#most of it is sean and/or violet it's great

[theredahq]

This looks great! What are your most wanted video game fandoms or characters?

i'm ngl ; our discord is full of how much we want more BALDURS GATE characters. ( mainly ; karlach , halsin , minthara , mizora , lae'zel , jaheira ) but i know we'd also love some more DEAD BY DAYLIGHT ( dwight , meg , claudette , nea , ace , feng , david , haddie , thalita && renato ) , as well as LIFE IS STRANGE ( chloe , max , rachel , warren , kate , victoria , nathan , sean , finn , lyla , steph , alex , gabe ) , RESIDENT EVIL ( chris , jill , leon , claire , ada , wesker , rebecca , sheva , carlos , ashley ) , THE LAST OF US ( joel , ellie , abby , tommy , dina , riley , maria, jesse ) THE WALKING DEAD ( lee , clementine , luke , javier , gabriel , kate , mariana , violet , louis ) , UNTIL DAWN ( sam , emily , mike , jess, josh , chris , ashley , matt , hannah , beth ) , LIES OF P ( sophia , aildoro , carlo , pinocchio , giangio , antonio , gepetto )

as well as any other fandom you'd love to bring us ; or anyone else our members wants to add to this !!

[andydrarch]

Oh shoot what I made another frontier tiktok comp ha ha whoopsie my hand slipped

[quillpokebiology]

The Great Crater of Paldea, Paldean History, and Paradox Pokemon

Hello everyone and welcome to my “I skipped hours of sleep for this post!”

I was watching an analysis video on Porytube by researchers Bird Keeper Toby and researcher Espy Juju (as well as considering @trainer-sean , and it got me thinking. So I did my usual research, which involves re-reading the Scarlet/Violet books, taking peaks at classified Paldean and Area Zero documents, and having to sneak into Area Zero again. This is an analysis of the video, as well as my own personal theories (I'll link the vid at the end!)

The Great Crater of Paldea; Theories & History

Everyone who lives in Paldea, or has heard about these Pokemon, knows about Area Zero. (And that one meme of raiding Area Zero a couple of years ago?)It’s where the Terra-orbs come out of, and are from the large Terra crystals growing inside of them.

The book itself states that Area Zero has been around for millions of years, but that was mostly a guess by Heath and didn’t have any scientific evidence to back it up. But, Bird Keeper Toby mentions something really cool, and seems like a factual theory. And, as Prof. Juju states, “[historian at Narjan-Uva academy] states the crater was a million years old. However, this seems to be a guess, or over-exaggeration for flair, or even possibly a lie to hide something bigger.” I can honestly believe the lie part, but I’ve talked to her a couple of times, and she seems like the kind of person to want to get the real truth, no matter what. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Paldean government or top professors were hiding something, and were lying to the public. But, Professor Toby has a very good theory on what happened.

Toby mentions the war across multiple regions that happened 3,000 years ago, saying it connects to the creation of Area Zero. This isn’t too hard to believe, as the war's ripple effects seem to have greatly affected plenty of regions. Meteorites began falling down from the Hoenn region at this point, and he says this was caused by AZ’s war against his brother in Kalos 3,000 years ago. This was one of the most dangerous wars in world history, with plenty of kingdoms around the world collapsing, and having great dangerous changes to the world happen. When his Floette passed away, the power of Xernas and Yveltal created an ultimate and deadly weapon, which was used to bring AZ’s Floette back to life, and the power being shot into the sky came back, and put a complete stop to the war.

It’s hard to say the full history of this. Because of this blast, a lot of ancient artifacts, documents, and even civilizations have been completely wiped out. We can guess what it was like, as there are ruins all over Paldea and legends that have been past on.

This isn’t really connected to Paldean history, but I want to mention that. You know that one fallen tower in Galar that’s located in “Watchtower ruins?” As a lot of Galar history is still a bit foggy, this tower could have been destroyed by that war. If you’re reading this @legendofzacian , you’re a historian, correct? Do you have any thoughts on this?

Anyways, back on track!

Juju says that the ancient king of Paldea (potentially AZ’s brother), had a partner Pokemon, who was the last Pokemon seen in the Scarlet & Violet book.

Considering this Pokemon (if it’s real) is theorized to be legendary or mythical, it would make sense that such a powerful king would have one. It even has the crown and everything. He suspects that this Pokemon has a relation to Zygarde in some way. One thing I find really cool is Prof. Juju’s note on the name similarities between Az and Area Zero. Area Zero can be shortened to Az, so what if Area Zero was named after AZ?

The ‘meteor’ (or theorized blast of energy) seems to have blasted the region very badly, and set the m far behind advancement-wise, putting them back in something similar to the Stone Age (I find it hard to believe it would put them back in the stone age, as they managed to rebuild their kingdom in only 1,000 years), which would end the war. Hell, he even says the blast could’ve had such a powerful impact that it created a portal/wormhole to a different point in space and time. And this is where the point in history seems to be erased. It’s so hard to pinpoint Paldean history before this because almost everything about it was wiped out. As the people of Paldea were desperate for hope, Area Zero seemed to be calling to them. Whether it was a form of mass hysteria or if it was actually calling to them is unknown. Considering that a potential legendary/mythical Pokemon was known to dwell around that area, I like to believe that it was calling to them, in a way.

So at this point, the empire wasn’t an “empire,” but different sections across Paldea that had their own ways of ruling, customs, cultures, etc. But everyone wanted to see what was happening in Area Zero and to see what possible treasures lie there (and if they could get their potential legendary/mythical Pokemon back). Wars broke out across Paldea, right after the most devastating war in world history happened, which only seemed to destroy development more. But the ones that did manage to make it to Area Zero never ended up returning.

800 years ago, the Paldeans finally realized that in order to get to the heart of the Crater, they would have to unify. So then all of the Paldean territories came together in an event known as “The Great Unification” happened. This is also when Naranja-Uva Academy was built. Originally, at the time, it wasn’t a school. It was just a place where people would store knowledge. But it acted a lot like a school, so they decided to classify it as a school not too long after that.

200 years after that, Heath and his team finally managed to descend into the Great Crater and make it out alive. This is when things get a little weird and hazy about where these Paradox Pokemon come from.

The Expedition and Heath

Compared to other old regions, like Hisui where pokemon are more wild, Paldeans at this point have been living side-by-side with Pokemon for many years at this point, so it wasn’t seen as odd for Heath to have a Cyclizar traveling with him back then.

Heath found many strange Pokemon down there, like the Paradox Pokemon we know today, but also the ones that we aren’t even sure are real in this case. There are Pokemon there that resembles the legendary trio from the Johto region, but that doesn’t match the lore of the Johto legendaries. And they didn’t and couldn’t even exist yet. Toby mentions how that wouldn’t even happen until 50 years later! So, how did they get down there? What are these Pokemon? How did they imagine Pokemon that wouldn’t even exist until a lot later? 

And that wasn’t the only strange thing to happen to him as well. He mentions how he woke up in a mysterious place with notes he doesn’t remember writing, and a medal tablet being found that couldn’t have possibly existed back then, as they weren’t advanced enough for that, and the writing about the medal didn’t make any sense. 

In the last part of the Scarlet and Violet book, Keith shows a drawing of a place that researchers still haven’t been able to find yet. Bird Keeper Toby states, “I believe that in the secret area of Area Zero, Heath made contact. Not physically with this disc legendary Pokemon that appears on the final page, but instead, he was able to commune with it. He had followed its voice; the voice that had been echoing out through the Great Crater to all the people in Paldea.” So, if Toby’s theory is true, that means that the calling to the people of Paldea wasn’t mass hysteria; it was the legendary Pokemon trying to communicate. Heath was able to get his artist to draw what this Pokemon looked like, and it’s in a weird space (a lot of people say they can see it, but I still can’t see where this Pokemon starts or where it ends ;-;)

As Heath and his team rose to the surface, he expected to be praised for his work! Instead, he was mocked and ridiculed. People decided that it couldn’t be true and had to be fantasy, so magazines picked it up and started talking about it as if it wasn’t true. But these pokemon were still thought of in the minds of the people, and this is where things get a little hazy.

Paradox Pokemon

Paradox Pokemon are Pokemon that come only from Area Zero and are stated to come from the far past or far future.

On my blog, I talk about Paradox Pokemon as if they’re from the ancient past. I mean, that’s what the documents say, and what the top researchers in Paldea say. But hearing the words of @trainer-sean has made me think a little.

One hole I find in Paradox pokemon is that they’re stated to be a billion years old. I disagree with this COMPLETELY. 1 Billion years ago, the planet was completely unrecognizable. The planet was literally just a giant cloud of gas, there weren’t any stars or anything like that, and it was just a completely dark place. These Pokemon being a couple of million years old? sure. But 1 billion? That just can’t be true!

Espy Juju makes another good point. These Pokemon are Bootstrap Paradoxs. They don’t have an origin, or their origin is just “A god in the machine.” And of course, there’s the theory that these Pokemon were the imagination of the professors that research them, combined with the consciousness of the people in Paldea. Prof. Juju theorizes that the Legendary Pokemon sees the wishes and dreams of the Paldean people and creates things to achieve those dreams, which would include making Paradox Pokemon. So if these pokemon were created at anytime, it’s possible that Paldean researchers were able to send them into the past, which would allow Heath to find them, and keep this weird time loop paradox going on forever.

So, why does this Pokemon want these people to enter Area Zero? Well, Toby’s theory states that after it was launched from this reality, it was stuck in a reality outside of our reality. Creating all of these Paradox Pokemon and Terra shards, it leads people to the Great Crater because it’s looking for a way out of its reality. Terrasteralizing and getting more people curious about area zero is their way of doing that. (Toby also notes how the terra shards look a bit like Zygarde, whose connection has already been stated) But using these crowns similar to that of Zygarde and using these crystals is their way of observing our world. The unnatural material that appears on the territorialized pokemon’s head (lightbulbs, temples, boxing gloves) is the Pokemon’s understanding of the world we live in. But we can’t officially note what this pokemon wants. We can only hope for more research and what the future holds.

So this adds A LOT of things here. First off: I’d have to start declassifying the Pokemon Fossils I found as “Paradox Pokemon,” which wouldn’t be too hard. Plus, I can use it to my advantage if this ever comes up in court (I snuck into Are Zero to get these). And they’d just be counted as “Ancient Pokemon.” It’s kind of exciting once you think about it. If we want to know more about the past (I know I should as a researcher, but I can’t bring myself to care about the ‘future’ paradox Pokemon), we can’t look at Paradox Pokemon. We have to look at fossils and artifacts and such.

@trainergraceneedstherapy , we could really use this information to help us study Area Zero more! If what these researchers said about it is true, this means that Area Zero would be like another plane of existence. And what more can we learn about this legendary Pokemon? What other pokemon can we find there? Can we learn about the comet that ended the war? Or just history in general, because we don’t know much about it. This is so exciting!

(Here's the video

[captainmvf]

I saw you were taking asks? I have a few questions I'd love to hear your answers.

What is your favorite side ark in the fossil fighters games?

Favorite characters/character dynamics?

Not a question, but I would love to hear about your personal headcannons about characters and such.

Have you ever thought about Dinaurian lore?

I'd love to hear all your thoughts on this, it's so rare that anyone has anything to say about the games. If you don't answer all (or any of them) that's totally fine! ^^

Hiya!! This got a bit long so here's the cut-off:

Favorite side ark in the fossil fighters games?

Oh gosh it's hard to decide because two certain arks are my favorite: The Nick Nack ark in the original and the Princess Pooch ark in Champions.

I feel like they mix in just the right amount of zany with plot progression to feel both fun and important errands! Princess Pooch's helps with unlocking the Miraculous Fossils and keeps the weird lore of dogs being intelligent enough to Fossil Battle from the first game and Nick Nack's even ties in Dr. Diggin's lost sandals. Nick Nack also has one of the most memorable themes lol.

Favorite characters/character dynamics?

Dynamic-wise: Hands down, the BB Brigade in Champions. They play off of each other so well and (even though I think their writing with Don/Joe is flawed) I wish we could have seen them more with Joe after the main story!!! The Patrol Team even has a great dynamic that is very fleshed out by the end of the game. I'm even enjoying Becky and Sean's sibling relationship in Frontier at the moment. Also, I like Dynal's dynamics/interactions with EVERYONE in the original. The guy clearly brings a presence that makes you want to pick at him, especially with Dr. Diggins, Raptin, and Duna.

Characters: OBVIOUSLY Joe Wildwest!!!!!!! Other favorites include Duna, the BB Brigade, Patrol Team, Drake, Violet, and Sean and Becky are growing on me.

Headcannons?

TONS!!!! Oh god UUHHHHH WHERE TO BEGIN-

Stella is takes her job the most seriously but she also wouldn't she she's married to her job of being a Staff Leader. Joe can trust her with almost anything in the park. She's also a lesbian.

