#that the book has to answer. she spends a lot of time working on plot. arguably it's the part of writing she cares about most

[greenerteacups]

Hi GT! What are your thoughts on the house elf discourse? Do you think Hermione is entirely correct in her opinions?

Canonically, I think the books are working really hard to make the reader believe that Hermione is at least partially wrong about house-elves, because JKR did a whoospie and accidentally introduced chattel slavery in her children's book. That's the Doylist perspective. To that extent, Hermione's stance is demonstrably flawed in the text; the house-elves are offended by Hermione trying to "free" them, and Ron scolds her for not taking their wishes into account. This is all tonally jarring and completely at odds with the series's ostensible line on equality, which is that sentient beings are equal, and the people arguing for some natural hierarchy of sentient beings are usually, in fact, the bad guys.

Taking a slightly more good-faith reading, you can also see this as an exploration of parts of Hermione's character. Hermione does have a patronizing and imperious streak, and it is in character for her to ignore the house-elves' desires because she thinks she knows what's best for them. And there is a pretty compelling argument for Hermione as the type of activist who doesn't listen to the victims she's fighting for, because she assumes she always knows best. I see that in her character. I think the way she goes about the house-elf debate, canonically speaking, reveals those faults. But does any of that mean she's wrong about the house-elves? Like, are we really supposed to trust that these creatures, who have been enslaved for generations by a class of powerful magic-users, are honest when they say they're happy? Why should we take that at face value? Whether or not the house-elves "like" doing their work does not end the debate. Oppression is way more complicated than that. Hermione has fairly good reasons to doubt that the house-elves might "want" to be enslaved. She doesn't articulate those reasons terribly well; but she's fourteen, so I don't hold it against her that she hasn't self-engineered the concept of false consciousness. But I do kind of hold it against the books that the debate never progresses beyond that point. I especially hold it against the books that the debate doesn't continue when Harry literally comes into possession of a house-elf, and becomes a "master," which would in another universe be a rich opportunity to revisit the subject in a more mature way.

[sparkletastic-cookiedough]

It became a bit of a habit to talk to Danny.

The family had come together and created a bit of a shrine to the lost- Martha and Thomas Wayne, John and Mary Grayson, Catherine Todd, Janet Drake, Falafel the Spider, and many other faces. At the center of it all was Danny.

Danny, a brother they had never known. Damian loved him. Together, the family told stories of their lost ones. Together, they stopped ignoring the pain and started to move on.

It wasn’t an easy process. Dick couldn’t look at the pictures of his parents for weeks at first. Tim had complicated feelings about his mother. Bruce would brood until his kids dragged him out of it.

After a while, they got into the habit of sending a prayer to their lost ones, and occasionally a prayer to Danny.

After all, Danny would hear them.

—/—\—

Danny was patrolling the edges of the zone, idly listening to the conversation one of Damian’s brothers were having with his grave.

“I hope my parents are happy in the afterlife. Maybe you know them… not that every ghost knows eachother, but it would be real neat if my family got along in the afterlife. All of my family.”

Danny stopped. There wasn’t anything major he had to deal with today. Maybe it would be nice to meet his extended family.

-//-\\-

Dick opened the glowing letter addressed to him.

Hey there,

I’m bad at writing letters. Sorry in advance.

I met your parents. They taught me how to do flips and stuff. It took a while to find them, cause the infinite realms are infinite.

They’re very proud of you! They don’t know all the details about your life, but word travels around. They know you were Robin, they know how you saved people for years, and they know they love you.

They’re still acrobats too. They teach young ghosts how to fly effectively. They’re not strong, but they’re fast and slippery. Enclose the space, and target large areas. It’s nearly impossible if you use precision shots, believe me I tried. Frostbite says theyre spirits of the autumn wind. Makes sense. Sometimes they smell like pumpkin spice. Usually they Echo the circus.

I performed with them last week. They’re really impressive. It’s kinda fun to choreograph stuff ahead of time, rather than come up with plans on the spot. They got to perform with some of my friends! People really enjoyed our show. I left you the poster.

So yeah, your parents are happy.

Please tell your family not to bother me this week. I’m very busy with things. Ghost things. Important ghost things.

- Danny

Dick unrolled the poster. Bold font in a language he didn’t understand was written all over. In the center was Danny, his hands glowing green, and a menacing smile across his face.

Around it in panels were other acts: a rabbit man magician pulling a skeleton out of a hat, a guitarist with flaming hair, a genie, a teen on a motorcycle, a girl covered in tattoos, a man pulling a flaming sword out of his mouth, and an army of ghost clowns.

And, in the last corner, were two smiling figures zipping through the air- two faces that Dick recognized. The flying Graysons.

It wasn’t supposed to be a secret.

If you died while with the league, you will no longer be acknowledged to have existed, especially if you died during a mission. A disappointment will not be remembered.

The bats and birds don’t like speaking about the people they have lost, so they don’t. If someone ask about the dead, they will tell the person they don’t talk about that.

So how was Damian supposed to know that he should have told his father about his dead brother?

[darknight3904]

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕽𝖆𝖈𝖊

ᴀᴇᴍᴏɴᴅ ᴛᴀʀɢᴀʀʏᴇɴ x ꜰᴇᴍ!ᴏᴄ! ᴛᴀʀɢᴀʀʏᴇɴ

ᴘʀᴇᴠɪᴏᴜꜱ ᴘᴀʀᴛ / ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ /ᴍʏ ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: ɴᴇᴀʀʟʏ ᴀ ʏᴇᴀʀ ʜᴀꜱ ᴘᴀꜱꜱᴇᴅ ꜱɪɴᴄᴇ ʟᴀᴅʏ ʀʜᴀᴇʟʟᴀ ᴀʀʀɪᴠᴇᴅ ᴀᴛ ᴄᴏᴜʀᴛ. ᴀꜱ ʜᴇʀ 11ᴛʜ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴅᴀʏ ᴀᴘᴘʀᴏᴀᴄʜᴇꜱ ꜱʜᴇ ʜᴀꜱ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴄʟᴏꜱᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ʏᴏᴜɴɢ ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴇᴍᴏɴᴅ ᴀꜱ ᴡᴇʟʟ ᴀꜱ ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇꜱ ᴊᴀᴄᴀᴇʀʏꜱ, ʟᴜᴄᴇʀʏꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇꜱꜱ ʀʜᴀᴇɴʀʏᴀ. ᴛʜᴇɴ, ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇʀ ɴᴀᴍᴇ-ᴅᴀʏ ᴄᴇʟᴇʙʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴀ ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀɪᴏᴜꜱ ꜰᴀᴍɪʟʏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴀɴ ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴀɴᴄᴇ ɪɴ ᴋɪɴɢꜱ ʟᴀɴᴅɪɴɢ.

This story will follow canon events of HOTD and Fire and Blood. However, I am changing some of the years when things took place so I can build my story's plot better.

126 AC

Rhaella peers down at the baby whose big brown eyes captivate her. She decides that Joffery Velaryon is Westeros' cutest baby when he smiles at her.

"Does he cry a lot?" She asks

"Sometimes. Mostly when he is hungry." Rhaenrya says

"Aren't babies always hungry though?" She asks

"I suppose they are..." Rhaenrya replies "I guess that means he cries a lot then."

Rhaella smirks at her cousin's admission. Even if he did cry a lot he was still cute.

"Rhaella what are you doing in here? You rarely visit without Jace and Luke." Rhaenrya asks

"I am hiding from the Septa. She insists that I learn about history with Heleana." Rhaella sighs "If she had half a brain she'd know Maester Edric has taught me it all already."

Rhaenrya lets out a snort of laughter at her half-a-brain comment.

"Our histories are important." She says "I will agree with you though, Septas can be a bore."

"I'd much rather be in the training yard with Jace and Luke." Rhaella admits "I don't understand why I must learn to sew while they get to fight with a sword."

"That is the way of the world," Rhaenrya says

"The way of the world can go fuck its-"

Rhaella stops her speech when her cousin's eyebrows shoot up.

"I mean to say it is idiotic that I cannot train with them."

Soft silence settles as baby Joffery coos in his crib, laughing when Rhaella sticks her tongue out at him.

"Do you truly wish to be outside with them?" Rhaenrya asks

"Of course. I want to be like Visenya in the books that line the shelves in my room." Rhaella says looking up at her cousin, "Since I do not have a dragon I wish to have another way to fight."

Rhaella watches Rhaenrya's face and doesn't miss the way the corner of her mouth twitches into a slight smile.

"Come with me." She says

As if it's magic, a wet nurse is there to watch over Westeros' cutest baby and Rhaella is following Rhaenrya through the maze of halls and stairways that lead the the training yard.

"Ser Harwin!" Rhaenrya calls

They waltz past Ser Criston Cole who is working with Aegon, Aemond, Jace, and Luke. Aemond's eyes widen when he sees her out of the castle and standing in the muddy yard.

A monstrous-looking man answers Rhaenrya's call. His mess of curly dark hair has been tied back neatly and he bows as they approach.

"Princess. My Lady." He greets

"This is Ser Harwin Strong, Rhaella. He is Lord Commander of the City Watch." Rhaenrya says "Lady Rhaella wishes to train, the way the Princes do."

Rhaella isn't entirely sure about this Ser Harwin. She expects him to turn her away, mutter something about her being a girl, and for Rhaenrya to tell her to go back to her sewing.

"I'll teach her." He says

Rhaella nearly falls over at his acceptance.

"You will?" She gasps

"It is a request from Princess Rhaenrya herself. I'd be foolish not to accept." He smiles at Rhaella and then Rhaenrya. "Tomorrow we will begin. I expect you to be dressed in something worthy of a great sword fighter."

Rhaella looks down at the silk dress she had been dressed in just hours ago.

"Of course." She smiles

"For today, I want you to go back to the Septa. Sit and do your lessons and tomorrow you can spend as much time as you want with Ser Harwin." Rhaenrya says

Training is harder than she had expected, and a lot dirtier too. The practice swords are so heavy they make her arms ache. It had been three months since Rhaenrya had introduced them and Rhaella was sure she was disappointing Ser Harwin.

