#1. he’s been at war for 10 years and really misses his family

[oneatlatime]

Hiii!!! I’ve been binging through your blog for the past few weeks and I noticed how you talk about how Kataang(Katara x Aang) is portrayed in the show. Honestly yeah, I will admit I didn’t like it at first but now I just don’t really care for it. But I’d be interested hearing an in-depth opinion on the ship(unless you already did and I just never noticed or forgot 😭).

Another question, do you think you’re going to read the comics that came out the series? If you’re asking my opinion I’d say they’re a uuuh 7-8 out of 10 IG?

I do have thoughts on Kataang which I haven't shared yet. Part of me thinks I should wait to answer your ask until I've finished the series; it's obvious to me that these two are being set up to be the big finale couple, which means if I talk about them now I'm probably missing the pieces I need to have a full, well-rounded opinion. But you know what? I feel like talking about them now. So here goes.

Short answer: It peeves me that Aang comes from a culture that seemingly doesn't even have parents, yet he still manages to date his mother.

Long answer: they're both way too young. I'm a huge fan of letting the kids be kids for as long as possible. Especially with these kids, who have been prevented from being kids by the war. As Katara points out in the opening scene of the very first episode, she's been the mother since her own died (or at least she feels like she has had to be the mother). Call me crazy, but I'd rather Katara spend a few years after the war doing dumb childish stuff to recapture that lost childhood than jump straight into a relationship. Isn't the safety and space to do dumb childish stuff one of the things those who are trying to end the war are fighting for? Shouldn't she get to enjoy that? And Aang is just way too young no matter what way you look at it. He's 12 right? I think that would make him a grade 6 student. Back in my day (yells at cloud) Grade 6 students collected yugioh cards and feuded over who had the snazzier lunch box. I could picture a 12 year old having a crush on a slightly older girl that goes to the same school, but it would be short lived and unactionable. I guess Katara would be around 14? So, a grade 8 student. A grade 8 girl would not date a grade 6 boy. It would just never happen.

They've both got bigger fish to fry. Aang is the last Air Nomad AND the current Avatar. When he fully takes on both of those positions, what time will he have for a girlfriend? Katara is the only Southern Waterbender. Whether or not she wants the responsibility, it will be her duty to single-handedly reconstruct a huge portion of her nation's culture from the ground up once she returns south. Does she have the time to ping pong around the globe mothering her boyfriend as he rides giant animals or does Avatar stuff? Say she wants to: what will her family and the rest of her tribe think of the only person who can access such a huge part of their culture riding off into the sunset?

Their current relationship dynamic is still too mother/son. This is more obvious in season 1 than in season 2 (maybe that's growth?) but you can't depict a male/female pair as pieta and then expect me to ship. I think this could change somewhat, but I've already been disappointed in that. I thought that once Katara had mastered waterbending and therefore felt she had something other than mothering to contribute to the group, she would back off with the mothering. And she did, a little, but not enough for my tastes. Maybe as Aang fully steps into the Avatar role and the last Air Nomad role (sidenote: no idea what the latter would look like) he'll move on to a more equal relationship with Katara.

I think Katara is meant for better things than rebirthing a nation. Bending seems to be at least somewhat genetic. So if Aang wants Airbending in any form to survive after his death, he's going to need a billion kids. While I could definitely see Katara wanting children, I don't see her as the barefoot pregnant type.

I'm not convinced that Aang has a clear picture of Katara. She has flaws, which is good! Does Aang see them?

I get the feeling that, while they are helping each others' skills grow as they travel the globe, they are also preventing each others' personalities from growing. As long as Aang is around, Katara has someone to mother. As long as Katara is around, Aang has someone who prevents him from feeling the full weight of his responsibilities. Again, this is worse in season 1, but how often did Katara deny that Aang was to blame for something that was at least somewhat his fault? Aang will never become a fully rounded person until he can look at his flaws and mistakes dead on and say "my bad" without a Katara in the background going "no you're perfect!" Katara deserves to find out what kind of person she is outside of a nurturing role. Quick thought experiment: what if you pair Katara with someone who needs no nurturing, or better yet, nurtures her? And what if you pair Aang with someone as bluntly truthful as Toph? Katara and Aang might find both of those situations uncomfortable at first, but I think it would contribute to their growth.

Aang having a crush on an oblivious Katara would be a great single season arc. I think it would fit both of their characters well, and I think Aang growing past latching on to the first person he saw after the iceberg would be a good way to show that he's rooting himself in his time-displaced present, and fully committing to ending the war. And don't get me wrong, I love Aang and Katara both as a fighting team and as friends.

These kids are all fighting a war, and all kids. I don't mind the supporting characters having romances, because it's not like Sokka or Suki can end the war, no matter how hard they try/might want to. But I'm a big believer in doing one thing at a time, and I think if you're the only person in the whole world who can end a war, then ending the war should take precedence over dating. I'm aware that that's an unrealistic expectation and out of step with the show's theme of balance. In the real world, birth rates skyrocket during war time because people live for the moment and grab happiness (read boinking) wherever they see it. But both these kids are pre-boinking age so I'm going to be a cranky old fart about it.

Being the wife of the Avatar is a position that will often come with being relegated to second place, especially with the amount of work that undoing a century of war will take. Although she works well in a team, Katara is a naturally dominant personality. Katara did enough of putting herself in second place before the series started. I think Katara could very easily fall into the pattern of subjugating her own needs and desires and putting her husband's first, but I don't want that to happen. And one way to prevent that from happening is to prevent her from dating the single most politically important person in the universe. (To be clear, Aang would never deliberately squish a wife like that, I just think the workload of being Avatar and last air nomad would cause that to happen)

A lot of my objections to this pairing are very adult objections. I don't know what I would have thought about this pairing when I was the age of the show's target audience. It undoubtedly would have bothered me less, although I probably would have been put off by how twee it is. As an adult, all I can see are babies playing house.

As for the comics, I hadn't made any concrete plans to read them. I don't know where I'd get access to them. I'm not sure how canonical they are. I guess I should probably decide whether or not I want to read them after I've finished the whole series. I've been told that my girl Jin appears in one of them, so I definitely have some interest. I have also had the Avatar Kyoshi novels strenuously recommended to me. But so much of Avatar's charm, to me, is in the medium. And while comics are closer to animation than books are, they're still static. Avatar does movement so well.

[margotoo0]

◇ Huge Sukuna headcanon AU ◇ (cuz I'm crazy)

English is not my native language. It was originally written in Russian, so it is very difficult to translate it correctly, since there are a lot of slangs. And I’m also talking damn nonsense, that’s why.

DO NOT TAKE EVERYTHING WRITTEN SERIOUSLY!!! THIS ALL WAS WRITTEN WHEN THE AUTHOR WAS UNDER METH!!!♡♡♡♡♡

I hope you stay alive and read this to the end.

AU! Our time

Well, what... About the base?

◇About 40-45 years old, mentally - all 70.. (he just tired) No wife, no family, everything is according to the canon.

◇It’s worth paying a little attention to his appearance (Kukukhuhuh):

1) I’ve seen a lot of art on AU Sukuna (I’ve seen a lot, a lot...), I really liked the theme with the patch on the right eye, so let’s take note. Most likely, either he has some problems since birth (Ehehe.. Let’s leave the topic of an unwanted child due to a congenital pathology?))), or he successfully lost it in one of the stabbings (that’s how he met Uraume..)

2) Huge bruises under the eyes. With age, wrinkles also appeared there. The eyes are sleepy, sometimes capillaries burst.

3) His skin is rough and rough. A common problem is peeling; in winter it’s completely out of whack.

4) AQUILINE NOSE (big noses, I like big noses..)

5) He is tall. Very. 190+ exactly. But this is not just a cruise ship, it’s a whole tank. The same guy who is the envy of all natural jocks. Something between a mesomorph, and maybe even an endomorph. The fact itself: there is a lot of muscle, but not dry. In all the right places, as they say...Ahhhhh. I won’t write you the muscle mass ratio and fat percentage, sorry. Where did it come from? Well, look at his true uniform. (Moreover, there were jokes on the Internet that he was on a mass gain after the illustration for the exhibition came out. Eh...They just didn’t deserve him, they were jealous) A strong, good man, I give it a like, without a ticket to my bed. You can consider yourself to have won the genetic lottery. Little nasty bug.

6) It’s obvious that in some places there are scars (a scar on the stomach, where his mouth is, according to the canon), burns... There’s all sorts of things there, in fact.

7) Tattoo? YES!

8) I also saw a couple of heads on Sukuna the boxer, he was included in the heavyweight category. I COMPLETELY AGREE, THIS IS A FACT.

9) In general, he is a typical cat-person. Like..he is so tiger 🐅

10) He also squints often. His gaze is empty, but in his head there is a whole construction site.

====

Okay, I didn’t come up with anything else about appearance, you can figure it out for yourself. Let's go big already.

◇Philosophy of life? Sukuna adheres to that same “hedonism”, EGOISM, that everyone somehow misses when they talk about Sukuna’s philosophy. He doesn’t believe in your metaphysics; sometimes nihilistic tendencies slip through.

◇Remember his hobby? FOOD. And this thing has been preserved. He doesn’t deny himself anything, an ever-meat diet. Proper nutrition? Diets? Wtf, what? He don't know what. But he’s also an eater, he won’t eat everything, he’s very selective. High quality, three Michelin stars. (In general, the topic here is this... In the Heian era, he ate people, right? So, he mainly gave preference to the meat of women and children, since their meat is more tender due to a higher percentage of fat than that of men. Juicy, to be honest)

◇Eh...Would he be Hannibal Lector? Would you eat human flesh? Answer this question yourself. But it's interesting.

◇He has a very specific taste in food

◇What does he do in life? OHHOHO, SO. This is where the juice begins.

Please just keep in mind that this is all a fat joke.

◇We all know very well that Sukuna loves battles, fights, fighting, wars... He loves physical contact very much. Because of this, there is a head that Sukuna could have been involved in wrestling, in particular, boxing or jujitsu, but I have an opinion that Sukuna simply would not have lasted long, or would not have started a career at all. Well, how...

