#superlatives ask game

[mistmarauder]

most likely to challenge a long-held belief of yours

Oh, this is a tough one. Hmmm. Damn. I could answer this a couple of ways.

I'm going to go with @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels though because we disagree on a lot of things from human nature to ghosts. While we usually just agree to disagree (because arguing about aliens is all in good fun), I value her opinion greatly, so I always listen to what she has to say. And I talk to her daily, so she challenges me often enough already if we're being honest. 😳

Send me “Most likely to…” asks 💃

[lurkingshan]

Not sure how many of these you'll have, but Top 5 'if they had sex right now, it would probably be less gay than whatever the hell is happening here' moments?

Hmmmm I think I do have a few. First, let me be a curmudgeon and say nothing is gayer than actual gay sex lol. But those moments when characters give their very gay intentions away or just lay it on extra thick are always so fun.

Yai and Jom making flower garlands, I Feel You Linger in the Air

When having him literally read porn to him didn't get through, Yai moved on to doing the gayest activity he could think of. He really wanted Jom to pick up what he was putting down.

Jae Won teaching Ji Hyun how to surf, The Eighth Sense

That was an awful lot of unnecessary touching, sunbae.

Tinn dressing Charn in his fussy blouse, Laws of Attraction

Honestly it was hard to choose just one scene from this show but I think this one takes the cake.

Hantae pledging his life to Baram, Sing My Crush

Fellas, is it gay to take one look at a sad cute boy and dedicate the rest of your life to making his dreams come true? ...fellas??

Mhok feeling up Day's hands, Last Twilight

Sirs. What the fuck.

Ask my top 5 anything in bl

[roseandgold137]

Ask game: kara is the straightest supergirl

[tsuncda]

oddinary for the ask game?

oddinary: sUCH a great album,,,, the venom to maniac to charmer pipeline has me sincerely unwell,,,,,

venom

muddy water

charmer

freeze

waiting for us

explain to me how oddinary only has seven songs and yet this was such a difficult decision,,,,,

send me an album and I'll share my top 5 favourite songs from it <3

[wild-houseplant]

Hello Plant, lovely friend ^^ I am a-coming with questions. Oh would I have loved just putting the whole post into your asks but that would be unfair to everybody else who wants to ask questions and maybe also be a tad bit overwhelming. So I've made a selection. Feel free to pick the ones that tickle your fancy the most and ignore the rest ^^

3. What architectural or design aesthetic would best suit them?

7. If your OC could meet any historical or past figure, whether in the real world or in their own canon lore, who would it be and why?

13. Is your character bilingual or multilingual? Yes she is Which language are they most comfortable in or prefer using? How did they come to learn them? (Also if I may make an add-on which language are reserved for which occasions? What's the socializing language? The academic language? The work language? Does she learn Antivan?)

23. What sort of routines, rituals or rules do they have or set for themselves? (What is her procedure to make herself comfortable after a long day of work? Bold question, may be a tad bit personal, if so please ignore)

I hope you're having an amazing day!!!!

Henlo my excellent friend :3 Thank you for sending the lush asks! I will answer them ALLLLLLL 8D

Under the cut, because like Aurelio and Revka, I am incapable of keeping it concise.

Okay, so 3 (what architectural or design aesthetic would best suit them?). I'll be the first to admit I'm not au fait with the industry terms. What I can say, though, with regard to general preferences:

Most important thing for Rhodri is that stuff is clean and in reasonably good repair. With the exception of hairline cracks in the buildings, which any Tevinter will assure you adds character, broken tiles and the like should be replaced. Also important is to make the place look both imposing to outsiders, but welcoming to familiar people.

Some clutter indoors, especially books, is encouraged, but only on table surfaces (never on the floor, as Tevinters consider it dirty, no matter how many times you mop it).

I've always seen Tevinter as a place that has a lot of sandstone and marble, so I figure plenty of the buildings are made out of those two things. Especially the upper-crust villas like what Rhodri grew up in.

In terms of decorations, better with trees and gardens rather than fancy statues. The symbol of Tevinter can either be carved into the sandstone, or in a banner hanging at the front of the villa.

High ceilings, please, and an atrium indoors, as it's hot as buggery year round in Minrathous. Make it nice and light, too. It's a beautiful, sunny city.

A couple of pictures below if that helps (links embedded in the pics):

close to ideal house. God help me for using minecraft. Make the land flat and stick a gazebo out the back for watching the afternoon thunderstorm, and that's a wrap.

Someone made a Tevinter-inspired courtyard, though I would just make this their atrium. MeggieRock took a whole bunch more pictures; I just chose the one I liked best. They're all amazing, though. I'm not quite sure if that's what the question was asking or not. Was I close? haha :D lmk if not!!

Number 7 (If your OC could meet any historical or past figure, whether in the real world or in their own canon lore, who would it be and why?)

Oh, easy choice. Zevran's mother, hands down. Naturally, if she could plan it out, she'd take Zevran so he could meet her, but if that wasn't allowed, she'd take a list of questions and information to pass on to her mother-in-law on Zevran's behalf.

One thing I never really thought of until now is that it would have been quite a thing at the wedding to see the Imperial Chantry packed to the rafters with Rhod's family and friends and friends of the family and and and... But then not a soul from Zevran's side. People would've been astonished. Northerners have huge networks, and Zevran comes empty-handed to his own nuptials? It's sad, honestly. Especially because even though Tevinters don't marry for love as a rule, the marriage does signify two households becoming much more linked. Really, you don't just marry one person, you marry the whole family.

