#Avon in the Media

[avonmom]

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[lurking-latinist]

I think I might need the mathematical resources of category theory to express the blorbo thoughts I'm having right now

[doll-poetry]

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[protemporescitor]

Guys, I'm trying.

[mitrabigheartsmallworld]

I will never stop promoting my store.

[blanketforcas]

so the theory that misha was asked to defend castiel's death on social media is confirmed now ig

Misha: "I tried to kind of defend the show's treatment of my character's death on social media - partly because the producers had asked me to do that [...]"

timestamp 4:18

[tremendouskoalachild]

Status of High Republic kids post-Phase I

(including main and side characters that are children, teens, or equivalent in thr books and comics. spoilers for everything published, including Tales of Light and Life and Starlight Coda, with additional spoilers for upcoming media under the cut)

(SB - Starlight Beacon, SBF - Starlight Beacon's Fall)

I. main Jedi kiddos (plus Zeen, a member of the Padawan squad)

Bell Zettifar – present on SB. survived. spent months on Eiram afterwards helping the relief efforts and searching for Burryaga. learned to fish.

Burryaga Agaburry – present during SBF, presumed dead in its aftermath. actually survived and was stranded in inaccessible part of Eiram’s ocean. eventually found and recovered by Bell. malnourished and with patchy fur.

Farzala Tarabal – helped evacuate younglings off SB. last seen unconscious after confrontation with Nameless, still on SB. presumed dead in the immediate aftermath of SBF. status unknown.

Lula Talisola – helped evacuate younglings off SB, then went after escaped prisoner Krix. last seen still on SB as it is on fire in Eiram’s atmosphere, thinking of Zeen. presumed dead in the immediate aftermath of SBF. status unknown.

Qort – present on SB. successfully evacuated with group of rescued younglings. sole confirmed survivor of the original Starhopper Padawan squad.

Ram Jomaram – on Corellia during SBF. survived battle with Nihil. all in all one of the least traumatized teens in the series despite his home being destroyed by Nihil.

Reath Silas – on Corellia during SBF. survived battle, got knighted and lost his replacement master right after. otherwise fine though.

Vernestra Rwoh – on Eiram during SBF. lost Stellan and, as far as we know, Imri and Avon. traumatized beyond belief. months post-SBF following the Force as a Wayseeker without official approval. now headed to Ibbe to recover.

Zeen Mrala – on Corellia during SBF. survived battle with Nihil. last seen thinking of Lula, determined to find her in the aftermath.

II. non-Jedi heroes

Affie Hollow - present during SBF, evacuated. helped with disaster relief on Eiram for a month afterwards. started work on rebuilding the Guild. has been seventeen for several years now.

Avon Starros - apparently presumed dead by Vernestra months after SBF. had very correct suspicions about her mom's Nihil connections the last time we saw her. status unknown.

Crash and Svi’no – maybe I’d know if Lucasfilm weren’t releasing stories exclusively in print in one region only. survived battle on Corellia and got together so yay?

Honesty Weft - ehh he's probably fine? no real reason to believe otherwise. including him for completeness tbh

Jordanna Sparkburn and Sylvestri Yarrow – probably fine since we have no reason to think they were anywhere near SB or Corellia. might have to deal with Sylvestri's mother’s horrible death by Elzar during SBF. also got together so yay. also also if we can't have art of them together why don't the backgrounds of their concept art at least match up cleanly

III. minor Jedi characters

Amadeo Azzazzo – somehow matrix dodged all the death flags. don’t know if we’ll see him again but I’m proud of him and wish there was art of him.

Bibs and Rardal – present on SB. last seen squaring off against the Nameless. strongly implied to be dead.

Gabino and Kaimo – they better be okay!! a group of younglings were successfully evacuated off SB, though we didn’t see these 2 specifically.

Imri Cantaros – apparently was present on SB. presumed dead by Vernestra months later. status unknown.

Nima and Viv’nia – present on SB for a bit but got sent away a while before SBF. presumably fine on Coruscant.

Ruu – the summary I found says he’s okay on Corellia. he also seems extremely cool and I hope I get to meet him. wish there was art.

Zint – present on SB. successfully evacuated with Qort.

IV. Nihil kids

Krix Kamerat – last seen still on SB as it is on fire in Eiram’s atmosphere, fighting Lula. status unknown.

Nan – present on SB. tried and failed to prevent its fall. evacuated in Koley Linn’s ship, returning to the Nihil.

Sabata Krill – last seen on the bridge of a crashing ship over Corellia. status unknown.

what we know from announcements of upcoming media:

Avon – confirmed for Defy the Storm so alive (which we knew anyway due to her connection to Sana’s storyline during the OT).

Imri, Jordanna – confirmed for Defy the Storm so alive. I would guess the same goes for Sylvestri but I haven’t seen any info about that.

Lula – still MIA, presumed dead one whole year after SBF. the same probably goes for Farzala but he isn’t mentioned by name.

