THE 𝓓EVIL (ₒₙ Yₒᵤᵣ SHOULDER)

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❝ somewhere between her seat and his chest, she lost her face, left it behind her like a cast-off scarf, and so she took his instead, snapping it off with two fast bites ❞    ♯ toeat    —    OLIVIA BLOOM of tara armstrong's Mary Kills People.    by lea.     21+    est. 2023

ⁱ﹚ 𝓘NFO.     ⁱⁱ﹚𝓟INBOARD.     ⁱⁱⁱ﹚ 𝓟ROMPTS.

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olivia bloom appears in all of [approximately] twenty minutes of a somewhat obscure mini-series. I do not expect you to be familiar with her or her source material. I do expect you to read my info.

don't be a weirdo <3

I tend to prioritize my friends and plotted threads. the easiest way to start something (other than reaching out via im) is to send in prompts.

please bear in mind that the show mary kills people explores topics such as voluntary euthanasia (not particularly related to olivia's characterization, but a prominent theme across the show), alcoholism, drug trafficking, toxic power dynamics, abusive family dynamics, internalized misogyny and murder/gen violence. olivia is a wolf in sheep's clothing, hiding behind the mantles of mother and housewife.

NAME.   Olivia Sinéad Bloom. maiden name Loren.

↪ a homonym of a diminutive, "Liv"

AGE.   thirty-eight; verse-dependent

DATE OF BIRTH.   december 30th

PLACE OF BIRTH.   Vieux-Port de Montréal, [Montreal], Quebec

CITIZENSHIP.   Canadian [Dual American; verse-dependent]

MARITAL STATUS.   widowed (arc ii).

A self-described "boring stay-at-home mom" to an eight-year-old girl, Olivia Bloom is a creature of details; the (wo)man behind the man behind Bloom Appliances, a small chain of appliance warehouses used to smuggle narcotics.

FIVE POSITIVE TRAITS. resourceful, organized, [selectively] patient, confident

FIVE NEGATIVE TRAITS. vindictive, manipulative, impulsive, arrogant

SEXUALITY. bisexual. not explicitly closeted, though not overtly out.

SPOUSE. Travis Bloom — deceased (murdered by Desmond 'Des' Bennett*)

CHILDREN. Maya Loren

SIBLING(S). Grady Loren — deceased (murdered indirectly by Mary Harris)

*after placing herself in Des's path shortly after his release from prison, believing him to be the sole party responsible for her brother's death, Olivia coerces him [and Mary Harris] into killing her husband in a twisted interpretation of karmic justice.

GENERAL SUMMARY.

arc i. the unseen hand behind her family's operation, olivia hides beneath the meticulously crafted image of the idyllic wife. the doting mother. docile and unsuspecting. but it all seems to collapse in a matter of months as grady is swept up in his own hubris and left to bleed to death on his living room floor and travis, emboldened by the sudden vacuum, takes more than he can repay.

arc ii. the [apparent] solution to all of her problems all but falls into her lap: desmond 'des' bennett is a man easily led, with a moderately successful side-business in murder. she decides to simply ask; it was the least he could do, wasn't it? an eye for an eye. but des is just a face and behind it she finds her own reflection in a diminutive doctor. an attraction, a fixation, that makes her clumsy. impulsive. left to improvise at every turn, clawing her way back to status quo by the skin of her teeth and nothing to learn from it.

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no pride post is going to be funnier than several of my friends begging me not to hit on their moms

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I plan to remake this post as well, but a visual element I'm kind of obsessed with is mary and olivia's matching outfits (with opposite palettes) throughout the season. usually in the same episode but more often when there is some kind of parallel in their development

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no writing today because I have been moving since 7am, but I am renovating olivia's the boys/gen. superhero verse a little bit

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also: olivia being the most male-centered misandrist on the planet

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Mary: "but I let [your brother] Grady bleed out and die.

"If you ever mess with me or Des again, I will kill you too. My name is Mary. Hi."

Olivia:

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rewatching and once again thinking about olivia being so attracted to mary that it almost fucking killed her

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where @lifeforms fell in the wider taxonomy of her world, she was still deciding. they weren't friends—not in that saccharine display she'd watched grady grow to master, collecting people and huddling them around him like a child hoards stuffed animals in bed—but she was harmless enough.

"oh, you do know how to smile," she teases and olivia obediently brightens with a soft hum of laughter.

