#that whole conversation takes the ENTIRE episode and it drives me insane | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chainofclovers · 3 years

Text

Ted Lasso 2x11 thoughts

For an episode that ends with a journalist Ted trusts but has (understandably) recently lied to warning Ted that he’s publishing an article about his panic attacks, it was fitting that this episode seemed entirely about what all of these characters choose to tell each other. And after most of a season of television that Jason Sudeikis has described as the season in which the characters go into their little caves to deal with things on their own, it turns out they are finally able to tell each other quite a lot.

Which is good because, um, wow, a lot is going to happen in the season finale of this show!

Thoughts on the things people tell each other behind the cut!

Roy and Keeley. I absolutely loved the moment during their photoshoot in which they bring up a lot of complicated emotional things and are clearly gutted (“gutted”? Who am I? A GBBO contestant who forgot to turn the oven on?) by what they’ve heard. We already know that Keeley and Roy are great at the kinds of moments they have before the shoot begins, in which Roy builds Keeley up and tells her she’s fucking amazing. From nearly the beginning of their relationship, they’ve supported each other and been each other’s biggest fans. But their relationship has gone on long enough that they’ve progressed from tentative arguments about space and individual needs into really needing to figure out what they mean to each other and how big their feelings are and what that means in relation to everything else. Watching these two confess about the uncomfortable kiss with Nate, the unexpectedly long conversation with Phoebe’s teacher, and—most painfully—the revelation that Jamie still loves Keeley didn’t feel like watching two people who are about to break up. (Although I could see them potentially needing space from each other to get clarity.) It felt like watching two people realize just how much they’d lose if they lost each other, which is an understandably scary feeling even—or especially—when you’re deeply in love but not entirely sure what the future holds. Not entirely sure what you’re capable of when you’ve never felt serious about someone in quite this way, and are realizing you have to take intentional actions to choose that relationship every single day. I’m excited to learn whether Roy and Keeley decide they need to solidify their relationship more (not necessarily an engagement, but maybe moving in together or making sure they’re both comfortable referring to the other as partner and telling people they’re in a committed relationship) or if things go in a different direction for a while.

Sharon and Ted. I’ve had this feeling of “Wow, Ted is going to feel so intense about how honest he’s been with Sharon and is going to end up getting really attached and transfer a lot of emotions onto the connection they have and that is stressful no matter how beneficial it has been for him to finally get therapy!” for a while now. And Sharon’s departure really brought that out and it was indeed stressful. But the amount of growth that’s happened for both of these characters is really stunningly and beautifully conveyed in this episode. Ted is genuinely angry she left without saying goodbye, and he doesn’t bury it some place deep inside him where it will fester for the next thirty years. He expresses his anger. (I also noticed he sweared—mildly—in front of her again, which is really a big tell for how much he has let his carefully-constructed persona relax around her.) He reads her letter even though he said he wasn’t going to, and he’s moved. I don’t think Ted has the words for his connection to Sharon beyond “we had a breakthrough,” but Sharon gets it, and is able to firmly assert a professional boundary by articulating her side of that breakthrough as an experience that has made her a better therapist. And is still able to offer Ted a different kind of closure by suggesting they go out before her train leaves. No matter how you feel about a patient/football manager seeing their therapist/team psychologist colleague socially, I appreciated this story because IMO it didn’t cross big lines but instead was about one final moment in this arc in which both Ted and Sharon saw each other clearly and modeled what it is to give someone what they need and to expect honesty and communication from them. I liked that Ted ends up being the one saying goodbye. (The mustache in the exclamation points!) I like that whether or not Sharon returns in any capacity (Sarah Niles is so wonderful that I hope she does, but I’m not sure), the goodbye these characters forge for themselves here is neither abandonment nor a new, more complicated invitation. It’s the end of a meaningful era, and although the work of healing is the work of a lifetime, it’s very beautiful to have this milestone.

Ted and Rebecca. So, maybe it’s just me, but it kinda feels like these two have a few li’l life things to catch up on?! (HAHHHHHaSdafgsdasdf!) I really adored their interactions in this episode. I maintain that Biscuits With The Boss has been happening this whole time (even when Ted’s apartment was in shambles, there’s biscuit evidence, and I feel like we’ve been seeing the biscuit boxes in Rebecca’s office pretty regularly too), even if it might have been more of a drive-by biscuit drop-off/feelings avoidance ritual. It was really lovely to see Ted on more even footing in Rebecca’s office, joking around until she tells him to shut up, just like the old days. And GOSH—for their 1x9 interaction in Ted’s office to be paralleled in this episode and for Ted to explicitly make note of the parallel in a way Rebecca hears and sees and understands?! MY HEART. In both of Rebecca’s confessions, she is not bringing good news but it is good and meaningful that she chooses to share with Ted. In both situations, Ted takes the moment in stride and offers acceptance equivalent to the gravity of what she has to confess. And in both situations, he’s not some kind of otherworldly saint, able to accept Rebecca no matter what because he’s unaffected by what she shares. He is affected. When he tells her about Sam, you can see a variety of emotions on his face. Rebecca is upset and Ted is calm, and even if I might have liked for him to try to talk about the risk the affair poses to the power dynamics on the team or any number of factors, I also really liked that he just accepts where she is, and—most importantly—does not offer her advice beyond examining herself and taking her own advice. A massive part of being in a relationship with another person (a close relationship of any nature) is figuring out how to support that person without necessarily having to be happy about every single thing they do. It’s so important that Ted connects what she’s just told him about Sam back to what she told him last season about her plot with the club. These both feel like truth bombs to him, and he is at least safe enough to make that clear. These are both things that impact him, things that shape how he sees her and maybe even how he sees himself. He cares about her and is capable of taking in this information; he has room for it. But it’s not something he takes lightly, and neither does she. See you next year.

Tumblr user chainofclovers and the TV show Ted Lasso. My brain is going wild thinking about all the ways the next “truth bomb” conversation could go in 3x11 or whatever. Maybe they go full consistent parallel and Rebecca confesses something else, this time about her and Ted or some other big future thing that impacts him as much or more as the other confessions have. (The same but different.) Maybe the tables turn and Ted has something to confess to her. While the 1x9 conversation ended in an embrace and the 2x11 conversation ended with a bit more physical distance (understandable given the current state of their relationship and the nature of the discussion), the verbal ending of both conversations involved voices moving into a sexier lower register while zooming in to talk specifically about their connection to each other, so I have to assume there will be some consistencies in s3 even if the circumstances will be completely different. I don’t really know where I’m going with this and I obviously will go insane if I sustain this level of anticipatory energy until Fall 2022 but I have a feeling my brain and heart are going to try!

Sam and Rebecca. I know there’s been a lot of criticism about whether this show is being at all realistic about the power dynamics and inevitable professional issues this relationship would create. On some level, I agree; I like that pretty much everyone who knows about the affair has been kind so far, but you can be kind and still ask someone to contend with reality. But I also think that in nearly every plot point on this show, the narrative is driven by how people feel about their circumstances first and foremost. (It’s why the whiteboard in the coaching office and the football commentators tell us more about how the actual football season is going from a points perspective than anyone else.) This episode reminded me how few people know about Sam and Rebecca, and how much their time together so far has been time spent in bed. The private sphere. I thought this episode really expertly brought the public sphere into it, not—thank goodness—through a humiliating exposure or harsh judgment but through an opportunity for Sam that illustrates not only all his potential to do great things but how much Rebecca’s professional position and personal feelings are in conflict with that. Could stand in the way of that. I don’t have a strong gut feeling about where this will go, but I do think Sam’s face in his final scene of this episode is telling. He started the episode wanting to see Rebecca (his most recent text to her was about wanting to connect), and Edwin’s arrival from Ghana really exploded his sense of what is possible for his life. If he’d arrived home to Rebecca sitting on his stoop prior to meeting Edwin, he’d have been delighted. Now he’s conflicted, and whatever decision he makes, he has to reckon with the reality that he cannot have everything he wants. No matter what. And Rebecca—she has taken Ted’s advice and is attempting to be honest about the fact that she can’t control Sam’s decisions but hopes he doesn’t go, and even saying that much feels so inappropriate. And I’m not sure how much she realizes about the inappropriateness of the position she’s putting him in, although maybe she’s getting there considering she exits the scene very quickly. I’ve honestly loved Rebecca’s arc this season. I think it’s realistic that she got obsessed with the intimacy she thought she could find in her phone. I think it’s realistic that her professional and personal ambitions are inappropriately linked. (They certainly were for Rupert. It’s been years since she’s known anything different; even if she’s done some significant recovery work to move on from her abusive marriage and figure out her own priorities, she’s got a long way to go.) I know there are people who will read this interaction between Rebecca and Sam as a totally un-self-aware thing on the part of “the show” or “the writers” but what I saw is two people who enjoyed being in bed together and now have to deal with the reality that they’re in two different places in their lives and that one has great professional power over the other. If that wasn’t in the show, I wouldn’t be able to see it or feel so strongly about it.

Edwin and Sam. I really enjoyed all the complexities of this interaction. Edwin is promising a future for Sam that doesn’t quite exist yet, though he has the financial means to make it happen. He offers this by constructing for Sam a Nigerian—and Ghanaian—experience unlike anything he’s found in London. Sam is amazed that this experience is here, and Edwin’s response is to explain to him that the experience is not here. Not really. The experience in Africa. Sam has of course connected to the other Nigerian players on the team, but this is something else entirely. I’m really curious if Sam is going to end up feeling that what Edwin has to offer is real or not. That sense of home and connection? So real. And so right that he would want to experience that homecoming and would want to be part of building that experience for others. But at the end of the day, he went to a museum full of actors and a pop-up restaurant full of “friends,” and is that constructed authenticity as a stand-in for a real homecoming more or less real than the home he’s building in Richmond? (With other players who stand in solidarity with him, and with well-meaning white coaches who say dumb stuff sometimes, and an a probably-doomed love interest, and a feeling that he should put chicken instead of goat in the jollof, and the ability to stand out as an incredible player on a rising team.)

Nate and everyone. But also Nate and no one. Nate’s story is so painful and I’m so anxious for next week’s episode. For a long time I’ve felt that a lot of Nate’s loyalties are with Richmond, and a lot of his ambitions are around having given so much to this place without getting a lot back, and having a strong feeling that he’s the answer to Richmond’s future. But now I’m not so sure; his ambitions have transferred into asking everyone he knows (except Ted, of course), if they want to be “the boss.” But Nate is all tactics and no communication. When he wants to suggest a new play to Ted, he hasn’t yet learned to read Ted’s language to learn that Ted is eager to hear what he has to say. And while Ted has been really unfortunately distracted about Nate and dismissive of him this season, he clearly respects Nate’s approach to football and was appreciative of the play. Nate just can’t hear that. The suit is such a great metaphor of all the things Nate is in too much pain to be able to hear clearly. Everyone digs at him for wearing the suit Ted bought him (including Will, who’s got to get little cuts in where he can, because he’s got to be sick of the way Nate treats him), but when he gets fed up his solution isn’t to go out on his own and find more clothes he likes; he asks Keeley to help him. And then crosses a major line with her...and no matter how kind she was about it, she was clearly not okay. Everything is going to blow up, and I’m so curious as to whether Nate will end up aligning himself with Rupert in some way or if he’s going to end up screwed over by Rupert and in turn try to screw over his colleagues even worse than he’s already done. Or try desperately to make amends even though it could be too late for some. Either way, I’m fully prepared to feel devastated. (And there’s no way I’m giving up on this character. If he’s able to learn, I truly believe he could end up seeking forgiveness and forging a happier existence for himself. Someday. Like in season 3 or something.)

Ted and Trent. Trent deciding to reveal his source to Ted is a huge deal, and I’m torn between so many emotions about this exposé. I’m glad it’s a Trent Crimm piece and not an Ernie Loundes piece. I’m glad that Trent made the decision to warn Ted and let him know that Nate is his source. I fear—but also hope—that this exposure will set off a chain reaction of Ted learning about some of the things he’s missed while suffering through a really bad bout with his dad-grief and panic disorder. The things Ted doesn’t know would devastate him. I wonder if Ted will want to figure out a way to make Nate feel heard and reconcile with him, and I wonder how that will be complicated if/when he realizes Nate has severely bullied Will, gets more details on how he mistreated Colin, etc. I wonder if Rebecca, whom Nate called a “shrew” right before she announced his promotion, will be in the position of having to ask Ted to fire him, or overriding Ted and doing it herself. So many questions! I have a feeling it’ll go in some wild yet very human-scaled, emotionally-nuanced direction, and I’ll be like “Oh my GOD!” but also like “Oh, of course.”

This VERY SERIOUS AND EMOTIONAL REVIEW has a major flaw, which is that none of the above conversations include mention of the absolute love letter to N*SYNC. Ted passionately explains how things should go while dancing ridiculously! Will turns on the music and starts gyrating! Roy nods supportively! Beard shouts the choreography like the Broadway choreographer of teaching grown men who play football how to dance like a boy band. Everyone is so incredibly proud when they nail it. I love them.

I cannot believe next week is the end. For now. I’m kind of looking forward to letting everything settle during the hiatus, but I’ve really loved the ride.

