#but there's a lot of stuff i wanted to talk about and clear up because i'm really playing fast and loose with all this

[rosenclaws]

Lighting up the Night || Logan Howlett x Reader

prompt: Watching the stars together on a clear summer night w/ Og trilogy Logan

warnings: jealous!reader, small angst, mostly fluff, the reader does not know how to drive lmao.

wc: 2.1k

a/n: Hello!! This is my fic for @lareinedulune Wet, Hot, Logan Summer ficathon!! I was assigned this prompt for @best-wolverine-22 <33 I really hope you like it I kinda went in a small angst direction at because I just love angst but its a happy ending I swear!! Hope you enjoy it!!

"Please please Logan pleaseeeee. You promised!" You tugged on his leather jacket sleeve. Pushing your lips together to make the perfect pout.

"I know but things changed." Logan says as he stuffs his keys in his pocket. You huff in frustration as you let go. You catch a whiff of his cologne, something he rarely puts on unless he's got a date.

"I have to meet up with someone." Logan says as he stops and fixes his hair in the mirror.

A wave of jealousy surges through you as you roll your eyes. Yeah a date. Logan was a handsome man and him getting asked out wasn't a surprise, but him saying yes was. At least that's what you heard happened. A friend of a friend kind of thing. You don't have the heart to ask him for the dirty details.

"But Logan It's the last night of the summer solar storm. Please it's my only chance to see the Northern Lights." You beg.

The sky hadn't been cooperating, clouds blocking your vision for most of the week. But tonight was supposed to be perfect clear skies. That mixed with a wild magnetic storm created the perfect opportunity to see the Northern Lights all the way here. The best spot to see them is far from the mansion up on a big hill away from the city.

The problem? Well you never really got your license. To be fair you never really needed it. You were a mutant on the run for most of your teenage years so no one could really teach you how to drive. When you got settled at the mansion you didn't see a reason to learn. Now you're way past 16 and in desperate need of a ride.

You could sort of drive? I mean how hard could it be right? But Scott and surprising Logan were strict on not letting you steal a car. Logan often drove you where ever you needed to go. Except for tonight apparently.

He sighs as he turns back around. You can see he's close to breaking but then his damn phone buzzes and the hope you have slips away.

"Why don't you ask Scott?" He asks as walks towards the garage. You scrunch your face up in disgust.

"I don't want to go with Scott..." You mumble. Logan sighs and offers you an apologetic look.

"I won't take long alright? When I get back, I can take you." He says before getting onto his motorcycle. You watch as he disappears into the horizon.

Your heart twisting into an ugly feeling as you storm back through the mansion.

You didn't want anyone else to take you. As immature as it sounded you wanted Logan to take you because well, you liked him. A lot. Talking to your crush was never your strong suit so you thought maybe a night of stargazing would help you work up the courage. You held the power of them in your hands and yet you couldn't ask the man you like out on a proper date and now he's going on one with a complete stranger.

You set up a little viewing area out in the backyard, hoping to see a glimpse of the northern lights but they were just too weak. You thought about Logan.

Would he be home in time? Or was his date going well. You bet they're laughing and he's calling her cute names and flirting with her. You want him to flirt with you. Jealousy creeps into your brain as you angrily storm back in.

This was a once in a life time moment and you were going to see them. Not even Logan and his date could stop you.

You snuck through the kitchen and rummaged through the drawers, finding were Scott hid his keys. The man should really consider putting a lock on these things. Sneaking off to the garage and hopping in a car. Before anyone could catch wind of what you were doing you were out of there. It was freeing.

The air was warm and the windows were down as you drove down the empty road. See you were doing fine. You swerved a little bit but always corrected yourself. You don't know why Logan would always insist on taking you instead of just teaching you how to drive. Not that you really needed him now.

The music blasted through the radio as you hummed along to whatever pop song was playing. The trees flew past you as the moon lit up the world in front of you. Now this was what you were missing. The stars were peaking out, starting to shine brightly in the night sky. A few hints of green and purple could be seen but nothing clear. You were getting close though.

You slowed the car as you passed by a small diner. You brought the car to a stop as you realized how hungry you were. In your annoyance you never ate dinner. Well...a little pit stop wouldn't hurt right? The parking job could have been a little better but there were barely any other cars in the parking lot.

You strolled into the diner smiled at the hostess. And then, you saw him. Logan. Shit. What was he doing here? Who goes on a date to a roadside diner?? His eyes narrowed in on you as you made eye contact. You turned around and hurried out of there but Logan was fast.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Logan's voice boomed through the parking lot.

"Getting some pancakes?" You say shyly as you play with the keys in your hand. He crosses his arm and stares with an intensity you've never seen before. He walks right up to you and grabs the keys out of your hand.

"Do you know how badly this could have ended? What if you had gotten pulled over? They would have thrown your ass in jail and then what?" Logan waits for an answer but you don't have one.

"I was doing fine-"

"That's not the point. This?" He points at the car.

"This is Illegal. What if you had gotten into an accident and no one knew where the hell you were?" His voice raises and you feel yourself shrink. Logan puffs his chest as you refuse to look him in the eye.

"Since when do you follow the rules.?" You snap. Logan's eyes widen and you instantly regret what you've said.

"When the rules are there to keep you safe. I follow them." He growls.

You gave him a damn heart attack. You're the last person he expected to show up and when he saw the keys in your hand he knew what you had done. He didn't think twice following you out of there. He slammed down a twenty and left to make sure you didn't drive off again. He should have just taken you, he would of.

In fact he was planning on it until Charles asked him for help. Logan tried to get out of it at first, I mean you don't exactly go to Wolverine for people skills. But Charles had insisted. Logan wasn't a people person but the woman they needed information from...was attracted to Logan. So it was a simple plan. Go on a little "date" and get the information.

"I just wanted to see the stars." You whispered. Logan sighs and stuffs the keys into his pocket.

"What's the deal with the damn stars? I know you like them but you're smart enough to know this was a stupid idea."

"I..." Your heart is racing.

Being caught sucks but trying to explain you were jealous and petty felt even worse. It was embarrassing. You're an adult you should be able to handle your feelings without doing something impulsive.

"Get in the car, come on sweetheart." Logan says softer than before. The anger slowly fading as he sees the sad look on your face.

"What about your bike?"

"I'll get it tomorrow." You don't argue as you get into the car. It's quiet as he pulls out of the parking lot. You aren't really paying attention as he drives back.

"Sorry for ruining your date." You say and Logan just shrugs.

"Wasn't a date."

"It looked like one." Logan looks over and sees the flash of jealousy. He has to hide his smile, you aren't as subtle as you think.

"You jealous?" He asks as he turns his attention back to the road.

"No." You say quickly making Logan chuckle. Man you're adorable when you're jealous.

The car comes to a stop and Logan hops you. You look around and see you're higher up in the hills.

"Logan? This isn't the mansion." You call as he gets out. You step out of the car and follow him to a small patch of grass.

"I thought you wanted to see the stars." He says. You look around and realize where you are.

