#in her high school era & her lawyer era

[inky-duchess]

Fantasy Guide to A Great House (19th-20th Century) - The Lives of The Family

When we think of the Victorians, the grand old Gilded Age or the Edwardians, we all think of those big mansions and manors where some of our favourite stories take place. But who lived here and what did their lives too like?

Who are the Family?

The family are the owners of the house. They are the employers of the servants, the caretakers of the house/estate. Since we're discussing a great house family, they are usually upper-middle class or nobility. A family can consist of a couple and their children but since great houses are so large, sometimes extended family members would live with them such as unmarried aunts or widowed mothers.

Roles Within the Family

In this era, the gentleman of the house would be the head of the unit, even if his wife holds their title in her right. They were in charge of hearing the troubles of the tenants, they would meet with representatives from the estate, deal with lawyers and other officials. He would often meet with the butler to discuss the household but would not be totally involved in its day to day running.

The lady of the house was heavily usually involved in the running of the household. She would meet with the cook daily to discuss menus, work with the housekeeper to ensure the smoothing run of the house during and outside events, keep an eye on the household accounts, the stock of supplies and the welfare of the servants. She would be in charge of her daughters' education and would will also be heavily involved with the local charities of the region.

Children lived relatively seperate lives from their parents. They would usually be cared for by nannies, nursemaids or governesses. They would eat seperately, sleep in the nursery and usually be left behind while their parents travel for the Season. Sons may be educated outside the house, usually sent off to boarding school. When they are passed their education, they would move out of the house (unless they were the heir, then they may be expected to stay around) and join high society. Daughters would live at the house until they are married. It's common for unmarried daughters to remain in the household as spinsters, even after the death of their parents. Daughters would be educated in the house by their governess and their mother.

The Daily Schedule

Morning: At 9, the family would be awoken by the arrival of their hot water. Married ladies have the luxury of staying in bed to eat breakfast. Valets and lady's maids would arrive to dress the family after being summoned by the bell. Unmarried women and the men of the house would eat breakfast in the dining room. After breakfast, the couple would withdraw to their business of the day, such as meeting with estate agents or dealing with paperwork. Just before midday, the lady of the house meet chef to discuss menus. The children would go off to their lessons with their governess or tutors. Luncheon would be served at 1. After luncheon, the ladies of the house may travel to appointments such as fittings or paying calls to friends.

Afternoon: Tea would be served around four. After the tea is finished, the children would be brought down to spend time with their parents. With tea finished, the gentleman and lady would finish their work.

Evening: At 8, the butler signals the start of supper giving the family and any staying guests, 15mins or more to get ready. Valets and lady's maids would already be upstairs at this point, helping their master/mistress with dressing. When the family head downstairs, they linger in the drawing room to chat. They would dine together. The ladies would adjourn to the drawing room for coffee and tea while the men stay in the dining room to drink and smoke. When the men have finished, they join the ladies before going up to bed.

Social Aspect of the Great House

One of the main functions of a great house is society. The family would host gatherings in the off season when they aren't in the city for the social season. If one lives in the country, one might be expected to host relatives on hunting/stalking/fishing holidays. All those extra rooms can be let to guests staying the night. Bachelors would be kept on seperate floor from the unmarried daughters with couples rooming together or side by side. The Great House family is expected to be gracious hosts and spare no expense to their visitors. Servants would have to do many times more work and put up with a lot of nonsense because of the added work load.

[dullard]

ok heres my wakfu/waven oc sorry i wrote so much. In a few minutes ill add the text written on the image under a readmore. and also probably more text than that. sorry

The text on the image:

Siamont -Waven-era -runs orphanage -mute, no tail -Before Waven's great wave, he was a Sufokian fisherman along with his dad -He lost his younger brother (who he sort of raised) in the wave -With the influx of orphans post-wave, he started an orphanage -He's used to Sufokia's relative acceptance of less "humanoid" races. As a result, he doesn't want to associate with the countries because they tend to exclude or oppress "monsters" (He takes anyone @ the orphanage) (Arrow pointing to top drawing) -He's very patient with all children, but he has none for threats to them (mostly pirates) (Arrow pointing to his tail tuft in the left drawing) His tail was amputated when he was a child. Sufokian rogue pirate mafia incident. This trauma was why he initially stopped talking, he just never really started again. He still doesn't really like rogues. (Arrow pointing to him smiling nervously in the right drawing) Wishes the little iop would stop hitting crabs with a rock but she's so proud of herself he doesn't want to interrupt.

More text no one asked for:

He's very gentle with kids and has a small island orphanage that scrapes by on donations and goodwill. At high tide, there is no sand and the building (ramshackle. Siamont's been adding onto it and building it himself, mostly. As a result, it kind of looks like a boat, actually) looks like its floating on the water, but at low tide there's plenty of space for kids to run and hunt for extra food like molluskies and cwabs. Most of the kids' clothing seems to be repurposed from pirates. If you ask, the kids will tell you he sends the little ones off with the older children to take care of them before handling pirates by himself. Because they don't have much to steal anyway, there haven't been groups of pirates big or strong enough that he couldn't handle it, getting by without major injuries.

He takes on any kids at all that need help. This means trools, puddlies, taurs, and other less-humanoid "monsters." He does try to get children of those groups with their own kind if he can, but twelvians have a less communal child-rearing style, so most of the kids in the orphanage longer-term are twelvians.

Also, he tends to keep people in each of the cities aware that his orphanage exists. Many parents come looking for their children they lost track of during or after the wave. Mostly, this is where donations come from.

As a kid, he tended to be the "babysitter" for quite a few fisherpeople's kids, including his younger brother. He's just always liked kids, although he was less gentle when he was also a child himself and had a tendency to yell and get angry, which he doesn't have anymore.

Sufokia has a lot of pirate rogues who have a mafia-type hold on the Sufokian economy (source: wakfu game lol). He and his younger brother were getting into normal kid trouble and stuck their noses where they didnt belong. A pirate stomped his tail under his boot to stop him fleeing, and they toyed with him for an hour or so before letting him go (in spite of a lot of "well, he might talk- he could be a spy" type talk). His tail had to be amputated, and he just didn't really talk much after that.

His younger brother was studying to be a lawyer as he wanted to finally get some of the more open rogues behind bars for crimes that were hard to address to them. Siamont considered him to be the family's pride and joy, while his brother appreciated Siamont taking on the family profession with their dad and helping him pay for school. Their dad died sometime before the wave. Their mother was not present in their childhoods, and their dad didn't really talk about her much.

[softboynick]

a kiss

firstprince | Alex is having a little trouble trying to convince himself that his New Year's kiss with Henry didn't mean anything

1.4k words, rwrb-compliant

read on ao3

—

It’s been a week since the White House Trio rang in the New Year, and Alex is still thinking about it. He tells Nora and June that it didn’t mean anything. It was just a kiss. A silly, little kiss. Between two bros. Bros, homies, buddies who kiss. The best of bros and close personal friends, according to the conjoined efforts of the White House and Buckingham Palace. 

It’s absolutely fine. He had that weird thing with Liam in high school, and that didn’t mean anything. Right? Right. 

He’s still having trouble convincing himself, though. 

So what if Henry kissed him at his New Year’s Eve party. So what if he grabbed his hair and touched his face in a way that made his legs turn to jelly. So what if he tasted like mint and expensive champagne. So what if his lips felt so plush and soft against his mouth, like he uses fucking lip scrubs and chapstick religiously. So what if he kissed him back. So what if he kind of, maybe, liked it? So what.