"when it suits me," she says, dipping her head.

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so yesteryear sucked..

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ragebaiting user graveflwers by quizzing them about catholicism and getting them addicted to educational games with microtransactions

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olivia bloom 🤝 natalie

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she did this for me

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"YEAH—" it's clipped. awkward as humor attempts to wraps its ways around the single syllable, the taut smile that twists her lips more akin to performance than habit.

"well. grady could be a bit of an ass." she speaks like she breathes. a low exhale as she shoulders graze the doorframe, not quite leaning. she looks past him, eyes sweeping the living room as if in silent inventory.

@amerigasms

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went out to support my friend's burlesque troupe last night and one of the dancers did an entire routine as a hot dog

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olivia's love tastes like almond milk.

yours is a bittersweet love. your love is human, mature, tame, down to earth. you’re not one to believe in fairytales. fireworks and stomach butterflies are great, they are fun, but you want something solid, rooted. you want a companion. as almond does, your love has some natural sweetness to it. the one that comes from sharing life with someone. but you do not like sugar coating, you do not like excessive sweetness. it can get nauseous. why do you leave that bitter aftertaste on your lover’s mouth? as anyone ever complained to you? is it because you’re too disenchanted?

it really took you a while to let your guard down. were you hurt on a previous relationship? or did you spend so much time alone, that now you value your independence more than everything? you also value honesty and loyalty. your love is not made for ambiguity. i think you might not be a fan of “situationships”. again, you are and want something warm, enduring, a cane you can lean on just in case you need to. your love feels like slow mornings, like a routine that anchors you to reality. it’s not loud or flashy, but it’s rich in memory and nuance.

tagged by @sistrsage (stolen from gadflies) tagging @echosdeath, @pinkman, @pixistic (for bonnie <3), @killerdame, you <3

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they were not friends, of that she had no illusions. olivia didn't have many friends—that was more grady's pet project, carefully cultivating his collection of starry-eyed followers and dead-eyed confidants for as long as she could reasonably remember—or, more aptly, she didn't care to keep them. but she liked @sistrsage; liked the novelty of being seen; liked the lack of need for niceties or pretense.

"he's disappeared for longer before," she sets twin glasses on the table, their contents dimly reflected in the polished surface as condensation pooled downward, and takes the opposite seat. "I'm sure he'll be back," she says with a shrug, her smile habitually pacifying. "I'm handling it."

[pinkman-arc]

the speed with which she flits between these roles is almost dizzying. disorienting. as if she’s starring in a one-woman show, ceaselessly modifying the choreography. (lean forward. backward. school your expression into a mask of placid contentment. dangle a carrot before the starving audience. take the sum total of your pain, the physical evidence of your vulnerability, and bury it ‘til the applause tapers off.) time doesn’t change everything, jesse thinks — then unthinks it, casting her a rueful glance. he can’t keep playing devil’s advocate.

“look, i appreciate the opportunity ‘n all, but…” he tips his chin down, suddenly preoccupied with the pristine solidity of the floor under his feet. “i wasn’t, like, the best student.” that’s the understatement of the century. “you know, i sucked at it. stickin’ your nose in some dusty-ass textbooks, jumping outta your seat when the teacher asks who did their homework— and like, applying yourself? that wasn’t my thing.” jesse’s academic activities took a backseat to mastering the art of juvenile delinquency. sweet-talking the coolest chick on the cheer squad. accompanying ginny to her doctor’s appointments and chewing his cuticles in the waiting room.  “so i’ll haveta pass.”

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it's an old wound. scabby at the edges but ultimately unhealed. if she prodded it from the right angle, really dug her fingers in, she wondered if he'd cry.

he looks away, gluing his eyes to the marble in that kicked-dog hang that probably stirred something in most women. olivia remains where she was, arms faintly tightening for every ounce of irritation she wouldn't permit anywhere else. it won't be much of a fight, not really, but even the performance of it is exhausting.

"I'm not your guidance counselor, jesse. I don't want honors, just results." it's a business deal. she studies him—the proverbial ball in what ultimately amounted to a daedalian game of keep away—and exhales an overcooked sigh. "can't say I'm not a little disappointed, I really see something in you... but if you really don't think you're up to it," she trails. lifts her shoulders in a whatcanoyoudo shrug.

"I won't force the matter."

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I've been tearing through boy parts by eliza clark and thinking a lot about this excerpt