#but all of this is actually based around the master's agency

[ssaalexblake]

the master is a woman for one regeneration and suddenly becoming a good guy is like, the Worst thing to want for that story to conclude with and that it’s actively wanted by people sometimes floors me 

[kitthepurplepotato]

MWRMI Part 6

My Weird Roomate, Midoriya Izuku

Week 3 part 2 / Meet the Gang!

~•🥦•~

Summary: Y/N learns about Midoriya’s past and the gang’s secret tattoos. …?!

Also, why is Kirishima half-naked all of the sudden?!

Warnings: Swear words, hints of suggestiveness (they tell “funny” stories, 2 sentences, really.) a tiny hint of platonic (?) jealousy.

First Part Master List

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“OH MY GOD, THATS RED RIOT THAT’S FUCKING RED RIOT, Midoriya!”

Okay, listen.

Red Riot doesn’t have a fan base; he has a fucking cult.

That guy had the glow up of the century after going through puberty.

Red Riot? More like Red Daddy.

No jokes, people say that quite a lot when they are talking about the hero. He’s so liked for his looks he actually managed to beat Dynamight and Deku on the “best looking bachelor” charts.

Red Riot barely had any presence in the hero world for his first few years; he had no confidence and he really didn’t think he can be a good hero or at least that’s what he’d said in the interviews. Then Dynamight took him under his wings, took him away from his last agency and that’s when the name Red Riot became a phenomenon; he got even more ripped and grew his hair out but still kept it red, just one shade darker; it’s shorter at the front and really long at the back which makes him look like a lion; majestic and frightening when fighting a villain. His close relationship with Dynamight also helped the blonde to get a better reputation, which he definitely needed at the beginning of his career; Dynamight might have been the one who saved the redhead first, but to be honest, they both saved each other from themselves.

Needless to say, the two heroes are constantly shipped by the fandom, and reading Bakugou’s rants on his official social media about it always makes your day better. Once he posted a picture about Red Riot sprawled out on his lap after a night out, drooling like a Rottweiler all over his trousers with the caption “Do you really think I would ever kiss that mouth?”, but people focused on the intimacy of the photo instead of it’s meaning. The blonde got so furious he deleted himself from the internet for two weeks.

Red Riot also admitted that he absolutely lives for Dynamight’s rants, so sometimes he stirs shit up just to get a reaction out of the blonde; he posts domestic pictures of Bakugou making breakfast in nothing but boxers and other shenanigans like that. The picture is usually followed by a selfie of him being beaten up by his best friend for being a menace or a screenshot of him being blocked on every social media when he’s away on a mission (because of course he has a secret stash of domestic pictures hidden in his phone, who wouldn’t?)

Ahh, you can talk about these two for ages, they are the funniest pair, like ever.

Midoriya giggles at your sudden outburst while you try your best to hide behind the sofa out of embarrassment.

“Aww, thank you!” The redhead smirks. “It’s always a pleasure to be adored by a beautiful lady like yourself.”

You don’t have time to really react to his sudden flirting because the air fills with tension for some weird reason; Midoriya stops smiling, black whip caresses your back and wraps around your body protectively. He looks furious and also does Bakugou, but his anger is pointed at you; if looks would kill, you would be dead by now.

“It’s a bit cold, isn’t it, Y/N? You should change into something warm before you catch a cold.” Midoriya smiles, but it’s more frightening than cute this time. Damn, if you would be a villain and he would look at you like that, you’d 100% piss yourself.

“I have no idea what the actual fuck is going on right now but I’m gonna sit down.” A purple haired, tired looking guy sighs and makes his way to the sofa like the time didn’t just freeze for a second. Honestly, you have no idea what’s going on either.

“Let me explain!” Chargebolt claps his hands happily. “Bakugou’s being a a possessive dick over his best friend, and Midoriya is the same with his roommate. Why? Don’t ask me.” He gives you a reassuring smile.

“This is why I’ll be single forever, Y/N. Don’t be like me.” The redhead sighs, also sitting down. Midoriya lets you go while mumbling ‘sorry’ but he doesn’t look sorry at all.

“What do you mean, Eijirou? Is Katsuki’s marvelous presence not enough for you to be happy? Aww, poor boy.” Pinky speaks up, clearly enjoying the drama. She looks even prettier in real life.

“Say another word, you pink bitch, and I’ll mount your stupid horny head on my wall.” Bakugou snaps, his face a lovely shade of red. Chargebolt blurts out a quiet ‘damn’ and hides behind the sofa, right behind the purple dude who just sighs at Kaminari’s shenanigans.

“Aww, is my face is so pretty you want to see it every day? That’s so cute, Bakubro!” Mina coos and that’s when shit hits the fan; you quietly leave the room to change as per Midoriya’s advice (what the fuck was that about? Yeah, you are wearing comfy shorts but so is he.) while Red Riot hardens between his two friends, acting like a shield to stop them from killing each other. After a few minutes, the yelling stops; apparently, their pizza order is more important than an impromptu mass murder.

It takes you a while before you have the guts to go back so you can properly meet Midoriya’s chaotic friends; you still have no idea what made the two friends so mad, but to be fair, Bakugou is known to blow up for no reason at all, so maybe you were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Hey.” Midoriya’s green head pops in through the door. He looks a bit flushed and a little bit guilty. He’s absolutely adorable. “Can I come in?”

“I was just about to go out, but yeah.” You mumble, your voice strained from the stress. Deku closes the door and leans back to it; his face is contorted into a frown but he tries his best to give you a smile.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to you. I had no right to treat you that way.” The greenette is clearly beating himself up for his actions and it brakes your heart.

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not.” Midoriya jumps in. “Eijirou is a nice guy, he talks like that to everyone. Bakugou is a possessive asshole over all his friends, especially him. I was so excited for you to meet my closest friends yet I fucked it up.”

Oh no, not the teary eyes. You can’t handle the teary eyes right now.

“Midoriya…” you move closer to the slumped greenette, taking his hand into yours. He looks at you with the cutest lovelorn expression. “Stop looking at me like that. I really want to hug you tight when you do that.”

You really didn’t mean to say that. You really didn’t.

“Then hug me, Y/N.” Midoriya says, a new kind of emotion swirling in his beautiful eyes. Your body moves on its own as you embrace your favorite hero with such passion that Midoriya’s back hits the door with a loud bang from the force of it. You can hear his heart beating loud and fast when your face hits his chest as you squeeze the shit out of the poor guy. The hero’s hand ends up in your hair, slowly massaging your scalp while he takes a deep breath to calm his racing heart. Midoriya lets your hand go and pulls you even closer by the small of your back; your bodies clash with each other completely as Midoriya melts into your touch; his muscles feel amazing under your cheeks. You’ve never felt so content in your life.

Okay, this hug is way too passionate to be called “friendly”. You are about to pass out. He smells so amazing, like pine and sea salt with a hint of spice, masculine and earthy. The world stops for a second, Midoriya’s friends on the other side completely forgotten as the two of you embrace each other, your true feelings showing without you even saying them out loud.

This is when reality really hits you; you don’t just have a crush on this guy; you are absolutely fucking smitten with him already.

Ahh, you are so fucked.

“STOP MAKING OUT, YOU FUCKERS!” Bakugou ruins the moment with his yelling. When you two realize the situation you are in, you jump away from each other with a “sorry”, like two emotionally constipated teenagers.

“Maybe they are just having a fight.” A tired voice mumbles, probably the purple haired guy you don’t know yet.

“With their mouths, yeah.” Pinky giggles mischievously. If your face wasn’t red enough before, now it is.

“I mean, can you blame him? Y/N is cute as hell.” Motherfucking Red Riot comments and that’s when Midoriya opens the door with a flushed face.

“Can we start this all over?” Midoriya yelps. His friends try their best to not comment on their disheveled appearance for the sake of you and nod in unison. “This is Y/N, my FLATMATE. She takes care of the flat when I’m not around.”

“She takes care of more than that by the look of it…” Chargebolt whispers into Jirou’s ears, who slaps the guy on his head to shut him up. Jirou is a great friend. You love her. “You know Kacchan and Jirou already, then you have Kirishima Eijirou, but you also know that, Kaminari Denki, Ashido Mina, Shouto Todoroki who doesn’t speak too much but he’s one of my closest friends and Shinsou Hitoshi who you might remember from the sports festival. He works with Aizawa-sensei as an underground hero so his face isn’t well known but he’s amazing.”

“I still don’t know why am I here today” Shinsou mumbles, clearly hating the fact that he was forced to come over. He doesn’t look like a guy who enjoys being in a large group.

“You are here because you are important to us, and I can’t believe I need to have this conversation with you after all these years.” Kaminari sighs, looking at the purple haired hero with disappointment in his eyes. Shinsou looks back at him with a guilty expression, showing the yellow haired man with his shoulder in a silent sorry.

Wow, you ship them. So much.

Damn, you really need to stop reading gay fanfictions when Midoriya is not home.

“Now that we all said hi, it’s time to embarrass Midoriya!” Chargebolt speaks up energetically. “Which story should we start with?”

“Guys, please!” Midoriya pulls you to the sofa while hiding his face with his other hand in embarrassment. You sit down next to each other while the group fights over which story should they tell.

“His first almost-kiss!”

“What about the time when Katsuki saw him doing nasty things in his room?”

“That’s not an embarrassing story, I literally thought he’s not into that shit until that moment. I was proud of him.”

“KACCHAN!” Midoriya hides his face in your neck in embarrassment and you try your best to not explode. Jirou looks at you with pity in her eyes.

“What about his secret tattoo?” Kirishima chimes in, and you perk up; you really like tattoos and you always wanted one. “Ahh, she likes that! So it happened on Katsuki’s 21st birthday…”

“Oh my god…” Deku mumbles, still hiding in your neck. “You might not like me that much after tonight, Y/N” he sighs, making your whole body tingle with his hot breath caressing your sensitive skin.

“I’m a loyal fan.” You deadpan. It’s really hard to concentrate on the story right now to be honest.

“So we were really drunk when Tetsutetsu and his gang came over and challenged us to a fight. The loser gang had to get a tattoo. The fuckers knew we are too drunk to realize they are all sober so they beat us to pulp. We woke up the next day with new tattoos. On our… bottoms.” Kirishima looks down with a flushed face. “I have a rock, you wanna see?” Kirishima excitedly jumps up, ready to show you his sick tattoo, but Bakugou is having non of it.

“Eijirou, if you pull your pants down in front of everyone I’ll absolutely kick you out of my house.” He whispers threateningly, his hands ready to block the view. Kirishima sits down with a sad puppy look.

“It’s not that far down!” The redhead whines, but gives up anyway. “Please, don’t kick me out, I fucking love the sauna and I also own the half of the flat.”

So Red Riot and Dynamight bought a flat together. Interesting.

Would it be weird to write a fanfiction about that, now that you know them in person? Probably.

The life of a hero fangirl is really hard sometimes.

“I have a Pikachu!” Kaminari chimes in proudly.

“I have a Hypno. Thanks for that, Denki…” Shinsou mumbles, clearly hating his teen self for being so stupid.

“I wanted us to match!”

“You have no reason to moan, Hitoshi, I have a fucking pinky tattooed on my bum.” Mina admits shamefully. The whole team bursts out laughing at the old memory.

“I have a picture of soba noodles. That’s my favorite food.” Todoroki declares with a straight face, like it’s a pretty normal thing to have your favorite food tattooed on your bottom.

“I have headphones! Like the ones I use when I fight the bad guys!”

“Mine was a small explosion but it was too boring so I made it into a massive one.” Bakugou pulls his shirt up, showing off a massive tattoo on his side. Wow, it’s really hot in here. Like, really really hot. Damn. You can’t believe no one ever realized that Dynamight has so many tattoos hidden under his shirt. The other side of him is also full of ink, but you can’t see enough of it to be able to decipher what it is exactly.

“Why can you show yours but I can’t show mine? It’s not fair!” Kirishima grumbles. “You know what, you can’t tell me what to do.” Kirishima slowly unbuttons his shirt and shows you a massive black and red dragon on his chest. So this is why the hero changed his costume into something less revealing. He’s hiding a fucking beast under it.

You might die tonight.

There is no way your heart can take more of this shit.

Where is the water? You are kind of thirsty. Respectfully… thirsty. For water.

Yeah.

“Can you guys stop stripping? I have a broccoli by the way. Not like anyone cares at this point.” Midoriya pouts and it’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen.

“Midoriya, that’s so fucking cute!” You yell, the two stripping heroes long forgotten. “Colored or black and white?”

Midoriya perks up now that your attention is back on him, a shy smile decorating his face.

“Colored. It matches my hair. I know most of us are ashamed of these tattoos but I really like it. It reminds me of my friends. It reminds me that I’m not alone anymore.” Midoriya smiles into the distance. “It reminds me that whatever happens, there will be someone there to catch me when I fall. We are a family.”

“That was so manly, goddamn it!” Kirishima cries, tears falling down his cheeks.

“What the fuck, shitty Deku, this was supposed to be fun, now I want to throw myself off a cliff!” Katsuki rolls his eyes aggressively but he can’t hide the fond smile when he looks at his crying flatmate.