"Straighten your arms, plant your feet. Having a strong stance keeps you from being knocked over." Harwin's voice commands as she swings at a straw-filled man, "Jacaerys, you too. You look like a gust of wind might blow you over."

Ser Harwin was tough, Rhaella could tell that he was an experienced fighter. She wanted to do her best under his tutelage but she found herself failing. Perhaps it was because the sword was too heavy, or maybe she didn't like the feel of mud between her fingers. What she did know though was that the sharp eyes of Criston Cole were not helping things. It felt like he was watching her every step whenever she arrived to train. She swore he was also watching Jace and Luke who often were beside her in training.

"Perhaps they cannot carry your orders out simply because they are too weak, Strong," Cole says

"Ignore them, boys, Rhaella. One day you will all be stronger than him." Harwin says

Every bone in her body was aching by the time she got back to her chamber. After working with the swords Harwin had taught them hand-to-hand combat, something he claimed was just as important as working with a sword. The only plus of today was that she had been able to overpower Jace and land a good hit on his side. He'd probably get her back for that one in a few days.

The sound of her door opening had her groaning. She loved Heleana but she did not wish to talk about bugs at this moment

"Heleana might I bathe and then come to visit you I am dirty from training still." She said not bothering to look at the door from her seat at her desk.

"Not only are you dirty but you smell awful."

"Aemond!" She exclaimed and shot up.

She had found herself becoming a bit more self-conscious around the prince in the past few months. She'd often make sure to her hair til it was perfectly silky or spray a bit of sweet-smelling perfume before going to see him. Maester Edric said it was a part of getting older and becoming a woman. Rhaella believed it was because she didn't want him to make fun of her. How could she become a great warrior if she was made fun of by her closest friend?

"We have not spent much time together recently. I thought you might be upset with me." Aemond said walking over to her.

"I am not upset with you." She affirms "After training I am often too tired to move. Not to mention Heleana and I have been spending time together as well."

"Heleana and her bugs can wait, you were my friend first," Aemond declares, sitting down on the end of the bed.

Rhaella lets out a small laugh of amusement at Aemond's possessive tone.

"Your name day is soon right?" He asks

"In a fortnight. I will be 11." She smiles

"You're getting old." Aemond teases

"You'll have your own name day eventually as well. 10 years is a very serious age." She says, trying to sound like an adult

"You're 10 now and you laughed when Luke drank his water too quickly and water spurted out his nose just a week ago." Aemond reminds

"Anyone would've laughed at that!" She defends

Her eyes widen when she sees how her Uncle Viserys has planned to celebrate her name day.

"I do not think a feast is necessary, Uncle." She said

"Of course it is, it is your first name day with family. Tell me have you ever had a grand celebration for your name day?" He asks

Rhaella's mind combs through the name days she can remember. Most of them were spent with cousin Gerold teaching her to hunt or Edric gifting her new perfumes.

"I have not..." She trails off

"Then a true celebration is in order. I have invited many lords and ladies of the kingdom. Even your cousin Gerold has sent word he will be here." Viserys says

"Are you excited for tonight?" Maester Edric asks

Rhaella catches his gaze through the mirror as a handmaid braids her hair.

"I am nervous. I do not know most of the people who will be at this party." She sighs

"You don't need to worry, they are here for you. You should focus on having a good time, this is your first proper name day celebration." He says, "I wish I would have been able to give you a celebration like this when you were younger."

"I don't. Every name day I have spent with you, Gerold, and the staff of Runestone has been perfect." Rhaella admits

The party is as lavish as Viserys had described. Numerous plates of food are piled high with dishes she couldn't even name. Music played as they ate and Rhaella hoped she wouldn't get anything on her dress.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Viserys asks

"I am, Uncle, thank you." She smiles truthfully

"I used to have feasts like this for Rhaenrya every year on her name day. She asked me to stop after she was married." Viserys reminisced

"I am sure they were wonderful." She says

Supper goes by smoothly as the many guests talk and feast. It is after the food has been devoured that Rhaella can feel herself beginning to sweat. She is sure they expect her to dance or make some big speech, anything that will have all eyes on her.

A sharp tap interrupts her train of thought.

"Do you want one of these? There weren't any on your side of the table." Aemond asks, his hand is out stretched with a delicate-looking pastry in it.

Her glance drops to the table where a large plate full of them rests just within arms reach of her.

Laenor nudges Rhaenrya who sits by his side. His wife had been scolding Luke for eating too quickly and making himself sick.

"I believe Prince Aemond is blushing." He whispers

Rhaenrya follows his gaze to the young children who are staring into each other's eyes.

"He is handing her a pastry," Rhaenrya observes, " He looks....rather foolish."

"His face is red, look at his cheeks and ears." Laenor laughs

Suddenly the young prince's eyes fall on Laenor and he immediately switches his attention to the intricate hairstyle Rhaenrya has donned for the evening.

"Yes, very uh well done, the braids." He mumbles

"Don't tell me you're afraid of a child." Rhaenrya laughs

"Little boys don't like it when people know their crushes. Aemond won't want me knowing his." Laenor says, thinking back to how embarrassed he was when Laena first found out about his crush on his father's cupbearer.

A moment passes and before he knows it, Rhaenrya grabs his arm.

"Looks like you were right." She says

Laenor's eyes follow his wife's and he is surprised when he sees Aemond leading Rhaella, the same nervous little girl who nearly combusted when she tripped in front of him once to the center of the room for a dance.

"Maybe he'll step on her feet." Aegon's disinterested voice carries across the table.

A lively beat starts up and all eyes are on the two children who clumsily try to recall all the dance skills they've learned in their lessons over the years.

"They shouldn't be the only ones down there. Rhaella looks like she's going to faint and Aemond...well he clearly isn't doing well either." Laenor says

He's about to ask his wife to dance for the first time in years when the doors to the hall open wide.

"Gods help us." He hears Alicent murmur.

Rhaella can feel the sweat trickle down her back as Aemond tries to lead her in a dance. She hasn't had many dance lessons but she swore she did better in those than she was now.

The sound of opening doors makes her and Aemond pause. A man and woman, with two young girls behind them, enter the room. Each of them had valyrian features but the man stood out the most.

"Daemon." Her Uncle calls from behind her "I did not think you were coming."

Daemon? As in...

"And miss the first feast thrown in my daughter's honor, on her name day?" His foreign voice fills her ears for the first time ever.

Daemon Targaryen. Her father has shown his face to her for the first time ever.

"Let's go back to the table," Aemond whispers as he grabs her hand to lead her back towards their family.

"Daughter." Daemon calls "You have grown up."

Rhaella feels like someone has stuffed cotton into her mind. She does not know what to do, or how to reply to this man.

Aemond leads her back to the table and she stiffly sits back down.

"Someone bring chairs. Lady Laena must sit down." Ser Lanor's voice makes its way into her mind.

At some point, the pregnant wife of Daemon's sits down, most likely near her brother. Her daughter, those half-sisters Rhaella had heard about many times were in her peripheral vision, as was her father.

"Wonderful party, brother. Truly a worthy display for my eldest." Daemon praises

The room is silent and Rhaella watches as Daemon takes a long sip of wine from the cup a servant brings.

"So, daughter. I'm glad to see you take after me in looks. You look a bit like my mother, Alyssa." He says with a playful smile "Either way I am glad you don't look like that bronzed bitch. If that had happened I'd remained in Pentos."

Brozed bitch? Did he mean your mother? He was speaking ill of your deceased mother?

"Daemon. Enough. This is a night of celebration. You are not here to torment anyone." Viserys speaks up

Daemon shakes his head a bit and laughs before his attention is drawn to Laena.

The music begins again and Rhaella feels like her heart has lept into her throat. So many times she had imagined what it would be like to meet her father. She was told that he was a fierce warrior with a blood-red dragon named Caraxes. Instead of the gallant dragon rider she had expected, she was met with a crude man who clearly shared no love for her mother.

Her eyes were bleary with tears when Edric approached the high table to retrieve her.

"Your Grace, might I take Lady Rhaella back to her chamber. I think tonight's events have been a bit too much for her." He asks

"Yes, I think that is for the best." Visery's words bounce around in her mind as Edric helps her stand.

She locks eyes with Aemond one more time before leaving. His eyes seemed like they were full of pity as he disappeared from her view.

"I'm sorry, my lady. I've spent years filling your head with tales of his heroics. I failed to teach you what a crass man he truly is." Edric softly said

"It is not your fault. It is not anyone's but his own." Rhaella whispered back.

Ewww, cancel Daemon!!

Jk. I love Daemon. He's just going to be a bitch for now. (In true Daemon fashion I guess.)

Anyway sorry if some people seemed a little ooc. I like to Imagine Rhaenrya, Laenor, and Viserys as pretty jolly people, especially towards kids.

Next Part

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@caspianobsessed

[crisalidaseason]

Re-reading Iron Flame and realizing that Violet did not play into the 'just ask' shit Xaden pulled because of a way more plausible reason than simply insecurity: She was BUSY!

Violet was surviviing second year, with an added layer of assassination attempts and running away from Aetos sticky little memory reader hands and a crazy vice commandant that had it out for her from the start. Not to count all the shit of RSC classes and flight lessons that were undeniably hard for her.

She was reading a lot of books trying to learn about wards, like...too many books. Can you imagine how long that took? Girl did not have time to dwell on her broken relationship with Xaden within the mountains of books she had to read. All alone too because at that point she knew Xaden would not approve of her research and she was trying to be distant from her friends.

When she finally has an answer on how to find the correct books, she spends time and focus building a plan to get the journals while also dealing with the fact she has her entire squad on it and ready to risk their lives! Too many people for her to worry about.

She's tortured for five days, then flies to Aretia, then immediatly starts translating the journal while dealing with all the political mess with the Assembly and taking classes, learning a bunch of new stuff that requires studying and rewiring her entire brain.

Fails the first translation, which seems devastating considering she was tortured for five days, translated for gods know how many weeks and all that labor seemed to be for nothing.

Went behind Xaden's overprotective ass to go to Cordyn to try and at least solve ONE of the problems in Aretia, putting herself and her siblings in danger. Also, put in there more planning and worrying.