On the plus side, Zevran has a whole new gaggle of people who love him to bits, so it's very much a net win. Even so, Rhodri was looking forward to the whole +1 family add-on with whomever her father was going to set her up with. So the chance to say g’day to her mother-in-law would be something she’d be absolutely jonesing for.

Assuming Zevran isn't allowed to join in on this, meeting Zevran's mother would be a very emotional event, I think, for Rhodri and her mother-in-law both. Not least because this poor Dalish woman realises her only child has gone and gotten hitched with a Tevinter Magister, oh my GOD. I dunno, though, I think Rhodri's candour and very plain affection for her son (she practically sings odes about him as it is) would reassure her. She'd probably be heartbroken to hear Zevran went through what he did with the Crows. I’m sure she’d be very proud of him too, though, especially as Rhodri waxes lyrical about his heroism and kind heart during the Blight (and every other point in time, honestly) .

And yanno, marrying into fabulous wealth with a spouse who's willing to do anything for him, well. It's a turn-up for the books after Crow living. This lady would probably be content enough to let Rhodri go (only after ALL her questions are answered) with some ominous warning about haunting the shit out of her if she breaks Zevran's heart. Fair enough, honestly. What loving mother could do more?

13. Is your character bilingual or multilingual? Yes she is Which language are they most comfortable in or prefer using? How did they come to learn them? (Also if I may make an add-on which language are reserved for which occasions? What's the socializing language? The academic language? The work language? Does she learn Antivan?)

Ooh. Ooh ok. Let's see. I can't say Rhodri dislikes Common, because it's her mother's native language (though Revka does speak Tevene) and her mother is a SAINT, damn it! BUT Rhod's far more Tevinter than Kirkwaller, culturally speaking, and does have a heavy preference for Tevene.

The trouble with Common, as any proud Northerner will tell you, is that it's not so much a cultural language these days, but rather a trade tongue. A lingua franca, at most. Those poor bloody Fereldans and Marchers, Maker help them, lost their cultural language and can only speak Common now. Where are the culturally-specific words for certain moods, circumstances, weather phenomena, celebrations? Where's the language made by the first of their people to live there, that ties them to their homes and families?

She uses Common when she needs to. Everyone does. If anyone with her doesn't speak Tevene, or doesn't feel proficient enough, she'll speak Common, as basic courtesy dictates. With Kirkwaller family, though, she uses it more joyfully. Especially when she gets a chance to whip out the dreadful sandblaster Kirkwaller accent and horrify everyone but her mother, who was the one to teach it to her.

(HC if needed: I have assigned various accents and dialects of the English-speaking diaspora to the Marcher nations and beyond, as I'm sick of RP everywhere. Kirkwallers speak Australian English; Starkhaveners have the most gorgeous Glaswegian (feel free to picture Sebastian Vael screaming "Whae fuckin widnae! Eh? Think ah fuckin widnae? Ya fuckin radge!" when challenged to a fight). And those splendid people in Tantervale delight us all with the linguistic beauty of Belfast!)

For all other matters, she speaks Tevene. I'd say she's evenly bilingual having grown up speaking both, but Tevene, which is much more expressive and emotional, communicates her and her inner workings best. Lots of Tevene doesn't translate well into Common, and she forever bemoans that, because it makes it much harder to get her message across. The pain of having to explain 'te amo plenissime' while Zevran's still learning, oh god. She thinks and dreams in Tevene. Any poetry or important, heartfelt things she writes-- Tevene (except to her mother, of course). Magical research is more easily written in Tevene- Circle mages across Thedas use a lot of Tevene loanwords for magical things because of course, magic was suppressed outside of the Imperium.

She does learn Antivan though! Luckily, the two countries have very similar linguistic roots-- in fact, my HC here is that Antivan developed from Tevene, and they haven't diverged too much yet. I'd say it'd be like being a German speaker learning Dutch. The trick is keeping your own first language out of your target language's turn of phrase. Zevran and Rhodri both pick up each other's language without too much trouble once they're living under the same roof again after Awakening.

23 What sort of routines, rituals or rules do they have or set for themselves? (What is her procedure to make herself comfortable after a long day of work? Bold question, may be a tad bit personal, if so please ignore)

Rhodri, who has been watching me type all this for her, has asked me to pass on that, 'iucundis can ask me anything at all, and we will not be ignoring this question,' so there you have it!

I don't think there's anything very specific to the busier days that would feature, to be honest. Her schedule is embedded with the things needed to keep her comfortable. When she was a little sprout and had come home from a long day, she was often fairly tense, especially if she'd gotten dirty. Her folks found that the best solution was to drop her in the bath and read to her, and then give her dinner. Most problems can be fixed by getting clean and having a good meal, really.

Even now, bath and food works wonders. Bathing with company or without, she doesn't mind. (Ironically enough, given its fussiness about modesty, Tevinter has a big bathhouse culture, and friends and family love a day out together at the spa/baths.)