[queer-starwars-bracket]

Queer Star Wars Characters (Round 2): General Bracket Match 29

Sabé | Identity: bisexual | Media: Queen’s Trilogy/Darth Vader comics

Sabé, born Tsabin, was a member of a family of musicians who set their daughter on the same path. However, she was only skilled enough to ever have a supporting role and instead volunteered to be one of Queen Amidala’s handmaidens. She became Padmé’s most trusted operative, pretending to be the Queen during the Invasion of Naboo. After Padmé’s term as queen ended, she remained her operative and worked with Tonra, a member of Naboo’s security force, to attempt to free slaves on Tatooine. They eventually made contact with the White Suns, a Tatioone slave liberation movement. When the Clone Wars began, Sabé once again acted as Padmé’s decoy when Padmé was away from Coruscant conducting an investigation. There she learned Anakin and Padmé were married. However, to make sure Padmé didn’t have her closest confidant, Palpatine blasted Sabé’s brain with the Dark Side until she didn’t want to work closely with Padmé anymore. Sabé spent the rest of the war helping the White Suns.

After Padmé died, Sabé founded an organization known as the Amidalans- a rebel cell consisting of Naboo (including some of the other handmaidens), who sought to avenge Padmé. They attempted to assassinate Vader (who they deemed responsible) on multiple occasions. Sabé focused on deception, preventing to work with Vader to find Padmé’s killer and infiltrating Crimson Dawn.  until she figured out that Vader was Anakin. Remembering how Padmé’s last words (which had been recorded) was “There’s still good in [Anakin]”, she decided to actually become Vader’s operative. Her given reason was that the Empire and Vader did bring order to the galaxy, but it is just as likely she is following her queen’s last order to attempt to bring the man she loved back to the light. She remained by Vader’s side even when her fellow handmaidens came to “rescue” her. Her last appearance in the comics was Vader abandoning her on a beach until she could decide to fully commit to the Dark Side (emotionally speaking). Sabé had crushes on a handful of people and even a romantic relationship with Tonra, but her most important was her romantic love for Padmé. These feelings were requited, with Queen’s Hope creating a love triangle where Sabé represented ideology and duty and Anakin was selfish love. As we know, Padmé chose Anakin, but a deciding factor was Sabé’s self esteem being temporarily shattered by Palpatine. Her wider moral view seems to have degraded after spending over two decades focusing on avenging Padmé instead of joining the wider Rebellion. However, even working for the Empire, she hasn’t gone completely evil yet- doing things like pretending to kill a bunch of refugees to gain their loyalty instead of actually killing them.

Vernestra Rwoh | Identity: aroace | Media: the High Republic Phase I

Gifted Kid SyndromeTM. Vernestra Rwoh is primarily a character in the middle grade High Republic novels (as appearing in the YA Out of the Shadows). A prodigy, she solves the problem with adults having to be out of the picture in middle grade novels by being one of the youngest Jedi Knights ever- being knighted at 15 after an unusually short term as Stellan Gios’ padawan also from an abnormally young age. As a padawan, she would fall unconscious when traveling through hyperspace and have visions, something that resolved itself on its own (unknown to any of the characters, this was an unrealized ability to navigate hyperspace). Following a vision from the Force, she secretly modified her lightsaber to become a light-whip. 

She was on the Steady Wing, a diplomatic ship, that blew up and killed all of the adults. Working with the prodigious inventor Avon Starros, Honesty Weft, and the padawan Imri Canatros, they survived and captured the Nihil who sabotaged the ship. She also talked Imri down from the Dark Side and became his new master, despite their similar ages. During the Attack on the Republic Fair, she joined Ram Jamoram and Lula Talisola, who both looked up to her, in restoring communications on the planet. Later, she and her Padawan investigated a gravity well generator the Nihil were working on. During that time, her hyperspace visions were reactivated by Mari San Tekka. She was with the old woman when she finally managed to die, denying the Nihil any new Paths. She gave Venrestra one final path.

Later, following visions of Avon being in danger, she and Imri found that the Nihil were kidnapping children to be made into recruits on the planet Dalna. By leading the Jedi of the Dalna temple to the camp, they were able to alert Starlight Beacon and evacuate the planet before it was geologically destabilized by the Nihil’s kyber crystal experiments. She was in the top part of Starlight Beacon when it was destroyed and participated in the group effort to hold it together. She presumably escaped.

As a prodigy, she had the maturity and serenity expected of a Jedi. Fear didn’t trouble her, but she struggled with self-doubt, wondering if she could really be a Jedi Knight and Master to someone the same age as her. She also understood not to let her friendship with Avon cause her to be more worried about her than the missing children on Dalna (commentary with how her being aroace doesn’t make her immune to attachment). She was also a terrible pilot. She has been confirmed to appear in Acolyte. 

[gothhabiba]

