#inventing her own plot hooks

[jq37]

What is it that the Rat Grinders actually want exactly? Or at least, what does Kipperlilly want since she's the one we know the most about.

At the top of the season it seemed like she wanted to Be The Best at school and Be Recognized in a very Tracy Flick/Sara Berry kind of way and was just going to crazy lengths to get there because this is a world where you help a dragon kidnap girls so you can be Prom Queen and life goes on. But now we know that the Rat Grinders are a part of Porter's larger plan and one of the major steps of that plan is completely abolishing Aguefort as an institution.

It's clear what Porter gets out of this. He gets to be a god and he gets to continue his imperialistic family legacy. And I would maybe get what Kipperlilly would get out of this is she were the Cleric/Paladin of the plan. She'd get to be the new god's champion, like she was gushing to Lucy. That's maybe worth something to an achievement hunting, Type A individual.

But she's not gonna get to be the best student at Aguefort if Aguefort doesn't exist anymore. Hell, Elmville won't really exist anymore. Is Porter planning on opening a new Adventuring School in Rage Elmville and she gets to be the god Principal's pet? Does she think he's gonna make things "fair" for her somehow? How? Retroactively killing her parents? Does she want to use the powers she cheesed from the easy XP he drip fed her to be a renown adventurer? Kinda hard to pull that off when everyone knows you were part of the plan that doomed the town. Maybe she thought they were going to get away with it without being implicated? Does she literally not want anything other than a chance to kill the Bad Kids? Or even pettier, to just to be stronger than Riz? Is that worth it to her? To damn the whole town just so she can say that she beat Riz once? Did she want something concrete at one point but at this point she's just lost in the sauce and doing whatever the next task is without knowing what she'd even do with a victory if she got it? Did she already get what she wanted in the free XP and now she's just paying her end of the bargain?

I'm just very unsure about what her version of a happy ending is here.

[midnightmah07]

Character info:

Finally made a little reference sheet for Piper!

He's a young half fae boy born around the same time as Jeanne, knowing her basically his entire life as Jeanne's family had a home close to his family's. He was always eager to play with her, but he often irritated Jeanne because of his overly childish manner, as well as his selfishness and arrogance. Piper has everything that Jeanne has ever wanted to have (a loving family, a normal childhood, and the approval of Jeanne's father), and this makes her have an extreme hatred towards him, often calling him a 'brat' and insulting him to his face, which never seems to make Piper irritated or discouraged to speak to her. he's also considerably immature even now at the age of 16, often spoiled by his parents and getting away with his lack of responsibility and social cues. He's very talented at sports, being in RSA's Spelldrive team, but is easily bored and doesn't care about learning other topics as "my family is wealthy anyway, why the heck would I need to learn all that?"

More info might be added/changed in the future, tho he is more a plot device than an actual character that I focus on!

Basic info:

Height: 1,60cm

Age: 16 years old

Nicknames: brat (by Jeanne)

Twisted from: Peter Pan

Race: half fae

Dominant hand: right

Club: RSA's Spelldrive team

Favorite food: anything spicy

Best subject: flight

Unique Magic: Think Happy Thoughts - grants him the ability to fly without a broom for as much time as he wants to. Normal faes may disregard this as stupid, but since he's merely a half fae this is a wonderful spell, and he doesn't care if others think less of it anyway, he's happy with it.

Relationship dynamics:

Jeanne Hook: Jeanne is to Piper what Captain Hook is to Peter Pan, a rival. He's always thought Jeanne as someone interesting, going as far as to visit Jeanne everytime her family would stop by Briar Valley to play with her and invent new games; He was always complimented by her father while she was always put down for not being nearly as talented, that plus the fact that he could act as immature as he wanted and have as much fun as he wanted while she was forced to be an adult at the age of 12 made her jealous and angry. Piper is also the reason she lost her left hand.

Isabelle Desrosiers: Piper is infatuated with Isabelle, but his advances are always turned down and are unwanted, Neige often tells him to drop it, especially because Isabelle is already arranged to marry someone else. His crush on her is just because of her beautiful appearance, and because her interests in everything that bores him intrigues him. Isa tolerates him but puts her foot down when needed.

Neige LeBlanche: Neige and him don't get along very well. Neige tries to be nice and kind to him, but he gets a bit annoyed at how be acts around Isa since they're great friends. Piper thinks he's too good for his own good, wanting him to let loose a little.

Chenya: Piper and Chenya get along quite well, as they're both chaotic in nature and feed off of teasing and annoying others. I assume Chenya helps Piper understand his limits as time goes on and helps him with understanding other people better and respecting them.

Dividers.a

[unadulteratedsoulsweets]

A DC X DP IDEA #11 The Ice Prince

Imagine dis….

 The plot is always Clockwork reversing Danny’s age to a toddler’s or a child’s age to be found in the grimy alley of Gotham City, to fix a broken family, an overdue vacation, or is it because it was meant to be? But what if they found a child who is nothing more than a mere babe?

 …

 War has consequences whether you are on the right side or not, consequences will come up to you. Death, injury, sexual violence, hunger, disease, and disability are some of the most dangerous physical repercussions of war, while PTSD, despair, and anxiety are some of the emotional consequences.

 Danny experienced all, from the physical damages he had taken to protect his citizen to the emotional as well the phycological effects that will haunt his mind throughout his immortal life.

Jack and Maddie Scientists and the GIW had done it, waging war against the Infinite realms.

 Using ectoplasm, the very being that they have despised to use as weapons to aim and maim.

 Humans tend to hate and fear what they don’t understand.

 In this case, fear caused this war.

 Unlike in the history books whose wars started due to greedy politicians or even the thrill or greed to attain new land, this war was caused by fear.

 The fear of the unknown.

 At 16 years of age, Danny is crowned and alongside his trusted friends as well as his former enemy Vlad Masters all gathered their things and went back to the Infinite Realms to prepare for war.

 At 16 Danny witnessed the horrors as well witnessing the lines humans will cross to satisfy their greed.

 Each day that Danny is planning or even fighting alongside his friends, family, and even ex-rogues for their home and the universe’s and multiverse’s balance, he would feel the pain, sorrow, and sadness of each of his citizens who were captured or even used to be the battery to be used against their people.

 At 16 Danny watched his very own parents, Jack and Maddie, cut open their former best friend to better understand ghost biology all in the name of ecto- science.

 Danny saw the betrayal and grief as well Vlad’s vulnerable state on how Maddie, the kind and caring Maddie whom he fell in love with, do such cruel things to innocent blobs of ghosts, do such inhumane things to him. Cutting him open like a frog in a dissection table, using large hooks to keep the two skin that were cut to show his ribcage, apart to keep them from healing.

 At 16 Danny joined the war alongside Frostbite, Pandora, Dora, and many more. Even Dan and Dani had joined him on the front lines to fight their parents to fight their inventions, their creations, the agents...etc, as well as rescuing many, many ghosts who were captured before this war even started.

 The first one to fall was his beloved sister Jasmine No-Name, who captured and was taken to the basement at the household of the Fenton’s. Each scientist kept drawing blood and kept poking her with needles to “cure” their daughter from any form of ectoplasm possession or mind control. Despite being liminal she was still mortal, freeing the innocent ghosts that were cruelly captured and caged by their parents destroying the lab, taking the blueprints, the weapons, and even the portal at the cost of her own life.

 Brother and sister, together as friends, ready to face whatever life sends.

 Next, was Sam Manson, her mentor Undergrowth and her going to the annex side of the building to create a massive distraction for the rest of their allies to destroy this particular lab as the lab that they were about to destroy is a cornerstone of the ongoing battery flow between the agents thus making this mission top priority. Blood Blossoms were involved causing great pain to both ghosts, as the agents were getting closer, they heard the explosion in the direction of the targeted lab, they were successful, and now all that is left is to retreat. But the pain as well as their inability to move is impossible and even more impossible to fight off the remaining agents who were exclaiming and shouting about the destroyed lab. With what little strength Sam had left in her, she stood up and commanded the plants to rescue Undergrowth as without him nature and flora would have died alongside him. As she saw the silhouette of her mentor/ father she made her last stand as one of the few friends of Danny now her King.

 Last to fall is Tucker Foley, his best friend, leading an army made out of entirely Egyptian culture. Being the right hand of the High King as he led another attack towards their government not only did their government bury their heads in the sand, but instead of diplomacy they have chosen to continue this war. As they were fighting by each other side, Tucker noticed an agent creeping closer to his King/ friend whose head was turned and busy due to the number of agents that kept him busy and unguarded. Tucker Foley did what any friend would do in that situation; he took the bullet aimed fatally at his best friend. Danny seeing that his best friend had just turned limp released his ghostly wail that contains his anger, sadness, grief, and horror as he cradles the body of his best friend as he held his last breath in the arms of his King and friend.

 We’re more than friends but less than a couple

 The government was getting desperate as each day the “ghosts” kept pushing them into a corner as their numbers dwindle each second while the other side’s army kept growing each passing day.

 Didn’t you know, A cornered animal is almost as dangerous as a wounded one?

 A Nuke, they have created a nuke. A nuke that has the combination of Blood blossoms as good ectoplasm as fuel and weapon, that was aimed and trajected to the Infinite Realms.

 But, who spoiled their plans?

 Blobs of ghosts gathered at the hidden base of humans and set off the nuke at their base.

 Blobs that were rescued by Princess Jasmine of the Infinite Realms.

 They didn’t expect the aftermath of such a weapon.

 The shockwave didn’t just end their world’s dimension but it reached the Infinite Realms almost wiping them out, it wasn’t for their King, Danny, who took the brunt of the aftermath and shock to protect the Infinite Realms where his remaining family reside.

 As a result, his form and core almost crack at the mere pressure, and result, Clockwork as his last card to protect Danny from disappearing for eternity turned him into a baby whose age could be merely a month old.

 Now that horrid dimension was gone, permanently, it is now up to the ancients and ex-rouges as well the rest of his family to raise Danny to the best of their abilities as he, Danny Nightgale is the bridge as well the very representation between the two worlds.

 The yetis that have lived in Far Frozen went and found a perfect dimension that has ectoplasm for their young King’s ghost half and human needs for his human half.

 Building a small castle made out of ice in the deepest part of the Arctic region, complete with rooms as well as things that will keep their young King’s attention in case he ever be bored.