1) If we assume that he was actually involved in wrestling at one time, then his “career” ended after the first major championship at the age of about 20-25 years. In short, everything is simple: during the first round he almost killed his opponent (HAHAHAA), it came to resuscitation. Of course, Sukuna is a tough fighter, but no one expected such meanness. How was he even allowed in? Well, we thought about making money, but Sukuna’s adrenaline was stronger. He never returned to the ring. By some miracle he was not convicted (or rather... They wanted to, but Sukuna was faster). By the way, it must be said that this is not the first time Sukuna has smeared someone on the floor. But for some reason he always got away with it. It didn’t work out here... He wasn’t very upset, to be honest.

Did you think that he would receive penalties cards? No. There are 100% problems with the law. I just decided not to do hardcore.

2) From here I could already talk about the second half of his cheerful life, but I must say that Sukuna, I think, would not go into big sports at all, since it requires a lot of organization, and besides, a lot restrictions. Even MMA is NOT fighting without rules. Elementary. Sukuna has very good stamina, as well as willpower, it’s just... He couldn’t get enough of it. He doesn’t chase fame and success, he’d like to get a thrill from a fight. You can’t just leave training, you can’t do this, you can’t do that. He is simply an excellent virtuoso and improviser who adapts perfectly to the situation, BUT! Only if he WANTS it.

There is a very simple formula: "I can, but I don’t want to. I'm lazy, I'm not interested." Sukuna is not an organized person at all, and if he behaves like this, it is clearly not in good deeds.

3) You can skip this part, but I liked this idea. First I came up with it myself, then I also found headcanons with JJK teachers, everything coincided.

◇It seems to me that Sukuna could become an excellent historian, I don’t know why.. The topic is this: as a cover, he could randomly choose a profession (purely because his history was going well, but he had already improved his dorm life, when he was detained in the police stations for several days)

◇He doesn’t believe in God, but God believes in him, so Sukuna passed the exams well. As I say, he very smart and capable, if only I had the desire.

◇ I’ll quickly go over it:

1) I didn’t want to teach at a university, but at a college - why not. He doesn't like teenagers, but he likes to mock them.

2) He is constantly late for lectures. He swore at his directors when they put the history first. As a result, on Thursday the history is only 50 minutes long.

3) We must give him credit, he talks SO INTERESTINGLY, it’s just crazy. Here you will either listen with your mouth open, or fall asleep to his voice (sorry, I couldn’t resist, phew. In this case, he will come up and knock on the head, like “Who’s there?”) 😭😭😭 (AZAHAZPH)

4) He talks like he went to Moscow with Napoleon, then he judged the Decembrists, then he was in Petrograd at the revolution, then he and Stalin thought about how to defeat the browns, and he also sat together with Goering at Nuremberg... I think there’s no need to even mention the process of battles in the Second World War. He wrote everything down in a notebook while he was in the trench. In general, it's tough.

5) Despite all the charm of the above, he has a terrible memory for dates, so even his students don’t bother with it.

6) Do you want a test? Buy him an expensive bottle of red wine, then he MAYBE will consider your offer (yes, of course he will, he’s just showing off, he’s not interested in that at all)

7) After the first month, the students began to suspect something. You know, mysterious, like a perfume set (russian proverb). Like that same physical education teacher who always hangs out in the back room (local joke...). The smart ones guess, but the smartest ones have already made inquiries, they just remain silent, since Sukuna, in fact, is respected and feared by teenagers (in a good way). It’s a pity that the love is not particularly mutual...Uh.

In general, you understand. But what does he do anyway? He became a teacher in order to divert attention from himself. Decent citizen, but is just some kind of grouch <3

It's time for us to go into his natural environment. Crime)

Here everything is based on:

1. Pleasure, risk

2. Money. Just to live large.

It all started with Uraume (here also Uraume is “they”, so you can consider it either a man or a woman. Whatever you want). According to the canon, Uraume is a cook. It’s the same here, but with a surprise.. In general, Uraume “cooks”, and in Russian, he makes interesting preparations...)))(EMHAJAJAJJAAHPA0, WHAT IS THE PLOT OF “BREAKING BAD”, AZAHAHAHCH I’M DEAD Okay, just give me a chance)

◇Sukuna knew his comrades so well that he learned about Ura’s affairs only after 8-9 years of acquaintance (Forgive him).

◇In short, Uraume cooks well, and also studied at the chemistry department. Uraume had a purely monetary question; they didn’t use their own product (and I don’t advise you to, otherwise you’ll later invent such garbage like I did)

◇ – What is this? - What do you think? Sukuna narrowed his eyes. - And you decided not to tell me about it? - And I didn’t hide it. Just why extra attention to yourself? There was silence in the room. - Listen... - Sukuna, don't- - LET ME FINISH. ◇ Uraume had no options.

◇Every drug dealer needs his own "sportik" (This is what we call those who punish or kill people who hide drugs). Well, you understand, right...?

◇Well, that’s how it started to spin and spin. Moreover, it was Sukuna who opened the doors to the darkest places. Accordingly, he himself stood up very quickly, and even the dog would not dare to growl. Hello, black market. The only problem is hiding all this from the police + there is not enough imagination on how to launder the money, but the business itself is going well and wonderful. Sukuna also managed to be a hired killer in the dark spaces. He lives a very happy life, he likes it. Finally able to use fighting skills. Hooray.

◇ Sukuna once even showed interest in “cooking” while watching Uraume. You will be shocked, but he does a great job. Wow.

◇Well, not really. It seems to me that Sukuna is either a pure humanist, or with an admixture of biology and chemistry (everything was reinforced there along the way). But algebra, geometry, physics - well, no. I was ready to fight to the death with one guy from the faculty of Physics and Mathematics, because they stood and proved what is generally more important in life. I think his name was Gojo...I don't know.

◇ The only thing he can do from this is count money and interest.

◇The same person who will walk into the room, be silent for 5 minutes, and then sigh and “I, you know, what I think...”. He will tell you the whole course of philosophy, and then he will also express his opinion. I advise you to remain silent, not breathe loudly and listen carefully.

◇Law of the universe: if Sukuna is nearby, then with a 99% probability something will fall, break... Or maybe someone...

◇ Law of the universe: if Sukuna is nearby, then with a 99% probability something will fall, break, or break. Or maybe someone..

◇MAKE IT TO THE HIGH FASHION! He really knows how to dress with taste. You can’t tell from him, since Sukuna, like Tyler Durden, destroys everything, but he still understands art, aesthetics and style. And you will find out this in a completely unexpected way.

◇“Combining green and yellow in the interior? What squalor...”

“Mmm... Like Baroque”

◇Prefers dark and deep colors: black, burgundy, red, emerald, purple, ocher, etc.

◇ He loves Japanese painting on clothes, although most often he wears plain ones. But he has one or two kimonos. How is this painting technique... Yuzen?

◇Despite the fact that he has large hands and fingers, he has well-developed fine motor skills (a useful skill))

◇Doesn’t go to the GYM and makes fun of those who go there. Real men should knock out brains and teeth! (He just somehow saw that Gojo and Yuji’s change were going to the gym. That’s where it came from)

◇He, of course, could become some kind of powerlifter, since his physical capabilities allows it, but he doesn’t want to. Does he even want anything other than to kill and ruin the lives of others? (NO)

◇He met Kenjaku through Uraume

◇Sukuna calls Kenjaku a freak and a pervert (f*cked, to be more precise) because of his strange humor (Believe me, Sukuna is not far off, like...Kenjaku jokes about necr0philia, and Sukuna about cannibalism)

◇ I sleep and see: two grandfathers are sitting and trying to tell jokes. Only Uraume is unfunny...

◇Sukuna has some problems with sleep, and it doesn’t matter whether he sleeps a lot or a little, 3 hours or 12. He often dozes. (Sleepy kitty)

◇ Head from school: Sukuna had no friends at all before college, and there’s no point in talking about friends. One against all, all against one. In the last year of study, he changed place of study because he almost threw a classmate out of the window, and he also received a concussion.

◇He hated team games. Do you get upset when you are accused of playing poorly and causing your team to lose? Pf. In the first few games, Sukuna deliberately threw the ball anywhere, and he himself took it away from his team, passing it to another. And it makes no difference which team.

◇ He was not respected, he was feared. And rightly so, they were afraid. He could really kill

◇In fact, his social skills are poorly developed, he simply does not consider it necessary. In college, he got involved with Uraume, and that was enough for him. Cosy.

◇By the way, according to the canon there is no wife or children, it’s the same story. We must pay tribute - he did not touch women, unless he killed them when it was necessary for “work”. Sukuna himself is a very attractive man, but 85% of women were afraid of him, the remaining 15% tried to somehow flirt with him, start communicating, but Sukuna 🤨❓️ then showed such contempt that these women developed complexes for the rest of their lives.

◇ He never took call women (prost|tute), he is above that. He generally has the vibe “woman, keep your hands to yourself”, “don’t embarrass yourself” ◇ He can respect you if:

A) You are very smart

B) You are very strong

C) A and B together

He will definitely praise you if he finds you something interesting about you and your business (unless you are Yuji)

◇You can challenge him, just don’t be too stubborn, keep silent again, otherwise your new accessory will become a crutch.

◇I remembered the phrase of one man: “It doesn’t matter whether you are a woman or a man, I will beat you the same way.” This is he.

◇HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE. This is a constant. Will never take responsibility for another person. The only thing he will do is solve Uraume's problems, or just see how people cope. Independence is the key to a good relationship with Sukuna.

◇Content is content, but let's be honest, according to the canon, Sukuna is a very selective frame. This one is boring and not interesting, but this one is weak, and this one is annoying. In general, you won't please. I don't believe that Sukuna could fall in love with someone at all. It's amazing how most of the people here portray him in fanfiction. Well, he wouldn’t start this “subdue and rule” thing, he would immediately take your head off your shoulders. You should be on an equal footing with him, if not superior. Of course, he will fight for dominance, but he definitely values both physical and mental strength. In this regard, absolutely adequate and objective. The most important thing is to have something to praise for. And when someone crawl on their knees in front of him...Why the hell do you doing, you rag? We figured it out.

◇ At one time he used headphones very often, almost 24/7. Moreover, he turned it on purely for the background, without any purpose.

◇In general, he has no goals, only a path. And he does the right thing.

◇Frequent periods of “I don’t want anything, I won’t do anything.”