He still hates him, the smug, snobby son of a bitch. It’s all Henry’s fault that he’s spiraling in the first place, so yes, he definitely does hate him, don’t get it twisted. 

It’s been a week, and he just wants Henry to talk to him. He’s been having a lot of one-sided conversations with himself on their text thread, and he hates to say it, but it’s getting a little lonely and sad. Alex is very big on confrontation—he’s an aspiring lawyer, after all—so this whole ghosting situation isn’t going to cut it. He’s itching to do something about it, something drastic, maybe, but June thinks flying across the Atlantic to kiss Henry senseless might be a bit of an overkill. 

Oh, and yeah, that’s been a recent development. He’s pretty sure he isn’t entirely straight. Probably bisexual, and he wants to kiss Henry now. Preferably against a wall, but he’ll take anything he can get. That is, if he can actually get the guy to talk to him. He knows the PM’s dinner is coming up at the end of the month, so he’s going to need to pull something together before then. 

Nora gives him a seventy-seven percent success rate and a forty-five percent chance that it might just all backfire on him, and Alex accuses her of having no faith in him at all. She just laughs and pats his head like he’s some kind of fucking child, and he has to wonder why he’s friends with her in the first place. 

School distracts him enough that he doesn’t need to think too much about Henry and his preferred way of dealing with things—also known as, running away—but at night, when it is just him and his thoughts (and his trusty right hand), that’s when things get a little tricky (and a bit sticky). 

January flies by, and suddenly, it’s the night of the PM’s dinner. Alex is antsy and swipes a flute of champagne to keep himself from spiraling even more than he already is. He anxiously keeps glancing over at the door, jumping every time a new arrival is announced.

“Looking for someone?” 

Alex nearly jumps out of his skin at the sound of his sister’s voice. When he turns to her, she has a stupid fucking grin on her face, like she knows something that he doesn’t, and he isn’t dumb enough to doubt that. June is the eldest and the wisest out of the Claremont-Diaz siblings, and she always seems to have a leg-up on Alex every single damn time. 

“Fucking Christ, you need a bell.” 

June laughs and plucks the champagne out his hands and takes a sip of her own. 

“Hey! Get your own.”

“Sure, but only if you stop looking at the door every twenty seconds. You look like you’re about to pass out, Little Bit.”

Alex scowls at the nickname and snatches the glass out of June’s hand, finishing it off before she even has the chance to steal it back. 

June rolls her eyes and rests her hands placatingly on her brother’s shoulders. “Dude, you need to calm the fuck down. Dinner hasn’t even started yet, and I can already smell the BO radiating off of you.”

He instinctively lifts an arm and takes a subtle whiff of his pit. “What- Oh, god. Do I stink?”

“Alex,” she stresses, giving his shoulders a squeeze. “I’m just fucking with you.”

“Oh, fuck you, June.” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just calm down, will you? He’ll be here soon. So until then, just go around and do what you do best. Schmoozing and looking cute. Just don’t get into any arguments, though. You can do that after Mom’s re-elected.” She gives him a little shove, sending him into the light crowd of international and domestic dignitaries already forming. He gives her the finger behind his back and heads off. 

He decides to make his way over to the open bar for something stronger than champagne when he’s stopped by none other than Miguel Ramos. God, he probably needs to start double-fisting to get through the evening. He hides his grimace behind a well-practiced smile and tries his best to keep up with the conversation without looking too distracted. His ears pick up Texas strategy in the midst of all his droning, and he fails to hide his surprise. Miguel says that he has his sources like it’s some kind of acceptable explanation, and Alex suddenly has the urge to smack the smirk off his face. 

He doesn’t have the chance to do it, however, because they’re announcing His Royal Highness’ arrival, and Henry is walking—more like, sauntering in and looking far too good in a suit and bowtie. Kissing Henry becomes a need more than a want at this point. 

He leaves Miguel before the guy can get another word in edgewise and heads over to Amy with a simple request. It takes some sly maneuvering, but the Red Room is his best chance to actually have a private conversation with Henry. 

Alex is just a bundle of nerves as he waits for Henry to step into the room. He knows he’s being ridiculous, but he thinks the portrait of Alexander Hamilton is judging him. He has half a mind to flip the painting over so he won’t have his beady eyes looking at him anymore, because he doesn’t need another white man questioning his life choices. He nearly considers it, too, but that’s just insane. He should be thinking about what he’s going to say to Henry, not United States historical figures and how their ghosts are probably judging for being so stupid. If they weren’t racist and homophobic first. 

Okay, shut up, brain.

Before he has a chance to even pretend to look normal, the door is already opening, and in steps Henry, gliding in like the fucking angel he is. It should infuriate him, because no one should be looking that beautiful, but he sees Henry, and all the words he’s planned to say leave his brain in an instant. He is dumbfounded. 

“Look, Alex. I’m so-”

“Shut up. Stop talking.” He crosses the room in two long strides and pulls Henry into his arms, and before his brain resets and he can start thinking again, he is slamming their mouths together. 

Then, Henry pushes him away.

“Wait a minute.” 

While Henry’s having his own crisis a few feet away, Nora’s analytical numbers flash across his brain, reeling through his mind like a broken record. Seventy-seven. Forty-five. Seventy-seven. Forty-five. Seventy-seven. Forty-five.

Oh, fuck. They’re kissing again. 

Henry drags him in by the lapels of his dinner jacket, and Alex eagerly follows. Their lips meet again, the kiss hurried and driven by the heat burning under their skin. Everything zeroes in on that moment, and all he can think about is the curve of his lips, all soft and supple, the way his hips fit perfectly under his hands, the solid weight of his body against his. 

Alex presses him into the wall. Fuck Hamilton and his judgy stare. He slots himself between his thick, sinful thighs, and drags a leg up to wrap around his waist. He twists his hips slightly just, and he groans into Henry’s mouth when he feels just how hard he is in his trousers. He’s hard, too, and it takes everything in him not to cum in his underwear.

God, he just wants to do bad, very bad things to this man, and he’s pretty sure Henry will let him. Now he just has to figure out how to get him up to his room. 

One-hundred percent success rate. Eat shit, Nora.

[autismtana]

jojo obah headcanons

(basically jojo obah is practically perfect in every way)

lesbian (she/her)

has an older (by ~ 4 years) sister who's a lawyer

went to a pretty well-resourced all-girls selective school

did 4 unit english in high school

was dux and school captain

did gold duke of ed, hockey/touch, debating, mock trial and concert band (as a saxophonist)

she was really good at school but had a bit of a rebellious phase after she got a reputation as a bit of a goody two shoes (hence the LeCrak era)

went to usyd and unsw for undergrad and masters respectively

has been a beyoncé stan pretty much since birth

watches abbott elementary (her favourite character is barbara because omg same)

she doesn't have any favourites she loves all the SLT kids equally her favourite is quinni and she definitely voted for quinni as school captain

she's really close with her dad

[sweet-creature101]

MASTERLIST

1. Kiwi

Summary: Harry recently started his solo carrier and Sarah recommmeds y/n as his lead guitarist. Harry finds himself intimidated by y/n and y/n could not care less.

an enemies to lovers trope; famous!harry

part two

2. Sweet Creature

Summary: The moment harry fell in love with you.

a best friends to lovers trope; bestfriend!harry

3. Good Girls

Summary: Harry finds out that his goody two shoes neighbour is actually quite far from that. Based on the song, Good Girls by 5 Seconds Of Summer.

fratboy!harry era; a frenemies to lovers trope.

