#I feel like I’ve left out or forgot a lot of characters in the runner ups

[abanomath]

DC’s Tone Deafness

So I don’t really like ranting or being negative, but DC Universe recently released an article to celebrate pride month about the Top 5 canon and non-canon LGBTQA+ relationships in Young Justice.

And the tone deafness is just off the charts. Like most of the world, I’m not American so I needed someone to screen-cap the actual article for me. I’m going to organize my thoughts and go down below.

General

For one, its pretty obvious the writer didn’t look at the source material. This article sounds like it was written by someone filled in on the basics and told to write a good PR article for DC.

There are a lot of little details in the story, such as when the writer claims that they “showcased even more LGBTQA+ protagonists in season 3″ implying they had previously, which they hadn’t. One character was implied to be bisexual in the comics, never on screen, but more on that below. Season 3 was the first LGBTQA+ rep for the show.

Also its always a bit tone deaf when in an article celebrating LGBTQA+ and diversity in your show, that you have a list of 5 “ships”, of which only ONE is actually a couple in canon. Not only did they need to resort to non-canon ones, they included people that can’t be called a “ship” or couple.

1. Kaldur/Wyynde

This is the only actual LGBTQA+ couple on the list that is canon in the show, and I liked them. But I can’t deny that Kaldur who was a main cast member for the past two season’s had a vastly reduced role (compared to straight cis white characters like Dick and Conner). He was basically written out of the first half of the season, and then his relationship was really present for 1.5 - 2 episodes max. This in a season that was marked with excessive attention given to heterosexual relationships (like seriously, basically every character was in some form of relationship on-screen). The one healthy LGBTQA relationship got less attention than Black Lightning and Dr. Jace’s romance, something that ultimately went nowhere, Dick/Barbara, even Megan/Conner when Megan was also essentially written out of the season.

2. Marie Logan and Rita Farr

They really dug deep for this “ship”. Ironically, they start this by talking about the scene in Young Justice #25, when Queen B’s powers work on Garfield’s mother. This was the first implication her being bisexual. And of course, she also dies in this scene, so starting off with a “Bury your gays” trope where Marie’s queerness literally got her killed and orphaned her son.

There isn’t much more to say about this ship, because it literally doesn’t exist. The shipping community for this is so small you have to go digging deep into tags to find even hints of it. The article even basically says this, posing the ship as a question. As being interesting. (Does it count as Bury Your Gays when both woman are dead before their relationship is even hinted at?)

In other words this article about celebrating LGBTQA ships literally had to try and CREATE A SHIP to reach 5 ships. Despite the fact there are plenty of LGBTQ fanon ships (Birdflash being the most prominent one left off the list). It really hits at the thing I said above, this is a “write us a good PR article with the barest amount of effort put into it” situation.

3. Harper Row and Halo

Oh boy don’t get me started on this. There are so many problems with how they did Halo this season, she is basically tone deaf personified. (For the purpose of this rant, I’ll be using the “she” pronouns for Halo, because I have no choice but to assume they are her preference, unless the show purposely spent the entire season mis-gendering her, but I don’t think her characterization really supports that she prefers “her/she”).

I’ve had a problem with Halo from the start, because she is basically an attempt for the writers to shallowly include representation without having to actually deal with it. She is Muslim representation, but not actually Muslim (as she confirms on the show). She wears the Hijab because she feels like it. She is genderqueer, but they never once talk about her pronouns. She refers to herself as “not feeling like a boy or a girl” and constantly refers to herself in the third person, but everyone uses “she/her” pronouns without asking her. They even have a scene where she informs them she is genderqueer, and its never brought up again without asking any actual follow up questions or awareness. They also infantalize and treat her as a little girl.

Additionally, she falls into one of my greatest pet peeves - she is genderqueer but for fantasy-scifi reasons. For those that follow genderqueer or transgender characters in media, this is a very common trope. Essentially, the trope is when someones gender identity is caused by/determined from otherworldly experiences.

This trope bugs me because it completely undermines the point of representation. Representation in media is supposed to show the audience that these are natural human experiences and that people like this exist and are normal. But the trope ensures that the experiences are not normal human experiences.

(and don’t even get me started on the fact that this show has made New Genesis tech gendered before, with Sphere. And even gender the bioship in the same season they pull this for Halo).

Lastly, she also falls within the “promiscuous bisexual” trope, with the very kiss this article praises as THE FIRST LGBT KISS ON SCREEN for the show. This is a problematic trope that DC seems to love. Basically, this scene has Halo cheating on her boyfriend with another young classmate, engaging in two kisses with her.

Now I’m not going to say that all LGBTQA+ relationships need to be wholesome one true loves. Problematic behaviour like Halo and Harper’s is a story telling tool. But the fact that the LGBTQA+ was told going into the season there would be LGBT rep so they should watch, and this was the first rep we got 18 episodes into the season? It felt a bit like a slap in the face. They could’ve had her break up with Brion beforehand, or any number of different ways that would even keep the scene in tact.

And the relationship doesn’t really go anywhere anyways. Harper doesn’t really remain part of the season going forward, Halo and her boyfriend continue their relationship after it was revealed until the end of the season.

This is ultimately my problem with Halo. There are a few tropes that basically are summed up as “writers put all their diversity into one character” which is basically what Halo is. Each of these qualities, from faith to gender identity to sexual orientation could’ve been a fleshed out character arc (oh! I forgot to mention she also falls into the “My gender identity isn’t cis, so my sexual orientation is also bi/pan/gay” trope). Instead all the diverse qualities of Halo are addressed shallowly as the show-runners pat themselves on the back.

4. Bluepulse

I’ve ranted a lot so I’m not going to go crazy on this point. You can probably find tons of posts about the drama between Bluepulse Shippers and the show, which again makes their inclusion kind of tone-deaf. Bluepulse shippers have been called disgusting by the fandom for the three year age gap, an age gap that was never confirmed on screen and you had to go digging in Greg’s personal message board to know (resulting in many people shipping them not knowing their ages at all).

In addition, the showrunners made it clear they did not like this ship over the several years the show has been off the air. And in Season 3 they give Jaime a girlfriend….who is a lesbian in the comics. Now Traci and Jaime did date in the comics before she came out, and this is another Earth. But when the sole purpose of their relationship being on screen was to tell the audience that bluepulse wasn’t happening, choosing a lesbian character to play the cis straight girlfriend is a bit of a slap in the face. again.

5. Bart Allen and Eduardo

Queerbaiting, nuff said.

For those not in the know, Ed is a character introduced as a runaway in Season 2, but he doesn’t really interact with Bart until mid-season 3. There is an episode where a group of heroes go to a carnival, and Ed and Bart appear to be on a date. They are in a group with all couples, except for Virgil. Virgil laments being the only person there without a significant other, implying that Bart and Ed are together. Additionally, Bart and Ed do everything that the other couples do together. It was pretty heavy-handed that the couples were there on dates.

And fans liked this! Even if Bluepulse wasn’t happening, Bart may still be bisexual or gay. This was made worse by Greg retweeting and liking Ed/Bart content, and not giving a straight answer on whether they were dating.

Which obviously, creates the expectation among LGBTQA+ fans that they will get together. They don’t. And later at a convention, one of the main writers (not Greg) said something like “its funny how the fans see relationships between characters differently from our intent” when asked a question about them. Essentially confirming that yeah, they didn’t have any actual content for them planned anyway. Though they did have an addendum that they may build on the fan reception/view of the relationship in the future (basically saying, maybe they’ll be canon).

As much as I’d like to be optimistic that they actually will get together and we’ll get a LGBTQ relationship that is in the spotlight for once, I’m not. I’ll be happy to be proved wrong on this point.

And that was my TEDtalk about how tone-deaf DC patting themselves on the back for LGBTQA+ content in Young Justice is. Especially when other animated shows do so much better with fewer episodes and screen time.

[svankmajerbaby]

13, 20, 30, 40 !!

thank you so much for the ask!!!!!!

13.  Describe your writing process from idea to polished i’m not really sure, but i think i’d go something like this: i get the idea usually by either being obsessed with a property (whether it’s frankenstein, beetlejuice or barbie) or by thinking up characters and adding traits and backstory to them, and then thinking up possible dynamics for them to have with other characters. then, i try to figure out a particular context (place and time) that could fit these characters, and i make sure to think it up in such a way that it doesn’t really conflict with the source material (for my barbie-frankenstein fanfic, for example, i didn’t want to set it in early 19th century, because i wanted vivianna to be able to become barbara roberts at some point, and as such it was more comfortable to preserve the victorian aesthetic while also being closer to the 20th century); if there’s not a proper space and time these characters can feel comfortable in (whether because of a particularly tense political situation, persecution, or simply The Wrong Aesthetic Choice), i make up one. after that i begin to write dialogues and location descriptions, try to picture it all in my head as clearly as possible. then, after i have some scenes written and some interactions done, i try to organize them, thinking what should come first, what can lead to a good finale, what would be the most important moment for each character and so on. when this is done, i usually already figure out the ending and can structure everything to lead up to it. after that, it’s all a matter of sitting down and writing between the scenes i’ve already done, editing them and adding whatever new ideas i get in the meantime. usually this is what takes the longest, because by this point i’m losing steam and interest and become distracted by new projects... but sometimes i manage to finish it and by then the editing process starts on full, checking for any grammar or spelling mistakes, wrong pronouns or words or names, usually cutting down on redundant descriptions or dialogues, adding things if i think something is not clear enough or erasing things if they seem too on the nose, and then i do this over and over until i feel it’s good enough.

20.  How many WIPs and story ideas do you have? oh boy do i have plenty. i’ve sorta finished the first novel of the story of Olimpia Gómez -the first one is simply called “La Ejecutora, 1938″; i’m currently writing the second, the third and the fourth ones -”La Ejecutora, 1946″, “La Ejecutora, 1954″, and “La Ejecutora, 1966″ respectively. then i also have almost finished my stage adaptation version of “Corpse Bride”, which i renamed “Death and Marriage”. i’m a chapter away at finishing my toy story fanfic, “Sitting On The Shelf”. i’ve written a single chapter of a beetlejuice fanfic about the maitlands that i still haven’t found a proper name fore, but which i’m very excited about. i’m writing several chapters at once of a massive addams family fanfic, focused on most of the main family characters’ backstories or developments beyond the nineties movies, which i’m calling “Family Beyond Blood”. i’ve started a little princess tutu fanfic that i’m not sure if i should continue, but which is a stylistic deviation of what i’ve been writing so far, so that’s good. i’ve kind of abandoned another fanfic idea i had, “Vulnavia & Vulnavia”, from one of my favorite horror movies, “abominable dr phibes”, which i have to come back to... and like the madwoman i am, i’m planning on rewriting the star wars sequel trilogy, so i got that in my to do list, as well. besides those fanfics, i got a sci-fi novel being developed, called “Los Prototipos”, about two twins that escape the enclosure where they had been raised to find out they were being studied to make a single-minded working force (kind of like the replicants in blade runner) with an expiration date -all this set in a dystopic 1960s country somewhere in latinamerica, tackling issues of economic imperalism, forced labor and independece through revolution. this is one of my most political works, so i’m giving it a lot of space to breathe. i’ve also began some time ago a series of noir/horror short stories set in Buenos Aires, one of them based on a short movie script i’ve written, which i’m really excited to do -because i’m usually crap at writing short stories -but i’ve left it in standby until i finish the bigger projects first... and then I Have Scripts, Baby! “Mi Amiga Carolina”, about a possessed doll that emotionally manipulates a depressed teenager that moves alone into her grandmother’s old house; “El Moderno Prometeo”, a (mostly) faithful retelling of frankenstein set in Argentina, focused on the family drama of the frankenstein family and on the relationships between victor, daniela (justine, here being his older sister), quique (henry) and elsa (elizabeth); a screen adaptation of a novel of a friend of mine, “La Chica Que Trabajaba Los Sábados”, about a non-practising jewish woman in Buenos Aires who falls in love with a rabbi, and how their relationship ebbs and flows; and “Verano en los Manzanos”, about a boy who lives in rural Córdoba who falls in love with a girl from Buenos Aires (i try to write what i know, usually), and who as they grow up become a couple, have a kid, and ultimately wind up apart due to his struggle with depression and her own struggle with acute anxiety, all of this interweaved with his own return to the little forgotten village he grew up on, where he reflects on the life he used to have. so, in total... 16 WIP. plenty.

30.  Favourite idea you haven’t started on yet i just now realized that i forgot to mention it in the last point, but technically i havent’ even started, so yeah, it’s just an idea: a series of sci-fi books about a parallel history in which India was the first country to go to the moon, and in which South America has the ASADE (Asociação Sul-Americana D’exploração Espacial), where they train cosmonauts to explore the vastness of space: set in an alternate 1930, a team of specialists on several fields and from several countries (the ones I got thought up already are captain Alfonsina Shua, from argentina, and copilot Adolfo Chaviano, from a paraguayan-argentinean couple) go on the fifth ever tripulated voyage. on an exploration, copilot Chaviano gets lost and disappears in space, cut off from his crew, and ends up going through a wormhole and crossing a threshold between sci-fi and fantasy of a blooming star -rendering him immortal but extremely radiated, which allows him to continue exploring space (ending up in several planets, registering his encounters with varied extraterrestrial cultures) while back in Earth the ASADE and his family try to locate him and bring him back home -it’s basically “The Martian” meets “The Little Prince”. and then, there’s the sequel series, about the three grandchildren of Adolfo Chaviano, who, after his death, discover that their grandfather had been developing a time machine alongside Alfonsina to go back in time and look for a way to revert the effects of the radiation in him, in order for him to live longer -and, perhaps, to find the way to become immortal and continue exploring the deepest limits of space. set in an alternate 1971, where space travel is now commonplace, the three siblings, Lena, Majo and Laucha embark on a space mission, meeting all sorts of new characters similarly affected by radiation and some mysterious magical/space properties, in order to find Alfonsina and ask her to give them one more chance to ask questions and say goodbye to their grandfather. so yeah, i got a lot of ideas, but i haven’t been writing any scenes yet -it’s still all in my head so far.

