Our Flag Means Blep

Gabi x Sir Bodyguard AU concept

People, I want to see a thriving PR professional Gabi and a semi-adjusted, slightly toned down but still obsessive Sir. Imagine if Gabi was taking M&A from success to success; leading the team brilliantly (with no man chained up in her basement). In this AU, Sir would be muscle for hire (purely because I like seeing this man work out) and Gabi would be seeking his services. M&A was founded by Gabi after a girl on her street (Bella) went missing and was never found. Sir had nothing to do with Gabi until she hired him.

Warnings: physical violence, death threats, mentions of human trafficking

M&A has a few enemies; due to the nature of what they do, its inevitable. Instead of letting the threats get in the way of their work, Gabi makes the executive decision to hire security personnel for each of the team, also making various safe houses available for them. The entire team have a bodyguard that is one call away at the weekend and by their side for 15 hours a day. Their contracts are four months, pending renewal.

This might seem drastic to some but they have been dismantling trafficking rings for months now and those motherfuckers are well connected. You can never be too safe.

Gabi's personal bodyguard is called Hugh Evans. He is in his 40s, tall and has stubble. Evans seems to enjoy reading Toni Morrison, Frank L Baum and Shakespeare. He's actually quite pleasant to be around except for the fact that he insists on calling her Gabrielle.

That being said, the 15 hours feel like nothing at all sometimes. For Gabi, Evans is a conundrum. How does someone so intellectually gifted not mind running errands with her all day? She could easily see him as a college professor. One night, Gabi convinces Evans to have a drink with her (after his shift ends, of course).

Over a bottle of red wine, they learn more about eachother. Evans was training to be a literature professor but had to drop out to look after his little brother. Their mom isn't the most reliable, so Evans is the one putting him through boarding school. He loves birdwatching and sculpting; but insists that it's just recreational.

Gabi tells him about her strained relationship with her father. To him, M&A is too dangerous; he never wanted her to have a target on her back. She laments that the passing of her mother broke something in their family and neither of them knows what to do now.

She is in great company, Evans is a great listener. Empathetic when needed but never pitying. She feels safe with him.

For Hugh, this is highly unprofessional. Drinking with clients is a no go for any security personnel worth his salt but there is something special about Gabrielle. She is a breath of fresh air; smart, beautiful and charming. He isn't ready for this contract to end. Not yet, anyway.

Part 2 because why nottttttt

Three months down the line, this working relationship is still going strong. The death threats to Gabi and her team are slowing down now but they all know that this could just be another tactic to get them to slip up.

Gabi doesn't read them anymore, instead she passes them to Evans who uses the letters to build a profile of the kind of people who seek to hurt Gabrielle. It's going well. These criminals are highly educated, strategic and obsessive. A four month contract looks almost naïve in the face of such a threat.

Thankfully for M&A, the police are involved and they are monitoring the situation. With the police alerts and Evans' tireless work, Gabi has been able to focus on each case and not worry about her own safety every second.

Evans has become like a permanent fixture in her life. Over the past few months, they have gotten much closer and it has only helped his work. They work out together, eat together and even watch black and white movies together. They're both into noir detective dramas.

Tonight, Gabi is (once again) working late. Its 11 and she should have been done hours ago. Evans just brought up her Doordash and they are sharing a meal. He's learned that this is the only way to get her to rest during a case.

Gabi was craving Thai food and Evans had long given up saying no to her. They shared cashew chicken and Khao pad. It was divine.

Over the meal, they talked about their the future. Evans wanted to stick with security work, for his brother's sake and Gabi was looking to find investors for M&A. Zeke bankrolling their whole operation couldn't last forever. Corporate funding was needed but that was a long term plan. For tonight, she was happy just to go to sleep.

As Gabi and Evans prepare to head back, an uneasy feeling creeps over the two of them. Sure enough, as they reach her place, the door is cracked open.

Evans gestures for her to stay back and contact the police. As Gabi dials 911, Evans checks each room. In her home office, one of the low lifes working for the Maryland trafficking ring is waiting with a 7 inch blade. Evans manages to subdue him, though not without damage.