4. New York Streets and Dreams.

Summary: Harry Styles, a classic New York law firm grump meets a wild spirited girl, Y/N when he argues with her on a road intersection.

a grump x sunshine trope; lawyer!harry

5. Envelopes and Punches

Summary: Harry Styles, a rich and wealthy boy falls in love with a poor girl who scams the rich for a living and simply does not care of what the world has to say about it.

fratboy harry x reader, a high school romance

6. Washing Machine Heart

Summary You, a reserved student find yourself in the midst of an intense with Harry Styles, who happens to be your friend’s boyfriend. Your connection ignites into a consuming, high-stakes affair, each encounter fraught with desire and danger, pushing both of you to the brink as you wrestle with guilt and loyalty.

Fratboy Harry x reader, a secret affair

A/N; Dont be afraid to send me asks!

~All the Love

B.

[foliejpg]

sage @puppyboymikeyway submitted a bunch of fob asks from this post so here ya go <3 putting it under a read more bc its a novel 😭

tttyg

dead on arrival: which of andy's haircuts is your favorite?

honestly i liked when he had the short bob and it was straight. he looked more like a lesbian then than usual

grand theft autumn: which was the first fall out boy song you heard and liked?

actually its this song 😭 i remember hearing it in a hot topic when i was around 15-16 and going home to look up the lyrics on my computer, then listening to every album straight through from tttyg to srar straight through in order lol srar had just come out

saturday: best concert you've attended?

my first fob show is special to me bc i got m&g tickets, so is the albany show this past march bc i got to meet them again with my boyfriend and a bunch of friends<333 but the best concert that the artist has put on i mean. i have to come clean i am a bit of a swiftie and the eras tour was crazy 😭 and fenway last year during tourdust because patrick did wams during the medley just for me<333 that's My Song

the pros and cons of breathing: do you own any fall out boy albums on cd or vinyl?

yes! here's a picture because there's a lot 💀 not pictured is the we didn't start the fire 7" because its so tiny i didn't see it until after i took the picture lmao

grenade jumper: trohmania or bass spin?

i gotta go with the bass spin sorry joe<3

the patron saints of liars and fakes: last big regret?

i wish i went to the madison square garden show in march but i couldn't afford the tickets</3

cork tree

our lawyer: worst fob rumor you've heard?

i can't really think of one? all i can think of is that one interview where patrick says the worst one he heard was that he was actually 31 and not 21

nobody puts baby in the corner: favorite 80's film?

who framed roger rabbit, clue, and that's all i can think of 😭 i'm not a big movie person

sixteen candles: favorite fob mv?

young and menace, america's suitehearts, hmlag, dance dance

the music or the misery: favorite bonus track?

from now on we are enemies and my heart is the worst kind of weapon, but i like the acoustic version of the latter way more<3

my heart is the worst kind of weapon: last time you said something you regretted?

bro i can't think of anything i don't listen to myself talk 💀

ioh

this ain't a scene, its an arms race: patrick in cardigans or patrick in sweaters?

SWEATERS lemme see that fabric stretch

thnks fr th mmrs: best memory?

i have no idea lmao when i met fob idk i have a really bad memory

don't you know who i think i am?: which high school stereotype would you describe yourself with?

is "snot nosed know it all who thinks she's better than everyone else but is just sheltered and bratty" a stereotype

fame < infamy: do you like black cards?

i'm a fake fan i've never listened 💀 bebe is a queen though

folie

lullabye: opinion on 'elisa stans?'

i don't know what that means these asks are from 2018 but everyone should leave fob's family alone <3

27: favorite instrument

BASS. i love bass guitar i need to feel it in my chest

w.a.m.s. which job would you prefer, waiter/actress/model/singer?

singer bc i enjoy singing and used to be good at it lol i can't act and food service freaks me out i don't want to be responsible for other people's food and also modeling just seems awful 💀

west coast smoker: favorite 80's band?

i love the smiths and joy division bc i'm a basic emo<3

srar

where did the party go: bass lines or guitar solos?

bass lines a million times over!!!! plus sometimes guitar solos make my ears ring 😅

death valley: who would you most like to be greeted by in the afterlife?

idk my cat kayla she passed when i was like 6 she was a good girl or my cat china (my mom named her 💀) she was a good girl too. lots of good girls here

abap

irresistible: which mv was your favorite?

the original one with the basketball game they're so goofy lmao

the kids aren't alright: if you could send a message to yourself five years ago, what would it say?

run for the fucking hills girl!!!!!!!

jet pack blues: which was your favorite fall out boy era?

this one because they're all happy and healthy and living their best lives, having lots of fun on stage and being weird and interacting with fans again<333

novocaine: cause of your last time in the hospital?

uhhhhh i can't remember the last time i was in the hospital lmao

favorite record: do you collect cds or vinyls?

both! i have a lot of both lol

mania

young and menace: are you excited for the future of fall out boy?

of course<3 i hope whatever they do next is satisfying creatively for them because i would rather wait a few years for new music than have them go back to working themselves to the bone and exhausting themselves so i'm sure whatever comes next will be worth the wait, stardust certainly was<3

champion: what's your proudest moment as a fan of them?

i don't knowwww i really like the little corner of the internet i'm in with some friends and mutuals and i get a lot of asks/msgs from ppl so i like that i've made a comfy little space for ppl to talk about fob<3 does that count lol idk i'm also proud of them for like. still doing what they're doing at their age those crusty old men

wilson: if you could purchase one thing being advertised in the wilson video, what would it be?

WORKING MALE MOUTH

sunshine riptide: if you could say one thing to the band, what would it be?

i would say thank you for making art and i would also corner pete and maKe him tell me about the pool ball strike at the beginning of disloyal order he can't get away with this anymore

WHOOOO BOY okay thanks for sending all those i hope you enjoy this essay<3

[iamthedukeofurl]

I think we should enter an era where everybody is inexplicably making genre-crossing Arthurian adaptations. We start out simple, A post-apocalyptic Mecha story where Arthur, guided over his radio by the mysterious Merlin, is able to activate a long-dormant mech left over from the war that destroyed the world. When that Mech is badly damaged, Merlin introduces him to somebody (Possibly a pre-war engineer who resides in a hidden bunker under a lake and refuses to come out, possibly an AI CLAIMING to be an engineer), who provides him with a new one. This new mech, Excalibur, would have been the ultimate cutting-edge weapon during the war had it been finished. While the mech itself is a potent weapon, what makes it truly special is it's extended self-repair abilities. Arthur assembles the Round Table, recruiting the most skilled and noblest Mech Pilots from across the wasteland to bring order and justice to the world.

So, after various groups have put out a handful of stories in that vein, with straightforward analogues for swords and knights, we start getting a little more abstract. A Mafia Epic. The underworld is in chaos after the previous respected don was killed with no apparent heirs. Merlin, the old Don's trusted friend, finds a young orphan boy who sings a song he claims his mother taught him. This song contains the password to the old Don's vaults, revealing Arthur to be the Don's grandson, raised by his daughter who left the underworld. With the Legitimacy of his family name established, and access to his Grandfather's Vault, young Arthur must unify the warring cartels and assemble a gang of trusted lieutenants. Then, once we've spent a few years redefining what "Noble King assembles an order of Knights" means while getting away from classic heroic archetypes, we can start getting Weird with it. Aspiring Singer Martha Pend manages to extend an old telescoping mic-stand that had been stuck for years. Mert, the sound guy who agreed to let her use the studio space at 2AM when nobody else wanted it because she begged him and he needed to be there anyway cleaning up after the place got trashed by some big-name band from a major label, proclaims that she will be the greatest musician of her generation, IF she can assemble a band. After successfully handling the high-profile, and deeply contested, divorce of Grant Stone and Caroline Sword, young lawyer Arthur Pendragon is promoted to Senior Partner just as the rest of the prestigious Firm of Camelot&Anglia dissolves. Can he keep the Firm alive with a fresh crop of recent law-school graduates? Arthur is prcolaimed the Greatest Fisherman Alive after catching a Swordfish in Stonewater Bay. Something something has to win a big fishing competition in order to save his small fishing town from getting bulldozed to build a resort.

