#but for anyone curious it's about some of those gay lawyers

[crowfanity]

I've been working on a long multi-chapter fic for a while now and sometimes I start feeling bad cuz I feel like I don't have much of the actual fic done to show for it but today I decided to look at the word count on my notes document and it's 6.5k of planning out as many details as I can so I think I should probably be a bit less harsh on myself

[ot3]

Hello! I was watching the PLvsAA stream yesterday, and you said to ask after the stream to elaborate on your thoughts on Phoenix having, I think it was attachment issues vs abandonment issues? Would you be able to explain your thoughts on that? I'm very curious, and I figured Tumblr was a decent place to ask. Only if you want to, of course!

ok i just Scoured shu takumi's interviews on gyakuten saiban library to try and find the quote i was looking for and could not find it. which is disappointing to me personally because now i feel insane because i know it exists somewhere, i don't believe I imagined this one because it stuck with me very immediately and very specifically. but at the end of the day the specific quote doesn't really provide any too necessary context.

at the end of the day 'attachment issues' vs 'abandonment issues' is probably really granular and nitpicky, but i mean. well. i love being granular and nitpicky about characterization. i definitely thought of phoenix as having abandonment issues for a long time but flipping the script to 'attachment issues' cleared up a lot about my interpretation of his character for me, so im going to type some paragraphs at you now

like to me the critical differences between the two are that 1. when you think of someone who has 'abandonment issues' you probably assume a certain amount of baggage regarding past experiences contributing to those feelings. or at least, i do. but as i've said plenty in the past i really don't think phoenix has any significant shit going on in his backstory. i don't think he has ever Been abandoned by anyone, really. and 2. you can be attached to things that aren't people, but abandonment is a purely interpersonal phenomenon.

here's this other takumi quote about phoenix that everyone is probably familiar with by this point:

Interviewer: It’s surprising to learn he wanted to become an actor. Perhaps he’s actually really susceptible to fads and things like that?

Takumi: I think he’s just the type who’ll go straight for something and stick to it once he’s convinced of something. Like the type of person he falls for (laugh).

obviously everyone focuses on this for being pretty gay. and like it is. lets make no mistakes about that but it's also just a generally really interesting little tidbit. when phoenix stumbles upon something or someone he likes or wants he will pretty much pursue it unquestioningly and then maintain that emotional attachment to it. and that's really the only place any of his drive comes from. when phoenix doesn't have, like someone or something to be providing this external motivation he just sort of stops doing things. not because he doesn't feel capable of doing anything, or feels unsafe or scared, like how you might feel if you were abandoned, but because he just doesnt Want to do anything

like. with abandonment issues theres a sort of reciprocal nature to that kind of interpersonal dynamic. the other party's behavior has a lot of influence over the feelings of the character in question, for better or worse. but phoenix's attachment issues are at the end of the day kind of an inherently one-sided thing. phoenix is the one bringing any and all emotional baggage into these situations. it's on him. he's obsessive about stuff, and he doesn't really need to be getting anything back from the other side to maintain that. probably indicated most clearly with just everything about his relationship to edgeworth in aa1. dude was truly insane for that shit. i love it for him specifically because it was such a wild and bizarre thing to do.

so like as much as phoenix was obsessed with/attached to edgeworth he was also super attached to doing it in one very specific way. he HAD to become a lawyer. and his attachment to that idea of being a lawyer and what specifically that means for him is a pretty significant throughline for the rest of the series. i think it would also be reasonable to extrapolate that indulging in these obsessive tendencies is how phoenix was able to work on the jurist system. doing that kind of slow, tedious, academic work is pretty atypical of phoenix who by his own admission wont even read any law books. but we know with the right motivation and investment phoenix was able to go from ditzy law student to practicing attorney in just a few years.

imo something else thats super interesting with this lens on his behavior is his relationship with kristoph. theres a lot of different takes on this character dynamic but i think we can all agree that theyre obsessed with each other. whereas you Could read the way phoenix interacts with edgeworth or maya or trucy or even iris as relating to a desire for companionship and a fear of losing that, resulting in a willingness to go out on a limb for people and believe in people, that all falls apart with kristoph. it doesnt make sense to view phoenix's attachment to kristoph as being rooted in a fear of abandonment in a way you could argue for the other characters. it kind of only makes sense if you view phoenix's attachment to kristoph as sort of arbitrarily intense and existing for its own sake, rather than related to any specific desires or outcomes.

a scene i constantly find myself rereading because i'm so obsessed with it is the bit in turnabout succession where phoenix visits kristoph in solitary. kristoph has already admitted to and been convicted of zak's murder, after trying to frame phoenix to it and ruining his reputation. their business is pretty much concluded. everything is already in place for phoenix to get his name cleared. but phoenix still isn't willing to let it go. he is desperate to understand kristoph's motivations on a personal level just because of the investment he has in this relationship regardless of the fact that its a fucked up and bad relationship. he's decided this is something important to him and there's not much of a way for any outside factors to change that.

so. yeah. thats it. kind of. i genuinely dont know if anyone else is going to vibe with this particular interpretation but this is how i see phoenix at the very least.

[frostysfrenzy]

NCIS SURVEY courtesy of @navalcriminalimagines

Wasn’t asked to, but it was open to whoever, so hey! I’m just spewing the first thing that pops in my head

fav recurring character? Queen Ziva David

least fav recurring character? Jenny

fav secondary character? Borin. Fornell is a close second

least fav secondary character? Allison Hart

fav villain? Honestly maybe Ari. I don’t know. I don’t typically consider villains likeable

villain you hate? In particular, the Rivera/Reynosa clan

fav ep? Dead Man Walking

fav season? 9

ep you hate? Judge, Jury and executioner. I guess. I wouldn’t say i fully hate it but I just hate court eps and ones like that

fav storyline? Probably McGee and Delilah after the attack/after she comes back. Them flourishing. And Tony coming around with his dad

least fav storyline? Vance splitting the team up post judgement day. Just don’t like seeing the fam apart

fav ship? Tiva

fav moment? McGee’s proposal

moment you hate? Literally any moment a lawyer thinks they’re better than the team. Or the deaths/losses of any mains or anyone else they care about

funniest scene? Jimmy’s bachelor party

scene that makes you cry every time? Pretty much all of family first

scene that makes you anxious? any of those scenes in SWAK where Tony is deathly ill (before Gibbs tells him he’ll be fine)

thoughts on season 18? Emotional season from hell, don’t take me back ever

wishes for season 19? Less extreme emotion on the regular, some, I don’t know, closure (Gibbs and Bishop alike)

do you watch other NCIS? Nola? LA? yes! Love LA, Nola is pretty good too, haven’t watched it in awhile, I prefer the other two the most

a quote from the show that sticks with you? Jimmy’s speech to the kid on the ledge “the going through hell keep going thing” and of course many of Ziva’s idiom failures (I mean, my blog title is looking for a needle in a needle stack)

if you could change ONE thing about the show, what would it be? Let Bishop live her life in peace for 12 minutes without something hurtful happening to her

torres or dinozzo? Tough one, but Tony

ziva or ellie? Ziva. Hands down

jimmy or ducky? Jimmy

abby or kasie? Kasie (likely an unpopular opinion and absolutely no offense to Abby I love her too)

thoughts on luca sciuto? and kyle? How could you not like them? Sweethearts (now I’m thinking about Luca and Eva what an odd pair that was considering her now history with Gregorio)

do you want to adopt goldfish and call them ziva and kate? I mean, why not?

do you miss kate? Yeah, they don’t seem to televise reruns of her seasons anymore which bugs me

did gibbs change after kate’s death? 110%

thoughts on dr. samantha ryan? Meh. 

fav gibbs’s ex? Diane I suppose

slibbs; yes or no? I’m impartial

or was hollis mann a better fit for him? She wasn’t the worst, but not his perfect match

are gibbs and fornell actually married? Uh, Duh

thoughts on allison hart? good lord please don’t make me think about her

should tony have gone back with wendy? No

do you like mike franks? Totally

moment(s) that traumatized you? Twilight, Neverland, even SWAK, you name it

should gibbs retire? I want to say no, but I love leader McGee. But he’ll always be boss, so no

fav rule? 4. Best way to keep a secret, keep it to yourself, second best, tell one person, there is no third

rule you don’t get? 10 because it literally got broken all the time

if you can bring ONE character back, who would it be? Reeves. He was just a casuality in Abby’s departure storyline and I hate that for him

random headcanon? about the show, a character… Torres is the cool uncle that all the kids love despite his apparent initial dislike towards children

will tony and ziva have another child? I honestly don’t think so, but I would love to see it

thoughts on ellie by the end of season 18? That was a complete flip of the script, but as much as I liked her, she was not close to Ziva for me

is kasie straight? gay? bi? Bi. I’m going bi

thoughts on jessica knight? I loved her in those first eps, I’m curious to see what’s to come

when did you become a fan of the show? (season, year?) I’d say like 2013?? I watched reruns with my mom all the time but I didn’t start watching new weekly eps til right after Ziva left. I remember seeing magazine articles on her departure right as i was getting into it

which character would you date and why? Probably McGee or Jimmy, they’re just goofy sweethearts and I love them

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

I'm curious about "a history of dead women in the city" (and also the Wellington one, of course)

Yusss! 

“History of dead women in the city” - oh man one day I will write this. It's part of this world I'm creating called Babel and it follows this woman as she tries to figure out what happened to her sister who died years ago. 

 A long excerpt: 

Here is a scene from our childhood: It’s a sunny day. Dappled. Portrait worthy sun. It brings out freckles. We are in the courtyard, my sister drawing and me watching her draw. On a large blanket by the well sits our parents. Our mother is laughing, her arms entwined with our father’s, they are so in love. They do not notice us. It’s one of those loves that perfumes air, that is intimate and consuming, where only they exist and nothing else.

‘That is what I want,’ Bellefrey says to me. She’s drawing my round face. Squinting, holding up her thumb, making a show of it. ‘I want a man who makes me feel sublime.’ 

‘Don’t you mean loved?’ 

Oh no, she means sublime. She wants to be a thunderstorm. A tsunami. A hurricane. Something you stand in awe of. 

‘The word awesome is overused,’ she explains. ‘We use it too much. Everything is awesome. The food-stalls at the mid-summer carnival are awesome. The paintings by George Dier are awesome. The play at the Round was awesome. I’m awesome. You’re awesome. Everyone’s awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome.’ Her voices becomes mocking at the end. 

‘But I am awesome,’ I protest. ‘I know how to make a penny appear from behind your ear.’ I sit up to perform the trick and she lets me fumble through it. 

That was over thirty years ago when Bellefrey was seventeen and me, a mere ten. 

Bellefrey wrote to me a week before she died saying that she hoped her daughter Lyra would make up her mind about the name for her daughter. The child was two weeks old and still no name. How was that to be countenanced? 

Lyra was Bellefrey’s third child, though second to survive. Perhaps she thought you should have all these things planned. Bellefrey was a great believer in organization. She planned out all the names for her children. Lists tracked down the side of commonplace books next to recipes and almanac predictions. Boy names, girl names, names that could go for either. 

As soon as she missed her third course she was to the local midwife to read leaves over her stomach so she could prepare properly. Will it be a boy? Will it be a girl? Will it die and so there is no need to prepare a name? 

Johan is her son, first born. He followed his father into the merchant trade and sells all manner of fabrics and spices. He visits me, aunty I’ve black tea pearls for you laced with lavender, hounded by dried ginger, protected by saffron. We brew fragrant drinks and he shows me his art. All those drawings of places I will never see but he has and oh isn’t that wonderful. 

Havel was her second child, a boy, but he died at three weeks. One of those deaths where the babe goes to sleep and doesn’t wake up. Gay in the morning, dead by dinner except there is no fever to blame this on. 

Lyra is three. First daughter and pulled out a screaming child with spindly legs and a too-large head. Her hair is the thick curls that is our mother’s inheritance, her grandmother’s inheritance. Married to a lawyer who aims to one day be well connected through the inns of court, she means to make herself into something. Daughter three was named Belle. She wagged a finger at me, never a word about beasts and fairy tales. 

I don’t tell her that a woman I knew said that fairytales are our collective neurosis born out in repeating tropes. Patterned to go down forever and on. 

The fourth had no name because the leaves read by her midwife told her not to bother. It was born early and without heartbeat. 

Guilluam is fifth and last. She swore he was conceived ready to escape her belly. He patted the inside of her stomach as soon as he could move. Once born he clung to her then didn’t anymore, running away at sixteen. A year before she died. 

What would her most difficult child make of all of this? I remember his sneering face. Where Johan was gentle kindness, Guilluam was sharp. He cut with a look. He cut with a laugh. He could be a harsh, cruel boy. Probably is a harsh, cruel man. 

Or maybe he’s softened. Maybe as he ages he’s gentling. Some people do that. But in all honesty, I don’t think Guilluam the sort. 

What am I trying to do? I’m trying to introduce a woman. A girl. A child. A person whom I have loved all my life and will continue to love all my life. Though I am so angry with her for leaving us it wasn’t her fault. 

See, I’m guilty as all of us are guilty. 

Bellefrey got caught up in something bigger than her death. She was hidden in the shadows of a great anger and a great brutality. 

Bellefrey died and was found months and months later wearing a green dress and purple shoes with pearls on them. 

No one knows what she was caught up in and no one knows about this great brutality, this great anger that once stalked through our less than fine and noble city. 

I do not have my sister’s blood on my hands. But I do have her gravedirt.

 --- 

 The Wellington one! I completely forgot about this one. It's part of the ridiculous Woodford Napoleon AU where Napoleon ends up in England and there are murder fairies. In this story, things are starting to come through a mysterious mirror that someone shipped to Napoleon for unknown reasons. Arthur shows up to investigate. 

 Another long excerpt:

In the drawing room rests the mirror. It was received a little over a month ago wrapped in brown paper with no information on sender or purpose. It is a heavy, old thing. Age-spotted, warped, the frame is heavy, gilded wood. Napoleon says that for him it’s Tuileries. Has he told Arthur about Tuileries? The sacking of it? 

‘Only that you said vive la revolution and someone asked if you were from the south and you said yes and that is what saved you.’ 

‘Southerners have to stick together,’ Napoleon’s sphinxian smile. Then he goes into himself, how he does when he’s formatting a memory — twisting it into some form of narrative that will make sense to those who were not there. Bertrand told Arthur once, It’s the revolution, we can’t really explain it. How we went about our day but also checked this list that was kept of everyone taken up as enemies. You went every morning to make sure your friends were still alive. Then you had breakfast. 

Napoleon shrugs at Arthur’s patient waiting. ‘It was messy. There was a man’s head on a pike. He had a beard, brown hair that curled, blue eyes. And the floor was scattered with torn drapes, rags that were once kingly gowns, shattered statues, remains of old portraits. A lot of broken glass. Windows and mirrors.’

And as for this mirror? With its growth that says: come come come. Nothing happened the first little while. Oh yes, various and sundry people of the neighbourhood came to view the mirror — to see if they recognised it.

‘And did they?’ Arthur asks. 

Yes and no for all who saw it. Mrs. Topsom said it reminded her of a beautiful manor in the Scottish highlands she once visited as a child. She did not seem comfortable with this recollection. Mrs. Phillips said it brought to mind a book she once read which told the story of a young woman trapped in a tower whose uncle froze time. Lady Preston said it was something from the Assembly Rooms in Bath. 

‘And your household?’ 

Napoleon shrugs. What is there to say on that? Nothing. It was the revolution and it was abdication and it was family homes that are no longer homes of families. 

Arthur shifts his gaze from the pensive face of Napoleon back to the mirror and he looks at it for a long moment. Studies the carvings of the frame — the flowers, vines, mischievous eyes peeking out from behind leaves. ‘I suppose it’s something from Spain, if I think on it long enough. A wealthy home we stayed in, during the campaign.’ 

‘A bit of something for everyone.’ 

‘Yes,’ Arthur agrees. Then he adds, ‘and no.’ 

The main issue with the mirror is this: that there is a staircase growing out of it. 

When Arthur approaches he can hear whispers crawling through his mind. Slithering down the back of his head.  

‘How long have the steps been here?’

‘Week and a half. It formed slowly, so we were able to document it in a thorough manner. Bertrand will give you his notes.’

Arthur hums as he inspects the object, pondering cause and effect. And, more importantly, who sent it to the exiles and to what purpose. There is nothing behind the mirror, only the wall it is propped up against. The stairs themselves are made of oak, and descend as three steps out into their world. Within the mirror they meld into an old stone walkway that climbs into a forest and is lost amongst trees and brush and forest fog. 

There are leaves on the floor. And dirt. Detritus of autumnal life. They crunch beneath Arthur’s boots. Everything smells of decay. 

‘Has anyone touched the mirror?’ Arthur asks. ‘Seen if it’s solid?’

‘We had Sir Hudson Lowe test it.’ Napoleon replies with an air of innocence. Arthur casts him a look. ‘What? Would you rather him disappear forever into the mirror or my good self? And no need to answer. You can save your blushes, we’re alone.’

‘You’re incorrigible.’

‘It’s one of my finer points.’

‘And? Was it solid?’ Arthur asks.

‘Yes and no.’ Napoleon approaches and touches the glass. His palm rests against it for a beat, then it begins to go through to the other side. Napoleon lets his hand sink through up to his wrist before withdrawing. ‘No one has walked through yet.’

With this touch the whispering decreases. Though, there remains the feeling of being watched. It is not that they are hunted, Arthur thinks, but rather they are being inspected. Something is curious about them. 

Reaching forward, he places his palm where Napoleon’s had been. The glass is cool to the touch and when his hand begins to sink through his skin buzzes with frisson of magic, that unfurling warmth crawls up his arm as his hand enters the other side where the air is cool yet humid. That sticky feeling of late winter.

He pulls his hand away.

‘What are your orders?’ Napoleon asks.

‘To investigate.’

The whispers return. Arthur rubs the back of his head. Such an unpleasant feeling, something else in your mind speaking a language you cannot understand in a collection of voices none of which are your own.

‘Maybe we should put a sheet over it,’ Arthur suggests after a moment. ‘Just in case.’

Going over to the window seat Napoleon opens a cupboard beneath to pull out a heavy blanket. He holds it up showing the shredded fabric. 

‘We tried,’ Napoleon says. ‘Mrs. Phillips recommended salt so we put a circle around it but found strange footprints in it the next morning. We tried the blanket, but it was clawed through. We collected iron implements and made a circle around it with those and that seemed to work better than the other options. I still think they got out, though.’

‘And you’re just keeping it here in your house?’

‘Oh yes, it’s fine.’

Arthur rolls his eyes. Trust Bonaparte to think it’s fine keeping a mirror-doorway to the land of fairy in his house with potential creatures coming and going out of it at all hours.