 …

 Between the time they thought of settling down in the new dimension, in the DC universe, it had been thousands of years since the ascension of the High King Phantom. For those who have participated in the war it has been only a few months while in DC it has been thousands of years, to the point each magician in the JLD and Shazam knew about King Phantom, his benevolence and mercy shows no bounds. King Phantom who was a ward of the Master of Time and defeated the Pariah Dark to end his tyranny.

 …

 Alarms blared throughout the base of the JL and everyone was at the edge of their seats seeing that the alarm originated from the Fortress of Solitude, the base of Superman containing all the knowledge from his planet Krypton.

…

 Superman alongside Batman flew to the Artic to find out who trespassed, Superman fears the knowledge of Krypton falling into the wrong hands.

 As they were searching around the Fortress of Solitude, they came across a castle made entirely out of ice, Superman tried to look through it but received a headache the moment he tried to use it.

 With no choice left, both Batman and Superman went inside the castle to investigate.

 Passing through a large double door greeted them a large spiral-shaped staircase with the finest designs out of ice. Decorations and sculptures that decorate each nook and cranny of the castle are made out of ice that has the finest details to be mistaken as the real things. The largest chandelier hangs above them that seems to sparkle each passing second due to the little sun that bounces off each glass/ice. That creates the illusion of twinkling stars.

 Hearing footsteps from afar made both Batman and Superman hide in the closet that contains the cleaning supplies, looking through the smallest of cracks, they saw ice-shaped people that have sculpted hair and eyes but no mouth or nose wearing maid and butler outfits carrying books, toys and large folded sheets of clothes.

 All going in the opposite direction of which they have hidden.

 After making sure that those footsteps were no longer heard both Batman and Superman got out of their hiding place and went further deep the castle to investigate further.

 As they are walking along the endless hallways, they suddenly heard a small humming of a tune coming from another large double door with designs of space and stars embedded on the door.

 Peeking through a cracked door there they saw two green-skinned humanoid creatures with dragon-like features looking down, cooing, and humming to something. Due to their large size, they couldn’t see what they were looking for but after a few minutes, one of the human-dragon people turned off the lights and revealed their large wings, gave a few flaps and flew out alongside their companion using the large windows made from the most beautiful stained glass as an exit.

 Making the coast clear Batman was the first to go inside the room while Superman looked for the switch to turn on the lights. Through his cowl, Batman tried to guess the room that their two unexpected guests could have.

 The moment Batman’s eyes adjusted due to the sudden light invading his sight they immediately flabbergasted at the room could be.

 A playroom, complete with safety mats and toys that are either made from ice or silk.

 Looking around there they saw at the very center, a crib made out of glaciers with a space-themed mobile that seemed to spin around above the crib while releasing, looking closer there they saw a few months old human children, if the physical appearance of the child could go by.

 Black hair with the faintest of freckles across his face accompanied by his light skin that can be mistaken as dead.

 Warped in the finest silks as blankets while wearing some sort of Greek clothing as a means to cover the child.

 Fearing that the child was dead Batman turned to Superman to silently ask whether the child has a heartbeat or not.

 Superman stated that the child has a heartbeat a bit slow for his life but a heartbeat none less.

 Superman picks up the child with the resolve to return to the JL base to give the child a full check-up as well as to return him to his rightful parents.

 Batman countered that the humanoid-dragon-like people could be his parents but before Superman could even counter his claim flaps of wings were heard from a distance.

 In a panic, both Superman and Batman fled the room unknowingly carrying the infant.

 …

 At the JL base, Batman is scolding Superman for taking what could be a human-like dragon people’s child. Superman may have countered that the child he was carrying has no features from either of the possible parent and could be a kidnapped infant from the earth so that those humanoid dragons could play house.

 The Green Lanterns try to look for any planet that could be the origin of those dragon people, while the rest of the League are split in siding with Superman or Batman.

 With each passing second the volume of their argument kept getting higher and higher thus waking the infant still on Superman’s arm.

 Blue eyes like the sky and ice greeted them as the infant yawned as of saying that they have disturbed his nap time.

 Flash who was vibrating on his skin to coo at the child immediately ran up to Superman to take the infant.

 But the moment Danny saw the faintest amount of electricity that was being emitted from the Flash immediately started to wail.

 Loud but not loud enough to level the JL base, every JL member present with enhanced hearing covered their ears instinctively due to the noise the unbearable noise.

 Batman immediately snatched the child from Superman’s arm and began calming the child.

 After calming down the infant till he is only whimpering a very pale Constantine, Dr. Fate and Zattana burst into the meeting room scanning each nook and cranny till their eyes landed on the child that was still whimpering in Batman’s arms.

 Constantine demanded why on earth they have a child from the Infinite Realms and began to panic.

 As Constantine was out of commission for panicking Dr, Fate explained what the Infinite Realms is.

 As they were about to get back the child to where the ice castle was located another alarm blared at the JL base.

 Cyborg who was immediately typing across the computer for further explanation as see whether they have another world-ending threat made them double take.

 A blue-skinned man whose hair is unbound by gravity and floats upwards as if it was flames accompanied by two more people.

 One who looks like a vampire removing the avoidance of the sun as well adding a blue tone to his skin. Another looks like a female version of the first one aside from the green eyes and dark skin tone.

Zattana stuttering asked herself in a whispering voice why on earth King Phantom is destroying government facilities alongside the Count Masters as well the Princess of the Infinite Realms in the human world.

 Each time they demolish a facility down to the dust and rubbles they began scanning the area for what?

 A clapping and sound removed them from the carnage shown on the screen and saw the infant still in Batman’s arms reaching toward the people on the screen.

 Constantine mumbled something and began looking at the screen and the infant, and started widening his eyes as if he had just connected the dots.

 A union between a human and a ghost are unheard of but the fact that no new life/ afterlife was introduced since Pariah Dark made every life/ ghost in the Realms are now precious.

 But the resemblance between King Phantom and the infant in Batman’s arms is uncanny and so Constantine reached a possible conclusion alongside Dr. Fate.

 Superman just kidnapped the child of King Phantom.

…

PS: If someone out there wanting to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so don’t forget to tag me though.

[mrfancyfoot]

Plots & Prosody: Prompts

Raphael x Female Tav/OC (Evie implied)

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- Caress - "She arrives at the House of Hope to find a grumpy, stressed devil in need of a nap.  AKA: Despite himself, Raphael succumbs to some of his more human needs."

This prompt was: ‘A simple caress’

.

Hey..hey, you!  Go drink some water/hydrate yourself. ❤️

Some soft Raphael, cutesy shmoop ahead!

This one, while written for my OC, Evie, uses only she/her pronouns while she remains unnamed, so can mostly be read as a generalized Tav/OC (only caveats being that there is brief mention of her fluffy (fox) tail and claws and a bit of backstory).

.

Rating: T / SFW Word Count: ~1.9k Timeline: Plots & Prosody, Part II - Canon Tags/Warnings: POV F!Tav/OC/Evie; Fluff; Comfort; Cozy; Slight Alcohol/Drug Use by Raphael; Raphael’s Only Soft for Her; Cuddly Devil; Devils Can Purr; Some Slight Charitable Reimaginings of HoH Architecture; Devil Courtship

Main Fic (Rated E/Varied): AO3 + Tumblr | Master List Related Prompts: A Blank Page , Good Morning

[Quick Context: After Evie spends most of Part I (Game Events) “befriending the devil,” yet denying him her soul, Raphael makes an alternative offer: the Orphic hammer in exchange for her time - specifically, a mandatory number of days every month for a span of two years.  He procures his Crown by other means.  Evie goes about her new life kick-starting her business and re-inventing modern-day things. Unbeknownst to her, Raphael is using what she obliviously believes is a “contractually mandated friendship” period to court her as his future Archduchess.]

❤️ Thanks for reading! :3 ❤️

The evening when she arrived, it was obvious from the deeply etched scowl straining and pinching his face paired with the agitated drumming of his fingers that something had happened - but Raphael was in an unusually untalkative mood.  His greeting was short, his responses clipped and distracted.  He appeared stuck between summoning her out of obligation to their contract while his attention was needed elsewhere and wanting to shove away everything that was preventing him from utilising their time together.

Seeing his stress and knowing well that he would share the details later if he wanted to, she suggested a quiet evening by the fire, simply enjoying the presence of one another.

She would have suggested that he could keep working if he needed to, but she had a feeling that it was work that got him into this mood and maybe a break was warranted no matter its importance - or perhaps even because of its importance.  Raphael was the sort to keep going at something until he hit the wall of exhaustion - either of his energy or of his options, and not infrequently, both.  Anything less was seen as wasteful.  And so, Raphael repeatedly pushed himself to his limits.

So before he could voice any disapproval, she wandered over to a bookshelf and plucked the partially read anthology of Gnomish short stories residing there from when she had time to fill during other visits.  Taking a seat on the chaise near the fire, she beckoned him to the armchair nearby.

He stood from his desk with a roll of his shoulders and massaged his neck.  Circling around to its front, he leaned on it and let his eyes scan over the many shelves of books around his office as he brought his hand to his chin thoughtfully in consideration of his own choice in literature.  But his shoulders slumped minutely from a sigh and she could see his eyes unfocusing as his mind drifted back towards whatever he’d been thinking on before.

Pursing her lips, she reckoned that she’d be fighting uphill on this one.  She asked him if whatever was on his mind was something that needed his attention at that very moment.  At the reluctant twist of his lips and partial shake of his head, she followed up by stating that it would do him some good to get out of his office.

Hooking her arm around his, she made an executive decision and brusquely pulled him from his office.  Despite how he sputtered and tsk’d and harrumph’d in protest, he still allowed himself to be led through the silent halls - if he didn’t want to be moved there was no way in the Hells she’d be able to budge him.  Unsurprisingly, the servants had already made themselves scarce.  She detoured to drop him off at the boudoir with a push, telling him to go relax in the bath for a bit before turning on her heel and continuing to her destination.

She bounded all the way up the spiral stairs of the tower and pulled open the heavy door to the bedroom Raphael had decreed as hers a scant few months ago that had seemingly passed in the blink of an eye.  Her ‘home away from home’ twice a tenday thanks to their contract.

Though they were friends, drawing presumptions from said contract and the prior ones that he had attempted to get her to sign, she could only further conclude that he wanted her presence around as the occasional distraction from his work in some kind of contract-enforced capacity, as evidenced by the amount of discretion that he allowed her.  And if that was what he wanted, she would thusly also be the force ensuring he was taking proper breaks and getting enough sleep when he got like this.