Keep this nonsense going until people are sick of Arthurian Retellings. Then start the whole thing over again with The Count of Monte Cristo.

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

The St James Family Tree (x)​

( aside from Jeremy, Josie, and Joy, the entire St James family exists universally throughout all of my glee fics, though they so far only have set appearances in Get It Right, SOWK, By Its Very Definition, and Corner Of The Sky!  More details about everyone below the cut )

shoutout to @the-witching-ash for helping me develop this entire clusterfuck of a family

Tag List: @airwolf92 – want to be added?

Judith & Joseph St James ( Meryl Streep & Pierce Brosnan ):

The parents of the most unadjusted and emotionally unavailable family in all of Ohio

Jenny St James ( Nicole Kidman ):

Married to Lloyd Kline ( Colin Firth )

Judith & Joseph’s eldest child 

Neglectful mother and trophy wife to a DC politician

Johanna St James ( Kate Reinders ):

Married to Chad Channing ( Chris Pine )

The middle St James child 

Professional absentee parent dreaming of her non-existent Broadway glory days

Former roommates with Shelby Corcoran and Cassie July

Joshua St James ( Zac Efron ):

Sometimes dating Nell Baker ( Anne Hathaway )

The youngest of the St James siblings

Real estate agent in Lima

Jeremy’s guardian, legally as of s2

Part of the long-suffering parent club with Burt, Carol, and Brad

His apartment is well known as being a safe place for glee club members to crash if they’re avoiding being at home and he does have a ranked list of all of the club members

Roman Kline ( Aaron Tveit ):

Jenny & Lloyd’s son / Amelie’s twin

Dalton alum, Cooper Anderson’s high school roommate

Dating Cooper Anderson & Ash Astor ( Anna Kendrick )

Went to law school and is a licensed lawyer but he’s working actor in LA and sometimes New York

( also features in a Somewhere Only We Know prequel, Midnights, the Cooper & Roman Dalton era fic )

Amelie Kline ( Lily James):

Jenny & Lloyd’s daughter / Roman’s twin

Went to Crawford Country

In an eventual relationship with her high school best friend, Lindsay Wright ( Brittany Snow )

Bartender & manager at Scandals

Living with her Uncle Josh in Lima while she attends university

( also features in a Somewhere Only We Know prequel, Midnights, the Cooper & Roman Dalton era fic )

Jesse St James ( Jonathan Groff ):

Johanna’s son, not with Chad but he doesn't know it

An honorary member of the warbler inner circle since he was 10

Carmel High alum, UCLA dropout, now coaching Vocal Adrenaline

Learning to be a better brother

In an eventual relationship with former rival Lucille Newton ( Anna Camp ) 

Joy Schuester ( Lili Reinhart ):

featured in By Its Very Definition ( and various chaotic crossover concepts )

Jesse’s half sister through their father, April Rhodes’ surprise daughter

Easily adopted into the St James clan by Josh, Amelie, Roman, and Jesse

Full time disaster

The best thing Johanna ever did for Jesse was not have Chad as his father, only so that he could have Joy as a sister

Josie St James ( Lily Rose Depp ):

featured in Applause

biological daughter of Johanna St James and Bryan Ryan, has never suspected that she might not be Chad's

Has been acting professionally since she was 3, mostly in commercials, TV, and movies, was the star of a disney channel show from ages 3-8, has continued acting since, is still quite famous

Johanna was an obsessive stage mom to the max

She goes to Carmel High (a sophomore in season 1) and is a leading member of VA – despite this, she has always hated Shelby and absolutely hates the Rachel plan

But she hates Johanna more and wants to live with Josh so she goes along with it all

disaster bitch with mommy issues and daddy issues and body issues and attitude issues

Jeremy St James ( Joshua Bassett ):

featured in Corner Of The Sky ( and various chaotic crossover concepts )

Johanna & Chad’s youngest son and Jesse’s younger brother, not actually Chad's son – Chad suspects this, Jeremy does not

An honorary member of the warbler inner circle since he was 5

lives with his Uncle Josh and cousin Amelie

Absolute sunshine despite an overabundance of family trauma

Currently growing a backbone

[nicejewishcharactershowdown]

Nice Jewish Character Showdown 2023 -- Round One Eliminations

Well folks, the first round of the 2023 event has concluded, and 16 hopefuls have been taken out of the running for this year's crown. While we wait for the polls to go live for round two, let's take a second to debrief with those contenders, and break down what makes them such Nice Jewish Characters.

Match One Elimination: James Wilson, House MD Apologies to the House MD fans who kept trying to push the vote in your guy's favor, I honestly did not expect 9 to have such a high turnout (I'll elaborate on his inclusion another time). I'm going to make my way around to watching this show eventually I promise, in the meantime all I can reference to validate his Judaism is the textual reference to his Judaism in dialogue, the enthusiasm from my Jewish mutuals, and his entry on Jew or Not Jew (which, although considerably dated, was a popular site for me and my Hebrew School peers to browse between classes).

Match Two Elimination: Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5 While I haven't watched Babylon 5, I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how Jewish this Trek-adjacent show is, at least, in terms of canonicity. The second in command of the titular ship, Ivanova is textually Ashkenazi, Russian specifically. I can't speak on specifics since I, again, haven't watched the show, but it sounds like her relationship with her ancestry is tied significantly into her personal plot arc, as she reconnects with it over the seasons.

Match Three Elimination: Avigdor, Yentl Oh, Mandy Patinkin, the communal zeyde of the Jewish internet. While Avigdor may not be the Nicest of Jewish Characters, we gotta remember dramatic context! And yes, the absolute Gender of Yentl is no small factor in his popularity. I don't regret the picture I used, but I'm sure he would have had a bit of a swing vote if I used the picture of him wet and shirtless. Ah, well. Not like this is the first time Yentl's been snubbed for awards season.

Match Four Elimination: Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings Yes, the books have the unfortunate way they've reflected on antisemitic stereotypes with the portrayal of the dwarves. But when you look at the hobbits, don't they feel like citizens of a shtetl? Aren't you filled with the warmth of shabbos when you think about a hobbit hole? And when thinking about Samwise's unending hope for good, even in the darkest parts of the journey, are you not reminded of something?

Match Five Elimination: George Costanza, Seinfeld Yeah I knew this one was going to infuriate some people. George Costanza, you textually Jewish in every way but literal prince, you are the perfect example of the transitive property of Jewish media (Jason Alexander has been quoted as saying that Costanza is Jewish because he's being played by a Jewish actor). Doing readings on invisible Jewish representation through the lens of Seinfeld (and the associated eras of television) is FASCINATING, btw.

Match Six Elimination: Schmidt, New Girl A very Jewish cast and crew brought this 2010's icon to our screens, and while the humor might not have always been the kindest to his Jewish identity, it's no surprise that he has such a continuing popularity within the former viewing audience. Someone get him a cookie, please?