There's not another car in sight. In the distance are the lights of the city and the sky, the sky was so big. Nothing was in the way of the inky darkness as the sky was lit up with faint colors. Logan groans as he sits down, sticking his legs out as he leans back on his hands. He pats the spot next to him and you sit down with him.

"Oh it's so much better than I thought." You sigh as you watch the sky light up with color. The stars twinkle like lights.

"Never did much star gazing." Logan says as he looks over at you.

You have this look of awe, like you've never seen anything like this before. It's just the stars. Logan has seen thousands of night skies and they all look the same to him, but tonight it's looking pretty special.

"I know that it makes people feel small, like we're just specks of dust floating on a bigger speck of dust." You say and Logan laughs.

"That's comforting." He says with a snort. You shrug and look back at the sky.

"In a weird way it is. Sometimes when things get crazy I just like to watch the stars. Reminds me of how beautiful this place can be." You say softly. Logan places his hand on top of yours, squeezing it gently.

"Yeah..." He whispers as he's looking at you.

Your heart flutters softly as you feel the calloused softens of his hands. His hazel eyes reflect the moonlight, lighting up with hues of brown, green, and blue. Fuck why does he have to be so damn pretty.

"Can I tell you something?" You ask and Logan nods.

"I was jealous..." You admit. There's a knowing smile on his face but he lets you continue.

"I wanted to see the lights with you because I wanted to tell you that I liked you and then I heard you were going on a date and I decided to drive myself out here." Logan pulls you closer to him. Putting you on his lap as he brushes your cheek with his thumb.

"Yeah? You like me that much hm?" He teases and your smile drops, a small pout forming making him hold onto you tighter.

"Okay okay I'm joking." He chuckles as he looks up at the colorful natural light show.

"I like you too sweetheart, thought I was being obvious but I guess not."

"Obvious?"

"You think I drive around other people just because?" He asks and you shrug.

"I wanted to be around you."

Your heart melts, a soft dreamy sigh leaving your lips as you lean against Logan's shoulder.

"That's so cheesy." You tease and he wraps an arm around you.

The summer wind blows past, the warm blowing the grass around. A few fireflies find themselves blinking in the grass. Almost showing off to the sky as they light up the ground. The starts twinkle brightly as the northern lights put on the show of your dreams.

"That's Perseus." You say as you point towards a constellation. "And right next to him is Andromeda."

"He fell in love at first sight and rescued her from a sea monster. The gods memorialized them in the sky to show their love forever." You tell Logan. He catches the loving look on your face and grins.

"I'd slay a sea monster for you sweetheart, I'd slay a hundred of em so we can be in the stars forever." Logan's never been the best at words but the look in your eyes show that he's said something right.

He rests his head on top of your head, his hand rubbing your side gently. The crickets chirp and sing, providing the perfect music to your star watching. This was everything you wanted. This was perfect.

"I don't want to go back home." You hum.

Logan presses a small kiss to your head, smiling when he hears your heart skip a beat. Oh he's got you hooked, but then again, so do you.

"Who says we have to be home? You're with me sweetheart. We have all the time in the world."

[revelboo]

Hey Revel, I hope you are doing well. I'm sure your request box is full, but I just wanted to ask you if we could get some Everything is alright stuff, my favorite accident, or Gladiator Megatron x reader. Also, I finished with the first 30 seconds of my animatic, but my computer decided it had had enough of my shenanigans and decided to stop saving my clip studio art unless I give it maintenance to get more space. So, it's going to take longer to finish than I thought. Anyway, here is a silly little wip (I hate drawing him differently every time)

Look at him! 💕

Everything Is Alright Pt 166

Starscream x Reader, Soundwave x Reader, Megatron x Reader

• Stretched out beside your sleeping daughter, you glance nervously over at where Megatron, Soundwave, the Seekers, and Shockwave are talking strategy. A lot of it going over your head, but it’s important so you’re trying to pay attention, smiling faintly when she kicks in her recharge, little peds brushing your belly. And you go still when a shadow falls across you, skin prickling when you look up and see Shockwave looming over you. Just staring. How the hell is he so silent when he’s so big?

• “Ore 13’s too unstable to be used for more than maybe a joor at a time,” Starscream mutters, shaking his head at Megatron. “Any longer and we risk it doing permanent damage to fuel lines and pumps. And we don’t know how it will interact with outlier abilities.” Turning to Shockwave for the scientist’s support, his wings tuck close to his frame then flare aggressively spotting the other mech leaning over you and his sparkling on the berth. “Shockwave,” he growls.

• Rumbling softly as he drifts over to nudge the scientist away from you, Soundwave sees Shockwave reach a trembling servo out. Sees you wrap an arm protectively around your daughter as Shockwave slides the tip of his servo against your arm, the touch almost affectionate as you lean away. “Your input is needed,” Soundwave says, gently laying a hand on the other mech and turning him away from you. Nudging him back over to the others. And he can feel your worried eyes on him. Doesn’t understand the broken mech’s interest in you, but he doesn’t like it.

• “Ore 13,” Megatron prompts impatiently, glancing at you as Starscream wanders over to you to check on you and he wants to do the same and can’t. Can’t risk being associated with you. For anyone to realize you matter to him, because Starscream isn’t the only one hungry for power. And you and your tiny, helpless sparkling are far too tempting a target. If the other two seekers are to be believed, the whole of the Nemesis is aware of the sparkling. Had felt her field flare into upset existence. Watches Shockwave glance back at you and it rankles him. Doesn’t know why the scientist is interested in you, but it worries him. Has seen some of his experiments and while everything he does has been done under the banner of for the good of Cybertron, it’s not always clear who really benefits. Can’t quite trust Shockwave, because he knows he doesn’t truly care about the Decepticons, the cause had simply aligned with his needs at the time. And that makes him dangerous. Unpredictable. “We can’t use it to augment Skywarp’s ability, send him in to assassinate Optimus in his berth?” A cowardly move that bothers him, but it would end this without a figurehead to really behind, the Autobots would fall. Who else would they follow? Optimus is a symbol, a beacon that unites them.

• “No, the Seeker is correct. Outlier abilities are inherently unpredictable,” Shockwave growls as your daughter reaches clumsily, little servos grabbing your shirt as she warbles. “We need an expendable weapon. I want the clone recaptured.” Hear Starscream hiss at that and you watch your mate pacing. ‘You didn’t destroy that abomination?’ Starscream snarls, wings flaring as he gets in Shockwave’s face and the scientist’s antenna flick as his head tips like Starscream’s anger is fascinating. ‘That thing is insane.’ What are they even talking about? Offering your daughter your fingers when she fusses, she chirps and mouths at your hand.

Previous

@the-little-hermit-that-could yup, I mixed up joors and vorns 🤣 thanks for catching it. I’m blaming the 3% gin and whiskey candy bars my boss brought me from a trip overseas

[sandyca5tle]

I know plenty of people have talked about this, but I want to ramble my own thoughts:

So many people still think of Team RWBY (and other characters, but gonna focus on Team RWBY for this) as their first/early appearances, and very one dimensional.