“No worries buddy, Midoriya will be there to catch you!” Mina giggles, clearly having the time of her life as she looks at the three boys.

“Now you ruined it.” Midoriya mumbles, unimpressed. You really tried not to laugh, but seeing all these people taking the piss out of each other made you laugh out loud. You’ll never forget tonight, that’s for sure. These people are truly amazing.

After a few more minutes of banter the pizza arrives; Midoriya puts in a DVD with some old interviews and they all laugh at their awkward faces on the screen. The whole situation is so intimate, everyone is so close to the other, limbs and arms intertwined with each other while fond smiles are being exchanged when someone new appears on the screen. The guys tell you about Ingenium’s matching bum tattoo - he has a pair of glasses -, and about the time Jirou fell on the stage; you hear a bunch of stories the public have never heard about while Midoriya snuggles closer and closer as the night turns into an early morning… your heart swells from the happiness to be able to be a part of something so private without feeling like an intruder. The group welcomes you with open arms, letting you in without a question.

“Can I tell the story about Katsuki almost exploding his dick of when he tried to…” Denki mumbles half asleep, but Katsuki gives him a massive slap before he can finish the sentence.

“Midoriya had a girlfriend in high school for a few weeks but he was so wind up about their first kiss he threw up right in front of the poor girl. We haven’t seen her since. She changed schools.” Another half asleep mumble, this time from Kirishima, who somehow ended up sprawled out on everyone’s laps on the sofa.

“I think Denki’s bisexual awakening is a good story to tell. It was the first time I actually laughed in front of everyone. He’s helpless.” Todoroki chimes in, probably the only one still fully awake from the team.

“Says the guy who wanted to call an ambulance on a girl who blushed and didn’t even realize she was trying to ask him out.”

You have no idea who’s talking anymore. It’s almost 5 AM and Midoriya is so warm next to you, you can’t help but hide your face in his arms. You can feel Midoriya’s hands stroking your hair, the affectionate caress slowly lulling you to sleep.

“I’ll put Y/N to bed, you guys get comfortable. You know where to find the spare bedding, yeah?” Midoriya takes you in his arms, moving you towards your bedroom. The group mumbles incoherently, clearly ready to sleep as the hero puts you down on the soft sheets, tugging you in like a child. Something soft touches your forehead but you are too sleepy to react; it feels nice and warm like the sun on a breezy afternoon.

“Sleep tight, sweet pea. See you tomorrow.”Someone whispers. The nickname makes you smile subconsciously. “I don’t want to leave, to be honest. I always want to be around you, I wonder why.” You can still hear the mumbles but you can’t understand the words anymore; it’s too late and you are too tired to keep listening.

You dream about green curls and soft touches, about the stars and the moon, so close yet so far away, you dream about touching the sky, about reaching out for the brightest star only to fall back down on Earth, but you stand up and try again, until your hand reaches the one with the scars, until your fingers intertwine and you never let go again.

~•🥦•~

“Maybe it’s the cold of the night. Such a drastic change compared to the warmth of the day… I’ve never felt cold before but I probably didn’t even know how the warmth felt like on my skin until I’ve met you. Now that I know, I’m craving it. So much. You are like the sun, Y/N. Please, never change; and stay by my side for a bit longer, until I’m strong enough to let you go. I hope you’re sleeping. It will be really awkward if you’re not.” Midoriya giggles and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

Midoriya Izuku really needs to get a grip, he thinks as he makes his way to his own bedroom, already hating the cold feeling of his sheets.

… Next Chapter!

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Potato ramble:

Damn, that ending. DAMN.

Fun fact, that bit wasn’t planned. At all. It just happened. The hug wasn’t planned either. It’s all Midoriya’s fault.

- I also feel like I owe you guys an explanation for the iffy jealousy scene: in Midoriya’s case it was 50% jealousy and 50% protectiveness. He doesn’t really understand his own feelings yet and he couldn’t really handle that situation very well. He’ll get much better at it in the future. Midoriya was never a possessive person but Y/N told him he can be a bit selfish sometimes and he listened. He’s growing as a person it’s just really hard to tell. He’s such a weirdo I love him 🥦

- Ao3 is down and I want to cry.

Likes, reblogs and comments are appreciated as always 🥦💚

Taglist: @porusuniverse @stickygumchewer @sixxze @mily-moo @momothemasocist

[erosauriarts]

Avatar x BSD

Warning: It’s canon related violence similar to in show BSD.

Atsushi - The Avatar

I thought it would be fitting since Byakko is implied to be reincarnating????? Also the Netflix preview got me excited.

AU Premise

**None of the canon characters from ATLA or LOK are gonna be referenced UNLESS it’s to justify bending rules.**

Republic City exists, but it’s less western base, bc I didn’t like that lmfaooo (Basically Yokohama but as it was in the 1930-50s). White people???? Huh?? Ig they exist now??? 😨

Lore Plot:

Red Lotus killed the last avatar because they wanted to find the new one, for some enlightenment reasons (IDK radicals man). The hunt for the new one wanted to take and raise the new avatar to push their own agenda. The man that did it, passed down his legacy to Fyodor (water), and he was the one to find Atsushi. Atsushi was around 5-8 and was from the northern water tribe. Atsushi’s parent was the moon’s spirits guardians (funny ha ha bc his’s design in literally Yin and Yang to Aku). Fyodor takes Atsushi, and isolates him with the other spiritual believers. They raise him, misinforming him greatly over what being the avatar actually means. Though he has a pretty good connection to his bending, Fyodor being his water bending master. They located somewhere in the north-pole.

In this time, everyone is looking for the avatar, but in like that way where you are like “here kitty kitty pspspsp.” And they even have a bounty for him. Bring him back alive ofc! In this, Dazai (Air) and Yosano (Water) are adopted siblings from a young age from Mori (Fire). Dazai at 18 splits off and becomes a traveling nomad, bc he fucking felt like it. Yosano was 14 when Fukuzawa (Air) saved her. Mori would make Yosano blood-bend, and so when she got free, she swore to never blood-bend again. She now uses her bending, and became one of the best healers.

The Armed Detective Agency works similar to canon in this, but has a specialized duty to find the avatar and turn them over to the white lotus. It’s extremely hard to get into the ADA, and forces benders to really push themselves. (In a way higher than the police force) Dazai joins, and is basically the ADA’s lost cat that goes away and comes back with something either helpful or cursed.

Dazai got leads on Fyodor bc Atsushi accidently used the avatar state when he found some new (and/or) prob figured out what happened to his family. Dazai basically yoinks Atsushi from the isolated village, running back on all fours with the weretiger dangling from his mouth /j. Dazai shows up, drops the avatar off, then bounces. Even though Fyodor’s spiritual training and water-bending was severely indepth, Atsushi lacked alot of common sense. Atsushi’s abuse in this is more intense psychological punishment more then the physical one in canon. He’s.. alittle messed up, but besides the point. Regardless how much bad stuff he went through, he was genuinely sweet. The stress of the truth tho, threw him off balance, so he is hesitant to go into the avatar state.

Atsushi’s bending teachers / relationship

Water: Fyodor. Strictly mentor and caregiver. He sucked at caring for Atsushi’s needs, and only was interested in talking when Atsushi asked about spirtual connection and Philosophical debates. Spent most of his childhood till Dazai yoinks him at 18

Earth: Kunikida. He sucked at it originally, but Atsushi was so determine, he ends up asking for help to connect. Atsushi warms up to him, looking up to him for strength.

Air: Dazai. The third one, and he’s stressed. Dazai runs circles around Atsushi, causing so much mental strain. Atsushi gets frustrated, and nearly gave up, but Dazai manages to get a mutual understanding.

Fire: Kyouka. Though younger, Kyouka was the fastest firebender. She constantly beat Atsushi when the Port Mafia sent her out. (He gets saved by the ADA a lot lol)

Character Mentions

Ranpo: A none bender. Works with the Republic City police force, but spends most of his time with the ADA. He actively helps them get around the police.

Akutugawa: Earth Bender. He can bend metal, and is actually really scary (..er?)

Chuuya: I go back and forth between earth and fire. And I think earth bc of his boom boom, smash kapow moments in canon. I thought fire cause hehe red.

Nikolai: Air. He’s that one guy that does flips and is nearly impossible to get a hold off. Boys a slinky. He’s Fyodor’s right hand man… they even… KISS?

[horizon-verizon]

Cersei vs Rhaenyra's Children: The Political & Personal Implications of Their Appearances & Existences

[REDO bc previous wasn't written well enough]

Aside from THIS and THIS showing how negligible & changeable the effects and meaning of "bastardry" was in the real world and Westeros (very important posts)...

Despite the argument that Rhaenyra's cheating doesn't equal modern-day cheating, the flavor of feudal monarchist misogyny against female agency, and how Rhaenyra actually didn't have that many options of a safe father for her necessary heirs (scroll down to section D, parts 3-5), there are still some who argue that she should have chosen someone who looks like Laenor or like her, sometimes using Cercei' 's situation with her own kids and Robert to say "At ThE eNd Of ThE dAy", Rhaenyra's kids are bastards.

No, neither set are bastards.

Neither set were ever declared or "acknowledged" as bastards. Robert probably would have had he bene informed, but bc he died before then, Cersei's kids are not officially bastards…which is what is required to have them "legally" known as bastards. Because bastardry has always been more of a legal question in its nature than a biological fact of nature. Of course, we know that Rhaenyra's kids aren't Laenor's biologically; Ned deuced that Cersei's weren't Robert's biologically. And medieval customs put the social-legal identification of "bastard" based on the institution of marriage and its compulsions on women and their reproductive labor claimed by the men "licensed" to own them. Which is why when we say that neither Cersei's nor Rhaenyra's kids are "bastards", it is true because the role of bastardry is to attempt to reclaim the product of reproductive labor…and Viserys/Corlys/Laenor/Robert have already done that. To protest about how Robert didn't know about his kids not being his kids is really to protest how he didn't not get the products of Cersei's reproductive labor the in the objectifying business of labor intrinsic in this feudal society. Whereas Viserys/Laenor/Corlys accepted the products of Rhaenyra's reproductive labor.

They both "get away" with something, with being revealed & exposed as having had extramarital sex (not "affairs", bc Rhaenyra didn't have an affair, she and Laenor had and agreement!)...but because they do not share the same positions nor have the same sort of people around them, their kids therefore are not in the same boats nor do not share similar sociopolitical positions. And yes, if the parentage of their kids get exposed, there are possible, terrible consequences. But they will not be treated the same.

Sometimes people argue that Cersei had even more success in passing off her kids than Rhaenyra bc "at least" they look like her...even this is negliable and reductive.

A) Really, the Prime Reason, but whatever, this is a Master Post

Rhaenyra is the heir. All her kids have DIRECT claim to the Iron throne through her. Not Laenor, not Daemon, not Harwin...RHAENYRA!

Cersei's children "should" have had claim to the throne from their father Robert because Cersei has no claim AT ALL to the Iron throne bc she's not a Baratheon. Indirect nor Direct.

["direct" refers to a vertical lineage (mom and grandparent were heirs or the monarchs); "indirect" would be like your cousin or uncle being the heir or monarch]

And adding onto this, Viserys, the MONARCH, ABSOLUTELY knows those children are biologically Laenor's Laenor knows. Corlys knows. Yet all three accept those kids as their heirs/relations and thus also place them as their respective heirs for their respective seats. (This is an example of how lords are far more interested in making sure that their singular, sovereign privilege to decide things for their house and reducing the chances of dissenters than they are in seeing a possible claimaint question them or challenge them/their heirs for power, whether they have claim or not. that the oaths that any perosn makes to them are honored and in that way they can also be assured to have the loyalties of those making those oaths. Rhaenyra's claim had other implications and stakes for the lords than her being a woman! Hence why most of Westeros pledged and fought for Rhaenyra!!!--thought from rhaenin-time here on Tumblr)

As for "but they were never publicly recognized or acknowledged as bastards for them to be openly legitimized", only the monarch can declare any legitimizations -> there has never been a time when a noble/royal woman--who did not rule a house or the realm in her own right nor was declared as an heir--birthing a bastard has had that bastard legitimized except for Daemon Blackfyre. Daena was not a Queen regnant nor ever the heir. She was slotted to be the Queen Consort, like Cersei became. Rhaenyra does not share this position, she was the heir and if you are wondering why this matters, you have not read my previous paragraphs correctly or at all.

In acknowledgements--when "the biological father of a bastard may...bring him formally into his house"--it is always been the father doing the customary acknowledgement! Why? Because women who have extramarital sex, unlike men, usually don't given keep the right to marry bc she's "ruined", "unchaste", or-and "disobedient" and "unfaithful", much less be considered an autonomous claimant to anything. A person who is forever considered more a dependent than an agent in their own society cannot have the same abilities as an agent unless they are like Rhaenyra...and even then the gender roles are so strong as to make exceptions for someone like Rhaenyra. Since to be a woman = "obedience" to a male/male adjacent force/entity.