Plug-in’s [company hired by Moroccan broadcasting company 2M to dub foreign media] team included translators who wrote scripts in Moroccan Arabic, Standard Arabic and French. Plug-in co-director Chraïbi explained that “Nous avons dû ‘créer’ un nouveau langage… une nouvelle darija, qui ne soit ni trop casablancaise, ni trop fassie, ni trop chamalie, ni trop vulgaire” (Ziraoui 2009), ‘we had to create a new language… a new Moroccan Arabic, that isn’t too Casablancan, too Fessi, too Northern or too vulgar’ (my translation). For example, curse words in the original language recording were not translated into the curse words commonly associated with the speech of inner city Casablanca residents, but instead were changed or removed altogether. This ideology that the work at Plug-in consisted of creating a neutral or an unmarked variety of Moroccan Arabic that “everybody” could listen to and understand was one I heard repeatedly from voice actors and staff at Plug-in. It was a position that aligned with the generally held ideology discussed in Chapter 1 that Moroccan Arabic was the lingua franca of Morocco. As shown earlier in the present chapter, however, the observation was made by viewers that the variety of Moroccan Arabic used in dubbing was not neutral, for various reasons, including that it was marked too strongly as Casablancan and that the lexical items chosen were ‘dirty’ and ‘rough.’ Indeed, the fact that there are no ideologically “neutral” translations, in that all translations involve the negotiation and discursive construction of social and linguistic relations of power, is one that has long been recognized by linguists and anthropologists (Jaffe 1999b). The basic assumption by Plug-in that a Moroccan Arabic translation would be understood by “all” Moroccans[] erased a significant body of viewers who were monolingual Tamazight speakers. My question to employees at Plug-in if serious consideration was ever given to creating a Tamazight translation of a foreign series was met with laughter and incredulity.

— Jennifer Lee Hall, Debating Darija: Language Ideology and the Written Representation of Moroccan Arabic in Morocco (PhD dissertation), 2015, pp. 210-11

Jaffe, Alexandra 1999b Locating Power: Corsican Translators and Their Critics. In Language Ideological Debates. J. Blommaert, ed. Language, Power and Social Process, Vol. 2. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Ziraoui, Youssef 2009 Darija. Série Je T’aime, Série Je T’adore.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I was thinking about what you said irt trad historical romance being in a weird spot and decided to look at Sarah Maclean's website to see when her next book is releasing, only to see her next book is a contemporary! Like talk about on the nose

Lol I will admit, I knew about that when I made the post, but it's not WHY I made the post. And disclaimer: so happy for Sarah, I'm reading that book 100%, love the premise as a Succession fan, and I'm also interested to see what she'll do with a different publisher... which is an interesting part of all this, imo. She's said she'll do historicals forever, I believe her, the Duchess book is out in 2025, I trust Sarah with her love of historicals.

I doooo however see a lot fewer trad pub historicals coming out (and I say this as someone who is on NetGalley a lot--I see the incoming trad pub historicals). And the ones I do see are often from smaller presses, which isn't bad, but--Avon seems to be slowing it down, and they have been one of the big historical romance publishers in the past. I've said this before, but they also lost Carrie Feron, one of their majorly influential editors who worked with a lot of big historical romance authors, last year. I don't think that's a coincidence...

And while Sarah MacLean isn't leaving historicals, a lot of core authors haven't been publishing as much. Lisa Kleypas hasn't published a book since Devil in Disguise in... 2021? Ms. Bev hasn't published a historical, think, since To Catch a Raven in 2022. Elizabeth Hoyt's less book was pre-pandemic, I think.

Joanna Shupe has a historical romance, The Gilded Heiress, out in December year. But it doesn't appear to be a part of a series as of now which is kinda unusual for historicals in this day and age and indicates a shorter deal unless there's more to come, I could've sworn it was due out earlier originally (and that could be her needing more time, but it could also be Avon delaying it, I honestly don't know) and I mean.... Joanna has been publishing indie a lot more in recent years, both historicals under the Joanna name and mafia under the Mila name. I see Minerva Spencer doing more indie stuff with her S.M. LaViolette pen name, too.

Eva Leigh seems to be pivoting to fantasy romance for her next few releases. Tessa Dare has been out of the game for a bit, though I think there are many reasons behind that.

Now, on the bright side, we see authors like Adriana Herrera, Liana de la Rosa, Cat Sebastian, Alexis Hall, Amalie Howard etc doing new and interesting things with the genre. Alexandra Vasti has her full-length trad debut this year. These are good things!

But I do see a lot of authors saying on social media that publishers are not very open to histrom as of late... and as someone who wants to write it, that's discouraging lmao.

Obviously, I wanna say, I support ALL of these authors doing things that aren't histrom (can't wait to see what Eva's books are about omg). BUT.... I do hope that this doesn't submerge out of tradpub for a billion years. And if it does, I know indie is a resource, and I hope that histrom readers pick up the all and support indie historical releases.

The struggle there, imo, is that a lot of histrom readers are a bit less into ebooks (stereotypically) but like--tell your mom who loves historicals to read shit on KU. Tell your buddy in her 20s who thinks it's all stodgy and chaste that there is some WILD SHIT in there. Tell your dark romance reader friends about all the dubcon and kidnappings lol. Spend money on these books when you can, and obtain them from your library, subscription services, etc when you can't. This audience does need to push to support authors who are doing the work.

[avonmom]

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[thehamletdiaries]

Hamlet, in the park, in the pouring rain.

So, Stratford-Upon-Avon has this open air theatre called the Dell, where it puts on plays throughout the summer; they are free for anyone to go watch and they are mostly amateur productions or youth groups or the like. I’d never seen a production there before and didn’t really understand…what it was…which sounds silly but the only open air theatres I’d been to were very much full, built up theatres with seating and a stage and the only difference to any other theatre is they didn’t have a roof.

But I had been to the park that the Dell is in, and I knew it couldn’t be that.

And it isn’t…it’s just a small raised platform, with two tents either side as the wings, and people can bring their own chairs, or sit on the grass, or stand. 

