#think i was too ambitious with the second thing and tried to do stuff with the lighting and rendering that i just. cant do

[carpathiians]

[holylulusworld]

Her puppy

Summary: You meet a clingy but sweet guy.

Pairing: Cole Turner x fem!Reader

Warnings: clingy Cole, implied smut, fluff

Catch up here: Puppy

“That’s a nice restaurant. Right? Uh-did you like the food? Do you want more wine? Maybe you’d like to have another dessert?”

“Cole, relax. I need you to take a deep breath,” you softly say, and pat his hand. It’s your third date and he’s a nervous wreck. You know that his other girlfriends called him clingy and a little obsessed.

Well, he definitely is a clingy puppy and needs a lot of reassurance. Cole seems to be always afraid of losing you, and your attention.

“I just want to make sure you are enjoying yourself,” he sheepishly admits. “Third dates are important. We have shared and learned enough about each other so much over the last weeks. You know about my family and stuff.” He scratches his beard. “Shit, I think I talked too much.”

“I enjoy your company,” you squeeze his hand this time. “The food was great too, and I’m not much of a drinker. And,” you lean closer to whisper in his ear, “I had hoped you’d walk me home again.”

His eyes light up at your words. “Really…I mean…uh…of course. I’d love to let you feel the power of the land again.” Cole grins and grabs your hand. “You are already addicted to me, huh? I knew you’d fall for the farmer.”

You chuckle at his eagerness and his corny pick-up lines. “I want to be sober for when you try to break my bed again. Maybe you can let the farmer out again.”

“Hmm…I could get used to this,” Cole murmurs as you are fast asleep on his chest. He holds you a little tighter when you mumble his name. “Maybe we can get a house, and you can work from home while I take care of the farm. I could finally finish that book I’m writing.”

“The one about farming, empires, and agriculture?” You lift your head from his chest. “I’d like to read it.” You yawn. “It sounds boring like hell, but I’d read it for you.”

“It is…no…I mean…” He chuckles. “It’s lame for someone not interested in agriculture and such. But I want to finish it so badly.”

“It’s ambitious of you to write a book. And very cool,” you lie back down and snuggle in his chest. “Now sleep a little. Maybe I want to feel the power of the land in the morning again.”

He grins sheepishly. “I’d love to be at your service in the morning too ma’am.”

“Morning,” you yawn and rub your tired eyes. After ending up pressed against the shower wall by your new boyfriend you finally made it into the kitchen. “When did you have the time to cook?”

You watch Cole flip a pancake. “I thought you’d be hungry after our morning activity and wanted to have breakfast with you.

He hopefully looks in your direction and you sigh. “Cole, we need to talk.”

“Shit…I fucked things up again,” he sniffles. “I was too clingy…or maybe you hate having breakfast or sex in the showers.”

“Please listen to me for a second,” you gently grab his hand to force him to listen to you. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know I did,” he says. “They always start with it’s not you, it’s me or crap.”

“Cole, I like you…a lot,” shushing him you try to stop him from doubting himself once again. “The sex was great, and I love that you made us breakfast. I want to be with you. Okay. I don’t want to break up with you. Just…I need you to calm down and stop fearing I’ll break up with you every second. You are missing out on so many great things if you do.”

You stand on tiptoes and grab his face to kiss him. “Now, drop that spatula, and help me ruin the kitchen island.”

“I—what?” Cole tries to process all the things you said.

“Sex, on the kitchen island, Cole.”

“Oh…OH…sex!” He smirks. “You want to have sex again? I mean…we just…uh…”

“Baby, I can tell, if you want to be my boyfriend, you will work overtime. And with you, I mean your perfect dick,” you pucker your lips as you push him toward the kitchen island.

“You’re naughty,” he cups your face to kiss you deeply. “I love it.”

“If you stop overthinking things, Cole,” you cup his crotch, “a relationship can be so much more fun.”

“It can,” he purrs, and easily lifts you to place you on the kitchen island. “Maybe I should always keep you in my bed to make sure you’re satisfied all the time.”

“What if,” you fist his shirt to bring him closer to your body and wrap your legs around his waistline, “you’d have a place for some clothes in my closet. You could bring a toothbrush and stuff too.”

He smiles widely, and his heart beats out of his chest. “I’d love that.”

“Good. It’s settled then.” You mirror his smile. “Now…let’s ruin this kitchen island…”

Puppy gets it all

[freesia-writes]

Ch 16: Foreign Contaminant

~ Master List ~ Previous Chapter ~ WC: 2.8k

Hunter let out a slow exhale, finger steadying on the trigger as the animals milled about near the river below. There were far too many young males in the herd, which had resulted in a great amount of fighting for dominance to determine the social hierarchy. While it was sometimes entertaining to watch, it gave him all the more reason to thin out the kod’yok as the females huddled nearby, ears flickering in mild irritation at the pervasive atmosphere the males had created. Their meat was always in demand at the butcher shop, so Hunter was grateful for the situation he now found himself in. 

One male mounted another, bugling triumphantly before being quickly headbutted by another ambitious adolescent. The ruckus spooked everyone for a moment, scattering them for a few moments before they slowly reconvened. Hunter sighed, finding himself too distracted to just take the shot already. 

“We could have been done an hour ago,” came Crosshair’s slithering words from beside him on the grassy knoll where they’d both posted up. “Do you always make it so miserably drawn-out?” 

“Sorry,” Hunter mumbled. “Stuff on my mind. You didn’t have to come, you know.”

“I told you I wanted to shoot something.”

“Well, when that one singles himself out again,” Hunter replied, nodding toward the largest male, “You can go ahead.”

“I thought you have your process,” Crosshair remarked snidely.

“Yeah, well… Let’s just get it and go.”

They sat in silence for a while, watching the herd mingle and squabble, neither willing to admit how much they truly enjoyed the waiting. It was peaceful and quiet, the breeze bringing a hint of warmth that suggested an upcoming return to the more temperate weather on the island, and the sun had poked out from behind the clouds to provide a toasty blanket of light across the entire scene. 

“How’s the observatory?” Hunter finally asked, voice barely audible in their shared space. 

“The work is fine. The people are loathsome.”

“Naturally.”

“The Xyloan keeps praising me for following the island’s will and has tried to ‘read my face’ about fourteen times now. I’m going to smack her if she tries it again.”

“You are not.”

“Maybe not,” Crosshair said with a small smile, indulging in just the thought. 

“What’s the deal with the Zygerrian?”

A visceral sound of disgust. 

“That bad, huh?” 

“He’s nothing like the rest of his people. Must have been dropped on his head as a baby.”

“I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…” Hunter observed, tilting his head to sneak a glance at the side of Crosshair’s face for a second before returning his focus to the herd. 

“It’s unnecessarily complex,” his brother explained, hissing his words with a particular vitriol. “He somehow broke free from their brainwashed sort of herd mentality and is just full of love and rainbows for all living creatures. He thinks everyone he crosses paths with is just wonderful.”

“Ah, yes. Sounds terrible.” 

“It’s annoying.”

“Mmm.”

Silence fell for a while, Hunter mulling over all that his brother had been through and fighting a smirk at the sniper’s purported repulsion toward any sort of optimism or ebullience. But the Zygerrian’s positivity certainly seemed refreshing in comparison to the bitter, cynical types Crosshair had typically entertained since arriving on the island. Hunter didn’t think he was legitimately attracted to such harshness, but he still seemed to be working through the weight of his past and his own perceptions of his self-worth. Hunter was privately holding out hope for his brother to realize and accept the deep desire to care and be cared for.

“How’s your girlfriend?” Crosshair asked, putting just enough emphasis on the word to make it a verbal jab. 

“Don’t call her that,” Hunter said, pushing aside the immediate questions in his mind. “And… it’s weird.”

The sniper remained silent, eyes lazily flickering from animal to animal as they cavorted about the hills below. Hunter was grateful for his unobtrusiveness that masqueraded as disinterest, giving time to gather his thoughts. 

“I just have this nagging sense that she’s hiding something… Or… I don’t know. It can’t be as simple as it seems.”

“Why not?”

Now it was Hunter’s turn to be silenced, turning it over in his mind for a while before answering, “It just feels like there’s more to it.”

“Hm.”

“Little things,” he continued, “Like… Her past seems so… plain. Or she hints at stuff that happened but doesn’t share all of it…”

“And I’m sure you’ve shared everything with her, right?” 

“No, but I have reasons not to,” Hunter deflected, “Would you go telling everything to your little Zygerrian friend?”

Crosshair sniffed, rolling his toothpick to the other side of his mouth in response.

“She finally invited me to her house,” Hunter started, interrupted by a click of the tongue from his brother.

“Nice.” 

“Not like that,” he said, rolling his eyes. “We just had dinner. But I could swear she had a bunch of stuff hidden… in the walls or another room or something… Metal, electronics, weapons maybe…” He saw Crosshair staring at the side of his head out of the corner of his eye and turned to face the sniper fully. “I know it sounds crazy. But something was there. And I didn’t know how to ask about it, but she said the house was just old… But that wouldn’t explain it at all…”

“No, it sounds completely reasonable,” Crosshair said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Honestly Hunter… It sounds like you’re the one who’s hiding everything. Your own paranoia is tinting the way you see everything.” It was judgmental and dismissive, but it did give Hunter pause. Crosshair was uncannily insightful at times, but he could also be too quick to make up his mind without considering all the possibilities. Still, he’d been having a similarly difficult time when it came to adjusting to civilian life, leading Hunter to wonder if their struggles were not so different at their core. “It’s like you want to find skeletons in every closet because you’re too scared to just let yourself be happy.”

“Kriffing hell, Crosshair. You’re one to talk,” he exhaled, absolutely skewered by his brother’s words. 

“We’re not talking about me, are we?”

“Fair enough.”

Crosshair turned back to the herd of kod’yok, who had stilled enough to provide a clear, clean shot at the big male. “You know what I think?” he asked, flipping a tiny switch on his rifle before lifting it to his eye. The gun shook a little, provoking a frustrated huff from the sniper, who quickly squeezed the trigger with a snarl. The animals sprang into action, scattering in alarm, and the target hobbled a few steps before collapsing beneath the quick follow-up shot from Hunter. An awkward moment passed between the two of them, Crosshair flinging his Firepuncher across his back in irritation before turning to Hunter to finish his thought. 

