#Another thing about this passage is as a person with an abusive mother

[bijoumikhawal]

Then I had a turning point: an encounter woth a rabbi named Paula Reimers who came to speak at Wesleyan. She claimed it was forbidden to imagine God as a mother, because the mother-God would love and forgive us too much. We would have no morality, and we would all become pagans. I knew from my reading that goddesses around the world had severe as well as nurturing attributes. I knew it was wrong to claim that a female God couldn't make laws. I knew it was wrong to say God couldn't appear as a woman. And I knew her dismissive words about religious traditions that revered goddesses were simplistic and bigoted. I was especially angry when [she] waxed eloquent about her personal experience of having God as a male lover. Why couldn't I have God/dess as a female lover?

The Hebrew Priestess pg 5

[whetstonefires]

So I was thinking about that passage where we hear about how Jiang Fengmian got so excited that Jiang Cheng was willing to be friends with Wei Wuxian that he hugged Wei Wuxian, and this broke 8-year-old Jiang Cheng's heart, because he loved to be held by his father, but his father almost never held him.

(Which led to Jiang Cheng kicking Wei Wuxian out and threatening to sic dogs on him, which made Wei Wuxian panic so badly he went and hid up a tree from these entirely hypothetical dogs, and Jiang Yanli went and found him, and then found Jiang Cheng in a hole and had to carry them both home, and their relationship was sealed by a mutual pact to hide the whole episode from both parents.)

Because the thing is, Jiang Cheng very much had something to be upset about! Wei Wuxian was a treasure and a joy to his father, something recovered beyond all hope, everything he could want in a disciple and the last remainder of the person or people he'd loved best.

And Jiang Cheng was a duty.

That was the entire reason for his existence: he was born out of his parents' obligation to produce a male heir for the Jiang.

Jiang Fengmian takes his duty seriously, but finds in it no joy, and that joylessness informed his relationship with his son at every turn.

And this is the same kind of tragedy as every other in this book. Because it's not that Jiang Cheng's father didn't love him, wasn't visibly fond of him; if there hadn't been this other person here he actually liked, the absence where he struggled to connect with him would have been felt, but it would have been less crushing.

...then, too, if his mother hadn't built that rivalry up the way she did, it would have hurt Jiang Cheng a lot less.

And been less of a thing! It's painfully obvious a lot of the aversion and distance between them is a product of Yu Ziyuan running in and screaming at her husband about how he's the worst and everything is about her at unpredictable intervals.

And of course, it's a lot harder to figure out how to compensate for your own partiality when you're also, simultaneously, trying to compensate for the partiality of another person who keeps insisting the only way to uphold the natural social order is to engage in systematic child abuse. The degree to which you cannot objectively handle a complex emotional situation while someone keeps yelling at you that you should do something morally repugnant or you're Bad cannot be overstated.

I really appreciate Yu Ziyuan as a character, but the heights of her incompetence and active malice as a parent are staggering.

But I was just reflecting on Jiang Fengmian's basic failure to grasp, right out the gate, that his eight year old was parched for affection and that giving more of it to someone else in front of him was going to hurt him. And I was like, haha that's only child behavior right there.

And then I was like. Holy shit. It is only child behavior! Like. Jiang Fengmian was an only child!

Like, duh, but that makes him a serious outlier! Most of the major characters in this story have siblings! It's an outrageously sibling-dynamic-driven book. Yu Ziyuan has at least two elder sisters, and could have any number of brothers or younger sisters--no shit she instinctively interpreted this situation through a lens of sibling rivalry!

Meanwhile that's going right over her husband's head because he's just like, okay going to vicariously live out my childhood fantasy where Changze got all the same advantages as me. 💖😊

[queersatanic]

So my mother seems to be confused when I talk about what is happening with y’all and the fight with TST. She knows about the other guy who is shorter and smaller who had the whole documentary surrounding him in Connecticut??? I think? I have short term memory and can’t get the details out correctly.

She knows they just want to be acknowledged as a religion in America but she doesn’t know about the Other Dude who is a neo fascist. Can you help me enlighten her?

So, both Cevin Soling ("Malcolm Jarry") and Doug Misicko ("Doug Mesner", "Lucien Greaves") are shitty but for their own reasons and in their own ways.

The original idea of The Satanic Temple was just another ironic, prank documentary project by Soling's Spectacle Films Inc. production company.

You can read about that history here or watch this video essay about the "cargo cult messiah" documentary project Soling pursued before and during the early years of TST to get an idea of the flavor of what they were going for.

Soling is a NYC landlord scion and also really hates public schools, which is the thing he's most known for under his own name rather than his TST pseudonym. Unsurprisingly, that interest has found its way into the Temple's activities, too.

If you need more background on "Lucien Greaves", these two articles go over that in detail with the second of them devoted to more examples and the first more to placing it all in context of the Temple and its history.

Finally, if you need some more help understanding The Satanic Temple's SLAPP action against us, this breakdown is meant to be brisk and cover the material for a lay person with links and court documents available for someone who would like all of the details.

[litcest]

"But, before I even begin to tell the story, let me just mention that, Hamlet’s obsession with his mother, Gertrude, is so strong that Freud himself linked their relationship with his Oedipus Complex (here’s another play I should write about, Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex)."

That is an absolutely beautiful thing to learn when a surprising amount of your personal vision of Arthuriana is based on The Once and Future King by T.H. White, in which the relationship between Mordred, King Arthur's tragic bastard, and Morgause/Morgawse, his mother and one of Arthur's half-sisters, is 100% a Freudian mess.

Honestly, I read that passage and immediately thought of this quote:

"People write tragedies in which fatal blondes betray their paramours to ruin, in which Cressidas, Cleopatras, Delilahs, and sometimes even naughty daughters like Jessica bring their lovers or their parents to distress: but these are not the heart of tragedy. They are fripperies to the soul of man. What does it matter if Antony did fall upon his sword? It only killed him. It is the mother's not the lover's lust that rots the mind. It is that which condemns the tragic character to his walking death. It is Jocasta, not Juliet, who dwells in the inner chamber. It is Gertrude, not the silly Ophelia, who sends Hamlet to his madness. The heart of tragedy does not lie in stealing or taking away. Any feather-pated girl can steal a heart. It lies in giving, in putting on, in adding, in smothering without the pillows. Desdemona robbed of life or honour is nothing to a Mordred, robbed of himself—his soul stolen, overlaid, wizened, while the mother-character lives in triumph, superfluously and with stifling love endowed on him, seemingly innocent of ill-intention."

Mordred's relationship with his mother in TOaFK is INCREDIBLY fucked-up and fascinating, btw. And as canon as it can go without ever being shown onscreen. After her death, even Arthur himself and one of Mordred's half-brothers, Gawain, eventually conclude and explicitly state that he must have been in love with her and jealous of Arthur for having had a one-night stand with her as a young man.

Although love may not be quite the right word for such a mess of emotional manipulation, psychological abuse, and obsession... not that Gawain and the rest of Mordred's half-brothers are that much better off in that respect, lol.

Nonie, I'm not gonna lie: I know nothing of Arturian myths except for what I learned in BBC's Merlin (which did have pretty incestuous vibes going all over the place). I'll definitively check The Once and Future King. Half-siblings canonically having sex and lot of submet between a mother and son? SIGN ME UP. Also seems like Mordred is another candidate to name the Oedipus Complex.

"It is the mother's not the lover's lust that rots the mind. It is that which condemns the tragic character to his walking death. It is Jocasta, not Juliet, who dwells in the inner chamber. It is Gertrude, not the silly Ophelia, who sends Hamlet to his madness."

I love this part of the quote, it's just beautiful and perfectly explain's the tragedy of Hamlet. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

[introvertedexhuastedpigeon]

book thoughts

milk fed is kind of weird but overall good. the chapters are really short and addictive which makes an easy read imo. it's about a bisexual jewish woman who deals with her ED and cuts contact with her highly critical and emotionally abusive mother. she navigates a relationship with a younger jewish woman who is the physical manifestation of the biggest fear behind her ED (in other words she fat). it also briefly touches on the Palestinian genocide. i think i went into more detail in one of my other posts.

a girl is a half-formed thing is a book that even after deliberating on for months, i still have mixed opinions about. because on the one hand it is innovative and creative and the writing style is unlike anything ive ever read before. it allows for a more intimate dive into the main character's psyche and inner world than would be achieved with traditional writing styles. but on the other... i felt like i was having a stroke when i first started reading. it's hard to get into. i found myself reading the same page twice or maybe thrice for about the first twenty pages of the book before i fully got into it. it was worth it, i'll admit that, but the hurdle is not something to be overlooked. another point of conflict for me was the role of her brother in the book. the blurb makes it seem like he'll have a larger role or that more of her story would centre around her experience as his sister (which is what initially drew me to the book) but this is simply not the case. her story is worth reading on its own, i just dont like the false advertising, and the fact that towards the end it was just so trauma heavy. it felt a bit much. i think what makes me so firm in my decision that this deserves 4.75 stars (out of 5) is the fact that i cant stop thinking about this book. the way it's worded is so utterly impactful. it's like the story is burned on my retinas. reading it was a transformative experience.

i want to die but i want to eat tteokbokki is one of the best book titles i have ever heard. in the first half of the book i couldnt help but feel like it was personally written for me. there were so many lines and paragraphs and passages and PAGES that i ended up highlighting. there are so many experiences that ive kept to myself because i didnt think anyone else would understand it or that i didnt know how to verbalise or maybe even admit to myself that this author has put into words. it's such a strange thing to have 22 years of experiences, battles, with your own mind kept quiet and hidden only to come across a book written by a stranger that so astutely holds up a mirror to your own face and shows you your own mind, fears and flaws better than you'd be able to. im using "you" a lot just to avoid the accusatory "i" but i hope my meaning is clear enough. if you're dealing with depression or anxiety, it may be of comfort to read this book. but towards the second half of the book i sort of lost interest and became disinterested in the book and author and the story. the last bit of the book also had a completely different structure to the rest of the book and that felt off.

[deerydear]

Something I've finally got a small foothold on, again, recently...

I started reading Steven Hassan's book about Combatting Cult Mind-Control.

In it, I was able to recognize the behaviours of some people I made friends with, recently...

....and yet, those people came as an answer to a prayer. I learned some interesting things from them.

The conundrum I started drumming up in the back of my mind was: "Do I burn it all down and start again?"

These were Christians. I learned things that were very useful, about self-control... and I also really enjoy Bible study. I like finding my footing in a parable. I like teasing out the different combinations of light --- how the same passage can have so many meanings. It really is food for the soul.

Before this, I had been involved in political groups that also acted in a cult-like manner.

I've been thinking about this on an expansive scale: not just "when I got inducted into this particular group", but my life before that... what made these groups so appealing to me? What had shaped my personality this way?

My mother, in her fear of the Catholic church. God bless her, because she had good intentions. Her dear friend had been abused by a priest.

"No, I'm not raising my children in this."

It started way before me.

...Then I think even longer...

I think about the crusades and the persecutions that forced people into becoming Christian. I think of how the priests had worked so hard to present themselves as an authority, someone who cannot be disagreed with, without pain of death. My mother told me of these sorts of things, when I was a child.

She decided that it was all meaningless mind-control: as if the sins of man define God.

Haughty... low-minded. Sad.

I think of Jesus' suffering on the cross, at the hands of human beings.

I expressed this to my mother. I told her my doubts. She said: "I'm glad you won't believe just anyone just because they start waving a bible around."

but then this.... human emotion springs up.

It sprung up in me, times before.

Matthew 13:24

I like Matthew 13. I recommend reading the entire chapter, but this little metaphor keeps coming up...

Isn't this a reflection of God's promise to never send another world-ending flood after us?

Genesis 9:8

I pray this prayer every day:

"Our Father, Who art in Heaven:

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts,

as we forgive those who debt against us.

[or: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.]

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

This is a promise to God, for us to try to think in the Ways that He thinks.

God won't burn the entire field down.

I shouldn't reject truth or good advice if it comes from the mouth of someone who has wronged me before.