Daemon Blackfyre's father, Aegon IV, was not only royal-noble himself, he was the King (Aegon IV). If Daena had Daemon by a noble nonroyal, or a peasant man, her son would never have been legitimized even with her acknowledging him bc she had already been politically subordinated by Baelor, the Dance, etc. so as to not have political allies at court/beyond and be even less considered as the "safe" enough". Even if she had been older than Aegon IV. Any child she had/Daemon's claim to the throne would be considered weaker than any child by Aegon IV, bastard or not. Which is a huge reason why she went for Aegon IV of all people when she escaped!!!! Besides the fact that it would have been beyond obvious that Naerys was not at all his type and he would have not tried to hide that, she not only wanted to express her defiance and autonomy for her being locked up, she wanted her own blood claim (the political power she had left) to really mean something after Baelor's naked attempts to diminish it. By being the mother to a child who could reasonably compete with any of Aegon's even just in theory, she in turn "restores" the value and meaning of her own blood/power. Again, what mattered is that her kid(s) is also another Targ's, bastard or not.

There is no agnatic primogeniture in Westeros except maybe in the North (girls are not heirs or monarch no matter what). Except Dorne, where there is absolute primogeniture--any firstborn, male or female--can become the heir/ruler--Westeros has always done male-preferred primogeniture. Men have chosen female heirs or rulers, have been lead by women. Look them up in A World of Ice and Fire.

Men have been the final authority or privileged decider of the two genders precisely because they were the ones who usually had the power to do so. There is no written and consistent "law", only traditions and customs. So yes they have had the only practical authority to "acknowledge".

Therefore on the issue of Rhaenyra's kids having strong claim...yes they do, because Rhaenyra is in a similar[not same] position of every lord, male noble, and male heir: she is the "decider" of her house. Daemon was not the one to make final decisions of Dragonstone when they married, that was all Rhaenyra!

Whereas Cersei's kids do not in the purest technical sense because she has no claim at all to the throne by blood and Westeros is not 17th-18thth centuries Russia where a empress consort could become empress regnant through her marriage alone.

And obviously, since Rhaenyra is the next head and her firstborn is Jace and we don't see her choose any heirs apart from him...Jace is her legitimate heir.

B) Cersei's reason for choosing Jaime or not the same for why Rhaenyra chose Harwin to be the father of hers.

We could argue all day that genetics gives us children who could inherit "50-50" of their parents' features or something like that, but:

ASoIaF genetics is weirder than real genetics.

The Baratheons (even when marrying Lannisters & other houses) tend to yield dark-haired kids, & yet Cersei's 3 kids are all blonde with no Baratheon gray eyes...it's like people forgot the information Ned used to prove that she was fucking Jaime and was passing her kids off as Robert's in the first place, but maybe some people who argue this simply hadn't read the books while they make arguments about the series simultaneously

Both women relied on their aristocratic privileges to maintain and accrue power (Rhaenyra, blood claim and king-chosen; Cersei, born an aristocrat, a Lannister, and married to a King, mother to another). Cersei actually should be risking herself similar to how some say Rhaenyra was. She's not protected by a royal father, but by an "ordinary" aristocratic man, right?

Wrong!

Tywin Lannister is not that much smarter than Tyrion or her; it's that he's built a very intimidating reputation from his ruthlessness towards the Reynes, amassed great wealth, sided with Robert at the last minute, and made/maintained important connections (Steffon Baratheon and Aerys II) since he was in his early twenties. Nevertheless, in the world they live in, he has made his house more materially powerful and socially prestigious than it has ever been. But his greatest oversight was to abuse his own kids into their own versions of incompetencies so that his house wouldn't be able to continue its stature beyond himself and his brother Kevan. But for the sake of the climate Cersei grew up and developed her Lannister Exceptionalism, what I say still matters. With her father's influence and silent rejection, she has learned that to be powerful is to abuse and use up others. To cause enough fear to intimidate others that they couldn't dare to attack her or anyone she loved.

(For writings about Cersei, click HERE, HERE, and HERE).

She has less faith put into her than Rhaenyra had & she has been raised-left to block out what could diminish the soundness of her ideas through trying to emulate Tywin while not having his man-exclusive privileges. We have seen Cersei's mind and how she thinks for many chapters. While she has a good knowledge of history, she is also not patient or self-aware/accepting enough of her own limits to be good at critical thinking & be a good enough strategist. She's too prideful and full of deluded self-grandeur--her way of self-affirming against the misogyny she received since she was below 10 butting against her need to practice "real", substantive power. The same kind & level of power and compunction men are allowed.

But with this AND the fact they are different types of Queens...

While both women were severely limited in what partner they could have while still expect to have the security and positions that they had:

Rhaenyra, as the first true female heir apparent of the realm, had to have more planning and preparations for her to be able to ascend with as little issue as possible than if she were male. Rhaenyra's husband was gay and couldn't bring himself to "properly" impregnate her. She had to have heirs to secure her own claim and Viserys' wishes that she take the throne. It was her "duty" as a woman AND heir. It was thus also the only way she'd be even more assured she'd have a smoother time ascending. So her husband not impregnating her is a huge problem. And she was not a rapist, so forcing Laenor to do would be rape. If you are okay with Rhaenyra or any person raping their spouse to get heirs, you are not the type of person who should be reading ASoIaF nor have any sort of relationship, frankly. You are a menace to society, and a hypocritical because how is rape better than having "bastards"?!!! And she had to choose a father that would not try to risk her one her kids' lives by trying to say he was the dad or otherwise try to gain benefits by being said father. A man who would be with her for her alone and not try to overrule or overbear her authority/position for his own gain. ...So, for duty + love + intimacy = different types of "safety", Rhaenyra chose Harwin.

Cersei chose Jaime because she was suffering from both spousal abuse and the destroyed expectations in her role for being Queen Consort. All her life, Tywin had been hyping & telling her she would be the Consort of Rhaegar specifically. Like Alicent, Cersei and every girl knew that to be the Consort of the King was usually the highest rank and means to the most wealth/prestige a woman could have. Women are human, so they also have the propensity for ambition, or they want the most "safety" and "glory". Because Robert didn't hide or even try to engage with Cersei in a really human way because of his "missed chance" with Lyanna AND Cersei had grown up with the foundation that it was her Lannister exceptionalism that made her worthy (since being a woman wasn't enough), Cersei was forever offended by Robert. Again, there was a chance for Robert to be patient and engage when he perceived her reluctance...instead her tried to foist his displeasure on her own "coldness". Saying that she "owed" him her body no matter how she felt about him. Even with that being the custom, custom shouldn't trump human dignity. Like slavery...so it's okay to own a human being because by law or by tradition, they aren't human?! Because of custom, a woman's children aren't really hers but her husband, even though she could have nearly died birthing all/any of them...let's bfr. And we know that Robert physically abuses her. It really doesn't matter when or how it got there, once you decided to lay hands on people, you have debased them and are not owed neither respect nor should be owed protection. In fact, it is this entrapment of "duty" that propels Cersei into her being even more prideful...because without that pride, what else does she have?! Unfortunately, unlike Dany, Cersei's pride relies on her nobility and viciousness to "get the job done", on her being as "masculine" as possible. She has always admired the Targs exactly for their domination & the exclusive right to practice Westerosi-considered-incest (siblings), so, through Jaime/twin incest--the person she feels she would have been if she were male--she's affirming both her autonomy AND making a claim on her worthiness AND kinda making claim on him.

Robert, by abusing her and not recognizing her as worthy enough, she has decided, doesn't get to have further domination to her through reproduction. He does not get to totally "own" her through her children. If Cersei had any kids by Robert, it's very likely she would have hated them or at least really neglected them. If she hadn't tried to abort them even late into the pregnancy and risk her own life (I'm talking purposefully falling down the stairs or getting her hands on "cheap" moontea that could have wracked her body and/or killed her). It's her last line, her means of establishing control over herself...like Daena defying Baelor.

But bc unlike Rhaenyra, Cersei was Queen Consort, was never blood related to any royal, is and always will be just the Queen Mother AND if Robert had known any of her kids weren't his...GRRM has said that Robert would likely kill them. Cersei can "get away" with her kids looking more like her when they should at least have one have dark hair (again, all 3 have her & Lannister eyes and hair..ironic how like Rhaenyra, there are 3 kids) because:

neither Robert nor Tywin know about her kids; Robert definitely would have at least gone off the handle and tried to kill her and the kids, and I'm not sure about Tywin except that he'd never let go of his hold of the throne after years of his perceived and real humiliations to get close to it

Robert Baratheon owes his final victory of the rebellion to Tywin and the strongest support for his reign to Tywin Lannister, who has worked towards getting his blood on the throne for years and unlike to let a little blonde hair stop him.

On the other hand, while Viserys I's status is definitely protecting Rhaenyra and her children, Viserys, like Tywin, is the one who got his daughter into the mess she is in in the first place through his poor planning and wanting the "easiest" solution. Cersei doesn't have any other great support other than Tywin and Robert, while Rhaenyra at least had the Velaryons and multiple lords to fight for her in the name of chosen-heir-first. If Robert were to even try to harm her kids, he'd think of Tywin first before doing anything drastic, but there's still the possibility he'd be so angry as to actually blindly attack her or her kids and Tywin can't be everywhere. That and there was no universe where Cersei could have married Jaime as Rhaenyra should have been able to with Daemon (Targs have that overall, cultural ability--even with Starks marrying their uncles to nieces twice!); but Cersei pursues a relationship with Jaime anyway...because she wants to, makes her feel more like the "perfect" being, it brings her a sense of bodily autonomy and control after her marital abuse, and it's the most convenient thing.

As I already stated, Cersei isn't actually thinking of the real politics as motivation to be with Jaime so much as the self-soothing fantasies made from her own yearning desire for power and perfection. It's not truthful to make it as if she were this mastermind or even cares to know real strategy or at least far-thinking when she has never done that except for the wildfyre...which was a disastrous and stupid plan by its execution (ahem, Aerys II). Tywin may hide that her kids aren't Robert for the sake of reputation and keep them safe like Viserys, but his feelings in doing so are not in the same realm of loving even though, kinda like how it is Viserys' fault that Rhaenyra was in the position that she was in, Tywin is at fault for Cersei's. Her being married to Robert. Cersei is a pure pawn piece to Tywin, more than her brothers, because she is a woman and he will never allow her to be his heir. At the same time, it is by Tywin's support that Robert was able to cinch his butt on the throne.

You can read more HERE, as this analysis comes from blankwhiteshield. Cersei didn't have that much access to anyone else her entire life, even as a Consort, because, once more women do not have the same mobility as men (scroll down to "Medieval/Westerosi Noble Male vs. Female Mobility") and she is neither a Tyrell nor a Martell.

C) The Velaryons, if people really want to use their race to "prove" anything

1. If you cannot read throughly, you will miss the argument.

Some people have opted to use the "why aren't Rhaenyra's sons not darker?! It's so obvious that she had bastards!" thing. This assumes that these same people want to use real-life genetics as their main crutch.

With more people showing their kids online, we ourselves are getting to witness that interracial couples often have children in various colorations, from very thin, pale-blond-light-eyed to darker-skinned, darker eyes, coilier hair.

Ryan Condal and other producers/writers of HotD made the Velaryons historically black with no hint of blue, gray, or green eyes like Milly Alcock, Emma D'arcy, and Paddy Considine. Or vice versa. (Putting purple eyes in either post or contacts for some actors who are willing could have helped here, but the point is that the Velaryons who don't have Targs for direct relatives [Rhaenys being Laenor & Laena's mother] and Targs only share the pale hair part of Valyrian appearance).

Valaena Velaryon (the 3 conquerors' mother) would then be also black/darker skinned. Alyssa Velaryon (Rhaena--rider of Dreamfyre--, Jaehaerys I, & Alysanne's mom) would also be black/mixed/have darker skin.

Therefore every Targ after the Conquerors & before Aegon V are visibly black/mixed/darker-skinned (including Daemon, Viserys, and Rhaenyra)

After Aegon V marries the white Betha Blackwood, the Targs continue to marry lighter women, and thus the Targs get lighter and lighter until we get Dany & her siblings being white-white.

If we were to actually introduce black/mixed Rhaenyra, her kids with Laenor should also have inherited the eyes/hair/etc. of Valyrians. But even if she, this should-be-mixed-Rhaenyra had just white-Harwin as her lover and father to her kids....her kids could very well turn out very similar as they do now. Ironically, despite his own intentions and words, Condal set us up with a reason to believe that Rhaenyra should be even less suspected of having bastards even with the boys' dark hair and eyes.

Again, Because she would be visibly mixed, they also should be visibly mixed. Even though they aren't Laenor's biologically.

Not only does Rhaenys canonically have dark hair in the actual book, but her cousin Borros has the Baratheon dark hair that canon!Rhaenys supposedly (if we follow true genetics) and likely could have given Laenor to pass onto his own kids. Thereby he also really missed an opportunity to show how "obvious" the greens' slander was not working outside of us looking at Alicent's frenetic movements. See how this change could have actually given a more nuanced revelation and element to the story the writers created?!