That aside, if she's tired or stressed, it's more painful as a rule to deviate from the schedule, so if she has things that need to be done, she's found that it's better to half-arse them to get to bath/food/bed quicker. Dealing with the fallout is Tomorrow Rhodri's problem. My little rebel. <3

[daisywords]

Dusty Rose and Daffodil Yellow for the writeblr asks!

Dusty Rose: Your personal favourite character in your wip

that's like asking me to pick a favorite child! ok but fr I probably have to say Alya from Fear Me bc writing in really deep first person pov just gets me really attached. (And also Mar, who I never talk about bc she shows up in book 2 and pretty much everything about her is a spoiler).

But mostly I'm a main characters type of girl so unsurprisingly we'll have to go with Trip and Lya from DaDBaB bc I'm obsessed with them if you can't tell. honorary mentions to Pasha, Iadra, and the Highking for being really fun to write.

Daffodil Yellow: Does worldbuilding come easily to you?

it depends. Certain topics are pretty easy like linguistic considerations,* magic systems, biomes, but other things are harder bc I know less about them. For example my wip Fear Me has always been kind of tough to worldbuild bc it involves ships and government and idk how either of those things work practically lol

*I'm not a huge conlanger but I'm talking about like different dialects, formal vs. informal registers, slang, bilingualism, etc.

colourful writeblr asks

[nemainofthewater]

For the fic ask game: 8, 18, 23, 29 :D

Thank you for sending as ask in! 

8. Best characterisation

I found this one really hard to answer in that good or bad, I think that most of my characterisations of characters is pretty consistent? I am nonetheless going to choose Alliance, a Nirvana in Fire fic wherein Lin Chen and Jingyan meet in a marketplace (a meeting quite possibly set up by Consort Jing) because I really enjoyed writing Lin Chen in that one and I also wrote in Jingyan's POV which I definitely find harder to do (and I think it came out ok!)

18. Longest time writing

Longest time writing is 100% The Boy Who Fought Against the Stars, a post-canon Legend of Fei fic which is Xie Yun telling his future disciples the story of how he and Zhou Fei met in fairytale form. The reason that I'm putting it as the longest is that I started writing it in the period when my computer had to go and get its battery replaced for a month or so. The first few thousand words of the story were therefore all handwritten in a notebook and then - once I got my computer back - retyped into Word. Surprisingly I actually did quite well when it came to writing longhand but I lost all motivation once I'd finished retyping it back into a digital format and then it took me another month or so to finish. RIP.

Either that or Tailor Made , a Word of Honour crack!fic about Wen Kexing's tailor which I started for @thebansacredbanned 's birthday last year and only finished a year later.

23. Most excited to post

...Can I choose every single Nirvana in Fire exchange fic I wrote (all 33 lol)? Well, not post exactly, but to reveal; I was so excited for the collection to open!

If not, I think Mutually Assured Destruction, a Disguiser fic which basically is every single member of the Ming family blackmailing each other pre-canon. That was very fun to come up with and it was also a birthday gift for Thebes so I was desperate to see her reaction.

29. Most spontaneous fic 

This one is easy, they warned us, a storm is coming on, again written for the Nirvana in Fire exchange fic for the prompts 'one of the main trio dies at the worst possible moment'. Written in a mad 30 minutes or so the morning before the exchange opened because I was worried that we wouldn't hit over 70 works (which @kimboo-york had pointed out was the number that were written the year before). I was literally scrolling through prompts to see one that I knew I could write in time, and I hit on this delightful chunk of angst.

Thank you so much for sending the questions, @fwoopersongs ! I always love talking about my writing.

If you want to send any asks in, please do! The relevant post with the numbered questions is here

[buckysvault]

Ask & Answer

Hi @kasienda, I assume the ask is actually for me and my asks is open so I'm not sure what happened. Anyway..

#29: Most spontaneous fic

A Particular Set of Skills was the most spontaneous fic I’ve ever written. Other than that, my SamBucky was also quite spontaneous because I remembered wanting to write something just in time for Anthony Mackie's birthday. So that ended up being For the Birthday Boy, I missed the date but not by much😂

Again, thank you so much for asking. Let me check my settings real quick in case this happens again.

you can ask me here

[jennifer-hamilton-wb]

15

15: Favorite movie

I'm really not sure. Maybe The Thing (1982) or Alien? My answer here is telling of my thriller and psychological horror preferences. The Thing is definitely my favorite horror movie. My favorite recent movie is maybe the first Spiderverse movie? I don't think I watch enough movies to have a strong answer to this question, i'm much more of a lit buff but I guess my answer to that question is much more self-evident.

Original post

[mistmarauder]

Most likely to post unpopular opinions

Ohhhhh. Ummmmm.

I'm going with @buckttommy. That feels right.

Send me “Most likely to…” asks 💃

[lurkingshan]

Hi! So there have been a lot of top5 asks already done. So I'm giving you 5 slots to talk about a show/scene/character that you didn't get a chance to in other asks because it didn't apply or they didn't make the cut. If you want obviously. Rose💜

Ooh, thanks Rose! Let's see, what have I not talked about yet... I'll do a few additional superlatives for the year that didn't make other lists.

Best (Squandered) Side Character: Max, Be My Favorite

I loved this man and his done-with-your-shit energy. The wise queer elder to a bunch of confused messes. His mix of disdain and patience was absolutely perfect, and one of my biggest beefs with BMF is that it failed to give him a proper story when there was so much ripe material right there on the table.