Has to not only cross a cliff, but start to deal with Catriona's shit while still re-translating the journal and having to deal with Xaden's stupid questions of 'why are you feeling the way you're feeling?'. SIR, THE GIRL IS GOING INSANE! Give her a BREAK!

Anyway. My take is: poor Violet was being pulled in so many directions that OF COURSE she did not have time to dwell on her insecurities and indulge on that stupid 'ask me' shit Xaden pulled.

Note: I know Xaden also was busy and had many shit thrown on his shoulders, but let's not forget that Violet put a lot of work into moving things forward at the expense of her mental and physical health! She had a lot on her plate during IF and her actions were very important for the changes in the plot.

[rei-ismyname]

Uncanny X-Men #8 review - Raid on Graymalkin finale

Raid on Graymalkin has been a strange event in a lot of ways. It happened very early after an editorial and creative team change, it's only four issues spread over 2 books, and perhaps most of all, editorial both spoiled the ending and hyped up an ideological divide between Rogue and Cyclops. The big question is 'was the hype paid off?' Sadly, no - Uncanny #8 doesn't so much land the plane as crash it into a mountain. A plane crash can be a spectacle though, let's break it down. At the very least it looks great. This is a long one, so strap in.

We get to know Scurvy a little better.

X-Men #9 ended with both teams in Scurvy/ Philip's psychic thrall and Charles Xavier taking the stage after Kurt and Kwannon freed him. Uncanny #8 opens with his POV of his recent history, showing a 'Not All Mutants' mutant and how he ended up in an abusive relationship with a right wing podcast host. Well, it shows how they met, how his powers work, and how Warden Ellis has used him.

His powers aging him drastically explains why he's reluctant to go all out and perhaps how his powers helped an Infowars knock off to get this job. YMMV on whether this makes him sympathetic; it's certainly a 180 from the plain pathetic he has been portrayed as thus far. We spend a lot of time with him this issue, but it's all so vague I don't feel like we actually know all that much about him. He is portrayed as a victim, though he's also in the process of frying our heroes' brains and enslaving people. On the other hand, we get so little of his motivations and feelings that there's not much there. Villains/antagonists need to be developed to be interesting, and I'm not sure if Scurvy is a victim of Ellis' crusade or a self hating mutant who gave 'everything to a dream' for ... reasons. He's literally killing himself and it'd be good to know why.

Scurvy has been hyped as a Psychic on par with Xavier, something Xavier himself hasn't exactly confirmed but he has admitted Scurvy is an obstacle. They haven't met but Scurvy's been aware of Xavier, presumably because he's world famous and announced Krakoa to everyone on the planet. Scurvy suggests it's more than that - he and Charles are part of a group of five mutants called Avians, one of whom died - Harvey X. Chuck has had an oversized presence in Simone's Uncanny X-Men and another vague mystery about him takes up space that could be used to develop other characters - The Outliers, Jubilee, Nightcrawler. This 'Avian' business feels like The Twelve and other similar half baked plots, and how can Charles have a tumour if he's in a relatively new body? He died last in Inferno AFAIK, but more than that it feels unnecessary. I'm not invested in believing or disbelieving it, though Chuck dying might make X-Manhunt more interesting.

Chuck isn't showing up again until March, and Scurvy ages 10 years during this issue. Why are we spending all this time on these people that aren't main characters? Does Xavier really need to be part of some special unexplained group? He's been a very special and prominent part of the X-Men since 1963 - new old girlfriends and vague hints of specialness feel like mystery box overkill. Maybe Scurvy is lying as part of their psychic battle. Laws of narrative economy suggest otherwise, but either way - what's the point? Also, Avians? Are they birds? Maybe it's a Shi'Ar thing but right now it sounds ridiculous. Avians 🙄

Juggernaut knocks Rogue out of Scurvy's control and she thinks she has time to do the same to one other person. She apologises to Gambit for not choosing him and picks Cyke as the tactical choice, nearly knocking his head off. He snaps out of it too and shit gets bizarre.

For some reason Scott chooses this moment to berate Rogue for 'bringing kids into a war zone' which is a super valid point but I find it difficult to believe he'd bring it up while they're on the back foot and threats are everywhere. Rogue's answer is even more puzzling. I can believe she'd make an appeal to emotion but it's not a real answer. 'At least we don't have Magneto on our team' is not a rebuttal to nearly getting children killed, but it also does not make sense.

Magneto has been reformed for YEARS at this point and was a driving force behind Krakoa. She's saying like he's some irredeemable villain when he's the most heroic he's ever been. He and Rogue had zero interaction on Krakoa, where he was considered a national hero and famously was very tight with her hero Xavier. If she has an issue with the sins that came to light after Inferno, then she wouldn't be so charitable to Chuck, either. Maybe it's Scurvy's influence, but if so then what's the point? This isn't ideology, it's dodging the question at worst or petty bickering at best. Has Rogue forgotten her extensive history with Magneto, or her own start as a villain? What about her husband's involvement in the Mutant Massacre or her parents' unrepentant villainy? When considered in the context of Simone saying that Rogue and Cyclops would occupy the Xavier/Magneto relationship it looks like a missed shot. You'd have to ignore decades of history to make it work. Sigh, this was an unforced error and it really bums me out.

'I'm never going to be you and you're never going to be Professor X' is flat out weird. Cyclops answer of 'good' is consistent with his argument last issue, but it makes it look like they're not having the same conversation. Finally they realise they're in a war zone and only now does Rogue defer to Cyclops. Oookayyy. They say 'Magik and Wolverine' together in a moment that's both cheesy as hell and should underline their commonalities. I'm almost feel bad ragging on this, but it's not executed well. At least Rogue is consistently characterised as a cowboy. That's something.

Magik and Wolverine start freeing people then stop to agree not to kill each other. Deathdream says weird stuff, as usual, and the two make up. Jitter has her second instance of love heart emoji'ing a woman, which is cute but still deniable as actual WLW representation. I hope Simone cashes this cheque.

Queerness should be something that's not notable in a perfect world, just a part of the character. We don't live in a perfect world though, and we don't know a lot about Jitter. We know her powers, that she's Malay Singaporean, that she has a stutter, and that she possibly likes women. It's not enough for issue #8 of the flagship series. The choice was made to heavily focus on Xavier and Sarah Gaunt, and a casualty of that was getting to know main characters. It wouldn't be such a big deal if the payoff was worth it, but what did we actually learn? Instead of giving readers a break from Charles Xavier, he's been a regular presence. His appearance in this event could have been more impactful but I feel like we never had a chance to miss him.

Kwannon and Kurt reveal that Scurvy made them fight, which Rogue is aware of, and she adds that 'we're broken.' I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, but this undermines the stakes of the ideological conflict. Is it manufactured or isn't it? None of them consider attacking Scurvy while he's fighting Xavier, either. Nobody is acting like they're in danger. It feels unserious, like the characters are just waiting for things to happen to them.

At this point I don't really care who Inmate X is. Uncanny X-Men has been dropping these mystery boxes that readers can only guess at, and like with Harvey X being the one pulling strings, it comes out of nowhere. It's another Avian, which means nothing to us beyond a vague implication of specialness. We know that Ellis considers it a bad thing if he get out of his cell, but that doesn't narrow it down aside from it being a he.

Aw, cripes - popular gen Z saying

Interestingly, Xavier's astral form is that of his Cerebro-helmeted onesie twink. It could reveal that he hasn't changed at all in how he sees himself and his role as shepherd of mutantkind. It's very different from his classic astral battle appearance, and I love it thematically and visually. Scurvy and Chuck as astral giants towering over the schoolprison is striking, though the casualness of their dialogue mutes it somewhat.

Not sure how Ezra or Ellis can tell Scurvy is losing a battle on the astral plane, but she does what she should have done before this and gets a gun. Calico is overjoyed that the Outliers (except Jitter) came for her, but what could be a heartwarming moment is undercut by their dulled expressions. I can buy Deathdream doing this, but Ransom has been emotionally aware prior to this. We have zero details, but aren't these kids tight after months of being on the run together?

It's finally time to stop standing around, as Ellis and guards are here with guns. The X-Men, having already beat up plenty of these dudes, aren't impressed. They stand together (no idea where Chuck and Scurvy got to) and Cyke urges her to stand down, pointing out that they're not as nice as the Avengers. Rogue agrees in the shittiest way possible, thinking 'sometimes visor boy says jus the right thing.' Weird ableist stance from Rogue, but all it does is highlight how shallow their conflict is and remind us that Gail Simone doesn't like Cyclops.

Ellis doesn't blink, telling them her 'brother died because of trash like you.' We knew this already, and I'm wondering if there's anything else to her. She's established as a threat but she's not especially interesting. She helped with Sarah Gaunt out of empathy (?) but here she is flinging the same old slurs. I'm not sure if her dark skin is meant to be noteworthy or say anything. So far it hasn't been a part of her character in any way other than visual, no commentary on how someone who has experienced minority oppression becomes so hell-bent on dealing it out herself. How does a person become willing to enslave and torture, and even (as we'll see) destroy two towns with thousands of humans in them? Her brother died, sure, but that's thin characterisation for a multi-arc villain.

Chuck wallops Scurvy with an uppercut!

Ellis brings out The Trustees again (who the X-Men easily defeated) to have Blob recite 'the pledge.' Very messed up but it shouldn't exactly convince the X-Men to do anything other than smash this place to pieces. She threatens to let Sarah Gaunt loose from her comically large chains that shouldn't stop her for a second.

Cyclops points out that with Scurvy's defeat Ellis' big gun is down. She laughs at that, and for some reason Chuck doesn't immediately take over her brain. Her big gun is more literal - a fucking network of sonic cannon satellites. Who TF gave this lady a Death Star? She has Merle and Haven targeted but Rogue thinks she's bluffing. Logically, you'd think so. Would the US government really accept this maniac destroying towns with a space laser? Not sure how they'd spin that. Also, neither team have any leverage to stop her using it whenever she wants. I feel like she's forcing them to kill her right here and now, lest their strategic position becomes 'able to be killed at any time without effort.' They could even just send her on permanent vacation to Limbo, see how her bullshit flies with Maddie Pryor.

