Top five apoca!women
Okay, seeing as I've done Top 5 apoca!men, I figured the ladies deserved a picspam too, because they're just as awesome as the men, of course.
In alphabetical order, as there's no choosing between some of them for the favourite. Um, it's Top 6, instead of Top 5. I can't be leaving Laurie out, just because she's, as far, a cameo. IT'S DIANNA FUCKING AGRON PEOPLE.
Alex McKay (Melora Hardin)
She heard Simon take a breath to speak, and then the sound of Alex’s voice in the background. “I have to go. Alex says she needs my strength.” “No, I said I need your hands,” Alex said, close enough for April to hear. “There was nothing in there about your alleged strength.” ( Hope Persists)
Casting meme summary: Alex McKay is the scientist picked to head the team Harrison chooses to get to the bottom of the current mess. Just turned 40, she regrets some of the choices she's made in her life, exchanging a chance at love and family for her career. She finds herself wanting more and more to have someone to love, someone to grow old with, but as time passes, she wonders if that ship has sailed and if it's too late for her.
My notes: I love Alex. She's intelligent and feisty and hilarious, and knows how to keep the Gates men in order, along with being caring and gorgeous and understanding and supportive and just gah, brilliant. In the midst of lots of amazing scenes, the scene with Simon in Hope Persists still amuses me, because it's Simon being gross, and her reactions are priceless. And then she tells him off: 'Don't talk with your mouth full', and she solidifies into this awesome badass instantaneously. Hope Persists in general just shows her off: hilarious due to the galore of snark-with-Simon; gorgeous due to Nathan's falling head over heels; understanding when Evan gets angry with her; and well, awesome, due to the whole discovery of virus answer thing, which is you know, the main plot, so it's sort of important. In a way. The Beginning in the End is interesting because she gets shy when she meets everybody outside of work at Christmas, and there's a sense of regret underlying her conversation with Nathan which shows that there's more to her that first meets the eye. *makes a mental note to ask more about that* And then later on, she starts talking to April, and I'm pretty sure they could beat the Gates men in every way with their awesomeness, which is saying something, considering my love for D!G and Simon. And both The Beginning in the End and What The Lady Wants show her support of Nathan's recovery and isn't disgusted (like she would be, JFC, it's D!G), which shows that she's awesome in pretty much every way. ALEX, ILU.
April Newcastle (Billie Piper)
April never calls in sick. A few months ago when she had the flu, she showed up to work and Sam had to pull her chair away from her desk, push it down the hall and into the elevator, with her in it, to get her to go home. ( A Scribbled Out Name)
Casting meme summary: The current press secretary, April caught the interest of President St. James with many of her hard hitting news articles, covering the wide array of social problems that still plague the fledgling world, and was one of the first hired for the President's new staff. April's childhood was not a pleasant one; born to teenaged parents who were forced to marry, she was never a wanted child. Her father walked out when April was a teenager, and by the time April left home, she and her mother were practically strangers. Strong enough to overcome her past, April went to college and was a reporter for a few years before catching the attention of Harrison. Only a year older than the President's daughter, she and Penny have become best friends over the years and April was Penny's maid of honor in her recent wedding. For several years she has had to deal with the continued unwanted attention of Whitman Keller, a man she was friends with until one unfortunate evening just a year or so after she began working for Harrison. She lives with her boyfriend Simon, whom she met when he joined the Presidential Secret Service team seven years ago. She loves him very much but the recent upsurge of problems has pulled him away from her, both physically and emotionally and though she keeps busy with work, she finds herself missing him more and more lately.
My notes: April, the most awesome female character ever. Well, possibly not, but for me, she's in the Top 5. She's got the three most powerful men wrapped round her little finger due to how amazing and badass and clever and- and if you want to continue with the alphabetical positive adjective theme I'm not going to stop you because it would be all complete trufax, but I can't think of a positive adjective beginning with 'd', so I'll explain my love in a different way. She's got her baggage, and considering her parents, explained in Love and Fear, she's got the genes to be a deadbeat person too, but she overcomes the fear of that happening, and sets out (and succeeds) to do the complete opposite. She's intuitive and intelligent and hardworking (kind of ruined my alliteration but it has to be said)- as shown in Sick Day, so she's amazing at her job whilst being incredibly kind and caring and so down to Earth, so she's an amazing person overall. And because of that, she's got... six personal bodyguards, 3 of which, as I said, are the most powerful men in the world. I've called her a lucky bitch before, and I'll call her that again. Affectionately, of course.