“I think you two just need to bone.” 

[end of scene, but this is absolutely the same vibe we’re channeling here, LOL]

* * * 

.

Butcher duties wrapped up early, Hunter arrived at the school a little while before Omega’s class let out. He knew she didn’t need escorting to or from the school, but he’d missed her over the last month, and now he chuckled at how things had flipped since the start – sometimes he’d visit Lyra at her work with the excuse of seeing Omega and walking back down the mountain together. Venturing down the quiet hallway outside the administrative wing, he came to the back door of the offices and knocked quietly. 

“Well hellooo,” Lyra said as she answered, inviting him in. Her office was in the back corner, wedged between some closets, conference rooms, and archives, with one small window that barely let enough light in. The office door was dark wood and usually kept mostly closed, and she’d made her inside space cozy enough with a few small lamps and plants that brought some life to the otherwise drab setting. Everything was a rich, deep brown, from her large L-shaped desk to the shelves all around it, and the two small chairs that sat across the open part of her desk were a drastically different color from the monotony of everything else (they were a dark burgundy). 

“Hi,” Hunter said placidly, quickly hiding his surprise as he saw a man sitting in one of the two chairs when Lyra moved aside to return to her desk. Standing up a little straighter, he gave a curt nod to the fellow, who was sprawled out in quite the leisurely recline. His feet were stretched out straight in front of him, up against the front of her desk, and one arm stretched across the back of the other chair beside him while his other hand toyed idly with a small decorative cube that usually sat on one of her shelves. 

“Afternoon,” the man said, barely flickering a glance in Hunter’s direction before returning his eyes to Lyra, who had sat primly in her chair with her shoulders angled away from both of them, toward the wall side of the desk where her folders and screens were. “So anyway, she keeps sending me all these comms, and they keep getting bolder and bolder, and pretty soon she’s totally naked, right? Hah. But then I see her the next day and she’s pissed, and I don’t know why because I was all about her… uh… exhibition. Turns out she’d sent one more, in an even saucier position… to the wrong person!” 

“Oh no,” Lyra said halfheartedly, offering a small smile and empathetic expression while Hunter’s eyebrows crawled downward. This did not seem like normal work chatter, nor did it seem like something Lyra would be particularly inclined to hear. But the man continued, oblivious to the clear disinterest as he straightened his smart suit and ran a hand over his neat, wavy blonde hair. 

“I know, right? Not like that was my fault. Silly little whore…” Hunter’s mouth fell open at that, and the man turned to him, throwing a look of camaraderie that shocked the clone even more. “Ya feel me?” he laughed, rolling his eyes before turning away. Too speechless to respond, Hunter was distracted by a tiny snicker from Lyra, who had snuck a peek at him over her shoulder and was reveling in his reaction. “So what, you got a meeting with this guy or somethin?” the man continued, tossing the wooden cube back onto her desk and shifting his position into a different yet equally man-spread arrangement. 

“Ah… Yes,” Lyra nodded, turning to face the two and rising to her feet as though she’d just realized the solution to her problem. “Yes… This is the parent of one of our students. We need to sort out some details for the remainder of his daughter’s internship year.” 

“And you’re not even gonna introduce me?” the man said, standing up with a grunt and thrusting a hand at Hunter. “Mullet,” he announced, grabbing Hunter’s hand from his side and shaking it obnoxiously. “Mullet Hanker.” The cough that came in response was a quick cover for the laugh that surprised even Hunter – he’d heard plenty of odd names over the years, but for some reason the particular sound of this one, which contrasted starkly with the man’s suave appearance, struck him as odd.

“Hunter,” he answered, stepping back as the man pushed past him to stand beside Lyra, taking her hand just as quickly and holding it for a second, brushing his thumb across her knuckles before giving it a little farewell shake. “Just ‘Hunter’, eh?” said Mullet, giving Lyra a wink before turning back to him, snapping him out of the intense focus he’d suddenly had on their hands. “Mysterioussss.” He winked and bumped Hunter’s shoulder jovially before heading for the door, giving Lyra a quick second to shoot an apologetic glance before turning back to Mullet. “Catch you later, Vetty.”

“See you,” she said, waving as he disappeared around the corner after pointing at her for a long moment with a waggle of his eyebrows. Hunter and Lyra stared at each other for a moment, speechless in the cavernous silence that remained after Mullet’s departure. With a quiet sigh, Lyra returned to her seat, leaning her forehead into a hand while her elbow rested on her desk. Hunter remained standing, alternating between cautious glances down the hall where the man had headed and curious looks at her. 

“Uhh,” he began, realizing he had no idea where to go from there. 

“I know,” was all she could say. 

“What… What was that?”

“He oversees the administrative wing. So he pops in from time to time.”

“For… those kinds of updates?”

“Yep,” she rolled her eyes, shaking her head at Hunter with a softened look. “I think I’m one of the few staff members that he hasn’t slept with yet. Probably has some kind of personal conquest or somethin.” Hunter’s eyes narrowed, turning to peer back down the hall before moving a little further into Lyra’s office. 

“Does he bother you?”

“I mean… whose boss doesn’t?”

“Yeah, but… You shouldn’t have to listen to that kind of stuff if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not worth the conflict,” Lyra shrugged, the corners of her mouth turning down a little. “Want to sit?” 

Hunter looked at the chairs, close together in the space that Mullet had just occupied, and shook his head, inexplicably dissuaded. There was a sharpness to his voice that he didn’t intend as he replied. “I’m good… Omega will be out soon anyway.”

“Hey,” she said softly, getting back up to stand before him, wrapping her arms around herself a little self-consciously and resting her weight to one side. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck before mimicking her crossed arms. “Why?” he asked, lifting his chin to regard her impassively. 

“Just seem a little agitated.” It wasn’t an accusation, but an observation with a bit of yearning behind it, as though she wished she could free him from any burdens that may plague him. Her gentle honesty lowered his walls a little, and he looked at the floor again, clearing his throat quietly. 

“Weird feeling from that one, is all.”

“You’re not wrong there,” she agreed with a light sigh. “Oh, hey!” she said suddenly, turning back to her desk and pulling something from a readily-available space on a top shelf. Coming back into Hunter’s space, she opened her hand, revealing the small emergency beacon he’d given her a couple months into the school year. “Since Omega is going to be primarily away on internships for the rest of the term, did you want this back? She might want to keep it herself when she travels.”

“She was a little weird about it when I tried to give it to her,” Hunter admitted, glancing down at her hand but not moving to take it. “She’s on a bit of an ‘independence’ kick or something…” 

Lyra guffawed loudly, clapping a hand over her mouth at his initial look of affront. “No, I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you. I just…” she shook her head, a bit flustered and embarrassed now. “I’ve seen it a lot with kids this age. Well, they’re not even really kids anymore. They’re stretching their wings and finding their place in the world. And nothing is more offensive to that endeavor than someone trying to parent them, no matter how reasonable or well-meaning it may be.”

“Heh. That sounds about right,” he said slowly, a sense of validation momentary soothing his tumultuous concerns. His silence lasted a few extra seconds, his expression growing contemplative, and she tipped her head slightly, taking one tiny step closer and reaching out her free hand to place it on his forearm with feather-light apprehension. The warmth from her touch radiated up his arm and into his chest, and he slowly moved his eyes up to hers. 

“If it makes you feel any better,” she said haltingly, a slight sparkle in her low voice, “No one knows what they’re doing. Kids don’t, parents don’t, even the ‘experts’ don’t. We’re all just doing the best we can with what we have… And just the way you are always there for her is the most important thing. In my idiot opinion, anyway.” Her dismissive finish was followed by a chuckle, but she nodded at him confidently, sealing her words with clear admiration. 

“Well thanks,” he conceded, looking back down to her hands. “And uh… Why don’t you keep the beacon. For yourself…”

She followed his stare, bringing the little silver cylinder back up between them with an open palm again and considering it, as well as all that his words implied, then calmly closed her fingers around it, a small smile touching the corner of her mouth as she looked back up in time to see him gazing at her intently as he finished speaking. 

“Just in case you ever need it.”

.

Previous Chapter ~ Master List ~ Next Chapter

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[sequs-art-box]

give me ALL your Anger headcanons,,

You sure you want that? Okay.....

• Has a high pain tolerance. The most you'd get with a punch to his stomach is a small grunt. Nothing more.

• Continuing the tolerance thing, he has extremely high spice tolerance as well. Maybe to the point of not having capsaicin sensors at all. That'd be so funny honestly..

• Cold Take: Anger is Gay and Ace.

• SLIGHTLY WARM Take: He's Biromantic and Ace.

• Physically strong. Even more than Embarrassment. He could have broken through his grip no problem. Do you SEE my vision.

• Completely immune to lava (this is kinda canon already but I don't care >:>)

• Emits heat, even when he's not super angry. The other emotions use him as their personal heater- similar to Baymax in that one scene- during the winter.

• Has woken up the other emotions due to a bad dream many times. Surprisingly enough, his fire extinguisher hasn't been used yet.

• Anger is Joy's second in command.

• One kind of pain he can't tolerate are migraines (totally not projecting)

• I've mentioned this before but I like to think Anger is really good at making the others feel better, whether if it's about themselves or about how they work (gestures to the scene where he comforts Joy)

• Used to sleep with a tank top on but took it off after finding out going shirtless was way more comfortable

• Likes generally hardcore sounding music, but he doesn't mind some relaxing genres too. He ain't afraid to admit that either. He can listen to whatever the fuck he wants.

• Didn't like tea until Fear made him try it (Fear didn't like coffee until Anger made him try it)

• Doesn't have good handwriting. It's not too bad but Joy, Fear, and Anxiety wished he slowed down and wrote a little better.

• Anger is actually a very organized emotion, at least with the stuff he cares about.

• Cheeks turn cherry red when he's flustered (think of it like an opposite reaction to his orange cheeks when he's angry)

• After the events of the first movie, Anger had to *really* learn to control himself. That work definitely paid off by the second movie.

• He's actually not that bad of a dancer, yall just don't give him enough time to practice.