Now, the day I’m headed up there to see this production of Hamlet it was raining. And they had meant to be performing at 12pm and 3pm, but the 12pm performance was cancelled because of the rain. And as we are getting closer and closer to 3pm…it is still very much raining, and pretty heavily. So, I’m checking the website, it’s not saying it’s cancelled…so I head to the park (it’s still very much raining), and I’m walking over wondering if this production is even going ahead - and it did! And with a fairly decent sized audience, all of us sheltering under a tree, many with umbrellas and raincoats (I had neither), and whilst I cannot imagine for a moment it was what the cast would have chosen, the reality of watching it like this was actually sort of wonderful - it was this very communal experience…a way of experiencing Hamlet, together, in this very unique way.

The nature of the theatre also has other quirks; a dog nearly ran on stage at one point, and it’s a public park so people are just walking past having conversations…but you quickly end up embracing that as part of the nature of this kind of performance. People were also taking photos - something I would normally never do during a play - but it felt very natural in this environment and I ended up taking photos too.

The company that put on the production is called Necessary Cat Limited…and other than a facebook page I genuinely cannot find any information about them anywhere, except that they are doing the same production of Hamlet at the Edinburgh Fringe. I don’t really understand whether they are a fully amateur company or sort of semi-professional...I got a programme but it really didn’t give me much more information; all of the actors seemed to have backgrounds that were sort of “semi-professional or somewhat around the theatre world but not quite” - and I couldn’t find any of them on social media either; so really that remains something of a mystery.

The production certainly had an amateur dramatics flavour - which I don’t mean in a negative way *at all*; there is something quite wonderful about that style of performance that I really enjoyed.

All of the actors embodied their roles well, I thought (and a couple were notably impressive…I’ll come to that in a second)...except for Colin Povey as Hamlet. He was…not great, to say the least. I don’t think he was a bad actor, but he was bad at playing the character of Hamlet. The problem was, I think, that he seemed incredibly pleased to be playing Hamlet, which came across as him being incredibly pleased to be Hamlet, and if Hamlet is anything it is not pleased to be himself. There was a slight smirk on his face for almost the whole play - and not in the “Hamlet is roguishly charming sometimes” way, but in a “I am just having a great time and enjoying my life and am very pleased with myself” way - and at times, particularly when he was alone on stage (watching to be or not to be when the performer doesn’t even seem remotely sad is…an odd experience), this…version…of Hamlet was so grating I found myself actively paying attention to the dogs and the passers by and things around me to distract myself because it was just such a grating performance. And honestly, I sort of feel bad talking about this guy who gave us a whole one hour and 45mins long performance in the rain but he was just so wrong for the part.

However, it says something about the pace and the energy of the rest of the cast, and about how this performance was constructed, that I still had a really good time watching a version of Hamlet with a very poorly performed Hamlet.

Because everything else was really quite good.

Firstly, the cutting was excellent; it only ran for an hour and 45mins and somehow did not feel choppy or oddly cut; I noticed a couple of cuts here and there but only because I know the script so well and mostly I couldn’t tell which lines they had gotten rid of at all. They cut the whole Fortinbras plot, which was a sensible move in a version that needed to be shorter and more contained.

The Ophelia actress, Amber Lipman, was wonderful - she brought an intelligence to the role that I feel Ophelia often does not get afforded, whilst also feeling very young, and very used, and very much the victim in a way that made you so angry for her.

The Rosencrantz and Guildenstern actor and actress - Alan Sunter and Caitlin Carter (they played them as two men, just one of the performers happened to be a woman) were also really good; they very much felt like real characters that mattered in their own right and not just as plot devices…which often happens with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; their individual humanities as well as the relationship between the two of them and between them and Horatio was all very evident and really well done.

Also, a fun reality of the stage set up is one of the tents that acted as a wing was completely open; so you could see the actors “backstage” and Sunter and Carter fist bumped after they exited from doing their first scene and it was adorable.

Now, James Scott as Horatio. The thing is…I don’t really see a lot of Horatios that feel like my Horatio. Of course this is a character I am wedded to far more than probably makes rational sense and of course this is going to mean I am far pickier than is particularly reasonable about how Horatio is played…and I really, really loved James Scott’s performance. He captured that Horatio is complicated; that Horatio is a human caught in this absolutely mad situation; he captured how much Horatio cares…not just about Hamlet, but about Ophelia too, and about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He captured how Horatio is trying to do the right thing and to help and feels so out of place at court and just doesn’t quite know what to do but also can’t really quite bring himself to try and stop Hamlet because he loves and trusts him too much not to follow him…until it’s too late.

He understood all of that.

And he managed to perform all of that whilst acting opposite a Hamlet who, not to repeat the point, was not a good Hamlet at all. I would love to be able to see Scott play Horatio again opposite a Hamlet actor who was worthy of his performance.

There were also some really nice aspects to how Horatio was included in the play; for a start he was just included in a lot of it…he’s there for the whole of the Ophelia madness scene, not just the first part, they had him delivering letters from Hamlet to other characters in place of the side character who normally does it, which I liked; he generally felt very present and I’m always here for more Horatio.

Without being too heavy handed about it, they weaved in far more of a relationship between Horatio and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern than you get to see in most productions; little details like them talking together before and during the Mousetrap play…but then having Horatio immediately go to Hamlet’s side as soon as it moved into the play upon my pipe scene; that reality that these four were all friends, and Horatio was still going to hold those relationships in his heart in some way…but also was never going to side with anyone but Hamlet when it came down to it; I loved how that was done.

