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lesbianboyfriend · 7 months

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can i ask for lesbian book recommendations 🥹🕺

yeassss ofc my love <3

erm and obligatory disclaimer for any who might read that i don’t think “queer” or “lesbian” is a necessarily coherent category of books or adequate descriptor for a novel which is why i’ve also provided the actual genres here (sorted into which ever one i felt best fit) and descriptions. and these books have much more going on than just being about lesbians. however all books are undeniably awesomer with lesbians so yayyyyy

FANTASY:

-the salt grows heavy by cassandra khaw: fantasy horror; murderous mermaid and plague doctor come across a cult of children (could be read as not lesbians bc one character is nonbinary but i choose to read as. lesbians)

-the empress of salt and fortune by nghi vo: political fantasy; monk unravels the tale of exiled empress’ rise to power

-when the the tigers came down the mountain by nghi vo: political fantasy; monk unwinds the tale of a tiger and her scholar lover to prevent other tigers from eating them (stand alone sequel to empress of salt and fortune)

-ship of smoke and steel by django wexler: ya fantasy; girl has to steal a ghost ship to save her sister’s life

-the mermaid, the witch, and the sea by maggie tokuda-hall: ya fantasy; pirate falls in love with one of the ship’s hostages, a girl being sent to an arranged marriage against her will

-tremontaine created by ellen kushner: political fantasy; there’s a lot going on in this one okay just trust me that it’s really good esp if you love political intrigue (this was released serially and is easiest to acquire an electronic version)

-the deep by rivers solomon: fantasy/spec fic; African slave women thrown overboard gave birth to mermaid-esque descendants. one holds these traumatic memories for her whole people and must grapple with that pressure

-wild beauty by anna-marie mclemore: ya magical realism/fantasy; a family of women who can create flowers and whose lovers always tragically vanish fight to keep their land and to unravel the mystery of a strange boy who appeared

-siren queen by nghi vo: historical magical realism/fantasy; girl’s rise to stardom amidst the monsters of hollywood back in the days of the studio system

-gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir: sff; um. how to explain briefly. gideon wants nothing more than to leave the ninth house, but her nemesis harrowhark needs her sword skills to pass the emperors trial and become immortal. sure. (caleb i know you’ve read this just adding for any other viewers yayyy)

HORROR:

-white is for witching by helen oyeyemi: horror fantasy/magical realism; a house with women in its walls calls to miranda silver while the people she leaves behind struggle to make sense of what happened to her

-plain bad heroines by emily a. danforth: historical horror; when filming a movie about the macabre history of a boarding school, its past starts to become the reality for the stars and author of the novel it’s based on

LITFIC:

-girl woman other: contemporary litfic; the intersecting stories of Black british women told in verse

-nightwood: classic literary; i feel like i can’t describe this one well but nora and jenny are obsessed with robin, whose penchant for wandering and inability to commit drives them crazy. toxic dyke drama at its best

-the thirty names of night: lit fic; transmasc syrian american unravels the history of artist laila z who encountered the same rare bird his mother saw right before her death and realizes their pasts are intertwined

-under the udala trees: historical lit fic; coming of age set against the backdrop of civil war in Nigeria, two girls from different ethnic communities fall in love

-everyone in this room will someday be dead: contemporary lit fic; that moment when your ocd lands you a job at the catholic church even though you’re an atheist and also your relationship is falling apart

-stone butch blues: historical lit fic; butch lesbian realizing and grappling with her identity throughout the 40s-70s

-the color purple: classic lit fic; story of two sisters separated in their youth—one is forced into an abusive marriage and falls in love with her husbands mistress, wondering what became of her sister

-oranges are not the only fruit: semi-autobiography with slight fantasy elements; exploring growing up lesbian in a deeply religious pentecostal sect

SCI-FI:

-the weight of the stars: ya sf romance; aspiring astronaut is forced into friendship with a girl who waits on the roof every night for radio signals from her mother in space

-the seep: sci-fi/spec fic; what if aliens invaded and formed a hive mind of everyone and also your girlfriend turned into a baby again. wouldn’t that be fucked up

-the stars are legion: political science fiction; an awakes with no memory amid a group of people calling themself her family who claim she is the only one who can save their world

-not your sidekick: ya sci-fi; superheroes are real and they fucking suck

SHORT STORIES:

-sarahland: contemporary/spec fic short story collection; various stories about people named sarah

#jules.txt #asks #bookshelf

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ginalinettiofficial · 6 months

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hey what’s up hello okay so i finally just finished s2 e52 of dndads (had a very crazy work week so was listening in bits and pieces) and here’s the thing is that im also currently relistening to the whole season and earlier in this week, the most recent episode i finished, was halt and catch fireball, and before that ya know was mrs. swallows oak garcia’s home for peculiar teens or whatever that one is called where they are just. at normal’s house and we got to actually get to know rebecca a little bit and i have got to say that i don’t know if i could’ve picked a more painful and wild older ep to listen to as a precursor to dood riddance i really don’t!!! literally half of the shit in dood riddance just circles back to that arc in the swallows oak garcia home and it’s CRAZY

like first of all. the red vines, which they called twizzlers the entirety of e52 which was MADDENING as a person who legit just finished e30/31 where the red vines were introduced

but then like. e31 is where taylor gets the anime sword from nick!!! that he loses in e52!!!

there were a few other things that i’ve forgotten in the half an hour since i finished the ep because my brain is a sieve on a good day and i’m just getting home from two back to back 13 hour shifts (with an extra 1hr10/20 each day for the commute) so the brain machine is so fucking broke rn

but mainly. i wasn’t loving e52 esp after dood left i just was not vibing with it, i feel like the vibes were off in the room in a way that translated into the ep for a bit there, but then anthony in those last like three minutes brought it back around and with the roll of rebecca??? after i legit JUST finished listening to the eps that feature her the most prominently and like truly showcase not only normal’s relationship w his mom but also, as is said several times in e30/31 and their teen talks, just how similar normal IS to his mom and how he really clearly is a total momma’s boy and very much so seemed to be a kid who sought solace with his mom more than anyone else in his family and just. having legit JUST reestablished that in my own, made the end of e52 DEVASTATING for me in a way that idk if it was for other ppl??? idk haven’t checked the fandom yet im very disconnected this season but just.

i think that okay so we have ten parents it could’ve been, right? and five of those are the kiddads, and none of us want to see them die, so in that moment when anthony was telling us what was gonna happen, obviously my instinct was like “oh god don’t do this don’t do terry jr again but truly permanent” and then my next instinct was that it would be potentially even MORE awful if it was scary’s dad because finally there he is and that’s ALL she wants and for willy to take that moment from her would be INSANE and then (mind you this was my thought process over the course of literally 10 seconds, my brain is ping ponging in my head and has been since the second i got in the car to head home i need to sleep) and THEN my next thought was, oh god, but how fucked up would it be if it were marco??? oh god, how fucked up would it be if it were cassandra?!?!?!?! and then it was time for the roll and truly in those brief seconds basically my brain flicked through every potential victim and said “oh god THAT one would be the WORST”, EXCEPT for veronica and rebecca, and it made the hit of it being rebecca who was low down on my instinctual list to think of but then the second he said her name i was immediately ricocheted back to earlier in the week when i was listening to halt and catch fireball and mrs. swallows oak garcias home and how many emotions i had about normal and his mom just relistening to those episodes and then the fact that i DIDNT think to worry about her just

all of that combined to make that a CRITICAL HIT FOR ME OKAY like i am SO fucked up over this truly that was WILD and i applaud anthony burch for it and now am excited for the finale even though ive spent the last three eps just dreading it for several reasons but now im excited and devastated and i love that

anyways. that was word vomit i just NEEDED to get this out because the connections between those two episodes really will not stop hitting me in the head and i need to impart that onto SOMEONE. if u read this. ur a real one. rip rebecca swallows oak garcia you were a legend and i am so sad about u

#d speaks #dndads #dndads s2 #dndads spoilers #dndads s2 spoilers #normal oak

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arcplaysgames · 2 years

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I don't remember this at all so I don't even know if its part of The Lotus Tree or not, lmao, sorry Kasumi you are so boring up until, uuuuuuuuuuh about 40 minutes from now actually

So Reverie wakes up, happy new year, time to head downstairs to

no no no no no non on onojnkofidflasjk NO

NOOOOO

no!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

inhales

okay.

I, in real life, staring at my Odin, literally out loud said, "Oh fuck ALL the way off."

Anyway, we meet up at the shrine by luck, hahhaaha what a crazy random happenstance.

Also: HARU! MY GOD! WHAT A KNOCKOUT! I feel like her kimono might cost more than my fucking car.

But there is already a very weird tension in the air when the group gets together. They all meet up at a shrine that has no visitors because it seems like no one in the world is wishing for anything because their lives are so perfect, so the crew is like "well! this was nice. uh see ya!" and the vibes are so bad. Immediately everything feels like a world encased in glass, like a pinned insect that just got a shot of euthanasia and is starting to lock into place.

It is fucking EERIE as shit.

oh my god I'm gonna sharpen an axe and cut down your Lotus Tree, Maruki, I swear to god

"Would you join the Phantom Thieves" as an indicator that all is perfect and no one needs to do anything is sure Something.

Somehow, just watch me, I will find a way to blame this all on Mishima again. I'm already trying to calculate the trajectory.

SPITTAKE

I FUCKIGN HOLLARED OH MY GOD

I don't want to sound like the average Atlus developer right now, Morgana, but I think you may have gained some weight.

Also, sidebar: COWARDS for changing Morgana's voice actor for this. COWARDS!!!!! Cassandra Lee Morris has been doing fucking WORK with this character, I literally would rather her continue voicing him with a pitch modulation effect than swapping the VA, /HISSES ANGRILY

Anyway. Reverie and I are both in complete unity at the moment because all of this is Fucked.

Again, me, IRL, shouting "NO" at my Odin.

oh i feel ill from this, this is horrendous. Maruki, you got a fucking storm coming, and i have a fusioned Izanagi-no-Okami with your name on it.

LOOK AT REVERIE HERE. So like I've ranted about how the P4MC was such a non-character while Reverie is so so much more. I can feel how freaked out he is even while he's still a mostly silent protagonist. The fear he feels as he tries to make sense of this situation and starts to wonder how far it spreads is fucking radiating from his posture and how he's watching everyone from over his popped collar and event he way he hasn't turned the chair around to face them, he is cheated away from everyone.

