#probably like a year and a half ago i said i'd made my best character ever. well here she is. finally drew her good enough

[chalkrub]

my darling RICKY. abbreviated ricky lore is that she was a normal cow that got bit by a werewolf vampire and thus turned into a werewolf vampire cow.....now cursed with sapience, she's dead set on killing the sunnuvabitch who made her this way. also she goes awoo like a wolf but it's more like amoooo because she's a cow. are you still following me

[whatcannotbesaid-shallbewept]

Let's Talk About Some Common Rent Criticisms

This post is long. I didn't mean it I promise.

I like the musical Rent. This is one of my character flaws. Haven’t watched the movie.

I’d much rather be writing a post on why I love Rent. I’ve written posts like that before. I should write another.

But I’m getting kinda sick of certain complaints. For some reason these complaints keep popping up so. I'd thought I'd share my opinions.

I don't think this post will convince anyone but the 3 people on Rentblr will appreciate it I think.

Most of these are very popular critiques, a couple were only said by a few random people on reddit.

If you dislike Rent I bear no ill will towards you. Some of my best friends are Rent haters. It's beautiful to have your own opinion. I just want to share mine.

“I hate Rent because the characters are idiots whining about having to pay rent ”

Ok. That’s not true. Like you know that’s not what they’re complaining about. Like surely you aren’t criticising Rent from parodies of the title song. Surely you watched the actual musical?

Benny’s not complaining about the rent being late. That is not the situation. They aren’t randomly deciding not to pay rent because of a protest. That’s not the plot of the show.

Benny was their friend. He then bought a building and decided to let his friends live there for free. This arrangement goes on for a year.

He calls them up on christmas eve. He doesn’t ask for them to start paying Rent. He decides he’ll evict them immediately if they don’t pay him 12 months of rent.

No one can pay 12 months of rent overnight. It’s an objectively impossible thing to ask of anyone.

If you’d been living at your friends house for a year for free, per your agreement, then they woke up on christmas eve and announced “Sike you actually owe me twelve months of rent and I’m evicting you tomorrow if you don’t pay up immediately” then that friend scammed you!

So yeah then they sing a song about how they’re not going to pay twelve months of rent they were scammed into. Big deal. What would you do in that situation?

They sing that it’s probably a bluff and there’s no actual way he expects us to pay that. And they are right. He was actually trying to blackmail them with the money to force them to stop a protest.

But it wasn’t really a bluff because when they refused he decided to just evict them on christmas day anyway. Charming.

I don’t think landlords should evict people on Christmas because of rent payments you invented the day before.

“Benny is the only likable character and is in the right”

I mean he’s introduced shaking hands with the cops. He calls the police on protesters, so it doesn’t affect his income, and then it turns into a riot because of police violence. He spends the first half of the show desperately trying to evict homeless people. He spends months cheating on his wife with a teenage tenant. And as I said above, scams and evicts his former friends because they dared not to listen to him. What is your argument for him being likable?

Benny in the original drafts was actually very different. Not in actions, all of his actions were literally the same. But his dialogue was written like a capitalist caricature. That’s kinda why his actions are like that of a capitalist caricature.

However the producers of Rent were really unhappy with this characterisation because “it wasn’t realistic” so they asked Jonathan Larson to make him more sympathetic.

So to get his musical made, Jonathan Larson changed pretty much every line of his to sound sympathetic, but kept all his actions the same.

Its interesting how easy people chose to sympathise with him once his lines were edited to sound nicer.

“They should’ve taken Benny’s deal”

No.

Why would they take a deal from a guy who tried to blackmail them an hour ago? Honestly his guy doesn’t seem all that trustworthy. Agreeing to a deal with him literally an hour after he ripped you seems like an extraordinarily stupid thing to do.

They don’t want to evict a bunch of homeless people just to placate this guy they hate. Makes sense to me. I would totally go to the protest instead of listening to him. I would go so far to say… That’s a likable thing to do. A likable character trait even.

“The main cast are all entitled, and won’t stop complaining”

Entitled to what? Not being scammed over with rent?

They don’t even complain that much man. Like after Benny starts his whole rent scheme they just calmly sit there. Calmly speak to him when he comes over. I’ve watched Rent as much as anyone but you guys are going to have to start quoting examples because I don’t know what you mean.

You keep saying the main characters are assholes and the landlord is super reasonable. But this landlord spends the entire show being an awful person and the main cast kinda doesn’t do anything worth hating.

People mention Angels actions all the time, but she's the character that will often get called “the only likable one” so that's clearly not what people are talking about when they complain about unlikeable characters.

(Maureen is comedic relief and not really meant to be sympathised with and not part of the main cast)

“They are just trust fund kids pretending to be oppressed”

This one's a headscratcher. All we know about them is that they’re broke in New york. Why do I hear this so often?

Mimi is a teenager who dropped out of school to work as a stripper to make ends meet. Why would you assume she has rich parents?

Like if you want to assume they’re rich feel free, but since it is not canon it’s a really odd reason to hate the show.

Nowhere in the musical does it state they're rich. All we know is they're broke right now.

If I'm missing a line in the script then tell me. This information is talked about so often like it's canon. Is it from the movie or something?

“It doesn’t even seem like these characters have jobs”

I mean we don’t actually know much about the characters in rent. Like the timeline is pretty chopped up for thematic reasons.

It's sung through and only takes place on holidays like christmas, new years, valentines, halloween. We only see a snippet of these characters lives.

Background material on rent says Mimi ran away from home at 15. It’s never said in the show (though you can guess from how she talks about home) but their backgrounds are kept vague on purpose.

The only time they're not vauge is at the start from which we can gather :

Collins got fired from his university job because of his AIDS activism. Mark is fired a week before the show starts. Mimi works as a stripper. Angel would have a lot of trouble finding work as an openly genderqueer/transgender woman in 1989 - she spends most of her time working for the support group. Roger starts the show recovering from drug withdrawal.

Like in the second act a year goes by, with most of it skipped, and if you want to assume that they were mooching around and had no job you can. But why?

I don’t really think the point of the musical is to hyperfixate on their economic prospects.

Like that’s a bit weird to have as a requirement for liking something. If the characters with AIDS don’t go to the camera and say “I am contributing to society with a job” then you can’t sympathise with them? Ok.

“Mark is doing poverty cosplay because he likes the aesthetic when he could run home to his parents”

Really?

First of all its not established he’s rich (unless a hot plate is some sign of wealth that I’m not getting).

Second, he's not doing poverty cosplay? He’s just broke? That is a thing that happens. He’s not doing poverty cosplay.

Mike Faist had rich parents in the real estate business, then he went to the city to become an actor and lived in the back of Mcdonalds parking lot collecting food stamps. Is it poverty cosplay to struggle financially? Do we need to cancel Mike Faist guys? I'm up for it if you are.

In Santa Fe (the first song written for Rent) he sings the lines “[let's] Forget this cold bohemian hell” [... and] “Devote ourselves to projects that sell”.

People constantly point to the scene where mark “films a homeless woman” but it’s like. Did you see the start of the scene? He was filming police brutality on the homeless in the hopes they would stop. He wasn’t doing it for no reason.

Fun fact: that line when the homeless woman chews him out was added because the director of the show wanted it, it wasn’t even Jonathan Larson's original idea!

“None of the musical is spent on them trying to succeed about artists, and Marks film probably sucks”

Um Rent isn’t about being a struggling artist. That’s just not what it’s about. It’s about AIDS.

Its just not what the show is. It's not the core conflict, its not what most of the scenes are about, and it's barely mentioned and followed up on.

Some of the characters are artists but the timeline takes place on days where that’s the last worry on their minds.

You know a funeral…. Being evicted… Going to a protest…. Yeah no surprise, they weren't expositing about their five year plan to the audience in these situations.

And by the way Mark is a documentarian. I mean he literally is filming a documentary, the first line of the first song is “how do you document real life when real lifes getting more like fiction each day?”. The background materials refer to him as that, he's not making a fiction film.

Like the shooting without a script thing is like an actual thing that happened with amatuer type documentaries in the new queer cinema movement. As filming equipment got cheaper this started happening. It’s pretty cool actually.

"In La Vie Boheme they romanticise poverty"

A couple songs before La Vie Boheme Angel, Collins and Mark do sing the words “Let’s forget this bohemian hell” so I’m not entirely sure when they all sing “long live bohemia” a couple songs later it’s meant to be taken literally.

It’s so obviously a sarcastic song that all I can say is just go listen to it again man.

Like yeah, the song with the line “To Carcinogens and no pension!” is a joke.

“Mark is an idiot for quitting his job”

(You guys know that he’s not the protagonist right? He and Joanne are the only characters not to get proper full dedicated songs focusing on their worldviews. Like it’s a point the show brings up. Mark only shows up in group numbers really because he’s only focused on other people.)

But yeah. Mark quit his job. I mean he worked there for a while he can still put it on his resume. Like, it was always a job he would quit eventually. It’s not exactly one for a lifetime.

It’s also not a good reason to utterly despise him as a person as a lot of people do.

Micheal Pitt is an actor I really like. When he was obscure he actually said no to a big job on a sitcom because he didn’t think it fit with the type of actor he wanted to be.

I personally don’t resent Micheal Pitt for that. I think people are allowed to say no to jobs that pay well.

Sure we live in an internet-poisoned disinformation age but I also wouldn't want to spend my life working for a trashy news service talking about welfare queens?

"Mimi is a spoilt teenager who was is very unsympathetic and an idiot for relapsing"

Ok she’s not spoiled, but whatever.

Anyway, I’m nineteen. I’ve had someone my age die from an overdose/addiction. I think some of these people are being cruel with how they talk about her.

She gets sent to rehab by Benny but then everyone abandons her. She then turns back to drugs because she’s a teenager who thinks she’s going to die in a few months anyway. I personally think that’s painfully sad, not something that makes me despise her.

“Rents corny message about living life to its fullest is insulting to its serious subject”

Jonathan Larson actually started out writing political satire. Most of his career writing musicals was spent writing that. That’s why Benny started out as a capitalist parody.

But with Rent that wasn’t his primary goal. He was inspired by going to AIDS support group. The no day but today mantra was taken from that meeting.

You might think “No day but today” is corny but it has it’s roots in reality.

Rent is a musical about trying to live knowing you’re going to die. “I try to open up to what I don’t know, because reason says I should’ve died three years ago”.

I only watched rent because I saw these comments on a musical subreddit from someone Terminal illness who said they loved Rent because of how it handled this theme.

Rent’s timeline is so chopped up because it only wanted to show these characters at their happiest. It wanted to celebrate their lives, to support its thesis that life was worth living. In the 90s that was subversive. If you read reviews from 90s it mentions how this framing changes the subject matter.

The big belty number that opens act two (and was meant to open the show) is just about trying to make it through the day a minute at a time.

So yeah all the characters deal with their diagnosis differently. Like Angel has a song where she sings “today for you, tomorrow for me” because she’s looking toward the future, Mimi has a song called “Out Tonight” because she’s focused on the present to the expense of herself and Roger has a song called “Another Day” because he’s focused on the present at the expense of himself. it’s pretty obvious guys.

Maybe you think it’s irrelevant but as a person who had people my age die around me, I don’t think so. I think it’s very emotionally touching and I’m glad Rent chose the themes it did.

“Mimi should’ve died at the end of the musical because her surviving means there’s no theme”

Read above. If you’re going to make a musical about people trying to accept and not give up on life… Then you need to have a character learn that lesson.

Crazy because if you read old internet forums people didn’t assume Mimi survived past the shows end. It was known that AIDS was a death sentence, so when Mimi woke up people just assumed it wasn’t for forever.

And that’s the intended interpretation! After Mimi wakes up she sings Finale B which is a reprise of a lot of different songs from the musical. They doesn’t reprise the fun lyrics no - they sing all the stuff about being scared to die from AIDS.

Because they weren’t magically cured - the only difference is they’re dealing with it better. That's the entire reason they sing Finale B.

If Mimi died before the show ended it would just undercut all of the themes?

It really doesn’t surprise me you disliked Rent, it seems like you were ignoring all of the major themes. It kinda seems like all these other critiques come from people just struggling to articulate that they don’t get the point of Rent.

Like plot twist, one of the only musicals to win the Putlizer Prize has a point to say.

“Go to hell” is basic. “I hope the thing you like gets misinterpreted and hated on for years until its reputation is unsalvageable” It’s possible. It’s terrifying. It happened to me.

[skyfallscotland]

My first book of 2025! 🥳

Just For the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Sometimes the best way to show love or be kind to someone is to meet them where they are.”

I'd seen people raving about this one everywhere, and the kindle edition went on sale for $4.99, so I bought it. I found out almost immediately after that, that it's third in a series (oops!) but oh well.

A friend told me it shouldn't matter that much, and it didn't, but there were times where little call backs were obviously being made, but I didn't have the context to understand them. It wasn't a big deal, but if that would impact your reading experience, maybe read the first couple 😂

I liked all the main characters well enough, they all had completely normal names, which was nice (lol) and I'll say I enjoyed the book, though I'm not sure I think it was as amazing as other people have said, but it's well-known around these parts that I'm picky, so that probably won't come as a surprise.

Personally, I'm just not sure contemporary is really for me because I do find it a little boring.

One thing that really bugged me was that it's first-person past-tense, which just made my brain freak out for at least the first half of the book. It might be because I write in first-person present, or it might be that it is weird, I don't know, but for me, first-person past feels like you're telling me what happened to you all those years ago, and it just sucks the heart right out of it in some respects, generally. If I'm not experiencing it with you, what's the point of writing in first?

Apart from that, I also found some of the writing to be quite choppy, which...I know I write quite long-winded sentences so again, maybe it's just me, but this felt jarring sometimes. Eg:

I turned to look at her. “You could make one that does. You could always stay.” I couldn’t read the smile she gave me. I wished I could. I could ask her what she was thinking. She’d have to tell me.

and

Emma looked over at me and smiled, and I let myself hope. “You ready to go?” I asked. She shoved off the railing and we left.

Like???

But despite that, it was enjoyable, and at times there were some real gems that shone through and made me feel.

It was easier to pretend to be angry and tough than to admit to being devastated and heartbroken. And by the practiced way she wielded attitude, she’d been devastated and heartbroken for a long time.

“It’s like there’s a part of me that’s always small,” I whispered. “And I don’t know why and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“You’re not asking too much,” he said. “You were just asking the wrong person.

Maybe it's just that I'd been writing beforehand, or maybe I'm just always thinking about her, but some of these are so Remi it hurts. I often have a gripe to pick with contemporary romances that bring in trauma in such a blatant way because they never explore it properly.

There was a lot going on in this book, and as expected, they never fully explore the scope of that trauma. They do the classic FMC is struggling with this mental illness and you can see it, but she won't realise it, she does, (sort of) third act breakup, oh look, timeskip, she's gone to therapy off screen for a few months and is magically better, happily ever after.

I think it's nice for it to be included as representation to an extent, I definitely think it did well within the scope of the word count to address it, but I also wonder if we needed to throw so many different things into the one novel, given the word count. I don't know, maybe it will settle better in hindsight and I shouldn't be writing this impression so soon after finishing, maybe I'm just not experienced in what most contemporary romances are like and I'll be pining for this representation later—I don't know.

I guess I'll find out, since reading more contemporary is one of my goals for the year. For now, I'll leave it with this 🥺

“Unhealed trauma is a crack. And all the little hard things that trickle into it that would have rolled off someone else, settle. Then when life gets cold, that crack gets bigger, longer, deeper. It makes new breaks. You don’t know how broken she was or what she was trying to do to fill those cracks. Being broken is not an excuse for bad behaviour, you still have to make good choices and do the right thing. But it can be the reason. And sometimes understanding the reason can be what helps you heal.”

And this:

But if you don’t think your life would be better without them in it, then accept that they have cracks. Try to understand how they got them and help fill them with something that isn’t ice.”