‘We leave food out for them.’

‘They’re not pets!’

‘No,’ Napoleon pats Arthur’s cheek with a warm smile. ‘But that’s what you’re supposed to do to keep fairies happy. Come now, you should know this. Milk, bread, sometimes a brandy.’

‘I give up!’

‘Young Napoleon Bertrand has suggested names for them —‘

‘Good lord.’

‘Ferdinand, Finnegan, and Felipe.’

‘Christ’s blood.’

‘Excellent,’ Napoleon enthuses. ‘You’re cursing like a Catholic. I knew I’d be a good influence on you. Come, we shall have a late supper.’

---

Thank you so much for the ask! <3 <3 

[das meme]

[pinehutch]

I was tagged by @devastationwagon​ to answer, like, so many questions. 

In return I will tag @mareebrittenford, @aspiringpolymath, @horse-badorties @elliebear75, @gay-mo and @stonelionhearts, but with absolutely no pressure and with a very heartfelt invitation to anyone else. 

1. Do you make your bed?

I’m a monster: I do not. Fitted sheet + duvet lifestyle means ‘making the bed’ is really just ‘rearranging the mountain of fluff,’ so that doesn’t count. (Rearranging the mountain of fluff is also how I put on any hat.)

The worst thing about me is that I don’t like to have my feet tucked in at night unless my toes are actually cold. Do not share a bed with me, I will lure the toe-biting bed monsters to you. 

[There are 19 more questions after the readmore. Nineteen! Some of them answered much more thoughtfully than others!)

2. What’s your favorite number?

Five, nine, and 19. 

3. What’s your job?

I read, write, think, talk, and do some math for a living. I help other people learn to do the same. I used to buy stuff, and then I got too good at asking “are you sure that’s the stuff you need? How come?” Now I get pointed at something that’s a huge tangled pile of who’s, what’s, why’s, and how’s, and asked to de-tangle it. I try to make the people I work with remember that they are strong and can be soft. 

4. If you could, would you go back to school?

I would, actually. If we’re talking going back in time and doing it again, I’d go to law school. It didn’t occur to me until I started working with lawyers in my late 20′s or early 30′s that it could have been a good fit for me (not so much in litigation as in the reading and writing kind, admittedly). 

If we’re talking “I suddenly have a 25k to spare” (and maybe even if I don’t), I have been getting enrollment newsletters from here for 12 or 13 years and still haven’t unsubscribed. 

5. Can you parallel park?

With stunning 70% accuracy!

6. A job you had which would surprise people?

I don’t what kinds of jobs people expect me to have. I remember that @imthepaterfamilias​ was surprised when I told him what my day job was, a few years ago! 

I was a lifeguard, which is actually pretty on-brand based on what my tumblr queue spat out today. A Record Store Girl ™ .  I did the fast food thing in my late teens. My jobs are pretty unsurprising, I think. 

7. Do you think aliens are real?

I think that somewhere out there in this vast universe some kind of life has evolved. 

I think that it was nice of @devastationwagon​ to write those words so I didn’t have to. 

8. Can you drive a manual car?

Nope. :( 

9. What’s your guilty pleasure?

I actually kind of want to rehabilitate my relationship to pleasure because it’s not super well-calibrated, so - many of them. That guilt makes me better at indulgence than pleasure, and I think it exists on an extremely un-whimsical see-saw with a pervasive low-grade sense of unworthiness. I don’t think pleasure should be something people feel guilty about, but sometimes my head and my heart need a bit of a nudge to align. 

Also, a semi-annual can of Diet Pepsi. It has no point, and yet. 

10. Tattoos?

Pas encore, but a good three of them planned. Hopefully at least one in 2020. 

11. Favorite color?

I like many kinds of blues and greens. 

12. Things people do that drive you crazy?

The little things, right? 

Once, I overheard someone say “at the end of the day, it is what it is” in a meeting, and it’s still hilarious and awful. Also I used to work with a lot of people who said “priorize” when they meant “prioritize,” because the meanest and loudest guy always said “priorize.” I’m not usually prescriptive about language but that one got under my skin. But that was a long time ago. 

I had a housemate in university who clipped her toenails and filed her feet. in. the. living room. The sounds were appalling.  

Hey big truck, why you parked in all those spots? Just curious! :) :) :) 

13. Any Phobias?

I’m copying from a Devastating Wagoneer again because I too can get claustrophobic, but it’s not consistent.  The stairwells at my office building, but not the elevators. Not being in a plane, or getting on or off of it, but standing up while waiting to deplane. Actual caves. 

14. Favorite childhood sport?

I kind of liked pick-up games of soccer, but I didn’t have much of a competitive streak. Swimming, but again, not really competing against anyone except myself. I get nostalgic about the sound of hockey games but I didn’t actually like them. 

15. Do you talk to yourself?

I sure do. When I’ve done something that I feel should be embarrassing, even if I’m by myself. Sometimes I make up songs about what I’m doing if I’m feeling jittery or just silly, and I’m alone. 

During periods of high stress, like hypothetically when things are wild at work and I’ve got a parent in the hospital, my inner monologue of really shitty and cruel self-talk can get pretty loud and insistent. I’ve occasionally caught myself vocalizing something simple, like “hey” or “okay, enough of that” to try to cut it off. 

16. What movie do you adore?

Shameful confession: I am really bad at movies! I mean, I like them, and can get really absorbed, but I spent my teenage years around Film Geeks and I’m just...not one. 

17. Do you like doing puzzles?

I like crossword puzzles and logic puzzles, like sudoku and nonograms. (Those make me extremely relaxed and sleepy, it’s great. Three-way-matching apps do the same thing.) Loved me a logic grid as a kid. I’ve never liked jigsaw puzzles, though.  

18. Favorite kind of music?

Whoever filled this out before me knew what’s what: the kind that is both quiet and loud.

19. Tea or coffee?

Both. I love tea, especially a strong cup of black tea with a generous amount of milk in it (though I also like greens and oolongs). I also really like coffee! Usually my day will start with a cup or two of french press or moka pot or espresso-based coffee, and I’ll switch to tea after that. 

20. The first thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up?

I have a weirdly vivid memory of deciding that I wanted to be a singer or an actor. I was in the basement of the first house I lived in, and had almost certainly been watching Jem and the Holograms. I couldn’t have been more than four or five years old. Shortly after that some things about me changed, and I didn’t want to be in front of people in that way, any more. 

My answer to “what do you want to be when you grow up” changed all the time, but “writer” was one of the earliest, and most consistent. 

[becausenoothernameisavailable]

Three's company.

Dalton Big Bang 2020 Prompt: Wevid friendship with Katherine

“Did you hear about the new tenants?” Mrs. Garcia said to her neighbour Mrs. Thompson as she passed her by on way to work.

“The cute boys renting 4B.” Mrs. Thompson smiled as she locked her apartment door behind her. ”They passed by me as they were hefting their couch earlier. Real polite they were.” she nodded. “Greeted me and everything.”

“But did you know about the girl.”

“Hmm.” Mrs. Garcia enquired as she walked down the stairs and nodded to a neighbour who opened the door for them. “What girl.”

“The girl, Nina.” Mrs. Thompson said following her neighbour out of the apartment building. “There was a girl with them, who was also carrying furniture pieces.”

“Probably a friend.” Mrs. Garcia – Nina said as Mrs. Thompson reached near her. “Got to rush Betty, See you later.”

*

“Have you met the new couple renting 4B?” Mr. Nelson from 6B asked Mr. Clark from 5B. “Well my Maria, you know her.” Mr. Clark sighed, “She made it a mission to meet them.”

“And?” Mr. Nelson looked curious?

“The girl is a dancer and the boyfriend, who was also around, is studying business.”

“Oh.” Mr. Nelson looking intrigued. “It’s good to have some young blood here, liven things up so to speak.”

*

“Alison.” Mrs. Garcia – Nina said when she met her friend in the hallway. “It’s been a long time, what have you been doing lately?”

“Nothing much.” Alison – Ms. Lee from 6A sighed, “Just tired, long day, the shipments were delayed and then we had to sort everything out.”

“Yes. Yes.” Mrs. Garcia – Nina hurried her friend along “But do you know anything about who is renting 4B. “

“Those two boys you mean – David and Wes.”

“So there are two boys renting 4B” Nina mumbled to herself.” I knew it.”

“Pardon.” Alison sighed, tired after a long day at work.

“Nothing. Nothing, just checking, have a good day Alison.”

*

“Don’t they make a cute couple?” Ms. Martin from 1A remarked to Mr. Nelson from 6 B.”I wish I could find a boyfriend.”

“She is a dancer and he is studying business. Martin heard it from Mr. Clark from 5B.”

“Business.” Ms. Martin frowned, “I could have sworn I heard something about the boyfriend studying law. Katherine had told me herself.”

“Really.” Mr. Nelson – Andrew frowned, “Martin didn’t tell me this, but then again he got this information from Mr. Clark, who in turn got this information from Mrs. Clark.”

“And we all know what happens when Mrs. Clark is involved.”

“You can say that again.”

*

“I think our neighbours are confused about who exactly is living here.” David said walking into the apartment and shutting the door.

“Hmm, what do you mean?” Wes frowned into his business textbooks.

“I passed by the sweet old lady who lives in 2A, she saw me and wished me good luck for my exams.”

“But I have an exam.” Wes said tiredly “I know.” David laughed cheerfully and grinned, “And then she also told me to say hi to my boyfriend.

“Oh honey, I love you too.” Wes laughed, used to his friendship with David always being misconstrued into something else.”

“Yep.” David said toeing off his shoes. “It’s the talk of the town, it seems. Everyone thinks we’re gay.”

“Oh.” Wes frowned, “I was just beginning to put on the moves on the cutie from 1A. We’re to meet for drinks over the weekend. Though she seemed to think that Katherine and I were in a relationship and you were out of the picture completely ”

“Better step up your moves lover boy” David grinned, “They now think you’re gay.”

“Well, they think you’re gay too.” Wes reminded.

“And that’s why I have the missus.” He smiled kissing Katherine on the cheek.

“About that.” Katherine smiled and pushed David away. ”Some of them think that we’re married. You have got to stop calling me the missus in public.”

“You will be, soon” David picked up Katherine’s hand and kissed the finger with the engagement ring on it and Wes smiled.

*

(Series of conversation that took place amongst the neighbours over the next three weeks.)

“I hear that they’re engaged”

“Well, you can’t miss the rock on her finger.”

“Whose finger”

“Katherine, the girl.”

“But I thought they were gay and its two boys living there.”

“There are two boys living there and a girl and she is engaged.”

“To both of them?”

“Maybe?”

-

“I have news about 4B”

“Do tell.”

“They’re living together.”

“Like, together, together?”

“Yes, they’re a polyamorous couple.”

“How do you know?”

“Because” dramatic pause, “I saw the African American boy kiss the Asian boy on the cheeks and then he proceeded to kiss the girl on the lips.”

“Where was this, where were you?”

“I guess, he was, leaving to go somewhere, the door was open.

”So you spied on them?”

“I guess… Was it bad that I did?”

“Don’t know, but at least now we know.”

“Hmm…”

-

“I don’t know about know them being a polyamorous couple but those boys.” Dramatic pause. “Are gay.”

“But the girl, she is engaged.”

“Maybe she is their friend or sister.”

“But one of them addressed her as their missus.”

“Wait, so you’re saying that they are married now?”

“I don’t know....”

“I’m am telling you, those boys are gay! I have excellent gaydar you know.”

-

“So, it’s definitely three people living together?”

“Not together, together as it’s a two-bedroom apartment. But yes, David and Katherine are engaged and Wes is single but looking to change his status”

“How do you know?”

“Because –“

“Come on now, don’t be shy.”

“I guess, we are in a thing.”

“Ooh, which one is he?”

“The cute Asian one.”

“The lawyer.”

“No, he is studying business.”

“Oh, ok, tell me how it goes.”

“Hmm.”

*

“So, should we do something about this situation?” Wes said shovelling popcorn in his mouth and David stared at him, “Hey, you’re eating all the popcorn.”

“Go make more for self.”

“What situation?” Katherine sat down next to Wes, taking some popcorn from the bowl offered to her.

“Hey.” David cried in indignation.

“Shush, go make more.” Katherine smiled beatifically and David sighed and got up dropping a kiss on her hair.

“Kiara says that everyone thinks we are in a relationship, like all of us, together.”

“But, doesn’t she know that you’re single and straight.”

“Yes.” grinned Wes, “And I have proved it to her, multiple times.” and punched David’s offered fist as Katherine threw a pillow at them.

“Then, what’s the problem.” David asked on way to the kitchen.”

“I don’t know. Should we do something, say something?” The three of them looked at each other, “Well, it’s none of their business.” David remarked.

“What you can do is invite Kiara over the next time. “ Katherine piped, “We want to meet her.”

“Okay.” nodded Wes and picked up the game controller, “Super Mario anyone?”

[walkerismychoice]

For Law and Love - Chapter 13

Book: Desire and Decorum - Modern day AU

Paring: Ernest Sinclaire X MC

Raiting: PG-13

Summary: Day one of their month apart, but Ernest and Anna still find a way to spend time together. Anna is trying to keep a low profile today, but nobody wants to let her forgot what day it is.

Word Count: 2543

Law and Love Master List  - Catch up here

One month. Anna had been through one month over 250 times in her life. Certainly one more was insignificant compared to the total. And it's not like she wouldn't be able to see him, but it was almost more difficult to have someone you wanted so badly but couldn't have in front of your face all the time then to not see them at all. Yet she still wanted to be with him as much as possible, so she found herself waking at the dreadful hour of seven on a Saturday morning to volunteer at the legal aid clinic on campus. She threw her hair up, put on a clean pair of jeans and a sweater, and grabbed an extra large coffee on the way, hoping she'd feel awake by the time she got there.

As was expected with his “on time is late, and 15 min early is on time personality”, Ernest was already there when she arrived. She had to resist the urge to hug him or be too informal, so she decided if she couldn't act how she wanted to, she'd have some fun with it.

"Good morning, Mr. Sinclaire. Than you so much for this opportunity," Anna greeted.

Ernest raised an eyebrow at her. "Good morning Anna, why don't I introduce you to Mr. Chambers. He'll be training you this morning."

"Anna, so nice to meet you." He held out his hand for Anna to shake. He was a couple inches shorter than Ernest with curly dark brown hair and couldn't have been much older than Ernest. "None of this stuffy Mr. Chambers though. You can call me Bart."

"Nice to meet you too, Bart," Anna replied warmly. There was something about Bart that put her at ease. "How can I help?"

"I'm afraid it's not glamorous work, but we have a backlog of filing to do. Let me show you to the file room." Bart led her to a small room towards the back of the building and explained which piles needed to go where. Just before he was about to leave, he looked at her and smirked. "You know, Ernest had told me a lot about you."

"He has? I'm just one of his students..." Anna waited nervously to see where he was going. She already trusted Bart, but this legal clinic was affiliated with the school and she didn't want any rumors going around.

Bart chuckled. "Relax Anna, Ernest is a good guy, and I'm on your side. It's usually hard to get anything personal out of him, so for him to open up to me about you and this whole ordeal must mean you're pretty special. If he's not going to be interested in someone like me, I'm happy it's you." He must have noticed a slight change in her expression due to his unexpected admission, adding "Yes, I'm gay if you couldn't already tell."

Anna laughed. "I didn't want to make any assumptions."

"I have a boyfriend now, and obviously I'm not his type, but if I had ever had a chance with him, I would have been all over it. Anyhow, the clients will start trickling in any moment, so I'll leave you you to it, but let me know if you have any questions." Bart snuck through the partially opened door, leaving her alone with the massive stacks of paperwork.

Anna put her earbuds in and put some music on to make the menial task a bit more enjoyable. She got in a groove and had made a good dent, not even sure how much time had passed when she felt a tap on her shoulder. It startled her to the point that she jumped and let out a yelp. She whipped her head around expecting to see Bart. "Ernest! What are you doing in here?"

Ernest threw a stack of envelopes on the table and wrapped her in a tight embrace. "Bart insisted I file those immediately."

Anna peaked over his shoulder to see he had closed the door behind him. "Oh did he? He's a pretty decent wingman isn't he?"

"One of the best." Ernest cupped her cheek and ducked his head down to kiss her. He backed her into the table, and then picked her up and sat her atop it. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer as she deepened the kiss, having to fight the urge to start ripping his clothes off since it was neither the time or the place.

Anna put her hand on Ernest’s chest as she pulled back and looked up at him. “I think we better stop before I get us both kicked out of school.”

“You just can’t resist me, can you?” Ernest teased. 

 Anna rolled her eyes. “Today I can, but just barely. Ask me again in a few weeks.” 

“It’s only been a day, hasn’t it? Speaking of the date, I have a confession.” Ernest picked the stack of envelopes up from the table and handed them to Anna. They were tied together with a red bow and she could see the top one was addressed to her, with ‘Day 1′ written on it. “It seems you may have been hoping I would forget what day it is today. With everything going on, I neglected to get you a proper present, but I hope these will suffice. Happy Birthday Anna.” 

Anna didn’t forget it was her birthday, but she had hoped everyone else would. She had planned to celebrate her 21st birthday with Ernest and all her other close friends, but given the circumstances, she just wasn’t in the mood if he couldn't attend. As thoughtful as he was, she should have figured Ernest wouldn’t let it go by unnoticed.  Anna untied the ribbon and sifted through the envelopes numbered 1-31 and her eyes began to well up. "When did you have time to do all this?"

"Let's just say I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Ernest pecked her sweetly on the lips. "I know we won't be able to talk or see each other every day, but at least you'll get a little something from me."

Anna threw her arms around his neck and rested her head against his chest. "It's perfect."

Ernest left Anna to finish her filing. There was still another hour or so until lunch, and she figured she had at least that much more work to do. She worked diligently and powered through a few extra minutes to get it all done. When she reached the break room, all the employees and volunteers were there and Bart was standing next to a birthday cake.

"We heard it was your birthday, and we never pass up an opportunity to eat cake around here." He lit the candle and led everyone in singing happy birthday to Anna. She was a mix of mortified that all these people she just met were making a fuss over her and touched that Ernest set this all up, for she highly doubted Bart figured out her birthday from the volunteer paperwork she just submitted that morning.

"Thank you," Anna mouthed to Ernest and he just nodded and smiled. The ate lunch and had cake before it was time for Ernest to get back to the clients.

Bart approached Anna before going back to his work. "You got the filing done much faster than I anticipated. I didn't prepare anything else for you to assist with today, so if you want you can go home early, otherwise you could shadow Ernest to get a feel for what we do here."