In HotD, they should have all display variances of hair texture & eye color, including Jaehaerys, Daemon, and Rhaenyra themselves. However, this change and the inconsistency it brings up are not things that I "hate" in of themselves because we do need more than just white people in our mainstream fantasy until we force people to produce actual black/African fantasies....and there are a lot of them.

What I criticize is that Ryan Condal made it very clear that he sees the race play as a means to make it that much more "obvious" that Rhaenyra's kids aren't Laenor's, which both cheapens the value of how much misogyny plays a role against Rhaenyra as well as cheapens and emphasizes the inconsistency of how the writers use the Velaryons' blackness/darkness into it just being a political tool to audiences. (Entertainment Weekly)

"Once we had that idea, it just felt like everything fell into place," Condal recalls.

And this is what this Cosmopolitan Black critic had to say, but more eloquently than me:

Nowhere in the first season does HotD mention the Blackness of its few Black characters. All we’re told is that House Velaryon has blood from Old Valyria, which means they are really close to the Targaryens and often marry each other to keep the bloodline “pure.” Nothing wrong with that, but since the Velaryons are Black, shouldn’t all Velaryons have Afrocentric features? The casting department didn’t think so, apparently. One of the main storylines in the first season is the denial that Rhaenyra Targaryen’s children are bastards even though they have white skin and loose curly black hair while their “father” is Laenor Velaryon, a white-haired Black man with dreads. The book Fire & Blood (which the show is adapted from) also follows this plot point. But the Velaryons aren’t Black in the book, meaning it’s somewhat believable or at the very least plausible that Rhaenyra’s children are Leanor’s. I know this is a fantasy show, but there’s something really cringe about (1) trying to pass three obviously white children off as Black and (2) making the one Black family on the show the center of a *checks notes* paternity scandal. Even if House of the Dragon were only following the book’s plot point—the question of the legitimacy of Rhaenyra’s children—the decision to cast House Velaryon and thus Laenor as Black means that race and racial connotations needed to be introduced as well. You shouldn’t cast a white character as a person of color and then ignore their racial identity.

There were African Christians in the medieval-e/modern pd. worlds; however, this sort of paternity check-thru-race is a post-slavery, modern element.

And while race and genetics in the ASoIaF books are strange, it is not strange enough to eschew skin coloring OR the implications of being the only house that is only/mainly black-skinned altogether and what we readers would expect from that. House Velaryon would have intermarried, for example...have they been marrying each other? siblings, first cousins, and/or second cousins--or more often with other houses? How often for each type of marriage? If the last, why do they all still retain their West Afro-leaning features 90% of the time, even by ASoIaF standards of genetics? Are the other Valyrian houses exclusively black (Celtigar)? Will Rhaenyra's master-of-coin Bartimos Celtigar also be black (from episode 10, no it doesn't look like it)? If not, then that just further shows how the Velaryon-being-black change hasn't been enough to make HotD a model standout in creating meaningful diversity in mainstream fantasy media.

Neglecting the story, the implications of introducing race even with the argument of there being African Christians in the medieval era being accepted (though when you go back, it's more of complicated than that), and thus making race more of a downplayed object instead of an identity.

2. What does this mean, then?

With HotD's changes and by the argument of "Rhaenyra's kids are obviously not black!", if they had authentically used race and skin color when they said it mattered within the show (Condal already said this!), then show!Rhaenyra, by THEIR logice, should be visibly mixed, not white

AND:

show!Rhaenyra's actually should able to pick any lover of any coloring (as long as they have a trustworthy character) bc her kids will always logically/visually "pass" as Laenor's, no matter their actual father; her boys, no matter what would likely have darker skin or be mixed with their array of coloring, because SHE would have that

Laenor, being their official dad, is already black and further showing how their paternity wouldn't be as suspect if it weren't for social manipulation

their appearance wouldn't be as controversial WITHOUT the greens sowing doubt

again, she'd have more ability to choose than Cersei, but bc Rhaenyra in HotD and F&B is still the heir to the throne instead of a regular noblewoman and goes to Dragonstone to rule it independently. Thereby meeting with more people face to face without being as restricted as she would have been as a Queen Consort.

Why have have the comment abt race and skin color at all? if it's not not actually going to matter in-world?! And if it doesn't matter, it was a tasteless, sexist and racist "joke" on Condal's part.

Without the greens, the only reason why anyone would suspect Rhaenyra's kids was bc Laenor was open-secret-gay & chose of his own volition to not be around her as often as people expect married couples to be.

Like I implied in section B), neither are in either Rhaenyra's control nor her fault. If people argue she should have forced Laenor to stay by order, I don't doubt that some of those people are the ones who would say/have said she should have forced him to have sex with her despite his lack of desire, lack of enthusiastic consent, and inability OR that she should have had a slave from any of the Valyrian Free Cities to impregnate her. All of which is rape and/or exploitation of lower-classed persons' bodies.

To the HotD writers...Give us more! Develop a stonger sense of the court's attitude of Rhaenyra and Alicent's and their respective families!!! Give us a pan or something of the courtiers having silent "fun" but doing it so as to not get either Otto's eye or move themselves apart from Alicent's favor. Something that shows the audience that Alicent is trying really hard to smear Rhaenyra out of spite, and therefore puts her in the narrative position of being wrong/villainous for her internalized misogyny through slight implied mocking. If we go through with just the *shrug* of making ASoIaF genetics "that way", still, Condal's still neglected the real implications of making the entire Velaryon house black and all other houses white/predominantly white.

Again, IF he wants to encourage the audience to rely so much on genetics to castigate Rhaenyra!!! If the audience does so without his input, then this still applies to those who would do so to make their arguments against Rhaenyra!!!.

Finally....

HotD tried to make as if they were doing something more meaningful with HotD and a project that image and for some it worked bc racist/sexist consumerism, but it still failed to recreate the meaningful drama and convey the subtle & unsubtle criticisms of many ideologies, historical actions, and social structures that the original story was going for by not thinking of the implications of having mixed/black Velaryon people. And it was probably because they focused more on diluting the sides, in what ozymalek says was made by their own misunderstanding F&B:

The Dance era in "Fire and Blood" is something that will fundamentally cause the feelings of cognitive dissonance. I think this is why people initially disliked this book when it first came out. It did not provide easy answers, it was written as a historical account, the in-universe historians were clearly biased. People, however, had trouble realizing who the historians are biased for and against. Team Green would have you think that "F&B" is biased against the Greens, because their allegiance as maesters clearly being to Hightowers notwithstanding, they could not evade simple historical facts: that most of the kingdom supported Rhaenyra, that Greens were horrendously misogynistic and that her usurpation was clearly wrong. That's why, approaching it from the "choose your favorite war criminal" point of view, it was difficult for Greens to accept that their preferred side is so cartoonishly evil - obviously bias must have been involved, even though the only pro-Black narrator of F&B is Mushroom, the rest are Greens. The maester's anti-Targaryen bias, however, manages to sneak in and mess with the reader's balance, causing said cognitive dissonance. It's hard to deal with it as a reader, let alone as a showrunner who's trying to adapt a story in which not everything is set in stone. They incorrectly assumed that, because they are constantly forced to question what is happening in the story, the bias is with the underlying idea that there was a correct side. As such, they assumed that all the inconsistencies result from maesters not choosing to view it that way. Ryan Condal repeatedly stated that he does not want watchers to pick sides, while George RR Martin embraces it and even encourages it (and I think that he himself has picked the Blacks). Such is our nature as human beings. So they decided that they have to balance the scales.

They really refused to consider & imagine how the difference in race would change the narrative of the Dance and consequently think of ways to make it still work for the story's purpose of showing how people can manipulate self-images and others' images, especially when it concerns women and women in the pursuit of access to higher powers. It refused to actually work to integrate the Blackness, fine. but then it OR the audience--who praised said move--also tried to use said Blackness to make meaning but make meaning against Rhaenyra.

So now there are critical plotholes and missed opportunities in the narrative that just make the story more boring, flatter, and deceptively simpler while still converting misogynist and racist sentiments into stereotypical narratives--thereby discouraging its audience from engaging in proper insight/observing patterns of social manipulation in the misogyny against Rhaenyra, as well as the show's own different flavors of misogyny in Alicent, Laena, Rhaenys' etc.'s re-writings.

They really want Rhaenyra's actions of sexual autonomy to be either criticized, seen as a flaw of hers, or make her agency thematically subordinate to the misogynist expectations that some may feel should guide Rhaenyra's rule/self-conduct. Therefore, it's encouraging the audience to look at Rhaenyra as a/the negative agent, to comply with the misogynist forces and their logic against her. The agent of society-destruction instead of someone trying to move through a society set up more against her than for her. To judge a female leader differently than a male one, judge her "worthiness" to rule more by her willingness to be as traditional and misogynist against herself. To be more complicit with the status quo.

When really no one should genuinely internalize the need to impress or "prove" one's worthiness to people who already believe your gender, skin, etc. justifies your exclusion from certain positions of power, rights, and privileges. That is like asking nicely or behaving like a "good girl" to heart (not just using it as covers) & expecting the same treatment men have/the same rights. This is how show!Alicent thinks and what gets her into that frantic state that makes her think less clearly than she could, adding to the anxiety and abuse she already receives from her father and Larys Strong. Unfortunately, Alicent's belief in "duty" and the absolute "sacrifice" that mainly women must make for a "orderly" aristocratic society just serves to imprison her.

[iamnmbr3]

❤️🧡💛

If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose? What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with? What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

1)

Oooh! Not sure! I think if Ron didn't come back or died in book 7 it could've been really interesting and would make for fodder for a nice AU. I also felt like Ginny's characterization changed a lot in book 6. I liked how she was written much better in book 5. So I wish book 5 Ginny could've been in book 6 and 7 lol. But yeah for real in general I think the characters in the series are overall interesting and dynamic and I like them and the narrative potential they have, even if I feel JKR doesn't always allow them to live up to that potential so there aren't really characters that I'd want to excise, even if there are definitely writing decisions I'd like to remove.

2)

I personally hate the theory that Regulus was forced into becoming a death eater. He literally had a little Voldemort mood board in his room. And he joined up when Voldemort was active and being pretty clear about what he stood for. Plus he seems to have liked his family - he painstakingly hand painted the Black family crest in his room. And we know from Kreacher that he very excitedly and enthusiastically talked about how wizards were going to rule over all the Muggles etc. Which isn't surprising given the family he grew up in. Acting like he was a soft uwu baby who never made any bad decisions and was forced into everything robs the character of agency and makes him far more shallow and less nuanced than he is. Which is such a shame. Because Regulus is fascinating. Let characters make mistakes and suffer the consequences. Let characters be flawed. Let characters be hypocritical and complex and interesting!

Something else that I don't feel as strongly about but am a bit iffy on is the idea that Harry literally became the Master of Death in the end of the series. Look, I've read some great and compelling meta on Master of Death Harry and I've also seen some fics that do it well. But generally speaking, it's not an interpretation I enjoy. I tend to prefer the idea of the Hallows as very powerful magical objects with a lot of mythology around them. (And possibly some connection to the Veil in the Death Chamber which may be what the "bridge" between life and death in the story is based on).

In general though I'm not thrilled with like the idea of them actually being three things that if united literally give the user power over life and death. To me that feels just a bit op to the point of being underwhelming (yes I understand I am saying this about the series with a magic luck potion and time turners). It's just narratively kind of uninteresting and unsatisfying to me and it feels way too abrupt to introduce it so late in the series since it fundamentally changes the world building, feel of the story and style of magic we see in the series. And it's just...usually not that cool to me. Plus, I don't think it's even really especially supported by the cannon. I think JKR's intent was to leave it ambiguous or even to hint that there is no such thing as a true Master of Death, and in this case I think she did a decent job of executing on that intent. That's just my read though.

3)

This is hard for me to answer because I'm very much of a ship and let ship mindset even when I don't personally back something. One ship that I haven't yet found content for that I enjoy is dramione. I've nothing against it, but I feel like a lot of dramione fic tends to reduce Hermione to a Mary Sue and get rid of all her complexity and flaws and rough edges, which is a shame. I feel the same about a lot of tomione fics too, which is also a shame because Hermione has a bit of a ruthless streak that could be very interesting to explore in that context if done right. Maybe I just haven't found the right fics tho. Also in canon, Lupin/Tonks. Just what? It always felt like it came out of nowhere to me and didn't feel like it had enough buildup to make sense. It always felt very weird and random and jarring to me.

[psychewritesbs]

Been reading your opinions on the boy of all time megumi and can I just say firstly, thank you for being so good w words BC man you get his character so well and you're so good at getting into all the little details abt him that I can never properly describe to ppl, Like, the whole breaks the trope while following the trope thing?? YOU GOT THAT ALL SO CORRECT THATS EXACTLY IT IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS I LOVE HIS CHARACTER SM BC EVEN JUST RIGHT OFF THE BAT HE BREAKS THE USUAL STOIC BROODING CHARACTER TROPE(THE trope) BY ACTUALLY CONSTANTLY SHOWING although subtly THAT HE DOESNT HATE EVERYONE?? im getting way off track already i actually popped in here to just ask abt how you think the whole sukuna possessing megumi thing will all turn out?? I honestly feel like slapping myself for not seeing it coming tbh like they talked about the head of the six eyes and ten shadows battling it out to the death before and sukuna kept on hyping up megumi like they were so obviously setting that up there and I just. Denied. But I'm just asking BC personally I think that it would really show the final steps of growth for megumi's character if he is actually able to surprise sukuna, even for a little, and come back from the depths of where ever tf he is rn bc yk his whole issue w/ self worth and what he believes he's capable of and I just wanted to know what you think the best outcome for his character would be? Sorry this is such a mess I just have so many thoughts zooming around my brain and I'm trying to...make them make sense...