The Show That Was Way Better Than Expected: Love Class 2

I went into this one with zero expectations and knowing the first Love Class was kind of a flop, and was surprised by how well it worked. All three couples were good, but Joo Hyuk and Sung Min's more mature storyline was definitely my favorite.

Most Surprising Character: Amane, If It's With You

@bengiyo and @ginnymoonbeam can attest that when I watched the first episode of this show I shot straight up and started yelling when I realized our protagonist fucks. We so rarely see school age bls that are honest about the sexual activity of minors, and that don't present early sexual experiences as traumatic. Amane just likes sex, and gets it when he wants it. This show didn't make it onto my all time greats list because they pulled their punches on this at the end, but they still get credit for giving us this character in the first place.

Favorite BL Pairing That Was Not Technically In A BL: Army and Joe, The Warp Effect

These two been living rent free in my head for almost a year now. I found their second chance romance so charming and I loved the push-pull between them as they figured out what they needed from each other. Both hot and a great model of healthy communication.

Best Time Watching an Old Classic: Make It Right

When @waitmyturtles got to this one on her old GMMTV project, I decided to join in, because it was my last remaining gap in my early Thai bl education. And damn did I enjoy it a lot more than expected. As @bengiyo says, this is truly a boy show, with all the mess and frankness about sex that entails, and Frame is one of my favorite characters.

Ask my top 5 anything in bl

[emilybeemartin]

A whopping, like, 2.6 people have expressed interest in my recent adventures in watching Bean films, which is all the encouragement I need to present to you:

An Incomplete Guide to Sean Bean Roles (Investigation Ongoing)

Our guy has a vast filmography, and I'm not even close to being halfway through it, but I've watched a lot of his significant ones in the past few weeks thanks to a perfect storm of illness, injury, and lapses in client work. Crucially, I have created superlatives for a variety of them and present them here for your benefit. Disclaimer: many of these films are violent! Or have butts and/or tits! Some have dick! Some have dated bits that didn't age well! So, if you have triggers or are watching with young viewers, do your research first! Also, these are just the opinions of one solitary millennial! Nothing is objective! Nothing is real! I care not!

Okay, CYA done, let's begin. I'll get the two most obvious ones out of the way up front, otherwise they'll dominate half the categories:

ACT I

Greatest Bean: Fellowship of the Ring. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he achieved more pathos with Boromir than a lot of his other roles have allowed for, and every note he hits just sings. No debate.

Best Bean for Your Buck: Sharpe. For the best confluence of quantity, quality, physicality, emotion, humor, and action, you can't beat Richard Sharpe.

Favorite Dramatic Bean: Time; he earned that BAFTA fr

Softest Bean: The first date scene in Stormy Monday, where Brendan shyly gets to know Kate, slow dances with her, lends her a shirt and strokes her back after she asks if they can just go to sleep instead of have sex.

Most Dashing Bean: Vronsky in Anna Karenina, that uniform cuts, damn

Swooniest Bean: I know I'm supposed to say Chatterley, and he is undeniably sexy as Mellors, but there are parts where his character is actually kind of off-putting. I'll lay a good chunk of the blame on the weirdly ominous score, the very of-the-time depiction of dubious consent, and Joely Richardson's tendency to look like she's having the worst time of her life while shagging the hot gamekeeper. No, I'm giving this category to Stormy Monday again. He's just so gentle and genuine in this one, without some of the obligatory "heartthrob" overtones of his nineties stuff. He never raises his voice at Kate or manhandles her. He really does feel like some kid who just wants to be sweet to his girlfriend.

Laddiest Bean: When Saturday Comes, specifically the strip club and bathtub scenes.

Favorite Sad Bean: As a collective, he has some great grief scenes in World on Fire, but! The railroad track scene in When Saturday Comes?! That was RAW.

Favorite Mad Bean: Black Death; there are plenty of movies where he doesn't smile at all, but unlike some others, his grimness and anger felt proportionate to the story, rather than just rage because he's good at rage.

Favorite Bad Bean: There are so many great Bean villains (Goldeneye, obvs), but I think my favorite is Patriot Games. Bonus points for all the different hairstyles he has in this film (long locks-shag-shag ponytail!-buzz-wet spiky buzz). Also HUGH FRASER AAAA

Favorite Dad Bean: Wolfwalkers, where Bill Goodfellowe literally turns his own convictions and beliefs upside-down in order to protect and support his daughter.

INTERMISSION

A note on GoT: I haven't watched it. When season one was first coming out, it was during a time where I really couldn't handle watching any kind of sexual assault onscreen, and while I have a higher tolerance now, I just... don't want to. I like seeing gifs of Ned Stark and appreciate that it's one of his great roles, but I just can't make myself take the plunge.

ilysm you grizzled dead wolf man

ACT II

Favorite Costumed Bean: Odysseus in Troy: curls, leather, thighs.

Favorite Un-Costumed Bean: He strips in quite a lot of his films, so let's give it to Lady Chatterley for sheer screentime, exertion, and the bonus of being naked and wearing a flower crown. Honorable mention to When Saturday Comes for the totally not homoerotic amount of butts and also dick in the locker room bathtub scene.