Let me know what you thought if you've read it! 🖤

[sickofthistoxicshit]

Based on the last speculations (bi-Buck and probably him having something with a man), how optimistic are you for Buddie going canon? Do you think we’ll get some Eddie reaction/jealousy? I want to be optimistic but I’m scared they’ll do the same shit from last season…

Look, I said it before, Bi-Buck will probably be only with Eddie,

Buck is not who he was, Buck 1.0 AND 2.0 would have experimented his way through the greater male population of LA .

But this one? He will want the man who makes him feel like everything, who sees him, we know that's what his looking for, he said it in 6x15.

No one has ever seen him better than Eddie - Buck, imo, assuming he actually was just straight up until now, is probably more Eddie-sexual than anything else.

Now if you have asked me about Eddie, I could definitely see him, going through several failed male encounters, where the sex is great but it's not quite it, with Buck jealous as hell in the background not really understanding why - until he does.

You see, if the whole saying yes year (which was the dumbest idea ever and got executed so badly we hardly knew it existed) was this year where he says yes, and not to reproducing for others, I'd say maybe, but now, I don't think so.

My money is more on Eddie figuring it out first and him dating other men will kick Buck into motion.

Especially with Ryan taking a bigger role this season, this is right in his wheelhouse, and out of the two of them Ryan actually portrayed a gay character before.

I gotta say though, that while ABC have already done the Bi (both male and female) character arcs - it is still dependent on 911 creators to make that decision and I stopped trusting the showrunners a long time ago.

There's a part of me that is sure that the only reason buddie was not made canon yet is because KR was stuck along with FOX in the heteronormative narrative they kept shoving down our throats.

I want to believe that the move to ABC will allow buddie to become canon, but I am not getting my hopes up, and by the things I'm seeing so far, I don't feel very optimistic about it.

I do believe we'll get gay Eddie though, because that suit was screaming out and proud, the last groom I saw in this kind of suit, was divorced and out of the closet 6 months later, just saying. (by the way me and my gay best friend won that wager, but the original wedding was fun lol).

So, you know, glass half full and all that.

We'll keep our fingers crossed and hope for a fun ride.

[teacupfroggo]

Paint the roses red

This is based off of the Alice in wonderland story but if Alice never leaves, it takes place 30 years later.

CW: dark themes, missing children, stupid main characters, idk what to put here (if I've missed anything let me know in the comments and I'll fix it.)

AN: please excuse any terrible writing, I will just give you a bad chapter if I hit writers block sry.

Chapter 1

The poster

School had ended about half an hour ago, yet I wasn't home yet. For some odd reason I always seemed to gravitate to the old poster board outside the town hall after school everyday instead of home like all the other children my age. Like usual I was staring at the same old missing child poster that had been up the last thirty years, it was for a girl named Alice. The poster was black and white so I couldn't tell much other than what the poster said. She apparently had blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin, which if you ask me, sounded like pretty much every girl in the village other than me, Sam, and about ten others. After a while I began to drift off into my own little world before I heard someone calling my name.

"Ellie! What are you doing? Why are you staring at the old poster board again?" My best friend Sam laughed as she jogged in my direction, her neon pink hair easy to spot anywhere anytime, a stark contrast to my black hair.

"I'm just looking at the old Alice poster again." I respond, smiling at Sam.

"You know she's probably never gonna be found right, it's been 30 years, she probably lookes nothing like that silly old poster by now." Sam joked

"I know, I still wonder who she could've been though, had she not gone missing that is."

"Your always thinking that Ellie. All the time. Now come on! My mum made choc chip cookies!"

"Yum." I say, walking with Sam to her house.

A few days later (Saturday night- sunday morning)

Branches rattled against my window pain as the wind howled right outside, the moonlight created spindly shadows that danced across my bedroom walls. I wasn't able to sleep for some reason, despite the fact that nights like these always made it easier for me to sleep. I lay in bed for what feels like hours before drifting off. My dream was strange, I was in a forest, the trees had no leaves and stunk of death and disease. The place sent chills up my spine with every step, I called out "hello? Is anyone there?" With no reply, I kept walking, eventually coming to a crossroad, the signs were written in what I assumed to be blood, the one pointing right said "diamond", the one pointing forward said "spade", and the one pointing left said "clubs". I looked down and almost screamed, there, sitting in the middle of the Junction, was a human heart, covered in blood and still beating.

I woke up in cold sweat. It was dawn. I slowly crept down the hall to the kitchen and made myself some toast for breakfast, still shaking from my dream. "It was just a nightmare." I muttered to myself while eating my toast. As I finished my breakfast I put my plate in the basin and walked back to my room to get dressed, I wore a simple below the knee black skirt with a white long sleeve button up, I folded the collar perfectly and did my hair into a low bun, pulling on my old but still pristine looking shoes, they were leather slip ons with a buckle running over my foot to hold them in place and the sole was about 3 centimetres thick.

I left the house and walked to the library and went inside, greeting the librarian, Mrs. Davey, with a small wave before walking to the fiction section. I looked for the familiar pink and blue spine of my favourite book, Wonderland, it was about an old far away place with blue grass and pink trees, purple cats that could disappear before your eyes, and crazy hat makers who loved having tea parties. It was an odd world, but one I found comfort in, and after that dream I'd had, I definately needed comfort.

[66sharkteeth]

Hello, just wanted to let you know that I've been hooked on City of Blank ever since I found it a few weeks ago. It's been an incredibly compelling read. One thing I was curious about is what were your main sources of inspiration for creating this story from various media films/books etc (if any). I've noticed that the Scion's seem to share a few similarities to the symbiote's from Spider-Man, or have I completely misread that? Thank you for an entertaining read and best of luck in the future.

Thank you! It sincerely means a lot that people are still finding CoB and giving it a chance despite it's length. I've said it before, but sometimes I feel like it's kind of sour milk on WT haha. It's just too old and long for new readers to give it a chance.

To answer your question...

Most of the inspiration comes from media I consumed back in middle school when I actually came up with the idea. I know the main inspiration was a short anime film called Kakurenbo which kind of got me into my mask obsession.

It made me wanna make a story where everyone wears masks. The blanks kind of followed from that premise as a reason for everyone to have to wear masks.

Spiderman definitely had...nothing to do with the scions, though I totally get why people go there. Spiderman wasn't really relevant when they came around (at least not beyond like the Toby Mcguire films lol) and definitely not Venom.

Besides, I can absolutely tell you that the evil other half 10000% came from Bleach and Hollow Ichigo.

I have like a super distinct memory of wanting to give Rex an evil other half after the reveal of Hollow Ichigo. I was obsessed haha. (A reminder that I came up with CoB when I was like 13 LOL)

Some other major early influences are definitely Trigun, which I think super influenced the world. It's probably why CoB is in a desert city with so many sand-stone buildings.

The very first version of CoB was very very very reminiscent of the scenery in Trigun, though I think my time in San Francisco had a lot of influence on how it is in the Originals version. Unfortunately I don't have the budget or time to depict Glory City as well as I'd like to, but I imagine it's like a desert version of San Francisco, except flat.

Lastly, I know some characters that have have MAJOR influence on some of the characters are Luffy, Yato (Noragami), Rin (Blue Exorcist) for Rex. Slightly more recent, but I am 100% positive Jericho became a lot goofier after I got MAJORLY into the like...Team Skull fandom and became obsessed with Guzma haha.

Lastly, Rex's scion ended up getting WAY sassier and having more personality after I caught up with D.Gray-Man only last year or so. I kind of loved how Noah (?) behaved in the more recent chapters and I think it ended up influencing me to make scion way, way, way more sassy than I was originally planning.

[braveclementine]

Chapter 21

Warnings: None. However, future chapters will contain sexual content so readers that are under the age of 18 may have to skip those chapters (However they are very few so those under the age of 18 can still read a majority of this book. However please keep note of the warnings).

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

𝖂𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝕴 𝖜𝖔𝖐𝖊 up, I tried to remember why I felt so happy and sad at the same time. Wasn't there a word for that? Melancholy? I sat up, looking at the presents at the foot of my bed.

I got out of bed and went to open them. Hermione had given me a homework planner, Harry had given me a Broom Compass which I loved, Ron had given me Sugar quills. There was a small box that turned out to be from Trang. She'd given me Warheads and two books: The Lost World and Rose Madder. I was glad I had sent her a package for Christmas too.

Sirius and Uncle Moody had given me the same book set that Dad and Sirius had given Harry. They were called Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts. I absolutely loved them and abandoned opening presents for a moment to read through the books.

Dad had gotten me a new book bag. It was a shoulder bag with purple and black colors. There were a couple of Muggle books inside which included: Dealing with Dragons, The Dark Half, and Wayside School is Falling Down.

Tonks had gotten me a pair of shoes with wheels on the bottoms of them. Heelys. I was so excited about them that I put them on immediately.

Fred and George had given me a skiving Snackbox- vomit edition. Good, now I could get out of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Mrs. Weasley had gotten me hot fudge cakes again (probably because I'd told her they were my favorite thing she'd ever made) with a blue sweater. I put the sweater on with jeans and the Heelys. I put the wheels in so that I didn't fall down the stairs. Then I did my hair into a simple ponytail that hung over my shoulder. Having it in a braid shortened it's length so that it was just past my waist, not past my knees.

I noticed there was no present from Severus- but that was probably he'd proposed last night. I thought it was romantic that he'd done it last night, on Christmas Eve.

Ginny had given me a new quill- flamingo from the look of it. It was probably because I'd said that I liked unusual quills. Two years ago, Hermione had given me a Fwooper quill set and I still hadn't used them because I was keeping them in good condition. I'd have to put the flamingo quill with them.

I went down the stairs and found Harry, Ron, and Hermione were bending down by the boiler cabinet. I rolled my eyes as Kreacher came into the kitchen at that moment and muttered, ". . .out of the house. . . and the nasty little blood traitor and mudblood are in Krachers' living space. . . oh my poor mistress. . . house filled with nasty brats of all kinds. . . werewolf brats. . . and blood traitors. . ."

I ignored him and took a seat at the wooden table. Sirius and Mrs. Weasley were cooking breakfast. Bill was sitting down across from me, reading a newspaper that I didn't recognize. "Merry Christmas Elizabeth."

"Merry Christmas Bill." I said, yawning.

His eyes flicked down to my hand for a moment and then away. I slipped my hand under the table.

"Does it hurt?" He asked casually.

"Only during detention." I muttered.

He chuckled. "So, do the er- others- know about you and your er- cat shape?"

"No. I can't let Harry know either." I said in the softest of voices but he and Ron were chatting away loudly.

Bill looked at me sharply. "Because. . ."

"Voldemort can read his mind." I said, leaning forward as though I was reading something in the newspaper. "he's not possessing Harry but he can see some of his memories so. . ."

"I see." Bill said. "Makes sense to me."

Breakfast was served and there was no more discussion about my hand. I was feeling rather wide awake now.

After we ate lunch, Dad, Uncle Moody, and Mundungus were going to escort us to St. Mungo's. Sirius stayed behind and I nearly thought about staying with him. He looked very lonely but I decided I would go.

I looked around nervously when I got outside. It'd been some time however- nearly a week and a half. Maybe they weren't patrolling anymore. Dad put an arm around my shoulder, sensing my nervousness. I almost forgot that he didn't know about me running into Lucius.

Mundungus had 'borrowed' a car to travel in. We all climbed in, though Mrs. Weasley hesitated, probably assuming that the car was less borrowed and more stolen. However, her children all pleaded with her and she finally sat between Bill and Fred.

Uncle Moody meanwhile, questioned me about my hand and the Umbridge witch. He wanted to know all about her. Dad kept a stony face the entire time he questioned me.

I had always known Dad hated this woman, especially after he resigned from being Professor at Hogwarts. Every time her name was in the newspaper (if I wasn't around- or he didn't think I was around-that is) he'd let off a string of unpleasant curses and insults. Dad rarely cursed so I had to research what she had done to make him so angry. And then I found out about the law that she'd made and passed so that werewolves had an even harder time getting jobs than they already did. It was why Dad dipped into Muggle jobs every so often. So, naturally, I hated her too. Maybe I'd get a job in the Ministry and undo all the anti-werewolf laws.

We got to St. Mungo's in record time since there were nearly zero cars on the streets. Mundungus pulled the car around into an alleyway and was going to wait for us there. There were other witches and wizards coming in and out of St. Mungo's, but most of them apparated once out of the building.

St. Mungo's- on the outside- looked like an abandoned apartment store. There was a mannequin in the front that Uncle Moody talked to briefly and then we stepped through the glass front. They already knew where we were going because they'd been here before and we headed past the reception desk.

The reception area was very festive with crystal orbs that turned red and gold. There was holly hanging in the doorways and white Christmas trees stood in every corner. Magical Icicles hung from the ceiling and under the entrance to the hallway was mistletoe.

I watched with interest as a witch with a walnut jammed up her nostril pushed past Harry and heard a blond witch behind the reception desk ask, "Family argument, eh? You're the third I've seen today. . . Spell Damage, fourth floor. . ." I noticed the receptionist seemed amused by this.

They led me to a ward where we found Mr. Weasley in there along with two other people. One was a man who looked nearly as shabby and sick as Dad. The other was a very subdued woman with a bandage around her leg.

Mr. Weasley was sitting up and the first thing I noticed was that he looked very sheepish, almost guilty. He set his turkey dinner aside.

"Everything all right, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley said as we all handed our presents over.

"Fine, fine." Mr. Weasley said heartily. "You-er- haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?"

"No, why?"

"Nothing, nothing. Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas? Oh, Harry- this is absolutely wonderful-" Mr. Weasley said with a bit to much enthusiasm, unwrapping Harry's gift which was a fuse-wire and screwdriver set.

"Arthur, you've had your bandages changed. Why have you had your bandages changed a day early, Arthur? They told me they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow." Mrs. Weasley said with a sort of snap in her voice.

"What? No, no- it's nothing- it's- I-" Mr. Weasley looked quite frightened and then said. "Well- now don't get upset, Molly, but Augustus Pye had an idea. . . He's the Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap and very interested in. . . um. . . complementary medicine. . . I mean, some of these old Muggle remedies. . . well, they're called stitches, Molly-" I started to walk away. "-and they work very well on- on Muggle wounds-"

Mrs. Weasley made a sort of snarl and Dad strolled away and over to the werewolf and I joined him. Dad introduced himself and told him that he was a werewolf. The other werewolf seemed very interested and started asking him questions about his life and the difficulties and if there were any good things about it.

I thought dad might've been pretty blunt but he did admit that he would be able to lead a fairly normal life except during the full moon.

"Do you mean to tell me!" Mrs. Weasley's voice was rising steadily louder as she spoke, "that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?"

"Not messing about, Molly, dear, It was just- just something Pye and I thought we'd try- only, most unfortunately- well, with these particular kinds of wounds- it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped-"

"I think I'm going to go get a cup of tea." I muttered to dad and kissed his cheek. I smiled at the other werewolf and walked towards Harry.

"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid-"

"I fancy a cup of tea too." Harry said. Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and I literally sprinted out of the hospital room.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?"

"Typical Dad, Stitches. . . I ask you." Ginny said, shaking her head.

"Well, you know, they do work well on non-magical wounds. I suppose something in that sneak's venom dissolves them or something. . . I wonder where the tearoom is." Hermione said.

"Fifth floor." Harry and I said at the same time. No one was surprised that I knew where it was even though I'd never been here before.

We walked down the corridor and I paused as they went up the stairs. I could've sworn... but no, the Death Eaters weren't stupid. I was being paranoid. I quickly followed them up the stairs. That hint of blond hair could've been anyone's. It wasn't necessarily Lucius Malfoy.

The portraits on the walls shouted out different diagnoses that we had. One wizard was so concerned about Ron that he traveled through other's portraits after him telling him that he must have a bad case of spattergroit.

"And what's that supposed to be?" Ron asked angrily.

"'Tis a most grievous affliction of the skin, young master, that will leave you pockmarked and more gruesome even than you are now-"

"Watch who you're calling gruesome!" Ron said, the back of his ears turning red.