ITS THE MEGUMI LOVE!!!! Yessssss. Thank you for sending me Megumi love! I love getting Megumi love 🫶🏼.

Man, Megumi is just such a good character. Truly one of Gege's best. Everything he's done with him from how his character is based on the trope while also subverting the trope, to his backstory and his growth arc and how it's been executed... It's poetic justice.

I love Megumi so much, and any time I see someone hate on Megumi for really shallow or toxic reasons I just lose all faith in humanity. It's one thing to not care for him as a character and quite another to dislike him for being a "disappointing deuteragonist" because he's "weak", "hasn't had character development", and "did not master 10 Shadows"..................................................

Bruh...

ANYWAYS 😂 you see... this is the thing... I am trying really hard not to speculate about what might happen regarding Sukuna WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY I'M GOING TO SPECULATE BECAUSE I LOVE SUKUNA BUT FUCK SUKUNA!

ehem. More of me not being normal about Megumi under the cut.

Ok in all seriousness... with chapter 230 and how Sukuna forced Megumi to take the brunt hit of Unlimited Void, something shifted in me.

For some time I've been reluctant to make any predictions about Megumi coming out alive because I don't want to have preconceived expectations coloring my weekly reading experience, but mostly because, like Megumi, I have a tendency to bunt instead of swinging for the fence so as to not experience disappointment. Read this to mean I don't want to get my hopes up about Megumi surviving.

That is not to mention that I took Sukuna possessing Megumi's body personal. idk, something about seeing Megumi lose his agency felt both so wrong and yet so right on a metaphorical level. Wrong because DAMN YOU SUKUNA GO BACK TO YOUR BODY! and right because... as you said, Megumi had it coming both from a narrative and psychological perspective.

From then on, we just saw him sink deeper and deeper into learned helplessness and despair, culminating on this beautiful image of him in the fetal position.

Truly a reversal of ego back into the metaphorical mother (the unconscious) as though he was in the birth canal waiting for rebirth. And come to think of it, in the Japanese fandom, one of the more popular theories revolved around "birth" or something like that.

So with ch. 230, my hope for Megumi is renewed somehow. A lot of people think he's done for, especially after UV. But I'm on camp #this is going to backfire badly on both Gojo and Sukuna... or at least I hope it does.

So....

I'm just asking BC personally I think that it would really show the final steps of growth for megumi's character if he is actually able to surprise sukuna, even for a little

EXACTLY! And see, this is the thing, I don't want to see Megumi be saved by anyone other than himself. If Megumi is saved by others, then he didn't learn his lesson.

Basically, Megumi has taken Tsumiki's place as the Sleeping Beauty that is in need of rescuing. He's become a passive agent in his own life, which is exactly what gave Sukuna an opening.

If Gojo or Yuji, or anyone for that matter, comes in and saves Megumi without Megumi putting up a fight, then this whole growth process is metaphorically and literally aborted.

Like you, I personally think that this period could be a metaphorical gestational period for Megumi and I wonder if he's going to reach a tipping point where the anger he feels is stronger than the learned helplessness or something like that.

I just wanted to know what you think the best outcome for his character would be?

ALL THAT TO SAY THAT YES. Sukuna might be my other fave, but I am looking forward to either Megumi giving him a hard time or straight up beating the crap out of him.

Megumi has earned that privilege.

Right now, I am wondering how UV has affected Megumi's brain and what that will mean for his behavior. My hc is that his negative self-image is partly due to "reason". In other words, reason = his sense of self as the story he tells himself about himself.

But Megumi levels up because of imagination. Now that he's been hit by UV (I understand it's been 5 times?), how has being flooded with infinity affected the left (reason or logic, analytical) hemisphere of his brain?

Another idea I've been keeping quiet about is that part of the rebirth process involves moving through hell and up into heaven (a la Dante's Divine Comedy as a metaphor for a process of initiation or enlightenment). Megumi right now is sinking in hell as he comes face to face with inner evil.

So can we expect him to come back up? Will Beatrice make a cameo? I'm looking forward to whatever the cursed cat is cooking.

I just have so many thoughts zooming around my brain and I'm trying to...make them make sense...

ahaha, same tho.

Hey thanks again for the Megumi love, the kind comments, and for stopping by! Here's to hoping Gege does bring our boy back 🙌.

[the-darkness-does-not-bargain]

*sounds of a massive stampede* wn superhero au???? *blurry eyes emoji* beatrice lightning powers, ava frankenstein esque creature, lilith fire & claws, mary & camilla as batman, ga types, and shannon as superman type???? omfg all of this sounds so damn cool, i almost wanna put my fist through a wall but in like the best & most excited of ways (<- might just be a little obsessed w comics and superheroes)

pls do elaborate all about it, and on how ava does gain her powers 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Bestie, you're really to blame for all of this because you put the seed in my head, so here we go.

What I'm imagining is a scenario where superheroes have been around long enough to receive some amount of regulation. Superhero teams largely act independently but are beholden to government bodies and have to abide by certain special laws. I'm picturing Supreme Court cases and federal bills outlining hero jurisdictions, how heroes are allowed to investigate crimes, and how the court system handles superhero activity (is evidence found by a superhero admissible? Do heroes have to respect Miranda rights? etc. etc. Including variations based on country of origin, so Spain's laws will be different from America's etc. etc.).

People who have superpowers have to register themselves with their local hero agency and either join up or sign a binding agreement not to use their powers. Violators are considered criminals and the local agency and hero team are responsible for apprehending them. Heroes can and often do use secret identities, and the law has a long list of rules for what they can and can't do out of costume, but some choose to hero full-time and have their living expenses covered by their local agency.

So you have your generic comic book city (I guess it could be Malaga or Madrid but idc) and the local hero team is the OCS, one of the most well-known. They've been around since the first generation of heroes revealed themselves to the public, and are currently led by Suzanne, a hero who retired after an ~incident~ 12 years prior 👀 and now oversees the current team, which includes all of our girls.

Ava is still in St. Michael's and quadriplegic after she and her mom were caught in the crossfire of a hero-villain fight 👀👀 and became collateral damage. Her mom died but she was found alive. There was and is an active media initiative to downplay the damage caused by superhero activity, and the hospital was given financial incentives to keep this seven-year-old alive at any cost so they could claim as few civilian casualties as possible. Horrible, disgraceful, and Ava rightfully holds some resentment towards superheroes even though she is glad to be alive.

The OCS girls are as follows:

Shannon (Star Girl) is a Superman-esque alien who arrived on earth and quickly became the most famous hero worldwide for her incredible abilities. Her powers include: flight, super strength, x-ray vision, ocular beam projection (laser eyes), and invulnerability to everything except divinium. Suzanne recruited her almost immediately after she revealed herself and she quickly became the face of the OCS. She helped recruit all of the other girls into the team, and she led most of their missions prior to her death (sorry, yeah, Shannon doesn't get to live in this one, not unless you do it like real comic books).

Mary (she has a hero name built in lmao, Shotgun Mary): is a human without any specific powers apart from being a badass with guns. Unlike canon, she can actually fight well hand-to-hand, but she's a master at all things firearms and explosives. She gives very mild Punisher vibes but it's mostly aesthetic. She was a vigilante who met Shannon by chance while taking down some crime syndicate or other, and Shannon convinced her to join up with the heroes. She often seems out of place among the OCS but she is invaluable to the team.

Beatrice (Maelstrom): is a human with control over lightning and electricity in general. She got these powers in an accident where a bunch of electricity was channeled through an alien space rock (maybe divinium) and she touched it. She was already on the outs with her family by this time, who basically told her to go die being a hero to elevate their family name. She was really angry and reckless when she joined the OCS, but Shannon and the others helped her overcome that. Now, she's a hero in good standing and loved by the public.

Lilith (Morningstar): a hybrid of human and uhhhhhhhhhh (?????) who controls fire and can grow claws (and wings eventually). She doesn't really know how or why she got her powers, only that they manifested suddenly in her teens and her parents also coerced her into becoming a hero. Suzanne took her in and trained her for several years before letting her officially join the team, so she still feels a lot of pressure to be the best and a leader, just not because of a family legacy.

Camila (Gambit): a human like Mary who is just more badass than normal. She's a prodigy at archery as well as a technical genius and hacker. Suzanne finds her trying to hack into the OCS computer system and immediately hires her. She's the newest member of the team and doesn't go out in the field often because she's still learning to fight, but her tech skills are often mission-critical.

So what happened to Shannon? This is where Ava comes in, along with the two scenarios where she gets her powers. Scenario 1: Frankenstein Classic. Shannon disappears on a solo mission to investigate some villain activity in the city, and winds up getting killed by Vincent/Adriel. They take her body to some secret lab along with Ava, who they might have bought from St. Michael's on the DL in exchange for more funding. Disgusting, and then it gets worse. They want to create a superhuman they can control for villainous purposes, and they do it by cutting off parts of Shannon's body and attaching them to Ava. We're talking limbs, guts, spine, one of her eyes, everything. Part of Shannon's alien biology is the ability to assimilate with foreign tissue as a survival tactic, so her bits just sort naturally graft themselves on, leaving only lines of scar tissue where the two ends meet. A consequence of this is Ava getting Shannon's powers to some extent.

Scenario 2: Frankenstein John Carpenter Edition. The OCS goes up against Adriel in a fight, and Ava (for whatever reason) gets caught in the crossfire again and dies. Shannon dies at the same time however, probably from a divinium bomb, and her body lands on Ava's. Alien biology comes back but Even Worse, and Shannon's blood (and probably CSF and other fluids too) basically becomes its own entity, oozing out of her corpse to occupy the closest organic mass and mount a full hostile takeover. So Ava comes back to life as her body is forcibly converted from human to alien.

No matter what scenario you pick, it's bad for her, because she either has to fight her way out of a mad scientist's lab using limbs that aren't hers, or she wakes up alone in the aftermath of the battle with no idea what's going on. To say nothing of the OCS being devastated by Shannon's death. Big Oof imagining them in scenario 1 finding Shannon's butchered body missing so many pieces. And when they find out later where those pieces are? It's bad, it's really bad.

They have to bring Ava in, which is fucked because Shannon was the world's most famous hero for a reason and now all of her power is in the hands of a scared 19-year-old who doesn't trust superheroes. Just finding her is a pain in the ass, and then they have to get close enough to incapacitate her. It probably winds up being Bea's job, which creates some excellent tension and mistrust for them to work through later.

That's what I've got so far in my slow contemplation!

[flightfoot]

I present a conundrum: Would Adrien have been better off if Gabriel never found the butterfly miraculous and was unable to become Hawkmoth ? OR would he be better off as things are with his father terrorizing Paris every other day?

At first glance, it might seem the former is the best option. But the senti storyline and the twin rings ruin that. Even if Gabriel never became Hawkmoth and was forced to accept his wife’s death, he’d still have the ability to control Adrien. Since Adrien is all he has left of Emilie and he tends to view his family as possessions, he’d probably double down on the control aspect and use the rings the moment Adrien attempts to stray from the path he’s chosen for him. He’d likely control his marital future (with Kagami) as well as his career path. Nathalie could subvert this, but it took A LOT to get her to come around in canon. Without his failures as Hawkmoth and his obsession with the miraculous, she might excuse these transgressions because it’s for “Adrien’s own good.”

No one could save Adrien- not even himself-because Master Fu would never have a need to designate a Ladybug or a Chat Noir. Adrien may not even be able to go to school considering that his father will not be as distracted with his magical terrorism. Which means he has much more time to be hypercritical and shape his son’s life into exactly what he wants it to be and Adrien would be ignorant all the while.

So terrorist Gabriel might have actually worked out for Adrien in the end. He inadvertently put Marinette on course to go head to head with him for Adrien’s sake and he inadvertently gave Adrien a sword in the fight. He attracted a lot of attention as Hawkmoth, Felix’s too, so that Adrien isn’t on an island onto himself. He made Nathalie angry enough to abandon his cause and root for Adrien. And he’s distracted enough so that Adrien can maintain some freedoms.

You can also argue that, without the butterfly miraculous, Gabriel never would have become corrupt enough to use the twin rings against Adrien in the first place. That he would have processed Emilie’s death normally eventually and allow Adrien more freedom.

That’s a stretch imo. I think Gabriel had the psychopathic capacity to use the rings since season 1, regardless of the butterfly miraculous. And with time, with or without it, he’d likely use them eventually. If anything, I think he might be more insidious without the butterfly. He’d no longer be confident that he could rewrite everything so he’d burn less bridges and avoid the nuclear approach. Which means he’d turn the manipulation up to 100 and use his “good father” act more. But his love and respect for Adrien’s agency would likely be very conditional based on how well Adrien is playing his designated role.

