wolf of the waves.

alright as someone who is not a huge malina person, I think I can see why leigh thinks the show will change peoples minds, just from this picture.

idk about the rest of y'all but most of my problems were not with mal himself, especially at first, but with the writing around the relationship? if I had to list the issues I had with the two of them together it would probably be:

they're supposed to be best friends but we barely see them interact

when they do interact, mal is distracted by all the other stuff going on in his life and alina takes it Very personally

because of the way she thinks about him and other girls or even other friends, she seems resentful of the fact that he's happier than her and that he doesn't return her feelings.

then when he returns, with feelings, to rescue her, it seems really out of the blue because he went through a ton of character development that we don't get to see, and almost seems like a different character

I really do like friends-to-lovers relationships, especially when they're childhood best friends, so i was always kind of disappointed that malina just didn't hit for me. not to get hype over nothing but this photo? this photo HITS

It’s like in the history class, where 18 y/o boy-king is military genius and amazing politician, but 18 y/o girl-queen is “child that needs to be guided” or “in need of husband who will take care of the crown”.

I probably never do a clean up of this, so here you go: a slightly older version of Sturmhond. Enjoy :D

Summary: Nikolai had been sent to East Berlin by the CIA to steal some documents. Zoya had been sent to East Berlin by the KGB to capture an American agent. Told from both perspectives, Nikolai and Zoya recount the first time they encountered each other in the field.

Ao3

A/N: The teaser/prequel to Like Real People Do which will probably be posted sometime,,,next year. This can be read as a standalone though, don’t worry! This is only Zoya’s pov, you can find Nikolai’s pov by @storm-dog-pirate on her blog!

—

Berlin was supposed to be an easy mission, a breather before she got sent on a near-impossible assignment to Beijing, or Istanbul, or another far-flung corner of the world where the Kremlin wanted eyes. Honestly, it was almost an insult to put an agent of her caliber on an assignment as trivial as capturing some hotshot CIA operative.

Nikolai Lantsov. She had his file memorized forwards and backwards and could probably recite it in her sleep. In her defense, there literally was not much else she could do to prepare for this mission. Art thief. Womanizer. Best in the field. She had snorted at that last bit. It was such an American thing to boast. He wouldn’t have that title for long if the operation went well.

hooo boy here i GO

•if you’ve ever read anything i’ve written on Nikolai, you know i have a firm belief that he loves dogs. so that obviously tops this list. i definitely think he had a dog when he was younger, and during his privateering days, but probably not anymore just because it’d be tough to spend any time with it with his busy he is.

•he loves coffee! he naturally needs a lot of sleep but he doesn’t always get that (because he’s so busy and because he would rather stay up thinking and planning then sleep) so he drinks INSANE amounts of coffee to cope. he can’t drink it black, though- he likes to try a different flavor every time, the more outlandish the better, but his favorite is vanilla.

•the boy LOVES the ocean, obviously, but this extends to any body of water. lakes, ponds, even the bathing pools at the palace bring him comfort. he can often be found going for a swim when he gets too stressed.

•as much as Leigh jokes about it, i feel like he really might write bad poetry just to get his feelings on paper because he feels like he can’t say them aloud. he has an image to maintain, and that doesn’t include getting too emotional, so until he finds a trusted partner, he relies on writing them down. when he’s done writing, he goes back and laughs at how terrible it all is. that cheers him up more than the actual writing

•getting into angst territory now, but he loves skin to skin contact and cuddling. especially after Ruin and Rising, although after what he goes through then it’s much harder for him to feel comfortable letting himself be that vulnerable.

•he likes clothes. all his outfits are very intentional.