#there’s so much DEPTH in this character and his relationship with harry and we rarely ever get it in fic

[padfootswhiskers]

i wish there were more harry & sirius fics that didn’t feature wolfstar, or sirius/anyone really.

i’m not a huge fan of any of the ships sirius is usually involved in, but in my opinion—sirius is simply too…broken to even THINK about having a romantic relationship. he’s on the run from the Ministry, he’s just escaped after 12 years of literal hell on earth—only to be trapped in the house of his traumatic childhood; not to mention he has to deal with the fact that the entire Order and one of his close friends wholeheartedly believed he was a mass murderer and that he would really betray james.

oh, also—it was his idea to switch secret keepers. something totally non consequential that would have nooooo effect on him in the presence of magical creatures designed to dredge up your worst memories and torment you with them xD

at this point, harry really is his only purpose in life. and he can’t even focus on THAT properly because of how absolutely miserable he is.

sirius black is such an interesting character, and part of the appeal to me is just how doomed by the narrative he is. for all intents and purposes, sirius also died on that terrible night in 1981. he has no prospects, his entire life was stolen from him, and he can’t even fulfill the one purpose he has anymore because he was so intensely fucked over twelve years ago. his entire life, his escape AND his death…was just…pointless. and that’s so fucking tragic it makes me want to curl up and die. and also read a million fics about the short period of time he DID have with harry.

i just wish there were more fics that really dug into this incredible, incredible character, instead of just sticking him into a relationship

[twopoppies]

hiiii gina! can you recommend some fics with handful-spoiled-moody-babygirl harry in them? :) thank you so much!

Oh, I’m really surprised I don’t have a rec for this topic yet and I’m surprised I don’t have a bigger list. But here is what I can suggest!

Allegro/Adagio by coffinofachimera (E, 9K) everything I’ve read from this author has been so beautifully written, and this is no exception. Yes, it’s filthy, but they give such depth to the characters’ reasons for the way they “play”. And this is one of the rare fics that really take us through the build up to the scene, straight through to aftercare. I really loved this one.

I Love My Hands Around Your Neck by @fournipplesau (E, 6K) Hello... this was really hot. I just loved the dynamic between the two of them—you really get a sense of the difference between them when they play and how they interact when they’re not. Also, just really hot. Did I say that already? Yeah.

babydoll blues by devilinmybrain / @thedevilinmybrain (E, 112K) At last, the full-fledged, dirty, sugar baby fic we needed. Harry's character is so layered and so beautifully drawn, I just fell in love with him. Louis is sexy and powerful and also tender and sweet, just how I imagine the actual Louis to be. This author wrote one of my favorite fics of 2021, so I was really excited to dive into this one. They really know how to set a scene and draw you in to their characters. Scorching smut scenes, excellent use of side characters, and some angst that fully made me cry. Definitely worth a read!

it's all for you, everything i do by moonshinelouis (E, 2K) This short little fic is made up of one of my favorite tropes: Louis feigning disinterest while Harry begs for his attention. I really enjoy the way this author is able make their fics feel more than “just” a PWP.

To Be The Friction In Your Jeans by orphan_account (E, 20K) Again, slightly dated characterizations because it was written in 2012 (no one writes OT4/5 orgies anymore, do they?), but I actually really like this one. It’s simultaneously funny, oddly believable, and really damn hot. Harry-centric.

pretty in pink by hereforlou (E, 6K) I love this author’s writing and they give suck a relative portrait of an established relationship in this one: Harry is whiny and needy. Louis is indulgent and loving. The whole thing is very sexy. Link is to a download.

redder than the devil by mercutionotromeo (E, 5K) This short fic has so many kinks and so much smut that I probably could add it to 10 different rec lists. I love this author and hope they keep gifting us with their writing.

Run and I’ll Give Chase by orphan_account (E, 25K) not exactly baby-girl, but I really liked the characterizations in this one; the way Harry wants Louis, but is afraid to want him and acts kind of bratty because if it, but then finally gives in? So good! Plus…there’s a second part Jump and I’ll Catch you (E, 13K) that I haven’t had a chance to read yet.

You might also like some fics on my Desperate Harry fic rec and, perhaps, my Feminization fic rec.

[danpuff-ao3]

The Making of Contempt

Is anyone tired of hearing me talk about this yet?

TOO BAD.

Ahem.

To talk of my pride and joy, I must first speak of Shame and Denial.

No. Really. They're 2 fics called Shame and Denial.

Shame has been one of my favorite fanfics for many, many years. Rarely, if ever, have I seen its like. A torrid teacher/student affair of which Harry is deeply ashamed. He's embarrassed by Severus. He is humiliated thinking of what his peers will think and say.

To me, this is quite human, and so real considering Harry's age in the story (a teenager), Severus' reputation (not good), and their history (really not good.)

In many stories, Harry is the Boy Wonder. He is the paragon of all that is good and righteous. His moral compass never fails. Not Harry Potter's! (And y'all are really expecting too much from a deeply traumatized child, let me tell you.)

No shame, btw (ba-dum-tsst.) I understand why people see the appeal in a model hero. I just don't myself. I deeply craved more of this messed up Harry. The one who doesn't always think and feel and do the right thing. The one who is selfish, sometimes. And cruel, sometimes. One who can really hurt someone he cares about, even if he doesn't mean to.

And the angst potential, c'mon!!

Then we get to Denial. Here, Harry is desperate. Here, Harry wants to love Ginny, and make his life work the way it should. Here, Harry is confused. In denial, even. (I am hilarious, aren't I?) (Oh so clever, Self, excellent work.) Harry doesn't really understand himself. He makes mistakes. Life is a bit of a jumbled mess, and so is he. Again, Harry hurts people he cares about. And he goes to Severus not with the purest or most selfless of intentions. Here Harry is again focused on himself, and his own wants and needs. Severus isn't his first choice, not at first.

And Severus, well...in both of these stories, Severus takes what he can get.

The pattern you may see is my undying devotion to deeply flawed, tragically human characters. I've seen enough characters at their best; to really know someone, you have to see their worst alongside it. I don't often see odes to the darkest, dirtiest parts of human nature. But to me, to love something, you must love all of it.

For better, or worse.

I love these characters (Harry and Severus) so much, and their relationship so much (my beloved OTP, my precious Snarry); I have explored them in many scenarios. And what I always feel like I never have enough of is digging into the depths of them. Digging into the gutters of their hearts and minds. Digging up blood and bones as much as heart and soul.

And thus....Contempt.

The first inklings of this story came to me long ago. Maybe the day I read Shame for the first time. That was so long ago, I can't quite recall. But that fic planted within me a burning need for more. I longed for more stories like it; more of the characterizations and the dynamic it provided me.

It was quite vague at first. Harry is ashamed of Severus; Harry hurts Severus; Harry, imperfect in heart and mind; Severus is mean and ugly, and I must be unforgiving with it. Then, the details came. Student/teacher affair. Severus' appearance. The scene in Severus' quarters. The stripping. The desperate kiss. Harry trying so hard to keep in mind all of Severus' faults, and the full catalogue of them only reinforces to Harry how madly in love he is.

There is more to the story. I've been dreaming of it for quite a long time. I know how the whole story plays out, really; beginning to end. Their end, mind you, not the story's end.

The past couple of years I've felt more called to this story, but I kept putting it off. I always had other projects, and this project...This project was the project. I was a bit scared of it, I think. Intimidated by the depth of it, and intimidated by my love of it. It would have to be perfect. And I didn't know what I would do with myself if I couldn't pull it off.

Then...Snarry-a-Thon 2022. I decided to self-prompt. And my self-prompt would be the story of my soul, at last. I figured I would need an external source to really give me the push I needed. Besides, I always wanted to participate in Snarry-a-Thon at least once.

To put it mildly, writing for Thon was hell. H e l l. My poor, dear friends had to listen to me whine near daily.

Oddly, the end came to me first. I was in the shower when it happened. The very last paragraph fully formed. I had figured out where, exactly, to end the story. The perfect open ending that I'm oh so fond of. Let me tell you, I leapt from the shower and ran out into the living room, naked and dripping wet, to grab my phone and type it up immediately. I was not losing that train of thought for anything on Planet Earth.

(Yes, my partner was Most Pleased by the view.) (Also: yes, I was very embarrassed once the madness loosened its grip on me and I realized what a scene I'd caused.) (And: yeah I did go back to finish my shower.)

The beginning was a little harder, but not by much. I got myself swept up in Harry's rage and humiliation and thus was born: One day, he’s going to hex Snape’s giant nose off of his stupid face. He’ll rip the nasty, greasy hair right out of his head.

Maybe it's not the nicest mental image, but it's interesting, no?

I found that Harry's awareness of his feelings spooked him; amped everything up to 110%. That boy is a total mess. Confused, guilty, ashamed, angry, relieved, overjoyed; torn between hate and love and terrible longing. Love doesn't cure him, doesn't fix him, doesn't uplift him. Love is terrifying. And awful. And much too much.

Perhaps you can see what gave me such trouble. Harry, my POV character, is a mess. How am I, the writer, meant to easily navigate said mess?? His heart in shambles, his mind in knots; what on earth was I meant to do? But I felt like such a failure for not unwinding it all so quickly and easily; a failure for all the trouble it gave me. This story had been heavy on my heart and mind for years and years. Shouldn't I have it all figured out?

It wasn't only that, of course. The intensity of the emotion was overwhelming. I'm quite an emotional person, easily swept up by passions and terrors. Many times I sat, paralyzed by the depth of feeling. When your heart is full to bursting or breaking, how are you meant to think of words at all, let alone put them down?

Every word was hard won, and ripped from flesh and bone. I pried it from my soul with teeth and nails. It was an agonizing process.

This feels quite dramatic and embarrassing to say out loud, but I really was quite distraught. Caught up, and seemingly useless for it.

Then: the word count.

Oh boy, the word count.

My friends can tell you about my word count and I. Foolish me thinking I could manage this whole story in a few thousand words. (Spoiler: I did not. It's 20,400 words.)

I specialize in ficlets, okay? I've written many a short fic in my time! I know how to pack a punch in very few words. But this? This story was not content with a few thousand words. It demanded more and more from me.

And, really...how was I meant to do Harry's mindset any justice in fewer words?

The story needed to be longer, yet it overwhelmed me. And I feared it was too many words. That the story was dragging. That readers would be bored. That it rambled too long. But I couldn't hack off more words and maintain the integrity of this story. Contempt needed to be what it ended up being, regardless of all my fretting.

I battled my own perfectionism. My own messy emotions. The mess that was Harry. The bitterness that was Severus. The twisted, misshapen shackles of their love. The deadline. The word count. The immense pressure and vulnerability in telling this story. The fear that it would appeal to no one; that all the messy, flawed characterizations would turn people off. That people would actively hate the story that I loved so much.

Writing is so deeply personal. Sharing it is more so. And I've never felt such horror sharing a work as I did in sharing Contempt.

That story is my pride and joy. I don't know that I've written anything better. And I feel so incredibly accomplished that I successfully told that story. It really is so very special to me.

And every bit of kindness left on that fic means the world to me, truly. To everyone who's read it and left me kudos and comments, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. I know I've replied to every comment, but let me say it again: thank you. It really means more than you know.

This fic was a great labor of love. I could not be more pleased with the outcome. It was worth all of the hair pulling and banging my head into walls. The fact that so many people have seen my vision and it spoke to them is just...truly, truly indescribably wonderful.

Thus: why I can't shut up about this fic. How am I meant to shut up about something I love so much????

[denimbex1986]

'Part of me wants to advise you to read nothing (including this review) before you go to see this extraordinary film. It is so different, not just because an acclaimed Irish gay actor Andrew Scott (Adam) is cast with an acclaimed straight Irish actor Paul Mescal (Harry) in a contemporary love story, or that it is produced by amongst others, Disney. Times have changed. Once that sinks in, then we get an expert treatment of an extraordinary story and concept, based on Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers – a story ahead of its time.

If you expect a ‘When Adam Meets Harry’ love story, you are in for a surprise. We are set in an almost empty apartment block, where the cruising style of New York 1980’s, means a connection is made through the windows, and a story of a passion for love and resolution unfolds. There’s some short no-nonsense discourse of key ‘gay’ issues, such as the use of ‘gay’ which is a sexual orientation and its current replacement by ‘queer’ which is a behaviour, passing or permanent. We get no drama here, no offence, no fundamentalism, just uncomplicated acceptance of who each man is, in the privacy of ‘Adam’s apartment and in the substance experiences of some contemporary clubbing. That’s the bridge between reality and fantasy that keeps prodding our sense of reality throughout Haigh’s intense scrutiny style of direction.