Match Seven Elimination: Cher Horowitz, Clueless Written by a Jew, directed by a Jew, played by a Jew, Cher Horowitz is a great example of the transitive property of Jewish media. Plus, with a last name like Horowitz and a lawyer father, there are plenty of reasons to interpret the 90's darling as such. This Kveller article is full of fun facts about the Jewish background of the production!

Match Eight Elimination: Barbara Millicent Roberts, Barbie Watch Tiny Shoulders if you don't think Barbie belonged in this showdown. Barbara Millicent Roberts, you've been so popularized and Americanized that we've forgotten your roots, my darling! Ruth Handler, Barbie's creator, comes from a distinctly Jewish background, and her family's Ellis Island history is a good way of looking at the way Barbie's been assimilated. Sure she's got her Christmas-y ties, but most Christmas media comes from us anyways, so I think she can get a pass.

Match Nine Elimination: The Baudelaires, A Series of Unfortunate Events Okay, I'll admit it, I never read ASOUE. It freaked me out too much as a kid, and I've never circled back to it. But it's been on the back of my mind for a while, and now that I'm aware of just how Jewish the source material is, I'm this close to looking up the audiobooks on Libby. This is a step above the transitive property of Jewish media, this is textual. I guess it's characteristic for the Baudelaires to lose, but they can be comforted in how close the vote was.

Match Ten Elimination: Tommy Pickles, Rugrats So I grew up with public access television, and when I finally got cable it felt a bit like I'd missed the boat on Rugrats, age-group wise. But seeing the VHS cases on the library shelves of my synagogue, I always knew that show was a good case of Jewish representation. The Rugrats was revolutionary in their central Judaism in children's media: not just giving it to a side character for special episodes, but giving it to the main character and spending ample time discussing it. Consider putting the Passover or Hannukah specials into your holiday circulation.

Match Eleven Elimination: The Strilondes, Homestuck Somewhat surprising to me, but not really since they lost round one last time, the Strilondes have been taken out of the running. What makes Dave Strider and Rose Lalonde Jewish? Siblings through manipulation of genetic cloning, we witness a Very Jewish Wedding in the Snapchat Credits Sequence to Homestuck, where Rose and her wife, Kanaya, are in the center of a horah dance, lifted above the crowd in chairs (here's the timestamp). Besides that, Homestuck can be interpreted through a very Jewish lens (at least to me, someone who has a John Egbert statuette on their bookshelf). Plus, Homestuck has an answer to the Great Frog Debate (their answer is the biggest frog possible).

Match Twelve Elimination: Frankenstein('s Monster), Frankenstein Sorry Adam, I know losing twice in a row is hard, but to be fair you DID go up against werewolves last time. Why is Adam Frankenstein('s Monster) Jewish? He has a complicated relationship with the concept of a higher power (and in his case, a complicated familial relationship with his own creator). Plus, when I look at him, I see the most famous golem in pop culture. Jewish Frankenstein supremacy <3 (Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, a general plug for the book version of Monster High, published in 2010, which has a VERY Jew-coded interpretation of the titular monsters, imo.)

Match Thirteen Elimination: The Baker, Into The Woods Musical theater is inherently Jewish, so is it any surprise that a Sondheim character made it to the showdown? Into the Woods is a masterpiece, and when you look at it through a Jewish lens it gets even more so -- especially in the second act. The Baker is one of several characters in the show that really become aware of the constraints of their fairy tale lives, and choose to circumvent them. I'm going to restrain myself from discussing it more since the entire original cast recording is available to watch here, and it's one of my favorite musicals ever so I'd just get incoherent in further analysis if you haven't seen the source material.

Match Fourteen Elimination: Will Byers, Stranger Things I knew this was going to happen on the #CecilSweep website, but it still hurts a little bit to see Will Byers lose with such a sweep. Maybe it's the fact the Byers house has readily available Christmas lights. Why was he a contestant? Well, observing the transitive property of Jewish media (as discussed earlier), Noah Schnapp AND Winona Ryder's Judaism is more than enough to validate a Jewish reading of the Byers family -- in my mind, they're a mixed household, and kept celebrating Xmas after Lonnie left because the kids grew up with it (plus, they're in Indiana in the 80's, so...)

Match Fifteen Elimination: The Lorax, The Lorax Did you go to Hebrew School in the United States if you didn't watch or read The Lorax for Tu B'ishvat? I mentioned the VHS library at my synagogue earlier, and this tape was a standard on the wheelie box tv set-up, often used to distract the younger kids who would get bored at the High Holy Days services. He's just a lil' man who loves the trees, that's a mensch to me.

Match Sixteen Elimination: Worf, Star Trek: The Next Generation I feel like I have to apologize for putting the two Trek characters against each other up front. It's another place where my textual knowledge slips a bit, so when I found out just how Jewish Worf is I was pleasantly surprised. Trek has a very odd relationship with just how Jewish it has been since conception (thank you, Nimoy!) , so for Worf's parents to be all but declared to be Jewish is like. You could have just made them Jewish. Why didn't you make them Jewish (we know why).

[daenystheedreamer]

id like to hear more about the jeyne westerling + robb/theon teen pregnancy fic

thank you for asking this i LOVE talking about my insane shit. ok its super self indulgent be warned and idk how to talk about it because its a mess and extremely disorganised but ill try:

ok backstory. the greyjoys are a mafioso crime family but not in a sexy way in a gross evil way. most of them got caught and locked up when theon was twelve-ish and while asha was emancipated and could look after herself, theon was baby and could not. Barbrey The Lawyer basically thought it would be really funny to dump this freak girlson on the starks as personal revenge and thats how the starks ended up fostering theon. then when theon was like... 19? 20? he had a #mental #breakdown and ran away from winterfell and got caught up with ramsay. barbrey ended up getting him out due to personal beef with ramsay's dad and cos domeric found out and was like What the fuck,. now theon is like 22/23 unemployed but does odd jobs and makes music and pretends he isnt fucked up in the brain

robb is a footballer (football as in european football aka soccer. maybe rugby?). anywa i dont know anything about football. but he does! hes a prodigy hes gonna Go Big and Bring Home Da Gold. robb was like 15/16/17 idk when theon was in his Rough Crowd Era and it fucked him up cos thats his girlfriendbrotherworstie!! now theon is back and they have a very weird very codependant on/off relationship. robb is like 19/20ish

jeyne is a nice girl :) she wants to be a nurse :) she has mommy issues :) after graduating high school she goes on a gap year with her brother and sister and they tour westeros and she meets a cute guy named robb in the riverlands and has a whirlwind one-week holiday romance with him :) but uh oh! guess who has super sperm and got his fling preggers!! robb the idiot :) now she's pregnant and has confirmed all the horrible things her mother says about her :) she has religious issues! she wants to be a mother! she wants to be a An Independent Woman! she doesn't want to leave home! she wants too much and all of it is contradictory! she's not yet 19! she's having the worst year of her life made worse by the father of her child's sort-of boyfriend who sucks but also are they becoming friends?? what???

bonus: asha is sort of dating qarl and tris theyre kinda polycule vibes. she'll introduce tris as her queer platonic squish because she thinks its funny when he does the hide-the-pain-harold face. jon joined the military right out of high school. the only greyjoy asset the state didnt seize is aeron's sex toy shop he used to launder money but they couldnt prove it (he converted it into a restaurant that has non-discriminatory hiring practices for former convicts but the downside is he will proselytise to them.)