Yang is notorious for suffering this, since her initial personality is a purposeful(?) facade. The happy go lucky, no-cares-in-the-world flirty party girl is not her, or at least, it's not all of her. She absolutely can be flirty (and I look forward to more in v10), but she's not someone who doesn't care, she cares so incredibly much.

And this isn't something we learn later on, it's very clear in v1 - yes she ditches Ruby early on to go do stuff with her friends (lets be honest, who wouldn't want to go explore the new school with their friends, especially if they've already spent a lot of their life looking after their younger sister), but then she saves a spot for Ruby, and despite her reticence to be on a team with her, is immediately looking for her during initiation. This extends beyond Ruby of course, most notably Blake in Burning the Candle. It's very clear very early on that Yang is not that party girl she puts on in Yellow Trailer - and even in that, it's a means to get information about Raven.

Ruby is arguably the next most notable for suffering this, although I think more people are realising with v9, but she's not some naive and unwitting child who believes everything is always going to work out because the good guys always win. Again, this is something she acknowledges in the 3rd episode, when Blake is sort of dismissing her due to her wanting to be a huntress because of the stories she was read as a kid, she doesn't go 'oh the world is fine' she says 'that's why we're here, to make it better' she knows the world can be rough and harsh - her mother died (as far as she knew) when she was little and her father fell into a grief-fuelled depression so bad that her older sister was her primary care taker, not to mention her uncle is an alcoholic, who clearly she's had to deal with his drunken states before - she's not optimistic out of a place of naiveity, but out of a place of genuine hope and faith that it can get better, and she's determined to help achieve that.

There's also very clearly some bad habits picked up from Yang, and likely only worsened by Ozpin's talk at Beacon (I've got thoughts on that too). Yang has a happy go lucky facade, well so does Ruby, and she employs it to cover up the crushing weight of all of the expectations placed on her. That's why everyone assumes she's always so happy and cheerful and fine, it's a facade. She is more hopeful and optomistic than most, but that's not endless, and she's only human, she has breaking points - V9 being the most obvious, but v8 also shows her struggling with the pressure put on her.

She's also shown that she's a mature and capable leader, but again, people still see her as the naive little kid.

Weiss is next, at least in my opinion, so many people have her stuck in their minds as the stuck up, rich girl who knows nothing about the real world. To some degree, this was right originally, Weiss had much less real world experience than the rest of her team - but she's also competing against two children who are the children of the previous 'top' hunter team, and an ex-white fang member, who has carried out a great many actual operations, so it's a bit of a high bar.

However, Weiss does get over her 'stuck up-edness', and infact becomes incredbily compassionate, helping her teammates out and comforting them when she can (see the conversation with Yang in v5 in particular, or even earlier, trying to get Blake to talk about her issues in v2).

She was also never that naive about the world. Granted, she had limited socialisation outside of her family and Atlesian high society, but, as she says while in Mountain Glenn, she's not unaware of her father's questionable business practices, even doubling down on that being part of her reasoning for wanting to be a huntress when Blake points out her lightened language around the fact. She, of all people, knows exactly how bad her father is, and that's why she's at Beacon, to do better and fix what her father broke - not the actions of a unaware rich kid.

Lastly, Blake. I feel like a lot of people still see her as 'the emo one' as Qrow put it, which is not something she's been for a long time. Once she got answers about Torchwick and the White Fang (before the Fall) she cheered up immensely, and was happily cheering on her team, eating giant bowls of tuna, and blushing at a boy flirting with her. And even before then - she was very much involved in the early antics of Yang and Ruby, being the third vote for the bunk beds, and joining in with the call of 'Bonzai' alongside them. And ofc in the later volumes, she's playful, joking, and teasing with her team, and specifically Yang as well of course

Just wanted to get this out because I think it's a shame that we've been given these amazing three dimensional characters, and they just get reduced to the first impression, and often critisized for any deviation from those as 'out of character' despite either character development than explains the new behaviour, or it's something that's always been a part of their character and people just missed because it was subtle.

[busanlove9597]

it's been a while but i was going through my likes and found one of your posts talking about jk's sexuality and given the recent direction of his career and the leaked video I was curious if you had thoughts about everything

i was just looking through my old asks and decided to reply to this now because i feel like this topic might come up again at some point, and honestly, the discussions i’ve seen around it were very… black and white.

yeah, i have thoughts, and i appreciate the way you phrased this because it’s a complex subject that deserves nuance. and i love nuance!

first, on jk’s sexuality: i’ve been vocal for a long time about my belief that he’s gay or at least somewhere under the queer umbrella. and i want to be clear: i’m not projecting, i’m not reaching, and i’m definitely not trying to label someone without consent. i’m a queer woman. i’ve spent my whole life surrounded by queer people, including lots of queer men who present in very different ways. and when i watch jk, i see something i recognize.

there’s a kind of queerness that lives in the quiet, in body language, in softness that doesn’t feel performative, in the way someone holds eye contact or doesn’t, in the way they relate to other men, in the way they express themselves without fear or sometimes with too much fear. and that’s the stuff that stands out with jk.

he presents as masculine, sure. he works out, builds muscle, is insanely athletic, drives a motorcycle, does boxing and all kinds of classically manly things. but none of that makes someone straight. queer men can be strong. queer men can love sports. queer men can lift weights, race motorcycles, be competitive, sexy, physical and still be deeply, fully queer. being masculine-presenting isn’t the opposite of being queer. it’s just one of many expressions.

and the idea that queerness can only look one way, that it has to be soft, flamboyant, or visibly gender-nonconforming, is such a narrow, outdated view. queer masculinity exists. i’ve seen it. i’ve lived alongside it. and honestly, that’s what jk feels like to me. his masculinity doesn’t feel like armor. it feels natural, expressive, open, sometimes even gentle. he doesn’t overcompensate. he doesn’t push femininity away. he’s never seemed threatened by softness. he wears what he wants. he paints his nails. he shows affection. and he allows his emotional self to exist in public, which is a big deal in a culture and industry that usually doesn’t make room for that in men.

and here’s something else i think about: the idea of men performing for the male gaze, not just the female gaze. there’s a version of masculinity that’s all about earning status among other men, being dominant, powerful, sexy in a way that commands respect. a lot of male idols lean into this. it’s not just about being attractive to women; it’s about proving something to other men. but jk doesn’t feel like he’s performing in that way either. there’s not a lot of ego in how he presents. when he shows his body, it never feels like “look how much better i am than other men.” it feels more like “this is something i worked hard for and i’m proud of it.” it’s not about dominance. it’s about presence. he exists in his body and lets people see him. that feels very different from performing masculinity for validation. and again, it’s something i’ve seen a lot in queer men who’ve had to reclaim their bodies and strength on their own terms.

so when people point to his solo music, songs he didn’t even write, and try to use that as proof of heterosexuality, i just don’t buy it. the lyrics, the themes, the visuals… all of it was carefully curated for mass appeal, for western markets, for mainstream consumption. it’s hot. it’s sexy. it’s heteronormative. but it’s also very much a performance. and performance doesn’t equal identity. queer people have performed straightness forever, especially when we had to. and idols always have to.

and then there’s that video: grainy, unconfirmed, taken without consent, uploaded to weibo (please correct me if i’m wrong, this was a long time ago) in the worst possible way. the ethics around even discussing it are murky. and even if it was him (and that’s still a big if) being seen with a woman doesn’t disprove queerness. queer people are in all kinds of relationships. we move through the world in complicated ways. and again: we’re talking about a man who’s been in the public eye since he was a teenager. who knows what he’s had to do to survive in this industry.

so yeah, none of that changed anything for me. if anything, it just reminded me how quick people are to cling to “proof” that fits their assumptions, while ignoring all the things that don’t.

and since this is a jikook blog, let’s just say i’ve seen things. i’ve felt the weight of what they don’t say. and the way jk looks at jimin, the way he opens up around him, the way he lets go of the performance when he’s near him… yeah. i still believe.

