacerbated the Bridgertons in their heinously insane competitive ways! You who were just as bad, if not even worse than some of them when it came to those stupid fucking games! You who Sophie was chasing to try and save from going back into the raging inferno when she got hit by the emergency vehicles because you were crazed enough to insist that if you counted up all your cards you could prove you had won!"

"But I did! I did win!" Kate retaliated, her maddening competitive glint returning to her sharpening gaze in spite of everything that had befallen them all.

"Sophie is on her deathbed because of you!" Michael yelled, his voice breaking with long-amounted incandescent rage.

"Well maybe if she wasn't so desperate to prevent me from proving just how badly she had lost-"

"That's it!" Michael screamed and jumped to his feet. "I can't take this anymore! I'm filing a restraining order against each and every one of you! I want nothing more to do with any of you! With any of this!"

With that Michael stormed out, flinging the door open with his one remaining arm and slamming it emphatically after him.

"Hey!" Kate leapt up, tearing the door open, and followed after him. "It's a group decision to pull the plug on Sophie - you don't get out of it that easily!" she called out as she marched after Michael's retreating footsteps.

A crash within the room then brought Penelope and Gareth's attention to where Simon had just passed out from all the alcohol he had consumed, having fallen out of his chair and into some of the machines keeping Sophie alive, his bottle crashing on impact and sending glass shards across the floor.

Gareth then turned to share a look with Penelope - and that's when she noticed that he too was wearing one of her black felt goatees. There was a shared nod of agreement as they both mutually decided on the path they were about to embark on

"Evil Pen and Evil Gareth!" they both chanted; and thus began the new Evil Chapter of their lives.

[lost-inanotherlife]

"I Do" or when Kate and Jack almost got (figuratively) married

I've previously stated that I don't find "I Do" particularly excellent when it comes to Kate's flashback story. I still stand by that. From a creative point of view Kate reiventing herself as Monica and getting married to a police officer doesn't exactly scream "genius". Conversely, the idea for her flashback in "Left Behind" is way more compelling and allows us to see sides of Kate that aren't necessarily related to her interior romantic love life (in that episode Kate and Cassidy teams up to "con" Kate's mother in order for Kate to have a moment with her without getting arrested).

Having said that, "I Do" is, overall, a fucking great episode. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING is written and shot to perfection so I thought to write a little meta about it.

Now, before we move on to the analysis, let's please consider that the previous Kate-centric episode is S2E9 "What Kate Did". I wrote an extensive meta about it and you can find it here. For the sake of this meta, though, all you need to know is this: what Kate sees in Sawyer is herself, specifically what she thinks she is in the present moment based on the things she's done in the past, i.e. a "bad" person or a person capable of doing "bad" things; what Kate sees in Jack is her potential self, what she thinks she can become in the present moment and simply be in the future because she intimately thinks she's capable of being "good" and doing "good" things.

In "What Kate Did" she chooses the black horse representing her "dark" self, therefore she chooses Sawyer. In "I Do" she symbolically chooses Sawyer again but things get a litte bit more complicated because this time Jack says his "I do" and Kate finds that she can't quite say "I do" back yet, but she can't say goodbye to her potential either: in other words she can't leave Jack/her potential behind. You'll see what I mean in this meta.

ACT ONE.

The episode opens with the song "Slowly" in the background. We hear the following lyrics:

Tell me you love me again but this time slowly 'Cause you're talkin' too fast, baby, much fast Come on and squeeze me again but this time slowly 'Cause I like your grasp but it's much fast

You said that our love will grow together 'Cause your mine all mine

Foreshadowing: this episode will be about "I love yous" and about something that's growing.

It'll also be about make-believe as we see a 50s-styled Kate opening a box containing a wedding veil. A man knocks on her door and we see the following dialogue:

MAN: Police, open the door. KATE: [Nervously] Um. Everything's alright in here. MAN: Ma'am, we have reason to believe that someone extremely dangerous is in the motel. We're conducting a room-to-room search. KATE: [Starting to smile] I'm alone, officer. MAN: The person could be holding you at gunpoint, forcing you to say that. Please open the door. KATE: I don't think I should. MAN: Then you have three seconds before I break this door down. One... two... [Kate stands by and opens the door right before he says "three", revealing the policeman, Kevin.] KEVIN: Hey. Wanna get it on? dialogue from https://lostpedia.fandom.com

We the audience (who already know about Kate's past) are already tipped off to the fact that this is all fake. Kate is clearly wearing a mask, she's being someone else, someone who perhaps she'd like to be or, at least, she's putting on a new persona-dress to see if it fits. Spoiler alert: it doesn't. However, this is also extraordinarily real because Kate's indeed a fugitive, she might as well be "the dangerous someone in the motel" herself. Ironically, in the scenario where Kate is the dangerous person in the motel, she's also the person who's holding at gunpoint... herself, forcing herself to say stuff. Interesting, right? In other words, the show is telling us to pay close attention because the episode will play with the line between fiction and reality.

In the very second scene there's a defeated Sawyer throwing rocks without purpose. Kate sees something's wrong with him, he's slowly giving up. She tells him to get a fish biscuit for her, implicitly telling him: "Provide for me, be here for me, don't give up". Sawyer's not stupid and immediately retorts with a "Psh. What, you trying to keep me feeling productive?".