40.  Share some backstory for one of your characters well, the original character i’ve got developed the most is Olimpia Gómez (whose birth name is Beatriz Moreno), the orphaned daughter of two spanish union workers who were killed in the Semana Trágica on 1919 by the mysterious Society (of course, working in cahoots with the repressive government), and taken in by that same Society and raised to kill supposed “criminals and dangerous subjects”. trained in the countryside, taught to always be ready to die an honorable death for peace and justice while on duty, she’s taken to Buenos Aires to prove herself by stealth-killing the targets she is given, who she is told are people beyond salvation. she’s never been popular, but her closest friend, Eugenia Menéndez, always tries to get her to open up and join her own attempts at having a normal social life -which is quite difficult when being a spy and “executioner”. Olimpia has a boyfriend, fellow agent Evaristo Gutiérrez, but by the time they’re nineteen their relationship feels cold and strained, and at the same time there’s the pull of one of the most powerful members of the organization, Azucena Velázquez, daughter of two high-ranking agents: she’s kind-of out as a lesbian (only able to be so because of her high status), and has always been interested in Olimpia; Olimpia has to wrestle with her own internalized homophobia, feelings of guilt and bisexuality in order to finally decide who she wants to be, alongside her discovery of precisely how the Society is corrupt and extremely politically motivated when electing its “targets”, which leads Olimpia to try to escape it -despite knowing that the Society is everywhere, and if she can manage to escape, it’s because the Society allows it in the first place.

[ivory-haired-queens-blog]

Unpopular Opinions: Fandom Edition

Hey none of you asked but I’m here to deliver so here are some unpopular opinions for the fandoms I’m in. Spoilers, duh.

Marvel:

I don’t like Natasha. Or Steve.

Pepper Potts is a top.

As much as I love Loki, his death was nessicary in Infinity War.

Steve should have killed Bucky in Civil War. He was a threat, plain and simple.

I ship Ironstrange/Supremefamily.

Clint should have died in Infinity War.

I love Tony Stark with my whole heart. (Not an unpopular opinion but you needed to know that)

I’m not happy with the end of Endgame.

10 years in the making....for you to do Thor like that?

Not because he’s fat or because he’s dealing with trauma, that’s totally acceptable.

What’s not acceptable is them making Thor into the butt of the joke because he’s fat.

I love the Antman movies.

I’m totally not biased because I loved lost.

(I’m kinda biased)

Shuri is the best Marvel character and would beat Tony Stark in a battle of wits.

(I’m so gay I love her.)

With as many years as Marvel has had the MCU, I am disgusted at the lack of diversity within the movies.

Like it’s 2019 and we JUST got a female empowerment scene in Endgame.

Like I want a gay superhero.

(We have a disabled one thank god. Love you Stephen.)

And don’t give me that Valkyrie/Captain Marvel BS because they never blatantly stated or showed it in their movies.

I want an Asian superhero bitch.

A superhero who is Muslim/Islam/and religion besides Christian.

I think that, as much as I hate Natasha and Steve, they should have been the ones that Bruce first sees in Infinity War. I know it set up the whole “earth is closed today” sequence but it didn’t make sense and was OOC.

I love Stephen Strange and he’s never done a single thing wrong ever in his life I would die for this man.

I like MCU Peter Parker over the origional movie Spider-Man.

Fight me.

I also like the Tony Stark/Peter Parker better than the Uncle Ben/Peter Parker so @ me.

The 100

I don’t ship Bellarke that hard.

Like yes, I think they’re obviously being groomed to end up together. I know the show runners will make them official before the end of the series. I’m not mad about that, I just don’t really care to be honest. It’s like, too obvious.

But there are some cute bellarke scenes

What they did to Monty was bullshit but what they did to Jasper was worse.

I feel no guilt whatsoever in saying that I think that killing all of Mount Weather was what they should have done from the beginning.

Yes, even the kids. Because if you kill their leaders, the men and women will fight back. The colony would have been left with a handful of adults, and a bunch of kids if the origional plan had worked. This is doomed to fail and honestly just killing them all would be better than seeing them kill eachother for food, power, whatever. If that makes sense.

I think that Finn deserved to die.

I think that Murphey deserves the world.

Charlotte fucking killed Wells. Yes she’s young but she knows better than to kill someone. Maybe not kill her, but we all know that Clarke wouldn’t have banished her like she did Murphey. Clarke has a gender bias because Murphey didn’t do anything and she wouldn’t have punished Charlotte as hard because she’s a young girl. I rest my case

Even though what he did was bad and wrong, I don’t think Murphey should have been banished. He’s right. They were all compliant and even excited when he was being hung, but when it’s a little girl all bets are off.

Like Bellamy brought the whole hostage thing upon himself because he fucking tied a noose around Murphey’s throat.

Again, not that what Murphey did was right. He didn’t have to act like that. Jasper didn’t do anything to him.

Also this segment is getting long but the show writers and everyone else just casually forgot that Murphey was TORTURED? Hello? Are we not going to acknowledge that?

I shipped Clexa with my whole heart.

Another actually popular opinion: what they’ve done to Raven’s character this season is bullshit. Her only role is Abby’s moral compass. This is the same girl who shuttled to earth in a Tin Can. She’s better than this.

What the fuck??? Happened to??? Jordan???

Like Madi stabbed him

And then they proceeded to not talk about it for like four episodes and then casually mention it in passing like “oh he saved Pria that means he gets to live”

Like they set up his character to be really important this season.

But he’s not.

I think that Murphey/Emori is the best ship.

I also think that Either Murphey or Emori or Both are secretly double crossing the Primes. (This comes out before the finale of season six)

They didn’t have to do Onyia like that

The opening of season three is so weak that I actually stopped watching the show around that time (I’d been watching since the beginning of season two) because there’s just nothing there in the first like 10 minutes and I couldn’t do it.

Maybe I’m just impatient but it’s bad.

I think that Octavia did the best that she could with what she had available and I think that’s she’s not a bad person for what she did with the fighting pits/cannabalism. And I know that if Bellamy had been in her place, he would have eventually done the same.

Kane was a whiny bitch in season 5.

Why’d the kill Diyoza(I can’t spell) like that?

I liked Joesephine. It was really fun to see Eliza Taylor be able to get a new character in the show. Also props to her for that last episode with pretending to be Joesephine and being Clarke at the same time.

I called the dude being Gabriel from the first time I saw him you peasants.

Octavia’s redemption arc this season is beautiful.

They did....that.....to Kane. I’m angerey.

Lost In space

Not enough people watch this show. (The Netflix remake or the origional)

Seriously guys it’s a good show.

Absolutely nothing is wrong with it.

I love Don West with my whole heart.

I love Dr. Smith with my half heart.

I love the robot with my two hearts.

I love Penny Robinson with all the stars in the galaxy.

I love all of them okay.

There are no plot holes, no inconsistencies, no faulty science and anyone who says (or proves) otherwise is wrong.

It’s confirmed for a season two which should air in like the December-February time area.

It’s a Netflix show so you can binge the entire season in like a weekend.

Seriously watch it.

The Umbrella Academy

Five x Delores is weird.

Luther x Allison is illegal.

Klaus deserves all the push pops in the world.

The handler is hot.

The Comission killed Dave.

Luther is the most boring, Unorigional, straight white guy character I’ve seen in a long time. I hate him so much.

Allison is a queen but her character is brought down by her weird relationship with her brother.

Tbh if I was Allison you know I’d be telling my kids that I heard a rumor that theyd go the fuck to sleep. Like that’s a good thing. Idk maybe I’m just a sociopath.

Istanbul not Constantinople being played over a scene where five murders a squad of Commission people is the greatest cinematic masterpiece ever conceived by man.

“Where are you going” “to save the world” “oh is that all?” Iconic.

None of these are really unpopular but the show writers seem to think differently.

Diego has never done anything wrong in his life like yaaaasss bitch kill your brother at yo daddy’s funeral!!! Work!!!

PaTcH

AAaAHh

Big Theif - Mary is the perfect song to play over Klaus returning from Vietnam.

Will you love me, like you loved me in the January rain?

It’s up there with Goodbye July.

Speaking of Goodbye July....

Z Nation

Many people haven’t watched it

It’s like if The Walking Dead and Zombieland had a baby....and then the baby did a line of cocaine.

It’s wild.

Watching Garnet die ruined every sliver of hope I had in humanity.

I have a special place in my heart for this show because it’s the first show that me and my mom would stay up and watch the new episodes air every Friday. It brought us closer and I can’t thank the cast and show runners enough for this.

So maybe I’m biased, but you should watch it.

Having Murphey switch from being an anti-hero to a villain back to an anti-hero and then to a regular hero, amazing. Astonishing. The peak of human existence.

Even though he’s not entirely human.

What color is Murphey today? Is he pale, discolored, grey, blue, red? We don’t know!

Roberta Warren is the Black Goddess main protagonist that we deserve.

Addison Carver is a functional Bi.

10k is tragic backstory central but other than that, his character development is pretty lacking other than him persuing love interests.

None of these are really unpopular opinions but I doubt any of you have watched the show. It’s on Netflix. Watch it.

Oooooohhhhh George.

Georgia St. Clair could stomp me to death and my ghost would still want to fuck her.

Anyways I’m gay

God damn I have a lot of pent up Gay energy.

Murphey and Lucy have a realistic enstranged father/daughter relationship and it’s heartwarming.

And then they killed her off to save him.

Honestly if you name a character Murphey they can only be assholish bad boys with a good heart deep down sorry I don’t make the rules.

Also if you name a character Murphey I will love them with my whole soul.

I’m so mad they cancelled the show.

I’m infinitely more mad that they named that disgrace of a show Black Summer and claimed that it was a prequel....but it didn’t follow the same cast and had they not advertised it as a prequel I would never have guessed.

Black Summer gives totally opposite vibes than Z Nation does. I get that black summer is supposed to be the worst time that the zombie apocalypse ever had, with cannibals and no food, but it feels like s completely different show.

It’s like if The Walking Dead claimed that it is a prequel/occurs during Shaun of the Dead.

Like....no. They’re....no.

Anyway watch it it’s good.

Detroit: Become Human

Connor isn’t the best character.

This is an unpopular opinion post deal with it.

Markus has to be my favorite.

Honestly this game is so good and not even just graphics-wise.

It’s the same robotic sentience story we’ve been fed for years, but this time it’s from the Android’s perspective and this time all they want is to be free. That’s it.

I fucking hate North.

Hank is literally if Rick from Rick and Morty were serious.

The only correct way to play Connor is to walk the thin line between deviant and regular A.I. Without leaving out Hank. The correct thing to do is make Conner deviant at Jericho.

The only correct way to play Kara is to protect Alice with every fiber of your being. Meanwhile, get close to her. Do not get caught, even if that means dissappointing her.

The only correct way to play Markus is to lead a peaceful revolution. Also tell North to fuck off.

The border patrol guy who either gets Kara and Alice caught or knowingly lets Androids cross the border is the best character. Forget about Markus, this guy sees either “oh fuck androids are killing people, maybe we shouldn’t let this one cross the border” or “Androids just want to be free and are peacefully fighting for this. Let this one and her daughter through.” I love him.

LUTHER.

YES DADDY.

anyway.

Let Out The Bear He Just Wants To Say Hi :)

Even though I think Conner is overrated by the fandom, I do like him.

But he’s not a pure innocent cinnamon roll either.

It depends on how you play, but he has really violent options so stop the “He wouldn’t harm a fly” attitude.

But he is cute.

The home screen for the game is revolutionary (no pun intended) and I hope future game follow suit in making the first impression of the game something cool.

Stealing clothes/money/the fence cutters is literally okay.

Also if you put Kara in white hair you can die.

If in your first actual play through you got the Kara lives at the recycling plant ending but Alice dies, you can die too.

I’ve never actually seen the steal money and go to motel option play out because it’s stupid, especially if you don’t steal clothes. Like that’s begging to be caught.

Stranger things

Billy Hargrove is bad and just because he’s abused does not make what he does okay.

Harringrove is gross and I’m gay so my opinion counts as double.

That being said, there are some really cute fics about Harringrove and I can see the appeal of “good boy falls for mysterious bad boy with a dark past and trauma”

I’ve said I’m gay this whole post because I say it a lot, but I don’t like actually labeling myself but I like girls and boys and everything in between and I say I’m gay kinda as a joke when girls are hot.

That being said...

Steve Harrington calling himself Daddy made me feel things.

Strange things.

Haha get it I’m making a joke to distract you from the daddy part.

Steve Harrington is a good person now, but he was still an asshole before and he can still be criticized for his past.

I used to be hardcore Jancy but after season three I feel like Nancy needs and deserves a break from boys so she can figure out herself and who she is now and what she wants to do without the weight of boys and boyfriends constantly around her.

That being said i still don’t like Nancy because she was flirting/slept in the same bed with Jonathan whilst obviously having feelings for him while she and Steve were still a thing. It’s not cheating but to me it’s close enough to raise red flags.

Robin is perfect in every way.

I don’t like Jonathan. He’s creepy in s1, fine in s2, but then is s3 he doesn’t do anything to or about his male bosses when Nancy is being made fun of because she’s a woman.

Seeing Nancy’s class priveledge/Jonathan’s male priveledge clashing was so cool tbh

Elmax > Mileven > Lumax

Jim Hopper, with all his faults, is still a caring dad.

Plus him threatening Mike made me laugh so hard sksksksks

Steve Harrington deserves the world and then some.

Low key I really want s4 to give in insight on his family life.

I also want him to get an apartment with Robin.

Robins cute tbh but for half the season I though she was a Russian spy. I guess I was wrong.

Mrs. Wheeler shouldn’t sleep with billy (not that she can now) because it’s wrong, but the reason she wanted to is because her husband is so boring and she gave up on her dreams to be his perfect housewife. She wanted a challenge with Billy. Instead, she should leave her pushover of a husband and find someone better.

Anyway Steve Harrington deserves the world.

Yeah okay hate me whatever.

[harry-fecking-potter]

thoughts on TRoS

I still need to see the movie again to really capture all my thoughts on everything, but almost 24 hours later I’m starting to process everything.

I didn’t ever hate TLJ, but I also never really loved it like so many of my friends did. I was pretty neutral about it - I loved certain aspects of it (which I won’t go into on this post) but I never felt as connected to it. With that said, I wish this last movie had been the second one. I still see TLJ as part of the trilogy, but I wish that was more of a solo movie because I would’ve liked the side stories (like Finn’s) to be more in depth and more of the focus of  the movie. I felt like there were too many storylines at times to really appreciate all of them. I really loved the whole idea of you can be strong (and force-sensitive) even coming from nowhere (I still want a movie for those kids in the last scene).