It is important to be scrupulous and discerning.

Every person is like a field, in my eyes. They have a choice of what to tend to, within themselves. They have a choice of which plants to nurture. Free Will.

This was my mistake in my leaving behind of feminism, activism, even my normal life.

The types of people whom I met online had promised that I could burn with impunity.

"Who cares about the opinions of sexists, abusers, transphobes.... etc. etc. ?"

Any accusation can be warped to fill this void.

"I will always be justified in my anger, because I am a 21st century feminist."

So said the Nazis. So said many.

Key point: "Always".

Are you justified in your anger right now?

Maybe so.

Are you always justified in your anger?

Are you looking for reasons to get offended at someone, backtalk, backstab, be a bitch...?

Instead if just correcting them, giving them a new way to think about things and setting them on a better path in life...

That's my personal grievance against so many anti-trans radfems. BUT NOT ALL!

There are a lot of intelligent writers. It is all dependent upon your own personal cultivation and responsibility of your skills.

No one else can do it for you.

It doesn't matter what group you are a part of. Nothing guarantees that you are a good person. That is the basic human conundrum that everyone has to live with.

[aspoonofsugar]

What is your opinion about the Maidens in RWBY and their importance?

Hello anon!

I like the Maidens and especially how they explore two main ideas:

1) The concept of cycles and generations.

2) The trope of the chosen one.

THE CYCLE OF SEASONS

I think it is clear Ozpin created the Maidens partly because he wanted guardians and partly as a way to grieve his four daughters. He has symbolically dragged them into the cycle with him and Salem.

In a sense, the story keeps repeating. Salem kills Ozpin, he is reborn and his daughters are victims of the conflict between them.

Because of this, the four Maidens have become one of the many symbols of this endless cycle, which is clealry breaking its protagonists more and more.

This is well conveyed by the Maidens having a season theme. Seasons are in fact linked to the repetition of time aka one of Ozpin’s motifs:

At the same time, the idea of an older woman passing the torch to a younger one can be easily read as a metaphor for a mother-daughter dynamic. This is not always the case, but so far this interpretation is important for two of our four Maidens:

Penny receiving the Maiden’s powers from Fria is important on multiple levels and it plays on Penny alluding to Pinocchio. Fria (The Blue Fairy) recognizes Penny as a real girl, something she has been struggling with since the beginning:

Penny: Ruby... I'm not a real girl.

And is still struggling with:

Cinder: I don’t serve anyone. And you wouldn’t either, if you were built that way.

That said, Penny is not only struggling with enemies that consider her a robot, but also with the (understandable) overprotectiveness of people who love her:

Pietro: I lost you before. Are you asking me to go through that again? No. No. I want the chance to watch you live your life.

Penny: But dad… I am trying to.

She is not only a robot, who wants to prove she is a real girl, but also a daughter, who wants to grow into her own person.

This idea is made even stronger by Penny having been “created” through Pietro’s aura. She is a part of Pietro becoming someone completely different and independent from him. Still, isn’t it what all children are?

Raven is instead Penny’s opposite since she is not a daughter, but a mother. Not only that, but she is a mother, who fails three times.

She fails her biological daughter Yang by abandoning her and putting her in danger.

She fails Vernal, who dies for her.

She fails the previous Spring Maiden, who clearly looked up to her and was betrayed:

Cinder: Vernal was a decoy the whole time. The last Spring Maiden must've trusted you a great deal before she died. I bet that was a mistake...

This is well conveyed by Raven’s case being the opposite of what should ideally happen. Normally an older Maiden should pass her power to a younger girl, so that the cycle keeps going and that a new generation can keep fighting for good. However, Raven steals the powers of the Maiden for herself, just like she uses her shape-shifting ability for selfish objectives:

Ozpin: Everyone has a choice. The Branwens chose to accept their powers and the responsibilities that came with them. And later, one of them chose to abandon her duties in favor of her own self-interest.

She presents herself as a mentor for young women, but in the end she is a failure because she is too self-centered.

In conclusion, Rwby is both a coming of age story and a story that deals with cycles. Let’s think about the many abusive cycles in the story or the damaging cycles present in society, for example. All these cycles need to be broken and I would not be surprised if this will be the case for the cycle of the Maidens as well.

THE CHOSEN ONES

Up until now, the person who should be a Maiden never becomes one.

a) Pyrrha was destined to be the Fall Maiden, but Cinder stole the power.

b) Vernal is foreshadowed to be the Spring Maiden, but Raven turns out to be the real one.

c) Winter has been preparing herself to inherit the Winter’s Maiden’s role, but Penny is the one chosen by Fria.

Why is that so?

The story is clearly playing with the idea of the “chosen one” and asking some questions.

Are people chosen by destiny:

Cinder: It’s unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours.

Or do they choose it?

Red-Haired Woman: She understood that she had a responsibility… to try. I don’t think she would regret her choice, because a Huntress would understand that there really wasn’t a choice to make. And a Huntress is what she always wanted to be.

What if the chosen person is the wrong one?

Lionheart: She was determined, at first, when she inherited her powers, but the weight of responsibility proved to be too much for the child. She... ran. Abandoned her training, everyone. That was over a decade ago. There's no telling where she could be now.

Finally, is it even right to choose a person?

Weiss: Doesn't it bother you? He practically groomed your entire military career.

Winter: It did at first, when the General first proposed it to me. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw it as a privilege, a chance to do some real good for Atlas. For Remnant.

Weiss: But your destiny was chosen for you, without your input.

So far each Maiden has explored this concept in a different way. Moreover, the story has highlighted many problems with the method used by Ozpin and his allies to select their guardians.

First of all there is the machine used to transmit aura:

Ironwood: We've made... significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it.

Qrow: Capture it and cram it into something else. (gestures to Pyrrha as she takes a second to realize what that means) Or in your case ...

Pyrrha: (to Ironwood) That's...

Ironwood: Classified.

Pyrrha: ... wrong!

This method has been presented in-universe as sketchy and unethical both for the person who is having her aura taken and for the person receiving it.

It is also interesting that this machine is basically the technological equivalent of the Grimm used by Salem and Cinder to steal the powers in the first place:

One is the product of destruction (The Brother’s Grimms), while the other is the result of creation (in-universe technology is linked to creation). However, they both do essentially the same thing. They steal another person’s aura and change the one absorbing it:

Raven: You turned yourself into a monster just for power.

Secondly, there is the fact that so far several Maidens have died or have been targeted in horrible ways.

Some of them were specifically attacked because young and less experienced than others, like Amber. Some others made their choice without truly understanding it, like the Spring Maiden. And some of them. like Pyrrha, were not even given all the elements to make an informed choice.

In short:

Hazel: You send children to their deaths for a cause that you know has no victory, no end!

It is true that Hazel is a hypocrite that feels anger for Ozpin sending students to their deaths only to be the one killing them. It is also true that he does not respect his sister’s choice:

Oscar: Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?

Hazel: She was only a child! She wasn't ready!!

Oscar: She made a choice! A choice to put others before herself! So do I.

However, the narrative harshly criticizes Ozpin for not giving people all the information, “the knowledge”, they need to make that choice:

Yang: There was so much you hadn't told us! How could you think that was okay?!

Finally, we arrive at the current volumes where we see how Ironwood has tried to control Penny, Winter and Fria aka all the three people involved in the passage of the Maidens powers...only to fail miserably.

And in this failure probably lies the true mistake which has been made over and over again. The whole point is that probably the whole cycle (thematically) can’t and should not be controlled to this extent:

Goodwitch: At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed on to young women. But as time went on, it was discovered that the selection process was much more... intimate.

Pyrrha: ... Intimate?

Goodwitch: As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power.

The powers are passed from a person to another through emotions. It is not by chance that the last person in a Maiden’s mind is the one who gets the power. It is because the power is linked to emotions and to ties and you should not try to weaponize them.

MAIDENS AND RELICS

Finally each Maiden is clearly linked to the theme represented by her respective relic.

Pyrrha and Cinder are both linked to the idea of destiny and choosing. I have shared some thoughts on them here.

I would say that Cinder wants to be chosen. She wants to be special and to be given value. This is probably why she is serving Salem. It is because Salem has chosen her for an important role:

Salem: When I chose you as my vessel for the Maidens, I put my trust in you.

This is not positive. It is dehumanizing:

Salem: This game is not yours to win, Cinder, it’s mine. Just because you’re more valuable to me than a pawn, does not make you a player.

But Cinder sees this as a chance.

Pyrrha is instead a person, who chooses her own destiny:

Pyrrha: When I think of destiny, I don’t think of a predetermined fate you can’t escape. But rather… some sort of final goal, something you work towards your entire life.

In other words, Pyrrha has an active role in her own destiny, while Cinder so far has accepted it passively.

This might seem ironic because all in all Cinder has been a pretty active character. She was born as nothing and fought to free herself and to become more powerful. However, she is still leaving her own life in the hands of another person, who is specifically coded as an abusive mother-figure. It is probable that her arc will be about taking back the agency Salem is clearly stealing from her.

This might very well be why she is the Maiden of choice. It is because in the end she’ll make an active choice to get her own freedom back.

At the same time, Pyrrha being active in her choices still leads to her demise. This is because she represents a choice without knowledge, as I have stated in the meta linked above:

She had been explained only a fragment of the truth, while the whole point is that one should learn, meet creation and destruction and then make a choice. This is why we have yet to meet the relic of choice.

As a matter of fact it is clear that knowledge and choice are complementary, just like destruction and creation.

This is highlighted also by their respective relics. On one hand the Lamp offers knowledge of the past. On the other hand the Crown gives its user a vision of a future choice.

This is because one has to know the past to change the future:

Bartholomew Oobleck : History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it.

In a sense, knowledge is the passive condition of choice, while choice is the active goal of knowledge.

This is why one needs both to contribute to the world in the most effective way possible. If one acts without knowledge they might make the wrong choice. At the same time, knowledge without choice is just passiveness, as shown in The Indecisive King fairy tale.

Too much knowledge might lead to indeciveness or even cynism. This is why Raven is the Spring Maiden. It is because she is Pyrrha’s opposite aka knowledge without choice:

Yang: Which is it, mom? Are you merciful, or are you a survivor? Did you let me walk into that trap because you knew I could handle it, or because it meant you could get what you wanted?!

Raven keeps making decisions only to run away from them immediately after. Knowledge did not make her braver, but just a coward.

Finally we arrive to Penny and the idea of creation.

I have mentioned Penny in the meta linked above:

Penny is an artificial human, a creation who was given life because her father loved her so much that he sacrificed a part of his aura for her… twice. She is at the centre of the theme of creation and it represents the good sides of it. She is a creation with a soul, a child, the fruit of parental love. It is because of the love she received that she is willing to protect creation.

Penny is at the centre of the theme of creation in two ways.

a) She is a child, who wants independence.

b) She is a good declination of technology.

On one hand children are new lives that join the world. They are the embodyment of creation.

On the other hand technology is an expression of human creation and a way humans have to change and influence reality.

Penny is both. She is Pietro’s girl and a robot with a soul:

Pietro: When the General first challenged us to find the next breakthrough in defense technology, most of my colleagues pursued more obvious choices. I was one of the few who believed in looking inward for inspiration.

Ruby: You wanted a protector with a soul.

Pietro: I did. And when General Ironwood saw her, he did too. Much to my surprise, the Penny Project was chosen over all the other proposals.

Ironwood choosing Pietro’s project over others is very interesting and ambiguous. Did he choose this project because at the time he understood the importance of “a protector with a soul”?

Probably consciously yes, but the way he has treated Penny since volume 2 suggests also something different. It suggests a desire of domination. The idea that putting a soul into a metallic body would make it easier to control it.

After all:

Ironwood: For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint; how it works, what's it made of, how it can be used. We've made... significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it.

Each one of humanity’s gift has another side of itself. Knowledge can lead to fear and choice is linked to passivity/agency. When it comes to creation, this gift brings with itself the temptation of control.

Why shouldn’t a creator “own” theis creation? Why shouldn’t they be entitled to it? Why should they share it with the rest of the world?