"The only remedy is to take the liver of a toad, bind it tight about your throat, stand naked by the full moon in a barrel of eels' eyes-"

"I have not got spattergroit!"

"But the unsightly blemishes upon your visage, young master-"

"They're freckles! Now get back in your own picture and leave me alone!" Ron said angrily. He rounded on us, all of us trying our best to keep straight faces. "What floor's this?"

"I think it's the fifth." Hermione said.

"Nah, it's the fourth. One more-" Harry said.

However, at that point, a familiar adult came out of a ward that said: SPELL DAMAGE. Upon further inspection, I found that it was none other than my second year Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Blimey!" Ron exclaimed.

"Oh my goodness, Professor Lockhart." Hermione said, sounding extremely breathless all of a sudden.

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, hello there! I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?" Lockhart said, beaming around at us.

"Hasn't changed much, has he?" Harry muttered to Ginny and me.

"Er- how are you Professor?" Ron asked, sounding guilty. That was probably because it was his wand that had caused Lockhart's memory loss. I felt no guilt whatsoever. I was to busy trying to save Ginny's life.

"I'm very well indeed, thank you! Now, how many autographs would you like? I can do joined-up writing now, you know!" Professor Lockhart exclaimed exuberantly, pulling a peacock quill out of his pocket.

"Er- we don't want any at the moment." Ron said.

"Professor, should you be wandering around the corridors? Shouldn't you be in a ward?" Harry asked.

The smile faded from Lockhart's face and he asked, "Haven't we met?"

"Er. . . yeah, we have." Harry said a bit awkwardly. "You used to teach us at Hogwarts, remember?"

"Teach? Me? Did I?" Lockhart looked a bit unsettled as though this news was going to push him over the brink of insanity. Then his smile reappeared and he said, "Taught you everything you know, I expect, did I? Well, how about those autographs, then? Shall we say a round dozen, you can give them to all your little friends then and nobody will be left out!"

I snorted at the words 'little friends'. All of us, Ginny being the exception, were nearly as tall as him.

A different voice said, "Gilderoy, you naughty boy, where have you wandered off to?" A motherly looking witch with a smiling face came on over to where we were and said, "Oh Gilderoy, you've got visitors! How lovely, and on Christmas Day too! Do you know, he never gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's such a sweetie, aren't you?"

For all you would've thought, it was almost like he was her son.

"We're doing autographs! They want loads of them, won't take no for an answer! I just hope we've got enough photographs!" Lockhart said with another gleaming smile.

"Listen to him." The healer said, looking fondly at him. "He was rather well known a few years ago; we very much hope that this liking for giving autographs is a sign that his memory might be coming back a little bit. Will you step this way? He's in a closed ward, you know, he must have slipped out while I was bringing in the Christmas presents, the door's usually kept locked. . . not that he's dangerous! But, bit of a danger to himself, bless him. . . Doesn't know who he is, you see, wanders off and can't remember how to get back... It is nice of you to have come to see him-"

"Er actually." Ron started but I stomped on his foot. I trailed after the healer witch and I heard Ron mutter, "Let's not stay long."

We came to a ward call the Janus Thickey ward and the Healer pointed her wand at the door and said, "Alohomora."

"This is our long-term ward for permanent spell damaged, you know." the healer informed us. "of course, with intensive medical potions and charms and a bit of luck, we can produce some improvement. Gilderoy does seem to be getting back some sense of himself, and we've seen a real improvement in Mr. Bode, he seems to be regaining the power of speech very well, though he isn't speak any language we recognize yet. . . Well, I must finish giving out the Christmas presents, I'll leave you all to chat. . ."

She drifted away. "You can put them in envelopes. I am not forgotten, you know, no." Lockhart said, singing the photographs and throwing them into Ginny's lap. "I still receive a very great deal of fan mail. . . Gladys Gudgeon writes weekly. . . I just wish I knew why. . ."

"You wrote some books." I said in a bored voice.

He ignored me and said, "I suspect it is simply my good looks."

I grinned.

Harry was looking around at the different wizards and witches in the ward. There was a wizard muttering to himself in a nearby bed. There was a witch who was covered in fur. I leaned over to Harry and whispered, "She must've attempted to become an Animagus. There are no reversals for half human half animal transformations if the Animagus potion goes poorly."

"Here you are, Agnes. See, not forgotten, are you? And your son's sent an owl to say he's visiting tonight, so that's nice, isn't it?" The healer asked, giving Agnes a couple of presents. Agnes gave several loud barks.

"And look, Broderick, you've been sent a potted plant and a lovely calendar with a different fancy hippogriff for each month, they'll brighten things up, won't they?" I gave a curious glance at the potted plant and froze. Wasn't that Devil's Snare?

"And- oh, Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?"

I froze. Oh crap.

"Neville!" Ron exclaimed and I turned to look at Neville.

Neville had jumped and cowered as though someone had shot the killing curse at him.

"It's us, Neville!" Ron said brightly and a bit stupidly. "Have you seen? Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?"

Harry and I exchanged a panicked look.

"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" Neville's grandmother asked, looking each of us over. Neville's face was turning purple and wasn't making eye contact with any of us.

"Ah, yes. Yes, yes, I know who are you are, of course. Neville speaks most highly of you." Mrs. Longbottom said, holding out a hand to shake Harrys.

"Er- thanks." Harry said, shaking hands.

"And you two are clearly Weasleys. Yes, I know your parents- not well, of course- but fine people, fine people. . . and you. . ." Mrs. Longbottom paused, looking between Hermione and me after shaking hands with Ron and Ginny and then turned to Hermione and said, "You must be Hermione Granger."

Hermione was surprised and shook Mrs. Longbottom's hand.

"Which means you are Elizabeth Kane." Mrs. Longbottom turned to shake my hand as well and I was just as surprised as Hermione. His grandmother also gave me a searching, almost suspicious look and I wondered if she was wondering if I was Harry's secret sister. I knew despite Neville's seemingly 'stupidity' that his grandmother was sharp as a whip. But she said nothing and simply continued to address everyone. "Yes, Neville's told me all about you two, especially you." she nodded to Hermione. "He's a good boy, but he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say. . ." she jerked her head back towards the ward and I looked down at the floor.

"What?" Ron looked amazed and I wished I was closer so that I could stomp on his foot. "Is that your dad down the end, Neville?"

"What's this? Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?" Mrs. Longbottom asked sharply. Ron was still trying to get on his tip toes and see his parents. I darted behind Harry and stomped on his foot. He winced, bending down to grab his foot.

"Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of! You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!" Mrs. Longbottom said.

I'd never felt sorrier for anyone than I did for Neville at this very moment.

"I'm not ashamed." Neville said quietly

"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it! My son and his wife were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers."

Hermione and Ginny clapped their hands over their mouths and Ron stopped rubbing his foot, looking mortified.

"They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the Wizarding community. Highly gifted, the pair of them. I- yes, Alice dear, what is it?" Mrs. Longbottom said as Neville's mother came out.

I gasped in pain, suddenly, my hand flying to my heart where my locket was. I'd finally put it on after keeping it off for months and I pulled the chain away from my chest. "I'm going to go to the bathroom." I said quickly, running out of the room. I ran back to the first floor and asked the receptionist where the bathroom was.

She pointed me down a hallway and I hurried in, locking myself in a stall, and sat down on a toilet, grabbing my head. I saw many flashes of things. Azkaban breakout, Devil's Snare, Harry on a date with Cho, a new Educational reform decree, Harry's Occlumency lessons, and several other small things.

I puked a couple times and then left the bathroom, feeling very pale but didn't bother to look in the mirror before I left.

"There you are!" Harry exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"No. I need to go back up to the ward." I said, running up the stairs. I could hear the others footsteps behind me. Bill, Fred, and George met us on the third landing and stopped Ron to ask where I was going, and he said he didn't know, so they too joined me.

On the landing, I knocked on the ward again and the nice healing witch opened the door. "I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over." She said, sounding extremely sorry.

"I'm not here to visit. The plant that you gave Bode is Devils' Snare and you need to get rid of it before it kills him." I said, gasping for breath. I wondered if she'd even made out what I had said through my heavy breaths.

"I think your mistaken, the plant that Mr. Bode received is a Flitterbloom, not Devil's Snare. Why would someone send him Devil's Snare?"

"Because he's an important person!" I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but we would never let something so dangerous into the ward. Now, I need to take care of my patients. Have a nice Christmas." and she shut the door in my face.

"What was that all about?" Bill asked.

"I- I had a vision." I said, turning to him. "When I was talking to Neville's Grandmother. I need to relate some of it to Dumbledore. . . looks like there's going to be another breakout of Azkaban. But I saw that Bode got Devils' Snare, you'll remember him Harry, remember? He works in the Department of Mysteries? We met him at your trial! We saw him at the Quidditch Cup!"

Harry stared at me blankly and then, "Oh yeah, Mr. Weasley said he's an unspeakable."

"So. . ." Hermione said quickly. "If someone's trying to kill him. . ."

"Let's go downstairs." Bill said with a voice of authority. "Tell dad, Lupin, and Mad-Eye, maybe they can do something about it."

We raced down the steps and hurried into Mr. Weasley's ward. Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley had stopped arguing and they, along with Dad, were deep in conversation and they looked up, smiling and then dropped their smiles.

"What's wrong?" Mr. Weasley asked. They all looked at me and I explained what I'd seen.

"But she won't let me in!" I said, my anxiety growing. "They know he's getting better, that's why the Death Eaters sent it! I don't know what he saw but as he works in the Department of Mysteries and that's-"

"Shut up." Uncle Moody growled. "I'll go see if I can take care of it. Which ward?"

"Janus Thickey. Fourth floor." I said quickly and watched him stump out of the room.

"I'll go with him." Bill said quickly and darted after him.

"Eliza." Ginny said. "You said you saw a lot more than that?"

"Yeah." Fred said, "You mentioned another Azkaban breakout?"

"Another one?" Dad asked sharply.

I nodded, "I don't know if Dumbledore can do anything about it but-"

"Did you see who's going to escape?" Dad interrupted.

"Ummmm" I closed my eyes again, searching. "Nine. . ."

"Nine?" Mrs. Weasley asked in horror. "Who?"

I was concentrating but when I came over Antonin Dolohov's face, I went further, like a speed record until nearly two years in, he was on the Hogwarts ground. . . a sort of battle was going on. I could practically feel the vibrations. . . or was someone shaking me?

I woke up in dad's arms on the ground. My body had been convulsing and dad's face was pale. "It's alright Elizabeth, stop looking into the future." He said quickly.

"I only saw Antonin Dolohov." I said, sitting up. "But I don't know when the breakout is."

Mad-Eye and Bill came back.

"Did you get the plant?" I asked, getting to my feet, and dad stood up with me.

Bill shook his head. "She said she'd throw it out, but we don't have authority or proof and I figured you'd rather not have everyone know about your visions. All we can do now is hope that she throws out the plant."

"I think she will" Uncle Moody growled. "I gave her a good and proper lecture."

I smiled half-heartedly. Mrs. Weasley was kissing Mr. Weasley good-bye and we were getting ready to go.

"Elizabeth, can you stay behind an extra second." Mr. Weasley said. Mrs. Weasley and the others left. Uncle Moody and dad followed them out too. "I just wanted to thank you for the book you got me." He said with a smile. "And er- I knew Bode. Whatever he was mixed up in, he would most definitely be an important wizard if You-Know-Who got his hands on him or doesn't want someone else to get their hands on him. I'm sure Molly or Lupin or Mad-Eye will do it, but write to Dumbledore and try and tell him everything he saw. Maybe he can convince St. Mungo's if the healer didn't get rid of the plant."

"Sure thing Mr. Weasley." I said and left the ward with a last Merry Christmas. I dashed down the hallway to catch up with the others who had already exited out the window panes. I went through the glass and looked around for them. I started over to the alleyway and then I felt hands grab me from behind. 

⬅️➡️

[my-minds-attic]

I'm reading again

It's just recently that I put myself back into book world. Books were a big thing to me when I was a kid. I used to go to the library every Friday evening after school with my friends. We were not even 8 years old, running the 100 meters separating the school gates to our small village library. I remember these days like it was yesterday. I remember Enola Holmes making me hope I'd be as smart and courageous as her one day. I remember Goosebumps giving me, without me even realising it back then, the love, I still have, for horrific stories. And I remember Percy Jackson. Not only these books made me discover the beauty of greek mythology, but these characters kind of became my friends. That sounds lonely. I mean, I was lonely. But...not really.

My older brother has always been a big part of my 'reading journey'. I never really said that to him but, I'm so grateful for the influence he had on my youth. Especially on pop culture. My love for video games, superhero movies, Harry Potter,... All him. Next time I'll speak to him, I'll thank him for asking mom to buy the Hunger Games and the Oscar Pill books. All that to say, I wouldn't be the same person I am today without him. I definitely wouldn't like reading as much as I do.

My teenage years have been punctuated by the different books I've been reading. You know, sometimes you associate a book with a moment in your life or a place. In my home in France, in winter, when it was snowing outside, I was reading Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by the chimney because my mom just gifted it to me for Christmas. I was trying to sit on the tiny protruding edge close to the chimney glass while reading it, and it was burning my back, and my butt hurt, and I heard the wood crackling, and it smelled amazing and I was the happiest ever. This book became my favorite for a long time, and I now wonder if this whole 'reading environment' wasn't a huge part of why.

I moved to Canada for university three years ago now. I had the great idea of making this life-changing decision during a global pandemic. As a result, you're now dealing with a girl who's ten times more anxious and has lost half of her, already low, self-confidence. I've had a year of online classes and wasn't going out at all, except for taking out the trash. I had traveled thousands of miles for this. Nobody could do shit about it though, so it made me feel a bit better. You'd think that all that time at home would have given me the opportunity to read hundreds of books. Well I didn't. And to this day I don't really know why. I guess I forgot for a while the happiness reading could give me. I wish I didn't forget.

I moved to another apartment at the start of second year. Uni was getting a tiny bit more normal. I mean, I was actually seeing people. But, I also had the worst roommates you can even begin to imagine. Crazy, dirty, stinky, drugged, the whole package really. Unfortunately, with the rise of apartment rental prices, I probably had the lowest rent in the neighbourhood. So I stayed. After a year like that, I thought I was going to go crazy, when my landlord finally managed to kick them out. I didn't know before moving to Canada how roommates can affect your day-to-day life. How they could put such a huge shadow on all your efforts to be more confident and positive.

Third year was last year. If bad roommates can darken your life, good roommates can save your life. I'll call them A and C. The first week, with two new guys on my floor, I got intimidated. I kept my old habits of eating in my room, and going into common spaces only when I knew for sure they weren't there. But sometimes they caught me off guard and I ended up getting to know them just enough to realise they were exactly what I needed. I know that's not what I was to them, but they kind of became my best friends. I went out more often, I was laughing like crazy every night, we were making burgers to each other, we had movie nights, and even got dangerously addicted to online casino at one point. C returned to his home in December after four months together. Me and A were scared the new roommate could never be as good as C. Well, let me tell you, the next four months were the best I had in a long, long time. Our new roommate, Alex, she's still with me today. She's just great. I had a really hard time when it was time for A to leave last May. At the airport, he sent me a text : "Thank you for probably the best year of my life". I'm still struggling now not to see him in every single corner of this apartment. Don't get me wrong, I know he's not dead, and that we'll probably see each other again one day. It's just that... him leaving marked the end of one of the best chapter of my life.

Thanks to third year, something finally clicked in me. I realised the old me was still inside. And that's when I found this out that I entered the library right up my street to buy a book. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the most recent Hunger Games story.

Anxiety is still very much there, but it goes up and down, and I am somewhat certain I'll overcome it one day.

I missed reading so much guys.

Emma.