Hurtin'est Bean: Bravo Two Zero. Oof, don't watch this one if you have an aversion to seeing pain, although---you're a Sean Bean fan, and we all know one of his MOs is being GREAT at pain. This one was directed by Tom Clegg, who directed Sharpe. Also lol at the sickle-shaped wound on his shoulder, which is covering his 100% Blade tattoo (he gets a lot of sickle-shaped wounds on his left shoulder).

Best Inside References: The Frankenstein Chronicles, where he plays a former Peninsular soldier, and every reference to his service is a reference to Sharpe, including shots of his greenjacket, pistol, sword, and flogging scars. Honorable mention to The Martian for the Council of Elrond line.

Most Unsettling Bean: Cleanskin for moral grayness, The Frankenstein Chronicles for body horror

Most Inefficient Use of Bean: Black Beauty. Despite getting high billing he's only onscreen for about two minutes and I'm convinced the long shots are a body double. Criminal.

Biggest Missed Opportunity: We were robbed of a Sean Bean Odyssey. R o b b e d

Funniest Bean: Deploying Bean for comedy is woefully underused, but he made full use of his ~15 seconds in The Vicar of Dibley ("Spring" episode). He's also hilarious in Wasted, though I haven't watched the show, only the clips he's in on YouTube, where he plays a mock version of himself serving as a spirit guide for a stoner. IMO, though, Sharpe gives him the most room for humor.

Favorite Character Quirk: In World on Fire, when Douglas is having WWI flashbacks and really coming apart, he kept putting his hand to his mouth. My modern brain first read this as talking into a phantom radio, but of course that wasn't right, and then I realized--he was reaching for a phantom gas mask. CHILLS. AMAZING. (Honorable mentions to the Mouth Rub and the Tongue Thing [pictured above]).

Most Nostalgic Bean: National Treasure. The concept may be utter silliness, but you have to admit, this is a fun movie to watch.

Best Dismount from a Horse: Henry VIII, he goes pshwing out of the saddle

Best Swordplay: You may think there's no possible answer to this, but there is---two moments, specifically: the preparatory sword-spin he does at Balin's tomb just before the goblin attack in Moria, and the four lunges he does at 1:26:22 of Sharpe's Battle. It's just facts.

Prettiest Bean Film: Wolfwalkers, hands downnnn

Favorite Bean Death: All right, you knew we had to eventually end here. It's Boromir, obviously--- nothing tops that. But if we're looking at other roles, I think Patriot Games is my favorite, followed by Goldeneye.

So! That concludes this installment of Bean films, though I'll be continuing the labor, and I hope you will, too. What are your favorites?

[bagopucks]

T. Zegras - Can He Sing?

✄————————————

Trevor Zegras x Fem!reader

Requested✨

Word Count: 2.1k

Warning(s): None?

—————————————

“We’re ready when you are.”

“I’m good. Trev?”

“Uh yeah… I think so.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Filming.”

“Hello! I’m Macy Grey and today we’re here with the singer-songwriter who brought you the famous album Silly Love Songs. And her lover Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks. On behalf of myself and the studio I want to thank you both for coming out today.”

“Of course! I love getting in touch with interviewers. Especially from locally known studios.”

“When I was informed you were in town for the All Stars, I wasn’t sure if you’d have the time, but I’m so happy you were able to fit us into your schedule.”

“Absolutely. I should be thanking you for letting Trevor come though. I know your forte isn’t exactly hockey players.”

Large studio interviews were a waste of time. It was something I always resented, and something that even morally never agreed with me. Large studios only wanted to get news first to make the most money. Smaller places offered a more personal environment and a more comfortable atmosphere. It was the only reason why I had invited Trevor along. I didn’t want him involved too much in the social half of my career, mostly because the industry and jealous fans could be cruel to artists’ lovers. But I reasoned with myself that one interview wouldn’t hurt. Especially with someone like Macy Grey. She was always so kind and open to friends, family, or significant others of musicians.

“To kick us off, I’d love to talk more on the exact reason why you’re in town. Everyone is aware of your successes, but let’s fill the crowd in on Trevor’s.”

“Where to start?” I glanced at Trevor, who let out that awkward wheezy laugh. He was uncharacteristically quiet, but this was a new thing for him. Usually hockey interviews happened when there were loads of other people around. These interviews were far more private. “He was voted in as one of the players this year to play in the All Stars, and he’s competing in a few skills competitions as well. He won a gold medal with Team USA one year before the NHL, he attended Boston University before being drafted.. what else?” I hoped to get him to join in, but Trevor looked fairly comfortable letting me do all the talking. I could fix that though.

“Trevor was voted most likely to cry in a haunted house this year for team superlatives.” I smirked as soon as I heard him gasp.

“Yeah, that’s enough of that,” Trevor cut in. “I’m not a baby, write that down.” He pointed toward Macy, as if the woman had some sort of notepad in her hands. “I’m just jumpy. It’s normal.” His blue eyes shifted toward me with a playful glare, Macy laughed softly at the exchange.

“Well, Trevor. It seems like you’re a pretty successful person yourself. Would you mind me asking how you two met?”

“Oh I love this story.”

“Me too,” Trevor chimed in, crossing his legs one over the other, and leaning forward like a kid during story time.