Terry and Kent are not as professional as Stella but they still take their job seriously. Terry tends to be more aloof while Kent would rather snowboard. They are Bi but don't really seem interested in dating as they are currently in positions that make it hard to date.

Dr. Diggins was probably really scared to see Dynal again after the Guhnash battle because Dynal is going to learn one way or another that he stole the Dinurian tech from that crashed ship. Dynal eventually is told the truth by him and just goes 'okay' since it's not much of a big deal anymore.

I have this very specific headcannon that curators and just fossil fighters in general who work in museums have to have an impressive cleaning record. The cleaning side quests in the first game and the Hare Club stuff in Champions helped fuel this.

Dino and Dina are fraternal twins! Dino even is Autistic and Dina has ADHD.

Vivosaur battles are really taught in school unlike much other monster collecting and battling games and other RPGs but rather it's treated much like a sport with scientific and historical roles as well. I much tend to think that Hunter and Rosie and other kids on Vivosaur Island are there since it's summer break. The Patrol Team each have their own reasons for getting to be at Caliosteo: Dina and Dino are home-schooled, Todd was able to tag along since he became friends with them for being home-schooled as well, Pauleen probably doesn't get public school and obviously ran off to join the tournament, and Rupert gets his schedule managed by someone else but he probably goes to a tight private school that's flexible with their students being absent for periods of time.

Frontier does make it canon that everything takes place on an Earth similar to our own with the same countries but I chose to believe France doesn't exist. That's Nomadistand now. They're separated far from other countries? Well I guess they have some wide rivers now for borders.

Vivosaurs can be kept as pets but there are many laws and risks that come with it. Smaller vivosaurs are easier to tame but larger ones are more challenging. They're treated much the same as exotic pets: Yeah, it's nice to own one, but it's not very safe.

Nevada and Joe have a rivalry going on that doesn't make much sense to everyone else but it does keep journalists busy whenever a fossil tourney is announced. Sean also ties into this but he's more of the mediator who was invited to eat pizza and watch a documentary with friends not sit awkwardly on the couch and watch as his two friends throw pillows at one another to try and counter-argument each other about the topics of the documentary.

Duna barely remembers much of her home planet but Raptin, being older, does. This is possibly why he was more enraged by Duna's betrayal.

I think Joe and Rupert should get therapy animals/vivosaurs after Champions to help with the body-stealing trauma. As a treat. Rupert should get a fluffy white great pyrenees dog named Antionette and Joe should get a nine-banded armadillo named Sundance.

Rosie gets really into fossil battles to the point she goes pro and that's why she's at Caliosteo. She eventually finds out she'd Bi and dates Duna in the future (Duna finds herself identifying as a lesbian).

^The whole romance thing was kind of just brought on due to the amount of thrilling moments with Hunter so both Rosie and Duna kind of fall out of romantic love with him but still have a tight bond that borders on family.

Hunter also eventually goes pro with fossil battling but prefers to travel more. Rosie and Duna eventually get a quiet house on Vivosaur Island together and Hunter also lives there when he's not traveling. :)

I think Holt and Todd should meet up and be friends. :)

Pauleen would get really into fashion design when she's older. She's mostly inspired by fire type vivosaurs.

Rupert takes over his dad's company and even learns to ride a motorcycle.

Todd gets into rogue vivosaur wrangling since he finally found his courage during the events of Champions. :)

Dina takes over the park and Todd is her secretary.

Dino gets to go pro at fossil battles since he was better at making strategies and vivosaur teams (Dina's top strategy is 'hit everything with sharp claws and teeth really fast') and he gets a lot of trophies. He also gets to be Rupert's boyfriend/partner. :)

Cole gets to go back to school and gets back into his robotic engineering degree (he failed to earn all of his credits the first time around and just decided to drop out since he didn't like his professors anyway). He eventually finds work at FossilDig and Caliosteo making cleaning devices. Sometimes, when he's mad, he threatens to make Five Nights at Freddy's real.

Lola has a harder time deciding to go back to school since she failed her medical science classes. It takes some encouragement and inspiration from Cole and Lester to help her along.

Lester tries to follow his dream of being a musician again and gets to form his own rock band! They call themselves the 'B-0NES' in tribute to the BB Brigade.

Joe Wildwest is gay. :)

Zongazonga's corpse is stuck in eternity as a tourist attraction.

If you want more I leak headcannon stuff onto this workplace parody account on here that's also a bit RP-ish: @realjoewildwest

Have you ever thought about Dinaurian lore?

Actually I have!! I've seen some headcannons floating on here with Dinurians messing with Guhnash's origins. I also think that they also traded with other aliens before they came to Earth since running a huge ship does take a certain amount of supplies to manage. Unsurprisingly, I choose to also believe that nearly every Dinurian can have a battle hologram.

I also think that white-hair can also be a sign of aging but those with white hair and pale skin are usually linked in some way to the royal bloodline that is King Dynal's. It's only Dynal who carries on the royal bloodline these days, however.

When I say 'big space ship' I mean big enough that the Dinurians have a safe gene pool for repopulation methods. It was probably initially made for the purpose of escaping their home planet months in advance since their methods of destroying Guhnash kept failing.

[lukas-crying-heart]

Jamie’s house.

Another one shot from Jamie.

this takes place a few months after Jamie met Mercy, Piper, Violet and Eva.

there is implied abuse in this one.

Jamie laid on the floor of Mercy’s room, the whole group was there, Piper and Mercy had the bed of course. As per the norm he let Eva and Violet have the small pull out bed she had in her room.

Violet was sitting on the floor next to him though, she usually did until it was time for lights out.

At that moment everyone was having a heated discussion on where they’d hang out next.

“All I’m saying is we’ve never seen your house, Violet” Piper chimed “it must be really cool!”

Violet giggled and played with Jamie’s hair a bit “oh it’s nothing special, I honestly don’t know why you aren’t asking Eva to hang out at her house”

Eva sighed “the house of the family I’m staying with is nice, we can hangout there sometime” she shrugged.

Jamie half smiled and crossed his ankle over the other, he was actually close to falling asleep.

“Well some of us have seen Violet and Eva’s house” Mercy interjected “the one person’s house we’ve never been to is Jamie’s”

Jamie opened his eyes, his house? Really? They wanted to go to his house? Lunatics “you guys know my family will be there, right?”

“I wanna meet them!” Piper went to the edge of the bed and looked down at Jamie “they raised a great person, I’d like to thank them”

Jamie felt his blood run cold, he didn’t have an opportunity to say anything before Mercy spoke.

“Yeah! You’ve been in the group for almost two months and we barely know anything about you!” 

“That’s true” Violet agreed “we pretty much only know that you’re trans and depressed”

Jamie sat up “why do you guys want to hangout at my house? Like really”

Eva shrugged “you’re the new mysterious kid, we wanna know more”

Jamie fidgeted with his rings, well maybe if people were around his family would behave.

“You okay?” Violet muttered “this seems to be causing you some anxiety”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine” he rubbed his cheek “umm when would you guys like to hang out?”

“Well..how does tomorrow night sound for everyone?” Mercy asked.

“I’m free!” Eva said cheerfully.

Piper hummed in agreement, she seemed excited.

Violet nodded “I’m good for going over tomorrow”

Jamie ran his fingers through his hair “yeah, just let me check with my mom” his hand had a slight tremble as he pulled out his phone.

The conversation he had over text went surprisingly well, she said she’d clean the house up and make some food for the night. It was an unexpected outcome but he wasn’t complaining.

“Hey, Mercy, sweetie. It’s lights out” Mercy’s aunt popped her head into the room.

“Okay! Goodnight” Mercy got up and gave her a hug before turning off the light.

Jamie sighed, he felt a bit sick, like he could just throw up at any moment. Why did they really want to hang out at his house? It’s just a house, his family was a family that no one should want to meet. They didn’t know that though.

This is gonna be a disaster.

Jamie spent the next forty minutes trying to keep with breathing steady, fidgeting, tapping things, getting lost in his own thoughts.

What if my brother invited his friends? 

Some of Sean’s friends weren’t actually terrible, bad yes, but not nearly as bad as Sean himself. So if he invited some of his friends he could survive.

What if he invites Elijah?

Jamie rubbed his face and sighed, the likely hood of that happening was slim, to slim to even worry about. Elijah had moved to a different city years ago, he shouldn’t be weighing on Jamie’s thoughts as often as he did.

And if he was there and he panicked in front of his friends what would happen then? They would think he was this sad, pathetic loser who couldn’t keep himself calm at the most slight of reminders of a boy who should’ve long been forgotten.

They all would want to stop being his friend.

If they did he wouldn’t be surprised, he has only been with the group for about three months. Of course they probably weren’t attached to him.

He could imagine his friend’s expressions now. Disappointed, pity, discomfort, contempt. All expressions his past friends wore after seeing him in a vulnerable state.

He wouldn’t blame them, he would leave himself too.

“Jamie?” Violet’s whisper made him jump but he stayed laying down “Jamie, I know you’re awake” she whispered again.

Jamie remained silent.

She slowly left the bed she was sharing with Eva and walked over to him “are you okay?”

Jamie sat up “I’m fine, just can’t sleep” he murmured.

“Do you want to come to the bed? There’s plenty of room” she offered “you don’t seem comfortable down here”

Jamie shrugged “I’ll survive” he laid back down.

Violet poked him “come on, please”

Jamie rolled his eyes and nodded “fine”

He and Violet made their way back to the bed, it was a lot larger than he thought. Easily enough room for three people.

Violet let Jamie get in first, he gladly did so. Once he was settled it was actually quite nice, it was warm, soft, even better than the bed he had at it house.

“Goodnight Jamie” Violet smiled at him.

He hummed and response and closed his eyes, he almost fell asleep immediately.

When he woke up both Eva and Violet were under his arms. It was nice, he closed his eyes again and sighed happily.

Mercy and Piper giggled “post that one!” One of them whispered.

Jamie groaned “what’re you guys laughing about?” 

“Nothing!” “Nothing!” Piper and Mercy said in unison. 

Jamie closed his eyes again, he’d probably be able to fall asleep again if he tried. He smiled.

This was the best friend group he had ever had the pleasure of being in, he was happy and cared for and loved. Nothing would ever make him give them up.

******

“Yeah fuck off!” Jamie yelled from the bathroom, he had a cut on his lip and was now trying to get it to stop bleeding before Mercy, Piper, Eva and Violet got arrived.

He was in the middle of a fight with his parents, apparently Sean had also invited friends. His brother would be arriving with his friends soon. Just in time to ruin the night with his friends.

Of course he couldn’t just have this one thing, the night hadn’t even begun and it was already a disaster.

“Don’t talk to your mother that way!” 

“Whatever” Jamie scoffed and put a bandaid on his lip “if Sean or one of his goons say anything weird to any of my friends I’m gonna kill them”

“Oh don’t be dramatic” his mother responded “his friends are good men”

“Bullshit” he sighed.

His phone buzzed, it was Mercy. Maybe she was saying she couldn’t come, that would be a miracle.

Jamie paused trying to fix his lip and answered the phone “hey, what’s up?” He rested against the wall “are you gonna make it?”

Mercy chuckled “of course! I was calling to say me and Piper and everyone are almost there”

He forced a smile on his face, his friends could always hear if he was smiling or not “great! I’ll see you soon then” he hung up with a sigh.

He left the bathroom and cleaned up some broken glass, a picture frame. He had knocked it off the wall with the intention of breaking it. Sadly he failed. So he just put it back on its nail and continued to clean the small amount of evidence that anything had happened.

“You should put something on your lip” his father muttered, seeing the cut still glistening with fresh blood.

Jamie scoffed “already tried that” he swept up some broken glass.

“Yeah w-“

There was an urgent knock on the door, cutting off anything his father would’ve said. He went back to sweeping as his mother opened the door. To his delight it was his friends.

Mercy walked in first with a huge grin on her face “this is a nice place” she commented.

Jamie held his breath, watching everyone else walk in. His mother and father greeted them all with warm smiles but the tension was obvious in the room. He finished up and went to greet his friends.

“Woah what happened to your lip?” Violet asked with clear concern.

Jamie glanced at his father, one warning look from him and he looked down “just got into a fight with some kids earlier..it’s no big deal”

Violet nodded “do you want help patching it up?”

“Oh no, I’m fine” he smiled.

Piper walked up to his mother and father “you guys raised a really great kid, he’s one of the best people I know”

“Oh..yes, we do take pride in how well he turned out” his mother’s smile was stiff and unkind.

He took his cue and cleared his throat, time to rush this meeting.

“Okay guys come on let’s go” he nodded toward his room “we can hang out during dinner” 

“Aww okay” Piper sighed.

Jamie led the way to his room, he disliked the feeling of his parent’s eyes on his back. They’re gonna kill me.

“You’re parents seem..interesting” Violet murmured next to Jamie while Mercy, Eva and Piper looked at pictures, most of them were cracked.

“They’re alright” Jamie nodded.