In the last scene of Act 1, we're introduced to the final protagonist of this episode, Jack, and we discover what's growing as the song alluded in the very first scene: "JACK: [To Ben] The tumor on your spine is borderline inoperable. And at the rate it's growing, that borderline goes away in about one week".

By the end of Act 1 we have all the info we need to understand this episode: it'll be about love, it's gonna make us believe things that are not true and the thing that's growing on Ben's spine will be the keystone to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

To be continued!

[rubyfoxfyre]

What did you base Alastors Nox Magia off of? Why type of magic is it and where did you get the ideas for a good ass fanfic?

Thank you for the question!

The answer is sort of a long story that I suppose begins with my first exposure to Hazbin Hotel in general, during a particularly doomed D&D campaign where my character basically acted exactly like Charlie did in the pilot:

Granted, Fianna is not anything like Charlie at all, but the DM found it funny enough to send me the gif above and then everyone got distracted for about 5 minutes while they started meming.

The next day I watched the show and was completely hooked!

I started looking into the Wiki to get a greater understanding of the world shown, read the comics (like all 20 pages hahaha), and listened to Addict while working on prompts for Charlastor Week 2022, taking a break from my regular manuscript I'd been working on for a few years (stay tuned for updates soon on that one!). I had about a month so I decided to try my hand at smaller short stories, since some of the authors I idolize are so good at short fiction, and conveying strong emotions in just a few thousand words.

I watched and rewatched the Pilot, studying the characterizations there as well as thinking about funny and unexpected scenarios the characters could get into while dealing with the concept of redemption and how to make it work (needless to say that the fact that they already had it happen was... unexpected. I have thoughts on that but will put a pin in that for now to avoid getting too distracted from your question!).

I can't remember which rewatch it was that I picked up on an interesting exchange between Charlie and Alastor that turned into a whole mess that would consume me to this day:

She tries to put a limitation on his ability to do too much, and I wondered if that could lead to a sort of interesting power-play between them (because in the end this is the part of their relationship that is fundamentally interesting - they're both powerful people with opposing moralities, having to work together to acheive a common goal). Basically, because Charlie's not precise with her language, she ends up basically not controlling Alastor at all. Which works out in its way, because she hides from her deeper wellspring of power with the aid of a gentle persona.

I liked the idea of something deeper between them and within themselves - and with them being opposing forces, I wanted to work with the idea of Alastor being associated with "night" and "dark", versus Charlie being associated with "sunlight" and "rainbows".

Shadow and Flame, only a bit less Lord of the Rings and a bit more sexy.

Nox Magia , the "night" magic, follows basic arcane principles that I've picked up on through the long and involved process of being a massive nerd and reading a lot of stuff.

For writing magic, I like looking at basic logic structures and hovering somewhere between harder and softer magic. My other manuscript that is premiering this year will be discussing some differing types of magic systems as well, if you enjoy reading Riddle and my other works, I hope you enjoy those as well!

But as for the story itself, it wasn't meant to be a story about a man falling in love... it's the story of a man being dragged into love, kicking and screaming about it. 🦌🌈

To Alastor the Hotel is about control, and his experience there is just a game not to be taken too seriously. Charlie is also about control, or rather, trying to find a way to control without breaking everything with her terrible strength.

Alastor embraces his strength, while she hides from it, and he finds that contradictory instinct in her interesting, so he comes up with the idea of a game to teach her some magic that might help her. But as with all magic, intent governs everything (even when you don't realize), and the spells he's teaching are telling a particular kind of story - you can preview what's happening in the chapter titles that have the runes' names! 🍷

❤️ Thanks so much for reading! ❤️

[theplottdump]

Being rudely awoken in the early hours of the morning was not something Agent Kate Miller had pre-planned into her schedule for the day.

But just as faithfully as any other morning- slight grumpiness aside, when the sun rose, so did she. ( 🎵 )

One foot, then another- her pace was practiced, footwork precise.

After being kicked out of several dance classes as a teenager for 'raucous' and in her opinion completely valid behavior, the family therapist had suggested perhaps she might try a daily run as a way to sort out her thoughts and deal with her anger.

It was a mindless enough exercise. Her runs gave her the space to catalogue the facts, figures and feelings of the day prior- and run through all possible permutations for the one ahead of her.

𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵. 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵. 𝘖𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦. 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨. Wonder if he was off icing the bump she probably left on the back of his head.

Wonder why she cared about wondering. She didn't of course. 𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵. 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

Care that is.

The prose thing was concerning though. 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳? 𝘏𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵?

She'd spent so much time over the years flipping between different identities, disparate cutthroat personas-

She did the calculations again in her head. 𝙉𝙤𝙥𝙚- it was impossible. There had to be some hidden agenda at play.

It was interesting playing herself again.

As the muddled lake of her thoughts started clearing up, she found two things to be true.

𝗢𝗻𝗲: It would require more observation to decide if the ranchero presented an actual threat to the safety of her team's mission.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝘄𝗼: He had been tailing her for the last half a mile. 𝘉𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺.

She must not have thrown him far enough.

And even if he wasn't a threat- it didn't mean she couldn't pick up the pace a bit to make him work a little harder.