And I loved the care he showed Ophelia and that dynamic was just so well played.

There was this beautiful moment, after Ophelia has first come on stage and is mad, when she had gone off stage, followed by Horatio, and the two actors were sorting out the flowers for her to come back on with (they also had Horatio come on with a flower in his hair which was a nice touch), and they were doing this in the tent where you could see everything and they were talking and clearly joking with each other and for a moment I basically stopped watching the play because instead I was watching what felt like this beautiful tableau of Horatio and Ophelia just hanging out and having a nice time and it was lovely and sweet and beautiful…I had a lot of emotions in that moment.

They rather strangely cut Horatio trying to kill himself at the end; genuinely not sure why.

They did, however, have Osric (the Guildenstern actress doubled as Osric and she played them differently enough to make that work) hold Laertes in his arms as he died so…here are some pictures for all you Osric/Laertes shippers out there.

At the end I went up to James Scott and said something along the lines of “I just wanted to say that Horatio is a character that means so much to me and I so rarely get to see him in a way that feels true to him and you really did that and thank you”...or something along those lines; this sounds very silly but I was amazed I managed to get through saying that to him without crying because at that point I genuinely was so moved and had so many feelings about everything he brought to and embodied about my Horatio.

[anotherkindofloveletters]

Drive My Car

Hi flowers, here's the new part of Drive My Car. I hope you like this one, I know it's not the longest, but I might have the next part ready already (that's a mouthful). ♥ tw: toxic george doing toxic george stuff, yes he's back, swearing, badly translated languages, if you find something else just tell me please. thank you ♥ taglist: @honethatty12 @pleasantducktimetravell @hungryhungarian Please feel free to tell me if you want to join the taglist.

Chapter 7

Chapter 8 - Oui ou non.

It’s Baku weekend and y/n is pretty excited about this race, she loved city tracks and she already loved this one when she was in F2 and that lead to a really positive mood on press day. As soon as she got to the paddock, she went looking for Pierre with Yuki wanting to bother him before the press that she knew they were doing together that day. “Someone’s in a good mood today no?” says the french guy seeing y/n that suddenly hugged him from behind “It looks so” she answers smiling “We’re doing press conference together, do you know that?” she asks the french guy “Now I know.” y/n rolls her eyes looking at him "How is it possible that you never know what you have to do." Yuki looks at her with an understanding look "He was always like this with me too." Pierre looks at him before bursting into laughter "What are you even saying? Everybody knows that I was your babysitter." And that was the beginning of an old married couple style of bickering, right before y/n and Pierre are called for their media duties.

When the two get there, y/n sees George already sitting to a corner of the panel and for a second her smile vanishes remembering everything that happened lately with the british guy, he smiled to her acting as if nothing happened and she answered with a weak smile too. Pierre pinches her, already incredibly annoyed by George's behaviour and make her sit far from him, sitting between them.

After a few moments of undistinguished chatting between everyone in the room, they were finally ready to start. There were journalists from all over the world and everyone was pretty nice with their questions to y/n and the other drivers, although suddenly a french journalist starts asking a question to Pierre in french, despite everyone talking in english during the whole conference “M. Gasly, une question pour la Gazette de Paris. Nous vous avons beaucoup vu ces derniers temps avec Mlle y/n, devrions-nous voir un peu de tendresse entre vous ? Elle est très belle et c'est aussi une bonne conductrice, non ?” (Mr. Gasly, a questiong for La Gazette de Paris. We have seen you a lot with Miss y/n y/l/n, do we have to see a bit of intimacy between you two? She's beautiful other than being a great driver no?) y/n rolls her eyes, while Pierre almost starts to answer at the question, already really pissed off. In spite of this y/n answers before he can and she does it in french to everyone's surprise “Avez-vous posé la question en français en espérant que je ne vous comprenne pas ? J'ai étudié le français pendant cinq ans de ma vie et je sais que je ne le parle pas parfaitement, mais je pense que s'il a une question à mon sujet, c'est bien qu'il la pose en anglais. De cette façon, tout le monde peut comprendre. D'ailleurs, ne sommes-nous pas en train de faire une conférence sur la compétition ?” (Have you asked the question in french hoping I could not understand it? I have studied french for five years and I know it's not perfect, but I think that a question about myself is better asked in english so that anyone can understand. Also, we're here to talk about the race aren't we?) the journalist is speechless and everyone is looking now at y/n, making her feel proud yet very uncomfortable, Pierre turns to y/n almost laughing in astonishment “Tu parles si bien le français et tu ne me l'as jamais dit ? Bien dit, mais nous sommes ici pour parler de la course et pour parler d'une manière que tout le monde peut comprendre, alors restons-en là pour les questions.” (You speak french this good and you never told me?. Anyway, well said. We are here to talk about the race and in a way that most can comprehend, so let's keep the questions this way.) y/n blushes a bit at those words, looking at Pierre. George didn’t care much about y/n’s abilities with languages, but cared a lot about the way Pierre was talking to her and how good they looked to everybody's eyes together. Those things made him furious, he prefectly knew what he had done the past weeks, but he couldn't care. He felt addicted to her and the thought of somebody else having her, makes him want to go to war.