“So, I was in New York for a performance in MSG, and the Ducks were in town too for a game” I smiled, leaning back in my chair and trying to get comfortable. “My best friend had joined me for the eastern leg of the tour at the time, so we decided to go out for drinks downtown. My favorite bar in the city is 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar. So my best friend, Shelby and I, we just got two glasses of champagne and settled at a high table to watch the sunset. We’re minding our own business.. for the most part, but there’s this group of guys that are just carrying on. They’re loud and obnoxious and they look like your stereotypical frat guys. At one point Shelby had enough, and she got up to go yell at them.” I peeked at Trevor, his smile growing wider. He knew very well that this was the part where he came in. “So Shelby’s yelling at that group of guys, and I finally got up to go wrangle her. And just as I’m approaching.. I kinda stopped and asked myself if it was a good idea. Shelby doesn’t like to be told to stop much. Then I hear this voice right next to me. Scared the shit out of me. And the voice goes, “She yours?” I laughed softly, as did Macy.

“I apologized profusely for her behavior, and-“

“But I told her I wasn’t the one getting yelled at. So it didn’t bother me.” Trevor cut in with a toothy grin. “Then I bought her another glass of champagne and the rest is history.”

“Don’t forget about the part where you booked your hotel room for an extra night to see me perform.” I teased, “And bribed security into getting backstage to see me and ask for my number.”

“Those details don’t make me sound as cool though,” Trevor whined.

“That’s a really sweet story.” Macy chimed in.

“Thank you.”

“So he asked for your number, but who asked who out?”

“To simplify a long story, Trevor was beating around the bush too much for a little while, so one night be brought me flowers before an away game and I told him when he got back, we were going to go on our first date as an official couple.” Macy and I laughed in unison.

“And were there any arguments to that demand?”

“Not from me, no.” Trevor giggled. “I was more than happy to put a label on it.”

“And how long have you been together?”

“Two years. Three at the end of All Star Week.”

“How adorable! You guys must be a strong couple then.”

“Oh one hundred percent.” Trevor smiled as he spoke.

“Now, the question on everyone’s minds is.. can he sing?”

“Yes!”

“Absolutely not.” I corrected Trevor ruthlessly. “He thinks he can.. but he can’t.” I chuckled, glancing at the sandy blonde to see his look of pure betrayal.

“Does that mean we won’t be hearing any duets?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” I answered slyly, earning a surprised look from Macy. “Trev is featured on the album.. speaking. His features are mostly just backtracks.”

“I know this may be asking a lot but- is there any chance we could get a sneak peek at that?”

“For you Macy? I would love to.” I watched the girl’s eyes light up. I pulled my phone from my pocket and opened my files, scrolling through for a moment before I stood and dragged my chair closer to the woman’s.

“This song is called Spellbound. It was actually the first song I produced for this new album. I took some of my inspiration from the song Witchy Woman by the Eagles. The reason being, this was written during halloween, and that is just one of my favorite spooky songs. For this piece, I wanted it to feel supernaturally devoted to Trevor. Like.. kind of like.. like a love where one person idolizes the other, but not necessarily in an obsessive or toxic way. I think the lyrics and the tune teetering on the edge of insanity really adds to the supernatural edge and it also makes this song unique to Trevor. I can’t say I’ll ever produce another song like this, nor do I think anyone else will. Classic rock isn’t exactly my genre, nor do I plan for it to be. So this track really sticks out. Which is the main reason why I chose to give this song its own cover art. And I’ll be releasing it as the first single.” It was a lot of information to offer, but I was very passionate about the things I dedicated to Trevor. Especially this song.

Most of my music got old after constantly rerecording lyrics and harmonies, or sorting out instruments. But this song never did. I loved it through and through.

“This sounds amazing and so.. intricate. How long did it take in total from thinking of the idea to finalizing the song?”

“A full month maybe? I hadn’t been exactly itching to make a new album, so I knew if I was going to, my basis for it was going to have to be amazing. And I think I did a fairly good job.” I paused. “I hope so..”

“I’m sure it’s amazing. Let’s hear it!”

I wasted no time in playing the track, a steel guitar and stylized keyboard opening the musical scene. I was a person who loved using clips of recordings in my music, whether it was from everyday life, or a random video in my camera roll, or even if I took the recording of the sound specifically for a song. It was one of my many musical signatures, but the one I was most known for. Atop the smooth music, came the faded clinging of pans, and Trevor’s soft voice. “I can’t wait for you to be home.. Fuck I miss you so much.” It had been a voicemail, but my sound producers managed to give it a more authentic feel, as if someone was in the room with him recording instead of it being spoken into a phone mic. The music itself was fairly calm and collected. Certain instruments helped it sound taboo and old, but the lyrics were the driving factor that made it sound almost insane. A part of me worried my audience wouldn’t take to the song well, but Macy seemed enthralled from the start of the track.

I eyed her expressions carefully through every second, smiling to myself when she seemed particularly intrigued by a section. And I had to admit, it boosted my ego to hear Trevor not too far off in his own chair humming the song to himself. I could live with myself if everyone hated the song, as long as he loved it.

Near the bridge, Trevor’s voice returned, “I’m gonna keep you forever.” This section had been specifically recorded in the studio, and despite my endless attempts to get him to take it seriously, he had giggled at the end of every take. Eventually I settled on knowing I wouldn’t have it the exact way I wanted it, and we used the take with the least amount of amusement in his voice. At the end of the day when we put it all together, his laugh only ended up adding to the crazy feel of the song.