“That look you and your dad exchanged when I asked about your lip seemed, odd, is everything okay?”

Jamie stared at the floor, his blood ran cold. How would he answer that question? ‘Oh yeah everything is fine! Just have random injuries most of the time!’ Yeah that would be a great explanation.

Or even better ‘oh yeah, everything is fine. No need to worry about me!’

No matter what he did to explain it, it wouldn’t be good enough. Would anything be good enough?

“Jamie?” Violet nudged him.

“Yes everything is fine!” He opened his bedroom door.

Violet sighed and entered the room, followed by Eva then by Piper and Mercy. Jamie was quick to follow and close the door behind him.

“Jamie you’re parents seem pretty nice” Piper smiled “I can’t wait to meet your brother”

“Errr yeah! They’re all really great” he kicked a pile of towels under his bed “please make yourself at home”

He looked around at his room, there wasn’t really anywhere to sit was there? No matter. He’ll make a fort.

“Sorry there aren’t many places to sit, feel free to sit on the bed while I set something up” he smiled.

“It’s okay, we can sit on the floor” Eva said cheerfully and just before she sat down she hesitated “uhhh is that glass?” 

Jamie looked at where she was, yes there was glass there, could’ve been from weeks ago or even from the fight they had not twenty minutes ago “that is glass, here, let me clean that up”

His friends were quiet as he cleaned up the glass. He didn’t bother to look at them, they’d probably see the tears already forming in his eyes.

He wanted - no - he needed everything to be perfect. He appeared perfect and like his life was put together while in public and with his friends, why did all that have to fall apart here? When he needed to be perfect.

Jamie swept up the shards and threw them away.

When he did look at his friends they were looking at each other with mixed expressions of worry and anger.

They’re angry at me.

“Sorry guys, I tried to make everything perfect” he ran his hands through his hair and huffed out a breath of air.

He went to grab blankets from his closet “ummm” he looked at his bed, two people could fit on it “you guys decide who’s getting the bed, at least two people can fit on it”

“Jamie, wait for a second” Violet reached for his arm but he moved in a way that would put distance between them.

Jamie put blankets on the floor and started arranging them to be a bed. Everything was so relaxed at Mercy’s house, why couldn’t it be that way here? 

His parents seemed to like them, everything should be fine so why did everything feel tense?

Violet put her hand on his back and he flinched “I’m sorry” he said quickly.

Violet knelt down next to him “Jamie, just take a minute to relax. We can help set things up”

Jamie nodded and sat down “this is a disaster and dinner hasn’t even started yet” 

Mercy sat next to him “is this why you didn’t want to hang out here?”

Jamie chuckled “of course it is, I don’t want you guys to see what I’m like here”

“Then after tonight we don’t have to come back here” Piper smiled while she helped Violet and Eva set up little beds on the floor.

Jamie fidgeted a bit, desperate to change the subject he spoke “who wants water? Soda? Anything?”

“I’ll have water” Violet said.

“Me too” Piper nodded.

“Mm” Eva hummed in agreement.

“Do you have Diet Coke?” Mercy wondered.

Jamie stood up and nodded “got a case just for you, though I can’t promise they aren’t poisoned”

Mercy chuckled as he left the room.

“So, what was your friend saying about your lip?” His feather asked him the moment he was in the kitchen.

Jamie shrugged “just that it looked bad, told her it was just from a fight I got in”

“Is she your girlfriend? That Violet girl, is that her?” His mother asked, she was still cooking.

“We aren’t a couple, just friends” he gathered the drinks.

“Well it’s nice to see you hanging out with other girls” 

Jamie rolled his eyes and went back to his room, he heard a hushed conversation from the other side of the door.

“He doesn’t seem safe here, did you see the way his dad looked at him?” Eva said, her voice full of concern.

“Maybe it’s just an off day, we all have them” Piper reasoned.

“What if we help him?” Violet sighed “would he let us?”

Jamie opened the door, the room immediately went quiet. This was a horrible mistake.

[dustedmagazine]

Andrew Forell’s 2022 Favorite Five plus 22

Anteloper photo by Tim Saccenti

Here, in no particular order, are the five albums I’ve spent the most time with this year and another 22 for 22 that I am still enjoying or just catching up with.

Anteloper — Pink Dolphins (International Anthem)

In July I concluded my review by saying “The thrill of Pink Dolphins is the sense that branch and Nazary have a form of echolocation which guides them, that no matter how deep or murky the waters, they know exactly where the other is and what they are doing”. The loss of jaimie branch in August adds a poignancy to Pink Dolphins and the musical understanding she and Jason Nazary had developed and were deepening with every recording will be sorely missed.

Blackhaine — Armour II (Fixed Abode)

Dancer and choreographer Tom Heyes is best known in the US for his work with the artist formerly known as Kanye West. As Blackhaine he brings the ritualistic intensity of his dance style to the words and music of Armour II. He raps and sings about guilt, paranoia and the violence at the heart of contemporary Britain in the thick accent of his native Lancashire over a mix of drill and cinematic soundscapes. His collaboration with Iceboy Violet and Blood Orange on “Prayer” is one of the songs of year.

 Kevin Richard Martin —  Downtown & Nightcrawler (Self-released)

Kevin Richard Martin AKA The Bug delves into the obsidian depths on these two releases. Slabs of dank, dub inflected post-industrial ambience conjure the pearl clutching dread associated with the housing estates & so-called slums for which the tracks on Downtown are named but also a sense of the communities surviving there in the face of poverty and the threats of gentrification. Nightcrawler is a sort of companion piece, a cinematic post jazz soundtrack to the dangerous glamor of pre-dawn streets which sounds, if possible, like Bohren & Der Club of Gore’s narcoleptic cousins. Highly recommended for underground commutes.

  The Photocopies — greatest hits volume 1 & volume 2 (Self-released)

Sean Turner is a Londoner in Michigan with a deep love of 1980s & 1990s indie guitar music and an output whose prolificacy is only surpassed by its quality. greatest hits volume 1 & volume 2 collect 30 tracks from singles and EPs released between June 2021 and September 2022. Although Turner isn’t reinventing any wheels, his knack for supple melodies and lyrics both heartful and witty elevates these songs. “Control Freak,” “Pop Quiz” and “(Wishing I Had) Tickets for Saint Etienne” are all giddy propulsion and self-aware pop culture references. Even at his most lovelorn the hooks are razor sharp, “I Can’t Imagine What You See In Him” combines yearning and snark over Wedding Present guitars and a glam stomp that The Sweet would have killed for. It’s great fun and heaven knows we’ve been miserable enough.

22 more

700 Bliss — Nothing to Declare (Hyperdub)

Anja Lauvdal ��� From a Story Now Lost (Smalltown Supersound)

Artsick — Fingers Crossed (Slumberland)

billy woods — Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studioz)

billy woods x Messiah Musik — Church (Backwoodz Studioz)

The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness — The Third Wave Of … (Bobo Integral)

The Bug — Absent Riddim (Pressure)

Burial — Streetlands (Hyperdub)

Caterina Barbieri — Spirit Exit (light-year

Dot Dash — Madman in the Rain (The Beautiful Music)

Dry Cleaning — Stumpwork (4AD)

Holy Tongue — III (Amidah Records)

I Am — Beyond (Division 81)

Kids on a Crime Spree — Fall in Love Not in Line (Slumberland)

M. Geddes Gengras — Expressed, I Noticed Silence (Hausu Mountain)

Martha — Please Don’t Take Me Back (Specialist Subject Records)

Moor Mother ��� Jazz Codes (Anti)

Morgana — Contemporaneità (Low Ambition Records)

The Mutual Torture — Don’t (Non-Standard Productions)

Quelle Chris — DEATHFAME (Mello Music Group)

Raw Poetic — Space Beyond the Solar System (22nd Century Sound)

Tom Skinner — Voices of Bishara (International Anthem)

Andrew Forell

[desertno3]

Violet – Chapter Two (3/7)

When Sean finally meets his daughter, you wonder why you ever left him in the first place.

Sean Wallace x fem!reader Chapter Two: 1787 words

Prologue // Chapter One

A/N: Welp, sorry I said this would be up soon and then immediately went and took like two weeks to finalise it. Anyway, here’s the Sean and Violet interaction we’ve all been waiting for! Let me know what you think!

Taglist: @ysmmsy​ @prettyinpayne​ @the-a-word-2214​ Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist for this series!

“Can you help me colour this in, mum?”

You have to repress a tired sigh at your daughter’s request.

“Sorry, Vi, I can’t right now,” You tell her, scrolling through real estate listings on your phone. You’d been looking ever since the incident because there was no way in hell you were going to go back to your old place after what happened. “Maybe later, yeah?”

You hear her huff and when you look up, she’s already walking out of the room, crayons and colouring book in hand - no doubt on the hunt for someone else to ask.

You shouldn’t have been surprised at the way Violet had made herself right at home in the Wallace household, quickly warming up to everyone even though she’d just met them. It was just the kind of child she was. If she could, she would go right up to total strangers and talk to them but you’d made sure to nip that habit in the bud early, sitting her down and telling her why it was dangerous to do so. She was the most gregarious and self-assured little girl you’d ever known - and you were sure her Wallace genes played a strong part in making that happen.

~

Sean groans in frustration, leaning against the kitchen counter as he does so. Elliot had just called to say that the latest lead Sean had him following went nowhere and now Sean was wracking his brain to figure out who else could have been behind the intrusion of your home.

The intruder in question had been of no help, naturally. Sean had done what he could to pry information out of him but the man said nothing - and Sean wasn’t sure if it was out of loyalty or because he’d lost so much blood he couldn’t think straight. In the end, Sean didn’t even have to finish him off because the gunshot you’d inflicted did the job well enough. He decided he wouldn’t tell you that, though. You were shaken enough as it was.

“Are you okay?”

Sean’s jolted out of his thoughts by the little voice and when he looks up, Violet’s hoisting herself up onto one of the stools on the other side of the counter. She then looks at him expectantly, waiting for his answer to her question.

“I am,” Sean replies, still watching her curiously.

Besides the brief introduction where you’d told Violet he was your friend, he hadn’t yet properly interacted with her. For one, he had been too preoccupied with trying to track certain people down but the other reason was that he didn’t know how you would react to it if he did. You’d clearly been avoiding bringing up the topic of Violet’s parentage and he’d let you avoid it - for now. 

“Will you colour in with me?” She asks, taking him out of his reverie yet again. “My mum’s busy.”

Sean blinks at her, processing the request. He wonders if he should say no - after all, he has so much to do - but she looks so hopeful that he doesn’t want to. When he eventually caves and says yes, he’s taken aback by the fondness he feels at the way she beams and hops off the stool, coming over to him to take his hand and lead him to the living room where she’d already had her colouring book all set up.

~

You’re more than surprised when you come downstairs half an hour later and see the two of them sitting at the coffee table, colouring in together.

“What colour do you think should go here?” Sean asks her, pointing to a blank spot on the page.

“Green! No, wait!” Violet’s expression scrunches up as she surveys all the colours in front of them. “Yeah, green.”

You watch as Sean chuckles, complying with her wishes as he reaches for the green crayon. He starts colouring in the area while Violet happily observes, the section she was working on long forgotten as she peers intently at the way Sean was doing it.

You feel a slight pang in your heart as you watch them, knowing you had kept them from having moments like this. It’s a fleeting feeling, however, because Violet looks up and spots you.

“Mummy!”

“Hi, love,” You greet her, walking over to press a kiss to the crown of her head. “I see you’ve wrangled Sean into colouring with you.”

“We’re colouring in this page right now,” Violet says excitedly, showing it to you. “But we also did the one with the horses. You know, the one me and you didn’t get to finish?”

She flips through the book and shows you the page in question.

“That’s great, darling,” You tell her, fondly smoothing her hair down. “Now, why don’t you go outside and play for a bit, hm? Let Sean get back to his work.”

She nods, taking the crayon from him and putting them all back in the box.

“Thanks for colouring with me, Sean,” She smiles before turning and scampering off excitedly to the backyard.

“Don’t forget your hat!” You call out to her but she’d already disappeared around the corner, leaving a silence to settle between you and Sean in the living room.

“She’s a chatty one,” He comments, breaking the silence as he gets up off the floor. “Would fit right in with my dad’s side of the family.”

You just hum in acknowledgement, avoiding his knowing gaze. You’d always thought the same thing but you didn’t want to tell him that, not yet wanting to confirm or deny anything to do with Violet being a Wallace even though there really was no point in doing so - you knew Sean knew, even if you hadn’t yet spoken about it.

“Y/n,” He says, waiting until you actually looked at him. “Did you know you were pregnant when you broke up with me?”

There it was.

You’d spent the last few days waiting for him to bring it up - surprised he even let it stay unaddressed for this long - and yet you find yourself still completely unprepared to have this conversation.

You shake your head. “I only found out about a month after.”