God, it's amazing. I have a lot of issues with P5R but the protagonist is a triumph.

Oh, immediately before he said a single fucking thing. He knows. He knows. He walks in and takes one look around and he knows.

Which in of itself is fascinating and I wanna sink my teeth into what that means.

Everyone in this world is getting their desires. No! No that's incorrect. What they are getting is their pain taken away. I remember Maruki's absolutely batshit closing speech as he left the school in November.

Everyone is getting a life where the biggest traumatic moments did not happen. Futaba never lost her mother and thus Sojiro never lost his best friend. Morgana gets to be human because he admires humans so much. Ryuji was never kicked off the track team. Haru never had the falling out that lead to her father's death.

But Reverie? I don't know what he gets. Before the switch flipped on the Lotus Tree, Sae revealed that the woman who was involved in Reverie's false assault accusation might testify, so his record might even be overturned.

So we have Reverie, and we have Akechi. The two Wild Cards who were puppets of a bored god (who, uh, since Philemon isn't actually involved in this I don't really know anymore what Yaldabaoth's whole deal was but whatever, lean with it rock with it).

I don't know if you can undo the trauma of being Goro Akechi.

... I'm thinking about Reverie, and about the constant drumbeat of his connection to Akechi. Wanting to keep a promise.

I just had a really horrible thought but also it's so gay that I dunno if Atlus would Go There. We'll see.

I know I have never been happier to see you. Been a while, Beige Boy. Love the outfit, actually, you look great in actual colors.

/points directly at this

Did Akechi survive or did Maruki being him back because Reverie had unfinished business with him.

That is my question.

Don't answer it, anyone, but what I am thinking is either Akechi will reveal how he survived the Palace (unlikely) or it turns out he fucking didn't and this was the start of the Lotus Tree.

Anyway, Akechi reveals that he was being questioned for the Shido stuff and then they just.... let him go. No charges. He's free. Which is impossible, obviously. And now Wakaba Isshiki is walking around alive.

that lil pose is so gay. i wonder if Akechi is meant to be Actually Gay. serious question. like, we got Actually Queer characters in P4 so we know the people at Atlus know gay people exist, but this game has been scrubbed clear of any queerness.

except Akechi has such intense gay vibes and, sure I'll say it, mannerisms that I wonder if he is subtextually meant to be gay. especially since to my recollection, every male character in this game has been mentioned to be attracted to women except him. like, I did notice that, thank you.

((ALSO, SIDEBAR: YOU KNOW WHAT I MISS FROM P3 AND P4? THE GIRLS HAVING CRUSHES ON EACH OTHER. I miss the casual flirtation and interest all the girls had together. That's also been stripped out of P5 and it sucks.))

anyway what the fuck was I saying. Akechi gay, he and Reverie need to investigate.

And then Kasumi calls to be like "heeeeeeeeeeey so sorry to bother you buuuuuut that palace we ran into at the stadium is back????? is that okay?"

Okay another thing, sorry that this post is like All About Akechi but

lmao Akechi without his mask is a delight. this man is a bitch and he does not give a fuck and nothing in this world or the next impresses him. it is for real so fun how his cadence and register have subtly changed, he doesn't soften his syllables as much anymore, and he is direct as a gunshot.

Between him and Maruki, this whole segment of the game is like Freaks Only, Normies GTFO and I am thrilled. I am a freak, it's me. This is for me.

#p5 #persona liveblog

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backpockct · 2 years

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INTRODUCING CASSANDRA “CASSIE” MURPHY WRITTEN (AND LOVED!) BY CORRIE

⸻ have you ever heard we are going anywhere man by the death set , well it is CASSANDRA “CASSIE” MURPHY to a tee . the twenty five year old cashier at right round records has been spotted wandering down portobello road markets just last sunday , do you know them ? would you say she is more cantankerous or more protecting? anyway , they remind me of late night adventures with friends, badly smudged eyeliner, ripped fish-net tights and loud drunken arguments . maybe you'll catch them around yeah ? ⸻ [ ◟ DAISY EDGAR-JONES. ◝ ]

triggers: mentions of divorce / affairs / underage drinking

THE BASICS:

full name: cassandra eloise murphy

nicknames: cass // cassie

birthday: 24th may 1997 (25 years old)

gender: cis man (she/her)

sexuality: heterosexual

relationship status: very single

BASIC INTRO:

cassie is a london girl, born and bred, she comes from a money, generational wealth, you know the vibe.

she’s got a younger brother, who she adoes, she’s very protective of him and will fight anyone that hurts him.

growing up cassie did have an alright childhood, her parents were fine, she was happy.

she was definitely a daddy’s girl, she loved her dad a lot. he was pretty lenient with her, allowing her to do whatever she wanted.

then one day, cassie found out that her father was having an affair with his secretary, that’s when everything changed.

she became a bit of a rebel, started acting out, doing dumb shit like underage drinking ya know.

eventually her mother also found out and the divorce proceedings began. the family was torn apart, cassie was very upset.

she threw herself into the rebel life and got herself into even more trouble, disappointing her mother to no end.

cassie’s father ended up moving over to america, as his new girlfriend was from america and she wanted to return home.

cass kicked off so much that her mother decided that she was going to move over to the usa, to live with her father.

so that happened and cassie spent most of her teenage years living in the us, with her dad, step mum and step mums kids, she hated it.

she didn’t vibe with the usa and as soon as she was able, she moved back to london.

cassie got her own place, got a job at right round records and is now figuring out her life back in london.

she thought her friends would still be the same but now they are all stettled down, normal people, they’ve said goodbye to their wild days.

but cass is still very much holding onto that, she’s still a wildchild at heart!!

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

younger brother

friends

childhood friends

fwbs / hook - ups

exes

co - workers

if you’d like to plot with any of my muses then feel free to hit me up on discord @ corey in wetherspoons ™#0678. thank you!!

#nothillhqintro #☆ﾟ*・ﾟ you can always edit a page. you can’t edit a blank page — ↳ ooc #nottinghillintro

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televinita · 10 months

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2023 Goodreads Choice Award Winners - Reactions

Opinion time! Long, loud opinion time.

FICTION - Yellowface: wow! I figured this was a strong contender but I did not expect it to stomp 2nd-place finisher (Hello Beautiful) by a margin of nearly 4 to 1. I guess it had more time to gain traction? Happy my pick (aka the only one I might actually read) The Wishing Game got 3rd at least.

HISTORICAL FICTION - Weyward: doesn't look like my cup of tea but not bad. At least it's a cool cover. I wasn't super invested in the outcome of this race. My pick (the one actually on my TBR before the first round, The Echo of Old Books) only got 6th but oh well.

MYSTERY/THRILLER - The Housemaid's Secret: honestly that surprises me, I knew she was popular but I thought it would go to Lisa Jewell or Riley Sager. (who did take 2nd, by not a huge loss, and 3rd, respectively)

(I loooove Kate Morton but I only voted for her book in round 1 to get it contending; I still think she was misplaced in this category. My 2nd round vote went to Sager on a hunch...but I'm fine with the winner. It seems a bit generic for my tastes but not bad at all.)

ROMANCE - Happy Place: SWEET BABY JESUS THANK ALL THE ANGELS ABOVE that Emily Henry's massive fanbase is in fact strong enough to crush Ali Hazelwood, 'cause nobody else is. I ultimately picked the Jimenez book for my vote because between her and Henry's book that one sounds sliiightly more my taste, and I'm relieved that wasn't wasted.

I don't like how how up my sworn nemesis Curtis Sittenfeld's book still landed, nor some of the trashier titles (they have shirtless-man covers in their true form I just know it); I was hoping The Seven Year Slip would do better because it was both well received and seems more in line with the women's-fiction kind of romance I like, though this particular title didn't thrill me. Still: the evil has been defeated! (she said, forgetting there were two categories to clear)

ROMANTASY - Fourth Wing: lmaooooooooooo we all knew this was going to win but TEN TWELVE TIMES more votes than the 2nd place finisher?? Twelve?? Almost 400k in total; I don't think any book has ever had that many votes put toward it in the history of the awards. And since 2nd place was not-particularly-romantasy-like Assistant to the Villain, I have to assume everyone was desperately trying to conscientiously object to either that book's inevitable win or the category in general.

FANTASY - Hell Bent: gdi I specifically did not want that to happen. By a comfortable margin, too, ugh. What little I've heard about Ninth House sounds gross and this cover is also gross. I don't wanna look at it. Emily Wilde 4 lyfe. (4th place)

SCIENCE FICTION - In The Lives of Puppets: *shrug* not surprised, TJ Klune feels a bit inescapable. But ultimately I did not have a horse in this race.

HORROR - Holly, by Stephen King: oh, good for him. He has not actually won every time he's been up for it, and this one sounded decent. (I abstained from voting in this category too, because for all that I love scary books I've not read any of these and don't feel particularly called to)

YA FANTASY - Divine Rivals: oh, okay, so that one is the heavy-hitter, nearly double the 2nd place pick (whatever stephanie garber book is up this year) I picked A Study in Drowning, just because I can't in good conscience choose enemies to lovers, but the important thing is we kept Cassandra effing Clare away from the crown.

*holding my breath as I wait for the next category, the one I'm most invested in after romance, to load...*

YOUNG ADULT - Check & Mate:

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My scream shattered the rafters. When I first saw Ali Hazelwood's name in there I thought, okay, YA, perhaps she has toned down her garbage enough to be readable? but then I looked at the reviews and I am very much not confident that this actually reads like YA. If it does, I suspect it might be the kind of YA that Teen Me hated and Adult Me still doesn't love.

Anyway. The point is I specifically voted for The Brothers Hawthorne to avoid this, but while that did take 2nd place, even that powerhouse series failed to dominate (though only by 3k! closest race so far i think) over this woman who is now officially my sworn enemy. Colleen who? I have never held half the animosity toward that woman like what has been growing in my heart for Hazelwood.

DEBUT NOVEL - Weyward: well I guess that makes sense. (I didn't vote in this one either...although I could have sworn that The Wishing Game was in this one too? because I thought I voted for it at least in round 1...oh n/m, I see. "Why are there only 19 books in this category? Following new information from an author that they had previously published under a pen name, one book was no longer eligible for this category and was removed."