ANYWAY

I think TRoS was way too fast-paced and rushed and I couldn’t really enjoy certain aspects of the movie because the next scene would start before I could process the last (and usually comedic after a heavy or intense scene). If it had been split into two different movies, with more focus on Finn and Poe and hell even Rose (who I forgot was in the movie unless the camera panned over her quickly) for one movie and then the third one could focus on the ending of the Skywalker legacy, that would’ve been better. I also really want a movie based off the defected Stormtroopers - I fell in love with Jannah’s character and I want she and Lando to have their own movie focusing on her life and finding out about her past.

I know it was difficult to work in the Leia storyline with Carrie FIsher’s death, but I felt like that could’ve been handled a little bit better. 

Adam Driver killed it. I’ve always thought he was a great actor and he proved it in this movie. I liked seeing Han (and that his parents were the ones to bring him back to the Light) even though I’ve heard a lot of reviews that it was cheesy or unlikely. I personally liked how that was done. 

I’m not a huge fan of Reylo, I don’t like toxic relationships - I’ve been in one before and TLJ was hinting at it so much it left a bad taste in my mouth. I was literally cringing in my seat and curling up in a ball in second-hand embarrassment at it. That being said, if Adam Driver smiled at me like that with that dimple, I’d run myself through with a lightsaber, it was so beautiful. 

I hated the Palpatine reveal. I knew it going in, but I still kept muttering “No, no, nooo” under my breath when it was revealed. i thought it was weak and completely ruined Rian’s whole story arc that you can come from nowhere and still be strong (which took me a while to appreciate b/c i was obsessed with Rey Kenobi theories)

Also the unrequited FinnRey thing was garbage and Disney is weak and cowardly for not making FinnPoe a thing (i’m gonna do a whole rant about that later) ALSO is Finn force sensitive or not?? He felt Rey’s death but then the movie never addresses it agian?? WHAT? I’ve been saying he’s force sensitive since TFA!! I love Rey - and I love Daisy Ridley, but I really wish John Boyega had been the main character of the trilogy instead (which has been a wish of mine since the first one came out) since his past was so interesting and i really wish they’d gone more in depth about it. PS JJ, i’ll fucking fight you for making Poe a spice runner? his parents were in the resistance!!! READ A FUCKIN BOOK MAN!

I didn’t like that Rey was alone again on a desert planet - but I loved the last shot with the twin suns and the swell of the music, JJ was right - it did make me happy and sad at the same time.

 I might get a lot of shit for this, but I personally loved that she said Rey Skywalker. I thought she was going to say I’m Rey Nobody or something - which I would’ve been fine with, but I feel like with being a “Skywalker” it gave her the family she always craved, in Luke and Leia. Also in the SW EU, Skywalker means one who walks in the stars and I’ve always loved that anyone can adopt that name who has been freed or found the freedom they always craved. 

SO

Overall, I didn’t hate it, but it’s also not one of my favorites of the trilogies. I think I’m always gonna be an OT fan, even though people will say that it’s cringey and too much of a fan service, but i’m not a huge movie nerd so I enjoy movies for getting me away from the real world (and the use of the cinematography) and not really whether they are different and more “out there”

Nonetheless,

I cried. I got angry. I got nostalgic (a lot - almost too much). I enjoyed a lot of aspects of it which made me go out of the movie wanting to go back in and watch the movie again to see what I missed. I was emotionally exhausted - which i expected since this was the end of the trilogies (lol for now anyway)

now in the meantime, I’m going to read a bunch of fanfiction and wait until i see it again next week

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Kasumi’s PT Outfit Analysis

Tell me what do these two have in common?

If you said “Cat theme” you are correct! If not, well then buckle up my dudes cause this is gonna be fun~! :D (I also want to take the time to point out, while this isn’t want I’m talking about, I do like this fan artist’s perspective on her gloves :D)

I know what you’re thinking, and no I’m not smoking anything I don’t do that, but Kasumi really does have cat thief themed origins (and no not because of the fan art, didja click on it? it’s cute!). I realized it after realizing she was a gymnast and was like “Why? Why does she get a gymnast theme? How does this fit with the outlaw theme? Has there been a thief who had gymnast outfit?....wait....could it be.....omg it IS!” AND THE ANSWER IS YES! 4 thieves actually, 3 are sisters in one series, and 1 is an expy of those sisters by the same author in his other work. If you know who I’m talking about I’m talking about.....CAT’S EYE! (and Phantom Thief 305 from City Hunter, I dunno the meaning of the name tho)

Let’s start with Cat’s Eye (not a 100% expert in it, but I know more than City Hunter tbh). Cat’s Eye is about a trio of sisters (Hitomi the middle who is the main character, Rui the oldest sister, and Ai the youngest) stealing things using their multiple skill sets (such as gymnastics), partially because they want to contact their missing dad who is also a thief (and their attempts to contact him are through the calling cards and stealing the items in hopes he comes as well). And....that’s basically it I think (been awhile since I read the manga and I’m in the process of re-reading it now). Movie wise, it seems they are in the process of trying to rescue him (hard to find info, no eng subtitles for me to watch so efsljdfl;aj).

Anne and Kasumi are the biggest shout outs to Cat’s Eye than anyone else (tho you could argue Cat’s eye is probs the reason Makoto drives a Motorcycle and Futaba is an semi-orange themed tech genius, and Haru who is “Noir” tho I don’t feel like looking up who came first, her or the Cat’s Eye Pachinko machine cause it’s not important). Anne’s outfit is more a shout-out to the Cat’s Eye Movie version while Kasumi’s is more a shout-out to the original manga/anime. Let’s focus on the Cat’s Eye movie for a second tho.

This isn’t the first time Cat’s Eye movie was used as inspiration for Persona. Back in P2 Tamaki Uchida dressed as Ai (the youngest sister of Cat’s Eye, but is the lead role in the movie), as the actress she is based off of (Yuki Uchida) played Ai in the movie.

Anne, however, seems to be based on Hitomi outfit with some Rui flare to it (they differ slightly)

(btw the movie opens up with an anime sequence before going full live action, Hitomi Left, Rui Right I think for both pics, Ai is in the middle for the bottom pic, and recolored Anne for better comparison and also because I can 8U)

I know what you are thinking, “But what about Catwoman????” I think she’s still related to Cat’s Eye tho. Catwoman came first in creation, and Catwoman was the first to use the leather outfits (tbh, mask wise, Tamaki’s mask/ears seem to draw from the Catwoman 60s tv show outfit), and it seems she/Batman were the inspiration for the movie costumes. Also considering how Persona likes to use Batman, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the cat theme stuff was also Batman/Catwoman related as well as Cat’s Eye. So there’s still a connection to Catwoman esp with the movie! 

Another possible connection to the movie is Anne’s name, specifically “Anne,” as the person who went by the stage name “Anri/杏里” (I mean Anne is just the  杏 kanji but still) who sings the theme song “Cat’s Eye 2000″ for the movie. Fun fact.

Now let’s look at the manga/anime, where it’s Kasumi’s time to shine (tho Anne will come back up).

As you can see they’ve been redesigned a few times (btw Hitomi’s colors in the first vol of Cat’s eye is actually blue with an orange ribbon, it was changed to yellow later it seems, also the top right is a spinoff manga of Cat’s Eye called Cat’s Eye: Ai where Ai is the MC)

As you can see, the girl who is mostly in the blue is Hitomi, and she has a tendency to wear a chocker with her leotard. Kinda like.......Kasumi! 

Recolored with blue to highlight the comparison (also because I NEED COLOR IN HER DESIGN ATLUS LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH DX) 

Fun fact, Hitomi I believe is a gymnast and she utilizes her skills as a thief (and thus where we get the gymnast as a thief outlaw theme and why it only works for Kasumi/gymnasts and not runners like Ryuji). 

But Kasumi also has similarities between her and Ai, both have red in their theme, both I think are first years. Also, while Ai isn’t as strong or skilled as her older sisters in fighting, she is the most agile (which we don’t know if Kasumi is in the same boat but it’s worth noting just in case). Another thing about Ai, is her connection to Tamaki up above, Tamaki who is based off the actress who played Ai was in the fencing club (which Yuki Uchida was also a fencer), and what weapon does Kasumi wield? A one handed sword similar to other fencers in Persona (like Mitsuru), so woot we’ve come full circle on that! (also if Kasumi is Hamuko reincarnated, or Hamuko’s younger sister, it should be noted that one of Hamuko’s theme colors is orange along with pink and red so fklsdjfsajf; bonus points if that comes true!)

Kasumi’s mask is also probably based on the Cat’s Eye calling card (or at least it follows a similar pattern):

Same point pattern, same eye shape and design (it’d also explain why it’s so thick, cause the emblem is thick looking too 8U)

So I mentioned we’d come back to Anne, and here we are! There is one last thing that is similar to Anne and the Kisugi sisters, and it’s that they are all hafus! The sisters are all half german, and Hitomi looks just like her western grandmother if Hitomi had blonde hair, and later dyes her hair blonde for her thieving:

Also *cough* a pink/red outfit I wonder who that reminds us of? 8U

Now onto City Hunter, which....I think is the biggest evidence that Kasumi was based off these people. And it’s this girl:

The girl with the glasses is the same one as the girl in the same girl in the green leotard (the one in the red isn’t a thief, but was wearing one to match the other girl while they stole a flower). 

This is the first episode this girl shows up (only one I’ve seen too tbh), she’s actually 17/a 2nd year iirc.... And guess what her name is? Kasumi Aso. Kasumi is spelled the same way too (aka only in hirigana)! From my research she only steals what is commissioned of her (I think she steals back what is stolen from other people). She has connection to flowers like Kasumi Yoshizawa (Aso is connected to the [black] tulip, Yoshizawa has flowers on her belt). Both are pretty unassuming in their civilian outfits too tbh. (tho slightly off topic, fun fact, there was a Japanese hafu rhythmic gymnast named Kasumi, I’ve been wanting to post about that for awhile but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s who IRL Yoshizawa was based off of)

Sadly I don’t know much else about Aso, I need to read more of City Hunter to find out (even tho she’s not a super main character), and tbh this is where I kinda end with the Kasumi/Anne and Cat’s Eye/PT 305/Catwoman analysis. But I’ll use this time to talk about a few misc stuff and maybe a few theories related to cat themed thief ladies:

P5 probably got the “Thief who works at a cafe during the day (and the Cafe name also is a reference to their thieving as well as possibly housing a cat)” from Cat’s Eye and City hunter (which take place in Tokyo/Shinjuku, tho in different locations), as the Kisugi Sisters work at their cafe called “Cat’s Eye,” and Aso being their expy, also works at a cafe by the same name (tho it’s run by different people cause it’s in a different/parallel universe). 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tamaki’s tendency to house a Nekomata in her workplace to be similar to the kitty (Tiger I think it’s name is) that Ai has at the cafe (esp considering, again, Yuki Uchida played Ai). 

According to the Japanese fan wiki of Cat’s Eye, in the sequel “Cat’s Eye: Ai,” the Cafe is moved to a new location, which is Kichijoji, which is the new area that has been unlocked in P5R (maybe a certain cafe will be available for us to wander into? :0 Or maybe Kasumi works at a cafe XP or maybe is connected to the billiards place, tho that DARTSLIVE3 screenshot seems to have a “cafe” poster in the background so maaaaaaaybe that’s a cafe XP)

Part of me wonders if Mitsuru’s Arena outfit is related more to Black Cat, due to the signature “white fur” both characters wear. 

Kasumi Y’s hairstyle (aka if her hair was down, so basically we are going off her bangs) is similar to Hitomi (at least the Pachinko machine ver)

Anne’s circle zipper designs might be more of a shout-out to Marvel’s Black Cat, not that Catwoman hasn’t had that as well, but I don’t feel like figuring out who did the circle zipper first 8U 

Satomi Tadashi dressed up as Zorro and was romantically involved with Takami. Anne who is a Cat’s Eye expy is crushed on by Mona (who wields Zorro). And Kasumi, another Cat’s Eye expy, looks like a Hamuko Expy, while Mona’s human form looks like a Minato Expy. 

Kasumi has a similar black mask with silver line design (not the mask shape itself, the line design) as a woman named “Noir”(?) who appears in the Cat’s Eye Pachinko Machine (yes I did come across interesting things, no I don’t know what her deal is or really who she is tbh cause I think she’s a pachinko original 8U ;w;)

So yeah just gonna kinda end it here awkwardly. FYI this doesn’t mean you HAVE to like her outfit (you have every right to dislike or like it tbh), it’s just a history lesson, and explaining how it fits the outlaw/PT theme, where’s Ryuji’s track or Haru’s ballet doesn’t.

Oh! Edit cause I forgot, if you push her mask up over head, it might look like cat’s ears, just a theory tho (of course it might look like devil horns but so does Anne’s so fklsjdfk;aj;faj;f take this for what you will):

[inlovewiththefictionalcharacters]

Part - 3 : Mr. Ax Everybody wants some!! (Glen McReynolds X Reader)

Warnings : Language.

The next day, Glen was in a sour mood, staring at some soap on the T.V. along with his teammates, downstairs, in the living room. Though he was staring at the television, his mind was entirely somewhere else, thinking about why (Y/N) just silently sneaked out of the house, when she woke up. That’s exactly what she does every time they slept together. He sighed and looked at the television from his position, sprawled out on a couch with a bottle of beer in his hand.

“God, Erica’s such a bitch” he remarked, looking at a female character talking dramatically to someone, on phone.

Roper shook his head, looking at the girl on T.V., shaking his head and said “She’s definitely cheated on him”, making Glen look at him and ask “What?”

Just then, a movement by the stairs caught Roper’s eye, making him look at the stairs.

Billy Autrey, whom the whole team call as Beuter Perkins was coming down the stairs, with a backpack slung on his shoulder.

“Hey! Beuter! You leaving us already?” Roper asked, making everyone to look at him.

Plummer chuckled and asked “Running home to mama, Perkins?”

Billy looked at him and said “C’Mon ya’ll, my name ain’t Beuter. Okay guys? It’s Billy Autrey.”

“Bullshit” Glen said pointing at Billy, making him to look at him.

“It’s Beuter Perkins until we tell you otherwise. Now where are you going B.P.? You running back to that corn fed girlfriend of yours, already? Hmm?” Glen asked and took a sip from his bottle of beer.

“No, sir. I’ll be back Sunday for practice” Billy said.

“Well, well, well. Looks like Beuter Perkins is getting laid this weekend, huh?” Douglas taunted.

“You’re finally trading in that phone for the real thing?” he asked, making everyone laugh, except for Billy, who just sighed in exasperation.

“Shoot y’all…” Billy said, dropping his bag.

“Man….Guys… I don’t… She says she might be pregnant” Billy said, making everyone stop their laughter and look at him in shock.