But I could be wrong. Do you think no butterfly might result in a reformed/better Gabriel?

That... is a very good question. Assuming that he wouldn't just use the Peacock to try to get the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, brokenness be-damned, and genuinely accepted that there was no way to bring Emilie back and he was stuck in this reality... yeah I can see him doubling down on controlling Adrien. Generally speaking, people like to control whatever they are able to in fraught times, and with people as geared towards control as Gabriel, that goes doubly so. Yeah I can see him becoming even more controlling of Adrien than he is already, and maybe lashing out more at him as well, since he doesn't really have an outlet, though Nathalie may be able to help mitigate that. Adrien wouldn't have a neglectful father then, but more what he has now, which is arguably worse, though I'm not totally sure what Gabriel's end goal would be, beyond micro-managing Adrien's life.

With him not getting a chance to see peers aside from Kagami, and most importantly, never meeting Marinette or Plagg... yeah he may well have it worse.

[birchwoodu]

Best Movies on Cybersecurity Watch in 2024

Hollywood has been fascinated by cyber security, cyberattacks, and the criminals that carry them out for almost fifty years. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, there has been a global explosion in the demand for and popularity of these kinds of films due to growing reliance on and acceptance of technology. This collection of films is ideal for anyone seeking a thrilling escape or to explore the world of information security in movies. Each film on this list either directly addresses cyber security, has multiple scenes that focus on the topic or captures the essence of why safeguarding sensitive data is so crucial.

You might be surprised to learn how similar the situations and characters in these stories are, as they are frequently based on actual occurrences. You might be surprised to hear that, for a number of these films, there are lessons that cyber security experts like us can all use in our day-to-day work.

New Releases in 2024 (Predicted):

Ghost Protocol (working title): A cyberwarfare thriller starring Chris Hemsworth as a black hat hacker turned asset for a government agency, navigating a complex international plot to hack into a powerful AI system. (Release date TBD)

Zero Day: A documentary exploring the rise and fall of Stuxnet, a weaponized computer worm targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, and the ethical and geopolitical implications of cyber warfare. (Release date: Early 2024)

Firewall Down: A high-stakes heist film where a team of skilled hackers attempt to pull off a daring cyberattack on a global financial institution, facing off against a seasoned security expert and unforeseen moral dilemmas. (Release date: Late 2024)

Must-Watch Classics:

The Matrix (1999): This sci-fi masterpiece explores the blurring lines between reality and the digital world, raising questions about data security and individual control in a technologically advanced society.

WarGames (1983): A teenage hacker accidentally accesses a military supercomputer capable of launching nuclear missiles, highlighting the dangers of cyber recklessness and the importance of responsible technology use.

Blackhat (2015): Chris Hemsworth portrays a convicted hacker forced to collaborate with the FBI to track down a cyberterrorist targeting nuclear power plants, showcasing the potential consequences of large-scale cyberattacks.

The Conversation (1974): Francis Ford Coppola's suspenseful film centers on a private investigator obsessed with surveillance technology, raising concerns about privacy in the age of digital eavesdropping.

Sneakers (1992): A lighthearted heist film featuring a team of ethical hackers recruited by the NSA to steal a government decoder, offering a glimpse into the world of cryptography and Cold War-era cyber espionage.

Ex Machina (2014): A thought-provoking sci-fi drama exploring the nature of consciousness and artificial intelligence, with themes of digital manipulation and the potential dangers of advanced technology.

The Great Hack (2019): This Netflix documentary investigates the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, highlighting the vulnerabilities of personal information online and the ethical implications of social media influence.

The Net (1995): Sandra Bullock plays a systems analyst who works from home in California. After obtaining an enigmatic floppy disk that contains a backdoor into a well-known computer security system, she gets entangled in a fatal conspiracy. Numerous cyber security themes are covered in the plot, such as early instances of cyber terrorism, spoofing, and identity theft.

Ghost in the Shell (1995): One of the most significant cyberpunk entertainments in popular culture, this neo-noir animated thriller is based on Masamune Shirow's manga of the same name. Highlights include a plot centered around the hunt for a hacker known as the Puppet Master and philosophical questions regarding an individual’s place in a hyper-tech-reliant world.

Tech Thrillers:

Who Am I - No System is Safe (2014): German thriller about a young hacker drawn into a dangerous online game with real-world consequences.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009): A skilled hacker and investigative journalist team up to uncover a dark conspiracy involving cybercrime and corporate corruption.

Eagle Eye (2008): Two strangers are thrust into a high-tech chase orchestrated by a mysterious AI, exposing vulnerabilities in our interconnected world.

Cyber Heists:

Gold (2016): A group of friends plan a daring cyber heist targeting a global bank, using their unique skills to outsmart security measures.

Now You See Me 2 (2016): Masters of illusion return for an even grander heist, incorporating cutting-edge technology and cyber magic to pull off mind-bending stunts.

Ocean's Eleven (2001): The classic film gets a modern twist with the inclusion of tech experts for a daring casino robbery relying on intricate digital manipulations.

These are just a few examples, but many other movies explore the world of cybersecurity. Enjoy your movie marathon in 2024!

[ssaalexblake]

It's really common to see criticism against 13 in how she's passive, especially related to the Timeless Child (i.e. the Master making the discovery, Swarm killing Tecteun, not having memories of the past so she isn't held accountable for her past actions). Just missing the point of how maybe she having agency removed by others might be the point and I guess, sorry the Doctor didn't commit matricide on national television?

acknowledging that 13's having her agency removed was on purpose would require being willing to accept that the timeless child story is a critique of imperialism and colonization, and of how people use and abuse refugees and erase them from cultural history. Or possibly just people managing to even Realise this all, never mind accept it.

Like, yeah, sorry, she has no control over these things that were done/are being done to her, there is a reason for this. Like portraying her value and right to know these things Anyway. Like how she's a whole complete person deserving of respect despite not knowing. The story says she has a right to own her own past, but it's not callous enough to imply she was lesser When she didn't have it. Those without agency are not lesser. Cough. Bit of a point, that.

But also, i'd raise the point that the idea of having and using whatever agency you Do have Inside of oppressive systems and situations is a massive theme here. 13 may not have a lot of agency, but she sure as hell isn't Passive. Passive is sitting around waiting for things to happen To you, that is not the doctor. If nothing else, they tend to run away at top speed to avoid things rather than let them happen. 13 is never Passive. Having things happen To you doesn't make you passive, like? You Can be passive in these situations, but this is not even close to a foregone conclusion. 13 seeks out answers, a lot! Ask Yaz, she'll tell you how much she wanted to stranger her for not being transparent about what she was looking for. It's canon that 13's Actions drove Tecteun's, making the doctor the first domino (like, I mean from a cold sequence of events kind of way. It was Not 13's fault that Tecteun did this, but she Did cause Tecteun to act).

(also, lol, Karvanista would have Loved if 13were passive. No Such Luck.)

But yeah, anyway, agency In systems that try to strip it from you is a ~thing here that holds hands with the anti-imperialism themes. Fugitive!Doctor did not have the agency to do much of anything but she ran far far away. She could do that even if she couldn't get out of division by being allowed to just leave. Vinder (the doctor metaphor) exercises his agency in an oppressive military state by simply reporting what his leader did that was wrong. He couldn't stop him, but he could sure as hell stand up for his principles despite what it cost him. That is a use of the agency he Did have in a system designed to strip it all away from him.

In reality, we All live in systems we can't escape. We all live at the mercy of the actions of those around us. That doesn't mean we are entirely helpless or totally powerless. A small action in response is an action we chose based upon the options we had regardless.

So yes. The lack of agency is a plot thing. I respect that female characters not having agency in fiction simply because it never occurred to the writers to give it to them is a Massive issue, but this isn't that.

And yeah, sure, Matricide. Obvs what we want on our little family show??? I think maybe we should just realise that the doctor was not going to kill Tecteun. Swarm did not kill tecteun Instead of 13. The doctor is many things, but somebody who just kills somebody in front of them because of what they did to them? No. Swarm happened to kill Tecteun, there is no indication that he stole some kind of kill shot from the doctor because the doctor was not, actually, attempting to kill her herself! As much as i'd sympathise with a game of who gets to Tecteun, this scene was Not that.

Also... Uh, even aside from the above, how was 13 going to kill Tecteun? Swarm's whammy meant no regeneration, 13 doesn't possess that kind of permanent kill shot.

And honestly. Whatever, You wanted 13 to find out about this on her own? Fine, whatever, but that's a preference not a critique. Personally I think it'd be hard to find a way for her to find this out through a sequence of events entirely based upon her own control. She was running from her past and from Gallifrey, she was not going to find this out without somebody else telling her? She's not the master who Would go digging through the matrix for sheer funsies and nosiness. Or possibly boredom. If the doctor is bored or nosey they go meet strangers.

So yeah, she had little agency in certain areas. It's because she's representing a subset of people whose agency has been stripped from them. That's kind of the point!!!

[crowsintheisland]

Now that my M induced high is wearing off, here's a pretty long rant about things I didn't like about the book in general (Especially the last third)

The book started pretty great, I really enjoyed the demo so I was excited for more. By the middle I was fighting to pay attention to the plot and by the end I was rolling my eyes and honestly, pretty over it.

I loved the romance (M route) and the little friendship moments, but the rest... I have seen some people talk already how it felt like a collection of random scenes and I agree, especially with all the little times skips, it really read like Sera just wrote two separate things and then didn't know how to connect then so "2 weeks later" "that evening" "time has passed".

General plot

The blood drive was pointless, I don't know if it's possible to fail and have your blood taken, but unless that happens it added nothing to the story.

The kidnappings were more interesting but got pretty old quickly and I got tired of the same formula every fight. Either you choose the right option and win (And for my deduction/knowledge based detective they were so stupid. If I had a shot everytime the answer was to move aside and let the enemy trip I will be so drunk) or you choose the wrong one and end up being saved by UB.

The Agency

All the agency related things weren't interesting to me, I don't care about the chamber, I don't care about Rebecca, the new friend (In my case Tapeesa) it's not bad but I forget she exists most of the time. I'm pretty disappointed about having the detective working more with them because I love the station and the people there.

Sin's role

Sin had so much potential and it ended up being so irrelevant. There's no way you can convince me he couldn't actually take the detective, at least if they used his moral conflict as a reason it would be better, but the book was seriously acting like he couldn't do anything after a punch in the face. "The human can pass my barrier so guess I, the stronger, more powerful and able to fly being, can't do anything more. Time to go"

Sir my detective is bleeding out and you're saying you can catch her because she's going around a couple of bricks?

And the resolution felt so weird. I chose the research route so I was really hoping to talk about him about the reports of trappers trying to make fake bonds and all that, instead my detective just went "The bond is fake! Believe me!!" And it worked? It felt like I was missing pages, because we went from point A to B in five seconds.

And what I hated the most

The final fight.

I'm sorry but it was ridiculous. We had no mention of the trappers even considering to bring the detective to their side and now you're telling me you're inviting them to your weird auction and hoping they will be okay with it? Without any trap? Any secret master plan to take their blood?

And then when they show up you believe they're on your side because your employees didn't smell vampires nearby? No mather that just 2 days ago they were actively fighting against you?

And it would be so easy to fix it, add a couple of scenes with the trappers trying to swing the detective mind or use Tapeesa, or Tina, or Verda as bait to forcing them to come and try to kill them (Which I thought was going to happen, but then Tapeesa was just used to gauge a reaction?)

And don't make me start on the lack of security. You expect me to believe in such a big event there was no one keeping an eye on the prisioners? Rebecca could just slide there and free then without even alerting anyone.

And of course my detective just took the main guy out making him trip and fall against a tree.

The whole thing felt so anticlimactic.

Rogue leader

And of course we need the setup for the next book, so suddenly the guy is happy to be arrested because otherwise the rogue leader would kill him. Even though he didn't show any fear before.

We know she exists, we most likely know who she is (I will be surprised if it's not Rook's sister or at least some family member), why have her be some kind of twist at the end instead of using her to develop other characters and their motivations? Show her connection with the trappers instead of telling me it exists at the end. It just felt like a lazy excuse to introduce the next villain

[thestalkerbunny]

Read your post about body horror, very much on the same page. The recent surge of pregnancy centered horror films (mostly showing up on hulu for some reason?? False Positive and Clock are the first ones that come to mind) are the first body horror films that have actually frightened me instead of just grossing me out.

CAN WE ADDRESS THAT? I've also been seeing a surge of pregnancy centric horror outside of that one channel-The Lifetime Movie Network-that shows like a billion movies where it's like every terrifying scenario a woman can BE in or as I like to call it, The Women's Horror Channel. (which is usually about other women trying to steal babies or terrorizing surrogates. Or being stalked by neighbors. Or murder attempts by inlaws. or Sorority murders.)