Ellis lets them take the people they came for (why?) but that's not enough for Rogue. Siryn speaks to Rogue personally while crying, indicating she's herself, as much as she can be with all the torture, mind control, and who knows what else? It's only when Xavier intercedes that Rogue listens.

Charles explains why he needs to be in prison (though we know he'll change his mind and escape in March) and they have an emotional exchange. It works, I guess, but Rogue looks super selfish and ignorant. Free Charles for personal reasons when he doesn't want it at the cost of two towns? Doesn't seem like much of a choice (other than knocking Ellis out while she's in your face.) It feels a bit regressive for Rogue, too. She is aware of everything from Fall of X (including Chuck manipulating one of her mothers and trying to permanently kill the other) and hadn't really had or needed a mentor in a long time. Sure, everyone is lost after Krakoa, but WTF is she so attached to Xavier? It's great that he was the first to believe in her but this feels almost infantilising. Rogue is better than this.

Scott has Magik open a big portal before 'she' can stop you. I assume 'she' refers to Rogue, except Rogue is shown willingly walking through it with everyone else. Ellis wasn't interested in stopping them. It's like everyone has the script and realises the event is over so it's time to go. I have difficulty believing any of these characters would just meekly leave, not because of Xavier, but the multiple sonic space cannons that can kill them anytime plus their enslaved comrades. There's eight regular ass humans with guns in the way and this is their shot to do anything about it. How many of these X-Men could take them all out by themselves? Cyke could optic blast them unconscious, Magik has multiple methods, and many of the others could just punch them while ignoring bullets.

Yo, where's Quentin? He arrived with you guys.

Once Rogue has walked through the portal (clearly willingly and without duress) she objects again - 'no. We can't leave him there!' Cyke echoes Charles' own words and promises to get the others out, but Rogue punches him maybe ten feet and not only repudiates Scott's promises (?) but places the blame entirely on him. He blasts her and tells her to grow up (kinda fair) but then their teammates hold them back. Beast tells Scott he won, but this looks like a narrative trick to pretend Cyclops wanted to fight or has any reason to.

Rogue turns to leave with mild venom and her team follows. Hank assures Scott that he had no choice and Scott disagrees but doesn't elaborate. I hate to see X-Men fight but it's even worse when it's over nothing. The post-portal events feel like Simone going 'hmm, didn't really sell that ideological divide or their falling out, fuck it, just have Rogue punch Cyclops.' I think Cyclops was mostly right here, but it's more than Rogue was wrong and the conflict was contrived. I just don't buy the degree of animosity Rogue has and all the reasons given feel out of character. If that's who Rogue is right now I can accept it, but it's not very heroic and she's had multiple egregious failures of leadership. If this is identified as a character flaw that needs working on or a mistake that she regrets it could make for interesting storytelling, but all the information we have suggests that's not the case. Uncanny is frankly a trainwreck, but at least it looks fantastic. The letters page and other media suggests a lot of people are enjoying this book, and I couldn't be happier for them. I just wish I was too. I'll keep reviewing it of course, and I'll be less harsh than this review was. It was hyped and it called shots and didn't deliver. Doing that sets expectations and gives me another metric to judge it by. Hopefully we can get on with learning about the characters who've been neglected.

As for Raid on Graymalkin as an event, it had its ups and downs. Most of the ups were in X-Men and most of the downs were in Uncanny. Ultimately it didn't fulfill the promise it made so I judge it as a failure. We didn't learn a great deal and it boiled down to a cynical excuse for X-Men to punch each other. The mysteries it introduced feel dull to me and I am not especially interested in the Avians or Inmate X. The solicits for X-Manhunt spoiled that Xavier wasn't going anywhere, which left us with forced conflict. I'm far more interested in the aftermath of the event, especially the Alaska team dealing with a visit from the O*N*E. They don't really need much reason to fuck with the X-Men so I'm not crediting the event with that.

Thanks for reading!

[brightshaw-shipper]

Does the Bright family exist in your headcanon, and if so, how are they all doing?

Please please please let TJ have a good day I beg.

Yes, they do exist! Here are my headcanons:

TJ Bright:

Got a dose of SCP-500 and is now back to full health

Went to Deer College, majored in anomalous medicine

Went to Alexylva University, got a doctorate in anomalous medicine (he is now Dr. Bright)

Works in the medical wing of the Foundation now

Very cozy all the time (wears long sleeves, long pants, gloves, and a hoodie)

Likes painting Warhammer 40k minis

Is good with a gun

Is aroace

Attended the blorbos' wedding

Doing pretty well

Mikell Bright:

Is O5-6

Has a charming Southern accent

Cannot sit still and suits are a sensory overload for him (but when he does wear a suit, it's a white one, with a white cowboy hat)

Doesn't really get sarcasm

Can control plants (because I'm not letting a member of the Bright family get off with being non-anomalous)

Because of the above, he can often be seen with flowers in his hair

Attended the blorbos' wedding (Thompson and Black were sitting a few seats away, disguised as random guests)

Really needs glasses but doesn't know it

Is gay

Doing okay

Sarah Bright (SCP-321):

Loved her stuffed bear

Would occasionally stack blocks as high as she could, then knock them over and giggle

Favorite handler was Dr. Sarah Rilkes, who treated her more like a person than the other handlers (she couldn't fully grasp the concept of this, but she knew Dr. Rilkes was nicer than the others)

Did not like toy balls; they're hard to grab

Drew all the time: on paper and the walls of her chamber

Hated bath time with a passion

Just fell asleep one night and didn't wake up (her heart gave out)

Had a formal funeral: even Mikell cleared enough time in his packed schedule to be there

Doing well (in the afterlife)

Claire Lumineux:

Reads books and watches TV for the plot, not the suspense (she already knows what's going to happen, let's just see how)

Lives in Three Portlands, spending most of her time at the Wanderer's Library

Gives dating advice to her fellow Hand members: "nope, he's trouble", "I mean, sure, if you want to get shipped off to the Jailors in a crate", stuff like that

Crosses the street on her phone; she already knows if a car's coming or not

Attended the blorbos' wedding under supervision

Paints her nails iridescent green

Is a lesbian

Doing great

Adam Bright:

Never hit his kids, but got pretty close

Alt-right; would have supported Trump

Went out to the local bar a lot, didn't come home until after the kids were in bed

Didn't treat Evelyn as an equal (this was the Sixties and Seventies, but STILL)

Usually seen wearing a baseball cap

Wanted to have a son who did sports; when Mikell went off to college, that role passed to Jack, who got his arm broken by that bully Mitch Peters, leading to the next bullet point

Used the window of opportunity created by Jack's broken arm and Mikell's being at college to bring TJ to the Foundation and have him contained

Did not attend the blorbos' wedding, due to being dead (assassinated bc he wanted to get Sarah out of containment) (Mikell was the passing vote on the assassination plot)

Was straight and proud of it

Didn't let anyone find out what his anomalous property was

Slept around a lot

Doing badly (also in the afterlife)

Evelyn Bright:

Great cook, could probably cook the most difficult dishes without a problem

Does needlepoint, usually those embroidery circles

Knits with such speed people think she's using thaumaturgy (she's not)

Is a Type Blue

Wouldn't be caught dead wearing a skirt; we live in a time where women can wear pants and she is going to wear pants

Once knitted an entire cloak for a fellow Hand member because everybody forgot their birthday

Lives in Three Portlands

Attended the blorbos' wedding under supervision

Is bisexual; has a girlfriend but they haven't gotten serious yet

Sends all her children cards on their birthdays

Doing pretty well

Thanks for the ask! Hope this answers your question! -Thaumiel

[squirrelwrangler]

What is Wheel of Time about

Book or TV show?

The book series is 14 very thick fantasy novels with a very large cast (of which when broken down has more named female characters than male) and multiple plot lines. It helped to inspire A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones - but it is far less bleak and has way less sexual violence (a easy accomplishment). If you’re also familiar with the Dune movies/tv shows and Lord of the Rings, you’ll also see parallels. And like a lot of fantasy it has SF elements. And if you like Dreamworlds and Alternative Realities and glimpses of the past and such, yeah. Written in the 90s by an old cis straight white guy, but one that was in many ways progressive for his time, so your mileage will vary. There’s a post that answers almost exactly this same question that I wrote years ago that goes into this a little more.

But what is it actually about? It’s called Wheel of Time because the central premise is the world operates as a long circle of time with narrative-driven reincarnation. The book/show world is both the inspiration of all of our real world legends and our far far future after magic is discovered thousands of years in the future and a few calamities have leveled it. What that means is there’s a lot of Easter Eggs and familiarities if you know your mythology, in particular Arthuriana. For instance, a character hangs from a tree and sacrifices an eye to gain knowledge, has a pair of ravens symbolically important, and their personality is also very trickster-like. At no point are they called Odin, but if you know Norse Mythology, you go “oh yeah this guy inspires stories about Odin or is his reincarnation”. There’s a lot of vague Jungian and Vedic inspiration if you can’t tell.

Okay, really.

3,000 years ago was a high-tech peaceful society where some people could do magic and thus worked as public servants, very utopian. But then Evil Personified was unsealed, monsters and war unleashed, some of the wizards turned evil, long war was fought. One of the most powerful wizards, a man nicknamed Dragon, seals away both the Dark One and the top evil henchmen wizards - but it was a patch job. Evil monsters still around, people still pledge loyalty to cause evil. And as a counterattack during the sealing, the Dark One is able to place a sickness on the male half of the Power which forces every male wizard then and in the future to go mad. In their madness they destroy the world. Thousands of haywire magical nukes would do that. Female side of wizard Power is still okay, so only female wizards left. They help rebuild the world; societies that re-emerge are thus far more matriarchal than the real world. Men would can use magic are hunted down before they can go mad and start hurting themselves and others. People are understandably Terrified of Male Wizards. Only female wizards allowed. These female Aes Sedai, their Wizard Vatican City, and their factions are a large portion of the plot of both book and tv show. Do you want to see a lot of middle-aged women in gorgeous costumes fighting with magic and scheming? This is the show for you.