[akiscigarette]

One Shot Summer Day 2: "Cicatrices" (Scars)

Inspired by Cicatrices, perfomed by Kalimba. If you're Mexican, you understand why there isn't any link to the song.

Ven y dime corazón, ¿cómo empezar Come here and tell me love, Una vez más sin ti? how can I start again without you? Ven y dile al corazón que puede seguir Come and tell my heart that it can move on Que puede vivir sin ti That it can live without you Este amor que se fue This love is already gone Y que no puedo vivir sin ti And I can’t live without you Este amor que se fue This love is long gone Y que no puedo tener And I can’t have it anymore Que era de los dos, pero se olvidó It was ours, but it’s already forgotten Dejando cicatrices Just leaving scars behind

Another day long gone, another day in which Kazutora Hanemiya didn’t receive any letter from the outside.

He felt like he was slowly losing it completely, because he kept waiting from that particular letter since he came back to juvie. Only 15 years old, and two murder chargers were already weighting on his shoulder. He was lucky enough that his father’s money could afford an outstanding lawyer that managed to prove that his guilty confession was just a trauma response for seeing that boy of his same age lying lifeless next to him. He was even luckier that he wouldn’t get transferred into an adult’s prison before he became of age.

Maybe that was the reason no one wrote to him. He was a murderer.

But he still looked up to the moment in which mail was delivered to his fellow inmates, waiting anxiously for an envelope with the messiest handwriting that has been known to man. Sometimes, Kazutora could swear that the kanjis used were actually mistaken, but he just shrugged it off with a chuckle.

 He knew that his best friend was a little slow. But he didn’t care. Why would anyone mind that he had a hard time spelling when Keisuke Baji was the most loyal person that had ever lived?

Not matter what kind of hell awaits us, I’m with you until the end!

Kazutora was proud to admit that he spared Baji the hell that juvie was. As physically strong as Baji was, he was too pure to survive a system in which only the deranged survived. Even if both were present when Shinichiro Sano was murdered, Baji – who tried to stop Kazutora and was already struggling with adapting to junior high – was held back for a school year. But he was free.

And it was all that matters.

Unlike the others who eventually turned his back to him, especially those who were closer to Mikey, Baji still wrote to him every single week.

But he was a liar.

Baji died before they both saw the end to the hell that Kazutora was going through.

However, Baji didn’t die. Kazutora killed him. Instead of running away, Kazutora stayed behind when the police arrived at the junkyard in which the Bloody Halloween took place.

I died on my own.

Those words still echoed Kazutora’s mind whenever he started to drift into sleep.

That big oaf was trying to reassure him on his last breathes.

Baji could’ve saved them. Maybe if he hadn’t exhausted himself, he wouldn’t have been declared dead on the scene.

Kazutora still regretted not being able to face his mother. She already hated him for the incident at SS Motors, and she asked her son to end their friendship as soon as she learned the first verdict. Baji was the one who confessed it in one of his letters because that idiot couldn’t hide anything from Kazutora.  

But only if Baji hadn’t gotten in the way of his knife, maybe Kazutora would’ve done anything and beyond to earn Ryoko’s forgiveness instead of spending his days wondering when Baji’s next letter would arrive.

Kazutora couldn’t change the past. What was done, was done.

He wondered if he ever told Baji how much he loved him. Did he feel it? Were his actions enough?

Kazutora still loved Baji.

Love felt like such a strong word, but it was the only right one to accurately describe and label his feelings towards Baji. He remembered that his mom once told him that love endures all things. The only one who had been by Kazutora’s side since the day they met was Baji. And he never left him behind. He was the first one to openly calling him out for being bullied, but also stood up for him without expecting anything in return. Baji was also there during the trial. And he also followed him to Valhalla just to assure that he was safe.

Kazutora wasn’t sure if his feelings for Baji were romantic. Both were still so young. But love didn’t have to be romantic, right? Love could be manifested in numerous ways…

Even in a destructive manner, just like his parents had shown him. And the way in which Kazutora himself had loved, ending the life of the only person that had deeply cared about him.

Yet, he was still holding to the delusion of receiving another Baji’s letter to keep himself sane.

His gaze was already lost, looking at nowhere in specific, when he heard a distant voice calling him.

Hanemiya, it seems like your little girlfriend finally forgave you for coming back to this hole. You got a letter.

Not even the warden’s mocking made Kazutora react. Silently, he just took the letter and walked back to his bunk bed. It wasn’t exactly quiet, but his cellmate was somewhere else.

The calligraphy on the envelope was different. It was cleaner than Baji’s, even elegant. If he didn’t know better that the only girl he actually talked to before juvie was Emma, he could’ve believed it was indeed a girl who wrote that letter to him.

Hanemiya-san,

I don’t think we have truly met, and it isn’t like I really want to because you’re far from being my favorite person right now. But Baji-san wouldn’t forgive me if I left you alone… Whatever. My name’s Chifuyu Matsuno, vice-captain of the Tokyo Manji First Division…

[pan-de-queer]

was thinking of this post (i also have a screenshot of the post at the end) and now i can't stop thinking of a uni!supercorp au set in the fucking philippines like

au is set in 2016. this is very vital to the story

lena's an international student to dlsu manila for a term (i was thinking business rich kid [so dlsu] and not lawyer/politician rich kid [admu]) bc when lillian suggested she join an international exchange program lena decided to choose the country the farthest away from lillian's influence (luthor corp has no hold in most of SEA [minus singapore obvs] and lena chose the philippines mostly because of the slightly less difficult language barrier) and majors in both science and business courses

kara got into up diliman through blood, sweat, and tears. her parents were researchers during the marcos era who were killed during martial law. kara was adopted by the danvers as jeremiah was the zor-els' co-worker and eliza was a traveling doctor. the danvers took kara and alex back to the states (usa) but kara wanted to figure out how and why her parents died and the ph is a great place to get a journalism degree so she studied up on not only the language but ph culture, history, and news as well before transferring to the ph the summer before her third year of high school. alex got a job as a medical consultant in the ph soon after and the two live together in qc (quezon city)

kara and lena meet when lena accidentally finds herself in the middle of a protest march passing through taft (kara started in up manila, not diliman hahaha)

she has no fucking idea what it's about

kara assumes lena's part of the protest and asks if she'd like to borrow one of her signs but then lena's like "what the fuck is happening"

"we're protesting marcos's burial in, uh, the national cemetery for heroes," kara explains and lena still looks so lost and kara feels both bad for the woman and awestruck that someone so beautiful exists. "marcos, like, ferdinand marcos? the country's ex-president that declared martial law, plundered the country in horrible debt, and then was banned from returning?"

lena knows some of those words, she thinks. she'd studied up on philippine history a little bit before she arrived but the textbook she'd read felt incredibly racist if not colonialist, but she's sure she read about a president declaring martial law before, so she nods as if she gets it

the protest keeps marching forward and lena finds that she can't really escape the crowd unless she wants to get crushed, so she sticks closest to kara who's both a friendly (gorgeous) face and also has the closest accent to hers

kara shares with lena more details about why they're marching and helps translate some of the more unfamiliar words of their chants

almost twenty minutes after lena accidentally joined the march, practically drenched in sweat but too moon eyed towards the blonde to care, lena finally asks where they're marching to

"to the cemetery in taguig."

taguig. taguig city. more than two hours away on foot

"oh."

when kara sees lena's face fall, she gently takes lena's wrist and manages to maneuver them to the side of the protest, away from the wave of people. kara asks what's wrong and lena admits that she's already super fucking tired and would never be able to finish the march

kara understands and decides to accompany lena while they wait for a grab ride to arrive. as lena orders her ride, kara texts her activist and journalism friends to let them know that she won't be at the final rally anymore

while they wait, they learn more about each other and find themselves even more smitten than when they first met (sometime during this part, kara also gives lena one of her extra shirts [because she's a seasoned commuting pro and knows to never leave home without an extra shirt and small towel] so lena's just looking super comfy and cute in kara's shirt)

when lena's ride arrives, kara double checks the grab because she's That Kind of person before helping her in

"thanks for waiting with me. it was nice meeting you," lena says and kara smiles, wide and toothy.