NONFICTION - Poverty, By America: look, I'm just glad it's not the "I'm voting for this because it's funny" Butts book. But I voted for the Pacific Crest Trail one about missing hikers because a Goodreads friend gave it 5 stars and also it's the only one that interests me.

All right, time to see how much Britney Spears won the next category by...

MEMOIR & AUTOBIOGRAPHY - The Woman in Me: but not quite by double! I honestly did not think Prince Harold had that many fans. (I love calling him Prince Harold (The Ridiculous) don't take this from me) Really surprised that Pageboy got 3rd; pure diversity rep vote? Thought those who actually read it agreed it was disjointed and poorly structured. Anyway. I can't really talk because I voted for Paris (Minka Kelly first, hoping to get her to round 2, but then Paris Hilton because I genuinely did enjoy that one more than i expected)

Up next is history/biography. Did the dad book win?

HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY - The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder: the dad book wins! (I did vote for it. I'm sorry. I thought the Astor book actually sounded cooler but I just dislike Anderson Cooper so much)

And finally...god I hope it's Henry Winkler. I'm sure it's gonna be Leslie F*** Jones because people think swearing is funny, but I specifically refused her a vote because of it (and no other reasons) so I really hope I'm wrong.

HUMOR - Being Henry: The Fonz...and Beyond: HENRY WINKLER WINS!!!!!!! That's all I wanted, because this category looked baaaaad. I still think he should have been in the regular memoir section but I'll take it.

#goodreads choice awards #I know these are fully a popularity contest and that's fine. these are my opinions on the public's taste.#I am mostly chill and fine but I still raged about two of 'em

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moonieshinesims · 1 year

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Generation One - Chapter Seventeen

Yet again, River has experienced the death of someone right in front of her. Although this time, it was a friend, and her other friends witnessed it as well. The holidays are sure to be emotional now that they are down one sorority sister.

River came back from classes a few days later to Havarti calling her into the living room.

"Hey, what's up?"

They didn't know much about Sayaka, or her family, but the funeral wasn't too far away, only a few hours drive. It was going to be that weekend, so they told the other girls once they arrived home from class that afternoon.

That weekend they attended the funeral. While there wasn't an actual body to bury, a coffin was there as a place holder.

"I wonder if they know she spontaneously combusted..." River whispered to Havarti.

"I'm sure they know... I mean, they're having the funeral at night, so... ya know... They might be like her too. I kinda wonder if they're even her real family or if they're like, some other type of family to her."

River hadn't even thought about it that way.

During the funeral, Cassandra began crying. She was upset, of course, to lose a friend, but also upset that she lost her new sister. Havarti and River were good friends of hers, but they were best friends with each other. She felt that Sayaka was her chance of making a best friend for herself, and now she was gone.

The funeral ended and a majority of the "family members" dispersed. The girls standing by the coffin remained, and the girls pondered her identity.

"It looks so old."

"Well, we never really knew how old Sayaka really was. I mean, she could've been like 100 for all we know."

"Yeah, so like, that woman could be her daughter, or maybe even her granddaughter..."

"Wild."

During the gossip, Cassandra came and sat down beside River.

"How are you feeling Cas?" River placed her hand on her friends back and rubbed.

River thought about it for a moment, "Why are you worried about me?"

"You've now seen two people die in horrible ways in front of you... That's got to be hard."

River hadn't even thought of it that way. Honestly she'd almost blocked Joe's death from her memory. Maybe that was a good thing. After all, she was going into the villainy career, she was bound to see plenty more people die before her own demise, hopefully way later on in the future...

"Thanks for being concerned." River sighed, "But I'm okay. Focus on yourself, okay? It'll take a while to feel somewhat normal again. I'll be here if you need me."

Cassandra thanked her with a hug.

While the rest of the girls made their peace for Sayaka by the empty coffin, River went to get a tea in the front lobby. One of the guys attending the funeral sat by the tea maker and began conversing with her.

River pondered for a moment, if Sayaka was Komorebigo, maybe this guy was too. She wondered how she could bring up the Komorebigo crime circuit to him, just to see if he knew anything about it, without sounding racist.

Real smooth.

"You're gonna have to do better than that to get an answer out of me then." The young man said.

"Fine." River sighed, "My ex...? I guess we never really broke up, but either way, my old boyfriend Ichiban Kasuga had to run away back to Komorebigo, because he's a member of one of these gangs. I was kidnapped, so Ichiban, or maybe his family, hired a guy to kill the guy who kidnapped me. I... Well, I love him and I really want to find him again. I figure if you were friends with Sayaka, you're probably a vampire, and also Komorebigo... So, maybe you have some connections?"

She took a deep breath and held it in, hoping the guy wasn't going to laugh at her, or be mean to her for her rambling.

"Oh!" He sat back on the couch, tapping his chin. "Well..."

River had been through worse than someone sucking on her neck. She figured it'd be a small price to pay for information on Ichiban.

"Amazing!" The young man extended his hand, "I suppose if we're going to be connected in this way, we should introduce ourselves. I'm Ako Akamatsu."

River introduced herself in Komorebigo, earning an oooo and an aaaa from Ako. "Your Komorebigo is so good!"

"Enough flattery." River stood up and looked peered around the corner to see if anyone was coming there way, "The coast is clear, so go ahead and do what you need to do."

Ako stood up and in front of River, waving his fingers. River's vision suddenly turned black, and she just barely heard his voice inside her head telling her to stay calm.

As she came back to consciousness, she noticed Ako's face turning from a black-eyed, scary demonic look, back to regular.

"All done!" Ako clapped his hands, "And with that, I've had my dinner, and you and I are now connected. When I find information about this Ichiban Kasuga guy, I'll be able to find you so we can talk. Also, just in case, if you get into any trouble, I'll feel it and can come rescue you!"

"Amazing..." River said, "I need to learn more about your kind..."

Before they could continue speaking, Havarti stuck her head around the corner, "Ah, there you are! I think we're about ready to go. It's getting late..."

River nodded and said her goodbyes and quiet thank yous to Ako before following her friends out to Bella's car.

Hopefully Ako was trustworthy. It was gonna be nice having him on her side.

#moonie's legacy challenge #generation one #ts4 legacy #ts4 challenge

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notebooks-and-laptops · 2 years

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The Better Sebastian Vael who Lives in my Head Rent Free

So. Recently, I’ve been on my shit again about how Sebastian has such potential and yet is utterly wasted as a character in Da2. So I’m going to make it all your problem too with a quick: how would I make Sebastian Vael Significantly Better.

Sebastian annoys me because...we get hints of depth that are never fully explored. Add to that the fact that Sebastian is never properly integrated into the group (no cut scenes where he’s talking to other companions like when we see Isabela in Fenris’s mansion or Anders hanging out with Varric etc.) and just...you end up with this 2D character I’m literally begging to become four dimensional.

So, let’s start off with the obvious one: I don’t think that Sebastian’s faith is dealt with very well. Usually, I’d let that slide, plenty of fantasy media don’t want to deal with the complexities of religious faith and prefer to rely on stock characters. Except...this is dragon age. We get such amazing unique characters like Cassandra, Leliana, Vivienne, Varric, Alistair, Cullen - who’s approaches to faith are all vastly different, nuanced, and well thought out. Yet Sebastian...he’s just faithful. It never changes. There’s no crisis of faith. There’s not even a real distinction ever made between chantry and faith. He just blindly believes. And this doesn’t just go for the Maker, this goes for pretty much everything the chantry tells him. I mean, he’s fully ready to hand in Merrill and Anders as apostates. That boy has internalised ALL the chantry propaganda on offer.

And yet...that’s exactly how he ends the game too. He’s hanging out with Hawke. He’s watching apostates do more for the poor than the chantry itself is (Ander’s clinic for example). He’s personally experiencing all the ways the chantry has failed...hell, when we meet him he’s literally arguing with the grand cleric about the Chantry’s views on revenge, murder, justice etc. Wouldn’t that be a good basis for him to...really question the Chantry? Question what the maker wants? Question where the maker is found? Is He found in the hallowed halls of the chantry, or is he found in people trying to go good for the world? IDK man, I just feel like he’s got all this set up and NONE of it goes anywhere. Other than the issue of his family and birth right he’s just...cool with the chantry. Which is WILD because he ALSO has all these lines about how he was different as a kid. Which is great but its like...okay, so you’re telling me the ENTIREITY of his religious based character development happened OFF SCREEN? Before we met him???? And if DA2 is missing something in its motely crew it IS the religious character the other games have. So like...surely you’d want to explore that more using him. But nope. Sebastian is just...choir boy. Chantry lad. With hints of interesting stuff underneath, but nothing actually there.

Which leads me onto a second thing: our boy Sebastian is power hungry. We get hints at this multiple times throughout the game. When he talks to the desire demon in his quest in Act 2, she points this out. Add to that all the stuff about Sebastian maybe-sort-of resenting his older brothers and being a rebellious child, annoyed at being the youngest son? THIS DUDE WANTS TO RULE. And he DOESN’T LIKE THAT ABOUT HIMSELF because he internalised all the chantry shit. I mean, come on, when we meet him in Dai he’s literally trying to annex Kirkwall (if Anders is still alive). Does that sound like the actions of a nice lil christian chantry boy with no nuance. NO! Why doesn’t he grapple with this more? Why can’t we take him on Night Terrors and have this explored in more depth by him being offered being King? Why can’t we see him being sort-of-a-little-bit-manipulative to gain influence and what he wants??? Why is his whole Thing about his family vs. the chantry framed as ‘they’re all dead I should probs step up’ and not ya know ‘oh hey I deeply want to be King actually’. I think the game sort of plays into this, but just NOT ENOUGH. It’s so INTERESTING. He’s completely at odds with himself about it.

If they’d put him in Act 1 properly, they also could have not only integrated him into the group better, but maybe got him to have mage related character development? Because who is the girl Sebastian has a bit of a crush on? Bethany. Maybe he could have been angry about her being taken to the circle? Or talked about how she’d only gone to the deep roads to escape the templars and how maybe the templars weren’t actually so great in some regards? Maybe we could have seen that developed more? But nope, Sebastian seems just as willing to hand over his supposed friends (something even Aveline and Fenris refuse to do) to the templars at the end of the game as he is at the beginning.