• Tends to babysit Envy a LOT. Says he doesn't like it but he's 100% a father figure to her now. Sorry, no takebacksies.

• PEOPLE THINK THIS MF CANT RUN OR SOME SHIT but he keeps up with the others just fine in the second movie. Dude literally works out every day how can he NOT.

• MY Anger is a good singer, but OG Anger isn't. Sorry bud. I can't see (hear) it.

• He is textbook "act now think later"

• Unintentionally an early bird. Often the first to wake up cause he needs to get shit done.

• The console was made with very durable material, specifically to withstand Ange's outbursts.

• He may be the "youngest" of the original five, but he acts like the oldest.

• Anger's love languages are quality time and acts of service.

��� He was the first one to be brought down to the Belief System.

• Despite having a high spice tolerance, he's more of a savory/sweet guy.

• I love to think that Anger is unintentionally charming.... Giving him a high rizz score here. Sorry not sorry.

• Extremely protective of the other emotions. Doesn't show this side often, but when it matters, he'd fight till he fades from existence for them.

• Tried to learn origami with Joy but he kept burning the paper.

• Likes Western dragons more than Eastern dragons, he finds all kinda super interesting though.

• Owns multiple ties with the same design (this can be said about the other emotions too)

• If I were to give him an instrument, he's totally rock an electric bass, or any low sounding instrument.

• Anger is a dog person.

• Looks SUPER good with blue and black clothing. He should wear it more often.

• When he can't show affection to someone, he just punches them (toph from atla core LOL)

• Some positive aspects of his character: Loyal, compassionate, ambitious, and confident.

● Stopped reading the Mind Reader newspapers because they lost their journalistic integrity.

• I will edit this with more headcanons in the future. Enjoy this for now :))

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

What is your view of Aemond and Daemon?

Aemond is really fun. I love that he’s like such an over-the-top kind of anime character aesthetically but also all of the overlooked second son tropes.

It’s fun how strongly him having been picked on and ignored in childhood informs the false glass jaw ego he’s developed for himself in adulthood. And how he’s become overly cruel as a result. He always wants to get his own, he wants to prove himself. He’s so quick to try to crush anyone else underfoot if given any sort of advantage because he has such a tremendous chip on his shoulder and he needs to feel powerful to make up for his youth/how much no one cares for him now because he’s so annoying lol.

The entire scene where he stole a dragon— because he kept being picked on for not having one– and then immediately attacked the other kids because he finally had the upper hand and then lost an eye and went crying to his mom really exemplifies all of this! He really doesn’t know how to be normal. And in the present he’s still trying to constantly prove himself and to command respect while just being… kind of a fuck up.

I’ve said this before, but I did love him trying to just be kind of an asshole and scare Luke in the season one finale, talking up such a big game and demanding that Luke cut out his own eye. Then Luke leaves (normal reaction!) and then Aemond tries to scare him… upon dragon back and then shdhfhfd accidentally kills him and is like “oh fuck I accidentally started a war fuck fuck fuck.” Like that is such good character writing!

I was worried that season two was going to squander it tbh with the pilot just not doing anything with his feelings about that. But now that we have episode two, I nominally enjoy him pretending that he totes did it on purpose and was just out for blood. And then in episode two he’s crying in the lap of a prostitute in a brothel, while drinking milk, and telling her that he didn’t actually mean to do it 🥺🥺 but at least B&C means that Daemon considers him a threat and wants him dead. Like yayyy he was noticed 🥺🥺

Idk he’s just so embarrassing! It’s great!

As for Daemon, I started re-watching season one recently and it’s really interesting how little anyone respects him! He and Aemond are def similar while being kind of the inverse of each other in terms of what makes them tick. Daemon is similarly a volatile fuck up, but he seems to be more genuine of a wildcard whereas Aemond is consciously trying to look cool all the time. Daemon just kind of… does stuff, hoping to get some attention from his loved ones, and is bewildered when it’s perceived as some sort of big political move. He also just seems more genuinely loyal while always being perceived as a serpent. Like imo Aemond just is happy to overtly betray people. But Daemon is more untrustworthy because he’s fucking insane, rather than deliberate malice.

There is a consistent line in the show of people just fucking up or allowing things to happen and then that being perceived in a more dramatic way they never anticipated. A lot of people have complained about how a lot of the choices in the show are accidental, and I can agree that sometimes it does go a touch too far, but with a lot of these characters I think that’s a compelling choice— like Aemond! I think it works particularly well for Daemon too. On rewatch, it really stood out to me that after Aemma and her newborn die, there’s that point where Daemon’s out drinking and the crowd, somewhat pushed by Mysaria, start cheering that Daemon’s going to be the heir now that the kid’s dead, and he’s going to be the future king etc. Essentially celebrating the deaths.

And Daemon’s just drinking, barely listening and is half heartedly like “yeah, sure. fuck it” because the crowd is cheering. He doesn’t even seem particularly ambitious in that moment. So when Viserys is completely outraged and confronts him he seems kind of surprised that it’s something that comes up at all. I get the sense that he really wasn’t thinking about it!

Frankly, I think the late season one writing, in general, flags a little bit. Once we start getting time skips, there’s a little less continuity in terms of what these characters are doing and where they’re coming from. It’s just harder to follow their day to day priorities. I find Daemon particularly the most interesting early on, because he especially just drops off the map for a bit.

But in general, I think it’s really interesting how Daemon seems mostly motivated by just wanting attention and recognition. He wants the crown as a status symbol, but he doesn’t want to rule necessarily, like I doubt he has any strong policy opinions or any desire for administrative duties lol. But he wants to be treated like he’s someone of consequence, like it wouldn’t be a joke for him to rule.

I’m not really a Daemyra shipper. Shockingly, I guess, they’re just a bit too creepy for me. But the early Daemyra dynamic was the most interesting imo. I see people frequently say that he’s only ever been interested in her for the throne and I think that’s distinctly untrue!

Before they get married, his desire for her is framed as directly at odds with him wanting the crown actually. This is encapsulated by that moment where she shows up at Dragonstone and she’s literally like “I’m the thing that standing between you and the throne” and she’s right! He could literally just punt her off the bridge where they’re having that standoff, and Viserys would no longer have an heir. Would it be smart? No, it would be catastrophic! But he was obviously ready to throw down with Otto, who is literally there representing Viserys. It clearly wasn’t good sense holding him back.

He’s a character without much strategy, he’s just ready to do what the fuck ever, at any given moment, just to get people mad at him. He wants attention. I think it says something about Daemon, that he is so emotionally unregulated, and so immature, that he does have this continued bond with his 15-year-old niece. He’s grooming her for sure, but there’s this element of like shdgd that’s his buddy, you know? He emotionally relates to a 15-year-old, and then suddenly Rhaenyra’s grown up, but he’s the same. I think the last episode highlighted that very well when Rhaenyra says that she used to view him as a challenge as a child, but now she has too many challenges of her own. (If they lean more into their relationship fracturing and her disillusionment with him I might actually give a damn about them lol)

In season two, it’s so shocking he’s somewhat briefly the voice of reason. Frankly, he’s correct to point out that Rhaenyra should not be just randomly looking for her dead son alone and in enemy territory. And, sorry, he’s right, but she is shirking her duties while they’re in a civil war. I’m not really arguing about whether or not he’s like correct about everything now (Blood and Cheese was… a terrible fucking choice) but like it’s interesting that in his old fucking age he’s trying to rise to the occasion and strategize where he can. I honestly think that suggests that, while he has his own entitled feelings about power, and what he views more as his brother’s crown etc, he does love Rhaenyra and is trying to do right by her. But he’s just… such a perverse mess.

I also remember it was extremely controversial that he choked her at the end of season one, but I mean it’s in keeping with him as a person. He’s volatile, he’s awful. He killed his first wife with a rock, he barely mourned his second wife at all, like he was fucking Rhaenyra at the funeral. He’s just a terrible, terrible mess but that’s what makes him compelling.

[nishloves]

✧→haikyuu!! captains as college boys!

→warnings : mentions of sex and parties // masterlist

daichi (karasuno) : he ain't joining any frat lmao, and isn't that well-known, it's not like he doesn't have any friends, he's just a normal college boy who studies and roams around here and there when he's free (or plays volleyball), he knows what he wants from his life but can be a bit unsure about it. sweet and kind, but utterly normal. you won't notice him until you sit right next to him or you have a project together. would get a girlfriend and probably end up marrying her. regular to his classes.

oikawa (aoba josai) : you'd think he joined frat, lol. that's a possibility but as far as I think, he doesn't see the need to join a frat, people are swooning over him for no particular reason, he studies to get decent enough grades and all of his remaining time goes into volleyball, he's too ambitious to actually waste his time into parties and such (not saying he won't go to them, but he ain't a party rat). people might think of him as a fboy/player but he really isn't, yeah he might've dated 2-3 girls in the same year but never together. he never dated anyone for more than a month either, like I said, he's too ambitious and too thirsty for volleyball to actually have time to look at other things, not saying he won't enjoy college but yeah, he's gonna spend his time wisely. semi-regular to his classes.

kita (inarizaki) : the most diligent out of all; studies well (always gets the highest grade), very rare parties, helps out professors and goes to extra lectures, does play a little volleyball but only when he's not doing anything else. his room is so tidy omg— doesn't socialise much but people know him because he has top grades lol and is kinda handsome. he ain't missing a class for shit.

kuroo (nekoma) : he's too nerdy to join a frat but won't reject the invitation if he gets it lol, similar to daichi he's on the normal side of college boys, but he's so clever that people just know him as the scheming boy who can get you a full in your project. does parties but is too embarrassed and shy to actually go and talk to his crush(es). yeah no, he doesn't have that rizz and I'm not gonna sugarcoat him. he's an alright guy, a guy whom you will start liking after few initial months of knowing him. would prolly date a friend entering second year of college and won't break up until the situation calls for it. (also talks to professors, lol) very regular with his classes too.