If one looks at Ironwood, at Atlas and at the other protagonists of this volume this way, a lot of things resonate.

Atlas is the most technological advanced kingdom, but instead of sharing its resources it closes off. Ironwood’s embargo is just another declination of this same idea of losing control.

Similarly the Ace Ops and Winter are all repressing their emotions. They want perfect control over themselves. They are taught they should be like drones.

Technology itself is often misused by the characters. Technolofy should be like Penny. It should have humanity and a soul, but Ironwood likes it because he sees it as something logical that can be controlled (and of course he keeps losing control over it). Ironwood wants to become like he thinks Penny is aka a controllable soul. He fails to understand that Penny is special because she has her own free will.

Finally, this same desire of control is present also in familial relationship. It is not by chance that the Schnee Family is in Atlas. Weiss’s story has always been about exploring this specific idea of a family. A family, which is cold and controlling, just like ice. Weiss’s arc is about melting this ice, in herself first and now in others as well.

Technological control and the control of people. In short, the control over two aspects of creation. This is the the idea Atlas represents and this is why it is currently falling.

In short, the creation must be free and it is not by chance the world is in its current predicament because the Gods tried to control their creations with disastrous results.

CONCLUSION

These are my main thoughts on the Maidens so far. That said, they might chance since the story is far from over as the arcs of all the maidens we have met so far.

As a final note, I find interesting that so far none of our four protagonists is a Maiden. It is an interesting choice and I think that it lets the series make a good use of its ensemble cast.

That said, I wonder if our four protagonists will end up calling back the original Four Maidens instead.

The fairy tale is interesting on multiple levels.

In-universe, it is interesting because it tells us something about how Ozpin was probably inspired by the original Four Maidens to try to save the world again. Ozpin is inspired by four normal people, who are just trying their best to help others.

This is a recurring idea in Rwby and this might be why none of the four protagonists has been selected to be a Maiden yet.

If read as a stand-alone, the story is an interesting tale on how to overcome depression.

The story starts with the old man closed in his house and it shows how he progressively opens up until he himself is able to help others.

Winter is the one who teaches him how to work on his own interiority even when the world is cold.

Springs prepares the terrain for him to come out. It makes the garden more welcoming. It is like when a person has to find the right environment to open herself up.

Summer is the one who finally drags the man out and gives him energy.

Finally Fall is the one who makes the man realize he can now share his new found energy with others.

Theirs is a virtuous cycle and I would say it is very different of the tragic cycle that sees the current Maidens as protagonists. Who knows? Maybe it is about going back to that virtuosity.

Thank you for the ask!

[alliswell21]

Why do you think Peeta has said that he's going to take Annie if Finnick doesn't take care of her in MJ ? Also do you think Peeta has had an affair with Annie before joining Katniss in District 12 like some suspected ?

Hi Anon, thanks for the ask.

To answer the first question, there are several levels:

1) Peeta’s hijacking twisted his memories of Katniss and probably everything they went through in the arenas to the point his feelings for K were poisoned. He sees her as a threat and untrustworthy and dangerous and a liar. He’s led to believe she was either cheating on him or using him and leading him on… whatever it was, he doesn’t trust her and sees her as duplicitous girl who had him and Gale at the same time, and maybe in his mind is not too far of a stretch she’d had something with Finnick as well (that last one is a head canon of mine concerning this specific passage, because why else would he attack Finnick too if he didn’t think Finnick was part of the affairs? But I digress), so he is first of all acting like a scorned, self righteous, angry boy who was wronged by the girl he loves.

2) He IS his mother’s son, and he does have an angry streak. He’s very capable of lashing out and rage and throw stuff across the room like we saw in CF, which in my opinion, he was right to be angry then, not that it’s an excuse for him to break stuff that aren’t his— people, in the real world, a boy/girl/lover destroying your belongings or stuff in general in a fit of anger is VERY bad news, stay away! — Normally, it seems Peeta controls his anger pretty well and maybe because he’s got first hand experience with an abusive, volatile person, he tries to keep his temper under check (again, personal opinion), but seeing as he’s not in his right mind when the Annie comment happens, we can think he’s not bothering to keep his temper anymore, so he lashes out with his words, which as we all know, are his best weapon.

3) His intent is to HURT Katniss. But as I said under #1, his jab is for Finnick too, maybe because he’s jealous of him or in his mind Finnick might also be another rival, just like Gale. He also knows Finnick “betrayed” him by not telling them about the rebels’ plan and for leaving him behind. He probably knows by now how all most of the tributes in the Quarter Quell where trying to protect Him, in order to keep Katniss tether to the group until she could be broken out, yet, Peeta was disposable in big scheme of things, while Katniss was the importar piece, and Finnick was an active part of the whole thing, plus, he managed to be rescued as well, while Peeta and Johanna got left behind. I know this one is a bit of a stretch, but it comes to reason.

4) This isn’t really Peeta, but his “mutt” persona talking. He has been programmed to kill Katniss, cause her stress, maim her, disable her in any shape or form he can, so she can’t lead the rebels. This is the part that breaks my heart, really, because this right here, is where we can see how much of a piece in the Capitol’s game is become, and he’s unwittingly doing everything the Snow sent him to do, without him knowing it. The real Peeta never would’ve deliberately used Annie in such an objectifying way. She’s innocent in all the mess, yet he brings her in knowing what his words will do, and that’s just not Peeta’s nature at all, this is pure Capitol venom tuning through his veins.

Now, about your second question: No. there’s no indication Peeta had any contact with Annie while in the Capitol, outside that meeting Coin had with the Victors.

The idea that Peeta would’ve pursued an affair with Annie is very appalling to me 😡

First of all, Annie is dealing with whatever mental health issues she’s had for years, plus she’s grieving, newly widowed and pregnant to top it all off. She’s very much in love with her dead husband, and I totally doubt she would ever want to be with another man after what she’s been through. To think that Annie would’ve gone into an affair like that is just 😖 to me feels almost abusive to suggest Annie had an affair with a guy who left her so quick (a couple of months at best). She’s not emotionally or mentally able to engage in that stuff before Peeta went back to 12, and by the way he says that Dr Aurelius had only signed off on his leaving for 12, means he was eager to come back home.

Second of all, Peeta was undergoing mental health treatment while he was in the Capitol. Any Dr worth their salt would’ve advise his patient to steer away from romantic relationships until he was in a stable place mentally. Plus, we know Peeta was still very obsessed with Katniss during/after the hijacking.

So, there’s no way Annie and Peeta had an affair before he went back to 12. The idea is ludicrous, seeing how Annie is in no way ready for such a thing, and Peeta is just trying to get better as fast as he can to go back home to Katniss.

Hope that helps, and I’m sorry if I sound like I’m mad or anything… I’m not, but I just feel outraged on Annie’s behalf that people would just think to lump her into a relationship so carelessly like that.

[strideofpride]

Also bc I’m greedy gimme some dvd commentary on the time travel au:

Blair presses some more. “Do you…uh, remember the day I left him? What I told you?”

“Is that a trick question? Of course, I remember, it was one of the greatest days of my life. And nights.” He smirks again and Blair feels heat rise to her cheeks at the implication. “You told me that you must’ve had severe head trauma or something, because you couldn’t stop thinking about me, even when you were with him. You yelled at me that I had purposely sabotaged your relationship with my movie nights and my friendship and my dumb book, and then when I told you I hadn’t done any of it on purpose, I just wanted you to be happy, you kissed me. And uh…” Now Dan blushes. “I knew that I would never kiss anyone else ever again.”

Blair sits in that revelation for a moment. The story feels like her, like something she would say and do, and she’s self-aware enough to know it was typical for her to be in denial until the bitter end. But she still can’t really wrap her head around the fact that Dan is going to be the person she loves one day.

But then he takes her hand and looks her straight in the eye, saying, “Blair, I love you. I love you so much it hurts sometimes. And I made a promise that I would do whatever it takes to keep you happy and if it’ll make you unhappy to write about your relationship with your mother, I won’t do it. Okay?” And Blair maybe, sort of understands what her future self sees in him in that moment.

Blair nods. “Okay.” He cups her face and leans in to kiss her, but Blair is much more receptive than she was in the morning, kissing him back this time. He pulls away after several seconds, and the two get up and start clearing the table. They wash dishes together, her washing, him drying, just like that Christmas that was six months ago for her, but six years for him. It’s nice, Blair admits to herself. Being with him like this isn’t too horrible, she certainly could’ve done worse.

Okay, so here's where I have to preface this by saying I wrote this part of the fic over a full year ago, so my memory might be a little fuzzy...

But okay, so, this is what I would say is the first turning point for Blair. Keep in mind that Blair in this fic went to bed abused by one man she thought she loved and engaged to another. She's convinced herself that her and Dan are nothing more than friends. And now, she's woken up in a future where Chuck and Louis have no part in her life and she's married to Dan (not to mention she's missed out on five whole years), so she's more than a little confused and off balance for the first part of the fic. But this is when things start to change for her. It's no longer "how on Earth did I end up married to Dan, it's become...oh wait I can actually see how this might've happened."

This is a post 420 AU where Nate took out a restraining order against Chuck on Blair's behalf, so I kinda had to figure out a whole new way for Dair to get together. And that's the purpose of the first half of that passage really, just an exposition dump for both Blair and the reader. But also, yeah, I do think if Chuck wasn't in the picture, Blair would've fallen for Dan sooner and would've never gone through with the wedding to Louis.

And then that second half...I mean who is Dan Humphrey if not a man of words. And sweet, simple gestures. And like I said, this is the first moment where Blair goes "oh". And then I just wanted them to share a moment that was both domestic and already familiar to Blair, hence the washing dishes together again like in 411.

Yeah, this is definitely up there in fics I'm most proud of, second only to the [redacted] fic.

fic dvd commentary

[carynsilver]

Favorite Fics: Lamen/Captive Prince Edition

It’s time for another fic rec post--this time fics about Damen and Laurent from the fabulous Captive Prince trilogy by C.S. Pacat. If you have not read this series, I highly recommend it. Fair warning, it does have some tough stuff in it (cw: consent issues, child abuse, and slavery), but it is so worth it in the end.

Brief synopsis: Damen, crown prince of Akielos, is betrayed by his brother and the woman he loves and given as a slave to Laurent--prickly, frigid, crown prince of Vere and brother of the man Damen killed in war years before. What ensues is rebellion, court politics, intrigue, war, betrayals, and the two most unlikely people--two people who (it seems) could never be together due to the circumstances separating them--falling in love as they try to save their countries, all wrapped up in historical settings based on ancient Greece and France.

And now that I’ve introduced you to the book series, let’s get on to the fics!

the steady running of the hour by jinlinli

This one had to be first on my list, as it picks up at the end of the last book, Kings Rising, and gives more of the details about what happened after that spectacular duel. This is my head cannon for this time period that not described in the books. In fact, the last time I read the series, I was waiting for a particular thing to happen until I realized it was something from this fic! It is a great Laurent POV and works perfectly with cannon.

One the Other by Ruby_Wednesday

This is a cannon-style AU in which Marlas goes much differently. Auguste is killed when the battle was paused under a truce, and 13YO Laurent is sent by his uncle back to Ios as the royal family’s ward and becomes Damen’s responsibility. All the broad strokes of cannon are in this fic, but they play out in new and fascinating ways. I also love how different and yet believable Laurent is growing up with someone who he can depend on, like Damen, instead of with his uncle in Vere. And the way this Laurent helps Damen mature, is good, as well. I really, really love this fic.

And if you want more recommendations by Ruby_Wednesday, you should definitely check out Hold Tight (meet cute as single riders at Disney World) and The Most Wonderful Time (Damen draws “evil” boss Laurent in the company Secret Santa).

Edgewise by asmallwave

This is my favorite fic that addresses the trope of what it would’ve been like if Auguste lived. 

“Thank you, I know exactly how it would have been. You and Auguste would have been slapping each other on the back and watching tournaments, and I would have been trailing around tugging on your sleeve, trying to get a look in edgewise.”