Not that it matters. What matters was that you could have told him at any point during your pregnancy or at any point after Violet was born, but you never did. You scan Sean’s face desperately, hating that you can’t read him as well as you used to be able to. 

“I’m sorry, Sean,” You say and you think you’ve never meant an apology more in your life. “I thought it would be safer to keep her away. Even after I found out I… I didn’t think coming back to you pregnant was a good idea.”

“Still, I deserved to know about her, y/n. She deserves to know about me.”

You drop your gaze, ashamed. “I know. God, I know, okay? But I was scared.”

You know that doesn’t excuse anything but you had to be honest. He had to at least know why you did what you did at the time.

“Scared of what? Me?”

“Of the people you were working with!” You clarify. “I was scared that if they knew about her they might-”

“They would never even get close,” He cuts you off, his tone developing a menacing edge to it at the mere thought of anyone laying a hand on Violet. “I wouldn’t have fucking let them.”

There's a heavy silence in the air and you watch him sigh in frustration, trying to work through his temper. Your own heart hammers against your chest at finally being forced to face the consequences of your decisions.

“I would’ve kept you both safe,” He eventually says, his voice slightly calmer. “If you had just let me, I would’ve done it.”

“I know,” You admit quietly, remorsefully. “I know you would have. But at the time... Sean, your way of keeping us safe wasn’t my way of keeping us safe. You know that."

He purses his lips, remembering all the times in the past you two would argue because he would always get himself into more violent situations than you thought was necessary. The way you saw it, he was unnecessarily digging his own grave with every altercation he found himself in whereas he’d grown up being taught that violence was a necessary measure to keep certain people at bay, to remind them who was in charge, and to prevent them from threatening the people he cared about - namely you, at the time.

“I could never get my head around why you would go through all that trouble, Sean. But I get it now.”

His eyes bore into yours, his brow furrowing slightly as he takes in what you just said.

“What changed?”

You open your mouth to reply when you jump at the sound of banging at the window. Both of you look to see Violet on the other side of it holding up a football, clearly wanting you to play outside with her. You give her a nod, holding up a finger to let her know you’ll be out in a minute.

“I had her,” You answer as you both watch Violet grin and run down to the other side of the backyard. “I’d literally do anything to keep her safe, anything just to make sure she’s okay.”

Sean looks out the window for a long time, to the point where you think he’s still stewing in his anger, but then he lets out a little amused-sounding huff.

“What?” You ask, slightly confused.

“Now you know why I used to get into all those fights for you.”

Your expression softens at that but he doesn't see it. He's deliberately not looking at you, immediately feeling like he’s made himself a bit too vulnerable after saying that. He glances at Violet, kicking the ball around all on her lonesome, and it reminds him of the reason you’d returned to his life in the first place. 

“I have to make some calls,” He says, shifting back into business mode. “I have to find another lead.”

“I really am sorry, Sean,” You tell him, ignoring his change of topic. You needed to make sure he knew that.

He looks at you and sighs. “I know. And I get why you did it. As much as I fucking hate it, y/n… I do understand.”

It’s more than you could have ever asked from him. You nod and one last look of acknowledgement passes between you two before he disappears to his office and you head out to be with Violet, feeling lighter than you have felt in a while now that everything was finally out in the open.

[alenkorra]

i just made this rant on twitter but i don’t understand why they keep adding 2 romance options in LiS games if they’re not gonna put in the effort to give both of them the same amount of content. chloe/warren, cassidy/finn, steph/ryan. like,,,, what even is the point? and it’s no coincidence that the romances with less content are always the most hated. 

i did not love warren at all but maybe if they’d actually given him development/depth i would’ve care about him. finn is so much more complex than most people give him credit for and yet i can’t fully blame them for reducing him to “selfish asshole” because the letter inside his tent is so easy to miss and his scene with sean lasts 5 minutes compared to cassidy’s lake and sex scenes.

also, i have no idea if i’m gonna like ryan but he’s already at a disadvantage because not only is steph an established character from BtS, but she also gets a whole ass bonus episode dedicated to her. and don’t get me wrong i love steph to death, but i’ve already seen people grasping at straws to find reasons why ryan sucks and she’s the better romance for alex. it’s just not fair. 

louis and violet from telltale’s twdg are a great example of how to do it right. they were both fully developed characters with equal amounts of content in their romances and there were loads of people who loved both of them. there was no clear favoritism for either of these characters and that’s how it should be. i could excuse it with chloe because she was meant to be an important character regardless of wether or not you romance her, but now it’s just annoying.

[kindred-josephs]

YA FANTASY BOOKS THAT YOU’VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF - BUT YOU SHOULD READ

This list is entirely Pacific authors because they deserve more love and attention! If you like these I can do more xo

1. Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

This incredible trilogy is by Australian author Goodman who mashes demon/spirit hunting with high society regency England. Think Jane Austen/Bridgerton with underground societies crossed with fantasy and mystery. This is an incredible read, and genuinely one of the only series I’ve ever read that uses the love triangle trope in as a compelling plot device.

Description: 18 year old Lady Helen is eager to make a good impression at her presentation to the queen after rumours that her parents death’s were due to the being traitors to England and the British crown. All she wants is to prove she is not as reckless and untrustworthy as her beloved mother, however she cannot seem to quite fit in with society and has bursts of impulses that are borderline scandalous. After one of her maids goes missing and nobody seems to care about finding her, Helen secretly tries to find the girl. Helen begins to see strange changes in her life, such as seeing a blue light surrounding people, and one gentleman, who is rumoured to have killed his wife, can’t seem to leave her alone.

2. The Embrace Series by Jessica Shirvington

Also known as the Violet Eden Chapters, this 5-part book series also by and Australian author is an excellent read for those looking to get into YA and is highly suited for young teens. This series is urban fantasy/contemporary fantasy. I first read this when I was 14 and probably read it again once or twice a year, I love it. It may annoy older readers as the main character does make a lot of questionable choices but if you keep in mind she is supposed to be young and naive in the first book, and the fact that everyone around her is taking advantage of her without her realising it then it’s a great book. This was Shirvington’s first published series so you can really see her writing get better as the series goes on. Most of the world building happens in the second book, with the climax full of emotions, heartbreak, love and action happening in the 4th and 5th books which are amazing.

Description: Violet Eden just turned seventeen and got accepted into her dream art school. All she needs now is to get the boy - her older best friend and mentor who seems to be holding himself at arms length with her. As she tries to get closer to Lincoln she realises he’s keeping big secrets that threaten their friendship. Violet is thrust into a world where nightmares become reality - literally. Are angels and demons real? Was her mother trying to warn her of something more sinister in the last letter she left her before she died? And how does the dark, classy, doting boy she met in a club play into it? Can Violet forgive Lincoln for involving her in a dangerous and terrifying world?

3. The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier

This is an intriguing series that I haven’t finished myself yet so don’t kill me if it ends terribly! This is a series by New Zealand author Marillier, who also has another series that I’ve yet to pick up, so if you like her writing style there’s plenty to read!

Description: This series follows singer and musician Liobhan, and her equally musically talented twin brother. Both have an ambition to be trained on elite Swan Island, which trains warriors and spies. When asked to accompany Sean Island warriors on a trip as undercover travelling minstrels, Liobhan must make tough decisions to uncover the truth about an other dimension meddling in the affairs of their world, while trying to keep her kingdom safe from scheming political threats.

[blonde-toddy]

Random and Not So Random thoughts while watching Bridgerton: Season 1, Episode 6

It has taken me a while to do this. But I write this shit down so....

I wonder if they got busy in that carriage.

Probably.

Ok Clyvedon! Y'all are definitely not in the square anymore.

Aww Mrs. Colson. You're so proper and ready to show off and he's just trying to break that back in.

Gahh that place.

Ok Simon, go off!

Aw we're really just diverting there.

You really don't want to know Hyacinth.

Eloise is not here for the shits.

Oh, Colin. You fucking idiot. The one time Violet and Anthony are in agreement.

Colin you happy, dumb boy.

Brothels though?

Colin has a point. He is older than Daphne.

To be fair Colin and Daphne are both getting okie doked.

You horny mfs. I love it.

"You are already Duchess of all this." Yes please.

Ooooh that flip and the way he patted at her hips. They are too good.

Aw Daphne is trying to be proper and Simon is like "fuck all that."

Your Graces.

Jeffries dgaf about this damn honeymoon.

Oh Daphne, she just wants to show you around without YOUR commentary.

Redecorating? Didn't she say she did a bunch of improvements?

"A perfect Duchess." Ok you shady bitch.

Yeah that nursery shit is coming back.

All dressed up and no where to go.

"You're so far away." He wants his WIFE!

They have no chill and the staff don't know how to react.

Mrs. Colson absolutely does not approve.

Girl he hates that place. Gut it!

This man and the way he takes off gloves. Good fucking gawd.

Their poor staff.

I swear I swear I swear that man man is living, breathing, dripping seduction.

Well shit take it outside then.

Queue the rain.

Yes. Remove the wet clothes. ALLUM!!!!!

He is the king of playin with it. And I fucking love it.

"Do you like this?" Fuck yes! Talk. To. Me.

I wonder how many orgasms this man has caused.

"Tell me what you want." Keep talking, yes.

And by "you" she meant that dick.

"Does that hurt?" No boo, it sure doesn't.

But your ignorance on the subject does. Him taking advantage of your ignorance also does.

I love love love Simon but I'm having a harder time with his evasion now that they're actively getting busy.

She's bound to figure it out though, right?

Ahh they're still hot af to me.

Oh shit they're still going.

That picnic. Omfg. Flippin that ass like.....

Head on a ladder?!?!?! Get you some Daphne. Oh sweet Simon....

Sex on a ladder too.

They're really like "fuck the staff." And the staff is like "haha, keep fuckin."

Don't go there Mrs. Colson....

Welp.

That shoe dropping. Gawd yes.

Daphne really went from knowing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to getting that Grade A like a beast.

Though Simon is obviously a withholder, the man is sexually attentive and attuned to her physical desires. He comes to please, indeed.

That tangle.

Ok, girl tell Rose your business.

I do love Rose. I want more of her.

"His physical inability to have children." Oh the sting of lies and ignorance.

"Difficult entanglement." Go head Rose.

Oh Colin, you fucked up lil buddy.

Hyacinth is a treasure.

I like that Violet does try to be supportive.

Penelope and her passive aggressive ass is saucy.

She's mad af.

The sisters do crack me up.

Penelope is dripping salt.

Oh Eloise. They really are putting you out there homie.

Awkward Marina.

Portia is mf hyped! She is all about that social climbing.

But she's gotta negotiate the bag before she pop tags on new Dresses.

Aw shit Marina caught Delacroix. Her French accent was a bit cartoonish.

Curious Eloise.

Oh children.

Oh poor oblivious Daphne. Simon, help your wife.

A fucking tie. Bitch they gotta kill them to eat them. Simon, again, help your wife. Tell your wife THINGS!

Y'all fucking dumb off all that sex and living in la la land apparently.

Well somebody liked his evil ass daddy.

Diplomatic Daphne.

Another sprinkle of kids....and pregnancy too.

I saw that longing look.

Aww she's worried he's hurt by being around children. If only you knew.

"I thought only of you." Really, mf?! As you keep up this lie.

She's so optimistic about her circumstances.

He's lucky he's beautiful. And that I pity him a bit. Because he's a motherfucker.

How did you get so lucky? Well you're lying to your wife and she doesn't know how sperm works sooooooo there's that.

What a beautiful expansive scene though.

Penelope is PISSED.

No belly yet.

Passive. Aggressive.

Oh this dinner is so awkward.

Portia you are not subtle at all.

Anthony is still CLEARLY not here for this engagement.

Oh is she about to snitch.

Well shit. She's kind of snitching.

Aww. He thinks your such a good friend, but hes got this.

You're sneaky and he's stupid.

Marina is hustling.

Eloping is always a grand idea. Colin you fucking dummy.

Marina is so relieved.

Aw where's Simon?

Sad Daphne is not a good look.

Grouchy workaholic Simon is not a good look either....but he does have a lot of responsibility in all fairness.

Mrs. Colson is so sick of Daphne.

Homegirl is just trying to find her footing. At least Rose stays supportive.

Have I said how much I love Rose?

Damn no one wants to talk to Daphne.

Aw she's befriended the pregnant lady with the screaming toddler.

I'm glad someone is finally explaining shit to Daphne. She can't grow if she don't know.

Too busy for his wife now......I'm not liking this vibe.

Aw she's trying to hash it out with Mrs. Colson.

Oooh she's looking for guidance about Simon.

He really hasn't told her shit about his life.

The power dynamic of their relationship is frustrating.

All this talk of being barren.....

She misses Simon's mama.

Strong seed got her thinking!

Penelope you sneaky, lying ass....what are you up to?

She has hope yet again. She about to expose her mother.

She ain't giving up.

Marina is damned and determined to marry Colin.

Oh Marina went there THERE.

You're gonna see your wife, Your Fucking Grace.