Near the end of the track, Macy finally spoke up.

“This is the weirdest and most mentally satisfying song I have ever heard.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Really?”

“You’re so right, it sounds nothing like what you usually produce, but it still has your essence in it. You can tell it’s your songwriting. I think this song is going to be crazy successful. And I also think having Trevor on it is going to make people go nuts” I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of that. I knew my fans would love to see Trevor featured.

“Thank you so much. I’m so excited to release the song.” I admitted with a slight grin.

“I’m just excited that I’ll be able to listen to it without having to say “babe can you sing me that song” every time I wanna hear it.” Trevor teased, causing my cheeks to flush as our eyes met.

“You don’t like her singing to you?” Macy joked.

“God no. I love it when she sings. I just hate how much I get made fun of when I ask her to do it.” The three of us laughed.

“Sounds to me like you have a pretty devoted girlfriend.”

“She did write a weirdly obsessive song about me.” Trevor agreed pridefully. “The first of many, right babe?” His question made my brow rise in surprise.

“We’ll see, Ziggy.”

“That’s a good answer. Can’t give too much away just yet.” My eyes trailed back to Macy. Our time was drawing to a close. “I hate to cut us short but I think we’re reaching our limit. And I know you have your own tight schedule today.” She paused. “I really wanna thank you again for making enough time to come out. It means a lot.”

“Mace, I think I speak for the both of us when I say we had so much fun being here. You always conduct the best interviews.” The woman blushed.

“We can come back anytime.” Trevor added, catching me off guard.

“I’ll have to take you up on that offer the next time you’re in town.” Macy grinned. “I hope you both enjoy the All Stars, and rock the red carpet of course.”

“Thank you so much. We definitely hope to.”

“I’ll be watching on tv.”

✾❀✾❀✾❀✾❀✾❀✾❀✾❀✾

[indouloureux]

picturing a costar!reader where they are in an interview and joseph and reader keep flirting with each other during like a superlative game or something and it’s just super cute 😭😭😭

im not kidding you i had to write this three times because it wouldn't go into my drafts and i'm sorry if it sucks BECAUSE IT GOT LOST THREE TIMES 😭

there's a mischievous glint in his eyes as he looks at you through his thick eyelashes, fingers flicking the white card that bears questions that are exposing. the white lights are blinding, bright and hot as it puts you both into the spotlight of the audience behind the cameras and soon — millions of people.

"who was the last person you texted?" he asks you, words coming from the printed text of the card.

"your mom."

"what'd she say?"

"she sent me a pic of you in diapers."

"at what age?"

"at what age?" you repeat, incredulous with a small laugh. "are you telling me you wore diapers 'till you were six?"

a heat rises to his cheeks and render itself pink as joseph realizes he's pushed himself into a hole. he looks away from you and reads the next question. "if you were to—"

"hey, shut up. it's my turn." you whack your card with his. "if you were to take me out on a date, where would it be and why?"

his hands are clasped beneath the card, sitting between his legs as he sways in his chair. the question is suspiciously revealing, bearing what's teasing intention into forcing you to answer questions that oppose secrets and privacy. joseph clears his throat. "um, the movies."

"what movie?"

"whatever that's there."

"why?"

"because movies are romantic."

"what if we were watching something really sad like hereditary?"

"you're ruining the mood," he wrinkles his nose, narrowing his eyes at you. "i'm saying i'm trying to take you out on a date to the movies and you're asking me why?" you laugh. "just go on a damn date with me!"

he wishes desperately he would've have said it non jokingly.

"okay, my turn," he taps his nails on the card, making weird incoherent noises with his mouth before he reads the question you disrupted him from earlier. "if you were to cook something for me, what would it be and why?"

the imagination of you cooking for him sends a twinge of pink to his cheeks and face; feeling domesticity in the visualization. "probably steak," you tell him, swaying in your seat with your feet dangling. "coz i'm a really good cook when it comes to steak."

"i'll be the judge of that, darling,"

a warm shiver up your spine at the sobriquet. "um, if you were to listen to a song, what song would it be?"

joseph's breath hitches. out of all questions, really, this one was what he hoped he would never get. he could easily lie, however, you'd found a bluff in him when he lies so there's no point in swiveling to another corner.

"dance the night away by van halen."

"oh god," you cover your laugh with the card. "thought you were going to say up and down by venga boys and i was prepared to lunge at you."

he laughs, looking at the people behind the camera before he turns back to you. "'d you know that song?"

"a bit," you admit. "give me a lyric."

"um—...fooled me with her style and ease; and I feel her from across the room yes, it's love in the third degree,"

you pretend he doesn't mean anything by that song, exchange oblivious glances as you sway in your seats nervously. joseph laughs the awkward pain away, and you clear your throat as he reads the next question.

reblogs and feedback are appreciated <3

[familyabolisher]

i'm sorry in advance for asking you about what was essentially, a small part of a month old jokey reply to a post. that said, what would you consider the implications of the "this world is enough" quote being said by specifically Joyce Messier to be, along with the ensuing "(...) this is the greatest and kindest arrangement the atoms had in them"... it's just that this is one of my favourite quotes in the game and your post made me realize I had been engaging with it in a rather superficial way.