There is a palpable and pulsating chemistry between the two main roles, further advancing Mescal’s skilful capacity for shaking off any semblance of ‘Irish inhibition’ to authentically play sexualised roles. This is also an ‘intergenerational’ relationship, which is invisible in the playing, as maturity is not always a Birth Cert, but a state of mind. Each man has their vulnerabilities and that rare natural instinct to listen and care. Scott wears his story on his face, in his eyes, through his raw unaddressed emotions. He is a screenwriter who is trying to write about the most difficult of stories, his own life. It’s a great challenge for any writer and Scott’s intimate performance does that task complete justice.

The construction and playing of his parents by Clare Foy and Jamie Bell are so well done. This is the way to do ‘flashbacks’ of memory on screen. Here, we explore the themes of acceptance, stereotypes, AIDS, 1980’s attitudes and loss. It is powerful in all its elements of staging, performances, writing and direction.

‘All of Us Strangers’ has an innovative dramatic magic in screen storytelling. It is perfectly put together with one tiny exception – the very final sequence stumbles and is a bizarre approach to concluding a mind-blowing intense adventure.

Who is real? What is real? Does Adam really meet Harry and all the others? By 90% through, I felt this was the story of Adam and we must have another movie about Harry’s intriguing back story. Then, yet another twist happens and perhaps Harry will always remain unresolved? Mescal is so strong in this role.

This is a rich, plot-laden film. The characters and dramatic detail of the novel and their depth shine through Haigh’s fine screenplay. The filmmakers know what they are doing with such a complex story and the communication of the complex, raw, psychology of the story is in expert hands.

There was a ‘silence’ in the cinema at the end, as we had seen so much to challenge and internalise. We are left with so much more to think about. Is anything real, are many real or have all our senses been challenged by this rare quality cinematic experience, to the extent that we can no longer be sure? It is still with me.

Do not miss this jewel of contemporary cinema, enabled in no small way by what the Irish bring to UK cinema – heart, emotional honesty and impact. Scott and Mescal are a powerful pairing and they pour their hearts, physicality and emotions from the screen onto your lap. Their ‘connection’ is probably the only real thing you can rely upon, as these ‘Strangers’ come at you from all angles and make you question what you experience, see and what will take a while longer to fully sink in and resolve – if that is possible? Riveting.'

[ambivalens999]

A (Very) Disorganized Analysis of Snape

As preface, this is neither a defense nor indictment of Snape’s character so much as a…very disorganized exploration. My only aim here is to explore what I find to be the fascinating complexity of his character.

Just to get this out of the way, I am just going to establish the following as accepted fact:

Snape was, among many things, a bully

Snape likely committed—or at the very least, aided / abetted—terrible crimes as a Death Eater

Whatever happened in Snape’s childhood, that does not give him a free pass for the terrible things he did

There are going to be typos in here and I apologize sincerely for them.

On the relationship between Snape and Dumbledore

The few private conversations we do see in Snape's memories are very interesting. When Dumbledore asks Snape to kill him, Snape wonders out loud if Dumbledore is worried at all for his soul, or (he alludes) if he thinks Snape is already doomed and his soul simply doesn’t matter anymore.

I also think a lot about Dumbledore forcing Snape to teach Harry occlumency his 5th year, and Snape being resentful not just because it's Harry, but because of the danger that potentially puts him in? Even if Snape's mind is impenetrable, Harry's as established is decidedly not.

For many reasons, I think Dumbledore and Snape’s relationship must have been very, very complicated. For one, I think Snape would have had a far more intimate view of Dumbledore than Harry, and thus a greater understanding of the man beyond the symbol of virtue/infallibility Dumbledore was often seen as—he, unlike Harry, would have observed Dumbledore’s failings and flaws over the span of decades.

Possibly to a greater extent than Harry, Snape might have also perceived Dumbledore as both mentor / war general figure and pseudo father figure. Dumbledore, after all, was the only one who knew both the best and the worst of Snape. Snape obviously respected him a great deal in return--but, yes, I also think there would have been a great deal of resentment.

I think Snape would have always questioned how much Dumbledore valued his life compared to those of his Gryffindor counterparts. His skepticism would have been deeply rooted, developed as early as his school days—before he’d even become a Death Eater, before he’d truly gone down the wrong path—when the marauders went essentially unpunished for nearly killing him.

I think that pivotal scene with “after all this time?” "always" also shows how much Dumbledore, even after decades, didn't really understand Snape: his motives, what drove him, the depth of his loyalty to Lily’s memory. Perhaps, Dumbledore hadn’t believed Snape capable? Which might have only affirmed Snape’s resentment—that the headmaster, even then, underestimated him.

On the relationship between Snape and Lily

I know some people consider Snape loving Lily “after all this time” problematic? Personally, I don't see it in that light. I sense that there’s this “it’s creepy and obsessive that he hasn’t moved on from this woman who didn’t even love him back” sentiment, however:

Not necessarily a hill I’m willing to die on, but in the books his affection is never explicitly stated to be romantic in nature. (I recently saw @k-s-morgan​ take the same stance in a similar character analysis, so maybe this isn’t as much of a rare read as I think it is?)

If his feelings were romantic (and I acknowledge that they are heavily coded to be), to our knowledge Snape never ever attempted to force his feelings on Lily or even asked for / expected reciprocation.

To some degree, I feel like too much is made of Snape being romantically in love with Lily. More fundamentally, Lily was his first, true friend—possibly the only true friend he made in his life. This, alone, is sufficient in my eyes to lend her a huge amount of importance in his adult life.

From what we know of his childhood, Snape’s experience at home was rife with abuse & neglect; we understand that he left his house when possible to meet with Lily, positioning her as both escape and solace.

At Hogwarts, she was his only meaningful friend. This is not to say Lily was a saint, but I think it’s fair to say that, until their falling out, she gave him more credit than most and was willing to think better of him—i.e. that he was capable of becoming more than what everyone else assumed, which was Death Eater fodder.

So I feel like, sure, it's possible Snape's love had romantic qualities (maybe temporarily or the entire time), but the depth of his regard for her would have been rooted in something far more important than romantic + sexual attraction. At the risk of repeating this ad nauseam: Lily was his only friend, a person who expected more of him while most others expected less. If you only had one person in your life who saw you that way, why wouldn't they mean the world to you? Especially when he wasn't even getting that validation at home? (Not entirely analogous scenarios, but is James not vitally important to Sirius too, years after the former’s death?)

I think Lily could have easily symbolized so much of what was aspirational in Snape—his “better” self—because of the way only she seemed capable of seeing him (again, as far as we know from the books). I think this explains why it might not have been so simple for Snape to "move on," or why the "move on" criticism is perhaps even unfair, given that his attachment to Lily as a person, even as an idea, was very likely extremely complex + layered.

To be clear, I think Snape's connection to Lily goes way beyond just a failed love story (platonic or otherwise). I think a huge contributor is obviously guilt. Snape's not a happy man, and he isn't a happy one because he’s fucked up a lot: he indirectly killed her. In that sense, holding onto Lily / being hyper-obsessed with her for fifteen years makes a lot of sense to me.

On Snape’s Choices

Something that’s so fascinating to me about Snape is how realistic his character trajectory is, especially for a children’s series. I can see (again, without excusing him or giving him a free pass) what influenced him to make the terrible decisions he did and how he is, in large part, a product of his circumstances.

Snape grew up in an abusive household. Harry did too. But when Snape goes to Hogwarts, everyone basically assumes he’s going to become a Death Eater. He’s bullied by the four most popular boys in his year. He’s shunned by the other houses as most Slytherins are and is additionally perceived as lesser in his own house for being poor and a half-blood. After he parts ways with Lily—so there’s no one who truly expects differently from him—it’s unfortunately not hard to see how he might have been easily radicalized.

It’s also not hard to see how—after that initial rush of belonging, of having a place where he was seemingly accepted—Snape might have realized that he was in far too deep, just like Regulus was said to have: that being a Death Eater was not, in fact, something he wanted.

I know some read Snape’s change of sides as purely tied to Lily’s death. This is my take: I think he had reservations as soon as he understood what being a Death Eater truly meant, i.e. past the promises and pomp / ceremony that may have initially seduced him.

I think, still, that he would have been weak to the allure of belonging, the affirmation he may have received as a Death Eater—that he might have, at first, ignored his reservations in service of those benefits. I do think, maybe generously, that Snape would have left eventually, but it might have taken much longer if not for Lily’s death. So, I don’t think Lily’s death was the sole cause of his change of sides so much as the catalyst. 

As for his personal beliefs... I don’t think Snape ever truly bought into pureblood ideology with any sort of real permanence, beyond perhaps the pressure to fit in. To that point, I do not believe that during Harry’s time at Hogwarts, Snape is even subconsciously a blood purist. Nor do I think he is indifferent to the physical (if not mental) well-being of Harry’s peers. To be clear, I don’t think Snape risks his life as a double agent, at this time, just for Harry or Lily’s memory; I think that he also believes in what the Order stands for.

With Harry being the series’ lens, much of this is necessarily conjecture. But we know that Snape finds killing—even in service of a larger agenda—to be unconscionable. When Dumbledore requests it of him, Snape is extremely resistant. He wonders about the state of his soul. This does not read to me as someone without an active, moral compass.

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x01 Review

New Year’s Eve was a great way to return to HSMTMTS especially after such a long gap. Let’s dig in!

Vladimir Lenin once said that, ‘’ there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen". It’s been almost a year and half since S1 ended but this past week has seen revelation after revelation as the fandom has resurrected itself and promotion for S2 kicked into high gear: Joshua Bassett came out, Frankie and Joe confirmed that they are a real life couple, Larry seemingly confirmed that S2 will only have 11 eps rather than the 12 initially ordered, and perhaps most importantly Olivia revealed that she and the main cast are under contract for 4 seasons and made clear that she’s leaving the show as soon as her contract is up.

I really enjoyed this premiere, it felt like picking up right back where we left off. I’m guessing that S2 was originally supposed to premiere around Christmas or New Year’s but the holiday decorations and real Utah snow add a charming aesthetic to the ep. Tim Federle deserves credit for giving HSMTMTS more of an ensemble feel which is no easy feat with a cast as large as this show has. It likely won’t last due to covid restrictions  but at least for tonight we got to see all the characters hanging out together acting like a real group of friends.

The dialogue tonight really reminded me of Glee and I think I mean that as a compliment. Miss Jenn in particular seems to be doing her best April Rhodes impression minus the alcoholism. 

The rini scenes tonight were lovely. Perfect gift was a great song and I loved the rini duet during the music in me as the world faded around them leaving just the two of them. The Harry Styles reference is funny in light of Josh’s coming out interview. Of course, it’s hard now to separate Nini and Ricky and Olivia and Josh. Their chemistry shines through as 2x01, 2x02, and possibly parts of 2x03 were filmed pre Jolivia breakup which seems to have happened around summer 2020. Whether they can keep that same chemistry later on in S2, not to mention future seasons, remains to be seen.

A major theme tonight was communication and clearly Rini need to work on theirs. Poor Ricky had to learn that Nini’s moving to Denver the night before she leaves town which has to remind of him of his mom effectively abandoning him. Ricky saying that he’s never gonna breakup with Nini ever again sure sounds like foreshadowing for a disaster though the odds that this time Nini initiates the breakup are pretty good. 

I’m glad that the show is continuing to delve in the Bowen’s divorce story with their house being sold and Ricky and his dad having to move into an apartment. Divorce is expensive and the division of assets typically leave people less well off. Mike Bowen needs to work on his communication skills but he’s rocking that beard; it takes him from depressed divorced dad to depressed divorced daddy.

Seblos was cute and in a nice change of pace Disney doesn’t seem to be cynically teasing them then cutting their scenes. It was refreshing to see them just being a couple and to hear Carlos casually refer to himself as gay. In that regard tonight’s ep didn’t seem like it was a Disney show at all and it’s major progress that there are now two main gay characters on HSMTMTS. We learn that Carlos is rich which seems likely to be a source of conflict with Seb who comes from a large farming family.

Bet on It was really fun and I liked that Ricky apparently couldn’t stop singing it. The medley of HSM 2 songs was fun but I’ll be real with you wildcats, I never thought HSM 2 or 3 were nearly as good as the first movie so I’m not sad that they’re doing something else this year.

Wild that Big Red’s mom also calls him Big Red. Salt Lake Slices seems poised to be a big part of S2 both as hangout spot and work location for some of the characters. Redlyn are sweet together but sometimes Big Red comes off as a closeted gay guy which isn’t ideal for a het pairing that is supposedly a big part of S2.

Nice to see Gina so excited to have sleepovers with Ashlyn. We know from 2x03 that Gina contends with being single on Valentine’s day and from her glances at Ricky tonight she’s clearly not over him. Tim’s playing with fire and I can only hope he knows what he’s doing. I liked the little detail of Kourtney having AOC on her vision board, it feels true to the character (hopefully AOC gets elected president one day if the USA doesn’t collapse into a fascist dictatorship or civil war before then). EJ’s beard has got to go but I like that he seems committed to being a better version of himself; very doubtful his plan to go straight to Duke like his forefathers doesn’t change by the end of the season. 