◇He has 2 states: either he does nothing AT ALL, sits on his ass, or he is a nightmare to everything and everyone.

◇He knows how to speak civilly, but only during some important negotiations. He himself is taciturn, sometimes he makes some obscene remarks. But once every few months he can give out some beautiful poetic remark. You hit the jackpot (“Moonlight helps me to see better how pathetic you are.” Oh, what a romantic)

◇He doesn’t like sweets, but it seems to me that he would like oriental sweets..Turkish delight)

◇A fan of Japanese and Kazakh food

◇He smells of "oldspice", heavy cologne, tobacco and sweat.

◇If he were an animal, he would definitely be a tiger. One big cat. Predatory, but with grace. Just like that.

◇He rarely responds to messages, but if he does, he gives out such a bunch of text, just so that you get tired of reading it all. He writes very quickly. But then again, in real life he's just quiet and grumpy.

◇A bunch of bad habits. It’s just one bad habit (but we’re not going to give it up, right?)

◇Gege Akutami once mentioned that he liked the performance of K-POP group MAMAMOO, in particular, Hwasa was the main shock. In short, if Yuji likes Jennifer Lawrence, then Sukune’s fatal luxury is Hwasa (I just really love this woman myself). He doesn’t listen to K-pop, he just likes her (hips don’t lie, friends..)

◇He would listen to either rock/heavy metal. I can also bet on darkwave, experimental, or maybe something with traditional Japanese motifs. Or maybe even a classic. Who knows..

◇He constantly carries all sorts of chewing gum with him.

◇It seems to me that he is one of those very people to whom you will say: “I went *somewhere*”, will not glance at you, and will remain sitting on the sofa. But after 30 minutes of your journey you will feel that something is wrong..(he is trailing behind you). Cause? He's bored.

◇ His main mission in life is to scare people until their hearts stop. No, just imagine: you’re standing in the kitchen, not bothering anyone, and suddenly a 2-meter big guy squints and slowly picks up a knife. And then he begins to walk towards you with a medium step. Your actions? (Spoiler: subway surf begins) And for realism, it will even leave a cut on your back. <33333 I luv this man sm

◇He clearly has some kind of jokes with physical contact. Pinches, pokes. Bruises are guaranteed.

◇110% organized all sorts of underground fight clubs.

That's all. The fantasy is over. I caught the cringe and laughed. It was fun and enjoyable.

Thanks

[estcsy]

things about the sullys in my dr ( > < )

jake sully

- he has nickname for are the girls in the family

- so neytiri is my love, kiri is baby girl, I’m princess, and tuk is either baby or sweetheart

- I have he stressed out like sometimes I see something cool I’m like “wow :D” and I start walking towards it and while I’m talking the second step of walking away he picks me up and puts me back where I was

- when me and the other kids are messing around when we probably shouldn’t be gives us the look and we immediately stop

- he’s the kind of dad that if we’re loud and having fun he goes “STOP FIGHTING”

- when him and neytiri fight he connects their tsaheylu and I think that’s so cute

- on our way to the metkayina clan I was with him on his banshee and when it started storming that was actually so scary and he noticed and he laid my head on his shoulder and told me it was okay #dadjakesully for the win 💪🏼

- when we were having dinner our first night with the metkayina clan and he was eating the fruit his eyes went really wide and he went “wow :0”

- he really loved the food tho he got three bowls

- he snores so loud

- he does NOT let me hold a gun EVER

- and one time I asked “will I ever shoot it” and he said “absolutely not”

- when I was like 10 years old I was as in a wrestling competition and I won and jake yelled “SHE’S HER DADDY’S DAUGHTER”

neytiri

- she said she always wanted kids so she could do their hair

- and yes she does do our hair :D

- hair with neytiri is one of two things, either 1. she is very loving with it or 2. it’s “WHY ARE YOU CRYING”

- she will not speak to jake when she’s mad at him

- when she says to be back by 8:00pm she means 8:00pm not 8:03pm

- when jake snores she goes “jake everyone can hear your snores”

- she gets baby fever a lot

- she was holding this lady’s baby from the metkayina clan and she went “I want another one ☹️” and jake immediately got flustered

- then me and the rest of the kids were messing around and she said “I take it back I don’t want more”

- she lovesss nature

- she does not mess around when her children are hurt

- she gets nervous when I hold something fragile

- when lo’ak takes his hair out of the braids she washes his hair because she doesn’t trust that he will do it well

neteyam

- very responsible

- I trust him with literally everything

- he would go to war for sausage

- he has a habit it looking behind him and I’m assuming it’s to check on us

- I think him and this one girl at home tree had a thing going on before we left

- he is a very hydrated person

- that boy is FULL of dad jokes

- he falls asleep really fast poor dude is exhausted at the end of the day

- he collects flowers to give them to neytiri

- I think modern day neteyam would be the only friend with a license

kiri

- her habit is rolling her eyes HA

- she’s been going through it since we made it to the metkayina clan

- she misses her manz she just won’t admit it

- her hair is very soft and fluffy

- she would listen to sza I know she would

- the guy said my head is funny 💔 and then kiri told him to be quiet she has my back

- she’s actually very good at making omatikayan jewelry :D

- and she can knit very well

- she’s like snow white animals really like her

lo’ak

- he’s scared of butterflies

- just bugs in general

- he screams for me or lo’ak to kill it

- “NETE ITS CRAWLING FUCK”

- then mister jake told him to watch his mouth

- dude is a carnivore he loves meat

- he just like disappears every once in a while and I’m assumed he’s swinging through the trees because he really liked doing that

- normally he falls asleep the last

- when I’m happy he goes “why are you so happy 🤨”

- knitting is not his specialty like krir tried teaching him and he just ended up getting himself tangled in it

- he’s the biggest baby when getting his hair done like screaming and everything

tuk

- I know I already said this but she would love bubblegum kpop so much like love bomb??? yeah that’s her song

- she sleeps in a little ball

- she loves being thrown in the air

- it’s so funny when she tells on lo’ak and spider it brings me so much joy and laughter

- she does not like the dark, mean people, and a vegetable called potikla

- she is sneaky about it she will pretend like she ate it but actually it’s in her other hand and she’s gonna hide it somewhere else when she’s done eating

- neytiri and jake cannot say no to her

- I call her tuktuk and she really likes it (then everyone else started calling her tuktuk I know I’m a genius 🧍🏻‍♀️)

- she said I’m her favorite because I don’t get her in trouble for not eating her potikla but I don’t eat it either she’s right it’s nasty but then we both get in trouble

[writersmorgue]

Fic that came to me in a dream (that I may or may not write eventually who knows) where Deku (2nd year - no war au) gets hit by a quirk that knocks him unconscious and makes him unusually brave and clear headed for 24 hours after waking with a short lived migraine.. he suddenly knows exactly what he wants/has been missing and is brave enough to go after it. So he walks right up to Kacchan, grabs him by the wrist with a low "we need to talk" and drags him out to stand beneath a sakura tree and confess. It works out immediately to his surprise - no fighting, no posturing, no misunderstandings. Just Kacchan standing there with wide eyes and pink cheeks in stunned silence for a few seconds before lunging toward him to grab his face and kiss him! They're attached at the hip through the rest of school, tie for second top marks right behind Momo, get an apartment together after graduation, immediately register together as a hero duo and take the charts by storm.. they toy with the idea of opening their own agency but ultimately decide it's too much paperwork and they're fine having a boss if they can focus on the actual hero work and each other.. Kacchan proposes at the hero gala when they break the top 10 and all of Japan loses their minds.. when they're number 7 and 8 they're part of a rescue team up very similar to Eri's, and there are 2 traumatized toddlers with no next of kin that imprint on them like ducklings, so they make the difficult decision to foster them just like Aizawa did for Eri. And just like Aizawa, they end up adopting them when they still have custody 2 years later. It's slowed their climb toward number 1, but neither of them really mind. They have a family now! They're both so so happy! They buy a house closer to the neighborhood they grew up in, get a dog, get comfortable at 10 and 11 on the charts, celebrate with the rest of Japan when Mirio takes the number 1 spot, cry together at All Might's funeral, cry again when Kiri and Mina welcome their first baby to the world and ask them to be the god parents, watch Kota and Eri and Maharo and Katsuma all graduate.. they're walking home hand in hand after their oldest's middle school graduation and had just decided to stop for ice cream when his heart stops - someone he's thought he's seen from the corner of his eye a few times over the years is now standing right in front of him with a smug look despite the split lip and bags under their eyes - the same person who hit him with that quirk that helped him confess to Kacchan all those years ago. He can't move, can't even breathe, when they stride right up to him and tap him on the forehead. He has time to give Kacchan a panicked look and get confused concern in return before he crumples to the ground unconscious... and wakes up back in Recovery Girl's office in second year. There's a quietly relieved All Might sitting in the chair beside him, and a gruff teenaged Kacchan calling him a reckless idiot leaning against the wall by the door and he's hyperventilating immediately while he thinks about what this means.. he never adopted his children (he can still feel their hands in his and hear their muffled shouts of concern as he fell), never got married (he can feel his wedding band too, just as cold as the tears on his face), never broke the top 10 or celebrated any of his friends doing the same, never graduated, never had his first time with Kacchan, never even confessed to Kacchan.. he lost EVERYTHING in the blink of an eye and suddenly the migraine is back and the pain radiates down into his chest and he's screaming and he can see the panic in All Might and Kacchan's faces but he can't stop.

ANON PLS I'M BEGGING YOU IF YOU DON'T WRITE TRHIS I WILL,. OMFG. RTHEIUJYFG OJGJLHG I'M. NOT OKAY. OH GOD THIS WOULD BE AMAZING.

[sometimes-men-need-help-too]

Helpline for male domestic abuse victims struggles to cope amid pandemic surge

This was back in 2021 but I wanted to share it anyway

A helpline for male victims of domestic violence is struggling to cope with the volume of calls because of a 35 per cent spike in the numbers seeking help during the pandemic.

Men’s Aid Ireland says it dealt with about 5,500 contacts during 2020, a figure it projects will grow again to 9,000 this year based on a further surge in January and February.

Kathrina Bentley, the organisation's chief executive, said calls are also getting "more worrying and concerning" and their "seriously stretched" three part-time helpline staff are struggling to cope with demand.