I love her relationship with Nathan so fucking much, which Papercut portrays so perfectly, with April finding out about the ~other side of Nathan, and Nathan's protectiveness over April, and then of course, they have super awesome snuggle time at the end, which they should do all the fucking time. April's so confident the majority of the time, so seeing the unsure side of her, and the effect that her father has on her, and in contrast the way she respects and loves Nathan is really interesting. And then in Chopsticks, which is just a total remedy to the angst-fest of Papercut, where Nathan and April put unicorns and puppies and kittens skipping on rainbows to SHAME on the cuteness scale is just wonderful to see too.
And then of course there's the relationship with Simon, and Sam, and then on a lesser level Whitman, and Evan of course. APRIL IS SUCH AN EASY CHARACTER TO SHIP PEOPLE WITH, OMG.
Emily Gates (Rachel McAdams)
Emily Gates glides over to her husband and rests a delicate hand on his shoulder. "May I interrupt this highly important conversation to request a dance with my favorite politician?" She angles her head towards Nathan and smiles sweetly. Nathan grins and replies, "Of course. Sam, would you excuse -" "Thanks!" Emily says with a wave and a backwards glance at her husband, as she leads Sam out onto the middle of the ballroom. ( Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here)
Casting meme summary: Emily (Pruitt) was an art student and aspiring poet from a wealthy Napa Valley family when random circumstance intervened. She met Nathan Gates and it was love at first sight. The move to London and an infant son brought a host of stress into their young marriage, but Emily was overjoyed at the prospect of motherhood and more children. Unfortunately, fate happened again and the already troubled Gates family was forced to flee the European collapse. Emily remained faithful and strong through her husband's rise in politics, his struggles with alcoholism, her son's descent into drug abuse, and the decline of modern civilization. Her strength and determination in her battle with cancer motivated Nathan to beat his addiction, allowing them to spend her last months being as happy as they were when they first met, and upon her passing inspired her son to follow in his father's footsteps and conquer his own demons. Even in death she is the rock that holds father and son together.
My notes: Obviously the Gates family is my favourite family ever, and Emily is sort of the building blocks for the family, and her death brought Simon and Nathan back together, so for me, she might possibly be my favourite a!w. Possibly. Despite everything she went through with both Nathan and Simon's alcoholism (and drugs in Simon's case) she remained strong, and never gave up on them, which gives me so much admiration for her. This excerpt from Catching Up breaks my heart every time because of this:
He recognizes the house and the two men standing in the middle of the living room, both shouting, both angry, both drunk. The one who was five years old just a few moments ago now stands almost a good head taller than his father and is far too thin, wearing clothes that look at least two days worn. He can see her standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her face as she begs them to stop, please, just stop.
THIS IS WHY I LOVE THE GATES. Despite all the crap, they see it through, and god, it's just gorgeous.
I also love her attitude, as shown in Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here, and god, Sins of the Father breaks my heart every time. It's still remains to be one of my favourite apoca!fics, due to the insight into Nathan and Emily's relationship, and how bittersweet it all was. And she's ridiculously adorable in The Right Girl, THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD HAVE GONE. God, I just adore her and her humanity so so much.
Laurie Sullivan (Dianna Agron)
Sam nods to Laurie as he wheels the empty office chair back into April's office. She raises a perfectly arched eyebrow at him as he passes, and then turns back to the file in front of her. ( Sick Day)
My notes: Admittedly, she's only made a cameo in four fics so far, Papercut, A Trillion Asterisks, Sick Day and A Scribbled Out Name, and only talks in A Trillion Asterisks and A Scribbled Out Name, but I love her already. She's got attitude, like in Sick Day where she gives Sam the eyebrow, whilst being professional and badass (like the whole fucking rest of them). And I ship her with Evan, Nathan, Simon and April* already. You can not distract me from the sex. AND DID I MENTION THAT SHE'S PLAYED BY DIANNA FUCKING AGRON? All arguments are invalid.
* In fact, I've even made a graphic. Click the asterisk to follow through to the post on Tumblr.
Lily Santos (Summer Glau)
Lily apparently hadn't either, he discovered as he walked into the laundry room. She was seated on one of the folding tables dressed in another of his work shirts, though this one looked clean, and a pair of black panties; her bare legs dangled over the edge of the table, long and tanned, her feet swinging gently back and forth as she thumbed through an already well-thumbed magazine. ( On The House)
Casting meme summary: Lily's official job title: escort. Oldest job in the world. Maybe not the most respectable of careers, but she doesn't particularly care. Whitman Keller calls her agency one night, looking for a specific type of girl, but Whitman's not the most high rolling of customers and Lily's what he gets. Though she's only being paid for sex, she and Whitman develop a sort of connection and it's not long before she's coming to his place, not to have sex but to just sit and talk and drink and watch bad movies together. Even though he sometimes loses control with her, she doesn't back down from him, proving that she's more than capable of holding her own against the likes of him.