bokuto (fukurodani) : accidentally joined a frat and is proud about it, lol. tries his best to study but barely gets a passing grade. doesn't matter to him, he knows what he wants to do with his life and as long as volleyball is going well, he ain't gonna care about other things. is a party animal but would never do a one night stand, dating isn't even on his agenda lol. he's someone who looks at college as a way to grow into a better person, as a way to give himself another chance to finally have a better personality. he's fixated on his self growth and no one can stop him. would date if someone asked him out, but he's like oikawa in this case, he's too ambitious to actually care about love. his s/o's are the ones breaking up with him and he will be fine after a few days, because even though it does sound bad, his dates aren't gonna be his priority at all (though he might get very attached to someone who actually understands his passion, he ain't gonna let them go, you're stuck with him). tries to be regular but is somehow always late? got lost or something. as long as he's aware about his schedule he tries to stay diligent.

ushijima (shiratorizawa) : joined a frat because someone tricked him into thinking that everyone there played volleyball, doesn't associate himself with the parties and stuff. studies very diligently and practices even more diligently. no, he's not gonna date anyone here either. he will very coldly reject anyone. professors know him because he has good grades but he doesn't go out of the way to actually interact with them. someone please adopt him because else he won't make any friends. very regular with his classes too.

terushima (johzenji) : certified frat and fuck boy, the splitting image of what a frat boy is, but he's just more genuine. parties hard, gets passing grades, is a social butterfly, girls wanna be with him because of sex and is one of the most loyal effing friend ever. does try to help during group projects but... really... his help isn't all that needed. people know him because he's too wild. has many one night stands. but is a sweetheart to everyone who is nice to him. he ain't regular to his classes lol, his professors barely even see him.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Can you find/re share your thoughts about Taylor’s confidence currently that your anon was talking about earlier? I’ve been thinking about it but never expressed them in any online space cause people take things the wrong way sometimes. And I’d never attribute it all to a man… given her stuff I think she’s done a lot of work there to be healthy and I’m happy for her. But I also can’t be convinced whatever she and Mr Kelce get up to isn’t making her feel like the hottest person alive 😭

I cannot share because unfortunately I half-ass tagging my shit and tumblr’s search function is nonexistent and also I don’t even remember writing that 😂 the closest thing in recent memory that I can find is here.

I think what it comes down to is that being loved completely for who she is by a partner for the first time in her adult life kind of blew her mind and opened doors she didn’t even know were there. And it’s not to say that it’s all because of a man, but… it is in the sense that she’s found a genuine partner with whom she feels supported, and I think a lot of other things fell into place as a result.

Let me make it clear that Taylor has always been wildly successful and independent and ambitious, and no man is ever going to change that. And I think Taylor did a lot of work on herself after the events of last year in terms of stopping cycles that were harming her.

But I also think being accepted no holds-barred by Travis has been eye-opening to her, because having that support and safety net has not only obviously helped her romantically, but I think has also given her the confidence to try all kinds of experiences outside of the romantic relationship that she maybe felt were off-limits due to her status, e.g. Coachella, the football games, whatever excursions she goes on on tour stops. It’s not that it’s all because of a man, but because she’s tried things and the rug didn’t get pulled out from under her like she may have believed at one point in her life, she’s dipped her toes into trying other things. (I know she had already last summer, e.g. going out with friends, and I think it’s all part of the same healing process.) Like, yes it’s a romantic relationship, but ultimately I think having people in her corner (friends, family, etc.) who loudly supported her at her roughest moment and when she started emerging from her cocoon really helped her feel safe enough to try other things, which has led to her doing even more personally and professionally.

But getting back to the romance thing though for a second… I do think the fact that Travis very obviously thinks she’s the hottest person on the planet and um, not to get too invasive, but I think probably, er, expresses that fact to her regularly, has also made her confidence in… other areas skyrocket. Again not to get too speculative but I think it had been a very long time since she felt desirable, judging by her music and just… vibes… And I think someone not only finding her desirable but like, very obviously so, has helped her find confidence in… other stuff. (Hence more boobs and ass in Eras 2.0 costumes lmao.)

[chipped-chimera]

WIP WEDNESDAY - 21/06/23

(I mean it’s technically Friday now between timezones and spoons but have this otherwise I’ll keep forgetting) My first WIP Wednesday! Thanks @theviridianbunny​ for the tag! I’ve been really getting stuck into modding - as well as falling into my usual mod habit of ‘start like six project at once and end up with a million WIP files' but I guess I’ll talk about the major ones.

Graphic design is my passion ...

(Long) rambling about mods I'm making + things I've learned below the cut~

My V’s tatt project is still ongoing, and I’ve (somewhat begrudgingly) been trying out Substance Painter to work on bits of it, mainly polishing seams between UV maps. It’s definitely got a lot of benefits, especially for graphic placement in really tricky areas (like anywhere in the entire head mesh region for example) but I still think a lot of the heavy work will still be done in Photoshop so I’ll probably be writing up both experiences with them when I do that tutorial I keep hinting at for complex tatt work. I’ve started drafting a tumblr tutorial but I wonder if that’s the best format, maybe a PDF? Google doc? Github wikis look cool? (tho I think I need to pay for that) - if y’all got suggestions for tutorial formats pls let me know!

As for the other arguably overly-ambitious-project-where-I-bit-off-more-than-I-could-chew ...

H A I R.

Hair has been the bane of my existence for about the past week( ... weeks? Maybe two?), most of it involving cursing, a lot of reverse-engineering game meshes and smashing my head against blender. But if not already evident from my monowire post - I am a stubborn bitch with too much time on my hands so even though there were at least two moments where I wanted to curl up on the floor under my desk and just stay there - we got there.

This all started because my favourite hair mod which I cannot split from my V’s identity was acting funky and the shape of it had been altered since a physics update. It wasn’t her anymore. So I needed new hair. I tried editing the existing hair. I tried importing the old hair mesh. I tried so many things and they didn’t work out one way or they threw a million errors or there were an obnoxious amount of verts.

I even tried looking for replacement mod hair. None of them fit, all of them felt too ‘clean’ for my V. So I just concluded: FINE. I’ll make my own damn hair. From scratch. At least then I’ll actually KNOW what’s going on with the mesh, right?

Problem with hair is tutorials are very limited in respect to Cyberpunk, so I had to learn a lot of this by myself and looking at other processes used for building game hair. I’ve had a previous stint in game design at uni but it was very introductory and more broad-strokes concepts not specific stuff like what ‘real time hair’ is and how you actually go about placing hair-cards (there’s a million different ways btw) but after another 3 days smashing my head against blender I finally got shit to work to a satisfactory level using hair tools for blender and the particle hair grooming system (not the 3.5 blender system, maybe more on that at some point).

Putting together the hair cards I was 120% convinced this was going to blow up in my face, primarily through vert count. But this hair tool plugin? Alarmingly efficient. I was frequently checking my work against Alt's hair mesh (one I was planning on rigging to) and here's the final-ish stats -

This is with only Alt's hair mesh selected (no cap) and then only my mesh(s - lots of layering to build it up), and by comparison I felt I'd built up the density of a chinchilla. This is not a brag, this is mostly genuine confusion over how efficient this plugin is, all I did was smack around hair curves. It did all the UV mapping junk on the fly.

Although structurally complete, I still consider this a WIP (yes I know there's a reeeeal fun vert funkiness in that second render, it's been fixed) since I'm having to go back and fine-tune some of the UV's the plugins mapped that I'm not happy with and generally figuring out my density problem because if anything, after putting it in-game it felt too dense.

Because yes, somehow I got it in game.

WITH. PHYSICS.

This may have driven me absolutely up the wall between having to learn blender from scratch then what the heck real time hair is and how that works etc. etc. but ... god, seeing her move back from the mirror and just feeling that instant catharsis of 'IT'S HER!' made it so. Damn. Worth it.

It looks too thick - this might be because I chucked in the 'doubled' feature Wolvenkit comes with because I hadn't spent any time doing backfaces. But it also might be because it's black? That's going to need investigating.

The physics need a lot of work too, I did a pretty rushed weight painting job last night on a merged version of the mesh because I was worried whether it was even viable and I'd already dumped an insane amount of hours into this between trying to salvage the old hair and building a new one (with some more bells and whistles. Mainly - curly). That wasn't without it's issues -

This almost fucking cracked me, given this was one of the issues I was experiencing before trying to fix an existing mesh mod. Turns out I was just being dumb and forgetting to export the armature, which I'd thought I wasn't supposed to do after having blender throw a bunch of errors on other hair attempts. I gave it a try after one last shot and boom. Worked. (I dunno what those errors were about man but now I know armature? very important).

Will I release this hair? no damn clue, depends on if I can get it to a level I feel is 'releasable'. I already know what I'm calling it though - Venatrix her side-handle I've decided on.

I look forward to adapting it into maybe a comb-back version, as well as a tied up version, so I can show off both her undercut + have the option of NOT hiding every damn tatt I've obsessed over placing on her neck haha.

In other news -

My much-needed wacom tablet replacement arrived (as well as other things I was looking forward to 👀) meaning my Wacom Cintiq, workhorse of ten years can finally enjoy her retirement. Her controls were getting funky, she had a few dead pixels but man. I'm convinced they won't make them like her ever again. Either way she's done unfortunately - upgrading my monitor to 2k made this painfully obvious. I don't think it's even running in full HD, it's that old. And with Phantom Liberty coming out this year? I'm probably going to need a new videocard and DVI compatibility isn't really a thing anymore.

So for future I think I'll just stick to the basic tablet set up, invest in screens. Also now I FINALLY know what her hair is gonna look like and with the tablet here, I can get back to work on the tattoo bodysuit.

Anyways, that's it for now! (Jesus Christ did you really read all of this? If you did you're a fucking trooper). Sorry for the extended ramble but MAN I did a lot, I needed to yell.

Till next time Chooms! Thanks again @theviridianbunny for the tag~ <3

Oh shit wait, have the blender renders before I forget because hahah I figured out how to do that too lol -

[angelasscribbles]

Savage Love Chapter 31: Bombshells

Series: Savage Love

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Riley x Liam, Riley x Drake, Riley x Nick (past)

Rating: R         

Warnings: Mature themes

Word Count: 3,797

My other stuff: Master List.

Everyone settled in around the conference table and the meeting officially started.

“So, what can you tell us about this Saguaro character that we don’t already know?” Leo asked.