And the fact that he isn’t in act 1 is ridicious because it really does make him feel like just some extra dude who doesn’t have the four years of friendships built up by act 2. Like. Okay. Let’s just pick one example of a friendship he could have had. You know what Seb wants for his family? Justice! You know who happens to be carrying a spirit of justice around inside him? Anders! So maybe they could have talked about that in act 1? Or even just Sebastian could have come down to the clinic to help Anders at the beginning of an Anders cut scene (rather than the multiple ‘funny’ STD scenes we do get with Bran and Isabela). And maybe if the game had set them up as friends, the whole ‘Sebastian wants to kill Anders right now’ bit at the end would have been heart-breaking instead of just...eh?

Or what if we’d had a scene where he was winning in cards against Isabela and she accuses him of cheating and he’s like I would NEVER that is against the makers will but he’s smirking and she’s like ‘you’re a piece of work, choir boy’ and it’s just. SOMETHING. ANYTHING. To make me believe that he’s a proper part of the group and to give him an ounce more depth. And that would have been great too because maybe he could have an arch about how he doesn’t have to be this Proper Chantry Boy to please the maker but can also let loose once in a while.

And don’t even get me started on his romance WHY ON EARTH do you basically become a nun if you’re with him? Because how many of our Hawke’s actually want THAT? I mean, this isn’t inquisition, Hawke oh so rarely even gets the chance to say any opinion on the Maker or Andraste. I’m not saying that we make him all into sex, I like the games having chaste romance options. I’m just saying...maybe his romance could be more ‘God, I can’t believe I fell in love with this kinda-criminal who hangs out in bars, unfortunately, i love her so much’ or maybe ‘wow this woman serves the maker in helping others way more than anyone in the chantry walls’ and that could have played into the rest of my character development notes about him learning to be, ya know, a believer outside of the confines of the chantry. But nope, you’re a nun now, that totally fits with who Hawke is, whatever.

Idk man. I really think he could have been one of my favourites. But he suffers from being DLC content only, and from not being properly put in the group, and the fact that they kept giving us these really INTERESTING tid-bits and then not developing them at all so he feels like a pretty static character. I just. I wish he’d been done better. Because he could have been one of the best. But instead he’s just...I don’t Care that much about actual him, only the cool version of him that lives in my head rent free.

#sebastian vael #sebastian #da2 #dragon age 2 #anders #hawke #isabela #varric #just #i want him to be part of the GANG #ugh

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jinx-jade · 3 years

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When A mother's & A father's world's collide Chapter 6: Timothy

To say Marinette was pissed would be an understatement. She didn’t have the words to describe the emotion she was feeling after learning what had happened to one of her children.

She hates it. That’s one of the emotions she knows and can name. She hates how fate only leads her to her kids after something has already happened to them. She hates how fate leaves her unable to help, and all she can do is help her kids pick up the pieces.

But she can’t show that.

Her kids need her to be a strong foundation, to ground them back to reality. She isn’t allowed to lose control of her temper.

She is, however, allowed to plot out a specific plan of attack to help balance out Gothams imbalance of life and death, creation and destruction. And if the joker just so happens to get caught up in the crossfire of her plan- then who would blame her?

Figuring how to balance Gotham did end up taking more planning then she would like to admit. About two years of planning to be exact. But to be fair, she wasn’t planning revenge, no matter how much she would like to, she was planning a balancing act.

On top of planning a balancing act, she also had to find a day when none of her children would be visiting. Meaning it couldn’t be Wednesday because Babs and Jason come to visit for their weekly healing sesion. It also couldn’t be a weekend because that’s when all of her children attempt to get away from their real lives to visit. Plus, for whatever reason, Friday was counted as a weekend in her kids’ minds, so that day wouldn’t work either. That leaves Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday,

Three days. Marinette has three supposedly child free days to enact her plan, deal with whatever chaos happens in between, and then finish the plan.

And that might have been enough time, except for the fact that Jason is a wild card when it came to visiting. He’s either at the temple of upto kwami knows what back in Gotham… (that’s a lie, she always vagley knows what her kids are upto.) She can try to plan around Jason’s random schedule, except, that puts him in Gotham, and with the way Marinette has planned it out, that would be less than ideal.

In that case it might be within her best interest to have some of her kids back at the temple. Cassandra would probably come home whenever Marinette asked- actually- all of Marinette’s children would come home if she asked.

The guardian let out a barely audible sigh, fading away into the shadows only to reappear in an alleyway.

The bluenette steps out of the alleyway, taking a quick survey of her surroundings to figure out where she ended up. There’s a coffee shop that she recognises on the corner of the street next to a vandalized street sign. With a sigh, the guardian crosses the street, making her way over to the shop. There’s a soft jingle of a bell when she opens the shop door and a quiet murmur of voices are heard from the inside of the cafe.

“What can I get for ya?” The barista asked with a lazily customerservices smile.

“A large earl grey and green tea mix with three shots espresso and two shots of cream, please, mademoiselle.”

The barista blinked a few times before shaking her head.

“That’s a mixed brew of earl grey and green tea with three shots espresso and two shots cream, correct?- And I love your accent.” The barista says, writing down the order on the cup once Marinette gave a nod of her head that the order was correct.

“Ah- thank you. I apologize if my accent made it hard to understand me.” Marinette says with a slight bow of her head.

“Not at all! Name for the order Miss?”

“Marinette.”

“Alright then, that’ll be five seventy two.”

The money exchanged hands and the barista informs Marinette that they will call her name when her order is ready. The guardian smiles and nods, surveying the cafe for any empty seats when she feels the tug.

It’s a barely there feeling, hard to notice in the cluster of people, but she feels it.

“ehm, Is this seat taken, Monsieur, all the others are.” The bluenette asks.

The black haired teen looked up from his computer, glancing around as if to check for any other open seats. When he sees that there are none he lets out a sigh and gives a nod of his head.

Marinette offers a smile before taking a seat, pulling out her note book that contained the finalized plan to balance Gotham- or- well- as final as she could get it with everything that was happening. The teen gives her a strange look, blinking at her and rubbing at his eyes as if he had witnessed something of a hallucination. And in a sense he might have, seeing as Marinette hadn’t walked into the cafe with anything that could carry something the size of her notebook.

“Something wrong, Monsieur?” Marinette asked with a gentle tone, an innocent question with no real weight to it.

“Uh, yeah- wait- no- sorry, lack of sleep might be getting to me. Nothing that you need to worry about Ma’am.” The black haired, blue eyed teen says, causing Marinette to chuckle.

“Then what are you doing at a cafe and not at home napping?” The guardian asked with a bell like laughter in her voice.

“Marinette?” was called out by the barista before the teen could answer her question.

“Ah! That’s me. Have a lovely day Monsieur, and please try to get some rest.” Marinette requested in what her other children have taken to calling her ‘I’m not mad at you but I am slightly disappointed in the choices you’ve made voice’, or her ‘disappointed mom voice’ for short. Although, the fact that her kids had a name for that voice says something about their usual antics.

The guardian got up and walked over to the counter, picking up the drink with her name labeled on it.

“Wait, your book.” The teen calls when she passes the table.

Marinette looked at him curiously, head tilted ever so slightly.

“What book?”

The teen blinked at her looking at where she had been sitting and where the book had been left only to see that there was no book.

“I- wha?”

“You really should get some sleep Monsieur.” Marinette suggested with a glint of amusement in her eyes before walking out of the cafe.

She walked back across the street, over to the alleyway from which she had first emerged with a smile tugging at her lips. Something about that interaction promised that she would hear about it from her eldest.

With a huff of amusement and a small shake of her head, Marinette faded back into the shadows, reappearing in the comfort and safety of her temple. She took a few moments to enjoy the peace before letting out a tired breath.

There was more work to be done in Gotham then she had thought, but for now, onto stage one of the balancing act.

Tag list:

@animegirlweeb @alyssadeliv @mizzy-pop @jayjayspixiepop @eggadoodle @rosalineandrosemary @corporeal-terrestrial @moon5608 @asrainterstellar @toodaloo-kangaroo @pinkittwice @laurcad123 @moonlightstar64 @pheonixashtree @ichigorose @babbynoodle @alcoholic-barney @mymainaccount93

#maribat #when a mother's & a father's world's collide

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belle-keys · 3 years

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Reflections: She got better after Clace concerning tropes

(NB... this is gonna be my last Reflections because I've got uni and shit to take on in September 😗)

Okay, so we know Cassandra Clare uses age-old tropes in her books: enemies-to-lovers, strangers-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, the evil seductress, the fearless warrior, the secret special snowflake, etc. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, becuse it’s sort of impossible to create written media without using any tropes. It’s how you use the tropes that makes written media interesting, and what I’ve noticed is that Cassie has gotten better at using tropes and paragons since TMI in her books by adding little twists and turns to them to avoid them becoming generic.

Starting off with TMI and Clace for example, we see that Clary is the classic “special teen with hidden powers that discovers a new supernatural world”, falling into that category with Bella Swan, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, etc. Jace is the aloof hottie with a Dark Past, and operates like a modern day Achilles if he made it out of Elysium, lmao. He’s pretty akin to Edward Cullen, Peter Mellarke, Dimitri Belikov, etc. Clace and their character arcs especially in the first TMI trilogy were pretty generic, even at the time they were published. (NB but Jace really is Achilles man like he’s *golden*, has the military-type fighting skills and discipline, powerful daddy issues, best of the Shadowhunters kinda like how Achilles was the best of the Greeks, feared and lauded by everyone, believed he’s destined for tragedy).

But looking at TID, for example, Cassie went with the Love Triangle trope that was especially popular around the time that TID was written, and she was like “oh hell no” and then created the greatest thing in the world known as Herongraystairs *Spongebob rainbow gif*. The late 2000s were kind of a mild time, and the rule of thumb was that the the main girl just had to end up picking one man in the triangle but nawww Cassie decided that Tessa Gray (bless her) would get both of her male counterparts at appropriate times, love them equally AND have it happen without any hostility between them. She completely outdid the Love Triangle trope.