Stressy Simon is such a grouch.....but I'm not judging. I'm the same way.

But when they're affectionate, fuck.

He really just tossed her up on that desk like "Fuck work."

And he proceeded to fuckin work that mf thang.

How many people in the world are fucking like crazy right now because their significant others stay turned on by this show.

If I were not single, I would most definitely be pouncing on my partner ALL. THE. TIME.

Ok. Back to the show.

That was a mighty aggressive pull-out.

Relatable Simon. I too like foods after fucks.

Oh shit Daphne connecting the dots.

Rose out here saving the day like usual.

Well at least Daphne knows where babies come from now.

Everything is about to shatter, amrite?

She can't even hear a word he says. She feels so betrayed.

The piglet.

Dat ass though. And those shoulders.

Yeah that's gonna be a no tonight.

Oooh and now he wakes up without her.

She's fucking heartbroken.

The man she loves took away her choice with his deceit.

He allowed her to believe he was unable, not unwilling.

Would she have married him if he told the truth?

He was ready to die about the shit and still lied though.

All he ever had to do was tell her the whole fucking truth.

Everything this WOMAN knows about love and sex, she's learned from this man (and the real MVP Rose). He has literally taught her everything from the start of her sexual awakening. He knows better than anyone how ignorant she is regarding literally ANYTHING sexual in nature. I know he's insanely damaged, but this fucking hurts.

It's a unique feeling of unease and helplessness when you feel or realize you don't have agency over your own body.

An absence of the option to consent if you will.

I know this is a show, and I suppose it's doing its job because it's getting me deep into my thoughts and feelings. And I sure as a mf ENJOY THE FUCK out of watching them literally breathe in the same room with each other....among the many other things they do onscreen together. I guess I'm just heartbroken too. Shit. Plus y'all know I love tf out of my girl Daphne.

Ok back to the show again. This episode is fucking with my emotions.

Daphne is stewing!

But fuck if this isn't romantic as a mf.

These 2 fuck me up every time!

JPOLND - The End. That's this song. And this song is perfect.

Yes y'all! Rip them clothes off.

Daphne looks wild as hell. Carnal. She has a carnal look about her.

Ok bitch. Climb that mf tree then!

Is she anger-fucking him?!

Either way, he's loving it!!!

This song really is perfect.

Oh shit she's not letting up.

Fuck.

This shoe dropping?! Gawd NO!

She was literally like you took my choice so I took yours.

These fucking two.

He's hot with it for good reason for sure, but she is going in!

How the fuck could you think she knew how this worked when she didn't know what masturbation, let alone sex was until you got a hold of her?

YOU. PLAYED. ON. HER. IGNORANCE.

Maybe this conversation should have been had before y'all got naked.

They're both right in their own ways.

But they are absofuckinglutely wrong in so many of their own ways too.

He didn't ask for her pity and she didn't ask for his betrayal.

They are tearing me apart right now!

Big Sean said it best. "I guess drama makes for the best content."

I'm still rooting for them. I love growth and we still got 2 episodes left. They can't stay stuck like this, I'm sure.

Oh hey Whistledown.

Aww go to your friend.

Wtf is going on?

Are they all trying to kill me?

Aw fuck. Marina has been blasted by Whistledown. It's over.

Pure little Colin.

Oh Simon is heartbroken and Daphne.......she's desperate for a baby.

"Can the ends ever justify such wretched means?" That's a great question Whistledown. I'll have to get back to you on that.

I will close this with happiness because I refuse to accept this heartbreak.

[the-coffee-story]

Coffee - The Plague Doctor's Revenge

Chapter 9 - Fans

A heavy snow was falling when Sean entered Starbucks, brushing the snowflakes off his black coat and rubbing his gloved hands against each other in a futile attempt to warm up a little. Jingle Bells was playing on the radio. Violet and Coffee were already there, quietly having a rather one-sided conversation. They glanced up when they heard the glass door opening.

"Hey." Violet waved. "Ready to go ghost hunting?"

"Incredibly motivated," Sean sighed. "Just let me get a coffee first, please."

The line was short. Within a minute or two it was his turn.

"Chestnut praline latte," he mumbled, staring at his shoes. There was a spot on his right one. He had to remember wiping it off somewhere.

"Coming right up." The barista was still a teenager. She had a tattoo of Billy the Puppet on her arm.

"Thanks," Sean mumbled. The spot on his shoe was massively irritating him.

"What's your name?", the barista asked.

"Huh?" He needed a moment to realize why she'd asked. "Oh. Uh, Thasfield."

She grinned. "Thasfield, like the arsonist!"

He nodded. "Yeppers."

"Cool. I wonder what he's up to these days."

"This."

"Can I have your autograph? I stan serial killers!"

Sean scrunched his nose in confusion. "Erm....what?!"

"I'm your biggest fan!" The girl was beaming. Violet next to him was covering her mouth in a futile attempt to stop herself from laughing.

"Please?", the barista asked. "I have a sharpie, can you autograph my face?"

Sean frowned. "Uhm...no? What the fuck?"

"Aw."

"Can I please just get my coffee."

"You have fans!" Violet grinned as they left the café.

"I don't want to." Sean groaned and took a sip of his coffee. It tasted surprisingly good. "I stan serial killers. What is she, sixteen? Seventeen? Does she have a Ted Bundy poster in her bedroom? Maybe write love letters to Jack the Ripper? What's so great about people who hurt people?!"

"Hey, calm down, she's just a teenager."

"Doesn't make it any more okay," he mumbled into his plastic cup. "On the contrary."

Coffee nudged him and held his phone into Sean's face.

"You're right, but there's no need to freak out."

"I just hate it," Sean mumbled. "I stan serial killers. Is that the label people will know me by for the rest of my life?"

Coffee sharply inhaled through his teeth while typing.

"Okay, you have to admit, the fact that you were one of the top wanted criminals in Graytown within the last ten years does not make you sound particularly trustworthy."

"But that's not who I am anymore!", Sean argued. Coffee sighed.

"We know that Sean, but most people don't!"

Sean took another sip of coffee. He would've gladly poured it into the snow instead. He wasn't in the mood for coffee anymore.

"Hey." Violet nudged him. "It's gonna be okay. Eventually they'll understand."

"I doubt that." Sean groaned. "C'mon, let's go find that Plague Doctor before I get a mental breakdown. "

[aspiringnova]

fun lil au-ish hc question: which of ur muses would u ship with each other 🌝 ................also wow colored text in asks now ... i’m ready to party like it’s 2006 and i’m using AIM to send my friends dollmaker versions of them i designed on sketchy angelfire websites

Everything about that statement ..... I have not had a single thought about any of those things in a solid 15 years.... incredible.

Okay, to get the easy one out of the way: I ship Kaden and Violet together. That’s a given. As a wise woman once said, Oooh. That’s my shit. Even though in the Stargazers original series they weren’t going to have a happy ending, this is my ask box and I’m gonna do what I want! They’re married, I say!!!

Secondly, hmm... *checks muse page because I genuinely don’t even remember who my own characters are anymore* I’d have to say Scott and Lizzie! I think he’d do a great job of teaching her how to have fun and enjoy life more, and she might inspire him to be a little more goal-oriented and find some direction. It’s all about ~~balance~~. 

Thirdly... This is getting difficult now. I’m gonna say Zave and Nikki! He would worship her like the goddess she’s always wanted to be (which at the end of the day, is her love language) so she would reciprocate his efforts for the most part. I can also see this relationship overstaying its welcome, her seeing how far she can go in terms of taking more than she gives in return. But maybe not.Maybe he’ll notice she dumbs herself down for him when they first start dating and encourage her, instead, to be the smartypants he knows she is. Maybe he’ll be the one that stays and assures her that she is enough. I could see him being good for her--if only she’s ready for it!

Another interaction that I’d like to see (though I don’t think they’d click enough to date) is Kyle and Myra, because of their shared affinities for justice and the truth. In their brief stints as rpg characters, Kyle was a police officer and aspiring detective, while Myra was in a pre-law track at school with the goal of becoming a prosecutor. Both of them shared dreams of putting bad guys behind bars, and their naive wishes turn sour over the course of the game. Before you know it, they fall victim to manipulation, and their anger evolves until they become like the types of people who hurt them in the first place. Both get taken advantage of by those they previously deemed trustworthy (Kyle, his mentor, and Myra, her mature older boyfriend). Kyle was going to get involved in a scandal involving extortion (something he was originally investigating), and Myra, seeking revenge on the man who betrayed her, until she realizes she’s become a monster worse than him. I was excited to delve into their journeys, but alas. Maybe someday. 

My other characters I can’t see really being compatible with each other, but maybe I’m just being too closed-minded with their tropes. I could see a sitcom about Sarah and Sean, Three’s Company style, where they live together in more conservative times and have to pretend to be dating whenever the landlord comes knocking at their door.

Matthew has to live alone until he can find someone to kick the right-wing conservative out of him. AU where Matt and Mitch are both gay, for each other????

Thanks for asking! :)

[shadowfairys]

mellifluous ; javier escuella

first time writing with an OC and i’m really happy with this!! i want to make this an ongoing thing too ☺ i might of made this a little self-indulgent lmao

word count: 1,778

Aurora had always enjoyed the outdoors. There was something so soothing about the smell of fresh grass and the harmony of wildlife around her. She blames her mother for her love of nature due to the fact that their cabin was so small, so all she could do was play outside, but she truthfully didn’t mind. She remembers how she and her older sisters, Amélie and Violet, would run around the grassy fields until they collapsed from exhaustion, usually followed by a fit of giggles. 

Oh, how she missed that old cabin. It was practically falling apart, but her mother had tried her utmost to make it into a home. That old vase that had been in their family for generations was filled with a new set of flowers every week, resting on the middle of the table. Her mother had a consummate hobby of embroidery that she constantly used to decorate. They didn’t have much, but they had each other. At least, for the time being. 

Presently, she’s surrounded by a group of people who Aurora is unfamiliar with, a mix of gazes full of pity and hushed whispers behind her back. She had taken a liking to Mary-Beth and Tilly, who reminded her of her sisters. Karen was a lot to deal with, but not particularly unkind. The men in the camp seemed to avoid her, as she did to them, though she was sure for different reasons. They appeared to be the type to steer clear of comforting someone, most likely because of the awkwardness, while Aurora avoided them because she never really had experiences with men in her life. Though, Hosea was an exception, a warmth in the swarm of cold that she experienced in the past few weeks. 

When a group of men displayed in black hats rode into her line of sight, Aurora had already had a feeling of dread aching through her entire body. She remembered wondering who the hell could these guys be? No one had ever come onto their hidden land of property before. Calling for her mother and immediately grabbing Violet’s hand, everything after that was a cloudy blur of yelling and gunshots that led up to desperately grasping her limp mother close to her chest, witnessing the light draining from her eyes. She remembered the heavy guilt on her shoulders as she watched her sisters get thrown on the back of a horse, riding off in the distance. She knew what those kinds of men did to girls. 

She was an absolute mess when a man named Arthur found her on a trail on the outskirts of Valentine, covered in blood and dried tears. 

Now, she feels weight on her as she runs her fingers through the grass of Horseshoe Overlook, though a part of her is content with the memories playing through her head. The sunrise had just ended, the mix of pinks and oranges fading out to a faint blue. The sound of people starting to wake up and beginning their day overwhelmed Aurora, but she sat still on her spot on the edge of the cliff, shuffling random rocks beneath her. After a while, Tilly had come down to the shore and began to wash clothes, “Hi there, Aurora. Do you mind if I sit here?”

“Of course not, Tilly.”

Tilly sat on the ground next to her and sighed softly, “It’s been a rough couple of weeks. I don’t think we’ve ever been worked this hard by Miss Grimshaw. She starts to yell when I just sit down.”

“Yeah, she seems very...intense.” In all honesty, Aurora was terrified of her and tried to avoid her at all costs. It seemed like anything could and would set her off, but she wasn’t going to admit that to Tilly.

“That’s one word to describe her.”

Footsteps sounded behind the girls, both turning their heads in slight fear thinking that Miss Grimshaw had overheard and was coming to confront them about it, but they were relieved to see Javier Escuella with a mug of coffee in his hand and a soft smile on his face, “Miss Jackson, Miss Everett. How are you ladies doing today?” 

Tilly returned the smile, “We’re just fine, Mister Escuella. Got any plans for today?”

“Oh, you know, rob a stagecoach, get some leads. Try to keep busy.”

“Same old, same old.” 

Javier chuckled and nodded, turning his head to Aurora who was interested in the ground all of a sudden. She felt like she was intruding on a conversation between two obvious friends, and frankly she just felt that she wasn’t wanted there by most. Little did she know that Javier was intrigued in the mystery that was Aurora Everett. As soon as he caught sight of her striking red, wavy hair and piercing blue eyes that held a substantial amount of pain, he knew that he had to get to know her more. The whole gang had known what had happened to her and had taken some sort of pity on her, though that didn’t get in the way of them making it clear that if she wanted to stay, she would need to do some type of work to earn her keep. 