[itsclydebitches]

I kinda wonder, what could bakugou do (hori write bakugou to do) to make him less popular with the "anti" crowd. Like He was a horrid child no doubt and people who try to put blame on Deku or lessen the terrible shit bakugou did aren't great. But as we don't rly see it, we have to assume bakugous behaviour wasn't stopped, we only ever saw his mum "punishing" him when he was being rude after getting kiddnapped. Nothing will excuse what bakugou did, but he has stopped? He's overall a harsh person but he's not harrassing and bullying people anymore, specifically not deku, he's trying to attone for what he did to deku and has now apologised for it. His behaviour was never viewed as justified or good in the series, he's a scary figure in middle school, we're not meant to like his behaviour, so the series itself hasn't justified his actions.

As someone who relate to both bakugou and deku more than I'd like to admit (never told someone to jump tho, that's fucked lol) so I can 100% understand not liking or even hating bakugou but as someone who's not 15 anymore, looking back I also made a lot of really shitty decisions and like bakugou have tried to make up for it, and like deku I was 'friends' with people who hurt me.

Is there anything he can do for the "antis" to just dislike him rather that be "anti"?

(I'm very sorry if you've talked about this somewhere, you can just tell me to look for it if you have, I'll continue to look for your posts on the subject)

Hey there, anon! I think I’ve spoken about this only tangentially and/or in my main Bakugo meta, which is too big for anyone sane to read. So yeah, let’s chat here!

For me personally—and that’s all I can ever do: speak personally. I think it’s important to keep in mind that there is no single solution to please the “anti” crowd. Each fan will be looking for something slightly different in Bakugo’s character, much of which might contradict what a “stan” is currently enjoying. Given how charged a character he is, I'm not sure it's possible to get the entire fandom to like him—what I’m looking for hinges on having a different reading of the story than you seem to. Meaning, I think the series does justify his behavior. Not in any overt, super obvious way like having all the characters go, “Wow, Bakugo! I sure do love how you threaten people all the time. That’s super cool and heroic!” Things are rarely that straightforward. Rather, it’s in a more subtle, but consistent manner that paints a rather conclusive picture across hundreds of chapters.

Simply put, Bakugo is continually rewarded for his actions. Or, if not outright rewarded, his actions are ignored in a way that implies silent acceptance. Characters may not always like what he does... but they're willing to let it slide because Bakugo's heroism was always treated as a given, not something he had to earn and prove.

With the ever necessary disclaimer that I’m not fully caught up yet, here’s a list of some of the things that stood out to me in the first half of the series:

Bakugo’s bullying made him the most popular kid in school.

Bakugo’s bullying was ignored by/outright supported by the teachers.

Bakugo’s bullying did not hinder him from getting into U.A., one of the most prestigious hero schools around.

Despite acting horribly throughout his time at U.A. too, this behavior was continually ignored by the teachers and other authority figures around him.

Bakugo’s struggle to realize that other people aren’t “trash” doesn’t hurt his achievements in any way. He still gets top scores, still wins the tournament, etc.

Bakugo’s behavior gets him special attention from All Might, the greatest hero and Bakugo’s personal idol.

His behavior doesn’t make others dislike him in any manner that’s taken seriously. Everybody is still willing to not just put up with Bakugo, but—in time—start treating his behavior as a quirk (no pun intended lol) that they’re secretly fond of, rather than something he should legitimately be striving to change. Kirishima is the most overt example of this.

This is compounded by his behavior constantly being framed as humorous. Much like with Mineta’s perverted actions, characters might superficially go, “No, that’s bad!” but the story never demands any significant development because then we’d lose the “joke” of Bakugo screaming in rage at the slightest inconvenience, threatening to murder someone over nothing, constantly belittling everyone around him in a “funny” manner, etc. When fans talk about development of a manga character as archetypal and extreme as Bakugo, most don’t really want to see significant change to his base personality. Because then that would result in someone who doesn’t look like the “real” Bakugo: someone nicer, more even-tempered, more mature, etc. But for those of us who were never drawn to that personality in the first place, the continued acceptance of his rude, egotistical, and violent behavior is discomforting. The easiest comparison I can draw is between this and Bakugo’s mother slapping him. That slap is meant to be another “joke”—we see it constantly in shonen anime, something "humorous" you shouldn’t take too seriously because haha, it's just an overprotective mother—but many fans do take it seriously, using it as the basis for a whole “Bakugo was abused and this explains his behavior” reading. Well, I take the “joke” of Bakugo’s threats and insults seriously, especially in a story that starts with something like telling Izuku to jump off the roof. In the same way that many fans want others to treat Bakugo’s mother as a serious topic that has had a negative influence on his development, I want the series to take Bakugo’s everyday actions seriously as a negative influence on… well, everyone around him. But it doesn’t. His base personality is grudgingly adored.

The above two points are seen most overtly in Izuku, who never wavers in his respect for Bakugo despite how Bakugo treats him. Not just prior to U.A., but during their training too. Izuku, as the protagonist, is the emotional heart of this tale, so when he talks about how inspiring Bakugo is, it encourages the reader to see his behavior as inspiring too. Rather than, as said, something that needs to change. Izuku's continued friendship with Bakugo, his adoration of him, and his acceptance of the way he's treated has severely warped how the entire story sees Bakugo's actions. After all, if #pure Izuku can see the good in Bakugo, why can't everyone else? He must not be that bad after all.

I could get into detailed analyses of all the above—like how Bakugo was the one comforted after attacking Izuku outside the dorms at night and how the messed up relationship he has with Izuku is upheld as something to nurture; how the remedial courses he had to take were made to be rather silly, thereby undermining their supposed importance to his development; how Bakugo’s kidnapping had nothing to do with his flaws, but much of the fandom uses it as a way to dismiss any appropriate consequences because, “Hasn’t he suffered enough?” etc.—but in the interest of keeping this within a readable length, I’ll leave it at that. The point is that Bakugo has always been privileged when it comes to his behavior, resulting in others either outright praising it, ignoring it, or demanding that he change a miniscule bit, which always keeps him far below the standards of both his peers and the expectations of a hero. Everyone in 1-A must learn to be even better than the good people they already are... Bakugo needs to learn that other people aren't dirt at the bottom of his shoes. It's never been a particularly impressive development when pit against the rest of the class. All of which can make something like an apology feel pretty hollow. Yes, he’s apologized and I say with all seriousness that that’s great! But how does that apology stack up against 300+ chapters of content? As Bakugo’s words highlight, he's been a really awful person up "until now": he was consumed by Izuku being “miles ahead of [him],” he “looked down on [him]” because he didn’t have a quirk, he “didn’t want to recognize that,” he “hated that,” “grew distant,” “tried to beat you down,” “opposed you and tried to show my superiority over you,” and ends it all with, “it probably doesn’t mean anything telling you all this” before finally getting to the “I’m sorry.” This is basically a laundry list of how horrible a person Bakugo has been for the entire series, with an acknowledgement that this apology is coming really, really late. This is the moment where I could START to like Bakugo, depending on how he acts form here on out, but that pivotal moment arrived after six years of content and in the final arc of the story. It’s too late. Bakugo needed this kind of self-reflection and positive action 250+ chapters ago so he could (hopefully) grow into a better person across the story, not at the story's end. What we got instead is 322 chapters of him being a really horrible person, but the story going out of its way to excuse or even praise that behavior the majority of the time.

As a quick comparison to end on, I think what Bakugo needed was what Soo Jin got in True Beauty. You don’t need to have seen the drama to follow along. The tl;dr is that she has a lot of the core qualities of Bakugo: an all-consuming drive to win that was created due to abusive parents with high expectations, resulting in her bullying a peer to a pretty horrific extent. The difference between them is how the story frames their actions. When Soo Jin becomes the bully she loses everything. Rather than succeeding academically, her grades plummet, making it clear that this anxiety and self-doubt (things the fandom keeps insisting Bakugo is struggling with, but that rarely ever show up in the text) is actually impacting her day-to-day life. Her best friend drops her because she’s not going to support her choices. The boy she likes rejects her. She’s eventually forced to start over somewhere new - which importantly separates her from the girl she was bullying - and get some distance from her parents, resulting in the growth needed to become a healthier, happier, good person again. So when Soo Jin apologizes to the girl she hurt, it feels earned. The story continually recognized how horrific her actions were and put her into a place where she either had to change, or continue losing at everything else that was important to her. Bakugo? Bakugo doesn’t lose. Oh, he claims he does because he’s comparing himself to Izuku constantly, but that’s just him thinking in extremes. He still wins academically. Still wins many battles. Still wins at having friends. Still wins by maintaining the prestige of being a U.A. student. Still wins by getting All Might’s attention. Still wins by receiving Izuku’s respect and an agreement to maintain this rivalry that Bakugo is so obsessed with. Bakugo comes out well 99% of the time, he just thinks he's "lost" because he can't stand not being the absolute best.

For me, the story needed to have Bakugo face consequences for his behavior, not receive rewards and/or have others ignore it, and that revelation/apology needed to come way, way sooner. For me the issue is not a specific action that Horikoshi can have Bakugo do in the next chapter and them bam, I like him now. The problem is Bakugo’s entire concept, how he’s received by the entire cast, and his run across this entire series. "Entire" is the key word there. Which is why the “But he’s apologized. What more do you antis want?” reactions don’t sit well. What we wanted is a better written redemption arc across those 300+ chapters, not a single scene that’s meant to have us forget all the other problems inherent in the story. At this point it’s a far more complicated situation than, “Bakugo just needs to do X, Y, and Z and then we’re golden.” At the end of the day, Horikoshi failed to make me like him as a person and I’m pretty sure he isn’t going to change Bakugo enough to make him likable to me. Bakugo was never the sort of character I’d be inclined towards without a serious, nuanced redemption arc, but sadly, a core, crucial part of that redemption arc took six years to arrive. At this point there’s no way to change the problems in Bakugo’s writing for that huge chunk of the series and not enough time left in the series, it seems, to do the work we should have seen across the entire run. Honestly, idk if the Bakugo we'll get going forward is someone I can just dislike as opposed to being really uncomfortable with, but my money is on there being too little story left and too much investment in upholding Bakugo's base personality for that to happen. I could absolutely be proven wrong! But I think the problems are structural and needed to be better dealt with from page one, not hastily patched over in the final hour.

[lochnessies]

I mean to be fair to edelgard, if I found out the popes/president were actually one guy who lived basically forever, I'd probably at the very least question thus popeident's leadership skills. Especially if I found out that a good portions of this hypothetical popes religion was fake and that also this pope was basically jesus. Granted, that'd mostly because of a lack of context since this hypothetical immortal popes motives are largely unknown.

Like without the context of her motives, Rhea CAN seen in a pretty negative light. She suddenly goes from a mother/grandmother/wife/daughter who's got issues and is trying to protect her relatives and fodlann with her position while trying to turn some homuncili into her mom, to a dragon lady who's been in head of a major religion that she made up for centuries who actively stiffled/slowed down fodlann's scientific/academic growth for unknown reasons.

Like if you didn't know about Rhea's whole deal, she'd look pretty suspiscious. This isn't me saying "edelgard completely right church bad! Rhea is evil!".

I'm more trying to say Edelgard was SORT of right in being suspiscious of everyones favorite lizard pope, but jumped to WAY too fast onto the conclusion of "The church is definitely evil, because crest=bad and crest=blessings of the goddess, therefore church=bad!"

Rhea WORST 'crime' at most as leader of the church is that she was pretty passive as leader of the church. Like, apart from trying to keep the peace as a whole and hiding technology for a while until she decided (maybe arbitrarily maybe not) that humanity was ready for it, she seemed *largely* content with the state of things as a whole. Granted, that strikes me less as her not giving a shit and more just her not knowing about some if the bad shit going on behind the scenes in Fodlann, and her going "Okay yeah thats bad. Buuuut when mom's back she'll be a way better leader and she'll make everything way better than I ever could. Back to studying and researching homunculi children so I can maybe shove my moms soul into one."

That's my take anyway. Basically if Rhea and the lords had a group therapy session a lot of tragedy could have been avoided. Alas therapists don't exist in fire emblem, just look at the various characters with underlying trauma that they havent dealt with.

I mean to be fair to edelgard, if I found out the popes/president were actually one guy who lived basically forever, I'd probably at the very least question thus popeident's leadership skills.

why? wouldn’t their longevity make them better leaders? they have much more experience and know how the world works. i mean, agree with the woman or not, rhea’s results are hard to argue with. 1000 years is an extremely long time to help mitigate peace. our world can’t seem to avoid conflict every half decade it would seem. so it’s not like rhea is doing a bad job of it.

Especially if I found out that a good portions of this hypothetical popes religion was fake and that also this pope was basically jesus. Granted, that'd mostly because of a lack of context since this hypothetical immortal popes motives are largely unknown.

that’s when you have a nice little sit down and have a chat. and also, rhea didn’t make up the religion. it already existed before the war of heroes. all she did was change a couple of details to hide the fact that nabeteans existed and the fact that the elites were mad murderers to keep their descendants safe.

Like without the context of her motives, Rhea CAN seen in a pretty negative light. She suddenly goes from a mother/grandmother/wife/daughter who's got issues and is trying to protect her relatives and fodlann with her position while trying to turn some homuncili into her mom, to a dragon lady who's been in head of a major religion that she made up for centuries who actively stiffled/slowed down fodlann's scientific/academic growth for unknown reasons.

as for the tech thing, i mean, we see most of the tech inside garreg mach itself and nobody acknowledges any bans so it clearly was an extremely long time ago that they were taken down. also, edelgard never mentions these things as her reasons for war (or at all) so i don’t even think she’s aware of them so how could they color her view? like edel canonically doesn’t know about the homunculi so why would she find it sus?

Like if you didn't know about Rhea's whole deal, she'd look pretty suspiscious. This isn't me saying "edelgard completely right church bad! Rhea is evil!".

like i said above, all of rhea’s more suspicious behavior is never mentioned by edelgard. and everybody else in the game seems to like rhea well enough and not find her suspicious and all the crimes edelgard espouses are lies so what even is there that would turn her off from the archbishop other than the ‘beasts hiding in human skin’ thing.

the only character that has real legitimate reasons to not trust rhea due to personal experience and rhea’s extremely suspicious behavior is jeralt which he talks about in his journal. but that’s noting war worthy.

I'm more trying to say Edelgard was SORT of right in being suspiscious of everyones favorite lizard pope, but jumped to WAY too fast onto the conclusion of "The church is definitely evil, because crest=bad and crest=blessings of the goddess, therefore church=bad!"

i’m sure ionius had a hand in this since edel talks about how she has information about the church from him that’s been passed down from emperor to emperor (basically a centuries old game of telephone). what was told? who fucking know. she never says.

Rhea WORST 'crime' at most as leader of the church is that she was pretty passive as leader of the church.

is that the worst crime though? i mean, it’s a damned if you do and a damned if you don’t situation. rhea isn’t a queen, she isn’t an emperor, she’s a spiritual leader. she can’t force people to do anything outside of her staff at garreg mach. hell, she has no presence in adrestia, the western church hates her, and the eastern tries to help in the alliance but the nobles don’t listen to them.

the alternative is for her to grab actual political power and involve herself in the politics of the other nations and make laws that you have to follow the church’s teachings which is… uh… bad. thank goodness she doesn’t bc i wouldn’t be able to defend that lol

Like, apart from trying to keep the peace as a whole and hiding technology for a while until she decided (maybe arbitrarily maybe not) that humanity was ready for it, she seemed *largely* content with the state of things as a whole.

but she isn’t though. that’s why she’s trying to revive sothis in the first place. she isn’t satisfied with how things are and she’s actively trying to being back fodlan’s golden age through sothis.