Right out of the conference room, George tries to get to y/n grabbing her slightly by the arm “Hey, I’d really like to talk to you…” she looks at him then looks at Pierre “I am sorry, but I'm in a rush” releasing herself from his hold, following the french guy to the Alphatauri’s hospitality where Yuki was waiting for them. George was really pissed off and annoyed and looked in Pierre’s eyes in the most threathening way possible, almost pushing his assistant to get far from that scene that made his blood boil.

“Incroyable" (Unbelivable) snorts Pierre, "Il a même le culot de me lancer un regard mauvais parce que je te parle, tu n'as pas idée à quel point j'ai envie de le frapper". (He dares to give me a dirty look because I talk to you, I can't with him. I just really want to slap his face.) y/n smiles for just a moment seeing Pierre comfortable speaking to her in french, but as soon as she gets what he says her smiles dissapears “Ça n'en vaut pas la peine Pierre, cette situation avec George est difficile pour moi et je suis désolée que tu t'y engouffres. Je vais passer à autre chose et je ne vais pas te laisser avoir des problèmes à cause de moi. Ça n'en vaut pas la peine.” (It's not worth it Pierre, this situation with George is difficult for me and I'm sorry you're getting into it. I'm going to move on and I'm not going to let you get into trouble because of me. It's not worth it.) Pierre smiles to her hearing those words and impulsively wrap his arm around her shoulder “I saw you made someone mad and then you were mad but in french? How many languages do you speak? If you know japanese and never told me I swear to God I'll kill you!” screams Yuki without even breathing as soon as the two reach the Alphatauri's hospitality “Why everything happens when I’m not around?” he complains. Y/n looks at Pierre and laughs before saying “申し訳ありません、Yukiさん、私は日本語も話せます。でも、同棲当初にあなたが友達に私の悪口を言っていた会話は、絶対に盗み聞きしていません。” (I'm sorry Yuki, but yes I also speak Japanese. But I promise I never eavesdropped on your conversations where you spoke badly about me to your friends at the beginning of the cohabitation.) Yuki’s eyes go wide along with Pierre’s “How, tell me how you do it!” shouts pierre laughing “しかし、どうしてそんなことが可能なのでしょうか？絶対に許さないぞ！あなたの日本語はそんなに悪くない。信じられませんね” (But how is this possible? I'll never forgive you for this! Your Japanese isn't so bad. You're unbelievable.) “I say let’s stick to english, shall we?” she laughs it off.

[beardedmrbean]

Scandal-ridden Illinois Mayor Tiffany Henyard faced waves of jeers and booing throughout a raucous meeting where she faced fed-up constituents.

Henyard, the self-described "supermayor" of Dolton, a Chicago suburb, and Thornton Township Supervisor, has recently been dubbed the "worst mayor in America" by critics after being accused of misdeeds ranging from weaponizing police raids to spending taxpayer money on luxuries in Las Vegas. Most recently she has also come under fire for an alleged sexual assault by one of her allies during the Vegas trip, where the alleged victim claims to have been fired after speaking out.

Earlier in April, Henyard made headlines for being condemned by local Dolton residents, but this Tuesday, she was similarly skewered by residents of the Thornton township in a town hall meeting. "Everybody wanted to continue to be a s---show and not really show facts as it relates to what's really going on in our township," she responded.

The mayor, holding a golden microphone, sparked outrage when she argued, "We’re here to help each other and not hurt each other. And it’s a shame that us — us, I’m talking to my Black and Brown communities — would sit here and fight."

DEMOCRATIC ILLINOIS ‘SUPER MAYOR’ VETOES ATTEMPT TO PROBE HER LAVISH SPENDING

The audience could be heard loudly jeering and booing in response and Henyard went on to add, "Guess what? I am the youth, I am the future, no matter what you think or may say."

Residents slammed Henyard for the alleged scandals and accused her of lacking transparency about them.

"When you don’t answer questions, there’s something to hide," Dolton resident Mary Avon said at the meeting.

While Henyard has repeatedly condemned media coverage for allegedly misrepresenting her conduct to the country, one South Holland resident, Curtis Watts, said, "No, ‘madam supervisor,’ we are not brainwashed. We are fed up."

Multiple people spoke about the sexual assault allegations, arguing that it demonstrates that Henyard fails to protect women. 

Trina Downs was one such resident who said, "As a Black woman, I wanna see you protect Black women, and I haven’t seen that, Tiffany."

Henyard has made headlines for appealing to racial politics amid her scandals before, proclaiming during a previous meeting, "Y’all got false narratives out there, and y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves. Y’all Black. Y’all are Black! And y’all sitting up here beating and attacking on a Black woman that’s in power. Y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves."

Fox News Digital previously reported that Henyard has been living like a royal with a combined salary of nearly $300,000 — more than the state's governor — and frequent use of beauty vendors, despite the 23,000 residents of the Illinois town having a median income of $24,000.

The Village of Dolton in Illinois voted Monday to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as a "Special Investigator" to look into Henyard's conduct. On Tuesday, Lightfoot began to be paid $400 an hour to gather information on Henyard’s alleged spending and finance mismanagement as well as "any state and federal violations." 