“I can tell you that he was second in command in the Condottiere for over a decade,” Nick answered, “I can tell you that he’s ruthless and I can tell you that he was close to Rico. We suspect that he had an inside source that gave him a heads-up about the raid that took the organization down and imprisoned most of its members. Only Saguaro and his most trusted Lieutenants escaped.”

“Why didn’t he tip off his boss about the raid?” Drake inquired.

“He either didn’t have enough time, or he let everyone above him go down on purpose so he could take control of whatever resources and power was left after the takedown.”

“Ruthless and ambitious,” Jared nodded.

“You said he was close to Rico,” I interjected, “how close? Because I don’t remember him at all from time undercover with the Mendez organization.”

“Because by the time you went undercover with them, we had already taken down the Condottiere, as you well know.”

He was right. I remembered. We had been together when he had worked that case.

“If they’d kept in touch, would Rico have mentioned it to you?” Drake asked.

“Not necessarily,” I drummed my fingers on the tabletop as I thought, “especially if he didn’t need anything from him at the time.”

Rico was all about using people. You only mattered if he could get something out of you.

“I’m surprised you’re still on this case, to be honest,” Nick directed his comment to me.

“Why’s that?”                 

“Uh, because you being a target endangers the operation, does it not?”

“He doesn’t know why I’m here!”

 “But he knows that you are here,” Nick said in a tone that indicated I was missing something.

“Obviously,” I returned drily.”

“What are you getting at?” Leo asked.

“What I’m getting at,” Nick looked from me to Leo then back again, “Is that you’re working on the assumption that Rico thinks this is just another undercover assignment, like any other.”

“Yes…” I turned my head to look at him, “What else would he think?”

“He did find you here, what if he knows this is your real identity?”

The bottom fell out of my stomach, “No!”

Liam already had his phone in his hand dialing, “I’m calling your father right now, don’t worry!”

Drake’s hands on me were the only thing holding me in my chair as I tried to leap out of it in panic. I looked at him wild-eyed, “Shit! I should have thought of that! My brothers! My sister! My-“

“Hey, hey, hey,” he soothed, “Don’t jump to conclusions! We don’t know if any of that is true! There’s no need to panic.”

“But-“

“No, she’s right,” Nick interjected, “the agency should have checked on her family.”

Drake shot Nick a murderous glare, “We are following up on that now, there’s no need to assume the worst!”

Nick shook his head, “There’s no need to coddle her, this is part of the job. The career she wanted over everything else.”

“You sound a little bitter there, bud,” Drake’s jaw clenched as he returned Nick’s steely glare.

“Yes, sir, Duke Brooks, I have you on speaker phone, go!” Liam placed his phone on the conference table and pushed it toward me.

“Riley? Are you okay, kitten?”

“I’m fine, Dad! Are you okay? And mom and Ryder and everyone else?”

“We’re fine,” he replied, “I’m looking right at them. What’s this about?”

“My job,” I hated the fact that my voice faltered a little, right in front of everyone. “My identity may have been compromised and-“

“We have the best security money can buy, Riley, but what about you? This is exactly why we didn’t want you doing that job!” His voice was rising in panic, “It’s far too dangerous!”

My head snapped up, taking in the faces around me. Everyone looked sympathetic but not overly so, which was good. The last thing I needed or wanted was anyone’s pity. “I can take of myself, I promise. I’m trained for this. Just double everyone’s details until further notice. And no trips! Please?”

A long-suffering sigh issued from Liam’s phone, and I swear I could see my father rubbing his temples as he answered, “Fine! But this discussion isn’t over! When this case wraps up, we really need to-“

“Okay, love you, tell everyone I love and miss them too! Bye!” I hit end call and slid the phone back to Liam. “Sorry,” I said meekly.

His mouth fell open, “Don’t be sorry, Riley! Your father obviously loves you and is worried about you, that’s all.”

“Thanks,” was all I said, suddenly aware that I had a death grip on Drake’s hand. I let go and tried to steer the conversation back to business. Turning to Jason and Max, I asked, “Do we have any leads on Lena yet?”

“We got the file two minutes ago!” Jason protested.

We spent the next hour going over information and making a plan. Nick wanted to question Lorenzo himself. I saw no issue with that, and Leo gave permission. Jason was assigned operation find Lena and Max was put on locating Rico duty.  

Nick had a mole inside the Liberation Core. It was Drake’s idea to have Nick exploit that connection to leverage a meeting with a member of the Gladius Company.

“The only problem with that,” Nick told him, “Is that Saguaro knows me. If he or any of the guys he brought with him that were in the Condottieri see me, I’m dead.”

“Okay, send me,” Drake returned evenly.

“Drake, no!” I protested, “You’re not trained for-“

“The hell I’m not!” He shot me a withering look, “I’ve done special ops in the military, and I’ve run covert security before being promoted to my current position. I’m more than capable.”

“Let him do it, Brooks,” Jared told me, “We have to find and neutralize Rico before he exposes you and endangers this whole operation.”

I sighed as I ground my teeth together. Fucking Jared was right. If my cover was blown, months of hard work went right out the window.

“Okay,” Leo decided, “We’ll temporarily divert all resources to taking this Rico guy down. That seems like the most logical course of action.”

“What can I do?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Nick answered, “You’re going to have to sit this one out. You’re here for the Via Imperii, stick to that. Leave the Gladius Company to me.”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” I protested, jumping to my feet.

“That’s exactly what you’re going to do!” Leo told me, “You’re here at the request of and under the authority of, the Cordonian government and I’m telling you to stand down!”

I looked from Leo to Drake to Liam to Jared. No one was on my side. “Fine!” I huffed as I flopped back into my chair. “I’ll continue to work on getting Madeleine to open up.”

No one argued with me. Probably because they had no idea how dangerous she was.

Leo’s phone dinged. He glanced down at it and swiped something. His eyes widened and he sat bolt upright, face paling, “This meeting is over!”

“What’s wrong?” Liam, Olivia, Drake, and I all asked at the same time.

Leo looked at us, face ashen, “Everyone but the four of them needs to get out, right now,” he said weakly pointing at us.

The room quickly cleared.

“Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Drake demanded.

“I just received an email from the Via Imperii demanding I chose Riley or Madeleine for my queen.”

“Okay,” I said carefully, “We already know that’s what they want, but why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“They said if I don’t choose one of you, they will make public certain information about Olivia’s parents.”

Oh, no.

“What information?” Olivia looked around the room in bewilderment.

“Can we have a moment alone?” Leo asked the rest of us, “I want to do this privately.”

I knew that he had never wanted to do it at all. He would have spared the woman he loved this knowledge if he could have.

Drake, Liam, and I exited the room but stayed just out in the hallway until Leo opened the door and ushered us back in.

Olivia sat at the conference room table reading classified documents as tears streamed down her face.

We hadn’t even taken our seats when Leo blurted out, “I’m going to abdicate.”

“What?” Olivia turned toward him, still numb, tears in her eyes, clutching the papers to her chest. The reason why Constantine and the Royal Council would never approve her as queen was there in black and white. Operation Snow Spear. Her mother and father hadn’t died in a car accident like she’d been told, they had been killed in a failed coup against the crown. Her parents had been traitors, her aunt probably still was. It explained why she never came to visit.

“I said….” He sat down next to her and took her hands in his, “I’m going to abdicate.”

She blinked away her tears as she tried to make sense of what he was saying, “Why would you do that?”

“Why would I-“ He stared at her in bemusement, “Liv, don’t you know how I feel about you?”

“Leo, you can’t-“

“Oh, I can, and I will!” He exploded, “I’m through being told what to do, where to go, who to love!”

“Leo, are you sure-“ Drake was looking back and forth between the Rys brothers, he had obviously already processed what Liam hadn’t yet.

“Yes, I’m sure!” Turning to his brother he simply said, “I’m so sorry, Li.”

“Why are you-“ Liam stopped midsentence. His eyes grew larger as the enormity of the situation settled over him, “That’s why you’ve been having me take on so much responsibility lately, isn’t it? Were you…were you already planning this?”

“Yes,” Leo admitted, “Father was never going to allow me to marry her. The Via Imperii just pushed my timeline up, that’s all.”

“When?” Liam asked.

“Right now! I was on my way to a council meeting next anyway,” Leo grabbed his attaché case and pointed at Olivia as he made his way toward the door, “Stay here! Or, better yet, go back to my rooms and wait for me there!”

“Wait! I’m coming with you! This affects me too!” Liam hurried after Leo without a backward glance.

Drake and I looked at each other and without verbal communication, nodded to each other and then followed behind them.

We had to practically run to keep them in our sights. We finally caught up to them just outside the door of the Council Chambers.

Leo barged into the room, “I need everyone’s attention! I have an announcement to make!”

Constantine’s head turned to track each one of us as he processed the intrusion. Two of us had no business in the council chambers. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

Leo took to the center of the floor to address the entire council, “First of all, you should know that I have appraised Lady Olivia of her parent’s role in Operation Snow Spear-“

“You told her?” Constantine thundered.

“Of course, I told her!” Leo thundered back, “She had a right to know, and Olivia’s parents’ sins are not hers!”

“Son, we’ve been over this! Her knowing changes nothing! She cannot be queen! I will not allow it!”

“Yes, Father, I know, you’re insistent on punishing her parents by excluding her from eligibility to be my wife, even though they’ve already paid with their lives, and she is not them!”

Constantine rose unsteadily to his feet, face red as he huffed, “It doesn’t matter! She’s lucky I didn’t strip her lands and titles for her parent’s transgressions!”

“She was five!” Leo shook his head in incredulity before drawing in a breath to calm himself. “It doesn’t matter anyway; she won’t be queen.”

“Finally! I was beginning to wonder if you had any sense at all!”

“She won’t be queen,” Leo continued as if his father hadn’t spoken, “Because I will not be king.”

“What are you blathering about? Of course, you’ll be-“

“I’ve taken the liberty of having my articles of abdication drawn up.” He stated calmly as he pulled a sheaf of papers from his attaché case and deposited them on the table in front of the king.

The council exploded.

“This is outrageous!”

“Most improper!”

“Can’t be serious!”

“He can’t do that, can he?”

“But we need a king!”

“Excuse me,” I pushed my way past Drake, his arm shooting out to try and stop me, but he was too late. I stepped up next to Leo and the room quieted as all heads turned toward me.