“No sir….” Jake said and everyone else had pretty much, the same reaction.

“Yeah… Man… That’s what she says” Billy told him.

“How late is she?” Jake asked him.

“She’s a day late” Billy said and everyone groaned because that sounded pretty silly to them.

“Oh man!” Glen chuckled.

“You gotta be shitting me, Beuter! She’s one day late, she’s giving you shit for it?” Roper chuckled.

“She’s testing you. She’s trying to gauge your response. Are you the guy that says “Don’t worry, I’m gonna pay for the abortion” or are you talking about marriage, which is what she’s hoping for. Either way, you’re fucked” Finn told Billy.

“Give it up, Beuter Perkins” Finn added.

“No trust me, man. She’s not fucking pregnant, alright? We’ve all been through shit like this, except for Nez of course, ‘cause he’s still a virgin” Glen told Billy, while thinking about the time when (Y/N) once gave him a mini heart attack two years ago, telling him that she might be pregnant. Turned out she wasn’t.

Their relationship was complicated back then, too and she always gave him a hard time and he wasn’t any less. Both of them still continue their antics. Nothing changed. Things are still the same between them, if only they got even more intense and heated.

“Look, she’s just taking your little chicken-fried nuts and she’s running them through the wringer, okay?” Glen added.

“She’s just giving you shit for it because you left her back on the farm with all the other little pigs you used to fuck” Roper said making everyone laugh, except for Billy who said “I ain’t ever put it in a pig!”

“They speaketh  the truth, young Beuter Perkins” Douglas said and added “Man, we’re just worried about you, alright?”

“Yeah, man. I mean school hasn’t even started yet and guys, correct me if I’m wrong, but you are the official front runner for the Freshman numb-nut of the year award, right guys?” Glen said.

“The- the what award?” Billy asked.

“It’s the annual award. We give it out to the most clueless freshman” Finn said and looked at Roper and other guys and said “ I think we already started engraving his name on the plaque” and then looked at Billy and asked “How do you spell Beuter, by the way?”

“My name is not Beuter! It’s-“ Billy was saying, but got cut off by Nez, who said “Uh Beuter, we also got a bet going on whether your share of phone bill is gonna be under or over $300.”

“We gotta pay the phone bill here?” Billy asked, looking at Nez, clearly looking clueless.

“I’ve already done the calculations based on its usage thus far, way over $300” Finn told him.

Plummer laughed hearing it and said “$300 and a kid? Man, your life’s gonna fucking suck.”

“Fine. Fine” Billy said, taking his bag from the ground and made his way to the door while the remaining boys said “Later Beuter!”

Later that day, the boys decided to hangout in the backyard of the baseball houses. A few of them were playing basketball, a few of them were just relaxing, a few of them were getting high and a few of them were playing some other sport of their own choice.

Glen on the other hand was talking to Nez who was placing a bet on him. While Nez only got a beer bottle in his hand, Glen got a beer bottle in one hand and an ax in another.

“I'll bet you 10 bucks” Nez told him.

“Ten bucks?” Glen asked smugly while sipping from his bottle of beer.

“Yeah. Ten bucks” Nez said.

“You wanna go... That's steep for you” Glen said, slowly stepping backwards with a grin on his face.

“ Best out of three” Nez told him.

“So, I gotta get two?” Glen asked.

“Yeah, Mac, two” Nez replied.

“ Okay. You feel like losing 10 bucks?” Glen said with a smirk on his face and placed his bottle on a nearby table, only after taking a huge sip from it. 

“You're just excited to hit off me for once, huh?” Nez asked.

“ Oh, man. I mean, this is gonna be fun. This is gonna be very fun, Nesbit” Glen said, holding his ax as if it’s a baseball bat.

“ Man, let me get a little stretch in” he added, doing some stretches, the crop top he’s wearing riding up when he’s stretching.

“Come on. Come on, Mr. Ax. Strong Man” Nez mocked him.

“ Anytime” Glen said and stood, holding his ax like a baseball bat.

 Nez threw a baseball at Glen who immediately made a strike at it with the ax,effectively splitting the ball into two halves- each flew in different direction. 

“Fuck” Brumley muttered, collecting one half of the the ball that fell nearby him.

“I don't believe what I just fucking saw” Plummer said while Roper and Douglas walked towards them.

 “You know how strong you'd have to be to do that?” Brumley asked Plummer.

“ And the eyes!” Plummer was saying, but got cut off by Roper who said “Let me see that” snatching the half of the ball from Brumley’s hand.

 “You know how well you'd have to see the ball to hit it with an ax? Fucking crazy” Plummer said and Roper made a sign of the cross while looking at Glen.

 “You just wouldn't listen, Nez. You wanna go half price? We can stop now. We can call it five bucks” Glen offered looking very smug.

“No, no, no” Nez said while Glen said “Double or nothing.”

“No. No, no. Triple or nothing. Huh? Yeah, you feeling lucky? I am” Nez said.

“ I feel great with those odds. Triple or nothing sounds fantastic. Maybe one of the best days of my life here, Nez. You know, until tomorrow” Glen said, and went back to take his position, standing like a batter.

 Nez threw another ball at Glen which Glen successfully split into two halves again.

“If (Y/N)’s here, it would have saved Glen some effort to impress her” Plummer said, making Roper and Douglas to give him a look.

“I don’t think so” Douglas told him.

“What?” Brumley asked.

“I don’t think that’s how their relationship works. It’s a lot more complicated than that” Douglas said.

“I still don’t get it” Plummer said.

“Well, the two of them already knew what the other one is capable of. She doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction that he managed to impress her. That’s how they kinda get on each other’s nerves” Roper explained.

Later that day, the guys went to a club to hangout. Glen was playing foosball with Finn, Coma and Willoughby when (Y/N) entered the club along with a few more of her friends, including Emily, of course. Glen smirked when he spotted her, but immediately went back to playing the game, with the wheels in head already turning, formulating a plan to confront her.

(Y/N) gazed around the room and saw that Emily’s already attached to Roper who was standing by the pool with a cue in his hand, by her hip. Nez was also with them. Then she frowned seeing that the baseball guys, well, most of them were here and she huffed when she spotted Glen, playing foosball.

She walked towards Emily and smiled at Roper when he saw her and greeted her. 

“Hey (Y/N)!” Roper said.

“Hello Roper. Nez” she greeted them.

“Hi (Y/N)” Nez said.

“Wanna join us? We’re about to get started” Roper asked, motioning to the pool table.

“Sure. Why not? But, hold on a moment. I need to have a word with Emily” (Y/N) said and literally dragged Emily a few feet away from there.

“What is it?” Emily asked with a huge grin on her face.

“When you told me that we’re gonna hangout, I thought it’s just gonna be us” (Y/N) told her.

“Well, I did tell you that Kenny’s gonna be here too..... Along with a few of his friends” Emily said.

“Yeah! But you didn’t tell me that he’s gonna be here!” (Y/N) whisper yelled at Emily, widening her eyes dramatically, while casting a glance at Glen.

Emily rolled her eyes and said “Well, Mac is one of Kenny’s friends.”

That earned Emily a look from (Y/N).

“Yeah... Fine... I might have forgot to tell you that he’s gonna be here.....” Emily said.

Well, it might be a part of hers and Roper’s plan to bring their friends together.

“ But, wait a second. Hold on! Why are you being so bothered about his presence?” Emily asked.

“I um.....” (Y/N) trailed off.

Emily’s eyes widened in realization.

“You slept with him again, didn’t you. Yesterday, isn’t it?” Emily asked.

“What? No! I- I didn’t!” (Y/N) lied.

“Oh, shut up! You always act like this when he’s around, after you slept with him. I know you too well. Stop trying to lie” Emily said, making (Y/N) roll her eyes.

“But, seriously (Y/N/N). He likes you. A lot! And even though you wouldn’t admit it, I know that you like him.... A lot! And you two are insanely attracted to each other. Not to mention the sexual tension between you guys is making the people around you to choke. Cut the guy some slack. Why don’t you give him a chance?” Emily asked.

“Because I don’t want to add it to his already boasted ego” (Y/N) said and started walking towards the pool table, where Roper and Nez were standing, wondering what the girls were talking about.

Emily started walking along with her and said “But you like it!”

“Whatever” (Y/N) said and gave Emily a look to stop that topic, which clearly meant to cease discussion about the topic.

Roper passed the cues to the girls and said “Ladies first.”

Everything was already set on the pool table.

Emily looked at (Y/N) and said “You first.”

“Okay” (Y/N) said with a shrug and bent down to make  shot.

She shot the cue ball and effectively managed to break straight on. All the pool balls except for the cue ball sunk into the pockets, making Nez to gape at the table and then at her. Even Roper looked quite surprised.

“Are you psychic or something?” Nez asked (Y/N), making Emily to giggle.

(Y/N) shrugged and said “I’m something”, her eyes held humor.

“You’re something indeed” an all too familiar voice said from behind her, making (Y/N) to turn around to look at the source.

“(Y/N)” Glen greeted her with a smile that looked borderline smirk for (Y/N).

“McReynolds” (Y/N) acknowledged him.

“Hey, I need to talk to you, like right now, so-” Glen was telling her, but was cut off by Emily who said “Hey! Stop trying to steal my best friend away from me!”

Glen rolled his eyes and said “Yeah. Well, I’m only stealing her for a few minutes” and with that he grabbed the cue from (Y/N)’s hand, placed it on the pool table, grabbed her hand and walked away from there, leading her to a secluded area.

Glen remained silent for a few seconds, but kept staring at (Y/N). (Y/N) on the other hand started growing nervous under his gaze and kept shuffling her feet while gazing them. With every ticking seconds, she became more and more flustered under his gaze and finally sighed, looking up at him, meeting his gaze.

“You wanted to talk?” (Y/N) asked, mustering as much confidence as possible.

Glen slowly nodded his head, but remained silent.

“Okay. Talk” (Y/N) told him.

Glen just remained silent, yet again. (Y/N) waited for a few minutes, hoping that he’d talk and when he didn’t, she sighed and said “Look, if you want to talk or tell me something, just say it. Or else, I’m gonna go” and with that she turned around to leave, but stopped when Glen said “Go on a date, with me.”

(Y/N) froze in her step hearing those words. Maybe it’s the way how he down right ordered her to go on a date with him, not asking her, just telling her, more like ordering her or maybe because she never expected Glen McReynolds of all people to ask her to go on a date with him is what stunned her.

She turned around and muttered “What?” clearly looking stunned.

Clearly, she never pegged Glen to be a kind of guy to date. She always took him as the playboy type. Just flirt with the girls to fuck them. No dates. She didn’t even believe Roper’s words when he said that Glen’s only been with her, ever since he met her and he only flirted with other girls to make her jealous.

“I know I should have done this years ago and I’m an idiot for not realizing it anytime soon. I am done trying to annoy you and get on your nerves, but that’s the only way you’ve ever responded to me. I just want things to be more than what they are now, between us. You’re smart, funny, confident and incredibly sassy and i find that super hot, but that’s not it. I want to be more than being frenemies or being in a complicated situation with you. Go on a date with me” Glen said.

His little speech had effectively stunned her and when she finally came to her senses , she muttered “Uh... Yes.”

Glen grinned hearing her words and said “Cool. I’ll pick you up at 7, tonight” and walked towards her, kissed the corner of her mouth and walked away, saying “Be ready by that time!”

[darrowsrising]

Hey there! It’s the girl who writes really long posts about Virginia. Feel free to spilt this up if it’s too much to post at once. 

I saw this: You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about this thing: people think Virginia always manipulates people, even the ones she loves, because she said once that it came easy to her (and then there was a lot more stuff) And I couldn’t help but wonder if this was because of what I said? 

Not gonna get too far into this because I think we’ve had a good discussion about Virginia already, but I thought maybe I didn’t write my thoughts clearly the first time around so I wanted to try again. 

Virginia says she’s always been able to manipulate people, so I assumed if she knows that about herself it’s because she’s done it relatively often. But the book doesn’t really make a thing about it so can I say definitely that she manipulates people? No. As to whether you can manipulate someone unconsciously — IDK maybe you can’t. I was envisioning a scenario where you’re nice to someone to get them to go along with you and it’s only after a while that you realize you don’t even like them and it was just a reflex to charm them. Maybe that’s not a thing. 

But I think I got caught up in all this does she or does she not manipulate people stuff and ignored my main point, which was that, for me personally, I found it hard to connect with Virginia’s character because I didn’t have a sense of what she wanted (like, what were her reformist views before she found out about Darrow?) and I felt like I never saw her actually struggling with anything personal or anything that felt like a character arc. One option could have been to dive deeper into this idea that she can manipulate people, but Pierce didn’t go that way and that’s fine. I was only brining it up as something I would have wanted to see. I’m not trying to label her or reduce her whole character to someone who’s just manipulative.

Honestly I feel like I’ve laid out a lot of logical/rational reasons why Virginia’s character didn’t totally work for me and given specific examples from the books and it’s a little frustrating because, maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like no matter what I say it’s just going to be interpreted as, you’re just a hater. I don’t hate Virginia I just didn’t completely love the way her character was handled and I have reasons that go beyond oh I just don’t like her. 

I saw somebody post that you can recognize a character is well written but still not like them (that’s how I feel about Roque lol) but I think the inverse is true, too. You can point to things in the text you did not like about how a character was written and still respect that character and the fact that other people like them. 

Astrea: Ok, contrary to popular opinion, I don't throw subtle shade. If I have something to say I'll say it without 'wanking around the bush' (Sevro would be so proud of this joke, tho). I explained my side of things about Virginia's manipulation skills on the last submission you send and that was that. Trust me or not, there are plenty of people who hate on Virginia and exacerbate some of her traits to make her fit into their hate mold (if that makes sense). I understood where you come from with your argument and I said what I thought about the subject and that was it. I'm not going to make a call out, because I'm not going to start shiteshows in the fandom, but Virginia being a 'manipulative bitch' is all over the internet and I found most in comment sections.

It's fairly easy to make a mountain of out molehills when it comes to 'arguments why I hate x character' and that's what I wanted to critique in that post. That exagerating traits to justify your hate for a character is not cool.

But it had nothing to do with what you said, I understood why you dislike Virginia and I decided it's your interpretation of her character and so, your buissness. You don't try to justify hatred or sometthing equally annoying.