The Masquerade by @dont-touch-the-phlebotinum

This fic is so atmospheric. I love the way it takes cannon Akielos and Vere and makes them into a modern world. And the Damen/Laurent meet cute at a masquerade ball followed by running around through secret passages and climbing over rooftops is amazing.

Lovefool by Kittendiamore

Now we come to the modern, real-world AUs, which are my favorite Captive Prince reading material. And I had to start that portion of this list off with Lovefool. After Jokaste left Damen for his brother, Damen finds a fake date off Craigslist for his family’s annual Valentine’s Day party. Laurent is a performance actor working on his thesis. And the sparks fly--both romantic sparks and otherwise. I particularly love Laurent facing off with Jokaste in this one.

On the Cusp by Kittendiamore

I adore Kittendiamore’s work, and this is another on my must-read list for this fandom. It reminds me of the How I Met Your Mother episode, “The Window.” Damen is a serial monogamist who can find his next significant other in an instant, and Laurent has been in love with his brother’s best friend for years. When Jokaste cheats on Damen, Laurent finally has his chance!

Seriously, you can’t go wrong with any of Kittendiamore’s stories. If you’re looking for something a little more cannon, but with time travel and an Auguste lives plot, try Weighed and Measured, as well.

A Point to Happiness by idratherhaveyou

Panda slippers! This was one of the first AUs I read in this fandom. Damen texts the wrong number, and he and Laurent eventually fall in love. It is fabulous! Nothing more need be said.

Along For the Ride by idratherhaveyou

This one starts a little slow, but Laurent crashes Damen, Nikandros, and Jokaste’s road trip to the Grand Canyon in an attempt to get home to save Nicaise from their uncle. Damen is basically the perfect person in this fic--good hearted and true. Laurent is hurt and untrusting, but really, really wants to. Nicaise is written really well here, and this is one of the best Jokastes that I’ve ever read. She has the potential to be so much more than she was in the series, and this story really picks up on that. This story is good enough and explains everything well enough that it could really stand on its own without fandom to fall back on, but I also love the fandom angles of it.

Star Power by @turtletotem​

This is a celebrity fake dating AU--two of my favorite tropes. The way it addresses the evils of Uncle Reggie as Damen (a rock star) and Laurent (an actor) fall in love while they pretend to be together for fame reasons is masterful. Nicaise really steals the scene in this one, as well, and I love how Kastor meets his just desserts.

Celebrity Status by @tenspencerriedplease​

Damen and Laurent are dating, and Damen doesn’t figure out Laurent is a famous actor until Laurent takes him as a date to his latest movie premier. This is hilarious and cute, and it involves a Damen vs. Nicaise cold war that always makes me laugh.

So, that’s it for this time around. It will be interesting to see how many people actually read this post. It is the first time I’ve done fic recs for a book series. And, if you are interested in other fic recs by me, I’ve also done ones for Stucky, Drarry, Stony, Darcy Lewis, and Malex. 

Thanks again to all you fic writers out there and all the enjoyment you’ve given me, both in general and especially during this crazy time of Covid! I appreciate all of y’all and how hard y’all work to bring us these great stories!

[soulwillower]

crush culture • richie tozier

(richie tozier x reader)

requested: fic where Richie and reader have been best friends since kindergarten, and have always had feelings for eachother secretly, until one day richie gets a girlfriend (just to take his mind off her), and the reader gets jealous and distances herself from him? he obviously gets upset by this- and things go on from there? sorry if it’s too specific! love u!

warnings: swearing, brief mentions of death, fighting, mentions of an abusive relationship, intentionally pissing off richie, a bit of angst, richie is an oblivious idiot, but reader is MUCH more of an idiot, like dude lmao, but i think that’s it, unedited tho

this isn’t rly based off crush culture, but i took the title from conan gray’s song :)  

[losers + reader are 18+ in this!!!]

3.8k words L O L :))

♡

you swear to god, you’re getting sick. that’s what this was, for sure.

it started about a month ago, when you started to get headaches and terrible hollow feelings in your stomach. it happened everywhere - in the line for coffee, in class, driving home from school, at the dinner table. but it got a hundred times worse at night and then seemed to triple in force every morning when you woke.

and it all came at you some time after richie announced he had a new girlfriend.

you were really sick the few days after that, enough that you stayed home from school and laid in bed, the pit in your stomach sinking. it didnt take long for you to realize how bad richie’s girlfriend was - she treated him like a dog, like he embarrassed her - and he didn’t even seem to mind. he just brushed off every offhand comment, rolled his eyes with a grin when she told him she didn’t want to see his friends or when she told him to stop talking. 

he still seemed to like her, anyways. and that thought made your stomach convulse.

so then you had to distance yourself from richie because it hurt you to see him with her. it hurt you to see him with someone who didn’t treat him like the incredible person he was. 

so yeah.

you say you’re sick, but you know that’s not really true. it’s easier than accepting reality at this point, though, so you spew this nonsense (to yourself, mostly) in order to justify ignoring your best friend of nearly a decade because christ, he is becoming unbearable.

like the other day, at lunch while you were all sitting in the courtyard. it was your first time eating with them again after almost a week and a half, as you’d been eating alone in your car recently to avoid richie. “rich, why’d you take off the nail polish?” bev asked, out of the blue, sounding disappointed as she grabbed his free hand and examined it.

he blew smoke out of his mouth slowly and you had forced yourself to look away, the sight of richie doing nearly anything these days being pretty dangerous for you. it also made you sigh a bit - you knew he only smoked at lunch now, since his girlfriend hated it.

“don’t want my paws to be prettier than y/n’s when we hold hands.” he had joked, wagging an eyebrow at you. you’d shook your head and looked to the ground in lew of a real response, just as you had been doing a lot recently.

you'd missed richie’s frown at your reaction, but you did catch his next statement as it was added on, “nah, actually it’s because the ol’ G-F didn’t like it. thought it looked too girly.”

you, stan, bev, and mike all stopped chewing to look at richie, in varying stages of bewilderment. you'd cleared your throat quickly but decided against speaking up just as richie’s phone started to ring. he’d answered it nearly immediately, the enthusiasm of which made you feel like you’re going to be sick again - because richie never answers your calls until the last possible minute.

god, jealousy is a fucking disease.

“hey, sugar.” he had purred suavely into the phone and for some reason, hearing him call someone else sugar had you abruptly rising, gathering your things and nearly running off to put as much distance between you and four-eyes as you possibly could, because you’re not sure how much more you could take.

after that, you were absolutely sure it was just pure denial on your part.

as far as you could tell, richie wasn't noticing too much. he still phoned your house every day, just to be met with your mother telling him you 'weren't available,' and then he'd call your own phone, which you'd let buzz itself into a dark hole on your bedside table while you stared at it solemnly, guilt heavy on your mind as he left voicemail after voicemail. 

he doesn't deserve it, you think as you open the doors to the school library, backpack on your shoulders. but you can't help it. you're not his girlfriend, and you're not mature enough to accept that with any ounce of elegance so instead you just ignore him all together. at least you're self-aware, right? that ought to count for something.

you shake your head just as a voice catches your attention, “well look who decided to show up!”

richie's sitting at the usual study table in the very back corner of the library, a spot tucked away by rows upon rows of dusty books and an alcove of couches. bill sits at the head of the table, scribbling his chicken scratch handwriting onto graph paper, mike next to richie with a textbook spread out flat. across from mike is stan, writing out his statistics work. 

all three of them wave at you before going back to their work, whereas richie just watches you expectantly. his feet are kicked up on the table, textbook balanced on his lap as he hovers on two leg chairs. his smile is as blinding as always, a dimple faint on his left cheek and full eyebrows raised in jest. his curls frame his face perfectly and you want to scream.

but you take your seat next to stan with a tight lipped smile, not really sure how to respond to richie. are you even allowed to be flirty with him like you used to? he still does it on the rare occasions when you do see each other - but that itself is the issue, you figure. his flirting is just a joke, a tiff from one friend to another. but you can't see him as just a friend, and that’s unfair to him.

so you stay quiet, which makes it infinitely more awkward.

richie clears his throat and you pull out your work with an awkward expression, the minutes slowly churning by in what has to be the quietest hangout with the Losers yet.

you feel the tension building in your body and in the air, and you're not sure what's wrong with you or why you have so much resentment towards richie in this moment, because he's not done one single thing to offend anyone in the last ten minutes.

then richie's phone rings suddenly and mike jumps a bit as he's startled out of the passage he's reading. you all look down to richie's screen, where his girlfriend's name blares up at you and all you can feel is white hot jealousy coursing through your body.

richie looks half way exhausted and annoyed at the call, which you find extremely odd and out of character, not to mention persistently frustrating.

as you all stare at the phone, the tension in the room stretches tighter and tighter, like a rubber band and you can't breathe -

"uh, why is she calling you?" mike asks, as if this was something that was forbidden or shocking in any way, and for some reason, that is finally it.

the rubber band snaps.

"how could you forget, mike? they're in love!" you say with mock enthusiasm. 

bill shoots you an alarmed look that you probably should read into or at least consider for a moment, but instead you're looking directly at richie, as if challenging him.

he blinks at you and clenches his jaw, "she and i haven't really been... talking recently." richie says lightly, shooting a glance to mike.

“well then maybe you’re just not right for each other.” you quip, the blood boiling in your veins. richie's eyes snap to you and you see the fire behind them as he suddenly breaks.

“sorry, did i miss the divine intervention when god floated down on a cloud of marshmallows and deemed you expert in relationships?” he says abruptly, making your eyes widen at his outburst. he continues, “because last time i checked, you’re a bit of a failure in that department. so i don't need some jealous, disappearing-act wannabe criticizing my life when she's barely even in it.” he seethes. it’s near quiet in the library anyways, but his words seem to silence the entire town.

with a quick glance to your right, stan and bill sharing an uncomfortable look, and mike is staring down intently at his work with wide eyes.

you want to die.

does richie know? has he known this whole time that you're just deeply, painfully head over heels for him? 

"i'm so sick of your bullshit. maybe you're jealous because you want what i had, but you’re being really fucking rude."

you nearly cry. or scream.

“criticism doesnt equal jealousy, okay?” you spit without thinking, immediately regretting even opening your mouth. you're so intent on covering for yourself, you don't even take into account the phrasing he'd used when referring to his girlfriend, instead fighting with richie in order to keep your secret from him.  

this is not how you’d intended today to go. he stares at you, eyebrows furrowed in a way that almost makes you keel over in sadness, the guilt of the situation falling too heavily on your shoulders and crushing you.

it’s tranquilizing to see him like this -  he's fuming, but he's also got bright, glistening eyes which you think may be filling up with tears.

“i didn’t really ask for your input, though.” he mutters, cheeks reddening as tears definitely well in his eyes behind his lenses. “you can’t just ignore me at your every whim just to come right back and tell me what's good for me.”

you blink, shaking your head quickly, deciding to back off. now is not the time to fight, especially when you know he’s right. you had no idea it was hurting him like this. "richie, i... i just wanted-" you gape at him, extremely embarrassed.

“-i don’t fucking care what you wanted, y/n.” richie says sharply, causing you to shut your mouth so quick your jaw clicks in the silence. clearly, even the other boys are perturbed by richie’s actions and everyone’s staring down in silence at their homework.

it’s quiet like that for a few minutes, the tension so thick that you’d need a jackhammer just to chip away at it. but stan rummages through his bag suddenly, pulling out two painkillers and dry swallowing them. you don't look at anyone else, your stomach hollow and your heart thumping so hard in your chest you think you may explode.

"d-do you have a headache?" bill asks, looking at stan with concern. the sudden voice causes you to perk up, head flowing with humiliation at the fight you and richie had just had in front of your friends.

“yeah, but it’s not that bad. i guess i’m used to it.” stan says, pen between his teeth.