[inkpotsprite]

opinions on jason, damian, barbara, and dick? i’ve followed you for a while and from what i can gather your stephanie browns biggest fan. i know you like cass, tim, and duke as well, so i guess i was just wondering your opinions on the remaining 3 batkids+ oracle?

Actually I'm not even the biggest fan of Steph compared to others on here 😅 I only really started getting to know her character a few months ago, I love her because she's tenacious, bold, funny and just such a compelling character to read, and I'm so hyped to get to know her better, but you're better looking at @a-bad-case-of-the-stephs or @casscainmainly if you want to see some really good Steph stuff/recs. They're pretty much the reason I started reading Steph comics (and comics in general)

I adore Steph, but I'm barely a quarter way through my journey on getting into her history, though I'm pretty sure I'm on my way to being one of her biggest fans. Until then, I'll just be one of her many defenders.

Now, to actually answer your question:

Barbara -

I love her. Like Steph, I only recently started exploring her character. I only really know her from Batgirl 2000, Batgirls 2022, and the Birds of Prey comics.

I find her relationship with Cass so interesting. There's so much love between them but a lack of understanding, plus they have some of the most gorgeous and heartwrenching panels in Batgirl 2000. Also how Cass views Babs as a mother figure at times as well as a mentor, how Babs wants so badly for Cass to have a life outside Batgirl and unlike Bruce, does what she can to understand and accept Cass as the imperfect person she is.

I think Barbara as a character is brilliant, particularly when she's Oracle, she's clever, pragmatic, resilient and while her logical mind is one of her greatest strengths it can also work against her when emotions are high for others like in BoP (1999) with getting Helena into the group or BoP (2023) when she suggests a woman kill her own sister to make things go smoother. I like this, because her greatest strength can be a flaw and it makes her character so much more interesting because of it. Sue me, I'm a sucker for flawed female characters.

But overall, Babs is someone who really gives her all for those she loves, like the times she puts so much on the line for Dinah or when she faces down an angry Batman for Helena or when she tells both Dick and Bruce to go to hell at different points for Cass. And that's just what comes to mind right now. Babs will rewrite the world for those she loves and I really like that trait. Not to mention she's a total badass.

Dick -

I like him well enough, but he really does live up to his name at times. Especially because any time he appears in a comic with characters I like (Helena, Cass, Babs, Duke, Steph) he's honestly horrible to them and that makes it hard to like him...in canon.

See, I got into this fandom through fanon and fanon Dick - I'm talking about fanon that took elements of canon and did a deep dive - is a lot of fun to read, especially when they look deeper into issues that went unaddressed because of bad writing or comic book shenanigans.

I do think canon Dick has a lot of good traits, the fanon stuff doesn't always come from nowhere after all, I just find it harder to vibe with him because of how he tends to hurt other characters I love. So I really can't give a good and clear opinion on him.

I do think his temper, arrogance and slight self-absorbed traits can make for interesting storytelling if done right. And it probably has been, I just need to find the right comics. He's also funny, a little dorky (wing dings anyone?) And someone who really does care deeply and fiercely, to his own detriment at times. I love writing him, but for reading outside of fanfic...I need to do some more exploring.

Jason -

His canon is so messy that it's hard to give a proper opinion on him. Especially because writers tend to give him "cool" moments at the expense of other characters (Cass and Helena immediately come to mind) but I do like seeing him alongside Duke, they're always hilarious together and I feel like a lot could be explored with them if given more time.

He was actually one of the more tolerable people in Robin War (WAR kids not included bc they're amazing) he actually tried to see where the WAR kids were coming from, didn't talk down to them much and actually spoke up for them a couple of times.

Jason himself is brave, funny, deeply emotional and so interesting as a character, it's his writers that are the problem. It's why I personally like fanon Jason more because said fans (while they don't get everything right) do take the time to explore his character, his mindset and relationships.

I love Jason and have written him many times in my fics, he's so messy and flawed yet it all comes from a place of being hurt and not wanting to be hurt again.

Last but not least, the baby - ahem, I mean Damian -

He's such a little asshole in the comics I've read him in (Batgirl 2009 and Robin War) but he's also a kid, one who's been through literal hell, he's got so much to work on - his arrogance, holier than thou attitude, casual verbal cruelty - but he's also got so much going for him - his loyalty, love for animals, his ability to question things and change - he's such a complicated character, but also just a kid.

One of my favourite comics starring him is The Boy Wonder by Juni Ba. It's such a well written exploration of Damian, Robin and Talia. Not to mention the themes of questioning the rich and powerful. It's one of my favourite iterations of Damian which I think really captures his essence. A guarded, flawed, loyal, loving and insecure kid trying to understand himself and his place in both the world and his family.

I especially like his relationships with Steph, Duke and Dick. With Steph and Duke, they see a kid first and foremost, and give him second chances despite rough first (second, third, tenth) impressions. They encourage him to have fun (via movies and bouncy castles) and I think their dynamics with him are both sweet and compelling.

With Dick, he's a cross between a brother, a mentor and an almost father figure, there's so many layers to their relationship and I love seeing them get explored.

Thank you for giving me the chance to ramble once more, anon! I hope these answers helped somewhat 💜💜💜

[teacups-diary]

His Crush!! (Johnny Cade x Reader)

Notes: Hashtag!!!! I LOVE REQUESTS THANK YOU!!!! Big three hour trip means writing machine is open for business so if you all see an influx in fics in roughly four hours, don't mind me I HOPE YOU ENJOY!!