Plus, he could have rescheduled, as per a mutual clause in their contract…yet he didn't.

The room was bright from the open curtains allowing in the ever-shining sun of Avernus.  She admired the fresh cut flowers vased upon a table, then set about creating a soothing atmosphere.  After lighting a few candles and the fireplace, she drew them tightly closed and plunged the room into a cozy, dim ambiance.

She poured herself a glass of water from the fresh pitcher on her nightstand, changed into something comfy from her wardrobe, and got settled in with her book on the sofa.

An estimated thirty to forty minutes later, Raphael poofed into the room in a bright cloud of smoke and smelling strongly of his bath products - cherries and musk - and a hint of the smoke.  He had changed into only a pair of loose lounge pants, and, while he still looked tired, the agitation and irritation from earlier had significantly softened across his features.  In his hand was a glass and a bottle of something with a curious shimmer that she would bet was awfully strong.  Though ‘mortal’ alcohol didn’t affect devils, there were some substances in the Hells that could affect them similarly - she’d eat the book in her hand if that bottle didn’t contain at least one of them.

He was quick to spy her and sauntered over, pulling the top from the bottle.  He filled his glass and immediately downed the contents.  His eyes closed as he savored it.  The glass was then refilled and the bottle loudly plunked down on the nearby coffee table as he turned and sank into the sofa.  

Reaching over, his finger tipped her book up enough to glimpse the cover.  He allowed his head to fall against the back cushion and demanded that she read to him.

She asked if he would like her to start from the beginning.

Raphael replied that ‘from where’ didn’t matter; he simply wanted to hear her lovely voice.

And so - feeling a little awkward at first as this wasn’t something she had ever really done outside of school classes - she picked up where she left off in the middle of a silly lesson story filled with cooking mishaps.

After that story came to a close, she noticed that he was battling keeping his eyes from closing.  Most of his drink was gone, the glass balanced precariously on his thigh within his slackened hold.

He waved her off when she suggested that he could take a nap but either didn’t notice or didn’t care when she slipped the glass from his hand and placed it on the table before she began reading aloud the next story.

Yet it wasn’t long until he was twisting around to impishly rest his head on her thigh, under the guise of needing the rest of the sofa to stretch himself out.

It struck her that the way he fought against his need for sleep - for this wasn’t the first time she had seen him push himself to this point and refuse to allow himself actual rest - was likely another manifestation of his denial and detestation of the human, mortal part of himself.

Seeing him start to lull and yearning for a little bit of payback for the hands that always managed to find themselves threading through the fur of her tail that he’d pulled over his chest, she began running her fingers through his hair, her claws light against his scalp.

With a startled grunt, his hand reflexively shot up as though to stop her, but he caught himself, his fingers curling tensely inches away from her own that had halted, as he seemed to reconsider the objection that was quick to ignite his actions.  His narrowed eyes stared up at her beneath the pinched furrowing of his brow.  She kept steady, her own gaze calmly returning to her book, as though trying not to scare off a wild creature that may interpret eye contact as something predatory.

Slowly his arm lowered again to rest over his stomach and she saw the tension leave his neck and shoulders.  She resumed playing with his hair.

He said nothing of the exchange, as though the interruption never happened.

His hair was soft and smooth with the slightest curl at the ends.  It had obviously just been washed but he must have magically dried it.  It left the slightest residue of some product on her fingers and her movements once more scented the air tartly with cherries.

By the time she finished the second story, his eyes had closed again and his belly was rising and falling with the deeper breaths of sleep.

Truly, even a devil needed his moments of peace.

How many others did he allow to see him so vulnerably?  Knowing that couldn’t number many made her feel both pity and privileged.  That would only become exponentially unlikely as he chased his ambitions and brought the Hells under his power.  He couldn’t afford to allow himself to be vulnerable around others.  The amount of trust he placed in her - despite not even having control of her - brought a sense of awe.  Their friendship was something she had come to cherish so fast.

But she couldn’t fall asleep here on the couch like this herself or they’d both be waking up later with sore necks and complaining.

Closing the book, she contemplated how successful she’d be in coercing him into going back to sleep if he woke up even for the brief moment to relocate to her bed.

Her fingers gently caressed the planes of his face, so much softer in sleep when not pulled and twisted by the scowls and exaggerated masks he wore during the day.

A boop on the nose didn’t wake him as she thought it would.

So she poked his cheek and threw on her ‘no nonsense’ voice, telling him to get up.  His eyes fluttered slightly, but he resisted until she stood and his head dropped back to the sofa.

The jolt did the trick to wake him and she used his momentary confusion to try to pull him to his feet.  He jerked his arm away but sat up with a growl, all the while, looking like he was about to tip over.  With a roll of her eyes, she bent forward and grasped his hands, attempting to haul him up again while advising that they should go to bed.

Begrudgingly, he relented, finally standing and following her guidance the short distance to her bed, his hand still in hers.

She pulled the light cover back and slid to the other side.  He climbed in after her with a yawn but veritably fell to the mattress.  With hardly enough time to pull the cover over herself, he shifted to close the distance between them, slinging an arm over her waist as he pressed his face to her side with a content rumble that morphed into a deep purr.

Within a few breaths, Raphael was once more asleep. She let out a quiet laugh - forever giddy since discovering devils and tieflings purred - and covered her own yawn.  Getting as comfortable as she could with a deceptively heavy devil now using her as a teddy bear, she closed her eyes and felt the soft haze of sleep overtake her.

Part 2...?

[descendants-extended]

AK & VK's Hobbies

A lot of the AKS probs do horse-riding too cause rich kids and their parents have pet horses mostly in canon stuff.

Also hanging out with pets for VKs and AKs since they all have pets galore. Though no one has more than Aladdin, Jasmine and their kids’ massive menagerie.

Everyone sings (probs various degrees of good)

Harriet: Likes doodling (not coherent usually & just for her eyes only) and reading.

Harry & CJ: They like to read but mostly for the dramaticness & extraness. And because they are Hook’s kids so classical literature and stuff is easy for them. It’s probably a hobby that surprises people the most!

^ the hook kids’ hobbies are also inspired by chats with @panthera-tigris-venenata

Hook kids may also play some instruments cause their dad does (piano, harpsichord and from jake and the Neverland pirates: the trumpet)

Ben:  Headcanon that he can do some ‘tinkering’ with things. Not full on inventing like his grandfather, Maurice or like Carlos. But it’s a talent he has from spending lots of time with his grandad during his childhood.

He is probably a great assistant/helper! His mode of doing things is trial and error! Though he probably does know the basics pretty well. It helps him relax and calm down. It transports him to simpler times with his grandad and the stories he used to hear.

Audrey: Swordfighting, fencing & jousting with & cause of her parents (mum too cause in one disney picture book Aurora does joust! which is cool of Disney to give us content for. Also Aurora uses a sword in concept art).

Spending time with woodland creatures, hearing stories from her ‘great-aunts’-the 3 good fairies and gramma. She likes foraging. Embroidery and stitching too maybe. Probs likes reading stories too. She also writes her diary.

Gil: possibly woodworking/carpentry? But he values detail, style and elegance and likes engraving it with art unlike his father who only cares about its functionality and just generally leaves it like bare and crude. People also hc he likes gardening which is cute!

Hunting responsibly? A take I heard once. Like he only takes what he needs and sometimes just enjoys running after animals and not actually hunting if that made any sense.

‘Uma’s wicked book for VKs’ said he made Uma and Harry’s outfits for em I think so he’s a fashion designer too? Or maybe they gave him special instructions that he followed. Good for him. Cause dude can still sew then.

Jay & Jade: Practicing disguises (Jafar & Nasira both got disguises in canon so like just a family thing). Practicing magic when they get to Auradon (Jay is 1/4th Genie in mine. Plus Jafar & Nasira do have some magic of their own so do Jay & Jade).

Anthony: reading, upcycling outfits & accessories (because a line in the 1st book saying his outfits look regal & tailor-made somehow though they’re made of the same materials other’s outfits are made of. He generally makes any outfits work but further elevated by him tailoring stuff).

He likes spending time with his mum, siblings, cousins, pet(s) & his bestie, Eddie Balthazar! Loves throwing parties (based on the 1st ‘isle’ book again, saying he throws great parties)- he just enjoys the effort, the pay off & it helps him unwind (good for him. ambivert vibes).

Thinking up business strategies, accounting & book keeping! (Why are these in his hobbies? He finds it pretty fun when it all works out. So generally ‘plotting’? Yeah. Likes things organised), being a taste tester for his sibling’s food creations (they’re just good at it), dignifiedly sassing annoying isle people (mostly villains, some won’t get it sometimes) & learnin‘ stuff like languages!

He can play the piano but not really something he likes as much (wind instruments aren't his thing just like they weren’t his mum’s thing). Probs likes the idea of dueling but not exactly good at it?

Hadie: Likes rock & roll music like his dad, maybe he likes giving himself new piercings as a hobby? (met someone who did this irl! sounds cool but be careful). Likes to be a pest to the villains who are horrible parents and people (like him bothering Frollo to do his fortune quite regularly- @panthera-tigris-venenata made a post bout this! Give it a read, it's such a treat).

is the prince of the underworld so he likes to practice magic with his dad though you don’t really see results on the isle cause of the no-magic nature of the barrier (I suppose other magic users also found it very hard learning magic without well, magic! His irises glow yellow sometimes & his blue hair lights on fire so some magic still is kinda visible.)

Likes hanging out with his friends! Oh and his cousin, Freddie (if one hcs Freddie being Ursula’s daughter which I adore) and by extension Celia (who isn't Ursula’s kid in mine so not his blood cousin but he still treats her like one)

Chad: Dude won’t ever admit it but doing chores helps him clear his head and he likes cleanliness cause his mom wanted to still know some responsibility (never forced him to do it though).  Likes sports and also shopping! He can sew but like only repair stuff. He can cook some basics but not a hobby of his and not something he ever has to do.

Jenna, Rafi, Salima, Aziz (& their two lil siblings in mine): Hanging out with family, friends and pets.

All love going on long magic carpet rides. (‘Borders? Air traffic? Aw, bless your heart.’ They have like no need for passports on carpet rides & Agrabah’s got it as a clause in their agreement. The royal family doesn’t need those. (reminds me of how irl the British royal family’s head doesn’t need a passport). They have passports though. This is a new idea I just had & yeah. Can have a lot of exploration).

They love travelling. Probs try different modes of travel.