“During the last week of January and first week of February, within 10 days we had five very serious suicide situations at the end of the phone,” she said.

“ We had to get Garda assistance for two of them, ring ahead to a hospital for a third and we talked the other two men down.”

The common thread in calls is an abusive relationship, in 95 per cent of cases involving a wife or female partner.

“Hitting me, kicking me, spitting on me, telling me I’m a useless father, telling me I’m crap, telling me I don’t bring in enough income,” she recounted the calls.

“One man said he sleeps in the spare room and his wife soaks his mattress during the day with cold water and leaves the windows open before he comes home from work. So he sleeps on the floor.

“There are pure emotional and psychological games, men who have no access to funds, their partners controlling their finances.”

Funding

Ms Bentley said the organisation sought and was refused funding for a 24/7 helpline from the State’s child and family agency Tusla, which she criticises for allocating 1 per cent of its domestic, sexual and gender based violence (DSGBV) funding to the service.

Along with the Men’s Development Network, it is one of just two Tusla-funded services dedicated to male victims.

Men’s Aid Ireland has €244,000 funding for its six staff operation this year, an increase of €5,000 on last year.

In January, about 600 men contacted the service, and at least 80 calls were missed because the helpline – which runs from 9am to 5pm on weekdays – can only deal with two callers at any one time.

“It is really worrying,” said Ms Bentley. “Every phone call, we can save or change a life, that is the frontline day to day reality of it. Our small organisation took on the war that is the pandemic of Covid, and the war that is the pandemic of violence, but we are in the trenches with no ammunition.”

Ms Bentley said callers include accountants, gardaí, politicians, doctors, gardeners, postmen, the military, tradesmen and the unemployed.

Some are on the minimum wage while others “live in multi-million euro houses and behind the front door is domestic violence”.

Many are victims of coercive control – “a silent, invisible pattern of abusive behaviour over time” – which she says is “catastrophic for families, children as well as men’s lives and their careers”.

Ages range from 19 to 83 years old, but particularly between 40 to 55.

“It is incredible for a man to have the courage to pick up the phone in the first place,” she said.

“How disappointing and heartbreaking it is when no-one answers that phone.”

‘Bad patch’

Citing a report by Cosc – The National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence – that shows one in seven men experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, and 95 per cent do not contact gardai, Ms Bentley suggested the numbers not seeking help could be as high as “a couple of hundred thousand”.

Ms Bentley said callers often don’t see themselves as victims of domestic abuse and hope it is a “bad patch” that will pass because they don’t want the family to break up. “When you ask them how long it has been going on for, and they say three to six years, well that’s not a bad patch in a relationship, that is an abusive relationship.”

In response to calls in a parliamentary question for a 24/7 national helpline, Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said the Government was currently carrying out an audit of DSGBV services.

There was no comment from Tusla.

[blackcat419]

How time skips fuck a story.

HotD has many time skips in the story, some help move the story along, some are there to fill time without showing anything, and some end up messing the story up by removing important character moments so the audience can only infer or be told about.

Time skip timeline

Episode 1: 9 year time skip between scenes 1 and 2. This is a good time skip as it establishes the past tension but doesn’t place major character moments or actions in the time skip.

Episode 2: 6 months pass between episode 1 and 2. This is an okay time skip as everything is kind of the same before and after with the only thing changing is the momentum for certain emotions. For example, Rhaenyra’s sadness over her mother’s death has lessened. The Velaryons are pushing for more power in the royal family. And Viserys has decided he will marry Alicent.

Episode 3: three year time skip. This is the first bad time skip. We miss the degradations of Rhaenyra and Alicent’s relationship, neither able to address Visery’s actions are talk about their own emotions about it. We also get Aegon being introduced, which should have been a major scene on its own. The male heir that Viserys destroyed his family for is here, and what do we get? Just, let’s go hunting! No politics plz! Alicent is also heavily pregnant with Helaena and we don’t know how she feels about this. Is she scared she’ll die? Will Viserys kill her for another male heir?

The only okay part of the time skip is the war in the step stoned because we know Daemon has joined with Corlys. Nothing has happen there that is of note.

Episode 4 & 5: a few months pass as Helaena is born (still no birth scene for Alicent to parallel Aemma, the last queen who died on that bed). And episode 5 follows right after.

Episode 6 & 7: 10 years. We get 4 new actors, 6 new kid characters with 2 new actors for Aegon and Helaena, and new relationship dynamics between multiple characters! We have Rhaenyra and Harwin having a whole relationship with three kids that they have to keep secret. Laenor and Qarl having a secret relationship. Laenor dealing with the grief of Jeoffrey’s death. Criston and Alicent’s new found friendship/romance. Laena and Daemon’s relationship. Alicent and Rhaenyra becoming political actors. The court gossip around the paternity of Rhaenyra’s sons. The relationship between the kids. The relationship between the kids and their dragons. Just to name a few.

This is a bad time skip because it jumps not only time, but character development. Time skips like this ruin shows. This is why Martin didn’t have a five year time skip in the books because there was story in those 5 years that couldn’t be glossed over or used in flash backs.

Episode 8, 9, & 10: a 6 year time skip. This time skip isn’t as horrendous as the 10 but still bad. All 6 kids age up, Aegon and Helaena are married and have kids, Aegon has become very depressed and an alcoholic, Aemond has become a great sword fighter with his disability. Both Luke and Jace know they are bastards and we don’t see them talk to their mom or really come to terms with it. Luke doesn’t have to deal with maiming Aemond. Rhaena doesn’t build a relationship with the strong boys while on dragon stone. We don’t see Baela build a relationship with Rhaenys.

This time skip ignores a lot of relationship building but doesn’t ruin much plot development. The only plot point I’d want to see more is Corlys and Rhaenys dealing with Laenor’s supposed death.

Time skips can be okay when they are used to age up characters, skip over training montages, or over periods of time where nothing is changing. Time skips are terrible when they skip over character beats and plot point. In a rush to get the setup for HotD done and move into the war, the creators brushed over character and plot moments in those 20 years that would help with the main war. I fear that this same theme will be used in the upcoming seasons to focus on action moments and ignore character moments.

[attackfish]

What are your headcanons for an AU in which Mai is Iroh's daughter?

1. So the first thing I have to do when constructing an au like this is determine what would be the default that this AU is deviating from, and from anon we know very little about Iroh's family. We know he has a son, lieuten, who is roughly 10 years older than his brother's oldest child, Zuko, and we can surmise from this that he must have had a female companion at some point. Since we don't ever see ozai questioning his nephew's legitimacy, and we all know he would, we can surmise that Lu Ten's mother was Iroh's wife. We also know that she has vanished before Zuko was around ten, and probably in fact disappeared before he was born, or at least while he was a very young child.

My sort of pet theory is that both Ozai and Lu Ten's births resulted in their mother's deaths, and I have in fact had some fun exploring how this particular parallel, and how Ozai, being the unfavorite because his father holds him responsible for killing a much-loved wife, might have feelings about Lu Ten, growing up the apple of his father's eye. But anyway, that can't really happen in this AU, or it could but it would involve a lot of extra complication of Iroh remarrying, and who would his new wife be. So instead, that place is taken by Mai. Mai's birth results in her mother's death. And much like Ozai, she is the younger child, with a significant gap whose birth killed her mother.

2. Mai is born the younger child of Iroh, crown prince of the Fire Nation. The pregnancy had been a surprise, after many years of they're only ever having been Lu Ten. Iroh and his wife went from shock to joy to anticipation, to relieve and joy at Mai's birth, and then a few days after the birth, fear, as the wife of the Crown Prince grew sick with childbed fever, and then, when her death left him alone, Iroh mourned. But Iroh is not alone in his grief. His father went through the same thing many years ago, and of course his eleven year old son grieves for his mother. But Iroh feels almost guilty for how little he mourns. His wife was a good wife and a good woman, but their match was arranged and they were always more friends and partners than lovers, and he misses her, but the grief never threatens to overwhelm him as it did his father all those years ago. And he loves his daughter very much.

3. Little Princess Mai grows up with a father and brother who love her very much, a grandfather who ignores her, an uncle whose lip curls whenever he sees her, and an aunt who warmly welcomes her to play with her own children, the other little prince and princess. It's a warm little jewel of a childhood, safe and happy. But then one day her father goes off to war and takes her brother with him. She is seven years old, and though she doesn't quite realize it yet, nothing will ever be the same again. She has seen her older brother for the last time, and when her father comes back he will be a different man.

4. Iroh held off going to war again after his daughter was born, but she's old enough now to go to school, to the Royal Fire Nation Academy for Girls, and her cousin is going with her, and the time has come he thinks, to go to war. So he leaves his daughter in the care of his father and his brother and his brother's wife, and her teachers and her friends, and goes off to conquer Ba Sing Se. And at first, Mai thinks that this might be okay. The first thing that happens when she goes to school, is that she meets another girl and makes friends with her. This is the first friend she's ever made.

5. But without Iroh there, with Azulon paying no attention to his Royal grandchildren at court, with only Ozai and Ursa watching over them, Azula starts to come into her own, and Mai soon finds her new friend stolen away from her.

[fic-recommended]

Drarry Fics

more to be added, if I feel like adding

—————————————

Grounds for Divorce - Tepre

(122,217 words / 10 chapters / Explicit)

Tags: Slow Burn, Pining, UST, Anal Sex, brief but all the same enthusiastic rimming, One (1) lemon tree, Accidental Bonding, And I mean like U! S! T!, Jealousy, Deals with Trauma, They both top at some pointron is a good friend, Draco is a Good Cook, Dubious Consent due to the Accidental Bonding, The actual SLOWEST burn, Hurt/Comfort, Have I mentioned UST? Cannot overstate this it's like A LOT, First there's frottage, And then there's more sex, Anal Fingering, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, and just a lot of sex, sex on a bed, sex in the shower, sex on the floor, Sex on a settee, In other news they go to Egypt, Teddy is a Small Bean, There is one (1) cat, and one (1) happy ending

Malfoy finds a coin. Harry finds a letter.

A story about histories, a story about families. A story about a lemon tree somewhere in Upper Egypt.

I- hmm. I don’t have words for this fic. It’s like staring at a sunset, tears streaning down your face and asked if you think it’s pretty. Anything you say about it couldn’t do it any justice. Read it. Enjoy the sunset. It’s the best you’re going to see.