“just because you’re used to something doesn’t make it any less unhealthy for you.” you say louder than necessary, your mouth suddenly deciding to speak without consulting your brain. 

the glare of pure frustration that richie throws you pierces your lungs and suddenly makes you feel lightheaded. 

your pettiness doesn’t go unresponsive, of course, and mike sighs into his hands, standing up to gather his things. "alright. i can't study when you two are like this. i'll see you guys later."

richie sighs quietly and bill and stan mumble good-bye's. the library goes back to quiet for maybe three more minutes, until you see stanley start to fidget like he usually does when he's anxious. and then you notice it after a few seconds, too.

richie won't stop tapping his foot on the desk.

for everyone's sake, you try to ignore it, because you know richie can't help his compulsions - especially when he's upset (which, your mind painfully reminds you, is all your fault).

but it's driving you crazy.

“-if you keep doing that i’ll throw you out that fucking window rich, i swear.” stan mutters not unkindly, his eyes rolling to meet richie with a concerned gaze as richie stares out the window.

you raise your eyebrows, “what’re you even looking at?” you ask, trying to mend a bit of the open, festering wound you’d created in you and richie’s friendship.

without looking at you, richie shrugs. “checking to see how high the drop is. may be worth it to have schnoz just toss me down. it would certainly do you a favor right? gettin ol’ trashmouth gone for good.”

what was he saying? you look at him, scandalized. stan and bill don’t even say anything about the offensive nickname as you gape at richie. "what the fuck?" is all your brilliant mind can think.

"what, you can dish it but you can't take it?" richie says sharply. he shakes his head, looking upset. "i'm tired of trying to be friends with a fucking brick wall."

then he's gathering his one notebook and swiftly exiting your alcove in the library in a wind of cigarettes and cologne. 

you blink, his words sinking in and making you sigh shakily. your stomach feels hollow as you remember the expression of glee on his face when you'd walked into the library, and how completely different and broken he'd looked as he'd left. you think you're going to cry.

“every minute that you don't follow him digs yourself deeper into this grave, you know.” stan says, giving you a stern but encouraging look.

you let out a shaky sigh and scramble to grab your bag, tripping over your feet as you run out of the library, flying down the staircase faster than you've ever gone and making it to your lifelong best friend just as he reaches his car in the parking lot.

"-a brick wall?" you ask, out of breath. you see richie hold back an eye roll, his arms crossing over each other as he serves you a look of discomposure.

he shrugs helplessly, looking as if he's at his wit's end.

"what do you want me to say, y/n? you've been avoiding me for weeks. i know i'm annoying and obnoxious and whatever, but i'm not blind." he says, making you swallow as guilt pangs through your chest. you have been so fucking selfish, haven't you?

it hurts to hear him say that about himself. 

he sniffles a bit, sounding choked up as he goes on, "i've had a rough couple of days - weeks, even. but every time i'm near, it's like you've had more than enough, and you just leave. am i that repulsive? why do you suddenly hate me?" he asks, looking desperate as his eyes rim red, filling with tears again.

“what did i do?” his voice cracks as he whispers the sentence and your heart breaks in two.

your own vision goes glassy as he continues, "-i've needed you, y/n/n. i'm lost, i'm seriously not okay and you just don't care at all."

you're stunned for a moment, mouth opening and closing silently as your mind races to rush something out, anything,because you aren't sure you can bear to see richie look at you like this for one more second. but your silence comes off wrong to richie, and tears slip out of his eyes.

“don’t you love me?” he asks, voice hoarse and cutting right through you, deeper than any knife ever could. "don't you want me to be happy?" he adds and you take a shaky breath, looking helplessly at him, where you're met with nothing but glassy eyes and tear trails. your heart is slamming in your chest, tears falling from your eyes and you can't breathe.

"a-are you?" you ask, trying to keep your tone even although it comes out just as vulnerable as you feel. “h-happy. with her?”

richie freezes at your words, mouth slightly open and you watch a single tear course over his high cheekbones and down to his bottom lip as it shakes faintly. you curse yourself for the longing to feel those very lips against yours.

"i was." he whispers, voice shaking as he rubs his face with his hand under his glasses, the moisture of his fallen tears clinging from his long dark lashes onto his slender, shaking fingers. "and then - and then i lost you. and y'know, i got my girlfriend so i could distract myself, but she made me feel like absolute shit all the time and so i went and broke up with her, but -" he hiccups through his tears and you blink, biting your lip as tears cascade down your cheek in wet trails.

they broke up?

he broke up with her, and he's going through this breakup and trying to better himself after she tore him down and you've just been ignoring him - he thinks you don't care about him, that you don't love him. you start to cry harder. 

"-i thought she'd distract me from you. i-i'm sorry." he says, his voice muffled by his hands as they cover up his angelic face, his shoulders shaking as more tears fall. "i'm so sorry."he repeats. 

you see double for a second, completely shocked by his words as the breath leaves your lungs. he tried to distract himself from you... and he’s so hurt because of what you did. 

but finally, for the first time this whole damn day, you find the right words. "i-no, richie, i'm sorry, please - fuck." you break, letting out a sob as you rub your eyes furiously in search of any relief from the guilt ripping you in two. "i didn't mean to hurt you. i'm so sorry, i can't believe i did this, i didn't want to hurt you, i'm just so selfish." you babble, his sniffles making you open your eyes.

he looks so alone and so vulnerable as he hugs his arms around himself in search of comfort, tears still falling from his bright eyes and down his rosy cheeks. 

he looks devastatingly beautiful in the golden sunlight of the afternoon, a breeze ruffling his curls lightly. "just please, i can't - i can't deal with you hating me. please, please, please."

he's pleading with you and you think you may be sick from the guilt and sadness that envelopes you, so you spring forward and wrap your arms tightly around him. the force of your body pushes him against the side of his car and the way he clings back to you like you're the last thing holding him to earth just makes you cry even harder.

"i don't hate you, richie. i love you, i love you too much." you say, your body shaking as he just holds you tighter against him. "i'm so sorry, i didn't mean any of it. you're right. i was just jealous... i'm so sorry. i was so jealous of her, i couldn't see you be with her." you mumble. "i'm so sorry."

richie pulls you back gently at your words, his eyes wide and wondering as you look at each other. "what?" he asks so innocently, his eyelashes wet and dark and his lips parted. 

you can count the freckles on his nose and cheeks, you're so close. you can feel his shuddering breath against your face as he huffs in a breath. your hands hold onto his shoulders and you decide to fuck it, you just have to tell him how sorry you are, to explain yourself.

"richie, i'm in love with you. and - and when you and her got together, it hurt so much, and i didn't want to deal with the fact that i couldn't have you, so i just ignored you. i’m sorry, i’m so sorry." you say it quickly and in one breath, looking down at your shoes and how they point straight towards his.

"you're in... love with me?" he says weakly, sounding hopeful as you finally look back into his eyes guiltily. 

you laugh wetly, "of course i am, richie. how could i not fall head over heels for everything about you?"

he tears up again at your words, but this time it's accompanied by a beautiful smile and a light, wet laugh. he shakes his head, his arms circling your waist tighter as he presses his forehead against yours. your butterflies tickle your stomach at your proximity.

"fuck, y/n. i can't believe i spend my time trying to get my mind off you." he says and your breath hitches a bit. "do you have any idea how long i've been in love with you?" he asks quietly, and you let out another small laugh out of shock, but it's wet and gleeful.

"i'm sorry." you whisper, your finger curling around a strand of the dark hair on his head. he shakes his head, your noses rubbing slightly. "it's okay, y/n. i love you so much. please let me forgive you." he says, pulling a smile out of you that you don't think anybody else ever could. you nod shortly, looking into his eyes as one last tear falls. 

he kisses you tenderly then, taking your breath away.

richie fills up your every sense as he clings to you desperately, his lips salty from your combined tears and his arms strong. his tongue is gentle as it runs along your lips and enters your parted mouth, one of his hands sliding up to tilt your head up towards him. you're breathless because of him for the millionth time in your life and you decide kissing richie is the only thing you want to do forever. 

you pull away slowly, and as you lean back he presses a chaste second kiss to your lips, causing you to grin. 

you barely make eye contact as you pull apart and then you greedily pull him back to you, his lips finding yours yet again with a sweet, loving laugh.

"i love you too, rich." you mumble against his lips. he sighs almost dreamily as you pull back, biting your lip and laughing when he opens the passenger door, gesturing to it with a shy grin.

"now can i please buy you a burger?" he asks, almost bashfully, and your heart does somersaults. you nod and kiss him again, his hand falling to the small of your back, palm wide and fingers lower than you'd expected. he pulls away and his grin is loving, his eyes hooded in pride as you caress his cheek softly before you slide into the car seat.

he holds your hand the whole night and refuses to let go until you slip through your front door at near midnight, blushes on both of your cheeks and lips kiss-bruised.

the butterflies you feel as you fall asleep with a grin on your face are the exact same ones richie feels as his head finally hits the pillow, a giddy smile on his own face as he smiles to himself in the dark halfway across town.

tag list: @gabiatthedisco @blisshemmings @stenbrozier @simplesammyx@brxken-heartsclub @clownsloveyou @baby-yoda-a @moon-shine-baby  @daughter-of-the-stars11 @trashedfortozier @oceandog13 @finnskindofwoman @kait-tozier   @upamongthestarss @fiantomartell @beverlyparkerr @beauregard-s  @leighjaenikhowell @cowbellies @deepestofwaters

[sunsoothed]

lightness

jang hanseo character study kinda fic i promised. i'm not sure if this is a character study anymore. i have no idea what this became. anyway! i wanted to explore hanseo and give him a bit of a backstory, so here it is!

*deep breath* content warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, physical abuse, blood, injury, canonical character death (not hanseo), recreational drug use, underage drug use, implied drug abuse

word count: 1866

read on ao3

hope you like it!

-

When Jang Hanseo is seven, he is acquainted with elder brother. Regal; nine-years-old and already hunting.

He still hides behind their father with him when he pretends to be terrified of the sound of gunfire.

Hanseo says nothing. He never brings up how his brother had thrown the bloodied rabbit and his rifle to the servant attending him, never brings up how thoroughly he washed his hands to hide the evidence of his independence from his father.

Never brings up how his brother assessed him with just a look and nothing more.

The first words Jang Hanseo’s brother says to him are as follows:

“Don’t call me hyung.”

Jang Hanseo blinks, traces his eyes over the leather of his brother’s jacket, over the blood that drips from his gloves, over the rifle he holds in his hands. He smiles.

“Okay, hyung-nim!”

A scoff, but some appraisal. Jang Hanseo doesn’t understand the half-smile he receives that autumn afternoon, but he remembers it until he beats his brother with a hockey stick, striking his head trice ‘til he’s out and his back once just for good measure, just to see the blood coming up to his mouth for him to choke on.

-

The first time his brother hits him, Jang Hanseo is eight. The ice rink is dark, and his brother is more geared up than he is.

Jang Hanseo misses thrice, scores once. He is rewarded with a swipe of the hockey stick on the back of his calf, and he thinks it is a game.

For that, he is rewarded with his first broken bone and a seared memory of a hand heavy on his throat. A laugh without mercy.

-

When Jang Hanseo is thirteen, he is offered alcohol at a party his father is hosting.

He declined, having seen first-hand what alcohol does to you, what a rage it puts his father in as he breaks porcelain, the scar he left on his mother’s cheek that lasted till the day she died.

-

When Jang Hanseo is fourteen, his brother kills four people. Classmates, he tells him, when he comes home with red speckled on his face. They weren’t worthy of being my classmates.

-

Jang Hanseo celebrates his fifteenth birthday with the diagnosis of his brother being a psychopath and accidentally tearing open the letter of a one-way ticket to the United States.

Instead of cake, he consumes his own blood, and instead of a pat on the back, he has a dislocated shoulder.

When he wakes a day later hooked to an IV, his brother is gone. The phantom of his laugh lives on, searing long into Hanseo’s conscience.

-

At fifteen-and-a-half, his father sends Hanseo to his grandmother’s for the summer. His father is undergoing a trial, on the charges of bribery, abetting murder, and perjury. With one son shipped off to the States and another to Jeju Island, he has no pawns he will feel ill about sacrificing. It’s not that he loves them. It’s that letting your son die because the ransom money you can very well afford would require you to take some shares out, and that’s too tedious of a process to go through.