#ted lasso #ted lasso s2 spoilers #ted lasso 2x11 #meta by me #ALL THE FEELINGS!!!!#a lesbian watches ted lasso

133 notes · View notes

lobotoboy · 2 years

Text

Personal Ranking of Nightmare Time Episodes

Let me preface that I love every single thing that has come from the Hatchetfield series, including every Nightmare Time episode. The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals and Black Friday got me through quarantine, and I have all the Nightmare Time release dates(just Yellow Jacket left) on my calendar. This ranking was so hard to make, and inevitably came down to just personal character preferences. There will be an explanation for each ranking. Spoilers for Nightmare Time season 1, all currently released episodes of season 2, Black Friday, and TGWDLM.

11. Killer Track: This story was solid. I love how we got more context on Miss Holloway’s past. We got to see a bit more of the Black Book, and I especially liked how we get to see the storylines so far, intertwine at the Honey Festival. It really drives home that this whole season takes place in one crazy summer. All the acting was phenomenal, and the music(especially the Needy Beast’s cover of the Nightmare Time theme song) will be streamed the second it releases on Spotify. What put it in last place, was just the fact that I didn’t really find the Killer Track itself, scary. Jeff Blim did great, but I was vibing the entire time. I also don’t like Duke or Miss Holloway as much as the other characters, so until I see them more, I won’t exactly be engrossed in their relationship. Still a solid episode, I’d rate it a 6/10.

10. The Witch In the Web: Once again, solid story. I love how it showed Lex and Hannah’s home life, and it introduced Duke and Miss Holloway. It gave us so much lore on the Lords in Black and Webby, and I will always enjoy lore dumps. It called back to previous Hatchetfield moments, like when they visited the Starlight Theater, or met Uncle Wiley. The dream setup of the story was also very fun to follow along with, and parts reminded of me of stories like ParaNorman. What dragged it down was the horror elements. Stories structured like dreams are just so fascinating to me, that I didn’t find anything scary. The closest I got to a fearful reaction, was either Lex’s transformation into Willabella Muckwab, or when Pamela was strangling Miss Holloway. I’d rate this episode, a 6/10.

9. Abstinence Camp: I was a church kid. I went to vacation bible studies over the summer, Sunday school, Wednesday church, the whole shebang. I am a Baptist Christian. Abstinence Camp was a fun little reminder about those summers spent learning “pure” things. I love Peter Spankoffski, even back when he was just the Hot Chocolate Boy/Obnoxious Teen. The little relationship between Stephanie and Pete was interesting to watch. Grace Chastity was not at all what I expected, and I loved every second. Kim Whalen and Jon Matteson did such a good job as Boy Jerry and Girl Jeri. The gore was on point, especially the description of what happened to Gabe. The humor was awesome. Corey Doris and Bryce Charles sang the Axe Man song beautifully, and I still find myself humming Virginity Rocks. With that being said, I am an asexual, who gets pretty uncomfortable at mentions of sexual things, but that didn’t really affect my enjoyment, until the Dirty Girl scene. But aside from that, it’s a really fun experience. I give it a 7/10. Jon Matteson playing an insane character is always enjoyable.

8. Perky’s Buds: I don’t get why a lot of people dislike this one. Aside from the vomiting scene, it was a fun story about Emma’s pot farm dreams, and elaborated on a character mentioned in Watcher World, Ziggy. It gave us lore on the Hatchetmen, and the Witchwood in general. Joey’s performance of Ezekiel was phenomenal, every second he was onscreen was iconic. I will be using lines like “Isaac, never speak to me again” in regular conversation. I’ve already adapted “tig ol’ bitties” into my day to day vocabulary. The horror moments were terrifying as well, from the Metzger’s being pecked apart by birds, the realization that the birds could mind control people, and the Scary Movie-esque moment of Ezekiel wielding multiple guns. What brought it down for me, was the vomiting scene, yes, but also the ending. I know they probably didn’t want to have Emma and Ziggy burning up in a fire, but their rescue just felt like a bit of a cop-out. Still a good time, would love to see Jae in more Starkid stuff. I’d give it a 7.5/10.

7. Jane’s A Car: From here on out, I’d like to say that my jaw dropped, a minimum of once for these stories. Jane’s A Car not only brought one of the lines that haunt me during exams, “Got my foot on the gas”, but genuinely made my jaw drop at the ending. Tom and Becky were my second and third favorite characters in Black Friday, losing to Linda Monroe. It was really cool to meet Jane, in her car form. It was setup in a way similar to a Goosebumps story, where no one really believes the main character, because if someone told you their car was possessed by the soul of their deceased wife, you would either assume they were lying, or have them admitted in a mental hospital. The twist of Jane succeeding in taking over Becky’s body at the end, along with the context on the Black Book, was very interesting. Also, it gave us the brief return of Greenpeace Girl, along with a solid Lex and Ethan moment that set up the main plot. Dylan’s performance of Tom has so many complexities, that it really brings Tom to life, and makes him feel like someone I would genuinely encounter and enjoy being around. The only thing that detracted from this story, was the nearly erotic car scene, that would make the guy in love with his car on TLC proud. As I said before, that sort of thing just makes me a tad uncomfortable. All in all, Jane’s A Car receives a solid 8/10.

6. Daddy: This story makes watching Black Friday, a whole new experience. On my first watch of Black Friday, Frank just seemed like your average capitalist, taking advantage of the biggest money-making day of the year, but Daddy gives him so many new dimensions. While he still has the same personality, you learn he doesn’t have much money, since he followed his passion with unfortunate timing. His dog dies in the beginning, and that alone was enough to bring a single tear to my eye. My dogs mean everything to me, I just felt the pain. The Young family, which I now realize is a literal last name, was a fascinating thing to get more context on. How Sherman can buy all the Wigglys (Wigglies?) from Toy Zone makes sense now. Sheila being involved with the Black Book and the Lords in Black, Sherman gaining the ability to stay a kid forever, learning that the Man In A Hurry’s name is Barry Swift, made the story so fun to watch. Jaime and Corey did amazingly. I’d give this story, an 8/10. Also Ted gets shot in the dick, and that’s funny as fuck.

5. Hatchetfield Ape-Man: Any story with Professor Hidgens and Ted is immediately amazing. The Hatchetfield Ape-Man song was so jazzy, I sing along every time. The story has a Tarzan x The Most Dangerous Game feel, especially when Hidgens chases Johnathan through the Witchwood. It’s a self-aware story, that shows Hidgens and Ted at the best. A lot of those lines made me crack up laughing, and this story marks one of the many times Ted gets shot. What I will say, is that the horror only really picks up towards the end, but for the first episode of Nightmare Time, it’s excellent pacing, and I will never tire of crazed Professor Hidgens. 8.5/10, go watch it if you haven’t.

4. Honey Queen: For being a longer story, it doesn’t feel stretched out. I adore Linda Monroe, anything Lauren does is immediately awesome, but Linda really sticks out to me, for no reason in particular. Aside from meeting her kids and Gerald, we get a lot more insight into Linda in general, from her upbringing to the underhanded means she’ll stoop to, to get what she wants. We also get to see Zoey and Sam again, and it really feels like a blend of the TGWDLM cast and Black Friday cast. We get so much Zoey context, the entire Latte Hottay song, and Nibbly’s first standalone appearance. That Nibbly appearance was written so beautifully grotesque, it really helped me visualize the horror that is Nibbly. Paul also gets two lines, and that's enough to have put this in the Top 5. Also Jon Matteson plays another villain, and while I followed him for his performance as Paul, I’d do it again for Roman. 9/10.

3. Time Bastard: Ted is one of my favorite Hatchetfield characters, and every time he shows up is fun for me. So I loved this deep dive into his past. This and Forever and Always also tie into one another, and that is something I do like to see. The way the story made Ted into a somewhat sympathetic character, despite not changing his personality, and made the Homeless Guy important to the lore of the story, was a cool outcome. It makes watching La Dee Dah Dah Day a different experience. Peanuts The Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel song is art worthy of the Louvre. The future for CCRP Technical was so surreal. The moment that Ted accidentally kills Jenny, was a jaw drop moment. Watching Time Bastard has such strong implications for Hatchetfield as a whole. Also we get the first solo appearance of Tinky, and Jeff Blim is a wonderful actor. 9.5/10.

2. Forever and Always: What can I say, I love Paul and Emma. This story is near perfection to me. The whole story is just Paulkins, with the very solid hook of the Emma he married, not only isn't the real Emma, but is a homicidal android. The Homeless Man's appearance and the tie ins with Time Bastard were superb. The duet between Robert and Mariah was god-tier. The finale twist of Paul himself being a clone, who killed the original, after you find out they killed the real Emma, is so shocking. The only thing that kept Forever and Always from first place, was the strengths of the next story, and the fact that Paul23 barely has any time to be evil. 9.9/10.

1. Watcher World: There was a brief period of time, where I could not finish this story. It was eerily similar to a recurring dream I had been having, down to the eyes and color motifs. Every single time, I could only get about as far as the first mention of purple eyes, and then I would tap out. I forced myself to sit down and finish it, and Oh My God. My jaw, the ground. Corey and Mariah's performances as Bill and Alice were so believable. Father/Daughter relationships mean a lot to me, so seeing the very realistic bond between them was so emotional. Blinky's concept as the Watcher with a Thousand Eyes is horrifying, so much so that the mere idea of it made the climax that much scarier. The eerieness of the Sniggle performance, coupled with the strange, hallucinatory visions created by Blinky, really brought the overall atmosphere home. The vision that Bill has of smashing Alice's head in with the mallet is scary as hell. And the ending, one of the only happier endings in Hatchetfield. Talking about everything I liked in this story would take too long. 10/10.

All in all, I'd highly recommend this series to anyone I'll come across. Expect the overall look of my blog to change soon. I will not be posting again until the 9th, which will be my 16th birthday and 69th post. Have a good day!

#hatchetfield #hatchetverse #black friday #nightmare time #tgwdlm #the guy who didn't like musicals #ted spankoffski #honey queen #watcher world #perkys buds #and all the rest #i want a blinky doll #i was a pokey doll #i want a Wiggly doll #ideally four of them

13 notes · View notes

so-writing · 3 years

Text

Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea- Matthew Tkachuk (8)

all parts in the master list

There was no fucking way you were hopping into the elevator and making your way up to Matthew’s place.

No, not a fucking chance, despite what you told him the night before.

Onyx was laying at the foot of the couch and rubbing his face against your feet as you started the next episode of ‘Vanderpump Rules’.

The bus ride home was confusing for you because Matthew was kind and, for the first time, he revealed a personal part of himself to you. He was reading the books that ‘Game of Thrones’ was based on and you were more than surprised by that.

His big smile when you started comparing the book to the show was blinding and you hated how you giddy you felt when he followed up in conversation.

“I mean I haven’t read a ton of books but I’ve heard that they’re always better than the screen remake,” he had said.

“Most of the time, yeah that’s accurate.”

That easy conversation turned into Matthew driving you home and you learning that the two of you shared a building.

Of course he lived in the top floor penthouse, of course his views were beautiful. Of fucking course Matthew Tkachuk had everything and more.

Onyx was laying between your legs as you sprawled out on the couch watching reality tv. The knock on your door was hard and scared the shit out of you.

“Oh my god,” you stood up and headed toward the door, “what?”

You didn’t expect to open the door to the unruly, red curls and blue eyes of Matthew Tkachuk, but there he stood.

“Hey,” he hesitated slightly, “I missed my boy.”

“Sorry, what?”

“Onyx.”

“Oh, your boy?”

“Yeah, we met and the connection was instant, we’re fucking besties.”

“You’re fucking kidding me,” you rolled your eyes but stepped aside anyway, “he’s just going to run away as soon as he sees you. Onyx hates people.”

You expected Onyx to bolt for the bedroom but he sat on the arm of the couch watching Matthew with big, curious eyes as he entered your apartment.

“Hey bud, you remember me?”

Onyx looked like he was about to take off, and he did, but rather than hide in the bedroom, he was nuzzling his face into Matthew’s shins. He began purring furiously when Matthew leaned down to rub behind his ears and scratch just above his tail.

“I am amazed,” you shook your head in disbelief at the interaction between Matthew and your cat, “he doesn’t ever do this. Literally, he never does this ever.”

“He trusts me and wants to claim me. I looked it up.”

“Really? You did research on cat behavior?”

“Yeah,” he blushed slightly and dropped his eyes to the floor, “I was curious. I’ve never had a cat.”

Silence fell between the two of you as you continued standing in the doorway watching Matthew love on Onyx.

“You know, Onyx might be interested seeing Calgary from above.”

Matthew perked up right away, smiling at you in a way that was so annoying you couldn’t do anything besides return it.

“If he comes up, he might like the views and he might not want to come back.”

“Oh, don’t worry, he’ll want to come back. He does want the views though.”

The number of women that Matthew had seen in his apartment, taking in the views and trying their best to charm him, was foreign at that point. This was brand new, though.

He never expected to see this woman, much less a cat he didn’t know she had until recently, in his second home, surveying the view from above and maybe, maybe, not hating him as much as she used to.

“This is incredible, it’s crazy how we live in the same building but our views of the city are so insanely different.”

“Yeah,” he tried to be cool, “give me the boy, please.”

“Ugh, whatever.”

She gently set Onyx on the floor and watched as he practically begged to be picked up by Matthew before turning her eyes back to the views of Calgary below her.

This woman wasn’t the same one he’d known, and disliked, for two years. She was someone entirely different and he hated how drawn he was to her because, actually, she was the same woman and he wasn’t ready to face that just yet.

“You can’t have my cat, Tkachuk.”

“But he likes me so much,” Matthew pouted and you resisted the urge to find it adorable.

“He likes me more, I promise.”

“Fine!”