Anna wasn't going to turn down a chance to spend more time with Ernest, and she was curious to see what kind of cases he dealt with, so she happily agreed to stay. The first client was a man named Luis with an energetic boy in tow who looked about four or five. He rolled his toy truck across the desk and over the paperwork, and Ernest took it all in stride. He went around to Ernest's side of the desk and stared at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry," Luis apologized. "I didn't have anyone to watch him today. Alex, come here!"

"No worries," Ernest assured him. "Hey Alex, I have a very important job for you. Would you like to be my special helper?" Alex nodded and beamed proudly. "Can you give this paper to your dad to fill out?"

Alex took the form to his father and continued to be the courier for each document throughout the visit. It turned out Luis was a single father trying to get permanent custody of Alex. His mom was in and out of jail and sporadically in Alex's life. Luis had been laid off from his job for some time, but now he had steady employment and hoped he had a better chance of the courts awarding full custody. Anna was in awe of the level of compassion and kindness Ernest showed towards both Luis and Alex, and it made her love him even more. Yes, there was no denying she was completely head-over-heels in love with Ernest Sinclaire.

Ernest saw a few more clients that afternoon including an immigration case, a tenant-landlord dispute, and woman seeking disability benefits. Anna had been around lawyers her whole life, but this was a completely different side of things - one she knew existed but had never experienced. Her dad’s clients were typically large corporations and individuals who could pay top dollar for his services. His work certainly served a purpose, but this type of advocacy work, while not likely profitable, seemed to really give people a chance to change things in their lives for the better. Anna was beginning to see for the first time that maybe this career path could not only help fulfill her dad’s wishes, but could be something she was passionate about as well.

At the end of the day, Ernest and Anna snuck in a quick goodbye before Anna headed back home to spend her birthday and the rest of her weekend with her dad. She hadn’t seen him in a few weeks, and spending her birthday with him would be a good distraction. She knew he wouldn’t have expected her to celebrate her 21st birthday with him, but she was sure deep down he was thrilled to have her there instead of out at some bar getting wasted. 

Anna walked through the front door, and was confused when she saw a couple pairs of women’s shoes by the door. She turned the corner to the living room and noticed a large birthday banner, before she saw two familiar faces pop out.

“Surprise!” Briar yelled and rand over hugged her. 

Annabelle followed suit. “We know you said you didn’t want to do anything, but we came to crash your party anyway. Don’t worry, nothing wild. Just a fun girls night in.”

Somehow Briar and Annabelle both new Anna well enough to know what she needed even more than herself. She thought she wanted to wallow in self-pity with her dad, but having them there was a breath of fresh air, and her mood instantly lifted.

“I’m glad I have troublemaker best friends like you two who never listen to anything I say.” Anna chuckled. “Seriously though, I’m really happy you both are here. I’m just going to go say hi to my dad.”

Anna wandered into the kitchen where she could hear her dad banging around. “Hi sweetheart!” Vincent threw his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. “Happy Birthday!”

“Hi, Dad. I hope you don’t mind that Briar and Annabelle are joining us.”

“Of course I don’t mind!” Vincent Exclaimed. “Who do you think invited them? I know you love your old man, but I know you need your friends too. I figured we could all eat dinner together, and then I’ll leave you girls to whatever girls do.”

Anna scanned the kitchen. There was a pan of lasagna prepped and ready to go in the oven, and her dad was cutting up vegetables for salad. “Do you need any help with anything?

Vincent shooed her away. “Get out of here. It’s your birthday. Go relax.” He pointed to a bottle of white wine chilling in a bucket on the counter. “You could get yourself and your friends a drink now that you’re legal. There’s some beers in the fridge also.”

“The wine will be perfect. Thanks dad.” Anna grabbed the wine and three glasses and joined her friends in the living room.

Dinner was nice, and Vincent had gotten tiramisu from Anna’s favorite Italian bakery for dessert. Both Anna and Vincent were pleased to hear Briar had ditched Eddie and Arthur and was navigating somewhat of a long distance relationship with Luke.  It was nothing serious yet, but they had continued to talk since they met at the bar and had plans to meet for lunch the next day. Annabelle gave a hilarious but PG-rated version of her Tinder adventures, and they all ate until they were stuffed.

Vincent retired early as promised, and the girls put on face masks and gave each other pedicures, which probably wasn’t the best idea after a few glasses of wine. Nevertheless, Anna hadn’t felt so light nor laughed that much in quite some time. They settled in and watched To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, which Anna could never get tired of. She had to admit Peter Kavinsky made her swoon, but he still had nothing on Ernest Sinclaire.

When they could all barely keep their eyes open, Anna showed Briar and Annabelle to their guest rooms, before climbing into bed. She retrieved evelop #1 from her bag, which she had purposefully saved until now to open and read what was inside.

My Anna,

One day down, and one day closer to us being together freely again. I couldn’t have imagined just a few months ago I’d be here today, having someone like you I can’t live without. However much you are missing me, I’m certain I’ll be missing you more.

I know this birthday isn’t what you planned, but I hope the time we got to spend made you at least a little happy. I’m not sure what kind of trouble you’ll get into the rest of the day without me, but please for your sake and mine, try to refrain from getting so drunk you puke on another man’s shoes. I hope to be the first and last to experience that with you. 

Love,

Ernest 

Anna laughed to herself as she wiped a tear from her cheek. Then she realized what he’d written in closing and her heart fluttered. She knew she loved him and she thought he felt the same, but they’d never thrown that four letter word out there. She wondered if it held the weight she thought it did, but Ernest took nothing of importance lightly. If he used that word, he meant it. Anna tucked the letter safety in her nightstand drawer and her head hit the pillow with a big smile on her face. This was not at all the 21st birthday she had envisioned, but all in all it had been a pretty great day. 

Tag List:  @symonde @timmagicktoad @reputationbee @flowerpowell @flyawayboo @hellospunkiebrewster @boneandfur @tmarie82 @debramcg1106 @lizeboredom @simplyaiden-blog @the-writerly-night-owl @quacksonlover @thefarrari @snickette @hhiggs @marianagmt @drakewalkerfantasy @mistersinclaire @jessweb84 @marshmallow-ortega @butindeed @fluffy-marshmallow-heart @confessionsofabrokegirl @akrenich @alexanderkeith-77-blog @nicestrokepam @leelee10898 @blackcatkita @yesterday4 @shelivesinthewoods @snyggflicka @nekkidmolerat @srry-itshockeyszn @walkerduchess @choicesyouplayandmore @andy-loves-corgis @katurrade @too-poor-to-buy-keys @endless-vall @hopefulmoonobject @damienazarios @pens-girl-87 @catlady0911 @thatspicegirlssong

[with-a-martyr-complex]

Trans Ideology: Gender Dysphoria

Not too long ago, I listened to a podcast with Chase Strangio, a lawyer with the ACLU who specializes in LGBT(and is a trans-man, because when talking about these issues there are folks who think That Counts for A Lot). And there’s discussion between Strangio and the podcast host about the difference between the recent Trans Rights movement and previous activism. To use their logic, the Gay Marriage issue involved mentally reorienting things to say that an existing idea of marriage dominant in the 20th century (One Man+One Woman) and say that an alternative set of categorizations (Two Men or Two Women) should be on equal legal and social footing. But Trans Rights requires tackling ideas more foundational than modern marriage, but our entire conception of gender as a whole. 

A lot of...okay the conventional term on the left would be “transphobes” but I don’t like that term nor enabling euphemisms like “trans-skeptics” so I’ll just call them ATs (for anti-trans, which still seems to extreme). 

A lot of ATs, be they TERFs, religious conservatives, or moderate strains of “not getting” the whole “trans” thing, aren’t on board with what they term “Trans Ideology.” To them, the Trans Rights movement and it’s aims don’t represent a wish to be “treated with respect” or “treated equally” but rather a fundamental shift in how a ton of stuff is conceived. They, therefore, can do all kinds of things against this “ideology” (from enacting policies to making public statements which can range from “not accommodating” to “actively and deliberately harmful”). 

The trouble is...on some level they are correct. Maybe opening a dialogue about what that Ideology is about, in ways that don’t presume it’s place as An Ultimate Answer or Really Simple Accommodation You Should Make might be a good way to approach the subject.

And I’d like to start by taking a look at Gender Dysphoria, using my own experience of the feeling as an example.

---

To begin, let’s assume that there has, in long spans of human history, existed a “vegetal feeling” that today we would categorize as gender dysphoria. To folks in the past, this feeling might have been understood as a malevolent spirit or an unsolved problem of the interior mind to be thought about. Explaining it and understanding it through a lens of “I am uncomfortable with my physical sex or social role as it pertains to my gender” therefor represents a relatively recent change and expression of an ancient phenomenon. 

How does this happen? How could something that “has always been around” only now be understood as pertaining to gender identity in this way? There’s one common approach, which is to talk about cultures that contain multiple genders or use abundant historical examples of people defying gender expectations in XYZ ways, but I think ATs have a tendency to either ignore these examples or explain them with alternate hypotheses specific to the examples at hand. I think understanding the experience of one kind of dysphoria might help to clarify that. I’ll use my own, because I know it better than anyone else’s.

Not all trans people “know” they are trans their whole lives. I was raised as a boy, understood myself to be a boy, and never seriously questioned whether I was a boy or not. This persisted even as I knew of the existence of trans people in both abstract and personal terms. I experienced certain “vegetal feelings” of discomfort and anxiety that manifested in certain specific ways (such as aversion to being photographed or looked and a feeling that I had somehow been “born wrong” and tremendous guilt at not being otherwise in some unspecified way) that, to my own understanding, were not in any way gendered. I even assumed that cases like that of whistleblower Chelsea Manning represented actions to achieve material benefits (like easier prison accommodations) because “obviously if you could change genders and get any kind of benefit, anyone would do it because nobody really cares about the gender that they have.” 

It was not until much later in life that I came to ascribe this anxiety a name and conception related to gender at all. Doing that required, as a necessary precondition, getting a lot of information on trans people who had experiences similar to my own, described in their own words (not convenient narratives for oscar bait movies that make social liberals pat themselves on the back for watching them). It was only then that I seriously interrogated my own feelings. When I started trying to wear dresses and wigs in my crappy apartment and suddenly that “vegetal feeling” became manageable, I was able to understand it as dysphoria. 

But it’s worth noting that I’d worn dresses, makeup, wigs, etc. before for other reasons, and that no associated feelings arose from those incidents. The matching of this “vegetal feeling” to gender dysphoria was not an automatic process. 

Further, that “vegetal feeling,” now that it has been mapped to dysphoria, actually “feels” different. It now feels like a very distinct thing, akin to an anxious cold sweat that breaks out under certain conditions. Those conditions are also different than before (including things like “seeing myself as a ‘man in a dress’”). Even the coping mechanisms to alleviate the feeling have changed. 

And all of that stuff? Counterfactuals are hard, but, let’s assume that, had I been raised in some alternate culture, a different explanation, such as a spiritual concern, could have “mapped” to that vegetal feeling, with different societal prescriptions on how to deal with that. Perhaps those mechanisms would have been less effective or even harmful, but others might have been no worse. 

The important thing about the mapping is that it feels correct and has the ability to decidedly improve the lives by treating it as correct and taking steps to act in accord with that. And that is, absent social issues caused by an unaccepting society, the experience of the vast majority of trans people who decide to transition. That’s an assumption that a solution working is therefore correctly diagnosing the problem, which isn’t always right, but it often works out well enough.

I’m curious if there are any ATs out there who might see this (probably not in the near future because this blog be small) and how they would field such a response. 

[koganphrancis]

Camless Episode 5

All The Writers Of This Show Are Shit

We had us a brand new writer this week and all we got was the same old same old: OOC, Retconing, and Repeats of Old Story Beats.

I’ll attempt a recap, but this episode really sucked the will out of me.

(gif credit: gallavichlovies)

I’m not going to do my usual character by character recap because frankly some really awful shit went down this week that I’m just going to refer to and not go into in depth.  Plus, so much of the episode was tedious repeats of shit the writer had JUST TRIED to say.  

We had both Debbie and Ian go knocking on the wrong doors for advice. We had two endless Lip scenes where all that was happening was he was running and riding a motorcycle.  Maybe next week he can paint a fence and we can all watch as the paint dries. Liam is sexually molested (off screen, but still) by another child who had been sexually molested. Carl and Frank both get slapped around in sexually-adjacent situations just as the show is once again trying to drive home what’s unacceptable for men to do to women-hey, Shameless, that goes for what’s unacceptable for women to do to men, women to do to other women, and men to do to other men as well.  They tried to make “going Fiona” a thing-twice.   There were at least four scenes where Frank tried to get an erection. There were endless retcons (more on those to come).  

My notes are all over the place and the show’s such a shit pile I can’t even begin to make a smooth narrative out of them, so here’s a list of my observations, saving the Ian shit for last.

Debbie had a running thread through a big part of the episode where she’s literally bored to the point of falling asleep listening to Alex-that is exactly how I feel about their relationship/the Debbie thinks she might be gay storyline.  Also, if anyone cares, Debs has completely dropped her equal rights/equal pay fight.  She doesn’t even seem to go to work anymore. Later, Debbie goes to visit the lesbians in Fiona’s building (rather than, I don’t know, talking to Vee about her experiences with Svetlana, since that seems maybe more in line with feelings Debbie is experiencing?) and the scene was clearly written in lieu of Shameless ever showing sex scenes anymore.  

The blond lesbian, Mel, exposes herself to Debbie in the doorway of her apartment (but sadly for the Netflix fans, her back is to the camera), without establishing if Debbie is not a minor, and then she kisses her in a sloppy slo-mo saliva string sharing close up.  Debbie is supposedly stunned stupid by this, but the whole “you like what you like and you don’t have to justify your sexual orientation to anyone” message falls flat.  Debbie has ALWAYS been starved for attention, and she misreads any attention she gets from anyone of any sex.  Since Matty she’s always equated someone trying to be interested in her as being interested in her sexually.  And that kiss wasn’t sexual at all-it too was a form of molestation-it wasn’t asked for or consented to.  This show is shit.  

Carl meets a young woman at a West Point mixer, the daughter of the scary military officer who is throwing the party.  Hello, we’ve done this already with Dom and her scary cop dad.  Yawn.  Carl films them not having sex after she passes out drunk so he can prove he didn’t molest/rape her, should it ever come in question.  At first the young woman is mad (and jumps on him and starts slapping him around, just like Katey Sagal will do in a scene with Frank), but then later she returns Carl’s phone and says she saw he didn’t film them having sex, but there is a recording on there of him having sex with someone else.  He says that’s Kassidi, his ex, but fails to let Kelly (the new chick) know she’s dead and he’s an accessory to her murder.  And how fucking creepy is it that Carl’s kept sex with his dead ex on his phone?  Is that something he’s still watching?  Does he get off to it?  This show is shit.

Kev and Vee get stuck with Frank in a few scenes, foreshadowing the boring seasons to come, should the show get renewed (why are they still sitting on announcing that, btw?).  There’s a subplot for Kev where he’s going to speak at a women’s rally in his new-found position of Vagina Safe consultant, but he wisely bows out when he hears the real hell women face on a regular basis.  Why this show is trying to be socially conscious this late in the game I’ll never know.  Especially since they’ll keep pulling their bullshit and defend it with “it’s Shameless!” like they’ve always done in the past.  This show is shit.

There’s the weekly Fiona/Bored disagreements-this time they’re about little things like music preferences and whether or not Fiona should care about her brother going to prison for up to two decades.  Bored winds up singing along to a song to Fiona at the end-it should’ve been Gus Pfender’s Fuck You, Fiona and they could’ve had a cute discussion about Gus being Fi’s ex-husband.  This show is shit.

Now Ian.  Sigh.  Nothing makes sense.  Everything’s either a lie or a retcon and we the audience still don’t know which.  At breakfast he’s telling the family his plea options, and when Liam questions temporary insanity, Ian rattles off, “Bipolar, off my meds.”  So is Ian saying that’s just the definition of the defense he could use, or is he saying “I was off my meds”????  WHY won’t the show give us any answers?  There were two significant scenes in Season 8 where he staunchly said he was taking his meds and that he (rightly) was entitled to feel emotions and be angry at times.  Are we supposed to think that right about then is when he stopped taking them and then Gay Jesus happened?  But if that was the case, why did he stop taking his meds, and now how long has he been off them-or did he start taking them again and now they’re working after being off them for all the GJ stuff PLUS when he was in jail for 9 months?  IF he was off his meds for any amount of time but especially a long amount of time (pretty sure an argument could be made he’d been off them since leaving Mickey/Monica dying/stalking boring Terror, blowing that old couple for money), why did his manic phase seem so different than when he was back from the army?  Can the show try to explain anything?  

Ian and Fiona and Geneva all go to the lawyer’s office-why?  There IS such a thing as client-attorney privilege and the lawyer, at least, would ask them to wait outside once the screaming began if not sooner.  But oh well.  Ian finally says, “Does anyone want to hear what my lawyer has to say?”  Me at home: YES!!!  Lawyer starts to talk, “I know this judge-he’s under...” Geneva starts yelling again and what gets lost in her bullshit is that later on, the judge is not a he?  

Outside Fi asks Ian, “Are all lesbians that dramatic?”  I asked last week, I’m asking again: Is Geneva a lesbian?  Is this just another retcon?  Her initial interactions with Ian seemed like she was crushing on him, that she wanted him, and there’s been nothing about her being a lesbian in canon.  I know it’s not important, but the lack of attention to detail on this show contributes mightily to its shittiness.

Suddenly Ian has a question, and he can think of only one place to get an answer (even though Liam was able to Google “what is cocktail attire?” and get an answer in seconds.  Ian should’ve asked him to look up his question as well).  

Ian goes to the Milkovich house and it’s so fucking OOC I don’t even want to think about it.  For whatever reason, Ian politely says, “Hi, Mr. Milkovich,” when Terry answers the door-why would he even bother?  Terry’s not big on manners, for one thing, and for another, the last time Ian saw Terry he was flipping him off as he was being carted back to prison.  Don’t think Terry’s going to be warmed over by a polite greeting.  Anyway, Ian asks him about being in the pen, and Terry says there’s ass and mouth rapings that Ian would probably enjoy, shitty food, and beat downs from the guards.  Ian asks if Terry was mouth raped (I think he specified that, I didn’t put it in my notes) and Terry indignantly says that Milkoviches don’t “bottom”.  Ian says, “Was Mickey adopted?” and I can’t tell if he was trying to piss Terry off or if he was genuinely curious, but as a joke it didn��t work-Ian knows (or the old Ian did, anyway) better than anyone that Mickey was absolutely nothing like Terry, in any way, not just in sexual preferences.  Another OOC comment to just make the viewer weep thinking about the old days.  Also, having Terry know, let alone USE, the term bottom was also OOC in the extreme.  He might as well have said, “All Milkoviches are cishet.”  It would’ve been just as believable.  