So, 3,000 years later, the Pattern that controls-and is created by- the Wheel of Time (lot of weaving and loom metaphor in the metaphysics) decides that the Dragon needs to be reincarnated along with a couple other key people in order to have another Last Battle against the Dark One to hopefully start a new turn of the Wheel/new age (and on evil’s side here’s the chance to reset things in their favor or break the Wheel itself).

Moiraine, an Aes Sedai, learns through a prophecy that the Dragon has just been reborn, so she spends the next twenty years trying to find them before evil does. There’s a long list of accumulated prophecies about the Last Battle and the people and events around it people are also worried about. Lot of plotting as everyone thinks they have the best idea of how to do it. Again, in comparison to Game of Thrones where almost everyone was scheming to win the Iron Throne and ignoring the White Walker invasion, think of it as here all the rulers know about the White Walkers coming and they’re fighting wars with each other to be the one to lead armies against the White Walkers because only their plan will work.

A common joke is that this very very long book series would be much shorter if characters properly talked and coordinated with each other. Teamwork is a central theme (both when you have it and when you don’t).

In an isolated community (think The Shire but instead of hobbits it’s a bunch of tax dodging Appalachian hillbillies or Elizabethan yeoman) Moiraine finds five young people that the Pattern has singled out as Very Powerful Main Characters. Okay, she thinks, one of them is the Dragon Reborn.

Problem is, none of them want to do the Magic Quest Protagonist Plot Stuff; they know that sucks. Moiraine has to get them to do it anyway. Our Gandalf figure is a middle aged queer woman (with a strictly platonic soulmate bodyguard) who has trouble with sharing the whole truth to other people (she is magically forbidden from outright lying) stuck herding a bunch of cats named Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene. And later Nynaeve. By the end of book one/season one we know (but the rest of the world doesn’t) who the Dragon Reborn is - and that they need their friends and others by their side to have a chance of winning the Last Battle. All of them are main characters. Yes, the Dragon Reborn is Main Character- but more than one book in those 14 has barely any page-time dedicated to them. Plot is a Tapestry; not a line. That’s the least spoilerly explanation that I can give.

The tv show is about to start season three in a week (which will be mostly plot from book four, arguably the best book). Each season is eight episodes. Covid and recasting issues meant that the finale of season one had to be reworked and the first book was always the weakest with an infamously weird/weak ending. The show obviously had to change a lot form the monster book series, but it has imho the spirit of the books and often improved them. The casting is diverse- properly so instead of just tokenism- which pissed off a lot of racist fans. That and changes from books and that the main showrunner is a gay man means that there’s a vocal online faction of haters. My two main fantasy series, formative in fact, are Wheel of Time and the Silmarillion/Tolkien. I ADORE the Wheel of Time tv show but I could barely watch any of Rings of Power. Make of that what you will.

Hopefully, anon, this was helpful.

[asgoodeasgold]

Good cop, bad cop – TV Times interview with Matthew Goode about Dept. Q (24-30 May 2025)

Matthew Goode introduces us to his brilliant but brash detective.

Matthew Goode’s eyes light up when we asked him about the troubled detective at the heart of Netflix’s new crime drama Dept. Q…. Matthew shares his case notes.

I knew I wanted to play him straight away, says Matthew 47, during an exclusive interview with TV times. He's aggressive and pretty rude to most of his colleagues, but I loved his sense of humour. I think he's going to be a bit divisive to viewers at first, but hopefully they will learn to love him.

In a sea of crime noirs, what do you think will set Dept. Q apart Matthew? 

Well, Carl Morck is the centre of it, but the real genius of the show is the way other characters are drip fed to the audience. They all are very tree dimensional and not just there to drive the plot forward, which happens with a lot of crime shows. Hopefully, by the end of this series, people will fall in love with them because they're all in pain in some way. The story takes us to some scary and horrifying places, but it's also has this layer of comedy woven through it, which I loved. Often you don't expect to be laughing, but you are. I suppose it's a love letter to how difficult and psychologically affecting it is to work in the field. 

It's fair to say that Carl isn't overly likable at the start of the series. How difficult is it as an actor to get an audience onside when you're playing a character like that?

The writing is really helpful because you sense he’s experienced serious trauma during his time on the murder squad. Doing that job is going to affect you and he and not necessarily forgive him, but give him a pass.

What's your take on Car’s colleagues in the unit, Akram and Rose?

Akram was actually a detective in Syria, but fled when Civil War broke out. He started working his way from the bottom in Edinburgh and it's the perfect foil for Carl. 

Carl underestimates him at the beginning, but by the end they have a nice friendship. Meanwhile, Rose is invited into the fold later and she's such a great character. She's hilarious.

The story goes to some dark places during the hunt for Merrit Lingard, doesn't it?

It really does, and it's a very brave performance from Chloe Pirrie, who plays her. The funny thing about it is that Dept. Q was set up by his boss Detective Chief Superintendent Moira Jackson, as a way for her to trap Carl in the basement so she can keep a better eye on him. 

But as at the start, he's not engaging in the cases at all he takes. It takes Akram to convince him that Merrit’s disappearance is a mystery worth solving. Carl’s a puzzle solver, so once the darkness of the case gets its hook to him, he wants to find the answer.

What kind of preparation were you able to do for the rule.

Scott Frank told me not to read the books that the show is based on and instead we talked a lot about Carl's past. I then spend time meditating on him and putting memories in. I always flesh out any script I have and build up answers to thousands of question. Even something like what's his favourite sweet? I spent a lot of time in the bath months before pontificating and dreaming about Carl and his experiences and it all helped.

As the newest crime-solver on the block, who are your own favourite screen detectives? 

I love watching Basil Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes in the film franchise when I was growing up. I also really enjoyed Robbie Coltrane as Dr Edward Fitz Fizgerald in ITV, drama Cracker.

Finally, do you reckon you could cut it as a detective in real life? 

To be honest, I can barely find my car keys or my glasses so I'm not sure that I would have much chances as a detective!

City life

 While Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q novels were set in the Danish city of Copenhagen, the TV series relocates the action to Edinburgh and lead writer and director Scott Frank was determined to capture the true spirit of the Scottish capital during filming with the majority of scenes being shot there. 

“Edinburgh is quite a small city, so we had to lock off locations for a few hours to film particular scenes” says leading man Matthew.

The show's location manager Hugh Gourlay enjoyed scoring the city to find the perfect settings.

“Edinburgh has a wide range of architectural style” says Hugh. “It is classically known for its Georgian buildings but it ranges from the medieval ride up to the much more modern.”

“What was nice was that we did the whole project in the city. A lot of shows that are set in Edinburgh often just use it for exteriors and then film in Glasgow, whereas we made the decision to do everything here there and it really makes for a great backdrop. 

We used Arthur’s Seat for the opening of the show and Wester Halles for all its hills, and the 1960s housing estates.”

[rorja]

Hiiiii! We've been absent for a while (rja the only one keeping this blog alive) because we are working on a very long fanfic.  It's a rewritten jjk plot to fill all the plot holes (but also adding new stories..) from Gojo and Geto's high school to their adult days.  There will be two readers, and ofc to avoid confusion they will have names so.. yeah. They're the so hated ocs that we fanfic writers are afraid to put out.  This story has been in our drafts since november of the last year and after so many "let's keep going", "let's rewrite everything" and "okay enough I need a break" we thought it's been time that we need to be brave.  So we wanted to share with you the two ocs and a teaser of the first chapter will come out in a few days.  ⸻YURIKO IORI

First year along with Nanami, Haibara and Marja. She's from the Iori clan and is Utahime's cousin. Her mother had been involved in a scandal about binding vows with curses that brought the elders to condamn her to the death penalty. Yaga, and old friend, pleaded them to spare her daughter and to give her custody to him, promising to take care of her and assuring she would not take the same path as her mother. Yaga took care of her, to the point he sees her as his own daughter. 

Personality: 

After so many years of being criticized because of her mother, she's a natural introvert that hides a lot her feelings. She's an open book only to Yaga and her friend Marja… and later also Gojo: her aloof attitude firstly irritated him, then appealed him and then it will be the fake walls he knew so well she liked to put up to avoid confrontation and dealing with her problems by herself.  When teased, she has the ability to think of very mean clapbacks in few seconds and that is the main object of Geto and Gojo's fun towards her. But in reality, she is very kind and loving to her friends, often taking the role of the one taking care of others however only Shoko sees her as a little cat that hisses but instead wants cuddles (and wants to be spoiled).  She's very smart, being one of the best first year student along with Nanami, her only weakness being math. Like Utahime, she loves music and plays the guitar alone in her dorm room and can be always heard humming songs. 

Relationships:

Marja's best friend. Her friendship with Nanami was born thanks to their time spent studying together. Haibara admires her ability to be so organized and smart, often preaching she's born a natural leader which frustrates her because she never received compliments like that. (He's find her also scary when she's angry). 

Her relationship with Gojo at first is only based on bickering, due to his arrogant personality that teases her to get a reaction and attention that he wants so badly but doesn't understand why. After the star plasma vessel arc, they get even more awkward. Even if both of them focus more on mission to avoid the school ground and process what they had been through, Gojo will manifest his dislike and worry of her career by calling her weak or diminishing her achievements causing many fights and long period of silence between the two. Everything will change after Geto's betrayal, Gojo's pain will finally show his true colors that will make friends that spend the nights together talking and reflecting about everything to the point of finally admitting their feelings for each other. 

Fun facts: 

She's an october libra as she was born October 16th. Though she's not fond of astronomy, she likes to indulge Marja. 

Yuriko would often be caught by Yaga trying to help both Marja and Haibara cheating midst their exams, throwing at them paper balls with the correct answers (which are useless because she has a terrible chicken writing)

Marja is responsible for her most used nickname: Riko-chan. Then later used by the whole group as an inside joke to make fun of her.

She is the only one that knows how to manipulate (fully on the term!) Marja. 