Enjoying Yourself, Potter? - DragonGirl87

(10,352 / 1 chapter / Explicit)

Tags: Fluff and Smut, Shameless Smut, PWP without Porn, Surprise Ending

Malfoy walks in on Harry in the showers. Harry can’t seem to forget Malfoy’s face and most definitely not the three haunting words Malfoy uttered… – “Enjoying yourself, Potter?”

Would it really be one of my fic rec lists if there wasn’t a pure filth fanfic? I think not.

Any Instrument - dicta_contrion

(131,102 words / 22 chapters / Explicit)

Tags: HP: EWE, Post-Deathly Hallows, Slow Build, Mystery, Politics, Angst, mental health, Disability, Disability Management, Coming Out, Awkward First Times, Wandlore, Elder Wandlong walks, Magic, Kittens, Happy Ending

Draco Malfoy wouldn't go back to England for anything less than an exceptional case. Being asked to figure out why Harry Potter can't control his magic might be exceptional enough to qualify.

There is just somthin about Draco in this fic that slaps so hard. You know you’ll come to realise that I either recommend a filthy short smut or a very long slow burn fic that fucking destroys you and makes you believe in love at the same time. This fic is no different. Actually this fic is both. Doctor!Draco, intensive reaserch on wandlore (I’m pretty sure the author knows more the Ollivander), Harry being the people pleaser fuck that he is, Goyle is kinda baby?, 10/10 fic

Running on Air - eleventy7

(74,875 words / 17 chapters / Teen and Up)

Tags: Mystery, Drama, Friendship, Slow Burn, Romance

Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.

Oh my god. I’ve never read something so beautifully written in my entire life. The verse of this made me want to cry. I sent quote after quote to both my girlfriend and my bestfriend. I just needed them both to hear the beautiful things I was reading. It was so wonderful. I wish I could forget the fic so I could experience it again.

Never Grow A Wishbone - ShanaStoryteller

(123,690 words / 25 chapters / Teen and Up)

Tags: Post War, professor!draco, Professor!Harry, Draco pov, Slytherins Aren't Evil, War is Complicated, Language is cultural, Slow Build, No character bashing, Unreliable Narrator, VERY UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, HP: EWE, Monthly updates, Politics, mostly politics a little everything else, which isn't what i intended but it's what we got, realistic politics, or more realistic than fic usually has, which fills a lot of people with anger i guess

She almost smiles, and true alarm starts to build in his chest. “I’m afraid I’m not here for something so small. Professor Roberts has resigned.”

“Good,” Draco says honestly, “Would you like a list of suitable alternatives? I know a number of competent potions masters abroad, but then of course you’d have to hire another teacher to act as the Slytherin head. I’m afraid you’ve dried up all the half decent Slytherin Potions masters.”

“Not all of them,” she says quietly.

He blinks. She can’t be serious. “You can’t be serious.”

“Gravely,” she says, “Mr. Malfoy, I am not above begging.”

What the bloody fuck. “I don’t even like potions!”

~

Draco returns to Hogwarts.

He has a duty to his blood and his name and his house, and he will fulfill it.

This fic was insane to read. I remember texting my friends that it made my brain hurt. I feel like this fic is canon and it has effected every other piece of Harry Potter media I’ve consumed. Draco is being a pureblood and I agreed with him???? Fanfic made me a death eater??? This fic goes so hard for no reason and it’s a delight and a mind fuck. ShanaStoryteller out here making Harry Potter make more damn sense.

Tea and No Sympathy - who_la_hoop

(70,045 words / 11 chapters / Explicit)

Tags: Slow Build, Draco-centric, Tea Drinking, Swearing, Muggle London, Houses of Parliament, Malfoy Manor, flangst, Family Feels, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Coming Out, Heartfelt Conversations, Sarcastic Conversations, Owls, Competitive Card Games, Falling In Love, getting drunk, Enthusiastic Snogging, Hogwarts Castle, Sex In The Slytherin Dormitory, Frottage, Time Travel, Time Loop, HP: EWE

It's Potter's fault, of course, that Draco finds himself trapped in the same twenty-four-hour period, repeating itself over and over again. It's been nearly a year since the unpleasant business at Hogwarts, and Draco's getting on with his life quite nicely, thank you, until Harry sodding Potter steps in and ruins it all, just like always. At first, though, the time loop seems liberating. For the first time in his life, he can do anything, say anything, be anything, without consequence. But the more Draco repeats the day, the more he realises the uncomfortable truth: he's falling head over heels for the speccy git. And suddenly, the time loop feels like a trap. For how can he ever get Harry to love him back when time is, quite literally, against him?

Baby gorls!! My secret third favorite fanfic trope other then soulmate au and slow burn is TIME LOOP FICS. Draco having to come to terms with being a prick to my boy Harry while falling in love and also being an enigma in time???? Sign me the fuck uppp

[redgoldsparks]

July Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut.

How Far The Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

This collection of 10 essays weaves together memories and experiences of the author's real life with the rich and varied lives of sea creatures, from octopi, Chinese sturgeon, whales, sand strikers and immortal jellyfish to yeti crabs and more. My favorite part was learning about some deep sea creatures I had never heard of before, the kinds of beings that live in oases around thermal vents on the ocean floor and survive by chemo-synthesis. I loved a story about encountering a bloom of clear, gelatinous creatures known as salps flooding the water of Riis Beach, a historically queer hangout spot in New York. This book wrestles with heavy content- one essay deals with eating disorders and parental pressure to diet, another with sexual assault and blackout drinking. It's hard for me to judge the quality of these essays when my life has not been touched by these topics, but I appreciated the author's honesty and the thoughtful maritime metaphors.

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M Valente read by Karis Campbell

I listened to this 2 hour novella all in one afternoon. It's another spooky little fairy tale from a master of the genre, but if I tell you which one it's a remix of that would spoil the surprise. This wasn't deep or as original as some of Valente's work, but her writing is so vivid with flavors, sensations, smells, colors, I was thoroughly engaged the whole time.

Cry Wolf by Charlie Adhara read by Erik Bloomquist 

Human Cooper Dayton and his werewolf boyfriend Oliver Park are engaged and beginning to plan their wedding, which is stressing Cooper out- not least because his family, who he didn't talk to much for a couple years, are being very supportive and it's weirding him out. Also, the chaotic scientist who threatened to expose the werewolf community and then turned herself in to werewolf government asking for a deal is making vague threats about enemies Cooper doesn't even know about. Then a body is discovered at the DC zoo, a werewolf killed and frozen in a half transformed state- nothing that the werewolves have ever seen before. I am still very entertained by this series as a whole and glad I listened to all of them, but I did want a little more than this book delivered on mysterious enemy front. There was a conspiracy, but it wasn't as far reaching as I was lead to believe by the cliffhanger ending of book 4. However, if you are reading these books more for the spicy scenes and romantic plot line, you won't be disappointed.

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman 

What an ambitious and satisfying follow up to Seraphina! This book is much longer than the first one, and adds a ton of new elements and so many twists and turns. It opens with Seraphina, court musician of Goredd, setting out on a journey to find and recruit her fellow half-dragons to the war effort. The dragon society is being torn part by civil war, and some of the dragons will be coming to south to attack human settlements soon. Seraphina finds many new friends, but also encounters her oldest enemy- a half dragon who invaded her mind and attempted to control her as a girl. I really loved the way this book expanded the world and the various societies who live in it. It did a wonderful job of maintaining the pace and rising stakes over more than 600 pages; it also has a hinted at queer/poly relationship in the ending that really delighted me. I will definitely be reading more!

Eniale & Dewiela vol 1 by Kamome Shirahama

This series was pitched to me as "Good Omens with lesbians" but sadly I wouldn't say it lives up to that claim. It's by the same author as "Witch Hat Atelier" and it is just a beautifully drawn, but it's missing an emotional core to really hold the plot together. Each chapter is essentially a standalone story about a demon and angel who have been in petty conflict for millennia; the theft of a tube of lipstick or pair of earring will set of a battle that destroys half a city. One fun element is that the leads can both magically change their outfits, as well as grow and shrink their wings, at will; the looks are all so fun.

Eniale & Dewiela vol 2 by Kamome Shirahama

This comic is more visually beautiful than it is actually interesting to read. Eniale and Dewiela fight with each other over the soul of a child with a sick mother, then over a priest who feel in love with a criminal. One chapter is set in Japan and shows a conflict in which Japanese gods and spirits prove more powerful than Christian ones. I don't really have any emotional investment in any character or any story line but I'll probably read the last book in the series anyway.

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa read by Vico Ortiz 

Mar is transmasc nonbinary, a pirate, and a magic user who can control fire and ice. On their 16th birthday, disaster strikes the ship they live and work on with their father and a crew as close as family-a storm takes the crew, and El Diablo comes for Mar's father's soul. Somehow, Mar is spared and wakes up on a different ship, also crewed by pirates who steal from the Spanish and give food, weapons, and other supplies to those in the Caribbean islands fighting Spanish control. Mar strikes up a somewhat reluctant friendship with a boy their age on the ship, and refuses to the negotiate with a demonio who says they can help Mar free their father's soul. This story has a lot of fun elements, and the audiobook is expertly read by Vico Ortiz. But I didn't love this book as much as I wanted to. I found the first half quite slow, and overall felt like not quite enough happened to justify the length. I loved the nonbinary rep and the Spanish phrases in the dialogue, but wanted faster pacing and quicker reveals, especially of the demonio's motivations.

The Joy Luck Club (abridged) written and read by Amy Tan

I listened to the abridged version of the audiobook, which is read by the author, and only runs for 2.5 hours (the full book is 9 hours). This turns the full length novel into a much more concise novella of interlocking short stories, each one quite poetic and moving. I love reading books set in and around San Francisco, as are the scenes from this book which aren't set in China. The stories focus on four women, friends and mahjong partners, who met after immigrating to the Bay Area, and their daughters. The daughters are mostly in their mid-30s, at various stages of their careers and marriages, and at varying levels of close with their families and Chinese heritage. The mothers recount stories from their childhoods and their flight from war in the 1940s. I know I watched part of the movie adaption once, and maybe also read part of the full length novel in high school, because a few scenes felt so familiar while others sounded unfamiliar and new. I would like to pick up the full novel at some point, but I also really enjoyed hearing the dialogue in the author's own voice.