I made a post discussing why Jemma is a great ship and a great spin on the Forbidden Lovers trope already, but I also need to say that Julian is an exceptional character. He, without hesitation, takes on the most traditional of feminine roles in the series yet isn’t feminine at all- he’s a very masculine protagonist. Julian’s more masculine roles (being a leader in a political revolution, being a schemer, being a fighter) are perfectly foiled with the traits which often assigned to female YA protagonists (no sexual experience before Emma, raises his siblings and bakes and shit, isn’t the one who’s snarky and quips or gets violent quickly). In having Julian take on the main parent role in TDA, it allowed Cassie to show a YA male lead who’s secure and doesn’t depend on what others make traditional masculinity out to be in order to dictate his behavior.

Now let’s look at TLH lastly. I’m really partial to this series as you all may know *cough*. The trope here is Secrets and Miscommunication (which I know some of you absolutely hate, but I think some of said miscommunication is actually necessary given the social context of the series but alas, I don’t blame yall for hating TLH because of this at all, lol). See, what works about the whole secrets and miscommunication trope tho is that everyone is not what they seem. Like Matthew’s the Wildean Libertine right, but he’s actually managed to use that branding as a shield from the shame of his guilt (Oscar Wilde’s philosophy laudes beauty and love, yet Matthew himself does not believe himself to be worthy of this coveted love - Matthew’s soul has turned Gothic despite his self-branding as an aesthete). Grace is the Evil Seductress, the Femme Fatale who must be eliminated so the Good Girl can get the guy, but in reality, Grace is inquisitive and inventive and loving when she’s not guarded - the one woman who the world thinks is heartless is actually the one who hurts the most and enjoys hurting the least. Then we have the James who’s the Eligible Bachelor - he’s well read, a leader, good at Shadowhunting, polite, handsome, and desired by the ladies of London. Yet at his core runs Belial’s blood and his inevitable ties to literal Hell. James, who should be the classic charming hero, is running from something very unmistakably rotten within him (even though his heritage is beyond his control). So these societal paragons are all tinged with something unexpected that makes them interesting imo.

So yeah, to conclude: yes, Cassie’s writing uses a lot of generic tropes but I’d argue that her writing has improved to make age-old tropes and epithets interesting and novel as TSC progresses. I think we also could all attribute the creation of the Herondale to Cassie: obnoxiously attractive and poetic young male with a bottomless heart and strong opinions on the proclivities and capabilities of ducks? Yeah, that’s a Herondale.

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liquid-luck-00 · 4 years

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Siblings

Bio!Dad Bruce

Day 3: Siblings

@biodad-bruce-month

First ~~~ Previous ~~~ Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Mari had agreed to go to Gotham after Gina, Tom, and Sabine's funeral. And now I am sweating bullets, not for how she will react, oh no I am far more worried about how the boys will. Maybe having a civilian in the manor will curb some of their unsavory habits.

When I asked Mari and she agreed I could tell this was going to be eventful. She asked if she had any siblings.

"Biologically, legally, or emotionally?" I responded completely serious, "There is a difference."

She thought for a moment before saying "Legally because I already know I have a biological brother" she stated with a smile.

"How did you know that?" he asked her.

"DNA testing project for an ethnicity and ancestor report." Marinette said casually, "So how many siblings legally?" she pushed.

He sighed "Seven but it might as well be eleven with how often Barbara, Stephanie, Jon, and Roy are at the mansion."

"Can you tell me a bit about them. Maybe even the measurements!"

After he had given enough information to spur her creativity, Mari could only be described as a tempest of creative energy.

By the time we were to board the jet to Gotham there was a suitcase filled with only gifts, he had lost count after the sixth gift, but she still added some more. By the time they landed she had a rough idea of what she was getting herself into.

To his shock the boys hadn't tried to figure out where he was and that in itself was a blessing. The boys knew that she existed but were never interested in finding her and to quote Jason 'Save her from the insanity that surrounds this family.' Yet he was about to change that.

He had told Alfred that someone would be staying in the manor but to only leave a car at the airport and he would drive them in. Thank god at least one person listens to him.

The ride to the manor was silent conversation wise. But the constant scratching of a pencil as Mari designed inspired by Gotham's architecture filled the quiet.

---

Before leaving Paris, Mari found out she has seven siblings, 1 biological and 6 adoptive and 4 practically siblings, she will have to figure that part out. Bruce told her all about them and got her their measurements and that includes the one of Bruce's butler/father figure and his fiancée Selina. So in one suitcase there were 13 individually wrapped gifts that even Bruce didn't know what they were. The Miracle box, disguised as a sewing caddy, was among her things, but the horse miraculous and Kaalki were in her purse along with Tikki.

Oh kwamii how am I going to keep this secret if I’m going to be in another country along with being in a house with more than a dozen other people.

Once touching down in Gotham she began sketching, one because she was nervous and two Gotham's architecture was gorgeous. She didn't even realize that they had arrived at the manor until the engine cut.

"Let's introduce you to everyone" Bruce stated with a sigh and a small smile. They left the bags in the car and walked up the steps. As they neared the door they heard it.

"Get back here Todd" one extremely angry voice sounded.

"Dick HELP ME" another voice yelled.

They opened the door and there was quite the scene. Who she believes is Damian is chasing, who she is mostly sure is Jason, with a... is that a katana? And who she is certain must be Dick is trying and failing to stop Damian. In fact he is now also being chased. She looks over and Bruce is sighing looking completely done and with someone next to him.

"Hello and welcome to Wayne Manor." the man states, Alfred if she had to guess.

"Hello Alfred I presume” Mari greets him.

“That would be correct Miss…” Alfred responds.

“Marinette. Um this normal?" Mari asks.

"Unfortunately” Bruce states in a resigned tone.

"Huh" is all she says as she formulates a plan. The boys haven't noticed them yet so that is a plus, but what to do. Then she got an idea so she sprang into action. She watched for any pattern in the chase and when she found one she hid. She was next to the stairs in the perfect position to pounce. By this time Bruce and Alfred were watching her curious to what she was planning. She never left her hiding spot, but when Damian paused to look for Dick and Jason near her she moved. She took the katana and replaced it with a bouquet of flowers and went back to standing between Bruce and Alfred still holding the blade.

"How did you?" Bruce questioned her but she just gave him a smirk and spoke loud enough to get not only Damian’s attention but Dick and Jason’s who were hiding behind the couch.

"I thought you didn't tell them I was coming and here is Damian with flowers. Or wait who is the lucky person?" This got everyone's attention in the manor, if it wasn’t already.

“What the?" Damian stared at the flowers in his hand, while Dick and Jason came out of hiding.

The three boys were looking between her, holding the katana Damian was previously chasing them with, and the flowers in Damians hand. Then they began to stare between her and Bruce before finally someone spoke, "Seriously Bruce another one" Jason, yup definitely Jason, was the first to respond.

"Nice to meet you too" Mari replied. When she looked at Bruce he was still in shock but was now sporting a smirk. "Jason right"

She was holding the katana in her left hand while pointing at Jason with her right hand, he was tall and his build was most like Bruce he had blue eyes and black hair but had a white streak in the front, he nodded acknowledging she was right.

She then continued "I'm going with Dick, right?" she moved on and the oldest, who again only nodded his head, he looked the most like Bruce with his black hair and blue eyes but he was leaner.

"And your Damian" she finished with those in the room, he had tanned skin and green eyes that were complemented by his black hair.

"Is that my katana?" Damian asked, his voice seemed to be a mixture of disbelief, anger, and dare she even say awe, and all eyes seemed to focus on the blade in her hand.

"Yes" She responds with a smile.

"Honestly Mari how did you do that?" Bruce asked her once again.

"You learn to take objects off of an Akuma if you get caught up in too many attacks." she shrugged. She moved towards Damian and handed back his sword. "I'm Marinette by the way."

"Seriously B your missing for two weeks with no notice and come back with your Daughter. Who I might add was able to take Demon spawns sword without him noticing. Why wouldn't you warn us you were coming back with her! Or I don’t know going to find her at all!” Another person walked out into the hallway. Honestly he seemed ready to fall asleep and was holding a huge cup of coffee, he then turned towards me. He also had blue eyes and black hair but it was the longest of the boys. "I'm Tim, nice to finally meet you" he stated with a smile before turning back to Bruce with a slight frown.

At Tim's appearance and statement Jason and Dick burst into confused screams and wild gestures in Dick’s case, while Damian stood there analyzing her before giving a nod of his head. Bruce looked done but it was Alfred who spoke. "Perhaps it would be best to discuss this over lunch along with everyone else?"

"That would be best. Thank you Alfred." Bruce responded. "In the meantime why don't we you get settled."

With that Bruce and her walked back to the car to get her bags. Jason and Dick followed them out, and helped to get her things. Alfred led the five to a room where she began to put things away, only Jason stayed to help her finish her task.

---

The day had started as normally as any other in Wayne Manor, but no one, and I mean no one was ready for this tiny little french teen with the biggest blue eyes to get the drop on any of them. Let alone be able to take Demon Spawns sword without him noticing.

To say Jason was intrigued was an understatement. Seriously how did she do that, because he sure as hell isn't believing that excuse, like what the hell is an akuma attack. Bruce, Dick, and I helped her bring her bags into the room Alfred prepared. He was the only one who stayed to help her. One because if she could get the drop on the Demon then he had to win her over as a pranking ally. Two she was his sister now and he isn't as bad as everyone makes him out to be.

While helping her set up her room he found it, it was a suitcase filled with wrapped boxes. Now if she is my sister then let the blackmail material begin, but not without some teasing thrown into the mix.

"What's with the presents in the case Bluebell," Jason asked, throwing in a nickname to see if Marinette would have any type of a reaction. Because who packs presents unless it was a distraction or trying to hide something.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she said with a smirk and heat tilt. Well not the reaction he had hoped for.

"So what was that thing you said archery attack was it?" this got a reaction, but not one he was expecting.

"You don't know about the akuma attacks?" she was a mix of fear and surprise and he was unsure how he was supposed to react to that. Lucky for him as he was about to speak Tim and Dick came in and told them lunch was ready.

---

Jason not knowing about akuma attacks was odd and she didn't know how to react to his question. He was about to respond but Dick and Tim came in, and told them lunch was ready. They walked into the dinning room and inside were too many faces. She recognized Bruce and Damian. Tim, Dick, and Jason walked in with her.