But back to the scene.  Ian says, “Rapings, food, guards-I can handle that shit.  I just need to know...” Terry interrupts him.  “Anyone can handle that shit.  (Again, me at home: Really?)  It’s the boredom that’ll kill ya...Start reading books, lifting weights...”  (Mickey already told him that about juvie AND prison-how dense is Ian that he never got it?)  “But you’re in the same place, with the same assholes, doing the same shit, every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every god damn year.  If I was you I’d pack my shit and run.”  

Ian’s face while he’s running down all the segments of time seems to look like Terry’s getting through to him.  And Terry telling him to take off is actually the best advice Ian winds up getting-in the long run Terry seems to care about keeping Ian out of prison more than his own family.  Terry easily could’ve slammed the door in Ian’s face and ignored him.  Does that mean I forgive Terry at all for everything he did to Mickey, Mandy, and Ian-not to mention his other sons and Svetlana?  FUCK NO.  But how telling is it that this show is now so bad that a villainous piece of shit like Terry is the one character we are listening to and agreeing with?  

One last thing about Terry-he just got out, but he knows Mickey’s in Mexico?  How?  I’m hoping this is a set up for Ian being able to find Mickey next week (or at the end of the season if we have to wait that fucking long), but this show doesn’t do continuity anymore, so I’m sure there’s no logical explanation for Terry knowing that fact.  

Fi goes to the Gallagher house looking for Ian and finds an empty box of hair dye, and a towel stained with hair dye, and that Ian’s drawers are empty.  I also noticed that his pillow was gone-did he pack that up too?  If so, I’m hoping it’s because he and Mickey shared it and he wanted to keep some part of Mick with him always, but we know this show ain’t about that anymore.  Anyway, Fi goes and tells Lip she thinks Ian skipped bail and they have to go find him.  Lip says no, Ian’s an adult.  This conversation also just took place with Debbie-or takes place right after, the show was so boring I couldn’t keep the repeated scenes straight if you put a gun to my head.  

WHY are the siblings so uncaring about Ian going to prison-or getting caught as a fugitive and spending even more time there?  WHY is everyone so stupid about whether prison is “bad” or not, especially for their apple cheeked, puppy-eyed brother who is dealing with mental illness?  Who may or may not be off his meds at any given time?  Ian couldn’t even handle VISITING Mickey in prison, why does he suddenly think he could do a stretch of multiple years if not decades?  All those years stealing cable and watching bootleg DVDs, did none of the Gallaghers ever watch Oz?  In a prior season it was established that Lip has read so much he was able to determine a Louis Vuitton purse was authentic by the stitching and the lettering-he’s never read about prisons and how they affect young men that are in them for a period of time?  “Hardened criminal” is a phrase he’s never come across?  Lip doesn’t realize how hard Ian’s future as a convicted felon will be when he gets out?  Trying to find a job (especially one with medical benefits), a place to live, all that stuff?  This show is shit.

There’s a meaningless shot of Ian at the train station (we don’t even get to know where he was planning to run to-as if we didn’t know-show us he’s at least headed south, you bastards!) and then there’s a scene where Lip comes home in the dark to find Ian at the kitchen table eating ice cream right out of the Edy’s carton.  (They don’t show us the flavor-it looked like it might be chocolate chip?  I didn’t see any chunks of cookie dough or anything.  Again, this is only important because everything else is so boring that actually knowing what kind of ice cream Ian likes would be interesting in comparison.)  

I guess the ice cream is sort of a metaphor?  Ian’s last sweet taste of freedom?  Or maybe I’m reading too much into it and they just came up with something for the brothers to share and it couldn’t be beer-because of Lip, not because of Ian’s meds because god knows they never cared about that, plus we STILL don’t know if he’s just magically back on them-if he is, how is he paying for them?  Anyway, after Lip’s earlier attitude about Ian being an “adult” and not caring all that much about him ever, he doesn’t deserve ice cream!  Here’s a snippet of their dialogue: 

Lip: So you didn’t run. Ian: Oh no-I ran.  I just...ran back.  (well, at least that’s in character since he ran away to the army and came back, and ran away with Monica and came back, and the fucking Mexican border, but I’m not happy about that fact)

They start listing the things Ian will miss if he’s gone for the next ten years.  Debbie may be married to a woman (I would think her being divorced is more likely, but whatever, I won’t be around to watch it either, I’m gone as soon as Ian’s back with Mickey), Carl will be a war criminal, Liam will be the father of a ten year old, Frank, dead.  Ian asks Lip, “You?”  “Still in AA, if I haven’t drunk myself to death.”  Ian says, “Do me a favor?  Don’t.”  IAN CARES MORE ABOUT LIP THAN LIP CARES ABOUT IAN.  Always has, always will.  “Lip deserves to get out of the ghetto.”  But Lip’s fine with Ian going off to prison because of the whole Gay Jesus thing that he never even began to try to understand or help Ian find a way out of.  This show is shit.

Next there’s a scene of Ian in a suit, dressed for court and talking to his Bible that’s on his bed (still no pillow-weird).  He’s asking Shim to talk to him one last time, maybe give him a hint what he should do.  His voice is soft and pleading and he’s almost in tears and all I can think is he needs Mickey to talk things out with.  Lip comes to the door and says something like they’re all downstairs, it’s time or whatever.  Ian gives the Bible one last look and seems to do a little wink-did he hear something from Shim?  Would it kill this show to let us in on some things?  This show is shit.

His plea hearing was so factually inaccurate it hurt.  His lawyer doesn’t say anything, and when asked what he pleads Ian launches into his entire defense.  And the judge lets him.  OMGJ.  

Again I’m pretty sure I’m witnessing a retcon when Ian says “A young man was being forced against his will into a van to be taken to a conversion camp.”  Um, as I recall (and I won’t rewatch the episodes to get all the exact details, they were too stupid), a young runaway came to the Church of Gay Jesus and claimed his parents were trying to make him get conversion therapy and they were giving him drugs so he couldn’t get erections because they didn’t like the fact that he was gay, but when Ian talked to the dad he said the kid ran away on his own because he suffered from mental illness, was off his meds, and was living on the street and prostituting himself.  As I recall the dad/parents didn’t say anything about conversion, they just wanted him home.  Maybe the dad sought help from the guys in the van because there was no other way to get the kid home-none of this has been established for the court, if nothing else!  This show is shit.

Ian gives a speech in a voice like wimpy Jeremiah trying to convince everyone Jerome was the bad one and it was just lame.  He claims his family loved him unconditionally-since when?  They only gave him crap about being with Mickey, or ignored him.  And then when he became “like Monica” there were definitely conditions on loving him-mainly that he be on his meds.  Right up to this episode they were all going around saying it’s time to let him go-they didn’t love him enough to want to keep him at the house and try to help him!  

Anyway, he then states in open court he was off his meds and in a manic state when he torched the van.  Then he looks back at Fiona and starts to give a tiny smile right before the credits.  Was he lying to get a lighter sentence and he’s smiling because he got away with it?  Or does he look to her like that because he knows she’ll be proud of him for finally telling the truth even if it disappoints/ruins the GJ movement (that is so implausible as a concept it makes my head ache)?  

By next week the show will be in another writer’s hands and I’ll never get the answer to that question either, I bet.  IF this means the-fucking finally-end to the GJ storyline, I’ll have to be happy enough with that. 

In conclusion let me say that once again the only “great” thing about the episode was ZERO mention of Terror!  

But the rest of the show was shit. 

[leeegrinnerrr]

Lee Pace Came Out Seven Times a Week. Then He Came Out for Real.

It’s 2018 and we still don’t know what being out and gay will do to an actor’s career.

Five nights and two afternoons a week on Broadway, “Angels in America” sets out on its grueling, eight-hour course. “A Fantasia on Gay Themes,” as its playwright, Tony Kushner, called it, “Angels” is a knotty, furious history play, a jeremiad on the AIDS epidemic originally delivered at crushing ascent. It is also, at the same time, a skein of interconnected stories about love and betrayal and identity, God, man and Eros. Also, there’s a couple of Mormons. Before “The Book of Mormon,” no less.  

Five nights and two afternoons a week, one of those Mormons, Joe Pitt, a closeted lawyer working for the infamous fixer Roy Cohn, goes through hell and out the other side to come out as a gay man.

And so, over the course of this production — now the play with the most Tony nominations in history — does Lee Pace, the man who plays him.

Mr. Pace, 39, has been working steadily in theater, film and TV for the better part of two decades, helping to prop up mega-budget studio tent poles like “The Hobbit” (he is the elven king Thranduil) and “Guardians of the Galaxy” (the ferocious Ronan the Accuser) and cult favorites like “Pushing Daisies” and the recently concluded “Halt and Catch Fire.”

Mr. Pace sometimes attracted attention — from the nominating committees of the Emmys, the Golden Globes and the Independent Spirit Awards — but mostly disappeared into whatever elves, necromancers or sales executives he happened to be playing at the time. That was by design.

“It was a real strategy to draw boundaries,” Mr. Pace said in a recent interview at his New York apartment, as his rescue dog, Pete, dozed by his feet. In interviews, he kept the focus on his work: “I believe very firmly that my work is the reason we’re talking, and my personal life is something I want to protect.”

But earlier this year, Brian Moylan, writing about Mr. Pace’s arrival in the “Angels” Broadway cast for W Magazine, put the question to him directly: What was his sexual orientation?

It seems an entirely predictable question for an interview about the cornerstone of the gay theatrical canon. Mr. Pace had already said in that interview that he “feels it’s important for gay actors to play the gay roles.”

But he was thrown. He seemed “flustered” and “surprised,” Mr. Moylan wrote, and he published Mr. Pace’s response: “I’ve dated men. I’ve dated women. I don’t know why anyone would care. I’m an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don’t know what to say — I find your question intrusive.”

“He told me his truth, which is all I asked, and all I hope for from any interview subject,” Mr. Moylan said recently. “I don’t apologize for asking the question.”

In the past, Mr. Pace was so not out that occasionally gossip blogs would put him together with an actress, like his friend Judy Greer. He brought her to the premiere of “A Single Man.”

“At the time, I knew he was gay,” Ms. Greer said in an interview. “I didn’t really talk about it to anyone — not even really because he asked me not to, just because it’s his business. When I saw that stuff online, I thought it was really strange. I didn’t think anything of it but to be flattered that anyone would think he would want to go out with me. I was like, ‘Oh my God, whattt?’ He was so tall and handsome! I thought, I’ll ride this wave for a minute.” She laughed. “And I was single at the time.”

The W article made headlines, and Mr. Pace was displeased he had come off angry. In an effort to take back his own narrative, he announced on Twitter that he was a “member of the queer community,” and noted he’d been playing queer characters his entire career, from his breakout role as the transgender showgirl Calpernia Addams in “A Soldier’s Girl” through his Broadway debut in “The Normal Heart” to the bisexual former IBM executive of “Halt and Catch Fire” and now, “Angels.” “Onward,” he wrote, “with Pride.”

The positive response to his tweets — thousands of likes, many comments and now, regular references to them at the stage door after the show — has assured him that he made the right decision, though the old habit of reticence died hard.

“The truth is,” he said at his apartment, “when you grow up queer, you get tough. And perceptive. And you learn how to field it. When someone comes at you that you don’t know, interested in that area of your life, it’s not always a good thing. I certainly knew that when I was a kid.”

Mr. Pace was born in Chickasha, Okla., and grew up in suburban Texas. He came out to his younger sister, Sally, while still in high school. “She cried,” he said. “She said, ‘I don’t know what that means.’” But she was supportive. So were his parents. Mr. Pace headed to drama school.

Unlike Broadway, Hollywood can be less accepting. There are still relatively few out gay actors, along with leading-man parts for them, at least in major studio fare. As his career took began to take off, was Mr. Pace encouraged not to be too open?

He pause for a while. “No,” he said, then reconsidered. “Look — yeah. I remember when I signed with a new agent, we worked together for a year. He took me to some coffee shop in the middle of the afternoon and I knew he wanted to talk about something. He said, ‘I heard you’re gay, is that true?’ I said, ‘Is that a problem?’ And of course he said, ‘No, fine, just felt like I needed to know.’ But within about a year, he was no longer working with me.”

Mr. Pace has the full support of his current team, he added, with whom he has been working happily for years.

The W article ended up offering an “opportunity to participate,” he said, in a way he hadn't before, even if it was one he hadn't necessarily sought or anticipated.  

What changed his mind were two things. One is a new relationship, with a fashion executive he preferred not to name. (“I’ve never seen Lee so happy,” Ms. Greer said.) The other is the role of Joe Pitt, and the reflection it gave him on his own life. Onstage, in Joe Pitt’s coming out, Mr. Pace sticks on a few particular lines: “I want to live now. Maybe for the first time ever. And I can be anything. Anything I need to be.”

“I remember after it had happened, I was able to say that,” Mr. Pace said, recognizing the thrill of freedom in it. “I can be anything. Once you say those words and the sky doesn’t fall down, or the earth doesn’t open up, a lightning bolt doesn’t zap you. You really can be anything.”

So he has embraced the opportunity. “It feels nicer,” he said, “than I ever thought it would be.”

What comes next, and how this affects his career, if it does, is yet to be seen. One person whose advice he sought as he considered his Twitter statement was his friend Matt Bomer, a fellow out actor and Mr. Pace’s friend since their high school days. “I’ve known Lee since he was shorter than I am, believe it or not,” Mr. Bomer said. (Mr. Pace is 6-foot-5.)

“My counsel to him was, basically, when you decide to make it public, it can feel like you’re operating in a void,” Mr. Bomer said. “Nothing about you has changed, but maybe certain people’s opinions about you have changed. The beautiful thing about that is out of that void come all the people who truly want to engage with you and want to embrace your most authentic self. To me that’s always been far more rewarding than whatever mass appeal you have if you chose not to.”

“That’s assuming that that even happens,” he said. “I don’t know if that happens anymore.”

When asked if he had experienced negative repercussions after his own coming out, Mr. Bomer paused.

“The shorter answer is yes,” he said. “I hate to say it, I really do. I wish the answer were a resounding no. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. What happened was, an entire world of artists who I had always dreamed of working with and who wanted to engage with me on the most authentic level all came to the forefront.”

Mr. Bomer is appearing in the Broadway production of “The Boys in the Band,” just a few blocks away from “Angels in America.”

“I don’t think he stands anything to lose,” he said. “I don’t think any of us do, really, anymore. And if they do, let it fall by the wayside.”

Mr. Pace acknowledged the uncertainty but also said he had no anxiety about his decision.

“I’m curious to know what it’s going to do to my work,” he said. “I’ve played very different characters, and I don’t think that’s going to change. I guess I’m curious to see if this influences that, and the kinds of roles that come my way. Or in people’s perception of the work that I do.”

But he is confident in the future. “The work speaks for itself,” he said, “and I trust that.” For now, that is the grueling work of being Joe Pitt.

“The thing that gets me through the pain of doing it is knowing he’s going to be O.K. after it’s over,” Mr. Pace said. “Once he gets through it, he’s better off. I imagine him on a beach in Hawaii, renting surfboards. ‘How did you end up with this life?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, actually, I was married. I used to be a Mormon.’ Now he’s got a great boyfriend in my imagination.”

[that-curly-haired-lesbian]

Hey, I recently enter this whole Taylor Swift is secretly gay thing (which I totally believe now) and then the other day I was listening to "Better than revenge" and I just read your wonderful "Love story" analysis, so I was wondering if you could maybe do the same with BTR?

Yet another day haspassed without me actually sitting down to type this up, sorry about that, butbeing back at school has been sort of a whirlwind. Anyway enough about mecomplaining…Hello dearest anon and sorry for the wait! I’m so glad you’ve foundyour way to the Gaylor Swift community and I hope you feel welcome. Isn’t itfun when all of Taylor’s lyrics sorta start to make sense the second you applysome queer context to them? Thanks for enjoying my Love Story analysis too 😊

So today’s song is Better Than Revenge as you can see fromthe ask and I was originally gonna spin this completely in a beardingdirection, but then a very observant anon pointed out that the song could alsobe about a boy stealing Tay’s girlfriend. So I’m going to discuss bothperspectives here.

Regardless of whichperspectives I apply to the song though they’re all just my interpretations andI’m not necessarily right in any way, it’s all just speculation.

Before we startthough I also just want to say that I am in no way shaming bi girls here or girlswhose same-sex attraction in fact happens to be a phase. Nor am I insinuatingthat bi girls “aren’t really gay and will leave you for a boy” I obviously donot want to enforce such ridiculous stereotypes or give them any type of merit,bi girls and your attraction to girls are 1000% valid and I love you! 💙💙💗💗 

Lyrics cred toAZLyrics as usual.

–  

“Now go stand in the corner and think about whatyou did.”

–

Something we’re gonna see mostly in the chorus of thissong are references to children/things associated with children/childishbehavior and this is the first of such references. As you may or may not knowit’s common for Taylor to refer to the bearding practice as a game and to thebeards themselves as toys in her songs. This is what inclines me to think thissong may be more about being snubbed of a beard than a girlfriend being unfaithful,but more on that later, back to the line itself.

These s spoken words at the beginning of the song isseemingly shaming one of the subjects (unclear if it’s the boy or girlactually, but more likely the girl if we’re keeping in tune with the rest ofthe lyrics) of Taylor’s anger to stand in a corner and think about all the badthings they’ve done. Much like a child being sent to timeout.

–

The story starts when it was hot and it was summerand…

I had it all; I had him right there where I wanted him

She came along, got him alone and let’s hear theapplause

She took him faster than you could say“sabotage”

–

An interesting thing to consider is that this song ison the Speak Now album, you know theone Taylor wrote all herself and that famously has a bit of a fairy-tale/storytheme both in its lyrics and in the sets and costumes made for the tour. Well,this isn’t the first or last time on this album that Taylor refers to an eventfrom her love life as a “story”. 

According to her this specific story starts inthe summer at which point she was happily involved with a boy, until some girlcame along and stole his heart, leaving Taylor alone and scorned with asabotaged relationship. At least that’s the hetero narrative and if we’re toconsider the stolen-girlfriend-narrative not much changes except for perhapsthe pronoun of the person that came along to steal Taylor’s partner. If we’reto assume her girlfriend wasn’t stolen by another gay girl it’d be a boymeaning the pronoun in the above lines should switch places, making it:

“I had it all, I had HER rightthere where I wanted HER

HE came along, got HER alone andlet’s hear the applause

HE took HER faster than you couldsay “sabotage” “

 Instead of the original het lyrics, easy (and gay) enough,right?