[supersabbatical2024]

5/3/24: Honorable Concubines

Friday, we met up with Amin, our guide, and he took us on the Classic Tour of Marrakesh, whatever that means. We wandered through the Pasha’s Palace which was built more than 1000 years ago. Lots of mosaic tiles everywhere, in varying shades of greens, blues, and yellows. Amin said they made these colors from natural elements like mint, indigo, and turmeric. He said the different colors were symbolic of all the religions that used to exist together, and have done so throughout Moroccan history. Blue is for the Jewish religion, green is for muslim, and yellow is something else…you will have to ask Amin, who gave us some interesting lectures on pretty much everything:

Investment: Morocco has a future at the top of the list of global investment options. Amin says, “Africa is the next BIG opportunity…the world cup is coming here and developmt here is booming…!” #AminsInvestmentAdvice

Amin says that 80% of the economy in Marrakesh is directly or indirectly related to tourism, making it the prime spot for investment purposes, for “couple of reasons.” Amin always has multiple solid-sounding reasons for his proclamations. Sign me up!

1) Very good security: “you can get like, 10 years [in jail] for ONE cell phone [theft]…so those guys says, “no thank you!” And

2) Something about "so much development" and spending on infrastructure coming soon, for Olympics 2030, when Marrakesh will host. #AskAmin

Medicine: Here in Morocco, “we believe that the body can heal itself.” The problem with medicines is they “solve one problem and create 5 new problems.” Here in Morocco, we do something that keeps you healthy all the time…mixing honey lemon and ginger, and Amin takes it everyday, and never gets sick. #AskDrAmin

History: Amin told us the Pasha was appointed by the French government, but Morocco was a monarchy—the same family had been in charge since before the 1700’s (or maybe after). In any event the Pasha was appointed so the people really had no choice in the matter, and…I feel like I might have missed something during this part of the lecture. We had been standing in the same place for more than a half hour, and I sort of lost focus. I think Amin forgot he was supposed to be moving us throoough the palace…

This whole era reminded Claude of an old Candace Bergen movie, “The Wind and the Lion,” which was set in Morocco around 1910 or so, shortly before the first world war. Sean Connery played some sort of Berber leader (Berbers being the indigenous people living in Morocco at the time). So this Berber emir captures this woman in the desert, and uses her as a bargaining chip that was going to have some sort of global political consequence. That’s all I’ve got on that subject. While Claude was excited and engaged in this discussion earlier yesterday during Amin’s lecture, this evening he is deep in sabbatical relaxation mode. When asked for comment, Claude stated only that “The pasha was appointed by an occupying government and lived life in luxury.” When pressed for further information on the movie’s significance, he stated, “I don’t remember.” #DontAskVacationClaude

Philosophy: Amin also explained what life was like inside the palace and the life of the pasha’s concubines. Being chosen as one of the concubines was the "best thing a daughter could do for her family, an honorable path." The pasha brought new concubines in every month, and did favors for the families of the concubines, so they were all essentially lifted up in status. Amin commented, “…was relative good life…relative...”

Later at lunch, on a pretty terrace overlooking the bustling town, Mari, Claude and I had a bit of a philosophical discussion about the "relative" good life to which Amin was referring in that time. We all agreed that Amin had used an appropriate amount of hesitation in his voice when he said, “relative good life…” and we thought we had a pretty good understanding of what he was trying to convey:

On the One hand…to be selcted as a concubine to the pasha was the highest honor for a woman and her family, and conferred benefit and favors to the family.

On the OTHER hand…she had to become a sex slave.

But new concubines arrived monthly, and during her time as concubine, she received gifts and valued baubles, and her time was limited…because "when she got ugly" or old, new concubines would replace her, and she would be sent away to live a new life, financed by selling the gifts and baubles she received while serving the pasha…

SOoo, the daughter sacrificed herself and her life for her family, making her a woman of Honor, and she had VALUE, at a time when women were just property. Unfortunately her VALUE was equal to that of a couple of nice goats…

NOW, mind you, once she finished serving, she could go away and live a whole new life in another place…OF COURSE she could not go back home, having been tainted and now unmarriable. So she would take a new name and live far away from her friends or family or anyone she ever knew…

Amongst the LIMITED options available to her at the time, her path was...(you choose) ?

…a lucky one?

…confidence boosting, as a chosen beauty/body?

…self esteem building, as a family caretaker?

…the lesser of other available evils?

…shitty

In any event, back in this century, we took lots of pretty pics today--colorful tiles and ornate wooden ceilings (!) Amin continued our tour through an ancient university built in the 1500's, and some snazzy art galleries. We went to one gallery where we met up with Achmed, who showed us pics of Oprah and other celebs who ostensibly bought all kinds of chairs and "one of a kind" mirrors and tables and whatnot. Claude was moved to buy a pretty plate inlaid with mother of pearl. Then Amin marched us through an herb shop where we sampled the wonders of Argan oil, saffron lippy stuff, and eucalyptus--really cleared out all of our sinus passages!

[killian-whump]

Okay... I paid the $5 and watched the video, because I’ve been pretty good this year and it’s still kinda Christmas time, so it’s a gift to myself.

~ Give Yourself the Gift of Colin O’Donoghue ~

He’s free to use that, you know, as a slogan or tagline. I won’t charge him or anything. Have your people call my people, Colin. We’ll work it out.

I’m kidding. I don’t have any people. I’m not sure he does, either.

I paid the $5 and watched the video, and Colin’s adorable as always.

That’s pretty much all you get for your $5, lol. Adorable Colin on a webcam for about 10 minutes talking about exactly what you’d expect him to be talking about. I can’t really say if this one’s worth $5 or not. Like, you definitely won’t be missing out on anything important if you don’t (especially since I’m spilling the deets, anyway), but it IS a nice little taste of Colin if you do. Especially since we’ve been starved of him lately. And he’s in good form, making cute little jokes and teasing and being his usual adorable self.

Honestly, I don’t regret spending the $5. I enjoyed it.

MIND YOU: If you do decide to pay for this content, DO NOT pay for it TODAY. Wait a few hours until it’s officially Jan 1 everywhere, and THEN pay for it. Patreon doesn’t go by monthly increments - it goes by calendar months. So by subscribing on Dec. 31, I essentially paid $5 for 4 hours of access to Josh’s content - and they were prepped to re-charge me on Jan. 1! So if you wait a couple hours, you’ll get access to this video - and be able to peruse the rest of Josh’s content for a few weeks, if you want to. Just don’t forget to cancel!! Subscription services are almost always a scheme to get folks to sign up and then forget to cancel - and Patreon’s no different. A good chunk of the money made by sites like that comes from people who don’t even remember they’re paying them, and the system is designed to facilitate that!

But enough about that. Let’s talk about the video.

They joked about Colin’s status as the 2022 (and 2021, Colin was quick to point out) Game Night Champion, and how that was clearly the highlight of his year. Colin expects to maintain this status in 2023, because he’s him and

Josh asked him about his year, and they talked about Luck and The Sync Report and Colin playing live music a bit lately. He did an adorable leprechaun giggle, which is probably worth $5 alone if you’re into that sort of thing. He said he’s been talking to some people about maybe doing an EP or something, but then quickly added it might just be for himself, or maybe not, or... Usual Colin evasiveness kicked in and bushes were beaten around.

Speaking of Colin evasiveness... Josh asked if he’d be back in the states any time soon or ever again and Colin said he’d be coming back to the West Coast in a few weeks - and 100% had his “Wouldn’t you all like to know whyyyyy?” face on the whole time, so HE’S UP TO SOMETHING. Or he wants us to think he’s up to something. You never can tell with Colin O’Donoghues. They’re wily little boogerbutts 😂

~ Give Your Fans the Gift of Vagueness ~

That’s another freebie for you, Colin. I’m full of them. I could set you up with slogans for the rest of your career, buddy, and all for NO CHARGE!

Colin talked a bit about his kids. He’s watching Andor (Star Wars series) with his son and both of his kids have seen and enjoyed Luck and Trollhunters. Evan’s seen some of Once, and even saw some of it back when they were doing it, but Millie is still a little young for it, he thinks. Oh, and some kid shouted, “You Captain Hook??” out the elementary school window at him, apparently 😂

Colin shared his New Years plans. He had some family and friends over for a small gathering, and he made a bunch of pizzas, and was about to put the kids to bed because “it’s drinking time” 😂 Although I’m pretty sure it was already drinking time, because he had a half-empty beer with him when he first came on, and he immediately asked Josh if they were doing a round. You can’t fool me, Colin O’Donoghue. Them sheets was already on the clothesline, son.

Anyway, I hope he got completely hammered and had a great time ❤️

[kirakiwiwrites]

My top 10 fics . . . (according to A03)

Thanks to @bitbybitwrites for tagging me in this challenge! ☺️

Rules: List your "top 10" (or up to 10 if you haven't written that many) fics ranked by kudos on AO3. Are you surprised by what's most popular to your readers? Then, under a cut, provide your ranking of your personal top 10 fics (with explanations if you want!), and then tag a few fellow writers!

Tagging ( and only do this if you are interested and apologies if you've done this and I missed your post): @shame-is-a-wasted-emotion and @ericdooley

Top 10 according to readers:

1) Closer to You -145,303 words

2) Vicious -121,874 words

3) What Is This Feeling? -168,180 words

4) Lessons in Love -10,898 words

5) City Of Heartbreak -89,829 words

6) The Ten Year Dalton Reunion -7,405 words

7) Kurt Hummel and the Seven Warblers -50,462 words

8) Moonlight and Love Bites -58,213 words

9) It Takes Two To Tango -2,029 words

10) Make Food and War -6,759 words

I decided to just talk about the ones highest ranked since I don’t know how I would rank them lol. I only had one I didn’t love writing, but they each had things I liked and disliked. -K

Closer to You is the highest and it’s our first story to ever get over 100 kudos! We are still blown away by that. It’s probably due to biker, tattooed Blaine and daddy Kurt, but who knows lol. This idea had been on the list for awhile. We like to start with a trope or theme for a story and build it from there so for this one we had a bad boy Blaine, Kurt as a dad, a love triangle, and the setting as California. There are plenty of amazing fics with these themes out there, so we always try to do things a little differently and put our own little spin on things. We also love writing Cooper and love the Sam/Tina/Blaine friendship, so we used those relationships for this one. Writing Kit was really fun, especially deciding what would be his own little personality and what would be Finn-like. We wanted to show some elements of grief, like everyone around Finn but also how Cooper and Blaine grieved for the family they always wanted but never got. It was a very fun and emotional story to write and we were super glad everyone responded to it as well as they did.