With the consistent on and off again looming threat of female/vagina having agency being taken away or restricted even MORE than it already is-the idea of pregnancy horror is most likely a reflection of the climate we exist in currently regarding reproductive rights. I do agree with you, as a person who does not wish to have children based on my enjoyment of being around them (I tolerate but I don't do well in the LONG term), how expensive and the crippling the RESPONSIBILITY, on top of preexisting health conditions I have that could threaten my life if I did so-the idea of having offspring and not being able to do anything about it is nightmarish and the idea of control being taken from that situation is less than IDEAL. (we're talking feral villain arc.)

I remember seeing a short-I think it was Masters of Horror called 'Pro-Life' where a girl seeks an abortion, only to have her family intervene and basically hold the clinic HOSTAGE. It turns out the girl births a demon spawn by product of a demonic assault. And my sole thought was 'Hate this, hate this, I hate this.' Because such a situation where someone seeking aid for THEIR PERSONAL MEDICAL PROBLEM and then someone against their will deciding what is best for them and intervening and putting your LIFE at risk for their own belief system, not considering how YOU feel in anyway is all too REAL nowadays.

That was 2006 when that episode aired (ironically, also directed by John Carpenter.)

[snowdice]

Creased Hoodies (Chapter 9: Preparations) [Folds in Time Universe]

Fandom: Sander Sides

Relationships: Logan/Virgil, Janus/Patton (background), Remus & Roman  (background)

Characters:

Main: Logan, Virgil

Appear: Patton, Roman

Mentioned: Janus, Remus

Summary: Virgil just wanted to go on his planned summer research trip to do an anthropological study in 2005 America. However, when he is taken off course by an unknown enemy, he ends up stranded in the summer of 2018 with no way to get back the the 44rd century. Luckily, 2018 happens to be where a certain illegal time agency is based, and he might have an in with one of its agents.

This is the intermission for the story Folds in Paper. It takes place between Folds in Paper Book 1 and Book 2. It also takes place after the first 5 chapter of “Messages for a Hacker” which are side stories in the universe. Check all of this and more out on my Folds in Time Master Post.

Chapter Summary: Everyone gets ready for the trip to Cuba.

Notes: Time travel AU

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

It took a little over two weeks for Logan to get everything in order. He’d already been in the process of updating all of their equipment for quite some time, and their current situation spurned him to complete these improvements even sooner. That was easy.

What was more difficult was trying to meet all of Patton’s demands for his new survival kit. His list had already been quite long when Logan had started, but Patton had continued to add to it. It seemed like the list would be endless for a short while as Patton had been adding things as fast or faster than Logan could address them.

He’d even slipped in a request for a boat at one point despite Logan’s protests that Camaguey was nowhere near the sea.

Virgil, thankfully, didn’t seem to mind the delays too much. In fact, he may have had a hand in causing some of them. His natural inclination towards anxiety seemed to infect Patton who had already been stressed given his last trip through time. Patton’s request for the boat had come after one of their brainstorming sessions.

Virgil and Patton were spending a good amount of time together, actually, as Logan worked on supplies. Virgil had offered to help Patton with researching. While Patton was fairly good at doing his own research for time travel destinations at this point, Virgil was undeniably more experienced with that sort of thing considering his profession and his involvement with the TPI. Patton seemed to appreciate his input.

Roman, on the other hand, decidedly did not appreciate Virgil’s input on things. The two of them were prone to arguments about clothing which had gone beyond talking about Cuban clothing days ago. They were currently refusing to speak to each other after a discussion about the fabric composition of Ancient Greek clothing over dinner the night before.

Logan honestly… could not tell if these fights were friendly debates or not. There seemed to be a lot of anger around the topics, but they also seemed to enjoy their arguments to an odd degree.

Logan had inquired after Patton’s opinion on the matter, but he’d shrugged and claimed he also could not tell.

Neither Roman nor Virgil’s responses when asked directly about the nature of their relationship was helpful either, but Logan had noticed Roman slightly change the design of the outfit he’d made for Patton’s trip to Cuba.

Virgil was helpful in preparing for the mission, taking some of the stress of research off of Patton and Roman which was nice. He was not much help to Logan’s endeavors unless you counted the original intel. He had a basic understanding of mathematics and physics, but not enough to help in that regard.

He was, however, very good for company. It helped that his sleep schedule much more closely resembled Logan’s own in those weeks unlike the other occupants of the apartment. Typically, Roman and Patton went to sleep at a much earlier hour than Logan did himself and Logan would work alone in the living room. However, with Virgil living in the apartment, there was constant companionship while Logan worked. If it was less volatile company than he was used to working with, that was just a bonus.

Virgil fit into their little group in a way that Logan had not anticipated. (Well, socially he fit. Physically, there were simply not enough beds and Logan had been sleeping on the couch for over two weeks now.)

Eventually, with all of their combined efforts, everything was ready to go. Patton was supplied with three different time appropriate outfits, a good amount of knowledge about the festivities he was about to step into, new time travel equipment, and a survival pack that could help him survive in an apocalypse if needed.

Patton planned to arrive in Cuba two days earlier than the TPI protocol would dictate Janus be sent in. That way, he would have more than adequate time to get set up and acclimated before the TPI sent in their agents.

For now, however, he was busy examining his new and improved timepiece.

“This is cool,” Patton breathed, flexing his fingers to see the hidden screen on his palms light up with a map of the area.

“The controls are the same configuration as on your previous device. The only thing new is the control panel to control the cloaking technology and the button to access the survival kit features.

“It looks great, Lo,” Patton said, still flexing his fingers to get used to it. He changed it to its default state of a metal band projecting the screen and then back to the time appropriate bracelet Roman had designed. There weren’t many options for the device’s form yet, but more could be designed and added in the future. For now, it only had the default band, the bracelet, and a simple wristwatch.

“I’ve already tested it a good number of times, but you should familiarize yourself with it anyway before your trip.

Patton nodded, flicking his fingers. He disappeared for a moment before reappearing in the same place. Then, he did it again and reappeared directly next to where he’d been standing. He did a few other simple mini trips before predictably growing bored and starting to do ‘tricks’ which mostly involved landing in ridiculous poses and “accidently” jump scaring everyone in the apartment at least twice.

Eventually, Logan confiscated the device for the evening so they could have dinner in peace.

Patton went to bed early after dinner, planning on leaving the next morning. Roman also retired to his room shortly after leaving Logan and Virgil alone in the living room.

Despite knowing his calculations were perfect, Logan still found himself sitting on the couch and checking over them one last time, just to be sure. Virgil sat on the floor with his back against the couch watching videos on Logan’s cell phone with headphones borrowed from Patton’s collection.

He glanced up when Logan shifted positions and Logan flashed him a smile.

Virgil removed the headphones to speak. “Thanks, by the way,” he said. “I already said it to Patton and will again in the morning, but thanks for helping me out with all of this.”

“It wouldn’t have been particularly kind of us to leave you stranded,” Logan pointed out.

“Sure,” Virgil said, “but you still all have been working really hard. Right now you’re up at 3am working on it.”

Logan shrugged. “I’d likely be up working at 3am on something anyway,” he replied.

“Maybe,” Virgil said, “but this time you’re doing it for me, so yeah, thanks.”

“You’re welcome then,” Logan replied. “Any time.”

Virgil titled his head and grinned at him. “Was that a time travel pun?” he asked.

Logan scowled instantly. “No.”

“It sounded like a time travel pun…”

“It was not intentional. I will never intentionally say a pun,” Logan said.

“You’re telling me you live with Patton and never make any puns?” Virgil asked.

“I, unlike my roommates, am a responsible adult,” Logan insisted.

Virgil seemed skeptical. “Is that why you’re drinking forbidden coffee out of an orange juice carton at 3am?”

“Not so loud!” Logan hissed instantly. He leaned forward to put his hand over Virgil’s mouth while glancing back towards the hallways to see if anyone was about to come storming into the living room with yet another intervention.

Logan’s hand was bit.

“Ow!” Logan exclaimed, tearing the hand away.

Despite his childish violence (or perhaps because of it), Virgil’s eyes were shining.

“How do you know?” Logan asked in a whisper. The ruse had been working on Roman and Patton for years as neither of them liked orange juice.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “I can smell it,” he said. “I’m not dumb.”

“It’s worked on everyone else,” Logan said.

“No,” Virgil said. “It’s worked on one dramatic idiot and one man who trusts people not to lie to him way too much. I, however, am a paranoid bastard with a doctorate degree in human bullshittery. You cannot fool me.”

Logan couldn’t help but smile. “I suppose I have met my match then,” he said.

Virgil titled his head back all the way, so his skull rested on the couch cushion, and he was staring straight up at Logan with his piercing hazel eyes. “Heck yeah you have,” Virgil said with a grin.

Logan was not much for sentimentality, especially not romantic sentimentality, but there was something about the shadows softening the edges of the rooms and the almost golden glint in Virgil’s eyes from the reflection of the lit lamp that suddenly made it more difficult to breathe.

Virgil was relaxed here in Logan’s apartment at 3 in the morning. His eyes were softened with sleepiness as he looked up at Logan with a smile on his face.

He fit here, Logan thought. He slotted into Logan’s life with an ease Logan could never have anticipated. He’d found Professor Virgil Eran interesting from the moment he’d first heard him speak over the telephone. He’d found him endearing when they’d corresponded through emails and occasionally one-sided video chats. Yet it was different with him right here in front of Logan.

Logan could reach down right now and touch him with ease if he chose to. He could brush his slightly unruly hair out of his eyes. Logan wondered what Virgil would do. Would his eyes shine the same way they had after biting Logan earlier. Would he grin wider than he was now? Would he get embarrassed like he did the first day in the coffee shop after oversharing?

“You… good man?” Virgil asked, pulling Logan from his musings.

“I am perfectly well,” Logan replied, clearing his throat. He glanced away from Virgil. “I think perhaps my roommates have a bit of a point when it comes to caffeine.”

“What do you mean?” Virgil asked.

“I find myself a bit disconcerted at the moment.”

“Well, maybe a carton full of iced coffee at 3am is not the best choice,” Virgil said in good humor. “You aren’t a college kid anymore.”

Logan glanced down at the college professor on his living room floor. “Well, thank goodness for that,” he mumbled.

Virgil gave him an odd look but didn’t comment.

“You know,” he said instead. “I think your calculations are probably fine anyway,” He reached up to gently taking the papers out of Logan’s grip. “Why don’t you put the coffee away and we do something else?”

“Like sleep?” Logan asked.

“Do you think you’ll be sleeping anytime soon?” Virgil inquired with an eyebrow raised.

“Fair point,” Logan replied ruefully.

Virgil grabbed the television remote from the coffee table. “Why don’t we watch a bit of that time inappropriate copy of the Epithet File I know you have.”

“Sure,” Logan agreed. He glanced down at Virgil who was already turning on the television. “You can come onto the couch if you like.”

“Nah,” said Virgil without looking at him. “You can come to the floor.

Logan sighed. “Very well,” he agreed and slid to the floor.

Want to read more? Click below!

Folds in Time Universe Master Post

My Main Masterpost

[kitkatopinions]

Got anymore Doctor Who nitpicks?

Oh boy, strap in folks, because I've got a ton. XD

Gonna put them under a keep reading for convenience and in case any Doctor Who fans don't want to see the criticism. Please note, I just finished rewatching up to season four so anything I say about the other later seasons is just what I remember, and I don't know much about Classic Who.

One of my sisters pointed this out, but the time agents exist and interfere in time even if they try to stay in the shadows, so the fact that the Doctor doesn't have more run ins with them is weird. As far as I know, the only time agent we encounter at least as far as season seven is Jack Harkness and he had already left the agency.

The second season, with the Tenth Doctor and Rose, they did the whole 'the Doctor and Rose might be separated forever' plot a couple times too many. I love that season and I adore both of those characters, but it's like Frodo almost dying, after you've seen one of them freaking out about losing the other every episode like six episodes in a row, it's just like... Maybe they should do something else.

We didn't see Rose or Mickey ask about Jack to my recollection after he 'died' to the Daleks in the last Christopher Eccleston episode. And I know that they were both really busy with other things, but I don't even think there was a 'where's Jack' 'not right now' kind of interaction.

I like the Love and Monsters LINDA episode, but I wish that the Doctor actually hadn't been able to get Ursula back. I don't know, I just think the episode would've worked better as a bit more of a tragedy, with Elton being the only survivor.

Nurse Redfern in the Family of Blood episode is not my favorite, and I wish there was less of a big deal made out of her. If she'd been in just one episode like Madame de Pompadour, I'd be annoyed (I kinda don't vibe with one episode only romances,) but it'd be fine-ish. But like, when the Tenth Doctor is dying and he's going around and seeing all the companions we love who have been involved so much in the show, he stops by Nurse Redfern's descendent to talk about Nurse Redfern? I could not care about her less, they should've cut her out and done a scene with somebody else, or did an extended scene for one of the others, or something.

In the Blink episode, I do really like both Sally and Larry, but I don't think they should've gone with a romance angle there, it just seemed like they were better as friends. Not that we see much of them, but still.