Lastly, Virginia struggling is always implied. Just to name some stuff: she lost at Deimos, she admits she struggled alone (without Darrow), after Deimos she went into hiding in the Asteroid Belt and gave birth to Pax, she soon left him with Niobe and by the way motherhood changed her she was probably constntly worried about Adrius finding him or other 1 million things a mother worries about. I mean, I understand that the way it was handled was not so satisfactory (because we only find out about Pax at the end of MS), but that's because it's Darrow's pov. That's why I want her pov, because it's more to her than what even Darrow gets to see. And her story should be more than just implied stuff.

Anyway, other stuff! 

I think one thing you said you wanted to talk more about was Dancer and the Vox Populi. Honestly? I kind of get where they’re coming from. It seems like life for most low colors hasn’t been great since the Republic was formed, and it does seem like all resources are going toward the war effort instead of things like education for low colors or affordable housing or something. To me the most interesting part of Lyria’s story was to see just how bad the Reds had it. And it does seem like Darrow and Company’s only real plan is, first we win the war and then we start actually taking care of people. I get why people would be mad about that. 

All that said I fully expect it to turn out that the Vox Populi don’t really have the interest of the people at heart. I’m not sure about Dancer. I don’t trust him, but I also can’t see him teaming up with what’s left of the Ash lord’s forces or the rim? Maybe he genuinely believes that they could have made peace with the Ash lord? I mean, I get why they’d want to try. It does seem like they’re stretched really thin and it’s making their military weak. Also Darrow really should be following the laws if he wants anyone to take the Republic seriously (I’m not saying I’m mad at him for making bad choices, I like it when characters make bad choices, I’m only pointing out that it’s a bad idea to break the law so flagrantly). 

On the other hand, I get where Darrow is coming from. His enemies aren’t going to stop until one side gets a definitive win. 

This issue between Darrow and Dancer is really intriguing because I can see both sides of the argument. I expected the Vox Populi to play a bigger roll in Iron Gold but they kind of faded away after the first few chapters. Maybe with the Virginia POV coming in Dark Age we’ll see more of them. I think they’ll ultimately turn out to be bad guys, but who knows? 

Astrea: I dislike the Vox Populi. I do understand the struggles the Reds face now. I understand that the Rrpublic isn't the promiseland they all expected it to be and I understand the anger. But the Vox's side of the argument, although it has very good basis, the rest is hay. Non offence, but peace with the people who want to enslave you back or torture and maim masses so that every last drop of demokracy has dried out? Let them continue to make slaves out of 'your brothers and sisters' as Dancer calls them? What, the Reds on Venus and Mercury don't matter? No offence, but the peace was a scam and Dancer a fool for ever believing in it. Also, since when does Dancer have a say on who is a Red or not anynore? Because he fucking started the trend and the rest of the Reds kept it going.

I understand that resources are concentrated on war, but this is not something you can help. This war ends when someone loses for good. If you try an defensive war that will make the resources even scarcer as it requires more and faster. If you try to make peace...lol! Have you seen these guys having any ounce of honour - enough to respect ceasefires or actually come to negotiate without murdering anyone?

Idk, maybe I'm biased on the issue, but while the core values of Vox Populi are good, the way they proceed about them is bleah!

Darrow mocking the laws, though, is something I agree that must be resolved. He made himself a rogue, though so that the people allied with him won't start some civil war in his name. But he must deal with the consequences of that. And it will suck. But honestly, sitting nice and obedient wouldn't have solved anything. Although the Ass Lord's death wasn't actually the key to winning, I think it'll help in the long run and besides, it's also good news that they found out about Atalantia's plans so they could stop them. If he just sat on his arse, Darrow would have just watched powerless from the comfort of house arrest as the Republic will lose the war.

It's not like Darrow doesn't understand the struggles the Reds go through atm. He blames himself for that. He lets his own people spit on him and feels guilty that he didn't end the war faster. Also, last time I checked, the Senate made those awful immigration rules. Dancer paints Darrow as an enemy instead of pushing for actual reforms that could help Reds.

I think the Vox Populi's brain is actually a villain. But I'll wait Dark Age to see for myself.

I saw those q&a things you posted from reddit — I forgot about those! I had not thought that Darrow viewed his relationship with Virginia in a negative light in the beginning of GS. It seemed like he really missed her wanted to be back with her — very interesting to know that wasn’t 100% the case. 

Err...it always seemed to me that that was a given. I mean, Darrow does miss Mustang, but also reiterates that she distracts him every now and again and he pushes her away a lot until chapter 43. At the gala he pushes away his feelings for her and tells her things even he doesn't believe. After they talk a few times to solve some miscommunication or issues that they have, he still pushes her away and she accepts it before the Iron Rain. Even during chapter 43 they still are pushing each other away, until they can't do it no more.

Their relationship waas far from perfect even in Morning Star...though, that's the beauty of it.

On other topics, I gotta say I feel like it would be fine for the “tone” of the story if rape wasn’t included. Also, the rape that’s actually called rape (so setting aside pinks) is all of women. I get that there are plot reasons why Titus only attacks women, but what about his allies? What about Tactus? The book also doesn’t really follow any of the survivors of rape in any meaningful way. I know Nila (sp?) shows up here and there but she doesn’t have a huge part. So it does feel like the rape was included to show that a) Titius is horrible and b) to set Tactus off on his character arc. And I didn’t need rape for either of those things. I think it’s important to talk about rape because there is still a huge stigma against victims, so I’m not saying I never want to see rape depicted in media. At the same time, I’m fine with seeing less of it. And I think there are other ways to explore power dynamics and abuse of power. 

That's a great take on it. Nyla was indeed present here and there as a commander of her own team in Reaper's Army. And she sometimes sang to her friends near the fire. She was supposed to go to Vienna to study music, but she got an invitation to the Institute and although seen as 'a better offer', we all know she couldn't refuse it for other reasons. Also, Nyla helped Virginia conquer Jackal's Keep by leading her team. Fortunately, Tactus was stopped in time, but I would have liked to see more of Nyla too. What we got was cool, but Darrow wasn't interested in her development after Tactus was properly dealt with.

We should include Pinks, because the abuse they suffer is horrendous and shouldn't just be brushed off. Evey mentions it in Golden Son.

Honestly though, I am not in the position to say what should go about this. I disliked Titus's arc from start to finish and the use of rape was one of the reasons why.

It could have been better handled? Of course! But it is what it is and I'll take it like it is. It wasn't ASOIAF/crime/thriller bad, but it could have been handled better. And I'll expect better from now on and that includes the tv series they plan on doing.

One last thing: I just saw Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and I’ve never wanted Red Rising to be an animated show more lol. The animation in Spider Verse is sooooo beautiful and while I don’t think that exact style would fit Red Rising, it shows you can have animation without being anime (not that I’d mind that but it seems like a lot of people don’t like that style). I just think animation would solve a lot of potential issues: you wouldn’t have to worry about finding a bunch of 7 footers to cast for all the golds, or casting two different Darrows (one Red one Gold), or doing the visual tricks/CGI to make characters the right size. Plus you could do so much more with fight scenes and space battles. I mean, I watch Game of Thrones and that show has a huge budget, and there are things that still don’t look great. Also, it would really set RR apart from the Hunger Games/Divergents/Maze Runners of the world. I know we won’t get it because ultimately a lot of people straight up won’t watch a “cartoon” but I can dream. 

Astrea: Idk, people do watch Young Justice. And it's not a simple cartoon, it has pretty mature stuff. It's very hard to convince the dudes in entertaintment that a project should be animated, because there is a stigma around what audiences think of animations.

Although I don't doubt Pierce Brown thought of that possibility. Animating Red Rising would be indeed awesome. But I don't want it PG-13. I want Sevro to swear and I want to see blood and gore.

I do love the anime style though...mostly because it's not just one style, it depends on the studio and the manga artist (not all the time, but it happens).

Thank you for your submission!💖

[fortunatelylori]

Why the Jon/Daenerys romance doesn’t work (Part 1)

Are D&D really idiots?

Disclaimer: So ... my experience with Tumblr is veeeery limited ... as in this is my first post on here so if I fail to link things properly, give credit for gifs, caps or other people’s creations in an appropriate manner, I apologize in advance. Please let me know if you notice something like that and I will change things accordingly.

I have been scrolling around the site for about a week now, after having revisited season 7 of GOT. I will freely admit in advance that I ship Jonsa. However, for what it’s worth, when season 7 first came out, I was more than ready to abandon my Jonsa dreams and get on board with the Jonerys love fest, since everyone around me assured me that it was the end all be all of romance. After seeing the episodes for the first time, I was completely underwhelmed but I ignored my gut feelings because well ... everyone assured me that Jon and Dany were oh, so meant to be. Who am I to fight fate, I thought?!? So I just shrugged and moved on with my life.

However, part of the problem with this ship is that the more time passes, the more people like me, who actually enjoy watching and rewatching the same thing over and over again, start to see the cracks in it. I don’t mean to offend anyone that ships Jonerys, even though I probably will or anyone who likes Dany. Personally, I’ve had a whole host of problems with her character but I will refrain from commenting on my issues with her in this series and just give an opinion on why this story has the deepest scent of red herring since the invention of red herrings.

Before I get into it, I will keep these metas mainly focused on the story from a scriptwriting POV, since that was my job for a time. This series will be less focused on visual cues, camera angles and such. People with far more patience and experience have already done this so I will focus my observations around my area of expertise, such as it is.

In this first part I will try to dispel a few notions about  David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and their writing crew.

One of the common defenses for Jonerys, is that the creators of GOT are simply not every good at their job. They are unable to craft a decent love story for these two characters.

So the guys who created the most popular TV show on Earth, a show that HBO has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into, are hacks. Ok … 

Why do people believe that? Well, for a number of reasons:

1)      The show does not have the thematic scope and wealth of characters that GRRM included in his series

This is true. From the direwolves, to the missing characters, to entire plot threads, prophecies and themes upon themes, D&D have significantly simplified GRRM’s work.

But I would argue this is not because they don’t know how to do their jobs, but rather because they do know how to do it.

GRRM’s himself has said that he started writing ASOIAF out of sheer frustration with being a scriptwriter. Writing a book IS an extremely liberating experience after writing scripts. Why? Because words on a page cost nothing, aside from time and creativity. The sky is the limit.

The sky is absolutely not the limit when you’re a scriptwriter. You are constrained by all sorts of things like: money, sets, weather, daylight vs. night time, actors ‘availability etc. You’re always looking at what you can condense, tighten up. You’re always cutting words out of lines to make them sharper, regrouping scenes so you can maximize your locations, cut out all the fat so you can get an episode that is the required length.

And then there’s the all important element: the audience. People have different reactions to reading something vs. watching something. You read to get lost in a world, the journey is the main entertainment. In contrast, you come back week after week to watch a TV show to see what your favorite characters are getting up to.

Considering all of this, is it really surprising that they would cut out things like the young Griff or fArya from the show? Does anyone believe that the general audience out there cares about them? No. They want to see Jon, Arya, Tyrion, Dany … And they also want to see progression. A season of Tyrion on a boat thinking about stuff is not an option.

Also, GOT has quite a reputation for having a hellava lot of characters. Just watch the honest trailer that Screen Junkies have done:

At around the 3:20 mark they point out all the characters whose names you remember and all those you don’t. And it’s hilarious. Why? Because it’s true.

By season 3, people were still struggling to remember Littlefinger’s actual name. How do you think they’d fair with all the Greyjoys that pop up in the books like mushrooms after the rain?

So yes, D&D and their team cut out themes, characters and storylines for the sake of brevity. That’s what scriptwriters have to do, as sad as it may sound. That’s not to say they do everything right but by and large they’ve done a decent enough job for me not to assume they can’t write a proper love story for 2 characters that they’ve been working with for 6 seasons.

2)      Emilia and Kit have chemistry in real life so if that didn’t translate on screen, it’s because the scriptwriters were doing a terrible job at tapping into it

See, I would almost buy into that if it wasn’t for the fact that their scenes aren’t poorly conceived but rather are actively undermining the budding romance. You never get a sense of completion, of certainty from any of them. I will go through every scene in my next post, but for now, I’d just like to draw your attention to this moment:

(source: @dreamofspring )

We’ll leave aside character motivations on this for now, but if the script writers put that line in there to further advance the Jonerys romance, then they shouldn’t be in charge of writing commercials, let alone multimillion productions.

Are we to assume they simply forgot the other two instances where this line was used?

They revisited the Tower of Joy this season but apparently no alarm bells went off in the writer’s room at this:

(source:  @dreamofspring​)

They paralleled Jon’s arc this season to Mance Rayder’s but nope, simply forgot about this:

This script went through a dozen rewrites and probably 100 hands by the time it made it to the screen and yet at no point did anyone think: “Hey guys maybe we shouldn’t have Jon say good bye to his lady love by quoting Mance right before he was burned alive.” Those silly, silly writers.

3)      The show has taken a dive quality wise since they can’t follow GRRM’s source material any longer

There is some validity to this, I will admit. This season we’ve seen the likes of Tyrion, Varys and Littlefinger lose some of their vital energy and characteristics that have made them such interesting, fun characters to watch.

The Littlefinger plot, in particular, was poorly executed. In their desire to leave us in the dark about what was happening in order to have what amounted to a cheap twist at the end, we were given a convoluted, clunky mystery plot where everyone was playing everyone else but not really. While I’m glad, on principal, that the show established the Stark sisters coming together as a unit against a common foe, giving Littlefinger such a stupid ending left a bitter taste in my mouth. Not a worthy completion to the arc of one of the best players of the Game of Thrones at all. So yes, they dropped the ball on that one.

Tyrion and Varys are a different matter. The main reason why they’re rather ineffective and sidelined is because they probably shouldn’t be there in the first place. That’s because their entire vision on life, justice and good kingship comes directly at odds with Dany’s “Fire and blood” policy. They are just now starting to worry about this predicament but they’re both far too smart not to have noticed until now. The woman brought 3 dragons and a Dothraki horde into Westeros. What did they think she was going to do with them? Play boggle?!?

If I try really hard, I can find an explanation for Tyrion. I think, probably, he’s still reeling for the trial and murdering dad so he’s not in the best state of mind.

Varys however? He definitely shouldn’t be there. He should be with young Griff which makes much more sense since it’s very likely there is a deep, personal connection there that would make the usually cynical and skeptical Varys trust that the person he is actively supporting is actually best for the realm. But alas, young Griff doesn’t exist so he’s stuck with Dany, until he finally turncoats and gets burned alive. So brevity is at fault here.