Vicious is next! For this one, we wanted to do the skank/bad boy Kurt trope, a band fic, and have a Blaine with a dump truck of emotional baggage. We tried to use some different characters this time, namely the ones that might be most likely to be in a band with Kurt. We have favorites as you can probably tell, but we do try to switch things up occasionally. The idea originated with the song Vicious by Halestorm (a band I’ve been obsessed with for years) and how it would be perfect for Kurt if he had let all the bullying and such get to him. We also paid homage to a lot of the artists we have enjoyed for years. It all kind of came together after that. We wanted to explore found family, how Kurt and Burt would come back together if estranged, and Blaine fighting anxiety and abandonment issues. I’m proud this one is second because we worked very hard on it.

What Is This Feeling? being third is amazing because it was the second fanfic we ever wrote! We did a different writing style with first person point of view and wrote from lots of different character’s perspectives. It was so much fun and probably out of all the fics we have done, sticks as closest to canon. Blaine is a bit out of character, but it worked with the story. We also got to write Cooper as a parent which was fun. Wicked is my favorite musical and one of my sister’s absolute favorites too, so it was a no brainer to name it after the song. The themes for this one started as a rivals to lovers, the jock/cheerleader trope, and family. I believe it’s our longest one too. We just couldn’t stop writing!

Lessons In Love was a commissioned piece that was fun and challenging. We have done a few commissions and it’s always a lot of pressure to make sure we get things right! The person it was written for was so lovely and it’s such a good feeling when the person you wrote something for really likes it! The prompt was either Kurt or Blaine was famous, age gap (at least in college), or a soul mate fic. We decided to go with the first two and it all kind of flowed from there.

City of Heartbreak didn’t start out as a Klaine fic, but we were enjoying writing it so much that we turned it into one! For the tropes, we decided on coffee shop, piano bar, and a love triangle (sort of) We thought it would be interesting to have Kurt be the entertainer in the piano bar since we usually see Blaine in that role in other fics. Writing Kurt’s horrible ex was one of the first times we used an original character as a main character and we also got to write Blaine as having supportive parents. We like to do that when we get the opportunity because we always get a lot of appreciative comments. It’s always very nice when someone likes (or hates lol) a character you have made up yourself!

The Ten Year Dalton Reunion was another commission that was so fun to write! We wrote it for another lovely person and it was actually our first commission! We were extremely nervous about making sure we did a good job, but we just tried to have fun with it! Doing these types of commissions also allows us to interact with more people because as an introvert with anxiety, it’s hard to branch out sometimes. So it’s so nice to get to know more people in the fandom! We were asked for married Klaine going to Dalton for a ten year reunion, Niff, Warblers, etc. we know not everyone likes or gets Niff, but we have always liked them as a couple, especially as another gay couple to be friends with Klaine.

Kurt Hummel and The Seven Warblers was written so easily and came together so quickly. It was the first one I did the majority of writing on by myself, so the fact that it’s in the top ten is so amazing! I wanted to do a fairytale retelling and there were so many amazing ones out there, but when I had the idea for this one I hadn’t really found a Snow White fic I liked yet. We tried to make it unique and cute and it was so much fun to write. We put a whole lot of references in there from the original story and from the Disney movie.

Moonlight and Love Bites was our take on the vampire/werewolf trope and we had a lot of fun with it. There is a lot of those fics out there, but most of them are pretty angsty. There’s nothing wrong with that of course and we love several of them, but we wanted to do a cute fluffy schoolboy fic where they happened to be a werewolf and a vampire. We still have plans for a sequel (sorry to anyone who is still waiting on that 😅) that we hope to get out soon. We have been working on it, but it’s been a little difficult. The second part will focus on Klaine’s continuing relationship difficulties as they go to college. We just had our first fanart made from this story and we legit cried!

It Takes Two to Tango is next on the list and it’s just a very short one shot that we wrote from a Klaine group prompt! We love doing prompts when we can come up with a good idea and this one made us chuckle.

Make Food and War was another group prompt that we did. Rivals to lovers is one of our favorite tropes and we couldn’t resist dueling food trucks lol.

We would like to thank people for reading our fics and being so supportive! We appreciate this fandom so much and it truly is something that we can escape to when we need to relax. We have gotten to interact with some really amazing people through fanfic and we appreciate it so much. We are truly humbled that we have had the response we have. Much love A and K

[acertainmoshke]

WIP Intro: Cold Iron

So I decided to turn Cold Iron into a series. Which means I need to come up with more book names, yay! But basically Cold Iron is currently both the title of the first book and the series as a whole.

Book 1 takes place in 1956. Shakatra Zoawin and their chosen brother Kristoffer have been alive for 40 years. Well, for him it’s approximate, but they know their birthday and they just turned 40. Which really shouldn’t matter. I mean, it really shouldn’t. Physically they’re still 20 and they never cared much about time and age anyway. They’re happy to live in the half-finished empty subway station, sometimes going to the old abandoned motel instead. They pick fights with the Wild Fae that live down the track, make up silly games, sometimes save people from Fae trickery or their own foolishness. They’ve never needed anyone but each other. No one else accepts them as anything but monsters anyway.

Their life isn’t lonely. They are happy with Kris. They don’t like other people and have no desire at all to meet any. Kris is different. He sits and people watches sometimes, wondering what their lives are like or describing feelings of desire Shaka can’t relate to at all. Kris likes to talk in general, which is good because they really don’t. They can talk, sometimes, but mostly it’s too much trouble. This is greatly helped by the fact that Kris has a particular ability that almost makes up for his struggle with and disinterest in other magic: he has telepathy. He can’t read minds, but he can speak into your mind and with practice you can speak back silently. Shaka has had lots of practice. Most of their conversations are Kris talking and Shaka thinking back. And it doesn’t matter that he hates the feeling of doing magic because he’s big and strong and a physical fighter while Shaka’s magic is so powerful and instinctive they sometimes struggle to reign it in. Part of that is their excellent glamour ability. The two can almost pass for human at a glance now, and while Kris has some pretty impressive stealing abilities, Shaka can just ask for food and then convince the person they already paid.

Really, their life is everything they want it to be.

Except that they just turned 40, which made them realize that She must have too.

40 years ago, there was a baby named Cassandra Tapple who had 2 older brothers, Jon and Sam. That baby was loved until she was stolen and replaced with a monster. The monster was hated and hurt until they ran away, changed their name, tried to forget. But there was a baby who never hurt anyone and was stolen by the Fae, the ones who live in courts in another realm and have all the menace and cunning of the ones Shaka fights daily, but so much more power.

It’s not fair. They’ve never liked things that weren’t fair. That lady is 40 now and missed half her life. She could be married with her own family, she might have been a nurse in the war, she would wear the polka dot dresses and shiny heels Shaka sees everywhere now. So they make up their mind to go rescue this innocent lady, just set her free. Maybe steal her some money to start. Then they could move on and fully forget their past.

Getting to the realm of Faerie isn’t easy in itself. They have to track down and demand debts from a lot of specific and angry beings, and then go through a whole adventure to make it work. And it’s every bit as illogical and horrifying as they expected. It takes a bit to find the right place with only her name, but eventually they do.

Only she isn’t an exhausted and overworked 40-year-old lady. She’s a bouncy, sharp-tongued 10-year-old girl. It turns out that while some humans are put to work as servants, many of them are frozen as children to dress up and entertain with song and dance, serving food and smiling. They are carefully controlled and, despite being kept young, are rarely allowed to play as kids.

They try everything to set her free, while panicking about how they are barely able to care for themself, much less a kid. But they can’t leave her. She likes them but is also wild, impossible to keep track of or get to listen.

And nothing works. They try trickery, running away, and other plots. They know they aren’t powerful enough to fight. So they end up at negotiating. They give up a lot for it and still aren’t allowed to keep her.

But the Fae let them take her out on a short trip. And when they return, they give her a plastic horse (the child had no toys!) and negotiate to take her on vacations a couple times a decade. It’s something, at least.

General tag list: @blind-the-winds

[aajjks]

i’m back with yet ANOTHER dad JK ask!!

TC!dad!JK

jinseol ~ 12 yrs old

ae-cha ~ 10 yrs old

areum ~ 4 yrs old

jawon ~ 1 yr old (soon to be 2 yrs old)

as the days draw nearer and nearer for your husband’s deployment for war, your kids have been anxious for when the day comes. they’re each spending time with their father nearly everyday and it breaks your heart seeing your kids’ sad faces when they’re apart from him.

it’s no secret that jungkook will be at war soon and you’re kind of dreading just how long it will take for him to return because not only are you dealing with angsty concubines but angsty tweens too and 1 toddler.

speaking of your toddler (on a lighter note), he’s been driving you CRAZY. you’ve noticed that each of your children has a trademark per say. with jinseol, he was a moody baby and as he got older he became calmer. ae-cha is 100% like her father and wields his heartburning passion. areum is 50/50 between the two of you. while she’s mostly easygoing like you, she’s possessive like her father and STILL dislikes when his attention isn’t on her.

now jawon…he’s…

granted, he is a toddler. still a fresh baby trying to tackle the world but ever since he learned how to walk, he learned how to run and ever since he learned how to run, he learned how to climb and that’s where the problem is. he loves climbing waaaaay too much.

with miriam still missing, which you’re trying to get to the bottom of, you’re not comfortable with just anyone watching your babies. after a certain incident.

what’s the incident you ask? okay. picture this…

autumn is approaching in goryeo, so the leaves are turning from its earthly green to a sunset orange and yellow. it’s a little chillier and you’ve been very busy lately and so has jungkook.

as you’re walking past with the concubines following suit, you hear a loud thud a few rooms down but you don’t think anything of it until you hear crying. YOUR baby crying to be specific.

you immediately are rushing to the room jawon is in and when you get there jungkook is surprisingly already there caressing your toddler’s head and berating the maid.