It wasn’t a serious response, Matthew set Onyx on the floor just inside your apartment and backed a few feet away.

“See you in the morning, I guess?”

“Yeah, obviously,” he playfully punched your shoulder, “we work together.”

“You gonna be nice to me from now on? Now that your best friend lives at my place?”

“Yep,” he responded as he popped the p, “g’night. Goodnight Onyx!”

You knew you weren’t into Matthew Tkachuk. He was largely a trash human and you had plenty of experience with him to back up that accusation.

Still, it didn’t stop you from thinking about him as you lay in bed with your wand pressed against your most intimate parts. It was purely physical, you told yourself, Matthew was hot but that was it. That was absolutely it.

Sleep overtook your body and when your alarm went off in the morning, you were groggy and irritable and absolutely not in the mood to go to work.

“Good morning, sunshine!”

“Hey,” you weakly greeted another staffer as you made your way into the arena.

“No sleep for the wicked?”

“None at all,” you smiled at her as she offered you a hot coffee and everything bagel.

“Today’s going to be rough on the guys.”

“Why?”

“They’ve been breaking rules, Chuky especially.”

That piqued your interest.

“What did he do?”

“He was treating one of the assistants like shit and it got back to Sutter.”

“Who was he treating like shit?”

You knew, obviously.

“No idea, but Sutter’s pretty upset and Matt is going to have to deal with that.”

“Oh,” was all you could say.

Holy fucking shit. He was sure he was going to fucking die.

As soon as practice ended, Matthew hurried off the ice and toward the toilets. It was a hard practice and he knew he was just barely going to make it to the toilets before he started throwing up.

His eyes watered as he emptied the contents of his stomach into the porcelain bowl and when his stomach finally felt secure, he still found himself sweating.

“Hey, Chuk, you ok?”

“No,” he probably should’ve lied but fuck it, “no I’m not.”

“You know why this happened, right?”

“No, I’ve got no fucking idea.”

“The whole floor thing. You know?”

Jesus Christ. He knew he fucked up for doing that to her, but when was he going to finally stop paying for doing it?

“Yeah,” another wave of nausea washed over him, “yeah I know.”

You stood just outside the toilets in the locker room listening to him wretch into the bowl. It was hard to hear.

“Matthew?”

“Oh, shit!”

He jumped back in surprise and clutched his chest when he realized who had called his name, “you scared the shit out of me.”

“I’m sorry.”

His eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed. He wasn’t in a good state and it was very obvious. Matthew pushed past you in a rush and all you could do was watch as he headed back to the ice.

“Tkachuk is on fire tonight! Three goals and we’re only halfway through the second,” the announcer’s voice boomed across the arena and you couldn’t hide your grin.

Matthew was being bitchy to you at the moment but there was something there. The Flames won and you felt electric.

You were sure this was what he wanted. He’d been dropping hints for a week and you were tired of playing dumb. You were pretty fucking sure Matthew wanted you, almost as much as you decided you wanted him.

Now was the time to go for it. You knew he was home, the game ended hours ago, and you knew it was time to just fucking go for it.

So you knocked on his door and when it opened, you were met with the sight of a beautiful blonde with big eyes and a sheet wrapped around her body asking ‘who are you’ and all you could do was fucking run to the elevator and frantically press the button to your floor.

Who the fuck were you kidding? You didn’t have the body and face of a supermodel. Matthew didn’t want you. He never would.

#Matthew Tkachuk #matt tkachuk #Matthew Tkachuk imagine #hockey imagine #nhl imagine

161 notes · View notes

on-maars · 3 years

Text

No but like @cyllaeth and I talked about something. Bear with me cause English is not my first language but this is driving us insane.

This episode was often focused on how the different couples were getting through difficult stuff together.

Maddie and Chimney? The whole PPD arc. Maddie wanting to get help. Chimney is there for her.

Bobby and Athena? Trying to work out their marriage. And then with Bobby getting shot at the end, we got another serious conversation about how they see their future.

Hen and Karen? The whole Nia thing. It was short, yes, but it was there nonetheless.

Buck and Taylor? Okay we got two kisses but it was once cut short because of what? Eddie waking up, Buck rushing to the hospital.

Eddie and Ana? Sorry, who are they? This was the perfect moment to make them talk about what their relationship means, whether they want to take it to the next level, become serious about it. But we got? Absolutely nothing. Ana was literally only there to be pretty while Buck literally acted like a widower.

Buck and Eddie? Oh, nothing much. Just a very emotional conversation about the shooting, Buck taking care of Christopher and acting like a father figure the whole time. The entire discussion in the hospital. Buck blaming himself, wishing it was him that got shot. Eddie updating his will A YEAR AGO to make him Christopher's legal guardian, calling him EVAN (he fucking knows the importance and the implications of using his real name), and... and my personal favorite:

"You act as if you're expendable. But you're wrong."

Like listen i'm not saying we're going to have a buddie endgame in season 5 but i'm saying they would be insane not to take that opportunity.

It's right there. IT'S RIGHT THERE.

#buddie #9-1-1 #911 #911 spoilers #buck x eddie #sorry but like #i'm still not over that finale #lucy and I are not okay nor do we intend to be

95 notes · View notes

mittensmorgul · 2 years

Note

I know you're not on Twitter much, but I follow the DeanCas Every Hour account, which is usually fun cuz I can see Dean/Cas content on my timeline consistently. But the account has once again reached the end of season 14, and I just wanted to vent a little, because it has gotten to where Dean talks about Cas being "dead to him" and also wanting Jack dead.

It drives me insane cuz without fail, all these ppl start complaining about how Dean's harsh words to Cas were just "writers trying to start unnecessary drama" and how Dean was "out of line" for saying those things. And then they'll also say Dean can't really be Jack's dad, because he wanted him dead, and how could you possibly be okay with Dean saying that to Jack??

And I just want to scream. I remember those opinions going around when the episodes first aired, and they still come up again and again.

I just can't believe ppl can literally be so bad at critical analysis, and also have absolutely no empathy for the horrible situation Dean was in. It drives me up the wall every time 😤 sorry to come at you with this lol I just hate how something can be SO CLEAR, but it's like ppl seem to go out of their way to find the worst possible interpretation.

Eh... Confession: I'm always on twitter. Like, more than I'm on tumblr lately, even. But-- and this is key-- I do not do fandom on twitter. I follow some friends that I made through fandom, sure, and will even reply to their tweets sometimes. But 99% of my experience on twitter is Not Fandom. Because fandom twitter suuuuuucks. For this reason ^^

To be honest, I don't really remember those opinions ever going around, because I don't follow people who lack critical thinking skills, I guess? I don't know, maybe these are newer people to fandom who made their assumptions on the characters based on the last few seasons only? People who have never gone back to the start for a more nuanced rewatch of the entire series?

All of that aside, everyone is entitled to their opinions about the thing. Folks don't control their own personal reactions to stuff. That doesn't mean I have to engage with them, though. Because yeah, sometimes people do run circles around themselves to find the worst possible take on a situation, or yank it out of context of the literal 15 year character arc and use it as an excuse to invalidate all the rest. They're not interested in discussing the character arc as a whole, or understanding what drove him to this shocking extreme. Because it WAS shocking, and painful, and entirely justified by the surrounding narrative and the entire arc of the series. I don't particularly like these sorts of people, so I tend to avoid them.

For years I've experienced the frustration of making long essay posts on tumblr, and still having people come at me with "well, actually you neglected to mention xyz thing, so your opinion is invalid" type responses. Like, sorry I didn't double the length of the essay by including 50 references to other things I've already written and nine standard disclaimers to validate my personal read of a thing that's already 5k words long. If I have that much difficulty having rational conversations on tumblr, imagine how much worse it is on twitter where everything moves 1000x as fast, in two sentence chunks, where anyone can reply with almost no effort (and often do before their brains have time to engage), bringing out even worse hot takes based on emotional kneejerk reactions. Twitter is just an exceptionally, objectively horrible place to have nuanced meta conversations.

When I do see a fandom thread on twitter, I typically just keep scrolling, because nothing good comes of reading the replies. (and this goes for pretty much any fandom, not just spn...) The very nature of twitter just invites all the disk horses to come screaming out of the woodwork, and there's no telling who might see it or reply and pile on with all the worst takes. I'll just keep my fandom stuff over here in the quiet little dungeon I've built and stocked on tumblr.

I don't know who these people are, so I'm personally not inclined to give their arguments any sort of personal emotional weight, either, you know? there's no rule of the internet that demands I engage with those sorts of people. So I don't.

#fandom problems

7 notes · View notes

emsylcatac · 3 years

Note

Hello! Please remember that oxygen still exists! I know the new episode consumed our whole entire soul, but still!! Is it okay if you translate the Alyanette conversation at the start?

HAHAHAHA Thank you anon, I'm breathing more calmly now 😌 I'm almost back to my Normal(TM) self (almost)

And sure, here we gooo!

Ladybug: Of course, it's amazing to be Ladybug, I have a whole bunch of powers, super-kwamis, but can you imagine, if I could stop Shadowmoth from creating super-villains... Ah!! Now he'd be less of a show-off / he wouldn't be so smart! Did you notice that Shadowmoth re-akumatises more and more people these days? And you know why? Because now that he knows them, he knows how to press where it hurts!

Alya: You're right, I've been akumatised 4 times into Lady Wifi because of my fixation on you! I knew you were hiding something from me and it was driving me insane!

LB: But I had to do it.

A: I know, Marinette, but now that I know, I'm here to help you! What? Mr Pigeon has already been akumatised 71 times?!

LB: It's just a quiet man very attached to his pigeons. It's so unfair! I promised him to find a way to protect him from Shadowmoth! But I can't do it. Aaargh I don't understand at all this grimoire!

Wayzz: Master Fu didn't understand a lot either, but he still managed by taking his time and resting!

LB: Hold on, Wayzz, I think I found it!

[explosion]

LB: Urgh, I would have sworn that the little spicy stone from the grimoire was pepper!

Trixx: Alya! Help us to reason with her, please!

A: Marinette, how long have you been on this?

M: I don't know, six, seven days, maybe more, it's holidays, I finally have time to work hard on it!

A: Since when have you not worked on your creations?

M: I keep on creating things! Look! I created a security system so that no one can come in my bedroom if I'm not in there! And if I put this hat on, I can hear everything that's going on here even if I leave the room!

A: I'm going to say it to you because I'm the only one who can. You're loosing your grip! Trust your best friend! When I'm obstinately looking for something and that I'm not thinking about anything else, that's when I find myself completely blocked! You know what you need, right now? A break!

LB: No way! I won't take any break before finding out how to stop him from re-akumatising people!

[explosion]

Sabine: Tom, this science presentation is starting to worry me.

Tom: You know well that she asked us to not interrupt her!

A: I understand that you want to get it over with Shadowmoth, but you know what my grandma says? Life isn't waiting for the storm to be over, but to learn how to dance under the rain.

LB: Dancing? But how can I dance if Shadowmoth is going after those I love?

Then I translated the rest of the conversation about Adrien and Kagami here!

#ask #anon #ml spoilers #mr pigeon 72 #mr pigeon 72 spoilers #ml translation

75 notes · View notes

aewhore · 4 years

Note

Rhea Ripley x fem!reader.Where the reader is Shane’s adopted daughter.So the reader and Rhea are secretly engaged and Vince decides to put the reader in a storyline with Adam Cole.Of course the reader doesn’t like it, and after a few months it’s getting closer to the wedding and Vince decides to start setting up for an arranged marriage,which causes Rhea to confess to their engagement.And reader ends up setting Vince and the McMahons (Not Stephanie) straight with some colorful words.

Hello, my love @mrsbaszler I’m so sorry this took so damn long to write, Thank you so very much for being so patient with me so I hope you love this as much as I do!!!

Word count: 2500

WARNINGS: slight hints towards NSFW activity in beginning. Hinted at homophobia.

Fighting for my family ~ Rhea Ripley x fem! reader.

The morning sun beamed in through the window and straight into your face. You rolled over into the chest of your fiancée, Rhea Ripley. Her arms tighten around you, tangling your arms with hers. “Good morning sunshine” Her morning voice was deeper and raspier than her normal voice. You groan as you bury your face deeper into her chest trying to avoid the reality that you will have to leave the safe haven that is your hotel room bed. Rhea laughs at your attempt to hide away from your responsibilities. She starts to move to leave the bed much to your protests. “Come on sleeping beauty, I have to go shower and I think we both know you’d like to join me” Rhea leaves the bed and walks into the bathroom leaving the door open behind her. “Damn it! Your good” You had no choice but to leave your fort of comfort to join your fiancée in the bathroom before you have to leave.

Coming out of the bathroom after showering and drying your hair, you and Rhea jump slightly when your phone blasts out your ringtone. You rush over to check it and see it's your dad. You look back to see Rhea staring back at you with a raised eyebrow at the identification of the caller. ‘Dad’ you mouth before picking up. “Hey Pops” You try to sound as cheery as possible but you already know what he’s calling about. “Y/N! Where are you? Do you know what time it is?” You check your phone and see it’s 9:30, You’re half an hour late for the morning meeting at the WWE headquarters. “Ugh shit, I must have overslept, I’m on my way now.” You’re lying through your teeth but your dad seems happy enough with your excuse as he ends the calls after a quick “Get your butt her ASAP” after hanging up you realize you’re still naked and rush around to find your clothes to get dressed. “Overslept huh?” Rhea says interrupting your hunt for your pants. “Rhea” you warn, knowing what she’s going to say next. “I know I know, you can’t tell your family because they’d never accept it but Jesus Y/N, we’re engaged. We’re getting married like to each other in less than a year and-” You interrupt Rhea as your frustrations get the better of you. “Rhea! I love you and I love your family but you don’t understand my family wouldn’t accept us. Being Shane McMahon’s daughter means I have to fit a certain mould. If they found out about us… I don't know what they’d do.” You break eye contact with Rhea to locate your shirt after zipping up your jeans. “You told Steph and she was fine with it. All I’m saying is I’m tired of being your little secret.” You freeze at Rhea’s cold words. “Rhea-” You know you don’t have a good defence to her claims but still she interrupts you. “Don’t. Just don’t. I’ll see you later at the P.C.” and with that she turned on her heels and reentered the bathroom, leaving you in stunned defeated silence.