“Who are you?” one of the centenarian council members asked.

“That’s the princess from Monterisso,” another one answered him.

“Why is she here?”

“This is a private meeting!”

“Who let her in?”

Finally, one of them address me, “Why are you here?”

“I would just like to point out that the king has another son, right here.” I motioned for Liam to step up next to me so that I now stood in the center of the room, a Rys brother on either side of me.

Once again, the council broke out in surprised exclamations.

“Called a spare for a reason!”

“The reliable one anyway.”

“Might be a better ruler.”

“The well-behaved one.”

“But the social season-“

“Yes, the season! You can’t just change the prince all these women came here to compete for!”

“Suitors might desert the season-“

I lifted my chin and told them clearly, “I won’t.”

“What?”

“But I thought-“

“Aren’t you involved with-“

“We were told you had a relationship with Prince Leo!”

“You were misinformed,” I replied, “That was Maxwell Beaumont’s mistake, he thought he saw something that just wasn’t there. I was never interested in Leo, that’s not where my heart lies. Even if he had proposed, I would have turned him down.”

Outraged murmurs ripped through the council.

“The audacity!”

“Any woman would be lucky to marry a prince!”

“Then why are you here?”

I waited for them to quiet down before answering, “Once I had been invited by the Beaumonts, my parents insisted I come. So, I came out of family obligation, political expediency, and diplomatic necessity, but that’s not why I’ll stay.”

“Why would you stay after this scandal?”

“What’s your game?”

“What are you playing at?”

I turned and directed my remarks to Constantine, “My interests and my affections lie firmly with your other son, Your Majesty.” I looped my arm through Liam’s. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Drake stiffen. I didn’t have time to deal with his fragile male ego right now. Either he would catch on to what I was doing, or I would explain it later, but I couldn’t worry about his hurt feelings at the moment. I had shit to do. People to convince. Traitors to catch.

I knew exactly what needed to be done, I could fix this for Leo and Liv. I knew exactly how to work a room full of power-hungry old men. And it would be easy to sell because Liam’s reactions were real, his feelings for me were real.

“Even if some of the suitors abandon ship, I won’t. I’ll reach out to my aunt and use her influence with our allies. If I stay, so will the suitors from Auvernall, Hidar, Rivala, and Spain.”

I turned back to address the council, “With Cordonia’s money and Monterisso’s technology, our two countries could forge an alliance to be reckoned with!”

I really needed to sell this so they would accept Leo’s abdication without any damage to him or Olivia. Liam was in shock more or less, but I needed a reaction out of him to seal the deal. I leaned over and brushed a kiss across his cheek, letting my breath tickle the side of his neck as I did so. His eyes widened and his pupils dilated as a smile broke out across his face. He reached out to grasp my hand in his, “I’ll do it! I’ll take the crown and I’ll marry Riley! You can send the other suitors home, I’ll propose right now!”

Constantine gaped at him, his head swiveling back and forth between us. I kept the smile pasted on my face as panic spiked through me. Liam’s reaction was a little too far. The social season couldn’t end, I hadn’t found out who headed up the Via Imperii yet, and I hadn’t found out who the secret heir was. I needed more time.

I dug my fingers into his arm, “Don’t be silly, darling, the social season must go on, it wouldn’t be fair to the other ladies who’ve traveled so far. Besides, how would it look? We must maintain proper appearances.”

The reference to proper appearances swayed them to my side. My country’s technology and state-of-the-art spy network likely had something to do with it as well.

“This could work.”

“She’s telling the truth; I saw them holding hands in the hallway the other day!”

“A better match than Leo was prepared to make…”

“Could certainly use the alliance with Monterisso.”

“Told you he was the more  suitable one.”

“Princess Riley is the people’s choice, and the council stands ready to approve her!”

“Fine, fine,” Constantine blustered, “The council will accept Leo’s abdication but there are things that must be in place before an official announcement can be made! Liam!”

Liam jumped a little, “Yes, father?”

“Are you up to this?”

This time his voice held uncompromising conviction as he transformed right before my eyes from shy and unassuming into commanding and confident, “Yes, father!”

Leo moved in front of me to place a hand on Liam’s shoulder, “I’m not abandoning you, brother. I’ll be right by your side for whatever you need me for.”

Liam returned the gesture as he replied, “I appreciate that, and I will hold you to it!”

As Constantine, Leo, Liam and the council turned to talk of press releases, lines of succession and public relations, I slipped away and went back to my spot next to Drake in the back of the room, near the door.

Of all the unreadable looks he had ever given me, the one he was giving me right then was the most unreadable of all, prompting me to whisper, “What?”

“Nothing,” he responded with equanimity, “You sure you know what you’re doing here?”

“I’m sure,” I nodded curtly.

“All right.”

I lifted an eyebrow, “That’s it?”

“I trust your judgement.”

The first smile that had graced my face since I’d laid eyes on my ex tugged at my lips, “Good.”

His mouth turned down playfully as his shoulder lifted, “Great.”

I let the smile loose and started to reach for his hand. I froze halfway through the gesture as I remembered that I had just convinced the king and council that I was in love with Liam. I pulled my hand back with an apologetic tip of my head.

“This could get complicated,” he whispered to me.

“Could? Get?” I stifled a giggle. We had blown past complicated miles ago.

“Come on,” he told me with a quick glance at the rest of the room, “This could take hours. I’ll escort you back to your room.”

We slipped out into the hallway and headed down the hallway when we were intercepted by the last person I wanted to see.

“Juniper, there you are!”

With a sigh, I stopped walking and turned to face Nick. I had known from the moment the agency asked him here that this showdown was coming. And truth be told, I suppose I did owe him some kind of closure after what I’d done.

My hand slipped instinctively into Drakes as I steeled myself for the coming confrontation. I wondered to myself when I had developed that particular habit. When had I started reaching out to him for comfort? When had such gestures become commonplace, casual….normal?

“Nick, this really isn’t a good time, I was-“

“Well, when is, really?” He was undeterred, “I think the least you can do is give me a moment of your time.”

“She said it wasn’t a good time,” Drake interjected.

I squeezed his hand and shook my head. I neither needed nor wanted him to speak for me.

He tipped his head back and blew out an exaggerated breath. I knew that standing down was working against his nature, but God bless the man for doing it anyway.

Nick’s eyes fell to our clasped hands before lifting back to my face, “This your latest boy du jour?”

Drake snorted, “Isn’t that what you were?”

Nick looked at him in surprise, “She didn’t tell you that we were engaged?”

Drake looked like he’d been hit by a truck.

Nick smirked, “I’ll take that as a no.”

“Even so,” Drake recovered quickly, “that obviously ended so she doesn’t owe you-“       

I reached across my body to place my other hand on his chest, “Actually I do.”

Drake blinked as he looked down at me in confusion, “What?”

“I kind of…left him at the altar.”

His head whipped back and forth from me to Nick then back again, “And what? You never had a conversation about that afterwards?”

“No, she pretty much ghosted me,” Nick supplied.

I glared at him, “What was left to say, Nick?” We had done nothing but argue in the weeks leading up to the wedding. “You couldn’t have been unaware that I was on the fence at best about going through with it.”

“Okay,” Drake disentangled himself from me, “You two obviously have some things to hash out. Feel free to use one of the empty meeting rooms. It’s not going to help your cover to be airing any of this out in a hallway.”

Granted, only those with the highest security clearances could even access this floor, but still. It wouldn’t do to have a council member overhear what might be construed as a lovers quarrel between the woman who had just promised to stand by Liam’s side through the scandal caused by his brother’s abdication and another man.

I met Drake’s eyes and mouthed, “Thank you.”

His eyes darted to Nick then back to me. Stepping close, he leaned down, brushed a kiss across my cheek and whispered, “We’ll talk later?”

“I’ll text you,” I promised.

Then he was gone, and I was alone with my past. And it wanted explanations.

[zukkacore]

TAG GAME

Rules: Go to your (current/main) AO3 account and find the following:

Thanks for the tag @billdenbrough this was fun to do!!!

What ratings do you write most of your fics under?

To my surprise! T and E are like. Evenly tied with 7 each.... Genuinely was expecting E to eek out the others bc nearly EVERYTHING i've been writing these days is kind explicit lol (except for Tell Me How) and i've been writing a LOT more than i used to. But i guess in the past i have more like tame stuff, makes sense, some of it is Reddie some of it is DR so...

What are your top three fandoms?

Dimension 20 (7) (wow!! lol!)

IT - Stephen King / It (movies) (3) (i'm lumping them in together)

DanganRonpa (2) (i'm lumping together DR series total and DR: trigger happy havoc)....

there's another thing i've written for that also is tied w two works but... i shan't say

What is the top character you write about?

Jace Stardiamond (7)!

Hysterical, considering how nothing he is, but also. Completely unsurprising considering how much i've been gripped by that piece of sopping wet cardboard of a man and his "I can't, I tried" that has compelled me all summer long..... But also, some of the times im tagging Jace its actually in the place of his clones who are technically canon but do not have personalities or names and therefore do not have ao3 tags.... Porter is second at (6), which does make sense bc.... like.... Jace has superceded him... who is porter... my new hyperfixation LJ3 has practically nothing to do with Porter, no i will not elaborate

What are your top three pairings?

Porter Cliffbreaker / Jace Stardiamond (6), Ben/Hanscom/Beverly Marsh (3) (????? surprising??? i've never written anything that is JUST them but they have taken SOME precedence in a way that isn't completely sidepairing coded in my reddie phase, im thinking specifically in Sky High AU), and Eddie Kaspbrak / Richie Tozier (3)

Unsurprising i guess. Starbreaker has ruined my life (positive). and i did have a good reddie kick. the Benverly feels wrong tho.

Since Benverly feels like a copout i will add. After that we have Kuwata Leon / Sayaka Maizono at 2 bc i love mess, i love the way they love (trying to kill each other with kitchen knives) and.... Jace Stardiamond/Jace Stardiamond at 2. Which is a cypher for LJ3

What are the top three additional tags?