If we’re to consider the breading possibility though,the lines become a little more interesting to me, you see the language usedhere doesn’t seem like it’d be used to describe a happy relationship to me, letme explain…

It’s summer, Taylor has the perfect beard (Joe Jonas?)and then some other gay girl just comes right along and steals him from underher nose, leaving Taylor beard-less and annoyed.

Now, onto the language thing I mentioned. Taylor saysshe had the “boyfriend” “right there where she wanted him,” doesn’t soundparticularly loving to me. Actually it sounds more like she’s holding himhostage (like perhaps under a contract?) Then some other girl (and her team) comesalong, gets Taylor’s beard alone (to discuss the terms of a BETTER contract,perhaps?) and sabotages Taylor’s plan and “relationship” by winning the beardover.

–

I never saw it coming, wouldn’t have suspected it

I underestimated just who I was dealing with

She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum

She underestimated just who she was stealing from

–

So my anon suggested that maybe Taylor was dating abi-curious girl who left her for a boy? These lyrics certainly make it looklike that could make sense.

Anon rightfully pointed out that there’s no focus onthe boy who supposedly cheated and broke Taylor’s heart, there’s only focus onthe girl he cheated with, making it seem like Taylor is more emotionallyattached to the girl and hurt by her actions while she (Taylor) couldn’t careless about the boy involved.

Taylor “never saw it coming and wouldn’t havesuspected it” Suspected what exactly, that the girl she was seeing would end upleaving her for a boy? She didn’t know she was dealing with a bi-curious girl,said girl had no consideration for Taylor’s feelings upon being used like this,to satisfy a curiosity. Even though she must’ve understood it’d hurt Taylor shestill went ahead and left with the boy. As a lesbian who has had the misfortuneof dating and falling for several of these “mostly straight” girls who ended upleaving me for boys this makes sense to me (and also hurts, I feel poor Tay’spain!)

What about the last line though? “She underestimatedjust who she was stealing from” well, this could be a simple case of switchingpronoun in order to #NoHomo-proof again, as in it should really be “HE underestimated just who HE was stealing from”as in, the boy who stole Tay’s girl better watch his back.

Or the pronoun could be right and it’s meant to saythat Taylor’s ex didn’t know whose heart she was stealing and underestimatedthe emotional impact her leaving would have on Taylor, both of those certainlywork for the-stolen-gf narrative.  

How about bearding though? Well while thestolen-gf-thing might work best for making sense of the lines above ashe-stole-my-beard perspective can certainly also be applied. My thought hereis that Taylor never saw it coming that this random girl would show up andmange to win over Taylor’s beard causing him to break the contact they’darranged. Perhaps Taylor underestimated the girl in the sense that sheunderestimated the team, as in she didn’t think the other girl’s managementwould be able to work out a contract that’d interest the beard more than TeamTaylor’s contract did, but she was wrong and caught by surprise.  Then Taylor reflects on how as a fellow gaygirl her rival should understand the pain of being snubbed of a beard and whatan uncomfortable position that put Taylor in, but she clearly didn’t care andthus underestimated just whose beard she was stealing and how Team Taylor mightreact to someone who just waltzes in and steals a perfect bearding arrangement. Basically,“My team is coming for your team and I have lawyers, fuck you!”

–

She’s not a saint

And she’s not what you think

She’s an actress

She’s better known

For the things that she does on the mattress

–

This could either be Taylor trash-talking her ex for“acting gay” and not being who Taylor thought she was, making these linespretty self-explanatory. Or it could be Taylor trash-talking the beard-thiefgiving us a little more to unpack here.  

The first few lines could be referring to how the girlin question isn’t as “perfect” (or saint-like) as the general public thinks sheis, just like Taylor she might have a few “sins” she’s hiding from her fans(just like we’ve established most celebrities do) like homosexuality for example,thus she’s not what her fans think, aka not straight. The actress-line could besaying the girl is literally an actress as to give us a very not-so-tellingclue for who she is (there are many actresses that may be bearding after all)or it might be saying she’s the same type of actress as Taylor (“I’ll be theactress starring in your bad dreams”) and acting straight by bearding.

Mattress-line is interesting, first of all it’sclearly Taylor’s discreet way of calling someone a slut (ew Tay, slut-shamingisn’t cool even if you’re hurt!) It could either mean the girl is known forusing girls for sex, but dating boys (to go with the ex-idea.)

Or it could mean the girl who stole Tay’s beard isknown in the industry for sleeping with/dating girls and fake-dating boys tocover it up, (just like Taylor, this girl’s homosexuality is an open secretamong celebs.)

Although to me it’d be weird to call someone else outfor the exact same things you yourself are doing and basically calling themfake for it since that’d also imply that youare fake; but I digress.

Could mean that she’s known for stealing people’sbeards though, maybe she’d done that before she did it to Tay? Pure speculationthough, obviously; but it would make more sense than Taylor simply calling herout for bearding since that’s something Taylor does too and thus has no rightto be shaming anyone else for, ya feel?

–

Soon she’s gonna find

Stealing other people’s toys

On the playground won’t make you many friends

She should keep in mind

She should keep in mind

There is nothing I do better than revenge

–

Remember that I said we’d be seeing references to toysin the chorus? Well, here we are. I’ve pointed out before that just like Taylorlikes referring to PR and bearding as “a game” she likes talking about the menshe beards with as toys (“toying withthem older guys, just playthings for me to use” to point out one example ofthis metaphor in other songs.) If we’re to go with the het-narrative here somegirl has stolen Taylor’s beloved boyfriend and she’s heartbroken, right? So whyon earth would she be referring to this boy as a toy? To me that sounds likeshe’s using him (or playing with his feelings if you will) and theirrelationship didn’t mean much to her in the first place, almost as if oh Idon’t know, he was a beard used for her PR-games.If we look at PR as a game referring to the PR-people in Taylor’s life as“toys” makes sense, what do you use when you play? That’s right, toys. Here Taylor is telling her rivalthat it’s not nice to steal other people’s beards and that this practice won’tgive her any friends, or a nice reputation in the industry.  

The last few lines look like a threat to me, eitherdirected at the boy who had the never to steal her girl, or at the girl who hadthe nerve to steal her beard.

It looks like the person who stole from Taylor Swiftbetter watch their back as Taylor is letting them know that she might retaliateby 1) writing a song where she bad-mouths the boy for stealing her gf(ex-theory) or retaliate with legal action, alternatively by simply making thisgirl’s life hard in the industry and perhaps even making it a challenge her forher to get beards in the future. (“Won’tmake you any friends”) There’s no telling what Revenge: Taylor Editionmight mean in a bearding situation.

–

She looks at life like it’s a party and she’s on thelist

She looks at me like I’m a trend and she’s so over it

I think her ever-present frown is a little troubling

She thinks I’m psycho ‘cause I like to rhyme her namewith things

–

Ex-theory:

This might mean that the girl Taylor was seeing is oneof those typical straight girls who makes out with other girls at partiesbecause it’s a hip thing to do to get attention, kinda like being on the listfor a cool party. She looks at Taylor (and other gay girls) like it’s somethingtrendy or cool to sleep with or kiss them, but then quickly move on from.(She’s “so over” over her “bi-ness” after trying it…) The frown thing, might bethe girl putting up her nose at Taylor or acting all high and mighty when thegay girl actually says she thought what they had was real. What’s troubling forTaylor is how the girl just brushes off their chemistry and bond like it meantnothing 😞 and then proceeding to think Taylor’s overreacting or acting stalkerish and crazy when she can’t let the girl go and writes a song about theexperience (or “acts psycho” by “rhyming the girl’s name with things” akawriting an emotional song about being pissed off.)

Bearding-theory:

As I see it it’s insinuating that this girl thinksshe’s hot shit and doesn’t think Taylor is anyone important and thus not worththe courtesy of, you know, um, NOT gettingher beard stolen... She essentiallythinks she’s more important than Taylor and she needs the beard more, sinceTaylor isn’t as famous and wouldn’t suffer as much if her secret came out.

The trend-part might mean the girl thinks Taylor willbe irrelevant soon enough and won’t need to beard.  

What about the frown-part? Could it mean that Taylordoesn’t think the girl acts “straight enough” as in she isn’t looking happywhen around the boy she’s supposedly dating (because she might have that commonlesbian thing where she’s repulsed by men/uncomfortable pretending to be inlove with them, I second that personally!) And Taylor thinks she herself does abetter job of convincing people she’s actually straight (or is a better“actress”) basically she’s better at bearding, meaning she should’ve gotten tokeep the beard since the other girl isn’t convincing anyone she (or the beard)is straight anyway, making it “troubling” for their images.

Last line is saying the girl thinks Taylor’s weird andmaybe even unstable/scary for making such a big deal out of the bearding theftand writing a song about it (or “rhyming the girl’s name with things”)

–

But sophistication isn’t what you wear or who you know

Or pushing people down to get you where you wanna go

They wouldn’t teach you that in prep school so it’s upto me

But no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity

–

I personally honestly have trouble seeing these linesfrom the ex-gf-was-stolen perspective and can really only come up with abearding explanation for this, but if you can think of a way it fits with theother thing feel free to point that out on this post or to send me asks aboutit…

Anyway, Taylor’s saying that sophistication isn’t whatyou wear or who you know. To me this indicates that she’s saying that whilethis girl might think she’s more famous and important than Taylor and thus moredeserving of a beard, the level of fame isn’t dictated by “what you wear or whoyou know”

While the het explanation for this is that Taylorthinks the girl who stole her boyfriend is stuck up for wearing fancy designerclothes and being chummy with other celebrities, I think the line isinteresting from a bearding perspective.

This is because while we now use the term “beard” or“bearding” for both men and women in the olden days of Hollywood the term for alesbian using a guy as a “date” in order to seem straight used to be merkin while the corresponding gay guyterm was, you guessed it, beard. (x)

Why is this interesting you ask? Well, both a merkin(and a beard, if it’s a fake one, but a merkin to a greater extent) is a thingyou wear to cover up the truth of what you look like (or in the non-literalsense what you are, aka not straight) so sophistication or fame isn’t dictatedby “what you wear” aka who your beard/merkin is, or who you know. The “who youknow” thing makes it sound like the girl pulled some favors with important industrypeople she knows in order to get to Taylor’s beard and steal him away, veryunsophisticated behavior if you ask me.

Taylor is also saying the girl is pushing people downto get where she wants to go, she’s stealing a famous “boyfriend” from Taylorin order to get more famous by her association with him (aka get to where shewants to go, fame-wise) and in the process she’s pushing Taylor down and makingher less relevant by ending her association with said famous boy.

In the het narrative the “prep school”-line is anotherattempt at making sure we know Taylor’s romantic rival is a huge snob who wentto a fancy school, but in bearding terms it might mean the girl’s team “forgot”to teach (or prep) her about the importance of not playing dirty on thebearding-playground and stealing other’s beards when they were teaching her allabout how the PR-game works.

“vintage dresses” a nice way to say merkin? After alla merkin was often used by prostitutes in the olden days (making it vintage)and in a way it could be called a “dress” or at least a dressage. It could alsojust be acknowledging that bearding is an old (vintage) practice in Hollywood andthat it will never give you dignity, or straightness. Thus calling out bothherself and the other girl for using such a temporary solution, the boy will disappearwhen the contract is up anyway and that the girl shouldn’t go through suchtrouble to steal someone’s “disguise”

(Chorus)

–

I’m just another thing for you to roll your eyes at,honey

You might have him but haven’t you heard

I’m just another thing for you to roll your eyes at,honey

You might have him but I always get the last word

–

From both the cheated-on and the bearding perspectiveTaylor is threatening the thief and saying that while they might view her as aminor annoyance or complication (“roll their eyes at her”) they should be watchingtheir backs because she’ll win this fight.

–

(Chorus)

–

Do you still feel like you know what you’re doing?

'Cause I don’t think you do.

Do you still feel like you know what you’re doing?

I don’t think you do

I don’t think you do

–

While the rival might have thought it was a good ideato steal Taylor’s lover and/or beard at the time when they did it, she’ssuggesting they rethink it now. It wasn’t such a smart move after all andTaylor is saying she’s noticing the person start to realize that perhaps they shouldn’tmess with The Taylor Swift™

–

Let’s hear the applause

Come on show me how much better you are

(so much better, yeah?)

So you deserve some applause 'cause you’re so muchbetter

–

The girl who broke Tay’s heart is suggesting it’s somuch better to date boys and she’s doing so much better while doing that, huh?Well congratulations, here are some applause for being straight!

So earlier I said the beard that was stolen may havebeen Joe Jonas, why? Well he has a song called So Much Better (x) supposedly written about the girl he “dated”after Taylor and how she was a better girlfriend (more like, a better beard) thanTaylor and that is what she’s referring to here. “Oh you gave him a better bearding offer/contract than me? Well, fuckyou here are some fucking applause for the smooth way in which you stole mybeard, real classy!”)

She took him faster than you could say“sabotage”

–

(S)he/ stole the beard/girlfriend and sabotaged Taylor’sbearding plan/relationship faster than you can say the word “sabotage” and itsucked…

–

Thanks for reading asusual, this is a little longer than the other ones on account of being writtenfrom two possible perspectives, but I hope you enjoyed this approach.

Never hesitate tosend me requests for analysis or Gaylor questions 😊

Tomorrow’s song (I’llactually post it within the deadline this time I promise!) is Treacherous 🌈🌈🌈

[okimargarvez]

LIKE EASTER

Original title: Like Easter.

Prompt: Easter holydays, Italy, Holy Week.

Warnings: reflections on my catholic faith.

Genre: comedy, family, romantic, friendship.

Characters: Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez, (JJ, Spencer), O.C.

Pairing: Garvez.

Note: oneshot.

Legend: 💏😘❗🎈.

Song mentioned: none.

Easter holidays and Luke have a problem to solve: his grandmother waits for him in Rome for the Holy Week and wants that he’s accompanied by a girlfriend; Penelope, on the other hand, feels cast aside as the "painted eggs" festivity.

Like Easter- Masterlist 

MY OTHER GARVEZ STORIES

LIKE EASTER- Part 1

-We're going to be living with my mother... so she will take care of the kids, and Will and I...- the mischievous laugh of the blonde makes blushing her young colleague. She hugs him, before taking her bag and head for the elevator, greeting all with one hand. The other female presence stayed, snorts, before turning to him.

-And you, boy wonder, where will you go to? I imagine you'll want to enjoy the newfound freedom.- she gives him a slight nudge in the side. Reid smiles. He missed so much the way of exuberant computer technician while he was unjustly behind bars.

-I'll spend these holidays with my mother, we have to catch up...- he thinks for a moment, before adding the second sentence -In fact... I'll not be alone. The lawyer Duncan promised me to participate because she feels guilty for making me spend three months in jail...- but what he feared, happens. The woman opens her eyes and on her face, is painted an expression no less allusive than that of the other woman, that is just gone.

-Ooooh!- she exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand -Someone here has a girlfriend!- and here again the cheeks of the young man blushes -The lawyer Duncan.- she mocks him -But come on! Call her by her name: Fiona.- and she bursts into a giggle poorly restrained.

-Okay, maybe we aren't just acquaintances...- he tries to explain.

-You don't have to apologize, little genius. You deserve all the love in the world. You are an amazing person. Don't allow anyone to make you forget it.- now her tone is serious. The blonde bespectacled not in the least realize that the other man present, although placed a few meters from them, stares her deeply while ruling that last sentence.

-Now... now I have to go, the plane is about to leave...- she embraces him and makes the gesture to cast him out.

-Go, flies, honey. But then I want to have some little story, eh!- she greets him with a last laugh and remains motionless, watching him disappear behind the elevator doors. -Gone.- then she exclaims, talking to herself, but loud, not quite consciously. -Even he, like the other.- she lowers the tone, which is already being melancholy and sighs for the umpteenth time. She seems to completely ignore the fact that someone there still. -Everyone go to their destination. And I here, always alone.- she grabs one of the books from Spencer's desk and then puts it down. -Abandoned, left to my destiny- she continues with the same melodramatic intonation, so much so that the dark man begins to wonder if she is doing it on purpose, if it's not a kind of recitation studied -like Easter, always put in second fiddle to Christmas.- he begins to approach the blonde, who doesn't notice minimally, all caught up from her meditations -Gifts, packed are beating chocolate eggs 1 to 0.- he can't help but laugh at this joke and her, so she realizes that he is only a few centimeters away.

-Hello...- he greets her with an ironic tone and with a gesture of the hand. She snorts.

-Newbie, you scared me to death!- she scolds him, at the same time looking for a gimmick to get away. Having him so close it makes her feel strange, uncomfortable. And maybe he is aware of it, because more than once seems to play with her. -You're not anxious to leave these walls, to reach unexplored shores, like the others?- the man can't understand why after all the months that have elapsed, after trying to stay close to her throughout the history of the Reid... this blonde is still not willing to trust him and treat him like any other member of the BAU.

-In fact yes- he admits, without missing the disappointed expression that appears on her face -but my plane leaves tonight, so I have no hurry.- he observes carefully, hoping (not with a lot of faith) to let her know where he wants to gone. But she doesn't understand, or does dumb. -Hey, Penelope, watch that you're not the only one to feel alone.- then he adds. The named, as every time he tries to sift cross certain threshold, avoids it in every way, and not just visually -Alone or put in the background.- he continues, drawing her attention, even if reluctantly -What am I supposed to say, that since I got here, I have to endure the fact that you keep calling me and treat me as a Newbie? I long proven to be worthy of being considered profiler. I get along with each team member. And maybe at the beginning it could be fun... but now it's not.- his outburst leaves her speechless for longer than normal. She takes a while 'to recover herself.

-Come on, Luke- she uses his own name as a strange way to apologize, not having the courage to do so expressly -I thought you had understood that it's just kind of joke. I didn't realize you were so sick.- although transpires her displeasure to discover that she had made someone feel bad, even if it comes to him, Garcia tries in every way to mask these feelings with a detached tone or as someone that it doesn't give too much importance to it. Fortunately, in real life it's a bad actress.