In the Master episodes in season three, I really feel like the 'turning the Doctor into a tiny old baby-sized creature man' thing was wholly unnecessary and just didn't add anything to the story. I don't know anything about Benjamin Button, so all I have to compare it to is the Benjamin Button style day dream in the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and it makes me unable to take it seriously.

I feel like the Adipose episode has great Doctor and Donna moments, but I really just don't like the Matron. I feel like she's just kind of boring. Quite a few of the Doctor Who villains are somewhat two dimensional, but they at least have aesthetic things that make them stand out.

The Unicorn and the Wasp was my least favorite episode in the fourth season and I think part of that is that I've never read a single Agatha Christie, and I've never really watched anything based on her books either. So I got some of the detective/mystery tropes, but it was basically a tribute to something I didn't know anything about and so I've never been anything but bored during the episode. And there were I think a couple too many characters to get attached to any of them.

The Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead episodes have quite a few little nitpicks in light of what went on in seasons five through seven. River's screwdriver isn't the Eleventh Doctor's, and she should be weirded out about the Tenth Doctor's being like the one he gave her instead of being like the Eleventh Doctor's. She also says he opens the TARDIS with a snap of his fingers as if that's something he does all the time as Eleven, when if I remember correctly, it's actually pretty rare. I'm sure there's more, and some of it is just vibes, but yeah.

In the End of Time episodes with the Master, Wilf's little group of friends who try to find the Doctor with him is eh okay, but how much fun would it be if he was in a group with Elton and that guy who gave information to Rose in the very first episode.

Also, gotta say that Martha and Mickey being a couple at the end of David's Tennant's era wouldn't annoy me if they'd had like, at least two even small conversations. As it happens, it just kinda comes out of nowhere.

I think my very first complaint of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor era is the fact that he feels his hair and is shocked and wonders if he's a girl, but his hair really isn't that long, so... It's just a weird line. Why would he just assume that? It'd be different if he had shoulder length hair, or if the eighth doctor didn't have longer hair than the Eleventh. It'd still be a weird and stupid line, but as it is, the line doesn't even make sense to me.

I haven't gotten to season five yet, and I don't intend to keep re-watching after Amy and Rory leave (for a number of reasons,) but I do have a couple of nitpicks off the top of my head for the Matt Smith seasons.

Although I get that a lot of the threads to David Tennant's era had been tied up well, I'm bummed that Jack just never comes back when it would make sense for him to be at least kind of involved every now and again, especially in A Good Man Goes to War when the Eleventh Doctor gathers together a bunch of people to help him and just... It makes sense for him to not include Martha because she walked away and he thought that was good, and it makes sense for him to not include Mickey either because he might know he was with Martha. But Jack? And I also get that Eleven is 'the Doctor who forgets' or whatever, but bro could be not selfish when Amy and her child's lives are on the line. Jack should've had at least one appearance in these seasons.

As somebody who cares about Sherlock Holmes, it kind of bothers me that the 'this was the inspiration for Holmes and Watson' characters have a master-servant relationship. I know it isn't just a master-servant relationship and they're literally lovers, but that kind of makes it worse. There's no problem with a 'inspiration for Holmes and Watson' romantic couple, but Watson was never Holmes' servant, their relationship was on much more equal footing than lots of people seem to realize, and it makes one of the few queer couples we see for more than an episode at the very least problematic.

This might be bigger than just a nitpick, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Mels being River would've been much better and would've felt less out of nowhere and rushed if Mels had been set up as a side character. If she'd made appearances in Leadworth and had been talked about by Amy and Rory and had been at their wedding, then it'd feel like pay off when she turned into River. Instead it's like "oh here's a character we don't know, guess the author is telling us she's super important to Amy and Rory? Oh, I guess she's evil? Wait, she's dying? Wait, she's River?!" Like how were we supposed to get emotionally invested?

And finally, Amy should've had reading glasses at least all throughout season seven, and it'd be best if she'd started wearing them sometime during season six. Because the Doctor wearing Amy's glasses after she and Rory were gone was a great concept, but because they'd just appeared for the first time in Amy and Rory's last story it felt a lot less emotional than it could've and instead it just felt like the author trying to force an emotional response without having earned it... Which was pretty much just what it was. If they'd wanted to have the Doctor wear Amy's glasses, she should've been wearing them for long enough that they became attached to her character.

So yeah, I'll probably have more nitpicks once I watch the Matt Smith series, but that's it for now. This ask was a lot of fun, so thanks for sending it!

[meauxhausint]

Variety Magazine interview with CO-CEO+ CELEBRITY PUBLICIST DES DUHFAUX

VARIETY MAGAZINE INTERVIEW WITH DES DUHFAUX

Interview conducted by Francis Pulinz

The entertainment industry Has a lot of different "go-to " people When you're trying to make it in the business and or become a notable celebrity. (Talent usually helps). In past times most people who needed entertainment work hired an "agent" to find them the right gigs and in the music industry "managers" were essential for keeping potential gigs and venues interested in hiring certain acts. Then once you become famous, the next most essential thing u need is either the right pr team and or publicist to put your talent and accomplishments on display, to the world. Primarily, planet Earth.

MHI MEAUX HAUS INTERNATIONAL is a PR (public relations) agency that was founded by celebrity PUBLICISTS Suzette Feria & Des Duhfaux. The former colleagues (and Co-CEO$) started the agency from the ground up with basically a handful of celebrities as clients to begin with. Des Duhfaux , who is in charge of the business for zone 3+ 4. And suzette (who is stuck on planet Earth), manages zone 1 +2.

Since this branch of variety mag is situated in late zone 4 , we got in touch with the very private + withdrawn celebrity publicist EXTRAODINARE herself, Des Duhfaux, for a very exclusive interview.

VM: Good to have u here Des, how are things?

DD: things are ok, I'm still stuck here on another planet, after all. But I'm optimistic.

VM: SO, u came from earth, I guess. Sorry about all this.

DD: no problem, when work calls I have to answer. I'm drawn into adventure. As the witch wizard of the northeast, I'm in demand. So as long as it doesn't conflict with my family life, I can stay a little longer to assist.

VM: Let's get to the point. You're a celebrity publicist and Co-CEO of your own PR company. Was that started here or there?

DD: I completed my schooling on Earth. I intermitedley have traveled to and from here and earth to complete the remainder of my professional degrees. I have a bachelor's degree in marketing management from UCLA. A certficate in public relations from UC IRVINE + A MASTERS DEGREE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS/ IMAGE MANAGEMENT FROM CAL STATE FULLERTON. all between zones 2 and 3. Well mostly 3 on Earth.

VM: ok so the celebrity client base. Who are we dealing with here?

DD: um, what do you mean?

VM: MHIS CELEBRITY CLIENTS.

DD: Gwen Stefani, Cole Sprouse, Cameron Diaz, Margot Robbie, Diplo, The white stripes, Timothee Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Carmen Electra, Pamela Anderson, Anthony Karlo, Suki Waterhouse, Bill Skarsgard+ many more. Some of our brands are Origin natural energy, Waikea water, Fenty beauty, nudestix + sapphire sky cosmetics.

VM: Are you ever "starstruck" when meeting new celebs for publicity projects. ?

DD: Barely. I'm pretty used to networking with famous people. I come from a somewhat famous family background as well as my own personal endeavors- to say the least. And client /publicist confidentiality is the MOST important tool when creating promotional packages for celebrities. If any personal info about the celeb leeks that they don't want in the press or public eye, our PR team makes sure it's avoided. Yes, it's a tough job, very hard , but somebody's gotta do it…(laughs).

VM: Let's jump to what I'm reading here about your own entertainment career. Is celebrity publicist Des Duhfaux desiring to become a celebrity herself?

DD: Is that what it says? Ok well yea I'm working on new music under my stage name "Caryn Mixx" . I don't want to give too much away. But it's set to premiere in zone 3 @some point soon.

VM: Cool, so you are a musician too?

DD: my voice is my instrument, + light keyboard as well. So it's set .

VM: Interesting, I'll make sure to check that out. And you mentioned family life, or is that too private to discuss?

DD:: no . Not private, very public actually. I've spoken about my two failed marriages, virginity after rape + being an all around reformed human being that's taking it all in stride.

VM: rape? Sorry to hear that

DD: late years of high school. A student I had home studies with violated me at our designated testing location. I was mortified. Then two days later his older brother showed up + threatened to " bash my head in" if I told anyone. I was scared stiff.

VM: Did the case ever get reported?

DD: I didn't find the courage fast enough. This interview is it's debut.

VM: SO..that's why u feel two marriages failed?

DD: look, I'm going to be quite frank. The traumatic aftermath of rape had an affect on my psyche for roughly 3 yrs. I" revirginized", generated my next set of goals and moved on with my life. Around that point I enrolled in college and met my first husband.

VM: so what was that like?

DD: well mostly emotionless looks of love, "hand holding", & watching old classic films together+ that was about it. No sex.

VM: no sex?

DD: no sex. No trust. Has to be trust, then "relationship notary", and then more trust, then family approval, then possibly another glance at the possibility of intimacy.

VM: I see, ok so then the next marriage?

DD: after the first marriage I went back to working on my public relations internship through UC IRVINE in accordance with my public relations certificate. I met him through the college systems as well. It didn't work out because for some reason men want intimacy with a person they barely know. I'm still baffled as to how holding hands and kissing? Just isn't enough? Anyway, I'm over it.

VM: and you grew up in Burbank, CA?

DD: that's slightly off subject, but, yes.

VM: well is there anything else we should know about Des Duhfaux celebrity publicist+CO- CEO of MHI?

DD: Yea, that I'm from early zone 2 most specifically. Suzette, my partner + I grew up together, same everything. So we have a deep appreciation for zone 2, but, realistically I've been set to 1 and 3 to work on projects for other personas numerous times, so I'm not just involved in the publicity process, I'm a part of the "craft work" and onset process as well, by default.

VM: That's good news, well it was lovely talking to you.

DD: Oh sure, yea, thanks, u2.

[r-rook-studio]

#City23: 1st Week of February

Crossposted to Cohost

I've written about my #City23 projects here and on Tumblr. You can check out my last post. I still have two #City23 projects I'm working on: a fantastical version of Nottingham during the high middle ages and a contemporary fictional city in Maine called Cape Crescent.

As noted in that end-of-Janaury post, I spent most of January (minus a break) working on the area around Nottingham's Bar Gate and Cape Crescent's "main street": Pine State Highway. That was a bit of a struggle since I felt like I was filling in "gaps" for a city that hadn't been sufficiently sketched out yet, but did give me a sense of what the locals in both cities are like.

Nottingham

For February '23 in Nottingham, I'm focusing on Nottingham Castle. While Nottingham was not anywhere near the size of London at this time, the castle, a royal residence, meant that the city was far more cosmopolitan than one might expect, with large French, English, and Jewish communities. The castle isn't just a physical space, it's a symbol of the sheriff's authority as the royal appointee. Thus it's the headquarters of a sizable faction and a base of its power.

This week, I started with the outer bailey, and I think I may camp out a bit. The first line of yards, gardens, and buildings within the castle's outermost wall, the bailey is the home and workplace of many common folks in the sheriff's service. I started with a random guard-generator, including what after-effects from last night are distracting the guard:

Distractions from Last Night

None: Attentive

Gambling debts

Caught cheating in love or at cards

Unrequited infatuation

Family disputes

Lost a brawl, wants revenge

I also started work on the castle's large outer stables and kennel (because I'm in charge, I've decided there's a separate royal stable and kennel further into the castle). My Robin Hobb fandom is showing through. This gave me three NPCs in quick succession: Kado the stable boy, his best friend (and likely crush) Nin who assists in the kennel, and the late stable master and kennel master Warinfried. Kado and Nin have some arcane talents (including some that haven't occurred in Sherwood), and Warinfried's body was buried in the tunnels below the castle without removing the necromantic ring he stole from the sheriff. This could be why folks in the outer bailey's brewery have reported seeing signs of a ghost. If Warinfried is haunting the castle now, who knows what he might do to revenge himself on Kado, who murdered him, or Nin, who Kado was trying to protect? I've also name-dropped Wainfried's patron, Raimund, the castle's steward/seneschal and a son of the sheriff, who I'd love to develop a bit more.

So far, the castle is a lot of Norman and Breton dudes, so over this next week, I'd like to diversify the population a bit.

Cape Crescent

In Cape Crescent, I wanted to begin digging into two explicitly hostile factions: the cult-like Grove and the loosely Pentex-inspired Ghost Bay Foundation. Over the past week, I've worked on Pine State Realty, a mid-sized real estate agency near the middle of town that doubles as an administrative front for Ghost Bay Foundation. Over the past week, I've identified three NPCs who work there:

Ramji Davindran dropped out of grad school to come work in Cape Crescent and discover why his sister disappeared. He covered his tracks well, and so far the only person I've found who knows about his real purpose is...

Cornelia Richards, the office manager, isn't supposed to know much about the Ghost Bay Foundation or the realty's real purpose but knows almost all of it. She may even know more than...

Ted Cliff, the "owner" of the real estate agency and a Ghost Bay administrator, is supposed to know way more than he's actually figured out about the employees he keeps around to create a more compelling front.