Derek Hough did a good job of playing Zach as a subtly condescending man who managed to swiftly undermine Miss Jenn’s confidence, we’ll see what he and North High bring to the table.

Looking Ahead:

Next week are auditions for Beauty and the Beast, we know Ashlyn gets the role of Belle and EJ has conveniently removed himself from the running for Beast which presumably clears the path for Ricky to take the lead. There’s been some controversy over the casting choices and I’ll save my comments about it for the 2x02 review.

We get to see Lily who looks like a meaner version of season 1 Gina, we’ll see how much depth she actually ends up getting. Howie is introduced in 2x03 and Antoine likely shows up later on. Jack likely shows up towards the end of the season.

Howie seems to have a connection with Kourtney though the character synopsis does say he gets close to a wildcat or two which certainly leaves room to slide him into Gina’s plot. We know Antoine is into Ashlyn so that’s another love triangle to look forward to. Jack was described as having wanderlust and most of the cast seems not to have filmed with him so I think it’s likely that he plays a role in convincing EJ to take a gap year rather than head straight to Duke. 

A translation leak on TikTok reveals that in 2x03 Gina is sad that she’s only gotten a Valentine’s Day gift from her mom. A brief clip from the promo shows up her on her porch at night holding a heart shaped box of chocolates. If that’s supposed to be from a secret or semi-secret admirer than it has to be from either EJ, Ricky, or Howie. If it’s a platonic gift then it could be from anyone, we’ll see what Tim has up his sleeves.

Nini moving back to SLC is a question of when not if. It’s going to be very difficult to bring her back in a way that’s justified and also doesn’t leave the time she spends in Denver looking like a total waste. Frankly, I’d rather the show just bite the bullet and bring her back with as little fuss as possible.

We’re possibly around a quarter way through HSMTMTS given that the mains have 4 season contracts and presuming that the show is not cancelled earlier. At the very least the show will be radically different after S4 if they try to continue it as Olivia has made very clear that she’s going to leave asap to pursue her burgeoning music career full time (notably she’s only done the bare minimum of promo for S2). 

Looming over the remaining seasons of HSMTMTS is what the professional relationship between Olivia and Josh looks like especially since in many ways the show is built around Ricky and Nini. Off screen relationships have often caused on screen problems and dating a co-worker is rarely a good idea since even clean breakups leave lingering resentments. Obviously the Jolivia breakup was not clean, Driver’s License, Deja Vu, and Good 4 U (which is a certified bop) were clearly written from a place of hurt and in some ways were written to hurt. It’s no surprise that Joshua has dropped his duet with Sabrina Carpenter from his EP; someone on his team at least is trying to stop the damage to his reputation. There’s a decent chance that Olivia’s songs becoming such hits has irreparably damaged Joshua Bassett’s reputation among the same pool of largely young women that he’s targeting his music towards thereby cutting off his music career at the knees. If nothing else this behind the scenes drama should keep things entertaining for a while.

Until next week Wildcats 

[carewyncromwell]

Hi guys! I thought I’d start this HPHM AU Ships Challenge, just for funsies! Feel free to steal and pass it along, if thou dost wish!

Tagging @dat-silvers-girl, @annabelle-tanaka-official, @angellazull, @lifeofkaze, @samshogwarts, @drinkyoursoupbitch, @kc-needs-coffee, @cursed-ice-spirits​, @thatravenpuffwitch​, @cursebreaker-lilith​, @cursebreakerfarrier​, and @cursebreakerelmswood​! 💖💛💙💚

What HPHM characters (or MCs) could you see your MC dating, in an AU? What would their relationship be like? Why did you ultimately decide not to go with that ship, or do you still hold a torch for it?

My answers for my girl Carewyn are under the cut!!

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist starting with a recycled doodle of my canon ship, the HMS Carion. 🥰)

Andre Egwu

Alright, right off the bat, we should discuss Carewyn’s canon ex, Andre. Carewyn and Andre attended the Celestial Ball and dated until their fifth year, breaking up right after the All-Wizard tournament. Fortunately despite their break-up, they’ve stayed on good terms and still greatly respect each other -- but truthfully, I never intended for them to be a long-term match in any universe. If you’d like to read more about why Carewyn/Andre didn’t work out, you can consult this analysis, but to put it very simply, Andre was someone Carewyn admired deeply, but couldn’t ever be completely herself around. And from a personal perspective, my parents are one of those rare couples who remained friends even after divorcing, and I’ve always found their relationship really fascinating, as no one can deny they do still sincerely love and admire each other, even if it’s no longer romantically. Carewyn and Andre know each other in a way no one else does, so it gives their friendship a depth that it didn’t have before -- so unlike with a lot of relationships, their bond actually strengthened after they broke up, rather than falling apart. 

Bill Weasley 

In Carewyn’s canon, Bill ends up becoming Carewyn’s best friend. Although at the start, their relationship had much more of a surrogate big brother/little sister dynamic, over time the two ended up on much more equal terms, both as Cursebreaker partners and as unofficial “parents” for the rest of their friend group. Bill is Carewyn’s right-hand man both while dealing with the Cursed Vaults and while leading the Circle of Khanna, and even though Carewyn wants nothing to do with Cursebreaking after dealing with the Vaults, she’ll still drop everything to help Bill with his work, should he need her. Bill is the one who came up with the nickname “Carey” for Carewyn, and he’s also arguably the friend who understands Carewyn best after the death of Rowan, given the similarities in their personalities and how long they’ve known each other. I actually did write out a post guessing what a romantic relationship between these two might’ve been like if they’d become a thing, but honestly, I’ve never really shipped these two. Carewyn may not be entirely based on me (she’s got elements of my mum too), but one aspect of the wish fulfilment for me early on was that my girl could have a ride-or-die best friend like Ron was for Harry in the original Potter books. In the end, that friend ended up being Bill, Ron’s eldest brother and a character I loved when I first read the books and only became fonder of through the game. And honestly, we could really use more sincerely loving, but completely platonic male-female friendships that never bump up against romance!!

Talbott Winger

Talbott and Carewyn are truly “birds of a feather,” though one would never know it based on their respective masks. Talbott is the sort to put a gruff facade on to hide his more sensitive feelings, while Carewyn is the sort to put on a pretty face to hide her angrier and sadder feelings. Underneath, though, they both are stubborn, intelligent, and distrustful people with a strong desire to fight evil and a creative spirit. After becoming an Animagus, Carewyn would frequently fly around the school grounds with Talbott in robin form, singing songs for both herself and Talbott, and even though Talbott teased her about it, he did sincerely enjoy it. Carewyn loves reading Talbott’s poetry, and Talbott is also one of the few people who can get Carewyn to laugh a lot, since their senses of humor line up really well. Last but not least, they become a lawyer and an Auror post-Hogwarts, so they end up working together A LOT, especially post-War. I did write a prompt once about what a Talbott/Carewyn romance would be like, and I admit, I could see them being a relatively good couple, particularly since I headcanon both of them as being on the ace spectrum. That being said, though, I ultimately didn’t go with Talbott for Carewyn for two reasons. One, I thought they’d be too similar in a lot of ways (most notably, they’re way too friggin’ serious -- give each of these two some sunshine, will you??) -- and two, on a much more superficial note, Talbott was so popular that I kind of hesitated before having Carewyn ask him out. (Plus come on, for that date, how much of a b*tch would you have to be to break Andre’s heart and then snatch up an outfit he made for you to wear on a date with his dormmate?! Just -- COME ON.)

Chiara Lobosca

When I first started playing HPHM, I strongly considered shipping my girl with Chiara, once she broke up with Andre. From the moment Chiara and Carewyn met, Carewyn just knew she had to know Chiara better, and that ended up being because -- thanks to her latent Legilimency potential -- she could subconsciously sense that Chiara and she were similar in a lot of ways. Most importantly, Chiara was very lonely and desperately longed for a friend, which reminded Carewyn of how lonely her pre-Hogwarts life was, especially after Jacob disappeared. Once Carewyn earned Chiara’s trust, Carewyn proved herself to be a very loyal friend, even learning how to become a robin Animagus so she could keep Chiara company and cheer her up with twittered songs during full moons. Both Carewyn and Chiara are sensitive “Healer” type personalities (though Chiara is a bit more literal of one) who fight against their own crippling self-loathing to try to nurture others. This, in the end, though, is why I hesitated on making them official and why I’m ultimately glad I didn’t. Like Talbott, Chiara in some ways is too similar to Carewyn, and I think in a romantic relationship, they wouldn’t grow as much as people through their interactions. I did come up with quite a few ideas about what their relationship might be like -- but ultimately I couldn’t help but feel that Carewyn’s happy ending couldn’t just be about peace, but about finding someone who could challenge and contrast her.

Diego Caplan

This  started off as a crack ship for me before actually gaining some legs and becoming Chiara/Carewyn’s main opponent, when it came to my debate with myself regarding Carewyn’s romantic future. In contrast to Chiara, Diego is pretty much Carewyn’s complete opposite. Carewyn is a planner. Diego is spontaneous. Carewyn is meticulous. Diego is flirtatious. Carewyn is serious. Diego is anything but. Carewyn is ace. Diego I headcanon as pan. And yet they both have their romantic and creative sides and are both seasoned fighters and loyal friends. Diego would definitely be able to bring some levity to Carewyn’s life, while Carewyn could bring some grounding to Diego’s. Diego even has a cute little nickname for Carewyn from their time in the Circle of Khanna: “general!” In short, these two would be perfect leads in a rom-com chick flick. But this, ultimately, ended up being why I hesitated on making them official and why I’m ultimately glad I didn’t. Diego/Carewyn is a ship that could really only bloom and blossom under fair conditions, and I had trouble seeing Diego being equipped to deal with Carewyn’s darker emotions or even her more intellectual bent. Just like with Chiara, I came up with plenty of ideas about how these two could be as a couple -- but I really felt as though Carewyn needed more than just “fun” as a happy ending. And ultimately, this conflict between peace VS fun ended up coming to an end when I discovered Carewyn/Orion, as Orion could provide Carewyn with both.

Jae Kim

Okay, honestly? When I first encountered Jae as a character, I didn’t think he and Carewyn would have anything in common, but in a weird way, they sort of subvert their respective house’s stereotype by exhibiting values from the other’s house! Gryffindors are seen as these rash, reckless, show-off hero types, but Jae showcases a lot of Slytherin-worthy cleverness, resourcefulness, and disregard for rules and what others think of him. Slytherins are seen as these cold, cruel, ambitious villain types, but Carewyn showcases a lot of Gryffindor-worthy courage, nobility, and selflessness. And so even though Jae is generally a rulebreaker and Carewyn is generally a rule-follower, when circumstances made it ideal for them to be on good business terms (namely, working in detention together and Carewyn needing an ally who knows Knockturn Alley and Jae needed an ally who was a Prefect), they soon found a lot of common ground. Add to that how much Carewyn encourages Jae’s cooking talent while respecting his privacy, and it’s little wonder that post-Hogwarts, when Jae opens up his own pub on the border of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, the two still meet up very frequently to swap news from their respective corners of the world. I admittedly don’t know how well Carewyn’s job as a magical lawyer would be conducive to her being anything other than friends with Jae, and I don’t think they’d ultimately have many interests in common, so I do much prefer them as friends, but their dynamic is full of fun contrasts! 

Ben Copper

Hahaha, oh god. So. Obviously Ben in-game is still very polarizing, but in my canon, Ben and Carewyn’s relationship is really complex and honestly one of my absolute favorite friendships for my girl. Ben was one of Carewyn’s very first friends, so he -- like Rowan, Bill, and Penny -- knows Carewyn in a way few others do. He befriended her before she became known as the poised, perfect Slytherin “Mama Bear,” but unlike her other friends, he was a bit disappointed by her abrupt transformation between her third and fourth years. While those like Bill, Penny, and Andre saw it as Carewyn coming into her own, Ben noticed how much Carewyn put herself “over” the rest of her friends, becoming their protector more than their equal, and Ben lamented it, disliking how he felt like a responsibility to Carewyn more than her friend. But Ben kept those feelings inside, not knowing how to properly express them when he did still cherish Carewyn’s friendship. After the events in the Portrait Vault, Ben went through his own dramatic change, and Carewyn sure enough didn’t end up liking it any better than Ben had liked hers. But ultimately the two had a heart-to-heart and realized that they both had become very different people than the kids who’d befriended each other in first year. After Rowan’s death and the formation of the Circle of Khanna, the two reforged their friendship on more equal terms. I did actually write out an AU roleplay where Ben and Carewyn’s confrontation in Jacob’s room ended up hinting Ben/Carewyn, but I ultimately think that the people they ultimately become are way too different to be a great romantic match. It makes their friendship fascinating, as it makes you wonder how such a tall, suspicious, reckless Gryffindor ever befriended such a poised, methodical, lady-like Slytherin...but even if they do feel a lot of deep platonic love for each other and I personally headcanon Ben being on the ace spectrum like Carewyn, I ultimately think they’d have very different dreams in mind for their future and would each need something different in a romantic partner. 