Campaign 01 Season 3: Fantasy High Junior Year (7)

Alternate Universe (6)

Anal Sex (5)

THE LAST ONE.... Anyway. Ok so. The dimension 20 tagging system is weird b/c all the campaigns are lumped together so the additional tags if how you differentiate which campaign. I guess not surprising? I did a sky high AU, i've written a Talent Swap, and i have smaller AUs with smaller divergences... Tbh the whole Porter/cloneverse thing is ALSO an AU so like... those should probably count too but i guess i didn't tag them

If you want an additional Gimme, I have Power Imbalance (4)

Does any of this surprise you?

Not really? Idk i don't think i write enough to have many surprises on my ao3, like i knew Starbreaker was the most i'd written for in a long time and i was right. I was surprised i have the same amount of T and E fics.... but to be fair before this summer most of the things i wrote were like. Ambitious multichap stuff that were full on AUs or sometimes took place in high school so i guess that makes sense.... Its just, in my mind my stupid hornyposting has eclipsed everything else. I WAS surprised abt the benverly thing, that's a total fluke. It feels wrong that I technically have more benverly than LJ3

I really shouldn't be surprised by how Jace Stardiamond is my favorite sopping wet beast. And yet.

TAGGING: hmmm.... @iaus, @hauntedwizardmoment, @delinquentbookworm, @jadeandquartzes @toziers (@ everyone feel free to answer this on main or not.. or not at all!!)

[clementine-kesh]

oh fuck yeah harry kim meta for the win!! if it's alright, can you elaborate on harry being 'as starfleet as they come'? (maybe even comparing him to *picard's* idea of what starfleet is and should be? i think they're interesting individuals to put side by side.) thanks!

hell yeah i’m always down to talk meta! by “as starfleet as they come” i was mostly referring to him being the picture perfect model ensign type. you know, top of his class, did a ton of extracurriculars, someone who was happy and thriving within the system. a system i doubt he ever questioned pre-voyager, either. plus, he’s ambitious and has the skills to match. see: non sequitur, where in the alternate timeline he was less than a year out of the academy and already presenting the first update to starfleet’s shuttles in 50 years. it’s not a stretch to say he’d have worked his way up the ladder pretty quickly were he not trapped on voyager.

but of course starfleet is more than just academic performance or scientific knowledge. it’s about people, seeking out new life and learning from it, and harry’s a great example of someone who embodies that. he’s a character who doesn’t assume things about other people and does his best to meet them at their level. there are two scenes that illustrate this really well, the first is when he and tom are eating dinner and he wants to invite janeway to eat with them and tom thinks it’s a bad idea to which harry’s like well who else is she gonna eat with, and the second is when he expresses interest in seven and tom’s like ew wtf dude she’s a borg and harry retorts with well there’s a woman in there, too. in both cases you have someone making assumptions about someone else and harry pushing back on it by being like no they’re a person just like us and we should do our best to connect with them. see also warhead when harry’s like “we’re not transporting this mysterious ai device on board” and the doctor’s like “but it’s just like me 🥺” and that’s what convinces harry. harry might be an engineer by training but his real superpower lies in diplomacy.

contrast that with picard, who is also a very skilled diplomat, but the key difference is that picard is loyal to institutions and harry is loyal to people. harry’s out there pulling shit like staging a mutiny and violating the temporal prime directive just to save his friends. stuff that goes directly against every rule in starfleet’s book. picard could NEVER. he’s a needs of the many kinda guy whereas harry says fuck that everyone matters!! shit hits the fan and harry will always choose to help people over any perceived moral high ground or sense of duty. maybe if harry hadn’t been thrown into the psychological maelstrom of voyager he would’ve turned out more like picard but thank god he didn’t because let’s be real, he’s way more interesting of a character because he’s a little messed up and has some moral ambiguity to him.

i think picard’s vision of starfleet is very much one that exemplifies a lofty sense of enlightenment, of being the pinnacle of civilization. whereas harry’s is way more about actually helping people no matter who they are. see: picard’s reaction to members of the maquis vs. harry’s. picard gets all high and mighty and pissed about them betraying the federation while harry takes a step back and tries to find common ground. if picard were on voyager he probably would’ve been a lot more like lieutenant carey and bitched about the maquis instead of actually trying to work with. becoming best friends with one? again, picard could NEVER

[trinkerichi]

TEKVENTURES! I wanna ramble about Tekventures.

if you remember them you qualify for a veterans discount

So they were Sgt.Frog ocs that my best friend SARAZA and I made on flipnote for edgy amvs and comics. I wanna say I wassss 13? give or take. But these little guys were my EVERYTHING. We thought of a billion stories about them. Then I got sick of drawing frogs eventually and wanted to make them more of an original thing. Our first sketches were of anthro goats, but over time with my style changes, an the fact that I hate spending more than 2 seconds drawing anything, they no longer resemble any specific animal and turned into fuzzy nondescript species of alien thing. ANYWAY I wanted to make them into a "real comic series" when i was 17. That's when I started the chapters that are still up on tumblr n webtoons! and a few other sites probably that I forgot about.

I've been harsh on it in the past but honestly I still love it to bits. What's there is a solid little comic and i still think it's adorable!

The only thing is, that's judging it based on what's there. It's a basis for a cute episodic thing with low stakes! Like the early mlp fim episodes or the new care bears cartoon. But that's NOT what it was planned for in the long term. Oh no, I was so ambitious. I had at LEAST 50 episodes planned which would weave together into this massive arc that would introduce other space teams, wayward space travelers with secret pasts connecting to the main cast, sad backstories for everyone, ALL of the family members of the main cast, a villian team with like... 'anti-versions' of the main cast, and a dramatically foreshadowed final confrontation with robot clones that want to destroy their planet. OH AND ROBIN too! Besides all that, they ALSO have multiple side story episodes about crashing to earth and befriending a human girl named Robin who has to keep them secret.

That might have been um. a lot.

But when you start writing a story with your best friend when you're 13 you most likely have NO CONCEPT of "too much". Who am I kidding I STILL have trouble pacing myself. But when you come up with a story it's hard not to think it's just GOLD! And that you've gotta keep it no matter what! Because that stuff is fun!

I went full force into the comic in my senior year of highschool and eventually I finished the first chapter! It took me a year. And then I looked at my plans for the other 49 episodes and thought "maybe I need to rework some things.."

I rebooted the comic once, tried making smaller stories, all that, but I wasn't quite feeling the same drive anymore. I realized I was comparing my work to high budget tv shows with like. a full team of writers and artists. and studio funding. and greenlit seasons and all that. And it was making me feel TERRIBLE about my art!

So I quit comics! I started hating comics! I hated how long they took and how restricted I felt (with my own expectations) and I lost my confidence in finishing projects because I was so sad about giving up on my big magnum opus. and I just kinda gave up and started only doing fandom art for a couple years. I did a jyushimatsu ask blog and kept it up for ages! And then a new season of Osomatsu came out and I realized when comparing it that I was basically writing an oc at this point. And that I CAN commit to long term projects if i dont get self conscious about it!

I still didnt wanna jump into comics again. But I thought of some new characters that I was becoming attached to. the very very beginnings of what could turn into a new idea.

I thought "well i still love cartoons about space! even if im not making tekventures anymore maybe i could do another space story. a really tiny one."

so i started making an rpgmaker game! and it started taking forever. so in the meantime i made a really rough doodle comic about how the characters first met. as a little side story thing.

and THAT was the key. I had to stop thinking about it like i was making a big cool tv show and starting my career and all that. its just a fun thing, off the cuff, not overthinking it, just for fun and personal expression.

so im still going with it! and its GREAT! Rocket chip has 12 planned chapters, and I'll be halfway done by the end of the year.

But BOY did it take me forever to learn that.

[calamitydaze]

(same anon) ANYWAY enough sad stuff - i’ve been told by your ask box to talk to you about cquackity. what is a line from him that still makes you insane even now, years later?

oooooh boy okay WELL. >:) i'm going to pick two for different reasons

first: "i take care of those who take care of me. why do you think i have no one around?" because wow what a soul-baring moment from someone who tries his best to have as few of them as possible! while it's a little too self-absolving to be truly objective, it's a really sad look into things from his perspective-- here is someone who has been so continuously let down and hurt and abandoned by the people he loves and is so bitter about it that it's easier see relationships as a whole as a transaction (that way he can still maintain a bit of control) and just go fine, fuck it. if you won't give me anything, i won't give you anything either. and i don't need it anyway

second: "are you ready to try your luck?" because, aside from being biased because it's the title of my beloved character playlist for him, i think it's a really snappy and succinct expression of his character as a whole! he's always aimed high, ambitious to the core, and although more often than not he ends up losing-- as someone not particularly physically skilled in an environment where that's so valuable-- he will always always pick himself up and try again, because one of these times he'll get lucky and the cards will fall in the right way, he'll land on top and then it'll all be worth it. so hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me--

[thekimspoblog]

More chatting about BCS w/ @brilliantalpaca

Them: I read the whole thing, Ill reblog it later because there is some stuff I want to give my two cents on

But this is wild to me

Hello? He graduated from law school? Why is blud in charge of the mail?

Me: I mean OP is right; Jimmy isn't OWED a partnership at HHM. The problem is that when Jimmy and Kim ACCEPTED that the firm wasn't going to promote them and struck out on their own, HHM still interfered. I do think Jimmy has a bit of a NiceGuy complex, but not nearly as badly as Walt did. "NiceGuys finish last, so if you're pulling ahead you were never really that nice" is definitely a theme of BCS. But "Who is watching the watchers? Who gets to decide who the gatekeeper is?" is also a theme. Plus... Kim is a god and when she asks for something, you give it to her or you die. Granted, Howard and Chuck had no way of knowing that last part, but still.

Them: The whole middle part is so cracked

Cooked with gas

In any case, and considering Jimothy started a law firm inside a beauty parlor, I think he would have been happy at HMM the second he stopped to push a cart, at least for a while

Like, I dont think the man is ambitious for power or a title or authoritas, but for respect

Thats why he leaves the firm at... You know, the cocobono table place, sorry its been a while

So I think if his brother had respected him a little bit more, well

Me: On the one hand, he just wanted to work next to his brother and his girlfriend. But like... he got that opportunity with Davis and Mainn and he hated it. That place was stuffy; he needed his freedom. It's one thing for Chuck to say "I don't think my brother would be a good fit at my firm. Even if he is talented, his eccentricities are a liability; I don't want to hire him"; I mean that's basically the same conclusion Kim reached. The problem is we never see Howard do any actual work, so the impression we get is that HHM siphons off labor from its employees, then refuses to compensate them adequately or even acknowledge their role as contributing partners. And again, there was definitely some sort of discrimination going on with the way Chuck penalized Kim for associating with Jimmy.