So Jang Hanseo boards the short flight, stares out of the window for the longest one hour and fifteen minutes of his life so far. He’s never met his grandmother.

He wonders if she’s like his father, knowing she’s raised him, or if she’s worse.

She’s leagues different from anyone in his family.

Halmeoni scans him up and down when the driver drops him off at her estate. At the front door itself, she says, “We have a lot of fixing-up to do.”

It leaves an impression, that’s for sure.

-

The best summer of his life, Hanseo learns how to uproot weeds and catch a chicken without screaming like his life was being threatened. His halmeoni owns a farm, some 150 acres of greenery and animal and mansion.

Halmeoni teaches him first how to eat well, how to fill his plate and not feel bad about it, how to overeat and regret it. Halmeoni teaches him second that he is the most important person to himself; never his father, and not his hyung-nim.

Halmeoni teaches him third that he has no one else in the world but himself.

This, Jang Hanseo remembers the most.

(But his brother’s —)

-

With his brother’s absence, an anxiety sets into Hanseo’s veins so intensely that upon looking up his symptoms, he sees words like psychosis and personality disorder and promptly closes his laptop shut.

Unbidden, but not unwelcome, he remembers the rages his father fell into. He remembers the embers of gold in those small wide glasses that abeoji owned, remembers the crates of bottles that they used to have moved into the house. He also recalls the putrid smoke that used to emerge from the study. The smell of something burnt and something that made him cough so hard it alerted his father of his presence.

It’s in the boys washroom that he smells the scent again. By the open window, out curls smoke.

Jang Hanseo catches the eye of the assailant. Oh Yeonwoo will get him into this mess and then out. He will be Hanseo’s first true friend.

-

Jang Hanseo tries it for the first time on the terrace of the school. One joint between the two of them and nothing but heaving coughs from him until he learns how to take air after smoke and allow its natural passage back up. The joint is over by then, and Hanseo feels nothing.

Yeonwoo bumps their shoulders together, carelessly tossing the filter over the railing of the terrace. “You’ll get the hang of it,” He assures. “I didn’t even make it after a couple of joints, so you’re doing better than me already.”

Hanseo lends him a half-smile. Better than him, he thinks. When have I ever been better than anyone?

“Hanseo-yah, what’re you thinking with that scowl, hm?” Yeonwoo bumps their shoulders together again. “You’re so scary when you space out.”

“I am?”

Yeonwoo nods again. Hanseo notes something hazy in his eyes, something completely unguarded in his demeanour. He blinks cautiously.

“Hanseo-yah,” Yeonwoo whines, “Stop staring at me.”

“I’m not,” He replies. “Are —” Are you okay? Hanseo was going to ask. Stupid. Yeonwoo has settled against his shoulder now, humming some tune. He stretches his legs out in front of him and sways his feet to the rhythm. He seems better than okay.

So this is what it does, Hanseo thinks. Lightness. He wants to be light.

-

And so, Jang Hanseo, age sixteen, falls into something whose magnitude he cannot guess. Addiction is only the half of it. The other half had started the day Yeonwoo showed him something called shotgunning, which had taken his first kiss and his first experience with intoxication whose harm had lasted longer than its euphoria.

When he lies beside Yeonwoo, all too hot and all too cold, unable to distinguish which fingers are his when they hold hands, he finds it. The lightness. When Yeonwoo turns and exhales into his neck, prickling sweat and prickling hair to stand on edge, Hanseo smiles.

And when Hanseo wakes up, the dread in his gut is deeper than it’s ever been.

(— his brother’s —)

-

So it seems that boys with no family and boys with brothers who know nothing but violence and boys with a terrible, terrible blankness to them can also, by some grace of humanity, fall in love. And so it seems, as Hanseo feels the telltale thumping of his heart and lightness in his abdomen, that Yeonwoo will keep having this effect on him.

Subtlety, Yeonwoo tells him, the afternoon they sit on the roof and stare at the sky and at the smoke. Subtlety will let you get away with everything.

Subtle touches, then. Hanseo’s fingers lingering a moment too long on Yeonwoo’s arm, Hanseo’s hand firm between his shoulder blades. Subtle words, and subtle smiles, and subtle smoke between their mouths as they chase lightness.

Subtle kisses, too, when Hanseo feels he can see his own eyes in Yeonwoo’s, when Hanseo still finds the thrill of sealing his lips with Yeonwoo’s to be a minefield of his own feelings. Subtle kisses that Yeonwoo always blackens — drags them down into teeth and tongue and desire. Hanseo doesn’t know, then, that this is what differentiates them. What puts him on a curved, unshapely parabola and Yeonwoo on a straight line.

Feral, Hanseo once thinks, his gaze only slightly unclouded, as Yeonwoo bites at his lips, his neck. Feral, in the way he never kisses to coax Hanseo’s mouth open; never to cherish feeling. Only to chase after something so much deeper.

-

At seventeen, Jang Hanseo implodes from heartbreak.

Transfer student. Short, ebony hair, in that oh-so-timeless straight bob. He has a nice smile, even Hanseo can tell, and he has a charming walk. He’s also assigned a seat beside him. This, of all things, was the catalyst.

Yeonwoo didn’t want to kiss him anymore. Yeonwoo wanted to smoke with him, but Yeonwoo also bought a new companion along with him. Yeonwoo, it seemed, never wanted what Hanseo did. Yeonwoo, it seemed, never felt the way Hanseo did.

Hanseo knows that he knew, somewhere, beneath what his world had become, that this would not stand for long. Its foundations were, in the end, smoke.

-

But it does not surprise him, Hanseo thinks, seventeen and a quarter, something vile in his veins. It does not surprise him that he’s here.

His head hits, dully, the floor under him. He laughs. And he laughs some more, as the world turns from dust to sky to ocean. And he waits for the servants to find him in his father’s study.

-

They tell him that he’s lucky, later, in the hospital. Jang Hanseo thinks this is what death feels like, on the verge of eighteen. He states blinking at the ceiling. Hospital rooms are white on all six sides, and heaven is supposed to be white on all six sides as well. He wants to laugh, so he does.

And it hurts.

Hanseo stops laughing.

(— his brother’s laugh —)

-

Hanseo laughs. Ten years past, ten years perished, Hanseo laughs until his heart hurts. His brother’s heart is still beating. His blood is still warm, the three hits to his head and one to his back hadn’t kept him down. Hanseo laughs as the blood splatters on his face, sprinkled red on his chin and lips, a sprinkled red dancing in his eyes as he brings the hockey stick down, down, down.

For everything Hanseok has made him — less, more, just enough. For all these little things that had changed Hanseo more than broken bones could. For lost love. For things that weren’t, in the end, Hanseok’s fault.

Hanseo beats him till his heart stops fighting back and the blood pooled in his mouth flows quietly. Till Hanseo feels no fight left in him, and then some, till the exhaustion in him takes over.

Hanseo slumps over his brother’s dead body, and Hanseo laughs.

(But his brother’s laugh will always be louder.)

[songofclarity]

Omg I love your headcanons about WRH being LSZ's bio dad and fully support them!

Do you have any ideas about the mom though?

I personally think LSZ took the most after her in looks and temperament (because if the Jin saw a wen child that looked like WRH in the labor camps they would've killed him right away) I suppose after losing both his sons in such a traumatic way, a grieving WRH would be more drawn to someone kind and gentle and compassionate on whose shoulder he could cry and be vulnerable.

Idk if a-yuan was a planned child or an "oopsie" baby but either way he was the product of a healthy loving 100% consensual relationship and both parents wanted and loved him (I hate it when WRH's character is reduced to "perverted abusive rapist" just because he's an antagonist, we already have JGS godammit!)

also I want the madam Wen from "heliocentric" in there too because that woman gives me chills and interfering in WRH's sex life is maybe her way of coping with his lack of interest in herself by being indirectly part of his romances but it's still so weird and creepy lol

I'm also thinking MY was involved in LSZ's mom's death. Maybe she was getting suspicious of him or she was trying to convince WRH to negotiate for a peaceful end to the war... Etc either way her being alive wasn't in MY's advantage so she had to go, and I don't think MY would hesitate to murder an innocent young mother if it served his purposes after all he did to gain WRH's favor. Also if WRH loses that source of emotional support he would become easier for MY to manipulate and betray

Sorry this was meant to be a short ask about LSZ's birth mother's headcanons but I ended going off the rails lol

Yay, more support for Wen RuoHan as Wen Yuan's dad! And everything you said about the mom is great, I'm a fan!

I don't exactly have solid headcanons on the mom, but I do have a collection of options in mind depending on what I'm in the mood for! I have been sitting on another ask which asks me how I imagine Madam Wen and I have been planning to go through a few versions of her on that, including the one(s) that could be Wen Yuan's mom lol

Love Wen Yuan looking more like her though 🥺 While I do acknowledge this passage exists:

Wen Ning, "I thought every single person from out sect was dead. I really didn't expect that A-Yuan would still be alive. He looks so much like my cousin when he was around twenty." (ch. 89, ERS)

Wen Ning was looking for Wen resemblance in Lan SiZhui, so he would be searching for all the similarities with Wen RuoHan first. Considering the Jin viewed the Wen Remnants like animals, little Wen Yuan would hardly be recognized with dirt on his face and dirty clothes. Plus baby fat~ Jin GuangYao might have recognized him, but Wen RuoHan's whole household would have been killed in Nightless City by the Sunshot Campaign, so no one is looking for Anastasia a missing baby in the aftermath.

I also like to consider that Granny Wen is Wen Yuan's maternal-grandmother, and she took care of him when everyone, including her daughter/his mother, were reeling from Wen RuoHan's death. Maybe Wen Yuan's mother didn't want to leave her husband, and sat staunchly at his casket/tablet, dressed in white, even as the gates of Nightless City were broken in...

Let Wen Yuan's mother love Wen RuoHan! 🥺 Let them be sweet together! A lady both gentle yet strong, which comes with the territory of having to stand out of a very large crowd to get Wen RuoHan's attention in the first place. And when she has him, she has him! Let Wen RuoHan love her, too! 🥺

And while I don't think their relationship is at all a political/alliance one as I headcanon her from a clan already loyal to the Wen, I think there would have been some pressure on her (not by Wen RuoHan) to maybe do whatever needed to be done to encourage a pregnancy. For one thing, the Wen Clan survives on the prevalence of the Wen bloodline, so a new little Wen heir would improve morale vs the Sunshot Campaign. For another thing, I headcanon Wen RuoHan just loving being a dad and having a family in general. But he is grieving the loss of his last family. So an "oopsie" baby for Wen RuoHan, who is not in the mindset to have children right now, while more or less planned by everyone else. I think it would be something he didn't think he knew he wanted, however, and he would be very happy along with his wife~!

The Madam Wen from Heliocentric is a unique case and I would love to explore her role in a story where Wen Yuan is Wen RuoHan's child (not necessarily their child, for reasons not yet revealed lmao). And also, I *have* thought about Meng Yao doing more dastardly deeds in Nightless City exactly as you describe. If the Wen are expected to all die at the hands of the Sunshot Campaign anyway, what's the difference between now or later besides the risk of getting caught? Since Meng Yao plans to betray and kill Wen RuoHan, what's the life of one innocent women on the side to help get him there? There are plenty of ways to make it look like an accident, and then Wen RuoHan is easy picking...

Which just means I need more AU where the story changes and headcanoning more Wens doesn't just mean more dead Wens 😂 Happy Wen family, please!

[popculturebuffet]

Uncle Scrooge by Don Rosa:  The Isle at the Edge of Time (Thank You Comission For Rosie Isla)

Hello all you happy people! Today’s review is a bit special as it’s the result of another review. See I had trouble finding a translation of the subject of last weeks’ mother’s day special, Family Ties. 

No not that one. I have Paramount+. I can watch all the Family Ties I want and that’s a fact that i’m pleased as punch about. 