"it was nice meeting you, too. ingat!" and kara closes the card door before she remembers to even ask for lena’s number

still, the lack of contact details doesn't deter her. she knows enough about lena that hopefully dropping by dlsu more often would mean being able to see her again

and she does

anyways if this was a short fic I'd def end it around here with kara and lena getting that date but if it were a long fic then i'd 100% make kara investigate and study the ejks (extra judicial killings) during duterte's time and lena learning and falling in love with the ph the way kara has which includes lena learning how to commute (which someday, when she leads l-corp, means that she helps build and fund a better fucking public transport system)

this was suuuuppppeeer fun to even just think about and I can't promise I'll write it but just this idea has me pumped! hope the 3 pinoys who see this enjoy 💕

*edit: here's parts 1.5, 2, 3, and 4

[noblehcart]

GENERAL.

NAME:

generally / in modern its Elisabeth Andrea Ivanov

in 1920s russia au its Elisabeth Andreievna Ivanov

and in ancient aus its Elisábet

NICKNAMES: Liesel, Liese, Sel, Liz(zy), Lisbeth, Lilibet, Eliska

DOB: June 22 (cancer)

PHYSICAL FEATURES: thick dark brown hair, dark brown-green eyes, olive skin, petite lean build

HEIGHT: 5ft 3in tall

PARENTS: Gabrielle Altenbach & Andrei Ivanov

FAMILY/CONNECTIONS: Stefan Ivanov (older half brother), Dominic Lewis (oldest half brother), Aleksander Ivanov (uncle), Diana Ivanov (Great Aunt), Wilhelm Altenbach (cousin), Niklaus Altenbach (uncle)

FC: Kristin Kreuk

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Latin , English, French, Russian, German, Farsi

LIVING SPACE: The apartment & The Literary Pearl

BACKGROUND:

Elisabeth’s life had been an idealistic one, as an only child in the family she was doted on by her parents and uncle with all the affection and care one could bestow on a child. Her summers were spent in Scotland working playing in the fresh air while the rest of the year was life on the outskirts of London. However, walking home from school one day does she return to find an older boy in her kitchen. Sitting in her spot at the table as her father spoke quietly to him. She could see the tear stains left on his cheeks and as she approached does her mother gently tug her away and off to her bedroom for a talk.

That was how she first met her half brother, Stefan.

His mother had passed away suddenly and now needed family. She was told they were his family and that he’d be staying with them forever. For a moment she feared the change, feared the loss of her parents singular love and feared how this boy would be. He was indifferent to her and cold despite her best efforts to warm him to her. It isn't until after Stefan returns from military deployment, a decade after graduating high school, that the two begin to bond as brother and sister to develop a friendship and make up for lost time.

Meanwhile years would come and go and Liesel would find herself exploring her family’s history through journals and notes, inspiring a love of history and old novels. She’d later turn this fascination into a means of work as she collects and sells antique books to other dealers eventually running her own small bookstore in London; though, she finds herself traveling more often to search for rare books. Her life takes another twist when she’s contacted by a lawyer to discover she was left to inherit a jewelry box from an distant relative, a box filled with gems and jewelry dating back to the era of the Romanovs, leaving her to question how these valuables came to be in their family.

And so she continues to try and uncover the mystery, tragedy and the history of her family’s past and discovers along the way an older half brother, RAF fighter pilot, who had been given up for adoption during her father's early youth.

Verses:

Socialite au

Grishaverse

DC / Gotham AU

Supernatural/Mythological

various aus

[placeinthisworld]

I’m that anon and this might sound over the top but I genuinely feel so so so heard right now because for the longest time when I followed them their takes and the way Taylor just fully consumes their life made me feel drained. I remember always side eyeing how they would conveniently side step criticising Taylor whenever she would genuinely mess up like saying oh they’re not a part of that group so they don’t want to take up space but it’s like okay I get it, hell I can even respect that but why aren’t you reblogging posts criticising Taylor made by the people she has directly hurt from her actions then. the way that fans go into dissecting very minute details over there sometimes made me think of how inevitable it is for Taylor to not grow and change cuz these are the blogs that always filled up Taylor’s feed and realistically fans like this is what she’s exposed to and on a human level I can’t imagine being treated as if every minor action of mine is worth extensive praise. The mental development of a celebrity impacted by being placed on such high pedestals has always intrigued me. I won’t lie there was a time, whenever I came home from school I would sit and obsessively consume only Taylor content and would be very defensive over her in real life as well but ( and I’m not trying to be super judgemental here) I can’t imagine being that committed to protecting, coddling, praising and borderline worshipping somebody like that when I know that individual never even considers my existence for like a second, I genuinely can’t imagine doing this for years and years and never growing past it especially with everything Taylor has done.

I still remember how condescending and truthfully mean they were being to anons when some fans questioned why Taylor swapped out invisible string for the 1 and they defended joe so so so much as if they were his lawyer or something but as soon as they broke up the absolute switch up kind of floored me cuz I always thought that they genuinely started liking joe for his work at one point cuz of how much they would place him on a pedestal as well before but damn I got whiplash from soo many blogs after the breakup. I know this turned into a giant rant and I’m so sorry but it’s just I’ve never come across anybody that felt the same way cuz generally literally everybody praises that blog and treats it like royalty sometimes so it’s like getting to vent to somebody for the first time 😅😅😔😔

100000000% bestie i agree with everything you’ve said 😭

i followed them too for the longest time and always kinda followed that same mindset too. but something changed when eras started that made me just kinda….feel like there was a tswift overexposure/ blowup where it suddenly felt like people were only online again to gain clout, and then the breakup happened and everyone and their mom was suddenly a diehard swiftie with all these opinions about it and it started to make me feel icked out by the way people just…..casually discussed and debated/speculated about her personal life and their entire relationship without knowing really anything more. when the breakup happened i definitely saw the switch from just another swiftie to literally suffocating up taylor’s asshole. i mostly blame tumblr too for giving them that attention lol i think that definitely fed into their dialogue. i remember being kinda sad when i unfollowed but knew it was better for me bc their interactions with anons and their opinions were so wild lol. i also remember starting to feel like i was a bad fan/ swiftie if i couldn’t defend taylor like that in good conscience so i figured disengaging would be enough, but then meathead came into play and suddenly their narrative became clear that they were really just ready to support and defend taylor about absolutely everything (and then somewhere along the way they blocked meeeee and ngl i wa so caught off guard bc i had unfollowed so long before that i couldn’t even tell you when it happened or like what i said to cause if LMAO i’m sure it was one of my criticism posts about taylor but like still find it funny!) because at the end of the day we’re all just fans seeing what taylor wants us to see and nobody really has any insight as to what taylor is thinking or how she feels, yes even if you spent a few hours with her once 5+ years ago……

overall is been a very eye opening experience as to how parasocial relationships develop and how weird people are on social media…..i always said (jokingly) that swiftism was a disease but like i actually feel like it is

[tuiyla]

this is a random question lol, but what are your thoughts on "Old Dog, New Tricks" and Chris Colfer as a writer (based on it)?