Aziz can Skateboard (based on Jasmine skateboarding in an Aladdin console game XD. Can't remember which game it was rn. But ‘Nasira's Revenge’ maybe? Feel free to correct me if I remembered the wrong game. While trying to find a pic, I found a doll of Jaz with Carpet as a skateboard so interesting.)

Anxelin & Ruby: Too many cause of their mom, Rapunzel's many hobbies and how it inspired them. They love trying out new stuff and are pretty adventurous. Their favourite book series is obv the 'Flynnigan Rider series'.

inspo from this post from @dragoneyes618: here

This is it so far. Maybe this is a part 1? Depends.

[pickypickypeak]

The kind of Wish criticisms that annoy the hell out of me are the ones where people unnecessarily compare the film to other movies released at the same time and even Disney's older works. There's nothing wrong with comparisons as a "what to do, what not to do example", the issue I have is that these are often be hella biased.

I like the classical and renaissance Disney movies but I would be lying my ass off saying they don't have problems (the racism, characters of color being played by white actors, outdated stereotypes and gender roles). Some people dismiss these issues because they prioritize on their own nostalgia more than improving them. Hell, they say Snow White was the worst princess but when Disney announces a live action remake, they defend her largely because a mixed race latina actress as casted to play her.

Some of these comparisons can be nonsensical if one were to pay attention. They say Trolls 3's villain song is better, even though Mount Rageous a pop cover mashup while This is the Thanks I Get?! is an original in a poo style. They say Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a better movie about wishes even though TLW's theme is about appreciating life and the family and friends you have while Wish's themes is about encouraging and supporting each others to pursue their dreams. They use Bruce Almighty as a comparable movie yet they let Bruce off the hook despite he misused of his powers out kf laziness and causing the town into brief chaos before fixing it while they villainize Asha for Magnifico's own actions and the non existent "consequences" of returning people their wishes as if Magnifico allowed the non existent "bad wishes" to be in his hoard in the first place (he deemed Sabino's wish as bad because he didn't like knowing people other than him getting attention and he flat out spites Asha and Sabino during the ceremony).

THIS!!! Here’s an example (I probably used it before but it really fits now): some people are like “why have the forbidden book in the first place? It makes no sense the writing for this movie is so bad” well where the hell did the beast get the enchanted mirror?? How does the evil queen have a talking mirror in her castle and no one questions it? Where did the genie’s lamp come from? In frozen we just had to believe elsa was born with ice magic for no reason (they invented lore for the sequel but it wasn’t planned. They were gonna leave it with no explication hadn’t been for the incredible success). Theses are NOT plot holes; they’re just things you’re supposed to not ask questions about in a fairytale. It’s literally not that deep. Or better, you CAN ask questions and maybe imagine scenarios, but a movie isn’t inherently bad for not explaining it all to you. We’re not required to know how the queen got the mirror, or how magnifico got the book. It’s not “bad writing”; you’re just evaluating a disney fairytale movie through average mcu youtuber’s lens (everything needs to be addressed, otherwise it’s poorly written and “it makes no sense” (so what? Does a singing lion and warthog make sense in the first place?)).

Not to talk about the other problems you’ve mentioned; the stereotypes, the gender roles… as much as we love them, ANY movie has its issues. Many things wish gets blamed for, I can find them in other movies too. And actually, some of them aren’t even bad things, or at least they weren’t until wish did it. I’ve seen someone go “asha’s friends are just for the sake of diversity🙄” but like… is that a bad thing? Big hero 6 members were diverse too. Gee, winx are 20 years old and they’re all diverse. How am I supposed to take that criticism seriously? “They’re just forcing diversity on kids” my man I’ll tell you something. Remember when pocahontas (with all its issues) had a whole song about painting with the colors of the wind. Well I know this is shocking news to you but. It wasn’t actually the wind. She was talking about skin colors. The song was about racism. It’s from the 90s.

And the songs comparisons oh my. “Good to be king from journey to bethlehem is a way better villain song than this is the thanks I get” yeah, this is 100% relevant! It totally makes sense to draw a comparison between the guy who killed infants because he was not sure about which one was Jesus, and king magnifico from wish! I’m so surprised king herod’s song sounds so ominous! I’m sure ALL of these people have the journey to bethlehem soundtrack on their playlists and sing the songs out loud because they are SO much better!!❤️

Don’t get me started about the snow white drama, you are absolutely right, people get mad over something they couldn’t care less seconds ago (just like they did for ariel and tinker bell lmao). They’ve been shitting on snow white for years, there’s been ENDLESS youtube parodies and essays about disney princesses and especially snow white being “weak”, “a bad example for girls because she makes chores and settles for a man” and other bullshit but! As soon as the actress playing her (who happens to be not white) says the exact same thing, everyone is like “oh my goddd!!! Disrespect for our snow white!!! A woman can have love dreams!!! Walt disney is turning in his grave!!!” Like wow bro. You suddenly care now. You are so coherent and definitely not racist👍🏻

[frazzledsoul]

Asking a few people their thoughts on this! Sticking only to the original series run, excluding AIYTL and excluding any visions you may have heard AmyShermanPalladino herself had for this scenario, what is your personal vision of what would have happened to Jess and Rory had Milo not left the show at the end of s3? Would they still have broken up at the end of season 3, then gotten back together later, or stayed together? Are they going to somehow date the entire time Rory is at Yale (it's incredibly unlikely he's going to go to Yale with her, so what are they going to show him doing in his early 20's pre-Truncheon?) Some arc where their relationship is more on and off and they date other people? Thoughts please.

So I'm not sure what Amy was thinking asking Milo to sign that big contract. I can't imagine that there ever would be a compelling reason for Jess to stick around Stars Hollow, and while she might be willing to invent a workplace and some co-workers for Truncheon for a single episode of the show, it's highly unlikely she's going to want to do that as a plot thread full time if those characters are never going to interact with anyone else on the main set. It's just not plausible.

However, putting all the logistical issues aside I don't think they would have stayed together. I think the class issues alone would probably have defeated them and Jess needed to go out and develop his own identity. He can't do that if he's just the guy on the fringes of her (more boring) story. He needed to figure out who he was on his own. And that entire story was probably too much for this show.

However, if ASP had kept Milo around I guess she wouldn't have had to inflict Jason (sorry Jason) and his scintillating insurance industry storylines on us as an excuse not to hook up Luke and Lorelai.

[hannahhook7744]

de Vil family Headcanons revised:

Trigger warnings: Child abuse, child neglect, mentions of dementia, mental health issues, unhealthy coping mechanisms, death, and animal abuse.

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There is an 11 year age difference between Hunter and Carlos, a 5 year one between Carlos and Ivy, and a 4 year one between him and Diego.

Hunter, Ivy, and Carlos are tech geeks in my universe and can't do anything musical to save their lives.

Diego, on the other hand, is the only musically inclined one who cannot do anything tech related to save his life.

Hunter and Ivy were born pre-isle but died trying to stop one of Cruella's plots when she found out and pursued them. Causing them to crash.

Because of their childhood Villainous activities they were resurrected and sent to the isle the year Carlos was born.

Both Antia and Roger have met Hunter and Ivy but only Ivy has met their niece, Amber.

Funnily enough, all of the de Vil cousins have four things in common—their love for animals, their tempers, their competitive nature, and their very strong passion for fashion.

They have a lot of pets that they have to play 'Keep away from Cruella' with.

Including a chicken on Hunter and Ivy's part, which is funny because their ancestor— Dimsdale—despises chickens.

They are descended from both Melione (Hades' daughter) and the Villainous princess Ivy from Sofia the first.

Hunter's full name is Hunter Claudias de Vil.

Ivy's full name is Ivana Mallory de Vil.

Diego's full name is Diego Ethan de Vil.

Carlos's full name is Carlos Oscar de Vil.

Carlos is the son of Cruella de Vil and James Charming.

Diego is the son of Cecil de Vil and an unknown woman.

Ivy is the daughter of Carmen Sandiego and Cotton de Vil.

Hunter is the son  of Helga Sinclair and Charles de Vil, making him the older half brother of Harry Badun.

Carlos's dad either got taken forcibly back to Auradon or was killed by Cruella. No one is quite sure which.

Diego's mother left him on the doorstep.

Ivy's father was a pyro noir like detective and the youngest of his many siblings, which made her a favorite of the family. Her father died in a freak fire related accident when she was 3. Carmen had no idea where she went after Ivy's father died.

Hunter's father was an artist turned Archery teacher who went by 'Archer' and died in a freak archery accident.

Hunter de Vil is dating a grown up Jim Jr (from Lady and the Tramp) and Jane's cousin, Elisa/Eliza.

Diego is dating Derek, Doug's older brother.

Carlos is dating Jane.

And Ivy is dating Gordon, son of Grumpy— and yes, they are aware of the irony.

Together (meaning them, their partners, their cousin P.H, and Cruella) they have 18 pets. Including 2 chickens, 1 ferret, 1 dove, 1 lab rat, 4 cats,  and 10 dogs (most of which are Cruella's).

Hunter is still an influencer (he was one when he was a teenager) and is also an inventor who works at the local tech repair shop and a part time mechanic.

All of the de Vil kids love chocolates but different kids.

Hunter practically lives off of coffee and energy drinks and kinder joy eggs.

Hunter is also a YouTuber.

Ivy loves oatmeal with strawberries and blackberries.

She is an inventor, a fashion designer, a salon owner who makes her own cosmetics, and a beauty pageant veteran who always saw Amber dearly (The Radcliffe's niece)  as a rival. This was one-sided.

She takes after her mother alot— she's elusive, playful, badass, etc.

Kids used to call her Evilana. Which she hated.

Diego is the lead singer and guitarist of the Bad Apples and a member of Harriet Hook's crew and the Anti-heroes' club.

He is also a tattoo artist who loves coke (the soda) and fast food.

Carlos is a tourney and ROAR member who loves video games, tech stuff, animals, and inventing. He wants to be a veterinarian or app designer.

Hunter, Ivy, and Diego helped Carlos build his treehouse when they were younger.

They all love each other very much and are very protective of one another.

Unlike Carlos, the other de Vils are actually quite fond of the Badun cousins.

Ivy loves the color pink.

Their ancestor that everyone thinks is the literal devil was actually a somewhat normal human boy who was just unfortunate enough to have been born with hooves and a tail (likely due to them also being descended from Hades’ daughter Melione and sorceress like the original Ivana de Vil—aka Princess Ivy).