Granted, that strikes me less as her not giving a shit and more just her not knowing about some if the bad shit going on behind the scenes in Fodlann, and her going "Okay yeah thats bad. Buuuut when mom's back she'll be a way better leader and she'll make everything way better than I ever could. Back to studying and researching homunculi children so I can maybe shove my moms soul into one."

yeah. when it comes to twsitd and them fucking shit up in the background she isn’t aware that it’s them. after the war of heroes the church had tried to uncover who helped nemesis since the church is suspicious of the fact that a simple bandit was able to commit so much horror on his own. they believed that he had accomplices who helped him, and with good reason. however, no matter how hard they looked they never discovered the puppet masters behind everything since twsitd covered their tracks and nobody knows they exist. the church eventually gave up the search in favor of helping the people and tried their best to put the incident behind them. and by the time of the game it’s been over a thousand years so i’m pretty sure that rhea believes them to be dead lol

then like you said at some point rhea starts her plan to fix fodlan through sothis again.

That's my take anyway. Basically if Rhea and the lords had a group therapy session a lot of tragedy could have been avoided. Alas therapists don't exist in fire emblem, just look at the various characters with underlying trauma that they havent dealt with.

very true.

[mrsseverussnape]

Love Is You - chapter 4

 a/n: Finally i am posting this in a normal hour😂 Re-editing the chapters are taking way more time than i expected but i think it’s worth it. If you have any questions about the characters or the storyline, don’t hesitate to ask me!

Ps: are we wondering when we will get lighter and happy themed moodboards😂

    Couple of days have passed since the divorce suit. As expected, everyone in the Ministry has found out what happened between Scarlett, Sirius and Arabelle. Because Arabelle couldn't stop talking about it like it was her victory. But her victory didn’t live long; since she was just a secretary at Auror's Department and Sirius was being the head of the department, he fired her without a second thought. Nobody could disrespect his Scarlett the way Arabelle did. Though Arabelle didn’t seem very upset by this act which made Sirius even more annoyed with her. Already Sirius has become very furious at work after the divorce and he was making it hell for everybody around him. It was very unlikely of him though; he was the funniest around, but now he was just shouting and cursing at everyone.

    Scarlett was in the other hand. She was diagnosed with depression at St. Mungo’s, she was not doing very well but she was harming herself rather than the people around her. Leo had to turn back to New York for work after his one week leave even he didn’t want to leave his mother, so Carina took Scarlett with her to Hogwarts. Because when she was alone, she was not taking her pills but having alcohol almost every day which actually she shouldn’t have. Because of that someone had to keep a close watch on her for her own safety and health. Staying Hogwarts seemed like a good idea to the twins because when Carina was too busy, Remus was taking care of Scarlett since he was working at Hogwarts too. This whole cheating and divorce situation was really hard for Remus as well because he was close friends with both Scarlett and Sirius for years and he has never seen them like that before.

"Mum after the dinner i and Professor Snape will work, we need to make some potions and rearrange the shelves. Come and help us huh?"

"He won't want me there, i will stay here."

"I asked him earlier, he accepted. And mum you can't stay in the room forever, it is not helping you."

"Apparently we changed the roles, you are the mum now Carina."

"I am trying to help mum..."

Scarlett nodded unwillingly; she didn’t want to upset Carina. "Okay fine i will come but if I feel uncomfortable, I will leave."

Carina smiled happily. "Deal! But first we should eat dinner, you passed the lunch but you have to eat now."

    Half an hour later they were heading to the potion’s classroom in the dungeons. Scarlett was quite nervous but trying to keep it cool. Carina opened the door for her and invited Scarlett in then followed her.

"Hello professor." Carina smiled to the black-haired man who was already making a potion.

"Hi." He said looking up at them while stirring the potion.

Severus was nervous as well. He hasn't seen Scarlett for almost 30 years except that one time, like a week ago, when she has come to see Carina. They have made a good job about avoiding each other for so long.

"You two didn't meet properly yet. That's my mum Scarlett and th-"

Scarlett cut her off before she could finish her sentence. "We know each other Carina."

Carina was confused, she has always talked about Professor Snape and her mum hasn’t said a word. "From where? You haven't told me that."

"We were… We were classmates." She mumbled, all the memories were coming back slowly and she wasn’t ready for them.

Severus Snape nodded without giving any further information and put a chair next to his desk for Scarlett to sit since she was trying to lean onto the desk tiredly.

"Thanks." Scarlett sat down and started to watch the two potioneers.

"Okay then, that's cool. Was mum good at potions class, Professor?" Carina asked while preparing ingredients for the potion that she was about to make.

"She was good, she was a very good student overall. She was one of the bests of our time."

"Potions wasn't my brightest class but i had Severus as my partner." Scarlett smiled ever so slightly for the first time in weeks, she has remembered the class where she has turned his hair rainbow colours in an accident.

Carina was very happy to see that tiniest smile on her face. "We learnt that you are good at potions mum, you can stir the potion while i am cutting those herbs."

Scarlett stood up to stir it but her hands were shaky and she got quite dizzy after she stood up which Carina noticed.

"Mum did you take your pills? You were supposed to take them after the dinner, I have handed them to you…"

"No... I will go and take them before you scold me." She walked out of the classroom before Carina could say anything.

Carina sighed at her mother’s behaviour.

"Is she alright…?" Snape asked trying to hide the worried tone of his voice.

"Not really. Actually, in the worst condition i have ever seen her... But i think seeing an old friend was good to her, she talked a little bit even i saw a glimpse of a smile. Maybe you can spend some time together?"

Snape paused for a moment, he wasn’t expecting a question like this at all.

"It was just an idea; you don't have to do it..."

"I... I would like to help." Snape mumbled unsurely; he would like to spend some time with Scarlett but he was also very nervous about it.

"Thank you so much professor, I really appreciate it." Carina was smiling happily when Scarlett came back silently and sat on the chair once again.

"Took the pills?"

Scarlett nodded as yes and started to look around. The classroom hasn’t changed much, only there were many more shelves now. Then a candle tin caught her eyes on Snape's desk. She took the red tin that has a rose drawing on it. Snape has noticed what she was doing and kept watching her carefully. Scarlett took the lid off and saw the fully burnt candle. That moment they caught each other’s eyes for the first time in years and had the same flashback.

~

"Sev, i made this candle for you! There are rose petals in it and i added couple drops of my perfume. Whenever you are away and miss me just burn the candle; it will smell just like me." 20 years old Scarlett giggled cutely.

"Thanks love. You've even drawn a rose on the lid, a scarlet rose." Severus said while hugging her tightly and inhaled her rosy scent in, how much he loved that scent.

"My first thought was putting my own photo on it but then ended up with the rose so it wouldn’t be as creepy." She laughed.

"I'd love your photo too." He kissed her lips softly. "I hope I will never have to burn this candle, ever."

~

"Why are you still keeping this?" Scarlett asked suddenly.

Carina was surprised by her mother's bold question; she was not the kind of woman who likes to involve things that are none of her business so that question was very unlikely of her. Also Carina was afraid of her professor’s reaction, he truly hated when someone touches his stuff without asking but she hoped her mum could get the friend pass.

"It has a memory that I would like to keep." Snape answered casually and walked to the potion shelves while trying to ignore her eyes.

Scarlett didn't say anything else and put the tin back on his desk. She was surprised that he still had it, why would he want to keep that yet alone burnt it even though he didn’t want her in his life. While she was thinking about these, Severus was lost in his own thoughts. Scarlett's presence had brought all the emotions that he was craving for years. And here she was sitting right there but he was scared to talk or even look at her. He kept arranging the shelves to distract himself from her while Carina made some potions to renew the old ones for a while.

"Professor i finished the potions you asked for, do you need any help there?"

Carina's voice brought him back to reality from his mind. "No, no thank you. If you are all done, you can leave. That’s all for tonight."

"Okay professor, have a good night." Carina smiled and packed her stuff.

"Good night." Severus said silently while still avoiding Scarlett’s gaze.

 Carina and Scarlett went back to their room and started to get ready for the bed.

"Mummy why did you ask him that question about the candle? It was so random."

Scarlett just shrugged her shoulders while brushing her copper coloured locks.

"It made him, i dunno, kind of sad? Probably it was a gift from a loved one. But to be honest it always caught my eye too because the look of it screams -you-."

Scarlett didn't answer to that as well and just laid down on the bed.

"Mum you are so talkative tonight..." Carina sighed while getting into the bed with her.

"I have a headache Carrie, i just want to sleep." Scarlett lied, she was not in the mood of talking about this at all.

"Okay, sweet dreams mama." Carina kissed her cheek.

"Sweet dreams baby."

Scarlett closed her eyes but the memories didn't let her to fall asleep, it would be a long night.

Taglist:

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[mldrgrl]

Lately I've been all about reconciliation. For some reason, I want all the Mulder-and-Bill-Scully-finding-some-peace fic I can get. I'd love to see your take on this, maybe in the IWTB era? Or even revival era.

One Sorry Sonofabitch

By: mldrgrl Rating: PG Summary: See above - but be advised Mulder and Scully aren’t in this story a whole lot.  Please send all complaints to @perplexistan and I’ll be filing a lawsuit shortly for pain and suffering for having to turn Bill Scully into a sympathetic character. (Set post-IWtB)

He holds his tongue to spare his mother what he really thinks when she tells him that Dana and Mr. Mulder will be joining them for Thanksgiving this year.  He can’t believe the audacity that man has to show up at a family event.  And his sister isn’t much better for what she’s put their mother through over the years.  He can’t even remember the last time he saw her.  He thinks it might be ten years ago, just before his second son, Michael, was born.  Tara squeezes his knee under the table and he musters up a smile and a brief nod.

Now that he’s stationed in North Carolina, it’s a lot easier for him to travel with his family instead of having his mother fly out for the holidays.  It’s their first Thanksgiving on the east coast and he’s annoyed at having the happy occasion intruded upon by his selfish sister and her ne’er do well friend.  He really can’t believe she still keeps that jackass around.

He loves his sister.  He truly does.  He just can’t understand the foolish choices she’s made.  Starting with joining the FBI, but giving away her child and going on the run with her fugitive partner instead of putting her patriotic duty to uphold the law as her priority is just beyond him.  He would never.  He had hoped that whatever spell Mr. Mulder had put on her would’ve worn off by now, but alas.  And now they’re coming to Thanksgiving.

Tara gives him a look when they hear the car pull up.  One that implores him to please behave.  His wife has no business being so compassionate, but that’s just the kind of person she is.  He hasn’t forgotten how his sister nearly ruined the Christmas that Matthew was born with that strange little girl and her impossible claim to her.  It should have been a time of great joy and instead Dana had made it sorrowful and awkward.

“Fox and Dana just drove up,” his mother says, coming out of the kitchen and wiping her hands on a dish rag.

His sons jump up from the game they’re playing in the family room, excited to meet their mythical aunt they’ve heard tales about.  

“Don’t run in the house,” he barks at the kids.

“Yes Sir,” they say, stopping short and taking slower steps to reach the door.

Tara is the one that greets them and his mother is just behind her.  Bill is the last one to the door and waits for the hugs and excited chatter to die down before he gives his sister a stiff embrace and Mr. Mulder a requisite handshake.

“Mr. Mulder,” Bill says.

“Just Mulder,” Mr. Mulder says.

“Matthew had a growth spurt this year,” Tara prattles, laying a hand on their son’s shoulder.  He’s taller than her by an inch, thin and reedy.  “As you can see.  Can you believe he’ll be thirteen next month!?  And we’ve got Michael turning ten in February.”

Matthew’s cheeks darken.  He embarrasses easily and his fair skin gets blotchy at the drop of a hat.  Both his boys are soft, like their mother.  He’d like to toughen them up, but Tara is fiercely protective of them.  A regular mother lion.  He doesn’t get it.  When he was a kid, he idolized his father.  Those few weeks or months a year when his dad came home were the best.  He was interested in everything his father did and how he did it.  His sons don’t express any interest in him and he barely hears more than a ‘yes, sir’ or a ‘no, sir’ out of them on a good day.

“Maureen is napping,” Tara says.  “You’ll meet her later.”

His daughter, Maureen, well she’s a different story.  She’s only a toddler, but she reminds him of his sister Melissa.  She’s headstrong and unafraid, particularly when it comes to her father.  She sasses.  She rolls her eyes already.  She ignores his orders and does what she wants when she wants.  She’s also cute as a button and has her brothers wrapped around their little fingers.  Tara calls her their little threenager.

“We’ve still got time before dinner,” his mother says.  “Why don’t we head to the family room.”

“We brought pies,” Dana says.

“I’ll get them,” Mr. Mulder says.  He has his hands on Dana’s shoulders and gives them a squeeze when she looks back up at him.  They seem to hold some silent conversation.  To Bill, it looks like his sister is begging her friend to please don’t leave him alone in this house.  He doesn’t know why she’s here.

They gather in the family room and make small talk.  Tara finds the scrapbooks she puts together for his mother every year and shows off all the photos of the kids from their school activities and family vacations.  Dana nods and smiles through most of it.  Mr. Mulder is more talkative and asks all the questions.

A half hour slips by and finally he hears a cry from upstairs indicating that his daughter is up from her nap.  Tara is on her feet in an instant.

“That’ll be the little princess,” Tara says.  “I’ll go grab her and get her ready to come down.”

“I’ll help you,” Bill says.  Tara looks at him strangely as he follows.

Maureen is jumping up and down in the playpen in their room when they walk in.  She smiles brightly and holds her arms up to Tara.

“How’s my girl,” Tara coos.  “Let’s get you into the dress Grandma bought you for dinner and then you can meet your Auntie Dana and Uncle Fox.”

“Don’t call him that,” Bill says.

“Oh, Bill.”  Tara sighs and stands Maureen on the bed to start undressing her.  “You’re going to have to accept him sometime.”

“I most certainly don’t.”

“You know, one of the things I loved the most about you when we were dating was that you always said that family was very important to you.”

“It still is.  You know that.”

“I’m just saying that sometimes your actions don’t say a lot about what I know is in your heart.  Will you grab me one of the Pull-Ups from her bag?”

“I’ve been cordial.  Hell, I shook his hand.”

“Hell is a bad word,” Maureen says.  She scrunches her face and shakes her head as Tara tries to pull her red curls into a ponytail.  “No hair up, Mama.”

“Listen to your mother, Maureen.”

“No.”

“Hair up or it’ll get washed tonight in the bath,” Tara bargains.

“Okay, hair up.”

“She’s the one that abandoned everything, you know.  Not giving a damn about how it would affect our mother.  Tara, she gave her own child away for that man.”

“Damn damn damn!” Maureen shouts, jumping up and down on the bed.

Tara gives Bill a weary look.  “William Scully Junior, you know better than to use that kind of language.”

Maureen laughs and bounces.  “Daddy in trouble.  Daddy in trouble.”

“Yes, Daddy was being very naughty.  And so are you.  Get down.”  Tara holds her hands out and helps Maureen off the bed.  “Billy, Dana had her reasons, I’m sure.  Have you ever even asked her what happened back then?”

“No.  Why do you always take the other side of the argument?”

“I don’t know, Billy, why do you like to argue so much?”  She smiles and pats him on the chest as she leads Maureen past him out the door.  “I’m just putting myself in her shoes and I know that if I were to have to do what she did, there would have to be a very good reason.  You saw how attached to she was to that little Emily and how devastated she was.  Think about that.”

“Hmph.”

Downstairs, his mother oohs and aahs over Maureen’s green velvet dress and Maureen twirls appropriately, delighted to be the center of attention.  His sister smiles warmly and kneels down to introduce herself to her niece and tell her how big she is and how pretty.

“Thank you, I know,” Maureen says.

The women laugh.

“Where are the boys?” Bill asks.  “And Mr. Mulder?”

“Outside playing basketball,” his mother answers.

Basketball.  They should be playing a real sport like football.  The last time he’d tried to teach them how to punt and tackle it had ended in tears.  Matthew complained that the roughness might hurt his chances of moving up in his piano lessons and Michael said he preferred to work on his model cars.

Bill lingers in the mudroom, watching surreptitiously and listening to boys play with Mr. Mulder through the open window.  There are a lot of high fives and hair tousling.  They don’t even seem to be competing, just taking turns with the ball, which seems a little ridiculous.

“Good job, Matt,” Mr. Mulder says, even when Matthew misses a shot that should have been easy.  “Loosen that wrist and hold that follow-through.”  He takes the boys’ hand and guides it with his own.  “That’s it.  Let’s try it again.”