My notes: Lily has a huge independence and ability to stand up for herself which is the thing I love about her. Whitman's not the... calmest character in the world, and when he gives her shit, she totally calls him on it, and I have so much respect for that. I prefer it when Lily and Whitman are just talking and are friends instead of shagging all the time (although I obviously have NO problem with that) because they are so adorable, like in The Beginning in the End. Lily's very much ~there for Whitman, but she's an awesome character in her own right, from what we've seen when she's own. I think On The House shows this pretty well, where she treats Whitman's apartment like it's hers, and she takes initiative, not because it's her job, but because she wants to.
Penny Mitchell (Lenora Crichlow)
Penny smirked, shaking her head. Simon has made this sort of joke before and she's too used to it by now to comment on it. She cast her eyes over his skinny frame and shook her head again, sighing. "You do realize I hate you, right?" ( Not Yet)
Casting meme summary: Penny Mitchell, recently married, is the daughter of President St. James and his wife, Amanda. Always a bright child, she graduated college at the top of her class with a dual degree in biology and chemistry. Her dream is to teach high school but she's thus far been unable to fulfill this dream, due to the recent problems and her father's worries. Because of the close friendship between their fathers, Penny and Simon grew up together, and though they drifted apart during Simon's years of addiction, their friendship survived and now they're just as close as ever. She's also best friends with April Newcastle, who was maid of honor in Penny's wedding. She currently lives with her much beloved husband Evan and though she hopes some day to have children, she knows at the moment that it's not possible.
My notes: Penny is just so adorable and lovely, it hurts a little. Not Yet shows off Penny's relaxed, normal life which is wonderful to see because she's so cute, in contrast to Hope Persists which is still great in it's own respect, but the main arc is so dramatic, it's nice to see normal!Penny. I love her relationship with April too, especially in Love and Fear, where it's just such a normal supportive friendship, it's gorgeous. Penny is the character that provides normality in a crazy world full of crazy people, what can I say?
In alphabetical order, as there's no choosing between some of them for the favourite. Um, it's Top 6, instead of Top 5. I can't be leaving Laurie out, just because she's, as far, a cameo. IT'S DIANNA FUCKING AGRON PEOPLE.
Alex McKay (Melora Hardin)
She heard Simon take a breath to speak, and then the sound of Alex’s voice in the background. “I have to go. Alex says she needs my strength.” “No, I said I need your hands,” Alex said, close enough for April to hear. “There was nothing in there about your alleged strength.” ( Hope Persists)
Casting meme summary: Alex McKay is the scientist picked to head the team Harrison chooses to get to the bottom of the current mess. Just turned 40, she regrets some of the choices she's made in her life, exchanging a chance at love and family for her career. She finds herself wanting more and more to have someone to love, someone to grow old with, but as time passes, she wonders if that ship has sailed and if it's too late for her.
My notes: I love Alex. She's intelligent and feisty and hilarious, and knows how to keep the Gates men in order, along with being caring and gorgeous and understanding and supportive and just gah, brilliant. In the midst of lots of amazing scenes, the scene with Simon in Hope Persists still amuses me, because it's Simon being gross, and her reactions are priceless. And then she tells him off: 'Don't talk with your mouth full', and she solidifies into this awesome badass instantaneously. Hope Persists in general just shows her off: hilarious due to the galore of snark-with-Simon; gorgeous due to Nathan's falling head over heels; understanding when Evan gets angry with her; and well, awesome, due to the whole discovery of virus answer thing, which is you know, the main plot, so it's sort of important. In a way. The Beginning in the End is interesting because she gets shy when she meets everybody outside of work at Christmas, and there's a sense of regret underlying her conversation with Nathan which shows that there's more to her that first meets the eye. *makes a mental note to ask more about that* And then later on, she starts talking to April, and I'm pretty sure they could beat the Gates men in every way with their awesomeness, which is saying something, considering my love for D!G and Simon. And both The Beginning in the End and What The Lady Wants show her support of Nathan's recovery and isn't disgusted (like she would be, JFC, it's D!G), which shows that she's awesome in pretty much every way. ALEX, ILU.