For some reason, Diego is Cruella's favorite. No one knows why or how.

This is entirely one-sided; Diego despises Cruella.

Yes, Hunter and Ivy were born pre-isle.

Yes, they committed their crimes.

BUT, they were also 12 and 6, and highly abused and neglected.

And they redeemed themselves and got killed in the process in my timeline saving the puppies from one of Cruella's schemes gone wrong.

But of course, Auardon brought them back a year after Carlos was born and sent them to the isle despite the Radcliffes' protest.

Hunter was 12 and Ivy was 6, and they both cried and pleaded for mercy. Beast and Belle ignored them.

They hate them because of this.

Like their parents before them, they're close.

Unlike their parents, they didn't have a falling out and would still die for one another.

Diego is the only non-tech savvy de Vil of this generation.

But that's fine with him because he's the only one who can play any instrument.

The other 3 can't play an instrument to save their lives.

Despite the fact that Diego is a part of Harriet's crew and that Harriet is in alliance with Uma, he and Carlos are still close.

Diego is the only non disabled, sickly, or mentally ill de Vil.

All of the de Vils are into fashion.

The de Vil cousins move out of Cruella's house after Carlos goes to Auradon. They had only stayed for Carlos.

The de Vil cousins have an unspoken agreement to always look out for each other, their pets, and the badun cousins.

The de Vil cousins communicate in Morse code sometimes. Other times they communicate in sign language.

They made up their own language to communicate in as kids. The Badun cousins  are the only ones who understand it.

All of the de Vil kids have pets and take care of Cruella's pets.

They all feel guilty about the fact that they couldn't protect each other or their pets. Or the Badun cousins.

Jace and Harry used to have siblings. The rest of the isle might have forgotten this but they hadn't. They never would.

None of the four de Vil cousins will ever turn down helping the Badun cousins. No matter what.

No one talks about the missing Badun girls and boys.

No one talks about how the Badun cousins don't live with them, Cruella, and their dads anymore.

After Harry Badun turned 7, learning medical care became a priority for all of the de Vil kids. Maybe it's guilt or maybe it's a sense of obligation. No one knows.

Diego is the only one of the group who sleeps.

He's known as the only 'normal' de Vil. He's the only one who doesn't have a nasty nickname.

He's the one who keeps everyone alive which makes up for his bouts of irresponsible stupidity.

Diego is also the only de Vil sibling who can write in cursive.

Hunter is the only blonde de Vil that the cousins can remember.

This earns a lot of jokes about him being adopted.

He is never amused by them.

Ivy looks the most like Cruella. Her hair is half and half like hers, and she hates it. Hair dye doesn't work.

She's tried. Her cousins had to beg her to stop because she would break out in horrible hives when she used it and they were afraid she'd die.

Carlos is allergic to Wool.

Hunter and Diego have no allergies.

Hunter is claustrophobic and afraid of the dark  and being alone and forgotten because of his time in the crate. His younger cousins know very few details about it.

Diego's hair is the opposite of Carlos's—his hair is mostly black with a few white streaks and specks, while Carlos's hair is mostly white with dark specks

Ivy is afraid of burning alive like her dad but also addicted to the flames.

Her and Hunter are scared of dying again.

Diego, Carlos, and The Badun cousins had to sleep in their beds a lot when they were younger to calm them because of the nightmares they had.

They still do.

The 3 oldest de Vil cousins were in pure shock and mourning for days after Carlos left for Auardon. They thought they'd never see him again.

Carlos, Hunter, and Ivy go to all of Diego's concerts and like all of his videos  and buy all his albums.

He does the same for them.

They're all scared of going nuts like their elders.

They were all scared of their other relatives when they got off the isle.

Hunter never forgives Ben's parents. Never.

He and Ivy both try to pretend that they don't want to kill them both.

Everyone but Diego has had depression. Diego has just always been optimistic (and a bit angry).

Ivy is named after their ancestor, Princess Ivy.

She resents this.

Divus de Vil, or Divus Crewel—as he is now known—is a professor at Night Raven College.

He teaches the school's science curriculum, including potionology.

He, like the rest of his family, feels strongly about fashion and refuses to compromise on what he wears.

He is Cruella and Crisitan de Vil's twin brother who somehow managed to stay out of any serious legal trouble. Unlike them.

When he was younger, Divus was nicknamed 'devious'  by his fellow peers. Right around the time they started to call his sister 'Cruella' instead of Ella.

He was the favorite of his mother—meaning he was the only one who ever got attention from her.

He has no pets.

He, Cristian,  and Cruella taught their 3 younger brothers (Cyrus, Cotton, and Cecil) how to work on cars when they were all kids.

Back before Cruella and P.H became cruel, all 7 of them were rather close-knit despite their age differences.

Divus's mother named him.  His name means "divine"/"godlike" or "god". It can aldo be considered a variant of "diva", referring to a narcissistic and self-important person.

Cyrus was a teen dad at 14.

Malevola and Cruella didn't hesitate at all to yell at and belittle him for this.

He ran away a couple of years later with his son, Charles, and became a farmer.

Cyrus was a natural blonde but dyed his hair black and white in an attempt to fit in with his family.

Charles inherited it as well. They both inherited this from Oscar "Count" de Vil.

22 years later, Charles met a woman named Helga Sinclair and Hunter de Vil was born.

Oscar and Dintia de Vil are the parents of Malevola de Vil and her brother, Malice.

Of course, those aren't their real names. Only the names those who didn't understand their odd family gave them.

Oscar and Dinita would never name them those names. They were actual loving parents, thank you very much (Unlike Malevola).

Malevola and Malice are actually named Mallory and Malachai.

Malachai's unflattering nickname doesn't really fit him at all.

He may be the mastermind but Malachai isn't really eVil at all. He's actually harmless and quite kind. Unlike his nasty sister.

Oscar de Vil was rumored to be a vampire and thusly nicknamed the 'Count' because he always wore a black, hooded cloak.

And no, he isn't actually a vampire. He's just severely allergic to sunlight and has to wear a hooded cloak while outside during the day.

It's actually kinda funny/sad considering the fact that his wife, Dinita, loves the sun and taking walks.

She stopped doing it as often when she began dating him so she could spend more time with him, so it's safe to say their love was true.

Both of them were loving, confident, lively people who saw the best in everyone and loved life.

Oscar was a businessman and a doctor who was quite charitable to those around him and Dintia was an architect.

Dintia actually was the one who designed Hell Hall and the other de Vil properties.

The two of them and their kids were loved in the small community they lived in for the first 10 years of Malachai's life.

And then Dintia slowly started to forget things.

It was small things at first, like Mallory's favorite color and Malachai's favorite snack.

And then it was big things, like her anniversary and birthdays.

It only continued to spiral from there until Oscar dragged her to the doctor during the day—causing him to break into hives mind you—and got her checked out to find out what was wrong.

Not long after, they found out she had early onset dementia and Dintia started to change.

Forgetting who Oscar and even her own kids were. Not recognizing her two birds, Stormy and Sunny. Not recognizing her own pictures.

Oscar began to distance himself from his kids, throwing himself into his work in hopes of finding a way to save his weakening wife.

Dintia kept finding ways to escape the house and could often be found wandering around town, confused.

Some less than lovely people started to call her dementia instead of her actual name.

She died four years later when Malachai was 14 and Mallory was 10. And it hit everyone hard. 

Oscar and Malachai both fell into a deep depression and due to the time period they were in, they received little to no help at all.

Oscar became a shut-in and rarely left his house, glaring at anyone who approached him on the rare occasions that he did.

Malachai became a shell of his former self. He stopped talking and smiling and goofing around as much, and daydreamed often of his mother never getting sick and his life never going to hell. Hardly able to accept reality.

He actually checked out for a bit—becoming emotionally detached from everyone around him—and didn't speak for years.

If his son, Philip Herbert aka P.H, hadn't been born, he would have never come out of it.

Unfortunately, while he and Oscar were emotionally dead to the world, Mallory started to change.

She became bitter and resentful and apathetic to everything that wasn't fashion. And her morals and what she saw as important slowly started to distort until she wasn't recognizable anymore.

And she was oh so hateful to anyone who wasn't her love, Dupree, who would go on to be her husband—earning her the alias Malevola.

Dupree was head over heels in love with her and blind to all her faults, which would come back to bite him later.

They'd go on to have 5 kids in this order; Cruella, Divus, Cyrus, Cecil, and Cotton.

Malevola/Mallory didn't even attempt to be a good mother. Ignoring them when she could get away with it and being out of town often.

She'd even snap at and belittle them from the moment they were born.

Cruella would go on to be a fashion designer as did Crisitan and you know the rest.

Cyrus became a teen dad and a farmer.

Cecil became a film director and willingly went to the isle for Cruella.

And Cotton became a detective and a pyro.

Cotton eventually met Carmen Sandiego, one thing led to another, and Ivana/Ivy de Vil was born.

Ivy is Malevola's favorite grandchild.

Malevola tried to make up for her parenting mistakes with Hunter and Ivy, and the other two kids, but failed.

Mainly because she played keep away with them and their mothers.

Oscar (Malevola) was a good grandfather who visited on occasion but couldn't undo the damage his daughter had done.

Dupree died before he could meet Hunter, Ivy, Diego, or Carlos.

He admitted openly on his death bed that he regretted not divorcing Malevola when their kids were young because, while he loved her, she wasn't a good person and screwed up their kids in ways that couldn't be fixed.

Most of the de Vils are mentally ill in one way or another.

Harry Badun is Hunter de Vil's younger half-brother.

Cotton died in a fiery accident he caused.

Cyrus died in a farming accident.

Charles died in a freak archery accident.

Oscar succumbed to his old age, a bitter, angry old man who the children of the Village feared.

Hunter and Ivy died in a car accident while trying to free the dalmatians from Cruella and got resurrected and sent to the isle.

Cecil died from not taking care of himself when he fell depressed upon realizing he had damned his son and that his niece and nephews would never be free of the isle.

Malachai got sick and died when P.H was very young, causing him to be taken in By Malevola and Dupree.

Due to the sudden loss of the only parental figure he had and the neglect and belittlement he suffered from Malevola, he went mad.

He was introduced to science by Divus and started to experiment on any animal he could get his hands on. It rarely ended well for the animals. But Malevola allowed it as long as her dogs and Malachai's snake weren't touched.

P.H ended up experimenting on his father's snake and it died.

Cruella helped him hide the evidence.

Malevola was devastated and never found her brother's snake, leading her to assume she lost it.