Barnaby Lee

Barnababy!! 💚 Yeah, Barnaby Lee is my personal favorite HPHM character, and yet I have never really shipped him seriously with Carewyn, even though I love their relationship and could see potential chemistry. Barnaby and Carewyn are both amazingly sensitive, loyal, and modest Slytherins with a love of magical creatures and a strong sense of honor, but they also contrast each other in some fun ways too. Carewyn may put on a happy face a lot, but she’s actually rather pessimistic. Barnaby’s unblinkingly optimistic and he wouldn’t even dream of putting on a mask to hide his feelings. Then of course there’s the fact that Carey-Bear is this tiny and rather physically weak thing, while Barnaby is a perfectly dashing tank. 😂 Barnaby and Carewyn are both protective of each other, as seen by Barnaby throwing himself in front of Carewyn to shield her from an Imperiused Rowan’s spell and Carewyn verbally tearing into Ismelda when she learned she planned to use a Love Potion on him. Barnaby was the one who really taught Carewyn about how deceiving appearances can be, and Carewyn was the one who really taught Barnaby about how generous and selfless friendship could be, so they both respect each other a lot. For all that respect, though, there’s a significant slant to their relationship. Carewyn supports Barnaby emotionally infinitely more than she would ever let him support her, so their dynamic comes across as very “mother/son”-like rather than complete equals. Plus, honestly, I think Barnaby and Carewyn’s dreams for their respective futures -- namely, to be a magizoologist traveling the world and to be a magical lawyer for the Ministry of Magic -- don’t match up in the least bit. I could also see Barnaby wanting a large family, and Carewyn has no interest in bearing children herself and would prefer a quieter home life. 

[hoochy-coo]

Ok to be fair the most memorable films where LA is also a character seems to love to portray the city as the boulevard of broken dreams. I'm saying Sunset Boulevard, Mulholland Drive, La La Land, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

And I can’t believe you called Bill “Pennywise” omg. Any tea on him?

These brothers seem to be incredibly private and lowkey. From their dad to his children, they're not very hollywood. Only Alex really engages in the hollywood scene but not even as much. I heard they're very nice and perfect gentlemen though. I did have a friend who worked on Deadpool 2 so he met Bill a few times but the Ryan's ego gossip was just more juicy overall.

Ws anon what do you think of larries/Larry behaviours? Have you ever had a conversation with your friend about them ? They becoming more and more weird every year. Can we have a post about them from you and telling us generally.

I'm not into 1D so I've heard about them but never really learned in depth until I befriended a harrie here on tumblr. The concept of this isn't exclusive to One Direction or Harry Styles, I am huge into Taylor's fandom and you guys probably know all the Swiftgron/Kaylor stuff too. But the whole tinhatting predates both fandom, I will say larrie came at a time social media began booming so the cult was able to spread rampantly and nobody knew how to handle it in the ways social media allowed tinhatting to become accessible.

Look from my world you can hear tea or gossip all over that not even their respective fandoms have heard. We get our gossip from their teams may it be their pr, managers, hairdressers, crew etc. but people who probably don't discuss with fans. These gossip can go from secret girlfriends, flings, sexuality, scandals, feuds, pr relationships etc. I will confidently say that there have been many rumored relationships that fans never heard about, but from my colleagues there has never been any rumors from the inside of any 1D members secretly in relationship with each other and so there's nothing for me to believe there's any credibility in this larrie relationship. Look from my dad's era it was the Mick Jagger/David Bowie rumors among others that definitely ran rampant, but they didn't have twitter or tumblr to spread it all over. This era you have the larries and it definitely sucks the length they go to abusing the members, their loved ones, and as far as I heard even manipulating the fans and fandom. Is this alarming and problematic? yeah sure. Is there any way to stop it? I don't know, you still have your Qanon bullshitters and nobody knows how to stop them.

Honestly speaking because I'm out of the fandom and not even a fan of either Harry or Louis they don't really enter my mind that much. The only thing that annoys me at a certain degree is having people say I'm a larrie just because I think holivia is mostly pr or Harry is calling the paps. As if that fandom created the concept of pr or suddenly become experts in how the industry works? Because again I was born and raised in Hollywood and have always share about celebs here and there and the only people who have seemed butthurt ever is that fandom. Other than that they're far away bugs to me because I'm rarely in a space where I need to actually bother with them.

Sorry if I'm not much help.

- Worcestershire Sauce Anon

Jessie, did you see the new sneakpeak of Camilla's Cinderella? How did this film get greenlit?

“but the Ryan's ego gossip was just more juicy overall.” SPILL THE TEA!

And yeah I did, which just reaffirms my belief that Camilla is an industry plant lol. Why else would they go ahead with this movie??

[tuiyla]

So I finally watched The Owl House

I wish I’d do this with every show I watch but it seems like only a lucky few get the She-Ra style rant of love treatment. Well, I finally watched The Owl House after my dash having been flooded for the past couple of weeks and I have some thoughts. Slight spoilers below.

First off, I love the whole vibe. I had a faint idea that this show would be about magic but I didn’t know much before watching - except for one thing, we’ll get back to that. The way it builds its world and deals with magic, though, is so refreshing. And I just have to mention here that I laughed out loud at all the Harry Potter jabs, they were hilarious. I expect we’ll learn much more about magic and its users as the show goes on but as far as the first season goes the introduction was really solid. It strikes the right balance between leaving things to the imagination but being more than “wave wand and magic happens”. It’s colourful, it’s creative, and I even like the ovens and school tracks, despite knowing that the story is about not conforming to those. It makes the Boiling Isles unique and make me want to learn more about the world even beyond the characters and the main plot.

TOH also presents a world that’s much more macabre than I was expecting from the Disney Channel, not that that’s a bad thing. I found myself thinking of Adventure Time at certain points and pondering, at scary moments, how kids would react. I think kids love this, though, and besides, nothing can be more scarring than Courage the Cowardly Dog was. It’s not that terrifying, of course, just daring enough to stand out. Overall the show has what I would classify as more of a Cartoon Network vibe than a Disney Channel one, but I admittedly haven’t really been following many Disney shows. In any case, I dig it. I dig the weird creatures and the beautiful backgrounds and I appreciate how alive the Boiling Isles feel. It doesn’t take long for TOH to immerse you in its world so I’m for one am hooked.

I make a big deal of loving the world itself because rarely does it happen that world-building stands out to me so soon in a series. I do love carefully constructed fantasy worlds but for the most part I’m more interested in the characters themselves. Here, I’d say it’s close to being a 50-50, which is something that even Avatar can’t say with its elemental masterclass in world-building (which is mostly because the character depth there is unrivaled but still). So yeah, kudos to The Owl House for achieving this. From Luz’s glyph magic to the covens and the titans, I’m excited to explore this world more.

Now, the characters. The real meat of any story. Starting with Luz, I have seen some criticism that she’s a generic hero so far, the “I’m a weirdo”, heart of gold, upbeat variety. I don’t think this makes her bland, though I do admit that being told over and over again that she’s weird makes me less engaged, even she’s also shown to be weird. I like the message of her arc and that the chosen one trope was deconstructed almost right away. I like that she’s relentlessly enthusiastic and kind to people and I like that she doesn’t have to get more bitter in order to get development. Instead, she learns from her mistakes but keeps being herself and brings her unique spirit to the Boiling Isles. We need protagonists like Luz, not just because she’s latina and bisexual but because her learning process doesn’t involve cynicism. Sure, there is a lot she needs to learn but her heart is presented as an asset and a sort of source of magic. I’m excited to see where her story goes, for sure.

I’m gonna write briefly about the other characters before I get to my favourite one. Eda is super cool and I quickly got over the fact that she’s not Beatrice Horseman, lol. She embodies such a youthful energy but the show also allows her to be a middle-aged woman comfortable in her own body - well, owl curse notwithstanding. Also, her relationship with Lilith is one of my favourite parts of the whole show. Eda subverts so many of the mentor’s traditional tropes and I’m here for it. I kinda thought she was the villain based on her design and when I didn’t know anything about the show but hey, happy she’s not.

I don’t think I’d even seen a picture of King before starting to watch the series and at first I thought I’d get tired of him real quick. He’s the type of character who can get really annoying instead of endearing really fast if he’s not given any depth or charm, both by way of writing and voice acting. Luckily, I ended up liking King and his antics. His design is indeed adorable and Alex Hirsch is a genius. The only time I felt like he went too far was, perhaps surprisingly, in the book writing episode, “Sense and Insensitivity”, but even there going too far was the point. So yeah, King’s also great, there’s much potential in his backstory and general character.

Alright so really quickly, other characters: Willow and Gus are generic best friend characters and though they already have other things going on, I expect more development as the series progresses. I like that Willow is actually super powerful, just not in the way people expected her to and Gus is clearly also talented despite being younger. I’d be happy to see more of the other kids, get more familiar with Hexside. Edric and Emira are fun characters but they were really shitty in their first episode so I was kind of surprised they weren’t more of a nuisance to Amity later on. I’m all for supportive siblings so I wouldn’t mind a good relationship between the three but I feel like it’s more complicated than that with the Blights.

Finally, I also have to mention that Hooty is... well, quite something, isn’t he. Much like with King, I thought he’d be much more annoying but somehow the show is self-aware enough that it makes Hooty tolerable. I’m almost always torn between feeling sorry for him and being thoroughly weirded out, and I think that’s the intention? It’s fitting that he’s the titular character as he embodies the tone of The Owl House well in my eyes. He’s there for the comedy but there’s just enough there to hint at something more. Very bizarre, strong CN vibes, here for it.

Now that I’ve written a paragraph more about Hooty than I expected to, let’s talk about Amity. Listen, no other character stood a chance to be my favourite as soon as I learned Mae Whitman voiced Amity. That woman gave me Katara so now I have a quasi Pavlovian response to her voice. I’d also say that I knew more about Amity going into the show than I did about any other aspect of TOH. I heard somewhere that she started out as an antagonist, I knew her parents were abusive, and the reason the show blew up on my dash and my general online bubble is the Grom episode. Lucikly I only saw stills of Lumity beneath the crescent moon but the pure Sapphic energy of that was enough to gay migrate me to this show. I’d like to note it here though that The Owl House is a good show in and of itself, the queer rep is just a nice extra. I’m gonna spend the next couple hundred words going on about Amity and her crush on Luz but I don’t value only that. The Gay Migration is great and rep is great but I’m also grateful to have a solid show behind it. That being said.

I’m a total dyke for Amity Blight. I was very biased before even being introduced to her character but I genuinely find her to be fascinating and she has great potential. She’s developing quite quickly, like much of The Owl House, but an arc not being stretched out for several seasons before getting a rushed conclusion is refreshing. The progress hits all the beats and the only note I have is that I want more. She starts out as a generic bully but the opportunity to be more is there from the beginning. We find out early on that she used to be friends with Willow, we see that she works hard and values honest work. When she becomes Luz’s rival, it doesn’t last long before Amity shows that she’s open to new perspectives. That’s not to defend or even justify her earlier and nastier moments, Amity was rude to both Luz and Willow. But through all that, she becomes a complex character who does bad things but isn’t a bad person and grows when she gets the space to. I think that’s neat.

Luz’s decision to befriend her might be cartoon logic but as someone who subscribes to the “kill them with kindness” ideology, I can totally relate. Amity’s softer side doesn’t take long to show and “Lost in Language” is such a great episode to show how complex people can be. Again, I was already biased when it came to Amity but she’s consistently shown to be capable of self-reflection and growth when others give her the chance. I think her past and potential future friendship with Willow is a great way to explore many different topics and I’m trusting the show to do it justice. I also can’t wait to meet the rest of the Blights, if only to get me some angst and further develop Amity. I half expected Grom to take the form of her parents. Too dark for Disney? Well, we don’t know Amity’s dynamic with her parents, exactly, but there’s so much subtext and potential. I love what we’ve already seen from her but I’d also say that she has one of the greatest potentials in the show.

Another way in which this potential manifests is Lumity, of course. Again, they’re developing quite quickly but that doesn’t mean it’s rushed. I’d love to explore Amity’s crush more and what Luz means to her. The Grom episode surpassed all expectations, still and gifs don’t do the stunning dance sequence justice. The animation is so smooth, the colours are amazing, the music is on point and the Sapphic vibes complete the picture. Poetic cinema, truly. Molly Ostertag and Noelle Stevenson are really out there giving wlw animation fans everything we ever wanted, huh. It also warms my heart that the crush is made very clear, not just by Luz’s name being on the note but by the delightful gay disaster that is Amity in “Wing It Like Witches”. I never thought I’d ever see such a relatable useless lesbian in animation so kudos to Dana Terrace and the whole crew. Wow, how far we’ve come.