You arrive at headquarters a half an hour later with a guilty pit in your stomach. Rhea’s words ringing in your head as you sit in the meeting room, hearing your family bicker around you about the product and the plans of this and that and the other. You worked on NXT with Uncle Paul and William Regal, that's how you met Rhea in the first place. Onscreen you were a commentator with Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett, you were damn good as well. You had been commentating for the last 5 years and you loved every minute of it. “Y/N!” You’re snapped out of your thoughts to the realization that the entire board meeting is staring at you. You straight up in your seat “pardon?” You try your best to at least sound polite despite the fact you hadn’t heard a damn thing that was said. Your Grandfather stared daggers into you as he began to speak again. “Well, had you been listening you would have heard that we are setting a storyline between yourself and adam cole into motion as soon as possible” Your face scrunches in confusion as you speak up. “Wait what? Why?” your voice comes out more frantic and high pitched than you had hoped. Triple H turned in his chair to address you “Well we want to put Adam in a program against Johnny again but Adam needs someone to balance out against Candice” Like Beetlejuice or the devil himself, there's a knock on the meeting room door, Vince breaks into a grin as he welcomes the interruption in and in walks Adam Cole with his infamous smirk already pasted onto his face.

“Adam! So glad you could join us” Triple H warmly welcomes the UE leader as he sits as close as possible to you in the seat next to you. Why him? Of all people, it just had to be him. When you started your job as a commentator he made it his business to berate your work on Twitter until he came to NXT where he could belittle you in person. You can already tell this will be a horrible time for you. “I’m so glad to be here Paul, Vince thank you so much for this opportunity and Y/N, you actually look really good today, good job” Adam’s voice rang through your head as he made it his mission to get under your skin as soon as possible. Thankfully Vince intervenes in Adam's mission but that tankful feeling is short-lived “Well Adam we’re thankful you suggested this story and we truly feel that Y/N is a perfect fit.” You turn in shock back towards Adam only to come face to face with that sly smirk that you wished you could scrape off his face with your boot. “Wait, how can I have a storyline against Candice if I’ve never wrestled before?” You took a leap of faith, hoping that someone would see how insane this was and put an end to it but alas no luck. “Oh don't worry sweetheart you won’t be getting your pretty little hands dirty in an actual match or anything but if we need you for a brawl or something I’m sure I could teach you a thing or two.” Adam punctuates his sentence with a wink, he leaned in closer to whisper “or maybe you could ask your little friend Rhea for help, I’m sure she’d be more than happy to help ya out”

The blood rushed away from your head. You felt like you had been sucker-punched, how dare he? Did he know? No surely not. How could he possibly know! Your father, Grandfather and Uncle had carried on the conversation so they had missed Adam’s potential bombshell but they brought the two of you back into the conversation when Shane said: “So what do you think Y/N?” You felt all eyes in the boardroom on you as the pit in your stomach grew and grew and you had hoped it would swallow you whole. “Sure, I’ll give it a shot for a week.” the second you agree the entire room erupts as scripting the rest of NXT begins. Once the meeting is dismissed you rush back to your car to call Rhea but you’re interrupted by your father as you near the exit. “Jeez, someone’s in a hurry, where’s the fire?” Shane laughs out as he stands between you and the exit. “Oh sorry dad, just wanted to go back to the hotel because I forgot my laptop” Your eyes were darting around to avoid your father’s gaze. “Is it important sweetie because I need you to run a few errands for me” your eyes snap to your father. You know you’ll look suspicious if you turn down your father but you need to talk to Rhea ASAP. “Will it take long?” you begrudgingly grumble.

That's what put you in this situation now. You were running around the performance centre helping out with the writing and distribution of the scripts for the NXT tapings tonight. The hours before NXT were ticking away and your anxiety about your new “storyline” was only building and building. Before you knew it, it was showtime and you were rushing out to the commentary desk, nearly shaking with nerves. You almost physically facepalmed when you remembered that you haven't spoken to Rhea and your storyline was starting tonight. Your stomach sank as the show began, you had to put on your game face but inside you were dreading tonight's events. The show ticked by and you calmed as the storyline slipped to the back of your mind as you focused on the action happening in front of you. Before you could even truly settle in to enjoy the episode of NXT that you were commentating on, the main event came and the air was knocked out of your lungs when you realized what you had to do in less than 15 minutes.

The main event of the show was going to build towards the men's war game, Pat Mcafee would approach the commentary desk and cut a promo on Vic and Wade, then he will turn his attention to you and start to insult you before Adam run down to be your knight in sweaty armour to save you from the big bad football man thus starting an on-screen relationship between you and Adam. The segment was going so far so good, Pat was doing his job and Adam came to your defence exactly on time. Just as you're about to sit back down at your desk Adam suddenly grabs your hand and kisses your knuckles before he struts back up the ramp to close out the show with Undisputed Era standing tall. If you didn't have to act like a blushing little schoolgirl then you might have thrown up at Cole’s horrible attempt at romance. The show finished and you gathered your things from the commentary desk to return backstage. You politely say good night to your coworkers as you pass by them on your way out to your car to return to your car. The drive back to the hotel was quicker than you expected. The exhaustion of a long filming day was settling into your bones as you entered the hotel and made your way up to your room.

The loud beep of the key card being accepted rang through your ears as you pushed through the door. The door clicked behind you as you dropped your bags and coat on the floor with an unenthusiastic thud. You see Rhea is already on the sofa in the room and once your eyes fall on your fiancee, you quickly move towards her to fall into her arms. “So you and Cole huh?” it feels like your heart stops beating, shit… you never warned Rhea about your new storyline. “Baby, I’m sorry I-” you start to apologize but Rhea cuts you off “Don’t baby me Y/N, What the fuck was that? You can’t tell your family about your fiancee but you can give fuck me eyes to Adam cole on national TV?? I can’t believe you sometimes” you hang your head in shame as the severity of the situation settled in. “Rhea, I’m sorry. I meant to tell you beforehand but I didn't have a moment to myself at all today” You start to explain yourself but Rhea rolls her eyes at your excuse. “Enough Y/N… enough, I’m done with being your dirty little secret. I love you more than anything but I can't stand it as you allow your family to play pretend with you.” Rhea was standing now as you both stood eye to eye, you were only 3 feet apart but it felt like an ocean between you both. Your eyes brimming with tears as Rhea starts to walk past you. “Rhea, please.” She doesn’t stop and once you hear the door open and close behind, you break out in sobs. The future of your engagement lies in your ability to come clean to your family.

The phrase hell hath no fury as a woman scorned never rang truer than you making your way into WWE HQ to meet with your family to reclaim your destiny. You realize you’ll have to get your father alone to tell him about your relationship with Rhea first before hopefully, you both go to your grandfather to scrap the Adam Cole storyline. So as you sit down to the morning meeting, you already feel yourself zoning out as you work out what you’ll say to your father later on. The meeting goes by faster than expected but sadly the meeting deviates towards the future of yours and Cole’s storyline. “You want to book a WHAT?!” your shock overtakes your body as you nearly yell at your grandfather. “Well Y/N. As you should have guessed by now the end goal of this storyline will be a wedding angle between the two of you, I think the fans will love it. it was trending last night.” Vine had his selling hat on but you weren't having it. You were ready to put your foot down and finally stand up to your family before the doors to the meeting room burst open.

Rhea stood at the entrance of the room, a shocked silence fell over the meeting room. “Rhea, how can we help you?” Triple H breaks the silence. “Oh, you could help me out her trips, How bout you give me my fiancee back?” Your heart skipped a beat as your knight in shining armour came to rescue you. “Excuse me?” Vince's confusion echoes through the room as your breath catches in your throat as you stand from your seat. All eyes in the room dart to you as you finally catch the courage to speak. “It’s me, I’m her fiancee, I have been for months and they’ve been the happiest months of my life.” you and Rhea lock eyes and smile at each other. “Excuse me? I can't believe you Y/N, how could you not have told us this?” Your father stared up at you with a shocked expression on his face. “Jesus Christ Dad, how would I tell you? You never listen to me anyway. At every meeting, I’ve ever been at you’ve all ignored my input. Then you forced me into a dumb storyline with that idiot Cole and then you wanted me to marry HIM? I’m gay dad and I love her and I refuse to be ashamed of my love anymore”

After your rant, you move towards Rhea to hold her hand and lead her out of the meeting room. “Let’s get out of her babe” you put on your best cool girl face as you lead your gorgeous fiancee away from HQ. Rhea suddenly stops your stride and you snap back towards her, “You wanna do something crazy?” you furrow your brows at your fiancee’s question. “Go on?” she’s piqued your interest now so you java to know. “Let’s just go to Vegas and get married now” The request takes you by surprise but the answer leaves you as if it's been sitting in your brain for years. “Yes, let’s go right now” You both break into giggles as you run towards your (hopefully long and happy) life together!

#Rhea Ripley #rhea ripley imagine #rhea ripley fanfic #rhea ripley fancfiction #WWE NXT #nxt imagine #nxt fanfiction #WWE #wwe fanfiction #wwe imagine #im v proud of this #love me?

143 notes · View notes

i-dreamed-i-had-a-son · 4 years

Text

Ok so TOS S3E5, Is There in Truth No Beauty? is like???? So good???? So good for us aros????? It's late and this post is a mess but I needed to say it

So Spock and Miranda are set up as parallels right, and Miranda is one of the most well-written and developed women I've ever seen from Trek. She's super competent and honestly a queen but also has flaws so you know she's like actually round and can grow??

And she is 100% ARO. Like there's someone in the beginning section of the episode (another surprisingly well written character) who is super needy and says he loves her and she explicitly says, "I can't love you like you want me to love you." (WHOA big props for distinction between types of love!!) That person responds by basically calling her frigid, but when he starts thinking of murder, she (a telepath) doesn't judge him, but just tries to help him work through his feelings. He takes a jab at her for this too, but the point is she's framed as a very empathetic and caring person, although she follows the Vulcan philosophy in many ways as well (again, parallel to Spock) so she doesn't come off as exceedingly emotional.

Also when she's at dinner with the triumvirate, Jim is kind of coming onto her by saying "How did the men at the base not stop you from leaving? ...Well I'm glad they didn't, otherwise I wouldn't have met you," and then Bones says "How could someone so beautiful choose to spend her entire life being with someone so ugly?" (She is the companion/representative of an ambassador who is a very good being, but is so ugly that it drives anyone who sees it insane.) They then toast to her beauty (Spock refrains). And she says to Bones, "How can someone so full of joy and the love of life like yourself choose to spend your entire life being surrounded by death and disease? Eh, gentlemen?" ROASTEEEEEEDDDD anyways she makes a toast of her own (I think to progress?) and then Bones responds with, "To whatever you want, Miranda" in the most respectful tone and it's great.

ANYWAYS, Miranda eventually gets approached romantically by Jim (kind of as a ploy but kind of not), but she rejects him, and he proceeds to say what all aros have heard before: "You're young!", "Eventually, you'll want someone to love," "You're attractive. You want to spend your life with someone so ugly?" etc. and she just OWNS him and says no, she isn't interested in that, and anyway what right does he have to determine whether someone is too ugly or beautiful to be worth spending time with?

And then the issue between her and Spock is she doesn't want Spock to meld with the ambassador, because she's jealous and protective of the connection she's established with the ambassador and doesn't want him to take her place--which is a huge aro mood--but this jealousy is NOT because of some romantic motivation from her towards the ambassador!! And this is confirmed several times!!

Bones is trying to explain to Jim that Miranda wants to help Spock, and Jim is not buying it because "they're rivals" and Bones says "But not rivals in love!"

When the Ambassador is sharing Spock's body I was full-on ready for them to do the whole "I have a body and can kiss you now!" schtick but they DIDN'T and instead he just comforts Miranda and briefly takes her hand in a reassuring way (which he does in part because she's blind! So even cooler!!) and they are clearly close but they are friends!

And at the end she leaves with the ambassador, having gotten what she wanted (there's a cool moment about it when Bones is saying goodbye) which is a sense of security in her role/friendship with the ambassador. They DIDN'T DO THE WHOLE "I know how to love now!!" bit at the end!! We stay winning!

(Also Bones was written super well this episode because he noticed that she was blind and kept it private to respect her, and when Jim asked why Bones didn't mention it he said, "She'd have told you if she wanted you to know" so the respecting women juice was HUGE here.) She hadn't wanted to tell anyone she was blind because she hated being pitied, and she told this to Jim in their conversation as well, which means she intended it to be a comment not only about pity for her blindness, but also pity for her lack of romantic interest. She didn't want to be pitied for not wanting that with someone, which is a HUGE mood!