Yuriko is a bit of a perfectionist; something that is very well-known among the group, making her get along well Nanami. Indeed, he was the first one she befriended at school and the two of them would be often spotted on campus studying together. ⸻MARJA SATOU

First year along with Haibara, Nanami and Yuriko. She comes from the Satou clan and is the only heir, though she's not that well accepted in the family because her father is a foreigner, making her only half japanese. Regardless, she does not get along with her father, often scared of him to a fault because of the insane pressure due to her unusual cused tcursed technique and his tight connection with an italian cult. Her past is the reason behind the binding vow limiting her own technique.

Personality:

Marja is a very energetic girl, but her energy is mainly focused on having fun with her friends or pulling Yaga's last strings of patience. The group first hang together because of her: indeed, it all started when Marja and Shoko got paired up in the morgue and they started to work together. On her part, Marja is an ambivert girl that at first glance could pass up for an introvert, but it's when she gains confidence that her real personality takes an unexpected turn and it gets revealed her playful, laid-back and lazy true persona. Naturally this side comes out mostly with Yuriko. She shares some personality traits with Haibara, which is the main reason they get along so well to be called by the others 'twins'. Marja is quick to adapt to every situation she's in, without as much as to blink. It comes natural to her. But underneath her carefree personality, she hides a more mature side which is not often on display, not even with her best friend Yuriko and that is something that finds its root in her troubling past. Marja doesn't seem to take her job as jujutsu sorcerer seriously, but her words often tend to contradicts what she really feels or thinks. Her complexity lies in the fact that her morals are not defined nor she has firm beliefs, which is something that she carries from her childhood and could end up clouding her judgment.

Relationships:

Yuriko's best friend. She loves hanging out with Haibara, often preaching they are platonic soulmates or twin siblings in another life. Marja also gets really along with Shoko, as the two of them would spend most of their time closed inside the morgue either to tend to their researches or learning bits of medicine with the same professor. The only person Marja doesn't get along with is Gojo Satoru, for their personalities would often clash and crash. Nonetheless, their bickering could be considered as that of a siblings relationship, as none of the two gets taken seriously by the group.

Her relationship with Geto begins one-sided, for Marja develops a crush on the boy the months that followed the school's start. Their relationship begin very subtly but steadily, and somewhere along the road Suguru starts to feel the same way about the girl. Back in high school, Geto is seen to care for and spoil the girl a lot, even in something small as sharing their meal. Even so, Marja tends to be a bit clueless to Suguru's own way of showing his affection, believing that the boy treats her the same way as the other members of the group. After the blood vessel incident, both of them start to drift apart but after Geto's defection things only seem to worsen: on the very night Suguru massacred a whole village, he ended up hurting Marja as well which is something he would feel guilty about his whole life. On the days that followed his betrayl, it becomes painfully aware to everyone how much Suguru loved Marja, as he kept some polaroids of her between his poetry books. They of course don't see each other for a long time, and even though they share the same feelings, they will never have the chance to confess to each other. 

Fun facts: 

she absolutely despises Gojo Satoru and when she noticed that Yuriko had crush for the very same guy, she almost killed herself. For this very reason Marja is responsible for most of Satoru's nicknames: from snowflake to mess of limbs. She gets very creative when it comes to badmouth the guy.

She was born on June 27th, making of her a cancer. She likes to indulge in western astronomy and likes to make it everyone's problem (mostly Yuriko, who is always the victim no.1 of Marja's interests!)

She uses a family's heirloom that controls the wind to fight, for her cursed technique is quite useless in combat.

Marja is known to have a weird interest for the human's brain, whether it is in dissecting bodies together with Shoko in the lab or having a small figure of a brain on her desk.

Yuriko is responsible for her most used nickname: Ricchan. Then later used by the whole group as an inside joke to make fun of her.

If you have any kind of questions, please ask us because we want to talk (yap!!) about this project so badly and a post isn't enough!

[winterspellsfrozenkit]

@donanimee I decided to make a post as it's a little easier to answer if I don't have the comment section's word/character count limiting me.

So for the first question, Rosa and Neige are the same age. In Twisted Wonderland's Book 5, both would be 17 going on 18. The story I am writing for Rosa and Vil is set 10 years after the plot of Twisted Wonderland's main story. Vil is 28, Rosa and Neige are 27. In that time skip, Neige found his "princess", the Twisted Wonderland version of Snow White's Prince Florian, who is a prominent singer in Twisted Wonderland, and has gotten engaged to her. His fiancée knows Rosa is his cousin, but she understands Rosa wants to work on her own merit.

How did Neige feel when Rosa was fired? He didn't know. He doesn't know for a long time. His manager tells him that Rosa quit on her own. By the time Rosa learns the story Neige was fed, she is already working under Vil and because Neige has a lot going on (jobs, wedding planning, interviews, finding time to spend with his fiancée), Rosa chooses not to add to his stress and just tell him later when things die down. Vil is actually the one who ends up telling Neige what happened during a job they work together on. As a result, Neige gets very icy with his manager and the manager gets very close to losing his job. It's only because he's been working with Neige for so long that he manages to keep his job by the skin of his teeth. Even so, things are not the same between them because Neige is now aware his manager was willing to lie to him.

So, after working for Vil for a while, what are Vil's and the other students thoughts and feelings about Rosa? With the other NRC students, not many of them know her...

However, the one student who does know about her before she even worked for Vil? Rook. Rosa has been part of Neige's team for a loooooong time, so Rook immediately knows Neige's makeup artist changed, just due to the minute differences in the application. That's how Vil knew something was up as Rook made a comment to him. When he finally gets to meet her after Vil hires her, Rook is excited at the prospect. He does give her the nickname Mademoiselle Rose-Sauvage (Miss Wild Rose) because he notes how Rosa is a very resilient worker, even in tough circumstances.

As for Vil, while she's working for him, he appreciates the fact she's very focused on her work and willing to be honest with him. By the time he hires her, Vil has a cosmetics business, which is what he hired Rosa for. Rosa doesn't realize at first that's why he's offering to hire her and makes a comment when he offers her a job that she knows he does not need her skills like Neige did, as he's very adept at applying his own makeup. Vil also appreciates her frankness and willingness to state her opinion because it's what causes him to fall for her later on. Because Rosa is the first person to tell him that he is more beautiful than Neige in a non-confession type way.

That said, one of the things about Rosa that Vil does struggle with is Rosa's kindness to people he feels do not deserve it. It's very prominently on display when he ends up meeting Berne, Rosa's ex, who did damage Rosa's confidence pretty hard. He's very annoyed that Rosa is being nice to Berne, despite what Berne put her through.

[avatarskywalker78]

OC Re-introduction - Sheridan Ó Séaghdha

Ever since she was a young girl, Sheridan was interested in two things - flying and space, and ideally something that combined the two, and was often found with her head in a book or watching a documentary. She was still a fairly social person - upbeat, friendly, willing to listen to people, but she had her heart set on becoming not just a pilot but an astronaut to boot, and so she worked hard to get the grades needed, passing high school with flying colours and landing a scholarship at Harvard University, where she chose to study advanced physics and mathematics.

It was here she first met John Tracy and the two of them soon hit it off, bonding over their shared love of astronomy and quickly becoming firm friends. It's a friendship confusing to some people because they're very different personality wise, but beneath the surface it's clear this is a meaningful relationship, and Sheridan considers her life brighter having him in it. They even shared an apartment during Sheridan's second year before John graduated, and it wasn't long before she got to know his brothers too, becoming close to Gordon in particular due to their shared chaotic streak (and the only thing more concerning than them actively plotting is when they're both quiet).

After her own graduation and training, she joined Mercury Aerospace because they're one of the few companies who actually take safety seriously in the 2060s, and even though the work can be dangerous she also knows everything is done behind the scenes to make sure it isn't life-threatening when it doesn't have to be. It was here she first met Tia Everton, a freelance mechanical engineer, when she helped developed one of their test crafts, and the two have been friends ever since.

These are the fundamentals. How it plays out?

Well, that depends on the universe you're in ↓

The Original Series

Mercury Aerospace has been developing the Starfinder Programme for years and Sheridan's been testing out it's first craft, Starfinder One - the aim to not only venture into commercial spaceflight but to get people interested in STEM, and the ship's central part has a fully operational (and modified) observation dome where people can get a proper look at the stars without being hampered by pollution. So far all the test flights have been successful and she's looking forward to being one of the co-pilots on it's maiden flight.

The last few years haven't exactly been easy, though - first she almost lost one of her best friends to a horrific hydrofoil accident, then the exploits of International Rescue highlighted the massive safety gaps a lot of companies have (something that never fails to infuriate her) alongside people's general stupidity, and even she's had several near-misses over the course of her career. John's also become increasingly anxious over her job, much as he tries to be outwardly supportive, and she doesn't get as much time to talk it out with him as she'd like, especially since he seems to have his own project going on he won't tell her about. Despite this, he's pleased for her when he finds out about Starfinder One, and Sheridan's certain it'll go well and propel her onto a career in spaceflight, the thing she's always wanted. And the flight itself does go fine - an hour and a half in orbit and everything runs smoothly...

But on re-entry disaster strikes when two of the main engines explode and the back-up engines start slowly losing power, sending the ship plummeting towards Earth and threatening the lives of the crew and the thirty-five passengers on board. Unable to reach ground control she tries another frequency to call International Rescue - and gets the shock of her life when John Tracy is the one who answers, compounded when Thunderbird One re-establishes communications and Thunderbird Two arrives to do an on-board repair as she realises the Tracys are International Rescue, and that this is why they're so well-adjusted despite spending most of their time on a remote island (sure, she figured they must be doing something, but she didn't predict this).

The day is saved, of course, but Sheridan certainly has a lot of questions for her friend afterwards once she's signed the NDAs - and a lot more worry, now she knows almost all her friends face dangerous situations on the regular.

Thunderbirds Are Go

With Mercury Aerospace having been in the space flight business for over ten years, Sheridan got the chance to test spacecraft a lot sooner, and her time is split between Earth and space in the process, and has also been an active crewmember on several space missions because of her skillset. She's even been on a couple of deep-space missions, which she's pretty proud of - yet she always loves coming back down to Earth, likes to feel the ground beneath her feet and see her friends again, even if only for a few days at a time between her job at Mercury and their jobs at International Rescue.