It was one of 4 times Cruella and her siblings ever saw her mother cry.

Malevola told Carlos once that he looked like her brother at his age. It was the only time she ever mentioned her brother before her death.

Anita knew all of Cruella's generation growing up. P.H always scared her.

Once when they were all little, Cruella convinced them all to try her favorite drink; ink.

They all got terribly ill from it and never did it again.

No one knows how Cruella can stand drinking that stuff.

Carlos lives a long, healthy life with his friends and Jane.

Divus was delighted to meet his niece and nephews. Along with all their partners and friends.

Horace and Jasper were friends with the de Vils and Radcliffes growing up.

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Requested by @kivamyths .

[newtonian-tragedy]

Magical Boy Robert Hooke

Newton's ref: [link]

I think I've finally settled on a design for Hooke. His outfit is a blend of Cavalier and Anglican fashion. It was heavily inspired by Rita Greer's interpretation of his clothing.

I had fun designing his weapons as well, which were based on a real-life pair of French pistols that he carried on his person during the Popish plot scare. I know next to nothing about guns, but after studying how flintlocks work, I wish I had one of my own!

His soul gem was initially an ammonite shape, but I decided to change it to a cog because of his inventive nature overall.

Since the loss of his niece was the darkest turning point in his life, I think that his wish would be to save her. But not satisfied with relying on magic to solve his problems, he would wish for the knowledge to understand and treat her illness himself. This would eventually lead to Hooke being exposed to wisdom that would transcend his own timeline, which he couldn't change even if he wanted to due to society's reluctance to accept revolutionary scientific ideas (especially if they seemed blasphemous). As Hooke was ahead of his time, this is basically what happened to many of his ideas, but on a grander scale. 

Hooke would obviously suffer despair when he realizes that Grace will never return his feelings despite owing her life to him, but even more burdensome is the knowledge of understanding more than he wished to know about how the universe works (including but not limited to entropy and the Incubators) and the powerlessness he suffers in spite of his enhanced insight.

Newton suffers a similar depression, but he becomes far more cold and jaded, looking down on Hooke for foolishly continuing to cling to his humanity despite knowing the truth.

I hope you enjoy the little peacock Easter eggs. I decided to make that his totem animal, like how Newton's is a lion.

[zordonmlw7]

Super Mario Bros Movie Trilogy Theories

Second movie is called Super Mario World and is about Bowser enlisting the Koopalings to strike several locations around the world at once, necessitating the team go on a globe trotting adventure to stop them.

Peach enlists the help of another powerful warrior and Ally to the Mushroom Kingdom: Princess Daisy, who Luigi immediately falls for (because of course he needs to be straight :/)

Mario tries to convince him not to go for it because she's a princess, causing Luigi to casually drop that he dated Mayor Pauline during their argument.

Much of the plot is dedicated to Mario raising the Yoshi that hatched from the egg he found and refusing to let it participate in the action because he wants to protect it.

B-plot is dedicated to Bowser Jr. feeling left out because all his siblings were entrusted with a mission but him, causing him to forcibly insert himself into Bowser's plan.

After stopping all 7 Koopalings, they think they've saved all the Macguffins... Until they find out the Bowser had a second plan simultaneously in motion all along - stealing the ULTIMATE Macguffin from... The real world's moon!

While in the real world, Peach gets distracted by seeing all the other humans, causing her to wonder about her own origins.

The group manages to intercept the clown rocket the Koopalings were taking to join up with Bowser on the moon but the Koopalings escape... Sans Mario with some help from Yoshi.

Despite Yoshi being the entire reason Mario was able to board the shop and still have a shot of saving the day, Mario still scolds it for jumping into the action.

Once on the moon, Mario tries to stop Bowser on his own until their fight is interrupted completely by Bowser Jr, who takes the power of the MacGuffin and uses it to take it out on Mario AND Bowser. Seeing Bowser Jr rant about how he never got a chance to shine under Bowser causes Mario to rethink things with Yoshi.

Finally embracing Yoshi's willingness to help, the two of them united are able to stop Bowser Jr and in the process, launch Bowser deep into space, serving as a sequel hook for the third movie.

Third Movie is called Super Mario Galaxy and focuses on the Mario Bros and Yoshi exploring space in search of Bowser.

Peach is absent from this one as she explores the real world in search of answers from her past. Yes this sounds rad as hell and deserves to be its own movie. No it's not going to be explored unless the third movie is SUCH a blockbuster they get the backing to release a Peach themed spinoff movie.

This movie introduces Rosalina and most of the movie is about the Bros getting to know her and learning her backstory.

This movie expands on the singular song the first movie had by making this movie entirely a musical. Clearly this is all just a set up so Rosalina can get a musical number that is not so subtly inspired by Let it Go which is ironic as hell because Rosalina predates Elsa by a good 6 years but like WHAT EVER.

The Mario Face Ship shows up and in this movie was invented by Dr. E Gadd for whatever reason.

Aside from Rosalina this movie is not gonna have as good a plot and hopefully the bad reviews will convince the powers that be to not overstay their welcome with Mario movies and try to pump one out every year like with Marvel.

Plots gonna suck but they WILL go ham on the space exploration sequences with beautiful scenes of galaxies chocked full of references to so much Mario lore that will only be on screen for 2 seconds max because they're montages and they need to move on.

[ambreiiigns]

Yes tell me about "rick's crybaby backstory"! I didn't think this was a backstory type of show, that's exactly what I'm curious about! And what do you mean evil morty?? Tiny rick? Beth clone? Toilet episode? Pissmaster????? What is going on lol

YAYYYYY THANK YOU BUCKLE UP SORRY FOR TAKING A DAY XX HEHE

rick's crybaby backstory. that's what he calls it. he had wife (diane) and kid (beth) for whom he was going to give up science entirely (big deal for a rick, apparently he's the only one who was willing to do that !) enter Rick Prime. remember how the multiple realities and multiple versions of characters is a big plotpoint. yea. this Other Rick shows up and tries to get our rick hooked on interdimensional traveling but he refuses! bc he says it sounds lonely! ARGH so prima kills his wife and kid. oh well. we Later find out he's been killing everyone's diane and in fact invented a device that allows you to kill evert version of someone throughout every dimension. so rip diane forever and ever

so our rick goes on a revenge spree. he invents his own portal gun - apparently every other rick borrows their portal gun from prime who's the only one who built it himself. besides Our rick. and starts tracking prime down killing a bunch of other ricks in the process. so many in fact that those remaining build. the citadel of ricks. stay with me. it's like. idk a space station something where a bunch of ricks and their morties live and or stop by to mind their business. whatever. so this haunt for rick prime and killing himself over and over is what eventually gets our rick, who was gonna choose his family and human connections over science and adventure, to be as jaded and nihilistic and Alcoholic as every other rick before and after him. f in the chats for my man

so when the premise of the show is "rick had abandoned beth as a child and randomly crashed into her garage and settled down w her a couple of decades later" we know that's Wrong and that he's been on a quest to avenge her and her mom for all those years. aight. now it also ties into the overarching Plot of rick and morty bc during his quest to kill rick prime our rick also got in general trouble w the Galactic Federation who's like. big ass space government. and made friends w people who want to overthrow it. so he helps fight it yippie. this is how he meets my BELOVED birdperson and squanchy The Boys™ gang gang. we don't have time to discuss that rick's in love w birdperson maybe next time. the federation seems to be permanently dead rn if you care

by evil morty i mean THEE mvp i think some of the most iconic episodes revolve around him he got fed up w his rick and almost killed him put like some computer shit inside of him to control him like a little mechanical puppet. slay. then he went on to. become president of the citadel. slay. and revealed his Final Plan of killing a bunch of ricks and morties to create a portal that would get him out of the. my god. central finite curve. which we find out it's basically. every universe in which rick exists as the smartest being. evil morty's Evil Plan is simply to get out from under ricks' collective thumb and live by himself for himself. there's like a whole morty black market around the universe bc ricks use morties GOD I DON'T WANNA GET INTO IT IT'S SUCH BULLSHIT ACTUALLY but evil morty is my sweetheart he was right he did nothing wrong. he had a convo w our morty that knocks your tits clean off that goes like "if you've ever been sick of him you've been evil too" or "he's attached to us infinitely through his weakness and our forgiveness" like it slaps. it slaps i'm sorry what can i say

i feel like i end up talking too much abt rick when i love morty so much more but ofc the old man who goes on space adventures has more to be said abt him than the 14yo boy. but i do love him to death he's had such good if slow growth he's such a. victim to rick lmao even tho we find out very early on that ricks are usually SO much worse to their morties but he's been growing balls! he tells rick off now and finds him annoying and gets mad at him and all that! i love to see it. in fact rick is just as attached to morty at this point. it's so cute to see. grandpa's little buddy FUCK yeah and the other ricks make fun of him for that HA

tiny rick is. one time he turned himself into a teen and went to school w morty and summer. i like that bc he became pathetic and kept admitting he's Sad. beth clone is umm whenever we find out beth is in fact her father's daughter and is probably just as clever and violent as he is he proposes to make her a clone that will watch after jerry & the kids while she gets to go on space adventures like he did. and she doesn't decide she lets Him decide but instead of deciding her fucking. randomizes it so now there's a SUPER FUCKING COOL SPACE BETH RUNNING AROUND BEING BADASS and her own dad doesn't know which one is the original. top 10 most pathetic rick moments. the toilet episode good lord rick has a special planet where he shits and some alien guy finds his special shitter and rick gets really mad at him. the guy tries to make friends but rick refuses until guy Dies and then it's sad. it's sad. pissmaster episode? EVEN FUCKING SADDER it's like rick has a bunch of random enemies that bother him pissmaster being one of them jerry fuckin Destroys him and it's so humiliating that pissmaster. kills himself and his daughter's looking for him and it pulls at rick's weak spot so he. dresses up. as pissmaster. and sets up this fucking. suicide mission where he saves people from a bomb but dies in the process to kinda. give pissmaster a. proper sendoff. give his daughter closure. you know. it was SAD OK!!!! IT WAS REALLY GOOOOD

[friendofhayley]

Friendofhayley's Top Books of 2022 Pt. 2 LGBTQIA+ Magic

This Book Rec is on LGBTQIA+ with a magical element in them. This list contains 7 different books. Let's go!!