"We're here" Dick dramatically announced, and all of a sudden all eyes were on her.

"OMG she is so cute!" a blonde yelled "Are we sure she is yours Bruce."

"Yes Stephanie. I am sure" Bruce answered almost amused. "Why don't you introduce yourself before you suffocate her."

"Ya, Ya," she waved him off "I'm Stephanie Brown" she stated as she continued to hug her.

The introductions included Stephanie, Cassandra or she said Cass, Duke, Roy, Barbara, Selina, and Jon. During lunch they asked her about herself she stayed in the realm of civilian, but Jason again brought up the akuma attacks so she explained a bit about the Paris situation and referred to them to Aurore's blog 'BugOut'.

She figured out the meaning of her practically siblings

Jon was Damian's best friend as Roy was Jason's because of this they spent large amounts of time with the family . The blonde who tackled her, Stephanie, was dating Tim and Barbara was a close family friend to everyone.

Afterwards she ended up giving everyone their gifts and Damian challenged her to a spar. The fact that no one, except Bruce having a partial reason, had any idea why she could hold her own was priceless. Seriously everyone's jaw was on the floor and Bruce looked like he was plotting something but it seemed to quickly leave his thoughts. All in all it was a good first day with her new family.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list:

@mochinek0 @justafanwarrior @abrx2002 @ranger-gothamite @fantasiame @moonystars14 @mochegato @bigbeautifulandfullofsugar @maribat-is-lifeblood @iglowinggemma28 @miraculous-ninja @talutah0 @vixen-uchiha @danielslilangel @witchsblackfox @pawsitivelymiraculous @lizziejay @marinettepotterandplagg @colorfulmongerpsychicranch @dast218 @sassakitty @miyla-lokidottir @lilkymilky

#bio! dadbrucewaynemonth2020 #bio!dad bruce wayne #b ! dbwm2020 #bruce wayne #maribat #marinette dupen chang #miraculus ladybug #dc x miraculous #dc x mlb #miraculous x dc #mlb x dc #jason todd #dick grayson #damian wayne

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the-word-from-george · 3 years

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A Valentine For My Fans

Hello my darlings! Below the cut, I have created a gift for the ages just for you. Through careful scouring of only the best music from my playlists, I bring you one song that makes me think of each of you in some way. Perhaps a little secret only you and I know, perhaps a riveting estimation of who you are as a person, or maybe simply the vibe I think you give off, enjoy the soundtrack to Elias, California.

And don’t forget, it’s not mean if it’s true.

Love, Georgie

Adam - The Devil Wears A Suit and Tie by Colter Wall

Alejandro - Sitting At Home by Hunter Parrish

Aurora - Better Dig Two by The Band Perry

Anna - I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston

Barley - Buy Dirt by Jordan Davis

Beckham - Monster by Skillet

Beverly - Lost Girls by Lights

Cassandra - Cross Me by Ed Sheeran

Daisy - Formation by Beyonce

Dani - Hand In My Pocket by Alanis Morisette

Daphne - Power by Little Mix

Donald - Somewhere Only We Know by Keane

Elizabeth - Heads Carolina Tails California by Jo Dee Messina

Elsa - All of That Love From Here by Wynona Judd

Eugene - God Bless The Broken Road by Rascal Flatts

Florian - This Is Gospel by Panic at the Disco

Fran - Golden Days by Panic at the Disco

Freddy - We Belong Together by Mariah Carey

Giulia - Escapade by Janet Jackson

Hades - The Kill by Thirty Seconds To Mars

Haven - I’m the Only One by Melissa Etheridge

Hercules - Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes

Howl - I Thought She Knew by NSync

Jack - Outside by Mariah Carey

Jim - No Roots by Alice Merton

Kairi - Island of the Sun by Winona Oak

Katalina - Hit and Run by LOLO

Kiara - Wild Things by Alessia Cara

Kit - Heavy by Linkin Park

Leia - You Gotta Be by Des’ree

Logan - Here by Alessia Cara

Luca - When I Reach the Place I’m Going by Wynona Judd

Luke - Nice To Meet Ya by Niall Horan

A note: I don’t really know you yet and so, hello, very nice to meet you. I’ll be watching you.

Mael - On the Regular by Shamir

Mavis - My Oh My by Camila Cabello

Meg - Love Is A Battlefield by Pat Benatar

Mickey - Hurt by Johnny Cash

Minnie - Classic by MKTO

Mollie - Love Is On the Radio by McFly

Monty - Everlong by Foo Fighters

Nala - A Million Dreams by P!nk

Penny - LA Devotee by Panic at the Disco

Philip - She Is His Only Need by Wynona Judd

Reagan - Fire and Gold by Bea Miller

Riku - Safe and Sound by The Civil Wars

Roxanne - The Road Less Traveled by Lauren Alaina

Roxas - Smells Like Teen Spirit by Malia J

Sadie - Celebrity Skin by Hole

Sally - I Call The Shots by Hannah Hutson

Simba - Hall of Fame by The Script

Sophie - Sit Still Look Pretty by

Sora - Brave by Sara Bareilles

Sulley - Celebrity by NSync

Tyler - Why Won’t You Love Me by 5 Seconds of Summer

Varian - Hero by Mariah Carey

A note : I also don’t know you very well, but I hear this is something you’re into. Don’t say Georgette Foxworth never gave you anything.

Vidia - Build A Bitch by Bella Poarch

Victoria - Stand Still, Look Pretty The Wreckers

Victor - Overwhelmed by Royal and the Serpent

Wally - Tell Him by Lauryn Hill

#this took forever #forever #like forever #the sacrifices I make for George's craft #if you're unsure why she chose it for your character ask away #I do have reasons

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dinopopduck · 3 years

Text

Ezekiel Only Being Unaffected By Certain Kinds of Magic

Let’s just start with me saying this isn’t exactly a new theory. It’s the demigod thing, and it’s a fairly popular one. If you haven’t heard of this headcannon, I put as much as I can find here. If you have, I found a bunch of new stuff that I haven’t seen anyone else mention, so reading this isn’t a complete waste of your time, I hope.

I tried to keep this from becoming wordy, but it got really long anyway, because there was a lot to talk about here.

Ezekiel being unaffected by magic is sort of an ongoing thing in the show. He is influenced by it much of the time, such as by Santa’s Hat, Pan’s Flute, Prospero’s spell, lycanthropy, etc. When it comes to the stuff he was seemingly completely immune to, there is one link that connects them all.

Apple of Discord: Everybody knows this one. The Apple is a Greek artifact, meant to turn you into the worst version of yourself, and Ezekiel was only one completely unaffected. It’s blamed on “he’s already the worst version of himself” or whatever.

Zeus Lightning Bolt: the episode where Ezekiel ends up decked out in Greek armor, and is sent to pick up Zeus’ Lightning Bolt, which was freaking out and zapping everywhere. He picks it up just fine, and he’s then able to hand it off to Flynn. It may have been purely because of the Greek armor he was wearing, but Flynn did not seem so sure about that working.

Cindy’s Love Potion: Ezekiel is able to be near the potion without becoming obsessed with Cindy. At first, it’s blamed on him being obsessed with himself, then later Jacob tells Ezekiel that he was already in love with Cindy. It was an obsession, not a love, potion you literally spent the episode proving that blah blah, he didn’t even recognize her at first blah blah, anyway, I have a better reason.

There are two Greek mentions in this episode. First, the potion project itself is called Project Aphrodite, a Greek goddess. Second, the sunflowers; when asked, Jenkins mentions how sunflowers are a Greek symbol of unrequited love. In addition, “love” potions may have originated in Greece, or at the very least, were common enough to have multiple sites claim that, lol. At the end of the season, where each librarian uses their gifts to turn Apep mortal, this greek potion is what Ezekiel ends up using.

See a pattern here? Everything that he was completely unaffected by was Greek in some way. So, he has an immunity to these kinds of artifacts, but why? I vote demigod.

Anyway, moving on.

Here’s some magic he could have been immune to, or could not have been. Its pretty debatable.

Fortuna: Technically a Roman Goddess, but the show does acknowledge how similar they are to Greek Gods. He may have been affected by the spell, but broke out of it pretty quick. Some think he may not been affected at all; slot machines aren’t exactly fair, especially in a casino that exists to cheat completely. As for Ezekiel getting so upset over losing, what he says, “Not the guy that loses, I’m the guy that wins” sounds very similar to what he was saying in Point of Salvation, but that’s a whole nother topic.

Alternately, he was affected and this point shouldn’t be here. I don’t know, I’m not the writers.

Libris Fabula: He was a little bit affected, just far less than the others, as he acted pretty much the same. He did get a barely noticeable clothing change, became luckier than normal, and was just able to cast a spell for some reason? Speaking out that spell, it froze the guy, and a certain Greek God does have the ability to put people to sleep. Not really the same thing, but worth thinking about. Maybe. More on that later.

Most people think he was immune, but he could have just been similar enough to the character he was portraying that he didn’t need to change a whole lot.

These ones are barely worth mentioning, because have other reasonable (though I guess your definition of reasonable may be different from mine) explanations, but you could see them as magic immunity as well:

Silver Screen: Ezekiel gets into character the least, while Cassandra and Jacob are out singing and calling people by their character names. Maybe less affected, maybe just a spoilsport. Probably the last one.

Point of Salvation: Was the only one able to remember previous loops. Since they were in a video game, it’s explained that since he was the first through the door, he became the player while everyone else became NPCs. I mean, sure.

Christmas Thief: Saint of Thieves only used his truth telly power on Ezekiel’s mother, not him. Ezekiel did not feel obligated to say anything. Could just be that the guy wasn’t talking to Ezekiel. Or, earlier in that episode Ezekiel tells his mother he doesn’t steal anymore (at least for anything other than the Library, I assume, cause he still kinda does) and therefor that made him immune to the spell, since it only works on thieves.

Image of an Image: Both Cassandra and Ezekiel got their pictures taken, and Cassandra was the only one affected by the transfer spell. However, Ezekiel wasn’t one of the “chosen ones” because he snuck in, and jumped in front of the camera while Eve (one of the “chosen ones”, who was later able to be affected) turned away. Either that, or he just didn’t have time to feel the effect, since his picture was taken after Cassandra’s, and Eve’s was placed in manually.