You were the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, the prettiest girl to ever live on the 'wrong side of the tracks' in Tulsa, he'd always liked you, even if he'd never ever admit that to you, you did notice the stares from the entire gang of Greasers and whispers, you always felt awkward about that

You didn't even know it was because Johnny Cade had hushedly admitted his whole thing for you and the fact he had a massive crush on you to the boys by accident, that would've entertained you but Johnny wasn't planning on ever letting you know

You two sat near each other in most classes, you always stared a little, you couldn't help it, wondering how he lived, how he managed to be beat up and still look pretty, you never caught onto how he'd stare at you, wish the smiles you shot friends were aimed at him

He'd watch you mess around during classes without a care, poking your friends with a ruler during math class before mouthing whatever gossip you'd picked up through the grape vine, missing shots in gym class when you all did sports but cheering all the same, it was cute, he liked that sort of thing

Next time he saw you he was at the diner with some of the gang, all messing around, Dallas shooting the paper off of straws and at tired waitresses, Johnny would just smile a little, Ponyboy found it hilarious, Johnny found it pretty funny, well, he did

But then he saw you working your shift at the diner and suddenly not many things were funny, he almost went white "Dal, ya needa be more sneaky about it" Johnny shook his head, Two-Bit piped up with a grin "What's the fun in that Johnnycakes? C'mon, we won't get in no trouble"

"She won't like that stuff- what if she has to clean all that up?" Johnny didn't even have to say your name, the boys just groaned, the kid sure is in love, and if Dallas didn't care about Johnny so much he would've smacked him upside the head for trying to put a stop to any fun

Eventually, you came over to take their order, Johnny remained eerily silent as his dark brown eyes bore into you, you took their orders and Two-Bit ordered for Johnny who didn't seem to want to speak one bit, as soon as you left Johnny breathed a sigh of relief

"Were you trying to flirt or scare her?" Dallas questioned honestly slightly amused yet confused at the 'stare silently' approach, Ponyboy nodded in agreement "You look scary to people who ain't us, ya really gotta work on that" and Two-Bit adds his two cents "Try talkin' to her when she next comes over"

And so he did when you came over with the drinks "Ya- uhm, ya ever been to the diner before this-" Johnny clears his throat and you glance around with a pause "I work here- are you alright Johnny?" and Johnny freezes "Ya know my name already?" You nod

"We sit beside each other in basically every class" You give a slight friendly smile now and Dallas speaks up "What Johnnycakes here is trying to say is 'do you wanna go to the diner outside of work'" Johnny's neck almost snaps with how fast he turns his head to Dallas

"Gee, ya don't gotta- not at all- no pressure here- no siree" Johnny shakes his head and you just giggle a little, a sound that makes him melt from the inside out, to think just a few days ago he was wishing that sound was aimed at him and now it was? It was different, a lot more intense

"No, I'd like to, really Johnny" You say with a gentle maybe slightly bashful smile, his awkward behaviour was surprisingly cute actually and Johnny perks up "Really?" You give a nod, your manager calling for you to get some work done

"Really- sorry- I'll talk to you about it in a little" You nod before hurrying off so you don't get yelled at again, and Johnny completely deflates into the seat with probably the most blissed expression any of them had seen him have

"I gotta date" He said tipping his head back, Ponyboy laughed, Two-Bit slapped his back in congratulations, and Dallas? He cracked a smile for the first time in a while

[lsunstreakerl]

Does Carlos ever explain the whole werewolf deal to Max in great detail? The concept of a den and a pack? That Carlos claimed Max as a pack mate and that other werewolfs will automatically back off of Max because of that? That it's Jos smell that's so rancid to Carlos? The concept of a knot and how it usually doesn't happen outside the full moon/rut, unless it's triggered by deep possessiveness? That Jos was that trigger? Does Max ever give Carlos worn clothes for his den?

Or does Max just roll with everything Carlos throw's at him for the next 10 years with the sole explanation of "werewolf." ?

Do werewolfs court their potential mates in your verse?

I'm so sorry for the spam of questions, versainz is just very dear to me <3

I love questions! I'd like to think that some stuff gets slowly explained (or max gets curious) but I definitely don't think everything is clear and upfront from day 1 because this is carlos and max we're talking about.

max develops an understanding that carlos likes to have a small space that smells like him, and he likes to have max in it, but it's not until he hears carlos actually talking about a den that he puts two and two together.

the concept of pack is not explained to max until sainz sr has his fist meet jos' face. and that's a long conversation. (carlos gets in trouble for not explaining the pack thing to max. max is reeling from how many people are suddenly willing to violently throw down for him. carlos has a big pack.)

max notices that carlos obsessively scents him every time he meets with jos about anything, but it takes a while for him to realize to two things are related, and that conversation is how he learns how different carlos' sense of smell is. and also that he can smell when max is turned on, which explains a LOT.

max asks the most questions from the beginning about the knot, cause he's a freak. (carlos should fuck him. for science. obviously.) carlos explains it happens during the full moon and max is like "well the first time was in the middle of that day, so make that make sense" and carlos has to admit it was because he was feeling possessive. he never upfront admits that it was jos causing that feeling, but max figures it out randomly at a bar one night while he's casually thinking about it. has a big lightbulb moment while he's drinking gin and then can't elaborate to anyone on what exactly he just figured out, lol

carlos steals clothes before max just starts giving them to him. (max gets caught up on the occasional human weirdness of it- he's like "I just did a workout in these you don't want them" and carlos is literally drooling for it) but the first time max is at the sainz estate and sees carlos' home den he's like "when the fuck did you steal this much of my teamkit. how long have you been working on that."

sometimes carlos can get away with just being like "it's a werewolf thing you wouldn't get it" but over time max realizes he can just ask the other members of the pack, and it becomes a less effective excuse.

they do! you have to be a packmate before you're a mate mate, and ofc there's all kinds of different dynamics in the pack, and there's traditionalism VS what's more likely to actually work. (carlos has some trial and error courting gifts while he tries to get that figured out.)

[thesizeofyoursoul]

I'm very careful with how I word things here, especially if I'm marking the post instead of just saying things on my blog without adding tags. I use a lot of "I think", "I believe", "for me" etc to make a distinction between subjective and objective topics. So, anytime I speak with more certainty here, it is because I know what I'm talking about.

I have never passed around my personal opinion as a fact. This fandom already has a serious problem with misinformation being spread, rpf and parassocial relationships, and I will never contribute to that. I'm so serious about it that I even exaggerate when it comes to "waiting until I'm sure". For example, when people at the SDCC said the show had a new title, I waited hours to see media outlets backing it up before I said anything. I was probably the last person to talk about it because I wanted until the very final moment with visual proof.

There are countless people here that do pass around their opinion as a fact, all it takes for them is to be snobbish, arrogant and write an overconfident long text as if they knew better than others, and suddenly it gets spread and becomes a "truth". Nobody fact-checks, nobody cares they already stated stuff that never happened, they just keep being considered trustworthy and influencing a lot of fans. There are also many people who suggest Jacob and Sam and/or Assad and Eric have affairs. There are fans who write fanfiction about the real actors. And even more problems that I could go on forever talking about. Do you want to argue with anyone? Go to them and leave me alone.

I do understand that sometimes people can be confused and make mistakes, so, if that happens to you, you can just ask me. If you're polite and/or use tone indicators, I will glad talk to you. If you just come attacking me, then I will be answering on the rude tone you're fucking asking for.

I also really care about being civil and nice, especially in a situation where stuff can be misinterpreted. When I see someone affirming something that I have no proof of, I ask them for the photo, video, article, tweet, etc, that confirms the information. I use tone indicators. As someone who is autistic, doesn't speak English as their first language and is on a blog without the social clues we have in real life like facial expressions, body language, voice intonation etc, I know more than most how things can be misinterpreted sometimes. So I take extra care to make it clear I'm not undermining or offending anyone. Some of you should do it too.