I was also ready for them to try something with shipping Spock and Miranda since they were so similar and they were having many other characters be interested in her, but NO they didn't do that either. She actually takes a jab at Jim about that, because as Spock is lying there comatose, she says, "You'd probably try to tell me to wake him with a kiss," and I'm like OWN HIM QUEEN bc he basically responds by calling her inhuman (rip aphobic Jim...he does this every once in a while). But no instead of having there be something romantic between her and Spock, she just saved his life and they had nice platonic conversations and respected each other greatly!!

But ALSO also what is great is (not to make this awesome woman-centric post into being about a man but):

Clearly all of Spock's interactions this episode were platonic, since he parallels her and that's certainly how they intended her interactions with him to be (and can I say how nice it is to see Spock interact with an intellectual equal--he even admits her telepathy is more advanced than his--and just have that respect there without that undertone of "are they trying to ship them...?" It's SO nice). Also a great moment at the start of the episode with Spock saying he declined the position Miranda has because "My life is here" (on the Enterprise) and thus reaffirming that Jim and Bones and what he has is more important than anything else

Because they are so similar, Miranda's aroness can easily extend into Spock being perceived as aro. Notably, Spock (unlike Jim and Bones) shows no (implied or not) romantic interest in Miranda, but simply demonstrates the deep respect which they both show each other. Also, both characters have moments this episode (explained above) in which they put their friends/platonic connections as higher priorities than romantic connections, and Miranda's connection with the ambassador is very similar to Spock and Jim's relationship. Really, we're supposed to look at them and go, "oh, they're the same type of people." So by Miranda being aro, it implicitly backs up the view of Spock as aro!!

Anyways yes I left this episode not only feeling validated as a woman because Miranda was frickin EXCELLENT writing, I also felt validated as an aro on multiple sides. And I needed to express that to y'all other starved-for-rep aros! So here ya go lol 😂

#star trek #spock #star trek tos #meta #aromantic spock #aromantic characters #miranda #my meta posts #quality meta seal of approval #kay watches tos #kay can i just catch my breath for a second #this got lonnnng bro

222 notes · View notes

supersonic-womanofyou · 4 years

Photo

My first attempt at an interview fic! Read this on Ao3, or under the cut.

Spotlight on Eric Bittle

Interview by Elizabeth Chu

Photographs by Jack Zimmermann

The internet personality, author, and baker talks about his childhood, his relationship with Providence Falconers captain Jack Zimmermann, being a LGBTQ role model, why he struggled with his overnight success, and his upcoming cookbook.

I meet Eric Bittle in person for the first time on a Saturday afternoon, in a trendy coffee shop in downtown Providence. Even though I’ve heard of it in passing, I’ve never been inside. Eric obviously has, since when I approach the table where he’s chosen to sit, Eric is already chatting familiarly with one of the waitresses.

But after a couple minutes talking to Eric, I mentally revisit that assumption. Eric Bittle has a way of putting people at ease, of making even the most distant strangers feel like long-lost friends-- through his warm personality, but also through his seemingly-never ending supply of homemade baked goods. By the time I sit down across from him, I’m already in possession of a whole pie and two jars of jam.

Most of the celebrities I’ve met have on screen personalities that are vastly different in person, but the Eric Bittle I meet that Saturday could have been pulled directly out of his Netflix series or one of the episodes from his vastly popular vlog. He’s perennially bright and cheery, with a Southern drawl that’s been blunted by years in New England, but is still very present. When I mention it, Eric laughs. “I used to hate my accent, but I think it’s become as part of my brand as pies are. I’d probably lose all of my followers if I started talking like a Yankee,” he jokes.

The source of Bittle’s accent is his hometown-- Madison, Georgia, a town of barely four thousand people. When I ask what drove him to move up north, he gestures to himself as a whole. “Not too many opportunities for a baking, skating, Beyonce-loving gay boy in Morgan County.” He turns more serious, though, when he continues: “I was bullied a lot as a child. When I think back to my childhood, to living in Georgia-- for people who looked or acted different, it could be suffocating. I remember feeling like my future was just so starkly outlined for me-- going to a state school, settling down with a nice girl, spending the rest of my life just pretending. It sounds like overdramatic teenage angst now, I know, but I always knew if I wanted to live honestly, I needed to get out.”

And so Eric applied-- and was accepted to--Samwell University in Massachusetts, which touts itself as one of the most LGBTQ friendly schools in America, under the motto “one in four, maybe more.” According to Eric, it’s where he began to come to terms with himself and his identity, where he finally said the words “I’m gay” out loud, where he continued to bake and vlog and began to think seriously about a career in both, and where, perhaps most famously, he met his now-husband, Providence Falconers captain Jack Zimmermann.

“We both played on the hockey team, but we weren’t exactly friends at first,” Bittle says about his relationship with Zimmermann.

So, of course, I have to ask him-- what is it like, being a baker married to a hockey player? Eric and his husband seem like almost comical counterpoints in every aspect of their careers and personalities. Eric makes his living through baking and cooking, Jack plays in the notoriously-macho NHL. Eric has built a brand and a food empire off of cheeriness and Southern hospitality, Jack has a reputation of being a “hockey robot,” with his cold, generally disagreeable demeanor during interviews.

“Well, with it all laid out like that, it really does sound like we’re night and day,” Eric laughs. “But honestly? We just work. We both love skating-- that’s what we bonded over in college, actually. We also both technically majored in history, even though we have very different specialities and did so for pretty different reasons. But even our differences are compatible. Like, I love talking, he doesn’t, so we’re never talking over each other or silent. Also, pro hockey players have to eat an insane number of calories, so Jack’s always there to eat my cooking, and that’s really all I can ask for.”

Eric and Jack, who played on a line together briefly at Samwell, took the sports world by storm seven years ago when they kissed on the ice after the Falconers won the Stanley Cup, making Jack the first openly LGBTQ player in the NHL. The pair broke yet another barrier for LGBTQ people in hockey soon after, when Eric became the first openly gay NCAA Division I hockey captain.

When I ask Eric if he ever thought about following in his partner’s footsteps and pursuing a career in professional hockey, he just laughs. “Oh, definitely not. I love being on the ice, but I don’t think I would have made it very far in the NHL or AHL.”

His fame may have started out in the (relatively niche) world of professional hockey, but since graduating from Samwell, Eric has found incredible success beyond the legacy of that historic kiss. His first book, published five years ago, spent several weeks on the New York Times Food and Diet bestseller list, and was applauded as a fresh, vibrant take on Southern cuisine and desserts. Check, Please reads as seventy percent cookbook, thirty percent memoir, with every page infused with Bittle’s indomitable, ubiquitous personality. His vlog, which he started in high school and has updated continuously ever since, has millions of subscribers, who tune in every week to hear Bittle talk about everything from pies and cookies to relationships and family. Finally, and perhaps most famously, Bittle hosted his own Netflix series last year, applauded as a combination of Marie Kondo and Queer Eye, in which he taught baking with his usual brand of positivity and universal appeal, interspersed with feel-good moments and life lessons.

It strikes me that while Bittle’s career may have been jump-started by his relationship with Jack Zimmermann, he’s certainly managed to make a name for himself in the years since. To the hockey world, he may still be an afterthought to Jack Zimmermann, but to the baking world (and a good portion of Netflix’s viewership), the name Jack Zimmermann is an afterthought to that of Eric Bittle.

“Jack definitely gets a kick out of it when we’re in public together and I get recognized, and he doesn’t,” Eric says. “It’s kind of crazy, actually-- I definitely couldn’t have imagined all this ten years ago, back in college or in high school.”

And what did Eric imagine himself doing? “To be honest, I don’t think I had any idea. When I decided to go to Samwell, I didn’t even have a major in mind or anything. I just wanted to get out of Georgia. And at Samwell-- I mean, I majored in American History, of all things. Talk about a useless degree! I literally just chose the major that let me take the most baking or baking-adjacent classes.” He pauses, and laughs. “It drives Jack crazy, actually-- I never have a plan for anything, really, big or small. I’m the kind of person who just crosses my fingers and hope it all shakes out for the best.”

His husband’s opinion aside, this tactic seems to have worked out pretty well for Eric. His next, eagerly anticipated cookbook, which follows much in the vein of his Netflix show, is due to come out in two months this August. “It’s going to be focused on easy, cheap cooking and baking that’s still healthy and fulfilling. I think there’s a mindset that to make tasty, healthy food you need to have expensive ingredients and tools, or a lot of time on your hands, or have a lot of experience. But like-- I made food for an entire hockey team in a frat house on a college student’s allowance for four years, so I know something about cooking healthy on a budget,” he jokes. “I really just want to make good, healthy food accessible for everyone.”

Well, he’s managed to do that, and more. Eric Bittle’s career so far has certainly been a whirlwind. He’s gone from publishing his first cookbook to hosting his own show in what’s only been a matter of years.

“I do have to pinch myself sometimes, “ Eric says about his dizzyingly quick ascent to fame. “Like, Carrie Underwood tagged me in a tweet about hockey husbands the other day. Carrie Underwood!” The disbelief is clear in his voice. “I mean, Jack’s always been the bigger fan of country music, but the Georgia boy in me had to lie down for a moment when I saw the notification. So I think-- I still can’t really believe all of it, you know? It feels like yesterday I was still about to graduate college, with barely any plan and procrastinating on my thesis. And I guess sometimes-- sometimes I do feel a bit guilty, you know? Like-- there’s so many people fighting for this, fighting for what I’ve got-- getting books published, getting a show, everything else. I definitely had a leg up in name recognition because of Jack and hockey, and even when Jack and weren’t married yet, I never had to worry about having a roof over my head if the vlog wasn’t bringing in enough money or the cookbook wasn’t selling well enough.” He pauses, pensive, and it’s not the first time in this conversation that I mentally reassess my first assumptions about Eric Bittle. Behind the nationally famous smile and welcoming accent is a thoughtful young man still grappling with becoming a public figure and a role model, with a sprinkling of imposter syndrome, who doesn’t understand exactly what millions of people across the country see in him.

But perhaps that as well is an unfair assessment. It’s clear that Eric has a refreshing genuiness that few public figures possess, and that this is part of what has managed to speak to so many people from all backgrounds. That on some level, his modesty about his own fame is part of what constitutes his appeal.

When I mention this, Eric flushes a bright shade of pink. “Oh, aren’t you a flatterer. Well, I suppose so.”

So after this cookbook, what’s next? Is fatherhood on the horizon?

“I did mention that I never have a plan, didn’t I?” he quips. But he does confide that he and Jack have been talking about having a family. “We’ve always wanted kids, but there’s always been something going on. Jack’s job and being on roadies all the time, me trying to get my career started. We don’t want our kids to be raised by babysitters and nannies, you know? We want to be there for them, so while it’s definitely something we’re considering, we’re trying to balance timing. But it has been a couple years, so.” He blushes. “We’re revisiting the idea.”

“But other than that-- I have been approached about the possibility of some other projects and shows in the future, but I probably can’t talk about those,” he says. “And though it’s always been a dream of mine to own a bakery, that would be a pretty huge commitment. So I guess I’m just trying to say that I’m not really sure exactly what comes next.” Nevertheless, he grins, as if to say, and isn’t that exciting ?

Fatherhood or his own bakery-- I’m sure that no matter what comes next for Eric Bittle, he’ll forge ahead with his characteristic positivity and Southern grace, with plenty of baked goods along the way. *

#omgcp #eric bittle #jack zimmermann #interview #multimedia fic #art #magazine #fic #omgcp fic #zimbits #pov outsider #omgcheckplease

534 notes · View notes

beatriceeagle · 5 years

Note

I'm more of a fantasy than sci-fi person, but consider my interest piqued. Why should I watch farscape?

Okay, the thing is, every Farscape fan’s pitch on Why You, Yes You, Should Watch Farscape ends up sounding very similar, and that’s because Farscape is a black hole that sucks you in and does things to your brain, and after you’ve watched it you are never, ever the same, which incidentally is basically the plot of Farscape.

I would summarize the basic plot for you, but that’s work, and luckily, the show’s credits sequence includes a handy summary that I will provide instead of doing that work: “My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit, and I got shot through a wormhole. Now I’m lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange alien life forms. Help me. Listen, please. Is there anybody out there who can hear me? I’m being hunted by an insane military commander. Doing everything I can. I’m just looking for a way home.“

So let me break down that monologue into its component reasons you should watch Farscape.

1) Some of the strange alien life forms are Muppets.

Farscape a co-production with the Jim Henson Company, and while there are many aliens played by humans in make-up, there are also a considerable number (including two of the regular crew) who are Muppets. By which I do not mean Kermit. I mean really gorgeous, elaborate works of art.

Also, even a lot of the humans-in-makeup aliens just look cool, and incredibly weird. Here’s an alien who appears in a single episode of season 1:

Not that there aren’t, you know, occasional Star Trek-style “these guys are just humans with weird hair,” or whatever, but in general, the aliens on Farscape look really alien. And that’s more than an aesthetic choice; it’s Farscape’s driving narrative principle. The aliens look alien, they act alien, they have alien values.

You know how a lot of sci-fi shows will have a stand-in for “fuck,” like Battlestar Galactica has “frak”? Well, Farscape has “frell.” And also “dren.” And yotz, hezmana, mivonks, loomas, tralk, snurch, eema, drannit, dench, biznak, arn, drad, fahrbot, narl. Some of those are swear words, but some of them are just words, never explicitly translated, that the alien characters will pepper into their speech, because, well, why should translator microbes be able to completely translate all the nuances of an alien culture? You’ll pick it up from context. One time, in passing, a character mentions that he’s familiar with the concept of suicide, but there’s no word for it in his language. I cannot emphasize to you enough how fleeting this moment is; the episode is not about suicide, we’re not having a great exchange of cultural ideas—at the time, the characters are running down a corridor in a crisis, as they are about 70 percent of the time—it’s just that the subject got brought up, and this character needed to talk around the fact that he literally didn’t have a word, in that moment. Things like that happen all the time, on Farscape.