No it was the story 80 is Prachtig, called Family Ties in the copy used, Della’s first major comics appearance and one that explains what happened to her in the classic continuity, one that clearly served as the foundation for her far more fleshed out 2017 versions personality and backstory. It also had Pinocchio in it for some reason, and spent most of it’s large run time on a meta comedy plot that had nothing to do with the reason anyone wanted to read this story in the first place.

But despite being a vitally important story, it never got an english translation, something that baffled me till I read the story and found cameos of the racist indigenous stereotypes from Peter Pan. In 2014. You may commence booing. Even with how weird the story was I simply couldn’t find the story googling it and the Della tag is too vast and deep to go spelunking in.

So what’s all this have to do? Simple I put out a post last month when neither I nor Kev, who wanted to comission it as part of Moons, Millionares and Mothers, my coverage of all three season 2 Ducktales story arcs, could find a copy and offered a review to whoever found it.  Weeks passed I got nothing.. then in the 11th hour I got a break as the lovely @rosieisla​ found a translation that was on this very site, one she seemed to have helped with. As a result I could do the review and as a man of my word, offered it up despite her clearly having not seen that part of the post and simply having done this to be nice. Still she gladly took up the offer and offered me my pick of two stories: The Carl Barks Story Back to Long Ago or this one. 

As for WHY I picked this one Back To Long Ago didn’t seem bad, i’m just not a fan of “The Cast is put in the past as their own ancestors” type deals. Or in some cases put the cast as people from that time period. It’s just not for me and is most often done in TV where it can get really goofy, Beverly Hills 90210 being a prime example of this, though Girl Meets World was no slouch in being embarassing... that being said I really need to finish that show and miss it. 

So yeah when put up against a story with two intresting hooks and FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD, even if i’ts not the version that’s my boy, it was no contest. So what are these hooks you ask? Well join me under the cut and find out. 

We open with a weird stylistic choice: This story has a narrator complete with caption boxes. Now for those of you familiar with comics or pastiches of comics in tv and film, this probably dosen’t seem like a big deal. It was a common thing in comics from their inception to 90′s to have caption boxes, big boxes of text narrating the action to help move things along faster. It did start to fade out by the 80′s and was gone by the end of the 90′s for the most part, replaced instead with first person narration. It’s the kind of thing you’d see most often in the Golden and Silver Ages, with stuff like tihs

It’s not a BAD device, it’s good old cheesy and bombastic fun and some writers did get clever with it.. like that time Chris Claremont used the narration to yell at a greiving cyclops after he lost a teammate early in his long and storied run on the uncanny x-men. 

This is a objectively weird scene that’s still somehow effective by the by. On the one hand it does come off as Chris Claremont essentally bullying Cyclops who already feels guilty for a death that was not in fact his fault as Thunderbird was told the plane he was attacking with fleeing villian Count Nefaria was about to explode and refused to listen.. and that they needed to get rid of either him or Wolverine as both served the same purpose and chose the non-white guy. 

On the other htough it comes off just as much as Scott beating himself up in his grief and anger over the event and his perceived failings as a leader. It’s good stuff and shows why this run caught on as this was only three issues in. Also the rest of the issue features the X-Men fighting a giant cyclopian demon that Cyclops accidently freed in his rage by destroying the stone thing keeping him imprisoned. No really here’s the cover

Huh so tha’ts what Nifty’s dad looks like. Neat. Also I REALLY hope we get the X-Men fighting aliens or demons in the MCU. Unlike the XCU the MCU isn’t alergic to getting batshit.. and for the record Deadpool and New Mutants are the exception, not the rule.

My point that I swear I do have is that this was common practice for most comics.. but never really for Disney Duck comics. It popped up ocasionally, like with Scrooge’s introduction, but Barks and those after him never really used them that much. Sure they’d have caption boxes for flasbacks and what not but Barks and Co geninely only used this sort of thing to set up a story. The most i’ve seen it in a duck comic is life and times and even then i’ts usually only used for gags or to set up the passage of time, as the story IS covering decades and thus often needed to have montages to show time passing, and in the case of chapter 11, had to cover decades in the span of a single chapter, so it’s not like they had many other options. So even Rosa as a personal quirk didn’t really use these often. 

Rosa used this specifically because he felt the plot was complicated by the use of the international date line. As for what it is, it’s essentially a line marking calender dates from one side of the hemisphere to the others. To use the offical defentition from the National Ocean Service I found via a quick google:

“The International Date Line, established in 1884, passes through the mid-Pacific Ocean and roughly follows a 180 degrees longitude north-south line on the Earth. It is located halfway round the world from the prime meridian—the zero degrees longitude established in Greenwich, England, in 1852.

The International Date Line functions as a “line of demarcation” separating two consecutive calendar dates. When you cross the date line, you become a time traveler of sorts! Cross to the west and it’s one day later; cross back and you’ve “gone back in time."

Despite its name, the International Date Line has no legal international status and countries are free to choose the dates that they observe. While the date line generally runs north to south from pole to pole, it zigzags around political borders such as eastern Russia and Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.”

Rosa felt this made the story complicated.... and that... really isn’t remotely true. The narration is mostly used for gagas and really dosen’t clarify anything. it’s mostly used well in the opening.. but the actual explinations for the date line are clear enough in the story that even if I hadn’t looked the thing up, I still would’ve got it and i’m sure a kid would’ve too. It just feels like a weird thing to ruminate on, especially because he’s got actual things to make up for: while to his credit the native american characters he cribbed from carl barks are sympathetic, their culture respected and treated decently and used for a green aseop, their dialouge is stitled and sterotypical something he dosen’t even comment on (And these trades ewren’t THAT long ago) 

And of course it dosen’t help that he dosen’t even comment on using a common device in american superhero boooks.. in the same volume where he ONCE again makes an unwanted and outdated diatribe about superhero comics. I’ll probably cover the Super Snooper Strikes again so I can throughly tear this apart but higlights include: Calling superhero comics “Unwanted” just because he dosen’t like them personally, when people like me would disagree and they’ve lasted through a LOT of highs and lows, outdately saying they took over the American market as the only suitable comics which while true for a TIME,but by 2015 when this book was printed is laughably out of date, as non superhero works like The Walking Dead, Saga, and Scott Pilgrim were massively popular, one of my faviorite comics that is entirely slice of life and would go on to bea huge hit, Giant Days, re-debuted that very year. He also has the fucking gal to insult The Uncanny X-Men by name and I swear to god I did not know this when I made those references earlier, but as you probably guessed REALLY god me livid. 

And this is just on his COMMENTS on the story I can’t imagine just how bad the content itself is and having read the first few pages which come off as Rosa using Donald to essentially do an “old man yells at cloud rant” about superhero comics, I really don’t want to. Might make htis a patreon exclusive or again would do it on comissoin. You all make the call.... the point is I don’t likes his elitist bullshit about superhero comics, and this is clearly something that gets my hackles up as I just spent a good two paragraphs of an entirely unrealted review yelling at the guy for it. I don’t like when he does this and this authors notes entirley felt like an excuse. I GET the dark age of comics were bad, they REALLY were that bad, but I will NEVER accept painting an enitre genre as bad just because one work in it is bad. And I wont accept it from someone who himself writes about an often throughly unlikeable anti-hero for a living.  Scrooge may not have a gun on his gun on his gun or get to stabbing or have pouches, but he DOES finacially abuse his nephew, scoff at people’s personal troubles, and often refuse to use his wealth to help others in general. So yeah in conclusion Rosa really needs to say less about this subject. 

Okay so where were we.. right the story hadn’t even started yet. Jesus. 

Okay so our story begins with the narrator. Whose going on about time and what not. The main point of this speech about time is that it’s night in Duckburg and Scrooge is going to bed as, even being the workhorse that he is, he can’t keep going 24 hours. While he’s snoozing though something major happens and it’s the hook that made me pick this story along with the international dateline one.. an island rises thanks to volcanic erruption.. and the lava is GOLD. That’s just pure unabashed classic Duck Stuff: a mysterious treasure or phenominon of gold bound to bring scrooge in. 

But Scrooge isn’t stupid: the sun comes up and the world still spins while he sleeps, so he set up a satalite to monitor for this sort of thing. The thing naturally goes nuts.. and even more naturally breaks down becasue Scrooge bought cheap parts. A nice gag and a fully in character way to bring our antagonist into the picture, as the Satellite of Loaded falls in the middle of South Africa... right on the property of my boy Flintheart Glomgold. 

This is something Rosa brought up in his commentary for the story i’d never thought about. It turns out Glomgold being a citzen of Duckburg WASN’T an invention of the original Ducktales but the comics: some overseas had understandably moved him from his home country of South Africa. Him bieing in the same town as Scrooge instead of half a world away allows for easier setups and more intresting ones.

Rosa however being obdient to Barks Version of things, ketp Glomgold in South Africa like barks did, which was an .. ifffy decision given Apartheid had JUST ended at the time of this story. Not so much in the reboot as not only had apartheid been long gone by the time of the reboot, but that’s more fair. Still we do get some gorgeous vistas as a result as Glomgold’s minon goes to look at it and finds it’s from McDuck Mining company... Glomgold’s reaction is obvious. 

So on that note we cut to Scrooge rushing to Donalds house and forcing him awake and not telling him anything at first. Look his Ducktales Counterpart straight up kidnapped his donald in my last review, I’d call this a win. He also tries to dress Donald while explaning both his panic to find the crashed satlitle and what it found: the golden island. The end result of him dressing donald is worth a chuckle

So after Donald puts his shirt and little hat on our heroes get rollin rollin rollin what keep rollin rollin rollin who to Manilla. On the plane we get the scene I mentioned: The boys make a quip about Scrooge having lost a day and the group go over the international date line. It’s a fun little scene especially Donald trying to get paid early at the end. Classic scrooge and donald stuff without the abusive undertones some of their classic stuff has. 

Meanwhile Glomgold works out the data and finds out about the gold island, and his excitement accidently wakes a giraffe outside.. welll it was nice knowing him, Giraffes are the deadliest species known to man.. here’s an educational video t back that up....

So at Manilla Airport, Scrooge finds out abotu the south african crash, figuring he’ll get a laugh out of glomgold being there ... only for Donald to spot the Jet. Scrooge figures this can’t be anything good... now come on man maybe he’s just promoting his energy drink. 

As super sayin god super sayian as my witness, I will never get tired of Ultra Instinct Glomgold here. 

Scrooge isn’t so nice about that though and figures he better find out if Glomgold knows about the island and bribes one of the fueling crew for his uniform. He sucesssfully eavesdrops on Glomgold talking to his pilot, finding out from him exactly WHERE the island is. He ends up hilariously botching the mission though: when getting ready to leave Glomgold complains abotu the price of gas and that naturally causes Scrooge, just as cheap, to join in... and Glomgold to find out it’s Scrooge. The two wrestle outside the plane but before this can progress to a game of Naked Robber an airport security guy comes up and Scrooge cleverly claims that Glomgold’s plane has an infestiation, requring it to be quanrantined and allowing Scrooge to jet on.. thoguh not with an actual jet. With Glomgold seemingly dispatched, he can afford to save some money and take his time with a seaplane and I know just the man for the job. 

Oh nope looks like he’s busy. So one time related rambles later we meet Keoki, their asian pilot from the tiny island of Wookawooka.. and no that’s not a real place i checked... and no Fozzy dosen’t own it his check bounced. That being said it is a very well done represntation of someone from a smaller country: he’s doing this job to try and bring money back home, but being a seaplane captain just isn’t enough and his island is dying. Scrooge naturally is about as sympathetic as you’d expect, having apparently never even heard of the idea of a bonus when Huey, Dewey or Louie suggests it. 

Even less suprising is that Glomgold streaks by in his Jet:turns out Manilla was already overun with the bugs Scrooge claimed and Donald rubs it in that had Scrooge got a JET this wouldn’t of been an issue. 