Kushiel's Avatar (Kushiel's Dart #3) by Jacqueline Carey | queer society

This concluded the Kushiel's Dart series through the eyes of Phèdre, a now powerful Duchess. In this installment (that has jumped years into the future) she tries any aims and leads she can to free her best friend from the island he was cursed to. It was very bittersweet to finish this book, Phèdre is such a brilliant and unique character. I loved getting to see fantasy Africa and Central Asia in this installment and see the twists made on Egyptian and Jewish culture in this world.

"We speak of stories ending, when in truth it is we who end. The stories go on and on."

An Accident of Stars by Fox Meadows | queer/feminist world (kinda)

This story follows an Australian girl who falls into a portal into another world and lands in a political mess -- and she'll never be the same again. I loved how this new world was literally COMPLETELY unlike our own. Plants and animals weren't a mix of ours, they were completely their own. I loved every character and how nonchalantly free and queer/trans all the women were.

“Life is hard. Some days we get our asses kicked, but apathy breeds more evils than defeat. So, you know. Keep fighting."

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin | poly & queer characters

The Stillness is a land of constant shakes and phenomena since Father Earth started hating his children. This story follows characters who can (basically) Earth bend and it's super poly and queer. This book made me realize what epic fantasy should be, which is nonchalantly queer and POC-filled with no heteronormativity anywhere. A semi-depressing read though.

“After all, a person is herself, and others. Relationships chisel the final shape of one's being. I am me, and you.”

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu | lesbian vampires

This book was extremely gay. I was cautious because I felt like maybe the show really emphasized it, but no. Carmilla is head over heels in love with Laura, and Laura is confused but into it. I loved that it involved an unreliable narrator as well. Dracula who?

“Yes, very—a cruel love—strange love, that would have taken my life. Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood.

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno | queer romcom

There is an island known for a rare (magical) bird. Georgina hates the time of the year when the bird researchers flock to her hometown, and it's even worse while she's waiting for her family magic to kick in. But another magic (love) also arrives. This book was amazing. It has a small-town feel to it, it made me laugh out loud, and the characters all feel real. I stayed up until 4 AM to finish it, and it was so worth it. I wish I could read it again.

"And she was funny, and interesting, and her smile was like a small revelation. Like she had invented smiling."

Widdershins by Jordan L Hawk | gay men

Two men get shoved into an occult mystery that might turn into a horror story. Also enemies to lovers and badass/nerd. This book was outstanding. It was so refreshing for a story to have a non-romantic plot with a well-written subplot in which there is no drama about the being gay part. It felt like any other brilliant story set in the Victorian(?) age but with gay main characters.

“Why did he have to be kind? If only he’d mocked me, or sneered at me, or merely tolerated me, then I would have known how to deal with him. But he insisted on being kind, on pretending I had some worth. How was I to defend myself against that?”

Peter Darling by Austin Chant | trans man MC + gay relationship

This story follows Peter Darling who has come back to Neverland after being away for so long. For some reason, he's drawn to Captain Hook and keeps forgetting something very big. There was so much hype about this book and it was worth it. At times the story was trippy in the best way and the romance was sweet and made sense.

“You know, I find that enemies are often the most satisfying people to share your secrets with. If you must tell someone, tell someone who's sensitive to all your vulnerabilities, on account of trying to exploit them.”

[vital-information]

A Review of Bros (2022)

‘Whom’ refers to the object of a sentence, while ‘who’ refers to the subject, the person initiating the action. Nowhere is this differentiation more important than the romance genre: Who falls in love with whom? Bros, had all the elements in place to hit a (excuse the sports metaphor, gays) homerun, had they not made this grammatical mistake.

The movie chooses the LGBTQ museum director and podcast-host, Bobby (Billy Eichner playing a version of himself) as the protagonist with the str8 lawyer Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) as the object of his affection. When they initially both meet in the gay club, they flirt haltingly through jabs at one another—“you look mad,” “my friends say you’re boring”—a particularly queer bitchiness that reveals, if they’re outright statements of it were unclear enough, a simultaneous emotional distance and desire which both actors pull off. It’s that oppositional dynamic in their romance that fuels the film’s most honest and endearing moments, and why film queers like me, who might bitch and moan about the saccharine score, the very basic editing, the self-righteous speeches and stretches toward representation, and whatever else they feel is wrong, might still find themselves coming back to the movie for rewatches, like going back on Grindr despite your dissatisfaction with the intimate but ultimately shallow hook ups you keep having. There’s truth and connection we find in gay relationships we can’t find elsewhere even when they’re bad.

Jane Austen and Nora Ephron understood that the Romantic Comedy Plot at its best hid philosophical propositions beneath its sexy exterior. This is why the desiring subject versus the object of desire matter. Why does it matter that it’s Harry who meets Sally? Because it’s Harry not Sally who needs to learn that friendship is a necessary ingredient to love, and Sally will be the one who he learns this from. Austen famously invented a whole new narrative voice of free indirect speech in Pride and Prejudice to emphasize Elizabeth’s subjective experience of facing her own pride and prejudices.

The proposition in Bros is that appreciating a history that’s not only LGBT but specifically gay and, further, effeminate changes lives because of the way it challenges masculine power structures. But it’s not Bobby, our protagonist, whose life we watch change. The most moving moments and the major plot points occur with Aaron experiencing and confronting his ignorance of gay history and culture. His first visit to the museum peaks with a photographic montage of historic queer figures that results in him bailing on Bobby. Similarly, while his family is visiting, Aaron blows up at Bobby after he espouses the transformative joy of seeing seven flaccid penises and a gay sex scene in a live theater performance with his parents when he was 12. He cuts Bobby off with a joke laced with honesty, “I’m going to kill you,” the ultimate conclusion of the homophobia he’s holding onto.

There’s much made of subjectivity within discussions of representation. Perhaps that’s why they thought Bobby could make a more important statement about gay subjectivity. But it’s Aaron’s discomfort and change that drives the film and a lot of the jokes, too, and MacFarlane gives a sympathetic and earnest performance that makes us even more aware of it. His swelling attraction and love for Bobby and all of the outspoken transparent gayness Bobby signifies displays a growing appreciation for the flamboyance, the authenticity, the passion, the love that gayness can embody.

The object has power in a story: what we care about; what we add to the ends of our sentences; what we add into our lives, despite the fact that we could just be independent souls—lonely subjects. Bobby meets Aaron and that’s fine, it’s easy to fall for the hot Hallmark Christmas prince. We could have had, though, a wise-cracking queen with a concave chest and a special interest in American history as the one worthy of a muscle bro’s attraction, and, subsequently, the audience’s. We could’ve fallen in love with the complicated, strange, problematic and revolutionary history of gay culture. In that sense, for Aaron to meet Bobby, and not the other way around, we would get to see the revolution romance can bring about in someone’s heart and mind.

[thesinglesjukebox]

REMI WOLF - "PRESCRIPTION"

Ask your doctor if Remi Wolf is right for you. Aaron, who brought "Prescription" to our attention, did...

[6.40]

Aaron Bergstrom: Boots Riley starts big. His new show I'm A Virgo comes with the contradictions pre-heightened, a masterful Afro-surrealist fun house with every absurdity stretched to its breaking point, amplifying a message that has never been more timely: real change doesn't come from painstakingly crafted anti-capitalist rhetoric or even aspiring revolutionaries with questionable superpowers, as convenient as that might be. It comes from community. It comes from solidarity. It comes from other people. Remi Wolf starts small. "Prescription," written at Riley's request for a very specific plot point in I'm A Virgo (I won't spoil it, but the episode is called "Balance Beam"), opens on spare drums and descending synths, Gen Z Prince working through some social anxiety issues. Wolf said that the song is about "being in love and being really, really scared about it," and it's that underlying fear that underpins the subsequent ascent into ecstasy, the horns and the key change and the climax that probably only works if you're just a little bit nostalgic for Macy Gray. It all hinges on giving up control. This isn't the kind of joy you can find on your own. It comes from connection. It comes from other people. Riley and Wolf arrive at the same place: whether your revolution is personal or political, you're going to have to let yourself be vulnerable. You're going to have to reach out. [9]

David Moore: Remi Wolf, the little pop engine that couldn't -- thanks to the peculiar vagaries of Spotify's algorithms and curated playlists, I think I've heard almost everything Remi Wolf has ever released, and every time I hear a song, I'm really into it for about 15 seconds before the pleasure slowly ebbs. (My favorite Remi Wolf song is this Little Dragon remix of "Disco Man," which must employ some kind of Energy Star plugin to keep things humming along consistently.) At the same time, I don't know that there's a single bad Remi Wolf song either -- there's something sort of captivating about Remi Wolf's oeuvre, all these little candles emitting a few dazzling flickers before inevitably snuffing themselves out. [6]

Peter Ryan: A smidge more narratively straight-ahead than the gnarly, motormouthed Juno or its predecessor EPs; here Wolf's sonic freak-out puts a point on the exhilaration of the lyric -- you couldn't really call it mellowed, but it's less wickedly hedonistic in sound than a lot of her work, more a snowballing sugar overload. In three-minute form it's a bit of a band showcase, a rich thicket of soul-pop horns punctuated by Wolf's increasingly enraptured vocal breaks and ad-libbing. I'll take the seven-minute version, of course, indulgent and luxuriating in the thrall of yearning while affording the arrangement more time to unfold and Wolf more space to settle into it, goofy jam-interlude and all. At any length it might sound like a stopover for one of pop's most chaotic, inventive voices, but that restless energy at the core of her work would enliven even the most dependable of tropes. [8]

John S. Quinn-Puerta: A sex jam with more than cursory shout outs to depression, "Prescription" pulls off one of my favorite tricks, layering instruments progressively with each chorus. Wolf's squeaky half shouts play nicely off a rich round bass guitar, which in turn plays off the bouncy, just buzzy enough acoustic. The layered vocals in the bridge feel earned, breaking through into a lush horn and piano-scape. [9]

Nortey Dowuona: The way this song opens up with flat demo synths and drums, with Remi's high voice catapulting over thin guitar, made me feel like we were not going to go anywhere. Then the bass slid in, the horns started stabbing and punctuating certain lyrics and sidewinding during the chorus and the piano riff appears at the tail end of the second verse, and I was hooked. The lush and muscular bass rumbles below the mix and girds an otherwise very thin song with a strength it needs. But the extended version, which has an extra verse and refrain and chorus, feels both less abrupt and more vivid, allowing the song space to become bigger and bigger and delightful, while Remi -- even in all the lushness -- is still visible at the roots, her thin keening voice which was allowed no space on the standard version spreading far and wide, at ease, excited, delighted to refill. [8]