So yeah, Amity is a funky little lesbian and I’m a 100% here for her gay disaster moments, but I also love where Lumity is going thematically. They’re great as foils and I’m hoping that they won’t get together at the very end. Look, I love me some Bubbline, Korrasami and Catradora, but it’s time a wlw relationship had the chance to exist onscreen and not only in the last episode. The Owl House has a great chance to do that. I know the creators don’t want romance to be the main focus and I respect that, I think the world they created deserves to showcased and explored to its full potential. Lumity could be a great subplot though, as representation on the one hand and as a thematically interesting dynamic on the other. Plus, Luz and Amity are just cute and sometimes, it’s as simple as that. Oh, and also the whole Little Miss Perfect thing? One of the best fandom discoveries I’ve made in a long while. Not only is the song truly perfect for Amity, I love that Joriah Kwamé went on to write Ordinary as well. This right here is why fandom is beautiful.

I think that’s about it for season 1 initial thoughts. The moral can be a bit on the nose at times, especially in the early episodes but the show is ultimately for kids and I appreciate its message. Interesting world and magic system, good characters, great potential for later seasons, just a well put together show that I’m really glad I started watching. I’m kind of sorry I didn’t keep up with season 1 as it was coming out but I would not have been able to wait between episodes. The pacing is good overall, deffo moves fast but I wouldn’t call it rushed, and the “filler” episodes still add something to the story. I’m not sure if I would still feel like the show moves at a fast pace if I hadn’t binged it but in any case it isn’t rushed, the necessary beats are all there and have time to sit. I’m going to watch as it comes out from now on so hopefully season 2 will arrive early next year.

Oh, and: I’m very new to the fandom, barely just found out about Little Miss Perfect, so any and all tidbits, fun facts, and fic recommendations are welcome. Also if you just want to chat my inbox is always open!

[rethesun]

Is there a name for middle lane larries?

Topic: An opinion on larry

I think there is substantial compelling evidence, but I'm not 100% convinced that there is still something but it’s possible there is we just don’t see.

If someone calls me a larrie, it's not insulting at all, but if someone were to call me an anti i’d be sad, honestly. Below I say many things that make it seem like I negatively judge hardcore larries, but I don't. I find it extraordinary that people can be so brave and sure of themselves, and I wish I could be too. I tend to get along with larries, while I mostly avoid antis unless they manage to be respectful, which is unfortunately quite rare. 

I think it's practically effortless to get toxic when trying to prove or disprove things. I think it's dehumanizing and feels stressful to me as a fan. Therefore I can only imagine the difficulty and what it takes for people in a position of fame to get to a place of inner strength and resilience where the millions of opinions of the world don't affect them as much. It's sometimes hard to judge/differentiate what is and isn't disrespectful, and it hurts terribly to know I'm crossing boundaries. So I'm putting my opinion together in hopes it isn't as counterproductive or pointless as it feels.

I'm not at all trying to convince anyone of a narrative to sway people to believe or not believe. What and how much you know and where you "stand" is down to you. 

Do I believe in larry? 

First and foremost, being a fan of someone means supporting that person without expecting anything from them. It means any fan theory isn't crucial. What’s important is just supporting them as is, as an individual. It means caring about how the person may feel about things more than caring about how I feel about things that aren't my business in the first place. 

That said, here is my not long-awaited opinion.

I think there is substantial compelling evidence, but I'm not 100% convinced that there is still something but it’s possible there is we just don’t see. I will not disregard what Harry and Louis said back in the day and pretend they had nothing when at the very least, Harry said it on video directly twice. Yes, he was a kid, but people will decide Harry is with a skinny blonde woman older than him for much less, so I don't take what he said as a platonic joke. However, I try to be as realistic as possible. As an outsider, it's not easy for my brain to conclude on most things. However, this doesn't mean I disregard how bad the industry can be. One big reason is that I don't know any of these people personally, and I want to believe in the best in others. Even though I understand controlling narratives in the industry happens and happened to 1D. I don't know to what extent. It's hard for me to judge that any or all of Harry's "relationships" are fake, and thus, he's had a few "stunt" songs for those relationships, etc. It’s plausible that he wrote female pronouns on a song or a few and the song refers to a man/men but that's far from saying this is a stunt song which would imply an entire fake relationship which is too far for me to say wasn't real as I am just an outsider. 

Whether people say it's the fans who say it or the boys behavior, the statement, 'larries ruined their friendship,' is sometimes interpreted as centered around homophobia. I do not see it this way.

However, whether there was or is a relationship, it's entirely reasonable to consider, the circumstances as a whole hurt them and likely the rest of the band in multiple ways that made things really hard. I do not think fans ruined the band or their connections with each other. I think being overworked with little freedom or breaks to discover/express independence were just a few reasons why.

Why I think larry appeared to become distanced to the public eye: 1. Understandably, putting blame on the heteronormative gender restrictive times we were in and still are in. 2. How some fans react to Larry's interactions due to reason number one. Otherwise, all the 1D members, their families, and friends have been honest. That would mean there isn't an elaborate conspiracy; they are just tired of people messing with who they care about and want to live without the harassment. Regardless of whether some fan theories are accurate or not, people in the spotlight and their families deserve peace of mind. They don't deserve to be dehumanized. I wish some fans would understand how wrong it is to swarm people or ask strangers to confirm any personal things. Not only because it's rude and invasive but because of mental health. If that's confusing, imagine if it were you in their position.

I used Zayn's interview because he shared it eloquently while the other mentions that ‘Larry isn't real’ were mostly screen captures of constituents replying impatiently to larry comments on social media saying the Larry thing is delusion and not what real fans do.  Zayn in this 2015 fader interview. "There's no secret relationships going on with any of the band members," he explains. "It's not funny, and it still continues to be quite hard for them. They won't naturally go put their arm around each other because they're conscious of this thing that's going on, which is not even true. They won't do the natural behavior." He goes on to add to the statement, "But it's just the way the fans are. They're so passionate, and once they get their head around an idea, that's the way it is regardless of anything. If it wasn't for the passionate, like almost obsession, then we wouldn't have the success that we have." Before the subject changes, Zayn said that fans would find a way to water down what he said and make any excuses, e.g., that he couldn't speak the truth.

I can't speak for anyone but myself. (I’m a queer cis female) I don't think I would want to 'get dragged through a round of 'coming out' press. Why should sexuality be treated as an oddity by the median, and why should queer people have to subject themselves to that treatment?' The amount of coming out stories and things that could follow a person, or the people around, in the aftermath, would be atrocious. People, personally and professionally, may treat you differently after. The queer stereotypes would be exhausting. Also, it's not always as safe sometimes to be out. Whether there was/is a relationship at all between 1D members. “Being open to everyone isn't easy. Now imagine yourself no less human than right now, but add millions of eyes on you. It's insensitive to assume about someone when they could be doing their best/what is comfortable—please let's stop invalidating what we don't understand.”

Zayn's career connects to Hollywood, and he’s in the spotlight so it's not easy to suddenly believe everything I hear and see is the truth just because someone like him said it. However, at the same time, it's rather discomforting for me to disregard and look into everything people like Zayn or his constituents say. I want to believe the best in people and sympathize and “back him up” in a sense. It's also way to hard to believe all things other fans say because we are passionate and obsessed, so there is confirmation bias. 

Do I concretely believe anything? 

Yes, but those things don't directly confirm or deny anything especially Larry.

I believe the boys were responsible for RBB & SBB.

I have some reason to believe the song Carolina could be about experimentation with drugs since Johnny Cash's Cocaine-Carolina song is plausibly similar. Also, it's not uncommon if you're wealthy or famous to experiment with drugs, including harmful drugs; the environment can make it more accessible and normalized. I don't condone drug abuse; I hope Harry is wise enough not to make it a reoccurring thing. I want him naturally happy and healthy, but it's not my life, and I don't know him to have any right in making that call. I trust from Harry's character and what he said in his Zane Lowe interview that he knows better. However, the song Carolina might be about Townes or maybe it's both, I have no clue. 

I believe SOTT is about "fundamentals" like Harry said it is, not just from the perspective of 'a mother telling the child to go forth and conquer.' I notice some people readily look over the childbirth story, saying 'it makes no sense,' but it can easily coincide with fundamentals, "Equal rights for everyone, all races sexes, everything." Check out this in depth lyric analysis?

I think most of us know and support that Harry is a proud member of the community. If he wasn’t he’d just say that. 

I think maybe COAC and SOTT may have been collaborative. There are multiple writers on both songs and if it’s possible to have a ghost writer then I say it's plausible they chose to write them similarly. 

I think Louis possibly queer codes. Straight people don’t queer code so you might think it’s queer baiting but I don’t think someone sick of gay rumors would go that route. Either that, or he's a passionate and sympathetic ally.

However, Louis is still "with" E. From a perspective of committed fans, it doesn't look like a sincere relationship. As an outsider, again, it feels far too presumptuous for me to have a B&W opinion.

It seems that adults with somewhat official platforms let rumors run rampant, and not many grown adults of the time seemed to correct or silence it. I should have said this early and cannot stress this enough, ANYONE who is not the Louis Tomlinson or in his family tree is in no way an official source. If they're acting like they know things (not just reporting on what's happening), they were/are either trolling or want people to freak out for clout. Being led astray by people looking to capitalize on fans is always a danger. It's insensitive, inappropriate, and unprofessional, but it happened. I am surprised by that and that 1D's management didn't try to protect Louis and his image more. I’m not an insider able to judge him negatively or to overanalyze the situation. So I won't assume he's not a dad, and I hope he's doing well.

(About the above paragraph about Louis this is an update after the original post I made to say I don't have a further developed opinion because I never looked into it and don't know if I will so don't hold that against me please I just personally don't feel like it’s a thing I need to do and I know larries don’t appreciate when non-larries make comments on things without thoroughly looking into things so you won’t see a further opinion from me or judgment unless I do actual research)

In conclusion, and to reiterate, I feel like there is some truth to some things. Again, it feels disrespectful or too presumptuous for me to have many opinions, especially of the negative kind, as an outsider. I don't know any of these people personally, and I want to believe in the best in others. I am not harshly judging things because I don't have a complete story or the right to. However, this doesn't mean I disregard how bad the industry can be to people in multiple ways.

As fans, we can do much better. It's not unreasonable to wish people didn't constantly objectify/sexualize people with fame and didn't harass them/their families about fan theories. Also, always wanting something from these people and expecting them to fulfill god-like expectations as if they don't go through the same human experience and aren't completely flawed like the rest of us, or stalking them—something sick and a behavior that's saddening and disgusting. Real fans just leave them be to live their lives. Please call out stalking and discourage it if you notice it. Overall, I think we can all be a bit more respectful and understanding or try to make an effort. I'm not a superfan, but I'd like to be genuine and not a reason why these people dislike being in the spotlight. I feel like that means being as grounded, realistic, and sensitive about how these people may feel about things more than caring about how I feel about things that aren't my business in the first place. It ultimately means any fan theory isn't crucial. What’s important is just supporting them as is, as individual.

[#’s are for exposure and may not correlate]

[nanossaestante]

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair

Inglês não? Leia em português

By Mari

-

The “Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair”, by Swiss author Joël Dicker, has a pretty objective premise: a 15-year-old girl disappears in 1975 in a small town in New Hampshire, in the United States. Her body is found 33 years later, buried in the garden of a famous writer—Harry Quebert—who, shocker, had an affair with the girl when the writer himself was already 34 years old. This writer's pupil, Marcus Goldman, then decides to investigate the crime and gather evidence to clear Harry’s name.

The novel has all the elements of a good murder mystery: a murder that, at first glance, doesn't seem to make any sense, a set of characters that hide more secrets than they appear and plot twists until the very last minute. These are, in fact, the book's strong points. The solution to the mystery is not obvious; although one may suspect who the murderer may have been, the motivation and circumstances in which all occurred are not clear until the end. The writing is very dynamic and the pages practically turn themselves—when you see it, you have already read 100 at once. With each question answered, three new doubts arise and even that which had been taken for granted is put in doubt in the last chapters with a highly intelligent twist that shows the dangers of an out-of-context narrative.

An interesting aspect of the book is its metalanguage: it is a book about a book, in the format of the book that is described in the book. At the beginning of each chapter, we have a dialogue between Quebert and Goldman with lessons on how to be a good writer. Part of them is directly related to the way the chapter is presented, functioning as a kind of Chekhov's gun.

That said, Dicker builds mystery and suspense well. The novel is a good murder mystery, the overall plot is stimulating and intelligent. The problem lies with the conductors of the plot: the characters.