Because more than anything else, Farscape is a show about culture shock. John Crichton is this straight, white Southern guy, at the top of his game—he’s an astronaut! he’s incredibly high status!—and then he ends up on the other side of the galaxy, where none of his cultural markers of privilege hold any meaning, where he doesn’t know the rules, where he literally can’t even open the doors. And he has to unlearn the idea that humanity is central, that he is the norm.

2) John Crichton, an astronaut, is pretty great.

A show that’s about a straight white guy with high status having to learn that he’s not the center of the universe could easily be centered around a really insufferable person, but one of the subtle things that makes Farscape so wonderful is that Crichton is, for the most part, pretty excellent. He has a lot of presumptions to unlearn because almost anyone in his cultural position would, but he’s also just a stand-up guy: compassionate, intelligent, open-minded, decent, forgiving, brave, hopeful.

And the galaxy tries to kick a whole lot of that out of him. It doesn’t succeed, mostly, but if Farscape is about anything other than culture shock, it’s about the lasting effects of trauma. How you can go through a wormhole one person, and experience things that turn you into someone you don’t recognize.

That’s kind of grim-sounding, but ultimately, what I’m trying to say is that Farscape is almost fanatically devoted to character work. Crichton is not the only character who sounds like he should be one thing and ends up being another. All of the characters—all of them, all of them, even the annoying ones—are complicated wonders. And you don’t have to wonder whether the events of the episode you’re watching are going to matter. They will. Everything that happens to the characters leaves a mark. Everything leaves them forever changed. Whether it’s mentioned explicitly or not—and often enough, it’s not explicit—the characters remember what has happened to them.

3) The living ship houses a lot of excellent women, among them the ship itself.

Ah, the women of Farscape, thou art the loves of my fucking life.

There’s Aeryn Sun, former Peacekeeper (that’s the military that the “insane military commander” hails from) now fugitive, currently learning the meaning of the word “compassion” (literally). She will break your fingers and also your heart. John/Aeryn is the main canon romantic ship.

There’s Pa’u Zhoto Zhaan, a priestess of the ninth level, current pacifist, former anarchist. Sorry, leading anarchist. She orgasms in bright light! (Oh my god, Farscape.)

There’s Chiana, my fucking bestie, a teenage(ish? ages in Farscape are weird) fugitive on the run from a repressive authoritarian state. Chiana is like a seductress con artist grifter thief who mostly just wants to survive so that she can have fun, damn it. Characters on Farscape do not really discuss sexualities (sex, yes, sexualities, no) and it would be fair to say that several of them do not fall along human sexuality lines generally, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that Chiana is canonically not straight.

Then there’s Moya, the ship herself, and it’s hard to get a straight read on Moya’s personality, since she mostly can’t speak. But she definitely has opinions, and things and people she cares about. And she moves the plot, though that gets into spoiler territory.

Past first season, further excellent women show up: Jool (controversial, but I like her), Sikozu (I once saw a Tumblr meme where someone had marked down that Sikozu would lose her shit when someone pronounced “gif” wrong, and that’s absolutely correct, and it’s why I love her), and Noranti (who is incredibly weird, and incredibly hard to summarize, but man, you gotta love her willingness to just show up and do her thing). Plus, there’s a recurring female villain, Grayza, who I could write probably multiple essays about. (I don’t know how you will feel about Grayza, as not everyone loves her, but I think she’s fucking fascinating, especially because she’s not actually the only recurring female villain. We also get Ahkna!)

(Side note: I should mention, here, that the cast of Farscape is really, really white. There is one cast member of color, Lani Tupu, but he pretty much represents the entirety of even, like, incidental diversity in casting for the series.)

Anyway, Farscape is full of awesome women, and also awesome and unexpected men, and it really enjoys playing with audience expectations of gender roles, generally. Literal entire books have been written about the way that Farscape fucks around with sex, sexuality, and gender. It’s a little weird because it was the late 90s/early 2000s, and sometimes that does come through, but Farscape’s guiding principle was always to try not to present American culture of the time as the norm, so like. It is not.

(An aside on Farscape and sex: Literally every character on Farscape has sexual tension with every other character. If you are a shipper, this is a Good Show, because no matter who you ship, there will not only be subtext, you will get a Moment of some kind. Multiple characters kiss the Muppet. Farscape is dedicated to getting into the nitty-gritty of the galaxy—I like to think of it as showing the guts of the universe—so a lot of the show is kind of squishy. They live on a biomechanoid ship, instead of androids there are “bioloids,” there’s a lot of focus on strange alien biologies, and lots of weird glowing fluids and things. I think the sex thing is kind of part and parcel of the larger biology focus: Farscape is really fascinated with how we all eat and evolve and live and die and, well, fuck. Which is in turn, kind of part of its focus on making everything really alien.)

4) Other stuff you should know.

Farscape as a whole is excellent, but it was kind of the product of creative anarchy—an Australian/American coproduction (oh yeah, everyone except Crichton speaks with an Australian accent) that was also partnered with the Henson company, whose showrunners were based in America but whose actual production all took place in Australia, and who was just constantly trying new things. So individual episodes can vary wildly in quality. It really takes off in the back half of season one, but no season is without a few off episodes.

It is extraordinarily funny, and I really think I haven’t stressed that enough. It’s one of the shows I want to quote the most in my daily life, but almost all of its humor is really context-dependent, and if you just wander around going, “Hey Stark? What’s black and white, and black and white, and black and white?” people look at you really funny.

It’s very conversant with pop culture generally (although obviously sci-fi specifically, and Star Trek most specifically of all) and really enjoys deconstructing tropes, often to the effect of, “Well, Crichton really does not know what to do here, does he?” but sometimes just to be interesting.

There are also a lot of themes about science, and its uses and misuses.

The whole thing is fucking epic, and if you get invested at all, will take you on an emotional ride.

This show is weird. I know that that’s probably come across by now, but I think it’s worth reiterating as its own point: Farscape is so weird. Like, proudly, unabashedly, trying its hardest, weird. An amazing kind of weird.

If you’re into fantasy, you should know that there’s a recurring villain who’s just a wizard. Like, they don’t bother to explain it any more than that, he’s just a fucking wizard.

In summary: You should watch Farscape because it is a weird, wild, emotional, epic romance/drama/action/allegory full of Muppets and leather and one-liners and emotional gut punches and love, and if you let it, it will worm its way into you and never let go, which, now that I think of it, is another Farscape plot.

Send me meta prompts to distract me from my migraine!

#farscape #meta

3K notes · View notes

chainofclovers · 3 years

Text

Ted Lasso 2x1 thoughts

Running out of time to capture my thoughts on 2x1 specifically before 2x2 airs, so here's a mess of things I thought about in response to the season 2 premiere. (Heavily informed by conversations w/my wife and some friends and family both within and without the fandom, discord conversations, things I've read on tumblr, reviews in the press, and, yes, my own little brain when it's alone.)

I really liked it (actually, I loved it)

Because a lot of people--myself included--binged s1 in a single go, I think a lot of people came away from that (beautiful almost perfect) season of TV with a sense that it was just this continuous five-hour explosion of feelings-y goodness with a very clear thesis statement: Make The Audience Happy. But obviously there's a lot of complicated stuff being set up within those five hours of TV, with intentional dividing lines and transitions between the episodes. I know some people watched 2x1 and felt frustrated because it didn't "feel like Ted Lasso" but I didn't feel that way. What I did feel, by contrasting 2x1 with all of s1, is that the atmosphere in s1 wasn't so much an audience-centric feel-good make-em-laugh kind of thing so much as a reflection of the gradual feeling of settling into home as Ted finds his place in Richmond and at AFC Richmond and in letting go of things (marriage) for the first time, and Rebecca, who's majority owner of the damn club but doesn't have a place within it, goes on a parallel community-locating journey. So the intensely warm, comfortable, feelings-y viewing experience is really just a reflection of what it was feeling like for pretty much every character with the exception of Rupert and Bex to carve out a more comfortable, honest, warm place for themselves.

But the challenges of relegation, the specters of the past, the longing any character (any human) has for more, and the mental health issues that come along for the ride meant that 2x1 needed to feel uncomfortable. They create that atmosphere by riddling 2x1 with so many jokes and references that it feels chaotic, overstuffed. The football season isn't going horribly, but it's WEIRD, and everyone is uncomfortable, and Ted doesn't know how to deal with the discomfort within himself so he's relying on the things he knows: references, anecdotes, strung-together wisdom. He clearly plans the Hank-the-dog speech in advance of the press conference, and the tongue-in-cheek "wow, this is so profound" expressions on the journalists' faces are hilarious to me because it's like we're watching them react to a man who's about to lose it and is in the final moments of being able to control the narrative about his team before someone from the outside will have to come in.

I'm obsessed with a tag @ratherembarrassing put on a TL reblog: "This is a show of soliloquies." I loved Ted's manufactured yet thematically necessary speech. I loved that Rebecca basically blacks out at a coffeeshop and tells John all about the messages (harmful or at least profoundly still-in-progress) she's been processing about intimacy and safety. [Side note: it's so perfect that she's still afraid to feel safe. It's like, "If I feel safe, what am I missing about the situation that's going to come back to hurt me?" OOOOF.] I feel like these moments where characters kind of speechify and the audience matters but the audience also does not matter just reflect the overall atmospheric stuff the show does. Like, it's more important to make us feel how it feels than to construct a moment of hyper-realistic dialogue. I get why it can be jarring but I'm into it.

The dog. Welp. A dog died right away. The special effects looked weird. I love dogs, I'm not a monster, but I was also just...not emotionally torn up about Earl at all. It's a catalyst. It's a very quick way to kind of bloop the entire world of Ted Lasso into a skewed and uncomfortable place where these characters absolutely need to reside until they can figure out how to attend to their own mental health and healing with the same focus and compassion they apply to their friendships with other people.

I'm obsessed with how much everything is going to HURT. Like, Ted walked in and Rebecca said she wished he was Keeley and then she didn't start eating the biscuits right away?!?

The biscuits are such an emotional crutch in s1 and SO MUCH of Rebecca's headspace is taken up with destroying something Ted is starting to love, destroying Ted, but also being there for him and feeling seen by him in a truly unique way, so I kind of love the psychic shift here, where all this emotional stuff has happened between them but to move forward they're going to have to learn some new conversational skills. Like girl talk.

The nail polish. I love everyone. I love the nail polish. I love that Ted was late to practice because of it. I love how much he wants other people to need him because it's so clear that he got his feelings hurt like 30 times in 2x1 and doesn't even fully realize it.

I love Dr. Sharon Fieldstone. I love that everyone but Ted very clearly understands the value of having a sports psychologist around. I love that her introduction is not about having to sell the players on the fact that they should talk to someone, but rather about Ted's discomfort over his own leadership abilities and the conflict this could create. It's so good. I'm so excited about it.

Beard and Ted in the pub! All people are different people! Ahhhhhh! Thank God For Beard (TGFB). TGFB is probably going to be my personal motto while watching this season of adorable and emotionally wrenching and ambitious television.

OK, I feel better now that I have this chaotic list out of my brain and onto tumblr. Should that make me feel better? I do not know. I do know that I'll probably try to do this for every episode because watching it week by week is going to drive me insane and I would really like to have some kind of record of the distinct-to-episodes yet cumulative viewing experience before I'm able to take in the full season (and the full series so far) as a whole.

#ted lasso #ted lasso s2 spoilers #meta by me #a lesbian watches ted lasso #ted lasso 2x1

46 notes · View notes

ordinaryschmuck · 3 years

Text

What I Thought About Loki (Season One)

(Sorry this is later than it should have been. I may or may not be experiencing burnout from reviewing every episode of the gayest show Disney has ever produced)

Salutations, random people on the internet. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Do you want to know what's fun about the Marvel Cinematic Universe? It is now officially at the point where the writers can do whatever the hell they want.

A TV series about two Avengers getting stuck in a series of sitcoms as one of them explores their personal grief? Sure.

Another series as a guy with metal bird wings fights the inner racism of his nation to take the mantel of representing the idea of what that nation should be? Why not?

A forgettable movie about a superspy and her much more mildly entertaining pretend family working together to kill the Godfather? F**king go for it (Let that be a taste for my Black Widow review in October)!

There is no limit to what you can get with these movies and shows anymore, and I personally consider that a good thing. It allows this franchise to lean further into creative insanity, thus embracing its comic roots in the process. Take Loki, for example. It is a series about an alternate version of one of Marvel's best villains bouncing around the timeline with Owen Wilson to prevent the end of the universe. It sounds like just the right amount of wackiness that it should be too good to fail.

But that's today's question: Did it fail? To find out my own answer to that, we're gonna have to dive deep into spoilers. So be wary as you continue reading.

With that said, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Loki Himself: Let's get this out of the way: This isn't the same Loki we've seen grow within five movies. The Loki in this series, while similar in many ways, is still his very own character. He goes through his own redemption and developments that fleshes out Loki, all through ways that, if I'm being honest with you, is done much better in six-hour-long episodes than in past films. Loki's story was already entertaining, but he didn't really grow that much aside from being this chaotic neutral character instead of this wickedly evil supervillain. Through his series, we get to see a gradual change in his personality, witnessing him understand his true nature and "glorious purpose," to the point where he's already this completely different person after one season. Large in part because of the position he's forced into.