Though it's been years since the secret was officially revealed, Sheridan worked it out pretty early on after suspicious absences on John's part that just happened to correlate with some disaster happening and International Rescue being called out, cluing her in to the fact that their eye in the sky couldn't be anyone else - and therefore the pilots had to be his brothers. She never admitted this and once it was officially announced didn't see any need to let on, but of course she knew, and she's been worried ever since - they all went through so much before joining the organisation and she's terrified of losing one of them on a rescue, especially given the amount of close calls they've had recently.

Of course, her career path isn't exactly a safe one. The Starfinder programme was targeted when it was in development, and five years ago the exploration craft Starfinder One was sabotaged on it's re-entry into the atmosphere and it was only the combined efforts of the pilots and the engineering crew that they were able to get it down safely, (though International Rescue was on standby in case assistance was needed). The group responsible were caught alarmingly quickly by the GDF and given lengthy sentences - she knows perfectly well who helped bring them down - and since then the programme has gone from strength to strength, but it served as a reminder that it's not just safety issues that can be a danger. Currently, Sheridan's on Starfinder Four, six months into a mission exploring part of the outer solar system using a proton engine and an experimental power core and so far it's been successful.

Then the unpredictability of space strikes - an unexpected meteor shower knocks out most of the system and causes two sections of the ship to decompress. Sheridan manages to call International Rescue (Gordon the one to answer), but the comm systems on the ropes and she and another crewmember are gonna have to race to stabilise the core otherwise there won't be anyone to rescue because the resulting explosion will vaporise the ship and everyone on it. She doesn't doubt that they'll get there in time...

This might just be the closest call yet.

Tagging (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @shrinkthisviolet @starstruckpurpledragon @janetm74 @call-me-casual @lenle-g

[fushitoru]

Hellooo! You inspired me with your writing, and so I am about to write fanfic, something with plot (ooh scary). How do you plan out your stories? Do you use a program or anything? I'd love to get tips and tricks. Thank you and bye bye 👋

heyyyy pookayyyyyyy. im definitely not a complex writer like a lot of people seem to be on here or ao3, so take my advice with a grain of salt. like i've said before, i had to work on college apps last year so i became really good at writing stories/seeing plots in a very objective way for my pea sized brain to handle. but writing advice below the cut!

warning: maybe light bridgerton!gojo spoilers?

Q: How do you plan out your stories?

A: Sometimes, it's okay not to have a plan. You've probably seen this before, but writing is a nonlinear process where you write things that don't necessarily happen next in your story but you feel a strong urge to write them. Art doesn't need to have a concrete plan, you can let yourself free with how you write it. I get my best ideas for scenes at 3am.

But regardless, my answer to this would be that I make a checklist of "scenes" for myself. You have to address all characters' conflicts and keep track of them, and I can't do that easily unless I make a concrete plan for every scene. I also really like checklists, because I probably have undiagnosed ADHD and can't function without that dopamine hit. Same reason why I never like having a lot of asks unanswered in my inbox, so all the pending requests are kinda driving me crazy right now LOL.

If it helps, write out each character's "plotline" and how they're going to grow, then think of scenes that make that growth tangible to the reader. I have a LOT of trouble with this in bridgerton!gojo, which is the most plot filled. gojo is a complex character, so i have to keep reminding myself of his issues right now. for example, gojo currently is someone who has a lot of responsibility on him, and he has been conditioned to think that he can't love to stay on the grind. reader infuriates him because she's the first one who's really posed a challenge for him. he's going to realize that he enjoys spending time with reader BECAUSE of that challenge and how it simulates him, which simulataneously making him panic because he forgets who he is and the vow to himself to never engage with a woman/prospective match that could lead to animosity at home. since he doesn't want to have unecessary fights or feelings that could distract him from his duty.

however, he's actively fighting the happiness/weird feeling in his heart whenever he sees reader, especially if he sees her with another man (after this whole gojo manor arc). he's going to be extremely irrational and threatening any man who chooses to actively court her, and this makes him realize that he does deserve love, that there can be space for love while prioritizing your responsibilities.

now, im just going to make this into scenes, writing something similar for reader and any other character that may need to show character growth. and boom! series planned.

Q: Do you use a program or anything?

A: I write on Google Docs because it automatically saves and I can write from my phone or laptop, whichever one I have on hand. Particularly useful when I get an idea at 3AM. It's also useful to share with beta readers. I wouldn't say I use anything else, but I know notion is sometimes helpful. There exist resrouces for (professional) romance writers, so I would check those out since they're also applicable!

Some other things:

If English is your second language/not your native language, or you get stuck on how to write things, read. Read fanfics on ao3, read real books, read the newspaper, read political critique, read essays, watch video essays. I learned English using Harry Potter (and having to wake up at 5am to go to school early to do Rosetta Stone in elementary school). Develop your own writing style. Ever get stuck on scene? Read how someone else did it/how they wrote. Doesn't even have to be a similar scene

Writing a character for the first time is HARD. Gojo was so hard for me to write for, and you can deffo see that in my eariler fics. Keep writing, and keep writing. I'm not going to be able to write Choso or Nanami well as the main lead in my stories yet, because I've never written them. I promise practice is the only thing that helps you improve.

[nihilnovisubsole]

have you ever toyed with the idea of making a spin-off set in the same universe as dangerous crowns?

i did a lot more than toy with it. i got about 30,000 words into a second book in the same universe before i abandoned it. i think saying "it's not the story's fault" gives the story too much credit, but it was also a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

what do i mean by that? many things, some probably more valid than others. this got away from me and turned into a postmortem, so i'll put it under a cut for those who are curious:

2019-21, when i was trying to write the second book, was when i realized i had to get serious about advancing in the game industry. all of a sudden, i had to spend almost all of my free time applying and filling my portfolio with game work that wasn't romance. i got rejected a lot, which is not really motivating when it comes to doing your for-funsies writing on the weekend.

of course, we did also have some major world events around that time. those were also things that happened. i think we all felt a little strange.

i read some opinions on writing that made me existentially question many of my style and storytelling choices up to that point. some of it was about dangerous crowns itself. in other cases, it was people analyzing fantasy conventions as a whole. i'm not trying to be vindictive, like "some BUTTHEAD wrote a BAD REVIEW! NYEH!". i think many writers go through an experience like this sometime. they read something that challenges the way they've always worked, and it feels like re-breaking a bone to set it right. there's a period of pain.

on the other hand, i don't want to overplay the negativity or throw the baby out with the bathwater. a lot of people liked dangerous crowns for what it was. my friends argued that the bone was never broken, and these things i'd read were matters of taste. they wouldn't fix my writing, just make it different. they told me the real problem lay with trying to please everyone, and i should write with my own voice first and not worry about who took me seriously. it was good advice. even so, when you put years into making ice cream and readers think you made a toy car, you have to ask yourself whether you did something wrong.

but, yeah, it was also the story. when i looked at the second book through the lens of these new attitudes toward writing, it came up short. the plot crumbled under questions like, "why are they choosing this heroine?" "why does she have to be in Situation X with that character?" "why doesn't she do the sensible thing?" the answer, in every case, was "it has to be that way for the main couple to get together," and i found that unacceptable. i felt my old, self-indulgent impulse of "i want to get these two together, let's see where it goes" was no longer enough. i had to make sure i was saying something believable.

it's embarrassing to admit, but around this time, i grew very self-conscious about my approach to writing love stories and love interests. i've alluded to this a few times over the past few years, because i still haven't been able to extricate myself from it. i think it's because, when i write a couple, it comes from such a personal place - i explore aspects of myself in my female characters, and i always find something attractive about the men who fall in love with them. it's like i got hit with the cringe paddle: one morning, i just woke up and went "omg this is so weird! i have to hide it from everyone!" maybe the solution is exposure therapy? do i need to start churning out a ton of heavy ship art again? i don't know what to say except, lmao, don't be me.

where do i stand today? well, i think something would be cool, but i'd have to revisit my approach to genre and worldbuilding. that's why i keep chewing my nails over dangerous crowns. it can't be that easy - if you're doing Fantasy Rome, you have to make a caesar-sized mess. working at obsidian, where they push you not to make the comfort-food writing choice, has given credence to these concerns. so i have no idea. but we'll see!

[missjenca]

#hilariously enough!; I also imagined Satellite having a Local Hand Commmunication!#Love that we over lap on some thoughts here#this has a lot of some of the things I'd rotated in getting Yusei through a panic attack or just days too much like Bad Times#yell at me to post those

As per your tags, consider this me yelling at you to post about this because I genuinely would like to hear it, pLEASE, I live for this kind of thing, lol

Aye aye! Thankie for the reminder, lemme cook that up, big posr style.

So, Yusei is absolutely not walking away from the plot of 5Ds without being a lil bit fucked up. And while Satellite has given him the ability to simply say 'I will put my nose straight through the grindstone and ignore what is happening to me' (for better or for worse), he also has friends that think it important to help him out.

Leo, our wonderful ball of sunshine, can clock immediately when Yusei is in a certain kind of funk that he can handle. He calls it 'Old Paper White' or 'New Paper White' (if Yusei's freaked out enough to go pale). 'Old Paper White' means that Leo can generally goad Yusei into a duel on the work bench, and bemoan his loss in a way to get Yusei to focus on tips and assistance and generally just Big Brothering Leo until he relaxes. 'New Paper' is trickier, because it's probably a deuling related nightmare at the cause. Which means it's time for different games, be it activity books or putting together plastic models together. Leo would definitely enjoy the Duel Monsters Counterpart of Gunpla, and I think Yusei would find the gentle rhythm of 'Snip piece, connect piece' soothing.

Luna's tactics are fairly similar, though with a different approach. She's armed with fidgit toys and puzzles and big long words and her big wide eyes. She'll word tasks very specifically as 'can you help me with this' or 'can you do this for me', and generally weaponises her Baby Sister Status for his benefit. Because it leans on Yusei's 'Can and Will Do Anything For His Friends' part of his will power, she can get him to focus on small tasks like getting to a safe place or solving a rubix cube until he's calmer.