[jaelijn]

Fic Writer 2023 Review

Based on this. I always want to do annual reviews but then don't get around to them and then it feels weird doing them in February, so here we go for once. Under a cut because long (There's 30 things and I ramble. Not sorry.).

1. What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

I suppose that I wrote a fic from Blake's POV counts. I didn't have a big plan for trying something new for Whumptober this year, but I always find myself doing it because everything starts to feel stale if you write 30 fics in so short a timeframe. So the POV was supposed to be what I tried with that fic, but the fic got away from me a bit, so in retrospect the unusual (for me) POV feels comparatively insignificant. There was also more Jenna this year - I think I'm getting there, so yes.

2. How many fics did you work on this year? (They don’t have to be finished or published!)

I have no idea. I have a very long list of WiPs that I am sure I have added a sentence or two across the year, or maybe I just opened them, fixed a few typos and closed them again, and then I have a few handwritten things that I haven't typed up yet. But *at least* it's 35 published things (31 of which are Whumptobers) and the longfic, so 36. Put like that, it sounds terribly prolific.

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

I enjoy creating without expectation - immersing myself in the longfic with no idea when it will be done or how long it will get was terribly freeing. The downside is that I also realised that I'm not really intrinsicly motivated to post and share anymore, or at least that thought generates no positive pressure at all because scales. It would be really easy for me to never post another fic right now, but I'm not stopping writing.

4. What piece of media inspired you the most?

Always and ever, Blake's 7. There's nothing else that makes me want to write right now.

5. What fandom(s) did you write for this year?

Accordingly: Blake's 7

6. What ship(s) captured your heart?

Avon/Vila. Though they had me already.

7. What character(s) captured your heart?

See above.

8. Did you write for a new fandom or ship this year?

No. Since a lot of my writing, Whumptober aside, went into the longfic, I didn't do much experimenting - not even during Whumptober, really.

9. What fic meant the most to you to write?

Longfic aside, because as ongoing project that obviously matters, possibly Wet Towels, because it feels like I nailed a tonal direction I want to go in with my Avon/Vila.

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

By far, the longfic. Some of the Whumptobers were just the right kind of painful, but the most joy creating - yes, the longfic.

11. What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

Impending Destiny. I know I keep harping on about this fic, and maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's the best oneshot I've written this year and everyone else hates it, but it was so intense to write and so satisfying.

12. What fic was the most difficult to write? Did you finish it?

I did a few "second takes" on Whumptober this year, so I guess those and no, but then again the second take wasn't difficult, I just wasn't happy with the first and haven't touched those since. Fic I stuck with, possibly either Ghastly Aftermath, because ouch (it's difficult to write while you're crying at your own writing, all right?) , or Mistaken Trust because the final scenes were difficult to get right.

13. What fic was the easiest to write?

Nothing strikes me as particularly easier than the rest, really, but then what published writing I've done has been mostly in my comfort zone either way. So I guess all of the ones that weren't difficult?

14. What were your shortest and longest fics this year?

With Every Single Kiss has literal drabbles, so that, though all of the drabbles together are longer than my shortest oneshot. Longest is the ongoing longfic (duh) currently sitting at approx. 91k.

15. Rec a fic you wrote or posted in 2023

I am once again begging you to read Impending Destiny, lol. But if that isn't you're cup of tea, try Mistaken Trust or Spun Gold.

16. What were you go-to writing songs?

I didn't have many, this year. There's usually at least one or two, but I had a weird year with music, I feel, with few new songs that I really fell in love with, so there's been lots of playlists on shuffle and there's no song I could point to.

17. What were your go-to writing snacks?

I don't really snack when I write for fun, and I've had to cut down on my chocolate intake, so unless it's a chocolate praline, none.

18. What was the hardest fic to title?

Is "all of them" an answer that's allowed? I guess I could say Free Fall, not because of the fic, but because it was the first Whumptober and I was trying to figure out the "title format" for the rest of the Whumptobers. (I don't know if anyone has noticed that the Whumptobers have had title formats for three years now, but either way...) Other than that, the no-longer-so-untitled longfic was the one I put most thought into titling, but I'm not telling yet.

19. Share your favorite opening line

So... the thing about Whumptober is that it makes you *incredibly aware* of opening lines, or the format of opening lines. I try not to start all of them the same way, but I also tend to... slip into self-referential facetiousness doing that, in that all of them become funny when considered side by side.

I suppose "Avon was high." and "When the rebel forces of Carin IX finally managed to fish Avon out of the river, he was drenched to the bone." still amuse me (Spun Gold and Wet Towels, respectively).

20. Share your favorite ending line

Now I have to open all of them again, haha! Uh, let's do a not-Whumptober for once:

But lying curled up in the embrace of his most trusted companion, his link with and buffer against the world, Avon sometimes wondered whether it had been a curse at all. (The Price, from R&F #7)

21. Share your favorite piece of dialogue

Uh... spoiler for Impending Destiny, but I keep it vague and not post the whole thing?

“Whoever said that love is the most powerful force in the universe was a bloody liar,” Avon spat, “or a colossal fool. [....]"

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene

Oh for... just... just read Impending Destiny, okay?

23. Share the final version of a sentence or paragraph you struggled with. What about it was challenging? Are you happy with how it turned out?