All that being said, I think it’s unfair to assert that the show runners have dropped the ball. That’s because the more I think about it, the more season 7 looks like a part of a whole, instead of an arc on its own. There are too many open ended questions, too many character choices that don’t make sense (particularly Jon who is, by far, the central character this season) for it to feel complete.

Season 7 is like the Infinity War part 1 of Game of Thrones. You can analyze it on its own but you can’t really determine its true quality or meaning until you see Part 2.

I know this got very long so thank you to everyone that had the patience to read until the end. J

[devilsknotrp]

Congratulations, M! You have been accepted for the role of Sandy Silverman (FC:Nicole Kidman). As Mandy’s player, I was understandably anxious to find a player who could articulate the muddy depths of Sandy Silverman... I shouldn’t have even worried. Your application is absolutely incredible. Your writing sample alone made us both so excited, because something as simple as ringing the hotline for Brian is loaded with meaning and intent. We have to spotlight your headcanons. Fleshing out her backstory allowed us to see how much has happened to Sandy. The glimpses of Phillip (putting out a cigarette in his food: oh, God) were painful reminders of how complex domestic power structures can be. You have given Sandy such life. It will be truly wonderful to see her develop in game. Please have a look at this page prior to sending in your account.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Name: M Age: 24 Pronouns: She/her Timezone: GMT-5 Activity estimation: I have a full time job and other commitments but I’ll try to reply a couple times a week! Triggers: REDACTED

IN CHARACTER

Full name: Sandra Kathleen Silverman, née Moore Age (DD/MM/YYYY): Fifty five (08/04/41) – Leo Gender: Cisgender woman Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: Lesbian (closeted, even to herself) Occupation: Real Estate Agent, Great Lake Homes Connection to Victim: Sandy sold Linda the home in which the Goode family currently resides. She also sees Linda from time to time at PTA meetings – when Sandy manages to show up, that is – since they both have children in high school. And since Brian’s disappearance bears a resemblance to Pete’s disappearance years ago, Sandy feels an unusual connection with Linda. Alibi: Sandy reluctantly took Pete shopping in the morning, and dropped him off at home afterwards. She headed to the office to grab a few papers for a client and spent the afternoon preparing a house for its viewing scheduled for the following day. Faceclaim: Nicole Kidman

WRITING SAMPLE

The line rang three times before someone picked up. “You’ve reached the Brian Goode tip-line,” a man said, voice crackling through the phone line like crumpled paper. The voice was monotone. Sandy had clearly not been the first person to call this morning. She hitched her shoulder up, using the bony part at the top to press the receiver against her ear so she could take a sip from her coffee mug. A Michigan Nip, of course. 

“Hi, good morning, I’ve been meaning to call you,” she said. One week had passed and Brian Goode was still a ghost. 

Sandy’s eyes were focused on the phone keypad. If she looked hard enough, she’d swear that some of the numbers had been worn down just a bit more than the rest. All those calls, back and forth, twelve years ago. She practically had the department’s number memorized at this point. “It’s just terrible, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but we’re doing the best we can right now, ma’am,” the man said, and Sandy couldn’t contain the snort of laughter that came flying out. She was standing in very spot where she’d learned that her son was alive, and that her husband was dead. She’d never felt that the Devil’s Knot Police Department had done their best at just about anything. “Do you have any information to report?” he asked.

“Oh, yes, certainly. I was just calling to ask about the case, though. Do you have any leads yet?” Sandy asked the question matter-of-factly, and took another sip. After how long it had taken Charlie Taylor to botch everything last time, she figured the department owed her some goddamned information. 

There was a pause. “Ma’am, this is a tip line,” he said. The pitch of his voice rose at the end like he wasn’t sure if he should be asking or telling.

“I know,” Sandy said. “I thought the main line would be busy, and maybe I could get some information from you instead.” She heard shuffling behind her and turned over her shoulder to make eye contact with her son. “Just tell the Sheriff that it’s Sandy, he’ll understand,” she said, eyebrows raised, and shooed Peter away with a quick wave of her hand. The last thing she needed was for him to get re-traumatized, or whatever Dr. Shah had called it. She’d written some psychology buzzwords down a few years ago in case Sandy ever wanted to go to the public library and check a book out. In all likelihood, the piece of paper had gone through the wash in one of her pants pockets and disappeared entirely. 

There was another pause. Longer this time. He gave a sigh that crackled in her ear. “Mrs. Silverman, I – “

“Officer, come on,” Sandy interrupted, “Don’t you know what happened to my family?” Of course he did. Everyone did. 

“Yes, and I’m very sorry, but it’s ongoing investigation. If you have any information that you think could be helpful, please let us know.”

Twelve years later and apparently the department hadn’t gotten any better since Charlie Taylor resigned in disgrace. Sandy tipped the mug back and took a large gulp. The splash of whisky burned in her throat. “Let’s just hope you’re doing a better job this time around.” She looked down at her empty mug. The spiral cord trailed behind her as she took a few steps toward the counter to put it in the sink. “It didn’t take you a week to find my son in ’84. Do your fucking job. Good day,” Sandy said, and hung up.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Here is my Pinterest board for Sandy! 

Sandy grew up in a very traditional family. Her father was a physician, her mother a homemaker. She watched from a young age how the men in her life took up space; how they showed cruelty in the way they spoke loudly, making rules that only they were allowed to break. Irene, Sandy’s mother, taught her how to make herself pretty and small, so boys would like her. Her older brother was the pride of the family; all chiseled jaw and boyish charm, just handsome enough to get away with anything. The pedestal he lived on was so high she could barely see the bottom of it. She was just a girl, raised in chains, her parent’s Little Darling, unobtrusive and accommodating. Never enough, because she was never allowed to be. This disconnect deepened as she grew older – but if her parents wanted her to be a young lady, Sandy would be the best young lady in all of Indiana. She’d perform perfectly.

She was always good at getting people to like her. In high school, all it took was becoming cheer captain and giving out blowjobs after school in the parking lot. She was a good girl. Sloppy Sandy, they called her. It didn’t matter. They all cheered when she became prom queen, anyway. She went on to study sculpture at Moore College of Art and Design, and told the other girls that her family had been the one to give the school its name. Just to see their faces light up. Sculpting gave her permission, for once in her life, to stick her hands in the mud. When her mother referred to sculpture as a fine hobby, Sandy knew it was code for a pit stop on your way to marriage.

Phillip and Sandy met on a blind date. Irene introduced the idea during one of their mother-daughter dates at the beauty parlor. She waited until Sandy’s fingers were in the manicurist’s hands to inform her that Phillip Silverman would be picking her up that evening. Seven o’clock, sharp. Good genes, she said. Handsome. His mother had been crowned Miss Indiana in ‘22, after all. Irene had just been runner-up. Sandy agreed, of course, because she had to.

The following year, they were married. Phillip was a kind man, and everyone loved him, so Sandy did too. The word wife felt funny in her mouth when she said it out loud, so she put on an apron and shopped at Macy’s and picked up pilates. If she shaped herself into Woman incarnate, it made it all better, somehow. When she gave birth at twenty-five, the post-partum depression swallowed her whole. It left the dishes unwashed, diapers unchanged, and to-do list unchecked. She spent more time in bed than her infant daughter did. Phillip learned to bring the baby to their bedroom to breastfeed. More often than not, when she cradled their daughter in her arms, Sandy would start to cry. Bad mother, bad bad bad, she thought. Phillip seemed to think so too. It didn’t take long for the GP to write her a prescription for Valium. It helped. She started drinking more, and that helped too.

As Amanda grew, Sandy drank. Post post-partum depression, maybe. She didn’t have an excuse then; she just gave up. Sandy tried to fashion her daughter into a reflection of herself – dressing her in pink, putting her in cheerleading, teaching her to smile – but the connection felt irreparable. Thankfully, Phillip took over the bulk of the parental duties. He never let her forget it. At least the resentment was mutual; at family dinner, Sandy put her cigarettes out in Phillip’s food to let him know he’d eaten enough. No one was going to be fat in her family. Another child was out of the question, but sometimes, when Sandy was drunk, she forgot to take her birth control. The post-partum depression knocked her on her feet so badly the second time around that she got her tubes tied. After the procedure, she drove down to the beauty parlor for a manicure.

Sandy remembers very little of the two days her husband and son were missing. The panic was paralyzing. She was drunk when she got the call that Peter had been found; she drove to the hospital and took out two bushes in the parking lot with Mandy in the passenger seat. Her boy was alive! Later, when they found Phillip, grief was quickly washed out by rage. Why had he done this to them – to her? Everyone who’d called her the bad parent could kiss her well-toned ass. And they did. For a while, at least, when the frenzy was still about the poor Silverman family. A small part of her liked the attention. Finally, someone in Devil’s Knot gave a shit about Sandy Silverman when she was sober.

The rumors were relentless. Soon enough, the town was going to swallow itself whole. One morning, their dog Bonnie turned up dead in the front yard, blood pooling on the overgrown grass. Sandy got in the car in her silk pajamas, went down to the police department, and told Charlie Taylor just how badly he was fucking the whole thing sideways. Three months was too long. When they finally arrested Max Acosta, Sandy didn’t even care if he was guilty. She was tired. They asked her to corroborate the argument between Max and Phillip. She remembered the incident in a half-hazy way, but it must’ve been Fourth of July because she’d been drinking watermelon punch. Phillip must’ve started the argument, the bonehead. I have a sense about these things, trust me.

After the trial, she set Peter up with a psychologist because God knows she wasn’t equipped to deal with that. The children still felt far away, somewhere inaccessible to her, even after all that happened. Sandy tried joining the PTA, but that required sobriety on a Wednesday night, which meant her attendance was sparse. She got a real job, finally. Sandy Silverman, Real Estate Agent, Great Lake Homes. With a card and everything. Being a salesman is like being a woman: a test of how much you can endure. All the happy wives and mothers must be lying to themselves too, right? It’s just contest to see who can keep the smile pasted on her face the longest. Well, Sandy Silverman’s a professional, and she’s good at that too. She’s the best at it. And she’ll show you!

[abanomath]

Rant time: DC’s Tone Deafness

So I don’t really like ranting or being negative, but DC Universe recently released an article to celebrate pride month about the Top 5 canon and non-canon LGBTQA+ relationships in Young Justice.

And the tone deafness is just off the charts. Like most of the world, I’m not American so I needed someone to screen-cap the actual article for me. I’m going to organize my thoughts and go down.

General

For one, its pretty obvious the writer didn’t look at the source material. This article sounds like it was written by someone filled in on the basics and told to write a good PR article for DC.

There are a lot of little details in the story, such as when the writer claims that they “showcased even more LGBTQA+ protagonists in season 3″ implying they had previously, which they hadn’t. One character was implied to be bisexual in the comics, never on screen, but more on that below. Season 3 was the first LGBTQA+ rep for the show.

Also its always a bit tone deaf when in an article celebrating LGBTQA+ and diversity in your show, that you have a list of 5 “ships”, of which only ONE is actually a couple in canon. Not only did they need to resort to non-canon ones, they included people that can’t be called a “ship” or couple.

1. Kaldur/Wyynde

This is the only actual LGBTQA+ couple on the list that is canon in the show, and I liked them. But I can’t deny that Kaldur who was a main cast member for the past two season’s had a vastly reduced role (compared to straight cis white characters like Dick and Conner). He was basically written out of the first half of the season, and then his relationship was really present for 1.5 - 2 episodes max. This in a season that was marked with excessive attention given to heterosexual relationships (like seriously, basically every character was in some form of relationship on-screen). The one healthy LGBTQA relationship got less attention than Black Lightning and Dr. Jace’s romance, something that ultimately went nowhere, Dick/Barbara, even Megan/Conner when Megan was also essentially written out of the season.

2. Marie Logan and Rita Farr

They really dug deep for this “ship”. Ironically, they start this by talking about the scene in Young Justice #25, when Queen B’s powers work on Garfield’s mother. This was the first implication her being bisexual. And of course, she also dies in this scene, so starting off with a “Bury your gays” trope where Marie’s queerness literally got her killed and orphaned her son.

There isn’t much more to say about this ship, because it literally doesn’t exist. The shipping community for this is so small you have to go digging deep into tags to find even hints of it. The article even basically says this, posing the ship as a question. As being interesting. (Does it count as Bury Your Gays when both woman are dead before their relationship is even hinted at?)

In other words this article about celebrating LGBTQA ships literally had to try and CREATE A SHIP to reach 5 ships. Despite the fact there are plenty of LGBTQ fanon ships (Birdflash being the most prominent one left off the list). It really hits at the thing I said above, this is a “write us a good PR article with the barest amount of effort put into it” situation.

3. Harper Row and Halo

Oh boy don’t get me started on this. There are so many problems with how they did Halo this season, she is basically tone deaf personified. (For the purpose of this rant, I’ll be using the “she” pronouns for Halo, because I have no choice but to assume they are her preference, unless the show purposely spent the entire season mis-gendering her, but I don’t think her characterization really supports that she prefers “her/she”).

I’ve had a problem with Halo from the start, because she is basically an attempt for the writers to shallowly include representation without having to actually deal with it. She is Muslim representation, but not actually Muslim (as she confirms on the show). She wears the Hijab because she feels like it. She is genderqueer, but they never once talk about her pronouns. She refers to herself as “not feeling like a boy or a girl” and constantly refers to herself in the third person, but everyone uses “she/her” pronouns without asking her. They even have a scene where she informs them she is genderqueer, and its never brought up again without asking any actual follow up questions or awareness. They also infantalize and treat her as a little girl.

Additionally, she falls into one of my greatest pet peeves - she is genderqueer but for fantasy-scifi reasons. For those that follow genderqueer or transgender characters in media, this is a very common trope. Essentially, the trope is when someones gender identity is caused by/determined from otherworldly experiences.

This trope bugs me because it completely undermines the point of representation. Representation in media is supposed to show the audience that these are natural human experiences and that people like this exist and are normal. But the trope ensures that the experiences are not normal human experiences.

(and don’t even get me started on the fact that this show has made New Genesis tech gendered before, with Sphere. And even gender the bioship in the same season they pull this for Halo).

Lastly, she also falls within the “promiscuous bisexual” trope, with the very kiss this article praises as THE FIRST LGBT KISS ON SCREEN for the show. This is a problematic trope that DC seems to love. Basically, this scene has Halo cheating on her boyfriend with another young classmate, engaging in two kisses with her.

Now I’m not going to say that all LGBTQA+ relationships need to be wholesome one true loves. Problematic behaviour like Halo and Harper’s is a story telling tool. But the fact that the LGBTQA+ was told going into the season there would be LGBT rep so they should watch, and this was the first rep we got 18 episodes into the season? It felt a bit like a slap in the face. They could’ve had her break up with Brion beforehand, or any number of different ways that would even keep the scene in tact.