That’s all the possible instances of magic immunity I could think of.

Next, we have some other stuff that is relevant to this point, but wasn’t necessarily artifact/magic immunity.

Prophecy Cube: Created by the Oracle of Delphi, who is from Greek mythology. This isn’t about whether Ezekiel was affected by something, as he was still able to use the prophecy glass/get stuck in the cube. Rather, it’s about the Zeus Challenge in the cube. They probably would have died in there, but luckily, Ezekiel had just happened to steal, and keep on him, the exact thing they needed to get through– a bunch of golden coins, and a prophecy that ensures at least one coin can’t be destroyed. Luck? Prophecy? Divine Intervention? Plot convenience? Okay its probably the last one but STILL

Also, Ezekiel getting pissed at Zeus.

Zeus’s Bolt (again?): There is a promo image I think for season 4? that has each of the Librarians holding their tools. Jacob had his axe, Cassandra had a notebook, Flynn had Excalibur, all normal, except for Eve and Ezekiel. Eve had this big staff thing I didn’t recognize, and Ezekiel had Zeus’ Bolt for some reason?

Lightning, just, in general: If there is wild electricity in an episode, Ezekiel is probably around.

Examples:

City of Light: Gets shocked and knocked backwards into Jacob by a very electrified fence, gets up right afterwards and is fine.

Broken Staff: The Zeus Bolt thing, you get it.

Image of an Image: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob. Jacob was not really fine. He lived, though.

Point of Salvation: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob part 2 Electric Boogaloo, but this time on purpose. He was not fine. He died. But don’t worry, he lived.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Mentioned a little bit above, Ezekiel, Jacob, and a student get stuck in the Zeus Challenge, and Ezekiel uses some coins he just so happened to steal recently. Throwing them on tiles shows whether or not lightning will strike if it was stepped on. Seriously, why is it ALWAYS Jacob?

The Dark Secret: Ezekiel is the one sent to wrap a cord around a lightning rod constantly being struck by lighting. “Why am I bloody doing this”, he asks? I mean, Zeus probably isn’t going to kill his descendent(?), right?

Werewolves: Have you heard of the Lycaon of Arcadia? It’s a Greek myth. Basically, this dude named Lycaon wants to test how smart and all-knowing Zeus is. To do so, he kills his own son, cooks him, and serves him to Zeus to see if he notices, ya know, no biggie. Zeus was like “wtf man” and brings the son back to life, and turns Lycaon into, you guessed it, a wolf. So, Zeus creates a werewolf of sorts, maybe one of the firsts. In Fangs of Death, Ezekiel just so happens to be the one (main) character to be turned into werewolf. So, if he was a descendant of Zeus, imagine how big of a “fuck you” that was to the god. That all being said, Ezekiel was turned by an Egyptian god, so that might not have been intentional. Also, they may have just been avoiding turning Jacob, because there is already a werewolf named Jacob and they didn't want another Twilight reference in that episode.

Family/Name: Ezekiel is adopted, and his adoptive mother mentions how she took him in off the streets. Because of that, we don’t know who his birth parents are, and whether or not he, or anyone else, knows is unknown. Soooo, we can take some creative liberties as to who his parents might have been.

As for his name, it carries some religious connotations. It should be remembered though, the meanings I’m talking about here are Biblical, not Greek, so again, might mean nothing for this argument. “Ezekiel” is “God’s Strength” or “God will Strengthen”. Jones might also be something like “God is gracious” or “God has favored”, thought different sites say different things. However, I’m pretty sure the name Jones came from his adoptive mother, and apparently Jones is a common last name in Australia. His first name is more relevant, because all of his siblings have themed names; Mercy, Charity, and Honor. So, either his mom named him differently because she knew something we don’t, or he already had the name before she adopted him. Either way, this probably means absolutely nothing. But what are we here for? To analyze a dead show like an English teacher analyzes the color of curtains in an 100 year old text. If it wasn’t for all the other stuff, I probably wouldn’t think about this too much.

Okay. So Greek stuff, lightning, and Zeus himself come up a LOT when it comes to this guy. So is Ezekiel the son of Zeus? Possibly, but a more popular theory is that he’s Zeus’ grandson. Because Zeus’ son just so happens to be Hermes; god of things such as luck, travel, money, trade, and most importantly, thieves. Oh, and animal husbandry/shepherds and sleep, I don’t know how much those apply but I will try.

Time for some comparisons, honestly most of these don’t even need to be explained so I’ll keep it short-ish, cause this shit has gotten way too long already.

Luck: Ezekiel, especially in the first season, likes to rely on luck, and tends to be very lucky in general. Examples where this is mentioned include Fables of Doom and Apple of Discord. “Smarter to be lucky then lucky to be smart!”

Travel: We can assume that he ended up traveling in his previous job (that being heists all over the world) fairly often, even before the Library. Becoming a Librarian with a teleporting door increased that of course.

Money: Steals very high-value items to sell. Also apparently likes to take money from his coworker’s wallets. And probably everyone else’s.

Trade: The aforementioned high-value pieces he steals are traded/sold for money. In Christmas Thief, we find out he kept none of the money or items, giving it away to others who needed it. That kinda fits this category, I think.

Thieves: I really don’t need to explain this. Unless you haven’t seen the show.

Animal Husbandry/Shepherds?: Basically the care of animals. Um, well he doesn’t keep cows or anything, but he has a tendency to “adopt” magical creatures that need help. Stumpy, Nessie Jr., maybe Frankenstein’s Monster as well?

Sleep: I mentioned earlier how Ezekiel froze a guy (not really in an icy way, just couldn’t move) by hitting him with his coin. Hermes is able to send people to sleep with his Caduceus (the snake wand thing). Yeah, it’s not really the same thing, though you could consider being frozen a kind of sleep. He could have just been lucky enough to find a magical coin, and lucky enough to figure out how to use it at the exact right time without even knowing what it did. It’s a stretch either way, really, and was never explained in the episode at all. Yeah, I can't find anything else that fits.

Hermes is considered to be a thief and trickster, and a lot of the things he is god of are Ezekiel’s main occupations. With all those similarities to Hermes, frequent events related to lightning and Zeus related things, and immunity to Greek artifacts, we can conclude that he is perhaps the son of Hermes, taking after his father in abilities and getting visits from grandpa.

Alternatively, his somehow IS Hermes, but I doubt that. He’d probably be way more powerful. He was also able to see the future with Prophecy Glass, which Jenkins claims is impossible for immortals to do (although in that case he was talking about a Prophecy Cube, but close enough). It’s more likely that he is a demigod.

Okay, that is all I can think of that is relevant. I binged the series about two months ago, and have been thinking about this theory. I went ahead and re-watched the episodes that I mentioned in more detail, as well as parts of others that I remebered. The reason I bring this up is because I may have missed things. I did not rewatch a majority of the episodes, more that I looked at a list of episodes on wikipedia and tried to remember what happened in them, watching clips and episodes if I needed to.

The show was cancelled, so we’ll probably never get a confirmation as to who Ezekiels’ birth parents were, and as such, you can’t prove me wrong! That being said, if I got any facts incorrect in this, please tell me so I can fix it. I’m not well versed on Greek Mythology, in fact I know basically nothing, and did the research as I went along. So again, there could be more. This is just what I found in like, less than a day of searching.

Join me next time on “How is Cassandra magical, where’d she get it from? Also, were we ever gonna meet her parents?” And “In the first episode of season 3, Jacob is just able to hit a heavy punching bag of its chain, across the room, at bullet speed, just because of a shift of his wrist, and later in that episode do the same thing to Apep, and it’s just…never addressed or spoken about again? Like wtf man?”

I'm probably not doing that

If you managed to get through all of this, thank you, and I hope this wasn’t too painful to read.

#the librarians #ezekiel jones #greek #hermes #zeus #this took so long #magic #magic immunity #theory #headcannon #demigod #curse of cindy #apple of discord #broken staff

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queer-and-dear-books · 3 years

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Title: The (Un)Popular Vote

Author: Jasper Sanchez

Genre: YA Fiction | Friendship | Political | Drama | LGBTQ+

Content Warnings: Transphobia | Homophobia | Deadnaming | Bullying

Overall Rating: 9.2/10

Personal Opinion: In this microcosm of today’s society, we witness the political landscape of high school. Except, instead of a popularity contest, there are real stakes involved. Mark is trans and going stealth, he has been going under the radar ever since transitioning. However, after a homophobic bullying incident not only goes unpunished but the victim got suspended, Mark decides to run for president so he can change the school. With his wonderful found family and a whole diverse student body behind him, will Mark be able to win against his opponents? Read it to find out and see because I guarantee the results won’t disappoint.

Do I Own This Book? Nope.

Spoilers Below For My Likes & Dislikes:

Likes:

- First of all, praise to all of the diversity in this group of friends here. Mark is pansexual and trans. His love interest, Ralph, is Jewish and has severe anxiety. Ralph’s twin sister is dating a demigirl, Nadia, who happens to be Muslim. The best friends are Jenny Chu (Chinese and aro) and Pablo Navarro (Hispanic and ace). Their underclassman Benji is a high-femme gay who lives with unabashed pride in himself that he may be the coolest guy ever. We have Christian and Luis who are freshmen gays with a robot baby. Beatriz, the Latina captain of the girl’s champion soccer team. Vinh is an Asian American influencer and Kai is an indigenous dude on the wrestling team. There’s even a Korean teacher, ZP (short for Zielinski-Pak). There is such a variety of different voices and faces that it just felt so refreshing to read.

- Second of all, the intelligence of these characters is beyond incredible. Even with people like Henry McIver and Clary Cassandra. They discuss all sorts of talking points such as philosophy, theology, politics, and more. And the debates are so well thought out that even the nonsensical cringey ones rooted in white supremacy feels just so authentically real. It’s crazy that all of these characters just know so much and it’s clear that their school is for nerds but since the main characters are on the IB track, they’re like the cream of the crop.

- Mark is a good person. He struggles a lot with that view of himself as Ralph claims. And likewise, Ralph struggles to see himself as good too. But that’s probably why they have such good chemistry together. They can see past the faults and the ways they try to hide, digging deeper and holding each other’s hands through all the tough parts. They’re cute together and I love that.