I'm so serious about not saying things without proof that I take a lot of ambiguous messages that could totally be insulting me without fighting. I'd prefer to let an offense pass than wrongly accusing an innocent person who made a harmless comment. But there is a difference between accidental ambiguity and calling somebody blind, a fuckwit, claiming I'm lying, putting words in my mouth, offending my character and dignity, being microaggressive, being borderline transphobic etc. If you politely ask me how I know something, I will tell you. I might even take hours to find the source for you. I have done it before. But if you're an asshole, then I will either leave you talking to yourself or give the cold answer you deserve. Offering the benefit of the doubt, grace, and kindness has a limit. Stop fucking testing it.

[o-uncle-newt]

I've been doing some very very interesting Sayers reading/research lately (about which more another time) but it's making me realize a) what a fascinating and often extremely problematic worldview she had, b) how extremely integrated her worldview was such that some of the more progressive-type ideas she had that many readers love are often inseparable from her more regressive ones, and c) how one of the reasons why I love the Wimsey books is that you can see her philosophies clearly play out in them BUT her character development in particular is so good that you can also read in complexities, including ones which she may not have intended.

[holdmymetaphor]

okay when i started rewatching house, it took me until 3x15 but i started to notice a pattern in house's wardrobe. the scene where foreman was trying to express sadness(?) at house's (fake) brain cancer they were both wearing pink.

After that I noticed that any time house was wearing pink, they were particularly vulnerable moments. Moments that he's feeling tender or open. Moments where he is being pretty earnest.

Then I started to notice that other colored shirts came up at different times. Light blue was his most neutral state, it represents logic and reason imo. Maybe a little bit of humor. There's a lightness or surface-ness to it.

Purple represents something like consequences or grief or guilt. any time there is purple someone is bearing the weight of a decision that was made, or a complex situation.

Black represents, as you can imagine, death. the darkest moments we see house in black.

The other colors aren't as prominent, but I have theories. Red is sex, power, life, excitement, ego. tan is neutrality. white is almost naive. green is rare and house never wears it. Dark blue is still logic but more solemn, more deep. its also interesting to note the times when he doesn't wear a t-shirt under his dress shirt and leaves like 3 buttons open (hubba hubba) and when he /only/ wears a t-shirt. I think his dress shirt is almost like his armor.

[bunnyboy-juice]

awawawawawawa

[pekoeboo]

ugh. some thoughts.

really been trying to find the joy in drawing/writing again and honestly it's been such a challenge. friends have told me it's most likely depression that's making it hard to feel motivated and tbh they're probably right.

hoping to get back into being creative in the way I Want to be at some point tho. I miss it. there's still so much with my stories and characters that I haven't been able to share or explain and I wish I knew how without it feeling like this daunting, impossible task.

I don't know when I'll get around to actually sharing art again (or writing, if ever). was hoping that I'd manage to get some of my mental and physical issues in check recently for just long enough to get back into the swing of being creative, but that hasn't seemed to work. everything feels bad, both artistically and physically. I'm struggling to keep up with the frantic pace at which my brain comes up with story concepts and intriguing character interactions, even tho everything in me wishes I could turn it into tangible artistic expression so I can get it out of my head and share it. it used to be easy. I don't know why it's not now.

I'm just . tired, I guess.

[transtrucy]

fostering, adopting, and red tape and the pieces of youth

for the past year and a half (yikes) i've been slowly working on red tape and the pieces of youth, a marriage of convenience au where phoenix and miles get married to adopt trucy

the first "arc" of the fic is about phoenix (and later miles) fostering trucy and then adopting her. however, just as the game handwaves a lot about her adoption, i also changed, ignored, and left some things out for the sake of storytelling

in part, this is because i didn't do as much research as i should have before starting this fic. if i were to do an edit of it, i would probably change the order of events and conversations significantly. but for fanfic, everything i post except zine pieces are first drafts, because i know i'll lose motivation and never finish if i go back and start doing significant edits

therefore, i'm leaving the fic as is, but this post is meant to explain some choices i made or things that i just straight up ignored to make this a viable au. i want to respect the actual realities of fostering and adoption that this story does not always reflect

anything i say in this post is based on california rules and fostering and adoption advice for that state. i am not involving japan in it legally, however my approach to most ace attorney things is 'if it's wrong it's because we're in japanifornia, where i can make everything up'

as this post is very long, you can read it here on google docs. you can use the outline feature to navigate to different sections of the document! the entire post is also available under the read more below

disclaimer: i am not a social worker and i have never personally been involved in the foster care system or an adoption, though i have friends who were adopted and some experience with families who were trying to adopt out of the foster system. everything in this post is based on research that i've done. i have done very little research on adoption in japan, and this document (and the fic) will reflect that

this post may be edited as i think of more things, if anyone asks me anything that feels important to add, or if anything new comes up in the fic!

the most important thing to remember for this au is that the adoption and fostering timelines are significantly sped up. this will be explained further below!

an additional disclaimer is that if i were to redo this entire fic, i would likely get at least one if not two sensitivity readers familiar with adoption for the first arc, ideally someone who has been adopted (specifically the foster -> adoption that occurs in the story) and someone who works in adoption and social work. however, if i do write anything that is too wildly incorrect or offensive, please let me know and i'll be more than happy to fix it as best i can. thank you for understanding the limitations of my own research as well as the limits of this story!

background: trucy's canon adoption

this is mentioned in the notes of at least one chapter, but in the games, trucy's adoption is incredibly quick and easy. not knowing much about japanese adoption other than it can be difficult, this could be an intentional choice of the writers. regardless, when looking at it as a real life situation, we immediately run into lots of issues

which is why i typically don't. it doesn't actually make sense for phoenix to be fostering trucy at the beginning of red tape, but as she appears to be staying with phoenix in canon before adoption, i kept that in the story, because i couldn't come up with a way to have her around and participating in the scheme if something more realistic happened

in real life, trucy would never have been placed with phoenix, even temporarily. she would've been placed with an emergency foster parent until social services sorted some things out with her case

as i mentioned in an author's note, in canon and my canonverse fics, i just pretend that zak left signed adoption papers in phoenix's possession before disappearing, which phoenix found after the trial. while this would still likely involve an investigation considering phoenix was his lawyer before disappearing, it gives me a little bit to work with

because canon is so vague and loose on trucy's adoption, where it's treated like all that matters is trucy agreeing to it, it leaves a lot of space for exploration. so here we are!

emergency foster parent note: emergency foster parents are a temporary housing solution when a child needs to be placed immediately. the placement is usually done very quickly (sometimes within hours) opposed to standard foster placements. in california, these placements can last from one to fifteen days while a more permanent solution is sorted out

phoenix as a temporary foster parent

as of right now, this hasn't been officially stated in the fic, but the reason that phoenix was able to act as a temporary foster parent for trucy was because he was already a registered foster parent for pearl.

as has been mentioned, maya is pearl's legal guardian in the story, but i imagined phoenix also got approved not only as a possible backup, but because maya does not officially live in the city, and there are specific rules when foster kids stay with other people. maya does have full custody of pearl at this point in time, so that is no longer a concern for them, but this was something they did early on to be safe

(see the end of this post for a little more about pearl!)