And the relationship doesn’t really go anywhere anyways. Harper doesn’t really remain part of the season going forward, Halo and her boyfriend continue their relationship after it was revealed until the end of the season.

This is ultimately my problem with Halo. There are a few tropes that basically are summed up as “writers put all their diversity into one character” which is basically what Halo is. Each of these qualities, from faith to gender identity to sexual orientation could’ve been a fleshed out character arc (oh! I forgot to mention she also falls into the “My gender identity isn’t cis, so my sexual orientation is also bi/pan/gay” trope). Instead all the diverse qualities of Halo are addressed shallowly as the show-runners pat themselves on the back.

4. Bluepulse

I’ve ranted a lot so I’m not going to go crazy on this point. You can probably find tons of posts about the drama between Bluepulse Shippers and the show, which again makes their inclusion kind of tone-deaf. Bluepulse shippers have been called disgusting by the fandom for the three year age gap, an age gap that was never confirmed on screen and you had to go digging in Greg’s personal message board to know (resulting in many people shipping them not knowing their ages at all).

In addition, the showrunners made it clear they did not like this ship over the several years the show has been off the air. And in Season 3 they give Jaime a girlfriend....who is a lesbian in the comics. Now Traci and Jaime did date in the comics before she came out, and this is another Earth. But when the sole purpose of their relationship being on screen was to tell the audience that bluepulse wasn’t happening, choosing a lesbian character to play the cis straight girlfriend is a bit of a slap in the face. again.

5. Bart Allen and Eduardo

Queerbaiting, nuff said.

For those not in the know, Ed is a character introduced as a runaway in Season 2, but he doesn’t really interact with Bart until mid-season 3. There is an episode where a group of heroes go to a carnival, and Ed and Bart appear to be on a date. They are in a group with all couples, except for Virgil. Virgil laments being the only person there without a significant other, implying that Bart and Ed are together. Additionally, Bart and Ed do everything that the other couples do together. It was pretty heavy-handed that the couples were there on dates.

And fans liked this! Even if Bluepulse wasn’t happening, Bart may still be bisexual or gay. This was made worse by Greg retweeting and liking Ed/Bart content, and not giving a straight answer on whether they were dating.

Which obviously, creates the expectation among LGBTQA+ fans that they will get together. They don’t. And later at a convention, one of the main writers (not Greg) said something like “its funny how the fans see relationships between characters differently from our intent” when asked a question about them. Essentially confirming that yeah, they didn’t have any actual content for them planned anyway. Though they did have an addendum that they may build on the fan reception/view of the relationship in the future (basically saying, maybe they’ll be canon).

As much as I’d like to be optimistic that they actually will get together and we’ll get a LGBTQ relationship that is in the spotlight for once, I’m not. I’ll be happy to be proved wrong on this point.

And that was my TEDtalk about how tone-deaf DC patting themselves on the back for LGBTQA+ content in Young Justice is. Especially when other animated shows do so much better with fewer episodes and screen time.

[miamaroo]

Northern Migration- Chapter 25 (Notes+Preview)

Surprise! I’m updating about a week after my last update! Don’t get used to it, though. It’s only because I’ve been on break. I have classes again tomorrow, and finals seasons is about ready to slap me in the face. Hopefully you’ll see me again for the holidays. (Speaking of the holidays, we’re nearing the one year mark for when this fic first started wowza).

Like always, this is brimming with spoilers, so proceed forwards at your own risk.

Spoilers!

I messed around with that Taako scene for ages, trying to make the first distilled look into his character. I have a lot of trouble writing him, especially since I’m always trying to find a happy mixture of what he’s like in the show, what he’s like in the fanon, and what he would be like in the universe of this fic. I did my best. I’m not one-hundred-percent happy with it, but considering I rewrote the entire scene right before posting, I think it’s functional.

Since the next chapter is already written, I know that I’m going to keep mentioning layers of clothing as being a status of wealth. This is a part of what I plan on doing with the future flashback chapter into their history on their home plane. I feel like I have to mention it so that you get an idea of how the cultures are different, but it’s also annoying because it’s hard for me to convey that this is a cultural aspect that supposed to be different from Faerun.

Apparently, eyeballs help keep the structure of your head. I also did not know that.

Everyone in the TAZ fandom is a coward for not giving Taako a beard, and I’m counting Justin in that. Artists who give him stubble can stay, but you’re all on thin ice.

One thing I’m trying to figure out is a balance between people recognizing Avi in his old age because they know him well, and people not recognizing him because, honestly, I see pictures of my own dad as a young man and he’s a completely different person.

When John says “give your hands now,” it’s a purposeful twist of Merle doing the exact same thing in chapter 5.

I know I said this before—but John’s philosophy is so close to being that of some hero that it’s honestly scary.

As a kid, as I started thinking about perspective and morality, I also realized that a lot of what we considered right or wrong can be manipulated by whose point of view we’re viewing it from. And, as a preteen, I used that as justification for a lot of bad things. A lot of how I’m writing John is just thinking about how someone could’ve manipulated me into thinking or doing anything, and just giving him the opportunity to get Stevie to think that way as well. Like John has no way of knowing about Piper repeating all of her dad’s bad political beliefs (remember Piper and Gansey from chapter 3?), but he gets people. And I think he would know that, in her situation, Stevie would be thinking about morality in a way that would be easily manipulated in his favor.

All that being said: you’re a lot of fun to write John, but fuck you.

I don’t know yet if I want John to be aware of the Seven Birds concept, but in case I do eventually decide that he does, Vultures is a very on the nose confession of what he ultimately wants Stevie to believe. If I decide to make it so that he never knows, then it’s just me (the author) making an on the point piece of foreshadowing of what his plans are going to be.

John is a bard. Fight me.

And here’s a thought: this is the first time in the story where Stevie gets to have fun and it’s not interrupted by plot bullshit.

Originally, Lucas was going to have the weird crush on Avi, and it was going to be something that was going to making Johann feel extra sure about never confessing, but Avi already has so many other shit going on that I had to redistribute some things.

That being said, Sloane and Avi having this bitter history together is very important to me. With Griffin wanting TAZ to be about found family, I sort of wanted to take the opportunity to explore the idea of two people who became family before it was ruined. Basically, since Lucretia didn’t destroyed her family (minus Taako being pissed), I had to destroy another family.

Avi being in debt to someone is the reoccurring theme of his life. He was in debt to the Hammerheads, then Sloane, and now Bane and Barry. This guy constantly owes other people things.

Things that are also very important to me: Ren being fiercely protective of all her friends.

I can’t remember if Merle in canon couldn’t remember if he made a sash or a belt, but I’m taking Clint’s endless confusion over the two as an excuse to make it so.

I was going to write a scene where Davenport discovered that he can’t learn sign language, but I didn’t have the space and beyond just filling in a potential loophole, it didn’t really add more to Davenport. Like, he know he’s suffering. I don’t need to remind you that much.

The same goes for the cutting of a scene where Magnus is helping Julia learn how to walk. Again, there was a space issue and the fact that it wasn’t them actually making it up allowed me to feel like I can get around writing it. That being said, it still hurt to not write it. 

Also, hey! Only two relics left to this story! I still have to write like three more interlude chapters before we can even get cracking on that, but now you can see how much progress we’re actually making in this fic!

This is such a minor detail, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out if I want stoves to be a thing in this world or not. I know that I decided a long time ago that everyone was going to have hearths except for the Starblaster, which was going to be technologically advanced enough to have an actual stove, but there’s not enough cooking in this damn fic to convey that idea. And when it does come up, it’s at Lucas’s lab, which would also be advanced enough to have a stove, but not one as advanced as the Starblaster. AND I CAN’T FIGURE OUT HOW TO EVEN CONVEY THIS IDEA. One time, I thought I could emphasize how almost scared Julia was of the stove, but then I remembered that she has had a decade to get used to it. SO YEAH. I JUST DON’T KNOW.

I know that I have to acknowledge any reasonable feelings Julia would have involving becoming disabled, but I’m also trying to be careful to make sure it doesn’t come off as condescending or pitying towards disabled folks. I’m trying to strike a balance, and I’m never sure how well I’m doing with.

Julia’s prosthetic leg is based upon prosthetic legs used for runners in the Special Olympics. I am going to add a link to a reference here, but it’s late and I might forget. If you noticed that I forgot, tell me and I’ll add it.

Stevie likes snow because it’s snowing in parley. She likes rainbows because the black scars on John’s face is holographic.

Also, Lucretia is gay. She’s like, super duper gay. Supreme gay.

I feel like I put down what color Taako’s magic is somewhere in this fic, but I don’t feel like looking through the entire thing in search of it, so right now I’m just writing around having to state its color for as long as possible.

The item Taako used to make the hole in the floor is the Hole Thrower. Don’t ask me where he got it.

Originally, I had a scene like two chapters back where Taako saw Angus, thus making his comments about seeing a kid around make a lot more sense. However, I convinced myself to get a little sneakier about Angus being on the ship and then proceeded to forget about it. Considering how much effort I usually put into foreshadowing everything (and this is still without a written outline), I’m going to give myself a pass on the bad writing this time around.

Like I mentioned in the chapter notes, I’m off break now and starting finals, so next update will take a long time. Feel free to talk to me on here and generally strike up a friendship. I’m a very lonely person. Anyway, here’s the preview for the next chapter:

Angus McDonald sits with his hands folded calmly on his lap, fancy clothes unruffled as he looks up at the circle of adults surrounding him. It’s plain from the slight quirk in his brow that nothing about being held up in the Starblaster kitchen is by any means threatening. He sits, mouth in a tight line, as he waits for his turn to speak.

“You’re such a drama queen,” Lucretia says dully, pressing a bag of frozen peas to Taako’s face.

He takes it gladly, practically collapsed against the kitchen counter as he moans. Angus’s hardy kick was just enough to make a single drop of blood creep down from his nose. “I’m dying, Lucy. When I go, tell Merle he could fuck off.”

“Whatever I do to you?” Merle demands, turning from his job of standing by Davenport’s side to shout.

Davenport, all the while, has his arms folded over his chest. His eyes are set in a harsh glare that makes Angus shift in his seat. Every adult in the room Angus is pretty sure he can handle, but Davenport is somewhere on the level of a god. Flanking each of his sides is one of the Burnsides, with Magnus in a pair of paint-splattered work clothes and Julia in a chair, her prosthetic leg still in her daughter’s possession. The kid was ordered to leave the room, but Angus saw her creep back in, armed with the prosthetic leg and a set of paints. She claimed the corner directly across from him. Every now and then, Merle and Taako make gestures grand enough that Angus catches a glimpse of the girl watching him as a curious spectator.

Davenport sighs, then nudges Magnus’s leg. At the cue, Magnus bends down into a squat, perfectly leveled with Angus’s eyes. “Angus. What are you doing here?”

“I—” Angus closes his mouth. He shifts until he’s back to the picture of innocence.

“We’re not mad at you,” Magnus says. “It’s just… we do a lot of dangerous things, and I’m sure your job as a consultant is plenty dangerous enough—”

“Detective.”

Magnus pauses. “What?”

Angus preens. “If case you forgot, my name is Angus McDonald and I am the world’s greatest detective. If you’re trying to interrogate me, I suggest that you do your best to ensure that you’re coming in with the most accurate information.”

[shadowdianne]

SQ prompt: late night deep conversations. (Think childhoods, struggles, what kind of funeral would they like, laughing at stupid simple things. That wholesome sort of thing.) leading to a first kiss. It's a humble request, I'm bad at describing prompts but I LOVE your writing so much omg

Thank you so much for your compliment. I hopeyou like my take on your prompt. It’s not as lighthearted as I think you had inmind but Emma wasn’t feeling like cooperating with me. I need to do somecharacter study with her after not writing her for quite some time…

Also, some time ago I said I was going toslowly write in my own headcanon of the possibility of Emma divorcing Hookafter the finale. Even if I had already mentioned that a couple of times before, this prompt was the first one to showcase some details on how. Consider thisanother snippet on that reality 😉

“This timeis a little more than a couple of boxes, uh?”

Emma lookedup from the spot she had been staring to for the last couple of minutes, theaforementioned boxes surrounding her and taking up the space of what had been aliving room until that very morning. Now moonlight was beginning to sip throughcurtain-less windows and she needed to blink twice as Regina approached herfrom the doorframe she had been leaning in, hands falling limply at her sideand looking way too refreshed for having been an entire day helping her pack.

Lights fromthe kitchen came on, pooling at Regina’s feet, creating a contract of gold andsilver that helped her see each wrinkle on the brunette’s clothes that betrayedthat apparent perfection.

“The firsttime you moved.” Regina’s words were gentle as she tilted her head to thegeneral direction of where Snow’s first and only flat for so many years stood,the building invisible from where the house stood but the memory strong enoughfor Emma to figure out what the other woman was talking about. “I think yourmother was quite surprised by that.”

“Oh.” Emmanodded slowly as she uttered the word, the fuzzy image of that second night atStorybrooke coming back to her through the thick clouds that seemed to havetaken a hold on her brain lately. “Yes,” she added tiredly while turning backto look at the boxes and dusty corners of the room. “there are more than acouple of boxes.”

Reginahummed, taking another couple of steps towards the blonde while doing so. Shehad seen the skittish movements during the day, the way Emma’s fingerstrembled, sometimes shimmering with dirty white magic whenever the blonde waspressed by either David or Snow with questions she wasn’t ready to answer. Caged. The word had been true for theyounger woman for so long Regina felt her lips dry as she licked them, staringat the blonde’s profile on the silver-hued -almost grey- light the moonlightlet on. She didn’t want to be the one making her jump.

Clearingher throat, she reached for her own magic; sparks of purple energy covering thepads of her fingers as two glasses appeared out of thin air. Liquid alreadysloshing inside of them, the glass was cold to the touch due to the two cubesof ice that came with it, reflecting the purple magic for a moment as itdissolved away.

“Cider?”She offered as Emma turned to look at her, her green eyes reflecting the magicthat wasn’t there anymore.

For amoment, they stood facing each other in the middle of an already abandonedmansion. One that hadn’t once suited Emma if Regina had a said on it. Then, aswhite sparks broke free from Emma’s flesh, the blonde nodded and grabbed oneglass looking at the liquid quickly as she took a step away from Regina, her calveshitting momentarily one of the boxes, the soft thud filling up the space of thesilence they seem to be submerged in.