-So you will spend these holidays all alone?- he asks, changing the subject. She was deeply and secretly thankeful to him. She nods, doesn't say one of her crap. -What happened to the Canadian boyfriend?- he just wants to go into dark areas. He likes to provoke her, exactly as she pleases. But he uses much more subtle and varied ways. The blonde snorts and rolls her eyes. -If you have precisely nothing to do- he begins, his tone becomes a bit 'wobbly even if he trying to seams brave -I have an extra ticket.- now the woman looks at him directly in the eye, too curious to pretend to be disinterested in every thing about him -For Rome.- he announces, as if speaking of a city around the corner -My grandmother lives there and every year gives me two tickets: one for me and one for...- he hesitate for a second and then throws -one for my... girlfriend - he hints at the latter term, voluntarily, to dissolve in advance the implications of what's to say -because she wants to be sure that my future wife will follow her own precepts.- now he is the one who sighs, as to convey the embarrassment and discomfort that such a thing means. -She want met my girlfriend in person, and every time I have to come up with this excuse.- Garcia understands (perceives) that he hasn't had many girlfriends... or at least, not presentable to the grandmother. -And I have to force a friend to lend himself to this farce. Some time ago I went alone, tired of having to devise every time this house of cards... and she nearly came to a heart attack. When she resumed, the first thing she told me was "I was afraid that you was turned gay".- he laughs, but it's a laugh in part bitter. She rest impressed hearing him do this such of long monologue, and why he opened up so much with her? But it's only because she is the only one left in Quantico, that he's asking her this? -Don't get me wrong, she it's not homophobic, but wants to become great-grandmother at any cost.- he laughs, but then comes back seriously -You would earn a free vacation and I happy grandmother for a little more time.- he smiles. One of those cover smiles, which draw up completely any woman within a few kilometers. One of those smiles that she would jump on him straight here.

But what I'm thinking? Where do these thoughts come from? You see that there is no trace of even Canadian boyfriend, since a bit too much time.

-Isn't it ironic?- she is compelled to utter, when realizes that he is still waiting for an answer to the question that hasn't had the courage to ask clearly -I pretend to be your girlfriend?- she didn't have to work too hard to seems her tone sarcastic. -But then, you can see me, to be a pretty girlfriend, that your sweet little grandmother would appreciate? - she seems to explicitly invite him to take an X-ray on her. And man does it without much trouble.

He isn't able to insist, why he decides to play on the same game of her. That of sarcasm. -Free trip, Garcia.- he tries to tempt her -Rome.- in her eyes, pass images mostly drawn from films and books. Especially from the Dolce Vita, Fellini film that she and Derek were pretty much consumed, by dint of looking at it over the years during their "cinema's Friday". -You ever been to Rome?- he is worse than a siren for Odysseus. He is succeeding in his purpose.

-And Roxy?- for the umpteenth time she respond with another question. He sighs, but it's not yet willing to give up.

-She's staying with my friend.- the blonde raises an eyebrow.

-Just friend?- she asks innocently.

-Yeah, Garcia. Friend.- Luke repeats. And her smile makes him understand that he has won. But it's only the first of many battles. The war is still long.

TAGS: @theshamelessmanatee @itsdawnashlie @talesoffairies @janiedreams88 @kiki-krakatoa @yessenia993 @teyamarra @c00lhandsluke  @gcchic @arses21434 @orangesickle @entireoranges @jarmin @kathy5654 @martinab26 @thisonekid @thenibblets @perfectly-penelope @ambrosiaswhispers @maziikeen92 @lovelukealvez @reidskitty13 @jenf42 @gracieeelizabeth27 @silviajajaja @smalliemichelle99 @charchampagne14 @ichooseno  @ megs2219 @rkt3357 @franklintrixie @thinitta @chewwy123 @skisun @maba84 @saisnarry @myhollyhanna23 @thenorthernlytes

[cruisinforarubberman]

I Don’t Want To Understand

A late day 2 fic for Bluepulse week. I know the prompt was pride, which I’m assuming was meant for LGBTQIA+ pride, but I thought I’d take an alternate approach since it was only listed as ‘pride’ and not ‘gay pride’ or something like it. Hopefully you still like it. Especially since it ended up being three times as long as I planned it. The one for today is gonna be mega short to compensate XD

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that the subject matter of this fic has not been written in a way that was completely appropriate or an accurate portrayal of real life circumstances. It’s clear that I have lot to learn when it comes to these matters, and I sincerely apologize to anyone I may have offended. However I intend to leave the fic the way it is as a reminder to myself and to others not to write something, even a drabble written in the spur of the moment, without thinking through it more. Everything we experience in life is an opportunity to learn, and I intend to do so from this point on.

Day 2: Pride

-----

Of all the unintentionally annoying habits that Bart had when he was impatient, bored, or stressed, pacing was the quietest and least likely to annoy others. It was what he was doing right then up in the Watchtower, several other heroes of his and Jaime's age group around him waiting and feeling just as anxious. It had been a solid forty-five minutes since they were told what had happened, but there weren't any specific details that they'd been given. It was making Bart crazy.

He tugged on the hem of his baseball tee as he glanced again at the warp pad that would soon bring his Blue back to him. How was he expected to just stand there in his civvies and wait to find out why this had happened? At least the others had taken the earlier hint and had stopped trying to talk him out of his worry. Bart appreciated it, but it just hadn't worked. So now they waited, Bart the only one dressed casually because he had been called up at the last minute to avoid him running off to find Jaime.

It just...it wasn't like this kind of thing happened to them all the time. Especially not to his Blue, his Jaime. Jaime was too good for this kind of thing. What kind of idiot wou--

Bart's thoughts and his pacing came to a sudden halt as the warp pad lit up and two figures materialized into being. One clearly smaller than the shadow like being next to him. Batman and an armored up Blue Beetle stepped down to meet the others. Jaime looked fine, not even stiff or tense in any way.

Bart was instantly relieved at the sight of him.

Batman began to speak to the group around them. “The situation has been--”

“Blue!” Bart rushed over into Jaime's open arms, as usual a bit to casual in regards to the hold Batman had on other heroes. Jaime's arms had raised up to hold him the second he saw Bart standing there waiting for him, which was the second before the speedster had been in his arms. Bart's arms had slid beneath his so he could bring his hands up to rest on Jaime's back, specifically where the blue scarab rested. “You're okay!”

Jaime smiled slightly in response to the words muffled into his chest, squeezing Bart to him in a firm hug while his face and head armored down. “Hey, chiquito.” He whispered to his boyfriend as he affectionately nuzzled ruddy-brown hair.

“As I was saying,” Batman continued after giving the two an expressionless glance, “the situation has been dealt with. There will be no need for further action, from any of you.” He turned his gaze to Bart. “Am I clear?”

“Yeah.” Bart said lightly, relief still coloring his words as he continued to hold onto Blue as if he were about to vanish.

“Good. If, and I do mean if, Blue Beetle wants to elaborate on what has happened he's free to at any time. However, if he doesn't, don't pester him.” With that he turned back to the warp pad and stepped onto it again.

“Gracias. For everything, really.” Jaime said as he turned to look back at the Bat, Bart still in his arms.

He was given a nod and nothing else. “Robin, I expect you back at the Cave within the hour.”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, the warp pad activated and Batman was gone from the room. It was another two, possibly three, seconds before Jaime was asked several controlled but clearly curious and worried questions. Including one disbelieving comment of, “I still can't believe Blue knows Batman personally!”

Among them was Superboy. “What the heck happened, Blue?”

At this Bart even took a step back to glance at his boyfriend.

“I was arrested.” Came the simple reply.

“Yeah we know that part, but why?” Asked Beast Boy.

“And in your civilian identity, no less.” Miss Martian added.

With his arm still around Bart's waist, Jaime began walking further into the Watchtower, everyone following naturally until they reached a lounge of some sort. Once everybody settled in on the various pieces of furniture, Jaime finally answered the question.

But not without giving a slight roll of the eyes as he did so. “You know how it is. A teenage kid who isn't white driving a nice car in a nicer neighborhood? It was bound to happen.”

There was quiet after that comment. A few were shocked, others suddenly understanding and clearly displeased, and one or two confused faces. Bart's was one of them, looking up at his boyfriend from where the two stood side by side in front of the others with no hint of comprehension on his face.

Jaime hadn't noticed Bart, too distracted by the reactions of the others.

“Let me explain a little bit more. You see, my mom is an E.R. nurse. One of the doctors at the hospital where she works was having some serious car issues; he was leaking antifreeze and overheating, it was a big mess. Anyway my mom, being nice like she always is, offered to ask my dad, who's a mechanic, to take a look at it. My dad's auto shop has the best prices and service in our area, so Dr. Tanner accepted my parent's offer and Dad's been fixing the car for the last few days.

“When it was all done and ready to be returned, Dr. Tanner told my dad he was willing to pay extra if someone could drop the car off at his house. I was in the shop when my dad got the call so I offered to do it.

“I should also point out that I've known Dr. Tanner my whole life, he and Mom have worked together for years, his son goes to my school and everything. So he knew that I was the one bringing the car over and he was happy about it. He always says I'm a good kid and stuff like that so he was sure I wasn't gonna mess around. I was gonna bring it straight to his house and then go home on my skateboard. No big deal.

“So I'm driving his car through his neighborhood, his house is just a block away from where I am when all of a sudden I hear police sirens. I can see the lights in the rear view mirror so I pull over. I've never been pulled over before today but Dad taught me what I was supposed to do if I ever was, so I do exactly what he taught me. I kept my hands on the wheel until the officer came over and told me to lower the window, which I did. I gave him my license when he asked, but I didn't have registration for the car on hand because I don't own the car so why would I have that? The very next thing he does is ask who the car belongs to, and I fill him in on the story.

“I could see from the moment I started talking that he didn't believe a word I was saying, but I knew better than to talk back to a cop. Next thing I know, he's telling me to get out of the car. I mean yeah I wanted to protest but,” Jaime sighed, “that only would have made it worse. It got worse anyway...”

“What did they do to you?” Artemis asked, tensing as if she already knew the answer.

Jaime pulled Bart back against his side with one arm, as if he needed the affection right then. Bart was more than happy to hug him again.

“I guess the officer's partner saw me roll my eyes when I got out 'cause the next thing I hear is, 'Knock of the attitude, punk.' So by that point I'm annoyed and offended but I put my hands up and was just waiting for them to run a plate check and call Dr. Tanner to confirm my story, but one of those jerks knocked me down with their nightstick and next thing I know I'm handcuffed in the back of their car and on the way to the police station. They messed up my shoulder a bit and royally pissed off Scarab. He's still not happy, by the way.”

{No I am not, Jaime Reyes. You should have allowed me to vaporize them and eliminate their incompetent existences from the face of this planet.}

“Hush.” Jaime said with a surprising amount of patience as he glanced backed at Khaji Da.

“Is your shoulder okay?” Wonder Girl asked.

“Oh yeah, Scarab fixed me up hours ago.”

“Hours ago?!” Bart asked with a bit of horror. “How long were you arrested?!”

“Bart I'm fine, I promise. It just took a while for my parents to get down there because they both wanted to come get me and to do that they had to leave work. Dios, I still feel bad about it.”

“So once they got there and explained the officers let you go, right?” asked Batgirl with her arms crossed in annoyance.

“Well...” Jaime hesitated, fidgeting and looking away from the crowd. “Not exactly. I mean it's all kind of a blur for me. I know both my parents were yelling at the officers after a certain point, but I don't know exactly why. What I do remember is being brought out to the front desk after a while because Dr. Tanner himself came down to the police station.”

Jaime's voice brightened. “You guys should've seen it, it was awesome. He let them have it, told them off for jumping the gun and arresting me prematurely without a lawyer present, and for not double checking their facts. Told them all it would've taken was a quick phone call to sort everything out and they wouldn't have embarrassed themselves like they did. I swear they were so ashamed they couldn't even look at me as I walked out. They dropped all the charges!”

At that a cheer went up among the group of teen heroes. Even a bit of applause.

“Serves them right!”

��That's what they get for being bigoted jerks!”

“You go, Blue!”

“I'm glad they got put in their place!”

Robin came over a clapped Jaime on the shoulder. “So what did B do to help?”

“He just wanted to make sure that they didn't secretly sneak anything onto my record, and he said that he made sure our complaints got through to their supervisor and even the Mayor of El Paso.”

Happy and cheerful chatter began to fill the lounge. It seemed as if everyone was glad that the situation worked itself out and that Blue wasn't gonna be in any further trouble. There was even talk of a celebration of some kind.

That is, until a voice broke through. “Wait...wait...hey!”

Silence descended after Bart's exclamation rang out. Everyone could see that he had wormed his way out from under Jaime's arm, because he was now standing to the side of his boyfriend and looking up at him with utter confusion on his face.

“Chiquito?” Jaime asked, his brows furrowing.

“I don't get it.” Bart said, “You're all acting like something good happened but I just don't understand. Why were you arrested?”

It was silent yet again as they all stood looking between Bart and Jaime, only now it was far more tense then it had been at any point before this. The two boyfriends were only looking at each other.

“Bart...I'm Mexican-American.”

The speedster's face took on a slight look of annoyance, clearly not happy that Jaime thought he was so dense that he wouldn't remember or know something as obvious as that.

Jaime continued before Bart could respond. “The officers that arrested me were both white, Caucasian. They were both older guys, too.” He explained.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Bart asked, clearly still confused.

“You...oh. Oh, Bart...amorcito.” Jaime's face suddenly looked so sad. Which in turn made Bart feel sad, too. “Baby...listen, you...you wouldn't know about this kind of thing because...”

Jaime didn't have to elaborate on that thought, they all knew that Bart came from a very different future with very different rules. With that realization sinking in so many of them turned sympathetic faces onto the still so young speedster.

Jaime sighed. He reached out to grasp Bart's hands in his own, Bart allowing Jaime to pull him closer. “Bart, a few decades ago there were laws put into place. Laws that let people of any color have all the same rights as white people. Before those laws...people like me and my family were treated unfairly. Very, unfairly.”

Bart's brow furrowed. “But there are laws against that kind of thing now? They don't do things like that anymore?”

“They're not supposed to, but some still do...”

“That...that's horrible!”

“I know.”

“S-So you're saying that the only reason they pulled you over, the only reason they arrested you, was because you were a different color than them?!”

“A different color, a different race, but yes. It's called racial profiling. Police officers have been known to do that kind of thing a lot.”

“Why?! Why would they do that?! What makes them think it's okay to treat you like some kind of criminal just because you're skin is darker than mine?!”

“I-I don't know why, Bart. I guess they just think that white people are better than people that are different from them.”

“That's not true! Thinking like that is-is so...moded!”

“I know, I know.” Jaime tugged Bart into an embrace. “I know.”

For a few moments Bart stood tense and shocked in Jaime's arms before melting against his chest. He only reached up to grip Jaime's waist when he felt a hand softly stroking through his hair.

“...it isn't fair. They don't even know you or how great you are or everything you do to keep them and the whole world safe...”

Jaime could only close his eyes and focus on the feeling of holding the boy he loved as close to him as he could. “I'm sorry, chiquito. I'm sorry you ever had to find out about this. I'm sorry that this kind of thing still exists after everything the world's already been through. Is there anything else you need me to explain...? Anything else you need to understand?”

Bart shook his head hard, though he still remained pressed to Jaime's chest as he quietly spoke. “I don't understand it. I don't want to understand it. I don't ever want to 'understand' it. No one should. It's moded. It's awful. I didn't come back so that I could watch people treat each other like this. We gotta fix it, Blue. We have to.”

He sounded so sad, so heartbroken. It made Beast Boy walk over and pat at Bart's back. It made the others gently chime in with assurances like “it'll be okay” and “we'll find a way to change their minds” and “not everyone is like that, at least”. They echoed Bart's feelings, wanting what he wanted; to make people realize that they all were equal, even to the heroes that they idolized.

Jaime's heart broke a little bit from knowing Bart's pain. Yet...yet he felt something. Something deep inside that grew stronger from hearing Bart's words.

{Jaime Reyes, my scans indicate that the emotion you are experiencing is what you Earthlings refer to as 'pride'.}

Pride. Yes, that was it. Jaime was proud of Bart. He was proud that coming into the past and being surrounded by this world and it's ideals hadn't changed who the speedster was. Proud that Bart was so offended by the people corrupting his new world that he felt the need to do something to change it. Bart would do it too, Jaime knew that without a doubt in his mind.

Jaime was so, so proud.

[plantbased-elise]

One secret less to keep

This was requested by @stayinyourlehane​, who messaged me asking for this sequel to Secrets are the best when they no longer exist (aka Elise learns how to spell secret)

WC:2409

Warnings: Swearing, homophobia

“Dad!? Papa!? Is there anyone home? No, okay, I’ll finish the chocolate cake Louise gave me by myself.” Michael Howell-Lester entered the house he’d called home since he was 8 years old.

“Don’t you dare! I was planning on doing that before Dan gets home.” Phil, or papa to Mike, appeared in the doorway leading to the lounge. He was smiling, but something about the smile was off.

“Papa, are you okay? You look a bit off? Are you ill?” Mike knew he sounded like his dad, but couldn’t help it. His dad raised him this way. He approached Phil, who looked down at the 15 year old, and soon to be 16. The boy was tall for his age, but was still no match for his dads, only reaching 6’0.

“Oh, Little Bear you sound like your dad. I’m find, just read a sad article online about bees. Oh Dan texted me saying that he’d be home soon. Apparently he ‘gave up on doing any more work for those little monsters during spring break’. So I told him that it was his choice to start teaching Year twelve. How was your day? I thought Kennedy was coming today?”

That struck a nerve. Mike flinched and the grin on his face faded. “We had a bit of a… falling out today. There’s this new kid in class, and he sat with us in lunch. He seemed cool, but then Peter and Colin, that couple I told you about that I’m friends with, walked by in the direction of the lunch line. David, the new kid, pretended to gag and stage-whispered to me and Kennedy: “can they not do it in public. It’s disgusting and shouldn’t be allowed. Can you believe gays are actually allowed to have children?” I was about to say something when Kennedy said something that I’d never thought she’d say. “Yeah, it’s so wrong.” At this point I just stood up and left to sit with Peter and Colin. Hey didn’t ask, but the majority of the lunch room had heard what had been said and they kind of just stared. Then after school I approached Kennedy to ask her what it was about, but I found her with Dave who was loudly talking about how ‘homos shouldn’t be allowed to have the same civil rights as the rest.’ And she just stood there smiling. I pulled her aside, and asked what was going on. And she answered “get away from me, you unnatural shit.” That’s why she not here right now.”

“Oh Bear.” Phil took the boy into his arms, hugging him tightly, as if to protect him from the world.

“Can we eat chocolate cake now?” Mike asked in a small voice.

“Yes, of course. Also we have birthday plans to discuss.”

They were about to start eating when a voice behind them rang out. “You weren’t going to start on that cake without me, were you?”

Dan looked at his son and husband, looking up from the cake guilty, Phil with a bit of chocolate icing on his upper lip. Dan couldn’t help but smile, then he was nearly knocked over by a Shiba Inu from behind. Daenerys wanted some attention (and food) and with the entire family in one room she knew those things were guaranteed.

“It’s not what it looks like. We were testing the cake for poison. Totally not eating it while you weren’t here.” Phil smiled, standing up and walking to his husband. “Do you forgive us, Bear?” he pouted for effect and Dan laughed. He kissed Phil’s pout away, and licked up the chocolate icing at the same time.