Perhaps I set expectations too high. I got too used to novels with good mysteries and engaging characters that you really care about (Carlos Ruiz Zafón, I'm looking at you). In “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair”, what moved me was just the excruciating curiosity to know who had killed whom. I didn't really care about Quebert's fate, his relationships with Goldman, or anything that had to do with the characters, who were so obviously made of cardboard.

A very common—but no less irritating—mistake in novels that rely heavily on the characters' own narrative is to have them all speaking with the same voice. Of course, the words change, the content changes: if the character is mean, they will say petty things, if they are optimistic, they will say optimistic things. But the way of speaking is essentially the same: the pauses, the cadence, the way the story flows, the interjections. Basically, all narratives are the same. This even reminded me of The Magnus Archives (an incredibly well-written horror podcast, 10/10 recommend), in which, for reasons explained throughout story, people who testify about their supernatural experiences become ridiculously competent narrators. Unfortunately, there are no mystical causes that explain this phenomenon in “The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair”. We simply have a nationally renowned writer, a waitress with no college education, and a reclusive millionaire telling their past experiences with the same eloquence and pace. Perhaps this is the greatest mystery in the book after all.

The characters’ lack of dimension becomes even more striking in the “romance” between Quebert and Nola Kellergan. Indeed, it is not easy to write a true love story. Characters must have chemistry between them, something that conveys to the reader what connects them so well. Between Quebert and Nola, there is nothing: all interactions between the two are exclamations of how they love each other, they cannot live without each other, and will die if they don't see each other constantly. They don't talk about anything else. It is even strange that Quebert emphasizes how funny Nola was—we don't see any of that, no intelligent response, no debate between them, nothing to show how, after all, they made each other happy. All we know about Nola is that she liked seagulls, dancing, and wanted to have a sun-colored dog. Everything else is her being submissive to Quebert, saying that she wants to be his wife, help him become famous, take care of his children. There is no room for Nola's independent aspirations and, incredibly, neither Quebert nor Goldman seem to find this worrying. All this development is swept under the rug and smothered by one word: love. Even the Brontë sisters, with the characteristic drama of their time, did not take advantage of an abstract ideal as an excuse for not developing their characters.

The ease with which Goldman accepts that Quebert, at 34, had an affair with a 15-year-old girl, is uncomfortable. Again, love is cast as an excuse: we cannot choose whom we love. In the novel, this cliché and simplistic phrase is never accompanied by the commonly given answer: no, but we can choose what we do about it. And while not expressly condemning a practice in a book does not imply that the author agrees with it—tell Nabokov about it—it is uncomfortable how Goldman does everything in his power to convince people that the relationship between Quebert and Nola was a beautiful love story and how he seems to manage to do it. Towards the end of the book, Goldman's secretary goes on to say “I think I [love Nola] too”, putting her as a great heroine who did everything in the name of love. I didn't love Nola, I felt sorry for her. A 15-year-old girl discovering the world, love, and sexuality who developed an unhealthy obsession for an adult 19 years older and who did not have the empathy to seek to preserve her well-being and development above his own desires. The issue is much deeper than calling Quebert a “pervert”, as the town’s inhabitants often did. But again, this issue was not explored.

One point I would like to highlight about the characters’ lack of development refers specifically to women. The book has few female characters and they all seem obsessed with the idea of ​​love, but always in the vague and sappy way that Dicker describes. Tamara Quinn is the only woman who got a bit of depth throughout the story. However, when her journal is uncovered, we see the same desperate allusions to a vague ideal of love that we saw in the letters between Nola and Quebert: again, the characters seem to speak with the same mouth.

To be fair, I have to admit that the relationship between Goldman and Quebert is well developed. Goldman's story as “The Formidable” who had to learn to fall is universal, especially in an era in which young people are constantly pressured to do more and earlier than their antecessors. The art of failure is rare knowledge and the way Dicker deals with the subject, although seemingly caricatural, reflects the extreme reality of some situations. It was one of my favorite parts of the book.

In short, it is a good book, given the merits of the main plot, but that doesn’t quite find its footing when it comes to character development.

 -

BRIEF COMMENTS WITH SPOILERS

The parallel between Nola and her mother when meeting their (supposed) soulmates, asking both of the men not to tell anyone that they smoked, was a sweet touch of irony. Very well placed.

[twopoppies]

hi :)) i know you've done a fic rec for really short fics, i think it was like 1k or something, but are there any that are around or under 10k that you enjoyed? thank you!!

Hi love. Yeah, that was a rec for fics under 5K. You want a rec for fics between 5 and 10K?

Night Shift by banaanipoika (E, 9K) This was incredibly sexy and beautifully written. I loved that there was such a unique setting with so much descriptive language making me feel like I could smell and feel everything in that hospital room.

Devil in my brain, whispering my name by @lunarheslwt (E, 9K) I thought this author struck a great balance between the dirtiness of a demon defiling an angel and the way the angel gave in to his desire to be defiled. Super sexy.

pull you closer (kiss me harder) by sunshineandthemoonlight (E, 6K) This was absolutely beautiful — just the perfect amount of tension and wistfulness to make me tear up. But then it was sexy and full of hope at the end. I loved how Louis supported Harry and gave him exactly what he needed (and really, H gave Louis what he needed, too).

Allegro/Adagio by coffinofachimera (E, 9K) everything I’ve read from this author has been so beautifully written, and this is no exception. Yes, it’s filthy, but they give such depth to the characters’ reasons for the way they “play”. And this is one of the rare fics that really take us through the build up to the scene, straight through to aftercare. I really loved this one.

your quietest voice by flimsy (E, 8K) Beautiful writing (like, just savor the sentences…they’re so pretty) and a really unique concept for time travel.

no one's gonna know by jishler / @snowjosh (E, 9K) This author always does such a wonderful job of writing an established relationship fic where there’s so much warmth and expression between the characters, while also showing how much lust and passion there is. This is chock full of edging, exhibitionism, and dom/sub dynamics and it’s such a good read.

Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover by @lovingstheantidote (E, 7K) This was sensual, erotic, and beautifully written. The author took a restaurant visit and a flirty first meeting, and turned it into something mouthwateringly sexy.

boy with kaleidoscope eyes by docklands (E, 8K) This was just lovely. There was so much tender sweetness in the way they treated each other and I loved that even though it was just in Louis’ POV, we still got a very clear picture of how Harry felt. Honestly Louis in this fic is just sweetest thing ever. Harry should marry that boy.

Twist the Knife by jishler / @snowjosh (E, 6K) This fic packed such a punch in so few words (I’m beginning to realize that this author excels at that). It’s raw, sexy, and so emotional; I was left both totally fulfilled, and wanting more.

Tiptoe Through Our Shiny City by graceling_in_a_suit / @graceling-in-a-suit (T, 8K) This one is quirky and charming, with great banter and a fun premise. It’s also one of the only fics I’ve read where Harry is demisexual. I really enjoyed this one.

I Love My Hands Around Your Neck by @fournipplesau (E, 6K) Hello... this was really hot. I just loved the dynamic between the two of them—you really get a sense of the difference between them when they play and how they interact when they’re not. Also, just really hot. Did I say that already? Yeah.

something wicked this way comes by cosycryptid / @liamloveslarry (E, 7K) weird, unique, and delightfully quirky. I’ve read a bunch from this author and they can all be described that way, all well as having sparse, crisp writing. This one has a Twin Peaks vibe, and a very concerned Louis trying his best to protect Harry.

The bed and the carpet by orphan_account (E, 8K) So, this was written a while ago, and because of that there are some things which... irk me (like the use of “orbs”). But it’s really gentle and sweet and sexy. Thanks to the anon who told me they cried reading it. I did, too.

Diamonds and Pearls by superglass (NR, 7K) Absolutely gorgeous writing. Tender, delicate, dreamy. Set in NY in the 1980s, so read the tags. I just really loved this one and look forward to reading more of this author’s writing.

Everything You Do by jishler / @snowjosh (E, 7K) This is my favorite of a 3-part collection (all of which are good), and wow. The author explores gender struggles in way that is incredibly tender and emotional, while still writing a super sexy fic. Loved this one.

horizontal like a quarter to three by orphan_account (E, 9K) I always love fics that do kink discovery well, and this one is a favorite. Gentle, loving Louis realizing he wants to get rough with his sweet boyfriend? Gimme that.

gets me overwhelmed by crybaby (E, 7K) Read the tags on this one because it has a number of things in it that some may not enjoy, but if it passes your test it’s a super smutty good read.

sweet baby, our sex has meaning by publunchesownmyass (E, 8K) This author manages to make this fic romantic and filthy and super sexy all at once. Plus, Harry in that lace dress and you’ve got a winner.

mon petit, little one by publunchesownmyass (E, 6K) Yes, you guessed it. Harry wears that fluffy sweater from the Tiny Desk performance in a much less innocent moment. I characterizations, banter, and situation felt really authentic and this fic is super sexy.

Love you in the dark by Perzikje (E, 10K) This is such a tender and moving portrait of these characters. This author does a great job at capturing Harry’s struggle with the shame he feels (yes, I cried), and then beautifully portrays the balm of the way Louis loves him.

til you get what you want by eleadore (E, 5K) This is one of my favorite authors, so if you enjoy this one, please check out their others. This one is is such a fun combo of smut and banter.

Fine Line by bananaheathen (T, 5K) Have I mentioned I love this author? The dialogue and banter in this is top notch. Just a delightful fic that feels perfect at 5K, and at the same time I wish there was 100K more.

little black dress (it's all right) by istajmaal (E, 8K) I think this might have been one of the very first genderfluid Harry fics I read; this author was ahead of their time way back in 2013. It’s so sexy and incredibly gentle and tender and I just love the way they write.

I Think I’m Addicted To Your Light by supernope (E, 9K) Light hearted, sexy office romance fic. I wish my company parties were this much fun. 👀

an island without waves by tofiveohfive (NR, 5K) This is one of my favorite authors for exes to lovers fics. They really do a terrific job of getting right in there with the painful self-realizations and struggle. This one is no exception. Plus, it references one of my favorite films and has one of my favorite tropes: a love confession in a rain storm.

The Way You Smile Golden by PearlyDewdrops (M, 6K) Beautifully written slice of life where I just felt everything this author described––from the stuffy bar to the freezing beach to the confusing emotions both characters had. It’s just lovely.

So much stays unknown till the time comes by becka (E, 5K) Another old one by another author I really like. A short time travel fic that is both sad and sexy. It’s got a bit of an open ending, but you still get the sense everything is going to work out. It’s just a touching little fic (read tags, there’s some internalized homophobia in this one).

blood bank by starseas (E, 9K) I think I was on a roll with old fics by authors I like, because this is another one. This author just writes beautifully and this fic is wonderfully dreamy, poetic, and sexy.

hot, sticky sweet by Awriterwrites (E, 6K) This one holds a place in my heart because it’s the first fic I drew art for, and it began a beautiful friendship. But ALSO, this fic is fun and crazy sexy and involves Harry in short shorts and roller skates.

Cancel your reservations, no more hesitations by 14hrflight (E, 10K) I think this might have been the first alpha/alpha ABO I ever read and it’s really a good one—gender identity, body dysmorphia, but also so much comfort and understanding and sexiness.

violence of my own touch by orphan_account (E, 5K) I just found this fic today, actually, and was so moved by the way this author portrayed both Harry and Louis — the exhaustion, the confusion, the sadness, but also the deep love and need for each other.

Forever, Uninterrupted by sparkk (E, 9K) Written in Harry’s POV, this one is sexy and emotional, with great dirty talk and some serious jealousy on Harry’s part. I really enjoyed this one a lot.

a virgin to that money by eversincewefellapart (E, 7K) Broke univeristy students who don’t really like each other agree to make a sex tape for money. What could go wrong? This one is sharp, funny, and sexy.

Have a Nice Trip by @kingsofeverything (E, 6K) I didn’t know I needed horny Harry tripping on ‘shrooms, but I definitely did! This is really funny and sweet. Definitely a quarantine pick me up

Strip That Down by lovelarry10 / @chloehl10 (E, 8K) I particularly liked the way this one worked in the pain kink and body worship in a different way than I’ve seen it done before. Sexy, fun read.

baby, i’m speeding, and red lights are run by benzos (E, 7K) this author has such a gritty, realistic way of writing. I really enjoyed all the little details that made you feel as though you could get inside and understand the characters. Plus, super hot smut.

however do you want me, however do you need me by moonshinelouis (E, 7K) I just love a bit of baby boyfriends and kink exploration. This one does it so well.

Gentle Sin by userkant (E, 8K) I love when people write about kink discovery and kink exploration. This one was sweet and sexy and I loved their dynamics.

But When We Kiss… by @indiaalphawhiskey (E, 8K) At last this author has graced us with another fic and it’s a filthy, fantastic Sugar Baby Harry fic. Hallelujah! But seriously, their writing is so good, the dynamics are so hot, and Harry is just the perfect kind of desperate in this one. Go read it!