April Newcastle (Billie Piper)
April never calls in sick. A few months ago when she had the flu, she showed up to work and Sam had to pull her chair away from her desk, push it down the hall and into the elevator, with her in it, to get her to go home. ( A Scribbled Out Name)
Casting meme summary: The current press secretary, April caught the interest of President St. James with many of her hard hitting news articles, covering the wide array of social problems that still plague the fledgling world, and was one of the first hired for the President's new staff. April's childhood was not a pleasant one; born to teenaged parents who were forced to marry, she was never a wanted child. Her father walked out when April was a teenager, and by the time April left home, she and her mother were practically strangers. Strong enough to overcome her past, April went to college and was a reporter for a few years before catching the attention of Harrison. Only a year older than the President's daughter, she and Penny have become best friends over the years and April was Penny's maid of honor in her recent wedding. For several years she has had to deal with the continued unwanted attention of Whitman Keller, a man she was friends with until one unfortunate evening just a year or so after she began working for Harrison. She lives with her boyfriend Simon, whom she met when he joined the Presidential Secret Service team seven years ago. She loves him very much but the recent upsurge of problems has pulled him away from her, both physically and emotionally and though she keeps busy with work, she finds herself missing him more and more lately.
My notes: April, the most awesome female character ever. Well, possibly not, but for me, she's in the Top 5. She's got the three most powerful men wrapped round her little finger due to how amazing and badass and clever and- and if you want to continue with the alphabetical positive adjective theme I'm not going to stop you because it would be all complete trufax, but I can't think of a positive adjective beginning with 'd', so I'll explain my love in a different way. She's got her baggage, and considering her parents, explained in Love and Fear, she's got the genes to be a deadbeat person too, but she overcomes the fear of that happening, and sets out (and succeeds) to do the complete opposite. She's intuitive and intelligent and hardworking (kind of ruined my alliteration but it has to be said)- as shown in Sick Day, so she's amazing at her job whilst being incredibly kind and caring and so down to Earth, so she's an amazing person overall. And because of that, she's got... six personal bodyguards, 3 of which, as I said, are the most powerful men in the world. I've called her a lucky bitch before, and I'll call her that again. Affectionately, of course.
I love her relationship with Nathan so fucking much, which Papercut portrays so perfectly, with April finding out about the ~other side of Nathan, and Nathan's protectiveness over April, and then of course, they have super awesome snuggle time at the end, which they should do all the fucking time. April's so confident the majority of the time, so seeing the unsure side of her, and the effect that her father has on her, and in contrast the way she respects and loves Nathan is really interesting. And then in Chopsticks, which is just a total remedy to the angst-fest of Papercut, where Nathan and April put unicorns and puppies and kittens skipping on rainbows to SHAME on the cuteness scale is just wonderful to see too.
And then of course there's the relationship with Simon, and Sam, and then on a lesser level Whitman, and Evan of course. APRIL IS SUCH AN EASY CHARACTER TO SHIP PEOPLE WITH, OMG.
Emily Gates (Rachel McAdams)
Emily Gates glides over to her husband and rests a delicate hand on his shoulder. "May I interrupt this highly important conversation to request a dance with my favorite politician?" She angles her head towards Nathan and smiles sweetly. Nathan grins and replies, "Of course. Sam, would you excuse -" "Thanks!" Emily says with a wave and a backwards glance at her husband, as she leads Sam out onto the middle of the ballroom. ( Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here)
Casting meme summary: Emily (Pruitt) was an art student and aspiring poet from a wealthy Napa Valley family when random circumstance intervened. She met Nathan Gates and it was love at first sight. The move to London and an infant son brought a host of stress into their young marriage, but Emily was overjoyed at the prospect of motherhood and more children. Unfortunately, fate happened again and the already troubled Gates family was forced to flee the European collapse. Emily remained faithful and strong through her husband's rise in politics, his struggles with alcoholism, her son's descent into drug abuse, and the decline of modern civilization. Her strength and determination in her battle with cancer motivated Nathan to beat his addiction, allowing them to spend her last months being as happy as they were when they first met, and upon her passing inspired her son to follow in his father's footsteps and conquer his own demons. Even in death she is the rock that holds father and son together.
My notes: Obviously the Gates family is my favourite family ever, and Emily is sort of the building blocks for the family, and her death brought Simon and Nathan back together, so for me, she might possibly be my favourite a!w. Possibly. Despite everything she went through with both Nathan and Simon's alcoholism (and drugs in Simon's case) she remained strong, and never gave up on them, which gives me so much admiration for her. This excerpt from Catching Up breaks my heart every time because of this:
He recognizes the house and the two men standing in the middle of the living room, both shouting, both angry, both drunk. The one who was five years old just a few moments ago now stands almost a good head taller than his father and is far too thin, wearing clothes that look at least two days worn. He can see her standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her face as she begs them to stop, please, just stop.