Them: They also put him an intern-copter on his ass, which would sit badly with anyone

And Chuck actively tried to prevent him to practice

Which is very messed up

Me: Again, I can't really blame them. Frankly Jimmy should have treated Erin with more respect; she had worked there longer and even if she was kind of passive aggressive about it, she was just trying to show him the ropes.

Them: I can't blame them either, but thats because I know Jimmy

In any case, trusting the narrative at one hundred percent and confusing Jimmy with a poor little meow meow is something I'm guilty of

Ill admit that

When he usually makes his own bed

Me: Under normal circumstances, I would say wanting to get someone disbarred for sabotaging you is pretty understandable. But again, Chuck started it by stealing Mesa Verde. Jimmy loved Chuck, but he wanted Chuck to admit that he too could be a bit of a hypocrite and a sleazebag. That he wasn't better than Jimmy. And the truth is he really wasn't.

Them: He really really wasnt, he just dressed it up better

Chuck is such an university profesor its insane, they nailed him

Me: To by a hypocrite is to be human. And honestly I think you're an irresponsible lawyer if you CAN'T acknowledge your own biases.

Them: I also didnt realize that yeah, we never see Howard doing... Work on his own, huh?

Like he's there at meetings, with Chuck at the Mesa Verde hearing

But what does he *do*

Me: I assume Howard does actually do quite a bit of paperwork. But this is a tv show, so if they didn't want us to see him as a symbol of the owning class, as a wage thief, they should have framed the story differently.

Them: It is implied, if not stated, hes riding his dad coat tails, right?

I dont know, he may actually just... Be there

Well, no, hes at court at times

Because if we didnt had anything, you know, to a point that becomes a conscious choice even if hes a secondary character ok a tv show

Me: The main reason I'm inclined to cut Jimmy some slack is that on some level, Jimmy knows that he's just plain bad at making choices for himself. He wants to be bossed around, just by someone he trusts. He spent half his life outsourcing his ethical code to his brother, and the other half just following whatever marching orders his wife gave him. So at least in the later seasons of BCS, the best defense to the idea that Jimmy is a bad person is simply "That part was Kim's idea; you want to complain, take it up with management". Right or wrong, he's a man who can biblically submit to his wife; that kind of puts him in a whole other moral universe.

Them: The show also makes ir very easy to fall into the "Jimmy logic hole", where everything he does gets justified by a slight that happened six episodes ago

Me: But like I said, this is why him going to prison is kinda fucked. Instead of growing the hell up and thinking for himself for once, Jimmy surrenders and turns his agency over to the ultimate daddy; the government.

Them: Lel true

Thats actually a good reading

Me: I think it's best to think of Hamlin-Hamlin-McGill-McGill-and-Wexler as just one big firm that ended up cannibalizing itself; neither half of the entity ever became fully independent from the other, and eventually fighting over clients sunk both halves of the business. Kind of fitting with the theme of wildflowers growing on an unmarked grave, I like to think about Iris's relationship to that business and that building. This big, bombastic story we spent six years chronicling, in just two short decades nothing will be remembered about it besides a "how I met your mother" anecdote. George Hamlin wanted to build a family business... well, he got one.

Them: The causes of the firm's undoing bring writing on its own foundation

You know, George Hamlin bringing his son and Chuck bringing his brother

Kim getting dragged into the drama of the whole thing and doing what she does in the show

Me: yes exactly

Them: It all becomes inevitable

Me: Instead of having a long(er) life in prison, my timeline ends with Jimmy dying at age 69 from a heart-attack while fleeing a protest-turned-riot, being remembered as a beloved patriarch martyred for a righteous cause. It's a happier ending than what Vince and Peter would leave him to, but it's still supposed to feel a little perverse: this was the path Kim put him on when she got him out on parole, and on some level she knew this. Iris blames their mother for what happened, and they're not wrong, but at this point remorse is an emotion that doesn't come easily to Kim anymore. She gave him the best life she could, but nothing lasts forever. Still, nothing is set in stone. Jimmy will be a martyr for Kim's revolution if he lets her make him one. But saying "no" to her - AND MEANING IT - is the hardest thing to do. Especially when he knows she's right; that Iris is going to inherit a police state if the parents don't act preemptively.

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job #47: “Stuntmen” | April 12, 2010 - 12:30AM | S05E07

Stuntmen features a fairly ambitious (by Tim & Eric standards) wraparound, in which Tim & Eric play dual roles: a pair of stuntmen and a pair of female talk show hosts. Do their efforts pay off? Stay tune to fine out. 

The cold open to this one features a strange sequence where two aliens pettily squabble and take turns jack hammering their small planets. It gives the impression of some kind of foreign art, with the incredibly simplistic insult of “mouse man” feeling like something is lost in translation. This one seems to be chasing a mood, but isn’t particularly inspired. It’s sorta neat that it transitions into the opening, though. 

The most infamous sketch on here is a pair of Mahanahan Child Clown outlet sketches. These ignited a firestorm of controversy when QAnon was popping off. For reasons that I’m not entirely sure of, I covered most of this in another episode’s write-up.

At the time of airing I sorta recall thinking these sketches went a little far with the creepiness. Steve Mahanahan saying he’s going to jail because he “touched a clown” felt like they were officially crossing the line that these sketches always sorta danced around. Steve hopes they’ll let him keep his beard in jail, punctuated by Eric doing a weird mugging while opening and closing his mouth. If this were an experiment in being as off-putting as possible, then I’d say the experiment was a success. It is simply too stupid.

Will Ferrell shows up as Donald Mahanahan, Steve’s father. Ferrell is fairly game, and he goes to some disgusting places. He scolds his son and says “Never touch the clowns. Let the clowns touch you”. Okay, so I don’t think that they’re trying to normalize child trafficking or whatever it is that the QAnon people allege. But this is a fairly tasteless bit of comedy, and it makes all the sense in the world that people who weren't used to Tim & Eric's sensibilities were put off by it.

I don’t mind it too much, and I’d rather watch smart, funny people feel free to indulge in stuff like that rather than be piled on by Trump-worshiping Barstool Sports morons. This also features an actual crying baby dressed as a child clown, yikes! My favorite bit from these is father Mahanahan bringing up the death of his other Son (played by Tim), including a tasteless photo-based animation of him being shot in the face. Could you imagine if a father expressed himself in this particular way while discussing the murder of his own son? Pretty rude, but that's the kind of nastiness that makes me laugh.

The second All Dolled Up appears in this episode, which is the one I actually remembered, because the one guy mentions being friends with Elliott Gould and then moans about there not being pizza at the shoot. Nice stuff, but it’s basically more of the same. There’s also one of those reflective Brule segments that as tepid as the other one they did earlier in the season. There’s also a thing called Amateur Pipes where a guy who has never played bagpipes tries to play bagpipes. There, that’s all the short ones. 

The wraparounds are pretty mid, and are sort of a mix of funny, committed acting and nonsensical horseplay. Eric goes to the well of female masturbation while dressed up as the talk show host. What is this, Stella? Tim is fairly funny as the stuntman. He does a convincing “guy who doesn’t like talking in front of a camera very much”. I like Tim’s takes to the camera as one of the female hosts. I don’t know. I wasn’t impressed, but I appreciate them *sorta* trying. This is one of the weaker episodes, overall.

[beverage2000]

hey so after rewatching r1ct for the 19th time maybe i should actually get around to sendig asks abt it SO HEY i've been trying to make a more abstract sort of story and it seems i have trouble with ... being abstract in general. i usually can't come up with any sort of weird imagery or storylines without borrowing heavily from something else. it's highly inconvenient. How do you go about the concept process for your films ? any major takeaways from art school or things i should try ? :0

Wow. this is like the last ask i ever expected to get so first of all thank you for watching R1CT....19 times?!?? this may be hyperbole but either way thank you. its a project that went through a lot of stages and changes and difficulties and it means a lot to me

*puts my hands on your shoulders*i have to tell you something. there is no way you can come up with shit without referencing or borrowing from others' work. im working on a zine/book/thing about the entire journey of making it but basically my"concept process" was a 30-month mess that started out with 1 sketch on the train, which became an idea for a way too ambitious yet still half-assed fully hand-drawn second-year film..but put through the play-doh spaghetti machine of covid i started having a different relationship with myself, with my computer, with my computer-self.. and it morphed slowly and weirdly into wut it is i guess. i dont think i could recreate those circumstances if i tried lol. but yea im rambling too much so let me actually try to answer your question

so ya like i said its actually important and beneficial to borrow from other peoples works. i definitely have the privilege of going to art school to help with that cause i was exposed to a variety of different media and art and obscure films i probably wouldnt have seen otherwise. but i will say itll serve u well to branch out and look at art forms other than the one youre studying, even stuff that seems boring or not relevant. and combine the elements that inspire u the most and make something of ur own. some big inspirations that went into the melting pot early on were: the movie la selva oscura by carlos santa, the opening for the 1974 anime majokko megu-chan, the 1983 movie rock & rule, the matrix, movies by gregg araki, roberto rossellini, david lynch(sorry), elaine may, jonni phillips(to whom i owe so much), among many others; the animated series transformers: beast wars, sally cruikshank's quasi at the quackadero, the artworks of fernand leger and leopold survage (both part of the Cubist scene but had a conceptual interest in filmmaking)...... yeah i could go on for a really long time. (i guess i already did). if you look at this stuff you can probably see lots of elements of these things, in r1ct but it still ended up being something at least semi-original.. so yea go to the library look at art books watch old movies, find stuff u hate, find stuff u like. absorb shit and make shit. dont be afraid to do something way different than what youre used to. basically just go crazy

shoutout 2 any1 who managed to read through this whole thing LOL. i encourage you to check out at least one of the things or artists i mentioned here and yea.. thank you again:)i hope you can look forward to more works in the R1CT cinematic univere