Crow has been spending years knowing the exact balance of 'filling silence' and 'engaging questions' for Yusei to steady himself to. Crow knows all the gossip, what friends are where, interesting mechanical news, all the safe topics. Crow also knows the exact tone of voice to use that signals that nothing is happening, because it's a very different and specific tone of voice to 'we're pretending to be unaware of cops/gangs/attackers' from back when they were younger. He's also totally clued in to what Yusei's different levels on non-verbal answers or non-answers mean, so he can focus on Yusei without focusing *so much* on Yusei that it stresses him out.

Aki's learned the exact levels and kinds of white noise helps Yusei out. Too much or the wrong sounds and he gets over-stimmed or stressed out, too little makes him anxious because actual silence means something bad is about to happen. She also uses a few meditation techniques with him; she may have learned them at Arcadia, but she controls what she knows now. They're both at least a little fond of it; panic attacks or nightmares aren't something that you can fight physically, but this is almost close. Aki's also the one most on top of making sure he takes a painkiller and eats something afterwards, because he always gets a huge headache from being so tense, and he *will* try and just work through it if left to his own devices.

Jack's the only person who can safely goad Yusei into hitting him without Yusei getting *too* wrapped up in being guilty about it. It's very much not a 'Jack deserves to be hurt' thing, but that it's equal measures of that Jack's Always Gonna Do What He Wants and years of Jack-To-Yusei wordless communication between the two of them. He asks for it because he can take it and Yusei can't. It's a Rivals Thing:tm:. It also helps when Crow rolls his eyes and tells Jack off about it like nothing happened. If they can hit a duel, great, but if we're at the bottom option, Jack is of course the one who knows how to be callous to be kind.

[nikethestatue]

this fandom might actually be the worst one I’ve seen!! I flip through a bunch of diff ship accounts bc listen, ship whoever you want, personally I am partial to elucien but I can admit there’s a lot of evidence for other ships as well. I like seeing all art for ALL the ships!! But then today I see a post about how we need Gwyn’s book because she is a victim of SA and it would be great to read a book about her healing journey.

Idk maybe it’s just me but I get annoyed when someone is always reduced down to their SA so I pointed out that Rhys & Lucien also had SA trauma and there has been no healing journey for them?? How are we going to fill an entire book for Gwyn?? Like, Sarah doesn’t seem to delve too much into healing journeys from SA (in ACOTAR at least 🤷🏻‍♀️ idk about other series) and tends to use it as a plot point to create a traumatic background character. It’s something that greatly annoys me tbh

And then I got yelled at?? And told to read the books again?? Like yes, I am a new reader, and yes it was a Gwyn Stan account (didn’t know that at the time, I literally just replied for the first time from a post I saw on my for you feed) - but nothing I said was anti-Gwyn (how could it be- she’s one of my favs too???) ?? I vaguely know there’s whatever ship war going on but I didn’t even comment on a ship post and I didn’t mention any other names/ships so I was genuinely confused about why I got yelled at on a post that only mentioned Gwyn.

All I said was I doubt Sarah is going to write an entire book about Gwyn’s healing journey ? It wasn’t even ship related so why did I get so much hate?? no wonder this fandom is filled with such toxicity, nobody new is allowed to join even casually unless they earn their masters degree of 16000 pages of analysis (apparently reading the books isnt enough?) and so it’s just filled with the same bitter people since whenever these books came out

Maybe bc I acknowledged I didn’t see her as a main character - because she’s not? She’s very much a side character but who cares? She’s still a favorite of mine? Two things can be possible at once, people!!!

Anyways, tldr I got a slap on the wrist and told I don’t know SJM if I think Gwyn is a side character and I’m just like ok I didn’t say she couldn’t be one later but based on the one book she is in… she is a side character?

I hate this mf fandom I should’ve stayed out of it. What did I even do?? I even apologized if anything I said about Rhys or Lucien was untrue?? And now I’m just annoyed because I should still be able to debate theories about my favorite books with people even if I don’t spend 24/7 reading PowerPoints on ship wars??

They got mad because you were right. That's it.

SJM doesn't write post-SA healing journeys. Again, you were right.

We've had male and female characters who were SAed, in TOG, Lysandra and Fenrys come to mind, in ACOTAR it's Rhys and Lucien and Gwyn, in CC it was Lidia (similar situation as Rhys/Lucien).

These aren't books for deep exploration of post-SA healing. I am sorry. This is an incredibly tough subject, without a singular answer. SO anything she'd do, wouldn't be taken well. Some will say 'too quick!' others will say 'not quick enough!' and everyone will have an opinion. The only reason Nesta got an extended healing (and not from SA) was because SJM used the same methods she used for her own issues. Working out, meditation, being with friends, balancing the physical and the mental, relying on her SO. Beyond that, all of SJMs 'healing' is training and being in love. Or nothing at all.

Gwynriels cant accept the fact that Gwyn is a secondary character. She is not more important than Emerie, or Mor, or anyone else, who's had terrible trauma. Her main was Nesta. Nesta's healed and Gwyn is secondary to Nesta. Gwyn's healing journey is over. She because stronger mentally and physically, she trained, she reached and conquered her 'mountain'. and that is all she needed to do.

They dont want to understand and accept that no one is interested in an 800 page of Gwyn's post-SA healing journey. Even they aren't. That's the truth. They want her with Azriel. Getting it on, having sex, being mated. They don't want to read any 'healing journey'. They want her going on missions, swinging her sword, being a badass, being with Azriel, having Gwynriel sex and having a normal fantasy heroine book. it's all performative. They just want Gwynriel. Is all.

[rei-ismyname]

First X-Men Highlights

Pop quiz - who started the X-Men? If you answered 'Charles Xavier' I'm afraid you're mistaken. A fool even . Tsk, pshaw, lmao. OBVIOUSLY the sultan of snikt - Marvel's own Forrest Grump - did it first. Chuck was too much of a PUSSY to come up with such a masculine idea.

Would Chuck have the balls to recruit Sabertooth? Yeah eventually, but not very well. He should have paid him money and bro'd down with him. Durr.

As an aside, I have an irrational dislike for Neal Adams' habit of drawing everyone with their mouths open. It's clearly not meant to suggest they're speaking because it's a constant. His characters always look slack-jawed or half surprised.

Anyway, in response to government persecution of young mutants Logan is going to fight back! He's got Creed on board and shit's about to change! A young Illusionist called Holo joins the team despite their staggering misogyny, whorephobia and sexualisation of her. Creed is way more gross about it, because Logan would never be creepy.

Together they approach Xavier some irrelevant coward but he refuses to even admit that he's a mutant. Obviously it's Logan that points Chuck towards Fred Duncan, his FBI contact. The shilling of Logan is obnoxious, but Chuck's fear is interesting. It's a continuity nightmare, but the whole book is. Oddly, Logan is old enough to set this whenever so Xavier being in the army was a choice. It's kinda funny that Chuck is easily outwitted by someone who calls him 'kid,' and rare Creed W referring to him as 'little Lord Fauntleroy.' The class politics and desire for stability/upward mobility in the novel don't fit 1:1, but Chuck's obscene wealth and privilege is frequently overlooked or understated.

Fantastic to see that Logan's habit of attempting to murder women and children isn't a new one. Nor is it a result of Weapon X stuff. I don't see how this teaches anything and you'd think it'd ruin the morale of this volunteer militia. It is nice to see him knocked on his arse though.

Holo's relationship with Creed is pretty uncomfortable IMO. Her character is paper thin and their chemistry non-existent - she's mostly a plot device to incite conflict and her fridging causes a severe break between the two men.

They approach Magneto in his Nazi hunting phase, though it's unclear if this is meant to be for the CIA or after they betrayed him. Mags' reticence for joining them is stated as an objection to their disorganisation and lack of resources. He should have the mountain of gold he took from Strucker - maybe he spent it all on capes. I'd think he wouldn't want to be part of a group he's not leader of, but it's not in the text. He regulates them all and lectures them dramatically but the real reason is that he's a pussy. Not manly enough like Logan or Creed.

Linking Trask and Fred Duncan to each other as ideological opposites is a choice. Both men working in the same department links them to the Weapon Plus project while making Chuck look like even more of a chump. He didn't spend time near Trask early enough to do anything about sentinels but he spent a lot of time around Duncan and read his mind freely. Duncan comes off looking worse in retrospect too - as he knew about Project Sentinel, presumably the precursor to Operation Wide-awake, and said nothing.

That works for me on paper but it overeggs the pudding. Duncan was already a fair weather ally who did more harm than good, and Chuck's feet of clay/trust in institutions have been flaws since the beginning.

They fight homeless amnesiac Namor of course, and Duncan offers an alliance. It's unclear how much latitude he has to make offers or guarantee safety, but he gives advice on how to hurt Namor, ending with him in the water. They assume he drowned and shrug, which is not only cold AF but messes up Namor's modern origins. Logan willingly gets set on fire too. Could Chuck do that?

Private Xavier finagles his way into the Pentagon, fucking with minds willy nilly. The timeline is incomprehensible at this point, but he gets himself out of military service and we find out that the army had the means and inclination to test for mutants. Chuck beat the test the same way he always does, and gets himself assigned to Duncan's top FBI project. It's an interesting way to bring the two together, but it wasn't really needed and causes more problems than it solves. Chuck had connections due to his family, his public excellence, and his willingness to collaborate.

The McCarthyist paranoia and witch hunting of Trask is maintained, as is the government's desires to use mutants as assets. The two are at odds with each other, and I have to wonder how Trask got from here to where we first meet him - an anthropologist working alone. It's easy to point to his fifth columnist rhetoric as incredibly effective, but he fails miserably and publicly. It's a wonder that sentinels were ever rebuilt tbh.

The First X-Men successfully rescue a bunch of mutants and blow up a test facility, though not before a strangely low stakes run in with the FBI group. They've got this giant monster thing as an asset, and it's apparently laid the seeds for victory. Their name is Virus. 🙄

Logan's crew are enjoying the momentum, though Creed wants to run away with Holo and live a quiet life. She's 18 and is like 'yeah sure, maybe.' There's a lot of different motivations and temperaments in their group but Logan has all the answers. Obviously it backfires and they all die horribly - find out how in part 2!