phoenix's apartment

i did want to briefly touch on phoenix's living situation, as i do kind of breeze past it. phoenix is approved as a foster parent with a one bedroom apartment.

in real life, i don't think this would ever happen, for trucy or possibly pearl. in california, foster children can only share a bedroom with up to one other child and the child cannot share a bedroom with their foster parent if they're above the age of two

since they move into miles' home very quickly, and any information we have on phoenix's apartment / his and trucy's living situation in canon is pretty limited, i decided not to linger on this aspect too much

why also miles?

if phoenix could adopt trucy in canon, why can't he in this au?

first off, for clarity: in california and therefore this story you can adopt or foster as a single parent. i've seen at least two people mention this somewhere in relation to this story, phoenix would have been able to adopt trucy as a single person, but there are other elements involved

the main issue would likely be his finances, as he is out of a job and does not currently have a stable income. while there is not an income requirement in california for fostering, you do need a stable and verified income, as well as the ability to meet all financial needs. at the beginning of this story, phoenix is very unemployed. this is where miles comes in, as someone with both a stable income and family money from the von karmas, something that hasn't been too touched upon in the story yet. while phoenix begins as a currently a temporary foster parent for trucy, for him to continue fostering her long term (and then adopting her), he would need more stable income than he currently has, and job hunting is an issue for him moving forward, and even in the canon of aa4 we can see he has a lot of smaller piano jobs

in addition, adoption itself can be expensive. how much it really costs depends on a lot of factors, such as age of the child, if you're adopting from foster care, and fees from any agencies. adoption from fostering seems to be cheaper, but with what we know about phoenix's financial situation, it may be something he would be unable to do on his own, while it's likely much easier for miles

bringing miles into the picture provides a lot of stability that phoenix himself doesn't have in his life. at this point in canon, his reputation is also significantly better than phoenix's current one. while presenting forged evidence, which could have been considered a felony, and getting disbarred probably wouldn't disqualify phoenix from being eligible as a foster parent, they also don't look great. miles having a house is a bonus that phoenix didn't consider

fostering speedrun

as i said earlier, many of the changes made for this au were speeding up the timeline, which is absolutely the case in regards to trucy being placed with phoenix, miles getting approved as a foster parent at all, and trucy also being placed with miles

from some research i've done and anecdotes online, becoming a foster parent can take a couple months, averaging about five to six months in california. obviously, that wasn't going to work here, so i fast tracked it severely

foster parent approval timeline and other line skips

in california, it can usually take around two to four weeks to be approved as a foster parent. this doesn't take into account everything else required before receiving a placement. one of the ways i rushed this is addressed in the story: miles is very well known, has a lot of legal contacts, and has a lot of money. and he does acknowledge, especially in terms of himself and von karma, that this is something that could be taken advantage of

in real life, i don't think you can necessarily skip through things like that. there are rules and timelines in place for reasons, and while i'm sure people have manipulated the system before, in this instance it's meant to reflect how von karma basically just walked off with a dead man's child without anyone stopping him. one thing miles has to deal with in the first arc of this fic is his own trauma, as much as he might not realize it, surrounding his own situation in childhood and how it reappears when phoenix does things like suddenly announce he's adopting a child he just met

sidebar for miles' relationship to the von karmas: since canon is pretty murky about what, legally, miles' relationship to manfred von karma is, i also stayed vague in this au. if you're interested, you can check this section of miles' wikipedia page, where it discusses how his relationship to the von karmas is contradicted in different parts of canon. additionally, there's the bonus complexity of many people having the headcanon of miles leaving the country with the von karmas, which is something that may be mentioned in this au. in california (and many states) you need to request authorization before traveling abroad with a foster child, however these are short term trips, not a move. moving countries, and even states usually, will result in the foster child being placed with a new family this is why i haven't put a name to miles' relationship to manfred. while i probably see it more as a fostering situation until miles aged out of the system as i can't really imagine manfred offering to adopt him, that's just not compatible with them living in germany. therefore, in the fic itself it will simply stay vague

education for fostering

i almost completely glossed over this in the fic, so it was extra important to me that i mention here, that many states including california have a level of training or education required before you can be officially approved as a foster parent or before you can have children placed with you. in california there is an orientation, an application, pre-approval training, and then cpr and first aid training. in addition, as mentioned there is a background check, a psychosocial assessment, and a home safety inspection

when i mentioned that sasha, trucy's social worker, gave miles a lot of packets, i'm condensing a lot of that into print outs, which is vastly diminishing what parents actually learn. about 20 hours of training are needed between pre-approval and pre-placement, which does not include the first aid, assessments, or inspections. in part, because of who miles is, some of this was skipped or minimized, other aspects, like his background check, were faster because he works for the prosecutor's office and information was more easily available.

school as a foster child

to be honest, i could not find the clearest guidelines for how soon after being placed with a foster parent a child needs to be enrolled in school. i didn’t really address this for most of the fic, because the reality is trucy probably would need to be in school after the few weeks between the start of the fic and miles and phoenix getting married. there are (possibly) a few wrenches in how fast this could happen, which is why i let it take longer than it may realistically: 

in this au, trucy is homeschooled by the troupe and therefore hasn’t been enrolled in a school before, meaning she has no records and has done no testing to place her. she would be placed with her age group, but this could still potentially cause delays combined with

in this au, trucy isn’t actually a citizen of japanifornia. where is she a citizen of? couldn’t tell you. but since in this au, the troupe is constantly on the move, i decided to slow things down a little in the school enrollment department, it would make sense that legally, her permanent address is in another state

now would this slow down enrollment for multiple weeks? i can’t really tell you that. but that’s the internal logic for this delay 

rules for fostering

since this isn't a huge part of the fic, i'm just going to touch on this briefly, but whether or not trucy would be able to stay with miles overnight without phoenix before he's approved as a foster parent for her kind of seem to depend

i've read some anecdotes and stories where their foster parents needed approval for sleepovers with friends, while i've also read online that background checks on the friends' parents aren't necessary. i think, unless someone tells me otherwise, it is a little dependent on the situation

regardless, in terms of phoenix going back and forth about this, this is in part on me realizing it may not be the best idea for trucy to stay with miles after i had already written and posted it

ultimately, i think this is a situation where he probably would need to check with sasha. but given that phoenix is pretty frazzled and overwhelmed in this part of the story (and definitely overtired), i think a little slip up and then a panic is justified

adoption timeframe

like the fostering section, the timeline for adoption is deeply unrealistic, for a couple of reasons

the first is that you can't instantly adopt from fostering in most states, including california. in california, it could take between six months to a year to adopt from fostering. in this time, there is an adoption assessment that needs to be both completed and approved, and time frame may depend on how busy various agencies are

while it's not going to be instant in the story, it is a little handwaved about the time it does take, since it's not interesting for us to hang around in this in between period for several chapters, but it's also another situation where miles' job and money are doing a little more work

another important timeline issue that other people may have already picked up on, is that you can't adopt right after getting married. and maybe that's to avoid something like this nonsense

generally, you have to wait about two years after marriage before adoption, though you can begin the process before that because it does take so long.