- Going back to Mark, he cares so much about other people. And he believes that the world can be better if they just work toward that. So it pissed me off when his dad and Henry just claimed it was for his vanity. They made their assumptions about him because their own worldview is twisted into the mindset that people are always selfish. So I get why they acted the way they did in that sense when they called out Mark on his so-called hypocrisy. But it is just wild that they couldn’t even begin to recognize that the people they were describing were themselves, not Mark. At the end of the day, even if he chose to ran for less than selfless reasons, he is still the best presidential candidate of the three choices. Because he’s aware of his shortcomings and wants to do what’s best for others in the end. Even if he is a privileged rich white kid. He understands that everyone, no matter the differences, deserve to be treated with respect.

- Nadia is such a cool person. She kept assuring Mark that the numbers were there when the votes were coming in. She really did have her finger on the pulse of their school. She knew everyone. And she also did great convincing Mark to participate with the stoners to get their vote. His speech to them was truly something else.

- Amber Carr is an enigma for me but I respect the fuck out of her. She’s so passionate about journalism. She also doesn’t out people for a juicy headline. What she did to Jenny was so awful though and I’m glad that Mark questioned her ethics on that but I respect her because she truly does want what’s best for the school in the end and she clearly respects Mark a lot. When he was about to come out to her and she shut off the camera, my heart went out to her. I think she’s also black? Not sure but if she is, it is another check in the diverse column for this book.

- The speech Mark gave was honestly inspiring. I would’ve definitely voted for him had I heard it. About how no one should vote for him unless they believe in him, truly. I wish we got to see Henry’s smug face fall when the gym applauded for him.

- Pablo is so cool too. He’s so chill and knows how to stay in his lane and also knows how to be present for his friends when they need him. And his parents are cool too. The way they’re okay with the kids drinking as long as they stay under their roof. That’s how you raise a kid properly. I see where Pablo gets it from. I hope he finds the perfect partner for him in the future, the Swiftie sap.

- Love and respect Mark’s mom though. She really was a queen in this. Supporting and choosing her son without hesitation. And encouraging him to run. Staying in touch with the father because she knew that’s what Mark had wanted at the time. And saying Mark reminds her of the man his father once was, the kindhearted and down-to-earth politician that he used to be.

- Anyway, Mark Adams for prez of the United States of America: 2048.

Dislikes:

- Henry McIver is an enigma to me. He’s clearly not phobic in any sense of the word. He didn’t participate in verbally assaulting Benji like his teammates did. And he apologized to Mark once he found out that Mark was not, in fact, a cisgendered man. But his rhetoric is so similar to white supremacists that it makes me cringe. And he was still a bystander when Trevor and Kevin were bullying Benji. But his fanbase worships him, how can he not stop them? Is he that afraid of ruining his own popularity? I get that he’s dirt poor and doesn't have the “privilege” to be himself but I don’t get it. I don’t get why he “has to” do some of the things he does to survive in this school. If he’s queer in some aspect and Benji knows because they went out or hooked up or something, then maybe that’s it? He’s scared of the guys on his team turning on him? And maybe his parent(s) are super homophobic. Who the fuck knows. But I wish we had more perspective on him since I do not get him.

- Fuck Kevin Guo. I know Trevor is the one who punched Benji and fuck him too, but it bothers me that one of the biggest bigots in the school is an Asian dude. And the fact that h shares my name bugs me so much. How dare he! This complaint is personal and has no bearing on the overall rating of this book. I just gotta voice it.

- I mentioned that I don’t get why Amber slut-shamed Jenny like that. Is it just a commentary on the inherent sexism? How Jenny got villified while Dante Gomez, the guy she slept with and also a political candidate, continued running unaffected? If that’s it, I do think it needs to be a bit more heavyhanded in its execution.

- Jenny being all moody and mad toward Mark for like a whole week bugs me a lot too. I mean, I get it on some level and I’m glad she still cares so much for him when he wanted to quit. But girl, you need to do some actual communicating. Life is not like a television show. You told him to remove you from the ticket so he wouldn’t lose and he did! She should have been proud of him for winning, not sulking in her corner.

- I also think Ralph’s reaction to Mark revealing his father’s still alive was way overblown. Mark was clearly in distress so obviously his dad is not a good person even though Mark said he used to look up to him. Like, it should’ve been much more obvious that Mark’s whole relationship with his dad sucked but Ralph didn’t listen. I’m glad he acknowledged it though and also apologized. Plus, given his own relationship with his deceased father, I do think his reaction was somewhat justified. He’s human.

- Fuck Mark’s dad. I’m glad we know the author is transmasc but holy shit, every time Mark’s dad uttered that deadname, I actually physically cringed. It was just so bad. And overall he’s just such an entitled asshole who doesn’t get that Mark’s life doesn't revolve around him. If he had accepted his son for who he is in the first place, his campaign for governor would’ve been fine. I know it. I don’t care what he thinks. The fact that he said Mark was just playacting his gender is just so gross too. I’m glad Mark gave him a real verbal dressing down at his hotel. He deserved it. Fuck that guy to high heaven.

#Booklr #Booksbooksbooks #Book Blog #Book Review #Book Recs #The (Un)Popular Vote #Jasper Sanchez #LGBTQ #Queer Books #Queer Lit #Queer Representation

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goldandbluesmiles · 4 years

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Calls to Beyond

Summary: Bruce Wayne's kids, biological, legal and emotional make a call to beyond the veil on Halloween night.

Note: Inspired by the seance scene from Addams Family.

Ao3

Part of my batfam flufftober2020

It was the evening of Halloween, the candy had been distributed, the festivities were done and the rest of the late Bruce Wayne's coven was either gone or sleeping.

Jason brewed the tea, Duke grabbed the cedar, Dick took the crystal globe and the porcelain dish while Cassandra led the way through the tunnels under the house.

Once they got to Bruce's favourite spot, Stephanie laid down the blanket and they all made a circle around the crystal globe. First to last, clockwise. Space was left between Dick and Damian, enough for a fully grown man to sit comfortably.

When everyone was seated, Tim snapped his fingers and the candles already present lit up around the small alcove.

"So?" said Jason, "Are we ready?"

There were murmurs of assent from everyone and Dick picked up the cedar. After lighting the smudges stick he put it at the center of their circle. After, he directed everyone to hold hands.

Once everyone was connected, eyes closed with Damian and Dick having one hand free each, Dick started to say their prayers, calling out to their ancestors for guidance and protection. Once that part was one, he called to one specific person, calling them to join their circle.

The candles in the room flickered for a moment and by the time they all opened their eyes, there was a figure holding Dick and Damina's hands. He was a little faded, almost transparent but his blue eyes were clear and the smile just as they remembered it though he looked a little younger than he had been when he had taken his last breath.

The man smiled and he took his hands away, taking a look around.

"Tea and Seance on Halloween," he said, "How is it that I always end up with the most cliché moments with you guys?"

Jason snorted "Hey, Old man,"

"Hiya Bruce

"Dad,"

"Hello, Baba,"

"Nice seeing you B-man,"

"Hey, B,"

"Good to see you, Bruce,"

"Hi, Bruce,"

The apparition of Bruce smiled and gestures to the teapot and cups, "Don't wait on my account,"

Jason smiled and passed around eight cups of tea.

"So," said Bruce, "What's been going on with all of you? Barbara? You had your birthday last month right, how was it? Sixty-five is a big number,"

Slowly, his children started to tell him of their life's greatest moments since the last time they had talked, the good and the important. Barbara's birthday bash, Duke's first grandchild, Damian's first grey hair, Jason's reform school's second branch and of course, Stephanie's new free clinic. They also talked about Cassandra's accomplishments as Head Witch of the Wayne Coven and Dick's school for magical performing. Tim talked about the advancement and integration of magic and technology Wayne Enterprises and how he and Damian had been working on it diligently.

"That's great, guys," said Bruce, "Sounds like you guys have been having a great time, but tell me the rest of it,"

"What are you talking about, B?" asked Dick, like they didn't have this conversation every time they called Bruce to them.

"Come on now," said Bruce, "I didn't come heat to just listen to the pretty, tell me the ugly,"

Ever so slowly, Damian discussed the numerous deaths an attack on League of Assassins had led to, Barbara talked about her chronic pain with Jason chiming in too, Cassandra talked of the burden of the cowl and Stephanie spoke about crumbling under the responsibility. Dick told them about worrying for his kids and Duke agreed, citing how scared he was since his daughter hadn't really bounced back after her difficult pregnancy.

By the time they were done, most of his kids had tears in their eyes and were quietly hugging each other.

"Thanks for that," said Bruce softly, "But I've been watching you, you know. The nightmares come and go, the hardships might seem like they'll crush you but I know you guys can get through them. I saw how you guys supported each other after I was gone. I know that Dick still calls movie night and Jason still cooks dinner for everyone at least twice a month. Stephanie and Jay, you guys have helped so many people doing what you do,"

"Cassandra, baby girl, I am so proud of what you've done with my former mantel. The League of Assassins has always been wild but Damian, you ave come so far with it, changed the world in ways your mother and grandfather only ever dreamed of and you did it because you are dedicated, you care for those who work for you and while I can't say anything for the grief, you are strong. You guys are all so strong. Tim and Barbara, you guys have made advancements we only dremed of years ago, you guys are going os far and pushing through whatever life throws at you. Even from beyond, I will always admire you guys' strength, all of yours,"

"You really do watch over us all the time, don't you?" said Tim, voice as soft as the slow smile that spread across his face.

"Always," murmured Bruce, "Always,"

His kids smiled, gratitude shining in their eyes

"Thank you, Bruce," said Dick

"You're Welcome, Chum," said Bruce, "Though I think it's time for me to go,"

"Bye, Bruce,"

"See ya, B,"

"Thanks for coming,"

"Thank you, Baba,"

"Bye-bye,"

"Happy travels, Pops,"

"Bye, B,"

"Until next time, Bruce,"

The candles flickered again and when they steadied, their father was once again gone.

#batman #batfamily #flufftober2020 #batman fic #batdad #bruce wayne #dick grayson #cassandra cain #cass wayne #duke thomas #Damian Wayne #barbara gordon #Tim Drake #Timothy Drake #Jason Todd #Stephanie Brown

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