She had understood, but that didn’t stop her from dreading it.

Javier could see that the girl was feeling closed off from the group and decided to take action. After all, when he first joined the group, Dutch did everything he could do to make him feel welcome. “Miss Everett? Since Sean has been rescued, we’re throwing a little party tonight in celebration. Maybe you’d want to join us.”

Aurora felt a little scared of the spotlight put on her, but she pushed it down as best to her abilities, “Uh, what do you do at these kinds of parties?”

“We drink a little, sing songs. It’s not a huge thing, but it’s a lot of fun.”

“I-...sure. I’ll join...”

“Great! Can’t wait. I’ll see you guys tonight.”

Tilly waved a goodbye at the man before smiling at Aurora, “I can’t wait for tonight! Maybe you’ll even feel up to singing a song of your own.”

Though she knew that Tilly was teasing her, her heartbeat picked up, “O-oh, I don’t think so. I don’t think I’m ready for all of that.”

“Oh, of course. We can just lie low, if you want. I would avoid Karen if you want to do that, though.” 

By the time night rolled around, Aurora was done with the list of chores given to her by Mary-Beth. She was exhausted and really didn’t feel up to a party anyway, but she figured that she was going to be around these people for a while, and needed to make good trust with them. Maybe that trust will start with this party. Dutch’s gramophone was blasting through the camp just before the party started, and while she enjoyed the reminded memory of her very own gramophone back home, she didn’t favor the choice of opera that Dutch seemed to like. 

Finally people started to gather, and she sat with a woman named Sadie Adler who was also rescued by the gang. As horrible as it sounds, she was almost relieved to have someone who could relate to her, to not feel alone. She really couldn’t tell if Sadie appreciated her there or not, but she didn’t say anything, so she assumed it was alright. Aurora had heard from Abigail that her husband died at the hands of a group called the O'Driscolls, known for their violent actions against, well, everyone. Part of her suspected that this was the group who was responsible for the death of her mother and the taking of her sisters, but she refrained from asking questions, more so because she didn’t know if she could get through the story without breaking down completely. 

Javier had seen her sit away from the group, clearly wanting to keep a distance. He wasn’t going to force her to join everyone, who was a little more rowdy tonight due to the fact that this was their first celebration in awhile, but he did want to try to get her to open up more. He bid a goodbye to the men gathered around the campfire and grabbed his guitar, searching for the girl he was, for some reason, interested in. He thinks it’s something about the way she appeared almost like a ghost. Where Sadie Adler slowly mourned the loss of her husband, Aurora efficiently worked the day along and kept to herself, usually with a blank look on her face. Almost like she wasn’t there. 

 He took a seat next to her on the outer part of camp. She jumped a bit when she was abruptly knocked out of her train of thought, Javier holding out a hand to try to calm her down, “Lo siento, querida. Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

The redhead sighed in alleviation, “No, it’s fine. My fault.”

Javier jerked his head to the side, displaying confusion, “How is that your fault?”

“I don’t know. I zone out a lot.”

“Well, that’s hardly your fault, querida. I noticed you weren’t at the party, any reason why?”

Oh, god. Aurora thought. They’re going to think that I’m distant and untrustworthy, if they don’t think that already. 

“Um, yeah. Sorry, I just really didn’t feel up to it, I guess.”

Javier nodded, and brought up his guitar to rest in his lap. He glanced at her and found her already looking at him, quickly breaking the gaze, settling it on the sight of her fidgeting with her hands. A warmth crept into his chest, a soft smile visible on his face, “If it’s alright, I would like to play here. I could do without the drunk payasos around.”

“Yeah, that’s alright.”

And with the sound of a mix of people slurring drunkenly and some heading off to bed, it all faded with the soft strumming of Javier’s guitar. An unknown melody had flooded her ears and she hesitantly snuck a look at him, contentment seeming into her veins. She hadn’t felt that in what seemed like an eternity. He had felt the stare of the girl and glanced up, meeting her gaze, and throwing a small smirk at her.

While Aurora had a long way to go to feel okay again, she couldn’t deny the comfort she felt with the man next to her.

lo siento, querida: i’m sorry, darling

querida: darling

payasos: clowns (male)

i used google translate like an idiot, so please tell me if you notice anything inaccurate!!

[whatisthiswitchcraft]

books I read in 2019 (not including rereads, favorites are bolded!)

Come Close - Sappho

Shanghai Baby - Wei Hui

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair - Pablo Neruda

Bad Feminist: Essays - Roxane Gay

The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir - Jenifer Lewis

Sula - Toni Morrison

Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writings of North America - ed. Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel - Alexander Chee

Night Sky With Exit Wounds - Ocean Vuong

If They Come For Us - Fatimah Asghar

Heart Berries: A Memoir - Terese Marie Mailhot

Less - Andrew Sean Greer

The Astonishing Color of After - Emily X.R. Pan

Goodbye, Vitamin - Rachel Khong

Darius the Great is Not Okay - Adib Khorram

Exit West - Mohsin Hamid

Homegirls and Handgrenades - Sonia Sanchez

Heavy: An American Memoir - Keise Laymon

All You Can Ever Know - Nicole Chung

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

The Way You Make Me Feel - Maureen Goo

A Very Large Expanse of Sea - Tahereh Mafi

Water By the Spoonful - Quiara Alegría Hudes

I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé - Michael Arceneaux

Bury It - Sam Sax

White Dancing Elephants - Chaya Bhuvaneswar

Pulp - Robin Talley

Shit is Real - Aisha Franz

Silencer - Marcus Wicker

Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale - Belle Yang

Bestiary: Poems - Donika Kelly

Monster Portraits - Sofia Samatar

No Matter the Wreckage - Sarah Kay

Violet Energy Ingots - Hoa Nguyen

Olio - Tyehimba Jess

The Kane Chronicles: The Serpent’s Shadow - Rick Riordan

There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé - Morgan Parker

Nylon Road: A Graphic Memoir of Coming of Age in Iran - Parsua Bashi

The Wedding Date - Jasmine Guillory

Fruit of the Drunken Tree - Ingrid Rojas Contreras

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones

Family Trust - Kathy Wang

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture - ed. Roxane Gay

Little & Lion - Brandy Colbert

A Girl Like That - Tanaz Bhathena

Suicide Club: A Novel About Living - Rachel Heng

The Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary - NoNieqa Ramos

My Old Faithful: Stories - Yang Huang

Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan

Girls Burn Brighter - Shobha Rao

Moon of the Crusted Snow - Waubgeshig Rice

Kingdom Animalia - Aracelis Girmay

Happiness - Aminatta Forna

Devotions - Mary Oliver

The Proposal - Jasmine Guillory

The Kiss Quotient - Helen Hoang

When Katie Met Cassidy - Camille Perri

Heads of the Colored People - Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Friday Black: Stories - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

The Word is Murder - Anthony Horowitz

Miles from Nowhere - Nami Mun

The Lost Ones - Sheena Kamal

All the Names They Used for God - Anjali Sachdeva

Confessions of the Fox - Jordy Rosenberg

Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir - Padma Lakshmi

On the Come Up - Angie Thomas

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali - Sabina Khan

See What I Have Done - Sarah Schmitt

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - Erika Sánchez

For Today I Am A Boy - Kim Fu

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings - Joy Harjo

They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us - Hanif Abdurraqib

Mongrels - Stephen Graham Jones

If Beale Street Could Talk - James Baldwin

Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime that Changed America - Mamie Till-Mobley and Christopher Benson

The Gilded Wolves - Roshani Chokshi

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before - Jenny Han

The Perfect Nanny - Leila Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor

The Travelling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel

Things We Lost in the Fire - Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell

Sunburn - Laura Lippman

The House of Impossible Beauties - Joseph Cassara

Freshwater - Akwaeke Emezi

A Private Life - Chen Ran, translated by John Howard-Gibbon

Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster - Stephen L. Carter

Undead Girl Gang - Lily Anderson

They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera

The Friend - Sigrid Nunez

Severance - Ling Ma

Tiny Crimes: Very Short Tales of Mystery & Murder - ed. Licoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto

Mapping the Interior - Stephen Graham Jones

Give Me Some Truth - Eric Gansworth

How to Love a Jamaican - Alexia Arthurs

All of This is True - Lygia Day Peñaflor

Swimmer Among the Stars - Kanishk Tharoor

The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 7: Mothering Invention - Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story - Kheryn Callender

Gingerbread - Helen Oyeyemi

Where the Dead Sit Talking - Brandon Hobson

The Ensemble - Aja Gabel

My Education - Susan Choi

More Happy than Not - Adam Silvera

Nobody Cares: Essays - Anne T. Donahue

Kiss and Tell: A Romantic Résumé, Ages 0 to 22 - Marinaomi

Oculus: Poems - Sally Wen Mao

Let’s Talk About Love - Claire Kann

History is All You Left Me - Adam Silvera

Opposite of Always - Justin A. Reynolds

The Crown Ain’t Worth Much - Hanif Abdurraqib

The Weight of Our Sky - Hanna Alkaf

If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi - Neel Patel

Girls of Paper and Fire - Natasha Ngan

What if It’s Us - Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

The Map of Salt and Stars - Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard - Lesléa Newman

The Big Smoke - Adrian Matejka

Dissolve - Sherwin Bitsui

The Woman Next Door - Yewande Omotoso

The Refugees - Viet Thanh Nguyen

White Tears - Hari Kunzru

Electric Arches - Eve Ewing

The Black Maria - Aracelis Girmay

Bloodchild and Other Stories - Octavia Butler

Soft Science - Franny Choi

The White Card - Claudia Rankine

Mad Honey Symposium - Sally Wen Mao

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls - Anissa Gray

Next: New Poems - Lucille Clifton

The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance: Poems 1987-1992 - Audre Lorde

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems - Nikki Giovanni

The Arab of the Future - Riad Sattouf

Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side - Eve L. Ewing

Gruel - Bunkong Tuon

Marriage of a Thousand Lies - SJ Sindu

Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler

Good Night, Willie Lee, I’ll See You in the Morning - Alice Walker

That Kind of Mother - Rumaan Alam

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows - Balli Kaur Jaswal

Hera Lindsay Bird - Hera Lindsay Bird

Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams

And Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead - Chanelle Benz

Everyone Knows You Go Home - Natalia Sylvester

Naming Our Destiny: New and Selected Poems - June Jordan

The 100* Best African American Poems (*But I Cheated) - ed. Nikki Giovanni

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 - P. Djèlí Clark

Bury My Clothes - Roger Bonair-Agard

Selected Poems - Langston Hughes

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

Sonata Mulattica - Rita Dove

Winnie - Gwendolyn Brooks

Bicycles: Love Poems - Nikki Giovanni

The Black God’s Drums -  P. Djèlí Clark

Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos - Lucy Knisley

Annie Allen - Gwendolyn Brooks

Parable of the Talents  - Octavia Butler

After Disasters - Viet Dinh

Passing for Human: A Graphic Memoir - Liana Finck

Teeth - Aracelis Girmay

A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun: The Life & Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks - Angela Jackson

Peluda - Melissa Lozada-Oliva

A Map to the Next World - Joy Harjo

Magical Negro - Morgan Parker

Corpse Whale - dg nanouk okpik

Hawkeye: Volume 1 - Matt Fraction

Cenzontle - Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric - Claudia Rankine

Selected Poems - Gwendolyn Brooks

She Had Some Horses - Joy Harjo

The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hope - ed. Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and Nate Marshall

Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories - Nichelle Nichols

The Past and Other Things that Should Stay Buried - Shaun David Hutchinson

Difficult Women - Roxane Gay

The Woman Who Fell From the Sky - Joy Harjo

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays - Esmé Weijun Wang

Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest - Hanif Abdurraqib

The Frolic of the Beasts - Yukio Mishima

Hawkeye Omnibus - Matt Fraction

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations - Mira Jacob

Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope - Karamo Brown

Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters

When My Brother Was an Aztec - Natalie Diaz

Toxic Flora: Poems - Kimiko Hahn

Virgin - Analicia Sotelo

Easy Prey - Catherine Lo

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me - Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

Saints and Misfits - S.K. Ali

Intercepted - Alexa Martin

Love from A to Z - S.K. Ali

Gemini - Sonya Mukherjee

The Atlas of Reds and Blues - Devi S. Laskar

My Brother’s Husband Vol. II - Gengoroh Tagame

Black Queer Hoe - Britteney Black Rose Kapri

Internment - Samira Ahmed

Dothead: Poems - Amit Majmudar

With the Fire On High - Elizabeth Acevedo

Sabrina & Corina: Stories - Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Milk and Filth - Carmen Giménez Smith

The Key to Happily Ever After - Tif Marcelo

If You’re Out There - Katy Loutzenhiser

Farewell to Manzanar - Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

New Poets of Native Nations - ed. Heid E. Erdrich

Bodymap: Poems - Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Wolf by Wolf - Ryan Graudin