Matthew shoots again and they all cheer when the ball makes it in the basket.

“Nice!” Mr. Mulder yells.  “Nothing but net.”

Both boys whoop and laugh and jump up and down like monkeys and grab onto Mr. Mulder.  He laughs with them and they have another round of high fives and hair tousling.

“How do you know so much about basketball, Uncle Mulder?” Michael asks.  Bill cringes.

“I played in high school and I used to be part of a team at my gym.”

“Did you like being part of a team?”  Matthew asks.

“Yeah, it was great.”

“I think I want to join the debate team at school next year.”  This is news to Bill and he’s surprised.  Matthew is notoriously soft-spoken.

“Your Aunt Dana used to be on a debate team when she was in school.  You should ask her for some tips.”

“Dad said that you guys used to be FBI agents,” Michael says.  “He said it’s like being a glory fried policeman”

“Glorified,” Matthew corrects.  “Not glory fried.”

“Glorified, whatever that means.  He told Mom before that Aunt Dana should’ve kept being a doctor so she’d be more normal.”

Bill grits his teeth.  He doesn’t recall ever saying something like that in front of the boys, but he’s sure he’s said it.  He wonders what else they’ve overheard through the years.

“Well, that’s probably true,” Mr. Mulder says.  “She’s a great doctor.  But, you know what?  Your Aunt Dana was the best agent the FBI ever had.”

“How come she quit?” Matthew asks.

“Have you ever done something that made you really happy for awhile and then it just stopped making you happy?”

“I used to like playing MarioKart,” Michael says.  “But, now I think it’s boring.”

“It’s kind of like that.”

“My favorite is SimCity.  Have you ever played that?”

“No, I can’t say I have.”

“Do you like Guitar Hero?” Matthew asks.  

“Yeah, do you like Guitar Hero?” Michael echoes.  “We brought our Playstation and we can play.”

“I’m not much of a musician,” Mr. Mulder says.  “But I’ll give it a shot.”

“Cool!” Both boys yell.

Bill chooses that moment to emerge from the mudroom and steps out onto the porch.  Both boys go instantly quiet and Michael starts dribbling the basketball he’s holding.

“You boys should run and get your jackets on,” Bill says.  “It’s getting cold.”

“I’m not cold,” Michael replies.

“Yes, Sir,” Matthew answers and takes Michael’s arm.  “Thanks for the lessons, Uncle Mulder.”

“You can keep playing,” Bill says.  “I just think you need to get your jackets on.”

“That’s alright, we’ll go help Mom and Grandma in the kitchen.  Come on, Mikey.”

Michael reluctantly hands the basketball over to Mr. Mulder.  “Thanks, Uncle Mulder,” he says.

Mr. Mulder nods and then it’s just him and Bill outside.  Mr. Mulder turns and dribbles the ball a few times before he sinks a basket.  He picks it up again and holds it one-handed in Bill’s direction.

“You play?” Mr. Mulder asks.

“I’m more of a football guy,” Bill answers.

“USNA is on a great streak in the Army v Navy games.  Think they can keep it up?”

“Wouldn’t be much of a Navy man if I thought otherwise.”

“Were you on the team?”

“No.  We won all four years I was there though.  Tied one year, actually.”

“I think Scully mentioned that you dad had played one year.”

Bill can’t believe Mr. Mulder is still calling his sister, Scully.  It makes no goddamn sense.  “1957,” he answers.  “14-0, Navy.”

Mr. Mulder nods.  The conversation stalls.  Mr. Mulder rubs the back of his head for a few moments and then he looks at the door and straightens.  Bill turns and sees his sister in the window.  She comes outside, pulling her sweater tighter across her waist and crossing her arms as she steps off the porch.

“Mom says there’s about an hour left until the turkey is ready,” she says.  “Everything alright?”

“Talking sports,” Mr. Mulder says.  Dana stands close to him.  He puts a hand on her back.

“It’s good to see you, Dana.”

“You too, Bill.”

The three of them stand in awkward silence.  A wind picks up and blows dead leaves across their feet.  Bill shoves his hands in his pockets.  Dana turns to Mr. Mulder and lays a hand very lightly on his chest.

“Can you give us a minute?” Dana asks.

“Of course,” Mr. Mulder answers.  He kisses the corner of Dana’s mouth and Bill’s cheek twitches irritably.  He spins the basketball on one finger as he walks away and then tucks it snugly into the corner of the porch before he goes inside.

“I can tell you don’t want us here,” Dana says.  Straight to the point.  His sister has never been subtle.

“I think it’s you that doesn’t want to be here.  You know, every holiday Mom would always bring up the fact that it would be so nice to have all her children at the table.  I have to say I agree with her.”

Dana stares at him with a cool gaze.  “Are you trying to make me feel guilty?”

“No, I’m just telling you how it’s been.”

“All her children?”

“Alright, we don’t need to fight.”

“I’m not fighting.  I’m just wondering if she includes Charlie in that, when she yearns for all her children.”

Bill shifts uncomfortably.  “That’s between them.  Charles is…”

“Charlie is married.  His husband’s name is-”

“Patrick.  I know.  I do speak with him on occasion.”

Dana gives a brief nod.  “Were they invited to Thanksgiving?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry that we didn’t turn out how you wanted.”

“What does that mean?”

“You always wanted to follow in our parents footsteps.  Be just like Dad.  Have the doting wife, the Navy career, a house full of kids.  Everything in ship-shape order.  They made it look ideal when we were kids, but it was never ideal.”

“What kind of nonsense has that man been filling your head with?”

Dana snorts.  “The irony is, Mulder is a lot like you, Bill.  He values the sanctity of family even more than you.”

“Oh yeah, so much so he forced you to give up your only child.”

“Mulder wasn’t even there when I had to give William up.”

“Exactly.  Where was he?  Not with his family.  You can be sure I would-”

“You would, what?  Step away from the Navy?  Reject a deployment order?  What would you do, Bill?”

“It’s my job,” he says, curtly.  “It’s what I do to make sure not just my family, but every family in our country is protected.  Tara understood that when she married me.  The kids understand.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Do you know what losing her grandchild did to Mom?  Dad’s namesake, Dana.  My namesake.  How could you?”

“You sanctimonious sonofabitch,” she hisses.  “My son’s name is William Fox Mulder.  Named after Mulder’s father.  Not you, and not Dad.  And you have no idea how difficult it was for me to make that choice.  None at all.”

“Then why did you do it?  If it was so goddamn hard, why isn’t he here with us now playing with his cousins instead of with strangers?”

Dana looks away and licks the corner of her mouth.  She used to do that when she was a kid before letting loose with a temper tantrum.  He remembers her red-faced and stomping her feet, licking her lip before she exploded.

“Did you know that my life was in danger for all of my pregnancy?” she asks.  “Did you know William was kidnapped twice before he was eight months old?  Did you know that I had friends that were almost killed trying to protect him?  Did you know that I killed people in order to protect him?  Did you know that I made the biggest mistake in my life when I asked Mulder to leave us because I thought he was the one endangering our son?  Did you know that my heart felt like it was ripped out of my chest when I thought I had lost both of them forever?  Do you know that it took years for me to trust in the fact that Mulder forgave me for what I did?”

Bill feels uncomfortable and clammy.  He’s never seen his sister like this, as a child or as an adult.  She’s like fire.  Hot and terrifying.

“No,” he says.  “How could I?  Why didn’t you come to me?”

Dana raises her brow at him like he’s said something completely incredulous.  “We’re family, Bill, not friends.”

“Do you even have any friend, Dana?  Aside from Mr. Mulder?”

“I don’t need or want anyone else in my life except for Mulder.”

“Including your family?”

“Mulder is my family.  A fact I don’t ever think you’ll accept.”

“That man has poisoned you against your family.”

“That man is the reason I’m here today.  You’re right.  It is me that doesn’t want to be here.”  She turns and walks away.

“Dana.”

She doesn’t turn back though, just walks up the porch and into the house and Bill is left alone.  He doesn’t understand how he could have grown up in the same house as each of his siblings, but how they all turned out so different.  He seems to be the only one that appreciates the values his parents instilled in them and not blatantly reject the status quo.  

When Bill comes back into the house, he sees Dana and Mr. Mulder in the dining room, having a very low and animated conversation.  Her hands are in his and his head is bent towards her.  She’s shaking her head and pulling one of her arms free to gesticulate with, but he catches it and clasps their hands gently to his chest.

Bill turns away and heads back to the family room.  The boys are on the floor with Maureen, helping her arrange her dolls to her satisfaction.  Tara and his mother are on the couch in conversation.  He sits down, feeling glum and perturbed.  Dana comes into the room, Mr. Mulder behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m not feeling very well,” she says.  “Mulder is going to take me home.”

Tara glances at Bill and he shifts his gaze away from her.  

“What is it?” his mother asks.  “Do you need to lie down?  You can use the spare room.”

“No, I wouldn’t want to disrupt dinner.  I think I have a migraine coming on and I have medication at home.”

“But, Dana, it’s been so long since we’ve all been together.  Can’t you just…”

“Let Dana do what she wants to do, Mom,” Bill says.  “If she wants to go home, let her go home.”

His mother wrings her hands together.  He can’t stand the disappointment in her eyes and he doesn’t know how Dana can either.  The hugs goodbye are awkward.  The kids are confused.  

“Uncle Mulder was supposed to play Guitar Hero with us,” Michael says, after they leave.

“Some other time,” Tara tells him.  “Go wash up for dinner.”

Dinner is somber.  His mother looks like she’s on the verge of tears.  Tara tries to compensate by engaging the children in conversation, but the boys unhappily push food around on their plates and Maureen whines to be let loose.  Before they’re even done, his mother starts gathering up the dishes and bringing them into the kitchen.

“What happened?” Tara mouths at him from across the table.

Bill shrugs.  “Mom, stop.  Tara and I will take care of the dishes.  Boys, take your sister and...show your grandmother that guitar game.”

The boys looked relieved.  Matthew takes Maureen’s hand and they head to the family room.  After the leave, the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall sounds immense in the silence.

“Bill…”

Bill raises his hands in surrender.  “Dana and I had a talk,” he admits.  “It didn’t go well.”

“Is that why she left?”

“She left because she didn’t want to show up at all.”

“This really meant a lot to Mom.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Maybe the only thing you can do is just accept the fact that this is all there is.”  Tara gets up, collecting dishes before she makes her way to the kitchen.  It takes Bill some time to follow, but he gathers up plates and silverware and goes in after her.  She’s got Tupperware spread out on the counter and is trying to match lids.

“I don’t want to accept it, Tara.  I can’t.  She’s my sister.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

He scratches the back of his head and thinks, watching Tara empty dishes into plastic bowls.  “Pack me up enough of those leftovers for two.  I’m...going to go out there.”

“You should take the boys with you.”

“Why?”

“It’s unlikely they’d turn the kids away.”

That hurts because it’s probably true.  He finishes clearing the dishes for Tara and she neatly packs up leftovers and stacks them on the counter.  He grabs a sweatshirt and then goes into the family room.  The boys aren’t playing the video game, they look like they’re playing Go Fish with their grandmother and sister.

“Boys, we’re going to take a drive.”

They look at each other and then look at their father.  “Are we in trouble?” Michael asks.

“No, son.  We’re just going to take a drive.”

He can tell they’re reluctant to get up, but they do.  Tara brings them their jackets and loads their arms with the Tupperware and walks them to the car.

“Where are we going?” Matthew asks, buckling his seatbelt.

“We’re going to go see your Aunt Dana and...Uncle Mulder.”

“Really?” Michael asks.

It’s an hour-long drive.  Bill can’t think of a time he’s been alone in a car with his sons for that long.  They don’t talk and the radio isn’t offering anything decent.

“You know, Matthew, your Aunt Dana was there when you were born?”

“She was?”

“She and your grandma had come out for Christmas that year.  They visited you in the hospital and you were only a few hours old.  And...your...Uncle Mulder was there too.”  Bill shifts a little in his seat and adjusts his grip on the steering wheel.  He was a little disgruntled at the time that Mr. Mulder had shown up with Dana at the hospital, but even more so when Tara insisted he have a chance to hold the baby.  He knows photos were taken that day, but he’s never seen them.

“Did Aunt Dana and Uncle Mulder visit me too, Dad?” Michael asks.

“No, they were...they weren’t in town at that time.”

“Oh.”

“Have I ever told you the story of when your Aunt Dana won a shooting contest when she was eight?”

“Um, I don’t think we know any stories about Aunt Dana,” Matthew answers.  “Except a couple Grandma has told us.”

“I see.”  

“I want to hear it,” Michael says.  “I want to know the story.”

“Me too,” Matthew adds.

“She learned to shoot pretty young.  My Dad had taught us.  She was the best out of all of us, even Dad.  She just never missed.  Some kids in the neighborhood caught wind of it and said there was no way a little girl could beat them.  They were older than us, maybe your age, Matthew.  Dana said she could beat the pants off of them, just come out to the woods and name the target.  She whipped those boys good.  Six older boys against one little girl.”

“Did she win a prize?” Michael asks.

Bill thinks back on that day.  He’d felt a mixture of pride and anger.  He wanted Dana to win, but he also looked up to those boys.  Their pride had been injured and therefore he’d tried to convince Dana to throw the competition at one point, pulling her aside and telling her she was hurting their feelings and should let them win.  She looked him straight in the eye and told him no way in hell would she lose to a stupid boy just ‘cause.  He’d been afraid the boys would retaliate in some way, maybe hurt Dana or even start a fight with him, but they hadn’t.

“Respect,” Bill says.  “She won a lot of respect.”

“Sounds like something Maureen would do,” Matthew says.  He and Michael chuckle together.

“Maureen is more like your Aunt Melissa.  Dana was a real tomboy.  She had to do everything me and your Uncle Charles did.”

“How come…?” Matthew starts, and then clams up.

“How come what?”

“I know Aunt Melissa died a long time ago.  But, how come we’ve never met Aunt Dana before now?  Or Uncle Charles?”

“Is it because Uncle Charles married another boy?” Michael asks.

“Who told you that?” Bill asks.

“Mom said that’s why Grandma doesn’t like to talk about him and we should try to understand that Grandma comes from another time where that wasn’t ok, but that doesn’t mean it’s not ok.”

“She said that?”

“Mmhm.  She said that if anyone at church or other kids say it’s not ok, we just don’t listen to them because God doesn’t make mistakes and love is love and God wants us to love each other.”

Bill is quiet.  He can’t believe his devout and traditional wife has said something so progressive and even went so far as to instruct his children to go against the church.  Good for her, he thinks.  Maybe if his mother had thought for herself once in awhile they wouldn’t have such a fractured family.  He can’t believe that thought just crosses his mind.

“You boys listen to your mother,” Bill says.  “She’s a good woman and I’m glad you’re both more like her than like me.”

“You’re good too, Dad,” Matthew says.

“You think so?”

“Yeah, you do a really hard job and it���s important and you’re in charge of it.”

“And Mom says that’s why we shouldn’t bother you with trivial things,” Michael says.  “So you can relax when you’re home.”

Bill is quiet for a few moments and he glances at both boys in the rear view mirror.  “I want you boys to know that you’re never a bother to me.  Not ever, alright?  You can come to me with anything.  You understand?”

“Yes, Sir,” they both say.

“And to answer your question, you haven’t met your Aunt Dana or Uncle Charles before because I think...I think it’s hard for them to feel welcome.  That’s why I’m taking you out to Dana and Mulder’s house right now so I can make sure they know they’re welcome.”

“Will we get to meet Uncle Charles one day, too?” Michael asks.

“I promise that when we get home I’ll call him and ask him if he wants to come for a visit.”

“Cool,” Matthew says.  “Three new uncles and an aunt.”

The roads start to become more rural and desolate.  It’s only twilight, but it feels even darker without any streetlamps or other passing cars.  Bill turns off onto a dirt road and slowly bumps along the unpaved path.