“what happened?!” you yell at the maid, ready to curse out the poor maid who looked stressed out and defeated. “he-he kept climbing on the table and next thing i know, he jumps off of it! i-i told him not to. please! i never intended to hurt the prince intentionally! he j-just kept climbing an-and” the poor girl just keeps sniffling and begging jungkook to not kill her.

with a sigh, you shockingly dismiss the poor girl and instead of scolding her you scold your toddler which jungkook is confused by.

“i mean, he climbs a lot, jungkook. jawon has to learn to not climb stuff and jump off like he’s tall” you say. “i know he’s little but” you shrug your shoulders “it’s kind of his fault”

“daddy” whines your baby boy who is now sporting a bright red knot on his head. he cuddles against jungkook and once jawon calms down he puts him down. jawon wanders around the room before climbing up on the table again and prepares to jump “JEON JAWON!!!” you yell and jungkook quickly catches the 1 year old who is just laughing at both of y’alls panicked expression.

“see what i mean?! he just doesn’t know when to quit!”

~🫧

Jungkook finally breathes a sigh of relief as he catches his son, as he cuddles the wiggling baby in his embrace, he looks at you

“Yn.. he’s literally just an old OK?” Shift his attention back to the baby and starts giggling with him, making him laugh and tickling him.

Looks like his anger has calmed down.

His children and you make him really happy. “ he’s just curious and he’s just a conqueror, like me” him, and Jawon look very alike, even though he’s got your eyes, but anyone can tell that he’s jungkooks Son.

“ so tell me, what are the children doing?” he ask you while standing there and still playing with the toddler.

“ you know I was thinking that we should do something together as a family before I go to war… or maybe we two spend some time together it’s been a while and I miss you.” he doesn’t waste time to let you know that he’s actually horny.

The king looks up at you and smirks at you.

“ come on you can’t say no you know.. what do you say after we hang out with our children..”

[wheelercore]

I'm not sure how my much inspo the duffers took from Prisoners (2013) or to what extent they borrowed details from the movie to the show but... The overall ideas are pretty interesting.

#1 being that Holly Jones specifically kidnapped children from religious families to make them lose their faith (to "wage a war on god") after her own son died of cancer. The Creels were heavily implied to be a religious family (at least Victor was), with Henry was possibly influenced by the mindflayer/taken by Brenner. Henry's character could also been possibly influenced by Holly himself as Henry's monologue to El about "unnatural structures" and human "order" could be him referencing religiousity- Christian moral structures to be extact. However where Henry got those ideas considering he's been locked in a lab since he was 12 is suspect. The Byers arent shown to be particularly religious but Will's kidnapping by the UD (the MF? Henry? Demogorgon?) is 100% inspired by Anna and Joy's kidnapping in Prisoners so... Just in interesting thought.

Both Barbara and Will were taken, Will is confirmed gay and Barbara being queercoded. Henry parallels Will (whether Henry is queer is up in the air but personally I think there's some heavy ND coding there) and you have a pattern of "different" children from a christian small town similar to the one in Prisoners perhaps being contacted in some form or another by the UD.

Leading to the second point-

#2 the people who were most punished in the movie by law enforcement and the families (Keller fuck you for real) were those who were the most victimized by Holly Jones herself. Alex was kidnapped by Holly and his mental disability (he's a grown man at this point but is still mentally 10 years old) is caused by the trauma of his kidnapping. Bob was also kidnapped by Holly and escaped after 3 weeks, the after affects of his trauma making him recreate obsessively child abductions with details similar to his own. Both these characters clearly suffer from some sort of severe damage to their psyche because of what was done to them- as a result they look the most "suspicious" when the girls are taken by Holly. Alex is taken hostage by Keller (the father of one of the missing girls) and repeatedly beaten and tortured for information, Bob is taken into custody by the police where he later commits suicide.

It's clear to see the inspo for this is the idea that when Will was kidnapped much of the town was either under the impression that he was hatecrimed or kidnapped by another "queer" (Troy quoting his father and the disgusting association back then people made between gay men and pedophilia). An already vulnerable population (one that Will we learn belongs to) blamed for Will's own kidnapping.

It's also important to note that in the movie the police did look into sex offenders in the area, but nothing turned up. They most likely also suspected Alex and Bob themselves to be of that sort, the plot twist of the movie being that it wasnt a kidnapping of that nature at all- it was Holly Jones driven by the desire to wage a war against God and turn families like hers against faith. To me, that adds a much more interest twist to the (contentious) SA allegories in ST- especially since the movie was the initial inspo for the show.

Finally, I think this is the most important theme that ST picked up from this movie in all honesty:

#3 The Oppressive Cycles: Holly wanted to make other families grieve and turn into "demons" like she had when she lost her son (this is seen in Keller who goes onto abuse one of Holly's own victims unknowingly). Doing this she took Alex, one of her own traumatized victims, and made him take part in what was done to him by her. Holly says herself in the end that Alex never put a hand on any of the children, only brought them to her and she decided if they would "stay". Most likely Alex had no clear understand of what he was really doing despite taking part in the disappearences of 16 (?) children. He was being manipulated by her while actively being held hostage even if he didn't recognize it and this point is made clear as Holly tells Keller. This is one of the most important final moments of the movie- the moment when Keller realized he had became what Holly wanted him to become, a demon like her. He even went as far as to do on a smaller scale what she did: kidnap and hold hostage someone powerless to him. To add salt to the wound, it's the same person Holly victimized herself.

And it doesn't end with Keller. Detective Loki's violent questioning of Bob before Bob kills himself- Holly had turned them all into "demons" like herself like she wanted. They both end up victimizing someone vulnerable, someone "weird" and "different" because their truama (initially inflicted by Holly) made them suspicious to those who did not care to understand. Keller at some point even excuses himself by stating that he believes Alex is pretending to be disabled.

In the end, Keller is stuck physically in a hole Holly threw him in- metaphorically the hole he dug himself into- and he blows his daughters red emergency whistle to get detective Loki's attention. The movie ends there but it's implied that Loki saves him. It's Keller, after a whole movie of rejecting Loki and his advice, finally asking for someone, anyone, to help him. He will most likely be punished for what he's done to Alex, but he's accepting that responsibility.

The whole movie follows this idea of perpetuating what was done to you, all ending with Holly who decided that others like her had to feel the same grief she did. It's about not dealing with your pain, or being unable to because youre trapped, so lashing out seems like the only way to break out.

These cycles are so pertinent to ST. Billy Hargrove and his father. Henry's behavior recruiting those (like El) whom he believes is like himself and his plan to destroy the structures that have trapped him and failed him. I don't believe it's a conincidence that Holly explicitly wants to turn others into "demons" and that's the exact wording Henry used to describe himself.

Now do I believe that Henry is directly inspired by Holly Jones? Or is he inspired by one of her victims? It's iffy. It really depends on what will be revealed in s5.

[some-pers0n]

For the ask game: 1, 8, 10, 14, 23

Oh boy quite a lot. Let's do it.

1 - The Character Everyone Gets Wrong

For Wof no joke it's gotta be Qibli. So many people write him off as a goofy silly guy who thinks a lot and is really smart when honestly he's a massive overthinker with horrible social anxiety and uses a cocky and confident persona to a) cope and b) try to make friends. He's not a joke-spewing machine that can't read the room and stop when somebody is in distress.

For TF2 it's probably Saxton Hale. Yeah he's funny and cool, but he's not really a good boss like. at all. Not even a good person before the comics. He was characterized as a guy who liked hunting endangered animals and selling terrible and cheap weapons to keep the Gravel War going. It's 500% more funny when he's got jokes about how unions and workers rights are a nasty thorn in his side.

8 - Common Fandom Opinion Everyone is Wrong About

[Insert character] being a Mary Sue. Typically it's Glory or Moon. Glory is a victim of poor character writing and favouritism on Tui's part and Moon's entre character is reduced to a plot device. Those aren't Mary Sues but just poorly written characters in ways different than a Sue. Plus I also just Hate the term and would rather people like...elaborate more on what they say as opposed to using vague buzzwords.

For TF2 it's probably that Engie is boring, both in gameplay and lore. For starters, put on the Gunslinger and Rescue Ranger and stop turtling in the same spots every round. Secondly, Engie's personality is one of the most fascinating due to it kinda being a little cover up. Not even to mention his whole family. So cool and interesting....

10 - Worst Part of Fanon

Hmmmm,,,flanderization is always terrible. I hate it especially with Qinter stuff since a good chunk of it horribly misses the mark of who Qibli and Winter (and even by extension Moon) are and what makes them click. Their whole this is that they have a persona and I feel Qinter as a whole should be based on them putting aside their exaggerated personalities and finding solidarity and comfort within being around each other as their pure selves. This and also the infantalization of characters like Whiteout. All my homes hate that.

Same thing can be said for TF2. Me and my homies hate Nazi Medic. Medic likes his coworkers, he just is a bit silly like that.

14 - One Thing you See in Fics all the Time

For WoF, it's gotta be swearing. I literally don't know why it kinda irks me, but it feels weird when you're writing something serious and straight-forward while the dragon characters say the fuck word. Nothing against it, I just...I dunno.

For TF2 it's always the goddamn shoe-horned in racism/queerphobia. Please man I don't need you to get up on your soap box and tell me that the 60s wasn't good for queers and people of colour I'm trying to read Old Man Yaoi. It's especially annoying when certain characters (ex: Soldier) only exist to really fulfill the role of being the person who make it "period accurate" by including 12 extremely harmful and horrible slurs in every sentence they speak.

23 - Ship You've Unwillingly Come Around To

For WoF: Cleril somehow. The "Cleril is good :)" -> "Peril is toxic and this relationship will never work" -> "Cleril is good :)" pipeline is real. Peril HAS been getting help and is vastly improving. She is doing so incredibly well. She uses Clay as a moral compass, but she's aware of that and trying to change. It's not that bad of a ship ngl.

For TF2: Jagerbombs (Demo/Medic). I'm God's strongest aro/ace Medic enjoyer so I like them best as friends, but honestly they're just great together. Literally written up like 19k words of these morons. Never would've thought in a million years I'd do it (especially considering how I'm the No. 4 Science Party person ever) but they're just wonderful. Honestly like them better than HeavyMed– *gets shot*