THIS IS WHY I LOVE THE GATES. Despite all the crap, they see it through, and god, it's just gorgeous.
I also love her attitude, as shown in Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here, and god, Sins of the Father breaks my heart every time. It's still remains to be one of my favourite apoca!fics, due to the insight into Nathan and Emily's relationship, and how bittersweet it all was. And she's ridiculously adorable in The Right Girl, THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD HAVE GONE. God, I just adore her and her humanity so so much.
Laurie Sullivan (Dianna Agron)
Sam nods to Laurie as he wheels the empty office chair back into April's office. She raises a perfectly arched eyebrow at him as he passes, and then turns back to the file in front of her. ( Sick Day)
My notes: Admittedly, she's only made a cameo in four fics so far, Papercut, A Trillion Asterisks, Sick Day and A Scribbled Out Name, and only talks in A Trillion Asterisks and A Scribbled Out Name, but I love her already. She's got attitude, like in Sick Day where she gives Sam the eyebrow, whilst being professional and badass (like the whole fucking rest of them). And I ship her with Evan, Nathan, Simon and April* already. You can not distract me from the sex. AND DID I MENTION THAT SHE'S PLAYED BY DIANNA FUCKING AGRON? All arguments are invalid.
* In fact, I've even made a graphic. Click the asterisk to follow through to the post on Tumblr.
Lily Santos (Summer Glau)
Lily apparently hadn't either, he discovered as he walked into the laundry room. She was seated on one of the folding tables dressed in another of his work shirts, though this one looked clean, and a pair of black panties; her bare legs dangled over the edge of the table, long and tanned, her feet swinging gently back and forth as she thumbed through an already well-thumbed magazine. ( On The House)
Casting meme summary: Lily's official job title: escort. Oldest job in the world. Maybe not the most respectable of careers, but she doesn't particularly care. Whitman Keller calls her agency one night, looking for a specific type of girl, but Whitman's not the most high rolling of customers and Lily's what he gets. Though she's only being paid for sex, she and Whitman develop a sort of connection and it's not long before she's coming to his place, not to have sex but to just sit and talk and drink and watch bad movies together. Even though he sometimes loses control with her, she doesn't back down from him, proving that she's more than capable of holding her own against the likes of him.
My notes: Lily has a huge independence and ability to stand up for herself which is the thing I love about her. Whitman's not the... calmest character in the world, and when he gives her shit, she totally calls him on it, and I have so much respect for that. I prefer it when Lily and Whitman are just talking and are friends instead of shagging all the time (although I obviously have NO problem with that) because they are so adorable, like in The Beginning in the End. Lily's very much ~there for Whitman, but she's an awesome character in her own right, from what we've seen when she's own. I think On The House shows this pretty well, where she treats Whitman's apartment like it's hers, and she takes initiative, not because it's her job, but because she wants to.
Penny Mitchell (Lenora Crichlow)
Penny smirked, shaking her head. Simon has made this sort of joke before and she's too used to it by now to comment on it. She cast her eyes over his skinny frame and shook her head again, sighing. "You do realize I hate you, right?" ( Not Yet)
Casting meme summary: Penny Mitchell, recently married, is the daughter of President St. James and his wife, Amanda. Always a bright child, she graduated college at the top of her class with a dual degree in biology and chemistry. Her dream is to teach high school but she's thus far been unable to fulfill this dream, due to the recent problems and her father's worries. Because of the close friendship between their fathers, Penny and Simon grew up together, and though they drifted apart during Simon's years of addiction, their friendship survived and now they're just as close as ever. She's also best friends with April Newcastle, who was maid of honor in Penny's wedding. She currently lives with her much beloved husband Evan and though she hopes some day to have children, she knows at the moment that it's not possible.
My notes: Penny is just so adorable and lovely, it hurts a little. Not Yet shows off Penny's relaxed, normal life which is wonderful to see because she's so cute, in contrast to Hope Persists which is still great in it's own respect, but the main arc is so dramatic, it's nice to see normal!Penny. I love her relationship with April too, especially in Love and Fear, where it's just such a normal supportive friendship, it's gorgeous. Penny is the character that provides normality in a crazy world full of crazy people, what can I say?