“Sure, only if I get a piece too. Oh Mike, can you get the green envelope from Papa’s desk. It has to do with your birthday.”

Mike left the room, and Phil faced Dan. “I thought she said she never wanted contact again. What changed?"

Dan sighed, contemplating for a few seconds before answering. “She was an only child, and in her family there’s this tradition that the first born inherits some old heirloom. She didn’t have any cousins either, so Mike is the only child in line for the inheritance. She has to give it to him.”

They stood in silence for a few seconds, until Mike returned with the envelope in his hand. He handed it to Dan, clearly curious as to what this letter contained.

“Mike, we… no I need to tell you something. I didn’t want to tell you until you are 18, because then I’ll have no legal authority over you anymore. I’ll explain it all I promise. But please, sit down.”

Mike, still curious took a seat and pulled his plate of cake towards himself, whilst Daenerys laid her head in his lap.

“I think you remember her, because you were 5 when she left, but your mother and I divorced then. It hadn’t been going well between us for a while, and she thought my job as teacher was too low to be married to a lawyer. She was having an affair with one of her co-workers, and she told me. We had to go to a judge to settle for the arrangement. She wanted to keep the house and you, but the judge decided that she got the house and I would get custody of you. She would pay child support every month. I couldn’t find a house on such short notice and with my salary, so Phil was my saving grace once more, and let us live with him. You probably remember the rest of that. We fell in love, got married and raised you. But before we got together, I was saving money to buy an apartment I had found. I was counting on the next child support deposit before I could pay the first rent. The child support didn’t come, and Phil called the office for me to ask what happened. They promised to call me when they had more information. So when I got the call I wasn’t prepared for what they were going to tell me. They told me that Kate, your mother, had moved to America and had given up her parental rights over you. She didn’t want anything to do with us. It also meant I would no longer receive child support and couldn’t afford to buy a house. Mainly, I had no idea how to tell a five year old that his mum wanted nothing to do with him without destroying him. So I kept it to myself. Phil knew and actually gave me the idea to tell you on your 18th birthday, when I’d no longer have authority over you, and you could choose for yourself if you wanted to do anything with the information.”

Dan paused. Mike sat in silence for a few minutes, until he opened his mouth. “Then why are you telling me now? I really do appreciate it, but what changed? Is she coming to my birthday? I don’t want that!” he seemed panicked now and Phil rushed to comfort him.

“No. I won’t allow her in here. She caused harm enough in this family. She was at our wedding, and she started telling Dan off for the way we were raising you. My brother had to escort her out. I’ve never seen Martyn so angry, not even when I told Caroline about his secret doll collection. So no, she won’t get in on your birthday if it’s up to me.”

“But she sent me a letter. It also contained letters for you. One was written by Kate but the other one looked really old. We didn’t open them, but Kate instructed me to give them to you a week before your 16th birthday, so here you are.”

Dan handed his son the letters. Mike read them both carefully, whilst Dan and Phil chatted, giving the boy some time to process it all. He was nearing the end of the second letter, with furrowed brows when the doorbell rang. Phil stood up and went to open the door. Mike was still looking down at the old letter.

TUQH HUBQJYLU,

YV OEK MUHU QRBU JE TUSETU JXYI OEK QHU JXU VYHIJ IYDSU Y IJQHJUT XQDTYDW TEMD JXYI YDXUHYJUT IUSHUJ. Y QC JXU VEKDTUH EV JXU ULUHIED DQJYEDQB RQDA. JETQO, Y MHYJU CO MYBB, UNQSJBO JMUDJO-VEKH XEKHI RUVEHU JXU TESJEHI MYBB UDT CO BYVU. WE JE JXU DUQHUIJ ULUHIED DQJYEDQB RQDA, QDT QIA VEH JXU XUQT EV JXU RQDA. IXEM JXUC JXYI BUJJUH, QDT JXUO MYBB ADEM MXQJ JE TE.

HUCUCRUH, ULUD JXEKWX YJ CYWXJ DEJ RU OEKH DQCU QDOCEHU, ULUHIED XEBTI FEMUH QCEDW ULUHOEDU. OEK XQLU WHUQJ FEJUDJYQB.

SEHDUBYKI MQBJ ULUHIED

It sounded like complete gibberish, but Mike already had an idea what it was. Something stirred in his mind, an article he’d found when he did an essay about Julius Caesar for history. He was about to take out his phone to test his theory when Phil came back to the kitchen. “Mike, Kennedy wants to talk to you.”

---

Later, Mike told his dads what had transpired between the once-best friends on their doorstep. Dan was enraged that is ‘little boy’ had had to go through that, but still praised him for not accepting her apology. She’d said that ‘she was just joking’ but Mike didn’t think he could ever look the girl in the eye again.

So now, on the night before his 16th birthday, he was sat at his desk, staring at the paper in front of him.

Dear relative,

If you were able to decode this you are the first since I started handing down this inherited secret. I am the founder of the Everson National Bank. Today, I write my will, exactly twenty-four hours before the doctors will end my life. Go to the nearest Everson National Bank, and ask for the head of the bank. Show them this letter, and they will know what to do.

Remember, even though it might not be your name anymore, Everson holds power among everyone. You have great potential.

Cornelius Walt Everson

He jumped up and sprinted down the stairs, to his dad, who was cooking dinner. It was an early dinner, but Phil had his radio show tonight, so this was a normal occurrence.

“Dad! How long do we have until dinner is ready?! And do you think Everson Bank is stilled opened?”

Dan looked utterly confused as he answered the questions. “About half an hour. And that bank is open till 7, why.”

But the teenager just thanked him and ran off to find Phil. He found the man in his office, gathering papers for his radio show. “Papa, can you drive me to the nearest Everson Bank? It has to do with the letter. Hurry, we have half an hour.”

Phil let himself be pulled to the car by his son, not really questioning it. He was used to it, the spontaneous actions. Dan did the same when he was excited for something.

They arrived at the bank, and Mike sprinted up the stairs, Phil following at a slower pace. The bank was nearing its closing moments, and there were no civilians except the people behind the desks.

Mike walked up to a desk where a fairly young man sat. He approached and started talking, not even letting the man talk.

“Hello, I need to speak to the head of this bank. The name is Everson.”

‘Brandon’ as his nametag read, looked him in the eyes, “Do you have an appointment?”

“No, but if you call them and say ‘‘Everson’ they will let me in regardless.”

Brandon picked up the phone and dialled a number. Meanwhile Phil scolded Mike for being rude. “You could have asked instead of demand to see them.”

Brandon cleared his throat. “Ms. Vanderwaal will meet you here.”

Phil had to wait outside while Mike talked to Ms. Vanderwaal. Brandon was being a bit too friendly, so Phil took out his phone and started texting Dan to pass the time. Mike reappeared not too long after, and they returned home. It wasn’t until they were almost finished with their dinner that Mike spoke about it again.

“I have inherited the entire fortune of my family, which is safely kept on a special bank account my great-grandfather set up when he opened the bank.”

Dan nearly choked on his water, Phil dropped his fork, and Daenerys whined as if she knew what he’d just said. Mike continued,

“I want to put part of the money away for university, and keep a part for other things. But I also want to give you two a part of it. So I’ve decided to split the money in three parts. One part will go to you, one part will be put away for future, and I’ll see what I’ll do with the third part. And you can’t refuse a gift, so no protests.”

It ended the conversation effectively.

---

Just when Mike was opening the present from his grandparents, the doorbell rang. Phil looked around the room, counting the guests. Everyone who confirmed that they could come, was there. Who could possibly be there?

The answer became clear when he opened the door.

“What are you doing here?” the venom nearly dripped from his words.

“Can’t I visit my son on his sixteenth birthday?” Kate’s smile looked faker than her tan.

“He isn’t your son. You gave up that right when he was 5, remember. Because I do. I had to help Dan. I had to clean up the wreckage you left behind.”

Just as Kate was about to speak, Mike appeared in the hallway next to his papa.

“Papa, who is this?”

“This is the woman who gave birth to you, Mike.” Mike backed away from the door, almost frightened at the sight he was seeing.

“Michael, my son. I heard you managed to unravel the mystery of our family. I gave birth to you, don’t you think I deserve a bit of it?”

Mike’s fear turned to rage, and he stepped forward again. “The only thing I’d give you is some spare change to take the bus to ‘get the fuck away from me and my family’. You were never my mother and never will be. Have a terrible day, goodbye.”

He slammed the door in the woman’s face. He turned to Phil and smiled. “Want a piece of citrus cake?”

--------

Fin.

thanks for reading

AO3  Wattpad

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

Interesting message to wake up to:

“ I have a bit of a random question.  I am not trying to be rude or accusing, just genuinely curious.   

 Why are you so vocal about US politics?  I understand what happens over here effects everyone (though largely I think it's because we can't keep our hands to ourselves or shut up), but a lot of the people I follow who aren't american have added tags associated with our politics to their blacklist (can't say I blame them, I'm sick of hearing about it and I live here).  

You are easily one of the most vocal and prolific bloggers on my dash when comes to US politics (Mark Ruffalo outranks you in that regard, unsurprisingly).  You could easily get annoyed and leave it be; you can't vote or influence our government directly beyond assisting awareness.

So I can't help but wonder, why?”

- - - - 

If you have to ask that question, then I do not think you understand the gravity of the situation.

Every country has political concerns, ours is a Prime Minister that keeps lying and keeps money in off-shore bank accounts so he doesn’t have to pay tax on it. Still, a slight step up from budgie-smuggler boy and his incredible feats of racism, misogyny, and onion-eating.

But the US tends to set a benchmark. America had Obama, during a time when the rest of the world was in chaos. Australia’s PM position was reduced to a game of musical chairs, the UK had the whole Brexit thing, human rights were being violated in other countries every second of every day and you don’ want to know what was happening to animals.

Obama, despite the blatantly racist haters, did a lot for that country; a lot that Trunk is now undoing, like a spiteful child that just moved into their cool older sibling’s room and immediately trashing anything that reminds them it was not theirs to begin with. Healthcare, human rights protections, unemployment decreasing, etc. And the man basically took over the presidency while everything was on fire; you know, like that one COMMUNITY gif, where the dude turned up with pizza for a party. 

He, and his family, were always under attack; but he still did his best to protect the citizens of the country. Overturning quite a few fucked up laws, and those are just the ones the rest of the world knew about. I have no doubt he got a few bills across his desk that he laughed at as he set them on fire; or the political equivalent.

-

Fast-forwards to now.

Apart from the fact the US has the weirdest fucking voting system ever, where the person with the most votes can still lose; and no one is legally required to vote, but has to register every election, which means that their votes can be discounted with ‘computing errors’. The country made a mistake.

The hypocrisy of not wanting a Jewish man with heaps of political experience, or a woman with years of political experience, for President... is telling; considering what you elected anyway. I was very loud then, too.  Why? Because it was blatantly obvious to everyone from the outside how dangerous the Repubic-lican candidate(s) were and are. Think of it like standing on the beach, noticing a shark heading towards the surfers; you are calling out, “Look, there’s a fucking shark, move your ass mate!”, and only a few of them decide to swim in. The rest tell you that the shark has the right to be there, and that the shore’s emails are probably more of a problem. 

It was seriously concerning how many people were pro-Repub, pro-trunk. How they could not hear what he was saying; not understand that the rest of the world saw him as one hell of a dangerous practical joke being played on you all. And he was a joke, right up until he was elected and people realised, ‘Well fuck, he’s a problem now that he’s infringing on our white rights?’. 

Which the POC, LGBPTA+, disabled, and other communities could have told you from the start. (Which is why it’s so confusing to see people still at his rallies with ‘Women for Trunk’ and ‘Blacks for Trunk!’ signs... do you not know what he’s doing or are you getting paid?)

And the worst part is that if you remove this man, it’s like a matroyshka doll of bad decisions, trying to replace him. You have the ‘let’s electrocute the gays straight’ Pence, next in line... and he’s the tip of the racist/misogynistic/homophobic conservative iceburg, right? Everyone else after that is equally problematic.

-

He bragged on live tv that he doesn’t pay taxes... like, at what point does your privilege run out?

Average peopl would fail to file taxes one year and lose everything. But not Trunk, oh no.

-

The man in charge of everything, not only has no actual understanding of what he’s doing or basic legislative powers... but he’s a god-damned pedophile, racist, rapist, scam/conartist, and probably a dozen other things we don’t know about because he’s papered over it with money nd fancy lawyers.

His 13yr old victim had to give up prosecuting the injustice done against her, bc people were sending her death threats on his behalf. The man openly says on multiple occasions, he’d like to fuck his daughter (including sexualising his newborn in an interview about her birth, which was downright creepy, and more recently saying that what he has in common with his daughter is ‘Hopefully sex!’). The man bought beauty pageants to perv on the women involved; and has groped people inappropriately, then joked about it on stage.

What he did to his former wives is horrific; and he used gag orders to keep them quiet.

The fact he, not only mocked a disabled reporter so disrespectfully to the sound of Repubic-lican applause... but ALSO bragged he could kill someone in the middle of a public street and get away with it??? to further applause??? That has so many red flags, it’s hard to understand why people still supported him?

The amount of lawsuits against him, for his various scams and cons, was ridiculously high. There are multiple stories (with evidence) of this man taking advantage of businesses and ruining them.

‘A businessman is exactly what america needs!’ THE MAN BANKRUPTED A CASINO. How do you do that? Also, he was given a million dollars and the business to start with; like, he’s pretty much done nothing except open a string of failed side businesses, and fucked them up. 

And he believes ‘hard work will get you places’ ironically.

He doesn’t like poor people, and yet a lot of his constituents make up the demographic of people living near or below minimum wage. He doesn’t believe in universal healthcare; Obamacare/ACA is close enough to our Medicare system, and it keeps us alive. It’s imperative to the functioning of such a large country? but he doesn’t like the idea of it taking money from the government.

Not to mention, the man flat-out stated he would refuse to use existing services (white house, security), meaning that he’d found a loophole wherein he could pay himself millions of dollars a fucking day in order to be President. The security, trunk tower, etc.

And he claims his business has an impartial trust board in place, to make certain he can’t be accused of financial interests contrary to those of the american people... but, whoops, that’s not happening. Not to mention he came right out and was using his presidential platform to bitch about Nordstrom dropping his daughter’s brand. Commercial interest, much?

What did he have on Hillary? Emails. She and her staff used private emails to send a few political memos, some fucking lolcat memes, and more than one altruistic email about rendering aid to someone. And apparently that made her shadier than him??? Since he was elected, the presidonk went out of his way to tweet from his private account, his entire staff (and wasn’t hiring a debacle?) uses private emails to send important messages, and he has a very strong online presence which seems counter-intuitive to retaining some degree of secrecy. (E.g. as seen by the man taking a classified briefing at a dinner party, wherein people had the opportunity to freaking get photos of the secret service members and documents). 

The WALL. He said he was going to build a big wall, and make the people he was keeping out, pay for it. And people felt that was a stroke of genius. ??????????????? 

Claiming he would ‘ban all Muslims’. By which he clearly meant, ‘anyone who is any shade of brown or black, because I don’t know what a Muslim is, but I sure don’t like them’. People during segregation would probably side-eye this man for his odd views; also probs bc he’s perpetually orange.

The russia affair.  Everyone with two brain cells to rub together can see something shady af is happening there. There’s a connection, there were long-standing deals, and suddenly russia hacks election results? Like... it makes total sense. Trunk is like a parody or himself, a big old puppet that any world leader could manipulate with the right words. And what an opportunity, for whomsoever got their words in his ear first.

Not to mention the whole #AlternativeFacts bullshit.  Dude can’t lie well; small children are more plausible. 

‘But her emails’.

-

You ever noticed that almost every single world leader appears physically repulsed when meeting him?  That kind of person you get that, ‘be ready to run or fight at any second’ feeling from? Its on their faces, and yet they have to play nice. 

It was just interesting.

Especially when you add in the look on his current wife’s face whenever he’s not looking directly at her. Fear, or something more complex. 

-

Trunk is infringing on basic human rights. Like Hitler.

He singled out a specific race/ethnic or religious group/minority to target in his campaign speeches. Like Hitler.

He’s calling the media false, and telling people to only listen to him. Like Hitler.

He was a joke to start with. So was Hitler, right before he killed several million people.

-

People are going to die, if they have not already. He doesn’t like free healthcare/the Obamacare system because why should he pay for poor people to keep living?

We’ve established he’s very... racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, etc. These are known facts. Not #alternativefacts, these can be proven. 

He’s dangerous, like a toddler in a tantrum with their hand on the nuclear launch button. There is no one in his staff to tell him ‘No’, or ‘That’s fucking stupid, try again, you great big orange wanker’. He’s surrounded by yesmen with even more dangerous/radical conservative belief systems. A good leader must have someone who will challenge them on their edicts and ideas; e.g. the way our PM can say, ‘I want unicorns for everyone’, but it has to go through the Parliament, who can then say, ‘Fuck you, how will you fund it you ludicrous bogan bastard?’ and it becomes a conversation-slash-argument. At the moment, the Repubic-licans own the President, and the Senate; which means that bad ideas are just going to become reality and a lot of people are placed in danger.

Just, you know, not anyone Trunk cares about. 

He didn’t even have a staff when he goddamn came into power. Like he didn’t want the win, just the notoriety of running and suddenly he had to do Things and Stuff, with all those icky Responsibilities, he’d been using money to keep away for years. 

And now? He’s chosen a series of terrible people for the most inappropriate positions possible. The Education Minister believes kids should work instead, and has no idea how the education system works at all. The head of security fucked up so bad he had to resign within a fortnight of employment.

He fired the Attorney General for DOING HER JOB.

The CIA don’t want to tell Trunk anything, bc they know he’ll have a long dreamy phonecall with his russian bff.

He’s got a defence minister out there threatening to leave NATO, unless other countries put more effort into a war no one wants.

He’s antagonised hostile countries. 

He actually tried to build the fucking wall.

He literally instigated a Muslim ban, and threw a tantrum when the court said, “Bruh, the fuck? Did you even read the constitution? Or do we need to hire someone to read it to you???”

He’s just done so much shit in under a month, it’s obscene, and there’s u to four years left of this. And people still support it?

-

His fanbase are largely: > rich and relying on his affinity for affluence to keep them safe,   >obscenely conservative, and want him to enforce their ideologies (including removing bodily autonomy from predominantly ciswomen & transmen in relation to pregnancy/birthcontrol/abortion access, etc.) >uneducated people from low socioeconomic backgrounds who believe in the promises he makes about mproving things >neo-n*zi/racists who would love nothing more than to have free reign to remove anyone not ‘white enough’ for their liking (inclu. POC, jews, gay people, etc.) >Misogynists, Rapists, Pedophiles who see him as president and think, ‘If he can get away with it to the point he’s elected head of country... then who is to stop me?’ >And various other problematic groups.