“I think this is it,” Bill says, pulling up to a gate.

“Do they live on a farm?” Michael asks.  “It looks like a farm.”

“I don’t think so.”

Bill is about to call Dana’s phone when he sees Mr. Mulder step out onto the porch, holding what looks like a long-barreled shotgun.  He turns on the cab light of the car and then lowers the window and leans out, raising a hand in greeting.  Mr. Mulder looks like he’s squinting and then he goes back inside and turns on the porch light.  When he comes back out, he’s no longer holding the gun and he jogs down from the porch and down the path behind the gate.  Bill sees his sister come out onto the porch a few moments later.

“Bill?” Mr. Mulder asks once he’s close enough to be heard.  “What’re you doing out here?  Everything alright?”

“The boys and I brought leftovers,” Bill says.

“Uh.  Okay.  Let me just unlock the gate, just a second.”  Mr. Mulder begins to unlock some chains around the gate.  “Scully’s been nagging me to put this on a remote, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.  Drive on up, I’ll be right behind you.”

Bill drives slowly down the lane and Mr. Mulder stays in the shadow of his taillight.  He parks behind the car in front of the porch and the boys are quick to unlock their belts and scramble out of the car.

“Is this a farm?” Michael asks, running up to Mr. Mulder and taking his hand.  “Do you have cows?”

“Sorry, buddy, no cows,” Mr. Mulder answers.  “I think there might have been horses here at one time.  There are some stalls out in the field behind the house.”

Bill gathers the Tupperware from the floorboards of the passenger seat and Matthew is right behind him to help him get everything out.  Dana stands on the porch in a defensive pose, guarding her territory.

“Come in,” Mr. Mulder says.  He guides Michael up the stairs ahead of him.  Dana gives Mr. Mulder a look, but then smiles at Michael.  Tara was a genius to tell him to take the boys.

The interior surprises Bill.  It’s cozy, almost cabin-like.  There are afghans on the couch and a well-used recliner.  They’ve got a wood burning stove and a fire going.  His sister is wearing slippers.  

Mr. Mulder leads them all to the kitchen and takes the Tupperware from Matthew and from Bill.  “Be sure to thank Maggie for us,” he says.

“I will.”  There’s a few beats of silence and Bill eyes his sister.  “Dana, would you mind if we talked for a few minutes?”

She hesitates and glances at the boys.

“You guys can go on the porch,” Mr. Mulder offers.  “Maybe...these guys might like some ice cream?”

“Can we?” Michael asks, turning to Bill.

Bill nods.  Never in his life did he expect to feel gratitude towards Mr. Mulder for anything, but he does in this moment.  The boys cheer.  Dana doesn’t look happy, but she takes her brother out to the porch.

“I’m not here to fight,” Bill says.  “I just want you to know that up front.”

“Why are you here?” she asks.

“Because I don’t like the way we left things.  I want to start by apologizing for...not giving you the benefit of the doubt.  Or supporting you when you needed it.”

Dana looks surprised and a little chagrined.  Her eyes water a bit.  She wraps her arms across her middle and looks at her feet.  “Thank you,” she says.  “That means a lot.”

“I was telling the boys on the way over about that time you won the shooting contest when you were a kid.”

She snorts softly.  “You were so mad at me.”

“No, I was proud of you.  I didn’t tell you that back then, but I probably should have.  Maybe it’s because of things like that that you felt you couldn’t talk to me when you were going through a hard time.”

“Maybe.”

“What I’m not going to apologize for, though, is my life or my family.”  He pauses while she looks up and opens her mouth, but then she closes it again and nods a little.  “I don’t think I’m wrong for wanting to live in the example our parents set for us.  They were happily married for almost forty years and, God willing, I’d like to make it to my fiftieth anniversary and still be just as happy.”

“You probably will.”

“I think you might too.”

Dana raises her brow.  Bill rubs the back of his neck and exhales, deeply.  

“The kids were telling me earlier that love is love,” he says.  “And, now that I’ve seen the two of you together, I think that he kind of seems like a decent guy.”

“I wouldn’t be with him if he wasn’t.”

“No, I don’t suppose you would.”

Dana looks at her feet again and rocks back and forth on her heels for a moment.  “I would also like to apologize for keeping you in the dark about so many things for so long.  I’ve been so accustomed to needing to keep things private, I forget that I can rely on other people.  Mulder has to remind me of it at times when I start to shut him out.”

“You were like that as a kid.  Tough as nails, wouldn’t show a weakness to save your life.”

“And a quick temper.”

“Yeah, that too.”  Bill chuckles.  Dana smiles slightly.

“I’m sorry I left like that.  I hope Mom wasn’t too upset.”

“I think it might be salvaged if you thought about maybe coming by tomorrow?  The boys really seemed to take to...their Uncle Mulder.”

“He’s really great with kids,” Dana whispers and two tears fall down her cheeks.  She dips her head once more and puts a hand over her eyes.

Bill steps closer and pulls her in against his chest.  She puts her arms around him and he rubs her shoulder a little.  “I can’t imagine, Dana.  What you must feel.”

“Some days are harder than others.”

“Does he help you through it?”

“Always.”

“Okay.”

After a few moments of silence, Dana sighs and then pulls away and wipes her eyes.  Bill stops her before they go back inside.

“One more thing,” he says.  “It’s important to me that you know that I don’t agree with Mom on everything.  Just because I believe that her issues with Charles are her business, doesn’t mean I think she’s right.”

“You don’t?”

“Hell no.  That’s her son.  I would never.  The thing is, Charles has told me he chooses to limit his contact with both of us so that it won’t cause problems between us and Mom, if she knows that we speak with him.”

“I know.”

“And, thinking about what you said and just...thinking about it in general, tonight, I’ve decided that if Mom can’t handle the fact that I have a relationship with my brother, that’s also her problem.  I’m going to invite Charles and Patrick out to North Carolina for Christmas.  I want to extend the same invitation to you and Mr. Mulder as well.”

“It’s just Mulder.”

“You guys are so weird about your names.”

“That’s how we like it.”

Bill puts his hands up in surrender.  Dana opens the door and he follows.  The boys are laughing at something.  Mulder gets up from the table when he sees them and Dana walks into his arms.  He rubs her back and nods at Bill.

“Can I get you a bowl of ice cream?” Mulder asks.

“Sure.”

“Dad, did you know that Aunt Dana and Uncle Mulder once arrested a man that was half-worm and lived in a sewer?!” Michael exclaims.

“Tried to arrest,” Mulder amends.  “We only caught half of him.  The tail end, unfortunately.”

“Gross!” the boys cry.

“Really, Mulder?” Bill asks.

Mulder shrugs.  Bill sighs.

The End

[leotssukinaga]

Friendship Bracelet

Makoto Yuuki x Reader

A/N: I literally dont know where this fic came from, it just popped into my head a few hours ago and now its here. Disclaimer that I don’t know Yuuki that well as a character so I’m not entirely sure how well I wrote him. This ends so cheesy but its cute so I stand by my choices Summary: Makoto and you have been best friends for years, even when you couldn’t see each other often your friendship held firm. There’s just one issue... Makoto doesn’t know if it’ll survive the romantic feelings he’s developed for you. Tags: Fluff, teeny tiny bit of angst, cheesy as hell, childhood friends to lovers Word Count: 1.7k

Makoto wasn't sure whether to smile or frown as he stared at the bracelet adorning his wrist, fiddling with it with his other hand. It was a little worn, though you could hardly see where he'd had to mend it when he caught it on that fence last year and it snapped, but even after 4 years of wearing it constantly the colours were as bright as the day you'd given it to him, the green heart embedded in the blue standing out as much as ever. It had been on his mind a lot recently- or rather, what you'd said when you gave it to him had.

-

You hopped up to him at lunch time, a sad sort of smile on your face. He knew why. You were graduating middle school in two days, and you weren't going to the same high school. You'd admitted to him a few weeks before that you were scared to face the world without him, that you didn't want him to stop being your friend just because you didn't see each other every day. He'd been a little too embarrassed to admit that he felt the exact same way. "Hey, I made you something. It's a little silly but... I want you to wear it all the time, okay? So that even when you're old and you can't remember your own name, you'll have a reminder that once upon a time, in middle school, we were best friends." He grinned as you showed him the blue friendship bracelet. He didn't even know you knew how to make them, but he admired your handiwork and held his wrist out for you to tie it on. It was only when you'd done so that he was the green heart you'd sewn onto it. "Not just in middle school," he reassured you, "just because we're going to different high schools doesn't mean I'll forget about you."

-

He'd been right, too. The two of you were in your third year now, and your friendship was as firm as ever. Of course, the different high schools situation had changed once Yumenosaki had opened up the producer course and you'd transferred (something you hadn't told him until you surprised him on your first day there), but even in your first year he'd cycled over to your house every night he had free. You'd always fussed over how he had the energy to do that, with how strenuous idol work can be, but he was insistent that you didn't worry about him too much. And now you were at Yumenosaki, he walked you home every day, just like he had in middle school. He was grateful for your ongoing presence in his life, but recently... He wanted things to change. Not in the sense that he didn't want you around anymore- as if he could ever want that- it was more like he wanted to see you more, if that was even possible.

He'd often catch himself thinking about you in a way he didn't know he could- about holding your hand or waking up next to you, about how nice it would be to be your boyfriend. It was bugging him endlessly. How could he fall in love with his best friend? That was something that belonged in slice of life manga and cheesy sitcoms, not real life. Not his life. Not when you had so many better options out there than him, when half the guys in your year were vying for your attention for less than professional reasons- and he knew that every one of them was likely better suited to you than he was. "Hey, what's on your mind?" Makoto nearly jumped out of his seat when you appeared next to  him, a concerned look on your face "O-oh! Nothings wrong, I'm fine." "I didn't ask if anything was wrong, doofus, but the fact that you answered like I did tells me you definitely just lied to my face. Cmon, out with it." "No really, I-I'm okay!" You frowned at him, pulling out the chair next to him and taking a seat. "When did you start hiding things from me?" "W-what?" "I feel like you don't tell me anything anymore... What happened to the Makoto who'd tell me everything, right down to how long it took you to eat your lunch? When did you stop wanting to share things with me?" You looked sad- heartbroken even- as you stared at your best friend. But that was just it. He'd always be your best friend, and nothing more. He'd thought he was okay with that, but he was beginning to realise he wasn't. "I don't know, I... I guess people just grow apart." He knew, the second he said it, that it was the wrong thing to say, and the tears pricking your eyes as you nodded and silently left the classroom confirmed it.

You didn't wait for him that evening. He arrived at the spot the two of you had used as a meeting place since you'd started at Yumenosaki and found nobody there. You didn't pick up when he called you, either, and the walk home was painfully silent without your company. He'd screwed up majorly, all because he couldn't stand to tell you he was in love with you. And he didn't know whether he'd be able to pick up the pieces or not.

But he knew he had to try.

This wasn't like him. Normally he'd call you before heading to your house, it was rude to drop by unannounced, but this time he didn't even think about it. (You'd likely not pick up anyway.) It wasn't until he turned onto your street that he even realised what he was doing, that he'd cycled all the way here without making a conscious choice to do so. Whether it was the fear of losing you forever or some miraculous bout of previously unfound confidence that saw him climbing the tree outside your window and knocking on it like some anime protagonist you guys would definitely make fun of together, he didn't know. All he knew was that when you opened the curtains you looked like you'd been crying- and that you shut them again the second you saw him. He slumped back on the branch he was sitting on, not ready to give up but feeling a little defeated, when he heard the door open below him.

"Makoto! What the hell are you doing up there?!" "I need to talk to you." "Ever heard of knocking?" "I didn't think you'd answer." "You could've tried!  Ugh, will you just get down from there, please? I'm having horrible visions of you with your head splattered on the sidewalk." He nodded and made his way out of the tree, trying not to think about how cute it was when you covered your eyes so you wouldn't have to see if he fell.

"I...I didn't mean what I said earlier." "I know." "You do?" "Yeah! I mean, come on. I know you better than anyone- if that was really how you felt you’d wanna talk about it, give me the reasons. You’re always so gentle with people, even when you don’t like them." "When you didn't walk home with me today I thought maybe I'd messed up beyond repair." "I was upset. Even if you didn't mean it, it hurt. And you've been so distant lately. I don't wanna lose you. Ever." "I don't wanna lose you either." The way you smiled at him warmed his heart, but your next words put a knife right through it. "Good. You're stuck with me as a best friend forever, whether you like it or not."

Makoto couldn't take it. He knew he wasn't good enough for you. You deserved a boyfriend who could sweep you off your feet, not some dork who's only romantic knowledge came from manga. But... even if it was unfounded, he had to have hope. He had to tell you how he felt.

"Y/N, look, I- I need to tell you something." "What is it?" "I-" The words stuck in his throat. You stared at him expectantly as he tried to get them out, but they wouldn't go, no matter how much he stuttered. Now was not the time for him to freak out and forget how to speak. He'd cycled over here and climbed a tree, for God's sake, and now he couldn't even say what he wanted to. He couldn't help but think that this was why you deserved better than him. "Makoto? Are you okay?" "Yes, I just-” He took a deep breath before finally blurting it out, so fast you could barely make out what he was saying. “I'm in love with you and I have been for like a year and I thought I could be okay with just being your best friend- and if you tell me to shut up and never talk about this again then I will, I'll be happy to be in your life in any capacity- but I knew I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try, you know? You're just so perfect and I know you deserve better than what I can offer you and it's so stupid for me to think I have a chance in hell but-" "Makoto!" "Y-yes?" "Will you shut the hell up and kiss me already?" "I- what?" "Oh, I have to do everything myself, don't I?" He was still processing what you'd said when you pulled him in for a kiss, cupping his face gently with your hands. It took him a minute to come to terms with the fact that you were kissing him, but eventually he settled his arms around your waist and melted into it. You pulled away abruptly when something cold and wet landed on your forehead, squinting up at the sky. As if the night hadn't played out enough like some cheesy romance film, snow began to fall around you.

"I probably should’ve worn a coat, huh..." "Oh my god, come inside before we both freeze to death!" "Will your parents be okay with that?" "Of course they will, it's you." You reached for his hand to pull him inside, but stopped when you noticed something. "Hey... you're still wearing the bracelet." "'Course I am. You told me to wear it all the time." You grinned up at him, giving him a soft peck on the lips. "I guess that heart means something different now, though." Makoto's real heart swelled in his chest. Being with you was... Well, it felt like something out of a fairytale, or one of those dreams that waking up from upsets you because it's not real. "Yeah. I guess it does."

[buddha-in-disguise]

I'm not going to review the season finale in quite the same way as I've usually written something afterwards. I'm ultra tired due to distinct lack of sleep. So it is more truncated than I'd intended. Also unedited so advance apologies if something makes no sense or is misspelled etc.

The episode was facing the challenge of not only being edited after COVID-19 shut down production, but what was intended to be the penultimate episode became the finale. So I'm trying to take that into consideration.

First part in Kara's loft. It was choppy. Don't get me wrong, I had nothing against the humour, or the scenes in general. Although they missed the glaring opportunity to place a "flew here on a bus," moment! It felt pretty disappointing they didn't recognise what has become an iconic line within the SG fandom, and made it even more iconic.

Before the bus though, back at the loft, considering that Lena had literally only just arrived at Kara's, with all that entails, it felt completely out of place for that context. Did it have been overwhelming heavy at that point? Absolutely not. But it was too close to slapstick at times for me and internally I was cringing. I admit, I'm not sure where they could've put it in, but perhaps if they'd just lowered it a fraction, made it a little more subtle a couple of times, it would've helped for me.

Some of the dialogue (especially early on) was also all over the place for me. It did get better as the episode wore on, but I wonder how much was the need to redo parts of the episode because of COVID-19? Unless they think to put an episode as intended in a future season DVD (perhaps S6 DVD), or someone gives us full details via an interview we will probably never know.

Which brought me to one piece of dialogue that I wish they'd not put in at all!