for this regard, which i think i did know before and just forgot about until i was doing further research, i just completely dropped it. japanifornia is corrupt six ways to sunday, and both trucy's adoption and miles' situation with von karma are incredibly quick. with this two year rule in place, this entire au is basically invalid, and i was more interested in telling this story than sticking to this specific rule, and therefore it doesn't exist in japanifornia

abandonment and adoption

[to be added. for now, you can read this source!]

pit stop for car seats

though this doesn't have to do with adoption or fostering, since a few people were curious about why trucy and pearl would need car seats, i thought i'd explain here. specifically, they'd both be using a booster seat, possibly a high-back one.

while car seats are partially about age and bone density, they're also about height and weight, because the seat belt works best if worn correctly—which is dependent on height.

in the trilogy, pearl is 4'1". we don’t have baby trucy’s height, but in aa4, trucy is only 4'11". general best practice is to use a booster seat until the child is 4'9"

if you have adjustable seat belts (or buy ones you add to the car) this is less of an issue so long as they sit on the correct place on the body, but for this age car/booster seats are relatively standard still

even if use was just by age, 8-9 years old appears to be the low end of the spectrum for stopping their use (8-12 was what i saw in research)

trucy and pearl using a booster seat would be the safest for them, especially when miles' concern is about his inability to be a good parent and properly care for trucy

mini pearl section

pearl's experience with fostering and current guardian has been mentioned throughout the fic, but i wanted to also discuss it here since it's not a primary focus.

after morgan is arrested, pearl would have been placed into emergency foster care. like previously mentioned, phoenix gets approved as an emergency foster parent for pearl, but maya becomes pearl's guardian. often, kin placements are preferred and prioritized in fostering situations, which maya mentions in a conversation with miles

she also says that if it hadn't been her, someone in the village would've helped. this is mostly inspired by the idea that kurain village seems pretty insular with its residents and while they're never mentioned, i wouldn't be surprised if other members are related to the feys

one complex issue within fostering is cultural identity of foster children. while it's not my place to discuss this, i can say some foster care programs and agencies do prioritize placing children with families of similar cultural and racial or ethnic backgrounds. if you're interested in learning more, there has been research done about important of children's culture within foster care, and this is one reason kin placements can sometimes be preferred. this is also why maya says pearl would be placed with someone in the village—this isn't something she necessarily knows for sure but a hope she had if she wasn't approved

i would also be remiss if i didn't mention the indian child welfare act (icwa) here. while i did not consciously mean to reference this law, i think it is something i almost undoubtedly was pulling from subconsciously when thinking about maya and pearl. to be clear: i do not intend to seriously compare kurain village or spirit channeling to the indigenous people of the united states or why the iwca was created and the hard work done to enact it. however, when speaking about characters being placed in families outside of their cultures and kin, especially with kurain being a village with a culture and traditions that we don't see practiced by characters outside of spirit channelers, i think it would be wrong of me if i didn't acknowledge this law and why it and nicwa are so important. even if i did not intend to reference it, it almost certainly impacted my writing of this conversation with miles

while maya doesn't have to worry as much about pearl being taken away at this point, there are options for this and i'm not sure yet (since this is not a priority in the fic) which would be best for them: she could foster, adopt or be pearl's guardian. we've already discussed fostering extensively, so i won't cover that here

one thing of note is that maya doesn't appear to have a stable income, in part because her job is with kurain village. when she turned 18, she would be able to adopt pearl via kinship adoption, a process that can be much simpler than adoption outside the family. additionally, as mentioned previously adoption can be expensive, though costs can be reduced if the adopter is low-income. unlike miles, maya doesn't have the same strings to pull. (timeline may be clarified in future chapters!)

here, i should note that while kinship adoption requires consent from biological parents, since morgan has a felony conviction, she would be unfit as a parent, and maya would be able to have pearl freed from morgan's custody (for more details, this is called ffpcc in california)

if maya was just pearl's legal guardian, this is a non-permanent guardianship that would end when pearl turns 18 or if the court terminates the guardianship. this does seem like a faster option than the other two

this is the area i have done the least amount of research, so i don't have the clearest path (but if i got anything wildly wrong defintiely elt me know!) there are (if i have my timelines right) about two years between morgan first being arrested and this fic, which is, if you're not phoenix and miles, a normal amount of time to be sorting custody situations out. so i think we can give maya the slack she needs to learn all of this from scratch

conclusion

adoption and fostering are both complex and time consuming processes, and i am not doing them justice within this fic. thank you so much for suspending your disbelief, but as always, i want to show a lot of respect for the people who actually have lived experience with fostering, adoption, or any of the other mentioned topics here

while fanfic is fun, i do wish i had done a little more research before diving into this fic, even if i had to entirely disregard that two year waiting period after marriage before adopting

why wasn’t japan’s adoption system considered?

i wanted to take a second to explain in a little more detail why i didn’t do more research into adoption in japan and use that as inspiration in this fic—because it was more specific than just being more familiar with usamerican adoption and fostering laws (if not by much) 

i honestly had a really difficult time finding resources about adopting in japan as japanese citizens, as opposed to either foreigners who had moved to japan and were looking to adopt (who admittedly, may have become citizens) or foreigners who were looking to adopt a child from japan

likely, these resources just aren’t available in english. which makes sense, but does make research for this pretty difficult. from what i can glean, the concept of this au is even less plausible if we’re considering japanese adoption laws and guidelines

if you’re interested, i did look at these two articles in my brief research into adoption in japan, “how to foster and adopt a child in japan” and international social service japan’s page for prosepctive adoptive parents (the issj page has a lot of similar information to what was in this document) 

ultimately, i just didn’t have enough information on adopting within japan to feel comfortable using anything i read to inspire how trucy’s adoption was written for this fic, and some things i did find (like couples needing to be married for three years) were things i was already disregarding in terms of california. so i hope this explanation makes sense!

that's all for now! if you have any questions about this post, have any corrections, or have something you think is important for me to change, please let me know!

if you haven't, you can read red tape and the pieces of youth here on ao3. thank you for reading!

[arundolyn]

man. whenever i see someone discussing it/talking about liking it i feel myself Wanting to like. respect? extreme horror as a genre. more than i do. and i think my problem boils down to like. some of the places these things go.. you need to be a damn good writer, and you kinda need to make it have a Point or a Reason at least somewhat. you gotta be able to suspend your disbelief. that doesn't go any different for any flavor of horror than any other type of nonfiction writing tbh and in my opinion is generally harder to pull off. what happens does, in context, need to at least kinda sorta make a little bit of sense in some way and not be happening Just Because. and because of the rarity and stigma of extreme horror its less likely to qualify well for either of the above and just ends up attracting people who want to write some Really out there shit and get upset when they get justified critique from readers (usually people who bought their book and Enjoy extreme horror!) and always want to couch it like they're being oppressed for Writing which is a super disingenuous way to put it

[hsslilly-blog]

sebastian failing a class because he's terrified of hunt is a good bit and this time it's not even that man's fault

[glitterrosesnzz]

because you're fantastic and we love your writing!

asdhsdjkfsldkfjsdf thank you?!?