Tell Me How It Ends - Valeria Luiselli

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood - Trevor Noah

Down and Across - Arvin Ahmadi

The Tradition - Jericho Brown

About Betty’s Boob - Vero Cazot and Julie Rocheleau

Fake It Till You Break It - Jenn P. Nguyen

Storm of Locusts - Rebecca Roanhorse

Silver Sparrow - Tayari Jones

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors - Sonali Dev

Mongrel: Essays, Diatribes, Pranks - Justin Chin

When I Grow Up I Want To Be a List of Further Possibilities - Chen Chen

The New Testament - Jericho Brown

Fumbled - Alexa Martin

If It Makes You Happy - Claire Kann

Brave Face - Shaun David Hutchinson

Words in Deep Blue - Cath Crowley

Lost Children Archive - Valeria Luiselli

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice - Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy - Ta-Nehisi Coates

Anger is a Gift - Mark Oshiro

The Bride Test - Helen Hoang

Not Your Backup - C.B. Lee

Prelude to Bruise - Saeed Jones

The Night Wanderer: A Graphic Novel - Drew Hayden Taylor and Michael Wyatt

Naturally Tan - Tan France

Bloom - Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau

Like a Love Story - Abdi Nazemian

I’m Afraid of Men - Vivek Shraya

Juliet Takes a Breath - Gabby Rivera

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

Let Me Hear a Rhyme - Tiffany D. Jackson

I Wanna Be Where You Are - Kristina Forest

Hurricane Season - Nicole Melleby

Split Tooth - Tanya Tagaq

Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Love and Food - ed. Elsie Chapman and Caroline Tung Richmond

The Night Tiger - Yangsze Choo

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls - T Kira Madden

Miracle Creek - Angie Kim

Ayesha at Last - Uzma Jalaluddin

Shout - Laurie Halse Anderson

The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 3: Halal if You Hear Me - ed. Fatimah Asghar and Safia Elhillo

The Tenth Muse - Catherine Chung

This Place: 150 Years Retold - various authors

Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens - Tanya Boteju

Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For) - Ella Risbridger

Library of Small Catastrophes - Alison C. Rollins

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune - Roselle Lim

No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America - Darnell L. Moore

The Book of Delights - Ross Gay

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton

Speak No Evil - Uzodinma Iweala

How We Fight White Supremacy - Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend - Emily Horner

Here and Now and Then - Mike Chen 

The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo

Red White and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston

Becoming - Michelle Obama

The Wedding Party - Jasmine Guillory

Magic for Liars - Sarah Gailey

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer - Michelle McNamara

Brain Fever - Kimiko Hahn

Life on Mars - Tracy K. Smith

Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler - Juan Felipe Herrera

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude - Ross Gay

Tentacle - Rita Indiana

Hapa Tales and Other Lies: A Memoir About the Mixed Race Hawai’i That I Never Knew - Sharon Chang

Loose Woman - Sandra Cisneros

Duende - Tracy K. Smith

Mostly Dead Things - Kristen Arnett

1919 - Eve L. Ewing

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge

Negroland - Margo Jefferson

For Black Girls Like Me - Mariama J. Lockington

Super Extra Grande - Yoss

Home Remedies - Xuan Juliana Wang

You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain - Phoebe Robinson

An Anonymous Girl - Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

The Abundance - Amit Majmudar

I Shall Not Be Moved - Maya Angelou

Helium - Rudy Francisco

Teaching My Mother to Give Birth - Warsan Shire

Tomie - Junji Ito

Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay - Phoebe Robinson

This Time Will Be Different - Misa Sugiura

Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu - Junji Ito

Stag’s Leap - Sharon Olds

Black Card - Chris L. Terry

It’s Not Like It’s A Secret - Misa Sugiura

Washington Black - Esi Edugyan

From Here To Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death - Caitlin Doughty

I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying: Essays - Bassey Ikpi

A House of My Own: Stories from my Life - Sandra Cisneros

The Terrible - Yrsa Daley-Ward

The Black Tides of Heaven - JY Yang

The Red Threads of Fortune - JY Yang

Little Fish - Casey Plett

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion - Jia Tolentino

The Black Condition ft. Narcissus - Jayy Dodd

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

Dealing in Dreams - Lilliam Rivera

The Tiger Flu - Larissa Lai

The Island of Sea Women - Lisa See

America is Not the Heart - Elaine Castillo

Feel Free - Zadie Smith

Walking on the Ceiling - Aysegul Savas

My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education - Jennine Capo Crucet

The Unpassing - Chia-Chia Lin

Maurice - E.M. Forster

Permanent Record - Mary H.K. Choi

The Downstairs Girl - Stacey Lee

Red Dust Road: An Autobiographical Journey - Jackie Kay

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You - Dina Nayeri

I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up - Naoko Kodama

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI - David Grann

Ordinary Light - Tracy K. Smith

Cantoras - Carolina De Robertis

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness - Susannah Cahalan

How to Be Remy Cameron - Julian Winters

The Marriage Clock - Zara Raheem

Moon: Letters, Maps, Poems - Jennifer S. Cheng

Where Reasons End - Yiyun Li

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi

Meddling Kids - Edgar Cantero

A Lucky Man - Jamel Brinkley

Maiden, Mother, Crone: Fantastical Trans Femmes - ed. Gwen Benaway

What is Obscenity? The Story of a Good for Nothing Artist and her Pussy - Rokudenashiko

The Umbrella Academy Vol. III: Hotel Oblivion - Gerard Way

Who Put This Song On? - Morgan Parker

The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays - Wesley Yang

Wave - Sonali Deraniyagala

Love War Stories - Ivelisse Rodriguez

Baby Teeth - Zoje Stage

A Fortune for Your Disaster - Hanif Abdurraqib

Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers - Jake Skeets

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen - Jose Antonio Vargas

The Marrow Thieves - Cherie Dimaline

Polite Society - Mahesh Rao

Patron Saints of Nothing - Randy Ribay

The Body Papers: A Memoir - Grace Talusan

A Woman is No Man - Etaf Rum

Travelers - Helon Habila

Trust Exercise - Susan Choi

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

The Intuitionist - Colson Whitehead

A People’s History of Heaven - Mathangi Subramanian

The Buddha of Suburbia - Hanif Kureishi

This is Paradise: Stories - Kristiana Kahakauwila

Brood - Kimiko Hahn

Don’t Look Now - Daphne du Maurier

How We Fight for Our Lives - Saeed Jones

I Hope You Get This Message - Farah Naz Rishi

Unmarriageable - Soniah Kamal

Bad Endings - Carleigh Baker

The Water Dancer - Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick - Mallory O’Meara

Shapes of Native Nonficton: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers - ed. Elissa Washuta and Theresa Warburton

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass - Mariko Tamaki

Even the Saints Audition - Rachel Jackson

Slay - Britney Morris

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women - ed. Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale

The Starlet and the Spy - Ji-min Lee

North of Dawn - Nuruddin Farah

Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Drowning Boy’s Guide to Water - Cameron Barnett

They Called Us Enemy - George Takei

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life - Ali Wong

The Right Swipe - Alisha Rai

Full Disclosure - Camryn Garrett

Searching for Sylvie Lee - Jean Kwok

Gideon the Ninth - Tasmyn Muir

Stubborn Archivist - Yara Rodrigues Fowler

The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 8: Old is the New New - Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Never Grow Up - Jackie Chan

“All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans - Roxanna Dunbar-Ortiz

In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado

Blame This on the Boogie - Rina Ayuyang

It - Stephen King

Sea Monsters - Chloe Aridjis

My Fate According to the Butterfly - Gail D. Villanueva

The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 9: “Okay” - Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

The Deep - Rivers Solomon

I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World - Kai Cheng Thom

Mooncakes - Suzanne Walker

BTTM FDRS - Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore

Hot Comb - Ebony Flowers

Notes from a Young Black Chef - Kwame Onwuachi

Bunny - Mona Awad

The Twisted Ones - T. Kingfisher

Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search for Black Panther - Nnedi Okorafor

I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir - Malaka Gharib

Thick: And Other Essays - Tressie McMillan Cottom

Royal Holiday - Jasmine Guillory

Boxers - Gene Luen Yang

Saints - Gene Luen Yang

Fox 8 - George Saunders

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa

Last Day - Domenica Ruta

Wakanda Forever - Nnedi Okorafor

The Revisioners - Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

The Future of Another Timeline - Annalee Newitz

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir - Samra Habib

Somewhere in the Middle: A Journey to the Phillipines in Search of Roots, Belonging, and Identity - Deborah Francisco Douglas

Crier’s War - Nina Varela

Something in Between - Melissa de la Cruz

The Secrets We Kept - Lara Prescott

The Tao of Raven: An Alaska Native Memoir - Ernestine Hayes

One of Us is Lying - Karen M. McManus

Piecing Me Together - Renee Watson

Binti - Nnedi Okorafor

The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead

Recursion - Blake Crouch

Supper Club - Lara Williams

[renee-writer]

Redemption Chapter 88 Beautiful Boy

When the afterbirth is delivered, Eli is invited to cut the cord. With shaky hands, he does. Their son is now a completely independent person. Gabby had him at her breast, aiding the transaction. She now hands him to Eli as she is cleaned up.

He looks down at his son, the first blood relative he has ever known. “Oh my beautiful boy.” He whispers over him. Rocking him instinctively in his arms, he starts to hum then softly sing the lyrics of the song John Lennon wrote to his son, Shawn.

“Before you go to sleep, say a little prayer.” He whisper sings,” Before you cross the street, take my hand. Life is what happens to you while your busy making other plans. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy. My darling Gabriel.” From the bed, his emotional wife sobs. “Close your eyes, have no fear, the monsters gone, he's own the run and,” a deep swallow,” Your daddy's here.”

“I will be to banish all monsters. I will be here to hold your hand, hear your prayers, and, oh my beautiful boy, if God wills it, see you come of age. Gabriel, you, your Aunt Evie, and your wonderful mommy are the most important people in my life. Daddy loves you so much little man.”

He walks back over and carefully seats back down by Gabby.

“Eli, we are so blessed to have you in our life. That was so beautiful.” She is still wiping tears off her eyes.

“The words of the late great John Lennon.” He tells her with a smile. He meant them when he sang them for Sean. I mean them when I pray fully sing them over Gabriel.” He runs a hand over his son's soft cheek. The baby's eyes drift shut and his heart gives a mighty lurch.

“I love you Eli. I am sorry for how I acted while having him.”

“I love you and there is nothing to apologize for. I've never seen anything like what you went through. I knew you were strong love but, well, I will never refer to women as the weaker sex again.” She laughs softly.

“He was worth it.”

They bring the rest of their family in, soon after. Evie goes nuts over her little nephew.

“He is so little.” She says as she runs her hand over his tiny feet as he lays in Gabby's arms. She smiles. He hadn't felt little while exiting her.

“He is bigger then you were when you were born. He were just 6 pounds 5 ounces. He is 7 pounds 11 ounces.” Gabby tells her.

“Wow! He is still my little nephew.”

“That he is. How would you like to be his big sister also?” Eli asks her.

“How?” she turns from the baby to him.

“Well, if I adopt you, you would be a Spencer and Gabriel's sister.”

“Really! I want to do that.” The baby is startled by her enthusiasm. “Sorry Gabriel. I am gonna be your big sister!”

They head home later that day. Gabriel in the embroidered gown his aunt had made.

The next few months are hectic. The Spencer's adjust to having a newborn, Eli and Gabby start the process of becoming Evie's official parents. Meanwhile, Jade and Jillian decide they are moving to fast and start seeing others.

By the time Gabriel is six months and crawling, his Aunt Evie is also his sister. When he is one, Aunt Jade meets a man at his birthday party, a friend of Elizabeth and Mark's. His name is Peter and they start cautiously dating.

Gabby finds herself pregnant again when her son is 18 months. Right after he turns two, he, Evie, and his waddling mommy are part of Aunt Jade's wedding party. She and Peter are married after she had accepted Christ four months before.

Nathan Levi is born three months and two weeks later. He is a chunk of a child, weighing 10 pounds! Evie, at nine, is a huge help with her baby brothers but asks for a sister.

“One more time to try to even them out?” Eli asks his wife a year later.

“When Nathan is two.” Is the compromise. So, when Evie is 11, Gabriel 5, and Nathan 3 she finds herself pregnant again.

“Last time,” she tells Jade as she sits nursing her newborn daughter, Violet.

“Then we pray it is a girl?”

“Yes please.”

8 months later, they joyfully welcome Hannah Elizabeth and Gabby has her tubes tied. Her family is complete.

“Can you believe this,” He gestures to the children, sleeping all together, with baby Hannah safely in the middle, “started because we were both shopping for Mark's birthday at the same time?”