In 5.18, as I've spoken about a lot on Twitter especially, the way Lex screams into Lena's face, and Lena's flinch, and how that had been me 20 odd years ago. They then had the line as Lena talks to Kara; "Go ahead. Scream at me if you have to, I know I deserve it."

I know for many, they'd just see it as a line to use, but .... for many of us who have suffered abuse, who recognised (& in some instances were triggered) by last weeks episode, to not have acknowledged why that line was so problematic is worrying. It heavily suggests they're not going to address Lena's trauma and abuse because they really don't understand it (& again, if anyone believes she didn't suffer trauma and abuse, but accept others in SG do, go away with your bias from my page), but considering they haven't addressed much of Kara's trauma, particularly watching Argo destroyed again, being stuck for months during Crisis like they were, etc - then I guess it isn't a surprise.

But it is uncomfortable as hell to watch a line like that glossed over.

Overall though, I did enjoy the episode. Once that 1st half was over, especially (baring a few moments, including watching Alex do her badass Mission Impossible meet Cirque du Soleil moment because that was awesome) it felt much more like SG of previous seasons. So that was great.

Watching Lena as she watched Alex and Kara hug behind her was so emotional. Watching siblings love unconditionally. Something she thought she had with Lex, only to realise he hadn't changed at all. Lena didn't need to say anything, as once again Katie's acting brought all the emotion Lena was feeling to the fore.

Having Lena and Alex mirror they choice of words in regards Kara was pretty iconic. Then having Alex whisper, "Jinx." really made it work.

Seeing Dreamer in her element, including some great lines again. "I can't believe you left to fight Earth, Wind & Fire without us." "Guess they didn't take the bait? Maybe you should've been meaner?" As they begin the fight with J'onn, M'gann Alex and Dreamer - Alex to Dreamer: "You ready?" Dreamer. "Nope." Alex. "Me neither." Dreamer at her best imo.

Kelly going all, damn my girlfriend is hot & I want sex right now despite the circumstances was pretty cute and funny.

The Kara and Lena monologues being in unison. Now that was pretty amazing and one of the best parts of the whole episode imo.. But again, you feel as if they're matching Lena and Kara together with those scenes as a couple.

Lena not only protecting Kara, but stopped Andrea from going down a dark path as Acrata. Was also great.

Last frame of Lillian. Does it turn out she is the head of Leviathan? Because again they laid out more than once the leader was a woman. It has been noted several times now in different episodes. I was hoping Lena's biological mother, considering she knew of the legend of Acrata, but it is now looking more likely this reincarnation of Lillian is who it is, unless it is a character we've not been introduced to, but I highly doubt that.

The 2nd half of the episode was what we missed so much this season. In fact aspects throughout the episode were missing for too much this season.

This includes the women being the focal point of it. Brainy though absolutely rightly taking a strong subplot to what else was going on. J'onn ably supported by M'gann. M'gann who managed to advise Nia on embracing her dreams and not trying to avoid part of them. Dansen actually working together and both being badass in their own way (after all, this is something I've advocated for much of the season, & while fantastic to see, it never should've taken this long. Now where have we heard that before?)

But we still have glaring unanswered questions that I can't imagine would've been answered in 5.20.

Every indication since 5.17 is Kelly knows Kara is Supergirl. Yet we don't know for certain, because they've failed to show us how or when. I've said before, considering every other person who knows Kara is Supergirl, we had them tripping over themselves to explain to the audience how it happened. I'm pretty annoyed that we as the audience don't get given the same courtesy with Kelly. This is why so many of us feel short changed on some characters this season. The really aggravating thing is would only take a few lines to clear it up!

Now onto Alex. This ties in with J'onn. Where are they getting the money to survive? Did J'onn manage to accumulate enough over all the years he was on Earth to finance everything & pay Alex a wage? No clue.

Also, are Kelly & Alex living together? Or do they have keys to each others apartments? Yes, Kelly was at Alex's in 5.17 so the answer is pretty much yes, but nothing has been said! We knew more about Brainy & Nia's living arrangements from 5a than we do Kelly & Alex.

Kara's trauma. Lena's abuse & trauma. See above.

Lastly, the one most I know want (except a few vocally against), leaning towards Supercorp becoming canon. Again for another season, we end up with the, 'Maybe they'll do it next season.' being said. Particularly as in 5a they really went all out on Supercorp parallels to Clois and at times Dansen, plus even a little on Brainia. But unless something pretty fundamental changes behind the scenes, they're going to recognise what their biggest draw is, keep baiting but never fully go into it. And that is what I fear the most. When you've got media, even non-Supergirl fans saying it, but the show refusing to acknowledge it - that could be their legacy, and it will not look good or have a lot of fans look back kindly on them for it.

The 4 seasons it took for Lena to find out Kara was Supergirl was, in the end, terribly executed. This waxing and waning as well of; is Lena good or bad? Will she follow in the Luthor footsteps?

She is flawed. She's made some pretty awful mistakes. But now they're said she is good. She isn't evil or a villain. So now that line they've drawn needs to stay there! No more ambiguity on her character being a villain.

But you know what's not good? Feeling you can't trust the show to draw a line under that aspect of the character. That doesn't mean you have to have any one of them not be flawed, or to even cross some lines (they've all done it at some point, some moreso than others, but not one character is innocent).

When the show is now generating that level of mistrust on how they could handle future events, that is a problem.

Season 5 overall (particularly 5b) was absolutely horrendously bad. It had some moments of sheer brilliance (either individual scenes, or some episodes), but the rest was just flat out awful. Irrelevant. Messy. No cohesion. 5b became too much of the Lex Luthor show. Certain character additions were vastly unpopular and definitely caused down turns in viewer numbers (& again, from far more than a section of fandom). As did keeping Lena away from everyone for so long.

To sum up. Season 5 was a disaster.

Season 6 needs to have considerably different direction to even try & pull back some viewers (if they can at all). Distrust is rife.

The worst is no-one in the cast deserved this, especially as they're so talented. Some of the performances, even with how poor much of the season was, have been magnificent. But as the saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

I've never been so relieved a season is finally over. We'll watch our favourite episodes for sure, of which there aren't many, but a full rewatch of the season we normally do will not be happening. Some episodes were better off consigned to the trash.

[givgersnaps]

( LANA CONDOR, 21, FEMALE, FERROKINESIS 〕╰  CHARLOTTE ‘LOTTIE’ BUI just  came  over  half - blood  hill .  you  know ,  the  child  of  TYCHE  who  was  claimed  FOUR years  ago ?  i've  heard  chiron  say  that  she  is  EXTROVERTED & BUBBLY ,  but  if  you  ask  the  aphrodite  kids ,  they'd  say  they're  RECKLESS & TROUBLESOME .  i'd  say  they  remind  me  of  freshly squeezed lemonade, the smell of gingerbread, the ringing of laughter, windchimes in the breeze, a deck of playing cards & the shimmer of gold drachmas. ,  especially  since  they're  NEUTRAL ABOUT THE NEW CABINS .  (  ✎  NICKY ,  24 ,  she/her ,  est .  )

Hi everyone! I’m Nicky and I’m here to introduce my bby Lottie! If you want to plot feel free to dm me here on tumblr or like his post and I’ll come to you!

Some characters that are similar to Charlotte are as follows:

·      the Stoll twins from the Percy Jackson Series 

·      Fred and George Weasley

·      Megan Parker from the show Drake and Josh

·      Jinx from the Teen Titans Cartoon

name: charlotte bui

nickname: lottie

birthdate: May 24, 1999

zodiac sign: gemini

gender/pronouns: female - she/her/they

ethnicity: vietnamese

nationality: american

appearance: lana condor

height: 5′4″

hometown: las vegas, nevada

demigod abilities: tychokinesis, aura of predictability, ferrokinesis, natural ability for gambling

cabin # + godly parent: cabin ninteen, daughter of tyche

favorite colors: pink, gold

Info/backstory

Charlotte was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her Grandparents having immigrated to the States with their children when her father, Danh Bui was the age of five.

Her father grew up in Southern California, living in Fullerton and even attending college there. In High school he developed a strong interest in mathematics and probability theory. After graduating college instead of becoming a mathematics teacher as his parents hoped he would, he puts all his interest into card counting and becomes an expert in the craft. Moving to Las Vegas, he entered various competitions and frequently won large games on the strip. He eventually earned himself enough money to be able to buy his own apartment and have a comfortable lifestyle, using the extra money to help out various small businesses and people down on their luck. His large amount of good fortune caught the attention and interest of the goddess Tyche one night while he played cards, in disguise as a casino goer whom had just lost a large sum of money. Not thinking twice, Danh offered to help her with a large sum of money, winning her heart. This began their relationship which was glamorous and exciting. Her mother mother left after her birth, long having told Danh of who she truly was, he let her go with a heavy heart.

Charlotte grew up on the strip and joined her father to his games, both the ones he had in the city and the ones around the country and overseas. (whenever she could of course). When not with her father she was taken care of by her aunt Thi. Her aunt would do her best to control Lottie, but there was only so much she was capable of doing. Lottie would often get into trouble, at first pick pocketing from people for the fun of it, finding that she could easily make coins and gems come to her by simply wanting them to. That is until it began to give her a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach and a strange voice in her head which would scold her that she could swear wasn’t her own. Although she did it less she began to pick pocket only the rude or horrible and use the money towards good deeds. Later she would turn what she learned from her father and other gambling tactics she learned on her own into a small hustle on the streets, soon finding that she didn’t have to eve try to win at all, simply winning whenever she wanted to. Finding this interesting she began testing this out when going along with her father to games, sitting off outside of the gambling area in the casino watching people play. This was wen she found out that if she wanted someone to win, they would, and vice versa those she wanted to lose, did. This became her greatest hobby.

Mischievous at heart, Lottie’s family quickly learned that she is a completely unpredictable force. She enjoys puling pranks, causing accidents, messing with people and occasionally surprising people with good luck. Motives working on sheer whim, it is unable to predict whether she will do things simply to mess or toy with others, to make herself laugh, simply because she is bored or out of the goodness of her heart. Somewhere along the lines of doing all her deeds she learned to perfect her lying, making it almost impossible to know when she is being truthful or blatantly making things up as she goes along. The only one so far being her father, having known her the most. 

phrases she often says (you’re welcome): “noice” “that’s what she said” “ya nasty” 

She can be completely childish one moment and then super girly and emotionally deep the next, but mostly childish lets be honest.

super smart because c’mon, the girl can construct a massive domino effect pranks,  plan a heist she will never actually commit with an escape plan and made it out of high school without ever studying for a single test. (luck had a lot to do with that last one but you get what I mean). But believe me she just acts dumb, it works in her favor, no one suspects the dimwitted.

Uses her cuteness to her advantage with absolutely no shame.

Will fuck with you if you get on her bad side, yeah that’s right, you took the last of the cheesecake? She’ll give you the work luck for the rest of the year. Ridiculous? Over the top? Yes. But no fucks are given.

She is loyal to her family and by family she means her  bà nội (grandma), aunt Thi and dad. Her haf-siblings, she only knows recently so she doesn’t completely trust them per say. Though she is loyal to her friends, the ones that have managed to withstand her whirlwind of a personality.

[castcharmperson]

hey yo hi! i'd love to hear about your 4 (?!) dnd campaigns you run! how do you manage 4?! what are they about? are they all with different friends?

hello hey hi!! Oh goodness, thank you so much for ask!? I was so excited when I saw this post, but I wanted to make sure I could answer it on desktop, so thank you for your patience.

Okay, minor correction - I’m only DMing two campaigns rn. And it’s easier to juggle than I expected.

(You probably didn’t ask for all this detail but I want to share these stories so badly. If the read more doesn’t work, someone please let me know)

I was running three a few months ago, but Fate of War wrapped up, so now I’m down to just two. But all three stories, while different and with different people, are set on the same planet, so I get to reuse city structures and NPCs, which is really fun. Also, many of these players are friends with each other, making improv really easy, which makes DMing easy! I’ve given them a sandbox (and some gods to go kill) and they do a lot of the rest. They’re all joys to DM for.

I’m a player in one ongoing campaign, and then my roommate and I went to a one-shot come-in-costume event so that makes four dnd adventures nearly as many days!

DMing

TarotQuest: TQ is my second ever creation. I got into DND because of the McElroys, so I wanted to start DMing for my sister. The party is her (Half-Elf Bard named Bo), her boyfriend (Human Warlock named Lyrra), my girlfriend (Merfolk Druid named Potato), and my roommate (Human Cleric named Thalassa). The name is because the plot points of the campaign follows the narrative arc of a deck of tarot. The campaign is over video chat, so I don’t do maps or anything. It’s a LOT of improv. My sister, as a bard, enjoys undoing all my enemies with persuasion rolls. And my date was flirting with my key NPC (Dragonborn Warlock named Tilo, ask me about them please) before we even started dating. It’s been wild.The story? The god of chaos approached the party, needing champions. “The balance of the pantheon is at risk. And I can’t do my job if I don’t have balance to disrupt myself.” He sends them across the continent, on quests that don’t make much sense, until just last session. The party found The Godkiller - a weapon rumored to kill a god, if only wielded by a mortal. They hand it over to whom they think is the god of chaos, only to see him /immediately/ stabbed with it. Now, they head to where their journey started, looking for answers in what appears to be a poisoned sea...

Class of 1021: Another digital campaign! It’s all my friends from high school, we have players from Los Angeles to Dublin, so it’s really an adventure of timezones. We’ve known each other so long that, honestly, I don’t do much planning for session. They will go off on side quests immediately, interacting with each other and the imagined world around them. The plot? They’re all in magical grad school! Final semester project: Explore the world and write your thesis on an undocumented magical phenomena. They’re in a village of ancient divination magic, on the cusp of discovery. Little do they know, the real plot is [checks to make sure none of them follow this blog] of corruption deep within the administration of their own school. They’ll, hopefully, overthrow the administration- if they get back across the continent in time to write their papers, of course.

Player

One-Shot: Compared to DMing, I don’t have a lot of opportunity to be a player! So when my roommate suggested we go to an event on Saturday afternoon, I was thrilled! I played (and dressed!) as Peach Blossom, an Elf Sorcerer. She was abandoned by her family when she was just thirty years old (a baby for an elf) and she’s spent the last century trying to figure out why. She wears pink, has flowers in her hair, and sort of looks like Ty Lee from Avatar: The Last Airbender but /really/ tall. She’s an absolute moron and, in her isolation, created her own religion which is absolute nonsense. She’s best friends with my roommates Tiefling Rogue and the two of them are goth/pastel ladies going on adventures in order to be able to afford lunch.

Under A Stone Sky: This is my heart and soul right now. While my DMing campaigns have flexible schedules (we’re all very busy people) this campaign is done with my coworkers every week! The story takes my party across the land, uncompleted quests blending into each other as we try to prevent the rise of ancient sorcerer-kings. There’s blood magic, there’s horrific beasts, and honestly? I think this DM might be more grimdark than I am (and I stabbed a god in front of my players and made them cry with said god’s distraught significant other) and the party may or may not have accidentally killed a city one time by summoning a giant ancient crab. It’s fine, it’s totally fine...See the best thing about this campaign is my boy. His name is James. And I thought he was true neutral but no. James is lawful good and he just wants to help. He’s a sailor rogue, loves his crew, and has grown to love his fellow party members. He’s the only human on the team and, in a world of low-magic, he’s the one that does most the talking with locals. Meanwhile, the rest of the party is /absolutely/ chaotic neutral /at best/, so it’s been difficult to juggle that. He’s got a Tragic BackstoryTM, but honestly, my favorite part of being James he feels comfortable? I like playing him.That said, his AC and HP are shit, he’s also an absolute idiot because I had to dump my INT and WIS stats, and I already have his tragic death scene with his Paladin sister (my back up character) written up.

Wow that was a lot. Anyway, thank you for asking, dnd is the highlight of my life right now.

I’m a little bit tempted to do periodic updates here with the status of these campaigns if anyone was interested?