We love random questions around here!

Gonna be honest with you, I haven't seen that episode in full in over two years and it's gonna be another year before I get to it on my rewatch at this rate, so unfortunately I don't think I can go into a ton of detail. As in, a full analysis of Chris as a writer. But dw I won't just leave it at that I do have some thoughts.

I recently heard 5x19 be referred to as a low-rated and badly received episode, which I found curious. I'm not sure by what metric that is but especially by standards of that era of the show I consider it to be quite solid. I don't have strong feelings about the main plots of the nursing home play and the dogs as like, a base concept. Most things depend on execution and it was executed well enough. I wonder what parameters he was given, what could happen what couldn't, but as far as penultimate episodes of seasons go it's pretty much your standard slice of life stakes-wise.

What I can talk about more in-depth and what directly related to Chris as a writer is the character moments he included. At the very least and off the top of my head, there are 3-4 great character moments that tell me Chris paid attention to this cast of characters and took care to keep whatever shred of continuity Glee was still hanging onto at that point. Frankly, Chris seems to have cared more for these characters than the actual writers' room did in these late seasons.

What I'm talking about in particular are these details:

Kurt, obviously. It's understandable that Chris wrote an episode with a major Kurt plot and it was a breath of fresh air to focus on him separate from the main group, even if only for a beat. Two standout moments are a) him standing up to/calling out Rachel, which actually leads somewhere unlike it often does in NYC. See my second bullet point. And b), even more importantly and in a detail that so often lacks from the series, Kurt talking about his mother to Maggie's daughter. Such a small scene in the grand scheme of things but very poignant and the one I remember the most from this episode (sans Santana). That moment really made me go "oh Chris gets Kurt." He cares about this character enough to pay attention to this, imo, crucial detail.

Rachel's is a smaller one but also on two fronts, one on the Kurt of it all and like I said in the way that she actually goes to support him and concedes to be a more supportive friend. This is a lesson Rachel learns a lot but this is among the better executions of it. And the second is her general arc of at least trying to do good things because they're good and not just for optics. Shame this sentiment is limited to this one episode.

Santana! Of course, my beloved. Chris Colfer singlehandedly gave me PR Santana, who I hold onto dearly and fight in the name of, against all the lawyer Santana stuff. It was a great direction for her character to take and I'm grateful Chris gave us this, even if we never hear from PR Santana again. More thoughts on PR Santana here. The Pezberry shenanigans are also great. And we have a detail here, too, with the brilliant Santana line "in high school ... I was voted best shoulder to cry on and most likely to poison someone", which tells me that Chris gets Santana, too. Love that. God the feels I have about that line lol.

I also have to shout out the Sam stuff, maybe not in general because frankly I don't remember but at least one detail. Chris seemed to be the only writer to remember season 2 Sam and the way he was working hard to protect and support his family, and the impact that must have had on him. Later seasons lean into Sam the himbo, but, tbh, not in a way I find particularly charming just because they really emphasize his... carelessness, I guess. His immaturity, that's a better word. So he's not the himbo from season 2 but someone a lot less capable and more of a caricature version than he used to be, and that's not the direction in which it should go. BUT, that said, Chris takes the time to examine this with Sam and takes care to remember how Sam had to grow up too quickly, how he did have to be mature before. I don't think it goes anywhere but that's on Glee much more than it is on one-off episode writer Chris Colfer.

Writing characters well has been my primary focus for as long as I have been looking at media critically and Chris Colfer succeeded on that front for sure. These are the main things I remember from the episode and the main aspects of it that make me look back on Chris' writing fondly.

I've been meaning to check out Chris' books or just anything from him as a writer because I am curious. In interviews, he's always so quick-witted and good with words. The main thing, apart from Old Dogs, that I think about in terms of Chris as a writer is his Variety tribute piece to Naya. It's not only a heartwarming (and -wrenching) piece but damn you can tell the man's a writer. A good one, at that. He just has that instinct, based on this piece. Where the words flow and the arc of what he's saying makes sense on a deeper level. So yeah I'm curious, and maybe I'll rewatch Old Dogs earlier than planned just to view it from that perspective this time around.

[monstercollection]

I’ve been slacking with my Literary Tarot Challenge posts so I’m going to do a quick drop with summaries of the ones I most recently finished, and hopefully get around to longer reviews of them later.

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon (Nine of Parchment)- diary of an 11th century gentlewoman in the Imperial court of Japan. Sei is just… the most. She’s so much. She’s petty, she’s decadent, she’s conceited. She’s 100% That Bitch. I love and hate her in equal measure.

This was an absolutely fascinating window into the Heian Era but I had to WORK for it. Reading a book written 1,000 years ago is hard enough, but as someone from the US with only a second-hand familiarity with Japanese culture, Buddhism and Shinto, there were a so many new concepts I had to learn. Lots of good appendices in the edition I read that helped with unfamiliar vocab and cultural references (and I’ll edit to include which one I read when I get home). By far the hardest book I’ve read for the challenge and the first one I thought I might not finish.

“The Outsider” by H. P. Lovecraft (The Tower)- Short story about a sad, lonely haunted monster man, so basically my bullshit. My familiarity with Lovecraft and his mythos extends to having read Call of Cthulhu in college and playing a few board games based on his stories. I think I’d have gotten a little more out this one if I’d known more about his interconnected lore but I don’t necessarily feel the urge to delve further into Lovecraft’s work. It definitely stands on it’s own as a solo story.

“Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street” by Herman Melville (Four of Light)- this is probably one of those stories assigned to me in high school or college that I either read just enough to fake my way through or read but remember nothing about.

It’s a short story about a lawyer who seems to collect weird, quirky, flawed little men for employees. He is extremely compassionate and I can’t tell if the lengths he goes to for them is supposed to make him the butt of a joke or if we’re supposed to see them through his eyes and empathize with them the way he does. I feel like it’s the latter. It’s stance seems to be that no one should suffer for being weird, lonely or mentally ill.

I’m sure my high school teacher bent it into some kind of puritan morality tale about how there is no point in helping those who won’t help themselves, but it doesn’t hit that way.

Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (The Star) - I don’t understand why Emily has not gotten the same attention and love as Anne of Green Gables. This is a beautiful story deeply into the category of Magical Realism, Emily’s world is as full of fairies and nature spirits and prophetic visions as it is the injustices of early 20th century childhood.

It pushes so many boundaries. I can see why it would not have been popular in it’s own time— there is a healthy level of blasphemy from Emily and her father who believe that their loving God exists as a separate being from the puritanical God everyone else preaches about.

It also radically asserts the idea that children are whole beings deserving of the same rights as adults. Almost every child in the book is living with some kind of abuse or neglect— and it’s not treated as “period-appropriate parenting techniques” but as the actual injustice it is.

I’m going to do a longer post on Emily soon because I have SO MANY FEELINGS about it. It might just be my favorite thing I’ve read for the challenge so far.

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot (The Hanged Man)- How are we all sitting around for tea when the slow march of time leads us ever closer to death? The helplessness in the face of existential inevitability made this one feel just right for the Hanged Man

“The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin (Temperance)- Hard sci-fi short story about a pilot who has to make the choice between jettisoning a stowaway into space or running out of fuel before he can deliver medical supplies to a colony. This was emotional as hell but a really good story.