It’s a very beautifully worded passage, which I think contributes in large part to why people latch onto it so much. Unfortunately, it tends to fall victim to the classic phenomenon whereby lines which are rhetorically effective and on the surface appear to articulate a clear and compelling sentiment find themselves isolated from their broader textual context in fan reception & thus taken at face value. The full passage is:

JOYCE MESSIER - "Great bodies of water, forest-covered surfaces... clusters of light where the cities lie. You've seen the montage, we all have -- this world is enough," she concludes.

CONCEPTUALIZATION - It *must* be. This is the greatest and kindest arrangement the atoms had in them.

Stripped of its political teeth, I imagine the idea of a world composed of the ‘greatest and kindest’ arrangement of atoms is somewhat comforting, as a poetic expression of a sentiment of hope and optimism for the world around you and for yourself in turn. However, it just can’t be easily cleaved away from the fact that Disco Elysium is an overtly and unsubtly political game; it’s a game about communism, and it’s a game which thinks about communism in such a way that the sentiment given here is undercut at just about every turn.

We see that this idea of a ‘greatest and kindest arrangement’ is coming in response to Joyce’s statement that ‘this world is enough.’ Joyce, in-game, is an ultraliberal strikebreaker invested with a huge amount of power relative to capitalist hegemony; put simply, she is not someone whose political voice is one with which the narrative aligns. To think about the present condition of the world as ‘enough’—and to respond, as does Harry’s Conceptualisation, with the suggestion that anything else would be less great and less kind than they are at present (such that all failings of greatness and kindness in the present state can be countered with the superlative)—is a sentiment coming from someone for whom the continuation of the capitalist social condition is hugely beneficial. Put simply, Disco Elysium, read holistically, is just not a game which believes that the capitalist social condition is ‘enough,’ and nor that it is the ‘greatest and kindest arrangement.’

Like—the game takes great pains to suggest that capitulating to the inevitability of the present condition only reveals the limitations of one’s framework. Time and time again, the game makes appeals to inevitability—of the fall of the commune, of the expansion of the pale and the consumption of Elysium—only to suggest that it is only by imagining a total rearrangement of the atoms, if you will, that we can prevent it. I wrote in more detail about this reading here if you’re interested, but the long and short of it is: the presence of the anomaly in the Dolorian church guides us as players towards the idea that the entropy of the pale is a construction of Dolorian moralism, which is to say, capitalist hegemony; the fact that infra-materialism, a theory of Mazovian socio-economics, suggests at the defiance of traditional laws of physics in a manner that may at first seem absurd but by the end of the communist plotline is proven possible in the fact that the tower is able to stand up on its own is in turn a suggestion that the pale’s entropy, too, is a ‘fact’ only inasmuch as it exists within the boundaries of what hegemony has termed factual. If the tower can stand, why can’t the world be overhauled at such a fundamental level that the expansion of the pale could be stopped and the Moralintern could be evaporated? This is the sentiment of the communist quest; rather than accepting the present condition of things (the “greatest and kindest” such that nothing else could possibly be better—it is worth remembering that greatest and kindest does not necessarily mean great or kind), the very belief that they could be changed is what allows change to take place. This is the sentiment communicated in Steban’s “In dark times, should the stars also go out?”.

My comment on the original post was just me being slightly glib about the fact that people consistently latch onto that line out of context. It’s a good line—it’s prettily expressed, and it’s certainly helpful for articulating the different political conditions at play in the game. However, I’m not convinced people are engaging with it in a way that fairly accounts for what it does relative to the rest of the text. This tendency to latch onto poetic language at the expense of thinking seriously about what the sentiment in question actually communicates reminds me of what Evrart says of Joyce:

You - "But she told me a beautiful story about the discovery of the Insulinde."

Evrart Claire - "Of course she did. Rich people have the best stories. About all the interesting things they've done and seen, all the beautiful places they've been to. It's just sentimentalism. She can afford to be sentimental -- and she can afford to lose as well."

I wouldn’t reify Evrart as the voice of the working class in Disco Elysium either, but I think this particular line cuts to the quick about how Joyce’s elevated, obscurantist language often makes it difficult for players to situate what she says within the context from which she appears to us.

[buckysvault]

Hi! For the superlatives, how about 13, 18 and 23? 💖

Hello, I just had time to answer this. Thank you so much for asking :)

#13: Most underappreciated

Well, that's pretty much everything I write on AO3😂😂😂 I have this thing where one of my fics would somewhat catch people's attention and then nothing after that fic would ever receive that level of attention. I probably wish Of All the Gin Joints in All the World (He Walks into Mine) got more attention compared to what it has so far.

I tried my best though, and that fic has the most interaction out of anything I've written so that's something.

#18: Longest time writing

I'll give you different answer, because I feel like I answered this already. But my Moon Knight fic with Marc & Steven, Life is Fine (Fine as Wine), surprisingly took a while to write. Writing a slice of life fic is surprisingly tricky because I don't want it to end up as a snooze-fest, because I feel like it's easier to write stories with no stakes and fall into the boring category.

#23: Most excited to post

I remembered being so excited writing A Particular Set of Skills because that was the most spontaneous fic I've ever written. I also just wanted to write Bucky being competent as hell, and Steve (not so secretly) having a competence kink because COMPETENCE IS SEXY, Y'ALL. I don't know if I achieved that, but I like writing it.

Thanks again for the question. The rest of you: you can ask me here.