When Gabi eventually enters her house, she finds the attacker tied up, unconscious and Evans bleeding from his side.

"Gabrielle.." he barely manages to croak out, before collapsing into her arms.

Part 3 here

ofmd wasn't "profitable" enough but I didn't even get the feeling hbo wanted to make money off of it. They didn't promote it when s1 dropped, and the promo for s2 was erratic at best. They don't sell merch. Or physical copies. There's no bts documentaries other than what actors (shoutout to Samba ilu) make themselves in their spare time.

It took more than a full year for me to be able to watch s1 legally! I still can't access s2 legally anywhere! It's not that ofmd is unprofitable, it's that hbo refuses to profit off of it, because - well, because profiting off of it would mean investing work and money into it.

And like. Of course, when you compare it to the juggernauts hbo holds rights to, like GoT, ofmd is small fishes. But.

How on earth do these clowns think cult classics happen?

A Game of Thrones was first published in 1996 and didn't make it on the NYT beststeller list until 2011. The first edition of the first Harry Potter book was 500 pieces. And yeah, TV shows are different, but if you look at today's media landscape, would things like Star Trek, or Buffy, or Doctor Who stand the slightest chance? These things take time, is my point. A piece of media doesn't become a massively profitable, beloved classic over night. It takes time and effort to build that kind of franchise.

And the thing is! Nobody who makes these decisions even likes stories. I'm convinced that whoever is in charge at hbo, at amazon prime, even at disney, thinks storytelling is dumb and for idiots. They think it's enough to just slap the name of something people love on whatever garbage they spit out, for it to be profitable. They think it's the brand that sells: Look this has "Lord of the Rings" on it! Look, this one has "Game of Thrones", you like Game of Thrones don't you? Watch my show, boy.

But this isn't how this works. It's not the name that sells (unless, I suppose, you're the MCU, and even there one gets the impression the trick is finally stopping to work), especially not when the product is bad. People aren't idiots.

But it's not about making something good. It's not about making a meaningful piece of art, or telling an engaging story. ofmd served its purpose; it drew in all the subscribers it ever would, so there's no point in letting it go on. Even in the s2 that we did get, this is evident: the penny pinching is palpable, it's clear that the studio didn't want to spend any more money than absolutely necessary on it, and then cut the budget by 40%.

It's not about art. It never has been.

And it's not even about profit, because to be profitable eventually, stories have to be allowed to thrive first. You tell a good story first, and success happens later, often much, much later.

And ofmd was incredibly, astonishingly successful. It was the most in-demand series for weeks after the s1 finale. But even that wasn't enough, it's never enough, ofmd could have made record-setting profits and it still would have been cancelled, because -

Well, I don't know. Because we live in a bad time for art. Because Orwell was right, and stories have become commodities, like shoelaces. Because. Well. It's not about telling a story, is it?

What's the point of a story? What's the point of making something for the joy of making it? What's the point of a piece of art, existing, if it cannot be transferred into numbers for the stockholders?

idk how to end this. I hope David Jenkins finishes the story he wanted to tell, even if just for himself. I hope, against all odds, that weird, fun, heartfelt, beautiful little stories like ofmd continue to happen.

But goddammit.

Rumple + textpost memes [Part 1]

I'm so glad the sir Margaret scene that was teased is earlier in the season. I'm so ready for this!!!

Shanola and MPG got nominated for Critics Choice Awards

Hugh had to have like read up on her before they met right? Cause he wouldn't just poison some kid for her from just knowing her for a couple hours. Imma just theorize he knew who her mom was and pulled some string behind the scenes to get her transferred so I like the scenes better.

Peter: Hey uh, Mr Stark?

Tony: Yeah?

Peter: There’s a small get together at my school on Friday?

Tony: How small?

Peter: You, me and the principal

hai guysssssssssssssss i am crawling out of the depths. anyway… watch found on nbc teehee

a very yuriyaoi halloween to all 🎃👍

I am once agian asking for found fics because I need something to hold me over to January so fic writers please give me sustenance