Ian Mathers: "Effortful" is not necessarily a synonym for "bad." [7]

Leah Isobel: Surprised to not hate a Tones & I-style vocal affection in 2023, but I think it's because the production's vaporwave synth textures and aggressively contained snare hits aim at an equally unreal emotional tone. It's not soulful, but "soulful": aware of its own absurdity and desperation. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: An absolute vocal ordeal. [1]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: She's singing her damn heart out, maybe even literally. [3]

Alfred Soto: No way I'd listen to this indie playroom "Purple Rain" meets "Brownsville Girl" again, but the soupy mix in which a brass section and pattern bob and turn complements the deliberately unhinged vocal performance. If I'd watched it on a busy street corner I'd look over my shoulder once. [6]

Brad Shoup: On the one hand, isn't pumping your devotional funk ballad with enough vocal fuckery to induce hypoxia a perfect Prince tribute? Some of those hoots in the post-chorus made me rip my headphones off, not because they were bad (they were), but because I thought one of my kids woke up. In places it sounds like she's trying to triangulate the Troutman talkbox through sheer vocal layering. Still, as insistent as she is, the arrangement of oozy synth/banjo pluck/brass hits is easy as hell, even if it's hard to pick out. Like she says, it makes my skin crawl in the best way (Adderall). [7]

Will Adams: All those vocal pyrotechnics only for them to be shoved way down in the mix. Why? It's not like the instrumental's ~chill vibes~ are particularly attention-grabbing. [5]

Hannah Jocelyn: I love that Remi Wolf stretches her voice as far as it can go and she's never actively grating for most of the song. Maybe it's because Nathan Phillips places Wolf (and the choir of Remi Wolves) far back in the mix; I can't explain why, but the effect is less someone screaming in your face and more witnessing Ken barely step out of frame to yell "SUBLIME!" The outro goes too over-the-top and bright -- the situation calls for Brittany Howard, someone who Remi Wolf is decidedly not -- but until then, there's a lot to love.. [7]

Vikram Joseph: Turns out the difference between "classic-sounding" and "derivative" is largely just charm, which Remi Wolf has in buckets and which turns a song that could have been a rote gospel-pop exercise into a full-hearted, grin-inducing joy of a song. It has shades of "I Try", and while it's not quite as beautifully constructed it more than matches it in endearing vocal acrobatics and in exuberant dorkiness -- "Prescription" is a love song that's totally sincere but which doesn't take itself remotely seriously. It feels like walking through your city in the sun and being weightless; it feels like "climbing over the walls I made"; it feels like giving yourself completely to someone and it not hurting at all. [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I do not believe that one's background inherently determines one's future but as a Californian I must call it as I see it: this is exactly the kind of song you make when you go to Palo Alto High School and then USC Thornton. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[aditipurandare]

Critical Film Analysis: Middle of Nowhere(2012)

Ava DuVernay’s second film, Middle of Nowhere, follows Ruby, who puts her life on hold as her husband Derek is incarcerated. She is seemingly friendless, living alone in a dimly lit apartment with occasional visits from her mother, sister, and nephew. She has single-mindedly dedicated herself to her husband for four years of his eight year sentence, while unintentionally abandoning herself. She gives up her dreams of going to medical school, and works the most unpleasant shifts as a nurse to balance seeing him. When Derek is up for parole at the midway point of his sentence, Ruby learns of his infidelity and the violent encounter that caused his parole to be denied. She realizes then that she has to navigate the fine line between loyalty and self sacrifice, wondering at what point maintaining her marriage might just be foolish. When her bus driver, Brian, begins to show interest in her, she is further swayed towards creating a new life for herself. 

The film explores the past, present, and future identities of Ruby through the critical theoretical approach of gender and sexuality. All of the film’s main characters are Black, with a Black woman being the protagonist. Perhaps as a result of being directed by a Black woman, the film overtly challenges stereotypical depictions of Black women. In her essay, “Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators”, bell hooks argues that the oppositional gaze is a critical framework through which Black women resist the dominant, often negative, images of themselves perpetuated by mainstream media.The essay emphasizes the importance of Black female spectators actively interpreting and critiquing media representations, highlighting how the oppositional gaze could be used to reclaim agency and subvert stereotypes– the act of looking itself can become a site of resistance. hooks writes, “We do more than resist. We create alternative texts that are not solely reactions. As critical spectators, black women participate in a broad range of looking relations, contest, resist, revision, interrogate, and invent on multiple levels”. Middle of Nowhere creates a story centering a Black woman’s life through the oppositional gaze. It is not a reaction to other bodies of work, rather an independent look into the life of an individual Black woman without relying on stereotypes or preexisting narratives to further the story. Although Derek is the driving force behind the plot, the audience knows little of his background or the reason he is in prison. The film isn’t about him; rather, it shows how his sentence infiltrates every aspect of Ruby’s present and future as a catalyst for her growth and change. 

The film not only focuses on romantic relationships, but also delves into familial connections. Ruby’s mother, Ruth, is particularly distressed by her daughter’s choices, believing that Ruby is holding onto a failing marriage at the expense of her future. During a family dinner with Ruby, her sister, nephew, and Ruth, Ruth yells at Ruby to speak up for herself, repeating the phrase, “just say something”. The film emphasizes the impact of incarceration on the partners and relatives of prisoners, illustrating how they too can feel imprisoned. Ruby intensifies this sentiment by dismissing any suggestion that Derek might face a prolonged sentence as a result of his own actions, and that he may not be advocating for himself effectively. She adamantly rejects any indication from her sister, mother, and even herself that suggest that she might need something beyond waiting indefinitely for Derek, even if it involves abandoning other paths forward or opportunities for fuller self-realization.

The film has no definite ending, but does display Ruby’s transformation from a passive character to an active participant in her life. In her essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey introduces the idea of the "male gaze," suggesting that both the camera and the narrative reinforce a voyeuristic and fetishistic perspective that objectifies female characters. Mulvey examines how women are often positioned as passive objects of desire, reinforcing traditional gender roles. She writes that “The image of woman as (passive) raw material for the (active) gaze of man takes the argument a step further into the structure of representation”. Ruby is not  portrayed as a sexualized object of desire by the camera or in the context of her relationships; her agency is the very thing that drives the narrative. DuVernay takes what could be a more classic love triangle and turns it into an exploration of Ruby’s inner turmoil. Neither men are actually important to the film. Ruby’s beginning as a devoted housewife is her doing what she believes is “right”. However when she begins to see Brian, her view of right and wrong is fundamentally changed. The film neither condones nor condemns Ruby’s infidelity, instead using it merely as another avenue for Ruby to explore other paths forward. The film ends intentionally ambiguous; Ruby does not choose Derek, Brian, or her career. There is no “right” choice, only a different one. 

Some critics argue that the film perpetuates stereotypes by depicting an African American woman whose life is defined by her husband's incarceration. It is essential to recognize that the film intentionally chooses to explore the impact of the criminal justice system on families, particularly within communities of color. Incarceration disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities, and by honing in on Ruby's experience, the film sheds light on the prison industrial complex without stereotyping. It can also be argued that because the film is told entirely through Ruby’s perspective, often through montages and flashbacks of her life, it isn’t a reliable way to perceive the events of the story or extract anything meaningful from it. However, this subjective lens adds more emotional depth to the story, and allows the viewers to have a more intimate view into Ruby’s internal conflict. There is no definitive solution or right answer to her path forward; instead, the film underscores Ruby’s proactive decision to instigate change in her life.

At first glance it may feel as though Ruby is caught between choosing her husband or Brian. However, throughout the film, she is instead caught between the expectations of all of those around and discovering what it is she wants for her life. Derek expects her to be by his side and wait, Brian expects for her to accept his interest and create something new, and her family expects her to go after her career and start all over. Through Ruby’s final monologue, it’s clear that she doesn’t know what she wants and is content in that uncertainty. She says, “We are long lost, we are long awaited. The past has disappeared, and the future doesn’t exist until we get there”. She is going to figure it out, and that journey is just as important as if she already knew her destination. 

¹ hooks, bell. "Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators." In Black Looks: Race and Representation, 317. Boston: South End Press, 1992.

² Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." In Movies and Methods: An Anthology, edited by Bill Nichols, 721. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.

[felikatze]

conned myself into thinking abt asgv again and by that i am also thinking abt how i STILL havent looked up anything abt asgv3 solely because i was so disappointed that it just timeskipped

since urgrhrh grits teeth. the ending of asgv2 was soooo perfect for further progression with gunvolt finally grieving and copen's whole shit but continuing on that would require More focus on copen as a major character when he ALREADY has his own spinoff and a gunvolt who's just kind of Content is difficult to work with

and like i GET the decision but the ending was so good and it had the fucking plot hook with qiao and nori!! whadda hell were they gonna do!!! and the shards of the muse and urgh. and then it's just Ye Distant Future and gunvolt's a ghost now.

and maybe that's hypocritical because "feli dont you fucking adore laix, which is also a timeskip au game" and like YES but laix is a spinoff and doesn't promise to continue the story of agsv at all and instead does its own separate thing. so it doesnt sting because i didnt EXPECT laix to continue this arc

yet laix has actually done a BETTER job at continuing where laix2 left off because it shows what copen at the end of his journey looks like and how his beliefs crystalized in fighting for the underdog, no matter who it might be, best seen in how he accepts Blade.

yet laix also doesnt TRULY deliver because copen in that setting is proven RIGHT in his hatred for adepts because of asimov's dogshit and I ALREADY TALKED ABOUT THE EUGENICS I ALREADY TALKED ABOUT THE EUGENICS. GODDAMN. WRAUGH. FUCK.

something something "if something is good it's good but if something is mid then it will stay with you forever"

what if i jsut fucking INVENT what happens next in those ideas i had for a laix2/asgv2 crossover where Ypsilon is Also There because guess what LAIX2 NEVER FINISHED HIS ARC EITHER HE JUST DIES OFFSCREEN OR WHATEVER.

Ypsilon my boy ypsilon justice for him. like he loves his mom so fucking much and keeps destroying himself for her only for hard mode to LITERALLY REPLACE HIM W THE PERSON SHE WANTS HIM TO BE INSTEAD.... i understand why creator copen shows up to give MC closure and they both move on together and it's cute yay but. what about like. yknow. the kid that MC left behind when she skedaddled into the afterlife. hello. even Null gets resurrected.