Oof, I guess the final lines of Mistaken Trust. It would have been so easy to just let them hug and kiss but Avon resisted and once that line was there I had to do something with it that didn't feel unkind to Vila in a plot that... wasn't kind to Vila. I think I managed the balance and once Avon had said no I didn't want to go back to the easy ending, but it wasn't easy to get right.

24. What’s something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

... Impending Destiny. It was supposed to be a fix-it fic!!! It's... not a fix-it anymore. The shift was so striking that I made a tumblr post about it.

25. What did you use to write? (e.g. writing programs, paper & pen, etc.)

Word and paper & pen, very occasionally a note app on my phone. All of the Whumptobers had a paper version before I typed them, but I've only written snippets of the longfic on paper. I enjoy not writing at a screen every now and then, but it *is* slower.

26. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

I don't know, because my writing has been so unevenly balanced (very slow but steady progress for most of the year and A LOT of writing in September/October). I suppose finishing the Whumptobers again? Or perhaps when I realised that the longfic was going to be longer than BDaS without it feeling forced.

27. Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

No. Once the longfic is done, maybe I will.

28. How did you recharge between fics?

Recharge? What's that? Or rather: between fics? What's that? Hahah.

I know what I would have *liked* to do, which is read a fanfic once in a while, but there's not much new out there to my taste these days. I guess watching other shows counts. I have resorted to rewatching B7 as final measure.

29. If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

The numerous people who kudosed, the few people who commented, @oxideblack for the incredible art and for the appreciation of my fics from their circle of fans, @quordleona03 for the inspiration, and @comarum and @foreignobjecticus who know why.

What’s something that you want to write in 2024?

Ah, it would be nice to finish the longfic this coming year. But I'm not making any plans. With how I feel about the sharing & posting, I'm counting it as a win if I don't lose my motivation entirely.

[queer-starwars-bracket]

Queer Star Wars Characters (Round 1): General Bracket Match 52

Alak | Identity: mlm | Media: The High Republic Adventures 2022

Alak was a member of Maz Kanata’s pirate crew. He was born to one of the ruling families of the Scarlet Skulls, a brutal group of mute assassins. However, the night before the initiation a baby was born, and seeing her innocence and the brutal life she’d be forced into, made him realize he couldn’t become a full Scarlet Skull, or let the same thing happen to her. He left, and eight years later he returned to destroy the cult and rescue her. She became his adoptive daughter and pirate prodigy Quiet Shan. He was part of Maz’s crew when she opposed the Dank Graks, a motley gang of Dark-siders attempting to take over Takodana. He was in love with the famous pirate hunter Raf Thatchburn. Their opposed occupations made things very difficult. When they talked over holo, the rest of the crew observed to make sure he didn’t give any information away. Chasing after the Graks when the kidnapped Maz led him and the crew to the Battle of Jedha, where he had a conversation about love with Dexter Jettster (who talked about his QPR with Maz). Shan overheard this conversation, and when Raf was also drawn into the chaos of the battle of Jedha, she saved his life. This made Raf realize he needed to be someone who deserved Alak and Shan’s trust, and he helped save Maz and Takodana from the Graks. He quit his job as a pirate hunter, becoming a pirate to properly get with Alak.

Vernestra Rwoh | Identity: aroace | Media: the High Republic Phase I

Gifted Kid SyndromeTM. Vernestra Rwoh is primarily a character in the middle grade High Republic novels (as appearing in the YA Out of the Shadows). A prodigy, she solves the problem with adults having to be out of the picture in middle grade novels by being one of the youngest Jedi Knights ever- being knighted at 15 after an unusually short term as Stellan Gios’ padawan also from an abnormally young age. As a padawan, she would fall unconscious when traveling through hyperspace and have visions, something that resolved itself on its own (unknown to any of the characters, this was an unrealized ability to navigate hyperspace). Following a vision from the Force, she secretly modified her lightsaber to become a light-whip. 

She was on the Steady Wing, a diplomatic ship, that blew up and killed all of the adults. Working with the prodigious inventor Avon Starros, Honesty Weft, and the padawan Imri Canatros, they survived and captured the Nihil who sabotaged the ship. She also talked Imri down from the Dark Side and became his new master, despite their similar ages. During the Attack on the Republic Fair, she joined Ram Jamoram and Lula Talisola, who both looked up to her, in restoring communications on the planet. Later, she and her Padawan investigated a gravity well generator the Nihil were working on. During that time, her hyperspace visions were reactivated by Mari San Tekka. She was with the old woman when she finally managed to die, denying the Nihil any new Paths. She gave Venrestra one final path.

Later, following visions of Avon being in danger, she and Imri found that the Nihil were kidnapping children to be made into recruits on the planet Dalna. By leading the Jedi of the Dalna temple to the camp, they were able to alert Starlight Beacon and evacuate the planet before it was geologically destabilized by the Nihil’s kyber crystal experiments. She was in the top part of Starlight Beacon when it was destroyed and participated in the group effort to hold it together. She presumably escaped. As a prodigy, she had the maturity and serenity expected of a Jedi. Fear didn’t trouble her, but she struggled with self-doubt, wondering if she could really be a Jedi Knight and Master to someone the same age as her. She also understood not to let her friendship with Avon cause her to be more worried about her than the missing children on Dalna (commentary with how her being aroace doesn’t make her immune to attachment). She was also a terrible pilot. She has been confirmed to appear in Acolyte.