So Glomgold easily beats them there, and to add insult and actualy injury to a cash based one, our heroes get blasted by golden lava on the way in and crash. Should’ve gotten launchpad... got the crashing professional. Keoki is dispondent as this means his people are doomed. He also dosen’t know waht staking a claim is when Scrooge mentions it and the boys bring him up to speed with the poor guy saying he wish he could for WookaWooka. Donald also makes a valid point about how greedy and heartlress scrooge can be.. and really billiionares in general.

No no YOUR the Grouch who refuses to have one drop of emapthy. Donald’s just pissed at your general selfish and terrible behavior. 

Glomgold glomgloats and has seemingly won... but naturally that rant that seemed extranious at the time about the date line comes into play: turns out the Island is on it, and since glomgold put his marker int he west, Scrooge simply puts his in the east which is a whole day before. Now GRANTED there’s nor eal legal prescendice for the intetaoinal date line itself , as noted above... but there’s enough witnesses in Scrooge’s favor that it simply does not matter anyway. Scrooge SEEMINGLY wins.

But Huey, Dewey Or Louie instead backs another claim: Keoki’s from earlier. While it was made in gest, he and the others along with Donald back it as witnsses instad. WookaWooka is saved and SCrogoe ends the story yelling at the narrator.

Final Thoughts: Don Rosa.. did not like this story, feeling it wasn’t one of his best and apologizing for it. I however.. really loved it. It’s not PERFECT: the narration feels not entirely necessary and the gag isn’t as funny as he thinks, though the payoff of scrooge saying “it’s time for this story to end” is fucking hilarous. I also feel it’s a bit too compressed: the story is only 16 pages and was only THAT long because Rosa added a few for exposition, a worthy addition. This feels like one of his 30 page adventure stories but slightly crammed into half the length. I also feel the golden island bit was BADLY underused as it’s such a cool setting but barely shows up in the story. 

But despite that.. it’s still a fun story: as is standard for Rosa the art is gorgeous and the humor is great. And unlike some stories where Rosa casually ignores how terrible scrooge is, here it’s his own greed and hubris that do him in: had he actually agreed to help Keoki, the boys likey would’ve let him keep the island but his own cold refusual to be a human being does him in, just as his cheapness nearly did. Flintheart is also decent here.. not the deepest foe but frankly most classical duck antagonists really aren’t all that fleshed out, and we still get some good bits with him. The dateline bit, while telegraphing that it will be important, as I said REALLY isn’t that hard to understand. All in all while i’ll agree with Rosa this isn’t his BEST, it’s still a really damn good story and one he shoudln’t be ashamed of. 

Tommorow: Green Eggs and ham is back for some train shenanigans! Kay. 

Saturday: The Tom Retrospective returns for it’s last detour! Eclipsa and Moon team up to stop meteora but grapple with diffrent wants: One to save her daughter.. the other to stop waht she clearly sees as an out of control monster. The result.. will only lead to tragedy and a hell of a two parter. 

If you liked this review consider joining my patreon, patroen.com/popculturebuffet. At as low as 2 bucks a month you get accesss to my patreon discord, exclusive reviews, and to pick a short when I do one of my shortstragavanzas, a marthon of theatrical shorts honoring a characters birthday. And given Donald’s is next month, now’s the time to get on board. 

But if you go up to 5 you get a guaranteed review of whatever you want every month, and will get me to my next milestone, which will give everyone including yourself a monthly public darkwing duck review, reviews of the two Ducktales minis’ I haven’t covered (Time is Money and SuperDuckTales) and a reivew of the Danny Phantom film the Ultimate Enemy. So please join today and if you cannot, like this review, subscribe and give me your opinions on it bellow. Or even if you can feedback is always appricated and I will see you at the next rainbow. 

[redgoldsparks]

March Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

full reviews below the cut (ran long this month): 

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

A collection of eight dark, mysterious stories in the vein of Kelly Link and Helen Oyeyemi. I had expected this book to be a harder read, but I ended up going through it in about a week, happily devouring one story after another. "Inventory", a catalogue of lovers at the end of the world, and "Mothers", about a dysfunctional lesbian relationship probably hit me the hardest, but I appreciated the strands of queer pleasure and spookiness woven throughout. Many stories include themes of sexual assault or other more unexplainable traumas of having a feminine body, but they were never overly graphic.

Sex Machine edited by Amanda Lafrenais

As with most anthologies, I liked some stories in this collection more than others. A few of the real stand outs included "Little Universe Machine" by Aud Koch, which is painted in exquisite watercolors; "Rendezvous with Ain" by Savanna Ganucheau which played with the concept of virtual presentations of an AI; "Love Triangulation" written by Blue Delliquanti and drawn by Jon Cairns which includes a really unique and intriguing human pilot/robotic transport relationship made possible through extensive cybernetic modifications; and "Starship", Faith Erin Hick's well executed Star Trek AU. I appreciated the authors who chose to tell stories of non-humanoid robot characters as well!

Slay by Brittany Morris

Kiera is one of very few Black students at her private high school in Bellevue, Washington, and on top of the normal pressures of keeping up in her honors classes and applying to colleges she is also the secret developer of a multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. She has poured her heart and soul into building SLAY as a fantasy world exclusively for Black gamers to play free of harassment, but she's never told her younger sister, her parents, her boyfriend Malcolm or her white best friend Harper about her creation. When a SLAY player in Kansas City is murdered over trying to sell in-game items for actual money, SLAY is suddenly a hot media topic and Kiera and her co-moderator Cicada (a Black college student in Paris whom Kiera has never met IRL) must figure out how to handle the new and scary outside pressures on their previously safe and hidden world. This book is a fast and fun read, and I liked how the story unfolded over a very short period of time. The chapters that briefly showed various diverse SLAY player's POVs added a lot. Some of the high school friend/boyfriend drama felt a little clunky, mainly because it was often a distraction from the main narrative of game situation. But I really liked the relationships Kiera had with Cicada and with her sister, and I was very pleased with the book's ending.

The Golden Twine by Jo Rioux

Short and fast paced, this story centers on Mouse, an orphan who hangs on to the edges of a traveling circus, who revels in fairy tales and wants to be a monster-tamer. She gets caught up in her very own fable, tangling with a shape-shifter, an imp and monster with a tender heart. Clearly the set up of the beginning of a longer tale.

Heavy by Kiese Laymon

This is a book I want to own, so I can underline passages. It's so good I ended up giving up on another book I was also reading, because it paled in comparison. Kiese Laymon writes about growing up Black and poor in Mississippi, raised by his Grandma and his single mom, to whom the book is addressed in the second person. He includes experiences of physical and sexual abuse, as well other body-related traumas such as eating disorders. He writes of a gambling addiction and other self-sabotage. It feels trite to call these introspections honest or raw or hard-won, though they are those things. As Laymon asks near the end of the book, "Can we just not lie?" This book is also about Laymon's education as a writer, reader, and thinker. His mother (a professor at Jackson State University working towards her PhD through most of childhood) assigned him reading and essays on top of his normal school work, edited his pieces, and impressed on him the importance of writing, re-writing, re-reading, revising. Laymon highlights moments in which certain concepts or words entered his vocabulary, the phases in which he became proficient at writing about various parts of his experience. This is also a book about racism, and the unconscionable levels of racist violence and oppression in this country, on which this country was founded, and which is woven into every single system of power, including the education system. Laymon was impacted by this as elementary school student, as a high school student, as a college student, and as a tenure track professor trying to meet the needs of students just as marginalized as he was. For anyone who loves memoir, or who writes memoir, this is a masterful example. I'm definitely planning to check out Laymon's other books as well.

Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, Ryan Estrada, and Ko Hyung-Ju

This is a wonderful graphic novel, an engaging look at the student-lead activism in South Korean in the early 1980s. Kim Hyun Sook is a first year University student studying literature. She is shocked to discover that campus is regularly overtaken by riots in which police beat and tear-gas students who protest President Chun, an unelected military general who controlled the country from 1981-1987. At first, she doesn't understand what motivates the protests. Then she joins a book club which reads exclusively book which have been banned by the government- The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara, Counter-Revolutionary Violence: Bloodbaths in Fact and Propaganda by Noam Chomsky, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, A Song That Cannot Be Erased by Kim Jeong-Hwan, For the Independent Peaceful Reunification of the County by Kim Il Sung. Hyun Sook's eyes are opened, and she begins working with a group of students who organize via the school newspaper and the masked dance troupe. It's very dangerous and multiple members are arrested and tortured by the police but the book doesn't lose it's hopeful tone that protest is effective and change is possible. It's a needed message for our current times. The book is based on one of the co-author's real life experiences, though the story has been condensed down from reality.

The City in the Middle of the Night written by Charlie Jane Anders, read by Jennifer O'Donnell and Laura Knight Keating

I loved the world of this book: January, a planet tidally locked to its sun with one side frozen in perpetual night, the other burning and bright. The humans who colonized this planet many generations ago established several cities in the narrow band of dusk between the two extremes. They were aware of the native species, but they didn't understand the intelligence or careful climate control programs the indigenous beings had crafted to keep the world livable- until those systems started to break down under human intervention. I struggled to like the characters who fill this intriguing setting. I think for me the book was a little too long, and some of the emotional beats didn't land. I would have liked more of the January beings, more explicit queerness, and less of the painfully disintegrating friendship. I believe this book has been optioned for TV- I'm curious to see what changes might be made in an adaptation.

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo, read by Cindy Kay

This is a delightfully queer historical fantasy, technically the second novella in a series but it can also stand alone. Chih, a travelling cleric-historian, is crossing a mountain pass on back of a mammoth with a guide when they encounter three deadly shape-shifting tigers. The only thing Chih can think of to keep them at bay is a story, one about the love affair of a beautiful scholar and her tiger wife. Full of ghosts, poetry, passion and danger, the tale unwinds with the tigers correcting Chih's mistakes. But will the story last until help can arrive? I listened to this as an audio book and it was a tantalizing 2.5 hours- I am hungry for more from Nghi Vo. How fortunate that her first full length novel is due out this summer!

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee read by Emily Woo Zeller

Set in a steampunk-infused fantasy country heavily inspired by Korea under Japanese occupation in the early 1900s, this story follows a nonbinary painter in their mid-20s who struggles to find work in the capital city of their homeland, Hwaguk. In desperation, Gyen Jebi, the artist, applies for a job in the Razanei occupational government. Their political sister throws them out of the house, and Jebi ends up working for the Ministry of Armor under a Razanei name. The Ministry of Armor is in charge of designing and upkeeping the automaton soldiers that form one branch of the military- but that's not all they do. Jebi quickly learns that Armor is developing a dragon automaton prototype, but something has gone wrong, and the previous lead artist on the project is dead. Not only that, but the magical processes used to bring automata to life are more horrifying that Jebi could have ever imagined. Soon they must decide what's more important: keeping their head down and earning a good wage under an attractive but dangerous boss; or smuggling some of the classified information out to the Hwagukian rebel forces. I absolutely loved the setting of this book, and the magic; I was less convinced by the characters and their motivations. In particular, there are a few emotional relationships in the book which either developed or devolved in ways that didn't make sense to me. The ending is also interestingly abrupt for a stand alone novel. I still recommend it, but with caveats.

This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, read by Cynthia Farrell and Emily Woo Zeller

Red and Blue are spies on opposite sides of a war that spans all of time and multiple interwoven universe-threads. They travel up and down stream, stopping wars or starting them, saving the lives of those who will later invent vaccines or new mathematics, or preventing people who would be influential from ever being born. Neither Red or Blue are human, though they frequently take on human form during their missions. Red works for the Agency, a technology future, whose agents skip and jump lightly across spacetime in hundreds of small interventions, causing miracles and murders. Blue works for the Garden, a future based in natural biology, which favors a slow long-game approach to change, often embedding agents for the full course of a human life in key historical moments. Equal and opposite, Red and Blue begin a correspondence, initially threatening and taunting, but which soon turns philosophical and poetic. The discovery of this relationship by either the Agency or the Garden would ensure the writer's death, but they keep writing, though each letter is equally a trap and a lifeline. Is this love, or sabotage? Can it be both at the same time? I listened to this four hour audiobook all in one day and though the story has some weaknesses I enjoyed it immensely.