“I thoughtthis was going to be the last time.” Emma’s admission came with the slidingsound of her sitting down, back on one of the boxes.  One that, according to the neat calligraphythat was displayed on its surface, had been one of the ones filled by Regina.The brunette herself waited for a moment before looking at the floor, theslight discomfort on her eyes a glow that disappeared quickly as she mimickedEmma’s movements. However, unlike the blonde whose hands dangled from her kneeswhere she had her wrists pressing the bony angles, Regina sat as proper asever; back straight and one hand firmly grasping the glass Emma had hangingfrom both her thumb and forefinger. “The… boxes, the packing.”

Emma’swords filled the space as Regina took a sip of the drink, half-wishing to magicup a couch the two of them could use and already knowing that it wasn’t thatwhat the blonde wanted.

Draggingout a slow, sad smile, Emma sighed and looked at the liquid inside the glass,her features darkened from the angle the light came in from the uncovered windows.

“It seemsyou were right.” Her voice was eroded, tired, and Regina narrowed her eyesslightly as she heard the following words that came from the blonde’s mouthbefore the woman took her own first sip of the cider. “I’m a runner.”

“Youaren’t.” Regina’s voice was still soft, somehow hoarse though after hours oftalking to Snow, trying to make her understand that no, Emma didn’t know tothink about whether some piece of furniture would make the moving. Not yet atleast. “You aren’t anymore.”

“That’s notwhat he said.”

Letting outa dry, small chuckle, Regina replied at that with a simple “Then it’s good wedon’t need to listen to him anymore, isn’t it?”

Emmagrowled at that but said nothing, a small smile -lighter this time- breakingthrough that grave exterior. Him.Regina hated that title; it sounded far too ominous for a simple pirate. Onethat had still tried to insult Emma and beat her down the night the blonde hadcalled Regina, whispering a quick “I needyou.” Regina had answered without a second thought, not caring a bit ofZelena’s chuckle and mumbled words she had tried very hard to forget about.

They satthere, in the corner of the room, for a few more minutes accompanied by thedistant ticking sound of a clock they had forgotten to take the batteries ofbefore putting it inside a box. Far from unsettling her, Regina found herselflistening to the sound, focusing on it as well as on Emma’s breathing and magicpulse. A pulse she had sensed growing more and more unsteady the weeks priorher decision, sparks crackling and blazing the air around her before she hadsaid words Regina felt that they should have been said way before.

“Tell me asecret.” She suddenly said, the words escaping her mouth as she took a swing ofthe cider. The boldness didn’t quite come from the “her” she had ended up beingbut she embraced it when Emma stared at her, surprise being written on everyinch of her face. Smiling, she shrugged very much like Roni would have done andwaited for Emma to pick the bait. “Anything. We will worry about the boxestomorrow, not tonight.”

For asecond, the brunette feared Emma would said what she had already heard fromZelena more than a dozen of times already. That this wasn’t like hers. Thewords carried with it the weight that yes, they were true and each day itpassed the more Regina felt as if someone had broken a toy and had stitched itback having only vague notions of how to do it. Feeling her muscles alreadybeginning to clench to that unsaid question, she was met with a soft smirk -onecloser to the Emma she remembered- and a nod.

“I hateyour new title.” A wince quickly followed the statement as Regina blinked,utterly surprised and only being able to mutter out a “what?” that was almostswallowed with Emma’s “Not like that!” cry.

“I lovethat they have realized you are a good queen. I’ve been telling them that foryears.” Emma’s words came out rushed as she moved her free hand towardsRegina’s forearm, the pleasant warmth her fingers left on the brunette’s bodyenough to make Regina laugh, lips upturned into a smirk.

“Even if Iinsist you to fill all forms?”

“Even withthat.” They had barely eaten that day and Regina begun to wonder if it had beena good idea to magic the two glasses as she felt slightly giddier than sheshould feel from just a couple of sips to it. The boyish smile Emma made as sheanswered, however, made her forgot that worry for the time being. “But I thinkthat there could be better titles for you. The Good Queen? It’s bland.”

Rolling hereyes, Regina shrugged and decided that, eaten or not eaten, she wanted thecider. Taking a sip, she sucked through her teeth as the ice hit them.

“Yourmother is a lot of things but not very imaginative, dear.”

“So, that’smy secret. What’s yours?”

For amoment, a second or even less than that as the ticking of the clock never onceseemed to arrive, Regina wondered if it was time to say something else and stopthe game she seemingly had decided they were going to play. A game juvenileenough to make probably both Henrys roll their eyes at them.

No, shewasn’t she anymore, was she? The question made her shoulders fall slightly butshe shook her head and kept going, looking at Emma who, still holding herselfas if she was about to break, seemed looser and more confident on her posture.Magic feeling like a bubbling liquid inside of her, Regina took another sip ofher drink, groaning as she realized she was close to finish it all.

“I don’thate that jacket of yours… that much.”

Emmalaughed at the words, the boyish smirk returning.

“That’s nota secret! I knew that!”

Reginashook her head and chuckled but remained firm as Emma pressed, magic beginningto drip from her fingers, pooling at the floor before disappearing, leavingbehind a faint buzzing on the air.

“What elseyou know then?” She finally turned to faze Emma just as the blonde finallyscooted closer, pupils slightly blown and lower lip hanging on the shadow of apout.

Pout thatdisappeared just as quickly as Emma moved away enough for Regina to notice howclose they had been. It was she then who blinked owlishly as Emma glanced ather, her free hand raising, fingertips tapping her chin as she thought.

“I know youdon’t hate my bug as much as you say.”

“Utterlyand completely false. That thing is a hazard.”

Shesmirked, thinking she had won the round until she felt something on Emma’smagic, the power shimmering and trembling until it steady itself, ticklingRegina’s senses as it did so.

“I know Iwant to kiss you now.”

Thatstopped the two of them, the light air they have been creating not quiteshattered but changed as Regina made a soft -almost strangled- noise.

In anyother circumstance, perhaps during daytime, perhaps without cider running hersystem, perhaps if she had a second to think this twice, Regina would say no.However, what came out of her as time seemed to elongate, magic pricking herlungs as she did so was a resounding…

“Kiss methen.”

And Emmadid.

[friendlycybird]

1X11 - Little Dipper - Rewatch

Yes, I’m still doing these. I’m sorry it’s been so long.

I don’t have much preamble to this one. Let’s just get started, shall we?

Hang on, I need to listen to the things Gideon lists from Journal 2 again real quick... Zombie attack, Blood rain, and Demon Caterpillars. Ford devotes a decent amount of Journal 3 to The Undead, were those pages a redundancy from Journal 2? I’d think it was just additional information but it all seemed pretty fundamental... regardless, I’m a lot more curious then I should be about Blood Rain and Demon Caterpillars.

Stan’s first reaction to someone who *might* be from the IRS showing up on his doorstep is to vanish in a puff of smoke and try to escape with his money stash. ...I’m probably overthinking this, but it seems there’s some stuff to unpack there. I won’t waste any more time on it for now. Moving on.

So not only did Stan instantly figure out it was a con, he figured out Gideon was behind the con. I’d love to know how. Is it just that he doesn’t currently have any other enemies? Or does he think so little of the scheme he assumes it could only have been thought up by a ten-year-old? I mean, it’s obvious why he didn’t fall for it, he never entered any sweepstakes and he’s not an idiot. But how did he know who was behind it? And he had to have known who was behind it otherwise he’d have left it at “suck a lemon”.

Ah, right back into form. I’m only to the themesong and I already have three paragraphs. Nice.

Okay but. How did Soos notice a literal millimeter? That’s totally impossible. One millimeter apart they look the exact same height, how did he just...know...that Mabel was taller?

Stan waking up super excited to make fun of someone is funny. Also, paused to type this and I’m loving their expressions. Mabel is just grinning, Dipper’s fuming, Stan is excited and Soos...well...Soos just looks...slightly concerned. I love Soos. And of course he goes on to recommend against giving Dipper TOO hard of a time. I kinda doubt Stan actually misinterpreted it as Soos joining in picking on Dipper since like...he’s known Soos for years... but more like he just saw an opening Soos left and took it.

Also I COMPLETELY forgot that Mabel high-fives hard enough to hurt Stan. People high-fiving hard enough to hurt others always makes me think of Miles Luna from Rooster Teeth? But also I desperately need a fic now where Ford and Mabel high-six, and then Mabel leaves the room and Ford kinda shakes his hand out a bit and Stan just like...smirks ‘cause he saw that coming.

Literally a foot to the left and Dipper would have been in so much trouble with that Mountain Lion...

Fic Fuel moment of the day: The giant butterfly. ...how many other animals do you think wander through those enlarging beams? How many of them do you think suddenly get a lot more dangerous when they do? ...Just in case anyone needs a random threat in the woods to send people running from for plot reasons. I’m sure I’m not the first to think of it but I still thought of it!

There Soos is, noticing millimeters again. I think it might be a thing. Your average Gravity Falls character has one borderline paranormal ability. Mabel can knit sweaters superhumanly fast, and Soos can see individual millimeters.

Paused again for a bit, and look at Soos’ face! He’s so happy for Dipper!

How does Mabel jump from “Magic thing” to “Wizard in the closet” and then remain CONVINCED there is a Wizard in the closet?

Y’know...that distracting Gideon bit was kinda a risk? Like it paid off and the termites totally backfired on Gideon but like. The jar coming open could STILL have set those things lose on the shack. The only way I could imagine Stan knew how that would play out is if Journal 1 had a more detailed entry on those things then Journal 2 so Stan knew they’d turn on Gideon? Otherwise...pure luck.

...does the whole bit where they’re fighting and randomly re-sizing parts of each other’s bodies remind anyone else of the episode of Rick and Morty where Summer uses that re-sizing machine and ends up...y’know. Like that.

I kinda love Dipper’s flat “really?” when Mabel accadently tells Gideon what the flashlight does.

Say, where’d Fiddleford get the money he shoved at Bud?

Gideon is creepy, full stop.

Mabel getting distracted by gummy koalas that are literally almost her size while Gideon interrogates Dipper is...one thing.

The thing that strikes me though...is that...Dipper has known this whole time that there were other journals. He has Journal 3, after all. But there’s never been any indication he’s so much as tried to go looking for the others? Gideon, on the other hand, gets one whiff of Journal 1, having no clue that Journal 3 even exists, and starts interrogating Dipper about it.

It occurs to me to be SO grateful that Gideon never realized he could just kill Dipper, thereby proving his violent intent to Stan, and STILL ransom Mabel for the shack.

Also, I really should’ve known what kind of visual to expect from the near end of this episode the minute I saw Soos in the room of mirrors.

It’s come to my attention that I overanalyize every goddamn word that comes out of Stan’s mouth. Emphasis on Over. Because like, a glance in the mirror and wondering about a random physical feature isn’t that...like it doesn’t actually merit much if any consideration. But I’ve been stuck for much longer then I’m going to admit to trying to form the question... was the complete thought behind “Were my ears always this big?” more in the direction of “have I changed that much in the last thirty years” or more “were my ears always noticeably different then Fords?” ...or was it, as I genuinely think is most likely, just a passing thought without a connection to anything and my brain just really needs to get its breaks checked?

And can’t let Soos trying on the Fez go without mention. Not much to say about it, except that it makes me kinda warm and fuzzy to know that when he says “One Day” he’s right.

Gideon also really should have opened with something a bit more convincing then a phone call? Like...he’s a fucking creep but he’s also kinda bad at being a fucking creep? Which. Is technically a huge relief but it sorta fucks with my villain brain.

...I want to be mad at Dipper and Mabel for getting distracted by the height thing, but they’re twelve. I can forgive them. I love Mabel trying to ride the hamster to freedom though. 

Gideons family has a doggie door but there’s no sign they have a dog. 

Hey, why was Susan at the bus stop if she wasn’t gonna get on the bus? 

Yet again my villain brain scolds Gideon some. Not for not having a better plan this time, but just for his obvious flaw of vanity. Getting a gummy koala in your hair shouldn’t delay your plot, it should speed it up because you know someone is trying to stop you. 

Gideons observation that they would have defeated him if not for their bickering seems a little...I think the phrase is On the Nose? But. Kids show, it’s allowed lines like that. That said, Dipper. If she brings you back to unequal heights you can take the flashlight back and FIX IT. It’s not that big of a deal. 

Hi. Soos uses his own name as a verb for messing up. I’m okay. It’s funny. ...it also hurts. 

Soos is ADORABLE. I can’t get distracted by that though. This is about important stuff about the episode. Stuff that at least pretends to be worth over-thinking. Which means I really need to focus on Mabel and Dipper making up. Mabel doing something that makes Dipper upset, but she does it explicitly as a reaction to Dipper’s behavior is...well it has some rather more lighthearted parallels to some of the elder Pines twins drama, doesn’t it? 

Stan in the mirror maze just makes me happy though. I can’t help but feel like some part of him was going “I’ve always wanted to do this” the whole time. 

So, I pause the episode to ponder if I want to make a big deal out of Soos’ reaction to falling off of Gideon being to shout “Tell my story!” because, y’know, there’s something to talk about there...and my partner decides to fill the silence making a joke about it. She starts singing “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story” from Hamilton, and I crack up laughing. Had to pass that along. I really do think there’s something to be said about Soos as a person from that reaction though. Hell if I can identify exactly what, but there’s something. 

...villain brain is scolding Gideon again. If he hadn’t stopped to monologue, he would have succeeded. It took a minute for Dipper and Mabel to get into position for tickling, and in that minute he could’ve taken the time to shrink Stan...but for some reason he wanted to make threats and back him literally against a wall first. 

I love Stan’s awkwardness when Gideon devolves into hysterics. I love even more that he actually tried to comfort Gideon a little before physically rolling him out of the shop. 

I felt really bad for Soos here, being forgotten like that. I still do, honestly. I love him so much. Of course...that was also their first confirmation that Soos was okay after that fall. ...Which also feels bad ‘cause for all they knew at that point Soos was dead. Yikes. Also, I wonder if they ended up just somehow gluing that crystal back together, or if they went out into the woods for another one. 

The scene at the end with the grand-prize check showing up at the door...did Stan actually not play a sweepstakes like I thought above and this new thing is somehow a mistake, or does he just...not for one second consider he’s lucky enough to have actually won? Fidds being the runner-up is also interesting, he’s just...not ready for that kind of money yet. 

I always feel like I need a better way to wrap these up then just my reaction to the ending, but I pretty much never have one. Sorry.