When The Wolves Come Out by rosemarianthyme (2-part series, E, 7K) This is the first time I’ve seen anyone write ABO as kink exploration and I loved it. I loved how open and supportive Louis is in this series and how much that allows both of them to explore and connect. The second part of the series is actually a prequel, FYI.

give me forever for a while by mercutionotromeo (E, 5K) This one involves a collar, but in a slightly different way – this time it’s kitten play. I always love the way this author writes their smut and this one is full of dirty talk and soft dom Louis using Harry.

[aion-rsa]

Friday Night Dinner: the Best Episodes

https://ift.tt/3urFJpq

Friday Night Dinner is ten.

That’s ten years of crimble-crumble, humble bumbling, manic misunderstandings, and more lovely bits of squirrel than you could shake a dead fox at. For thirty-seven Friday nights across six glorious seasons the Goodman family – shirtless dad, Martin (Paul Ritter); long-suffering but ever hopeful mum, Jackie (Tamsin Greig), and their visiting prank-wanker sons Adam (Simon Bird) and Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) – served up a banquet of laughs to a hungry nation, ably assisted by chronically persistent, reality-adjacent next-door-neighbour, Jim (Mark Heap) and his faithful dog, Wilson, and a host of other regulars and monstrously memorable one-offs besides. 

In celebration, then, of one of the most smartly-observed, perfectly-cast comedies of recent years, in chronological order, we count down ten of the show’s best.

The Sofabed

Series 1, Episode 1

Most first episodes – nay entire first series – of new comedies can be scattergun. Maybe the characters haven’t quite coalesced, or their fictional universe doesn’t feel ‘lived in’ yet. Not so with Friday Night Dinner. The show arrived fully-formed, with the Goodmans seeming as real as any family in your street; perhaps even your own family.

All of the gags, rituals and dynamics destined to run and grow and fold back in upon themselves throughout the series’ run are here: Martin’s secrets, conspiracies and hearing difficulties; Jim’s constant interruptions; Adam and Johnny’s brutal one-upmanship; the salt-in-the-water prank; Martin’s fondness for shouting ‘shit on it’.

The first episode revolves around the selling of a sofabed (with a brief sojourn into conspiracy when Martin inveigles his children into helping him hide the old magazines Jackie has ordered him to destroy), a simple enough transaction that turns to tragedy when death comes (quite literally) calling. Martin’s mis-hearing and misunderstanding of a crucial piece of information whilst standing at the bottom of a stair-and-couch-based conga line brings the series first proper belly-laugh, and with it the realisation that Friday Night Dinner is going to be something special.          

Mr Morris

Series 2, Episode 2

Mr Morris, played by Harry Landis, is a marvellous comic creation. With his predilection for getting topless and dressing people down at the dinner table, he’s like a malignant, mirror-universe version of Martin. With the eyes of Mr Magoo and the moustache of Adolf Hitler – and something of the bearing of both – Mr Morris, Granny’s new and very married boyfriend, quickly establishes himself as the dinner guest from Hell.

After crashing into their house and blaming them for the damage, the pugilistic, preening, proud, petty, and pretty much certifiably insane pensioner goes on to engage in horrendously public displays of affection with Granny; shout angrily over the phone at his 95-year-old wife; make Adam and Johnny pay for the, well, johnnies he later planned to use on their grandma; accuse Adam of sexual assault, and then challenge the whole household to a half-naked fist fight. Just another Friday night at the Goodman’s. 

The Mouse

Series 2, Episode 6

‘Mouse’ marks the first time that Jim manages to get his feet under the dinner table of the Goodman home, and it’s everything you could have hoped for. And more.

Normally the family manufactures its own chaos during the weekly meal – with extra helpings of misunderstandings, feuds, schadenfreude, embarrassment and horror – but here the Goodmans are cast as the straight men to Jim’s one-man reality-wrecking crew. While interpersonal connections and rituals are alien to Jim, the Goodmans’ set of mannerisms and catchphrases are his greatest challenge yet. His interpretation of their Jewish faith is equal parts sweet to absolutely bonkers, and only Jim’s anxiety, eagerness to please, incomprehension, and molten naivety keeps things from becoming insulting.

All of the Goodman rituals to which the viewer has become accustomed rain down on Jim in a hail of friendly fire, leading him to gargle on ‘Jewish water’ and scrutinise his dinner plate for hints of squirrel. The moment where Jim briefly considers whether he should eat the episode’s eponymous mouse as it scurries onto his dinner plate is pure comedy gold. 

Christmas

Series 2, Episode 7

This episode features the first appearance of Rosalind Knight as Martin’s mother, or ‘Horrible Grandma’ as she’s known to the family. Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace and celebration, but that’s not an easy ask when your guest of dishonour is a terrifying little lady who’s equal parts Livia Soprano to the Shushing Library Spook from Ghostbusters. Very few Christmases contain the line, ‘Thanks for raping our grandma’s dog on Christmas day’, fewer still see a grandson sharing his grandma’s dog’s oxygen mask, but then nobody does Christmas like the Goodmans. And they’re not even supposed to be doing it.

There’s a surprisingly beautiful moment at the end of this episode, courtesy of resident oddball, Jim, that – like all of the other rare occasions on which the show veers towards sentimentality – is quickly undercut by a well-timed, and very welcome, gag. 

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New British Comedy TV Series for 2021: BBC, Channel 4, Sky, Netflix, ITV

By Louisa Mellor

TV

50 best British comedy TV shows on Netflix UK, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, NOW TV, Britbox, All4, UKTV Play

By Louisa Mellor

The Girlfriend

Series 3, Episode 1

Adam finally meets his match: an eight-year-old girl who blackmails him into a chaste but never-the-less irritating and inappropriate ‘relationship’ following the discovery of a racy, unsolicited picture of his girlfriend’s sister on his phone, while his girlfriend is there at the Goodman house for dinner. Thus unfolds an evening of unusual foot-washing, forced transvestism, secrets, lies, panic, and a stunning coup de grace from Jonny, who helps put the final nail into the coffin of his brother’s fledgling relationship.  

The Fox

Series 3, Episode 2

Martin likes to squirrel away a great many things, many of them ridiculous, most of them out of sight of his wife. But Johnny and Adam probably weren’t expecting to discover a dead fox in their father’s chest freezer, much less find themselves enlisted to help move it around town like a hitman’s hairy bounty until the heat died down long enough for their father to have it stuffed. The funniest thing about Martin’s many hare-brained (or, in this case, fox-brained) schemes is the energy he throws at them, the sort of logistical chicanery seldom seen this side of the CIA. Watching the men of the family toddle around hither and thither with a dead fox, hiding it in the dining room, hurling it in cupboards, wedging it through windows, is exactly as funny as it sounds, and – as always – just when you think Martin’s got away with it… he hasn’t.  

The Two Tonys

Series 4, Episode 1

Martin is an exceptionally quick-thinker. Unfortunately, his speed of thought is seldom married with precision, and he usually finds himself blurting something out at the start of an evening and spending the rest of that evening teetering on the edge of oblivion, with his long-suffering wife ready to push him off. His blurt-out in ‘The Two Tonys’, though, is perhaps his most desperate and ill-considered. In a bid to encourage Jason Watkins’ Tony – a loathed associate from years ago Martin had invited to dinner believing him to be another, better Tony – to leave the Goodman home, he forces Jackie to go along with the ruse that her mother has just died. This gambit, like all Goodman gambits, backfires spectacularly, and what follows is a farce worthy of Frasier, everything culminating in a desperate chase and the furious weaponisation of a pineapple. 

The Funeral

Series 4, Episode 5

Friday Night Dinner deals with death incredibly often, and incredibly well, wringing joyous laughter from that most terrifying and inevitable of our shared fates. Here we have another delicious dose of Horrible Grandma, who’s in town to lay to rest her dear departed brother, Saul. Martin is pressured into giving Saul’s eulogy, even though he never really knew or liked his uncle all that much. Cue a day of stress, arrests, tense stand-offs and tantrums, ending with an uninvited Jim appearing at Saul’s graveside clutching four black balloons, while Martin proceeds to recite Saul’s death certificate in lieu of a proper farewell. Immediately following a Grand Prix-inspired coffin malfunction, Jim’s dog Wilson enters stage-left to put a necro-quasi-cannibalistic spin on the ending of Todd Solondz‘s Happiness.      

Dad’s Birthday

Series 6, Episode 4

Horrible Grandma might make for a terrible dinner guest, but she makes for a perfect guest star. This time, we bid her goodbye for good, but not before a great deal of caustic put-downs, cathartic showdowns and perhaps the funniest, most macabre magic trick of all time, courtesy of resident ‘magician’ Jim.

Females

Series 6, Episode 6  

‘Females’ wasn’t intended to be the final episode of the series, at least according to comments made by series’ creator Robert Popper immediately following its transmission. And it still might not be the end. But it’s hard to imagine a better, funnier or more touching swan-song for the show, with or without the tragic death of Paul Ritter.

Adam and Jonny finally have ‘females’ (as their progressive dad has always called their prospective girlfriends) in their lives at the same time, and Jackie is overjoyed to be welcoming them into her home. She thinks the evening is going to be perfect, which is rather naïve of her considering that she’s married to Martin.

Sure enough, Martin manages to contaminate every course of the meal with shards of broken glass, a calamity he’s forced to reveal to everyone but Jackie, going on to enlist their help in somehow preventing the matriarch from choking to death, while simultaneously preventing her from discovering the depths of his dangerous ineptitude. Martin is, of course, thoroughly rumbled, but before Jackie can strike him down with great anger and furious vengeance, two pregnancies are announced in quick and joyous succession.

‘Females’ is solidly, classically funny, but it’s the episode’s smaller, more intimate moments that will linger longest in the imagination: the brothers’ new-found, prank-less affection for each other; the subdued but sincere affection between Jackie and Martin as they discuss their new roles and the future; and the now suddenly larger Goodman family dancing as one in the living room. As codas go, it’s a damn near perfect one.

If Friday Night Dinner comes back, let it be in twenty years when Adam and Jonny are middle-aged. For now, I hope Martin gets to enjoy many long years as a granddad.

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Friday Night Dinner series 1-6 are available to stream in the UK on All4 and Netflix.           

The post Friday Night Dinner: the Best Episodes appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3p1fS6G

[denimbex1986]

'Technical: 4.25/5

Andrew Haigh’s brooding All of Us Strangers relentlessly drives its viewers into the past. A fractured timeline and unreliable narrator spins reality into a hall of mirrors, testing one’s ability to drift into a headspace with no linear propulsion and an omnipresent sense of doom. But under the surrealism, the film impactfully conveys what it’s like to excavate one’s family history, open wounds and self-imagined reconciliations and all.

Viewers follow main character Adam (Andrew Scott), a London-based screenwriter who lives alone in a nearly empty tower that’s swanky but crushingly soulless. In this urban hermitage, Adam attempts to write a script that’s based on his own life, of having two parents who died in a car crash when he was 11 years old. He imagines what it would be like to have conversations as an adult with his dad (Jamie Bell) and mom (Claire Foy), both of who would be younger than him at their times of death. But the longer Adam transports himself into these staged conversations, lines increasingly blur between memory, fiction, and reality.

Gender: 2/5 Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE

The film clutches its conceit of a solitary man communing with his dead parents. The only other character of significance is Harry (Paul Mescal), Adam’s neighbor-turned-love-interest who serves to further splinter Adam’s mind. To that end, there’s very little focus on the only woman of significance in the film, Adam’s mom. Foy’s rendition of “Mum,” as she’s named in the credits, is understandably two-dimensional, as is Adam’s dad. They’re both projections of their son’s mind—static images of a heterosexual English couple circa the 1980s. Though Foy’s character does have incredible significance to Adam (of course she does, she’s his mum), there’s no exploration into her life and past, only into her relationship with her son.

Race: 1.75/5

All four main characters of this small cast are white. On the rare occasions Adam and Harry do venture out into London, whether riding the Underground or going to a nightclub, people of color appear in minor roles, but none of them have any dialogue.

Bonus for LGBTQ: +1.00

The 1987 novel that All of Us Strangers is based on, Taichi Yamada’s Strangers, originally features a straight protagonist. But the book’s themes of loneliness and an unhappy childhood lend themselves to a queer interpretation. Under the direction of Haigh, who’s openly gay, he makes the story his own, going so far as to shoot the film in his own childhood home just outside of London. In addition, it was important for him to cast a gay actor into the main role because “there's so much nuance [he] wanted to unpack … that [he] knew [he] had to choose someone that was of the same sexuality.” The results speak for themselves; film critic Erik Anderson says, “seeing [the father-son conversation] onscreen, feeling heard and understood, a vicarious experience can be a shockingly healing salve.”