-

Why should people who are not american care?

It does affect us to a certain degree, but the reality is... this is a thing that’s happening right now, to people, and none of them can leave. It’s called empathy, it’s called keeping a spotlight on him, and exposing the shady shit he’s up to. 

Hitler was a joke, until things got real. 

The difference was that social media and the internet didn’t exist. People got their information from specific hitler-approved media (you know, how trunk wants everyone to get news from him and fox alone?), but today... there are hundreds of thousands of eyewitnesses to everything. They can reach out and share it with the rest of the world, who are paying attention. He can’t make shit up without a thousand voices + downcrying it as the falsehood it was. There is global opposition to his nonsense, and it sends a message. 

He’s not getting away with what he wants to do. He can try. But history has its eyes on him; and so does the world. 

-

It is important to be vocal about it, to never let him forget that he can buy people to shout at his rallies, but people around the world and in his country, KNOW the shit he’s up to. Know what he is.

Right down to the second he makes a bad decision, the world will know. Because social media exists, because vigilant people exist and can mobilise. Did you see the Women’s March? That was the power of being loud, being organised, being ready to respond. That’s a good example of why it matters.

As long as people are suffering, someone should be paying attention, drawing attention, and seeking ways to help. In the US, in other countries that have far worse happening; and many do. But for now, the reality is that a world powerhouse has a foolish, dangerous man at the helm; who is making everyone nervous as to what ridiculous thing he will do next. 

-

To answer your question: No, I cannot vote in a US election, but I sure as hell can try to influence the perceptions of those who live there and follow me, provide resources to help them cope when some ridiculous edict he makes stresses them out, and remind the rest of the world what is going on. 

What is happening is not normal, and sometimes you need an external contrast to perceive that. E.g. when you work with clients in DV situations, their perception of ‘normal’ is skewed to mean ‘whatever the abuser has normalised’... rather than what societal perceptions of normality entail. 

What all dictators want is for complete control, taken through manipulation and people having their rebellious thoughts burned out into weary resignation. 

-

TL;DR - History is watching us, waiting to see what happens, and every dissenting voice from any corner of the globe adds to the resistance. Especially if their goal is to support and empower the people directly facing the danger on a daily basis.

[nirah10]

All I have to say regarding Hunter Biden’s love life and a wonderful story to help you understand why...

For once, I’m going to put my comments/responses before the submission. First of all, I would like to thank Maddy-Jane very, very much for sharing her story. She does encourage people to comment as she is curious but please remember that you would be discussing the very intimate life of a person, not a random bit of code on the internet, and that, while differing opinions are fine, personal attacks are not acceptable and will not be posted.

Maddy, your family sounds amazing and I am so happy for all of you. I really wish that the world was the kind of place where your family could be open and free about who they are.

For those of you who may not know, there’s a lot of buzz regarding Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, because he has recently started dating his brother’s widow, Hallie. I’m sure you can work out that Maddy’s story includes a similar family dynamic and I strongly encourage you all to read it.

A lot of people asked what I think about Hunter Biden’s current situation and this is what I have to say:

1) I think this is a cruel move and a cheap shot by political entities to try and dirty the Biden name. Obama and Biden ran the country together for 8 years without a single sex scandal, and what few scandals did pop up were stupid and shallow and nobody really cared because they didn’t matter. It looks to me like Joe Biden’s political opponents and members of the public who dislike him as a political figure are desperately clawing at something perfectly normal and attempting to make it something ugly and scandalous. I have no respect for it and I strongly believe that those people should be ashamed of themselves.

2) While it is unusual, I certainly don’t believe that there is anything wrong with Hunter dating his brother’s widow. They are both single. They have no blood relation (so, despite what some people seem eager to claim, there is absolutely nothing incestuous about their relationship). They are not breaking any laws. They have full support from the family, so it doesn’t even look like it’s causing any kind of discord there--and even if there was, that still is no business of anyone’s outside of their family.

3) The fact that Beau named his son after his brother only means that they were close and nothing more. Anyone suggesting otherwise is desperately reaching to try and make it look like there was an extramarital affair, and they’d only be doing that because they know that their supposed “scandal” is weak and pointless. My mum named some of us after people she loved (though she did it with middle names, rather than first names). My brother is named after my uncle. My nephew is named after my brother-in-law (his uncle). My hypothetical baby names include naming my daughter after my sister and my son after my brother-in-law. People have been doing that for freaking ever and there’s nothing weird about it.

4) Think for a moment about how hard it would be to lose your husband--someone you love so completely that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with them. Not only is he gone, but he was sick and suffered and you had to watch him wither away. Now imagine what trying to create a new relationship (let alone a new marriage) would be like after that. It is a common problem for new spouses of widows to experience feelings of jealousy over the deceased, especially when kids are involved. They can feel like they are in constant competition with a dead person and then they feel guilty for feeling that way. It’s common for the widow and/or their children to feel like they can’t talk about the loved one they lost because they don’t want to hurt the new family member’s feelings. It causes strain and it can be hard for those who are grieving (and, trust me, things get easier but you never really stop grieving) because they feel like they need to bottle up their feelings about the loss and avoid sharing happy memories of the person they lost. It sucks. For everyone.

Now imagine that that didn’t have to happen. Your new spouse also knew and loved the person you lost. They share your grief with you. They share the happy memories. You can keep photos of the spouse you lost on the walls and mementos of them without feeling guilt. You can speak openly about them. Your kids can speak openly about the parent they lost--both the good memories and the sadness of missing them--without worrying about hurting the feelings of their stepparent because their stepparent has and is going through those experiences with you. They loved that lost person just like you and your family did. They miss that lost person just as much as you and your family do. There is no tension. There is no feeling of being left out or out of place. There is only another person to share that pain with while you all support each other move on with your lives.

Is it really so bizarre to think that a widow would find comfort with the brother of her lost husband? A person who grew up with him and loved him and misses him? Someone who might have his eyes or share his sense of humour and who probably feels proud to hear you think that rather than feel jealous that you were married to another man once? Someone who has known your children closely since birth, undoubtedly loves them, and who knows how to comfort them in their grief? You could move on as a family without feeling any kind of pressure to hide or try to forget the person who is missing.

If I found myself falling in love in that kind of situation, there’s no way in hell that thinking “maybe people will think that it’s weird” would stop me. My concern is what’s best for me and my kids, not public opinion.

5) I applaud Joe Biden for addressing the relationship publicly. One person commented that they thought it was a strange choice and could harm his political career, but I disagree. It would harm him if he tried to keep it private because it would imply shame. It should be private, because it is someone’s personal love life and is nobody’s damn business, but the Bidens are clever enough to know that that kind of privacy is simply not given when you’re a public figure. Joe standing tall and proud and saying he supports his son ends the gossip because it’s hard to gossip about something that isn’t supposed to be a secret and has no shame attached to it.

In conclusion: The Bidens have nothing to be ashamed of and I’m very happy for them. The people who should feel shame are the ones who are preying upon them and trying to make them seem depraved and incestuous and like they’re dishonoring the memory of someone they loved dearly--it’s no different than when people try to claim that gay people are sexual deviants riddled with STDs. It’s truly pathetic and despicable behaviour, in my opinion.

Maddy-Jane has welcomed conversation regarding her personal story so, please, offer your opinions (just remember to be respectful!). Hunter and Hallie Biden, however, have not given us that same permission. The concept of marrying a relative’s widow is open for discussion, but, public figures or not, the Bidens have a right to privacy and I’m going to ask that we not discuss their personal relationships any further.

I hope this covers everything and thank you once more to Maddy-Jane for sharing her story :)

From Maddy-Jane

The Joe Biden son thing that is all over the media (I’m sure everyone here has heard of it if  they go on Facebook or listen to the news) and in a way it actually reminds me of my own childhood.

My mom and dad were childhood sweethearts.

They met when they were fourteen, dated for four years in high school, married just out of high school at 18, had my brother when they were 19 and I was born just after my mum turned 21, their is just less than two years between my brother and I.

My mom was amazing. Beautiful, smart, funny, lovely, pretty, kind and was just amazing. I was so young when she died but I have tightly held onto those memories. I still miss her so much everyday. She died just before her 28th birthday, I was six, nearly seven and my brother was eight.

My mum had a younger brother, who was nine years younger than her: he was nineteen years old when she died.

Same mom and dad, but the little brother was just a very (very)  unexpected surprise when my grandparents were in their mid-forties. They already had two daughters (9 and 11) and hadn’t expected anymore.  

Mom died in a car crash: my grandfather, my grandmother, aunt (29  at the time, unmarried and no kids yet) and my uncle were in a horrific car crash on the way to visit my grest great aunt in the state over, it was a long drive and to save money the five were car sharing. Grandad was driving and it seems he had a stroke and the car went into a tree.  

My dad stayed home with us two kids as we didn’t really know how great great aunt enough (that they were meant to be visiting) to visit and we had school.

Four of my family members died that day. My aunt, my mom, my grandmother and grandfather. My nineteen year old uncle survived, but gained a spinal injury. The doctors thought he would never walk again. The injury looked pretty bad and they didn’t give him a lot of hope,  but surprising things happen.  

Every member of my mom’s family died expect my uncle, she only had her sister and parents and we didn’t really know anyone else. I was only six but I remember feeling like I had lost my whole world.

My dad was beyond repair it seemed. I was only six but I remember that part clearly. He and mum would had been in love since they were fourteen, married at 18, a kid at 19 and then another at 21 and still strong as a couple, and to lose her at twenty-seven when they had their whole lives planned out was a huge blow. I remember him crying at night.  My brother and I would sneak into his room at night and listen,  crying as well.  

Little kids hear things they aren’t meant to. They are great at snooping. And I remember hearing my dad’s mom tell my granddad she was worried they were going to lose their son. I didn’t really know what it meant at the time, listening in, pretending to be asleep in the car, but I knew it sounded scary.

Anyway, my dad, despite his pain was still a good guy and knew someone else was really hurting.

Our nineteen year old uncle, who had been in his third year of university one day and then BAM the next day lost the ability to walk, lost his loving mom and dad and his two older sisters. He only had four direct family members, his parents and his two siblings and he lost them all and the ability to walk all on the same day at nineteen years old.

He wasn’t in a good state and tried to commit suicide in hospital. (I only found out about the suicide attempt recently and it shocked me). He refused to go back to university and fell into a depression the nurses and therapists couldn’t get him out of.

My dad didn’t really know his brother-in-law that well. With a nine-year age gap they hadn’t really had much in common or spent a lot of time together when they were younger.

But my dad knew mom wouldn’t want her baby brother to feel like he had no family, so dad got him to move in with us, despite my uncles protests at first that he didn’t want to be a burden on us.

So after months in hospital, our uncle came home with us.

The first year was hard as everyone was grieving and my uncle refused physical therapy at first.

But he started going, my dad starting helping him at home, and slowly he regained the ability to walk again. It took several years but he did it. He even started running in marathons deciding never to take his legs for granted again.

We went back to university at 22, and finished his law degree. He is a lawyer now.

I think it was during the time when my dad started helping my uncle with his physical therapy that they fell in love.

Kids notice stuff and it was about two years after mom died that my brother and I started to notice changes in the relationship between our father and uncle. We only only 8 and 10 at the times,  but we knew something was developing. That something was changing.  

People don’t realize how perceptive little kids are. But we noticed. Touches, smiles, and the fact our uncle despite regaining the ability to walk and going back to university was still living with us.

I don’t even think they realized they were falling in love.

They started dating about a year after my brother and I noticed they were acting weird. I would have been about 9 at the time and my brother about 11.

My uncle came out as gay and my dad came out as bisexual.

I was curious and I wanted to know if mom knew he was bisexual. Dad said she did, as he worked it out when he was about sixteen and already dating mom and confessed he had the biggest crush on Tom Cruise but would never cheat on her as he loved her (aw,  teen romance). Mom also admitted she had the biggest crush on Tok Cruise. Who was hot back then I guess, it was years ago before Cruise went crazy.

Mom convinced dad to set up a LBTB group at school with her, they weren’t really a thing back then and they ran into trouble setting it up but eventually got it and their is a photo of mom and dad in the year book holding the LGTB club sign. Dad showed me the picture and I keep it today.

My mom was that kind of kickass woman.  Straught but wiljng to fight homophobes in an act of solidarity with her bisexual boyfriend.  

When dad and our uncle arrested dating openly they  faced problems with dad’d own family. They didn’t get the fact he was bisexual.

They had four  main problems with their relationship:

1.) a same sex relationship. Same sex marriage wasn’t even legal in Canada at the time.

2.) the nine year ago gap. When they started dating my uncle was 23 and my dad was 32.

3.) and the whole in-laws thing. They thought it was wrong to date your late wife’s brother. That was the biggie. Expect for the really homophobic relatives.

4.) us kids were brought into it as a reason as well, they claimed it would be confusing for us for our uncle to become a dad like figure. We loved our uncle though and us kids saw how close they were getting before even dad knew. So they couldn’t really try and turn us against them, as we were supportive. When you lose a big chunk of your family, you tend to hold onto the family you have left with your claws. And dad was dad and our uncle was a huge connection to our mother.

For little kids who had lost their mother and their mother’s family,  for uncle was that childhood tie for us and in a way it made accepting him as our step dad easier. For us at least.  

 I wish my dad’s family was as supportive as Joe Biden was of his son.  But they weren’t and they lost contact.  

But wrbstuck it out. And my parents are   still together today.

We became a family.

They entered a civil union (like a marriage) when I was ten and my brother was twelve.

We stopped calling him our uncle in public at about that time. We call him either dad or by his first name and simply to people call him our step-dad or dad.

They gave us a little sister when I was twelve and my brother was fourteen.

A friend offered to be a surrograte and they used my step-dad’s sperm. Lol,  those nine months waiting for a little sister were so exciting for us. 

My step-dad has the same eyes as my mom (while my bro and I have dads eyes) and our little sister was born with mom’s eyes as well. Or I guess technically great-grandma’s eyes if both siblings shared them.

So biologically our little sister is actually our cousin (our step dad was the sperm donar, not sure why,  maybe because dad already had two of us and didn’t won’t a third little monster,  lol :P) but despite biologically being our cousin she is really our sister. Dad raised her too and we were brought up as siblings. We consider her our sister and she had been raised since she was a baby as our sister.

I’m twenty-four now, my brother is twenty five and our little sister is ten.

Our parents got married in 2012 after it became legal in America but have been together for about 15 years now: and at ages 45 and 36 are still going strong and so in love. You would never guess dad is 45, being married to a 36 year old keeps him young I guess. :P

I looked after my ten year sister last week so my dad and step-dad could go away for a romantic weekend to celebrate their anniversary. My sister and I had amazing girl time, she is in grade four and is the cutest little thing ever. Despite the fourteen year age gap, I have a feeling my sister and I are going to remain really close. My brother and I are also close, and so is he and our. Little sister.  All five of us are close,  we are a knit knit family. 

We still talk about mom a lot as a family and it is not weird.

My uni friend also lost her dad but never really talks about him at home, as her step-dad has no connection to him and gets jealous. And I feel dad for her as it makes her mom not really want to talk about him anymore and so she doesn’t hear many stories. 

That doesn’t happen in our family, as our step-dad loves and adores our mom as well and we all talk openly about her.

Growing up we would hear our dad tell stories about mom.

And we would also hear our step-dad tell stories about mom, as his sister.  

Dad tells high school tales and fun early marriage tales and our step-dad tells stories of mom as a little kid, some he saw himself and lots from what his parents told him about what his two sisters got up to when they were little . He tellss a lot about what mom was like with her family.

They both loved mom and there is not hiding mom in our family and we grew up with two people who loved our mom and who were always willing to share stories.

And the stories were different as they had different relationship with mom so they were always refreshing.

I am not sure what mom or our grandparents or aunt would think of our little family.

But I hope they would be  happy for us.

As I honestly don’t think we would be this happy or tight knit if we didn’t have our uncle here.

He and dad helped each other at a very dad time. They needed each other, were both in a lot of pain and they helped each other thought it.

Both were really struggling and in a bad place and their love, both for the ones they lost and for each other was what got them though.

Mom might be angry or feel betrayed (or be app for them)  or maybe our aunts and grandparents would be disgusted, they didn’t know our uncle was gay or dad was bisexual, so I am guessing they would be pretty dammed shocked, but I hope they would be happy for us.

My brother is getting married next weekend, and our little sister will be the flower girl and I love my family so much. :)

And our step dad and little sister is a huge part of that.

We don’t tell a lot of people about our family’s history. I wish my dad’s family was as supportive as Joe Biden was of his son.  

And some people judge my dad. They think he’s some perv who was in the closest and went after his late wife’s barely legal little brother.

But it is not like that. Dad loved mom so much.

But people don’t understand. So I call my uncle my dad. And call my little sister my sister although she is biologically my cousin. As she is my sister and he has helped raise me since I was a little girl and is a dad to be.

Unstopped callif him my uncle as it confused people.  Now he is just dad or step dad. 

 it is weird to others and so i don’t often talk about it.

But I know some of you guys are big Joe Biden fans and this is all over the media and I worry this will gross people out and make them question their love of Joe Biden. Some have said this would have ruined Joe’s political career if he had actually decided to run for president as he was openly supportive of his son.  

But I shared my story as I don’t think it is bad as the media makes it sound.

I’ve heard a LOT of bad stuff about the brother and wife in Television and in facebook comments and it makes me mad.

As people are judging without understanding the emotions and heartache that might be involved here.

People find each other in heartbreak.  It doesn’t mean the Biden brothers didn’t love each other. 

Sorry about my weird and long story.

I am just biased as I grew up in a similar situation?

Should the media stop judging Beau Biden’s brother for saying his brother’s wife? Or Beau’s wife for falling for his brother?

That family has suffered a lot of tragedy and by all accounts were very close. What do you think?

Should the media leave them alone?  Should people stop saying Joe is a bad dad for supporting this? 

Is my family’s story really that weird?

I’ve never really told anyone, since the backlash from dad’s side of the family when we were young. We normally keep it quite how close the family is realated.

I don’t mind people talking about my family if anyone has questions,  I’ve been secret about it in public our of necessity to avoid judgment but I love and am proud of my family and welcome genuine questions from people who want to learn as some of these online responses to the Biden thing online makes me sad.

 As people on facebook and twitter and news need reporters have been rather nasty and saying awful things about the Biden children and the wife/sister in law involved. 

Sorry about that long post. I am just passionate about this as it hits close to home. All responses, positive and negative are welcome. It has been a long time since I have talked about this issue and I am curious.