“God really does work in mysterious ways.” She agrees leaning against him. “I found love and life with you, Found God again, then Evie, Gabriel, and Jade. Walking into Walmart that day was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

“Me too. I love you so much Gabby.”

“I love you Eli.” They watch their family sleep.

The End.

[agl03]

ABC SDCC Press Release

Disney Television Studios Takes Over Comic-Con 2019 With 14 Panels DISNEY TELEVISION STUDIOS TAKES OVER COMIC-CON 2019  WITH 14 PANELS! ABC’S TWO HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FALL DRAMAS ‘STUMPTOWN’ AND ‘EMERGENCE’ MAKE COMIC-CON DEBUTS WORLD PREMIERE SCREENING OF FOX’S PULSING THRILLER ‘neXt’ FIRST LOOK AT TWO NEW ANIMATED SERIES:  ‘BLESS THE HARTS,’ FROM EMMY® AWARD WINNER EMILY SPIVEY;  AND ‘SOLAR OPPOSITES,’ FROM THE MINDS BEHIND ‘RICK AND MORTY’ EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK OF ‘What Just Happened??! WITH FRED SAVAGE’  AND SEASON 2 OF KURT SUTTER’S ‘MAYANS M.C.’ ‘MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.’ RETURNS FOR STAR-STUDDED HALL H PANEL SETH MACFARLANE AND ‘THE ORVILLE’ CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM TEASE  SEASON THREE AND NATHAN FILLION TALKS SEASON TWO OF ‘THE ROOKIE’ FAN-FAVORITE ANIMATED COMEDIES ‘THE SIMPSONS,’ ‘FAMILY GUY,’   ‘BOB’S BURGERS’ AND ‘AMERICAN DAD!,’  BACK FOR HILARIOUS PANELS AND AUTOGRAPH SIGNINGS Among Those Scheduled to Appear on Panels and at the 20th Century Fox Television and  ABC Booths in the San Diego Convention Center:  Ike Barinholtz, Jillian Bell, H. Jon Benjamin, Michael Ealy, Donald Faison, Nathan Fillion,  Clark Gregg, Scott Grimes, Jake Johnson, Seth MacFarlane, Camryn Manheim, Megan Mullally, Edward James Olmos, JD Pardo, Fred Savage, Kristen Schaal, Cobie Smulders, Allison Tolman, Ming-Na Wen  and Executive Producers Rich Appel, Loren Bouchard, Brannon Braga, David A. Goodman,  Matt Groening, Al Jean, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Jason Richman, Justin Roiland, Alec Sulkin,  Emily Spivey, Kurt Sutter and Matt Weitzman Disney Television Studios including Twentieth Century Fox Television, ABC Studios and Fox 21 Television Studios takes over the San Diego Comic-Con convention with stars and creators of 14 of its fan-favorite shows descending on the world-famous gathering next month. In addition to exclusive sneak peeks of its programs and panel discussions with the casts and creators, the studio will rotate producers and stars through the ABC and 20th Century Fox Television booths on the convention center floor for autograph signings and activities, including distribution of exclusive 2019 poster tubes, collectible mini-posters, premium giveaways and DVD sales.  Descriptions of panel sessions and screenings follow:

THURSDAY, JULY 18  

3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EMERGENCE (Produced by ABC Studios) – Beyond explanation … beyond understanding … lies the truth. Join the cast and executive producers for a first look at the pilot episode of ABC’s new drama series “Emergence,” followed by an exciting panel discussion. This character-driven genre thriller follows a police chief who takes in a young child she finds near the site of a mysterious accident who has no memory of what has happened. The investigation draws her into a conspiracy larger than she ever imagined, and the child’s identity is at the center of it all. Executive producers Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters with cast members Allison Tolman, Donald Faison, Clancy Brown, Alexa Swinton, Owain Yeoman, Ashley  Aufderheide, Robert Bailey Jr. and Zabryna Guevara will all be in attendance. (Indigo Ballroom) 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. (Produced by ABC Studios) –The cast and producers of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” will return to San Diego Comic-Con in epic fashion as they take over Hall H for the first time ever! Be the first to hear the scoop about the show-stopping conclusion for season six and what awaits in season seven of Marvel’s flagship television show. With your favorite stars in attendance, including Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Jeff Ward, along with executive producers Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Jeff Bell and Jeph Loeb, this is a must-see panel to celebrate seven seasons with the world’s greatest fans! This action-packed series from ABC Studios and Marvel Television airs Fridays at 8/7c on ABC.  (Hall H)  Please note: Talent is subject to change. 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. STUMPTOWN (Produced by ABC Studios) – Based on the “Stumptown” graphic novel, ABC’s new drama series “Stumptown” follows Dex Parios (Cobie Smulders) – a strong, assertive and sharp-witted army veteran with a complicated love life, gambling debt and a brother to take care of in Portland, Oregon. Her military intelligence skills make her a great PI, but her unapologetic style puts her in the firing line of hardcore criminals and not quite in alliance with the police. Panelists include cast members Cobie Smulders, Jake Johnson, Michael Ealy, Camryn Manheim, Tantoo Cardinal, Cole Sibus and Adrian Martinez, with executive producer Jason Richman and “Stumptown” graphic novel author Greg Rucka. (Indigo Ballroom)

FRIDAY, JULY 19  

11:00 – 11:45 a.m. BLESS THE HARTS(Produced by 20th Century Fox Television) – From the network that brought you the Simpsons, the Griffins and the Belchers now present the Harts!  FOX’s new half-hour comedy, “Bless The Harts,” features your new favorite, good ol’ Southern family.  Jenny Hart (Kristen Wiig) supports her lottery scratcher-obsessed mother, Betty (Maya Rudolph), and her witty, creative daughter, Violet (Jillian Bell). With the help of her eternally optimistic, dreamer boyfriend Wayne (Ike Barinholtz), they hope to one day achieve the American dream. While they are always struggling to make ends meet, they’re already rich in friends, family and laughter. Join us for an exclusive first look into your next animation obsession with executive producers, Emmy® Award winner Emily Spivey (“Wine Country,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Saturday Night Live”), and Academy Award® winners Phil Lord & Chris Miller (“Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse,” “The Lego Movie,” “21 Jump Street”), and the all-star cast behind the Harts! (Indigo Ballroom) 3:00 – 3:45 p.m. SOLAR OPPOSITES (Produced by 20th Century Fox Television) – From the minds behind “Rick and Morty” come “Solar Opposites,” a new animated series that follows a family of aliens “from a better world” who take refuge in middle America. Join Justin Roiland (“Rick and Morty”), Sean Giambrone (“The Goldbergs”) and Mary Mack (“Golan the Insatiable”), along with executive producers Mike McMahan (“Rick and Morty”) and Josh Bycel (“Happy Endings”), for an exclusive first look into the series premiering in 2020 on Hulu. (Indigo Ballroom) 4:00 – 4:50 p.m. BOB’S BURGERS (Produced by 20th Century Fox Television) – Always one of the most entertaining panels at Comic-Con, the Emmy Award-winning animated FOX series “Bob’s Burgers” returns to San Diego with a few surprises in store! Creator and executive producer Loren Bouchard and executive producer Nora Smith will break news about the upcoming season, and the always entertaining cast including H. Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, John Roberts, Kristen Schaal, Larry Murphy and Megan Mullally will have you howling with laughter with never-before-seen footage, followed by a lively panel discussion and audience Q&A. (Indigo Ballroom) 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. What Just Happened??! WITH FRED SAVAGE (Produced by 20th Century Fox Television) – Acclaimed director and television star Fred Savage cannot wait a second longer to share the world of “The Flare,” the most mind-bending, thrilling, edge-of-your-seat sci-fi show never created. “The Flare,” based on TJ Whitford’s classic series of sci-fi novels, “The Moon is the Sun at Night” not only sizzled its way into living rooms nationwide but also inspired Fox to create its first-ever after-show, “What Just Happened??! With Fred Savage.” Join Fred, alongside stars of “The Flare,” Shiri Appleby (“Roswell”), Kevin Zegers (“Fear the Walking Dead”), Tyler Ritter (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), and co-creators Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser and director Jon Cassar (“24”) to get a sneak-peek screening of the fourth episode of the after-show dedicated to exploring the fandom surrounding the “The Flare.” “What Just Happened??!,” Fred’s half-hour hybrid comedy/talk show, airs on FOX on Sunday nights. Screening to be followed by conversation moderated by Fred Savage and fan Q&A. (Room 6DE) 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. the rookie (Produced by Entertainment One and ABC Studios) – Join series star and executive producer, Nathan Fillion, as he discusses his latest role as John Nolan on ABC’s high-action drama “The Rookie,” as production begins on its second season. Joining Nathan for this intimate conversation will be longtime friend and “The Rookie” showrunner, Alexi Hawley. The two collaborators will also reflect on Nathan’s overarching career, spanning from “Firefly” to Shakespeare, and now, playing the oldest rookie in the LAPD. (Horton Grand Theatre) 6:45 – 7:45 p.m. neXt (Produced by 20th Century Fox Television) – Join us for the world premiere of “neXt,” a propulsive, fact-based thriller about the emergence of a deadly, rogue artificial intelligence that combines pulse-pounding action with an examination of how technology is invading our lives and transforming us in ways we don’t yet understand. Coming to FOX in 2020, “neXt” stars John Slattery (“Mad Men”) as a Silicon Valley pioneer, who teams with cybercrime agent Fernanda Andrade (“The First”), to fight a villain unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Panelists to include creator and executive producer Manny Coto (“24”), executive producers and directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (“This Is Us”), Fernanda Andrade, Michael Mosley (“Ozark”), Jason Butler Harner (“Ozark”) and Eve Harlow (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) for a moderated conversation and fan Q&A. (Room 6DE)

SATURDAY, JULY 20  

12:00 – 12:45 p.m. THE SIMPSONS (Produced by 20th Century Fox Television) – Now 30 years old and part of the mighty Disney empire, get inside insights and secret tips on the upcoming, brand-new season from Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike B Anderson, Stephanie Gillis and the voice of Lisa Simpson and panel moderator, Yeardley Smith. There WILL be freebies! (Ballroom 20) 1:00 – 2:15 p.m. AMERICAN DAD! and FAMILY GUY(Produced by 20th Century Fox Television) – It’s a Smith-family fun day with Hayley (Rachael MacFarlane), Steve (Scott Grimes), Klaus (Dee Bradley Baker) and Principal Lewis (Kevin Michael Richardson), plus executive producer and co-creator Matt Weitzman and producers Kara Vallow & Jeff Kauffmann who will treat “American Dad!” fans to a first look at scenes from all-new episodes coming soon to TBS … plus a few other surprises! THEN Join cast Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mike Henry and executive producers Rich Appel, Alec Sulkin and Kara Vallow from FOX’s hit animated comedy “Family Guy” as we celebrate our 20th anniversary! We’ll take a look back at some of our favorite moments over the last 20 years, plus a special sneak peek at the hilarity and hi-jinx in the upcoming season!  (Ballroom 20) 2:30 – 3:15 p.m. THE ORVILLE (Produced by 20th Century Fox Television) – From Emmy Award-winning executive producer and creator Seth MacFarlane, “The Orville” is back for season three and stopping in San Diego! Join the full crew of the U.S.S. Orville: Seth MacFarlane, Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, Jessica Szohr, J Lee, Mark Jackson and Chad L. Coleman, and executive producers David A. Goodman, Jon Cassar and Brannon Braga to get an exclusive look back at some of our favorite, never-before-seen moments of season two and a special sneak peek at the new and exciting missions in the upcoming third season! (Ballroom 20)

SUNDAY, JULY 21  

1:00 – 2:00 p.m. MAYANS M.C. (Produced by Fox 21 Television Studios) – “Mayans M.C.” is the next chapter in Kurt Sutter’s award-winning “Sons of Anarchy” saga. Set in a post-Jax Teller world, Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes is fresh out of prison and a prospect in the Mayans M.C. charter on the Cali/Mexi border. Come for an exclusive sneak peek at a scene from the upcoming season and a not-to-be-missed conversation with co-creator/executive producer/writer Kurt Sutter, co-creator/executive producer/writer/director Elgin James and executive producer/director Kevin Dowling, plus stars JD Pardo, Clayton Cardenas, Edward James Olmos, Sarah Bolger, Michael Irby, Carla Baratta, Antonio Jaramillo, Raoul Max Trujillo, Richard Cabral, Danny Pino, Emilio Rivera, Frankie Loyal, Joseph Lucero and Vincent Rocco Vargas discussing what to look forward to from season two. Moderator: Lynette Rice, Entertainment Weekly. (Hall H) About Disney Television Studios  Disney Television Studios is a collection of studios comprised of 20th Century Fox Television, ABC Studios and Fox 21 Television Studios. DTS produces the most award-winning, culture-defining programming for all platforms including “This Is Us,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Homeland,” “Modern Family,” “black-ish,” “Fosse/Verdon,” “American Horror Story” and “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger.”