Bonus for Disability: +1.00

The film harbors the deepest empathy for its characters who struggle with loneliness, depression, and substance abuse. But more than simply rendering them with kindness, Haigh goes one step further and puts viewers firmly in the shoes of Adam by normalizing the man’s conversations with his dead parents rather than treating it as psychosis. Unlike most films, which portrays any breaks from reality with fear and dread, you’ll find no wild camerawork here, nor minor characters looking warily at Adam from an outsider’s gaze. Even when Harry tells Adam he’d had a breakdown at the club the night before, yelling for his parents until Harry had to take him home, viewers are never privy to this side of Adam. We only see him as he sees himself—vulnerable and scared, yes, but perfectly human.

Mediaversity Grade: C+ 3.33/5

With just four characters to home in on, All of Us Strangers eschews breadth in favor of depth. It takes an incisive look at what it’s like to grow up as a gay cisgender white man in 1980s England and executes its premise brilliantly.'

[hptriadfest]

MASTER LIST REVEALED

Title: Those That Move <- Clicky

Author: @hippocrates460

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Ronald Weasley/Viktor Krum

Summary: “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.” - Benjamin Franklin.

How Ron and Hermione decide to figure out what they really want, how they come to realize that it is Viktor, and how all of them choose to move.

~*~

Title: In The Dying Light <- Clicky

Author: @marshmallowmcgonagall

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Harry Potter x Ginny Weasley x Tom Riddle/Voldemort

Summary:

Six years after Dumbledore died, Harry appears to defeat Lord Voldemort but everyone flees the battlefield in the wake of a magical storm. In the depths of the nights which follow, someone unexpected arrives at the door of Harry and Ginny’s safe house in Godric’s Hollow.

~*~

Title: NEVER ENOUGH <- Clicky

Author: @big-draco-energy 

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini

Summary:

Established couple woos a third party for a one-night stand. However, it’s not that simple, and nothing is what it seems.

~*~

Title: The good things in life <- Clicky

Author: @harrypotterfanfictionwriter 

Rating: General | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood/Severus Snape

Summary:

Severus reflects on his life since two witches came into it.

~*~

Title: Yes, My Loves <- Clicky

Author: @cheekytorah / @hptruefan-cheekytorah

Rating: General | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood/Severus Snape

Summary:

For years he served an evil bastard, and now he only wants to serve his women.

~*~

Title: Three To Be Free <- Clicky

Author: @gremlin-writing

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin/James Potter

Summary:

With his wife dead and a toddler in his arms, James Potter shows up on the Black-Lupin doorstep.

~*~

Title: One Of Our Own <- Clicky

Author: @themadmage-fanfiction

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Ginny Weasley/Astoria Greengrass/Luna Lovegood

Summary:

Five years after the war, Astoria asks her wives about having a child of their own.

~*~

Title:  The Sweetest Question <- Clicky

Author: @aneiria-writes

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott

Summary:

After a bad day at work, Hermione’s Slytherin lovers know exactly how to soothe her anxious mind.

~*~

Title:  Company For The Waiting <- Clicky

Author: @parsley_sage_rosemary_and_thyme4tea <- clicky @non-binarypal7

Rating: General | Throuple: Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

Summary:

green light the promise of connection and commitment burning impressions, questions, passions

a short exploration of life, death, and love

~*~

Title: Three’s Company <- Clicky

Author: @Snarry5evr 

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter/Severus Snape

Summary:

Ready for a change after his divorce from Ginny, Auror Harry Potter accepts a position in America. Discovering his new charges were none other than the living Severus Snape and his housemate Draco Malfoy was only the beginning of the changes in store for Harry.

~*~

Title: Starting Anew <- Clicky

Author: @lillymoid

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle/Severus Snape

Summary:

Harry Potter couldn’t accept how the war ended, so he tried again but this time helping Voldemort and changing everything.

~*~

Title: Ron Weasley and the Triad of Support <- Clicky

Author: @littlebozsheep

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Ronald Weasley/Blaise Zabini/Neville Longbottom

Summary:

When Ron stresses over the 10yr school reunion and seeing Hermione for the first time since their disastrous split, his partners take it on their shoulders to cheer him up.

Taking an ansty situation, removing the angst and adding fluff.

~*~

Title: Even Chasers Get The Blues <- Clicky

Author:

@neontinkerbell

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Katie Bell/Alicia Spinnet/Angelina Johnson

Summary:

Alicia and Angelina are saying goodbye to Hogwarts after completing their seventh year, but their girlfriend Katie still has one year left. When the dreaded conversation about long-distance relationship woes finally catches up with them, will they be able to all agree on how to navigate it?

~*~

Title: my girl, my girl, my girl <- Clicky

Author: @klarogasms

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood/Pansy Parkinson

Summary:

They all looked quite different and had vastly varying senses of style, but they looked lovely together, all beautiful in their own ways. And the matching necklaces they wore - golden with a star, a sun and a moon pendant respectively - tied it all together.

or Pansy, Luna and Hermione being adorable for 5k words straight

~*~

Title: Before We Say Goodbye <- Clicky

Author: @cheekytorah / @hptruefan-cheekytorah

Rating: General | Throuple: Rose Weasley/Polly Chapman/Marisa Thomas (Original Female Character)

Summary:

Rose Weasley, Poly Chapman and Marisa Thomas have one more thing to do before they say goodbye to Hogwarts.

~*~

Title: Harry Potter and the Witches of the House of Ill Repute <- Clicky

Author: @hippocrates460

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes/Emmeline Vance

Summary:

“One for the money, two for the show, three to make ready and four to go.”

If by go you mean disrupt all the carefully laid plans in order to be good and kind to someone in need. That’s just how they do it.

A story of how three becomes four, and how love is essential, and some very fictionalized accounts of what it might be like to run a sex shop.

~*~

Title: maybe I just wanna be yours <- Clicky

Author: @fleurting

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter/Ron Weasley

Summary:

Harry’s always had a place in Ron and Hermione’s bed. He’s the only one of them who doesn’t see the spot as permanent.

~*~

Title: Enchanted Encounters <- Clicky

Author: @ischa-posts

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Teddy Lupin/Scorpius Malfoy/James Sirius Potter

Summary:

James decides he wants to go on a road trip with his brother and Teddy, of course Scorpius and Albus’ girlfriend tag along. But also: James is scheming, Scorpius is pinning (and maybe sulking) and Teddy is fighting a losing battle.

It’s really just a friends to lovers story with magic (and sex).

(More on the Ao3 Post)

~*~

Title: Love To Give <- Clicky

Author: @kittycargo

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Harry Potter/Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy

Summary:

Neville and Harry are in a relationship when Draco moves back from Italy and needs a place to stay. Neville never knew how much love he had to give.

~*~

Title: Sealing Their Bond - Clicky

Author: @articcat621

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Regulus Black/Hermione Granger/Rabastan LeStrange

Summary: After the Marriage Law spell revealed her two wizards, Hermione had been looking forward to her wedding night. Finally, it was here.

~*~

Title: Stay With Us <- Clicky

Author: @thunder-of-dragons

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Sirius Black/James Potter/Lily Evans

Summary: A week before the Fidelius Charm will be cast over the Potters’ home in Godric’s Hollow, Sirius has a suggestion to keep the Potters better hidden, and it’s one that does not include Peter Pettigrew.

~*~

Title: The Chasers and their Gold Digger <- Clicky

Author: @gaeilgerua

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Marcus Flint/Hermione Granger/Adrian Pucey

Summary:

Reading the gossip column in the Daily Prophet these days is usually good for a laugh.

~*~

Title: Studious <- Clicky

Author: @lilithshadefanfic

Creative Medium: Fan Art

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott

Summary: Fanart created for HP Triad!Fest 2020.

Prompt #54 by GaeilgeRua

A group project in Eighth year leads to a new friendship.

~*~

Title: How To Impress Your Muggleborn Lover; Texting Edition <- Clicky

Author: @littlebozsheep

Rating: Teen | Throuple: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy/Pansy Parkinson

Summary:

It has been a couple of months since Hermione had started using positive reinforcement to get her partners to use Muggle technology. So far, it was getting some humorous responses. This month, they had started texting, and Draco was determined not to be beaten by Pansy again.

~*~

Title: Drive Me Wild <- Clicky

Author: @cheekytorah / @hptruefan-cheekytorah

Rating: Mature | Throuple: Neville Longbottom/Charlie Weasley/Viktor Krum

Summary:

While on a trip searching for a rare plant, Neville finds himself in the company of two wizards that can help him. How will Neville ever repay them?

Prompt #59

Prompter: GaeilgeRua

~*~

Title: Dining Under Duress <- Clicky

Author: @cheekytorah / @hptruefan-cheekytorah

Rating: Explicit | Throuple: Neville Longbottom/Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

Summary:

Dining under duress was a theme in their lives.

~*~

[deivorous]

@mindinmuken​ asked: 1, 5, 13! [Also welcome back Plou OuO!! it's good to see you on the dash again >w> ~ <3 ]

[ Hello darling Ren!! I’m glad to be back and it’s good to see that so many people are still here <3! ]

Questions for Muns of Canon Muses || Accepting

1. What is the biggest headcanon deviation from the canon material that you have incorporated into the way you write your muse? Why did you come up with it?

My biggest HC deviations probably have to do with either Grimmjow’s relationship with gender and his being intersex - a topic I write on rarely and few of my partners are probably aware of this (because Grimmjow himself would never talk about it unless prompted) - or how much I have fleshed out hollow instincts, biology, and psychology.

Though all of my HC’s are ultimately based in canon, they have grown in some unique ways through RP and at first glance, might not be obvious where they originated from, I try to let my HC’s and world building develop organically along side my own understanding of the the bleach world. Kubo is very good at only giving his readers the absolute bare minimum to understand whats going on, which means there was a lot of creative room for me to work with!

As for why I came up with these HC’s... Well, hollows, and Grimmjow specifically, are incredibly instinct based, so it feels odd for them to be described as such and then never have any real explanation of what these instincts are or how they affect hollows. For me, this was a natural gap that needed to be filled in for me to write my muse with any amount of depth or understanding of his actions. I figured I may as well do biology and psychology too while I was at it. At the very least it could serve as a useful reference to others who might also be writing with arrancar.

As for my gender and sex HC’s... I wanted to. It confuses me why there would be sexist hollows when gender is probably of something of the lowest priority when living in an cannibalistic hellscape and Grimmjow seems way more interested in power than gender. My intersex HC is tied in my biology HC’s too and was a natural extension of that.

5. What is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?

Oh so much. But the two things that come to mind immediately are:

Aizen recruiting Grimmjow and his pack. The whole timeline prior to the arrancar arc is very nebulous and odd. How did Aizen convince Grimmjow to join him? Was there actually a choice? Why is Shawlong arrancar 11 and Grimmjow arrancar 12? How far before the start of canon was this? How long was Grimmjow an arrancar ebfore he was promoted to Espada level or was it immediate? If it wasn’t, what did he do to earn his promotion? Did he try to get promoted in order to have fracción? Did he join Aizen originally in order to protect his fracción? When did Grimmjow develop a trauma response in relation to Aizen? Why does Tousen hate him so much? What’s his relationship with Gin? How did he not go and get himself killed immediately by a stronger Espada? - I don’t have answers to any of these and part of that is because I don’t understand the motivations and interests of the other participants that would affect the outcome of these questions. Early days Las Noches must have been a fucking terrifying and wildly unstable environment to be in, especially before Aizen was a full time presence there.

What happened in the  months between the Winter War and the TYBW in Hueco Mundo? How did Grimm, Harri, and Nel sort out the power vacuum? Did they not? Why was Grimmjow not present for the Quincy invasion? Did the surviving arrancar disperse? Were they killed? Did the shinigami perform some sort of cull to prevent a follow up attack in case Aizen had some fail safes in place? - This is another time period where there is very little information to go off of. But I think there must be more to the story than what we know.

13. What canon character do you really wish your muse could interact more with?

Hnnnnnnng this is another one that is really hard to answer because there’s so much I want to explore and write.

I guess, if we are talking what I wish happened in canon then I wish there was more visored x arrancar conflict. They are two sides of the same coin in a way so it felt odd to me that this mirror image never came into play.

I wrote a little thing ages ago about Grimmjow and Shinji’s first meeting where Grimmjow was actually already aware of the visored’s existence and recognized Shinji on sight, which suggests to me 1) that Aizen anticipated this arrancar coming into conflict with them and 2) that Kubo was probably at some point intending to write something to this effect. Why it got cut or the story changed direction, I do not know, but I do wish that there was some ideological conflict and reconciliation between the two groups as they came to understand that they are, ultimately, straddling the threshold between two parts of the reincarnation cycle and the implications of that. It could have been a healing moment for both factions.

It’s particularly interesting to me that this kind of interaction never happens because Tousen and Aizen both hollowfied by the end of that arc and I feel like perhaps delving into what exactly that means could have had a profound impact on a readers understanding behind those decisions.