Some fans might say that the series is less about Loki and more about the TVA. And while I can unquestionably see their point, I still believe that the TVA is the perfect way for Loki to grow. He's a character all about causing chaos and controlling others, so forcing him to work for an organization that takes that away allows Loki time to really do some introspection. Because if his tricks don't work, and his deceptions can't fool others, then who is he? Well, through this series, we see who he truly is: A character who is alone and is intended to be nothing more than a villain whose only truly selfless act got him killed in the end. Even if he wants to better himself, he can't because that "goes against the sacred timeline." Loki is a person who is destined to fail, and he gets to see it all with his own eyes by looking at what his life was meant to be and by observing what it could have been. It's all tragic and yet another example of these shows proving how they allow underdeveloped characters in the MCU a better chance to shine. Because if Loki can give even more depth to a character who's already compelling as is, then that is a feat worth admiration.

The Score: Let's give our gratitude toward Natalie Holt, who f**king killed it with this series score. Every piece she made is nothing short of glorious. Sylvie's and the TVA's themes particularly stand out, as they perfectly capture who/what they're representing. Such as how Sylvie's is big and boisterous where the TVA's sound eerie and almost unnatural. Holt also finds genius ways to implement other scores into the series, from using familiar tracks from the Thor movies to even rescoring "Ride of the Valkyries" in a way that makes a scene even more epic than it already could have been. The MCU isn't best known for its musical scores, partly because they aim to be suitable rather than memorable. But every now and again, something as spectacular as the Loki soundtrack sprinkles through the cracks of mediocrity. Making fans all the more grateful because of it.

There’s a lot of Talking: To some, this will be considered a complaint. Most fans of the MCU come for the action, comedy, and insanely lovable characters. Not so much for the dialogue and exposition. That being said, I consider all of the talking to be one of Loki's best features. All the background information about the TVA added with the character's backstories fascinates me, making me enthusiastic about learning more. Not everyone else will be as interested in lore and world-building as others, but just because something doesn't grab you, in particular, doesn't mean it isn't appealing at all. Case in point: There's a reason why the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise has lasted as long as it has, and it's not entirely because of how "scary" it is.

There's also the fact that most of the dialogue in Loki is highly engaging. I'll admit, some scenes do drag a bit. However, every line is delivered so well that I'm more likely to hang on to every word when characters simply have honest conversations with each other. And if I can be entertained by Loki talking with Morbius about jetskis, then I know a show is doing at least something right.

It’s Funny: This shouldn't be a surprise. The MCU is well-known for its quippy humor in the direct acknowledgment that it doesn't take itself too seriously. With that said, it is clear which movies and shows are intended to be taken seriously, while others are meant to be comedies. Loki tries to be a bit of both. There are some heavy scenes that impact the characters, and probably even some fans, due to how well-acted and professionally written they can be. However, this is also a series about a Norse god traveling through time to deal with alternate versions of himself, with one of them being an alligator. I'd personally consider it a crime against storytelling to not make it funny. Thankfully, the writers aren't idiots and know to make the series fun with a few flawlessly timed and delivered jokes that never really take away from the few good grim moments that actually work.

It Kept Me Surprised: About everything I appreciate about Loki, the fact that I could never really tell what direction it was going is what I consider its absolute best feature. Every time I think I knew what was going to happen, there was always this one big twist that heavily subverted any and every one of my expectations. Such as how each time I thought I knew who the big bad was in this series, it turns out that there was an even worse threat built up in the background. The best part is that these twists aren't meant for shock value. It's always supposed to drive the story forward, and on a rewatch, you can always tell how the seeds have been planted for making each surprise work. It's good that it kept fans guessing, as being predictable and expected would probably be the worst path to take when making a series about Loki, a character who's all about trickery and deception. So bonus points for being in line with the character.

The TVA: You can complain all you want about how the show is more about the TVA than it is Loki, but you can't deny how the organization in question is a solid addition to the MCU. Initially, it was entertaining to see Loki of all characters be taken aback by how the whole process works. And it was worth a chuckle seeing Infinity Stones, the most powerful objects in the universe, get treated as paperweights. However, as the season continues and we learn about the TVA, the writers show that their intention is to try and write a message about freedom vs. control. We've seen this before in movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier or Captain America: Civil War, but with those films, it always felt like the writers were leaning more towards one answer instead of making it obscure over which decision is correct. This is why I enjoy the fact that Loki went on saying that there really is no right answer for this scenario. If the TVA doesn't prune variants, it could result in utter chaos and destruction that no one from any timeline can prepare themselves for. But when they do prune variants along with their timelines, it takes away all free will, forcing people to be someone they probably don't even want to be. It's a situation where there really is no middle ground. Even if you bring up how people could erase timelines more destructive than others, that still takes away free will on top of how there's no unbiased way of deciding which timelines are better or worse. And the series found a brilliant way to explain this moral: The season starts by showing how the TVA is necessary, to later point out how there are flaws and evil secrets within it, and ends things with the revelation that there are consequences without the TVA keeping the timeline in check. It's an epic showcase of fantastic ideas met with exquisite execution that I can't help but give my seal of approval to.

Miss Minutes: Not much to say. This was just a cute character, and I love that Tara Strong, one of the most popular voice actors, basically plays a role in the MCU now.

Justifying Avengers: Endgame: Smartest. Decision. This series. Made. Bar none.

Because when you establish that the main plot is about a character getting arrested for f**king over the timeline, you're immediately going to get people questioning, "Why do the Avengers get off scot-free?" So by quickly explaining how their time-traveling antics were supposed to happen, it negates every one of those complaints...or most of them. There are probably still a-holes who are poking holes in that logic, but they're not the ones writing this review, so f**k them.

Mobius: I didn't really expect Owen Wilson to do that good of a job in Loki. Primarily due to how the Cars franchise discredits him as a professional actor for...forever. With that said, Owen Wilson's Mobius might just be one of the most entertaining characters in the series. Yes, even more so than Loki himself. Mobius acts as the perfect straight man to Loki's antics, what with being so familiar with the supposed god of mischief through past variations of him. Because of that, it's always a blast seeing these two bounce off one another through Loki trying to trick a Loki expert, and said expert even deceiving Loki at times. Also, on his own, Mobius is still pretty fun. He has this sort of witty energy that's often present in Phil Coulson (Love that character too, BTW), but thanks to Owen Wilson's quirks in his acting, there's a lot more energy to Mobius than one would find in Coulson. As well as a tad bit of tragedy because of Mobius being a variant and having no clue what his life used to be. It's a lot to unpack and is impressively written, added to how it's Owen Wilson who helps make the character work as well as he did. Cars may not have done much for his career, but Loki sure as hell showed his strengths.

Ravonna Renslayer: Probably the least entertaining character, but definitely one of the most intriguing. At least to me.

Ravonna is a character who is so steadfast in her believes that she refuses to accept that she may be wrong. Without the proper writing, someone like Ravonna could tick off (ha) certain people. Personally, I believe that Ravonna is written well enough where even though I disagree with her belief, I can understand where she's coming from. She's done so much for the TVA, bringing an end to so many variants and timelines that she can't accept that it was all for nothing. In short, Ravonna represents the control side of the freedom vs. control theme that the writers are pushing. Her presence is necessary while still being an appealing character instead of a plot device. Again, at least to me.

Hunter B-15: I have no strong feelings one way or another towards B-15's personality, but I will admit that I love the expectation-subversion done with her. She has this air of someone who's like, "I'm this by-the-books badass cop, and I will only warm up to this cocky rookie after several instances of them proving themselves." That's...technically not B-15. She's the first to see Loki isn't that bad, but only because B-15 is the first in the main cast to learn the hidden vile present in the TVA. It makes her change in point of view more believable than how writers usually work a character like hers, on top of adding a new type of engaging motivation for why she fights. I may not particularly enjoy her personality, but I do love her contributions.

Loki Watching What His Life Could Have Been: This was a brilliant decision by the writers. It's basically having Loki speedrun his own character development through witnessing what he could have gone through and seeing the person he's meant to be, providing a decent explanation for why he decides to work for the TVA. And on the plus side, Tom Hiddleston did a fantastic job at portraying the right emotions the character would have through a moment like this. Such as grief, tearful mirth, and borderline shock and horror. It's a scene that no other character could go through, as no one but Loki needed a wake-up call for who he truly is. This series might heavily focus on the TVA, but scenes like this prove just who's the star of the show.

Loki Causing Mischief in Pompeii: I just really love this scene. It's so chaotic and hilarious, all heavily carried by the fact that you can tell that Tom Hiddleston is having the time of his damn life being this character. What more can I say about it.

Sylvie: The first of many surprises this season offered, and boy was she a great one.

Despite being an alternate version of Loki, I do appreciate that Sylvie's her own character and not just "Loki, but with boobs." She still has the charm and charisma, but she also comes across as more hardened and intelligent when compared to the mischievous prick we've grown to love. A large part of that is due to her backstory, which might just be the most tragic one these movies and shows have ever made. Sylvie got taken away when she was a little girl, losing everything she knew and loved, and it was all for something that the people who arrested her don't even remember. How sad is that? The fact that her life got permanently screwed over, leaving zero impact on the people responsible for it. As badass as it is to hear her say she grew up at the ends of a thousand worlds (that's an album title if I ever heard one), it really is depressing to know what she went through. It also makes her the perfect candidate to represent the freedom side of the freedom vs. control argument. Because she's absolutely going to want to fight to put an end to the people who decide how the lives of trillions should be. Those same people took everything from Sylvie, and if I were in her position, I'd probably do the same thing. Of course, we all know the consequences that come from this, and people might criticize Sylvie the same way they complain about Thor and Star Lord for screwing over the universe in Avengers: Infinity War. But here's the thing: Sylvie's goals are driven by vengeance, which can blind people from any other alternatives. Meaning her killing He Who Remains is less of a story flaw and more of a character flaw. It may be a bad decision, but that's for Season Two Sylvie to figure out. For now, I'll just appreciate the well-written and highly compelling character we got this season and eagerly wait as we see what happens next with her.

The Oneshot in Episode Three: Not as epic as the hallway scene in Daredevil, but I do find it impressive that it tries to combine real effects, fighting, and CGI in a way where it's all convincing enough.

Lady Sif Kicking Loki in the D**k: This is a scene that makes me realize why I love this series. At first, I laugh at Loki being stuck in a time loop where Lady Sif kicks him in the d**k over and over again. But a few scenes later, this setup actually works as a character moment that explains why Loki does the things he does.

This series crafted phenomenal character development through Loki getting kicked in the d**k by the most underrated badass of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's a perfect balance of comedy and drama that not every story can nail, yet Loki seemed like it did with very little effort.

Classic Loki: This variant shows the true tragedy of being Loki. The only way to survive is to live in isolation, far away from everything and everyone he loves, only to end up having his one good deed result in his death anyways. Classic Loki is definitive proof that no matter what face they have, Lokis never gets happy endings. They're destined to lose, but at least this version knows that if you're going out, you're going out big. And at least he got to go out with a mischievous laugh.

(Plus, the fact that he's wearing Loki's first costume from the comics is a pretty cute callback).

Alligator Loki: Alligator Loki is surprisingly adorable, and if you know me, you know that I can't resist cute s**t. It's not in my nature.

Loki on Loki Violence: If you thought Loki going ham in Pompeii was chaotic, that was nothing to this scene. Because watching these Lokis backstab one another, to full-on murdering each other, is a moment that is best described as pure, unadulterated chaos. And I. Loved. Every. Second of it.

The Opening Logo for the Season Finale: I'm still not that big of a fan of the opening fanfare playing for each episode, but I will admit that it was a cool feature to play vocal clips of famous quotes when the corresponding character appears. It's a great way of showing the chaos of how the "sacred timeline" works without having it to be explained further.

The Citadel: I adore the set design of the Citadel. So much history and backstory shine through the state of every room the characters walk into. You get a perfect picture of what exactly happened, but seeing how ninety percent of the place is in shambles, it's pretty evident that not everything turned out peachy keen. And as a personal note, my favorite aspect of the Citadel is the yellow cracks in the walls. It looks as though reality itself is cracking apart, which is pretty fitting when considering where the Citadel actually is.

He Who Remains: This man. I. Love. This man.

I love this man for two reasons.

A. He's a ton of fun. Credit to that goes to the performance delivered by Jonathon Majors. Not only is it apparent that Majors is having a blast, but he does a great job at conveying how He Who Remains is a strategic individual but is still very much off his rocker. These villains are always my favorite due to how much of a blast it is seeing someone with high intelligence just embracing their own insanity. If you ask me, personalities are always essential for villains. Because even when they have the generic plot to rule everything around them, you're at least going to remember who they are for how entertaining they were. Thankfully He Who Remains has that entertainment value, as it makes me really excited for his eventual return, whether it'd be strictly through Loki Season Two or perhaps future movies.

And B. He Who Remains is a fantastic foil for Loki. He Who Remains is everything Loki wishes he could have been, causing so much death, destruction, and chaos to the multiverse. The important factor is that he does it all through order and control. The one thing Loki despises, and He Who Remains uses it to his advantage. I feel like that's what makes him the perfect antagonist to Loki, thanks to him winning the game by not playing it. I would love it if He Who Remains makes further appearances in future movies and shows, especially given how he's hinted to be Kane the Conqueror, but if he's only the main antagonist in Loki, I'm still all for it. He was a great character in his short time on screen, and I can't wait to see what happens next with him.

WHAT I DISLIKED

Revealing that Loki was D.B. Cooper: A cute scene, but it's really unnecessary. It adds nothing to the plot, and I feel like if it was cut out entirely, it wouldn't have been the end of the world...Yeah. That's it.

That's my one and only complaint about this season.

Maybe some scenes drag a bit, and I guess Episode Three is kind of the weakest, but there's not really anything that this series does poorly that warrants an in-depth complaint.

Nope.

Nothing at all...

…

...

...I'm not touching that "controversy" of Loki falling for Sylvie instead of Mobius. That's a situation where there are no winners.

Only losers.

Exclusively losers.

Other than that, this season was amazing!

IN CONCLUSION

I'd give the first season of Loki a well-earned A, with a 9.5 through my usual MCU ranking system. It turns out, it really is the best type of wackiness that was just too good to fail. The characters are fun and likable, the comedy and drama worked excellently, and the expansive world-building made me really intrigued with the more we learned. It's hard to say if Season Two will keep this momentum, but that's for the future to figure out. For now, let's just sit back and enjoy the chaos.

(Now, if you don't excuse me, I have to figure out how to review Marvel's What If...)

#marvel cinematic universe #mcu reviews #loki tv series #loki #sylvie #mobius #ravonna renslayer #hunter b 15 #classic loki #alligator loki #he who remains #kang the conqueror #what i thought about

10 notes · View notes

397bartonstreet · 4 years

Text

Is it Weird I Kind of Want to Kiss You?

This is my submission for the b99 summer fic exchange 2020! This fic is for @letsperaltiago, I really hope you enjoy it, I had a lot of fun writing it! Also thank you @theysayweareasleep for helping me out with this i couldnt have done it without you. And thank you to @b99fandomevents for holding this exchange, I was happy to be apart of it.

read on ao3

The whole squad had officially retired about an hour earlier. It was a relief to be able to let loose after a hard day of many failures from a case. The mugginess of the bar, under the dim lights, the shouts from the tables behind them, felt like the perfect way to unwind. Leaving Amy with Jake to clink together one more glass of whiskey before turning in for the night. At this point, the alcohol and infectious energy of the place have relaxed their tense shoulders and they can now just enjoy each other’s company. Even if it’s only just the two of them.

Amy clutches her stomach as the last remnants of her laughing fit fade away. Releasing her unconscious hold of Jake’s wrist so he can wipe the tear leaking from his eye, and he comes back to earth with a few chuckles.

“Okay, no, but really, some people can just be the dumbest people in the entire world,” Amy says through catching her breath. She pulls the rest of her hair down as it’s already coming undone, but doesn’t bother fixing her skewed blazer.

“Hey, let’s be honest, maybe they’re not as dumb as their moments. Like I’m pretty damn sure you and I have had many a moments dumb in past,” Jake stumbles to say and Amy has to resist patting down the curls that have stood to one side.

“God, don’t remind me, and it’s always you,” Amy points accusingly. Jake gasps and slaps her hand away.

“Noooo,” Jake petulantly says before chugging the last of his drink. She can barely remember what number drink that is, since she’s had the same amount he has. She quickly places her finger back in his face.

“It’s always you who makes me do the dumbest crap in the whole world!”

“Don’t even lie,” he bangs his fist on the table and doesn’t resist the giddy, drunken laugh that comes out of him. And it’s so infectious, his energy and the way his smile makes his eyes all squinty.

“I am not lying! You always make me look like an idiot!”

“You do that yourself,” he playfully scoffs.

“Right, do you remember the date,” Amy says, punching him on the shoulder. Jake pauses, mouth agape and eyes squinted. The cogs are definitely turning in there, like it does about once a day before it shuts down and let’s his body take over.

“To be fair, that technically was your fault, if you had just tried being actually a good detective-

“Ohhh, don’t-,” Amy throws her head back.

“Then maybe you would actually have won,” he teases.

“Don’t even start, we were at the same place you got lucky,” her volume rising to overshadow his.

“I did get lucky, I got a date with Lamey Santiagoooo.” He tries to take another sip from his glass and frowns when it turns up empty.

“And it was the fucking best day of your life.” Jake gasps and looks around, lips pursed in suppressed laughter.

“Oh my god, Amy Santiago is cursing. She’s cursing!” He yells out to the rest of the bar. Amy notices the bartender throwing them a warning glance. She places her hands on his arm and shakes him a little.

“Shut up,” she grits through her teeth, but she really can’t even pretend to be serious right now, with the alcohol still coursing, and even feels like it might be a tad worse. “You’re an actual child.”

“Childsayswhat?” She rolls her eyes. That wasn’t even funny back when she was twelve years old.

“I’m not falling for that.”

“Ha, that’s because you’re a nerd.”

“Well, you’re a loser.”

“Actually, you’re the loser, I won the bet,” he grins and Amy groans up at the ceiling. She tips into her mouth the last of her drink and lets it puff out her cheeks. Behind her, a group yells among themselves and she realizes just how alone her and Jake are. It’s not the first time they’ve gotten drinks together, or have been left alone after the squad leaves them for the night.

But ever since everything that’s happened. Teddy. Sofia. Dumb feelings and stupid declarations. Things feel different, something feels inevitable. Like at any moment, something unknown and unsaid can ruin the set rhythm between them.

But no, she shouldn’t let that ruin things right now. Things are good, they’re great, they’re-

“Do you want to know that this means Amy?” Jake asks, catching himself from swaying just a little.

“Hm,” she asks.

“This means,” he stops to let the pause linger. “that you and I are at the start of an awful relationship.”

“Oh really,” she says. He’s joking, and they’re drunk. She certainly feels drunk, which is probably why she’s letting herself remember the unspoken issues between them. It’s definitely why she’s letting herself remember the unspoken issues between them. It’s just a joke. And it’s not an uncommon occurrence to have people in your life you wouldn’t mind kissing. Or touching. Or other things.

“Yup, we’re at the start of a lifelong terrible relationship that of loservilleness.”

“Ha! So you admit you’re a loser.”

“Amy Santiago, when you take a step back to rediscover the world, you will realize that we all, as one people, are losers.”

“You’re lucky that mostly made sense.”

“Heck yeah it did. Anyway, back to what I was saying, you and I are about to live a terrible life together. We’re going to framed for a heinous crime we did not commit-”

“Why.”

“Because.”

“Alright,” she says with a shake of her head at his antics.

It’s a joke, it’s just a joke.

“We’re going to marry at the Chapel near the rat infested Walmart.”

“Okay,” she nods with mock seriousness.

“After we wed, we run away as outlaws to Montana, change our names to Bucky and Birdie-”

“I call Birdie!”

“And we have a son named McClane.” Amy looks at him with an exasperated look, and he can barely contain the mischievous look spreading on his face.

“Jake, that's a terrible name.”

“You’re a terrible name!” She wouldn’t be surprised if he actually did try to name their child McClane, he… really loves that movie. But, it’s endearing really, that there’s something he connects to and loves. She likes the way he unapologetically loves.

She taps her chin since he’s staring at her intently for a response.

“McClane…,” she mumbles to herself. “ooh, you know what? McClane might not be an awful name. If you really think about it, it can also sound like a name for a librarian.” She knows she’s hit a button. He cackles and drops his head into his hands. He turns and glances at her with annoyance, he almost looks impressed.

“Why do you always ruin things that are fun,” he says, tapping her shin lightly with his f. She’s definitely drunk, because even that felt charged. Felt intentional. But she’s just drunk.

“Do you want our son to be named McClane or not?” She says, tapping his shin back. It’s fine if she does, they’re friends.

“Fine, but I’ll find something to ruin for you.”

“I’m solid as a rock honey, you can’t move me.” Jake raises an eyebrow and smirks. He doesn’t break eye contact when he holds out two fingers and gives her shoulder a firm shove. A stupid squeal escapes her throat as she stumbles off the stool she’s sitting on and lands on her ass.

“Ok, I think that means it's time to go.”

“Yeah,” she agrees. She holds out her hand for him to help her up. “Walk me?”

Amy’s relieved that she can still mostly walk in a straight line. It isn’t until Jake bumps into her that they start to stumble a little.

New York is not as busy tonight as it usually is, and she likes the clear path they get to walk in without many obstacles. They gag and skitter around the giant dead rat on the ground, and they have to cover their nose when the worst smell NY has ever produced punches them in the face. Other than that, they’re not bothered and she’s grateful for the cold night air after hours in the hot bar.

And they haven’t stopped talking since leaving the bar. About the episode of West Wing last night, the bruise Jake got from tripping over Charles’ box of jars of something, Amy’s annoying brother David and the picture of his new car he’d sent to the sibling group chat.

She thinks Jake is the only person she gets like this with; loud, talkative, and rowdy. It’s the best, and she loves these moments with her best friend.

“You’re not even ready, Bucky would romance the hell out of you,” he says, poking her lightly in the side.

“Really? Coming from the world’s cheapest date?”

“I’ve gotten no complaints.”

“You’ve gotten many complaints!”

“Not from Birdie.”

“Fair,” she says.

“I would drive you absolutely insane with my respect for your boundaries. Make you miserable by unconditionally supporting your ambitions,” he says and Amy wrinkles her nose.

“Sounds horrendous.”

“Yup. You’d make me sleep on the couch with how much I get along with your family.”

“Disgusting,” she says. To be fair, she probably would send him to the couch if she caught him having a nice conversation with David. No way will she let David make her husband think he was better than her. In high school, one of her boyfriends left her to pursue her amazing brother. She’s never letting that happen again.

“David?” he asks.

“David,” she assents. But she’s already ranted about him once today and she doesn’t want to break the Only One Rant About David a Day rule she’s set for herself. “I would pay attention to your interests and actively listen when you speak.”

“That’s just low,” his voice is guttural when he says that and she curses her attraction to deep voices. She clears her throat.

“Buy you intimate gifts from the heart and remind you of my appreciation of your existence every single day,” she says. His hand swaying beside hers lightly brushes against hers, and he continues the conversation like it didn’t happen. He probably didn’t care, maybe he really doesn’t care anymore.

“Did Teddy do that?” he asks.

“Never missed a day,” she says.

“Gross, how did you manage,” he barely gets the word out before his foot catches on the edge of a fire hydrant. He releases an ‘oof’ and grabs onto her hand to catch his balance. She’s way too inebriated to catch him, she goes tumbling along with him. She just barely manages to settle herself whereas he goes flat on the floor.

“Woah, are you okay,” she says, the laugh she makes is almost a cackle. When he looks up at her, his face is red and he can barely breathe with the force of the laughter that shakes his shoulders. She tries to pull him up, grabbing him by the arm and making a feeble attempt to carry him back up. It just barely works, with more fumbling and swaying involved.

“Just like this, I’d support you in all aspects of life,” she teases, helping to steady him on his feet.

“Even if, in our hanky town in Montana-

“Hanky?”

“I get arrested for assault when someone tries to take the last jar of mayo?”

“Especially then,” she says. It suddenly hits her that her hands are still on his arms, she still has him less than a foot away. He’s so close, way closer than she expected him to be. Despite many years of them working together, on all those stakeouts and nights slaving over case files and evidence, she’s never had him this close. His crooked smile is still there, still goofy and sweet, but it’s changed from what it was a second ago. It’s shy, almost hesitant, surveying something on her face and she wants so badly to know what it means.

“This doesn’t sound like the worst relationship ever you know,” Jake says and she almost startles when she feels more than sees a hand reaching up to her face, lightly brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. So slight and imperceptible that he might have just been taking something out of her hair. But that’s not the thing that strikes her the most. It’s the look on his face. She’s seen it before, from Teddy, her college boyfriend, the hotdog vendor at the stand near Shake Shack. But never Jake.

This look seeps low into her stomach and expands into her chest. There’s an overwhelming pang that she wants to chase for miles, just to see where it takes her. She says, “Maybe not.”

It comes out softer than she means it to. It makes what should have been a joke… something else. That inevitable thing.

Even this stupid life together that they just made up right now, she’s never been able to joke like that with anyone else, never been able to imagine that with them. But with him, maybe it’s just the alcohol she’s probably had too much of, it’s not so ridiculous.

“Is it weird I kind of want to kiss you right now?” he says softly. She’s officially lost. Lost on him and in this moment. It’s so inevitable, it’s so close.

“Is it weird I kind of want you to?”

Her hands tighten on him, and there’s a moment of bated breath. She almost hates the giddiness she feels bubbling up within. It’s like gravity to just lean forward… and embrace their inevitable.

They’re shaken when a loud horn of a truck breaks the silence as it drives past them. It’s like they’re yanked apart by their surprise and Amy puts a hand on her chest to settle her beating heart. She looks over at Jake. His eyes are wide and no longer glittering the way they were a second ago. The moment is gone.

“Dammit New York,” Jake says, avoiding her eyes by looking in the direction the truck had left. When he looks back, his eyes are still kind of glazed over from their drinks. She’s sure hers are the same. Their drinks have led to silly jokes and wild fantasies. To whatever the hell that was.

To Jake’s next brilliant observation.

“Holy shit, is that a Baskin Robbins?”

“Oooooh,” she says with a gasp. He grabs her arm and they run in the direction of the shop.

#b99 #peraltiago #b99fandomevents #b99 summer 2020 fic exchange #my writing #my fic

54 notes · View notes